#fantasy-prone-ann

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Alright here's the sun and moon signs for the P5 characters whose birthdays I could find. (Moon signs sometimes transition on the same day, so I picked the one that seemed most likely in that instance.)

*Mandatory disclaimer that I am not an astrologer nor do I wish to be, as I am not a believer in this sort of thing. I'm doing this for fun and because the information is there. As you do.

Ryuji Sakamoto (July 3rd, 1999): Cancer Sun, Aquarius Moon

A desire for independence and new experiences offsets the usual cautiousness of Cancer. Restless and rebellious, they can be viewed as arrogant or impatient, but also generous and protective of the underdog.

This works pretty well, other than that this combination is supposed to be a lot more in their head "deep thinkers", of which Ryuji... definitely is not lol

Ann Takamaki (November 12th, 1999): Scorpio Sun, Sagittarius Moon

Compassionate and idealistic, they often serve as guiding lights to others. Very warmhearted, humanitarian and a romantic at heart, yet also aloof at times and strong-willed, as they are determined to create their own path in life.

Yeah, this suits Ann well.

Yusuke Kitagawa (January 28th, 2000): Aquarius Sun, Scorpio Moon

A powerful and magnetic personality with a blend of both intense passion and intellectual detachment. They study human nature, see hidden potentials, and have an intense sense of individualism. While they try to repress petty feelings, they can easily carry around immense resentment and contempt if left unchecked.

Holy shit. That's Yusuke almost to a tee.

Makoto Niijima (March 23rd, 1998): Taurus Sun, Capricorn Moon

Calm and sympathetic, but with a tough and determined inner core. Prone to worry and anxiety, they may hold themselves back for fear of damaging their future with risks. They are loyal and witty, and are often good at giving advice. Have a lot of repressed anger.

Yep, that sounds like Makoto. There's some more info on how they tend towards humour and have some talent in creative outlets, which isn't so much her, but that's only after they conquer their fears. Maybe Makoto will ease up more over time.

Futaba Sakura (February 19th, 2001): Pisces Sun, Capricorn Moon

A blend of opposite traits; both a romantic and a realist, both sympathetic and pragmatic. While they don't tend to love taking on a lot of responsibility, they have an ambitious side to them that loves a good challenge. They tend to show their compassion by taking more practical measures to help people out.

Not bad for Futaba, honestly.

Haru Okumura (December 5th, 1998): Sagittarius Sun, Cancer Moon

Calm and assured, Cancer's caution offsets the Sagittarius urge to jump into things. They are receptive, open-minded, sincere, and have a competent air about them. They are intuitive and usually very good at sensing whether a person is trustworthy or not.

I still don't know Haru as well as the other characters, but this seems decent enough from what I've seen of her!

Kasumi Yoshizawa (March 25th, 2001): Aries Sun, Pisces Moon

Creative and self-expressive, but prone to insecurity and uncertainty. Often project an image of being bold, adventurous and decisive but can be held back by inner passivity and sensitivity. Tend towards a rich fantasy life and are very artistic.

I think it checks out for Kasumi!

Goro Akechi (June 2nd, 1998): Gemini Sun, Virgo Moon

Self-expression is extremely important to them, in writing, speech, and debate. Charming, analytical, and communicative, they love having an audience for their ideas, but they are also high-strung, set impossible standards, and can become hypercritical the more discontent they are.

Hm. I think that's actually not bad from what I've seen of him so far.

Sadly, Morgana has no birthday listed and I don't think I can make a good guess for him either. However, I will make a guess for Joker's birthday as being P5's release date because... well, just look at this.

Ren Amamiya / Akira Kurusu (September 15th, 1999): Virgo Sun, Scorpio Moon

Outwardly reserved with a cool demeanor, but inwardly intensely emotional, they are highly driven by instinct and passion even as they are guided by rationality. Gentle, dedicated and soft-spoken but also persistent, innovative and tough. Highly secretive with their feelings. Very perceptive.

Uh. Yeah. That's him.

[subiysu-chan]

What do the Innocent executioners dream of? As in at night

I think almost all of them are prone to traumatic flashbacks when they try to sleep. Like during the day, their minds would be occupied.

I think Jean-Baptiste barely sleeps at all because of the nightmares he has of killing people. I think when he was younger, he would have nightmares of being murdered or framed by his rivals. The rivalry mentality in executioner and torturer groups would make it very difficult for him to cope with disability, since his new found vulnerability would mean having once again a target on his back...Also, Charles being inexperienced and clumsy, or illegally applying retentum, or that he considered to send him to a school in Toulouse were the prejudice against executioners and their families was much stronger, he would sometimes have nightmares of Charles' mutilated, battered corpse sent to him. He would later, as they gradually enter apprenticeship, have nightmares of his sons sent to him in a box. Also, the time he went to jail for a short while for botching a hanging, he still has dreams about his ex cell-mate, and how later he had to kill/brand him. Also, would sometimes have dreams of Madeleine still peacefully sleeping in his bed, or him having sex with her. On these nights, he'll hug Jeanne extra tight, who'll welcome the affection, not knowing he thinks of another woman. Because of the quasi-sibling like relationship they shared, his relationship with Madeleine is one that could never be replaced, and he'll never love another partner like he did with her. Given how he's presented all over the manga, I don't think he can sincerely love a woman he doesn't consider related to him. The relationship with his mother is quasi-incestuous, and Anne-Marthe is very misogynistic, and he seems to share her values. Also, being a dynastic executioner, I don't think he'll consider courting, marriying and then having children with a woman he considers a sister, aunt or niece to be morally wrong.

For Charles-Henri, he would have it similar, but the Revolution would drive those dreams to straight up hallucinations of the faces of his victims, of blood and gore. As a youngster, he would sometimes have dreams of his father hugging him, or strangling him. Up to age 23, he would sometimes have nightmares about his physical punishments. Sometimes, he'll see Jean de Chartois. Also, him sleeping around in his mid-twenties, and even after getting married, he would sometimes have sexual dreams regarding his wife or mistress(es). Also, I think the "soft compassionate side" of his personality never left, and mixted with his new playboy lifestyle, given how horribly prostitutes and "loose women" were treated, he would sometimes imagine he'll have to sheer or whip his mistresses, or have news that the magistrates had some sick "games" with them. Also, his wife finding out his infedelity is also one. However, he won't have any incestuous fantasies, and would be grossed out by the prospect. He spent too much time with individuals outside his cast and with the church to consider that...

I don't think Soubise/Subyss would sleep well either, his concious tormenting him a bit as he sleeps. Also, he is someone who always needs to be high on something, be it torture or alcohol. Subyss would often have dreams of being tortured himself, perhaps flashbacks prostituting himself to magistrates or doing tasks for them in the "convulsionaire" secret reunions (what they did there was pretty disgusting). Since torturer isn't enough to make a living on it's own, he'll be a corrector either for the Hôpital Général, colledges or for wealthy nobles with bratty sons or daughters (honestly, who ever happens to offer the most money for the job). I think he might sometimes get emotionally attached to those kids, especially as he shows signs of histrionic personality disorder making one believe that relationships are closer than they actually are. He'll also have sexual dreams about Nicolas, sometimes Damien.

