#but not when its INSTEAD of the canon characters yknow?

[dukeofthomas]

I'd say my version of Jason is made up of;

Jason's original Robin run (Batman 408-428)

Under the Red Hood movie, with some parts of the Under the Hood/A Death in the Family comics (his resurrection, Sheila, sometimes the Batarang incident)

(LEGO DC: Batman - Family Matters, and an assortment of small things from Canon and Fanon ("Little Wing" nickname, experienced CSA, provides protection for prostitutes in crime alley.))

[anxiously-sidequesting]

So I don't know if it was ever revealed how Duncan felt when we killed Malistaire all three times but I'm wondering if maybe some part of him could hate us for that too. Like you hear that and you go "but why. Malistaire was terrible and even Duncan knew that(?). Why would he hate you for getting rid of him."

But like I think it's so....... interesting in a very, very, very sad way how Duncan so easily latches onto anyone who directly feeds into his delusions of grandeur. And that's no fault of his own that he was manipulated by the nasty Schism but when you think about how desperately clung to the idea that Malistaire, easily one of the greatest necromancers any of us had ever heard of (at that time), somehow actually recognized Duncan's talents (even when canon supports that Duncan wasn't all that talented, at least no more than the next necromancer) and then praised him for it so often that Duncan believed that he would be the next Death Professor is. I mean ☹️

So like with that mindset I unfortunately feel like it would be quite easy to twist even Malistaire's death as something that's horrible and awful and all our fault. ESPECIALLY if the Schism was feeding into Duncan's already broken mind and shattered ego and was constantly telling him that everything bad that ever happened to him ever in his life was Our Fault. That's like a realistic conclusion that someone like Duncan could come to

And like, at this point in time, are Malistaire's crimes even a factor in how he thinks????? Was Duncan ever able to separate Malistaire's talent and skills and prowess from the terrible and awful things he did? If Duncan wasn't able to consciously tell that distinction in the first place I can't imagine it would be any better during the years he was being manipulated and isolated and lied to

Like in Duncan's mind it probably isn't, "maybe I shouldn't idolize a national criminal, or idolize anyone at all for that matter, and aspire to be like someone so harmful when I can recognize my own talent and build from there" it's probably more like, "you (the wizard) permanently got rid of a brilliant mind, an innocent person who just made a few mistakes, and someone who believed in me no matter what just so that you could be the better than me and loved by everyone else" and that's! very sad actually!

[fefairys]

i think that vriska homestuck and vriska pesterquest are two distinct versions of vriska and i think that a lot of people are thinking more about PQ vriska than HS vriska when they discourse about her because they remember PQ more clearly than HS and so they don’t remember like… the true, canon vriska from the comic, they mostly just remember a version of vriska that was one person’s exercise in projecting onto a character to write about her experiences, but was actually not all that in character when you compare it to HS vriska. so the discourse goes nowhere because we are now talking about two completely different characters.

[waywardsalt]

anyways. holding linebeck gently

[buckgettingstruck]

here to ask about the camera panning to eddie. give me the freak answer pls

when i saw that shit airing i yelled and spilled wine on my carpet.

like. i feel like this is common sense but i dont know if people realize how intentional each second of a show/movie is. like whether the show is a silly sitcom or a serious drama everything is so intentional and purposeful. of course theres always continuity errors and mistakes that happen when you’re creating a show of that size thats been running for so long but for the most part everything has its intentions. its why you see certain themes come back again and again. im not gonna get into outfit meta or anything like that because its not really my wheelhouse but i did learn a lot about camera techniques and im a writer so. yeah.

shots are one of the most important aspects of a movie or a tv show. they set the mood. close up shots convey intensity and emotion while more wide shots establish a scene etc. they gave us a lot of close up shots of eddie’s face in the kim and eddie scene at the end of 7x09 because it was an intense moment for eddie as a character for example. you have to get the shot right to convey what you want your audience to see yknow.

so. you have the medal ceremony. they couldve done the announcements for these people in literally any order because they fucking wrote the script. they didnt do it alphabetically or anything normal they literally had the trio of triangulated desire standing in the back with buck in the middle AGAIN while chim and hen were being normal and serving cunt up front. and when they were sitting they had buck in the middle again because reasons. then once they got their medals itd pan to their families and significant others clapping. ofc for tommy they pan to buck because thats the person there supporting him. for BUCK they had so many options. they had bobby, his captain that he verbally said was his father figure the next episode, they had maddie, his fucking SISTER AND THE WOMAN WHO RAISED HIM, and they had tommy, the dude he’s dating. instead they pan to eddie.

literally that is the absolute LOUDEST fucking thing the show has done so far in my opinion. they panned to buck for tommy!!! they couldve panned back to buck or done it in a different order if they didnt wanna repeat so they could pan to them for each other!!! but they panned to eddie and the director of photography was even emphasizing that choice on twitter.

the entire bi arc had eddie written all over it. they had so many opportunities to shove their relationship to the side and double down on their friendship but they didnt. instead we had buck tweaking at the gym where we have no idea who eddie was even talking to on that phone, eddie constantly mentioned by buck in a kiss scene with someone else, the line of all time ‘MY attention?’, eddie interrupting the date next episode, buck not even giving a FUCK about the date because he lied to eddie, the shit maddie said that episode about being confused about his feelings, eddie saying nothing is gonna change between them (which. thats a chekov’s gun if ive ever seen one), and all the entire shit with the bachelor party. not even mentioning the implications of the song choice for the karaoke scene that paralleled madney because we didnt get it in the episode. they couldve completely avoided all of that but they didnt and then when buck is dating someone else they dont pan to HIM being happy and supportive for buck, they pan to EDDIE. it feels as if its supposed to remind us what’s actually going on or another attempt to clue us in

also like right after they had the two who were dating acting as acquaintances. and had that guy also kinda put buck’s excitement down at said ceremony. and later in that episode had buck ditch plans with the guy he was dating to make sure eddie was okay. for reasons i guess. so buddie canon or theyre doing a real bad job at getting me to care about bucks actual man

