#diversity win the worst people you know etc etc

[taxi-boi]

the vees are so funny because you know val would say some aphobic shit like "what do you MEAN someone can form meaningful bonds that transcend sex and even romance but especially sex. what do you MEAN not everyones lives revolve around fucking and sucking or atleast like loving if your into that shit"  (romance nuetral arospec allosexual)

meanwhile his on again off again boytoy fuckpartner vox has never truly been sexually attracted to anyone in his life (high libido sex positive ace demi-aro with a propensity for alterous attraction *cough one-sided radiostatic cough*)

and the both of them are in a commited platonic/business relationship with velvette who has absolutely no sexual or romantic interest in either of them (idk if shes a lesbian or aspec or bi and they're just not her type in that way; but its all the same result)

and yet none of them view their partnership as anything below or lesser than compared to the romantic and sexual relationships they do have. if not outright being more important than those (QPR-cule) 

and ofcourse vox and vel will be standing right alongside valentino as he says this, nodding along without a hint of sarcasm or self awareness because they also genuinely think they believe the same thing.

and if you try to point this out to any of them (and somehow convince them that what they have going on is queer platonic and aspec in nature) they'll just be like "yeah but we're The Vees, we're overlords, we can just do whatever the Fuck (or lack there of) we want" and you know what they're right

[anaalnathrakhs]

We've had Motley Crue a/b/o classifications analysis, yes, but what about Motley Crue PACK DYNAMICS

Thank you @starry-eyed-extraterrestrial for the idea, everybody go check out the companion post

Omega Vince, three alphas: A beloved classic. His status drive possessiveness and protectivity from his bandmates. All other alphas are assholes, but then how can you blame the poor guys to be titillated by an omega living in such close quartes with them. Moral conflict central for the alphas. Is Vince one of us, or the Other?

Omega Tommy, three alphas: He's pretty open with cool people (the whole neighborhood has heard his tales of prowess, and probably the soundtrack that comes with it too). Mick is secretely a little scared of him. Vince and Nikki constantly compete to be his best friend as some kind of social proof they pull so much they can be stoic with an omega friend. Tommy just wants everyone to get along, attempts to annoy them into compliance.

Omega Mick, three alphas: The best kept secret in the whole contiguous US of A. You would NEVER guess. A master of playing it off like it's completely not him smelling like a field of flowers in bloom. The Boys tm regularly have a couch smoke sesh where they try to solve the mystery. They'd have a pinboard if they could afford it. They've never seen him doing more than standing next to an alpha (suspiciously). They know about his child support payements. They're aaaaaaaalmost sure but not quite. Gives them a lot of awkward, inexplicable boners, that they will never admit in front of each other. They'll take his secret to the grave.

Omega Nikki, three alphas: He just wants to play the goddamn bass and make a killer show, but for some reason everybody turns into a brat tamer when they speak to him. They hate to see a girl winning I guess. The other three feel legitimate to try and reel him in, to which he says fuck you and writes even more tortured poetry about. Vince doesn't like him very much, but Tommy is generally more well-meaning just a little... bone-headed about it. Mick doesn't want ANY of this bullshit to be his business and is Very Tired, but feels the fully superfluous and sadly unconstructive responsability to try and bring some fatherly authority to it. He fails to have any authority whatsoever.

All betas: Diversity wins! These assholes don't even have the excuse of biological urges! Absolute overcompensation junction. Few have made it out alive of the motley crue appartment (covered in bite marks). The younger three feel the imperious need to play up the wild, debauched imagery, and they will scramble for any opportunity. They'll sabotage each other's hookups to steal the girl. They'll get into weird pissing contests for the title of most alpha-like out of them. Of course it never crosses their minds they could've been omegas, and that's the worst insult they regularly throw each other. Mick has vowed to only fuck betas after the trouble he got up to in his youth, and it's starting to make him a little homo-threatening in the other three's eyes.

All omegas: The band straight up wouldn't exist or be on the brink of explosion because Tommy and Vince are slutting it up, living their best lives out there while Nikki is constantly fuming that these jezabels play into the reputation of omegas as minxes, sex-objects, etc. He pretends very hard to be an alpha. Under duress, he will first admit to being a lying beta. Tommy tried to play therapist once and it ended with punches thrown. Mick says absolutely nothing and they'd start wondering if he even fucking knows about the as and os and bs. Until he goes into heat, then he disappears from the surface of the earth and everyone exchanges knowing looks. One day he drops like it's nothing that he's mated with a woman from back when he was in his twenties, they have kids, a claiming bite, etc etc, Vince makes faces, and Nikki goes apoplectic on the spot. Tommy remains the sole fully mentally healthy member of the band.

All alphas: Total pig pen. They fishbowl a room with nasty unwashed alpha scent like no one else. Strangely functional among them, although competitive, but a thousand times worse for everybody else. Despite their differences, being alphas brings them together and motley crue ends up being a four-headed hydra that doesn't hesitate to share their food, so to speak. Leaving a trail of bite-claimed omegas and incredibly weird anecdotes in their wake. The younger three are a little enthralled by Mick's cool stoic experience, and they absolutely will cheer on him anytime he does something alpha-like. They're all very flippant, switching between cooperative team-players and competitive girlfriend-stealers to the tune of their hormones. They always make up in the end though. There's like, one consecutive week a year that none of them is in a rut, and the whole of L.A. breathes a sigh of relief.

Alpha Mick, three omegas: Nikki and Vince are pissed at him for existing, and they'll make sure he pays for it every day. Tommy thinks Mick is soooooo cool and tries to copy that sort of poise he sees in him. He ends up coming off as a weirdly crass pick-me, but that's okay with him, because Mick begrudgingly gives him approbation in the hopes that he'll stop. That will not happen. He doesn't give a shit about telling off the little bitches that plot against him, though. It works for a little while, but it only pisses them off more ultimately. The only thing that can bring Vince and Nikki together is asserting their places in the band facing Mick. They fuck one day. Nobody talks about it, ever.

Alpha Tommy, Omega Nikki, beta & beta: Better known as plaintiff, defendant, and the puzzled jury. Everyone thinks there SHOULD be something happening between those two, like, logically, and they reject any sliver of insinuation like the plague. Vince and Mick take turns guilting each other into being arbitrer of their routine fighting to prove to the world (and especially especially each other) that there will never be anything between them. Tommy might secretly be down for it. One day, Nikki decides to take the high road and completely stop engaging with the topic. It leads to a lot of awkward silence, Mick disappearing to his own devices, and Vince doing a whole lot of unpaid therapy (very bad quality) if he wants to keep a band that actually makes music. He gives up eventually, goes back to his own conquests, and now that nobody's looking the terror twins can get their shit together in peace. They make a pact to stop being weird. Everybody is greatly pleased that this bullshit has come to an end. Rinse and repeat every five to ten years.

Alpha Nikki & Mick, omega Tommy & Vince: The band is in a constant start of trench warfare. Tommy and Vince had known each other a little before the band, and they've instantly stuck together as soon as Vince joined, to oppose a block to Nikki's control freak tendencies. All must act like him, and if they're omegas they better keep it in their pants. Mick claims absolutely no horses in this race, but that'd sure be nice if these two annoying kids could behave. No decision can be made without a hour-long argumentative debate (screaming). They will take any opportunity to fight, including things they already agree on. Tommy gets a mate a couple years into the band's run, and it's the darling topic of trashy press for a while. The only time Vince sided with Nikki and Mick without thought.

Alpha Vince, three betas: The carrot dangling at the end of the stick. Sex sells, and betas aren't the most prized on the menu here. Vince wasn't picked only for his singing, and nobody makes a secret of it, though that's perfectly fine with him. He revels in the role he has for the band, until it comes to the creative process, the important decisions, where Nikki seems to forget who's supposed to be in charge here. He might've not been here from the start, but he's the frontman, the main draw, and he doesn't take well being relegated to a yes man. Tommy and Mick had to intervene before they got violent for real many times. Legal actions are ongoing over the ownership of certain songs.

feel free to add onto this if you have different takes, or other interesting dynamics, because im deadly curious

[itsclydebitches]

Diversity win! The talking mouse is nonbinary! Definitely nothing a little side-eye worthy about that at all! /sarcasm

Out of (very tired) curiosity, has RT actually confirmed somewhere that Little is nonbinary, or just that they use they/them pronouns? Because forgive me if I'm mistaken (and I totally could be, I'm cis and learning as much as anyone else), but I don't believe those two things are automatically linked. Just like Shion is nonbinary but (so far) uses he/him pronouns, Little can use they/them pronouns but not identify as nonbinary.

But technicalities aside, it's really that, "The mouse maybe identifies as nonbinary, is definitely using pronouns outside the binary regardless, and that's our first NB rep in RWBY" that's the problem.

Taking this all seriously for a moment—rather than just acknowledging that it looks like twitter saw "they/them" and started gushing over RWBY's, at best, unintentional representation, at worst a potentially very offensive representation—Little is mouse. Mice don't have a concept of gender like we do. Ergo, RT most likely gave them the "neutral" pronouns as a way to highlight their "otherness" (where the potential offense comes in). The same way writers often use they/them for robots, eldritch entities, and other non-human characters that are meant to be seen as foreign, disconcerting, or both. However, it is interesting to me that Little, even in the few seconds we've known them, is a character who doesn't comprehend a LOT of concepts.

