#BINARY AMIRITE

[dreamdancerdotfile]

„There is no feeling, but the no feeling hurts“

[when-wax-wings-melt]

damn the gender norms don't just have hands Sophie is physically giving them boxing gloves and putting them in the ring!

[that-metalhead-ace]

ok so i forgot to post this, i meant to do it last week, but like out of the godamn blue, my grandmother just casually mentioned that she "happens to have tickets" to see billy joel at Madison Square garden for her, me, and my mom. Mind you i got this text in 3rd period so now i have to study up on my billy joel discography, and style an outfit based off his 70s looks

What a perfect opportunity for an older teenager currently struggling with gender dysphoria and doesn't know if they want to dress masc fem or both 👍 (idc what anyone says, 70s billy joel is gender goals LIKE THE HAIRRR I WANT ITT)

[indecisitivity]

so is it just me or... (TMAGP edition)

do Jon Chester and Martin Norris seem to sound... less computerized as they keep reading?

did everyone have a solid minute of hold up. wHAT. when we heard Gwen's last name?

could windows 95 have anything to do with Windows 95 Tips, Tricks and Tweaks and/or Binary?

is Alice, with her name, personality and accent (don't come at me for this one i'm not british) a reflection of one (Alice) Daisy Tonner? does this mean that every tmagp character is potentially a reflection of a tma character?

(also gwen/alice and/or lena/gwen the lesbian office romance we all deserve amirite)

[h0bg0blin-meat]

What hindu gods/deities are lgbt (I'm sorry if this is rude or ignorant I just wish to learn as I've heard some are)

Dw it's neither rude nor ignorant. Now before I start I do wanna say that almost all the queerness we see in Hindu mythology is highly subtextual most of the time, which is like pretty obvious cuz these were the ancient times. So this might lead to a varied number of interpretations, and I can only offer the same. But most of them are pretty convincingly queer, so let's get into it cuz why tf not. (This is gonna be a loooooong post so buckle up)

Vishnu

This fella is probably the most pan-coded deity in the entire pantheon. Extremely comfortable with both his masculine and feminine side, Vishnu can sometimes be considered one of the peak genderfluid icons out there. His avatar, Krishna, despite being referred to as the Parampurush (in other words the manliest man in the entire universe), his physical appearance (which is what is considered to be a very feminine body for a man today, i.e., slender and soft) breaks the stereotype of what masculine man should look like. There are paintings of him and Radha where I've stared for like a hot minute trying to figure out which one is Radha (mostly in grayscale cuz otherwise their complexions are a dead giveaway) and yet, he slays it like a badass.

Then we also have Mohini, the goddess of beauty probably the best seductress out there, and the only female avatar of Vishnu. Through her having a union (yk what they mean by that) with Shiva (AHEM subtext amirit), Vishnu gave birth to Ayyappa, and wouldja look at dat he has two dads, which was actually prophesized. Mohini in one of the versions of Mahabharata (not the original one) ALSO slept with Iravan (Arjun's son) the night before he was gonna offer himself as a sacrifice for the Kurukshetra war. Reason was that Iravan had a wish to get married and spend the night with his wife before dying, and wishing his wife would mourn for him after his death. So Krishna felt bad for him, turned himself into Mohini and married him. The next day she held her husband's body and mourned for him like any wife would. We can also go back to the time where he sported (make of that word what you will) with Arjuni (female version of Arjun) as well as the female version of Narad (for a year in the latter's case).

In short, we can see how chill Krishna is with his fluidity with sexuality and gender, so much so that it's hard to put a label on him sometimes, which is fine. But yes interpreting him as queer wouldn't necessarily be a preposterous claim after all.

