i think the difference between the barbie's treatment of ken's in barbieland vs the ken's treatment of barbie's in kendom can be summed up pretty easily actually:

barbie's ignored ken, realistically they were given an opportunity to have their own lives and do what they wanted and they didn't do it. everything revolved around their barbie's, ken would only have a good day if barbie did or if barbie acknowledged him. they never tried to do anything they genuinely wanted to.

whereas when the ken's took over, they brainwashed the barbie's into liking them and doing things for them. they would bring them beers and act like waitresses, give them foot massages or watch films they otherwise wouldn't be interested in. they became mindless and existed to serve the ken's. they were no longer just friends with the barbie's, they didn't want barbie to love them back, they wanted to own them.

people talking about ken falling down the patriarchy pipeline out of neglect or loneliness but why couldn't the ken's form friendships and communities like the barbie's did? why is it up to barbie to ensure that ken doesn't feel that way? at what point is it acceptable to blame barbie for ken's feelings? barbie let ken come to her party, watched him beach, held him whilst he went to the hospital, agreed to let him go on her journey, says hi to him when she sees him, things friends do and things she's shown doing with all the other barbie's, but if he still feels loneliness after that because she doesn't want to kiss him or doesn't love him back, why is that barbie's fault? meanwhile the entire time ken is ignoring other ken's out of his fixation on barbie and is even trying to "beach" other ken's off and causing problems with other ken's to gain barbie's attention

to me it's the perfect representation of the real world in the sense that women will leave men alone, men will want to own women, and women will be blamed for men's neglect and loneliness but it's a paper cage they create for themselves because they refuse to see women as individuals and arguably they don't actively try to create and nurture communities in the same way women do. ken's story is sad yes, but it's a story of his own design and what makes it worse is that he blames barbie for it. not himself, not mattel, no the real world but barbie, who's friendly disinterest in him means that she should be the one who is blamed and punished

And I’m proud of that

It’s Snape’s own fault he almost got bit by a werewolf

This sounds exactly like: It’s her own fault she got raped for going down that alley.

Way to victim blame.

Maybe blame the attacker. Aka Sirius.

Wow. Weaponizing rape because some idiot willing walked into a werewolf den. I’d say I’m shocked but you’re not the first one to do that completely out of pocket and not at all comparable “comparison”.

Let me fix it for you. Me saying that it’s Snape’s is own fault is like me saying “It is Snape’s own fault for knowingly making the conscious decision to put himself in harms way due to his own malice. Had he been bitten it would have been his fault because he knew that he’d find a werewolf and decided to go hop right to it”. There, fixed it.

Sirius is not the attacker, if you’re going to do something as gross as bring up sexual assault to make that moron look better then at least get the facts right. Here’s what’s canon: Snape figured out that Remus was a werewolf when he saw the school nurse escorting him to the WW, so he knew that something was up with him and he knew that the school had it under control. Snape then put his nose where it’s not supposed to be, why? “Because I don’t want people thinking that they’re as wonderful as they seem”. Snape then figured out that Remus was a werewolf and taunted the marauders about it, Sirius then T O L D him how to get access to Remus and unless you want me to believe that Snape has no mind of his own, then he willingly got out of bed, went to a restricted area, went into an even more restricted area hoping that he would find a werewolf.

So like I said before; it’s Snape own fault that he only got bit. He wanted to see a werewolf and he got just that.

One day, we’ll discuss how fandoms have a tendency to attach hyper masculine traits to black characters. More especially if it’s in a same-sex relationship with a white character, no matter how soft canonically the black character is. 

There is this an errant need to always attach “protector“ or “the strong one“ title to black characters, and it’s even worse when they are portrayed by darker skinned black people.

It happens with Finn and Poe in the Star Wars sequel trilogy fandom. Finn is always the one who must defend or console or step up for Poe, even though he’s a 24 year old who was stolen from his family, and turned into a soldier against his will as a child, and then thrust into a war, which, he did not have to fight in and could’ve run from. However, he is the one who must always protect the “softer“ Poe.

It happened in the First Kill fandom with Juliette and Calliope. Calliope was attached hyper masculine traits even though we’ve seen her dress in “feminine“ ways and carries herself in a “more feminine“ manner. However, she is the one who has the job of protecting Juliette in a fandom eyes.

We have it with Devon and Jake in Chucky, even though they equally fight to protect one another. Devon is always portrayed by fandom, as having to be the one who “protects“ or “consoles” and is always there for Jake meanwhile fans rarely ever give scenarios where it could be the other way around. Canonically Devon and Jake protect each other as equal as possible. However, you could never tell from fandom speaks of them. Devon always has to be the protector. Devon is always be the aggressor. Devon must always be the one who looks after Jake.

