#another HUGE episode for lesbianism

[likehandlingroses]

OUAT Rewatch 4x15 - Enter the Dragon

It’s just you and me tonight. Like old times.

[susansontag]

my guide to lesbian anime both canonic and subtextual

(won’t include every lesbian anime ever, this is a personal list)

the canonic-gay section:

revolutionary girl utena

nothing before or since has ever done it like this. trigger warnings for everything imaginable. loads of homosexuals in this one. gender commentary, fairytale allusions, a lot of kids who are having a hard time growing up and moving beyond their pasts. sword lesbians.

flip flappers

the problematic favourite, in that there’s at least one uncomfortable sexualised shot each episode (roughly speaking; some have none and one has even more, unfortunately), so be warned. but at its heart flipflap is about repressed cocona going on adventures with outgoing and expressive papika, and their exploration of various fantastical lands/inner worlds of people they meet. hugely inventive and pretty, and a core thread is cocona discovering she’s gay.

aoi hana (‘sweet blue flowers’)

the comfort lesbian show, with not a romantic relationship at its heart, but a friendship between two childhood friends who meet again, both of whom are gay (though only one realises this during the show’s run, as it’s based on a manga). one of them dates an upperclassman at her school, and there’s various gay and bi side characters. it’s just very wholesome, lovingly animated, sweet and sometimes painful stuff.

bloom into you

I controversially do not care that much for bloom into you, but as the best, high-production, non-skeevy yuri show in years - that is based on a manga by a woman - it’s worth mentioning. late-bloomer girl dreams of romance, though has never felt it, and finds affinity with a girl who similarly is disinclined to date. that is, until said girl says she fancies her. genuinely moving exploration of developing gay identity at times, only downside is my personal disinterest in the black haired girl. some weird ‘heightened’ moments that feel inauthentic and titillating do arise, but it’s very few - to the point where some would disagree with me on my reading of it, I’d imagine.

sailor moon

the bits which the lesbians are in, etc. it’s a classic. I haven’t watched all of it myself because I don’t care much nor do I have nostalgia for sailor moon, but it’s one of the most notable examples of a butch/masc lesbian in anime, so that’s nice.

o maidens in your savage season

nerdy teenage girls who are part of a literature club make it their quest to discover sex and dating, in various ways (unfortunately, not all of them dealt with well… teacher/student foolery that is fortunately abandoned before it gets worse but is nonetheless handled with mixed results, imo). mostly though it’s hilarious, sweet, silly, and there’s a gay girl in it, but I won’t spoil which one. adults predating on children is also handled much, much better in another of the show’s storylines, and I do appreciate it for trying to tackle that difficult subject matter.

oniisama e (‘dear brother’)

an oldie, based off a shoujo manga by one of the greatest (riyoko ikeda). there’s a central relationship to root for (better articulated in the manga), but it’s mostly just what if we were messy depressed lesbians at an all-girls school and we were also melodramatic and mean as hell.

revue starlight

what if we were at an all-girls dramatic arts school and engaged in utena-like duels to become the top performer? main implicitly gay couple with canonic side gay couples. it’s quite cute. also worth watching if you like takarazuka in any way (prestigious all-female japanese theatre troupe), because the main conceit of the school is very much based on that idea.

the gay-themes section:

sound! euphonium (season one)

in which director naoko yamada’s awesome legacy of writing lesbians and then saying “who’s to say though, ha ha” continued (she did it already with a side character in tamako market). this one is known as the gaybait to end all gaybait, but hear me out: the first, and best, season, is not only a fantastic self-contained story with many great characters and plot points, but it’s main character is undoubtedly lesbian-coded and even has a love interest you can argue about. frankly I think she’s gay-coded throughout the whole show (even when she dates a guy for two minutes), but this feels very “I wanted to focus on this compelling relationship between two female characters but the adaptation’s success meant we had to revert back to the source material in later seasons”. what we got from this is perhaps my favourite lesbian anime of all-time, following utena.

a place further than the universe

this show is about four girls who join an expedition to antarctica, and what if I told you they’re all great, believable dorky teenage characters, and they exist in a well-written and thematically satisfying show… and there’s nice lesbian implication between one of our adult female protagonists and her old (deceased; not a spoiler) friend who was the main teen girl’s mother. there’s some sad here, obviously.

puella magi madoka magica

the well-known, much beloved deconstruction of the magical girl genre is also pretty gay, as it happens (so gay in fact it started a trend of gay-coded pink+black magical girls). it’s not a particular favourite of mine, but it’s visually one of the most notable anime productions ever, so it’s well worth seeing just for that.

NANA

the 2000s manga+show about the two twenty-year-olds who meet on a train and discover they’re both called nana is also pretty gay! to the point where there are heated fandom debates about nana komatsu’s (pink one) possibly being a lesbian. they both have many relationships with guys, but it’s their bond that forms the heart of the show, and the bisexuality (or, who knows, homosexuality) of the leads is pretty undeniable. to the point where you’ll get blasted on the nana subreddit if you try and suggest otherwise.

the wild-card section:

keep your hands off eizouken!

this is a show about three oddball girls who start a club to create anime, but have to pose as the film club instead for various reasons. it’s not even subtextually gay, I just personally think that all three of the leads are gay and the whole thing feels like a very female-centred creative endeavour. hugely fun watch, and very high production values. you wouldn’t regret seeing it.

skip & loafer

these two you see here are side characters. this show is actually about mitsumi, the greatest female protagonist of this kind of shoujo-esque slice of life show, who moves from the countryside to tokyo for high school. here she meets many a misfit, including the pretty blonde and the nerd girl who have undeniable chemistry and form one of the most popular pairings in the show. it’s just a good time.

chihayafuru

I’d get in trouble for this, because the primary romance factor in the show is a famed heterosexual love triangle with chihaya at its centre and her two male childhood friends at the side. but go with me on this. chihaya is oblivious to romance and feminine socialisation, she is obsessed with a card game and with her equally dorky dark-haired rival… she’s anime’s greatest autistic lesbian lead. and you get more than what you pay for, because the two boys I mentioned? a lot of gay stuff going on there too.

the big-screen-cinematic section:

the adolescence of utena

revolutionary girl returns in the sequel of a lifetime, slightly older (sixteen, say) and gayer than ever, to escape this place with the love of her life. cue the impromptu dance sequence (with stars and rose petals)!

liz and the blue bird

the naoko yamada directed gay cinematic universe continues with a gorgeous film starring two of the side characters from sound! euphonium’s second season (not necessary to watch beforehand). that means it has plausible deniability whilst being so crazily gay it’s almost some kind of joke. this is a highly detailed, laser-focused character study of two girls in their high school band club and their ever more strained relationship. yamada never misses.

the summer

this is korean! it’s about two girls who meet at school and start dating in secret, what happens as they grow up and move to seoul, and how their relationship changes and strains when met with the conservatism of contemporary korean society. it was sweet and like aoi hana above for japanese girls, felt pretty frank to the experiences I’d imagine young korean lesbians might have.

puella magi madoka magica: rebellion

if you’re a fan of the show, you probably don’t talk about this movie. sure, it’s a visual feat, sure, it’s insanely entertaining, but it’s also frustrating and upsetting and potentially undermines the neatness of the original as a perfectly-crafted story. BUT. kyouko/sayaka becomes all but canon in it, and everything else aside, that’s all that really matters. but you should definitely watch the show beforehand.

