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nerves-nebula · 1 year

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wait I legit thought that the rat dad figure being (?) in TMNT was extremely neglectful and that's why the four stick together because they essentially had to raise themselves alone while hiding from the rest of society?

Like that's why they're big on fighting/being strong is because they had to protect each other from whatever dangers might come and try getting rid of them all for being mutants and stuff.

Also thought they grew up in the sewers and had to climb out and steal a few things at night and that's why they dressed up as ninjas originally. So they could steal food/some supplies and like not die of starvation or whatever

(I have not seen any versions of the show and have only a vague understanding of TMNT. It sounds like it's ripe for dysfunctional family dynamics possibly??)

GHAGHAG OK SOOOO THE THING ISSSS THAT I HAVE A LOT OF OPINIONS ON SPLINTER and the nature of abuse/neglect in the tmnt franchise BUT

the thing is that there are a lot of versions of TMNT that I haven't seen, including any original/old versions or comics SO mind you that my opinions here are also mostly crafted through cultural osmosis, and some vague memories of comics/tv shows. the only tmnt show ive watched in its entirety has been the 2018 version (ROTTMNT).

THAT BEING SAID: I don't think its unfair to call most versions of splinter kind of bad parents. theres definitely versions of him that are barely parents at all, really more of a Master figure who teaches the turtles to fight and trains them, than like, a Dad. 2018 is prolly the most Dad like one (they even call him dad and pops and stuff)

the thing is that TMNT can be either incredibly lighthearted or really really angst-y. They do live in the sewers cause they can't usually live above ground with people, but this really ranges from "all humans hate and fear them and will attack them on sight" to "they just need to stay in the shadows and make sure they dont spook anybody" and sometimes it barely matters at all and people are just like "wow cool costumes guys"

and so in those lighthearted versions, while splinter might not be portrayed as a really cool great dad, he is usually a really cool great NINJA MASTER. so any kind of symptoms of neglect that could come from not being raised by PARENTS is usually forgotten/hand waved because who needs parents when you have your brothers??? COwabunGA lets go eat pizza :)

and thats FINE thats the tone they're going for its ok, even if logically it would be an emotional nightmare. this is a show about teenage mutant ninja turtles its ok to not be logical.

im actually not sure why they're ninjas, apart from Master Splinter training them to BE ninjas. though there are definitely versions where they're being hunted/seen as threats and that's why they need to Get Good at fighting.

so to recap: splinter isn't always portrayed as a good person or a good guardian, but usually the story doesn't really delve into that or frame it as abuse/neglect. sometimes he's "too harsh" or "too cold" but usually nothing deeper than that.

WHICH BRINGS US TO RISE OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, the 2018 version that ive watched all of.

THE THING ABOUT ROTTMNT is that they made me uncomfortable by making jokes about splinter being a neglectful shitty dad, which i made a whole post about a while ago. and while they did make him a better dad LATER on it really really weirded me out how his neglect wasn't super focused on except for like. one or two episodes??

the thing is that splinter needs to be neglectful so that the boys can go out and have adventures and I GET THAT I REALLY DO as a storyteller some things just need to be hand-waved I GET IT. BUT. why draw attention to it if you dont plan on there being long term affects???

the only result seems to be that he Becomes a Better Dad but I can tell you first hand if my parents did a turn around like that it would NOT fix everything and I GUESS i'm just weirdly disappointed that they pointed out the neglect, made jokes about it, and then didn't reallyyyy go into it more. I mean im sure if I wanted to I could go into analysis mode and be like "well these character arcs could point to the ways neglect has effected them" but to be HONEST that'd probably be more me projecting than anything else.

AND LIKE. if they didn't want to discuss neglect why even bring it up???

and your point about it being a set up ripe for familial abuse/dysfunction is TRUE, but is also hardly ever the focus of the story. sure the stories focus on interpersonal issues, but its almost never framed through the lens of "these kids are being neglected" or "the reason they're having interpersonal issues because of the neglect they suffer" because well. that's just not very cowabunga. that's not very Kids Show. why not just have Raph and Leo fight over being the leader or again or something that's still a conflict but its less existentially draining.

and like MAYBE there's a version out there, some obscure comic run or something, that addresses all these issues and gives me the catharsis I crave BUT UNTIL THEN I will continue redrawing childhood memories of my shitty family superimposed onto TMNT characters.

SORRY for this huge, loosely jumbled together ramble but you activated my tmnt abuse/neglect fixation trap card

#ask #tmnt #master splinter #long post

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sammysdewysensitiveeyes · 1 year

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11, 19, 39, 43, 44, 50

11. What’s the worst art you’ve seen?

You would think it would be Greg Land porn face, but nah, it's this:

From an Inhumans story about a corrupt Genetics Council member coming after Ahura, after Black Bolt and Medusa left him to be raised by a human couple. I can deal with comics having a very stylized or cartoony art style, but this is just.....bad. Really, really bad.

But I gotta love Maximus popping up out of his cell as soon as he hears the word "mad," like Tony Wonder waiting to make an entrance. "Did someone say 'Wonder'?"

Special runner up - any random Greg Land, really:

Why does this teenage girl being beaten look like she's screaming in ecstasy? Fucking Land.

Why is this apparently grown adult woman who seems to be a scientist (judging by the lab coat) making this expression? Fucking Land, who cannot draw a realistic expression on a woman to save his life, and obviously traced this from a model emoting "shocked" or "offended." Seriously, she doesn't even look like she's supposed to be a sexy super-heroine, but Land just had to give her That Face.

19. Rant about a change they made to a character of your choice.

You'd think I would talk about Pyro here, but I have to take a moment to rant about my DC boy, James Jesse, the original Trickster (a Flash Rogue). James was always kind of a wacky villain - an inventor and conman who commits crimes in the silliest way possible, but wasn't a full on edgy murderer like the Joker. He was definitely an asshole for sure, but probably one of the less murderous Rogues, and even took a stab at reforming for awhile (although he wasn't super-sincere about it). James then got replaced by a new Trickster named Axel, and then turned into a homophobe because someone wanted to do a Defiant Ones story with James on the run with and handcuffed to gay Rogue Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper (even though Hartley and James were previously portrayed as friends with no issues), and then killed off.

Then after DC rebooted continuity a couple of times, James was still MIA, and Axel was treated as the only Trickster, even though most of the other original Rogues were back. Then Josh Williamson finally brought James back for a story arc that revealed that he'd been stuck in prison and basically tortured for years, and then escaped and went underground and was coming back for revenge. Williamson wrote a darker James, who still isn't technically a murderer, but did shove his parents off a building (Flash saved them). I'll admit the darkness made some sense, JJ was stuck in prison and it warped him, but the story seems to have virtually no sympathy for this wacky bankrobber getting tortured for years. Flash himself, who was very concerned about baby Trickster Axel getting mistreated in prison, doesn't appear to give a shit that James endured this for YEARS. Williamson also retconned James' past to say that he stole some of the ideas to make his anti-gravity shoes by seducing a lab tech, and this pisses me off SO MUCH. James' original origin story has him reading science magazines and figuring out how to make his gadgets on his own, which is one of the things that distinguishes him from Axel (who stole James' gear). It's not realistic, but nothing about the Flash Rogues are realistic. JJ is, in his own words, a Soo-per Genyius, and I hate any writer trying to take even part of that away from him.

Williamson also added this whole characterization of James routinely seducing and using women as part of his scams, even though that was NEVER part of his character before. He was a conman for sure, but he didn't specifically target women to steal money or tech, that was a new thing. Williamson wrote a darker Rogues AU future story that basically involves a group of them going out for "one last score" (with violent, gory results), and writes James in that story as one of the worst, just an absolute uncaring asshole with no apparent empathy or morals. This is the same character who, back in the 90's, ran across the world to help his ex-girlfriend, and then bartered with a demon to save the souls of his fellow Rogues. Anyway, fuck you very much, Williamson, never write James Jesse again, just keep your hands off him.

39. Which character do you get the most defensive of?

Once again, I'm gonna have to say James Jesse, the original Trickster, because comics have been so shitty for him for like 20 years. But also because the Flash TV show has popularized a version of James who actually is a remorseless murderer, and that's the version that keeps showing up in fandom. Most of the Rogues got an interesting reinvention on the show (for better or for worse), but James wound up being based entirely on a version of the character from the long-forgotten Flash 90's live-action show, who was basically Flash's equivalent of the Joker and played by Mark Hamill. And I have great respect for Mark Hamill, he's fantastic and he plays the TV version of the character well, but he's very different from comics James, and is much more murderous and unstable. And because the Flash CW show got Mark Hamill back, instead of a comics accurate Trickster, we got old man murderer Trickster (even though he's also one of the younger original Rogues). So I'm stuck wading through Flash fanfic, even fic that claims to be drawing from the comics, with the unstable killer version of Trickster, because that's the popular TV version.

(I will say, Mark Hamill also voiced a version of the Trickster on Justice League: Unlimited who seems like a more child-friendly version of TV Trickster, but I love him because he's not a killer and actually seems kind of sweet.)

I think when it comes to James Jesse, I'm a bit like you with Sebastian, I'm pointing at comics from decades ago, going, "No, no, he's not like that! He's like THIS! It's not his fault writers have been mangling his character for years!"

Your blog has actually made me much more defensive of Shaw as well, not as a "good guy," but as a "at least let him be a competent villain," argument.

43. What character do you resent the most?

Ohhhhh boy, there's a lot to say here.

My first answer would be some of the attention-grabbing characters that writers fawn over and who tend be heavily featured in damn near every X-Book. Right now it's Wolverine and Emma. Wolverine I don't really like much at any time, Emma I usually do like, but Duggan has been so far up her ass lately, I can't appreciate her in books anymore. I admit, I absolutely loved her beating down Sinister in Immoral X-Men, because finally, an Emma moment where I'm completely on her side, and where she's beating down someone I hate more. Also Gillen seems to have a more balanced take on Emma and isn't trying to rewrite her whole history.

But also, one of my fandom bad habits is that I get very resentful of any character who I think is replacing my favorite, or "stealing" a storyline that I wanted for my fave. So also, Simon Lasker (Pyro II) and to some extent Axel Walker (Trickster II).

Neither of them are bad characters. But Simon was basically a bland imitation Pyro who, from my perspective, stole the "gay Pyro" storyline out from under St. John, who was originally queer-coded and died of the AIDS metaphor virus, and has been in the comics closet for decades. And now that we are finally in a time when more comics characters can come out, and St. John is alive again, he's getting written as fantasizing about Jean Grey, presumably because "we already have a gay Pyro." Fuck that, St. John was here first. As far as I can tell, Simon was created to fulfill the Allerdrake ship from the movies, except he's not even the right Pyro for that, it's ALLERdrake, not LaskerDrake. I'd be more forgiving if Simon had a more interesting personality or if he looked significantly different from St. John, but instead he's like the equivalent of We Have Pyro at Home.

Axel Walker actually does have his own distinct personality and look as Trickster II, and I like him for that, but ever since his introduction, James has been killed off, and then dropped out of continuity, and then brought back darker and edgier so that Axel can be the sweet baby Trickster (even though back when Axel was first introduced, HE was the edgier Trickster, and James was trying to reform). It especially bothers me that all the other original versions of the Rogues got to come back in DC's rebooted continuity, but Axel was still treated as THE Trickster while James was largely forgotten. And lately artists and writers have been completely blurring the lines between the two characters, both in design and personality. Sometimes you literally cannot tell which Trickster is appearing in a book, because it's a character that looks and acts exactly like James, but is somehow named Axel.

Honestly, I try not to completely hate either character for this, it's not their fault. Axel especially is a good character when the writers actually let him be distinct from JJ. I could appreciate stories where the two Tricksters work together and annoy the shit out of each other, where James is all old school Looney Tunes and Three Stooges, and Axel is all Tik Tok and memes. That would be great. I'd enjoy a story with St. John mentoring Simon as a younger Pyro, and Simon maybe choosing a different name because Mesmero forced the Pyro identity on him, and both of them bonding over banging Iceman. I don't want to be mean to fans of these characters. But it's hard to like them while their presence in comics seems to negatively affect my faves.

Also, as long as I'm full of salt here - I have a limited patience for a lot of mascot and "joke" characters, especially when those characters become popular, but don't seem to have any real substance to them. Baby Yoda? Cute, but whatever, it's a baby. Soft Serve? I get it, she poops ice cream. She's a funny background joke, but I don't ever want to see a Soft Serve mini-series. I love Lockjaw and he is a Very Good Boy, but I would have rather seen any other member of the Inhuman Royal family get a mini-series. Doop? I don't give a single fuck about Doop, he's just a flying green blob whose joke wore thin ages ago.

