thealexchen

[thealexchen]

played the first tape for bloom and rage and omg i love kat sm i know this doesn’t really convey her essence very well but i was trying a slightly different way to colour so oh well…. i haven’t played any more so omg i hope nothing horrible happens

[thealexchen]

real yearners

[thealexchen]

Summer '95 — Bloom and Rage 📼

Another bloom and rage fanart 💕☺️

[thealexchen]

My roommate thought she hated cooking and then she moved in with me and started using knives that were actually sharp and realized cooking is fun. Sometimes I wonder how many other situations are like this. It's not you, or your skills. It's just the lack of correct tools. Everyone knows you need a knife in the kitchen but no one mentions a sharpening stone.

[thealexchen]

This animation is doing quite the numbers on TikTok so I thought why not post it on tumblr as well?

[thealexchen]

snora college au where nothing bad ever happens and everyone is happy and cute and in love 🫶🏻

[thealexchen]

Swann and Nora - Lost Records: Bloom and Rage

[thealexchen]

My mistake. I don’t mean to imply Dylan would make fun of Kat’s cancer stunting her growth. In the moment, I just imagined usual sister back and forth teasing.

Anyway. We love a girl filled with rage and blooming.

No worries! Yes we do 😁

[thealexchen]

Tonight's the peak of the perseid meteor shower. Wherever you are, I hope you're watching it too. ✨☄️

[thealexchen]

Oh my god, wow. Kat literally does look twelve, holy- wow. Poor girl, I get thee magic rage now, I know Dylan didn’t let her live it down.

Yes, baby-faced teen girl representation! Dylan's not always nice, but I think she'd have enough tact not to tease her little sister for cancer-related stunted growth. I was referring more to Kat and Autumn's easy-to-miss exchange at the cabin while Swann is searching:

K: I swear, if she doesn't get it open, I'll just break it down myself!

A: Haha, you and what army, shorty?

K: Your mom's!

The girls (poorly) covering up their reactions to Kat's training bra during Truth or Dare was something they also probably kicked themselves over after the news came out.

[thealexchen]

why didnt max rewind the breakup and pick a different dialogue option. is she stupid

[thealexchen]

RIOT GRRRLS | ANARCHIST'S DREAM LOST RECORDS : BLOOM & RAGE (2025)

[thealexchen]

(Also if it’s okay/if you’d like to, you mentioned having a similarish issue with Osemanverse having a slightly binary evil/good and overly sanitised stuff, would you expand on this if you’d like to?) ☺️

Yes, of course! I originally included this in the previous ask but it got too long, plus I have my own thoughts on this separate topic.

I feel like modern queer rep (and the arguments surrounding which is better) can be broken down into two types: the queer coming of age, where the focus is more on self-discovery, coming out, homophobia; and casual queer rep, where a character is well written "but just happens to be queer" and the extent of their queerness is a few lighthearted jokes and maybe a romantic subplot. Heartstopper definitely falls into the former: the cast is almost all young queer teens who deal with coming out, bullying, and navigating their first relationships.

But ironically, for the characters who hold an identity other than queer, that identity falls into the second category. The characters of color just happen to be nonwhite. In season 1, Tao talks about being lonely, but not because he's the only East Asian in his friend group, it's just general teen insecurity about his changing friend group. In season 3, Tara feels pressure to excel academically, but not because she wants to excel as a Black girl in particular. In the comic, Elle mentions how transphobic Egypt is for exactly one panel and then they move on, never lingering on the sad reality of Elle needing to stay closeted from her extended family. Isaac is a plus-sized aroace character, but there's never any discussion of his body image compared to Charlie's ED, either. I'm going to link this article, “The Unexamined Loneliness of Heartstopper’s Characters of Color” by Jaime Woo again as an example of discussing this topic further.

In the previous ask I also talked about that for all the show discusses homophobic bullying, it never discusses any other type of prejudice. I can respect Alice wanting to stay in their lane and not attempt to tackle racism as a white author... but I really don't think a homophobic/transphobic bully wouldn't be racist, ableist, etc. as well. The white characters, protagonists and antagonists, never make any microaggressions. There's never any discussion of how Darcy can be an ally to Tara or how Tara can be a supportive cis partner to Darcy, so they are apparently perfect allies by default even though that type of behavior needs to be learned. The most well-meaning allies will have biases and and prejudiced people can learn to do better, but Heartstopper never touches on this.

