Instead of arguing about whether "gifted kids" or "special ed kids" struggled more, why don't we acknowledge the school system screwed us all over?

Schools screwed over neurotypical kids.

Schools screwed over neurodivergent kids.

Schools screwed over "gifted" kids.

Schools screwed over "special ed" kids.

Schools screwed over undiagnosed kids.

Schools screwed over "average" kids.

Schools screwed over "bad" kids.

Schools screwed us all over because the system wasn't made for ANY of us.

some anon in one of my culture blogs inboxes is really angry that i use -misia rather than -phobia to discuss bigotry against queer people (and fat people). every few days they slide in my inbox asking in definitely good faith (/s) why i use -misia instead of the more common -phobia because it "should be obvious from context" what i mean, and today they said "don't let the [queerantagonists] destroy our language"

and since this is bullshit and tumblr won't let me block anons for some reason, here's a little history lesson for you

it is not "our language". even if it was, it's abled queers' language because language that is ableist, saneist and harms mentally ill people is not "our language". you just don't consider disabled people part of your people, apparently. using the word phobia to describe hate and aversion is part of a bigger problem of people using mental illness to describe bad behaviour or behaviour that is unwanted ("narcissistic abuse", "trans people are being histrionic over their pronouns", "schizo", "crazy", "insane" as insults, "only someone who is mentally ill would do [very horrible thing]". these attitudes have real affects on mentally ill people, they get us attacked, institutionalised and killed because we're deemed to be inherently dangerous. the -phobia for bigotry thing is no different. this attitude has lead to so much trauma and i have personal history of specifically being bullied because people thought that me having phobias made me a bad person, and they specifically brought up the word homophobia. that's as deep as i'll go in because i've done enough talking about my trauma publicly recently lol.

aside from the harm done to mentally ill people, it also really, really downplays bigotry. if it's a mental illness, the poor bigots just can't help it. and here's where we get into the etymology of the term homophobia.

the term homophobia was coined by george weinberg, a straight psychologist who doesn't get a say on our language. he DID coin it as a mental illness, so any counter argument of how it wasn't meant that way immediately falls apart. in his coining of the word, he described phobias as "always leading to brutality", once again playing into the idea that mentally ill people are inherently dangerous. weinberg coined the "mental illness" homophobia as a defense for hate crimes - he LITERALLY created the gay panic defense. that is the origin of the term "homophobia", and thus all other bigotry terms that people slap the -phobia ending onto.

the very etymology of the word homophobia is so violently anti-queer. it is not "our language". it was nonqueer people's language to justify why we were murdered and attacked.

the word "homophobia" is literally the origin to "gay panic". it's literally the "clinical term" for gay panic.

how can you say that gay panic isn't real because it's hate and not panic but then insist on using the term homophobia?

and i don't really care if you want to "reclaim" the word because it's still fucking ableist.

and if anyone comes here to tell me "but oil is hydrophobic and it's not scared or mentally ill!" you'll get blocked because..

newsflash: mentally ill people are HUMAN, not a fucking lab experiment. don't talk about context if you don't understand how calling oil hydrophobic does fuck all harm but calling PEOPLE phobic to mean "something horrible" does.

i also don't care if it's "common" or more understood. it's not an excuse for ableism.

it's very ironic how many people will reblog like 100 gender terms a day but get crappy with me because they might have to learn a new word to avoid being ableist.

like, on my culture accounts i never even specifically talked about the -phobia suffix being ableist because i'm tired of being attacked. but even if i just use non-ableist language without saying anything about other language, i still get fucking harassed.

disabled people can't fucking win and it's so obvious you don't want us in the queer community if you consider ableist and anti queer language to be "our language" and part of our history or whatever the fuck.

if you get personally offended by disabled people pointing out ableism you're a piece of shit, but if you get personally offended by disabled people simply using non ableist language and not even saying anything about ableism, you're 10x the biggest piece of shit.

even if -phobia wasn't harmful in numerous ways, just imagine how pathetic you have to be to get angry at someone over how they talk about bigotry.

