#keep fighting for characters to be properly represented in fandom

[wizards4for20]

Fandom will fight to the death to make sure gay and lesbian characters aren’t in hetero ships, which is wonderful and absolutely what should happen, don’t get me wrong, but then an aro character pops up and suddenly it’s “they could be gray/demi/queerplatonic to fit the amatonormative narrative” and suddenly all that defensive, validating energy is gone. Where did it go?

[dreamchasernina]

Someone sent this to me and it’s obviously aimed at my post and they have me blocked (which is fine it she hadn’t blocked me I would’ve blocked her), but if you’re going to address me, you might as well let me see it so I can debunk your dumbass statements. Now, I’m not looking for confrontation, that’s why I always tag my posts properly but you and your friends tracked my post to lash out at me for addressing the hate you’ve been spewing for years now. And the notes on that post prove how much this fandom is fed up with your nonsense. There’s a reason everyone says ZK shippers are the worst part of the fandom. You know you can ship your pairing without constantly mischaracterizing other characters, right?

The irony is just unbelievable because you don’t even understand that I made that post as a response to your friends who keep saying Katara deserved better than ending up with Aang. Which is the problem you are addressing in your post! Why is what Katara deserves tied to a boy she ends up with? It doesn’t. You’re the one who’s been saying that for years! And I’m not making this stuff up, it’s literally all over your blog. Saying how Katara was done dirty because she ended up with Aang. Mind you, her ending up with Aang does not take away any of her accomplishments throughout the show.

So you don’t like the pairing and you’d like to imagine her with someone else, go at it. But don’t sit here and tell me that Katara was disrespected in her ending because she ended up with someone you didn’t want for her and call it “feminism”. I don’t get how you like Katara as a character and everything she represents for 3 seasons but the last 30 seconds of the show make you so mad you sit here and tell me I’m a misogynist because I believe Katara ended up with someone she actually wanted to be with. The show presents Katara as a strong willed, badass, fights-for-what-she-believes-in character. Throughout the 3 seasons Katara did what she felt was right, what she wanted to do, going against people who tried to steer her away from her goals…and me believing she is in charge of her own destiny is misogynistic? No you’re right, you telling me Katara had zero agency and was forced into a relationship or stayed in a relationship she was miserable in makes a lot of sense for the character that was presented to you in the show.

You’re the feminist here, obviously, because if a woman steers away from YOUR idea of a “good female character”, then she was suddenly “done dirty”. Because a woman who chooses to have 3 children was obviously forced into it. A woman who doesn’t fight at 80 years old is obviously not well written. A woman who, throughout 61 episode did whatever the fuck she felt was right, but chose to be with the guy YOU think was wrong for her, “deserved better”. That’s what you’ve been saying for years and that what I’m addressing in my OG post. Katara’s worth is not tied to a man she ends up with!!!

And I don’t even like Bryke, I have a lot of problems with them. But I hate that you’re disguising your hate for a pairing as “feminism”, because it’s not. It’s the complete opposite of that. Because feminism is supporting a woman’s right to choose whatever she wants to do. But if she’s choosing something YOU don’t agree with you’re crucifying her! You see the irony here?? I beg some of you to look up the definition for feminism because it’s been a while.

[girl4music]

A lot of people in the WEARP fandom seem to be having issues with the WayHaught narrative in the ‘Vengeance’ special. Specifically with the dialogue used of Nicole “holding Waverly back” and “keeping her on the hook” and being blamed for Waverly’s miscommunications about her desires and ambitions.

I feel like I need to address this because I think people are taking it WAY out of context based on the specific dialogue used by the characters and I want to throw some perspective into people’s opinions with this.

Wynonna saying what she does to Nicole is just Wynonna being Wynonna. Those are just her words and accusations. They’re not a statement of fact about Nicole or even an accurate account of how Waverly thinks or feels about Nicole and her treatment of her. It’s literally just Wynonna talking aggressively to Nicole because of what she’s got going on in her head at that moment. It’s not a true reflection of what’s actually happening. Wynonna’s just taking her stress and frustration out on Nicole because she can and because that’s what she does and because she loves Waverly so very much and is worried that she’s letting married life change her. Waverly has not egged Wynonna on or got her to fight her own battles or anything like that. Yeah,… she’s talked to her sister about the way she’s feeling. She’s talked about her anxieties. But none of that has anything to do with Nicole or how she believes Nicole is treating her. Wynonna has just perceived it that way because she always takes things to heart and blows them out of proportion. That’s just what she does. Especially when it comes to the people she loves. Especially Waverly.

Nicole, however, has taken in what Wynonna has said personally and thought about how having Waverly around 24/7 is actually hindering her growth and not helping it. She realizes that she kind of has been holding her back. Obviously, it’s not in a selfish way. It’s just in the way that she was not aware of what Waverly wanted or needed because Waverly just had trouble being open and communicating that with her - which also isn’t something that should be taken as a reason to blame either of them for their contention. This is a completely natural and normal thing that all real life married couples go through and the special is just representing that because it’s just an interesting subject to explore. Especially between two women.

There’s no animosity there. There’s no aggression there. That’s all Wynonna butting in and just being her usual flawed emotional hot mess self - which we love because that makes her real and raw and compelling.

There’s no one to blame with any of this really… and why do we even need to blame anyone anyway? 💁‍♀️

This is just interesting storytelling that probably just needed a little more time to really explore properly so that this subject wouldn’t be taken so out of context.

I mean people can interpret what goes on in the special any which way they like but why they have to think of it as more serious or dramatic than it is I…

I honestly do not see it that way myself at all. I just see it as a realistic representation of very natural, normal and interesting to explore storytelling of married life. At no point did I see any of this narrative in the special look toxic - as if they were on the verge of a break-up. What I saw was partners very much in love figuring out equal partnership in very early years of their marriage. The “drama” or “conflict” between WayHaught came about very naturally and it was resolved very naturally.

[ninthfeather]

the future, perfect in theory, is crumbling in overload

Fandom: To Be Hero X Summary: Nice signs his contract with Treeman Agency, and his life unravels as a result. (also on AO3)

Title from Amalee’s translyrics for "Gravity Wall" by Sawano Hiroyuki. Thank you to FabHawk for getting me into TBHx and for beta-reading!

Warnings for an abusive/ableist/homophobic workplace, including one extremely ableist statement from a named character (it's Miss Jie and imo that's in character for her), a very depressed POV character, and the general horror undertones of TBHX's trust system.

When the two of them signed their contracts, the recruiter made it clear: the agency wanted total control of their public images.They were young, after all, without any experience in PR, so they would need some help in that regard. They just had to trust in their manager and everything would work out fine.

After well over a year in the industry, Treeman Agency Hero Nice stared at the ceiling of his nearly-empty apartment and despaired.

The agency set his boyfriend up as his designated supervillain. They couldn’t even go on dates anymore, because Nice got too much media attention and if someone put together his boyfriend’s appearance with Wreck’s, Treeman would have to choose between thousands in hush money or just dropping both of them. He’d noticed that Miss Jie tended to keep the schedule full after his fights with Wreck, and he suspected it was on purpose. Worse, she kept showing him pictures of women Treeman represented and asking him how he’d like working with them. Nice was almost certain that she wanted to put together a fake marriage for him.

And if all of that wasn’t bad enough, Nice couldn’t even go to therapy for his OCD.

He had medications, yes, but those didn’t handle everything. And his image as a “perfect” hero, and the Trust that generated--it both magnified his condition and directed his compulsions. 

Before all of this, his worst compulsion was double-checking that he’d turned off appliances and locked doors. He and his therapist had worked hard at helping him figure out how to feel safe without having to individually inspect every device in his apartment every time he left.

That wasn’t how it worked anymore.

Nice was “perfect,” so now everything around him had to be perfect. He used to be fine walking around in rumpled clothes, but now everything had to be straight and even and completely clean. All of his furniture had to be laid out just so, and every part of his place setting had a position it belonged in. Over time, the knowledge that something was out of place would grow from something small and annoying, like a bug crawling across his back, to an overwhelming tide that threatened to swallow him up.

The stress wasn’t helping. He knew it wasn’t helping. A lot of hero work was smoke and mirrors and agency-affiliated villains, but there were also real threats out there and now that Nice was in the top hundred he was expected to deal with them. Sometimes when he went to work, his actions were the difference between people living and dying. Even someone with no history of compulsive behavior might end up doing the occasional superstitious ritual in those circumstances.

But Nice did have that history, and now it was manifesting itself in the desire to spend hours double-checking that everything in the apartment was lined up perfectly--furniture parallel to walls, place settings centered on the table, and so on. Because now, instead of worrying that he’d leave on the stove and burn his house down, his brain had decided that if his forks weren’t lined up properly, the people he wanted to rescue would die.

And still, Miss Jie wouldn’t let him go to a therapist.

“I can pick up meds for you, if you’d like, but seeing someone is too much of a security risk,” she said. “Even online visits can be tracked. The medication is only possible because we’re using a pseudonym to fill it.”

Nice wasn’t sure that was legal. To be fair, he wasn’t sure how much of any of this was legal. It didn’t seem like it should be allowed for his employer to interfere in his relationships and his healthcare and his apartment like this, but Miss Jie just told him it was all in the contract.

Back when he’d signed, he’d flipped through it a little, just in case his boyfriend was watching, because he didn’t want to look like the kind of rube who signed a contract without reading it, but he hadn’t actually read any of it.

Now he was paying for it.

When he was with his boyfriend, it was easier. He got it, and he would listen to Nice complain and do what he could to help and wouldn’t stop him from completing a ritual unless Nice asked him to or he was actively hurting himself. 

But now, in Hero Tower, with an apartment that Miss Jie had the key to, he couldn’t have his boyfriend over without getting an earful about it, and agency personnel were willing to drag him out the door if he was taking too long to leave.

None of them got it. Miss Jie actually said the line about “everyone’s a little OCD” to his face when he complained about how long he’d spent trying to realign the furniture the previous night. The one time he tried to bring his mental health up on a talk show, she muted his mike remotely and then lied to the host about it being a technical issue. 

He missed his therapist. He missed having a door that only he had the key to. He missed his boyfriend.

He’d gotten rid of most of the furniture the agency gave him. He’d kept the statue, because when he’d first shown it to his boyfriend, he’d laughed so hard he pulled a muscle. But pretty much everything nonessential went away. Miss Jie made him keep the couches because she needed somewhere to meet with him, but if he’d had his way, the only furniture would have been the bed, the kitchen table, and a few cushions on the floor for when he needed them. 

