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#you're part of my villain origin story
mieczyhale · 2 years
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if y'all fuckers who think bucky barnes is a villain wanna see a villain so bad i'd be more than happy to show you one : )
#if you're gonna be so fucking ignorant#so cold hearted and stupider than shit#you're part of my villain origin story#maybe leave the tortured man alone - the one trying to recover from 70 years of unimaginable pain and horror and violation-#he didnt sign up for that shit. he was experimented on by zola while he was a prisoner. he was given the serum against his will#and everything that happened to him after his fall from the train?? he didnt fucking want that or ask for that either#that grabbed him at a point where a normal person would've been dead. he's fallen into a goddamn ravine#his arm was aleady fucked. he wasnt a that aware of his surroundings#its not like he waltzed up to the nearest hydra base and offered his fucking services#they captured him. again. they operated on him. tortured him. brainwashed him - and that's JUST what we saw on screen. for 70 fucking years#and through the years he's frozen#again and again and again#ive seen sympathy for steve being frozen for 70 years - sympathy that is absolutely deserved yes. but where's the sympathy for the main who#had to experience being frozen and thawed and refrozen?? being frozen - thawed - electrocuted - brainwashed - told to do something he cant#NOT do because he isnt fucking there. he's not aware and he's not himself and if for a moment he was and e tried to say 'no'?? how fucking#well do you think that would've gone?? so he's forced to kill and as soon as they're done with him he's frozen all over again. where the#fuck is the sympathy for him?? people who hate bucky - who call him a villain - have none to spare for him bc he was forced to kill their#blorbos parents over 20 years ago. get the fuck out of here#maison speaks#and vents apparently
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primofate · 7 months
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Genshin Angst Headcanons - Why the two of you broke up
Note: Had an unexpected free day! I haven't written in a while, please excuse the mistakes, if any.
Disclaimer at the end of the post
Warning: Some are pretty predictable. Each of them have their own issues, lore wise, so some are lore heavy. You might not agree with some of them, but its how I see it, so to each their own. Let me know what you think! Some are quite angsty. Some scenes it's you breaking up with him and some are vice versa. Didn't feel like writing Razor, Venti and Xingqiu.
Characters: Aether, Albedo, Alhaitham, Ayato, Baizhu, Bennett, Chongyun, Cyno, Dainsleif, Diluc, Gorou, Heizou, Itto, Kaeya, Kaveh, Kazuha, Lyney, Neuvillette, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, Thoma, Tighnari, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader
Personal Favourites in this work: Lyney, Itto, Kazuha
Aether
Sister issues. Enough said.
He realized he didn't have enough time to spare romancing with someone.
Somewhere along the way he felt guilt that he was enjoying his time with you while his sister went through some sort of villain origin story that seemingly turned her bad.
Top off all the adventuring, searching, solving problems for other people that he did...Where did that leave you, exactly?
"...I'm sorry, Y/N... I just... I don't think this is the right time for me to be together with you,"
Albedo
Contrary to popular belief it wouldn't be his lack of time or extreme focus on his alchemical experiments that would break the two of you up. He knows how to manage his time.
It was the RESULTS of experiments and his research that would put him away from you.
The possibility that HE or his world, was way too dangerous for you.
How many "Albedos" did Rhinedottir really create? Was there more than three? Perhaps four, five? And what happens when you come face to face with another Albedo?
"I'm afraid...There are far too many dangers surrounding myself... There are answers that I can't find...and perhaps that's the reason why my answer is to part ways with you,"
Alhaitham
Too much of a nonchalant attitude.
He expressed some kind of interest in you...but it's like... once in a blue moon. 95% of the time you're not sure if he's really into you. It almost seems like he's more into that book he reads all the time.
Simply just not good at expressing himself. Like, at all. Hides behind a "whatever works" and "I don't care about what other people think of me" attitude, unfortunately that seems to include you.
Is so straightforward that sometimes it hurts, but he's really just telling the truth through logical analysis.
will act like the breakup didn't hurt nor affect him at all. In turn it hurts you instead.
"I see. So you've had enough of me... And you only spoke up now? Pointing it out earlier could've diverted us from this path...If that's how you feel already I suggest that we stop seeing each other,"
"That's it? You're not even going to try and work it out with me?"
"What's there to work out? You've made yourself clear. You're not satisfied with the way I treat you, and I'm afraid I'm not going to change the way I act just for your pleasure... It'd be more meaningful for you to find someone who fits your criterias,"
Ayato
entering a relationship with a noble was not as easy as one thought.
It's not just about being together forever and feeling lucky because Ayato is rich and your whole life is set, it's also the not fitting in, the etiquette, the whispers from townfolk that you were too ordinary for him, the work that you needed to do if you were to become his wife.
All that was not really a big problem for you, but Ayato seemed not to know of your struggles, he was extremely busy, and when he wasn't, he seemed to think that everything was well and fine, since you were getting all your basic needs met and even more.
"...So I'm sorry, Ayato. This is just... All too much for me. I'm sorry,"
"...I understand. Forgive me, it seems that I've overlooked a lot of things...Perhaps it is as you say, that it'd be better for us to grow apart rather than grow together,"
Baizhu
because he is a ticking time bomb, no matter which way he looked it's not going to end well for both of you.
He either dies early or lives forever. In both scenarios he anticipates that the two of you are just going to be in a world of hurt.
Besides, he didn't mean to get so attached to someone in the first place, he knew his quest for immortality was long and arduous. You didn't deserve to walk that difficult road too.
While breaking up, will conceal the fact that he's only thinking of you and will possibly hurt you in the process.
"I'm sorry, but it's for the best. I ask that you continue going forward without me, there's no space for you in my... ideal future,"
Bennett
We all know it...it's his bad luck. However, it wasn't YOU who had a problem with it, it was HIM.
You understood that his bad luck was just some extended part of him, plus it's not like it was always bad, there were a lot of good times too. Plenty!
But the guilt ate him up whenever the two of you were stuck in a seemingly impossible scenario and predicament, brought on by his luck. He just had enough of it one day.
"I...I can't keep doing this to you every day! It's not fair..."
will be on the brink of tears before he even starts.
"Maybe it's better if you find someone else to adventure with, Y/N, sorry...!"
runs away before you can even get a word in.
Chongyun
Thinks he's not good enough in every aspect. It's really, seriously not about you. He thinks he's lacking in everything. Strength, maturity, experience, confidence.
So badly wants to stay with you but feels like he's not good enough and thinks that you're better off with someone else.
"D-Don't misunderstand... It's not because I don't like you anymore... I just...Please find someone else!"
Cyno
his bad jokes and TCG addiction. just kidding, you're not that shallow.
A lot of people are intimidated by him being the General Mahamatra because he gives importance to justice. While you, who had seen a bit more of him than other people had, it seemed more of an obsession to uphold the Akademiya's law and integrity.
This was not a big problem to you, you liked how he was serious at work.
Until one day when you were accused of plagiarising one of your papers and Cyno was the one sent to give you a first offense warning. The Akademiya knew of your relationship, that's probably why they sent him, to make it harder on the two of you.
Cyno didn't listen to your explanations on how it was an honest mistake, he still gave you the warning that you "deserved"
From then on it had just been different between the two of you, so it was really a mutual breakup. Or so you thought.
"...After that, I just realized that maybe this isn't the right time for us... We're both working for the Akademiya, we both take our jobs seriously...Unfortunately that seems to just be getting in the way of us...I think it's best if we stop seeing each other,"
"...I see." he pauses for a minute, as if tossing your words in his mind. "I...agree. Parting ways would certainly make work easier for both of us...it's the professional thing to do,"
Dainsleif
Has not moved on from his past.
Sure, everyone has their own baggage to carry, their own history to live through...but Dainsleif has heavier things than that. He seemed to wake up every day thinking of Khaenri'ah and the days long past. Was it regret? Nostalgia? Loneliness? You didn't know. You just knew that he wasn't really completely THERE with you in the present. Part of him still lived in the past.
When you explained that you felt like the two of you were not moving forward together and that it seemed like he wanted to go back to the past instead, he got offended.
"...My past is something that I carry forever, you'd claimed that you understood that," he starts.
"I do! But carrying it with you and letting it drag you backwards are two different things!"
He falters for a moment, only to leave you with his last words before turning away from you forever: "You will never understand, the weight that I carry,"
Diluc
is too guarded. You'd been friends for a long, long, long, long time before he decided he could let you in enough and be more intimate with you.
Even then everything was going at a snail's pace, though you were extremely patient with him.
The biggest problem with Diluc was that the two of you would progress one day, take a step forward, and then the next day it was like the two of you took two steps back.
Example: The two of you went out for a simple stargazing excursion late one night, it was nice and he had been incredibly affectionate. The next day he had trouble even meeting your gaze, and disappeared to do his work. It was also a little awkward during dinnertime. This scenario had happened more than once.
Hint: the closer he got to you the more afraid he became, thinking that he would one day lose you too.
"I...I can't. I love you but I...I've waited far too long. I'm sorry. I'm tired of this endless chase for you!"
He couldn't even say a thing. He'd wanted to ask you to stay, to wait for him a little longer, but he already knew how incredibly selfish that would have been. Instead, he grimaced, and looked away from your gaze, trying to find something worthwhile to say. There was only silence for a few moments.
"Goodbye Diluc," that's when you turned away.
Gorou
worships Kokomi too much and your insecurities just kept circling around in your head.
You know its his job. You know he isn't like that but the problem was YOU and not him.
Simply said you let your insecurity eat up the relationship between the two of you.
You couldn't bring yourself to say that you were jealous of the way he admired Kokomi so you broke up with him with another reason in tow.
Unfortunately, you're not a very good liar face to face so you did a butthole move and actually broke up with him through a letter. You just couldn't face him and tell him why.
All you mentioned in the letter was that you needed time to think and be away from him, and told him not to worry because it was your problem, not his.
Poor Gorou reread that letter over and over, trying to understand what went wrong.
Heizou
is just a natural flirt. You're not sure if he's doing it on purpose or not and you're not sure if he's even aware he's like that.
Anyway you'd seen him getting overly friendly (just another word for flirting) with a few other people a couple of times. You didn't let it get to you the first, fourth or even eighth time but you realized that he KNOWS that you're watching him do that.
So you confront him about it, but he claims that it's just his way of gathering information from others. People like to hear good things and some people are more susceptible to flirtatious comments so he resorts to that for his investigation sometimes.
You didn't really completely buy it and even if you did, it's not like this was healthy for your relationship. You just couldn't make yourself comfortable with it.
*You just chalked it up to the two of you being incompatible.
"I'm just not comfortable with that...I don't think I have to say sorry for how I feel but...I'm sorry anyway because I know you're just doing your job... It's probably best if we part ways here..."
"Is there any way to change your mind?" he genuinely asks.
You only give a lopsided smile. "You're a detective, I think you already know the answer to that,"
Yet he didn't stop you from walking away.
Itto
Kept breaking promises because he was too airheaded or too occupied doing something "stupid" with the kids or with his gang.
Pretty soon it just felt like you were an afterthought while everyone else in his life took precedent.
Got a ramen date? Oops, sorry! Got caught up looking for a strong onikabuto in the forest!
Needed his help to move some things? Gah, he was vandalising the bulletin boards, so he's running a bit late!
What's more you didn't actually mind that carefree, airheaded side of him...but it really got to you when he couldn't even seem to make you a priority. Not once.
He only realized that when he came running, late again, and stood face to face with a crying you.
"Hey sorry Y/N, I was just--...Why are you crying?!" is completely dumbfounded and clueless, mostly because when he came late, you had always shrugged it off with a smile on your face, or so he thought. This time you had a completely different reaction.
"I hate you...*hic* I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"
Shocked beyond belief. It wasn't like you to just blow up like that, but he couldn't do anything except watch you turn and run away from him after that exclamation.
Kaeya
Sometimes you're not sure if he takes you seriously.
Recently, he's not where he says he is, you don't know why he doesn't just tell you where he is.
He said he'd be working late, but then you find out he's at Angel's Share.
He said he'll be at Angel's Share, but then you catch word from Jean that he's out on a late mission.
He said he's escorting a caravan to Mondstadt but he's actually on assignment in Liyue.
It came to the point where you altogether just stopped looking for him cause half of the time you couldn't find him. It's like he's avoiding you or something, which, actually, seems just about right since he's been so busy with "work"
It reached a breaking point when, for a week, you were unable to bring him the lunch you prepared...because he was not where he said he was going to be. It was starting to get annoying.
