hm you know what I’m gonna be honest I don’t think Your Turn to Die deserved the danganronpa treatment

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Regarding Mina's description of Dracula and why it's problematic, a good starting point would be to read the Wikipedia article for physiognomy, which is the outdated pseudoscience of face reading that is unfortunately rooted in racism, antisemitism, ableism, etc., and was very popular during the Victorian era as a way to judge moral character based on facial features.

So when Mina says 'His face was not a good face', she is not just saying that Dracula is ugly (though concepts of ugliness and beauty are not value-neutral either), but that she can tell that he is evil based on his facial features; note that one of the facial features she singles out is a 'beaky nose', which comes from Cesare Lombroso's idea that among other traits, hawk-like noses are a marker of criminality on the basis of criminals being evolutionary throwbacks who are less evolved than non-criminals; many of these allegedly 'criminal' and 'degenerate' facial features are obviously racialized and not associated with Gentile whiteness, but in opposition to it.

Stoker was definitely interested in physiognomy and uses it as a narrative device to show how certain heroic characters are intelligent, perceptive, and educated on the latest (pseudo)sciences (the modernity theme again) - namely Mina and Van Helsing, but also Jonathan to a lesser degree; we will definitely see this idea come up several more times, including explicit references to Lombroso himself.

It is also important to remember that linking physical appearance and morality still happens today - think about how many people say they can tell someone is a bad person bc they're ugly or that 'People get the face they deserve' where good people age gracefully and bad people age poorly, even though aging has nothing to do with personal character.

You're not going to keep shipping Charlastor after the new episodes will you :(? I mean it is now confirmed by Rosie that Charlie is too young for him /nm /gen

How would Rosie know how old Charlie is exactly?

I think she was guessing based on appearance more than anything here.

Multiple sources in the past, including people who've worked on the pilot and Viv herself, have all said that Charlie is over 200 years old (though it has been noted that biologically she's more equatable to being in her 20s).

I don't think they'd change that out of the blue and have a secondary character that had only just met Charlie confirm her age, and especially not with so much vagueness to the statement.

If you want to interpret it that way, be my guest! But I personally wouldn't count it as reliable evidence in the slightest. This sounds more like the kind of thing people fish for when they want to discredit their notp at all costs.

So, as I see it, there's currently nothing genuinely problematic about their dynamic.

Alas: Unless there's actual, hard evidence for it, I'm not gonna stop.

If you disagree with that you're more than welcome to unfollow me (if you ever did)! It'd be absolutely in your right to and I would be the last person to judge you for it! /gen /nm

I've simply been in fandoms for far too many years to let some fans' interpretation of something this unsubstantiated rule over what I can and can't ship on the off chance that it turns out to be true after all.

I'm not forcing anyone to look at my shipping posts, I do try to tag everything as accurately as possible so it's easy to block and filter - allowing you do have all the tools at your disposal to stop seeing those posts from me ^^.

EDIT: in hindsight I realized that trying to consider age gaps in hazbin hotel's setting is kind of pointless anyways actually, something I've detailed my thoughts on in this post. To summarize: sinner demons don't age and it makes everything weird and kind of impossible to track and/or judge in this way. It's easier to just look at unbalanced power dynamics and uninformed/coerced consent to judge this kinda stuff for this show.

That may seem random 😭 but I want to know what your favorite pro Darkling bloggers are.

That's a beautiful question actually. Because it also gives me an excuse to give kudos to some amazing pro Darkling bloggers out there.

I won't rank them of course and I have many but my most favorite are:

@stromuprisahat (I agree with everything she says about the Darkling. Also I absolutely love her posts where she throws dirt at the good guys. Like, yes girl remind me how they suck actually 😭)

@starlesszova (her love for the Darklina ship is immense. Also she gives light to the Darkling's dark side as well but that doesn't stop her from stanning him and standing by his side even more!)

@theweeklydiscourse (if you haven't read her metas, go read them now. She puts her thoughts into words so beautifully and the things she criticizes the Grishaverse and its author about are only facts)

@is-today-tomorrow-in-nz (same thing as @theweeklydiscourse. Her criticism about the good guys' bullshit and actions is so true and she understands the Darkling so well)

@greensaplinggrace (her page is only facts about the Grishaverse and the Darkling. She brushes off neither his bad actions nor his good ones)

@darklinaforever (the way she has exposed the fandom's and the antis' bullshit needs to be applauded)

All these pages support Aleksander and none of them ignore his bad side. But they just prefer to dig deeper not only inside his psychology but also the Grishaverse's problematic messages and the author's failed attempt to deliver a cohesive, satisfying and non-problematic story. They also acknowledge how toxic that fictional world and society is and how it had affected the characters' personality and actions.

Also, all of them have critical thinking. They don't eat whatever the author says with the spoon but on the contrary they judge based on their own opinion and common sense. Which is something very important.

Welcome back! I missed your art a lot. I was scrolling through your posts and saw one post where you said that you have an unpopular dynamic for SuFin. If your dynamic for SuFin is based on their history together, I might have the same unpopular dynamic as you too.

I'm not a fan of the fanon SuFin that is perfectly wholesome and "the ideal relationship" because it ignores how history would have affected their relationship, and also has the uncomfortable implication that Finland enjoyed being under Swedish rule. I think that in the modern day, Finland would still struggle with feeling insecure and too competitive with Sweden. Sweden would be quite oblivious to Finland's feelings and offend him without realizing it. But that's my Swedish perspective on their relationship. What are your thoughts about their dynamic?