[nobody-nexus]

What your fav TADC ship says about you- UPDATED!

-> Note: these are for fun! Do not take any of this seriously<-

Edit: Don't tell me if I missed any ships I'm not updating this

Pomni x Caine: You love the inherent romanticism of being too aware at all times x Being completely unaware of everything at all times

Pomni x Ragatha: You love the idea of someone being so pathetically devoted to another that you can't see them with anyone else

Pomni x Jax: You think the way to someone's heart is insulting before sharing a kiss and a cigarette

Pomni x Gangle: You knew the moment that Pomni was indirectly the reason for Gangle's mask breaking that it was love

Pomni x Zooble: You believe in the inherent romanticism of just not giving a flying fuck anymore but together

Pomni x Loolilalu: You haven't seen episode 2 yet. That or you just want all of the sapphic ships

Pomni x Gummigoo: You are very much into the idea of THE fruitiest straight passing couple of all time

Pomni x Kaufmo: You took that one fact that they would've actually gotten along with each other and ran with it

Pomni x Exit: You came from the Danganronpa fandom

Pomni x Sun: You are into swap AUs. We know the scene. And we know what you are

Ragatha x Jax: I dunno which one you wanna bang, but all I know is that you wanna bang ONE of them

Ragatha x Gangle: You just want them to be happy for ONCE dammit! Also you're probably anhopeless romantic

Ragatha x Loolilalu: You do not CARE if they only had 20 seconds of screen time together, you WANT THEM TO KISS

Ragatha x Kaufmo: You most likely know a couple in real life where one makes jokes and the other is sick of it

Jax x Gangle: You were told that the bully had a crush on you and you still have not recovered from it

Jax x Zooble: You just want a couple who can and will do hijinx together whether they like it or not

Jax x Caine: I got no idea what you're into, but it is one of the straightest gay things I've seen

Jax x Gummigoo: You love the idea of an asshole twink being put in his place. Also you ship Montgomery with Bonnie

Jax x Kaufmo: You believe in the inherent romanticism of two pranksters causing complete mayhem together

Jax x The Fudge: You either are a HUGE crack shipper OR you are into a very SPECIFIC thing and I am judging

Jax x Bubble: There is no way you ship this in a genuine way. You are the master of crack shipping

Gangle x Zooble: There is at least a 70% chance that you have at least one mood board on Pinterest

Gangle x Caine: Apparently, you exist

Gangle x Loolilalu: Oh you definitely have NOT seen episode 2 yet

Kinger x Queenie: Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. This is the closest to canon y'all are gonna get

Kinger x Caine: You are into yaoi, but like the wholesome kind instead of the super sex kind

Kinger x Gloink Queen: You are a MONSTER FUCKER

Kinger x Kaufmo: You decided that old man yaoi was the true answer to solve abstraction

Caine x Moon: There's a 90% chance that you know and love the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Caine x Loolilalu: Your love for any canon interaction is overweighed by the need to fuck GOD

Caine x Gummigoo: You are purely in this community for the bara NSFW. I've seen it all... I KNOW

Sun x Moon: You like Steven Universe

Jax x Pomni x Ragatha: You either couldn't choose which one to ship, or you just wanna be Pomni

Jax x Pomni x Gummigoo: Same as the previous, but the chances of you being straight are way higher

Ragatha x Pomni x Loolilalu: Same as the last two, but the chances of you being a lesbian are way higher

Ragatha x Pomni x Gangle: You love the inherent romanticism of having one big group therapy session

Caine x Pomni x Ragatha: You don't actually ship Caine and Ragatha, you just want Pomni to top em both

Gangle x Jax x Zooble: You are @inkyprism

Sun x Moon x Caine: You just want Caine to have rizz.... He doesn't but whatever floats your boat

Jax x Airplane: You.... Are WAY too deep into this fandom

[scoobypineapple]

Not to Duck post on main, but totally to Duck post on main

It’s always rubbed me the wrong way that after her coming out as a lesbian, penumbra (from Ducktales 2017), never makes another major reappearance in the series.

This past Valentine’s Day Disney aired a new episode of its chibiverse series…

Penumbra from Ducktales 2017 is now CANONICALLY in a relationship with Della Duck, who for the uninitiated is Donald’s sister and the mother of Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

THIS. IS. HUGE.

I know the Ducktales fandom at least is a bit dead but I’m shocked more people aren’t talking about this.

[hattersarts]

gomens s2 thoughts, all spoilers!

I spent 10 hours talking to my housemate about the season after we binged the whole thing in the morning but here are the highlights and the biggest takeaways from the season.

okay i did love the ending, i love that we get the conformation of love AND going into the divorce arc next season (if they're not properly together by the end of season 3 however, i am rioting) they're slow burn and a whole season of them getting to the final 10mins was tasty.

HOWEVER. it was an extremely clunky season when it comes to writing, lots of either set ups missed OR set ups repeated 4 times that they're drilled into out heads. there was also lots of dialogue that really needed to be tightened up. the lesbians were so poorly written i thought they might have needed to be cut BUT they just needed to have more bearing on the rest of the plot AND say things like real people would say things and LITERALLY SHOW ONE SINGLE REASON WHY THEY WOULD LIKE EACH OTHER WITHIN THE FIRST EPISODE.

gabe/bulz romance was the one that should have been cut, have them do more of a oh-my-god-my-boss-sucks kind of thing, lean into them complaining about having to avert a civil war after armageddon stopped and touch on the "structural problems" the angels mention later. Have gabe/bulz be super punished for working together which puts huge fear into az and crowley about what happens if you try to team up as an angel/demon pair (but an extra reason why az takes the job at the end so he and crowley can be the same)

imo it works more if the only mirror of their romance is the HUMANS which should lean into themes to season 3 of how they need to team up with humans (re:"us vs them" line at the end of season 1) to actually achieve their happy ending.

Nina and maggies best scene was their last one telling crowley he needed to talk to az but i think that was one that needed to be cut, it would have been far more satisfying to have crowely work out it out himself that he loves az and wants to tell him (still via maggie and nina but more subtle rather than them telling him to his face AND via spending more time with az in the season)

flashbacks were all pretty good, loved the jobe one and that final "lonely" scene. the nazi one needed some trimming the most (why did all three come back to earth, it made scenes too crowed, have them fight to be a zombie)

shax was disappointing, she was kind of just incompetent the whole way through which didnt make the stakes very exciting, (that whole scene of her talking to the legion was unfunny and pointless) i wanted crowley to mentor her more like when he gave her advice in the first few meetings we saw (kind of in a very non-demonic way, not expecting anything in return) and her to then meet him on equal footing in the finale. would have been a little accidental taste for Crowley to have his good deeds come back to haunt him while showing he's different to demons.

