#and my own interpretation of the situation as an audience member | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

shadowboxmind · 8 months

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Maybe a hot take, but I don't think the Traveler was being inconsistent or out of character in the last archon quest at all. People are getting upset at their reaction to Lyney and Lynette's behavior from the perspective of players, with meta knowledge of the story that the Traveler, the character, doesn't have.

The players know, for example, that because they're playable characters, Lyney and Lynette are ultimately friendly and on "our" side, and we can also trust that what they told us about their backstory is true. The Traveler does not have that knowledge.

TO BE CLEAR this post is talking about my thoughts on the TRAVELER'S thought process. If we want to talk about how I personally would have reacted to the situation, I'm an overly trusting bleeding-heart who would absolutely get scammed and probably murdered by Fatui in this universe.

(Also characters, even main characters who you normally like, can do things you disagree with and that doesn't mean they're badly written. I mean, sometimes they are, but I don't think that's true in this particular case)

But think about it! Looking at the entire situation from an in-universe, in-character POV, it's a really bad look for Lyney and Lynette overall, because here are the facts as the Traveler is aware of them:

Lyney and Lynette are not only members of the Fatui, the primary antagonistic force in this story, but are specifically members of the House of the Hearth, which is known to specialize in espionage, subterfuge, and sabotage.

Both of them also work in a field that would further require them to be masters of misdirection, audience manipulation, and drama.

They "coincidentally" ran into the Traveler right as they arrived in Fontaine and immediately began to do them favors and be very friendly, including saving them from Furina, bringing them to meet their family, and gifting them VIP tickets to Lyney's show.

During the trial, the twins withheld key information, and not just about their identities (and listen, I get it, I fully empathize with why they did it, I get the reasoning, but it's still a bad look when it gets figured out) but also about what they were doing in the tunnel.

They admitted that the entire magic show was a ruse to do, guess what? espionage! To break into the room with the Oratrice's core and find out how it works. To, through subterfuge, obtain Fontaine's secrets about the nation's most important mechanism and central source of power.

The Traveler has known these people for like, a day total.

So what conclusions might the Traveler draw from these facts? When the evidence shows that Lyney and Lynette have a record of misdirection and obfuscation for their own ends? When the Traveler has no way of knowing if even their initial meeting was orchestrated for an ulterior purpose? How are they supposed to know if the tragic backstory is even true, or if that's just Lyney trying to win back some favor and sympathy? In my opinion, at that moment, they don't. Hence the coldness.

My interpretation of events is that the Traveler does like the twins, and wanted to keep liking them, but was struggling to reconcile their initial impression of two friendly magicians with the realization that these two friendly magicians were dishonest with them for most of the time they'd known each other, so they needed to have some space to figure that out.

And for those saying the Traveler is inconsistent, here's the thing: they still helped Lyney. They still acted as his attorney, investigated thoroughly, won the case, and cleared his name. They've done similar for other Fatui members in their acquaintance—they helped Childe with Teucer, they helped Scaramouche/Wanderer with getting his memories back, they helped that other member of the House of the Hearth fake her death and escape the organization—whether or not they fully trusted them, and generally they didn't.

As for the Traveler's supposed hypocrisy, my view of their relationship with Childe is that it's only improved because, despite Childe trying to nuke Liyue in the past, the Traveler knows that

a. They can handle him if it comes down to a fight again; b. He likes them, regardless of if the feeling is mutual or not, and is indeed aggressively friendly to the point where it's easier to just be civil; c. Childe is generally upfront and honest about his actions and will strike from the front, not stab them in the back; and d. He's worked together with them before when they had a common goal (for example, the labyrinth they went through with Xinyan).

They know how his mind works and what motivates him. Childe is a known quantity, the twins are not, and it took in-story time and shared experiences for the Traveler to get to even this point of neutrality; they were openly suspicious of him during his story quest.

As for holding his Vision for him, the Traveler didn't exactly volunteer for the job, Childe literally threw it at them with no warning and peaced out. What do you expect them to do, drop it in the sea? That would be inconsistent with their characterization.

Wanderer's whole situation is even weirder, since the Traveler was able to experience his actual memories and emotions and therefore has good reason to trust that he's had a genuine change of heart. Not to mention that they're not friends, I'd argue they're in that same nebulous "neutral" zone, and that only because Nahida usually functions as a buffer (and also because, again, the Traveler knows that they can handle Wanderer in a fight, and Wanderer also tends to be blunt and honest).

Also, in Lyney's story quest it seems like everyone got over their problems pretty fast and they're all chummy now, so you can all rest easy that the twins' feelings weren't too hurt about it.

Anyways if you disagree go ham, refute my points, whatever, just keep things civil.

#is there a designated spoiler tag idk #genshin impact #4.0 spoilers #hi non genshin-liking friends i promise i won't be doing this regularly #i just like to think about character relationships #ace attorney ass quest #genuinely rather disappointed that there was no... tension between them in lyney's story quest. like at all #the last time y'all saw each other was dramatic and depressing right after his murder trial and now you're just pals 'n' buddies #and maybe more considering how heavily they imply that lyney is flirting with the traveler #maybe they'll touch on it (the Drama) in the next archon quest #now that would be inconsistent writing with the story quest but whatever #i read comics i'm used to it #shadowboxtalks #speaking of the story quest i said out loud at several points 'oh yeah you're definitely a fatuus'#all that about not forgetting debts #and 'oh yeah you're definitely from the house of the hearth'#sneaky little shits (affectionate)

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awhimproned · 8 months

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"you don't actually want the thing you think you want", a nandermo retrospective

In this post of mine deep diving into the decision of guillermo staying human, I said I wanted to make a nandermo analysis at one point. I absolutely have no self-control so I immediately started working on it. So, welcome. This is it.

This post will attempt to analyze in depth two implications of the infamous quote from above by Yana Gorskaya:

It’s shipbaiting and we’ve got a storm coming

It’s slowburn and the importance of recognizing toxic dynamics even when enjoying the drama and the potential

The quote comes from this interview question right here:

It can be interpreted in a lot of ways and directions, the most prominent one being “and they were platonic all along. trust us you dont want them together” — it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth because I can see the showrunners dangling a carrot in front of a target audience until the finish line. Especially when one of the directors herself says and proves outright that nandor and guillermo have been framed romantically on purpose just by having the line “will they won’t they relationship” in the interview.

Keep in mind the admittance of will they won’t they directly out of Yana automatically eliminates the argument that the writers were strictly going for platonic friends. There’s no refusal. No going: yea no we dont know. They wrote nandor and guillermo to be romantic.

From there we have two routes we can take:

1) On the direction that they’re not having nandermo be a thing: This makes everything shipbaiting.

At least it’s not queerbaiting, I hear you say, both characters are queer. I’d argue shipbaiting is worse in this situation, because in this frame, it rather looks like the showrunners are using the certain attachment and sentiments of the audience to string people along:

Both of these characters are people of color, one is plus size, both of them queer. If it’s shipbaiting, this kind of alludes to discrimination, I’m afraid. It does not look good on the showrunners/producers’ part (when Taika’s name is attached, too. This man is literally in OFMD. Help)

And you don’t want to be like Jason Rothenberg; beefing with your own fandom, making writing decisons to spite them, kill a lesbian character after exploiting your sapphic audience and be infamous for the worst case of bury your gays, shipbait for seven seasons to hold the largest fandom in the audience to keep your views up, mistreat your POC cast members... etc. God, yeesh.

It’s almost incriminating in that sense, when they stopped floating around the idea of them and made it canon by dropping the “maybe he has feelings for you as well” line in season 3 and while guillermo was disguised as nandor. And have him be bitchy about gail. Everything about s3 told us that guillermo had a thing for nandor.

If nandor and guillermo were intended strictly as just a couple of pals, they could easily shut down the excitement and expectation for the ship, but instead they did those. It was a confirmation more than anything rather than a rebuttal.