[official-darkforest]

What’s Jayfeather and Alderheart’s relationship like in your au? I always imagined Jayfeather choosing to tutor one of his siblings after Hollyleaf, Cinderheart, and Lionblaze kind of did and he realizes five days later he was mislead into thinking this would be fun but now he just has a little 13 year old on his hands. But I don’t know how well that translates to another time period

kinda! i think with how the timelines overlap a lot closer (to make sure that characters are within reasonable age differences between each other) alder and his sister were born earlier and are only just barely younger than ivy/dove, so jay/lion/holly’s childhood overlaps with alder/spark’s a little bit. i’d say with squirrel’s fertility issues (probably PCOS or some other unspecified reproductive disorder) they probably have a pretty significant age difference but not to the same degree as the books where jay was a grown ass adult (theres a 5 year difference between them in canon! that means he wouldve been like fucking 35 or so human yrs LMFAOO) by the time alder was born. maybe 10 yrs at the most. dandelion and juniper were born between that but unfortunately didnt survive long

as for their relationship, they were pretty okay. jay was probably fresh into college by the time alder got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. squirrel/bramble probably pressed jay about it but he dismissed them because he was still a student at the time and nowhere near a professional yet. alder idolized jay a lot growing up because he “didn’t let his disability hold him back”. there qas a lot of inspiration porn type of thinking on alder’s end and honestly the rest of the family kinda perpetuated it as well so its not just him. its not intentional either but yknow. at a certain point (and a lot of long conversations and arguments between the two about it) alder stops idolizing him to such an unhealthy degree and doesn’t fall into the ‘if my disabled brother can do xyz then i have 0 excuses’ line of thinking as much as he used to. while alder isnt the biggest fan of jay trying to psychoanalyze him mid-argument, he takes his word into consideration anyways

jay likes to say he thinks alder is irritating (in the younger sibling kind of way) but honestly spark was worse than alder when she was a teenager. jay just interacted with alder more since he was quieter and less overstimulating, especially when in the Deepest Pits Of College Homework Hell. also hes bluffing he really does enjoy alder’s company. he’s hard on him because he wants the younger to succeed, evem if hes a bit mean about it sometimes.

alder eventually becomes a pharmacist instead of a psychologist, finding the work of the former much more attuned to his needs and his likes. he’s still helping people. by the 2010s-2020s, he’s even filled and compounded a few medications jay prescribed to his patients!

[unhinged-waterlilly]

I've seen all the anti-jegulus shit in your blog nd you are so fucking homophobic

jily literally makes no fucking sense and if you thing it does youre a fucking idiot

You want the jily tag cleared up so bad? Off yourself so it won't be filled with your junk

There is so much to unpack here. I am in awe. First of all, you spelt think wrong, which is sad, and you're missing the apostrophe in you're.

Second of all, not homophobic I quite like da gays. I'm the one whispering "be gay, do crime" in their ear. Trust.

Third, "Jily makes no fucking sense" ....hun Jily is the reason the Harry Potter, yknow the main guy in the book series "Harry Potter", exists. If Jily makes no sense, it wouldn't have been Canon.

I have friends who ship Jegulus and I'm not yelling in their faces about how its bad. I just don't like Jegulus.

I don't like that fact that it's taken over the marauders tag or the Jily tag. I don't like the fact that on the rp I started, everyone assumes that it's Jegulus instead of Jily. I don't like that everyone seems to have forgotten Jily exists because "ohhh fanon gay ship in the block!!!" I don't like that Regulus is mentioned everywhere James is mentioned, or just every Marauders thing at this point when he wasn't fucking important in the main Canon. I don't like people saying, "but he went against Voldemort" because he only did when he learned Voldemort was a muggle-born and cause his house Elf was in danger.

I don't like that every fanon I see with Regulus, he has no personality of his own and seems to have just taken Lily's personality and Sirius's complexities and have had both stripped of theirs.

I don't like that all the other Blacks, the ones who did go against their family are cast aside in the background, and Regulus takes the spotlight despite the fact that he never actually did go against anyone until the last minute. I don't like that Regulus has been turned into a hero when he's the furthest thing from it. I don't like that James has turned from an interesting character to "I live to simp for my ammaazinng boyfriend"

I don't like that a straight ship can't have anything to itself anymore. I don't like that every character has to be gay to make people happy.

I don't like that Lily and most of the other women who actually did something incredible wouldn't be cast aside if they were men.

Yes, I know the difference between Canon and fanon, but I think people forget that fanon is only there because of Canon.

So no I'm not gonna fucking off myself.