Marie-Josephe: I think on top of flashbacks being tortured as a child, would sometimes have dreams of being held and hugged warmly. Marie-Josephe does have an underlying desire for affection and recognition. She seems genuinely hurt when Charles-Henri refused to support her during that La Barre execution, and we see a flashback asking Charles if he found her disgusting. In that part with the Chevalier Alain Bernard, she wonders if he'll change and leave her like Charles did. Also, we see her mocking and angry after her father asked to step aside so that he can finish Lally/Griffith in one stroke and treat his body with the "respect he deserves". Like, knowing her dad had some lingering friendship and respect for the man who raped her, but little to none to her, nor her mom...That must hurt. Again, Marie seems like someone who secretly wants love and approuval, but doesn't allow herself to indulge in that. However, at night, when she's about to sleep, I can very well imagine she'll have dreams of being hugged warmly by Charles, or by Alain...Maybe by her mother. Although, I don't imagine those dreams being pleasant to her, and she'll probably wake up afterwards with her face twisted into a grimace of pain. Thanks to having chosen the path of female executioner, I think Marie, for all her rebelliousness, does have desires and fantasies of acceptance, just that they bring her a lot of emotional pain.

[flowerprose]

writeblr intro ♡ flowerprose

hi there! call me krys. i'm a libra sun, in my late 20s, and i love to escape into writing. ultimately, my goal is to finish my novel, namesake, by the end of march, revise it throughout april, and spend the rest of 2023 querying until i land an agent.

please note that this blog is a side-blog. i follow, reply, like, and send asks from @briarroses!

greek mythology, fairy tales, science fiction, and fantasy have always burrowed closely within my heart, and really shaped the sort of writer i am now.

i chose my username because i write in what others have described as a "flowery, lyrical, or poetic” style.

a little about me: i recently started work at a new job that i love. i have two tabby cats who happen to be sisters and gorgeously precious. my fondness for flowers and plants tends to leak into my writing, more obnoxiously in namesake than anywhere else.

for me, writeblr is a sense of community and i love getting to read another person's craft and talk with them about their process. i'm less receptive to asks these days bc of how busy i am, but i do try to send out asks whenever i see games flooding my dash!

i'm also gay and will probably favour your female characters above all else.

you are always welcome to tag me in tag games or add me to a tag list of your wip if we are mutuals. (in fact, tagging me is a lifesaver bc i can't always check the dash anymore and i'm prone to missing things!) i'm not stingy about who i follow, although i personally try not to follow or engage with minors.

favourite books: lullabies for little criminals by heather o'neill, the girls by emma cline, circe and the song of achilles by madeline miller, all the ugly and wonderful things by bryn greenwood, the princess bride by william goldman, deathless by catherynne m. valente, we are okay by nina lacour, fangirl by rainbow rowell, her body and other parties by carmen maria machado, bunny and 13 ways of looking at a fat girl by mona awad, sharp objects by gillian flynn, writers & lovers by lily king, son of a trickster and dogs in winter by eden robinson, poison study trilogy by maria v. snyder, on earth we’re briefly gorgeous and night sky and exit wounds by ocean vuong, and lastly, red hood and damsel by elana k. arnold.

favourite writers: anne carson, madeline miller, heather o'neill, louise gluck, emma cline, gillian flynn, leigh bardugo, elana k. arnold, richard siken, eden robinson, mona awad, ocean vuong, and maria v. snyder.

works in progress

n a m e s a k e ⛓🏛🌷💀🌿🌾

summary: a hades and persephone myth retelling in which kore, newly dead, is taken to the underworld to rot as mortals do. when hades discovers she is the godly offspring of his older siblings, he tricks her into eating pomegranate seeds and siphons her abilities into his own domain, unleashing a curse that ultimately causes him to start to decay.

wip intro | writing | character intros

at home, with graves 🪦💀🥀🐺🌒⚰️

summary: Nearly eight years prior, Lovey and Olly were rescued from a man they called “Bishop”, a serial killer who imprisoned their mother and raised them like his own. In the present day, a documentary about Bishop and his infamous slayings starts filming in their hometown. As the twins near their eighteenth birthday, true crime enthusiasts begin to reach out, requesting intimate insight of what really happened in Bishop’s cabin. While their grandfather, their now sole guardian, slowly loses his battle to grief, Lovey starts to keep track of how much of Bishop was implanted in Olly, and how to avoid the fate of a victim.

wip intro | writing | poetry

[wanderingwolpertinger]

Webcomics I think you should read in 2023

The Silver Eye by Laura Hollingsworth (@ thesilvereye on tumblr)

“The Silver Eye began in 2009. It is an action-adventure webcomic of the Fantasy persuasion, written from a Christian worldview. Two rival royal families are always at odds. The conflict reaches a point where one child king, Apen, sacrifices himself and his country to prevent another war. This leads to some disastrous consequences. The story follows his journey to try to set things right, and if he’s going to do so, he has to work alongside members of his rival family.” (Description from the website)

TSE is my personal favorite, as anyone who’s stuck around my blog has probably already figured out lol. It updates on Fridays. (PG to occasional PG-13)

The Legend of Ruach by Paige Coffer (@ paigecofferillustration on tumblr)

It’s a fantasy/adventure story that’s been running since 2020, updates weekly. I think it’s PG so far, may be soft PG-13 in the future.

Stand Still, Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg (Completed, 2013-2022) (tumblr @ hummingfluff)

"Stand Still. Stay Silent" is a post apocalyptic webcomic with elements from Nordic mythology, set 90 years in the future. It's a story about friendship and exploring a forgotten world, with some horror, monsters and magic on the side. 

It’s a really neat comic to read as an American because of all the Nordic languages and cultural elements present throughout. Warnings for horror elements/violence, maybe some language (I can’t remember for sure, it’s been awhile since I read it, could be blurred out or something) The author also has talked about her return to her faith/and her next comic is going to be overtly Christian (Journey Upstream) It started recently (Jan 2023)

(More comics under the cut)

Lost in the Vale by Crystal Curtis (tumblr @ lostinthevale)

The Outrunners are traveling peacekeepers tasked with assisting the citizens of the Vale. Their top priority: find the missing Prince of Andalusia. For Delica, it's not just her mission - it's her obsession. As she and her teammates travel the kingdom, they will discover more dangers (and mysteries) than they ever imagined.

I started reading this one really recently and quite like it so far, the art style is excellent. Updates Tuesdays, PG-13

Jade Torch by Anne Marie Wells

It’s a book turned webcomic turned soon to be released illustrated novel (if I have that right lol)

“Lunerata “Lune” Bridth, heir to the Havanellan throne, is sent to the court of a rival kingdom, the homeland of her deceased mother, to help negotiate a long-awaited peace treaty. But once there, she finds that things are not as simple as she’d been lead to believe. In this foreign land, there are enemies, allies, traitors, secrets, and a plot that could destroy Lune’s world as she knows it and plunge both kingdoms into war. Join Lune and her friends as they set out on an adventure filled with dragons, assassins, mysteries, magic, and the strange ties of family.“ The Dreamer by Lora Innes

Beatrice “Bea” Whaley seems to have it all; the seventeen year old high school senior is beautiful, wealthy and the star performer of the drama club. And with her uncle’s connections to Broadway theater, the future looks bright ahead of her. Little does she know that her future might actually be brighter behind her.

