Arthur Notices Merlin And Lancelot’s Chemistry In S1 And Then Merlin And Gwaine’s Chemistry In S3

It’s the fact that when enchanted!Merlin calls Gwaine filthy, instead of a hands-out, “What the hell, man?” he just turns into a kicked puppy.

…Or perhaps, more accurately, a pangolin.

More of the manservant!Arthur AU (Part 1, Part 2) because the Merlin fandom surprised me by still being alive. Congratulations guys

MK's father figures

I really wished Leon and Merlin interacted more

This isn’t even really just because i ship Merleon, they just would’ve made a really good duo.

The few interactions we have with them show that they do get along very well.

We see leon seen ruffling Merlin’s hair and even joke around with him. He fully trusts Merlin and doesn’t think of him to do anything wrong.

I feel like the cup of life or maybe even Kilharrahs attack would’ve been good points for them to get closer, it would’ve given them something to connect on (mainly on Merlin’s end, unless he were to reveal his magic and all that) or at least something to talk about.

Their relationship has changed from when they first met to there last few interactions.

After the “Lamia” episode we should’ve seen some type of acknowledgement of what Leon and the others did because Leon did physically hurt Merlin, even if it was under a spell.

Leon shoving Merlin around did seem like a parallel to when he did it in “the sins of the father” but the difference was that back then he did it on his own accord.

Leon has obviously changed since then, and Merlin knows that, so it hurt him more to see him revert back to that.

Valentino is a pedophile

Or at least heavily coded to be one.

This post will focus on many triggering topics, such as the cultural glorification of pimps, the normalization of pedophilia within media, the glorification of sexual assault and abuse, child sexual exploitation, exploitation on the sets of hollywood, the book lolita and the 1997 films, blaxploitation, sex work and adjacent topics.

Before I start, I'd like to direct you to this video. It goes into depth on the film adaptations of Lolita and the directors behind said adaptations:

What is a pimp? A pimp is someone who predates on young and/or vulnerable people, offering security (whether it be physical, financial or emotional) in return for sexual favors and exploitation. Pimps are involved in the sex and human trafficking rings. Pimps are often found to be pedophiles and predate on specifically under developed and/or low socioeconomic communities and their vulnerable members (including children). This includes poc, queer, disabled, and any other type of minority that may feel the need to seek supports not provided by the government/society.

What is blaxploitation? Blaxploitation is the exploitation of Black, primarily American issues and culture, often through the lenses of white directors in media. This media was made to relate to African American Urban communities in the Americas during the 1970's. Although "exploitation" is clearly within the word, Black actors did have some say in the characters they play, making this topic ambiguous among the communities that these films were directed towards.

What is Lolita? Lolita is originally a book made by Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita's intentions were to show the true nature of pedophiles through the lense of a pedophile themselves. The protagonist is clearly bias and truly disgusting, though this is purposeful. Vladimir made this book as a way to explore this condition and criticize the sexualization of young girls. It was within his wishes to NEVER HAVE A GIRL PORTRAYED ON THE COVER OF HIS BOOK, as he understood how society treats young girls. This wish was ignored. Vladimir was approached many times by film companies wishing to adapt his novel, he turned them down multiple times, until he simply gave in, and the first Lolita film was made.

What were the lolita films? There has been multiple Lolita films over the years, see the linked video for more context. For this discussion I'll be focusing on the Stanely Kurbik's and Adrian Lyne's films from 1962 and 1997. These films had a large impact on how the media views young women and were a large part in normalizing sexual misconduct to young girls and women on the sets of movies and shows. These movies prioritize the sexual gratification of Humbert over the psychological horror that is a Middle aged man gaining the trust of a mother to groom and abuse her child. Almost villainizing Dolores as a "temptress" or "nymphette". Terrifying enough, on the sets of these films, the YOUNG TEEN GIRLS were preyed upon and abused in ways that Humbert himself would have to Dolores.

How does this all relate to the portrayal of Valentino?

Valentino is a pimp, duh, so all of the social connotations of a pimp related to him.

Valentino is specifically based on the blaxploitation stereotype of a pimp. This is a issue as its a racist stereotype.

How is Lolita involved in this? Charact design is an important feature of story telling. Lolita's iconic imagery of Heart shaped glasses appears in Valentinos own design, this paired with the context that majority of pimps are indeed Pedophiles and prey on young people leads to a disgusting revelation.

He's a Villian, why should we care?

Currently the romanticization of pimps are at a all time high, and not only in the Helluvaverse fandom. See source two for more information. But to keep on topic we'll be focusing on Hazbin hotel and its fandom.

The overall lack of seriousness around the character and mishandling of his general characterization of being a pimp and abuser is laughable. Hazbin hotel has the issue of not treating their villians with any sort of seriousness, and this paired with their inability to take sexual assault, exploitation and harassment seriously has lead to a lot of fans sharing the inability to treat these real life events with the empathy and seriousness they deserve.

This is seen in two trends within the fandom:

First Raph, Raph is a storyboard artist and a close friend to Viv. Raph is the vocal center of all fans of Val, and all fans of Val tend to follow in their lead. Raph has sexually harassed a minor, sexually roleplays in all age/family friendly conventions as angel dust, getting abused by Valentino. But what's most concerning is that there's speak of Raph seeking out a real Pimp to be under. This is not safe, and not behavior they should be proud of or modelling to their audience of unstable and vulnerable people.