44. Any characters you used to like but grew to dislike?

Deadpool. I read his series back in the 90's and genuinely liked him, but he got so big and over-played that I've completely burned out on the character now.

Also, Deadpool is a good example of how fandom (especially Tumblr fandom) can be very selective of which characters they deem "problematic." People are having yelling arguments across the Internet about Tony Stark or Hank Pym, or Cyclops, but somehow you can post about Deadpool without someone going, "Um, friendly reminder that originally Blind Al was actually Deadpool's prisoner, and when Weasel got too close to her, he threw both of them in a literal torture chamber!" Not that I want Deadpool to get dragged down by all the discourse, people should be able to freely enjoy him. But like, the dude kills people. He very gleefully kills people, and somehow doesn't get the kind of fandom controversy I've seen for other characters (at least in my corner of fandom, maybe it's going on elsewhere that I haven't seen.)

50. What’s something that bled into comics from a tv show or movie that you hate?

Hmmmmmm..........I think I'll say the Maximoff twins being declared Not Mutants and no longer Magneto's bio kids because the MCU wanted them in the movies. We all know that was about movie rights shenanigans, and not for any legitimate story reasons. It's just nonsense, and I'm patiently waiting for the retcon.

#damn this was so long #if anyone actually reads this I'll be impressed #I just blab on and on

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imaginethreehouses · 2 years

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Hi! I saw that your matchups were open so I hope you don’t mind doing mine for male characters (one of each house? If you only do one per request, then just one in general in fine!) I use she/her pronouns! I have rose pink hair reaching to my mid-back and drown brown hair. I stand at 5ft and am left handed. I’m a Sun Capricorn, Moon Virgo, Rising Leo and an ISTP.

Most people think I’m quiet and polite upon first impressions, so they tend to be surprised when I’m with my friends and Im here bullying and gaslighting the living shit out of them. I’m told that I’m a blunt person, not in the mean way, but just speaking the truth when a person is in trouble and needs to see reality kind, apparently. I’m a very sarcastic person and am definitely a bad influence. I don’t tend to talk about myself much. I’m really bad at giving compliments and don’t tend to stress much. I don’t like seeming week or stupid, so I tend to act like a know-it-all as I try to hide my flaws, tho it has gotten to the point where a friend asked if I’ve ever cried once in my life which really hurt.

Anyway lol, I was a music oriented person, having played the piano mainly for over 12 years, violin, and guitar but it was never a passion of mine so I kinda dropped it. I love writing, drawing, and playing mostly JRPG games. I eat a lot lol, but I guess it’s better to describe it as I only get full when eating too much of one food since I get tired of it, and am a fast eater. I also have the humor of a 10-year-old boy with plenty of Your Mom and That’s what she said jokes.

Hey!! Sure, you can request one of each house, it's no problem! It actually makes it easier for me in a way because I'm always worried the people I write for will hate the match I pick? 😅 Now I have three tries. Also, I hope you mean bullying/gaslighting your friends in a figurative/exaggerated sense? I'm autistic and pushing 30 so I'm not always sure what younger people mean these days when they say these things LOL. Anyway! I hope you like the matches 🥰

From the Blue Lions, I match you with... Sylvain! ❤

Look no further. He's the one who'd be laughing his ass off at a "that's what she said" joke in the middle of a war council meeting.

Sylvain needs someone to be blunt with him and tell him how things are once in a while. Pretty frequently, actually. All the time, maybe, even.

He's often taken for someone with no feelings because of the way he acts, so he would get really angry if he sees someone do the same to you.

Sylvain would be the biggest fan of your writing, he would go as far as to draw terrible quality fanart of it.

If video games existed in Fódlan you can bet Sylvain would spend at least 3 hours a day gaming.

He's got his issues but I think the two of you could eventually fit together nicely!

From the Black Eagles, I match you with.... Caspar! ❤

I think he'd be another fellow 'fine' humor enjoyer and chaos wrecker 🤭

He'd support you so much in dropping what wasn't making you happy and going for what you really enjoy!

He'd think you're not that interesting upon first impression, then be delighted to learn what you truly are like when he sees you around your friends.

He might not really get your sarcasm sometimes and just get things comically wrong as a result. Feel free to either have mercy or mercilessly tease.

From the Golden Deer house, I match you with... Claude! ❤

Sorry, I think this pretty much completes the holy trinity of the "that's what she said" kind of humor fe3h guys 🤭

I think Claude would also enjoy gaming a lot. He is also a musical person though, so he would bug you endlessly when he inevitably decides that he wants to learn to play violin and piano.

Despite all his dreams and the complicated politics he's involved with, at heart he's a guy who loves to play jokes and tease. You'd fit together quite nicely!

This is completely unrelated to any of what you said but I think Claude is pretty much the best cuddler in the whole game. I can't explain it but IDK look at that gif up there, he looks so soft? 🥺

Bonus friendship match! From the Church of Seiros: Catherine!

#fe3h matches

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somesadguysdiary · 1 month

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10:55 PM GMT, Sunday 24th March 2024

I realise I completely forgot about this for most of the month, but eh, I warned that I would.

Anyway, I'm only posting because I feel like I've just had an epiphany.

One of my new friends (not mentioned in the freinds post) recently put me onto a web comic and after reading episode 103-104 I realised something. I realised where a lot of my feelings of inadequacy come from.

Growing up, a lot of the things I liked to do or wanted to be good at were restricted or discouraged. Playing video games? Limited to 2 hours a day and I barely get that. Singing? Too girly, not allowed to continue. Sports? I was too fat so I wasn't allowed to play with the other kids. Music? Too loud when I practice so I have to stop. Baking? I'm banned from cooking in the kitchen because "I leave it in a big mess". Drawing? Not as important as studying. Being good at doing others' makeup? Also way too girly. Chess? My step granddad was better than me so I was discouraged. Acting? Deemed a waste of time.

Anything I took interest in, I wasn't able to fully develop or do at all, so I ended up with a barely surface level understanding of lots of things. Meanwhile, all of my friends were able to fully explore what they wanted and developed their skills as a result. All of my music freinds? Better than me. All of my theatre friends? Better than me, etc, etc.

Die to not being able to develop any skills in things I liked, I ended up being surrounded by people who were better than me at anything i tried, and it felt bad. It still feels horrible. Couple that with academic gifted kid syndrome and not having many friends, if any at all, you get a big ball of unresolved inner turmoil, self doubt, shame and self hatred. I hate that I can't do as much as anyone around me. I hate that whenever I say I can do something, there's always a freind that can do it better and then I look like I was arrogant by saying I was good at that thing. I don't hate my freinds, I hate me.

So now I'm stuck with the feeling that I can't do anything right, so I don't try anymore. I just give up as soon as there's any difficulty because that means I can't do it.

And whenever people try and console me about it I refuse that they're correct. I've heard it all before and it hasn't worked. Not because the advice doesn't work but because I won't let it. I push people away when they offer me help and then when I tell them to leave, they leave, when I really did want help, I really did want to be better. But I keep being too stupid and pigheaded that I don't let them, and then they get annoyed and leave. Because of me.

I mean hell, the only reason I started this blog is because I don't have anyone to voice these concerns to and if I do, I don't want to bother them or bring down their mood. I made this whole post about needing or wanting help and I can't even ask for it.

God I'm useless.

Or not...

Actually yeah, that's a good point.

I can just use this blog to help with that issue.

I can use this to congratulate myself or whatever whenever I do something good, like asking for help or stopping being so useless. This way I can work on that and push less people away.

I just need to clear my mind, and look at this from another perspective. I need to stop blaming other people and I need to stop making excuses for myself.

If I work on it bit by bit, then maybe I can come out of this on the other side as someone who is actually happy with who they are!

Idk where to start though.

I guess I could start by hanging out with my freinds more? Or maybe I can tell them about the things I thought about in this post? I could even try out getting better at something gradually, like baking, though it is expensive... I mean I could try practicing the drums- or both!

I would have to do this behind my step dad's back though, considering he's the one that banned me from using the kitchen.😑

Anyway, this post turned out to be more therapeutic than anything, thank you for reading my self hating, weirdly self-insuring post! And if no one but me reads this, at least I voiced these feelings rather than containing them- HOLY SHIT THAT'S WHERE I'LL START.

I CAN START BY USING THIS TO VOICE OPINIONS AND FEELINGS SO IM USED TO EXPRESSING THEM.

Anyways, BYYYEEEE.

-Some Sad Guy (SSG)

11:20 PM GMT, Sunday 24th March 2024

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fancyfade · 2 years

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i feel like this bit was pulled off pretty well though

cass is obviously feeling kind of crushed under everyone’s extremely conflicting expectations of her.

i do think something that I wish they explored a little more satisfactorily is cass mentally comparing bruce to cain -- remembering even though cass hates the fact that her training resulted in her killing someone (and this was done under cain) she also blames herself for that, rather than him, and gives cain credit for ‘making her perfect’

i also think that the nature of babs’s conflict with cass is still solid. babs DOES seem to adhere to the whole ‘self care for others but not for me’ thing (link) i talked about before, and she is well-intentionedly but thoughtlessly trying to get cass to be happy by insisting she does this normal-girl stuff... despite the fact that it’s obviously not what makes cass happy

we also see cass feeling very uncomfortable when in the sexual gaze which makes sense but i think makes it even grosser that some of the comics that attempted to address this (the weird cruise ship episode) decided to draw her in a way that sexualized her like ‘look at how hot cass looks in this bikini she didn’t want to wear’)

[image: a few comic panels from batgirl 2000 #46. cassandra cain (as batgirl, without her mask) is leaning over and bleeding from her mouth. she is hallucinating people in her head talking to her and a woman (In real life) is drawing a fist back to punch her.

BATMAN HALLUCINATION: That was pathetic! How could you let a kick like that get through? You’re weak, Batgirl! You’re turning soft!

CASS (whisper): No... I...

BATMAN HALLUCINATION: I used to have high hopes for you, girl. Thought you’d do me proud! But now look at you! What a disappointment!

CAIN HALLUCINATION: Don’t I know it? All those years I spent training her to be the perfect fighting machine wasted...

CASS: Stop... please...

the girl (in real life) kicks cass in the face.

BARBARA HALLUCINATION: Oh, leave her alone, you two. Can’t you see what she really needs is love and affection? poor little baby...

ROBIN (tim) HALLUCINATION: Oh yeah! Love and affection is right! You should have seen this girl in babs' old costume the other night -- she was hot, dude!

NIGHTWING HALLUCINATION: No way, man. take off babs' high heeled boots and this chick is a total reject. just look at her -- she can't even read!

all of the hallucinations (except for cains) show up in the last panel at once, with cass turning away form them.

SUPERBOY HALLUCINATION: Woah! Who needs to read with a body like that?! What a piece of --

BATMAN HALLUCINATION: back off, punk. if batgirl so much as looks at a boy, I swear i'll --

BARBARA HALLUCINATION: There you go again -- keeping her from love! What this girl needs is more fun in her life -- friends, boys, parties... C

ASS (yelling): Leave me alone!

end id]

#i feel like i lost my train of htought halfway thru but anyway #fade reads dc comics #dc comics #batgirl 2000 #cassandra cain #batgirl #barbara gordon #bruce wayne

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yammoba · 2 years

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Responding to the captain howdie callout docuement, attepting to provide some kind of context to the actions of the past, trying to detangle and discuss some of the actual issues in the comic and presented by the document.

This is not nessecarily meant to be a defense. It was kinda blatent to me that the document lacks context and clarity that results from context that make the criticisms functionally useless. Unless their aim is to stir up a hate mob, then its constructed quite well

CW for every topic that is discussed in the original document. In more detail. Aditionally discussions of school shooters are briefly had.

Also this is long and my writing is bad. Sorry.

Nyen's old design -

Okay... while this design read more as creepy pasta character inspired than it does blackface to me, I am not black so i dont really feel like i can comment on it. But i also kinda doubt it was done with the intent of it being black face. I am judging that by how things intended to be blackface are usually depicted. But if it was intended or not doesnt realky matter yea? Because of the harm caused.

