#They get praised for stuff poc have already been doing and saying

[cherrysnax]

and maybe im sensitive and maybe im easily agitated and maybe im reminded how little of us it really is on this website but seeing white mfs call this place the white website without a sense of irony or shame is pissing me off

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #9 | 02.29.24

What is this?! Two devlogs in one month?! More likely than you think! This February has been very productive for me and the team, so let's dive right into it!

Ooooh boy, Raquel keeps knocking it out of the park! She managed to get done every expression for every LI, and I coded them all! Now we have our wonderful characters ready for their debut. We have been using the wonderful Image Tools for Ren'py made by the talented and hard-working Feniks, whose tutorials and resources save a lot of dev's lives every day! This tool has made everything a bit easier for newbies like me, hehe.

Here's a taste of our edgelord's expressions! 💜 They're kind of a cutie when they put some effort into it!

We also had our second valentine's day celebration art piece thanks to Kayden! Sadly with the reworked version of the demo, you won't meet Vycar yet, so we thought we could ask for his forgiveness by giving him a beautiful bouquet and reminding him how much of a sweetheart he is! 💜

Also, Raeya got a hair update!

So, we weren't completely satisfied with the way we portrayed Raeya's hair, so this has been a rework we were sure we wanted to make. At first we were just going to render it again, but we ended up working on it from scratch to better represent what we envisioned for her. We hope you like it as much as we do! ; v ;💜

As always, we are open to any critique or advice; we are white people who have the luck to be able to ask POC friends for their advice as we work, but the more the merrier! Don't hesitate to send us your opinion to our ask box or even our email, gamesravenstar@gmail.com!

When it comes to the background department, we have been making great progress thanks to Airyn, who is honestly leaving us with our mouths hanging open every time! Thanks to her, another background has been finished and another one is in the making, leaving only two backgrounds to be revised and approved!

I personally can't stop looking at this WIP! She understood perfectly what we wanted to portray just by looking at an old WIP we had, and this is what we have so far—and it's already amazing!

Allie has been OBLITERATING the script. As of today, I think we have almost gone through everything that needed to be corrected and discussing, and lord if the script doesn't look a 100% better after we put it in Allie's hands. The way she writes, the way she understands everything I want to say even when sometimes I don't even know myself—what a talented, inspiring and amazing writer they are. I know I may sound annoying at this point singing her praises endlessly, but if the script is in the state where it is now, it's thanks to her!

My programming adventure of the month has been a success, if I say so myself! I've coded the characters with aaaaall their layers, their expressions, the blinking animations, made some videos, and started coding the script. Step by step as they say; I've coded 18 pages, and there's, uh...142 more to go. Haha! *sobs*

BUT WE ARE GETTING THERE! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I can finally click 'new game' and read the script and see the stuff going on! YAY!

Some extras of the month—we are preparing a Casting Call to choose the voice acting talent that will hopefully give voice to our characters. The demo won't be fully voiced (it's impossible with the funds we have, which are...zero), but if we are lucky we'll use some of our personal savings to pay for at least a few lines for each character so you can get an idea of how they'll sound if we get funded! Raquel is preparing an art piece for the announcement, and I'm getting the document ready and asking fellow VA friends for advice :3.

Also, we have a new member here at Ravenstar Games! Some weeks ago Astro and I formally adopted our first kitty, 8 month old Riki, fulfilling one of our dreams. We got him from a feline association that works with volunteers and fosters cats who have been abandoned, cats they find on the street, and so on. Riki has been living with me since January, and he's a happy, long big boy who loves playing, cuddles, and sitting on my desk while I try to work!

Say hi to the Ravenstar family, Riki! 💜

A productive month full of accomplished milestones, excitement and new challenges! The team has worked so hard, and I've done my part too! We still don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but we have done a lot of stuff we were sure we wouldn't finish yet, and look at that! We are doing so well!

As you can probably tell, my batteries are starting to run low, so I'm going to leave this devlog here. Thank you all like always for cheering us on, for being here in this journey with us, and for all the love you send our way. Let's hope March is as amazing as February has been, for us and for all of you! 💜

[sweet-demiboi]

Trans!Eddie Munson x Male!Reader

Warnings: smut, but like eating Eddie out/giving him a blowjob, also fingering him, and him having a praise-kink, you get horny from pleasuring him (is better than it sounds here, I PROMISE) and you have a dick (amab), steamy make-out sessions, kinda sexy times in public, Billy being your supportive bestie, can be read by poc ig, asexuals (basically all people on the ace spectrum) - idk if you're comfortable with eating out somebody else, but if you are, you can read this (also: Eddie is M!Reader's boyfriend already, maybe that makes you more comfortable), m!reader is kinda dominant (but not really top/bottom, I mean he just gives a blowjob)

Summary: You take Eddie out on a date at Hawkin's public pool at night. It quickly becomes quite steamy.

Also: Fem!Readers - I'm not afraid to block you. Just don't interact with this/read it, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable.

"If my boss finds out about this I'm gonna kill you", Billy says when he hands you his keys to the public pool of Hawkins.

"Yeah, yeah, got it", you snatch them from him and smile sheepishly "Thank you for doing all of this, Bills. It really means a lot to me!"

He sighs "No problem. Just make sure you fuck that guy right, eh", he smirks when you shove him.

"No, seriously, thanks." He only nods while lighting a cigarette, non-verbally asking if you'd also like one.

You decline and get out of the camaro, walking up to your house because Billy had been kind enough to drive you there.

"Good luck, (Y/L/N)", he shouts after you before driving away with screetching tires.

You wave and then get inside - you have two hours for preparing yourself and the location for a date with your gorgeous boyfriend.

You decided to shower first, because hygiene. You put on some cologne and a shirt of 'Iron Maiden' which you might have lent from Eddie without him knowing. You are sure that he will love it on you though, like anytime you wear his clothes.

You snatch three bottles of beer from the fridge and get out of the house again, this time walking up to your own car.

You get in and the first thing you hear when you start the engine is metal. It must be one of Eddie's cassettes he left in here. You don't mind the music and drive to the pool unbothered.

You let yourself in through the entry for 'Employees only!' and put the beer in the fridge that stands in a lazily decorated room for staff.

You also get out the towels you brought and place them near the pool. Happy with the outcome you get back to the car to pick up Eddie from the trailerpark.

When you arrive there your metalhead is already waiting outside, waving at you eagerly. He wastes no time in climbing in your car and kissing you on the cheek as a greeting.

"Hello there", you chuckle "Hi", Eddie's eyes are beaming with joy, making your heart flutter.

"So, where are you taking me?", his curious nature is taking over, making you smile teasingly "Wouldn't be much of a surprise anymore if I told you"

"Buuut otherwise you are technically kidnapping me right now if you don't tell me where we're going"

"Honestly, I don't think you would be opposed to that idea"

"Nah, I wouldn't", Eddie agrees, then he starts commenting on your music: "Listening to pretty cool stuff, pretty boy"

"Mhm, your taste starts growing on me" You continue talking about music and Eddie rants a little about the fun-facts he knows of some bands and D&D as well.

You love listening to him speaking about the things he loves, so you don't bother interrupting him.

You are at the pool when Eddie's stories about magic come to an end and suddenly he looks at you excited.

"What are we doing here?", he asks with a grin spreading over his face.

"Billy gave me the keys. I figured you might like the privacy" You know that Eddie loves swimming but doesn't like all the people whispering about him, his tattoos and top-surgery scars (of which they don't know what caused them).

He leans over and kisses you on the lips this time. His own are soft and you can smell weed, cologne and the fresh tomatos Wayne grows in the small backyard on him. Eddie pulls you closer by the shoulder and you let it happen, let yourself sink into him.

"Been waiting for this", you smile against his lips "Actually, no, sorry, that sounds like I only want to do sexual things with you, which I want, but it's not the main reason of this date. Or our relationship, because I really love your personality and everything and kissing and stuff is just a bonus." Your cheeks go a little red at the rant, but Eddie just smiles.

"I love you too. It's cute when you do that", he kisses the tip of your nose and gets out of the car. You follow after him, a smile on your face.

"Also, that's my shirt!", he exclaims, you don't argue "You left it at mine and I... didn't bother bringing it back to you"

Eddie scoffs playfully at that "How naughty of you" You continue your banter while stripping down, already next to the pool, to your boxers then there is a moment of silence only filled by a grin sneaking on Eddie's face.

When you realise what he's about to do, you are already falling in the water, your boyfriend right behind you. Eddie's laugh is loud when you both are up again, you smack him lightly.

"Jerk" - "Aw, you're so right"

You're diving, make swimming races, battle each other in splashing-competitions and jump in the water from the poolside (Billy would be furious).

When you're both absolutely powered out you get the beer. Sitting next to each other and letting your legs hang in the water is really nice. You lean your head on Eddie's shoulder and basically feel him smile at you.

You take a gulp from your beer "How has your day been so far?"

"Far better since you are here", you smile at that "Dysphoria?" Eddie shruggs "A little" - "Why?"

"No particular reason", he replies "Just...", a sigh follows "My bottom.. like parts- I don't feel so great about them all the time, honestly."

You take his hand in yours in a hope to be comforting "Would you like some convincing of your body being awesome and masc and wonderful?", you ask, Eddie turns his head to you "Hell yeah, what do you have in mind?"

You only smirk at him mieschivously and kiss his lips. You know that he loves making out with you, so you go all out: Caressing his cheeks, touching his back and twisting his nipples. He groans at that.

Your smirk only deepens and you jump back in the water, now you are between his legs. Your feet find a hold on a little ledge under water, so your head is before his crotch.

At first you place your hands on either side of his legs and continue teasing his nipples while pressing yourself upwards with your arms.

Eddie's quiet moans are your reward, plus you love the feeling of his hands in your hair, pulling you towards him even closer.

You scatter his stomach with hickeys and kisses, while you look in his chocolate eyes gleaming from pleasure.

You are at his boxershorts now, two fingers already slipped under the material, still you ask for his permission: "Would you like to take these off so I can continue?"

Eddie nods frantically, making you chuckle. You have never seen him discard his underwear this fast before.

"Aw, are you a little desperate, baby?"

"Y-yes"

"Such a good boy for me, really", you smile, kissing his inner thighs. Eddie whines, edging you on.

"I know baby, you want it bad - just a little more patience and you'll get everything you want."

"Okay", he breathes out, visibly trying to keep his cool.

Your hands travel the sides of his body, graze over his tattoos and finally hold on to his middle "Jesus, I love your slutty little waist so much"

You start massaging his skin, lifting yourself out of the water a little to pepper kisses over his sides, adding a few little red marks.

Eddie is a mess at that point. Whining and moaning lowly the entire time, and you enjoy every sound that comes out of his mouth.

"Baby, you're being so good for me", you praise him "Such a good boy" You know he's actually a slut for being called this and being praised.

One of your hands sneaks down to his crotch and starts playing with his cute little dick, which is already slick with his arousal. Eddie's moanes become high-pitched at that and he looks at you with even more want in his eyes.

"Tell me what you want", you request "You earned it"

"Your tongue, please", his hands are shaking "Between my legs"

"Do you want me to eat you out or suck your dick?"

"B-both, maybe?"

"Both it is", you smile at him and then go down on his body again. You push your face between his legs and start expertantly licking his wet boypussy.

You already know the parts he likes to be taken care of the most, so you start there. For example the little head of his dick. You lick it, take it between your lips and let your fingers graze it, Eddie's a moaning mess either way.

"This feels so good", he whispers out "More, please"

You know what he meant by that, so you push two fingers inside him, which has him moaning so loud, he has to slap a hand over his mouth to not disturb anybody living near the pool.

Your middle- and ring-finger glide in and out of him with ease, hitting his special spot with every thrust. You can feel the little hard spot inside him when moving past his soft, wet walls.

Eddie's breathing now is completely out of control, letting you know that he's about to come. You do what he likes most: Pull your fingers out of him and finish him off with only your tongue inside him.

Your arms grip his thigs while you taste him on your tongue. It's more addictive than smoking to you, so you savor every drop of him, even your chin becomes wet from it.

"I-I'm gonna come!", Eddie almost screams out, not able to hold himself back. As if I didn't know, you think to yourself with a smirk. But your boy likes to let you know about everything concerning his orgasm as you might not let him experience it. You only do that rarely though.

