#and disclaimer no not all of them are like that clearly. but i dont think it's a close to zero number either. from my observations.

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

i know i was being a little reactive and passive agressive the other day when i was like it's more interesting when the doctor isnt autistic and im sorry about that i was being a bit of a jerk but with the distance of a few days and the soundness of mind that the mires of ficwriting and sleep deprivation will bring you i still stand behind that in kind of in the same way as what i said the other day about nonbinary

because to me being nonbinary feels sorta similar to being self-undiagnosed. like, if i say im not a boy OR a girl, what then? what does that call into question about the world you believe in? if i rock and tic and dont make eye contact, if i miss every third conversational cue im given and my modus operandi in social situations is to stand against the wall and observe, if im a disaster at crossing the road bc traffic is too complex for me, if i have all-encompassing interests that dont allow me to think about anything but it for months on end, and i say im NOT autistic, what then? what does that call into question about the world you believe in?

and like obviously the easy answer is to say im in denial, or being obstinate. you can say that. same way you can say theres only two genders and im a girl bc the doctor (the not-fun kind) said so.

and the maybe slightly more difficult answer is that any diagnosis is as much of a concept that was made at some point as any gender. someone decided to draw some lines and punt some people to one side of it and others to the other

i was wondering the other day when people who use fahrenheit start saying "it's freezing" if theyre speaking literally and not just mean it's very cold. because over here we're like "it freezes" once the temperature drops below 0. so i was wondering, for fahrenheiters does it start freezing at 0 too? do you have to wait until it's -18 celsius before you say it's freezing? but i asked @explaingravity and they said no it's from 32 degrees. when water freezes. "it freezes" when water freezes. makes sense right? that makes sense. but to me "freezing" meant 0. thats the freezing number. 0=freezing. but thats not true! thats JUST water. thats just water in like regular earthy conditions when you dont even put salt in it. other things freeze at different points. we just calibrated on water. and fahrenheit calibrated on... hang on a sec

0 °F, was established as the freezing temperature of a solution of brine made from a mixture of water, ice, and ammonium chloride (a salt)

brine, i guess? brine on one side, the human body on the other side. and like, both are similarly arbitrary right? to me 0 is the freezing number and to my american friends 32 is the freezing number, but neither is the freezing number, there IS no freezing number. you could say 0 is a boy and 32 is a girl

at what point does someone Become an assignation. when does it go from like a sticker on the skin, to something in their bones. when they choose it? when the doctor starts telling people "im the doctor"?

what does it mean to have the traits that people round up and put under a certain label, but claim you are not that thing? is that even possible? is the only way out of being that thing to redefine it? or just to move somewhere where it's defined differently? where the scale is calibrated differently?

i think doctor who, with its empire that is both great britain and alien, can be a nice way to examine and deconstruct concepts in our lives that we (in great britain or other places that share their concepts) take for granted. take as like, the divine right of kings, you know? i also think doctor who most of the time fails at this. regularly fails so hard it just reinforces its great british concepts. i think doctor who would be better if it dug deeper and if the doctor was not such a conservative (as in, inclined to preserve existing conditions)

and doctor who will still fail, and i hope one day that it will start living up to what i wish it was, but i also know this is a kind of big show and you have to limit the risks you take with it (see also my post about how i get they cant change the shape of the tardis but how i wish it would happen after 13 anyway) (you cant actually see that post, i have no idea where it went, it is definitely Somewhere but im never gonna find it again) (search terms are tardis + fire truck + iris wildthyme i'd guess)

but like, that doesnt stop me from still wanting to try and look at these deconstructions myself in fan stuff. im not super good at it bc i havent read a lot of books and dont really understand a lot of things yet but like. we can try?

i get 13 failed catastrophically at stopping being a cop and questioning the systems she was shown to be part of and victim of and complicit in, but like, we can still try to do that cant we? we can still try to question the things of our world we take for granted and try to kill the cop in our head?

tldr: i think not ascribing queerness and diagnosis to the doctor opens way more doors for interesting stuff than doing it. we can stretch our brains. try to come up with paradigms to see the world way differently than how we're taught to see it. theres way more potential there. same way theres way more potential in doctor who

shorter tldr: looms

[icarusredwings]

I rewatched Deadpool 2 and took notes.

Disclaimer: He's mentally ill and does mentally ill things (GASP, who would have thought?). Also, violence. A lot of violence. It's really long. Like.. really really long.

The very first words he says is "fuck wolverine"

Then blows his own head off with a shit ton of gasoline. Wonder if he had insurance on that appartment.

He started taking worldwide cases

He also admits to knowing "8th grade spanish"

"Passion of the christ. Then me." Says the man whos marvel jesus now.

I wonder how much wade owes cab guy.

Cab guy killed bandu Lmao

"What is it?"

"My IUD"

"A bomb??" Tell me why he was lowkey excited for it to be a bomb?

I love how serious he gets talking about how scared he is to be a dad.

This empire joke traveled from the first movie too.

"Pretty sure it doesn't work that way but we can try" yes.

When making toaster strudles its almost as if he could sense them coming despite it being so silent. This kind of makes me think that Logans not the only one who just jumps up sometimes.

This man really just said "Fuck it" jumped out of a 2 story window, BOLTED after this guy as fast as he could, got hit by a car, rammed another car, and whole ass hugged this guy before jumping in front of a truck with him. I don't want to see anyone try to tell me he's one sandwitch drop away from jumping off a cliff.

Cinatography by Blind Al.

Directed by one of those guys that killed john wicks dog.

God I love Ryan Reynolds because you know it was him.

Wade stop peeing your pants in public.

Weasel "We still have bowie..." Yeah id lie to him too at this point.

"Yeah im fine"

Fucked up

Insecure

Needy and

Emotional. Kübler ross apprently.

"Buck no more speaking lines for you" and he meant that shit.

Al is so humble and sweet. Making tea and giggling. Tries to shoot him and then just hears him collapse on the floor. How many times do you think he collapses on the floor a week? Just to be drimatic?

"Sweetheart can you speak up? Its a little hard to hear you with yhat pity dick in your mouth" Oh so shes his mom. Al is his fucking mom. Hands down. And the best one.

I love how he decided to do an entire bag of cocaine before dying. There was no reason for it and honestly was a waste of cocaine until you realize that these cocaine is wades whiskey. Shots dont work for him really, probably because hes already done it so much, but its the same way how Logan chugs that bottle before wade kidnaps him. Its easier to blame it on a substance then accept those were your actions.

Ness is so cute. The poster behind her has "I love you wade wilson" scratched into it. Its nice to know that his version of heaven is literally just a cozy Saturday morning with his wife.

Colossus just walking in to find wades body parts everywhere and put him in a bag like old dirty clothes lol

"Why cant I fucking die" tone was SO serious.

The fact that theres an x men rule book and its lowkey thicker then a bible. I bet you scott and Logan made 80% of those.

"That asshole was me" oh the tears. Baby boyy.

Wait isnt cable literally scotts son.

Im never going to understand this fucking time line jesus christ

Mutant rehabilitation?? What is he a drug addict? That kid is clearly in pain dipshits.

"X men trainee" is so funny

"Please stop cheating on me"

Daniel the pedophile looking ass

Bro casually signs ryan reynolds on the wolverine cereal box and then destroys his knee caps.

"Those guys hurt you??" It was at that moment, wade went ape shit.

Wade having fun in prison is so him. But come on imagine going to prison just for standing up to an abused child. Not to mention, His face when he immediately realizes how fucked he is and that "oh shit I actually DO have cancer now and it SUCKS"

Is it just me or does Cable reminds you of forge with all his cool fix it abilities. Or is he just futurey.

He didn't say were not friends to make him upset but to draw attention to himself. Him just eye rolling when stabbed in the hand was so funny too because he was like "Ouch. God damn it. Ducking OUCH."

Hes literally pleading with russel to find someone else to peotect him or hes gonna get molested because he cant do anything. His entire power is replacing dead cells WITH new cancer cells. His entire body is dying 24/7 but never fast enough to actually kill him, always regrowing way too quickly. Cancerous is better then dead.

"Get away from me kid" yeah cause he knows hes trouble and he REALLY doesn't wanna watch this kid die.

"Who the hell tries to kill a 14 year old boy"

"Kids give us a chance to be better then we used to be"

Dopinder is so wholesome. I love him so much. No i dont care that he killed a guy. Hes the type of friend you call to take to the movies or the zoo once every year and hes stoked just to be invited.

Peter: I just thought it looked fun :D

Dopinder: FUCK

Peter is that one dad whos kids left the nest and now he needs friends and a hobby so searches for the biggest weirdos he can find.

"Grab the boy- NOT INAPPROPRIATELY >:("

i love his crayon maps/plans

Oh my god weasel im not telling you anything ever again you snitch (same dude, cable is terrifying)

After crying over the love he has for his new team (x force) Wade confirms that he spent 10 years in special forces.

I love how supportive wade is with Peter despite him just being a normal dude only for him to immediately die LMAO

He just cassually lets his impulse win in which he steals a moped.

Oh i just noticed Dominos vitiligo. I always loved vitiligo charaters. Theyre so unique and barley ever given movie roles. Like why not?? Why wouldnt you want someone so beautiful? Im pretty sure she just has make up but it would be cool if not.

Something else is that cable just starts yeeting criminals out onto the street lol

"Theres nothing I cant kill" Let me intorduce you to the man whos on a constant road to dying but can never actually get there.

Im assuming cable wants to kill russel because he unleashes a big bad guy or something.

*cassually snaps neck back into place* Oh god that hurt!

Oh I was right! It was Juggernaut :)

Wade: *gets excited about being PHYSICALLY ripped in half*

"Rub my legs mama 🥺 I got growing pains"

"Oh noo! No no no Dp not again!" We love you Dopinder. Do not ever stop caring. "This shits happened before!?" Yes weasel. Sometimes your friends get ripped in half. Get used to it.

Wade just moves her gun to the right position.

Wade talking about saving russel is so serious that it makes you forget that he has a tiny baby ass rn. I couldn't make a deal with someone woth tiny baby legs... just... no. Not to mention that those baby legs are made of cancer.

"50 years from now you're super fucking dead"

Wade standing outside of the xmen mansion with his phone and a picture of a boom box playing music for Colossus to come outside and help him save russel is something i can see happening to Logan. They have a fight and he storms off to the mansion only for wade to stand outside like that.

"Hi Wade🎀✨️" "Hi Yukio!🥹 you guys make a super cute couple 😊 where was I? 🤨"

"So you wear a helmet so your brother cant read your mind?" "Yeaaahh" average kid conversations.