Thank you! Happy to see you as well! And yes, you're pretty close to how I view them! This is going to be a long one, so my answer will be under the cut <3

As a disclaimer; I will not judge or shame anyone for enjoying SuFin as the perfect domestic husbands with a dog and kids. Heal that inner child desperately clinging to happy fictional families, hehe. Besides, unless you ship a totally random crackship in this show, every single relationship is going to be flawed based on historical context. And at the end of the day, SuFin isn't even the worst case of this issue, so you can ship them without worrying about being "problematic" (whatever that word means nowadays). I'm just saying this because some people like to claim that SuFin is so inherently toxic, and I strongly disagree with that! There is no right or wrong way to enjoy these characters, and you can apply as much or as little historical context to the characters as you like. Have fun with them!

To me, ignoring all the historical context behind Finland's and Sweden's relationship would be impossible, though. We're talking about 600-700 years of living together and the additional 200+ years as separate countries. And I love overthinking things. Whether or not you like SuFin as a ship, you can't exactly ignore their shared past. I see the Nordics as a found family above all else. I really don't ship them with each other (but I don't judge those who do). Sweden and Finland are just kind of tricky because of the way the canon portrays their relationship. It's impossible to see it as purely brotherly. But I don't vibe with them being lovey-dovey husbands either. Best friends, sure, but then again, Finland and Sweden would have a different dynamic than Sweden has with Norway and Denmark. Or the dynamic Finland has with Estonia.

The way I see it is that they used to grow up as one, meaning that they both acted as the personification of the same land. Sweden was just in charge of the West, and Finland was in charge of the East. They both had similar responsibilities, jobs they were expected to do, and the people they were expected to obey. They really did everything together. And they were everything to each other because sometimes it felt like it was them against the rest of the world. And honestly, I don't see Finland as a subordinate to Sweden during those times. He was just extremely passive and ignored most of the time. But Finland's interests usually aligned with Sweden's, and he had complete trust in his ability to run things for both of them. But as time went on, his ability to trust was put to the test many times, which ultimately would cause problems in their relationship.

Eventually, they were separated by forces outside their control, and they had to figure out who they were without one another. And it must have been a traumatic situation for both of them. Until then, they didn't have to think about such things; they had always been together. But while Sweden lost his best friend/partner, Finland lost his entire identity. Obviously, as time went on, they both went in very different directions, which made them grow apart quite drastically. It definitely wasn't easy, and the pain caused by that situation made them even butt heads a few times. Ultimately, they made peace with it and could be friends again. Actually, they really needed that separation because otherwise, they would have never evolved as individuals. And their break made their relationship healthier and more equal. It just came with growing pains.

And yes, I agree with what you said. Because Finland has always had the shorter end of the stick, he feels a bit jealous. In his eyes, Sweden always got it so much easier. Also, figuring out his own identity was way harder for him once they got separated. He depended on Sweden a lot more. Fin did truly feel let down by him in the end, which made his relationship with Sweden for the following decades even saltier. For most of his life, he was seen as Sweden's eastern sidekick, so he sometimes tries to desperately create some distance between Swe and himself. He wants to be seen as his own person, and show his capabilities, which manifests in him being extremely stubborn. Ironically, he constantly compares himself to Sweden because that's how he measures his success. If Sweden can do this thing, he should too. And that's why Finland will get very passionate about any chance to be better than Sweden at something. In his eyes, it's the only way to measure his worth.

Sweden, on the other hand, can be oblivious to Finland's need to have his own thing. He doesn't get what's the issue since they used to be inseparable for so long. It's not malicious, but just a bit ignorant. He doesn't have similar experiences, so he doesn't really know how to relate to what Fin is going through. In some cases, Sweden can act annoying in Finland's eyes, being a bit patronizing or not understanding Finland's feelings. One moment, they might be fine, joking around - but then the next, Finland requires some time alone. It's confusing, but Sweden tries to understand it. He has learned that it's just better to give him his space and definitely don't try to solve Fin's problems. Swe has to kind of know his place with that one, even if it can be frustrating. Occasionally, he finds Finland's competitiveness and excitement over small wins a bit ridiculous, but he plays along. At the end of the day, Sweden understands why Finland has such mixed feelings about him. And he knows that in the past, he could have done way better, and he has lots of regrets about it.

It's definitely Finland who has the problems and insecurities in their relationship. Like, even if you think about the canon (which is rich coming from me), Finland is always clarifying that he's not affiliated with Sweden in a romantic sense while simultaneously defending everything Sweden does, telling everyone that they have misunderstood his sensitive persona. And Sweden silently suffers on the side, not wanting to push his boundaries or make Finland uncomfortable. 

But I don't want to make it seem like they don't get along - they absolutely do! Maybe being ridiculously close at times, communicating almost telepathically at this point. Not to mention their vast cooperation in work-related settings. So, whether or not Finland wants to create some distance - he can't. He always finds himself glued to Sweden's side, looking for warmth. And no matter how much Finland's competitiveness tires Sweden, he can't help but admire the persistence. Maybe they're one of the things they both actually deep down like about each other; who knows. There are no hard feelings between these two, though sometimes, the old pain and confusion might pop up in unexpected situations. But in the end, they always work through it.

