#funnily enough she also hates women

[la-pheacienne]

Sara saying that rhaenys wouldnt kill alicent cause theyre both mothers and women, despite alicents family being a direct threat to her own, and alicent and rhaenyra reconnecting after hurting eachother for 20yrs because now theyre both wives will never not piss me off. Do they not understand that alicent rhaenys and rhaenyra are humans first and foremost? Not mothers, not wives, not victims, not women but HUMANS. Like ned, stannis, daemon, aerys, robert, viserys were all husbands, fathers, and men each with their own beliefs goals and experiences that shaped them and yet if you put them all in room together no one would ever suggest that these guys would ignore everything about themselves and wouldnt all start fighting eachother one way or another just cause of those basic commonalities. Thats not how humans work sara

I have nothing to add, you said it all bestie.

[crguang]

SUSHSNAJAH i love your kafmom hcs can you elaborate more on them?

YES YESVYESYESYES sure. i can do that.

you can’t look me in the eyes and tell me kafka’s not a boy mom sorry… she has a son and he’s her pride and joy, okay. she thinks he’s smarter than regular babies (“he has my genes, naturally.”) and brags about it to the stellaron hunters who don’t give a shit at all except firefly

“he sat up on his own. at this rate, we’ll have to get him checked out. hold on, i took a video.”

“oh my godddd,” silver wolf groans, “you really became one of those insufferable moms who only talk about their kid. disgusting.”

dad energy, like shes a dad. she’s that meme of chris hemsworth holding his kid by the leg at the beach. she checks the list of ingredients of whatever baby food you give her so she can feed him and goes, “i’m not giving him that.” (“kafka, it’s approved.” “by who?”) she always carries him on her shoulders. when he fusses and she has to hand him over to you for feeding, she says, “he wants you because you have the milk, but he told me i’m his favourite.” (he cant talk?)

kafka’s one of those dads who will spend half an hour having conversations with a baby who only babbles and giggles. if you come into the room and ask her what’s going on, she’ll say it’s “between him and her” and wink at your son like he understands what she’s saying

the baby rarely cries when she’s holding him. it’s sickening. she mentions it all the time. she’s a baby whisperer and you’d complain if that didn’t mean you get to take naps without worrying about shrill cries every half hour

funnily enough, kafka understands the fragility of the human body and even more so of a human baby. she does things like throwing him in the air and catching him to make him laugh, spinning him around, etc (it almost give you a heart attack every time to which she only replies, “relax, i got him.”) but she’s aware of his and her limitations so really, he couldn’t be safer with her

she has “days out” with him when she’ll take him somewhere for a morning or afternoon so you can rest and also to ease your separation anxiety if you have any. you need to be able to be without your baby and not die of worry but it’s hard😞

she’s not one of those crazy possessive boy moms who hate when their sons grow up and end up with “other women”, she just teaches him how to pull (“listen, this is how i got your mom wrapped around my finger…”)

she doesn’t smoke as often. she doesn’t really notice it even though it was a habit, cigarette smoke is dangerous for babies so she stopped. you mention it to her once and she shrugged like it was no big deal but she really loves that baby, dude…

she can be very firm. she’s a fun dad but she won’t tolerate disrespect towards you or him putting his life in danger because of stupid decisions he made. baby or teen, she can put her foot down and it’s very rare for her son not to listen to her when she does (she’s always smiling, imagine when her smile drops… shivers)

she’s weirdly understanding. i say it’s weird because she’s never done this before, but that’s precisely the reason why she kinda just follows your lead. she’s also very perceptive so you don’t often have to verbalize what you need, she’ll have it done. no more diapers? she already noticed and got some yesterday. your period is coming up? you’ve been irritable the past few days so she’s been taking more tasks off your plate. she’s just very astute in general and it helps a lot when it comes to having a kid

that baby can dress i’ll tell you that. she shops with him in the cart and asks him for his opinion on which item fits her best (he only cares about the toy in his hand)

she’s still a bad bitch and she has to remind you of that once in a while…

one of those dads who says no to a pet when their toddler becomes articulate enough to beg for one and ends up being the one to take care of it

she’s an early riser so when your son’s still an infant and wakes up during the night she’s often the first awake. depending if he’s hungry or not, she also takes care of it

if we pretend she’s not a deadbeat mom i swear she’d be a great parent like… she’d never in her life expect it to happen and the baby would definitely be an accident but hey! she steps up…!

[blackberry-s0da]

Gonna make a big post to try to answer this.

My characters are inspired by lots of thing things (and lots of artists), Machete wasn’t an inspiration in particular to be honest, it’s a fully fleshed character with a specific white-black-red aesthetic, catholic imagery, blood, violence, hate, guilt and by the latest posts, love too. Mercy barely has a name for now, I haven’t been able yet to make a story, place him in a specific historical context or do as much as design his clothes.

Regarding physical similarities I actually took most of the poses and general vibes for Mercy from paintings depicting naked women (mainly form renaissance) as i liked how soft and peaceful they looked;

(Machete lives on that time period if I’m not wrong so there’s also that. Mercy doesn’t have a spot in any timeline yet, but I’ve depicted him in modern clothes once and I think I’ll eventually place him in a modern setting)

Another inspiration was actually the artist Babezord, specifically for Mercy’s color palette and face pattern as seen in the image below. Many characters count with this mask like pattern and I’ve always loved it;

(funnily enough on this character it is an actual mask)

The similarities on style are due a few factors: I learned to draw dogs mostly from Canisalbus, I’ve been following their work since I was around 13 or 14 I believe? Maybe earlier, and I learned a lot of things from them for the most part. On top of that I also love sighthounds and mostly draw that type of dogs as I’ve been having them as pets since childhood and always found them very pretty. I currently have two greyhounds.

Another artist I’ve leaned from are Lilaira, putrid.hound, canisinfernalis and mischievousdog, amongst others so shoutout to them too.

I believe that Canisalbus characters are more stylized and fancy looking, they’re more lean and lanky for the most part, their hands are small and delicate, characters are very expressive and culturally rich, the clothing and pieces of background are beautifully detailed, their pieces usually tell a story, Mercy in the other hand was recently picked up from a mental trashcan I had him on as he’s my oldest and probably less used oc (he used to be a she but I decided to keep the name, that’s as much as he has for now, besides two scraped background stories). I designed them when I was a teen for lots of vent art and didn’t like how he looked (plus the negativeness I attached him to) so he’s been pretty much abandoned until September of 2023 when I redesigned them. Also gotta add that, while he isn’t a self insert he’s been used for the most part to reflect things about me and how I feel at the moment.

I believe my art is similar in many aspects to the one of Canisalbus, but not remotely close to being as amazing as theirs, I wouldn’t say were identical but I do take inspiration on them, amongst other artists.

[kerubimcrepin]

Wakfu Season 3, Episodes 1-6

//tw mentions of SA

Episode 1 - Fallen Heroes

I had a very long discussion with a friend of mine, who is a fan of medical settings, about how cool the existence of IV within the lore of Krosmoz is.

We didn't come to any conclusion. It was just us fanboying about this. Because my friend loves medical things and I love putting character into situations (some of which would not be survivable, if them being put on IV wasn't possible) (big fan of the concept of Joris getting poisoned and very sick and Kerubim and Atcham freaking the fuck out).

Funnily enough, during the making of my YouTube series, I discovered that there are two Sram-venerating women named Toxine in this franchise.

Adamai harbouring feelings of violence towards the members of the brotherhood is a good idea, (<- obviously the guy that wants Joris to beat the shit out of Kerubim would say this), but man, it could have been so cool if someone competent was working with this idea.

