no one is safe

Simple comic featuring two characters labelled "favourite character existing" and "me" respectively. 'Me' raises their hand to blast an "aro beam" at their favourite character that has the aro pride flag colours.

Ive always thought tumblr badges were sorta dumb, but nono, I was mistaken. These boop badges are all that matters in the world now

Kind of a dilf, reblog

just saw that one post where Barbatos will purposefully rig a game of like chance or something else so that MC wins, and me personally I think thats fucking hilarious.

A single piece of dialogue has popped into my mind, but I am sick and sleepy and don't want to forget it before I have the mental power and energy to make something of it.

"You speak of forcing him to drink a paralytic. That is not the same as sedation."

"Yes."

"He will feel everything... he will feel the pain-"

"He will. And I will watch."

You think the worst that can happen to your favourite character is death? Oh, you sweet summer child.

Try "being butchered by the narrative, mischaracterised to their very core traits to fit into a predisposed plotline"

Because the people in charge don't like anyone taking the spotlight away from the Character Who Was Supposed To Be Fan Favourite™.

Or simply because they didn't care enough about the little person you liked.

Or you survive these trials intact, maybe the fandom would do the butchering with a popular fanon interpretation of the character so wrong, you question if you consumed the same media.

Soooo, I just remembered this lil bit from the newest Camp Camp episode…

Max still has half the stick from season one!! 😭😭😭

This is an edited repost of the Erzsebet Bathory character analysis I wrote yesterday that I refuse to let go to waste. I tried doing the right thing and tagging all of the necessary trigger warnings only for this post to be completely hidden from the Castlevania Nocturne and Erzsebet Bathory tags. Since I can't afford to tag the proper trigger warnings without being punished please do not read this post if discussions of rape or sexual assault triggers or upsets you in any way. I don't take these topics lightly and they are vital to this analysis of Erzsebet Bathory.

This post also contains major spoilers for this first season of Castlevania Nocturne.

This may seem presumptive of me to say but this thought has been stuck in my head for several hours: Erzsebet Bathory is the most rapist adjacent villainess I've ever seen without her actually being a rapist.

The first and smallest point against her is how often she mentions virgins. I know that Erzsebet's initial mention of virgin sacrifices is supposed to tie into the origin of her alter ego and consumption of Sekhmet but it's super fucking weird that it played into why she wanted to sacrifice Maria.

Next point against her is the lawyer's daughter. I'm not sure if this lady was a virgin but when she's first brought to Erzsebet she's already terrified and too dazed to fight back. It's obvious that she doesn't want to be there and that even if she did that she can't really express that desire. But Erzsebet still takes this lady out of a literal gilded cage, sits down and sits this lady on her dress to admire her despair before drinking her blood. The next time we see the lady she's still dazed. The only differences are that she's dolled up and seems more suggestible. Even with hundreds of people in this ballroom scene the lady is literally ignored by everyone except for Erzsebet who dances with her and parades her around for her own amusement. Everyone else knows that Erzsebet likes to make her victims suffer and they still refuse to acknowledge the lady because Erzsebet has made it clear that she's her possession. Hell the only person who is unhappy enough with Erzsebet to go rogue at this point is Olrox and he STILL IGNORES THIS LADY. When the lady is dragged outside to be fed on again without anyone batting an eye it reminds me of a rapist roofying their target and proceeding to do everything in their power to seem interested in their victim's well-being in order to take them to a second location. And no one speaks up since Erzsebet is the Harvey Weinstein, Prince Andrew or Thomas Jefferson of the vampire world; the embodiment of people in power getting away with abuse until the damage has already been done.

The last and biggest point against Erzsebet is the entire scene where she turns Tera into a vampire. For me personally that is just an allegorical rape scene and it's executed very well. Erzsebet makes her entrance at the abbey as a lioness of a woman, a literal predator who wants to take Maria as a sacrifice and turn her into a vampire to ensure Emmanuel the Abbot's loyalty. Tera protests and offers herself to Erzsebet instead. This is such blatant coercion that Tera refers to herself as the ram Abraham sacrificed to God instead of Isaac. And the only question or concern Erzsebet has at this point is if her sacrifice should be a virgin. The only reasons she accepts the sacrifice are Emmanuel's genuine love for Tera and the fact that Tera is a powerful sorceress. Once Erzsebet settles for Tera and physically lifts her to her level no one can stop her. Maria gets knocked out for trying and Richter gets bodied immediately after. Their only option is to get the hell out of there once Annette makes an opening and Richter rightfully runs for his life. Even Maria, the only person that could look back and see Tera turn, is knocked out and that feels like an intentional writing choice to give Tera one last shred of dignity. Erzsebet holds Tera really close in this sort of hug as she feeds on her and once she's fed she literally sits Tera on her lap for her turn to feed. Then Erzsebet cuts herself and the blood starts dripping down on Tera, starting at her skirt, going to her blouse and reaching her face. At first Tera doesn't react but then her body responds to the blood and she feeds even though she doesn't want to. Even though no one wants this for her. And that is exactly what it's like when someone has an unwanted orgasm. Tera's body is protecting itself the same way a victim of assault would and that paired with the blood on her skirt being reminiscent of the blood on a woman's thigh in the aftermath of an assault hammers home the rape allegory. It's very sad and uncomfortable to think of Tera's turn to vampirism this way but the thought lingers hours after like a grimy film on my brain.