Shiva

Tbh Shiva is also pretty queer-coded, given his union with Mohini (and yes he specifically ASKED Vishnu to turn into her and hence he KNEW it was his best friend after all), and him turning into a woman to join Krishna's leela that one time, which also denotes that he's pretty confident in his gender fluidity as well, to some extent. He also has a sort of female avatar, who's actually very underrated. I think it's called Shivani. Also no one can deny the tension between Shiva and Vishnu let's be real here. They even have a ship name- Harihar, PLUS that "Vishnu is in the heart of Shiva and Shiva is in the heart of Vishnu" line. Btw this was a joke, but now you know why they're one of the popular ships of Hindu mythology. I personally have very neutral stance to the kind of bond they share, whether you call it platonic or something else.

(Note that I personally do not consider Ardhanarishwar and Vaikunthakamalaja as any genderfluid thingy because I just see them as literal fusions of the two couples, but yes many consider these two fused versions of Parvati-Shiva and Lakshmi-Narayan respectively to be gender-nonconforming, or non-binary of some sort.)

Lakshmi

Why did I add her here? Because I have a feeling she might be bi, given the fact that her husband is also technically her wife, considering we take Mohini into account, who I'm pretty sure she loves just as much as she loves Vishnu. But again, that's just my take on it.

Agni

Now he's one of the more popular queer-coded Hindu gods, specifically known for his implied poly-esque relationship with his wife Svaha and Soma (the wind god). Now many sites on Google have claimed Soma to be his husband, but I am yet to find a scriptural evidence for that claim, so I suggest you to take their words with a grain of salt. But what IS true is that these two guys do share a pretty profound bond. There was also this one instance where Soma went to a mountain and Agni followed him. Then both of them at the top of that mountain, 'became one' (what does that mean? not sure but it sure as hell sounded romantic. anyways). Also Soma is considered the "seed" and Agni the "progenitor" hence releasing the "seed". Now again what does that mean? Idk but that's sus as hell for sure.

Plus, Agni is also very well-known to be the (oral) receptor of Shiva's (and sometimes Soma's but not sure about the second one) semen, which he then flung into Ganga cuz it was too hot to bear for him, and that's how Kartikeya/Murugan/Skanda (Shiva and Parvati's son and a God of war) was born. So yeah.

Mitra-Varuna

These two.... are another pair of popular queer-coded Hindu deities. They're almost always summoned and worshipped together, and you can say they have canonically.... well had a union, and good news is none of them became a woman for the deed. Their union is recorded in the Shatapatha Brahmana 2.4.4.19, where Mitra is said to have "implanted his seed in Varuna" (hmmm nothing homosexual going on here) during the waning moon. Many people consider this a metaphor for the cyclic nature of celestial phenomena so it's upto you to interpret it however you want.

Now they also give off that sunshine x grumpy vibe, with Mitra being the god of friendship, sun, daylight, dawn and stuff while Varuna is the god of the waters, moon, nighttime, dusk etc. Plus, the latter has anger issues but he has a bubbly Mitra (pun intended) to calm him down for dat :D.

They are also known for siring two sages, Agastya and Vasistha after they accidentally released and mixed their semen into a pot as a result of getting enchanted by Urvashi (one of the apsaras or celestial nymphs).

Budh and Ila

Budh is technically an AMAB non-binary (or intersex) deity (and technically the planet Mercury) born to Chandra (who's also synonymous to Soma most of the time) and Tara, to put it simply, and got cursed to be neither male nor female because Chandra had an affair with someone else's wife -_- (Tara was the wife of Brihaspati, or Jupiter, who was also the guru of the gods).

Ila is another genderfluid deity. Some versions of the myth says they were born a woman, some say they were born a man called Sudyumna, while some say they were born a woman, but since their parents wanted a son, Mitra-Varuna (who they preyed to) changed their gender and Sudyumna was born (but then there was some issue with the rituals, which led to the duo to turn him back to a woman, which is when they took the name of Ila. Ik, too much gendershifting going on, bear with me). Anyhoo they got this genderfluidity from Shiva's spell and every month they'd change sex from Sudyumna to Ila and back to Sudyumna and so on. Budh got enchanted by Ila and married her, and bore the Pururavas with her.