Episode 3 - Oropo's Tower

I should admit, this moment was probably a big win for Tristepin Mental Illness fans. Also, this is sadly the most explicit they can get with the reasons why Tristepin might hate being the Iop god in a cartoon.

He has plenty of reasons. Not only had Iop had 394824 demigods who hated him and felt abandoned by him while suffering fates worse than death (all gods have those) and just as many mortals he took advantage of using the power imbalance of godhood and promises of love (all gods have done that), he also canonically sexually assaulted a woman.

Ngl, if I was Tristepin, I would be considering killing myself — however, the kids and the wife would be sad.

They shuoild do this to Yugo too. He also had other wives. Albeit in an infinitely less insane way than Tristepin. Ankama.., please stop ignoring how existentially horrifying the Eliatrope demigods are.

In the Dofus MMO Kerubim pretty much calls the brotherhood of the forgotten an emo club of people with too much free time on their hands doing nothing but whining about their daddy issues.

And he was so real for that.

Btw canonically, Mishelle/Coqueline makes him feel intimidated (due to her grand age) while she herself doesn't really care about him (besides liking his good attitude towards animals), and is actually besties with Otomai.

Episode 4 - Beastly Girl

I like to headcanon that Joris's relationship with Coqueline is that he projects onto her ("oh god.... being 7 forever would make me kill myself.... even being 3ft tall is already horrible and makes me want to die..... the poor woman must be suffering") while she's like,, 1. probably doesn't think of herself as a "woman". I think she would describe herself as a creature, maybe a girlcreature, and 2. is literally chilling and doesn't give a single shit about anything but animal welfare and direct anti-god action.

I think talking to her would kill Joris because he'd realize that not every immortal person is as insecure about Literally Everything as he is.

She literally says, "the only good gods are ex-gods". We stan a leftist girlcreature?

This screenshot can be used as a reaction image for so many different shows. More fictional parents should say "my child is NOT ascending to godhood and shedding their mortality, becoming something beyond my comprehension, before they're of age. Fuck you."

Episode 5 - A Iop Hides Himself to Cry

You want to read @bitter-panacea's analysis posts about Goultard so bad.

Despite my negative feeling on s3, this is a WIN for Goultard fans, as far as I'm aware. (and Goultard enjoyers, since I kinda consider myself one)

I;'m going to walk into the sea.

Episode 6 - The Ecaflip's Scratching Post

YEAH BABY, A FULL ON IN-SHOW CONFIRMATION OF MY "USH HAS A DIFFERENT MOM THAN KERUBIM AND ATCHAM" HYPOTHESIS.

This might not seem like a contentious issue to normal people. Gods have... a lot of different lovers, so it seems normal to assume that Ush has one mom, while Kerubim and Atcham are twins like Eleley and Flopin, and have a different mom...

But a cancelled game that Tot really liked and still considers canon had really weird "there's an Ecaflip priestess who is the CEO of Giving Birth" lore, and was planned to be the mysterious mom of Kerubim and Atcham (and many other demigods), which contradicts a lot of previously established lore (ankama LOVES retcons. sadly).

I am quite open about thinking this is stupid and not considering this canon until they show her to me in an actual released media (and even then I will find a way to headcanon a better reality). Seeing the series itself acknowledge that Ush is not Atcham and Kerubim's full brother makes me feel quite better.

Hi Ush were you doing [SEXUAL ACTS REDACTED] upon cats again.

Cute...

A normal thing for a Bontarian to do. Blue-clad (metaphorically, he isn't wearing blue but white. Still very Bontarian though) man over here protecting kids and women. While also beating them up.

But unironically, I think it's cute that he has this gap moe of being an evil man who also saves people and cares about honour (because that's a proper thing to do) despite cheating constantly.

Somehow, his shallowness and "I mostly care about appearances, even if I do have a moral code" sort of behaviour is just as Extremely Bontarian as Joris's.... 30 mental illnesses.

THE OST IN THIS EP IS SO GOOD. ECAFLIP FANS WINNING ONCE AGAIN.

Hey past me! Maybe he really does pay these cats to put up with his insane behaviours. 🤨

Yugo, I'm gonna be real with you:

he's probably heard Joris and Kerubim say these exact words at least twice before,

He is reallllllly weird about cats and I am unsure if that's illegal in your setting,

He lured in people to kill in his tower for sport serial killer style.

He's bontarian. -20 morality and honor points immediately.

[colin-becher-death-countdown]

Alice Dyer and Gwen Bouchard. Thoughts?

Not sure if you mean the ship or just the characters in general so I'll answer both

Ship: Eh, take it or leave it, it's not gonna make or break anything for me. Mainly I'm a platonic relationship person over romantic relationship person, it has to have something I really enjoy for me to actively ship them romantically. That being said if them being together gets rid of the love triangle (my greatest enemy forever) between Celia, Sam and Alice I am 100% on board with their relationship.

Alice: She's great fun (very jokey) and yet a buzz kill (trying to stop curiosity killing everyone) at the same time. I've loved many very similar characters so it makes sense I'd like her character. She's super chill and yet cautious and is reasonablly frightened when crazy stuff happens. I love that she just tunes out all the talkers and has fun reading through the stuff she knows is nonsense. Her take on it better to be ignorant then curious is flawed in it's own way (there is no war in Ba Sing Se) but I love that it's the opposite to what every other OIAR employee is doing at the moment. She's also lowkey very suspicious and I always enjoy when someone is up to suspicious activity, her and Celia feel disconnected enough from say Sam and Gwen that they don't feel too much like POV characters and they always seem like they're hiding something even with an open book type of personality. Oh and a great big sister I love seeing how familial relationships are played out especially in a horror. 10/10

Gwen: I wish I liked Gwen more. I love a good bitchy women in a story, but Gwen doesn't hit my criteria in bitchy women. First she's not all that bitchy, like yeah she's a bit rude to people but I think that's the repressed middle class English upbringing, she doesn't take any enjoyment in being bitchy. Also I would make a joke about her hating Mr Bonzo and blackmailing Lena since they are my pookies, but honestly understandable and very girl boss of her to go after that promotion. In the first episode I liked everyone's character and I didn't particularly like her but she fills a crucial role in the story that would feel empty if she wasn't there. She's very wet cat coded right now and I feel bad she's been going through so much horror so soon (no one in the archive was this traumatised after 23 episodes, sorry Martin) she deserves a break. I think she'll have some sort of a redemption in my opinion of her by the time the series ends, but right now she's a character I don't feel really any way towards other than I think her character is important to the direction the story takes, also I'm holding out to see what her relationship with her family is like (especially Elias god please I hope he's her older stoner brother.) 6.5/10

Funnily enough me and a friend of mine have completely opposite opinions on Alice and Gwen it's fun to have both sides in a discussion

[randomnumbers751650]

I finally have time to talk about Lone Trail. I will be focusing on its depiction of science, technology and its progress. Will get a bit political, but funnily enough less than I imagined.

The thing that called my attention most in Lone Trail were the discussions on the nature of scientific progress. This is a theme that’s dear to me and the stuff I research about. It’s easy to think of scientific progress like an inevitable march forward, like an escalator. After all, we are much richer than we were before, right? Go to OurWorldInData dot org to play around with economic statistics in time – make sure to check the World GDP chart, from year 0 to 2000 and see it taking off like a rocket from year 1700.

