#mainstream media better step up their game

[qqueenofhades]

I think the Aaron Sorkin fic people are writing about the convention to be extremely silly. It's going to be Biden. And if Biden's health takes a downturn and he feels the need to step down its going tk be Harris. This fantasy where we skip over her to whip up two random white guys(or like maaaybe Witmer) and somehow cruise to victory instead of fragmenting the party months before the election is simply not going to happen.

Look, I'm just saying, I got an email from the Biden campaign this morning where they seemed pretty darn happy with the actual (i.e. not-bloviating media) results of the debate: $38 million raised in 4 days ($30 million from individual small-dollar donors), 10K new volunteers in a week, 3x surge in campaign volunteers for battleground states, essentially no change or even a modest boost in the polls. So I think at this point, we can cautiously conclude the following things:

The debate looked bad for Biden, perhaps, but doesn't seem to have hurt him nearly as much the incredibly bad-faith BIDEN NEEDS TO STEP DOWN NOW takes being pumped out by the NYT and its other compatriots would suggest. Especially when these same media outlets have been gleefully sabotaging Biden at every turn for years already and whose fake-sanctimonious hand-wringing "for the good of the nation" pieces honestly should get them dropped into Superhell for Bad Journalists;

Biden went to Raleigh NC right after the debate and gave a fiery rally speech that was very well received. Now, I don't know why we didn't have that Biden at the debate, but it was the same night and there clearly was not any "cOgnItiVe dEcLinE" happening there (also Biden has a stutter and has for literally his entire life, and had a cold on debate night, so it was just an unfortunate confluence of factors)

There are very few actually undecided voters in this election (once again: HOW???) and those who tuned into the debate were largely already convinced of which candidate they were voting for and this didn't do much to change their minds. Just like, you know, pretty much every other debate in the history of presidential elections.

Ordinary voters, and not mainstream media outlets with BIDEN IZ BAD goggles clamped over their eyes, were able to see Trump's insane Gish gallops, lies, and full-blown dementia; this isn't going to get any better for him when he's already lost 20%-25% of GOP voters in every state primary and still is going to be sentenced in his criminal trial;

The D.C. political elite screaming about how Biden should step down (FOUR MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION) and leave the Democrats to start from scratch with some Star Chamber-selected candidate with no money and no incumbency record and no organization apparatus and a divided party are either fucking weapons grade morons or working secretly for Trump, because that IS in fact the best way to lose the election;

Such speculation seems to fall chiefly on Gavin Newsom, who (to his credit) has shut down any and all suggestion that he should try to step in and take the place of an incumbent who has won every state primary with 90% or more, because he's remotely sane and understands that this year is too important to fuck around with;

I've somehow never seen any suggestion that Biden should step aside for the duly elected (brown, female) Vice President, because everyone seems to think some Young Miraculous White Guy is coming and/or should step in;

All this while SCOTUS is clearly so confident of Trump getting back in that it's willing to grant him Absolute God King status pre- and post-emptively;

Yes, Biden needs to up his game before the next debate (though that's on Fox News iirc, blargh), but I think it's far enough post-debate that we can say it was bad but did not sink him, and if anything, reinforced the fact to many ordinary, non-brainwormed voters that Biden is old (which has been the number one chief theme of news coverage for four years and is no surprise to anyone) but is a decent and principled man doing a good job, while Trump is an absolute gibbering insane orange shitmonger fascist. I don't think he did himself any favors in that regard.

....anyway. The point is, do not be fucking insane people, Biden is not going to step down and frankly shouldn't, don't read the NYT (as noted, they've openly admitted to sabotaging him for personal ego reasons so I don't know why the hell anyone would listen to what they have to say about him), this is still an eminently winnable election, and let's go get those motherfucking fascists. I want Trump in jail and all of SCOTUS and the MAGAGOP fucking crying over it because they fucking suck. Let's go.

[vio1315]

Man, idk how to express my thoughts lately

Thinking that maybe I just dislike art, but rather love artistry?

Not entirely sure but it's like

When I watch people discussing the sort of cinematography in a scene, or how the composition is indicating this or that

or hear people talk about consistent symbolism and all this

It's like

A thrill. It makes me want to make things.

But if I watch the actual scene or go through the media myself

I just do not care?

