#and by god I would love a variety of queer characters

[mtreebeardiles]

So I think Bobby was only partially right when he insinuated Eddie’s still hung up on Shannon

Because I don’t think he ever really loved her — they got married because she got pregnant, he ran off to the army, then she left and didn’t come back and the only real reason to reconnect had more to do with Christopher than anything else

It’s not that I think he hates her or dislikes her — I think he DID like her, but not in a way that would’ve been romantically sustainable. He’s caught in all these contradictions within himself — the idea of what he should be, what’s acceptable, and what he actually wants are all very different things. Shannon was the perfect excuse to never have to find another girlfriend — and she still is

The idea of her, rather than her herself, was and is the ultimate sabotage for any relationship because the kind of relationships he thinks he SHOULD have isn’t the kind he actually wants

Would he have ever sought Shannon out when he did if the school application process for Christopher hadn’t put pressure on him, hadn’t reinforced that idea of what family should look like? Could argue he didn’t have to move to CA at all, and why go where he presumably knew she was, but I do think he had wanted to open the possibility of having her back in her son’s life, if only for Christopher’s sake. But he didn’t make that move until he felt forced to

Because once she was back, he knew it would only be a matter of time before they tried to make things work

I don’t doubt her rejection hurt, and I don’t doubt that he cares for her, and this is in no way a reflection on her or her character, but rather how I think he sees her, subconsciously, and how the idea of her shifted from absence/placeholder to grief as a means of avoiding new relationships, the kind he keeps forcing himself to have because he still thinks on some level it’s what he wants

Guy’s not gonna be happy til he figures out what he actually wants

[goodluckclove]

Some Loose Thoughts on Queer Rep (Specifically Aspec Rep)

(Just in advance I'm going to dunk on Alastor from Hazbin Hotel like a lil' bit, as a treat. Mainly the team that made him and what he represents, but still. If that's rage bait for you, I suggest maybe dipping out now)

I have a theory that queer media needs both queer characters and queer genre characters. The difference is very important.

I think a queer character would be a character in a story about their queerness. For some reason the only two characters I could think of are the guy from Love, Simon (What was his name again?) and the protagonist from Rubyfruit Jungle, which should express the weird and complicated relationship I have with this particular archetype.

Queer stories centered around queerness are definitely needed, but at the same time I feel like we're just starting to come to terms with the desperate need for the alternative, which are queer characters in genre media that contain overarching plots larger than their sexuality. Not separate, necessarily (Their queerness certainly influences things), but just beyond. This is more accessible for a variety of artists, which is also the reason why it can be a flop or a massive success.

We get more of this than ever for gay and sapphic characters, as well as some trans folks and occasionally non-binary. It's definitely way less seen in aspec characters, and even less respected. I started thinking this way because the internet is flooded with references to fucking Alastor from Hazbin Hotel as an aroace character and - like - god, I don't get it.

Like you can have your serial killer comfort character, that's fine. But latching onto him as representation for the entire aspec community when he was only confirmed to be aroace through a reference in a livestream and the weakest joke onscreen is pretty disheartening. It definitely reads like this part of his identity was added pretty late in his character development, and by a team of people that didn't seem to consider what the response and reaction would be and how they'd handle it.

I also wish the newest aspec icon in media wasn't created by a team so adamant on encouraging shipping culture above actually respecting the identity they've decided to provide representation for. Like I see it means a lot to people to have an aroace character doing something cool in a fun TV show that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their identity. Then there's like four other people right behind that person who really wants that person to be romantic and fuck.

And like, yeah, aroace people can do that sometimes. It's a spectrum, I know. But can't we start with a baseline representation before providing proof of fluidity?

I just think we deserve better. Like a character who in the media is established to be aspec, and people are like "great" and move on to fight robots or do magic or whatever. And the person can be morally grey, or even a total dick, but like I'd personally prefer something with a little more depth than Hot Topic genericism.

Like don't get me wrong, I'll take some sort of eldritch horror as my representation, but...make him at all horrifying? Like everyone talks about how he has Eldritch powers, which I know to mean unfathomable and maddening. But I've seen everything he does in the canon of the show and it is both incredibly fathomable and makes me feel normal and sane. Yog-Sothoth this man is not.

But yeah, I don't think there's a solution here besides more aspec artists creating aspec characters in their work. That way people can still like Alastor if they want, but he's not like the only viable option in terms of representation in the media. Let me see lovingly-crafted cool guys and dipshits and chaos goblins and little babies and True Horrors, all of whom have varying degrees of distaste or indifference towards sex and romance.

Do it. We need it. Please.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

ugh this is horrible news tommy is still around, hope to god he's gone in the finale. v

Maybe in your world Nonnie, but not in mine and I'm not entirely sure why you felt the need to come and complain about it on my blog, but here we are!

It makes perfect Narrative sense for Tommy to still be around in the back end of the season, and even possibly into the start of season 8. The show is telling a story of Bucks bisexuality, so why woould they get rid of Tommy so quickly? To do so would do a disservice to that story - a massive disservice. I'm guessing you're hating on this relationship becasue you see it getting in the way of Buddie, rather than viewing it as a vital step on the route to Buddie.

Lets put it into simple terms - Buck figures out he's bi and then begins to explore that newly discovered aspect of himself. The show has also taken the time to move Buck from someone who didn't really do relationships (of the long term variety), into someone who is looking for love and looking for forever. But in amongst all of that, he hasn't really had a healthy long term relationship, the closest he had to that was with Ali and that one didn't last especially long and she wasn't around for most of it

Buck isn't ready for an endgame queer relationship right now - he is still to immature from a relationship perspective - especially a queer relationship perspective. If Eddie was available and he and Buck got together - as they are as characters right now, they wouldn't last - they're not in a position to do so successfully. And this isn't me suggesting that they need to have figured everything out before they get together - to have fully healed etc, because thats neither realistic or something I would want to see - what it means is that they both need to get to a point where they are in a healthy enough place to put in the work together, understand each others flaws, and their own flaws and proactively work towards overcoming those things together and as of right now, neither of them are - they are getting their and moving rapidly in the right direction, but Buck needs to learn a bit more, and in many ways learn how to be with a man, before he will be ready to start anything with Eddie.

The growth we're getting to watch Buck go through right now - in the aftermath of the lightening strike, his reckoning with his mortality etc and the fact he's now off the hamster wheel and moving forward - in a healthy and faster way than we've ever seen from him, speaks volumes.

Tommy is also a far better developed love interest than any other love interest we've seen Buck (or indeed Eddie) with (Abby excepted but she was a main, so had her own purpose on the show)- I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling like I know Tommy more after 3 episodes plus what we got from the begins episodes he was in, than I managed to ascertain about Taylor or Ana or Nataila etc!

Not to mention, him figuring out he's in Love with Eddie as part of this process is going to be fun to watch. The show has made no bones about re-enforcing at every. Single. Opportunity how close, how entwined and how important Buck and Eddie are to one another - the show has quite literally been prioritising that over anything else Buck and Eddie related - Buck was there front and centre - placed very much on an equal footing with Shannon and even Eddie himself in 7x01, and then Eddie was the centre of Bucks bi arc in 7x04 and in his coming out in 7x05. They are literally moving chess pieces into place to tell an amazing story of queer love in later life and creating an epic slow burn for the ages.