"Lets fuck some shit up is my legal middle name"

Okay sir edgelord.

Apprently wade has a gluten sensitivity

What is it with wade and metal men??? My man has a type.

"Im just gonna use this brick and maximum effort" Same wade. Same.

Yaayy!! Go yukio! Eveyone loves yukio.

"Thats how we do it in mother russia" What? Shoving an electrical cable up their ass and then put them in a pool? Damn. Ok.

That "I never should have never left you in that prison" with the hug? Man hed be a decent dad I think.

"Dont be ive been trying to make this happen for awhile" okay someone supervise him 24/7. Hes on the active watch list.

Wade: *is dying* Hi Yukio :D

Yukio: Hi wade :)

"R-dog" Oh my god hes too cute.

Them carrying the racist joke all the way til the end made me cringe but that was the point.

His last words being "do you wanna build a snow man?" Is such a deadpool thing.

I was NOT expecting to cry at the end of this stupid ass movie, AGAIN

"Dont fuck colossus" VANESSA KNEW

THE FUCKING COIN

"Is there a knife in my dick?" "There's a knife in your dick."

Oh I just didn't even notice she has heterochromancia! <3 Aahh!!

PFFT DOPINDERS SECOND CONFIRMED KILL

"WERE DEFINITELY NAMINF OUR KID CHER"

"Dont scratch!" *shoots himself 8 times* "Love you! Bye."

Wolverine: ???

[space-owl]

Stolas is incredibly classist!

And probably doesn’t realise it.

I already made a short post about it here but I want to go more into detail with all of this.

First I want to show how he is acting with demons that aren’t Goetia and then how his classism even bleeds into the relationship with Blitzø.

Disclaimer: I love Stolas, he is one of my favourite characters of the show! Doesnt mean though I wont critic him for some of the bullshit he is pulling

Stolas is constantly dismissing other demons and looking at all of them from a high angle. We can clearly see it when he interacts with Millie and Moxxie

Just look at his uninterested face too while Moxxie is talking to him

Not to forget he keeps referring to Imps as "little ones“ etc

Of course he is aware of his status sometimes and does use it to get into Ozzies. But he also does it while presenting himself on a higher angle than the poor bouncer in front of the club would’ve needed

Like Stolas you’re already one of the princes of hell, the guy KNOWS who you are! Why are you giving him this look??

He doesn't see any imp or even any demon who is ranked below him as equal. It shows again when he is directly attacked by Striker. Stolas was mostly chill about the situation and not even fully aware he was in danger!

Yes, he brings it up but he isn’t fully convinced of it himself. The first time he REALLY understands he is in big trouble is when he realises that his glare doesn’t work!

I don’t think Stolas doesn’t know what holy rope is. But I do believe that he himself didn’t think an IMP could possess such dangerous equipment!

And what shows it to me the MOST that he really doesnt seem to hold any respect to Imps that aren't Blitzø is this:

How he handles Pringles, the butler of the family!

He literally squeezes him so tightly the poor guy cant get any air anymore!

Just holding him and handling him as if he was an object! Dude is already getting dizzy and Stolas wont let go of him!

Yes I know I suppose this is mostly a visual gag to make the scene more entertaining. We just cant forget that animation is a long process to do. Anything, any action a character does is there for a reason! If Stolas WASN'T a person who wouldnt handle an Imp butler like this, it would'nt be in the scene!

This is already enough proof for me that Stolas is very classist. Its so casual for him and normal that he doesnt even seem to realise it! Why do I think that? Because it bleeds into the relationship with Blitzø!

All the things Stolas keeps saying about Imps, he also says directly to Blitzø.

Calling Blitzø "his little Imp", again just saying Imps are little and "things" to be posessed

Dismissing Blitzø when he tries to get serious, just saying he is cute even though Blitzø is trying to complain

Also the constant cheek pinching, something youd mostly do to a child.

And dont forget the most posessive thing of all of them to say in "Truth Seekers"

"Who dares to threaten my impish little plaything?" (youtube didnt pick up the audio here so no automatic subtitles appeared (holy shit im so thankful season 2 finally has proper subtitles!))

Stolas literally called Blitzø HIS "plaything", also pointing out the Imp part again.

Id say something like "oh but that was probably just before he got feelings for Blitzø! And then it changed!" I mean even if that was the case it wouldnt make it any better. But no, Stolas literally had a crush on Blitzø the first time he SAW him! Look, this is his literal first reaction:

Stolas always had feelings for Blitzø, but still he keeps downplaying Blitzøs feelings and totally ignores the class thing. Because he himself is already in a higher class! So he can just pick and choose which Imp he respects and which he doesnt.

Worst of all of this is that as a child Stolas was a LOT more open about those things!

Until his father "corrects" him

And Stolas rememberd this statement until his aduldhood. The only exeption he makes to this rule is Blitzø.

And Blitzø of course notices those things. Of course he notices the constant dismiss of Stolas! Being called a "Plaything" and a "little imp!" He is already self conscious enough. And that makes him even more vunerable and hyper aware of those things.

Even though Stolas showed general intersted in him someties, Blitzø already accepted himself as his little tool.

Moxxie even brings it up to Blitzø, obviously playing to Stolas feelings for him.

But Blitzø immediately thinks its still just about something sexual. And nothing else.

Because he cant see himself being anything else to Stolas than just a plaything. It doesnt matter how often Stolas was honest with him and showed interest. His constant belitteling and downplaying on him and also any other Imp that happens to be present while Blitzø is with him is enough.

With ALL of that context, its totally clear why Blitzø lashed out at Stolas in Full Moon. For him this confession came out of nowhere. He didnt have time to breathe or understand what was really going on there. And Stolas himself keeps ignoring their class difference and has 0 self reflection on that part so far, not getting why this is so upsetting to Blitzø.

"Blitzø, I think so very highly of you. I didnt realize you think so low of me!"

GEE STOLAS! I WONDER WHY BLITZØ DOES SO!

[mimikyuno]

trans representation: my hopes and fears about mizuki5 🏳️‍⚧️

im writing this post so that i can keep a record of all of my current thoughts on the upcoming n25 event, which im fairly certain will come soon (september?). i just. i have a lot of thoughts on this topic and i wanna share them before the event drops.

disclaimer: i am tme, and while i am not cis, i am not transfem.

depiction of transfeminine characters in anime has been quite… how do i even put this into words. trans women are depicted as either a joke, or as an “otokonoko” which for brevity’s sake let’s translate to femboy (i highly recommend on reading on the history of the term though). the trope of “tr*ps” was quite common, and used for comedic effects. i think of ruka from steins;gate, who is clearly a trans woman; she has dysphoria, asks okabe to go back in time so she can be born biologically female etc. yet, her womanhood is never taken seriously. “she’s a dude after all.”

i have already written a small post about the history of the “otokonoko” label and the way trans women consistently get third gendered in the anime scene so i won’t repeat myself. the thing is, many transfem characters i have seen in anime are either uncracked eggs or, when out, are often not taken seriously by the rest of the cast. a lot of transfem characters i know of fall in between being an uncracked egg and being out; these would be the very many “girly boys” who identify as male, while living their lives as women and being happy about passing, while people around them who know about their agab either treat them as men or third-gender them. for example, kuranosuke from kuragehime stays an egg throughout the series. as i mentioned in a previous post, i see makoto from the currently airing senpai wa otokonoko as a closeted trans girl struggling with internalised transphobia. she has dysphoria, is happier and feels like her “real self” when presenting as a girl, displays gender euphoria when she passes, and more. narratively, she is coded as a girl. i havent read the manga, but i know the author drops the ball, and makoto never gets to come out in the series.

i can only think of a handful of trans women who are both out AND are taken seriously within the narrative. for example hana from tokyo godfathers, nao-chan from skip and loafer, or isabella from paradise kiss (iirc). though i have not watched these anime, i know that lily from zombieland saga, alluka from hxh, seiko from lovely complex and shuuichi from wandering son also tick both the “out of the closet” and “taken seriously” categories.

the situation is slightly different in manga. in manga, i have always found more trans representation (both transmasc and transfem). however, before we move on to mizuki, i really want to talk about one of my favourite mangas, namely “love me for who i am”, aka fukaboku (anime adaptation when ;-;). this manga revolves around mogumo, a non binary teen who is struggling to make friends. their classmate, a cis boy, mistakes mogumo for an otokonoko, and invites them to work at the crossdressing cafe that his sister (a trans woman) owns. mogumo is initially upset; they are not a girly boy, they are non binary. mogumo is reassured that the cafe is a place for people to be who they are, and they dont have to identify as an otokonoko to work there. this strikes a nerve with mei, one of the kids working there, who is a closeted trans girl. throughout the manga, these characters all come to be more and more unapologetically themselves. lgbt themes are addressed constantly (they even go to a pride parade!!) and the trans women depicted in this manga are some of the best written ones i have come across. because they are actually acknowledged as women.

the reason why i want to talk about fukaboku before discussing mizuki, is that the 4 kids who work at the cafe cover the spectrum of “crossdressing boys” we usually see in anime, though taking it a step further with mogumo and mei. firstly we have ten-chan. he mostly identifies as a boy. he likes anime and manga and cosplaying, he’s into girls (but also hinted to bi maybe? i need to reread this), and he’s an adorable weirdo. to him, dressing as a girl in the cafe is fun, clothes have no gender to him. then there is sou, who is gay and also identifies with his agab. sou has a boyfriend, and the cafe is the only place where he gets to gush about him and feel accepted. he likes cute clothes but always dresses masculinely outside the cafe. then there’s mogumo. as mentioned, mogumo is non binary. they like cute things, so they sometimes like feminine clothes like the maid uniform they wear at the cafe, but they actually prefer a cute androgynous style (they often wear shorts instead of skirts). lastly, mei (my fave, my daughter, light of my life). at the beginning of the manga, mei is a closeted trans girl. initially, she resents mogumo for rejecting the “girly boy” (otokonko) label that she thought she had to embrace to survive and be who she is. thanks to mogumo’s courage, and the guidance of two older trans women (one of which is the owner of the cafe and the other is her friend, who works in fashion), she finds a more stable sense of herself, and canonically and textually identifies as a girl.

