#and God forbid if I'm writing

[gothicvalentine]

😭 I know I'm obsessed with Malleus. I even put that fact in my bio.

What I didn't realize -- until about 10 minutes ago -- was exactly how obsessed I am with this FICTIONAL damn goth dragon!

I am really hoping most people don't read my tags now lol. I saw one of my mutuals post an ask that had a link to art of first year Idia Shroud, with short hair. It's really great art and even short haired Idia is very pretty.

I liked the original post of the artwork and stuck it in my queue. But not after adding my tags. Which started out on the subject of how and why Idia became dorm leader and then ended up becoming a whole ass novella about Malleus! Pretty much anything will make me think of Malleus and then I get sidetracked and go off on a tangent. I have so many feelings about him. Like ALL the feelings! 😭

At this point, I wholly understand that Japanese guy who married a fictional character. I probably wouldn't have a public wedding though 😂. He's much braver than I!

Honestly, though the Idia being dorm leader thing is very confusing to me because he so obviously loathes being dorm leader.

Knowing Ignihyde students, none of them want to be dorm leader either. So it seems to me that someone was able to force Idia to be the dorm leader?

But who and how? Because we know that Idia really only seems to care about Ortho (and gaming lol). And from what I've seen, Ortho is the only one who can convince Idia to do something he doesn't want to.

But I've also seen where, at least once, even Ortho was not able to convince Idia to do something. Ortho is able to get Idia to reluctantly agree to attend the ceremony, but then Idia had a change of heart and stood Ortho up. (Idia's ceremonial robes story)

Here's where the problem with my brain and my tags begins . . . . (this is gonna get long folks, grab a beer and pull up a stool)

:read more:

This makes me start thinking about how Idia runs into Malleus out on one of his walks. Malleus is curious as to why Idia is wearing his ceremony robes and I can't remember what Idia's excuse was, but Idia didn't mention the ceremony at all.

So poor Malleus is confused and apparently just thinks Idia is a weirdo and doesn't question it more than that. Malleus is a stranger in a strange land. And he's been completely isolated and pretty much alone for hundreds of years?

It's never stated, but it's implied to be a very, very long time. Dude hasn't been socialized well with other FAE, let alone with humans!

He must be so confused by their behavior most of the time and their strange and baffling technology. He must have extreme culture shock.

Think about if the only knowledge you had about a certain subject was something you read from a book written by someone 500 years ago. And you had no idea that there had been updates and progress. Soooo much progress and change. Which you aren't used to.

I can't begin to imagine how surprising yet confusing that must be for Malleus! Particular as it's shown that he didn't think much could be learned in only 4 years and he didn't think the human lifespan was enough time to really accomplish anything. Apparently fae culture doesn't change much or at least not rapidly.

I keep thinking about how Malleus is so unused to human gadgets and technology and I'd love to see his reaction to finding out the rate at which computer and cell phone technology advances! 😂 He'd definitely have his adorable shocked Pikachu face! 😁🥰

I love how he's starting to reevaluate what he previously thought about humans and their ability to do so much with their very limited lifespans. And I absolutely adore how he believes that "misinformed knowledge is the source of all prejudice" and says he thinks that he'd like to study humans and learn more about them.

In light of the fact that we know there was a war between humans and the fae and his parents are both deceased, I'm worried that we'll find out they were killed in the fae/human war.

If that turns out to be the case, then this makes Malleus all the more amazing to me. Because it would be only natural to not have any positive feelings or beliefs about a group of people your country was at war with. Especially if someone you loved was killed by the opposing side.

We don't know how old Malleus was either but he may have been really young. And to have their parents killed . . . to a child's eyes, would be terrifying and life shattering. Malleus didn't even have friends or anyone that could help him process his loss and provide support and comfort, other than his grandmother (who sounds like she's always too busy to spend much time with Mal) and Lilia.

Yet his first real friend is a magic-less human and he's kind of adopted Silver (it seems like he's more like an uncle or big brother to Silver though, rather than co-parent). And he's curious about humans and their many cultures and actively wants to learn more about them.

It sounds as if Malleus is attempting to try to repair fae/human relations. He says several things which make it sound like this war was so long ago that the fae have been forgotten by everyone. It seems like Malleus has decided Briar Valley has been isolated and forgotten for far too long. And I think that he's decided, as king, that he wants to change that.

Malleus is naturally a very curious person, and I know his reason for being at NRC is for him to have new experiences and for him to have a chance to learn about the world outside Briar Valley. Perhaps it's also a chance, for a short amount of time, for him to be in a place which doesn't require him to be Prince Malleus all the time. He wants to be or at least is trying to be a regular student, "just like you."

