#along with shadow and bone

[arnold-layne]

there is nothing more inspiring than proofreading a manuscript that gets prepared for publsihing realising that if this complete shit gets to be published my work can get it too

[nerd-elf]

I’m tagging all my favorites here, feel free to do the same

[homoquartz]

🌈 wanna do something cool with me?

like, cool in the internet sense. because i have compiled all the data and i was right: queer shows are getting canceled twice as often. and earlier, too. we lost HALF of them this year!

i have all the data in a carrd (there's SO MUCH data) and it's kind of shaking out to be like. a legit thesis.

so even if your fave show is returning or finished already, it's still important to know this is going on in our current cultural landscape. and while LGBTQ book bans rise and our rights take hits, we need those messages that queer people deserve to be seen and loved.

i talked with a friend who organizes, and we're gonna make it a cross-fandom hashtag going live on Dec 16. 🥰

if you want to participate, reach out to me via message! anyone is welcome to join in.

even if your fandom is safe, even if you don't have a ton of followers. the goal is to get attention - not just for current rep, but for canceled shows too. it'll be a great opportunity to share why your fave matters to you, too.

stay silly ✌️

edit: idk why i wanted y'all to ask for it, the data is here

[likethexan]

Been burnt too many times (has their favorite shows cancelled by netflix)

[savequeerstories]

if you're interested in protecting queer representation, please consider giving our study a look!

going over the list of shows that were canceled and renewed this year, we found that queer shows are disparately impacted in pretty much every measure.

we're hoping to spread the word far and wide to get some attention about this concerning trend.

[calcichel]

I've been reading Worm by wildbow, and I haven't said much about it here on Tumblr yet, but a friend encouraged me to start posting my thoughts as I read along.

I've been thinking about the end of the Leviathan fight, just before the introduction of the Wards. That seems to have been a serious inflection point for Taylor. Seriously injured, just having severed ties with her friends, filled with guilt for enabling Dinah's kidnapping, all alone in the world once again. If things had played out just slightly differently, it could have been a perfect moment to recruit her for the Wards.

She had already considered it a few times before. The Wards' recruiting practices already advertise themselves as a resource for anyone young and troubled who still wants to be a hero. It would have been a clear path to order, redemption, and community. All she needed was one person to step in and reach out their hand to her. One hero to enter the room and speak kindly to her. To validate her feelings and offer her a path that wouldn't compromise her values.

But of course, it didn't play out that way. She spent hour after hour in growing anxiety, helpless and being actively refused information, until a former enemy implies to her that she is likely going to be taken into custody. Of course Taylor tries to escape. And the first thing she encounters the face of one of the Wards: Sophia's. It's a galvanizing moment for her that slams the doors shut to various possibilities. She rejects the Wards, and sets about forging her own path.

It wasn't until later, when the reader is getting treated to an intimate look at the Wards and how they operate, that I realized what a (probably) dire misjudgment Taylor made (not that she could have helped it). She knew Sophia from school, so it was natural to assume that the same person who made her life hell in that environment would go on to do the same in this one. She has only ever known a world where Sophia's cruelty is a dominant force against which there is no effective resistance. She never got a chance to see a system like the Wards', where that cruelty is effectively constrained by rules and discipline, where mutual respect and trust is prioritized and cultivated. If Taylor had joined, Sophia's hate-on for her would not have been tolerated. Friction and conflict would have bloomed, of course, and Sophia - angry, misanthropic, sadistic, no part of her a true hero - would have failed to sufficiently hide her true colors. She would have been kicked out of the program, leaving Taylor with all the resources and structure of a supportive community.

You just know she would have gotten along with the other kids. And in such close proximity, they would have come to see her and realize that she had been misjudged. Over the years, she would have gained renown and respect as a hero, and joined the Protectorate as a figure who can be truly empathetic with the other side, who knows what shit is like out there in the world because they've seen it and felt it.

An entirely different narrative universe could have played out here. But of course, it didn't, for the same reason so many things in Taylor's life didn't play out well: for the lack of even one effective compassionate adult, to intercept her path and treat her with respect and dignity. No one in the high school, or in the Protectorate, or outside of it, has offered her that barest minimum of supportive influence. So it's no surprise she considers the only path available to be one that she forges herself.