It is often that I torrent emotions and the like from others, so not sure if it's connected to that, but I'm not really sure why else it'd be that I can go through hundreds of pieces of art in various mediums and just

not care at all

And the things I do care about are generally considered mid at best from the majority of people

The thing that got me into kagepro was Mekakucity Actors which most people dislike

And it is kind of jank in a lot of places

Yet that was something I was passionate for. Yet I end up avoiding My Hero all this time, which must be something with polish?? Didn't really care for the modern Trigun.

The Rakugo anime? Yeah, hooked on that. Its target audience of 12 whole people. (It was a lot better done than MCA don't get me wrong)

One of my favorite pieces of media in general is Marble Hornets. A found footage yt series made on 0 budget and among people who mostly had limited acting experience at best

Favorite movie in recent times? Luca. Split like 50/50 on how people respond to that.

All the books I like are from like the 50's idk

Sable (the game) did something to me

Yet that was just a step above a walking sim depending on who you ask, and a bit buggy

Like

obviously I like some mainstream stuff too

mostly games

But there's a definite pattern. Just not sure what it means or how these two pieces of information fit together.

Like why is watching reviews so much more artistically motivating compared to actually engaging in media directly?

Heck my whole art inspo folder just about is full of things I don't care about anymore. I can't really find art I like anymore mostly, and even less so that I want to emulate

What exactly am I looking for with art that I struggle to find, but do find in analysis?

Not super sure

[real-life-senshi]

Thank you @hikamaus for the tag! I'm answering this as a way to get myself back onto making blog content for this blog!

The Rules: Tag (9) people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the following:

Four Ships:

Reinako (Hino Rei x Aino Minako from Sailor Moon franchise, but specifically in live action PGSM): Please feel free to visit my blog to fully understand the scope of my love for this ship. Words alone within a post is not enough! lol I think Reinako as a ship isn't necessarily considered officially canon, though the original manga's Stars arc suggest them favourited by Takeuchi Naoko to be together. Frankly it kinda came out of nowhere until the Rei and Minako's Girl School Battle side story, and then they are like glued together in the last arc of the manga, so it's a suggested slow burn? The live action is a whole different beast, these two were thrown into each other's lives like a tornado. Their story beautifully complex and messily dramatic for a supposed kids-oriented sentai-like serie. These two had me at a choke hold and my heart and soul was theirs ever since.

Swan Queen (Emma Swan x Regina Mills, Once Upon A Time): The ship I suffered heart aches from the most. The Savior and redeemed Evil Queen co-parenting a son, their character history and dynamic was filled with so much artful subtext and plot parallels, it was such a waste they didn't end up together. They had so much potential, but screw heteronormativity in consumed media. Literally they would have become the canon main pairing of the series had one of them been a man. *deep breath and heavy sigh*

Royai (Roy Mustang x Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist): " I want you to protect my back. Do you understand? To entrust my back to you means that you can shoot me from behind anytime. If I step off of the path, shoot and kill me with those hands. You are qualified to do that. Will you follow me?" from Roy to Riza pre-main story "Don't go where I can't follow." from Riza to Roy at the end of their series. They have so many other iconic moments together, but these two quotes will stay with me forever as the most romantic thing I've ever read. They are basically canon in a way where these two are confirmed to be at each other's side for eternity but their shared goals meant they'll likely never act on their feelings overtly. It's all about the subtext and knowing the shared layered history, and more importantly, the sins they wish to atone for, striving to make the word better.

Bumbleby (Blake Belladonna x Yang Xiao Long from RWBY): After 8 volumes and 6 chapters with the most amazing slow burn story done well in mainstream media, these two officially became canon very recently. But at what cost? (jfc the developments of V9C7 and V9C8 was soul-shattering) But seriously though, Blake and Yang's chemistry was made clear from the very start. There's even significance to their character design - eye colours that mirrors each other's aura colour - the colour of one's soul! Like the signs were there even before the series STARTED. Then the darker, heavier elements of the story revealed itself starting the end of Volume 3, and we see both Yang and Blake making personal sacrifices for the sake of each other, without understanding the devastating impact of their different act of self-sacrifice had on each other. Both had personal challenges and barrier to overcome before they could commit themselves to each other. And boy, oh boy, how they bounced back stronger and more beautiful than ever! "She's not protecting me, and I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other!"

(Y'all all my ships are blonde x dark haired lol)

Last Song: Worthy sang by Casey Lee Williams, even if it's only the preview. I can't wait for the full song to be out. Yeah I'm still in the honeymoon phase of V9C6, trying to ignore C7 and C8.