Hey Chai, I know the Hazbin leaks are the main talk right now and I'm sorry to bring it up again but I am so conflicted about Jane's document you mentioned a bit ago.

I read it all, and at first I was believing every word, felt so bad for Jane, all these horrible endless turmoils that happened to her. Then when I went back through and started reading the screenshots I started seeing contradictions. They'd be like:

Jane is just saying the claim to someone else on Discord (which provides a likely timestamp but not necessarily definitive proof)

There's not much present that actually backs up Jane's claim

Context appears to be missing

The proof occasionally contradicts itself

Jane says one thing in one screenshot while saying something different in another. (One Example: In one she lies/downplays what she told people about Avery and tells Karli she just "saw him giving people massages" and "never said he got me drunk .. only that I wondered if he wanted to try to" then in her conversation with Avery's ex she literally tells her "he was awfully touchy with women at the party" and "he tried to get me drunk.")

(Another example was she claimed Steven was abusive, but you read all the screenshots she provided and it's just her talking at Steven and occasionally trauma-dumping, with him responding in either supportive or neutral/blunt ways or requesting reasonable boundaries considering that she's living there rent-free and with free groceries. She titles a few screenshots "Steven being weird about my d*ck" then the screenshots just show HER bringing up her d*ck and him asking Jane to avoid making a mess when she pees and offers she could try sitting down because he does that to avoid making a mess too.)

I'm not trying to defend Ang, or anyone else in the doc, and I'm not trying to say Jane's a liar that shouldn't be trusted, but maybe to caution people to go back and re-read it with ALL the screenshots and make more careful judgement when not just Jane but anyone comes out with a long list of extreme claims.

I also think Jane might've misread some situations considering how young she was at the time + her trauma + C-PTSD + her DID. That is not me trying to say she didn't suffer, or that some of her claims aren't true, or that some people mentioned in the doc didn't make poor decisions, and it's possible for some of them Jane just made poor choices in the screenshots she included or something.

( And outside of the doc Jane recently claimed on Twitter that Ang faked their su*c*de and went on about how that affected her but... we all know Ang was publicly open about their declining health and that they were ready to leave socials to succumb to it because they had no medical care and no money to get it and were getting worse. And then people assumed that meant A. Instant Su*c*de, B. Ang is now dead, and spread that around like wildfire until people involved had to be like "Ang isn't fucking dead they're approaching EOL what are y'all talking about." Idk if Jane misunderstood that, or if Ang truly did additionally fake their suicide behind closed doors, I find the latter less likely, but food for thought I guess. )

If you're open to it I can send you a few more main points in the screenshots that felt contradictory to me, if not I'll just leave this ask as it is, and thanks for reading it, it's okay if you don't post it.

It's...a tangle, for sure. I honestly don't know what to make of it myself.

I will say that if Ang isn't dead or dying I would like more solid proof of that, because when I talked to them years ago, they were in frighteningly poor health. Their spinal fluid was leaking to the point where they could taste it in their mouth, and when people had said they'd died, I wasn't surprised. Not even the slightest bit.

Making an unofficial diagnosis for Colonel noodle

(I just realized how fixated I am for noodle boi lol) (Also, not a mental health professional so PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS AS A WAY TO DIGNOSE YOURSELF OR ANYONE ELSE!!!!!!!)

I believe that Colonel noodle (which I will be referring as Noodle from now on) may have Complex PTSD (which will be referred to as C-PTSD), which is a mental health condition that can be developed if you have experienced long term trauma.

I believe that Noodle fits this description very well because of the fact that his trauma is being fed only burgers by his parents, which is explained through his backstory that this has happened throughout his childhood, this is proven when he specifically said, "Even at my own birthday party", proving that this has happened somewhere when he was a minor.

Now lets talk about the symptoms;

(These symptoms may not be accurate to C-PTSD so please don't take this as fact)

In C-PTSD, it is common for people with the condition to experience traits of PTSD along with other symptoms too, making the condition they're experiencing C-PTSD rather than regular PTSD. So I will be going over what symptoms Noodle has, doesn't have, and might have.