speaking of the finale fight, that halo had NO set up, it was sick as hell but ??? the fuck did that come from. the fight should have been won by az and crowley performing another HUGE miracle together, discorporating the demons (which then would alert heaven and hell something was up in the bookshop and the final scene can happen)

az taking the job from metatron was very good, its consistent with his character where he still hasn't let go of his faith in good/god, he's only been upset by the angels running heaven and still has faith in the system while crowley has realised none of it works and it's only them together that matters. it was nice to show he still hasn't truly accepted crowley for who he is now (tho imo he knows he loves him, he just hasn't quite unrepressed himself) and him not turning down the job after crowley confesses to him shows he still thinks he can fix it. Crowley on the other hand thinks he's now lost him, az has broken he the trust he had in him, he's going to be in big depression mode

few thoughts of good directions for S3:

finally delivering on what crowley said at the end of S1 I think is the most satisfying. the final showdown should be humans Vs heaven/hell with Crowley and az on the human side, helping them win the conflict. there would be suggestions that this is actually god's ineffable plan, this is a conflict she wants to happen and the things that Crowley and az went through are what make them perfect ambassadors to help the humans.

the set up for az in S3 to finally work out he and Crowley can't work out within the unfair rules of the system and for him to abandon heaven (tho not I think, becoming a demon) is good. a sucky ending imo for season 3 is if az somehow "fixes" heaven and via bureaucracy and not via blowing it all up.

growth moments for Crowley in S3 might be having more contact with humans since he's already abandoned hell and it would put az & crowley on similar footing (as az very much loves humans already) when they decided to side with humans for a humans Vs heaven/hell conflict.

anyway, gay people

[nobigsecrets]

H50 Fic Recs

Light At The End Of The Tunnel by bluflamingo Rating: T, Words: 3,191 The first time Catherine meets Steve, he's a voice on the other end of the radio, asking for her help.

Where lies the final harbor? by @missslothy Rating: M, Words: 48,643 Steve and Danny had finally admitted their feelings for each other just three days before the events of Season 10 Episode 7. Can their new relationship survive the fallout from what happened in Mexico and Doris's death? (Coda to 10x07)

Agitated States of Amazement by @emphasisonthehomo Rating: T, Words: 5,823 He meets Stef when he’s like 18, on a sub-reddit that doesn’t exist anymore. She’s kind of a huge fucking cunt. Danny’s kind of in love with her. OR: Sometimes the people you meet on the internet stick with you.

I’m dumb she’s a lesbian (I thought I had found the one) by @five-wow Rating: G, Words: 1,299 Danny waves his coffee around a little more. The lid is the only thing that prevents them from having to dig up a mop. “What’d I do? All I did is tell her you’re handsome and single and free Friday night.” “You were setting us up,” Quinn summarizes. Or: Just another morning in the life of Steve McGarrett, whose best friend is deeply concerned with getting him a date.

COMPETITIVE BY NATURE by alizarin_nyc Rating: E, Words: 2,701 "Oh come on, that isn’t gay," Steve says. "I was in high school. You’re gay, you’re totally gayer than me. Your pants are tight across the ass!” Steve has his little protesty face on and it’s exactly like his earnest, don’t-worry-we’ll-catch-your-husband’s-killer face. It is so, so gay.

Does This Marriage Come With Any Perks? by @pterawaters Rating: T, Words: 3,369 After Danny suffers a life-threatening injury, he finds himself in Steve’s care. He doesn’t remember much about what happened after getting shot, but he’s pretty sure signing a marriage certificate wasn’t something he’d forget.

Sometimes You Just Need a Decoder Ring by kho Rating: T, Words: 2,849 Danny follows Steve into the kitchen and sticks the beers in the fridge. “Actually I’m of the mind that it takes two to tango so I don’t know who started and who fueled but you’re both in this fight, so I’m just trying to figure out how to diffuse this situation so I don’t wind up as collateral damage.” (Mary & Steve centric)

You Move Me by dogeared Rating: M, Words: 486 Yoga, and waffles, and kisses.

Pick up line by kaige68 Rating: T, Words: 100 Prompt from kapuahi, Hawaii Five-0, McDanno, Steve loses a bet with his Navy mates and has to dress in drag Bonus points if someone (Danny) tries to chat up Lady!Steve

Careful, or you'll end up in my novel by kaige68 Rating: M, Words: 2,200 Former Newark police detective, now mystery, writer Danny Williams follows his daughter to Hawaii, and meets his biggest fan.

I Want A Man With A Slow Hand by thefourofswords Rating: E, Words: 6,597 “Can I ask you a question?” he asked on their way to a crime scene, because no time like the present, and Danny believed in ripping off band-aids. “Why not?” Steve replied, eyes on the road. “You’re gonna even if I say no.” “What do you like in bed?” Or: Danny undertakes a very important mission to get Steve laid. For his health. Ahem.

As You Wish by Brumeier Rating: M, Words: 4,077 When Steve comes back to Hawaii to find the man who killed his father he finds much more when he stumbles across a mysterious bottle on the beach.

Just Enough Hope by aries_taurus Rating: T, Words: 2,594 He hopes for a lot of things: that he didn’t make a mistake taking on this taskforce, that the ache he’s feeling in his soul will go away, that he can sleep at night without seeing his best friend being ripped to shreds by bullets, without remembering he left him behind for nothing, or hear a gunshot killing his father over a bad sat connection and he just hopes he wakes up one day without a scream dying in his throat.

All Hearts Come Home For Christmas by @cowandcalf Rating: E, Words: 12,198 Steve debates for four days if he should eat this year's Christmas dinner in the charity Christmas tent organized for the veterans by HPD.

Built For Tough Battles by thefourofswords Rating: E, Words: 20,770 Adam nudges his shoulder, “He’ll find his way back, you know.” Danny blows out a breath. “I dunno anymore about that. The stuff he’s gone through in the last year...” “He’s had a lot go very wrong, very quickly,” Adam says. “I’m sure it feels like he’s slowly been losing parts of his family and when you reach a certain point, loss aversion takes over. It can make you do crazy things…” Or: Danny waits for Steve to be ready to come back.

Friends don't let friends... by kaige68 Rating: E, Words: 2,008 Steve finds a desolate Adam in a bar. (Steve/Adam)

Foreplay by @stellarmeadow Rating: M, Words: 4,305 When sparring isn't just sparring.

[acre-of-wheat]

I know in this house we’re all about supporting Kit’s wrongs, but I do want to take some time to analyze another dear sword lesbian’s wrongs.

Our dearest Jade Claymore.

You’re telling me this face has done wrongs?

Sadly. Yes.

The High Aldwin

Elora disappears into the woods and Kit wants to set off to continue the mission. Jade has other feelings, and drops this statement about what they owe Elora. It’s an interesting moment, because only an episode ago it was, “where the princess goes, I go,” but Kit rides off alone.

I think Jade knows Kit well enough that she fully expected to catch up to her. To save face, Kit couldn’t turn around and go back, but she could certainly take her sweet time walking down the road.

Later on they discuss Elora’s inability to demonstrate magic, and Kit once again wants to keep moving forward to continuing the mission, and Jade has this to say.

This is just a straight up lie, girl! Sorsha’s last instruction to her is to stay with Kit, to guide her, to pull her back from the edge.

I think this is an intentional tactic from Jade though. Jade has very subtle ways that she manages to manipulate or instruct Kit. Because of their difference in station, their history together, and Kit’s stubbornness, direct conflict doesn’t really work. Jade’s weapon for influencing Kit is showing her disappointment in the princess or, in some cases, outright lying.

I think there is an important call back to this, in Children of the Wyrm, where Jade goes over the edge of the world not to save Airk, or for Elora or Sorsha, but just for Kit. Because for once love is more important than duty.