And finally, Eddie is, as far as we know at this point in time, still in a relationship with Marisol - why shouldn't Buck get to explore who he is and what he want's within a relationship rather than sitting pining on the sidelines - that isn't healthy in any way shape or form. Eddie still has stuff to figure out about himself.

Even Tim and Oliver have stated in interviews that this is about a happy and joyful queer experience of figuring out bisexuality and therefore within that is giving the narrative a romcom vibe. But they have also stated that Tommy isn't going to be around for that long - that he is very much a narrative device.

It is worth pointing out that timelines on various aspects of the narrative may have been shifted because of the season 8 renewal - but that is only going to help tell the story because now it doesn't have to be rushed. I'm still fully expecting some form of feeling realisation from one of them by the end of the season (my money is on Buck), setting up for season 8 and Buddie going canon either 8a finale or early into 8b.

You have every right to dislike Tommy if thats you jam - have at it, but don't come to my blog and expect me to agree with you. I'm not a multi shipper by any means - I'm a one ship kind of gal and I will be a Buddie shipper until the end of time, but within that, I am here for amazing storytelling and amazing queer storytelling - the like of which I've not had the privilege to watch on my screen before - especially one that hits so close to home. Its a really important story to tell and I'd rather it not be rushed.

And if you had to pick - I'm pretty sure you'd rather have Tommy around for a bit longer that Marisol!!!!

[alpaca-clouds]

I have been asked a couple of times, whether I am doing requests right now and what kind of requests I would do, and now that the very eventful August is done, I thought I could actually redo my Requests Open post.

So, hi, I am Alex, I write a lot of fanfictions. Yes, I will do requests (and commissions). Yes, I will even do smutty ones. Even the really smutty ones. Yes, I will also do dark stuff and whump. I love whump.

The main fandom I will take requests for are:

Baldur's Gate 3

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Castlevania (Netflix) & Castlevania: Nocturne

League of Legends & Arcane

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Hades

There are other fandoms I write for, but those are the ones I feel most comfortable writing for at the moment.

What I will write:

A variety of shippings (see under the cut)

Character-centric stuff about almost any character

Smut, BDSM and Kink (I might however be not comfortable with specific kinks or specific kinks just on some of the ships)

Whump + Hurt/Comfort

All sorts of lighter genre

Family Fluff

Friendship Fluff

Urban Fantasy AUs

What I definitely won't write:

No-Magic AUs

A/B/O

OCs that are not my own (with @g-vlssz Sophie being the excemption)

Any sort of reader insert (especially female reader inserts)

You will find a more detailed list in regards to fandoms, ships and so on under the cut. :)

Baldur's Gate 3

Will Write:

Pretty much any of the characters (unless they are some NPC I missed)

Any shipping combination between Karlach, Lae'zel & Shadowheart

Karlach/Wyll

Nocturne/Shadowheart

Halsin/Astarion

Alfira/Lakrissa

Dame Aylin/Isobel

Araj/Aurelia

Astarion/my own trans male Tav

(Toxic, unhealthy) Cazador/Astarion & Vellioth/Cazador

(Toxic, unhealthy) Raphael/Gortash

(Toxic, unhealthy) canon Dark Urge/Gortash

Any combination between the companions as friends

Halsin & adopted kids

Gale & Tara, as well as Gale & Yenna

Won't Write:

Anything with a Tav or Durge that is not my own (I just do not feel comfortable writing about someone else's OCs, sorry)

Any reader insert

Any shippings with Gale (the man needs therapy first lol)

Ascended Astarion

Sharran Shadowheart

God Gale

Minthara, because I never managed to recruit her

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Will Write:

Xenk/Edgin

Edgin/Zia

Any variation of the characters as platonic relationships

I will write also crossovers with BG3

Won't Write:

Edgin/Holga

Simon/Doric as a romantic shipping - Doric is canonically asexual, and I do headcanon her as aromantic as well, so I absolutely love to write them as a very intense queerplatonic relationship, but not as anything romantic

Castlevania (Netflix)

Will Write:

Any characters

(Greta)/Trevor/Sypha/Alucard (and any combination between any two of them, with the exception of Greta/Alucard)

Hector/Isaac

(Toxic or AU) Hector/Lenore

Carmilla/Laura

Striga/Morana

Morana/Cho

Dracula/Lisa (however, for them I will not write harder kink)

Will also write: Hector/Sypha/Greta & (Hector)/Isaac/Trevor

Any friendship/platonic combination between character who live in the end

Will not Write:

As said above: romantic/sexual Greta/Alucard (I headcanon Greta as aromantic bisexual and Alucard as panromantic demisexual - and in my stuff they are just not compatible in what they want from a relationship, but are queerplatonic with each other)

Cis Striga (I headcanon her as trans and I will refuse to write her as cis)

Dracula/any character who is not Lisa (however, I would write a whumpy one-sided "Isaac is crushing on Dracula" story)

Hector/Lenore as a healthy couple outside of an AU

Castlevania: Nocturne

Will Write:

Mizrak/Olrox

Erzebeth/Drolta

Edouard/Jacques

Pretty much any friendship/platonic stuff between the characters

Will not Write:

Alucard/Maria (absolutely not, that's so fucking creepy)

Richter/Maria

Admittedly so far I am also not confident enough to write Richter/Annette

League of Legends & Arcane

Will Write:

Honestly, within LoL I will write a ton of different ships - especially queer ships. So - given the amount of characters, just look at the "Won't write" and if a ship is not there, just try and ask.

I will write most of the canonical AUs of LoL (like Star Guardians and Odysse)

For the Arcane timeline I am also quite versatile when it comes to alternate timelines - from "nothing bad ever happens" AUs up to "everything goes to shit" AUs

Will not Write:

I will definitely not write anything for the characters, who are actively participating in a fascist genocide (looking at some characters in Noxus and especially Demacia)

Caitlyn/Vi (because too many fans are biphobic, and I am done with it)

Shyvana/Jarven

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Will Write:

Grace/Persephone

Grace/Freddie/Persephone

Freddie/Calliope

Persephone/Calliope

Any platonic combination between any characters

Won't Write:

Grace/Apollo

Grace/Pan

Anything about Athena (I hate her)

Hades

Will Write:

Zagreus/Thanatos/Megaera

Hades/Persephone/Nyx

Archilles/Patroclus

I would love to write family and friendship fluff, too!

Won't Write:

Zagreus/Theseus

I have not yet played Hades 2, so...

[stormyoceans]

Do you have any other wishes for GMMTV part 2 aside from the mandatory slow burn?

[TAKES OUT HER WISHLIST] ANON HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE

all jokes aside, i honestly do have way too many wishes when it comes to what i want to see from GMMTV and most of them are very hyperspecific, so instead of giving you just an endless list of whatever random ideas or pairings i’d like to get (which is maybe more appropriate for a bingo card or something like that), i kinda condensed it all into some more general categories (sort of. a couple fo these are still pretty specific ;;;;;;;;)

anyway, here we go!!!!

