#for some reason literally every wlw ship is leaving my mind

[riverthebooknerd]

"but why do you even ship them-" IT BRINGS ME JOY AND WHIMSY!!!!!!!

[chireikiden]

Might be a pretty basic take by the standards of more seasoned yuri fans, but it's my perspective as someone who's mostly read yuri in a Touhou context (though a lot of it), and exclusively manga from the Japanese fans as opposed to i.e. written fics.

Touhou yuri (using it very broadly here to describe any kind of wlw shipping present) is, across the board, in a pool of fan literature going back twenty years, remarkably good at taking the lesbian part for granted. Not counting outright het content or works that simply don't bring it up, I have only very vague memories of a character's lesbian orientation being either denied or even brought to question (even in the cliche "But we're both girls!" manner, which even as a somewhat dead horse trope you might still expect to see, given plenty of doujin writing isn't exactly highbrow). You might be able to read "Does she like girls?" between the lines in the usual question of "Does she like me?" if you really want to, but the way it's still basically treated as default is fun to me. There's a reason Touhou basically has honorary yuri status on e.g. Dynasty Reader, even the stories with effectively zero shipping in them. You might not notice if you haven't browsed the site, but it's literally nothing but yuri + Touhou. We even got upload rights just so we could post more Touhou.

(Of course, Touhou being yuri city is part of the reason any hint of straight romance gets a really strong kneejerk reaction from people, including me. But that's also because the lack of usable male characters makes that shipping inherently hamfisted, up to and including literally making up cardboard villager OCs. Basically the only positive example I can remember off the top of my head is Hisona's An Old Poem for the Cuckoo Bird depicting Youki with a 1000-year-old mostly joking crush on Nue, which after some chin-scratching I decided I liked alright. And Hisona of course has plenty of yuri cred to cover for it.)

But although taken for granted, most Touhou yuri is one or more of: a.) On a "blushing maidens thinking about holding hands" level in its approach to romance, b.) Only depicting the starting moments of a relationship, at best - usually just pining, c.) Only off-handedly teasing, basically to acknowledge the ship is there, d.) Showing a very close and loving relationship but leaving the romance part subtextual, even if thinly veiled.

While those are all fine - some of my favorite artists like e.g. Ashiyama undeniably fall under d.) - it means that artists who depict more established couples, and couples that get depicted as more established, stand out. I love when a story is very blunt about two characters, whether the focus is actually on them or not, already being an item. Be it due to a difference in target demographic or what, many of these works seem to have a slight lean towards being more raunchy/horny even when not outright R-18, but I don't actually mind that too much when it does happen - as long as they're fun and raunchy, as opposed to only raunchy or, god forbid, unfun in raunchy ways.

I like how Moyazou depicts Mokou and Keine as basically-married. I like how Atoki depicts YuuParu or SakiYachi after drawing like twenty books of them (each). I like when Kawayabug depicts Tojiko as Miko's beleaguered wife. But the example of the day is obviously risui (of Ladies of Scarlet Devil Mansion), who you might have guessed inspired this ramble. Funnily enough, in LoSDM she seems to have walked back Meiling and Sakuya's relationship coincidentally at the same time she toned down the content to fit SCoOW's guidelines, compared to her usual works that have MeiSaku at a much more established and mutual stage.

But the point stands that it's really fun to see LoSDM almost rub it in your face from the very start - from Meiling's dream to every other conversation she has - that everyone in it is unapologetically and openly lesbian, assumes everyone else to be a lesbian, and doesn't hesitate to talk about it like a (romcom idiot) adult.

Also, risui draw lady very good

[booasaur]

On the topic of Happiest Season, I feel you about being disappointed at some of the reaction towards people in the closet. The discourse about how white the movie is barely happening, instead it's lukewarm takes from people talking about Harper being a horrible emotionally abusive gaslighter and that Abby should run away with Riley. As a person who was closeted for a long time and still is to most of my family, who relates so much to Harper, although I wouldn't have lied to my girlfriend to begin with, all of her choices over the course of those days make sense to me (not talking about the situation with Riley in high school). They're not perfect choices, but it's not like the movie isn't clear about why she's making them. The last third of the movie felt like the walls were closing around her, every choice makes sense in that context. Of course she didn't just accept being outed five seconds after it happened in front of 20 people after decades in the closet, of course after a moment of reflection thinking about losing the love of her life she looked around and was like "what am I doing this for?" and changed her mind. And of course Abby was well within her rights to refuse to accept her apology and leave, but also of course she would have looked at this person she loved who for a year before those five days she had a 'perfect' relationship with, seen that their one hurdle was on its way to being cleared, heard the speech about Harper wanting sincerely to right her wrongs, and stayed. In what world is that a baffling choice? It's not like she immediately proposed. I related to Harper more than I have to a character in a while, especially to the feeling of being ripped in two. It"s why I've made the choices I've made in the past to not get into serious relationships, precisely because this is my worst nightmare. Maybe it's because I'm not white and I feel the tension between losing your family and losing your partner perhaps uniquely, when losing my family includes losing my culture and community (or at least that's how I've felt). But you can happily ship Abby and Riley, and want Abby to have left for completely valid reasons about wanting two different things in a partner, without some of the vitriol being spewed at Harper in full view of sections of the community that are hurt every time they see it. I know I'm not brave enough. I don't need reminding.

“I know I'm not brave enough. I don't need reminding.“ Oooof, anon. I’m so sorry that you and others have been made to feel like this. :/

Unrelated, though, this whole ask is so well said, your points are so well made, I was honestly intimidated even trying to answer.

As you said, the movie explains why Harper’s behaving as she is, she’s ashamed and scared, why is every action read in the worst possible light, often exaggerated and even falsely?? Your explanation of how the ending went down, like, exactly, I cannot believe people are mad that she lied when outed in front of her family and a ton of people like that! That’s a literal nightmare come to life, surely some of us have had that one too?

And exactly, Abby’s in love with her, aside from the admittedly absolutely messed up lies about her sexuality that she absolutely should get help for, their life’s been perfect, with this barrier now taken away by Harper’s big step, why would she not try for it? Especially in a romcom! The way people have forgiven so much more in this genre but a closeted person they absolutely admit is abused separately from that, acts badly a few times and apologizes and is irredeemable.

The not white part’s actually funny to me, because I remember during the arguments over how horrible Jade (TRMD) and Rana (Corrie) were for being closeted or caring about their family, the fandom splits were often along...certain lines. And that’s such a good observation, how it’s a disconnect from culture and community too, then. We lose so much. Obviously the Caldwells are white af but it was amusing to me how many Asian wlw I saw were like, oh... D:

I’m picking random parts to respond to because honestly, your whole ask is perfect on its own. I will, though, agree that it’s absolutely fine to not personally think that Harper deserves that forgiveness or that Abby and Riley should have gotten together, but this really bad faith reading into her intentions just isn’t supported by the writing!

I’m sorry it took so long to respond, I hope you’re feeling better now. 

[evelhak]

“Ancient” wlw ships

This is such a self-indulgent post but I need to get my thoughts out. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about all the girls I shipped in fiction when I was a kid and didn’t realize I was shipping them.