AND NOW, onto mizuki. first things first, i see her as a trans girl. her struggle with her identity, the way she presents, her history of bullying, dysphoria (the covered mirrored), and depression (in middle school, before transitioning), visual metaphors (all the pink and blue symbols, i should make a post about this tbh) all hint at her being trans. i really dont think mizuki is an otokonoko; typically, in anime narrative, when there is an otokonoko, the fact is revealed early on, and the struggles are about being accepted as a boy who dresses like a girl or as a funny gag (tr*p). tbh, i think it wouldnt make sense for mizuki to be an otokono. if she were, her main struggle would be to accept that she wants to dress as a girl. once accepted, the arc should be resolved. and she wouldn’t be scared to say “hey im a boy” when people assume she’s a girl. especially with niigo? they met online when she was still pre-transition, if she was an otokonoko it would have made more sense if niigo thought she was a boy, and then irl saw that she looks like a girl and THAT would have been the obstacle. but that is not the case with mizuki. she is happy in people assuming she is a girl, and is terrified of being outed. that is not in line with the trope of otonoko. in fukaboku, we have two characters who are Actually “girly boys”, ten-chan and sou, and neither are like mizuki at all. they dont present femininely with their family nor at school. mizuki is way more similar to mei, when it comes to gender presentation and identity. characters who are similar to mizuki from other media and who dont identify as girls all share the same trait: they are commonly regarded as eggs.

my hope for mizuki5, is that she gets to come out as trans to ena and the rest of niigo. mizuki being confirmed trans, indirectly or not, would make the most narrative sense, looking at her story, imagery, and the build-up for the reveal. and while i desperately hope this is the case, i am overwhelmed by fear. times are changing in the anime scene, and we got canonically gay and trans characters in similar games (the lesbian couple in d4dj or the trans girl in enstars). however, project sekai is massive in japan, and quite renowned internationally too. and that comes with expectations and pressures. when gundam witch from mercury finished airing, bandai namco had to issue a statement that the relationship between miorine and suletta was “up to interpretation”, despite the fact that the two literally get married. gundam is also a huge franchise, and bandai namco chose to issue a statement that would give them plausible deniability. not only is project sekai huge, but as i previously mentioned, representation of transfeminine characters overwhelmingly labels them as an otokonoko. i think the label of “otokonoko” is very useful when it comes to plausible deniability in media; u can see this character as a closeted trans girl, or as a crossdressing boy. you pleased the transgenders, and you pleased the transphobes. expect, u didnt please us. im gonna say it, i hate the crossdressing boy trope in animanga. in most instances, it’s a way to deny the character their identity, and in others, it’s treated as a means (willingly or not) to perpetrate violent and harmful transmisogynistic jokes and stereotypes. tho i will admit, i love a lot of “otokonoko” characters, tho for my mental health i tend to view as transfem nb or just trans women.

project sekai, with the massive reach it has, has the opportunity to give its audience a canonically transfem character. a character who is a fan favorite, whose story has, so far, been handled with so much love, kindness and understanding. mizuki could become the new standard, she could change the way transfem characters are portrayed in mainstream animanga for real. i know we have to let go of the expectations that queer characters have to verbally and explicitly state their identity for them to be taken seriously by the audience but fr i hope this will be the case for this event. i dont think most people would get it otherwise, and will just keep seeing mizuki as an otokonoko. which is in itself sad; being cishet is such a default, that gay and/or characters who never explicitly come out are either misunderstood or seen as a sign of “queerbaiting” (dont get me started on yuribaiting and how insane some of y’all are calling a show with gay women “yuribait” if they dont kiss or say “I AM A HOMOSEXUAL WOMAN).

mizuki’s and ena’s VAs told us to please be kind and understand the characters in preparation for the upcoming event. i hope they go for it. i really, really do. this could for real be a huge game changer in the industry. i see how project sekai keeps inspiring other shows and games (i should make a post about this too lol), so i hope mizuki won’t be third gendered, or shoved into the otokonoko label. i hope she gets to be herself. a girl. and be accepted as one by ena and the rest of niigo. it could be huge. or it could be a flop. no in between. which is why im both excited and terrified of this event. SEGA pls-

[official212th]

ok so i just finished this book the eighth arrow and god knows nobody reads any of my posts so im just gonna put some thoughts here.

first of all: this book is so so so good yet such a fucking trip to read because it is written by a priest. and 90% of the time its a great take on greek legends and mythos and also has some truly ridiculous homoerotic subtext. but then every couple chapters you get a remind that wow. this was written by a priest. spoiler warning but odysseus legit converts to christianity at the end which is actually hilarious. and ok, the priest who wrote it works at a catholic school that is actually in the same city as i am and i will say i appreciated how he very clearly planned to use this book in either theology or english classes, because it was absolutely 100% a metaphor for redemption in catholicism and the idea of mercy and forgiveness. guys i know what im talking about i also go to catholic school. but the way he frames it as a story that's ostensibly not about christianity, but he sneaks in a few metaphors and buzzwords (the disclaimer at the beginning, in which odysseus says he actually made the whole story up, talks about how he was "judged worthy" and "redeemed" and talks about God's grace and providence. which is pretty standard fare for your average high school theology class.) specific to christianity and even catholicism (some of the beliefs regarding redemption in here are pretty unique to catholicism and i don't think some protestants would like this book very much)

second of all did i mention the homoerotic subtext? because wow. honestly it wasn't even subtext it was just text. the whole book is about odysseus and diomedes and their journey through dante's inferno. but it starts off talking about how the two of them are "imprisoned in a single flame" for 3,000 years (ok buddy not sounding too straight to me) and they kind of have a friends to enemies to friends thing happen but like the whole reason they become enemies is odysseus doesn't realize or acknowledge diomedes' love for him??? (GAY)

im going to back myself up with sources. proteus (weird old guy that's there like half the time) says to odysseus "that man really loves you. He loves you more than he loves his own father. More than he's ever loved anyone, I suspect. And that is a sacred thing, a love like that" and does the priest writing it maybe mean it in the way that God loves us? maybe but thats not how i'm interpreting it! anyways i really liked how (spoiler warning again although if you're avoiding spoilers for this book idk how you got this far) odysseus and diomedes are bffs but also fight. like really bad. like almost-killed-each-other bad. and then they have a really nice moment in which diomedes almost dies and odysseus is like "wait i love u youre my family pls dont die" and then they team up and save the day. its so sick. i love gay people.

[saintbluues]

can you do lo'ak with an arranged mate?? some angst if you dont mind hehe

"I'm So Sorry."

Lo'ak x Omatikaya! Reader

I hope this is kinda what you asked for D:

word count: 2k

genre: angst with confort

disclaimer: probably ooc Lo'ak at some point. NETEYAM IS ALIVE. LO'AK DIDN'T FALL FOR TSIREYA.

Kinda proofread and I'm not giving the other woman a name because idk how to come up with na'vi names. I ENJOYED THIS ONE

The subject of mating would be brought up a lot since Toruk Makto and his family came back from Awa-atlu, after all, his sons were getting older. Kiri was a different case.

For the last three months, you've been waiting for Lo'ak, worried he'd never come back from wherever he was. Unbeknownst to you, Jake was already arranging mates for his boys, not being able to wait any longer. Absolutely no one was pleased with the arrangements, specially Lo'ak.

With his rebellious nature, he got into a lot of verbal fights with his parents which resulted in nothing but more trouble. How would he tell you that he was about to be mated to someone he barely knew? Lo'ak was supposed to be with YOU and his dad just wouldn't get it. Status was important and your parents weren't anyone special. No warriors. Ho healers. Just the common folk. You and Lo'ak meeting was just pure luck, right place, right time.

"WHY CAN'T YOU LET ME JUST BE HAPPY? WHY DOES WHO I WANT TO BE WITH MATTER TO YOU?!" Lo'ak screamed from the top of his lungs, Neytiri grabbing his arm pulling him back from Jake. "YOU LOWER YOUR VOICE WHEN SPEAKING TO ME, BOY." He had his finger pointed right at his son's face. "You go and tell that girl it's over, you hear me? Whatever was going on between you two, is no more." If Neytiri wasn't grabbing Lo'ak, he'd surely pounce on his father. Angrily he pulled his arm back and walked out bumping shoulders with anyone in front of him.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he walked through the forest thinking of what the hell he would tell you. Just imagining the look on your face made him cry out loud. It was night-time so Lo'ak wasn't expecting to encounter anyone but how lucky was he? It's as if Eywa was against him and put you right in front of him. What were you doing out here at a time like this? Were you trying to get eaten by some random creature?

Lo'ak turned around on his heel ready to walk off but you saw him. You called out for him. He really couldn't do this right now. Anger still bubbling hot inside him.

"Lo'ak!!!" You waved your hand running in his direction while he tried to get away from you. "LO'AK!!!" Maybe he hadn't heard you but he wasn't that far away and the forest was silent. Finally reaching him, you put your hand on his shoulder. He stopped walking just to push you away.

"Leave me alone." What? What was wrong with him? "What happened, Lo?" He was screwed. Your soft preoccupied voice making the entire situation even more overwhelming. "Nothing!! Just go away!" Now this behaviour was strange. If he ever had a fight at home or something of the sort, he'd open up to you and tell you what was frustrating him. You tried to get closer to him once more, gently touching his face but he slapped your hand away. "WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" Shock spread all over your body. You stood there looking at him with wide eyes and your jaw hung open. "Lo'ak…?" You felt so small and fragile like you could break into a million pieces at any moment.

"If saying my name is all you have to say then please go home." Was he even aware of how he was treating you? He clearly wasn't in his right mind because the Lo'ak you knew would never speak to you like this. "Did I do something wrong?" How you managed to make a sentence come out of your mouth, you don't know.

"I did. Engaging in any romantic stuff with you." His own vision was foggy. Saying these things wasn't any easier than listening to them. He was so going to regret it later. "We're done, ___. I have a mate." A mate??? Since when did he have a mate? What about you? Has he been playing with your feelings all along? You gave your all to him and this is what he does?

"What are you talking about, Lo'ak?" He rolled his eyes, turning his head away.

"You heard me!! So get lost." Oh boy. He just kept digging a bigger hole for himself.

What else was there to say? You smiled in acceptance, lowering your head so hopefully he wouldn't notice the tears falling. You felt pathetic enough. With a nod of your head, you left just like he wanted.

Once he was sure you were gone, Lo'ak sat on the grass, elbows propped up on his knees, fingers intertwined with his braids. His cries could probably be heard all throughout the entire forest, losing his voice from how much he screamed. This was something he wouldn't forgive Jake for this.

You really did leave him alone. You did not try to get in contact with him since that night.

Lo'ak hasn't been the same. Silent and minding his business away from his family. Frequently he'd go for walks around the village, hopeful he'd find you. Just seeing your face would lift his spirits a little more. But he didn't. You were never outside, nowhere to be seen.

