#And the way you discuss it is so fucking racist on top of the way its used in conversations about how queer men you don't like are womanly

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I know I've said this before, but it's relevant now and I can't find the original post, so here it is again: as a poc if you're in the tags talking about how OFMD "glorifies slaveowners," I do not fucking trust you.

If you were someone who said "I dunno if I wanna watch a show that makes those real, awful people into the heroes," that's fair, have a nice day. I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about people who use the historical figures OFMD's characters are based on as a "gotcha" to feel morally superior to people who like the show.

Yes, there's a conversation to be had about how to treat historical figures in historical fiction. But personally? OFMD is a romcom, and the amount of slavery I want to see in my romcom is none. Including discussion of slavery, and doing so in a way that was respectful, would move the show firmly out of the romcom territory.

Plus? I know we've talked about this a lot, but (again) as a man of color I love the way the men of color on OFMD are written. The characters of color in this show are treated with so much respect. Characters of color are consistently shown as smart, well-groomed, respected, capable, and desirable. It is genuinely a gamechanger for me to have a romcom full of characters who look like me who are treated so well by the narrative! Not once is a poc introduced just for the purpose of trauma porn.

And, on top of that, on OFMD when characters act racist, we always get the last laugh. It's the "pirates killing bigots and indulging in queer joy" show!

Like I said, yeah, there's a conversation to be had here! But if you want to get mad at a show for glorifying racists, this one ain't it, and pretending like this show's genuinely very good and thoughtful anti-racist writing just doesn't exist makes it clear some people just want an excuse to hate a show that's popular.

[ftmtftm]

I've been scrolling through your blog, and I saw your post about discussing the racialized nature of gender. As someone who has several transmasc POC friends, and someone who's a nonbinary POC themself, I wanted to give my 2 cents.

It's important to understand that "woman" in the "man vs woman" gender binary is a colonialist, white supremacist construct, especially in Western countries where you are the numerical minority. My trans friends aren't on T, they haven't gotten top surgery, we are all quite young. But they all have numerous stories about being addressed as "sir" which brings them euphoria but as one person said, while we were making fun of the amount of white people in our club, "Due to my race and skin color, I get masculinized."

And again I'd like to emphasize, that since we're young, none of us really have medically transitioned due to financial and familial barriers. Their hair is long, our binders we definitely have notable chests, and even if they dress masculine, it's notable that no one in our communities would ever gender us properly. It's often white people calling them "sir." Again, I think this reflects how gender performances in mainstream queer communities are deeply White. Like, trans boys talk about having haircuts, but only one of my friends has that wavier, more manageable hair that will help them pass. When you've got curly/kinky hair, the standards are different. For a white person, what's the difference between a "girl" Afro and a boy "Afro"? White cis people have a harder time identifying us, and literally talk to any black girl, and they'll tell you about being mocked, dehumanized, and called "manly".

I don't have much else to say. These are just my personal experiences. But if you want to be an ally to POC in the queer community, this is why it's so fucking important to bring in colonialism/imperialism/white supremacy into discussions of queer liberation. My biggest gripe with ignorant white queers is when they ignore their white privilege, and act like "cishets" (AKA the patriarchal system regulating sexuality and gender) is the only enemy. Because cishet POC deal with plenty of shit with being infantilized, masculinized, feminized, seen as brutish & dangerous, the list goes on. Doberbutts had a post saying, "Believe me, your family's going to care more about me being black than my queerness." towards his white partners. Acknowledging and creating a framework that centers these intersections of queerness and race into your beliefs is true allyship. This is why if you're not anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, ACAB...I do not think you care for queer liberation. None of us are free until all of us are free.

Please don't view this post as an attack. But this is my perspective, and I thought you'd be receptive to me sharing my lived experiences.

Oh I absolutely don't view this ask as an attack, and I really appreciate you bringing these things up because you're right! Like, just very plainly: You are right and your and your friends lived experiences are extremely important to the conversation on the racialized aspects of gender.

It gets me thinking about where Misogynoir and the social White Fear of Black manhood intersect for Black trans men in particular. Because Black women and Women of Color in general are masculinized by White gender standards and the ways in which Black trans masculine people are gendered in alignment with their identity is absolutely not always done with gender affirming intent. In fact, it's often actually done with racist intent or is fueled by racist bias when it's coming from White people or even from non-Black POC.

That's kind of restating things you've said but differently, it's just such a topic worth highlighting explicitly since it's extremely relevant to the conversation that's been happening about Male Privilege here the last few days.

I do think I know exactly what @doberbutts post you're talking about and yeah. It's just truth. It's something Black queer people have been talking about for ages in both theory and in pop culture (my mind immediately goes to Kevin Abstract and "American Boyfriend") where Black queer/trans identity is both materially different from (neutral) and is treated differently from (negative) White queer/trans identity in multitudes of ways and those differences are worth sharing and exploring and talking about.

Genuinely, thank you for sharing! I try really hard not to lead these kinds of conversations outside of explicitly referencing back to non-White theorists because I don't particularly feel like it's my place to do so, but I will always provide a platform for them because they're extremely important conversations to be had.

[bababerries]

Daniil Dankovsky’s internalized bigotry is really fascinating to me because he’s clearly someone with left leaning values who wants change and actively questions things. And he’s clearly a victim of oppression himself. But he’s also a famous white guy (potentially wealthy tho I feel like that aspect is debatable/up to interpretation with how money is in his storyline) with a lot of unchecked privilege over others he doesn’t fully recognize and I like how this is shown gameplay mechanic wise with how Clara and Artemy have struggles with the reputation mechanic but you never have an issue with that as Daniil unless you’re actively trying to lol.

It’s some nice discussion on moral purism because I feel like a lot of left leaning people don’t wanna dissect how a lot of us have internalized bigotry in some way shape or form and get defensive about confronting it. It’s easier to admit to the internalized bigotry however if it’s a minority you’re part of. Like it’s seen as more “inherently noble” it’s seen as more palatable and heroic to carry that burden on your shoulder where it gives the illusion that the only person you’re hurting is yourself. (I think I kinda see Artemy fitting this to an extent in a meta way (?) because he’s an internalized racist and his narrative feels like a commentary on like an avarage hero journy where he’s the underdog who struggles but overall comes on top and achieves a “happy ending” for everyone and oh he’s so noble for shouldering all these burdens on his own despite his suffering and even he believes this as he refers to himself as a hero but in reality his internalized self loathing and conservative brainwashing and pressure to live up to his dad has made him neglect his own interiority and his plethora of issues) and how I personally interpret Daniil I think he kinda sheds light on how people definitely have internalized bigotry for groups they don’t belong to because internalization is more complex then internalizing the ugly comments and actions people direct towards you for your identity but the seeds the world plants in us to hate those different from us. And how victim blaming is taught to us. I think a lot of people get defensive about confronting this part of themselves but it’s a very real thing. Sometimes good intentioned people do and say fucked up things

And I see this in Daniil’s story. I think it’s very fitting actually. He values freedom and freewill, he thinks scapegoating is horrible. And he has a lot of admirable values and wants to fight against a government that oppresses him. Him saving Clara on day 6 is one of my favourite character moments and it’s consistent how as an npc he always plays a part in helping you restore your protagonist damaged reputation. But as much as he wants to fly free he’s so imprisoned and oppressed and ends up mimicking the behaviours that he despises from those above

His language is often filled with racist and insensitive microaggressions like calling the kin savages and isidor having a “uncivilized air to him” I think here Daniil is mainly criticizing the kins violence which I don’t think he’s wrong to have an issue with and he has this issue with the town to talking about them in a similar way. But this language is targeted and offensive and uses racist terms conscious or not. I think it’s what makes some things with his dynamic with Artemy interesting to. They put a time limit on their friendship because the both of them understand they’re different and have different viewpoints on this dilemma but in the Haruspex route they do develop a genuine friendship so there’s definitely a tragic element to the fact that they just refuse to try to understand or ever consider what the other is saying or try to reach a conclusion together. I would argue to some extent all the healers acknowledge in some way they are simular and empathize with one another weather they want to acknowledge that or not. But they’re all too stubborn and prideful to ever try to propperly get a long and work together. And while Daniil likes and appreciates artemy he does not respect him. He says he does and perhaps Daniil thinks so himself but I don’t believe that. He is actively very dismissive and condescending towards Artemy. And it’s very insensitive how he talks down the kin to Artemy’s face. Only ever indulging him in his background when it benifits his plan to save the polyhedron. (I wanted to talk a bit on how he views twyrine and the panacea but my memory is a bit blurry on some of the specifics regarding his shifting feelings)

His classism is also interesting as he’s also a victim of it or it’s generally just heavily affected his life of having to work so hard and rise ranks to be someone important in order to actually make a positive change in the world. And even with his status he’s still picked on by the government and how the powers that he can so easily crush and shut down his lab, research and passion just because they feel like it. And it’s easy to interpret him going broke by just trying to keep Thanatica afloat. Daniil is egotistical but he also thinks highly of himself because he feels like he needs to be a responsible reliable person because that’s his job.