Bea begins having vivid dreams about a brave and handsome soldier named Alan Warren–a member of an elite group known as Knowlton’s Rangers that served during the Revolutionary War. Prone to keeping her head in the clouds, Bea welcomes her nightly adventures in 1776; filled with danger and romance they give her much to muse about the next day. But it is not long before Beatrice questions whether her dreams are simply dreams or something more. Each night they pick up exactly where the last one ended. And the senses–the smell of musket shots and cannons, the screams of soldiers in agony, and that kiss–are all far more real than any dream she can remember.

Completed, PG-13

Haven’t had a chance to finish this one yet, but it was great as far as I read.

[historyhermann]

Reviewing Queer Animated Characters With Trauma

Amity fights Hunter in a season 2 episode of The Owl House

Recently, there has been a growing number of queer fictional animated characters with trauma. I decided to examine this trend and offer my thoughts.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog (it will be published there on Dec. 24) and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-first article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on June 13, 2022.

Trauma is a common theme in fiction. This makes sense especially for conflict-prone series, either in live-action or animation. Recent years have made this even more pronounced as animation holds an "exceptional potential" to portray trauma, an emotional response to a distressing experience of some kind, unlike other mediums.

I'll examine over 20 characters, who are either confirmed as part of the LGBTQ community or implied as such. The characters described in this article are only a small sample of a larger list of characters. I've only chosen characters in Western animated shows that I have watched to date, as a similar post on anime characters would be as long as this one.

This post contains spoilers for the series that I'm writing about. With that, let me get started!

The Owl House

Luz and Amity dance together as their magic causes the grom monster to explode behind them

This fantasy and horror comedy animated series has trauma at its core. It emphasizes the importance of chosen family and discovering who you are as a person.

The show's protagonist, Luz Noceda (Sarah Nicole-Robles) ends up into a magical world called the Boiling Isles. It is far away from her home and she soon has no way of returning. While she makes friends along the way, what happens to her is, at times, traumatic. In fact, one reviewer even stated that nearly every resident of the Owl House, including Eda Clawthorne (Wendie Malick), King (Alex Hirsch), and Luz, have post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD.

By the second season of the series, Luz has begun a romantic relationship with Amity Blight (Mae Whitman). Luz is confirmed as bisexual by the show's creator, Dana Terrace, while Amity is a lesbian. Her voice actor is pansexual. Additionally, Eda is queer as she was in a relationship with Raine Whispers, a non-binary head witch of the Bard Covern. The voice actor of Raine, Avi Roque, is non-binary as well.

There's also Eda's sister, Lilith, who was recently implied as being asexual by her voice actor, Cissy Jones, the dads of Willow Park (Tati Gabrielle), Gilbert and Harvey, and the mysterious god-like creature named The Collector. The show's creator may have implied the character is non-binary in a recent tweet. Lilith was later confirmed as an aromantic asexual character.

All these characters, and every other character in the series, have trauma on some level. Even the series villain, Emperor Belos (Matthew Rhys), has a mind filled with decades of "triumph, trauma, and loss."

Amphibia

Anne (left) and Sasha (right) fight in the season two finale

This recently-concluded series may seem harmless at first, but there is more below the surface. The three protagonists, Anne Boonchuy (Brenda Song), Marcy Wu (Haley Tju), and Sasha Waybright (Anna Akana) open a magic box. They end up in a wild tropical land known as Amphibia. Their friendship faces strains and hardships, including betrayals, pain, and death.

One of these characters is prominently part of the LGBTQ community: Sasha. Voiced by Akana, a talented voice actress, the show’s creator, Matt Braly confirmed her as bisexual after the show’s finale. This built upon a bisexual sticker on her car's mirror in a final sequence. As it turns out, during an acceptance speech for the Streamy Awards she came out as bisexual, even though she was drunk when she made the speech since she didn’t expect to win the award.

Her character begins the series as a jerk, bully, and almost a villain of sorts. Sasha even fights the show’s protagonist, Anne, her high school friend, and butts heads with Marcy. She later works to make amends and fights King Andrias who has evil plans to take over the world.

Sasha joins other recurring LGBTQ characters, mostly in the show's last season. This includes Frodrick Toadstool and Toadie who have a gay romance, confirmed by the show's creator. Also, Yunan and Lady Olivia become a romantic lesbian couple, while Ally and Jess who run an Internet video channel together. It's also implied that Mr. X, voiced by RuPaul, is gay.

All these characters have some level of trauma in one way or another. At the same time, the series serves as a "form of solace" and can ameliorate trauma often associated with media like The Owl House.

Disenchantment

Bean fights with Gretel, a cannibalistic serial killer, in the season one episode "Faster, Princess! Kill! Kill!"

Although her father, Zog, works through his trauma in the most recent part of this mature animated series, Bean suffers from trauma as well. This is because events which involve a "serious threat to life...and feel beyond a person’s control" fill her life. Examples include loss of a parent, physical violence, sexual assault, military combat, or death of a loved one.

Through her role as princess, and then queen, these events include her father's live burial, an elevator chopping off the head of her friend, and kidnapping of her friend Elfo. She isn't alone with trauma, as her friends also have it as well, as do many other characters within this series. It shows that series is not afraid to tackle mental health as a theme.

In the most recent episodes of this series, she kisses a mermaid named Mora (Meredith Hagner). This romance and others with male characters, including Elfo, indicated she is bisexual or pansexual. She was directly confirmed as bisexual by an official Netflix account. Furthermore, Bean's voice actress, Abbi Jacobson, is also bisexual.

There are other LGBTQ characters in this series, like Odval and Sorcerio. They are a gay couple who live in the Dreamland castle. It is further implied that Big Jo and Porky may have been in a toxic relationship with one another.

All of them experience physical violence, loss, and serious threats to their lives in more ways than one.

High Guardian Spice

Olive and Rose fight in the 9th episode of this series

This series has major themes such as acceptance, togetherness, and discovering one's identity. Rosemary (Briana Leon), has a recurring nightmare where her mother disappeared and left a magical sword behind. Unsurprisingly, she gets nervous when her locket, which has an important family memory, gets lost.

Rosemary isn't alone. Sage (Lauren White) gets nervous when everything doesn't go according to plan. She ends up questioning if she should be at the magic academy and what "right things" she should say to people. The latter is emblematic of her social awkwardness.

Both are implied as being in love with each other, in what some shippers call Sagemary. Since Rosemary shows an attraction to a male student in one episode, she could be bisexual. One of the show's writers and voice actor of Amaryllis, Katie McVay, seemed to imply some the show's characters are bisexual. Parsley (Amber Romero) and Thyme (Michelle Deco) might be lesbian characters. The latter has a crush on a mermaid named Coral in one episode.

Anise and Aloe are a lesbian couple. Haviland Stillwell, a lesbian actress, voices Anise. Then there's Professor Caraway who reveals to Rosemary he is a trans man. The show's creator, Raye Rodriguez, who is a Cuban trans man, voices him. Finally, the snarky student Snapdragon appears to be on the road to transitioning toward a trans woman. Julia Kaye, a comics writer and trans woman, voices her.

Traumatic events shape all these characters and many others. This includes queer-coded characters like the catgirl Olive (Stephanie Sheh), Slime Boy (Julian Koster), and professor Wyverna Dretch (Stillwell).

Legend of Korra

Korra at a low place at beginning of the show's fourth season

Trauma fills this classic, but divisive, anime-inspired series. Trauma affects two of the protagonists, Korra and Asami Sato.

