#the moral grayness of his character
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I can feel myself slowly becoming obsessed with captain flint and it scares me
#the moral grayness of his character#the incredible showing and not telling that i havent seen from american shows in literal years#the way you think he's chill then he stealthily murders someone#the way you don't know what he's thinking but also kind of think you do then he throws you for a loop again#black sails#text post
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reading a new worm fanfic. jury's still out on whether it's accurate or not, but i must say, making amy and alec have to sit together in the same room for an extended period of time is a great idea. i can only imagine the levels of Horrors
#worm fanfiction#if there are two characters more disposed to absolutely hating eachother's guts than amy and alec i couldn't think of them#alec wouldn't really care#but amy? every second she looks at his face she's going through infinity self control not to strangle him to death with her bare hands#yeah lets put the “i don't understand even the most basic form of moral grayness” next to ALEC VASIL
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This might be bc of my personal reading of exRDI/OP bc I'm pretty sure the authorial intent was to just write Optimus as having some fall from grace/borderline tyrannical edge but like
I really kinda wish the story had been written as more of a political intrigue, almost GOT-esque thing (sorry for the cliche) where like, instead of Optimus being written as the narrative's scapegoat to be condemned both by the characters in universe and the meta narrative, he was just written as...morally gray? With more of a focus on "this is a shitty situation where no decision is good" rather than having Optimus just be some sort of white guilt stand-in of how oh, he's a Prime so that means the most important part of his legacy is how Cybertronians are awful and he's no better than the other ones etc.
Like Barber doesn't write Optimus as EVIL or in a way where he's unilaterally condemned as a person who did more harm than good, it's just imo the vibes of the story is more of a dark political/war story where no person is clean and there's no solution to the war that doesn't involve moral compromise. Instead Optimus is forced to make these moral compromises but then everyone else in the story loses their absolute shit and immediately starts calling him a tyrant or a fascist or something.
Like idk, it was partially an issue of the set-up. Because for one, it was really hard to take it seriously when the humans went "omg he's annexing Earth the Autobots were literally the colonizers all along!" (I think the dialogue was written almost exactly like that too sjdjsidn, so bad dialogue was also another issue) yet were perfectly fine working with the Decepticons led by 1. Soundwave who personally helped execute the attempted invasion of Earth and 2. Galvatron who constantly talks about wanting to kill these puny organics. I feel like I would've been able to take humanity's fears of being colonized again more seriously if like, they hadn't literally teamed up with The Colonizer Faction just bc Soundwave promised they were good guys again. So really it's just execution + plot holes + bad dialogue.
And another thing about the annexing of Earth specifically that I wish got talked about more (mostly by the fandom more than in universe) is that like. Basically the reason Optimus did that was because the neo-Decepticons were planning to invade Earth again, but since he's not actually a formal political leader any more he has no power to actually force a war to stop them/request military back up. But also, Starscream didn't give a shit about Earth and neither did the Council of Worlds, so appealing to the government for help defending humanity wouldn't work either. So Optimus annexing Earth was an absolute clusterfuck yes, but in a way it was also kind of a shrewd political move to force Cybertron to dedicate a spot in the government for humans and thus grant humans a say on Cybertronian politics.
What I mean is that in a story/with an author like that of GOT, where the setting is grimmer and every character is morally ambiguous, I feel like Optimus would've had way more room to be an interesting and compelling character. Bc then instead of the story immediately screaming "ALL HAIL OPTIMUS DID YOU KNOW OP ANNEXING EARTH TO THE COUNCIL IS BASICALLY THE SAME AS MEGATRON ATTEMPTING TO GENOCIDE EARTH," Optimus could have been played around with more as a political figure making the shitty decisions in an effort to stop another genocide. Instead of just unilaterally condemning Optimus and immediately comparing him to fucking Megatron of all people, there could've been more focus on the politics of it with maybe some sort of theme of how "being a leader in war is an inherently unethical position where every decision you make will lead to death/conflict/hate."
Like idk I just think it would've been more interesting if the narrative spent less time going "zomg Optimus is totally a tyrant now" and instead went all in on exploring the political conflicts and how far politicians (Optimus now being one, since he's declaring wars and forcefully acting as an ambassador that no one asked for) can go on manipulation and forcing people's hands for the sake of an ultimately good cause. I mean, Windblade was doing shit like covering up for Chromia who killed people in a bombing, making backdoor deals with Starscream, and conspiring with Optimus to bypass Starscream/overthrow him as Cybertron's ruler somehow. The difference of course is that Windblade and exRID were written by two different authors with genre/thematic differences, but as a reader it is really disappointing to see two different political narratives where "a hero turned politician turning to morally gray/unethical methods to outmaneuver a deadly opponent" is treated as clever and heroic for one character, but tyrannical and worthy of ostracization of another character.
Like for God's sake this narrative where Optimus gets lambasted at every turn sometimes by people who work with/are literal tyrants/terrorists themselves is so fucking exhausting. I'd rather read a story that focused more on the idea of, well what Optimus did was unethical but on a political level it was actually advantageous in several ways. Then you could write a story that really dives into a view of like, idk... Does power inherently corrupt or is it just situations like war that allow leaders to seize power and become tyrannical? Are politics an inherently dirty field where the only way to beat your competition (and secure a decent future for the nation) is to become underhanded and manipulative yourself? Is it okay to bypass or work against rightfully elected officials when those officials are turning a blind eye to things like war and invasions and historic racism?