Things that Little doesn't know about/struggles to understand include:

Humans

Girls (there's one kind of gender right there)

Huntresses (that one makes sense)

The fact that you can be multiple things at once (like a daughter and a nurse and a wife and a knitter, etc.)

Recognizing a name, instead thinking it's a "purpose"

Again, despite having it just explained to them, not getting that "Little" is also a name, or that it's normally an adjective ("How does one little?")

That people can be "similar, but different" ("I'm sure it'll make sense eventually!")

Little doesn't understand so many things, but they DO know what a cat is because we've gotta get that joke in anyway, I do think there's something compelling in having a character who exists outside of the binary simply because they don't even know the binary exists. However, making that character a mouse... in a world where those differences are framed as nonsense... in a show overflowing with rep of the baiting/killing off/leaving behind/Penny Has To Be Human To Experience True Love and Happiness variety... all of which is born from a tweet and the fandom filling in their preferred blanks...

Yeah, that's a mess 🤦‍♀️

[i-mybrunettelady]

1 for a few characters you feel like, 12 for nyra and 13 for sanne and kos

ooh a selection of kids <3

12. Have they "completed" the map? What does that look like in your canon?

She has! Nyra's incredibly well traveled. She's been to almost every corner of Tyria, as realistically as possible. Not all during the base game, mind you - she traveled between LW seasons and expacs as well. She simply can't be still (maybe to try and outrun her issues, which is her MO a lot of the time?) and has enough money to pay for asura gates. A lot of it was spent with Forgal, too, as she went on missions with him when she was a Recruit/Crusader.

13. What is the worst/funniest/dumbest article that could be written about them in Tyria's trashiest gossip mag?

That Kosara asks the legends she channels for love and sex advice has to be the dumbest, but the actual worst is the near constant insinuation that her legends write her papers and research for her and she's just a scribe, essentially. This is demonstrably false once you actually read her work but like. Way to discredit an actual scholar

There's this funny little story that Sanne actually had to injure Kiaran to win the Great Hunt. And to be fair, she did, but no norn has ever faulted her for that at that point in time, and it's usually the non-norn who have a very... Strange idea of what the Great Hunt actually is. She refuses to say a word on it, if only for Kiaran's memory (and a little selfishly, to save her own good standing.) All she says is that the Great Hunt is more brutal than a lot of people realize.

// (1.) Your character is now the leader of their species, whatever that looks like for them (Arcane Councilmember, Imperator, Royalty, etc). How do they govern and what sorts of changes would they make if any?

To be fair, Nyra already kinda is. Not officially, but her voice does have sway and she is politically opinionated, so she does have something of a say in wider human politics. She advocates for peace and cooperation with the charr, for the abolition of the Separatist movement, but also celebrating cultural diversity amongst humans and actual historical research in Ascalon to help the Ascalonian culture move forward. Also noteworthy here is she is the one who has had a hand in finding the crown of Adelbern, Magdaer and who knows where Sohothin is. Like, she's not some fucking rando.

Sanne would expel the Sons of Svanir from Hoelbrak. All of them. Most of Hoelbrak norn aren't as extreme as this, as long as they don't cause trouble and prove themselves, but Sanne's hatred of that group is unconditional and near-blind.

Kosara would work hard to change the Legions' perceptions of magic and magic users, especially Blood's. She's suffered a lot for her inherent revenant powers, and she'd like to see that no other cub goes through the same thing as her just for something they had no choice in. She'd also work to empower less violent charr.

[zendyval]

Strictly fans are even worse than DWTS fans because a larger percentage of the public watches so the nasty British tabloids love to run nasty campaigns against contestants, particularly against Black women. Also the public considers that actors that studied drama at Performance Arts Schools are experienced dancers because they took a dance elective in their high school. Also BBC employees are treated much better than other contestants. The only way that talented people are able to get love from the British public is to do showmances. The British public falls for that all the time

The positive thing of Strictly is that the quality of ballroom dancing styles (not Latin) is much higher than DWTS because the judges actually require a higher standard regarding the basics like frame and proper steps and couples that are not able to perform the basics are given very low marks throughout the season. It's not strange to get 3s and 4s even in Week 7. Latin dances tend to not be better in Strictly because many British celebrities are extremely stiff and can't do proper hip movement that Latin dances require even after many hundreds of hours of training

Yes, there are definitely things I prefer over DWTS but also a lot of the fan nonsense is the same shit that happens here.

I agree with you on quality of dancing. I don't know if you are watching this season but I see people complaining about so and so being awful or how boring it is, but honestly outside of Tony, everyone else is pretty good. Well, I don't think Ellie T. is a great dancer but Craig was so over the top on her this week she got a lot of sympathy.

I also think there is less nonsense in routines in terms of they are seemingly expected to do more content. Even if someone isn't good there is usually content. The only recent example I can think of otherwise was Tyler's cha-cha had minimal cha-cha which I think Craig called them on.

I also like the Strictly pro numbers better, which are more diverse both in terms of dance style but performers. I'm trying to imagine the US version having an actual super passionate dance between two men.

However, flip side...yes, tons of racism. The number of posts I've seen about people not liking Fleur because she's supposedly loud and "aggressive" when she's been nothing but lovely and kind. I even saw the public starting to turn on Hamza this week. Which yes, he's still a frontrunner but it went from aww lovable Hamza, we love him to he sucks and he's overscored and my white faves deserve better than him. Also stuff about his hair. Kind of we will root for the black man until he's doing better than our faves and then we have to put him back in his place.

I also can't wait until next week where he's doing Couple's Choice to some Afrobeats music? When he invoked Africa as the motherland on the show I could feel the racists imploding on site. The angry tweets about the woke show have already started.

But a lot of the fandom stuff is the same old same old. The younger talented women clearly aren't getting the votes as they seem to alternate being in the B2 each week. If Fleur is safe, Molly isn't and vice versa. Tony the football legend because the worst one there by far and still hasn't even cracked the B2 and will probably win at the rate we are going. It's like Bobby Bones though he seems more likable.

Even a lot of the judges complaints are the same. A lot of accusations that Shirley Ballas is way harder on the women, which to be fair sometimes it seems she is. Complaints about the hosts, the judges, etc.

That said I'm enjoying Strictly more than DWTS this season.

[literaticat]

The last few weeks (but especially the last few days) on #WritingCommunity Twitter have been basically non-stop tweets of people telling other people just to self-pub because traditional publishing is going to have to go through a complete revamp and also that this is THE WORST TIME IN HISTORY to be querying. Is it really?

OK. First of all, I would urge anyone who is reading this stuff and feeling panicky to give themselves a hiatus from twitter for a while. Go outside. Take some deep breaths. Touch some grass. Calm down.

This sort of weird doom-prophecy type hyperbole is coming from people who are NOT in the publishing industry. Either they have been (in their minds) "wronged" by publishing and have an axe to grind, or they are just very misinformed and are spouting nonsense, or they are a troll or a scam artist.

Let's all be rational, and think about actual facts:

* Publishers are profitable. Publishing is a many-billion-dollar business, and 2021 was a GREAT year for publishers. There is no sign that publishers are failing as a whole financially -- quite the opposite. (That is, in fact, one of the things you might see some authors and agents complaining about - Publishers are still trying to claim "pandemic austerity" as a reason to be cheap about certain things, like splitting advances for creators too much, when we can SEE THEM doing well!)

* Agents are signing clients. At MY agency we are signing new clients every week, and I have to assume the same is true at all the other big agencies as well, because sometimes we offer to a potential client and one of the other agencies wins!

* Book deals are happening. If you look at Publishers Weekly, there are dozens of book deals highlighted multiple times a week. If you look at Publishers Marketplace, JUST IN 2022 (ie, the past 3.5 months) there have been 4,233 book deals total, 577 of them children's books. And those are just the ones reported! I'm sure there are actually tons more than that, because I know I myself have only reported a few, but in fact have sold like 25 books in the past 3 months.

* New books come out of traditional publishers every week, and are scheduled for many years to come; currently there is NO sign that this will not continue to be the case.

So. These are all actual, undeniable FACTS.

It is of course also a fact that big publishers have relied on a very traditional and old-fashioned way of doing things forever, and the pandemic has forced them to reckon with the fact that they will probably have to change some stuff in this New World we are in now, such as not expecting everyone to live in NYC, better supporting and retaining their talented workers, walking the walk when it comes to diversity and inclusion initiatives, etc. The workers may benefit from unionizing, or who knows how it will all be resolved -- but like, that is HR's problem, not YOUR problem. In the meantime, we are all still making books.

(ETA: Also there are supply chain issues, cost of goods problems, a war happening overseas, etc -- all of which is problematic for any business creating physical objects -- but again -- though that might affect some things about how books are produced / shipped / whatever -- none of that is stopping business, just adjusting it.)

It's also a fact that SOME categories of book do really well in the self-publishing/indie publishing space. If that's the kind of book you are writing, and you have done your research and know that you want to publish your own books -- sincerely: GO FOR IT! There are lots of people who do really well at the self-pub game. But make no mistake: It's hard work, and there's a learning curve. So if you are doing it because you are informed and you have a plan and you WANT to do it -- great. If you are doing it just because you got a couple rejections from agents and read some tweets about traditional publishing being dead -- well. Maybe that's not the best reasoning.