Throughout the series, Korra becomes poisoned, physically traumatized, and emotionally scarred. This manifests itself in her losing her bending abilities and having her friends captured or maimed. Through it all she has to continue fighting as the Avatar, with a duty to keep the peace. One reviewer said that her PTSD storyline is sad, but also "so good", as she survives through her drama which continues to inspire.

This contrasts with Asami. She loses almost everything in the series, from her imprisoned backstabbing father and almost losing her family company. One person argued that Asami's trauma inspires her to "save others from feeling how she felt." This includes Korra, who confides in Asami as she works through her trauma.

In the show's final episode, and subsequently confirmed by show's creators, Korra and Asami become a romantic couple. This was further shown in the graphic novel The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars. The same novel confirmed that Kya, daughter of Katara, is a lesbian. The novel also explores Kyoshi's bisexual romantic feelings.

During the series, Korra and Asami date Mako, a male character, and are good friends with one another. With Korrisami confirmed, both are canonically bisexual.

Final Space

Ash, imbued with the power of Invictus, prepares to strike Little Cato in the show's final episode

One of the protagonists of this cancelled mature animated series manifests trauma more than any other character. Ash Graven (Ashly Burch) is a complex character with a troubled past. Like other protagonists, the destruction of the Earth by the Lord Commander, and near-death experiences, traumatizes her.

Invictus, the show's primary villain, exploits her trauma triggers to great effect. Similar to how triggers for people with PTSD manifest themselves, she lashes out, blames others unfairly, retreats, and her emotions flair.

Before this happens, she bonds with a genderless lifeform trapped in Final Space, named Evra (Jasmin Savoy Brown). Their growing relationship makes clear Ash's romantic orientation as a lesbian. Since the show was not renewed, her relationship with Evra did not progress beyond one episode sequence.

Trauma and tragedy scar the memories and lives of every character in this series. This includes a recurring character named Clarence, confirmed by show creator Olan Rogers as bisexual, and Tribore Menendez, who may be genderfluid.

Just as literature can be a "valid resource" to learn about complex issues like trauma and mental health, with books even playing a role in recovering from mental illness, animated series can tackle the same topics. Final Space is one of those series.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Fight between Jamack (left) and Wolf (right) in the first episode of this series

This young adult animated series is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland known as Las Vistas, set in what is now Los Angeles. Animals have morphed into anthropomorphic characters and humans fled underground to burrows. The show's protagonist, Kipo (Karen Fukuhara) is the series' narrative center and a foil for the "world’s trauma and alienation."

Kipo was never confirmed as part of the LGBTQ community. She is traumatized as much as any other character and with her troubled past. Some have headcanoned her as queer, but that is pure speculation.

The show's creator, Radford "Rad" Sechrist said he never thought of Kipo as LGBTQ. She was recently confirmed as a Blasian character. It wasn't directly stated in the series due to a worry by Sehcrist of "whitewashing and lightening black characters". This led to a bit of a hullabaloo online after his clunky response.

She is not the only character who afflicted by trauma. For instance, there's Benson Mekler (Coy Stewart) and Troy Sandoval (Giullian Yao Gioiello). Both later begin a romantic relationship. Sechrist hinted Troy as pansexual at one point. There's additionally Asher Berdacs who is non-binary and voiced by River Butcher, a non-binary actor. Each of them has their own childhood traumas, as does Kipo's friend, Wolf (Sydney Mikayla) and many other characters.

Even a mandrill named Scarlemagne (Dan Stevens), who wants to subjugate humanity, has deep-seated trauma. Any of his cruel acts are not justified by this, but they serve as a reason for what he did. While some object with his redemption of sorts, another villain is his abuser: Dr. Emilia (Amy Landecker), a manipulative and power-hungry scientist. Others have stated that her role as an abuser emphasizes the "potency of early trauma."

Tangled

Cass, using her moonstone powers, stands in front of her throne and speaks to Raps

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, called Tangled: The Series in the show's first season, focuses on trauma. The 2010 animated film Tangled, which preceded the series, also explores trauma, toxic parentage, and emotional abuse. Others even employed the terrible tower where Rapunzel "Raps" lives, by force, as a metaphor for stages of abuse.

The series introduces Cassandra "Cass" (by Eden Espinosa), a complex character with trauma and PTSD. She sings about it, declaring she has nothing left to lose as she goes down a "path paved in black." As acknowledged by storyboarder Amber Vanich, lesbian vibes were imbued in her drawings of Cass.

She has a troubled past like Raps. She has the same "mother", causing the show to declare they were "sisters". This couldn't be further from the truth. Gothel, the birth mother of Cass, was Raps' kidnapper, leading to irreparable trauma.

The evil Zhan Tri manipulates her, exploiting her trauma and plays on her triggers. As a result, she lashes out, blames Raps, and her emotions flair, especially when using moonstone powers to fight Raps, with sundrop powers. Often, Cass processes her thoughts and feelings about Raps, sometimes feeling that Raps is holding her back.

In the series finale, she helps Raps to defeat Zhan Tri and both reconcile. While Raps marries Eugene, her boyfriend since the series' beginning, Cass and Raps declare their love for one other. This is presumably platonic as Disney wouldn't allow it otherwise.

There is potential for a series spinoff of Cass, who departs on a journey at the series end, possibly to come to terms with her trauma and atone for her past misdeeds. Some fans have theorized a romantic ending for both characters, shipped as "Cassunzel," say Raps is pansexual or bisexual, or otherwise embrace this ship.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Adora and Catra clashing with one another in the season five opening

Trauma interlaces this now iconic series, a reboot of the 1980s Filmation animated series She-Ra: Princess of Power.

The series centers on Adora and Catra, voiced by Aimee Carrero and AJ Michalka. They begin as friends but continue to have complicated feelings as they are on different sides of the conflict. At the series' end, their romantic relationship begins. They kiss and it saves the world from destruction, canonizing what fans dub "Catradora."

Adora has a specific type of trauma. One reviewer described it as eco-trauma, saying that Adora suffers from treating ecological harm as a form of trauma, something which someone tries to repress to avoid its "painful effects." This repression for Adora is external, as the First Ones impose it on her and attempt to turn the entire planet into a Death Star-like weapon.

Even so, it is through this planet she can access the memories of her predecessor. Light Hope (Morla Gorrondona), Adora's AI guide of sorts, imposed a memory wipe to forget the previous She-Ra, Mara (Zehra Fazal). In the end, Adora doesn't sacrifice her life, but Catra saves her, with both confessing their love for one another.

Trauma continues to follow Adora throughout the series, as she feels unworthy of doing "anything good." In contrast, Catra appears self-assured on the surface, but she becomes plagued by her own doubt and guilt. This causes her to become controlling and aggressive, almost destroying the entire world at one point. More to the point, she spends a majority of the show as a broken and battered woman "defined by her trauma." She makes decisions dictated by her experience with loss rather than from a place of love.

Adventure Time

Marcy in monster form, and Bonnie, fighting together in the episode "Varmints"

Marceline "Marcy" Abadeer is a fan-favorite vampire queen in this animated series. Marcy is more than a wacky character voiced by Olivia Olson. Instead she is a bisexual badass. Her character informed how then-storyboarder Rebecca Sugar told LGBTQ storylines in the future.

