#(tagging him for blacklist purposes)

[irondad-defensesquad]

so i agree that civil war feels more like an avengers movie than a captain america movie, but to me it also failed when it made tony a lot more sympathetic than the titular character we're supposed to root for

[smimon]

Out of the system

[mummer]

idk if im just uncharitable but especially on my current rewatch i really dont vibe with the reading of daemon having some vague gender transgressiveness or that he wants to be viserys’ sisterwife or that he has any discomfort whatsoever with masculinity… it’s just kinda hard for me to see a character like daemon who has no trouble wielding patriarchal/misogynistic violence over rhaenyra then mysaria then rhea then laena then rhaenyra again as meaningfully not masculine in that sense

[moongothic]

i would love trans crocodile but im very cynical that oda would write him in a respectful manner. thats not even thinking of how horrible that one portion of the one piece fandom would treat him

Yeah the fandom sucks and I'm going to strangle everyone (including the cishets who claim to be trans allies and then use "Crocomom")

But with Oda it's weird because like. The more I think about it, the more I'm like... 50/50 about Oda being able to actually deliver good, respectful trans masc rep.

Like I've posted about this before but One Piece does have this on-going theme of having characters "stuck in wrong bodies" or "having one's body changed" (sometimes reversably, sometimes irreversably; sometimes against their will, sometimes consentually). Which, in theory, in my mind, does kind of signal that on some level Oda understands the idea of being "the wrong sex" (whether or not that's a good way to explain The Trans Experience™ is a whole different subject but it's an old fashioned explanation that Oda would probably be/is familiar with) But at the same time, while the concept pops up again and again in One Piece, Oda doesn't really dwell too deep into the idea of what that's like. Like, emotionally. How it feels like to like, get turned into a toy or be a child who gets aged 20 years or to get turned into a cyborg or a giant child or have parts of your body permanently turned into animal parts (sometimes with a will of their own) etc

And like. Part of me understands why, Oda does tend to want to focus on writing a story he thinks teenaged boys would be interested in reading, and he has often stated he wants to have fun with his story too (like that's partially why Luffy's a Rubber Man, because Oda thought giving Luffy a ridiculous ability would make him more fun to write and draw long-term, which is valid as hell) This is why for example Oda has avoided doing any romances in OP, and while there are dark themes in the story, often he has done his best to avoid making them too blatant, as some things would be too mature for his youngest readers (like, for example until Kuma's backstory, it was never explicitly stated what would happen to the slave wives of the Tenryuubito, even saying it was "implied" would be pushing how that subject had been treated until now)

So like. Because of that, I understand why Oda hasn't dwelled into The Feelings™ part much/at all despite the "stuck in the wrong body" narrative appearing time and time again

Either Oda thinks it'd be too boring either for himself or his readers, or he hasn't dwelled into it because he doesn't really understand gender dysphoria and can't relate to the experience (despite how often it shows its face in OP). Or it could be both, even

The thing is though, as OP has gone on, while I wouldn't say Oda has "broken his writing rules", Kuma's backstory alone has pushed them to a new limit with the love-that-never-was story and the all-but-explicitly-stated storytelling.

So a part of me wonders, if Crocodile is trans, could Oda actually like... take a slightly deeper look into his feelings and explore his queer experience? ('Cause god knows, if Crocodad Real, then there really would be a literal coming out-story built into his backstory that would be extremely unavoidable, and as I've mentioned before, the fact that we haven't gotten to learn almost anything about his backstory yet is Kinda Fucking Sus)

Also I do want to mention how... like Oda gets a lot of bad rap when it comes to queer rep in One Piece, but the more I think about it, I think it's more an issue with the terminology and how translators have gone about either localizing it, or more often than not, leaving it unlocalized 'Cause like. Yes the "okama" would be horrible trans rep but... really... they're not trans representation. They're representation for draq queens. Piss poor draq rep, but still, they're draq queens. And just like our very real life drag performers; some of them are cishets. Some of them are gender non-conforming gay men. Some of them are nonbinary*. Some of them are trans women. Obviously lumping all of these people into one group is kinda offensive (which is why "okama" is (as far as I understand it) such an unpopular term even amongst queer people in Japan), and the way Oda often chooses to draw these characters looks no different to how gender criticals choose to present trans women in their propaganda.

