I honestly don’t mind if the FFVII remake takes a while because it’s more time for the little assholes in Voltron fandom to outgrow their pseudoactivism and conservative moral policing, or even outgrow fandom entirely because nobody would miss them, and I sure as fuck don’t want them arriving in Aeriseph and Seph/Cloud to be giving us grief over something over two decades old that clearly hasn’t made abusers and murderers out of us.
My take is fairly simple: we’re dealing here with a canon which starts with at least two of the major characters undergoing canonical, non-consensual biological experimentation before the age of eighteen. So at that point, if you’re getting all exercised about sexual relationships between characters and the ages they are when this happens, I’m just going to point, laugh, and tell you to go to Bunnings, buy some lumber, build a fucking bridge, and get the fuck over it. Because there are definitely better things for you to be getting upset about in Final Fantasy VII canon, the original writers of said canon did them first and harder than any fanwriter has done before or since, and you’re just going to have to deal with that.
Oh, and on top of this: the whole of the Final Fantasy VII canon does not take place on Earth (happens on a planet called Gaia), and this means that planet may not have a year which is 365.25 days long. What happens if the year is, for example, 469.3 days long?
The different world is very important, imo. If people can run off to legally join the military at fourteen, clearly their social rules are different. We’re simply writing within the bounds of a fictional universe. These things aren’t even a constant on our planet, with some ages of consent going as low as 12, for better or worse. I still recall early uproar from Americans about Tifa running a bar when “she’s not even old enough to drink”, when she certainly was old enough outside the US and apparently on Gaia too.
*slides in* FFVII uses a calendar system fairly close to our own, save that July, August, and February all have 30 days, and each millennium is broken down into its own era with special notation and numbering ( μ and ν
are the two we see depicted in the games).
But obsession over fictional calendars aside, yah, antis can stay the hell away from our delightfully messed up canon and fandom, please and thank.
tall people: if we are walking together please take into consideration my tiny legs. i cant keep up with you. please think of my tiny legs i dont want to be jogging to keep up with your leisurely stroll you TITANS
Just get a pair of roller skates and hang on to my sleeve, we don’t have all day.
Personally? I think once someone is in the 15/16/17 range it’s a little late to be going “kids will be kids” as an excuse for them being bullies and bigots and that you shouldn’t let them get away with it.
I mean it might just be me but I kind of think we should be teaching kids that these things are unacceptable instead of letting it slide and then being shocked and angry when at 18/19/20/whatever they don’t know any better?
Hey, maybe I’m wrong. But when I was being bullied, I was constantly given reasons why the bullies were totally justified in their behavior, and as a surprise to no one, it never stopped. I was suicidal by 4th grade and in therapy by 8th, and still they kept going until I moved.
And when I moved, I was bullied by new people, and again, people kept shrugging it off or trying to justify it, and no one took it seriously because they were “just kids” and “how much damage could kids really do to one another?” Well I was just a kid too. But supposedly they “wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t provoked them in some way” so it was my responsibility to fix it by fixing myself and making myself someone they wouldn’t want to target.
I just kinda think someone should have taught these kids better before they became adults? I think they should have heard that bullying is wrong at least once? Don’t you think someone should have said something to them instead of trying to justify it?
And I don’t see why it’s wrong for an adult to step up and say, “Hey kid, your behavior is hurtful and this is why.” I don’t see why people see that as a bad thing or why they think it’s better to just keep quiet because it’s “no big deal” and “they’re just being a kid.”
Like why is it wrong to tell someone who is 17 to stop being a bully or a bigot but once they’re 18 they should just magically know better? I don’t get it.
People on this site call it harassment, but what the hell do you think bullying someone or being a raging bigot is? A party? Why is it okay if a kid does it? It shouldn’t be okay for anyone to do it.
But hey. Maybe that’s just me.
❄💙 Bella 💙❄
yeah like, seriously as someone who was bullied in middle school in horrifying ways, including sending a bunch of 11th graders after a 5 ft tall 7th grader to follow him almost home after school; including threatening to kick him while he’s sitting down, and then actually kicking him while he’s sitting down; threatening to kill him; throwing rocks and other objects at him; etc, etc, and who after finally cracking and telling a teacher he’s scared of some of his classmates heard time and time again from teachers that PROMISED they’d help anyone that came forward with bullying accusations that they “didn’t mean to” and that it was “just a misunderstanding” and “that’s just how teenagers are.”
so yeah no lol you don’t get to be a bully online just because you’re 16 i literally don’t care
Controversial opinion maybe but honestly? No age is appropriate to dismiss bullying and bigoted behaviour as “kids will be kids”. Little kids get it if you actually bother to tell them it’s wrong. It’s far easier to nip this shit in the bud when they are just picking it up than to fix ingrained behaviour. You don’t even have to tell them off or punish them if they are genuinely too young to know better, just inform them. Kids want to be good.