But I guess for the shipbaiting case, the “rebuttal” was s4 when Guillermo was in his healing era, Nandor wanted a wife, and they resetted allathat in s3 to practically nothing.

As much as I’m going to use this as an opposition argument in section two, it also is a potential support for shipbaiting case, and that is the repetition of “friends” for nandor&guillermo that started becoming more of a thing in seasons 4&5. Especially s4.

It saw Guillermo outgrowing Nandor for a potential love interest when s3 had the biggest plot twist in their favor ever, it was going somewhere, and then they immediately established not only Guillermo finding a boyfriend in London, but also him having no hard feelings about Nandor wanting to find a wife when we all know how hard he’d taken Gail — and most important of it all, Nandor just wanting a Freddie of his own. It’s really weirdly romantic drama-centric with each of them getting partners & setting up for jealousy, but the writers subvert every trope, and instead do this weird shit with Nandor’s storyline where it’s purely a horror story from Marwa’s POV and he’s a horrible, selfish monster (and I was flabbergasted at the downward spiral his character took) — yet he’s incredibly “generous” to Guillermo because he chose to make his own Freddie rather than take his and let him go in the end, it’s all so very bizarre.

Which makes the shipbait even more outrageous. Because now it’s personal since it has more shipbait moments inbetween that don’t have heterosexual explanations. KEEP IN MIND THEY’RE STILL FRAMED ROMANTICALLY THEY KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING AND THE WHOLE THING WITH DEREK IS A WHOLE CHEATING METAPHOR.

The equivalent would be that one scene in Sherlock BBC when irene goes “of course you are [in love with him]” to john and how the show keeps bringing up how other characters think they’re in a relationship and saying it. You never want to be like Sherlock, either. Ugh.

I’ve been in through enough queerbaiting&shipbaiting to know that it could definitely turn out this way, and I’m still half-expecting this to be honest. I’m also a big fan of ofmd and go, but they’re exceptions, not the norm, and as much as wwdits is a wildly revolutionarily queer show, there is enough material for it all to turn out to be nothing.

So, in conclusion: shipbaiting turns out to be worse than it is because it’s on purpose and there’s no salvaging it after the “it was friendship all along ❤️” insistence, there’s receipts and the actors are on board with it. And in a situation like things, there is only one thing to say:

At least we have fanfiction and the actors like the pairing.

2) On the direction that nandermo is a thing: “you don’t know what you’re asking for and you won’t like it if we give it to you right now” dilemma, aka “you don’t actually want the thing you think you want” —

which basically rounds up to yana meaning, if nandor and guillermo were to be a thing right now at this point in their relationship, it would be messy, abusive and toxic [and there are still other plots to explore and directions this pairing could/have to be taken before they become canon.]

“Yeah they are messy, toxic characters, we know what we’re asking for,” I hear you saying. And I say to that, no, you really don’t, and you would end up hating what they did with nandor and guillermo if they became canon before they were true equals. One example of this would be people switching on Olicity (Oliver and Felicity from Green Arrow, wildly popular crackship there was no hope and only the teasing of in the fandom before it became a real thing) after the writers rushed to make them canon and did them very wrong afterwards.

The allure of nandermo is guillermo breaking the status quo and catching nandor slipping by establishing himself as his equal, destroying the power imbalance completely, them standing as individuals with equal power if not guillermo flipping the dynamic upside down and asserting dominance over nandor this time when he was a mere familiar nandor couldn’t care less about before.

This process is still in progress as of season 5 and let me tell you this, them becoming canon during Guillermo’s familiar status would have been downright icky.

This show’s only other canon ship ladja is the most healthy, gomez and morticia-esque thing ever, they’re in love, they’re horny all the time, they are queer, they fuck other people all the time and encourage each other, they’re wildly protective of one another, the man steps up to be a single father of a child he isn’t obligated to look after and he doesnt let it derail his wife’s career or force motherhood onto her, like. Do you really expect they wouldn’t let nandermo cook enough before they are on this level of iconic and healthy before they become a thing?

Nandor wasn’t even able to admit that Guillermo was a friend to him (and to Guillermo’s face) up until season 5. In season 1 he was weirded out by even saying it, in season 4 he could only manage to say “best man” and immediately reverse when the word friend was brought up — “closest companion for 13 years” in the market fight & “i may have killed my friend” muttered to himself before guillermo comes bursting out the door, it’s like he didn’t want to admit out loud that Guillermo became very important to him in a very short amount of time. Half of the pairing consisting of a person who is unable to make it clear and known to the other how important and precious he is just doesn’t sit well in the case they are in a relationship.

And the power imbalance is still there even if you don’t see it or think it’s gone, albeit knocked almost even by “I can kill you if I want to but I don’t” assertiveness from Guillermo.

Because even in season 3 and 4 in instances Guillermo was able to best Nandor in power, he’s still inferior to and is in service of him — because he’s working for something he wants from Nandor, which Nandor of course keeps taking advantage of by treating Guillermo like a subservient familiar (although it keeps getting better as things change more and more) even if in name he’s a bodyguard.

Their relationship is that of employment in name, the nature of it is give-and-take, Guillermo says it himself in s3 Nandor is a boss more than a friend and he would still be have to be “friends” with him because he’s his boss. And let’s be honest, before Nandor really became found family to him and he himself realized that over the seasons, Nandor was a means to an end for Guillermo, he’s “Master”, not “Nandor”.

And from Nandor’s perspective, Guillermo is with him because he wants to be a vampire. Simple as that. It’s what allows Nandor to exploit Guillermo.

Imagine a premature romance happening in these circumstances, it’d be absolutely in abuse territory, you don’t make your significant other do the dirty work for you like that. It’s why boss-employee relationships are most of the times, forbidden in the workplace, because the boss holds some power over the employee and can very much have them do things that they don’t want to do.

Nandor would not be able to see Guillermo as an equal even when there are feelings involved, because I have to remind you, Nandor is a cruel bastard, and it would turn into one of those AITA posts real quick between them when Guillermo is fully in service of Nandor still.

And remember how Nandor treated his “love” Marwa, how fast he dropped her from his life once that “phase” was over, all the things he did to her, she was his significant other — yet he never connected with her, not really, she was just an accessory to him and this was supposed to be “love”; and the other side of the coin, how he keeps self-sabotaging and ignoring his real problem by filling the void with what he thinks is the solution, getting in the way of his own happiness.

This can’t be ideal from Guillermo’s perspective when imagining a relationship with him.

And now, change Guillermo’s gender. Imagine it being a woman who’s going through this. It’s putrid toxic when you think about it like that. And to think “she” would receive Nandor’s respect and equal footing once she became a vampire same as him — uhh... No, please, thank you. It’s less fun and more this is problematic when the tables turn, isn’t it?

Not to mention how open the vampires’ relationships and sex lives are, they are not monogamous. Guillermo is a very repressed and private Catholic, he wouldn’t be able to handle Nandor and Laszlo’s trysts. He has his own journey to go through for him to be also into open relationships because Nandor sure as hell won’t turn monogamous for him, this is wwdits.

Which is why the progress of “work relationship” to “official declaration of friendship” over the course of season 4 & 5 is very important in their dynamic, because it takes things into a more attentive, caring and intimate territory in which both openly care for each other beyond being Master and Familiar. They both grew tremendously as individuals. Guillermo admits he loves Nandor the most, Nandor is finally able to say that Guillermo is his friend and openly do acts of service and somewhat redeem his selfish actions in s4 when he was lashing out making dumb decisions and actively self-sabotaging because he was given the power instead of confronting leftover problems he was repressing from s3.

This solidifies their connection, makes it something undeniable that it affects a vampire who immediately is able to move on from another’s death. You’re shown again and again how they react to death and how insignificant it is to them, yet Nandor is close to tears when he thinks Guillermo is dead, falls to his knees even, and is even more disturbed and outraged when he thinks Laszlo is violating his corpse.

