#because many of them are written to be women before they're written to be people

[aroceu]

honestly shout out to girls who have no actual depiction of them in most (if any) form of media. girls who can't see themselves physically represented by any fictional characters; girls who can't relate with the largely tropey writing of any female character that exists. womanhood--and frankly, general personhood--is not restricted to how it is depicted in fiction or on screen. your identity as a person and as a woman is not tied to what other people think women should be like; it is tied into your acceptance and love of yourself.

[incorrectbatfam]

Types of obnoxious batfam stans

Written by an obnoxious batfam stan

Not really a rant but something I've noticed over the years interacting in different spaces and I've decided to make your problem now.

Please note that I'm not saying there's any "right" way to be a fan because we all suck by virtue of being comic nerds, but there are certain kinds of batfamily fans that stick out to be in particular.

Anywho, here are 12 kinds of annoying batfam stans that you've probably run into and you better get a laugh out of it *points gun to your head*.

1) The Newbies Who Never Heard of Google

There's no shame in being new to something. It's a phase that we're all guaranteed to go through, whether we're 11 or 101. However, in this day and age, so many things can be easily googled that you don't need to shout every question you have into the VVorld VVide VVoid. If you need comic recs or a reading list, google it. If you wanna know a character's origin story, google it. If you need to know the color of Batman's underpants in a particular issue in 1965... well that's probably too specific for Google but Reddit will definitely have an answer.

2) The Middle School Authors

Before the 13-year-olds get up in my notes, I'm not saying everyone that age writes like this. Middle school is a state of mind. These fanfic writers usually stand out in a few ways.

They're oftentimes first-person POV or reader-insert. Give Y/N a break, she's tired.

The grammar is stunningly atrocious. I get if you're inexperienced or if you're writing in a second language, but we are in the prime era of autocorrect. If you need help, it's right there. Also, fuck c*nsoring b*d w*rds and fuck "unalive."

The characters do things that are out-of-character because the author is projecting their own personality. Bruce Wayne is a lot of things but he does not listen to the fucking Mountain Goats.

There's a lack of experience or research when it comes to certain topics. That's not how physics works. He can't walk that injury off. And that's definitely NOT how you do the horizontal hokey pokey.

3) The Neckbeards

Unfortunately, these basement-dwelling mouth-breathers tainted the image of what a comic fan is, though that's been changing recently. Still, we've all seen them. They gatekeep via pop quizzes, 'cause obviously you're not a real fan unless you know what page 10 of Batman #138 smells like. They give unsolicited commentary on people's cosplays, nitpicking the guys and being gross toward women. And heaven forbid the comics add a little diversity.

4) The Moviegoers

Nothing inherently wrong with getting into the fandom via the movies, nor is there anything wrong with sticking to that. I just feel like we're two different species of Galapagos finches, you know?

5) The Christopher Nolans

Separate from casual fans of the Nolan movies. I'm calling them the Christopher Nolans because these people have a tendency to reach for the grimdarkest thing possible. It's like they cannot fathom Batman having any other emotions besides punching and gargoyle brooding.

6) The Canon Purists

Wanna share a fun headcanon? NO, because Stephanie Brown never used cherry lip balm in the comics so therefore that must be the absolute truth. These people are a stickler for comic accuracy to the point where it's like... why bother interacting with the fandom in the first place? The worst part is when they're adamant on following a single continuity and refuse to consider anything else. This is comics we're talking about. Everything either has been or will be canon at some point.

7) The Fanon Worshippers

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the people who base their entire perception of the characters on something either they pulled out of their ass or that their mutual with 16 followers came up with, despite evidence directly contradicting it. I love WFA, but I feel like that's partially responsible for further perpetuating certain popular myths. Also, these fans tend to focus solely on the batfam/their ships. It's one thing to have some people in the foreground vs. background, but put some respect to Bart Allen's name you goddamn cheesecakes.

8) The Golden Age Dads

These guys aren't really obnoxious. I actually find it kind of cute how they think Jason Todd is still dead.

9) The Chronically Online

I have a rule of thumb when it comes to discourse: if it's not something I'd hear about at a bar, it's not worth my mental energy. Some people haven't gotten the memo, though.

These are either the well-intentioned but misinformed teenagers or grown-ass adults beefing with children because they don't have a life. They have takes that are oversimplified, rage-inducing, TikTok algorithm attention-grabbers that no one cares about in real life.

Don't get me wrong, we've got a bunch of issues in comics and fandom that are worth discussing. However, there comes a point where you're splitting hairs and need to go the fuck outside. I'm not gonna link the post 'cause I don't wanna call them and their 7 notes out, but the other week I saw someone saying Stephcass was a racist ship because something something colonialism parallel. You gotta be Elastigirl to have that kind of reach.

10) The Corporate Simps

I love comics. I appreciate the writers and artists. However, you will find my carcass in a ditch before you catch me licking the boots of DC/Warner Bros. Basically, these fans, fewer as they are, can't seem to fathom that their favorite franchise can (and does) put out some steaming motherfucking garbage.

11) The Hot Cosplayers

Not actually annoyed, I'm just a little jealous. Stop being hotter than me, please and thank you.

12) The One With A Punchline For Everything

Wait–

[agender-witchery]

On Project Moon

Hey, this is gonna be long, I'm putting most of it under the cut. This post is about the recent firing of VellMori from Project Moon, I know that it warrants some tags for triggers, but I have no idea what's commonly used, so if I miss something, please tell me.

Additionally, I have written this up in a way that if it escapes the target audience of Project Moon fans, it can still be understood, so with that in mind, there will be Library of Ruina spoilers.

The tl;dr for those who don't wanna read the full thing is that Project Moon was put in a very bad position with some violent extremists targeting them and that I'm not happy about any of what happened.

So, for those unaware, Project Moon has fired VellMori, the CG artist for Limbus Company. Now, a not inaccurate statement that can be made from this is "Project Moon fired a woman for being a feminist" but this is... somewhat reductive. Let's immediately get out of the way that VellMori did absolutely nothing wrong. Some people have said she is a TERF. I've seen no evidence of this. Some people have said she wished death on all men. I've seen no evidence of this.

What I HAVE seen is that VellMori thinks sexual abuse is bad. Now, why would this lead to a firing? The short answer is that a bunch of violent incels, one of which was literally dressed as a clown, came knocking at their office doors.

See, Limbus Company has a "beach" event coming up. In this event, we are getting a water themed outfit for two of the characters, one male and one female. For Sinclair, the guy, he has been given an EXTREMELY slutty mechanic's outfit. For Ishmael, the woman, she has been given a very skintight wet suit outfit. Now, I wanna take care to note that VellMori is the CG artist - she had no hand in these designs, a man made them. I would also like to mention that both outfit designs are amazing, and I will be including them at the end of this post for reference.

Now, upon revealing the wet suit design for Ishmael, a bunch of whiny incels on what is basically Korean 4chan got upset that Ishmael, instead of being in a bikini as is usual for gacha games, was wearing a wet suit. Nevermind that the designs in Limbus Company have always been conservative and that the Sinclair design is the most skin we've ever seen and it's just an open shirt. Again, the wet suit is still super revealing, it's skin tight and this is literally the first design of her that doesn't make her look flat chested. They're not rioting over the lack of sex appeal, they're specifically mad that it's not a bikini.

The incels come to the conclusion that the lack of any skin being shown on Ishmael's outfit is a result of evil feminism. No, I'm not exaggerating. They initially begin harassing the artist who is actually responsible for drawing the outfits, but upon learning that he is a man, set their sights on VellMori because she's a woman, and being an artist is good enough I guess. What they do from here is they start digging and digging and digging on VellMori's twitter, making use of archived pages because many of the "offensive" tweets had been deleted.

I'd like to take a moment to point out that VellMori never actually tweeted anything out here - it was all retweets from a 4-6 year old archive, and retweets that have been long deleted. These retweets contain such transgressive statements as "I'm sick of misogyny" and "If being against patriarchy makes me antisocial, then so be it" and just... mirroring back to men what those men were saying to women. Some people would like to have you think she was calling for death to all men. She wasn't. She ALSO retweeted all this stuff while she was a teenager and well before she worked for Project Moon.

Nonetheless, the incels had decided that feminism was the reason Ishmael had a wet suit and not a bikini and they had found a feminist working for Project Moon. It is at this point that we must take a brief detour and talk about Library of Ruina, Project Moon's previous game.