Everyone sat around a firepit getting ready for dinner. The last few days the Sullys and the family of the girl (her included of course) Lo'ak was supposed to mate would have dinner together, almost forcing the two youngsters to interact. The girl was absolutely smitten with him, always trying to sit next to him, so close to the point their knees would touch. The sentiment was not shared.

This time, to the Sully boy's surprise, someone he so wanted to lay his eyes upon, joined for dinner. You looked devastated, dark circles under your eyes, corneas red. You did look different. In a bad way. And it was all his fault.

You and your family sat on the outer circle contrary to the Sullys who were in the center one. Lo'ak almost broke his neck eyeing you the entire time. If only he could get up and tell you how he didn't mean anything he said, explain what was really going on. For a split second you looked back at him, which made him turn his head back around as fast as he could.

As soon as dinner was over, he ran off, only to be followed by none other than the girl who seemed to now follow him everywhere he went. He didn't even remember her name in all honesty.

"Where are you going, Lo?" Lo? Who does she think she is? Only you can call him that, after all you're the one who came up with the nickname.

"It does not concern you." He always had a poker face around her, giving her the cold shoulder. "You wouldn't like me to tell you father you're sneaking off right?" This woman is absolutely nuts. She has nothing to do with his business. She got no response back. Lo'ak wasn't even going to bother knowing that she was just trying to get on his nerves. "Maybe we could go somewhere secluded aaand-", "what are you implying?" If he was human, he'd probably have a hundred white hairs thanks to her. "You know what I mean…" Her hands roamed around his chest giving him the famous butterfly lashes or whatever. He didn't care.

"Get your fucking hands off of me! Get your ass back home." He left her alone. His feet taking him to your hut.

There wasn't really anything to knock on so he just invited himself in, coming face to face with your father first.

"What do you want, boy?" He wasn't happy to see Lo'ak and that was for sure. Lo'ak didn't feel welcomed at all but he was the one to blame for this situation.

"I just want to talk to ___."

"My child has no business with you."

"I need to clarify some things. It's very, very urgent." To him it was urgent. He couldn't let another day go by without talking to you. Seeing you how he saw you today edged him on even more. "Please, I beg, sir." This was humiliating. He was aware of how much of a fool he looked but you were more important than the shame he felt. Your father stepped out of the way, the first thing coming into vision being you. Lo'ak walked your way, kneeling in front of you.

" ___…" You wouldn't even look at him. He had to choose his words very wisely not wanting to worsen things. "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to but I want to apologise for everything I said that day. I didn't mean any of it. My parents made a stupid mate arrangement with another family and nothing I said or how much I fought back mattered to them. I tried, ___. I tried so hard." His hand caressed your cheek. You didn't budge. "The damned girl just won't leave me alone and my father is putting so much pressure on me but that has never stopped me from loving you. That day I was furious after an argument with dad… You just happened to be there at a bad moment and I let it all out. I know I shouldn't have. ___ I need you. I need you by my side so bad."

You finally looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. You felt like a crybaby, crying was all you did in the last week and you were about to do it in front of him. Again.

"I am so sorry, baby." Baby, something he learned from his dad. An English word.

He lifted your hand to his lips, leaving a kiss on the back of it and then putting his forehead against it. It felt wet. Was he crying…? You laid your head on his.

"I believe you."

Suddenly he raised his head, bumping it against yours on accident. Typical of Lo'ak.

"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you, ___. I do! I do!" Happiness radiated off of him, it was contagious.

"I love you too, Lo." Lo sounded so good coming from you.

"I'm going to talk to my father again, and if he disagrees, we'll run away together." He said it so serious it was almost funny. "I need you there with me, please."

You did go with him. Now standing in front of Toruk Makto and whoever the other old men was. You didn't know who, by Lo'ak did, very well. That woman's dad. Lo'ak had your hand in his, standing tall, not letting the two men intimidate him, or you.

"Father. It's the last time I'll be saying this. Call this arrangement off. I already have who I want and I will not be mated to anyone else but them." Oh Jake was pissed. In front of his friend too? Really?

"What is this nonsense?" The other man spoke before Jake could reprehend his son.

"I'm glad YOU are here. Tell your daughter and yourself I want Nothing to do with her. This shit was never my idea anyway." You looked at Lo'ak, concerned about what the consequences of this might be.

"Lo'ak." His father called for him.

"Excuse me?" Eywa, the old man sounded very aggravated, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"You're excused. Leave me be! And dad, nothing you say will change my mind." Lo wrapped his arm around you protectively. You and him reminded Jake of his younger self and Neytiri. Could he really punish his younger son for this? For loving? Jake has been nothing but a hypocrite and it was time for him to stop and get some sense knocked into his head. Jake stood up, turning to the warrior previously sitting next to him.

"My friend… We'll talk about this later, just the two of us." There wasn't much to talk about. It was obvious this arrangement was over with.

In no time, he left, leaving father, son and his lover behind. Jake grabbed Lo'ak's upper arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry son. ___." It sounded genuine. No need for any more fights about this.

You smile up at Toruk Makto, a hand at your chest showing gratitude for his understanding at last.

[fryday]

Disclaimer: major parasocial speculation is ahead. I dont claim to know that this is the truth. This is just my interpetation of events based on what little we know

I'm sure Dan's family suspected he and Phil were more than friends, but they were waiting for him to tell them himself. I think we all have at least 1 family member who has been living with their "roommate" for a long time and everyone knows they're gay, but it's like an unspoken rule that you don't ask about it. As for the phouse...I mean my cousin didn't come out of the closet until 2 months before his wedding, so it's possible they just didn't tell Dan's family about it until later! I do think the phouse was probably a big motivation for them coming out though. I don't think it's a coincidence that they started preparing to come out right after they bought it. Especially since they expected to be able to move in in 2018. I'm sure they were aware of how it would look to Dan's family and us and I fully believe that if it hadn't been for II, Dan's burn-out and subsequent decision to end their joint branding, and the phouse construction taking longer than expected, they would have come out together in 2018. I think it's good that Dan didn't come out under pressure though, bc he clearly wasn't ready and it probably would have led to another breakdown lol. It is beautiful that they were willing to make such a huge commitment to each other despite Dan's fear of coming out to his family, but I also think it was very calculated. They just didn't account for their plans getting delayed by a whole year.

Hello! I'm so so sorry it took me this long to respond to your ask, but it's a great ask and I wanted to spend a little time answering it (and that little time never came 😭). For those who dk, this is in reference to this post I wrote.

I guess I just didn't think you could plan a move as major as buying and building a house together without your family members knowing, but what do I know, really, and if your cousin could keep something like their wedding under wraps until 2 months before then it's definitely doable!

It makes me not a little emotional thinking about the phouse being a motivator for them to come out. That by that point they knew - yeah, this isn't just us taking every year as it passes anymore, it really is gonna be us for life, and we're going to put all the money we earned together into Our Place in the world. Cementing that, quite literally. And making that decision to commit to their happiness together was inevitably going to lead them to commit to happiness in their life, in general - by coming out. Lots of emotions around that, for sure.

[roseworth]

do you have a Batfam skill ranking? or a favorite character skill ranking👀👀

i cant do a fav character skill ranking because ill immediately get overwhelmed. but i love controversy so i can absolutely skill rank batfam

from most to least skilled (also disclaimer that power scaling discussions in comics mean nothing because whoever is most skilled is entirely based on what the writer wants. but in this case im in charge)

cass

bruce

jason

damian

duke

dick

babs

tim

steph

and my explanation is under the cut <3

cass: this one should be obvious. if this isnt obvious to you you should stop what youre doing and read batgirl 2000 right now. i could argue shes the best fighter in the entire dcu so shes clearly the best fighter in the batfam

bruce: sorry to be a toxic batman fan but i stand by the tried and true adage "Batman Solos With Prep Time." his entire deal is that he's spent most of his life training to become a perfect fighter. he could never beat cass but hes extremely skilled

jason: his whole deal in lost days was that he wanted all the training batman had and he kinda put his pussy into getting it done for like 3 years. he is an extremely competent fighter and he gets Talia's Son Privilege because she gets him the best training available and he is serious about it. bruce is more skilled mostly for the fact that he has more experience and more training but jason is still a strong contender

damian: league of assassins training. id say its safe to assume he has a lot of the same training that bruce and jason have, not to mention he also gets Talia's Son Privilege bc my girl is not letting any of her kids have subpar training <3 hes lower than bruce and jason because once again he just has less experience than them, but hes still one of the best fighters in the family

duke: read batman and the signal im so serious. he caught a knife in midair. he turns invisible. i havent read future state but someone told me that hes one of the best fighters in the future and i believe them. the only reason hes not higher on this list is that cass bruce jason and damian are so skilled that i dont think duke's powers give him an advantage over them, but hes definitely one of the most skilled in the batfam

dick: hes a good fighter and he knows what hes doing, plus he has like 20+ years of experience atp (i actually dont know how old he's supposed to be in canon rn but im a mid-30s dick truther). but i simply do not believe hes in the top half of fighters in the batfam. hes good but many of them are just better sorry!

babs: it is so hard for me to put her so low im sorry babs. as batgirl and as oracle shes a great fighter but shes just not one of the best :( if i was only talking about her as batgirl she'd probably be much lower but as oracle shes redeeming herself. in oracle: year one she trains a Lot and is a fantastic fighter, plus if you read bop she is constantly winning fights <3 shes not above dick just because her main training is in escrima which is. exactly what dick uses. so hes more skilled but shes not far behind him

tim: hes not really exceptionally skilled at fighting. he has the basic Bat Training and hes a good fighter but hes not any better than anyone else in the batfam (besides steph). theres not really any skill that i can think of that hes better at than the others so he has to be ranked low. he has as much training as everyone else but theyre all just better

steph: IM SO SORRY STEPHIE...... but in terms of fighting skills she just isnt above any of the other bats. shes much less trained than everyone else so shes not more skilled than anyone else. shes more skilled than the average person but much less skilled than the average bat. one of the reasons i love batgirl 2009 is that shes a failgirl and i love that for her. let women fuck everything up all the time

[hugheses]

these are just some thoughts after seeing ur post on the hockey thigh thing btw, and i hope you hear me out. you being a lesbian (im bi and i have a gf currently), which is something you emphasise a lot, and not being attracted to these dudes doesnt make this whole parasocial archive any less weird or creepy. i'm not here to shit on or invalidate your passion, because obv its something you care about deeply from how much your scour the web for all these old things, even of their mother when she was young. and genuinely, thats pretty cool, i work in archival and i have a lot of respect for that with the effort you've put into it.