Later on, some versions say Ila permanently turned into a man with Parvati's boon. But personally interpreting, Budh was technically still married to Sudyumna so..... idk what happened to them afterwards tho. I hope they were still spouses...

[mush-beep]

Fun fact: you’re a normal person, not nonbinary, because there is not a single human who has ever completely confirmed to gender stereotypes

hellooooo. are you one of those little terfie merfies that i called out sometime?

it's a shame you're anonymous, because that means you don't want me to call your other posts and asks out that are probably trying to convince other enbies that we are fake. :3 poor lil anon

being nonbinary isn't about gender stereotypes. it's about gender. stop trying to convince me that i'm cis right now. also, what do you mean by normal person? i am a normal person. well not really amirite but yes. nonbinary people are normal, you ignorant piece of shit.

¯⁠\⁠_⁠ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ⁠_⁠/⁠¯

also being non binary is the LEAST interesting thing about my blog, toe-eyed cabbage-wrapped-foot asshole. how about you check out my other posts huh? my rat post? you can ask about that sweetie. or a meme that i reblogged.

ask rules: dude, you know i'm queer and non-cis and non-het. i'm going to change, but not automatically into a cishet little person who will obey to your asks and will believe every word of bullshit you say.

moots, help me out here. also non moots. this anon is fucking going down.

[the-delta-quadrant]

it's so interesting to me that the same people who advocate for lifting up the most marginalised people within a community throw that idea out the window when it comes to nonbinary people.

then it's always "one step at a time, wait until it's your turn, we have to make the cis understand the most privileged and palatable part of our community first".

and a lot of the time it's not just putting binary trans people first, it's putting them first while also actively harming nonbinary people with oversimplified ideas of transness.

people always seem to forget that there are more axes of privilege in queer spaces than cis privilege and a shitty oversimplified idea of straight privilege. the same thing happens to mspecs and aspecs. we're told to wait until it's our turn, until mono gays got theirs. but they'll never get theirs because even mono gays still have their rights taken away, so people who don't have mono or allo privilege are ignored & erased, with mono gays being lifted up at the cost of aspecs and mspec inclusion & wellbeing.

this is a great example of people being allies to only binary trans people while harming nonbinary people. it's putting cis bigots' feelings over nonbinary lives by throwing nonbinary people under the bus in order to not confuse & overwhelm the poor cis people who can't see beyond the binary.

but as long as cis people are ok with binary trans people it doesn't matter what happens to nonbinary people, amirite?

fuck your "trans activism" if it harms nonbinary people.

[calliecho]

Calli's Shirt Lift - Masculinization Sequence

So much for No Nuts November, amirite??? Sometimes I fantasize about becoming more masculine... which is really weird since I'm AMAB non-binary and have been working for years to be on the  feminine side of androgynous. Gender is crazy, y'all.

Image Description: A sequence of three images. The background of the first panel is a mix of pink and blue. The non-binary (but feminine in appearance) Calli is grasping the bottom of their long-sleeve shirt. They say: "I keep seeing this Shirt Lift thing going around... does it actually work?" In the second panel the background has shifted to be more blue. A pink and blue arrow to the right of Calli points upward, following the motion of Calli lifting their shirt. Their sleeves stay in place and their bare chest is exposed, though without the feminine breasts that were present in the first panel. They say: "Uhh!? This feels really weird!!" The background of the third panel is completely blue. Cal has clearly become taller, his head poking up from the top of the panel. His green hair is shorter, he's blushing, and one hand is running down his flat chest under his shirt. He says: "Oh! This is... Uhm... o///o"

= == === == = Please fave, comment, and watch -- it's really appreciated! Drawn in Procreate on iPad Pro

[gendiebrainrotreceipts]

My mom works as a lawyer for our state’s public schools, and she says that over half of the cases she deals with are families whining about how the school doesn’t do enough to validate their child’s trans/non-binary identity. Parents are literally suing schools for refusing to allows boys in the girls’ locker rooms & bathrooms. They say it causes their child to be depressed and suicidal. It makes me want to scream. Everything about the trans movement seems so clearly delusional to me and I can’t believe everyone is just playing along with it.