He knew he was getting worse. The anxiety was pretty much constant, and he’d started dissociating his way through meetings with Miss Jie. It was getting harder to remember to text his boyfriend back, when all he wanted to do was either sleep or double-check that all of the cups were lined up properly in the cupboard.

Miss Jie kept talking about getting him a girlfriend, and Nice kept saying no, but he knew he couldn’t keep it up forever. She’d figured out how to get to him, now. She was moving around his china and “accidentally” spilling coffee on his white furniture and suggesting that he’d have more time to himself to “clean, or whatever it is you like to do” if he just said yes to the girlfriend.

It would devastate his boyfriend, even if he knew it was fake. He’d always been the jealous type.

But Nice was running out of strength.

[alea-says]

H50 Meta - Why Het Explanations Don't Work in the Absence of Women

OR, is it any wonder the H50 fandom rallied around McDanno when canonically, the more important a female relationship was to a main character, the less screen-time the female received.

OR, H50's inverse relation between the supposed 'romantic importance' of female characters and their screen-time.

I feel like I could write a whole series of essays on this, and it's linked not just to why fandom persists in 'shipping' McDanno, but also to the way the show doesn't represent women properly. Which isn't just a fault of H50, by the way, but I'm focusing on H50 because it's what I'm currently watching and there are some really clear examples.

Full Disclaimer: I am a McDanno shipper, so may carry some bias into this, however, I am also female and critical of the way women are presented, or rather not-presented, in television. I'm also one of those people who will happily ship a couple while also enjoying whatever ship is presented on-screen. In other words, while I love McDanno, if H50 could present me with a believable het ship for either of them, I would enjoy it. Finally, I have not yet finished H50, having just started s9, so this is written from that perspective.

Screen-time equals importance, so where's the female screen-time?

We all know that, the more important a character or scene is, the more time it is given on screen. That's why the main characters are on our screens far more than the side characters or extras.

One of the narrative ways television tells us something is important is by dedicating screen time to it.

If the camera zooms in a piece of paper wedged behind a bookshelf - you know it's going to be an important clue later. Because screen-time = importance.

However, on H50, I have seen it repeatedly shown that, the more 'important' a female character becomes to a main male character, the *less* screen-time they get.

So it is any wonder the audience is left questioning their actual importance or relevance?

Steve and Catherine

As one of the first het relationships presented to the audience in a positive light, I'll start with Steve and Catherine.

S1 Catherine is always there to fill a plot-hole and give Steve the intel he needs. They're shown as a rather relaxed 'couple', or 'friends with benefits'/'friends with favours'.

We continue on, and Cath becomes more of a main character, even joining five-0 in s4. For a while, at least, it appears that they're increasing her importance to Steve, and increasing her screen-time.

But then, in s5, suddenly - no Catherine. She's off elsewhere. It's like, somehow, she became so important they had to remove her completely.

Of course, she returns at the end of s5, and beginning of s6, just long enough for them to tell us Steve loves her so much he wants to propose.

Only - what happens when Steve considers proposing? Catherine leaves. And lies to him.

It's kinda hard to believe this is the het relationship they're selling, when she's not even on screen as much as she was in s1.

And there are any number of reasons for why they did it this way, but it starts a pattern that is seen throughout H50, of the increasing importance placed on a het relationship equaling decreased screentime for the female half of that relationship.

Danny and Rachel

The other main het relationship presented from the beginning, of course, is Danny and Rachel. Now, they start out divorced, but by the end of s1 Danny is having an affair with his ex-wife.

And what happens directly after that? Rachel actually leaves Hawai'i for a bit. There's the whole question of Grace's custody and Danny fighting to keep Grace in Hawai'i.

Now yes, Rachel ends up back with Stan (for a bit, anyway). But I find it fascinating that ex-wife Rachel who Danny is angry at gets far, far more screen-time than Rachel when Danny is pursuing her once more. Basically, as soon as she becomes an 'important romantic interest' for Danny - not more screen-time.

Want some stats? She's in 5 episodes of s1, and then not seen again until s5 (thanks to the Hawaii five-0 wiki for making those easy to grab).

Danny and Amber/Melissa

In terms of length of a relationship, Danny's relationship with Amber/Melissa runs through quite a few seasons. However, when we look at her actual screen-time, it's interesting to note that the more time it's been since she and Danny started dating - the less we see of her.

And also, the less she's mentioned. So not only do we not see her on-screen, but she's also not referred to on-screen very much. It got to the point where I would honestly go 'oh, I forgot about her' when she was mentioned. At which point it felt like they were mentioning her just for the sake of 'confirming' Danny's heterosexuality.

Steve and Lynn

The same can be said of Steve and Lynn.

I actually felt that, after burning the Steve and Catherine relationship, the start of Steve and Lynn's relationship was the most promising het one he'd had so far.

I mean, their first date involves getting shot at, which we know is basically like a hobby for Steve.

But then - suddenly - as their relationship continues on, and supposedly, based on length, becomes more 'important', the less of her we see.

She starts out as this interesting, dynamic character, and the longer she and Steve are the together the more she is shown as nothing more than a prop for his heterosexuality.

She isn't there for the 'intervention' about Steve's health that Danny stages (neither is Melissa, although Dog is - what does it say when it's more important to have your random poker buddy at your intervention than your long-term girlfriend?)

Again, not only does Lynn lose screen-time as their relationship progresses, but also mentions of her drop off, until, like Melissa, she'd be mentioned suddenly after a long time of not being mentioned, and I'd go, huh, I forgot about her.

Girlfriends as opposed to Characters

It's like, once they become established girlfriends, the show can no longer treat them as proper characters.

Which makes the het relationships are really hard to believe - because relationships happen between characters.

We indicate who is important to us by how much we talk about and to them. So the fact that, the longer these relationships go on, the less they are even talked about by their supposed boyfriends, well - is it any wonder we find their relationship hard to believe?

And I could probably do a whole 'nother essay about the issues with how this perpetuates a narrative of women as only there for the men's desire, not standing as separate characters on their own, and simply a 'prop' to help show off their 'masculinity' and 'heterosexuality'.

It's incredibly two-dimensional, because to have a 3-dimensional relationship, you'd have to actually give them screen-time, either by putting them on the screen or at least by having other characters talk about them.

So why McDanno?

On the other hand, you've got Steve and Danny continually on screen, continually talking about and to each other, and showing through actions (and words) how much they care about each other.

Yes, they are main characters. But this is why fandoms like to ship main characters together. Because they *are* characters. Because the screen-time given to them tells us that they're important and we care about them.

It's a little hard to take their het relationships seriously when the people they're engaging in all the 'couple' behaviour on-screen with is each other (such as discussing their future plans, staging interventions, visiting each other in hospital, helping do up the house, etc). (and yes, also hugging, arms around shoulders, sitting next to each other while on 'dates' with their girlfriends, etc)

Now, I'm not saying you have to ship McDanno, or that I'd want a whole bunch of screen-time taken up by the next random woman chosen to prove the main's heterosexuality. But I am saying it's kinda hard to value those heterosexual relationships when both the characters, and show, aren't shown to value them.

[starryjkoo]

This entire fandom Pushing JK on a man with a girlfriend he went public with cause the other man Jk likes to hang around got their homophobia senses tweaking over time and keeping them awake at night. Been attacking Jikook's bond for years, but because a company is getting called out actually providing fanservice and catering to the biggest ship, suddenly the entire fandom wants to rally around them and protect their bond from haters. At this point what are we even defending? When Hybe gave the greenlight on that 7 fates stuff knowing Jimin is targeted by them fools every day and is now making them more deranged. There really isn't much to say anymore. I feel sorry for Tae and JK tho. They are the ones who really lost here. They will never be free. Just ask Tae's girlfriend who he was clearly dating, who was being still being harassed every day and still is. SMH

a lot of ARMYs are company stanning on levels never seen before because of solos, boycotters, MHJ situation etc. They’re basically just taking the opposite stance of whichever group they're fighting with instead of basing their opinions around the actual issues being raised. I knew when solos/jkkrs were being loud about this that ARMYs would just push back and defend the project in response. I can empathize with not wanting to give solos validation/a platform but this isn’t really helpful at all either plus they’re basically still allowing solos to influence their thoughts and actions?

Anyways I don’t think this situation was the end of the world or anything (especially if this was really just a one off project and isn’t going to be turned into a full adaption? I hope so at least) but the ARMYs straight up defending it are very weird to me. They should actually be making it clear to the studio that they want to see every member properly represented in case this was promo for a full adaption.

Every member should have been represented in a recognizable way in an adaption of something that’s literally supposed to be tied to the BTS members? That should be the bare minimum. They literally use BTS to promote the webtoon so not doing at least that is definitely something to raise some criticism over imo. You can’t really erase their connection from the webtoon so the director should have probably taken that into consideration or just adapted something else if it was a problem?

The heavy yaoi twist was also… a weird choice lol. That random beach dancing absolutely took me out when it happened because it was so unnecessary and out of left field. Maybe it’s a coincidence but it’s oddly convenient that the most popular ship somehow got prominently pushed in this random fictional content, meanwhile Jimin’s character no longer resembles him in the slightest and had his storyline split and shared with another. HL were also barely in it at all. And yeah well tkkrs better look in the mirror next time they’re whining about company content because this is the literal definition of company created and pushed shipping content 😭 not the actual normal interactions between members they constantly scream about.

Anyways yeah I think this whole situation was hit a bit with the Streisand effect because the outrage probably brought more attention to it than anything. I personally had no idea it existed until I saw jkkrs being upset about it (although it could have still blown up as more people found it). I don’t think HYBE was promoting it either, and hopefully it stays that way. Still it’s weird they gave that studio the greenlight to do whatever without making sure the members were all represented and there wasn’t a random heavy yaoi plot lol. Because it's still associated with BTS and using their name? And I'm still going off the assumption that this was not intended to be a full adaption? Because if it was I would definitely be a little more annoyed and concerned.

