#based on their experiences and personalities. How they are‚ why they do what they do‚ etc. These all make sense to me. Or rather‚ I don't

[lace-tf]

So much art sphere discourse always makes me scratch my head like “Why are we policing what independent hobbyists—many of whom are young, working-class (or impoverished) queer folk, let alone QPOC—do for free in their own time?” Some people seem to unironically want to bring back Eating Your Veggies or throw around allegations of unconscious bigotry based on confirmation bias instead of just like… Seeking out the content / people they enjoy without having to put others down to do it.

I have strong preferences and principles myself, and I’ll avoid people whose vibes I dislike, or whose values I disagree with. But I’m not better, wiser, or more worldly than other people for doing this 😭 A hot topic in the OC community right now is “if you don’t regularly draw ‘female’ characters, you should examine your internalised misogyny problem!” and it’s so, like… Maybe consider why many transmasc or non-binary creators might connect more to non-woman characters? Consider that implying��unless they force themselves to represent femininity and womanhood in their creations, possibly triggering dysphoria—they’re bigoted is very unkind?

(Also, how are we even defining ‘female’? I recently saw someone say that if your whole cast is “men and male-aligned” they don’t think you’re worth interacting with. Where does that place GNC or masc women? Butches who don’t use she / her or don’t identify as women? What about genderfluid and non-binary men or mascs who use she / her or present femininely?)

Obviously you guys don’t see it here on my fandom blog, but I love my femme OCs and draw / post them regularly. Yet, this wasn’t the case when I was younger—as a transmasc* person, I wholly gravitated towards writing and drawing men / mascs. I liked when my peers liked the guys I created using my own experiences and feelings about masculinity, especially when IRL was so hostile towards my identity.

At the time I thought—and do still think, even though things have gotten much better—that it was also just kind of hard to find compelling female characters in mainstream media. I had plenty of them I liked (Xion from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Midna from Twilight Princess, GLaDOS from Portal, Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors, Azula from ATLA, and The Other Mother from the Coraline film among them), but they were few and far between unless you went out of your way to find them. This was both because many big creators or corporations neglected developing the female characters in their properties, and because… There weren’t many female characters in most IPs to begin with.

And this makes me think a bit about the original culture of fujoshi in Japan, where women* fixated on M / M relationships due to 1) the freedom men were allowed in Japanese (and largely Asian) society, and 2) the distance between those fictional men and the female creator’s lived experiences and desires (which may feel too painful or shameful to delve into directly). Fujoshi used male characters as a vessel to explore their identities, emotions, sexuality, etc…

So like. I dunno. There are plenty of reasons for people to prefer playing with masculine dolls that have nothing to do with “hating women.” And I think if you want to celebrate femme characters more, and surround yourself with creators who feel the same way, you should just do that instead of being weird towards people who love masc ones.

At the end of the day, independent small artists who post their little guys FOR FREE do not owe you anything but common courtesy. They aren’t being paid to be a bastion of representation; they aren’t a corporation that profits off proliferating mass media and therefore has the responsibility to use its reach to spread tolerance. They’re literally just randos online.

[faguettism]

Season 3 Mileven Kiss Scenes - In Depth Analysis

I was rewatching season 3, as per the title, and through this I've come to the realization of a number of things (though I'm pretty sure these have been said before).

I was curious about the song playing in the background of the scene where Mike and El were kissing just before Hopper tried to have a heart-to-heart, so I looked it up and found some interesting information. Then, there on out, it kind of spiraled into an analysis of the whole scene i guess. So buckle up because it's going to be a bit long.

I want to start from the first ever scene of season 3, first ever scene we see of Mike and El as an official couple.

First of all, without diving into any of the events happening in the scene, I just want to point out that mike is wearing a yellow shirt, they're kissing in front of yellow curtains and green walls. Also, Eleven is wearing a flannel, which we know Will wears a lot. And I know the one in this scene is probably Hopper's but if you think about it, it's not the first time Mike kissed El while she was wearing a piece of clothing from someone with whom she or mike has a platonic relationship (ie: Nancy's dress, Will's flannel at the airport and the whole brother/sister talk right before their first kiss). Just saying.