Opinion: Humans will always love books and stories, and publishing, in probably many forms, including the current models that exist and probably some new ones, will continue to exist as long as humans are OK. I really believe that. The real existential threat to publishing is the threat that faces ALL of us. One day, hopefully very far in the future, there will be a climate catastrophe or a meteor or something that is so big that it renders publishing, libraries, roads, twitter trolls, and all the rest of it, moot. Until then, let's continue writing and reading and loving books, however they are published.

[takiartepa]

⚠ WARNING, long angry fan vent ⚠

-This is exclusively personal. If you don't like it, please go your way. I'm not gonna discuss this if you don't share my opinion. As I said, is a VENT, I'm being incredibly SUBJECTIVE-

There's a "thesis" on the Internet that suggests that the monogamy, marrying, and forming a family of Apollo and Midnighter were made to convey a social idea. I was like "WTF happens to you?" when I found it.

Do you have something against a stable couple? What's YOUR PROBLEM? Are you meaning we don't deserve a happily married gay couple only because you think is something of a "homonormativity"?

It's almost the only married gay couple of men I know until now in comics that (at least in Wildstorm) started together, and end up together HAPPY (until DC took them up).

A truth here is that Wildstorm suppressed a lot of Midnighter and Apollo's relationship to don't "scare" their ph0bic lectors 🙄 but, only because of that they don't have the right to be married and HAPPY?? and love each other and ONLY each other?

Maybe you need to meet people inside the fandom that despise what DC did with the couple in Midnighter modern run (me included). Does it say SOMETHING to you? 🙄 It felt like a betrayal to the whole history of the character. To his essence.

What's worst, we still have Apollo with a lack of development.

The thesis criticizes "h0mophobia" moments. Do you took a moment to understand the tone of Wildstorm comics? They were meant to be a rude sh*t. That was the point. These comics are full of questionable things that are not shown to you to be comfortable with them. They are not meant for people that are sensible and feel attacked personally by these themes.

Midnighter and Apollo aren't a couple in a good context for them, and that's their truth. And you see them fighting that and winning anyways! That's inspiring. Their fight people who are bad, and also the people that disrespect them. They exist and fight, they are superheroes 'cause of that.

The positivity over diversity may be one of the only things that improved in the change Wildstorm/DC, but we are still waiting for things that we had before and now, we still not. For example, the chemistry, the physical contact, the romantic moments that DC still lacks, and I don't get why. They were fast to BROKE THEM UP but, the love?

I don't know. I will not even read that thesis fully because I got so angry when I saw it applauded Midnighter's modern run decisions. It's realistic? Yes. And so far more friendly with the LGBT+ community. But it's friendly with Midnighter story?

NO. And double NO because Apollo is the one that suffers it all. Apollo is the side character. Apollo is the one painted as the problem. Apollo is shown as a drama queen and Midnighter as a character with a problem about "k1ll or not" when the essence of this couple is that they do it if it's needed. That made them even more unique than compared with, for example, Superbat (and Midpollo is CANON ❤).

That didn't happen in Wildstorm comics. DC has the opportunity of giving us all the development Wildstorm didn't have the time to, and it's not doing it: giving both characters an interesting past about why they got the powers or were transformed into living weapons.

We gained and we lost a lot.

The author of the thesis seems to convey being a married happy couple with family is a 'wrong' stereotype for homosexuals, but go having one-night-stands everywhere is good? Maybe we need to remember the "All Gays Are Promiscuous" trope and the damage it does (although in Wildstorm, all the couples, gay or not, had a very active s3x life, shown or implied, and I personally love the erotism in shipping... but I said, SHIPPING, a DEFINED COUPLE).

*The "no homo" Midpollo 😂 that was so fun*

My asexuality is very DISGUSTED with this sh*t. I have nothing against people that prefers one way of life or another (monogamy, polygamy, one defined couple, open relationships, etc), but monogamy, the concept I HAVE of it (not the "social" one) is not the devil. And in comics, where a stable couple is almost a miracle, some of us want it to keep stable for one time.

LET THEM BE. Let our ship BE in PEACE and keep making us believe in love.

And if you want to read Midnighter and Apollo, whether you like it or not, it's a truth they are born from comics with hard and complicated subjects. If you don't want to read them, it's your right and I fully understand you.

But don't come here saying DC is doing it ALL better, because that's NOT true. The origins are the origins, and without them, we will not even have this wonderful couple existing and breaking the heteronormativity since 1998.

[werevulvi]

I hope these show up in the right order. This kinda stuff is exactly what makes me feel lost about my transness. Like I was just trying to be nice and agreed with this person's post. I had no interest in being an asshole or arguing what bio sex, or even what butch, is. I was just declaring myself as a bio female because it felt relevant to the topic and how I relate to it. It amazes me how even the pro self-ID types are against self-ID when someone identifies in a way that doesn't suit their narrative, even when it's a trans person whose identity they deny.

They blocked me and I don't want anyone going after them, I just wanna rant. And not even about this specific post or person, but more so about trying to exist as a gender critical trans person in general. I've been thinking about that for days, weeks, perhaps months or even years already, so it's really not about this specific person. I guess it was just what triggered me to finally start writing.

I guess I feel like both most other trans people and most other gender critical people, view transness as incompatible with gender critical opinions, and like that makes me feel pulled in two opposing directions. But anyone of any ideology can be dysphoric and transition because it helps them cope. I don't think that my opinions, or my choice to hang out with radfems, means that I'm self-hating, or even that I'm going against the needs of my own trans demographic. My own trans demographic is just all too good at confusing wants with needs... generally speaking. I see sex and gender the way I do because it makes sense to me personally, and I don't even argue that it's necessarily the objective truth. I don't think there is such a thing. It's just my truth, my perception of the world.

That I can't make myself see myself as a man for real, despite my dysphoria and transition, doesn't mean that I think it's wrong to transition, or that my body is damaged by it, or that transitioning is useless. Because it's not. I love my transition and everything it has given me. I'm comfortable with my transitioned body. It deserves love, especially my love. And although I still struggle with some insecurities, I feel like I love my body. It's been... incredibly good to me. It's stayed very healthy, and even keeping up a strong immune system despite my smoking, self harm, careless sexual escapades, etc. I may still have a fraught relationship with being female, but as long as I transition, I seem to be managing it fairly well. Except then I have a more fraught relationship with society instead. Can't win, but that's life, innit?

I don't think either my transness or my political opinions are my real problem or ever was. I think it's society's constant fighting about trans people's genders, lives and choices, that makes me constantly cave in on myself. Can't handle the pressure.

It feels like it's only ever getting worse. Ten years ago my biggest concern was people not ever finding me attractive because I was turning myself into some kind of a freak, which luckily I was proven to be wrong about. Five years ago my biggest concern was nonbinary people trying to normalize asking people their pronouns, which made me fear that people would never leave me alone about my gender, unless I forced myself to be hyper-masculine, which I still worry about. Three years ago my biggest concern was having been stripped of my sex-based rights and dehumanized for how I had chosen to treat my dysphoria, which I still worry about as well, and now...

...my biggest concerns are being treated as a third gender, fetishistic predator who should be shoved away into gender neutral spaces, and I fear that one day medical transition will be taken away as an option to treat dysphoria if transness is continued to be rejected as a medical condition. My heart rate is ever increasing. Can I even realistically "just go on with my life" anymore? I feel compelled to do something, but I also feel like there isn't anything I can do. No matter how many people I try to "educate" about dysphoria and why transition is incredibly important, all the while being as humble as I can, I am seriously lacking behind the much faster spread of harmful misinformation.

Thing is, I do not blame gender critical people for spreading some of that misinformation. For example of trans women as fetishistic predators, which people apply to trans men when they still fail to understand that MtF is not the only kinda trans there is, or when we dare to be just a little bit feminine while passing as male. If anything, I blame the true sources of such harmful claims, which slowly increase my anxious heart rate, over years, turning into decades, of living as openly trans. I blame opportunistic men who pretend to be trans women for gaining access to women's spaces, be it prisons, spas, shelters, sports, what have you, when they cannot possibly be dysphoric judging by how happily they swing their dicks around women as if it's no big deal and make no attempt at transitioning, but also who cares if they are dysphoric, no one should behave that way either way. I blame the trans rights activists who say lesbians have to suck dick if it's attached to a trans woman, and those who say that gay men have to be into pussy and date trans men. I blame those who say that trans women are bio female by virtue of identifying as female, and claiming that they can get periods, by virtue of... bowel cramps?! I'd also blame those who try to change female specific language on behalf of shielding trans men from our own dysphoria, in the rare cases we'd end up getting pregnant or manage to drag our asses to the gyno office for a pap smear, which... most of us really don't, regardless of if you call us women or uterus-havers, sincerely, please stop. It makes people think trans women are trying to take over the term "woman" entirely for themselves, which of course they don't.

I could go on, but I won't, as this post is not about these things. It's more so about how estranged I feel from the people who spout these things, knowing that they think they're speaking for me and my supposed needs as a tranny. But I see no point in trying to educate them, as they won't listen any more to me than they would to a radfem, and again, I think this post in my screenshots shows just how unwilling they are to listen to me.