"I don't understand why you're lying to me! Why do you have to tell me you'll be at Angel's Share this afternoon when you're not? Do you realize you make me walk all the way there only to come all the way back with nothing achieved?"
"I'm sorry snowflake, that wasn't my intention," though he still chuckles despite knowing full well that you were about to turn away.
"You know what, let me know when you're ready to stop making jokes. Until then, don't bother contacting me,"
He just didn't expect you to actually walk away from him.
Kaveh
Entertains everyone and anyone. Naturally kind at heart, will stop for anyone in trouble...even that flirtatious man/woman who is clearly just pining for his attention.
No he doesn't quite realize this.
The same person had asked for his help at least 4 times now and all 4 times he had been happy to offer a helping hand.
The last straw was when he was invited into the stranger's house, they had apparently needed someone to help them move and re-arrange furniture and he did, working till almost dinner time.
You'd caught him right by the person's door, because Kaveh was actually honest and told you he'd be helping them today, but the person was clearly eyeing Kaveh rather flirtatiously.
"Come again next time," you heard the person say rather happily. Kaveh only replies with "If I have nothing else to do, I suppose,"
"Kaveh, they're coming onto you and you keep letting it happen!"
"I'm not certain what you're talking about...They just needed some help around their house, nothing suspicious happened at all. Even if there was, I won't let anything happen between me and a stranger!"
"Then STOP helping them!"
"There isn't anything wrong with lending a hand...It was a quick move of things, that's all,"
"How would YOU feel if I just went into someone's house and kept helping them "move" things?"
"...I would think that's nice of you,"
You actually threw your hands up. "Oh, forget it! You know what, for someone who LOVES helping others, you're not doing such a great job of helping ME," then walked away and never came back. "Good riddance,"
Kazuha
He's a wandering samurai. You knew what you were getting into but you didn't expect dating him to be so hard.
He was gone for weeks on end, and you were not getting on that boat with him. In essence the two of you were just not ready to follow each other to the end's of the Earth, and that was fair. The two of you were young.
Kazuha kind of saw it coming, whenever he visited you, you seemed less spirited and he had an inkling as to why. The time apart was just too much for you.
It was a rather clean break actually. A real mutual breakup that the two of you agreed on.
"...You could say it's just not the right time for us," you even managed to laugh under your breath and he did the same, though it was barely audible.
"...Mm. There are matters that you need to attend to here...and there are things that I need to do out there," he slowly stood up from his sitting position next to you and still gazed at you rather lovingly. "...Perhaps, in another world, you and I are bound together,"
You gazed back forlornly, "...Just not in this one, it looks like,"
Lyney
because he will always choose his siblings over you. Always.
Though that's not a bad thing because you also think that family is important...somewhere along the way you realized that family is the ONLY thing he had and saw.
Example: Lynette and you had gotten ill at the same time one winter morning. Perhaps it was the cold that was passing around Fontaine. Lyney had been so worried about Lynette, that he seemed to have forgotten about you for the next few days. In fact, Lyney didn't even realize that you caught the cold too. You had only heard from Freminet, who you happened to cross paths with, that Lynette was also ill.
You thought that incident was the end of it, but really it seemed that whenever Lyney wanted to hang out with you, Lynette had to be there too. You tried to understand...after all there's still that mystery of disappearing women in Fontaine.
The breakup was induced when Lyney completely forgot about your birthday, because Freminet's was around the same time as yours. You helped Lyney prepare everything for Freminet, and said nothing about your own.
You realized that there was nothing wrong with choosing family over everything else...but the problem here was that Lyney didn't even have space for you in the first place.
So you left without saying anything. You figured he'd get over it quick. You had even gone so far as to move away from the main city of Fontaine and out into another island, because what would you say if he found you? That you were jealous of his siblings? You weren't going to ruin a family like that and it wasn't right to make him choose...so you just left without a word.
Neuvillette
Had a whole brainrot for this man:
Part 1
Part 2
Scaramouche
surprisingly it's not his anger issues.
It's the way he wouldn't acknowledge your relationship. You wonder how you even got into one with him.
There's no public show of affection, but even behind closed doors it rarely happened.
You knew that he was going to be like that, and so you didn't mind it all that much.
It was getting a bit much though when, out in public, he would walk further in front of you and refused to walk next to you. When he pretended like he didn't even know you. When he didn't stop to help you even when another man had shown interest in you, bordering on uncomfortable.
The more time passed the more you simply felt unloved...but for some reason you still blamed yourself.
"...I...don't know. Maybe you find me undesirable, or just...unappealing. Maybe you're embarrassed of me or...or..." maybe you just didn't care in the first place, you thought to yourself.
There was a long silence. Of you turning your gaze away, of him still piercing into yours. And then...
"Tsk...don't waste my time...Leave if you want to leave, door's open,"
Tartaglia
This one is simple. It's his obsession for fighting plus his complete disregard for himself. It's a constant heart attack for you. At some point the anxiety is just too much for you to handle.
Imagine living every day just wondering if he's safe at the same time knowing that he just loves to look for trouble.
The foul legacy that you know of, he uses it with disregard as well, despite knowing that it wasn't good for him.
And there are even days where you know he was heavily wounded but didn't go to you, in an attempt to shield you from worry.
It's a constant battle trying to stay sane and unworried, until one day it all just becomes too much.
"...Nothing I say will change anything, Tartaglia. This is who you are...This is who you need to be..." you whisper while bandaging his knuckles. He lets out a short hum.
It was silent all up until you finished with his hand, you squeeze it gently. "...I love you but...I can't keep doing this to myself, I'm tired...more so than I have ever been before,"
He lets your hand slip away from his knuckles, and that was the last he saw of you.
Thoma
This one is also simple. He was always taking care of others and running errands for others that he sometimes just couldn't catch a break.
Just a classic case of not enough time for you since he had a job to do for the Kamisato Clan.
He knows it, and feels awful about it. So he's the one who makes the move.
"It hurts that I can't give you what you deserve, Y/N. This isn't it... You deserve more than this but I can't give you that and I'm sorry. Please look for the love that you deserve,"
Tighnari
Remembers everything. Can be critical of things you've done, specially if he thinks there's a better way to do it.
Simply said you just feel stupid in front of him sometimes.
He doesn't mean to, but he sometimes forgets to appreciate or give praise to the things that you do well and even if he does, it tends to be short lived compared to his constructive criticisms.
Pretty soon you felt like he only looks at the bad things you do, and never the good. Though he was really only trying to teach and guide you as an equal.
He in fact feels that you are one of the few people who can keep up educational conversations with him.
The problem is he kind of forgets that you're his lover, and that you would enjoy his praise and affection from time to time.
"Do you... Do you ever have anything nice to say other than 'good work' or 'great observation'?" the words were out of your mouth before you could hold yourself back. Sometimes it was tiring to feel like you weren't good enough.
There's a flash of surprise that crosses Tighnari's expression for a split second, before he recovers. "...Had I not been praising your work enough lately? My apologies... It has a lot of merits, I just thought that you wanted my opinion on how to make it better,"
You opened your mouth to say something, but closed it again right after to ponder on his words. Somehow even that had managed to make you feel embarrassed. It was here you knew that the problem also lied within yourself.
"...Sorry, Tighnari...I think I'll need some time alone,"
He obliges quickly and asks. "That's reasonable. When would you like me to come back?"
"...Let me rephrase that... I need some time away. From us."
Xiao
Unfortunately there's a lot of things wrong here... his lack of affection. His aloof personality. His dedication to his yaksha duties. Despite that he does actually try to be gentlemanly or respectful of you.
The worst of it is that he didn't know how to be in a relationship, in other words he just wasn't ready for one, or perhaps he would never be ready for one.
He didn't understand that humans craved companionship and sometimes touch. He didn't understand that meant having to favour you over others, sometimes even putting you first over his yaksha duties.
Worst of it all was when he shut himself off from you, sometimes for days on end, when his karmic debt was too high. He only really did it to protect you, but never realized how isolated that made you feel.
When you confronted him about it, he felt attacked. Hiding away was the only way he knew how to cope...why couldn't you understand that?
"Let me help you, Xiao,"
"I don't need your help!" his tone would make you wince and just like that he disappears into a billow of smoke.
You never returned to Wangshu Inn after that. If he couldn't let you in, there was no use trying to knock on his heart. Xiao being Xiao, never sought you ought again either.
Zhongli
He had experienced so many things and you had listened to many a tales from him.
This is what caused you to realize that you hadn't even experienced life at all, and yet here you were willing to tie yourself down to him.
It just didn't feel like it added up. Here he was with all this knowledge of the world and here you were who had never even stepped outside of Liyue. By no means were you stupid, but you felt that you could be better not only for him, but for yourself if you learned more.
There was just such a huge gap in life experiences, and though you never expected to get to his level (he was a God who had lived for a long time, you would never catch up to him) you at least wanted to see what was out there with your own eyes instead of through his stories.
He understood that wholeheartedly, and had no qualms in letting you go.
"You will always have a place with me, Y/N. No amount of lifetimes will change that,"
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Disclaimer: Relationships will always have some sort of problem along the way, maybe big, maybe small but I just want to reiterate that breaking up is not always the solution. Communicating is very important. So to those of you who like taking fanfiction too seriously, let it be known that this is just a work of fiction. I don't actually suggest breaking up with someone as soon as there is the slight indication of a problem (Just saw someone commenting on a similar themed post for Haikyuu that this wouldn't happen in the real world if both parties were mature... I mean, sure, but, idk, you must be fun in parties... it's called fiction for a reason...)
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Oppenheimer review (spoilers spoilers spoilers)
The good:
Cillian Murphy is truly giving the performance of a lifetime. Christopher Nolan wanted an actor whose eyes could tell 80% of the story and by god he succeeded
The movie is gorgeous, just visually stunning and rich and immersive
It's a complicated, slippery, story that resists easy definition. It was brilliant in keeping Oppenheimer a cypher even to the audience, in refusing to resolve any side of the nuclear debate. It's a meaty, chewy philosophical web of a movie I'm going to be thinking about for awhile
The not so good:
Christopher Nolan I am begging you to talk to one (1) single woman
It is hilarious to me how Florence is being trotted out as the second female lead of this movie when she was in it for 5 minutes mainly to be naked
Emily Blunt has her one #girlboss scene but you know what would have made it land better? Literally any work done to set it up. When Oppenheimer goes "don't presume to understand relationships you're not in" that felt like the movie realizing at the last second it had done absolutely nothing to build their relationship other than some scattered discrete bits and going "well how dare you want to know" and nothing ticks me off more than a piece of media that judges you for daring to want to watch it
You could easily cut 30 minutes from this movie and lose nothing. I don't care if you're making an operatic grand masterpiece, no movie needs to be more than 2 and a half hours
I saw a review trying to claim that the masses of interchangeable white men was a choice to demonstrate the tide of history or something and I'm sorry but no, all it did was cheapen any emotional impact of anything these characters did since I had no idea what they had done before
The thing I am probably beating a dead horse about a bit:
It is deeply fucking weird to me to write a movie about the inner turmoil of a Jewish man building a weapon he thinks will end ww2 and not deal at all with the fact that he is Jewish and a lot of the people working with him are also Jewish. Sure, there are a couple of passing references, but they carry no more weight than if he had said "I'm from 86th Street" or "my mother had red hair". Oppenheimer was a secular, assimilated Jew one generation out from immigration, who had family still in Germany and who faced antisemitism at every stage of his career. You cannot tell me that this brilliant man caught up in his own brilliance, trying to build a world destroyer, would not have at least woven into his web of self deception and justification the fact that this could protect his people from an existential threat. That the many Jewish scientists working with Oppenheimer would not have had complicated feelings about working for a country that barely tolerated them, trying to create a device of mass death, wondering if this will be enough to protect their people, responding to an attempt at complete extermination with actual extermination, all wrapped up in a big package of nationalism and the war effort and, yeah, scientific progress to the point that it might as well be magic or a miracle. It is impossible to overstate the impact the Holocaust had on Judaism, and maybe if you start to explore that it becomes the entire movie, but this movie didn't even try. I just wonder why bother mentioning Oppenheimer was Jewish at all - they clearly fictionalized a lot of other elements, and Christopher Nolan certainly isn't the person to handle this issue. But to act as though being Jewish is completely disassociated from wanting to defeat the Nazis is disingenuous at best and actively intellectually lazy at worst
My favorite part of the evening:
Girl in the bathroom after the movie: "They dropped JFK's name like they were talking about fucking Bruce Wayne in the DC villain origins story"
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skzstannie · 3 months
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"I'll take care of you"
SKZ-> Felix x Reader
genre: angst, hurt/comfort, stranger to lovers wc: ~3,100 cw: Abusive/toxic boyfriend, yelling, violence, Felix is literally the biggest sweetheart
summary: you'd never expect the coffee shop down the street to be your saving grace, but a certain sunshine had other ideas
A/N: Hellooooo! I reached 200 followers today, so THANK U AGAIN! Should I do something special for it?