Core PTSD symptoms (associated with C-PTSD)-

-Hyper aware of any danger: It would only make sense if I say he does have this symptom, but only because he's the one making the danger in ptr 2 (Parappa the rapper 2), which means it will be downplayed.

-Avoiding Trauma triggers: I'd say this is a situation where he may or may not have this symptom, because of the fact that he does avoid burgers at all cost, even when he has been "changed" at the end of his rap, he doesn't mention anything about burgers, he mentions "noodle sushi". Although before he started a literal war that was made to be against burgers, which isn't avoiding the trigger at all, he also worked at his dad's burger shop, and was supposed to be the owner one day, he doesn't seem to be resistant of it until we finally get to where he explains his trauma, where his tone of voice to everything he's explaining (including where he mentions where he was gonna become the burger shop owner) is in a more negative light. This means that this symptom will also be downplayed.

-Flashbacks: Based on what Noodle's villain backstory literally showing us a flashback his most likely seeing, he most definitely has this symptom, and it will not be downplayed.

Now moving onto to the symptoms of C-PTSD (which is meant to be included with the traits of PTSD)-

-difficulty regulating emotions: I'd say he definitely has this symptom because of how his emotions change in his rap and after. In the beginning, he seems to be pretty determined to show everyone, "Noodles rule the world", and even seems agitated (through facial expressions) that the people he's preaching to don't agree with his point of view. Near the end of his rap, he seems to show remorse for what he's done and even starts to agree that, "many things can be tasty", which he most definitely didn't agree with a few minutes ago. After the rap, he comes out of his villain lair, looking happy, even ecstatic when he's going on a picnic with Parappa and his friends. All of this has shown inconsistent emotions, which can be easily tied back to difficulty regulating emotions, meaning that this symptom will not be downplayed.

-Feelings of guilt or shame: As I just explained, in the end of his rap, he shows remorse for what he's done and even calls himself, "eerie", in one of the verses, this symptom will not be downplayed.

-trouble staying in relationships: I believe Noodle does have this symptom because of one line he says while explaining his backstory, "Even at my own birthday party, *goes on to explain all the type of burgers he ate*, all my friends hated me for that.", this clearly shows that he has some sort of fall out with his friends, if not, then it would've been a tough relationship to maintain, especially with the lack of control he had. This means that this symptom will not be downplayed.

Now what does some of the symptoms being downplayed mean? Does this mean the symptoms Noodle experience that are downplayed don't matter?

Well, not exactly. The symptoms being downplayed mean that Noodle experienced the symptom either in a way that was different than what me and possibly professionals(still doesn't mean that any of what I'm saying can be diagnosable) have in mind, or he rarely experiences the symptom at all.

This doesn't mean that the symptom doesn't matter, because he still experiences it.

Now after going over the symptoms and seeing if Noodle has those symptoms or not, we can safely say that Noodle has experienced each symptom at least once in his life, which only means he experiences the symptoms, this means that Noodle does have C-PTSD.

'Wait! But since Noodle doesn't experience the symptoms in a way that other people with C-PTSD experience it, doesn't that mean he only had traits of C-PTSD?'

Although I do see how people could have this argument, I would have to counteract this with the fact that many people of many diagnoses experience the symptom(s) differently, but still experience the symptom(s). I'll use me and my little brothers' ADHD as an example. Both me and my little brother experience hyperactivity and we both stim to cope with it, but our stims are different and the amount of time spent on stimming are different as well, our fixations are different and so on. Just because someone experiences a symptom differently than most, doesn't mean they aren't as valid in what they experience.

Okay yeah this is the end lol, I just got this idea randomly of just diagnosing my favorite character, and I've been doing this since 6 am sooo yeahh.

