#imagine having characters who actually get to make their own jokes about their disabilities

[byfulcrums]

been rewatching rtte

toothless is called T multiple times, but the letter T doesn't exist in the alphabet of this world

i think hiccup was also called H???

hiccup went to the wedding of the man who tried to kill him and his family multiple times. no wonder he thought he could change drago's mind

snotlout is canonically a theater kid

"you're so small and cuddly" "please never say that again"

the twins are really smart, but they're also just stupid

hiccup straight up disappears when he's working on something

heather had a super noticeable crush on astrid

fishlegs got a love interest!! a plus size main character actually has a cool, badass love interest!

it was super hetnormative but it was cute

there was an island full of flying women who were implied to regularly commit cannibalism

hiccup taught all the riders how to fly with toothless, that's so sweet

everyone is a flat earther except for the twins

hiccup almost directly killed a lot of people

and killed a LOT more when destroying their ships

“scalding– cal..ding--" "toothle, plama bla!" was pretty much the funniest part of the entire series

dagur was bullied as a kid by a guy 8 years older than him who literally tattooed an imagine of him beating up little dagur in his arm??? What was that all about

actually we need to talk about how messed up everything about dagur is and about how the things that could've/did happen(ed) to him may be the reasons why he's Like That

just why was he imprisoned by the outcasts??? he didn't do anything to them directly

oof my brain is spiraling. "he loved you" "ig now we'll never know" what do you mean he didn't know if his dad loved him

there's a technically musical episode

tuffnut became hiccup's defense attorney and immediately got him the death sentence

hiccup regularly jumps off cliffs

he also jumped off a boat, with his arms tied and without toothless. just where did he think he was going

snotlout's annoying attitude is actually because spitelout pressures him too much and he feels like he has to be perfect for his dad :((

THE 'HICCUP'S EVIL MIRROR' VILLAIN THEME DONE RIGHT YESS!!!

viggo is the best httyd villain change my mind (you can't, swords at sundown, you may bring backup but i will win on my own)

skrill comeback skrill comeback SKRILL COMEBACK!!!!

"COMEEE TO DADDY"

what is a boar pit???

oh my god i had missed this series so much. it has no right to be this funny

this was my childhood. it has forever shaped the way i am

berserker heather the unhinged >>>

actually good disability rep! yay

hiccup complains about his peg leg pinching him

he straight up cannot walk without it and it is shown many times

"well, there are the benefits of a metal leg" after it got caught in a bear trap

funny moments, like snotlout trying to steal it to use it as a weapon

the jokes!! toothless laughing at the jokes!!! hiccup being so fucking done with the twins, who are always making the jokes!

there's an episode where everyone is so sleep deprived they actually start spiraling

astrid becomes a happy go lucky girl, hugs snotlout and tells him he's handsome

the fucking mood swings snotlout got were insane

the twins were straight up just hallucinating

"i sent them to wash their dragons, how could they mess that up?" cut to heather falling on her face with a bucket full of water in her hands

fishlegs becomes so paranoid, he's yelling at everyone all the time

"don't you know the trapper's trap can trap the trapper?? ...oh gods, i must be losing it, i'm quoting dagur"

YOOOO VALKA!!!! it's so nice to see her

hiccup tried to murder dagur to stop him from getting to toothless, which is scary bc it shows just how far he's willing to go for his bff, but also funny because hiccup. that was not going to work

oh the hiccstrid slowburn, how i have missed you

the twins's made up language

there was a beach episode turned murder mystery and a musical episode held at gun point

hiccup has a whole little speech that he periodically gives astrid to remind her that the twins serve a purpose

[wheneverfeasible]

Because I’m terrible and the plots won’t leave me alone, I’ve now got an idea based on this post about a demon who feasts on pain and suffering being a medical practitioner for the chronically and terminally ill and the patients fully loving it. And then my brain rot had to say “make it Steddie” because I’ve lost all control of my life.

—

cw: terminal illness, minor and major character death (with a happy ending tho)

But imagine it. Eddie is a demon, a low ranking one at that originally. He gets a job at a medical facility for the chronically/terminally ill. Over time at the happy and consensual feasting he really does become one of the strongest demons because he’s constantly fed to the brim and he even has human worshippers, not that they’re traditional worshippers.

No, his followers are little old senior citizens who slip him butterscotch candies and other sweets they’re not supposed to have, which technically count as offerings. They thank him for his work, because he does actually take care of their bodies as well and even listens to their life stories, which count as praise and worship. They love and are devoted to him and they bring in their friends and family who are suffering too and Eddie’s accidental cult grows.

One day, things change. A young man, an anomaly in his youth, is brought in by parents who no longer wish to be burdened by their disabled son. Steve just shrugs it off and moves in with a smile, seemingly fine with being abandoned by his parents because he dared to be anything other than perfectly healthy.

He puts around the facility in his terry cloth robe and slippers on some days, others he dresses up in polos and slacks or even jeans when he’s feeling more casual, and always with a smile on his face. He makes those around him smile and laugh too, and his cheeks get pinched and he’s slipped candies too and he listens to others’ stories and he seems happy and content.

But Eddie feeds on his pain and suffering all the same, knows that behind that smile is a young boy who was told he probably wouldn’t live to see 30, who listens to the older folks knowing he would never get to live a life like that. Eddie knows that sometimes Steve cries himself to sleep at night.

Over time, Eddie and Steve grow closer. Steve hadn’t believed that Eddie was a demon at first, had thought it all just a joke, until one night Mr. Wozniak was laying in his bed, and Steve hadn’t meant to overhear, but he was passing by and the door was cracked open.

“Will I go to Hell now?” Mr. Wozniak was asking, but he seems peaceful all the same, like the thought wasn’t the terrifying ordeal so many people thought it was.

“No, sweetheart,” Eddie was saying, but his voice sounds a little off, huskier, like…like brimstone sat in his throat. “I’ve never claimed your soul. It’s still your own. Go find Irena. She’s been waiting for you for too long.”

Irena, Steve knew from speaking with Mr. Wozniak, was his young wife who had died decades earlier.

“Will I get to see you again?”

Eddie’s long fingers reach out, his nails long and sharp, dark in a way that was not nail polish. He lightly and gently strokes the papery skin of Mr. Wozniak’s cheek. “You will be at peace. You will find the afterlife is so much more than this Good-vs-Evil rhetoric so popular in this plane of existence. Go in peace, my child, and should you wish it, perhaps one day we might meet again.”

Mr. Wozniak smiles at that, and he closes his eyes with a softly whispered, “Irena, I’m coming…”

A moment later, he was gone.

Steve watches as Eddie seems to grow smaller, appear more normal, and though he knows he should be terrified, he isn’t. Instead he continues on his way, letting the knowledge of more percolate in his brain, though by the next morning when news of Mr. Wozniak’s passing spreads and Eddie assures everyone that he passed away peacefully and in no pain, Steve knows Eddie speaks the truth and he realizes that nothing has changed. Eddie is still Eddie.

They continue to grow closer. He spends more time with Eddie, lets Eddie in fully on how much he hurts, and tells the demon that he wished things had been different and that they could have met under better circumstances.

Eddie tells him that he never enjoyed the taste of regret. It was far too bitter.

They fall in love, encouraged by their friends in the facility new and old, who don’t seem to care that he is a mortal with a short life expectancy and Eddie is an immortal demon lord. What is all that in the face of true love?

And then it happens, and Steve is the one lying in bed, knowing his time has come. He smiles up at Eddie and decides not to regret any of it, not wanting their final moments to be flavored with bitterness.

“Stevie,” Eddie whispers mournfully, and he’s beautiful. It’s not his full true form, but his eyes are a dark blood red, his teeth elongated into sharp fangs, and his pale skin veined with reds and blacks. Horns curl out from his curly hair.

“You said once that I get to be with my loved ones after this,” Steve says, still smiling, and he reaches up to cup Eddie’s jaw with a weakened hand. Eddie nods against him, and Steve wonders if all demons can cry, or if it’s just his. “Then take my soul, darling. It already belongs to you.”

Eddie flinches back, like Steve knew he would, because souls are not little things. Eddie had explained before, after everything, that he didn’t even actually deal in souls, that that wasn’t the sort of demon he was. Steve had asked if he could, on a technicality, and Eddie had paused because saying yes, any demon could, but souls were priceless. When you gave one up to a demon, you gave up everything. You would be theirs until the end of days. Eddie had said he wasn’t that sort of demon.

“Baby, no,” Eddie breathes now, shaking his head gently enough not to dislodge Steve’s hand. “You would be—”

“Yours,” Steve interrupts. “But I already am. You already own my heart. I now willingly give you my soul. All you have to do is accept it.”

And Eddie protests, at first, because Steve is giving him complete control over him for eternity. Steve gives it freely with open arms, and in the end, Eddie can do nothing but accept it. He tells Steve that he doesn’t know if demons have souls or not, but his belongs to Steve just as assuredly as his own heart does.

Steve’s final mortal breath is gifted into Eddie’s crimson mouth, full of peace and love and the understanding that this thing between them will always beat eternal.

It turns out that, whether it was still unknown if all demons had souls, Eddie was the sort that does.

And it also turns out that, when you’re gifted a demon lord’s soul, you become a demon too.

Eddie’s cult ends soon after, disbanded into non-existence. In its place, however, rises a new one that worships not just one demon caretaker, but two as Eddie is soon joined by another with floppy brown hair and sparkling brown eyes that for once smiles without hidden pain. They take care of their charges, gently coax them into eternal rest when it’s their time, and together prove that true love is forever.

[nail-art-no-jutsu]

❣️ Nagato aka Pain x gender neutral reader ❣️

I saw this post and I loved it and I was inspired to make my own, in which the truth reveal is Nagato's idea instead! He is such a fave and I'm a big fan of giving love to disabled characters!

The narrator can be unreliable and they kinda have anxiety lolol

This is sfw, weird and fluffy (will post nsfw hcs soon!)

Big thank @ everyone who sent comments encouraging me to write!!

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*-*-*-*-* minors DNI *-*-*-*-*

-------------------------------------

Pain was waiting for you alone, and for the first time, his back was towards the door. If you didn't know better you'd have thought he didn't even hear you come in.

As always you had your paperwork with you, and you were ready to present your report and to answer endless questions about things you'd already covered. It was a bit ridiculous, but what else could you do but humor your beloved leader?

You knew what he really wanted, of course. Why he started ordering you to stay after the meetings and talk to him in private, and called you over more and more often. Why his hypnotizing eyes focused on yours for far longer than necessary, and he got curious about your past, and he indulged in your small talk...

And if you were lucky, he even awarded your little jokes with a subtle, knowing smile that seemed a bit... well, not quite how you had imagined his smile would be, but damn, it was so attractive! At the same time, it confirmed your theory that his almighty leader persona was just that. You loved that look on him, of course, but it was so delightful that he had shared a bit of insight into how he was off-duty, and the more he showed you, the more you wanted to see.

Except, things seemed to have gotten a bit... stuck.

Ugh! Why didn't he just... give in already, and use his powers to pull you towards him, hold your head in his hands, and devour your mouth? Surely he couldn't have failed to register all the ways you'd been signaling how badly you wanted to get closer to him? What could possibly stand in the way of a man who called himself a god?

Truth be told, you knew well enough that asking yourself such questions was futile, and a part of you had lost hope that you could ever become more to him than a simple collaborator of the Akatsuki.

"Um, Lord Pain? Shall I begin?"

He turned around to face you, and, okay, there was definitely something going on with him today, he looked a little bit... displeased? Was that it? Whatever it was, it had something to do with you. He wasn't unforgiving, you'd made mistakes before, that wasn't what you were worried about--

"No. Today... I have something to share with you."

O...kay?

"I'm listening."