ExRID did somewhat touch on these themes to be fair, but I feel like in Optimus' case they were either poorly executed or just thrown away in favor of having every other character talk shit about him and how he's the worst person ever. Bc like goddammit, I do think Optimus' polarizing and sometimes bad decisions as a character DO make him skirt on the edge of tyranny and shouldn't be downplayed, but on the other hand, I feel like no one (fandom or in-universe) ever tangles with the OTHER side of the story, which is just... Would it have been unethical for Optimus to NOT have done anything? Cybertronians literally put a colony on Earth, injected Earth with alien technology and sleeper agents, used Earth as an incubating ground for dangerous elements like Ore-13, invaded Earth and killed 1 billion people-- after all the shit Cybertron did to Earth, is it not fair (even morally obligated) for Cybertronians to clean up their shit and help Earth defend itself against a crisis that Cybertronians caused? And if Cybertron's government/the individuals within are racist enough that they don't care about Earth, don't see it as their problem, and don't even see human life as meaningful since they don't live that wrong anyways... is it not, in a way, a good thing for Optimus to have overstepped his authority and forced diplomatic relationships between the two planets? So that humans had an actual political channel to go "fuck you, we're in your Council so you'd better ally with us" and so that Cybertron would be forced to go "welp can't write off these humans as Not Our Problem, guess we have to help them." Doesn't forcing Earth to be part of the Council in a way legitimize Optimus' fight to help Earth, since without a formal political office he's just a rogue general fighting an unauthorized war, but with the government involved, defending Earth now becomes a politically sanctioned act?
Like idk. I guess exRID and OP did get into some of this stuff, but as a whole it felt like the story underutilized its political elements and got bogged down in shit like pointless crossovers, and constantly pausing the narrative to have Side Character #2847 talk about how Optimus is a fascist, and having Optimus go on white guilt-esque monologues about how maybe all Cybertronians should die and are unworthy/unable to ever have a peaceful society because their society colonized other planets.
Just so much wasted potential honestly. ExRID/OP as written felt like it was going way too hard into "omg Cybertronians bad and Optimus is actually a tyrant" instead of just writing a complex story and letting readers come to their own conclusions. And also lambasting Optimus for doing things that other characters did (or characters who did even worse things), but letting those characters exist in peace while Optimus has to just be some allegory for colonialism that has to be torn down at every turn because that's Deep and Intellectual.
I just like the kinds of stories about politics that play around with the ethics of it all, like, "this politician is a shitty person but their policies actually prevented some sort of disaster from happening" or "this person did something illegal and defied the law but they did it because no one else was doing anything" or even "everyone hates this person for forcing them into a political deal they didn't want to be involved in, but the fact that they were all forced to become allies actually allowed them to cooperate and save themselves in a way they wouldn't have been able to alone" (which is pretty much literally how the annexing of Earth ended up going).
Like man I don't want to sit here being lectured/having my favorite character be lectured about how much tyranny is bad. I want my favorite character to do shitty things and then go "whoa that was shitty...but also kind of smart...but also caused a lot of problems...but also solved some other problems that could've turned awful if he hadn't forcefully resolved them."
#squiggposting#idw op love#it's less like i want OP to be framed as sympathetic or good and more like....#'yeah what he did was fucked up but it was also in many ways a good option'#like i wish we'd gotten a more politically interesting story where the goods and bads were explored#instead of it being almost unilaterally the characters all gasping and screaming any time OP#does something morally gray. even tho the entire universe is morally gray and he'#isnt even close to the worst person or political leader in it#like idk what it really comes down to is that a lot of the story felt more like#it was trying to make OP some embodiment of colonialism and how everything bad is on his shoulders#regardless of his personal actions just bc he'#s prime. it feels like it was some weird white guilt allegory pasted onto robots#instead of just writing a cool story about politics and moral grayness and how far one can go#before morally gray means turn into morally gray ends#i feel like under a different writer the story couldve been way more interesting#and it couldve even kept OP's whole tyranny arc thing but just been more well written#treating him as a character who MAY HAVE HAD POINTS ABOUT SOME THINGS#AND MIGHTVE BEEN THE ONLY PERSON WHO GAVE A DAMN ABOUT HUMANITY#AND CLEANING UP THE MISTAKES CYBERTRON CREATED THAT HARMED HUMANS TO THIS DAY#but nah instead of just letting OP's moral grayness stand on its own for reader to judge#he had to literally write in characters going 'zomg the Bots were the colonizers all along'#'[OP's leadership] is LITERALLY FASCISM' (actual dialogue btw)#ppl going surprisepika when OP decides to just kill the genocidal asshole from the golden age#like goddamn could you let OP breathe and be allowed to be morally gray#w/o having the whole story exist to make him some white guilt colonialism allegory that all the other characters scream at
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idk if i’m headcannoning but it feels like uncle aaron is some kind of ex-con
in the last scene of atsv miles talks about how his uncle was a good guy who was forced to be the prowler bc he didn’t have a choice.
but we know that jeff and aaron used to be criminals and jeff turned his life around while aaron didn’t.
the only real situation that makes sense in to me is if he was convicted of a felony, because ex-cons have no protected status, leaving them vulnerable to housing and job discrimination.