Also sources lol:

Okayyy baiiiiii💅💅😎🥺🤡💀🗣🗣🗣🗣💦💦

So uh. I think I've decided that I want to be a little bit more open about some things on here bc honestly trying not to acknowledge it is just causing me a ton of unnecessary stress (and I'm sure as fuck not acknowledging it irl lmaooo) so yeah. So I'll start with this: I'm currently unemployed and living with my parents (mom and stepdad) and my younger but also adult brother (they all have some form of income but it's only just barely enough to get by). Now on its own the whole all of us living together thing should not be that big of a deal apparently according to what I've learned from hearing other ppl's experiences in similar situations. Unfortunately my parents do not think like this. My mom especially is convinced that we are literally ruining her life so y'know that's fun (:

Okay but seriously. I'm about to sound like I'm trying to downplay this (and maybe I am bc. Yk.) but like a good 80% or so of the time it's. Fine. We get along okay. But I know that's only bc we never acknowledge The Problems outside of the few bad days and we always just go on like those never even happened. And here's what I mean by bad days btw: ""Family Meetings"". Yeah that phrase is literally a fucking trigger for me now it's fucking bullshit. When I was younger it meant "me getting screamed at about how fucked up I am and how fucked I'll be in the "real world" and how I'm just "a soft spoiled little bitch bc I never got my ass beat" (like my brother. bc he's definitely fine and has no issues at all lmaooo) (and usually without the bitch part aside from once when I was a teenager) and now it's more "me getting screamed at by my mom abt how I'm ruining her life and her marriage" etc. etc. So yeah. My stepdad is a little better in that he only yelled at me one time when I was like 12 I think? And then never again. And he seems to at least understand that if screaming at still hasn't "fixed" me after 25 fucking years then it's probably not going to so yeah. And he did actually kind of stand up for me during the last one (in late September-ish) which I know isn't much but it's still way more than anyone else has done so I do appreciate it.

Anyway the last one was really fun (terrible) I got the usual + being told I being disrespectful for not coming out to the living room bc I was having a panic attack and quite literally frozen and unable to move 👍👍👍 And I've also been limited to just my phone since then bc my mom took my computer (bc god forbid we consider there might be a reason I'm on it so much) and still hasn't given it back and tbh I think I'd rather kms than ask for it back so that's fun too (:

I am aware that this is abusive behavior and that screaming at your child for any reason is in fact child abuse btw. It took me until very recently to come to terms with that even while knowing that (and I'm probably still not fully there tbh) but I know. It's that fucking generational trauma bullshit yk. My mom's side of the family is Fucked Up like her parents were terrible and their (mostly her dad's idk the other ones lol) parents. Yeah I'm not even comfortable talking about them right now that's like a whole other thing lmao. But yeah I know that doesn't even remotely make it okay.

And yeah like the day after shit like that happens we just never acknowledge it again until everyone's losing their shit again because nothing ever changes. Believe it or not being screamed at does not help me figure out how to navigate getting a source of income or how I'm supposed to do anything when we sure as fuck can't afford another vehicle or how I'm ever going to be able to afford my own place to live lmaooo. And I also literally cannot even talk to them about any of this without losing my ability to speak so that really doesn't help either (: I sure as fuck haven't tried calling out the bullshit either bc fuck that there's no fucking way that's going over well and I couldn't even if I wanted to (: (: (:

So I'm just kinda stuck here ig. It's really not too bad (most of the time). I'm not saying that to minimize or invalidate anything either I just want you all to know that it's not like super urgent or anything, I'm not in danger, my mental health isn't great obviously but I'm not at risk of hurting myself or suicide or anything. Promise <3 I'm a tenacious bastard sticking around out of pure spite and a desire to keep creating things if nothing else lmao :)

God this is kind of a trauma dump lmao but that about sums it up ig? I'm also very much open to advice if anyone has any <3