The music that starts playing in the background, which then Mike starts singing too, is this one. I feel like some of the lyrics can be interpreted as queercoding, even though the singer nor the song is inherently queer.

In this season we see Mike try to figure out how to navigate his first relationship as well as his friendship dynamic with will and fail because he's also struggling with his queerness and internalized homophobia at the same time. The first two lines in the song could refer to how Mike is feeling like he has to grow up and his fight with Will about how they can't not get girlfriends and play dnd forever (aka their time to "be children" is up). Also "a little more time could open closing doors", really? Closed doors? Closets, maybe? The name of the album is literally "Boy in the Box".

The next line "nobody wants to know you now" could refer to how Mike feels like he's not understood by anyone this season because his experience with puberty is different than Lucas's or Dustin's due to him being queer and he's also not on the best terms with the only person who normally truly understands him, aka Will. So again, he struggles with what to do in this new situation he finds himself in and even with Lucas's guide, he fails to protect his relationship with El. On the contrary he knows exactly what to do with Will and knows/understands him (even though he projects in the rain fight).

Another thing I want to point out before moving onto the next scene is just before we see Mike and El kiss, there is a white unicorn statue shown. We then see it again, right next to Mike, in the scene with Hopper. This statue can represent both El and Mike as it is a sign of uniqueness/divine power but it's also a symbol of lqbtq/queerness.

Unicorns are also often considered a "dreamy/dreamlike" creature.

We can take this as Mike trying to give up on and abandon his dream life, his queerness because of the hardship of being in the 80s and that's why "he's not himself" this season but it also reminds me of his talk with Karen in season 1. Karen had said this was a hard time for him, with everything going on with Will, and when they had this conversation we as the audience knew that Mike believed Will was alive, that he hadn't surrendered yet.

Moving on, there is a poster of a falcon (I couldn't find the exact picture but I'm assuming it is based on my research) in both the first and second kiss scenes. In the first scene, it's behind El and in the second scene, it's next to Mike as well as Will's drawing.

Again, the same thing can represent different thing for different characters. For El, it could symbolise how she will break free from the relationship and find herself and for Mike, it could refer to him being in an emotional bondage (his relationship with El) because of societal pressure. Mike has a lot of subtle Christianity/Biblical symbols/referances surrounding him so it could also symbolise his "sinful thoughts" aka, queer thoughts.

Talking about thoughts, the song playing in this scene is this one right here:

What is he so deep in thought about while kissing his girlfriend? Makes you wonder. Here is some other cool information about the song I found when I searched for the story behind the lyrics:

A lot of referances to Mileven/Byler love triangle and the show's general themes, may i say...

And the lyrics?

The song starts with the line "And I can't fight this feeling anymore" as the camera pins on Mike and El kissing. The rest of the lines on the first photo gives me the feeling of losing the objective and giving up, so I interpreted that as Mike giving up on his feelings on Will because he started to sense that he wouldn't be able to act the same way around him anymore without the adults poing out it was weird. His family did this before in season 1 but he could just brush it off as being good friends then. Now that he's older, at the age of having a girlfriend, he can't just hang out with Will all the time so he redirects his feelings to El instead and becomes obsessed with her. The lines in the second photo reminded me of after the rain fight, when Mike literally came crashing through Will's door because he couldn't bear being on bad terms with him and ignoring him anymore. He literally couldn't fight the feeling of being without him. The last lines could be interpreted as Will literally introducing them to the upside down. For the first two seasons Mike literally followed Will on his journey and went to/heard about places he'd have never found by himself.

Lastly, there is a mask shown in the second scene right before we see Eleven and Mike kiss. I think it's quiet obvious what a mask symbolises but still.

This literally refers to how Mike is concealing a part of him by acting this way, to blend in with the rest of the society. But he's only doing this when he is with Will or El, the person he likes and the person he's supposed to like to be "normal". And this gets more blatant in season 4, when he comes to California. We know from the start of the season that he doesn't care about being normal but as soon as he goes to visit Will and El, he puts on this persona, this mask to try and hide his true self.