I think that Finland does legitimately love Sweden, but due to their shared history, he gets uncomfortable with how others might view their relationship. It would be fine if it were literally anyone else than Sweden he had these feelings for. I can see them having some kind of romantic relationship, but it would be very private and a topic they don't like publically discussing. That doesn't mean they're the best at hiding it, though.

Anyway, that's how I view it. I have to say, I do like SuFin as a ship nowadays. It's cute! And a source of endless possibilities. I just don't like reducing Finland and Sweden to "the married couple," especially when my blog is about all of the Nordics. There is so much more to discuss about these two, so many sides people rarely explore. That's why I like to focus on their lives and personalities outside of their romantic relationship. It could also be because I'm not a passionate shipper overall. Or because it's hard to find non-SuFin content out there. But, even with that said, exploring SuFin from time to time is fine. Discussing headcanons for them is fine! They're allowed to exist as a ship in this blog. But I don't want it to be the only thing they're defined by. Let them have a life outside of each other! <3

I’m rereading Shugo Chara (it’s been years and the nostalgia I feel is immense) and I’ve got to be honest…

I think Amu and Ikuto is the funniest ship in the whole world.

Like, they just like each other. They like spending time with each other. Amu is genuinely comfortable around him until he starts flirting, then she’s mostly just kind of exasperated. All of Ikuto’s interactions with her are based on cats. He brings her food (human can not hunt for themself) and he lays on her (human is the most comfortable pillow) and he teases her (human must be kept on their toes). Like, he’s just a big ol’ cat and I love it.

But also, the manga is fucking hilarious.

When Kukai is graduating and everyone’s saying goodbye and Tadase asks “When I’m in trouble, can I talk to this picture I have of you?” When they’re all talking about what happens around springtime and Ikuto casually says “Being in heat. Because we’re cats.” and Amu’s respons is “Can he say that in this manga?” And Sensei… “Why are you still teaching here?” “I do have credentials.”

Ikuto is the funniest character. He brings cookies because he broke Amu’s tart. He brings ice cream because Utau dropped Kukai’s ice cream (and maybe Amu’s? I’m unclear) ((how did he even know that that happened? Does he have a sixth sense, “Someone just ruined my human’s meal. I have to fix this immediately.”)) He always shows up with a bag of food and just drops it on Amu, then leaves. He came here for one reason and one reason only, and it was to drop off food, bye.

My favourite part of the manga is Nadeshiko/Nagihiko. I love Amu’s comment early on “Nadeshiko changes so fast!” I love Temari, who just repeats “my kimono will get dirty.” And when they’re crawling through the vent or whatever, and Temari is crawling while still covering her face with her sleeve and says “my kimono is getting dirty.” Hilarious. I love Temari so much.

I love that Nadeshiko is Amu’s best friend. They are besties. The extra where Nagihiko breaks out of his house to spend time with Amu? Perfection. Nagihiko holding Amu’s hand, and when she points it out to him, he just goes “Oh yeah. I forgot I’m different today.” I love Nagihiko, he’s the best. The whole explanation is totally wild and honestly baffling, but I love Nagihiko and his weird ass family all the same.

I liked the show a lot as a kid, and I liked the manga even more. I think Amu and Ikuto are adorable. I think it’s funny that the characters don’t act like any elementary school students I’ve ever met (including the ones who were in elementary school with me). I like that Kukai is everyone’s favourite, and he’s just so chipper. I like Tadase’s wish being to conquer the world, and everyone agreeing to help him with it because “It’s fun :)” I especially like that Amu is consistently and constantly judging the capes.

Maybe it’s nostalgia colouring my view. Maybe I’m biased because it made me laugh a couple times. Maybe I just like Ikuto and Amu being comedic foils to each other. Whatever it may be, I really enjoy the manga. Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I recommend it if you’re going to be pissed by the age gap? No.

(“The age gap is so problematic!” But have you considered that they are funny?)

Hi, I just want to clarify that I don't mean this as an accusation but as an honest question; but when you and others on your posts are talking about narrative bigotry in Worm you talk about the racism and homophobia (which I agree with) but you also talk about fatphobia/fat characters being universally handled poorly, and I would love a breakdown as to why this is. With regards to Piggot when she was initially introduced I was thinking from how the heroes thought about her in their POV chapters that she was going to be the fatphobic stereotype of "soft and uncool but mean/unpleasant, disgusting fat civilian who doesn't know real courage and heroism like the thin, attractive heroes", and was pleasantly surprised when she got a lot more nuance than that, and also turned out to be very courageous and militaristic in contrast to the stereotype of "fat = cowardly and doesn't know real survival", with her flaws more lying in how she goes too far in that direction. In general the problem I typically see with how I see fat characters represented isn't just that they have flaws, but that they are never allowed to be "cool". They might be laughably dumb or they might be smart, but in a "loser nerd" way, never in a "clever scheming competent leader" kind of way. If they are negative/mean/evil characters, the emphasis is always on their venal, base qualities like gluttony, greed, and just being a jerk, they are never an "evil is cool" character with flaws like pride or a philosophy that is thoughtful and intended well but goes too far. So in that respect I thought Piggot was well-written, well besides. being literally named Piggot which is cringe but I could excuse as setting up the expectation of a stereotype to later support. And the only other character I remember being described as fat, Gregor the Snail, I have no memory of being any kind of problematic stereotype, though I don't remember him and his chapter that well either. So could you explain why Worm writes fat people badly/fatphobically?