Part 2 is now posted!
Happy Scrolling! | Masterlist
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"Baby, please," you sob, your cheek throbbing in pain.
"Don't 'baby' me, you know this is what happens when you don't do your chores." His smirk is villainous as he stands over you. "Don't be a bitch! Get up and go do what you were supposed to do," he seethes, making you flinch.
You slowly get up off the floor, brushing yourself off as you stand. You feel his eyes on you as you scramble into the kitchen.
You forgot to do the dishes again. You should've known better than to forget; you know he gets like this every time. You don't necessarily blame him, though. He does so much for you, and you can't even remember to do a simple household chore.
You scrub the plates clean, the hot water burning against your skin. His footsteps echo into the room, coming closer to you.
His hands wrap gently around your waist, holding you close. "You know I don't like to hit you, baby. Why can't you just listen?"
"I'm sorry. I'll be better for you," you tell him as you lean back into his touch.
"I know you will be."
~ ~ ~
"One medium Iced Americano!"
You stand from your seat in the coffee shop, making your way towards the counter to grab your drink.
The cafe is crowded, the queue at least 10 deep. You squeeze past people, muttering the occasional "Excuse me" as you pass.
You're disappointed when you get to the counter, seeing your drink nowhere to be found.
"Excuse me," you call out to the barista behind the counter, "What happened to my drink? The Iced Americano?"
"Oh, some guy just took it. It was yours?" she asks distractedly, another cup already in her hand as she pours coffee into it.
"Yea..." you trail off, your eyes scanning the shop for the drink-stealer.
"I'm sorry about that, I'll whip you up another one. What size would you like?"
"Medium, please." The barista nods her head and gets to work. "Thank you so much."
You sit down at a table near the counter to wait. Your mind starts to wander, thinking about all the work you have to catch up on this week. You're an editor for the local newspaper, and your boss decided to dump a bunch of stories on you last minute. While they weren't set to be published for another few weeks, you were incredibly meticulous with your work, so it usually took you longer than necessary to get through them.
You're brought of your thoughts by a boy walking up to your table. "I'm sorry, but I think I accidentally took your drink. My friend ordered a large iced Americano, and I think this is the medium." His cute face is twisted in an apologetic expression.
"That's ok, she's making me a new one. No worries," you reassure him, giving him a soft smile.
"Oh good, sorry again." You expect to him to walk off, your original drink in his hand, but he continues to stand in front of you, his eyes never leaving yours. It's a little uncomfortable, and you're about to get up to avoid the awkward tension when he speaks again.
"Mind if I sit? You look like you could use some company."
You hesitate to answer. If your boyfriend found out you let some random man sit with you, he'd freak out.
"I was actually just about to head out. I have to get back to my boyfriend," you answer, deciding that rejecting his offer was for the best.
"Here you go miss, one medium Iced Americano," says the barista. Her arm is stretched over the counter, your drink in hand.
"Thank you so much," you immediately stand, stepping around the man to grab it.
As you go to step away, the man stops you, "My name's Felix by the way. I've seen you around here before." His eyes twinkle from the dingey lights overhead.
"I'm Y/N," your lips morph into a smile at his kindness.
"I'll see ya around?" there's a questioning twinge to his voice, a hint of hope peaking through.
"Sure. See ya around, Felix." With that, you walk towards the exit, heading back home.
~ ~ ~
"What took you so long?" your boyfriend's voice booms through the house as soon as you open the door.
"Someone else took my drink, so I had to wait for them to make me another," you explain, hopeful that you're calm energy will have the same affect on your boyfriend.
"You think that's a good enough excuse?! For all I know you could've been cheating on me! What am I supposed to think when you're gone for so long?!" he yells, his heavy footsteps approach you quickly from the living room.
"Babe, I promise it was nothing like that," you panic, your eyes darting around the foyer for an escape.
"Next time," he's in front of you now, his face red in anger, "tell me if you'll be longer." His rough hand reaches towards your face, roughly grabbing your jaw between his fingers. You wince, sure it'll leave yet another bruise. "Got it?"
"Yes," you mumble, your jaw stinging from his tight grasp.
"Good." He releases your face and wipes his hands on his pants, like he's disgusted by you.
You hurry off to your bedroom, quietly closing the door behind you.
~ ~ ~
It's been a couple weeks since you've been able to stop by the cafe. Your boyfriend's been stricter since the last coffee incident, not letting you leave the house without him.
"Hi Y/N!" your eyes glance above your computer screen, meeting the happy face of the man you met the last time you came here. What was his name again?
"Hi..." you say, hoping he'll fill in the blank.
"Felix!"
"Oh yea," you chuckle, embarrassed by your forgetfulness, "Sorry, it slipped my mind."
"That's ok!" You're heart warms, his bright and happy personality filling the emptiness of the coffee shop. "May I sit?" He gestures to the chair across from you.
You think on it for a moment. You really need to finish this article, but you guess a little break won't hurt. "Sure."
You didn't know it was possible, but his smile turns brighter at your answer. "Thanks!" He pulls the chair out and sits. It's silent between you for a minute, and you go back to typing away on your computer. "What are you working on?"
"I'm an editor for the newspaper, so I'm just finishing up this story," you reply.
"Oooh, that's cool? Do you like being an editor?"
You and Felix hit it off right away. He asks you more about your job, and you love the way he genuinely seems interested in what you have to say.
You ask him a few questions about himself, too, and you find out he's in a band with his friends.
"That's so cool!" You've finished you're article by this point, and you're nearing the end of your coffee, as well.
His eyes light up as he talks about his friends. They sound like an interesting bunch from all the stories he tells you.
"And then," he stops, letting out an adorable giggle, "he fell right on his ass, in front of everyone!" He laughs again and you join in. Something about Felix's aura just makes you feel so comfortable around him, like you've known him forever.
You both quiet down, and you become a little uncomfortable under his intense gaze. His eyes focus on your chin.
"What happened to your chin?" It's obvious he doesn't mean any harm with his question, pure curiosity taking over his features. However, the attention to your bruises makes you severely uncomfortable, and you instinctually look to flee.
"Oh, it was nothing," you think for a second, trying to come up with an excuse, "I'm just clumsy and hit my chin on my nightstand. No biggie," you tell him distractedly as you hurry to pack up your things.
His eyes widen at your panicked movements. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," he apologizes, standing up as well.
"It's ok, I actually had to go anyway," you lie, swinging your bag over your shoulder. "I'll see you around." You quickly make your way out of the cafe, not even giving him a chance to say goodbye. He stands there with a slight tilt to his head, watching you rush out of the shop.
~ ~ ~
Weeks go by before Felix has the chance to talk to you again. He waits for you on your usual days at the cafe, hoping to see your familiar figure walk through the door, but you never do.
His eyes light up one particular Monday morning as you walk through the door, the little bell dinging, alerting the employees someone came in.
His smile falters a little upon seeing the man holding your hand. You're expression is stiffer than normal, your lips pursed in a tight line, replacing the bright smile you usually wear.
Felix watches as the man orders for both of you. "One medium iced Americano and a small Hazelnut latte," he says.
The man looks nothing like he thought your boyfriend would look. His eyes are cold and emotionless, practically burning holes in the side of the barista's face. Felix doesn't miss the way he rudely tosses the money onto the counter, not even gracious enough to hand it to the cashier.
Felix's gaze shifts down to your hands, your boyfriend's grip looking unnecessarily tight around your small hand. He notices the way your fingers are white from lack of circulation, and his blood boils.
Felix manages to catch your wandering gaze, your cheeks heated in embarrassment from the way your boyfriend was treating the staff.
He gives you a small wave, the corners of his lips upturned.
Your eyes widen at his show of friendliness, and you give him the smallest of head shakes. Your expression conveys, "Please don't say anything to me", and his heart clenches at this. Who does this guy think he is?
As much as Felix wants to go up to you and rip his hand from yours, it's clear you don't want him to acknowledge you right now. He knows it is because of the man next to you, and he begins to wonder if those bruises he saw on your chin weeks before weren't from your clumsiness after all.
~ ~ ~
"You never order anything when you're here. Why is that?"
It's a nice, sunny Monday morning, and you and Felix sit in the corner of the cafe.
"I don't actually like coffee much," he chuckles, his face flushing in embarrassment. You raise your eyebrows at that, waiting for him to continue. "I just like the atmosphere here, and now I come for you, too!"
Now it's your turn to blush, a pink shade creeping up your neck. "For me?"
"Yea, I figured we're friends now, and I like to spend time with you." his voice is deep and charming as he speaks, his eyes soft.
Friends aren't something that have come easy to you. Your boyfriend rarely lets you go places by yourself. Work is the main exception, and after some begging a few months prior, he allows you to come to the coffee shop by yourself, too.
Being friends with Felix sounds nice. It's been months since you first met, and most weeks you both sit at the same table, you working on your articles and him doing various other activities. Sometimes he'll bring a book to read, other times he'll just play on his phone until you're finished working.
The silence sits between the two of you as you think, and Felix worries he's made you uncomfortable. "I mean- we don't have to be, like friends, or anything. I just thought-"
You cut off his rambling, a smile gracing your lips, "I'd love to be friends with you Felix."
His shoulders slump in relief, and he gives you a relaxed smile. "Oh good, I was worried I'd scared you off."
"You're practically the nicest person I've ever met. How could you possible scare me off?" you laugh.
"I know I can come off a little strong sometimes, but I'm just a friendly guy, and I like your company," he explains to you, and you can't help but agree with everything he says.
That first day he talked to you he did seem a little overzealous. Now, after hanging out with him numerous times, you know that's just him, and you're ok with that. You love how Felix is able to bring a little sunshine into your life, even if it's only for a few hours every week.
"Well, don't worry about it. I wanna be your friend, too, and I like hanging out with you just as much," you assure him.
"Perfect! As my first duty of being your official friend, I have to ask you to stop lying to me," his voice goes serious, the light in his eyes dimming.
Your breath falters a little at this. "What do you mean?" you try to play it off, taking a swift drink of your coffee. You know he's not stupid; anyone with eyes can see the various bumps and bruises that litter your body.
"All these bruises... nobody's that clumsy, Y/N."
The familiar urge to escape fills your body, and panic bubbles in your throat.
"Felix," you choke out, your gaze lingering on your hands nervously rubbing against your pants. Tears gather in your eyes.
No one has ever confronted you about this. You pushed your family away long ago; it was upon your boyfriend's request, but who were you to tell him no? You've not been close with someone since then. You had friends before, but after so many unanswered texts, they just stopped texting. Stopped calling. Now their contacts sit in your phone as constant reminders of what used to be.
Felix's heart softens as your eyes well with tears, but he stands his ground. If he was going to be your friend, he couldn't let this slide any longer. "No more lies."
"Felix, I can't," the anxiety becomes too much, and you're quick to run out of the cafe, leaving your bag and coffee sitting on the table.
Felix quickly gathers your things and follows you out, earning a few curious glances from the people standing in line.
His eyes find your form, speed-walking down the sidewalk in the normal direction you leave in. "Y/N, please wait!" he calls after you, jogging to catch up.
He only has to run for a few seconds, catching up to you quickly. He reaches out to grab your elbow, and he immediately recoils upon seeing the way you flinch at his touch.
You stop walking, knowing there's no point in running anymore. Your head hangs low, your gaze permanently set on the ground in front of you. You allow Felix to guide you towards a secluded bench, sitting on the side of one of the buildings.
Felix's body immediately kicks into comfort mode upon seeing the tears flowing down your face. He softly sets his arm around your shoulders. You don't flinch, so he takes that as his sign to wrap you up into a hug, pulling you further into his body.
You continue to cry into his shoulder, not sure how else to deal with the emotions that overwhelm you.