For the first time you see that more than an unhealthy codependency or a symbiotic relationship between a vampire and a slayer bodyguard/familiar, Nandor is emotionally attached to Guillermo.

Like, really attached that he will actually be kind and giving and forgiving — not only did he violate a vampire society taboo to kill a fellow vampire, but also overcame the pride and humiliation because he finally realizes Guillermo is much more important to him and that he actually doesn’t want to kill him when the anger lets up enough for him to see that. (Thank you Patton Oswald for your service)

And we don’t stop there. He accepts him as an equal and invites him to live together in the house, which proves that even when he was a slayer bodyguard Nandor didn’t see him as an equal, and after Guillermo is having problems with the killing side of being a vampire, he doesn’t humiliate or shame Guillermo through this. You‘d think he and the vampires would make fun of him endlessly, but they let Nandor organize this intricate ritual so all of them together can allow Guillermo’s decision to be as authentic and without pressure and shame as possible. You’d think that ritual room was prepared by Guillermo but everything is done by Nandor, so he proves he’s not entirely unable to function as a normal being who can live by himself, he’s just dramatic and likes to be pampered.

If you thought The Roast was an incredibly generous nandermo episode for me to think we collectively hallucinated it like a Goncharov moment, this final episode is downright fanfic. Nandor has never been this nice with Guillermo, EVER.

All of this is done right after Nandor’s official admitting that Guillermo is his friend. This is a crucial step in their relationship for Nandor to consider Guillermo to be more, and Guillermo to question just what they are.

And love can only work where there’s mutual affection and respect for one another. And the writers are gradually working up to achieve that while tackling individual character arcs for nandor and guillermo to get there.

The power imbalance I’m talking about is a thing that exists beyond the powers they hold over the other’s head, it is about what they think of each other as. What Nandor is to Guillermo, and what Guillermo is to Nandor.

They could only become canon without it being toxic is when Nandor can look at Guillermo and think — “This is my friend and not my servant” and when the carrot of vampirism isn’t hanging in front of Guillermo and he’s naturally an actual part of the friend group (so that he wouldn’t be mistreated while he’s Nandor’s partner too.)

And I really don’t think nadja out of nowhere saying “my best friend” about laszlo was a coincidental writing choice.

And we’re nearly there at this point. Mister Nandor nobody can betray me and get away with it the Relentless just let Guillermo get away with it, and not only that, he fixed everything for him. Everything. He didn’t even get jealous that Guillermo had a choice in staying human when he obviously would kill to be human in season 3. He just went “I will fix”. It’s the most selfless thing he did in the entire series and he only got competent and smart when it was Guillermo in question — he wanted to fix the friendship.

And in episode 8, he told Baron Afanas — “whatever Guillermo’s flaws may be [...]”

That suggests Nandor doesn’t see any flaw in Guillermo, and is unaware if they do in fact, exist. He genuinely likes Guillermo, enough to cry and mourn when he thinks him dead, enough to snap at the Baron and defend him until the end, enough to clutch his favorite sweater like a shock blanket. It was this episode that cemented Guillermo as indisposable to Nandor, and the season finale to establish how far Nandor would go and soften himself up (change) if it was for Guillermo’s sake, he’s never been that tender and considerate, ever with Guillermo,

and you could say at that point it could be because they were “equals” as vampires but Nandor knew what he would choose — the focus on his hands when he’s personally dressing guillermo (pride and prejudice hand flex, dont @ me). "don't be nervous we've all been through it" (gentle). "nothing you cannot handle" (encouraging). Making up an intricate ritual so that he wouldn’t feel pressured or stressed or shamed. "you wanna be a human, there's no shame in that". (These vampires clown on EVERYONE) "we're gonna make it happen". "you want me to do it?". "I don't know" "I do". Keeping Guillermo's old or spare glasses in his pocket like it was something he came across while he was destroying Guillermo’s things like some lover scorned and he saved it like it was some keepsake. “I'm sorry, Guillermo. That was the only way for you to figure out what you actually wanted”. The hand on his shoulder to comfort him and the patting. “It was a horrible and hard decision. I think you made the right choice.” (Nandor himself would have killed derek in a heartbeat if it was his decision to return to being a human, but he still spared Guillermo’s feelings because he knows how hard it was for Guillermo. Since when is Nandor considerate about another person’s feelings? Guillermo is special.)

He was so very unexpectedly gentle and he’s never ever been that way and I am still in shock about his honesty and the effort he’s put into helping. This was the biggest gift he could have given Guillermo, not the vampirism, but a way out of it when he didnt want it anymore, a choice. And he wouldnt have done that if he didnt deeply care for Guillermo —

And with that, we’re almost out of the toxicity zone into a yet new dynamic with them, one that isn’t about who’s dominant and who’s submissive, but them finally being able to stand on equal ground, if Guillermo isn’t asking for vampirism from Nandor anymore and isn’t implicitly going back to being his familiar.

If they’re going towards a romantic relationship, this was an important border to cross and a topic finally handled the way it needs to be addressed. The one thing that’s causing a chain of command in their relationship is gone. And anything can happen. Anything.

I don’t believe that line about cleaning up Derek’s body was meant to imply Guillermo was back to being a familiar for Nandor and that we are back to square one. His phrasing was extremely polite — “Now if you wouldn’t mind cleaning up Derek’s corpse before sunrise that would be great”. That’s not an order. Derek is Guillermo’s mess, so he has to handle it himself, it’s like saying “I’ve done all this and I even killed him for you, and the rest is yours to deal with,” — it’s like saying “I cooked, you do the dishes”, and Nandor is giving him space to deal with his decision, hell, he didn’t even tell Guillermo to clean everything else like he normally would, now that would suggest back to the status quo.

Season 5 was fucking HUGE for nandermo and all of guillermo’s dynamics with everyone. It still feels like a fever dream to be honest. They really went and got rid of what was clogging up the progress of their relationship. They’re just. Happening naturally. It’s a slowburn if it’s meant to happen eventually and the writers are being really careful with doing things in the right way for it to not become toxic.

You just gotta have some faith in the team and wait for it.

In conclusion: Yes fucked up relationships are fun. until it’s canon and people are making discourse on the internet about how abusive it really is when it could have been handled better. The ross and rachel-ification of nandermo is the last thing we need.

There’s definitely things I’ve missed because im purely making this post on mobile and it’s not as coherent as I’d like it to be, if I have, please don’t hesitate to tell me.

#nandermo #guillermo de la cruz #nandor the relentless #wwdits meta #wwdits #what we do in the shadows #wwdits s5 #wwdits spoilers #wwdits season 5

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wylanslcve · 5 days

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So if you've been following me on Instagram you would have seen me say recently that I've decided to take a step back from posting/sharing/creating Grishaverse content due to what Leigh Bardugo said (or rather what she didn't say) about the situation in Palestine. For context, during the press tour for The Familiar, an audience member asked Leigh about the justification for non-BIPOC authors profiting off BIPOC stories yet not advocating for real-life BIPOC people (since Leigh has been silent on Palestine since October, despite having expressed solidarity with Palestine in the past).

The video (which you can watch here) has been circulating the internet for a while, and I've already spoken about this on Instagram. I just forgot I had Tumblr for a second there, hence why I'm only addressing this now despite having already spoken about this. However, as someone who has an entire online presence dedicated to Leigh's work, it would be wrong and rather hypocritical of me to not address this.

Disclaimer: This is not a conversation about whether or not white/white-passing authors should be allowed to write BIPOC stories, as many people both in the comments of the original video and online generally have taken it. The issue isn't that Leigh is writing BIPOC stories - it's that she's writing them and choosing not to advocate for real BIPOC people.