However, I don't think this is the only reason he decided to attend NRC. I hope he can make connections and bring some innovations to Briar Valley. I hope he can manage to change the hearts and minds of his subjects. The humans who fought against the fae are probably long gone, but many Briar Valley fae probably personally fought in the war and probably very few of them are as forgiving as Lilia and Malleus are (and Sebek's mom!).

I hope Malleus plans to help his people integrate with the world outside of the valley. I hope he can improve their lives by bringing in some technology so they can be connected to the rest of Twisted Wonderland so they can be up to date on changes and the news of other nations.

From a security standpoint even, rulers need to be aware of the actions of even allied nations in case they decide to change alliances and start wars. It's important to not be completely in the dark in case relations sour.

And before I finish a 200 page novel about my latest Malleus thoughts . . . I'd just like to say that I think it would be so cute if Idia and Malleus could be friends? Idia could help Malleus with tech and help him get Briar Valley connected and they may be very different in their personalities, yet they do have things in common with one another. At least as far as how people judge Malleus unreasonably without first even giving him a chance. And true or not, Idia believes they do the same with him.

If you're not a dick to Malleus, he seems to be really non-judgmental about most things and I certainly can't see him thinking Idia has weird hair and judging him for something stupid like that.

Hell, Leona is a full on asshole to Malleus pretty much always, but Malleus just threatens him. And when Malleus threatens Leona (and honestly most people he threatens), it seems like he's just reminding them of what he could do if they pushed him too far.

I think very few of Mal's threats are genuine. I've really only seen two times that I can remember where I think Malleus was enraged to the point that he would have acted on his threats. Both times were during the first Halloween event. And granted, I think murder probably would have been a bit excessive . . . but the way they treated Malleus, who was being very polite to them, literally sickened me.

Someone outside of Mal's entourage should have punched those people in their faces. Like Yuu, lol!

In Malleus's defense, every dorm had one person who planned to commit murder. FFS, Ortho was going to blow up everything and level the entire school! Even Idia started panicking when he was struggling to reprogram Ortho.

Can I remind people that's not the only time Ortho has almost committed extreme violence? Chapter 6 is heavily foreshadowing Ortho doing bad things.

Yet Ortho, much like an adorable like Chihuahua, is almost universally seen (in the fandom and at NRC) as cute and harmless. Meanwhile, Malleus is seen by basically everyone at NRC and some in the fandom as the evil pitbull. Dangerous and scary. (I've never been scared of pitbulls either, lol. I've always thought they were super cute, but I've never had a negative interaction with one either.)

Ok, I had to get some of that off of my chest because I don't want to argue with people or tell them their opinion is wrong (because it's not--an opinion is only that--it's just the way someone views something and it's ok for people to view things differently), yet it also bothers me to see people saying that Malleus gets really angry very easily and they act as if they believe he would follow through on all of his threats.

Maybe he would. After all, I don't know him either or what he thinks (as much as one could know or understand someone who doesn't actually exist). But it seems like he recognizes his duty and responsibility as future king and that, as such, he represents the entirety of his kingdom.

If Malleus were to commit some egregious act, it would not only reflect poorly on him, but on all residents of Briar Valley, and to some extent all fae. If he were to murder a human or humans or level the school or something similar, it's not outside the realm of possibility that humans would see that attack on one of their own as an attack against all humans and therefore a declaration of war. If the future king of the fae kills humans I could totally see people viewing that as an act of war as he's essentially the leader of his country. Or close enough that even if people have no issue with Mal's grandmother, they may see Malleus as taking a more violent approach to leadership. Or at the very least, a more unpredictable and unstable leader.

Malleus is not stupid and he's at least somewhat aware of that after Silver gently chides Malleus when he nearly loses control. Silver reminds Malleus that he had told them he wanted to "avoid any aggressions towards other species" and then asks Malleus "what if this feeds into hostilities?"

From what Malleus says after he's calmed down enough to think rationally, it's obvious that he's ashamed and probably really embarrassed that he lost his composure and was ready to commit violence. Like all the NRC students Malleus is arrogant and being as powerful as he is, both magically and physically, as well as being a prince who has lived for perhaps hundreds of years -- I'm sure he's shocked that he lost control of his emotions and temper.

He may have had hundreds of years to work on controlling his emotions (which is a really bad idea tbh), but he is used to people who probably all show deference to him and respect his authority.

Humans are a whole different breed. The magicam type of person probably wouldn't treat their own nation's leaders with respect, let alone the ruler of another nation.

Malleus was neither prepared for nor did he expect anyone to not only be horribly rude to him, but to treat him like he wasn't even a living being. They treated him like an object, who only existed for their amusement so they could get likes on their magicam feed.