*Like Bon-chan, who explicitly states they are both male and female. And Iva-chan, who switches between boy-mode and girl-mode from time to time, could arguably be called genderfluid (though any specific terminology is up to debate). Both are nonbinary draq queens.

And yet, despite all that. It can not be understated how if you put aside the nameless background gag-characters, Oda does treat the actual, proper queer characters with respect. Everyone would agree that Bon-chan is an absolute hero, we would all die for them. Iva-chan (and Inazuma too) is explicitly presented in a heroic light, seen as someone who helps people and fights for justice (with the Revs)

And then there's the first binary trans characters we've actually gotten, Okiku and Yamato. And I'm pretty sure we would all agree Okiku is 10/10 perfect trans fem representation (I am not entirely serious, I'm not trans fem so I can't speak for trans women here, it's just that I can't see anything Horrendously Wrong with how Okiku is presented within the story- not actually perfect but all things considdered, damn good). She is stunning, people around her (INCLUDING SANJI!!) don't just view her as a woman but would go out of their way to date her (as in, she is seen as "desirable", and not as some kind of a disgusting freak to avoid), she is heroic and sweet and kind and just. IDK I love her And while I'm sure many trans mascs would agree Yamato may not be how they want to be seen by the world (though having Yamato ID as a man while having the biggest moobs is surely validating for a lot of people, including anybody who might not want or be able to get top surgery and/or HRT), again, he is only presented as heroic within the narrative and respected by the characters around him, Luffy especially, which is by far the most important part; the protagonist going out of his way to be respectful of trans characters does represent the values of the story.

And like.

Think about how Oda has treated Crocodile so far.

Like, although we're all having a bit of a laugh over the whole Cross Guild thing, Oda is still treating him as a cool character whom he presents seriously and treats with respect. Like Oda wants the readers to see Crocodile as at least a little bit cool. So I can't imagine him pulling a full 180 with how Croc would be treated in the story if he was revealed to be trans, especially when the potential foreshadowing for that was laid out in the story years ago already.

All this to say; Oda is not perfect at all, but considdering the things he has gotten right so far, I think there is hope he could pull it off. Because Oda is for Queer Liberation.

Really, my only concerns would be whether or not there's a risk Crocodile could get somehow detrans'd during the story (I'm praying the Haki theory isn't an option, really Doc Q might be the only true risk here), if he's stealth and that got presented as "a wrong thing to do" (which I'd hope not, like our previous queer characters have been okay with being openly queer but that may have been more for the readers than anything else. At least, I hope, god knows if Crocodile is and wants to be stealth trans then that's his right and he shouldn't have to out if he doesn't want to, and yeah, I don't want him to be demonized within the narrative for being stealth (if he's stealth, for all we know he could be out)) and like, most importantly, what'd end up being Crocodile's "motivation" for transitioning in the first place

Like. God. I just. I don't want there to be a twist where Crocodile transitioned because "being a woman was weak" or because he "wanted to be acknowledged by Whitebeard" ('cause WB doesn't take women into his crew) or "the scar in his face made him so ugly he decided he should be a man instead" (seen unironic Redditors suggest that. Almost lost my mind) or something

Like I hope someone's at least tried to explain gender dysphoria to Oda. Like the man does have actual queer friends in real life (some of whom inspired characters in OP), so I'm hoping at least someone's tried to explain the feelings that come with The Trans Experience™ to him so that, if Crocodile's trans, then Oda can actually try to base his reasoning to transition on those feelings instead of any stupid "reasons" that no actual queer person would relate to

But it all just boils down to... Is Oda willing to actually dwell into those feelings and explore them in the story.

It... it really could go either way with Oda

So yeah. Anon, I'm with you, I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was at least A Little Worried. But also... I want to be hopeful. Because I do believe there is reason to be hopeful.

Only time will tell how it'll go

[rhondafromhr]

First little snippet of the ‘Grace is in the church of the starry children’ AU

It’s mostly Brenda pining for her tbh, we’ll get more into the plot in the next installment, hope y’all enjoy! Also, thanks again to @aroace-elgyem for the idea <3

Summary: In one timeline, Grace and her family are still highly devoted to their religion, but they worship entirely different Gods (or, rather, Lords) and have to be a little more hush-hush about it. Her old family friend, Uncle Wiley, brings her two special gifts for her eighteenth birthday: a cool, authentic vintage denim jacket from the eighties and her very own copy of the black book. She promises to use it sparingly until she’s older and she’s had more practice, but when Brenda, the pretty cheerleader at school with an obvious crush on her, confides in her that she’d do anything to get back her sister who disappeared, Grace decides to make an exception for her.