I 100,000% believe that Erzsebet would have been an actual rapist if Netflix Castlevania didn't romanticize Lenore raping Hector and ending their relationship on friendly terms. Not to mention Sumi and Taka's sudden shift from allies to sexually assaulting Alucard out of spite. Castlevania Nocturne seems to shy away from rape and sexual assault in favor of allegories or moments so brief that I missed them unlike its predecessor. So I'm blaming the gratuitous depictions of sexual assault in Castlevania on Warren Ellis, the creator of Netflix Castlevania, who doesn't work on this show for a very good reason.

Everything from her size as Sekhmet to her tendency to torture women and girls before killing them contributes to the allegory of Erzsebet being the vampire equivalent of a rapist. She exudes power and not only does she enjoy making others feel helpless she's also great at it. She is a sadist without honor, willing to parade her lady victim of choice around vampire high society or hang a young girl on hooks to drain dry rather than let any of them die a quick death. The dragged out, needless suffering Erzsebet inflicts along with her preference for women and virgins frames her feeding as something more sexual in nature than the other vampire nobles who simply indulge in their gluttony. Even Olrox feeding on his former boyfriend isn't framed sexually, it's framed as a desperate, romantic gesture to keep his lover alive. And every vampire I remember from Castlevania has their feeding framed as a tool for political power or sheer, simple gluttony. Even the vampire general Cho was shown to be more of a tyrant or a general sadist clinging to power in Japan than a deviant.

Erzsebet's sheer sadism actually contrasts quite well with Dracula's humanity and restraint. He understood humanity, only feeding to survive or strike down the merchants who slighted him. (He probably also used feeding as a tool for political power but I don't think we saw that directly.) Dracula ultimately came to understand humanity so well that he fell for Lisa Tepes, the exemplar of what it means to be human. And that love is why I believe he respected Lisa's wishes and let her keep that humanity instead of turning her into a vampire. And after Lisa's death Dracula stopped feeding entirely, hoping to extinguish his life and take out as many people as he could because he believed that humanity should've been better. He believed that the people who lived alongside Lisa would've stood up for her and they betrayed her out of a mix of fear, religious reverence and apathy. Meanwhile Erzsebet doesn't care about humanity, seeing people like the lawyer's daughter as possessions or people like Tera and Emmanuel the Abbot as pawns to further her own rule. She might be taken aback by Drolta's death once she learns of it but there's an equal chance that she wouldn't even bat an eye.

So what do these points of analysis mean for Erzsebet and Tera's future dynamic as master and pawn? The one thing that's certain is that Tera has been fundamentally changed, forced into an unprecedented nightmare scenario that will drag her down a dark path. But I'm an optimist and I believe that Tera will ultimately be redeemed. She may never be human again but her humanity, her love for her son and daughter will save her soul. Ultimately I hope that Tera lives and recovers from the trauma of Erzsebet turning her. I hope that she goes home to her children and is taken in with open arms. But if Tera dies she will die as Tera, not as a pawn, and that is because Erzsebet could never kill her humanity.

I've seen many posts, and video essays, and what have you about how harmful it is for stories with disabled characters to "cure" them at some point of the story, or as their conclusion.

And I understand, I totally understand the reason why it is. We are a complete person with and without our disabilities, we do not need to be cured to be loved and understood. And society needs to learn that once and for all.

But as a disabled person myself... That is a kind of fantasy I relish in, sometimes. Not when it's a gift, or something easy, because I know that a path to recovery is anything but a walk in the park. I cannot really connect with those, and they anger me in a way. No, I'm talking about something like what Viktor does in Arcane.

He is fucking willing to awaken the void to be able to run and walk again, to save himself. And fuck if that doesn't resonate with me.