Currently Reading: I've not really been reading anything, just trying to lose myself in video games. I'm slowly chipping away edits on Echoes of Time, so I guess I'm reading when I'm also writing?

Last Movie: I've not watched a movie in so long, I honestly have no clue. lol

Craving: I'm eagerly waiting Legend of Zela Tears of the Kingdom's release! I'm also wanting to get back to making gifs, illustration and liveblogging for the blog, but it's been tough. :(

Tagging: absolutely no pressure doing this. I'm just tagging coz it's the rule, though I certainly don't mind getting to know people better! I would love to get to know the folks who I consistently see supporting my work across the years but I don't think I've really chatted much with. Even though I don't always reply or react, I love seeing your names pop up in my activity! :) @myucornerorg @sailorscooby @sirazaroff @izazizan @koroktorok @luna-whiskerskers @papillon82fluttersby @zaruba-needslove @primasylph @fiftyen3 I wanted to tag you but I think you have tagging disabled? :(

[saystheonewithaguitar]

Dear Matt,

Thank you. As a new Critter (2022, how did it take me this long to discover D&D and Critical Role??), all I can say is that the arts has saved me multiple times in my life. The stage. Movies. Music. And now a TTRPG, of all things. I never thought I could be so emotionally invested and enraptured by a game. Sure, some games have tugged on my heartstrings-Final Fantasy 7, The Last of Us, and many more that I can't think of right now because I'm EMOTIONALLY WRECKED FROM EXU: CALAMITY?!??!!??! Like I legit had to go take a nap and I've just caught up on the first half that I missed and had to stop there. I need a few days to process before I rewatch the finale in one go, it was THAT good. Laughter. Sorrow. Heartbreak. The catharsis was much needed.

It's almost 5am in my part of the world, and I'm a sensitive soul who has been going through some really heavy shit in my own life, and Critical Role has been a light in the darkness. So even though ExU: Calamity broke me in the best possible way, it was, at the end of the day, a masterpiece in storytelling. Lightning in a bottle. This is what happens when talent, friendship, trust, kind hearts and a love for storytelling come together. Magic is created.

I wish, more than anything, that we, the human beings that populate this world, planet Earth, could work together like that instead of letting the "real life" equivalents of the Betrayer Gods fill our minds and souls with lies, greed, betrayal and evil. But for now, we have the containment and beauty of the arts to escape to when our hearts are weary.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

It’s funny how some minorities will shit themselves saying crap like “I’m so oppressed” and “this is a white supremacist society” and “the system is set up to hold me down” and most of the examples they give about this blatant systemic racism and oppression (when they aren’t making things up like “I’m in danger every time I step outside because every white person/man/straight/whatever wants to kill me!!!”) is all secret plots and dog whistles.

“They won’t call me in for an interview if my name sounds black!”

“I got pulled over for ‘driving while black’!”

“That man looked at me and I could tell he wanted to rape me!”

“I got passed up for a promotion because I’m a woman!”

“Everyone’s looking at me weird because I’m queer!”

“No one’s buying my book/seeing my movie/playing my game because I’m not a man!”

“They posted a picture of a cartoon frog that’s a secret code for racism!”

“I present female and this barista called me ma’am even though I’m a non-binary demiboy I was l i t e r a l l y attacked!”

And on and on and on.

Meanwhile, there are verified people on social media saying things like “kill all men” or “all I want for Christmas is white genocide” and they don’t even get their posts taken down, let alone have any real repercussions. Meanwhile, the government actively tried to give covid relief money to only non-white farmers. Meanwhile, several major companies released public ads saying things like “men need to do better” and “be less white” and aside from Fox News and a few less-than-mainstream news sites and blogs, pretty much all major media defended it. Meanwhile, a disabled boy was kidnapped and tortured on a live stream while his assailants screamed that they were doing this because he was white, and the only reason they were charged with a hate crime was because he was disabled. Meanwhile, nearly every major company has hiring policies and promotion policies and casting policies that discriminate against white men for nothing more than their skin color or gender, and nothing happens. 