this took way too long to answer because it's like. Well it's a simple answer but also this is a very long ask. so there's more to unpack. the short answer is just that literally, like, virtually 99.99% of the times a fat character or someone being fat is mentioned in literally any wildbow novel it's with palpable disgust. regardless of who the narrator is. it's obvious even with taylor but pact really hammers this home because blake is characterized in a way that indicates he should never be randomly judging someone's weight or appearance and he's still constantly written as observing whether or not someone is "fat." and it's in italics, like it's a slur or some grievous insult. like we're not even at the point of being able to analyze how wildbow writes specific fat characters here due to there are almost none of them and anytime fatness is mentioned it's in the context of it being stated in the same tone as if the narrator was observing someone picking their nose and eating it. like the loathing is Palpable. pay attention to how the phrases "fat" or "obese" or "morbidly obese" are used the next time you're reading a wildbow novel. you'll see what i mean.

as for the specific characters it's like. i think this post has everything icould think to say about gregor already in it, which as you will see is not very strongly opinionated. i mention piggot in it also. i don't remember enough abt either to just wax abt them at length but fundamentally it's that there's nothing particularly Strongly Good about either of them--not doing the "soft lazy uncool glutton" schtick is, like, bare minimum, and neither of them are very far above the bare minimum, and they're in a story that consistently does infinitely less than the bare minimum. there's gonna need to be more than a fat character Having Characterization before we can say that worm isn't wildly fatphobic

So sorry feel free to delete this but omfg yes 😭 im actually so sick of ppl going "but but vil's lab vignette!!!!" when vil himself and trey (arguably some of the ppl closest to rook in nrc) have pointed out how rook just says things based on what he feels, he doesn't imagine it'll hurt someone and he doesn't mean for it to hurt someone, he's just used to expressing himself (a big reason why i say he's autistic coded cough) and vil has said it constantly how he trusts rook more than any mirror, how he appreciates their friendship because rook isn't afraid to be honest with him and treats him like a normal human being and like AAAAAAAA can people PLEASE stop ignoring they're good friends it's genuinely so frustrating seeing ppl talk about them as if rook and vil knew eachother for only like a three days 💀

THIS 1000% !!! Like just cause Vil and Rook are friends doesn’t mean they can’t disagree on things?? They’re allowed to have communication issues?? No friendships will ever have smooth sailing the whole way, that’s just not realistic. Vil and Trey have known Rook for three years and picked up on his quirks- Vil knows he can judge without bias and Trey can read that Rook doesn’t like disclosing personal information. Characters can have conflicts without them being completly bad/problematic.

Vil’s lab vignette is a whole litmus test fr 😭😭 I think the phenomenon with extreme Rook hate from some TWST fans in general is because they have an oppositional reading of Rook so strong, where they don’t like his actions (mainly stalking/acquiring personal info) to the point of disliking him regardless of his character/motives/if he means well. (See: Reception Theory)

This also reminded me of this one time some fans thought Rook was a “toxic friend” for “gaslighting” Vil during the vignette and WHAT 💀💀💀 Oof I’d go on and on to defend our mans but I think that’s enough from the both of us. You cooked <3

Genuine question but how can you reconcile acknowledging Tamlin's red flags and knowing that Feylin becomes abusive while also shipping it in the first book?

Uh huh. All right, I’ll humor you.

Essentially, I love BATB retellings and Feylin, in book 1 where I ship it, is just that. It is no better or worse than a BATB retelling in a world with fae can be, and this works because Sarah isn’t trying to sell book 1 Feylin's relationship as healthy or frankly as anything other than a retelling of a popular fairytale a fairytale that has been scrutinized for Stockholm syndrome and the like. The rest of the books, aside from being very different in characterization, worldbuilding, tone, theme, and overall being very disjointed, retconned-filled continuations of the first book, also are hypocritical in the discussion of domestic violence, attacking said fairytale retelling for failing to meet real world standards of what a healthy relationship is (something it could never do as it was, again, a retelling of a fairytale that’s KNOWN to not be 100% healthy) while simultaneously propping up ANOTHER retelling-based-relationship as the ~healthier option~ despite it likewise being incapable of truly meeting our standards of healthiness and morality. The fandom often insists on critiquing Tamlin’s “red flags”, proclaiming Feylin was unhealthy and doomed from the beginning, but if the same treatment is done back to Rhysand and Feysand then the fandom’s tune becomes “how dare you use real world morality to critique their relationship???” Feysand literally begins with Rhysand mind-raping Feyre and then molesting her for months UTM??? Which is much worse than ANYTHING Tamlin ever did in the first book? If this series, and this fandom, truly cared about abuse as a theme then both Feylin and Feysand would be correctly critiqued as abusive, as neither of the fairytales they’re based on and are retelling are healthy. So that’s where I come in, and I correctly call them both toxic. But the fandom at large and the books don't do this, and the real world standards injected in the second book are deemed only applicable to Feylin, the BATB retelling, and not Feysand, the Hades and Persephone retelling. So I won’t judge my ship in the ***first book*** based on standards that were included ***later*** in the series and that are applied hypocritically to them alone and no other relationship. As I’ve said before, it’s very clear from the way no other major relationship in this series is critiqued by the same standards that abuse, domestic violence, and red flags were only discussed as themes solely to discredit their relationship, not least of all because it’s incredibly hard to apply real world standards to every character in a fantasy series without everyone being labeled unhealthy or problematic to some degree, to say nothing about that difficulty increasing in a fairytale retelling specifically. Feylin in book 1 is a fantasy fairytale retelling and nothing more; it’s not trying to comment on abuse. The rest of the books do, but hypocritically by only holding one retelling-based-relationship accountable for failing to meet real world standards of healthiness and morality instead of critiquing them both. The hypocrisy ruins the rest of the series for me (and has me side-eye a lot of the fandom for not caring about one relationship being analyzed by real world standards and the other one getting a pass and being labelled healthy anyway), so I simply prefer to enjoy book 1 and the relationship therein as an (imperfect) standalone fantasy.