He comes on your tongue with a very guttural moan, making your own dick jump a little. You love it when Eddie is being vocal.

He eventually comes down from his high, but stays lying on his back, trying to catch his breath. You sit down next to him, licking your lips smilingly.

"Did you enjoy it that much, pretty boy?", you ask, pleased with yourself.

"Fuck, yes, I did.", Eddie turns his head in your direction "You're always so good"

You lean down to kiss him again, knowing that he quite enjoys tasting himself on your tongue as well. You were not wrong as Eddie pulls you in, still very much aroused.

He is french-kissing you at a pool at night in a very much homophobic town. The world is perfect in that moment when only the stars are watching and the moon spends light. And you are holding the most precious boy on earth in your arms.

[thedawningofthehour]

Ok, I just found out that the supreme court of the OH SO FUCKING GREAT united states just ruled that it is not ok for institutions to take action to level the educational playing field for POC, but that it is ok to discriminate against LGBT+ people right on the last day of Pride month.

I don't live in the states, PERO ESTOY TAN JODIDAMENTE FURIOSA

Mientras tanto voy a soltar una pintoresca linea de insultos con la que espero que se ahogen

MALPARIDOS HIJOS DE REPUTISIMA MADRE ESPERO QUE LOS APALEEN EN LAS CALLES. MALANDROS MAMAGUEVOS CARACULOS.

Also the French are burning down half of France because of a cop killing a 17 year old.

Seriously, if it wasn't for the whole 'let's commit genocide' thing I'd be 1000% on Draxum's side.

If Draxum had omitted that issue and focused on the 'let's end capitalism' issue I'm sure the turtles would have at least considered joining him.

Literally everything in the world is going to hell and I have zero hope that it'll ever get better. Like, my mom's over here talking about how I really should start a retirement fund and most predictions have society collapsing completely before then. I will consider it a win if I'm still alive, honestly.

And it's impossible to get away from. My mother watches the news fucking constantly. She's better than she used to be, but her 'used to be' was 18-20 hours a day of straight news cycle so I can't really sing her praises. All day, she sits and watches the news and scrolls through political twitter on her phone. That's what she does. And then she rags on me for 'not keeping up with the news.' I KEEP UP WITH IT I JUST DO OTHER STUFF BESIDES THAT.

And she doesn't get how it's depressing. She thinks of it like a soap opera. Yes, she logically knows that me and my sister are going to have to live with this hell and says she's upset about that, but I don't think she actually believes it. It's like it isn't real to her.

You know, I dunk on the French language here, but nothing but respect for the French themselves. They're out there absolutely owning everyone else and showing us how a real protest is done. They don't take shit.

I live in Minneapolis. My sister actually lived just a few blocks from where George Floyd was killed at the time, and she shopped at that one Target that got looted. At the time I was working at a family-owned restaurant, and the owner and all her kids were hardcore alt-righters. Only one of them was a conspiracy theorist, (I think the others were literally too dumb to wrap their brains around conspiracy theories-I had to tell one, a woman in her fifties, what temperature to bake a cake at, for example) and when this was all going down he was going on nightly tirades about how the entire city was burning, already burnt to the ground.

And again. We're in Minneapolis. Not the city proper, but if you went outside you could see the city skyline. Very much not on fire.

I'm sure there's French people doing the same song and dance downplaying Merzouk's death and demonizing the protestors-including Macron, which makes me wonder if he's forgotten some key history-but honestly it seems like most people are rightfully enraged. Good for them. The French are being metal af right now and I am here for it. I don't like civil unrest, but I like teenagers getting killed even less.

This ended up just being a ramble about the general state of the world than anything about the fic, sorry. I've been kind of shit mentally the past few days and I think I needed to let some stuff out.

[universallywriting]

I saw your reblog and it shocks me ppl already forgot how much Rebecca made for the queers... she fought so much for us and is being bad mouthed like that..

It's something that's always been happening, and it's so frustrating. When we have queer creators, poc creators, and women creators doing their best and pushing against the system, people find it so easy to criticize and scold them for not doing more.

None of this should be targeted at our community. I'm mad about it to, but I can't understand how people try to mock the shows or creators for this stuff. Studios are the ones holding people back. Studios are the ones only allowing it after all these creators have fought with everything they have to make progress.

You know what's shitty rep by today's standards? Legend of Korra. But they had to fight for that rep, and they had to work for it, and while it's one thing to say we deserve better than korrasami now, it's another to dismiss the hard work people put in trying to push representation further.

I assume most of it is young kids who are looking back on these shows without the perspective of how much the world has changed. When I was a teenager there were ad campaigns trying to teach people not to use gay as a word that meant stupid, or boring, or lame, or terrible.

There's a difference between saying we have to do better now, and understanding and praising the limitations people fought under in the past. I think a lot of them will learn that as they get older.

[realbigpodcastslut]

Should You Listen to King Falls AM?

(Update at the bottom) 

Lately, I’ve seen a lot people looking to start KFAM and conflicting views on if you should listen. Being a fan for a long time, I’d like to put in my two-cents. I’m not going to tell you if you should listen or not, but I’ll present the facts so you can make your own choice.

Overall:

King Falls AM is a podcast, and out of the hundred+ I’ve listened to, it is definitely my favorite one and I always seem to be relistening to it. Taking place in the small town of King Falls, late-night radio hosts Sammy and Ben have to tackle the weird and whacky. It’s funny, the characters are amazing, and I just love the overall idea of love (platonic and romantic) conquering all. The music is also amazing. While the background music is to die for, this is really shown in their musical episode (which is done right).

Now, while it is my favorite podcast, there are a lot of faults. Representation is mishandled, there are problematic parts, and the creators and actors have had some not-so-great reactions to valid criticism. Also, the story is unfinished and there is no word if they’re coming back after COVID-19.

Characters:

I can’t deny, I love the characters (especially Lily Wright). The characters will worm their way into your heart until you fall in-love. Whether it’s the main characters of Sammy, Ben, (Emily, Troy, and Lily), or the townspeople, you’ll most likely end up loving them. And if you don’t love them, then you will hate them so much you love hating them. I’m going to avoid spoilers, but you will love these characters and feel for them. Even I, the stone-cold bitch that brags about not crying that much over media, ended up crying over them. 

On the other hand, the characters are not the stellar representation that a lot of podcasts have. There are plenty of LGBT characters later on, but a lot of them are stereotypes. Archie, a gay man, is overly camp, and Jacob, a bisexual man, is sex-crazed. Though, I should point out that almost every non-main character is a stereotype, but this can be off-putting to a lot of people. Women are also not represented great. They’re pretty one-dimensional and while they grow, they’re sort of looked-down upon and hated. This changes around episode 90 where it is specifically called out on and episodes 75+ start to change this poor representation somewhat. Though the representation of POC is just bad, with Walt being a stereotypical Native American man and Storm Sanders an alcoholic. There is also a racist witch, while hated by everyone, is still suspicious. 

Comedy:

King Falls AM is also extremely funny. There are several jokes they actually made me laugh out loud (hard to do) and in my relistens I still laugh. The character’s banter is hilarious and I just can’t state how funny some of the stuff is. While some stuff aren’t direct jokes, the absurdity of events are funny. For example, there is a vigilante named the Dirt who is basically a dimestore Batman in BDSM gear. Another thing is that there is a murderous Elf of the Shelf that says some things that are comedy gold. Even later on, they don’t sacrifice much of the comedy for arcs that will tear your heart out.

While the jokes are funny, there are many jokes that miss the mark and are not politically correct. One that sticks out is “Don’t assume my gender.” There are a lot of race jokes (ew) and quite a few on the holocaust. There are also a lot of gay jokes, which while sometimes done right, can make LGBT people uncomfortable. Especially when two characters (Archie and Lily) are made out to be too gay to function and make a lot of sexual jokes. This missing-the-mark is made clear as it is written by straight white men, which really can’t joke about stuff they don’t experience.

Themes:

The themes of KFAM are also good and you can’t ever go wrong with found-family. Love is the main aspect surrounding the show and whether platonic or romantic love, it’s embraced. I really enjoy how Sammy and Ben are able to say “I love you” to each other without it being seen as creepy or “gay.” Characters also grow for the better and are always pushing to be better. They even talk about mental health struggles and pushing each other up to be the best they can be. Lastly, the main storyline is compelling and it opens up for a lot of theorizing and trying to figure out what is going to happen (or what happened).

The themes of found family can be criticized over the fact that several characters already experienced found family due to being gay and already being a family, though I think this one is a little weak (but I included it). Some of the storylines may get boring and it can be a sort of slow-burn as things come to fruition. There are also plot holes (but not that noticeable).

Creators, Actors and Community:

This is the final point and the thing that has made many die-hard fans dislike KFAM and be ashamed for listening to it. Starting at episode 34, there was an episode on Helen Keller and it was essentially making fun of her. Obviously, fans did not like this episode and told the creators so. They did not apologize and basically said, “Sorry you didn’t like it.” Around April or March of 2020, one of the creators retweeted NSFW fan works and people told them how they needed to tag it, etc. They reacted poorly, only for a person to say “Death of the Author” (a literary idea where you ignore the author’s influence on a work), and then the creator freaked out, thinking this was a death threat. These were not the only events, so if you’d like to find out more, I have archived (with my friend) a decent amount on the blog @kfam-tea.

The community is also toxic. There have been a lot of times where die-hard fans will delete any criticism from the subreddit (though this has seemed to stop). These fans also started “attacking” WTNV after Cecil Baldwin (voice of Cecil) made a jab at other radio podcasts. The discord server is also closed off from everyone except those already on it, and they’ve deleted a lot of channels and such. Overall, the community is not the best and it’s quite divided.

Lastly, we don’t know if KFAM is coming back. While they said it was going to start after COVID-19, there’s reason to believe that isn’t the case. The creators unfollowed each other on Instagram and Twitter. There was a Reddit threat where people asked if it was coming back only for Kyle (co-creator) to call them entitled (yikes, I know). So far, there is another podcast made by everyone but Kyle and Trent (the actor for about half of the town).

Conclusion:

The choice to listen is up to you. You may or may not like it, but I’m not going to say this is strictly a terrible or amazing podcast. I think it is both. I fell in love with the story and while it has many, many, terrible warts, I think people should know what they are heading into. I see too many people either praising or hating KFAM completely, and it’s not fair. This story isn’t for everyone and has it’s bad moments, but it also has it’s wonderful moments. To listen, that is a personal decision for you to make.

UPDATE:

KFAM isn’t coming back and it left on a big cliffhanger so maybe don’t listen.

[tipsydipsydo]

Poolside Kisses 🍹[M]

Pairing: Jimin x chubby! poc! Reader

Gender of the reader: female

Word Count: 5.6k

Genre: Fluff and Smut

Warnings: mentions of insecurities; Jiminie and his jealousy (but at the end of the fic they're talking about that); Jiminie is horny as fuck; swearing; petnames; filthy language + filthy dirty talk; praising; body-worship; teasing; edging; begging; marking; thigh-riding and thigh-fucking(?); a little bit dom-/sub-themes; a bit of spanking and pussy exhibitionism; semi-public sex (can you count fucking in your friend's house as semi-public sex?); creampie; unprotected sex (stay safe please!); mentions of aftercare

A/N: Finally, I wrote something for chubby! Readers and for poc! Reader as well. The moodboard was ready for weeks but the fic wasn't... And now it got longer than expected!

The texting with my dear @h0esvck inspired me again to write this fic here, after we talked about cute and sexy bikinis for chubby girls and how the boys could react to these swimsuits! (I really love that bikini in the moodboard💕)

Summary: Jimin said, you should pack a swimsuit into your suitcase when you're going to visit him in Korea. You thought, you'll go bathing somewhere privately, maybe just with the boys or so... and not going to a pool party of one of Jimin's Idol friends where you'll not know anybody! Since then you hate yourself that you only brought your new bikini to Korea that reveals more of your bare skin that you're used to...

Note: It's proofread but I'm sorry when there are still some typos

Links:

My Imagines for your requests

My official Masterlist

And as always, everyone can read the fic who's interested in it 🤗💖 Enjoy!

「© tipsydipsydo」

This following story is my intellectual property and belongs only to my blog tipsydipsydo.tumblr.com!