As far as ARMYs well yeah we knew that like 80% of them were tkkrs and they’ve basically already mentally blocked and moved on from taennie. I don’t think that’s something that needs to be brought up often because it seems like they broke up + they never verbally confirmed it so it’s not really something for fans to casually bring up (though they definitely soft launched) but it’s weird how such a big section of this fandom outright denies it. It’s actually embarrassing because it hurts our credibility and the like… observable intelligence of our fandom, it makes us look crazy crazier and like we can't handle or support them dating, which sucks and is sad for the BTS members.

and yeah vminkook all receive a lot of hate and weirdness around shipping and fandom in general. It’s just so out of control at this point it’s hard to imagine it getting better. If the members want to play around on stage or make whatever content they like that’s one thing, but the company creating and pushing this kind of content on their own is weird considering how volatile the shipping community has become. HYBE is also definitely aware of how bad it is after we saw their chronically online weirdass leaked document too.

[heloflor]

You know, considering how many posts I recently made about Movie Peach and how negative they are, there’s something I feel the need to clarify since I wouldn’t be surprised if people had some assumptions and I don’t want words I didn’t say being put into my mouth (Tl;Dr at the end):

As a completely original character, fully detached from everything other than the movie, I have no issues with Movie Peach. She’s badass in a fun way, spunky, has a few cute faces, and I especially appreciate how despite being a strong female character stereotype she’s very supportive of Mario and builds him up rather than putting him down, it makes her likeable and their relationship very cute.

And yes, this is the way I perceived her from the get-go, but only mentioned it in my movie reaction post made all the way back when said movie came out, hence needing to say it again now. To quote that post: “Least favorite character is DK. It could’ve been Peach but my issues with her stem from how different she is from her games counterpart. If you take her movie character as a brand-new character rather than a game adaptation, she’s actually pretty great as a guide and strong mentor.” And while there are things in this post I now disagree with, this part remains my current opinion.

So yeah, as an original character, she’s pretty great...but that’s also the issue.

Movie Peach is not an original character. She’s supposed to be an adaptation of a pre-existing character who already has her own personality. And as an adaptation, Movie Peach fails at every level. Not only that, but several dialogues keep hyping her up in a way that comes off as Illuminations looking down on Games Peach, you know, the character their own Peach is supposed to be an adaptation of.

That’s why I take such issue with Movie Peach. It’s not the character itself, it’s how bad of an adaptation she is. And if I did my job correctly, every single time I talk negatively of her in my posts, it’s about her as an adaptation specifically. The only instance of me being an ass for no reason is in my table comparison post where I call her a dumbass, which I point out in the tags to be me throwing shade and not something I actually believe.

Now I also want to say that I hate Movie Peach for what she represents and the consequences of her existence on Peach’s character and her perception by the public, so to keep it short I’m going with bullet points:

It annoys me a lot that a multi-million dollars company couldn’t be bothered to adapt her character properly, especially since they apparently closely worked with Nintendo and the concept art very much show them who Peach is as a person (the one where she’s encouraging Mario to fight DK reminds me of the 86 Anime where she keeps having Mario fight her battles while powerless to defend herself; also it’s funny how in the art of Games Peach reacting to Movie Peach it’s obvious the artist had no idea what personality Movie Peach has). The fact she’s a favorite character of mine doesn’t help and makes me feel robbed from seeing a beloved character on the big screen for the first time. And obviously them low-key insulting her by hyping up Movie Peach makes it worse.

Even before getting into the fandom I knew that Peach isn’t the most well-liked character, with many gamers especially finding her bland and boring. This was already sad on its own, but now those same people are praising a character who’s completely different from her for being “so much better” or “finally giving her a personality”. It sucks. Games Peach deserves better than that.

With those things in mind I don’t think I need to explain why the fact this characterization is possibly bleeding out into the games is something I dread. Now I can live with a cover art change, but if they change her actual character I’m going to scream. Especially if they only do it to Peach and no other character. And yes I know some people also pointed out a possible direction change for her voice but 1. for some reason I don’t really care, possibly because she’s been through quite a lot of voice-actors already 2. we only clearly hear her voice in the Showtime trailer during the Kung-Fu part so maybe her voice will differ depending on the costume, it is a stageplay after all, and 3. the Wonder short with Bowser has her let out four noises, one of which has a different tone while the other three keep her usual high octave, so I’m not sure if they truly intend on changing her voice. Haven’t played Wonder yet tho so I can’t speak to all her other voicelines.

Hopefully this will be my last post about this outside of answering asks and reblogs as I’m always open to discussions/debates. I don’t like bringing negativity and especially not drama to my blog but, considering the extensive rant I made about this, it only feels right to make sure people don’t misinterpret where my issues come from, since I can absolutely understand people seeing my posts and concluding that I hate Movie Peach for who she is rather than what she represents.

Now, instead of being negative about Movie Peach I’d rather focus on being positive about Games Peach, mostly through the fics I’m working on.

Tl;Dr: Movie Peach would be genuinely great as an original character but alas she was put inside the skin of someone with a completely different personality from hers. And it's very hard to look past this given the consequences of Movie Peach's existence on how people percieve Peach as a whole now on top of a possible change in her games character.

[percabethfeelsfandom]

How I’d rate the Gods/Goddesses(riordanverse)

This is my rating based off the way Rick Riordan portrayed them in the Riordanverse. The traditional myths have been taken into account but do not make up my entire opinion. 

Hestia:

10/10 would give my life for this goddess. In all aspects of the word, this goddess is a goddess. I want a novella of her watching over the hearth and watching out for her family and the heroes. I imagine her being a very comforting presence and warm like a hug, and maybe this is me projecting my mummy issues but I just want her to hug me. 

Dionysus:

A solid 7.35/10 for Mr D. Naturally he was a bit annoying, but we were never under the pretence that he he was meant to be anything more than what he provided and I respect that. Him caring about his kids at camp, and staying relatively loyal to his wife is always a plus. And I like his relatively humble beginnings being a hero and becoming a god and then not causing that much trouble in the series. Unlike some other pieces of shit. 

Hermes:

4/10. Mans had no right blaming Luke’s thirst for mass genocide on 16 year old Annabeth. Not cool man. Not cool. He gets the points he got because he did genuinely care about Maia, and Luke, but he lost the rest of them by having a blatant favourite (who literally caused so much destruction). However I do still like his line about family in sea of monsters and never giving up on them. Nice meaning. But he was still a shitty father and only intervened out of self interest most of the time. 

Aphrodite:

2/10. I hate how low I have to rank her. But my god did Rick do her dirty in his depiction. Just the misogyny, the lack of depth, and the untouched potential she has as a character, as a goddess, THE OLDEST GOD/GODDESS and Rick really made her throw rose petals around the battle fields on one of (what was meant to be) the biggest fights of the riordanverse. Absolute robbery. If I’m not mistaken as well, she was a huge contributor to the issues and obstacles percabeth went through and we do not Stan. HOWEVER, I love her as a goddess normally, and what she could represent if she’s written properly. 

Hephaestus:

8/10. I have no qualms with this man. I too prefer the company of inanimate objects to people and get stressed about social interaction. And I too have mummy issues. So me and Hephaestus are on the same page. Let this man tinker away in his little bunker. He never went out of his way to make things harder for demigods, and was helpful when they came to him for help which I can also respect. (Point deduction because it was on his land that Bianca died…if I’m not mistaken). 

Ares:

-12/10. This man was introduced as a bully, and gives off the vibes of every phobic, known to humanity. I do not vibe. I do not agree. I do not stan. ALSO his motorbike seat is apparently made from "Caucasian human skin”!!!!!!???? We as children never questioned this? We just went sure aight move on?! Please this man has the biggest small dick energy if I ever saw it and I despite him so much. Mans was also never helpful. Ever. I don’t think. I think Mars was better than him though so I’ll give him that. 

Artemis:

9.99/10 all hail queen of the lesbians. Mad respect to this woman. In what she stands for, who she protects and in her actions. She’s what I embody when I stand up for myself in fights and when I speak to have my voice heard. I like Rick’s depiction of her and I love seeing her and her hunters pop up in his books. Would love a couple books on the hunters and their adventures. Also I love archery. And I’m biased to the moon because I love the night so she gets extra points for all of that too. 

Apollo:

Prior to Trials of Apollo 7/10, after TOA 9.90/10. Yes it’s a big jump but my god did Lester grow on me. Prior to TOA he was pretty average. He was funny, always provided a good laugh to the plot and was always helping the demigods which I loved. But I know he’s an asshole full of himself so I can’t give him any higher than that until he had some character development, which we got in TOA (specifically after Burning Maze). And I really like who he is now and the type of character Rick shaped him out to be. In the myths he’s a big creep, and I still stand by that idea, hence why he doesn’t get a full 10. 

Athena:

3.5/10…ughhh I hate to say this. But part of it is the same reasoning I gave about Aphrodite. I just have so many issues with the way she’s portrayed and it’s not accurate to what I believe in my heart she should represent. And as a child of Athena, I feel like Rick then did her entire legacy dirty. She has her moments, but since I can’t even fully recall one right now, it just proves my point. As a goddess as a whole though, what she represents is everything I aspire to be in life. She’s my entire aesthetic of hard work, creativity, and strength and grit, without taking away of being a powerful female. Zeus’ lead strategist like shit, Rick could have done so much. But he did not. And I am thus sad about it. 

Demeter:

6/10. I have no issues with Demeter. Kinda boring. I think that’s what most of the fandom thinks as well. She just didn’t get enough screen time or development. I have no attachment to her. I think the powers that she has, and has passed on to her kids is cool though so there’s that. But in the series as well she doesn’t do much. She also (initially) doesn’t fight in the battle of Manhattan so maybe I’m slightly bitter there. But yeah, i’m indifferent. 

Hades:

8.99/10 Okay so hear me out I know this man gets so much bad rep in the myths and that’s part of why he doesn’t get a full 9. But I really really love the way he’s depicted in the riordanverse, especially with his entire arc with his kids/specially with Nico. Like literally one of my favourite quotes In the entire series is “my children are so rarely happy, I would like to see you be the exception.” Out of the gods listed here (and excluding Dionysus), he acts like a genuine parent to his kids and tries. And like there’s issues, sure, but he works on them. And since so much of the first series is about how the gods are neglectful, seeing him change and seeing him fight for Nico is my everything. 