I guess living with my transition on constant display is what's hard, and I guess I just need to vent about that, as it's always judged one way or the other; as either me having made myself into a man, or that I'm a delusional woman who mutilated herself; and it's kinda hard to find a kind and sane middle ground, that perhaps I'm just a victim of circumstances, and trying to make the most of my own life, regardless of what the fuck I am. That social shit, on top of dealing with dysphoria, makes it really difficult to not hate myself, I guess. But I have tried to live stealth and that made it if possible even worse, as it felt like I was lying, keeping a huge secret that grew in me like a spreading virus.

What I want is to just live my life, and for neither my bio sex, nor my transition, to stop me from doing that. I want to work through the worst of my autism, enough to be able to pursue a career in some low-paying labor, blue-collar job; get a car and driver's licence, find a suitable husband to have a child and cats with; I want my own garden, an art studio; I want to build muscle to become strong and even more independent (and perhaps strong enough to carry that husband, but at least to carry myself), and so on. When I picture myself in that potential future, it is with this male-like appearance I transitioned my body into, but it is also as a mother and wife.

And thinking about all of that makes me happy, it makes me smile and feel joy, meaningfulness, hope... While thinking about arguing online with some miserable fuck, who's deadset on arguing semantics and calling me a terf, when all I wanted was to show a little bit of kindness, that "hey, I agree with you, you make a good point here, and I'm not here to fight" only to be spat right back into my face... just makes me feel sad. Whatever happened to diversity of opinion? It's gone, it became labeled as bad, and left people like me with no place to be.

There is no point in arguing with such people, or even trying not to argue. There's no winning in that, there's no reward, no accomplishment. It's better to walk away.

I know I just have to get over this, this inner conflict of going against my transness with my gender critical opinions, and that I'm going against my womanhood with my transition - and be stronger than the political climate that's pulling me into pieces. But if it's peace that I want... I can just forget about it. There's no road there. But I have trouble letting go of that simple dream. The internet is constantly manipulating me into thinking I have an exciting social life, when in fact it's non-existent, and the lie is destructive. With internet vs real life, I'm living a double life. One of those lives has a future, the other one does not.

I'm glad I made this rant. It actually made me feel better, and reminded me that it's still worth it. Being trans, moving forward, focusing on what is good and what can become good in life. And it reminded me that the internet is merely an imitation of life, a substitute for human connection, and can... as with much else, be both good and bad.

[myeyesarebrighter]

Before I got the bike, I was really intimidated by the whole Peloton thing. You know, the cool kids club, the gym clique, exclusive, spin people - that whole cult vibe that it puts out. Its the same thing that has always made me feel bad at gyms. If you belong, you belong. But if you don’t belong, you can’t possibly miss that fact. I don’t need another reason to feel bad when I’m trying to tackle the thing I feel the worst about in my whole life (this isn’t just size of my ass, it’s health and fitness, size, etc all wrapped up). People were all in on it, everyone loves it, and it felt like too much. But I didn’t feel like I had much to lose, and needed a big gain, so I took a leap after asking anyone I knew and trusted.

I’ve chronicled it pretty openly here but I’m in my 3rd week. I ride 6-7 days a week (so far). I’ve found the instructors that I vibe with, and they’re very inclusive. Many of them coach for you to pick your level, to appreciate what you can do, and to find your space. Not all of them - there seems to be something offered for most people, and some people want to be abused and tormented - but there are a few good options. There isn’t much diversity in bodies. Most of them look like you think they do. A couple have slight variations. It would be nice to see someone who looked even a little like me.

The learning curve for spin is minimal. You pedal your legs. Clipping and I clipping with your shoes is the hardest part - but the recent classes cover this really well and it’s not hard to learn. Adjusting the bike is a bit fussy, and you’ll want a recipe, but it’s a very “taste as you go, add more S&P as needed” scenario. There isn’t an answer but there are some guidelines.

I personally get nothing from the “leader board” part of things. It’s a competitive space where you can battle other people currently taking the on demand class, or people who have taken it before. In the case of a live class, you battle people currently there with you. I hate it, thank you very much. I minimize it at all times. Bye.

What I do like is the “output” measurement. You get a total output measurement, which summarizes your total power output. It’s a combo of how fast and how hard you pedal. I use this to battle myself every day. It gives me an objective way to measure myself over time, and a way to push myself in class. I rely on this a great deal. Focus on me, best myself, and only I can ever win.

I wish there were more programs for people who can’t afford it. There is a good financing program that allows you interest free payment plans. But I realize it is still very out of reach for many people. I hate this part. I want us all to have access to what we need to be happy and healthy.

So there you go. I enjoy it. I said it. I’ve only ever enjoyed working out before when I did hot yoga a ton before m was born. But that ship had sailed (and that shit wrecked my complexion). I hope I can keep this up as life moves back to old ways.

[tawaifeddiediaz]

okay so, there’s a lot of this going on so lemme just tell you what the rundown on this election is.

It was the lesser of two evils.

Out of the 74 million people who voted for Joe Biden, most of us did not vote for him as much as we voted against Donald Trump.

Each party has their issues. They’ve all made their promises and they’ve all been prominent figures in policy making and political administration that we know how they go about the different issues we were looking at: healthcare, police, racism, education, climate change, etc etc.

We voted for Joe Biden because with him, we at least had a chance at a better future. We just elected a Black, South Asian female Vice President to office, and regardless of everything, that is HUGE for this nation.

We voted for Joe Biden because he is not Donald Trump. Because Trump doesn’t understand what the working class go through. Because Trump has defended every single move of his by hiding behind the economy or another monetary-related excuse, as if our lives are worth less than petty money. Because Trump has turned away from refugees escaping situations none of us can imagine, and because he’s been the worst for human rights in the past four years of his presidency.

We voted for Joe Biden because whether or not he proves to be a good president, he understands loss. He understands empathy, understands the working class, and whether or not he puts policies in for those things, it can’t be denied that he has an actual heart that lies in the people rather than in the banks and economy.

This country gave the Trump-Pence administration a chance despite knowing all of those allegations, his language against woman, his hatred for Muslims, etc etc. Why is it so different for an administration that has a helluva lot more sense and empathy for the people they serve? Why is it different for an administration that will most likely elect people from multiple diversities and backgrounds?

It might be too soon to say anything about the Biden-Harris administration but I can say that the people who voted for them will hold them accountable. We’re not following them blindly — we used our voices to elect him, and we’ll use them again.

Look, I’m not saying any of this to squash your opinions because at the end of the day, they are yours. But I’m asking that you let people celebrate this win without making them feel guilty for it. I promise, we know that Biden isn’t ideal but the other candidate was a thousand times worse.

So whether or not this outcome was favourable, recognize that there is a very large number of people who breathed a sigh, who cried tears of relief when they realized that their rights weren’t at stake. The tears on people’s faces during Kamala’s speech, during Biden’s speech speak of that.

tldr; Let people be fucking happy without making them feel guilty for it. Let us celebrate this win without trying to squash our hopes.

[tricktster]

Hey, follow up to my post about The Satanic Temple because @wrexie asked and I realized I hadn’t fleshed out this thought: I mentioned very quickly that I wasn’t including legislators who identify as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in my breakdown of the numbers of self-identified Christians in the House and Senate, but then I totally dropped that thought and failed to explain why I didn’t include them.

I promise, that was not weird gatekeeping about who gets to be considered part of the Christian faith. I ommitted LDS members when I was discussing the relative Christian/Non-Christian makeup of the legislature specifically because, historically, the LDS church has been a target of religiously motivated legislation, and boy oh boy do I have a yucky example for you:

It’s 1878, 31 years since Bringham Young and the 148 other members of the nascent Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints arrived at the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and per the LDS registration numbers, there are now 125,046 people who belong to the church. Now, the total US population at that time was roughly 50,000,000 (not counting indigenous people because racism), so LDS members were not threatening to overrun the country by any means, but, you know, 125,000 is starting to look like a pretty significant religious movement, and that relatively significant religious movement became An Issue in the eyes of the law, because as of 1878, 20%-30% of LDS members practiced polygamous marriages in accordance with their religious doctrine and beliefs. (To save you the google, LDS Church didn’t formally renounce the practice of polygamy until 1890.)

Now, there’s a lot of reasons to criticize the concept of polygamy as it is practiced in patriarchal communities, chiefly: holy shit that is not a fun position to be in if you’re, for example, a woman or alternatively a boy who’s throwing off the gender ratio. So when the first LDS polygamy case (Reynolds vs. US) went to the Supreme Court in 1878, the court could have easily decided that while there was nothing wrong with having a religious belief in the merits of polygamy, the harms that it caused on vulnerable people in practice were sufficient grounds for the practice of polygamous marriages to be abolished.

But let’s get real, it was 1878, women and children weren’t fully people in the eyes of the law, and the Court had a bigger and shittier argument to make. Here’s an excerpt from the decision:

“Polygamy has always been odious among the northern and western nations of Europe, and, until the establishment of the Mormon Church, was almost exclusively a feature of the life of Asiatic and of African people. At common law, the second marriage was always void (2 Kent, Com. 79), and from the earliest history of England polygamy has been treated as an offence against society. After the establishment of the ecclesiastical courts, and until the time of James I., it was punished through the instrumentality of those tribunals, not merely because ecclesiastical rights had been violated, but because upon the separation of the ecclesiastical courts from the civil the ecclesiastical were supposed to be the most appropriate for the trial of matrimonial causes and offences against the rights of marriage, just as they were for testamentary causes and the settlement of the estates of deceased persons.