I’ll not accept any kind of reposting, stealing or using/editing my work!

That includes reposting my content on other social media platforms too, even when you link me as the original author.

Thank you.

Since ten minutes you've been staring at the bikini that is spread out on the bed in front of you. You try to come to a solution for the problem that has been bothering you since this morning.

When Jimin said a week ago that you should pack swimwear for your visit in Korea, you already had been a little suspicious and unsettled. 

But you couldn't imagine anything else than maybe going with him and the other members to a privately rented pool. Or maybe going to a beach with them, where nobody knows them anyway, so that they don't get too much unnecessary attention.

The boys already know and love you, so they don't care much about how you look like, as long as you're happy and make Jimin happy as well.

With these thoughts, you calmed yourself a little bit down and quickly drove your worries into the last corner of your mind.

That was also the reason why you were thinking about to try something new, instead of just wearing this boring black one-piece swimsuit that you've had for the last six years.

Maybe something cute, a nice two-pieced swimsuit, something like a bikini or so, that flatters your curves and just hugs them in all the right ways. Something that makes you feel sexy and attracts Jimin's attention a bit more than usual.

The thought alone how Jimin always strips you down with his eyes when you wear something close-fitting, which emphasizes your large chest, your round butt or your juicy thighs in the right ways...

...oh god, just the thought of it makes your knees weak and your panties getting wet.

But that's not the point, you have a lot of other problems right now.

At breakfast this morning, Jimin told you for what exactly you need your swimwear. And it's nothing like you thought before, a day at the beach or at the pool and only with the other guys, no.

The real reason is, that one of Jimin's Idol Friends has his birthday today and throw a poolparty in his villa.

That's not how you imagined it...

Of course you are happy that Jimin is not shy about introducing you to all his other friends in addition to the members and showing up with you in public places.

Nevertheless, you're aware that being chubby is not one of the "desirable" standards of the beauty ideals in Korea. Plus, you're a part of people that have a colored skin tone and all of you still have to face unfortunately prejudice and racism in all corners of the world.

That doesn't mean Koreans are racists or they are going to bodyshame someone, oh hell no! But... of course there are always such kinds of worries, like that you couldn't fulfill all the expectations of his friends, ARMYs or in general the whole publicity.

But that shouldn't be your goal either. Jimin loves you the way you are and everyone else should accept and respect you as his girlfriend and thus your relationship.

Nevertheless, a dull feeling spreads out in your stomach at the thought of having to wear this two-pieced bathing suit.

You really like it and you immeaditly fell in love with this bikini when you tried it on while the shopping trip with your friends. You think that it emphatize your curvy figure wonderfully, hides your fluffy belly in a great way and still shows more skin than you are used to.

And that's exactly the point.

You would show more skin than you're actually used to, so you'd walk completely out of your well known and loved comfort zone... and now even in front of strangers you don't know at all!

Everything in you is reluctant to wear this bikini to this party. You had also thought about going on a quick shopping tour into the town this morning. Hoping to find a one-piece swimsuit that can hide your belly a little better than this bikini. But you rejected the thought so fast like it had came into your mind.

You know Seoul far too little to know, where to find the plus size clothing stores. You know they exist! After all, you had been in these shops with Jimin on your recent visits, but you have absolutely no clue where to find them. So you quickly throw this idea into your mental trash can.

So you have no choice but to put on this swimsuit here.

You sigh and look at this two-pieced bathing suit in frustration again. Why the heck were you so stupid and didn't pack both swimsuits straight away in your suitcase, then you wouldn't have this problem now! But you have no other option than to wear it, you don't want to explain to Jimin that you don't want to come to the party because of your swimsuit. He was so happy this morning to finally be able to introduce you as his girlfriend to all his other friends.

You are about to put your dress on when Jimin knocks gently on your door, the door of the guest room (which you hardly really "need" because you sleep with him in his bed all nights anyway) and asks you through the door if you're ready.

You answer him with a hasty "Yes, just give me two more minutes!" and quickly stuff your towels, a pair of fresh underwear, sunblocker and other things that maybe could be useful, into your beach bag.

You slip with your bare, dark blue painted toenails into your sandals and before you walk out of the door, you quickly fix your sun hat and sunglasses as you walk past the large full-body mirror.

You are as ready as you can be when you're going to show yourself to strangers in a swimsuit that is more skin-revealing for your usual standards.

When you open the door and give Jimin, who is standing in the hall and is waiting for you, a small smile, a bright smile spreads on his lips.

His eyes wander slowly down at your body, you don't miss how he licks his lips, which leave you even little bit embarrassed.

But he also looks so damn good in this white t-shirt that he wears, under which you already can imagine his well-built abs, together with this black, low hanging shorts and a pair of black sneakers, made of thin fabric. His outfit is so casual, but at the same time it looks so elegant on him!

"Damn, baby... you look absolutely gorgeous! You look so fantastic, to be honest I don't want to show you the others in this amazing outfit... I bet with you, that they start gawking and drooling because you are so damn sexy. I really have to be careful not to get jealous and to behave decently, so that I don’t do all these dirty fantasies that I have with you in my mind in front of other people’s eyes... ", says Jimin in a half serious, half playful tone and with a meaningful look into your eyes.

"Jimin! Don't say such things, I thought we want to go to the party of your friend!", you reply with a slightly embarrassed smile and hit him with gentle force at his right arm. He's whining a little bit, rubbing the hurting spot after your punch.

"Yes, yes! But that doesn't mean you have to hit me right away!", Jimin whines as you walk down the hall of the dorm to the front door. Like the gentleman he is, he opens the door to the passenger seat of the car dir you and let you get in with a charming smile.

On the way to the party you chat around, laughs about God knows everything and sings together to the latest summer hits that comes out of the radio. Jimin with his angelic voice and then you with your voice, that reminds you more of a screaming cat than anything else. Your boyfriend admits that you still have to practice a bit on your singing talent, but he motivates you with every new song again to sing along with him. But your exuberant, lively mood gets an unwanted damper when you turn into a street and you can already see all the countless cars parked on the roadside from the distance.

Some, like you, just seem to have arrived only a few minutes ago. When you see all these other slim, long-legged beauties in their gorgeous summer dresses or already in their bikinis outfits with these fit bodies, you swallow hard and start chewing on your lower lip. Jimin doesn't miss that.

"Baby?"

"Hm?"

"You think too much, my love. Just look at yourself, you are beautiful! And show that too, show them all how damn attractive you are. They'll love you, I promise! And if anyone giving you a weird look, this person will get a serious problem with me! Okay Darling? I love you and everybody else should know too how much you mean to me... and don't let these silly thoughts in your pretty head up there ruin the evening, okay?"

You take a deep breath and finally nod to Jimin confidently.

He is right, you are probably thinking too negative again. You should also go to this party without the prejudice, that they already dislike you for whatever reason and just think positive and enjoy the day.

"Ready, Baby?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

With a cheeky wink in your direction, Jimin gets out of the car and is fast enough at your door to open it for you again.

You roll your eyes in annoyance, but you can't help but smile.

"Jimin, that's really cute of you, but you don't always have to do that. I'm a confident, independent woman, I'm able to open the door by myself too!", you complain but have to laugh at the end of the sentences.

"Then show them with exactly this body here, how confident you are, my dear lady~", Jimin replies with a husky wisper into your ear, which let a shiver run down your back. You are only able to nod at this moment, try not to be too flustered by Jimin's sex appeal. The same person is fully aware of his influence on you and laughs contentedly as you walk together to the front door.

When the doorbell rings, it is opened by other guests who tell you and use vague hand gestures to indicate where the person, who has birthday today and is the actual party host, could be. You two thanks them and slowly find your way down to the terrace, between all of the chatting, sometimes already dancing and celebrating peoples.

It seems like you'll don't know anyone, really nobody at this party. Sometimes you only recognize some K-Pop Idols here and some other K-Drama actors and actresses there, but you don't know anybody really personally, except of Jimin. 

That's why you hold his hand even more tightly, afraid of losing him in the crowd. His thumb draw gentle circles over the back of your hand, he can feel how tense you are, try his best to calm you down. 

You're going to be stopped on your actual way to Jimin's Friend by some other idols or international celebrities. You have a small talk with them and you'll be greeted every time with very much enthusiasm when Jimin introduces you as his girlfriend.

You don't really know how to deal with it, least of all with their detailed gaze your body. They don't say anything and their looks are not to be rated directly as negative one, much more in curious and interested way?

But before you can start to worry too much about it, the small talk is already over and Jimin continues to guide you through the crowd to the rightful host, who is in the huge garden behind the villa.

This person greets Jimin with a buddy slap on the shoulder and pulls you into a warm hug, which you had not expected at all. You automatically stiffen up, so that the same person lets you go immediately and apologizes hastily for his inappropriate behavior.

At the same time, you want to make it clear that he didn't do anything wrong and you were just a little surprised. Now you both look at each other in an awkward silence and that makes you twoa little embarrassed, which makes Jimin laugh.

"...and may I introduce to you, that is my girlfriend Y/N."

"H-Hey Y/N! Nice to meet you! Jimin has told me so much about you and every time that happens, I got more curious to finally meet you! And when he said, that you'll be in Seoul in the week when I planned to throw my birthday party, I asked him, to please bring you here, so that I can finally get to know you in person. And when you two just showed up with holding hands, I got carried away a bit. Sorry for my overexited hug. But to Jimin's credit I can already say, that he has an exellent taste for amazing girls, like you are.", he says and gives Jimin and you a playful wink.

At this moment, a waitress with wonderfully decorated cocktails on a tray comes past you and Jimin's friend stops this person with a small gesture to give you two a cocktail of your choice. You all thank the waitress before letting her continue her round through the crowd.

Now the host returns his attention to you again.

"I am really happy that you made it to my party and that you-" at that moment he's looking at you with a big smile "... and that you have also agreed to come here! I assume that unfortunately you don't know that many guests here yet. But I can assure you, nobody will bite you here. But if somebody chat you up or so, please inform me or to the security guards, okay? Some of my guests may starts acting like the last idiots when they're drunk, but I don't let them ruin my party." The way he looks at you completely seriously and at the same time gives you an encouraging smile shows you, that he really tries his best to make you feel comfortable here.

You talk for another ten minutes or so, Jimin's friend already makes you laugh here and there with some jokes, so that you pretty fast don't feel like the "new girlfriend of his buddy" anymore. It's his charm that calms you down and you relax more and more with it. You realize, that everything isn't as terrible as you thought it would be.

To your relief, you also realize that your horror imagination is not coming true. Nobody is gawking at you like you're an exotic animal in the zoo. Nobody behaves weird around you and you haven't noticed until now that anyone starts gossiping about you or your relationship with Jimin.

Only one thing seems to be important to everyone. A great atmosphere and thus an unforgettable evening.

You are so engrossed in the conversation that you wince in surprise when someone taps your shoulder gently. You turn around and there is a girl in front of you, already in a bikini and soaking wet. She seems to have come straight out of the pool to you.

"Hey! You're... Y/N, right? I just want to ask you if you would like to come into the pool and play water volleyball with us? We need one more female player for our team, we want to beat the boys!", she says and point into the direction of the pool, where the other players wave with their hands enthusiastically and want to encourage you to play along with them.

Nevertheless, you look back at Jimin, still a little bit uncertain. Your boyfriend gives you an encouraging kiss on the lips and says teasingly: "Don't look at me so questioningly, come along and show them your talent. You can give me your dress and bag."

Before you can decide against it, you quickly slip out of your sandals and pull your summer dress over your head. You already put the bikini on when you still was in the dorm.

The girl who asked you for the game enthusiastically claps her hands together and immediately grabs your wrist to lead you to the pool.

Only in the corner of your eyes you can see how Jimin's jaw drop at your sight and look at you in disbelief.

However, you don't have time to think about his reaction. You are barely in the water and on your official position when the game already starts.

To be honest, you never thought that this afternoon and evening could turn out to be so good and that you just could play with the other games so boisterously. That everyone just treats you as normal like you are and nobody cares how you look.

But you get the first doubts, that everything is not as good as you think, when you see Jimin on the poolside with a less happy expression on his face. You apologize to the others and tell them, that you have to go to your boyfriend for a minute.

"Jimin? Is everything alright? What happens?", you als him, eyebrows drawn together in alarm.

