Targaryen haters are maddening

Can people stop with labeling the Targaryen's as colonizer's and Nazis? People really do have no reading comprehension whatsoever towards the world of asoiaf, specifically the Targs in general, by mislabeling them and hating on them for supposedly 'colonizing' Westeros. How can they label the Targ's as colonizers, yet ignore the fact that House Stark's ancestors literally did the same exact thing?

Aegon the Conqueror united Westeros with his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys. But when he and his sisters conquered over the Seven Kingdoms and united them together, they did not erase any part of the Seven Kingdoms' ways. They did not force the people of the Seven Kingdoms to follow in their ways, nor did they force the people to abandon the gods they followed for the gods of Valyria, where the Targ's were originally from. They allowed the people to keep their traditions, beliefs, and customs even when united under Aegon's rule. Nor did they force the people into practicing close-related incestuous relations, and they definitely did not force any of the people to replace their banners, items of value, and ways of living for their own.

The Targaryen's are NOT 'Nazis' for utilizing their dragons. Targaryen's did not commit specific acts of genocide against a race, culture, or people such as Nazi's have done. I myself am Jewish. Nowhere in asoiaf, GoT, or HOTD does it show or say that the Targaryen's eradicated or went after a specific race, people, or culture that wasn't theirs. Did they use their dragons in war, and burned people that didn't swear fealty to them? Yes. But they did NOT target those people because of their specific race, nor did they try to eradicate race/cultures just because the Targaryen's were different from them. In asoiaf and GoT, we have one character that actually does the opposite, Dany. Daenerys conforms to other cultures and keeps an open mind about their traditions, ways of living, and conforms to those ways because they are her people. She learns about her peoples livelihoods, what they value, and does not judge other people for those things, nor does she attempt to kill anyone or eradicate their culture or race just because they are different from her and what her House used to do, or believe in. There is also the fact that during their reign, the Targaryen's conformed and kept the religion of the Faith of the Seven, rather than attempting at pushing for their own gods onto others, and eradicating those that had belief said Faith. The Targaryen's do not commit genocide towards a specific race or culture. They are NOT Nazi's in any form of way, just because they have dragons and utilize said dragons. Perhaps people should spend time on studying their history, and what specific terms actually mean, instead of throwing around labels towards fictional characters, who committed around the same acts of violence every other House did in the series (or are we just ignoring the fact that Westeros warred within itself before Aegon united the lands, or the fact that the First Men first came to Westeros' shores, and decided to eradicate the Children of the Forest?)

It is entirely ridiculous to hate on the Targaryen's for conquering Westeros, and labeling them as 'colonizers', compared to the First Men, and ancestors of the Stark's. When they arrived to Westeros- they had chopped down Weirwoods, which were sacred to the gods and Children of the Forest. They warred against the Children, took their lands, and diminished them. Though a pact of peace was created between them, it does not change the fact that the First Men enacted horrible things to the Children of the Forest, and took lands that the Children once inhabited as theirs to chop down the forests and build settlements and roads for their own people, considering they were outsiders to the land.

I also see people calling the Targ's slavers. Slavery was practiced in Old Valyria, by many other Houses that weren't just Targaryen. Essos continued its slavery, but when the Targ's went to Westeros before the Doom, slavery was outlawed and they did not continue its practices. Not to mention, Daenerys, is fighting against slavery. She is attempting to dismantle the practice, and considers everyone as equal, being the first Targaryen to fight against slavery- considering she herself was once a slave. Daenerys is NOT a slaver. She does not want to own others, make them do her bidding, and treat them as lower than her. She herself was once a slave, and does not want to see it continued in others. Daenerys' arc centers around her compassion, empathy, and her drive to end the suffering for those others see as 'lowly' or 'property'. She is the voice speaking for those who have suffered, who gives them strength and courage to not be owned by others. She is the driving force that enables the people to free themselves from the masters.

A comment I saw on Tik Tok inspired this little rant... I just beg for people to gain some reading comprehension every once in a while. For my sanity.

closing time

Hey friends. I always promised that I would write a disclaimer if I ever wrote something sad. So here is that disclaimer: this is sad. Harry is also experiencing some internalized “ace-phobia”, if you will. Just really struggling to believe that being ace is ever enough in a relationship with someone who is not. Yes, the author is hardcore projecting on the poor character.