#idk uncle aaron is such an interesting character to me and i was a bit sad we never got to explore his moral grayness#aaron davis#atsv#spiderverse#spider talk
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winter be my shield is making me consider very important questions like “can i call this character my poor little meow meow if he was introduced torturing one of the main characters?”
#i'm leaning towards a yes#the thing about rasten is that he's an awful person who does awful stuff but also has had terrible things happen to him as well#there's a part where he says it's better to give pain than receive and knowing bits of his backstory it made me go auuughhhh#it's a bit like zuko in book 1 of atla where he's the one chasing the mc but he represents a greater evil that is also bad to him#anyway. many thoughts on this book i wish anyone else on the internet had read it#it's complicated bc i also like isidro (the character who was tortured) but ah well this book is all about shades of moral grayness#winter be my shield#children of the black sun#jo spurrier#books#pie says stuff#pie reads
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Hullo! I was wondering if you have any good recs for extremely magically inclined Draco or Harry? Or both? Like they exude badass, and they are in awe of each other. Maybe with a hint of morally grayness? I've ran through quite a few tags of the like and have deeply enjoyed them and was wondering if you had a few goodies.
Hi anon! I definitely got a few recs for you, some with morally gray characters as a treat 🙌
Powerful Harry:
Under Pressure by VivacissimoVoce (M, 21k)
Harry Potter has quit magic and left the wizarding world. Draco, a top-notch Tracker, has been hired to find him and save his life.
And One To Play by @tackytigerfic (E, 21k)
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter are the best team in the Auror Department, even when they're driving Gawain Robards up the wall. When Malfoy is injured on a mission, it causes Harry's magic to go haywire. Meanwhile, a mysterious criminal is draining people's magical cores and turning them into Squibs.
If an Injury Is to Be Inflicted by @shealwaysreads (E, 45k)
Harry Potter disappeared a year after the Battle of Hogwarts, and with him went all hope for true change in magical Britain. Three years later, Draco indulges himself and attends his first Dog Fight—the infamous underground fights with no rules, no referee, and no points system bar blood on the floor. The game was simple: you win, or you die.
REVOLVEVLOVER by @firethesound and @lol-zeitgeistic (E, 46k)
The work Harry does is justifiable. It’s justice. He works for his country, and his country is a republic—the magical side, anyway. It’s not laudable work, it’s not work he’s proud of, but it’s necessary work. Harry has always taken the necessary jobs that no one else has the stomach for. It’s just that he’s never deciphered a kill sheet and seen Draco Malfoy’s name on it.
I Am Not Who I Became by mab_di (E, 93k)
Draco left England after the trials and has travelled the world meeting wizards and Muggles from different cultures and with vastly different relationships to magic, each other, and the natural world. Now he's a fisherman in Finland on commercial vessels. Harry has been struggling since the war and has become a recluse while trying to write his autobiography.
A Sword Laid Aside by @korlaena (E, 128k)
When Draco’s cover is blown during a deep undercover operation and the Ministry is compromised, Ron takes Draco to the only safe place he can think of—Potter. Hiding out with a taciturn Harry Potter, who has been missing from the Wizarding World for almost two decades after a shocking fall from grace, is nothing like Draco thought it would be.
Powerful Draco:
check this hand 'cause I'm marvelous by @lqtraintracks (E, 8k)
Harry's had a crush on Malfoy for months now. But it will take a bar full of his friends, some Firewhisky, wagers made on his behalf, and Malfoy himself to get him to act on it.
you look so fine by michi_thekiller (E, 16k)
In which Draco is a Veela and Harry is his mate. Dark!Humor or Crack!Horror, you decide.
The Foxing Ring by @vukovich (E, 24k)
Harry's got no magic, one good ear, no great dating prospects, and a nice little wand workshop. Draco's got too much magic, a history of biting off ears, no great dating prospects, and a growing fondness for wandmakers. And a very fetching tail.
A Pocket Full of Stones by @amywaterwings (E, 68k)
A curse is spreading through the wizarding world, erasing memories of the war. Harry Potter is on the case! Where Draco is the DMLE’s most wanted dark wizard and Harry is the private investigator tasked with bringing him in. It goes as well as one might expect.
Threshold by @kbrick (E, 126k)
Unspeakable Draco Malfoy finally gets his chance to consult with the Auror Department when a series of mysterious doors covered in runic symbols appear all across the country, only to fade away minutes later. Draco’s eager to help solve the mystery of the doors until he’s partnered with Harry Potter, who still treats him like an enemy.
All Our Secrets Laid Bare by firethesound (E, 150k)
Over the six years Draco Malfoy has been an Auror, four of his partners have turned up dead. Harry Potter is assigned as his newest partner to investigate just what is going on.
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I think Olrox is one of the best characters done by Castlevania Netflix, a kind of character I wanted to see for a long time. Olrox falls under the moral grayness. And no, he killed people, even if it's out of revenge ,he has blood on his hands. A cheap series would have done away with this by explaining it was all just a misunderstanding or Olrox was controlled by someone else. No, the deaths are on his hands and he does not deny it so. You kill the people he cares about he kill you. And he has no issue traumatizing a child seeing his mother's death.