1. WOMEN. literally my top wish after anything jimmysea related is MORE. WOMEN. like srsly give me viewjune as the main pairing in a GL!!!!!!!! give me sizzy in any combination!!!!!!!! give me women centring shows where the women actually get treated as the main characters!!!!!!!! give me the GL version of series like only friends and we are where the women get to be silly and nasty!!!!!!!!! give me jamie kissing women as a treat to me specifically!!!!!!!!! GIVE. ME. WOMEN.

2. historical QL. after the success of i feel you linger in the air and with both idolfactory and domundi working on releasing historical QLs in the near future, i think it’s about time GMMTV also gives us a proper one. possibly with no time travel or reincarnation involved, for once

3. plot driven QL. this is kinda tied to my wish for an actual slow burn and partly to the following point as well, but i do desperately wish we could get a QL series where the romance is obviously still there, but it’s not the main focus of the show, or at least not the only one. something like manner of death or triage, where the romance just happens along the way as the story unfolds. i think the closest GMMTV got to it was with not me, but it would be nice to get more, even if i know this is not everyone’s cup of tea

4. some variety please for the love of god. look, i know we’re never gonna get rid of school settings and office romances, so it’s pointless to wish to have none of those, but i do desperately need a bit more diversity. of the fifteen series announced in part 1, seven of them are set in school. SEVEN. that’s basically half of the offer they’re giving. and okay, if we consider only the QL shows then the ratio is better (3 out of 9), but still. give me thriller shows, give me horror shows, give me fantasy shows, give me sci-fi shows, give me jobs that aren’t just office workers or chefs, give me mystery, give me crime, give me cashiers and doctors and detectives and firefighters and taxi drivers and teachers and librarians and waiters and bartenders and mechanics and lawyers and flight attendants and therapists and farmers and hairdressers and reporters, JUST!!!!!!!!! explore something new!!!!!!!! take some risks!!!!!!!! i know GMMTV as a company is not as big as we think it is and that it focuses on teens and new generation audiences, but i don’t think younger people want to see students and office workers exclusively……

5. QL exploring other sexualities and gender identities. just give me ace main characters, trans main characters, non-binary main characters, ALL THE DIFFERENT QUEER MAIN CHARACTERS!!!!!!!

6. pepper/papang/guy/podd in any combination as a main pairing in a QL. love and light to all the rookies but if GMMTV doesn’t give these men some main roles im gonna start committing grand scale larceny to cope

[thesinglesjukebox]

CHAPPELL ROAN - "GOOD LUCK, BABE!"

Good Song, Babe!

[7.76]

Alfred Soto: Hey, y'all, Spotify played "Good Luck, Babe!" after ILLIT's "Magnetic" -- are the streaming gods Jukebox-friendly? Maybe a synth line patterned after Wham!'s "Last Christmas" and a vocal that commands attention despite singing a line like "sexually explicit kinda love affair." Then again, that's how people talk. [8]

Jeffrey Brister: What if the narrator of “I Kissed A Girl” was a fucking liar whose inability to admit her attraction and healthily process and metabolize her emotions made her so transparently readable her spurned girlfriend shot a bullet made of yearning, resentment, and justifiably venomous smugness directly between her eyes? [9]

Taylor Alatorre: I have a soft spot for music that performs a kind of empowerment driven by romantic spite, while at the same time being precision-engineered to make the singer look small-minded and weak to the sober bystander; this is why I can never forswear Drive-Thru Records or pre-2016 Drake. In that vein, "Good Luck, Babe!" can be heard as a more ideologically palatable version of "Hotline Bling," right down to the self-degrading tinniness of the initial backing synths. Both songs construct a character whose presumptuous sense of entitlement becomes more apparent with time, and both ask us to sympathize with that character, not in spite of that entitlement, but because of it. Because relatability, and because we're hard-wired to believe almost any convenient lie if it's made to sound pretty enough. Chappell Roan's relative vocal restraint here represents her attempt to come off as the reliable narrator, to prevent too many of her unnervingly real feelings from spilling over. It's an effort that comes undone as soon as she gets to the bridge, when she drops the blasé affect, claims the power of omniscience, and uses it to peer into her rival suitor's future bedroom. "You're nothing more than his wife" -- sure, whatever you need to tell yourself. What, too cynical, you say? Whichever reading the listener goes with, they're choosing cynicism, either the listener's toward Chappell or Chappell's toward the other girl, who at the end of the day may just be a garden-variety bisexual; we're not allowed to know. Love is still a battlefield in the 2020s, queer love not excepted, and "Good Luck, Babe!" isn't afraid to show off the sometimes gory aftermath of those battles, caked in just enough gloss to give us the option of seeing something different in it. A potent cocktail of unraveling passions and high-grade copium, it arrives just in time to be used in AMVs of the final season of Sound! Euphonium, otherwise known as the official anime of yuri-baiting. Good luck, Kumiko! [8]

Will Adams: A breakup song directed at a queer person who was clearly uncertain, self-conscious and anxious about their identity leading them to push a great thing away? Oof. I'm the problem, it's me! But any discomfort I have with seeing myself in "Good Luck, Babe" is assuaged by its giant hooks, a bridge that mounts the tension (sadly, a rarity for pop at this point), and Dan Nigro's production, which draws from the same pillow-soft '80s synthpop of "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings." It's the sugar to help the medicine go down. [8]

Leah Isobel: I'm convinced that Taylor caused a lesbian pop revolution. Not on purpose, obviously, but perhaps inevitably; of course her simultaneous insistence on both the femininity and the import of her perspective would inspire a generation of gay girls young enough to look for validation from pop culture and old enough to perform deep reads on the line "she's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers." Some of those artists have even made minor commercial breakthroughs, though nothing has heralded the arrival of a real-deal pop star the way that "Good Luck, Babe!" has. On a musical level, I don't know if I see it. It's catchy, sure, but its chorus isn't quite as singalongable as "Red Wine Supernova," and it doesn't sell Chappell as a persona the way "Pink Pony Club" does. Its production and vocal delivery are so arch that all I can see are the references: a little Wham! synth here, a little Marina & The Diamonds-circa-The Family Jewels whoop there, a "Bags" melodic bite for good measure. (Sidebar: I'm compiling this for an eventual piece about how Immunity is the most influential pop album of the last decade no one steal this from me thank you!) But maybe that's it. A pop star is voracious, ambitious, all-consuming; she cannibalizes. What "Good Luck, Babe!" offers isn't mushy sincerity, but steely-eyed purpose. I don't love it, but I do respect it. [7]

Hannah Jocelyn: I've written so much about about the power of "Good Luck, Babe" but I don't think it's perfect. Among my nitpicks; the "sexually explicit kinda love affair" line doesn't land, the ending nearly kills the momentum, and I've always heard some weird aliasing artifacts on the hi-hats, even in the 24/48 flac download (which might be the nerdiest thing I've ever written on TSJ). But there’s a reason I've been obsessed with this song, and it's not just because I've wound up The Other Woman in emotional affairs with queer/questioning women before. I wasn't as on board with Roan at first, then this song made me go back and get acquainted with the Femininomenon. Unlike most of Midwest Princess, this is not OMG I'm a girl??? and I like GIRLS??? music, and unlike several similar songs about loving women in denial, it's not self-pitying. This feels more real, with palpably complex emotions underneath the showy vocals, and it feels messy in a way that queer pop stars were once supposed to avoid. I could go on and on, and I have, but I'll say this: I genuinely think this song will change lives and cause people to reconsider their identities. At least one of my friends has already mentioned crying to this song. I recently spoke with a music writer that claimed music wasn't necessary, but for the right person, some songs are. [9]