"Y/N," he whispers as he rubs your back, "Can you look at me for a second?"
You raise your head from his shoulder, your eyes glossy with unshed tears.
"Please let me help you," he begs, his arms firm around your body.
"Felix, I can't," your sobs return, your arms leaving Felix to cover your face.
"Y/N, you've let him control you long enough."
Your lips wobble, and you don't know what to say. You've dated your boyfriend for years; he's all you know, all you have.
You've listened to his verbal abuse for so long, his words constantly swimming in your head:
"No one else will love you like I do."
"Nobody cares about you."
"Your family and friends left you, but not me. You can trust me."
His physical abuse marks your body. Old scars litter your arms and legs, bruises coloring your jaw and neck. You're always aching, different parts of your body always healing. You know your body needs a break.
"I know you probably feel stuck, like you have no one to go to," Felix continues, hoping that there's room in your cluttered mind for his words to get through to you, "But I'm here now. I'll help you. I won't let him touch you anymore."
Your mind is full of every emotion imaginable.
You know you can trust Felix. The problem isn't whether or not you can trust Felix. After all these months, he's proven to be one of the greatest people you've ever met. He's kind, loving, caring; everything you're boyfriend is not.
No, the problem isn't whether you can trust Felix; he's one of the most trustworthy people you've ever met. You just don't know how.
"Please, Y/N, I can't sit by and continue to watch you walk into the cafe with new bruises every week. I'll help you get out of this mess; you don't have to stay with him anymore."
Felix's pleas swirl around in your mind. The kindness he emits mixes with the words of your boyfriend like oil and water. If Felix was ice, your boyfriend would be fire; the two polar opposites in every way.
"That boyfriend of yours is no good for you," you remember your mom telling you. It was one of the last conversations you had with her before he made you cut all contact with her.
Maybe she was right. Maybe it is time for a change. Felix has always made you feel safe, like you could tell him anything. He could help you.
"It's your call, don't let him think he has power of you. All you have to do is tell me, and it'll be taken care of. I'll take care of you, Y/N."
You sit in silence for a few moments, nothing but the sounds of your sniffles filling the air.
The cold wind whips past your clouded head, bringing you back to reality. You finally gain the courage to look up at him, and his eyes have never looked softer.
"Please help me, Felix," you sob, your hands going to grip his hoodie as you lay your head against his chest. Your ear presses against his heart, the gentle beat soothing you better than words ever could.
"Oh, sweet girl," he whispers, running his hand through your hair. He's holding you so tight now, like he never wants to let you go. "You'll never have to see him again. I've got you now, nobody will hurt you anymore."
Part 2
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animentality · 6 months
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Redeemed dark urge is so narratively satisfying like.
Sure you can murder everyone and be evil but...how boring.
You were born evil and you die evil. Whatever.
Your amnesia did absolutely nothing for you as a character and you might as well have just killed everyone before you got your head diy lobotomized.
But a redeemed dark urge?
You were born with evil in your veins, but you didn't let it define you.
You chose compassion, or at least, fierce loyalty for your newfound family. You chose life and living and joy and hope. And you never knew what love was until you forgot who you were before, and became the version of yourself who could love.
You chose adventure and camaraderie and you helped so many people.
The irony is also that you never would have had the chance to redeem yourself if your bhaal sister hadn't split your skull open.
Evil destroys itself in the end.
She killed the part of you that deserved killing. The part of you that wanted to die and deserved to die.
She gave you a new start, but you're the one who took it.
You brought about this carnage and death and misery. You were the architect who crafted this sordid little tale, this dark house on skeletal foundations. But you were also the one to bring it all crashing down in the end.
You were the one who fixed their mistakes.
You are the one who was destined to destroy the world, but who chose to destroy your destiny instead.
I don't know why people choose any origin other than dark urge. I really don't.
The dark urge is the real main character of the entire game, in my opinion.
It's just a much richer game when you find out that you are one of the damn villains.
All the little puzzle pieces and clues. Trying to find yourself...and being horrified when you succeed.
And also I just think dark urge's story makes the entirety of act 3 just so much more personal.
When you're just some guy, well. That's fine and all, but...they mean a lot to me.
Redemption arcs.
It's cliche but I don't care. Choose to be good. Choose to save people. Choose to love.
Choose to be loved and to embrace who you want to be and not who you are.
Redeemed dark urge will live rent free in my brain forever.
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cy-cyborg · 7 months
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It will never not be frustrating to me that amputees appear in fiction ALL. THE. TIME. and yet they're almost never acknowledged as such. The Cyberpunk genre is especially guilty of this: amputees and prosthetics becoming a normalised part of life are a defining part of the genre/aesthetic and yet no one even consults with any amputees about how we get represented there. Most writers in those genres don't even consider that giving your characters cybernetic arms and legs means they're an amputee.
CW: Ableism, dehumanisation
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This makes it REALLY uncomfortable to engage with stories in the genre because another common aspect of cyberpunk is the idea of losing yourself and becoming something distinctly not-human anymore because you have too many cybernetic augmentations/implants. Shadowrun even has mechanics for this, which state if you get too many prosthetics, which is what cybernetics are 9 times out of 10, your character becomes a monster. These mechanics and discussions surrounding "how many robot bits make you not human anymore" are really, really uncomfortable when you remember this isn't something that's unique to a far-off future setting. Those people you're discussing the humanity of already exist. They're called amputees. If you reframe the question as "how many amputations can you have before you stop being a person" I hope you can see why an amputee like myself is not going to feel safe around you or in your fandoms.
And it's a shame, because I REALLY want to like Cyberpunk. I really, honestly do. I love the aesthetics, I love the idea of big corporations being the villains and the anti-capitalism at the heart of the genre, and I love the idea of prosthetics being not only destigmatised, but desirable. When written from a disability-inclusive lense, it honestly has the potential to be an incredibly uplifting and empowering genre. but as the genre stands right now, it's actively hostile to the very folks who are usually the stars of its stories: amputees, all because people just refuse to acknowledge us.
Cyberpunk isn't the only genre guilty of this, it's common all throughout sci-fi as a whole, but Cyberpunk is the only one where it starts becoming a serious issue due to its rampant dehumanisation of a real group of people. In other sci-fi settings, it's just kind of annoying and while it can be a form of erasure, it's not usually harmful, just...frustrating. Fantasy does it on occasion too, think pirates with a hook and a peg leg, but nowhere near as much.
If you, as an author or creator, use any of these words to describe a character or their tech in a sci-fi setting:
cybernetics/cybernetic enhancements
bionics
robot limbs
cyborgs
augmentations
You are probably writing an amputee. Please, at the very least, acknowledge it, and be mindful that those are real people who actually exist, not just a fantasy group you can speculate about.
edit:
I originally posted this article on my old Tumblr account and lot of people commented/reblogged to tell me that originally in cyberpunk, the "less human the more robot bits you have" only applied to people who opted for their limbs to be replaced by cybernetics, because it was seen as "renting out your body to corporations for money" but people who had to get cybernetics out of necessity weren't impacted. The thing is though, I really don't think that makes it better, for a few reasons. For one, where do you draw the line at "opting" to get a cybernetic prosthetic? This isn't a black and white thing, even in real life. Most amputations are done out of necessity, but there are situations where it's not the only option, just the best one. Talking from personal experience, I lost both my legs below the knee as a baby, that was a pretty clear cut case, I had a blood infection and gangrene and they had to act fast. But the infection caused lasting side effects and impacted my physical body's development and growth. By the time I got to my early 20's it was causing a lot of pain in my right leg, in my knee specifically, and when I got a bone infection in the end of that stump, I chose to have the whole thing amputated up to the knee. They only needed to take a few inches off the end of my stump, but I asked them to go higher, because of the ongoing issues in that knee, issues that would have been made worse by the shortening of the leg. I choose to remove the whole thing, knowing the joint was degrading and I probably would have lost it later in life anyway. Even if it was salvageable, it would mean much more surgery, and I've had enough of those. A boy I played wheelchair basketball with was born with a partially formed leg, it was half the size of his other leg and he wasn't able to use it al all, it was just dead weight, so he opted to get it amputated too for convenience and so he could use a prosthetic on that side. I worked with a girl who's hand didn't form properly in the womb, resulting in a normal palm, but tiny "finger nubs" (her words) with no bones inside. They weren't actively harming her usually, but she opted to get them and the top of her palm amputated after an incident at work where we were tying balloons and one of her nubs got stuck in the knot. She decided to get them amputated because it meant accidents like that would be less likely, and she could use a prosthetic more comfortably. All 3 of these are considered "optional" amputations, so would people like us be penalised in your setting? does it make sense that the technology in your setting can tell the difference, or that corporations would care about the how and why? Even stepping away from medical grey areas, if your character opts for a cybernetic arm because the corporations will financially reward her, and she's struggling to put food on the table without that help, is that really optional?
Don't get me wrong, I do think that idea could work but it would take a lot of work to do well, and most works I've seen don't do the work. Even if they did though, it doesn't change the fact that most modern uses of this trope don't mention that bit or actively ignore it. It doesn't matter in most cyberpunk works I've seen if the amputation was optional or out of necessity, they still are more prone to being seen as "less human" and in most of the sci-fi writing communities I've been part of, the authors are genuinely shocked when I ask them to remember "people with cybernetics are real people already, they're not some far-off-distant future fantasy group, they're just called amputees". Like it didn't even cross their minds. These are the people creating the works in this genre. Even if it wasn't the original intention of the genre, it's still an issue in the modern version of it. Edit 2: Elaborated a little more on why I don't think the "only people who choose it" argument works in the edit. Also, please stop telling me that old cyberpunk doesn't have this issue, I literally address that in the post lol.
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strangersmunsons · 20 days
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💖 Eddie Munson x Reader Fic Recs 💖
I just wanna show some appreciation for a few of my all-time favorite Eddie fics! Here’s a handful of the series & oneshots that have really stuck out to me in all the time I've been reading - there's A TON of great writers on here who have posted really stellar work :^)
List under the cut!
june baby by @luveline - luveline jade u are a celebrity to me. this was the first Eddie story I ever read and it is so beautiful. it's tender. it's melancholy. it's realistic. it's gorgeous. it honestly makes me feel something I've never felt reading any other fanfiction.
oh, baby by @inknopewetrust - another one of my first Eddie fics! the feeling that this series invoked in me is what I aspire to invoke in others for my own writing someday. it's just so sweet and funny and made me nostalgic, in the same way that watching '80s teen films do, except it's even better because Eddie is in this one. I wanted so badly to just dive into the story and really experience it for myself.
hoping I'll find [a glimpse of us] by @inknopewetrust - this smashed my heart into 1000 pieces, and then promptly glued it very sloppily back together and I've reread it like six times just to reinflict the pain. I love rockstar!Eddie stories that maintain some realism about what that type of relationship would look like, and this fic does that SO perfectly. masterclass in angst right here.
dancing with myself by @ambrossart - this one hits close to home! and even though it hurts along the way, there's a happy ending that it builds so nicely towards! it's beautifully paced & the reader is very funny. you can just tell that the her backstory & relationship w/ Eddie was so carefully thought out, it really feels like this was written with so much love! and I LOVE that it doesn't paint Chrissy as a villain.