But he oposses the ideology of the vampire messiah, out of respect for his lost love, he wants to fight against Erzabeth, even he believes they are going to far to subjugate humanity. His past lover left such a good impression on him making me wonder why Julia killed his past lover?, but also being a victim of colonialism making him see the dangers of the messiah. He's from Aztec decent after all, giving more layers to an already multi dimensional character.
He even warns Richter and even risk his own life to get Mizrak out of danger. Yet he's also selfish, he turned his past lover into a vampire against his wil. Time will tell if he does the same with Mizrak. Yet, unlike some vampires he does not discriminate between the rich and poor
He has understandable disdain for the rich and the ones in power, can't help but agree with him on that.
we need more characters like this.
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Not to contribute to a Discourse, but I keep seeing the "should we ship Alastor or not" thing, and. Like most other things, it lacks nuance.
It is true, many people don't understand how to write him in a relationship without it feeling very weird and very out of character. But this is also true about most popular ships? The voices of the characters are not right, and they keep acting in a way that is too sweet, too romantic, and the actual dynamic that made that ship interesting in the first place is missing. "He would not fucking say that" is such a popular phrase for a reason.
In Alastor's case, his asexuality is one of the major things that fanfic authors get wrong. Another is his moral grayness, his difficulties expressing (or even noticing) his emotions, and, at least in the Alastor/Lucifer ship (which is what I have been reading) the antagonism of the canon relationship and how they would navigate it with their absurd fight for dominance. And yes, these are definitely problems.
But, as someone who has been bingeing these fics faster than the tag is moving, these are only some of the fics.
And every popular ship has got a lot of bad writing in it.
The good fics, despite being shippy and more often than not, smutty, all acknowledge Alastor's asexuality in some way. It depends on that author, how, but I have seen him confused about this new situation, participating in sex for his own reasons like manipulation and enjoying having control, I have seen what in other fics would be sexual desire replaced with hunger for blood, hunger for power, or desire for closeness, I have seen asexual and aspec authors use him to talk about their own experiences with being sexualized against their will, or to explore what they would and would not be comfortable with doing. I have seen Alastor look for and find ways around his discomforts, using magic and staying clothed and making sure that he is in control.
So I don't know. Are people being weird about him? Heck yes. But I feel like fics, even shippy and smutty ones about Alastor are also doing some actual good, representation-wise. I can only speak for myself, but I can say for certain that watching a powerful, asexual character navigate his way around sexuality has filled a need in me that I didn't even realize that I had.
I'm really not wanting to start any fights here, just, you know. Different angle to look at this from.
#hazbin hotel#hazbin alastor#ace representation#asexuality in fandom#radioapple#it definitely helped me to think about some things#I also get how other members of the community are repulsed by this - or any other - ship though#like both statements can be true at the same time#but I usually only ever see the 'stop shipping you creeps' one expressed#so yeah here is mine#fanfictions
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Rewatching the first trial I always get a little intimidated when Nagito tries to have everyone give up haha, I understand his motive but I can't place where his mind truly is at any time I see it again or how he thinks it's alright. His moral grayness is such a good aspect of his character and truly makes him a great antagonist that isn't ill intentioned but rather genuinely messed up mentally. I really love that Nagito is able to succeed at being such a cute character while also being an intimidating character, writing wise it's truly brilliant that he's able to serve multiple purposes and be amazing at multiple tones. Nagito's very strong for living with his luck and forming a coping mechanism with hope to have something to live for, but the idea with him compared to Makoto is that everything has a limit. Too much of anything is a bad thing, too much of his coping mechanism and it has become obsessive, unhealthy, and he's beyond dedicated to truly believing anything is okay for the sake of hope. Nagito deserves the world, I think. :3
#nagito komaeda#danganronpa#sdr2 nagito#danganronpa nagito#danganronpa komaeda#sdr2 komaeda#komaeda nagito#sdr2#danganronpa goodbye despair#nagito#komaeda#sdr2 nagito komaeda#nagito dr#nagito dr2
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BSD: An Absurdist Analysis - Chapter 1
Absurdism is a philosophy that contends that life is inherently meaningless and that the only way to create meaning is through the act of revolt against life’s absurdities.
(For a more in-depth explanation: What is absurdism/the philosophy of the absurd?)
Right off the bat, Atsushi assumes the role of our absurdist protagonist by refusing to die despite his seemingly hopeless situation.
Atsushi is an orphan who has just been kicked out of his orphanage, he’s starving, and yet refuses to steal and cannot get a job. Even so, he has this steadfast determination to keep on living, if only to spite those who spurned and abused him. He’s already got that spirit of rebellion in him!
And so he does ultimately resolve to steal from the next person he sees… but then he finds Dazai floating in the river.
It’s a funny contrast we get here. We’ve just had Atsushi declare his intention to keep on living, and then he saves Dazai, who is salty that his suicide attempt has just been interfered with. Immediately, there’s a dichotomy here between a person who wants to live and one who wants to die.
