WIP of the Bois!

Pls Arceus let them be happy.

Hey! I just saw your post about some meta doing good but then misunderstanding the characters at some point. If you do not mind sharing, what are certain misconceptions that you usually see and don’t agree with?

Hi! I don't mind sharing but before I answer this I wanna say that I do love that this fandom has so many interpretations of Aziraphale and Crowley's actions and thoughts and motivations. I think some of those interpretations don't always line up with everything we see of them in the show and I feel that both of them have areas where they can be misunderstood. But if anyone reading this finds themselves disagreeing with me, that you do see some of what I'm about to say in their characters, I'm not trying to take your version of Crowley and Aziraphale away from you and like, ruin that fun by saying people are wrong, or something. Fandom becomes really stiff when the culture only has one idea of who the characters are.

That said, I'll start with Crowley because I've always found him most relatable, and so I think about his character more than Aziraphale's.

The first thing is Crowley's temper. I've read quite a few metas talking about how Crowley needs to better manage his anger because it shuts Aziraphale down and makes it harder for him to talk. I don't see this. I mean, yes, Crowley has a temper. Crowley has been shown to be angry. But I've not seen it shut Aziraphale down. When Aziraphale gets nervous around an angered Crowley, it's always because Crowley has said something blasphemous. Such as at the bandstand when Crowley is cursing the Great Plan. Aziraphale becomes scared FOR Crowley and Crowley is never angry AT Aziraphale. I can't think of a scene off the top of my head where anything Crowley does makes Aziraphale feel like he can't say something he clearly wants to say.

But also, I feel that this take of Crowley's character, that he struggles with his temper around Aziraphale, somehow erases how gentle he really is with Aziraphale. He's always so patient with him, even when it would make sense for him to be off the rails angry. And also also, the two main times we see Crowley lose his temper around Aziraphale (the bandstand and then the fight in episode 1 of this season) are both times of great desperation. The world was ENDING. He was SCARED (He's really good at hiding how scared he is). And then Gabriel shows up and Crowley doesn't know how but he feels this will disrupt every single good thing in his life. And so he explodes in the street, something we don't have reason to think Aziraphale saw. Crowley literally left to go cool down. I think he did his best.

I also see a lot of metas speak to Crowley's apparent lack of self-worth. I've spoken about this before, I think Crowley is very confident in who he is. I think he knows himself better than Aziraphale knows himself. Crowley has ALWAYS known who he is, his arc is not one of self-discovery. It's actually Crowley's dedication to being himself despite what Hell would have him be that causes him conflict and intrigues Aziraphale so much.

That also leads into this idea that Crowley can't see himself clearly and therefore can't accept Aziraphale's love. As if he can't comprehend why Aziraphale might love him. But, we literally watch as Crowley graciously accepts every advance that Aziraphale makes. Crowley is the one who "goes too fast" and he probably has a lot of joy every time Aziraphale makes another step forward. It's Aziraphale who said, "Let's go out for lunch" the first time. It's Aziraphale who invited a demon into the bookshop meant to be an embassy for Heaven. It's Aziraphale who said "our car", and then Crowley gave him the keys. Crowley even blatantly says, "We've spent our entire existence pretending that we're not." This implies that he KNOWS. He knows Aziraphale has been pretending too, for 6,000 years, and before that too. Crowley knows he's loved, the problem was that he wasn't allowed to be loved by an angel, and neither of them ever got to say it out loud.

And then there are other, smaller things I see in metas that I don't generally agree with (though I completely understand how people got there). Which is this idea that Crowley feels rejected by Aziraphale. I mean, yes, but also no. I don't think Crowley got in the car at the end and drove away thinking that Aziraphale loves Heaven more than him. I think he's more angry that every single time Aziraphale falls to Earth, Heaven tugs on this rope around his waist and pulls him back up. I think Crowley understands Aziraphale's dilemma a lot better than we think he does.

And also, more recently I've seen some speculation about how Crowley wanting to run away is somehow a character flaw? Like, I agree with the point that both of them were wrong. Fixing Heaven won't work, so Crowley was right. But also, running away isn't a long term solution for them because they both love Earth too much. But I don't exactly see this as a character flaw? In season 1 when he mentions running away, let me remind you that THE WORLD WAS ENDING. He was desperate and he was scared. And in season 2, it wasn't so much a plea to literally run away into the stars and escape as it was an immortal being saying, "Look, Gabriel and Beelzelbub did it. Wherever they are, they're together, and they're dedicated to being happy together. Can we do that? Can we do that forever? In this bookshop or in the stars (in a cottage in the south downs?) Because I love you and I don't wanna think about belonging to anyone else anymore. WE don't need to belong to anyone else anymore. What do you say?"

And as for Aziraphale, I've said before that I don't think he wants Crowley to be an angel so that he can love him more. Aziraphale loves him as he is. And I think there are more articulate posts out there outlining why. The ask for Crowley to be an angel again has nothing to do with Crowley himself except that Aziraphale thinks Crowley would be safer that way. Aziraphale can fix Heaven FOR Crowley. Crowley's fall was wrong and he can now right that wrong. This happened, tragically, because Aziraphale loves him exactly as he is. And as much as Crowley's heart is broken right now, I don't think he doesn't know that. He knows the love he's had from Aziraphale these millennia was real. He knows it.

This became an essay, maybe one day I'll figure out how to get my points across quickly lol. But yeah, these are just my thoughts about who I understand these characters to be in canon. And I know that even though it's been nearly a month since the season dropped, people are still working through all the details that led up to our favorite angel stepping into an elevator and the demon who loves him more than life driving away alone in silence. I'm honestly still working through it too, there's still so much to think about.

I was just told a few days ago that they love momtara becauses it tragic that she has to do all the workd for people until of couse Zuko comes along to help out making it less tragic and that logic made zero sense. katara is not cinderella im not sure why her so called fans want her to be cinderella.. or a damsel in distress until zuko comes along its not very pro katara to me it feels the exact opposite.

there’s this really great thread made by my friend @rukihimehive on kataangthinker on twitter debunking momtara with evidence from the series. i highly suggest giving that a read if you’re as tired of the fandom adultifying katara as i am.

I’ve seen momtara enthusiasts say that anyone who is critical of the fandom trope is “taking away her maternal nature, which is associated with her trauma of having lost her mother from a young age.” in other words, “if you don’t support fandom’s insistence that katara is the gaang’s literal mother figure and interpret all her interactions with the gaang as motherly, you’re erasing her trauma.”

which is so ridiculous to me. in the episode the runaway, katara herself dislikes the label of motherly. she takes personal offence over the idea that the gaang would view her as their mother instead of their peer, and demands to know if it’s true that her behaviour comes across as too motherly, especially because “motherly” is associated with negative connotations such as “bossy,” and “overbearing.”

I’ve seen people state that the gaang’s treatment towards katara is unhealthy, that katara is forced to do all the emotional work and emotional labour and none of the gaang ever supports her in anything. which just isn’t even remotely true.

episodes like the desert - in which the gaang are under extenuating circumstances that forces katara to step up and take care of them - are the exception, not the standard. in bitter work, katara explains to toph on how they divide the chores amongst themselves. katara takes personal issue (and for good reason) when toph only wants to do her share.

there’s multiple episodes in which the gaang help pitch the tent and perform campsite duties. there’s a whole episode dedicated to how katara and sokka are both sick, resulting in aang having to run across the world to retrieve them medicine. there’s an entire episode dedicated to how the gaang cannot get anything done without sokka, who usually manages their schedules and itineraries and helps ensure that they’re on track. there’s plenty of moments in which aang and katara are goofing off, and sokka gets mad at them for not sticking to his carefully curated and meticulous schedule and for putting a wedge in their plans to save communities (see: imprisoned and the painted lady). there’s moments when toph assumes responsibility; there’s moments when aang assumes responsibility. and then there’s moments when none of them have any clue on what to do, when they literally act like children navigating a world that’s constantly trying to kill them.

and what about in katara-centric episodes? what about in the episodes dedicated to developing her character? surely the selfish gaang couldn’t possibly support and understand her goals and desires?

1. imprisoned - sokka and aang aide in katara’s plan to immediately get captured and free haru. aang takes her side when katara suggests to free the prisoners. aang and sokka aide katara in freeing the imprisoned earthbenders.

2. the waterbending master - aang rejects learning from a sexist because pakku refuses to teach katara. aang agrees to train katara everything he learns in the middle of the night. aang and sokka cheer katara on as she goes head-to-head with master pakku.

3. the puppetmaster - the gaang allows katara the opportunity to learn waterbending from hama, a southern water tribe bender, until they discover what hama’s been doing all along. sokka and aang rush to confront hama and to protect katara. later, they provide katara comfort after she breakdowns over learning how to bloodbend.

4. the painted lady - aang calls katara a secret hero for helping people in need, even though katara lied to the gaang and pretended that appa was sick. he later helps katara destroy the factory, and then aides in her plan to confront the fire nation soldiers as the painted lady.

sokka defends his sister’s actions:

“Maybe she is a waterbender, but she was just trying to help you. Because of her, that factory won't be polluting your river, and the army is gone. You should be down on your knees thanking her!”

the southern raiders - this episode is so misconstrued by fandom that every reading of it has become so far detached by canon. no, sokka and aang were not demonizing katara for believing that revenge was the suitable option for her (we find out in the episode that it wasn’t). yes, katara wanted far more than just confrontation (she said it herself - maybe revenge was what he deserved). no, aang was not demonizing katara for stating that her words reminded him of jet’s, who had died a noble death and who katara had personally mourned for. no, jet is not a terrorist and/or a psychopath - he was a child indoctrinated by propaganda and motivated by the death of his parents at the hands of the fire nation. aang and sokka do not interfere in katara’s decision to pursue the man who killed her mother, even if they felt that katara might end up killing that man. no, if katara had killed that man, aang and sokka would not shut her out or ignore her or make her feel subhuman. aang himself had several instances in which he would have taken several lives (sandbenders) if katara hadn’t stopped him. that’s why he says, “I’m proud of you,” because katara arrived at that moral decision on her own, without the influence of external sources (reminder that in the desert, katara had to physically stop aang). at the end of the episode, katara discusses with aang that forgiveness was not the approach she would take towards yon rha, but it was the approach that she would take towards zuko, who had earned her forgiveness.

in each of the above katara-centric episodes (with the sole exception of tsr, which I had described in great detail) the gaang understands katara’s goals and desires and helps her accomplish them, and protects and defends her. to me, that does not come across as a dynamic in which katara is overwhelmingly at risk and treated like absolute dirt. it’s actually quite telling on the quality of a fictional ship (or lack thereof) when fans must demonize katara’s friends and family in order to prop up her fanon love interest.

