#is roller derby only for women?

[ft-nostalgia]

So I started rewatching The Van Gogh Job and was saying (to myself) how I was so excited for a roller derby episode, but it isn't really. Which means we can still steal a roller derby! Put it on the list, someone!

[mahikamihan]

hhhhno thoughts only roller derby

[teabookgremlin]

one of my favorite childhood gay moments of mine was when one time i was at a roller derby match with my parents and some friends. this match happened to be between a women’s team and a men’s team. now whenever i went to roller derby, i liked to get skaters to sign my program. this night i REFUSED to let any of the men’s team sign my program even tho my friends were getting their programs signed by them.

[ariqueery]

So a while ago I saw a post with the coolest vintage tshirt and I instantly fell in love and decided I needed it in my life:

I searched REALLY hard for the original copyright holder to see if I could buy one, including digging up the original source of the image (the Lesbian Herstory Archives) to find out that WMP stands for WomanMade Products, and eventually stumbled across a feminist bookstore with the same name. I called expecting to get the runaround for a week and then be told they couldn’t find the creator, but she actually picked up the phone herself! Becky Bly has been in business since 1976, created this design in the early 80s, and said as long as I wasn’t selling it, I could reproduce it!

I ended up having to redraw it by hand because the original scan was skewed (there was much wailing) and got to work. Ignore how sloppy the pattern is, I fixed most of it while stitching.

I then immediately put it down and forgot about it for weeks until I realized Pride was right around the corner and frantically picked it back up. I took it with me to a roller derby match to work on during the breaks and ladies, if you haul out embroidery that says “dyke” on it at roller derby, you will IMMEDIATELY have lots of queer women talking to you. This has been Ari’s Top Tips.

I then forgot about it for another week and a half until I realized Pride was in two days and started sewing as fast as I possibly could, bruising my finger where I braced the needle. I finished it at 1:30 am the night before Pride:

This is the best thing I’ve ever done. I am obsessed with it and keep staring at it. Everyone at Pride thought it was amazing and I got SO many compliments that went straight to my head. One person at temple asked if they could commission me to make one for them and I got to say “sorry :( I only got permission to make it for myself :(” instead of “the amount of labor that went into this is going to COST you, I don’t think you want to pay that much.”

Thanks again to Becky Bly for permission to reproduce this, I am going to use this bag until it falls apart and then probably make another one lol. Go check her out if you’re interested in her work!

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Earlene Dennis Brown

Earlene Dennis Brown, a three-time Olympian, was the first African American woman to win a medal in the shot put. Throughout her life Brown excelled in a variety of sports, gaining attention, recognition, and honors. She is the only shot-putter to compete in three consecutive Olympics (1956, 1960, 1964). Brown won Olympic bronze for Women’s shot put in 1960; was Amateur Athletic Union Champion in shot put (1956-62, 1964); won Amateur Athletic Union Championship, discus (1958-59, 1961); won gold medal in shot put, silver medal in discus, USA-USSR dual meet (1958); was shot put and discus champion, Pan-American Games (1959); and placed 12th in shot put, Tokyo Olympics (1964).

Earlene Dennis, born July 11, 1935, in Latexo, Texas to Espenola Tillis Dennis, a domestic servant, and Willie Dennis, a semipro baseball player with the Negro League in Texas. When her parents separated in 1938, Dennis remained with her mother and they moved to Los Angeles in 1945. Dennis’s mother married Julius Walker in 1946. Dennis attended Jordan High School in South Central Los Angeles, where she excelled in track and field. Her athletic ability was noticed by many, including Adeline Valdez, Dennis’s high school gym teacher, Josephine Spearman, and Coach Clarence Mackey, who tried to get her to compete in the Helsinki Olympics (in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland). Valdez is credited with putting the first discus in Dennis’ hands while her history teacher taught her to shot put. Before competing in shot put and discus, Dennis anchored the relay team.

