I’m so glad that harringrove is still such a loved and lively ship here on tumblr and that the fans are genuinely kind, creative, and amazing people. Everywhere else it’s like a hell, especially on twitter, where just admitting that Billy is your favorite character can unleash chaos.

Here, though, it feels safe. I can actually relax, reblog what I like, post what I want, and enjoy the fandom without feeling judged. It’s such a comforting little corner of the internet, and I’m really grateful for it.

This!!! Exactly why I love the tumblr community surrounding Harringrove so much; every other platform will become a witch hunt if you post anything remotely positive about Billy (and especially ship him with their beloved golden boy Steve).

It’s so frustrating that people can’t see or understand that the reason why Billy is (and always has been) such an adored character is because he was complex and flawed! It’s not that I dismiss, overlook or excuse his negative character traits, it’s that, when I look at a character so deeply hated as him, I can see someone worthy of redemption. Yes I agree that Billy did horrible fucked up things, things that are inexcusable even with his situation with his father, and yes I agree that he is not a victim in the violence he perpetrates. However, I do find compassion and empathy for the vilified and abused child that he was, and still is — a lonely young boy whose first experiences of this world, of love, have been abandonment and abuse. Through this, I see a person who can be redeemed and achieve great character growth.

Alot of people like to make character comparisons between Johnathon Byers and Billy Hargrove to make a point, saying that both Byers and Hargrove have the “same” experience of life, and where Hargrove has turned abusive and bitter, Byers is a kind protector. However, this is simply a moot point because they DON’T have the exact experiences and are two completely different characters. Jonathon Byers took on a care giving role at an early age due to the toxic environment of his household; he most likely beared the brunt of Lonnie Byers alcoholic and abusive behaviour whilst his mom was frequently emotionally and physically unavailable. Lonnie and Joyce’s relationship ended when Jonathon was around 13 years old (in 1982), during this period Joyce became a more prominent positive figure in his life, a role model of kindness and love, yet in s1 it displays that she still remained somewhat physically and emotionally unreliable due to her working. In comparison, Billy was a born a single child to a toxic household with no other positive stable relationship other than his mother, who abandoned him when he was 10 years old. Since then, Billy has lived by himself with only his violent father who frequently physically and mentally abused him, as well as enforcing very toxic ideals of masculinity onto him (which I feel is a very important issue for his character). Until Max, Billy had no one. And when Max did come along, his father put the responsibility of her onto him with the threat of physical abuse. This is inherently different to Jonathons character and relationship with his younger sibling, who he feels instinctually protective over after spending his entire childhood being Will’s second parent. I feel like this inherent character difference is especially prominent when Jonathon approaches his father in s1 when he suspects he has taken/hurt or is purposefully hiding Will, Lonnie (thinking Jonathon is an intruder) restrains him against a wall and Jonathon shoves him off. In this scene, Jonathon ultimately stands up against his father, not only physically overpowering him but also refusing to stoop down to his level when Lonnie verbally degrades Joyce — Jonathon dominates the situation here, a reversal of previous roles. Comparatively, when Billy attempts to stand up against the perceived moral outrage of Neil blaming Billy for Max’s own actions (Billy’s “lack of responsibility and respect”), Billy is the one physically overpowered and forced into submission as he is cornered into the wall — he doesn’t push his father away and fearfully complies.

In addition, Billy’s external and outwardly destructive display of anger is a learned coping mechanism that differs to Jonathon Byers quiet, internal manifestation of anger. S1 really does display that Jonathon also experiences significant anger due to emotional repression, trauma and neglect, and internalised shame, however he reflects this inwards. I think this is particularly shown in the s1 episode where him and Nancy go demogorgon hunting in the woods and start up an argument. Relatively, Billy’s anger stems from this same internal conflict, however he copes with it in externally destructive avoidant ways — whereas Jonathons internalisation leads to introspection, self-actualisation and personal growth.