do you think they are doing with the evil veronica arc? i feel like at some point something must happen because then what’s the team good and team evil drama for? it can’t only be percival, kevin etc vs everyone else right? i would expect some of the main characters turn to the "evil side" before the big battle. i believe veronica turning evil is a bit too obvious and predictable but she was also the only one that got the "gift" directly from percival but as someone said, it didn’t exactly feel like a gift but a punishment for her since it meant she couldn’t be with anyone so to further isolate her. they won’t turn jughead evil because he would need to be the one to fix it (as always!). tabitha is pretty much obvious already. betty being team evil is too obvious too (and frankly, over used like let the girl have some peace). cheryl and toni seem very team good to me. i can actually see archie turning to team evil as an effect of his invulnerability. i could see percival promising archie something related to his dad that he wouldn’t be able to deny, tying this to his "evil arc" in vale which parallels the whole 605 episode with archie being on the wrong side while everyone tries to fit it. it seems like 620 is aiming to the same thing as 605 with the whole "saving the universe" and characters that shouldn’t be there appearing because the universes are clashing? for example, polly is on 620 because the actress posted a picture. sabrina is also on 620.

if veronica's arc isn't simply to keep her single until it's time to pair her up with archie again, i will be surprised, ha. that's a joke. no one yell at me.

i think the wild card part of that is that veronica and jughead are the ones who didn't burn the things they got back from percival. neither did cheryl. not really sure heather isn't a trap for her tbh.

and tbf, they could turn jughead evil. plenty of evil to be had before shaking it off and sacrificing himself (as per the usual). veronica? i don't know. these are inherently good people who are currently vulnerable to the local devil-magic dude. and i'm sure percival loves the vulnerable (look at how he was with kevin). but also i don't think veronica's power is an automatic evil side sort of thing.

betty's power feels like it would be on the good side since it's been sort of framed as the ability to see "evil" (intentions, etc) but betty herself is fairly morally gray (i love my chaos goblin, i will fight for her) when she thinks justice is on the line. she's also showing how damaged she really is (hey, the murder hole came with a fun game of dismemberment to save herself but with weird commentary from the fandom that downplayed that trauma. also as per usual) and now we're seeing just what sort of damage her father did to her in her childhood. and also, yeah, feels too obvious to go dark with her so who knows?

archie...this man. sigh. listen. he has an anchor and he's successfully used it. the question is, as time goes on and his emotions are dulled down, will he still be able to use it? we know what archie wanted in the vale. if percival promises him something to do with his dad, then yeah, i can for sure see him being manipulated while he's emotionally unstable.

they're all emotionally unstable. they're getting flashes of a different universe and they're developing powers that are messing with their senses of self. no one is who they were right now. and maybe that's the point, idk.

...goddess help me...

This fucking episode. *deep breath* This... This episode is where I'm expecting to get some serious hate. Let me just get this out of the way right up front:

I. Hate. Zemo.

I do not find him sympathetic, or funny, or charming. I find him creepy and annoying. I did not like him in CA:CW and I do not like him in TFATWS. If you are pro-Zemo, you are not going to like my version of this show from here on out. Just find something else to read and don't bother me about it. You've got the actual canon, so go enjoy that.

Got it? Good. Now, on to the main event!

Episode 3: The Power Broker

First of all, Sam doesn't let Bucky walk in there alone. No matter Bucky's (flimsy and nonsensical) argument, Sam's like "hell no. I go in with you, or you don't go in." The main reason for this isn't to keep Bucky from breaking Zemo out of prison (with decent writing, he would never do that) - it's so that Sam witnesses Zemo taunting Bucky with/about the trigger words. because Zemo is a piece of shit.

Since he doesn't know the full story, Sam is confused, but he files this interaction away to ask Bucky about later. He's listening to Zemo acknowledging that Bucky was "not conscious for most of [his] imprisonment" (which, yes, clearly refers to the time he spent frozen, but can also mean while he was under their control as TWS/"The Asset" - also, key word: imprisonment) and when he calls Bucky a means to an end, Sam scowls, looking ready to go off on him, but he waits. They've got more important issues.

Neither of them entertains the thought of breaking Zemo out for even a nanosecond. He does that shit himself. And literally the only reason I'm sticking with him getting out at all is because I want to address some truly egregious moments linked directly to him in the show. Zemo makes them think he's setting them on the trail when really he's just sending them to his motor pool. Bucky and Sam are confused until they see Zemo in his stolen guard uniform, then they're both angry and want to ship him right back to prison, but he strikes a deal with them: "My help for my temporary freedom. Creating super soldiers cannot be allowed to continue; let me finish my work, and then do with me as you will." He has no intention of going quietly back to prison, obviously, and they're not stupid enough to believe otherwise, but they believe they can keep him on a short leash, so they agree for now. Anything to bring down the Flag Smashers and whoever created them.