but i think you are encouraging others to imitate this blog and culture, when it comes to other players who aren't as in the media as the hughes family. like i agree that its part and parcel of the job as athletes who represent a multitude of things like ur franchise ur family etc, but i feel like we just shouldn't proliferate this. i know people on twitter are unjustly harsh and oftentimes critical to the point of meanness, but i think some points they share are valid. just bc its on the internet, doesnt give us the permission to do stuff ykwim? like imagine just going up to the hughes and giving them a scrapbook of every media moment from their mothers childhood, to her college, their dad, and them as kids and now as adults. thats just straight up weird. and don't even get me on the sexualisation, i get they are adults but isn't that just basic respect?

i know having an internet community is rlly important to some, and im sure ur followers would still give you that support u need even if you dont constantly supply them with these media things, or dangle ur secret archive like a carrot over them.

hoping you have a great day

you clearly put a lot of time and thought into this, so i will give you that same level of consideration back. i think you have some misunderstandings about me, hockey fandom, and fandom culture as a whole.

first, the lesbian thing. admittedly tumblr search is very broken but according to it i’ve mentioned the word lesbian twice on here, as a disclaimer for why i might not be the best person to understand what male attracted people find hot. it's possible it's come up a few other times but it’s definitely not something i "emphasize a lot". it's somewhat ironic that you bring up you being bi and having a gf in what reads to me like a deflection on your critique that i say i'm gay too much, when you seem to think me saying i'm a lesbian is bc i'm trying to deflect on sexualizing these guys. which admittedly is the most confusing part of your entire ask. is this solely about the thigh ask? if you’re worried about "basic respect", hockey fandom is probably not the place for you. i know i don't like seeing 500 reader insert posts every time i open anyone's tag, which is why i have related terms muted and block people who don't use them. however this is very much a part of hockey fandom and i’m aware of that. on the flip side, the unfortunate reality is that hockey players are some of the nastiest misogynistic men on the planet who generally do not see women as actual human beings beyond mommies, maids, and holes. if i WAS sexualizing these men 24/7 i would feel well within my rights to do so, and could make an only slightly ironic argument for it being feminist praxis. if jack hughes can ask girls to flash him, i can have a little sexualization, as a treat. 

calling me weird and creepy isn’t actually negated by following up with saying you're not trying to shit on or invalidate my passion and you respect the effort i put into it. if you think i’m weird and creepy, you’re allowed to feel that way, but actually own it if that’s what your opinion is.

you imagined this scrapbook scenario and then say that it’s weird. i agree, that hypothetical thing would be weird. good thing i’m not doing that, will never do that, and take many efforts to have a strong fourth wall and keep this blog separate from the people it's about. i am a firm believer in keeping fandom private and secluded! that's why im not tweeting all of this and tagging them. 

it’s a big leap for you to assume that i do this because i "need support". not that it matters, but i do all of this because i find it fun and i’m being generous with people who do not have the time/resources/know-how to find this stuff on their own. there's nothing wrong with finding a community online, but i had one before doing all this. in fact, all of this has been really more trouble than it's worth in terms of harassment vs kindness lmao. some people on here have been lovely to me, but i’m beyond the age where i need virtual validation from strangers. you’re right about one thing, i do dangle my secret archive like a carrot, largely for petty reasons because of a few specific assholes. 

you seem to think i’m the only person who does stuff like this. update/archival accounts are very common for musicians, actors, even like... tiktok influencers. were you not online when people hacked an airport security cam feed to watch one direction sit and do nothing? everything ive ever posted on here has been available to the public. i’m just good at finding stuff. even within this smaller sports fandom on tumblr, i have been inspired by OTHER BLOGS who were doing this before me and go way harder than i do. i didn’t invent the concept of collecting information and images about public figures like you seem to think i did, but thanks.

if you want to critique fandom culture as a whole, go right ahead, but i ask that you keep the sanctimonious lectures out of my inbox, especially when they're based in assumptions. any one of these things could have been questions i would be willing to chat about if you were actually curious about me and what i do. i in fact have lots of opinions that might surprise you on many of these things you mentioned. but i will have those conversations with other people, who talk to me with the respect and dignity that i deserve.

[gaytventhusiast]

(!Warning!- Slight hints at domestic abuse. Nothing that isn't in canon)

(Do not read if you do not want to see a critical analysis of Jmart. Some people don't want to see their comfort ship criticised and I respect that.)

Me on my first listen of magnus (aged 15): Omg omg there are gay people this is amazing. Wahoo Jmart!

Me on my second listen of magnus: Wow Martin is lowkey a bit of a secret gaslight gatekeep girloss. ICONIC. He and Jon are murder bfs :D

Me on my third listen of magnus: Hah. Martin really is kind of a bitch sometimes.

Me on my forth listen of magnus: God Martin can be so condescending wtf. I dont really ship Jmart anymore. And did he just hit Jon wtf ?!?!

Me after my 5th listen to now (Aged 18): Yikes. Martin has so many red flags oh god.

(Disclaimer: I do think these characters and their relationship are still well written and I do not dislike anyone for shipping them. However, I do think the fanon interpretation of their relationship removes how flawed Martin actually is and people don't hold him accountable nearly enough)

(Additionally this is all not to say that Jon is exempt from poor behaviour toward Martin. The way he treats Martin in s1 was dickish to say the least. However, unlike Martin this behaviour isn't perpetuated throughout the entirety of the podcast/ relationship, with Jon quickly coming to respect Martin at a similar level to himself.)

Martin Blackwood is not a kind person.

He never holds himself accountable for anything or so few times I literally don't remember them. In MAG 194- Parting, it is Jon that makes the decision to apologise to Martin. Additionally after Martin hits Jon earlier on he is never seen apologising for it, even after Jon's honestly heartbreaking line of "Thank you for not hitting me this time".

Martin also tends to get pissy at Jon for something he cannot help. Jon cannot help 'giving statements' in season 5 and yet everytime he does, Martin acts like it's some sort of attack on him. He is perfectly allowed to have the boundary of 'Don't do that around me'. However in instances where Jon accidentally does it around Martin, Martin responds with aggression, either lashing out and shouting at Jon or as previously mentioned, hitting him. These can be explained as maybe reasonable responses to high stress situations however Martin never apologises for them as discussed previously.

This also comes in the form of Martin antagonising Jon's well meaning suggestions. In S4, during the 'Gauge your eyes out' scene, Martin immediately shoots back, making it about him rather than the desperate attempts at salvation from a man who's been broken down to all hell.

There's a clear bitterness from Martin throughout. He clearly feels inferior to Jon and is trying to gain as much control over the situation as he can which often means doing all he can to control Jon.

And Martin is right at the end of S5 when he says it took 4 years of the shit they've been through to be compatible. However, what I think is more accurate is that it took 4 years of Jon being broken down and into a state of perpetual emotional vulnerability and loss of autonomy for him to be so alone that he reached out to Martin. And vice versa, Martin (being affected by the lonely and always having had an attraction to Jon) reaches out in return later in s5. Aside from that, they've not got much in common and although I do think that they at least get along as friends and colleagues, I can't really see them consistently bonding outside of the world of the fears.

Now I'd like to clarify that this isn't all to say that the way Martin acts isn't understandable, it is. Having to care for his mother for years has lead to him mothering Jon at times as well as his constant need to prioritise himself and defend himself in response to her abuse. He probably also has some left over resentment (understandably) from the way Jon used to treat him in s1. Along with a bunch of other stuff that explains his behaviour. But that doesn't mean that the way he acts sometimes isn't harmful.

Their relationship is more nuanced than I'm able to fit into a tumblr post. I might write an essay about it at some point. If there is anything i didn't mention it's either because it's been a while and I forgot, or I did not have space to fit it!

Anyways, what do you guys think about all this? TMA is one of those shows I've been a bit apprehensive to critically analyse due to the fandom but I found that Jmart is a lot more interesting than I initially thought.

(SUMMARY: Jmart is not as healthy of a relationship as the Fanon tends to show it. Martin has a lot of red flags and the two aren't all that compatible aside from their trauma)

[vveakfish]

do you have any thoughts about the core four whose gender(s) are basically just a trans fruit cocktail that you would like to talk about? because I would love to listen

oh boy DO I !!!

I have So Many thoughts about them Anon, so thank you for giving me an excuse to try and put it into words beyond “Damn, these bitches trans! Good for them.”

Honestly, there are so many different ways to explore these characters genders based on how you choose to interpret their life experiences, and their aesthetic changes, and their relationships with each other. I am of the belief that any of them could be trans in any direction

But, that said, I Do have particular gender headcanons for YJ that i am very fond of, so thats what I’ll be talking about today.

(Small disclaimer. I have not finished all of the comics referenced in this. I am using the information i have to inform these, but you know, i might come back to this post at some point in the future and look at it like “wow, i don’t agree with any of this anymore.” And i think thats okay.

I’m just here to have fun, and i thoroughly enjoy these little guys, and think abt them alot, so enjoy

(also if you dont want to read 4.1k words of blorbo gender analysis, or would like to avoid spoilers for Superboy (1993), Young Justice (1998) & (2019), and Red Robin (2009) in varying degrees of detail, or you just want to see what lables i assigned them, scroll down to the bottom <3))

lets get started.

Bart:

Bart's gender is the most complex, but his thought process about it is also the most simple. I think his view of gender would be very much influenced by the fact that he grew up in VR in the future like…

A body is just an avatar, do what ever the fuck you want with it.

That said, the lil guy has always given me transmasc vibes. These vibes, however, are by no means binary.

He understands that in the 21st century a lot of people do not have his sort of “throw things at the wall and see what sticks” approach to gender, so he’s okay with being put in the box of Boy™. But his gender is a lot more * hand waves vaguely *

Clothes don’t have gender in his eyes, they’re fabric you put on your body. Wear what ever you want forever!

Bart in skirts is something i have seen many people draw/talk about before, and its something i agree with wholeheartedly. He likes hair clips, and like, those loud (actually loud and visually loud) beaded bracelet type things that ravers wear. He like nail polish. He doesn’t grow facial hair, but he wouldn’t care if he did. He’s not on hormones, but he definitely considered it for the bit. “Gotta drink my boy juice” Kind of vibes.

For him gender has Nothing to do with performance, its all about comfort. About wearing what feels right, regardless of whether or not he’s adhering to expectations of masculinity.