Also, not to mention, we (as the audience) don’t even know what California was like for Billy and Max, they might’ve had a more positive relationship — it’s never actually revealed in the show as to why they moved to Hawkins and I think consideration of this is very important as Billy blames Max for it. Why they moved from California to bum-fuck-nowhere-Hawkins is actually a really interesting question that is never properly answered. And I am absolutely not trying to justify Billy’s controlling and toxic behaviour towards Max, but it does make me think if SOME of his anger is warranted — what REALLY happened in California??? (I don’t know it just makes me wonder that’s all). I do feel immense empathy for Billy for this reason; imagine being a 16yr old boy whose being abused at home, however at least you have a big city to hide in and a friends couch to stay on when it gets bad, and now you’ve been forcibly moved to a town where you’re completely isolated. Potentially Neil Hargrove really just moved his family for a “fresh start”, as Max says, but that reasoning never sat right with me, there HAS to be more to it. Moreover, Max and Billy’s relationship is a very interesting dynamic as Billy victimises Max so that he can avoid being victimised by his father. Billy excuses his aggressive and controlling behaviour towards Max as him trying to “protect her”, however he is only trying to protect himself from the abuse he will receive if she does something that Neil doesn’t like. If Max messes up, Neil punishes Billy for this — as he quite obviously didn’t want to ruin his fantasy of the “perfect” nuclear family. I’m not trying to justify or defend Billy’s actions towards Max, but I think it’s good to know where it comes from and that their relationship isn’t so black-and-white. There is no perfect victim here.

Moreover, I think Billy Hargrove could’ve, and SHOULD’VE, had a proper character metamorphosis. The Duffer Brothers added such a complex character only just to villainise him for the sake of creating a plot that would pull on viewers heart strings. Personally, I hate the way he was just murdered off and “redeemed” through his death — it’s such a lazy way to achieve character growth. Imo there were so many other routes they could’ve taken with his character and they were just too scared of the backlash they would receive if they gave him proper character development and an integral protagonist role.

Additionally, I also personally dislike the Duffer Brother’s decision to make Billy racist…. yes strange take, I know. However, I believe that this decision absolutely just condemned his character to pure villainy and antagonism in the eyes of the viewers. I definitely am not one to make excuses of the character’s obvious written racial bias against Lucas, I just personally don’t think this was necessary for the Duffer Brother’s to even write in the first place. To me it felt like they were just like “well Billy needs to be an antagonist, so what’s the worst thing we can make him?” and they ended up making him racist. With Billy being such an interestingly complex character who we are inclined to be intrigued by and feel sympathy for, I felt annoyed at the decision to make him lowkey just straight up evil when they really didn’t need to. Billy, being this toxic older brother and rival to Steve (+ character foil for Steve to show how much Steve has grown/changed), was already antagonistic enough and I think adding that additional element onto his character just made complete sure that he couldn’t be redeemed and HAD TO play the villain role in s3, making him doomed from the very start. Not to mention this took away from Lucas’ character as well. Lucas, whose amount of screen time between s1-s3 is actually despicable, receives slightly more screen attention in s2 only due to Billy’s racism against him. This wouldn’t be so much of an issue if the Duffer Brothers had decided to centre Lucas’ experience of Billy’s racism, as a victim, instead of primarily through the lens of Billy’s perpetration of it. This ultimately aids in my opinion of it as a lazy plot just to create tension, as it just uses both characters, and very real realities, so to create some kind of tension/conflict that NEVER gets re-addressed throughout the series. I guess what I’m also trying to say is that Lucas’ character is much more interesting than Billy’s perpetration of racism towards him and there’s so much more that I would’ve liked to see for Lucas’ character, if that makes any sense. But if anyone else has any differing opinions then I would really like to hear.

Furthermore, even with Billy being a bigoted character, he was still capable of a proper redemption and growth. I hate that books and shows will often just kill off the characters they believe are “too far gone” because they just aren’t creative, imaginative or bold enough. I think the ideology that bad people or bigoted people can’t ever change and shouldn’t be given the opportunity to change themselves is a harmful one to hold — and holding this belief feels like punishment to the person desiring to change themselves instead of their prior behaviour. The issue is that Billy Hargrove, as a character, is an unsafe character. Unlike the other characters in Stranger Things, who grow progressively more sanitised and safe as the show goes on, both victim and victimiser, Billy was the definition of an unsavoury and unpalatable representation of abuse to audiences. This made his redemption extremely costly and challenging for the Duffer Brothers; it would’ve threatened the shows survival by potentially lowering viewership.

What also makes me so upset about Billy’s death is Dacre Montgomery was such a good actor for Billy!! He played the role fantastically, he is extremely talented and was sad about his role being ended — in interviews he expressed sadness and frustration about letting go of Stranger Things so soon. Whilst Dacre Montgomery has since still gotten acting roles in other movies, Stranger Things was definitely a massive success for him as a small actor and if he had been given a longer position on the show, I think it would’ve been very positive for his career. With how much of talented and genuine actor Dacre Montgomery is, I think they might made a really bad decision with letting him go.