I mean, they pretty much all had boyfriends or ended up marrying a man, and I was pretty much on board, in my eyes it was just some part of the story that needed to happen, because it always did. I think the common thing with these characters was that the female best friend was, at least more often than not, narratively more important than the guy, or just seemed to have a much greater emotional impact in the story.

Thinking about this has been so fun and eye-opening that I just feel like sharing a list of my biggest ancient wlw pairs that I only now, years later, realize were totally in love in my mind, I just didn’t have a concept for it yet. I’m sure that’s relatable for some people, but maybe there’s someone out there who was shipping these same characters??

This will include mild spoilers. And it’ll be long.

1. Cornelia & Elyon from W.i.t.c.h.

I COMPLETELY lived in these comics when I was 8-12 years old, and nothing in it was as compelling to me as Cornelia and Elyon. Guess I was already a sucker for best-friends-to-enemies-to-friends-again, even though I didn’t realize I also wanted them to become lovers. Best friends was all there was to me back then, that was the name I assigned to the highest form of love in my head. Which I still don’t see as invalid? I just didn’t realize I would’ve related to the romance aspect between best friends a hell of a lot more than I did to any of the relationships the W.i.t.c.h. girls had with their boyfriends. Cornelia and Caled was almost as bad as Buffy and Angel! Cornelia and Peter was just boring af. All the other W.i.t.c.h. girls’ boyfriends were all equally boring to me except for Will and Matt, but that was because their struggle to admit their feelings for each other was written in a funny way, not because their relationship had any actual depth.

But Elyon and Cornelia would’ve been perfect! I mean if your best friend has the ability to understand you so well, that with her magical intuition, she can draw you a picture of a guy you’re going to fall for, a guy she has never met... why would you even want to be with that guy anymore? Why wouldn’t you just be with her instead?? What Cornelia and Caleb had was limerence (I actually applaud the comics for eventually treating it as such and showing how it was harmful to both of the characters!) but what Cornelia and Elyon had was true love that transcends dimensions. Cornelia never gave up on Elyon, not even for a moment, after she became the W.i.t.c.h. girls’ enemy, and when she was in trouble, Cornelia had a hunch from another dimension, and she didn’t hesitate to come to her rescue. (The fact that during the same mission she also manages to fall for the dude Elyon drew for her in the past seems more like an accident, to be honest. The real deal was patching things up with Elyon, it was both more emotionally impactful AND more plot-relevant!)

It was also really sad to read the comics sometimes, because Elyon was absolutely my favourite character, and she wasn’t around much after the first arc, being a queen in another dimension. But every time there was a flashback to when Elyon was still living on Earth and being cute with Cornelia I was like MOOOOORE.

2. Sora and Layla from Kaleido Star

If you haven’t watched this anime you’ve missed. SO. MUCH. This is probably my favourite anime ever. And it features another type of ship I LOVE. Which is partners in some sort of activity, usually sports. When it’s written well it’s just so impactful and intense. These girls are routinely risking their lives in their passion for acrobatics, so they need to have absolute trust in each other. And oh boy is the relationship between them written well. I love it when two characters initially don’t get the way the other thinks or sees the world, but as they grow closer, it’s the other’s way of thinking that really unlocks something huge for them.

Also what’s so compelling about Sora and Layla is that there really isn’t anything like them in any other anime, that I’ve come across, at least. These partnerships are always between two guys in a sports anime, the partnership is at the heart of the story and the emotional stakes are so high it’s no wonder most people don’t want to ship these guys with their intended female love interests. Kaleido Star takes this even further because the guy who is in love with Sora is literally a joke, or the fact that he’s in love with Sora is a running gag, and nothing more. All the focus is on Sora and Layla as partners, and how they change each other's lives for the better.

Also the way Sora pines for Layla when she’s away or not paying enough attention to her is SO... I mean you don’t even have to think it’s romantic for it to absolutely melt you. Although it feels pretty heavily romantically coded, and it doesn’t even feel like queer baiting, because it’s just SO real and honest. And how Layla can’t stop thinking about how Sora is changing her as a person. There’s no question about the fact that the relationship between these women is the true meat of the show.

3. Anne and Diana from Anne of Green Gables

I read these books over and over again as a kid, and the Netflix show renewed my love for these two. They are kind of ridiculous, but SO cute. Looking back, it seems obvious that they had a crush on each other, they were just SO giddy all the time they were alone. Sure, you can excuse all their romantic gestures (like changing locks of hair, and vowing to never leave each other with joined hands and grand words) with saying Anne just romanticizes everything, but it never really felt like just that to me.

I’ll never forget how devastated Anne was about Diana getting married, and I don’t remember the wording but initially she wished she could keep Diana to herself for their whole lives. And every time they talked about marriage it was something they were both gonna do not as individuals, but rather the emphasis seemed to be on the shared experience, and how their children would be best friends and all that. It was all about them together. Like their romantic fantasies were nothing without the other somehow in the picture.

I don’t hate Anne and Gilbert but I don’t love them either. Gilbert has always been just sort of “meh”. He’s okay, but also the kind of love interest that can never compel me much.

4. Chocolat and Vanilla from Sugar Sugar Rune

Seriously, this would have been SO GOOD if it was canon.

Think about it, best friends, chosen to compete against each other for the throne. These witches go to the human world to attract male attention and collect feelings from the men, turning the feelings into heart shaped crystals and whoever collects more will be the queen. I mean... the story was good as it is but if they had ended up together and been queens TOGETHER?? That would have been the best story. It could have had SUCH a compelling best-friends-to-competitors-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers storyline! There would have been room for so much character development.

And if my memory doesn’t betray me the story would not change much at all if they didn’t end up with the guys they do end up with! Especially Vanilla’s guy is like an afterthought and Chocolat’s guy is... well, a sum of my least favourite tropes, including the one that will remind everyone about Mortal Instruments a LITTLE too much, so he can get lost for all I care.

I cried many times while reading this, and it always had something to do with these two girls.

5. Yoko and Liao from Yoko Tsuno

Okay, these two might have a problematic age gap, I’m not sure, but I didn’t know of that possibility as a kid, they just looked the same age to me. I was a huge Yoko Tsuno fan as a pre-teen, and there were so many interesting female adventurers in this series but for some reason the dynamic between Yoko and Liao was my favourite, even though Liao only appeared in one album. I just really felt like I needed to see more of these characters interacting and where their relationship would develop.

There was something about them that seemed rather original to me then, and a nice change. The reader had already gotten used to Yoko as the hero, she was always saving the day everywhere, she was like The Doctor in a way and not only because she time-travelled. She is simply badass. In Liao’s story there’s a prophecy about a girl who speaks to a dragon and saves everyone, and Yoko thinks that girl is her because she’s from the future and knows the dragon is a machine, but it turns out to be Liao, and that was somehow really satisfying. Yoko treats Liao obnoxiously in the beginning, doesn’t give her much credit, but is deeply humbled after Liao needs to save her ass multiple times because she’s just too sure of herself. It was cool to see how Yoko really needed to grow in this story and realize her limitations, and how wrong she was to treat Liao the way she did and look down on her just because Liao was physically weak, had a temper, and came from a much earlier time period than Yoko.