Poseidon:

7.1/10. Honestly this feels too high considering mans was nearly If not just as bad as Zeus in keeping it in his dam pants. His points come from treating Sally like the queen she is, and trying with Percy (albeit too little too late but I can see the minimal effort). That being said, he’s really shitty in the myths so I can’t really give him anything higher than this. He’s barely a dad, and sees Percy more as an ally than an actual son or human being that needs attention. I like him more in Fanon and the way that I write him lmao because I humanise him. But I won’t lie he’s dilf material, and I still like rick’s depiction of him. 

Hera:

3/10 I’m surprising myself with this rating because tbh I might even push her to 4.5 just because she’s so consistent in her own goals and agenda, and that perseverance is very admirable even if it was at the cost of some of my favourite characters. She was very much two faced though and fucked around stuff that she should have stayed out of. Her hatred for literal children though is a bit problematic. I have no attachment to her but I admire how much she just wants a family. However she just really needs to assess how she approaches that since it’s a bit messed up.  

Zeus:

-5/10 I really don’t Zeus, his character, him in the myths, everything about him. He gives off the vibes of a man who abuses the power that he was given. And I don’t like that. It makes me uncomfortable and I don’t like him at all. His treatment of his children, of the demigods, and the way he governs Olympus. Not a fan. I could rule Olympus better and I’m a mentally unstable, serotonin deficient 20 year old with a hyper fixation on greek mythology and Minecraft. However despite not liking his character, I think Rick does a great job at depicting him accurately to how he was in the myths. 

[skaylanphear]

Some thoughts on Reki becoming “support”-- Rough Character Analysis

I've been keeping my distance from the Sk8 fandom as a whole, but I saw a post on twitter about the subject of Reki being made into "support" as far as skateboarding, and the poster seemed to think this was some kind of… bad take? I don't know who the original poster was, but based on their opinion, I assume they're very young. I'm not here to bash on this opinion, per se, but I have been thinking about the whole Reki being support concept and I think it's detrimental if people take this to be some kind of downgrade or demotion, or "lesser" position. Again, this is a very immature mindset to have and of course many people who watch Sk8 are very young, but for anyone who's interested, here's a healthier take on the subject:

For one, Reki realizing he might not have what it takes to be as proficient a skateboarder as Langa is pretty good on him, especially at such an early age. But I think the reason he came to this conclusion in the first place is because he doesn't want to be as proficient as Langa or whoever else, no matter how hard he tries. Reki skates because he loves it—he says this in the very first episode before going on to lose to Shadow. Yes, he is insecure about the fact that he's not as good as some of the other skaters, but in the end, I think he will come to realize that it's not being the best or winning that makes him love skating. A lesson that I wish a lot of young people would realize early on is that you don't have to be the best at something to enjoy it or be passionate about it. Life is not a competition and the sooner you stop viewing it that way, the happier you'll be. Initially, Reki was able to bounce back from a loss and still love skating—he was down on himself when he lost to Shadow, but was back on a board enjoying himself shortly after. It's when he started internalizing all the differences between himself and Langa that he started to really hurt. But this doesn't mean that the solution to his problems is to become just as good a skater as Langa—that's an upward battle that will not only ruin their friendship, but continue to cause him the same hurt over and over and over again.

Reki realizing that maybe his talent lies in making skateboards is not a downgrade from being a "professional" athlete, as Langa has the potential to be. And I will note that, in this particular post, the person said that Reki was not as passionate about making skateboards as he was the actual skating (or something along those lines), which is absolutely wrong. Reki has been shown time and time again to be exceedingly passionate about building and designing skateboards, as well as the techniques needed to use them appropriately and do all kinds of sick tricks. But this doesn't mean he'd destined to be the same kind of athlete as Langa. Langa doesn't know the first thing about skateboards or the mechanics of how to ride them properly. He can observe and learn and try, but it's always Reki that's pointing out why he's doing certain things wrong or why the board is reacting a certain way. Reki's passion for building boards is just as valid as Langa's passion for being a great skater and that shouldn't be undermined by the immature opinion that taking up this "supporting" role is somehow inferior. Skaters couldn't be skaters without that crucial support—Langa wouldn't be able to skate at all without Reki having taken great pains to create a board that fit his needs, and then taken the time to literally coach him through learning to use it.

Notice that a lot of football coaches didn't actually play in the NFL, nor do all commentators, nor do the people designing their equipment. Yet these people are just as vital to the sport—just as necessary. Did people miss the point where Reki specifically said that the only reason he wanted to beat the best people at "S" was so that he could brag about how he did it with his own board? That he made? Or that Reki is not just Langa's teacher, he's his coach? Note that as soon as Reki and Langa started fighting, Langa not only lost his ability to have fun skating, but he also lost any sense of discipline. That scene where he's thinking about Adam and whips around a corner, only to have a whole bunch of people yell about how dangerous that was to the people standing there was not an accident, nor was it coincidental that both Cherry and Joe were visibly concerned about his behavior, no matter how good he is.

Langa needs a coach, he needs Reki's support. That’s the whole reason he gave up snowboarding. It's hinted that it was his father who taught and coached him, who loved the sport so much that Langa came to love it. When his father died, so too did his love of snowboarding, just like his love of skating has dwindled with Reki's absence. No matter how talented a person is, going it alone is next to impossible. The people there helping you, supporting you, are vital and just as important to success as the person performing said sport.

Reki's ability to embrace his position as support or as a board maker is not a downgrade. If anything, it fits his personality much better than the competitive aspect. He gets too down on himself when he does poorly, and spirals when people compare him to others. He can be passionate about enjoying skating itself, but also in the building of boards and coaching of others (do people not get how impressive it is that he BUILDS his OWN BOARDS?! That's just as impressive, if not more so, than anything Langa can do—something Langa is very much aware of even if Reki isn't). Reki is exceedingly patient, helpful, and willing. He wants others to succeed. Him embracing these aspects of himself is not settling—it's him pursuing his passion in a different way than Langa. Being the "best" isn't and shouldn't be the end goal for Reki, nor should it be for Langa in the manner he's currently pursuing it, as I think he is going to painfully find out in the coming episodes. Langa deciding to prioritize skating with the "best" (and psychotically dangerous) skater despite how many people he's hurt is reflecting on Langa. Langa is passionate and driven and clearly ends up wearing blinders when he gets that focused, thus he is susceptible to becoming just as dangerous as Adam. Reki being his support—being his coach, being the person that makes it possible for Langa to skate at all—is the lynchpin that will stop Langa from becoming Adam (that's why Tadashi has the personality of having "no opinions." Reki always has an opinion—Reki will be what gets through to Langa where Tadashi failed with Adam. Tadashi and Adam are the unhealthiest version of what Langa and Reki’s relationship represents). Langa is the support and inspiration for Reki. How many times has Reki altered Langa's board to better fit Langa's needs? And how many times has Langa been absolutely astounded and amazed at Reki's knowledge and know-how? Their skill sets are not pitted against one another as Reki's spiral would want him to believe. The idea that the only way Reki can truly succeed is if he is able to "catch up" with Langa is the exact poison that is hurting him. Langa needs to be reeled back from his more dangerous tendencies and Reki needs to come to realize that his value is not set in comparison to other people. Both of them are currently allowing these faults to govern their behavior and that's why they're fighting. They're both acting irrationally and once they come to grips with who they really are and what they really want, they'll be much better off.

Reki is just as good as Langa for pursuing his passion in skating by going another route than just "being the best," and Langa can be a great skater without having to default to behaviors that hurt the people around him. They can both be support for each other, and be talented and "shine" in their own ways within the the world of skateboarding as a whole. The idea that one has to be the best "performer" in their field or passion is absolute poison and I would be very sad if this was the route the anime chose to take for Reki.

[random-kali]

WHY I STAND FOR ELAIN ARCHERON

First of, english isn’t my first language so I apologize in advance if my grammar is wrong.

I encounter a LOT of hate towards Elain Archeron on instagram and it pains me to see these people so indifferent and just so hateful to characters like Elain who chooses to see good in other people. I realized something when I was answering a comment about my post on Elain’s page in the wiki fandom. I realized that the ONLY reason they hate Elain was because she’s “miss innocent” who- instead of planting vegetables to help Feyre during their years of poverty- chose to plant and grow flowers instead. When I ask some of the fan accounts on why they hate her character its all the same, “She’s miss innocent who didn’t even think to help Feyre by planting vegetables instead of flowers. She’s also to blame”. 

The thing is, Elain never said she was innocent-she never claimed she was. She even admitted that she was also to blame when the batboys and Feyre visited the two sisters for the first time and they were having dinner. Should I need to note that Elain was the one who admitted it and not Nesta. People always forget- or choose not to remember because it’s Elain- that Elain experienced more traumatic events during the war against Hybern. 

She was abducted with Nesta then shoved into the cauldron; 

She lost more than Nesta. She was about to get married in a few days before their abduction and her ex-fiance hated her for being Fae then basically spit to her face how disgusted he was that Elain was fae and that he would rather die than be married to a fae-to her; 

She was mated to the male who’s a constant reminder of what she lost; a male she was forced to by the cauldron

She thought that she was losing her mind after becoming fae because of her Seer abilities -at that time no one knows yet what was happening to her- until Azriel understood that she was a Seer. She was distant then because of it and no one understood her (except Az); 

She was abducted again by Hybern in the dead of the night to be tortured and use against the IC 

She also lost her father 

Also, Elain was the one who stabbed truth-teller to Hybern’s neck. If it weren’t for her every one of them would be dead by now and ACOTAR would have been finished then lol. Elain let Nesta finish the King of Hybern and claim the kill. And people keeps comparing her to Elide Lochan- a character who also sees the good in people despite what happened to her- and Gwyn- who’s also a headstrong character- but I’m not going to talk about those characters because they are made differently; honed to be a different kind of strengths. 

Just because Elain’s not a warrior doesn’t mean she’s weak. SJM already said it, she has yet to show her full potential. There’s so much more of Elain hidden in the shadows BECAUSE its not yet her story. She was written in the background because her time will come. Don’t get me started with her being “boring” ughhhh 🙄 If Feyre chose paints and paint brushes over bow and arrows then Nesta chose books over training with Cassian and becoming Valkyrie y’all would probably call them boring too if both sisters didn’t choose to learn how to fight. Y’all would probably be shouting at the top of your lungs how “boring” and “weak” and “useless” they are for not fighting back and always in need of “rescue” 🙄 A character doesn’t need to be physically strong or a warrior to be considered strong. Elide’s not a fighter/warrior; doesn’t even know how to properly use a dagger/knife; and doesn’t even possess any magic but she’s the strongest character in TOG. 