10 things I hate about you by @spideyanakin - so glad that we all collectively agree that Patrick is Eddie-coded. and in this fic the parallels are there, without Eddie sacrificing his own unique character - that part is handled really beautifully! and the ST characters are worked into the original movie's narrative so well. it's the perfect mix of fluff and drama!
freaky friday by @jo-harrington - I adore this series! I love this version of Eddie so much I could cry, he is so sweet and selfless, I want to give him the entire world. and an Eddie & Steve body swap? 10/10. lindsay and jamie lee, eat your hearts out.
to know you're mine by @blueywrites - oooohboy. I almost didn’t read this one (just because I would normally avoid swinging/cheating in a fic) but I'm so glad I did, because it was like being on the homer's odyssey of 18+ ST fanfiction. it’s wild. bluey girl u were insane for this. and i mean that as an extremely high compliment. i was so damn invested!
i will wait by @abibliophobiaa, @blueywrites, @breddiemunson, @myosotisa, @fracturedarkness - there's three chapters, it's on hiatus, I don't care, I will literally keep reading these three chapters over and over again and just fill in the blanks myself if I must. it's that good. you guys are amazing. I am totally enthralled.
rumor by @msgexymunson - this is what turned me on to older!Eddie. I love him, and I desire him carnally, and specifically this version of him. when I daydream about Eddie sweeping me off my feet, I think about Eddie in this series. he's everything to me. I even wrote my own older neighbor Eddie fic because of this!
trapped under ice by @munson-blurbs - the iron grip this fic had me in...I'm still going back and re-reading my favorite parts. it's beautifully developed. this version of Eddie is so real and believable. Harris is my favorite kid he's ever been given. an all-time, truly, I can't sing its praises enough.
siren!eddie by @parkermunson - a monster-ish Eddie fic! I'm a sucker for anything that incorporates mermaids and sirens and the like, so I really love this concept. it's a great story, I love our protective, doting fishboy, and hope to see more of him!
use me by @reysorigins - simultaneously the nastiest and sweetest fic ever. smut, but it's interspersed with these moments of such deep-seated love and yearning between Eddie and the reader that it made me want to cry! incredible piece.
mine and yours by @muertawrites - ahhhh this one is so so sweet! dating is so fucking hard, I think we could all use a comforting, reassuring moment with a sweetheart like Eddie, who is especially kind to us in this fic. I love the way he’s written here.
our patron saint of the arts by @storiesbyrhi - I love an artsy, crafty reader! I feel like Eddie would be sooo into someone who’s creatively-minded like him. this is the dream relationship, basically, these two are adorable together! (and Eddie in a dress! 😗)
And this is just a sample of what’s out there! Some of these are fics that I read very early on, even before I started this blog. I was more shy then, too, so I feel like I never showed them the appreciation I should have! You guys are all so talented, these works are very inspiring to me.
To readers: I encourage you to let the writers know how much you enjoy their work! Reblog! Leave a comment, even if it’s just in the tags! Write a reply, or send them a message, even if it’s on anon! I’m trying to get better at doing these things myself, too 💖
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Pt XIII good omens: The Adventures of Crowley and Aziraquail (Ages 3+)
@innefableidiot Shout out to you for my Good Omens villain arc origin story. I saw your Duck Omens, I reblogged it thinking I had too small of an attention span to watch a whole show, but the Duck Crowley and Aziraphale looked so adorable anyway. But I had flirted with the devil, Good Omens took over my dash, I made a summary, and here we are. This is in honour of you.
Good Omens, as a toddler's book. Yes I wrote an entire toddler's story for this post. If you do like this ridiculous thing, it would be nice if you could reblog it :") That's the only way it can get to more people. And god knows the children of divorce need a good bedtime story. So here you are, to heal the pain.
Crowley the Crow had always been a naughty little bird. Look at him go, flapping over the street... He wanted to steal something! Oh, no, Crowley. Stealing isn't very nice of you.
"I'm not nice," cawed Crowley. "Not nice at all."
Aziraquail the Quail sat near, on a telephone line. He was eating a piece of grain. Munch, munch, much, went Aziraquail. He saw Crowley and waved his wing.
"Crowley!" trilled Aziraquail. "What are you up to?"
"I'm going to steal something," said Crowley. He waved back. Aziraquail was his friend, and it is polite to greet your friends. That's how they know you care! "Look, Aziraquail, that human has a very shiny ring!"
"It is a very shiny ring," Aziraquail said, looking down. Aziraquail wanted to tell the truth. He didn't always succeed, but that's okay! It's very, very important to try. "But Crowley, you can't steal the very shiny ring! It doesn't belong to you."
Crowley was very confused. He landed on the telephone line beside Aziraquail. "But if the very shiny ring belonged to me, how would I steal it?"
Aziraquail sighed. But he decided to explain it to Crowley anyway. Sometimes, people aren't trying to be bad! They just don't know any better. "You shouldn't steal it at all, Crowley. Stealing will make the human sad."
"Oh goodie," said Crowley. "That sounds fun."
"No!" cried Aziraquail. Aziraquail didn't like the sound of that, not one bit. "Crowley, don't make the human sad. Or I shan't be your friend."
Crowley thought over that. He didn't like that. Aziraquail was his very best friend. Friends are very important, and Crowley knew that. But oh! He did so want that very shiny ring.
Crowley looked down at the human again. No, Crowley! Don't do it!
With a flap of his wings, and a flip of his wings, down Crowley flew, to snatch the human's very shiny ring! Oh, dear, Crowley. How very naughty of you.
But what was this? Crowley bumped straight into the human's head! He bounced off and away he went, landing with a huff on the pavement. That's the part next to the street.
The human was very cross. "Come back here, you bad bird!" she shouted. That wasn't polite of her, was it? When you're upset with someone, you shouldn't shout right away. What if it had been an accident?
"It wasn't an accident," said Crowley. He was grumpy. "I wanted to steal her very shiny ring."
Naughty Crowley.
The human ran towards Crowley to scold him. Poor Crowley! But just as the human stepped off the street, along came a very fast bike, and whoosh! Away it went, just missing the human.
Oh my. You mustn't speed on streets like that, very fast bike! You could have hit somebody. Look at that sign over there. This street is for pedestrians, too! Pedestrians is a grown-up way of saying people who aren't on a vehicle. Grown-ups like fancy words.
"Wait a moment," said the human. She stopped and looked at Crowley. "Oh, little crow, you saved me! I could have been hit!"
Crowley blinked. He was very confused. But he'd been trying to be naughty!
"Thank you!" said the human. "Oh, thank you, little bird. What can I do for you?" She looked down at her hand. "Crows like shiny things, don't they? Here, take this very shiny ring. I got it for free with sweets, and I don't even like it."
She gave Crowley the very shiny ring.
"Thank you," said Crowley, because he might be a naughty little crow, but he was a very polite little crow.
The human waved goodbye, and went on her way. Aziraquail landed on the pavement next to Crowley.
"Oh, Crowley," said Aziraquail. "You aren't very good at being naughty, are you?"
"Yes I am!" said Crowley.
Aziraquail smiled. "But you saved the human! And you didn't steal the ring. She gave it to you all by herself, as a reward. Isn't that much nicer?"
"I'm not nice," said Crowley. Oh, Crowley, you silly, silly, crow. "Well, if I'd done it your way, she wouldn't have been saved! So you aren't very good at being nice."
Aziraquail looked sad. Crowley didn't like that. Aziraquail was his friend, and friends don't make each other sad.
"I'm sorry," said Crowley. "But don't you want to know why I wanted the very shiny ring?"
Oh my, Crowley. Why did you want the very shiny ring?
"To be naughty," said Aziraquail. He was still hurt. Sometimes, even when you say sorry, it isn't enough. And that's okay.
"No," said Crowley. He held it out with his little crow beak, and put it on Aziraquail's foot! "It was for you! Because you're my very best friend."
"We're not friends," said Aziraquail. Sometimes, when we're hurt, we say things we don't mean.
Crowley looked sad. "We're not?"
Aziraquail thought and thought. And decided that he had been rather silly. "I'm sorry," he said too. "Of course we're friends. Thank you for the very shiny ring, Crowley!"
Crowley smiled his naughty little smile.
And then, oh my! How cute. Aziraquail leaned over and gave Crowley a kiss on his feathery little cheek. "It's very pretty. I love you, Crowley!"
It is very important to tell your friends that you love them. You don't have to say it with words. Crowley said it with a little kiss back, because he was too shy to speak.
What a very nice crow you are, Crowley.
"I'm not nice!"
"Crowley!"
"Okay, fine, just a little bit."
The End.
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gigidragonbbxxx · 1 month
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The Dark Side of Loass + motivation
I was on my daily reddit scroll while sipping my morning coffee when I saw something extremely disgusting on my homepage.
It was a manifestation success story by a man who claimed to have manifested his "perfect" gf - the kicker? She's underaged and he is a fully grown man.
The post has been deleted but the original poster's account is still up, as is his comment history. In his comments he details how he essentially used SATS and shot a message to someone he saw in discord. Apparently she is 15, lives with him due to an abusive situation, and yes they are s******y active. Apparently he treats her very well (he even mentioned bringing her to school YUCK) and buys her a lot of stuff and she's happy.
Let me make this clear:
a girl in an abusive home situation is not "saved" by an adult man taking advantage of it in the guise of "improving" her life situation while subjecting her to doing physical things she cannot consent to because she is not a damn adult.
I did some digging and it was not very long until I saw his first-ever comment about it and it was worse than I thought. I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt like maybe he visualized for a perfect gf and he didn't know she was a minor. Well, that says more about me than anything bc yes I found out that he had specified that he wanted her underaged. He literally says in the comment "specifcs that could get me in trouble". He made a lot of comments about her body, etc. and quite literally said something along the lines of "I'm her savior and shes my obsessed loving gf". Keep in mind...one of the titles this man used (he posted twice in diff subreddits) was "I manifested a s** s****e". So. Yup. He's a whole p*do.
I will not be sharing links as I don't want to give that horrible man any more traction but if you read all that and said to yourself, but Gigi whats that got to do with the dark side of the law of assumption? and why would you say there's a dark side to it?
The truth is that the law isn't dark at all, the evil part of the law is the people who use it for evil.
This is why good things can happen to horrible people.
This is why you see villains win.
They may have an amazing self-concept OR they just are under the assumption that NO MATTER HOW HORRIBLE THEY ARE THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT EVEN IF ITS FUCKED UP AND MORALLY TWISTED.
It's why you see nepo babies who aren't talented get shit handed to them - THEY EXPECT IT BECAUSE OF WHAT? WHO. THEY. ARE. SO CHANGE YOUR INNER SELF. EMBODY THAT CONFIDENCE.
This is why I wanted to share that story with you, it is to motivate you: if you know you're a better person than that horrible man, WHY CAN'T YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU WANT TOO?
Shouldn't you deserve even more for being good?
Stop thinking you don't deserve things bc guess what? People who are genuinely criminals are out here manifesting - so stay on your zoom and FOCUS. SATURATE. DISCIPLINE. COMMIT.
and let's all collectively agree to pray for that girl. I'm honestly gonna affirm that she gets saved and ends up in a situation where she is protected, loved, and away from predators.
Do not let evil win. Use it to remind yourself that the law is about BELIEF not FEELING.
with a heavy heart, xx, gigi
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shigayokagayama · 21 hours
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The Beach Omake And Authorial Intent
initially i was going to save this for a big teru analysis i had cooking however i eventually ended up deciding that it would feel like a really long tangent in its original context and probably deserves a separate post.
when it comes to the whole "teru's parents" thing i generally see two competing ideas on it
a. terus absent parents are the real villains of mob psycho and are the direct cause of everything wrong with his life and any and all teru analysis must center around this fact
b. terus parents being absent in the first place is only revealed in an omake and only exists for plot convenience and is not something that should be focused on at all when writing him
and whenever i see either of these my mind always drifts to the question of authorial intent. i know how people are reading this information, but how are we supposed to? i know death of the author is becoming more of a common thing in fandom spaces (albeit usually misused) but i feel like a better understanding of why this omake exists and how we're supposed to read it might help to better synthesize two takes that seems to be completely at odds with each other.
okay first i want to go over the actual placement of the beach omake in the update schedule of the manga because, unlike most other omakes, i feel like this ones placement in the schedule of page releases is actually super relevant
the vast majority of omakes come at the end of weekly updates. you finish reading the usually 15-20 pages ONE put out and then you get a little bonus comic at the end, usually something funny or a slice of life but but occasionally more serious. multi part omakes are usually spread out over multiple updates, making you wait a couple weeks for a punchline.
beach omake is not that. between chapters 99 (mob gets hit by a car) and 100 (the whole rest of the omake) there was a 6 week hiatus from normal pages and in this hiatus is where we get beach omake. reading it all together immediately cuts away the sort of "slice of life sunday paper comic" tone other multi part omakes have and make you read it as a part of the actual main story, since that's how you're used to reading these weekly updates.
now the actual tone. generally the multi part omakes exist to be long punchlines and the rare emotional ones are a single page for maximum impact. beach omake has a very different structure compared to, say, the haunted doll omake or the pot of happiness.
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off the bat from the first two pages there's not really a joke. the tone mostly seems kind of melancholic. mobs expression for the middle section of the second page (maybe purposely) is obscured by the panel breaking off, it's hard to tell his reaction, all our attention is directed at teru. with all of the panels taken up by dialogue (primarily his own), we're being asked to focus on what he's saying:
-teru lives alone
-he lives alone because his parents live overseas
-he hasnt seen them in a while
-he doesnt like having nothing to do
-he doesnt like being alone
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all of this information is delivered with an extremely casual expression from him, implying that it's not something that seems ll the out of the ordinary for him. mob, on the other hand...