and when her fanon love interest DOES join the group, nothing… really changes in terms of the dynamics. he serves them tea occasionally? he tells sokka to get out of a bison’s mouth? katara still performs the cooking duties. katara still asks if zuko’s okay and makes sure that he’s included in group activities. the gaang turn to zuko because he is sufficient at hunting down aang, but they all formulate a plan for the comet together. one throwaway line informing someone to get out of the bison’s mouth and him being a strict teacher towards aang does not make him a dad. especially when none of the gaang truly see him as a dad and would probably die of laughing before even considering him as such.

that’s not to even mention the point of zuko’s arc when joining the gaang is not for him to assume an authority, paternal role over a group of kids younger than him (but around his age). it’s for him to finally realize that he belongs to a group of children as traumatized as him, to a family for once in his life. so why should fandom enforce him into a pseudo dad role that isn’t even canon nor would his character even want?

going back to katara, at her core katara is a young, fourteen year old child who has been forced to assume a motherly role to compensate for the loss of her mother. episodes like the runaway delve into how this trauma has forced her to grow up and act older than her age, but at the end of the day, she is still a child and does not wants to be viewed by her peers as some form of motherly figure. which is why it’s so important that characters like aang and toph remind her that she still is a kid, like them.

dark-skinned female characters like katara suffer from the phenomenon of adultification and hypersexualization in fandom spaces. their characters are treated as pseudo mother figures, irregardless of what the narrative could or could not outline for the audience. momtara is a problematic trope because it erases the nuanced dynamics in katara’s relationship with her friends and family, assuming that all interactions with the gaang are of her being their mother. and that canonically, that’s all katara can be towards them. especially in the interest of a ship.

From the notes of this post:

@this-world-of-beautiful-monsters

Flippant answer:......and what about them?

Short answer: they're coming from a place of inherently bad faith and i block them on sight.

Long answer: If someone is racist then they will continue to be racist until or unless they make a personal decision to either change themselves or allow themselves to be changed by those around them. If i'm a racist person with a "fetish" for brown people then that simply has nothing to do with fictional clones in a galaxy far far away and everything to do with how i treat real actual human people who are alive. Such traits would exist within me regardless of which fictional characters i like to imagine kissing and would be entirely unaffected by people yelling about Oh The Humanity.

Frankly, I think the majority of accusations like the one mentioned above usually stem from one of these two mindsets: 1) "i don't like this/it makes me uncomfortable and therefore i will use buzzwords and innate desire of others not to cause each other harm to make people creating it feel bad for doing so", or 2) "i have trauma stemming from abuse/marginalization related to this thing being depicted, and this thing being depicted is genuinely triggering whatever trauma responses developed from the result of said abuse/marginalization and therefore in an effort to protect myself i will attempt to make it stop." One is lashing out because of entitlement, and one is lashing out because of trauma. Either way, it's still lashing out. It's still interacting with the worst faith imaginable for the sake of personal comfort, and sure, i take the second reason a hell of a lot more seriously but let's be honest, it's impossible to know which reason is behind it because, a) people lie, and b) both groups use the same tactics to achieve their ends: namely stalking, harassment, smear campaigns, and maliciously spreading misinformation. If someone's yelling into a microphone in front of a crowd that they saw goody proctor at the devil's sacrament, i'm not gonna give a shit about why they're saying it because the intended end result is the same.

I know it's become something of a stock phrase by this point but, truly, fandom is not activism. If you want to try to incorporate activism-adjacent education into what you put out into fandom, cool, hope that works out for you. There are lots of posts (and even entire blogs) dedicated to attempting to, for example, educate others in fandom about racist trends, stereotypes, portrayals, coding, etc., that are often found in fandoms and source materials alike. Personally i find them very informative and helpful. Some people will attempt to take that to heart and change their behavior, and some people will ignore it because they don't give a fuck, and an important skill to develop is knowing which one is necessary to not be a shit person.

If someone tells me "hey you wrote lavernius tucker as disliking his first name and considering he's a Black man with an unusual name that takes on a different connotation than it would with a white character" then i'll think about that seriously, come to a conclusion, and say "thank you so much for pointing that out, i didn't consider that at all when writing it and i will now change it and try to keep that in mind going forward." But if someone says "hey you're writing about brown men from unrealistic and fantastical origins finding love, romance, or even just sexual gratification with each other and that's racist and fetishizing because they look a lot alike" then i'll think about that seriously, come to a conclusion, and say "nah, that sounds like bullshit to me."

If i'm ever given to believe that i'm perpetuating some kind of racial stereotype, insensitively portraying characters of color, or harming actual human beings by writing a couple of clone troopers having sloppy makeouts with each other, i'll be sure to reevaluate. Until then, i block anyone i see who makes grand sweeping statements about the moral fiber of people who create fan content of two dudes fucking.

Also, this goes for every one of these types of accusations*: people aren't racist for shipping characters of color together, they aren't pedophiles for shipping minor/adult characters, they aren't abusers or abuse apologists for shipping enemies (or even, yes, canonically abusive characters), they don't want to fuck their relatives because they ship related characters, and they aren't groomers for posting or discussing smutty fanworks on the goddamn internet. Morality and ethics aren't defined by one's fictional interests, or by the microscopic slice of their rich internal life and world they deign to share with others on Tumblr, and fandom isn't fucking activism.

*and anything within fandom that can be defined as an accusation is automatically suspect for these exact reasons

personally, i feel like it's not a bad thing since the fandom tries to separate that ideology from everything else and stuff then again, i also have no idea what it's about or what's going on since i never looked at it past some random references i hear

(^ about Homestuck btw)

[also long post incoming I accidentally wrote an essay but I feel like a short response doesn’t do the topic justice]

Yes, exactly, that’s how I usually rationalize it, because if I’m entirely honest a lot of the disgusting stuff Hussie put in there can be manually carved out of the story without damaging the whole, at least I think it can. There’s literally a fan project dedicated to removing as much of the upsetting and harmful language used in it as possible and they do it super flawlessly and it doesn’t harm the overall story.

Of course, there are many things wrong with Homestuck’s canon story and plot that cannot be so easily reclaimed or censored, and we are all so painfully aware of that and call it out and stand violently against it, doing everything in our power to hack and slash at canon to remove the rotten parts like cutting the bruises out of an apple.

The large majority of Homestuck fans are disabled and from many, many different cultural backgrounds and religious affiliations. And when they saw the fucked up shit Hussie had baked into a story that they otherwise loved, the first thing they started doing was hacking and slashing at canon to salvage the good. And the fandom has STAYED that way for the most part. Being a Homestuck fan has always felt like being part of a massive reclamation project.

We all know Hussie doesn’t respect us and they never did and very, very few of us ever respected them. Yes there are bad-faith and gross people but that is a given with literally every fandom under the sun. Though obviously Homestuck is more prone to it due to the reasons above.

Whenever someone says “canon Homestuck is problematic so Homestuck fans are all bad people who excuse and associate with that stuff!” I have to look at them sideways, because not only does it make it clear that this person has never actually known the Homestuck community, but it’s also just a really sobering experience for me.

Because the Homestuck fandom has really never been about Homestuck in and of itself, it’s always been about what Homestuck could have been and what specific things WERE good about it. We hate Hussie, Hussie hates us. The creator has willingly removed themselves from the project and has established that they don’t view enjoyment of Homestuck as support for them, in fact being very aware that most Homestuck fans hate the bigotry baked into it and Hussie by proxy.

But at the same time I do have to hear what these people are saying and I of course am left wondering if that’s even enough. Even after all our efforts and passion and attempts as a fandom to reclaim this webcomic as something that brought us deep joy and seeking representation and celebration in something that would otherwise have harmed us… does it even matter? Is it… enough?

Yes, every piece of media is going to be a little problematic and freaking out over every little thing and being hyper-sanitized is bad, but are Homestuck’s crimes too egregious to be ignored? Is this joy and connection and community really worth what it comes from?…

The condemnation of Homestuck fans both feels like a slap in the face due to all our efforts and history and like a sobering, bitter truth. One that brings tears to my eyes, quite frankly. And I think the biggest issue is, I can only speak on certain problems with Homestuck. I can’t speak on the most gross parts of it, and I have no one who’s part of these groups and is aware/informed of what Homestuck is in my life to talk to about it with. No one to ask for an opinion.

I know Homestuck fans of these identities exist, I see them everywhere using Homestuck as a medium to celebrate their cultures and faiths in spite of the comic’s undertones but I’ve not really seen enough to get an idea on what the majority opinion about Homestuck is overall. I wish I could sit down with people who have experiences with these things who would also like to discuss and just listen and talk about their perspectives and experiences so that I could get a proper view of everything and form an educated opinion for myself.

So I just have to sit here wondering. Yes, the Homestuck community is violently anti-bigotry and hates every gross thing in the comic and puts tons of effort into reclaiming it, that feels like it should be justification enough, but is it really?… Are we all just wearing rose tinted glasses? Are we no better than those who disregard the issues? I don’t know. And I wish I did. Even though my gut tells me that I’m being gross, my mind tells me that I’m fine, and I don’t know what to trust.

JUZA FOR THE ASK GAME and also banri please!! Thx in advance

AHHH,, THANK YOU!!! 💕💞 gonna do em as two separate posts for ease!! ^^/

In reference to this post !! (feel free to send an ask!)

Character: juza hyodo

Favourite thing about them

Oh gosh,, where to start. I love his dedication to and passion for acting. Especially after Fallen Blood when he realised that he isn't at fault for how he was treated and that being himself is not a negative, after years of being shunned, and that his drive can take him so far without having to do anything different. I love how he's a big softie - he cares so much about his fellow troupemates and family!! When he bought muku an entire chocolate cake just to do something nice and let the rest of mankai share it with them ough... ♡ I love how even despite his insecurities and uncertainty, he still tries his damned hardest at every performance because that's all he's ever wanted. I love his fashion sense (yes, even the sandals fight me), how it progressed from pretty dark, unassuming colours and pretty loose and breathable because he didn't wanna draw any unnecessary attention in fear of drawing fights but allowed him room should he absolutely need to defend himself to more casual, colourful and comfortable clothes because he has mankai around him now (think the HAGT fit). I love his whole design actually,, he has pretty eyes and lovely hair and how his colour scheme is the non-binary flag (I'm biased). I love that he opens his heart so quickly to the mankai members once he realises that they accept him for who he is - that he goes to school with tenma and taichi, and he'll go for bike rides with omi and cares so much about sakyo he'll follow him around to make sure he's okay. Everything about juza hyodo is wonderful.