Yes, he Will wear that god awful outfit out of the house, haters can die mad

Cassie:

Anon, I need you to understand how much i love early yj98 cass. She is everything to me — her process of coming to terms with herself, and being able to watch her start to feel at home in her own skin. It makes me absolutely feral.

lets see if i can explain why… succinctly

When we first meet her in yj98, her identity as “Wonder Girl” is this sort of amalgamation of What it Means To Be A Hero in her eyes. She has her party city blunt bob wig (Because Diana is who she looks up to), the gloves, leather jacket, goggles combo (that so clearly take inspiration from Kon).

At this point in her life Wonder Girl is not really her. Its very clearly a mask she’s putting on. which is what makes it the perfect avenue for her to explore gender expression without it having to actually be about her gender.

I think the part that specifically makes me feral though is her… we’ll call it admiration of Kon.

The girl is a self proclaimed Superboy stan + theres all the weird not-drama between Cassie and Cissie over wanting attention from Kon. (And i say Not Drama bc its like… Kon flirting with cissie (which like… have you met 90’s Kon?? he flirts with everything that moves) and Cassie being upset that he’s Not flirting with her. and cissie is just along for the ride. She’s not quite as much of a flirt as kon is, but she has her moments)

All of this to say i feel like its impossible to have a conversation about Cassie’s gender without also talking about her experiences with comphet and lesbianism.

At the beginning, Cassie sees Kon — this cocksure, conventionally attractive boy with powers that (at first glance) seem very similar to hers, and felt something about it. And, in the way of teen girls who have been told since grade school that they’re supposed to like boys, Cassie comes to the conclusion that what she feels for Kon must be romantic in nature, right?.

All of this, the jealousy over Kon and Cissie flirting, basing her costume off Superboy’s (intentionally or otherwise), the fact that she wont let her team see her without the wig and goggles at all for so much of yj98. To me it all reads as the tangled mix of undiscovered lesbianism and gender dysphoria that the poor girl simply doesn’t have the words to define yet.

So, then what IS cassie’s deal with gender???

i am so very glad you asked.

She, too, is a transmasc of the nonbinary variety.

I think her relationship to femininity is complex, and ever changing. She doesn’t feel comfortable performing femininity the way the world expects her to, but she is also part Amazon. And i think having a relationship with both Diana and Donna would greatly influence how she felt about femininity as a whole.

The Amazons are strong, their femininity isn’t about beauty, or being soft spoken — it isn’t about Men at all. On Themyscira, to be a Woman is about bravery, honor, skill, and in some ways, divinity. Getting closer with her Amazonian sisters would change her relationship to womanhood immensely.

But it still wouldn’t feel Right. She would be able to see that womanhood can be defined differently, but that wouldn’t change the connotations that womanhood had as she was growing up. She’d never be able to lean into it the way Diana or Donna do — they both grew up only having woman defined as strong and brave and confident. Their experiences are not analogous.

The baggage of growing up a girl under the patriarchy wouldn’t just… vanish because she sees that it Doesn’t have to be that way. In some ways, the knowledge that it didn’t have to be that way could make her dysphoria all that stronger (especially if she hasn’t quite deciphered that dysphoria is what she’s feeling).

but i think there would be a point where two things sharpen into focus for her.

fiirstly she has a big fat crush on cissie king-jones.

and second (which would only come AFTER realizing her feelings for cissie) is that what she feels for Kon is Not the same as what she feels for Ciss.

She didn’t want to be with Kon romantically, she just wanted his gender.

I could see her experimenting with wearing a binder, liking that she can get rid of her boobs if she isn’t feeling them that day.

She already has her short hair, and her leather jacket and jeans, and shes big and buff and strong (because she deserves to be butch!!! okay???).

I still think she would use she/her pronouns, but she wouldn’t be picky ab it (if she gets called sir while at the pizza place, she’s not going to correct them.)

But here’s the kicker — I think leaning hard into her masculinity would be EXACTLY what she needs in order to actually ENJOY expressing femininity again.

When putting on the mask that is ‘womanhood’ becomes something that she can Choose to do, rather than something that is being forced on her, it can be pleasant. Like playing dress up.

She has a new appreciation for it, especially since her friends respect her gender, and she knows at the end of the day, when she takes the makeup, the clothes, and the wig off, underneath it all she’s just her.

(Small addendum re: TT’03 Cassie’s fem phase. I have Many thoughts about this as well, and while they end up in roughly the same place, i exploring her experience with comphet and her decision to dress in a more traditionally feminine in that run is something id like to explore in another post (once i’ve actually read the run too.)

Cissie (bonus):

This one should be shorter than Cassies, mainly because my reasoning for it is much simpler.

YJ'98 (#11)

She lists all these names, all of them feminine except for Fucking Ralph. “One weird phase” she calls it.

To me, Cissie is a transgirl through and through. She has this huge list of femme names she tried on while she tried to find the one that fit best. She mentions ralph in this off handed way, as if its not important, and i think thats just her way of dismissing her deadname as something of little consequence.

(that said, i think there’s lots of fun to be had with transmasc cissie, or tried transing-her-gender and realized it wasn’t for her Cissie. But as a transfemme, tgirl cissie is So important to me <3)

Kon:

other people on here have made posts about Kon’s gender that are much more coherent than this will be, but i’m putting the words down anyway. bear with me.

Kon’s experience with identity (especially in his earlier years) is almost entirely about the external rather than the internal.

Kon has his whole life planned out for him from the moment he opens his eyes. It’s simple really — become Superman.

So you have this freshly hatched teenage boy, saving the world as Superman (not the Only one, but definitely the coolest one (Kon would argue)). All eyes on him, all the time. In some ways, performance is inseparable from who he is. From the very beginning, everything he does is on display.

He starts his life with a Name (Superman), a life path (…again, Superman), and all the confidence of a sixteen year old jock with nothing but wins under his belt. then it all gets taken away.

Turns out Clark ISNT dead, and the world doesn’t need its pint sized superman anymore now that its got the real thing.

enter Superboy

Kon’s entire identity, his whole purpose for being alive, was to step into the shoes of a dead man who is no longer dead. So where does that leave our genetically engineered test tube baby?

lost, and extremely confused.

But he’s good at using his charisma as a shield, and even better at keeping himself busy. His problems aren’t there if he doesn’t have the time to think about them, right?

and i think that’s true about his gender as well.

Similar to Cassie, his discovery and exploration of his gender feels incredibly tied to his sexuality (to me). If you’ve read sb93, you know Kon’s deal with women. He is cute & conventionally attractive & he's like superman with a fashion sense, so of course there are people fawning over him.

And he loves the attention. He likes that people want him, or that they are looking at him. The issue is he doesn’t have the life experience to realize that their reasons for paying attention to him are often very shallow, manipulative, or selfish.

He isn’t treated as a person very often. He’s a brand, a product, a tool, a weapon. He’s arm candy, he’s a photo op, he’s a headline, he’s a paycheck. And it takes him a long time to be able to tell the difference between someone Liking Him & someone Using Him.

For the longest Time, Superboy is all he is. He doesn’t have a name outside of that identity (except for the various pet names the women in his life give him (kid & pup, mainly)).

And even when Clark does give him his real name, Kon-El, its still Attatched to his identity as Superboy.

I dont think that he would really even be able to start dissecting how HE feels about his identity until he’s much older.

Part of this would come from the space to be someone else that gaining a civilian identity would give him. As Superboy, the goal has always been to stand out, to be seen, to shine like the sun.

As Conner Kent, he has to blend in. He doesnt want to draw attention to himself, or the Kents, or Clark. He has to fit in, which was never something he had to do as Kon. And i think it would kind of chafe at him — but he wouldn’t really know why.

I think he’d chalk it up to how different of an experience it is. Not being loud, having to be normal™. And so i think he’d just… continue to play the part. For a while anyway.

And like, part of being Normalest Boy Conner Kent would also involve actively un-queer coding himself for the sake of fitting into the ecosystem of Smallville High. and its like…

Young Justice, as a friend group, is SOOO queerplatonic. The lines between romantic and platonic intimacy are so blurred, and Prior to Kon’s YJ days he he was also like… living with these woman who he had complicated relationships with that also blurred the lines between platonic, romantic, and sexual (…looking at you, Knockout).

So learning where the line is when it comes to how he can acceptably interact with his civilian friends (particularly the boys) would Really open his eyes to just how close he is with Bart and Tim, and how similar his feelings for them are to his feelings for… lets say, Simon Valentine.

But i dont think That is what would actually tip the scale. I think realizing that these feelings for his friends aren’t considered ‘normal’ would make him shove them down deeper. As ‘Conner’ anyway.

from here it could go two ways, right?

Either we get Teen Titans ‘03 t-shirt Kon, who sheds his GNC 90s swag in exchange for adhering closer to traditional (read; boring) masculine gender roles.

or we get a Kon who leans Harder into his punk roots, but its a conscious choice now.

(this isn’t even digging into how he would feel once Jon comes into the picture, because while Kon cares for that boy Deeply, his feelings abt the new kiddo in the family could also be very complicated. But that’s a post for another time.)

Personally i prefer the second one.

Kon has always been a curious kid, i love the way he makes pop culture references, and how he bases his behavior off of 90’s teen tropes that he Most Definitely learned from TV. In his early days this wasn’t done in a research way necessarily, but he Did want to learn what it was like to Be a Teen™, and TV was the easiest way to figure that out.

(and, playing in the space of Kon adaptations, his love of media/pop culture, and just over all thirst for knowledge, are present both in the Reign of the Supermen Movie, and in his iteration during the n52 (which is one of the few things i personally have internalized from reading n52 Superboy/Teen Titans)).

But post gay awakening, i feel liked he’d be interested not just in behaviors, but also the context of them. Digging into punk as a subculture rather than as an aesthetic. Learning about its connections to queerness, and community, and self expression. And i think this would be extremely freeing for him. (especially if this were around the time of Jon becoming Superboy v.3, but again, not the point of this post.)

this all culminates in Kon being like yk? gender just… isnt for me. Like, it takes im a long time to get to this point, but realizing that the path that was set out for him is just one of the potential paths he can take, and while he might not know where this new path will take him, its his, that that matters.

And also like, Because his friends are who they are, he’s seen different versions of queerness, and transness, but i think it would take him a bit to see himself as someone who Isn’t Cis bc like… he doesnt have dysphoria in the traditional sense.