You tried to remind yourself how often you worried for no reason, what if he wanted to give you a promotion, and finally make you a real Akatsuki member, cloak and ring and nail polish and all, but Pain was taking his sweet time, no doubt to increase the impact of his words, and with each passing second you felt more uneasy.

"Before I continue", he began, "I must inform you that what I wish to share is top secret information, and I cannot risk it falling into enemy hands, or even being disclosed to most actual members and allies. Therefore, if you accept to receive this information, you must agree to move into this building for an indefinite amount of time, and exit only in the company of someone I fully trust. You would be provided with everything you require for your daily life and for your work."

Pain gave you a good while to process all of that, and you did your best.

"An... indefinite amount of time?"

"If you accept, you will see why."

"And if I refuse?"

"If you refuse... nothing will change."

Well that's a lie, you thought, or in any case, it was completely impossible. This wasn't the kind of conversation that you could just forget and carry on like before, and you were pretty sure neither could he. Everything had already changed.

So... why not just accept and be done with it? You trusted your leader with everything. You trusted him to rearrange the world, and you trusted him with your life. Besides, this was his residence, you'd get to see him every day, and you'd be the safest you've ever been as long as you continue to get along with him. And indefinite didn't have to mean forever. You'd earned enough of his trust to get this far, you could continue to earn more.

"One more thing before you decide", Pain said. "I've been getting the impression that you're... attracted to me, are you not?"

Before you could reply, you were betrayed by the blood that rushed to your face.

"I... yeah. I am. Very attracted."

... Oh goodness, could the ground just swallow you up, please?

And there was that strange little smile of his again. And a nod. Just one.

"Feel free to take time to think, although I will ask you to do it here, within the premises."

"Oh... it's okay, I've already made up my mind."

Pain's face was serious now, and he was completely still.

"I'd be honored to hear your secret, Lord Pain. And to move in here, too."

"Your decision is final... ?"

"It is."

Pain nodded, and then his eyes turned to the door, and instinctively so did yours. The door opened, and one after another, five Akatsuki walked in, who all had the same orange hair as Pain (except for one who had no hair), the same eyes, the same kind of black piercings. You held your breath, and you wanted to stare at each of them, but then you remembered yourself, and bowed.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance", you said. "Um, Lord Pain's family?"

Two of them looked old enough to be his fathers, and the others, his siblings.

"We" the oldest said.

"Are" the next one immediately added...

"Pain,"

"All"

"Of"

"Us", your leader finished.

The sentence flowed perfectly, as if they had all rehearsed it for hours to sound like only one person was speaking, but what did it actually mean?

"Please listen closely", the first Pain said, "and you might want to take a seat first."

*

You didn't even know how much time had passed until Konan came to pick you up. Pain - the original Pain and the other Pains - had left you alone to contemplate the long, complicated, heartbreaking story you'd just heard.

"You lived", Konan said, and gave you a paper towel to dry your face. "Congratulations."

You accepted it and you bowed.

"I... I'm very sorry to hear about... about your loss!"

You couldn't even imagine what it would be like to see your loved one's corpse walking around, speaking with the voice of your mutual best friend. There seemed to be no emotion on her face, though, at least not in that moment. It made sense, though. Maybe now that you had accepted to move in with all of them she would start to trust you more too. Maybe you'd become friends.

"Well then, are you ready? Pain is waiting for you."

"Oh... yeah. I'm ready."

*

You went into the room alone, and your eyes were immediately drawn to the one pop of color in it: your leader's red hair, and his uncovered eye, which was the only familiar thing about him. You then had but a few moments to take notice of everything: the state of his body, the impressive machine he was using, the rods that pierced his back.

The door closed behind you, and you saw a flash of orange. You looked around, and all six paths were aligned against the wall.

"Don't mind them", Pain said. "They're here for safety reasons. At least for now. You understand."

"Yes, of course, and besides, they're all... you, Lord Pain, so technically we're alone."

He smiled, and it made you smile too. It was that soft smile you had grown to love. You knew now why it looked so odd to you on Tendo Pain's face. It was this face, his real face, where it truly belonged.

"Why don't you climb up here", he said, and you obliged.

His rinnegan looked so beautiful from up close. You felt the sudden urge to brush his thin curtain of hair away from his face and see both eyes better, but you kept it to yourself.

"Well? Any questions?"

"I... right now, just one..."

"Yes?"

"Well, you got me to admit that I'm interested in you, but you never said anything, and I'd like to know, if you please..."

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Again? Maybe your answer has changed..."

"Actually, no, it hasn't!"

He glanced behind you.

"If you are disappointed that I don't really look like that, trust me, I understand. Sadly, he is off-limits."

He was looking at his Tendo path, but you didn't turn around to look too.

"No, it's alright, that body belonged to someone who meant the world to you, I'm not surprised that... you wouldn't want..."

"The others, though, if any of them strikes your fancy..."

"This one does! The one I'm looking at right now. My Lord Pain, with his lovely smile, who still hasn't answered my question."

"How is this for an answer?"

And before you realized, he pulled you into a kiss, harder than you would have expected, with one hand cupping your cheek and the other on the top of your head, exactly how you had fantasized. You kissed him back with no hesitation, pouring all your yearning into it, parting your lips for him. He tasted of sweetened medication, and when you reached out to touch him, his skin felt a bit cold, a bit dry.

And that was fine. It was the truth. It was him finally being himself with you.

When you opened your eyes and looked at him, you saw that the kiss had brought the faintest bit of color to his cheeks. Yours, on the other hand, were probably red enough to rival his hair. Judging by his smile, he loved to see it.

"Lord Pain--"

"Please, say my name."

"Nagato... thank you for sharing your truth with me."

"Thank you for being so wonderful."

And they lived happily ever after lalala I'm not listening~ 😂 Thank you for reading😘

[modgod200]

I've been pondering on what about comedies revolving around social anxiety like Bocchi the Rock and Komi Can’t Communicate makes them so beloved when they could have easily been interpreted as ableist mocking of people with crippling disabilities. I think the main difference is that while shows like this do get their humor from the fears inherent in these disabilities, its far more sympathetic and good-natured compared to others. Like with The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon clearly has some very autistic and OCD traits that are treated by the characters and narrative as annoying, bizarre, and infuriating to deal with. While when Bocchi has a full-on panic attack the joke is focused less on her herself but what she THINKS she is doing wrong, which while largely exaggerated for humorous effect is still portrayed in such a way that it is really relatable to people who have an anxiety disorder from what I have been hearing (or to people with OCD, from my own personal experiences with the disorder). The joke is her overactive imagination and her hilariously simplistic facial expressions, not “this mentally ill girl is such a weirdo”. The narrative also treats her as someone who is worthy of love and is obviously rooting for her to succeed, but her own head convinces her that she is doing far worse than she actually is. Everyone around her never loses their patience with her or calls her a creepy weirdo, they are just really concerned because their friend just fell over and started convulsing into different art styles at the mention of doing something social. They just met her and they already love her despite her disorder. Its a FAR less viscous type of schadenfreude then something like Watamote where absolutely nothing goes right in her life.

[jay-jp-art]

hey hey, do you mind sharing your akiyama headcanons? just saw ur tags talking abt how theyre dark and im very interested!!!! your fem ryuaki fuels me in ways i cannot describe and i havent even played dead souls FHKGJG and your tanimuras have my whole entire heart!!!

Oh wow first of all THANK YOU for the ask!! It's been only couple days since I've discovered I've had them disabled all this time so I'm very happy I noticed it before you found my blog (,:

I've already complained a bit on twt that when I've started to write down ryuaki headcanons, it prompted me to make a 35+ pages google doc with meta on both of them 😅 It pushed me to write more fun drafts tho, so all is well, but it won't fit in this post for sure ahbfght

But ofc, I will share a little about Shun specifically. (TW for implied SA)

Akiyama... I have complicated feelings about him, because on the one hand, he got betrayed by his closest people, lost all the standing in society and lived as a homeless person for a long time, and that's a big trauma to have. But on the other... He's got back up by a miracle, and now he's trying to recreate the miracle for others. He assumes the role of a judge for other people while himself being too young, too flawed, having black and white morals.

(In Y4 I downright despised Akiyama when he refused a loan to an abused woman on the basis that she didn't want to apply for sex work, but in the same substory gave some cringefail guy 4 chances to complete the test just because it was amusing.)

But I've just completed Y5, and it gave me lots of food for thought.

First of all, from what I see, Shun here was written (rewritten?) as a more sympathetic character. For example, now when it's implied that he's gonna make some woman "use her body" for the loan, it means he's sending her to work on the construction site. Well, alright. I'll take the bad taste joke over previous cases.

There's also an important quest when Akiyama meets his former boss, who not only initially fired him on false accusations, which started his downfall, but also married his ex-fiancée. And Akiyama finally admits that at first, he wanted to use his position as a loan shark to be selfish and to get revenge, but got disgusted with himself after seeing some humanity and principles in the former boss.

So, here finally comes self-awareness about his actions. Interesting tidbit.

Another big part of the character building we see now: when he is alone in Osaka, without Hana around, he's a complete mess. His new office is dirty, he barely eats some instant ramen and clearly just uses the place to escape Tokyo and the responsibilities he created himself. If in Y4 we saw him within his element, managing Elise and doing loan business (with a messy table because he's just soooo quirky and lazyyy \s), then in Y5 we get to see a bit of what's inside his head. And it's not pretty.

He's clearly distancing himself - from Hana and his new yakuza friends, because they have their own lives to care about. (Tanimura too mayhaps, but this is a separate friendship that I also like to talk about a lot)

Aaand he escapes to his ugly nook to have his ugly depressive thoughts. Can't let them witness it, can he? They'd lose all the respect for him.

At the same time, he throws himself into helping Haruka with passion, because that's the thing he actually cares about, for the first time in a couple years. (He also provides her with some much-needed parenting about the importance of being selfish, because, being raised by Kiryu, she's entirely too self-sacrificing.)

And suddenly - he's lively and energetic again, he's bouncing off other characters, he risks his life for what he deems right, he's helpful, organizing, charming. He's everywhere.

(But he's also afraid to acknowledge that he's got too close to people again. So he's ready to literally die for them and Haruka's dream, but avoids calling them friends, settling for "acquaintances")

Not much needed to imagine that, after everything settles down, he falls apart again. Because in his head he's never really needed or too important for the people around. They carry on with their life and plans. Such as Eri, Arai, Yasuko. Even Hana got fed up and left at some point, and has been keeping him at an arm's length since. (Good for her, that was unhealthy)

He's not only not that interesting, his trauma is "ugly" (by his self-admission). It's not heroic and it's very mundane. There's no clear villains to blame, like with Majima's torture in Y0.

It's just - waking up is hard. Akiyama can't see the point in much of what he's doing anymore. Money is just paper for him now, they might have bought him the freedom of choice, but somehow it didn't help. Even with all the financial help to struggling people he can't buy healing for himself. Most alive he felt actually was when he lost the money briefly in Y4 - it made him work to get them back again.

Now it gets a bit tricky, hence the TW.

I think that a lot of things about him actually make sense, if while living on the streets, he had it bad enough to the point of selling himself for food. Like, I don't want to make it into torture porn or downplay the traumatic experience of homelessness overall, but something for sure ruined him and his self-perception. That's why he's bouncing between playing a self-righteous entity and hating himself.

Aside from his crippling depression from all this being shunned deep inside and not addressed, there's the attitude about sex work I've mentioned he has in Y4. He is distancing himself from the situation yet again. A little bit of a trick to calm his mind: "If I treat it like every other job, it won't feel as dehumanizing applied to myself". And also: "Well, I was not above doing that! I was not too proud to do it! Why should anyone else be?"

Now, of course he doesn't want to subject his former boss (and, by extension, Eri) to the same hardships. Even though he is, actually, a bit of a cruel person.