See, in Library of Ruina, one of the protagonists, Angela, has this whole arc about escaping her abuser and becoming a human. Yes, she is literally a robot, but Project Moon isn't exactly a stranger to symbolism in their stories and a feminist reading of Angela is ridiculously easy. The main antagonist in Library of Ruina is Argalia, the Blue Reverberation, and his crew is called the Reverberation Ensemble. Every member of the Reverberation Ensemble is a violent lunatic who each want to reinforce the status quo in their own unique shitty way. In addition to this, typically in order to reach the titular Library, you would need to be invited. The Reverb Ensemble are the "uninvited guests", the ones who managed to reach the Library and knock down the door without an invite.

Why am I talking about this? Well, the incels decided to start calling themselves the Reverb Ensemble, and referring to each other using names of the Reverb Ensemble members such as Pluto, Elena, and Oswald. Having taken on the moniker of the uninvited guests, they then showed up to Project Moon's office to protest. Over the lack of a bikini. Now, remember how I mentioned someone was dressed up as a clown? One of the Reverb Ensemble members, Oswald, is a clown with an extremely tenuous grip on reality. So much so, that his ideal world is one in which there is no meaning whatsoever. That is the character they chose to dress up as. This is either a case of extreme self awareness or extreme self unawareness.

Eventually, the incels were let into the office possibly as a form of damage mitigation to prevent the crowd of protestors from getting any bigger. This was a questionable decision, but they had a group of violent incels at their doorstep either way, and I don't exactly have full details on this. Regardless, Project Moon had on their hands a group of violent protesting incels, who they felt compelled to let into the building, and who had demands including the firing of their feminist employee. (7/28 update: a translation of the transcript posted to DCInside has surfaced. Please check the reblogs for it. Project Moon was verifiably threatened.)

So while "Project Moon fired a woman for being a feminist" isn't inaccurate it also isn't the full picture. More appropriately, it'd be "Project Moon fired a woman because a group of violent incels who weren't satisfied with a form fitting wet suit instead of a bikini showed up to their office demanding that an artist who did not make the wet suit design be fired because she retweeted some feminist stuff 5 years ago while she was a teenager".

I'm not happy with this. None of this is good. People are allowed to be feminists, and Project Moon stories have always presented progressive ideas to anyone with half a brain to do some basic literary analysis. I can understand why they would cave to the demands of people who were threatening them and showed up to their actual place of work, but at the same time, that's someone's livelihood gone and proof that in the future, the same sorts of people can use the same sorts of tactics to bully Project Moon into doing whatever they want. All of this sucks.

For those who would like to see the retweets in question alongside translations: https://twitter.com/danghwangs/status/1683884236888223744

And for people who would like reference as to what the artworks these incels were up in arms about, Ishmael in the wet suit and Sinclair in the mechanic's outfit.

[madara-fate]

I don't want to be a asshole or anything, but I really struggle with the notion of a 'well-written female character' that people have been shoving down our throats in recent years. Nowadays, for a female character to be considered 'well-written,' she must either primarily fit the 'badass femme fatale' archetype - almost invulnerable with its derivatives - or be a 'masculine woman’.

 Oddly enough, these are also the two most popular types of women in fiction right now (lol).

As much as I understand why people want women to have more diverse roles and not be reduced to the 'dumb blonde,' the 'damsel in distress,' or the 'walking love interest' as before, I also think that what we have today does just as much of a disservice to female representation as years ago.

How is what we are doing today inherently different from before?

We have taken female characters out of the tropes that imprisoned them... to fundamentally lock them into other stereotypical tropes that we refuse to let them out of again. These types of characters are often praised as examples of quality female representation, but is that really the case?

I'm not saying they are bad, far from it. But that shouldn't be all there is, that's my complaint about it. And people should also stop passing this off as 'representation' when most of these characters are far too unrealistic to even come close. They are amazing, yes, they are icons to admire because they are truly impressive for the most part, but I challenge anyone to say they are relatable. And that's fine because they're not even supposed to be in the first place. 

Fiction should have these types of women because it's fiction, but it should also make room for other types of female characters. The diversity of roles for women is terribly limited, and honestly, I can't really say it's entirely the media's fault.

Is it really too much to ask for diversified female characters?

I would like to see more weak women because it is not necessary to be traditionally strong to be valid. I want to see crazy people, psychopaths, eccentrics, but also sweet, shy, calm characters. I would like to see more women make mistakes without needing a tragic past to justify them.

I would also like to see more realistic women. There are some, yes, but not many, and strangely these types of characters tend to be labeled as poorly written and then completely rewritten by their fandom to fit their idealized version of what a 'good female character' should be.

The most uncomfortably accurate examples I have in mind are Mabel Pines and Sakura Haruno; just look at the hate these two receive to realize that a majority of the public can't handle female characters whose behavior is more human than extraordinary.

The funny thing about this is that people don't even realize that with this kind of behavior, they are perpetuating stereotypes that ironically they are trying to break. Some realize it but prefer to absolve themselves by blaming the media/authors they accuse of poorly writing women, largely in order to justify the disgusting and relatively hypocritical behaviors they have towards certain female characters.

This is particularly evident in Sakura's case; the hatred people have for her is just pathological at this point, further exacerbated by mass effect. Many fans blame Kishimoto for « writing her poorly », which they believe is their main issue with her character. The fact is when you look at the situation as a whole, this excuse doesn't even hold up. The things she is condemned for cannot be solely attributed to her; some of the other most popular characters in this franchise exhibit the same characteristics and sometimes even worse than anything she has shown before, but for some reason, she is the only character in this series who is so vilified because of it. When it comes to others, most fans make excuses for them, except you can't judge a character for something they did while turning a blind eye or even worse, praise another for doing exactly the same thing; it's a blatant double standard and it's not objective at all.

Her character isn't perfect; she is horribly underused and since she occupies the position of tritagonist aka heroine, it stands out more than others who, although also sidelined, are only supporting characters. That's the main problem I've always had with Kishimoto's writing about her, but apart from that, I really can't find much bad to say about her character. Again, I'm not saying she's perfect; far from it, but that's what makes her interesting. Sakura's role was to bring a more human side to this series; that was her job. She was never supposed to be like her teammates; Sakura was meant to stay on a human scale because she was created for that. 

That's the beauty of her character. 

Changing that is changing her very essence, what makes her who she is, and that's what this fandom does; they rewrite her by using the excuse of 'poor writing' as a kind of defensive flag and eliminate from her character everything that makes her, well... her.

Mabel, (a character from the show Gravity Falls) is another case of a rather strange fandom. She is literally 13 years old and yet her character at the time (and even today) has sparked such waves of hatred that those who hadn't watched the show could believe she's the she-Devil incarnate when she... just acts her age. She is, however, an adorable child. She is eccentric, good-hearted, quite prone to blunders, but that's also what makes her endearing. However, the way some talk about her is just... revolting. 

To hear them, being a pre-adolescent in fiction and behaving as such is a crime. Like Sakura, she also suffers from a rewriting of her character - although it doesn't manifest in the same way - and from what I've noticed, sometimes it's not even done consciously.

Another thing I've noticed is that they are not the only type of characters to benefit from this treatment from fandoms. Even female characters meeting their 'writing standards' sometimes have these problems. Just look at Diana (Wonder Woman), and how some - many - of her fans have transformed her. She went from the epitome of feminism, meaning a woman treating everyone as equals regardless of their gender, believing in justice and doing her best to uphold it into a lame and arrogant fanon version of herself who hates men, thinks she's superior to them, believes girls are the best thing in the world and no man can surpass them - apparently their version of feminism.

People need to understand that just as we can't please everyone, not all characters can suit everyone's tastes, which is normal. They should focus more on what suits them and ignore what doesn't instead of trying to adapt characters that are not their cup of tea to their personal tastes.

 Really. 

This crap is why there are so many fanon versions of 'strong and feminist women,' not because their canon version is 'poorly written,' but because they are not written according to their tastes.

 On the rare occasions when we actually have unusual characters, different from what we're used to seeing, the fandom takes it upon itself to ruin that by transforming them, thus ruining their characterization.

God only knows how much I have my own issues with the current film industry - and some authors in general - but I acknowledge that they at least make the effort to try in certain aspects, whereas fans don't even try. They tend to blame everyone but themselves because they refuse to accept that they are also part of the problem. So yes, the media is certainly crappy in some ways, but the fandom with their obsession with wanting to "fix" every work or character that doesn't suit them, makes it even crappier. They standardize everyone.

I it's all well and good to reblog/like posts criticizing fandom spaces and their treatment of fictional characters, but maybe it would be wise to actually apply what you claim to agree with, and not selectively.

This is a subject I didn't really intend to address on Tumblr, but I couldn't help myself after coming across one of your requests where you were talking about the writing of female characters in Naruto. As someone who is currently writing a thesis on media-fandom dynamics, this syndrome of 'good/bad writing' is one of the points I address, which prompted me to express my opinion.

Anyway, I hope I'm not bothering you with my overly long essay; I tend to talk way too much when a subject is close to my heart.