What kind of Uncle Ted fan or neoluddite would go against that? Haha…hah…

Truth is that, although its effects are there, it’s not a clear if this is the little, neat process techbros want us to believe. It’s new and produces more, therefore it’s good, right? I could be writing this as a new wave of AI-generated NFTs pollute my algorithm.

That’s what makes the storytelling in Arknights so effective: it mashes together fantasy and sci-fi to really tell stories on the role of beliefs, technology, science and religion. The Rhine Lab saga is definitely an exploration of technology, with focus on the equivalent of the United States. During the period before the First World War, 1870-1913 (which is the one that Arknights draws most from), the world underwent through the so-called Second Industrial Revolution and I’ve read economic historians considering it the most innovative period in human history. I mean, obviously, there is an absolute number of inventions in our current age, but in relative terms 1870-1913 experienced a much larger number relative to the previous one.

The escalator narrative constructs scientific achievements as work of daring people (mostly men, but there were women like Marie Cuire), that combined science and technology to help mankind, like Prometheus giving mankind fire from the gods (in fact, one of these books is even named “Prometheus Unbound”); more than often they have to fight against the establishment. Remember Ignaz von Semmelweis? He just wanted doctors to wash their hands. Even I learned this standard narrative in the university. But that’s not the entire story.

The positivistic paradigm – of a science free of value judgements, made with the power of math – has actually helped build this escalator narrative. In reality, some scientists and scholars are horrible people. Later, I learned that Semmelweis, as much as he campaigned for the right thing, was a very arrogant person, who abused everyone around him, to the point few people went to his funeral.

Narratives focusing on one single hero are easy to sell and the ones building them are always on the lookout. Remember how ten years ago, a lot of people tried to push the narrative Elon Musk was going to create a new industrial revolution? Nowadays he’s just an arrogant loser who keeps dragging on his midlife crisis. The 1880s also had similar people like that, such as Thomas Edison.

Kristen Wright is definitely better than them both, because she is actually an engineering genius. But she’s also just like them, in the sense of unethical experiments, collusion with the military-industrial complex and being an overall superficially charismatic, but rotten to the core person. And she’s surrounded by a lot of people like Parvis and Ferdinand.

Breaking this line of reason, I have to say how much I hate Nietzsche’s ubermensch and master-slave morality, I hate Great Men theory, I hate Ayn Rand; these people are sheep who think themselves wolves. And before you say that Nietzsche didn’t consider himself an ubermensch, well, neither did Parvis and his reasoning was the same. For every person fancying themselves ubermensch, there’s a lot of those whom he’d call untermensch to clean up their messes. You have no idea of how times I stumbled upon people (especially libertarians) that advocate lower barriers to regulations that were written in blood, so that progress can happen quicker. Creative destruction works, as long as some people get “creative” and others clean the “destruction”. Deaths and injuries? Acceptable, just give them a pension (but fight tooth and nail in the court to not do it beyond the barest of the bare minimum, because it’ll lower the shareholder profit in 0.01%). Increase in inequality? Nobody will care in a few years, it’ll make everything cheaper anyway (look up Baumol’s cost disease to see how wrong that statement is, without being incorrect). I’m not exaggerating, sometimes the people saying that don’t even bother lacing it in politically correct language.

Because Lone Trail showed it “worked” – Kristen Wright broke off the ceiling over Terra and that will have consequences (especially with Endfield coming closer). The data from her experiments will advance science, the sight of a broken ceiling will inspire artists and prompt politicians to act. Was it worth it? Well, it will depend on who you ask (like, Ifrit or Rosmontis would have strong feelings), but it’s just there now. Serious history isn’t kind on this question as well – many technologies have a lot of transgressions, both legal and ethical, in their supply chain (both the American and Soviet space program come to my mind – guess who helped them); the difference between an entrepreneur and a criminal are contextual, because both are finding new opportunities of profit and both interlock frequently.

In the end, anyone can put an equation that has its uses, not mattering if it’s a good person or not. But that is no excuse to find good ethical practices. Silence saw everything with her own eyes and I’m really glad she’s leading the initiative for a more ethical science in Columbia – especially because people who are willing to break moral rules tend also to be willing to break research rules (this is why the “research” made in concentration camps is actually useless, it didn’t respect experimental rules). So I’m really glad for the Arknights writers for understanding these nuances and communicating them to the audience through one of the best stories of the game.

[rewritingcanon]

Louis headcanons… 🤲

YASSS OKAYYYYY 😻

looks mostly like his dad with his mums colour palate. also a little more snatched like his mum and not as built as his dad. but you can TELL he’s bill’s son if you were to see them side by side

french fuckboy

grew his hair out and had a ponytail era. when he let it loose people genuinely confused him to be a girl (yes he gets hit on by LOTS of confused men and lesbians 😭)

gryffindor with dominique. only a year older than james sirius potter.

closer to dominique than to victoire but respects victoire more funnily enough. kind of like victoire is a second mum. has no problem roasting the shit out of dominique but will check himself with victoire

has begged victoire to give in and date teddy because he desperately wants a cool brother (was happier than teddy and victoire combined when they did get tgt)

is the vain delacour that molly weasley feared fleur was, except he’s masculine as hell and flexes in every mirror he sees (he still looks like a girl)

VERY pretty and could win miss universe or best waifu

he was the femboy reckoning at hogwarts but against his will. he wants women but he keeps pulling men. like that inosuke guy.

best subject was charms and DADA, courtesy of his dad being very talented and his mum being the same except also add her being a drill sergeant

nepo babied his way into interning at gringotts but got on the goblins nerves sm they fired him anyway (louis still pretended to go in because he was so scared about what his parents + victoire would say)

made a secret tiktok account for posting his thirst traps until dominique and victoire found it and he was so embarrassed he deleted it

favourite cousin is roxanne despite their age gap just because shes always so hilarious and always down to do whatever and just never takes anything seriously (also she was the cutest baby in louis’ opinion). its less a friendship and more like a one sided smittenness on louis’ side— he has a whole folder on his camera roll dedicated to her being generally goofy

people use his face for clout and to catfish people all the time. every time his girl friends need to loyalty test their man they just snap a photo of his face

that being said, he IS the man you need to loyalty test. mf has fifteen girls on the back burner that still think they have a chance with him

that also being said, hes waiting for marriage 🙏 (he wants his first time to be special guyz)

that ALSO being said, absolutely no one thinks he’s going to last that long

likes bantering with his mum a lot and getting on her nerves. she’ll start swearing at him in french when rapidly lecturing him in english doesn’t work and he finds that to be the funniest shit ever

bill weasley is such a Daughter Dad so he’ll baby tf out of victoire and dominique and then get louis to do all the household chores 💀

but louis is also the biggest diva in the family by far so bill and fleur drop more money on him than victoire and dominique combined. and then they complain about how spoilt their son is and the girls are just like “🙄 stop buying him shit then 😒”

meh at quidditch but decides he hates it because he’s not the best at it (it’s an ego thing)

really likes his maternal cousins and only allows aunt gabrielle to plait his hair

godfather is uncle percy 😭 every time its his bday louis forces percy to go shopping so he can drop some big bucks on him (whatever karma percy accumulated in his youth has taken the form of his godson now).

lucy is a year older than him and they keep feuding over her dad. think blue haired liberal versus white blond conventionally attractive man. thats the relationship, and its hilarious especially during joint family dinners.

used to be very scared of the dark and couldnt sleep by himself and so victoire was always forced to let louis sleep with her when they were younger

also always goes to victoire for hair care help and his mum for skincare and fashion help

despite being seemingly easygoing and carefree, he can hold VERY mean grudges and will never apologise for something if he doesn’t think he’s in the wrong.

also will fist fight someone over a yo mama joke (yes he’s sensitive about his mum, don’t insult her to his face)

everyone knows louis for the menace he is except grandma molly who treats him like hes the sun that the earth circles around (yes grandma molly likes bill’s kids the most, what of it?)

louis is surprisingly very sweet to old people. he does his due diligence and visits them the most, brings new presents to arthur and helps molly with chores and lets them fuss over him.

okayyyy i think ive yapped enough

[transformerswoc]

The TFP "Airachnid" Problem

Like I said, I'm gonna make essays and discussions regarding women in transformers <3. The first person is tfp Airachnid.