“I’m sorry,” Draco said, and it sounded sincere, even Harry could hear the ring of truth to it over the splintering sound of his heart. “I just,” Draco swallowed, looked down at the glass in his hands, “I think living alone would be what’s better for me right now.”

Harry nodded, shoving down the emotions, pushing back the hurt, the yearning, as he forced a smile, “no. For sure,” he said, keeping his voice light, pushing every ounce of happy-for-you-undertone that he could. “Yeah. You have to do what’s best for you,” he agreed, and he meant it, even though it hurt the way that it hurt when you sliced open your foot on a piece of glass; sudden and sharp, terribly painful in its unexpectedness.

“It’s not you,” Draco said, reaching across the table and squeezing Harry’s hand, giving him a smile and Harry wondered what the other man could see on his face. “It’s not that I don’t want to live with you,” he said.

He nodded, “right. I get it.”

“And you can come over all the time, we can have a movie night whenever we want since I won’t have Pansy and Blaise to worry about.”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling. Smiling, smiling, smiling. Please Godric, let it be enough that Draco can’t see past it. “Yeah. That sounds great,” he agreed.

“Dinner once a week,” he promised, “and we can cook together!”

He nodded, plastering the smile even harder to his face, “I’d love that,” he said. Not as much as he would have loved doing the shopping together, and cooking together in their shared space but… best not to think about it.

“I love you too much to live with you,” Draco said, like that made any sense at all.

“Yeah,” he said, pushing down the tears threatening to spill, heart throbbing in his throat. “I love you too,” he said. Not too much, he thought, more than his body could hold sometimes but not so much that he couldn’t live with the other man.

“I’m sorry,” Draco said again.

And Harry wanted to make up a lie, wanted to tell Draco he had another appointment or something, but Draco was his best friend. More than that, Harry had thought. They’d started planning a life together; he’d told Draco everything, given him his entire heart. Draco had said that he wanted Harry forever too. Harry’s worked so hard to actually believe him. But that was probably just the mixed signals that Harry sent, confusing everyone that he loved because he couldn’t love them in the way that they wanted. “Don’t be. I still have Ron and Hermione.”

“You could try living alone too,” Draco offered, and Harry knew it was because of the conversations they’d had, about how hard it could be living with people who were in love. About how alone Harry felt even when he was in the same room as them sometimes.

He knew Draco was trying to offer a good solution, “nah,” he said, aiming for casual and hoping that he hadn’t missed the mark by as much as it felt like he had. “I don’t do well on my own. It’s okay. I’m okay,” he assured.

“Okay,” Draco said, giving him a little smile. “I toured an apartment today.”

“Oh,” he said, “tell me about it!” And he let himself get lost in Draco’s joy, lost in how excited he was for his own adventure.

“And it just feels right, you know?” Draco asked when he finished describing his viewing.

“I’m really glad,” he said, genuinely because he loved Draco. Loved him with his entire heart and wanted what was good for him. But he couldn’t say he understood. He couldn’t. Because all Harry wanted was to be able to come home to Draco at the end of the day. All Harry wanted was someone to sit on the sofa with and eat dinner with. He wanted to be able to take care of Draco, to love him on his hard days and to listen to his stories. Harry wanted a place to come home to where he could just shut off the facade, could just be Harry.

But they didn’t want the same things. That was clearer now than it had ever been. Someday, Draco was going to get married. Someday, he’d fall in love with someone else, someone who could love him the same way, someone whose body wasn’t broken, someone who’d want to have sex with him. Someday, he’d meet someone who could be enough, who would have the capacity to accept the love that Draco felt like was too much for Harry.

And Harry wouldn’t deny him that. He wouldn’t stand in the way. It didn’t matter that Harry loved Draco with everything that he had, with all that he was, in every way that he was capable of loving another human. It wasn’t enough.

It hadn’t ever been before Draco. It had been foolish to believe that could have changed.

How could he have hoped that it might be now? How could he have let himself dream that he might ever be enough for the best person he knew?

He loved Draco more than anything, so he did the only thing that he knew how to do.