In 1956, Brown finished in the top ten in the shot put and the discus. In 1958 Brown received the #1 world ranking and became the first American to break the 50-foot barrier. Brown won gold medals in the shot put as well as discus events at the Pan American Games in 1959. At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 Brown placed 12th in the shot put.

Brown retired from the shot put competition in 1965. The same year she took up another sport, roller derby. Brown’s career in skating began as a blocker for the New York Bombers.

In 1975, Brown retired from all athletic ventures and worked as a beautician to provide for herself and family. On May 1, 1983, Earlene Dennis Brown passed away in Compton, California at the age of 47. On December 1, 2005, Earlene Brown was posthumously inducted in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame by the USA Track and Field (USATF) Association during the Jesse Owens Awards and the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida.

[riff-is-on-a-fucking-crisis]

the transmasc-transfem besties /hc

took me a while to make overdrive and tessla's designs to work

Once again, Extra Headcanons

Overdrive

Same height as Tessla(5'9"), but the height difference varies if he's wearing insoles.

Has 3 older siblings, 2 sisters and a brother, one of which is his twin.

Fluent in Spanish and Tagalog, and learning ASL just so he can communicate with Kinetic.

Grew up to be rather sporty, even partaking in dodgeball, track, and roller derbies as a teen.

In contrast to being sporty, Overdrive can also play the bass and keytar.

TERRIBLE at lying, especially since he's known for being an honest person.

Gets along rather well with women, but his interactions with men tend to differ.

When it comes to Overdrive's relationship with Cap, it would sometimes be described as... complicated (they're in a situationship)

Tessla

Tends to go on a few solo missions, and would often leave notes behind to let others know.

Out of all of her teammates (aside from Cap), Tessla had history with Overdrive and Glimmer long before the team even became a thing.

Although she has control of her powers, they do tend to get out of hand, even draining her energy in the process.

Well-aware of her looks and strength, but prefers to not show it off.

Is the only hero in her team who can run in heels.

Similar to Overdrive, Kinetic, and Glimmer, Tessla has a soft spot and is pretty good with kids.

Eventhough she can manipulate electricity, she's terrified of thunderstorms.

Is completely unaware of Atomic being intimidated by her.

[womenties]

Jamming it up in Roller Derby

Had I been in this rink before? If so, it was back in Junior high school in the late 1970s, when roller skating added music, lights, and fun to a teen’s life. If you were lucky, the rink dimmed the overhead lights so strobes and fluorescent lighting illuminated the ground where your quad skates slid across the wooden floor. But today was 2024 and this ole 59’er hadn’t tried roller skating since she was a teen, making this new sport of Roller Derby an interesting prospect. The thing that happens as you approach your sixth decade of life is your center of weight shifts as your weight increases. Sure, I run half marathons, but that’s easy when your feet hit the pavement and nothing is rolling beneath you. I think my last 8-mile run, which took over an hour, was easier than standing on roller skates for one hour. New experiences give you realistic points of view you wouldn’t gain otherwise.

So, there I was, along with one other 50-year-old woman celebrating her birthday by trying roller derby, and twenty 20- and 30-year-olds, prime for the adventure. The women there were fantastic – friendly, some apprehensive like me, some excellent at the sport already, and accepting of all others in the room. No matter your size, age, gender identification, or skill, every woman was welcome, just like rugby. The Central New York Roller Derby organization based in my hometown of Rome, NY was well organized and coached. Their leaders made sure we had the essential equipment on – helmet, elbow pads, mouth guards, wrist guards, knee pads, and quad skates. For $50, you get all the rented equipment plus eight weeks of lessons and activity making it a reasonably priced sport to try. They were patient and helpful with the newbies.

Like every sport, we began with warmups. I particularly liked doing pushups and sit-ups with roller skates on. It added some weight to the exercises. Then it was time to stand up and try gliding on the skates. I say this with the hesitation that’s intended. It takes a while to find your center of gravity and fearlessness to push off, glide, and stop without falling down. Okay, I did fall two times until I figured out to lean forward not back in my stance. Like anything in life, you have to adjust to new centers of balance. Then we got off our skates and learned about the key derby positions of jammers and blockers and did a few activities like getting into positions as blockers to stop the jammers and how to become a pivot blocker if you receive the jammer star/cover when it is handed to you. What I learned only from this small exercise is I need to watch a YouTube video on roller derby to piece it all together so I understand it better the next time I try it. I did this before trying rugby and it helped my comprehension level immediately. Don’t call it necessary due to my age, but rather because I learn best by seeing, and not hearing.