TFP Airachhid is honestly, the litmus test for how I feel that Transformers fans can handle “mean” evil, women. Because the hate train that she received and the hate she still receives is massive, and it rounding up to “she killed cliffjumper” or “she’s mean to arcee and starscream” “she killed breakdown” just shows that this fandom wouldn’t really be ready for a female villain that was worse than her, or that just did not give a fuck.

And honestly, that is soo unforutante because we see male characters, like Starscream and even like Megatron, who are basically like Airachnid, if not worse, getting love and support for their actions.

She’s not supposed to be nice…she is a villain a straight up, in your face, villain and that is interesting. Yes, other Airachnids/Black Arachnias get love, but a lot of them are morally grey or complex.

A lot of them either turn good or ambiguous in the end, or aren't who we think they are, giving them a very empathetic past to almost excuse their actions.

Yet, when we have villainous, no morals Airachnid, which I find made her character far more intriguing, it seems that people just hated her, and would hate her for the things they loved with the male villains. She was the perfect mixture of Starscream and Knockout, with Megatron’s brutality, and she was just…hated for it.

And it made me realize that in terms of female villains, we haven’t ever had one like her. One that says ‘fuck you’ to morality and shit, because I just do not think the fandom could handle her. And I’m talking about in the TV Shows.

There are female villains in the live action, but that is another topic for another time.

Lastly, to me as a Black Woman, I cannot help but feel a lot of hatred toward Airachnid is people not checking their own racism and antiblackness. I think it’s easy for people to, not even realize it, but hold black women to higher moral standards than others. The point is that, Airachnid is voiced by a Black Woman and fandoms tend to be very critical toward Black women whether they be live action, voicing characters, etc. black women are either too much, or not enough.

Funnily enough, we are seeing this with ROTB with tons of people who aren’t black women, bashing the representation of Black women in ROTB and saying they aren’t doing enough or they’re pointless.

And this brings me back to Airachnid and how fandoms tend to, unknowingly be very heavy and critical toward black characters, but especially, Black women characters as well who are mean, or who do not fit to their standards. That is just my perspective from a black woman.

I’m not going to sit here and say that everyone who dislikes Airachnid is racist, but I will say separately that I think a lot of reasons for disliking Airachid are rooted in misogyny.

There has been no good reason for disliking Airachnid that I haven’t seen laced in some form of misogyny, because every reason she is hated, you can trace back to a male villain doing the same thing, if not worse.

Given fandom’s negative reaction toward Airachid, I wonder if we’ll actually ever see such a cold, heartless female villain like we did her. I think that only thing that makes things ‘acceptable’ is if a female villain has complexity, or has depth or will eventually be a ‘good’ guy again, or at most, morally ambiguous. That is what makes a female villain acceptable and frankly, that’s not fair but unfortunately I just feel…that’s how it is.

Another thing I noticed, which I will make in another essay, is how TFP tends to shame any form of ‘feminity’ especially in its women but also, in queer outwardly femme charaters, like Starscream.

The ‘tom boy’ or ‘one of the boys’ perosna is something that we tend to see with Arcee and Miko. And forms of femininity such as motherhood, or being outwardly femme like Airachnid or Starscream are seen as ‘bad’ by the narrative.

What I mean by this is that, June is shamed for being motherly toward Jack, by Arcee and by Miko and it is something that she is made to feel bad for, for wanting to care for Jack. Arcee and Miko are portrayed as I said, as being ‘one of the boys’ Arcee herself made a negative comment toward the idea of being PINK…which is ridiclous.

Airachnid and Starscream are both heavily femme and queer coded, but they are shamed by the narrative and the fandom. Starscream is brutalized on the daily, and Airachnid, who is outwardly femme tends to be seen as irredeemable by the fandom and also inexplcitly evil by the narrative.

TFP’s issue with femininity  is something is something I certainly want to talk about later on, but given this essay is just about Airachnid, I will stop here.

The last thing I'm also going to say is that I don't think that the writers knew, or understand how to write a female villain for a notoriously misogynstic fanbase. There are reasons why the other female characters are 'acceptable' and it's because they are for the most part, written in a way that is okay for a male audience. That doesn't mean they don't face their fair share of misogyny...they do. Especially Miko.

But an outwardly evil femme fatale who doesn't give a fuck about it...the fandom is just not ready for such a character. And while I don't think the writers needed to pacify her, i do 100% believe that when operating in a misogynstic fandom, you should learn how to write a female character in a way that will not get her dragged the way Airachnid has been dragged.

If you enjoyed my essay, please share and consider following?

Please follow my twitter, where I'll also talk more about women's topics in TF.

[quillkiller]

regulily bc I don’t think anybody has said that yet?

(Send me a ship and I'll give you my honest opinion on them)

i mean.. it’s not secret that i love them… but!! i actually used to be sooo anti regulily… i had such a hard time getting them to make sense to me until it just sort of clicked (same with bartylus funnily enough). it started out as jegulily, and to be honest i’m still not immune to them, but then i kept being more and more drawn to reg and lilys relationship instead ..

i think i used to hate regulily because lily is so often just characterized as ’girl’. like there’s this weird phenomenon going on where ’girl’ has to be perfect. she has to be a girl boss, a bamf, politically correct, soft but also strong, sexy but not sexualized, kind but not a doormat, the mother of the group while also being independant and fierce. ’girl’ has to be everything because god forbid women are complex and messy. i like my lily messy and repressed, who always feels like she’s hiding a hungry monster underneat her skin. and when i figured out my lily more, the more compelled i was with her and regs potential dynamic !! both repressed and living inside a pre-designed box, both being the bella swan type where they keep being misunderstood while also attracting people to them, both hungry and unsatisfied and yearning and wanting and nowhere to put it :/ both abandoned younger siblings, both alone, both searching for Something <- and they find that something inside each other <3 they’re unlearning and relearning and exploring and discovering things together. about themselves, about each other, about their circumstances, their bodies, desires, wants. there’s a solidarity and quiet understanding between them… 🤍🤍

im not immune to m/f regulily, but 99% of the time i talk about them they’re lesbians !!

[period-dramallama]

What's your opinion on The White Queen and the other shows in the PGCU?

*stares out of the window, eyes full of memories* The White Queen… now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…

Ah, 2013. Springtime. I was excited for the White Queen to air through the Beeb. Since 2011 I had devoured the first four books of PG’s Cousins’ War series: The White Queen (loved it) The Red Queen (loved it even more) The Lady of the Rivers (you mean best girl Jacquetta gets her own book? RESULT!) The Kingmaker’s Daughter (whaaaat the story is completely different from another person’s POV? MIND BLOWN!)