I’m not a super fan of ACOTAR but I love these books nonetheless and seeing people heavily criticize these characters especially Elain’s made me want to rip their throats lol I respect every sjm characters (except Ianthe and Manon’s fucking grandmother) because they represent different journeys and strength and healing. 

SO WAIT FOR HER FUCKING BOOK TO COME AND I’M SURE IT’S HER STORY THAT’S NEXT. YOU HATEFUL PRICKS LMFAO

[diamondcitydarlin]

Ok I swear to god I'm not trying to rag on asexuality or anyone who is asexual today, in fact I'm talking this much about it because I care about the validity of asexuality and how it is represented on a mainstream platform and I have seen multiple things in SEVERAL fandoms today that are making alarm bells go off in my head and you know what fuck it, we've been ignoring the underhanded propaganda, talking points that have been fed through the internet by the alt-right for too long and look where we are? It's the argument about 'queer' all over again.

I saw many things, but specifically I saw in a discussion where someone was wondering why a show keeps dancing around addressing a character's sexuality (in a show where it has been hinted at but never touched- we ALL know) and several people responded "well what if they're ASEXUAL? I think they're asexual. It's great asexual representation :)"

And like, okay, that is a valid and good interpretation of the situation and I know I for one would love if that is the case, but as the subject material stands now is it really good representation? Is it though? Because they definitely have not addressed head-on the possibility that the character could be ace and/or aro, nor have they dealt with reflecting an ace/aro person's experience. Sure, maybe some of the things that happen are similar, but at this point it is most likely incidental. (I'd love to be wrong, but let's be realistic about mainstream entertainment) This character has not had any of that addressed in any concrete way at all despite the show centering a lot around sex and sexuality for every other character. Why wouldn't it come up and be discussed? And of course, I can't say that wouldn't be enough for an asexual person watching, but I feel like they deserve more than that. Name it. Have the characters discuss it. Show us the effects of this on the character. If we're basing every single character's likely canon outcome purely on the basis of what they haven't done or haven't said we're probably going to be disappointed because that is...pretty broad. Just because the butler's fingerprints are not on the murder weapon does not inherently mean he's innocent; he could have used a glove, after all, and given that he IS a butler-....

My concern here is that this, along with general fandom puritanism and the drive to get icky ew gross sex completely out of fandom spaces, is going to create circumstances favorable for in-fighting and gatekeeping and silencing. Guess who benefits when all of us are arguing amongst each other and not holding Capitalism responsible for properly reflecting our stories and experiences? The people in charge who don't care and would rather not have that expectation hanging over their heads anyway.

Because it's becoming this thing where if a character does not experience any development or exploration in the vein of romance or sexuality then they are indisputably aro-ace and you may not argue otherwise bc that is erasure. Do we not see how easily this can become a way of allowing corporations off the hook without accountability? Not just for properly and unashamedly exploring queer experiences in general, but for aro/ace characters specifically. It's accepting the bare minimum-to-nothing as acceptable rep (for yourself and others) while saying that you are being silenced while you are intentionally trying to silence and censor other marginalized voices. It's bullshit and I'm frustrated that we don't seem to be learning from past mistakes but rather just recycling them again and again in different forms, which is regressive and divisive and helps no one. It also means less quality representation. (To be clear, I'm not talking about headcanoning/interpreting a character as ace/aro or hoping that it will be confirmed in canon, I'm talking about doing that and arguing that any other conflicting interpretations are inherently wrong or a form of violence against you, and/or saying this is definitely what the character is bc the show's lack of addressing anything one way or another is sufficient aro/ace representation)

It is valid to be desperate for representation in media one enjoys; of course it is, and so many of us deserve so much better reflected in the subject material we enjoy and patronize. But we cannot let that desperation drive us to accept less than what we deserve from a system that is routinely pushing back against us and counting on us to fold. We should not allow that to blind us from the true priorities of the people creating the material we're consuming. We can't keep letting desperation put people on pedestals that have absolutely no interest in reflecting us at the expense of other marginalized creators who do and deserve the support so much more.

And also, please. Please. Asexual and sexual fans can coexist. There is nothing inherently wrong with sex, sexuality or wanting to explore sex/sexual behaviors via fictional settings and characters. There is nothing wrong with not being interested in that at all (or just being a little interested or only wanting romantic nonsexual content, etc, however it manifests) and curating your fandom experience to your comfort level. There is absolutely no need for one side to try to invalidate the other, and while the moral right is trying to inject its beliefs and talking points into every available corner of the internet we need to be hyper vigilant about divisive talk and 'otherness' even when it pops up in seemingly benign contexts and places. Any justifying as to why one segment of a group is not as 'valid' or as 'welcome' as the rest. That sort of thing. It's very sneaky and manipulative, but once you're on alert for the red flags and the rhetoric you'll begin to see how this seeps into corners we believe are safe.

They're only as safe as we keep them and the only way we do that is by sticking together, uplifting each other and demanding what we rightly deserve.

[whetstonefires]

Do you think the DC fandom maybe, Infantilizes Tim a little too much? Like for a rich kid character who's main trauma for a long time was a getting left home alone too much there's an oddly amount of meta abt how much how much his parents hurt him~ compared to, y'know the two poor characters who grew up with physically abusive dad's+druggie mom's, or the two that were raised assassin cult's, etc

…well, yeah, I do kind of think that? His whole schtick for so long was being too old for his age in ways that didn’t sacrifice his jokey, relatable teenager energies. It’s weird how little of that we see anymore, sometimes.

And then DC broke him and discarded him and he’s sort of awkwardly hanging around getting reimagined as more woobie with every fan generation. It is weird!

But tbh I do get it. And I think the reason his parents’ failure of him and his vulnerability get played up so much, and Jason and Steph’s sufferings (while used a lot for things like motivation and context) not dwelt on quite so much in the same lugubrious style, are kind of the same reason.

Which is that canon didn’t commit to it. Jason and Steph’s experiences with bad parenting were foregrounded and retconned more dramatically awful several times. (There’s some definite classism in how that was approached imo, and I’m never budging on being mad about DC retconning out Catherine being sick and then ignoring her forever in all Jason characterization because a drug death invalidates a person ig, great message during the opioid crisis guys.)

They engaged and coped with it–Steph (and Cass, our #1 canon batfam parental abuse victim) pretty directly, Jason a little less so because of the dubious and fluctuating canon status of most of the content more specific than ‘poverty, homelessness, theft, parental drugs and crime in there somewhere,’ so most of his parent issues have been focused on Bruce. He sure has dug into them tho. 😂 Rarely well or productively, thanks DC, but it’s explicitly part of his character, is my point.

Whereas upper-middle-class Tim was always treated by the narrative as fortunate and unharmed by his experiences with his parents. Even though they were clearly behaving badly in several ways, and Tim showed signs of being harmed by it.

Tim outside of immediate moments of frustration always was of the opinion he was Fine, and Very Fortunate Actually.

Therefore a huge chunk of the numerous everyone who’s got parent-related mental and emotional harm, but has struggled to have that validated and hasn’t responded with a lot of anger toward the parent, identifies with Tim. The only one who’s never really lashed out at his parents for fucking up with him. The one who still needs it explored, because canon ultimately didn’t.

[editing post to put in a readmore because lol it’s long, post otherwise unchanged]

(Dick obviously didn’t ever have any Issues with the Graysons, but he Angry Teenagered at Bruce so hard it changed Bruce’s characterization permanently, rip.)

The things Jason, Steph, and Cass have been through are dramatic, obvious, and fit stereotypes because that’s what they’re based on.

That’s important content to have, but because it’s right out there in your face even people who identify with it quite a lot are less likely to feel the need to work all the way through it again in fanworks. That part’s there. It’s text.

(Well actually Jason having been physically abused kind of wasn’t? I think? It was mostly assumed on the basis of stereotyping and Jason’s not caring about the man much even as he felt possessive of information about his death, which is valid. I don’t actually know what’s up with Willis now, Lobdell did some weird shit that lacked emotional resonance or staying power because he’s Lobdell and has no soul.

Cass’ wandering years are also ludicrously underdeveloped. But very very few comics fans or writers can personally relate to being amazing child warriors with no grasp of language living feral under bridges. That part of her life is consistently represented in terms of absences, in terms of its deviation from the norm and the deficits of normality it left her with, which is typical but unfortunate.) 

-

The interesting things to do with these characters are often informed by the bad stuff in their childhoods, but there’s relatively rarely that much more to say about the fact that those things were bad. They know they’re bad. They’ve had a lot of on-panel rage about it, as discussed above. Steph and Cass both beat the shit out of their dads.

Jason is, in fandom especially, a sort of Platonic ideal of a kid who’s mad about his bad childhood and really bad at figuring out where to point that rage.

(Damian is a whole other kettle of fish, because he’s been lumbered by so many detailed retcons coming so fast no two people can seem to construct compatible models of what his early childhood was like, and even more because he’s still ‘a child’ enough that he’s necessarily in a different stage of processing than someone who’s officially only a few years older than him at this point, but still functionally 8 and also 20 years older, and whose parents are no longer in the picture to continue screwing up.

Also there’s no question that if he brings up an abusive thing the League did, he will be validated by his current environment about his realization that it was in fact bad. There’s a lot of fic on that theme! But it doesn’t have the same tone precisely because it is usually understood that that support will be there if he wants it. Realizing that his previous context contained things that were wrong keeps being made the focus of his arc.)

The badness of Tim’s childhood, on the other hand, was mainly in subtext. Even when we were clearly meant to understand Jack was fucking up, like when he canceled plans with Tim at the last minute to go on a date with Tim’s stepmother, or that infamous time he came to apologize for not being a great parent and got mad Tim was distracted by a crisis on TV so he flew into a rage and took the TV and smashed it and was like ‘that’ll teach you,’ it wasn’t leaned into.

The story didn’t treat Jack as a minor villain to be overcome but like a sort of environmental hazard of childhood, like homework, to be endured and coped with. Tim said things like ‘it’s fine’ and ‘at least he left the computer.’