Least favourite thing about them

Nothing he is, in fact, perfect. (/j, king please stop leaving your dirty laundry out in your room. Banri doesn't often have good points, but I know this man uses 19 in one body wash/shampoo/conditioner on top of being one of the shortest bath takers and i think he needs to not do that)

Favourite line

brOTP

O HIGH BOYS SUPREMACY !!! Him, taichi and tenma just all play so well off of each other and i would die for them all. I also really love omi and juzas dynamic, how omi encourages juza to do his best (Fallen Blood still got me crying) and juza allows omi to grieve and heal and assure him that he's a good friend. They're very sweet besties. I'd love love love to see more Juza and Guy interactions?? Not sure whether jp has explored any of that BUT I think two dudes who have had to repress a large part of themselves for a lot of their lives finally finding acceptance and comfort would be super interesting to explore. The way they both had duties to their family in a way and had to leave to protect them is just. Ough. Let them go fishing together or smth idk.

OTP

Me juban juban juban juban-

Fr,, this ship is so good and i love it so much. The enemies to lovers, the rivals, the "It's your fault I finally found something that gets me fired up", the "muse" of it all ough..

nOTP

Omi and juza. Listen, I know its technically okay in jp with ages and stuff,, but it still kinda makes me 😬 also the fact juza also looks and acts exactly like omis best friend who passed is just a lil too much for me. I see it much more as a mentor kinda thing, Omi getting a chance to rectify the mistakes he made in his youth to try to steer juza onto the path he wants aough..

Random headcanon

AMBIDEXTROUS JUZA,, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL. I swear I had more but I forgor ♡

Unpopular opinion

The entire fandom loves juza understandably because really who wouldn't, but popular fanon juza who's just a himbo who loves sweets and banri is. Not it. Like you can have him as a shallow character and that's okay but stating with your whole chest that's all he is makes me go insane bonkers absolutely crazy.

Song I associate them with

So so many ... I'll name a few ...

Cheerios and Chocolate Milk by Theo Kandel

Starjumper by Bad Suns

Tired Eyes and Heavy Hearts by The Gospel Youth

Nights Like These by The Ghost Club

Confidence by Oscar Scheller

Favourite pic of them

This is literally my favourite image ever he's just so fucking head empty ♡ when this card came to en I saved up enough for 5 ten pulls, he didn't come home and my roommate got 2 copies in his first 10 pull 😐 but! Event reward gems came through and I actually managed to get one before it shut down ♡

TY AGAIN GOMPER FOR THE ASK ILY 💞

I know academic hell very well, would an obey me ask with some early game relationship mammon & mc interest you? Thanks if you are interested, they/them pronouns please!

Earlier I thought it would be sweet if mammon beel or Levi has to help mc get over Lucifer’s scary act! Plus how is mc supposed to go on adventures if they’re too busy sweating over pesky things like consequences on the assumption (read: inevitability) Lucifer will ever have to know? I was just thinking that we don’t really canonically see how the mc struggles to adjust, but I imagine suddenly having somebody telling you when you have to be up for breakfast and when you have to be home for dinner and how your location has to be known and how your grades and appearance have to be top knotch and how you need to be escorted around might be a tad bit frustrating. That’s not adding on how intimidating and harsh Lucifer can seem.

Dw about it if you aren’t interested, good luck with finals!

Consciousness (along with a few of my personal hc's on mc's experience)

Wearing: mentions of mental health issues and spoilers

A/n:Dear I am SO interested in this!! You have no idea how much i dislike that the brothers and other exchange students along with the royals (maybe -Barb and Solomon tho) don't see how the mc is stressed out and struggling with the whole ordeal and I may have misunderstood this request but I hope this is what you meant. Also I'm so sorry for the wait love, I hope you enjoy

Reader:Gn!reader

So let's start from the beginning, mc was practically okay with being kidnapped, to another world they didn't know existed, forced to not only stay an entire year in an unknown world to them but also stay with 7 ancient year old beings that act like a toddler having a tantrum if they don't get their toy

Now despite Lucifer being the "mature" one he sure as doesn't know how to deal with things if said person doesn't wanna listen, then realise on threatening, traumatising and scearing the living day lights outta siad person

Going back to the first point, I also believe mc listening and not going against anyone in the beginning was a self defence mechanism or sorta like fight or flight mode except they can't run and they can't fight so they go along with it to keep themselves safe

Putting that aside, I hate that the mc was basically a lab rat for diavolo to see if the brothers can handle having a human live with them

He basically sat on the side, knowing bad things will happen (to the credit of barb) and only interfered when mc's life or physical body was being threatened or in the act of being hurt

As much as I love barb and how dedicated he is to his job and dia, he's a little lot too dedicated, there had to be a limit he can put out, right? Dia would listen to his suggestion I know that, so why KNOW that the human will be killed/threatened instead of stopping it completely?

I don't have much of an opinion on Luke at the beginning other then having a strong feeling he was manipulated to join by Michael

Simeon probably jumped at the opportunity since he wants to make amends with the brothers

Now Solomon, despite half the fandom saying he's shady and only interacts with mc to entertain himself at the start, I disagree, I think he's been helping mc behind the scenes, and tries to seem more open and friendly for mc since they're the only other human there and he understands them more then the others

Mammon is the best out of the brothers, I have to say that but when he talked down on mc when they first met is just a shitty thing tbh,I hc mc only stuck around in the beginning cos he's the safest out of the rest since he's forced to be our guardian

Now has anyone noticed the brothers start to like mc's company and just them as a person WAYY faster then mc themselves?

I believe it's cos of the different perspectives for them and the mc

For example, while they viewed everything happening as part of diavolo's plan to unite the three worlds, mc viewed it as being forced to be around dangerous beings who could snap them like a twig for a year

They started falling for mc's kindness but I think that was just mc playing things safe

You get where I'm going?

On to something else, I only played the game to, if I'm remembering correctly, lesson 18. And throughout all 18 lessons mc has never cried or broke down IN FRONT of anyone in the devildom

I think they keep any negative thoughts or emotions private in fear of doing something wrong cos it'll get Lucifer on their back more then he already is

Lucifer throughout the game has proven to not only mc and the brothers that he can't handle having a human around but also to diavolo, over and over again

He literally bruised/broke our hand during a waltz and mc had to keep in the pain due to them being in public

When the mc starts trusting them slight is after they have all 7 pacts cos just incase they try anything they can order them to stop

Lucifer and belghie will be the last of not just the brothers but all the characters to see mc genuinely relaxed and comfortable around everyone

Ofc I have more but this is too long so maybe there'll be a part two if anyone's interested :)

i feel kinda bad for shl cos all the fans of hyx and spl are blaming shl since their dramas are being delayed :(

LMAO I really don’t get that altho i can see that the timing might be a little back to back, and i’m not a SHL-only stan by any measure but:

For HYX especially,

Firstly it was already having problems since the end of last year with censorship and review. This is mostly due to the reason that 2ha is a pretty big fandom and is the cult fave in the danmei industry - what this means is that there are three types of fans basically right, (1) Normal fans who love the novel + show (2) Those who fanatically love the novel in some extreme ways haha (3) Those who hate it and/or are HYX-onlys - so you get it all in a bag. 

The first type of fans is definitely the easier ones to deal with, but unfortunately in big fandoms you get a lot of (2) and (3). It’s not something that’s exclusive only to 2ha/HYX but because it’s a cult fave, and a controversial one at that, problems definitely arise.

(2) are the ones who head down to the filming scenes, take photos and footage despite crew telling ppl not to do it, not to sneak around filming sites and definitely not to leak photos or footage. They do it anyway. Yeah sure of course it’s a couple of photos every few weeks or a tiny video every few weeks but word gets out. They’re inevitably hurting the show and the fandom with their actions, because shit trends on Weibo really fast, and the censorship committee (not just for the film industry or shows) is always lurking on the site to catch any sign of you know, hate speech for the country etc. and more. Not related, but the point is that social media is watched very closely. It’s not a myth or an exaggeration, you really just got to be careful, and HYX is a show that, despite not having been broadcasted, has consistently trended on Weibo over the last few months. Not always because of leaks, but yeah, HYX is in everyone’s faces. Fans themselves put a fucking huge spotlight on the show BEFORE we even have any content at all, and of course this isn’t enough to like create huge trouble for the show but then we have-

(3), which I believe creates the most trouble - the thing is 2ha and meatbun who wrote the book, has a long line of haters and antis, way before HYX came into the picture. I shall not go into details of how I’ve seen some big accounts on Tumblr here spit vitriol at the book without even reading it just based on the content/trigger warnings and playing the morality card (and I think most ppl who’ve followed me for a while know just what I think about that). Like this was way before any footage or leaks or even HYX being a thing came about - as a cult fave it has its share of haters, and this share is a huge. There are those who get off on their moral high grounds XD and I think especially these ones are the most troublesome, all they have to do is report that HYX is immoral, bad for culture etc. etc. hahaha and yeah the censorship team is always ready to step in on reports, especially on BL stuff.

And of course the larger part is the change in censorship processes - honestly even way before SHL came out in end Feb, HYX was no closer to getting passed by the review committee than it is now. Maybe yes, SHL scenes may be now used as reference for comparison but seriously? People are deluding themselves if they thought pre-SHL HYX was going through the review process smoothly and only hit roadblocks after. I mean, we’ve all seen the leaks, some of them are truly like god-tier scenes that may be hard to explain away. It’s not like they can repackage the script especially because they have to submit everything to the review committee.

I mentioned this in a post yesterday but how SHL passed reviews is due to the fact that they didn’t have to submit a full script. They only had to submit a partial script, and that makes a world of difference. Basically a team, under these requirements, can repackage the script to include the more het looking parts even I feel, and of course some heavy misdirection by the team, it could work. Now that you have to put an entire script up for scrutiny.. I mean, it’s hard. This is just a game of probability.

And the last reason I think is still Tencent. Honestly, I’ve never seen a huge ass MNC like this handle a show this terribly.

1. No control over leaks - This is honestly the dumbest shit to do

2. Terrible crisis management response time - When fans leak footage, it’s standard and practical business sense to control it IMMEDIATELY. They shouldn’t just leave it up to the crew to put up notices and as the company that owns the rights to the show, it’s up to them to possibly threaten legal action as well. Basically a sterner stance would have helped a lot, but Tencent is a motherfucker of a company who only cares about free marketing and publicity without any considerations over impact to the show itself 

3. Terrible at communicating with fans - Seriously, I’ve never seen a company or team that’s been this bad at confirming delays etc. and providing updates about a show. I understand that it’s mostly due to them not wanting to affect the review process or create more chaos within the fandom but lmao Tencent allowed the hype to build so much and then goes absolutely silent at crazy rumours. I mean we had to find out about a delay from Cai Bao, their cat mascot, like??? In a really veiled and poetic message that didn’t outright say the word ‘delay’ like damn these ppl have a lot of time

As for SPL,

Lol we don’t know anything about this show. We don’t know if they took out or left in the Yifu part that would supposedly make it less gay or whatever, we don’t know anything about how gay it should have been or could have, so this one might be a tad more ridiculous. I mean none of us have seen any good leaks, and we haven’t seen any of the script, we got ZERO idea about this. Maybe they really went hard on the bromance, how would any of us know hahaha so all the more it’s like people have zero basis to go on, to say that it’s because of SHL. Seriously, everyone’s shooting in the dark.