Lord, I think I'm finally finished getting all my thoughts and headcanons out there and "on paper." If I printed this out, it probably wouldn't be 200 pages, but I'd be afraid of how long it would be.

I haven't spent this much time writing anything since I wrote my college theses! I remember that being a nightmare to write though and this wasn't.

Of course all I did was write out all the Malleus thoughts in my head (for now lol).

I apologize for any errors if you put yourselves through the torture of reading this all. I started out proofreading and then I added twice as much content.

My last job was proofreading 8 hours a day, so I really don't feel like spending even more time editing the rest of this. And knowing me, I'm likely to make more additions if I look at it again. 🙄

[allgremlinart]

Jet and Zuko meet on the ferry is TIRED. Jet and Zuko meet after S2E7 "Zuko Alone" is WIRED

[writeouswriter]

*banging fists on table* more mentally ill characters in stories that aren't just about them being mentally ill! More mentally ill characters in sci-fi, in fantasy, in romance and fun and high stakes situations and everything in between, as the heroes, as complex individuals, multifaceted and treated with respect, not having their needs and differences ignored or skirted around but, again, not having them be their only trait or plot point/entire premise! Please, I'm begging, on my hands and knees, there's a place for these topics and characters in realistic, reflective and literary fiction, yeah, but there's also a place in those magical, mystical, action packed, mysterious and alien worlds, give them to ME

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

"I want to see him bruised and bloody" is out. I want to hear him slurring.

[alrightbuckaroo]

Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope the sun is shining wherever you are :) Thanks for the tags @carlos-in-glasses, @welcometololaland, @sznofthesticks, @heartstringsduet, @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut, @carlos-tk, @orchidscript, @paperstorm, @strandnreyes, @lemonlyman-dotcom, @freneticfloetry, and @janto4ev! I've been steady working on the Time Loop AU so here's a little something from that:

Carlos assumes his frustration is born out of the trickle of thoughts that started to flow during his drive over. He's been forced to remember everything he's had to unlearn because of this break-up.

He had to unlearn waking up and being greeted by the sun before ever opening a blind. He had to unlearn making dinner for two at table that’s too big for one. He had to unlearn how to say the name “Tyler” with a song in his voice.

Carlos had to unlearn what it meant to feel safe with someone; with another man, and he doesn’t know if he can ever truly forgive TK for that.

When he pulls into the hospital parking lot, he decides it’s best that he gets a handle on his emotions.

At the end of the day, TK is hurt; and while Carlos is too, it isn’t about him. He shouldn’t create a scene even though every act of this play hasn’t been written in his favor.

open tag + no pressure tag under the cut :)

@reyesstrand, @theghostofashton, @thebumblecee, @three-drink-amy, @lightningboltreader, @louis-ii-reyes-strand, @bonheur-cafe, @basilsunrise, @never-blooms, @redshirt2, @sanjuwrites, @ambiguouspenny, @herefortarlos, @your-catfish-friend and @rmd-writes

[funkytoes]

"is this movie featuring female empowerment roles ACTUALLY bad or are men just sexist" - me whenever a movie with unconventional and/or very powerful female leads gets super bad reviews from male movie critics and youtubers lol

[beanghostprincess]

When Robin was first introduced, she had been working with Crocodile in Alabasta for the past several years, so I could understand her skin tone being a little lighter than it used to be, but not this bad.

It's extremely fucked up. I would understand the "it was an animation error" argument if it wasn't because it happens with all the characters (not only Robin) and they're whiter and whiter each episode (even the characters that should be black).

If we follow irl reasoning as you say, then all of them should be tanned because they're pirates. They're constantly under the sun. But no, they go backward and instead, they lack melanin every episode. It was already bad, but Egghead fucked up big time.

And don't get me started on Usopp because people could use that excuse on any other character, but Usopp?? I truly, really, don't think it takes too much thinking to get that he's black and Toei just keeps making him paler than Sanji. It's ridiculous and racist and people who ignore it or say it's been talked "too much" (because people say it and apparently there's a limit for them as to how much you can complain about racism) always get on my nerves.

What Toei is doing is just disgusting and people defending it are always the ones who refuse to see any mistakes in the things they like. News flash! You can like something and admit it has mistakes.

[istherewifiinhell]

IS FLYING GENDERED?