Alex Clifton: I don’t know what I can say about this song that Hannah didn’t already say in her excellent Billboard article, but I’ll try. Up until now Chappell Roan has been my good-time music, with tracks like “Pink Pony Club” and “Red Wine Supernova” regularly stuck in my head.  She’s a girl from small-town Missouri in full drag regalia aiming to give everyone a great time, and she constantly delivers on that front. “Good Luck, Babe!” sounds happy but is one of the more lyrically devastating songs I’ve heard this year, and Roan’s performance is incredible. The way she screams “I TOLD YOU SO” at the end of the bridge rips at something in my heart. It’s angry as all hell but also has a level of concern; Roan doesn’t want the subject to end up in a dead-end relationship and just wishes she’d get her shit together. It’s a delicate line to thread but goes to show that Chappell Roan isn’t just a novelty pop writer. It’s exhilarating watching someone’s star rise, and to watch this song specifically become the catalyst for additional recognition is unlike anything I’ve seen before.  [10]

Ian Mathers: I was hugely impressed with "Casual," even more so with Roan's first record overall, but I'm lightly gobsmacked here with how quickly she's put out something else that simultaneously feels like it could have been on The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, like it sums up what that album was doing (and how well it does it), and like she's already moved past her work there. And it's her most successful single so far? It very much feels like things are going to keep going up from here. [10]

Jackie Powell: When “Good Luck, Babe!” came out last month, it wasn’t what I was expecting on my first listen. I got a tease from friends about what this song was about, but I was underwhelmed by the fact that I couldn’t clearly understand the story that Chappell Roan worked very hard on constructing. Her vocal style on other tracks like “Red Wine Supernova” or “Casual” is much more based in her chest voice and as a result is much easier to lyrically comprehend while listening. On “Good Luck, Babe!” Roan slurs a lot. She opts to implement much more mixing in her head voice during the hook which matches the sonic feel of the synths and drum machine that producer Dan Nigro has added in. The hook flutters and it flutters in a tone that’s paradoxical to the story she’s trying to tell. This is a song about rage, is it not? This is a song about compulsory heterosexuality, a phenomenon that is incredibly frustrating as it is prevalent in 2024. We don’t hear that rage until the absolutely mind blowing bridge where Roan’s upper register soars when she tells her past lover that she told her so. This story that Roan tells is one that so many queer people often face. It’s that same level of discomfort that Ben Platt and Renee Rapp have both sung about in their respective songs “Andrew” and “Pretty Girls.” This track’s importance can’t be understated. Its rise in popular culture can’t be undervalued. But I do wish that the story was illustrated more blatantly. Slurring aside, where is the music video for this? The video for “Casual” was exactly what a Roan fan would expect: a cross between the films Splash and Jennifer’s Body with a dash of heartbreak. I’m reminded of the queer women artists like Hayley Kiyoko and Zolita who have both gained a following for the honest queer stories they’ve portrayed in their music videos, which have garnered meaningful amounts of views. Meanwhile, DJ Louie XIVI recently had a Pop Pantheon episode that pondered if the music video is indeed dead. I would hate for that to be the case for Roan, an artist that thrives on theatrics, visuals and play— the fuel that her exponential and unexpected rise to stardom requires. [7]

Isabel Cole: I feel like it was probably deliberate to set the big bursting kiss-off chorus up in the flutiest part of her range where she can't really enunciate, but I still find it annoying to listen to. The bridge is pretty good, though. [5]

Mark Sinker: Gorgeous control of voice over bare control of desire; fragments of the crunchily expressed across the oldest (cliched, she says it herself) story, oh i'm the “other girl”!!¡¡ and then the closing device (which you can call brechtian if you’re fancy, or lazy) undermines it a little, at least musicially.  [6]

Joshua Lu: The bitter, lesbian reimagining of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" I never knew I needed. [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I am all for Chappell Roan's meteoric rise to fame as the next local drag supporting queer, but this song feels as basic camp as the fonts used in the visuals for her Coachella performance.  [6]

Nortey Dowuona: If anyone is wondering why this is the Chappell Roan hit, it's because it sounds like a synthpop song from 1986, and pop fans are still somehow locked into 1983-1988 as the best time to listen to pop music. That said, "you're standing face to face with 'I TOLD YOU SO'" is a FANTASTIC LYRIC. [9]

Katherine St. Asaph: The belted "I TOLD YOU SO" is unexpected and amazing. The part that flips the hook from "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" into a soprano trill is great -- between "Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl" ("Footloose") and "Red Wine Supernova" ("What's Up") she's now three for three on rewriting the Great Karaoke Songbook for 2024. The line "you have to stop the world just to stop the feeling" is so perfect it feels like it must have been written in stone centuries ago and just now unearthed. But if I'm being completely honest with myself, everything else in the track is pretty mid, and repeated listens just make the mid parts seem proportionally larger. [5]

Andrew Karpan: An exuberant jubilant kiss-off for fans of Roan’s last version of this (“My Kink Is Karma”) but more pointed, less funny and charged with a contemplative melancholy bellied under its titanic build. The radical space of queer longing turns into an ocean that lifts all boats. “With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife.” We are lifted and listening.  [8]

Rachel Saywitz: I worry sometimes that I’m not wanting enough. Or I want, but the wrong things. Or I don’t want the right things enough. Chappell Roan is want, maximized and poptimized, and “Good Luck, Babe” is its earnestly sweet manifestation. Roan masters pop’s narrative drama as she coaxes her past, closeted self to breathy, sapphic jubilation with the wave of a bouncing synth wand and a Florence Welch operatic belt. Love is want, at its core, and I feel it cascading through me with each listen, urging my spirit to coalesce with my mind, for once. I want, I want, I want. [9]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[wetbed-sealand]

Okay look man, so Transformers Earthspark..

I recognize this show has some serious issues tonally, which I gotta say when the show was coming out/starting I didnt think its biggest controversy would be “Yo this show is wayyyy too dark for its age rating and its NOT handled well”

But I also cannot get on board with people completely deriding it for this because holy shit this is a mainstream kids show on a major(???) platform with actual, no frills, no allegories, queer representation of all varieties. Seeing characters on screen introduce themselves with their pronouns, seeing pride pins galore, having Non-Binary explained in such a gentle and thoughtful way—

And even when it IS subtextual, scenes like Nightshade and Tarantulas discussing identity and what an alt mode MEANS got me legitimately teary eyed! This absolutely without QUESTION reads as an older queer person talking to the younger generation of queer people, seeing and noting how much quicker they’re finding out about themselves and how important that is, “to know yourself so well so young is a gift, be proud of that”. My god.