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the hesitation before he says anything and the way his expression is obscured seems to imply something is... off... about this information to him. this isn't a handwaved "oh mob is walking home from school after passing out because he needs to for plot reasons", we're reacting to this information like it's weird.
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the next two pages are, mostly, a lot more of what we expect out of a mob psycho omake. the first one works as a standalone joke page, teru is bad at identifying animals which leads to him showing reigen a roach, something reigen is terrified of, instead of a beetle.
the second page starts similarly, we get a dumbass joke about reigen trying to pick up women at the beach (note: i think this is the singular time we get an indication reigen is even into women) but then the next two panels take on a more melancholic tone again. we get a small panel of mob and ritsu playing on the beach and a much, much larger panel of teru sitting on the beach, watching them. the dialogue bubble forces us to pay attention to the fact that he is silent.
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the ending of this omake is where we bring it home. generally the last panel centers the punchline of the page, or of the whole omake, but the final panel of this isn't really what was being built to in this case.
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we start our second page on teru. his expression is obscured, reigens speech bubble is shoved to the side so we can see that teru's hat is being held in his hands.
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when we see his face in full view he looks... confused. he looks like he doesn't know how to react to someone going through all this trouble for him. teru is a character who, up to this moment, we have seen as extremely independent. he always rushes into things alone, he always has to be the hero, he always has to be the one to save the day. hell, this omake is immediately followed by the confession arc. where... you know.
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so what are we supposed to get out of this omake?
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teru's been doing everything on his own up to this point
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but he doesn't have to anymore
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mono-dot-jpeg · 5 months
Text
tank moment - mauga
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summary; title slightly irrelevant, i wanted to be funny. iykyk
genre/extra tags; headcanons/bullet fic, i talk about mauga hcs i thought of on the fly, reader is implied to be a support character, reader is also part of talon group, fluff, i only know the bare minimum about him and that's all i need baby, is this platonic or romantic idk
[gender neutral reader] [canon typical violence mentioned]
a/n; im back on my overwatch era. it never really ended but, i want to write about him, mauga, the beloved. typing this on my phone and finishing on my computer if anything seems wonky shhh dont tell me i'll relive that mistake for days
also this is a somewhat lightly reseached- aka not fully accurate/detailed work. i briefly mention samoan culture and if it offends or if it's a mistake, please tell me and i will erase those parts asap.
[support me and buy a kofi]
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🗣 ALRIGHT SO ‼️
i've been watching and playing with/against mauga since the trial to play him came out and god i love him
but he's kind of easy to counter (im an ana main, nade is fucking broken but that's just anti heal things) and his ult is annoying
anyways
every tank needs their heal bot to keep em up
you just happen to be mauga's heal bot KDJSJSJ
(baptiste is too probably but not really)
he's a really smug guy
no one really knows that bc he sounds so upbeat and nice
but he loves to tease you, poke at you bc he knows that you will answer to him most of the time and entertain him in conversation
you and him are probably in your world even when you're both in talon tbh
he does his own thing and you just happen to join in
(he totally baits you to join his plans and you both know it)
he's a chaotic and cunning man and you're his enabler
(sounds like me and my bestie tbh)
"a hero would sacrifice you to save the world but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you" type beat
he's lowkey possessive but we dont talk about that
jk we do talk abt it
he's your scary guard dog privileges
like that man is tall tall ‼️‼️
idk why but i dont really imagine him being like an openly sweet person
he keeps it private even with how loud he is
anyways
you know how he's on a yacht for his origin story and there's like a bunch of people who got destroyed by him?
yeah he would totally do that shit for u if you asked.
he would give you the best home but
"thanks for the new place and all but did you have to kill someone for it?"
"i mean come on! this place is nice! let's enjoy it!"
he's very "i'll do the dirty work, just sit back and look pretty." and then you're like, "yeah i could. but i won't."
dps support vibes for you ✨️
but also he's charging in most of the time so, there's not much time to dps support KDHDJDJJD
he's like the kool aid man bursting in through the walls /j
cough
back to the hcs here...
he's so tall and big, he would totally let you hang off his back like nunu and wilump (from league, yeah i play league dont remind me totally gonna write for heartsteel soon tm)
also he's literally the greatest heated blanket (ahead of roadhog)
he's so stronk and wowowowow im so gay i love him
when you're surrounded by some enemies, he's charging in, slamming the ground and carrying you with ease as he keeps you safe while destroying any enemies who even tried to touch you
ugh
despite his lack of pda, he's a very actions over words.
he's so silly
chivalry isn't dead when he breaks into a jewelry store for u 😍😍
if you ever have those crazy thoughts about crime, he's totally gonna enable you and let you reign havoc on god knows what.
love language is actions and gift giving. enough said.
when he gives you a hug, he's so fucking warm omg
i said it before and i'll say it again, he's the best heated blanket, literal furnace
bad for the people who sweat easily though (ahem me lowkey)
one the off-days where it's just a day off and relaxing, he's taking care of you well !!
when you're on talon missions, since he can't run around as easily unless he gets the okay but you do keep him company until then
he likes to protect but he loves destroying people
he knows you're able to care for yourself, so he can go crazy whenever, and he loves that.
he also loves watching you get mad or angrily passionate
"yes go, la'u ma’asoama!" (my rock/stone, get it? bc his name means mountain)
he is a really good hype man. even if you're the one in the wrong.
god I WISH I LOOKED UP MORE ABOUT HIM ARGBHYKFJ
soon (tm)
someday i'll write more.
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howtofightwrite · 8 months
Note
Speaking of martial competence, do you have any examples of characters that are actually written with this in mind?
Loads. Some actually even make good on that.
So, there's different kinds of martial competence. There are characters who are proficient in combat directly, there are well written strategists, there are characters who excel at military leadership, and when they're written well, you can actuallylearn some things from them.
I'm going to give some examples, and at least one cautionary example.
For, just, raw combat prowess, I still go back to Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories. It's easy to meme on the character, especially 90 years after the fact, with the cultural persona that's grown around him, but Howard's original writing is excellent. The character would not have survived Howard's early (and, frankly, tragic) death if it was just the one note gag you might expect, if your only exposure to the character was through cultural osmosis and the films.
Howard's fight scenes were shockingly well written. To the point that it is still absolutely worth reading if you want to write a fantasy fighter.
For strategists, three characters come to mind, but only two are literary, and all are Science Fiction.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is probably one of the best villains Star Wars has ever produced, it's part of why he's one of the few characters that's migrated from the original EU to the Disney era. My personal take is, as a character, he's lost a lot over the years, but the original incarnation from the early 90s novels is a very solid model for a strategist. Particularly in how he takes time to understand his opponents while looking for potential weak points to exploit.
His practice of studying a culture's art to understand their psychology might sound a bit goofy, but the concept does have a real basis. (At least, until it metastasized into a superpower, in later adaptations of the character.) Being able to psychologically assess your foe is an incredibly valuable element of strategy, and one that you probably want to consider when you're writing a character who is supposed to be a “strategic genius.”
When writing fiction, you want to consider all of your characters as if they were people, rather than as hollow, plastic toys. And, yes, the obnoxious villain who knows exactly what your heroes will do because of authorial fiat is going to be a more compelling character than the ambulatory goldfish villain who exists as a prelude for your heroes showing off how badass you think they are.
Granted, even in Heir to the EmpireThrawn was already drawing strategic insights that strained credibility, but understanding your foe is an element of strategic thinking that is often forgotten in literature. So, even as a villain in a tie-in novel (we're not done with tie-in fiction yet), he is worth looking at. At least when written by Timothy Zhan, Thrawn was a well written character, and even if he bordered on a Mary Sue at times, he escaped a lot of that stigma by justifying his competence.
It's also probably worth mentioning in passing that he's one of the few Imperial leaders in Star Wars who isn't also criminally incompetent.
The non-literary example of a strategist would be John Sheridan from Babylon 5. Unlike Thrawn, Sheridan's main strategic focus is on situational exploitation. A little of that comes from his knowledge of enemy procedures and psychology, but at lot of it comes from a rather ruthless approach to technical limitations. An alien race is using technology that blocks human targeting systems? Set up a nuclear mine and then send out a fake distress single to lure them in. Need to deal with a significantly larger, more dangerous ship? Lure them into a gas giant and and let the planet's gravity well drag them past crush depth. Bruce Boxleitner's performance helped sell the character, but Sheridan is a really solid science fiction strategist, who really exemplifies how technical limitations can have enormous strategic considerations.
I'm not citing Sheridan as an excellent example of a leader per se,it's certainly there, but it is harder to unpack from Boxleitner's performance. It does have some good payoffs much later in the series when he starts making some orders that cause his subordinates to sit up and stop what they're doing. And that is a consistent theme even back to his introduction, but, it's a tangible consequence to an intangible cause.
The last example is a negative example, both for strategy and leadership. And, as much as it pains me to say this, at least Orson Scott Card understood that Ender was a bad leader. At least in the original novel. To be blunt, Ender is a mediocre strategist at best. His highlights in the book involve, “inventing armor,” and creative movement in micrograv. That's setting the bar exceptionally low, and while it is reasonably within the range of what you could expect from a pre-teen, that's not much of a justification.
Again, I'm not a fan of Card, and I'm reallynot recommending Ender's Gameto anyone. However, if I didn't mention it, you know there'd be a reblog going for twelve hundred words about how Andrew Wiggin is the best strategist in literature, which, yeah, no.
Do you want a goofy, tie-in fiction, literary suggestion for the best leader in sci-fi? Too bad, because I'm pretty sure Ciaphas Cain is not that person. The Ciaphas Cain novels by Sandy Mitchell are unusual as leadership recommendations, because of how much Cain internally processes the social manipulation involved in military leadership. He's not a great leader, but he is exceptionallygood at explaining to the reader how he's creating that illusion to motivate the soldiers around him. In fairness, some of that is an intrinsic character flaw, he is incredibly insecure, and desperately trying to hide that fact. And the difference between being a great leader, and effectively creating a comprehensive illusion of a great leader is: There is no difference. As a serious complement, it is one of the few times I've seen an author treat leadership as an actual skill, and not simply an extension of a character's charisma. Which is why I'm singling this one out. It might sound like a joke inclusion initially, and the books are quite funny in a Warhammer 40k kind of way, but there is quite a bit of  value to be had.
-Starke
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destinygoldenstar · 6 months
Text
I want to talk about THIS scene from the episode "The Forgotten Element" in Season 4
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This was the scene that spawned many Evil Kai AU fanfictions.
(And like... I get it)
As a kid, I was always jaw dropped by this scene, but I didn't understand this scene too much.
Like, what was the point of this Evil Kai AU if it was for a minute and it was resolved so quickly?
They were building this up the entire episode and even before it, so was that all for nothing? Did it not mean anything? What was the point of this anyway?
And then it clicked with me WHY that was.
The problem was that I was only focusing on what's present in the moment and not all around it.
In the moment itself, Kai is holding the staff, it holds too much power, it corrupts him and spills all of is bottled up negative emotions about destiny and the Green Ninja, how he feels about it all being wrong, that he was somehow 'not good enough' compared to a child, and how he should've been the one with all the power all the glory and all the abilities in is veins.
"You had all the power, now it's my turn!"
"Nothing that I don't already feel!"
"I should've been the Green Ninja!"
That's straight up TELLING.
And it makes sense. Kai wanted to be the Green Ninja more than anyone ever since he heard of that prophecy. Ever since he was told he was the Master of Fire by Wu he went from 'do everything for Nya and be a parent' to 'I can be special and worthy in a way I couldn't ever see in myself'. And then it all turned out to be for nothing, Kai being 'special' was all a lie, and the prophecy went to this bratty kid that Kai was tasked to babysit. Then Lloyd would proceed to be very well recognized and Kai was just... the forgotten member that nobody understands the motives of. 'You wanted to take the place of someone who did something sacrificially heroic? How dare you. SELFISH.'
BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT.
This all sounds like a villain origin story that would happen in the season, right?
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The build up is all there. The bottled up emotions. Skylor's influence. Chen taunting him in this episode about it and getting into his head about his parents, something that is VERY PERSONAL to Kai.