I'll be honest - When I first saw the length of your ask, I was just like "holy shit", and my first thought was to just read it and give a generic "yeah I agree" answer at the end. However, this was a very good read and I pretty much agreed with most, if not all of what you said. So it ultimately made me want to give my thoughts on a few specific things you mentioned which resonated with me.

I don't want to be a asshole or anything, but I really struggle with the notion of a 'well-written female character' that people have been shoving down our throats in recent years. Nowadays, for a female character to be considered 'well-written,' she must either primarily fit the 'badass femme fatale' archetype - almost invulnerable with its derivatives - or be a 'masculine woman’.

Yep, I made a similar point during this post where I discussed a YouTube video about how Nobara (JJK) is apparently what Sakura (Naruto) was supposed to be, and I went into detail about how utterly flawed their reasoning was.

As much as I understand why people want women to have more diverse roles and not be reduced to the 'dumb blonde,' the 'damsel in distress,' or the 'walking love interest' as before, I also think that what we have today does just as much of a disservice to female representation as years ago. How is what we are doing today inherently different from before? We have taken female characters out of the tropes that imprisoned them... to fundamentally lock them into other stereotypical tropes that we refuse to let them out of again. These types of characters are often praised as examples of quality female representation, but is that really the case?

Yep, the feminist, boss babe archetype is dominating now. It's even seeped into the Marvel movies, which is a component of why they have tanked recently. It hasn't improved their character depth, and it often just seems as though the writers these days care more about racial diversity, LGBTQ representation, and their skewed idea of "female empowerment", rather than creating plots which are actually engaging and make sense.

I would like to see more weak women because it is not necessary to be traditionally strong to be valid. I want to see crazy people, psychopaths, eccentrics, but also sweet, shy, calm characters. I would like to see more women make mistakes without needing a tragic past to justify them. I would also like to see more realistic women. There are some, yes, but not many, and strangely these types of characters tend to be labeled as poorly written and then completely rewritten by their fandom to fit their idealized version of what a 'good female character' should be.

This part above resonated with me a lot.

The most uncomfortably accurate examples I have in mind are Mabel Pines and Sakura Haruno; just look at the hate these two receive to realize that a majority of the public can't handle female characters whose behavior is more human than extraordinary. The funny thing about this is that people don't even realize that with this kind of behavior, they are perpetuating stereotypes that ironically they are trying to break. Some realize it but prefer to absolve themselves by blaming the media/authors they accuse of poorly writing women, largely in order to justify the disgusting and relatively hypocritical behaviors they have towards certain female characters.

This is a very interesting point.

This is particularly evident in Sakura's case; the hatred people have for her is just pathological at this point, further exacerbated by mass effect. Many fans blame Kishimoto for « writing her poorly », which they believe is their main issue with her character. The fact is when you look at the situation as a whole, this excuse doesn't even hold up. The things she is condemned for cannot be solely attributed to her; some of the other most popular characters in this franchise exhibit the same characteristics and sometimes even worse than anything she has shown before, but for some reason, she is the only character in this series who is so vilified because of it. When it comes to others, most fans make excuses for them, except you can't judge a character for something they did while turning a blind eye or even worse, praise another for doing exactly the same thing; it's a blatant double standard and it's not objective at all.

💯

It's as I always say - Sakura and or/SasuSaku are the exceptions to everything.

That is the reason why I even created this meme for myself, because I found myself saying this so often in response to Sakura being the only one getting hated on for things other characters have exhibited.

Her character isn't perfect; she is horribly underused and since she occupies the position of tritagonist aka heroine, it stands out more than others who, although also sidelined, are only supporting characters. That's the main problem I've always had with Kishimoto's writing about her, but apart from that, I really can't find much bad to say about her character. Again, I'm not saying she's perfect; far from it, but that's what makes her interesting. Sakura's role was to bring a more human side to this series; that was her job. She was never supposed to be like her teammates; Sakura was meant to stay on a human scale because she was created for that.  That's the beauty of her character.

Changing that is changing her very essence, what makes her who she is, and that's what this fandom does; they rewrite her by using the excuse of 'poor writing' as a kind of defensive flag and eliminate from her character everything that makes her, well... her.

That reminds me of how often I see people describe themselves as Sakura fans, and then they proceed to criticise the fuck out of her (mainly due to her relationship with Sasuke and how it goes against all of their "boss babe" ideals of how apparently strong and independent women don't need no man!). And so I'm just like, how are you a Sakura fan then? If they had their way with Sakura's character, she would be unrecognisable to her canon self. They don't like Sakura, they like the idea of what they wanted her to be.

Mabel, (a character from the show Gravity Falls) is another case of a rather strange fandom. She is literally 13 years old and yet her character at the time (and even today) has sparked such waves of hatred that those who hadn't watched the show could believe she's the she-Devil incarnate when she... just acts her age. She is, however, an adorable child. She is eccentric, good-hearted, quite prone to blunders, but that's also what makes her endearing. However, the way some talk about her is just... revolting.

I don't watch Gravity Falls so I know nothing about the situation, but I can imagine what you're talking about.

Another thing I've noticed is that they are not the only type of characters to benefit from this treatment from fandoms. Even female characters meeting their 'writing standards' sometimes have these problems. Just look at Diana (Wonder Woman), and how some - many - of her fans have transformed her. She went from the epitome of feminism, meaning a woman treating everyone as equals regardless of their gender, believing in justice and doing her best to uphold it into a lame and arrogant fanon version of herself who hates men, thinks she's superior to them, believes girls are the best thing in the world and no man can surpass them - apparently their version of feminism.

Yep, that's essentially what recent feminism has devolved into, there's a lot of misandry involved in modern feminism, which is a shame because that doesn't align with its core principles.

This is a subject I didn't really intend to address on Tumblr, but I couldn't help myself after coming across one of your requests where you were talking about the writing of female characters in Naruto. As someone who is currently writing a thesis on media-fandom dynamics, this syndrome of 'good/bad writing' is one of the points I address, which prompted me to express my opinion. Anyway, I hope I'm not bothering you with my overly long essay; I tend to talk way too much when a subject is close to my heart.

The manner in which you articulated your opinions was very good, so I'm not surprised you're writing a thesis on this, I can tell how passionate you are about this topic. If you haven't done so already, you should consider starting your own blog or something similar as a hobby, I can tell you'd excel if the above is anything to go by 👍

[emmitaaa4]

Addressing some fandom BS inconsistencies

Gwyn was shadow mommy, Az was shadow daddy, they were gonna have shadow babies with her extra super pliable bones.

I audibly chocked when I read this @nikethestatue (btw everything said in this post was on point). No but seriously this is how they sound, too many of them insisting that there is nothing wrong with basing the likelihood of a ship on who has the more suitable uterus to be with a man... cause supposedly they're just picking up on the hints SJM wrote for them? She likes babies for HEAs so ofc children are the end all be all of a relationship, plus there's absolutely no way that she could ever write an adoption plot SJM is literally adopted and has done it in other series. Selective reading strikes again.

A minimum amount of critical thinking would tell you that 1) the infamous *magical uterus change* scene was about nessian (& feysand), not about any ship; 2) if SJM had written Nesta changing Elain's uterus, it would have given too much away, not to mention 3) how disturbing/violating it would have been for Nesta to change her sister's reproductive anatomy WITHOUT HER CONSENT?! None of it makes sense narratively; my girl Nes would never, especially given the trauma they both suffered from having their bodily autonomy--and so much more--ripped away by the Cauldron.

This argument is so trivialized that I see it every other day on reddit/tiktok/*insert media app*, and yet elriels are the toxic side of the fandom? The ones whom people are allowed to insult, to ridicule for theories all made in good fun, the women that are villainized over a difference of opinion? Don't get me wrong, there's assholes on both sides and people keep calling one another variations of delulu (and the nastier personal attacks). But by painting this fandom-wide villain there is such a lack of accountability for the plethora of harmful talking points spread by other portions of the fandom. (I've been silently reading the anti-elain & anti-elriel tags for like a year, and I'm on tiktok. Yes, I have self-destructive tendencies).

Anyways.

I never understood either how people ever actually thought (or well still think) that gwynriel would happen BEFORE elucien?? It makes no sense logically, narratively, or in terms of characterization & the arc she's set up for Elain, Azriel, and Lucien. Yet it took one controversial bonus chapter for people to decenter Elain in her own story, that is make her choice of romantic partner--which SJM spent 3+ books setting up--Azriel's. It took one bonus chapter that soo many readers are still unaware of, to brush Elain off as a "sexual object" Az is using to distract himself until his therapist-extraordinaire Gwyn comes in and heals him all up. Because ofc she will: she's badass and not the "passive and weak and boring" Eplain (aka "Plant" or "brain dead gardener"), she fits the YA archetype of the spunky warrior-girl so she can handle his darkness, and SJM supposedly spent time fleshing her out because she wrote her as a LI for Azriel; she's made for him, she is what he needs to grow (I actually enjoyed Gwyn's character btw, just pointing out how silly it all sounds). “Next book is a love triangle between Elain/Az/Gwyn” “Elain will turn evil or is secretly evil”. So you're telling me that SJM would pit Elain & Gwyn against each other in a love triangle over a man... all because of a necklace that was not even mentioned once in the actual books? Please, let's be logical for a second.