Season 3 dives into Charlie's mental health more, so it explores how and how not to approach a loved one's mental illness. Not saying that Charlie needed ableist slurs thrown at him, but besides his grandparents' comments, all the "good" characters once again never make any real faux pas or accidental ableist microaggressions and are just the perfect allies. In addition, holding teen characters to adult standards means that the unambiguously problematic, "bad" bullies are basically only written to be hated. I don't think Ben needs a redemption arc, but his last appearance seems to condemn him to a lifetime of self-hatred and internalized homophobia because he couldn't get over himself when he was 16. But also, he's literally only 16.

Since season 1, Nick especially was an incredibly emotionally mature, patient, and kind character, and it's even more apparent in season 3. Rather than any real ableist missteps, Nick's actions are excuseable out of sympathetic and understandable worry. When Charlie yells at him, Nick instantly forgives him. Nick has his own insecurities and flawed behavior, but I don't like how it always has to be justified with something, like his childhood issues with his dad. Going back to cancel culture and how social media simplifies media consumption, it's like Nick and Charlie have to have a valid, psychological reason for every single time they act shitty or otherwise imperfectly, and they can't just be mad or make mistakes for the sake of it because they're too mature for that.

Unfortunately, this makes Nick come off less like a relatable teen and more like a perfect fantasy. Alice writes their young characters in healthy, communicative relationships as a role model for young viewers. Kids as young as 10 or 11 can easily enjoy and show and learn a lot from it, and that's amazing. But on the flip side, it can also cause teens to either set their expectations way too high or feel left out of their one true romance. There are even adult fans who felt melancholic that they never got their Heartstopper romance as teens, when in reality, it's extremely statistically unlikely. It is okay not to stay with your high school sweetheart. It's okay to make mistakes in your first relationship!

Another thing I've noticed about younger writers and consumers is the need for clear labels and black-and-white characterization. Authors like R.F. Kuang and Alice Oseman who found literary success at a young age are much more aware than previous generations of their audience's opinions and likely stress out more about them, thanks to being more online. They have to contend with similarly-aged or younger fans eager to either slap the label "problematic" on their work, or only come out of it with extremely watered down takes. As a result, their books wind up delivering their lessons with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. Babel: "COLONIALISM IS BAD AND WHITE MEN ARE EVIL" Yellowface: "CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IS BAD AND WHITE WOMEN ARE EVIL." Loveless: "HERE'S A VERY COMPREHENSIVE BREAKDOWN OF AROACENESS." You get the idea.

Of course we all need our fluffy, sweet, uncomplicated queer shows. We need dark, complicated media that will challenge us and cute media that serves as a palate cleanser. But it's obvious that Heartstopper is a product of the Internet age and 2020s culture-- it literally started right here on Tumblr, after all! I believe the answer is always more representation overall, not fighting over what representation is the "best."

Thank you for asking!

[thealexchen]

I found your criticism/discussion of TC and LISDE about how it’s been sanitised to be less problematic but makes it less memorable to be really fascinating, if you could would you mind expanding on these points? I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on these topics if you’d want to share 😊

Sure, that's a great question! Sorry it took me so long to write an answer, but I promise I love these types of asks!

So when I look back at LiS1, it definitely has this wannabe edgy energy to it, but at least the characters had real bite. Looking at Lost Records reinforced how much the LiS1 characters were written with 90s sensibilities by Gen X writers at Dontnod. Despite the protagonists of LiS1 and 2 being born between 1994 and 2000, they still smoke cigarettes, toss around misogynistic and homophobic slurs, and listen to music of decades past. Dontnod still has them using smartphones and social media, but it's clear they still pull from their memories and old media they like. They were far less afraid to make their characters have unlikeable moments or make mistakes, probably because they had less to lose and underestimated the size of their audience.

Deck Nine, by contrast, led BtS with a younger, newer team. During rollout, the marketing campaign played up the apparent "challenges" of writing a teenage girl protagonist and kept citing the two woman writers at D9, including Mallory Littleton who was 20 at the time, and Ashly Burch as a story consultant. This was definitely in response to criticisms of "old white Frenchmen writing teenage girls" in LiS1, as if to say, "Don't worry! We will do better so BtS is immune to that criticism. It's less problematic for featuring female staff writers!" Even back in 2017, the need to live up to LiS1's unexpected success meant a more aggressive marketing campaign and trying to appeal to a wider audience. On the writing side, you can really tell how much every character is softened to make them more appealing and likable: Chloe has her nervous dorky moments around Rachel, Rachel shows real affection and flirts with Chloe when their relationship was much more ambiguous in LiS1, Frank and Chloe are practically buddy-buddy when Chloe can shoot him in LiS1, Nathan is suddenly just a misunderstood rich kid and you can stick up for him even though he fucking kills Chloe in LiS1, and you can choose to get along with David even though they go back to hating each other in LiS1. You can play D&D sincerely with Steph and Mikey when I don't think Dontnod's version of Chloe would be friends with them. In general, D9's new characters are overall pleasant, normal people, and that gets dialed up even more in True Colors. Someone like Alex who's been through years of parentification, abandonment, and abuse would definitely have far more baggage and worse coping mechanisms than what she shows in-game. Even her powers were introduced as a liability, like when she was infected with Mac's anger and beat him up, but that conveniently never happens again and Alex is a calm, well-adjusted adult who easily takes on the emotional burdens of all the people around her until the end of the game.