But also this is like. previously deleted (i think?) stuff? the design isnt in the comic. So i am not really sure what... what is to be gained by digging it up? What is the harm that was being currently caused by deleted pictures? I guess the argument would be, it help contribute to normalizing blackface back in the day? And because nyen is violent it perpetuates sterotypes of black people being violent and agressive... ahh... i just... how is a sterotype being perpetuated in a harmful way if no one would look at that character desgin and think "yeah thats a black man". Unless they were already wildly rascist. i think to most people on the internet on devientart in 2011 would see that design and think he was like a creepy black cat character. Since like.. black shadow people was and are kinda a thing? And when people wanted to be rascist back then, they were pretty open about it. There are elements to certain drawings that i think make the "shadow person" idea questionable, and at the very least its a desgin that does still too easily play into that history of harm, intent or no. Again this is not an area where im qualified to speak with any kind of authority. I dont think its a good design and im glad it was changed.

The n-word use -

Not good, but this is one of those things that lots of people, even adults, would say regularly, not even that long ago. Especially if it was with a "soft a". Especially the phrase "whats up my n-". It was kinda a meme? Not like an internet meme, but it functioned kinda like one. People would get in lots of very inane arguments about the "soft a" in particular, but it was seen as "acceptable" in some ways to say the n-word with a soft a. It was dumb but that was how things were, and even still are in certain places. These arguments are inane and because they mostly serve to distract from the real issue at hand. That that kind of language coming from anyone who is white will mean something very different and has a lot more history of harm thats called upon. But this was a time when a lot of people were convinced "rasicim is over tho, obama is president". They were wrong and that idea was a reflection of privlage. But it was also how things were. Im not saying all this as an excuse, but to try to explain the differences between the past and now.

The ratmen -

Ohhh boy.... ok... im gonna try... look... have you seen the internet? Theres so much ratcore trash weeb a e s t h e t i c people out there. Its like a whole movement to associate with "cringe weeaboo" shit like japanese school uniforms while calling yourself a rat or a racoon or what ever. To me it feels like a cultural movement to reclaim things people were into as uninhibited youthhss. As a means of reclaiming that youth that was probably difficult because you are probably neurodivergent and/or queer. Simultaneously recognizing that you've become uncringable with age, while also presenting a new dynamic to the "cool and cute" side of things by drawing a worm in a lolita dress or what ever. This feels like the way more obvious read on the ratmen than... refferences to anti-japanese propaganda? Like sure, you could make the argument that its like... a subconcious thing, and stuff is a grand tapestry of influence, which is true. But if you start declaring things irrideemable because of vauge connections of influence (especially when they have easier reads) then your gonna run out of non-irridemable shit reallly fucking fast.

There is a lot to be said about "weeaboo" culture and how it was formed and continues to exist as a reflection of a very specific and limited section of japanese culture. And how that has played into a form of othering and dehumanization in certain cases. By the academic deffinition, non-japanese people being super into japanese anime and anime cultre is -cultural appropriation-. Anime in particular is already several layers of abstraction deep before it even gets the weeaboo treatment. And because of that it isnt always sensible, or respectful. This kinda applies to the whole comic and not just the ratmen, but in that it applies to like... everyone who draws in an anime style who isnt japanese.

Cultural exchange between japan and america is kind of just a thing at this point, and its an exchange that deffinatly isnt always -acurate- but theres kind of a long history of both countries taking and abstracting shit from each other to suit their own needs. Anime itself (as its widely understood) is that, osamu tezuka was influenced by disney to draw large cute expressive faces wayyy back when.

In a lot of ways i think its really cool that there is this crosscultural exchange, especially when its between niche subsubcultures. The kind of subcultures full of outcast weirdos. Proves we all have a lot in common with each other. Like its pretty clear ranfren draws on a lot of doujintype aesthetics, 2chan meme culture, and rpgmaker horror games. Both the comic itself and the presentation, being on neocities with gallerys of art, are reminicent of this. Theres a lot of this on neocities but its cool to see people styling their neocities gallerys and websites after the way japanese artists used to style theirs, pre-social media. For me it taps into some very formative memories of stumbling on some artists website that you couldn't read or properly navigate because it was in japanese and google translate was clunky and bad enough to basically be useless. But the art was beautiful and inspiring, and wasnt polished and professional which felt relatable, felt validating. Sometimes you saw fucked shit cause you didnt know what you were clicking on, but to me it was worth it. Is it bad to see fucked shit at a young age? Eh yeah..? But its kinda inevitable that you will see fucked shit. The world is like that right now, and trying to change it is important but its also important to be able to have methods of dealing with what we have. (Some people's methods of cope involve drawing and looking at pictures of cat boys being eviscerated) Anyways its better to see fucked shit in an environment that you have some control over. Thats kinda.. one of the big Points to art in the first place. And also some people, for various reasons, resonate with fucked shit. That doesnt make them inherently evil, its just like... everyone has their own way of dealing with darkness. Ranfren is a pretty fucked up comic, a dude keeps a human as a pet friend and he cant escape and is suffering and its a major plot point, thats just kinda played for laughs. Its dark and fucked up but in a funny and relatable way. thats why people resonate with it. I ranted a lot more about this in my last post (see also the video "why did we like elfin leid" by hazel on youtube) but just.... the immediate read of the ratmen is not "ah, the author of this is refferencing anti-japanese propaganda and thus is supportive of the belife that asians are not human and inferior." Its just... if you're reading a webcomic on neocities about weird anime cryptid boys, i feel like the associations your more likely to make with the rats is, "ah cool, some rat boys, relatable."

Swastika/manji -

think it was meant to be both a swastika on the right and manji on the left. but the fact that both are there does kinda remind me of how manji would frequently either get censored in america and/or become the source of edgy jokes, "neji is a nazi"* and whatever. Also drawing a swastika on something was the kind of surface level shit that lots of people did, purely because it was an easy way to try to seem like an edgy bassass and get a rise out of people. Its not good that people were like that, its bad that people didnt get the education to understand why doing that was bad. And it being so wide spread did give people who wanted to actually use it because they are nazis a very convenient cover story. But its a weak case to present one, especially if its from 2011, as proof someone currently(?) holds antisemetic beliefs. People who claim to use swastikas "as a joke" while actually holding white supremisct veiws are usually possible to spot by just like... observing what they do and say. While thats an exhausting thing to do because these people are fuckheads of the highest order, its an important thing to be able to do and understand if you want to fight for justice. This is a bit off topic too but relying only on iconography also allows these people to go stealth and do the whole "im not a nazi i dont have a big swastika tatoo" while they go on fox news and talk about how great eugenics is.

*since the point of all this is to provide context i will try to explain. The character Neji Hyuga, from Naruto has a manji on his forehead. Usually covered by his very cool ninja headband. But an episode where he takes it off was censored in the english release because a lot of people in the world have the immediate reaction of "oh fuck a swastika, like the nazis". However it was kind of an edgy "fun fact" to point this out and make jokes, both about the censorship and the fact that Neji has a "swastika" on his forehead. This kind of thing did then lead to more cultural awarness of manji and the origins of the swastika.

Incest and pedostuff -

I was gonna separate these two, but what i have to say kinda applies to them both. But in the wider world of fandom and reality i think they are separate issues, and the conflation of them i tend to see drives me a little nutty, i guess i get that its because of real world personal associations people tend to have, but when it comes to incest ships that become "popular", they seem to fill a very different "need" than young/old ships and shit... ahgggh it doesnt actually have anything to do with randal because he's stated to be under age so it this case its like yeah i guess they are under the same category. I just wish people would think more about why these things happen the way they do. I cant ask that of everyone, especially if its an uncomfortable topic and you dont like thinking about uncomfortable things. But considering why things happen and if there are reasons beyond "people are nasty" is worth doing if you can.

</tangent>

Ahh, i gotta say, taken at face value, the images that captain howdie drew... ah, when i saw the warnings and stuff, i was expecting worse? I am Not saying these are good things to have drawn, but. Almost equally weird shit happens in the actual comic. Randal and Luther have a really fucking weird relationship in canon because both of them are weird. They have weird power plays and do body horror and ??? And Luther is kinda controlling and domineering. But its part of their characterization that they are like this. In the comic there just isnt a framing of someone going "plz draw me some incest art of randal and luther kthnx"

this particular reaction of mine, is probably an instance of me being too online and too desensitized to artists and people im fond of having turned out to have been actual irl pedophiles or abusers so. I dont know. I dont like it. I understand if it turns people away from the comic because that kind of thing hits very personally with some people.

But again, i do feel the need to explain a bit about how the internet used to broadly treat underage characters and shipping.

For one thing people used to just... draw and write porn of characters who were minors, sometimes because they were also minors, sometimes not... and i dont think people were always doing it because they wanted to do bad things to real minors or what ever. The general mentality was more, "the character exists, i have a ship that pleases me. I will engage in what i think is the natural conclusion of that ship." Part of that i think also comes from there just being... less characters? Like obviously time is a thing and we are always adding and never subtracting "available" characters and ships. But if you were into anime/anime-esq stuff, there was just less of it. And a lot of the stuff that was localized and thus widly availible, and thus widly popular, and thus had a big fandom to engage in, was intended to younger folks, and thus had younger characters. So it was just kinda seen as, fine. I think people usually just thought of the characters as ageless entities. I do think its odd that so many people (still to this day too) have a compulsion to ship and write romance and junk, even at the expensse of socital norms. Im like ace/aro spectrum so yeah, i think its weird and dont fully "get it" for people to be that fixated on romance and resulting physical intimacy. But I saw the harry potter fandom back in the day, to say nothing of pre-castiel supernatural, and onecest. People were not really widely considering if any of it could have an effect on people or be used by actual pedophiles to harm real children. Im not saying it didnt happen, but the general idea of what a predetor would do to get at kids did not involve anything fandom related. I also do think the "lets be shocking" mentality comes into it for some people. People get told what they can and cant like by parents, teachers, religeon with little justification beyond "I/God said so". So it makes these kinds of things which have a taboo element to them feel "cool".

I guess part of the idea was also "if you are mature enough to be on these parts of the internet, you are mature enough to deal with some weird shit." In some ways i still think there is a shard of truth in this mindset. Just on a personal level its helpful to know your own limitations and recognize the type of stuff is likely to upset you. Like, even if you love, idk, lucky star or magica madoka or some shit, but are not comfortable seeing ecchi art of the girls, probably just avoid certain fandom spaces all together. Im not saying its "virtuous" to be able to handel seeing some shit or that its an inherent good that people have to do this. Im stating it as very obnoxious unsolicited advice. And all that said i think the need for spaces that are safe and free from shit online are very important. (As are semi-private spaces where you can like... collectivly vent, and spaces where you can be kinda fucked up.) And in modern times i take a lot of issue with "adult" fans with certain interests "taking over" media aimed at kids (mlp and the bronies is sort of an example of this, in certain ways, its complicated.)

I fucking hate that we've all been forced onto like 3 platforms for fandom and art shit. Especially twitter, twitter sucks dick. Especially if you're a kid. i dont like being like this, but honestly people under the age of 18 should not be on twitter. Not even because theres porn and gore and no tagging/filtering system. Twitter is just shit. Like the app itself is designed to fuck with your head in a very very damaging way and you cant really do anything to make it not do that. Damn, everybody should make a neocities, we can bring back webrings. its really fun and not difficult to maintain at. all. I Promise.

Also i said this in the last post but... pedobear was a popular(?) meme. It was this bear character that people would photoshop into pictures of cute child characters from anime and shit. The "joke" was more a style of subversive shock humor. Lots of people on 4chan were weirdos but a lot more were edgy teens just kinda looking to get a rise out of people because that was the "point" of the internet for a lot of people. "For the lulz" was the general rallying call. Was it good that one of the big meme characters of the day was a bear that wanted to molest anime children? No. And other popular meme characters who were also problematic? No, it was a symptom of things beyond most peoples control. Was it normalized? Yeah. Was it emblematic of multiple wider aspects of internet culture at the time? Yeah. Did the normalization also lead to an arms race of edge that eventually helped gamergate and the subsequent altright movement gain traction? Sort of. I think its silly to blame memes and media in general, or even internet culture as the sole cause for any of that. It all played a roll but the root causes runs a lot deeper. And i think it short sighted to lable any one thing as a source of evil while condemming everyone who associates with it. Shortsighted in the sense that i think to combat these things you have to try to understand the systems and contexts that lead to these evils in the first place. And when and how much these things are doing harm. And in what situations that harm is balenced.

