#self-subversive

[khattikeri]

another specific thing i love about mxtx's books is that they all have scenes that EASILY could've been romanticized rape if written by someone else, but she purposely avoids playing it straight.

we have the land of the tenders, a classic "aphrodisiac flowers" scenario. hua cheng (as hong'er) could've forced himself on xie lian in the name of "serving his prince." xie lian could've simply succumbed and forced himself on hong'er, or reluctantly asked him to "help." xie lian instead stabs himself and fights through the agonizing pain without touching hong'er at all, because hong'er was a teenage boy.

we have phoenix mountain, where wei wuxian is blindfolded and alone in a relatively deserted area, weakened unbeknownst to anyone else because he no longer has a golden core. and true enough, lan wangji pins wei wuxian down and forces a kiss on him. but lan wangji also immediately, viscerally regrets it. he runs away so furious with himself he starts punching trees. he never once does anything like it again until wei wuxian is resurrected and purposely, consensually provokes him into things like that.

finally, we have scum villain, and all its intricately twisted, overlapping power dynamics. i truly do mean the vast majority of the novel. there are SO many times where either shen qingqiu or luo binghe could've forced themselves on the other. and unlike mxtx's other books, scum villain does have a mutually nonconsensual sex scene where luo binghe is under the influence of dark, corrupt magic and shen qingqiu is unable to fight back because of system transmigration sci-fi shit.

however, unlike many other nonconsensual danmei sex scenes, this one is intentionally written to be extremely unsexy. the narration bluntly says it hurt for shen qingqiu. luo binghe, a fairly manipulative person, is sincerely distraught and in tears when he regains his senses. they both hated it equally and the story doesn't handwave that away. neither of them get horny over it. luo binghe especially loathes remembering it. after they get together, whenever shen qingqiu so much as furrows his brows during sex, luo binghe canonically stops.

the way mxtx plays around with and toes the line of consent tropes may not be comfortable for everyone to read, but i enjoyed her stories even more for it.

[abyssalzones]

me when I don't get anything at all. me when I'm a seventh grader who flinches at hearing the word "moist"

[axle-does-draw]

Age swap AU where Mob still starts out thinking Reigen is a psychic because the kid's really good with emotions and says he's the greatest empath of the 21st century, and Mob- who has the emotional intelligence of a wet mop & understands how powerful he himself is- believes it. (not the greatest bit ofc, but it acts as a red herring in the beginning).

[samanthalanetextiles]

Your past self is so proud of where you are now positive affirmation cross stitch design 🩷✨🎀

this cross stitch pattern is available to download and make yourself on my shop here >

[see-arcane]

Wow, you guys already regressed to bitching about Castlevania. Btw, they produced Castlevania: Awakening in the Moonlight stage musical by Takarazuka Revue in Japan, it also has Dracula and Lisa in it. Castlevania lives on and thriving!

Considered just leaving this alone, but I'll take it as a chance for clarification.

Rant Below the Cut

I do not hate Castlevania, Netflix version or game version or stage musical version or any other iteration in-between. What few clips I've skimmed of the show online have suggested that it's something that the animators and writers put real heart in, plus a healthy dose of gay vampires to garnish with. I will repeat myself in saying that I quite enjoy the bloodstained Beauty and the Beast/villainy born of love route as a trope. To my knowledge, Castled Vania Dracula x Lisa is a great example of the latter. Great. Cool.

My issue with Castlevania is the issue I have with an infinity of films and books and games going back nearly 130 years. And that is the use of the characters' names from Dracula like they're costumes. Call it a nitpick or a pet peeve or just something that hits the big literary bitch button, but I Do Not Like that even when creators have ostensibly made a story that I could enjoy for its own merit, they feel compelled to graft the Dracula cast's faces over entirely unrelated, antithetical characters and motivations, and spoil the overall experience for me, the Dracula the Novel enjoyer.

I don't begrudge other people for being chill about it or enjoying the stories that have come as a result. I can't talk shit and be the DON'T ENJOY THIS!!1! police when I openly enjoy the gratuitous hot mess that is Hellsing. I am not immune to bondage suit anime men or Crispin Freeman voice acting or nazis getting eaten. I am not throwing those stones in my glass house.

But I am standing on top of the glass house and hurling boulders at the creators who, whether they make something fantastic or mediocre or genuinely teeth-grindingly awful, keep passing the baton of 'If we add Dracula names to this it adds more legitimacy! No, I have not read the book and I never will, but I don't need to because I read a footnote in a wiki once, I saw a movie, I read a spinoff of a spinoff.' Over and over and over.

That is what upsets me. That is my bitching point. Not whether you or anyone else Likes a Thing. You are not Netflix. You are not Konami. You are not Hirano or Moore or Coppola or Newman or Besson or Moffat or Browning. What you enjoy does not matter to me and never will.

Go enjoy your musical and let me regress in peace.

[squooshysstitchbits]

🔥Home Sweet Hell Home🔥

Crossstitch designed and Stitched by me 😘

Squooshy's Stitch Bits

[violetdisasterzone]

here's my hot take for the night: way less people, if anyone, would misinterpret Maigu Ridge as rape if Shen Qingqiu had topped instead of Binghe

[kruxband]

they didnt kiss after this btw 💀

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

[specterthief]

like i would think the absolute bare minimum first step to even start to consider making a self-described Subversive visual novel would be to be able to identify a specific genre whose conventions are being played with and i'm not sure i've ever seen one that could even do that

furthermore if someone is asked what genre their vn is supposed to be subverting and they answer "dating sims" an anvil should fall on them immediately

[wizardyke]

the okay yay ❤️ meme has started to piss me off bc americans & other first worlders really do need to give a fuck about the state of the world. every so often there will be a movement among these so called progressives which boils down to "its okay to never ever give onr about the state of the world and those people who aremt even people in other countries necause they donr matter. treat YOURSLEF ❤️❤️❤️" as if its not incredibly tonedeaf and bullshit. i understand burnout and i understand not spreading yourself thin but i seriously think you guys are beginning to faint at the concept of caring about other people.

[ghostisredacted]

ohh all that seraphim agent talk on the dash is making me want to formulate the thoughts ive been having...

[tyrannuspitch]

hey remember how the avengers framed loki making people kneel as inherently villainous and sinister, not just a sign but a celebration of his own tyranny, of respect won only through fear and violent force. might-is-right. asgardians can rule so asgardians must rule.

and then when we first see thor again in TDW, he's fighting for asgard on another world, dully and dutifully "reminding the realms of [asgard's] strength". and he faces his enemy's champion, and strikes him down in a single, near-effortless blow.

and then. without thor even telling them to. everyone kneels.

[arolesbianism]

Sometimes I just look at Isabeau and just know that if isat came out and I got into it when I was like 16 he would be my favorite character and I would've gone absolutely buck wild over this man and feel like he was laser targeting me. But alas Odile has a grip of steel on me rn due to her virtue of being a middle aged woman

[call-me-lemon]

Opposite Zed; Softball chamion <3

Dont mind if she happens to dissapear. Im sure shes fine.

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]