So if it ended up being just ONE MOMENT and that's it, then this was all for nothing, right?
NO.
Why? Because that's not what this aspect of the episode is about at all.
This was all NOT build up to Kai becoming a villain.
This was about Kai REJECTING that villainous side of him.
He's been 'on the villain's side' at the start of the episode when Chen decided not to enslave him.
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Another motif of this episode is what gets said over and over again in the B plot of the episode, that being the prison escape from the Noodle Factory. "The power of positive thinking"
Kai is learning this as well, but it's his own personal battle to come to that. Part of being positive is being positive about yourself.
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He's been scolded for being selfish constantly. Again, how dare he want to take someone's place, someone who was better than him in every way and they all knew it. These people are oblivious, they can't read his mind, they're misinterpreting his words, and for some reason nobody apologizes for that.
We've seen him be insecure of his own abilities. When he feels like he can't do something, he goes 'If only I had this ability'. An example being the Digiverse.
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Part of the lesson there was that he had to allow himself to have the power he needed to get out of a tight spot. As an old fashion and a devoted brother, makes sense why he'd struggle with this.
And then when Chen gets in his head, it's the same thing again, he's selfish and he wants the power and that's all he cares about.
Everyone is saying you're selfish, therefore it must be true.
And this is the first time Kai ever actually CALLS THE PERSON OUT for accusing him of being one dimensionally selfish.
Yes he falters back when Chen mentions his parents, but that's still a notable step. (And he would continue to call out their accusations in Possession)
The episode consists of Kai being on the villain's side and playing the role of the deceiver. Him being smart by playing the emotions of Chen and Skylor rather than be a logical thinker. (WOW. An episode that doesn't make Kai dumb and instead makes him smart in a way that fits his character. That is sad how rare that's shown anymore.)
And to do that he had to convince everyone that he was on the villain's side and that he has turned.
So THIS moment is not build up to Kai becoming a villain truly, it's a test on this own side of him that he must acknowledge exists. How this way of thinking isn't healthy, it's petty, it's not worth it, and he shouldn't be lingering on something when he himself is capable of so much.
And then NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT HOW KAI WAS THE ONE WHO BROKE THE STAFF AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT.
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He could just grab the staff again and be corrupted again, and that's it. But HERE, there is no one paying attention to him to tell him what to do.
Which means this is all Kai's choice.
This is Kai CHOOSING to REJECT that villain inside him, and instead proceed to a more positive outlook, one that would benefit everyone.
That's countering all the selfish accusations more than anything else.
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As a kid I was confused as to why there wasn't a scene where Kai acknowledged what happened when he was corrupted and how you go from that to 'Kai wants to protect Lloyd'
Him breaking the staff IS that scene. (It's just so fast that it's hard to see on a first couple viewings) He NEVER wants to see himself as that corrupted figure again, and is willingly choosing what role he wants to play now. That's the transition there from that Kai to Possession Kai. (Possession Kai = Best Kai)
This is one of my favorite episodes of the show because of how much justice was done here in so many ways.
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aizawasdumbwhore · 1 year
Text
Little Things in a Relationship with Shigaraki
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He'll pull you onto his lap and let you sit there. During this, he'll run his fingers through your hair. Sometimes he'll pull you back to lean on him so he could wrap his arms around you and cuddle.
Visual 1. Visual 2. Visual 3. Visual 4.
Pushes your hair out of your face to admire you. Sometimes he'll just look into your eyes and study your features before telling you how precious you are to him in a soft, husky voice. He'll even thumb little circles on your cheek.
He always gives you a cocky ass smile when he's right or makes some smart ass comment. A lot of people find his smile creepy, disturbing, or unnerving, but you think it's the most beautiful smile you've ever laid eyes on.
He's always proud to show you off as his person, the ride or die who will conquer the hero society together. Always tells you how he wants to have a story like Bonnie and Clyde but bigger. Promises that you two will go down in history books as the most beautiful and strongest couple to commit such heinous crimes.
Gives you his coat to wear if he notices your cold. Sometimes he just loved the way you look in his clothes too. Especially after a night spent together, he loves when he turns over and sees you putting on one of his shirts. If it's completely oversized, even better.
Lots of silent cues that you adore. He's not always the most expressive. He tries to be enough that you understand you're the love of his life, but not too much to where it's annoying. Sometimes he has bursts where he just showered you with attention but majority of the time you saw it within his subtle behavior.
In the beginning, he was very cold and distant. It took you a lot of time to even make it close to his heart. You two never even established an official day where he asked for you to be his significant other, you just assumed once he opened up. Once he was vulnerable, that was it. He was hooked on you. He also used to sleep far away from you at the start, but now he pulls you in close to him.
Despite being the most feared villain in not just Japan, but the whole world, he had his bad days where he needed some help or motivation. He never said anything, but you knew. You were his biggest cheerleader. Some days he couldn't even take care of himself. You'd brush his hair or rub his back to calm him down.
He looks like the most peaceful person in the world when he finally gets to sleep. It's not often that Shigaraki gets sleep, much less even falls asleep. Sometimes he sleeps a couple minutes, wakes, does something, and repeats. But the rare moments he's out cold are when he looks the softest and sweetest.
Lots of playful teasing. He'll grab your face and turn you to him. Then make funny faces as he "examines" your face to see if you look like a "true villain". In the end, you'll both be giggling as he smothers you with kisses. He'll tell you that you're the most beautiful villain to be by his side.
If you liked this, you'll also probably like the original! Little Things In A Relationship With Aizawa Part One and Part Two.
If you'd like to help support me for writing, art, and my YouTube channel you can subscribe to my Patreon here! And to buy cute stickers or prints, here's my Kofi!
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evilwickedme · 3 months
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hey it’s me from the Batman posts! (the one that left the tags abt wanting to get into Batman but having no clue where to start)
If its not too much trouble, I’d love any advice on where to start with Batman or Batfam(?) stuff, I saw someone suggest reading the Batman: Wayne Family Adventures thing on webtoon as an intro to the characters so I’ve been doing that, but I’ve got no clue about any of the official comics or shows/movies/etc. I’ve never read a comic series before so everything is super new to me.
I know different series(?)/versions(?) can be wildly different bc of different writers and stuff, I definitely trust your taste on what would be good / enjoyable bc the posts you’ve been reblogging are like 90% of whats gotten me interested in the first place
Thank you, and absolutely no rush!!
Hey I am legit SO happy that you sent me this ask this is literally my favorite thing to do!!!!
So to start with I do actually agree that wfa is a good starting point but for a different reason than I feel most people would recommend it. The thing about wfa is that it has a consistent design for every character, is humorous, touches not only on the main batfamily members but also many extended members, other noteworthy people in Gotham, and the batfamily's cast of friends and teammates as well. This means that while its approach to characterization is incredibly fanon-y, it's a good basis for how to continue. You read wfa, and you know that Dick is the first robin, wears ridiculous costumes, was batman for a bit, is nightwing, part of the teen titans... this isn't a lot, but it's just enough to orient yourself before jumping into some of the most convoluted art ever created, aka the comic world.
Another tip I'm gonna give you is to let yourself be confused. I think the people who end up sticking with comics are people who are aware that if they pick up a comic it's very likely the writers and artists have read and worked on comics that you haven't read yet or even heard of, so you're always going to be missing something. That's fine. If something is really important to the plot, it gets explained; if it's not, it's windowdressing. Often there'll be little boxes saying what comic and issue they're referencing, so if you find it interesting you can just go read it - otherwise, if it's not there, you can google it, or go to any comic fan and ask "hey do you know what this is about?" and if they know, they will answer. There is nothing a comic fan wants more than to explain how to get into their favorite character/s, trust me.
Anyway this has been a very wordy intro but here are some potential starting points for the batfamily!
Bruce Wayne
You know who he is. Pick up an issue of Batman or Detective Comics and he's there. Pick up an issue of any other DC comic and there's like a 30% chance he's there too.
Batman: The Long Halloween
Noir style, investigative, early in batman's career, two face's origin story
It has a sequel-ish story called Batman: Dark Victory that's almost as good
Batman: Hush
Batman: Year One
Frankly there's not going to be much information in this comic you don't already know, but also, it's a classic, so might as well
Batman: A Death in the Family & Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (crossover with the new teen titans)
First story is Jason's death, second is Tim's introduction and arguably the start of the batfamily being a family
Tim drags Dick back into the fray in ALPOD. It's just sort of the kind of thing he does
Do NOT confuse A Death in the Family with Death OF the Family, which is a much newer story, and Not Good
Batman: Under the Red Hood
Jason's villain arc! More details below
Batman himself isn't actually my favorite but you know he's got some decent stuff since he's, uh, the main character. DC doesn't have a multiverse the way Marvel does - and getting into that would be a whole separate ask - but their elseworlds are stories about the characters in different situations. Some ones I've heard good things about include Gotham by Gaslight, Dark Knights of Steel, Batman: Last Knight on Earth, and I keep meaning to get into Batman: White Knight, which is a whole other universe on its own. I've been trying to get into more modern batman stuff and unfortunately I just haven't clicked with anything.
Dick Grayson
Guy has been in a lot of things. If you read a random Batman comics from before 1980, there's a good chance he'll be there.
Teen Titans and The New Teen Titans and Titans (1980s-2000s)
I haven't read enough of these to say much of anything, but he's a founding member of the TT
Nightwing
His post-Robin superhero identity. At first only present in NTT and occasional Batman comics, but eventually he gets his own miniseries in the early 90s, followed by an ongoing. Recently-ish started reading them and they're angsty and very 90s in a lot of ways but I'm enjoying it
Modern Nightwing titles also exist. For sure.
Batman & Robin by Morrison
In one of DC's ten million crises, Bruce "dies", and after a short story called Battle for the Cowl, Dick ends up becoming Batman. Damian is his Robin. It's an interesting time for batman comics, although not necessarily the best writing that Dick has ever gotten.
Batman: The Dark Mirror
Also a great story for the Gordons. Bruce is back from the dead, but Dick is still Batman in Gotham. This was my first even Batman comic and it's really good.
Obviously there's other stories, such as Grayson, where he becomes a super spy for a bit. There's a million and a half reading lists for Dick out there as he's a massively popular character and he's one of the characters DC is pushing the most right now. As with all the rest of these, these are good entry points; from there I trust you to find your way
Barbara Gordon
The original Batgirl, sort of (nobody really brings up bette kane unless they're pointing out that babs wasn't the original Batgirl, she's just not important). She appears sporadically in silver and bronze age batman comics and detective comics, but she quits being Batgirl shortly before being raped and shot in the spine by the joker in Batman: the Killing Joke, which I purposefully did not put on my rec list.
Birds of Prey
Babs-as-Oracle at her best.
Batman: The Dark Mirror
Babs' long lost brother comes back to town. It's fucked up.
I've been reliably told to stay away from her Batgirl runs - most people who are a fan of the character don't like that they retconned Oracle away and it's mostly not very well written. There's a comic called batgirls that lasted about a year that included her, and it's okay.
Jason Todd (my beloved)
MY MAN
Batman: Second Chances
Collected edition of Jason as Robin, so much fun. Extremely silly at times since it's the 80s.
Batman: A Death in the Family
For obvious reasons.
Then he's just sort of dead for 17 years. He shows up in heaven in a Green Arrow issue and is occasionally brought up or shown as a hallucination, but that's about it.
Batman: Under the Red Hood
There's a new crime lord in town and he's so smart and talented and hot omg I wonder who he is!!!!
The collected edition also comes with the annual that reveals how he came back to life
Task Force Z
This shouldn't be as good as it is.
Jason gets recruited to work with a team of undead villains
Jason gets called a hot a bunch of times, and is shirtless a lot. This doesn't matter but you know, like, yeah it does.
For Robin!Jason there's also Batman: The Cult - which I finally got my hands on recently but haven't read yet. For Red Hood!Jason there's lots of stuff, but most of it isn't very good or is actively bad. Most people will tell you to stay away from Red Hood and the Outlaws, and they're right, although the 2016 run is better. Most people will tell you to read Batman & Red Hood: Cheer, and they're wrong, it's ass.
Tim Drake
Frankly this boy has no flops. Or very close to it.
Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying
Tim figured out who Batman and Robin are at AGE NINE. Respect.
After this he appears in various Batman and detective comics issues, I haven't read any of these.
Robin
The first Robin to get his own ongoing! Like with Nightwing, it started with a miniseries (a few of them, actually) and got turned into a long running series from there. Lasted like 200 issues, too.