(And like. It’s not about having a TV and computer in his room. It’s about not letting a child have boundaries, pointedly not respecting a child’s possessions, creating an emotionally insecure environment, punishing minor infractions in proportion to their momentary impact on your own ego, physically lashing out at a proxy for the child…)

Rather like Tom King later didn’t understand about the punching from Bruce, whoever did that story (probably Dixon? I don’t care enough to check) did not understand how serious a case of bad parenting that scene was. That is most definitely textbook abusive behavior. (It’s a hell of a lot more common abusive behavior than being a lame supervillain or shooting you when you screw up, and a lot more specific than ‘was a thug, might have hit me, dead now.’)

And Tim was never allowed to be mad at his parents about it. It was fine. He needed to be ignored so he had the freedom to be Robin. He deserved his dad being mad at him because he was keeping secrets. He complained too much, although objectively he did not.

The universe punished him for ‘complaining,’ more than once. We cut straight from him shunting aside his disappointment that his postcard from his parents was just to say they weren’t coming home yet after all with ‘if it will stop all the fights they’ve been having lately it’s more than fine’ to them getting kidnapped.

He agreed not to come on the rescue mission. His mom never made it home, and his dad was in a coma for a while. And then ultimately Jack died as a result of Tim’s decision to be Robin, immediately after finally deciding to accept it.

So Tim walks around feeling a huge burden of responsibility for his parents’ deaths, and completely unable to process any hurt they did him as real or valid, especially in comparison with the far more blatant awfulness other people have been through, and canon is clearly never going to address it. Or even acknowledge it properly.

Let me repeat that because it’s kind of my main point:

People are fixated on getting Tim’s emotional abuse validated because that’s an incredibly important step in recovering from emotional abuse, and it’s one canon consistently denied him.

How ‘bad’ things are ‘in comparison to’ problems other people have is a bad and unhealthy way to engage with trauma. Okay? That’s just a really harmful framework to apply to pain.

It’s also a way that both Tim and people with experiences similar to Tim’s are encouraged to engage with their own experiences, compounding the existing problems.

So. Not a form of relatable DC was ever actually aiming for when they tried so hard (and pretty effectively) to make him a relatable character as Robin, but an enduring one for a lot of fans.

-

So Tim’s childhood is a natural target for fanworks in a different way than the traumas that have been made explicit and taken seriously by the text. And then a lot of that got compounded by the way the introduction of Damian as Robin was handled, and the lack of resolution that got. And his current status as not quite having a place in the family anymore.

So between the level of projection encouraged by that context and how relatively difficult to access Tim’s Robin run has become ten years after the fact, this has led to a lot of fanworks on these themes that are based mostly on other fanworks, and stray further and further from the original content.

So at this point there’s an entire wing of Tim’s fandom wherein this side of him has expanded enormously, and he primarily exists to suffer, frequently in ways that 1) escalate to a point that is inarguably ‘valid’ and hard to dismiss and 2) set him up to rebound from it in whatever way the writer finds emotionally satisfying or useful–being ultimately cared for and reassured by people who value him (the most infantilizing option but like, popular for obvious reasons), or unveiling his brilliant scheme that was causing him to pretend to be passive in the face of mistreatment, or turning around and using his genius ninja skills to wrest power back from his abusers, or just laying down some sick burns about being treated fairly.

But not that many of the last one, because that’s mostly done with other batfam members.

Tim’s become a vehicle for a lot of vicarious coping that Steph and Jason just aren’t appropriate for, because they get angry and they get even. And those are stories that exist already, so there’s less scope for telling your own.

And because Jason’s reaction pattern is ultimately so masculine (i’ll make them all sorry! with my guns! blam blam!) while Tim’s is pretty gender-neutral, the demographics of fanfic mean that the bulk of the people using Tim vicariously in this manner are female-aligned, which has over time feminized this archetype of him a lot. Sometimes in ways I find really uncomfortable, like there’s a lot of forced pregnancy stuff which activates my panic buttons. x.x

But, ultimately, it’s fandom. People are going to do what they’re going to do, DC in their perpetual fail has hung Tim out to dry in narrative terms, and I’d rather the people who are using Tim for victimization narratives over the people who can’t dismiss or discredit him fast enough now that his position has been filled. 🤷‍♀️ What we gonna do? Fave’s in an awkward spot. DC hates us. This is the life in this comic book pit. XD

-

Also if you’re the same anon who left me a callout about op of that weird Steph post in my inbox, or if you aren’t @ that person, 1) I refuse to get involved so I’m not answering that ask 2) those aren’t even particularly dramatic fandom crimes? That’s pretty normal? That’s just…Caring Too Much About Ships And Disagreeing With Me.

Do I also feel those opinions are kinda bad? Yeah. But I disagree with everyone about something. Chill.

[plotdesigner]

3, 4, 23 :D

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

So I think the amount of worldbuilding and exposition needed to set up a Fate/Untamed crossover would be a hard sell, given the twin humps of there is so much exposition and ‘isnt’ fate a titty game???’ to get over. TLDR, the cultivator crew gets summoned as heroic spirits, heroes of the past warped and grown stronger thanks to their historic reputations, and have to go fight something or other, but most of hte fun is seeing how they got changed -

Except like, a lot of the fun would be going over how history warped people’s reputations, and I feel like setting up the alternate history to explain that is something I’m not equipped to do properly right now.

anyway!! Heroic spirits are summoned in different classes that set up their power sets. Sometimes people can show up as more than one class and ther eare like, three versions of a dude just chillin together at the same time. There’s seven standard classes and some extras, and one of the more yikes extras are Avengers, whose reputations are so warped by history that they’re a conglomeration of rumor and tortured soul full of hate for a world that turned them into a monster.

Everyone’s expecting the Yiling Patriarch, a being of bones, smoke and constantly followed by ravens, and Wei Wuxian, Popular Folk Hero, is both sympathetic and super embarassed by his other self’s chuuni plight.

Only a few people expected Nie Huaisang, poet-administrator, to show up all cheerful like with a shadowy ghost figure following him.

“Why are you so surprised, Wei-xiong? This isn’t that much different from how I was in life, you know? Just rumor and revenge : ) ”

Wei Wuxian gestures at the other summoned Nie Huaisang getting blitzed with William Shakespeare and Hans Christian Anderson like dude?? You’re taught in poetry classes???

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

[Nie Huaisang]  was just visiting Wei Wuxian. No, he was just helping Wei Wuxian. No, he was just preventing a tragedy from growing worse. 

 He didn’t notice the key lodged in his chest, opening up those feelings he had tried to hide away. 

Wen Ning’s hands were cold and the joints were sharp, broken and rehealed in his absence, but his embrace was the same. He still smelled like herbs. His smile was still slight and shy. Nie Huaisang’s heart was a bud drawn to the sun, threatening to bloom, and he could either clip that flower before it grew or let it unfurl. 

This is the culmination of the flashback arc that reveals NHS and Wen Ning had a short relationship during the Cloud Recesses/Wen Indoctrination Camp arcs in canon, where NHS realizes he can’t keep on being in denial that he and Wen Ning had Feelings For Each Other.

Writing the cultivator crew has been a lot more intuitive than writing in other fandoms, where it’s been less setting up stories and more the characters dropping in to tell me what is Up, so I was surprised when I realized this all went down at like. Chapter six. It’d be really nice to have known that when i started writing!!! xD  Which lead to a lot of plot rearrangement and set up to justify why NHS hadn’t brought that up beforehand and the ramifications thereof -

I was really pleased with how the plot tangent came out overall, and especially this, with the flower metaphor and the ‘key in the chest’ pun to represent the new status quo now that the cat’s out of the bag!

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

For fanfic, Dead Men’s Party, my Kingdom Hearts/Princess and the Frog crossover! I first hadthe idea in 2010, a little after PatF came out - “Dr. Facilier is so cool and his minions are kind of like the heartless! Doesn’t he deserve a cool story? And perhaps a boyfriend? Wait, doesn’t Kingdom Hearts have a dude who does tarot like he does -”

It took another five years to be in the right time and place to write the dang thing xD and it’s been five years writing it, and probably another five to finish it! Because somehow I am now rewriting the entire KH canon. Send help.

[ncfan-1]

I keep thinking about Felix, and traditional masculinity in Faerghus (what’s implied of it), and the chivalric and knightly ideals, and the way these things are tangled together.

I think of Felix as a little boy who loved the same stories Ashe and Ingrid loves, Felix who looked up to his older brother and wanted to be a knight like him. I think of Felix who was described as a meek, emotional child who cried easily, and I still don’t think Faerghus is the Toxic Masculinity kingdom the way Rigel is, but the more I look at it, the more off it smells. I think of the parts of masculinity as a concept in Faerghus that have turned rancid, and I think of Felix, the boy who cried easily, and Felix, the teenager who seems now to struggle with expressing emotions freely, and I wonder.

I think of Glenn dying. I think of his death being so horrifically violent that all that was left of him to bring home was his armor, and I know that if whatever happened to him was so violent that they could only bring home the armor, his armor can’t possibly have been intact.

I think of Felix staring down at his brother’s armor, rent and twisted. The breastplate is badly dented with a ragged gash of broken steel running up the middle of it. There isn’t a square-inch of the armor, breastplate, vambraces, gauntlets, or greaves, that is completely clean of blood. His father looks at the ruined mess and says, tearful and proud, “He died like a true knight.” But all Felix can think of is what must have happened to Glenn for his armor to be in such a state, what must have happened to him for his armor to be all that’s left of him, what it must have felt like to die in such a manner, and all he can think is that being proud of such a death is absolutely grotesque.

I think of Felix feeling trapped. He’s not given the space he needs to mourn his brother properly, because his brother “died like a true knight.” He can see the ugly underbelly of the knightly and chivalric ideals, and now that he’s seen it, it’s all he can see, as he pries apart more inconsistencies with each passing day, as he finds new things praised as virtuous to be horrified by. He can’t see anything honorable about killing people like a rabid animal, just because the people you’re killing happen to be on the opposite side of the fight from you. He can’t see anything honorable about killing men and women and children just because it happens to be on the order of your liege lord. There is nothing glorious about battle, or blind obedience, or wanton slaughter.

What the ideals of chivalry and knighthood really seem to glorify, all they seem to glorify, is death—the death you suffer, or the death you mete out. And Felix knows. He remembers that mangled suit of armor, and he knows that there’s nothing glorious about death. Honor and glory, these things won’t bring back the dead. Glenn’s still dead, at the end of the day. At the end of the day, his death was still so terrible that his body couldn’t be recovered, and no amount of honor will erase the pain Glenn must have felt as he died. He’s seen it. He can’t see anything else.