On the masculine default, typifying gender in genre, and women as the other in the transformers cartoons.

question for the ages

once again i said back in the halcyon days of watching g1 (aka 5 months ago) i was like. Nooooo, decepticon is NOT a gender that's Silly. It's funny, but as a Read Of The Text, I thought it largely unneeded. (The concept came about, as a joke, involving dismissing the bad guys using the same language you would abt women (sexistly) that they're emotional [heh, flighty], vain, and shrill) after all. If in the 80s era there are 5 whole named/speaking woman tfs, its only ever gonna get better from here right? (<- booboo the fool)

anyway

Let's consider the axiom that the assumed default gender is male, that maleness is often seen as LACK of gender, and femaleness and gender variance are the PRESENCE of gender. In certain reasoning and worldviews, of course (See Androcentrism). Then add that, for transformers, the assumed default thing a transformer turns into, is car. (Autocentrism, if you will)

(The most general term for what a tf turns into is "Alt mode" as some of them are not vehicles at all. The other mode is "Robot Mode", whether its humanoid or not)

So I will be laying out why I believe the cartoon iterations support: non standard alt modes = non standard genders. This is in spite of the fact that FIRST lady tfs were all cars. Sleek cyber cars, but still. For whatever reason, (possibly, the reason for everything in tf, toys) they might as well not exist for how woman tf characters presence in the cartoons progressed over time.

And, to be clear, this is a reading of how these works of fiction are created, not a new unified bioessentialism but for robots aliens I'm proposing for like. In universe lore reasons. I hate that idea.

That said, alt modes in order of most to least gender: Spider, motorcycle, flying (in general, with rotors, jets), tank, and then FINALLY, car. (water and space crafts are already too marginal to rank, but they too can be assumed in relation to default maleness, AND that in making one a woman, would still qualify as othering her).

The NUMBER one reason for this is the bizarre need to have an ESTABLISHED woman tf character before making new ones. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE. With a g1 gender ratio something like.... (counting even the most marginal cases for the ladies) 9:120? (That's a rough count from a quick scanning of the tf wiki g1 char list) Shits dire out here.

The second is, ofc, character design based. cis people [stand in phrase for the hegemonic world view] are not okay, and their opinions about how tf gender must need be depicted visually is. uh? Im not a fan. Size and shape dimorphism in general is a given, and specifically having women tfs as far more humanoid and curvy in specific. Also general cartoon lady face syndrome but, whatever. I think there's exactly one character here who doesn't have "lips" or "lipstick" as a distinguishing factor. I'm so tired.

Third is generally, the idea of The Girl Of the Team. When there's The Girl, she often isn't JUST a normal character, who happens to be a girl. See, of course, the Smurtfette Principle. But in my view there's also a trend to give The Girl "special traits" on top of "Girl", maybe even to directly combat the idea that the Girl Character has no other traits? To stop this from being a General Primer on Woman in Media, my explanatory focus is things specific to the tf franchise.

(A phrase I use for thinking about normative modes [in general, not just the Alt ones] in within the tf universe is "unique transformerdom" or, even more clunkily, "A transformer of unique transformerdom". The excessive verbosity is amusing to me personally. All I mean by it is to have an umbrella term for any of the ways tfs can be made unique from their peers in the non allegorical realities of the fiction).

I could, and do, and greatly want to, speak about this AT LENGTH. But it keeps spiraling away from me. So I'll say for now were looking at ways a character is being depicted different from her peers, not because she is the only woman (which she likely is), but cause she's a different kind of transformer, AND if she's othered for it.

(IN SOME forms of the lore. Being a transformer woman, IS A UNIQUE KIND of transformer unto itself. Let's just say I hate it and move on)

Fourth, is the gender of villainy. There is much to be said about gender presentation of villains, the ways they are allowed to be aberrant. We will get to it. There is also all the tropes specific TO evil women, and the modes of villainy open TO female characters. But a general thing I think impacting the gender ratios of the factions is the how "Good" and "Evil" female characters are written. I'll generalize and call this the "Damsel vs Temptress" dichotomy. (See concepts like the Madonna-whore complex). Transformers, is by and large, an action franchise. Unless special reasons are made, characters who can impact the action– have more screen time, and likely more memorable, and iconic presences. A villainous woman can be unchaste, violent, aggressive. While a heroic woman, even if not a literal damsel are more likely to be in a support role. The secretaries of the action genre: medics and techs.

(Another factor is that tfs are giant robots, and the good guys are often friends with tiny squishy little humans. These make very good damsel fodder, and can be taking up the spots on the roster that might, in a different franchise, go to women. Additionally, while woman characters in transformers overall is an interesting topic. When I say tf women, I'm referring to ones that are in fictionally, transformers.)

SO, now understanding our points of attack/obstacles for getting woman into transformers. (Getting established, gendering the designed, uniqueness of existence, and general villainy). Lets go over those alt modes, and the characters that have em, in more detail.

Spiders

The "Beast Era" (1996) intro-ed the spider ofc. And what don't we have with this one. She's a villain, but shes also misunderstood, the era and design style let to these more organic shapes. And they used them to make sure she was very sexy. She's genre aware, she's quippy, she's an absolute icon. So naturally. She gets ported to other later shows. Which means we just have sexy spider ladies running around when everyone else is a fucking truck and shit.