Technically if laws didn’t change last Feb, I think SPL/WIK should have been passed in the same way as SHL did, but it’s just inopportune time for them.

===

- So tl:dr HYX already had tons of problems, that I doubt were going to go away just because SHL didn’t air, honestly. For SPL, it’s really hard to tell what failed the review, because none of us know what’s going on in the script.

No one cared about SHL, even I only realized the show was airing on the day itself and then made a rec post after I watched the first 4 eps. And if it truly was anything to do with SHL, I’m telling you that the first thing the censorship committee will do is basically shut SHL down, get Youku to take it off sites etc. until it’s reviewed again etc. etc. That hasn’t happened yet, at least not before HYX and SPL were stalled.

===

ALSO!! Don’t have to feel sorry for SHl fans hahaha I’m telling ya a lot of us definitely weren’t OG SHL or TYK fans, seriously! All the bigger accounts I see on Twitter are a combination of CQL/SHL or MXTX/SHL, SPL/SHL and I am personally 2HA/HYX/SHL. The fight is all out on Twitter HAHAHAHA but it’s not that bad, we’ve all got practice. Seriously WHO ACTUALLY is an SHL only stan I’ve honestly not seen much?! HAHAHA the point is we’re all yelling on behalf of SHL as a cross fandom fan, easier for us to do so as well. We’re talking about 2ha/HYX/SPL/Priest dedicated accounts that delved deep into SHL championing for no-nonsense in the space hahaha

Musings of an Alchemist’s Lover

Fandom: Genshin Impact Pairing: Albedo x Reader Summary:  Maybe you had a third eye somewhere you didn't know of, a horn that's grown out of you without you noticing or a tail that flicks behind you whenever you weren't looking. Whatever it was, certainly there had to be something noticeably different about you that attracted the alchemist's attention and your curiosity allowed your mind to wander.

-----------

Holding Albedo's attention for more than a few seconds was no easy feat.

Unless it was a topic that tickled his fancy or something of utmost urgence, Albedo would most likely only regard the unfortunate soul with a disgruntled hum, tuning out most of their words until he manages to somewhat catch onto the main gist of their spiel. He doesn't even do anything to hide his disinterest, eyes immediately finding purchase on anything else but the speaker in front of them, musing theories to himself that he'd sometimes let slip into a whisper. This certain trait of his has definitely gotten him into trouble more than a couple of times but Albedo could hardly care. Surely discovering the world's secrets is more important than helping the Knights look for Margaret's lost cat for the umpteenth now right?

Despite being Mondstadt's favorite person and with a reputation that precedes him, Albedo was surprisingly anti-social. He had little to no regards for social interaction and this is further proved when he made himself a makeshift laboratory in one of Dragonspine's cave.

It was quiet, deserted and had almost everything he needed for his studies. If he ever ran out of supplies then he'd be able to call for either Sucrose or Timaeus - or go down the mountain himself to make sure he'll stock up with more than the amount he needs so he can hole himself up for a couple of weeks on end. The scenery was an added bonus, if the amount of sketches he's made was anything to go by, it was safe to say that Albedo liked it as well. Thick snow carpeted the floor as far as the eye can go and streams glimmered under the light of the morning sun. The air was crisp and chilly, it nipped at his nose and made his cheeks burn red, but his cave offered a comforting warmth once he's sank in front of the hearth, nursing a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Albedo was many things, that much you could tell.

A genius, an alchemical prodigy, a leader, a brother - and most surprisingly, even to yourself - your lover.

To be fairly honest you weren't entirely sure what it was that attracted the Chief Alchemist of the Knights to your side. You were hardly anyone special after all, simply just one of Lisa's many acquaintances who spends one too many hours in the library. You were of average height and build, with a face that you could only describe as forgettable. Neither you nor your parents were well-known within the walls of the city of freedom and you lived a mostly mundane routinary life as a baker until Klee had bounded into your humble store one rainy evening, soaked to the bone and sneezing from the cold. The poor thing was shivering and had asked to take shelter from the pouring rain. You didn't have the heart to turn her away and you were more than just a little familiar about the stories of Mond's most adorable but destructive spark knight. You allowed her into your home, giving her a fresh towel to pat herself dry and a cup of hot milk and freshly baked cookies. The child bounced in glee, thanking you and happily accepting the treats with a smile that could part the skies to make way for the rays of sun. You allowed her to phone her guardian after she had finished eating and you kept her company throughout the entire wait. You turned your attention away from Klee the moment the store bell rang and your (e/c) eyes had immediately met with bright turquoise irises.

"Thank you for taking care of her." Albedo said as he knelt down to assist Klee with wearing her infamous bright red coat and adjusted her mushroom hat so it sat snugly atop her head.

"It's no problem at all, she was lovely company. I'd be delighted to have her around again every once in a while." You chuckled, remembering how she had praised the treats you made for her.

"Albedo onii-chan Albedo onii-chan!" The spark knight excitedly exclaimed, tugging on his hand with each call of his name. "______ makes the best sweets! Her cookies are really good and the bread she makes are really fluffy! She let me help her mix the dough earlier and-"

"How about you tell me all about it when we get home Klee? It's late and I'm sure ______ has to close up shop soon."

Klee deflated a bit but was quick to understand, she turned to you immediately after and flashed you another bright smile.

"Thank you for today ______ nee-chan, Klee will come back to visit another time!"

You smiled at her enthusiasm and you couldn't resist the urge to pat her on the head.

"I'll be waiting for you here then."

Albedo stood up after the exchange and finally regarded you with his attention. "We'll be off then, have a lovely evening miss ______."

"And to you too sir Kreideprinz."

You watch them walk off down the cobbled street, Klee's joyous laughter and excited chatter filling the air despite the pattering of rain against your roof. They took a turn around the corner and disappeared from your view. A small smile tugs on your features and you immediately set to work with locking up the store for the night.

Klee had started coming over more often after that night, mostly dropping by before you close while she waited for Albedo to finish work. It was no surprise that Klee often talked fondly about her big brother, praising him and telling you stories you haven't heard from any of the other residents of Mond while you prepared for tomorrow's next batch of goods. Albedo seemed like a very busy man from the way Klee tells her stories but he always seemed to make time to pick her up, oftentimes buying some bread and sweets before leaving.

It surprised you a little when he admitted he enjoyed having something sweet while he worked. Albedo insisted that it was because it gave him a considerable boost of energy but a part of you thinks it could just be because he had a sweet tooth he just wasn't aware of.

Needless to say it was due to that chance encounter with Klee that had allowed you to meet the chief alchemist himself and your relationship had only continued to bloom from there.

He was - in simple terms - wonderful.

An eccentric, true, but wonderful nonetheless and you never would have guessed that you'd ever end up as his lover nor did you ever imagine you'd be holding him in your arms, sleep slowly overtaking him as you gently ran your fingers through soft platinum locks - much like the lazy morning you were both sharing right now.

Albedo had come home at almost 3 in the morning the other night, with a throbbing headache and eyes that almost refused to open from drowse. He had pulled all-nighters for several days now, refusing to leave his lab for even a moment as he fully threw himself into his work. Nothing could ever stop him when he was in such a state, filled with elation at the mere prospect of a new discovery. It was a side of him that you admired as much as you found it problematic, it was amazing how he could wholly dedicate all his time, effort and energy towards his research but it was a definitely a point of worry that he'd also forget how to take care of himself. The alchemist immediately headed to your shared bedroom, dragging his feet across the floor while he shed himself of his coat, letting out a long yawn before heaving himself onto the mattress' soft comfort. You stirred from your sleep as the bed dipped and knowing it couldn't possibly be anyone else other than Albedo, you immediately rolled to your side and wrapped your arms around his middle, nuzzling into his warmth as his arms found themselves around you to return your embrace. There was an exchange of sleepy mumbles before you both immediately fell back into sleep.

You smile a little bit at the memory, humming softly as you continue to softly card your fingers through his hair. It was more than just a little past the time you both usually woke, but you'll allow it for now. Surely the people could wait a couple hours more for their morning bread and the knights can surely make do without the Chief Alchemist for a moment longer. So long as Albedo was getting the rest he needed you figured a lazy morning in would be alright every once in a while especially after the sleepless hectic nights he had the past few days. The peaceful expression on his face immediately filled you with relief.

"Albedo?" You whispered, afraid you'd break the serenity of the morning.

The alchemist responded with a sleepy hum, lifting his head so he could look at you as his long lashes fluttered open.

A smile tugged at your lips at his sleepy visage before you gently pressed a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you."

He gives you a sleepy smile of his own, heart swelling at the affection before nuzzling back into the crook of your neck.

"I love you too."

His lips brushed against your pulse as he spoke and his breath tickled against your skin, feeling a little playful, you then decided to ask.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

A question you've always been meaning to ask, brought about by a sudden spur of confidence.

"Because meine liebe," Albedo starts, once again pulling himself away from your warmth to hold you with his gaze - you once again think to yourself that his eyes has the most beautiful shade of green - "I love you simply because you are you."

"You're certain it's not because I have a third eye hidden away somewhere or some freaky mutation I somehow have no knowledge of?"

Albedo chuckled lightly.

"Certainly not love, and I'm sure if you do I wouldn't be the only one to take notice of it."

You hum, convinced and resumed patting his hair.

The alchemist assumed his earlier position and sank further into your embrace.

"Besides," he murmured, sleep lacing his words,

.

.

.

"I think you're wonderful just the way you are."

How the Jedi Order saved my life

Thanks partially to the ambiguity of the internet it inherently breeds negativity - whether it be for post clicks or actual interpretations of content it doesn’t matter, it’s there and it can be very overwhelming and toxic at the best of times. 

One of the victims of so much venomous negativity has been the Jedi Order (specifically the Prequel era Order), a fictional band of warrior space monks who are the heroes of the Star Wars saga who’s teachings were mostly inspired by Buddhist philosophy. They were the undisputed “good guys” of that universe for multiple decades and then something shifted in fandom and suddenly people are online advocating that their actual in story genocide was warranted because they “failed”. 

I am not here to debate the merits of the Jedi, please don’t make this blog post a platform for THAT argument, what I want to get across in this post is that for me (and this is just my experience) the Jedi are a source of light and in all complete honesty they saved my life. 