Don’t get me started on how Interview With The Vampire fandom attached Louis is “the man of the household” connotations when placed against Lestat even though the show itself tells you HE’S the housewife, and we see who really has the power between the two of them, but it is so rarely reflected in how fans write and speak of them. LOUIS is the soft-spoken, LOUIS is the one who needs the constant protection, LOUIS is the one who is insecure overtly however, it is almost never reflected in how fans engage the characters. 

And if I were to get into how they’re almost always treated by fans as cruel whenever they do not agree with their white partners actions, or they do something for themselves or how they are never given empathy that black fans don’t have to fight for them to be given, or they are held to a much higher standard than their partner, I could be here all day. 

‼️‼️‼️ it's honestly getting weird with how obsessed people are with assigning “masculine” and “feminine” traits to queer relationships to make one “the man” and the other “the woman” in the relationship when neither character has demonstrated that they lean more towards traditional masculinity or femininity. It’s even weirder when the POC (or the darker person if both are POC) is automatically assigned the role of the man (using that loosely) even when 1-they don’t show to be leaning towards masculinity more and 2-the white (or lighter if they’re both POC) person is actively showing a lot more masculine traits than them.

Like choni for example. I have my issues with the ship and the shippers but this forced masculinity on Toni by the shippers is one of my biggest beefs with them. Last time I checked Cheryl was the one who constantly does traditionally hypermasculine things in choni’s relationship, Toni might be the voice of reason and act as emotional support but still if anyone checks the box of “masculinity” it’s Cheryl. In fact, being the voice of reason and the soft never ending emotional support/stand in therapist aligns more with the traditional view of a female/feminine partner so why is Toni still portrayed as the masculine one? (That’s a rhetorical question, we know why) . Cheryl is the one who has gotten physical several times for Toni, sis literally started shooting arrows at people for her sake, she’s the one who provided for Toni with her money, she’s the one who pulled a lot of grand gestures for Toni , she’s the one who gets possessive, all traits that I normally see associated with masculinity. While I have an issue saying that someone “is the man in the relationship” and it’s a mindset I’m trying to unlearn, for the sake of this post, I’m going to say that it’s clear that Cheryl is the man of the relationship for a lack of better phrasing/understanding. So for fans to insist that Toni is the more aggressive, assertive, dominant and all around more masculine one is very weird to me and it’s too much of a pattern to ignore anymore.

Stop forcing masculinity on black women, brown women, black men, brown men, etc in favor of feminizing their white/lighter love interest.

What if Azula had a much better and closer relationship with Mai and Ty Lee?