I swear in 20+ years people will study this phenomenon and go ‘what the fuck??…olden time people amirite’. The same way we talk about similar historical phenomenons now. People throughout history assumed that because they were modern and innovative and new that what they’re doing is obviously the future way of things, and it’s only looking back people say what on the earth were the thinking. In the moment of every medical scandal, of every social phenomenon, people are convinced they are correct and completely different to everyone who was wrong before. But in reality we are no different to the people who came before us, to the people who believed lobotomies were the future of medicine and who believed satanism posed a real threat. It is only after the moment we appreciate the ridiculousness and lack of evidence of the beliefs behind these things. Caught up in the moment, when it is happening, it seems completely & totally legitimate.

[puppiekit]

The "trans men have level 100 infinite privilege" mindset always confuses me because I feel like it's rooted in this idea that ALL transmascs pass, or even decide to medically transition in the first place. Which literally is not the case. It just feels like people projecting stereotypes + their general disdain for cis dudes onto other trans people for like 0 reason honestly. Which quiet frankly I thought we realized was stupid 6 years ago

Like im not sure if acknowledging this makes people mad but. Trans men are not cis men!!!?? Whatever harms women DOES, inherently, harm us. I'm sorry to say it but I will never be able to separate myself from my birth sex. You think the government doesn't affect me? Reproductive laws? Healthcare ?? I'm still legally female and I still pass for a lady 90% of the time. And I will for a LONG time because, surprise, HRT can take years to reach full effect as its literally a second puberty.

It genuinely baffles me because you would think other trans folk would know better at this point? Don't you guys know how diverse trans people are? How diverse ones transition can be???? How diverse the literal affects of HRT itself can present from person to person??? Not every transmasc is going to look like Chris Pratt after 5 months on HRT. Most won't, even after a year or two. The community of being against binary boxes and stereotypes, constantly trying to fit people into binary boxes and stereotypes. And simply for the sake of undermining the issues they face! Insanity

And I mean at the end of the day I'm trans as hell so transphobia is going to effect me no matter what, even if I DID pass for cis. One bad anti-trans law and we are ALL done for. So the beef makes 0 sense to me. It's just surface level performative anger. And it solves nothing it just puts others down.

I think the funniest part about it to me tho, is that I can always tell the people saying that bs are white as all hell. They never EVER consider the poc within their own community, and how race can play a part in one's transition and subsequent oppression. You can just tell that their mindset is rooted in the idea of all transmascs magically morphing into white middle aged men overnight... erm who cares about poc / disabled trans folk amirite guys.....

[momett]

i hate this post so much because yes that's literally how binaries work. that is a binary. tme/tma are binary in nature and either implicitly or explicitly exclude intersex people from the conversation, especially with this definition.

notice the use of "gender binary" here. nobody is saying tme/tma are a new gender binary, just a new binary term used to divide the trans community, hyperfocuses on oppression (because what else are trans people outside of their relationship to suffering, amirite?), and outright leaves intersex people in the dust.

but also according to this persons definition it literally is a new gender binary because transfem and "everybody else" (meaning all other genders that aren't transfem) is a gender binary. i have to laugh honestly.

[17-noodlebird]

The Magical Digital Van

And here we have the main mode of transportation for our Digital Circus members: The Magical Digital Van!!!!

As you can see, I based the design off of The Magic School Bus and Vanzilla from The Loud House. It has a turquoise side exterior and aqua front. The Van has a face that can make facial expressions, but can't actually open her mouth, nor can she speak. But she still can communicate through vehicle noises and radio music (including meme sound effects). It has red velvet seats and seatbelts (what's safety without them, amirite?) for maximum comfort, as well as cupholders in between each seat,

It was built by Kinger, Bubble, Bethany, and Valerie to be able to withstand any kind of weather, crashes, and the usual wear and tear of a regular van. It can also survive landslides and floods.

The Van can carry up to 16 people, which is enough room for all eight Digital Circus members.