By the end they are clearly very attached to each other (Liao weeping in Yoko’s arms and Yoko confessing how full of herself she was when they met) and respect each other, and I just really would’ve liked to see where they would go from there. I thought about them meeting again A LOT when I was a kid.

That’s my big five! :D I could go on but this is already long, I need to sleep, and these are the characters that I’ve been thinking about the most lately. If you read this far for some reason it would be cool to hear if you have any similar (or different) experiences.

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

Wife’s Hilda Rewatch - The Black Hound

Girls, gays, and goths. The time has come for my last rewatch post months after the official hilda rewatch was done lmao! Also the moment I’m writing this I literally just came out of my last exam for this trimester, so I’m super happy and in the mood for taking a look at The Black Hound!

First off I think it would be a shame not to appreciate that the opening frame has the bisexual flag colour scheme. Bisexuals chose such pretty colours for their flag that Hilda keeps using it and it’s amazing

“you’re not a crazy rumor after all! You’re real!” Hilda sweetie there’s a giant dog looking at you like you’re a full course meal, please check your priorities

Okay hold up. Kelly pushed Frida to the Hound and said “last to join, first to get eaten”. And then they all disappeared. Why the hell did they have to use a bait instead of just disappearing? Like, they didn’t have to throw a kid to the Hound, they could just go away.

Talk about true friendship, huh?

Bless the Raven leader for being such a competent leader, because were I in her situation I’d just run around screaming “WAKE THE FUCK UP CHILDREN, OR WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE” and reck havoc on the camp.

It’s so surprising to me that telling Hilda that if she went to look for Tontu she wouldn’t be allowed to go on future camping trips… from what we know about her personality, she usually risks it all to help defenseless creatures. And although I’m not blaming her for not going after him that instant (there was A GIANT DOG on the lose, I wouldn’t even have thought about leaving the camp) I wonder if she chose that so as not to disappoint her mother. I mean, Johanna has shown that Hilda’s experience with the Sparrow Scouts is important to her (and even though Johanna only cares about her enjoying it, the way she talks about it makes Hilda think that she wants her to have a good performance), and if she wasn’t allowed to go to future camping trips, not only would Johanna know, but in Hilda’s mind she’d also be disappointed. Just something to think about.

“It’s never a good idea to throw away your real friends” Wow. Frida called Kelly a fake friend to her face and I’m very proud of her. But this scene also gives me a spark of sympathy for Kelly?

Ya know, a little piece of tmi, I still have my equivalent of a “fluff bun”. And it kinda says something to me that Kelly is still attached to hers. It shows that there is still some innocence and child-like happiness in her. She did terrible things just in these last two episodes (and tbh she annoys me), but maybe if we get more of the marra in season two we’ll find out what made them all so bitter when they clearly aren’t all bad.

Kinda reminds me of how my father says “if everyone still walked around with their sleeping plushies, the world would be a better place”. I’m not sure where I was going with all this, but uhh never let anyone make you feel bad for having a fluff bun of your own, listen to my dad and keep being childishly happy about things for as long as you can.

Hold up

… do with this information what you will

____________________

STOP for a few seconds. This is the “let’s appreciate the Hilda colour pallete” time

Thank you for your attention. Now back to the episode.

__________________

I feel so sorry for Hilda here. We all know Johanna is an amazing mother, but really the way she put things here makes it sound like Hilda doing well on Sparrow Scouts activities is a condition for her being proud. And it really must weigh a lot on Hilda, because she was took from the situation she was familiar with, living in the wilderness, and thrown into this completely new scenario and now she feels that not only does she need to adapt well, which we saw her do during this season, she also must excel in activities that are typically done by people who grew up in that environment. Good thing this gets resolved quickly.

Imagine being Johanna… and coming home to find the monster everybody’s been looking for… and your daughter tells you “this is Jellybean :)!”

I mean of course I ship sketchbook, who else could handle a witch girlfriend?

I know I shouldn’t but I’m very 👀👀 at that hunter in the background, the one with an eye patch. More pretty evil woman in season 2? 👀👀👀

This scene is my everything. Honestly, every single parent in the world could take a lesson from Johanna. Get on this woman’s level, guys.

Why

Why was the Woodman just casually looking at Hilda’s destroyed house? Like… he was just… there… whistling…

But at least he was the reason why we got one of the most beautiful (if not the most) scenes of the show. This ending NEVER fails to make me emotional. It carries such an important message. You won’t get a reward for it. Sometimes it will even bite back at you. But never let the world stop you from being kind. That’s the most powerful message of this show and whatever comes out of season two, at least we had these 13 masterpieces of episodes.

Now let’s go for one last

Wife’s Hilda Rewatch

+2 for David being the voice of reason when they’re running away

+2 for Frida apologizing

+10 for Johanna/Hilda relationship depth

+2 for“This is what I look like when I’m grateful”

+2 for Tomtu reading books in the trash bin… and turning… the wrong page (as in left to right)

+2 for “So… I guess he sort of ate them.”

+5 for that gorgeous ending

Yep, that’s 25 unless exams fried my brain too hard!

Also one last time because I Haven't done this since The Bird Parade!

Background wlw count:

1

2!

Come on, y’all knew I had to make that joke. If I was worse I’d get a picture of Johanna and the huntress as well

Yep, that’s it! Now we sit around and wait for season two I guess :’)

[space-malex]

I’m about to get a tiny bit ranty so please bear with me.

I don’t know how to react when people act like they would be OK with it if Michael and Alex don’t end up together. I genuinely don’t. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the very concept. Ftr I mean people who ship malex, not the handful of people who don’t for whatever reason. I’ve never heard one person say that about Max and Liz. Everyone takes it as a given that they will end up together, because of course they will. But Michael and Alex are the equivalent of Max and Liz on the show, they just happen to be two men instead of a man and a woman. But they are a God-tier OTP ship just like echo. They are given the same amount of weight, they are given the same amount of depth, they are given the same amount of passion and development, and the love between them is real and true and cosmic.

I think that there is a contingent of people out there that feel as though they would have to support whatever ship Michael specifically ends up in because if they don’t they’re being unsupportive to bisexual rep. There are so many things that are wrong with that, but leaving aside Michael’s sexuality for a moment: Alex is the love of his life. Alex happens to be a man. And that’s OK, just like if the love of Michael’s life was a woman, that would also be OK. Either situation, he is still bisexual, right? But in this particular case, with this particular show, it’s been shown very clearly to be Alex. And that’s where I get confused. When the show makes it really obvious that two characters are meant to be together, it’s normal to question why people act OK if they don’t end up together. Who doesn’t want a happy ending for a meant to be ship? Isn’t that a normal thing to desire?