+ bonus panels of Mike rainbow imagery that is shown several times throughout the scene which we see again in season 4. This one is quiet literally Mike's name being surrounded by rainbows and hearts so nothing much to explain.

These two scenes are the only ones where we see Mileven kiss this season, they are both in the same episode and not framed romantically at all. They're played as a comedic scene and are interrupted both times by Hopper, which will further worsen their relationship as the plot continues to develop.

Anyway, that's all! If you've come this far, thanks for reading all the way and entertaining my rambling :)

[mouse-fantoms]

Rewatchin Star Wars right and I’d like to yap about it since it’s on my mind. In regards to Reggie finding out about episodes 7-9 and the prequels bc Luke tells the Hollywood Ghost Club patrons they’re talking to “we found out like two weeks ago we just didn’t have the heart to tell him 😔”

He says we, was it like a situation where Alex and Luke were alone in the Molina home, turned on the tv and happened to see episode 7 and went “we can’t tell Reggie 😭” or was one of them in the house and like Ray had it on and then the other reported back to the other “you will never believe this but Reggie cannot know” I’m just picturing too like let’s say there’s a Star Wars marathon on one of the tv channels and Alex and Luke are doing their absolute best to not let Reggie know anything about the sequel or prequel episodes so they just try and distract him away from the tv 💀 “hey Reg, I think Ray is doin some barbecue in the backyard that he might need help for.” “Reggie, Julie needs some homework help and it’s your subject of expertise.”

I feel like they didn’t tell him about the new additions to the Star Wars franchise since they died bc it might have been a lot of info all at once for him 💀 bc most people got to watch the prequels and then the original movies and then got to see the sequel episodes as they were coming out (I mean just basing it off my own experience personally)

Now I’m just thinking about though like he is interested in watching them at some point and Julie hears the boys talking about it and she’s like “Star Wars?” And Reggie’s like “you know it 👁️” and she’s like “yeah my dad is really into those movies” and she mentions like “well years and years after the first ones they made some prequels and then years after those they made sequel ones” and Reggie is just like “YEARS AND YEARS 😭” Alex is like “why you got to say it like that 😔” and Luke adds “you could have said it nicer 😔” and Julie realizes why they’re like hurt by her wording bc years and years after included the time from they were actively alive in plus the years they were dead for💀

Then Julie mentions “now they have a bunch of Star Wars shows streaming on services” and the boys just look at her like “streaming 👁️👄👁️ what’s a streaming 👁️👄👁️” and she’s like “ohhh right 💀”

I also feel like Alex and Luke just bc of how “they didn’t have the heart to tell him” I feel Reggie was the one of out of the two and Bobby to be really into it that like they just know casual stuff about it meanwhile Reggie goes full into it they’re just there like “:) I love you love this thing and you’re so passionate about it even if I don’t know lot about it it makes you happy though”

Anyways, I just wanna know exactly how Alex and Luke found out about the new additions to the Star Wars franchise like what was the situation💀

[itsnotevenreallyfunny]

speaking from unwilling experience, rich people do dress up. They dress up in a way that only shows other rich people that they are rich. I can tell how much money someone makes, and what their job is based on like 15 seconds of looking at them. for example- the difference between an entry level finance bro, and a high powered executive is literally almost impossible to tell for people who were not explicitly taught this skill. But brands are very distinctive. You can generally tell by the quality of the leather they are wearing, wether their fabrics are imported, the cut of their suits, that kind of thing. They are very minute details, but the wealth gap is in the literal millions.

and I also acknowledge that this is literally explicitly what you are talking about - that rich people are quite boring in their fashion. Which is why I personally choose to shirk my socio - economically assigned wardrobe in favor of clothing that actually makes me happy. Did I quite literally almost get kicked out of my parents condo building (while visiting them)by security once? Yes! Is wearing the clothes I want completely worth it? Also yes!

last note - upon reading this back I had to cringe a little because I sound pretty entitled. That is very much not how I’m intending to come across.

so lame that rich people tend to just wear a lot of business casual. if i had infinite money id at least get a little creative with my appearance. get my teeth replaced with diamonds or get my ears pointed by a skilled plastic surgeon or something. cmon man.