As our two-hour stint came to an end, we gathered for a group photo as buddies who experienced something new and fun for the first time. I vowed to go back next week to try it again since I felt it needed more time to say I tried the sport. I already have a new group of Syracuse roller derby sisters who want to carpool to Rome and a new roller derby name to try out – Pinky Habanero. Every roller derby chick has a nickname. I met Squash, BAM, Dead, Sunshine, Meli, and more. All I can tell you is if you want to feel young again (in some ways) and old (in other ways), try out roller derby at your local skating rink. Put on those four quads, helmet, and find your center of balance, smile, give yourself a badass name, and get into the rink. I promise you’ll smile, laugh at yourself, and even realize you can be humble, and somewhat graceful while trying something new.

[midnightliar]

Ive taken note of your preference for both women being athletes but wasn't sure how you feel about them being team mates vs lovers so here's a bit of both.

One of my absolute gave korrasamu fics I already shared as a response on your lament: #22, sato, shooting guard by

Other than that we have:

- freeway series by sterlinglass, 19k words, baseball rivals (one plays for each of the LA teams)

- she's the man by Konan8994, 100k words, absolutely what it says on the tin

- only by the night by Valkyrees, 25k, roller Derby teammates (can't have a sapphic sports rec list without roller Derby)

- Rio 2016 by YennaWang, 40k words, olympian swimmer x volkeybal player

- take what you want by bigmack42, 95k, motocross up & comer vs motocross comeback maker. As close as I'm gonna get to the F1 AU my heart desires.

thank you i might need some of this 😭

[justinssportscorner]

John Russell at LGBTQ Nation:

A New York judge overturned a Long Island county’s ban on trans women and girls participating in women’s and girls’ sports.

As the Associated Press reported, on Friday Judge Francis Ricigliano ruled that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R) “acted beyond the scope of his authority” when he issued his February 22 executive order banning the Nassau County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Museums from issuing permits to women’s and girls’ sports teams that include transgender athletes. The executive order would have affected 100 athletic facilities and would have been a de facto ban on trans women and girls participating in recreational sports in the county. Ricigliano’s decision is the result of a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the Long Island Roller Rebels, a Nassau County-based women’s roller derby league, challenging Blakeman’s executive order. Citing New York’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and guidance from the state Division of Human Rights, the league argued in its lawsuit that Blakeman’s order constituted discrimination based on gender identity, which is explicitly prohibited in the state. However, the judge’s ruling focused only on Blakeman’s authority as county executive to issue the anti-trans order.  

Glad to see Nassau County’s bigoted ban on trans women playing in women’s sports struck down.

[samoililja]

i had a really shitty and transphobic experience at roller derby earlier. if the event was only meant for women and femmes they should've mentioned it in the brochure instead of first saying it was for "everyone" since that's clearly not what they meant

[music-for-them-asses]

One thing I love about roller derby is nationally they're one of the only sports that welcomes trans and GNC people in their leagues. I'm sure it varies from league to league, but overall it's pretty chill about it. No other women's sport is that inclusive.

[singlecrow]

For the fic meme! Any of these that you feel like answering I'd love to hear about! I saw in an earlier ask that one of your 'guilty pleasures' is miserable h/c and also I know you love your AUs so I'm following up on those by asking:

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

and

L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with?

and I swear I didn't just go down the alphabet in order on purpose but I'd also be very curious to know:

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Hi Rosie! thank you for these excellent questions I like them a lot!