The audience member asked a confronting but necessary question, and isn't harassing Leigh as many people online have interpreted it. Holding your favourite people accountable isn't "harassment", especially when that person is a successful author profiting off stories that reflect issues in the real world. Art is inherently political whether or not you want to acknowledge it. This also isn't about specifically asking Leigh this question because she's Jewish - it's because she profits off these stories and yet when these exact same issues are prevalent in the real world, suddenly they're "too political" for her to speak up about despite having expressed solidarity in the past. It has nothing to do with her being Jewish.

However, what's going on in Palestine isn't a political issue. It's basic human rights. It's about humanity, and acting as if posting about this issue is "performative" is ridiculous. I don't know what she's doing behind the scenes, so I'm not going to act as if she isn't doing anything outside of social media because I simply don't know, but when you have an online presence as big as Leigh's you should be using that platform to raise awareness and express solidarity. I understand that it's very easy to come across as "performing activism", especially on social media, but Palestinians have asked us time and time again to use our platforms to help raise awareness and amplify their voices. When you're someone like Leigh who profits off stories of the trials and tribulations of BIPOC people, the very least you can do is talk about the atrocities being committed against BIPOC people in real life.

No one is expecting you to be an expert on what's going on. If you've previously posted misinformation, why not learn from it and actually educate yourself and do better? You're literally an author who profits off stories of colonialism, oppression, dissemination, apartheid, segregation and genocide and suddenly that happening in real life is "too political"? And the amount of privilege you have to not want to get involved in talking about a real-life genocide because you "stopped being political on Instagram" is laughable. Just feeling sad about it isn't going to do anything. It doesn't erase the fact that an entire people are being ethnically cleansed in a genocide you refuse to talk about.

The Grishaverse means so much to me, it's gotten me through some extremely tough periods of my life, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support an author who chooses silence over her own humanity. All she had to say in response to that question was "free Palestine", but she instead said something akin to "I know about what's going on and I know silence and feeling sad about it probably isn't enough, but I'm just not going to do anything about it". Again, I know she's advocated for Palestine in the past, but why not continue doing so? No one is stopping her - she's actively chosen to stop.

As for my accounts? I'm still deciding what to do with them. I won't be deleting them, I'm not going anywhere, but I won't be posting edits or sharing analyses or general posts about the Grishaverse until Leigh decides to do better. This blog will probably turn into a multifandom blog, but who knows at this point. All I know is that I won't be promoting Leigh's work.

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otomehoneyybearr · 4 days

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Act 12

Episode 9: Emergency Meeting

Working w/ Maybelle Lace

Note: As you read, you will see that some sentences highlighted in a different color, this is what they indicate. Pink: Flashback Blue: Characters are acting

❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀

Zen: Are ya'll okay?

Syu: They've done one hell of a job.

Izumi: Zen, Syu, you all came too.

Kasumi: We saw the news and rushed here. Is everyone alright?

Yuzo: Anyone hurt?

Izumi: We’re fine. Thanks for worrying about us.

Sakyo: At any rate, we need to make an official announcement as a theater company.

Manager: We've received a large number of inquiries.

Izumi: In order to reassure the fans, we need to announce that no one was injured.

Sakyo: And about the show tomorrow...

Sakyo: I’ve already prepared statements for both partially canceling and fully canceling performances.

Yuzo: You work fast, kiddo.

Sakyo: We have to decide which one we're going to use as soon as possible.

Izumi: Let's discuss and decide it with all the troupe members.

Tenma: Either partially cancel or fully cancel all the shows...

Misumi: I don't like either one~.

Kazunari: But we have to choose one.

Yuki: Since we sold so many tickets for the live streams, if we refund all the money now, it'll be a significant loss.

Sakyo: I haven't done an estimate yet, but it would be pretty grim.

Kumon: Then, maybe we could do it in a different theater!

Azami: Yeah, that's probably the best way to minimize losses.

Tasuku: Even if we found a theater for now, we'll still need to find a new place going forward. It'll be difficult performing without our own theater.

Tsumugi: It may take some time until we get something of similar quality.

Tasuku: It will be seen by a large audience via streaming, and above all, it'll be an important performance with the Fleur Award at stake.

Tasuku: It’d be best to cancel all the performances and rebuild.

Homare: I think it would be best if that could be done, but wouldn't there be risks for having such a large gap between the first part and the second part of the performance?

Tsuzuru: Even with the archive streaming, I'm still worried about whether people will interpret it as a standalone story or that it'll be forgotten entirely.

Kazunari: And right now is the perfect time for the new Mankai Company to attract attention.

Muku: I was planning on doing my best for the show tomorrow...

Taichi: It’s just too much!

Omi: This must be why they've chosen this exact timing to take such measures to ensure our destruction.

Juza: Damn it, we can’t forgive this.

Banri: On another note, I'm also concerned about the threatening email we received.

Azuma: It's possible that it’s just a threat, but we can't go on with a performance if the audience will be affected.

Guy: We need to think of a different approach to handle this.

Masumi: Should we have no audience?

Chikage: That is one option.

Citron: Let us change our name to Manzai Company, and fool our enemies!

Tsuzuru: They'll definitely find us out right away!

Hisoka: Marshmallow Company...

Chikage: The name isn't the issue here.

Itaru: Whatever method we go with here, there'll be pros and cons to it.

Izumi: As the lead role, what do you think about this, Sakuya?

Sakuya: Well... I understand that there's not much we can do about our current situation...

Sakuya: But, if possible, I’d like to bloom the precious "seeds" that we inherited from the first generation members of Mankai Company.

Sakyo: However, we don’t know when the Mankai Theater will be rebuilt...

Izumi: (What should we do? I'm still in shock from the fire and can't think properly.)

Izumi: (I'm sure everyone else feels the same way too, considering our precious theater fell into disrepair right before the performance.)

Izumi: (At times like this, I have to be strong, but…)

Manager: W-We have a bit of a problem here!

Izumi: ?

Executor: Pardon the intrusion.

Sakyo: What’s going on?

Executor: This dormitory has been seized under a court order. Please vacate it immediately.

Manager: A foreclosure?!

Izumi: W-Wait a minute. What are you talking about?

Executor: If you are unwilling to move out, we will forcefully remove your belongings in a week.

Izumi: I-I’ll confirm this later! Please just leave for now!

Executor: ...Understood. We will return at a later date.

Izumi: ...

Tenma: What the hell is going on?

Syu: They've even gotten their hands on the dorms.

Zen: They’re pushing us into a corner.

Tsumugi: Do you know something about this?

Yuzo: Well, we should properly tell you guys about this.

Syu: The mastermind behind these incidents is a person who has harbored hatred for Mankai Company since its first generation.

❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀

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#a3! translation #a3! act addict actors #act! addict! actors!#a3! game

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soleminisanction · 10 months

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How much of Stephanie’s flaws do you think is character flaws and how much is sexist writing? Because while some stuff I’ve heard about her seemed like red flag, but I’m also wary of pointing them out because there’s so much sexism in DC Comics and I don’t wanna fall victim to sexist takes. Do you have any clarity on that conundrum?

That is, I think, a much more complicated question than you'd intended it to be. Let me narrow this down to just one flaw to show you what I mean:

In Steph's original appearance (Detective Comics #647-649), her one real "character flaw" is anger. It's what drives her to move against her father, sure, but it's also what nearly leads her to murdering him, it drives the conflict between her and Batman & Robin, and it's the reason Bruce describes her as being, quote, "on no one's team but her own."

When she's made a supporting cast member in Robin, however, the anger is still there, but it's no longer treated as a character flaw... partially because Chuck Dixon has a tendency to write angry characters as a default. Instead of being something that gets her into trouble, it's treated as a trait that makes her a "spitfire" full of "righteous anger," by which I mean Dixon used her as a mouthpiece to scream insults at anyone with an opinion he didn't like and had her beat up men that "deserved it," both with the assumption that readers will agree with her, because the narrative is on her side and portrays her as being in the right.