Second is this stupid trend the fans of Val have made

Just... just look at the text and wording... I literally cannot-

The merch store for this show also turns the act of pimping into something to be proud of. This is something I'd see in a Andrew Tate store...

Viv often also promotes the romanticization of abuse within fandom along side general rape culture. This along side sending harassment to Limus for getting a sign with their critical video of Angel dusts portrayal over protecting her old VA, Michael Kovach from sexual harassment and assault from a Valentino cosplayer is INSANE.

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Wha- proshippers do realize that morality and representation still matter when they write fanfiction..... right?

That's the thing about proshippers. They claim that they just "like" a villain. But will then defend and fetishize them for their actions.

This along side the VA for Valentino seconding all of this behavior and promoting the show to literal CHILDREN is a genuine threat to any vulnerable person who interacts with the show or fandom.

Sources referenced: 1. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=dignity 2. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/05/pimps-use-instagram-to-glorify-sexual-violence-and-abuse-investigation-finds 3. https://www.womenslaw.org/about-abuse/forms-abuse/sexual-abuse-and-exploitation/forced-prostitution/basic-info-and-0 4. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/883/ 5. https://goldenglobes.com/articles/golden-age-blaxploitation-black-stars-black-audiences/ 6. https://www.britannica.com/art/blaxploitation-movie https://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0803/080398.opin.opin.2.html

merlin is trending you know what that means

MERWAINE PROPAGANDA TIME

You know what, really angst gravity falls material/headcannon I have!

Just imagine young Bill is telling his parents about the shining small lights he sees. Only for his parents to look at their son with concern, but his parents just chalk it up to just be his wild imagination.

Now, as years go by, as Bill gets older, he is growing more and more angry. Saying stuff like, "There are lights in the sky! Look, one fell, quick make a wish!"

Now Bill is too old for this type of stuff, so his parents grow more concerned and realize they can no longer just go with, "it just his wild imagination!" So they take him to the doctor and get Bill medicine.

Not knowing this just pushed Bill off the edge some more......

Now, the day came... now Euclid and Scalece could only watch as their son slowly destroyed their home. But as they slowly met their demise, they looked up to tiny lights in the sky... but as the dimension fabric started to destroy itself even faster, Euclid and Scalece looked at each other one last time. Then, they looked at the sky again.

3 perfect stars, but as the two big stars started to fall, they both said their first and last wish.

Now, all that is left behind of them and that night. Is their most prize possessions. Their bow, top hat, and most of all, their son.....

Why did you do it?

Why did you do it?

Why did you do it?

Why did you do it?

another of my conference posts!

All Viv characters are majority mean-spirited.

Yes, there are expectations like Charlie and Millie. But the majority of both show all the characters shown are mean, hateful, or say inappropriate things towards other characters.

These characters never get called out on their behavior.

And it might be funny to laugh at the joke, but once you step back and realize if you were in Moxxie place, getting fat shame in your workplace by your boss daughter and the boss himself. It wouldn't be funny anymore.

Not to mention, it been shown time and time again that Blitz follows Moxxie and Millie back to their apartment. And either watches them outside or break into their apartment.

So, even at home where Moxxie is supposed to feel safe, he still puts in the position where he has to probably make sure Blitz isn't anywhere.

Hazbin Hotel, all the characters in the main group (expect Charlie and Sir pentious) are so mean-spirited that if they existed in real life, I just know nobody would actually try to stay in the same room as them then maybe a couple of minutes.

Honestly, I genuinely believe all the characters in their respective shows are all like the family members that dislike each other, but would still meet every Saturday for family dinner, then to just get in fight with another family member.

I'm rewatching BBC Merlin for the hundredth time and just need to talk about The Witchfinder episode from season 2 and how this impacted Merlin's decision to keep his magic a secret.

By now, Merlin has been in Camelot long enough to see how Gaius is a trusted advisor to Uther. They've been friends for decades. Uther trusts Gaius as much as he is capable of trusting anyone.

And yet. And yet Uther STILL orders the execution of his most trusted advisor on the word of the Witchfinder.

To Uther, the years of service and trust mean nothing in the face of sorcery. Uther tried to apologize (ish) later, and rightfully so, Gaius refused to just brush the near execution aside.

Now think about Merlin. He has come to care about Arthur as a person at this point, not just part of his destiny, but they aren't as close as we know they will be later.

Merlin has been traumatized by seeing his father figure almost die because the king was blinded by his hatred of sorcery. Merlin knows it was almost his own execution here.

It's no wonder he didn't want to tell Arthur at this point. If Uther was ready to kill Gaius, we know canonically he was fine with Merlin dying.

Once Arthur became king, I believe Merlin still remembered this. We know what Merlin said: he didn't want to put Arthur in this position, to have to make the choice of life or death. But I believe there was still this deep seated fear that his years of service and council would never be enough to out weigh the death sentence of being a sorcerer in Camelot.

I love how it canon in welcome home that the joyful siblings each have an element in the process of making flowers bloom.

Like Franny is the rain, Jonesy is the grass, Bea is the sun, and Julie is the flower itself.

At first, I was so confused because it didn't make sense, and then I realized each sibling (expect Julie) had what flowers need to have to grow: rain, grass, and the sun.