I’ll parse that shit for you, and spoil what happened to Mr. Reynolds. The Supreme Court essentially decided as follows: America is a white, Christian nation and we do not tolerate the religious practices that we associate with uncivilized places like ALL OF ASIA AND AFRICA BECAUSE WE’RE EXTREMELY RACIST. Anyway, we, the Supreme Court, intend to Keep America Great (and Christian!), so in conclusion we have decided that the LDS Practice of Polygamy Is A Crime Now, Please Go To Jail And Pay A Massive Fine, Thank You!

Reynolds is still the law of the land; it’s never been overturned, and that’s not great (even though the decision had the effect of protecting a lot of women and children over the years). It’s a gross decision and it’s a bad decision - not because it’s the wrong outcome but specifically because justice is not the point here; the Supreme Court in deciding Reynolds used the concept of the American National Identity to smack down a minority religious group strictly because they challenged the status quo, and that, my dudes, is basically the judicial equivalent of wiping your ass on the Bill of Rights.

So, yeah, I deliberately omitted the LDS legislative members when discussing the prevalence of Christian beliefs among American lawmakers because until like... remarkably recently in American history, the LDS church was not the motivating factor behind religiously motivated legislation, they were the target. Jehovah’s Witnesses too, boy oh boy did the JWs ever bring a lot of lawsuits to be able to practice their faith as mandated by their religion, and they actually scored a few big wins.

Again, I’m not saying “join the Jehovah’s Witnesses!” or “actually fundamentalist polygamy isn’t all that baaad.” I’m just pointing out that the effect of religious legislation and religiously motivated jurisprudence isn’t just a threat to the athiests and godless commies among us. The deeply religious should give just as much a shit about this as the non-religious, because if you let these rights erode in furtherance of promoting your own religious beliefs, all it takes is ONE demographic shift before it’s your religious practices getting outlawed.

Also, again, there’s a way for the Court to reach the right decision if a religious practice is genuinely harmful, and that’s to recognize that everyone has the right to their own faith, but that the State has an interest in preventing harm caused by religious practices. I mean, the Court has historically fucked that analysis up too (because racism/sexism/homophobia, etc.), but it’s still way better than the Sir, This Is A Christian Nation approach.

Final note: the religious makeup of the current Supreme Court is notable because three justices, Ginsburg, Kagan, and Breyer, are Jewish (everyone else is Christian). If you’re interested, start paying attention to how they rule on religious cases. Better yet, read Breyer and Kagan’s dissents in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, where they opposed one of the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. (In Hobby Lobby, the majority ruled that Hobby Lobby [company motto: Michaels, But Shittier] didn’t have to abide by the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act because it was somehow a violation of the corporation Hobby Lobby’s religious beliefs!!!!!!!!! to provide their employees with insurance that covered contraceptive health care. It is absolute horse shit.)

Anyway, the Christian male conservatives made the decision, overcoming the women and Jewish justices’ dissenting opinions, and from that outcome and the well-reasoned dissents from Kagan and Breyer alone, one could probably posit that increased diversity on the bench is a GREAT IDEA to protect against oppression from a religious majority.

....That’s not happening while a republican is president, though, so for the love of god get your vote by mail done EARLY this year.

[jostenneil]

do you have shounen recs too? other than naruto and fma lol

naruto and fma are like decade long infections that have refused to leave me djdbkdn but yes, i do! i’ll apply the same logic here as i did in the other post where i include some seinen too bc ultimately the distinction is just an age demographic

sket dance (manga) - this is one of my favorite manga of all time! it centers on a group of three friends—bossun, himeko, and switch—who start a student support group at their high school for anyone to come to with their everyday problems. the clientele and their problems are varied in a pretty humorous way, and in the beginning it almost feels like the series is set up to be purely comedic, but as you get further into the series you learn just why the main characters started the club, which is the winning point for me. these characters are so fleshed out and so much of their individual trauma gives insight as to why they’re intent to help and befriend others, especially on bossun’s part. he is probably one of my favorite shounen protagonists period. his character propagates a really wonderful message of how people don’t need to be fixed in order to solve their problems, just listened to and supported, and i adore the series for its exploration of that concept. the mangaka was also an assistant to sorachi on gintama, so i think fans of gintama will rly enjoy it in the sense that both series share similar values, messages, and humor! there’s a few crossovers between the two, iirc. also! i don’t particularly mind the anime and it has a banger soundtrack but just imo the emotional beats hit harder in the manga

silver spoon (anime/manga) - this is the series hiromu arakawa wrote after finishing fma, and i would actually argue that it’s her better work of the two! it centers on a boy named hachiken, who spontaneously decides to enroll at an agricultural high school to get away from his stressful family life in the city, and obviously, it’s a huge reality check for him. he’s dropped into this school where every other student has farming-related ambitions in the long run, while he has no ambitions at all and simply used enrollment as an excuse to get away from his problems. the series is a masterclass in learning about the worth in hard work, camaraderie, and why thinking about your future and what you want to do matters, not just from a practical aspect but also in terms of self fulfillment. as expected of arakawa, it boasts endearing humor, a wonderful array of distinct characters, and a really fleshed out portrayal of farm life, made even more enjoyable and genuine by the fact that she’s writing in her element, as she grew up on a farm herself

tsubasa reservoir chronicle (manga) - this is a cult classic within clamp circles, but outside of that fandom it’s more known as the intimidating clamp series most ppl wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. and i get that! the fact that it crosses over with some other clamp series makes it pretty confusing to parse through at times. but i also think that’s the series’ greatest strength, bc when you understand the nature of that crossover, the depth of the storytelling is truly brilliant! at its most basic, trc follows a pair of childhood friends, syaoran and sakura, who live in a desert-like “clow country”. sakura walks into some ruins one day and is spontaneously robbed of all of her memories, which syaoran must then journey across multiple dimensions to recapture, as her memories have been scattered in the form of feathers. the pair also have three traveling companions—kurogane, fai, and mokona—and altogether the group visits multiple dimensions that are loosely inspired by clamp’s other series and characters. obv, as the plot progresses, we discover there’s more to the group’s mission than meets the eye, and it ventures into pretty dark, existential territory, as is the norm for clamp. it also may be unpopular of me to say this, but i actually think it’s a great introduction to clamp (it was mine lol), given there’s so many cameos from their previous series and the series sets up such interesting lore. just be warned that you do have to think while reading this series, as the lore is intense! also, do not watch the anime. at all. it’s the worst adaptation ever

ookiku furikabutte (anime/manga) - popularly called oofuri, this series is in my opinion one of the best sports manga published in the last two decades. it follows a boy named mihashi, a baseball pitcher who refuses to give up the mound and essentially alienates himself from his middle school teammates in the process bc they don’t know how to actually utilize his pitches. he enters high school as a total nervous wreck with little to no confidence in himself bc of this experience, until the catcher, abe, recognizes that he’s actually a really unique pitcher unrecognized for his talents by his old teammates. abe and mihashi basically latch onto each other, with abe believing he can mold mihashi into the best pitcher there is, and mihashi believing abe is the one person capable of making him into a good pitcher. it’s a fascinating take on codependency and building up your self esteem, and i would argue that higuchi asa’s sports psychology background lends itself splendidly to the messages oofuri sends about how to build healthy sportsmanship among teenage boys. overall i think it’s a great series to read if you’re looking for catharsis and comfort, as well as baseball lore!

gangsta. (manga) - this series is the most dark and complicated of the works in this list, just as an advisory. there’s prostitution, gang violence, gore, etc etc. but for the presence of all of that, gangsta. is probably one of the most well rounded series i have read in the last few years. it starts with alex benedetto, a prostitute who ends up as the sole survivor of a mass gang murder propagated by two thugs for hire, worick and nic. the two men take her under their wing as a friend and someone who answers their phone, and the three of them form a unique but really loving partnership with each other. the plot eventually extends into a turf war that plagues the town they live in, ergastulum, on account of a drug trade that allows for the breeding of “twilights”, who are essentially drug enhanced superhumans. it’s hard to explain much more without giving away spoilers, but the series has an incredibly diverse cast, in terms of race, disability, and sexuality, and it manages to tackle really dark subject matter without coming off as too edgy or tragedy porn-seque. the artwork is also absolutely gorgeous and the relationships among various characters are portrayed with such amazing nuance, that i can’t even complain when plot points make me sad beyond belief

this is what i have for now but i may add onto it later! do let me know if you enjoy any of these ❤️

[kendrixtermina]

One thing that felt uncomfortable to go along with in the CF route for me was when Edelgard lies about what happened at Arianrhod to her closest allies (Black Eagle Strike Force) and blames it on the church. Can you give some insight as to why she does this? Especially when Edelgard criticizes the church for lying to the people of Fodlan, but isn’t she doing it here?

That’s certainly a moment that is genuinely ambiguous / a valid point of criticism and something I’d laud a whistleblower for exposing if it were a RL politician, but also the sort of realpolitik / appearance management that has taken place in most RL wars. 

Once you’re the leader of anything, allowing panic, division, etc. at bad moments comes with its costs. Of course this is hardly a carte blanche (see: Beating down legit protesters for superficial “order”), but neither is it a factor that can be ignored completely.