"Y/N, can you come out of the water, please? I need to talk to you," Jimin replies shortly, looking at you intently.

"O-Okay, of course."

When you're about to step out of the water, he already starts to unfold your bath towel. As soon as you get out of the pool, he has put it over your shoulders and gripped your wrist. Without saying a word, he starts moving and pulls you to the door of the terrace and goes back into the house with you. Everything looks like that Jimin wants to drive home from the party prematurely and hastily.

"Jimin? Now tell me, what happened that you seem to want to go home just... now?!", you finally ask him, finding his behavior really questionable.

Your boyfriend just mumbles something incomprehensible, looks around in the hallway until he sprints up the stairs to the first floor with you.

"Jimin, we just can't-"

But the last words of your sentence get stuck in your throat when Jimin seems to have found what he was looking for all the time. The guest room.

He briefly looks around again to make sure that no one has followed you and noticed something about your unauthorized solo-action. Then he grabs the doorknob and quickly pulls you into the room and closes the door behind you.

You just want to start protesting again and ask him for a plausible answer for his behavior. But then you're already being pushed against the door and Jimin's hungry lips are chasing yours. 

The kiss is intense and greedy right at the beginning, Jimin's tongue is demanding, doesn't give you any time to understand what's going on.

"Baby, how dare you! These things I said to you when you came out of the guest room in this beautiful and sexy summer dress, I meant them absolutely seriously. How dare you, despite of my warning, to tease me so fucking much?! Then you don't have to be surprised that I can't hold back anymore. And besides that...", growls Jimin in a husky voice between two kisses in your ear.

"...I hate it how all the boys just looked at you all the time. They're speculating whether you were already in a relationship and how they could flirt with you... don't you understand that every guy down there wants you because you're so damn sexy?"

"Wait what, Jimin? I-I don't understand..." you stammer helplessly, your mind is already clouded by these breathtaking kisses Jimin gave you.

Jimin takes a deep breath, acting like he's trying to calm himself down.

"Your bikini, Babygirl. With this damn bikini you drive me crazy and wrap every guy around your little finger without even noticing. Seeing you in such an outfit is a real sin, Baby...", he whispers in your ear. 

Let the tip of his nose slide down your neck, inhale your scent, which has such an aphrodisiac effect on him. His hands find their way from your chubby cheeks down to your plush hips and grabs them firmly.

"Fuck, you're so sexy... I love you and your body so damn much that it hurts... I mean... literally!", he growls and rubs his already rock hard erection on your thick thigh.

"You look so damn sexy in this swimsuit and pretend that you have no idea what effect you have on me... and unfortunately also on these other guys down there... it's a shame! I think, I should show you what kind of indecent thoughts you've put in my head with this body, only covered by this little bit of fabric.", comes it panting from Jimin's lips.

He lets the wet towel drop from your shoulders onto the floor and steps a bit away from you to admire your whole beauty to the fullest. A shiver of desire runs down your spine, causing that something, that is all too familiar to you, starts growing in your abdomen. You start to squirm under his intense gaze.

"I'm really wondering who can be responsible for designing such a cute and at the same time so sexy swimsuit. And fuck. It looks incredibly good on you! How can you always wrapping me around your little finger? Hm Baby? Explain it to me...", purrs Jimin dreamily as he lets his hands wander on your big, perfect round ass and grabs it hard.

A whimper leaves your lips whe you feel his mouth on your neck, spreading kisses and is eager to give you enough hickey that everyone will surely see them. Just knowing that he marking you as his, as his girlfriend, makes your pussy even wetter than it already is.

"Don't tell me you're jealous, Jiminie~", you say teasingly, but at the same time you start moaning with closed eyes and furrowed eyebrows. He positions his right leg between your juicy thighs, flexes his thick thigh muscle just at the right moment and rubs it over your clit. Mastering thigh-fucking in a standing position so fucking well should be prohibited.

"Would you rather explain to me how I couldn't get horny and jealous at such a sight... and Baby? Do you like that? Do you like it how I fuck you with my thigh? How well I can stimulate your clit with it? I already can feel how wet you are... isn't that embarrassing for you, how desperate your pussy has become, just from grinding a little bit on my thigh?", he whispers. He doesn't even try to hide his satisfaction.

His words send an electric shock through your body... just the thought that you really look as good in the bikini as you hoped, so that Jimin can think of nothing more than to do dirty things with you. And then other guys also have noticed you, which has made Jimin so jealous, turns you more on at this moment than you would like to admit. You didn't want to make him jealous at all, but fuck... that's just so freaking hot and you could say your "plan" has more than worked out!

His hand travels to your breasts, pulls with a rough yank the top of your bikini over your breasts, a moan are leaving his lips when he see your big, beautiful breasts. Your nipples are already hard and are just waiting to be caressed.

"F-Fuck... Jimin... G-God... I-I need you!", you whimper as he wraps his lips around your left nipple. You grind in his thigh even more, at the end you start riding him.

"So damn desperate... but only for me. Right?"

"Yes, Jimin, yes! O-Only for you. B-But please, I-"

"Hm? What, Babygirl? What do you want? What are you so desperate for, my Dear? Tell me~"

Jimin loves to tease you. He doesn't give you what you need until you spell the dirty words out by yourself. He loves the way you get shy, always starting to stutter in a damn adorable way until those dirty words come over your own lips. He loves it when his good, decent girl says indecent and sinful things. He loves it when you talk dirty to him. 

"I-I want your big hard cock in my wet pussy... I-I... Oh god, Jimin... P-Please just fuck me... Please just fuck me like you already imagined...", you whine and bite your lower lip because of all this desire and need in your body. You need his cock in your pussy now. 

"Theoretically, you teased me a lot more with this godlike body, right? But we don't have the time for more teasing, I'll stuff your plump, pretty and sweet pussy with my big cock now and gonna fuck you so damn well~ Just look forward to the moment we're back home again... then you will get your well deserved punishment for making me so horny with this sinful outfit.", Jimin promised to you with a dark, lustful gaze.

With his hands on your delicious ass, he leads you from the door to the bed, which is placed on the opposite wall of the room.

"On your hands and feet, I want to fuck your naughty pussy nice and deep from behind. And you know how I loves it, to see your ass cheeks jiggle when I fuck you doggystyle~"

Oh God, now it can't be ans longer just water, that drips through the bottom of your panties onto the floor. Even if you don't want to admit it, his dirty talk and dominant behavior always makes a mess out of you.

In a matter of seconds, you turned your back to him and crawled onto the bed on all fours. For a very short moment you're sorry to ruin the neatly made bed with your still dripping body and the unrestrained sex, that will follow now. 

As soon as you have brought yourself into a comfortable and "stable" position, Jimin pulls your bikini panties down with an impatient tug. You moan in anticipation when you feel the cold air on your bare cunt, even starts to wiggle with your ass a bit more, knowing what kind of effect it has on Jimin.

A deep growl leaves his throat when he sees your plump, fluffy pussy lips are coated all over with your arousal. The way your thick ass cheeks jiggle causes that he gives you a hard slap on the your right butt cheek, what makes you whimper.

"Behave, little Girl.", he says quietly from behind with a warning undertone. 

But he doesn't fill your needy pussy immediately, he prefers to pull your ass cheeks apart at first, to have a much better view of your cunt. When he spreads your pussy lips with his index and middle finger open and sees your desperately waiting hole, clenching around nothing. Then he also lost his patience.

With uncoordinated movements of his hands, he pulls his shorts and boxers briefs down to his knees, grabs your hips with a firm grip and push himself into your tight pussy without any warning.

A little cry out of surprise and initial pain comes over your lips, but then you remember that you're having sex in a place where you shouldn't (especially not at this early hour!) and pressing your hands on your mouth quickly.

That’s better anyway. When Jimin fucks you hard, there are always noises coming out of your mouth that you never heard before from yourself.

In short: When Jimin fucks you hard, you're loud. Shamefully loud.

Your boyfriend doesn't give you much time to get used to his cock. But after these days you barely need to get used to it anyway, you have been doing it too often for the past few nights.

His thrusts are perfect, absolutely perfect... hard, fast and incredibly deep. Stretching your pussy just in the right way in all perfect places. And the more you can't hold up yourself on your arms because of the pleasure, the more you sag with your upper body onto the mattress.

This changes the angle even more and Jimin fills you up even deeper than before, finding that sweet spot in your body again. That spot that lets you see stars and the desire almost explodes deep inside your abdomen. But only almost.

This here is the best method for Jimin to torture you. Driving you to the edge of lust, but it's still not enough to let you cum.

Jimin loves this sight. 

He loves how your chubby body just shows him how well he fucks you. How the soft, plush flesh of your love handles or your ass cheeks jiggle with every hard thrust that his hips gives your plush body. 

How plump your pussy lips are, but how fucking tight your hole is, gripping his hard cock so damn well. He loves to places his palm between your thick thighs on your fluffy vulva, so soft because of that delicous extra flesh and toying your clit to elict even more sweet moans and whimpers from your lips.

"O-Oh my God, Jimin! P-Please don't stop, oh god, please don't stop fucking me and rubbing my clit like that! I-I'm gonna... I'm gonna c-cuu-", you moan, scream at the end, but you just can't stop yourself from being fucking loud.

And to be honest, Jimin doesn't want you to mute your voice. Deep inside of him, his little, dirty devil wants everyone down there to know that he's fucking you onto cloud nine.

When you cum, your walls contract so tightly, Jimin can't help but cum too, your pussy literally milks every drop of his cum out of his cock.

With a deep groan shoot Jimin his load deep into your pussy, mark you in the filthiest way possible as his girl.

You two are breathing heavily and have your eyes closed, Jimin lies himself down on your back. His hands slowly relax from the rigid grip on your hip, then he wraps his arms around your soft belly and lets himself fall to one side together with you, before he becomes too heavy for you.

In the following minutes your breath regulates themself and a certain silence gradually returns to the room. Only the dull bass of the music from outside breaks the silence, accompanied by laughter when someone jumps into the pool, screaming.

Jimin has softened and now slides out of you easily. You can feel the mattress sink under his weight as he gets up and goes into the guest bathroom to get a soft, wet washcloth for you. 

He quietly asks you to turn yourself on your back. He gently opens your legs and carefully cleans the mess between your thighs, trying his best to get you rid of his cum. After all, you want to stay a few more hours after this... Quickie? Can you call his here a Quickie?

It takes a moment for you both to straighten your clothes and hair so that no one can immediately see that you had wild sex less than 15 minutes ago.

Jimin is about to unlock the door when you grab his wrist.

"Jimin, let's be honest. No more strange jealousy actions today, okay?"

Jimin turns to you, looks at you thoughtfully until a cute smirk forms on his lips.

"Jealousy? I don't know that word, not anymore after I've marked your beautiful neck and chest all in detail. Now everyone will know that you're my girl!", says Jimin and gives you a quick kiss on the cheek.

You roll with your eyes and look back at him, pretty annoyed. 

"Jimin!"

"Yes, yes, Honey. I know... I know that I have to work on my jealousy problem...", Jimin says in a reassuring voice and looks at you seriously, showing you, that he understood what you mean.

"... but still you can't deny that you like it when I give you hickeys. When I visited you last time, I saw you proudly and satisfied admired my love bites in the mirror!", he reply with a mischievous and playful smirk.

"Oh god Jimin, you're going to shatter my last nerves!", you grumble and shoo him through the door.

You hate it that you can barely be mad at him over a longer time!