As for the seating arrangement, let's talk about that:

• Caine is, of course, the driver. He's the ringmaster of The Amazing Digital Circus, and thus the designated leader of the group. He's the dad friend of the group, who is very prone to anger and anxiety as a result of the antics he has to put up with, both coming from his superstars, and the different locations he and the others explore (WE GETTING TRAUMATIZED WITH THIS ONE!!!!). Pomni and Bubble have to keep his composure in check every now and then, so he doesn't lose whatever marbles he has left inside him.

• Pomni rides shotgun next to Caine. She's basically the little sister friend to Jax, Ragatha, and Gangle, the cousin friend of Zooble, and the granddaughter friend to Kinger. She's also the daughter friend to Caine and Bubble. Both Pomni and Bubble are Caine's straight men whenever he begins to get panicky, a la Crystal Gem Pearl from Steven Universe.

• Bubble rides behind Pomni and next to Kinger. Bubble is the mom friend of the group, having dialed back on the chaotic energy (but not completely tho) to keep Caine's sanity in check. He's also the most affectionate to Caine, since they're essentially lovers now, though the PDA is kept to a minimum to the point of almost non-existence. I'm deciding to make Caine x Bubble a slow burn because I'm still afraid what people think of this ship, though I do remind myself that it's a rarepair, so it's okay.

• Kinger rides next to Bubble and behind Caine, and acts as the grandpa friend. For once, he's not as unstable and kooky, but will space out from time to time. Being two years away from turning 50 will do that to you. He is a DreamWorks movie connoisseur, and it shows from time to time, including Shrek, Antz (though he thinks A Bug's Life is more superior in his opinion), and even Kung Fu Panda of all movies. He'll probably annoy people to death by reenacting the entire Bee Movie script (his favorite DreamWorks movie) and while in character too. The John Goodman bits make Caine nauseous.

• Gangle rides behind Bubble and next to her secret significant other, Zooble. Gangle is one of the little sister friends and is the most adorable weeb anyone's ever met. She forgets to put on her comedy mask for the almost all of the road trip, as she's just simply all too happy to be along for the ride.

• Zooble rides behind Kinger (meaning they are unfortunately in close proximity to Kinger's DreamWorks ramblings, much to their annoyance), and next to their secret girlfriend Gangle. Zooble acts as the non-binary emo cousin, and apparently has some beef with Caine, who Zooble sees as a dad figure, but they won't admit this to anyone. Zooble is a lot more stoic, but still gets occasionally infuriated by everyone's antics, just like Caine does. Like father, like... Zooble?

• In the back, we have Ragatha, who sits next to Jax, and right behind Gangle. Ragatha is the aunt friend of the group, who tries (and often fails miserably) to keep the peace amongst the group. Because of the fact that she was placed in the back, she is prone to motion sickness, especially whenever she tries to read a good book. Caine has to remind Ragatha to stop reading in the freaking Van whenever she starts to feel queasy.

• Last, but probably not the least, Jax is placed next to Ragatha and behind Zooble, which gives him the perfect opportunity to pick on the mix-and-match pal, especially during road games, with Jax's favorite road game being punch buggy. He's the older brother/uncle figure of the group, though most of the time, he tends to make the situation much worse than it needs to be, much to Ragatha's disappointment and Caine's frustration.

All other seats are occupied by their luggage. They packed a lot of luggage with them, but the one thing that that Pomni absolutely refuses to put in any suitcase is her Gummigoo plushie that she created by herself after the ringmaster gave her powers of her own two years ago. Cute, innit?

The trunk? Also their luggage. Look, guys. They packed a fuckton of things with them. Don't want to take any chances, now do we?

The Van will more than likely just sit there and look pretty while their adventures take place. And because it's magic, it can resist just about anything that the cruel mistress that is fate has to throw at her.

Kinger takes the Van for a joyride after it was built, and that's where he discovered that the Carnival also has a built in Bavarian village. Fortunately, he doesn't find out about Caine and Pomni's secret drinking hideout, the tavern that is La Pierrot.