So I’ve seen many, many AU fanfics where the basic premise is that Zuko and Azula have a much better relationship than canon, and these usually end up involving conspicuous amounts of patricide. I have my issues with this premise, but it can be interesting or entertaining if done well. What I’ve never seen done is an AU where the point of divergence is that Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee have a much better relationship than canon. You could do this by having the Dangerous Ladies meet and bond much younger than they did in canon(I’m talking as toddlers here, since I’m guessing they became friends somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6 in canon. Mai’s a year older than Azula). You could have so that at some critical moment in Azula’s life, she really opened up and unloaded her trauma upon them, and they supported her and in turn unloaded their traumas to her. You could have any number of points of divergences. But the ultimate point would be that, at some level, Azula loves her friends more than she loves anything else in the world. More than her father who is more always so demanding of her. More than her mother who abandoned her and always favored Zuko anyways. More than her entitled, jealous brother who can’t stand that Azula’s better than him. Quite possibly more than she loves her nation, her duty, and her status as princess. And, at some level, Mai and Ty Lee reciprocate and love each other and Azula very, very deeply. In fact, for a canon divergence the simplest thing to do would be to have Mai and Ty Lee never leave Caldera(after Zuko’s banishment). Let’s say Mai’s father never receives a post outside the capital, so she never moves away. By that point, Azula is very much consumed with her duties as heir to throne and isn’t spending as much time with her friends as she used to, but with Mai still around Ty Lee doesn’t feel the desire to pull the trigger and run off and join the circus. Azula never has her friends “abandon” her. So the three Dangerous Ladies are together during a particularly difficult time in their lives, with Azula being trapped alone in an abusive household with the pressure turning up all the time and Mai and Ty Lee also having absolutely awful family lives where they’re getting badly neglected. And at critical moments they start leaning on each other(potentially in some pretty unhealthy ways) and open up about their issues, leading to them forming very strong bonds. This doesn’t mean that they understand how abusive their situations are(because awful family dynamics are normalized for them). And the thing is that their friendship can still be very unhealthy in some ways. Ty Lee can still be leaning on her friends, particularly Azula, for the positive attention and approval she doesn’t get elsewhere in her life. Ty Lee can still prize her relationship with Azula as something which makes Ty Lee be unique among her siblings. Mai can still rely on Azula to inject her life with excitement and freedom from her family’s suffocating expectations. Azula can still rely on her friends for the love, affection, and support she should be getting from parental figures. There’s still a serious power discrepancy in the friendship which is unhealthy. Azula can even still order her friends around in combat situations, something that Mai resents. Fundamentally, the Dangerous Ladies are still three teenagers raised in an awful home environment at the top of a toxic, imperial system who end up getting thrust into a war zone to act as child soldiers, and that influences their friendship dynamics. At some level, Azula can still be terrified that her friends will abandon her or be forced to abandon her. The other thing is that having a very strong friendship between the three of them does not automatically turn any of them, particularly Azula, into better people. Mai and Ty Lee are raised at the top of Fire Nation society and indoctrinated into Fire imperialist ideology, so, just like in canon, they don’t see anything wrong with the majority of Azula’s actions. Violently imposing Fire imperialism is a good thing for them, and they have little issue with most of Ozai’s actions. So, while Azula would absolutely listen to her friends if they actively tried to lead her toward a better path, they aren’t trying. If the Dangerous Ladies come to reject Ozai or Fire imperialism, it will be because their experiences cause them to or because events force them to. Anyways, in Book 1 nothing really changes. In Book 2, there could be major changes due to the butterfly effect, but there doesn’t have to be. Maybe Azula recruits her friends when she is first given the mission to kill or capture Zuko and Iroh, and she still fails to capture her brother and uncle at the resort. Maybe, like canon, she doesn’t recruit her friends (via letter?) until she failed the first time. In either case, Mai and Ty Lee both come 100% voluntarily. Mai, like canon, is bored with her life and sees this as a way to get some excitement, while Ty Lee, without having run away to the circus, has nothing better to do and sees it as a chance to have some fun and help her friends. Besides, with both Mai and Azula out of town, she’d be alone with her “awful” family. There really doesn’t have to be much change in Book 2, with the caveat that just about nothing which happens in “Return to Omashu” happens. You can still leave the other big Dangerous Ladies moments(“The Chase,” capturing Suki, taking Ba Sing Se) intact if you want to. Azula being a much better friend doesn’t necessarily change much. Where things potentially change a lot are in Book 3. There are a lot of directions it could go there. Zuko could have a different dynamic with each of the Dangerous Ladies if/when he comes back, which could lead to different actions on his part. On the other hand, if you wanted, not much could change until the Boiling Rock, where things potentially go very differently. Azula could end having to choose, with her friends and her brother on one side and her father and her nation on the other. Also, the Dangerous Ladies could confront Zuko together, rather than Mai talking to him alone, potentially leading to interesting results. Anyways, these are my thoughts on this AU idea. Again, I think it would be interesting to explore and I’ve never seen it done.

It’s like this post was meant for me. I absolutely adore this kind of dynamic between the three girls

i think something a good 70% of the atla fandom fails to remember is that azula is fundamentally a massive dork

no wait i have more to say about this actually. people seem to hyperfocus on the fact that she is capable of things that 14 year olds really shouldn’t be capable of while completely missing how that affects other regions of her personality. the adultification of her character in the show is literally the reason she is simultaneously excellent at commanding and strategizing and delegating in high stakes situations but almost completely inept when it comes to casual conversation. people love to characterize her as some badass hbic stereotypical mean girl when in fact she’s really just a loser

Azula is a fucking loser (affectionately)

THANK YOU.

Mai was not a saint, girlfriend-wise. And I understand that Zuko is going through a lot but what we’re not gonna do is sit here and act like out of the two of them he “deserves better” and that she was the worse of the two. Like huh?Zuko deadass: Got her a gift he knew she wouldn’t like since he was literally in the room when she was complaining about beach decorations. So either he didn’t care enough to get her something special or he tuned her out.

Acted like a jealous, possessive dick during the party. Babes came to conclusion that Mai liked another guy when she just said “I have no opinion on him” jdjejejd Bestie LEARN HOW TO LISTEN.

He threw a stranger into a vase for just talking to Mai. He threw someone into a vase for just speaking to her.

She risks her life for him, she could have died and he didn’t even bother to check up on her. 😭 that’s not funny but damn, he was Firelord for a hot minute and she didn’t even cross his mind enough to even think about checking up on her. HER UNCLE HAD TO GET HER OUT OF JAIL lmaoooo. MaI yOurE oK, bro didn’t even try to check.

But people still try to act like those actions pale to her *checks notes* trying to comfort him, albeit in a very dismissive way and making a joke about not asking for his life story and for another moment that’s obviously meant to be taken as a joke. That’s another thing, the fandom forgets that the show is still a comedy for kids. “Never break up with me again” is on the same level of Zuko being bored as hell while Toph tells him her trauma. Those are two moments that aren’t ok irl but that doesn’t matter because they’re both supposed to be taken AS A JOKE.