[angelofthequeers]

hi! So I have being thinking (or observing) lately, how people prefer lu//ka over ni//no (I mean lu//ka is shoved everywhere but thats not the point). Like lu//ka is praised for being chill, akumatized for someone else, being 'musical', protective, etc (honestly ni//no has more qualities unlike... Yeah). And it just bothers me so much idk. I mean pocs are always side eyed in favour of white characters that's not new but I guess the is-ni//no-actually-lu//ka (though a v fun crack idea) (1/n)

Not at all! I’ve also noticed how Nino is increasingly shoved to the side to make room for Luka, aka a generic “rebellious” white boy who looks like he never showers and his mum dresses him and whose interest in a younger girl is so creepy that he had to be retconned to be her age. And I don’t get it, because Nino has an actual fleshed-out personality considering his lack of screentime:

he’s impulsive and super protective of those he loves, to the point where he jumps into battle repeatedly against a literal supervillain who could crush him into a paper ball without effort if she really wanted to

but he can also be stubborn and drag his heels in, like in ‘Horrificator’ over the kiss scene that Alya didn’t include

he also got akumatised over his impulsiveness because he was so angry for his best friend

and yes, that’s different to Luka getting angry for Marinette in ‘Silencer’ because

he didn’t give a flying damn about the rest of the band, just the girl whose pants he wanted in

he didn’t actually??? Confront XY and Roth directly??? He just stood there trying to get Marinette to leave and then when she was threatened, he just stood there and stewed. Compare that to Nino, who actively went on the attack at Gabriel to try and fight for Adrien and damn the consequences

he’s got varied interests and personality outside of his DJing. He loves filmmaking, he’s goofy (think ‘Puppeteer 2’), he gets flustered easily, he parkours with Alya in their free time, he loves Just Dance...there’s so much more to him than just ‘plays an instrument and makes fun of a pretty girl for stuttering’

his self-worth issues! He didn’t think he was worthy of being a superhero, that he could defend Alya in an arm wrestle... I don’t know what Luka thinks of himself. I don’t even know if he thinks

he’s so selfless and loyal! Remember ‘Zombizou’, where he stayed behind so Alya wouldn’t be a zombie alone even though she wouldn’t have a clue once everything was fixed? Where he went in to bat for Adrien in ‘Bubbler’ even knowing he could be making an enemy out of a powerful and influential man? Where he stuck by Adrien in ‘Jackady’ and made sure he was safe? What has Luka done in comparison? And before people insist that he’s barely had any screentime, they also insist that Nino has no personality because he’s hardly ever on screen too and yet I can pick all of this about Nino, so they can’t have it both ways

And you’re bang-on with characters of colour being shoved aside for white ones. You see it in how Chloé replaces Alya as Marinette’s best friend despite being a literal horrific bully while Alya has been there for Marinette through thick and thin and is the literal reason why Marinette became Ladybug not just once but twice. You see it in the colourism (preferring lighter skin shades and features over darker ones) where Kagami has all but replaced Alya as a love interest for Marinette and sometimes even as her best friend because Alya is Lila’s new bestie. And that’s not to say that Kagaminette ship and friendship are bad! I love love LOVE them to bits and Kagami is one of my favourite characters of all time. But I hardly ever see Alyanette anymore in favour of Kagaminette, and even just Alya and Marinette best friend stuff because Kagami has essentially replaced Alya. And that’s also a common salt thing too; if it’s not Chloé replacing Alya, it’s Kagami.

Don’t get me wrong, Kagami is very much a POC. She’s faced a hell of a lot of undeserved backlash and awful treatment for being the “bitchy ice queen” and even fetishisation (don’t get me started please or I won’t shut up but some of the stuff I’ve seen has made me physically nauseous at the Asian fetishisation). But at the end of the day, I’ve personally seen her treated “better” than Alya...if by “better” you mean fetishised, which is a large part of why I don’t trust 90% of other Adrigaminette and Kagaminette fans. The way she’s treated compared to Alya looks more positive but it’s still fetishism and racism. She’s just not outright bashed as much as Alya because colourism and specifically anti-Black racism, as subconscious as it might sometimes be.

And that racism and colourism (which I most definitely had a point with I swear) is something that ties into the Luka and Nino thing, where people with lighter features are preferred over people with darker features. Luka has 1/100 the personality that Nino does and get he gets 100 times the love that Nino does. He also has people gushing over his appearance and how he’s a “hot bad boy” but I never see people loving Nino for his dark skin, for his brown eyes, for his prominent nose...for anything, really.

(Not to get personal but as a fellow Arab who also has brown eyes and a nose that’s not thin and dainty and is very obviously non-white and something I hated for years, that shit hurts)

Like, if someone doesn’t like Kagami, most of the time she’s just ignored as a character and the author/artist doesn’t touch on her. But if someone doesn’t like Alya? Instead of just having her be friends with other girls instead or just naturally drift apart from Marinette (which uh is still not cool), they go wild on her, turning her into an aggressive bitch who’s obsessed with her scoops and getting Adrien and Marinette together even at the cost of Marinette’s happiness. They take her flaws and wildly exaggerate them to justify hating her (don’t ask about the sheer vitriol I saw in the aftermath of ‘Feast’ over a mistake that Luka would just be coddled for). And while it’s not as prominent, because Alya is at the intersection of being a girl and a POC - especially a Black girl - and cops double the crap, I’ve also seen Nino demonised into a spineless idiot who just stands by and lets things happen instead of...you know, the boy who literally rushed a spider supervillain to save his girlfriend, knowing he could die very easily.

I just want some wholesome Adrino 😔 There’s all this “Luka would show Adrien how to rebel and just gets how he feels” and blah but like...Adrien already knows how to rebel. He just does it in little safe ways because he’s an abused kid, rather than doing what the salters think he should do and turning into a generic copy of Luka without a thought for the consequences that Gabriel can inflict on him because he’s still a kid under his parent’s “care”. And Nino already gets how Adrien feels! He’s Adrien’s best friend! He knows what to say to Adrien and how to be there for him without having to resort to strumming a guitar and telling Adrien how he feels like Luka does to Marinette.

Nino was Adrien’s first friend. Nino’s been there for Adrien through thick and thin, through having an arse of a parent who forces him to be flaky and unreliable with hangouts. Nino is physically affectionate with Adrien without throwing himself all over him like Chloé and Lila do. Nino’s actions as an akuma were to make his best friend happy. And yet people still seem to think that Luka both loves Adrien more and is a better choice for him. Why??? All Luka would do is sit there and play his guitar. Luka is his music and nothing else but Nino...Nino has so much more to him than just his DJing.

I feel like part of it is not wanting to break up DJWiFi, which...okay, valid. That’s one of my favourite ships of all time because they’re so darn happy and cute together and it makes me melt to see two POC happy together. I personally would turn to polyamory because I want massive cuddle piles. But if you don’t want that and you’re deadset on Lukadrien (😬) then just...don’t shove Nino to the side. Continue to include Nino as Adrien’s best friend and give him appropriate screentime and character growth outside of being a cardboard cutout friend. It’s not an either-or thing like so many people seem to think, and platonic friendships are just as important as romantic relationships.

[thehonestreader]

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Rating: F

It’s been years since Orisha had magic, years since the Raid occurred and King Saran’s army swept through the land, leaving every maji dead in their wake. Since then, Zelie and her family have managed to scrap by, always fearful that one day they won’t be able to pay the diviner tax on her. If that happens, she’ll be arrested and sent off to a labor camp that will likely lead to her death. Such is the fate of most diviners, the children of maji, now. It’s one day when Zelie goes to the market to get more money to cover this tax that a desperate girl grabs her and begs for her protection. From that moment, Zelie’s life will take a turn. Now, tasked with the overwhelming responsibility of bringing magic back to the world, Zelie and her friends will go on a dangerous adventure to undo that damage that was done so long ago.

--

This book has only done one thing for me and that’s to remind me why I stopped reading YA books. Pretty much everything I don’t like about most YA books is condensed into this one story and notched up to eleven. I struggled so much to just fight and get through this. I practically had to force myself to pick up this book and read more than ten pages at a time because I wasn’t enjoying it at all.

It’s been a while since I’ve given a book an F, which means it’s back to the bullet point review style since I refuse to write a paragraph for every single one of these issues.

1. The writing is so bland, especially when you consider that this is a fantasy novel. I expected so much more. More characterization, more world building, more rules to the magic system, more detail in general. The writing is the source of all of my problems. It’s the main hub and everything I mention after this just spirals from it.

2. These are cookie-cutter characters. There’s not a single unique one in this bunch. If you’ve read any mediocre YA book, then you’ve seen these characters before. They’re dull, they’re lifeless, they don’t have much going on beyond the surface level stuff.

3. All character voices sound exactly the same. The chapters are split between Zelie, Amari, and Inan, and if it wasn’t for their names being at the beginning of each chapter, I’d have no way of telling them apart.

4. The plot is painfully predictable. I saw every single major plot point coming from a mile away, and knowing how this story was going to go step by step for over 500 pages was absolute torture for me.

5. Dumb things happen to get the plot where the author wants it to go. As soon as a character would make a dumb decision, I knew what was coming. This ties back into point #4, but the fact that these decisions are so STUPID adds it as its own bullet point. Example: Zelie and her gang only have five days to get somewhere vitally important to their mission, but they stop to have a party. Because plot. And then the Bad Thing happens because they stayed. Oh no! Who could have seen this coming???

6. Character motivations and decisions make no sense whatsoever. Or they change constantly and are never explained in a way that’s believable or satisfying. That’s if they’re even explained at all. I have a ton of examples for this because it occurs all the time, but I’ll use the moment when Zelie has a chance to share the scroll’s magic and turn the people around her into maji. She thinks it’s the greatest idea ever until, uh oh, for some reason it’s not anymore and she doesn’t want to do it because magic is dangerous. But if you feel that way, Zelie, they why are you still trying to bring magic back to the whole world?

7. The “love” story. Oh my god, the “love” story. This might be the worst relationship like this I’ve ever had to experience in my life. It’s worse than any insta-love trash piles I’ve seen in the history of all terrible insta-love stories. It takes a less than a page. A page! This was the point in the book where I took the longest break in reading because I just couldn’t anymore.

8. Amari’s whole character introduction is extremely flawed. In her first chapter not only are we introduced to her, but we see her being spurred on by the death of her best friend and stealing the magic scroll. Amari is the epitome of what goes wrong when authors tell instead of show. First of all, I don’t know her as a character when she does all these things, so her decisions make no sense to me. And all this stuff about Binta should have been in separate chapters at the very beginning, that way I could actually see the relationship she and Amari had instead of just hearing about it afterward. That could have made Amari’s actions feel less fake when she steals the scroll. But no, all these memories of Binta happen after she’s dead, and I don’t feel the emotions the author wants me to feel since this is about some character I never even knew. And worse, Amari comes off as whiny because of it.

9. A majority of Amari’s chapters should have been given to Zelie. They’re together the entire time, and most of the time when Amari is narrating it feels like the reader is missing out on something. Especially when it comes to the magic and the mythology of this world. I don’t want Amari telling me these things because she doesn’t know anything to begin with. If Zelie had been narrating those chapters it would have been an easier way to work on defining this magic system.

10. For the first half of the book, Inan’s chapters should have been condensed down or just cut completely. He says the same thing every single time. “Duty before self. I force my magic down. Kill the girl, kill magic. Curse her and her silver eyes.” Nine chapters of this. So unnecessary.

11. The ending doesn’t make any sense at all if you take even one second to think about it. This is the only place I have spoilers so skip ahead if you don’t want to know how this story goes. So at the end when Zelie and her gang go to the magical island, Saran and his army are already there. But...how? It’s not said that Zelie gave him the location of the island. And even if she did, why would she not warn her allies that he’d be waiting for them when they got there? And on top of that, Saran managed to capture her father in less than a day and transport him to this island? How? HOW? Mama Agba should have seen that coming, no? But she’s mysteriously absent because...plot. Nothing clicks and it’s the final nail in this coffin for me.

I think the author had good intentions but she couldn’t execute. She talks about why she wrote this book and how seeing news about the murders of people like Mike Brown and Philando Castile made her feel angry and helpless. I absolutely applaud her for wanting to speak out against institutionalized racism and the murders of people of color at the hands of cops. And I’m glad that diversity is finally, finally getting into main stream books. It’s been too long and it’s great that books with POC characters are getting their time in the spotlight. But I’m not going to praise a mediocre book just because it has diversity and was written with good intentions. I’m not going to hype this up when I don’t think it deserves that hype.

-Review by C.M.

[starpaintedskinmuse]

First off I love your blog. And secondly, I am english and agree with 95% of your hating england posts. I am not a football fan, and I haaate the football culture here. Its an excuse for ignorant white men to behave even worse than they normally do. It compounds their intolerance of other countries and cultures and hides it under a veil of acceptability.

Its an excuse for them to get drunk and behave in abusive, and even more entitled ways. Like you dont walk out alone on the night of a big football match for a start.

And its all accepted under this guise of 'sport' and positive patriotism. Rather than excusing some of the worst parts of english men, and our culture in damaging, horrendous ways.