Also have people genuinely never heard of enemies to lovers??? People on twitter, tiktok and literally everywhere else act as though shipping Steve and Billy makes utterly no sense and would just be a “toxic” relationship, which is why they so profusely hate the ship. This absolutely confuses me because can these people truly not imagine a reality where Billy is redeemed and has a positive character arc?? Can people truly not empathise with what could’ve been his character if the Duffer Brothers made a few different writing decisions. Honestly, the people who think that Harringrove shippers only ship it because they want a “toxic” relationship is just so beyond ridiculous that I don’t even want to break it down in simple terms. But I will in another post because Harringrove is my special interest and I can’t ever shut up about these boys!

Okay sorry this is the end of my essay lmao

I was going to reblog @stranger-rants' ask but I thought making an entire separate post about it would be better.

This post contains spoilers, some blood/gore and genuine suffering

Chapter 6, The Possession of Billy Hargrove (June 1985) you play as Billy. It gives you a really terrifying visual perspective of his possession. It gives Silent Hill vibes if you ask me. It's creepy as fuck. It's like a half hour of Billy being psychologically tormented until he's completely destroyed. I'm not even joking.

It's just gut wrenching Billy torture while bodies are being fed to the mind flayer. I never want to see anything to do with this game again. My chest hurts.

The mind flayer is tormenting Billy with flashbacks and memories of the abuse from his father and his mother's absence.

Billy continues to be tormented the entire chapter, even hearing a monologue from his "fantasy girl"

Vecna continues to torment him, telling him that she's "everything he specifically could ever want in a woman.

"She's just like you, Billy. All those women with their tanned arms and bright, candy lips, you hurt them because you're sort of frightened of them."

"But the girls that come around that are like you, broken and starving for love..."

Vecna is basically trying to convince Billy that he can have that if he helps him build his army, and he won't be alone anymore.

Eventually, El gets through to him. He hears her voice on his car radio. It ends with Billy being fucking swallowed by the mind flayer (and me in tears)

—

There's Billy and Max content in Chapter 9, The Resurrection of Mad Max. In this chapter you play as El as she is trying to rescue Max from Vecna shortly after she falls into the coma.

When you enter Max's mind, you follow her as she skates away. Vecna puts many vines and demobats in your way as obstacles that you have to avoid. You try to rush to Max's aid when you hear her scream. On your way to Max, you can overhear a conversation between Max and Billy that goes as follows.

Max: Rubbing Alcohol? What...what am I supposed to do with this?

Billy: Kiss your boo-boo and make it better, sis. Dumbass—what do you think you're supposed to do with it?

Max: T-That's going to hurt!

Billy: If you're going to keep using that stupid skateboard, you're going to get banged up. Better learn how to fix that stuff yourself. Can't rely on others to do it for you.

Max: Okay, give it to me.

Billy: You owe me for this, by the way. Nothing's free.

And then Max snatches the rubbing alcohol from his hand and treats her wounds.

When Max notices you, everything fades to black and white and Billy speaks with Vecna's voice. Max tries to pull him away from you and they fall through what's safe to assume is "the fourth gate"

When you follow them through, you enter a flashback of Billy and Steve from the night of the fight at the Byers.

Then you continue to play through Max's memories for awhile and...well, pain incoming

Here's Max resting on Billy after he died. :(

Billy Hargrove, the most female character coded traumatized guy in a sci fi series.

The disgust Neil has for the queerness he's identified in Billy including his femininity. Long hair. Earrings. Perfumes. Billy, blonde and blue eyed in a red button up with tight jeans that accentuate his body just like his "pretty" mother who smashes plates as hard as he does. Billy, red swim trunks the same color as Phoebe Cate's red bathing suit, sexy and scandalous. Both eye candy for an audience stripping them of personhood with their eyes. Billy whose sexuality is exploited by the adults in his life who would be quick to blame him if they ever got caught - he came onto me! It's his fault! Billy, who is violated in one of the most graphic scenes on screen, his voice taken from him in more ways than one. Villainized through victim blaming.

Now, we have Billy being given a hypothetical female victim by his tormentors who is a literal copy of himself in every other way other than gender presentation... and where did they dig this up? In Billy's brain. All the effort they put into making it seem like Billy is your typical machismo obsessed male, they treat Billy every step of the way how one usually treats The Slut in a horror story, carefully hiding their misogyny this time by projecting every thing they hate about female victims onto a male character they've deemed irredeemable while they make their female characters Not Like Other Girls.