Lastly, Fuck jkr

[k4txlulzz]

yknow now that i think about it, if mystic messenger wasn't so loyal to traditional gender roles it would not have the issue of "female character does emotional labor for the male characters and puts up with their bs"

if only mc was not stuck in a traditional role of "soft nurturer girl" and able to be a lot more proactive and take on the "protector" role instead

i read an amazing honkai star rail analysis on gender identity in aventurine's story and loved that it basically reverses the roles ; which is, as the author of that analysis said, probably one of reasons why he is a popular character amongst ladies . why cant cheritz do the same ? i honestly think it could really benefit the narrative!

cheritz needs to realize that by liberating our fem mc from traditional gender roles it will give her more power and make the issue i began this post with almost nonexistent. y'all alrdy have two canonically queer characters, you might as well stop with the archaic gender norms😭its okay for her to be the knight instead of the damsel in distress

it's especially frustrating when its with characters like saeyoung, who, in my opinion, require protection more than actually being the protector lol . (hes also one of the two before mentioned queer characters so this gender norm issue is especially confusing in his route)

this is one of the reasons why i like hana from the webtoon !! shes more proactive and bold, which also leads to her basically speedrunning seven's whole "im too dangerous for you go away" shenanigans

and again we circle back to "if only mystic messenger mc was non-binary" 🥲 .... these issues would be nonexistent

[pigdemonart]

Do you ship Fox and Krystal?? Because they were my childhood 🥺 baby's first otp yknow

hahah I do! But with a BIG asterisk. Putting it under cut for INSANE STAR FOX RAMBLINGS

* <- the big asterisk: I ship them, but like I also am okay with them not being end-game. I think their relationship could be so much bigger than that!! OK so, let me explain. When I was a kiddo I shipped them! I was a baby furry and I loooooved that there was a playable girl character in Star Fox FINALLY (though, you know that was for only a split second bhnjmk) But now, I just think the way they were both written in the games was a little boring and one-note. Also just uncomfortable at times, since her first appearance Krystal was made out to be weird kinda-fetishy, sex-appeal and not much else. I don't think that's a controversial statement though LOL Later games I don't much feel for their chemistry either, though they have cute moments here and there. The more interesting parts about them is when they're not seeing eye-to-eye and they're apart from each other, honestly. So in my drawings I was picturing something less canon and more re-imagined. Krystal is the lone survivor of her race and she's on Sauria trying to find the truth about what happened to her home planet while also aiding the local wildlife. I don't imagine the dinosaurs speaking much in my version, but Krystal is telepathic and an empath, she can read their minds well enough to talk to them and be understood. I imagine also she knows about Andross, but doesn't believe he's the reason her planet was destroyed (there's disagreements on if that is canon or not, and I think its pretty silly to blame every bad thing on the one guy.) I think it would be fun if Krystal (never being encased in a crystal because that plot was dumb) meets Fox on Sauria early on in the events of Star Fox Adventures. I mean it would have been GREAT if Krystal was his partner, instead of Tricky. Though in the drawings I included Tricky too, cuz why not? I like the dynamic of Krystal being kind towards all living creatures and Fox having to learn to keep up with that. Nature never seemed like his -thing- ya know. See I like the idea of their personalities crashing a lot at first. They are from different cultures and backgrounds, their understanding of Lylat history is different -- Fox being from Corneria means he views the war against Andross as a necessary thing, something Andross brought on himself and eventually paid for with his life, not to mention the death of his father weighs heavily on him forever. Krystal disagrees, being a firm believer that war is never the answer and the price of peace for some came at the cost of the death of others, including her own people. Like...DO YOU SEE HOW MUCH THEY WOULDN'T MIX, they are just too different and too caught up in their own life missions to really get the other's intentions. But then in spite of all that, they become friends. I think my ver. of Krystal while looking down on Fox somewhat for being a mercenary would also be intrigued by him. She would want to know how exactly this guy and his team defeated Andross, and from there know more stories about his life. Likewise, Fox being stuck on ground on Sauria with Krystal I think would open his eyes a bit more (lmao touch some grass for once) and they would at least bond with each other while also helping each other stay alive. I think they realize on their own that they each bring out good things about one another... at least at first.

In the games Krystal is pretty much assimilated into Star Fox and we don't really see how that happens or how she really feels about it. We just know she eventually breaks up with Fox and cuts ties with the rest of them, something that broke my heart when I was a kid, but I'm not super against or in disagreement with. Personally I just think her sort of beliefs and upbringing would have never lent itself well to the line of work Star Fox does, at least not so easily. It came off to me like she was a young woman caught up in a romance that felt right at first and then became bitter and unfulfilling once reality set in. And in my eyes, I think its more interesting if she becomes disillusioned with Star Fox and the Cornerian Defense Force because, put simply, Krystal isn't pro-military. And that's sad...but it's pretty raw, too. And I love my stupid children's game about furries in space being full of dark themes!! Nintendo already set the domino pieces up, I just feel like we never got to see them all come tumbling down. We were teased with possible ideas that the Cornerian army and General Pepper were morally grey and that Andross had good intentions mixed in with every totalitarian thing he did. Krystal even is the one to defend Andross in one scene in Command, which is fucking crazyyyyyyyy!!! but it doesn't GO ANYWHERE -tears hair out- But anyways, as you can see Fox X Krystal drives me insane. /pos There isn't really an ending I love or subscribe to the most from Star Fox Command. That game really just threw a lot of the fans for a loop with all the drama and "bad," not super fulfilling ends to beloved characters. Though, that being said, I lowkey like the Kursed/Krazoa arc for Krystal, I think it's like an interesting path for a character like her. Like yeah, turn this woman into a hardened butch bounty hunter!!!! why NOT!!! She'd get under his skin better than Wolf ever could!!! Plus, how often does a pairing go from friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-strangers?? Fox can't recognize the love of his life anymore because she's been fundamentally changed by the world HE introduced her to. Now they both gotta live with that with Sauria being nothing but a distant memory. It's tragic, it's messy, it can go in so many different directions and I just think these furries should yell at each other for my amusement. anyways that's all. :] i'm actually normal about them tee hee.

[dapper-lil-arts]

What is your opinion on appledash and twipie?

hoo boy. I was wondering when someone would ask me the burning question about super popular ships.

Okay before i get into it I'll say right now that I'm an extensive romance writer. I've done multiple fics who focus strongly on romance, it's my favorite genre, I've done a LOT of it, and I work on multigenre so I'm always like. Trying to work extra hard to make stories interesting, compelling, character driven, etc etc.