After the title, we cut to Raynor on the phone in her office. She's agitated, fiddling with things on her desk. "No, sir," she's practically growling, "it was disrupted. - Walker did! - It's not my fault your new attack dog got off-leash!" She pauses, huffs, and says more calmly, "No. Of course not. I'm sorry. - Well, I don't see how, with the new Cap strutting around barking orders! - What am I supposed to do? Tell Captain America in front of a dozen witnesses that he can't have his predecessor's favorite pet because we're not done reprogramming him? I didn't see that going over too well. I made a call. - No. No, no, no, we can still use him. The work's not finished, but he still trusts me. He'll be back." A pause as she listens. Angry again, she snaps, "What do you want me to do, shove a tracker up his ass? He'll be back, and we'll pick right back up where we left off! - Don't worry, sir, the Asset will be fully compliant and ready to use soon. I'll make sure of it. - Yes, sir. You, too." She hangs up and tosses her phone on the couch, grumbling, "Dick."

Cut back to Sam, Bucky, and Zemo getting going on their trip to Madripoor. On the plane, Sam wants to talk to Bucky about what he's learned so far, but doesn't want to bring it up in front of Zemo... until the notebook incident reminds him that Zemo already knows more about Bucky than he does.

After Zemo's line about the list, Sam angrily corrects him: "You mean people HYDRA used The Winter Soldier to hurt." When Zemo shrugs and his response is basically along the lines of "what's the difference" Sam is like "oh hell no."

"Those words you were reciting at him," he reminds Zemo, "what were they, Russian? They clearly meant something. They were supposed to do something. What are they?" "Sam, let it go," Bucky pleads, unable to look at either of them. "It's nothing." "You wanna drown in your guilt, that's fine," Sam snaps, "but make sure it's for the right reasons." He turns back to Zemo, who's smiling at this exchange because he's a monster and thinks Bucky's suffering is fucking funny. "I asked you a question, Zemo. What did those words do?" "They activate the Winter Soldier programming," Bucky grudgingly admits. He doesn't want to talk about it, but he's sure as hell not going to let Zemo speak for him. "Or, they did, before the Wakandans got all that shit out of my head." "It's a shame," Zemo says with a smirk. "Imagine the possibilities that come with perfect obedience." "I think you mean 'slavery'," Sam growls, "and I think you're in the wrong crowd to be looking so pleased about it. Remember that we can send your ass back to prison any time." "Of course," Zemo agrees, but with an arrogant smile that shows he doesn't believe for a second that these two have any real power over him. Still, he bides his time and sits back quietly, watching Bucky fidget with the notebook. Sam turns back to Bucky, seeing his discomfort; he won't let the topic go, though, not yet. He just softens his tone. "So, they 'activated the Winter Soldier'? What exactly does that mean?" Bucky shrugs, still not looking up. "Pretty much what he said - perfect obedience. What little consciousness they left me between cryo and the chair was squashed down, locked away. And I did whatever I was told, exactly the way they told me to." It finally clicks. He'd had his suspicions before, of course, but now Sam gets it. Visibly horrified, he stares at this quiet, broken man, and finally sees the truth of what he'd been through for 70 years: "They stripped away your autonomy. Shit, Bucky, they didn't even let you be a person. That's..." He swallows, looking like he'll be sick any minute. "That's awful, man. I'm so sorry." When Bucky tries to shrug it off and downplay it again, Sam gets angry. "Look at me!" He waits; it takes a few seconds, but Bucky reluctantly looks up and is surprised to see just how upset Sam is on his behalf. "It wasn't your fault. None of it. When Steve said you didn't have a choice, I had no idea... You really, truly had no choice; not even the ability to choose. That's horrifying." "I doubt it would make much difference to the people he's killed," Zemo points out snidely. "Or their families. Let's ask Tony Stark, shall we?" "You shut the hell up," Sam growls. He watches Bucky flinch and make that face - the face he's starting to really fucking hate - that says he agrees with Zemo. Bucky still can't see things the way Sam does; he still feels the guilt and shame, and even when he himself pointed out his lack of agency under HYDRA, it didn't click for him that Sam is right, not Zemo.