[alltimefail]

LGBTQ+ Stories Deserve to be told.

There's a startling and undeniable trend happening in media right now. With fascist politicians, alt-right extremists, and conservatives trying to push progress backward, queer representation is more important now than ever.

➪ All credit for this data goes to @homoquartz!

If your favorite LGBTQ+ story hasn't been axed this year, it is among the lucky few. These stories aren't just entertainment; for many people, they're lifesaving. These stories are the closest thing to feeling included in the queer community that some people can or will have. Let's all fight together to affirm the importance of queer representation in media.

There will be a cross-fandom hashtag going live on Dec 16; so keep an eye out for that!

Here's the Dead Boy Detectives petition, if anyone would like to sign in solidarity with an unapologetically queer, beautiful piece of media that personally changed my life. I've never felt so seen as I did through the character Charles Rowland.

If you're in a fandom with a queer show that has been canceled, feel free to reblog this with your petition. I've likely already signed your petition, but if I haven't I will sign in solidarity with you as well.

[katrinahays]

I have been very dead recently so here's a updated character bingo (spot the differences)

[egret-orchids]

malyen oretsev 👍👍

[udovaintomyheart]

“He’s a bit of a black sheep anyway. He insisted on doing his military service in the infantry, then he apprenticed to a gunsmith.” “And he’s never at court?” “Not in years. I think he’s off studying shipbuilding or something equally dull. He’d probably get along well with David,” she added sourly.

-Shadow and Bone, Chapter 13

Nikolai’s friendship with David hadn’t been a loud one. There had been few shared confidences, no raucous nights spent singing dirty drinking songs. Most of their time together had been spent in silence, grappling with difficult engineering problems, reviewing each other’s work, pushing each other forward. With David, Nikolai’s power and charm had been meaningless. He’d only cared about the science.

-Rule of Wolves, Chapter 23

[bakerstreethound]

Gosh I'm so annoyed we won't get anymore Charles and Edwin. DBD is such a well done show 😭

[p4nishers]

oh god it really is about change, isn't it? all of it. loki met mobius and they LET themselves change bc they finally had someone who saw the good in them and trusted them with UNSHAKABLE certainty no matter fucking what even after they BETRAYED him even if he was angry for a while he never actually stopped believing in them and believing that they could be good or whatever they wanted to be. that they could change and be it for the better. "it's never too late to change" and loki did change, they become far more mature and grounded and caring and maybe even soft but with changing came the understanding that being soft isn't a bad thing. that loving someone isn't weakness. and mobius changed too, he learned to want things for himself and try to look beyond what he already has. they changed each other SO throughoutly and they've changed together and loki is seeing it, they're finally fucking seeing it, otherwise WHY else bring up thor and jane and love CHANGING people for the better. i think they're seeing their past thinking in sylvie and trying to show her that loving doesn't make you weak infact it makes you stronger and better and they know that because they HAVE found that love in mobius. mobius brought hope and kindness into their life and with that, completely changed them as person, just like jane did with thor.

[sage-thetravler]

I want to put Jayce and Nikolai in a room and see if it has the same affect as Vi and Jayce in a room.

I would also like to put Viktor and the Darkling in a room. For science.

[savequeerstories]

Our list of participating fandoms has grown! Thank you to:

Dead Boy Detectives

Our Flag Means Death

My Lady Jane

Warrior Nun

The Acolyte

Shadow and Bone

Willow

Stranger Things

Everyone is welcome to join in! Please spread word to your fandoms. This is an issue that affects all queer representation!

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

So I finished the trilogy and woahhh it was... well it was not what I'd expected lol. My thoughts are a little messy and jumbled so I can't put them into words rn and I can't decide how to feel about alina's ending.