Nevada-tan sweater -

i feel like the pedobear rant there kinda covers a lot of this but. Im here to try to give context so that is what i will do. I guess i just want to say again how common it was to have violent serial killer ocs. I had an oc who was a fake girl scout who offered people cookies and then killed them. Hilarious. Having an edgy refference to a real world tragedy is kinda par for the course in certain horror communities even to this day. Even real horror movies will do this. Its really not great that these things drag real world people into this. This is an instance of something that i greatly dislike because it does directly involve real world people. But its worth considering why people do this. Why there are people who develop parasocial relationships with killers and school shooters. Why these people get memed into become symbols and characters more than real people who commited evil acts. I mean for one thing people do this to just like, regular people, so it apparently just something humans like to do. But i want to post this comment from the reignbot video about nevada-tan which i think explains some important context of why this girl in particular was one that people might have latched on to (that vid is also good if you want the full real world context of everything)

People find this, relatable. Its messed up. but so many people are left behind by systems that are theoretically supposed to help people. People find some kind of comfort(?) in the horror. Another really good video related to this topic is the one reignbot did about people who idolize school shooters, she interveiws someone who used to be "on the inside" and that person has a lot of very valuable insight into this kind of mindset.

And i think the nevada sweater on Nyen is more of a refferance to this collective internet horror referance, especially with the anime, doujin circles, connotation. One that the type of person reading ranfren is likely to get and understand in some way. And i guess nyen is maybe just that kind of guy. Again it is not something i think is good, even as cope. But given everything else in the comic the refferance makes sense. And im internet poisoned so i knew what it was refferanceing as soon as i saw it so ive lived with it this long. Im still suprised people didnt know about this honestly. I am old.

Residential school/logs -

I mean yeah, this is insensitive. but... thats is kinda how... peoples minds work... you think about something, then maybe something happens, and you go back to thinking about the other thing. Like yeah, you have control over what you post, especially when you have a following its good to keep in mind how things will be percived just in general. But also like... sometimes i go from thinking gay thoughts to thinking about the texas abortion bill to thinking gay thoughts to thinking about the nature of evil in the hearts of humans to thinking gay thoughts. Its just kinda how our minds work, especially, trying to process tragic things can be really tough. And in general i am not fond of the trend that demands perfect sensitivity and seriousness about all topics lest you be cast as like... not caring at all and there for evil. Especially if the person in question is like an artist or some rando, someone who isnt aiming to be an "activist". (Im using that term very loosely,)

I mean in general there is so so much bad stuff, an insurmountable mountain of bad stuff and its all connected in the worst rat-nest of suffering. You gotta let yourself take a break, or you will burnout so fucking fast and not be able to tackle problems in an effective way when the oportunity arises.

Conclusion -

All and all, i think this document does a bad job presenting the issues that are present in and around randal's friends. Because it either doesnt know or doesnt care to explain the actual underlying issues with any of them because it seems too preoccupied with making captain howdie look as bad as possible. The reasons that yes, even though this shit was very normalized its still worth having a think over why it was normalized, what it meant and what it all means. And understanding that it being normalized meant very many people engaged with it and are still feeling fallout from that and records of that time are easily dug up. The document is either missing or choosing to ignore important context that readers are apparently unlikely to understand. And takes so many things in bad faith that it will be useless in encouraging change or a genuine apology or what ever the fuck people want. BaCk In My DaY we used to use callouts to go on 40 page tangents about the implications of shipping Sam and Dean or naming your oc "himeko" or what ever the fuck. And a lot of those were also full of misplaced frustration. But like... i feel like had to try to translate what the actual concerns were behind half the problems in this document. Someone who doesnt have their brain full of years of social justice arguments and talking points is gonna look at that doc and mostly go What are you people fucking talking about??? (Or they'll feel like they have take it at face value because they dont want to become tainted by enjoying -problematic- media) it also has the problem present in a lot of callout shit where it feels like half of it is someone going on a hunt because one thing pissed them off, and finding things to justify their being pissed off. This is especially evident in the case of digging up deleated (?) devientart stuff and reblogs. And the fucking.. logs. Again, you could probably do this with anything. What is the end goal here? People seem to be mad that this was "brushed under the rug" but what exactly is achived by dragging it back out? If that stuff hadnt been deleted people would 100% be clamoring for them to delete it because leaving it up would be perpetuating the forms of harm that it does contain. People also dont tend to think to give premptive apologies for those sorts of things either, because it was normalized at the time and has been hidden from most people's veiw. And bringing it up is probably just gonna implicate you. And again, if you lack a certain kind of understanding it will be very difficult to word any kind of an apology properly. And i kinda doubt that document will get anyone to apologize because it reads in such bad faith, lacks context, and doesnt properly fucking explain what the real issues and impact are.

Like its ok, you are well within your rights to not like ranfren for what ever reason. I can understand not liking ranfren. I can understand not wanting to be into ranfren anymore, and its your choice. As ive alluded to, ranfren appeals to a very specific sort of person, and is presented in a way that reflects that. You get to choose what you want to keep reading. What im trying to express is that there are people who are gonna keep reading it, and reasons why they can still relate with it, and can understand the reasons behind some of the stuff captain howdie did, and that those reasons are complicated (see ⬆️ above). I guess if you just wanna dni those people too, cool. Block me. (Pftt fnfjf i dont interact with people here this is my vent blog please block me)

But i am also trying to express, or warn people, that everything has problems. "There is no ethical consumption under capitalisim/colonialism" applies to media too. Sorry, nothing is pure. All of media is a vast interconnected web of shit thats all been tainted in some way or another. Even your personal blorbo. Its about learning to see these systems that have caused so much of this and learning to analyze and balance harm. Ive many times made decisions to cut shit out of my life that was very precious and formative to me (im compelled to say its not harry potter bc im a melenial and i know the steryotype. its other shit. Fuck jkr tho) ive kinda alluded to this but platform size also plays a huge role in all of this! And what it is you intend to do with that platform! I am personally a lot more critical of anything the disney industrial complex has a hand in because they have wide reaching social influence and have managed to put their company in the roll of being able to influence the people, seemingly on purpose! This is just an example to illustrate what i mean. The influence of anything the avarage webcomic artist does is vastly outclassed by shit even from a hundred years ago. (Sorry webcomic artists) let alone more insideous social factors that can be much harder to pick apart and confront. I guess thats the thing... the world is frustrating and sorrowful and you want to feel like you can do something and a rando artist is an easier target than all of society. Honestly its not something i know how to deal with either. I just look at my cat boys and draw silly pictures and try to convince my coworkers to become anarchists. Sorry.

Also dont even try to fucking dox people you fucklords.

#old man yells at cloud #ranfren #randal's friends #this took too long and its so long oh my god im so sorry #my thumbs hurt #im gonna go play video game now #i did have fun writing this and thinking about these things #especially the solidarity between otaku and weebs i like thinking about that

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pinkmirth · 3 years

Text

—𝐌𝗼𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐠𝗼𝐮 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐢 [𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐰 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞]

《𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝗼𝗺𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝗼𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 + 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝》

Boxes splayed across the bare, sheen hardwood of your newly owned apartment, some contents of them being haphazardly tossed out onto the floor, courtesy of Katsuki. Speaking of, the eager ash blonde had been taking this whole unpacking thing with a ravaging approach, a little more aggression than enthusiasm being displayed. This disregarding husband of yours had already broken two vases since the moving van hauled in your belongings..

You caught wind of his incoherent murmurs throughout the day, which were practically countless by now. You’d been racking your brain since, attempting to discover what had gotten your poor Katsuki so upset. Despite the marriage that bonded you and him, Katsuki’s profession usually got in the way of many personal things. For a while, it’d been a danger just for the pair of you to live together, so you haven’t been. Until now. It had been three days since you and him moved from the comfort of your hometown, Musutafu, to the renowned capital, Tokyo, and you wished you could say it had been smooth sailing. Unfortunately, a certain Bakugou wasn’t having the best time, always sputtering a profanity or a groan left and right. His case of the grumps was probably a trip of his complex emotions, either caused by a sense of neediness, deprivation of some sort, or bottled rage. You were betting, practically hoping on the first two instead. Knowing your husband, it meant well that he’d get his hands on miscellaneous household items to crush, smash and break, as some way of channeling his anger episodes. Three days down the line, and you already needed to replace a handful.. Though, it was currently dinner time, and you were sure that was a good thing. Katsuki’s little funk would wash away come 6pm. Cooking had a way of melting away the male’s heaps of stress, especially when you offered to join in. Throughout that hour of making food and serving you his prideful dishes, he always carried a subtle smile. Dinner wasn’t something to worry about. “Fuckin’ hell!” Scratch that. Telling by the pestering clatter of the cabinets he was yanking open, to the dastardly echo of his stomps, it seemed that you couldn’t rely on the succor of food for any longer. “I oughta’ set this lousy kitchen on fucking fire!” You let out a hefty sigh, picking yourself up from the spacious beanbag, since you were yet to assemble any couches, before strolling over to the kitchen, awaiting to see the reason behind your husband’s exaggerated shrieking. “Katsu-Chan, what's the issue..?” Your husband immediately bombarded you with a growled rant, “I can’t find my shitty apron!” You eyed Katsuki through furrowed brows. Is all this attitude really about one measly apron? Nah, I doubt it, your inner voice chimed. “And there ain’t any more pepper seasoning, so I haven’t got a clue what I’ll cook now..” he spewed through gritted teeth, recklessly tossing away the poor frying pan that he’d been holding onto all the while, impressive dents imprinted onto the handle, curved into the shape of his fingers. In that case, you had one more household item to replace. Noted.. “I can’t find that damned thing,” he spoke with an exasperated huff, his hands flying up to the cupboards, motioning them open and closed with the slightest violent tendency. “Hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but we ain’t eating dinner tonight,” you scoffed over Katsuki’s recurring dramatics, “These past few days have been shitty anyway..” He’d said it throughout a lowly mutter, but it was enough to cause a nervous stream to rush through you. Did he not like it here? Perhaps the city was too busy for Dynamight, maybe he wasn’t immune to getting homesickness as he liked to brag about, or it couldve been that he just wasn’t ready to get used to such a foreign occurrence in your relationship— living together. But, of course, considering your nature to bat things off with a joke of some sort, you contorted your worries into a comical stick to jab at your husband with.

“Darling, if you’re on your man-period, you should’ve just said so..” you’d said it with fabricated pity, all the while holding back your chuckles as his brows began to furrow, upper lip curving vexingly.

“You think you’re so damn funny, dontcha’, woman..?”

“Yeah, just a little bit.”

Another rasped groan left the lips of the ever-impatient Bakugou Katsuki, “Oi. Are ya’ just gonna keep giggling on about my little anger episode forever?”

Hm. For once, he actually acknowledged it for what it is, you thought briefly, before making your way around the glossy, marble-design kitchen island, your hands finding solace on his defined, muscular triceps.

The thick straps of his black, square neck tank top gradually began to slide past his shoulders, shadowing over his collarbone before you inched it back up.

“Do you.. like it here, Katsuki?” By the moment he answered your answer with an aggressive snort, you realized you had nothing to worry about.

“Why the hell wouldn't I? We didn’t pay for this house just to hate the place,” he scoffed, his large palms skimming over the small of your back before thick fingers of his wrapped around your waist.

“That’s a relief, but you’ve been acting a little grumpy— Like something’s bothering you. Could you just tell me how you’re feeling?” You finally admitted your questioning thoughts with an expectant look, watching Katsuki return your curiosity with a subtle smirk. “You wanna know what’s bothering me..?”

“Y’know what, never mind. Don’t wanna hear it, Katsu-Chan.”

Your abrupt response had him knitting his brows and emitting confused huffs. “So you’re just gonna change your mind on me like that?!” You jabbed at his chest with your pointer finger to punctuate your reply, “because you made it sound creepy, that’s why!”

Katsuki then tightened his grip around your waist, earning a breathy gasp out of you. Before you could question the blonde, he already had you hauled up into the kitchen island, standing between your dangling legs with the tip of his nose grazing yours. You couldn’t help but let out a sigh at the comforting warmth of his sizey hands, your arms instinctively flinging around the back of his neck.

“Alright, I’ll tell you the truth, hon,” confessed Katsuki, “The move has been great, but horrible. It all went good, I guess. No missing items, moving trucks arriving in record time, everything we wanted. But there’s one more thing that we wanted that you seemed to forget about, you lil’ idiot..”

Despite the use of an insult, his cheeks and ears began the bloom a subtle but pretty pink, his sharp red eyes averting from your own blinking ones.

“Care to inform me on whatever I forgot..?” You skimmed through my your memory frantically in those few seconds that he’d paused, trying to dig up a pleasing answer before he told you himself.

“Privacy, [Y/N].. We’d have so much, too much once we moved to our own place. And we loved the sound of that. Y‘know why, right..?”

Your heart suddenly leapt within your chest at his indication, his left brow rising suggestively as he briefly cocked his head. You definitely knew why.

“So we could have times like this. Without any damned interruptions. I can suck your face off without one of my shitty friends popping up unexpectedly, ain’t that swell?” His voice held the slightest bit of laughter in it, his tone comical and yearning.