I understand that Michael is bisexual and not gay. This isn’t about his sexual validity. This is about malex. Because as I just explained, it’s that kind of ship. And because everyone out there who has looked at the television landscape, both past and present, understands how often we see same gender ships not end up together. Either one of them dies, or leaves in some way, or love just isn’t enough. It’s something that queer audiences have almost come to expect, as much as it hurts us every time that it happens. To look at a couple that you care about and have to deeply sigh and say “there goes another one”. The heartbreak, and the pain, and the shitty fucking message that we are sent. We aren’t meant to have happy endings. We don’t get that reward. We don’t get that satisfaction. This is a message very specifically sent to mlm/wlw couples. And if we do get those things, our relationships will exist in the background. We don’t get real development or drama or the same kind of focus as the straight couples.

In many ways, malex is an anomaly to the norm. It is

1) a same gender ship

2) between two lead characters

3) where one is bi and one is gay

4) on a drama show

5) on a mainstream network

6) where each individual half of the ship is deeply developed on their own

7) as well as their relationship being deeply developed

8) and where they have the same kind of care and focus put into their relationship that the straight main relationship does

9) including blatant mirroring/parallels between the two couples

10) and the ship is literally cosmic soul mates

And you still have people who are going out of their way to argue validity of other ships. You guys- sexuality is not shipping, and not all ships are created equal. The girl I slept with on NYE when I was 20 isn’t the same as the guy I loved for 2 years. And the few guys I had flings with in my mid 20s wasn’t the same as the woman I then fell in love with afterward. Trying to place these relationships on a level playing field because you think it’s biphobic not to shows so little understanding of sexuality versus individual relationships and as a bi person the whole thing makes me want to massively face palm.

Do I ship malex? Yes. Do I think they’ll end up together? Yes. Would I be upset if they don’t? YES. Because they deserve to. After all they’ve been through. Being deeply in love for over a decade. Going through individual abuse that still messes with them. Experiencing violent homophobia together. Trying so hard even when they mess up. Tell me- if a same-gender ship on that kind of level still can’t “work out” in the end, what kind of message are we continuing to send to people who get told this every day? That they can’t have their happy ending? That they don’t deserve it? That love is only enough for either straight people or m/f couples? That it doesn’t matter if they get their happily ever after together because they’re valid either way?

For me, personally, that’s not a message I wanna see anymore. Let amazing mlm/wlw couples end up together and happy and thriving. Because I’m both tired and angry as fuck.

[incarnateirony]

Thoughts.

So I finally watched Good Omens. First of all I know some people were waiting for me to like, do breakdowns on the use of lore, sigils and whatnot -- I’m sure I’ll poke at it eventually, but so much of it reads of typicality, alongside strong artistic liberty, that when it comes to actual sigils there’s very few and I’ll need a good screen of them.

But that isn’t about that. This is actually about Good Omens and the audience response to queer content and queer coded content. I’m going to warn you, some of this shit is going to incense the fuck out of woke tumblr. It’s going to be a lot of hard pills to swallow, mostly in regards to parts of the LGBT community -- of which I’m a part -- moving around our own goal posts, inconsistencies in the placements of our goalposts, and the impacts of het culture. If you come into my mentions screaming away at me expect an ignore or a block.

No, this isn’t anti-Azri/Crow. It’s very pro Azri/Crow. And yes, I’m going to drag other fandoms I’m in, into it. But I’m also gonna drag general discussion into it.

First I’m going to source a link to a recent set of tweets someone made that I consider very insightful (x) and then highlight a bulk of it.

“When we call something queerbaiting, we're essentially saying: "source material X doesn't count as real or valid queer representation." Here is a thread on why we need to be cognizant about which real-life queer people & stories we're erasing when we expand our use of that term. First: actual queerbaiting, in which art-creators hint at queer representation in order to attract viewers and then insist their art was 100% hetero all along, sucks a lot. I am not advocating getting rid of the term. Nor am I saying it's not valid to feel jerked around when a show uses the promise of a specific queer relationship on their publicity circuit, and then doesn't follow through on it in the actual source. (Or follows through only to write out a character, a la #TheMagicians) However: when we narrow our definition of "real and valid queer representation" until the ONLY thing that counts as queer rep is on-screen queer *romance* or on-screen queer *sex*, we are telling a significant portion of the real-life queer community that they don't count. When we use the "queerbaiting" label to describe a millennia-long, loving asexual same-gender relationship (aka #GoodOmens) we are telling asexuals in loving life-long relationships that they don't count as queer. We are also telling sexual queers whose primary, life-organizing relationships are queerplatonic (me, this is me) that their queerness is defined only by who they fuck, not by who they choose to build a life with. I want a space where ALL kinds of queer stories get told: romances yes, but also stories of queer friendship; queer mentorship; queer animosity; queer competition and cooperation; queer found family; queer provocation and queer mistakes. None of that happens if we tell everyone whose queer content doesn't fit into the narrow box "Lead A & Lead B kiss and/or fuck onscreen" (even if A&B make a life together; even if A&B kiss & fuck other same-sex people) that their art is exploitative & doesn't count as queer rep. “ 

Why am I choosing to highlight this while implicatively mentioning my adjacent fandoms? Well, because blogs I follow that either haphazardly dismiss, say, Destiel as valid until (personally met goalpost, generally when arguing with the hetnorm or anti community wanting a kiss) are all on the Azriphale-Crowley bandwagon.

And let me say, I adore the Azriphale-Crowley bandwagon. I’m ON that bandwagon. Holy shit am I on that wagon, but we need to inspect our dialogue for people who are on one but not the other.

We can say, for example, “Well, Neil Gaiman and the actors have been supportive! So THAT’S why it’s fine!” I mean -- aren’t people always banging on about post-affirmation not being enough, or just vague support being enough, or this-or-that not being enough? Like people don’t flame Rowling over that? I mean, even if we handwave away that Neil Gaiman had literally uncontested authorship instead of 203492 hands in the author and ownership pot top-to-bottom which the average show doesn’t have -- which gives the liberty to say whatever the fuck he wants because it is wholly his product and under his contract and design -- do you notice that it’s actually a very, very small audience crowing about that? And rarely if ever the same ones that do about other pairings that could be considered similar? Like we haven’t gotten those moments from authors in other shows (Robbie Thompson “Destiel isn’t canon?” comes to mind) that we yell queerbait at then and decide isn’t enough. Because someone else moved a goalpost out.

Ah-- but they’re... confirmed asexual and agender and immortal! Okay... and... so is, for example, if we’re going to tilt this way, Castiel. And ace people can have queer relationships with bi or yes, even straight people. Mindblowing, I know, but that’s it, that’s reality.

So why on gods green earth am I seeing this disparity between blogs about the same content, banging on at different volumes of what we expect?

It’s something I’ve written about before, the loudest example being my Problem With DreamHunter post. Before any DreamHunter fans pick up the pitchforks, don’t worry. It, also, is in support of DreamHunter, but simply addresses the cultural problem in there not being a problem with DreamHunter. The blend of intersectional issue disparity between MLM and WLW, and also the simple fact that the fandom wasn’t positioned to have antis or rival ships screaming at it: het culture and shipping culture.

