#flawed character supremacy
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hello, I was wondering which asoue character is your - well, i would say favourite, but I mean the one who fascinates you most, and why that is. I found your post about Duncan's idea to kick the fake sunny around hilarious, by the way.
Hi! My favourite characters are all three Quagmire triplets however the character who fascinates me the most is Quigley. 100%.
His actions are questionable at best, alongside who he chooses to place trust in. I get that Jaques was the first person Quigley was in contact with after the Quagmire fire so he would be more easily swayed by Jaques but still…the fact that Quigley CHOOSES to stay seperated from his siblings, allowing them to believe he is dead is intriguing, especially for someone claiming to have ventured to the Mortmain Mountains searching for them.
Quigley could have let Isadora and Duncan know he was alive at any time during their stay at Prufrock. On page 48 of ‘The Austere Academy’ Isadora states that she and Duncan had been living at the school for “three semesters”. Three semesters is approximately the equivalent of 45 weeks.
Why did Quigley not send them a letter during this time? Yes, Jaques said it was dangerous for people to know Quigley was alive, however Quigley was willing to risk sending a telegram to Violet in ‘The Grim Grotto’. Although, at that stage the secret of his existence had become known to Count Olaf and Esmé Squalor, which may have influenced Quigley’s decision to risk sending said telegram. This does not take away from the fact that Quigley still could have sent his siblings a CODED letter revealing his status as alive. Or, a coded newspaper article in ‘The Daily Punctilio’, as he knows of Duncan’s interest in journalism and how it would mean his brother is likely to see it. (‘The Austere Academy’ page 49 “I plan to be a newspaper reporter…figure it’s good to start practicing”-Duncan) (‘The Ersatz Elevator’ pg 143 “I’m still a journalist”-Duncan)
It is endlessly frustrating to me that Quigley waited until his siblings were out of reach (kidnapped) before he went out searching for them. The fact he went investigating in the Mortmain Mountains of all places is also somewhat incriminating. VFD headquarters was located in the Valley of Four Drafts so it is possible that Quigley was telling the truth: he was searching for his siblings and seeking information/help from VFD recruits. It’s possible he began searching after his siblings’ kidnapping to keep them safe, the same reason he didn’t reach out when they were ‘safe’ at Prufrock was because Jaques told him it was dangerous. That would align with what Quigley claims his intentions were: “set out to find the organisation. I thought they were my best hope of rescuing my siblings”. (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 8, page 155)
In ‘The Slippery Slope’ book version Quigley claims he got ready to search for his siblings prior to their kidnapping, “started to gather…supplies” (Chapter 8, page 147) but “was interrupted” by “Jaques Snicket” who Quigley did not know at the time but trusted because Jaques knew a lot about the Quagmire family, the secret passageway and because Jaques was “very well-read.” (The lack of sense in Quigley’s reasons to trust Jaques is very intriguing to me. Factors Quigley deems trustworthy I would see as suspicious and [“well-read”] irrelevant.)
Moreover, Quigley’s blind trust in Jaques portrays him as a sort of naïve character -maybe a manipulated one- as he obeys Jaques by remaining hidden even though Jaques neglected him during their stay at Montgomery Montgomery’s house, prioritising VFD work over the newly-orphaned, isolated child.
“Jaques spent a long time at Dr. Montgomery’s house, but he was too busy”… “to explain everything to me”… “He would”… “sleep all day, or disappear for hours at a time” -Quigley about Jaques Snicket (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 8, page 152)
Another possibility is that Quigley was not searching for his siblings in the Mortmain Mountains. He was searching for the sugar bowl.
Reasons:
1: Quigley is very likely a VFD recruit, VFD recruits are searching for the sugar bowl.
Reason to believe Quigley is a recruit: when explaining the function of ‘Verdant Flammable Devices’ Quigley says
“so another volunteer will know where you are” (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 7, page 126)(not originally bolded) The word choice “another” implies that Quigley himself is a volunteer.
Another reason: Quigley suggests that Isadora-his triplet- may be a member of VFD already “I wonder if that’s a code she learned from V.F.D.”-Quigley (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 10, page 187)
2: It could be interpreted that Quigley has already been inside of VFD headquarters. If he had been there searching for his siblings why would he lie about never entering the headquarters whilst it still stood?
“I read that there was a large window”… ‘moving his gloved hand in the air as if it were still there’. “When it was your turn to cook you could look out at the waterfall while you were chopping vegetables or simmering sauce” -Quigley Quagmire (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 7, page 136)
^The hand gesture in particular suggests Quigley’s familiarity with the building as it conveys how he knew the precise spot where the window was situated. Even possessing the information‘through reading’ that you could “look out at the waterfall while cooking” he should have needed time to work out where the kitchen worktop would be positioned to figure where the window would be. The specific actions “chopping vegetables” and “simmering sauce” especially hint towards this being something Quigley tells from personal experience rather than reading. Unless it was a diary or an encoded message why would somebody write in such detail about a secret headquarters? Unless Montgomery Montgomery kept a diary which Quigley found whilst staying in his house?
^Additionally, volunteers “chopping vegetables” has extra relevance. Quigley is a TRAVELLER at this point, he should only have food on him that is long-lasting, otherwise is SURELY would have gone mouldy… so where does he get the carrot sticks he offers Violet on the frozen waterfall? (See Chapter 10, page 188 of ‘The Slippery Slope’.)
Carrot sticks=A chopped vegetable. What did volunteers do in the VFD headquarters’ kitchen? Chopped vegetables!
3: Quigley has written about the sugar bowl in his notebook,
“Jaques Snicket mentioned a sugar bowl once” … “said it was very important to find it” …”I wrote it down on…a page in my commonplace book” (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 11, page 219)
4:The sugar bowl is located in the Mortmain Mountains whilst Quigley is there.
Asides from the endless theories surrounding Quigley’s actions, I find his characterisation interesting. Likeable too, if you couldn’t tell that already by the sheer amount I’ve written about him…
He’s so isolated and very much in denial about that.
“Not quite by myself”… “I had this backpack” … “and I had my commonplace book”-Quigley (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 8, page 155) This is just SAD.
“I wish Isadora were here”-Quigley (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 11, page 217)
He’s so LONELY! Everyone thinks he’s DEAD! His siblings are kidnapped; Quigley has no way of knowing that they’re even still alive! His mother left him in that secret tunnel then the first adult he saw (and became attached to-) after her kept leaving him continuously without even SAYING he was going anywhere! (Implied by word choice “disappear” describing Jaques’ actions) Only for Jaques to leave and never come back! Then-and this gets OVERLOOKED- the snow scouts he spent time with when disguised as one, were KIDNAPPED! They were literally swooped up and taken away right before his eyes!!! After THAT he gets SEPARATED from the only friends he still has!!!! Somebody give this child a hug!!!!!!!!!!!
The isolation he’s in has caused Quigley to become INDEPENDENT and capable, unable to rely on others he can only help himself.
“We found it in a coded map”-Klaus Baudelaire
“I had to draw my own map.”-Quigley Quagmire (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 7, page 126)
Despite not having any of the advantages of childhood (receiving help) he is still vulnerable to the drawbacks: “Bruce saw my matches and confiscated them, because children shouldn’t play with matches”-Quigley (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 9, page 163)
He’s selfless too, to an extent, when he helps the Baudelaires save Sunny even though it risks his safety and well-kept secret of being alive
“You don’t have to risk your life any further”-Violet
“Don’t be absurd” “Of course I’m going to help you” -Quigley (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 9, page 182)
Although, the fact he risks his identity being leaked to help the Baudelaires circles back to the question of why he let his siblings believe he was dead.