Her own origin is, well think of her as a "Bride of Frankenstein" to the resident evil scientist, also a spider. She was designed for, and manipulated by him in multiple ways. Her protoform (A blank robot base), was supposed to be one of the good guys (a Maximal), but was reprogrammed into a bad guy (Predacon). Even then, she eventually joins them, for her own reasons. She's not even the first predacon to do so, the difference? Well the characters are a lot more NORMAL about his autonomy. Both of these characters stress that being a predacon is an identity they still see as important. But only the woman is told that really, she is was was always MEANT to be a maximal. And while that's true in a sense. There's also a plot were she's forced (by plot contrivance, not the other maximals) to get corrective robot surgery for it. And when they think she died from, everyone's more sad for her boyfriend than for her. Ouch.

The second spider, in the 2007 show, is now one in a world where she is the only "techno-organic" transformer, hence, she is spider, everyone else is a vehicle. Similar to the first, her narrative is very gendered, but less in the way were, like, I do literally think the first was was experiencing in universe sexism from other characters. Here, they really focus on the "techno vs organic" narrative, and the tragic circumstances on how that happened. In this case its just real world sexist writing.

THIRD SPIDER, (2010), instead of misunderstood and tragic evil, this ones just super mega likes to cause pain evil. She also occupies a strange place between the typic vehicular tfs, and the insecticons. This is because she has a helicopter alt mode, and her robot mode is just, a lady with spider characteristics. And, more than just a passing bug like similarity, she has the power to control the insecticons (you know, cause evil woman mind control). However, she doesn't fit in with them either, as the insecticons are at the most insect like they've ever been, in look, living in hives and that most don't even speak.

They may vary in exact character, relationship to the story's moral conflict, and design. But they stay comfortably established, dimorphised, flirty and flirting with villainy. And bonus points, always, for black widow spider trope.

SO. SPIDERS. Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ (Extremely!) Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ Villainy: ✅️

Motorcycles

Tooooo my knowledge the first bike lady was in 2004, and fairly minor, in the actual plot, but rest assured, they did go the previously established woman route, by being pink, though, which one shes named after varies by language. But neither were previously motorcycles. (And yes, there is also this problem of mixing together or swapping out one woman tf for another. As if we have the ladies to spare). Even though motorcycle men also exist, this one just stuck for a bit. Maybe something to do with Those Movies. I think the Gendered Existence of a motorcycle is pretty evident though, general sex appeal, being smaller, the mode of riding a motorcycle is different, more physical and intimate. Mainly this ranks so high for the level of grossness they can pack in. Just how objectifying it can be, particularly with two instances where the human rider is an annoying teen boy. Naturally, I've also never seen a male and female motorcycle in the same room, but the approach to design tends to be different. And yeah most of em are Arcee, who's first alt mode was cyber car, but it's not just her.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: Depends on iteration, I do NOT like the way one gets called "tough, for a two wheeler". Villainy: ❌(they wouldn't need to be motorcycles if they weren't making them the Special Girl Autobot, after all)

Flying

General: It just tends to stick out when your one girl is only flyer in the group, even she's otherwise tactfully done. Only flyer of the Maximals, a falcon, only flyer of the dinobots, a Pteranodon.

Rotors

I can barely even figure this one. Maybe it's just a general, aesthetics and use case of the actually vehicles, the associations? None of these ladies (and special case) are very connected otherwise. As previously mentioned, the spider helicopter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A big one for this is the preschool demo shows, which are rescue team focused. In the first one the only woman on the human response worker team pairs with the helicopter, they mention she does medical at times. The helicopter is male, like the other tfs. But also he's afraid of flying, and while not the first case of a flyer with a fear of heights, their personalities are, pretty different. As he's both fearful AND effeminate, fine as character traits go but, with the tone of humour used, marks him as Other.

In the second, Whirl (pointing to icon) becomes a girl for the first time, now with standard humanized face. I assume as move to keep with the previous show of having a girl one, as there's no human team mates. She's also the only one who really likes rescue school. Aaaand that's all know of her. What more do you want from me.

Helicopters: Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (milder than some)

But why'd I call this section rotors instead of helicopters? That would be because one of the latest Sole Female TF we just put in everything™ is a VTOL jet with rotors. She'll tend to be the only jet of her type, which is also smaller than the type of jet used for the villains.

