#hashtag identity

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

havent really had more indepth thoughts since than the posts i made last night but i just got to the "my name is zephyr" line again

like it's meant to be heavy bc we knows names are Sacred (<- lots of worldbuilding questions there forever to remain unanswered) and so yes theres the trust in penance, but it's also like, to claim a name, "my", is to claim an identity. it's an expression that there is something more to you than just your role, your function, the cause youre in service of.

and if transition is the only thing shes ever done for herself, right? and all the rest has been in Service. what shes called at any point is just the title of her function in the circumstances. but to say My Name is to claim an identity, that exists for its own sake. as is. not for anything. just is.

and if she chose the name herself, it's like an expression of a Want. which is what i was talking abt with the joy/pleasure thing. she doesnt Want anything, really, except maybe just for "this to be over". she starts out, in this story, at like the most Unwanting state you can have. being suicidal, most of the time, rather than a positive wanting to be dead, usually it's more a negative not wanting to be alive, you know what i mean?

and she remains in that state for all of the story we get. she doesnt really Want anything in a positive sense, mostly just wants like, things not to be like this. the world not to be like this. and not to be in the position shes in. but shes stuck in that position bc the world is like this. so the only way out is to try and make it,,,not like this. which is the main thing driving her for the whole season i think.

to say "my name is zephyr" i think is an expression of a positive desire. it's i want to be zephyr. it's, maybe, i want to just live. i want to just live instead of i want to stop fighting.

[ccircusclwn]

(pt 1 of.. 5 ithink?? maybe?? of my designs for the teens)

uhh heres my attempt of a design for scary!! shes super cool i love her a lot

maybe i'll change the design on the future but i kinda like how it turned out ^_^

[frociaggine]

would you be able to give examples/explain more about how race only impacts gideon in the tlt-universe? not being facetious or condescending, genuinely asking. thank you!

Hi anon! If you mean my tags to this post, I wrote

#earth conception of race doesn't impact any character in the series except the canonically brown main antagonist

By which I mean my Worstie and main antagonist of the series, John Gaius (PhD).

I don’t think TLT as a series engages with race in any especially meaningful ways. It’s set in a post-Earth society with entirely different social norms, and there’s no concept of race and ethnicity within the population of the Nine Houses. Physical descriptions of the characters are scarce to say the least, and they rarely spell out the kind of features that suggest specific racial connotations, because the POV characters don’t seem to think it’s something worth remarking upon. iirc, it takes until halfway through HtN for the narrative to confirm that Harrow has brown skin.

[See also Tamsyn’s GtN characters description post. It quotes passages from the book, and you can see how minimal the descriptions are, and she repeats several times that her characters’ appearances are up to the readers’ interpretations. It just doesn’t seem to be a big concern of hers]

Then there’s John, who grew up in twenty-first-century New Zealand and IS explicitly Māori in a way that absolutely impacted his character arc. It's not A major theme of his Nona chapters, but it’s there if you read between the lines. The boarding school he went to, which IRL had a high percentage of low-income Māori students on scholarship. The depth of his climate anxiety, his uncompromising “Nobody left behind” stance before the cryo project was halted, and his fervent hatred of ‘the trillionaires’ afterwards... these are all informed to some extent by his background as an indigenous man imo, and so was the global reaction to his developing powers. The “We were going to put you fellas in jail, weren’t we?” the way his initial attempts at publications are all flat-out ignored by the scientific community and dismissed as culty gimmicky faith healing until he leans into it.

John being Māori is just one of the many pieces of his backstory, and far from the most impactful to what eventually went down, but my point remains that he is the ONLY character in TLT whose racial background 1) affects his story arc and 2) is relatable to the audience. Everyone else is ten thousand years removed from Earth, and I’m just not very interested in using racial identifiers when exploring these characters and their dynamics, because the characters themselves don’t care and neither does the narrative.

[violent138]

It'd be funny if no matter what Bruce did, Diana kept forgetting he was that Bruce Wayne.