Yes, people don’t like the role of witchcraft in the story, but I didn’t mind it at all. It made sense to me that women might practice white magic, because medieval people really did believe magic could work. And if the Tudors felt special by claiming descent from King Arthur, it made sense that descent from Melusine would feel special to Elizabeth Woodville and her family. After all, as far as back Julius Caesar people were claiming descent from heroes gods and mythological figures. And yes, it’s a cliché to have your Empowered Woman practice herbology or witchcraft etc Divine Feminine etc, but Margaret Beaufort was a HBIC while explicitly rejecting magic, and the same goes for Anne Neville.

The tabloids were already grumbling about how the show filmed in Belgium because the medieval architecture there was less intruded-upon. Then the first episodes aired and the tabloids were grumbling about zippers, straight teeth, concrete steps, guttering, handrails, Rebecca Ferguson’s accent. ‘It’s not as good as Game of Thrones’. What was this show, ‘Game of Thrones’? I felt rather envious/jealous. I wanted my show to be good. I wanted my show to get good reviews and have people enthused about it and be genuinely objectively well-made. Now I’ve moved beyond this attitude; and if a show is better than ‘my’ show I don’t resent it because there’s nothing to stop me enjoying the better show too.

(….mostly moved beyond this attitude).  

Funnily enough it was because of the White Queen that I landed upon this strangely-formatted website called ‘tumbler’. Sorry, ‘tumblr’.

Ah, the cast! I wouldn’t change a single person. Janet McTeer! James Frain! David Oakes! Rupert Graves! Amanda Hale! Veerle Baetens! Eleanor Tomlinson! Faye Marsay! Aneurin Barnard as Richard the Frodo!

Also, Leo Bill as Reginald Bray, he was great! I remember at the time saying that Reggie B and Maggie B should have their own sitcom spinoff called Saints’ Knees.

Episodes 6 and 7 were my favourite because I was a big Richard/Anne shipper. Even the reviewers came around to the show with episode 9 ‘the Princes in the Tower’.

And then the finale….how I hated it. Bosworth FIELD in a wood?? In winter?? Bullshit! Torpedoing the Richard/Anne ship with INCEST? UGH.

I particularly hated the last scene because it was such a damp squib. The show should have ended on a high note, with Margaret’s triumph, with her dream coming true, with her sheer relief that her only son has gambled his life and won. With mother and son gloriously reunited. But no, it ended with Elizabeth of York, the least interesting character in the whole show. SNORE.  I have the White Queen on DVD but idk if I’ll ever rewatch it.

Then the book The White Princess came out and W-T-F? I loved the first 4 books but the 5th book was a SLOG to get through. What was PGregs thinking?? This wasn’t Henry VII. This wasn’t Elizabeth of York. This wasn’t the Margaret of the Red Queen, with her flaws, her loves, her fears, her strength, her dreams, her humanity. I finished the White Princess but I only got through 2-5 pages of The King’s Curse before I gave up, suspecting that the book would be another 500 pages of whining about the Tudors and nothing else. Yes, it’s unfair to call Margaret Pole whiny as she had legit reasons to be unhappy, but it felt whiny.

Years passed. Empires rose and fell. Ironically, I got into Game of Thrones and read all the books. Then 2015 arrived and I watched the first episode of series 5, realised they made a huge mistake killing off a certain major character, and I was right because it was DOWNHILL ALL THE WAY.

2017. I didn’t watch the White Princess but I followed the Discourse, especially the excellent analysis by MelinaPendulum (now Princess Weekes). In theory, the show should be right up my street. A vengeful princess in love with her shady king uncle? Her shady king uncle is killed in battle and she must marry the conqueror? Vengeful princess vows to be ‘hidden and patient’? It’s enemies to lovers? The conqueror reveals hidden vulnerabilities? She realises she wants her son to be king after his father? She’s torn between her ambition, her mother’s ambition, her brother’s ambition, and her burgeoning desire for her husband, a sexy mop? She destroys her brother, the Rightful King ™? She executes her brother, just as her father executed his own brother? She finds her own power but loses a tiny and precious part of her soul in the process? SIGN ME UP.

The show should have been historically inspired fantasy. Just change the names! The costumes were more fairytale than medieval anyway! Change Richard III to Gorlois, Elizabeth to Igraine, Henry VII to Uther Pendragon.

I loved the posters for The Spanish Princess series 1 but I had no reason to watch it.

And then… The Spanish Princess series 2. What an event that show was! We didn’t know what Fraham would give us each week but we knew it would be illogical, hilarious, terrible, TASTELESS. Reading everyone’s reviews and liveblogs each week, the endless meme potential, the consensus that the show was utter shlock, so lowbrow that it made The Tudors look like Breaking Bad in comparison. The show was so stupid that it was almost beneath contempt. And there were unironically good things about it: Georgie Henley and Sai Bennett acted their socks off and I wish them all the best, I hope they get good parts in better shows. Their characters were genuinely interesting and engaging: fun, sassy, flawed. Me gusta. Maggie Pole, Lina, Oviedo… sympathetic characters with little to do, but it was nice seeing POC and ‘middle aged’ women and I wish they were the protagonists instead of poor Charlotte Hope desperately struggling to speak Spanishly. (Ruairi O’Connor also tried hard, he just wasn’t well-cast or well-written.) In a way, maybe it was more fun than Becoming Elizabeth because at least there was no wasted potential and no frustrated expectations: we expected shlock, we got shlock. The show wasn’t good but the community around the show livened up the end of a….not terrible but definitely WEIRD year of my life.

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

So... Can we talk about Zheng Yi Sao please?

I absolutely adored her and she was so much fun (and love the polycule) but I am absolutely failing to see what her role in the larger narrative was.

She unites the pirates only for everyone to get blown and the pirate republic destroyed in one stroke? Because the woman who conquered China is stupid enough to trust a"gifts" British Navy minor prince whom she is blackmailing?

She is basically Stede's more competent side kick for the rest of the episode?

Another one I'm sure will be a controversial opinion! I'd love to hear what y'all think, don't be afraid to leave a comment below.

Funnily enough, my 2 remaining asks are both wanting to discuss Zheng Yi Sao (and to a lesser extent, Archie) as how both of these characters were meant to impact this story and/or failed to do so! Given that the writers looked at the limited amount of time they had and decided to write BRAND NEW characters instead of further developing the people we already liked.

I will be combining the asks, as the other person was anonymous but they spoke more to how Archie and Zheng didn't add much that was new to the story. If that anon would like me to still post their thoughts, let me know!!

First: Archie

I hate to say it, but for the most part, she feels like the response to the common criticism that S1 didn't have any leading women.

Which, yes. Is absolutely valid. This is where I feel we can sit with Archie. She's fun, and hot, and has the same Violent energy Jim had in S1. But by the time episode 8 rolls around, what is she? We know almost nothing about her, to this day. She was in a snake cult...um. She can fight, and is Jim's arm candy? Beyond that, it feels a bit hollow. Especially as Archie enters a relationship with Jim before we as the audience know Jim and Olu are in an open relationship. Yes. Jim thought Olu was dead, but I didn't really like Jim joking about Archie's tits when bringing up the fact they were dating Archie as well now.

NOW-

Onto Zheng Yi Sao! (and to a lesser extent Auntie)

Zheng had 2 rolls to fill this season, character and narriative. Her character roll was-

1.) To be an Ed mirror. She's a badass with a record, a Navy at her back, and yet we can't make her a badass without giving her the same romantic arc as Edward fucking Teach. Seriously. I was bored watching her scenes as soon as it was obvious Olu liked her. Because I could put the pieces together.