The Battle of the Slaughtered Lamb

The reveal that this relationship was orchestrated by Sorsha is a huge blow, but the last line here is the real betrayal. If Jade didn’t ever believe that Kit would be in a life or death situation, then all of Kit’s dreams, all of her plans and fantasies, were just that to Jade-- so much make believe.

I think we give Kit a lot of shit for her mistakes, but she does always apologize. It’s worth noting that there is no apology from Jade here.

Whispers of Nockmaar

Hmm, I can think of someone who could have used your backup about this about an hour ago...

The Wildwood

By far my favorite Jade wrong.

Kit is actually trying to negotiate a release-- and it probably would have worked too!-- and the typically so in control knight with her anger on a tight leash just can’t keep it together enough for it to work.

Love this for her. Get everyone killed, babe.

Prisoners of Skellin

This is not technically a wrong! But it is a type of betrayal for Kit that I think is worth discussing, because these two absolutely won’t.

The devastation.

What is most interesting about this is even though Jade is the one to bodily remove Kit from the tomb, Kit’s rage focuses solely on Elora. It’s Elora she blames for not reuniting with her father, it’s Elora she vents her frustration on.

I don’t think Kit is even capable of remaining angry at Jade, because for Kit, Jade is all she has, and she can’t risk chasing her away. When Jade tells her that she’s leaving for Galladoorn, Kit pitches a fit, but then comes to her with a kiss and a smile in the night. When Kit learns that Jade lied about her training, Kit avoids her for awhile, but all she says is, “I’m just glad you told me.”

So when Jade wraps her arms around her and drags her away from the father she’s been missing her whole life? That rage has to go somewhere else.

The Gales

We’re going all the way back to the beginning with the last one, because it is the only one I can’t defend Jade on. It’s not her accepting a place with the Shining Legion, or even picking the absolute worst time to tell her best friend that she’s leaving, it’s this.

For what, Jade? There is literally no more time left for Kit. Jade is consumed by her dedication to duty, to such an extent that she believes that extremely queer Kit should marry a man she doesn’t know, to have heirs she doesn’t want.

What are our responsibilities to those we lead? To our parents? To our loved ones? To ourselves?

Must we all give up something for what we believe in, or is love the most powerful force in the universe? What mantel from our parents is worth picking up, and which is worth running away from?

The show hasn’t answered all these questions yet, but I hope it has time to explore them, and I know that Jade will be an important part of that exploration.

[devilsrecreation]

Thoughts on MAW episodes 9 and 10

Episode 9:

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ALL WEEK OMGGGGGGG

Damn there’s already tension with Val…oof

Poor Jack 😭

Stupid Tylor…there was no valet

Fear Co’s scare floor is so much bigger holy shit

THE GREMLIN’S NAME IS CHOMPY ILY SO MUCH CHOMPY

It’s okay, bby. I hate being touched too

Still a HUGE fan of Joy

That PARALLEL

Val befriending all the kids is sweet af 🥹🥹🥹

Huh…Pete (The Claw) is there…

awwww MIFT is so supportive

Ooooh Joy doesn’t like losing….kinda reminds me of another lizard monster

I kinda expected Fear Co to be toxic….

Awww look at the photo on Crab Cakes’ desk

fuckin simp

OH SHIT IT’S BEN NOOOO

Tylor nooooooo…..

Hey remember when Sully told Tylor how he felt when he accidentally scared Boo? NOW YOU KNOW WHY, TYLOR

EX VIBES EX VIBES EX VIBES I TOLD YA’LL CUTTER AND SUNNY ARE EXES

JILL STOP BLAMING MI

Wow even Chet doesn’t know

RANDALL!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAA

I KNEW JOHNNY SHOULDN’T BE TRUSTED! I KNEW IT!!!! HE’S EVIL!!!

Episode 10:

Ig Randall stayed in ROR….damn

RANDY HAS A SCAR!!!!!

Awww that’s sweet of Johnny to save Randall

Whoever guessed Randall was behind it…ya’ll were right.

Oh god how’s Claire gonna feel about this…

YOU ARE SO FULL OF SHIT WORTHINGTON

Lmao Randy’s still got it

CHETWETTER HFHFHFHY

YES TYLOR TELL THEM THE TRUTH

Guess everyone knows about Randall

YASSSS LESBIANS!!!

THEY KEPT THE SCREAM EXTRACTOR????

Awww Roger :)

DUNCAN’S IMPRESSION HFHFHFHG

I know Joy ain’t buyin it

THOSE ACTING SKILLS THO

With how alike Randall and Joy are, I wonder if they know each other

Of course Roz is head of Merc

OH FUCK RANDALL

As much as I want Randall to reform, it’s still fun seeing him as a villain

“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONNEEEEEE!”

JACK IS ME LMAOOOO

Oh shit, Chet :0

YAS TYLOR!

JOHNNY I HOPE CLAIRE DIVORCES YOUR ASS

You know what? Good for Chet

Tylor and Val bonding with Ben 😭😭😭😭😭😭

CHOMPY IS CRYING 🥹🥹🥹🥹 (also Joy’s face lmao)

Alastair….,🥺

Holy fuck that was a good episode. And the last line “Home Run, kid. Home run.”

My one complaint is that we didn’t see Oozma Kappa BUT we’ll see if there’s a season 3

I gotta change my headcanons with Atlas and Sam but they’ll definitely reform Randall in the future

All I gotta say for now is that Atlas’ disappointment is immeasurable and their day is ruined

[sparrow-in-the-field]

I finished watching lady baseball show last night and I have a lot of thoughts!! Some of them controversial?? Perhaps lol. Let's see!

First and most importantly, I really enjoyed the show! Anything critical I say is said with love lol. Overall it was a good show!

I loveddddd Clance. Clance and Max's friendship was everything to me (probably a post of its own but straight/gay friendships hold such a special place in my heart). I love them, they were so so so good I want to protect them at all costs. Clance was so wonderfully witty, she was cracking me up the whole show.

I also adored Lupe and Jess. If it was up to me Lupe would have been the mc of the Peaches. She was such an interesting and complex character who exhibited growth throughout the season and I loved every scene with her. And she's hot but that's not the point.

Jess too! I would have loved more time with Jess, I also ate up all of her scenes. And she looks like a butch version of my wife so she was also hot but again not the point. I'm not saying for sure that some Jess/Lupe fics could be coming, but... I'm not not saying it either.

Alright my controversial (or maybe not idk) take: I wasn't a big fan of Carson/Greta...whoops. idk I just didn't think they had great chemistry, it felt like a lot of telling rather than showing. They were supposed to really like each other but a lot of their scenes together they kinda just seemed annoyed/mad at each other 😬 idk sorry to my fellow lesbians I have failed you.

My conspiracy theory is that if the show was supposed to be multiple seasons then Greta/Carson was never meant to be end game and it was actually Carson/Max end game but idk that's probably not realistic with the times but I mean. At least they seemed to actually like each other don't kill me lol

Another big reason why I think Greta/Carson doesn't work well is because their relationship isn't reflected in the game. A huge component of sports shows/films is the sport being a reflection of real life, especially the relationships of people involved (see for more: my obsession with tbitb coxstroke). Baseball is the perfect game for this because it has an incredibly important dynamic/relationship within the game: catcher and pitcher. It absolutely baffled me that they didn't have the main couple be the catcher and pitcher (cough Carson/Max, cough). And tbh? Maybe not romantically, but Carson and Lupe's dynamic was far more interesting to me than Greta and Carson, because I got to see how it matter on the field. Greta and Carson barely played off each other in the sport, it was mind boggling to me.