Grace eagerly springs out of bed the second her alarm goes off. Most days, she’d be a little more reluctant to leave her warm, cozy sheets and fight the temptation to hit the snooze button a few times, but today’s not just any day. She’s turning eighteen and her parents promised her that this is the year she can finally help Mr. Murray out with the Honey queen pageant. They reluctantly agreed to let her last year, but she didn’t get to do anything cool or important. Under strict orders from her parents not to let her do anything too intense, Mr. Murray pawned Grace off on Mrs. Monroe, who pawned a bunch of busywork off on her. This year’s going to be different, though. She’s eighteen now. She’s an adult and that means she finally gets to help with the actual pageant and witness the super important ritual that happens afterwards.

She takes a scalding hot shower and does her usual morning routine, getting dressed and putting on one of the two pairs of pants she owns with a texture she can tolerate, a faded black pair of jeans. She decides she wants to look nice today, it being her birthday and her very first day as a proper adult and all, and layers a white collared shirt underneath a black cable-knit sweater. By the time she gets downstairs for breakfast, her parents are waiting there for her with the biggest smiles on their faces and a fresh cup of coffee with her name on it.

“Morning, Gracie,” says her mother “happy birthday! Oh, our little girl’s all grown up, can you believe it, Mark?”

“I can’t, mother,” he replies, beaming with pride as he looks upon his daughter “seems like just yesterday, she was saying her first word! Oh, have we ever told you that story, Grace?”

She rolls her eyes, but she does so with a smile.

“Yeah, dad, only, like, a million times!”

She knows it by heart now. The two had a running bet. Her mother was certain that her first word would be some variation of “mama”, while her father was convinced it would be “dada”. Neither of them ended up winning. Her first word was, in fact, “Wiggog Y’wrath” and they were both shocked and delighted at how clever their baby girl was to learn and pronounce such a difficult, but important word. She sits down at the table and takes her first sip of the piping hot, perfectly brewed beverage. Her mother slides a plate in front of her. She even gets funfetti pancakes today! So far, this birthday is off to a great start.

“Make sure you drink your water, too,” her mother gently reminds her “all that coffee is going to dehydrate you!”

“I will, Mama,” she says. She always makes sure to bring a small water bottle with her in her backpack.

“Oh, Wilbur, called,” Mark says.

“Uncle Wiley?” Grace says excitedly “what did he say?” He’s been a beloved family friend as long as Grace can remember. He really is like an uncle to her. He doesn’t get to stop by very often, but when he does, he always tells Grace that she has a lot of potential and she’s going to go on to do important things when she’s older. He also always brings her apples for whatever reason. She doesn’t get why he likes them so much and she herself has never been partial to them, but she gratefully accepts them, just happy that he thought of her even when he’s busy with such important work. Sometimes, she and her mother bake them into apple pies.

“Well, he has an important meeting today, but if he can get out soon enough, he wants to stop by to see you tonight.”

Grace hopes he can make it. If her parents still put up a fight about the Honey Queen thing, he can surely help convince them.

She checks her phone and realizes that if she doesn’t hurry, she’s going to be late for school. She collects her daily hug from her father and kiss from her mother and heads out the door.

She parks her beaten up, but beloved two-door sedan that’s a few years older than her and heads inside. She doesn’t have much time to waste getting to class, but stops when sees Brenda standing by the front entrance, waving to her and smiling eagerly. Brenda’s one of the few people at school who actually willingly talks to her. Most of her fellow students side-eye Grace and avoid her as much as possible, others whisper about her behind her back and barely conceal their judgmental looks and laughter. It doesn’t bother her. She doesn’t need the approval of ignorant people who don’t know what’s good for them or the town or the world, anyway. Still, she can’t deny that it’s sweet that Brenda goes out of her way to be genuinely nice to her. She supposes she can spare a minute to chat with her. She doesn’t want to be rude.

“Hi, Grace,” she says with a nervous laugh “so weird running into you here! I was just waiting for, um, Stacy. Yeah! Hey, it’s your birthday, right? Happy Birthday! I actually have a little something for you. Nothing special, but, uh yeah.”