I’ve banged on about this before: in our race for representation, we often trample over content that’s perfectly good and valid and great in many ways, because we want to be able to win an argument against an asshole, we want to be able to bludgeon the gay so inarguably into somebody’s brain that they yield to the might of it, or at least, we imagine it reaches that point. Anti-shipping culture can be so loud that even slow burn het pairings that kiss will have antis explaining their way around it (eg, Mulder and Scully, off the top of my head). Anti queer culture will talk down men or women even making out on screen as experimentation. This cycle will continue.

So again, let me state: Good Omens is a masterpiece. I am utterly enthralled by it, but it does leave me sitting flummoxed about the uneven bars we put out there as marker posts based on trying to race to the finish of arguments.

I’m sure some hack job that doesn’t know how to rub brain cells together beyond “it’s straight” and, beneath the surface, “I don’t like it so I’m going to piss and moan about more expansive methods of thought than hard niching the complexity of human relations” is going to roll in here, thinking yelling “Jensen Ackles thinks it’s straight!” in supreme reductionism of things like authorship, be it intent OR death of the author, or whatever else is out there in this medium -- I’m sure they’ll show up, make the same repetitive ass of themselves as always, and roll on, completely missing the point that I’m not obligated to your arbitrary bullshit, and that nobody is. 

I don’t HAVE to point out every single time a dickhat on a loop yells that, that Jensen Ackles himself spoke of the intangibility of the deepness of their connection with Castiel as an angel, and that a cishet dude from texas probably doesn’t understand the finest details of LGBT identity complexity despite being an ally while fumbling over talking about the difficulty of putting a label on it. I don’t have to explain that the actor doesn’t actually get to determine that. Viewership or author, take your pick. I don’t have to explain the “it’s never happening and wasn’t intended” never came from the authors every time some bumblefuck says it -- that it came from one account with a blurb that said he doesn’t speak for that writing room whatsoever. I don’t have to review the times that Jensen Ackles has almost verbatim mirrored the Good Omens creatives about the beauty of it being you being able to make your own interpretation even if it wasn’t his, and encouraging that. I don’t fucking have to, you entitled sniveling shits.

And no, it’s by no means about, say, Dean and Cas. It’s just about the dialogues I’m tired of seeing tilt unevenly even between typically well grounded and centered people. 

So anyway Azriphale and Crowley are EternityMates and that’s the fucking tea. Call it queerplat or call it queerromantic I can see either, even if I do tilt towards the former. Destiel is queerromantic and you can fight me. Come at me. Except nobody really will over Good Omens, just Supernatural, because like magic, Good Omens isn’t geared for a fuckton of other bloated ships or antis who hate either of them by structure alone. And that, itself, is a point to be made, too.

And before some doodlefuck trolls along, no, there’s no such thing as incestromantic. Spare us the time and block me now if your knee jerk counter-troll is going to be subtextually along those lines, because I promise you’ll just get blocked when you try to roll into town with it. Since the Supernatural fandom seems to house corners of douchebags that don’t know how to control their primitive douchebag impulses and they do come into address in this post.

Moral of the story: Stop listening to homophobes, antis, or people with agendas. Listen to the content and what has actually been said. On all sides. 

If you consider, for example, 

the Ineffible Husbands canon with no admission of anything beyond friendship, with the hets loudly banging one scene over with “well the others are ace or whatever” as your reason (fair), a few lunches, basic dedication and a few well placed songs, and a few supportive notes from the general creatives,

But the Hunter Husbands not canon with talked-around love yous and need yous, intentional deletion of Castiel’s agender ace aspects, in spite of there being no evident banging or kissing in the show that hasn’t been a highlight of a problem since like season what six?; talk arounds of their meals together, infinite longer and classic romantic crafted dedication, innumerable well placed songs and yes, a few supportive notes from the creatives that are buried by yourself or others beneath intentionally obfuscated arguments and spun context,

You are, whether you want to gullet it or not, part of the moving goalpost problem. Whether it’s you running to meet a phobe or an anti, or just being coded into it by the screaming around you, there is no world in which one is representation and the other is not. It’s just fuckin’ not. 

It’s not.

I don’t care what you yell and scream because it’s popular in your circles. It’s fuckin’ not. 

It’s not.

Either both are rep or neither are rep. Personally, I adore both of them, and anyone that has a problem with that can eat me.

Good Omens is not a goddamn motherfucking breakthrough in representation. It’s the same very valid very real form of queer coding half this site screams at because someone got loud enough to scream about it early on, generally inspired by antis riding their ass, just it’s the first and second lead instead of second and third lead, and there’s no ‘rival’ in first and second leads as being intentionally dragged into vaguery. It’s. Fucking. Not. It’s literally. The same. Fucking. Level.

Now, I HAVE been banging on that it’s the level our content SHOULD be acceptable at (well, almost; frankly I’d consider Destiel better, as the show’s overall intimacy threshold is far lower while Good Omens has parallel overtness to the coupling in the actual canon, meaning Good Omens’ playing field, for fair treatment, would be indebted to matching volume -- not saying sex since ace but louder admissions and engagements that are just as clear.)

Unpopular? Good, I don’t care. I’m tired of people screaming about completely conflicting crap.

It’s where we SHOULD be taking ownership of our content. So if there’s any breakthrough, it’s the LGBT community themselves having some sort of spark of awareness that they can and should be able to own content at that volume, largely because the fandom isn’t swamped by asshats on the other side all yelling for their own crappy agendas clogging up your heads. There’s a few queerbait shouters. And you laugh them off, by and large, and accept it as canon and rep. Funny how that works without antis up your ass.

Sincerely,

A tired queer and newborn Crowley stan.

[jaimistoryteller]

OC/Author PrideFest Question Mess Part 3

Thanks for the tag @raevenlywrites​​ ! Ended up sleeping longer than expected, here’s the last part of the set of questions.

Rules I am going with: answer the questions you know or are comfortable sharing, tag others, add a question if you feel like something is missing.

Note: I will be answering in three different posts, one per section, rather than all together because of how many questions there are.

Questions for you:

Introduce yourself! Tell us a little bit about you and what you write

Why do you write LGBT+ characters?

Have you always written LGBT+ characters? If no, what inspired you to start? Is it a deliberate representational choice?

Do you use modern labels in your work? Why or why not?

World builders: do you have any neat societal twists? (unique names for IDs, different marriage practices, etc.)

Do you write outside your own experiences? (cis writing trans, wlw writing mlm, etc.) If yes, how confident do you feel about it?

Tell us about a favorite book/character someone else wrote that inspired you (or just plain gave you a warm and fuzzy)

Any advice for someone else writing LGBT+ characters?

Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Free space! Wax poetic about something near and dear to your heart.

Questions for your Ocs (in character or out, dealer’s choice):

Say hi! Let us get to know you, you big beautiful person, you!

How do you feel about the world your author has created for you?

Are you out? To whom, why or why not, etc?

Tell us a little about your journey. Have you always IDed the way you do now? Are there parts of you you’re still figuring out?

Do you feel settled in your ID, or do you think it might change as you and your author go on?

