#imperfect Steven

[dragonuva]

Something nice for imp for once...

[t-t-tau-me]

I turned your Steven marketable, idiot! Jk, have a plushie. @dragonuva

The tail is detachable thanks to a button at the base of the tail, optional just like the original reference.

I used a purple from a different character for the button since I thought it would be cute to use that as a detail. Imp's gem is a pink button shaped to look like a gem rather than just having the gem design on it. The pants are non-removable thanks to them being underneath the tail button (I'm totally not because I didn't plan that far ahead).

I use thread to sort of hint at his claws and even used a color of said claws for that extra pop.

I hope you guys like the plushie because it won't be the last! also remember to reblog and follow.

[fanart-for-life-bun]

Dargon meets imp @dragonuva

[screwpinecaprice]

AT with @dragonuva!

This absolute unit, Imp Steven. 😁 I super love drawing himmmm!

Just some more rambling about the possible future of my regular commissions under the cut.

As my laptop got (fixed?) adjusted recently, I've used this opportunity to try out if it can now handle regular commission work. It started to show something's up on the mild rendering process but the lag and laptop heating didn't actually got that bad until a bit further in the full rendering process. Still has a limitation it seems. I'm planning on testing it a second time on a different piece, then I'll decide whether regular commissions will be fully back the next month or not.

[villowstar]

could you draw Lapis Lazuli?

thank you for the ask!!

here is lapis on the beach!

[age-of-moonknight]

“Khonshu: Strikefile,” Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu (Vol. 1/2024), #0.

Writer: Jed MacKay; Penciler and Inker: Alessandro Cappuccio; Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg; Letterer: Cory Petit

[jackass-jones]

Honestly shoutout to Steven Universe for the representation of malachite and abusive relationships because it holds up really well and is still like one of the only abuse narratives I’ve seen that portrays how like. Abusive relationships aren’t as simple as “evil abusive person was constantly Mean and Bad to nice victim” like. Lapis is a realistic victim. She refused to leave the relationship because she longed to have connection with someone and she liked feeling as though she could have control for once, even though she really didn’t. She wasn’t nice and innocent, she felt anger and resentment and liked taking it out on Jasper. And despite how horrible it was, she deeply misses Jasper because it was the longest and deepest relationship she’s ever had with anyone and she didn’t know how to function without it

But Lapis is still a victim and we’re meant to care for her and understand where she comes from. She chose to stay with Jasper to keep others safe from her harm, and because she thought she herself deserved the abuse as a way of making up for everything bad she’s done. Jasper reminds Lapis over and over that she is a monster and that’s why they should be together, because Jasper is the only one who understands her. And when Lapis finally rejects their relationship, she mostly states it through what she herself felt and has done, saying that she didn’t like the person she became in that relationship and she never wants to feel like that ever again. It’s messy and complicated, just like how actual abuse is

Anyways yeah talk about a very good abuse narrative thanks steven universe

[dk-thrive]

The imperfect is our paradise. Note that, in this bitterness, delight, since the imperfect is so hot in us, lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.

— Wallace Stevens, from “The Poems of Our Climate" "Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate" by Harold Bloom (Cornell University Press, 1977)

[sudiamondszine]

💎 PREVIEW

Our next preview is our very first sidezine piece featuring the Imperfect!Steven AU by artist Dragonuva (linktree)!

[artistakai]

Spent the whole day drawing these

I thought I'd nickname her “PJ” was cute bc she wears pajamas and her name starts with a ‘P’

[dragonuva]

Yall know the meme by now.

[dragonuva]

YIPPEE

I turned your Steven marketable, idiot! Jk, have a plushie. @dragonuva

The tail is detachable thanks to a button at the base of the tail, optional just like the original reference.

I used a purple from a different character for the button since I thought it would be cute to use that as a detail. Imp's gem is a pink button shaped to look like a gem rather than just having the gem design on it. The pants are non-removable thanks to them being underneath the tail button (I'm totally not because I didn't plan that far ahead).

I use thread to sort of hint at his claws and even used a color of said claws for that extra pop.

I hope you guys like the plushie because it won't be the last! also remember to reblog and follow.

[ang3licmizery]

Rewatching Steven Universe rn, I can’t believe anyone ever made me hate this show.

[areyouwho-ithinkyouare]

sorry nope literally can’t help myself so if you haven’t seen douglas is cancelled yet then go watch it instead of reading the rest of this post because legitimately major spoilers for a show you absolutely should watch as un-spoiled as possible.

The thing i keep coming back to with this (still, at times, genuinely flawed) show, is how i actually cannot think of any piece of media that tackles rape culture this specifically. This is not about rape. It is not a #metoo story - it’s about the culture that enables rape. It’s very very specifically NOT about sexual harassment/assault/coercion itself. Madeline brushes her feelings about Toby off - she gets to hate him forever but that’s simple. What matters to her is the man who was meant to be one of the good ones, who would never ever treat a woman the way Toby treated her, but who turned around and walked away when he saw that she was terrified and alone in Toby’s room. Who turned the traumatic experience he knew she had gone through into a quippy little one-liner to laugh about at parties, diminishing her work in the process. THATS the kind of man this show is calling out. And it’s about the women too - the wife desperately trying to stop her husband from admitting to anything while accusing madeleine of fucking him. The daughter who refuses to believe that her dad would ever lie to her. 

[transfaguette]

It's less that Steven universe didn't kill the fascists and more that they had fascists in the first place AND didn't really punish them in the slightest

listen man. did steven universe really “have fascists.” or was it fundamentally a story about emotions and love and family and growing up with the set dressing of something more grand to make it exciting. which, i’m not even saying they never wanted to make sociopolitical statements, they did, or that the wires between the themes and worldbuilding never got crossed in bad ways. but maybe you could just walk away saying “well, that was imperfect and I would have handled things differently” and understand this criticism only exists through the lens of hyperliteralism and also years of smear campaigns against the creator.

[renthony]

A significant amount of my opinions about modern queer television are influenced by researching older queer media.

I see a lot of the same vitriol in modern queer fandom discourse that has been playing out in queer spaces since film and television were invented. Shows in the 70s started making steps toward sensitivity consulting in queer media, even as the networks fought them on it. Imperfect but earnest queer representation was met with aggressive protests by homophobes and queer people who thought it wasn't good enough. The argument over good representation vs no representation has been happening for decades and decades.

You spend enough time immersed in old queer media and you really start to vibe with Harvey Fierstein's words in The Celluloid Closet documentary. Or at least, I do.

Harvey Fierstein: "I liked the sissy. Is it used in negative ways? Yeah, but, my view has always been visibility at any cost."

The way I see it, the way to genuine, loving queer representation that showcases a vast array of experiences is to stop demanding perfection. The fewer queer stories that are allowed to exist, the more of the heavy lifting those stories have to do in the representation department.

When we have numerous queer stories, it's suddenly much less important to argue over whether the queer characters in question are "good" or "positive." They can just be queer characters who exist in the same infinite variety as straight characters. They can be messy, they can be flawed, they can be honest portrayals of the complexity of human existence.

Queer representation will never be perfect, and striving for perfection is how we shoot ourselves in the foot.

Some starter reading for those interested:

Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV (revised edition) - Steven Capsuto

Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture - Matt Baume

The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies - Vito Russo