[wolfeoflullabies]

First Meetings: Chapter Two

So, I have decided to write more for this wonderful AU. If you want, you can also read this on my Ao3 here.

Prow followed the path through the Quints’ base that he found when they connected him to their computer. Streams of data and commands entering his brain through his neural connection to his mech. Not the long familiarity of his mech, or the constant calculations of his battle computer, but something clinical and demanding. Studying Prowl like he was an interesting specimen, the way Tarantulas always looked at him, like what he could do was useful and it wanted to know how he used the battle computer. It wanted to use him for his battle computer.

Prowl had gone through dozens of experiments to be better. To make sure his partners wouldn’t die, but he still couldn’t save them. Save Bluestreak. His brother going through the Portal, his last words telling Prowl to take care of himself.

Those experiments never felt as violating as this. He may have been in his mech the entire time, but that didn’t matter because he could feel the Quintessons as they wandered through his brain, trying to figure out how to use him.

It was a moment of panic. Of stubborn resistance that had him try and delve into their systems himself. To fight back. It was successful enough, getting him information on the base, and spacebridge. But if Jazz didn’t unplug him when he did, Prowl didn’t think he’d still be alive.

Jazz himself was. . . strange.

His mecha was much more humanoid than most. Like someone decided to just build a giant person instead of tailoring a mecha to a specific job. Prowl didn’t recognize the design from anywhere, and he kept up with the latest mecha technology around the world. He needed to get better, to make sure his partners didn’t die. And it was too well made to be a passion project of a random scientist. This sort of thing needed resources. Lots of resources.

And that face. The top part was covered by a visor, but the bottom half? It was so flexible and emotive despite looking like it was made of metal. There was no way any mecha program would waste money on that.

But, what if it wasn’t built by a mecha program. Or, at least, not one of theirs.

Prowl knew he was in space. That was why he wanted to use the space bridge to get back to Earth. If he didn’t, escaping the Quintessons would be useless. He would die from medical complications. Tarantulas had him taking a dozen pills a day and eating a specialized diet for a reason. He had enough supplies in his mech to last a week, just in case he gets stuck somewhere away from assistance, but even if he could find a spaceship there’s no way it would last him for the trip back to Earth.

But Jazz mentioned he had a spaceship. One that he flew here on.

They didn’t have spaceships on Earth. Or at least not ones that you could pilot between planets without years of prior preparation like Jazz’s words implied.

And the battle computer was alien technology. They had no way of producing another one on Earth, they didn’t have some of the elements even required to make it. But Jazz’s people made it.

When Jazz first tried talking to him as well. It wasn’t in any language Prowl understood. He wasn’t nearly as good at languages as Bluestreak was, but he understood the basics of most languages in case he needed to work with someone who didn’t speak English. And he understood what most languages sounded like, even if it was gibberish to his ears. But Jazz didn’t sound like any language he heard of.

The conclusion was obvious. Jazz was an alien, likely from a species that were also at war with the Quintessons and built mecha suits to fight them seeing as Jazz was here to steal back the battle computer from the Quintessons.

Prowl needed to get to Earth. He couldn’t risk losing his battle computer to the Quintessons. It was a valuable asset in their war against the Quintessons. Ally’s fatalities have already gone down 37% since he started using the battle computer. He couldn’t let them go back up.

But Jazz, if he could go to Earth and help them. Share his more advanced technology. It could help lower fatalities more. Help them finally win against the Quintessons.

But none of that would work if Jazz wasn’t willing. If Prowl dragged Jazz to Earth and he grows to resent them for it, he would’ve just made a new enemy for them to fight.

Quietly, so any Quintesson patrols wouldn’t find them, Prowl asked, “Do you have anything you need to do after this? Anywhere you need to go?”