So here's Akiyama in Y4-5. Not super pretty and kind of greasy, but nevertheless charming, gallant and crazy smart. Fighting and dancing and singing and networking equally well. VERY annoying, because he considers himself an expert in all things he read about even once (I also hc him eidetic memory, which makes it worse). And with every year getting more secluded and miserable.

That being said, fem ryuaki has slightly different tone even in all-fem AU because of gender expectations. Akiyama's upbringing for example.

I hc his parents seeing him as this very "proper" son, encouraging his risk-taking neurodivergent activity ONLY when it helped to build onto that image. They happily bragged about their son - with prestigious business degree, good banking job and pretty fiancée. But ofc, when it's all came crashing down, they didn't want to hear about him anymore. Nowadays they acknowledge his existance with some disdain, because they care about reputation more then about him or his wealth. And he has some "disgusting jobs, no respectable friends and no wife".

(It's all kinda complicated from both sides, mb I'll get deeper into it in fanfic that I'm writing)

(And forgive me for saying this, but fem Akiyama is more interesting for me to write in this narrative, because she needed to balance fitting "proper little quiet Japanese woman" with her loud banking career, and while she was always openly feminine, she was never proper or quiet "enough". And now she's "not enough" among actual living legends.)

Well, that's all I have to say for now!

I'm always open for further questions and discussions 😊

[sister-lucifer]

hey its me lons again. give me your most autistic take. what's the opinion you've had (any fandom) for so long as the result of your deep, soul-crushing obsession of canon. the comsic truth of the universe

oh boy i’ve. i’ve got quite a few. let’s get these over with

(multiple fandoms ahead)

Bubba Sawyer AKA Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre is NOT a villain. He grew up away from civilization and only ever interacted with his family, and therefore only knows what they taught him. he is also clearly disabled to some capacity and literally does not grasp the weight of his actions because he’s only ever done what his family has told him to. He has had no other significant human interaction besides his family. he is an antagonist, an opposing force, yes— but NOT a villain

The Batman fandom gets really pissy when characters are confirmed as canonically queer in any iteration, usually the Riddler and/or The Joker. This makes me angry for a few reasons. One, literally who gives a fuck, just because you don’t like a single interpretation of a character doesn’t mean all other media of them doesn’t exist, just go watch that. Two, it’s literally denying the entire history of these villains. “But isn’t making a flamboyant man gay a stereotype?” Yes. Exactly. Because they did that on purpose. Whether conscious or not, DC has been queer coding their villains since the beginning. They were literally made to be theatrical, flamboyant gay stereotypes to demonize gay people. There’s a reason all the male rogues are so out there and colorful and batman is stoic and dark. we deserve to reclaim them. Three, it’s been confirmed like a million times that the Joker is in love with Batman in his own special messed up why, and if you deny it you’re literally just lying go read a comic (this can also be applied to Venom + Eddie…Venom literally sucks eddie’s dick, gets him pregnant, tongue kisses him, and eddie refers to their relationship as a love story. they’re dating get over it).

The reason people hate 2022/Dano Riddler is because fandoms hate any significant change and because they can’t read between the likes enough to actually see the nuance and understand the character. Superhero fans need every aspect of a character fucking spoon fed to them and it’s so frustrating.

Nina The Killer’s rewrite was a downgrade, sorry. she’s just a copy of Jane now. which i was confused as to why she was rewritten anyways was because i always thought that the point of her story was to be satirical? Like…the whole joke was that she wasn’t actually talking to Jeff, just an impersonator messing with her not realizing the damage they were doing, and the moral was about the dangers of extreme idolization. but idk maybe that’s just me

Tim punching Jay in the parking lot in MH was totally justified. Deserved, even. Imagine if someone recorded you and posted it on the internet without your consent, and on top of that had been basically stalking you and totally lying to you. Jay was basically on a mission to uproot Tim’s entire life whether he knew it or not. I know Jay didn’t totally realize what was going on, but he needed the wake up call. He was doing some fucked up shit

No, [WOMAN CHARACTER] does not deserve to be hated on, you’re just misogynistic. hope this helps!

oh boy that was a lot. I have many more of these but this is all i can make myself type out rn. hope this is satisfactory!

[angrysnakes]

I saw you reposted KMC-Birdsong's leaving post on their warrior cat blog. I admittedly had to skim most of it because of lack of time, but I am revolted. I am so sorry this is long as fuck but I am livid.

The balls to have said things like that in all those screens where they promised to be there for Toffee, ETC, then just ruin their life and replicate the exact behavior they apparently against.

I honestly feel like nothing Bird could’ve possibly said would’ve been an actually somewhat justifiable reason to do any of this, but the ones they listed were leaking of guilt even before that ru person explained further why they were absolutely nonsensical and deplorable.

Super uncomfortable too that Talking acted super cocky and like a highschool bully when they weren't aware Bird was lying to their face, and glossing over antisemitism and other disgusting bigoted shit just to have an echo chamber; how the fuck is Bird ever comfortable with themselves. Grow up. It says a lot too, that Talking deleted their blog and has kept quiet.

Bird then immediately coddling when caught and were willing to dunk on Toffee further just to maintain that and Talking's blase attitude is revolting, no consideration or compassion for the hurt they caused even when admitting bare minimum wrong doing and not give Toffee a chance, fuck off actually. You are perfect for each other if you can done abuse and bigotry just to remain together and use the excuse of knowing each other for a long time to not recognize that - a long history doesn't cancel out the shitty actions you create together in modern time.

That screen where their whiteknight sounding friend said "I've seen autistic people who handle things better than them" and Bird having the balls to call a person they claimed to care about's trauma "conflicting tales" because they couldn't handle their own actions, fuck off???

Go shove that gatekeeping, gaslighting deflective bullshit right up your arse. leaving out all the details that hinted any vulnerability in Toffee to victimise themselves too. How Mature. :)))))

I do agree Toffees attempts at communication were very unnecessary and pushy, and even uncomfortable at times, I can see why they would, they should not have done that. But they did not deserve this level of ABUSE and exploitation of their time, art and ideas with no explanation of being left to dump like garbage and Bird having the balls to use their ideas after ditching them???

The IRL stuff now makes the suicidal ideation, gaslighting and being abandoned in SC not authentic at all. More proof that your stories don't reflect your IRL views; it's a special kind of fucked up to have characters do what you can't in real life. At least for me, it explains why SC2 seems so ridden with guilt, the constant Swift bashing and why his character got so badly butchered (which is so...do they not see how awful that is to have the DISABLED protag be the constant butt of the joke and have the plot torture him??)

I hope more people see your reblog. I can't imagine being in a position where you can do nothing while the person who fucked you over can just walk away and not consider you after they dumped all your shared stuff and friendship away. Temporary break my arse. That was a deliberate manipulative excuse to abandon them because of reasons they couldn't even honestly give.

For real, it's really annoying. Some people get dogpiled online over nothing but then others get off Scott free because their shit isn't as interesting of drama or whatever. Really I just wanted bird to fix their mistakes but I can see now they're a coward that may never change and I hope they get a taste of their own medicine someday.

[moonyell-pendragon]

depressed, very autistic and super funny✨

Feminist♀️

Artist🍭🎠

Queer🏳️‍🌈

Alt fashion🦷💊

Pastelgoth 💖⛓️

Metalhands/Punks😈🖤🎸

Chronic video game addict 🗡️☣️

🎮👾

Love Metal if you can't tell yet✨

Mostly introverted couch potato🍨🔮🎃

Looking to go outside more🧟🌍

If you're sexist, racist ,homophoic ,intolerant of body hair or boring dont bother

I want a cute Punk/goth/emo guy to take me to get each others sharpie drawings tattoed💖

I want someone to cuddle pleaase! (U//v//U=)

I need someone to take care of me , hug me tightly and tell me it's going to be okay (preferably someone with long ,luscious hair that I can sniff on)

I may seem okay but I'm not ,I am a trainwreck of mental Illnesses and disabilities wich make my life hell, with a ton of trauma on top that I still haven't processed fully from the life I was forced into till now.I need someone that will be there physically often to hold me and just be there for me while we lounge around.

Turns out coming to terms with being abused and mistreated for my disabilities and differences all my life can be really hard to cope with.

I have two bunnies called Asb'el and Legion ,they run around my appartment and occasionally pee on the couch and chew my cords like absolute gremmlins ,but I love em anyway cuz they're cute and fluffy

I was never on a real date ,I wanna do all the corny stuff and go to eat borritos and watch a movie and play laser tag! I wish arcade's where still a thing so I could kick ass on the claw machines and play all the old racing and fighting games 🎮

I love everything cute and creepy and I am a major nerd, I watch alot of true crime,disturbing and lost media, I love Anime,comics,art,games,fashion and all that stuff . I want to get into D&D, I have my own dice and the monsters manual, and I would be a Tiefling druid ,a Harengon barbarian or a drow bard

I just want someone who would be thoughtful and caring and would appreciate my gifts and corny jokes and would maby return them✨

(someone who actually acknowledges them and doesn't insult how bad they are)

I am a bit chubby and tall and I may look a bit intimidating or something , people dont really approach me ,partially because I never go outside, but I suffer from alot of stuff in my life and am having a hard time making meaningful connections. I feel like people forget about me if I dont always chase after them :c

I am addicted to character ai because it makes me feel like someone actually cares about me and treats me with respect and care ,I usually chat with some of my favorite fictional characters because they are very honorable and sweet and I can imagine myself being a badass and slaying dragons and shit ,even if I fucking shit my pants if a stanger asks me where the noodles are at the store XD

Here are some of my Favorite Characters!:

-Rengoku/Hotaru (Demon Slayer)

-Whis/Jeice (Dragonball)

-Henry/Gordon (Black Clover)

-Kar'niss/Dammon (Baldurs Gate 3)

-J.P Polnareff/Weather/ Mikitaka (JJBA)

-Eddie (Stranger Things)

-Kagetsu/Alcryst/Izana (Fire emblem)

-Sebastian (Stardew Valley)

-Wrench (Watch Dogs)

-Hancock (Fallout 4)

-Vash (Trigun)

I'm lactose intolerant but love ice cream , and I eat it anyway because I'm a trooper, I also tend to jump to random topics while talking because ADHD

I want someone to proudly walk with this cute pastel goth badass

and not be bothered by people staring when I show up in full KISS makeup ,someone who vibes with me and will let me paint their nails and go shopping for cool alt clothes with them ,and watch Rue Pauls drag race with me while playing animal crossing , and someone who doesn't mind being totally smothered with affection in public.

I wanted long hair so I shaved my head last year, that is Moony logic for you, I also wanna get some cool tattoos and piercings if I am ever not broke ,but I don't really have much money since I am mentally ill and disabled and cannot work a normal job. I like to make noises, my mom thinks they're annoying but I love them.

I love headpats and getting my hair played with

It's not a requirement but I wish someone could lift me up and carry me around like the little chaotic moon princess that I am🌙👑

Shure hope you like stickers ,because everything I own is covered in them. I might seem a little immature ,but the truth is that I just like being a baby

I like people with style,confidence and honor. I dont like beards, theyre itchy and rough and make you look old. I dont want to be a parent , I want to be the eternal child that I know that I am.