At the point of the Arianrhod attack Edelgard was one month away from seizing control of the landmass and ending the large-scale fighting, having one enemy taken out (the Church) and being able to turn all her resources on the other (the Agarthans)

The agarthans at this point know they’re losing control of Edelgard and they’re not stupid enough to have any illusions about her loyalty. So they fire a warning shot to demonstrate their superior weaponry. Arundel makes a thinly veiled threat to fire it on Enbarr. 

Of course at this point he basically gave away his location and allowed Edelgard & Hubert to come up with countermeasures, but they don’t want him to know that yet, their strategy involves that they keep being underestimated, let the Agarthans keep thinking that the “beasts” have no counter for the nukes pointed at their heads. 

But they still destroyed half a fortress killing the ppl inside. If she reveals that she’s got a rogue faction infiltrating her ranks that’s firing frightening superweapons nilly willy, there will be chaos outrage and disunity right before the final battle. If she doesn’t make a statement at all and declares it a mystery, no one will believe it and her own faction will get the blame throughout the country. So what does she do? Pin it on the enemy she is currently fighting anyways. The purpose here is not to reveal the Agarthan situation too early so they can focus on the church for now. 

It’s unclear if this was ever revealed to the public (probably not, I don’t think she’d cause a stir on principle alone) but the ending cards make it quite clear that the Strike Force was let in on the Agarthan situation later and helped her mop them up. 

Yeah, it’s defamation, an indisputable  textbook government cover up and maybe even technically a kind of propaganda, but her casus belli existed before it’s not like she’s basing it on the lie, and in most wars throughout history the factions have hidden or made a spin of failures & mishaps and made the enemy look bad. 

There are certainly many historical examples of such actions creating problems, such as fueling lingering resentments or creating general mistrust that can led to real information not being believed etc. so it’s by no means a safe action that is no big deal and I can see how it could be a legit dealbreaker for some, you certainly weren’t supposed to be 100% comfortable with it, or anything on the CF route, everyone involves is well aware that they’re doing ugly, costly things because (or so they see it) the alternatives are all worse. In that sense it’s the most self-aware one. It’s about actually looking at the bottom line of consequences, not what makes you feel like a hero. 

At the same time, doing things like that that squander her moral credibility genuinely IS a flaw in Edelgard’s leadership style - it’s probably why more ppl didn’t believe her manifesto, “she already lied to us cooperating with these shady guys”, making it look like a ‘he said she said’ situation to the wider public that can’t go & confirm the evidence for themselves. This is why Claude thinks he has a better shot at winning& implementing reforms in VW (”too shady for the ppl to get behind”) - just like Dimitri has no plans and Claude’s secrecy creating mistrust even when his secret plan is utterly benevolent.  Doesn’t matter how altruistic you are if you look suspicious it will have consequences I mean that’s how she loses on the other rouses, everyone ganks up on her cause she antagonized them all with suspicious actions. I’m not saying she’s any more perfect than the other 2. 

but putting that on the same scale as what Rhea did is comparing a candle to the sun. 

And maybe the Kantians in the audience will disagree with me but it can be a bit unhelpful to classify different actions of vastly different consequence and magnitude as “Lies”. There is a common principle (telling things that aren’t exactly true) but different magnitude. Clearly “The Confederacy was all great and glorious” and “I totally didn’t eat my little sister’s share of toffees” aren’t on the same level of immorality. 

Neither is below the “everythings fine and dandy” line but one is a lie about one incident for one clear purpose, and the other is creating a whole fake world view for the express purpose of control, maintaining harmful systems, suppressing any advancement of science & technology... for 1000 years. 

Scale, purpose and consequences are totally different. The arianrhod coverup coming to light would spark controversy & discussion on wether she should have done it under those circumstances; Some might change their opinion about her but overall everyone already knew that she’s not above dirty methods. If you told the average citizen of Fodland about all of Rhea’s lies, everything they know would be wrong. They would go from Adoring & worshipping her to being very confused about what’s true. 

It’s the difference between your average modern-day politician doing backroom deals with diverse industry lobbies to accomplish their other goals, and a place like Saudi Arabia. 

To get perspective here, let’s look at another example: Claude’s deceptions. 

He, too, ultimately wants what’s best for everyone and a lot of the time he decides to fool people to avoid fighting them, I don’t mean to bash him at all, but let’s look at his actions in and of themselves: 

Look at the sequence where he, Hilda & Byleth rope the church into helping them - that’s even more outright with the slimy politician tactics: He tries to downplay alliance involvement though he is totally in control, he says that “getting the church on our side will make fighting the empire look like a moral cause” implying that he doesn’t think it is one but wants to portray it as one to get ppl’s support, we’re told he made lots of promises to the merchants to get them on his side (so like that’s literal lobbyists), he installs Byleth as a figurehead, he tells the church ppl he wants to help them get back their old power when he really wants it to diminish and to drastically reorder the society.

He tells everyone he’ll help them save Rhea but while he still has basic human empathy for her & what happened to her he makes it clear he doesn’t want her to go back to being archbishop... at all. He even does this with Byleth: “Yeah, sure, teach we’re totally gonna save her”  though in their case he tries to hint that she’s not to be trusted for their own good. Despite his dishonesty, he’s actually a very good friend to them imho. (#broTP)

In the end the power struggle between Claude and Edelgard isn’t personal nor a righteous struggle - he’s just taking advantage of the chaos she caused and he needs the seat of power to reach his own goal. He thinks he can do it better and she’s in the way (and to be fair, she thinks the same about him) 

It’s your classic slimy politician: “he’s pretending to be for family values etc thing but really he wants power & is in cahoots with economic interests and he won’t do what he promised” etc. ... except with the plot twist that he’s deeply good and not actually all that ruthless.   In a sense he’s as much a total subverted trope as Edelgard.

So doesn’t he have the right to criticise Rhea either? Or do you see how, while not per perfect, he’s miles better and not remotely the same?

Edelgard isn’t 100% truthful, but by and large, she made her intentions very clear with the pamphlets and stuff (even if it meant antagonizing ppl who were against that) and all her soldiers generally know what they’re fighting for and are going to get out of it if they support her, or what the consequences will be if they fail, even if she kept some of the “how” to herself. 

Which isn’t to say that Claude ever makes ppl act against their interests even if it’s sometimes what he sees as their interests.

Under Rhea’s rule no one knew what the government’s doing, why it’s doing it, or to some degree, even that she IS the government... for 1000 years. There’s some cult of personality going on. She probably genuinely believes that it does benefit the sheeple to be “guided” by her, but she hasn’t even told Seteth about all she’s doing, she’s pretty much accountable to no one.

In terms of honesty, we could probably rank the lords like this: 

Dimitri (a few omissions at worst)

Seteth (lies mostly out of self-preservation)

Edelgard (some convenient secrecy here & there)

Yuri (about the same as El but I’d put him slightly higher for the fake betrayal) 

Claude (no one rly knows what he’s up to, but he gets ppl what he promised them and doesn’t outright betray them)

(very)

(big)

(gap)

Rhea (fake history, isolationist bubble, abuse of power left & right, manipulation, will smile in your face while planning to make you a meat puppet for her mom)

[makaris]

Let’s discuss voting.

I want a just, fair and moral world. If our choices become Biden vs. Trump, I want to discuss how people interested in a better world can strategically vote for the best possible future.

I implore any #Bluenomatterwho folks to read my thoughts before responding. I know it’s a lot, but I can assure you that *I am far from alone in how I feel*, and I am looking for serious, political strategy discussion. If that is even possible.

We should all know by now that Biden has shown immense capacity to do damage. He has and will continue to be on the wrong side of many, very important issues. He has shown that he can and will work with republicans to pass THEIR agenda, not the lefts. He cannot be relied on to do the bear minimum we expect from democrats (which is, reining in the worst excesses of the right).

He will be a more effective greaser of the military industrial complex then Trump, who actually varies quite a bit from war-hawk orthodoxy, on occasion. Biden will continue to engage in genocides in the Muslim world.

Biden might be able to bring us back to the standards of the Paris climate accord, which were wholly insufficient for anything other then optics. The world will burn either way.

Just today, Biden said that even if M4A passed the house and senate, he’d veto it. During a pandemic, he would veto it. The health care plan he wants to implement leaves 10 million people uninsured, and that is before he caves to Republicans and chops it down to nothingness.

...There are like a million things. I could go on, but I'm sure anyone actually interested can look it up.

On the flip side, a Trump 2nd term is also very scary for a number of reasons I probably do not need to spell out for anyone even nominally on the left.

The point is, Democratic establishment NEEDS to be overthrown. That is, BY FAR, the most important thing here. They are the #1 obstacle to our agenda. For anyone interested in passing progressive policy, I do not understand how them casting a vote for Biden would help.

I'm seeing two options here.

VOTE FOR BIDEN ... and *inevitably* lose to Trump anyway. We then will have to deal with the ramifications of that WHILE ALSO having sent a message to the Dem establishment that their candidate was sufficiently acceptable for us to vote for them. Which, if they even care about holding on to power, is all they care about. Their primary strategy has been "fuck the progressives, what other choices do they have". And all I hear from #Bluenomatterwho folks is "that sucks but it's true... what other choice do we have?"