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

I tend to dither about angsty ideas and then go ahead and write them anyway. The angstiest story I have ever written (in modern times? I was much worse about this when I first started writing fic) is Samhain (when you hear the river rising). Hawkeye, in that one, turns out to (maybe?) be escaping within his mind from a horrible abusive reality. It's meant to be a scary story, but it came down on the angst as well as creepy sides. There's also a couple of apocalyse AUs in various fandoms, and this odd dystopian MASH AU though the notes say I wrote it for a friend so maybe it wasn't entirely my idea!

One thing I don't do even in angsty stories, though, is violence against women. It's a conscious decision which I've always stuck to. I'm not sure why that's different, but it feels like it.

Also, I am way in my Murderbot feels and I don't think that's a fandom you and I share but I hope you'll forgive me for manifesting an idea that is lingering at the back of my mind that I don't want to write! really don't! but is sticking with me anyway.

For the Murderbot folk then: on this reread I've been wondering about the canon divergence AU where Murderbot doesn't have the hacked governor module on the first PreservationAux survey. Everything goes wrong similarly, but without it, the PresAux gang don't escape. But, Mensah can't be killed by GreyCris because killing a major political leader will start a full-on war.

So this is a cheerful story that starts with Murderbot killing the rest of PresAux and then standing guard over Mensah while the corporates try and negotiate with her as a hostage. BUT. as we know, the governor module doesn't change an individual's personality, only their means of expressing it. So it's had the same experiences. it still loves her, it still wants to save her, it just... can't. And she has no idea that it's even a person rather than a faceless killing machine.

The thing is, I think this is a good story! That idea of a prisoner and a captive, Mensah as prisoner in body and Murderbot as prisoner in mind. But, ah. Angst. Maybe.

L: What’s the weirdest AU you’ve ever come up with?

Definitely the roller derby AU. And, I don't know if you'd call it an AU, but triple shot and extra hot raises the important question of what would happen if Starbucks opened an establishment on Deep Space Nine. What I like about that one is it absolutely follows the premise to its logical conclusion. Someone in the comments was like, I thought this was a joke and it was just a series of vignettes of various characters meeting in a cafe but no it's actual Starbucks on actual DS9. I was very proud of myself.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

I am trying to focus on my other work right now so don't have anything fanficcish that I'm working on (except my little project for your exchange). But I'm still really fascinated by the cis girl Hawkeye idea and I've actually got about 2000w of it stowed away. Here is a bit.

“Here,” BJ says, throwing Hawkeye a spare blanket. “Our stove unionised a couple of days back. Better to just wrap up before it goes out.”

Hawkeye grabs it. “Who are you writing to, your wife?”

“Yeah.” BJ pauses, then reaches behind him for another letter, with every inch covered with dense, narrow script. “Listen, what do you think that says?”

Hawkeye follows his pointing finger. “I’m taking Erin to Mom and Dad for a week,” she reads. “That way she’ll get some experience of— huh. Your wife is taking your kid to your in-laws for dysentery?“ 

“I thought diabetes,” BJ says. “Potter thought dressmaking.”

“Dystonia,” Hawkeye says thoughtfully. “Dreams. Dracula.”

“It’s definitely not a capital D,” BJ says. “Which is of course the only reason my wife isn’t taking my daughter to Ohio to meet the king of the vampires."

Hawkeye laughs. It’s warm in here, despite the stove withdrawing its labour, and she’s starting to relax a little as the nightmare lifts. “You settling in okay around here, then?” she asks. “I remember my first few weeks. They were brutal.”

“Yeah,” BJ says, holding up his hands. He’s looking at Hawkeye like he’s never seen her before: Hawkeye in bathrobe over pyjamas and sweatshirt. Hawkeye is average height for a woman, which makes her about a foot shorter than BJ, and keeps her hair tied back in plaits. She never eats enough because the food here tastes like used sanitary napkins, so she’s slighter and more angular than she was in civilian life. She knows that if she hadn’t met BJ off the transport plane; if she hadn’t been driven him across hostile country for forty miles while being shot at, he would think she was fragile.