When all of mainstream society is bending over backwards for you because of your skin color, or your gender, or your sexuality, you’re not oppressed and you don’t experience societal oppression. When you have to make up secret codes that the racists use because they can’t be racist to you in public, or you have to outright fake hate crimes because they aren’t happening often enough, you don’t live in a racist society. When there are, or were until recently, official government policies in place that strip due process from men who are accused of sex crimes by women, you don’t live in a patriarchy. When you can take a man to court because he won’t bake a cake for your gay wedding because it violates his religious beliefs and literally every court except the supreme court by the thinnest of margins wants to violate his 1st amendment rights and force him to bake the cake or lose his business, you don’t live in a religious theocracy that’s never less than two more days of a Republican in power from sending out anti-gay death squads.

Equality doesn’t exist and systemic oppression is visible and real, but it’s not you guys who are the victims. It’s the people you claim are trying to oppress you who are. You should enjoy it while you can, because someday the pendulum is going to swing back around and then you, or your children, will know what it’s like to be actually oppressed and held down, and it’s going to be nothing like the constant privilege and affirmation you have now.

[anxiouspotatorants]

It is time. It is finally time for the new Suicide Squad rant (and spoilers will be plentiful):

As someone who was into DC Comics and comics in the mid to late 2010s and had so much hype for the first Suicide Squad movie only to be let down, I was so nervous for this one. I knew it was going to be a roller coaster, but whether I would come out happy or disappointed was up in the air. Having just seen it I will say this: I have no idea if this was a good movie-movie. It was insane. The comedy. The violence. The high emotion. I’m still trying to take it all in. But one thing I do know is that this is an amazing Suicide Squad movie. Gunn and co took the best parts of the comic concept and went batshit with it and that is how this property should be handled (in my opinion). Screw edgelordisms, we need full on insanity free of aiming for shock-value or sexy brutality we want chaos baby.

Starting the whole movie as they did, with Savant as the POV for a mission (or part of the mission) that just goes to hell immediately and kills off so many before the title arrives is the perfect way to start this movie. Like the second I realized this was how they were doing it I was just smiling from ear to ear, this is the spirit of the property.

Part of me wishes we got more Amanda Waller, but what we had was impeccable. Then again, this is Viola Davis we’re talking about, and if she was born to play any character in a superhero story, it is Amanda Waller.

And points to her tech team, introducing them with the death bets was just a lovely way to show how regular this is and how awful everyone is in this movie.

I’m not going to pretend like Deadshot and Bloodsport didn’t have the exact same character- and plot premises… but I will say that Bloodsport felt better executed.

I love that they kept some of the past members and not just Harley. Rick Flag got to have a full personality and interactions with his team members and to be a true leader and it made me so happy for someone who initially did not give a single shit about his character. The Harley friendship? The Dubois friendship? The friendship with that guerilla leader? Amazing. The one American soldier in fictional media I genuinely like. You go Mr Flag.

The new members were… they were insane in the best way. Gone are the shitty stereotypes and present are some of the wackiest creations to ever grace the mainstream movie-sphere (aka the slightly less normal comic creations): A man who has to shoot out polka dots two times a day so as not to die from a space virus. A giant child murdering weasel. A guy who detaches his limbs and slaps people with said detached limbs. King Shark. The second person to command rats with a fancy gadget. They are all crazy and all weird and all more or less morally repulsive people and I love them.

The amount of times I did a double take over the soundtrack I swear. Jessie Reyez? The Pixies? It was so much fun to pick up on once I did.

Was the depiction of a vague Latin American country stereotypical? Yes. Was the secret American involvement predictable and felt mildly patronizing from a non-American, part Latina point of view? Yep. But damn it if I didn’t have a good time with those stereotypes and laugh my ass off at how well executed some were. I don’t know if it was meant as parody, but that one secretary has me thinking so — and if so I am pleased.

Speaking of Latino dictators Harley’s one day romance with one of the villains was something I never knew I needed. Like it was so perfect for Harley that when it happened I almost hit myself for not realizing that this kind of plot should be a normal thing for Harley. And the end of it? Perfect not only in this standalone movie, but also in conjunction with the first and with BoP.

The Taika Waititi cameo??? Oh my god??? I did not expect that and I love it?? Sir, What We Do in the Shadows is impeccable.

Rick Flag’s death actually surprised me. It shouldn’t as this is Suicide Squad, but I kind of expected him to be on Harley’s level of unkillable (because let’s face it, no one kills Harley). What I will say is that his death was good and his final words and actions made me love him all the more. I hope this spawns more Rick Flag content, or at least inspires me to look at what already exists, if he already is as this movie made him (it’s been ages since I read one of the Suicide Squad reboot comics okay).