“Nothing in particular. Why do you want to know? Ooh, is this you asking me out?”

Prowl nearly tripped over his feet at Jazz’s question. He could feel his face burning in embarrassment. Thankfully his embarrassment didn’t show as his mecha was nowhere near as expressive as Jazz’s was. Jazz, however, was grinning at him.

“No, this is about something else!” He whisper-yelled at Jazz.

“Oh? What is it then?”

“I, you’re not a human, right?”

Jazz tilted his head, a small frown pulling at his lips. “Human? What’s that?”

“It’s what my species is called. I’m a human, from the planet Earth.”

“Oh, well I guess that answers why you look like that.” Jazz said, visibly moving his head as he scanned Prowl’s mech.

“Yes. I need to return to my planet. The Quintessons have been invading my home for years, and they need me back. I wanted to know if you wanted to come with and help us or return to your people.” Prowl explained. He wasn’t good with rousing speeches or convincing people to do things, preferring to let actions and results speak for him. He kind of regretted that right now. He didn’t know where to begin to try and convince Jazz to come to a completely different planet and help them fight the Quintessons.

Jazz’s face hardened. “Your planet has been fighting the Quintessons?”

“Ever since they first started invading years ago.” Prowl confirmed.

“And how are you doing?”

Prowl winced. “We’ve been able to drive away their forces, but it’s clearly only a small fraction of their main forces. And we’ve already lost so many people to them, both civilians and mechas.”

Jazz frowned in confusion at the words “civilian” and “mecha” but he didn’t ask about them, so Prowl didn’t offer an answer. Instead, Jazz asked, “And why do you want my help? I’m just one mech.”

“Because I think it’ll help.”

“Is that your battle computer talking?” Jazz jokingly asked.

“Yes. But it’s also my thoughts from seeing you in action.” They may have only been scientists, but the way he quickly took down the two scientists in the lab was impressive.

Jazz sighed. “Well, my mission was to keep the battle computer away from the Quints. I guess that means I’ll just have to keep you safe.”

Hope began to grow in Prowl’s heart. “You mean—”

A wide grin split Jazz’s face. “Yeah, I’ll go to your Earth and help you.”

[flowerakatsuka]

" just know that i'm always here for you, okay? "

i'm finally finishing up my s2 rewatch and getting to the 24th episode awoke a beast in me. so i wanted to make a fake screenshot based on some of their lore that takes place during that episode. i think they'd end up having a heart-to-heart moment since kuroba went through similar struggles after their grandfather's own hospitalization...

also have a bonus doodle bc i need to even out the balance between serious & goofy with these two.

[kick-a-long]

Ooh this argument pisses me off.

If I understand what you’re saying, there is a tier system to being a Jew, which is self defeating and shitty on its face, but practically suicidal, especially considering the emphasis it puts on just the religious aspect which most Jews in the west, ie half Jews globally, do not pass muster.

First, we sink and swim together. My secular ass is not protected by forces that will attack only the religious. The evil coming for you in temple is coming for me in my living room and only luck will divide our fates.

It’s an attitude I’ve seen my whole life where Jews rank “how jewish are you, really?” It’s shitty and breaks up community which should withstand variance in opinion and background because there are so few of us left. No I didn’t go to jewish summer camp or have a childhood temple but the real question should be am I here to defend and support the jewish community in the different ways it exists? Do I know enough about the functional structure of being Jewish in the world to know when bullshit is afoot? Am I jewish enough to be Jewish? Am I ever going to not be a Jew? These are much more important questions than my relationship with Judaism as a religion or a culture.

Second, obviously a dna test doesn’t make you Jewish but it can make you a target of antisemitism and that isn’t nothing. People who look jewish or have jew-y last names get a beating for it. We should be including rather than excluding them because like it or not being attacked for being Jewish is part of the jewish diaspora experience and imo it makes you uniquely qualified to understand parts of the Jewish community. No test tells you that, and plenty of dipshits use the “I’m .2% jewish so I can speak on this!” But don’t hand wave away every non jew because they might know something that you don’t. (If I had a nickel for every Israeli that doesn’t “get” the diaspora experience…

There is no tier system, it’s a binary. There is information and participation but nothing makes a Jew not Jewish or a non Jew a Jew (except for converting which brings up all kinds of exceptions I don’t care about.)