“Hey,” BJ says gently. “How’d you end up doing this? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Hawkeye tilts her head. “If you mean, how does a woman end up doing this, then that’s what you should say.”

“You.” BJ is stubborn. “I figure, you and I are going to be working together a while. Why shouldn’t we get to know each other?”

“You’ve just got a ‘satiable curiosity, haven’t you, Dr Hunnicutt?” Hawkeye murmurs, worrying the frayed edge of her sleeve between two fingers.

“I have to,” BJ says. “Not like there’s much else to do, here on the banks of the great grey-green greasy Limpopo.”

So I would like to finish that! But it has a plot and stuff, which I don't have time for right now. In due course.

[lboogie1906]

Earlene Dennis Brown (July 11, 1935 - May 1, 1983) a three-time Olympian, was the first African American woman to win a medal in the shot put. She excelled in a variety of sports, gaining attention, recognition, and honors. She is the only shot-putter to compete in three consecutive Olympics (1956, 1960, 1964). She won Olympic bronze for Women’s shot put in 1960; was Amateur Athletic Union Champion in shot put (1956-62, 1964); won Amateur Athletic Union Championship, discus (1958-59, 1961); won gold medal in shot put, silver medal in discus, USA-USSR dual meet (1958); was shot put and discus champion, Pan-American Games (1959); and placed 12th in shot put, Tokyo Olympics (1964).

She was born in Latexo, Texas to Espenola Tillis Dennis, a domestic servant, and Willie Dennis, a semipro baseball player with the Negro League. When her parents separated in 1938, she remained with her mother and they moved to Los Angeles. She attended Jordan High School in South Central, where she excelled in track and field. Before competing in shot put and discus, she anchored the relay team.

She attended Compton Junior College and completed a machinist training program. She joined the Amateur Athletic Union. She married Henry Brown, a brick mason. The couple had a son.

In 1956, she finished in the top ten in the shot put and the discus. In 1958 she received the #1 world ranking and became the first American to break the 50-foot barrier. She won gold medals in the shot put as well as discus events at the Pan American Games in 1959. At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, she placed 12th in the shot put.

She retired from the shot put competition in 1965. he took up roller derby. her career in skating began as a blocker for the New York Bombers.

In 1975, she retired from all athletic ventures and worked as a beautician to provide for herself and her family. She was posthumously inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame by the USA Track and Field Association during the Jesse Owens Awards and the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Jacksonville, Florida. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[cordycepsfem]

Pageboy Readthrough, Part Eleven

All the previous parts can be found here.

Previously

EP goes to Oregon and learns about Permaculture

EP is extremely closeted

EP gets shingles while making Inception

that's it

Now

Chapter Fifteen

EP dates a woman who is very closeted

they have a wonderful, very closeted relationship

eventually they realize it's not going to work out

later EP sees her at a party with a man

the chapter ends with the line Someone will break your heart but you will break one too.

Chapter Sixteen

we jump back to EP's childhood; she asks to be allowed to play soccer with the coed league one extra year, which is granted

"not precisely meaning it" but telling the truth all the same

EP talks abut moving into puberty and hating periods, needing a bra, etc., which I'm sure literally only affected her and has nothing to do with how almost every other teenage girl on the planet feels

two things here: 1) "other boys" sure EP; 2) "euphoria" - using "euphoria" to describe oneself or one's gender did not start when EP was a kid and even so, kids don't think that way about themselves, as "euphoric"... that's a very adult, usually trans, way of looking at things and it's pretentious. Ask me when I've ever felt "euphoric" about my body and I'll probably say playing roller derby or swimming, or maybe running pushing my sister in a 5K, and even then "euphoric" seems far too grand and, again, pretentious, for what I felt. I felt confident, I felt powerful, I felt happy, and those were the words I'd use.

a third thing, I guess - it's distressing to learn that one's body no longer fits clothes one enjoyed, but life sometimes is like that, and one learns that boys and girls can wear shorts, pants, T-shirts, etc. This period of time didn't mean needing to give up wearing certain clothes or to start wearing other clothes. It just meant EP would have to purchase them from the dreaded "girls" section

EP talks about going to a friend's house and being permitted to wear swim trunks as a kid, which she describes in a tone nearly orgasmic

... y'know girls and women can wear swim trunks too, EP? I swim in them.

this regressive "gender is clothes" gets me every time I read this and for some reason I always forget how dumb it is

EP meets a gay man:

you recognized yourself in a gay man? the kind of gay man who's on TV, so a collection of stereotypes? EP, even now you don't act like that, so what were you recognizing in this man?