oh my god. oh my god. okay i am posting this as a result of seeing the most annoying tiktok ive ever in my life and the general resounding idiocy all around the internet. sorry that made me sound so mean. re bottoms. and from people who claim to be 'cinema majors' and yet are the stupidest people on the fucking planet. okay sorry im heated i promise because i love this so much. you cannot judge a piece of media, its creators, or enjoyers, on the basis of literal content. based on like. the things that happen within the story. it's a story. this one is special because it's an absurd sex comedy. normal logic is not normal logic. are we understanding that base level concept that things have to happen in a story. and conventions within those. anyway you cannot just do this and make conclusions such as 'these filmmakers are trying to harm x community because they included x happening to [insert oppressed identity here].' you cannot do that and pretend youre being intelligent. on top of being some of the most annoying people on the planet: you're simply incorrect! you're assuming bad faith. youre moralizing in a very surface level manner. a very simple dichotomy. im saying this as a kind recommendation and with hope in my heart. in engaging with any media, ask yourself some questions. you can practice them as discussion questions if you'd like here: under what context was this film made? societal, economic, cultural? what audiences do you think they had in mind while creating this? who are the creators? how do they lend themselves to the work? in what ways can other audiences find pleasure and establish an emotional connection through xyz? which characters are audiences meant to feel empathy for and how are they treated? how are other characters treated? what values do certain characters represent? what did you think of them? did you laugh? did you have fun? who punched up who punched down who punched each other? was it fun? these are just some starters to get you using your fucking brains. maybe once you know that you can validate your own intelligence and understanding of your feelings toward media you can let the fuck go and have fun. have fun!!!!!!!! holy shit. it's a comedy. so yeah in the meantime you can step off the back of comedy fans and stop your claims of 'problematic representation.' just because you don't understand and you probably think comedies and their creators are so below you

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN PIT BABE IS ABO

How did I walk into UNTAGGED ABO IRL this hAs to be a first for me.

I mean, I understand they might've not wanted to market it like that to start a drama, or mAybe I'm just plain stupid and this was public knowledge but anyway here are my thOughts

Imma quote my favorite BL of all time and say "It cOuld be Extraordinary" I mean, it really could.

I believe the first episode was just to set the scene for the show, but let's address specific points

I WANNA MAKE IT CLEAR THAT I DIDN'T READ THE SOURCE MATERIAL THANK YOU

1. The ABO

Let's get this out of the way we knOw it's a difficult topic, and my main concern with it was that they would adapt some random ass manga/manhwa just to establish a bullshit dominant vs submissive horny dynamic that ended up in a very polemic mpreg.

But I encountered either a 'hot omega' - 'dorky alpha dynamic' where both have issues with their second sex traits (specially pheromones) or an alpha-alpha relationship with the same issues, which could lead to a bUnch of social commentary using the ABO social hierarchy.

Apart from that, I believe using those resources for the first big ABO production might have been a good call to ease the general public into it and not dwelling on the full nesting-marking-knotting and whatnot. I mean, it probably might never reach the full power of the genre, but if it works it might crack the door open for this.

2. The story itself

I had this discussion with my best friend (who has recommended me most of the ABO I've read) and we came to the conclusion that this feels like watching something straight out of AO3 fanfiction where the characters are clearly already established (bc the characters come pre built as they're based on ActUaL people) so the point is just telling this story full of made up violence, mafia, infatuation, possessiveness and desire. I kind of love it??? I am obviously not judging it as an ordinary BL, but for what it presented on the first episode it really could be great. I love how we have been introduced to a character like Charlie that will not just be this helpless boy that gets thrown around, he has more agency than we thought.

3 Production and stuff

Oh I love cars and stuff that goes fAst and slicked back hair and blue vs red and ALL the cliches, and I feel like it's done well. We could hate on kinnporsche for many things but it rOse the standards for commercial production. It also has really good actors whose previous work I've seen and liked very much. I also really applaud them for taking this shit seriously, bc many people half ass their acting in strange situation and that shows professionalism.

4. the more I think about it the more I'm excited for the show, and that's bAd because I'm building expectations and that nOt good so here are some point that require attention.

The ABO. This will be an issue until the lAst second of the show, because the way that it is portrayed will be perceived as a direct representation of the whole genre, so they ought to be careful.

The ABO agAin.. what parts are they gonna portray and hOw, because the main couple is not the only one, so I want to know how they will present an (explicitly confirmed) omega and how it will play into the social hierarchy . They already introduced scent and pheromones, and they did it tastefully, so kudos on that.

The ABO.. I'm kidding.

The story, this story might play into some kind of toxic and violent stuff that is becoming a bit problematic for certain audiences, and as I say.. problematic shows and up in problematic situations, so how I want to see how it plays out. But the fact that Charlie is giving 'morally gray that could end up falling' vibes and that gives me hOpe.