But in a broader cultural context, I believe that cancel culture and social media's effects on media consumption definitely plays into this sanitization. Cancel culture was already on the rise in the 2010s, and as the popularity of the LiS franchise grew, its reputation also grew more specific and precarious with each passing game. LiS inevitably became known for its progressive themes, queer rep, and emotional stories. Even though BtS retconned a lot from LiS1, and even though TC had an overall safe story that borrowed a lot from LiS1 to win back old fans, they did have far less ambiguous queer rep than LiS1. To young queer fans who were desperate for meaningful, canon, and engaging representation back in 2017, it was easy to put D9's games on a pedestal and blast Dontnod for being unable to commit to unambiguous representation. Dontnod has gotten a lot better since then, even if it took awhile: Tyler and Michael have a very cute, communicative romance in TMW, and Nora explicitly calls herself gay and you know how sapphic Lost Records is.

Also, being cancelled has real financial consequences. D9 and Square Enix saw the social and financial consequences of Dontnod telling a risky story with LiS2 with a road trip story, shifting cast of characters, a divisive child main character, and the unabashed depiction of racism in Trump-era America. The game was hated from the beginning from both sides of the political spectrum, and the long waits between episodes cause fan interest to peter out. Yes, you could applaud Dontnod's commitment to taking artistic risks, but games still need to make money, and Square responded by marketing True Colors as a "return to form" and releasing all episodes at once. Chapter 5 of TC seems to hint at the racist undertones of why Alex was a neglected child in the foster care system, but the game never dares to fully go there, now too afraid of haters tearing into it for being too "political." And if it is truly bad, fans will blame the artists for bad art, and it taints their name in all future projects, like with Double Exposure.

I also really believe a huge reason for this sanitization is because social media has simplified media and media consumption into basic, binary takes. Thanks to the internet, we've now assigned a person's enjoyment of media as equivalent to their moral compass or beliefs. Essentially, you are problematic for enjoying problematic media, even if the problematic ideas aren't endorsed by the author. I still remember an anon ask I got years ago where the anon asked for advice after being called an abuse apologist... because they liked Chloe Price! So you can see why Deck Nine might've felt the need to soften Chloe's character in her prequel and make her more "likable." The characters and ships are palatable and easy to defend... but honestly, it also makes them more boring and forgettable and less relatable.

Thank you for asking!

[thealexchen]

what do red pandas even do

[thealexchen]

Funniest thing about Kate is how she has so much rage but has such a baby face. I am saying this with love by the way, it’s such a fun design aspect. Local girl looks twelve and is filled with the rage of a volcano.

I was like "Kate Marsh? OHHH Kat Mikaelsen."

Yes I love how internally contradictory each of the characters are! Swann is quiet and socially awkward but also a secret horror fan. Nora has the cool punk look but is the biggest scaredy cat. Autumn comes off as a nonchalant skater girl but is the most responsible and cautious. And of course, Kat looks like a sweet angel baby but she's got that inner fire! Thank you Dontnod for keeping feminine rage alive unlike some newer adaptations (looking at you, live action Katara and TLOU HBO S2 Ellie).

Also, you're right Kat looks twelve because this is literally her AT twelve:

You just know every short joke fuels her wrathful baby gay spite even more!

[thealexchen]

voice acting as a profession is so funny because you'll see someone being like "voice actors need to be paid better! like [obscure person you've never heard of]" and you're like "oh I wonder who that person is, maybe I've heard them voice a character" and you look it up and it turns out they voice 137 characters in Futurama and 94 characters in The Simpsons and 96 characters in Adventure Time and every one of the My Little Ponies and 27 characters in Arcane and 96 characters in Kim Possible and 4 characters in Phineas and Ferb and 296 characters in Dexter's Laboratory and all of the main cast of Fairly Odd Parents and at least 6 characters in every Pixar movie and almost every animated depiction of Superman and 473 SpongeBob characters and they've been in every installment of Mass Effect and Halo and The Elder Scrolls and Fallout and Call of Duty and they were in Star Trek and Law & Order and they were 12 characters in the MCU and they also invented t-shirts and the colour green and they got paid a sum total of $3.27 and a mothball for all of it combined. then you go burn down David Zaslav's house with him inside