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!

Happy birthday William Shatner (93) & Captain Kirk (-209)! 🧁

There's something to be said about Nine and Twelve as parallels, about them being these seeming grumps with hearts of gold who must relearn optimism while being fundamentally kind at the end of the day, and Eleven and Thirteen as parallels, as these lonely tinkerers who travel with multiple companions at the same time but push people away before they get too close because they are creatures built on grief, and Ten alone, as something that is all and none of the above, who starts out as a creature born of love but who loses said love and is willing to die and must find grounding but loses said grounding and declares himself the Time Lord Victorious because if he cannot have love he has to have something, anything, he can call his own, and about how all five of them are shaped, fundamentally, by their grief and their guilt over the Time War and being the last of their kind and how every companion leaves them and they will always, always be the last one in the TARDIS, always be the last one surviving, no matter what, and yet all of them, at the end of the day, die to save someone. Die to be kind, just one more time. Because that is what ties them all together. That is what makes them the Doctor.

hello friends. despite my 9 million existing dreamling wips i'm feeling the need to branch out a bit for the sake of my mental variety. what pairing other than dreamling should i write a little something for? could be romantic or platonic

other way of phrasing i guess: any pairings you really want to see more fics for in the fandom?

I hope the guilt hits you like a brick

the way elmike had the possibility of a very close and real and intimate friendship stolen out from under them because of heteronormativity telling them the only way they were meant to fit in each other's lives was romantically, even though neither of them truly wanted that... pushing them further apart... tragic. literally so tragic

kaiser and ness. thoughts?

NCIS: Hawai’i - 2x05

me? watching dhmis for the 'nth time? its more likely than you think

im about to be such a stupid hater but as an aromantic person i hate the httyd 3 ending.

For the ask game!:

3 - 12 - 14 - 16

3. Which is your favorite turtle from any version?

12. Who is your favorite minor or recurring character?

14. Who are your favorite duo (non-shipping)?

(honestly, in any version these two interacting is *chefs kiss*)

16. What was the first TMNT show/movie you ever watched?

I decided I wanted to make a poll out of my more recent obsessions with different media characters. Plus, I'm honestly curious

you said, "we were born with nothing, and we sure as hell have nothing now." you said, "we were born with nothing and we sure as hell have nothing now."

going to keep this vague on purpose but playing reload has reactivated brain chemicals in me that i forgot i had.

i think i'd want to make a more thought out post later, but i think my favorite thing about reload (aside from seeing minato in full HD glory) is how much it's made me think about video games as a storytelling medium- specifically with what mechanics and game design imply for characters.

there's a lot of quality of life features added to reload that help players easily enter a flow state and get immersed in the gameplay (most notable with tartarus)! which is so dope! reload has been such a nice blend of the mechanics from both FES and portable and it feels like a love letter to persona 3 fans.

there are definitely mechanics i miss from FES (minato's ability to wield multiple weapons being one of them). i can't deny that FES has some dated mechanics that don't necessarily feel fun for the player experience... but!

i think i mostly miss things from FES because i feel like so much of minato's characterization (for me) was informed by the gameplay experience and mechanics (e.g. fatigue system). obviously there's still other ways you can put together his personality (his dialogue responses), but i think game mechanics are a bit part of it, for me.

but in spite of that, i think reload is a really nice introduction to persona 3, it's so much more accessible and has a bunch of things to help make it more fun :) so far i think i'd recommend it to people :D

No because if there's one thing Jonathan and Nancy are gonna do its wear matching or complementary outfits

i wanted to draw them smiling