Did your author always know you were [blank], or did you have to tell them? If yes, oh please, please tell us how! :3

Is being [blank] particularly hard in your world? How does your society treat you differently than ours might?

Tell us a little about your unique experiences with your ID. Do you experience dysphoria? Is it impossible to find a date? Just want to find that special someone for snuggles but everyone expects sex? Unload for a minute, it’s okay to struggle sometimes.

What’s the best part about being [blank] in your world?

Do you like getting fan-mail? Would you like people to ask you more questions when this is over?

Grab that mic! Drop some truth on us, something you’ve just been dying to share! Shout out to your besties!

Questions for either you or your OCs:

Going to answer these like I would a Q&A post, with the first three characters that comes to mind for each question.

What’s your orientation and gender? Wave that flag!!!

Tichina - female and pan. I’m proud of both. While I have not yet met my soulmates, I have had a variety of partners over the year that covers the spectrum of genders and sexualities. 

Quin - agender and queer. I am much more comfortable with my gender then I am my orientation. 

Stepan - male, demisexual, pan or poly romantic, never quite sure which is a better fit. I’m good with my alignments and try to always be respectful of other peoples. If my patient has one I am unfamiliar with, then I make sure to do research so I can help my patient to the best of my abilities. 

When did you realize you were LGBT+?

Jon - as a preteen. The others on the gymnastics team were talking about how cute people were and I didn’t see it.

Isa - in my mid-twenties. I’m older than I look.

Nazreen - after meeting my soulmates in my mid-twenties, prior to that I just thought there was something wrong with me.

What makes your heart melt?

Nazreen - not technically related to my orientation, but seeing Akaal with the children, particularly the smaller ones. He’s so big and yet I know he’s never going to harm them. 

Sitara *chuckles* Nazreen beat me to that one, *thoughtful look* I’m going with the way acceptance is the norm and not the unusual within the Balakhnov Building.

Tichina - any time I am able to get one of my high risk kids off the street, bonus points for the ones who find themselves and do so proudly. 

Do you have a favorite LGBT+ song? Movie? Book? Artist? (comic?)

Marie - too many books to list them all, the beauty of being an editor. I’ve always enjoyed All the Things She Said by t.A.T.u

Ioanna - Father would have been horrified if still alive to know I play games like Saints Row 2. I think that Gat, Aisha, and the main character are a triad. Since the main character can be anything the player ones, I take them to be genderfluid, so no matter how the relationship unfolds it’s bi

Sparks - Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. You know she keeps them in line and makes Bruce stop brooding so damned much. 

Do you have a secret crush outside of your own work? Some wild crossover OTP?

Aither - I spent my teenage years shipping myself with Buffy and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and there was that one time I wondered what it would be like to be an Aither sandwich with Squall and Seifer from FFVIII. . Of course, as an adult I have also shipped myself with Sam and Gabriel from Supernatural. 

Aaron *tries not to fidget* Q from the Craig!Bond movies is quiet adorable and I wouldn’t mind a good snuggle with him. 

Diego - I don’t know if I’d like anything more than friendship, but I’d love to get to know Stiles and Lydia from Teen Wolf. Maybe Even Scott if he could get his head out of his rump long enough to actually act like the friend he’s supposed to be. 

Tell us about your LGTB+ headcannons (I’d really love to see someone’s character answer this)

Karl - I always thought that William and Geoffrey from A Knight’s Tale were boyfriends. When Jocelyn joins them, they form a proper triad. 

Isaak - no one can convince me that Bones, Spock and Jim weren’t a space-husband triad!

Vara - I’d like to think that Nathan, Audrey, and Duke in Haven are a triad. Most of Nathan and Duke’s conflict coming from the fact neither of them wants to admit it for whatever silly reason.

What’s your favorite thing about being LGBT+?

Vasilia - I’m myself and able to accept that I am myself, rather than trying to be someone I am not because I hadn’t accepted being transgender.

Isa - there is a community of people like me.

Keywon - pride in my friends and community. 

Is there a cool place you like to hang out with your squad? Maybe an LGBT+ meet up?

Keywon - well, our team hangs out at the basketball court a lot, we also spend time in the community center where we are able to get help with any school work we need. We’re encouraged to bring others our age or orientation to hang out and what not. 

Quin - before meeting Aither, I spent a lot of my time at the queer book store, I didn’t really have a squad, but at least it was somewhere safe for me in public. Not that I like being in public too often. 

Molon - while I do spend a lot of time at the community center and at the basketball court, I also spend a lot of time at the nomyn san (Mongolian Library) where a lot of people of a similar descent hang out to share culture.

What are some things you do to keep positive?

Tichina - I help those in my community and the communities around mine. Every time I do so, I know I am helping someone else avoid the hardships that I and others before me went through. They’ll have a chance at a better life. 

Tzvia - prayer and regular worship, I am active in the both my faith and sports. 

Isaak - studying helps me keep positive because it means I can reach for the stars (literally)

Do you have any advice for young LGBT+ people?

Jon - you’re not broken, wrong, or otherwise odd. No matter what some people might claim, they’re idiots. 

Aither - own whatever space you are in, most won’t know how to take it.

Jamie - be yourself, it might require leaving what you know, but in the long run it’ll be far better for you. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Isaak - hopefully on the moon, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and study, but my Uncle and Aunt are making it possible so I’m not letting them or myself down.

Falco - retiring, I hope. I sometimes feel far too old for position within the Network that I hold. 

Ioanna - I happier and healthier me, preferably. 

Welp, that took way longer than planned because of a host of reasons. Still, have some more information on my massive world.

Tagging some peeps I am getting to know off the writer peeps spreadsheet so they can see my answers or do them as they feel fit.

@authordai @forlornraven @lagamerita @writing-at-dusk and @wordsbysarah

 Part 1 and  Part 2

[ecritetmort]

About the Writer (mobile-friendly version)

To start, more specifics about me as a person is over here on my personal blog.

For eleven years, I’ve been terrorizing the world with stories of vampires, faeries, demons and angels, and anything else suiting my fashion. For context, I’m seventeen and a senior in high school, so you can do the math on when my fascination with storytelling began.

As of right now, I have five active projects:

[Karyn] | potential: All the Tears We Didn’t Cry YA Modern Fantasy | LGBT (wlw) Romance | Novel A teenage girl revives into a world of unconventional angels and demons in which she is the key to a political revolution heralded by a king of shadows and must find her own truth and life before the two gods who returned her to life pull her from it once again. Character tags: Karyn, Death, Triste, Diana, Life, Oscar, Universe Character tags (main blog): Karyn, Death, Triste, Diana, Life, Oscar Pinterest boards: Karyn, Death, Triste, Diana, Life, Oscar, Universe (you can also see my Pinterest boards for some of the reoccurring settings.)