I remember thinking to myself “Daniil would be the kind of person who’s say what do you know you don’t have a degree in this” which he actually said in Marbles nest and yeah he would say that. Because he’d take it as a personal attack at how hard he worked to get where he is and an attack to his ego. He’d be offended on the behalf of himself. But in reality this is a really bad statement to make a lot of the time because education and knowledge shouldn’t be capitalized and gatekeeped. It’s insensitive to those who’ve gained knowledges through lived experience and unfair to those who don’t have the same luxuries as other people do and is just a very narrow minded view of intelligence. I think it can also beg the question that yeah I think Daniil is justified in a lot of the frustration he feels in the game at the town. He gets manipulated and abused a lot. But also a lot of people in the town didn’t have the same luxuries Daniil did. He has a lot of privilege and knowledge a lot of common folk in the town do not and kinda have to live in these circumstances. And it’s frankly also all they know. (Again I think Artemy’s ending kinda discusses this with the kids growing up to mindlessly fill their parents footsteps without questioning everything and reverting back to status quo)

I don’t think Daniil is stupid but he’s very flawed and also often will see things in black and white and get tunnel visioned because he wears his heart on his sleeve. He struggles with being empathetic/sympathetic and can be dismissive. He feels like he himself is misunderstood so he has difficulty giving people that same luxury because he himself feels denied of it but it ends up with him being self absorbed in such a way where he ends up hurting more people then doing good despite desperatly wanting to do the latter. I think the message of his ending captures this perfectly

(I do kinda wish his misogyny was written a little better especially since his route has themes of him having issues with the towns violent misogyny and Maria and Eva respectively being easily read as commentaries of misogynistic archetypes but there’s barely any lines of him saying misogynistic stuff in game all of them are basically a rude conversation ender and also just feel lazily written. I also don’t think he says anything as an npc irrc. It comes off more like old video game misogyny that feels “oh this character is an asshole and a man so we have to also make him misogynistic sometimes” then an intentional character flaw which really sucks since I do think you can write something interesting with it. Esp since I think Artemy’s misogyny is really interesting with how it plays into his ending and how racism and misogyny have a lot in common so it’s easy to conflate the herb brides treatment with his own)

[glitter-stained]

My very personal rating of every lazarus pit fanon side effects I've ever read, ranked from favourite to least favourite :

Tapetum lucidum (the thing cats have that makes their eyes gleam in the dark): that's so creepy and cool, eery in a more discreet way than a full-on glow, idk who hced that first but they are a genius

Contaminated blood laced with the lazarus protein: because our blood renews itself pretty often, this implies the existence of either a lazarus organ that continues to pump the lazarus protein in the blood, or, more probably, the contamination of one of the blood producing organs, maybe of the bone marrow, by the Lazarus pit. Like imagine the Lazarus Pit changing you down to the inside of your bone... The implications are so fascinating I'd love to read more about it.

Altered dna: this doesn't make sense, how does the magical healing pit change your dna, I love it so much, tell me more about the magic gatorade that rewrites dna

Accelerated healing/enhancements: what's funnier, that the pit gave Jason metahuman abilities like being able to withstand a meteorite and going toe-to-toe with Deathstroke (the wiki's words, not mine) and it was just never discussed, or that nothing Jason went through gave him these abilities that he really shouldn't have and he still does and it was just never discussed? I don't know but still, that stuff is top-tier

Glowing green eyes: on the one hand, eyes that glow when the person is feeling intense negative emotions (even better it's not just rage, like, imagine having a flashback or nightmare or getting fear toxined and their eyes glow and people think they're about to attack but they just scream that'd be so cool) but on the other hand, I feel like the colour is too limiting. Sure, Ra's or Riddler can fuck with the glowing green but come on, my girl Cass deserves eyes that glow gold (like the gold from the Batgirl suit). Jason deserves to have glowing red eyes. Cicero says that eyes are the reflection of the soul and while I love the idea of the lazarus pit being toxic, contaminating a part of the person's soul, in comics, a character's colour scheme is an essential part of their graphic identity, and I think altering it to the point of giving it a totally different colour is too much for my taste personally. Like, you are still the same person that you were before the bad thing happened. Yes, it changed you irrevocably, but you are still yourself and you should still have the right to your name and to the colour of your soul.

Lazarus Rage/Pit Madness: so I've seen this one criticized pretty often, often because of how unnecessary, and honestly probably damaging, to the understanding of Jason's character after his resurrection. And like, I agree, but also I've found myself to enjoy the fanon version of the Batfam. Like, I don't like that it's murky and confusing sometimes to figure out which is fanon or canon and that that leads people to judging canon actions from a standard of fanon information, and parts of it can be sexist or racist or classist, but the same can be said from canon, you have to be critical with what you consume. Basically to me there are two batfams and I consume both differently and enjoy both, and in the context of fanon I enjoy Pit Madness. The idea of uncontrollable, alien rage is fun, is angsty, and as someone with intense anger issues I'm telling you writing a lazarus rage episode was one of the most cathartic things I've ever written and it felt so good. I also think part of the upset on the subject is a bit undeserved because I see people complain that "the lazarus doesn't work like that because it didn't do that to other people" as if the way the lazarus pit worked made any sense. You're telling me this stuff healed Jason's malnutrition but it didn't fix his trauma? That it healed the Riddler's brain cancer but couldn't be bothered to fuck with Jason's hypertrophied amygdala and the fucked up connections between his amygdala and hippocampus??! Obviously we can't expect dc to know or care about science that much , but I still have the right to be nerdy about it. Jason went into the pit resurrected by God and with brain damage and Ra's said it was a plague and that could make him crazy, I fully believe he could have gotten Pit Madness even if the others hadn't.

Eye-colour change: that's the same thing as the glowing part but without the fun part, really dislike it. I need to be able to listen to I know these eyes/this man is dead from the Count of MonteCristo Musical while making up Under the Red Hood edits in my head please and thank you

Lazarus Pit brings people back to life: I hate it so much dc stop treating life and death so inconsequentially oh my gosh characters fighting life and death situations should not have a source of immortality right in hand I hate that lazarus resin lazarus toxin stuff they have right now and the idea that the pits can bring back to life plays into that idea so I really dislike it. I understand the appeal, it's the basics of coming back wrong with a side of rebirth in the water but instead of being purified it's being poisoned, but I just can't get over how frustrating it is to see a beloved character die and only be able to say I hope he doesn't come back for his own sake and then he comes back. Urgh.

[decolonize-the-everything]

as far as i know, the transandrophobia post you're talking about is the one by ftmtf who pretty regularly reblogs from spacelazarwolf and genderkoolaid, who are both zionists who deny and downplay the genocide in gaza (on top of being open transmisogynists who dabble in claiming trans women have male privilege). i'm not going to tell you what to think about the theory of transandrophobia but i personally question the motives when a lot of loudest proponents of it either are or associate with these types of people.

The post I'm talking about was made by myself. Someone made a vaguepost in response to it suggesting idk what I'm talking about.

That context aside,

I'm none of those things, advocate for none of those things, and my followers know that so what makes their character a reason to question my character, anyway?

.

When did y'all start letting racists and genocide apologists speak for anyone? Radfems came and nobody said feminism had to stop existing right?