This is largely how Steph's anger is handled for the rest of her characterization, when the exception of one storyline written by Jon Lewis, who framed it more as a thing to get Steph sympathy -- it gets her into trouble at one point, sure, but is otherwise written with an undercurrent of, "this poor girl, the world has been so very mean to her, don't you just want to comfort her?"

The thing is, that treatment of her violent anger as something righteous and okay, where she's always in the right and the people she hurts always Deserve It? You can argue that that's a form of sexist writing, because there are scenes where she behaves abusively and it's not treated as abuse or even a bad thing, because she's a girl and women's abuse is not taken seriously. You even see this in how she's treated by the audience -- she's got basically the same anger issues as Jack Drake, and yet while interpreting Jack as a abusive is widely accepted by certain parts of the fandom, the same is not true of Steph.

Other people would argue that portraying her as angry at all is inherently sexist (and I don't agree with this, but I have heard people make this argument, stupid as it is) because it makes her look like a "shrew" or a "woman scorned" or otherwise plays into negative stereotypes of women's emotions.

Which then leads the modern version of her, colored by and primarily based on her portrayal in Batgirl (2009) by Brian Q. Miller, where Steph just, doesn't have anger issues, at all, or at least so the narrative would claim. She gets fired up in a fight, sure, but ~she doesn't have a mean bone in her body~ and is always so ~smiley~ and ~happy~ and just a ~sweet widdle polyanna~ who only wants to do ~the right thing.~

But see, that, ditching the anger issues entirely? That's also sexist! Women should be allowed to be angry and still have the potential to be treated as heroes! Getting rid of it because you can't think of how to make a woman with anger issues into a likable and compelling character is sexist! Especially because it takes away her initial motivation and doesn't replace it with anything.

And that's just kind of how it is for all of the traits you could call her character flaws. The only ones we can say for sure are deliberate are those that wind up contributing to the plot, and even then, they very well might have some sexist writing wrapped up in them.

It's really not a simple black or white situation. But like I mentioned in one of my other posts, I ultimately think that the best way to address both deliberate character flaws and sexist writing is to work them into the plot and make them matter, resolve and explore them somehow, rather than trying to toss them away and pretend they never happened. That option is just as sexist as any other, and it's also unsatisfying and lazy. There's a long history of comics that proves people can do better.

#dc comics asks #stephanie brown critical #apologies if this one is rambly I had trouble getting my thoughts together

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viviski · 2 years

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Rise of the tmnt has some of the best characterization that I've ever seen. I have some plot related criticism (which becomes unimportant given the target audience of the show, you know children don't notice plot holes lmao) but I can analyze the characters much more than any big shot Marvel or Disney movie I've seen.

So here we go (remember this is my own free interpretation and analysis, I am well aware that I might get things wrong):

Each of them are smart in some ways but dumb in others:

Donnie: academically smart, technology genius, very hard working, determined, passionate but has a hard time understanding emotions (which doesn't necessarily prevent him from being considerate though)

Raph: common sense smart, responsible, experienced ("Do not eat THE POISON!"), but he's bad at strategizing (his plans are kinda bad lmao) and he can't keep his cool under pressure sometimes

Mikey: emotions and feelings smart (heck, even Dr. Delicate Touch gets the job done when he wants to take care of a situation) but completely lacks common sense (this may be due to him being younger than the others though)

Leo: he's plain smart. He's really good at strategizing, tricking people, he knows the right thing to say to people at the right time, he can keep his cool under pressure, BUT he's lazy and inconsiderate at times. Also very academically dumb (like come on who doesn't know what "nigh" means lol)

I could make an allignmennt chart out of this. And a circle:

Leo can do what Raph can't (strategy), Raph can do what Mikey can't (common sense), Mikey can do what Donnie can't (empathy) and Donnie can do what Leo can't (working hard).

[One note about Leo and Donnie: it's so on point that Leo is lazy because achieving things come very easy and natural for him, thanks to his social skills and quick thinking, while Donnie has to work hard by making machines (I mean for him it's actually easy and fun but it's still a lot of work) and using creativity to invent new things that can help him through everyday life. Both of these ways of living are effective though very different. In their case, one can't do the other. Now it's not like Leo and the others never work hard, but Donnie is on an exceptional level so that's more of his thing, just like everyone else is on an exceptional level on their own thing.]

And that's why they're 1) the perfect team because they complete each other 2) the perfect cast of characters because every viewer (mostly teens of course) can relate to at least one of them (if not all of them)

There's also some parallels and things in common with all the characters too (they are brothers after all) even if it's for completely different reasons:

Donnie and Leo both have high self esteem (most of the time), which sometimes develops into arrogance and self centered behavior, but mostly because they're actually hiding insecurity

Mikey and Raph are both very considerate of others and are always concerned about everyone (even though Raph is like that because of his morals, he feels like it's his "duty", while Mikey is just a spread love kinda guy lmao) and naive

Both Raph and Donnie are well aware of their responsibilities (Raph saved Leo and Donnie shielded Mikey in the film)

Mikey and Leo are both good at socializing

Leo and Raph are both leaders (Raph more as a caretaker while Leo more as a guide) who occasionally don't trust their fellow team members and take burdens all on their own (just look at the entire plot of the movie lol)

Mikey and Donnie are very different, I can't remember anything they have in common at the moment but maybe that's just me

Lastly, it's so great and well written how everyone changes across the show:

Raph learns to trust his brothers more and to not take burdens all on his own (the season two finale was all about that)

Leo learns to be more trustworthy, less arrogant, and more responsible as he does things prepared to face the consequences in the end (mainly in the movie, in the show he doesn't have a lot of character development)

Donnie learns to accept and be open minded about others even if he can't fully understand them (he realizes that he can't "fix" his siblings, but he actually needs them for who they are) and he also learns that others do the same for him (that time April told him something like "we don't like you because of your tech, we like you because of you" had me sobbing)

Mikey becomes generally more competent, mainly in fighting? Cause he can throw entire cruise ships and buildings? I can't really think of more deeper character development, he's the nicest loving ray of sunshine ever even though he can be harsh if necessary, he's a pretty balanced guy that's all. But maybe I missed something I dunno

I can really do some high school literature homework level analysis lmao this show is amazing

#rottmnt #rise of teenage mutant ninja turtles #three weeks ago I wouldn't ever have thought that I could make a whole essay of freaking ninja turtles but here we are #I am a sucker for good writing #even more if I don't expect it #april and splinter are also incredibly well written but I got lazy so I did only the turtles #maybe some other time #long post

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heliianth · 1 year

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re: the lion-turtle - that's about my opinion as well. but you went on to explain that energy and lightning are metaphors for themes in ATLA, i don't have a good enough understanding of this so i feel as if i missed a point you made on fixing the plot of sozin's comet. thx for answering!

okay, so first of all. this is going to be long

this is what i said:

“energybending and lightningbending are both very thematically entrenched and metaphorically dense practices within the show, but the former needs groundwork, because all we have in the show is the conclusion of what it represents and not what its trying to say about aang as a person.”

and yk what, i kind of take back the descriptors “entrenched” and “dense” being applied to energybending, because its not exactly clear to me what it is supposed to mean other than “unbreakable spirit,” which is said during exposition. my conclusion may not even occur to someone else, whereas lightningbending is very clearly used as a narrative device and metaphorical tool and its meaning can be easily recognized by any viewer paying attention

im going to address this by way of talking about lightningbending specifically, because i feel like if i illustrate why that is a good metaphor, it might be easier to see what i wanted from energybending, because i simply cannot address both in the way id prefer when limited by a tumblr ask.

lightningbending has 6 significant thematic moments from what i can remember, all of which center around control and/or abuse. thats my “thesis”, i guess.