If you want to say "volume doesn't equal quality" to me, i dont fucking know, read my fics before saying that my writing sucks lmao.

And this is just a little bit, I started writing these in january. Anyways, what I mean by this is that I tend to think a LOT when thinkin about romance, I consider every angle, every possibility, I'm not the kinda person that goes "I ship them bc theyre cute" And nothing else, yknow? Yeah you can consider me pretentious if you want, i'm that family guy suit wearing meme lmao.

Anyways, when it comes to writing romance on adapting characters, I often consider multiple angles, such as canon chemistry, fanon chemistry, tropes the characters exist on and tropes they can easily build upon, and one of the most important: What does each of these individual characters want/don't want in a relationship, and what can they provide each other.

There are characters for example that dont express any interest in romance, but that doesnt mean they wouldnt have an ideal partner n whatnot. (Like Twilight not rly ever expressing desire for romance, but very much benefiting from ruling alongside someone) There are characters that are obsessed with romance, but might actually be best with an ideal that isnt what they expected. (How rarity wanted a handsome prince, but might instead just want a fiercely loyal partner that fullfils her emotionally and phisically etc.)

So now we get to the ships that you mentioned.

Twilight sparkle is a studious nerd who enjoys a quiet day reading and relaxing, she loves learning and exploring ideas quietly. How the hell would she ever be happy with Pinkie, who CANNOT sit still, clearly doesnt care for studying or being quiet, and wants to be the center of attention all the time. Sure you could try to spin it as an "Aww the kitty want's attention" But that really isn't enough for me; And it's kinda messed up to HAVE to put your interests aside to give attention to your partner. ...Especially when canon Pinkie's track record with twilight is usually just annoying her over anything and everything.

anyways, canon Pinkie gets together with Cheese sandwich, which is essentially a copy of her. A bit lame, sure, but with it we can understand what she wants in a relationship; she want's to be challenged, she wants someone to match her freak, or at least accompany it. Yeah it's still lame to have a copy of her, but we can take it from the canon exactly what she wants, even if it isn't necessarily what she needs.

What the hell does Twilight provide that Pinkie wants? How does Twilight challenge pinkie on her favorite things, on partying, on living wild? Twilight wants to be chill and read books, why would that be anything but excruciating to pinkie, ESPECIALLY canon pinkie who revels on interrupting and annoying and making the whole room pay attention to her?

This is elementary stuff to me, it's one of the reasons why Sunset x Pinkie works so much, because although Sunset is NOT a copy of Pinkie, she absolutely can match her freak, they can challenge each other and push each other further, they can be a dynamic duo that both love their respective methods of partying. It's lovely! (And hey Sunset has amazing chemistry with twilight for similar reasons, they were both studious under the same teacher, magical overachievers, etc etc etc.)

Imagining that Pinkie has to mellow out to get with someone is kinda weird, since, its the cornerstone of her character that shes bubbly, hiperactive, and loud. And in sunpie you got the brilliant "People that cheerful make me nervous-- Well, not all people, hi Pinkie." ANYWAYS lets get to appledash, I've written enough and got more stuff to do.

In the subject of tropes, this ain't opposites attract, but it isn't equals attract either. People tried convincing me that its smth related to butch v butch romance? but idk if I'm sold on it, generally like... Even if you don't take canon Rainbow into account and how she antagonizes AJ (and most people frankly) and you take it as it is, why would Applejack want to settle down with someone that doesn't care about family or farm work and has no business experience and whatever?

And why, goddamn why, would rainbow dash, the flyby crazy soaring high girl that loves to always be in the skies want to live in a goddamn farm, idk man idk. Sure you can make the argument that it's cute that they'd 'settle' for each other after a rivalry, but eh, they're not even official rivals like lightning Dust, and still! And if you want Rainbow to settle for a quiet life with someone she cares about... Fluttershy is right there, and she is much more chill, much more dedicated to a quiet life, AND she's a childhood friend. If you want Rainbow to get with a rival or with someone that can match her freak, both Lightning Dust and Spitfire are right there, both pegasi, both characters that have this importance and connection to her favorite thing: FLYING (Maybe rainbow is a little bit racist??! Lmao) I also think it doesn't help that AJ has history with so many femme girls that are all rly fun pairs with her (Rarity, Rara, Autumn blaze, Cherry, etc etc) So Rainbow 'the girl that doesn't shower Dash' feels like a sore thumb sticking out on that trend.

Applejack wants someone she can be fiercely loyal and loving with, she's a family mare and she is (by obvious reasons) grounded. Those aren't exactly the perfect fit for Dash, it feels like they'd have to compromise too much to be together.

generally for me is hard to multiship when there's a bunch of better character chemistries surrounding these character. I've refrained from mentioning rarijack too much on this whole shebang but like CMON. And hey. Appledash shippers. If you try to 'gotcha' me and say that appledash is canon, I'll remind you that you have less content than Korrasami. If that satisfies you, lmao, then you have my pity

[lillified]

What’s your thoughts about gender in Transformers specifically because I really love your take on the characters

that’s a good question! I’ve given a few different answers about this in the past, and I guess the simple answer would be I want people to interpret it in whatever way is most meaningful to them. The long answer is it’s complicated!

personally I believe that human gender dichotomy is entirely arbitrary. gender doesn’t preclude a set of behaviors or characteristics, but it affects how people treat you, and, in many cases, how you’re taught to view yourself.

One of my biggest pet peeves with how gender is handled in stuff like Transformers, where you’re dealing with things like sci fi or fantasy non-humans, is how literal and inherent it often is. Because we as people are writing from the perspective of a society where gender is taught as an immutable social framework, a lot of our art reflects this. However, when the issue of gender being arbitrary is brought up, instead of acknowledging its presence as an oversight, or an intentional thematic parallel, the go-to response is usually to codify it into canonical rule.