On a similar note, I loved whenever the show was focused around baseball. I feel like they kind of lost that in places, and whenever we'd get back to an actual game where we'd get to see them play I'd be like "man I love this!" What can I say, I love a good sports film!

Sometimes the pacing of the show felt off to me. Like certain plot points they'd squeeze in and resolve pretty quickly even if they felt like a big deal, while others felt drawn out longer than they needed to be. Idk, writing a first season of a show is probably hard so I get it, just something that bugged me in a "I see so much potential, it just needed a little more tweaking" way.

As a fan of the og movie too, it was cute to see the little nods they made to it throughout the show. I kept having to explain them to my wife cuz she hasn't seen it lol (like when they started singing in the last episode my wife was like "...what is happening" lmaoo)

I think those are my main points. Anyway I enjoyed it and I'm sad it's over. Mwah I love you lesbian baseball show, I wish you had lasted longer so I could find out if my conspiracy was right. The end.

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: Vampire in the Garden (2022)

Very beautiful anime, very underrated.

(Fine and Momo, playing music together.)

Vampire in the Garden is a five-episode Yuri anime on Netflix. It is set in a brutal world where humans and vampires fight a bitter war against one another. One of the anchor points in this fight is music, which humans have outlawed and vampires embrace. Having both lost their girlfriend in the fighting, fourteen year-old soldier-in-training Momo and vampire queen Fine get accidentally thrown together, and decide to run away, looking for an almost mythical place where, according to the promise, vampires and humans make music together.

Vampire in the Garden is a very beautiful, tragic story about hatred and trying to fight it in order to build something good together. While it is a show, it feels a lot like a movie cut into separate episodes for Reasons, so it can be watched as both. The relationship between Momo and Fine is a very beautiful and loving one, and can be read as either a romance or as an older lesbian mentoring a young one. Which is how I chose to see it, and I personally very much value this kind of queer relationship, as we don’t see it often in media.

The series is a closed story, and hasn’t been renewed, so it’s safe to assume that it was always meant to be a limited series. From what I gather in the Tumblr tag, it never gathered a very huge fandom, and the feelings on it are rather mixed. People who are interested in the very deep and serious themes seem to generally like it, while the more fanish group, who wanted to see a clear and explicit romance with a happy ending do not.

You can watch the trailer here, and stream the show on Netflix. I have also written a post about lesbian vampires as a subgenre before, if that’s something you’d like to read.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[tomyo]

Dungeon Meshi perfectly captures love and bonds developed between found families. At the start you expect a bunch of people who mostly reluctantly deal with each other, especially with how much things were falling apart only for the story to slowly tell you these people were once a hugely solid venturing group.

There really is a gentle beauty to the way the story slowly unveils the love they share for each other, Laois often going out of his way to protect Marcille who is one of the most integral people in the party. In another series they’d probably be the ones shipped if it weren’t for the obvious lesbianism. While she’s initially portrayed as whining and high maintenance, as the story goes on she’s very practical and determined to help their chances by teaching Laios magic. There’s also small details at the start like comforting back pats when Laois makes himself ill on bad cooking. A later episode I love is when he willingly ventures into her nightmare to help her from bad nightmares. The show makes a point that being in good condition is tantamount to surviving the dungeon but the motivation obviously lies more around her mental suffering. To me Laios and Marcille are also the standout relationship in the red dragon fight, they act like they have the most tightest bond of the current members. I want to liken them to a lady and her knight but also in how again, the series subverts the obvious dynamic of partners with romantic undertones that usually would get put onto them. Laios deeply cherishes Marcille but in the way one would cherish their sister (fitting since he is an older brother).

Chilchuck stands out as being especially distant and anti social with the others, the most likely to criticize the others. Albeit even before he is clocked as loving his teammates you can see the dad in him pop out at many points, more specifically his girl dad ness rubbing off on his relationship with Marcille. A cute early moment where she tiredly insists to got with him for the water refill but he refuses only then to get in trouble and believe she’ll be no use when in reality she was already waking up the others to find him. The irony is her thinking of him as younger when she really hovers around him like a daughter would around their father. He protects her innocence over the mermaid eggs for instance. A commonly seen spoiler is he is the one to braid her hair when she looses the ability to desire that. You regularly see him being the one to patch gear as well. His moodiness if often attributed to his age but it was mentioned somewhere he intentionally calorie restricts so he doesn’t set off traps and it wouldn’t surprise me if he experiences regular hunger.

Finally when it comes to Laios, I find him surprisingly profoundly sad. Despite being the biggest source of comedic relief, his oddities come with a sense of profound loneliness. It’s natural for a big brother to be determined to save his younger sister but flashbacks often sell me the idea that Falin is the one who truly gets him the most. There’s a higher range of emotions flash back Laois shows, sometimes feeling like a completely different person. A goofy child, a broodish teen, and a cautious young adult, always with Falin alongside him in his memories. But as a full adult he expresses happiness and light levels of sadness but often a lot more subdued contemplation is involved, likely why he is also the presumed party leader. In some ways it can feel like that lack of expression was in part the sense of a neurodivergent beat down into normalcy. Despite his comfort around his party, he never tells them of Kensuke’s nature. But Falin was shown to adore her brother deeply and share interests in dungeon culture with him. They never seemed to fully develop a “I ‘hate’ you” sibling phase. While mostly keeping calm about rescuing her, you can see a desperation suddenly appear when he finally takes on the red dragon.

The loss of Falin clearly has a big effect on all of them as possibly the heart of the group. You first feel it around the ghosts appearing when Chilchuck realizes she isn’t there to protect them. Someone who warded off the mental hardships for her comrades, such as the one to teach Laois about nightmares. Loved by Shuro and considered accepting his proposal despite not sharing his feelings. Loved by Marcille so much that she committed a crime to bring her back even though it lead to them never being able to leave the dungeon. Her return completely takes the edge off the group. It’s the defining jump from silly antics to more tender family moments. The group more or less surrenders their lives above for her sake. There’s something beautiful about that when we see from Marcille’s memories, she was also seen as a bit of a freak by her peers.

On the opposite side, there is Senshi who often exemplifies a lack of familiarity with the group. His relationships are defined as a common interest with Laois, an ignorance for chilchuck’s maturation, and often at odds with Marcille. In a lot of ways he stays an outsider for a long part of the first half of the anime, rarely presenting a character growth moment until the kelpie instance. Despite overall being agreeable, he acted somewhat arrogant over his understanding of the dungeon and his beliefs. One of the few ways he had to grow thus far is accepting his views weren’t always the truth.