The show can be incredibly grim and tonally a fuckin mess but also.. like man the Malto family all love each other so much and it shows so often, they are always trying to do right by each other and love is just so easy and implicit its so sweet.

I definitely feel Earthspark is likely gonna just get more controversial for however long it gets to exist before the scythe of corporate cuts it short (are we sticking to tradition and getting three seasons before that happens??) but I can say im definitely looking forward to more of it

[dragon-communion]

Okay I'm gonna be very mentally ill today, because I love my alters and I love Elden Ring and I might as well combine the things I like in one giant puddle of awesome.

As a queer person with DID, Elden Ring has a LOT to work with on trans themes and identity in general. At least one of my OCs has DID specifically to play with the concept of duality so pervasive in the narrative. Also I keep designing and redesigning builds based on what my alters like and I love the sheer sandbox variety I have to play with in terms of stats and damage dealing.

🌋 is kind of completely unhinged about claw and fist weapons, and I love that for her. She's slightly more irritated by the fact that the armor she wants (rotten duelist) is at the END of the game, but it gives us a goal to work towards when the plot isn't enough motivation.

I haven't really convinced 🐦 to try it but he's made interested noises at the lightning spells. Mostly I think he wants to try pranking people in invasions, so I've been taking notes on how to do that. Local twink extremely likely to cause a national incident with the Mimic Veil.

Honestly I think 👾 wants to rip open a portal and go question the wizards. Yar likes stars and magic and puppetry, so the Nox basically invented yarns personal catnip. I might be able to tempt 👾 into writing some fanfic with me- yar likes writing in the style of fictional research notes and journals, so we could have some fun with the formatting?

🚂 wants me to make xem a stealth build just to be invisible and conjure mist, which sounds hilarious, but I'm not sure if it'd be at all effective in combat.

🩸 is, tragically (and I say this with infinite love), the one most likely to make a minmaxed blood build with Eleonora's poleblade. Hae is intensely strategic and would probably THRIVE on invasions if I got haema character built up and ready. Blood for the blood god, etc etc.

Our birthday's coming up soon, and we're thinking of doing a birthday stream where 🌋 destroys every dragon in the base game with claws and then maybe starts the DLC? Could be fun.

[hornsketch]

hey there! ive finally made an art blog! im going to try post more just… stuff, as usually i reserve my art posts for either special occaisions or specifically public-oriented works, and it kinda bums me out to not just have a place to dump my art anymore, so here you go!

(more details and helpful info below!)

who are you?

in hopes of providing some relevant lenses to view my work through, ill give some personal details here. if these lenses dont suit your interpretation of the work, thats alright! view as you please, though i do still think these will always be important context in said viewings.

my name is zelda (she/her) and im a queer jewish 20something who struggles quite a bit with illness both physical and mental.

ive always been kind of enthralled by impressionism and what it really means to use suggestion and spirit as a stronger tool than portrayal and form.

i have a particular draw to fantasy and magical aesthetics, especially the world-building within.

i am a serial overthinker, and tend to see alot of meaning and symbolism in things that plainly do not have them.

while yes i am jewish, my relation to faith is complicated. if you see me type “god” im using it in a turn of phrase with no meaning. if you see me type out “g-d” i am being religious. yes i know thats not how its supposed to work. its meaningful to me.

what will you post?

as previously mentioned, here im trying to make a concerted effort to post a broader variety of things with a wide selection in quality and topic, so unfortunately here the only real uniting theme is going to have to be that i made it. still! to help navigate the space, listed below will be a list of tags i will try to keep to, all of which this post will also be tagged as, since i know tumblr search can be finicky.

#the self and the other

these will be about me, my friends and loved ones, or possibly both

#differing mediums

these pertain to other works or universes, as well as fan content

#harsh tones

this is gonna be the rough stuff. topics will be tagged as needed.

#jaunty doodles

funny business. shenanigans, even.

#lesssfw

listen this blog is for a wide breadth of content, so please if you do not want to, or otherwise should not be seeing mild to moderate nsfw content (i dont rlly plan on posting straight up porn here) block this tag.

wait— is there anywhere you do post more direct nsfw?

maybe, yeah. but before any of that i would like to set some ground rules. these are my spaces for me to share my work for others to see. if you arent a fan of what i post, ill make no attempts to dissuade you from that. your discomfort is your right. I would however request that you dont make your discomfort an issue i am epxected to remedy. ill have no harsh feelings if you arent a fan of my less safe for work content, or even anything it may tangentially relate to, and need to take the necessary steps to curate your experience in those regards. i will be far less than happy if people cant behave because i post content that is not to their personal tastes, within reason.

all of that being said, yes, if you are an adult fan of my other work, feel free to check out @shinyspadetiptail

do you take commissions?

yeah, usually. im not really at the point where i have to close and open them for availability reasons, so shoot me a dm and ill usually be able to give you a response pretty quick on.

price tends to vary by project, and i always set $20 per hour of canvas time as my baseline, but generally simpler stuff like limited detail icons and emojis run in the $20-$30 range, while fully detailed halfbodies tend to run in the $40-$50 range, and fully done fullbodies range more $70-$80. aside from that, backgrounds are a little too context dependent to put a full price estimate on and extra characters can and will cost extra.

usually whatll happen is after laying out the basic price range we’ll talk, and ill thumbnail until we have smth we can agree on, and once weve got an idea of what were going for ill give an estimate that ill try to stick close to, barring any major changes or complications. from then on ill try to send updates whenever i work, and then when im relatively close to finished ill ask for the payment either through paypal or cashapp, after which ill send on the finished piece and any expected variations. in some cases, this may be changed, and payment may be done half at the start, and half when relatively close to completion.

[whatareyoudoingwithamaserati]

yessss, two friends showed me jennifers body a couple years ago! the movie deserves every single bit of hype it gets, i had so much fun, it was delicious!

(if you have more recs? 👀👀 I love literary/audio horror but ive been too... idk, scared? because i don't know what i like when it comes to visuals?)

LET’S GOOOOO!!! I put off watching Jennifer’s Body for so long because I was worried it would not live up to the hype but MAN was it worth it. They have been plaguing my thoughts ever since. I am especially a massive fan of the costume design because they NAILED that shit!!