(Sos, I needed a rant. And to confirm your feelings towards england and football)

Hey! Firstly, thank you very very very veeeery much 💜 I saw you several times in my notes and everytime someone comes and stays I can't help myself but wonder why, my blog is such an incoherent mess :))

Secondly, I loved to hear those things from you! I might have been a little biased (it's sports, not diplomacy, can someone be blamed for this kind of views regarding a hobby?) since the English came across my two favourite NT's (Germany, which I've been supporting for several years already, and Italy, a team full of enthusiastic people who stole my heart and who happen to come from my favourite place on earth with which I feel a deep bound for, again, more than several yeas). I don't know if I made it clear before (probably not, considering that all I did most of the times was to reblog stuff from others), but I've got nothing against English people and definitely nothing against the individual players of your national team! I've got friends and family living in the UK, I myself visited your country two years ago: the experiences are somehow like almost everywhere in the world, you come across good and bad experiences, encounter good and bad people and so on. Yeah, so basically those things are not inborn, it's about each and every individual. Then some kind of behaviours become accepted and even generally praised... and this is were the trouble begin.

About the football fans... I've heard some things from one of my besties who works in London: watching the final together with some co-workers, surrounded by supporters of the English NT, they felt scarred and had to make sure they celebrate Italy's good moments discreetly... This adds to all the things I've read before (sure, I'm not fully confident in everything I read since I'm not in the middle of the things). Some football fans become really violent (not only on a physical level, but mostly verbally), but those are, exactly as you said, the undeducated, the bad people who only find in this sport an excuse to behave like brutes and a place to transfer their frustrations. It happens here in Eastern Europe too. Players with darker skin tones (not necessarily due to their ethnicity) are praised when they go through a good phase, but when they make a mistake, they suddenly turn into "filthy gypsies" (again, even if they are not rroma people, it's just because those mother f*uckers find it insulting to be a part of this community) or "dirty crows" ('crow' being a term used, again, for gypsies and in extention for other poc). All I'm trying to say it's... sports usually tend to bring out the true nature of those implied: if you are a good person, the supportive, enthusiastic, hopeful side of you comes out, but if you're full of issues, unjustified anger issues, a superiority/inferiority complex and you still don't know the basic principle of "Never judge a book by it's cover" , the contrary happens.

Well, I'm sorry for the long and boring rant, I guess it was way much longer than I've expected it to be... Thank you again for your ask, I love it when I come across lovely (and sane) people like you on this site! Have a wonderful week 💜

[tisfan]

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently; between the @bannedtogetherbingo2020 kerfluffle and the BLM protests 

(one thing that I’ve been doing recently that seems to annoy the living SHIT out of my fellow White People is correcting “riots” to “protests.” 

“Were you near the riots --” “I did not attend the protests, but I did donate to the medical fund for the man who was injured by removal of the statue on High Street.”

This seems to drive people absolutely batshit, and I will continue to do it. These are not riots and if they have similar characteristics with riots it’s because cops are treating everyone not even like criminals, but like hostile enemy forces.)

Mostly what I’ve been reading about is the difficulty that POC fans have in getting their voices heard in fandom. That the history of fandom is primarily the history of White Fandom. 

(this is long, so there’s more under the cut - I also tell stories A LOT so brace for personal experience asides)

I’ve been thinking about comments I’ve seen by black and brown fans about trying to get away from racist stories on A03. And trying to figure out if there’s a way to give people what they want -- a way to tag posts/topics/writers/ships on a permanent block list. I know I’ve spoken with several fans who have extensive filter scripts when they go looking for a new read and that shit is EXHAUSTING and doesn’t work necessarily on mobile devices.

I, for instance, have QUITE A LOT of stuff blacklisted on tumblr because I find P*nnyW*se the Creepy Teeth Demon to be horrific and I do not want him on my screen. And the movie’s name is IT for fuck’s sake. I can’t blacklist the word “It” and still expect to see any content at all. So, thinking about how much trouble I had keeping PWCTD off my screen gives me some sympathy to how hard it’s got to be to filter out something that people aren’t even tagging! 

I mean, honestly, most of the time that people tag a fic TW: racist, they already KNOW the character is acting in a racist manner and they’re condemning it. When people don’t realize the character is racist, or a word, or a trope is racist (mystical black character, for instance) they don’t tag it as racist because they either don’t know, are unconscious of their own bias, of they don’t care that it’s racist. 

In the same manner, Person A who’s writing fic they know is dub-con will tag it, and Person B who thinks stalking someone and climbing in their window at night is romantic will NOT tag the same scenes as dub-con.

Which doesn’t make it any less jarring when I suddenly run into a fic that I would absolutely count as noncon/dubcon that’s not tagged for it. The intentions of the author don’t matter TO ME at that moment, what matters to me is that I’m trying to breathe while the romantic interest on my eReader is saying “aw, that’s so sweet.”

So, there’s multiple questions that come up for me -- I’m not a computer person, so while the A03 code is available for use, I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I tried. 

Is there a way to tag something from the outside? An overlay or side program (like an Xkit for A03) that would allow people to permanently blacklist certain tags or authors, tropes, etc? I know there are some hosting sites (unfortunately with ads) that basically funnel stuff from A03 to a reader. There was a big kerfluffle about it at the beginning of the year because OMG, someone is making money off my fanfic! protip, no, they weren’t. they were making money off someone else’s desire for a custom skin. The material itself was never leaving A03, it wasn’t stored anywhere else. A03 does not currently have a phone app and they don’t plan to have a phone app.

So, would it be possible for someone to write a phone-app that did a custom filter for the material. Blacklists are certainly possible, right?

Because here’s the thing; a lot of people who are racist don’t know that they are. Or they don’t care that they are. I have personally had a couple of hard conversations about racism (I’m not even going to call it “unconscious racism” because I am a grown-ass adult capable of reading, so if I act in a racist manner, I’m going to fucking own it. And apologize for it. And try to do better.) in my own work -- whitewashing a character at one point, using a quote from a black woman as a title for a story about Wanda. I’m still not entirely convinced that a Jewish/Romani woman is “white” in any sort of traditional sense. That said, I’m not a POC and I’m going to listen to the person who’s upset because of my usage and not my own feeling of “I don’t really think Wanda counts as white.” This may be partially because WANDA is whitewashed as shit in the MCU and a lot of people in the fandom do not read comics.

That further said, I made the changes as requested and apologized for it in the work/notes. And felt very uncomfortable when some of my white friends said “I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” I’m not sorry I had to deal with it. I wish I hadn’t DONE it, but I am glad that people felt comfortable enough with me to call my on my bullshit and I was able to make corrections and amends.

Still-- All of this boils down to: People are not going to, in good faith, tag their own fic as “don’t read this, I am racist.”  

Everything that gets done on A03 -- which is an Archive -- is voluntary by the author. A03′s policies are pretty much “tag to warn” or “tag that you’re NOT tagging to warn.” The only action A03 takes for inappropriate tagging is to ask the author to update the Warning to match, or choose not to warn. If there’s no compliance, A03 will assign the fic “choose not to warn.” But that’s the extend of their policies.

We all know this history; no censorship. Censorship is a slope that leads to fanwork disappearing. Because here’s another fact: it doesn’t matter what the intention is of censoring a story; that censorship is going to be applied badly. 

So, if A03 was going to ban racist fic, how long do you think it would take before the reporting system was flooded? Even legit reports of racism are going to take a while to read through, judge, contact the author, wait for possibly updates or retractions, and then removal.

A03′s staff are volunteers, and I understand there aren’t very many of them. There are six MILLION works on A03. No one could hope to read them all with a careful enough eye to catch all instances of harmful texts.

And we all know what’s going to happen: it’s easier to delete all stories that get complaints, rather than read them.

So, Fan A gets Fan C’s fic taken down for racial stereotyping and Fan C tells all of her friends, who go on a crusade to report every single one of Fan Q’s fics in retaliation (not because Fan Q did anything “wrong” but because they happened to post a blog about racial stereotyping in fandom) And we’re right back to strikethru.

Yet, censorship is one of those things that makes me very, very nervous. Do I think a white boy who writes a self-insert rape fantasy novella about violating and murdering Zoe Quinn should be allowed a platform? No, I don’t. (And neither did Amazon, who took it down fairly quickly once it was brought to their attention. But that’s only one case, where there are probably thousands of books that are personal attacks and are left merrily alone.)

There are a lot of books on the banned book list. If people thought they could get away with it, those books would be unpublished, unpersoned, black bagged. 

We all know that the rules get applied badly, by the people with the biggest mouths and the loudest complaints. So banning content on A03 does not seem to be the solution.

(Personal story time again, just skip this if you want.)

I came into fandom backward; I was a traditionally published erotica / romance writer first and moved into fandom after the collapse of several small publishing houses for various scandals that I won’t bore you with but you can look here if you want more information. 

Several years ago, I was in an anthology that i was Very Proud of, and I really like the editor I worked with, wanted to work with her again. She sent me a premise for submission that left me cold. Which is to say, she wanted to publish cuckolding stories. 

[x] <-- warning, that link is REALLY harsh and filled with some real WTF moments, from someone who’s pointing out the racism inherent in the system.

Especially when you consider the Mandingo aspects of the fantasy, it’s easy to see why just the existence of it is repulsive.

I declined the invitation to participate because I was deeply uncomfortable with the subject matter. 

I’m not saying that to get praise for my behavior. 

Because when the subject came up again about two or three years ago in some fandom discourse, I sided with my friends who were defending “no censorship, no matter what.”

(End of personal aside.)

Despite my personal feelings about the issue (ew, this is icky and racist and horrible and I would never write it) I still believe that I don’t have the right to say what someone else can write, read, or enjoy.

I’m trying to find the path between “this sort of reading material is harmful and I don’t think it should have a platform,” “this should be heavily tagged to avoid upsetting people,” and “there are people who feel that way about gay, non-christian stories as well.” And what’s more, I’m trying to find it in a way that doesn’t stifle authors’ voices.

Even with my idea of an overlay, that’s putting the burden on the people most affected-- someone would have to rate stories as “racist” or “not racist” (and even then, it’s seldom that clear cut. Microaggressions abound.) and the people best capable of doing that would be readers of color. Which hardly seems productive. Or fair. 

“Don’t like; don’t read” is often the calling card of fandom writers. I’ve said it myself. That’s what the fucking back button is for. But when I say it, I mean “I don’t want to hear your wank about Tony Stark in my inbox” not “I don’t want to be called out for racism when I wrote a story.”

https://ggmadeit.com/blog/why-i-cant-just-knit-the-story-of-a-black-knitter-during-civil-unrest/ -- I’m including this link because this piece really made me think. I can’t ever put down being a woman. I can’t read or watch horribly misogynistic work without being upset, and I have trouble sitting in the room with my male friends who insist on watching it and want to say “it’s only a movie.”

Being black is part of someone’s life. It can’t be erased just because it’s not convenient. Just because it interrupts your good time. It shouldn’t be put aside because “it’s just a story.”

As fans, we have to do better.

We all know what it’s like to be pushed out, to be made second best, to be asked when we’re going to get a real hobby, when are you going to grow up, why did you spend money on that merch? So we need to reach further. 

I don’t have answers. And even if I did, I’m not the one who needs to give them. What I need to do is listen to the people who have answers and HELP THEM get what they need.

We need to do better. We need to BE better.

[joshler]

regarding my last post

tw// topics relate to suicide/suicide prevention, racism, and bullying

before i get put on blast for “being white” or whatever the replies have accused me of: no, i’m actually a queer asian poc! my dad is a chinese immigrant from hong kong and my mom is cambodian who immigrated to america from vietnam during the vietnam war. i support blm 1000% bc i feel that as a fellow minority, we are on the same team. we’ve felt oppression, in different degrees, yes, but oppression nonetheless. i wanted to clear the air in regards to myself personally because the things aimed at me in the replies of my last post were insensitive and ignorant when you do not personally know me.

i would like to say i’m more of an update page at this point for TWENTY ONE PILOTS. i’m not here to get political, but i do want to say some things in regard to yesterday’s twitter incident with tyler joseph. first of all, YIKES. the joke was distasteful and the entire “thread” on everything he made yesterday had the worse timing in the history of ever. the platform “joke” was in regards to everybody pressuring for him to say something on current events such as blm, lebanon, etc. those things are very important and i have already done many things on my part to support blm and lebanon including donations, signing petitions, and posting on my main social media accounts (i’ve really ghosted tumblr) with ways others can help. i put links to resources, petitions, and places to donate among other helpful sites. the way tyler handled things yesterday was really idiotic on his part. with that dumb joke, he could have immediately linked blm and apologized right afterwards which is what should have been done. instead, he moved on into a tangent regarding mental health and suicide awareness. i understand what he was trying to say, but in the heat of the political movement RIGHT NOW, shifting the conversation to mental health while it should have been about blm was a terrible choice on his part. even if he connected how mental health and blm tied in together, it would have been great for what he was trying to say.