Marcy has a long and painful life, with her past trauma defining her. In fact, she becomes a vampire, or more exactly a half-demon, half-vampire multiracial woman in a traumatic way, becoming a source of her misery. She becomes stunted as an 18-year-old and never grows beyond that. Even so, she goes through an emotional journey of sorts, feeling like a monster.

This doesn't happen on her own. She begins a romantic relationship with Princess Bonnibel "Bonnie" Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) in the series finale. The Adventure Time: Distant Lands episode "Obsidian" explores the relationship further. The episode was all the rage in fall 2020. Queer fans who love Bubbline (Bonnie and Marcy) were glad to see more of a focus on their relationship.

In that episode, Marcy grapples with her outer and inner demons, singing to Bonnie that she "always felt like a monster". Bonnie comforts her while she has her own insecurities. They work through her struggles together while Bonnie has her own traumas born from her position as ruler of the Candy Kingdom.

This is not unique to her. Protagonists Finn and Jake, voiced by Jeremy Shada and John DiMaggio, are often thrown into conflict, either with the Lich, or other enemies. Even BMO (Niki Yang), who is a computer/video game console unit, who has no definite gender, becomes traumatized through the series. The Ice King (Tom Kenny), Huntress Wizard (Maria Bumford), Flame Princess (Jessica DiCicco), and many others have trauma, too.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Mariner fights with her digital self in the episode "Crisis Point"

Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) is a character in this mature sci-fi comedy series. She is a human and an ensign aboard a ship known as the USS Cerritos who likes to buck rules. This is in part because she is the daughter of the ship's captain, Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis), even though she is very good at "all things Starfleet."

Although some have argued that her trauma is sometimes played for laughs, the series still explains her motivations. Others have argued that the whole Starfleet crew needs therapy and better mental health care for everything they have gone through. One character, Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore), even dies at the end of one season to save Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero).

Mariner breaks protocol as a character, with the most recent season indicating she is bisexual or pansexual. At one point, the show's creator, Mike McMahan, stated that Mariner's former lover was Captain Amina Ramsey. He added that that "every Starfleet officer is probably at the baseline bisexual" in a sense.

She was also shown to have dated a man named Steve Levy. In one Season 2 episode she even declared that she had dated "bad boys, bad girls, bad gender non-binary babes, [and] ruthless alien masterminds" in the past. McMahan confirmed that Mariner will be dating a woman named Jennifer Sh'reyan (Lauren Lapkus) in the show's next season.

Mariner is not the only character with traumatic experiences. The same is the case for the ship's chief engineer, Andy Billups. He may be asexual, as he has no interest in having sex with male or female guards. Other characters are in thrown into conflict-prone situations as well, which are the breeding ground for trauma.

Arcane

Cait and Vi look in horror at Jinx's missile heading toward the Piltover council

Trauma and tragedy fill this mature series. This is balanced with a tone not "too dour" and a plot that doesn't drag the story down. This is a series with themes of class oppression taking place in a world with "no sexism, racism, or homophobia." Human experimentation, acceptance, struggle, and family separation are important themes. There's also depiction of attempted suicide, death, and kidnapping.

The adopted brother of Jinx (Ella Purnell), first known as Powder, taunts her, undermining her self-confidence. This combines with her fear of abandonment and guilt after some of her adopted family dies, causing her to become traumatized. She is still haunted by what happened in the past. Silco taps into these feelings, raising Jinx as her own. He doesn't fault her for lashing when when triggered, even when it threatens his own operations.

She isn't the only one affected by trauma. For Violet "Vi" (Hailee Steinfeld), this comes from her rough childhood living in the undercity, and separation from her sister, Jinx. For Caitlyn "Cait" Kiramman (Katie Leung), she has to deal with the pressure of working as an enforcer for the upper city of Piltover and new pressures of the undercity. This includes tense, stressful, and violent situations, especially with Vi.

Although some criticized its depiction, there is no doubt that in this series, Cait and Vi have romantic feelings for one another. It is what fans call "CaitVi," "Violyn" or the official moniker, "Piltover's Finest", with over 10,000 subscribers to subreddits for the pairing. In the aftermath of the end of the last season, Vi and Cait will likely have to pick up the pieces after Jinx assassinated the council members of Piltover.

gen:LOCK

Fight between Madrani (left) and "Sinclair" (right)

Like Arcane, this sci-fi mecha action series is mature and filled with sorrow. Due to a generally negative audience response and a subreddit which has turned against the show, renewal is unlikely. HBO Max and Rooster Teeth threw the show to the wolves. For all its faults, the series depicts trauma unlike any other, so it deserves a mention in this article.

Val/entina 'Val' Romanyszyn, who is a genderfluid and pansexual woman voiced by Asia Kate Dillon, goes through a lot in the series. The man she loves, Kazu Iida (Kōichi Yamadera), dies in front of her, and she watches countless others get injured or killed.

She is not alone in this. A demon named Nemesis, in the head of the show’s protagonist, Julian Chase (Michael B. Jordan) torments him throughout the series. It turns out that he is only a copy of his original self and the "demon" is another copy. Even so, he comes to terms with Nemesis and sees it as another part of himself.

Trauma and the subconscious are major themes in this series. Other members of Chase’s team, Cameron 'Cammie' MacCloud (Maisie Williams) and Yasamin 'Yaz' Madrani (Golshifteh Farahani) are also traumatized. Fighting the purportedly "evil" Union deeply affects Cammie, Yaz, Kazu, and Val, as does stresses from their lives before the war. The same is the case for Robert Sinclair, a fighter for the Polity and later a guerrilla. The show's second season reveals that he has a boyfriend.

Some reviewers have stated that the series has "mental illness, trauma recovery, technological intimacy and identity" at its center. Others said that the series has characters with distinct personalities who have to tackle their own trauma.

Closing thoughts

There are many other examples of characters with trauma who are part of the LGBTQ community, such as Daisy in Magical Girl Friendship Squad, and Fry and Hamburg in Kid Cosmic to give two examples.

There are other characters who struggle with trauma, although it is harder to pin them into the LGBTQ community apart from headcanons. Take, for example, Beck in Tron:Uprising, Reagan Ridley in Inside Job, and Ron Stoppable in Kim Possible.

I would be remiss to not mention Steven Universe in the series of the same name. Due to his fighting against corrupted Gems and Gem warriors, he develops trauma. This is further explored in the limited 2019-2020 series, Steven Universe Future, which brings trauma to the forefront. He attempts to come to terms with and address the traumatic incidents which plague his mind.

In the end, more series with mature themes and LGBTQ characters suggests that characters racked with trauma are in the cards.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[boricuacherry-blog]

Through much of the 1980s, she fell silent. She recorded a comeback album, "Something Real," in 1989 and took jobs singing advertising jingles for such companies as Stouffer's, Michelob, Kodak, Quaker Oats, AT&T, Hallmark, Exxon and General Foods.

"I faded away for a while out of necessity," Ms. Snow told the Los Angeles Times in 1998. "In hindsight, I missed out on some good or productive years. On the other hand...I really made the only choice I could under the circumstances."

Phoebe Ann Laub was born in New York City on July 17, 1950, and grew up in Teaneck, N.J. (Some reference sources mistakenly give her birth year as 1952.)

Through her mother, a dancer and part of a bohemian New York crowd, Ms. Snow met folk singers Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie at a young age. Her early musical influences included blues singers and Judy Garland, and her first ambition was to become "the greatest woman guitarist alive. I had fantasies about being a female Jimi Hendrix."