Admittedly I’m more into horror movies than novels (it is . So hard to read these days) and podcasts have never caught my fancy, but it would feel wrong to not recommend sign here by Claudia Lux and the ever infamous American psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. I actually haven’t finished American psycho because it is a dense read but my god it’s a beautiful masterpiece of a book and I did not expect it to be as hilarious as it is

Movie wise I tend to jump all over the place and watch whatever catches my fancy so this is. Not a very cohesive rec list and not full of very many older homoerotic movies but. I plan to watch more when I can

First and foremost I am an absolute die hard fan of house of 1000 corpses. I cannot put into words how much I love it in all of its weirdness. It was made by rob zombie of living dead girl fame and you can TELL in the best of ways. It’s got fun colour grading, excessive swearing, weird ass characters, and such a fun setting. I’d say it’s on the medium-heavy side of gore with a couple of body horror scenes and a good bit of blood and mutilation. The seocnd movie is good, third eh, but you don’t actually need to watch those two. They take the camp of the first movie and turn it into a more gritty realistic energy that is almost meanspirited in nature

I’m a HUGE cabin fever fan and I will recommend it at every chance I get, BUT! There is a caveat and that is that it is not only significantly gory but also that it is weird, campy, kitschy, and a real big fan of slurs, LOL. I think we hit several n-words, an r-word or two, and some use of faggot. Some of the later scenes are downright WEIRD but despite it all it is one of my favourite horrors with some really haunting scenes

Hellraiser in general is a wonderful franchise, I love Clive Barker’s choice to base the cenobites around a mix of BDSM and gay culture and how he characterizes pinhead, even if the later movies fuck it up a little. The 2022 standalone is a huge favourite in particular, I love the imagery and the cenobite redesigns that lean heavier into body horror as well as the cinematography. Jamie Clayton’s pinhead is fucking INCREDIBLE to boot

If you like erotic horror, X is definitely a good one to watch - the plot centres around sex workers determined to make an erotic film and make it big, with some immaculate commentary on desirability, beauty, and aging. Good bit of tits and ass in that one, as well as medium level gore. It also has two sequels, Pearl and MaXXXine, which are set in the past and future respectively. Pearl was secretly shot at the same time as X in the same location and focuses on the lust for fame, the need to make it big, and a youthful mania of sorts coming from Pearl. MaXXXine I haven’t actually seen yet so I cannot say much about it, but I hope to get to it soon!

The fear street trilogy is also a remarkably well done series that seamlessly covers one long tangled mystery throughout three different timelines, using the same handful of actors for each one! The use of setting and cinematography is so fuckint cool, the eventual mystery reveal is absolutely wild, and there’s even a canon queer relationship! The gore isn’t too bad, I’d say light but there are some moments that push it to a medium at best

Ready or Not is a movie I enjoy for a variety or reasons (I think the iconic shot of Grace in a ripped and bloody wedding dress is pretty big on the internet), from the setting to the storytelling to Samara Weaving’s fucking banshee screams, with medium-light gore (though the bits that do show up are impactful as all hell. Cabin in the Woods is fun as a deconstruction of the horror genre (and a story that theoretically makes every single horror movie made canon, wow), though it’s also just really fucking funny. Another medium gore!

Candyman 2021 is a brilliant take on an old legacy of movies (again, no previous ones need watching) with a wonderful exploration of gentrification, black trauma, and what makes the candyman the candyman. I know I keep talking about cinematography but holy fuck, the multimedia use in this film in particular. Immaculate. I feel practically obligated to recommend Deathgasm, which is an indie horror with some pretty wicked gore, if not just because the main characters are all metalheads, and as one myself, it’s SO COOL to see us as protags in a horror movie

Last but not least, Prey 2022. Holy fuck, Prey is an utter masterpiece. It’s the latest addition to the predator franchise, another one of those ones you don’t Need to have watched in order to watch prey, but havint seen them gives the watching experience a good bit more depth, with iconic lines being given a new spin. It’s technically a prequel to the first ever predator movie, focusing on one of the first few appearances of a predator on earth (ehhh debatable considering the canon of aliens vs predator but I’m ignoring that for the sake of conciseness), giving it more a more basic appearance and weapons, while also letting it kick absolute ASS. The plot is incredible, the cinematography is incredible, the CGI animals are so much better than ever expected, and it’s also the first ever feature length film to ever have an official Comanche dub!!! Holy fuck!!

As a bonus, though I haven’t seen it, Doctor Sleep also seems like a really well done movie! It’s based off of the Stephen King book set after the shining, reprising and revisiting a lot of iconic moments to tell a new story with fucking incredible visuals that put their own spin on the shining

[lamardeuse]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @devirnis <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

342

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

a little over 1.8 million

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, 9-1-1, though in the last two years I've also written Merlin, Ted Lasso, Stargate: Atlantis and Our Flag Means Death, and I've completed two OFMD vids and am working on a third.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. Accept No Substitutes (Merlin) 2. What Child Is This (Merlin) 3. Best Man (Merlin) 4. Motive and Method (Hawaii Five-O) 5. Revelation (Merlin)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I might put angst in the fic itself, but I don't usually leave it in an angsty place. I suppose overall the angstiest fics ending-wise would be the Doggett/Reyes fics I wrote in X Files, probably because that was kind of the mood of the show.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I haven't really written any non-happy ending fics, and to classify one as "happiest" after 300+ stories over 20 years is pretty much impossible, sorry. Oh wait, in Defenders of the Realm (linked below) Merlin and Arthur save millions of people so I guess I'd pick that one. ;)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't gotten hate specifically; I've shown my ass once or twice over the years and been called out for it, and I've apologized and corrected where possible. And lately with 9-1-1 I've had the odd person upset about the actions of a character in a couple of my fics, but it's not that they think the actions are out of character. It almost seems as though they don't want characters to ever do things that are personally frustrating or upsetting to them even if those actions make sense for that character in that situation? It's odd, but thankfully it's been pretty rare.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yep. I've written a wide variety of stuff over the years. Even straight people getting it on! :D

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Harry Potter/US Queer as Folk, anyone?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't really care if I have.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several times! I'm always so amazed that someone took the time to do that.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, though not recently; it used to happen a lot more in the good ol' days of LiveJournal.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I couldn't even begin to pick. So many men, so little time. When I'm in the throes of fandom love, that's my favourite.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have one Merlin WIP up on AO3 that still bothers me from time to time, but I'm not sure I'll ever get back to it because I just got mired in a plot dead end and saw no way out. I also have over 10000 words of an OFMD modern AU, but again, I hit a point where I realized I had no idea how to end it so I hit the brakes at the end of act one.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I would say characterization, and making an effort to research and try my best to work the location or the culture of the characters into a story in an authentic way.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot-heavy stories are not my favourite thing - I can do it but I'd rather write basic bitch romcoms. And you're not going to get the most original shit ever from me - my writing is not gourmet cuisine, it's comfort food.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Research, and/or have a beta who speaks that language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh god, I think it was either V or Adderly, a very Canadian show from the 80s. Those were written on high school foolscap and will never see the light of day.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Again, it's really hard to pick one after all these years. Just a few random fics I have soft spots for: Auld Lang Syne (due South), Refugee Status (Sentinel), The Road to Nevada (SGA), Defenders of the Realm (Merlin), And We'll Talk in Present Tenses (Lewis), Skin Deep (I Spy), From a Rut to a Groove (Die Hard), and too many heartbeats for one ribcage (911).

I don't tag, so anyone who wants to do this have at it!

[alarrytale]

To the anon who wanted my thoughts on the Variety interview 💚

The interviewer is horrendous and super american lol. He sounds like a car engine.

I don't like podcasts. Give me a written interview or a filmed one. This is not for me.

He won't say if blondes have more fun. He's so diplomatic and it's so cute 😊

So no Harry tattoos in tioy. Thank god.

He's so on top of everything fandom. He said 'fan service' and called us 'an impassioned lot' lol.