Third, excluding community as a no true Scotsman argument is SUCH A SELF DEFEATING ideology at a time when a community is on the defense from serious mass violence. No one gets an ivory tower surrounded by a moat. Shit heads have big mouths, even the Jewish ones, to exclude them from being as Jewish as X Jews because they suck or aren’t sticking to the PR or they didnt grow up immersed in the culture (which many MANY Jews don’t because it’s a very discriminated against culture and not everyone wants to believe that stigma is inescapable) sends a pretty strong message that it’s Everyman for himself when the chips are down. “The real Jews will protect their own based on vibes.”

This culture of packing and cracking in marginal communities is what the internet does. It’s why women, lgbt, and black rights are in shambles compared to the pre internet age. It’s more personally fulfilling because you don’t have to include Jews that just woke up to the danger, don’t know shit, that didn’t think “Jews” included them. the Jews that don’t know Jack shit other than they didn’t celebrate Christmas and their aunts used funny words. But you shouldn’t start down that road because the concept will creep into rewarding extremism, exceptionalism, and rejecting good for a future perfect that never materializes. Plus it self selects for the biggest, loudest, self righteous, narcissistic assholes you can imagine.

Let people speak on what they know. Even with authority over more Jewish Jews. It’s proper intellectual hygiene. Defeat their arguments on their merits not their heritage.

But that’s just my opinion.

just like there’s a different between religiously and ethnically jewish, there’s a different between 1.) not Jewish but has jewish ancestry, 2.) raised jewish but is non religious, and 3.) raised jewish and is religious.

people who are jewish ethnically but have never touched the culture, the religion, or the people are never going to have the authority to speak for the jewish community. you’re jewish. but you cannot possibly speak for jews bc you have never lived a jewish experience. you can reconnect if you want, but you need that experience under your belt to be educated on and understand the community’s struggles and needs.

so when goyim say “jews want this” or “jews agree with that”, and the majority of jews they’re speaking of got closest to jewishness when they read their ancestry results, they’re not using an example of the community. they’re using the jews that agree with them bc the only jews that agree with them have never lived a jewish life. and i think that says a lot about their views.

jews know this, but apparently it needs to be said repeatedly.

[hanzajesthanza]

also i realize i'm saying all these noble and beautiful things about the channel from the purest depths of my heart. but actually i'm also just doing this because i fucking love the witcher books and it pisses me off that people don't know about them that much in english and i can only go for so long (seven years) with people not knowing that there are books. or that the witcher is from the 90s. or polish.

[darabeatha]

[yinyuedijun]

Did tumblrina engage in dissociative behaviour when killing her targets?

This isn't 100% finalized yet BUT I think she engages in dissociation whenever she's really stressed out on missions, of which there are two circumstances: having sex that she really doesn't want to have, or killing someone she really doesn't want to kill. She doesn't really "check out" altogether or lose time (it would make her an unreliable assassin) but she experiences depersonalization where she is watching the scene like an outsider, seeing her body as it interacts with its environment and feeling disconnected from her own emotions.

When she is older, she is a contractor for the JAA (so not under Asaki's control) and chooses whichever jobs she wants to take. She always chooses targets that she thinks can't complain about dying (other assassins or violent criminals). She doesn't really enjoy killing, but she also doesn't feel bad enough to dissociate, she just wants to get it over with. (This is the phase of life where she's blasting bbno$ on missions lol)

[spoiled-bat13]

I would love to talk more. Possibly not in this ever growing reblog. :) I am fine with agreeing to disagree. I have strong firm opinions, but I do recognize them as opinions, my interpretation of the canon and mu extrapolations i make from there based on my own personal experience. We would probably disagree over Itachi if I had to guess. Because while I like/love Itachi, I feel he was wrong and he does make me mad whenni read his books. Lol. But everyone feels differently. That's what makes Fandom interesting. We all read the same thing but come to different conclusions.