I won’t get too into it here because it's bound to come up again, but absurdists view suicide as a cop-out, basically. If the whole point of absurdism is to rebel and revolt, choosing to take your own life is the opposite of that, it’s giving up. In this moment, Dazai represents a different response to absurdity, suicide. I will also mention here that there is a third response to the absurd, and this is what the average civilian in BSD likely does: accept absurdity and just live with it. Rather than rebelling, they do nothing, and simply let meaninglessness control them.
Anyway, after Dazai’s rescue, we are introduced to Kunikida and his ideals. His ideals are a form of absurdist revolt, in a way, and while I’ll explore this more deeply in future chapters where it's more relevant, I did want to bring it up as we establish characters during their introductions. Essentially, Kunikida’s ideals are the guide to how he navigates the absurd world and lives his life, and contrary to popular belief, he is not some goody-two-shoes who constantly panders to rules and authority, he has an acute sense of justice that he’ll adhere to no matter what. That is his way of fighting against the absurdity of the modern world.
The ADA is neither government nor criminal, they kind of live in their own gray area and their job is basically to handle the most absurd situations (i.e. a man-eating tiger on the loose). I think the ADA being the “dusk” is a really important concept not only for BSD’s ongoing theme of moral grayness but also for this idea of absurdity. The BSD universe is so insane that the government and police, who are supposed to be society’s ultimate protectors, cannot handle it alone — there has to be a specialized group of individuals to do so.
After this, Atsushi agrees to become bait for the tiger, still unaware of his own special ability, he wallows in self-pity while he waits with Dazai, and then Dazai nullifies his ability once he transforms. Kunikida and some other ADA members show up, and when asked what they’ll do with him, Dazai decides to hire Atsushi.
Note: I love how Ranpo is grinning here while the others are like "wtf?"
You catch an insecure orphan kid with an extremely dangerous ability he has no control over, and decide to hire him? It seems to make no sense, especially since the ADA is introduced as this super-specialized unit of incredibly powerful individuals who do serious and important work.
But, as we know, this works out amazingly for both Atsushi and the agency.
Dazai’s decision to hire Atsushi was his way of embracing the absurd, which is a common theme within stories with absurdist themes. Because what are the other options here? They turn Atsushi over to the police and he’s imprisoned for the rest of his life on account of his dangerous ability? They just kill Atsushi because of said danger? Both of those options have little bearing on Dazai or the agency in the end, and we’re well aware that Dazai isn’t exactly an empath, and yet he chooses the seemingly worst option for the agency, which is to take on this clueless kid.
We’re treading into Dark Era territory here, but I do want to talk about it because it’s not included in the manga. So, I think it’s also really worth noting that this decision directly ties in with Dazai’s goal to live up to his promise to Oda. At this point in the story, we wouldn’t know this, but Oda explicitly told him to “help out some orphans” when advising him to do good. Overall, what Oda tells him to do is to become an absurdist and search for the beauty in life by fighting against its meaninglessness, rather than giving in through suicide or perpetuating violence in the Port Mafia.
Anyway, that’s the end of chapter 1 of BSD! It sets up a lot in terms of absurdist storytelling, from the characters to the world they inhabit. Future chapter analyses might not take up an entire post on their own like this depending on the chapter’s content, but for the first one, I felt it was important to establish the characters and setting within the absurdist context.
I also have absolutely no plan or schedule for posting these, I’m mostly doing it for my own enrichment because I genuinely get a lot of fulfillment from merging two of my interests together like this. I will continue to read manga like this in my free time and make these posts until I catch up with the present, and that might take a while since there are currently 110 chapters to get through. Additionally, I will absolutely still continue to do my absurdist analyses when chapters come out, especially since it’s so prudent to the plot of the current arc, so look out for those, too!
Thanks for reading and please feel free to reply and/or send asks about these posts, I love engaging in discussions about this stuff and I’m sure there will be things I miss along the way!
[Next] [Masterpost]
#bsd#bungo stray dogs#bungou stray dogs#bsd manga#atsushi nakajima#dazai osamu#kunikida doppo#armed detective agency#bsd chapter 1#bsd 1#bsd absurdism analysis#soup rants
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I do find it interesting that people are very interested in the idea of Ganondorf being morally gray when it comes to his probable conflicts of interest (wanting sovereignty for his lands, having some form of respect for his people and culture, and despising the imperialism Hyrule imposes upon him while also harboring an inherent desire for power and conquest and thinking he'd be better at the whole ruling Hyrule thing) but bristle when Link and Zelda are described as morally gray. It is almost as if moral grayness is associated with a character's baseline morality being based in evil. A character who aligns with good cannot have any gray spots I suppose.
#going through my drafts and I saw this and was like#I was cooking with this one I know it#ganonthots
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Bear with me cause I'm gonna go on a rant that will probably be a bit incoherent but I'm brainrotting rn
so this concerns the webtoon community(although it's probably a widespread phenomenon in fandom) but
Y'all love complex and morally gray female characters(or even just characters of every gender) until they are complex and morally gray
I've seen a lot about this especially for Annabel Lee from Nevermore so I won't touch upon her case in this rant but the point still stands for her go read analysises.
so today i'm gonna be discussing Rastha, also known as Trashta:
I haven't read up to much after the remarrying of Navier but I feel like my point still stands. Also spoilers
Imo, Rashta is a complex and sympathetic villain. She grew up as a slave and believed her child was dead (child who was a also later used as leverage to blackmail her.) It's logical she tries to up the ranks to never live as miserably like this. She's a product of unfortunate circumstances. I do not think she's in the right, but that's kind of the whole point of her character to be the antagonist.