Until she got really into these utterly garbage gossip magazines that Hal and Clark would send her, read all about who the lizard people were, conspiracy theories on Lex Luthor's parentage, why Oliver Queen was actually a CIA agent, and the endless scandalous affairs of one Bruce Wayne. Ir still doesn't click for her until she gets to an unsmiling picture of him and then she doesn't stop mocking Bruce for the insane life he leads, usually texting him direct quotes from the articles or memes about him.

[asaintellee]

who would've expected t

[veryaren]

this is my piece de resistance. my tour de force. my magnus opum

edit: inspo under the cut

FOUND IT

[ck-17088]

OPINION: Why I think Transformers Earthspark will be remembered as one of the best Transformers shows of all time.

Long story short, Earthspark spoilers. Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.

I'm delighted to say that Earthspark has again exceeded my expectations. Honestly, when the show was first announced, I expected it to be a TV show meant to pander to young children. It would either be silly or forgettable.

Nope.

The show has blown all expectations out of the water through its bold story-telling and animation. The characters all feel realistic- they have strengths and flaws, which are most apparent when they face difficult situations. Another strength is that this show is not afraid to tackle issues (war, moral issues- "how far are we willing to go for the sake of peace?", discrimination, etc) that have become a part of our society in the present and past several years.

In the new 8 episodes dropped, the central theme appears to be identity. Mainly about finding your identity (ex: finding an alt-mode), making up parts of your identity (ex: finding the right alt-mode that matches each character), and integrating new experiences into your identity (ex: Megatron's decision to gain an Earth-based alt-mode to earn the Autobots' trust)- those sort of topics. These are all important and wonderful topics to discuss and share in a show. However, what surprised me the most was that the writers were not afraid to show the ugly sides of identity-related topics.

The 17th and 18th episodes- "Home Part I" and "Home Part II"- subtly tackle racism and xenophobia. Robbie, Twitch, and Hashtag are visiting Robbie's friend in a skateboard park. While having fun, they stumble upon an anti-transformers graffiti- "Transformers go home". Twitch and Hashtags are shocked and upset over this. Twitch says "This just isn't okay" because they were born on Earth and have lived there for their entire existence. However, Robbie's friend insists that their existence on Earth isn't "okay" since "Invading the Earth wasn't okay either". He's essentially telling them that they exist because of the war, which was unwanted, so therefore, their existence "isn't okay".

That scene honestly emotionally destroyed me. Before I explain why let me say a few things.

I am Korean American. The experiences/feelings I will later talk about are my own and do not fully represent the Korean American and/or East Asian communities. Our community's experiences are varied; thus, one person’s is not enough to sum them all of them.

Throughout my life, especially in the past couple of years- during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have had all of these things happen to me:

- I have been called hateful slurs.

- People have made the slanted eyes gesture to me numerous times.

- A few people have greeted me with "ni hao". (This is offensive because they automatically assume I'm from China because I'm Asian. It supports the idea that AAPI communities are one monolith. Hint: They're not.)

- Many people have asked me if I eat dog meat… (I don't. Never have.)

- Too many times, I have been told to "go back home". (I don't even remember the exact number. That's an indicator of how many times it's happened)

- In college, I have had many academic and career advisors ask if I'm a foreign student. It doesn't appear be an offensive question, but if I were Caucasian, no one would have thought to ask me if I was a foreigner. But no, I am Asian, so there is a huge chance that I might not be American.

The fact that I am Asian, or Korean American, an ethnicity (Korean) not found in the Americas, is enough of an excuse to question my identity and my entire life - who I am, where I'm from, and my own habits. To many, it is an excellent excuse to ensure I feel like an outsider in my own home.

The "Transformers go home" scene destroyed me because it reminds me of the pain that comes from the fact that there will always be people who believe I do not belong in my own country- no matter how many experiences I have had and how ingrained they are in me.

These characters are experiencing that same pain, too, even when they shouldn't be. The insistence from Robbie's friend that their experiences aren't enough to explain their belonging to Earth because they are physically Cybertronian- or transformers- is especially heartbreaking.

However, Robbie stands up for his family and breaks ties with his friend. He refuses to accept the blatant discrimination his siblings are facing and leaves instead. This is significant because while the writers show the ugly side of human society, they also show how to combat it- by refusing to stand by and accept it.