This is going to be rather personal…

Due to many, many factors including hormonal/health imbalances and personal trauma (including being the one that had to make the decision/call to take my father off life support) I fell into a severe depression for almost 5 years. I pulled away from everything and everyone I loved, I lost multiple jobs, I physically couldn’t get out of bed most of the time. And then came the day I decided to end it all...end the suffering. 

I had made a plan, I had made arrangements and set things up for my loved ones after I was gone. I had one day of life left, so I decided to watch the Star Wars saga one last time because it had at one point been such a big part of my life and I wanted one to enjoy it all one final time. 

And on this viewing something struck me. The Jedi had literally lost everything, their friends and the galaxy as a whole turned their backs on them which led to the slaughter of their entire organization. The scene where Yoda and Obi-Wan were walking through the Temple just hit me so hard, both of them watching everything they knew crumble all while feeling the weight of grief and loss on a level none of us can even comprehend. 

But while their pain was obvious, especially thanks to the tremendous acting talent of Ewan McGregor neither Obi-Wan or Yoda gave up - they had every reason for them to tell the galaxy to go f*ck themselves, but they didn’t. That wasn’t even an option in either of their minds.

It was their teachings that saved them in the end, the concept of learning to let go of their fears and insecurities, of acknowledging their feelings in order to release them and not dwell on them. To realize that failure is the ultimate teacher and learn from their mistakes (real or perceived). That death is a natural part of life and that true love is about being able to let someone go when the time comes. They also showed that it’s important to do the most good that you can with the hand you are dealt with, that life isn’t easy and the temptation to “fall” to the darkside can be very seductive, but ultimately makes you miserable. 

The Jedi - the Prequel Jedi (and their code) saved my life that day. 

I remember pausing Revenge of the Sith at the moment Obi-Wan held Luke (or Leia) as Padme died, the lost look on his face, and knowing the resolve that character finds within himself forced me to pick up the phone and call the suicide hotline. 

What followed has been a year dedicated to nothing but my mental wellbeing. This included finding a creative outlet that had nothing to do with my career (I am a professional FX makeup artist by trade) and so, I returned to my love of writing Star Wars fanfiction. Having a way to explore the teachings of the Jedi and the strength of these characters have helped me in ways I can’t even explain, it was so noticeable that my therapist asked me what I was doing to be able to make such progress. 

I’ll say this again for those in the cheap seats - the Jedi saved my life that day...and their teachings have allowed me to love in ways I never thought possible.

Now, I’m not saying I’m converting to the Jedi religion (though I have a friend who has and that is a valid path for those who have chosen it), but the teachings of the Jedi are inherently good - they teach us to get out of our own heads, listen to our feelings and focus on the beauty around us, that we’re all connected and ALL life (including ours) has value. 

So, say what you will about the “failures” of the Jedi, but for me I would not be here if it weren’t for them, their code and their strength. And I have George Lucas specifically to thank for that. 

From the bottom of my heart I thank you Obi-Wan, Yoda and George.

5 ships I hate, why I hate them, how to (kinda) fix them, the better ships you should be doing in that universe, and why you should ignore me and keep writing them if it makes you happy.

Note: this is done for amusement, please don’t be offended; I’m not attacking your ship, I’m just listing some ships I do not always care for, and how I think they could be improved, and maybe made brilliant, by clever writing.

In no particular order, and focusing on ships that often annoy me, with no attempt by me to say anything meaningful or popular about the current state of any particular fandom. I’m also a firm believer in the idea that there’s no such thing as a bad ship, only a badly executed ship, so my objections to these is less a dislike of shipping, or the paring, and more that they raise writing issues that I think are difficult to fix in a satisfying way. That’s why in a lot of the examples below I prefer AU ships to ones that try to messily work it into the cannon. Anyway, enjoy... I guess?

 Marco x / anyone (Animorphs)

Why I hate it: Animrophs is an intensely character-driven story, where the tension of each book comes from the conflicts, external and internal, that the five Animrophs (and Ax) face during a long, hard, traumatic war.  And while several of the character are paired off romantically, it’s always to emphasise character conflict over their different points of view. Jake and Cassie are a pair because Jake’s struggle with having to make hard, grey, morally ambiguous choices as leader is highlighted by Cassie’s burning need to make the right choice, the lesser evil, the choice that leaves some small shred of humanity and dignity and kindness left in this bleak world. Tobias and Rachel are a pair as their arcs deal with literal and figurative loss of humanity, as the slow accumulation of trauma over time turns these happy(ish), normal kids into psychologically ruined husks of their former selves and destroys them slowly, one fight at a time.

Marco’s arc, isn’t about either of these things: Marco’s arc, is about the bright, clear line between A and B, between problem and solution. Marco is a utilitarian, a pragmatist: his concern isn’t the burden of leadership, or the cost of the decision, but about how to put that all aside and make hard decisions that actually work regardless of cost. It’s not about what to do, the path is obvious: the bright, clear line of ruthless logic, but how to do it. His match, his counterpoint, the other character who’s all about the logic of taking awful decision in a way that actually works for the team, and his foil, his female counterpart in this, is not a romantic partner, but his mother: Visser one, making the exact same hard, difficulty ruthless decisions using logic and maths, but for the other side of this war. A romantic paring gets in the way of this arc because a partner doesn’t help him with that bright, clear line, and worse, any attempt to pair him of with either Rachel or Cassie breaks up not only a cannon paring, but their respective character arc.

How to (kinda) fix this: Marco’s arc is, at the end of the day, a trolly problem. So make sure whoever you ship him with is one of the people tied to the tracks. Introduce a character he crushes on, and then in the second act reveal that they are either a Controller, or in the family of a Controller or the proximity of the target of their next mission in a way that will make them collateral damage ,and let Marco struggle with what happens when that bright, clear logical line from A to B cuts through someone he actually loves; you know, like it did with his mother. See, even trying to fix this ship is weirdly Freudian.

The far better ship you should be doing: Ax x / EVERYONE. Ax in human form is described as a worryingly pretty, worryingly androgynous male of indeterminate race. He is a literally Bishonen alien hedonist with no familiarity with human senses, poor impulse control in human form, and no knowledge or understanding of human courtship rituals, and he can shape-shift, including into other members of the core team if needed to compel a mission, he calls Jake his prince,  and he is incredibly close to Tobias, the lonely outcast woobie that the LGBT fans adopted as their poster boy. Come on, the potential for shipping, both with wacky hijinks and sad, tragic star-crossed lovers’ trope is endless. Every line dedicated to Marco shipping is a line of text that could be dedicated to Ax trying to eat a Cinnabon erotically on his first date as a human and hulking out mid way because he forgot just how good they are. What could be better than him leaning into to erotically kiss a team-mate, and then fucking up due to his failure to understand human mouths, making weird mouth sounds, and then licking crumbs of the table in the middle of the mall, in front of the entire school, while his crush awkwardly tried to pretend this is normal? What’s wrong with you Marco-shipper people, do you hate fun?

 Riz/Tem (beastars) Why I hate this ship: Okay, just to quickly ask a question, to people who un-ironically like this as a serious ship and not a dark joke, just one little question: What’s wrong with you? I mean,are you okay? Keep taking the meds: the show is VERY clear on that point.

It’s like those people who say Joker X Harley Quinn is their ideal dark, edgy relationship: no it’s not, it’s abusive! Morticia x Gomez is dark and cool but CONSENTUAL and HEALTHY. This… this is a deeply imbalanced person murdering someone and telling themselves after that fact it was special and rare and magical. ITS HOMICIDE! And even if you write that out (and you shouldn’t, because that changes the character arc of every other major character) it’s still got more red flags that a soviet military parade. This is the botulinum of a toxic, one-sided teenage infatuation. Riz’s entire arc is about how he projects his thoughts and feelings about himself onto this idealised, made-up version of his and Tem’s relationship which, from Tem’s point of view, never existed. Riz never loved Tem: he loved the idea of Tem, the idea that someone would see the real him, see his inner pain and accept him anyway, but he never once told Tem this. He didn’t warn him “Hey, because of you I don’t feel I need my meds any more, do you mind if I try not taking them and we can meet and talk about this in a safe, well-lit pace?” He’s not honest with Tem, and on top of that It doesn’t make sense from the point of view of either of the characters for them to be actually, romantically in love (although  they were clearly close friends), because it undermines and cheepens Riz desire to just be seen and accepted for his real self, and the cannon Tem X Els ship. It also doesn’t make sense from a story point of view: Riz is a shadow archetype for Legosi. He’s what Legosi would have become if someone hadn’t interrupted his attack on Haru. That’s why Legosi needs to beat Riz with his own hands: because then he’s beating the darker version of himself he’s been carrying with him, and he can finally move on with Haru guilt-free. Having Riz and Tem’s relationship actually be what Riz imagined it to be undoes that. It undoes Riz’s interesting, dark inner struggle between truth and fantasy, it turns Tem’s tragic, unsolved murder that sets the entire story in motion into a just sort of weird Romeo-and Juliet suicide. It’s ruins the character arc not only for Riz, but for Legosi, and also, by extension, Louis and Haru, because Legosi’s internal angst over whether or not herbivores and carnivores can have a relationship as true friends needs this example of a tragic, flawed, toxic, failed friendship to bounce off of.

How it could (sort of) work: an AU where Riz’s attack on Tem is interrupted and Tem lives with a slight arm injury, and doesn’t tell anyone out of his complex feelings for Riz. Meanwhile, that bunny girl from the gardening club had been brutally devoured and Rz and/or Tem are so horrified with how close this was to their own near-miss, they start to investigate the murder, and in doing so get caught up in Louis’ inner struggle. Because that’s how the story needs to work, it’s about duality and struggle: and if Riz takes Legosi’s role, and by dating a herbivore he de facto takes the role, so Legosi must take Riz’s. This could be a great AU!

The better ship you should be doing: Pina/Riz (with a dash of Pina x Els), no, seriously, I’m not shitposting. You want to give Riz a redemption arc with a cute woolly boy? How about a story where Pina, out of a need for closure about at happened to him, starts to visit Riz in jail and they talk, mockingly at first, confrontational at first, but later Pina slowly becoming more fascinated in Riz and Tem’s life and asking Riz for more and more detail until they both bond over their shared traumatic experiences and their sense of loss for Tem’s senseless death, Tem’s unfished life casting a shadow over both off them. Eventually, the two of them find, from Legosi who still has the diary, that Tem had planned out an elaborate and beautiful first date with Els that he never got to take her on, and Riz, guilt ridden and sad than Tem never got this beautiful moment, decides to ask Pina take her on that date for Tem, with Riz coaching him by phone cyano-de-Bergerac style, Riz finally getting some closure that he helped one of Tem’s wishes come true and finally acknowledging to himself that Tem had a life and loves outside of him that were cut of short by his actions, and just crying over his lost friend, as Pina and Els slow-dance in Tem memory. Or if you just want to see Tem awkwardly date a carnivore boy from school, why not something less creepy and more wholesome and ship him with Jack? That would be cute AF, and more importantly, not romanticize brutal murder. Or an AU where everything is happy and nice, I’d argue at that it’s no longer Beastars at that point, but if it makes you happy, go for it. Let’s not shame anyone here.