She hands over one of those bottled coffee drinks and a small box. Grace opens it to find a navy blue scrunchie with tiny birds printed all over it.

“They’re Nighthawks,” Brenda explains with a faint blush on her cheeks.

“Oh, thank you, Brenda,” Grace says, studying the object and fiddling with it in her hands. “That’s really sweet.” She’s not sure what to do with it. Her hair’s on the shorter side and she rarely styles it, but Brenda did go to all the trouble of getting it for her. She settles on pulling half of her hair into a ponytail and using the scrunchie to secure it in place.

“Oh, cute,” Brenda says “I’m glad you like it! Oh, I should get to class, I’ll see you later, okay? Happy birthday!” She blurts out the words a little too quickly and promptly turns and speedwalks away. Grace guesses she changed her mind about meeting up with Stacy.

Brenda tries to regulate the pounding in her heart as she walks to class, in disbelief that she actually managed it. She overcame her nerves long enough to talk to Grace and give her the gift. She seemed to like it, too! It took forever to settle on what to get her. She didn’t want it to be too nothing, but she also didn’t want to go overboard and scare Grace off. She might be super down bad for Grace if she’s being totally honest with herself, but Grace doesn’t need to know that. At least not yet. They’ve only really talked a handful of times when Brenda’s worked up the courage to chat with her in the hallway or ask to borrow a pencil in one of their shared classes. It’d be weird to get her a super extravagant gift, as much as Brenda wanted to. She annoyed Stacy to no end, forcing her to pore over endless options and help her decide. Eventually, Stacy sent her the link to the scrunchie and messaged her, girl I love you but its 3am, just fucking get this and let me go to bed, we have school in the morning!!

By the time she joins her friends at the lunch table, she’s still buzzing.

“Hey, Brenda,” Kyle says “heard you talked to Chasity today. Didn’t know you were into serial killers.” He’s trying to act all tough and macho, but a genuine sort of hurt underlies it. Brenda almost feels bad, but she really can’t help if she doesn’t like him back.

“Shut up, Kyle,” she says “she is not a serial killer. Just because she’s quiet and aloof and mysterious and probably has dark secrets doesn’t make her a serial killer.” Brenda feels her face heating up. It might not make her a serial killer, but it does make her really, really cool and intriguing and hot. “And it’s not like we were making out!” If only. “I’m not into her like that!” Lies. “I just wanted to give her a birthday present.”

“Yeah, shut up, Kyle,” Max says, shooting a threatening look his way “how many fuckin’ times do I have to tell you, Grace Chasity is off limits. Do you want her to overhear?” He shudders, apprehensively eyeing the table across the cafeteria where she’s seated with the sweaty anime geek and a few other egregiously uncool people.

Most people at school are a little weary of Grace, but Max is downright terrified of her. However hard he tries to hide it, it’s pretty obvious. It didn’t take long for some of the nerds he torments on the regular to figure this out and start clamoring to sit with her at lunch. Even they seem to find her a little weird and off-putting, but they know he won’t approach if she’s there and they’ll get to enjoy their food in peace. Grace doesn’t really talk to them much. Whenever Brenda totally coincidentally walks by their table, Grace is brooding and silent, either with her face buried in a book or scribbling furiously in a notebook, seemingly engrossed in her own world and totally unaware of them rambling about their favorite Pokémon or whatever. Brenda sighs dreamily. She’s so cool.

Stacy turns to Brenda with a skeptically raised eyebrow and saying, “So, you’re not into her, but you somehow knew today’s her birthday even though you guys, like, barely talk? And made certain friends spend hours picking out that gift?”

“Hey,” says Brenda “I make it a point to know everybody’s birthday.”

“Really? When’s mine,” says Kyle. She scrunches her face up, struggling to remember.

“I wanna say…sometime in June?” Kyle shakes his head, looking slightly crestfallen.

Brenda cringes, feeling a twinge of genuine guilt for getting it wrong. Max snickers, delighted as always at seeing Kyle get shot down.

“March twelfth, right, buddy?” Jason says and Kyle’s lips curl into a faint smile. Brenda makes a mental note of that date so she doesn’t end up in this situation again. She really should start tracking everyone’s birthdays.