Also, she didn't want to be Navier's ennemy at first??? She wanted to live in a world where she was happy and that's valid. (Navier's reaction was also valid mind you.) She acted like she was indifferent to her first baby's fate yet she let herself be blackmailed because she DID care for it. She goes throught emotions and layers and that makes her complex.
Yet despite being sympathetic and half of the bad things in the webtoon happening not being her fault, she's the most hated character.
I hate Sovieshit and her blackmailer much more. Sovieshit was really using double standard against Navier like "oh yeah i'm allowed to have a mistress and divorce you just cause I feel like it and i'm using you for my own benefit but don't you go remarrying yourself or having a lover you're mine >:((((". Sovieshit is borderline a mysogynist (he only wants a delicate woman he can control to do as he pleases) but no Rashta is the real horrible villain we must demonize her.
Now her blackmailer(i forgot his name but if you read the webtoon you know who he is). Most of it his fault. He is using and ataking advantage of Rastha who wnats nothing else than to be free. Sovieshit is painted as a bit sympathetic(wrongly might i add) but this guy is just plain evil. But he's not more hated than Rastha????
I'm not defending her actions I just want people to see further than their noses and realize that characters can be good without being good people.
Now even if i see it more for female characters this is real for male characters too but kinda in the opposite route? Like in twisted wonderland, the characters are MADE to be villains yet people smooth them over as poor little meows meows and babygirls. It's funny as a joke but it erases their entire personnality and complexity, while morally gray female characters get demonized for having the same grayness.(Also i'd like to add that Vil schoenheit, a feminine male characters gets also demonized like female characters so i'm starting to see a pattern here.) So double standard much?
in short, don't say you like complex and morally grey characters if you can't handle them correctly. They deserve better than you
#trasta#the remarried empress#webtoon#twsited wonderland#rant#analysis#media analysis#theoverlordmonologues
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Smh too many people here lately who just don't understand any of these characters. Wtf FF fandom
I'm fine with different interpretations. To each his own. But I don't like the recent surge of victim blaming going around for Seph, Genesis, and Angeal. I think it's wholly possible for fictional characters to be both victims worthy of sympathy and victimizers worthy of blame. But it's important for people to pay attention to context in BOTH regards. And everything points back to Shinra. All three characters are exactly what Shinra made them and they all act accordingly. If not for Shinra they either wouldn't exist or would have had healthier, normal lives where their actions wouldn't have even been an issue.
They're all deeply broken, deeply exploited individuals. Individuals with FLAWS, both human and inhuman. And it's fine to lean more towards one way than another in the victim/villain spectrum. But it's also equally important to acknowledge the other side of the coin as well.
More than anything, I'm tired of the mentality that any moral grayness is automatically seen as giving these characters a pass for their actions. No. It doesn't. It contextualizes and adds nuance to their actions, NOT validate. The goal is to understand these characters, follow their arcs and stories, and fill in the missing pieces when the writing falters. That's how you build a story and its mythos. To lump characters into basic categories drains them of their color and potential. It takes away all a fandom could be, rich with lore made by people who love these characters and want to explore them and the world at large. And god, even MORE so when you sit there and put labels on passionate people who are just trying to enjoy and escape. It sets a harmful precedent that shames people for being curious, for opening their feelings, for showing any empathy at all.
BE curious with these characters. Be empathetic. Be their potential when the writing fails or the story stumbles. Breathe for them and add your own emotions and rhythms. That's what keeps characters alive, what keeps FANDOM alive.
#asks#ff7#ffvii#final fantasy 7#crisis core#sephcanons#sephiroth#genesis rhapsodos#angeal hewley#Alto rambles#Shut up alto go to bed
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gray's return in the show and how it defines gray as a truly morally gray character
i just gotta ramble more abt this scene, with it being one of my favorite scenes in the show. but really i just wanna talk abt how this scene encapsulates gray's ... grayness... of the moral variety
especially since it is done so effectively since, like i mentioned in other posts, our screen time with actual gray and not graham or whatever is limited.
this scene sees the return of gray in the plot, picking up directly where we leave off from all the way back in episode 2
Bye-bye, Black Sheep...
I assume you prefer I continue to call you "Carmen"?
as i stated previously on other posts, because of the silly brainwashing plot, much of graham scenes can be thrown out. in a sense, it's the writers' way to put a big old pause on his character
and these are only one of the two conversations carmen and gray have in current day as themselves -- with no mind wiping or brainwashing (not including flashback cuz the actual issues of the relationship that need to be addressed havent been established yet)
so resuming directly right where we left off with gray trying to kill carmen, we return back to gray trying to kill carmen :D
but this time he did recongize carmen's name, alluding to his change ... even tho he is waving his electric stick around -- mirroring their last encounter in paris
side tangent: something i, additionally, love about this scene is just how it is blunt and honest. much of carmen sandiego's drama/conflict is built of misunderstanding and misdirection and mistrust of the characters. Which while, yes, i am eating up, but unfortuntely can cause many characters relationships to be burdened with a lot of things that can be easily cleared up with a talk. gray for once just bluntly takes a stance.
something that i do like is that in their only two scenes with each other as themselves, carmen (the pilot flashbacks) and gray (this scene) open up so fast with one another. there's never any miscommunication between them during these scenes .... well until vile barges into the conversation....