The discourse it might start. Oh this world can be a hot mEss and people could start a whole ass battle as this genre that usually was counterculture territory is now brought into this context.

Shit I'm way to nervous about this show... PLEASE IF YOU KNOW MORE let me know, I want to discuss and have a better opinion on it. If you need to call me an idiot in the process I'll take it.

Hey I’ve questions to the word “Infantilization” sense into thrown out there willy nilly (in my perspective) I want write/read webtoons and comics and im asking what something to watch out for in characters especially when age isn’t confirmed

Ouu, this is an interesting question/request!

So obviously I'm just one person and can't identify every sign of infantilization myself, I still find myself falling for stuff that was subliminally problematic (which is often the point of the people writing it LMAO) And of course the points I'm about to make, you may disagree with! So take this with grains of critical salt.

I'll try to keep it focused around Persephone and Hades as an example but note that a lot of what shows up between them shows up between other Webtoon couples as well (such as Sam and Charles!)

Identifying infantilization does take context. A lot of what I'm about to include as examples aren't inherently wrong on their own - many writers are legit just trying to write a "cute" character or spicy drama - but when put in conjunction with one another or dialed up to hyperbolic degrees, can absolutely play into subconscious and conscious infantilization of characters that can become easy to internalize especially for the younger audiences these types of works are marketed to.

So let's get on with it!

The character has traits that render them dysfunctional unless they have someone to guide them - and are often exaggerated for the "laughs" or to make them seem "cute". Take Sam from Let's Play, for example - she's got anxiety from previous health scares and asthma, which is amplified and viewed by others to the point of comparing her office booth to a "crib". Now, this does make for an interesting plot point wherein Sam's friends and family are actually enabling her lack of independence by shielding her (which is one thing I do like about Charles, that he pushes her to be more assertive and independent) but oftentimes Sam's lack of assertiveness and independence is played off as "cute" for the audience and their favorite ships when in fact, her character has some serious issues going on that stem back to her anxiety that dick can't solve.

But of course, characters like Charles take full advantage of that and are still offered as the "solution" to their problems.

The character is often pursued on the basis of "purity". Often times the characters themselves will call out how young/innocent they are, for better and for worse - and if it's to judge the main characters' preferences, the romance is still pursued in defiance of that, as if to "prove them wrong".

Think Persephone, a virgin Goddess of Spring, being pursued by Hades, a much older and more sexually experienced man who bases most of his relationships off sexual attraction, who she ends up working for in an office environment as his intern. Or Sam, who is both the daughter of the overprotective CEO and dating her own superior, Charles, who isn't looking for the kind of relationship she's looking for - he's in transactional sexual relationships, while she can barely look at porn or hold another boy's hand without freaking out. She's 22. Persephone is often drawn being objectified by Hades, while Sam has been drawn as the "sheep" in the relationships with the "big bad wolves" around her.

Now I know drawing a character 'small' or in absurd ways like this can be used for framing whenever the character feels small against someone else, but the extent it's done to with characters like Persephone and Sam is often under the guise of "framing" when it's more often blatant characterization. Sam rarely feels like she's actually growing as a person, she's assertive when the narrative needs her to be but regresses right back to being an "uwu baby" as soon as it's deemed funny enough to do so. Persephone never changes between the end of the trial and the events in S3, she still acts and is written and drawn like a teenager.

I know this is a hilarious example, but all I can think is when people call Persephone a "sweet cinnamon roll" or Sam a "precious Bunty". Sam and Persephone are both adult women. And even when Persephone was 19 people still defended her relationship with Hades because "she's legally an adult and can make her own choices!" But then Rachel will often her like, well... this.

The character is often "stuck" between their love interest and a parental figure. Again, this one on its own isn't the worst thing in the world as it's a very real conflict that happens in real life, but it's a common thread that comes up in the stories often criticized for infantilization because the relationships these characters are in aren't ideal in the first place and the parental conflict is used as a way to drive the romance and tension instead of actual romantic chemistry. Think those Lore Olympus banner reel ads featuring Persephone "trapped" between Hades and Demeter; or in Let's Play, Sam being "passed off" between her father and her superior who is the love interest.

These things would be fine if they were making some kind of point about marriage culture but they rarely ever are, it's usually only ever to resort to "haha overprotective parent bad!" (even when the MC is in a relationship they really shouldn't be in) or to serve as a punchline which ultimately just, again, objectifies and infantilizes the character as someone who can't function on their own without a man making the decisions for them.

When you take these spicy drama tropes out of the story - the overprotective parent, the boss/employee relationship, etc. - there's really nothing going on in these relationships that's all that interesting. It's just two horny people trying not to be horny for each other.

The other people the character depends on are typically in higher positions of power than them but often hide it under the guise of "romance". Often times this makes the character directly subservient to the love interest. These power differences often serve as the driving factor in the romance itself rather than any actual chemistry. Hades, Charles, sound familiar?

I know I've talked about LO and Let's Play a lot on this topic but it's literally just because of how egregiously similar they are, Let's Play may as well just be Lore Olympus but with real people (esp when you consider how little the "god" element matters in LO when it comes right down to it). And they're both series that are flagship titles, at the forefront of the romance genre which is one of the most widely read genres in webtoons/webcomics. The fact that two of the highest earning webtoons both push this kind of infantilization in their comics that are pushed on a young audience... it's not great. Even if it were an adult audience it would still be problematic, like I'll give kudos to mongie, she left when she knew WT wasn't the right platform for her work, but I don't know if I'd still enjoy Let's Play off WT either because it's still just a mess of a comic. Still stronger than LO - at least the main character spends a decent amount of time having a life outside of their love interests - but I don't know if being better than LO is really a compliment at this point.