An example in Transformers would be how “female” Transformers were made into a subclass or subspecies to justify why they existed and why there were so few of them. Though you can argue from that as a technically sound retcon, this obviously does not solve the real life issue of why those creative decisions actually happened. It’s a fantasy excuse to justify a disinterest in engaging with “women” characters (while obviously the transformers are not human women, if it quacks like a duck, yknow?)

there have been other explanations of robot gender in the past, but I’ve never really been a fan of any of them, personally. The one I can think of that is most recent is the explanation that the gender dichotomy came about from the transformers learning about gender binary from other alien species (which they effectively colonized). While I personally think this is a step up, both as a writing decision and from a thematic perspective, my main issue with this is that this explanation says the “male” transformers are the essential “default.” The girls have all opted in/transitioned into their gender (which I think is cool, and should be something that happens more in transformers!). that being said, though, I fundamentally disagree with the idea that masculine and genderless should be inherently synonymous.

Femininity or girlhood (which are not inherently the same either, but I digress) being seen and portrayed as secondary is, surprisingly enough, not a very feminist or gender-abolitionist friendly idea! Of course this isn’t the biggest issue facing the women of the world, but I think it is essentialist in its own way, and is a fine example of the tricky nature of deconstructing gender in something that is fundamentally tied to it. On a side tangent, it also pretty much completely eliminates transmasculine representation, which I feel is unfortunate when having a gender binary in the first place only really serves to symbolize the range of human expression. Point being it’s imperfect and while I’m not claiming to have the perfect solution to this problem, I want to at least open the doors a little more for other people, potentially.

In my work I choose to make the genders as close to human as possible because ultimately they are humanoid robots, and I think if you are going to account for anthropocentric bias at all it wouldn’t hurt for there to be more representation overall. The robots are inherently sexless and their gender is inherently arbitrary, like humans (it is also partially the result of cultural imposition, also like humans), and though they lack many of the issues of a gendered society, it affects them and their social lives in a way people can probably relate to. “Man” and “woman” aren’t the only genders that exist, either, and, like humans, there are a range of different identities they can freely transition between.

I’d honestly rather not care too much about the specifics of why. There are reasons, purely social/societal ones, but I think that’s less important than the fact that they experience the consequences. I want people to be able to see themselves a little where they have not been allowed to previously where “humanoid” aliens and creatures have been concerned. If you exist, a robot can have your gender, I promise :)

Anyway, that was a very long winded response! I hope this answered your question, at least somewhat. Thanks again for submitting!

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Ive been thinking about a retcon-esque thing that I havent seen a lot of people talk about, and its that in ACOTAR rhysand talks to Feyre about how hes doing all this stuff for his court and to me it seemed like he actually cared for yknow, his whole court and not just one city. And it drives me insane because I would actually be so much more willing to see Rhys as a pragmatist and morally gray as opposed to stupid and evil if that was the case. Like, imagine instead of the canon bullshit with the court of nightmares and velaris, its basically just a normal court that treats all its citizens equally well but they enforce their borders really strongly so no one can get in without permission, and when someone does come over for political reasons or something they get a couple of people to do the whole CoN stick, or maybe its literally just the representatives of the NC (Rhysand, Kier, Mor, whoever is in charge of the illyrians) acting cruel and then letting the rumor mill run wild. That obviously still has its own ethical issues when you consider the fact that the night court is part of a larger country and theyre effectively cutting themselves and their own citizens off from it, but they are the kind of ethical issues I would accept from a character thats supposed to be morally gray

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 2, Wave 3, Poll 10

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Wen Kexing-Faraway Wanderers / Tian Ya Ke

Qualifications:

1. The LGBTQ+ part: he is canonically a gay man. (Though he does not identify by this specific word due to being from, yknow, fantasy ancient China, he is very vocal about only having interest in men / not having interest in women.) He is also one half of the main (canon, mlm) couple in the book. 2. Disability part: he has complex PTSD, with dissociative symptoms being most prominent. It's not articulated as clearly as the gay part, but there's a lot of textual evidence. For example, for his bouts of dissociation, he has a clear trigger - thinking or talking about personal loss (mostly his initial traumatic event, brutal murder of his parents when he was a child, but at least once it was fear of losing his partner), - and there's a very distinctive way the author describes it: "far-off gaze", "blank" expression or eyes, being "in a daze"/"dazed" were all words used more than once in those situations. He also exhibits symptoms of depersonalization, especially in contexts of violence. The one that made it click for me was a moment when someone was striking to kill him while he couldn't defend himself, and he was described as being calm "as if the one about to die was not himself", but there are also smaller hints, like several times he is described as 'fighting as if he doesn't notice pain and exhaustion' - which I would not take as evidence on its own, but tied in to other dissociative moments of his... yeah. 3. Last thing, in case you aren't sure PTSD/dissociative disorder should count as a disability, I want to make my argument that it should, as it noticeably impacts the character's quality of life. Both continuously (he mentions, for example, sleep problems/insomnia - that clearly stem from his traumatic experiences) and at specific moments (like that time he started dissociating in the middle of the battlefield, nearly resulting in him getting killed........)

Propaganda:

Okay, imagine a classical Chinese martial arts story. Young orphan meets a mysterious master, who imparts all his knowledge upon him; the boy trains hard and challenges various villains, until making it all the way to the final boss who was behind everything. Now, imagine if, in the very beginning of this story, the final boss accidentally ran into that mysterious master. And became suspicious of him. And began following him under pretense of falling in love with him at first sight. And then fell for him for real. And then they had adventures and also started co-parenting that young orphan.