All this because instead of reading the bonus chapter in the context of the books, some people are reading the books in the context of the bonus chapter. Which now that I think of it is probably why so many people mischaracterize Az the way they do--because yes we know enough of his character to know half of the stuff the fandom diagnoses him with is questionable. Azriel? Entitled incel x fuckboy hybrid (gotta be the first of his kind, minute slay ig)? Interesting tell me more. No joke I saw a semi-popular post on here where a gwynriel said they read the bonus WITHOUT HAVING READ ANY OF THE BOOKS. I'm sorry, ship wars are silly and believe it or not idc who ppl ship, but it makes it hard to take some of the things they say seriously.

All this to say that the fandom isn't even debating the right thing. If you consider everything SJM has said in her interviews:

(she's been planting seeds for Nesta & Elain's book since acomaf; she knows who she is writing the first 2 books about + is keeping things open for the 3rd one--with 5 different ship options--which automatically rules out "Elain will close the series"; she said she's doing research for Elain's book in the ACOFAS bonus & there's seeds for future bookS in acofas; all she said recently about her beloved *heroines* and the themes of fate/true love/choice she finds *very* interesting & wants to discuss)

and if you also consider all she's written in the actual books (elain's characterization + the overarching plot in general & how she fits into it), then it's pretty evident that Elain's book is next.

The question then would be who is the MMC / 2nd PoV in her book, aka would acotar 5 be an elucien or an elriel story? Because logically, gwynriel was always a consequence of elucien. I honestly do not understand how people don't see that.

Oh and they always think they're gagging elriels with the "obviously Azriel is the next MC" as if elriels aren't saying the same thing? And we're the ones twisting info and not making sense. It's just funny at this point.

---sidenote: I realize that this post generalizes some things, and I just wanted to say that I have interacted with lovely eluciens / people on either side of this headache of a ship war. My hard limit is Elain haters though... back off I say 🤺 BACK OFF 🤺

---sidenote 2: I would have written this as a reblog except im not entirely sure how tumblr works and I get no visibility from them rip.

[kuruk]

I actually feel so bad for straight women when I read romance like one because the way the male love interests are written reflect their lives and the way they think about relationships, and there's an idealization of abuse but not because they think it's sexy for no reason, but because they want to portray that man as being sorry for what he did to her in the beginning, and truly feeling love for the protagonist and just not being very good at it or that he needs to be saved by her in some way so he can become that, like as long as she puts in the effort she can become special for putting up with it, and the people writing these men and the women who love reading about them like to escape into this fantasy that the men who treated them like dirt in the same way could be regretful about it like they wanted. but the real men they're thinking about don't feel that way, but I understand why they have a fantasy where they have more power in that situation which ends in their hurt feelings being acknowledged and comforted and given closure. and two when it's a romance I like, I just feel sad because it's like so romantic and cute and I think it's sweet the way a lot of women who are into romance feel about love it's sort of cute but the odds of men living up to that aren't good at all. and I see why so many women read yaoi, aside from the ones who go "Where is thr porn why is rhis shounen ai I'm going to kill myself" on chapter 3 of a bl comic, I think it makes sense since a man pursuing a woman is always going to be hard to separate from the context of the world we live in which is just not at all romantic and it's hard to really think of a man seeing a woman as an equal person before seeing a woman, like so many situations are much less romantic when it's straight because of women being the "other" when men are the default, like women are a diluted subset of human but men are synonymous with human. and no matter how you personally write each individual character I don't think you can really escape that

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 3 MASHUP 2

Ms. Frizzle (The Magic School Bus) vs Winry Rockbell (Full Metal Alchemist)

Ms. Frizzle is a Science Teacher!

Winry Rockbell is an Automail Mechanic!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Ms. Frizzle:

"*gestures at entire magic school bus series*"

"Embodies the true spirit of scientific discovery: barely-contained chaos."

"She is very knowledgeable about a wide variety of sciences, and uses that knowledge to further the educations of many people. Teachers deserve the world; they do so much for so little in return. (shout out to Mrs. Goates)"

"She loves science and loves teaching kids about science. I love her. Idk I saw she only had one submission and that made me sad so now im here submitting her"

"She is an icon and has cool earrings"

"SHE'S SO COOL!!! She's so smart and so fun and genuinely just an icon. ALSO she has a little lizard on her shoulder. I saw an ask abt the submissions for Ms. Frizzle and the sender was the only person who submitted her.. I couldn't let this go. ALSO one of my professors irl called herself the irl Frizzle and she's a doctor of biology so make of that what you will"

Winry Rockbell:

"The best automail mechanic in the whole of Amestris: need I say more? She’s also the only person who can really get Edward Elric to listen / scare him"

"She's super smart and is crazy about mechanics, but she's also so kind and compassionate! She helped deliver a baby, she cares really deeply for her friends and family! She truly rocks!"

"i’m a biomedical engineer so she is the best women in stem"

"she’s extremely skilled and dedicated to her craft, her work is very high quality (she’s also the personal mechanic for one of the protagonists) and she has a dedication to improving the lives of the people around her in any way she can (and she has so much autism swag about automail, it’s a joy to watch). i love her your honour"

"She's so good and so fun and she's trying her best. She makes sure the prosthetics work and they're super plot important!!!!!"

"She can build and repair robot limbs AND attach them to human nerves"

"She’s only 15 and is repairing magic-infused heavy machinery for fun"

"Spunky, kind, and smart as hell... one of the shounen manga girls of all time."

"At age fifteen she could build a whole metal arm in 3 days (pulling all nighters)! She geeks out over the work of other prosthetics engineers and earned herself an apprenticeship where the shop's costumers began to prefer her after only a few months! She's kind but takes no shit and narratively symbolizes the goodness of humanity. also she read medical textbooks as a kid (her parents were both doctors) and was able to apply that knowledge for successful impromptu midwifery years later!"

"She is practically a child engineering Genius! Designs and makes prosthetics. She takes her work very seriously and geeks out over other people's designs. She is such a beautifully written strong female character that holds her own in a fandom full of amazing strong female characters and a great role model. She's Hella cute"

"She is considered a prodigy in her field, and is known as the “Automail Otaku” because of her unending interest of any machines and tools in the building and repairing of automail. She is incredibly smart, sincere, and passionate. She works hard for what she wants, is full of optimism despite what she has suffered, and is very loyal to her friends."

"built a fully functioning prosthetic arm for her friend when she was TWELVE basically by herself and has been his regular mechanic since. also heavily dabbles in the medical side as well as the mechanical side (for example: she successfully delivered a baby single-handedly at fifteen having only ever read about the subject before). she is so skrunkly she’s an icon a legend and she is the moment"

"Listen any girl who can master mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and biology in order to build prosthetic limbs by the age of 12 is Impressive. She’s the one that got me onto an engineering career path I’m very biased"

[trexiejan]

My opinion : Babs was deaged to be with Dick.

Okay so I've seen so many dickbabs shippers try to deny that Barbara was deaged to fit Dick for the purpose of defending dickbabs or make them look better i guess. They keep saying that wasn't the reason why she was deaged. they always point to the 1st time she got deaged.

like why are they so upset when they see people say that. I wonder if they care more about the ship than barbara as an individual character.

cuz if they truly liked Barbara separately from Dickbabs maybe all the anti-dickbabs comments wouldn't be an issue for them. 🤷‍♀️

anyway i'm going to explain why it's true.

here's the thing :

Barbara was deaged multiple times

Crisis on Infinite Earths wasn't the only time she was deaged, she got deaged again in other books/continuites.

So The real question is where did they deaged her to be the same age as Dick to make them work not when was she first deaged. (we all know it's always in dickbabs comics where she's written as the same age as dick, i wonder why)

The 1st time she was deaged was in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was so Jim could be younger but they only decreased her age slightly because she's still written as older than Dick, here is a panel from Secret Origins #20 that was published in 1986 exactly 1 year after she was deaged in Crisis on infinite earths (1985) she said Dick is too young for her and that batman is always the one on her mind. So Dickbabs during this time still has a big age gap so they're still unable to work.

The 2nd or 3rd time she was deaged is in dickbabs comics where she was finally made the same age as Dick so dickbabs can finally work as romantic pairing. 