I think it's entirely possible to recognize good faith, genuine critiques and analysis of how white supremacy affects men (which is the perspective of oppression that my post focused on) and how that intersects with other systems of oppression.

Likewise, the same way you've learned to spot radfem/terf bs I think it's also possible to recognize when that's being done in bad faith like when radfem-type ppl (like spacelazarwolf) do it.

Another response I get is people assuming that acknowledging someone else's oppression would somehow be lessening their own? and I dont see how that's my problem to unpack after we spent the last 5 years explaining to white people that privilege doesn't mean you can't also be poor or queer. We've already read this chapter as a society, I thought?

Imagine how fucking sad it would be if some totally normal person logged on Tumblr, saw the feminist tag full of transphobia, assumed all feminism was like that, and decided "I'm never gonna be a feminist, they're all bigots and also anyone who calls themselves that is fucking wrong and just doesn't know it."

🙃🙃🙃

That is what's happening to non-femme trans people except it's happening before the concept of our oppression under patriarchy/white supremacy has actually even really been discussed which is fucked up cuz like ...how are you gonna let that pathetic, bigoted explanation of oppression be representative of all trans-masc/non-binary people and actively discourage other people from trying to figuring it out too....and it's not bigoted? Like how.

Esp when my post was analyzed it through the lens of white supremacy. So it was also specifically about marginalized mascs and nonbinary people. Like how is wanting to discuss the way your gender impacts, compounds, and informs your experiences and other forms of oppression bigoted just because you're not a woman or femme lol?

I thought we wanted men to do that specifically. What happened to that?

Ofc trans femmes don't have male privilege!!! I think if your concepts of oppression undermine someone else's then your concepts are shit and you should read more. You shouldnt have to misgender, degrade, or dehumanize anyone else to identify yourself or name your oppression. My posts didn't do that, which is why the reactionary response from especially leftist Tumblr has been pretty disappointing tbh.

I've been fleshing my own idea of it out on my blog and that's been aggressively reacted to every single time I've answered questions about it 💀

And it's always bad faith nonsense, like "you just hate trans women" which is just a factually untrue reactionary statement. Like that's not even a critique cuz I know you didn't check the trans tag on my blog, that's nothing to me. Or it's "you don't know what intersectionality is" when I've made sure to read Kimberlé Crenshaw's source material and share it. When I've made sure to even read recent statements she's made commenting on how it's being used and weaponized in modern times.

Or it's seemingly good faith comments like yours anon "well only bigots have ever talked about it..."

Which is just another reactionary comment that doesn't even bother valuable critique.

How would you feel if I said "radfems are the loudest proponents of women rights so think about that before you start associating yourself with them."

sounds like bs misogyny doesn't it?

And maybe your response would be that I should just widen my circle and stop listening to radfems maybe. Maybe you'd tell me that Bigot feminism is not the only feminism out there and it would be on me to educate myself about that in good faith if I actually care about women :)

And you'd be right.

And I'm saying that road should go both ways.

When I'm having that conversation in good faith on my blog, it shouldnt be difficult for a bunch of people calling themselves progressive thinkers to hear me out in good faith instead of assuming I'm a bigot who doesn't know trans women are oppressed.

Like yeah it's shitty and systemic proof that misogyny is alive and real that the only people who talked about transandrophobia thus far are Like That.

However, I do not think it's proof that nonbinary, transmasc, and other marginalized men need to be gatekept from having the vocabulary to describe their unique experiences. We don't use homophobic straight women as proof that feminism shouldn't exist, right? I'm using the same logic. If the shittiest woman on earth deserves to destroy the patriarchy then why doesn't the shittiest nonbinary man you know have the same right? 💀

And going back to the vocabulary thing: Vocabulary, language, and literacy are necessary to dismantle anything and everything you can think of.

I genuinely don't get all the pushback beyond it just being well-intentioned & reactionary at the same time tbh

[eddiediazismyhusband]

I flop back and forth constantly between pessimism and optimism regarding Buddie canon and the show.

But I will say this: if they never intend to make Buddie canon on the show - using Eddie as a bait and switch in 7x04 for Buck and Tommy is cruel. They know how much the fans love Buddie - and how there is a LARGE overlap between the fans who have been rallying for Bi Buck and the fans rallying for Buddie.

So if it’s not meant to be a path to Buddie - using Eddie for that storyline just to have Buck end up with another man is cruel. Not that I don’t think they’re capable of cruelty but I will be disappointed if that is the case. Cause if they wanted to do Bi Buck but had no intentions for Buddie, there are a million other ways they could have done that.

I absolutely 100% agree that if tim and the writers are doing all of this queerbaiting with eddie on top of what they’ve done with buck’s storyline so far it will be the most blatant and egregious example of ship baiting in tv history

it honestly enrages me that the fand even let tim get away with the bait and switch in 7x4 bc that was just fucking ridiculous and unnecessary, and the “reasons” they provided were bullshit imo…. there is literally a copious amount of ao3 fanfic out there that did a better job of introducing buck’s bisexuality without relying on baiting buddie fans just to throw him at a racist character.

i want to say that tim wouldn’t risk the fandom uproar that would potentially happen if this is the case but as ive said before i don’t trust that man after s7, and i fully believe he would hide behind all of the anti-buddie arguments that have been spouted off lately regardless of how much it would retcon shit that he himself intentionally wove into the storyline.

unfortunately i wouldn’t be surprised bc this wouldn’t be the first time a network tv show did this to its fans…. however it would be the first time a show gave into fanservice in the form of rewarding violent hate and bullying from a certain sect of the fandom which would make the whole ordeal that much more disappointing and disgusting.

but leave it to a white man to fuck things up, i guess 🤷 like ive said before until we get proof that tim is actually dedicating to fixing the fuckery he came up with in s7 i will not be tuning in to watch s8… like when it’s to the point where even your cast is fed up w the bullshit that’s when you know there’s an issue

(i could also get into the constant slap in the face they keep giving ryan/eddie every fucking season and how icky that makes me feel but that’s a discussion for another time)

[nekropsii]

Small Atomic Ask Bomb!!

I've got a bunch of short asks that I'd hate to spam the dash with individually, so I'll just put 'em here, under the cut!!

Content Warning: Long, Brief Discussions of Racism, Misogyny, Grooming, Brief Mentions of Incest and Pedophilia in Fanfiction.

I've always been a hater, and I honestly don't really think it's a bad thing - not as much as everyone says, at least! I think being kind of a bitch about things that don't matter is good for you, actually. Gets the urge to be angry out in a way that's healthier than just snapping at people in critical moments. I also just think being strong and passionate in your convictions is good for you. Being a hater gives you a spine if you do it right, and it fires a gunshot and scatters people you don't really want to be around. It also has the funny side effect of people thinking I take things way more seriously than I do, just because I'm opinionated and will state said opinions clearly. Big fan of this meme:

This is me.

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I used to peek in there every now and then, just to be nosy. Incest at the top, always. Or straight up pedo shit. Sigh. Looked in the Mituna tag a couple times. CroTuna fucking nightmare hell dimension, always. Or KanTuna, which I also have gripes with. Or KanMiTula, which I have even more gripes with.

It is my understanding that the state of Homestuck fanfiction hasn't gotten much better since the 2010s. Everyone is wrong and no one is normal. Sad.

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I don't know if the mere act of only making Jade and Jake brown out of all the Kids is Racist on its own, per se, but it is kinda silly in the sense that, you know, John and Jade are siblings, so realistically they'd look similar. And... People absolutely do get racist about it. Like, making Jade and Jake uniquely huge, hairy, threatening, and oddly shaped - gangly in the context of Jade, buff as hell in the context of Jake. I've seen some SEVERELY racist drawings where Jade and/or Jake were the only hints of melanin in the Kid line up and... Oh my god. It can get to straight up caricature levels. Watermelons and everything. Just comedically racist.

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Genuinely one of the dumbest fucking things in the world. People will say literally anything. Saying Damara isn't Japanese is on par with calling Porrim a fucking Men's Rights Activist. It's a funny little claim people who are grievously wrong say as a condemnation of the Alpha Trolls for no reason. Why. To look smart? To fit in? Dumbass. Notice how they always have to invent bullshit lies to critique anything instead of just saying things that are true. It really frustrates me how 99.9% of Alpha Troll criticism just isn't at all legitimate when there's some real, genuine issues you could critique. It's stupid horseshit. I hate it so badly.