He’s still the beefcake he’s always been, but i think he’d start playing with makeup when he realizes it makes him feel good (he shows up the the cave one day with smudgy eye liner and Cissie is immediately like a) you look so good and b) can i Please do your makeup? (and then she does it, and he looks so pretty, and he gets these weird giddy feelings that he doesn’t realize is gender euphoria until his friends start talking abt gender euphoria)

His uniform starts to get more personalized too, like the designs where he has knee patches, and all his little belts, and stuff. maybe he starts experimenting with showing skin. bc he deserves it

(’its for maximum sun exposure!!!’ is the what he tells clark… he’s not sure if clark bought it or not)

And hey, exploring gender presentation more as Superboy might help him do the same as Conner. Cassie will take him thrifting, he’ll try of a flowy skirt or a sun dress or something and then its Over. Gender euphoria part two, electric boogagloo.

In the end, its about realizing that adhering gender roles (and truthfully, any socially imposed ‘rule’ about self expression) is something he can simply Choose not to do. And i think this freedom would be something that benefits him in his civilian life as well.

His gender is: literally what ever, man.

Tim:

Ok, here’s the thing about Tim and gender, right? I think he’s kind of just comfortable as he is. He’s good at playing the roles he needs to in what ever situation hes thrown into. ‘Robin’ and ‘Tim Drake’ (and even ‘Tim Drake-Wayne’ if you want to split hairs) might be masks he wears, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less him. if that makes sense. like…

Lets look at the differences between Bruce (or Brucie) and Batman for a second. They really are different people. Batman is who bruce is at his core, ‘bruce’ is this sort of liminal space between the cowl and his public persona, and then theres Brucie™, and well, you know how he is. These are personas that Bruce puts on.

With Tim its like he just highlights different aspects of himself when a situation requires it. (oh no, the autistic!Tim head canons are being loud today.) But like, he’s Always been masking. And i think this is something he would look at as like… getting a good grade in adapting. or something. He’s comfortable, all the roles he plays are ones he’s familiar with, and he doesn’t really question who he is outside of who he needs to be.

That is, until Caroline Hill makes an appearance.

I feel that the decision to go undercover as a woman was a wholly practical decision in the moment. It’s what the mission required, and therefore tim stepped up. Its just another mask, right? Surely this wont awaken anything in him…right?

But this is an entirely new mask. And i think it might like… shift the way he looks at/thinks about the other masks he puts on. He was able to step into a role that was very foreign to him, and it Worked. (and he felt pretty, which like… woah, thats a new feeling. and he kinda liked it? file that under ‘thoughts he doesn’t have the bandwidth to process right now.’ Bruce needs him back at the cave! its time to debreif! and he has a biology test tmrw! no time for gender scaries!!!).

I think it would take a while for him to be able to admit it to himself though. Because like… hes Not uncomfortable with his body, but he also keeps thinking about how good he felt dressed up femininely, and how he felt powerful, in a way. That putting on that mask felt just as good as putting on his domino.

Personally, i think itd be funny if instead of coming out right away, Tim doing undercover missions essentially in drag becomes a recurring thing. And i imagine some people give him a hard time. (not in a transphobic way or anything, i just mean like, teasing him fondly or what ever.) (Also, i like to imagine that when cissie Did kons makeup, bart and Tim jumped in there too bc like hey why not, and hoooooo boy, if Tims egg hadn’t cracked before then, it sure would have cracked after.)

The thing about him is, i’m not sure if he’d come to the realization himself. You know, that he would like to present femme sometimes, in a situation that has Nothing to do with a mission.

I could see Tim convincing himself that its a pointless or frivolous desire, which is Why he relegates his time presenting femme to when he can prove that it’s useful.

but i have this image in my mind, right? Of him, taking his makeup and wig off, and hes chatting with whoever is in the room with him (literally anyone else mentioned above… or Dick). And Tim’s just talking about how he wishes he could present this way in situations other than missions.

and the other person in the room is just like… i mean, you literally can.

and hes just like…. shit you’re right. i Can :0

I could probably go further into depth abt this, but i think this just frees him to start playing with gender more as Tim. and start to recognize when he’s feeling more masculine, more feminine, or somewhere in between.

His gender isn’t consistent, its this thing he’s constantly listening to, and trying to understand. but in the mean time, he can paint his face, and wear pretty clothes, or dress like just Some Guy, or be a hedgehog dressed in traffic light colors, or what ever his heart desires.

As far as like… how He describes his gender, i think he’d say something corny like bi^2 (bi of both the sexual and the gendered varieties). Or shrug, handwave, generally give a non-helpful vague description. Or tell who evers asking to buzz off.

(small addendum wrt Kon and Cassie in TT’03. I haven’t read this run yet, so i didn’t really include it in this post. But i Do have thoughts about what might cause the two of them (my gnc besties from my comics books) to lean sooooo hard into traditional gender roles after being So Queercoded in their other appearences. Before i talk abt that though, i want to read the comic. So, that will have to be a post for another time)

ANYWAY, heres that TL;DR i promised.

Bart: NB Transmasc Cassie: NB Lesbian (of the transmasc variety) Kon: Agender Tim: Fluid (bi-gender) + Cissie: Transgirl

Thank you soooooo much for giving me the opporrtunity to ramble abt the silles and how Not Cis i think they are. Love you forever.

[shesmore-shoebill]

i know we talk a lot about amangela/courtmanda/courtmangelarasha but how do we think can shourtmanda (or even shourtmancer) ‘happen’ in the rpf universe we’ve built into hour minds

OOH interesting. hmmm. okay. my standard "F in rpf is for fiction, none of this is real or intended as speculation about actual people or their relationships, etc" disclaimer.

Also some additional disclaimers- the first is that i actually dont touch shourtney a lot in my rpf worldbuilding or characterizations, partly BECAUSE it's real, and as such has like. Such extensive and documented IRL "history" that I either would prefer to scrap that history entirely (at the cost of "inaccuracy", whatever that means in rpf lol), or I fear I'd start to start edging into something that feels like investigation/speculation territory about the actual relationship/people. Which I don't want to do.

Its a very specific weird distinction i like to keep in my brain with rpf where i dont like verging into writing/speculating/analyzing something that tempts into speculation about a real life relationship. vs like IRL Amanda has a husband so anytime i write without her husband we're already clearly in fake world territory. personal thing for me at least. So i love having Shourtney as background dynamic but havent thought a ton about JUST them in the rpf world. 🧐

Also re: both shayne and spencer, i respect and appreciate them both as people and i vibe with Shayne on a LOT of the takes we see from him. But I Do Not Swing That Way, at least last I checked. Tragically. Not at all opposed to writing/fleshing out characterization about it, or speculating on what it COULD look like in the rpf, etc, but. Everyone be nice about factual inaccuracies or oddities for characterizations/descriptions of attraction on that front, ok. Im doing my best off of incomplete info lmfao.

Anyway, all that said, I think I'd feel most comfortable with a Shourtmanda that starts with either Shaymanda or Courtmanda (again, fully wiping out history). I think Shaymanda starting out could be very fun and compelling. Shayne and Amanda getting close with the podcast is something that has a lot of potential! Amanda as an at-times intimidating figure who Shayne gets to know better; Amanda maybe assuming Shayne doesn't like her much until she gets to know him better. I think anything with Shayne in my rpf characterization has to go like. Respect/friendship first, if that makes sense. I think even if he found her attractive early on it would be like. a low priority thing compared to just trying to get to know her as a person. Amanda in my rpf world, i love but I dont think she would have been attracted AT FIRST- but as she gets to know him better it sort of. takes over. Two people getting to know each other better and uncovering facets they really like and respect....

Amanda makes the first move. Of course. I think it would take that for Shayne to properly consider liking Amanda as even a Thing, even if he thinks she's attractive. But once she acthally expresses attraction/desire to try something out... things get interesting. I think it would be pretty responsible and healthy in general, though. Clear communication probably.

As for Courtney getting looped in, lets see. I think Courtney is close enough with them both that she would be in the loop about feelings before both of them are. Probably from Amanda's side first. It might start as fun jokes between friends but over time.... Amanda maybe worrying about it/coming to Court to get their opinion on like- hey. I actually do really like Shayne. how do i do this without fucking it up. I'd love Shourtney as an established friendship where Shayne and Courtney know each other well and trust each other, but Shaymanda are the ones to take the plunge first- with Courtney aware and even helping. And maybe as things progress, maybe Amanda helps Shayne realize some of his feelings, or Amanda keeps looking at Court but feels guilty about it, and Courtney maybe feels... odd about them getting together even though they helped it happen..... anyway. is the vision here clear. i like this idea.

OR. Courtmanda first. THIS is fun. Communication would not be as clear from the start, because I think similar to all my other Courtmanda AU's. There's already the flirting. There's already the attraction. So much fun potential for them to Not Be Communicating Cleanly and have confusing feelings mixed in. We could have messy FWB Courtmanda with Shayne freaking out bc some of his closest friends are. Making Choices. about each other. OR Courtmanda could take their time getting together, both talk about Shayne, and then poor Shayne experiences both Amanda and Courtney DUAL flirting with him while he panics about disrupting their relationship (they are both aware and fine with the other person's flirting but they maybe forgot to make that clear to Shayne). Courtmanda first with Shayne as a close friend to both Courtney AND Amanda has so much fun potential though. Shayne being protective of Courtney towards Amanda....... many options. very fun.

Shourtney first is easy, in some ways, even if I dont find it as fun to consider. Shourtney first, and then just. Their work wife. its the jokes about work wife and its Courtney flirting with Amanda and Amanda flirting with Shayne and its all fun and jokes till its not. Ill let people who are more Shourtney knowledgable take over that one tho haha.

anyway this is getting kind of long. I'll be honest I don't have particular visions for Spencer in my rpf world so I'll leave that for others. I do love spinning Shaymanda/Shourtmanda in my head though. Very Fun. Much to consider....

[illustratedartist]

Do you have any advice on drawing bodies? Or any advice for drawing in general?

So I combined these two questions, since they're pretty much the same, I hope no one minds, and thank you so much for the questions!!

ART TIPS! 

DISCLAIMER: These are just MY opinions and what I typically do and in NO WAY certain rules you have to strictly follow. Art is about having fun and expressing yourself! <3 ALSO ALL ART IN THIS IS MINE THAT I DREW THANK YOU

One thing I started doing about a couple years or so ago is the Silhouette test! Its a huge help when it comes to making poses, because you want the viewer to see what’s happening clearly.

Its also a GREAT way to check if characters look different enough from one another, and be able to tell who is who! Its a common practice when making characters and having a lineup of them! Take my rouge designs for example!