Point out of his favour: Quigley helps to convince Violet to leave her baby sister to spy on villains, “Sunny can find out for us, but only if she stays here.” (Chapter 10, page 202) but everyone has flaws. We don’t need to criticise Quigley for this, right? If anything it depicts how brainwashed he is.
He’s naïve:
“I never thought of learning about maps as training,” Quigley said. “I just liked it.” -(‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 11, page 213) [Referring to his home-life pre-fire]
^The fact Quigley keeps placing trust in adults with hidden intentions is heartbreaking.
He’s MORALLY GREY in the books especially!!! He has the idea to hold Esmé Squalor hostage:
‘ “We could take her prisoner,” Quigley said’ … “thinks cigarettes are in. If we lit some of them, she might smell the smoke and come down here.” (‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 11, page 221) The fact that he’s willing to do bad things to protect the people he cares about contributes to why he’s one of my favourite characters.
Although he helps the Baudelaires, Quigley did not reveal his identity to them until there were no other options of people he could turn to. He kept his mask on when they were working on the lock but thought nothing of revealing VFD secrets,
“very centre of the Valley of Four Drafts, so the smoke is scattered… V.F.D doesn’t want anyone to see the smoke.”-Quigley(‘The Slippery Slope’ Chapter 7, page 125)
meaning he was intentionally keeping his identity secret from them until they finished helping him with the lock. He was using them, if only for a small thing, redeeming himself when he helps them later.
In conclusion, Quigley is the most fascinating ASOUE character because his actions and words compose of half-truths and veiled intentions, leaving him open to interpretation. He is not straightforward. I see him as a character who doesn’t always do what he thinks is good but will try to display himself as having good intentions, even if that means lying. Quigley leaves behind more questions than answers and is therefore the most intriguing character.
Thanks for the ask! (+thanks for the compliment! I’m happy you enjoyed my post!) :)
This may be…a little longer than you anticipated… it is far lengthier than I thought it would turn out anyway! Whoops?
Please, feel free to send more asks! :)
#asoue#thanksfortheask:)#a series of unfortunate events#quagmire triplets#quigley quagmire#asoue theories#Quigley quagmire theory#flawed character supremacy
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You can really when people who're both Atla and DC fans don't read comics when they compare Zutara to Dickkory and think Zuko is like Dick and that Katara is like Kory instead of the other way around
@insomniac-jay
#'b-b-but team mom and dad-'does not erase their actual personalities.also there weren't any kids in the titans in the comics so there you go#as for why it's the other way around:katara is like dick because they're both blue-coded brown characters with eldest daughter syndrome#and extremely kind and extremely mean at the same time.zuko is like kory because they were both born into royalty but taken away from it#and have anger issues and violent tendencies but good people at their core despite their flaws-there's also the emotions based fire powers#seriously fandoms obsession with gender roles when it comes to crossover comparisons genuinely gets under my skin as a trans gnc person#and the fact that i'm also autistic with a special interest in parallels dosen't help#dickkory#pro dickkory#t4t dickkory#anti zutara#dick grayson#katara#koriand'r#zuko#also gonna tag this as:#dick grayson:trans woman extrodinare#and#transmasc genderfluid kory supremacy#for personal organization#batfam#teen titans#ntt#the titans 1999#outsiders 2003#teen titans 2003#atla geekery#lok#the gaang#zuko and katara#summerposting
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You're so right, and yes, that fic is amazing. Tbh I just love how viserys' and daemon's contrasting personalities and their endless push-and-pull is what ultimately leads to the dance of dragons. Also there's an interview where matt smith says daemon feels a kinship with rhaenyra that he lost with his brother and I feel like that's telling. God, I can't believe that hotd is making me, a got hater, want to see hbo adapt more asoiaf books.
OMG DID MATT SAY THAT? I love actors who understand the assignment so much T_T it's that exactly!!! DAEMON LOOKS AT RHAENYRA AND SEES VISERYS!! VISERYS LOOKS AT RHAENYRA AND SEES DAEMON!! i am going to lose my mind. thank you.
and to be honest? i went to hotd with ZERO expectations and totally chill because of The Other Show?? i was like "brace yourself for disappointment. be normal about this one. they are going to ruin it like they did everything else." i don't even like house targaryen that much, apart from dany. like i never bought all the lore, the dragons, "closer to gods than men" narrative. and look at me now. @_@ they really outdid themselves with this show. here's hoping they'll keep their game up until the end.
#hotd supremacy#ask me stuff#i regret to say it#but house of the dragon is superior in every way#its only flaw is#that tyrion lannister is not a character in it#but that detail aside#mistakes were NOT made in this production#daemon x viserys
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Bobby Singer needs to be in #SPNwin.
Like, seriously, he’s one of The Most Interesting Characters. He’ll always be a main to me, because he’s not straightforward.
He’s got that warring, contrasting nature. That seesaw-soldier thing. He’s complicated and loving and and yet…he screws up royally. He does what he thinks is right, is necessary.
He can be hot and cold and sweet and vengeful and respectful and encouraging, and then he goes and throws down these misogynistic little digs. Every feminine thing gets spit on; turns into a barb. And yet it’s not a barb. The teasing is somehow warm n’ homey n’ familiar. You decode its true meaning.
And…he’ll break the mold with soap operas and pedicures. He’ll cook for you in his little kitchen. He can spit with words, but accepts with his actions.
He goes from love, “do you value yourself so little?” to, scoffing, letting you down at your most vulnerable moment: “you’re not a person.” (Because sometimes, he thinks tough love will carry you through and help you survive.) He a rocky foundation but he’s a foundation.
That’s Bobby!
#bobby singer supremacy#tfw key traits#bobby + real#bobby + flaws#bobby + real flawed reactions to the pesky business of living and loving#tfw + soldierhood#tfw + the imperfect self#spn parenting#bobby is dean’s parent#bobby is a well rendered character because of these contradictions#it’s why he still feels like a main and not a side even so many years later#spn + main character mechanics#bobby + mary parallels
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A Pause for Reflection: Part 2- Only Friends, Racism, and the Commodification of Queer Asians
Hello! It is me, your friendly neighborhood wen-kexing-apologist. Before Only Friends aired, knowing how sex heavy this show was setting up to be, I decided it might be kinda funny if instead of posting my initial reactions to the episodes, which I knew were going to be something akin to an incomprehensible key smash, if I instead committed to a bit where I wrote very dry, academic essays on sex and sex imperatives in Only Friends.
Well, I wrote an essay on Boston, his cruising habits, and my speculations around him being an embodiment of older queer culture expecting like…three people maybe to make it through legitimately 13 written pages with block text citations. But it did surprisingly well, and so now I have decided to full send.
In my first Taking Pause post, I wrote about respectable promiscuity and the way I felt that concept impacted perceptions of queer people and queer culture, especially as it relates to engagement with Only Friends. This time, I want to dampen the mood a bit further, and discuss racism and its impact on perceptions of queer Asian characters in the BL industry. This was spurred by Only Friends and especially inspired by the posts I have seen going around that project false purity on flawed characters, but will cover Asian BL engagement more broadly as well.
Disclaimer: I am a white Westerner, addressing this post primarily to white Westerners, and using Western sources.
The Commodification of Queer Asian Men
Racism is a complex subject, and while people of color are not absolved of white supremacy mindsets through colorism, this invitation for conversation is mostly geared towards my fellow white Westerners. Racism is persistent, pervasive, and insidious in part because we do not always know when and how our own personal biases and learned racism impacts how we interact with the world, or in this case media.
With the increasing mainstream acceptance of gays and lesbians, and the increasing visibility of LGBT folks more generally, gay space and straight space, gay sociality and straight sociality, are increasingly blended (Dean, 2014). The commodification of gayness is only one example of this. (Ahlm, 2017)
We are frequently spoiled by BL because of how much exposure to queer people in stories we are allowed to see. These stories are not primarily or inherently made for queer people, but what this massive index of gay shows gives the general public is large amounts of exposure to the concept of gay people (about queers), and growing popularity allows for a rapid commodification of queer Asian experience.