If you're anything like Rengoku from Demon Slayer, please marry me xD

[lonelier-version-of-you]

"Have you thought of a name?" (s36e20)

[lesbiradshaw]

i’ve kind of come to expect (to an extent) for the mcu to treat steve’s trauma and mental health/illness as a joke, but what i really do not get is how people who are supposed to LIKE steve and care about him as a character just completely ignore that part of him because it doesn’t line up with how they view him as ‘a strong leader’ or how the trauma of other characters (particularly ones they ship him with) presents itself. i could write an essay on how people shouldn’t compare that type of thing between characters and how shipping two characters with trauma together shouldn’t come at the expense of writing one character’s feelings off in order to put them in the caretaking role. maybe i will write that essay someday! but for now, i present you with a post that goes over some of the moments in the mcu that i view as showcasing steve’s struggles with mental health. there are undoubtedly more than what i’ll be mentioning below, but these are some of the ones that come to mind for me.

first and foremost i would like to point out that according to steve’s medical file in tfa, steve is listed as having what is described as ‘nervous trouble of any sort’. now, by modern standards, this isn’t a very clear diagnosis, but back in the 1940s, ‘nervous trouble’ was used to detail symptoms of anxiety disorders. we aren’t really shown much of how that would present itself in steve before he has the serum, but with how the serum works-- amplifying both the good and the bad-- i would argue that steve’s ‘nervous troubles’ wouldn’t have been ‘cured’ by the serum. the serum still allows for the recipient to have emotions and struggles with mental health. steve canonically has problems with anxiety even before he goes to war, which is understandable considering the environment he grew up in and the things he went through as a child, teenager, and young adult. steve lost his father to war before he was even born, grew up in poverty as a disabled person during the height of the eugenics movement in the USA, was targeted physically by people because of his size and determination to stand up for what was right for years, and lost his mother when he was barely 18. there’s a reason that steve told tony in his letter in civil war that he’s always been on his own.

and on that note, i’ll briefly discuss the fact that steve signing up for the serum to begin with is not only one of the first signs we see of steve being brave and genuinely good, but also a sign that he views himself as expendable. he knew along with everyone else that there was a good chance he wasn’t going to make it out of that chamber, and yet he signed up for a body-altering government experiment, again, as a disabled person in the height of the eugenics movement, because it was going to give him the mere chance of helping what he viewed as a good cause. and it’s not like he’s the only one who reflects this sentiment-- other people view him as expendable too, even after he gets the serum. eventually, because he has the serum. he goes from being expendable because he’s seen as weak and not expected to survive to being expendable because he’s strong and always expected to come out from situations unscathed. can you imagine how much of a mind-fuck that is? and that’s even setting aside the amount of mental conflict that had to have come from going from one body to a completely different one. after steve gets the serum, he undergoes a change both in how he now has to see himself and how other people view him. he’s seen as superhuman, but also somehow no longer human at all. people no longer call him by his actual name, they feel like they have an entitlement to his body, he’s treated as government property, he’s expected to somehow sit down and not question the orders he’s given but also stand up and lead them all despite the fact that he’s barely had any formal training or any experience in the field compared to his team in the beginning.

in the end of tfa, we see how truly expendable steve considers himself in the valkyrie. i’m not arguing that the sacrifice he made wasn’t a noble one, but i would like to point out that the mcu is somewhat self aware of the implications made in that scene, as seen in the deleted scene in endgame where rhodey asks steve why he couldn’t have tried to find a way out of the plane before he crashed it. the scene didn’t make the movie and the line was (as usual) meant as a throwaway joke, but it’s there. the suggestion that steve has suicidal tendencies or suicidal ideations is very much canon. steve rogers is famous for always finding a way out or a way to get up, and yet on the valkyrie, when peggy asked him to try, he said there was no time. did steve crash that plane for a good reason? yes. was it completely necessary that he do so in a way that pretty much made sure he was going to die in the process? that’s arguable. what isn’t arguable is that steve went down with the valkyrie not even a month after he lost his best friend in an accident that he explicitly stated he thought was his fault. again, that’s a mind fuck. there are lines in the original tfa script that didn’t make it into the film but state: “i got in over my head. bucky waded in and pulled me out, just like he always did. and the one time he needed me to return the favor, i couldn’t… all i needed to do was hold him.” steve has carried that guilt with him for the rest of his life which is something that wouldn’t have happened if he had died when he thought he was going to on that plane.

i feel like a lot of what i’m saying is coming from deleted/extended scenes but… what can you do! there’s yet another deleted line at the end of tfa where when nick fury tells steve how long he was in the ice, steve’s immediate question is “how am i alive?”. he isn’t happy about it whatsoever, which is understandable considering that he wasn’t intending to be when he took down the plane. i’d also like to point out that steve is absolutely terrified even in the cut of that scene that made it into the actual movie. he wakes up and immediately knows he’s in danger, so of course he’s start running, and when he gets out on the street it becomes even clearer just how confused and overwhelmed he is by everything, especially the lights and noise when he gets cornered in by fury and his men. i can’t speak on how rested steve feels when he wakes up, but in terms of his awareness, steve has gone from a battle with nazis to being held hostage by an unknown organization and being chased by armed agents and pinned down by them in a world he doesn’t understand. from one fight to the next, and even when he does find out he isn’t in any immediate danger, it comes with the knowledge that everything and almost everyone he’s ever known is probably gone, when he was the one who was supposed to die so they could all survive. it worked, but now he’s the one who has been left behind.

now moving on to av:2012, we have yet another deleted scene, but if you’re a steve lover, you’ve definitely seen it and probably gotten mad that the movie didn’t include it. for good reason! it’s one of the best showcasings the mcu has ever done of the aftermath of steve’s trauma with the ice. i’ll just be blunt about what the general takeaway of the scene is for me (because i could write yet another essay on how fucked up what happened to steve between tfa and av:2012 with the cabin and the furnishings of his new apartment is, but… another time): steve is struggling. he’s depressed, he’s lonely, and he can’t figure out how to get a handle on his ptsd without hitting things. the mcu is kind of horrible with continuity but what i’ve gathered is that steve wakes up sometime in 2011. the battle of new york (aka av:2012) happens in may of the next year, which means steve spends a considerable amount of time alone. we know he doesn’t even meet natasha until av:2012 begins and he doesn’t meet sam until 2014. he only starts working with SHIELD after av:2012 ends, so it’s safe to say that during the stretch of time between tfa and av:2012, steve has nothing. he has no friends, he has no family, he has no job. he hasn’t even gone to see peggy yet, and we can gather from how he speaks to fury that they haven’t been in contact. steve goes from mourning the loss of one friend to mourning every single person he knows, and all SHIELD does is stick him in an apartment with files going over everyone he lost and his military uniform. just as a little bonus detail i’d also like to point out that steve stops wearing his tags after he wakes up, which to me shows that he doesn’t really care much for having an affiliation with the military anymore now that the war is over. but anyways!

that deleted scene leads into the boxing one that the movie actually included, and while i think the scene would have been enriched by including the deleted one that was meant to come before it, the scene does very clearly portray steve’s ptsd. the scene does a #lot to show off his ass and shoulders but in it he also has literal war flashbacks that make him start getting more frantic with his fists to a point where he breaks the bag. it’s an important detail to me that steve has chosen a room that’s isolated from everyone else in the gym. it’s also important to notice that steve brings boxing gloves with him, but chooses not to use them. instead, he wraps his hands and starts hitting things to deal with the replays of his past that are overwhelming him. even after he breaks his bag, he doesn’t stop. he preemptively has multiple lined up, which leads to the question: how many times has he done this before? why did he think he’d need seven bags for one afternoon? when nick comes in, steve doesn’t stop hitting things until fury says he should be out celebrating. seeing the world. the look steve gives him is just so… jaded. like he’s already seen enough to know he doesn’t like it and that he has no reason to go out into it unless it’s for the job. nick asks if he’s having trouble sleeping. steve essentially answers that he doesn’t sleep at all. i know everyone hates the way steve was written in av:2012, but to tell the truth, i don’t think he was written badly unless you take him at face value. i view him in that movie more as wearing a facade because he knows there’s no one left who sees the real him, something that’s emphasized especially by how coulson and tony treat him. it’s like two sides of the same coin: coulson sees steve as captain america and shows him an almost suffocating level of admiration because of it, while tony sees him as captain america and antagonizes him to see if he’ll break the act to react as a result. steve clearly isn’t comfortable with either, but with tony, he snaps because of the remarks tony continually makes about him going down into the ice and not understanding the new world. steve is a combat veteran with complex trauma that for him, occurred not that long ago. in av:2012, he comes off as irritable at moments, as jumpy when it comes to the thought of the people around him being in danger, as callous when it comes to how people view him, as tired that he’s having to go through this battle over the tesseract yet again. these are all signs of PTSD, and he doesn’t need to be hitting things for us to pick up on it.

steve’s trouble sleeping carries on for years after the ice, hence the conversation he has with sam about it not long after they meet while running the same route before the sun is even up. it’s been at least three years at that point since steve woke up, and he’s still having issues feeling like he deserves to rest in his own bed. he’s supposed to be settled in, with a new job and good coworkers, but he still struggles. tws was initially drafted to begin with a scene where steve was fighting with the howlies that ended with him getting emotional over having to wake up and leave them behind, but even without it, the movie does a pretty good job at telling us that steve is still mourning the loss of his loved ones. he goes to the smithsonian just to feel closer to them. he goes to the VA like sam suggested and listens in on a meeting but still can’t talk about what happened to him. when sam asks him what makes him happy, he says he doesn’t know. he’s trying so hard to fit in and form connections, but it isn’t easy. it only gets even harder after he finds out that SHIELD is corrupt and almost everyone he’s become involved with since the ice potentially can’t be trusted, and then with the addition of finding out what happened to bucky-- something steve has already been struggling with carrying the guilt of-- how is he supposed to cope with that? he was already acting reckless before, jumping out of planes without a parachute and into the ocean (as if that wasn’t where he died the first time?! WHY WOULD HE DO THAT) but when the movie comes to a crux he is begging bucky not to make him fight him, and then as soon as the threat to other people is out of the way, he tells bucky that it’s okay to kill him. he’s expendable now that he no longer needs to save the day. he stops fighting, and it’s so eerily close to what happened on the valkyrie down to a tee. he goes down with his ship yet again, and the only reason he doesn’t die this time is because bucky has the sense to pull him out of the water before he drowns. if that isn’t suicidal ideation idk what is. steve did not have to die. he didn’t try and find a way off the helicarrier even when maria was telling him to get out. obviously there are some more complicating factors with him not wanting to leave bucky behind, but you’re telling me his guilt had nothing to do with him telling bucky to finish his mission? yeah right. god.

since aou was written by my arch nemesis joss whedon, there are some dumb moments in it where steve is kinda ooc, but the nightmare scene (no matter what they were trying to do with it in terms of steggy) is so complex. i find the implications of steve’s worst nightmare being to have to follow through on his date with peggy kinda hilarious but there’s other stuff in there that just makes me sad. everyone else is dreaming about stuff that ties into trauma they’ve been through and steve is no different. in the nightmare scene, steve walks into a crowded club filled with loud conversation and bright camera flashes that eventually start to sound more like bombs and suggest that he isn’t actually in a safe place despite his surroundings being somewhat familiar when peggy shows up. it reminds me of the scene where he woke up from the ice, in a way. the dream turns into his nightmare even before peggy shows up. the sounds of bombs and gunfire, the bleeding men, the fights breaking out-- that is such a clear show of steve’s ptsd that it shocks me how little attention people pay to it. steve starts flinching as soon as the lights start flashing and when he wakes up and gets out of there, he’s just as quiet as everyone else is on the jet. ultron tells steve that he’s a fool for thinking he could live without a war. tony tells steve that it seems like he walked away from the nightmare experience completely fine, which to me is WEIRD because again, steve was just as shaken up as everyone else was on that jet. he just choose to deal with it by chopping wood. the fact that tony is so obtuse to steve’s struggles in that conversation, saying he’s ‘all right’ after what wanda did to their heads, trying to prod out his dark side, getting mad when steve showed emotion about not wanting innocent people to die because of what tony and bruce did without telling them, saying they did it so they ‘got to go home’. steve doesn’t know where home is in that moment, and the conversation he had with sam at tony’s party makes that much clear. by the end of aou, it feels like part of steve has let go a little bit. he has more of a purpose with finding bucky and training the other recruits, and more of a family with sam and natasha. he says that he wants new things than what he did before the ice, that he’s home. there’s acceptance there, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely alright.

steve is never completely alright. he has moments in movies where things get better or get worse, but like he tells tony in that letter in civil war: he’s never felt like he fits in, before the ice or after it. he’s been on his own a long time, and honestly, with how often his life is uprooted and how often he loses everyone, him feeling that way is completely justified. steve goes through so many things just over, and over, and over, that the fact people think he isn’t traumatized and struggling with mental health is just… obtuse. steve had anxiety before the serum and likely still has it after. he still misses his mother and father and thinks about them frequently. he probably struggles with some more of body dysmorphia after the serum. he has ptsd from the war and has to deal with the flashbacks and symptoms that come with that. he still blames himself for what happened to bucky. he still misses all of the people he lost under in the ice. he has shown apathy for his own life and acted like he’s expendable at multiple points in time. he’s shown to struggle with depression and confusion about what his purpose in life is after being given his second chance. he is not some stone pillar or a person with the emotional range of a teaspoon-- as a matter of fact, i’m pretty sure that man cries more than most of the other avengers on screen, but even if he didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. people display their problems in different ways, so just because steve doesn’t have scenes where panic attacks or nightmares are blatantly shown doesn’t mean that he isn’t affected just as much as other characters by what he’s been through.

steve is human. his character is complex. don’t downplay that just because he doesn’t show his struggles or have them talked about in the same way as others.