2x1; azula is practicing it on her ship

azula, as everyone whose dipped toes into atla can understand, is a character who is centered around the 2 ideas i mentioned: control and abuse, both of which inform the other. azula seeks control in almost every situation she's put in because abuse has conditioned her into obsessive perfectionism and this causes her to abuse others, illustrating a clear cycle of violence which she buckles under later. introducing lightningbending not only using her character but directly following it up with this moment:

sets up a thematic relation that is elaborated on in every instance i'll go onto mention. and it always involves members of the fn royal family, which is explicitly written as an abusive dynamic.

2x10, where iroh is attempting to coach zuko so he can use it himself. here we are told the following:

this is my interpretation, but whereas the introduction with azula is framed emphasizing control (considering a first-time audience would be unaware of how azula relates to the cycle of abuse at that point), the way lightning is described here is all about the former theme, abuse. words like cold-blooded give an apathetic or even sadistic tint to it as a practice and even the process of creating it—forcibly separating energies and bringing them back together in a violent collision, the direction of which the bender controls—is one that invokes a certain type of imagery.

zuko’s subsequent inability to lightningbend, instead resulting in explosions, is linked inherently to his own trauma in a way that iroh recognizes. instead, he teaches zuko lightning redirection:

notably, a technique learned by being considerate and appreciative of waterbending—discovered by an open mind*

lightning redirection, thematically, is the “freedom and healing” juxtaposition to lightningbending’s “control and abuse”.

after zuko gets a hang of it, he asks iroh to shoot lightning at him so he can practice, and iroh refuses based on the danger.

now, itd be perfectly reasonable to say i’m overexaggerating here, but to me this scene reads as an extension of zuko’s near-suicidal disregard of his own well being in favor of progress. whereas azula’s abuse has conditioned her into seeking control, zuko’s has taught him that achievement is necessarily sandwiched between and synonymous with pain. suffering has been his teacher, if you will.

meaning “hurt me so i can learn from it!”

and iroh denies him this. he says:

meaning “you do not have to hurt right now, or at all”

but zuko is not lucky, he is obviously still deeply stuck within his own ideas of struggle and pain, which is why he seeks it out himself when iroh will not provide it to him:

if previously lightning has not been illustrated as a tool of abuse, it is cemented here on the mountain

where zuko screams at the world (and, commonly considered, his father at some subconscious level) that it’s never held back, and to just hit him because he can take it now. that he is strong because he has been abused, and he is weak because he has been hurt by it. and he breaks down because it will not give him what he thinks will prove himself (which is, again, suffering)

chronologically, the third moment is in 2x20 when aang is shot by azula with lightning:

though i feel like 3x1 addresses the consequences of this if lightningbending is indeed representative of what i say it is. i’ll keep this brief because i dont want to narrate the premise of a whole episode, but aang being killed by azula’s lightning causes both zuko to return to an abusive situation and relinquish control over his own destiny back into the hands of azula and ozai, it also causes AANG to seek control and lose faith in himself as well as his friends’ ability to help him*. which is appropriate for what lightningbending has been set up as thematically

the direct thematic followup to the second one, in 3x11, the day of black sun ii—

when zuko confronts ozai, he is not seeking validation or repentance. it is for his sound of mind solely. hes spent the whole series dogmatically hanging onto propaganda, toxicity, and anger as a way to cognitively distance himself from his own victimization. but now hes realized “what an amazing lie that was”, and he can begin restructuring himself as someone who is free from all of it, and then can try helping the world restructure itself as an extension (because zuko unlearning the fn’s imperialism has always been deeply intertwined with him processing and acknowledging his own trauma/abuse) . but ozai cannot resist hurting him one last time by weaponizing ursa in order to trick zuko into lingering after the eclipse

and the audience, despite experiencing such a dramatic relapse after s2 and many smaller relapses before then, knows zuko’s growth is true because he redirects it. ozai’s lightning, his abuse and conditioning and manipulations, are rendered ineffective:

--> “you cannot hurt me anymore”

we return to azula in 3x20. during the final agni kai, zuko provokes azula into “ending it” by shooting lightning, intending to redirect it.

and azula, who has since then lost the control she desperately needs for self-recognition and esteem, aims at katara standing behind zuko, instead.

(interestingly, this second shot of azula is EXTREMELY similar to the closeup in 2x1)

ive seen quite a few interpretations of this scene, but to be on-topic, i think this is supposed to (literally) illuminate how azula copes with her own abuse, which is to seek her own victims. historically this has been zuko, sometimes mai and ty lee at other intervals. but mai and ty lee are gone, and zuko is no longer someone she can hurt without consequence, so she does what she always does: aims it at someone uninvolved. she perpetuates the cycle of abuse because she does not know how to do anything else to make herself stop hurting.

then, obviously, this:

this scene has a lot of thematic density and im unsure how to unpack my feelings on it. despite the focus of this analysis being on the action of lightninbending and redirecting it, i think the important thing is not that zuko is hit by the lightning, its that he selflessly jumps in front of it, partially redirects it, then is healed by a friend, and turns out okay*. the last three parts are the key, there, imo (and obviously this is also really important for katara as a character but this analysis would get soooooo long and unfocused if i talked about every character’s arcs in every scene ive mentioned)

the last lightningbending moment i want to point out (which actually happens earlier than the one in the final agni kai, oops) is another one during 3x20, where aang catches ozai’s lightning:

—hesitates—

—and redirects it into the air.

this represents aang simultaneously denying ozai’s power AND aang also refusing fatal retribution as an extension of ozai’s (and ozai’s ancestors’) beliefs—it is not a statement of healing from ozai’s abuse in the way zuko’s relationship to lightning has always been, but rejecting his control over aang’s narrative and the future of the world. ozai has created a world, “[his] world!”, where anything he cruelly considers weakness is criminal and justice is violence; he wants the avatar to play by these rules, and by not killing him with the tool he has created, thematically aang rejects his world too.

ozai later says (paraphrased) “your people did not deserve to live in this world” and aang proves him wrong from this scene onwards.

the 2 final scenes i talk abt, i think, are important to understanding lightningbending as a narrative device. the last times we see it are its hurt being healed (with the power of love and friendship, ofc) in 5, and then what it represents being rejected on principle in 6. lightningbending is not only used as a badass action setup, it also acts as a tool for a specific idea to be introduced and advanced in tandem with and informing the related characters’ development. then, its final uses appropriately say things about two of the most important characters in the series (zuko with 5 and aang with 6) and the resolution of their arcs.

hopefully this made my point easier to understand, and now its more clear that energybending Both introduced a good idea by hearkening back to “separation is illusory” (which is one of the more poignant themes in atla, imo) and is unfortunately not as strong metaphorically as lightningbending, which is very similar but is much more rich

#heliianswers #long post #atla #sorry for the wonky cropping on the screenies i got them from like 3 different sites and 1 google search. god bless #also the asterisks are supposed to link the marked topics together. i just didnt know how to explain how they were connected succinctly LOL #cuz this shit already big enough

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neokonewman · 2 years

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I don't care for how some fans make Varian's father out to be abusive (especially in fan fics). I can't tell you how much I dislike this take on Quirin as a father. At most he was a bit emotionally distant, which is not the same as being abusive. Varian adored his father for a reason. Do you is like this take on him too?

This is a bit iffy in a sense that I believe neglect is certainly a form of abuse, but at the end of the day I don’t think Quirin is purposely neglecting Varian. It’s the unfortunate result of him being very busy, being emotional distant, and him honestly being a bit ashamed of Varian’s recklessness. His role of being the leader of Old Corona and his duty as a father puts him in a pretty tough situation when Varian’s inventions cause problems to the community, but at the same time, it’s his own personal failings as a father that prompts Varian to think he has to do’s something drastic to earn his love. S1 portrays this dynamic between the two of them pretty well in my opinion, both being fueled on concern for their home and each other, but being completely on the wrong page due to their own personal reasons.