I want to take a second to show the definitions of commodification, so anyone reading this is aware of what lenses I am working from.
Commodification: to turn (something, such as an intrinsic value or a work of art) into a commodity (Miriam-Webster)
Commodity:
an economic good: such as…c. a mass-produced unspecialized product
a. something useful or valued; b. convenience, advantage
a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (such as brand name) other than price
one that is subject to ready exchange or exploitation within a market (Miriam-Webster)
Personally, I think it is reasonable to argue that BL and BL branded pairs are exploited by and are an exploitation of the market. We have seen the number of in-universe ads in our standard Thai BLs, the number of BLs being created every year is increasing with the understanding that these shows can be profitable, sell products, sell concert tickets, sell out theaters, make money on fan events, etc.. I think many of us have begun to love when Oishi Green Tea, Nivea Micellar Water, or Canon printers show up in our BLs, but it cannot be denied or ignored that those are commercials for products being sold to us through the images of queer characters and within queer stories. Meaning, the queer stories we are able to interact with en masse are there to sell us a product as well as a story.
How does this relate to racism? By making queer characters of color sell products within the stories they exist in, we establish a relationship to queer characters of color that extends the commodification of queer men of color themselves beyond what already exists by nature of racism and white supremacy within queer spaces:
It’s almost as if no gay men of color exist outside of fantasy cruises to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, or the ‘Orient’. And even then, they exist only to fulfill the sexual fantasies of gay white men. ‘Exotic’ vacations to far away places are marketed to rich white men and [low income] colored bodies are only another consumable product easily purchased with western dollars. As such, gay men of color, whether found within western borders or conveniently waiting for white arrival in the far off corners of the globe, are nothing more than commodities for consumption. (Chong-suk Han, 2007)
How many shows have we gotten out of GMMTV in recent years that are absent, or near-absent of in-universe ads? Three? The Eclipse, The Warp Effect, and Only Friends? What themes are at the center of these shows that may make them distasteful to corporations trying to sell their products?
Now, I entered the BL scene after The Eclipse aired, so I don’t know what its reception was like at the time. But I am pretty certain it was a popular show. Yet, I have personally witnessed the adverse and negative reactions to, especially Ayan, when Our Skyy 2 x The Eclipse aired and we saw Ayan keeping a secret that was hurting Akk’s feelings. I saw the sheer amount of posts coming out of tumblr about how Akk and Ayan were characterized so wrong in this show. And, I am trying to be polite here, but there were just grossly misrepresentative takes on tumblr about the characters we got on screen in OS2, who were extremely in character based on the source material, and not the idea of the characters we have built up in our heads as the lines between Ayan and Khaotung or Akk and First blurred over time.
The Warp Effect is a show I have constantly been asking people to watch as Only Friends approached and continue to market as required viewing while we are still in the early stages of Only Friends, but it was not widely watched as far as I could tell from the activity on my own tumblr feed and from the number of people I saw reblogging my Case for Watching TWE post who said they had yet to see it. And I get it, it was marketed more as a heterosexual show rather than a BL, but I will go down swinging to defend my position on that show as The Queerest Show of 2023 (so far).
I think about all the ways people on tumblr have re-written certain characters in their minds to be purer, less morally dubious, more babygirl in order for them to justify loving and supporting a character that is either objectively a terrible person or who has made any number of mistakes that have gotten themselves or others hurt. Listen, my most beloved gay boys are Wen Kexing and Akk but I will be the first to tell you both those men are war criminals. That is not a joke. I love Akk to death as a character, and he let a car roll into a crowd of protestors.
Which is to say, that I am personally made to feel very uncomfortable when I see people twisting the realities of who queer Asian characters are in order to create a false, more pure and innocent version of who they want queer Asian characters to be. Why? Because it treats queer Asian male characters like dolls, like objects to manipulate and control, rather than as the people they are written and intended to be, and the fanservice that is expected of the actors that portray them is not much different:
At the same time that they are invisible, gay Asian men are also seen as being exotic, submissive fantasies for white men. However, being seen as exotic and submissive is yet another form of subtle racism where gay Asian men are not seen as individuals but as a consumable product for white male fantasy (Ayres, 1999). (Chong-suk Han, 2007)
And yeah, I know some of you may try to deflect this by saying or thinking “wka this quote is about white men and thus does not apply to me” it does. It does apply.
On the Subject of Fan Service
These production companies make a lot of money off of selling the fanbase the idea that these actors are romantically involved outside of their acting careers. GMMTV and Idolfactory are perhaps the most committed studios to fanservice that I have seen, often to the detriment of the health and safety of their talent and potentially their own financial interests. He’s Coming to Me was delayed, and had it’s distribution fucked with because fans protested Singto being separated from Krist and paired up with Ohm for one show. Freen was recorded and blackmailed with a video that showed she was in a romantic relationship with Seng. Articles were published making it seem like it was a truly wild concept that Man Trisanu and Ben Bunyapol were acting to create the chemistry they get on screen. These companies know they can make money off of the fictions they create, both the ones we see as television shows, and the ones we see in fan meet ups. These people are actors, some may date, some may not, some may be really good friends, some may hate each other’s guts, but the fact of the matter is we will never know for sure. Everything we see on camera is a performance.
How Objectification of Queer Asian Men Relates to Only Friends
I mean…
I don’t know about you all, but I have seen post after post of people projecting images of purity and perfection on to Mew, twisting themselves forward and backward to justify a character’s objectively terrible decisions, or finding scapegoats to blame for their blorbo’s actions. I have seen people truly, legitimately struggle with seeing their favorite acting pair engaging in intimate scenes with different scene partners. And, to me it reads like some audience members are physically unable to separate the actor from their character, or to accurately identify reality from fiction. These are actors, they are playing characters, we know how good of actors they are. We are all aware of how much of a chameleon First is with his roles, how powerful Khao is at portraying grief on screen, how expressive Book is, etc.
Force and Book are not fucking, Book is not stringing Force along, Force is not fucking Neo and potentially breaking Book’s heart. Top and Mew are fucking (or will). Mew is stringing Top along. Top is fucking Boston and potentially breaking Mew’s heart. Khaotung is not ditching First to go rescue Book, First is not trying and failing to maintain boundaries with Khaotung. Ray is ditching Sand to go rescue Mew, Sand is trying and failing to maintain boundaries with Ray.
Harkening back to fanservice. Personally, I believe that only ever marketing “love pairs” (aka Force and Book’s characters as a romantic couple or First and Khao’s characters as a romantic couple on screen) severely severely limits the acting potential for any and all of the performers involved in those couplings. Can you imagine what Only Friends would be like with Neo and Louis, rather than Neo and Mark? Louis is great, but I’m not sure that he could do pining simp, or angry revenge the same way Mark can. You can see how good of a match up Fluke Pusit was with Thor in The Warp Effect and you can see how good Fluke Pusit was with Ohm Thipakorn in A Boss and a Babe.
As I mentioned in Part One, Jojo has said there is going to be sex in every episode. We know these boys have already hurt each other and will continue to hurt each other. We know these boys have already slept around and will continue to do so. There is no need to vilify a character for being a flawed human being. There is absolutely no need to vilify an actor for portraying a character who is a flawed human being. We don’t need to uplift the characters that are withholding their sexuality from others as inherently good, moral, victims of the inherently bad, immoral, predators ruining their lives with their high sex drives.