He loved him with every beat of his bruised and bloodied heart. Harry set aside his own needs, his own wants, his own desires and loved Draco in the way that he needed and not in the way that Harry wanted. Harry set aside his hopes, and dreams, the plans they’d made together and begged his heart to be happy for the other man.

Be good, he begged himself. Be kind.

Love was sacrifice. How could he have let himself forget?

Cass + ballet 🩰 (ft. supportive siblings and good dad Bruce)

I love the idea of Cass enjoying dance. It's an outlet that allows her to express herself without words, and I think she would enjoy the highly technical aspect of ballet combined with its storytelling and emotional side. and as a former dancer I always have fun imagining my fav characters do ballet :)

I have seen a wild amount of people complaining about the context of Wind Breaker and how "unrealistic" it is for the characters to go to school but without any teachers or adults being shown or protecting them and... First of all, realism is not what you're going to find reading a Shonen and if you want a full-on high school experience, read another manga. It is very common to skip those details as a writer because they are not interesting in the slightest and they have confirmed multiple times that all of their grades are awful, so you won't get a silly little arc about them studying, because they directly don't. To say it is "unrealistic" is to ask for boring, pointless, plotless occurrences in a Shonen manga about fighting. Are people even hearing themselves when they complain?

But it's not only from a writer's perspective skipping what's unimportant that justifies the lack of teachers and responsible adults, but the plot itself. At first, it is confusing, but I think you only have to look a bit deeper into the cultural context of the story to understand why there aren't teachers/adults shown.

I'm around chapter 100, so I am not sure this gets explained further in the manga, but my theory as to why they behave this way is pretty simple, honestly: They are poor and in ruins, and adults with the power to change things do not care about them. Easy as that.

Whether it is real or just an exaggeration of what's actually going on, it has been shown countless times (especially in Umemiya's backstory, explaining directly how authorities don't care about the kids or anybody, really) that the whole city is made for outcasts and left to rot by the government. It is not some apocalyptic bullshit, it is stuff that happens every goddamn day in real life. They go to school but they aren't shown studying and the place itself is a mess. We only see Umemiya running the school but it is confirmed that there's staff and somebody grading them somehow, despite never being shown studying or doing anything other than patrolling. But they have shown us that the city used to be extremely problematic and chaotic and only recently have things started to change for the better. Most villains and even main characters are orphans and live on their own. There's a whole arc about a group of kids being left to rot in poverty without any means to study or live a normal life. Even our main character lives on his own in a horrendous apartment. Like--

I believe you have to be blind to not see that, if this isn't just literally some people turning their backs against poor kids in a place in ruins, it is at least an exaggeration of these things happening in real life. Because they could have classes and teachers and everything you want in the manga to make it more realistic, but this is, after all, from the perspective of teenagers who can't rely on anybody but themselves. There's only so much a teacher can do, and we know most of them do nothing for these kids. So if it is "unrealistic" perhaps you aren't aware of what damn hyperboles and metaphors are, but this is from the students' points of view, and when you live in a place like this, it doesn't matter how many teachers there are or police, because they won't help. So they are directly erased from the story to be replaced with Sakura's point of view of Umemiya running the whole place.

So I think that instead of looking for realistic interpretations of their high school experience, perhaps you should empathize a little with the actual real high school experiences of people like them.

btw artists you should maybe stop posting your art on pinterest if that's something you've been doing, i know a few ppl who have been sharing their art there

i'm not sure if this section has been updated at all or if it's always been this way but I was taking a read through their soon-to-be-implemented update to their TOS to see if they'll be adding anything with the increased usage of AI and this looks like perhaps this section exists (at least in part) for that reason 🤔 [thinking emoji]

unfortunately their report function for art theft/reposting has historically been less than stellar (an understatement) and I don't really see it improving any time soon but perhaps they will improve it with this update to their TOS and privacy policy! one can hope at least!

link to the preview of the new TOS: https://policy.pinterest.com/en/terms-of-service-preview

alt text for the screenshot below, as well as linked in the embedded image description feature:

A screenshot of a section of Pinterest's new Terms of Service. The subsection heading reads: "How we and other users can use your User Content". The highlighted text reads: "By providing any User Content on the Service, you grant us license to use, store, publicly perform or display, reproduce, save, modify, create derivative works, monetize, download, translate and distribute your User Content. Nothing in these Terms entitles you to any payments or the right to share in any revenue from any monetization of User Content."