“So.. if I said that I wanna feel you close to me..” you murmured, your breath fanning over his proximate lips, “Like, really really close, it wouldn’t be a problem, yes?” A teasing, lingering peck was what you placed across his cheek, earning a genuine grin from Katsuki as a response.

“Who the hell’s gonna stop you? In fact, I’ve got my own idea,” his lowly voice came out booming nonetheless, but of course, the benefit of privacy made sure that his volume wasn’t a problem.

“I wanna watch you. While you watch me.” He didn’t have to be lewdly exact with his words, the lust-blown gaze in your husband’s vermillion eyes was enough to tell what he wanted. It was simple enough as he’d said; Mutual masturbation, just a few minutes before dinner time would commence.

Albeit the serene atmosphere, you couldn’t hold back your snicker over your realization. Bakugou Katsuki, your impatient lover. The poor guy had been in such a distasteful mood, only because of his unnerving libido..

“You wanna watch me take off my panties, huh?” Your teasing statement came out as a suggestive giggle, your hand placed sturdily at the nape of his neck while the unoccupied one got to work on making his fantasies a reality, tugging at the hem of your leggings hastily.

“You’ve gotta watch me too, y’know,” Katsuki reminded you with a gravelly chuckle, shimmying and pulling his bottoms off as though there were no time to spare.

His half naked form had attracted you in an instant, eyes drawing to his thick cock, semi-hard and already being encased into his moving palm.

“Don't just stare. It works both ways, sweet cheeks. I wanna see some fingers moving’ already,” Puffs of breath were taken between his words, ruby red eyes already lidded with an agape mouth that poured out the most arousing groans.

“Nah, I think I’ll just enjoy the show for now,” you decided matter-of-factly, pressing a sloppy kiss along his defined jawline, causing him to emit another grunt, lowly slapping sounds being heard from his vulgar ministrations.

“You think you’re cute, huh..” hissed Bakugou, trudging his clothes back on with a grunt, to your dismay. “Forget it. Instead of putting on a show for a brat like you, I’m gonna go straight to dinner.”

You accepted the fate that your actions resulted in, ready to slide off the island, just before his stern hands stopped you. He gave you this glance, one that made you eye him in suspicion as he kept his hands on each of your thighs, spreading them apart with a lax grin.

“Katsu— Ah!” By now, the blonde had already dropped to his knees, now face level with your clothed heat. “W-what about dinner..?!”

“Whaddya’ mean?” His tone came out rasped and attractive, a growing smirk reaching his lips as his fingers prodded at the band of your bottoms, “This is my dinner, babe..”

#bnha thirst #mha thirst #bakugou imagines #bnha Imagines #Katsuki Bakugou imagines #Bakugou x reader #Bakugou x female reader #bnha insert #mha insert #Bakugou smut #bnha smut #harmoni writes

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kageyamatobiyogurt · 3 years

Text

hq boys with an s/o who's an artist - pt.3

a/n: hi gang this is my favorite and only series on this blog (only series so far). this is probably more funny than fluffy. highkey, i am loving atsumu's character more and more y'all. also please spare me if the dialogue is a little off, i'm trying to write his dialect as best as i can. (mid-writing edit: GOODBYE THIS MADE ME SO SOFT)

-i take requests

part 1 part 2 part 4

miya atsumu with an s/o who draws (primarily with graphite)

will always always hype you up, will never let you forget that you! are! talented!

baby is amazed at all of your drawings

he even keeps the ones you try to throw out

"whad'ya mean yer throwin' this one out!" he'll argue

you cringe at the graphite drawing in his hand "babe please, i hate it"

he'll pout at you PLEASE "but baby, all yer stuffs good"

he gets more excited over your finished pieces than you lmao

"did'ya finish another one?" he'll ask, "can i see it?" and he does this thing of peeking his head into the room you’re working in

he’s just amazed man, he personally cannot draw to save his life, so seeing you make a couple of lines into a person eventually is out of this world

so one day you wanted to draw him but you also didn’t really want him staring you down the whole time

you proposed you draw each other! it’ll be fun!

it also a little daunting because it was one thing referencing other people but a whole other challenge drawing someone you loved so much

before these thoughts could intimidate you too much he was already so excited, his eyes so bright

“i jus’ know yer gonna make me look so good babe!” you hear before he plants a kiss on your cheek

the two of you settle on the couch and face each other

you let him use your materials, you put some pencils in between you two, a kneaded eraser and gave him one of your many unused sketchbooks

pls he saw the eraser and was so confused “why’s it squishy-”

you both sat cross-legged, glancing up at each other

he was so focused looking at you carefully and his nose would scrunch whenever he couldn’t get the result he wanted

he gets a little frustrated at some moments, his mouth almost comically making a frown

his hair would cover his face when he looked down and you’d have to ask him to look up every once in a while

“could you look up for a second, ‘tsumu?” and he would flash you this toothy grin

he’ll copy you later, “could you look up, y/n? could you come a little closer, lemme see your pretty face” he’ll tell you

you’ll lean over with your eyes closed, “better?”

he’ll totally take this as a chance to peck your lips

he’s nodding, “yup, definitely better”

“you’re cute, yanno” you’d tell him

“of course i am,” he’d beam, but you notice the blush on his cheeks anyway, “yer cuter though”

you guys sit there about an hour and a half, small banter here and there while you work

eventually you’re both holding your drawings towards yourselves, withholding the reveals

“okay, 3, 2,1!” you both exclaim

you turn to reveal your drawings and as soon as his eyes see what you made he visibly softens

he lets out this exhale and this smile you haven’t seen before

his eyes are WATERING HOLD HIM

“i love ya,” he says softly, almost a whisper

he’s enthralled by the way you got his eyes and the way his hair rests on his head, the way his mouth is in a slight smirk

you made him beautiful

you’re blushing a little but smiling over his reaction anyway, “’tsumu you don’t have to cry”

THIS ONLY MAKES HIS TEARS RUN A LITTLE HARDER PLS

he puts down his drawing to wipe his eyes before he’s reaching over for your wrist, “c’mere”

he pulls you onto his lap and engulfs you in this tight embrace, burying his face into the crook of your neck

“ya made me better than I am,” he murmurs into your neck

you ruffle his hair, “it’s just a drawing you goof, you’re better”

“i mean in general, you made me better”

okay it’s time for you to hug him a little tighter

you guys sit like that for a while, his arms around your waist while you run your hands through his hair, the two of you just molding into each other

“wait i haven’t seen the drawing you made!” you remember

you were so busy watching him that you forgot to look at your portrait that was made

you pull away from him slightly to reach over, you notice him watching you a little too carefully

now it’s your turn to cry for a different reason LMAAOAOO

#haikyuu!!#haikyuu #haikyuu characters #haikyuu atsumu #miya astumu #atsumu x reader #atsumu x you #atsumu headcanons #atsumu scenarios #atsumu brainrot #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu hcs

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nadohunter · 3 years

Note

kind of disappointing to see you supporting something like H*talia, I liked your art a lot but you support one of the most racist anime out there....

Okay. Lets talk about this. I’m actually going to copy and paste something I already wrote on my main blog about Hetalia then I’ll add a few notes... Yes. Hetalia the show is problematic. I garentee most sane Hetalia fans will agree, the fandom is probably going to go down in fandom culture history as one of the first disaster fandoms way before the fandoms that surrounded voltron or Steven Universe. Again, most Hetalia fans will also probably agree with that. There’s certain bits from the comic and show that are absolutely not okay- however for those of you making a ton of assumptions about ppl who were in that fandom or are excited about the possibility of it coming back-> let me just explain a few things.

1. Hetalia made massive history nerds out of a lot us, it’s not that didn’t have some problematic results and of course it’s very euro-centric. But I’d argue because of this show It made a lot of people interested in the world and history way more than they ever would have and educated themselves further as a result

ADDED NOTE: The fandom, while small, I’d say has grown up a LOT. The people in it are a lot more informed and aware - The abbreviation was changed pretty damn quick as people started coming back with the new season announced from “APH” (Axis Powers Hetalia - We can all know what’s wrong with that) to “HWS” (Hetalia World Stars).

2. If you were a fan of Hetalia…. that honestly actually meant you were more a fan of the fandom than the actual show. Hetalia has more AUs than probably any fandom I’ve EVER seen: these people made a ton of content Off of characters that appeared in episodes less than 5 minutes long. It got to the point where a lot of people’s interpretations of the characters were SO far removed from the original show they may as well just be entirely new characters. I’m not going to sit here and argue like the fandom couldn’t get toxic, I was there, I remember. This is absolutely a piece of media you SHOULD ABSOLUTELY still be critical of and many many many many many people since the day Hetalia showed it’s face and the ended up getting a creepy pasta story made out of it already have. We’ve been here. Fans have used these characters as an easy way to inform and educate, even more so now than there used to be. So any new fans coming in as well may actually learn a lot about history and other cultures. Which can be really important when done right. It CAN aND HAS been done responsibly. So at the very least if you see a few current or ex Hetalians on your radar just don’t automatically assume shit. It’s way more complicated, we’ve all been through this shit before. Us oldies have seen and understood many a fandom through aaaaaallll the highs and lows. We were there. We know both the bad and the good that can come from this, as is the case with literally any fandom ever. All of them can be great, creative, and create friendships and community (I have my long term best friend in large part due to Hetalia) … and they can also be latched on to by people who aren’t gonna have others best interests at heart, and are gonna try and use something for bigotry or being just gross. That’s why you stay I n f o r m e d above all else. If you weren’t there for this whole rodeo before, just… at least get the idea that this ain’t a cut and dry situation FURTHER ADDITION: “One of The most racist anime” is a pretty bold claim. Shows like Attack on Titan I would argue have way more damaging mixed messaging around the holocast and nazism. However I wouldn’t go so far to call fans of it racist. Because either A. People aren’t focusing on that aspect of the anime and just like the cool action or B. They know but they’re consuming and reacting to it critically and making informed choices about where they put their money and time. Naruto and Once Peice - two of THE MOST POPULAR ANIME for a LONG time out there, have characters that are EXTREMELY racist charactures of black people but no one talked about that for a long time. I would also argue that yes, the Hetalia dub has some very racist and problematic things with it, we should all get on funimation’s ASS about that, however, the original sub is mostly harmless outside of just plain not acknowledging the horrors of the holocost - which I think since the show is supposed to stay a comedy is why the author steered away from having things set in the 1940s because at a certain point and most modern Hetalia strips don’t touch it - you either make a mockery of a serious topic (cough cough the musical in a lot of ways) , OR you don’t touch WWII and just keep the setting modern and you can continue making fun of Europeans especially all you want.

Point being, If I draw Hetalia fanart... that is not me putting a stamp of approval on everything in the show. If you see a Hetalia fan drawing a character in a Nazi uniform, or putting the pasty-ass character for America in a Native American headdress of course! Call them the fuck out! We are too! Report and block them! So... yeah. And look, I get it, from an outside perspective where the only thing you’ve heard about Hetalia is the absolutely WORST of it, of course you would feel that way, that’s how most Fandoms get a bad reputation. It IS good to talk about this. And if you or anyone still wants to disagree with me, look I’ll still hear you out... but I think we have to get out of this headspace in any fandom of EITHER YOU STAN EVERYTHING ABOUT SOMETHING AND SUPPORT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT OR YOU MUST HATE AND DESPISE IT. Life... human thoughts... just don’t work like that.

#long post #hws #hetalia #tw #tw discussions of racism and anti semitism #thoughts #response

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twopoppies · 3 years

Note

Hi Gina, hope you have a good day! Do you have any fics with fanart in them? Like tts or got the sunshine on my shoulders or mine would be you? Thank you!!

Oh, this is such a nice ask. I definitely do. I have to forewarn you that a lot of these fics have my artwork, because I used to be one of the few who did it, but hopefully you enjoy that. Please note: Some of the art in these fics is NSFW.