I don't actually care whether or not someone likes the Alpha Trolls, but at least hate them accurately. Come on.

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@sleepy-apparition

Everyone is so, so quick to turn a blind eye to just how violently misogynistic Kankri is, lmfao. Genuinely, I don't think I've ever seen anyone other than myself bring up the fact that he's an avid Slut-Shamer in the modern day. Other than that, I only really saw older Mituna fanatics bring it up over in the early-mid 2010s, but none of them are around these days.

Genuinely, some of the shit he says is so appalling, lol. Kankri FULLY deserves to get his ass beat.

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I have said this before but I'll say it again - I do not think a Red Romantic Relationship will fix Dirk, or even really help him all that much. Before he gets into a RedRom, he needs some therapy, a break, and mood stabilizers.

However, I'm thoroughly of the opinion that a good BlackRom could work wonders on him, way more than a RedRom would. I think a solid, established Pitch Relationship with, like, Caliborn would be genuinely great for him, both mentally and in a Character Development sense. I hold zero interest in watching Dirk and Jake badly fumble a traditional romantic relationship - that notion is painful to me. ... But I do think I could read a full Intermission's worth of Dirk and Caliborn fucking around and not get tired of it once. They have a fantastic dynamic. It'd be good for Caliborn, too, I think.

This has been my Dirkuu propaganda bit. Thank you.

Also, the Voyeuristic feel of how people handle his Mental Illness. It makes me uncomfortable.

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True. I don't have any other remarks to make about this, you're just correct. True.

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... Fuckin'... Why, though? What- what's the appeal? There's nothing there. I literally cannot conceive any way in which that would be compelling, and I'd say Hal and Kankri are pretty high up there in the list of Male Homestuck Characters I Enjoy.

People will do anything but pay attention to Female Characters for five minutes. God. Lol.

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It's literally just DaveKat 2. I don't think it even qualifies as a Crack Ship when it's just a variant of The Fandom's Most Darling M/M OTP. It's just a deeply mid RarePair. Crack Ship would be, like, Dirk Strider x Rainbow Dash.

Dirk x RD was a popular Crack Ship, sure, but it's still a Crack Ship on basis of being a Crossover Pairing.

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I can't recall any specific instances of seeing this myself, but I'll believe it. People will do anything except be normal about Vriska. People will fight the war against Vriska on the side of and against Vriska at the same time. People will call her a Huge 8itch but then call her pathetic when she stops being a Huge 8itch.

We love Misogyny, I guess.

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Well, he is based on Tumblr, after all. Particularly how dogshit the politics are on here. Of course he would. He'd do numbers on here, considering his Woke Hate Speech.

It's called Bubblr, by the way. Like, canonically. We do know what it's called.

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It's actually based on the Three Wise Monkeys. You know, that old Japanese Proverb that goes "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil"? That.

Kurloz is Speak No Evil, Meulin is Hear No Evil, Mituna is See No Evil.

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Great Question. My personal guess is that he's a little too nuanced for a lot of people to be comfortable with handling. He throws out too much surface-level Bigotry that people aren't willing to ignore because it isn't Racism for many to feel comfortable making him their Blorbo. When Dave says the N-Word and talks about how fucking Racist he is and it literally never gets acknowledged or resolved, that's fine and dandy, but god forbid Caliborn be a Misogynist in the funniest way possible AND have that get acknowledged literally constantly as a problem. The fact that Caliborn isn't a Fuckable White 13-Year-Old Twink means none of his crimes are ever forgivable because he's ugly and unshippable, or whatever.

The fact that he's Mentally Disabled doesn't help. People can't fucking STAND IT when a character is Mentally Disabled in a way that isn't Cute and Consumable, much less a character who is Unconsumably Mentally Disabled AND Complicated. It's just not allowed!!

[theghoulboysblog]

My Top Ten Favorite Moments from Ghost Files in Dallas Texas starting at the funniest:

1. Shane and Ryan getting into a brief argument over the Sally House flashlights and Ryan saying, “We are NOT going to rehash a six year fight!” and then making a comment along the lines of, “We’re like a married couple!”

2. After someone clarified that Shane stole Goatman’s Bridge first, Ryan agreed and said that it indeed was *technically* Shane’s bridge and that Shane deserves all of the credit. In response to that, Shane said that after he claimed the bridge from Goatman, he added Ryan’s name to the deed, so therefore IT IS IN FACT Shane and Ryan’s Bridge that they have joint possession of :) And Shane wasn’t being teasing about it AT ALL. He wasn’t saying, “Ha, Goatman’s gonna get BOTH OF US NOW.” He was being painfully genuine in a “i want this to be a thing you and me share” kinda way. 😭

3. Shane saying that he will more than likely finish the Hotdoga someday and that he has the ending roughly planned out in his mind! :D He also explained that he stopped due to the work load, leading Ryan to say, “He made the Hotdoga to annoy me, but then he was like ‘Damn, this is a lot of work!’” 😭 (Also someone made a comment on the dead look in Ryan’s eyes at the mention of the Hotdoga and said, “It took me back!” and Ryan sadly responded, “Me too.” Haha!)

4. The Shaniacs teasing Ryan about the evidence he caught / the evidence that he found compelling enough to include in the live show. Some person yelled nonchalantly, “FAKE!” and Ryan teased them multiple times through the show. Another person put air quotes around the word “evidence” while talking to Ryan and Shane took his hat off for a second in respect, and another person brought a laser pointer to help Ryan point out the evidence cause it was so hard to see and Ryan was so flabbergasted 😭 BRO WAS GOING THROUGH IT!!! (It was all lighthearted respectful teasing and Ryan was a good sport about it all!)

5. A person, dressed HEAD TO TOE as the professor, politely tossed some jelly beans at Shane, Meredith, and Ryan. Shane then dropped some of said jelly beans and proceeded to eat them off the ground, claiming that since they landed on the white carpet under their feet and not the stage that they were fine. Ryan and Meredith were NOT pleased in the slightest. Ryan did however take a clean green jelly bean out of Shane’s palm and Shane let him happily and then politely offered one to Meredith (she said no haha.)

6. SHANE ALMOST FALLING WHEN HE GOT UP TO DO THE ESTES METHOD LMAOOO!

7. Shane and Ryan talking about the episode they discussed the possibility that the man who died playing piano pooped himself and then revealing that they had to cut for like five minutes because they cried laughing so long. Shane, while reminiscing about this moment, said, “Very sad but GOD DAMN was it funny!” 😭 He also revealed that there have been MANY times him and Ryan have laughed themselves to tears together and I thought that was kinda sweet.

8. Meredith and Ryan thought there was a ghost backstage, and then Shane and Ryan lied to Meredith and said the ghost started acting up again when she left, resulting in Meredith believing that the ghost was just racist.

9. A fan asking Shane a question about a certain clip and saying, “When that ghost called you daddy-” and Shane, COMPLETELY misunderstanding what they said, yelling confusedly, “WHEN THAT GHOST FUCKING DIED?!?!?!? 🤨🤨🤨”

10. And lastly, Ryan calling Steven their “Delicate Steven Lim” and teasing him for the last few minutes of the show haha 💛 The best part of it was when Ryan was talking about him and Shane taking Steven ghost hunting years ago and stating that Steven had said he found his calm. Ryan, remembering this moment, said, “He didn’t find calm, he TALKED TO GOD!!! FOR FIVE MINUTES!!!!!” 😭 and the exasperation in his tone was so damn funny.

Bonus. This person came up to ask a question holding an empty nacho box and Ryan was weirdly extremely fixated on it 😭 He was pretty much like, “Did that hold nachos??? Cool. It looked like a nachos kind of box. Cool, cool. You looked like you enjoyed them? The nachos?” I literally have NO CLUE what that was about but I think he might have been hungry for some nachos idk?!?! 😭😭😭

(Other honorable mentions are Ryan being upset the ghost called Shane daddy and not him, Shane yelling that he’s “GOT PUPPETS TO MAKE!”, Ryan getting a little anxious when people weren’t cheering for his evidence and being like, “NEVERMIND I DON’T THINK IT’S COMPELLING ANYMORE I SWEAR-“, Shane blasting “Mamma Mia” before the show, and Shane taking amazing care of a doll someone gifted him and putting it between him and Ryan!!!)