…popular culture is permeated with ideas that erotic variety is dangerous, unhealthy, depraved, and a menace to everything from small children to national security. Popular sexual ideology is a noxious stew made up of ideas of sexual sin, concepts of psychological inferiority… and xenophobia. The mass media nourish these attitudes with relentless propaganda…
All these hierarchies of sexual value- religious, psychiatric, and popular- function in much the same way as do ideological systems of racism, ethnocentrism, and religious chauvinism. They rationalize the well-being of the sexually privileged and the adversity of the sexual rabble…this kind of sexual morality has more in common with ideologies of racism than with true ethics. (Rubin, 1984)
I am begging people who are having difficulty seeing their favorite actor be shitty on screen to take a pause, take a breath, remember that they are actors, playing a fictional character in a fictional role. Fictional characters performing fictional actions has not, does not, and will not ever be a true and definitive indicator of that actor’s own personality, morals, or beliefs. Boston being an asshole does not mean Neo is an asshole. Ray being an asshole does not mean that Khao is an asshole just as Gaipa being kind does not mean that Khao is kind. Jojo and co are not monsters for creating a manipulative character(s), or including physical fist fights, drug use, promiscuity, cheating, sexual assault, abortion, kink, fatshaming etc. etc in to their works. You are not a bad person for liking imperfect characters who engage in bad actions, and you don’t need to create scenarios that place blame for those actions on others in order to justify liking a character. Everyone on that set appeared to have a great time, and Jojo stated very clearly that all scenes were run by the actors in those scenes and anything the actors were not comfortable with being shown to a broader audience were immediately deleted. The actors were granted agency and autonomy that is not usually seen and we are seeing the performance they want to share with us, the performance they liked. That does not mean they themselves approve outside of fiction of the behaviors their characters may portray.
Conclusion
We all need to, but white Westerners especially, be extremely careful and introspective with the ways we are engaging with queer Asian media. We need to be careful and introspective with the ways we are engaging with queer Asian characters. Asian BLs, Thai BLs especially lean heavily in to the commodification of queer Asian stories and characters. GMMTV sells products, and uses their talent as the salespeople, which I personally believe makes their talent, and the characters in their stories far more susceptible to objectification than, say, Japanese BLs that do not distribute their work as easily, or cater as readily to international audiences.
As @bengiyo said in his post, it is totally totally fine if you do not like something. Only Friends could not be your style, there could be themes that are triggering for you, etc. that’s fine. But if you are refusing to engage with this Only Friends because Force as Top acted like he was fucking Neo as Boston, or squirming about whether or not you can watch other shows these actors are in going forward because their performances as dumb, horny college students in Only Friends made you question the actor’s morality, then I truly, deeply, and fully beg you to pause, take a step back, and reflect upon what it is about witnessing these behaviors that is causing your reaction.
I want to end with the following quote:
Thus, white men can choose when they want to be objectified, but men of color are simply objects. As discussed above, existing only as props for white male consumption represents another subtle form of racism. As Tony Ayres notes: First, there is overt belligerence…The second response is the exact opposite of this racist antagonism. It is an attraction to me because of my Asianness, my otherness ... This has nothing to do with my individual qualities as a person ... It is the fact that I conveniently fit into someone else’s fantasy (1999, p. 89) (Chong-suk Han, 2007)
As a reminder that we as fans, need to take a step back and consider if, when, and how we are objectifying queer Asian men. We are seeing a huge period of growth in the Asian BL industry, which means we are very likely to get more shows where we are going to see more stories like Only Friends that center realistic depictions of gay Asians as written and directed by gay Asians. And we have to check our privilege, homophobia, and racism at the door.
Sources
Ahlm, Jody (2017) Respectable promiscuity: Digital cruising in an era of queer liberalism, Sexualities, DOI: 10.1177/1363460716665783
Chong-suk Han (2007) They Don't Want To Cruise Your Type: Gay
Men of Color and the Racial Politics of Exclusion, Social Identities, 13:1, 51-67, DOI:
10.1080/13504630601163379
Rubin, Gayle (1984) The Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality- Chapter 9: The Sex Wars.
(thank you to @bengiyo, @lurkingshan, @neuroticbookworm, @so-much-yet-to-learn, and @waitmyturtles for your beta readings!)
#only friends#only friends the series#ofts#sandray#topmew#topboston#bostonnick#forcebook#firstkhao#neomark#wka long post#jojo tichakorn#the eclipse#the warp effect#the eclipse the series#twe#our skyy 2#our skyy 2 x the eclipse
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You know what annoys me in Harry Potter?
And let us imagine for a moment that the author is Hatsune Miku. That it is an adaptation of Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals. That Warner Bros is not holding the franchise with patents and trademarks well beyond the powers of even millionaires.
Ah, nice to imagine, isn't it? Still with me?
The books are wasted potential. Every new thing coming in helps to show how the magical world is as flawed and xenophobic as regular, mundane version of it. Slavery, segregation by "blood purity", racial segregation, magic supremacy and cishet white male magic supremacy, too.
And then a downtrotten guy shows up. He is a hero, has loads of cash and a fame beyond his age. You would think the dude from the literal closet would CHANGE THE SYSTEM. To push along a new, better, more liberated, more equal world. Maybe even prevent the next bad guy from rising by removing the key aspects that made him rise to power, like slavery, the segregations, the supremacist ideas, and so on. Even if just pushing it in a way.
You would think the main character would fix the system. You know why?
Because every fantasy story, even if by just getting the just and wise king or queen on the throne, does that. The Lord of the Rings does not end by blowing up Sauron. It goes on, the world has to be changed to prevent a new, different Sauron. We saw glimpes on how anyone, even the purest heart, could go down that path.
So why can't this boy who lives in a closet? It is WASTED POTENTIAL. Imagine the stories you can tell! Now that you got a better world coming, would the old jerks not hate it? Would some change? What new issues arise? It is a fantasy, so you can do whatever you want - and then go the Man in Black route and have the magical slowly dripped into the mundane. Or, again, as with the (comic book) Men in Black, we had shown how even the utopian parts get issues not seen before, all based on xenophobia, human folly, etc.
You make a status quo that sucks, and then GO AND CHANGE IT. The big bad in a bad system is not the guy with the biggest gun, but the system that fails.
Oh, sure, you can make a story about the cyclical nature of revolutions - and yes, a bloodless revolution is the best for the little people, but in fiction, we may have the bad guys represent issues. So, you can make a story where a revolution leads to another in the next cycle. But...
You have to change the bad systems. Say that some things may change. Even if it is just a new school being put forward in the end, with empathy, and two characters talking about how the world will change if they keep going on... You have to change. The utopian status quo is the only one what the audience may like to be returned to.
When Bilbo comes back to the Shire, it is almost the same, but Bilbo himself changed. It was a bit for the better, but not that much that new stories could not be told... and what he thought as the status quo is shown to have changed. He became more artistic. He wrote a book, inspired by his "miserable adventure"... and then, later, Tolkien slipped in the ring from the sequel. It was not in the original draft! The ending did not changed, but we had a plot hook.
Though, Tolkien already had given us all the potential in the story. He hinted at a bigger world.
So imagine Miku, writing a thing but then she does not develop the things. The potential goes wasted, and when it returns, it has this "stop nagging me, here, a stupid retcon for your stupid questions" thing. Potential squandered! Wasted! No wonder the fans would go to write their own, for better or worse.
I am so happy Hatsune Miku is a talented writer and not some woman slipping into right-wing hatred, akin to some dude who loves gold and the aesthetics of power, and having none of it in his tiny hands or something. That would be-
Oh. I just realised the intro to this rant. Well, now that the train is deralied, what is my point?
If you write a story with systemic issues, you should at least attempt to resolve some of them. You got slavery? Have the main character and their friends free slaves and ban slavery when they get the power to do so.