(also, does this man know you wrote about him this way? I'd hate to find myself written about in this manner by someone I barely knew - "She was the kind of lesbian they showed on TV sometimes. The way she dressed comfortably, the way she didn't shave her legs, the way she talked about flea markets, the way she listened to Julien Baker, the way she moved... a lesbian person, you know, like a normal human woman." Jesus Christ. I'd want the book burned.)

EP goes to a water park with a friend:

EP I swear to all that is good and holy I need you to stop referring to other people as "queers" without their permission. Don't ask me how I know, but I know this person would not want to be referred to as "a queer" in your book. Why the fuck would you do this? And you weren't "a queer" at age nine, you were a girl with short hair.

And yes, once again, women can wear swim trunks and in certain places go around with their chests out. I wear swim trunks and rash guards to swim. Once again, gender is just clothes.

EP goes into how euphoric she is to not have to wear a shirt and how she can wear swim trunks and swim and feel the sun on her body or whatever.

be careful with your scars, sunburns will fuck them up

I will admit here that this part, while so weirdly enraging and confusing like the rest of the book, made me feel unhappy and jealous for a couple of reasons. First is that my own BDD and dysphoria have made it hard to want to look at my own body or feel neutral, let alone euphoric, about it. When I'm swimming I don't care, because my body's in the water and it's doing things, but in general I hate everything around it - getting dressed in the Y locker room, peeling off my heavy, stuck swim clothes afterwards, etc. I am deeply jealous of someone who feels so comfortable in their own skin that way.

Second I'm unhappy because I wonder how things would have turned out if I'd been born just a few years later. I'm too old for a school-age diagnosis of autism, too old for knowing what "lesbian" meant in elementary school, too old for discussions about gender amongst my friends. I don't like to think that I would have been pushed in the direction of "trans'ing my gender" if I was among the youths now, but I don't know who I'd be, either.

I am glad that no matter how much I hate my own body from time to time, I know that no matter how much I change it, I'll still always be me. I'll still always be female. My body is more than the nebulous, unnecessary concept of "gender" - it allows me to do the things I want, to love the people I care about, to show up for work - my body is me. I have time to learn how to love my body for what it is.

This book makes me fucking maudlin.

[rappaccini]

Is there any books or movies you can recommend for someone who loved gwen stacy as a character? Something with characters similar to her or themes similar to her stories

sure! i'm assuming you mean spider-gwen and not gwen-616 though so hopefully i was right to do that

movies

bottoms: if you want a gay high school comedy, just imagine glory in ayo edebiri's role and em jay in havana rose liu's and you'll have a great time.

the runaways: if you want a drama that feels like a mary janes slice of life, watch this

whip it: a rebellious teenage girl from a small, conservative town joins a roller derby team. the mc, bliss, has a real gwen vibe.

... and like, the amazing spider-man movies

books (but mostly comics*)

the refrigerator monologues: an anthology written because of gwen's death in tasm2, full of meta about the fridged women of comics.

something is killing the children*: a small town being terrorized by monsters is visited by a monster hunter, erika, and the shadowy organization she left. erika feels... not quite like gwen, but what gwen could be.

supergirl: woman of tomorrow*: supergirl and a little girl go on a galaxy-crossing revenge quest. supergirl's characterization is another one that feels very gwennish.

and i know you didn't ask for this but tv shows

dark: german netflix series about time travel. the third season in particular follows the male protagonist’s love interest as she becomes the protagonist. she's got a gwen-617 vibe that'll only make sense in context.