 Snape X Lilly (Harry Potter)

Why I hate this ship: honestly, it’s not for the reason you think; I just like Snape too much as a tragic character, and making him in any way happy destroys his arc in my opinion.  The objection’s others have raised: that Snape acts in a worryingly possessive stalker-ish way towards Lilly, and that if Voldemort had gone for Nevil rather than Harry as a child Snape would have remained a loyal death eater, are true and I acknowledge them as having some validity, but that’s not why I can’t stand this ship. Snape is supposed to be a morally and emotionally complex, tragic figure. That “After all this time?” line was the best line in the Deathly Hallows.  Snape is supposed to show the equality destructive and redemptive power of  love. It’s sort of trinity: Lilly shows the pure power of true, unconditional love in her sacrifice to save Harry, Voldy shows what self-destruction and cruelty a life without understanding love leads to, and Snape sits somewhere in the middle: his one-sided  un-requited love being both the cause of his darkest, and his greatest actions. His curse, and his redemption, fall and rise. Making him happy messes that up.

How to (kinda) fix this ship: make them miserable. Make them fall for each-other only to be pulled apart by circumstance (you know, like they were in the darn original source material). You’re serious about making this a tragic, dark romance? Don’t ship them when they’re at school: Ship them during Voldemort’s rise to power, in the 80’s, after Lilly is married. Have the original Order of the Phoenix send her to meet with Snape and use their previous relation to try to milk some information out of him. Have her feel conflicted about it, have James furious about it, but have her do it anyway for the greater good. Have her meet up secretly with Snape who is angry and distrustful, knowing his must be a trap, and talk. Have the relationship slowly build over time against the backdrop of a cold-war spy thriller, as Lilly slowly realizes that she has some lingering feelings for Snape, but can’t reconcile them her loyalty to the order and her family. Make this a love story of conflicted feelings, divided loyalties, and spy-work against the background of drawing war-clouds. Have Snape offer to leave Voldemort, if she’ll leave the Order, and run away with him, but by that point she knows she’s pregnant and chooses to stay, out of loyalty even though she’s crushing on Snape. Have him show up at the rendezvous expecting for her to be there only for James to lead an Order Ambush, and a fight to ensure, on top of Tower Bridge in the howling wind and rain, Snape surviving but having his spirit crushed and fleeing before Lilly can tell him her true feelings. Make it big, and melodramatic, but above all, make it tragic.  Because that’s the only way Snape works as a character. Always.

The better ship you should be doing: Ginny X Nevil or Luna x Nevil: You want tragic lovers, at school, with divided loyalties, who never get together in the main cannon because a Potter ruins it and gets the girl? Ginny X Nevil. Write what was happening that final year Harry wasn’t at school when they took Dumbledore’s Army and make it work in earnest. Heck, you could even have Snape, as headmaster, hated by them but secretly trying to protect them as a secondary character to their secret, forbidden love. You don’t want to break up Harry X Ginny? Luna X Nevil is sweet and wholesome, but also tragic as they never get a chance, having their school life taken over by the horror of that final year and the need to fight for their very souls in a school run by Death Eaters and the trauma of the Battle of Hogwarts meaning that in order to put away the past and move on, they need to leave each other behind. Hell, do an AU where they canonically end up together, why not? They deserve happiness.

 Dean / Sam AKA Wincest (Supernatural)

Why I hate this ship: They’re brothers. The show even makes a joke about how squick this is. Several times.

How you could (sort of) fix this ship: You can’t: They’re brothers. The show even makes a joke about how squick this is. I guess a body-swap arc could fix this, as it’s less squicky if its just their bodies with someone else’s minds,  but seriously, the reasons why this shouldn’t exist are extensively covered in the show, and it was hilarious.  To be honest, I don’t hate this ship done as a joke, but I have seen some dark spots on the internet, and I can say with all honesty it’s not always treated as a joke. Some folks are really invested in this, and all I can ask is, is your home life okay?

Now, done as a joke, I’m 110% behind this. This is exactly the sort of insane wacky bullshit that makes for a good crack-fic. For example imagine that the supernatural threat of the week was book that made anything written in it come true, and the brothers are trying to find and destroy it, but they keep getting distracted by their burgeoning romantic feelings for each-other, and suddenly realise that the owner of the book is a fan on the in-universe novels, and writing slash-fic in the book. They need to find the writer before they make them do something they’ll both regret, but it’s just so distracting when Sam’s beautiful eyes are right there and- dammit, Sam, it’s happening again! Make Sam less concerned and even a little amused, with it, but make Dean hate what’s going on. Especially when the writer’s description suddenly makes Sam noticeably better hung that him. Make the villain turn out to be Becky from “Sympathy for the devil” and end with them trying to take the book away as she writes frantically to force them to do her bidding, and you’ve got yourself a good fic.

The better ship you should be doing: Cas/Sam or Cas/Dean or Cas/Sam AND Dean fic. Duh. Once again the show-runners beat the fans to the mark and pointed out that this is the best ship, and then they took it away just to fuck with us.

 Any Katniss ship that ignores her obsession with Emotional Security Logic. (The Hunger Games)

Why I hate these ships: Katniss is, briefly put, a mess before the books ever start, her father’s death and harsh upbringing have arguably given her PTSD before she ever volunteers for the reaping, and it doesn’t get better from there.  In psychology, Emotional Security Theory (EST) is a hypothesis that the heightened emotions surrounding repeated violent exposures leaves children vulnerable to dysregulated distress responses and eventual psychopathology, aka, why Kat be so messed up.  Her internal monologue makes the books completely clear that her choice in partners is not motivated by normal affections, but by deep, deep fear. A fear of loss, abandonment and death that leads her to make every decision about what minimises her, and her sister’s, exposure to potential physical and emotional harm. It’s frantic, fraught, cold survivalist thinking. And the other characters in the book notice and acknowledge it! “Which of us will she pick?” “She’ll pick whoever she can’t survive without.” Kat doesn’t like herself for it, but she does eventually admit to herself that she makes her decisions like this.

How do we fix this ship: Ship Kat with whoever you like, but give her a good reason to pick them: and in Kat’s mind “A good reason” is based on Emotional Security Logic, she needs to have a pressing reason why this ship makes her and her sister safer. Do that, and you’ve got yourself a good Katniss story. Don’t do that, and while you may or may not have a good story, the person staring in it isn’t Katniss Everdeen anymore.

The better ship you should be writing: Finick X Annie. Or, Haymitch prequel ships

FinAnn. This, this ship has some real potential to it, and is criminally underutilized. Finick and Annie’s relationship is one of the most tragic and romantic in the story, and has so much to offer. Or, if you want to have a hard-bitten character from district 12 struggling with trying to find love in the hellish combat of the games, do a prequel in which Haymitch finds love in the capitol during training, but loses then in the area and turns to drink as a result. Heck, you could even have some fun with this and turn it into a dark comedy, or a great tragic love story, whatever you like. It’s got potential, and his backstory is vague enough you could do a lot with it.

So, tell me below why I’m wrong, and have fun with your writing: just because I hate that ship doesn’t mean you should. Enjoy yourselves.

I’m off to write awful Ax/Pina/Luna Polyjuice’d into Nevil/Cas/Finick fiction set at an anime high-school that fights a magical war against other fictional schools, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

“Why Does It Bother You So Much?”

Let me tell all of you something!

For pretty much my whole life... I’ve ALWAYS been the type of person to be super open-minded when it came to media.

I’ve seen disappointing endings. I’ve seen series start out good, but gradually get uninteresting.  I’ve seen ships I didn’t care much about, or even dislike, become canon. Overall, I’ve had some pretty disappointing experiences when it came to movies and series. 

You know what I always did though? I just accepted it. I ALWAYS did these two things: 1) Focus on the parts I did like about the movie or series, and ignore the parts I didn’t like. 2) Accept that the movie or series just wasn’t for me, and move on to something else.  So how did C//A have the power to make ME this upset??

The same ME who would shrug my shoulders if I wasn’t happy with a movie or series and just move on. The same ME who always tries to have the attitude “it’s better to love the things in life you love, than to hate the things you hate”. The same ME who loves seeing LGBT representation so much that I get more interested in something when I find out there’s an LGBT character/couple. The same ME who would have NEVER imaged in a million years dedicating a blog to being against a fictional ship, ESPECIALLY an LGBT one. 

BECAUSE

It is so earth-shatteringly upsetting to watch a character you love and relate with (in my case, Adora) romantically end up with someone who had a ton of similar traits to your abuser, including: * Getting upset when you don’t make them your #1 priority.  * Generally being possessive and obsessive.  * Blaming you for everything wrong in their life. * and much more

AND THEN

Watching 99% of the fandom around you (and even the creators themselves) celebrate this like it’s a good thing.

SO THEN

You start to question your OWN life experiences. What these two “fictional” characters went through - parallel to what YOU went through yourself in real life, so you can’t help but take the fandom’s comments to heart. After years of mentally recovering, new confusion starts to develop, because now an entire fandom is saying something that contradicts what you believed in and thought you were sure about for years.  You think about what the fandom says about these characters and apply it to yourself:

“Well, most of the fandom said Catra never abused Adora. Catra only said and did those things to Adora, because she was traumatized and heartbroken, but Catra still loved Adora deep down. Maybe I was never actually abused myself, because my abuser was also going through similar stuff to Catra, and loved me deep down too? Maybe, I really don’t know what real abuse is?”

So to all you obnoxious stans who: * Make fun of us and laugh at us. * Shove in our face that C//A is canon. * Criticize us for being upset that C//A canon. * Tell us to “get a hobby”, “get a life”, “move on”, etc. whenever we post about our dislike for C//A. 

I want you to know something... If someone like me who has seen tons of anime and cartoons over the years, and has NEVER been this upset over a series/ship until now... Then, I think going through something like this can potentially happen to anyone... Loving and relating with a character, and then feeling immensely disappointed when something happens to that said character that makes you feel extremely uncomfortable, for personal reasons - and then the fandom praising this outcome... Just like you... I used to watch people hating on series and ships, and think to myself... * “It’s just a cartoon. Who cares?” * “Why do some people need to suck the fun out of stuff?” * “If you don’t like it, go find something else that you do like.” * “This is an LGBT ship. Why can’t people be happy about it, instead of criticizing it?” Then C//A happened...