You got a sort of space cyborg wizard nazi movement? Your character has the potential to punch them in the face, alongside B. J. Blazkowicz and Captain America, WHILE ALSO breaking the systems the space cyborg wizard nazies rely on. In fact, it should be what you do, because while your heroes give the cool action scenes, they also show their intelligence and empathy by PREVENTING new space cyborg wizard nazies coming into existence and fixing the inequalities in the world.
Sure, it is not as cool to see Mr. Potter to write a new constitution about equal rights than seeing him in a wizard duel with wizard nazies, but you can have both. This is fantasy!
You can get the audience to believe that a man can fly, that a single guy can save the world by throwing a ring into a volcano, or that a boy living in a closet is a chosen one - letting them change the world for the better is not a stretch, it is catharsis! That is where the happy ending happens.
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Northanger Abbey Readthrough, Ch 3
❤️❤️HENRY TILNEY HAS ARRIVED!❤️❤️
The master of the ceremonies, Mr. King, who introduces Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland is one of the two real people mentioned as characters in Austen's novels (the other being Humphrey Repton in Mansfield Park, a real famous landscaper). Mr. King was retired by the time of publication.
I love Henry's description:
He seemed to be about four or five and twenty, was rather tall, had a pleasing countenance, a very intelligent and lively eye, and, if not quite handsome, was very near it. His address was good, and Catherine felt herself in high luck.
Ah, he is well matched with "almost pretty" Catherine Morland.
Henry Tilney is a lot like a male Elizabeth Bennet, "there was an archness and pleasantry in his manner" and "there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner" (Pride & Prejudice, Ch 10) sound very similar. We also have the descriptions of their eyes being intelligent.
Now because I believe in Henry Tilney Supremacy, let me point out that Henry went to a ball where he didn't know anyone and instead of making everyone else uncomfortable (DARCY!) or just not going and doing his business (Knightley), he uses of the Master of Ceremonies to get a partner and then is just delightful. Darcy begins with insulting Elizabeth and Henry begins by being utterly charming. Just the best guy.
He starts with a hilarious bit, and while Catherine isn't sure if she's allowed to laugh, she's clearly enjoying herself. Then Tilney offers two opposing things for her to write in her journal:
Friday, went to the Lower Rooms; wore my sprigged muslin robe with blue trimmings—plain black shoes—appeared to much advantage; but was strangely harassed by a queer, half-witted man, who would make me dance with him, and distressed me by his nonsense.
or
I danced with a very agreeable young man, introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him—seems a most extraordinary genius—hope I may know more of him. That, madam, is what I wish you to say.
Clearly the second passage is what Catherine would actually write, though maybe not that Tilney was an extraordinary genius. She is having a very good time.
Then they discuss if women or men write better letters. Catherine is unsure that women are superior, and after some gentle teasing Henry basically agrees and says this lovely progressive opinion:
"I should no more lay it down as a general rule that women write better letters than men, than that they sing better duets, or draw better landscapes. In every power, of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty fairly divided between the sexes."
And then we get to Henry's most famous attribute, he understands muslins!
Catherine is a bit confused by Henry's behaviour, but she does like it (and him). However, we again have some Elizabeth Bennet vibes with this observation, "Mr. Tilney was polite enough to seem interested in what she said; and she kept him on the subject of muslins till the dancing recommenced. Catherine feared, as she listened to their discourse, that he indulged himself a little too much with the foibles of others"
There are many who think Catherine is too unintelligent to be paired with Henry Tilney, but he clearly has more respect for her than Mrs. Allen, who we are told has, "a trifling turn of mind". She is catching more of his jokes than her chaperone.
She has detected a flaw in Mr. Tilney! (This will apparently be very much forgotten later). Catherine also tells something of a lie, but then is immediately honest about it:
Catherine coloured, and said, “I was not thinking of anything.”
“That is artful and deep, to be sure; but I had rather be told at once that you will not tell me.”
“Well then, I will not.”
The narrator then points out that it is very bad for a heroine to think fondly of a man before he is known to love her. This is a reference to a ridiculous letter in The Rambler, where it is written: That a young lady should be in love, and the love of the young gentleman undeclared, is an heterodoxy which prudence, and even policy, must not allow. It's pretty nuts, read the whole thing if you are curious.
And we see proof of Mr. Allen's sensibleness, he quickly inquire into Mr. Tilney and finds him to be from a good family and a clergyman. Catherine is being well cared for!
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Regulus Arcturus Black - Character Study
Keep in mind that what we know about Regulus is largely second-hand. Other people’s perceptions of him and his motivations, as well as Harry’s assumptions based on evidence he finds are pretty much it. Regulus’s only attempt to speak for himself is the letter. A letter that exposes arrogance, intention, and a search for vindication.
Consider the parallels between Draco and Regulus: Both are from pureblood homes that raised their children on pureblood supremacy ideals and kept them sheltered from outside influences. Both are placed in Slytherin, where those ideals are reinforced and encouraged. Both take the mark while still at Hogwarts. Both confidently extol those beliefs until their worldview is challenged and their loved ones are endangered.
In contrast, Sirius was sorted into Gryffindor. He befriends people who not only challenge his ideals at a much younger age, but also model a positive alternative. He is embraced by a new family who showed him the love and acceptance that his own didn’t. Sirius had so many opportunities that Regulus (and Draco) did not.
I think Regulus’s death is the real proof of his character and what he believed. He tried to take down Voldy in the most Slytherin-way possible, quietly and efficiently. He didn’t make a grand gesture to announce his redemption to the world or renounce his family while alive. His letter to Voldemort is only bold because he knew that he would die. He was motivated by fear and a (probably skewed) sense of justice.
A Voldy sycophant wouldn’t have bothered to pursue the horcruxes, and neither would a simple defector. Regulus must have realised that everything he’d been taught was a lie. The flaws in his plan were thinking there was only one horcrux and trying to do it alone, but think about it. Who could he have gone to for help? His friends (if he had any) were likely death eaters too and there’s very little chance that the ministry or Order members would have believed him, not even Sirius.
He was 18 years old when he died. 18!
In his two years as a teenage death eater, Regulus discovered that Voldy was making a horcrux, figured out how to find it, made a duplicate to swap out, and tracked it down in a hard to find cave…while at Hogwarts most of that time. Given that Dumbledore didn’t know about the cave or Regulus’s plan and it took him much longer to figure it out, I’d say that’s proof that he was brilliant and highly motivated to escape the world he’d been raised in and the path he was placed on.
#regulus black#marauders#the marauders#slytherin skittles#regulus arcturus black#sirius black#draco malfoy
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talk about laurent the way laurent fans talk about damen
oh, this is going to be fun!