THAT is the plot of Tian Ya Ke. And the final boss in question? Well, that's Wen Kexing I'm submitting! And yes, Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu - the aforementioned mysterious master and the main character of TYK - are a canon couple. Wen Kexing in particular is very, ah, out and loud gay. Gay and making it everyone else's problem even. So that's the LGBTQ+ part. (Also they are SUCH a couple. They're so funny! The whole circus! And then they do something and you are like oh yeah right. each of them is a villain of a different story. Good thing they decided to play house instead.) On the disability front, Wen Kexing has mental health stuff - to be specific, complex PTSD with signs of dissociative disorder. I'm not gonna describe his wide array of traumatic experiences on the form because it needs SO many trigger warnings, but the important part is how those impacted him. For example, he mentions having sleep problems/insomnia due to fear. (Which made the fandom lose our shit once we connected it to the earlier moment where he, in a vulnerable state, drags himself to Zhou Zishu's side and falls asleep on his lap. The! Trust! That! Shows!) He also dissociates frequently when thinking/talking about his initial traumatic event. Which is my favorite part of the portrayal of his PTSD because... you know how there's this trend in media with superpowers/magic when the character's trauma response is portrayed through their powers, like their powers going out of control? And TYK went 'yeah, no, when /our/ OP final boss has a ptsd flare up, he just dissociates like a normal person'. (and I, a normal person who also copes by dissociating, was like 'i owe u my life'.) Also, I think it's great that not all of his episodes are plot relevant. Like, in four out of five cases it's just something that happens (the narration / pov character makes note of it), and then the scene moves on - so it feels like a feature of his character, as opposed to a plot devise for creating situations. And the one case where it does happen in an action moment - when Wen Kexing gets revenge on the person responsible for his initial trauma and promptly starts dissociating in the middle of the battlefield, and someone else has to step in to prevent him from getting killed by other enemies - kinda highlights the disability aspect, imo. Like, it shows that PTSD creates barriers for him where a person without it wouldn't have any.

Anything Else?:

1. It's a Chinese novel, so character names are written down with surname first. So Wen Kexing = surname Wen + given name Kexing. 2. There's a live action adaptation of this novel, called Shan He Ling / Word of Honor, but it's uh. well. The portrayal of Wen Kexing's trauma and PTSD in it is. Bad. 'Completely butchered everything I thought was refreshing about it in the novel' bad. (please understand i hate everything about the adaptation and am barely refraining from infodumping about how much I deplore it here) So if WKX makes it into the tournament and none of the images I sent work for u, pls at least don't use the live-action version? He is practically a different character there!

Luke Skywalker-Star Wars

Qualifications:

his own dad cut his hand off :( THE gay character of Star Wars

Vader cuts off his hand in The Empire Strikes Back and he's very commonly portrayed as gay and/or aro in fanon. I think he might have been quietly confirmed as bi in some of the new canon novels but I'm not super familiar with OT-era EU material.

Propaganda:

Chanel boots etc etc

he was wearing the chanel boots. he saved the universe with the power of love and kindness. just look at him

[penguinkyun]

chapter 159 review

trigger warning: this chapter deals with a canon suicide which will be referenced. please click off if it affects you! your mental health is important

this is the second chapter in a row thats accompanied by me having a fever. not sure if that says anything. anyway

i take back very little of what I said last time because the point about ruby not surpassing ai still holds, but at least she wasn't stabbed like ai. at least.

instead we got the comedy of akane wearing a knife proof vest with ichigo planning the whole thing. and yknow what im actually totally fine with this. its better than ruby being stabbed and its inadvertent subtext of "ruby is a better idol than ai, so much so she survived being stabbed" that comes with the scenario where it actually was ruby who was stabbed and survives especially with the surrounding hamfisted narrative of ruby surpassing ai

i really do like the significance of ichigo correcting his mistakes with ai by making sure no one dies in the second attack, because he is the character who has to correct his failures relating to ai's death. its great that he gets to do that in this chapter!

whats not great is him using a 19yo girl as bait in order to correct said failures. what if nino went for the throat? but then again it is in line with ichigo's character *gestures at him guilt tripping aqua in 108*

whats funny is that ichigo apparently knew ryousuke and nino were dating and just did not investigate her in the least. i could play devil's advocate for him here and say that even if he did investigate nino, ai hid who the father was and idk if nino wouldve given hikaru up at that point and theres no real way to get concrete evidence hikaru and ryousuke knew each other, not to mention goros death wasnt found out until 16 years later and even then you cant connect ryousuke to it, but thats all flimsy, paper thin justifications. cmon aqua was better at the revenge job when he was 16 and akanes been doing it better for years, ichigo do better you failed at investigating 101

(cinemasins voice) akane has double hoshigans in this chapter but last chapter she had only one hoshigan

get yourself a murderer who apologises after stabbing you

another giggle is ichigo going (shocked pikachu voice) NINO?! when her hood falls because like. Did You Not Know it was nino? like you really didn't? did you just expect someone to attack on the day of the final concert like what happened to ai? why would you expect that? i can definitively say aqua didnt tell him because aqua said shit in 155 to ichigo, but apparently neither did akane??? he really just expected it to happen. what was he gonna do if the attack happened at the concert?? what was the plan here ichigo??