She later said, "I can't play these guitar lines, but maybe I can sing them. I tried to sing the way a guitar sounds and the way a saxophone sounds too."

She dropped out of Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, and began singing in Greenwich Village coffeehouses, taking her stage name from a passenger train that rumbled past her New Jersey home on the Erie Lackawanna Line.

In March 2007, Ms. Snow's daughter died at 31. When she began to perform again, she always took a moment to tell the audience about her daughter's life.

"I've heard there's a DNA test where they check your mitochondrial DNA. You get a cheek swab, and they can break down your entire genetic heritage. I'm gonna have to take that test."

Her song "Poetry Man" introduced her to millions of people who undoubtedly assumed she was black. But both her parents are Jewish. She doesn't rule out the possibility though, saying, "A friend was over recently, and I said, have you ever seen pictures of my dad? He passed away in 2005. She said, 'Oh my god, he looks black!' I said, 'I know!' My mom was the whitest, most alabaster-skinned person you can imagine, but who knows what went on four generations ago? So this mitochondrial DNA test should settle it."

Oprah took the test and found out she was linked to South Africa's Zulu tribe.

Outward appearances aside, there's no question that Snow's voice is well inside the tradition of female-soul gospel shouters. But Snow is also prone to taking operatic leaps four or five octaves above her normal register, which is, she says, a dramatic soprano. Since the 80s, she's taken lessons from classical singers. "My hat is totally, humbly off to operatic vocalists. I don't know how they do it. Oh, my god!"

Yet when it comes to her own listening, Ms. Snow always comes back to "the original R&B guys, James Brown, Sam Cooke. I was just listening to the original group Sam Cooke was in. What were they called? The Soul Stirrers? They were so good I almost fainted. A lot of that Baptist stuff is so powerful. Tramaine Hawkins, Aretha...that's the stuff I really grew up listening to."

[kiralamouse]

For Want Of Terminology: Speculative Fiction

I saw an article in Reactor Magazine asking "Are Science Fiction And Fantasy The Same?" and it brought me back to the ancient question: is Star Wars science fiction?

My answer: aesthetically, yes. Going deeper: well, what IS "science fiction"? Apart from aesthetic, there's not really anything differentiating the marketing genres of fantasy and scifi.

Where would one categorize Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern, who (spoiler) resulted from space travelers genetically modifying telepathic flying fire-breathing lizards to ginormous dragons in order to burn alien parasites before hurting people? All the worldbuilding can be covered by what at the time was acceptable speculation about scientific fact. Where would one categorize Naomi Novik's Temeraire books, which perform an in-depth sociological study of how the world of the Napoleonic Wars might differ if human-intelligent but more-than-human-socially-attached dragons evolved alongside? One uses science to achieve the goal of "but what if we could ride telepathic dragons?!?!?". The other uses absolutely nothing but the premise of "but what if there were intelligent dragons prone to bonding hard to humans?" as a starting point - but then investigates the possible ramifications from multiple angles, without changing any of the other variables. A scientific-ish thought experiment. It changes a single variable then gauges the effect.

I think speculative fiction in general - be it scifi, fantasy, horror, alternate history, whatever - needs a general scale the same way scifi has a scale of "soft" to "hard". A scale for "what if" that has answers running from "...wouldn't that be cool/terrible/sublime/weird/interesting?" to "... wouldn't x surely follow, and then y follow that, and furthermore z?" (Possibly a third point for "... wouldn't it be exactly the same as the world you know, except you hadn't noticed before?")

Star Wars would be about 80% rule of cool, but genuinely trying to answer questions like "wouldn't people still wanna leave small towns and try to optimize cheap falling-apart tech? Might it look like this?" and then genuinely trying to say "by the way, do you notice that imperialism is bad in this world, just like the real world?"

Maybe "vibes, conjecture, reflection" scales. IDK. All I know is I also just saw a discussion of AUs in fic and I want a way to say that I want my AUs to be thoughtful conjectures as a general rule, dangit, not random vibes because.

[funny-house]

Uhhh-- What are your Paige's headcanon? Just curiously asking...And sorry if it's a bad time to ask it :")

OK SO I GUESS YOU WANT SKETCH GIRL?

( unrelated but Paige is like.... one of the rare human designs i’m actually happy with other than shrignold lol,, I love my clown doll girl ok )

Anyhoo!! Paige was the first of all the teachers and actually one of the only teachers Red directly made himself. That’s why he sings her song during the open mic night Roy was talent scouting at. In fact, her episode is literally a pilot more than it is an official episode.

She is the most close to how she’s meant to be, but obviously still.... very off. Roy’s influence directly contaminates what her theme is, and as long as she’s built on this horrible contradiction to..... art as a concept.  ( psst. it’s capitalism.) She literally cannot do art without spiraling into a fit of self destruction. 

She embodies what’s happening to the show. I mean, she literally does metaphorically in her episode, so I think it fits that her character does too.

She sincerely tries to teach creativity to the main 3, but gets increasingly frustrated by her utter lack of knowledge on the subject and is actually jealous of yellow’s natural artistic talent. She’s supposed to KNOW how to do this, but she just... doesn’t. It’s like a part of her own heart is missing.

But!!  Being made by Red much like Duck was...... she’s actually the nicest and most normal of the teachers. Especially to other teachers. If any of the teachers are having a rough time with their own flaws, she’s the most compassionate. She’s kinda taken on the big sister role because of that. She’s really trying.

btw.   green isn’t a creative color because it’s the color of money. That’s why it’s the symbol on the money flag in the kickstarter vids, a green circle with an X over it.  The kickstart vid that Paige can be seen in... Paige knows what the problem is, but she can’t express it!! But she sure doesn’t like how the son of the guy who ruined everything likes the color of money....... >:\

[stpauligirl]

I was tagged by the generous and delightful @glittertrail​ and @amillcitygirl​ to pick the four characters who match my energy.

[drippingmoon]

WIP intro: Aquiver, Aglow

*my lovingly named no-plot-only-feels wip

Genre: angelic fantasy, dark high fantasy with angels, humans and stars

Status: draft 6 OVER; drafting stage completed; editing stage started, BETA STAGE UNDERWAY

Setting: one little cottage in a sweeping golden field with Heaven looming above

POV: Third person, unreliable narrator, moving between characters

Main characters: Anne and Tyrone, featuring Heaven and the Promised Lands

Logline: Two hundred years after the Turning, one angel breaks off and tries to restore faith to Heaven, as handed to her by a tiny human child.

There's a place beneath Heaven where, in a shoddy little cottage, a mother and her child live. They are to wait for her promised day, when angels shall descend and devour their souls. For faith has been broken. Memories of kindness and warmth remain mere whispers, cracked under two centuries of prayers answered with bloodied chapels and trails of corpses, and callous wings plucking souls out of their once faithfuls' chests.

Tyrone knows his Mother is just waiting for the day the angels will come. She wishes to sacrifice herself to see her child out of the Promised Lands, so she fills his childhood with horrible stories meant to make him afraid and get him used to the inevitable. She succeeds. Tyrone is afraid, but of everything. Most of all, of the loneliness that keeps him company, and disperses only at night. Because, under the stars, he sees an angel on the rims of Heaven, taking care of her field of clouds, a mirror to how he toils over his wheatfield. That’s when he first feels they are the same. So when she falls one day, he asks not that she spare him, but that she stay.