Auntie is Izzy trying to hold the legend together, Oluwande is Stede a stranger to this brand of piracy, and Zheng is Ed 1-1 from S1ep4. Congrats welcome back to Season 1, but this time faster, and with a more interesting side interrupting it every other scene.

Zheng is open to new experiences, letting herself be soft, when it comes to her new boy toy. Cool. We're repeating story beats, which I don't love... But then she gets defeated by Olu distracting her and leaving her behind mirroring Ed in ep 10. Stede and Ed's romance is condensed into 3 ish episodes. When we see her again, her arc isn't focused on her conquering the sea. Not really. It's more on how she really misses Olu. For a badass pirate we enjoy watching, I cared more about her slipping into good graces with the pirates of the Republic than her missing her 'quiet part of the day'.

The story also felt a need to parallel the mentor relationship of Zheng and Auntie, with Ed and Izzy. A thing that for the most part I don't agree with. Zheng respects and mourns Auntie in a way Ed doesn't to Izzy. Rewatch S1, does Izzy EVER change Ed's mind? Or does Ed talk down to him like he's a pesky mosquito in his ear. Ignoring him and trying to show off to Stede.

Zheng's personal arc repeats that of a character we had a lot more time with. I wish they just stuck to the cool strategy shit with her. Ironically she's a strong character because she can fight and because she cares about Olu. Which...ew. Just make her a threat, y'all. That's all you had to do.

BUT I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER IN EPISODE 7/8. OMG.

I went from being all right with her and Olu's story to seeing her as her own person. Someone who is very overwhelmed and competent. I also love her actress, so that always helps. It just sucks that she starts to have her own things going on at the very end of the story. Again, we get the Ed parallel of her throwing herself into a suicide mission after Auntie dies, but it doesn't FEEL like a direct mirror the way the romance obviously was.

She was always going to be a plot device, just like everyone else this season because-

2.) She's the reason Stede goes from being stranded on land back on the Revenge. This is the OVERALL reason she was needed here. I wish they handled this differently. I've seen some say the reason she didn't see Ricky as a threat is because the 'point' of Ricky was that you shouldn't underestimate people. But given how she treated Stede's crew like criminals awaiting trial (besides Olu), I fail to see how she would 'underestimate' the people whose claim she was trying to take over. All the characters of this season exist to push the plot forward, even if it doesn't align with how they should behave.

Given that yes. England had a STRONG foothold in the colony of a colony called 'Carolina' at this time(Florida and Georgia were held by the Spanish until the Spanish-American war), the English Navy specifically could send enough troops to push her out in around 2 months. Or hell. Maybe they'd team up with the Spanish and finally clear out the republic.

Zheng needed all the pirates in the area to match the power of their army, and at this point, she didn't have that yet. So why was she so cocky? (Oh. This show ignores history, right.)

[Fanfic concept of an alternate story for this season where Zheng isn't just another love interest that wasn't properly built up]

Personally, if I knew my budget was slashed, I'd save money by cutting unnecessary sets and using the actors I have VERY wisely. So. REWRITE TIME. In episode 1 Stede struggles to make ends meet. ACTUALLY struggling not comedic struggling. Working all hours of the day, not seeing an end in sight, the crew not wanting to go back and find Ed. Hell, some of the crew threatened to leave and get on new ships. The works. Then suddenly he is given a deal from Auntie. She knows who Stede is, and wants to bargain. He'll get a small ship, in return for his future loyalty, and potentially that of Blackbeard. Hint that this was all from the 'Pirate Queen', and BAM. No need to have the entire plot on Zheng's ship, a plot that dragged compared to that on the Traumatized Revenge, and it gives the audience something to get excited about!!

Who is this pirate queen? What will this 'loyalty' mean for the next few episodes? Etc. Maybe find Lucius early in Ep 1 at the Republic recovering, having recently been left for dead by his nearest pirate ship. This way we have another thing Stede is keeping secret from the crew and Ed, and show how Stede would react in this situation. PLUS! Epic badass Zheng slowly being hinted at taking over the Republic from episodes 6-7 before she's foiled at the end of episode 8? Yes, this gets rid of us DIRECTLY SEEING that she was betrayed by Ricky, but instead of focusing on Zheng, focus on Stede and Ricky's dynamic in ep 1. Make us see how slimy he is. Then in ep 7 show Ricky making a deal on a ship we've never seen. Think Ed in ep 3 S1, dark, smoky, and when he enters the office? ZHENG YI SAO! Badass pirate trying to expand her grasp across the ocean to fuck over the worlds militaries.

THAT is a pirate threat. Not like Jack and his story of a mutiny, or Anne and Mary of however they left the life. Or Ned whose crew was a singly conversation of Mutiny. Pirates are clever bastards who aren't to be fucked with. Zheng is new, and a different way to control the area than we're used to. Then, we the audience can see JUST how fucked over Zheng will be. Zheng goes to land and still wipes up Stede's crew thanks to legend, and maybe a betrayal after finding out about the deal. Ep 7 bar fight, leading into episode 8. Hell, maybe have her and Olu flirt. This way the audience already knows Jim's alright with it AND we get to see more wingman Jim. Which was already a DELIGHT.

My big issue with Both Zheng and Archie's romances is that their Olu and Jim didn't feel like our Olu and Jim. Oluwande S1 was nervous, clever, and good with people. Very protective of Jim, I always got the opinion that if shit ever started to look bad, he'd do everything he could for him and Jim to flee. Jim was a hard egg to crack, but sarcastic and closed off even when you got to know them. Which they RARELY did.

In S2, Jim and Olu almost feel like the same goofy characters. The twist is that they still love each other and love someone else. Which is cool, just an odd choice. Given that their reunion felt...dull. But it's obvious the writers will only develop a character if they are in a romance. (Lucius and Pete? Let's talk about trauma and recovery. Olu and Zheng? Let's discuss kindness and softness? Jim and Archie? Loyalty and compassion built by blood.) That's all they had time for, and honestly, I'd rather deepen what we know about characters like Frenchie and Wee John than see another shallow romance. Lucius and Pete worked better because, AGAIN, they were ALREADY ESTABLISHED.

Much like how the rest of this season is too fond of callbacks, Zheng's entire character can be summarized by 'diet Ed' and I hope the fandom sees her harsh, willing-to-do-anything to get the job done, attitude and expands on THAT versus a carbon copy of the main show's romance. Her roll was to get closure with Auntie in a way that Ed couldn't with Izzy. Which...yikes.

tldr: good characters, but were sadly thrown away without much development.

[13thdoctorposts]

Jodie and chibnall went out of their way to be inclusive with jodie's doctor outfit. She wanted everyone to be able to wear it. If it was good enough for Sacha Dhawan to wear her costume then it was good enough for David Tennant. If I recall David Tennant has worn clothing that could be considered feminine in other projects (he had a mary poppins look in good omens) I do not see how a trench coat, a rainbow top, suspenders and 3/4 trousers with boots is considered to be drag.

I wore Jodie's costume to a pop culture dress up day at my work and nobody thought it to be drag and a co worker of mine (who looks like sacha dhawan funnily enough) thought it looked really cool. Also, why was it okay for John Simm to wear at least two dresses in the end of time specials when he created the master race. Why were there no concerns about "weaponising drag" back then.

Why was it okay for Jodie to wear Peter capaldi's costume but David Tennant couldn't wear hers? I just hope that there's at LEAST an explanation in the specials (say like if it was an effect of the forced regeneration/degeneration or it has something to do with the villian's plan in the 60th) rather than when the 14th doctor regenerates the costume doesn't change and no explanation is given as to how that's happened again. If Chibnall did this he would be hauled over the coals yet when RTD does anything it's magically okay. It's a double standard and I hate it.