He’s angry. He lashes out. He still cares about duty, and about protecting people—he’ll call out his father in a heartbeat for protecting his people because it’s what a dead man would have wanted of him, instead of protecting them because it’s his duty as their lord to do so. (He still values protecting people, even if he’s very chary about admitting it, because he can’t find a way to admit it that doesn’t make himself sound like a knight.) He’ll fight, and he’ll kill, but what he’ll never do is pretend that it’s honorable or glorious to do these things. He’s not going to play along with that narrative, never again.

There is a part of him, a small part, that wants to once again be a person who can actually find something worth valuing in the knightly ideal. His support chain with Ashe indicates as much. I said that post-time skip Dimitri reminds me of Sandor Clegane, but in this, Felix reminds me of Sandor much more strongly. A boy who loved stories, and knights, and wanted to be one, until something horrific happened that shattered his idealism and made it so that all he could see was the ugly underbelly of something society held to be so valuable.

He still carries one of Glenn’s knighting spurs around with him. It’s one of his lost items in the Academy Phase, so he carries it around with him everywhere he goes. To me, it’s not clear if this plays into his lingering desire to back to those days when he could associate knighthood with anything but death. The alternative is that he just carries the spur around with him because it was Glenn’s, and it’s symbolic of his attempts to move on from his brother’s death, and he can’t, because of what the spur itself represents, and what no one will ever let him forget.

Where all this gets Felix is him being Othered in the eyes of Faerghus society. When you’re a nobleman, concepts of chivalry, knighthood, and masculinity all seem to be tangled up with each other. The latter is never explicitly spelled out, but to me, it’s pretty clearly there by implication. If you don’t perform the ideals of chivalry and knighthood, you inevitably fail also to properly perform the norms of masculinity. In short, in the eyes of this culture, unless adhere to chivalric and knightly norms, you’re not a “real man.” Felix performs masculinity in ways that are likely considered atypical, or, frankly, abnormal, by the standards of the culture he grew up in—or that culture just regards what he does as not performing masculinity at all.

(It’s interesting to compare him with Ingrid, one of his childhood friends, who struggles with conceptions of traditional femininity as much as Felix seems to with conceptions of traditional masculinity, and like Felix, seems to have quit bothering trying to perform it years ago. Especially considering the way they clash in their B-support. It is, of what I’ve seen of Felix thus far, his lowest moment, when he tries to shut her up by drawing attention to the obligations she can’t escape as a noblewoman in their society.

“You’re not meant to be a knight. Go find a husband.”

He does it try to make her go away and leave him alone, by aiming at what he knows, as her childhood friend, to be her sorest of sore spots, and it was a really jarring moment to me, because I hadn’t seen Felix express similar attitudes in his other supports, and I haven’t seen him express them again since then. It doesn’t sit naturally on him at all. It’s still gross, but it’s a different kind of gross than if he genuinely bought into what “traditional gender roles” are supposed to be. But the real conflict between Felix and Ingrid here is their difference of opinions on the value of the knightly ideal.)

Basically, what I’m saying is that it’s fascinating to me that Three Houses took a character that in other works could easily have been, and probably would have been, hyper-masculine within his cultural context, and instead gave us someone who does not perform traditional masculinity in a typical manner within his cultural context. Or at all, really. And I could get into how this plays into potential queer-coding for Felix’s character, or how this plays into his strained relationship with his father, but that’s not what this post was about. And honestly, I wrote this because there’s a tendency among a lot of the fandom to just write Felix off as a jerk (when a lot of the stuff he says is 100% true, even if presented in an unpleasant manner), when it’s so much complicated than that.

[currantlee]

Why Erasure of Representation is so problematic - on the example of Bi-Erasure (feat. BTVS)

Seriously, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my favorite TV series ever. However, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect to me.

I think one of the first things I would change about the series is Willow’s status as a lesbian - and not in the sense that I’d make her straight, but in the sense that I’d officially confirm her to be bisexual instead of lesbian.

Before Tara (who is my favorite character in the show by the way) came along, Willow was in a relationship with Oz, which she was clearly enjoying on both the romantic side of things and the sexual side as well. That... Just doesn’t seem lesbian to me, sorry. Someone who can be attracted to two genders is bisexual (someone who is attracted to more than two is polysexual and someone who is attracted to any gender is pansexual) and sure, they can have preferences, but it doesn’t erase the fact that they can be attracted to another gender as well.

Please note that I don’t want to bash the series with this. As I said, it’s one of my favorite series of all time and it actually does a lot of things right when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation in my opinion (such as writing characters that are defined on other things than their sexuality). This is just the one thing I have issues with.

So, if you want to watch me ranting about bi-erasure, and by extension poly- and pan-erasure, you can do that in the Keep Reading section.

As someone who is actually bi / pan (I’m still figuring out), I gotta say: bi-erasure in fandom and media is an issue, as is poly-erasure and pan-erasure. I’ve talked about this previously in a posting about the bi-erasure when it comes to Edelgard von Hresvelg from FE3H (who is confirmed by canon to be bisexual, but still treated as a lesbian by a large part of the fanbase). I have already touched on Willow in said posting as well.

And before I talk any further, let me first clarify what bi-/poly-/pan-erasure is: it is basically the process of erasing the bi-/poly-/pan-part of a character’s sexuality by declaring them straight or, which seems to be more common, gay / lesbian - or even more simple: declaring that a character who is attracted to two or more genders is only attracted to one gender (and treating this as canon).

However, after rewatching BTVS and researching some production details, I not only noted how similar Edelgard is to Glory (come on, both are overconfident badasses wearing red dresses), but also that the bi-part of Willow’s sexuality was pretty much erased. Not only within the series itself (which would have been fine if Willow had actually been confused about her sexuality and that’s why she declared herself to be a lesbian - however, this is not what happened), but by the writers as well, who even said that they wanted to “keep Willow gay” at one point.

Listen: I have nothing against lesbian characters at all. As I said before, Tara Maclay (who is a lesbian) is actually my favorite character in the series. But if a character is bisexual, then refer to them as bi, and don’t erase the bi-part by claiming they’re straight, gay or lesbian. The same goes for polysexual characters and pansexual characters.

And I get that gays and lesbians want to be represented properly in (popular) media. Trust me, there is nothing wrong with it. However, just as much as gays and lesbians do, bisexual individuals, poly sexual individuals and pan sexual individuals also strive for proper representation.

This is why the erasure of any minority representation is such a big problem: because it takes the representation that’s already there away from us again. It’s the same problem as with whitewashing or declaring any LGBTQ+ character to be cis and / or hetero. The only difference with turning an obviously bisexual character into a lesbian character is that you turn a character representing a minority into a character representing another minority. Which might not be as problematic as the two former examples, but it is still a problem in my opinion. Or at least it is as long as people of the minority claiming a character are so overprotective of their own representation that they start huge shitstorms as soon as a member of another minority takes one of their representative characters and turns them into a representation of their own minority. If it was all same rights for everyone, then it wouldn’t be problematic in the slightest, at least in my opinion.

And no - the argument that “only gays and lesbians face discrimination over their sexuality” is not a valid argument in my opinion. It’s a common misconception that bisexual people, polysexual people and pansexual peop,e don’t have to fight with the same issues as gays and lesbians. Which is only partly true because we also face discrimination and rude comments. Here are some I got after coming out as bisexual:

“So you’re just flirting with everyone that comes your way? Wow, you’re a whore!”

“Can’t you just decide on being straight or being lesbian?”

“You just want to get your piece of cake from gay rights without actually being gay.”

“So you’re on the right way! Bet I can help you with this turning straight thing.”

Bonus: that one comment I got from someone I trusted when I talked to them because I thought that I might actually be poly- or pansexual:

“Wait. You’re not a pedophile, are you?”

... Remember, guys. “Minor” is not a gender.

Gays and lesbians undoubtedly face a huge amount of discrimination based on their sexuality as well, arguing about that is not the point I want to make. The point is that bisexual individuals, polysexual individuals and pansexual individuals also face discrimination based on their sexuality, not only by people who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community, but from people within the same community as well: the second quote and the third quote were both said to me by people who are homosexual. In a place that was not reserved for homosexual people only.

Another point why this erasure is so problematic is the fact that it makes it more difficult to inform people about bi-/poly-/pansexuality and what is actually means. People are more likely to be comfortable with people of those sexualities if they see them depicted as normal people and / or awesome characters in the media - because it takes the feeling of unfamiliarity away. Our primal instincts tell us that anything that’s unfamiliar could be dangerous - which is partly how any discrimination develops. I’m going to finish this argument up with a quote:

“Anything we know about the world, we know through the media.” - Niklas Luhmann, German sociologist

And yes, the internet and therefore fancommunities can be considered media in a sense. So if the media tells us “hey, bisexuality doesn’t exist because we can easily make those characters straight / lesbian / gay”, then people are more likely to assume that no, bisexuality doesn’t exist for real. However, if the media told us “hey, there are people who are attracted to more than one gender! They’re totally normal”, then bisexual people, polysexual people and pansexual people would likely face less discrimination. The same of course goes for gays and lesbians, as well as really any minority.

And this is essentially why erasure of minority representation from (popular) media in general (not just bi-/poly-/pan-erasure) is problematic: because if the media doesn’t show it, people don’t know anything about it. It’s unfamiliar to them, which means that it could be potentially dangerous. This then leads to discrimination.

So yes, we need more good representation of any minority in my opinion. Not just representation of bisexuality, polysexuality and pansexuality, but good representation of gays and lesbians, representation of members of different ethnicities and cultures, and of course representation of people with disabilities and lower income as well.

That being said, the original BTVS was made almost two decades ago. Back then, it were different times, and the existence bisexuality wasn’t as widely known of as it is today. Willow Rosenberg is still an amazing character. However, should the rumors be true and there is going to be a remake - I’m not going to be mad if they decide that Willow should be a lesbian and have partners that are exclusively female. Even though I’d rather see Willow coming out as bisexual with a preference for women in a remake, not gonna lie.