And, of course, aside from alt mode, the thing that makes her stand out most in the cartoons? That she's very clearly a comics character. (I find the emphasize that she's "fan created" over done, as it only controlled minor aspects, and irrelevant cause tfs get completely overhauled in new versions all the time). From her design, which is a bit busier than most characters she stars with. And also uses Japanese aesthetic signifiers in ways that I think are a bit misappropriated and untactful. (VERY USamerican comics). Also, when she stars next to a guy, also from comics employing Japanese aesthetic, you can tell its not deployed in the same manner. (E.I she has hair and makeup, he has armor). Either way, her depictions have her either as badass sword lady on mission from god who's constantly getting hit on by an annoying guy. Or have her be from a different planet and has special telepathy.

Do we see how both her gender AND the cultural signifiers are having affects here? That the main woman tf in a series can be a literal alien even among our alien robots, with cultural signifiers they don't have?

Ratings Established: ✅️ (made the comics to cartoon jump) Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (SO SO EXTREMELY, using methods in fiction and real life)

Jets

I think my association of jets with tf gender is stronger, than some of the above examples, even if there's less reason to it. And why is that? Well, lets get socratic. Here's another question.

Is This All Starscream's Fault?

No. He's not real, he can't do things. But. His legacy as THE main stay transformers character that gets to subvert gender? Yeah. (Sure, the G1 autobots have their own effete, but he's not in every single cartoon they ever made now is he? Plus now that I think about it, he is a FLYING car...)

From the get, he's not a Man's man. He's shrill, he's manipulative and duplicitous, petty and emotional, cowardly and wheedling. He is, of course, the Perfect character. Now naturally, the 80s cartoon was not concerned with your paltry logics. Starscream and his ilk are the jets, but every decepticon can fly. The gun, the cassette player, the camera, the cassettes.

And each to a last, more masculine than he is. Vocally or behaviorally, physically. Every one of them fit the gender expectations more than he does. Even being a small time grunt, is a masculine trait, after all, more so than unchecked ambition. So its not femininity from flying, from jets. But direct relationship, reference, and descendancy from Starscream that makes it. I've yet to see female versions of Jet fire and or the aerialbots, for example.

So what to do when an effeminate male villain was less maltese falcon and more that man has effeminate hips? Well. We had to start getting his ass for being effeminate, explicitly. They made the female clone of him, which yeah, is an offensive joke stemming from the various The Gender Anxieties. (Transmisogyny, homophobia and sexism. General relation toxic masculinity. A heady mix of all and more).

But I mean. It's free girl tf... Once given a name in extra canon materials, she start's showing up in other things. Once you're in books, video games, comics, and most importantly, toys, you're real. And then eventually, her first non clone appearance in a cartoon, and how her presence shaped it.

That being, Cyberverse. Which is a cgi show, you need to know this for reasons of production. Making new models is expensive. This has always been the reason you just make recolours of Starscream and name them different things. Chicken or egg on this one, I don't know, But because CV has Slipstream, and the only difference between her and the generic "male" decepticon jet, is a more feminine face; Suddenly, any random decepticon goon can be a woman.

An absolutely revolutionary take for striving to populate a fictional world with gender parity. By at large it also means they're way more lady villains, and specifically flying model of villain. The show has other woman, but none who get the same androgynous body mold treatment.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: Mildly to NO. Unique: By design, no. Othered: Yes for the clone, and Screamer himself, I suppose. No, otherwise. Villainy: ✅️(That's, the whole idea)

Tanks

It needs to be said. Sometimes, when doing things that transgress a norm, anteing up is less subversive. This is another reason why gender variance, female agency and overt sexuality are more common traits of villains. When already defying strictures of society. What's one more.

That's Right. TANKS ARE THE BUTCH WOMAN OF TRANSFORMERS.

Alright. Let me back up. Strika is the stone cold knock out undefeated champ of lady tf designs that, actually has a reoccurring cartoon presence. She is, admittedly, only a reoccurring to minor character.

Her introduction is in another show with techno-organics, this one involved in the struggle between well, the techno and the organic. Strika as we see her, and as the design that will go on to be iterated, is not in her normal transformer body. She has been transferred into a 'vehicon' body. Without a preexisting essence contained in one, vehicons are not considered alive, in the way a transformer is. Visually, they lack the more human body plan, a standard face, feet and hand like appendages.

To further contrast Strika against the two techno-organic woman. Both of them are tall, and slender. Their softer organic shapes designed towards elegance or beauty, whatever your subjective opinion of that result might be. They both have romance subplots too. By the way. Or honestly one subplot and one main plot. Strika. In contrast. Is built like a brick shit house. Her face is. Minimal. And her goal: protecting her planet... by terminating the heroes.

Now, existing as a character that can be referenced for other media, and given the detail that she was a "Famous general", it's off to the races. She makes a wonderful big tank menace that can fill out a background shot, too.