Of course, you probably are more referrring to the common fandom trope of making a parent purposely physically and/or emotionally absuvie, which I do disagree with when regarding Quirin. Being both a deeply concerned, but ultimately distant parent are the majority of Quirin’s character flaws, but he never seems malice in his intentions. I think Quirin unfortunately falls into the purposely abusive trope in fanon works because it’s common in general for fandom’s to write flawed parents as such. There is also some projection at play in how people read certain scenes in the show, and the moment when giant Quirin intimidatingly looms over small Varian and orders him into silence can have lots of interpretations to the audience.

As for Varian’s adoration for his father. I do believe it is warranted because again, Quirin does show that he cares for him, albeit in subtle ways. Plus based on my interpretations of Varian, he seems to be a kid who, while is out of control due to a lack of supervision and direct guidance, he was raised to at least show respect to his social betters which I’m sure his father being the leader of the village plays a role in enforcing. Varian’s main goal at the beginning of his arc is to do something amazing and useful for his community, which must be inspired by Quirin’s role as the reliable and solemn leader of Old Corona. That coupled with the shame of his inventions causing problems could easily lead to Varian idolizing his seemingly much better put together father.

In short, I personally don’t see as Quirin as purposely and/or overtly abusive, but I do think his failings lead him to unintentionally neglect his son which leads to some sort of abuse in that extent. Also while I don’t agree with the take on Quirin being a more intentionally abusive parent, I can at least understand why some members of the fandom read him as so.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel’s tangled adventure #tts #rta #tangled discourse #not really a criticism since i actually enjoy how he is portrayed as in s1 #quirin #tts quirin #rta quirin #tts varian #rta varian #varian the alchemist #neo answers #neo muses #clearwhispersblizzard

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fission-mailure · 1 year

Text

There’s a weird thing where, in discussing the viewpoint and especially the viewpoint on good and evil that a fictional work takes, people have a tendency to just sort of press what they think should be that fiction’s viewpoint rather than taking it as what it is.

So, one example I see a lot (because I have a lot of Star Wars fans on my dash, even though I’m fairly lukewarm on the franchise) is “The Sith aren’t evil, they’re passionate, they’re emotional. The Dark Side isn’t evil, it draws power from emotion and passion, good or bad, and the Light Side isn’t good, it just draws power from cold reason.”

And that’s a really compelling idea for a magic system, wherein there’s an emotional side and a logical side, and one gets miscast as evil and the other good. But it’s not what Star Wars is going for. Star Wars could not be more explicit in its viewpoint that the Light Side is good and the Dark Side is evil, that this is a universe in which morality is a tangible, living thing, where using the Dark Side relies on using hate, fear, and cruelty and will naturally corrupt its users mentally, spiritually, and physically. Whether you think that’s good or bad writing is up to you, but it is what it is.

Another thing I’ve seen hit with this, although I’m even less invested in this one, is Steven Universe, where people often go “You’re meant to think Steven and his Gem Pals are fucked up because they’re forgiving and enabling fascism,” and just -- no, that’s just not the viewpoint of the story. You might think, as an audience member, that it’s fucked up and bad writing, but within the story’s own thematic compass, all crimes can be redeemed with soul-searching and taking responsibility. That is what the story is trying to put forward here. You can agree or disagree, but that is the moral and thematic fabric of that universe.

And I bring this up because being able to recognise that something is presenting a viewpoint outside of your own is kind of an important skill for just -- any adult to have. It’s the skill you use when evaluating news sources (what angle is this news source trying to present to me, how do I identify that angle without being explicitly told what it is), which is a skill a lot of people seem to lack. It’s the skill you use when doing literary interpretation of any fictional work, whether it be a book, a movie, a video game, etc, because any kind of literary analysis requires the ability to identify what it is the author was trying to say. It’s the skill you use when evaluating information given to you by people you know, especially when that information is conflicting -- and you will one day have to do that, because every person on the planet will eventually get caught up in a situation with friends or family where there’s a conflict and both sides claim different things.

These are skills we train on fiction. If your reaction to any kind of fictional universe is to try and wedge it into the mold of your own ideas of how things should work, you’re depriving yourself of the ability to hone those skills.

Also, you look like a fucking idiot.

#star wars #steven universe #fiction

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matan4il · 2 years

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Can I piggyback here a little. A few days ago you mentioned writing a post about 2 people and perceptions and interpretation. Would love to read it if you do BTW . But in regards to your reply to an anon about them being back to their preAnna relationship I was hoping to add something and hear your take.

Firstly I do agree with what you said, and I'm kind of just wording this differently then you did, but again I'm going back to your original point of perception. I think it's almost impossible for them to ever return to just being "best buds". To much has happened and what I think hasn't been addressed with them is the insecurities they both might have of the other potentially entering into another relationship. Like I think that's the tension.

And with that I think that's honestly a large portion of the audience also. When he first started seeing Anna I thought, ok they are gonna make them straight now. And then Buck landed Taylor. Their was a tiny amount of my brain that was like OK they paired them off this will become sort of a joke. The common bro/work husband comedy trope.

But now. Like now no. As just an audience member we got to see the uncomfortableness of Eddie with a women. How much Buck was unable to emotionally connect with someone else. And that's not something we all as a whole come back from. There is just to much history even for the viewers.

I guess I mean like where they can't go back to their "we are normal single bros forever " Era because they just are so different. Also I can never go back either.

Does that make sense?? Sorry I was so long winded. I hope I didn't make your vertigo worst!!! Hope you have an amazing day.

Hi lovely Nonnie!

I hope it's ok to ask you to send me a link to that ask? I just wanna make sure I respond to the right context...

Regarding Buddie and the ask about the pre-Ana situation, I don't think they were ever just buddies. I think they had this massive attraction to each other from the get go that they didn't understand, and it was always underscoring their friendship, making it so much more intense than a regular one from the get go. They may not realize it, but they have never IMO been just regular friends who slowly started developing feelings to each other, those were there from day one.

And I guess that's why I can say that I think they went back to their pre-Ana state, except the distance that they got to overcome made them even closer. I do believe they're still hovering in that area of knowing that they mean to each other more than anyone else ever has (outside of family) without yet realizing what it means. And I agree with you, there is tension around that 'coz of the question of what place do they have in each other's lives if one of them gets into a really serious r/s. I think that tension was there from early on as well, we see it when Eddie struts over as Taylor talks to Buck in 206. Mind you, I believe if the issue were Taylor and a sense of protectiveness over "the Evil Reporter", then Eddie would have come over earlier, when she was talking to Bobby. He didn't. Buck already means something else to him.

I LOVE you pointing out that their r/s could have just become the jokey "work husbands" type of running gag, but it didn't. I think 911 values them (and the audience's love for them) too much to redact them to that. And yes, I agree again, I think the audience has been too well fed with scenes of Buddie's intensity since at least the tsunami arc, signaling that there is no going back from Eddie's thumb on Buck's vulnerable pulse point, looking into his eyes and telling him there's no one more trustworthy in the world with Chris than him. The fact that this r/s has somehow become even more intense than that? No, the writers will never be able to sell the viewers any other serious Love Interests.