ANYWAY here we get revealed gray's full perception of himself and his goals very explicitly, especially since his memories and alliances was the biggest question over the viewers' head for most of the show
here gray explains that he believes that he is not a good person, someone incapable of change.
from his perspective, the only way he was able to be a "good" person was when he was brainwashed. and he had just had however long with his chats with maelstrom emphasizing that he has always been a bad person by nature. with the knowledge vile will forever have full control over him -- either as a vile operative or as a mindwiped civillian -- gray essentially accepts his fate as a bad person, because at the very least he is himself.
carmen may have gotten away from vile, but he is told by maelstrom it is due to her being a naturally good person. because his own perception of himself is as somebody who is incapable of good, he will never be able to leave vile now
and carmen is right there in front of him. it was his hesistance that landed him into this debacle, and with maelstrom and bellum both just past the door and carmen alone, gray has every chance to right his wrong.
but he doesnt. because he realizes that the very least he can make the choice of is never hurting carmen. as i stated in other posts, gray's main motive is to be free from any standard that could get in between him and his success. but his want for this freedom ironically got him trapped within following vile's orders. he had been so caught up in following vile that he had lost sight of himself and what he cares about.
so now he explains to carmen his absolute refusal to hurt her again, begging her to give up in stopping vile
selfish and selfless
But I'm begging you, give up trying to stop us, because I don't ever want to be put in a position to hurt you again.
gray's plea to carmen here is so perfectly two-sided
he is acting out selflessly in not allowing his alliances against carmen blind him. i mean that is what he fucked up last time in the train, where it was clear gray wanted to spare carmen - with giving her time to share her side of the story and providing the offer - put unwilling to stand against his mission. like an actual human being, gray acknowledges his mistake and is trying to amend it by stating clearly that he cares abt carmen.
he, in essence, is apologizing for trying to harm carmen by expressing his major regret. moreover, he acknowledges their chat in the pilot, accepting carmen will not return to vile. it stems likely from the ink blot scene earlier, where maelstrom speaks about nature, making a distinction between vile, and by extension, gray's, and carmen's morals. he is finally reconciling that he and carmen will not be on the same side, no matter how much he wants it to be otherwise.
it can also be viewed as a sense of wanting to protect carmen. because he feels so small compared to vile, he barely can ponder how anyone can actually succeed in going against them. i mean they brainwashed him and easily gave and took away his civilian life. in his eyes, carmen staying far from vile is the only way she could be safe
however, viewing it from another perspective shows gray's selfishness in his plea. when he speaks about never wanting to be put in a position to hurt carmen again, he kinda places such a responsibility on carmen, not recongizing he himself is capable of changing that.
Essentially saying "hey quit while you're ahead so you don't gotta make me feel guilty when doing crime" while ignoring that he is making the choice join vile
It kinda stems from his lack of faith in carmen or his own cowardice against vile or a combination of both. What may just be the only way he can protect to protect carmen comes off in his own lack of faith in her ability. as i mentioned earlier, this practically is his own resignation to his fate that vile cannot be fought against. he took his own defeat as the only way to be safe, refusing to believe carmen can successfully fight them.
while he was able to get past the hurdle of accepting carmen changing and no longer standing alongside him, he cant seem to understand his own responsibilty in this.
he's being selfish by demanding a change in carmen's behavior while he continue along with his own desires. While yes, i did just detail the various factors that led to him to such a conclusion, the window was LITERALLY OPEN for him to leave
following carmen blowing up the facility and rejecting gray's demand -- SHE IS SO REAL FOR THAT I LOVE HER SM IN THIS EP -- the wall LITERALLY IS OPEN FOR TO LEAVE CARMEN WITH
Goodbye, Gray
Idk how intentional this is, but the framing shows carmen literally, by her own will, forcing an opening for herself out of vile (both figuratively in the past and literally right now lol) while gray watches on idly, too scared to leave the grasp of vile but just watching on.
and his cowardice is followed through in the finale, with after months of idly watching carmen slip deeper into evil by the brainwashing, he actually takes actions against vile by actively choosing to work with acme, abandoning tigress, and being the one to land the memory recovery thing on her.
it is what makes gray such a stand out character in this show, admist his frustrating back-and-forth and selfishness and sometimes wasted writing. he keeps making a mistake but proceeds to fix it right after. his growth into a better person requires him to make these mistakes, because unlike carmen and most people in the show on the side of good, gray doesn't work on any moral compass. he is not actively evil and wishing to inflict harm and conflict like paper star or vile facilty, nor is he driven by morals such as team red and julia. he is driven by whatever he selfishly cares abt. and from what we see of him both in the pilot and this ep, he makes as many mistakes as he does have slivers of good actions
basically gray is an interesting character cuz he literally fucks up his personal goals, but he makes an earnest attempt to make it better lol
#carmen sandiego 2019#graham calloway#cs crackle#carmen sandiego#character analysis#i tried rip#he was getting too silly and then had to have a fake out death#character rambles#barely revised this lol
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Edward Teach and the Myth of the Perfect Victim
After writing my previous post, I realized that a bunch of the stuff I said applies to Ed too.