Instead of being older she's now written as a part of Dick's generation.

From a congresswoman to someone who went to highschool prom with Dick.

Even Tom Taylor wrote them as childhood sweethearts so he can portray them as soulmates in his comics. a huge wtf moment for me because Babs wasn't originally this young when she first met Dick 😭

pls She had a PHD, has been working as a librarian and congresswoman when dick was still a young boy in gotham.

Barbara is now written as a part of his generation and his one true love since day 1. (from an independent congresswoman to Dick's childhood sweetheart and girlfriend who revolves around him)

Before Dickbabs couldn't work because of their age gap but now they can work. thanks to dickbabs comics deaging barbara again and this time for the sole purpose of reducing Babs into Dick's love interest.

So Just because she wasn't deaged to be with Dick in her 1st deaging doesn't mean she wasn't deaged to be with Dick in her 2nd or 3rd deaging 🙃

Dickbabs shippers can deny it all they want but at the end of the day dickbabs wouldn't have worked out if she wasn't deaged to be the same age as dick.

and even if they're right, let's say for the sake of their argument they're right that babs wasn't deaged to be with dick, it still doesn't change the fact that dickbabs is weird.

Regardless if Babs was deaged to be with Dick or not, It's still weird to see Dick being put in a relationship with a woman who was originally a congresswoman when he was still in highschool.  

It's like deaging Batman into a teenager (like let's say it's because they want to make Bruce appealing to teenagers) but years later they decided to give him a love interest who is also a teenager as part of the new batman stories.

So even though his deaging has nothing to do with women or shipping in the first place, it's still weird to suddenly see Batman in a relationship with women who are a part of dick's generation knowing he was originally much older than them.

Like Bruce/Raven or Bruce/Starfire suddenly becoming a thing 🤢 No amount of deaging would be able to justify those pairings.

The same happened to Barbara she was originally a part of Batman and Superman's generation.

for goodness sake she dated Superman!!!! She was so much older than Dick.

Also remember when Dickbabs was originally a pedo-like ship and it was so controversial and hated the same way Brucebabs was hated today? Because Barbara the adult woman is kissing minor grayson but now she's fully making out and having sex with minor grayson in dickbabs comics.

The reason why Dickbabs fans don't want people talking about this is because they care more about making dickbabs look good than barbara's independence. They don't care that Barbara lost her independence, her phd, her solo careers, her librarian and congresswoman job because of dickbabs shipping.

They don't view Barbara as a character seperate from dick. Barbara is trapped in this relationship because of people like them. They don't fight for Barbara's independence. The only thing they want from her is to be the girlfriend of Dick and nothing else. It is so hard for them to let Barbara Gordon be independent and not just “Nightwings girlfriend."

Barbara's real enemy is the dickbabs ship. Before, she is able to stand on her own, but now she's nothing more than just a love interest who can't live without dick and too dependent on him and his solo books to exist.

DC really needs to get Barbara some actual character building that doesn't involve Nightwing whatsoever but it's hard to do that when she won't even stop chasing Dick nonstop like a dog in his solo books and thinking about him 24/7 because of writers like tom taylor who is always busy making babs' entire personality all about dick than writing solo babs stories.

Dickbabs is unnecessary and disservice to her character, it does nothing for her independence. She is forever demoted to Dick's love interest unless they free her from this ship.

poor babs she deserves better than people who only want to associate her with dick 24/7.

[asynca]

There is a post circulating that looks like this:

and it is fucking FULL of hasbara bullshit. I don't know if the person themselves is a psyop or whether they've just been brainwashed but eh, the result is the same

I'm too fucking tired to do an essay about it, so here are some key points of bullshittery, paraphased:

The most important thing is that it omits the cruelty, brutality, theft, segregation, etc that Israelis exacted against Palestinians and continue to do now. DAILY settlers harass and steal from Palestinians in the west bank. PRE Oct 7 nearly 200 Palestinians had been killed there JSUT THIS YEAR. Gaza was under blockade by Israel, they controlled everything going in and out and killed commerce there, made them dependant on handouts. Israelis go into Palestinians' houses in East Jerusalem and just fucking steal them! Kick out the people there! The IDF and police support Israelis doing this. Any nation doing this needs to seriously ask themselves a question of "what the fuck are we doing"?

'only 15,000 people died in the nakba, the catastrophe of it is greatly exaggerated' - 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, either by force or because Israel made an example of a couple of towns by brutully, brutally torturing and killing and raping Palestinians there so people fled. They had their land, property and wealth STOLEN. A whole population of people had their wealth and land stolen. This is something that is CONTINUING TO THIS DAY.

'Arabs participate in life and parliament and this is evidence of exaggeration of the criticism' that's like saying we have a few women in government so sexism is cured

Presentation of the 1967 Palestine borders as agreed by the UN as if it's the perfect fair solution when the borders are basically around the least arable land with the least amount of water

Criticism of Israel dismissed as antisemitism which ex Mossad agents have confirmed is a deliberate tactic to silence dissent and criticism

Presenting Hamas as the enemy of Palestinians which is just not the case, Hamas is the government of Gaza and like any government, people's views and opinions sometimes align with them and sometimes don't. Some people think they are heroes, other people think they are a barrier to peace. What they definitely are are resistance fighters fighting against a violent oppressor. Israel is a violently oppressive and racist state. The enemy of Palestinians is not Hamas, it is fucking Israel.

'Palestine didn't have a government we recognize as a government before we came so that justifies us taking over'

'We have some ancestry in this place so all of us are indigenous to it and have a right to run the place' - self-explanatory. Lots of ancestral Irish folks around the world. Should we all just go take over Ireland?

God, this post. Go read it. See how mild and acceptable hasbara is? This is the shit they're peddling and it's one-sided and omits SO many important details.

The only thing I agree with is that it is cruel and unrealistic to remove the people who are living in places now (where their property wasn't directly stolen from a family with living descendants!!!) removing millions of people would be another mass cruelty that would traumatize children etc. But yeah, any solution needs to be JOINTLY AGREED WITH BY PALESTINIANS. NOT FOR THEM.

like OP talks about confirmation bias but like all these half-facts they're accepting without examination are exactly fucking that. I doubt they've listened with an open mind to a single Palestinian and they definitely aren't 'seeking out content that doesn't confirm their biases' because the Palestinian voice is COMPLETELY absent from their oh-so carefully written post.

Everything I've said here is googleable so go for your life.

[orphee-aux-enfers]

I. Don’t understand how being against homophobia and misogyny and informational suppression is cultural relativism? Yeah I have a #USAmerican raised Christian bias but I think not being bioessentialist and anti-intellectual is. Normal???? Genuinely don’t understand

Okay so. My guess from how this was written is that you are either a child or just into your 20s. I'd expect much different wording and approach if you were older. So. I'm going to try and be as gentle and clear cut as possible.

1) Orthodox Judaism is actually quite diverse and also different from Christianity, even fundamentalist Christianity .

2) What you're witnessing is not necessarily indicative of the actual community values; you are interpreting without insider perspective, or seemingly any actual knowledge. You're also ascribing motive to actions that may or may not be there.

3) many orthodox Jews, myself included, are queer and trans and embraced by our community. Every person of authority I've spoken to on the matter says that my incredibly queer, t4t marriage that gets read as gay no matter what, still gets the mitzvah of sex on erev Shabbos, and that includes my main community of Chabad.

4) many books are screened before being given to children by all people everywhere for a variety of reasons. Just because you don't fully understand the reasons as you are not yourself Orthodox Jewish doesn't mean that they are automatically something to be hated due to your preconceived notions.

5) Assuming a group is inherently homophobic, misogynistic, etc. Simply because you don't understand them as you are not part of their community is in fact a bad behaviour, yes. Don't do that. Most of the time, in most communities people are at worst confused.

6) As for misogyny... It's important to know the ways in which Judaism actually structures it's sex roles. No one has different sex roles because they're lesser, which misogyny implies. And every SINGLE person I have ever met observes mitzvos based on sex due to actually desire, not coercion. But for example, married women cover their hair as a way of making their marriage even more holy. Men meanwhile are told to cover their head at all times so they are mindful of G-d at all times. What does this imply at first glance? Why, that women are capable of remembering G-d at all times and the men are silly and must forget G-d if not reminded! Do we think this is all to the interpretation?

So. Before you judge our community so harshly... Perhaps also consider the last century of human history alone. We are being killed and hurt at alarming rates again, especially in the USA. Is it any wonder we don't stop in the streets to justify our existence to you?