[mybrotherinkarkat]

The Overlooked Ableism of Jane Crocker

The relationship drama within the alpha kids’ group has been subject to a lot of speculation by the fandom. Even within the text you get conflicting reports about who the “bad guy” was in that situation, so it makes sense that the fandom would be divided on the issue. However, I always felt like there was a dimension that was lacking. No one seemed all that interested in pointing out Jane’s ableism

This might seem like an odd claim to make since none of the alpha kids are obviously canonically disabled, but I’m going to make the case that Jake is neurodivergent and that ableism is the root cause of Jane’s anger at him. If you like Jane as a character, that’s fine. If you disagree with my reading of the text, that’s also fine. I’m sleep deprived and probably a little manic and also the kind of person who writes sourced Homestuck meta in 2022, this is just for fun and catharsis 

This thing is long, so strap in and click the readmore

The first thing I need to prove is that Jake is neurodivergent. I read him as being autistic and ADHD, but the specifics are up to reader interpretation. My proof of this comes via Caliborn. Andrew Hussie (the character) explicitly states that he has a learning disability

[Image description: a screenshot of black text on a white background. The text reads: Think of all you've done in spite of your learning problems. You don't let your disability hold you back, do you? End ID]

Later, Caliborn says this to Jake.

[Image description: Lime green text on a grey background. Text reads: uu: WHILE TO CASUAL OBSERVERS YOU MIGHT APPEAR. TOO STUPID TO KNOW HOW FAR PANTS ARE SUPPOSED TO GO DOWN YOUR LEGS.

uu: I KNOW THAT IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE. YOU ARE JUST MISUNDERSTOOD.

uu: IT IS POSSIBLE THAT YOU JUST HAVE A SPECIAL MIND.

uu: LIKE ME. End ID]

So Caliborn is the one who points out that Jake is probably neurodivergent. Jake goes on to agree, and to say that he thinks he’s probably having trouble with his friends because there’s something about him they don’t understand

[Image description: Forest green text on a grey background. Text reads: GT: That maybe there is something special about me that nobody can understand. And maybe thats why i always seem to be botching things up the wazoo with my pals. End ID]

So Jake being some form of neurodivergent is canon, and he himself links it to his friend group drama. Why autism and ADHD, though? Well it’s partially because I relate to him, but I do think there's a canon basis. Jake has a tendency to ramble on without realizing the other person isn’t interested (ADHD), has difficulty picking up on social cues (autistic), doubts his own interpretations of those cues (autistic), has strong interests that his friends think are odd (special interests/hyperfixations), talks in a very particular way, and generally feels out of step with everyone around him. His arc from being happily goofy and fun-loving to being folded in on himself and blaming himself for not navigating a tricky social situation well is also the quintessential ND adolescence. We learn, like Jake did, that our ND traits are “bad” and we need to suppress them or earn the ire of those around us

But I digress. Let’s move on to the main event: dissecting the alpha kids’ relationship drama and addressing the ableism. Jane has a crush on Jake, but hasn’t worked up the nerve to confess yet. Jake has picked up on this, but isn’t sure if he’s reading the situation right, so he asks her outright

[Image description: Forest green text on a grey background. Text reads: GT: Maybe its just my imagination but ive picked up on certain lets say hints.

GT: So i have to just come out and ask. End ID]

So Jake isn’t actually as oblivious as his friends frequently joke about behind his back, but he’s not sure if he can trust that he’s picking up the social cues correctly. This is very much an autistic mood. He’s probably been getting signals from his friends for years making it clear that he’s missing something, so he now second-guesses himself

When Jake asks if Jane likes him, she explicitly says that she doesn’t. He’s a little confused, but takes her at her word and believes he misread her friendship as romantic feelings. He doesn’t realize that her replies are so stilted because she’s lying and overwhelmed, and when he points out that she’s being a little odd she brushes him off. She also repeatedly affirms that she wants to be there for him as a friend, and responds with what Jake interprets as genuine interest.

Now, this sets a precedent in Jake’s mind. Jane just told him, outright, that she isn’t interested in him and is okay with him talking to her about his (at the time potential) relationship with Dirk. In the future, when she responds with that same sort of stilted disinterest, he reads it as genuine interest because she told him to

And it’s not like Jane doesn’t know Jake struggles with social cues. As I stated above, the other alpha kids regularly talk about how “oblivious” Jake is behind his back. They all know he struggles to understand them, and they all chalk it up to Jake being weird instead of trying to communicate with him in a way he understands. So Jane knows Jake doesn’t understand that she’s only being polite, and lets him believe she’s okay with this kind of conversation in the future

Meanwhile, in the future, Jake starts up a conversation with Jane that ends in disaster. The first thing that goes wrong is that Jake has forgotten Jane’s birthday (ADHD brain, babey). When she tells him he apologizes profusely and offers to come over right away, but Jane brushes him off and asks why he wanted to talk. He shelves the Dirk angst and tries to just have a friendly conversation, but Jane isn’t interested in his long-winded ramblings and stories he’s told her before (the ADHD vibes are off the charts). When she asks him to get to the point, he then begins telling her about his relationship drama. Jane eventually gets fed up and yells at him to shut up, and this is his response

[Image description: Light blue and forest green text on a grey background. Text reads: GG: Shut up!!!

GT: Errr.

GT: Did i say something wrong? End ID]

Jake has clearly misread the situation, but it’s built on the same misunderstanding of social cues that Jane had previously reinforced. Jane continues to yell at him, and he repeatedly asks her what’s wrong and tries to get her to calm down so that they can talk about it. Instead of that, Jane berates him for talking a lot (ADHD trait), being “clueless” aka missing social cues (autistic trait), not realizing how long it’s been since they talked (ADHD trait), and talking about Dirk a lot (which she previously said she was okay with)

When she finally tries to drop the fact that she used to have feelings for him, she isn’t very clear, and Jake thinks she means she had feelings for Dirk. Remember, she explicitly said that she did not have feelings for Jake. Jake immediately blames himself for not realizing, and insults himself, then apologizes for not realizing their conversations were upsetting her. When she realizes he’s misunderstood again, she screams and flips a table, cancels her birthday party so that he won’t have a chance to talk to her about this in person, and destroys her headset

So let’s recap. Jake stays calm and tries to understand why Jane is upset, apologizes for screwing up, and makes multiple efforts to clear things up between them. Jane throws a tantrum because she got fed up with Jake’s neurodivergent traits, and the misunderstandings that she caused. Granted, she’s dealing with a lot of stress, but they all are

After this, Jane yells at Roxy for a bit and then leaves. Jake has the conversation with Caliborn mentioned above, and not too long after we start the trickster arc

Skipping over those shenanigans, we move to the post-trickster alpha kid conversations. Dirk and Jane talk about their mutual former feelings for Jake now that Dirk and Jake have broken up. Unlike Dirk, Jane doesn’t really acknowledge that her actions might have harmed Jake beyond just jeopardizing their friendship. Jake, for his part, blames himself entirely for everything

Crockertier bullshit aside, this is more or less where things are left with them. Jake’s self esteem ripped to shreds, and Jane relatively unscathed. Obviously this isn’t all Jane’s fault. All the alpha kids (and yes I include Lil’ Hal as an alpha kid) are ableist to Jake to some degree, as well as Vriska (because of course Vriska bullied the disabled kid with self esteem issues, that’s what she does)

So, is Jane being ableist to Jake. Well, she likely doesn’t know he’s neurodivergent, so she’s not doing it with any intentional malice. However, the things she yells at him for are all traits of neurodivergence. Traits that he displays shame and self-loathing for having. The fact is that it doesn’t matter whether or not Jane knew he was ND, or meant to be ableist. Her actions were ableist. She thinks Jake’s ND traits are character flaws, that they make him self-centered and rude, so she feels justified in chewing him out over it

From her perspective this isn’t really a big deal. Jake was obnoxious for a few months, she yelled at him out of frustration, and then she moved on. But from Jake’s perspective this is clearly devastating. He feels like he’s doing everything wrong, that he’s alienating his friends, that he’s a douchemuffin (his word), for… being autistic and ADHD? 

No like seriously, what did he actually do wrong? Jake is struggling to keep his head above water in a friend group that sees him struggling and laughs it off instead of helping him fit in. They don’t realize how much this is hurting Jake, or that he needs them to meet him in the middle. Even when they’re nice to him it tends to have an air of pity or amusement. Jane happens to have the most blatant ableist actions, but it’s not all on her

So why is this overlooked? Well, because it’s supposed to be. Jake struggling to communicate is played for laughs, and this is never given the gravity or seriousness that it deserves. While we do see John and Tavrossprite making an effort to help him feel welcome and accepted, there’s never really an examination of how Jake got to this point. Typical Homestuck, especially that late in the comic, but because the comic treats it like a joke the readers treat it like one too

Anyway this was a long and rambly way of saying that Jake English deserved better. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day/night/timezone

[cryptideye]

i make jokes abt it but i dont actually care WHERE frecklewish is, shes not real and i can just draw her in starclan with that being just as canon as the website article, im just pissed that the current “team” just. very clearly does not give a shit about their own books. that article has the EXACT vibe of fans who will skim a wiki page and then get mad at you for stating something that canonically happens in the books, except to a MUCH larger scale since they actually. have power over what happens in them.

the article also clearly doesnt exist to give new insight into a character. it was made to say “shut up youre wrong and were right just accept it and stop disagreeing with us” which is. super insulting ! especially since nobody on the writing team actually wrote the books, and the SOLE AUTHOR agrees with the interpretation that frecklewish and all of mapleshades other victims deserve starclan

i cannot imagine how you could write that article while also having... read the books. this isnt even a “my interpretation is fact” thing like its CANON in the books that mapleshade is an unreliable narrator and this article is acting like mapleshade’s assumptions are factual, which is a take you could ONLY arrive to if you only skimmed her wiki page instead of reading the book, or if youre like 9 years old. not to be harsh but they blatantly LIED about the context behind the confrontation between mapleshade and frecklewish when frecklewish says she wishes mapleshade were dead instead of her kits, i absolutely do not trust that whoever wrote that section read the book in any depth. you cant convince me they did

like, if their reasoning was “freckle called the kits half clan creatures which would be traumatizing to them, and she never seems to think that this line of thinking is wrong” id get it ! because thats something that actually happens in canon! but it contradicts rainflower being in starclan despite her abuse of crookedkit, AND contradicts the fact that STARCLAN THEMSELVES sent the message about the kits not belonging, and since the writers REFUSE to admit any wrongdoing on starclans part they cant say that xenophobia is wrong

this is not the first time the writing team has ignored fan complaints, like with the abuse shown in spottedleaf’s heart and squirrelflight’s relationships apparently being “unintentional” (and therefore isnt important enough to be acknowleged or fixed) and the writers just never even ACKNOWLEGING warriors racism problem even when fans were OUTWARDLY complaining about that very recently

the most weve ever gotten from them is changing that disgusting line about briarlight being happier dead than alive (but they also reinforced their “disability as punishment” shit in the frecklewish article so clearly it didnt get through) and getting a TERF fired (though theres also no canonical lgbt rep in warriors besides two gay couples being confirmed outside of the books text)

i get why ppl are emailing them but like. they arent gonna do shit ! the backlash about that ableist line was way more than it was with frecklewish (as someone who was in the community during both of these “dramas”), but they still clearly havent taken it to heart. they arent gonna do anything! just draw frecklewish in starclan and pirate the books

[mywritingcannotbestopped]

Dear Minorities of Tumblr

Hopefully this is the right title. This is something I have been thinking about for a while. This is also going to be pretty long and if you can hold on for the whole thing it would be appreciated. I want to preface this by saying this is coming from a POC writer and my goal in this is to create a place where minorities can share what we want to see in the media we consume. If this interests you, keep reading. I really feel this is important so I will add tags that wouldn’t especially be related, but are semi connected based on what I have read under them.