In particular, I saw a lot of takes (before many of the S2 spoilers started coming out) that said things like "Ed is not going to be uncontrollably angry and violent in the way some fans have theorized about" or "the theory that Ed will go off the rails and Izzy will be terrified of him is racist." I saw other takes that insisted on things like "Ed knows his limits (for drinking) and can handle the consequences of his actions." Basically, a lot of other Ed fans seemed to insist that S2 Ed would be behaving fairly reasonably, without being crazily violent and unhinged and self-destructive.
And I was kind of worried about these Ed fans. Because to me, it seemed like we totally were going to get a very off-the-rails Ed in S2... which, given the clip today and the reviews that got released, seems extremely likely. And if some of these people were insisting that portrayals of Ed like that were awful and unsupportable by them...
Well, the reality is that sometimes, your fav turns out to be the bad guy, at least situationally. And this is okay! Characters don't need to be morally pure for you to love them. They can have messy trauma responses and unhealthy habits, and they can just overall set a bad example for everyone. You can like them without endorsing their actions.
Ed is still traumatized by his childhood and crumbling under the expectations of people around him. He's still heartbroken, devastated, and low-key (or maybe high-key) suicidal. We'll probably still see him cry, and we'll certainly still see him feeling like an unlovable monster.
He still deserves sympathy for all that. Ed is clearly going to end up hurting Izzy and probably many other members of his crew, and that suffering is real and painful—but so is Ed's. You don't have to excuse Ed's actions to acknowledge that and feel for him. As someone who has previously celebrated Ed's moral grayness, I say that Edward Teach still deserves a hug!
#edward teach#ofmd#our flag means death#tbf I also once made a big comparison post between Edward Teach and my other fav Hannibal Lector#so maybe it's just really easy for me to forgive characters who commit atrocities if they're sad and cute about it#I also want to vehemently state how much Izzy also deserves a hug#I feel like being an Izzy fan during s1 has given me so much preparation for being an Ed fan during s2#they've both my favorites#even if they just keep hurting each other#ofmd season 2#ofmd spoilers
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Why Helluva Boss Fails Where Villainous Succeeds At Making A Morally Grey World Questions The Moral Spectrum
I think what makes Helluva Boss fail at it's depiction of a morally grey world where things aren't as traditionally defined by good and evil is that the biggest thing it's supposed to be in hell. While Vivziepop claims she wants to reclaim hell, she also wants to make it a place of torment where the worst goes. The series implies that it's heaven having strict standards but on the other end we do see the types of sinners that populate it. Also another thing that makes it fail is that instead of showing moral grayness they just make apologies for character flaws that protagonists like Stolas and Blitzo have. While we are supposed to see them as complex, the same can't be said for antagonists who are clearly made to be one dimensional like Stella and Striker. The former is made into a stereotypical bitchy, abusive wife who is getting in between Stolas' happiness, while Striker is derailed into being labeled a supremacist when he really has a point about how corrupt the system in hell is.
There is also the fact that certain moral greyness doesn't make sense when you think about the fact that the Sins like Beelzebub and Asmodeus which call for moderation and consent which makes them seem counter to their sins. While it's supposed to supposedly give them moral greyness, it just completely misses the point of sins which is unlimited hedonism not matter what the cost. Also it doesn't help you can blatantly see which ones are Viv's favorites and as a result they get the sympathetic treatment that colors their portrayal. And from the leaks we see Lucifer is also getting neutered so that heaven looks worse than him including Adam who is supposed to be the first man but is depicted as sexist and enjoying slaughtering sinners. Again in that instant all that moral greyness is just bs and we know what side is really getting that fake greyness which is hell because she has a misguided idea that they can reclaim it for themselves. By making things too nice, it's obvious she really isn't making it hell but just some fantasy land with inconsistencies which sucks.
This is where I think Villainous succeeds because it plays around with the superhero genre which is ripe for looking at what is considered wrong or right. The premise is that superheroes are hunted by an organization that helps villains defeat heroes. The premise instead of trying to apologize that they are not so bad reminds us they are villains and can be ruthless. If you see all the stuff in the orientations, commercials, and other materials you can see the characters except 505 have even killed people. However, even with the characters not being good you can't help but love them because of the fact they are people with feeling while still being evil. You do feel a certain closeness with each other that prevents them from being totally unlikable.
Also the setting just being in the mortal world with villains and heroes doesn't have to adhere to the standard of hell which is how far can you go to make it still be hell. Nope, it's in a superhero world where supers are focused more on fame, fortune, and clout rather than helping people. They are even shown sometimes not to be so different than the villains with many of them having complex and sympathetic backgrounds. The true pure evil being is Black Hat who unlike how the great demon lords in Helluva Boss is blatantly shown as unrepentant and has no qualms about being depraved. He truly lives up to his image of being the embodiment of evil unlike Beezlebub and Asmodeus. While you can make Demencia and Flug sympathetic, you can't with Black Hat since that would go against his image of being the master of supreme evil.
Overall, I do think Vivziepop could take some notes how to really make a grey moral setting actually be grey. It can help her with her work.
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