Nonnie, you do make lots of sense! And I'm thankful for your wonderful ask, I hope my reply managed to add anything to your own great points. As for the length, thank you for thinking of my vertigo! I'll confess, it is difficult for me to read, so I can't read some asks in one go, I have to do it in several parts, which is an additional reason why I'm slow with replies. I always feel bad about that, but it's either that, or not replying at all. Which I wouldn't wanna do when you took the time to share anything with me! So just... thank you for being considerate, and I hope you understand my slowness. xoxox

(and if anyone’s looking for it, here is my ask tag! xoxox)

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edoro · 2 years

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Honestly the only reason I tag stuff as don't ship is because of those people reblogging stuff of relatives or minors and adult tagging it with shippy stuff and at times they heavily promote that in a healthy way because it's fiction.

the bulk of the post you're referring to here was about someone tagging something as "don't SEE as ship," which is a completely ludicrous and absolutely unachievable amount of control to try to exert over how someone else interprets your artwork. you literally do not have either the right or the ability to control whether or not a person who, say, ships Lunter looks at artwork of Luz and Hunter hanging out and thinks, "aw, that's so cute :)" while imagining it in a romantic light, regardless of your intention as the artist.

like that is just flat out ridiculous. it's not rational or like, good for your own mental health or mood to be spending that much time worrying about what other people might be thinking.

as for the rest of it, like... anon i am very aware of why people tag stuff as "don't ship" or "x shippers dni," and i don't think that's, idk, a bad or unreasonable thing to do. like it's fine and reasonable to say "hey don't tag this as a ship" if that would in fact really upset you to see. a lot of times, though, in my experience, it ends up being kind of silly?

(also heads up you are for sure in the wrong place if you think i'm sympathetic to accusations of people Normalizing Romanticizing Immanentizing and Caramelizing actual real life abuse bc they write or draw incest/underage/rape/whathaveyou.)

in my personal experience, when i see that kind of message, it's usually one of the following situations:

there's absolutely no indication it's ship art whatsoever, and no reasonable person would assume it was; for instance, if you want to talk about incest shipping, the frequency with which i see art that in no conceivable way could be rationally interpreted as suggestive or incestuous tagged with "btw DO NOT TAG AS INCEST" is ridiculous. do you think people who ship fictional incest are like, completely unaware of how normal, healthy family relationships work? i'm not going to say it never happens, because i've been on the internet long enough to know that there's always That One Guy, but for the most part, if someone is plastering "BTW THIS ISN'T INCEST" all over pictures that are clearly not incest, then they're the one who is shoving the idea of incest shipping into everyone's face when nobody else brought it up, and it feels very defensive. there's nothing wrong with being made uncomfortable by it or not wanting people to tag/comment on innocuous posts referencing an incest ship, but just on my end i'm more in favor of blocking blogs whose content makes you uncomfortable rather than telling other people how they're allowed to interpret art. (i would also say like, "a person who reblogs/interacts w ship content reblogging/interacting w non-ship content" is not necessarily a person interpreting the non-ship content as ship content, but like, you're allowed to be uncomfortable and to block people who you don't want interacting w your stuff, it's fine.)

there's no indication that it's ship art, but somebody who does ship it is likely to enjoy the art because it features the characters in their ship having a positive interaction. this one is just like, shooting yourself in the foot engagement metrics-wise to a bizarre degree to me - if i return to my Lunter example up there, like, if you write or draw Luz and Hunter hanging out, then probably a significant chunk of your audience is going to be people who ship them?

it's genuinely ambiguous whether or not it's ship art or could be interpreted that way. at which point death of the author kind of kicks in. not to mention, i've seen like, a nonzero amount of art of siblings/family members that, frankly, did not come across as normal or healthy ways for family to be interacting, and "someone drawing something that looks real fucking weird but insisting it's totally normal" gets me a lot worse than "someone just outright admitting Yeah This Is Some Nasty Freak Shit That I Like," because you can avoid the stuff that's knowingly tagged and warned for, but you can't really avoid Weird Vibes or stuff people doesn't realize is messed up, you know?

so you know i mean. again. you GET to say whatever. and it's not wrong to be made uncomfortable by certain ships, whether they're dead dove type content or just ships that you really don't vibe with for literally any reason. i just think that insistently plastering any art of two characters who anyone ships, ever, with defensive messages that this is NOT ship art, is both silly and kind of joyless and also means you're spending more time worrying about the idea that someone else might think a thing you don't like than you're spending thinking about the things you like. and that also it's probably just more useful to block or mute people who interact with your art in ways that make them uncomfortable.

and also that it is absolutely ridiculous to try to tell people they're not allowed to look at your art and think about a ship, which is mostly what the original post was actually about.

#incest mention in the post as an example of Shipping Stuff People Often Dislike

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cross-my-heartt · 2 years

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And a little addendum: Do you think the other members of the Batch were able to see the grabbling hook attachment? Yes, it was night but Tipoca City burned pretty bright… Did they took aim at him despite it? And they also aimed at him in the training room just following Hunters lead (Cross wasn't a danger at this moment and tried to proof before that he wants to protect them ie shooting his squad. What is your opinion on these actions? (Okay, I stop making myself cry about that two episodes 😞)

Ok this took me a while to think about but I think I have something of an explanation after rewatching those scenes again.

I think they did see it because it was bright enough for them to see each other (they could see Crosshair well enough to aim at him) and he would have had to take that attachment out of his pack which would have been conspicuous.

Before I go on, I'll say that I'm not all too happy about how they treat him but I'll try and give them a good excuse. I certainly don't think they took into consideration how it would affect Crosshair because from his pov it's all pretty hurtful. A few well placed words could have softened the blow but I guess the batch were never too emotionally intelligent - that's Omega's thing.

To start with the training room, one thing to note is that at the moment of aiming at him, Hunter still believes Crosshair has his chip and he's right in fearing that the chip could kick in any moment. They know the chips can be faulty and activate unexpectedly from their experience with Wrecker.

After that we can't be sure if Hunter believes that Crosshair doesn't have his chip anymore. I think he has his doubts since he didn't see a scar in which case they should have dragged him onto the Marauder kicking and screaming if you ask me. Then there's the fact that Crosshair refused to say when he took the chip out. The audience assumes that it was after Bracca and the writers have encouraged that interpretation but the batch can't know for sure.

In Hunter's eyes, there's a chance Crosshair's actions on Bracca were his own and that makes him pretty dangerous even though the whole engine scene seemed like a plan to draw them out rather than kill them and he missed so many shots but I'll stop myself here. And again Hunter can't be sure about that.

So chipped or dechipped I think it's justified to think Crosshair can still potentially be dangerous.

One important detail, I believe, is that Hunter takes away Crosshair's rifle and pack after he stuns him. And Crosshair only gets his hands on them once he acts to save Omega which would explain the timing of them aiming at him. He didn't have his weapons before that, now he does. So they do it to disarm him.

Again, it's justified if they think there's still a chip in his head that can go haywire or if they don't know just how much of the Crosshair that was hostile towards them was himself.

My problem with this whole situation is how they handle the time in between those two scenes. If they think he still has a faulty mind control device in his head they could be more careful, more sympathetic. (ps Hunter sees Crosshair clutch his head just before they have the chip conversation)

If they do think he's turned they could be trying harder to figure out what went wrong or to convince him he's wrong. They know he feels hurt and betrayed because he's outright told them at this point, in pretty straight terms too. Yet they don't try to apologize, convince him it was a tough decision to make or try and reason with him that he's making the wrong choice because he's affected.

This refusal to talk paired with their suspicious treatment looks very bad from Crosshair's pov. All in all the few things they say aren't helpful. Is it because they're angry? Because his taunting is getting to them? Or maybe they're defensive because they're seeing the truth in some of what he says?

I don't know. But they're not handling it well and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.

It's pretty painful when you think that this whole tragedy could have been avoided with better communication.

Also because I'm mean, here's a screenshot of Crosshair when he sees Hunter aim at him in the training room:

(there's a tendency in the fandom to portray Crosshair as this mean, aloof and indignant guy but I think we forget how often he just looks lost and hurt)

So yeah these are my thoughts. I went a bit overboard but these are some good questions that are worth thinking about!

#tbb crosshair #the bad batch #tbb #star wars #my meta #I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts on this btw #as always my opinions lean in Crosshair's favor #he's someone I'm deeply attached to #but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear other perspectives

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