So I guess that's all I have to say about the Van. It was kinda hard to draw, but I think I managed to capture the essence of what I was imagining.

[asterclaw]

i should learn binary. who needs ur stupid morse code, amirite

[lakemojave]

hey so im a different person but i just wanted to tag on to that one delightful prettygender anon... between you saying your gender is bisexual, your incredible fashion and *gestures at all of CT @cryptotheism , and actually at all of you as well* i too had the lightbulb moment that i can use other, more unconventional words to describe my gender. and i have lots of fun with it, i play around with it and its brought a lot of joy and laughter to my life, like when i see a pretty sunset or a nice outfit or a cool train or a child's toy or whatever, i point and say, "that. thats my gender. im thatthing-gender," but more importantly i started seriously describing my gender as trans—like, not just that i am transgender, which i am, but that my gender itself is fundamentally and inextricably trans in nature—and it helped me explain myself to my closest loved ones and my therapist, who is helping me find even better words that fit me comfortably, and my doctor. which this is like, maybe obvious for a lot of people, but was not even an option i understood one could have, that gender can be something outside of binary male, binary female, both or neither. anyway once i understood that, i started transitioning (something i thought was not an option for anyone but binary transfolk, or at least not an option for people like me specifically.. the things you can learn when you know to ask questions amirite) and for the first time in my rememberable life i don't want to die. and ive been trying to think of a good way to tell you and CT thank you for at least 4 months now and i was so stumped, i was waaaay overthinking it, right up until i saw that other anon. so. thank you lakemojave and cryptotheism, thank you for unknowingly saving my life. and thank you prettygender anon for making me realize i didn't need a fancy gimmick or performance, i can just.. say it, like you did. im finally free. i love youse (like strangers on a bus who are wearing the same shirt can love each other) goodnight

I'm. Wow thank you. I really don't know what to say but. I'm glad we've been such a healing influence for you.

Take care on the gender journey, it's a long walk with lots of turns, but there's a lot to discover and lots of gay sex to have on the way. Goodnight dear 💜

[seaside-werewolf]

Tumblr complain time- Remember when everyone was (rightly) against genderbends because they're horribly binary and just put stupid ideas of how MAN and WOMAN look onto various characters? It was like pretty universally agreed on right?

WHY are they popular again and why do I see them everywhere...but its okay theyre woke because instead of being called a genderbend they're called "transfem/transmasc version" but are still the same super binary stereotypical thing.

Im mainly thinking of mp100 and ones i see of Reigen/Serizawa tbh, where the 'transfem' version will be super feminine, makeup, added eyelashes, long hair, only wearing dresses/skirts to show they are GIRL and I hate it so much. If they were the ""opposite gender"" or whatever, why would they look any different? Shockingly i'm a butch lesbian who looks more like normal Reigen then the "transfem" version but yknow...also dont take this as me hating transfem/trans girl headcannons for these characters, i dont, but if that's your headcannon why do you have to change their looks so drastically to look so stereotypically "the other gender"? That seems not very good towards transfem people too, if the transfem versions of people Have to have full faces of makeup all the time, and only wear certain clothing etc...

Tbh it works much much better with trans girl Mob and I honestly love those, it makes sense for his character, hes not overly stereotypically girly and feminine and it just generally has much more thought behind it as an AU rather than "haha Reigen genderbend so he must wear all the makeup and dresses now bc woman amirite?"

If we're meant to be destroying gender binary and preconceived views of gender we gotta stop bringing back genderbends again 😭

[rondo-of-blog]

Change Alone is Neutral

Today I watched Street Fighter: The Movie. The live-action one, where Ming-Na Wen is Chun-Li and Guile is French.

For the uninitiated, Street Fighter: The Movie bears a surface-level resemblance to its namesake (or, the sequel to its namesake, rather) but diverges dramatically in various ways. Balrog's a good guy, Chun-Li's a journalist, and Zangief's... still a good guy, but he's VERY confused & susceptible to propaganda - relatable, amirite?