So after the above, we come to the mid-terms and then 2024. Whatever candidate the left tries to push forward (AOC, likely), will be smeared and denigrated the same as Bernie, and I'm not sure they will be able to rally as much support as Bernie did. Bernie, need I remind, 1) Raised the most money, by far. 2) Had the most donors, by far. 3) Had the largest operation, by far. 4) Had the most diverse coalition, by far. If that can be swept aside by The Machine's propaganda, I don't know how we have any hope at all. This sucks, everything sucks.

VOTE THIRD PARTY The Democrats NEED to get the message that if they do not EARN our support, they will not HAVE it. Voting third party might be our only hope in achieving this.

Honestly, I've only just begun exploring this as an option, and I'm still trying to inform myself more about it. I know that, historically, it has not worked out. Not even close. BUT, with boomers dying off (grim, but electorally significant), the internet, and the right candidate to rally around, I think getting a true Labor party might be possible. Maybe.  

What sucks for a Labor party is that the Democrats will still suck a lot of energy out of the room. Most of our possible figure heads (again, AOC, Ilhan Omar, Ro Khanna, etc) are pretty firmly in the democrat camp and would not be able to switch. And, so far, I have not heard anything about anyone who could lead the movement after Bernie AND who would be willing to work outside the system.

However, EVEN IF a Labor party is impossible, that does not rule out the value of voting third party in 2020. It means you showed up, and voted anyway. It tells the establishment that you are A Voter. Someone who counts, as is winnable.

Imagine if 15% showed up and voted third party? Yes, Trump would probably win. But, if we are being honest, he is going to win (vs. Biden) anyway. If Biden got OBLITERATED, it might be the kick in the pants the democrats need to realign, refocus, and start listening to the working class again. Maybe.

I guess, after writing all that, my thoughts right now are... -- If, right before voting, the polls are extremely narrow between Biden and Trump AND and you are in a swing state... if *BOTH* of those things are true, you may want to consider a vote for Biden. -- In ANY OTHER CASE, for third party.

Things are not looking good right now. Writing this out is most therapy for me, but I am interested in other folks views on this. I am firmly against brow beating #Bluenomatterwho rhetoric, as I feel it is a tone deaf reduction of what is a very complicated situation. The left needs to get smarter politically, more strategic. 

We cannot just do what we are told.

[brandtmax]

welcome back to gallagher academy, soo-yun ‘maxine’ brandt ! according to their records, they’re a first year, specializing in research & development; and they did not go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of ( sugar-free mints, a messy low bun, wisps of hair alongside her face, the end of a pen between her teeth, the patek philippe calatrava 4897r-010 in rose gold, off-white pants in every fabric ). when it’s the ( virgo ) ’s birthday on 08/23/1997, they always request their japchae from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. 

henlo it me again i hope u guys aren’t sick of me yet bc i have a new bby named max! i’ve written a lot™️ so brace urself but it’s worth it ( i think ) + trigger warnings: death and alcohol dependency under the cut xxx

the basics

full name: soo-yun ‘ maxine ’ brandt

nicknames: max — just max

age: twenty-two years old

birthday: august 23rd, 1997

gender: cis female

preferred pronouns: she / her

sexuality: bisexual

major: research & development (  formerly a b.a. political science degree from yale university )

known languages: english ( native ) / german ( native ) / korean ( native )

background

nationality: american

birthplace: new haven, connecticut, new hampshire

current location: gallagher academy, roseville, virginia

financial status: upper class

religion: non-theistic

appearance

eye color: brown

hair color: black

height: 5′8.5″

notable features: curly hair on lazy days, rosy cheeks

usual mood and expression: calm, furrowed eyebrows whenever her eyes are on work; lethargic and irritable when she’s overworked ( or without alcohol )

family

birth order: second born

parents: soon-bok ‘ vivian ’ jang and stephen brandt ( d. 2018 )

siblings: min-jun ‘ parker ’ brandt ( b. 1995 ) & georgia ‘ gigi ’ brandt ( b. 2001 )

significant others: chris harmon ( 2013-2015 ) / ava carrillo ( 2015-2016 )

her story so far (this is so long n serious lol)

soo-yun 'maxine' brandt was born and raised in new haven, connecticut, to jang soon-bok ( vivian ), a surgeon, and stephen brandt, a ( n allegedly shady ) criminal justice lawyer.

the brandt siblings were raised like any other blue-blooded, very strict but loving household ( strict = mom / loving = dad )

brandt house rules: get straight a’s, follow the 12 am curfew and don't bring anyone home that you know you’d get disowned for. follow those three rules, and you can do whatever you want.

there was pressure for the brandt siblings to be academically accomplished, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. they were well-tutored, semi-popular, attractive teenagers, which were common in new haven, and everyone knew they were destined for ivy league.

in high school, she dated chris harmon, and it was the kind of relationship that could only be described as the personification of a kinder egg. sweet on the outside, a waste of time and money on the inside.

which is fine; it took max about 2 months to get over it when they broke up halfway through senior year, because neither of them thought of their relationship going far. the joy of getting into yale ( already expected ) trumped the feeling of losing a boyfriend. she even bet parker $5,000 she'd get early admission. she won.

during college, she had an on-off relationship with ava carrillo for a year, which inevitably became a permanent off. it turned out that it wasn't a good idea to throw herself into a committed relationship the minute she stepped foot into yale. max never had the time, and ava didn't have the patience. at least she tried it tho !

things seemed to be on the up and up for their family, and the worst thing max has ever been through is being awake for 24 straight hours to prepare for a final presentation. but ! you know what they say about the calm before the storm.

( tw: death ) on december 18, 2018, their father unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack during a layover flight in new york. the brandt family was at home when they heard the news. needless to say, they had a quiet christmas and new year.

the family tried to move on as best they could, but the siblings knew their dad's death irreversibly changed their mom. they have a rocky relationship to begin with, the siblings always feeling like vivian never wanted to become a parent and only did so for their father. they have absolutely no mother-children bond, and it got worse when stephen died. being the older brother, parker took it upon himself to take care of vivian, balancing that with running the home stretch with his undergrad degree.

on the other hand, maxine still had a few years left at yale. no amount of therapy helped her cope with the loss of her father, the way her mother seemed to become a shell of herself, how parker had to break the momentum of his career to be there for their mom, and the constant pressure to do good academically.

( tw: alcohol dependency ) it started with buying bottled moscow mules because she didn't like how beer tasted, and she wasn't dumb enough to go straight to hard liquor. just one to take the edge off whenever stacks of coursework became too much, or when her mother would send her an email talking about her day, and she didn't have the courage to read it. then it went from a one, two, three-time thing to a whenever-i'm-upset thing, which slid into a whenever-i-feel-like-it thing. after a while, it became a daylight thing where she would add a splash of soju ( or whatever ) to her lunchtime drinks, and she genuinely thought it was just a funny idea at first. max wasn't the only day drinker in her social group, anyway. she found it acceptable, no different than how other people would pound red bull every 6 hours like it's their life force. it was manageable for her since she was able to schedule when she'd be indisposed, and she still can.

parker had ( and still has ) no clue. despite the two being close, max spared him the burden of having another thing to worry about. as long as she can control it ( or she thinks she can ) then nobody had anything to worry about.

eventually, both maxine and parker were offered the opportunity to join gallagher academy, with parker in line to graduate with honors in global affairs and maxine, not far behind with her own impressive academic portfolio in political science.

though really, her acceptance into gallagher has less to do with her published papers ( still impressive, tho ) and more to do with her covertly helping her father win cases by doing some expert sleuthing, strategizing, witness dispatching + discrediting, sexc breaking and entering, and good, old-fashioned manipulation !

it was something they both wanted; to be a part of the bigger picture in the world, but they knew they couldn't leave their mother alone. parker, who chose to make the sacrifice, let maxine go and stayed behind to take care of vivian.

( but if we’re honest, maxine would’ve left for gallagher regardless if parker was coming with her, but she’ll never tell him that )

despite the guilt and telling parker she wasn't going anywhere ( cough ), he insisted on her taking the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of something they never knew existed. he knew they were going to end up resenting each other if they both stayed. at least one person in the family should be doing something that made them happy.

and so max dropped out of yale and left for roseville, even though she hadn't thoroughly planned out her career trajectory.

she’s eager not just because of the school, obviously. she can't handle going back to their childhood home and seeing how hollow everything is. plus, the immense anger and denial she feels over her dad’s untimely death has no place in new haven anymore.

she promised parker she'd make it up to him, though. somehow, someday.

who is this b*nch

max is relatively easy to get along with, tbh !

she’s a mood matcher; meaning if you’re nice to her, then she’s nice to you ( and if you’re gonna be a punk bitch, then she’ll be a punk bitch right back )

she’s a lil spoiled, lil sheltered, and lil ignorant but her general friendliness makes up for it, she’s the type to be friends with ( almost ) everyone

internally: perfectionist to the point of being ruthless, first place is the only acceptable place, meticulous, neurotic, workaholic, overachiever, if you’re not useful then what’s your purpose?, slightly egotistical, etc etc

externally: caring, protective, and supportive mom friend who just wants people to get their shit together because inadequacy is unacceptable, fixer, likes to dip into different social circles, consciously makes the effort to be more patient with people

she’s incredibly ambitious ? morally ambiguous ? slightly self-serving and self-involved ? her father’s a criminal “justice” lawyer whose clientele doesn’t exactly consist of the beacons of society so... she learned a lot of lessons about how you can win any case in the courtroom if you’re smart enough to a ) make a good story, b ) get the fitting evidence by any means necessary, c ) discredit and discard the necessary people, and d ) be charming and persuasive enough to rock the jury

she’s actively trying to be more open-minded and assimilate to a diverse group of people because back in yale she was definitely in a wasp bubble, and admittedly there are times where she will come off as super snobby without meaning to and tbh sorry about it

she’s still an extremely sociable person because yale also taught her how to network like a motherfucker, and how it’s important to know / be friends with everyone

honestly, intense people turn her off ( both positive and negative ) a little because she can't handle concentrated personalities in one sitting

even though she’s a little intense herself sometimes but it’s fine, we love hypocrites in this house !