Ok now the interviewer asked about being straight...he wanted matthew to know early on that he was straight? But Matthew has said in other interviews that nick was the first one to be cast, seeming like he was headhunted? I'm just questioning a gay director's quest to get nick on board playing a gay character if he's straight... you'd think Matthew would think twice about that...

He is 'all ears' to it and says it's a sensitive subject. Some of his friends are for straight actors playing queer and some against it. Good job nick.

He is really trying to not take the word straight into his mouth... he's generally stuttering a lot in this interview, but particularly here on this question...

He seems relieved at the next question about prince harry. He's laughing.

The conversation about sexual frivolity and sexual identity in the public eye. 'People in the public eye feeling they can come out..' he looses his train of thought here and talkes about his heritage??

He's so nice about tzp 🥰 i want to know who he read with other than tzp??? He won't tell usss.

Has he watched hearstopper or young royals?

'We are in an interesting, pivotal time in how we regard sexuality and identity' he's so well versed in this, my god! He wants resonnance!

He wanted gay sex to be accuratly portrayed. Sounds very much like Harry's talking points about mp.

He says about the intimacy scenes that for him it was 'speaking a language i'm not fluent in', but he wanted to understand it and make it authentic. He says that matthew and robbie was helpful in that respect (not mentioning tzp who's married to a man...). Interesting.

Give us the sequel galitzine! He's a sequel hater!

He loves stephen! National treasure! Human encyclopedia. (Stephen is a larrie).

Nick 'im greek' galitzine.

Waiiiit! This is the interview! About him possibly playing queer again in mary and george. "There was definitly this discussion, because at a certain point, i really want sort of queer voices, queer actors. I don't want to take up space that i feel is better served..."

I can't wait for mary and george!

He's so well spoken. And so into his art, so passionate.

So tioy filmed before mary and george. Hope this means we'll get tioy first.

The way he speaks about annie and julianne. Amazing. He's so in awe of their talents. Lifting women up, yes!

Interviewer, dude, we don’t want a purple heart sequel... good save nick.

"Nick, slightly less catchy than cher" asdfghjkl

And it's over.

[digitalcockroach]

Hang on hang on your tags on "reverse queerbaiting" are excellent, please if you have the energy go into more detail on them doing "fanfic" romance tropes vs true romance tropes bc I think that's Exactly what I haven't been able to put into words

for context: POST: “I feel like we're almost in an era of like, reverse queerbaiting. Used to be that you'd be tricked into watching a show because the story implied there'd be gay rep, but now they're using gay rep to trick you into thinking there'll be a story.” TAGS: #tbh :/ #all the gay shows are pandering to like not even regular romance tropes but FANFIC tropes #and it's hollow af

Ok let me see if I can get my thoughts into some kind of order on this lol 

I mean to use the most egregious offender as an example, let’s talk about Good Omens s2. Like we come from s1 and the book which operate on a huge scale of time and across the globe with world ending stakes, even when it’s focused on Tadfield or London. There is a whole cast of characters outside of Aziraphael and Crowly with their own motives and agendas that intersect with each other and you can imagine existing before and after the story being told. Then we enter s2 and they’re all gone. God is gone. It’s Aziraphael and Crowley, Gabriel (and Beelzebub), and their neighbors who exist purely to be a Functional Couple oppose A+Cs dysfunctionality. This is kind of the first sin of fanfiction in this case, the world gets smaller and shallower and so do the characters within it. It’s all just feels like props and dressing to get two characters together. The whole Gabe and Beelzebub thing? The only reason I didn’t “see it coming” is because I thought there was no way they would just rip straight from the crackships of AO3 because I have READ THAT PLOT BETWEEN THESE CHARACTERS TWENTY TIMES JUST LIKE THIS. 

Gomens s2 and also the other big recent Gay Shows, Our Flag Means Death and What We Do In The Shadows, really fuckin abuse fanfic tropes to death in more specific ways too though like - a sassy lesbian couple to set the oblivious gays straight, a will-they-wont-they with completely forgone conclusion, everyone is a shy sensitive guy even when they’re ruthless killers everyone is kind of stupid and woobie and seconds from crying all over their soft little love interest, everyone talking in this self actualized therapy speak - SO much very direct TELLING and the SHOWING is just eyecandy, fanservice. The second sin the formulaic predictability and the third is prioritizing fanservice/shipping over storytelling. 

Because that’s the main thing I think? These shows - which I wanna be clear I liked at least at some point but have gotten really disappointed by as they continue - feel like they don’t have a story to tell. They’re just vehicles to get a Gay Couple together, regardless of character consistency or the way more interesting things implied going on in the world around them, and they just shed more and more detail and quality and idk variety? as the main ship’s relationship progresses and the world narrows further and further. It becomes boring, one-note. 

And to cover my bases here I don’t want to be misconstrued as believing these things can’t be or aren’t also true of straight romance shows (or movies, books, whatever) because I think we’ve all seen plenty of Boring Straight Romance, and I am being somewhat generalizing for the sake of what brevity I can accomplish here. But I think the noticeable thing with specifically these new queer romance shows is that they are being aimed at and HEAVILY pandering to yknow 18 - 30 year old chronically online fandom queers because people like Niel Gaiman and Taika Waititi and whathaveyou have witnessed first hand (and made a lot of money from) the absolute frenzy this AO3 donating demographic with go into over this exact kind of content. 

In short, people figured out you can make more money off of really dedicated weirdos with bad taste than you can writing something with depth and substance.

Not everything can be as good as Homestuck I guess!

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 3 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket)

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

Propaganda below ⬇️

Luis

real funny little guy I was introduced to him through seeing a shirtless mod that made several already somewhat queer scenes with him even more queer lol. also he dies so sadly and asking Leon (the protagonist) if he turned his life around which is both very catholic flavored and very depressing

Okay so i marked yes because the wiki says he was raised catholic but i can't find a source on that so here is what i for sure know: He does the sign of the cross with his gun when you play as him in the mercenaries mode and a major part of his character was that he grew up in an extremely backwater part of Spain. The head of the village when he lived there had the title of Father so thats Probably Catholic. A side novel released with the game about the village describes the village head as a priest and everyone in the village attending church on Sunday as well.

this guy drives me nuts for a variety of reasons including same age as my mom (not now but the game is set in 2004 so he would be now) he's very goofy and silly in a pretty scary kind of game, he eats floor three times in his second cutscene, and he has an extremely emotional and touching death scene (yeah he dies and im not over it). Also in the OG version of the game the protagonist literally never pronounces his name right even as he is dying (he dies in the original too yeah) so he deserves a break.

Miles

He was raised in Brooklyn, New York by a Hispanic Puerto Rican mother, so odds are he was raised Catholic.

His mom says "Ay Maria/Ave Maria, este nene me tiene loca!" minor spoilers for Across the Spider Verse, he tells his mom "Benicion" and she replies with "dios te bendiga" (blessing and God Bless you) (or something I don't remember, I've only seen the movie once)

There's something so catholic about the sacrifice Miles makes to be Spider-Man. Putting himself on the side to help his community. And not because he thinks he'll be rewarded with lots of money or praise, but because he loves his community. Good works are not mere external deeds, but the works of love. And love is not mere feelings, but the works of love (charity, agape)

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

ik i pass as a Horny For Old Men kinda guy but my attraction to them isnt... entirely sexual. It barely is.