[rachelsquill]

biggest fear: ppl who still like dream joining tumblr and being massive dicks to people who reasonably hate him

[sneakerdoodle]

hmmmmmmmmm.

the Job thing -> Aziraphale coming up against a decree by Heaven that he cannot force himself to be okay with, subsequently plunging himself into an existential crisis by falling prey to doubt and questioning and going as far as lying to an archangel, thus irrevocably corrupting his soul and no longer feeling 'holy' anymore

the Elspeth & Morag thing -> Aziraphale having a morality crisis over the intricacies of the human life and the net good of objective wrongdoings, attempting to paint things in overwhelmingly simplistic strokes that would fit things into the neat binary of 'good-bad', uncritically upholding the unhelpful sentiment of 'the blessings of poverty' but eventually being led to direct and powerful transformative action, and not the type that would truly take anything away from him, the entire conflict hinging on the fact that he had to overcome his internal misconceptions in a way that deserves to be written down, reflected upon, brought up again later in life

the??? finale for some reason??????????? -> "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys". "We're the good guys".

[sonknuxadow]

i find it really Interesting that the one time werehog was referenced in idw sonic was when sonic had just been infected with the metal virus and he was thinking about times he'd been in similar situations..... iirc the specific thing he said was something along the lines of "im not used to being a liability but ive dealt with similar stuff before so ill get through this" idk the fact that he'd say that and make that comparison feels like a little look into his mind and the way he felt about that whole thing

[secretly-of-course]

he would not fucking do that

[maitaitiu]

hi im not putting him in any tags but heres my hf oc lollll hes so very normal and hasnt killed anyone ever. he also works like 4 different jobs

[isabellaofparma]

idk who's feeling more unwell here him or me

[shubaka]

Do you know what's a terrible idea?? Letting that stupid video play fullscreen on loop on a large monitor I'm gonna scream agsdkhlsjaga

[neptunevasilias]

One of the reasons that, despite almost 4 years later, I still haven’t fully adopted book canon Scarlet into my personal perception of him (or rather, shifted my perception to be solely how he is in the book) is because of Sage’s lack of character. I do not think that you can get a full picture of Scarlet without also looking at Sage; they have to be a package deal. Team dynamics and partner dynamics are very important in RWBY, and in writing in general characters are defined by their relationships with each other. Most of what we know about Neptune we know from his time with Sun or his relationship to him, and likewise trying to introduce Scarlet without telling us anything about his relationship with Sage (or any other member of the team besides that he’s mad Sun left) is always going to paint an incomplete picture. Ever since their introduction there’s been a huge question mark in the air about what the other half of Sun’s team looks like, especially since Sun and Neptune are seemingly joined at the hip, making the other two’s relationship presumably equally unique (how do they interact when the other two are off in their own world?). Only giving us one of them doesn’t fully answer that question.

How did the team manage while Sun was gone? Well, since one of them is a non-character and the other has almost no established relationship with Neptune (their most revealing detail, which is that Neptune tells Scarlet all his secrets, comes from volume 2 and not the book), it’s impossible to say. I may have just missed this, but I can’t even find where in the book it says that Scarlet was the temporary leader (just that Neptune definitely wasn’t). And even if he was, then what? Scarlet is just the one person who held everything together? That doesn’t play off of any of the other characters. Sage might as well not exist, which means Scarlet suffers too because a character that can’t properly interact with other characters is an incomplete one. Scarlet walks and sits with Sage, but it’s never said why. Why does Scarlet like to be with Sage? Is he even making any particular effort to do that, or is he just the best place to stick Sage so that he doesn’t take up too much space in a scene? Because so far all of Sage’s opinions have been Scarlet’s opinions, except for the epilogue when Sage thought Sun would someday apologize and Scarlet didn’t. His only real purpose in the book is “and there’s another guy who also agrees with all of the accusations Scarlet makes towards Sun, so he’s not alone in thinking them.” That does nothing for Scarlet’s character. And so Scarlet exists in a vacuum, without any sort of substantial connection to any of his teammates except that he’s mad at one of them and wants to get away from him.

[stereax]

I think MM is cooked, he’s 1 of 2 players to not outright deny his involvement and there’s also the damning picture of him in the hotel room

I'm rolling with the idea of innocent until proven guilty (the report comes out). There's a LOT of moving pieces and we won't know for sure what happened until we get the report - and even then, we don't know how accurate the report will be to what really happened.