Our Lives, Non-Fiction by @indiaalphawhiskey (E, 114K) this is, quite literally, the best fic I’ve read in years. It’s so well written, clever, funny, emotional, and sexy. Its draw you in immediately and you’ll end up falling in love with these characters before you know it. Don’t miss this one. (Art by @twopoppies)

Yellow by 13ways (E, 85K) Oh mah gawd. I love this fic so much. This was the result of a reverse big bang I made a prompt for and I’m forever grateful that this was the author who chose it! Yes, it’s Batman/Catwoman. No, you don’t ned to know anything about the comics. But wow! Such good pacing, the smut scenes are fire, the concept is so original and keeps you guessing until the very end. (Art by @twopoppies)

Are You Gonna Be My Girl? by LoadedGunn (E, 8K) Oh man….I love this one. Harry in lingerie, role play, feminization, dirty talk. It’s got it all. It’s even a Christmas fic! (Manips by yourssincerelylarry)

Seeing Blind by zedi (E, 47K) I really liked the way this author gave a twist to both Omega Harry and Alpha Louis’ characteristics. It’s a whole lot of smut and miscommunication and, of course, a happy ending. (Art by @wadey-wilson)

You'll Breathe Me In (You Won't Release) by LoadedGunn (E, 95K) Also known as The Driving Instructor fic. This has some of the best pacing I’ve read in a fic, some really well written BDSM smut, and characters I just really enjoy. I know it’s not for everyone. Read the tags. (art by Rosketch)

The Finish Line (Is A Good Place For Us To Start) by LoadedGunn (E, 122K) F1 racers Louis and Harry. I really need to read this again because it’s been ages. But suffice it to say that this author always delivers with pacing, smut, and an exciting story. This time we’ve got race car drivers, great banter, and great OT5 friendship. (Art by oppositeofhllelujah)

To Honor by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 15K) there’s so much about this fic I love. The battle scenes are full of tension, the smut scenes are super charged and sexy, the story line is unique, the boys are in kilts... the list goes on. Seriously though, this author took this fic to a different level — the writing fits the time period (13th century Scotland), but still feels fresh and alive. Give this one a try — I hope you like it as much as I do. (Art by @twopoppies)

Take Me Home (Country Roads) by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 87K) Probably my favorite of this author’s many fics. Set in rural West Virginia, this hate to love fic is funny, touching, super sexy, painful and features big city doctor Louis vs country boy healer Harry. (art by @twopoppies)

No One Like You by myownspark / @myownsparknow (M, 20K) This author writes so beautifully, I would probably read anything they write. This one is so unique and pulled me in, immediately. Harry and Louis are both artists who find themselves on opposite sides of shifting artistic opinions in this moving historical fic. (art by @tomlinshires)

Howls Like A Beast (You Flower, You Feast) by @indiaalphawhiskey (E, 17K) This author’s writing is poetic without being too precious, descriptive in a way that paints a gorgeous portrait without piling on unimportant detail, and their smut is sexy af. I love all of their fics, but this is a personal favorite because it combines so many things I love (supernatural elements, Versailles, Larry, and smut…what more could you want? LOL). (Art by @twopoppies)

wings to break your fall by karamelised (E, 103K) Well. This author writes some glorious smut and Harry giving Louis a private dance wearing a pair of angel wings should be reason enough to read this. However, it’s also just fun and well written and has a little hate to love and I’m a fan. (Gorgeous art, but I don’t know the artist)

Sodalite & Aventurine by @forreveries (E, 81K) Gay pirate adventure that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. Amazing chemistry, great world building, super sexy smut, and beautiful writing. Do yourself a favor and read it! (Art by @tomlinshires)

walk on the ocean by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 26K) I read this famous/not famous fic ages ago and I don’t remember a lot about it, but I do remember it had a super hot sex-in-a-hot-tub scene. LOL! (Art by @twopoppies)

Long Road to Love Leads Back to You by myownspark / @myownsparknow (E, 10K) I probably could list all of this author’s fics here, but this was one of the first of theirs I read and it’s stuck with me for years. They use language so beautifully and have written such an incredibly touching portrayal of long term love and longing. (art by @twopoppies)

Atlas At Last by louisandthealien (M, 83K) I swear I would read this author’s grocery list. I just love everything they write. This one is a 1970s coming of age road trip fic. I really enjoyed the OT5 friendships, excellent dialogue, and Harry and Louis discovering themselves and each other. (Manips by youngandmadeof)

Don't Want Shelter by @kingsofeverything (E, 77K) This author does such a good job of creating these characters and their years-long dislike for each other that when they’re forced to work and live together and confront their behavior, the emotions feel so realistic and you’re just rooting for them to figure it all out. Such a great read (plus, “older” Larry, which is such a rare treat in this fandom). (art by @assisreal)

Through Eerie Chaos by mediawhore / @mediawhorefics (GA, 102K) This one is set both in present day and the 1920s and I absolutely adore this fic. This is such a unique and compelling story, the writing is beautiful, the characters are wonderfully realized, and I ugly cried for realz. Such a good fic. (Art by @neon--diamonds)

Don't Let the Tide Come and Take Me by @kiwikero (M, 29K) One of my favorite mermaid fics, this author just really knows how to craft a great story. This one was so moving, suspenseful, and has some great twists. (Art by Chihuahualou)

I Walk The Line by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 55K - Spy AU) This author is always one of my favorites – her fics are always sexy, fun, fast paced, and she often likes to throw a curve ball in when you least expect it. This one is no different. (Art by @twopoppies)

Just Tell Me the Song and I'll Sing It It by myownspark / @myownsparknow (NR, 40K) This author is really something special. This is one of their longest fics and it’s just slow burn flirting and falling in love. Their relationship is gentle and romantic, plus Harry in a baseball uniform is a wonderful bonus. (Art by @twopoppies)

hot, sticky sweet by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 6K) This one holds a place in my heart because it’s the first fic I drew art for, and it began a beautiful friendship. But ALSO, this fic is fun and crazy sexy and involves Harry in short shorts and roller skates. And car sex, of course! (Art by @twopoppies)

Have Love, Will Travel by @kingsofeverything (E, 97K) This friends (co-workers) to lovers fic was sweet and romantic. The author does a lovely job of showing their closeness and love for each other even before Harry and Louis admit it to each other. (Art by @hereforlou)

the fics you mentioned in your ask:

Tired Tired Sea by mediawhore / @mediawhorefics (M, 113K) Always a favorite author, this one is beautifully descriptive and moody and charming. I was anxiously waiting for this one from the first drabbles I saw on Tumblr. I loved the way Harry’s character unfolded and let Louis in, the way Louis made space for him in his life (and heart), and the way Harry’s character struggled with and eventually found a way to live and be happy with his fame. (Art by @harrehleh)

Mine Would Be You by @crinkle-eyed-boo (E, 115K) Beautifully written, flawed characters and an emotionally engaging and ANGSTY plot. Super hot smut that made me cry like a fool. Banter, OT5 friendship, and the grittiness of New York as a backdrop. Loved this one. (Art by @foullovehideout)

30 Day Smut Challenge has a lot of fics with art. Many of them are NSFW

1D Reverse Bang are all fics inspired by fan art.

#fics with art #my fic rec #larry fic rec #long post

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cassandraclare · 4 years

Text

Jessa/Wessa ship wars

teenagefunbouquet said:Isn't it enough Tessa&Jem got a wedding comic, two kids (and you say more), a lifetime as the only mates for each other and your most explicitly written sex scene After the Bridge? Wessa are the most popular and we get nothing, every wessa moment is shared with Jem while Jessa get to be alone, Wessa fans got no "anticipation" like jessa fans are getting now everyday you give them a book in jem's pov or a short story or a new kid. it feels like wessa is dead.

I’ll be interested in people’s thoughts on this. (I left the username as is since it’s a blank account, probably created to ask this question, so no one’s really getting hurt in this minor drama.) Most of my long and somewhat crabbish post is under the read more.

First, let me reply with the obvious, which is the Jessa rebuttal: “Isn’t it enough that Will gets to be Tessa’s first love and Jem only gets to be her second? Isn’t it enough that Will and Tessa had sex when they thought Jem was dead? Isn’t it enough that there’s a whole series about Will and Tessa’s kids but we only find out that Jem and Tessa had a kid in a short story? Isn’t enough that Jem and Tessa have spent half their relationship looking for a kid who’s related to Will, not either of them? Isn’t it enough that Will and Tessa got two biological kids they got to spend eighteen years raising and Jem and Tessa only get like two years with Kit? Jessa are the most popular, but half the stories in Ghosts of the Shadow Market happened while Will was still alive! And now Wessa fans are getting content every day and have two more books of Wessa being married and doing cute stuff to look forward to. Every day they’re getting a special edition of a book with a whole short story about their wedding. It feels like Jessa is dead.”

Not that I believe any of that either: I think both complaints are equally silly and selfish. But they are complaints rooted in the same logic, which is “My ship is the best and most popular, and every time I see something that in my mind supports the ship I hate I feel angry and diminished, and rather than perhaps examining those feelings I’d like to vent them on other fans and the creator.”

So. My feeling about this is: I am sad to see there is still some kind of a ship war here. As far as I am concerned...

the Wessa/Jessa ship war ended in 2012 when we found out Tessa loved both boys equally and would spend a lifetime with both of them. The end. Quibbling about irrelevant details like how many kids each couple has subsequently or examining closely the explicitness of their sex scenes seem bizarre and pointless. It has nothing to do with how books and stories are made, or how they work, or what functions they serve. At this point it’s like you decided your favorite football team could definitely beat another team, and you spend all your time obsessing about it even though they will never play against the other team because the other team is a hockey team.

When I see people say that “Wessa got” something or “Jessa got” something, it makes me cringe. It reduces stories that are about other things, often friendship, to being about a ship war I am not a part of. (Not every story or book in which a couple appears is a story about that ship. Sometimes they’re just grouting their shower or fighting a demon.) Wessa and Jessa are not dueling pop stars fighting over who gets to perform on the Tonight Show. In fact, they are not fighting at all, which is part of the underlying problem. People are used to love triangles where two guys are fighting over a girl and are jealous of each other. Will and Jem are not jealous of each other. They are not fighting over Tessa. To believe that it lessens Will and Tessa’s relationship that Jem is around and alive, or that it makes Jem and Tessa’s relationship better that Will is dead, is a fundamental misunderstanding of these characters and the story they are in. You are trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, and it will cause you endless misery and frustration.

For instance, claiming that “every Wessa moment is spent with Jem.” Well, that’s ridiculous. Obviously, Will and Tessa spent an enormous amount of quality time alone together in TID. (Otherwise, you would have no investment in this relationship in the first place. There’s a reason you’re attached to it.) Jem did not attend their wedding. He is around in Chain of Gold mostly in his role as a Silent Brother: tending the sick, helping James, bringing news. He is not around during the scene where Will and Tessa make love, or when they kiss and cuddle in the drawing room, grossing out their kids. (I had to fight very very hard to retain even one scene of Will and Tessa alone: in a normal YA book, you would never see a sex scene between the parents, from their point of view.)

The problem is not that there is no “Wessa content” to “anticipate.” The majority of Wessa fans are happy to enjoy stuff like the wedding story or the Wessa moments in TLH. The problem is that the person asking this question will only accept a TLH book in which Jem isn’t mentioned at all as “Wessa content,” and since that would be a fundamental and appalling betrayal of the story and characters — something I would never write and never consider — they will forever feel they are not getting what they deserve.

Asker: if you think that it’s somehow better for Jem and Tessa that Will is dead, that they “get” something that Will and Tessa don’t by having had something awful happen to them, then I do not even know how to begin to speak to you. What has always been meaningful to me about Will, Jem and Tessa is that they all loved each other equally. If that is not the case, then they are not people I am interested in writing about. If that being the case makes you not want to read about them, then you are free to stop — please do — but the story is not going to become something other than it is because you feel your ship is the “most popular.” (Which it is not in my experience, the ships are about equal, and I don’t know why it would matter if it was.)

In After the Bridge, which is not an explicit sex scene but rather a short story that contains sex (they exist!) Will is mentioned thirty-two times. Here’s an example:

“Jem swallowed, running his fingers up and down the blade. “He had only just died,” he said. She didn’t need to ask who he was. There was really only one He when it was the two of them speaking. “I was afraid. I saw what happened to the other Silent Brothers. I saw how they hardened over time, lost the people they had been. How as the people who loved them and who they loved died, they became less human. I was afraid that I would lose my ability to care. To know what this knife meant to Will and what Will meant to me.”

If you think Will isn’t present in Jem and Tessa’s relationship just because he’s dead, you’re wrong. He’s mentioned constantly. (And if someone thought that made it not Jessa content, I would have the same discussion with them: If Jem and Tessa didn’t care about Will, I wouldn't care about them.)

As long as there has been fandom, there have been ship wars. Social media has added a new dimension to that, which is what you’re doing here: the ability to run to the creator and complain, hoping they’ll side with you or give you what you want.