All this. I totally agree, the answer of drag, must be a lie he thought would sound legit and progressive enough that he would get away with it because the British media are so horrible.

Well I would love to know how he’s protecting all his LGBTQAI+ cast now against the British media or does he just protect the one straight white man who, let’s be honest, would probably not care if the British media decided to say anything about him regening into 13s costume, and also it was expected I think it made it more of a story because he didn’t regen into Jodie’s costume then if he had, and considering Sacha did it in the exact same episode and the horrible media didn’t bother to do anything with it makes the situation even more bizarre. And if they didn’t want him wearing it in the comics they could have just released the promo photos and he could have gotten it in the comic like he lost the sonic in the comic.

And you’re absolutely right I’ve seen so many Men and non binary people absolutely slay 13s cos play and it’s amazing because it is so gender neutral that I bet people out side the fandom wouldn’t even know it’s a ‘females’ costume, unlike all the suits the doctors have worn which people would likely assumed are men’s. Those actors never considered how their costumes would work for women.

It also stings more because of the lengths Jodie went with designing it to make sure everyone could wear it but it seems the only one who couldn’t was her next incarnation!

And what’s worse is that Power is a 13 doctor episode that’s meant to celebrate her and her time as the Doctor and in the final scene he chose to just completely disrespect her and now makes fun of us complaining we feel she’s being erased… your literal first action was erasing her, obviously the body gets changed out but you BURNT her clothes, like a metaphor for a witch, then her sonic in a comic, they didn’t add her sonic at all to 14s which is a celebration of all of who, and then come out with no books and only 1 audio from BBC sounds nothing from Big Finish, not even the fugitive doctor or master audios the have had on pre order for over a year, and then go ‘but I have her TARDIS exterior’ the one thing no one cares they keep as it gets an update every few years anyway it’s the least Jodie item they could possibly keep.

It’s all so disappointing because he Cleary wouldn’t do it to his cast just thought Jodie didn’t matter.

*just to note women also slay in the costume but in the context here it’s obviously about a man wearing it.

[whatyourusherthinks]

Arthur The King Review

Eeeey it's the Mahky Mahk dahg movie! Funnily enough, I've had the exact opposite pre-experience with Arthur the King than I've had with a movie like Imaginary. Which is to say I saw the poster, we showed the trailer, but as soon as it came out there was crickets. I haven't looked, but I also haven't heard a single thing about the movie. I was not looking forward to this, even though the trailer was good. One, I am vehemently a cat person. And two, I hate Mark Wahlberg. He's a racist asshole who can't act.

What's The Movie About?

Marky Mark is a runner who is competing in the Adventure Games in the Dominican Republic. Along the way his team finds a stray dog that follows them throughout the race.

What I Like.

The racing, mostly. If you remember that show the Amazing Race, it was kinda like that except it's in one location and all the participants are suicidal. Simu Liu plays a jerk, but he's so goddamn charismatic that I liked him despite that. The locations they shoot at are also very pretty. I liked that they didn't translate any of the Spanish in the movie, so if you didn't speak the language than you just had to pick things up through context clues.

What I Didn't Like.

Funnily enough, my two biggest problems are Mark Wahlberg and the dog. I'll say it again, Marky Mark cannot fucking act. His character is pig-headed and stubborn, and it's revealed at one point that he spent all of his wife's savings to run this super dangerous race. And she tells him at the end of the movie that she's pregnant! (Marky Mark also doesn't know what poor people are, since he's in dire financial straits but he still owns a pretty nice house in the mountains with a pool and eats steak for dinner every night.) This movie has a hilarious ego trip scene where Marky Mark carries two bikes and an adult woman across a zipline in one go like he's a goddamn super soldier or some shit. Speaking of unintended hilarity, there were several moments where something that was supposed to be dramatic was happening, and but I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Funnily enough, almost all the dramatic moments had the super obvious product placement happening during them. I usually don't mention product placements in movies (because that's what the companies want) but I want Nissan to be forever associated with the line, "My dad has cancer!" Both of the women characters all suck. The first is Marky Mark's wife, who not only is the breadwinner of the house, but literally just exists to support her husband as he tries to get himself killed. The other is one of the team members in the race, and her deal is daddy issues. She also weirdly gets coddled throughout the movie (She's the one who has to get saved on the zipline.) even though she's clearly the team member in the best shape. The camera work, additionally, sucks. It along with the editing are incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it's shot in standard, sometimes it's clearly hand held, other times it's back-to-back drone shots. Sometimes you can see how the racers are running and where they are going, other times it's impossible to parse because of close-ups of Marky Mark's face and, of goddamn course, shaky cam! The structure of the movie as a whole is like that. One second everyone is buddy-buddy, then at a turn of a dime everyone is yelling at each other, then the dime turns again and its back to quips and goofs.

Finally, let's talk about that stupid dog. The dog is cute. Whatever. You might think from the trailer that the entire movie is gonna be Marky Mark's team running with this dog, but the dog doesn't even meet the team until halfway through the movie. We still see him, but's it's just shots of him wandering around the slums getting chased by other dogs in goofy scenes. Once he joins up with the team it's mostly fine, but then the ending happens. The ending was so saccharine that I got a cavity. I kinda hate that I watched with movie with other patrons in the theater, because I have never wanted to yell, "Just kill the damn dog already!" more in my life. The ending is nonsense. They pretend this dog is gonna die like three times, and he never fucking does. I know this makes me sounds like a miserable bastard, but that dog should've died. "But the dog survived in real life!" Shut up Buggnutz. Stories based on real events change things around all the time. I'm sure the real runner carried a woman and two bikes across a fucking zipline. "The ending is a tearjerker!" Is it? Because I wasn't crying. I was tapping my foot on the floor waiting for this movie to wrap up.

Final Summation.

I can see some people liking this movie. It's a feel good piece about a dog, maybe for you that makes up for the fact that Mark Wahlberg made and stars in this movie. But I wrote in my notes "If they pull a happy ending out of their ass I'm rejecting this movie", so unfortunately my hands are tied.

[brsb4hls]

Watched the Barbie movie, wanted to wait til the hype died down to watch it 'in peace' so to speak.

It was ok. Not a masterpiece, but a decent movie.

What didn't work for me personally, altho intentional, I'm aware, were some themes that felt too exaggerated, like the complete brainwashing of all Barbies by the Kens and Ken becoming aware of the male dominated world.

I feel it's way more subtle irl, so while the exaggeration was the point it still felt weird.

Also it was very American, of course, and gave me similiar disconnect I get with some of those unrealistic high school movies.

There also wasn't enough time for actual depth, but an attempt was made, which felt kinda off amidst the over the top plastic-y comedy.

It had some great moments tho and I do like Margot Robbie and America Ferrera. They had good chemistry, it was fun to watch.

Main point of the movie to me that's not a secret but doesn't get stated this bluntly too often, was the 'everybody just hates women, even women' line. (Later filled out more in Gloria's monologue)

I noticed that pretty early on, especially the competition among women over men and it still kinda depresses me.

Like, whenever there's an article about feminist art or projects calling out abuse or harassement you always have women criticizing it to get brownie points from guys.

(So naturally I don't look at comment section of certain topics anymore.)

On another note, the movie did make me nostalgic. I tracked down almost all of my old Barbies online via lists to remember which one's I had. Funnily enough it was a Teresa, a Midge and a Shani I loved most.