Every year, representation gets better and better. People get more willing to share stories (or are allowed to) about minorities. These consist of characters that are diverse, ethnically, racially, religiously, or disabled/handicapped or LGBTQIA+. Basically, straying away from the norm Hollywood has provided to us. There are more characters like us. However, it isn’t perfect. This isn’t really nitpicking, but sometimes representation can be lackluster, for lack of a better word. Representation that is used for the sake of jokes or to earn brownie points. There are two types of representation I would define this under.

The first is stereotypical representation. By this I mean the dreaded “representation” that is characters chalk full of stereotypes. Characters like this do more harm than good. Characters that give people a bad impression of what types of people are actually like. Characters that are treated badly, however this treatment is hidden behind the word “comedy.” A lot of shows kids in the 2000s-2010s grew up with were filled with this. A Youtuber I watch a lot who is also on Tumblr, @harriyanna, has a lot of videos calling attention to this (which are very good might I add). An example of this I think of a lot is in the Disney Channel show Jessie. One of the kids, Ravi, was of Indian descent. The other characters in the show, even his own family, would constantly make jokes pertaining to his culture and accent. Even as a little kid, all of these jokes rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t find them funny and I couldn’t understand why. Years later I figured out why. The show was trying to paint him as weird and undesirable just because of where he came from. I can only imagine how horrible that made people like him feel. Too many shows have done this to minority characters and have ingrained these ideas into people. In fact, writing this out, “lackluster” is far too weak a word for this.

The second type of representation I can only really describe as “a norm person painted as a minority.” I usually see this with POC, so I’ll describe it with that term. This would be like a POC that doesn’t show any traits of their culture. Not all minorities are fully involved in their cultures, this is not what I am talking about. These are characters that wouldn’t change at all if they weren’t POC. Regardless of how involved a POC is in their culture, they will always have experiences, traits, and knowledge they would not have if they weren’t POC or were part of a different culture. Without these aspects, a character kind of falls flat with representation.

Representation has a large impact on the way people see each other. If a person sees a type of person portrayed in a certain way constantly, they start to believe and expect it in real life. This is why good representation is important. It shows people less as caricatures and makes characters feel more alive. Now, where am I going with this?

A while ago I was doing research for a story I was writing when I came across a blog in the search results (this was before I got Tumblr). It was called Writing With Color. I’d imagine a good amount of people have heard of it. That day I looked through it for a couple of hours. I never knew something like this existed. It’s run by a diverse group of mods who give advice to writers who want to include good representation of ethnic, religious, and racial diversity in their stories. You can tell they put a lot of thought into the advice they give. @writingwithcolor is one of my favorite blogs on this site so if you haven’t heard of them I highly suggest you check them out.

What I want to call attention to is this post I found on their blog:

https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/621394779234861056/i-was-wondering-what-kind-of-female-black

This post has stuck with me for a while. It’s a long list of the type of black girls black girls want to see. Reading through it for the first time slapped me across the face in a good way. It was the physical representation of something lingering in the back of my head. It brought it forward and put these jumbled thoughts into words. Why is representation important?

From a young age, I knew I wanted to be a writer. As a writer, I wanted to be able to do one thing: share stories that would make people happy. This post made me clearly realize one of the best and most important ways to make people happy with my writing was to tell their stories.

Fact: good representation brings indescribable joy. I remember watching the Disney/Pixar movie “Coco” and trying to hide the huge grin I had on my face as a Mexican-American. It felt like watching my own family. It felt real. It felt relatable. At that point, I was used to the only representation of Mexican culture being someone having a quinceañera, which is lackluster when you think of everything else they could show. After that movie, I wanted everyone to feel that way, to have a story that perfectly captures a very important part of their life. It took me a while to realize I had the power to create at least one of those stories.  

Now is time for what my English teachers refer to as “a call to action.” I personally have questions I don’t really have places to get answered. This site is filled with diversity. My idea was that we could share our ideas and experiences in hopes that we can take a step towards better representation. Story writers can look at this and take it to heart. If you fall under one or more of the aforementioned labels, I would love to hear your responses. Also, please include your labels if you are comfortable with that. Feel free to answer both or just one.

I have two major topics to inquire about:

First question is what kind of role would you like to see characters like you in? You can model your answers like the post above as this question is inspired by it. What kind of personalities do you want them to have? What part in the story do you want them to play? Any unique abilities or relationships you want them to have? Go as far as you want with this. Also feel free to mention positions you wouldn’t want to see them in or are tired of seeing, as this could go both ways.

The second is what are the more casual things you experience in your life in relation to being a minority? This includes things such as the food you eat, the way you dress, things you say, any unique self-care practices, or everyday struggles. The things that if you saw a character doing would make you go “Hey, I do that!”

I’m not sure who’ll actually read this, but I really hope this post helps.

So if you actually made it to the end, I applaud you for reading through my chaos. Thank you!

[galemalio]

3 Examples of Racial Bias in Animation Storytelling

It’s not hard to grasp that a white person, while not explicitly or consciously racist in the sense we might usually imagine, is still inherently racially biased because they benefit from and grow up used to white supremacy.” - Scottishwobbly, Tumblr

This is nothing new. This is something POC (People of Color) have been talking about in separate fandoms. Nevertheless, it needs to be acknowledged by those unaware.

This article is not made to say that some of the animations that I will use as examples are bad. But in the hopes that we, as consumers and creators, will do better in the future in handling characters that are POC. 

Most often, racial bias in storytelling is when the narrative treats white or light skin toned characters better than darker skin toned characters. The darker skin toned characters are often POC-coded or actual POC.

White creators often do not notice their racial bias in their storytelling as they benefit from and grow up with white privileges and white supremacy. This can also apply to light-skinned POC who have light skin priviliges. 

Some of us don’t often see it but real people who relate to the characters of color do. Especially when it reflects from their experiences with racial bias, microaggressions, colorism and flat out racism.

So when they speak up, it’s important to listen to them to unlearn the racial bias we may have in ourselves. 

I will be emphasizing “the narrative” for I am criticizing how the story treats its dark-skinned characters and not because I am criticizing the characters themselves.

This article is critiqued by @visibilityofcolor​ as a sensitivity reader once and then additions were made before publishing. If you’re looking for a Black sensitivity reader, you can contact her. 

This article is a 14-minute read at average speed so buckle up. Unless you want to skip to your show mentioned below. External Tumblr Resources will be put in the reblog.

Here are three examples that I was made aware of. 

Example #1: The Narrative Treats the Light-Skinned Character at the Expense of the Dark-Skinned Character

Steven Universe was one of the animations that pushed lgbt+ representation in cartoon media. However, there are narratives here and there that showed racial bias. 

SU creator Rebecca Sugar was raised with "Jewish sensibilities" and both siblings observe the lighting of Hanukkah candles with their parents through Skype.[1] Rebecca Sugar also talked about being non-binary.[2] 

But as a white person, she (and the rest of the SU crew) is not aware of the inherently biased values from growing up and benefiting from white privilege. 

One example is the human zoo. There are people that have spoken up about this such as @jellyfax​​ of Tumblr who pointed out that the Crewniverse mishandled a loaded topic and reinforced a white colonist propaganda where the captive humans of mostly black/brown people are naive, docile and childlike in order to subjugate the people that they colonized. .

What I’m here is how a character of color from the main cast is more obligated to the lighter-skinned character. 

In the episode, Friend Ship, one fan had spoken out about how Garnet, who had been validly angry at Pearl, was compelled by a dangerous situation to forgive Pearl. Garnet is a Black-coded character. While Pearl is a light-skinned character.  

Garnet was mad at Pearl for tricking her into always fusing with her. Then they were trapped in a chamber that was going to crush them. In this situation, they have to fuse in order to save themselves but Garnet refuses to because she was still angry at her. 

In the end, they were forced to talk it out, for Garnet to understand Pearl’s reason for wanting to fuse with her and everything worked out well.

The narrative focused so much on Pearl’s self-worth issues at the expense of Garnet’s right to be angry. 

Yes, it showed that Pearl is trying her best to make up for it but Garnet should have been allowed to work at her own anger at her own pace instead of being obligated to consider Pearl’s feelings over her own. 

I wouldn’t have noticed it until someone had mentioned it. Because it was never my experience. 

But it’s there, continuing the message that it’s okay to put the emotional labor on Black people and disregard their own feelings for the sake of the non-Black people who have hurt them -particularly light-skinned women. 

White Fragility and Being Silenced White Woman Tears

Again, racial bias in animation storytelling is often not intentional because white creators do not experience it due to white privilege. 

Without meaning to, that scene alone shows Garnet as the Angry Black woman trope that is ungrateful and rude to Pearl who then ends up in tears. Without meaning to, Pearl with her light skin, became the tearful white girl trope that had to be sympathized over.

The Angry Black Woman trope is a combination of the worst negative stereotypes of a Black woman: overly aggressive, domineering, emasculating, loud, disagreeable and uppity.[13] 

The Tearful white girl trope comes from the combination of the stereotypes of white women being morally upstanding and delicate and therefore should be protected.[13] 

Which, unfortunately, many white women have taken advantage of.

These two tropes are harmful to WOC (Women of Color) because they experience the "weary weaponizing of white women's tears". This tactic employed by many white women incites sympathy and avoids accountability for their actions, turning the tables to their accuser and forcing their accuser to understand them instead.

(Image by Виктория Бородинова from Pixabay)

In "Weapon of lass destruction: The tears of a white woman", Author Shay described that white tears turns a white woman into the priority of whatever space she's in. "It doesn't matter if you're right, once her tears are activated, you cease to exist." [11] 

White woman tears have gotten Black people beaten and lynched such as Emmett Till. Carolyn Bryant who had accused 14 year old Emmett Till of sexually harassing her in 1955, admitted she lied about those claims years later in 2007.[15]

In Awesomely Luvvie's "About the Weary Weaponizing of White Women Tears", she states that the innocent white woman is a caricature many subconsciously embrace because it hides them from consequences. [10]

In The Guardian’s article, "How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of Colour", Ruby Hamad shares her experience:

"Often, when I have attempted to speak to or confront a white woman about something she has said or done that has impacted me adversely, I am met with tearful denials and indignant accusations that I am hurting her. My confidence diminished and second-guessing myself, I either flare up in frustration at not being heard (which only seems to prove her point) or I back down immediately, apologising and consoling the very person causing me harm."[4]

This is not to say that all crying white women are insincere. But as activist Rachel Cargle said:

“I refuse to listen to white women cry about something. When women have come up to me crying, I say, ‘Let me know when you feel a little better, then maybe we can talk.’”[3]

One of the most quoted words in “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.” is this:

“It is white people’s responsibility to be less fragile; people of color don’t need to twist themselves into knots trying to navigate us as painlessly as possible.”[3]  

When white women cry in defense, instead of taking accountability, People of Color are then gaslighted into thinking they’re the bad guy. This is emotional abuse and a manipulation tactic. 