WHAT HE MEANT for all of the sjws jumping on this bc “a white man is being racist and using his privilege”: september is suicide prevention month. tyler’s intensions with the platform tweet was to make fun of everyone mass tweeting him for the past few months (you cannot make people do things). he was NOT mocking blm or any political movement. that platform joke was supposed to lead into talking about mental health. for anyone who doesn’t know, tyler is a very meticulous person. there’s no doubt he’s planned talking about this stuff for a long time. the fucking band’s moto is “stay alive” so of course mental health is a huge part of twenty one pilots culture, and tyler would want to talk about it. at the same time, that doesn’t mean i’m at all excusing him for not immediately speaking on behalf of blm in yesterday’s tweets. once he saw that what he was saying was not received as he thought it would be, tyler apologized for hurting anyone and sent out the links.

this is not the first time he has talked about blm either (as seen above). his band mate (josh) and wife (jenna) have spoken on behalf of blm as well. debby ryan (josh’s wife) has been the most vocal in regards to everything going on right now. for you strangers out there to jump on here and to call him this and that is doing nothing but spreading negativity. you are wasting your own time. instead of badgering people, how about taking your business elsewhere or at least trying to educate others. do not come onto my replies just to make trouble. as fans, you can’t just say “we don’t personally know them” while you know even less than we do since you just popped in when shit hit the fan for them and they turned “problematic.” tyler did what was right at the end of the day. i am not praising him at all, but he has at least apologized and learned his lesson.

in regards to them being rich and not donating: nobody knows what they’ve done behind the scenes. i personally donated to many blm funds and to the red cross in lebanon, and nobody knows that until now! just because you donate does not mean you are obligated to publicly blast that for everybody to know. your money is going to a cause that you support, and that should only really matter to you. celebrities are no exception to that idea.

fun fact: tyler has a niece named mercy on his wife’s side! she is black and tyler and his wife are extremely close to her and her family. to come out of no where just to call him racist and all that when you in fact don’t know a thing about him besides some surface tweets is uncalled for. in regards to being silent on the crisis in lebanon, tyler is part lebanese! without a doubt, he’s donated to some sort of lebanon aid fund. but again, we will never know.

for those of you upset about the platforms: dollskill isn’t the only site that sells those boots! dollskill is certainly the most popular brand the shoes are on, but if you look them up, the platforms pop up else where as well. to blatantly say “oh he supports dollskill so he’s racist/homophobic/supports the police/all the shit that company stands for” is just as ignorant as you think he is!  dollskill as a company is complete shit. i don’t support them at all. many people think they’re from dollskill mainly because of this one instagram page that’s all about finding the exact/similar clothing to what tyler/josh/jenna/debby have worn, but we cannot be 100% sure that they were purchased from dollskill. that shit company steals from other smaller artists/designers, remember? (that same instagram account reuploaded a link to a different store who is selling them, as found here)

if you still have beef with tyler and what he said, there’s really no point in bickering just to call complete strangers “stupid” or “clowns” or just really hurtful names! you are screaming into an abyss and hurting others at the same time. there is a fine line between straight up bullying and educating others on bettering their understanding with what is currently going on. my intensions behind the post was to show that he had become active again. we are a fandom, and i like to update my page when they post new pictures. that is simply what i did. i made THIS post to clear the air on what people were saying about ME. i deleted tumblr off my phone because what was being said was just belittling and i didn’t want to see that when this whole situation with what tyler did already made me upset. feel free to dm me if you would like to talk about anything. i would be happy to discuss any points that i’ve mentioned. i would much rather have a civil conversation than be picked on through replies and anonymous messages.

at the end of the day, not everyone can always have satisfied and that’s okay. if anything, this entire situation truly opened my eyes to that. hopefully you read through this whole thing before you put anything on blast again.

here’s this, too. they do care.

summary: sorry on behalf of tyler joseph. he needs to work on reading the room better.

[calliecat93]

At last we are beginning Star Trek: The Next Generation! Whoo~! This will go as it did with the TOS Watchthrough, brief thoughts on each episode and we’ll do a Top 5 Best/Worst at the end of each season. The goal is to do five episodes per day, but we’ll see how that works out. But anyways, here we go:

Encounter at Farpoint: An hour and a half... ho boy. Well along with this running longer than it needed to, the pilot was... okay. It certainly has better effects and certain cinematography than TOS, but that’s the advantage of filmmaking advancing in 20 years. The plot just... has WAY too much going on. We have Q, his test on humanity, Farpoint, and establishing our main cast. It doesn’t help that you can tell that while this is a new incarnation, the staff are sticking with certain TOS aspects with Data clearly filling in Spock’s slot and Picard and Riker going back and forth with Kirk’s spot. I’m told that decreases over time, but it’s still noticeable. As far as the main cast goes, so far they’re fine. Picard’s a bit of a jerk, but we can chalk that up to this being early. Otherwise all the cast is fine... but I can already tell why Wesley is pretty much despised. But of course we have the best part of the episode... BONES IS STILL ALIVE IN THE 24TH CENTURY AND AS GRUMPY AS EVER! WHOO!!! I was SO happy to see him and it still being De portraying him made it even better~! It’s sad though because unless Strange New Worlds feels like bringing him, this is the absolute last time McCoy will appear in a TV-based Star Trek series (his true final appearance in the franchise outside books/comics is Undiscovered Country). Which REALLY sucks since he’s my favorite and I just want to see more of him, but at least he got a lovely sendoff... better than what Kirk’s is gonna be when we reach the films. Anyways, the pilot is just okay, but it IS a pilot. We know to goes uphill eventually. I’ve seen worst starts. 3/5.

The Naked Now: AKA, The Naked Time 2.0. This is a blatant rehash of that episode with it even brought up in this one. While this can be viewed as lazy, redoing an episode with a new cast CAN work especially this one where the illness erases one’s inhibitions and provoking chaos. Maybe a bit too early but this WAS also early in TOS’ run. So the episode was... meh. It wasn’t as entertaining as TOS’ episode not as insightful since in TOS that was the first time we saw Spock’s logic break. I liked some of it like Geordi’s feelings about his sight, Data while under the influence was amusing, and the original cure didn’t work, meaning they don’t get an easy out. The biggest issues here are following the original episode too closely and Wesley. Yeah, I can already see exactly why he is disliked. I mean the ship was saved by an annoying child who has zero training or authority over the adult characters AND gets praise for it despite a good chunk of the conflict being HIS fault, mind alterations or not. That is just plain stupid especially since in TOS they handled the issue pretty well from what I remember with the trained adults handling it like trained adults. Also not a fan of how Yar was essentially sexualized while under the influence and the implication of her and Data getting... intimate leaves me uncertain on how I feel. I guess it was supposed to be like Chapel confessing to Spock while she was influenced, but Spock not only rejected it but she didn’t get sexualized. The Naked Time was one of my favorite TOS episodes based on the concept and fun bits like Sulu fencing and Spock’s breakdown. It made me like the characters and was the episode that got me to give TOS a chance. This one, unfortunately, couldn’t pull it off. 2/5.

Code of Honor: Bad. It was racist and bad. I am not discussing it any further cause frankly I don’t want to. TOS I’ve given some pass to for it’s content because the 60’s were a different time and just including PoC was risky for the show. This was in the late 80’s and has no excuses. 0/5. Moving on.

The Last Outpost: Ah, so these are the Ferengi. Not the most intimidating, but I like their appearance. Clearly TNG has a better makeup budget than TOS did for more alien-like appearances. A species interested in mainly profit, don’t think we’ve seen that up to this point. So they’re like businessmen, cool! But yeah they’re pretty pathetic. But others like the Romunals didn’t get the greatest start, so we’ll see how things go over time. The episode was... okay. Nothing bad aside from some awkward bits and the Fergengi’s treatment of Yar was... uncomfortable. Again, this version doesn’t get the ‘that’s what it was like at the time’ excuse. Otherwise nothing great, nothing horrible, it’s just... there with the introduction of a new species being the most I can say about it. 2/5.

Well didn’t make it to five, but tbf the pilot was double length so it may as well be. Well... it’s not perfect, but I know that S1 didn’t exactly have the best start. But I ain’t skipping it either to get to the good stuff. So far it’s been meh, but not unwatchable, the third episode aside. I like the cast at the very least and want to see more of them, which that’s how I felt when I began TOS so that’s a good sign!

[mandaloriangf]

hey if you watch taylor swift's documentary miss americana, she talks a lot about how she was always praised when she was younger for being the "ideal celebrity" because she never brought up politics or anything. she was also influenced by her childhood heroes, the dixie chicks, being blacklisted completely when they criticized bush, and she was terrified of the same thing happening to her. she was under a lot of pressure from the media to be "a good girl" and stay quiet (1/?)

her first time speaking up politically was during the 2018 midterms, where she openly supported one candidate over another and encouraged people to register to vote, which increased voter registration by a huge amount. she made the post because the other candidate was openly homophobic, racist and misogynist, and she couldn't handle not speaking up. there's a scene in the documentary where her dad, and a bunch of her producers, record label, etc. are strongly telling her not to make the post (2)

but she says she has to go through with it and argues about it with them. they're worried she could lose a lot of fans and that it could be a major safety issue for her (since she already has huge issues with people breaking into her houses or stalking her). she answers that the candidate she is opposing wants to repeal protections for women against stalking and abuse and stuff like that, and that she has to take a stand. (3/?)

with 'you need to calm down' she was criticized a lot for being 'performative' but the reason she did it is she thought she had already been pretty open about being accepting of the lgbtq+ community, but her really good friend todrick hall was TERRIFIED to come out to her because he didn't know what her reaction would be, and she realized she needed to make a bigger statement if one of her close friends was completely unaware of her position on the matter. (4/?)

todrick helped her direct the music video, and she asked a lot of members of the lgbtq+ community if what she was doing was ok, and asked for their opinions on the song and music video to make sure she was being an ally and not overstepping. she also got as many lgbtq+ people in the music video as possible, purposefully collabed with brendan urie and spotlighted lesser known lgbtq+ artists. she also hand selected the drag queens in the music video and they were all shocked she knew who they were

anyways I know you don't like taylor and I'm not trying change that or excuse her actions - she definitely could have done more, sooner. I'm just trying to explain why she didn't speak up sooner and why she realized she had to. on social media, she's also been taking care to spotlight lesser known female poc and lgbtq+ artists that she loves and has really just been making an effort to be an ally in every way possible. she's definitely not perfect, but she's trying! (last one I swear lol)

She’s never claimed to be an activist & imo that’s an odd expectation to put on her. she’s a musician first and occasionally talks about politics on the side just like most celebrities? Not saying she’s above criticism but she faces uncommonly intense scrutiny compared to other people at her level of fame. People make absurd claims abt her with NO evidence and it becomes gospel among people who hated her to begin with. I’m not trying to be rude but the biases against her deserve critical thought

for the record im coming at this as a former swiftie, so this is not me irrationally hating on her

i haven’t seen the documentary since i dont have netflix and also haven’t been a fan in a long time, but i have seen the scene you talked about since it was going around on twitter months ago. the general consensus was that it was highly staged (most likely, given the nature of the documentary) and also dripping with privilege. 

my issue with her isn’t that she was unproblematic but silent, but that she was notoriously problematic AND silent. i’d argue that the first time she really became political was in 2014 when she began to embrace feminism coincidentally as the 1989 era began, but the problem was that she still didnt seem to grasp what it actually was, given that she paraded around a group of women she stopped hanging out with like a year later and used them to tear down katy perry in the bad blood video. 

like, i understand her being young and afraid to stand up for something when her career was first beginning. but after years and years and years, especially by the time she was willing to stand up to misogynistic men in 2014 and beyond, she still didn’t really do much else, you know? and a lot of it always seemed to center around her. 

but anyway, with you need to calm down, todd in the shadows made an excellent video about it here. maybe im biased because im critical of her work regardless, but as a bi woman, i found the song and video insulting and condescending. shade never made anybody less gay is easily one of her worst if not the worst line she’s ever written. she conflates her internet haters with violent homophobes and then ends the video with her ending the feud with katy yet it was released during pride and meant to be some sort of anthem when born this way came out in 2011 and, while undeniably flawed, did a much better job of getting the point across. taylor’s contemporaries have been saying the same stuff, but like, 10+ years earlier.

i guess for me, im just really tired of people praising her for doing this that others have done for much, much longer. im fine with her making a post like she did for the midterms, it felt genuine! but other stuff like you need to calm down comes off as patronizing and that scene from the documentary feels like it tries to position her as this almost like katniss figure which is just....tone deaf considering people like the ferguson protesters have been murdered for years. but thats all just me.