Lastly, an oversharing of my personal details because as I am currently safe and well at home, I feel I ought to give you opportunity to understand that you aren't seeing/understanding the complexity of sex roles in Judaism

7) so, yes, orthodox Judaism has gender/sex based roles. It also is, in my experience, pretty flexible to meet individuals. I was coercively assigned female at birth. I was however by Jewish law, tumtum. In English terms, I had ambiguous genitals which could be surgically changed. My sister wanted a baby sister. And so, I was surgically "corrected" and raised female, until puberty and onset of hormonal problems that indicated that it wasn't just a genital mutation. I felt disconnected from binary gender, and at time, in part of my community having a label for me while the hospital I was born at had simply labeled me "incorrect", I came to embrace a masculine social standing. Because I was unable to be sexed as an infant, have masculine levels of testosterone and a lack of menses for years at a time, I have to adhere to both male and female sex based mitzvos. Religiously, I am operating with the strictest possible adherence, but this is all written and debated, as are all of the other sexes in Judaism. I am, however, allowed to exist as intersex in a Jewish community in a way that I am NEVER allowed to exist as intersex without a fight in the secular world, to the point that if it's not relevant I identify only as trans, because otherwise it becomes too complicated in the secular world. And this is genuinely because there is actually a space for me to exist in, as there are six Talmudic sexes.

Being trans and intersex is "allowed". Being queer is "allowed". Some communities differ, but I've lived in seven, and all of them have been more accepting of me being queer, trans, and intersex, than any secular space, including liberal and leftist spaces. At WORST, I am met with curiosity because I am new to the community. I think, perhaps, too many people in this world mistake curiosity with hatred.

[wonder-mei]

Letting Life Lead Part 2 (MK1 Bi-han)

Reminder: this is not lore accurate to the Mortal Kombat universe. I write because they're hot. I also do not have a beta reader or I read my fanfic from top to bottom to see any errors. I'm lazy okay.

I forgot to include an idea in the previous fan fic so here’s a sequel. Consume it well.

—

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

Ever since she was a teen, many of her friends and girls around her age got into relationships with people they were interested in. Some until it led to marriage and some broke up. And from that she learned; not everyone can have happily ever after with their first love or when someone thinks their partner is the one. 

But there is one conversation her friends always frown upon. Arranged marriage. They said it is too out of time and unethical because of how it won’t give that person no choice to defy. When the rumour of her getting arranged with the oldest son of the Lin Kuei clan grandmaster. Her friends sent her condolences which she understands because everyone describes Bi-han is as cold as his cryo power and very stern to be the best for his clan. 

And they were all wrong. Very wrong about him. 

The wife of Bi-han turns her head towards the door slides and her husband enters with his arms on his back hiding something. “Welcome home” she greets with a smile and drops the brush she has been using for hours on the wooden table in their room “What’s that?” 

Bi-han approaches her and places a box wrapped in cloth on the table. She curiously unfolds then opens the box and reveals her favorite sweets inside. She smiles cheekily at Bi-han “Your Po Po won’t like this” even with that word she eats them anyway.

Just this evening before the maids cook lunch she requested for her favorite sweet but out of nowhere Bi-han’s grandmother came into the kitchen “You cannot eat that food! They are unhealthy”

She then came into their bedroom with a frown in her face “What’s wrong?” Bi-han asked but she didn't answer,one of her quirk when she is upset. Bi-han sighs leaving his wife alone to soothe her emotion off alone as she is comfortable to do it on her own alone. He went to the maids asking what happened to his wife and it was his grandmother once again being strict with her wife. 

Now Bi-han can now be at ease seeing his wife eating the food she craves today. He caresses her head as she eats. He then holds the paper she wrote a poem on, a talent of hers. She writes her thoughts and nature as her hobby. It reads;

The sun arise at dawn,

And the moon moves away for it to shine,

Even the sun is brighter than the moon,

The moon is still there for the sun,

Even it is not a star,

Giving light to earth,

The moon will be by the sun’s side,

Nonetheless and forever.

Bi-han smiles as he reads the poem. He stands up to put it on the wall with the other poems. His wall used to be blank and nothingness and now the walls are covered with poetry she had written. Even the poem she dislikes, he still stick them on the wall saying ‘Still written with your heart’

After she finished eating. They both sleep for the night together. And the morning came, they both ate breakfast together. The grandmother came in to join too. “Young lady, I told you to wear Beizi! It is the clan’s tradition for the women to wear Beizi everyday” she nags pointing at her Aoqun attire.

Bi-han sighs, gripping his fists under the table. His wife is pouting again at the nagging “I told her to wear Aoqun today”, he said with a gruff. The grandmother scowls in annoyance. His grandson is backing up his wife again as he always does. The old lady left the couple alone. The wife hugs his arm as a Thank You. Bi-han knows she is fond of wearing Beizi as her daily attire every day. Bi-han would occasionally back up his wife in whatever situations. 

“You have been married to her for 6 months and she is still not pregnant. It seems like she is useless!”

“It is my decision to not have a child now”

“Why is she not wearing blue? She is your wife and it’s symbolized she is your property”

“I told her to wear that”

“A married woman shouldn’t walk around the village!”

“I made her to walk outside”

“She still acts like a child! She’s very childish”

“I will teach her”

But he didn’t. He let her be herself. Bi-han understands that she is his wife but she is still young and has a lot of experiences to discover for her curiosity. She can still hangout with her friends or play with the clan’s kids. Even though she was given a lot of freedom, she still respected him as her husband and set her own limit for his comfort. 

What are the odds, a man as cold as Bi-han is the greatest husband every woman wishes for. Her friends are jealous that her husband worships her like a deity and loves her as her own. From fear to adoration the women view Bi-han but he won’t even take a glance at them. He already has his wife who sees good in him just from the first glance they shared. No judgement in her eyes,only acceptance.

ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

P.S: i don't know how to write poem so i'm sorry if it's bad lol

[dandylovesturtles]

@theplacewhereidumpmyinterests I can't talk about most of them because they're part of an AU verse I want to keep secret until I have the first fic that's part of it written, and idk when that will be (by summer?? HOPEFULLY??), but I guess I can talk about the other one because idk if/when I will write a fic for him (I'd like to but like I am only human)

"more AUs Dandy?" LISTEN all I do is sit around and think about "what if"s, okay?

ok so this started as me being like, hm, we see Lou Jitsu with a rotating door of women, so many he doesn't seem to remember all their names, so it's not totally out there to think he might have gotten one of them pregnant, right?

and thus Marcus (middle name Kyle) was born! literally!

so the story for this is, Lou Jitsu had a fling with a woman in the early 90s, pre-Big Mama. they were both in agreement that the whole thing was casual and it didn't last very long, but oopsie-daisy about six weeks after their last night together she finds out she's pregnant.

she debates what to do for a bit, because, as established, Lou Jitsu is kinda a fuckboi and she doesn't really want a relationship with him. But once she decides she's definitely keeping the baby she feels like she can't just not tell him, right? so she tries!

...unfortunately he's dating Big Mama by that point and she interferes to make sure that Lou Jitsu never meets with the woman and never finds out, because she knows this would get in the way of her plans.

she takes never hearing back from LJ as a sign he just isn't interested in the kid and resolves to single-motherhood. which she is the best at, btw.

she's still considering trying to introduce Marcus to his dad at some point, but unfortunately her kid isn't even 5 before Lou Jitsu suddenly goes missing, with his teary fiancée telling a sob story to the cops. assuming, same as everyone else, that he's dead, she lets the whole thing go, though she does tell Marcus who his dad is once he's old enough to understand everything.

Marcus goes through periods of being obsessed with Lou Jitsu, watching all his movies and consuming every piece of media about him that he can find, and periods where he can't stand to even hear the name. it's up and down. from his perspective, LJ abandoned him and his mom, but he's also dead, so it's not like he can have closure on this ever, right? so it's just a thing he has to deal with on his own.

but he's fine! he's alright. he gets through high school, then college, then accepted into vet school just fine.

then... his mom gets sick and dies.

yeah, that's a hard blow.

but he's alright! he has a few buddies from college he still sees now and then, and he's started his zoo vet residency at the Bronx Zoo (with a particularly special interest in reptiles), so lots of new people to meet that way! he's doing great! he's not lonely at all!

(a few months ago, he was suddenly woken up by a surge of something, like dozens of voices were crying out to him for help, tugging him toward something, saying his family needs him...

yeah, no idea what that was about. he doesn't have any family anymore.)

then the sky opens up and aliens come out.