155!akane: i cut my hair because i didn't feel the need to imitate hoshino ai anymore

158-9!akane: so i'll larp as her daughter instead!

i will say that this dialogue of ninos is actually what ive always thought was part of her thought process

Nino: "If Ai was nothing but an ordinary girl, what would that have made the rest of us then? I just want Ai to be “special.”`

my interp of nino was always that her idolization of ai was her coping mechanism for dealing with the Everything in first gen bkomachi, a coping mechanism that turned into an true belief after ai died because she doesnt want to face the facts about her and ai's relationship: that ai wasnt invincible, nino did hurt her and they never made up. its protection against the sheer grief and regret that would overwhelm her because she never received any closure in regards to that which was compounded by the disbandment of bkom a mere 2 years later, losing her boyfriend and her idol so horrifically (especially after she told them to die) and the years of mismanagement in bkomachi because. all she really wanted to be was friends with ai. and if they were really ordinary girls they would've made up, right? but they didnt and now nino has to live with that

nino saying she wanted to be friends with ai too is all the emotional catharsis and closure i had hoped she would get since 132 and im really glad to see that its here

unfortunately that catharsis is preceded by the plot contrivance that is nino stabbing ruby in the first place which is further duct taped together by the reason nino went after ruby which is that ruby apparently surpassed ai which — no she didn't

and that total plot device becomes even more bullshit by this chapter, where ruby is mimicking ai right down to the cut of her idol dress, her poses and double white hoshigans which gives the message that yeah. ai really was the greatest and most invincible idol who nobody could rival. because even in what is supposed to be rubys moment of triumph at reaching new heights, shes not allowed to do it by her own unique charisma.

ruby has to be shown surpassing ai visually, but because the set up was so utterly hamfisted, all thats left to show her doing so is making her do ai's own poses instead of letting what makes ruby an effective idol shine through, because her character has been so butchered, her original love and compassion for idols and life and the people around her were molded to fit whatever the plot needed to be that this moment, which is supposed to be ruby's shining moment, it just. it just rings hollow.

throughout the latter half of the movie arc shes been wanting to surpass ai on her own terms but shes not allowed to do so and instead ends up just being Ai. its all of the payoff with none of the required set up

speaking of payoffs and setups, kanas situation is the total inversion of this where kana has all the set up for her romantic resolution, her chance to shine the brightest on stage and turn everyones glowsticks white and there's absolutely no payoff. she isnt even the centre in her own graduating concert! aqua isn't there to watch her spellbinding performance because hes dealing with his father whos possibly an antagonist again so her one dream from 151 doesn't get fulfilled! she's gotten utterly pushed to the side because akasaka brute forced the "ruby surpasses ai" in 158 and realised it had to be fulfilled and thus we got whatever the hell was this final bkomachi concert. kana gets tiny singing panels with two dedicated to her solo act (which was actually nice to see at least she Did get the spotlight and her tearing up about graduating ;-;) while ruby gets the biggest, shiniest panels at kana's graduation concert and mem? who's mem? she's barely there and honestly feels like an afterthought with how her age scandal just had no tangible impact whatsoever on literally anyone! it just feels like a thread akasaka just wanted to get out the way

in general the handling of bkomachi's structure, especially now that kana is leaving and mem will age out soon along with her applying to colleges, along with how mem's reveal impacted their presence in the industry, and the impact of ruby's black hoshigan shenanigans severely skewing the popularity to her side has been incredibly lacking and its honestly just sad considering how important B-Komachi as a whole is to all of their characters.

and this scene just pisses me off entirely on ruby and bkomachi again but i ranted about that enough in 158 askhfskd moving on

coming back to nino and ryousuke for a second its honestly a little funny that nino's gay crush on ai was so strong she forgave ryousuke for jumping ship to another idol

on that note though it does touch on something re: nino and her idolisation of ai being her coping mechanism. of course everyone would move from her to ai, ai is the best , of course she would lose all relevance in bkomachi, ai is the best, of course her boyfriend would choose ai, ai is the best. it makes it easy for her to cope with being so strongly and so deeply in ai's shadow — if ai was imperfect that means nino would have to face the hurt, anger and sadness at constantly being second choice when in consideration with ai, that she would have to face that she deeply hurt ai, because that would mean ai was just as normal as her and that would mean that nino wasn't good enough. but if ai was Perfect then its obvious, isn't it? you pick the prettiest flowers after all.

although nino telling two people to die and then they actually do is. yikes. i want to hug her

speaking of ryousuke, the question of nino saying "ever since we let him die..." (mangaplus TLed it as "killed him" but that is a mistranslation which is also proved incorrect by this chapter) is answered here! i had originally assumed it meant they failed to stop him from committing suicide and that's...partially true. on the timeline, its a bit difficult to pinpoint when exactly nino yelled at ryousuke, but considering she says she forgave him for jumping ship and then says `when i told him to go die, he obeyed me just like that` when the visuals clearly show her in shock, that implies in the small window between ai dying and ryousuke committing suicide, he might have called nino in a panic, probably on a payphone and she yelled at him to die in her panic and anger at hearing yknow. that he killed ai. and that was his last straw and then she found him dead when she went to search for him

that still doesn't answer my question of how on earth ryousuke and hikaru got to the hospital ai was at

and so besides all of what i just said about nino, her and ryousuke is clearly a blatant retcon <33. none of it remotely makes sense in an in-universe context line up of events and like basically the only thing it confirms is that ichigopro really were lax about dating. net zero information gained

that being said akane implying that someone else was behind all of the murderous shenanigans going on and that someone being implicitly confirmed to be hikaru by aqua's dialogue is just...why? why bother with the nino red herring? it's a bit hard for me to put a finger on why exactly i don't really like this, but it's like. 154 showed him to be utterly defeated and depressed over ai still loving him and him having killed her and being the final end to their love story it really felt like hikaru was going to do something to make up for it! the 158 phone call even implies this! but by what akane and aqua say here, it gives the feeling of hikaru having been behind ai's and also now, what would have ruby's attempted stabbing? with making him do a deranged yandere smile to boot? it just feels off

i dont really want to make any predictions just yet so i'll just. watch where this goes

i did like aqua's mephisto jacket tho

no break next week!!!