The show was AMAZING, the episode was SO great, (NO SPOILERS BUT YOU GUYS ARE IN FOR A TREAT!!!), the people there were so accepting, and the Ghoul Boys were so UNBELIEVABLY NICE TO EVERYONE. If you have the money and time for it, I honestly recommend buying a ticket to one of the shows because I had SUCH A GOOD TIME. (Also, LITERALLY DON’T BE SCARED TO ASK THEM A QUESTION OR GIVE THEM A GIFT CAUSE THEY WERE SO GRATEFUL, PATIENT, AND KIND, ESPECIALLY TO PEOPLE WHO WERE OBVIOUSLY ANXIOUS TO TALK TO THEM.) I honestly have NOTHING bad to say about my experience. It was a dandy time and I plan to go to another show in the future if they ever tour again.

[elledberry]

No, but like, WHY do people care so much about other people ship preferences?

I get it, I don't ship the obvious ones or the "right" or what was given to me by the author, but IS JUST A SHIP.

Look, don't get me wrong, I'm not angry at other preferences when it comes to this. What I get annoyed at is that when there is an illustration, an edit, a fucking fic, any kind of media, that shows that romantic dynamic between the characters they will be like

"siblings 🩷" "omg no how could ship that? They aren't like that." "Have you read the books ?" "Omg, people actually ship them?" "The author said..." "omg but this (name of other ship), it's so much better," and so on.

My beautiful person who comments in every edit of (some examples, but I'm sure that there's more) harmony, lunami, zutara, sasusaku .... do you really think that they/we don't know or care about this ? Do you know what you look like when u comment stuff like that? An idiot who can't let others have a different opinion on literally fiction character's romance life, like that one kid in kindergarten who saw another kid getting a toy and go's on about how that toy is lame compared to theirs, a spoiled brat.

You have so many things to be arguing about in the actual plot, but you can't cus you think that the idea of nami and luffy together is so wrong that you go around in every media of them "oda said..." But with other members of the crew, oda said absolutely nothing... not only that, but are we really discussing this ? Can we be talking about I don't know... how racist and hypocrites are some people in this famdon? Really give your disappointment and disgust to that(what is actually important).

Harry and Hermione are another great example of "I know they aren't like that but I like the idea of it" WE KNOW THEY AREN'T LIKE THAT but we think is cute it could HAVE BEING cute, sometimes people just grow up shipping and seeing they as a possible couple, like people who grow hating sakura and now simply can't have a actually good argument of why she should be hated on... that was an ironic comment by the way but also not, ( no, her not liking the main character the same way shouldn't be one, or the author not giving her screen time either much less cus of the fact the the anime did her dirty with so much disconnect things from the manga, like her relationship with sasuke <his perspective of it > or naruto himself for that matter, hate on a literally 12 years old for saying shit that every fucking person in the village grew up thinking, funny, why not hate on the thirdkage then? The person who could have actually stopped the hate on a little kid) [Sorry that got out of the main point]

Or zutara, my God, people get personal with just as harmony, relax, just cus I like them doesn't mean I hate kataang, surprise or not I do think they are indeed very cute, I'm pretty sure some other people who ship zutara too... we just see the potential, what could have happened, once again, enemies to friends to loves, the plot, you know ? There is no need to get offended by the IDEA of it. We love the drama and the fic, the illustrations, the edits are just a format that represents and shows it, share if people who likes it, you don't like it ? Oh well, let me tell you a secret, ignore it, you probably ignore so much more important things, why not a fucking edit of ship you don't even like ?, oh you can't ? You can't see other people "toy" and shut about your disappointment on it, is it that hard ?, oh well, have you actually not known that there's an amazing thing within social media, when you hold/press or simply click on the 3 dots on the top of the post, there's a option there, that's right, BLOCK IT the algorithm will understand if you continue blocking it, unlike some people.

I'm just rambling about this because I'm sick and tired of people being such a killjoy, I just want to enjoy "my ship" and see the comments of people who actually likes it to, not yours "siblings 🩷" in post which is definitely not about that, or "oda said..." when i didn't ask what he said, you know people have different things that brings them a scape from reality that brings them a funny giggle (no killing others people joy, when it's such a basic no harmful thing), wave of emotion for those who don't get to feel much in the day-to-day life or simple just cus.

It just petty of you, be better.

Ps.. There is no offense for those who ship other characters within these plots(or different ones), original, popular, or unpopular. Do your thing. Be happy. Just don't spoil others.

Ps2... NO I'm not defending incest that's no it at fucking all ( sorry if I didn't make it clear). I said "siblings" when it came to lunami and Harry x Hermione (cus people like to comment that on posts that aren't even about it < the platonic soul mates comment>), they AREN'T related or grown up at such. Point is you hating the idea of it and going on every post about the ship and hating there. hate all you want, but not on ,obviously, posts that are for the fans of the ship.

[bamboobrat]

succession s4 e4 recap: ken brings a strap-on to a gunfight

I'M PSYCHIC! I'M PSYCHIC!

^^ from my recap of season 4, episode 1

turns out succession really is channeling their inner CW teen show. translation:

SHIV IS PREGNANT!

what gave it away? her face. oh, and she ordered a club soda with a closed top at the dive bar in episode two. don't think i didn't notice.

anyway, i know she's all poly representation and all, but let's be honest with ourselves: it's toms baby. she's planning her 20 week ultrasound, so i reckon.... italy?

kendall arrives at logan's makeshift wake/board meeting and overhears hugo in the lobby.

now, if you overheard someone saying "you fucked me in the ass with a strap-on" on the phone, would you guess that someone was talking to their daughter?

only on succession.

i'm not going to use space showing you hugos face, so let me summarize: his daughter sold stocks right before the news of logan's death was made public. he tells kendall. kendall has leverage.

now, enough hugo.

MARCIA IS BACK!!!

the girlies love marcia. lying about having intimate conversations with logan every night? we love that.

death truly does become her.

also, did anyone else pick up on the fact that cyd simply said "sorry babe" to kendall as he walked by?

supportive queen!

greg is also trying to be supportive and we collectively join in on the kids giving him serious side eye (or ignoring him altogether).

much like the rest of the roy family, he is incapable of any type of normal hug.

the kids discuss marcia and kerry, and roman notes that he thinks kerry is "in marcias trunk. inside an anaconda. inside a sarcophagus." for a pre-grieved boy who doesn't want to make phone sex jokes about his late dad, he's still got it.

the suits are also there, gathering in the kitchen to look at the china.

just two gal-pals backing each other in business and sitting on each other's faces

tom receives a proper whooping from karl and eats a seafood taco.

i know i should aim higher in my important trade of recaps and give you more detail, but i can't. i shan't. it is what it is.

oh, but important: karl is in on a greek island with his brother-in-law.

and "your wife doesn't even like you" is a wonderful insult.

shiv gives us an accurate representation of what it is like to talk to a swede:

for context, i'm norwegian. the banter is scandi culture.

saying "bad one" when your dad dies? also scandi culture.

willa is truly winning in this episode. she gets logan's apartment, a dig at marcia AND a moneymoon touring the midwest. cheese curds all the way.

and they save a bunch on realtor fees, of course.

the gang finds a piece of paper.

we are getting so much gerri/frank/karl content this season, i am chuffed! yes, sure, the sibling dynamic is interesting, but the gerkrank (?) vibes are strong!

they all make very funny jokes about throwing the piece of paper in the toilet. haha comedy gold.

kendall manages to make his brother and sister laugh for once in his life. all it took was for him to make a joke about their dad not being a pedo.

i'm going to make obit decoding my new thing.

a summary of logan:

threw phones at staff

racist

racist, again

relaxed about sexual assault

never payed a penny of tax

not a pedo

wouldn't even hug his grandkids

kendall's name is on the piece of paper. i reckon it's from around early season 1 times, maybe even before then.

it's not certain if the name has been underlined or crossed out. (but really, does logan strike you as the type of man who would underline anything?)

greg is also mentioned with a bunch of ????? and the big bozo deigns to suggest he might be logan's #2.

frank reacts appropriately:

they keep putting roman and gerri in the same frame.