Tim FUCKS.
Not Steph's first appearance, but most of her appearances pre-2009 are in this series.
Young Justice 1998
It's insane in all the best ways. Cars have sex on panel. They play baseball to save the world on an alien planet. A power of friendship speech prevents the end of the world. In the first issue, a woman develops breasts so big she falls on her face.
This team eventually breaks apart and Tim along with 3 other teen heroes nicknamed the core four (Superboy, Impulse, & Wonder Girl II) become part of Teen Titans 2003, which I haven't read and is also a bit of a flop era fashion wise for everyone anyway. I do have the volume of TT03 where they meet the versions of themselves from the future and I plan on reading that soon-ish.
In the mid 2000s basically everyone Tim loves dies. Steph died in 2004 ish after a very short stint as Robin. Tim's mom dies, then his dad is murdered, and it's unclear what happened to his step mom, but she was in Bludhaven, which had an atomic bomb dropped on it. Impulse becomes kid flash becomes the flash becomes murdered, and superboy gets killed while saving the world. Steph does turn out to not be dead after all and Impulse and Superboy come back from the dead eventually but by God he's having a tough year BEFORE Bruce "dies".
Red Robin 2009
After Bruce "dies" and Dick becomes Batman, Dick makes Damian his Robin and nobody believes Tim that Bruce is still alive, so he steals the Red Robin costume and goes on a mission to save his dad!
Not a comic to read first because it's so uncharacteristic of Tim as a person, but definitely something to read as soon as possible, because it's ridiculously good.
After flashpoint/n52 Tim doesn't have his own ongoing for a while, but he does come out as bisexual in an early issue of Batman Urban Legends (2021) and he got his own ongoing called Tim Drake: Robin in 2022 which was ugly AF and yet cancelled far too soon. There's a Young Justice run from 2019 I haven't read yet.
Stephanie Brown
For her I would go to Google, bc I haven't gone down the rabbithole enough for her yet. I know her first appearance was in a batman comic where she became spoiler to spoil her dad's plans - her dad being a third rate villain called the cluemaster - and she almost kills him, so good for her. Afterwards she appears every once in a while in various comics, most notably in Robin, where she and Tim as Robin start dating despite him knowing her identity but not the other way around.
Robin 60s (I don't remember the exact issues)
Steph gives birth and gives her baby up for adoption
Robin 126-128
Steph becomes Robin when Tim quits for his still-alive-but-not-for-long dad.
War Games
Steph does a fucky wucky and accidentally starts a gang war which gets her killed
There's another Robin arc where she comes back and it turns out she was never dead, Leslie (the family doctor) simply faked her death and sent her to Africa to recover
Batgirl 2009
Her first and only solo ongoing, but it's really good
She also appears a lot in Cass's Batgirl ongoings, and occasionally shows up in yj98. Her most recent series in Batgirls, which isn't very good but her interactions with Cass are very gay, and we've all been shipping it for 20 years at this point, so frankly it's long overdue. Unlikely to become canon tho, unfortunately.
Cassandra Cain
She doesn't use a lot of words, so neither will I. Probably.
No Man's Land
Frankly I am terrified to read this, it's so many goddamn issues, but this is her first appearance. I have one "volume" and it's as big as the fucking Bible.
Batgirl 2000
She's the first Batgirl to get an ongoing. The one from 2008 I've been reliably told isn't very good. She's absolutely terrifying in the 2000 one, I approve.
Outsiders 2016
Supposed to also be good for Duke content. I think at this point she's going by Orphan? Idk she's had a lot of names.
Idk I prefer Black Bat
Spirit World
Mini series that recently ended. Soooooo good. Alyssa Wong is a top contender for favorite modern writer.
She's mostly a background character. Bc DC is both sexist AND racist. She was also in batgirls.
Damian Wayne
Frankly he's my least favorite of the batkids, but that's not his fault, he's been a victim of a lot of really racist writing.
Batman: Son of the Demon
Somehow both his origin AND an elseworlds that doesn't count. Not required reading, but Bruce and Talia are madly in love in this.
Batman by Grant Morrison
After UTRH and before Dick was forced to become Batman Morrison reintroduced Talia's son, who in this version was a rape baby bc apparently brutalia weren't in love and Talia drugged Bruce. Fucking fine, I guess.
His character growth during his time as robin is sweet tho.
Robin 2021
His only solo ongoing, pretty good
Super Sons
He had two team up comics with then fellow child Jon Kent, son of superman, and it was fucking adorable. Then they aged up Jon to 17, so they're still friends, but Jon has his own shit going on.
Duke Thomas
He's REALLY new, and I haven't read any of it, I'm sorry.
Robin War
Batman and the Signal - I finally got my hands on the first issue of this last week!
The Outsiders 2016
Frankly they should capitalize on the Duke & Cass friendship/siblingship more often.
Alfred Pennyworth
I haven't read it, but there's a series called Pennyworth about his days as a spy for the crown. Supposed to be pretty good.
Kate Kane
The Jewish lesbian batwoman of our dreams
Batwoman: Elegy
Her introduction
Also, it's written by Greg Rucka, and if he can do one thing, it's write sapphic women. I'm not even joking.
Get the newer edition that has both of her original Rucka stories
Batwoman ongoings
She's had a couple, they're both supposed to be pretty solid, I've only read a few issues here and there
Batman in other media
Animated: I'm currently watching Batman the Animated Series for the first time and it seems to really get Bruce as a character, even if Robin will be there one episode and his existence will be a plot hole in the next. The Justice League animated series has also been fun so far. Teen Titans have gotten a number of animated adaptations all of which have pretty strong followings. There's an animated show called "Young Justice" which is a Teen Titans show and I refuse to watch it (it has a very devout following, but all that means is that the Young Justice - All Media Types tag on ao3 is just the same as Young Justice Cartoon and I have to filter heavily when looking for yj98 fics). Lego Batman is a REALLY fun film, and I think it turned into a whole franchise.
Live action TV: I have watched the first season of both Titans and Gotham, but both of those were before I was into the batfamily as a concept. My impression of Titans is overall negative and my impression of Gotham is overall positive.
Live action movies: There are so many Goddamn Batman movies. I like the Dark Knight Trilogy, but even calling it "based on" the Dark Knight comic trilogy is giving it a lil more credit than it deserves. The Batman 2022 is massively popular with the comic fandom for a reason - I'm not a big fan of it, but I did enjoy laughing at the movie so at least there's that. Batfleck sucks. I haven't seen anything else, up to and including the Joker movie. Oh, and Birds of Prey was really good, but that's not Cass.
Video games: The Arkham trilogy is well loved and I have indeed just bought it, but I haven't gotten to it because I'm currently working on Gotham Knights and uh. Okay so listen. This game is a lot of fun and I will be finishing it. But it's like. Got a massively antisemitic plot point. I can't even say I don't recommend it, I'm genuinely enjoying the game a lot. But I've never seen anybody bring this up, and it's bugging me.
ANYWAY I'm sure I've missed a LOT but this is introductory so you know I'm giving myself grace. There's characters I completely skipped and I'm sure mega fans of characters I haven't read much of will be offended that I said such and such about them but you know it's only been about a year and a half since I started reading dc comics and I'm still figuring it all out. And I probably will still be figuring it out for the next decade. To me that's actually part of the fun of it.
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jacebeleren · 7 months
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It bothers me so much that the only transfem rep in mtg cards is this like. Soldier military woman, like 'ooh look at this guy's we made a trans woman who's a part of a war machine' fantastic thank you magic very original
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Okay.
First of all, there is no "our" interpretation of the text. My thoughts are my own, and your thoughts are your own. Some of our thoughts might align, but I will not allow you to speak for me.
Second, I am sorry you feel so disappointed in the current state of transgender representation in Magic. I understand your concerns and I think they're valid concerns.
Third, your concerns being valid does not mean I agree with what you have to say, though. Don't come into my inbox complaining unless you're ready for me to honestly respond. Respectfully, your approach to these concerns makes it clear to me that you don't actually understand what you're talking about.
It's apparent that you follow me or have at least seen many of my posts. You appear to respect my opinions / analysis (at least regarding Jace and Tezzeret). So listen to me when I say this:
What constitutes 'good' representation is context-dependent, and it's not something you alone get to decide.
Yes, Alesha is a "soldier military woman", as you said. I understand that you have this complaint because you believe this makes Alesha an example of the stereotype that trans women are violent. But context matters. What you're failing to consider is the fact that she comes from the Mardu Horde, a faction on Tarkir inspired by the Mongol hordes of real-world history. In this context, Alesha isn't presented as violent because she's a trans woman. She's violent because she literally comes from a warrior clan based on one of the greatest military forces in human history. And honestly, with Magic being a combat-centric game, she's not any more violent than any non-Mardu Legends, either.
Do you seriously think a story about a trans woman fighting to proudly declare her trans identity in her culture and later becoming the accomplished and well-respected leader of her clan is bad representation? Does the fact that she's a warrior really outweigh the rest of the lovingly crafted trans narrative they created for her, to you?
It's fine if you feel that way. You don't have to like Alesha or her story. But just because something wasn't made for your taste doesn't mean it's bad writing / bad representation.
Anyway, I highly recommend you read Alesha's story, "The Truth of Names", since it seems like you haven't read it yet. It's a fantastic story-- the most beloved short story in all of Magic, actually. It was the most-read article on the entire Magic website for like 5 years, according to WOTC.
And if you're interested in learning more about transfem characters in Magic who aren't Alesha, I recommend you read about Xantcha, who first appears in the novel "Planeswalker".
Next, I need to make things clear about Ashiok.
Ashiok was never intended to be nonbinary representation. Ashiok was created to be a mysterious, unknowable villain. What makes Ashiok special is that we are not mean to know anything about Ashiok. We do not know Ashiok's species or plane of origin, for example. Another part of that element of mystery is not knowing Ashiok's gender, or how Ashiok identifies. Ashiok's original style guide from Theros explicitly instructs people to not use any pronouns for Ashiok at all (which I still follow because old habits are hard to break.) Official Magic sources did not begin to use they/them pronouns for Ashiok until 2022, in the story "A Garden of Flesh" (another excellent story, BTW.) And they only started using they/them for Ashiok because it is really hard to write a story where the character is mentioned that many times without pronouns.
All this to say: Ashiok as intentional nonbinary representation is certainly not the narrative WOTC is pushing.
Yes, there are many fans of Ashiok who interpret Ashiok as nonbinary, but those are their thoughts and you need not concern yourself with that, if it bothers you so.
As for Niko, it's weird that you say they're "non-existent" in Magic story when 2 of the 5 side stories ("Know Which Way the Wind is Blowing" and "Aim Through the Target") in their debut set Kaldheim were entirely focused on Niko. They're also a starring main character in 15 of the 25 issues of the BOOM! Studios Magic comics.
I'm glad you like my analysis of Jace and Tezzeret as transgender characters. Thank you for that, genuinely. But I want you to understand that the reason I have these interpretations is because I love Magic Story. And more importantly, I actually read it. I love Magic Story, and I have so much respect for the Magic Narrative team and the work they do.
What most people don't understand is that the Magic Narrative Team is in fact very careful and very loving in their approach to queer representation. You may not know this about me, but I'm friends with A LOT of people who formerly or currently work on Magic / Magic Story. Knowing these people personally, I know for a fact that the Magic creative Team does not create queer characters for "diversity points". They're not just checking boxes. The Magic creative team creates queer characters because the Magic creative team is full of queer people and allies who want to tell stories that reflect their own + fans' experiences. And they have to constantly fight to include more / better queer representation in Magic. They want good queer representation in Magic just as much as we do.
Am I going to defend everything they do? No! Are they perfect? No! They are just people. They make mistakes and they have blind spots. For example, in my essay about my analysis of Jace as a trans man, I explain that the reason my interpretation means so much to me is because there is currently zero meaningful representation for trans men in Magic canon. There are zero transgender male characters in Magic canon who have names. That's a HUGE blind spot considering the number of canon trans characters! That's something that disappoints and upsets me.
I'm not afraid to criticize Magic Story, and I do so very often. But I am critical of Magic story because I love it. My criticism does not equal hatred or unhappiness.
Sorry to hear that their efforts at including better trans representation in Magic would piss you off. I'm sorry that you've given up.
Lastly, I think Liliana is cis, but that's just my headcanon.
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