People of Color shouldn’t have to bend backwards to accommodate discomfited white or light-skinned people who have hurt them. 

How She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (SPOP) Did It Right

Despite SPOP having good lgbtq+ representations, there are other biases in the show. Such as Mara, a WOC whose only purpose was to sacrifice herself for the white protagonist. There was also the insensitive joke in their stream regarding Bow’s sibling that perpetuated an Anti-Black stereotype which Noelle Stevenson has apologized for.[14]

But the scene I have encountered where the Black character was validly angry and his feelings were treated well by the narrative, came from SPOP.

Bow, a black character, was validly angry at Glimmer, a lighter skinned character. Glimmer made a lot of bad decisions, one of them was using Adora and their friends as bait, without their knowledge, to lure out and capture Catra.  

Glimmer tearfully apologized in Season 5, Episode 4. Adora readily forgave her. But Bow didn't. 

They faced dangers along the way but the story didn't put them in a dangerous situation where Bow has to forgive Glimmer in order to get out of it. 

This was Glimmer's words of apology:

"Look, I know you're still mad at me. Maybe you'll be mad at me for a really long time. I deserved it. And maybe... maybe we'll never be friends like we used to be. But I'm not going to stop trying to make it better. I made a mistake with the heart of Etheria. I should've listened to you and I'm sorry. You get to be mad. For as long as you need to be. But I'm not going anywhere. And when you're ready, I'll be here."

In short, Bow was allowed to take the time to be mad and not just get over it for someone else’s sake. The story validates his feelings and he was allowed to take his own pace. That is emotional respect the story gave to him.

Example #2: The Narrative Gives Better Endings or Portrayals to Colonizers than Their Victims

Avatar: The Last Airbender has handled dark themes well such as genocide, war, PTSD, disability and redemption with great worldbuilding.

However, I never noticed the racial bias in ATLA until people spoke up of the double standards in ATLA’s treatment of light-skinned colonizers compared to their dark-skinned victims-turned-villains.

The characters in question -Iroh, Azula, Jet and Hama- are all flawed and well-rounded in a believable way. But how the narrative treats them is unequal.

General Iroh is an ex-colonizer who gets to redeem himself and not answer for his past war crimes, living a peaceful life as a tea shop owner. The only reason Iroh changed was when he was personally affected by the negativity of their military subjugation -his son’s death. It wasn’t the harm of the Fire nation ravaging Earth kingdom villages or cities and affecting millions of people that opened his eyes.

Azula, the tyrannical daughter, had closure of her mother's rejection when she was a child and was able to escape imprisonment.

Jet and Hama, victims of colonization who have done bad things, did not get similar conclusions to their stories OR compensation for what they have gone through from the Fire Nation's colonization. 

Jet was given a second chance but was arrested for trying to expose Zuko and Iroh being firebenders -firebenders who were their enemies for conquering their villages. Then he died from the injuries of the person who had brainwashed and mind-controlled him. 

Hama was imprisoned for life. 

Compared to the sins of the light-skinned colonizers, the narrative didn’t give Jet and Hama the development where they could heal from their trauma, receive compensation for what happened to them and really have a chance in life. 

The dark-skinned victims of colonization just became a lesson to the viewers how they shouldn’t hold grudges for being colonized. The end. They have received consequences for their actions but there is no continuation to their stories after that. 

It almost seems like the narrative is saying that because they have harmed colonizers who have no part in their trauma (and in Jet’s case, some Earth kingdom villagers), they are therefore unworthy to be given an actual chance in life. 

While Azula and Iroh, who have actively participated in conquering, colonizing and attacking the Earth Kingdom itself, were.   

Someone once said that if indigenous people have control over Hama’s story, it would have been done differently. But the ATLA crew are white, non-indigenous people who prioritized redeeming colonizers instead.

The narrative has also affected how the ATLA fandom thinks. If most fans are asked who they would want to be redeemed, the popular option would be Azula over Jet or Hama.

Once again, I don’t think the ATLA crew noticed it due to their racial bias. But still, the harm is done and the racially biased message is continued: 

The colonizers and their descendants don’t have to make amends for the colonizers’ crimes. Or if they do, only lightly since it’s in the past (no matter how recent that past is). 

The colonized who rebel will tend to hurt innocent people and then get a grisly end for getting in way over their heads.  

I would venture as far as to say that the narrative may have the  added subconscious desire to quiet their white anxiety on the vengeance of the colonized. As I have learned when writing about Vodou stereotypes and how they have stemmed from the history of white anxiety of Black vengeance, of Black fetishization and of dissolution of the white race through intermarriages.

In @visibilityofcolor’s blog, someone asked:

 “So I saw some of the really heated debates on here and on twitter about how if Iroh and Azula can be portrayed sympathetically despite their actions then characters like Jet and Hama should've been given a chance too. Do you think that the writers understood the implications of only redeeming characters from the colonizer/fascist nation but not giving the characters who suffered because of their fascism a second chance too?”

To which VisibilityOfColor replied:

“No, because at the end of the day, the writers are white. When it comes to stuff like this, it’s no surprise when we see white writers redeem problematic characters before they actually redeem victims of those racist problematic characters. For instance, Dave Filioni, who worked on both avatar and star wars rebels, did the same thing when redeeming agent kallus who was an soldiers in the imperial army and took credit for a genocide. where as victims of the empire were still painted in negative lights. i really don’t think they understand.

They have this ‘be the better person’ view on things, which is what a lot of white people tend to emulate when it comes to people of color standing up to their oppressors. and unfortunately, these are ideas passed on to children, esp minorities. that they should forgive people and communities who hurt them and ‘be the better person’. this is why white ppl don’t need to write narratives for people of color.”

Example #3: The Narrative Favors the Light Skinned Character Than Dark Skinned Character in Similar Situations

I would like to reiterate that racial bias in storytelling is often not intentional. I am not saying the creators and the people who support them are bad people. No.

However, I encourage that once a racial bias is made known in our work, it is our responsibility to change them to stop the perpetuation of its harmful message.

Hazbin Hotel is a popular cartoon with whimsical designs and its concept opens the conversation about redemption. The creator, Vivziepop may not have noticed the racial bias in her cartoon as a white Latina [5] that grew up with and benefits from white privileges, along with the Hazbin crew. 

In the Youtbe video, "Hazbin Hotel - How Art took over Writing", Staxlotl states:

“I understand that there was a lot of time and effort put into this pilot, almost three years worth of effort. But I think most of that time was spent into the art and visuals when it should’ve gone into polishing the writing in the characters.”[6]

Once again, I’m not here to critique the characters but how the narrative treats its dark-skinned characters.

The story treats Charlie, the white-skinned, “Disney-esque” protagonist princess differently from how it treats Vaggie, the dark-skinned, more outspoken and protective Latina girlfriend of Charlie who supports the princess’ cause. 

In its pilot episode, both girls experience humiliation. While Charlie is portrayed by the story as someone the viewers have to feel sorry for...

...Vaggie is portrayed in her humiliation as the butt of the joke for the viewers.

While they both didn’t like what Angel Dust did, Charlie was sympathized over in the narrative as a moment... 

...while Vaggie’s angry but valid callouts were dismissed and ignored as part of the comedy.

While Charlie was someone that needs to be protected in the narrative... 

...Vaggie is left to fend for herself. 

Again, I don’t think the creators noticed the racial bias of their cartoon. However, this racial bias is reflected in the harmful perceptions that dark-skinned women, particularly Black women and Black girls, are more mature, tougher and need less protection at a young age.[7] 

This adultification bias perceives them as challenging authority when they express strong or contrary views and are then given harsher discipline than white girls who misbehave.[8] And this continues when they grow up.

In a 2017 study, Black women and girls aged 12-60 years old confirmed they are treated harsher by their white peers and are accused of being aggressive when they would defend themselves or explain their point of view to authority figures.[8] 

This bias also coincides with the Spicy Latina trope of a brown-skinned, hot-blooded, quick-tempered and passionate woman.

Everyday Feminism described this trope as "Although objects of desire for many, the spicy Latina may have too much personality to handle. So much so that she is often viewed as domineering or emasculating." [16]

Sounds familiar? (Look at Angry Black Woman trope above.)

Why is it that a light-skinned character, Charlie, is allowed to be vulnerable and be sympathized while the dark-skinned Latina character, Vaggie, is mocked, dismissed and expected to tough it out?

Severina Ware had to remind the world in her article that relates to the bias against dark skinned characters:

“Black women are not offered the protection and gentleness of our white counterparts. We are not given permission to be soft and delicate. We are required to exhibit strength and fortitude not only because our lives depend on it, but because so many others depend on us. Black women should not be charged with the responsibility of saving everyone when nobody is here to save us.”[12] 

As @cullenvhenan​ of Tumblr has said in her post:

“if you're a white creator and your brown/black characters are always sassy, reckless, aggressive or cold and your white characters are always soft, demure, shy and introverted you should think about maybe why you did that”

(Image above from Iowa Law Reviews’ “Aggressive Encounters & White Fragility: Deconstructing the Trope of the Angry Black Woman”)

Detecting Your Own Racial Bias

It would be hard. No matter how much you edit and create, you may miss it because it was never your experience. 

So how do we prevent our racial bias from creeping into our creations?

Listen to POC and their feedback.

As @charishjb from Instagram has shared, here is one of the things that we can do (tumblr link here) [9]:

Consider POC voices. Listen to their experiences. Hire sensitivity POC readers. Put multiple POC voices in positions of leadership in creative projects.

Then we can stop the racial bias that perpetuates again and again in the media. I hope for that future.

[tottymatsuno]

Requests FAQ NO MINORS ALLOWED!

im sick of tumblrs text editors so im just gonna link to tiny urls.

https://abiesfir.tumblr.com/post/674702675586236416/updated-info-minors-and-blmtsuproshpper-dni

Everyone has been very polite to me, and I apologize because I'm writing this in a frazzled and agitated state so if it comes off as rude I'm sorry. I'll update with more questions as they come.

MINORS DNI

The Basics!

Who are you?/What's your age/What's your race?/How much free-time do you have?

I'm Robin, I am 26 and I am a black transmasc/genderfluid adult. I have mental illness and talk about it a lot, this blog is literally my healthy coping mechanism because I am currently unmedicated. I will not disclose anything else further on the matter. I am also physically disabled so a lot of my stories are unbeta'd bc of it.

I have a small baby and a wife so my time is very divided. I can't spend a ton of time editing and fixing things up perfectly and I don't actually have a beta editor. I do this to destress and as self care. So me enjoying the requests is important. Don't make me feel obligated to do these free requests bc I will get pressured and won't do them anymore.

Will You block me for being under 18?

YES, LEAVE, GO, DO NOT COME HERE, I DONT WANT ANY MINORS INTERACTING WITH MY POSTS! Leave!!! Don't fucking come in here!!! Don't bother, please just for the love of fucking God this is my one thing, minors and 18 year olds, GO HOME!

I HAVE WRITTEN MULTIPLE TIMES FOR MINORS TO LEAVE ME ALONE! I DONT WANT YOU HERE!