Billy is like Other Girls. Billy is Other Girls. It's what's so interesting about him. It would be even better if it was based in empathy for his queerness instead of hate for Other Girls. The girls who are bad victims. The girls who are bad survivors. The girls who get preyed on for being pretty. The girls with daddy issues. The girls who are their damaged mothers. The girls who get killed for not being pure enough. The Other Girls. Y'know what I mean... except Billy is a boy, so it's okay. We've flipped the script, haven't we? We're so subversive by applying the same awful tired mentality to a boy. It's okay now because he's a boy and we know this because he works out and he has porn magazines and he makes non existent girls scream. So, really. It's okay. No harm done.

Billy never even got the chance to be a survivor of his abuse, assault, and torture. He died under those circumstances, he died still living with his abusive father and only a half-minute free from the Mind-Flayer's control. He died a victim, never the survivor he should have had the chance to be.

He never knew freedom. He never knew the aftermath. He never knew a life without abuse. And that's fucking horrific.

I don't normally do this on this blog but permit me a rant for a moment.

I seriously hate listening to the Duffers talk about Billy. It's clear from so many things they did with his character they just didn't get him or even really care about him at all. Nor do I think they fully grasped how many people could possibly relate to someone like Billy. While Stranger Things is their story and they may have created the base idea of Billy, I truly think the majority of what made Billy Billy came from Dacre. I love Billy and will always be glad for his existence and inclusion in the series, still I don't think the Duffers should have ever gone near a story like his. They just were never the right kind of people to be handling such a complex story like Billy's to begin with.

I forget who posted this panel from Joker War recently in the tag, but it snagged on my brain and got some thoughts to percolate:

It's been established in many ways that Joker knows exactly where the line is: what he'd have to do to get Batman to snap, to get Batman to kill him. Seeing as Joker invites it so loudly and dramatically, it's obviously been a lot more focused on in comics. It's been directly spelled out that Joker relies on Batman to stop him in case he goes too far ("I can kill everything... and I need him to stop me," from Batman #49). But just like Harley says, and like the whole ordeal with the Batman Who Laughs showed, there's something similar in place for Bruce.

Bruce also knows where the line is. To many it might feel like Joker needs Batman too much to ever kill him, but that's not true; Joker also has a limit. Harley knows it too, and says it to Bruce directly: if you go mad, if you lose yourself, he'll actually kill you. Joker doesn't really want Batman to join him-- he hates the Batman who broke, and actively tries to destroy the Batman Who Laughs when he meets him. But Bruce also consciously relies on Joker, much like Joker does on him, to stop him if he went too far. He actively trusts Joker to keep him himself, in The Batman Who Laughs:

Batman actually gives Joker a gun. And tells him to shoot him. Which Joker does, exactly as promised.

...Alright, and from here on starts an even longer rant, about why Batman doesn't kill Joker and how the in Universe explanations for it are running out of anything rational. We're only left with the most codependent relationship on the planet particularly on Batman's side, and it couldn't have come to exist without DC's refusal to break the status quo. TLDR, it's driving me nuttier than usual at this moment in time, and I need to vent about it.

The "I hate you" Line

The Akechi “I hate you” line is one of the most annoyingly brought up things for evidence that Akechi and Ren don’t like the other, but a thing I wish about the discourse about it is that it was more nuanced on both sides. Akechi DID hate ren, in a way. Part of the strength of the scene is him admitting so to his face, revealing this part of himself too early; an evident weakness inside the perfect prince detective facade. 

Akechi is less so being a liar, but rather a contradiction. Akechi’s entire character relies on him being contradictory, both in morals and emotion. Akechi feels like he hates him because he’s extremely envious of basically everything Ren encompasses. He hates him because Ren makes him feel good, along with awakening a flurry of emotions of jealousy and friendship and desire that has no place in his anger; the one thing that will get him to succeed. Anger is mainly the thing that he’s felt his whole life, it is the only thing he runs on, keeps him going. It has become comfortable for him to feel because he doesn’t know anything else. So when this one person comes along and manages to make you feel things you never felt, more vulnerable than you ever felt, it’s confusing, scary, aggravating. It throws a huge wrench in the trajectory of your life. 

It boils down to: Akechi hates him because he can't get himself to hate him. He hates him because he likes him. He hates him because he’s succeeding at everything Akechi has worked for but instead of turning out like the broken man that is Akechi, he has friends, he found a (arguably) moral way to rebel, he’s doing everything Akechi couldn’t. And Akechi admires him for it, so, so much. But it hurts so much as well.

Akechi believes Ren is truly someone special, great, admirable. There is a reason why all the things he said after the “I hate you” are positive things, things that Akechi wants to be himself. He believes the PT’s have no backbone without his guidance. They are the classic saying of two sides of the same coin, either one could have been the other if their lives turned out just a little bit different. That is the most important thing that: Akechi could have been Ren.