It's too much, too soon. Sam sees that and decides to change the subject, to give Bucky some time to process. He nods at the notebook, and they have their little Marvin Gaye debate, where Sam is over the top about it on purpose, because Bucky needs the distraction.

Of course, Zemo ruins it by opening his big mouth again and reminding Bucky of more trauma: his time fighting in WWII. That's why Sam latches onto the bit about Madripoor; to keep the focus not only on the task at hand, but off of Bucky's past that he clearly still can't cope with.

"James... You will have to become someone you claim is gone." Sam is officially ready to throw Zemo out a window. 😂 The only reason he doesn't jump to Bucky's defense again and basically tell Zemo to fuck himself (in a PG-13 way 🙄) is because Bucky's, as Sam pointed out in ep2, a grown-ass man, and because he's just learned how few decisions this poor man has been able to make in his life. Sam doesn't want to come across as another "handler," deciding everything for him, even if he does think this plan is stupid and needlessly cruel.

At the bar, when asked if he wants "the usual", Sam just casually waves the bartender off like "nah". Zemo already said they had business to attend to, so it's not like anyone would be suspicious that now's probably not a good time to be doing weird shots lol. (wtf even was that? I'm not sure I want to know, but...what part of the snake did he drop into that drink?)

Sam's not an idiot (I'm really so sick of this trend of turning intelligent characters into morons because the writers can't think of any other way to move their plot along) so his cell phone has been off this whole time. No sudden call from Sarah to put them all in danger. There was really no point to that, anyway; Sharon likely would have killed Selby for talking about Nagle with or without the excuse of "saving" Sam and Bucky. I mean, it's not like they know who fired that shot, ever.

"They cleared the Bionic Staring Machine," Sam still jokes, but he follows it with, "and they think he's a mass-murderer." "They think?" Sharon stares at him incredulously. "Didn't he kill pretty much everyone he's ever met?" "Wow." Sam glances back at Bucky. "She really is awful now." To Sharon, he adds, "You met Steve; do you really think he'd have defied 117 countries to protect someone evil?" "He did it for Bucky," she points out. "Let's face it - Bucky could blow up half the planet, and Steve's loyal-to-a-fault ass would still take a bullet for him." "You know I'm sitting right here, right? I can hear you." "Look, I don't think you're evil, Bucky," Sharon assures him. "But I know you killed a lot of people for HYDRA." "I'm not denying it." "He didn't have a choice," Sam snaps, glaring at them both. "But we're not getting into that right now. My point is, the government's afraid of Bucky, and they still pardoned him. All you did was steal something. I'm sure they can be persuaded to see reason." "The day the US government sees reason," Sharon quips, rolling her eyes, "is the day I sprout real wings and fly off into the sunset." "Careful, Icarus," Bucky mocks with a smirk, "the sun and brand new wings don't exactly go together." Then he shrugs and glances at Sam. "But she's not wrong."

At the party that night, it takes a few minutes (grumpy old man Bucky's not sure how to feel about the music lol) but a peek of pre-war Bucky comes out to play: they were told to "blend in", so he dances. At first he's just bobbing around alone looking stoic and out of place, but soon he's smiling and dancing between two attractive people - one male, one female. Sam is surprised, but before he can tease him for it, Sharon comes to get them all. Even she's a little "wait what?" at Bucky having a little fun lol. (recovery is not linear, guys. trauma doesn't mean "perpetually miserable, no fun, doesn't even know how to smile." in my TFATWS, Bucky gets his lighter moments; real ones, not humor at his expense)

When they find Nagle, Bucky's the one who notices and opens the secret door, while Sam keeps an eye on Zemo. Bucky catches Zemo trying to grab that gun; closes the drawer on his hand before opening it and taking the gun away. "Nice try." Nagle tries to get away while there's only one person watching him, but Sam catches him and forces him back into his seat. With a bruising grip on the back of Zemo's neck, Bucky drags him back over to where he and Sam can both keep an eye on him. Nagle is killed in the shootout as they're trying to escape; Zemo still runs off, blows shit up, and comes back with the stolen car so he's not totally useless.