And outside of webtoons, I read A Touch of Darkness recently after being told by people that it's "much better than LO" but y'all it SUCKED. It's shitty p0rn with a shitty plot and Persephone is just as lacking in brain cells in A Touch of Darkness as she is in Lore Olympus.

It's ironic how a comic that claims to be a "deconstruction" of purity culture really feeds right back into it anyways because the creator seems to be a product of purity culture and male gaze media who hasn't actually addressed it or unpacked it.

Anyways, I think that's all for now? If I think of anything else I'll def reblog and add more but I thiiiink that covers the majority of the points that typically come to mind whenever I'm reading stories like this. It's definitely one of those "once you start seeing it you can't unsee it" things that even female writers like Rachel and mongie aren't immune to writing.

Scorpio/8th house dominant/stellium: Social circle.

Jaded, cynical, skeptical, guarded, high boundaries: That's how we describe an evolved scorpion/8th houser. They have seen a lot of bad stuff in life. They choose their social circle wisely.

Superficial parametres like looks, fame, titles, tags, money are byproduct of one thing - character. It does not matter to them that you are a high achiever unless you reflect that in your character.

Just-world fallacy is a cognitive bias which assumes that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. That what you get is what you deserve. That a successful person must deserve their success. An evolved scorpion just does not believe in this. They have seen far too many successful people with bad characters.

Scorpions choose their social circles based on character not external success. They choose people who are emotionally mature, self aware, know their emotional patterns, can self reflect and choose their behaviour. Scorpion has no time for immature people and they do not care for people pleasing. An evolved scorpion knows that a person who values a goal bigger than themselves can make money as a byproduct of their interest. They choose a doctor who actually genuinely enjoys studying, learning, helping people as a friend over a doctor who is just in the profession for title and money. Mars as the ruler of scorpio gives them the potential to perform and achieve their goals, but for the right reasons.

With sorpions, what you see is what you get. They are both emotional and rational. They are intuitive, thinkers and rationalize. An evolved scorpion is a lone warrior, on the hero's journey, no energy for drama and gossip, no time for toxicity and superficiality. This is because they intuitively know that life has to have a meaning. They do not merely live for pleasures. They live for purpose and dedication.

How so? Scorpion/8th house are both connected to strong libido energy. An unevolved scorpion can be a fuckboy, wasted, chaotic, problematic person. But an evolved scorpion is the anti-thesis. Libido as a life force, creative energy, kundalini, awakening, initiation, enlightenment, inner wisdom is what drives them. Many scorpion are also into occult subjects, but even without occult they are definitely into psychological exploration and philosophy.

Sigmund Freud has described libido as the instinctual physiological or psychic energy associated with sexual urges and, in his later writings, with all constructive human activity. This libido is the strength of an evolved scorpion because they are the ones who are most in touch with their conscience. Why scorpion? All signs can read astrology but nobody does it like scorpion. It is just like that. All signs have their innate qualities which share many similarities with others, mutually, but there is something about scorpion which sets them apart. This is where their reputation of dark, mysterious and psychic comes from, because they are internally judging others for all signs of character flaws and defects.

Their authenticity is remarkable. They keep their persona as close to the Self as possible. They like to live by their true values and the instincts. You cannot make them choose to be inauthentic at gun point. This is why they are also very conscious of karma and moral compass. They speak what they internally believe to be true and therefore they befriend those who are also on the quest for self knowledge.

Izzy Hands was the abuser, actually. And Izzy Hands wasn't poor or working class (but Ed was). And Izzy Hands sold people out to the cops. And Izzy Hands was homophobic and femmephobic. And you would know all of that if you had watched the show, instead of listening to a bunch of izcels talk about a character they did not understand using traits, plots, and quotes that they literally stole from other, usually POC characters. But I see you're a zionist. So I'm not surprised you're a stupid piece of shit.

....Whose kid is this? Why are they in my backyard?

Anyway, yeah, let's get into it! Edward Teach historically owned and sold slaves and engaged in broad-scale corruption by bribing public officials (including early modern police forces). He also murdered hundreds of people, and was generally an all around Certified Bad Dude. In OFMD canon, from what I understand, he physically mutilated Izzy multiple times and psychologically and physically abused People of Color, on top of the regular list of Pirate Crimes. So your fav, just like everyone's favs, is also problematic.

But Izzy Hands is also...not my fav? I don't watch OFMD? I made a tiny text post because a lot of my mutuals were upset, and I wanted to comfort them because I know what it's like to dedicate a lot of time/effort to a show and feel let down. It wasn't that deep. As I said in my properly tagged post, I don't watch OFMD because I wasn't able to separate the historical figures of Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach from the characters in the show, who were both very bad people in real life. That was a personal choice, and I don't judge anyone who watches OFMD--not even you, Anon!

(I judge you for other reasons!)

(Also, I could make a point about how because you like the character of Edward Teach, you're a supporter of slavery and a racist piece of shit, but I'm not going to do that because I have media literacy and also I'm not going to try to derive someone's political beliefs based on which characters they like in a TV show and nothing else. Because doing that is stupid. And childish. And pathetic.

Sound like anyone we know?)