So why does it bother me so much? Because it’s personal.

Also, I truly would love to move on from dwelling about my hatred for this ship if I could, but it’s almost impossible when it’s all over this website. You think I like going in the RWBY tag and seeing Catra? I can’t get over something if it keeps getting shoved in my face when I look up things that don’t even have anything to do with She-Ra...

Why I don’t post “candies”

This has been an interesting week, folks.

Rumours flying left right and centre, MTJJ getting upset at BXGs for saying Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo were wearing the “same” suit as though that’s somehow materially different than them wearing “suits from the same line.”  Xiao Zhan posting artwork that is immediately zoomed in on with a microscope, micro-analyzed, and debated heatedly until he actually posts a follow up artwork a few hours later.  Xiao Zhan posting a Douyin and everyone going crazy about a suitcase in the background as though this is some kind of proof of a relationship.  BXGs arguing with each other over whether a candy is real.

There’s a reason that I don’t post candies.  And I felt the need to share that.

I don’t need any proof that these men love each other.

If they do, then I am so, so happy for them that they found love in spite of so very many obstacles.  If they don’t, then I’m happy that they had a great experience filming together and I wish them the best in their future professional and private lives.

Yes, I write fanfiction.  Yes, I love to explore the world of “what if” they are together in the realm of fiction, and in a space that is dedicated for that purpose - AO3.

To me, where I get uncomfortable is when fans of these boys are microanalyzing everything they do looking for proof.  Why is that proof so important to you?  Can you not just support them without proof?

In addition to all the discussions this week about the boys, there were also scandals trending about other Chinese stars.  Zheng Shuang had her entire reputation destroyed after it came out that she wanted to abandon her children that she had by surrogate.  Hua Chenyu and Zhang Bichen were exposed as having a child together and had to reveal very intimate details of their private lives to the public today.

If anything, what this shows to me?  Is that we need to get WAY better at respecting their privacy.

Not to mention, when you see a candy, most of the time there’s another explanation.  Let’s take the example of the suitcase in Xiao Zhan’s video.  Here was the photo from the original account on Weibo that tried to make a connection between them.

She included a picture of Yibo with a suitcase from Summer Surf Shop.  When I first saw this on Douyin I thought wow!  Oh my!  How could they be so careless!  It must be on purpose, it must be a message!

But then I was watching Summer Surf Shop for a completely different reason and I almost fell off my chair when I realized they all had suitcases just like that.  Guess what!  That wasn’t Yibo’s suitcase.  Yibo was sharing a room with Dongjun, and this suitcase was Dongjun’s.

Justin was also on that show, and wow!  His suitcase was very similar too, with a lot of stickers on it.

This is just to make a point that when you connect Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan together with some random coincidence, correlation does not always mean causation.

So why are candies harmful?

Even within the Chinese fandoms, candies and their hyper-analyses can cause fan wars.  On Weibo this week we saw fan wars break out between MTJJ and BXGs over the suits.  It brings unnecessary and unwanted traffic.  And antis can use this material to make up stories and theories of their own.  All of this could be harmful to their reputations, but more importantly, it drives a wedge between the fandoms.

On international platforms, there’s the added complexity of translation and cultural context.  1) The person translating it might only bring the candy, and not the subsequent discussion / washing / debunking of those candies.  2) The people reading don’t have the cultural context to be able to discuss / debunk those candies themselves, like I did with the above suitcase example.

The Douyin Night suits were a different case entirely.  They were confirmed, by DSQUARED2′s official Weibo account, to be wearing suits from the same line.  So if you wanted to have a discussion about those suits, then I would take no issue with that whatsoever.  This isn’t “candy” because it isn’t a fan analysis, this is simply a case of them doing something that seems to be a bold declaration, so debating whether or not it was intentional?  Go for it.

My personal take: stop eating candy.

Watch their professional works, repost their official posts, like and comment to your heart’s content on anything they release themselves.  I just wish people would stop hyper-analyzing every single thing they say and do, because honestly it feels like an invasion of privacy.  If you want to have those discussions, then you can do it in private too.

My opinion.

Your How-To Guide For Identifying a Predator Online

Hello everyone! I am writing this post in the light of events that have been happening for about a month now and blew onto our faces last night. If you want to understand what happened and why is it important we discuss this, please check out this post.

In light of those events, I wanted to make a resource that was not aimed only at kids and teens, and/or your usual couch incel freak.

Anyone can be a predator and these are some universal signs to watch out regardless of the victim’s age or the predator’s profile.

I am not here to discuss ins and out or how disgusting the whole situation that happened with @mountainsidepossum is. I want people to understand this is not some petty twitter drama about someone who was “cancelled”. This is about someone who was 30+ years old, having romantic feelings about a 17 year-old.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional by any means, I am just a regular joe with a regular life, but I have done basic research for this post. I am doing this with the best of intentions, please don’t make unnecessary drama out of an already bad situation. I can change information on the original post at any given time to offer the best support I can. I will have “receipts” or whatever for this specific case I call back to, reach out on DMs for them as >I< (the author of this post) am not comfortable with publicly posting them - There is enough proof on the previously linked post that this person was indeed a predator. I do not want this to be a call out post, but a warning and a helpful tool!

How To Identify A Predator:

The entire situation in our fanbase started when someone showed up: New people show up everyday to fandoms (and remember: shunning out someone for being new is gatekeeping!). This person was friendly, I didn’t have touch with them at start, or at all for a long time for that matter, but lots of my friends did.

“My sweet” - Was a term I saw being used, with less than a month since this person had made an account. That is okay, I myself am not a native english speaker and immediately recognized that as a language barrier. (This was not used with the main victim).

“I love you” - Going further into research I saw this person use this endearment for someone who has not been active in fandom for over a year. I thought it was yet another language barrier, but “I love you” means “I love you” anywhere. (This was not used with the main victim).

“Best Friend” - This is related in the previously linked post. This person called their victim their “Best Friend” even though they had only talked a few times. (This was used with the main victim).

I am using these only as example for what I want to convey

Don’t get me wrong: you can totally have friends online. I myself have made long-lasting, 10+ years, healthy friendships here on tumblr. However, there are plenty of ways to make them besides jumping straight for very personal endearments like that.

Offering too much too quickly into your friendship: Please beware if your “friend” is quick to offer you gifts early on into the relationship, and I’m not talking about the cliché watches or candy, they can be:

AO3 gifts;

Dedicated posts and art;

Commissions paid by them;

Over the top comments about your character and who you are, instead of what you offer to fandom;

Poems;

Etc.

Also beware if:

They ask too many personal questions without prompt;

They try to get in touch with your family and friends to ask about you

They are constantly checking your social media.

Seem to desperately try to grab your attention

Types of Predators

According to Reputation Defender, there are several types of online predators, but I want to make a call out for what they named The Crush: This will be the person who will try to get their victim’s attention at any cost, sometimes through excessive posts, or fabricating lies to make themselves a victim in a situation, thus eliciting their victim’s sympathy (ringing any ms.scribe bells also?).

Please read the entire post to understand more

What to do in case you or a friend are the victim

I know tumblr is complicated, but please reach out to someone who is over 25 years old and that you know you can trust - That person should likely be someone who has a lead role in your community, usually your local discord mod.

Warn your parents if you feel they will make you feel safe and will offer you help and support under that situation.

If the person is in your same country and/or continent, please consider reaching out to the police.

I will try and add to this as we go. Please remember I’m just a normal person whose first language is not english. I am not a victim, I am just trying to offer resources that I don’t usually find.

What to do in case a friend of yours happens to be the predator

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE. If you feel comfortable enough to, please sit down with your friend and try to explain why what they did is wrong. Please let them know hat is going on and that its not just mindless online hating for the sake of trying to “cancel” someone. This does not mean forgive them and give them a hug and tell them everything is fine… NO! Hold them accountable for their harm and their actions!!!

---

I would also highly suggest reading this article: Online Predators - Myth versus Reality. By Janis Wolak, J.D., with the assistance of Lindsey Evans, Stephanie Nguyen, and Denise A. Hines, Ph.D

Stay safe kids!

Hot take: Bakugou's character wouldn't survive if not for the one he kept abusing all his life. 90% of his character revolves around his victim and yet the fandom paints him as this super developed, fleshed out character when in reality he'd never be anything bigger than a side character if not for Deku.

Also the concequences he supposedly received are just him being teased or not getting the win he wanted, no being kidnapped doesn't count, he literally got away with his shit while even been treated like a victim and the privilege to know something about Deku that isn't any of his business. And now because he sacrificed himself that one time the fandom acts like Izuku owes his ass anything. It's disgusting.

I have given up on him actually being half the decent character ppl make him out to be and the fandom reaction to him makes me hate him even more.

He's not complex, he's just a pretty boy, asshole archetype who gets nicer and has some more cooperative and ppl love to eat that shit up while making up stuff for him. He changes but he's doesn't change for what matters and definitely pales in comparison to other characters who are better written than him.

(holy shit, did they remove the character limit on asks?? omg a GODSEND)

Well yeah, if it weren’t for Izuku and how he treats Izuku he wouldn’t have anything to improve from; people only think he’s developed because he no longer outright bullies him and “””worries””” (I say in heavy quotes) about him, and “reflects” on how he treated him even though he.......... comes to the absolute wrongest, most idiotic conclusions imaginable, that put the brunt of the excuses on Izuku instead of himself, but Toshinori validates him because Horikoshi has made Toshi into Bakugou’s uwu stan and stan of the two boys’ “friendship” (completely ignoring the fact that THIS KID FOR TEN YEARS BULLIED HIS SON). He’s basically already been devolved to acting like a side character for a long time now, with his funny anger quirk pun partly intended that’s just treated like a joke at this point, just like everyone else’s character quirks, even though it would be far more interesting for him to, you know. actually get some therapy and learn to calm himself and become an actual pleasant person to be around. But that’s not what makes him “funny”, that’s not him, according to most people, so he’s always going to stay like this, a boring angry pomeranian who flies off the handle at everything for no reason, who has done the absolute bare minimum of “changing”, which makes him a perfect character in everyone’s eyes.