It's why I enjoy writing canon adjacent fanfiction. I like to take what little we know and extrapolate and dig deeper. Build up flat characters to have more depth. I think it's about approaching everything with good intention and an open mind. I like some characters in two government different ways, like I can't settle firmly on one single interpretation so I settle for them being either and just as happy regardless. I want Itachi to be uwu abused baby who didn't want to hurt his family but was forced into it. But I feel when I read the books, he already had his opinions at 6 and 7 years old before Danzo and others tried to get their paws on him. So I see him as a tragedy of toxic nationalism (because of lived experience here in America and how toxic nationalism is destroying our lives) but i very happily also imagine Itachi as manipulated and groomed. Because that version makes me feel better and I love a good tragic story of being unable to change your destiny. I accept people see itachi or Rasa differently than I do. If it's a take I REALLY dont mesh with, I just block so inpersonslly wont see it but it doesnt stop them. They can do whatever they like. I'm not the thought police :)

I wanted to move over to an ask/message rather than continue to reply on my silly post. If you do not mind?

This is a note off a fanfiction i wrote, where you can see me working through the sand siblings ages. As you can see I'm not above being wrong, but it's not due to lack of trying to figure things out. Do you agree with my Sand Sibling ages?

I personally feel like Gaara id actually just a little younger than the Naruto-group, born in the January of the next year, rather than in the same year as Naruto. My only argument for this is i really feel lile Gaara was made a Jinchūriki /after/ Naruto was, like almost as a response. But that's my mental canon. The Manga, i believe, just lists Gaara as the same age, and with his birthday in January, it would default him to older than Naruto by 10 months? I personally see him as younger.

Oh god, even more of Kishimoto's god-awful planning. Okaaayyy, let's try this.

For nerdy reference, I made a spreadsheet a while ago to prove a theory of mine, namely that the character ages in the Databooks are calculated in reference to Naruto's age, not their actual, canonical birthdays. In an example, despite not celebrating a birthday between August and December, Sasuke somehow turns 13 in that timeframe, according to the Databooks.

That is until Jin no Sho, when all the characters born prior to October 10th (Naruto's birthday) age up by one year, whereas the rest of the cast does not. This would also mean that Konoha's graduation month is most likely set in early January or late December, with students born earlier in the year being younger (making Hinata the youngest among the Konoha Twelve).

Jin no Sho is probably the most reliable source for our purposes, and it puts Temari's age at 20, Kankuro's at 19, and Gaara's at 17. One interesting little detail is their Ninja Registration Numbers, which are 53-004, 54-002, and 56-001, with the front two digits probably indicating their year of graduation (fun fact, Yashamaru became a Genin at approximately 9, Rasa and his children at 12 years old).

From here, my research aligns with yours. Kankuro was born 265 days after Temari, and Gaara 614 days after Kankuro. Pregnancy usually takes 280 days (anything below 259 days is considered premature), and mothers cannot become pregnant sooner than 21 days post-partum, meaning that Kankuro was born at least 2 weeks (15 days) prematurely.

As for Gaara's age in relation to Konoha's Jinchuriki, Jin no Sho claims Gaara to be older than Naruto by 9 months. And yeah, it did seem counter-intuitive to me as well, but I then re-read Chapter #547, and it appears that Rasa had been trying to seal Shukaku into one of his children for years, starting with Temari. It most likely was not a response to Konoha's new Jinchuriki.

Since it was supposedly Rasa's and Chiyo's experimentation that caused Gaara's premature birth, I wouldn't be surprised if Kankuro, too, was born prematurely due to Rasa's experimentation. As far as my memory goes, the text never claims that Gaara was the only premature birth among his siblings, so it's compatible with canon at the very least.