Probably cause I'm dark haired (Midge is a red head, but still).

I talked with a coworker and we compared our Barbies (she still has her's in a suitcase in the attic. I don't. Mine were in the basement til my mum threw them out, they got a bit moldy).

I tracked down my favorite and rebought it. I was obsessed with that outfit for some reason.

This is my (new) Shani:

I loved the color and that wave cut.

(Side note: kudos to Ryan Gosling. He was creepy af, while still being completely lost)

[elysianymph]

also 🔥 for mary

this turned into mostly a rant about the fandom and how they ignore my fav girl sjjsjsjs

funnily enough i used to dislike mary. or maybe dislike is a strong word. i just found myself so apathetic to her bc guess what guys??? she has no real character outside of particular aesthetics and ships. and then she wiped her memory so it's not like it's important what or who she was anyway. but she's also literally my favorite character rn (right next to sirius) soooo... this is what happens when you sit down and explore characters by yourself instead of letting fanon guide you through everything.

the thing with mary is that she doesn't exist really. not as a character with real personality traits anyway. she's mentioned as lily's friend which most likely puts her in gryffindor and we know she was a muggleborn because mulciber attacked her and... that's about it. you can't really expect anything better when the harry potter books barely gave any of the main women characteristics outside of motherhood, let alone some random character mention twice. BUT THAT'S THE FUN PART! we could've had so much fun with mary bc she's literally just a name and we could've made her anything and yet she's absolutely nothing bc MISOGYNY YAYY!

she used to be overly sexualized and slutshamed in fics and now she's just... boring. she's the accessory we can add onto lily to make sure she isn't left alone so our mlm ship can happen!! she's an obstacle that stands between sirius and remus getting together!! and she's given nothing outside of that. this fandom has written and rewritten stories for the same old boring men a million times and yet one of the main characters isn't given any story at all?? what was her family life like?? did she have any siblings?? who was her first crush?? how did her status as woc affect her life at hogwarts?? and being a muggleborn?? was she good in school?? what career path did she want to go down?? why didn't she join the order like all of her other friends did??? how did mulciber literally assaulting her affect her??? nah that's boring let's rewrite wolfstar one more time

it may look like you're working with nothing but you're really not. if she's sorted into gryffindor she must've had their defining traits. she didn't back out of the wizarding war because she was a coward. it must've been something else. if she was lily's friend she must've been similar to her in some way. they must've shared experiences of what it was like being a muggleborn in an environment that literally wanted you dead. why did mulciber attack her in particular? was she quiet and timid and he thought she would be the perfect target? or was she opinionated and loud and mulciber wanted to scare it out of her? it's not much but we've created more out of less

mary literally isn't allowed to exist outside of men and ships. even then it's the male gaze lesbianism of going on a picnic, braiding each other's hair, whatever. can she not be a complex character?? why not?? even when we are writing her in slash fanfics why can she not have any personal issues to sort through?? if you don't care about her just say it??? it's obvious when someone includes her in content bc they just feel bad (she's become peter 2.0 tbh) and don't want anyone hating bc she's not included in a particular post. don't half ass her character bc you're scared of backlash. it's not misogynistic to just not be interested in a character (though it's important to unpack why you would get bored by a character most see as a woc yet be interested in a death eater man despite having the same amount of information on both of them). don't get me started on people who ship her with peter so they can tie everything in a nice little bow and it's all perfect. literally shut up.

anyway mary is beautiful and smart and the it girl of hogwarts. she taught all the other girls how to do their make up because her older sister taught her and she always dressed up for hogsmeade trips even though her friends made fun of her for putting in so much effort. she uses cherry scented everything because she loves the way it smells and she twirls her hair and blows bubbles with her gum. she winks at guys who stare at her to get free drinks and she's never looking for a fight but she'll pull on anyone's hair if they provoke her enough. she didn't understand why lily made such a big deal about james asking her out and rejecting him when he's literally a fit guy who seems nice enough?? maybe she didn't understand how someone could reject a real relationship when given the chance to have one because none of the guys cared enough to look at her like that.

it's late and i'm tired and i can't elaborate further bc i don't even know what i'm saying but expect more mary posts in the future bc she is my darling <33

[jaggedwolf]

CR2 genderswaps, ranked

Obviously subjective opinions, file your complaints with someone else.

All genderswaps are to the gayest possible versions of themselves, because I am like this. (In other words, bi->bi, gay->gay, straight->gay). Pros is more of “interesting possibilities” section.

....this was supposed to be all of the Nein but I wrote this post in 2020 and apparently stopped after the top three so that’s all you’re getting! I think it was going to be Fjord and Yasha after the top three, and then Nott and Caduceus are like, the absolute least interesting to consider for this, why would you ever.

F!Caleb

Pros:

Look, for me, F!Caleb takes everything I like about the guy to the next level, while everything I dislike about him become things I’m here for her. Incredibly brilliant wizard with a dark past that she hates herself for? Nice.

Beau/F!Caleb as a ship is still one that murders me. They were colleagues oh my god they were colleagues

Cons:

Genuinely trying to find one...ah, here, I think of canon!Nott as very straight, so losing Nott->Caleb seems unfortunate. But we’re not in canon territory here, my dudes. Nott can still think this smelly hobo looks attractive in a jail cell, and she and Beau bickering about it becomes even funnier.

M!Beau

Pros:

There’s something to be said about M!Beau being the son Thoreau asked for, but still absolutely not the one he wanted - the boy has no care for propriety, he sleeps with the workers, he flippantly ignores the daughters of nearby important families, he gets so unbecomingly emotional in these family arguments tsk tsk

Which is to say, family angst-wise, I think canon Beau draws a little bit of comfort in that she was never given a fair shot because of the son nonsense. M!Beau? Nah, that’s all on him, or at least that’s a pretty easy perspective to have.

Rummaging through the candidates for M!Beau to flippantly hit on and realizing that it has to be Fjord is cracking me up. This half-orc cannot escape being flirted with. 

M!Beau/Molly probably happens in a hit-it-and-quit-it type fashion while in Hupperdook, between all the arguing and horny energy actually synergizing. And then Molly dies, and so Beau gets to be even more fucked up about it :D (And that tattoo...damn)

Absolutely nothing changes with the Nott dynamic, which is fun to realize! Except maybe now they both agree the minotaur is hot.

Cons:

Probably not BFFs w Jester and I can’t abide that :( Their friendship really did kick off with the roommate stuff. Aw, would Jester end up rooming alone whenever Yasha wasn’t around? Maybe that would get them to somehow still room together

?????? with Yasha - maybe closer to the canon Caleb dynamic. Though actually, hm, I wonder if M!Beau would be more confrontational with her since he has neither guilty feelings or horniness distracting him. (Less jokingly, I do think canon Beau reacts to women differently, even outside of attraction being a factor, in a way where she’s more....protective or considerate of them.)

M!Jester

Pros:

Has read all the gay smut that has ever existed, has recs, yes, still thinks that’s how romances work.

Overall, it’s kinda fun to imagine the slightly naive and very affectionate Team Heart of the Nein being a dude! Regardless of whether or not the Nein are still as protective of him, which is also an interesting question.

Both him painting wildflowers for Yasha and Caleb saying Jester is the one who changes people remain good moments

Marion still calls him Little Sapphire, duh

Cons:

Again, the Beau dynamic is all ???

but it makes one contemplate m!beau/m!jester, which I am not opposed to

I suspect M!Jester would not be very popular (funnily enough, the caleb and beau swaps above might also swap the populations who really like them)