My attraction, part of it is my autism absolutely adoring my blorbos, part of it is attraction to their characters and personalities, but the largest part of it is gender envy.

there's a very very thin line between I want to fuck him and I want to Be Him for me.

Also, with sex, and consuming pornography, I dont... imagine myself being fucked/fucking. I am detached from it. I imagine the feelings and emotions and shit, dont get me wrong. But I imagine it as though I am the character themselves experiencing it, not me. I simply like when people show off mutual pleasure and want and lust and desire and blasphemy, and, this is really sad, I can not, for the life of me, imagine a scenario where I am having that mutual reciprocated pleasure with someone.

So I really like my blorbos when sex. Because the tf2 men are so. so incredibly goofy and ridiculous and unconventionally shaped and insane and its like.. ok yeah, I can vibe with this. It isn't like, y/n type shit. It's literally sweaty middle aged men fucking in the most unconventional places. It's awesome.

Also I love love love when author's do queer shit. Like, queer history shit. And queer sex. I read a fic where, in his backstory, Medic studied at the Institute of Sexology in Germany before Nazi Germany, before the book burnings, and Medic secretely preformed the first top surgery ever, in history, on his close friend. And Medic was one of the contributing authors to HRT and trans studies, and even though so many of the books were burned (this actually happened btw, its estimated that we still arent up to the same point knowledge wise as we would be if those academic trans books hadnt been burned.), Medic knew the ins and outs of it all well enough to make his own fucking drug lab and create testosterone for Scout tf2. To help him transition. And I was like. That's awesome.

Or, or like, this one fic. Where scout is like oh god im gay??? And spy is like "lol you are gay. Anyways here's a book I wrote about being gay and all the shit that I've learned and my shenanigans with sex and anatomy and gays and lesbians and gender. And my deceased lover who was killed for basically everything written in this book"

It's like... I feel this strange solidarity, reading it all. Because its.. We've all been there, we've all been in that confusing ass "this is so.. wrong" or like... the hunch you get, before you come out to anyone. The hunch that your parents wont accept you, regardless of what they've said about gay ppl in the past or how much they love you and how much they'll support you. There's always that little sliver of doubt, that, that this is the thing that gets you kicked out of the house, that gets you abused.

And its. It makes me feel so good when I read queer shit in the context of the tf2 universe.

anyways thats enough of my ramblings thumbsup

This is Extremely long but there are parts here that spoke to me so I am going to respond to this in parts:

I don't think it's that weird to visualize yourself as a particular person or character in sexual scenarios. In my experience this has a lot to do with being trans. A Lot of bdsm is playing roles or characters or etc, and I have actually found that that kind of thing can be very very alleviating if you have trouble being "yourself" in sexual situations you otherwise want to partake in. You should note that I do not in any way id as ace but some people with similar experiences do id somewhere on the asexual spectrum. That's really up to the individual, in my opinion

When you're trans and gay (of any variety), of course it's going to be difficult sometimes to distinguish attraction from gender envy. A lot of what society pushes as "gender-conforming" is the same as what it pushed as "attractive", so for a lot of trans people, presenting as the gender that they are can manifest as a desire to look attractive (not even necessarily "conventionally", just what they think is attractive). Tbh I don't really think this is like, a "problem" if it's just fictional characters; I probably wouldn't recommend dating an actual human being you constantly feel envious of, but like I would probably fuck Sniper tf2's mind out and obviously I do a lot of gender envy and projection and kinnie stuff onto him. I would also fuck my own clone though so I might be weird in this regard

Okay finally like the meat and potatoes of this ask: I ALSO love when people do gay shit w the tf2 men! For me, this manifests itself in stuff like the Medic leather ask I did a while ago, because I like kink and kink history and kink culture and that's what I know about and what I like to write about. It also helps people to see a positive representation of some aspect of themselves in these characters that they like, but, more importantly TO ME, I get to tell MORE people abt this kind of thing. This is the biggest platform I've ever had and I get to use these stupid video game men to like, teach people about shit! About gay shit! And I love that. I love you freaks who care abt stuff like this I love people doing gay shit and trans shit and kink shit with the tf2 men. It can be comforting it can be therapeutic it can genuinely cause a lot of positive change in someone's life, and most importantly it is FUN and it is HOT

[stormyoceans]

bl\gl with what plot would you like to see? fm this is a detective story, a thriller, asexuals \ aromatics

OH THIS IS SUCH AN INTERESTING QUESTION!!!!!!

i actually agree with all the ones you listed and in general i'd say i would love to see more plotty shows with grown up characters. we're definitely getting more variety these days, but i really want both BLs and GLs to keep branching out and trying new things (though i do think GLs should be allowed to give us all the highschool and office setting shows they want since we're only just now starting to get some consistent content for the genre). anyway here are some ultra specific shows i would love to see one day!!!!!

(just as a quick note, when i put BL/GL is because i'd like to get that show for both of them)

heist BL. GMMTV made this spot for the LOL fan fest and i've been obsessed with the idea ever since. except you know.... love all these dudes but i actually want women in the cast too. just give me a dozen random characters with weirdly specific abilities coming together to pull off the heist of the century and ending up becoming one big found family with multiple queer pairings!!!!

police procedural BL/GL. you know all those crime shows where the main characters are often two dudes who at first deeply dislike each other so of course they get paired up together and by working together they eventually build an 'epic bromance' (god i hate that term)? YEAH SO WHERE IS THE SHOW WHERE THEY ACTUALLY SMOOCH IT'S ABOUT TIME THAT HAPPENS ME THINK.

revenge plot GL. i don't really have a specific story in mind, i just think female characters should be allowed to commit some crimes, especially if said crimes are carried out against people who wronged them in the past. and while they're busy taking revenge they also find a girlfriend. OR!!!!!! group of girls murders someone and years later it comes to bite them in the ass so they have to cover the thing up and then they all kiss (aka what i wish could have happened in p.s. i hate you).

merman BL. FRANKLY INSANE TO ME THAT THERE'S NO MERMAN BL TO DATE. we could have got this with 49 days with a merman but they didn't make it a BL in the end which is a pity SO YEAH I DEMAND ONE (my dream would be to have forcebook playing this but i'd take anything at this point).

historical BL/GL. i know we're getting a couple of historical BLs this year, but it's so funny to me that both i feel you linger in the air and love upon a time are gonna be about a character from the future traveling back in time. i mean, don't get me wrong, time travel is one of my weaknesses, but also i'd just like an historical show where BOTH characters are from the same time period.

BL/GL with a teacher who doesn't get paired up with a student. sadly this is one of my limits: i don't really get the appeal of teacher/student, especially when we could have teacher/single parent (I NEED IT SO BADLY) or even teacher/teacher (i personally think it would be really interesting to get a university BL/GL but from the point of view of the teachers).

BL/GL exploring other sexualities and gender identities. pretty self explanatory, like you said just give me ace main characters, trans main characters, non-binary main characters, ALL THE DIFFERENT QUEER MAIN CHARACTERS!!!!!!!