Image description note: If you want to read the full paragraph, please visit the page I've linked in the post.

Thinking about IDW Optimus again and the fandom's aversion to even acknowledging he exists bc he's a cop or whatever and like. Most of the time people literally just replace him in fic with some white bread knockoff archivist/librarian, not even bothering to keep in IDW OP's personality (which just bolsters my theory that the problem isn't him being a cop the problem is that he's too multifaceted but I digress).

And it's annoying because you could totally write IDW Optimus as not a cop while still keeping his canon personality. You just have to realize that the reason IDW OP became a cop in the first place is because his formative experiences when he was young shaped him to basically have two priorities: 1. To help people and 2. To do it by being on the ground actively doing something about the bad things happening to people.

IDW OP would not be a fucking librarian or archivist because even though those are noble pursuits that can help people and change the world, and Optimus is educated/smart enough for the profession, he wouldn't be satisfied just teaching people or spreading information about activism or social-historical studies or whatever. He's a mech of action: he needs to be doing things right now, in front of him, to people he sees/interacts with in his own eyes, improving society with concrete actions rather than indirect action or abstract inspiration.

So basically the alternate job ideas I can think of for IDW Optimus are something like being a firefighter (or any first responder really) or even whatever the equivalent would be to international charity organizations, those ones that send volunteers across the world to do stuff like build housing/infrastructure or distribute food or whatnot. I mean I can't imagine that the equivalents to these things would be exactly the same in IDW Cybertron, so you'd have to get a little creative with it, but these are just some ideas of jobs that would fit IDW Optimus' personality while still filling the niche of "not a cop" for people who are just that opposed to it.

Though I think the revulsion against coptimus is annoying in general tbh because IDW is already a continuity that rejects the idea of easily defined good/evil people or groups. It feels like people really want Optimus to be a good person in a very sanitized and academically approved way, so he has to be nice and squeaky clean but also like, a perfect leftist who knows theory and holds the most progressive opinions on every single issue....

There is no room for the idea that good people join bad institutions, there's no room for the idea that the reason people think cops are good guys who help people is bc of the government propaganda everything is saturated with. Hell there's even later issues of the Optimus Prime series by John Barber where Optimus like, MULTIPLE FUCKING TIMES, is shown in flashbacks grappling with the fact that he as a cop/Zeta's regime that he works for might not actually be improving society like they say they are, and dealing with the fact that he feels more like a lesser evil compared to the Decepticons (perhaps not "lesser" at all).

It's like there's this idea in fandom of like, fictional media and opinions on media having to strictly adhere to progressive ideals at all times. So people just go "cops bad, this character is a cop, therefore they suck" without being willing to engage with the idea of like. IDW OP is born wanting to fight injustice and protect people -> a good way to protect people is to fight the people who are hurting them and committing crimes -> surely following the law is a reliable moral code to guide him in this -> becomes a cop because he's been indoctrinated into a society (much like our own) where he was told that the state/the law exist to protect the people and being a cop means you get to fight bad guys that hurt people. There's really so many interesting concepts there that could be (and CANONICALLY IS) explored about how good, well-intentioned people can be led to harmful actions simply because they have been fed the idea that the things they're doing are good/helpful/noble. Which is especially important for a character like Optimus, I think, who has a cultural icon status as The Irrefutable and Perfect Good, so it's really important actually to use IDW Optimus as an example of how even the most noble people you know have held problematic beliefs or done bad things at some point in their life. You know, because no one is born perfect and ideologically pure, and in fact society is constructed in exactly a manner to make people drink the kool-aid and believe that the systems designed to hurt them/others are just a normal, if flawed, society.

I mean the writing in IDW literally has Optimus deal directly and indirectly with the harm he's done as a cop and how people don't/didn't trust him because of that. I don't know what the fuck else this fandom wants if the source material literally saying "OP realizes that cops suck and he hurt people and earned their disdain by doing the things he did" doesn't stop them from going EW cop bastard sucks and is the worst Optimus. Like the narrative barely stops short of outright saying ACAB and Optimus himself would agree with this sentiment.