“He changes but doesn’t change for what matters” pretty much sums up the problem with him in a nutshell, and is the exact reason he frustrates me so much, that I’ve ranted about plenty before. Bakugou has never been viewed through the lens of a bully, an abuser, he was never set up to be that, at least not realistically, and so his development hasn’t happened in accordance with that setup either, and people don’t have a problem with it and actively praise it because the manga actively downplay(ed)s the severity of that origin story. People can ignore the reality of how seriously traumatic being bullied for ten years of your childhood, verbally and physically would be, and how seriously and with such sensitivity such a relationship and character arc must be handled, because aside from the very first chapter when Izuku and Bakugou are still in middle school, really, with the “take a swan dive off the roof” comment and others, it’s never focused on in that way ever again; ever since, it’s just been treated as a typical anime “rivalry”, that both of them need to better themselves to overcome. The story and teachers say “the two of them are so alike but they just keep missing each other; if they just made up for each others’ weaknesses and understood that they both want the same thing, they’d be stronger together!”, and Izuku HIMSELF tries so hard to reach through to Bakugou, always still considering him his friend, always feeling like he’s the one equally at fault for their relationship being as rocky as it is, when BAKUGOU!!! FUCKING!!! BULLIED HIM!!! FOR TEN YEARS. bullied a DISABLED CHILD, which again, as a disabled person who relates to Izuku and how he felt about his quirklessness, feelings that continue to affect him even long after he gets a quirk because of how he was treated when he was younger, is DEEPLY unsettling to me. You CANNOT read/watch MHA without the metaphor of quirklessness = disabled being very apparent, and so that makes Bakugou’s bullying and how it is so utterly glossed over and purposefully forgotten a hundred times more disturbing and aggravating than it already is! If this were any other shounen rivalry then yes, it could be resolved with effort from both parties, because both parties have their own personal reasons for why they have trouble getting along with the other, and the fun is watching to see how they will overcome those, but Izuku and Bakugou were never on an equal playing field to begin with; this is a bullying story, with its victim trying desperately to win over and befriend his abuser, when he owes him absolutely NOTHING and has a BOATLOAD of unresolved issues thanks to said bullying, with no outside help from adults for either of them because none of them are acknowledging it as fucking bullying. I guarantee you that if the manga went into much more painful, bleak detail and showed many more flashbacks of how Izuku was treated by Bakugou in the past, and then still continued with the “development” he’s had since, people would be unable to ignore it like they can now, and it would make all of them extremely uncomfortable like it does those of us now who already dislike him. Hori himself has said he doesn’t understand why Bakugou is so popular, but he’s able to just continue as he does with him because no one is complaining, and because he said he regrets making him so awful in the beginning, as if that magically makes it disappear as much as it already has in 90% of the fandom’s collective mind. You wanna know an actual good manga that also deals with a bully of a disabled child growing and improving himself and forming a close relationship with his former victim? A Silent Voice. Such a journey is long, and hard, and it is painful, with many ups and downs and many nasty, hateful, guilt-filled, depression-filled feelings from both sides, along with from other characters who either also partook in the bullying, were bystanders to it who did nothing, or were indirect victims as well. The bully is bullied himself after what he does, and then grows up nearly suicidal, closing himself off and struggling to be social and make new friends because he doesn’t know how and doesn’t entirely feel like he deserves it (and the story notably doesn’t go the route of “he was abused too at home and so that’s why he bullied”), and tries and fails many times to make amends with the person he hurt before he finally is at peace with himself and everyone; the victim, meanwhile, drowns in continued guilt and suicidal feelings over feeling like she’s a burden to others, both from her disability and from watching all the infighting and victim blaming and finger pointing that ensues between her old classmates when all of the nasty emotions are brought back to the surface, along with dealing with budding romantic feelings for her past bully when he genuinely starts being kind towards her and making an effort to connect with her. ASV is entirely about this complex narrative, it’s able to dedicate everything it has to telling this story tactfully and with all the time and attention it needs. MHA, meanwhile, is a shounen battle manga, and so it was never going to do this narrative and Bakugou’s arc justice, even though I honestly think it could have if Hori really wanted to, because Izuku and Toshinori’s relationship has such masterfully subtle and touching emotions and care, at least early on; Horikoshi knows how to write good, subtle character arcs. I’m not asking for something ASV level, of course not, when the series has so many other things it has to juggle. I just wanted Bakugou to be treated as exactly what he is: a former bully, who can be taught, and learn, and reflect, and change, and become a better, more humble, more interesting person, and actually become someone worthy of all the praise and love he gets, not only for Izuku’s sake, but for his own, as well. They don’t excuse his actions in the slightest, but it’s still undeniable that Bakugou himself is a victim of how the adults in his life have treated him and raised his own expectations of himself, giving him the crippling insecurity issues he has, and that they continue to harm him (and Izuku) by simply letting him continue to go on angrily the way he does, instead of getting him help and some therapy in order for him to change and heal from things like being kidnapped by villains (which is no small thing to go through!! on top of his guilt over Toshinori’s final battle!) and becoming a better person to the one he hurt in the past, and it all just makes me so sad, not because I’m all “uwu poor Bakugou”, but just cause his character deserves better, as a person he deserves better, just like Izuku deserves better than everything he’s gone through because of him. This is all just a very long-winded way of agreeing with you OP that yes, none of Bakugou’s “punishments” for his behavior mean anything because he’s punished as a rival student who needs to humble himself in order to get along with his friend he doesn’t like, not as a former(??) bully who needs to be separated from his victim. The bar is set so low, was never set where it should be, and so absolutely no progress to “better himself” Bakugou makes either will mean anything, as long as it’s never acknowledged that he needs to make amends as a bully and abuser.

it’s hard to put into words how much skam france has disappointed me this year but s6 is finally over and i felt like i needed to kind of... say goodbye to this shitshow and get a few things off my chest.

s3 will always hold a special place in my heart, it came into my life when i really needed it and honestly, it was their only genuinely good season from start to finish. i will always be grateful for s3 and for eliott and lucas and for all those little moments we got to see with the grew in that season as well as in s4 and s5, when they actually acted like teenagers, when they were there for each other, when actions had consequences, when subplots weren’t abandoned just after 2 clips and when they used this show to educate teenagers and give them hope... those very few moments that actually made me feel like i was watching a skam remake.

it’s hard to make peace with the fact that this remake gave us so many good moments but also managed to completely ruin this entire experience for most of us this year. i think if skam france was genuinely, consistently trash from s1 to s6 i wouldn’t be half as angry as i am right now. but truth is, it wasn’t all bad. that’s the worst thing. we’ve seen they can do better, they just chose to be lazy and use the popularity s3 gave them to churn out mediocre and half assed plots time and time again because they knew they had devoted fans who would defend them no matter what.

when s3 was airing i actually felt like they listened to us sometimes and cared about us but something changed after s4. it no longer mattered what we wanted to see or what we thought about a scene, we were simply told what we should be feeling. and that’s a huge red flag. i don’t have to be a scriptwriter or a director to know that good storytelling isn’t about throwing excuses and explanations (and then damage control pictures) at your audience. it’s about them engaging with the content you put out and bringing their own perspective to it. otherwise, what’s the point?

and you know, this isn’t even about what’s ooc and what isn’t. it’s about the people who were supposed to finally get their representation but instead ended up being too triggered by the show to continue watching it. it’s about muslim, deaf/hoh people, people dealing with addictions or self harm or eating disorders speaking out only to be silenced by david and his fans just because their opinions weren’t always supportive and positive. it’s about us saying that they should have never used sexual or domestic abuse for shock value and then being told to shut up because a few pacifists in this fandom seem to think we’re ruining the show for them this way. it’s about david and niels flat out lying to us and promising so many things in order to get us to watch s6. it’s about being disrespected by the creators of your favourite tv show so badly that you end up having to distance yourself from it and the fandom. you obviously can’t please everyone, but the least you can do is listen to the people whose stories you’re trying to tell.

i obviously can’t tell any of this to david even though i wish i could. not because i want to rub it in or prove that i’m right, i just simply want him to know how much his childishness hurt the very people who once fought so hard to get his show renewed for him. i can’t tell him any of this because he would never read my messages since i’m not one of his certified bootlickers singing his praises all the time. because he blocked one of my insta accounts last week for a comment i posted under one of his pictures during s5. because that’s the kind of person he is. someone who would rather hide and ignore constructive criticism and let his little fans fight his battles for him. someone who stayed quiet for weeks while said fans kept sending death threats to people. and yes, you could say he’s not responsible for other people’s actions and that’s true in a way. but when you create such an unhealthy and hostile environment within your own fandom by playing favourites and silencing anyone who has a different opinion than what is considered acceptable, you do encourage that kind of behaviour.

despite all this, i still stayed and tried to put up with all the bad writing because i cared about the grew that much, maybe even more than niels himself, it seems. i don’t have a reason to stay now. the concept of having female showrunners sounds good, sure, but i know francestvslash and i know skam france. it’s the good old bait-and-switch. during the last two seasons, they kept baiting marginalized communities to earn woke points but a season that was supposed to be about arthur’s deafness entirely got turned into some cheating fest and lola’s season was pure misery porn with wlw rep thrown in there as bait. 

david and niels leaving won’t solve this problem. francetvslash needs a reality check too. they used us to renew the show and then turned around and called us obsessive. they blocked my comments under the live because i asked them why wasn’t the sexual assault plot mentioned again. they joked about addictions. they don’t care, okay? not about us, not about giving people representation. the only thing they care about is money. so them suddenly hiring female directors and writers after they saw us complaining about the way this show treats women? bait. the same kind of bait niels and david used when they tried to throw all kinds of rep in s6 because they knew lgbt people want to see themselves represented so badly that they would watch it no matter what. i would love to be proven wrong, obviously. i want to believe the new showrunners have nothing but good intentions but their hands will obviously be tied by francetvslash to some extent. and i’m done being used by them and then being forced to settle for the bare minimum.

all in all, both s5 and s6 fell flat and were extremely disappointing. skamfr under david and niels will always remain a one hit wonder, nothing else. it’s a good thing they are leaving now because at least characters like max or sekou have the chance to be treated with respect by the new writers and directors. and i’m happy for all of you who decided to stay... i wish you guys the best. i honestly hope you guys will get the stories and the representation you’re looking for. i really do. i want to be proven wrong about francetvslash and the showrunners... but i don’t have the energy to dedicate so much of my life to this show again, not after them breaking my heart so many times. 

and i guess i’m a petty person. the grew deserved great stories too, not just lamif. arthur deserved a great season, deaf/hoh people deserved to see themselves represented, instead they were forced to watch niels disrespect noée and camille and then act like they never existed in s6. and after everything wlw have done for this show, we deserved a great season too, not to be baited like this. maya was in 18 clips out of 83 (!!!!). if niels and david didn’t want to give the grew a chance to have a good send-off, then i’m not giving this show a chance again. why would i?

anyway. i’ll stick to rewatching s3 every now and again. and i will miss the way the grew made me feel. thanks for all the good memories and let’s hope we’ll forget the bad ones soon. this is what we’ve come to.

alt er love and all that crap i guess.