Without her I hardly think we could have Clobber, also from CV. Who is. The true goat. The finest thing, the achievements of all we could ever hope for. A big fuck off woman, gender swapped from a previous male design with minimal faff, with now even more personality and show presence. Friends, wants, desires. Emotions. Thank God for Clobber, Thank Clobber for Clobber. Thank Randolph Heard and Mae Catt for Clobber.

Established: Depends if you want to count that Strika had so much swag they kept drawing/modeling her Gendered designs: FUCK NO Unique: ✅️ Othered: only originally Villainy: ✅️

Cars

So now you have the final piece of the puzzle. In transformers, Autobots are Cars. Yes, there are plenty of autobots that are NOT cars, and there are cars that are not Autobots. But they're exceptions, they're aberrances. They're unique. And Autobots are the norm. They oppose the Decepticons. Decepticons are Villains. And Decepticons can fly. Modal simplified binaries and false dichotomy abound!

And the thing about those original Autobot woman, the one's who largely did not influence all of this? They were cars, it's true, but not like how the men where cars. They've not been designed from transforming car toys, with a shellac of humanoid gender over top. Their designed in the way of human gender. With the car on top.

When the preexisting clause leads to the original designs to be revisited, which, has largely only happened in more recent years. They aren't car woman robots. The cars are literally not part of their bodies, they are additional. Instead of a unifying identity of a robot who is a car, its Arcee and her backpack. Parts of cars get grafted onto their petite lady bodies, and placed anywhere out of the way.

In order to make a transformer a woman, they have to give her a gender, not understanding that that's always been the case. And to give her a woman's gender, she's got to LOOK like a woman, not a transformer. And to look like a woman, she's got to act like a woman. She must be heroic but reactive instead of active, or else, villainous, conniving and or self centered. To be a woman, we must have some other previous woman to explain her presence, or else explain it anew with her unique, strange, or exotic origin. How could she ever be a woman if she simply, existed, looked average, talked average. How could she be a woman if her body is hunks of ungendered car. How can she be a woman if she's everything we expect a transformer to be.

A woman is transgressive, a woman is not normal. Autobots are normal. Autobots are heros. Autobots are men. And Autobots do not fly.

[szollibisz]

been thinking about this a loooot recently (even if my "writing style" annoys the shit out of me now) but yeahw.. my little guy my favourite doomed gay.....

[sainztander]

the thing about byler is that the duffers could have VERY easily put a stop to it in s3. they could have begun s4 with will still being gay but simply NOT having a crush on mike. with mike being a normal friend to will and acting like it when he got to cali. and it would have worked, because the general audience is actually getting aware of byler rn only thanks to s4, where will's feelings are LOUD and not subtext anymore, where mike is acting WEIRD and we don't know why, where they put a lot of emphasis about what mike and will's relationship is like. they could have avoided that but they didn't and if after all of that they're now set on an unrequited byler storyline........ it would be gratuitously mean. because it could have been EASILY avoidable.

[jichanxo]

re: senseific, i don't remember if you've talked about it, but i was a little bit surprised that it was sawa who suggested kitakata as an advisor for amasawa. yeah it's been 13 years, and in the game their relationship is not particularly hostile, but i still wait from her the "fuck that guy" attitude towards him xD speaking of (and this, of course it doubtly would be The Theme, but will you talk about their relationship or just mention that stuff happened and they got over it? or not at all?

you all know the drill ↓

Considering the outcome of the Kusumoto situation in sensei au, I don’t think her feelings towards him would be so negative. He mishandled the situation at first, sure, but he realised it was serious, and I think he did everything he could to make things right. Of course, effort alone isn’t enough to make up for all the awful things that already happened because of him, but it must count for something, right? Kitakata was willing to admit he was wrong, presumably apologised, took responsibility, put in the work. I think Sawa sees that. That he’s flawed but ultimately sincere and trying.

Her impression of Kitakata isn’t wholly positive – she’s levelheaded and sees his flaws very clearly, especially now as his colleague (he’s prone to mess and disorganisation, and I see him as being kind of lazy and inconsiderate at times in his day to day). He perhaps doesn’t deserve her respect, and Sawa is definitely the better teacher, but I think her presence helps hold Kitakata to account. She expects quite a bit of him, and Kitakata knows this, wants to be the person that she expects him to be. Kitakata’s wish to change and do better is sincere, but I think he might slip back into old habits if he wasn’t diligent, and Sawa’s presence helps.

She certainly expects Kitakata to at least hear a student out when they go to speak to him, and she’s known him long enough to notice him with a mystery novel or two. Why not ask him to help the mrc? ...well, I dunno. I’m not married to the idea. But that’s the train of thought.