Marcus is at work, because of course aliens would attack at the beginning of his shift. he spends the day ushering survivors into safe zones within the zoo, using his medical knowledge to handle first aid, and just trying to stay sane as the whole world turns upside down.

and then just as suddenly as it all started... it stops.

in the aftermath, everyone around him is just trying to get home, desperately calling their loved ones and praying for the best. Marcus starts trying to figure out how he's going to get home, because the trains definitely aren't running, and as he looks as his phone for a spark of inspiration, he realizes... no one has tried to call him. his coworkers' phones have been going off all day, whenever they can get signal, as loved ones try to reach them, but... he doesn't have anyone trying to reach him. and as he sits there he realizes he doesn't know who he should be calling, either.

so. that's pretty depressing.

and as he's sitting there, thinking about his life and what led him here, in a now empty vet clinic outside the bronx zoo... he hears a noise. and then, voices.

ah great. looters.

at first, Marcus tries to call 911 - but obviously the call center is swamped. so he decides to take care of the problem himself, going to see who's there and get rid of them...

wait, who is he kidding? he's definitely not paid enough to confront potentially armed looters! he's going to get out of here.

but just as he starts to leave, he hears the voices again - coming from one of the surgery rooms this time. and they're talking about IVs... scalpels... anesthesia...

suddenly he realizes that these aren't looters - they're here to try and treat somebody.

and like hell is he going to let some idiot kill someone trying to do DIY surgery.

so he turns back around and bursts into the room... on two humans, a rat that counts as giant even for New York, and four very big, very injured turtles.

one of whom immediately points a gun in his face. to be fair, that's what he thought would happen.

"Donnie!" yells the biggest one, and, oh, they can talk. huh.

"Relax, it's just a tranquilizer!"

"Donatello!" that's the rat. there's a sound like a whip cracking and the one with the gun makes a startled noise and drops it.

now the rat is in front of him. he's looking up at Marcus imploringly. "Do you work here?" he asks.

"Y-yeah. I'm a vet."

the rat bows very politely. "my sons are seriously hurt, and I don't have the supplies to help them at home. I understand it is a lot to ask, but... we must use your supplies. please, if you could just look the other way."

Marcus looks around at the turtles, especially the one on the table, the one worst off. he looks mangled. he won't live long if he isn't properly treated.

a rat, two humans who look like teenagers, and the turtles. who the rat called "sons". now that he's noticing, they're all pretty short, other than the big one. are they also teenagers?

"...Are any of you doctors?" he asks. the littlest one starts to raise a hand, but the girl grabs it and forces it back down.

everyone else has left by now. he's the only doctor here.

alright. guess he's doing this.

"...okay, everyone make some room. let me get sterilized, and I'll see what we're working with here."

and that's how the son Lou Jitsu didn't know he had becomes primary care doctor to his teenage mutant ninja half-brothers. ^^

(and then a bunch of other stuff happens)

[kitkatopinions]

@kitestarry Thought I'd answer this comment in its own post. :)

Ghira and Kali are very much so stereotypical "Mom and Dad" characters imo, where Kali is kind of nosy and she's comforting and she's given that "no she can hit people with pans too" thing that people give Supermoms since like 2000 so they can say they're strong women without having to do any work, and Ghira is like overprotective and tells Blake she isn't wearing enough clothes and hates Sun because he's a boy who's interested in his daughter. And I don't like the stereotypical "Mom and Dad" characterization in any setting really, but since they're only featured in two seasons and are honestly not even sort of the focus of Blake's 4-5 arc (which is much more about her, Sun, and Ilia,) they're very paper thin characters I feel like. So there isn't much else to them. But on top of that, the RWBY writers do this thing where they'll make the teenage characters do dangerous stuff but do not care to write the "caring" parental figures in their life to actually do anything about it. Like, with Willow you can at least be like "well she's an alcoholic who had an abusive husband" which doesn't mean that her complete lack of presence until V7 and her lack of action in protecting her children is fine, but it makes more sense. And when then sixteen year old Ruby left home to go after Cinder and supposedly like a year later Tai still is completely not around, we could at least say "well, he knows she's with Qrow and he might not have known how serious everything was" which isn't a good excuse, but it's at least something. But, I believe Blake ran away from home five years before the start of the show, which means she was like twelve! And she ran away to be part of a group Ghira thought was dangerous and morally wrong (which is why he left in the first place.) Like, we don't know if Blake had a good place to stay for that whole time, if she ever went hungry, and the show fully tells us she was in a bad and unsafe relationship for part of it. And where were her parents? And then the Fall of Beacon happens after Blake is on TV during the Vytal Festival, and the whole thing just makes them feel like very uncaring bad parents. There's also Ghira's whole peaceful protest 'be nice to your oppressors and they might like you' 'we need to stop faunus violence' thing. Like many Faunus characters, Ghira's a mouthpiece for the severely badly handled fantasy racism plot. It's bad on Blake, but since she has a lot more character and role outside of that, it's easy enough to just clip it out for her for me. But because Ghira has been such a small role, it's a lot harder to dismiss for him. Like if you removed that sort of thing from Ghira's character, all that you'd have left is 'over-protective dad who doesn't care about finding his twelve year old runaway but will comment on her belly shirt when she comes home."

But also, I don't write for them to be honest. Writing for characters oftentimes makes me like them more because it helps me dive into the character concept more than the oftentimes lackluster execution. There are a lot of characters I didn't like that much, but then when I write for them, I find myself really enjoying them. But my sister and I first started writing for RWBY after volume six with a fanfiction that was an AU branch off starting at the end of V5. And the only fanfictions I've written either are branches off of that branch off or are Team STRQ era fics. So... Ghira and Kali aren't really part of things in my fics ever.

So yeah, it's a combination of them being thin stereotypical parents with very little interest to them, their apparent lack of care when their twelve year old ran away, and just never writing for them so they don't get the same treatment of me fleshing them out myself that other characters who are just as thin in canon might get that make me like them more.

[lookbluesoup]

I know shippy stuff and canon-adjacent stuff is popular and I'm certainly not dissing those. I like them too, they're a lot of fun! And AUs are great, I have so many!

But man, I wish there was more... idk, emphasis and exploration of the FFXIV lore, and those moments that have to have happened but aren't shown on screen - talked about and written about and illustrated here on tumblr.

That's usually been my favorite part of fandoms, discussing the lore with other fans in-depth and sharing theories, and seeing how everyone's characters would handle those big or quiet moments from the story itself. Exploring how a game mechanic/boss fight would feel from a story perspective, and what it would mean to the characters.

It's not entirely absent from here, but even when I make my own meta posts, even if they get lots of notes, I tend to see very little discussion added compared to what I'm used to from other fandoms. And when new patches come out, there's not a lot of deep talk about the story itself circulating. Maybe I've just been lucky in my previous spaces!

But... I want to know how the WoL and Graha bonded during the Crystal Tower raids. Did they sit around the campfire at night and talk? Did they drink and sing and laugh and argue?

What was it like, recovering from Ultima Thule? How did it feel to set out on the road again, leaving the title of Scion behind? Did they give their friends a tour of Ishgard? Did they visit Edmont? What was it like in the trenches of Ghimlyt Dark, for these characters who have never seen war before, versus the ones who have? Did the WoL help stabilize Lakeland, and tend wounded after the sin eater attacks?

I want late night study sessions with the twins, bittersweet work in the hot sun rebuilding Ala Mhigo, learning to fight on dragonback, Hraesvelgr's brood visiting Ishgard on diplomatic forways. I want snarking with Emet Selch while you help people with "side quests" in Norvrandt. I want gentle moments with Ryne on the road because if anyone understands the suffocating feeling of immense responsibility Hydaelyn and Minfilia have dropped on that child, it's the WoL.

What was it like for the WoL to fight the pirates in Sastasha? To see the women taken captive there? To see the Drowned mutilated by Leviathan's tempering? How did they handle the narrow tunnels and rickety elevators in Copperbell, and the giants angry after centuries of unjust imprisonment? Did they step in Aurum Vale's goldbile and have a shoe burnt off? Did they bring a pet korpokkur home from the Arboretum? Do they carry scars?

Do they take the manacutter out for joyrides? Did Grani recognize the color of their soul, and choose them over the tempered twist of Emet Selchs, or did Emet charge his familiar with looking after them? Have they ever been robbed in Limsa Lominsa? Did they ever buy loinfruit?

Does that goobbue sproutling grow up? The coerl kitten become a battle steed? The wolf pup a guardian? Do the sylphs play games with the WoL when they visit the Shroud? Do they carry a polished shell to remind them of their Clutchfather? Do they stop by the guild to check on the Deftarm whenever they're in Dravania?

What was it like trekking the spindly mountains of Othard, riding a Yol for the first time, seeing the endless plains of green, and the dead white of the Burn?

Do they still have nightmares about Haurchefant, or are they good dreams remembering his smile? Did he teach them to make hot chocolate? Did they stay up all night when the Scions lost their souls, waiting by the bedsides with a candle and feeling helpless?