[giant-squid-official]

REVIEW OF GOOD OMENS (SPOILERS)

Having feverishly consumed both the entire book and then the entire TV show in the last three or so days (for the first time!), here’s my thoughts.

 (Yeah, yeah, I know, the book’s been out for ages & I’m probably not the first person to say any of this. But I’m new to it, eh?)

I. AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY

Brilliant. Really fucking brilliant. Even more brilliant in the show than the book, I think, because their relationship really has room to spread its wings (so to speak). The cold open in episode three was possibly the best part of the entire show (and also a FUCKING POWER MOVE).

Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s acting and chemistry was incredible-- I have basically no complaints about the two of them. Although I do have a lot of gushing praise and also a lot of feelings. I loved the extra dialogue between them that was added in in the show, and the acting really did add something to the characters and relationship that already existed in the book.

Well, well done.

<3

II. HEAVEN AND HELL

Adding in Heaven and Hell was a cool touch! It was interesting to get to see them outside of the commentary we get from Aziraphale and Crowley about them.

Gabriel was fun, too, good addition.

The Voice of God was an interesting way to adapt Pratchett’s everpresent Voice of the Narrator, and was a touching nod (I thought) to the author’s style of writing.

III. THE THEM

I was a bit disappointed at finding the children not-very-compelling in the show. They’re just not very convincin characters, I dunno-- I didn’t fall in love with them. Also, I think there’s some narrative weakness in the book in terms of Things Sorting Themselves Out Too Quickly that 1) makes it feel like time is moving really fast and things aren’t getting the weight they deserve and 2) the resolutions of problems aren’t deserved, because they weren’t set up far enough in advance to be believable, and there wasn’t enough hard work to get to them. This problem persisted in the TV show.

IV. ANATHEMA AND NEWT

I actually quite liked Anathema and Newt in the show, although I wish they were developed a little more. Unlike the Them, I found them to be more compelling, well-developed characters... it just felt like we didn’t spend enough time with them.

V. SHADWELL AND MADAME TRACY

Shadwell and Madame Tracy are fun characters, but I found them a little tedious in the amount of time that both the show and the book takes up. I simply didn’t find them interesting enough to spend so much time with, and it was a little grating to continually see Shadwell being so disrespectful... just got annoying after a while. Same to Madame Tracy’s massive crush on him despite his numerous character flaws... as this article points out, it seemed odd that they’d end up together.

VI. BITS THAT WERE CUT OUT

I think I’ve already gone over most of the bits that were added (which I really liked, on the whole!). Here’s my opinions on some of the cut-out bits:

1. Minor Racist Elements

Good riddance! These made me super uncomfortable in the book, and include:

-Aziraphale’s body-hopping between various (mostly Indigenous) people performing religious ceremonies

-Shadwell’s minor racism (I’m pretty sure he calls his landlord a “darkie,” yikes)

-Madame Tracy’s made-up Native American “spirit guide”

2. The biker gang

I thought they were kind of funny, actually, although somewhat unneccessary. I’m not mad that they’re gone, but that bit is worth reading if you haven’t read the book

3. Various narrative explanations

There was some stuff happening in the TV show that wasn’t as well-explained as it was in the book; for example, the fact that every tape put into Crowley’s car eventually becomes a Queen tape, which isn’t mentioned at all and is quite hilarious. Having read the book, I still understood why various things were happening but I don’t know if any of it would’ve been more confusing if I had not.

4. Minor details

I’m pretty sure one of the aliens is supposed to look like a Dalek, and that’s just funny. Especially since BBC co-produced it, seems like copyright wouldn’t be an issue, but oh well.

5. Running jokes

I get that there isn’t that much time on a TV series, but there were so many running jokes in the book that barely appeared once in the actual show that I was a bit sad. (Another Pratchett-ism lost, I think). The sigil, Des Moines, the Queen tapes, ineffability... I think the only ones that were really kept in were Dick Turpin and the Great Southern Pansy line.

VII. ADDED DIVERSITY

I appreciated that the show added in more women and people of color (many of the characters are gender- or race- changed from their presentation in the books, including Pollution, Famine, Beelzebub, Pepper, Adam/Eve, Ligur, Michael, and God, though the latter two are more of a show-invention).

On the other hand, I don’t know if all the episodes passed the Bechdel test, so it still could’ve done better. I think there’s also been a post going around about POC characters that probably talks more in-depth about their general lack of protagonistness.

VIII. OTHER BITS

Overall, I really like the sort of chaotic fun and loving relationships of Good Omens. I think the problems that I had with it (both show and book) were related to the problems I’ve found when reading Pratchett’s material before (I must confess I haven’t read much of Gaiman’s stuff); i.e., while his tangents and asides are fun (and such things can be well-done! See: the Bartimaeus trilogy, which I think Crowley would get a kick out of), I get a bit annoyed when the author’s fancy creates dead ends. I like it when the “why” of magic is explained, and there never seem to be quite consistent rules in Pratchett’s universes. Additionally, the mass of characters makes for some good fun jumping around (I never ended up in an “oh no, we’re with the awful, boring characters now” moment, although sometimes I wished scenes would hurry up so we could get back to Crowley/Aziraphale scenes), there were almost too many to care about-- lots of the minor-er characters didn’t pop up often enough in the book for me to connect all the dots about their stories. The Horsemen, for example, I would’ve liked to have seen more details about in the show, especially.

And that’s it, for now! Thanks for reading :)

[the-desolated-quill]

A White Actor Grows Some Bollocks - Quill’s Scribbles

You may recall that movie studio Lionsgate got themselves into a bit of hot water last week when they announced the casting of Ed Skrein as Major Ben Daimio in their upcoming Hellboy reboot. The problem was Major Ben Daimio is a Japanese character in the source material, making Hellboy the latest of numerous sci-fi and/or comic book adaptations to whitewash a prominent Asian character. I and many others made our views heard, voicing our strongest and angriest objections to this blatant bit of racist erasure (for whitewashing is objectively racist and totally inexcusable) just as we did with the likes of Doctor Strange, Death Note and Ghost In The Shell. But unlike those projects I just listed, the most extraordinary thing happened. Somebody listened.

Oh not the studio obviously. No, it was Ed Skrein himself. Realising the hornet’s nest he had kicked, Skrein actually announced via his social media accounts that he was dropping out of the role.

This open letter has received a positive response from fans and readers. Hellboy producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin made a joint statement in support saying:

“Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”

Even Hellboy creator Mike Mignola chipped in to offer his praise for Skrein’s decision to step down.

Now it would be easy to take a very cynical approach to all of this. Perhaps claim that Skrein only stepped down because he realised the damage all of this backlash could do to his career, but for once I’m willing to put aside my cynicism. I do actually believe Ed Skrein’s sincerity here. He seems to be genuinely apologetic, initially not realising the implications of what he was doing and now seems determined to make amends.

However I’m not exactly willing to praise him for his decision. At least not to the same extent others are. I can understand why people are praising him so heavily. This is an almost unprecedented move. Having put up with loads of A list white actors giving the weakest and most pathetic excuses to justify their own racist bullshit, the idea of a white actor growing some bollocks and actually stepping down from a whitewashed role purely on moral grounds is a novelty. He quit a tentpole movie purely because it was the right thing to do, and I am grateful for that. But can we try and keep this in perspective? This decision wasn’t courageous or brave. It’s just an actor turning down a role. A role that should never have been offered to him in the first place. While I’m pleased that Ed Skrein did the decent thing in the end, the fact is this entire situation should never have happened in the first place. Asian characters should be played by Asian actors. That should not be a difficult concept for filmmakers to wrap their heads around, and I feel I should point out I still don’t trust Lionsgate in the fucking slightest. Oh they’re going to cast a Japanese actor as Ben Daimio now if they know what’s good for them, but if Ed Skrein didn’t take the moral high ground, they wouldn’t have learnt a damn thing. Let’s not forget the studio’s initial response to the controversy came from this now deleted tweet from Hellboy executive producer Christa Campbell:

We don’t see colours or race. The slogan for closet racists the world over. 

See this is what so many white people in positions of power and authority within the industry need to understand when it comes to POC presentation. Being colourblind sounds good in theory, but in practice it can be very dangerous. When you make an actor’s performance or marketability the only criteria, you end up making stupid mistakes like this. When you racebend a white character, it’s fine. We already have plenty of representation, plus 9 times out of 10 being white isn’t actually integral to the character. For characters of colour on the other hand, you’ve got to take these other factors into consideration. Usually the culture of said character is integral plus it’s important for non white characters to be portrayed on screen not just for equality, but also for variety.

Recently I finally got to watch the Disney movie Moana, and I’m currently slightly obsessed with it. Not just because it’s a fun, smartly written musical with a great female protagonist, lovable characters, funny jokes and a heartwarming message behind it. It’s also because it explores myths and cultures I’ve never got to experience before.

Moana takes a lot of influence and inspiration from Polynesian culture and mythology, most notably adapting the stories of the demigod Maui (played by Dwayne Johnson). I have no idea how accurate this is, but I still loved it because it was something different. After seeing so many fantasy stuff like Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones, which are essentially variations on Norse mythology, as well as the trillions of Christian inspired fantasy stories, Moana feels incredibly fresh and unique. I found all the stuff about Maui and Te Fiti fascinating, and I would love to see more movies exploring these Polynesian myths and legends. There’s such an incredibly rich vein of creativity you could tap into here.

Something else I loved about Moana was they actually cast Polynesian actors as the characters. I’ve already mentioned Dwayne Johnson as Maui. There’s also Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa the crab, Nicole Scherzinger as Moana’s mum, Jango Fett himself Temuera Morrison as Moana’s dad, Rachel House as Moana’s granny, and newcomer Auli’i Cravalho as Moana herself. This is why diversity is so important in films. Not only does it give actors of colour more exposure and allow new talents like Cravalho to emerge and flourish, but it also exposes general movie going audiences to stories and cultures we wouldn’t normally get to see. And that’s why whitewashing is so offensive. It takes job opportunities away from actors of colour and also causes creativity to stagnate. When it’s an Asian character in an Asian inspired story, there’s lots of different directions you can go. When it’s a white character in an Asian inspired story, there’s only one story you can tell. The outsider. The stranger. The foreigner to their ways. That’s not interesting. We’ve seen that done loads of times. Plus if you truly want to immerse the audience in another culture, isn’t it better to have a character that actually represents that culture rather than some white dweeb who knows jackshit about it?

Basically what I’m saying is we need more movies like Moana and less movies like...

No I’m never dropping this. Fuck this movie and all who support it.

So while I’m pleased that Ed Skrein decided to do the right thing in the end, I’m still going to judge this Hellboy reboot with the suspicion and scorn it deserves. Sure they’re probably going to cast a Japanese actor as Ben Daimio, but only because they have to now to save themselves from further embarrassment. It’s not because they want to. If it was someone like Scarlett Johansson or Tilda Swinton, the studio would still be sticking to their guns and trying to justify their racist bullshit. 

I’m glad Skrein managed to fix things and reveal A list white actors like Swinton and Johansson for the selfish, racist, privileged pricks that they are through his own selfless actions, but until the industry properly recognises that whitewashing is NEVER a good idea, nothing has actually changed as far as I’m concerned.