Starro. How can a villain be so wacky and so terrifying at the same time? I did not expect a literal alien starfish to have more terrifying powers and a more tragic plot execution than Enchantress. But here we are. And that damn star just wanted to be floating in space, and instead it was stuck getting revenge by killing and puppeteering human corpses. Wow that thing was creepier the more you think about it.

I don’t know what I think about Polka Dot Man. I loved watching him on screen but also damn those mommy-issues were on a new level. Not just in his backstory but how he literally sees her in every person around him that was insane. Very funny but like also the kind that makes you laugh just because you’re uncomfortable and don’t know how else to releive the tension.

When Waller got knocked out by a staff member I immediately thought «oh my god Amanda Waller is going to kill half the staff for this», so I’m mildly surprised and disappointed that I didn’t get to see that happen. But also I should maybe expect something like this in a potential future Suicide Squad movie. We can’t have everything in a movie as packed as this.

Peacemaker was very horrible and worked really well. Don’t really have much to say about him, not because I didn’t enjoy him but because I already feel like the film itself has said it for me. But the planting and payoff for his death? Chef’s. Kiss.

Harley’s wardrobe was beautiful. Ratcatcher 2’s combat outfit felt like a steampunk plague dream. Bloodsport’s mask was supercool. Rick Flag’s t-shirt was amazing. But the best little outfit was the Mafalda-keychain and her red dress, hands down. Oh and King Shark’s fake moustache finger moment.

King Shark is shaped like a friend I don’t care how many people he ate alive on screen he looks so huggable. It feels like wanting to pet a bear. You know it will kill you but damn it look at those paws and those cute eyes!

I really need to give it to not just James Gunn but the entire production team for this movie. The aesthetic was perfect. The story was the right blend of whimsical and violent. The finished product was a literal rollercoaster and I mean that in a good way. If superhero movies have to be like amusement parks, I hope they’re more like this one and BoP.

I’ll finish on the note that while I think this movie was great and hopefully a step in the right direction for the DCU/DCEU (as in stop trying to play Marvel’s game and just do your own thing/ let your creative teams run wild and free), it is not the first step. Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey and the production team for it took a step first, and they deserve due credit and attention. If you loved this Suicide Squad movie and haven’t watched BoP yet, do so. Because they really are in the same ballpark while doing things in slightly different ways. And any good DCEU movie deserves more attention so the studios know that creativity and risks should be rewarded. I want more DC movies like this, not necessarily in genre but in creative risks. I want a Black Canary rock movie. I want Alfred in a reverse heist movie alone in the batcave against Gotham villains. I want Gotham Academy on screen play by play from the comics. I want a fully animated psychedelic-like Khalid Nassour as Dr. Fate movie. I want elevated horror movie Constantine. I want weird ass Lois Lane journalist movies with a heavy side of Superman. And I want DC movies I didn’t even know I wanted.

Support creativity in mainstream comic movies. Help me become a DC fan and happy about it again.

[mountain-man-cumeth]

What Went Wrong: An In-Depth Analysis of Muriel's Route

*Youtuber voice*

Below are the opinions of an uneducated individual on what could’ve left the majority of The Arcana audience dissatisfied. I will explore the plot, tropes, themes and morals of the Muriel route and try to explain what may have gone wrong. I will be treating the game as a novel since it's advertised as one.

1. Consistency. If you are unfamiliar with the chekhov's gun; it's a story writing principle that dictates each element you introduce should come into play (foreshadowing). Now let's start with a few story beats that were later abandoned or concluded in an underwhelming manner:

Muriel's blanket

Muriel's magic mark (on his back)

Forest spirit (spirits in general)

Lucio's upbringing

Circumstances of MC's death

Figurines/whittling/charms

Muriel's blanket is teased to be a tapestry, which would tie in with his later fascination with them later on, as it had been the only thing he had left from his past. MC neither sees nor comments on the blanket, we only know it exists thanks to other playthroughs and short stories.

Magic marks are an important point in the game. Every main route emphasises on how it affects the chosen LI. It's reveal is important in a way that it serves as a passage to a new act where the reader explores magic and Arcana pantheon as they are a monumental part of the overall worldbuilding. This exact point applies to the Heart of the Forest and how spirits interact with the world around them as well.