AS IF i wouldn't notice. i see you, lorene. doing the lords work.

they rag on greg some more. it's a doodle, fuckface.

ken shares a moment with his #1 dad.

frank: he was an old bastard and he loved you me: sobbing

ken realizing he wants back in? that's self-destruction, bby!

shiv continues to hit rock bottom....

with a lil pregnancy hint and some narcisissm, framing it as if she's the only one who lost something she cared about.

but is she talking about logan? or tom? or none? or both?

i need a shiv redemption arc soon. it's beginning to feel so sexist, and not in a critique kind of way.

spooky embryo mencken is on his way to join the rest of the right wing crazies in logans eulogy.

if you are in need of motivation, work every day in your life to ensure a right wing guy will never feel inclined to do a speech at your funeral.

or, live a life that will make greg never want to talk to you. ever.

we all know tom wishes he'd taken that route.

sandy is smiling at logan being dead. sandy is us<3

why is this sex party so sad?

marcia sends kerry in a taxi to a subway so she can go home to her little apartment.

last time we see her, or does she have an unborn baby up her sleeve?

<3 roman showing kerry kindness and then immediately shitting on tom's redemption tour <3

wambsgans deserves to grovel.

stewy is a softie when it comes to ken.

his pubes got a little singed last time, but they are in love.

willa is enjoying her new apartment, as she should.

her mom is me at a buffet.

shiv gets shivved as her brothers decide to take on the role of CEO without her.

redemption arc! redemption arc! redemption arc!

obligatory screengrab that is just in here because gerri looks cute:

i couldn't even bother coming up with an excuse for this one.

chant with me: STE-WY! STE-WY! STE-WY!

power move from a power bottom. jk he is obvi a top.

and with stewy in the room, the power dynamic shifts to favor the siblings.

gerri makes a very slight move, but backs up immediately.

(don't think i don't notice that roman is still in this frame, guys. it's dark, but i notice.)

ken and his homey romey are the new interim CEOs. we all know what a thankful job that is...

shiv trips and falls and i want to kms.

do i need to chant again?

please, for the love of god, give shiv a win. the baby is not a win.

hugo and karolina suggest to the newly appointed CEOs that they throw their dead dad under the bus. roman reacts the way an emotionally mature person would:

utter distain.

ken, however, does not.

this photo will be in his phone and in his subconscience forever. the question of whether his dad loved him or not anthropomorphized.

so he tells hugo to go ahead with the "shit on logan roy" communcation strategy.

it's what his father would do.

he is pleased. and we, my girlies, are one step closer to kendall having a full godfather-like arc.

pretty sure i predicted that too, back in the day.

or is episode 4 too early to peak for our dear ken? time will tell.

next week: the gang travels to norway and i go absolutely bonkers.

[ivyembracertifiedbitch]

FHJY Finale Thoughts: Episode 19

Disclaimer: I know I've been really negative about the last two episodes but I do actually have real criticisms, and I will try my best to not be just 'I hate this' about everything. No promises though. Also, none of this is hating the IH or Bleem. I respect that they're very fucking tired when shooting this and don't have a week in between episodes to think, and so these criticisms are made with that in mind. Also feel free to debate and discuss, I just wanted to share my opinions and try to pinpoint where the narrative went wrong, or where BLeeM could've made a better DM choice, but I love hearing other people's thoughts!

Bringing back K2: Bringing her back to have a second healer is really smart, but saying that Kristen liked having a sister around doesn't make sense. There was never any moment where Kristen and K2 seemed to get along, and honestly, I think K2 got along more with Fabian and Fig. Show don't tell is actually really good advice.

The short rest (and Ice Feast): Just nope. Nope. Not a fan, solidly don't like it. This is the big finale, and I felt more concern during the dragon fight than here. That's the problem with playing level 14 characters, I'm aware, but like. Not letting them take the short rest, actually having The Rat Grinders be skilled at fighting (If Brennan was lying about them grinding rats, you don't think he was lying about them only doing the killing blow on monsters? Plus, do you really think Porter would have his first worshippers and warriors only know how to do a killing blow?), having Kipperlilly steal the votes, anything man. Ice Feast played a big part in giving them the advantage, and I wasn't cool with that too. Taking away fire damage, making them unable to be stunned, all of that took away like the biggest threats of the fight. (I do think it's really cute that Brennan actually made Ice Feast for his friends, but allowing them to use it before the final battle, on top of the short rest was too much)

Strategy: Rewatching, it's actually fun to see them strategize because they're so good at it! It just sucks that they feel nothing but hate for these kids and we know that doesn't change after everything they've seen. And the narrative's going to reward them for it.

Squeem: Honestly? Also, not my favorite. Like, to have a short rest, and Ice Feast, and several allies on their way? What's the point of even fighting? Just skip to the victory dance. (Was so funny to have the return of hot chocolate with a shot of cortado, and lemonade cortado)

Battle Set: Once again, the art department has fucking slayed. Truly, such a work of art. 10/10, no notes.

Mary Ann: Not getting into it a lot with this episode, but see here for my general thoughts. Also, not happy with the cast's reactions to Mary Ann freaking out over getting her strawberry burned, as that's most likely her having a meltdown.

Ivy: I do appreciate Brennan trying to get the Bad Kids to be nice through the Hangman. Also, if Ivy truly does like looking good, great for her, but the only things we know about her at this time are that she's besties with Oisin, she was into Fabian, she's kinda bitchy, and some of her class stats. So the idea that just because she's a "mean girl" she'd take offense to getting called ugly feels misogynistic, especially coming from a complete stranger/someone literally not in her universe of existence. As for what Fabian said and did to Ivy, in my opinion, part of it is because he rejected Mazey at the party to impress her and feels bad, part of it is because she rejected him, and part of it is because he feels bad that he 'yes and-ed' the racist remark she made about Mazey. Also, the close proximity to the rage stars. I think he was wrong for what he said, and I'm not going to get into the virginity comment now because I still have a whole 'nother episode to get through, but I do want to say this is when Fabian/Mazey stopped being cute to me. Also, Brennan using Ivy's last moments to have her make a mean comment really feels like he's trying to cast her as the mean girl, which again, it's fine if she is. You can't convince me she's not just a kid scared for her life.

Oisin: Smart to get him somewhere he can't counterspell Adaine, and to take him out of the fight first, but why didn't we have anything directed at him? Like, I know that he never really got close enough to Adaine for episode 18 to be a full betrayal, but everything with Ivy and Ruben was so intense, I'd expect something. On behalf of Ivy and Ruben, I'm offended he was mostly left alone. As a general Rat Grinders enjoyer, this does count as a (small) w.

Buddy: So sad that Ally's insight roll on him failed, and I will not tolerate anyone calling him stupid or naive about the plan: see here. I get annoyed that Buddy was played up as a joke villain, but whatever! He's just a dumb southern hick, right?

Ruben: Saying there's no loyalty from Ruben is soo arrogant. They never emotionally connected so who would he be loyal to? The friends he's had for three years, or some random girl who had one real conversation with him? Tumblr user @rubenhopclap says it best. Fig's speech to Ruben is just *argh*. Girlie you don't know anything about him! (I do understand Emily's annoyance, because she did spend like at least one roll per downtime session on Ruben! But also... it was Wanda Childa talking to him, not Fig. He didn't have a real person to connect with, so why would he bother?) Like, out of all The Rat Grinders, we have explicit information that he is scared despite all of the rage and yet she just yells in his face? Thought the theme of the season was doubt beats anger, not war conquers rage. I'm also uncomfortable with Fig, who earlier in the season explicitly states that she think she's a monster for ruining one person's stay in hell as opposed to punishing all of them, deciding that just because Ruben was annoying and a waste of time he should be going to hell to be punished.

Kipperlilly: No notes. Literally, girlie was getting w's the entire episode.

Jace and Porter: No notes. Honestly? Their fucked up dynamic carried me through the finale.