BESTIES I JUST HAD A THOUGHT

So we find out snape is in love with lilly because his patrons was the same as hers.

But we know that lily and james loved eachother because their patronuses were the male and female versions of the same animal.

This is really representative of snapes and james' love for lilly. James complemented her, and they went well together, because he loved her for all of her. He is her soulmate, her life partner. A person who goes really well with who she is. Thus their patronuses complement each other.

Snape was obsessed with lilly and wanted to own her. He wanted her to belong to him, and to not be her own person anymore, but rather to be the twisted version of her he created in his mind. To be the other half of him. So his patronus is the same as hers. He wants her to be a part of him. To belong to him. So his patronus matched hers so that, in his creepy twisted mind, he soul would belong with his.

Just another way of showing just how fucked up and creepy snape was.

It was always really creepy to me, especially when you take their whole friendship into account from when they met to when he ruined it and I found it strange how the fandom romanticized it. You pretty much explained it perfectly. James complemented Lily, Snape did not.

"you can't ship that, it'll never be canon!"

look, when I was your age, we shipped characters who never even met in canon. uphill. both ways. in the snow.

#shipping is just a more sophisticated way of playing dolls and smashing their doll faces together#we're all clowns and you're no less a clown just bc your dolls are canon

My people used to make music videos shipping people from completely different shows with no chance of a crossover. Don't fucking talk to me about noncanon ships. You know nothing of noncanon ships.

I just got flashbacks to all of the edits of Jack Frost and Elsa

I've seen questions before as to why Iroh didn't tell Zuko or Azula that their dad was being horrible to them and, I mean

Probably because by the time he could notice anything, Ozai had usurped the crown, and if Ozai ever caught wind of Iroh trying to convince his children he was hurting them he would have been executed.

I think Iroh was ignorant of the severity of the situation until Zuko's burn. By then the damage to Zuko and Azula had taken root, and any attempts to detach them from Ozai's influence would be nigh on impossible so long as Ozai had power and the kids wanted his love. All he could do after that was just try to keep Zuko alive and make sure he knew he had a safe place around his uncle while they traveled together.

I feel like his inaction of pointing out Ozai’s abuse stems from Azulon. Ozai wasn’t the first or only abusive father, Azulon was too and he had the same scapegoat/golden child dynamics and favoritism between the two boys, with Iroh as the favorite firstborn son and Ozai as the scapegoat. He also had the same extreme punishments normalized (Zuko’s burn and Azulon demanding that Ozai feels the same pain as Iroh and to kill zuko). He told Ozai to kill Zuko and Ozai was seriously going to do it either out of fear or because he’s conditioned to listen to his father no matter what, which is where I think he got his toxic idea of “respect” blind loyalty from.

We’re not given more background on Azulon and Iroh and Ozai’s childhoods but the fact that Ozai ,of all people, was still trying to impress his dad (Azula’s name) and seems to show some parallels between him and Zuko, (both are hotheaded scapegoats who continuously try to impress an abuser. They also both went hunting for the avatar which I find interesting) I feel like their childhoods could be filled with about ‘the same level’, for lack of a better phrase, of abuse. That’s all Iroh’s ever known so I think that’s why he’s never able to say anything more than “that’s messed up” because this behavior is so normalized to him.

I am SO TIRED of the Sn*pe fandom saying "he can't be racist he was a half blood :("

You know who also was a half blood, yet NO ONE uses this poor tired excuse for him?

Lord Voldemort.

yeah but i mean. at that point voldemort had done some really bad things. like murdering dozens (hundreds?) of people. and snape was a shitty teacher that was secretly a double spy. there’s a big difference.

Snape was a shitty teacher who abused students and was an ex-terrorist who 100% agreed with Voldemort’s ideals from a young age until Lily die which is when he defected and became a double spy

I don’t understand why Anti Lily Evans exist

You hate her because she left Snape?

I’d hate someone too if they were a bigot, called everyone like me slurs, called me a slur too, treated me like a possession, tried to control who I should be friends with, practiced dark magic, wanted to join a terrorist organisation and was friends with other bigots who hurt people.

It would never have worked out

Nah Fr like what about Lily is hatable? I understand not vibing with her character because she’s barely there but hating her? 🤨 for what? I’ve never seen a reasonable answer apart from ShEs a BiTcH!1!1. Which is funny because they manage to conveniently ignore that all of her “bitchy” moments are responses to people repeatedly acting like assholes to her, unprovoked. Is she supposed to sit there and take it as her sister and “best friend” call her names like freak and mudblood and treat her like shit because she’s different than them?