The newest member Izutsumi was a great means to display the bond developed thus far, basically creating an outsider view of a family they have yet to belong to. Her story questions the norm we accepted of people who eat together from the vantage of someone who never was in a familial situation but rather a living piece of property. This time Senshi is playing the role of the father, teaching her manners for her food while Chilchuck is a bit of a pissy uncle until they manage to bond over a fight leading to him making her her own bag, and finally Marcille trying to be caring to her needs. What got me the most is what can be said from how in tune they were together with creating a sauna and how comfortable they were being semi nude with each other in a tight space. A different series would have taken the opportunity to exploit Marcille and Izutsumi for a moment of cheesecake. However we never really end up with a lingering shot or a comment on the situation because no one there is sexually interested in each other that way; they are a family after all. Great place to point out the difference in tone compared to Falin and Marcille’s bath scene, two characters considered to be the rare non platonic instance. Beyond that, there is some warmth to the way the all join in with each other for a meal as Izu watches on; Senshi feeding the blind Laois his food while Chilchuck joins his surrogate daughter (Marcille) who smiles at his presence.

I feel like I could go more at some point into ep 20, the overall dynamic, and the sadness of Laois but I’ll falling short rn.

[tostadamika]

Daniel Watches She-Ra & The Princesses Of Power

-S1E2- 'The Sword Part 2'

Today's She-Ra Watchthrough Art: Another Messy Glimmer Sketch

Okay so, it's safe to say as of episode 2:

Glimmer is my favorite by a wide fuckin' mile she's so real.

I don't know if it's been made obvious to anyone, but in case you haven't noticed yet. I have a huge soft spot for characters that fit under a very specific aesthetic. Glimmer most certainly fits it.

"But Daniel, what kind of aesthetic is it that you speak of?" I hear you ask?

The Best Kind.

(I don't even like MHA but I do love Mina, wish the show was good)

I find it really funny that when Adora turns into She-Ra she just is like, bigger. Like one of She-Ra's superpowers is being fucking tall.

Like being tall is one of her magical abilities.

I really liked the moment Glimmer actually started sounding like she was about to cry. Phenomenal voice acting right there, that alone says so much.

Just hearing Glimmers' voice breaking & hearing her struggling to hold back crying in the middle of her rant.

It just makes everything she's been saying feel a lot more impactful now. Seeing that it had this much of an affect on her.

She doesn't even specify how many people were lost. Like, fuck she might mean it's not just a few, it's not a thousand it's probably like millions.

Like, they didn't have to flashback or explain it, just that one moment made me go "Oh shit." It tells you more than enough to understand what kind of horrible shit she's been through. Amazing voice acting right there. I love it.

Shadow Weaver is still a cunt. Fuck you shadow weaver.

Hope your pillow is warm on both sides you wizard bitch.

Also Bow was literally the best this episode he was just like so endearing & every time he spoke I had a big goofy smile on my face. He's so fucking joyful. His optimism is infectious.

What else happened uhhhhh.....

Cat-Ra is angry because idk she's lesbian or something & she's decided to make it everyone elses' problem.

Like geez, Cat-Ra was throwing a real HISSY fit at the end there.

(please laugh i'm fucking desperate here)

Also I see they kept Swiftwind in this reboot.

Please.....

PLEASE TELL ME THEY KEPT HIS FUCKING WEIRD POPEYE GRUFF CHAINSMOKER VOICE.

LIKE IN THE ORIGINAL SHOW HE JUST SOUNDS LIKE THE NARRATOR FROM DOOM 2016. IT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY.

WHY DOES THE MAGIC SPARKLE PEGASUS SOUND LIKE HE'S ABOUT TO TURN TO ADORA & THEN JUST:

"IN THE FIRST AGE, IN THE FIRST BATTLE..."

I really fucking hope he still sounds like that because it's the funniest thing ever & I adore it.

So anyways, new ship dropped.

I ship these two & they are canon & nobody can fucking stop me.

If they don't kiss I'm going to burn down a church.

Don't be surprised if most of the she-ra watchalong art is just them.

Also Hordak showed up. He seems like he's a better villain in this one but he's still not even close to Skeletor levels yet.

YAWN.

You're gonna have to wow me a lot more than that, Mr. Whore-Dak.

[door]

my friend asked me for murder show recs and i put together a list of a bunch of them and thought i'd also share it here in case anyone else who was not raised by the glow of mystery! on pbs might want an intro. extremely subjective commentary, obvs. enjoy.

hello. welcome to the world of finding television shows about people getting killed comforting. it's fucked up, but who isn't. here's a list of the ones i like and why and where to watch them.

midsomer murders (1997-current): this is one of those sterotypical "it ran for 25 years and did nearly 18 episodes" british shows. it was adapted from a book series, which are the early eps. they're really fucked up and great imo. the later ones lose that sharpness, but until seasons 20+ i think it's a really solid show. the theme song is performed on a theremin. pluses: every great british actor shows up at least once, incredibly great deaths, lots of hyper niche hobby groups, tom barnaby is the best. minuses: showrunner brian true-may quoted as saying that his version of "english countryside" is entirely white. he was booted from the show at that point, however. i've watched the entire series 2-3 times, except for s5e3 "Ring Out Your Dead" because there's a death in it that i found particularly tragic the first time i watched it and have no desire to revisit it (but ymmv). robyn's fave ep is s3e3 "Judgement Day," because a brass band plays the show's theme song at a village fete and also Orlando Bloom is run through with a pitchfork. (ACORN)

Poirot (1989-2013): truly the goat. David Suchet bodies this role. i don't know how familiar you are with christie, but hercule poirot was her recurring detective character, a fastidious little belgian living in 1930s England. in this show, it's the late 1930s for 20 years, and the sets and costumes are so good. not a single streamline moderne property in england is overlooked. the early episodes are short--40ish minutes each--but they transition to 90 minutes at some point. they adapt all of the poirot books, with the big ones--murder on the orient express and death on the nile--done as higher budget tv movies. (BRITBOX)

marple (2004-2013): another christie adaptation, with 2 actresses playing miss marple in sequence. they also adapted a bunch of non-marple stories to have miss marple in them. set post-WWII, mainly countryside english mysteries. (BRITBOX)

miss fisher's murder mysteries (2012-2015, film in 2020): set in 1920s melbourne, mfmm follows independently wealthy private eye phryne fisher. it's an adaptation of modern novels, so it's less conservative than the christies. phryne's best friend is a suit-wearing lesbian doctor. it's a sharp, smart show, and phryne herself (as well as her relationship with buttoned-up detective jack robinson) is very sexy. it ran three seasons and was followed by a crowd-funded film in 2020, which isn't GOOD, but it is FUN. there's another a spin-off set in the 1960s called miss fisher's modern mysteries, which follows phryne's niece. again--not good, but fun. nothing beats the og series tho. (ACORN)

lewis (2006-2015): this is technically a spin-off of the inspector morse series, which started in the 80s, but i've never watched it so you should be fine. this follows very un-academic inspector lewis and his very academic assistant DS hathaway in EXTREMELY academic oxford england. i really dig the pacing of this, as well as how profoundly weird smart people can be. the big downside is the actor who played hathaway is laurence fox, who's a real stinker of a dude. right-wing, racist, etc. so. ymmv. (BRITBOX)

vera (2011-current): vera is a nearly retired, irascible, set in her ways detective in northumberland. she heads her own department, so part of the appeal is definitely trim youngsters dashing to do her bidding with a "yes mum." she drives a huge old land rover, wears a raincoat everywhere, has no patience for class barriers, and in short i love her. in the newer seasons there is also a detective in her squad called Jaq who is a very cute butch. (BRITBOX)

dalgliesh (2021-current): adaptation of pd james novels following detective-poet adam dalgliesh. set in the 1970s, which sets it apart and which i quite enjoy. his character is really sensitive and thoughtful is a way that's unusual for cop shows. (ACORN)