neat freak ? but honestly who doesn’t like a friend who squeegees the shower every day and has a tiny can of lysol in their bag and an aroma diffuser with three ( 3 ) oil blends

she’s like... weirdly aggressive sometimes and most definitely has anger issues ( still in denial over her father unexpectedly passing away and getting stuck with a mom who doesn’t like her own children very much )

but also, she’s just agro in general and has a number of physical hobbies. she’s an ice skater, equestrian, a soulcyclist, and a kickboxer. she can fite.

she’s not the type to make fun of herself because she's not at a point where she sees qualities in her that are okay to laugh at ( unless you’re tight )

keeps her negative juju to herself because she’s a very private person

will prioritize work over play because she'd hardwired like that, but that doesn't mean she's anti-fun ( clearly )

definitely needs to loosen up a little that doesn't involve alcohol... jenga perhaps ? or actually try therapy again ?

very effectively sneaky about her growing alcohol dependency ( sugar-free breath mints, brushes her teeth + uses mouthwash after every meal )

dry sense of humor

at all times: wears a 1-carat, emerald cut, pavé diamond ring ( family heirloom ) + carries her trusty black hydro flask with her ( 24 oz. ) and no one is allowed to drink from it !

her signature scent is le labo bergamote 22 🤍

hmu on my discord @ tin#0697 for plottage !

[theexecutionerssong]

It’s recap of the end of the year party time (with pics)! under the cut because I ramble a lot as usual. 

First they gave us SKAM France pillows when we got there so we could sit as comfortably as possible on the floor of the venue. There were about 400 people and it was a tight fit! While we were waiting, they played songs from s3 and 4, everyone was already getting emotional.

The afternoon started with speeches from the execs and David as usual before getting the cast on stage - Assa, Coline, Lula, Maxence, Philippine, Théo, Léo, Robin, Gigi, Moussa, Edouard, Aliénor and later Laïs who was late - and then they showed us a tribute video with iconic scenes of season 3 and 4, in which they included tweets and fanarts by the fans, like testimonies, reactions, etc, everyone was a mess of tears after that.

Then David asked every member of the cast how had their lives changed because of Skam. I filmed this part, link to the video is in the source at the bottom of this post. David hadn’t warned them they would have to answer that question so they weren’t prepared and many got emotional - poor Maxence who went first was a mess. Niels finally got here so he was asked the same question, Antonio too and David answered his own question. A lot of thank yous were exchanged and I’m sorry not sorry about my sniffling in the background of the video but I can’t see people cry and not cry too. The overall message was that they are all proud of what they have done because they can see what an impact the series had just by seeing us in front of them half crying half smiling, as well as with the overwhelming amount of messages they’ve been receiving for months. I really loved what David said about refusing programs that don’t show diversity, that we should stand our ground on this and say no to programs with only white characters or straight couples. That they told one story, but we can and should tell all the others.

Then the crew was called on stage, Jérémy and the editing team to talk a bit, before they showed us the bloopers. That’s when I stopped filming, the room was in the dark anyway and you all saw the bloopers on Youtube by now. Assa tried to leave the stage completely and hide ahah. The cast hadn’t seen them before and there must have been some inside jokes going on because they would laugh WAY LOUDER than us at some stuff. Maxence got so shy about the “I’m ticklish Daviiid” part while everyone was so fond :’) there were a few fond headshakes at Axel’s laughing too.

Then we played a game, a fan would go against one member of the cast and the first to answer the question would win the point. The questions were about the 4 seasons and David called actors who weren’t necessarily in the season just to check if they had paid attention / watched it at all but we DESTROYED THEM. We won so easily, it was hilarious. They got 4 questions right first. The questions ranged from who was Emma dressed as at the halloween party in s1 to what day and exact time did the trailer for s3 dropped. Theo is the worst loser in history, Lula is SO COMPETITIVE, Moussa tried to intimidate the fan that went against him and Coline tried to take her mic, while Niels got his question right and literally jumped in the air, he scared me sdfghjklkj. I was really into it so I didn’t film. But here are a few pics - I haven’t posted them anywhere else so DO NOT repost them. Please.

Then there was a little Q&A, questions were about if they had watched other remakes, why is Arthur’s ig on private and Maxence’s role in The House Of Gaunt - can’t believe there’s going to be a screening at the Grand Rex, I’m so fucking proud, this is HUGE!!!! I filmed parts of this too but not everything because it was questions we had heard before.

We took a lil break to drink and get a bit of fresh air after that before coming back inside. Laïs and Assa were on stage in the dark - keep in my mind we hadn’t seen Laïs before then so we were like ???? IS THAT LAIS?? When did he get here, what’s happening? - and they danced. Beautiful, adorable, show stopping, spectacular, emotional, out of this world. David teased Laïs for being late and asked him the same question about how Skam changed his life or not. I filmed all that. 

David then called a fan on stage to share her story. Skam France saved her life. Really. It was extremely emotional. She was so strong, despite shaking so bad. We kept asking that they gave her a hug but David, Niels, Assa and Laïs who were on stage said they would hug her only once she was done talking. They wanted to let her say everything she had to say. Lots, lots of tears then. Niels took Assa under his arm because she was trying hard to keep it together for the fan’s sake. They gave her the biggest, tightest hug when she was done. I didn’t film because it was almost too personal, y’know? Sure she went on stage but her story still feels private, so I felt wrong about filming. I took a few pics though.

Then there was the concert! Coline was singing and playing the piano and guitar, while Léo and Edouard were playing the guitar and the bass. Lula and Gigi joined for the harmonies during Get Lucky and Remember. They sang Get Lucky by the Daft Punk, Fête de Trop by Eddy de Pretto (featured in s3), Unknown by Jacob Banks (featured in s4), Remember by Seinabo Sey and Jacob Banks (featured in s3) and an original song called Menthe à l’eau inspired by Demi Lovato’s overdose (Coline is a big fan). Most of the cast was standing/kneeling to the side of stage to watch and then you had Maxence right in the middle of the fans, hyping the crowd and jumping around. I didn’t film more than my ig stories because my hands were shaking too much but I’ve posted a few pics before, have some again

And then came the last goodbyes with everyone on stage, including cast and crew and I filmed all that. We were all holding our breaths for a potential announcement but they only said thank you, we love you, we’ll be in touch. I could barely hold my camera. And then Zina by Babylone, the music from the last clip of s4 started playing and Coline melted into Maxence arms crying, Assa was holding back tears, they all started hugging and then leaving the stage one by one, the lights went up and we all looked at each others like…  so this is it uh. We were not fairing very well, let me tell you. Fans were hugging and drying each other’s tears, I was hugged so tight by people I didn’t even know two months ago and it was just… It was a lot of love. So much love.

Before going outside, they gave us a poster signed by the cast. I stayed in the lobby a bit to look at the BTS pictures I posted before. There was a stand thingy where we could take pics with the Skam Logo and quotes. Maxence saw fans were taking pics there and just jumped in the middle to photobomb them azedfghjk 

We then went outside to talk with the cast and crew for a while but the security whisked them away quite quickly so we didn’t have that much time. We had maybe 30 minutes outside with everyone. I went around to take pics and thank them a last time. I’ve posted most of those already.

Niels, David, Jérémy, Coline, Robin, Moussa and Gigi stayed longer, I don’t know why the security didn’t asked them to leave. I had a chat with Jérémy that I want to share because it really struck me. He was wondering if it was true that Skam France was the only remake that does this kind of event. He was so surprised, because and I quote “but how can we not give back just a little bit when you give us so much? I’m just the editor, and you’re here talking with me.” According to him, it’s a feeling shared by everyone in the cast and crew, no matter their role on the show, fans are always happy to see them and talk and ask questions, and they are deeply appreciative of that. Not just the actor, but the crew too. He was extremely grateful and appreciative. And I loved that, because it’s so true, they don’t have to. I’m not saying they other remakes should do this. I’m seeing that I’m baffled the Skam France team considers this normal. They didn’t have to do all this, the screenings, the party. It was for us. Because they don’t know how to thank us.

I took the bus home while holding the pillow they gave us against my chest, not a care in the wolrd about who would see me. I was completely emotionally drained, but happy, and thankful for this amazing cast and crew, all the love that kept pouring out of everywhere during the afternoon. They gave us so much. I saw people on Tumblr and Twitter who were disappointed that they weren’t announcements or more bts content but… this was a party for the fans, a way to celebrate the success of seasons 3 and 4, the only way they found to tell us thank you. It wasn’t a press conference. It was magical. So many smiles. So much laughter. Such tight hugs. It was way more than enough for me.