Do they visit Amaurot, even after Emet Selch is gone? Are they still trying to remember? Did they look up at the night sky in Elpis and feel an indescribable sense of loss?

Was there ever a moment in Endwalker where they almost became a Blasphemy themselves? Did they ever answer Venat's question? Do they know that the love their friends had for them, saved them?

[joyswonderland1108]

Seek help.

Please read this as i'm trying to spread awareness. Before you continue, if this landed randomly on your page, i'm a Jikook blog, you do not have to follow me or disregard this post simply because of that as my goal here is to speak up for Jungkook.

Now back to all of you who know me already, it is nothing new to you that i complained many times before about Tiktok Army. Today however for some reason i'm at my breaking point.

When i tell you that Jungkook is but a sexual fantasy to a lot of "Army" i'm not even joking. This image they're trying to give to Jungkook as him being a fuckboy, a player, yada yada, is getting out of hand. The boy is doing his best to get out of that "baby" image many stick to him but that also doesn't mean it gives you the right to objectify him, some people here are forgetting that objectifying doesn't only happen with women so let that be a reminder to you that it can happen to anyone.

Yes Jungkook is exploring different genre, exploring mature concepts but this does not mean that you can use him for your own sexual fantasies, or make comments about him making him sound/look like a pervert.

It's already bad enough that hater made up a rumor about him that many dumbasses believed without checking how they were trending that Jungkook was a SA'er and now "Army" making comments that aren't helping this sick agenda either.

In KBS the photocards that were gifted to those who attended had "Our Army whom i want to see in 3D" written at the back of it, it should be cute considering how much Jungkook would remind us that he really appreciates Army and is so thankful towards them. The expression simply meant that he wants to see Army in real life, but going ahead and linking it to the meaning of the song.. I don't know if people are aware of the shit they are insinuating with that.

And if you still don't know let me spell it out for you: You are insinuating that Jungkook is asking random people to see them in compromising positions, see them sexually, the people aka the fans. A gentle reminder that some idols had scandals when it comes to ACTUALLY indulging in sexual acts with fans or sexual remarks towards fans that made them uncomfortable. So you over here mindlessly making comments about Jungkook that might be taken so wrongly by people is insane.

Be mindful of what you say, i feel like whatever Jungkook decides to do many people here makes him regret his decision. He decided to share snippets of him at the gym, did a live there: Stalked. He decided to do lives from home: Stalked. He decided to try to interact more with Army's comments: Disrespectful comments. He decided to explore mature concepts for his solos: Overly sexualized and objectified.

There's a difference between being open minded about sex and sexy concepts and actually only seeing a person as that, making it their whole personality. Need i remind you that Jungkook is an artist too? Before you forget that he's just your sexual fantasy, your out of a manhwa wet dream, he is also a singer, an artist, a performer, someone who works hard not for you to only see his dick.

And it's funny to me because these same people would call you close-minded simply for seeing him as a human, you know, something he himself have said before that he too is a human. These same people would call you immature for actually seeing more than just "sex" in him, these same people would call you a kid or a grandma for not making sick comments about him.

All that and they still do not realize that being mature is being completely okay with the fact that Jungkook is a grown ass man and isn't the virgin weeb many can't help but think he is, that he is an adult who knows what sex is and can sing about it if that's what he wants to, that he is capable of choosing the mature concept without making him a player.

I feel like more than other members Jungkook is always the target of so many fucked up things, whether it's rumors, or stalking, or nasty comments, or or or. I've talked previously about how i was surprised during TMA seeing how many people didn't even bother with Jungkook from the beginning, and i'll say it again i thought that i'll have a hard time with both my biases i thought that it'll be a tough competition and i'll be left there not knowing which direction to take just for me to realize that many people never even bothered to vote for him to begin with.

Many people would rather read fictions about him, very sick fictions actually, would rather make Y/N povs on tiktok, make edits about him that would gather some very nasty comments than actually properly support him.

Many people don't even want to support him on what HE himself literally said, spelled out from his own mouth. Many people want to make decisions for him and would fight people who truly care for him and defend him and what he said because apparently to these people what Jungkook said himself is not good enough so they feel the entitlement to decide for him all while telling those who care to "Not decide for him" Ah.. The irony.

Because one more reminder, i will not let you forget that some people are up until this day, still negotiating Jungkook's enlistment and how he can still go later maybe even in 2028 ignoring the many times Jungkook himself said that he will enlist soon, that he can't wait to reunite with the members in 2025.

I don't know where the disrespect, where the audacity, where the bravery is coming from, but seriously Jungkook is way too kind for some people, like.. WAY TOO DAMN KIND. Just because he said he wanted us to be friends with him it doesn't mean that some boundaries are meant to be crossed. Just because he is a man, it doesn't mean it gives you the right to treat him like something that you own, if he was a woman i want to see if those same people would still make comments about him that way.

Men can be harassed too, men can be sexualized too, men can be objectified too. Him wanting to be the grown up that he is doesn't give you the right to mold him into a filthy image out of your own fetishes.

Please have some respect for that man, support him for who he is, not who you want him to be.

[thickenmyblood]

Hi Maca, I hope you can answer my question about Damen’s previous love-sex life before Laurent.

I remember, there is this paragraph where is revealed that Damen came out while he was in college but only is reveled that he likes men, nothing specific about his sex experiences or anything.

“…He never really told them he liked men, the way Damen did, simply making out with a first-year guy in one of those college parties Nikandros used to drag them to. They had all thought it was a one-time thing, that it was the alcohol and the excitement of having passed his exams. Apparently, they were wrong.”

And now in chapter 19 I think its revealed that Damen was clueless or so ignorant about Laurents habits and whatever related to sex with men, and that make wonder if you could explain or give more details about Damen previous experiences.

I know you have stated in the same chapter these lines.

“He always has, ever since he got that first handjob halfway into being fourteen, through all the awkward and quick first times, through all the new awkward and quick first times with guys...”

but it seems that he was not very experienced and only had “firsts times.” with no further experiences to gain more understandings or to learn the basics mechanics.

Maybe I’m misinterpreting the paragraphs since English is not my native language, if that’s the case, please forgive, because you are a terrific writer, and the mistake is mine.

Any way thanks for your time and one more question, the books that Damen had read to understand Laurents and Nicaise behavior and trauma really exists or are based in real ones…

Thanks again for your time. And thanks for this fiction it’s really well written, engaging, you have the ability to capture your reader's emotions and imagination.

Ju_Katze.

hello!!! sorry for the late reply.

in hiuh, damen has had sex with men before laurent, but as you pointed out they were all "first times" in the sense that it was just hooking up (also, that quote is referencing things like "first time getting a blowjob from a guy, first time giving head yourself, first time fucking a guy".) you don't necessarily talk to a one-night stand about things like douching or prepping or the weird and toxic culture around not eating pre-sex that some people participate in. damen isn't stupid, but he is oblivious and ignorant about many things in this fic, and he doesn't really notice things (anything?) that escape the bubble of his comfort and experience (other examples include "the help" or waiters at restaurants and coffee shops, mental health issues, health issues in general like IBS or Celiac's, etc.)

additionally, you could use this bit of backstory to read how and why damen dating laurent was such a fundamental shift in his life and, especially, his friendships. we know nikandros has never liked laurent, and we know why, but it's also possible that nikandros and the entire friend group (aktis and elon, specifically) were not exactly bothered by damen "coming out" as bi because they saw it as a phase or as a sex-only thing. having casual sex with men is not the same as being in a committed relationship with one. which is why when laurent and damen break up, nikandros's options for damen are always women. i also think it's interesting that damen only considered dating a man seriously after his father was dead.

as for details about damen's previous experiences, they're not part of the story so they're not "canon", but I always imagined hiuh damen to be, essentially, a fuckboy (affectionate). he likes sex, he likes boys and girls, he likes other people knowing that he's good at things (and that includes sex). i like the idea that he started having sex when he was young (14) but that unlike what happened to laurent, it wasn't traumatic or weird or bad. that's why I liked the phrase "awkward and quick first times". that's usually the case with first times: you don't know what you're doing, sometimes there's sneaking around involved so you have to be quick about it, you're excited so it is quick, etc. it's my personal headcanon that his previous partners have always been "discreet" in the way laurent is, which speaks more about damen's toxic masculinity than his real personal taste. even if it was just a one night stand, he could never fuck someone like ancel, who wears "more feminine" clothes, does his nails, is into makeup, is more open and vocal about his queerness, etc.

about the self-help books: i'd say 99% of them are not real, but they are based on real books that you can find online. i read the body keeps the score (very problematic) and a bunch of others (like, a few pages of healing the shame that binds you) but ultimately decided it was better to just stick to original things.

i hope this cleared things up for you!!! thank you for the cool questions!! and congrats on your english, it's very good!