"i have to get this meta off my chest, because the way laurent fans interpet his character is upsetting - they want to erase his shortcomings and make him boring, when the only thing interesting about him is his flaws :/ first and foremost pacat wrote laurent intentionally as a white supremacist, and we're not supposed to sympethize with him. he represents privilege, patriarchy, prejudice, classism, feudalism, misogyny, narcissism, xenophobia, toxicity, abuse, mesopedia, colonialization, racism and in fact all the -isms you can think of. he's the ultimate white slave master archetype, and people who like and sympathize with him are doing it wrong. when we're first introduced to laurent, he's a parallel to the regent. they're mirror villains. they're both second sons who use their intellect for evil, and love wielding rape as a punishment. they both exist to uphold the systems of sexual abuse, patriarchy and white male supremacy, and sadistically relish in the control they have over others.
laurent fans love to forget that he is a blood purist: he hates all illegimate children, despite their birth being out of their control. the way laurent calls innocent children "bastards" throughout the books, and genuinely thinks they "curse the line, and sour the milk, ruin the crops, and drag the sun out of the sky" is horrific and backwards, and only furthers the harmful patriarchal ideals of blood purity and legitimacy. laurent literally prioritizes marital status over individual worth and i never see any of his fans talk about it. i love how pacat intentionally wrote laurent and all veretians upholding systematic inequality and social exclusion, unjustly burdening innocent children with shame and psychological distress. it really makes his villainous character so interesting and layered...
but burdening innocent children with pyschological distress isn't new to laurent, seeing as he unapologetically bullies and manipulates an impoverished, lowborn child (nicaise) who is being sexually abused by his uncle, and is ultimately responsible for his death. he also later tells damen that it is better for a veretian pedophile (the regent) to rape and sexually exploit nicaise, than to be a slave in akielos, where every slave in akielos is of age, and according to the author, consents to being in a "safe space for erotic escapism: the slaves are chosen because they have pre-existing submissive tendencies, and the masters are culturally bount to treat them well. [a slave's] desire to submit is in no way a pro-slavery argument." source, source. when laurent is crowned king, he does not abolish the pet system that victimized children like nicaise in the first place, further compounding his hatred for children and other victims of abuse. we love a villain who turns into the very thing that he feared most!
i also love the way pacat exposed laurent's misogyny in the series... veretian men aren't allowed to spend time with women becaues it's forbidden, isolating them from the opposite sex, which really manifests in laurent in disturbing ways. in prince's gambit, his misogyny comes to a forefront when he bribes a poor lowborn woman who cannot refuse a prince's order to give govart, a known violent rapist, oral sex, knowing exactly how govart abuses his "partners"... and then when laurent is hiding in the brothel with damen, he commands prostitutes to have sex with damen against his will, treating both the women and damen like sex objects without any regard for what they want or feel, reinforcing to readers that he's a sociopath with toxic masculinity due to his obsessive need to dominate and control others sexually.
laurent also wants to indescriminately annihilate every akielon off the face of the earth, playing a game of "kill all the Akielons and restore the old empire" with auguste as early as childhood. this deep-seated racism and prejudice informs the way he abuses, rapes and tortures damen in the books, and how he sadistically treats all the akielon slaves in the series. he doesn't give a shit about them at all, and is only coerced to help them after he is bribed to by damen. when damen confronts laurent's gaurds about letting govart rape erasmus, laurent's response was: "The Prince's Gaurd doesn't intefere with the Regency. Govart can stick his cock into anything of my uncle's he likes", displaying a callous disregard for the well-being and dignity of others, as well as a troubling acceptance of abuse and exploitation within his own ranks. it doesn't only stop in the first book, this is a patterned behavior that continues into kings rising, where laurent forces a poor slave, isander, to kneel and kiss his boots in order to humiliate him and anger other akielons, and then forces isander to serve and feed him against his will, establishing his white supremacy in the books.
laurent fans love to erase the fact that he's a black-and-white thinker, possibly the most black-and-white thinker lacking any nuance in the whole series. he genuinely believes someone being killed in battle means they were murdered in cold blood, and not defending their country. he believes anyone who does this deserves to be raped, tortured and killed, despite the fact that he and auguste have also killed people in battle, and by this logic, deserve to be raped, tortured and killed by those fallen soldier's family members too. he's a hypocrite, and his fans who try to pretend he's a "good person" are completely missing the point of the series, which is a critique on the white, mediocre, blond, evil character trope like lestat, draco, etc.
laurent fans love to focus on his "trauma" and make it his entire personality, which is annoying because he doesn't really have trauma, he's just spoiled and privileged. in fact, he actually loved the regent and enjoyed their relationship, and only started hating him because the regent left him for a prettier person. stop being petty laurent! i also find it amusing how laurent keeps playing his uncle's game and believes he won't kill laurent despite years of his uncle openly trying to do just that... laurent's blind trust and love for his family is a huge character flaw that should definitely be held against him. he's super dumb and the most oblivious character in the series, like seriously a kindergartner could see that the regent is bad and would try to kill him.
it's so obvious that pacat meant to write laurent as a villain who has gone off the deep end, and must attone for his crimes against damen and others by attempting to kill himself in king's rising, and when that is foiled by damen's heroic efforts, makes laurent promise to atone to damen for the rest of his life in the summer palace because that's the only way to rehabilitate and redeem a character like laurent whose sole purpose in the books is to offer a scathing critique of white supremacy and toxic abusers.
anyways, i obviously love laurent and understand his character better than anyone else, and it's really weird that his fans try to erase his flaws because they are doing laurent a disservice and making his character boring, because his villainy is the only thing that is interesting about him. in fact, if you write any positive post about laurent and DON'T preface it with how much he is a villainous slave-owner and bad person, then you really don't love or understand laurent, and are endorsing every bad thing he does. muah send post xoxo #meta #characteranalysis #villainlaurent #canon."
the way laurent fans would be shitting bricks, puking, moaning, crying, etc if damen fans posted "character analysis" like this under the guise of "loving his character" every 5 minutes in the tags the way they do about damen is hilarious. they'll put genuine effort into trying to undestand laurent's background and motives, and give laurent endless grace and approach his character with nuance, but with damen they're hellbent on twisting his character, motives and background with the intent of villifying him and making him out to be something he's not. the amount of victim-blaming, bad faith takes, mental gymnastics, and full-blown racism i've seen laurent fans engage in while making these "analyses" of damen is genuinely disturbing, moreso because nobody in their own circles are willing to call it out. instead, they try to gaslight everyone and deflect by claiming its canon and attack anyone else who doesn't share the same toxic hive mind. anyone can write bad faith takes, but it certainly doesn't make it valid.
every single damen fan i've met likes laurent, but every single person who makes loving laurent their only personality trait seems truly resentful and bitter towards damen's character and constantly feel the need to willfully misinterpret his character to make up for laurent's flaws. instead of enjoying both characters separately, they turn it into a competition of morality, attempting to make damen out to be the ignorant bad guy who needs laurent to rehabilitate him, while portraying laurent as the true voice of morality, compassion and modernity in the books. the old fandom trend of trying to make the "noble, heroic" character (pacat's words, not mine) really the bad guy of the series, and laurent the "true good one who must teach damen right from wrong" is so tired and boring. do better, guys.
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I Ramble About Revali and Groose
i don't actually expect people to care about minor characters or side characters in any other media franchise i'm in, but with loz i tend to get annoyed with people if they clearly only care about zelda and link, and it has to do with how the games frame side characters post-fujibayashi
so revali and groose are part of a common ongoing narrative trope in zelda games of someone who's on the good guy team but is somewhat antagonistic or "mean" to link for whatever reason. you get this with mido and (somewhat) with tetra and her crew and midna. the difference between these characters and groose/revali is in why they don't like link. mido is pretty much a bully who has never liked link because he's just different from the other kids—he is an eternal child, so this makes sense —tetra is skeptical that link can actually do anything in the forsaken fortress initially, and midna wants to use link (and to extent, the legend/narrative itself) for her own ends.
groose and revali don't like link because he's the main character, and they're right. groose clearly despises link because while he's exceptionally lazy and disinterested, everyone likes link, and the youth succeeds even when he doesn't try. later on, this turns into frustration that link is part of some grand scheme and he's...just not. he is a secondary character in-universe, and according to impa the best thing he can do is help on the sidelines. he is a big help, and a very lovable character in his own right, but he's fundamentally trapped in his own narrative.
revali is VERY similar to him in this regard, except he's aware that he's a supporting character (a champion) from the start, and hates link specifically for it. unlike groose, he never really does anything about it besides be somewhat snide, and eventually admits that link might be an okay hero when the rito champion is dead and can't do anything besides fire a big laser anyway. link has been groomed since he was a child to become a knight: his father's a knight, he pulled the master sword when he was twelve, iirc he might have joined the royal guard at an extremely young age, and everyone seems to have a great deal of respect towards him. revali is an extremely skilled archer and pushes himself to the limit, but he wasn't born into it or led down that path like link, so he has to play second fiddle.
now, I don't think characters being side characters is bad. I don't think revali or groose even being side characters is bad. but I certainly don't like how it frames their desire to be more than that as...well, bad. it really reinforces my reading of post-skyward sword games as correct; characters are expected to know their place in the narrative and not strive for more or try to break out of their little boxes, and if they do, they're villainized or it's treated like a character flaw. I don't think they were necessarily right to resent link for something that's ultimately out of his control, but what else are they gonna do?
but, according to the narrative, the only thing they can do is help those chosen by the gods, those chosen to lead, as they were chosen to bend to their will. they are cosmically unimportant, and they will never be worth paying attention to. the reason i tend to prefer people who actually look at characters that aren't link and zelda and try to examine them is because they're kind of going against the narrative itself, which really wants to push the idea that only zelda and link are important, ganon is just there to be an adversary and doesn't have any real grievances, and the only thing that matters is keeping hyrule and hylian supremacy intact.