[Rose-Colored Boy] | potential: Tapes for Icarus Urban Fantasy | LGBT (not focus) | Novella (probably) (plot in progress:) focussing on an oracle, Tijuana, their roommates Hester (Oracle-in-training) and André (herbologist), and their brother, [Icarus], who has been traveling around the world as Apollo’s lover. Character tags (currently empty): Tijuana, Hester, André Pinterest boards: multi: rose-colored boy

[Apprentices] | (no working title yet) YA Historical Fantasy | LBGT (not focus) | Novel (in progress:) Set in Karyn’s world almost a hundred years earlier, twin sisters Zeta and Delta are offered apprenticeships by the twin gods of their world, and in the process come to know the Earth they have only glimpsed through their fathers’ and mother’s stories. Character tags (currently empty): Delta, Zeta, Bella, Castor, Pollux, Death, Life, Betelgeuse, Anne, Rajani Pinterest boards: multi: apprentices, Death, Life, Anne

[Girl Gangs] | (no working title yet) NA Urban Fantasy | LGBT (wlw) Romance | Novella (or shorter) Vigilante Moryseis has always gone by the name the Black Adder, but not until she meets the tiefling Red Rose does she realize that there’s more to her scales than just a nickname, and it’s going to take both dealing with her raging crush on Akdai and the hunters flooding her city to protect her family. Character tags (empty): Moryseis, Akdai, PAM Pinterest boards: Moryseis, Akdai

[etc] | (no working title) Urban Fantasy | LGBT (non focus) | Slice-of-Life short story collection Set in a similar world to Mory and Akdai’s, it centers around a web of vampires, incubi and succubi, witches, and mages settled into a world where magic is common, but there’s always that one dude who just isn’t chill with vampires. Light-hearted without being all fluff. Character tags: Nathan (vampire), Mya (blood mage), Tanith (vampire), Alex (incubus), Ava (herbologist), Lydia (witch and elderly landlady), Kenneth (gorgon)

As you can see, I have a bit of an affinity for gay ladies, in part because I am a gay lady, and fantasy. Karyn and the others, as my oldest characters, have the most development, while Tijuana, Hester, and André are my newest (but I didn’t list these in any particular order outside of what came to mind first, so). PAM and Akdai were first developed by a friend and I for a D&D campaign, with Akdai being my own, which is why she is.. literally a tiefling. From D&D.

In addition to my own characters, my wonderful datemate @thegreatphantasm and I have a series of crossover universes between their future webcomic, Here Be Lions, and what I’ve affectionately nicknamed the Karynverse (I’ll give it a better name eventually, I swear). There are four as of now, in order:

Joint House AU | Pride has kids. Karyn needs a home. Why not? Crossover Ships: Salted Caramel (Pride/Death), the Edges  (Triste/Adikias), (Louise/Oscar) Crossover-specific Characters: Aneko, Blaise

College JH AU | Pride and Death are the graduate student saviors of the three disasters of undergraduate students in room 66. (Info on this AU) Crossover Ships: Salted Caramel, the Edges, Fleur-de-3  (Florence/Oscar/Louise) Crossover-specific Characters: Noah

Animalia AU (aka the Furry AU) | It’s the joint house AU, except in a science fiction world where all humans are genetically modified to be furries. (Look to the JH AU for details, or this post for info on the world.)

Just Your Average Canon Casual Crossover | As on the tin: the worlds are together, but outside of a few times, they don’t interact. Canon is canon. Crossover Ship: Salted Caramel

In the JH and college AUs, the results of some ships are children that don’t exist in either canon. You can read an explanation of Blaise (and Aneko, though she isn’t mentioned by name) here. (Spoilers: Adikias wanted to do some magical artificial insemination.) As for Noah, he’s Florence and Oscar’s son, the one and only child of our one and only truly conventional m/f couple. Also, in case you couldn’t tell, I have a soft spot in my heart for Salted Caramel, and it is the sole reason for the genesis for every single crossover AU you see here. Every. Single. One.

Otherwise, you might find some allusions to a scrapped Steven Universe-crossover canon AU called Children of War, but I hated it so much that in a burst of energy one fateful 2 AM I deleted just about every post dedicated to it. I also have a pet canon AU where Karyn doesn’t leave home, leading to she and Death having odd roommate status as her life continues despite the grander plot, almost all contained in a short series called Death & Co., centered around little clashes of Karyn’s average Asian-American teenage life with Overprotective Asshole™ Death.

[sleepymarmot]

Andromeda liveblog: day one

Spoilers!

Eos/Tempest:

The Vault is beautiful! Even though the moving bridges, just like the floating rocks on Habitat 7, are blatantly copy-pasted from Trespasser.

Drack said the fight was fun. Of course it was -- that was the first time I used Annihilation/Charge/Nova!

Military or science -- how is that even a question? :D

Even back in the trial, I instantly became fond of the Tempest crew, in a way different from the Normandy. Not bound by the blood they spilled together -- but a team of nerds and people taking care of those nerds, pretty much. Feels more like the Enterprise!

What helps is that there's already a net of relationships between everyone -- I was thinking about it when Drack was revealed to be Kesh's father and talked about their problems with Tann and their relationship with Vetra. The Nexus backstory really gives depth to this game.

I didn't expect this, but I actually do like Peebee! Since her first trailer appearance, I've been annoyed with her -- obligatory asari LI, shitty design with a sexualized outfit and eyebrows, manic pixie dream girl-ish image -- but her personality won me over. She's a bit similar to my Ryder, and they clicked instantly -- two young, energetic explorers. And she doesn't seem too quirky so far, just a very extroverted nerd. And she has something nice to say about everyone on the ship!

You know, I've been wishing for a romance with a nerdy but genuinely nice person (unlike a certain elf...) and looks like I have not one but two -- and female! -- options here! :D 

The first flirt option with Peebee is good, the second is not.

Ah yes, a readheaded religious wlw written by the same person as Leliana... Look, Leliana is special to me, but this is just annoying. Maybe because Leliana is special.

Another convo with Vetra: "Someone had to know" "Did your father?" "I'm not sure" LOOK THE CONFIRMATIONS JUST KEEP ROLLING IN

Oh, here comes the flirt option I've seen on Youtube! I feel a bit awkward hitting on both of them repeatedly... Will I, on my seventh Bioware game, finally encounter a jealousy conversation?

Peebee has attractive personality, but Vetra's fashion style is obviously superior.

*looks at Liam's handsome face, sighs and stops herself from hitting the heart because that'd be a bit too much*

Nexus/Hyperion:

I love that Tann is the only real politician around, and everybody won't stop complaining about him, even though he's completely benign :D

It's a great feeling that doing sidequests is completely justified this time. In this game, it's literally my job to fly around and ensure random strangers' wellbeing! Oh look, someone on Reddit made a post appreciating this too.

"Your father is my problem. He's everyone's problem. We're all paying for Alec Ryder's ego. He preyed on Jien Garson's trusting nature and bulldozed us to this godforsaken place" !!! More evidence!! (Random angry woman on the Hyperion)

This is a great way to introduce flashbacks! And to reveal information gradually.

SAM is basically the third Ryder child, huh.

The camera angle and lighting in SAM's room is one of the most flattering in the game.

I'm glad we're actually giving spotlight to the transhumanism theme, unlike with Shepard...