The Lava: Just another solid no. With the amount of advantages we already have, it makes no sense to let their 'being immune to fire' translate to 'being immune to magma.' Bringing in some science, magma is literally a fourth state of matter, different from water. That's not going to feel like taking a swim, it's going to feel like getting crushed by cold lava. (Yes, I understand different DM's would allow that and different DM's wouldn't allow that, but with the advantages they already have, I feel like making them roll even for just half damage would be fine. Plus, fucking common sense says 'don't jump in lava, even if you have fire immunity.')

Making fun of Porter: I adore a group of teenagers just absolutely clowning on a 40 year old teacher, but I do wish they had engaged with the themes. We know it's really fucking likely The Rat Grinders have rage stars, and yet they just completely skip the part that Porter can control anyone with a rage star. And it's not like the Academy hasn't failed them before. It's not like Aguefort himself hasn't failed them before. They should be angry about that! Just, the refusal to engage with the themes in a story is irritating.

See Episode 20 thoughts here

[ginghamcheckers]

i think you might just be a hater with depression bc the show had issues but you're acting like it actively murdered someone

well they did fuck up the entire timeline and all of mr house but sure im just being soy here ^_^

the only thing about this show they didn't entirely fuck up is the vault boy shorts, ironically, which i utterly adore. it actually HAS what the rest of the show lacks - any kind of hatred for corporate bodies that doesn't feel lacking. which is kind of important in an anti-capitalist series. the only thing the primary show does is say mr house nukes the world. kind of dumb. it doesn't have a lot to say politically speaking and i find that intensely mind numbing. i heavily enjoy discussion of politics in my media and if you perceive that as me being a hater uhh kill yourself

to say i didn't enjoy any of it would be a lie, regardless. again vault boy's shorts, though i utterly despise cooper howard and his.. black woman CEO wife who nuked the planet??? i am not a hater, i just know fallout by heart. i found this show to be unpleasant, undedicated to its source and kind of racist. on top of that it did also write new vegas out of existence via off-screening it and disrespecting the memory of the dead man whos character used to live there.

it took a video game series known for its anonymity about who ended the world, who fired first because of the fear and hatred, a commentary on war and the red scare and change and ultimately hope (war never changes but men do through the roads they walk) and turned it into a gritty TV show about killing and cannibalizing each other and also war never changes so let's have the fucking ""cabal"" (that's what people are calling it I GUESS? antisemitic in its own right) of like a few rich people nuke the planet. Fuck nuance and this IP's politics and history, we write our own terrible stories. If you cannot see how it is ultimately a terrible fucking TV show if it's attempting to be a FALLOUT show, that is your fault for lacking discernment.

It's probably fine as it's own thing but they replaced all of the lore of the west coast as well with their own shitty stuff about immortal witches or whatever and i just don't give a fuck it's ass bro. New vegas did it better + ratio

and also, matthew perry adored this series, so much so that they allowed him a cameo in New Vegas, and off-screening his character was no way to tribute that. his death wasn't that long ago. they also fucked up the timeline entirely like i said but why should i mention that right? im just a hater

[constantineshots]

Hey, what is your top 10 hellblazer issue?

TOP TEN HUH.

well, i wouldn’t put them in order, nor do I remember issue numbers off the top of my head. more specifically moments. it’ll be under the read more for a long, long post. some trigger warnings for abuse.

i like the first issue for nostalgia and the way it manages to show us john constantine as a character, and somewhat to outsiders. we see him as a human . . . and then his descent into what he see him doing every day because he’s a bit silly (racists are scared of him, for example, but that doesn’t really have to do with the magical aspect of john and more of his political one). it shows us who he is without necessarily delving too deeply into the world of magic, even if it’s just a glimpse.

another that really tickles my brain is technically a couple, but the specifics of newcastle. throughout hellblazer, it’s very much up in the air what actually happened and we only know the end results, because no one talks about it. however, while it is early on in the series, we get to learn about why this affects john as much as it does, and afterwards, how most of it was just pinned on john because of course the police don’t know much about the magical world. i think my favorite aspect is how, when we see him in ravenscar, magic is more of an ‘addiction’ of his as opposed to being a tool. yet he’s in there because they think he’s “loony” as it’s put then, but that’s a separate issue. count that one in this list of ten too, i think.

okay. i know. this one’s less traumatic and technically isn’t part of the original 300 of hellblazer. but. i thought the unicorn thing was actually hilarious. though honestly, i think since the original run ( and let’s be honest, even among some of the writers for the original ), simon spurrier is up there with some of the best hellblazer authors. BUT. i thought the pretty unicorn murdering people and shit was kind of amusing. sorry. i loved it.

another one of my favorites is the one where john is,,, so there’s this lesbian couple that wants to get pregnant. and one of them decides to essentially flirt with john and try to get him to sleep with her, and of course, it turns out with john being like “you could have just asked.” and it puts into perspective a lot of the things that he deals with, the ways people treat him. the things he faces. it’s a lot to take in. and the whole thing about wanting someone to hold you so you feel less alone….

tumblr is fucking with my spacing. how cruel. sorry for the squished lines </3

but anyways, onto number seven i think. personally, i really like the one where he broke ho with kit, and it’s because of two reasons: one, because it shows kit. i love her! but what i mean is that she is a take no shit kind of girl, and while she’d already explained this, it really shows it. people have said “oh fuck you john” and yada yada and end up back in his life again (no shade, chas). kit? she said “john, if you get magic into my home, i’m OUT.” and she fucking meant it too. she got attacked (and she handled it! love that for her) and then kept that boundary. i love her for being a strong character- not physically, necessarily, but keeping her boundaries, too. and also, it shows us what john is like when he’s losing something he really cares about. he acts like a cornered animal. he shouts and tries to say shit that will hurt you (like calling kit cold) because he’s scared. while we already knew this, it’s a very big throw in your face moment about how much of a piece of shit john can be, especially because this was a long-term relationship. and then, of course, he ends up depressed and homeless and doing his best to drink away his problems.

and i know this is going to sound horrible, but the one where john is like. literally discussing how he pretty much made his father sick with a spell and a dead cat (if i recall correctly) because of all the shit that his dad did to him and how he was treated. to me, it made sense. he found a way to defend himself. magic was that outlet of his own protection, his own defense, a way to try little by little to keep himself safe. really connected to me in a way- growing up, i had an abusive parent, and i could understand why he did what he did, because i wouldn’t have done any different.

AND THERE’S THIS ONE WHERE. john makes a statement about not trusting priests because of the fact that one attempted to assault him, but there’s a story where john is going through that story, and john sees the priest again. he has a panic attack first and foremost, and i think, to me, it’s one of the very first depictions of a mental health struggle. not necessarily in hellblazer- mainly because this is a story that handles a lot of hard topics and, depending on the writer, it’s done rather well- but in comics overall. it also shows that yes, priests can be villains too and take advantage of people, and that was a rather controversial topic during that time period. hell, it’s even controversial now, and we have stories of it happening all the time.

and ten. honestly, picking these was a bit difficult because i love a lot of hellblazer, but here we are. i, personally, enjoy mike carey’s run a lot (i LOVE lucifer. so i already knew i was in for it.) the arc where we’re seeing how much john cares for his sister and that he’s literally going to hell (okay maybe this isn’t that impressive because he’s always there) to get her back. with nergal! the fucking asswipe! but it also focused a lot on tony being very religious, and gemma, and how affected everyone was. gemma wanting to be like john and john shooting her down. there’s a lot to handle- like john’s…. children… that came about from odd circumstances…. maybe i’m biased here. ANYWAYS. good fun!

but i despise. and i mean DESPISE. anything after 250. i will never touch it again. i barely got through it the first time. again. DO NOT READ. ANYTHING PAST 250.

and i hated the original justice league dark run. probably because of milligan. fucking hate that guy. but regardless. you asked for hellblazer issues. technically some of these are arcs. BUT HEY! here you are :D

[keklordkaotic]

INTRODUCTION:

Yo. I’m Kaotic, a 19 year old English major. I write shit and sometimes I draw shit and when the latter happens I’ll funnel it here. My discord is keklord_kaotic if you want to shoot the shit or otherwise just reach out. My social skills ain’t great, so if I ever fuck up and say or do the wrong thing just tell me and I’ll clean up my act.