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I am probably not the best person to talk about this, but an arm of white supremacy I've noticed is this idea that white people who even passively recognize racism or the idea that a person of colour is an equal are groveling at the feet of PoC.
While these ideas attack a seeming "character flaw" of a white person/person seen or conceptualized as white who isn't overtly or openly racist, these ideas rely on the white supremacist idea that non-white people (are at best) subhuman, or not human at all. There's this trope of the White Saviour that absolutely does exist, and I'm not denying that, but sometimes, I've noticed that people invoke the idea of the White Saviour in order to subtly insinuate that white people should "put PoC in their place (below whites)." Does that make sense?
#politics#racism#racism tw#white supremacy tw#ask to tag (genuine)#should i salt circle this post#i think plenty of other whote people notice this but they think it is only attacking them...#...in reality the idea that 'white people learning about racism or being against it = grovelling at PoCs feet' is based on the idea...#...that PoC are inherently beneath (or that PoC have the urge to be supremacist themselves in a sort of inversion of white supremacy?)#feel free as well to expand/correct/rant or whatever else#i'm sure this may not be universal as well. i'm mostly speculating based on what i've seen and experienced and i know the world is. very big
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How to write an OC with an big ego!
Ever wondered how to write a character with an ego the size of Mount Everest? Well, look no further! here is how I would do it. ( With examples)
Example person : Alex
Motivations Matter: Behind every egoistic persona lies a set of motivations that drive their actions. Unpack their backstory and understand what fuels their need for validation, power, or attention. Dig deep into their past experiences to unveil the root of their ego.
Example: Alex's ego was a result of childhood struggles, growing up in the shadow of a successful parent. The relentless pursuit of success became a way to prove worthiness, and the glossy exterior was the armor against past insecurities.
Flaws Galore: No one's perfect, and egoistic characters are no exception. Give your character flaws that stem directly from their inflated ego. Maybe they struggle with forming genuine connections or have a tendency to dismiss others' opinions. Flaws make characters relatable and grounded.
Example: Despite the impressive exterior, Alex's ego came with a flaw – an inability to acknowledge the contributions of others. The team's victories were claimed as personal conquests, and any failures were promptly blamed on external factors.
Voice and Dialogue: The way your character speaks is crucial. Egoistic individuals often have a distinct way of expressing themselves. They might be boastful, use grandiose language, or constantly seek attention. Pay attention to their tone, vocabulary, and speech patterns to make their ego shine through.
Example: "I don't build companies; I create empires," Alex declared, the tone commanding attention. Conversations were peppered with grandiose phrases, each sentence meticulously crafted to reinforce superiority.
Internal Conflicts: Explore the internal struggles your character faces due to their ego. Do they ever doubt themselves beneath the façade? Are there moments of vulnerability? Internal conflicts add depth and dimension to your character, making them more than just a one-dimensional ego machine.
Example: Behind closed doors, doubts crept in. Alex wrestled with the fear of inadequacy, wondering if the empire built was as impenetrable as it seemed. Vulnerability lingered, hidden beneath the layers of arrogance.
Show, Don't Tell: Instead of explicitly stating that your character is egoistic, demonstrate it through their actions. Showcase their need for admiration, their competitive nature, or their unwillingness to admit fault. Actions speak louder than words, especially in character development.
Examples: Rather than outright stating achievements, Alex casually dropped impressive anecdotes into conversations, leaving others in awe. The need for constant validation manifested in the subtle but unmistakable bragging woven into everyday dialogue.
Relationship Dynamics: Consider how your egoistic character interacts with others. How do they treat people they perceive as beneath them? How do they handle competition? Explore the dynamics they create in relationships to reveal facets of their ego.
Examples: Subordinates were either loyal subjects or inconsequential pawns in Alex's eyes. Competitors were met with thinly veiled disdain, each encounter a battle for supremacy. The wake of shattered professional relationships told tales of a cutthroat ambition.
Redeemable Qualities: Even the most egoistic characters can have redeemable qualities. It's essential to humanize them by showcasing moments of kindness or vulnerability. This complexity makes your character more interesting and adds layers to their personality.
Example: In rare moments, Alex's guard slipped, revealing a philanthropic side. A secret fund for employees facing hardships, a gesture that contradicted the public image. These glimpses hinted at a person beneath the towering ego
#creative writing#writing#writblr#writing advice#writers block#writers on tumblr#writing community#writeblr#writing tips#words#bookswriting#books and reading#books#books & libraries#reading#bookworm#bookish#bookblr#bookstagram#creative writing ideas#writing help#how to write
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do you think kenstewy would be a healthier relationship than the canon ones in the show (tomshiv, conwilla, romangerri)?
Honestly? No. I think there's a lot of love and care and respect between them but they're still loving in a hypercapitalist hellscape we're proving one's own worth means more to them than each other. Kendall is obsessed with his own father's legacy, which takes precedence over everything else, same with Stewy and his obsession with having as much capital as possible. Stewy's desperation for Ken to leave the company will always be at odds with Kendall's desire to stay. Stewy is not going to get the sincerity he puts out returned to him in equal measure and a honest conversation between the both of the would be few and far between.
They're also coke buddies who feed each other's substance abuse issues. Stewy literally does coke in front of Ken when he knows Ken is making a concerted effort at sobriety. That wouldn't change in a romantic relationship, it's just a relationship that's been forged through addiction where neither will probably won't acknowledge the other as an enabler.
Plus, to address the elephant in the room, Kendall proved this episode to not care about the role he plays in American white supremacy, and there's always gonna be a power imbalance if you're dating a brown man as the CEO of a racist propoganda machine.
But this is Succession. None of the relationships are healthy. Tomshiv oscillates between love and hate, there are moments of true, passionate love between them. Tom was truly saddened that Shiv was scheduling her grief, Shiv finds it terrifying to be vulnerable. And though Conwilla started out as transactional, and still is in many many ways, they do earnestly care about each other. Connor is head over heels for someone who may not love him back the same way, but does see someone worth looking after. Romangerri is, well, way more fucked up, but there's an appeal in that they do honestly seem to respect each other as colleagues, Roman is just, incredibly fucking bad at not being a creep.
I think romantic Kenstewy would be no different from other Succession ships. A deeply flawed relationship between deeply flawed people. The reason I'm a Kenstewy despite the fact it's so imperfect is they are almost always coming to each other in good faith. They talk to and about each other with fondness. And, also, something that's unique to them that we don't see in canon relationships that's so appealing to me is they have such a long history. They've known each other since at least middle school, if not earlier. Apart from his siblings, Kendall doesn't have a history with anyone else that's lasted that long. And depending on when the Hosseinis came to the US, which we'll never know, Kendall could've very well been one of the first people Stewy formed a friendship with in America. When Kendall tells Stewy "you know me, you know my flaws" he really really means it.