Here’s the problem: it’s really really toxic to have been involved in a clearly vicious ship battle for years. It will destroy utterly your ability to read or enjoy the canon you’re arguing about. I’ve been there, I’ve had friends be there. If you think it’s a point for Jem and Tessa that Will is dead, if you went into Last Hours thinking Jem wouldn’t be in it, that is a sign of a profound detachment from the actual reality of the canon books. You are not interacting with what I am writing or the characters as they are. You are interacting with the fight you are having. That is why your discourse has spun so far off from the books it no longer resembles what is actually happening in them, and demands such extreme gestures to be appeased — like leaving Jem out of Lost Book when he’s actually from the city the characters are visiting, or cutting him from Last Hours even though it would be unrealistic, cruel, and a disappointment to the vast majority of readers.

Dismissing every single moment Will and Tessa have together in TLH because Jem is alive somewhere and it’s bothering you is a recipe for you to be miserable. Clearly you didn’t enjoy the Wessa wedding, or the Will and Tessa love scenes in Chain of Gold. Clearly you consider Jem and Tessa having children not to be a reason for happiness but rather bitter rage even though it is totally irrelevant to Will and Tessa’s past relationship. The only thing that would be satisfactory would be a rewrite of Clockwork Princess in which Jem was run over by a tank and Will and Tessa didn’t care and were happy and got married and we never had to hear about Jem again. But because that would require time travel and a rewrite of Will and Tessa as vile assholes, that is not a thing you are going to get. If you are determined to always be miserable about the reality of what this story is, than the only result of that is that you will always be miserable.

There is never going to be a winner of this love triangle. It isn’t that story. No amount of anything I do is ever going to change that: no short stories I write, or content I produce, or books or sex scenes or longform poems about either couple will change the fact that both Will and Jem ended up with Tessa and she loves them equally. If you want a “somebody wins” kind of love triangle, there are other books that will provide that for you. These will never be those books.

So why did you write this long screed, Cassie, the rest of you might be wondering, and fairly. Three reasons. One is that there are other questions that are carbon copies of this one (as in, written by the same person/small group of people) cluttering up my inbox, and I want to put a stop to the idea that this kind of thing is going to be acknowledged as a valid comment or complaint. It’s not. Second, we have all been driven bananas by quarantine and I am no exception. The third is that this is the last time I am going to address this kind of ship-fight-disguised-as-question. Any further demands for me to favor one Tessa ship over another will be responded to with a link to this post. In the end I’m hoping this will be a time saver once we’re all allowed outside again.

#jessa #wessa #tid #tlh #gotsm #screed

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gthreepio · 3 years

Text

i’ve been thinking about the future of the mcu and realized there’s a LOT that i didn’t know/didn’t remember in terms of where things are going so i figured i’d sum it up incase anyone else was in the same boat!!

quick recap of (unresolved) mid-credit scenes:

doctor strange: mordo (a sorcerer that is one of strange’s mentors, who by the end of the movie becomes disillusioned with magic/the ancient one and quits) confronts pangborn (the paraplegic who healed himself with the mystic arts, who tells strange about mystic arts in the first place) and steals his magic because according to mordo, there are “too many sorcerers." of note, this guy is typically a villain in the comics but hasn’t been thus far...

gotg2: ayesha (leader of the sovereign, a golden skinned alien race obsessed with genetic purity), after spending most of the movie chasing the guardians for stealing some stuff, is revealed to have created an artificial being named “adam” which is presumably, adam warlock. (other stuff that is less relevant: kraglin appears to take up yondu’s mantle; the ravagers regroup and several old and obscure comic book characters are introduced [charlie-27, aleta, martinex, mainframe]; the watchers are watching things.)

far from home: j jonah jameson basically tells the whole world spider-man’s secret identity, and frames him for what happened with mysterio....making him public enemy #1. ALSO, turns out nick fury and maria hill in the movie were ACTUALLY the two skrulls from captain marvel (talos and soren) attempting to do their job, while the real fury (and presumably hill) is ... up in space on some spaceship!!!

wandavision: monica (who we can assume is photon) is called by “an old friend of [her] mother’s,” up in space, which presumably means fury, talos, or carol. ALSO, wanda sits in the middle of nowhere reading the darkhold and hears the voices of her children who.. by all accounts, should not exist.

aaaaand what we know about future movies (i’m not even going into the tv series.....):

black widow:

takes place after civil war

nat confronts a “dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past,” likely has to do with taskmaster who has apparently taken over the red room where nat was trained as an assassin

prominent new characters: yelena belova, who will take over the mantle of black widow after this; alexei shostakov aka red guardian, an ollllld marvel hero analogous to captain america except for the soviet union.

tony stark will make an appearance... SOBS

shang-chi and the legend of the ten rings:

shang-chi has never been seen in the mcu before, but he is, essentially, a superhero that is a master martial artist, and in some adaptations can also create duplicate (fake) versions of himself to confuse opponents

main villain will be the the mandarin who we have *sort of* seen before... he is the leader of a terrorist organization called “ten rings” whose main goal is to destroy world peace. brief history -- in iron man 1: one ten rings cell kidnaps tony stark and tries to force him to make weapons (he of course, makes his suit instead). stark and ten rings become enemies and fight a bunch. nat and nick fury fight them too. in iron man 3, the villain aldrich killian hires a dude to pretend to be the mandarin and claim responsibility for a bunch of stuff, but its not the ten rings or the mandarin at all. this makes the mandarin v mad and he has a dude kidnap the faker to punish him. they also briefly show up in ant-man, when a ten rings agent tries to buy the yellowjacket suit that darren cross is selling. BUT IN SHANG-CHI....... looks like we are FINALLY going to see the real mandarin after over a decade!!

the villain razor fist will also show up, he is lesser known... he has no superhuman powers but he has surgically replaced his hands (1 or 2, depending on the version) with a steel blade, and is highly skilled at hand to hand combat.

besides the presence of these characters, the only bit of plot we know is “shang-chi is drawn into the ten rings organization and forced to confront his past.” so... yeah. we don’t know much at all.

eternals:

quick explanation: the eternals are an immortal alien race who have been secretly living on earth for thousands of years. they were created by the celestials, who are most prominently in gotg2.

more entirely new characters!!! their names are: thena, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy; gilgamesh, who can make a super strong exoskeleton out of cosmic energy; ikaris, who has superhuman strength, flies, and can project cosmic energy out his eyes; kingo, who can shoot cosmic energy projectiles from his hands; makkari, who creates sonic booms, has super speed, and is deaf; phastos, who has enhanced intelligence, and is also gay (and married with a kid!); ajak, who has healing powers; sprite, who can project illusions; sersi, who can manipulate matter; druig, who can mind control; and dane whitman (black knight), a human with a mystical sword.

regarding the plot... it seems the eternals have kind of dispersed, but have to come together again to fight the deviants, who are their “evil counterparts” (also created by the celestials, though i’m unclear on why). thena and gilgamesh have apparently been in exile, unclear why; sersi, who is posing as a museum curator, has apparently been in love with ikaris for centuries and it seems as if their love story may be central to the film; and kingo is a bollywood film star in his spare time. aaaaand that’s pretty much all we know.

directed by chloé zhao of nomadland fame!

spider-man no way home:

based on the post-credits scene in far from home, peter parker will now be known as spider-man to everyone. unclear if he’s going to be seen as a bad guy due to mysterio framing him, but i guess we’ll see!

jamie foxx is electro, and alfred molina is doctor octopus; which is VERY interesting considering they played these roles in other spider-man franchises, once again stirring up excitement for possible multiverse.

there have been *multiple* reports that andrew garfield, kirsten dunst, tobey maguire, and emma stone will be in the movie but tom holland has repeatedly denied this... so... who knows.

there are also rumors that matt murdock / daredevil (from netflix) will be in several scenes! not confirmed though.

MJ is still his girlfriend and i hope it stays that way!!

doctor strange will be featured in the movie, taking on the mentor role now that tony stark is gone :( this will be interesting as i.. haven’t really seen them interact much before. because of this inclusion some people speculate that the film may draw inspo from some comic storylines where peter’s secret identity is restored with magic.

doctor strange in the multiverse of madness:

scarlet witch is essentially co-starring!!! it’s going to be really interesting to see if they bring vision or the twins into this at all, though i’m not counting on it.

seems like mordo will be the main villain -- recall the ds1 post credits scene where he is apparently running around trying to steal people’s magic.

america chavez will make her debut!!!!!! i have no idea how this plays into anything but i am so excited!!

regarding the plot, all we really know is that strange has been researching the time stone, mordo messes with him, and this results in him accidentally unleashing “unspeakable evil.” presumably there will also be heavy involvement of the multiverse, and who knows what kind of craziness that will bring!!

initially was going to be directed by scott derrickson who did ds1; however he stepped down to being just EP due to “creative differences.” i am presuming this is because derrickson really wanted to make this more gothic and horror than disney was comfortable with. i REALLY hope they keep some of those elements though and don’t erase the idea entirely! anyway, it will be directed by sam raimi now (of evil dead and spiderman 2002 fame).

the film also reportedly ties in with the loki series (will loki show up!?) and spiderman 3 (which is obvious enough, given that strange is in that movie and those curious electro and doctor octopus castings...)

thor: love and thunder

directed by taika waititi again, hell yeah!!! and he has stated, the film will be “so over the top now in the very best way" and would make ragnarok look like a "run of the mill, very safe film" .... so.... oh god

so many great returning players!!! including.... valkyrie (now the king of new asgard), jane foster, lady sif, korg, star-lord, mantis, drax, nebula, and kraglin (takes up yondu’s mantle after he dies in gotg2)

in this movie, thor isn’t thor anymore.... it’s JANE!!! she gets cancer :( and is undergoing treatment while simultaneously being thor. i’m a little nervous how this will be handled, but i’m excited. (it’s based off an amazing comic series by jason aaron)

the big bad: gorr the god butcher, played by christian bale! the gist of it is, this dude HATES gods because nobody helped when his family was dying and in need. his weapon is “all-black the necrosword,” forged from the head of a celestial, and allows the user to create wings and fly at extreme speeds. honestly, he sounds cool as fuck.

valkyrie is going to be made canonically bisexual!!!

it will explore more of korg’s backstory, and also include... space sharks!?!?! an alien race from the comics.

taika has called the script “very romantic” so take that as you will

black panther 2

will again be directed by ryan coogler

not much is known at this point, does not have an official name

t’challa will NOT be recast (which i’m happy about) so..... honestly no idea what to expect for this one. i think we can probably expect shuri to have an expanded role. all we know so far is they will be “exploring the world of wakanda.” not clear to me how this is different from the upcoming wakanda D+ series.

tenoch huerta has reportedly been cast as a villain, but no one has any idea who. there’s also rumors that donald glover is in “informal talks” to play a role. note all of this is unconfirmed.

captain marvel 2

will be directed by nia da costa (candyman!) and written by megan mcdonnell, who is one of wandavision’s best writers!

will take place in the present day

will feature kamala khan / ms. marvel, monica rambeau / photon!!! this will be so interesting.... kamala is a huge fan of carol’s in the comics, she is her mentor/idol. the ms. marvel series will also resportedly lead into cm2. and monica, well, monica knew her when she was a little kid. wandavision implies that there’s some bad blood between carol and monica though, not sure why. maybe because carol left and never came back? (until endgame)

post-credits scene of wandavision appears to tie into this, having monica go up into space at the reqeust of her “mom’s old friend.” again, not clear who that is. this could also be a tie in to secret invasion though, so we’ll see. or both.

zawe ashton has been cast as an unknown villain... a lot of people are actually speculating that she may play rogue? which would be fascinating, as there’s a comic arc where rogue steals her powers and memories. BUT there’s still no confirmation that X-men exist in the MCU so for now i remain skeptical.

they are looking to cast a ‘john boyega’ or ‘michael b jordan’ type which makes me wonder if they are going to create a new character, a “younger” war machine to be her love interest? (note: carol and rhodey are a huge thing in comics!) carol obviously does not look her age but her and don cheadle.... that just doesn’t work. which is why i wonder.

ant-man and the wasp: quantumania

in addition to scott and hope, pretty much all the major players are returning including: luis, hank pym, janet van dyne

cassie lang has been recast with an actress 5 years older, which is really making me wonder if they are going to make her stinger in this movie! (aka one of the main young avengers)

the villain: kang the conqueror! this dude time travels. original name nate richards. in the comics, kang travels back in time to rescue his younger self (nate) from an attack that would help shape him towards a life of villainy. kang also gives him some fancy armor. his younger self actually is like, what the fuck dude? and renounces his destiny, becoming a hero. and he makes his armor look like iron man, calling himself iron lad. who is a young avenger. which also makes me wonder about cassie lang.

otherwise not much is known!

guardians of the galaxy vol. 3

james gunn is returning, i’m mixed about this...he really does *get* the guardians though.

based on the gotg2 post credits scene, i think we can assume adam warlock will be a HUGE part of this. there are multiple versions of him, some villainous and some heroic, but no idea how this is gonna turn out.

no word yet on whether thor will be involved, or if those ravagers they introduced will be involved.

fantastic four

will be directed by the spiderman guy, john watts.

otherwise we know literally nothing.

aaaaand that’s the roundup!