I am very aware that in the text, this is framed as a bad thing. It costs the life of a person, and there is no justification for that. I know that it is meant to represent an obsession with a future that cannot be, and how that is killing him, transforming him into something he is not.

But that boat scene is just... He runs, against the boats in the background, winning the race, for the first time in who knows how long, perhaps for the first time ever. A masterful parallelism with that scene with him as a child, when he couldn't keep up with his toy boat. The scream, the catharsis of being able to finally do it... The obsession with more that comes afterwards.

Fucking hell, I wish more stories would do that.

I know that ultimately this is framed as a bad thing, that he shouldn't be doing that. Probably the story would want him to accept reality and wait, patiently, for his inevitable demise. Probably, that's what the story thinks is the moral thing to do. Afterall, I am aware that in the original League of Legends lore Viktor is a villain. I know we probably aren't meant to sympathize with him.

But I cannot look at him and not see a part of myself in that struggle.

"but if it were me, I'd really wanna be, a giant woman"

stevens relationship with gender is so fascinating to me. his entire diamond days arc is a clear trans allegory, but more specifically reads as a transmasc allegory, what with everyone reffering to him as "rose" or "pink" and feminine terms despite his repeated insistence that he is *steven*. and yet he never actually corrects anyone when they use she/her. he only corrects his name. this was pointed out in the tags of that one post youve probably seen:

this post doesnt show it, but steven is delighted when blue said this. obviously you can read this as steven being glad that shes making an effort, even if incorrect, and is just choosing to let the wrong pronouns slide. but its never explicitly stated. and like i said, he never corrects she/her, he only corrects his name. although it is interesting that, by the time the movie rolls around, the diamonds have switched to he/him.

its also interesting to mention how excited he was to put on pink diamonds outfit, and also how quickly he took it off once he got the chance.

of course stevens relationship with his mother and his identity issues are going to play a big part in how he percieves his gender, given that for a large chunk of the show he actually belived they were the same person, at least to some extent. ("im my mom and my sister?! what kind of magical destiny is this?!). how would you define your "agab" when half your family is telling you that you are a centuries old alien called rose/pink who has no sex and used she/her? not to mention all of the various gender identities and pronouns his fusions have.

thats not even getting started on how the gems percieve gender, which is to say, they generally don't. gems are sexless beings and their society has no concept of gender, although after spending a long time on earth im sure the crystal gems have a better understanding (i actually could talk about the gems relation to human gender a lot more but ill save that for another time). for steven, a child raised by gems for a good chunk of his childhood- who use feminine terms as a default-i can see how that would lead to some interesting perceptions on gender presentation.

thats not even getting into stevens gender noncomformity. and while gender presentation doesnt necessarily have anything to do with your gender identity, its interesting to note and i just think its really cool that a male protagonist is so unapologetically feminine

also i could talk for days about connie and stevens knight/princess dynamic, and how it parallels pearl and roses, but in a healthier way that nips the whole "obssesive self sacrifice" thing in the (rose) bud as soon as steven notices it. but then id have to talk about pearl and then wed be here all day lol

so yeah, stevens relationship with gender fascinates me. I mean, does the concept of "cisgender" even apply in the way we usually mean it to, given stevens unique experiences?

GET BOOPED >:3

Idk why this is the only thing I’ve been thinking the last hour JXHSHHSNA

scum by lovejoy x generation loss pt. 1

I love a freeze response. I love a character who doesn't fight, or flee, or even fawn: someone whose whole body locks up and goes still, unable to save themselves or try to do anything at all, until it's too late.

I especially love when the story involves them fighting or finding their way out later on.

I asked Guess to bring back her TikTok about how California tends to get characterized leaning one way or another(and both are VALID AND RIGHT) but TikTok muted it so fuck that I guess

Anyways, California is one of the most popular characters in this fandom, and rather than thinking nobody is correct about his character, it is better to think that EVERYONE is. That people are entitled to rewrite him as they see fit and massacre his character in the most gruesome way because hey he’s just a fictional character :) he’s not real

In fandom, canon is a foundation and a suggestion. It is up to you entirely to stay true to his character, which admittedly is interesting in its own right, or to add your own special interpretation of him.

Me personally, he’s an asshole and he tends to put his foot in his mouth more often than not. Every dislikable feature he has I can reason by saying he’s extremely neurodivergent.

Much love to y’all btw stay safe

also i can't believe this happened during pride. the gays stay winning. HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE BUT ESPECIALLY TO APOLLO JUSTICE