And, slowly, the nights turn so very warm.

It’s been two centuries since the angels knew where they wished to go. They live suspended in time, caught between memory and hatred. Anne, their Angel of Lies, has only ever cared for Heaven. For them, she’d draw their anger onto herself, if only they acknowledged they were still hung up on humanity. She’s tired. She’s old. Even the stars have closed their path off to the angels, and she doesn’t know what to do. So when she is met with sincerity for the first time in centuries, she wonders if she’s found a way. If nothing else, anger would reanimate Heaven, and for a little while stop the angels’ slow fall towards death. She listens to a child’s quiet wish, and agrees.

Curiosity, she calls it.

They begin by using each other. With time, this no longer holds true, and they learn something. It was a thin line between that and caring about one another. And warmth, as it were, comes with sorrows shared.

!! Yeah, after this point it's outrageously outdated. I made this post after finishing draft 2, and now 'quiv is a draft 6. So, while I'm not going to delete anything, take what's below like a trip down the memory lane more than anything?

Other major characters:

The Mother, whose name is self-explanatory. Would love to be an antagonist, but is generally well-meaning. She has a clear vision of herself and what she wants, she's always a spearhead. Marked to one day be reaped by angels, she loathes them with a vengeance and will do anything to get Tyrone out of the Promised Lands.                     

Keywords: tapestry, butterflies, plum brandy, forgetting since she can't forgive

Malchior, the Angel of Madness, once a beloved angel of Heaven - but he couldn't choose a side until the end of the Turning, and lost his standing. The main antagonist of the story, Anne's oldest friend before they both changed. Prone to fighting with everyone.

Keywords: green wings, lavender, warmth, the one who made others love the place

Imera, the Angel of Unrest who caused the Turning. The second antagonist of the book, and Heaven looks at him as the de facto leader. Rules with a kind smile hiding threats. His is a conflict with the stars.

Keywords: red wings, stone puppies, half-a-year pilgrimages, summer storms, mourning

Tag: #aquiver-aglow (excerpts, tag games, for both drafts, and an additional 'notes draft')

Short story: The Daystar

Other links: Anne, Malchior, Imera, Tyrone, Color and Belief (fair warning, Malchior and Imera's are old and need some love from me when I have the time)

Excerpts: Imera snippets, Wandering, Something Like Warmth, Night Keeps Something, Beginnings, Night Visitor, The Poplar Cheers, Wolves, Red Chapels, The Chapel of Loh, As We Never Were, Tiny Tiny Excerpt, Gentler Lie, Sleepiness, Mezusa, It's Hard Being a Door

! There is a taglist, but I rarely use it. As always, tell me wherever if you want to be added or taken off, no pressure.

[isfjmel-phleg]

I watched You’ve Got Mail with my mom and sisters this week and was struck, as I always am, by the books in the sets, especially the Oz books.

They show up a lot in this movie! Specifically editions by Books of Wonder, a New York bookstore/publisher specializing in children’s books and listed in the credits as among the many who donated books.

You can see them most prominently on the shelves nearest the door in The Shop around the Corner.

In addition to the books on the shelves, above them are the first several books in the series (plus Dorothy of Oz by Roger S. Baum) between Oz bookends, and a pile of six Oz mugs.

The books on shelves are primarily the Oz series, with a few of Baum’s non-Oz or Oz-adjacent fantasies, plus Oz continutations by other authors, as published by Books of Wonder or their imprint Emerald City Press. 

Top to bottom and left to right: Little Wizard Stories, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Tik-Tok of Oz, The Royal Book of Oz (Ruth Plumly Thompson), Rinkitink in Oz, The Scarecrow of Oz, Sky Island, The Sea Fairies, The Enchanted Island of Yew, Kabumpo in Oz(?) (Thompson), The Master Key, The Runaway in Oz (John R. Neill), The Wonder City of Oz (Neill), The Scalawagons of Oz (Neill), [one I couldn’t identify], Merry Go Round in Oz (Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren McGraw Wagner), The Glass Cat of Oz (David Hulan), Queen Ann of Oz (Karyl Carlson and Eric Gjovaag), How the Wizard Came to Oz (Donald Abbott).

We never hear Kathleen mention Oz, but she seems to have a connection to it, judging from this prominent display and the ruby slippers ornament she hangs on the shop’s Christmas tree. Perhaps Oz represents the dreamy nostalgia her character is prone to.

When she visits Fox Books after losing her shop, she sits near a display that features some familiar looking titles (in the top left of the shot):

Ozma of Oz, The Road to Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, and maybe Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (mostly hidden).

There’s a sense of continuity in seeing these books again. Even though Kathleen has lost her shop, the books that she loves are still available to readers, still ready to bring children joy.

And when she’s sick, the book on her bed that she’s clearly been reading recently, is The Scarecrow of Oz.

A source of comfort? I’m not sure what the choice of this particular Oz book says about Kathleen or the story--although it is one of the few Oz books to feature a romance (albeit one played for parody). The characters in the story undergo adventures that take them irrevocably far from home, resulting in apparent loss of everything they’ve ever known, but Trot, Cap’n Bill, and Button-Bright don’t seem too bothered by this. Maybe it’s refreshing for Kathleen, struggling with the devastating effects of change, to escape to a world where such concerns don’t really matter in the face of adventure and wonderment.

And of course the song played in the final scene of the film is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” neatly tying up the Oz references.

[ailendolin]

Sorry to hear you've been under the weather, I hope you're feeling better! I really like your collapse idea for Thomas, would you like to do a WW where he feels faint? He seems to have been prone to it in life (and really wanted care and attention for it, judging by the probably-a-fantasy bit where concerned women rush to mop his brow when he nearly faints after his poetry reading). With everything he goes through physically and emotionally, there are plenty of reasons it might happen.

Aw thank you! I think I'm finally on the mend now! 😀

I'm always up for doing a WW fic about Thomas, especially if it's such a lovely prompt! 💙 Writing something in the tags always feels a bit like screaming into the void so knowing that people not only read those tags but actually feel inspired to send an ask afterwards is really lovely! And ngl, I'm quite excited to be able to write that original idea I had in mind for the final chapter of This place (I never thought would feel like home)!

I think I might even have a scenario for it in mind already. Since I've written a few fics about Thomas being able to feel the cold now, I'd like to do the opposite this time and see how he fares in heat instead. I hope that's alright with you. See you on 6 July! 😊

Prompts are open. There’s still July's Fluff Friday slot left to claim as well as three WW spots!

Whump Wednesday and Fluff Friday fic schedule so far:

27 Apr: WW prompt: “Why does (s)he look so sad?” about Ho-Tan - Yonderland

4 May: WW prompt: Negatus and Debbie having a talk over drinks - Yonderland

6 May: FF prompt: Vextan celebrating an anniversary - Yonderland

11 May: WW prompt: “I think I really need a hug.” about Humphrey - BBC Ghosts

18 May: WW prompt: Something Kendall/Ellis related - Yonderland

25 May: WW prompt: Nigel giving Thomas a massage - BBC Ghosts

1 Jun: WW prompt: Julian talking about his childhood angst – BBC Ghosts

3 Jun: FF prompt: Friendship fluff between Ian and Anne - Bill (2015)

8 Jun: WW idea: Julian / Thomas fic part 2 - BBC Ghosts

15 Jun: WW prompt: Cake Bake Ladies post-battle – Yonderland

22 Jun: WW idea: Nigel meets Jemima - BBC Ghosts

29 Jun: WW prompt: Gabriel birthday fic - Bill (2015)

1 Jul: FF slot still open

6 Jul: WW prompt: Thomas fainting – BBC Ghosts

[doodlesnchaos]

Sashannarcy but toss in a monster au

• This one would actually have a decent amount of softness to it.