annika (2021-current): i'm gonna dive into some of the weirder ones now. annika is still pretty serious, but the title character has a habit of breaking the 4th wall to loop the audience in on the meta nature of her thoughts--usually relating to a book or story. it's set in glasgow and they investigate marine crime specifically. annika is played by nicola walker, who full disclosure i find VERY attractive. she's norwegian, she's odd, and she's trying her best. she has a teenage daughter who's gay. (PBS)

queens of mystery (2019-current): this one is VERY odd. think british murders meets pushing daisies. there's a narrator, and occasional technicolor flights of fancy. it follows a very serious detective who was raised by her three aunts after her mother was killed. she comes back to work in her home town and has to navigate both sides of her life, plus still wanting to know who killed her mother. production was interrupted by covid, so the main actress changed between seasons, but the new person is also very good. (ACORN)

brokenwood mysteries (2014-current): this one is sort of...sillier than the rest? it's a new zealand show set in a small town. it's fairly queer (although not nearly queer enough), and one of the things i love the most about it is it maintains a roster of recurring characters (which i think is only possible because of the small size of the NZ film industry). pretty good maori rep, especially jared, a local who seems to know or be related in some way to everyone in town. i adore him. he's off the show now, and i miss him. (ACORN)

mcdonald & dodds (2020-current): set in bath, this is an odd couple partnership of an ambitious young cop lately from london and a shy older cop who has lived in bath all his life and hasn't seen action in a decade. their interactions are funny and lovely, and it's refreshing to see a black woman character allowed to be ambitious. (BRITBOX)

[booasaur]

Any new upcoming series with w/w?

Lol, I had a whole answer typed up and almost completed last night, I could only remember a few upcoming shows but added a bunch of ongoing and recent with descriptions and then the post editor hiccuped and removed most of it so I angrily went to sleep instead.

But maybe that was for the best, because this morning a video of upcoming f/f shows in April came out so now I can add a few more.

There's Dead Ringers, that show with Rachel Weisz playing twin gynecologists and since it's a genderbent adaptation of an existing movie we already know it's gonna be super messy. It would be pretty wild for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies to not have some wlw and luckily it does, the trailer itself reveals a couple. Tiny Beautiful Things, with Kathryn Hahn and Sarah Pidgeon (Leah in The Wilds) playing her younger self, apparently Kathryn Hahn's character's daughter is queer. Slip is a kinda scifi, where a bored wife cheats on her husband and realizes every time she has sex with someone, she wakes up married to them. The show's about her trying to get back to her original life, and there are a series of different husbands, but also a few wives (also, the first "replacement" husband is played by Boorman's actor from Willow!). There are also the upcoming Thai dramas Be Mine, Reverse 4 You, and 23.5, as previously mentioned.

In terms of returning series coming back, there's the Disney cartoon The Owl House, getting its final ep. Single Drunk Female's second season is returning soon. It has a bi lead, and she did have a female love interest but it was pretty temporary compared to the will they/won't she has with the main character male love interest. Her Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, also a very main character, is a lesbian, and she's married but her wife's actress is a regular on another show now so I dunno if she'll be back.

Welcome to Eden, a Spanish thriller about people trapped on an island with a cult, ended the first season on a major cliffhanger so it'll be exciting to see what happens now, though it feels like anyone could die so that's a bit nerve-wracking. It has a lot of different kinds of rep, f/f, m/m, trans, one of the gay guys is deaf too and it's a plot point that his boyfriend won't learn sign even though his friends have.

The Epix series From is a pretty well done horror series about people trapped in a town and who get hunted at night, it's more ominous and suspenseful than outright gory. It actually has three wlw, though one is mostly with one guy, the one who's engaged to a woman outside the town seems to be about to start a romance with another guy, and one is a teen who's crushing on the first woman, feels unrequited. I didn't know about any of them when I started, so they're a bonus, the show itself is rather compelling.

As for current shows, The Power (lol, get it, current) started last night on Prime, it's nice that after the misreading of Class of '07, this new show about girls does immediately have a wlw. Gap's already finished but it made such a splash, if you haven't watched, I'll mention it again. The other Thai drama, Show Me Love, is still airing. Fantasy Island is honestly kind of sweet, it feels like one of those '90s shows, episodic, bright colors and optimism, and great guest stars. One of the two leads, I'd say, or at least the second billed main, is queer.

We got our three firefighter shows, 9-1-1 with a solid (now) established relationship, Fire Country, a lesbian character but not much screentime, and of course Station 19, which is honestly winning me back in a huge way with their current storyline (if they land it).

Cop wlw update (why are there so many of them!): NCIS Hawai'i remains super cute, especially when Lucy is on, looks like Ayanna on Law & Order: Organized Crime got herself a new gf with a super hot voice, The Rookie: Feds still has Niecy Nash playing a super likable and bi lead. I couldn't stand the egregious copaganda in FBI: Most Wanted, and like, imagine how bad it'd have to be, when I can still watch all the rest of these shows, but Sheryll's still there, so. Sin Huellas (No Traces) has already finished but gets another mention for being as funny as it was, with a cute, hot couple at the center. Rabbit Hole's just started, but the initial antagonist/probable grudging ally's an FBI lady who within the first 10 minutes of the first ep dropped that she had a wife. Van der Valk has started its third season and though I'm gonna keep hoping Lucienne's INCREDIBLY hot ex from 2x03 returns, Lucienne, second billed, is plenty hot by herself. Ariana Guerra, who played the novitiate in Helstrom, has joined the second season of CSI: Vegas. Her character's bi and has a main character boyfriend but he seems like he'll most likely end up with a different character.

I'm not really going through these in any particular order, except combining the above two types, but let me just blow through the rest of the ongoing shows: the Canadian family comedy Run the Burbs has been quite sweet in how it's written the teen daughter, How I Met Your Father comes across as an old fashioned sitcom, except one of the characters is a lesbian. It's kind of fun in its familiarity and low stakes. I didn't expect to be as drawn into The Watchful Eye as I did, the trailer felt quite soapy and it was, at times, but all the nannies were great, and I ended up quite liking the f/f side couple. It's amazing what actual personalities can do. :o A Million Little Things is winding down its final season and Grace Park's character is engaged to Cameron Esposito's character so it feels pretty endgame at this point.

If you didn't watch or stopped watching Carnival Row because the main m/f relationship seemed so especially trite, you maaaay want to give it another look. I'm not nearly caught up with Bel-Air, but in the first season they wrote Ashley's sexuality really well, especially since she's so young. I'm sure you can't have missed my Perry Mason gifsets by now, but I can only reiterate what a great character Della Street is. One of the kids in Gotham Knights is bi (and her brother is trans!) but I'm not sure it's worth getting invested before cancellation. Unless the CW is only going to keep projects involving the Supernatural trio?

At this point, hoping everyone who's into wlw has at least tried Yellowjackets or is aware enough of it to know they don't want to try it. Las Pelotaris 1926 is a Spanish language historical drama about female athletes playing--well, the sport is basque pelota but if you need a reference point, it's like squash or racquetball. If you haven't yet caught up with RWBY, now would be an okay time. Lastly, I've still never watched any of Riverdale or even Choni clips, but its final season has just started and you know, I gotta respect the longevity of whatever they've been doing with them, however up and down they seem to have been, and perhaps this final season will be an up. From what I've seen on SM, they seem to get endgame soulmatey treatment more than any of the other ships and I can respect that.