[sternenteile]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

tagged by:  @battleshell​  ;  we all care blue, u do, i do, we all do tagging:  holy shit my whole dash because exorbitantly long memes are the BEST. i aint even sarcastic when i say that, i love this kind of shit. u GOTTA do it.

my muse is:  canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [ he is in two fandoms, in fact. he is both a fan-favorite from super mario rpg, the very first in the line of mario rpgs we’ve gotten over the years, and a pretty popular smash bros. request. he even got a mii costume in 4 and a spirit in ultimate as a result of the love. he’s very beloved, to the point that i’d, even as a geno fan myself, deem him a bit overrated. why? b/c where is all the love for all the other smrpg characters!!! they are all good. i love them all. ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [ i mean ?? i’ve met and seen many people who have/had crushes on geno so ??????? but i don’t think it’s like. that. ghfskjhgsg??? ]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [ oh yes, he is undeniably very strong, both in personality and in battle. he is often seen as the level-headed straight man of the party in smrpg (which, in the case of my geno, is... semi-applicable LMAO), a star spirit with unwavering bravery and confidence. his in-battle stats are also pretty crazy, favoring geno as a glass cannon and enemy sweeper. he is also the only character in the game to have a move that will insta-kill any enemy besides bosses. well, and exor. idk why exor, but there ya go. needless to say, pretty much everyone in the fandom agrees that geno is a powerful mfer. why wouldn’t a literal, living star be? ]

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [ as i mentioned before, there is no shortage of him being underrated in the fanbase. i’d even say he’s a little overrated. some people treat smrpg as ‘that game with geno in it’ rather than everything else it has going for it. i love star boye as much as the next gal, but pls appreciate smrpg as a whole. it’s such a vibrant game with a colorful world of characters to love. ]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO. [ he is actually, completely central to the plot. the subtitle of smrpg is legend of the seven stars, which directly relates to geno’s core mission: to find the seven star pieces and restore star road. the rest of the gang had different ambitions, but they all ended up banding together over geno’s objective. one could argue he mostly is the exposition-granter and could be replaced with anyone else, but i feel he’s irreplaceable. smrpg would be so different without him, like it or not. ]

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [ i wouldn’t say he is the protagonist, obviously, as that is very much mario’s spot. that being said, he is a pretty obvious deuteragonist for smrpg, given how much the plot revolves around him. he’s relevant to mario, for sure, as well as peach, mallow, and bowser. he’s relevant to many characters beyond them. he represents the fight for everyone’s wishes to be able to come true. he’s, uh... very relevant rofl. ]

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. [ the star spirits are somewhat known in the mario universe as entities capable of granting wishes, kinda like fabled gods with a tinge more evidence and reality to them. geno himself isn’t a known name, not like the seven star spirits of star haven, but his people are decently known. he, however, is not. ]

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ he is basically the epitome of ‘good’ until you overthink star society like i do lol. not all wishes can be granted, what constitutes as a ‘good wish’ is subjective, why some good wishes still can’t be granted anyway, etc. it puts him more towards neutral good with a dash of lawful and an undercurrent of chaotic, given his rebellion against his superiors. ]

How strictly do you follow canon?  —  i mean, it isn’t hard to be strict to mario canon when there isn’t that much of a foundation to work with anyway lol. it’s all rather simplistic until you get into the nitty gritty of it ??? that said, geno is built on a lot of headcanon. like, a lot a lot. star society and its rules for star spirits of his kind, his relationship with rosalina (a matronly figure), his relationship with the seven star spirits, the fleshing-out of his basic personality traits shown in smrpg, etc.? headcanon upon headcanon.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  a star possessing the form of a children’s toy, like toy story but with more cosmic pew-pew. a chill and sassy guy still learning the ways of how earth (and other planets) work on a more intimate level, meaning there will be lots of adorkable moments as this curious one makes discoveries. sometimes attempts to innovate with what he learns to be ‘ahead of the curve’, leading to interesting results. (he likes to sip bubble tea, but replace the tapioca pearls with star bits. good result. mopping a counter-top because it would be ‘more efficient’? not-so-good result, got him lots of stares.) straight outta the 90′s, so be ready some of that rad 90′s slang and know-how from back in the day. (what do u mean they’re bringing back dunkaroos? that’d mean they stOPPED MAKING THEM?!?) very intrigued with new technology, became stuck to his smartphone upon discovering them, fell into the time-sink that is animal videos on youtube. he’s humble and likes to relax, have a good time, and relax w/ the squad. video games, netflix binges, the whole nine yards, he’s gotchu. he is a hell of a fighter and loves to fight, as well. help him push his abilities, and he’ll help you with yours.  likes being a little shit for fun, only to an extent (harmless moments of impishness, not serious, hurtful pranks). has a sense of humor that is easy to tickle, even with stupid dad jokes and classic puns. the brother-friend that will fire lasers at ur enemies for u. likes to play violin. cute. super cutie. v. tiny in his star form. almost five whole feet of sparkly, twinkly fun. likes super soakers.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  despite intrigue to learn more about the world around him, there is only so much that he does know. societal norms are often beyond him, and there are just so, so many earth hobbies he is not aware of. without handing him a bone, it makes him a little more limited than someone who’s more savvy. he is prime slice-of-life material, but that may also make things rather dull in an rp without an extra twist to spice things up. (thankfully, his being a total SNOT sometimes helps with that.) in canon and strictly in canon, geno doesn’t really have much personality, something that this geno has plenty more fleshed out. a good chunk of fandom finds him to be incredibly boring and droll, to which i personally disagree, as there are little things in smrpg that hint towards him having more to explore.

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  funnily enough, seeing smash bros. fandom railing on geno fans + hyping him up all at the same time made me revisit smrpg after having only played it as a teenager. i expected geno to be a boring slate of nothing like fandom often portrays him, but i found that i was terribly wrong. with a newfound perspective on him, noting little details that defied my expectations for this li’l guy, i decided to give him a geno whirl and see what kind of expansion i could do with his character. the amount of lore i came up with him and started wondering about piled on and on and on, and i realized that he had so much more potential than what nintendo and square properly tapped into. (some of it is also a matter of being timely, though, meaning later mario materials such as rosalina, star haven, etc.) i wanted to flex out that potential and see how much i could fill this little doll up with, and lo and behold, i rp him today with extensive amounts of development poured into him with love. to put it simply, there was so much untapped potential that i wanted to share with the world, to show geno the love and in-depth exploration that he deserved, to show that he was more than what he was given.

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  chattering about mario lore with pals, whether it relates to geno or not, reading, watching shows or videos that remind me of him, learning more about cosmology and the universe we live in (and boy, i’ve learned a lot of neat stuff!), revisiting my childhood (the 90′s) since it’s very geno-appropriate, drawing The Boye, literally anything to do with playing, watching, or doing ANYTHING with smrpg/paper mario 64/smg1&2, and probs a lot more. i’ve got a lot of fuel in me for this guy lol.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ on one hand, of course i hope that i do! on the other hand, i mean... nintendo and square don’t do jack for him, so i think almost anyone can do him more justice than they have, lbr. it’s... not hard... :’) ]

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? [ ok i gotta just copy-paste what blue said in her response because my god, she nailed it: “you know when you have a concept and in your own mind you can see it clearly, without fuzziness or confusion, but you can’t seem to put it clearly into words without it turning into an essay because you need to connect all the other points that’s in the single concept you envisioned? yea.” basically, this but in spades, because i have a huge amount of headcanon and lore that i’ve either not gotten around to writing about yet or am purposefully staving off (wink wink). i have written a lot for him, though! it’s just... comparatively so little to what all i’ve thought up over-time. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ not! often! enough!!! ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO [ all i know is fine dining, breathing, and adorkable starman. ]

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ funny enough, i’m pretty damn confident in my portrayal, albeit still very modest. i mean, i am at least confident that i give depth to a character that had so little, and i feel like geno is just... real. (not literally ofc i mean like, he FEELS realistic.) he’s got character perks, character flaws, strengths, weaknesses, personal issues, ongoing obstacles, relatable themes where appropriate, interests, knowledge (or lack thereof), daily routines... i could go on. if nothing else, i at least feel good about trying to make geno feel less like some exposition character and more like a person. considering he wants to achieve personhood that most of his kind never gets to find, it’s oddly poetic lmao. ]

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. [ eehhhhh. i mean, i guess it’s fiiiIIINE, but i often feel like i lack a certain pizzazz, something that’ll keep people interested and intrigued with what i write, giving enough material for them to adequately bounce back. on the same token, i like to babble with my prose, so i often worry about going on and on and on way too much. stale, quantity over quality, substance-less writing is what i fuss over the most. ;; ]

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / SORTA. [ sensitive to empathy and other peoples’ emotions, yes. i’m an insanely empathetic person, and i have a lot of love to give. that said, with only few exceptions, i have a pretty iron-clad skin. sometimes, i daresay it’s to the point that i often misjudge what other people can take, and i feel i can end up being too harsh and forward. that being said, it is also a good thing at times. harsh or not, if i feel a certain way about something, i make that shit known and i make it known as loud as it necessarily should be. i don’t beat around the bush; rather, if i have a beef, i will make that beef known. consequently, if i have love to give, you damn well better be ready to swim in a pool of hearts and your favorite kind of cookie (if applicable). ]

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  as long as it isn’t complaints with lack of substance/reasoning, yes! even if i may not always agree and may take things with a grain of salt, i am insanely receptive to criticism, even over the pickiest things. it’s something i’ve grown used to due to prior rp venues being particularly harsh. i will never throw a fit or act like a child if there is something i could do better with geno. in fact, there always will be! i’m not perfect, and i love to hear about ways i can improve and do better. it’s paramount in a hobby like this.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  LET’S-A FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure, i’d love to know! it can make for some neat conversation!! c:

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  that’s a’ight. i’m sure there are things about my geno that won’t resonate with everyone, especially given he’s a very sentimental character for old fogies like me lol. as long as there is no disrespect thrown this way, it’s all good. this stuff is subjective, after all.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  oh, a lot of people really hate geno lol, but i’m guessing this means personal portrayal only. in such a case, i would be curious as to why, admittedly, but i acknowledge that i am not owed anyone’s reasoning. if they really, absolutely hate my geno, then it’s their prerogative, whether they want to give a reason why or not. again, it’s all good unless immaturity and disrespect rears its head. i won’t tolerate that and will ignore any such behavior.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  sure, it happens to the best of us!

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  i’d like to think that i am! i’ve often had people tell me that i’m very nice and mature, but of course, i have no right to say how i come off to other people. that is not in my territory to judge, only theirs. that being said, it’s not easy to upset me or anger me, and i’m more often willing to listen and pal around than not. i’m the living embodiment of (shrug). i am just (shrug).