I hope this was helpful in some way 😭

[turnedpalefromlackofsun]

i wrote a fanfic

[altschmerzes]

getting real tired of people who are shitting on “found family” more generally as a narrative concept and specifically named familial dynamics in fan interpretation of characters in particular because it all seems to be getting painted with a really wide and really homogenous brush. “we need to take found family away from people because they think it all has to be In Nuclear Family Terms and do you know friendship exists and you don’t have to call these characters siblings to legitimize their relationship while making it clear you Don’t Ship Them Ew Gross and THEN you sneer at people who Do ship them” cool cool that is a lot of really intense characterization and assigning of motive to other people en bloc!

like sure there’s some meaningful critique to be found in a broad trend to label every single relationship directly and specifically with terms that have very specific contexts and roles but im waiting to be told when anyone IS by the standards of people making and reblogging these very sweepingly generalized posts allowed to call a relationship parental or whatever. is that Ever allowed. who is handing out the permits. sometimes a specific term for a relationship isn’t actually about wanting an excuse to sneer about your ship (and frankly there’s a lot of projection going on there imo from people who are actively sneering about other people’s interpretation of a relationship!) and it’s because there are very specific contexts and details about a dynamic that makes exploring it from the lens of siblings or whatever very rich and compelling and interesting because words mean things and assuming everyone is just being reductive and demanding conformity to a nuclear family is, ironically, really reductive.

so like. cool it. stop being really fucking mean about people having an interpretation of a dynamic you personally don’t like or makes you feel a little weird or uncomfy because you ship them.

[ahalliance]

ten gives he/him lesbian to me while fourteen gives gnc mlm

[jackass-jones]

Really into the episode of Ouran where this girl confesses her love to Mori but he doesn’t feel the same because he’s into Honey and the girl’s reaction is just like YIPPEE I LOVE YAOI THATS SO COOL FOR YOU YAY 🥰

[hayatheauthor]

How to Make Your Characters Almost Cry

Tears are powerful, but do you know what's more impactful? The struggle to hold them back. This post is for all your hard-hearted stoic characters who'd never shed a tear before another, and aims to help you make them breakdown realistically.

The Physical Signs of Holding Back Tears

Heavy Eyelids, Heavy Heart Your character's eyelids feel weighted, as if the tears themselves are dragging them down. Their vision blurs—not quite enough to spill over, but enough to remind them of the dam threatening to break.

The Involuntary Sniffle They sniffle, not because their nose is running, but because their body is desperately trying to regulate itself, to suppress the wave of emotion threatening to take over.

Burning Eyes Their eyes sting from the effort of restraint, from the battle between pride and vulnerability. If they try too hard to hold back, the whites of their eyes start turning red, a telltale sign of the tears they've refused to let go.

The Trembling Lips Like a child struggling not to cry, their lips quiver. The shame of it fuels their determination to stay composed, leading them to clench their fists, grip their sleeves, or dig their nails into the nearest surface—anything to regain control.

The Fear of Blinking Closing their eyes means surrender. The second their lashes meet, the memories, the pain, the heartbreak will surge forward, and the tears will follow. So they force themselves to keep staring—at the floor, at a blank wall, at anything that won’t remind them of why they’re breaking.

The Coping Mechanisms: Pretending It’s Fine

A Steady Gaze & A Deep Breath To mask the turmoil, they focus on a neutral object, inhale slowly, and steel themselves. If they can get through this one breath, they can get through the next.

Turning Away to Swipe at Their Eyes When they do need to wipe their eyes, they do it quickly, casually, as if brushing off a speck of dust rather than wiping away the proof of their emotions.

Masking the Pain with a Different Emotion Anger, sarcasm, even laughter—any strong emotion can serve as a shield. A snappy response, a bitter chuckle, a sharp inhale—each is a carefully chosen defence against vulnerability.

Why This Matters

Letting your character fight their tears instead of immediately breaking down makes the scene hit harder. It shows their internal struggle, their resistance, and their need to stay composed even when they’re crumbling.

This is written based off of personal experience as someone who goes through this cycle a lot (emotional vulnerability who?) and some inspo from other books/articles