Aside from the Thai dramas that might air after April and a few of the other shows that ended their seasons in March (or February in Gap's case), all of these have eps airing this month. After this year of cancellations, I think it's worth enjoying what we can, even as we acknowledge how much lead/main character rep and longevity we're losing. :o

[arguablyartworks]

That Ben 10 AU I Made (that I never talked about)

So back in 2022, not long before I went to art school and was in the process of preparing to go, I was particularly hyperfixated on Ben 10, and generally speaking, stress often causes me to specifically dream as or beside the main character of my hyperfixation at the time. I won't go into what was stressing me out so badly then, but I had a dream of a specific few nonexistent episodes of Ben 10 and minor tweaks and changes to the show that I later drew and expanded upon.

Specifically, there was some (not real) episode in the original series where Ben had to take off clothing to jump into a lake, revealing not only a training bra or bikini top (not sure which), but also that the brown hair was a wig covering ash blonde hair. And it had been no secret that Ben was a girl the whole time, she'd just clearly gotten tired of correcting people. Continuity-wise, it was mentioned again in Omniverse, where pronouns were corrected to "she" as a constant gag through some early episode, and then visibly given up out of laziness. It was also stated in the dream that at some point, Ben gained actual wings in base form in Omniverse and definitely had them, was able to hide them entirely, and never bothered to figure out how to use them or pull them out for almost anything. So in whatever reality where those episodes (and continuity details) actually existed, Ben would canonically be a winged butch lesbian.

After some discussion with a friend (@zilathehusky)

-Benjamin Kirby Tennyson is still her birth name, despite being cis female. Sandra and Carl are just like that. -Ben was constantly mistaken as male throughout OS, and eventually genuinely didn't care, as it didn't matter as much to her as a kid, so didn't tend to correct people almost at all except in the event of bathroom usage or similar scenarios. -Ben genuinely enjoys stereotypically masculine passtimes and clothing styles. -Ben actually genuinely hid her sex/gender throughout the entirety of UAF, as she was on the boys' soccer team and wanted to stay there. -in dating Julie, Ben had to explain to her that she was female. Julie tells her that all the girls at school already knew and were keeping it from the boys collectively. -Ben's wig remains a constant until Omniverse, where the wig is suddenly switched out for red-brown hairdye, explaining the sudden messiness of Ben's Omniverse hair in contrast to Ben's super neatened UAF hair, as her hair is actually quite spiky. -as of Omnierse, Ben is no longer on the soccer team, and thus no longer hides her sex/gender. Regardless, people continue to assume she's male and she's too tired of correcting people at this point.

I also discussed it with another friend and we decided that the wings likely occurred as a result of some torture Servantis decided to put Ben under after losing, giving Ben the same treatment he gave to the other Rooter kids. He made sure it was the most painful transformation he could give, as forcing a body to suddenly grow wings it's not built to have has got to hurt. The wings are on her base form, meaning that with or without the omnitrix, the wings are a feature Ben's body just has. She does not like them or enjoy having them, and got none of the instincts associated with their use. That said, she does manage to figure out how to more or less "put them away" such that they technically aren't even present until she wills them back. She specifically does not know how to fly with them, forgets she has them constantly, and eventually gets forced to learn how to at least glide horribly with them by family and friends. Inevitably this leads to many hilarious gags about having huge awkward limbs Ben doesn't know how to control, including but not limited to smacking Rook in the face with them, as well as Ben at some point being in free fall, then slapping the omnitrix to get a flying alien, only for Rook to be like, "You have wings in human form. Why do you not use those?" and Ben just facepalming and responding with, "I forget they're there!"

Also, Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Strong were still her voice actors with zero changes.

Here are some screenshot mockups that I made shortly after having the dream back in 2022:

It was also later decided (heavily based on the color of her hair and wings, which were both an ash/light tan color) that her wings and hair color came from genetic infusion with peafowl specifically, thus also explaining Ben's fear of peacocks.

[idrellegames]

Wayfarer Dev Log 2023.03.06

Hi friends!

It’s been a while since my last proper update in January. I am recovered from illness and mostly back to normal; with the days getting longer and actually having sunlight now, it’s easier to stay focused than it was in the winter. A lot of developments have happened in the interim, so I’m hoping this dev log will serve to get you caught up on things I’ve been keeping under wraps until now.

✦ New Blog Reveal

My blog’s desktop theme has been redesigned and updated! Huge thank you to @ethereal-themes for taking this on, I am in love with the new look.

Desktop theme

About

Navigation (with updated tags!)

FAQ

Character Roster (updated with Episode 2 characters + sortable, including by romance type)

These pages cannot be viewed in the tumblr mobile app, but they can be viewed by inputting the link into your mobile browser. Mobile versions of the updated FAQ information and tag list are forthcoming.

Many thanks to @memaidraws for my new blog portrait of Alexia. 💕

Additionally, I am no longer tracking the tag "wayfarer" for community content. The tag has become overrun with bots that makes it very difficult to filter. If you've created something you'd like me to see, please use the "wayfarer if" tag or tag my blog!

✦ The Public Build

A new patch should be coming sometime in March to fix lingering bugs and issues in Episode 2. This patch will require a full restart of the game. Once it releases, you should not use old saves otherwise you may encounter continuity errors and bugs in later episodes.

✦ The Alpha Build

Work on the next alpha update is progressing. I am still writing slower than I usually do, but I am coming up on the end of a major branch. There should be a new alpha release later in March that will cover one half of Episode 3 Part 1.

Even though not all possible routes will be included, the update will add over 300,000 words of new playable content to the game.

✦ Development Changes

Until recently, Wayfarer was planned to be a free game. This is no longer the case. Though I am not ready to announce the full details yet, the game will be eventually be moving to a free demo + paid full game model later in its development cycle.

Act 1 (which includes the Prologue and Episodes 1-3) will remain free to play. Future pricing for non-Patreon early access to later episodes while the game is in development is TBD.

Because this change impacts some behind-the-scenes things, I am need to gauge how much of Wayfarer’s playerbase plays the game on their phone versus a computer.

If you would like to help me out, check out this poll here and let me know what device you regularly play on!

✦ Wayfarer 2023 Pin-Up Calendar

The Wayfarer Calendar is now closed! A huge thank you to our contributing artists and everyone who donated. Altogether, we raised $1094.54 USD. These proceeds were donated today to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

I am so honoured that the calendar was a huge hit. On behalf of our organizers, I would like to thank everyone for their passion and excitement for this project. It’s too soon to announce whether we will do something like this again for next year, but there may be another calendar on the horizon…

If you’ve enjoyed Wayfarer, used my tutorials, or would like to support my work, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Patrons receive access to the alpha build, a private Discord server, exclusive previews, bonus content, side stories, and other benefits.

(Please note that if you are pledging solely for access to the alpha build, the alpha and the public build currently contain the same content.)

Wayfarer is a passion project and creating it is a full-time commitment. Any little bit goes a long way to help me bring it to fruition.

If you aren’t in a position to support financially, reblogs, shares, ratings and comments, and spreading the word about the game are much appreciated and do a lot to help me out! 💕