[mullettaegi]

i know the galra had ten thousand years and unlimited resources to build up their defences and offences, to create an insane amount of weapons, to do evil experiments, and rule far across the universe, but HOW does it go from voltron being the defender of the universe, the most powerful weapon in the universe, something that zarkon has been hunting after for ten thousand years, something that made sendak (a very strong galra commander who would not let anyone stand in his way, according to himself) gasp and RUN.

yes he didnt fully run away but he retreated; he watched his battle cruiser get blown to fucking pieces, and remember this is the first time the paladins formed voltron. there was no sword. it was like their second or third time flying in their lions, and the only one that has had consistent flight simulations and training for however long is lance, and even then i think we saw him struggle to strategise a battle plan when going after the yellow lion with hunk because we heard him say he would cover hunk, we saw him carry that out but then get overwhelmed by the galra fighters in the air and take off after them.

hes a damn good pilot, and they all are, especially in the lions, but this is on a next level to what they could've been training for at the garrison.

so, this takes me to my point, why in the fucking world was voltron so fucking nerfed in the later seasons. like yes i dont want an easy win for voltron every battle, yknow, its about them working together as a team, its about voltron not always being the solution (aka when its better for them to split off into lions while they strategise), its about them actually coming up with strategies instead of just going in voltron first and hoping for the best.

its been a while since i watched the later seasons but rn im mostly thinking of atlas. like it just doesnt really make sense to me tbh? to build the atlas, yes, its essentially a replacement for the castleship, a place for a team to watch voltron from the sky, provide back up, but then to have it form into a voltron-esque robot ??? i just dont think thats where they should have taken it.

im glad for the castle of lions to take an important role in some episodes, where again the answer lies outside of JUST voltron, but it doesnt really make sense to build another giant robot.

it kind of takes away the development the paladins are supposed to go through as well, to work together better and stronger as a team thus opening up more weapons from voltron and learning how to fight in different ways.

idk i think the entire thing was kinda over-thought at the end as they were trying to keep the show going, but missing some of the other storylines they could've gone down, (black paladin lance, lotor redemption arc (which he did seemingly have but all along they planned to throw that in the bin), the team coming together as friends more often developing their bond as voltron but also as people, the team seeing their families again, not killing off shiro's FUCKING CANON BOYFRIEND IN A STUPID FUCKING SHITTY WAY ADAM DIDNT DESERVE TO DIE YALL ARE JUST COWARDS, and also the team kinda reflecting back to how they were jn the beginning and realizing they have grown (i say the team but i mostly mean lance and hunk because the writers just did not give two shits about them they really didnt get the chance to become fully thought out characters, they just had some insecurities and interests that were ignored until convenient then ignored again)).

[deadjam6]

MY UNDENIBLE PROOF CHIP AND DALE ARE LOVERS AND NOT BROTHERS

its such a LARGE misconception that chip and dale are canonically brothers, and it pisses me off, cuz some of the things i see them doing are just....NOT BROTHERLY AT ALL!! and if they are brothers.....it's very Incesty and that's ..... fucked up

the first thing id like to mention is they ahve never canonically every been referred to be brothers, i have watched. EVERY. SINGLE. POSSIBLE thing chip n dale thing tha has touched the planet earth (ask my friends!)

in the movie dale stated chip was LIKE a brother he had never had, but from personal experince i can say with confidence sometimes people say this because they dont wanna outright say they like the perosn! (happened with me and my wicked hot girlfriend when we first met!)

but now onto my photographical proof (i wanted to include vdieos but tumblr isnt letting em for some reason :raise eyebrow:)

we see them meet in the movie for the first time IN THE MOVIE ?!!?!? 

Now if you are saying “well techinally :nerd: thats meta, so does it really count?” dont worry friend, i have more

THIS ENTIRE EPSIDOE ?!!??! IS AN ALLIGORY FOR MARRIAGE 

there are SO MANY sreenshots i could get form this single episode (and the entire series) that depict them being lovers. I literally don't know how anyone can watch this episode and confidently say they are brothers afterwards

everyone in this epsiode had RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS ! then they see chip and dale being happy and think they are so cute, THEN CHIP AND DALE BREAK UP AND EVERYONE IS SO SAD AND JAW DROPPED!

and this???? hello??? do i even need to explian this?????????

are you guys doing this with your siblings???????????????? is this something siblings do????????????????

there are TONS! of shots in this series of them with a HEART BACKDROP BEHIND THEM like............................?

if THAT is some how not enough proof ?? i have more !

the MERCH OF THEM??

listen call the corprate mouse homophobic all you want but are you kidding me???? the fuck is this

THIS.

Do I even even need to elaborate

other mickey mouse and friends couples

MOST of mickeys friends are part of same animal couples, including himself, disney did this alot with their older characters, mickey and minnie, donald and daisy etc, so why would chip and dale be any different?! lol!?

now some of you may be saying, but clarice? lol? they were so into her?

LOOK AT HER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THAT is a lesbian if id ever seen one!

not only that but she was totally hooking them up in her original debut? lol? moving out of the way to make them kiss instead? lol? :rainbowflag::vineboom:

SOMETHING. id like to mention, because i feel like people will bring it up!

now i know orginally the creator had stated they were “simply little brothers” in his autobiography, which can link up again to what dale had said in the movie that chip was “like a brother” to him (not blood related), but really......look at everything dinsey as done with these guys, if they were blood related that is just, so messed up?? morally??? yknow? if that was ever the case then park life as most certiantly retconed that (even though it was NEVER mentioned to begin with in anything before park life) 

anwyays! that is all i have. happy 80th birthday chip n dale! You are my favorite gay Disney couple!