• Vampire Sasha, Werewolf Anne, Siren Marcy

• Definition of opposites attract

• Aged up again, around college level

• So many possibilities with this one. Between the fluff or banter

• Marcy with glasses for her eyes to adjust better out of water.

• Fluffy Anne

• The trio knowing how to take care of one another one especially rough days.

• Sasha being protective as ever. With the bonus of being an exceptional smooth talker. Some find it a bit odd at how well she can convince people.

• The irony of Marcy still prone to setting fires

• Wolf Anne loving dog pile naps

• Nighttime pier dates

More to come, cause I love fantasy creatures and the trio is my favorite. Just combining some of my favorite things ;)

[magicalgirlagency]

I haven't properly watched all of amphibia as of now so I'm probably not one to talk but I don't understand what you mean about the emotionally dramatic stuff not having a point. I mean as far as I know marcy ultimately breaks free of the core's control and manages to make amends with her friends, and I don't really see what the issue is if the character develops in a way that they ultimately recover from what they've been through. (also I don't mind if you have to give spoilers in order to explain, I just need a clearer opinion on what you think this show did wrong)

Not to worry, I'll resume it for you: What was the point of resorting to actual on-screen child murder to traumatize these children, if everything was going to end up okay? Don't you think that killing Marcy off for a while seemed rather excessive and radical?

Prior to the finale, I was basically expecting the worst to happen; like I was so sure that there wouldn't be a happy ending, that Anne and Sasha would be forced to put Marcy out of her misery (hence the final episode's title being The Hardest Part; it kinda implied to me that a huge sacrifice would be made)... basically, I was expecting MOTHER3's final confrontation against the Masked Man.

But that doesn't happen.

And I was sitting to myself in silence, wondering what the fuck was the reason behind all of this turmoil.

I know I am supposed to be happy because it's a happy ending, but at what cost?!

What was the reason of impaling Marcy on-screen? What was the reason of putting her on a tube like some freaky experiment? What was the reason of stripping her humanity away? What was the reason of torturing her psychologically? What was the reason of transforming her into a super-soldier-CPU-puppet-abomination-thing?

What was the reason for ALL OF THIS, if things were going to end alright?! Tell me, was to make everyone anxious? Paranoid? Scared? Stressed out beyond belief?

And I'm not saying that Anne and Sasha aren't important on their own; but Marcy stood out to me the most because I could relate to her.

A bright young girl who loves video games and anything fantasy-related. She's super smart, but is very accident prone when she gets too focused on something. She indulges in her fantasies and uses what she knows to her favor.

Like, that's me. That's me, for real. Marcy Wu was specifically designed for daydreamers like ME.

So, imagine my disappointment after True Colors debuted. And what's even worse: Disney allowed this. They have allowed a child being murdered on screen, but they draw the line at gay characters (The Owl House says hello). That's some fucked up shit.

Like, really; if I got a nickel for every time I grow attached to a kind-hearted green-coded neurodivergent asian teenaged protagonist, only for them to be shamelessly tortured by the narrative and get the most harsh reality check ever and have their designs go under radically perversed transformations to showcase their pain, and have my expectations complete and utterly betrayed right in front of my very hopeful eyes, I'd have two nickels...

...which it isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, huh?

Even if there was a happy ending, I am still upset that we had to go witness all of this. Was it even necessary on the first place? Did the the staff had fun doing this? Did they manage to get everything out of their system? Did they got what they wanted?

Long Story Short: I feel like I was relentlessly bullied, only for in the end someone come and say "It's just a prank, bruh!" after I become visibly upset and distressed.

Well, I ain't laughing, pal. That wasn't funny. Fuck you.

And call me a boomer if you want, but I am tired of seeing child/teenaged MCs being put in traumatic situations. It's 2022 already; how about a fantasy/sci-fi story with an ADULT instead?

[tigris-types]

So I watched Disney's Saga of Sasha, and what surprises me is that this show started on Anne's 13th birthday. If Anne is the youngest if the group, then I could see the others being 14 almost 15. (I had a friend in the same grade and we were a year and a half apart, so during half the year, we joked I was 2 years older)

And I feel a 14/15 year old would be a lot more prone to pushing a 12/13 year old around.

But whats more surprising, is isnt Luz from the Owl House 14? And just based on art a type, the girls seem so tall and i would think that the Amphibia ones would be older. But no, besides Gus, i think the Owl Houses okes are older. Which is weird considering I think the Amphibia girls are getting into deadlier and mire serious trouble than Luz and her friends. I mean both might be going up against the rule of their fantasy lands, but still.

[annerogers31]

Here she is!!!!

Anne Weathers:

Personality: Anne is an adventurous, loyal and kind-hearted spellcaster that doesn’t stand for any form of injustice. She can handle insults aimed at herself well on the spot but threaten her friends or take advantage of her and she will make sure the person regrets these very choices. Anne is mostly seen as brave but she isn’t without her flaws either. Sometimes she believes she’s the monster people fear her to be and gets insecure and afraid of herself. Anne tries to use her power for good but can’t help to be fear them as well as she accidently caused damage in the past before while losing control.

Relationships: She’s the daughter of the late Dorothy Rogers and Desmond Conard, by birth unofficially adopted by Edward. Anne never got to know Desmond since he passed before her birth. Anne used to have a very good bond with Dorothy and Edward even though she saw the latter not regularly. However when the grand revolution happened and Anne and Dorothy attempted to escape, Anne lost all of her childhood memories. Her relationship with her mother became awry soon after. Her mother refused to answer any question of who she was and what she was. Dorothy even started calling her daughter a monster when Anne started to rediscover her powers. Anne was saved from her abusive childhood by WMP head, Histoire Burton and has been his apprentice since. She was welcomed in his family by his daughter Myrla Burton. Both girls are like sisters to each other and look after the other. Anne has a very special relationship with her adopted brother Sparky since she saved him from the streets and a horrible future as a lab rat. The two are inseparable and have each other’s back no matter what.

Distinguishing features: Anne’s cheeks and nose bridge are decorated with freckles. She has a nasty gash from the car accident with the loss of her childhood memories as a result. Her hands are also lithered with badly healed cuts from the glass that pierced her skin.

Interests: Anne loves reading adventure, fantasy and fairy tales, she can play the guitar and loves to go all out on Irish rock and swing music. She’s always interested to learn something new and is open for other cultures, she feels lucky that her current membership with the WMP enables to travel far and wide. She’s also a talented traditional artist and a thrill seeker if the opportunity presents itself.

Dislikes: Anne doesn’t like talking about her mother or her feelings. She doesn’t want others to worry about her. She absolutely hates when others threaten her friends or try to take advantage of either or her friends.

Skills: Anne is a decent spellcaster that is good at using her magic (power blasts, power jumps and creating illusions) but when it comes to exploring her abilities more she freezes and is prone to accidents which make her more insecure about herself. She’s extremely good with her rifle and sword. She’s a respected member of the WMP for her quick thinking and engineering skills.