Or maybe SAM is Ellen's reincarnation somehow? It's clear Alec somehow intended to save her with it, but how? I'm genuinely enjoying this mystery. Alec sure has a lot of character and presence, especially for a character with so little actual screentime... You can see his shadow over the entire story.

There's some nice animation at Scott's bedside!

"Is dad okay?" Shit. Shit. Now that's a choice...

(I mean, what she's saying will turn out to be true, hopefully...)

I didn't lie about Habitat 7, though. That's not as important.

Holy crap, that was an emotional scene.

I like Garson's Super Ethical VI Interview.

Professor Gerik in the lab on Nexus has a letter about us being invasive species and preserving local biodiversity! That's nice. (But on the other hand, we'd endanger it just as much if the Scourge hadn't done it first.)

Female Salarians look like male Salarians and sound like female humans. I should just learn to live with the fact that there'll be no real Salarian voices in this galaxy... Ugh.

Ahh Drack is visiting Kesh!!

Have I mentioned how fond I am of our new council/advisors? Kandros is a bit bland, but the other three are great.

30 minutes after I said that SAM is like another sibling to Ryder, he got infected with a virus. Give this family a break!

Of course the hackers were wrong etc, but the things hacked!Avina says are still absolutely correct...

BTW I chose to unfreeze merchants first -- to get the bigger inventory. Ugh, the lack of inventory was one of my favourite things about ME2 and ME3...

I had to read a walkthrough for "Station Sabotage"...

I like the design of Zara's face.

The Nexus sidequests are all about intrigue and investigation! Just like the main one about Alec, and the characters' backstories related to the uprising. Nice. I feel like a detective. It really gives the game a unique feel.

The saboteur has a good face too. And another sympathetic voice re: the uprising.

Tempest

Cora the gardener!

Damn, that speech about acceptance sure sounds like she's not talking about biotics... Why is she straight, Bioware?

Poor Cora. I can only continue to admire her ability to not hold grudges -- something that impressed me about her when Ryder became the Pathfinder.

It's so cute that the crew members have a group chat, have I mentioned? Really makes the ship look alive.

Vetra, Peebee, Gil and Liam are chatting like old friends! And the fact that they're playing poker reminds me of the Enterprise even more.

Eos

A timed mission to save colonists... with driving... I was so nervous!

FUCK I can't figure out this Fiend fight

I died like four times already what the fuck

Why can't I charge?! What do you mean "wrong target"?!

Also autosave glitches me through the floor every goddamn time!

Died about 8 times, I'm going to replace Peebee with Drack and turn down the difficulty

Oh thank fuck, this time it worked.

*can't find the evidence in the cave* *fast travel back to the start three or four times, get stuck on rocks*

Oh, here it is. Yeah, I enjoy playing detective, but I'd like less bugs!

I died and the game got stuck on reload

Alright, some sidequests are in the level 3 radiation zone which I don't know how to clear, and I can't find the bodies of the dead colonists. It got boring anyway. Back to the ship!

Tempest

Gil sends me an e-mail mentioning Jaal, whom I haven't even met...

Kallo's still arguing with Gil -- I'm pretty sure there's something going on he's not noticing... Nobody else has anything new to say. Let's advance the plot, then.

New solar system/Tempest/Nexus

Whoa, I didn't expect things to get so intense immediately!

Sooo, are you going to explain how the angara got the translators working within several minutes?

Are you trying to tell me the kett and the angara aren't related, despite having exactly the same faces?

Jaal's cape flapping is mesmerizing.

I don't understand, why is everyone being so weird and unprofessional?? Instead of opening normal diplomatic talks, they stand in a circle and say shit about Jaal in his presence. Why the hell are they being so entitled? If the angara help us, of course we need to offer something in return.

Liam, what movie night?! We're kind of busy!

Well, at least Jaal isn't going to let me exhaust all conversation topics in one go! :D

"I LIVE IN AN ESCAPE POD" :D

Stop! Prompting! Me! To! Flirt! With! Gil! Two different times in the same conversation -- what??

Okay, by this point I'm pretty sure that the poker mentions are not just a coincidence but a deliberate reference to TNG. 

When will I have enough materials for an asari sword? Maybe a quick trip to the Nexus will help. *immediately gets buried under sidequests*

What, you don't have laws for attempted murder? That has never happened in the entire history of Milky Way? Bioware sure likes to create a complex situation then make you decide between two extremes. I let the turian stay, but I'm not impressed.

What, and they didn't even tell the public what really happened? Ugh.

Pacified the protesters successfully.

Was prepared to go and realized I forgot one sidequest on the Nexus, went back... I need to stop doing this! It's ruining all momentum.

Havarl (not sure about the spelling)

Main plot again, here we go!

Oops, clicked on the wrong button and now my team still has Vetra instead of Peebee.

Nice scenery.

Okay, it's stupid to leave the planet just to swap squadmates, but it's even stupider to explore this planet without Peebee.

Oh right, there is a spot here for a forward station. (Don't the angara mind?)

There's an entire alien jungle, and nothing is scannable? Really?

@myself stop fucking dying... how am I supposed to fight enemies I don't see without any reasonable cover...

Oh, right, this is normal water, not the Deadly Electric Water. That's a relief, at least.

Oh look, normal cover, I can use my ranged powers like an adept/sentinel I intended to be instead of novaguarding.

Spent like half an hour trying to find a way towards the forward station mark on the east, gave up. This Pathfinder isn't very good at finding paths...

Let's find the gay turian Pathfinder!

What am I going to do with all this nickel? These aren't the materials I'm looking for, Bioware

And finally, after exploring everything else -- the Monolith!

This happened again: the profiles refuse to switch mid-fight. WTF???

"Follow the Remnant river?" You mean, what I've done an hour before? I sure hope the Remnant didn't respawn...

So the Remnant are Order and the Scourge is Chaos? I see we've arrived to witness an existential struggle of cosmic forces...

Why are my companions so useless during exploration? They don't give advice, they don't even have banter like in DA.

Oh GREAT, a jumping puzzle, and in the dark too.

I must say, the design is really beautiful, they nailed the intersection of "Alien", "Ancient" and "Powerful" here. Though I'm salty because it's just a sci-fi variation of the ancient elven design from DAI, which means DA4 won't be able to use it probably.

Nice view! @people with powerful PCs, please photograph these things for the rest of us!

Novaguarding+shotgun (only a Katana!) is so powerful I don't feel the need to do anything else...

We're nearly at the top and there's a health pack. I better save...

The plot thickens!

Oh. Is THIS the forward station I've been looking for? No wonder I didn't find it lmao. They should have just covered it in fog...

Why are shields so much harder to take down than armor? Ugh, that boss. At least on the second try I managed to kite him...

Yes, I climbed the column. Whatever. I got some Vanadium! Finally, I need it for my asari sword.

Oh, okay, THIS is the forward station from above. OK.

One of the enemies I had to defeat in a camp got stuck somewhere and I had to run around for 10 minutes before I found him, except I didn't even see him and he apparently died when I approached, but idk how it happened.

I met the reincarnated dude. And that's enough for today.