Another great tip for me at least was using the GREYSCALE over an artwork to see the values, as well as limit my color choices. Its always good to see a large variety of shades in an artwork, because it breaks things up easier for the viewers, and overall helps with dimension in an artwork!

Of course you don’t have to do this, but its a life saver when checking for your light sources, and making sure everything matches up nicely. While also helping to make sure the things you want as the focus dont get lost! Having a limited color palette can also help with making sure things don't gettoo complicated! You don't want the viewer to get overwhelmed with what they’re looking at and losing track of the focal point!

A good way to get some more flow into an artwork is through the LINE OF ACTION. Which is just an invisible line you can draw through a character and clearly see what they are doing, and see the MOVEMENT in it! 

(I could of done something a bit differently here with Knuckles' arm to help with the flow better ^^")

Its super useful and adds a lot of life to a still image, and its always good to try and push yourself with different lines of actions as well! (Something I myself have to improve on haha!) I always like to think of my artwork as taking a picture of something happening in the moment, it helps me with coming up with more interesting compositions!

These are just a few examples I could think of on the fly, I could go on and on, but I'd probably never answer it this at that rate LMAO!

But remember art is FUN and you should enjoy what you create. of course you should learn the fundamentals, and do studies as well, and ALWAYS have references nearby! But its up to you on how you do that, or when :) Always try to push yourself bit by bit with each new artwork you do, it doesn't have to be something HUGE. But you should see yourself learning something with each artwork you do!

I hope I helped in some way! I'm not a professional, and there is still so much I have to learn as well. But its not a race, and everyone's art journey is going to be different.

[genshinfamdynamics]

My thoughts on Nathan characters’ designs

Disclaimer: guys I dont know shit about anything, especially lore. These are just my personal thoughts on how the characters look. If you disagree, that’s chill. I’m just saying things

Mualani

Honestly? I hate her design. If you like it then no judgment, but it’s just not for me. The braids and long bob are a nice combo, but something about it is just off to me. Her gloves are cute and I like the bows on her waist and back, but overall it feels really skimpy and sexualized, which is one of my biggest pet peeves in Genshin character designs. Another being how whitewashed everyone is, and I’m gonna be complaining about the lack of melanin for every Nathan character on this list. Mualani actually looks a bit darker than most of the Genshin characters, but that’s not really saying anything and if you compare her to real-life people, she still has the same skin tone as some of the whitest people I’ve met. Also her tattoos (I think they’re tattoos?) kinda just look like really weird tan lines to me. She really looks like she has the personality of a girl written by a man who’s never interacted with a woman who wasn’t his mother, and as much as I want to like her, I’m just really saddened by how she looks. 1/10

Kachina

She’s pretty cute; I like her ears and ponytail together, and the little braids on the sides of her face are fun. I didn’t like her visor/hat thing at first, but it’s growing on me. I always love scarves and her mittens are cute. The bandaids she has are a nice touch; kids running around are always gonna get scraped up. Still not a fan of how much skin girls always have to show in this game, especially since she seems to be a little kid. The orange and green combo is off-putting, but she aaaalmost pulls it off? Her palette legitimately looks like it was designed for her to have darker skin, but then they just made her white at the end for no reason. Also I know Genshin characters always have unrealistic hair and eye colors but blonde and blue-eyed? Really? 5/10

Kinich

I am very conflicted about him. At first glance, he looks cool, but if I think about it, I’m not so sure. He kinda looks like if Xiao and Chongyun were combined into the same person and made slightly less cool. His hair is nice, and I like his headband and how it has ribbons that trail behind him, but his puffy pants and the coat/wrap thingy around his waist make him feel really visually unbalanced to me. I think he could do with just one or the other, like the puffy pants with a simple belt and some ribbons, instead of the weird coat thing. I do like his earrings and the geometric shapes on his collar. As for the skin tone, I’ve seen all the edits of him with darker skin tones, and he looks really, really good. Making him pale did him so few favors, it’s not even funny. Like I think I would be so much less conflicted about him if he wasn’t so whitewashed. Also he’s like. fully clothed. So clearly, it’s not just an environment thing to be wearing lighter clothing in Natlan. So why. Do all the girls. Dress like they were designed by men who just want to stare at them? 5/10

Citlali

Okay I LOVE her hair. Like a LOT. The pink and purple feather-like accessories are pretty, and her sandals paired with that cute wrap skirt, gloves, and bracelets is actually a really nice combination. Her legs being almost completely bare, her shoulders being bare, and the weirdly placed boob and stomach windows make me sad though. Honestly, if it was just one or maybe even two of those I wouldn’t really think it was that much of a big deal, but all three of them together is just too much. And once again, she is paler than every white person I know. 7/10

Xilonen

OKAY I ACTUALLY LOVE HER. SHE’S LITERALLY SO PRETTY AND HER HEART-SHAPED NECKLACE WITH HER VISION??? <3<3 LITERALLY LOVE HER SHE’S THE ONLY ONE I’LL PULL FOR <3 Her color palette is actually lovely (aside from how desaturated she is); I love the orange and earthy tones with the turquoise highlights. Her outfit is gorgeous, but again on the skimpy side; I think the crop top and shorts could have worked if she was wearing like an actual shirt instead of a fancy bra. Remember kids, there’s a difference between confident women wearing what they like and women designed for the male gaze! And say it with me; STOP WHITEWASHING, IT DOESNT EVEN LOOK GOOD! I’VE SEEN THE EDITS! SHE IS 100% MORE GORGEOUS WHEN SHE ISN’T BLATANTLY WHITEWASHED! HOYO. HOYO PLS

9/10

Chasca

First off, her purple tips on the red hair is really pretty. I think she’s terrified of the ball, cause why else would she be as white as a sheet of paper? Her hat and bandana give off cowboy vibes, which got me really, really excited at first. The boots add to that too, but from there it just… fizzles out, like they decided they wanted her to be a cowgirl halfway through designing her and just slapped on some accessories and called it a day. I’m always a fan of long and flowy so I like her train thing but WHAT IS WITH THE SINGULAR PANT LEG??? I— I just— why? Was the top that looks like it’s a vest that was supposed to have a collared shirt underneath it not skimpy enough? Is there some sort of showing-skin quota that she didn’t meet so they just deleted half her pants? Over-sexualization aside, it’s not even visually appealing. I’m a huge fan of artistic asymmetry but asymmetry still needs to be balanced. She’s literally just got one half of her body that has way less clothes than the other. They didn’t even put the longer glove on the same side as the missing pant leg! Her design legitimately feels unfinished; it’s pretty much a bodysuit with large chunks cut out and a few accessories added. My dreams for a cool Genshin cowgirl have been crushed. 1/10

Iansan

First things first, due to the yellow/black/purple/white color scheme, I am immediately headcannoning them as non-binary. Objectively, their outfit is actually pretty cool, but they seem to have the little kid model, which makes the teeny-tiny crop top not really sit right with me. I hope they’re just a tiny adult like Dori but like… :/ All the accessories are cool though; the feathers, the necklace, and especially the skull on their headband! And they’ve actually got some melanin(though it’s like, the bare minimum), which is a really nice look with the white hair! Love me some color contrast! 7/10

Mavuika

I literally screamed “No!” upon seeing her. The leather bodysuit is an absolute tradgedy. Hoyo popped off with Furina only to be followed up by her?? Her outfit is really, really disappointing and boring. There are so many beautiful things to take inspiration from in the cultures Natlan is supposedly inspired by, and they just. put her in a “sexy” leather outfit? I’ve seen people say she looks like a cool biker, and no hate if you do, but honestly, I don’t think she even reaches that level. It’s so dull; there’s not even a fun silhouette because it’s all just form-fitting black with red accents. On the flip side, she herself is absolutely beautiful. Her hair is stunning. I really like the sharp bangs, the sunset fade, and the fact that her hair gives her some form of a silhouette. Her sunglasses are cool, and her eyes are gorgeous; I love the sun shapes in them! If I focus on the shot that’s just her face, then I can imagine her outfit looks just as amazing as she does. Hoyo did her so dirty with that bodysuit and her milk-pale skin. 2/10

Olorun/Ororon

Okay so first off I don’t know anything about anything so formal apology for everything I get wrong; but I’ve seen people say that he’s based off a Nigerian deity named Olorun, which is a MUCH better name than Ororon. What was even the thought process there. Anyway if he’s based off a Nigerian deity… why does he look white? I know literally nothing about this mythology but I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the original Olorun doesn’t look like that. Complaints aside, I do really like his outfit. The scarf and cape are to die for, and I love the peacock feather(?) design on the end of his scarf. I don’t get the like leather straps on his pants but his gloves and tattoos are neat. The whole outfit feels a little simple compared to other Genshin characters, but it’s nice to look at. The vibes are vibing. 8/10 on looks alone but Hoyo why

Tldr: Why are all the women so sexualized and why is everybody whitewashed

[bonni]

you said something about having issues with the op of the p.lace perspective? (censoring the word so it wont show up in tags if you dont want) could you elaborate? if not thats fine you do you

When I let this sit in my inbox for months 😵‍💫 anyway I think I said that as a disclaimer when recommending the essays bc I just don't agree with all of their opinions, back when they were active on Tumblr they used to get into discourse where they would clearly let their own personal trauma/issues affect their interpretation of the series (which I think we all do to an extent) specifically wrt how they felt about Touga's character. Their own projection onto Nanami as a survivor clearly impacted their ability to see Touga as both a perpetrator and a victim, and they didn't like when people talked about the aspects of Touga's character that were more nuanced/expressed any level of sympathy for him. at one point they got in hot water for calling Touga "arguably worse than Akio," which is just blatantly untrue, there's no real argument to be had there outside of their own projection.

I also think that tpp doesn't do the queer themes in the series justice. it's completely okay not to engage with certain themes in your own essays, especially if they're not as personal to you and you feel as though other people are more qualified to discuss them, but the one line at the beginning of the essay where the author says something like "people tend to see utena as a queer series and ignore the themes of incest" (true, valid complaint, very important) "but I would argue that it's actually a series about incest and the queer themes are secondary" (debatable and a vast oversimplification) always rubbed me the wrong way, and in fact I would argue that the queer themes and the handling of incest are inextricable due to the series' overarching criticism of the nuclear family model and the heteronormativity it entails.

tl;dr tpp is a great series of essays and a really good jumping-off point for discussing incest in Utena, the writer is clearly talented and well-informed on this topic due to their own personal life experience, however they also seem to be dealing with some of their own issues which impact which aspects of the series they're willing to meaningfully engage with. getting off Tumblr was probably the right move for them, mental-health wise.