Ren is getting in the way of his revenge plan that, at this point, Akechi deep down knows it’s not great. It was a childish plan that he made as a kid, but he’s so far into it that he quite literally can’t escape it. The only thing he can go back to is his fury. Akechi is so deep in his own misery that he can only look at this person that he thinks is so great and he likes and wants to be around, be friends with, and hate it. He has no choice but to hate it if he wants any chance to come on top. He is continuing his deep seated isolation.

Akechi is a broken, scared child. His emotions always feel bigger than himself because he never had gotten the chance to develop normally. They mix together to the point you can’t tell what it is anymore.

And Akechi is going to kill him soon; that is the truth that is not going to change. He *has* to hate him with all his being if he wants to kill him. And the sad truth is that his plan encompasses his life, it *is* his life, so no amount of good Ren makes him feel, no matter how much love Ren can give, can no longer change this. 

Akechi likes Ren So Much (and if you’re wearing shuake lens; loves him So Much) and he uses his anger to make it hatred. Akechi has two personas representing the two sides of him for a reason. 

Welcome to my Wyllstarion propaganda!

The thread of wyllstarion video mentioned in the slides is here on twitter, plus the Wyll-about-Cazador-vid is here. I will post a new compilation of all their scenes soon here.

Currently if you want to watch a Wyllstarion playthrough you can check my bilibili, but I will reupload all with timestamps on youtube.

Also yes, Wyll does call his romanced player-partner "my star" and if that is not perfect for Astarion I do not know what is. And Astarion mentions "sweet" so many times (sweet = Wyll, but he also reveals he likes sweets) and Wyll deserves someone who is enamoured with his kindness.

(throws wyllstarion fanvideos at you)

EDIT: TEXT VERSION OF THIS POST IS HERE

The Other Woman :(

happy batjokes day ohhh im putting them in peril ohh please divorce and kill each other

That Time When AC3 Flipped Indigenous Portrayal

I always liked that AC III flipped familiar tropes about Native Americans in media, particularly regarding the language barrier and cultural awareness. Ziio mocks Haytham for assuming she can’t speak English, subverting the usual narrative where the comedic effect of not knowing the 'language of the land' is on the indigenous.

It is also Haytham - not Ziio - who causes the bar commotion despite his rather arrogant and baseless assumption that her culture would make her more prone to violence despite only being in the country for roughly a couple days. This also highlights that she understands the land and its people far better than he does.

This also extends to Connor, as he regularly defies expectations by displaying more morality and virtue than many of his colonial counterparts. He criticizes the manipulative nature of the media for countering lies with more lies.

Sequence 5: Stop the Presses (Transcript)

Calls him out on his hypocrisy in fighting for freedom while owning slaves.

Sequence 6: On Johnson's Trail (Transcript)

And even stops Israel Putnam from kicking a dead enemy’s body - emphasizing that even someone as ruthless as Hickey was still a man.

Sequence 8: Public Execution (Transcript)

Assassin’s Creed III challenged the traditional portrayal of Indigenous people as either savages or passive victims, instead presenting them as individuals with intelligence, morality, and deep cultural awareness. The narrative highlights their ability to navigate complex social and political landscapes while exposing the hypocrisy and shortcomings of colonial figures. Rather than being depicted as primitive or completely naive, characters like Ziio and Connor demonstrate a greater understanding of their environment and the moral contradictions of their time. The game doesn’t just critique the British - it questions the American revolutionaries, revealing how their rhetoric of freedom often excluded those who did not fit within their social order.

Through Ziio and Connor, AC3 asserts that Indigenous people were not merely bystanders in history but active participants who approached their world with wisdom and integrity.

garrus vakarian, 2183: pathetic. what could a woman do to put you in this state????

garrus vakarian, two years later because his boss (a woman) died:

Despite the title this is really not a structured formal paper, more like just some rambly analysis from someone who is both queer and deeply obsessed with these fictional characters.

An obvious disclaimer is that this is my headcanon and personal interpretation, etc, etc. There are many ways to read this character and relationships, and this is just one of them, etc etc. You know the drill. Under no circumstances am I saying I'm right and everyone else is wrong, just presenting this particular reading of the character.

So. Garrus Vakarian. Best sniper boyfriend, bad boy turian, Archangel. Also, unintentional but great demisexual representation.

I just want to say that this cover has NOTHING to do with the issue it is for and J doesn't even appear in it so I find it hilarious that someone in DC said "Yeah. Yeah that's the cover we need." and went with it.