^^^^ Yeah like??? “Kids will be kids” is just “boys will be boys” all over again; if you don’t teach them at a young age then they’ll never learn? So I really don’t feel kids of any age should be given a free pass on any of this shit? I mean obviously don’t be mean to them but is telling someone “hey that behavior is wrong and this is why” being mean? I don’t think so.
Once they’re an adult and this is all they know it’s going to be much harder to teach them better so like, yeah I think when they are kids that is a good time to intervene?
I really don’t get why this is seen as a controversial or offensive idea. If someone starts harassing me online or insulting me I think I have a right to let them know why what they are doing is wrong regardless of how old they are? Because if they are doing it to me they could easily do it to someone else, maybe someone weaker and more afraid? So like, someone ought to stop it?
❄💙 Bella 💙❄
I realize this might come off like I’m saying someone at 13 should know the same things and have the same level of maturity as someone who is 18. I don’t believe that at all.
But I do believe that if you see someone being victimized by someone, and you can step in, you should. If you’re being victimized by someone, you should be allowed to stand up for yourself. If you see someone being a bigot or a bully, you should make it clear what’s wrong with their behavior. If someone is a bigot or a bully, they should be educated and called out. And I believe that is true no matter what ages are involved in this.
Like, yeah, be nice to kids. Be understanding towards kids. Be respectful. Don’t expect perfection. Don’t be cruel or demanding.
But if someone is calling you slurs or telling you to die or sending hundreds of people to attack you or explaining why you don’t deserve to be treated like a human… you can’t just shrug it off, say “kids will be kids,” and give them a free pass?
They won’t learn from that. They won’t become better people from that. They won’t change their ways if they never learn how to change or even that they should change.
Is it possible they’ll grow out of it and become nicer on their own? Maybe.
But more than likely, they won’t learn to not be a bigot if they’re never told they are one and no one explains why what they are doing is bigoted. They won’t stop bullying people if they believe they can get away with it or think their victim deserves it.
(Adults can be bullies, by the way. That doesn’t end in childhood.)
So I’d rather someone say, “Hey, no one deserves this, and this is why.” Maybe they won’t listen. But they will listen to excuses we make for their behavior and use that against others.
I have absolutely seen minors on this site respond to callouts with “I’m a minor shut up.” They absolutely think they can get away with any kind of horrible behavior they want because they are a minor. They think their age justifies what they are doing and makes it acceptable, maybe even good.
I wonder why. 🤔
❄💙 Bella 💙❄
I work with kids irl for six weeks in the summer (camp), and let me tell you they are mind blown half the time when you tell them that being a jerk isn’t going to fly and they can either stop being a jerk or go home/be moved to a different cabin/any number of other not-so-fun courses of action we have. When they haven’t been corrected, they assume it’s fine, so getting told off is like getting told cheese is made from bricks. But if you tell them enough, and in the right way, they get it, and you can save a five year old jerk from becoming a twenty five year old jerk.
Comments: All the ponies love BARNACLE THE PIRATE PONY. Like, duh!
I see three ponies who care way more about being a 3-piece set with each other than they do about Barnacle >u> But he still gets a date, so it all works out.
I honestly don’t mind if the FFVII remake takes a while because it’s more time for the little assholes in Voltron fandom to outgrow their pseudoactivism and conservative moral policing, or even outgrow fandom entirely because nobody would miss them, and I sure as fuck don’t want them arriving in Aeriseph and Seph/Cloud to be giving us grief over something over two decades old that clearly hasn’t made abusers and murderers out of us.
My take is fairly simple: we’re dealing here with a canon which starts with at least two of the major characters undergoing canonical, non-consensual biological experimentation before the age of eighteen. So at that point, if you’re getting all exercised about sexual relationships between characters and the ages they are when this happens, I’m just going to point, laugh, and tell you to go to Bunnings, buy some lumber, build a fucking bridge, and get the fuck over it. Because there are definitely better things for you to be getting upset about in Final Fantasy VII canon, the original writers of said canon did them first and harder than any fanwriter has done before or since, and you’re just going to have to deal with that.
Oh, and on top of this: the whole of the Final Fantasy VII canon does not take place on Earth (happens on a planet called Gaia), and this means that planet may not have a year which is 365.25 days long. What happens if the year is, for example, 469.3 days long?
The different world is very important, imo. If people can run off to legally join the military at fourteen, clearly their social rules are different. We’re simply writing within the bounds of a fictional universe. These things aren’t even a constant on our planet, with some ages of consent going as low as 12, for better or worse. I still recall early uproar from Americans about Tifa running a bar when “she’s not even old enough to drink”, when she certainly was old enough outside the US and apparently on Gaia too.