But yeah the whole "Like sure, he put a fucking collar on her but she’s His and it’s Not Supposed To Be Like This." pretty much explains his thought process. What was it supposed to be like in his head? Wonder what would've happened if Alina had been an obedient little pet sun summoner and done everything just the way he wanted it. Would he have grown tired of her after sometime? Or if at any point in the books alina would've reciprocated his advances how would he have reacted? Also, just what exactly does he even want? Like if he'd gotten his perfect sun queen and ruled ravka would that be enough for him? Idk he's a weird little guy and I think nothing would satisfy him. Also sorry for yapping around in your askbox lol I read these books because of your takes so I didn't know who else to share my thoughts with 😅

Re: this ask Oh yeah. Yeah... the ending is bad lol. In some ways I can understand what LB was going for? But the end result feels wildly regressive for Alina as written. It's a real shame!

FWIW she said this about it in a Q&A: "In Ruin and Rising, Alina embraces her role as a Saint when she must, faces a dictator who she knows possesses greater power than she does, learns to rely on people to help buttress her own strength, murders her best friend because she knows the sacrifice is required.

What does Alina do after she loses her power? Brings down the most powerful Grisha in the world using her intelligence, courage, and the teachings of a woman who was her mentor and friend. Secures a pardon for Genya. Determines the future of the Second Army by selecting the Triumvirate (Zoya, David, and Genya) and getting Nikolai to put them in power.

And as for ending up where she began, Alina chooses to rebuild Keramzin and make it a place of love and learning where every child can be raised to be a valued citizen of the new Ravka, and where every child has a say in his or her destiny—Grisha or not. In other words, she gives orphans and refugees, the unwanted and disadvantaged, the opportunities she never had.

For me, these are not the actions of a girl who does not know her own worth. That's how I see the story, and that's why I wrote it that way."

And like... I get it... but... that isn't the narrative framing that actually exists in the series. It's not really a story that's about her being told that her only value is in her power and therefore her having to lose her power to see her own worth being the logical conclusion? And even in a scenario like that, I think you'd need to spend longer with her having lost her power and having to adapt without it, rather than it just being the conclusion of her story. The series sets up Alina's power as something intrinsic to her that she's been suppressing to be with fucking Mal, who textually doesn't appreciate her. Her growing into herself is explicitly tied to her embracing her power-- something the Darkling tries to wrest from her. Meanwhile the story continues to build up a conflict where it becomes increasingly clear that she cannot be with Mal if she continues to have her power (because she'll be more important than him lmao) so... the conclusion is that she loses her power and settles into obscurity... and again explicitly this is the only way she can be with him? Infuriating! I think Bardugo tries to frame Alina changing her name and going to live in the countryside as like a positive exiting of the narrative, being released from the burden of it. But the way the story is built just doesn't support that! Anyway, re: the Darkling, I agree that he would never have been satisfied with any outcome. He's had centuries since the creation of the Shadow Fold to build up the idea of the Sun Summoner as the cosmic answer to every one of his problems. As someone who exists specifically to fill the gaping hole in his withered husk of a heart lmao. And those just aren't expectations that any real, living person could ever live up to. Anyway, eye personally do not think he would have grown tired of her, for the same above reasons. The accumulated obsession is just way too intense and has basically nothing to do with her. So in a way, nothing she could do would kill it. As far as reciprocation. I mean I think he would've always gone gloves off with her at some point. The plan was always to use the amplifiers to control her. Even if she hadn't run away, at some point she would have refused to help him do mass murder, and he would've treated her the same way. Frankly, her running away was such a small mutiny, that itself tells you how little he's willing to compromise or give her any space. She hadn't acted against him, she was afraid and with good reason! It would've been so easy to just... tell her that Baghra was lying lmao. Just be nice and smooth things over! But he's fucking incapable. And I think reciprocation would've gone the same way. Like, in the first book she literally offers to work with him if he doesn't kill Mal. Which... would literally just give him a hostage to hold over her head forever. Like it was a good bargain for him. But he couldn't, because he cannot bear a situation where she gets to dictate the terms at all! He'd always want to make sure he has complete and utter control. I've speculated a couple times about "And then what?" scenarios about him winning though

[dasiesanddarkness]

pretty sure that kit young as jesper fahey exists solely to make me question if im actually gay or not