I could dig into your whole "Izcel" comment and how you are ascribing onto a majority queer audience a term that has caused that community tremendous harm, thereby undercutting whatever progressive values you are trying to promote by attacking fans of a character you personally don't like, but if you aren't brave enough to come off anon to send me hate, you aren't worth my time of educating you. I encourage you to read some actual queer theory, and not just watch the TikTok summaries. I am more than happy to send you a reading list if you DM me!

Finally, I want to address your final point. I guarantee I have done more work to ensure Palestinian sovereignty than you have. I donate regularly to Palestinian NGOs and peace projects in Israel and Palestine. I attend rallies and protests, uplift the voices of Palestinian activists, organize in my community, and support organizers in the region itself. I am, as the majority of American Jews are, extremely anti-Bibi. I'm in charge of the office pool for the Palestinian Red Crescent, and I helped register voters for municipal elections in Israel to promote shared cities and a greater public voice for Arab citizens of Israel. I am committed to the cause of Palestinian liberation and self-determination because I am committed to the cause of Jewish liberation and self-determination. All liberation is connected, and I have spent five years dedicating myself to promoting a shared vision of hope, peace, and safety in the Levant. You have no idea what kind of Zionist I am, or if I even identify with that word. All you saw was that I made posts decrying the violence of Hamas and the hateful response by the rest of the world. All you saw is that my handle has the word "Jew" in it.

I don't know what you wanted to accomplish by sending this ask, Anon. Did you want me to recant my previous post and send a big "Fuck You!" to my mutuals who liked Izzy Hands as a character? Not going to happen. Did you want me to watch OFMD and start liking Edward Teach? Also not going to happen. Did you want to make me look like "a stupid piece of shit"? I assure you, I'm not the one who looks stupid right now.

Did it make you feel big? Did it make you feel powerful? Did it give you catharsis to send hate to a Jewish person, knowing there is no way for you to be truly held accountable? Does the idea of me reading this message excite you? Are you giddy at the idea that you might upset me? That you might scare me? I've had groups of grown men follow me out of work threatening to rape and kill me because I'm Jewish. I promise you, Anon, you don't scare me. You make me laugh. Imagine caring so much about a mediocre TV show you just have to harass a Jew about it.

Fuck you, you cowardly and antisemitic prick. You, like everyone else who hides behind anon to send hate, are so fucking small.

I was a big fan of Soviet cartoons for a while before Treasure Island got popular and I remember being sad because it was quite a niche interest so when it starting gaining attention I was excited even though I hadn't seen it yet because I was happy that outsiders were finally watching and liking a Soviet cartoon even if it was one I didn't know much about... but I found out about the fandom and how bad it was it honestly made me sad as I thought people actually cared about the cartoon and Soviet animation and the fact that it seemed like they were just joining the fandom so they could just make weird headcanons, pairings, simp for the characters and make NSFW of them made me really upset especially with many of them being English speakers or Americans as it seemed like they didn't actually care about Treasure Island or Soviet animation and only got into the fandom because of a meme...

I have sadly seen this with other foreign cartoons and animation gaining outside fandoms especially ones I like and I don't understand this fascination but with Americans especially taking obscure franchises and turning them into the next garbage animation fandom... especially with how many bad western animation fandoms there are I guess the toxic ones especially have to get their grubby hands on franchises just to ruin them.

I also have noticed some of these American fans can be rather discriminatory towards the countries these animations come from and often judge them by American standards and often try to criticise or misinterept them because they are very misinformed or have some stupid standards and even try to call some of these franchises problematic just because they come from certain countries or come from different times where they would be products of them and even judge them based on their own modern standards and try to project modern ideals onto them even when they don't fit and have nothing to do with the original premise... they also can be quite toxic and try to force their ideals onto a franchise or fandom even when it has nothing to do with it and many of them only care about surface level stuff and don't seem to care about the creators who made it or the country it came from.

I'm not exculsionist or a gatekeeper as I usually don't care what people do in fandoms but I do draw a line when I feel like there's an issue as I hate people who just join fandoms just because they are popular and don't actually give a crap about the actual work in question and just use it as a way to be toxic and I have even seen people go as far as to disrespect the creators of said works and only join a fandom to criticise how bad the work is... like why are you even here then? And as someone who really loves animation and appreciates it, it saddens me to see people treat such works like this especially with how little attention foreign animation gets in the western world. Do we really need awful fandoms ruining them?

I'm not saying all people are like this and that we should force people to enjoy things a certain way but is it too much to ask to try and be respectful to some of these works especially when they hold so much value to other people and countries? Can't you just stick to your regular awful fandoms and not bring other works into this? And while I know people say that these fandoms after often the minority this really isn't the case for the obscure ones that get popular especially due to these toxic people.

It especially saddens me as there are some obscure things I've wanted to share and make art of but I'm scared of people getting their hands on it and ruining people's exposure to these works and while it may seem like I'm being negative that isn't to say that all obscure fandoms are like this as there are a lot of good fandoms that even if they are small don't have the same level of toxicity and plenty of people who do legitmately like these works and not for superficial reasons.

I'm sorry if it seems like I was ranting but I've seen this for a while and I wanted to vent about it but I'm sorry if this isn't a appropriate place to do so and if I'm being rude.

I agree with you in everything here. The hypocrisy of many really amazes me, because it is a living phenomenon and an indicator of the stupidity of some people. It's a shame that this happens.