I don’t know how in depth I’ll go with those two, mostly because I’m approaching the Sawa-Kitakata relationship from the angle of Yagami seeing that there’s something going on there, but not knowing exactly what. So for the most part, it’s not going to be something that’s spoken about outright. But their relationship is interesting and I think it speaks especially to Kitakata’s personal motivations and shortcomings in a way that can’t be done any other way.

[starrierknight]

like/reblog ratio goes crazy. literally what

[wereshrew-admirer]

you ever blink and realize you wrote a 3K introduction into what was supposed to be a pwp fic in a few hours... at work? woops,

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

I am blocking on sight anyone that puts any fucking discourse over "moral" fiction or whatever the fuck on my dash. I have blocked 5 people in the last month. I don't care if I've been a mutual with you for years, if you engage in this kinda shit, especially on the side of believing that certain fiction shouldn't be allowed, then you are someone I have no respect for.

Unless someone is actually straight up committing a crime (I.E., posting *actual* photographs or videos of REAL LIFE PEOPLE, not fictional/drawn people, REAL PEOPLE, being harmed/sexually abused) I Do Not Care what other people read or write or watch or make. I Do Not Care. I do not trust anyone else's, especially on the piss on the poor website, to be able to determine if a text is "glorifying" something or if they are just uncomfortable with the subject as a whole. You people all suck at media comprehension and I am just flatly not interested. I keep seeing posts of people making good points and then people ripping them apart in the most bad faith possible. "Someone else's media consumption doesn't hurt you" "yes except for when abuse is portrayed as love, or-" no. shut the fuck up. You Missed The Point. You DO NOT KNOW, and you CAN NOT KNOW, why someone else wrote or created something nor can you know why anyone chose to engage with it. Also, sometimes the fucking point of a story is to portray something bad as good, to serve a narrative purpose. that doesn't mean the author thinks it IS.

I Do Not Care about icky feelings. If you can't tell fiction from reality, that's a you problem. Leave us writers/artists the fuck out of it. And if your knee-jerk reaction to this is "oh, you're just making excuses For The Freaks" you are part of the problem and I also have no respect for you.

FWIW, I am an abuse survivor and I find everyone's moral panic over shitty fanfiction stupid at best and upsetting at worst. You people freak out over fictional bad things happening to fictional people, to the point you waste the resources and time of people that actually hunt down predators by sending them loli fanart? You make me feel like you care about fictional people more than you care about the victims. Also, you'll be fucking fine if you hear about weird art or fic happening. Just don't fucking read it yourself. But knowing it exists won't fucking hurt you. You know what does hurt you? ACTUAL ABUSE. Like the kind so many of the creators you demonize go through, bc like I said before, you can't know why people make the art they make and you certainly can't know whether someone's a victim or not. And people shouldn't HAVE to disclose their victim status for you to make sure you're only attacking the "acceptable" people.

Maybe just don't fucking attack people over some fucking fanfiction or fanart. period. go the fuck outside.

You crave ruthless, vindictive justice more than you crave to help people. You are after the high of feeling good about putting people down, the "right" people.

And I Have No Respect For You.

[nope-the-weeb]

i love love love tog's theme of games/wagers/tests. it seems to be a tradition in the tower that makes the culture of the tower feel so real.

villains will monologue about their plans. people who have the power to easily defeat their enemies will set up convoluted games, and not as a display of power. it seems to be a matter of honor not to crush your enemies underfoot (rather than just the camp of the story)

maybe this is a remanant of Adventurer Jahad's personality, and the 13 warriors' climb. maybe this is the part of jahad that died when he became king, having to reign with power, rather than prove himself fairly as an adventurer. maybe this is the part of the tower that died when the natural order (administrators, ancients, old kingdoms) were superceded by jahad's rule (actually that doesn't fit thematically but just putting it out there)

can you imagine yurin and eduan pulling a grumpy Traumurei aside, taking bets on whether Arlene would end up with Jahad or V? Gustang is banned from their bets because he always wins, but as the Team Nerd he has to give his pointers. Jahad might catch them but he doesn't take it personally, because it is the end of a hard day of testing, a rare night under simulated stars, rather than under an administrator's harsh gaze. besides, he is the adventurer that would take on anything, or so they thought. of course he would address the challenge head on

What did he find on the 135th floor? How the first team to conquer the tower, the first team (I'd like to imagine) from Outside to even enter the tower, fall apart, and then stagnate? what is really at the top of the Tower?

[gaminegay]

Rah rah

With as much love and affection possible in my heart, I wish people would sometimes just let you have emotions without helping. Yes I am angry today. It's not your fault well-meaning coworker it's not directed at you and I have no reason. I'm just angry!! However if you keep asking me about it it will inevitably seep into our conversation and you'll feel bad and then I'LL feel bad and regress in this whole 'feeling and expressing emotion' thing.