Under the cut, I'll explain more. TW we're going to be talking about the 2018 WJC scandal in-depth, so if you're sensitive to sexual assault themes, please don't read forward.

I'm scheduling this post because I'm honestly a little terrified about this one, for (hopefully) obvious reasons. Sorry for the delay on this, in advance. God, fuck, shit, I know this is a bad idea, and I'm reasonably sure this is gonna get me cancelled (as much as a Tumblr account can be cancelled) lol... please be nice?

Before I get into the discussion, a disclaimer: I am not denying the 2018 WJC rape case. I fully believe that it happened. What happened is terrible and disgusting and should never be allowed to exist in professional hockey. I am analyzing one player (Michael/Mikey McLeod) and his possible involvement in said scandal.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty: A Stereanalysis.

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. - United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN UDHR) Article 11 (look, international relations IS a useful major!)

Let's start off with the (very limited) facts of the case, from the lawsuit: At a gala in London, Ontario, celebrating the 2018 gold medal of the Canada World Junior's team, a woman (EM) meets a hockey player (Player 1). She becomes increasingly drunk and ends up going to Player 1's hotel room. They engage in sex (seemingly, at this point, consensual, though EM is intoxicated and possibly Player 1 is as well - the ethics of drunk sex are not my realm to parse out, and I will not be analyzing whether this specific instance is rape or not, as it is ultimately moot). Player 1 then invites his friends into the hotel room without EM's knowledge or consent. The number varies; in the lawsuit there are eight total players, but police say there are "reasonable grounds" for only five players. Important to note here is that most media says the lawsuit is against eight CHL players, among which 2018 WJC players are included. These five-to-eight players then proceed to sexually assault EM, intimidating her and blocking off exits. EM and her mother soon open a case with the local police on this issue. Player 1, upon being informed of this investigation by Hockey Canada, goes so far as to contact EM through Instagram and beseech her to "put an end to" the investigation.

Yikes.

We've got up to eight players (five that are going to be named in the report, it seems) that have raped EM. At least one of these, and likely several, but presumably not all, are members of the 2018 WJC roster. We will assume that all these facts are accurate.

On the picture: I can't find it anywhere. I'm looking. It doesn't help that seemingly ALL of Reddit is shut off with the API protests. Fire it my way, if you can. I've seen mentions of it in other places, so I will believe it exists, but I'd like to see it.

Mikey not saying anything doesn't mean he was or was not involved, in my opinion. It would be, frankly, stupid, to make comments on the investigation while it's pending. Remember how anything you say can and will be used against you? Exactly. Any legal advisor worth their salt would tell you to say as little as possible in front of the media.

Every other player on that team, barring (I think) Formenton and Batherson (both on the Sens), have denied they did anything. Formenton's contract wasn't re-inked and he's playing in Switzerland. Batherson was wearing an A when there was a recent injury on the Senators' roster. If we go Court of Public Opinion and claim Formenton is guilty and Batherson is innocent, we still have four-to-seven players' names to fill in. And it's entirely possible that none of those players were on the WJC roster.

Now, consider the NHL's position on this. They're just emerging from the wakes of the Kyle Beach scandal. Do they really need a second major sex scandal on their hands? Especially one at the hands of players and not staff? Would it not be easier to simply round up the players reasonably suspected to be part of the sexual assault and explain to them that yeah, you'll be taking a "personal" leave of absence or playing in Europe until this is resolved?

"But Stereax!" you say. "Cale Makar! Carter Hart! Those guys might be involved and they would be protected by the league because they're stars!" To this, I simply say: Mikey is not a star. As much as he plays a vital role on the Devils, he is far from a Jack Hughes-esque kind of player. I'm fairly certain they could Europe him with little or no real issues.

"But Stereax!" you say. "They did so little about Kyle Beach, even though Kane and Toews were publicly implicated! Nothing happened to them, and they're all but proven to have known and done nothing about it!" To this, I once again say: Mikey is not the face of a franchise. He is not a star. In the eyes of hockey, he is a replaceable 4C. You remove him from the team, you can put Shango or Boqvist in as the 4C and shuffle the third line accordingly.

Another thing to note is how, from the very limited information Mikey did give us, he stated that he was working with the authorities. If a person sexually assaulted someone else, and then ended up under an investigation, would that person willingly work with the authorities? Would they go so far as to say that on record? I'm doubtful.