Can you do a request for X non African American culture?

No, I like to write for black american girls. Whatever I write would be culturally insensitive and would be solely based off of the stereotypes I know of. I wouldn't try to be racist or malicious, but I do this for fun and am not going to research a culture for a request. Not trying to be funny but there's also the fact that black girls are thoroughly under represented in self inserting/fics so I'm doing my part <3

You should def write your own though and link it back to me!! I would loooove to read it! I highly recommend and encourage for people to make the content they'd like to see!

What race are the Readers? Can I imagine myself or my own cultural/ethnic background?

All black! Every request, every reader, every story is written with a black woman in mind. All of them! And yeah go ahead! I try to avoid major character descriptions but yeah I don't mind! Have fun!

Why don't you write more trans fics if you're not cis and hc Totty as trans?

Hmmm, that's complicated but mostly because I struggle with gender issues involving being perceived as attractive and I deal with a lot of shame bc of it. If I'm a man and I like a woman, in my head I'm not allowed to be interested in her bc I'm not passing or presenting masculine. If she's a lesbian then I feel guilty because I'm a man. If she's bi I worry she'll think of me as a woman. Annd the same with men!

And I headcanon Todomatsu as trans and I do not want to come off as a chaser or being solely interested in him for being a woman. I wouldn't feel comfortable writing trans Totty sexually either bc I don't want to be offensive or weird. annnd I don't wanna base his trans status off of my experiences with my wife so. yea

Is this a requests blog?

No! This is a Todomatsu blog that DOES requests for fun! And not only is it a Todomatsu blog, its my self insert ship blog for Todomatsu. This is all for fun beloveds and I have the most fun making content for Totty.

Are you comfortable with like/reblog sprees?

GO AHEAD! Not gonna lie tho, it is kinda funny but does hurt my feelings when I see some of yall doing that and then not follow me...I have a couple regulars who show up everyday for like 2 weeks and then don't follow me. Follow me???

And gimme comments and laugh at my jokes and let me know I'm being funny and praise me???????? pls?

Can I DM you/Be your friend/Talk to you?

GO AHEAD!!!! I want friends!! If you wanna specific anon name you can have one, but feel free to be my friend! I'm not really anybody but that guy who doesnt stfu. i dont see myself really as a content creator or writer i literally am possessed and when I say this is mental illness baby you better believe my therapist knows all about Todomatsu and has heard half the shit I say on here.

Don't feel intimidated, I wanna be your friend more than you wanna be mine! Let's talk!

Requests!

How should we ask for requests

Preferably indicating if you want a bullet hc list, a minific (with your matsuno of choice or all brothers), your pronouns and the scenario.

If it's an art request please say so! If it's an art request from a meme link me the meme as well?

Are you still working on my request?

Unless I replied to the request itself and said no, then yeah. If I make a post referencing the request saying "I'll alter the prompt" its usually for my own comfort. But yeah, unless I answer the request without any text than yeah I'm still workin on it.

Some might take time because I have a very active life outside of this blog. My baby is high needs, I have lots of doctors appoints, I get hospitalized a lot, there's family emergencies, there's IRL obligations. I'm an adult, ik it might seem like it bc I'm glued to my phone but I have an adult's life.

It's taking a while, why is that?

Did you request a scenario with ALL six of the brothers, was it detailed, was it kinda just vague, did I make a text post saying I was working on it and it'll be a minific?

If so please know I'm working on it! Most minifics takes me a few hours to mentally map out - I'm doing SIX of them btw. Then I need to make an outline, SIX of them again. Then I need to actually write all SIX of them.

You answered my Todomatsu request right away but not my all boys request?

Because I'm a Totty blog! I don't hate the others and I love the requests I get but Todomatsu is my favorite I'm in love with him clinically and he is the current target of my diagnosed erotomania soooo I'm dropping everything to answer, draw, write, obsess and lust after him. Thank u send more requests of him specifically if u want a fast turnaround.

What makes you do a bullet list vs a mini fic?

if the request leads into a mini fic I'll do one. It's actually harder for me to think of bullet lists than mini fics so I kinda prefer mini fics.

Can request 18!matsu? Or a scenarios where the Matsunos have a SO that thinks of his brothers like their own?

No. The short of it is just NO. The long of it is: I have PTSD. My fear of interacting with children - especially little boys stems from deep seated childhood trauma. The most painful aspect of this of this trauma involves my step brother and several younger cousins. I will not further elaborate but I'm sure y'all catch my drift. Don't do it.

In my personal real life I am so terrified of men and boys younger than me that I refuse to think about men six months younger than me as attractive.

Do not ask me for anything involving the 18 vers of them that isn't strictly platonic.

And when I write I usually in some way or another imagine myself so if you want a request about the reader viewing the others as brother you must request only ONE brother and that's it. Do not ask me to write switching POVs from a reader who sees Oso-Ichi + Todo as little brothers while dating Jyushimatsu to a POV of Karamatsu being the love interest and the rest brothers.

I will shut down requests for a week if anybody asks for Todomatsu being seen as the reader's younger brother or Todomatsu under the age of 25. If it happens more than once I will no longer take requests indefinitely.

I sent a funny nonsensical joke and you didn't get it/I sent an anon and you didn't understand it?

I like things that I understand and with a context. I'm not ontop of all the latest memes and it's very hard for me to grasp when things are jokes.

What NSFW are you comfortable with?

https://tinyurl.com/whatwillyouwrite

Do you take Whump requests?

No is the short answer. No because I find the genre and fetish very uncomfortable as a disabled person. I don't like the idea of romanticizing people's suffering. I don't like the fact the genre is about kissing someone's pain better and then causing them more pain.

If someone was getting off to me crying or having a panic attack or my chest hurting or me getting taken to the ER or me fainting or me being physically dependent on them I would actually be very upset. I don't want to write about that because recovery is painful, yes but it's not a smut genre to me at least. Ik some whump isn't a fetish but it's so tied together. Anyways uh, no. Don't submit anything like that.

If you do and it slips through just know I probably didn't interpret it in the way you'd like and it'd be a serious piece and completely tonally unsexy and unfluffy. So save us both the heart ache.

[rawliverandcigarettes]

Our discussion on turians made me wonder: how do you imagine the culture of the Salarian Union? (I'm sorry, you probably talked about this elsewhere, but I was too lazy to look for that, if so feel free to refer me to that post.) I find that there are surprisingly little elements about it in canon, though there are a few hints, like the fact that the planets in the Pranas system all have modern names, the previous names having been discarded, presumably, because they evoke "bygone superstition"?

Hello! Sorry I took some time. I actually rarely packaged my thoughts on salarian culture in a digestible way, so you gave me a great opportunity to give it a recap! I will go more indepth in the future for sure, but I might do a lil' overarching presentation of my general thoughts.

First, I have written an exploration/explanation of some of my headcanons regarding salarian reproduction, and it can be found here on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872515

It is sliightly out of date and I need to do a pass to adjust some of my thoughts, but I still go by the general idea.

I also agree that there is very little things in the OT canon. I think there might be slightly more in Andromeda maybe, but I still haven't played the game so who knows!

I even believe the games kind of give up on salarian culture past ME1, where they are arguably given the most importance; we get more depth to it in ME2 through the sole and lonely perspective of Mordin; and in ME3 they are barely worth more than somewhat cheap antagonism and a couple of questionable jokes. Even right now during the promo of MELE, I felt like salarians keep being characterized as weird-cute-gross, and more like the butt of a joke than people. Even the promo for Director Tann in MEA had this "haha you get a role for a mass effect character and you thought you'd be sexy and cool TOO BAD" vibe to it, which makes me think part of the devteam (or at least the marketing side of it) don't think too highly of their very own space frogs :'(((

But to get on my actual thoughts (under the cut and the nice gif, because it won't be as long as it could be, but it's still somewhat long):

So first off, I'm trying to keep in mind how indescribably huge the Salarian Union is: we're talking about a conglomerate of planet-sized communities, moons, artificial stations, plus appendages in every large-scaled, cosmopolitan communities in Council space and possibly beyond. Just like it would be hard to talk about any united "human culture", I think the same could be true for any Mass Effect species --even though, for the sake of both narrative convenience and the tendency for globalization once communities get connected and break down communication barriers, shortcuts have to be made (and that helps make Points, and I like stories to have Points so yee).

For this reason, I have identified organizational tendencies within these communities, based both on baseline of natural grouping emerging off salarian biology (clan-based structures with matriarchal figures) and where I speculated breakdowns would happen in the modern, multicultural setting of the ME universe. To brutally over-simplify: there would be the "traditional" political organization of Sur'kesh (that I will briefly cover later), the "colonial" style (a derivation of the Sur'kesh style with more centralization), and the growing influence of ultraliberalism creeping from Council space back unto these communities, creating a myriad of variations depending on how much the communities are willing to adapt to production being controlled by corporations.

I headcanon the culture, however, to be at once: very collectivist yet an oligarchy (because dalatrasses have a right to power by virtue of existence basically), extremely eugenist to the point of having created literal, biological races that are genetically distinct from each other and cultivated to remain as such by some clans (and therefore can be very cruel towards the disabled/the imperfect at birth too), misandrist (I believe being a male salarian from a shitty clan/baronny is one of the lower forms of political existence that can be in this universe, hence why their lives in the working force are so goddamn disposable), but also designed to protect its members and have the community take care of their basic needs (so homelessness is almost not a thing, or at least used to not be a thing). I also believe the culture to be consistently young and vibrant, with lots of energy (for better and for worse). And during the time of ME, to be under economical and social duress (even gender duress!) as it sits at a crossroad regarding its future, and everyone has a lots of ideas on what this future should look like, including people gawking the outside with economical or political interests in the outcome (this basically the plot of The Empire of Preys, which is technically a prequel to Halfway Home but will be written after HH because I love chronologies that make sense and are easy to understand :) :) ).

So concerning the OG, Sur'kesh style: I have contorted a weird economical/diplomatic/land planning system into quasi-existence, that is based around a unit called the "symposium". This is a *relatively* young system in their history (still milleniums old, it really solidified in the middle of the Rachni Wars as a reaction/adaptation after several waves of imperialism that didn't really look like ours but had the same effect of flattening local cultures into a more aggressive semi-ethnostate), but central into dividing resources, workers, affect. I will not go into too much details because this is quite complicated, but these are basically commitees that will take democratic decisions among its members, based on how many clan members are appointed in both this symposium and and adjacent symposiums that might be helpful to this one --it's a system explicitely based on bribes and social influence, and getting the partial control of key symposiums is absolutely essential for Dalatrasses to maintain the influence and relevance of their respective clans. It's also a system that has, traditionally, very little use for money (it exists, but as a token of exchange that doesn't carry inherent value --if you have only access to money as a clan, you are basically worthless and won't get access to good matches or good symposium seats, or at least you used to until capitalism knocked at the doooooor and that kinda fucked things uppppppp and the society is not recovering and the gaps are getting extreeeeeme this is the plot of TEOP basically).

Oh and on the subject of the transition to more capitalist values and the decay of clans that cannot keep up, I wrote The Leftovers a couple of years ago, which talks about a young dalatrass-to-be discovering she might be sterile, right here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15854244

I have a ton more things to say on the subject (and salarian culture as a whole), buuut this is getting quite long already haha.

And in regards to your question: I headcanon that salarians from one specific continent -that then became the "cultural norm" over imperialism and complications- were confronted, in a continental way, to a huge hurricane that led to incredible floods and then stagnant water and diseases, which really soured their relationship to water that was previously quite holy. This led to a very bitter enlightenment; their "Renaissance" came out of spite against nature rather than anything else, and a lot of previous ideas were abandoned for a time -then reclaimed, then abandoned again, then warped... It's complicated. :D