I do not tolerate any kind of bigotry on this account. It costs nothing to be a decent human being and not shit on other people. If you’re racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. then you can fuck right off.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS ACCOUNT:

General Interests:

Music (all genres; metal sub-genres in particular)

Literature

History

Video-games (numerous)

Comics and TV shows

Top Franchise Interests (in no particular order):

Batman

TMNT

Disco Elysium

Dragon Ball

Ninjago

Transformers*

Warhammer

Gravity Falls

*current primary interest

I’m an aspiring author and artist, and my posts on this blog will reflect that. If you want to suggest a prompt or ask a question relevant to any of my interests, feel free. I can’t promise to fulfill or address everything that comes my way, but I’m open to recommendations.

TAG DIRECTORY:

#DB:Re will be appended to posts relating to my Dragon Ball AU project. I might create a master-post for this project later down the line once I’ve posted enough relevant art and writing excerpts/discussion to warrant it.

#my art will be appended to posts containing artwork I’ve created.

#my writing will be appended to posts containing prose excerpts, plot and world-building discussions, and plot and world-building outlines I’ve created.

#original work will be appended to posts discussing or containing my own original, non-fandom concepts.

Franchise-specific tags will be appended to fandom-relevant posts accordingly.

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 8

It's time to get everybody's favorite racist uncle Shinon back on our side! I only had to restart this map once, and it was because I forgot to bring Volke to open the chests. Otherwise, it was pretty smooth sailing.

Never change, Ike.

There he is... I honestly have such conflicted feelings about Shinon. He's one of those characters that I hate as a person, but at the same time, I appreciate him as a character. He adds a very important element to the Greil Mercs, in that he creates conflict, because he's an instigator by nature, like in the beginning when his values conflict with Titania's. Plus, the Greil Mercs call themselves a family, and you can't have a family without at least one racist asshole, right?

And okay, yes, his relationship with Rolf is cute. Apparently his support conversations with Janaff are really interesting, but I've never read them. Maybe I should do that sometime.

I don't plan on using Shinon in PoR, though. Rolf has exceeded my expectations, so he's going to remain my one and only archer. I'll probably use Shinon in RD, though, at least in part 3. I doubt I'll be bringing him to endgame, but we'll see.

Shinon said "give it your best shot" and Ike said "okay" and killed him with a critical hit on the first try.

I love this little contest these two set up, and I also love how we never hear about the conclusion, because we all know who came out on top in that 1v1 fight. And I just love Ike's growing confidence!! He's really growing into his role. This interaction is such a contrast from that battle in chapter 4.

Ahhh!! The confrontation between Soren and Nasir!!! This scene always hurts me to read.

I know that Nasir apologizes to Ike, but I believe he also owes Soren an apology for this. Threatening to out Soren if Soren doesn't agree to look the other way? That's so cruel. Nasir, I love you, but wtf.

Fuck, I always forget how dumb Homasa looks. At first glance, it looks like he has short hair, but no, his hair is actually long in the back. Like, what is that supposed to be? A mullet? Why doesn't the hair from the top flow into the hair that goes down his neck? Why does it look like he has two separate hairstyles going on at the same time? The game wants me to be intimidated by this high-crit rate swordmaster, but then they make him look like this.

Jill and Mist's A support! I know I said I wanted the Mist and Boyd A support, and I am going to do that in RD, but I decided to go with this support in PoR. Why did I make this choice? I guess I was paranoid about Jill deserting, even though I know she doesn't unless you have her talk to her father.

Anyway, I know Mist is saying this because of her own issues regarding her recently deceased father, but man. Knowing what I know about Ashnard, this line hits different.

Why are mandolin and manicotti the two first words that come to Ike's mind? I had to google what manicotti was. Apparently it's a type of Italian pasta.

Reading this conversation, I was struck by how closely the laguz's approach to leadership aligns with Ashnard's whole philosophy about strength determining a person's worth. I wonder if this inspired or at least influenced Ashnard's worldview at some point? Perhaps it was something that he discussed with Almedha, back before their friends with benefits situationship turned sour.

The major difference, I think, is that laguz society don't expect obedience from its people. If they think the leader is worthy, then they will follow. Or so Ulki seems to imply. I wonder what happens when an unfavorable leader becomes king?

Hmmm... much to think about.

Anyway, that is part 8 over and done with. Next, I need to get the knight ring from Naesala.

[bijoumikhawal]

Part of the problem with MLM fetishization discourse (mainly found onTwitter, but i see it here too), is that people see effeminacy and femininity in men itself as a fetish, and therefore can't be assed to understand actual issues we face with regard to sexuality

It's impossible to talk about fatphobia, underlying assumptions often related to white supremacist beauty standards, adultification, ageism, etc that feminine men experience because people are too busy getting in a tizzy over a guy wearing skirts in media. One of the big issues for me is hypersexualization- I was getting sexualized at a very young age for being what I am, it's a big issue historically, and a lot of media I could access when I was younger was basically just porn/erotica. And that porn/erotica was often like. Racist, it hypermasculinzed Blackness in comparison to white effeminates, and it only portrayed fem men as submissive bottoms (which isn't itself bad) whose effeminacy was humiliation, and submission was bc they're worth less than "real men"

And like, the joke is people are so focused on wether or not people writing femmes who bottom is bad (it's just a thing that happens irl) that you can't talk about anything else. It's also a form of hypersexualization. The only other thing ppl wanna discuss is "heteronormativity". Fiction where femmes are fucking isn't a bad thing with that being said, and desexualizing us is also a common homophobic thing to do, and tends to loop back to the "less than a real man" thing.

And like, "yaoi"/"BL" isn't the big driving factor in hypersexualization here. If nobody in the US knew what that was I still would've been getting hit on by men twice my age at 16 (who sometimes would loudly advertise their interest in femmes specifically, or more accurately, "femboys" and "tr*ps").

And honestly when you deal with just like- grown ass men looking at you that way, people moaning and bitching that the big concern for fetishization here is basically wether or not the character exists only deepens the shame felt from those interactions. I was made to feel uncomfortable and gross because my gender presentation was seen as sexual when I was a teenager, and all this shit does is go "yeah, it is sexual, when I look at people like you I think about sex and how the sex you have is bad". And part of my Ick with portrayals of femmes is that we're assumed as submissive bottoms because I'm not, but this is still deeply harmful to people that are because you're telling queers the way they fuck is morally wrong and you're instilling shame over it.

And like... actual fetishization for me is more often when femmes as objects of sexual desire are seen that way through a lens of "you're a faggot so you're beneath me, you should thank me when I call you slurs and do xyz, you're trash, shaving you so you have less body hair (so you look more feminine) is a punishment and symbolizes my superiority" because it's just intracommunity femmephobia/effemiphobia with a boner.

Its not that other things are non-issues but cis women clumsily writing a masc/femme dynamic is probably more likely to make me laugh than feel ashamed or disgusted, and instances of feminizing a character for bigotry reasons in fandom are less common than people complaining about effeminacy existing at all (including with femme transmasc characters, especially because usually those aren't being written by cis people). The actual things that have made me cringe with shame and disgust about cis women's view of feminine and effeminate men sexually are more difficult for me to unsnarl because I see it less often, and it's sometimes more visceral because while I was sexualized by men I was actually abused by women, but I'll be frank; those things usually aren't occurring in discussions about fandom.

When I get disgusted in fandom discussion isn't about femme characters existing at all, or top/bottom/switch- they're about people acting like writing romance/erotica about men fucking is the sacred right of cis women and any discussion about equity in publishing means you're attacking fandom when they're two different things, and that that right is more important than the fact that queer men can struggle to get published in romance- and subsequent issues with poverty. Or the insistence that to be fetishized you need to be a woman because fetishization is stored in the pussy (revealing they haven't thought about racism in the romance genre, and don't think about trans women). Its about queer men in fandom writing smut and getting harassed by women who write the exact same type of it because the way they do it is somehow bad. It's about my sexuality being seen as piece of land to fight over, that I'm not supposed to be on, not writing about men in fishnets.