I had no problem with Zemo being the one to kill Nagle; Nagle was the worst and def had to die, and Zemo has never had an issue killing anyone. Where I took issue with this scene was Bucky and Sam being dumb enough to let Zemo wander and get his hands on a gun. Nope. Not happening.

Anyway, shootout! Explosions! Funny banter! The seat thing, which is my favorite nod to CW ever lol... And then the conversation on the plane...

"You okay?" "Yeah." Sam sighs. "Just thinking." "About how to get Sharon that pardon you dangled in front of her?" He shakes his head. "About how Nagle referred to 'The Winter Soldier Program" like it was some kind of after school club; like you weren't standing right there. And 'the American test subject' like... Like Isaiah wasn't even a real person." He turns to face Bucky, looking angry and weary. "Makes me wonder how many times... How many times are we gonna run around in the same circles before people learn? And how many people need to get crushed underfoot in the meantime?" "Did you really just equate me with Isaiah?" Bucky frowns, not sure how to react to that. "That man is a hero." Sam opens his mouth to say something, but his phone goes off and Zemo approaches at the same time, effectively cutting off their conversation.

When they get to Riga and Zemo tries to guilt trip them over Sokovia, Bucky deadpan reminds him, "Neither of us were involved in that fight." "I doubt you'd have been much help if you were." He shrugs. "Probably not. But I like to save my guilt for events I was actually present for. It's a thing." Zemo laughs. "Fair enough."

Bucky goes on his walk, and meets up with Ayo.

So I've seen a lot of people saying Dabi is dramatic Queen and his childhood isn't that hard and Shoto had it worst. It annoys me tbh, like we didn't get Dabi's full backstory yet and from Natsuo it's seems to be harder. Like they even say that Shoto's childhood is harder than shiggy. I don't hate Shoto or anything but his childhood is pinky next to Touya and Shiggy. Ppl saying that Shiggy and Touya are adults so their childhood doesn't matter anymore and Shoto still a child and i just can't :|

This is exactly what we’re not gonna do: compare trauma. There is no point in comparing trauma, no matter which side you’re on. It doesn’t matter who “had it harder” - everyone’s trauma, pain, and feelings are valid. 

It’s true that we haven’t gotten Dabi’s full backstory yet and that a lot of people jumped to conclusions based on Endeavor’s biased memories.

But saying Shouto’s trauma is nothing compared to other characters is bullshit. He has been isolated from his own siblings for who knows how long (seriously Horikoshi, when was he allowed to be around his siblings?!), been trained far too harshly for his age, and the list goes on. That is not nothing.

It doesn’t matter whether Touya ever enjoyed the training and got along with his father, and anyone that wants to downplay his trauma because of those panels we’ve been shown are just missing the point.

It’s not the good memories, it’s about the fact that, at some point, Touya got neglected and replaced. But just because Shouto wasn’t neglected like his other siblings, doesn’t mean he had it less hard than them.

Just please do not compare them. They all had their own trauma and it’s not about comparing them and finding out who’s had the worst upbringing. They’re all victims that have never been helped and have yet to heal. And this whole idea of comparing victims is an incredibly harmful rhetoric that gaslights real-life victims by invalidating their trauma.

I understand your frustration and am sure you meant no harm, but please be more mindful of the connotations your words can have. I don’t want anyone here to feel like their feelings aren’t valid or that their pain isn’t real enough. If you’re in pain, then you’re in pain. A doctor wouldn’t ask you to compare your pain to that of someone else, they would simply ask you to rate it on a scale from 1 to 10, so please also apply this when talking about other people’s pain.