#mcu #marvel #black widow #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #eternals #smnwh #spiderman: no way home #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #dsitmom #thor: love and thunder #tlat #black panther 2 #captain marvel 2 #ant man and the wasp: quantumania #amatwq #guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 #gotg3 #fantastic four #mcu thoughts

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problemswithbooks · 2 years

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It's clear as day you don't understand shit about mha so just drop the manga, you sound stupid asf talking about the whole toga, deku and uraraka situation. So get your ass the fuck outta this fandom and read something else you dumb bitch.

Holy shit, why are you so retarded when it comes to mha?

How did I get four angry messages for a post that I politely tagged as anti-villain, and left Toga out of the tags on? These two are just hate, while the others are actually trying to debate with what I wrote to some extent, which is at least somewhat better.

But still, I don't really get it. If these people love the villains so much then they should filter tags, or you know to block me. I've been critical of the villains before this, and have complained about Toga's character multiple times. If they can't stand someone saying something negative about the cartoon girl they like, then they should just block.

The rule is, if you want to hate read someone's posts you can't come into their ask box and get huffy. You have to either make your own vague post about it or complain to a blog that will side with you (but to be honest you should probably block if it makes you this mad).

I have every right to be in the fandom if I want. Plus, I do read other things--how do you think I spot MHA's flaws? Because I've seen these themes pulled off way better.

(Also, maybe don't use an ableist slur over a comic for teenagers. Or call someone a bitch. Real people actually have feelings, until your cartoon Best Girl.)

How the hell don't you understand that the reason toga acts like she does is because she doesn't understand social cues and is bad at expressing herself because of her upbringing. Which is obviously why she's only able to really communicate with the league and even they still think she's crazy, so you're not making any sense.

But Toga does understand social ques. That's why I have a problem with her. If she didn't understand basic social ques, Toga wouldn't have been able to ever appear normal, which she did until she was around 14-15 or something. Plus, she's honestly rather normal around the League. The only one who calls her crazy anymore is Dabi, and that's just because his major characterization is aloof asshole.

Also, you know who has trouble understanding social ques--I do, but you know what I'm still smart enough to understand that brandishing a knife and not actually asking the question I want an answer to is going to get me poor results. If I go up to a practical stranger, kick them in the balls, then ask them out, when I really just wanted to know the time I can't use my autism and abusive mom to as an excuse. It's pretty common sense that that's just not something that you do to people and if you do, it's fair if they get mad at you.

Nor is saying she can't control herself a good excuse. It doesn't matter if sucking blood and becoming someone is her normal, or that she has some biological draw to do so. Again, people can't use the excuse that they were horny to get away with sexual assault. As long as Toga understands the difference between right and wrong, which she does, then her desire for blood isn't enough to give her a pass.

It's funny how you assumed mirko got damaged first when really shiagraki's attack amount to nothing and she got spare parts instantly. Also your outlook of her character is incredibly flawed and very ignorant. But going through your blog that seems to be the case for the majority of your mha takes.

Even though this one isn't about Toga, it seems pretty clear the reason they were brought to my blog was the post on Toga.

I didn't assume Mirko got damaged first--she literally was the first one to take a hit during this war. I didn't expect her to die or be out of the fight right away, I was just annoyed that Hori follows the pattern of hurting his adult female Heroes. Especially in Mirko's case because it's clear he just wants to draw her all sexy and bloodied up (I guess that's where Toga's fetish comes from lol).

As for my outlook on her character being flawed, I don't quite understand what you're talking about. Mirko isn't important to taking down Shigaraki. The only one who can take down Shigaraki is Izuku--the main character. He regenerates so any damage she does won't last. She might help wear him down along with Bakugou, but given Hori's track record with his previous female Pros I will be shocked if she doesn't get taken out of the fight pretty fast. The other Pros will most likely follow her so Bakugou can have his shining moment, but either way I don't see Mirko getting out of this fight without serious damage that will ultimately be drawn like soft core porn (just like last time).

It's not even that big a deal to me. It's annoying and it takes away from the story, but I'm used to fan service and sexist depictions of women in stories, particularly manga. But given how burnt out Hori seems to be and how awful mangaka are treated I can understand why he might want to draw some sexy ladies to get through it. It's still sexist and I'm going to point that out, but it's not the worst mistake that he's made in crafting this story.

So, that ends my angry asks. if I get anymore, especially like the first two I will just delete them and block the sender. I don't mind having minor debates but these were just insults. You can disagree with my takes, but either block me or explain your side without calling me stupid or using ableist slurs.

#hate mail

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jimmygibbsjrrr · 3 years

Text

I have a lot of thoughts about the Slaters

namely, I've been wonderin why the Fairfield Survivors got thrown off the boat in Death Toll

in this panel of The Sacrifice comic, Francis confirms the fates of three of the rescue vehicles:

Image ID:

A panel from The Sacrifice: Part 1. Francis is sat in the rescue vehicle from Blood Harvest, speaking to Louis. His dialogue is as follows:

"Louis, I hate to be the one to break this to ya, but we been heading to the safe zone four times now. Helicopter: crashed. Plane: crashed. Boat: kicked us out and left us to die."

/end ID

the chopper from No Mercy was confirmed crashed in Crash Course, and as for the plane from Dead Air, it was pretty easy to guess (and would have been confirmed in the cut campaign Dam It).

but the part about the boat? that's the Slaters' boat from Death Toll. this is the first time we learn this information.

so...why? what happened?

(more under the cut, ended up writing wayyyy more than I expected over these past few days and don't wanna clog people's dashes lol)

so. let's take a quick dive into the last chapter of Death Toll, to see what we can discern about the Slaters from their dialogue.

the rescue vehicle in Death Toll is a civilian boat, Saint Lidia II, owned by John and Amanda Slater, a married couple. Amanda is never heard in-game, but John's reactions to her can be heard over the radio.

the Slaters are explicitly looking for "anyone out there with firearms". John later adds that "once you get on this boat? Your job is keeping our asses alive". it appears that their motivation for saving the Survivors is selfish from the get-go.

this is undoubtedly true in Amanda's case, however, some of John's lines betray a more selfless attitude. he will berate Amanda for not "think[ing] about the little guy". he will ask, "So what, then? We leave 'em to die? I can't do that, Amanda." whilst Amanda is thinking purely of their own survival, John still feels compassionate towards his fellow survivors. despite this, he says that "I don't want our first act of kindness to be our last", acknowledging the conflict between his compassion and his self-preservation.

so. these are the Survivor's saviours in Death Toll. a conflicted married couple looking for bodyguards, offering to take the Survivors upriver to a military safe zone in exchange for protection.

as for why they get thrown off the boat...well, the easiest explanation would be Amanda.

but, stay with me here, because I think it's a little more complicated than that.

this boat? fulla tension. there's the obvious tension between the Slaters, who we've established seem to fight and disagree regularly. then there's the inevitable tension between them and the Survivors. I reckon Louis, with his generally positive and friendly attitude, wouldn't have much of a problem with them, might even attempt some friendly conversation or something. however, he's about the only one.

the comic fully establishes Bill as caring about nobody except the Fairfield Survivors - the most obvious evidence of this being the words he lives and dies by, "we look after our own". he isn't particularly interested in other people, unless they can help the group out. and he'd likely recognise the unstable and conditional nature of their rescue. while I'm sure he'd try and keep the peace, in any reasonable disagreement or fight Bill's likely to take his friends' side, and if anyone's getting thrown off the boat Bill is going with them. this goes for the whole group, to be honest; I don't think they'd want to split up at this point.

Francis hates boats, hates water, and can't swim, so (and I'm getting a little speculate-y here) would probably be in an even sourer mood than usual on the journey. being as abrasive as he is, plus this additional stress, it's fully possible he could piss off the Slaters enough to get himself (or all of them) thrown off the boat.

as for Zoey? well, I don't imagine a married couple who constantly argues is gonna sit well with her, considering her backstory. similarly to Francis, the situation they're in would make her far more stressed, making it more likely for her to lash out.

Amanda didn't want to save the Survivors in the first place, so while I think that John wouldn't throw them off the boat without reason, I reckon she could persuade him to throw them off if they 'caused trouble' - and they would get into an argument with her far easier than they would with John.

in short: yeah, I can see them getting thrown off the boat by the Slaters after some huge fight or disagreement. I think that's a reasonable interpretation of canon, and definitely an interesting concept.

...however, I do wonder if this tension would really be enough to destabilise their mutual need, after everything they went through to come together.

which is why I'm going to bring up The Last Stand!

I gotta quickly address something before this segment: yeah, I'm totally aware this campaign isn't canon. this evidence works with the fact that it exists in an 'alternate timeline'. also, I am missing a few citations for this section - if anyone can provide them I'd really appreciate it, but just a disclaimer that I currently can't prove some of the things the wiki claims members of the Last Stand Community Update Team have said. here and here are the wiki pages where I got this information. in short - the above explanation is simpler and more canon compliant, the conclusion I draw at the end of this post is backed by shakier evidence but I believe is more interesting, and you can make of all that what you will.

allegedly, members of the Last Stand Community Update Team confirmed a strongly-suspected fan theory about The Last Stand: that it branches off from Death Toll in some way, in a non-canon alternative timeline. as well as this, they allegedly confirmed that in this alternative timeline, the Survivors still end up in Newburg for Dead Air. even without the confirmation, this remains a solid fan theory, due to the constant references to Riverside and re-use of many of Death Toll's assets.

who rescues the Survivors in The Last Stand? John Slater. no Amanda - just John. despite her lack of voice actress, if she was still present John would give some indication of this at some point. it can be speculated that whatever happened to her contributed to the lack of rescue at the boathouse that forced the Survivors to take an alternative route. either way, he ends up at the lighthouse when the Survivors call for rescue, alone, and picks them up.

and then later...throws them off the boat. into Newburg.

what reason would John have to do that? without Amanda, surely he wouldn't have that push, as he wanted to rescue the Survivors for multiple reasons in the first place. without his constant arguments with Amanda, Zoey wouldn't be nearly as stressed. and between the three of them I'm sure the other Fairfield Survivors would stop Francis from pissing John off enough to get them thrown off the boat. in short, less Amanda = less tension, and no reason for the Survivors getting chucked off the boat.

...right?

I'd like to remind you that a symptom of the Infection is paranoia.

what if, in both The Last Stand and Death Toll, John and Amanda are infected by the Survivors on the way to the military safe zone? after all, the virus is confirmed to occasionally be airborne, and I doubt two civilians have completely effective, sustained protection against that. likely the only reason they hadn't already been Infected is because they got out on the water early on in the pandemic, and hadn't come into contact with anyone else since. it's unlikely that one of them is immune, and even more unlikely that they're both immune (especially considering those with XX chromosomes may be genetically less likely to be carriers). wouldn't Francis have mentioned it if their rescuers turned or were obviously Infected? yes, but it's possible that the airborne strain works slower as well, meaning that the Survivors are thrown off of the boat after the symptoms kick in but before the Slaters fully turn. even Church Guy had at least an hour from being Infected to turning, and he was bitten. Newburg isn't too far from where the Survivors are rescued in Death Toll anyway (the burning city in the background of the finale is Newburg), so the Survivors clearly didn't last long on the boat anyway. as a result, the Survivors wouldn't realise it was the Infection intensifying the Slaters' paranoia - they'd just think the Slaters were being dicks. Francis also explicitly mentions that they were "left to die", implying negativity or even hostility from the Slaters as the Survivors were being thrown off.

so yeah. that's why I think they got thrown off of the boat in Death Toll - a combination of the intense tension between the two parties, and the Slaters falling victim to Infection-induced paranoia. but an explanation minus the Infection is equally as plausible. it all depends on what you find most interesting, I suppose, and both feel like they fit pretty well into the world.

lord this is a long chunk o text. I know most fandoms prefer art and fanfic over this sorta thing, so please let me know in replies or something if you're interested in more stuff like this. also if any of this makes sense because I like to ramble.

oh and if you'd like to use any of my interpretations in fanworks like art or fic, I'd love to see it :)

#l4d #l4d2 #left 4 dead #left 4 dead 2 #jrrrambles #not gonna tag any characters #because I mention a ton #and I don't think the Slaters have tags #i spent way too much time on this </3

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