i am not ok with this: so short it's basically a movie. a queer girl manifests superpowers after her father's death.

jessica jones: idk how canon this is to the mcu, but the first season's great. messy female private investigator gets closure on a traumatic event from her past. jess feels like what gwen could be in her 30s.

orphan black: a group of women discover they're clones from an illegal experiment, are being watched by the corporation that made them, and are being hunted by an unknown party. probably the closest slam-dunk in terms of a protagonist similar to gwen and the themes you're probably looking for.

we are lady parts: about an all female british muslim punk band. if you're looking for a series about a band dynamic like the mary janes, watch this.

and a videogame

oxenfree: a group of teens are stranded on a haunted island and have to escape before they’re possessed by spirits. the protagonist, alex, is mourning her dead brother. this one feels very evocative of the bonfire gwen and co go to the summer after peter's death.

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

If you have to rake all the season of American, dad which season is the best

Oh geez there’s a lot that would go into something like that, I’d have to do a full rewatch of the show. How about a top ten list of the best episodes instead?

1. Jeff Space Arc (Lost in Space)

Jeff Fischer remains the most earnest character in American Dad. While every other member of the smith family is inherently selfish to some degree or another, Jeff is defined by adoring his wife Hayley and loving her family dearly. The Jeff in Space arc is a culmination of this, with several episode dedicated to his journey from space to home after being taken by Rogers people. The episodes are funny and contain a special kind of heart really only reserved for Jeff. The best of these episodes is Lost in Space where his love for his wife is directly called into question and proven without a doubt, but really any episode in this arc is worth a watch.

Cry Baby

Stan Smiths emotional volatility is something the show loves to toy with in its later seasons, and this is one of the funniest. When Stan can’t cry he’s passed up on a mission, so to learn how he enlists his son Steve to teach him empathy. Only to realize that having empathy is too much for him, at which point he tries to remove Steve’s. This episode has nonstop great one liners and is constantly left turning into a new, unexpected joke.

Wild Women Do

Francine and Jeff are both the strongest characters in the Smith family. Francine is a wild card with a crazy past and Jeff is willing to go along with anything if asked. So there’s no better vehicle for fun than these two going out for a wild night on the town.

The Devil Wears A Lapel Pin

Hayley is a character who’s episodes can be hit or miss, but when the show focuses on her relationship with her father it manages to be pretty strong, and this is the apex. When Stan enlists Hayley’s aid as an assistant while making the CIA yearly calendar, Hayley uses it as a chance to get revenge on Stan for his refusal to show pride in her. Great episode, great comedy, and one of my favorite Jeff moments.

LGBSteve

When an all women roller derby team invites him to join their group, Hayley convinces him to join so she can have girl friends. But when Hayley gets jealous of Al the attention Steve gets and outs that he’s a boy, the rest of the team admit that they assumed Steve was trans causing Steve to question his own gender in a positive way, spending with the idea that Steve is comfortable identifying as male but is also comfortable have GNC qualities. It’s really fun and very sweet. Some really solid work on the trans journey and how questioning gender can be very healthy, even if you realize you’re comfortable being cis.

Rubberneckers

Toonrific Tariq once said that American Dads relationship with rap is so complicated it’s kinda impossible to talk about, and that’s certainly true of rubberneckers which is a musical episode featuring everything from R&B, to rap, to hip hop, to gospel style music all centered around the act of “Rubbernecking” and the consequences Stan facing after lying about the cause of an auto accident to his insurance adjuster.

Gold Top Nuts

American Dad pontificates on what it means to be human, to create a society, and to create religion. All with the express purpose of discussing why we can’t just forget the things people have done to us, but we can be kinder in the future and treat people better moving forward

Rabbit Ears

A classic Twilight Zone riff that’s just very solidly made.

The Great Space Roaster

Roger attempts to kill the family after his birthday roast makes him too insecure. Funny ass episode I have no notes.

A Starboy is Born

The Weeknd stars in this episode as himself and sings a song about secretly being a virgin because it gives him magic powers. It’s delightful.