Now, when movies based on video games get talked about, the prevailing narrative is that they would be just peachy were it not for how many pesky CHANGES get made in the process of adapting the source material.

The primary audience for a video game adaptation ought to be the fans of the source material, after all, right? No Street Fighter fans went to theaters to see Street Fighter: The Movie in hopes of seeing, I dunno, Ryu entering into a found-family with his small-town cop bestie.

That all makes some amount of sense, but the truth isn't as simple as "is change good or bad?" That's yet another binary contrived to make sense of a chaotic world that defies description at its most beautiful.

No - to get to the heart of this, we're gonna have to take what I think I'll call a "step into the grey." Leave black-and-white behind and focus on what's in between it all.

So Street Fighter: The Movie is different. So what?

For one, it means we have an hour and 42 minutes of Balrog getting the heroic turn he's not gotten in the games in his 30+ years of character history. What they did to poor Grand L. Bush's hair in the film aside, I'd call everything in his depiction in the film a step up.

Gone are the constantly bugged-out eyes, gone is the characterization that (in the words of the Street Fighter fan wiki) paints him as a "greedy American boxer who loves booze, gambling and women." In the film he's a consistently-sympathetic figure who the audience is meant to root for, along with Chun-Li and E. Honda.

Now, is there anything wrong with Balrog being a villain in the actual Street Fighter games?... Not on its own but, in lieu of opening that can of beans, I'll just say it was refreshing to see him portrayed so positively.

The film setting itself apart from the games also means that the face of the damn series, Ryu, gets sidelined in favor of Jean-Claude Van Damme's Guile.

Now, am I gonna sit here and say I didn't enjoy Guile in the film? Of course not - he gets some of the best lines in the film and has an absolutely-magnetic presence on-camera, and Van Damme does an excellent job with the material.

... However.

Guile has never mattered like Ryu has mattered in Street Fighter. Ryu is the one on the covers, front-and-center, and would it have killed the film to let the big Hollywood name actor take the role of a memorable side-character (à la Ben Kenobi) while a fresher face - in this case, Byron Mann - takes the lead? I don't think so!

Just look at the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie! I hear it did pretty good doing pretty much that!

Does every movie need to be the same, then? Obviously not, and Street Fighter: The Movie would inevitably have been very different if Ryu took on a more central role. Could it have been closer to the games? Perhaps. Would that have made it better? Were the writers on the film even equipped to write a good movie centered around Ryu?

All questions I will happily shrug in response to, because I wasn't there and I can't know about things that never happened.

That's just two examples of where the film made changes to the source material as it adapted it into a movie, anyway. One positive and one negative, at least as I've presented them so far. But, getting back to the grey, let's take another look at both.

Balrog's heroic turn is nice and all, but it's not automatically good on its own. Its execution is what truly makes it great. Conversely, while I dislike the principle of him being sidelined, Ryu is still a lovable character in the film - even as he and Ken are randomly con men.

This is all very basic stuff, I realize. "Thing isn't bad on its own, it can be good if it's good" isn't exactly setting the world on fire for philosophizing. It's good to talk about this stuff anyway, I think, since it can be so easy to forget the simple things sometimes.

As far as change goes, has something I like ever changed to be something I didn't like? Of course! Several times!

When people get bogged down in rigid binaries though, which I see happening often, it can be a pretty awful scene. Conservatism is founded on a resistance to change, flatly painting any change taking place as straying from a grand old path - or 'GOP,' if you dig acronyms... and enemies of basically everything good in the world.

When something changes, that can be an opportunity to take a look at what you liked about it before so you can figure out why you don't like it now. Did it change, or did you change? If it changed into something you don't like, does that make it worse or just different? All questions that can lead to a better understanding of what you love.

I don't ask that you love every change that comes your way, all I ask is that we not flatten the conversation. Real-life exists on more than two dimensions and, while 2D can be fun for video games, I like it better this way. :)