You know how weird it is as a British fan of things watching in confusion as Americans lose their shit over someone having sex under 18 or drinking under age 21? Our age of consent is 16 and age for drinking is 18 so quite often it takes me a while to even work out what the ‘problem’ is that American fans are complaining about. You know what legal age makes little and less sense to Brits? That Americans can DRIVE at 16, therefore being responsible for other people’s lives whilst being on the road – even though they apparently cannot be trusted with their own bodily autonomy until aged 18. Completely baffling.
The not holding fictional worlds to Earth standards is important, but it’s equally as important to not hold the standards of the place we live in as the rules and laws of the media we’re consuming, particularly when those laws don’t allow young people to engage in activities far later than other places in the world. Not everything is made in or specifically for America, y’all.
The lifestyle in the mainland was still something Mea had to get used to. Back at the island, most of the residents caught their own fish and grew their own vegetables, sometimes trading produce with other villagers. Some households specialized in more refined products, such as liquor and preserves, and sold them at their own homes, setting up a stall at the main square during island festivals at most.
The organized chaos of a mainland marketplace was very different from buying cassava cakes from her neighbours. Merchants shouted their offers and almost sang their sales pitch — the ones that got the most attention from the customers were the ones with a nice rhythm and cadence, and with at least three different stands selling the same goods, any detail could make the difference in attracting customers.
For the butchers, Mea’s choice was not based on which one had the lowest prices or the most options to choose from. She just seemed to always find herself headed towards the stand tended by a blue eyed young man who seemed to be around her age, even when there was no meat in her shopping list, and in those instances she would just blush and buy something from the baker’s stand right next to his, but not without looking at the young man every now and then. He always had a kind smile for her, even when she wasn’t buying anything from him.
She hadn’t told anyone about him, there was nothing to tell, really. It was just an infatuation with a man she saw every now and then, it was normal for girls her age, right? Except it wasn’t normal for her, not at all. Men never caught her attention, not the way women did. Women were pretty and soft and unique, while men, to her, all looked the same. If asked, she wouldn’t know what made a man handsome besides “other women think so”. Still, for some reason, she seemed drawn by the young butcher and his kind eyes. They were blue, what she was told to be a desirable trait since light eyes were so rare in that region, but Odette’s friend also had blue eyes and that never made Mea look at him as more than a snotty brat. The young butcher’s eyes, on the other hand, made her nervous if she looked at them for too long, and at the same time made her wish they were focused on her.
Her desire for being noticed made her make a habit out of picking flowers on her way to the market, and putting them in her hair. Lady Almeida would force her to wear it tied back, and acted as if her natural curly and voluminous hair offended her personally, and Mea suspected it had to do with her hair making her look less white. Tying her hair back wasn’t the problem, Mea did it all the time when she went sailing back in the island, or else she would have to spend the whole night disentangling it. No, the problem was being forced to hide what her hair looked like naturally to fit someone else’s idea of what characteristics were worthy of a Lady’s presence, and now instead of the big hair she was quite proud of, she had to settle for a flower behind her ear.
“Good morning, miss!”
Mea greeted the butcher with a nod and a smile, sometimes looking up and into his eyes but her gaze never lingered. For a brief moment, she could forget about the rest of the world, and her biggest worry would be if the butcher seemed to like her smile as much as she liked his, or if it was just her imagination.
Sometimes in life, it doesn’t matter how accomplished you dream to be, or how extraordinary you wish your life was, the missing piece that would make you feel consistently happy and content is simple human connection — knowing that at least for that moment, you’re not alone and have someone else to experience the world with. Sometimes, these connections aren’t where you hoped they would be, or even where you think they should be. And sometimes, especially when you find such a connection in a place where you did not expect, it takes bravery to build a bridge where outside lookers would tell you not to bother.
“Mea. My name is Mea.”
Her voice came out low, and unsure, but now that she had made an effort to connect with him, she couldn’t act like she regretted it. Even if introducing herself like that to someone she was supposed to just let fade in the background of her day-to-day life made things awkward, she did it, and now she had to own up to it. Even if she felt like her insides were bubbling with anxiety. Hoping that acting confident would make the confidence follow, she looked up to face him with her most genuine smile.
“T-Theodore- Theo. I’m Theo.”
The young butcher blinked a few times. Working at the market meant that customers always treated him as just one more face without a name. If anything, he was known as “the butcher’s boy”, for helping out his father at his stand. He hadn’t expected a customer to introduce themselves to him, let alone the beautiful girl with flowers in her hair (though he had to admit, he cherished every interaction he had with her, no matter how small). His face lit up with a wide smile to match hers — and then he proceeded to take her order and both of them went on with their days like nothing special had happened, save from the smiles in their faces and the excitement in their hearts.
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