At that point, the collective fandom beef with IDW OP isn't because he's a cop and the narrative didn't do enough to condemn that. The problem is literally just that people don't read and don't care

TLDR: Consider the fact that good people can do bad things sometimes especially when living from birth in a corrupt society that thoroughly disguises its vices/oppressive structures as completely normal parts of existence

Maybe a little overly serious approach to the situation, but y'all have GOT to be more respectful towards the creators you watch and consume content for. fWhip's message about getting a lot of hate is honestly abysmal.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love lore-related series! I think they're a lot of fun and I love watching them.But give non-lore series a chance! They're also a lot of fun!

These creators are all responsible adults who are very capable of creating boundaries for themselves and deciding amongst themselves what rules they want to follow when joining a project.

Obviously, there are many viewers and community members who this isn't directed at. :D

Please don't send hate to anyone, it's not helpful. If you don't like something, don't engage with it. Just leave it at that. Show respect to the community you're apart of, and to the creators that head it.

(It's fine to be annoyed with something and talk about it, but don't force a creator to see that negativity. It's not benefiting anyone.) The more hate a creator gets, the less they engage with and organize fun things for the community. Please remember to be kind.

it's in so many fics and so many metas and so many joke posts and so many people act like it's a blatant canonical fact that sometimes it feels like im going crazy

but every time i rewatch the show im struck by how literally the only solid evidence for the interpretation that izzy is essential in running ed's ship

is the fact that izzy says so

I think…I’m going to cry.

I’m reading The Ruby’s Curse by Alex Kingston.

And River says: I don’t have a home. I just have places where I live.

Me: Oh. Oh…

But later, in a moment of crisis, she circles back to this thought, and her and 13’s minds link for just a moment.

And River realizes: My home was not a place, but a person.

Me:

Please understand that, more often than not, works of fiction are a fictional exploration of concepts and ideas rather than a declaration of morality

while aaravi remains firmly within "yeah miranda has a difficult personality and isn't very easy to get along with + has many rough edges which are slowly being worked on but still going to be an issue" after having been very much so within the camp that miranda is a Vexing Bitch upon first contact/getting to know her, she DOES go from "miranda is unpredictable and dangerous as a merfolk and large macropredator and her emotions are inscrutable and random" to "merfolk aren't very hard to understand or predict and it's very easy to stay on the safe side if you keep basic rules in mind and don't freak out the second something unexpected happens"

Workforce B7 Au

B'Elanna and Seven start living together out of concern for B'Elanna living by herself so far along in her pregnancy (B'Elanna initially takes this as an insult, that Seven doesn't think she's a good mother because Seven does not phrase her concerns well but she is genuinely concerned about B'Elanna and her child.) They both mutually agree that if they find a romantic partner they'll just live separately again but as the months wear on they realize they've become more and more attatched to each other, their feelings taking a romantic turn which frightens them both. B'Elanna still goes to that diner place Tom works at and considers them friends. He eventually asks her out and B'Elanna, thinking that she's probably being a burden to Seven and confused by her feelings towards the other woman, accepts though she doesn't have romantic feelings for Tom. Seven is upset by this though she knows she shouldn't be so she tries not to express it but eventually they have an argument which ends in them both admitting that they like each other romantically. They hesitantly kiss, hold hands, ask if they want to really commit to this...yes. The answer is yes. Then strange men in a ship tell them they're members of an organization called Starfleet or whatever?? Then they're taken to sickbay and their old memories return. This leads to both of them having private freak outs about the fact that they felt so strongly attracted to each other and so...happy, with one another when all of the more complicating aspects of their relationship weren't an issue. This is a double edged sword for B'Elanna specifically because without all the history between them she truly didn't feel any attraction towards Tom and if she's being honest with herself - when was the last time she did...? Dun dun dun! You know this episode ends with B'Elanna staring out a window or something, wondering about what she should do...what it all means....

People’s lack of self-awareness never ceases to amaze me

what the fuck happened in shining nikki while i was gone. i stopped playing in late 2022 but even then i stopped paying attention at around the start of volume 2. so i've been trying to catch up a bit and every single thing i learn just makes me have to set my phone aside and just. think. like seriously what the fuck