This scene is likely why Earthspark will become and will be remembered as one of the best Transformers shows ever.

It's not just the animation or the stories/plots. It is the show's willingness to tackle issues that are difficult to discuss in real life.

In a world where Anti- Asian, Anti- Latino, Anti- LGBTQIA sentiments and (basically) any hate toward minority groups are on the rise, Earthspark is not afraid to go head-on with these issues. They are willing to show scenes to demonstrate the harm these ideas and beliefs can cause, as well as solutions on how to fight them.

The show embraces the beautiful sides of humanity- friendship, family, love, and hope- but is also not afraid to fight the ugly parts of it too.

Written by: CK17088

[garak]

i cant kin anymore because now when i see a character with superficial similarities to me i dont arbitrarily decide hes just like me instead i want to know about his backstory and themes and shit and then if hes still just like me then i just go "wow hes just like me fr" and then move on with my life LOL

[duskittycat]

"bihets" aka "any bisexual person (but almost invariably a bi woman) who has ever dated someone of another gender, ever"

[hussyknee]

Not entirely sure how I'm expected to respond when I point out something is white as fuck and the person I'm criticizing goes "I'm literally PoC!!" Okay? Good for you? Get well soon??

I literally live in South Asia, a place still nursing the world's worst colonial hangover. That's like one billion brown people desperately in need of joining Bootlickers Anonymous. If I had to respect the rancid takes of every yahoo that lives here I'd have to drown myself in the sea.

Living in white countries does something odd to diaspora brains. If you call yourself BIPOC in your own head long enough you end up forgetting you're just a garden variety idiot mainlining white supremacy like everyone else.

[dullahandyke]

You guys keep falling for people going 'lol you're identifying the wrong way' wrt queer identities so I made you a flow chart

Is your anger against this label because it facilitates genuine harm towards others (eg. MAPs)? Godspeed and good luck to you.

Is your anger against this label because it is Using The Label Wrong and doesn't gel with your personal definition for this label (eg. MOGAI, bi lesbians, lesboys)? I'm sorry, but there's always gonna be people who identify in ways that you disagree with, and with something as intangible as queer identity, their stance has as much merit as your own. If you get ticked seeing someone IDing as both homosexual and bisexual, ask yourself if they're genuinely hurting anyone, and if not, let them be. You will never know the intricacies of someone else's identity, and if that's how they choose to define themselves, well, tough shit.

[sunnimint]

omg yes absolutely i love that so much

took me a while to answer because I was trying to think of name and I’ve got it now!!!

Blues Of A Cafe. Simple and direct. the one-shot is officially in process. once I’ve got the plot outline done, I’ll get to writing!!

[yubriamakesart]

Hey, this is probably a dumb question, but after huvyre mentions being genderless, what are his pronouns? does yin have pronouns? if huvye does were they chosen for or by huvyre?

They're both he/him! Yin because that's what he was born with/grew up with, and he wants to stick with familiarity as much as possible. Huvrye was assigned he/him in more or less the same way he got his name. It hasn't occurred to him that he could just pick something else if he wanted, but he's also pretty ambivalent about it and wouldn't care enough to change if he did think about it. He's more frustrated with the generally dehumanizing way he/other homunculi are treated than with the pronouns specifically.

[reanimatestar]

guess what i've been playing lately <3

[image description: three pencil drawings featuring characters from baldur's gate 3. the first is of the artist's original character, carxes. he is a tiefling with black sclera, long curly hair, and ram horns. he also has a scar over his right eye. the second is in a simpler style, featuring astarion grinning widely. the third is of astarion and carxes, looking at each other, with astarion being slightly shorter than carxes. astarion grins, baring his fangs, while carxes frowns at him. /end description]

[birdricks]

normally i dont ever think abt nicknames or like “pet names” ig when it comes to pairings i like but i do truly in my heart believe rick is the type of person to end up calling bp by like 100 different cutesy names without even realising. like he’ll say smth as a joke once but like also serious. and bp always takes it in such a way that rick just keeps using it bc he feels like he can get away with it without being cringe or whatever

[jeanharlowseyebrows]

alternate universe jackie taylor if she lived to be 60 and moved to miami and got a girlfriend