So yeah TL;DR it's not healthy, it's Succession, nothing healthy is able to thrive in the cruel hypercapitalist world these characters live in. But it's not a relationship devoid of love and fondness and all of those things. And if you're watching Succession knowing everyone's deeply fucked, then yeah, it's extremely fulfilling to explore.
#flood warning#succession#kendall roy#stewy hosseini#kenstewy#sorry this is probably super wordy im running on so little sleep and im drinking again
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What made you get in Ron defense mode and back into Romione lol
hey bestie!! tbh, I don’t even know actually??? like I switch between fandoms all the time and I never rlly linger in one too long, but I saw that cute romione fan art and wanted to gnaw on glass actually… I love them so bad!! they’re definitely one of my top ships. as for my ron supremacy agenda… even though I read all of the books when I was in middle school, he’s still my absolute favorite! and I’m in college now lmao. I get really defensive though because he gets so much hate and he’s bashed by virtually everyone from all corners of the fandom and it sucks because book!ron solos all of their favs LMAOSKKS
also it’s kind of annoying that he gets bashed (or even romione) while other canon characters have done way worse shit. won’t get into specific characters because we’d be here all day, but essentially, ron’s flaws always get exaggerated and his good traits are attributed to someone else, and I hate it so bad lol. I feel like ron is amazingly fleshed out and incredibly well rounded; he was kind, he was funny, he was loyal, and he was brave while also having a temper, being jealous, lacking awareness at times, having insecurities and so forth. now that I think about it, he’s probably one of my favorite book characters! it’s just sad he’s not all that appreciated.
rambling aside, to actually answer your question fully: I fandom hop a lot, and rn I’m stuck on my ron agenda! can’t wait to see what the fest produces 🌞👍🏾
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"Vanity was one of the most strongly marked of Voltaire's traits, and to this side of him relations with a woman of quality who adored his genius were no doubt extremely gratifying. Yet one ought to do him the justice to say that his vanity was only skin-deep. It had nothing in common with the greedy egotism which reduces the whole broad universe to a mere microcosm of pygmy self. The vanity which discloses a real flaw in character is a loud and tyrannical claim for acknowledgment of literary supremacy, and with it the mean vices of envy, jealousy, and detraction are usually in company. Voltaire's vanity was something very different from this truculent kind of self-assertion. It had a source in his intensely sympathetic quality, and was a gay and eager asking of assurance from others that his work gave them pleasure." - Voltaire by John Morley, 1872
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:))) asking about levi and gojo for the ask game (your response might be hella long im sowwie)
lmao bitch ily. gunna be hella long as i ramble so maybe nobody will read but i wanna talk about them🥰🫶🏽
levi:
• Why I like them: so to me levi is a perfect man. i think he’s my favorite character of all time, not just because i love him so much but because i just genuinely love his character. to me levi is a hero, but in such a different sense of the word. i always say he’s not a cookie-cutter hero and i mean that. he has such a complexity about him and the juxtaposition of his personality is both fascinating and endearing. i think that levi has a very kind heart and is incredibly empathetic and his actions always show this side of him, however he’s also quite cold on the outside. he’s got this stoic, aloof demeanor and can come across as quite rude and crass. i don’t think it’s always intentional(although sometimes it is) but i think it’s just at the core of who he is. he doesn’t take shit from anyone and he’s not afraid to tell people how he really feels. being this kind of person while also having this incredibly empathetic heart is so different than most hero characters. usually we have golden retriever hero’s and though i like those too i think it’s refreshing to show that someone can be cold and not the most inviting but still have a good heart. you don’t have to be good with people, or outwardly the most kind to also be a truly good person and that’s shown so perfectly with levi, which is why i often talk about my hatred of people trying to “erase” his cold side. nobody is “perfect” which is actually what makes him perfect. he’s flawed and crass and can be a jerk to be frank but he’s also empathetic, kind, caring and genuinely wants what’s best for those around him. both things can 100% be true and i love that about him.
• Favorite episode (scene): i love the kenny fight a lot, i think even though we knew levi’s skill beforehand it just showed how truly great of a fighter he is and that he’s willing to do what’s necessary for the big picture. i also love his speech to armin after where he thanks him for being the reason everyone on squad levi lived. in the manga i love his entire talk with the scouts where he says something like “im fine being the one to murder people, because i’d choose the hell of people beating one another to hell of being devoured by titans” i think there’s a lot in the manga that gives better insight to him i wish was animated.
• Favorite season: season 3, we had so much levi and i love the entire kenny arc with the both of them. i hate kenny but it just gave a lot of more understanding about levi and where he came from and why he is the way he is.
• Favorite line: i genuinely can’t pick but the one that popped in my head is when he says “stay alive, and that’s an order.” because he’s kinda like don’t die you idiots cause he cares so much.
• Favorite outfit: GREY SHIRT LEVI SUPREMACY. also his short sleeve shirt in the manga with the little v neck.
• ОТР: me and levi of course.
• Brotp: probably isabel and furlan. i’m in the minority in that i didn’t really think he was like besties with erwin or hange.
• Head Canon: a million. one of my faves is that he won’t admit it but likes when you run your fingers over his undercut.
• Unpopular opinion: i basically said it the why i love him part but that his cold/mean side is who he is but that doesn’t make him a bad person. i also don’t think he’s blushy at all.
• A wish: that he was real so i could give him all my love that i have bottle up inside me.
• 5 words to best describe them: empathetic, kind, crass, rude, stoic. (and sexy as hell)
• My nickname for them: just levi.
gojo:
• Why I like them: satoru to me is kind of like the opposite of most of the “strongest” characters i see. more often than not these characters tend to be more reserved so what immediately drew me to satoru was how he has this carefree, goofy side despite being so incredibly strong. i liked that side and than i grew to really respect his character after awhile. i think what people don’t talk about enough is how layered he is, people want to pretend he’s not arrogant but he is…he’s cocky, he’s arrogant, he tends to look down on the weak like those are just true. but he also has this incredibly kind side to him where he genuinely cares about creating this world where what happened to his best friend doesn’t happen to his students. we see it when he puts yuji next to megumi’s dorm despite there being a bunch. like he wanted then to build a connection so neither felt alone. he says it himself, he wants to foster his students because he wants to be able to reset jujutsu society and their horrible ways. so anyone who says he doesn’t care doesn’t see him for who he is. he’s genuinely a very caring person, despite his arrogance. again multiple things can be true at once, people are complex. i think all the different sides to his character come together perfectly. he’s unique. also he’s quite lonely, being the strongest and that makes me feel for him deeply. they says it’s lonely at the top and that’s so true for him.
• Favorite episode (scene): him bodying the curses during the Shibuya arc, i fucking love that fight. also his training scene with megumi because it showed his serious side and that he’s actually a good teacher despite what people say.
• Favorite season: season 1 because despite that fight i love he than gets trapped and i hate it.
• Favorite line: “it looks like just being strong isn’t enough, i can only save those who are prepared to be saved” i love the insight it gives us into his character honestly.
• Favorite outfit: that figure that’s called like season 2 ending costume?? i love that outfit. i am super into the basic bitch out of men with jackets over a hoodie.
• ОТР: me and him like with all of them.
• Brotp: as i said with megumi i need gojo big bro to him to be real i love their relationship.
• Head Canon: he can’t get through a full movie without wanting to touch you.
• Unpopular opinion: he’s not clingy or obsessive.
• A wish: for him to come back to me.
• 5 words to best describe them: kind, arrogant, complex, goofy, determine. (also again sexy as hell)
• My nickname for them: i love his first name so i often call him that for self-shipping.
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