Even if the NHL was to take no action, I sincerely believe that the Devils' organization would have done something if they were aware that Mikey was involved in the scandal. Unlike some organizations in the league (coughcoughRangerswhocough), the Devils tend to do things with general respect for humans. Like Fitz, who took the time to sit down with Severson and basically tell him that we'd love to keep him but he's too expensive, then help engineer the sign-and-trade to Columbus, getting Sevo the extra contract year. From a team that outwardly had a gender equality night, it would seem antithetical to the organization's roots to knowingly shelter a rapist. Hell, why would they write a FEATURE PIECE on McLeod in the playoffs? That's just asking for trouble.

Speaking of the playoffs - the report is dragging on. It's been months since we were promised it. Devils fans had worried that the report, if it would be indicting Mikey, was being postponed until the Devils were out of the playoffs so as not to mess the team up in the middle of their run. The run's been over for a month now. The report still isn't out. That's perhaps a good sign, that the report wasn't being held just so Mikey could have his "last hurrah", so to speak.

Think now about Ben Johnson. When he was found guilty of rape, the Devils terminated his contract basically immediately. Johnson never played for the Devils, splitting time between the AHL and ECHL affiliates (Albany Devils & Adirondack Thunder). Even so, it was a hard-line and immediate stance from the organization in a league that keeps trying to get Mitchell Miller ice time.

Or Jake Virtanen - though he was found not guilty of sexual assault by court, his contract was bought out and then he hauled ass to EHC Visp in the Swiss NL, where he got in enough fights with his teammates that the team basically told their manager they'd walk if he stayed. Recall Virtanen was a 6th overall pick in the NHL, probably the best non-lockout-era player the NL had ever seen, and he was that unpopular and much of a jackass.

Contrast this with Mikey, who the entire team seems to love. Take the Desert Island interviews, where every player asked says they'd take Mikey or Nate (the Superbuddies) or both onto a desert island for entertainment. Or how Luke's first dinner with the Devils was with the Superbuddies, Jack, and Dawson. Or generally how Mikey (and Nate) seem to parent half the young'uns on the team. Is Jack "our parents raised us to believe in gay rights and support the queer community" Hughes going to knowingly associate with a rapist? Is the team, which Jack has outright said was excited and had no issues with pride night and were looking forward to supporting that - is this a team that would all stick by someone who's committed sexual assault? Hockey culture and all, but I'd hope the Devils would be better than that.

And here we get to the most intriguing part of Clouder's Defense, what I call the 7+1 Theory. There have been whispers of this in the media and among circles of those in the know. The 7+1 Theory, most simply, is: Eight players were in the room where it happened. Seven sexually assaulted EM. One walked in and out, "unaware" of what was going on. (How "unaware" is up for debate. Some sources say that Player 8 was unsure whether whatever was happening was consensual and just resolved to stay out of it.) If this is the case, was Player 8 Mikey? We have no way of knowing.

And that's the long and short of it - we don't know. And we won't know until the report is released. And even when the report is released, how much will it say? How accurate will it be?

Now, if Mikey IS indicted in the report, all of this speculation is moot. However, I wouldn't go so far as to assume he is involved until we get the report - there are significant factors playing in his favor, which I've outlined above. I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, but I've spent way too long on this post already...

When the names are named and the information is released, only then will I pass judgment. Until then, I'm going to stick with the UDHR and presume innocence, both for the sake of legal thought and for the sake of my own sanity.

Once again, please do not take ANY of this as me dismissing or belittling sexual assault in any way. What happened in that hotel room in Canada was horrific and should never be even implicitly approved of by the NHL. I hope this report comes out sooner rather than later and justice can finally be served.

[dyketubbo]

i do like the lore thats come out since the allegations from the egg arc people but like. i would genuinely be perfectly okay if dropping dream meant not making more dsmp content and just like.. writing the end of their characters stories. even if it was just the script. or bullet points. id rather creators be encouraged to just write down how their character arcs would be finished if cdream is a requirement and for them to not make content with dream himself. i can deal with no proper roleplay if it means deplatforming dream for being a piece of shit

[isdalinarhot]

One thing I will say about Dalivani is that it answers the age-old question: what if an undiagnosed-autistic mom and an undiagnosed-autistic dad fell in love