Whittling and Charm making are the only hobbies we get from Muriel's isolated life, their introduction helps the reader humanise the character by giving us a crumb of his everyday life. It's never mentioned again after the scene where MC asks him what he does. He doesn't idly whittle during their journey and charms only come to play in an offhanded reference during reversed ending.

The other two are also ignored but I will touch on Lucio later on.

Why do these matter? A few abandoned plot points don't make or break the story but on a grander level it hinders the audience investment. When we read, we like to think the details we notice will come to play eventually, we like recognizing references that were introduced earlier. I'm sure I don't need to give examples on this one, I don't think anyone will disagree.

2. Themes. Thematic influences this story utilized are all over the place, and it seems to me like it stems from the improper application of certain tropes;

The Hero's Journey

Home Sweet Home

Shell-Shocked Vet

Last of His Kind

etc.

Some of these tropes tackle themes such as;

Slavery

PTSD

Survivor's Guilt

Genocide

I'm not going to try to explain How to Write any of these topics. I'm not remotely qualified. I think it's better if I just give examples from popular media because whether you know how to write it or not, you can still understand when it's written well;

AtLA deals with genocide and survivor's guilt. It's in the name; The Last Airbender. Aang is the sole survivor of a culture he'd only had an opportunity to engage in for a handful of years. He left them with a childish tantrum and now they're gone forever. I can't think of another mainstream series that shows the gruesome reality of war and genocide better than this one.

When Muriel realizes his true heritage and loses Khamgalai is the point of the story where Luke sees his family's farm burned down, Aang goes back to the air temple, Treebeard walks in on the demolished part of the forest. (The inciting incident)

(Could also have been forest spirit’s death but it was too early in the story so I don’t consider it a missed opportunity.)

Up until this point the hero has their doubts, they're going through the motions but they are either underestimating the enemy or they're a passive protagonist. Either way, this is the point where the hero has to take the reins of the story. What purpose does this serve in Muriel's route instead? It simply validates Muriel's beliefs. He's useless, he isn't strong enough. We as the reader need a point to see where the hero takes a step to drive the story forward or whoever takes that step will steal the spotlight, it will be their story. As it is, this is the point where it ceases to be Muriel’s story.

PTSD got the worst end of the deal. Since Dragon Age fandom has a huge overlap with the Arcana I will use Fenris as an example; for those who are unfamiliar with the character, Fenris is an escaped slave. After the sex scene he vividly describes an experience that most people can easily identify as a flashback. The game never tells us that he was abused, it doesn’t show us him having a panic attack but it shows us that whatever transpired between him and the player character clearly triggered an unpleasant memory.

Arcana tries and initially succeeds to do something similar. We see that the character is untrustworthy, sensitive to touch, easily agitated, can’t sleep outside of his perceived safe environment… It introduces us the cause later on and the story has two options, each will drastically change the moral of the story:

Remember these as they will be important later on

Portray Muriel fighting as a bad thing; You can’t fight violence with violence angle or the fact that the villain’s forcing him into a situation where he’ll have to fight again makes the villain all the more intimidating.

Portray Muriel fighting as a good thing; He has the means to defeat the villain and he just needs encouragement. With great power comes great responsibility. By not fighting he willingly condemns everyone to an awful fate and that he is selfish.

I’d like to take a second to explore the 1. Option, I feel like the game may have intended to implement that idea but failed because of the implementation of Morga and choices presented for the player character: Morga is an Old-Soldier, these characters are often push the hero out of their comfort zone in an aggressive way towards complacency, they are a narrative foil to the mentor. For the first option to work the story had to show Khamgalai acting as a mentor and having the protagonists challenge Morga’s teachings(see Ozai-Iroh). As it is, Morga’s actions are never put under scrutiny (narratively) and her death feels hollow as a result. She didn’t sacrifice herself for the heroes due to her guilt, she died because she felt a moment of sympathy for her son which wasn’t explored before, she showed no intention to change nor any doubt.

It is clear the game choose 2. Option, it is a controversial choice given Muriel’s mental condition and the game is acutely aware of this, which is likely why Muriel’s PTSD will get carefully scraped from the story from here on out. (I won’t address other instances where his trauma wasn’t taken into account, I feel like this explanation should cover them as well.)

3. Morals. Every story, whether the author intends it or not, has a moral. The Villain most often acts against that moral and in turn can change the hero's perspective. Morals are not ideals; the morality of Killmonger isn’t that marginalised people should fight for their rights, it is that vengeance is just. Whether it’s right or wrong can be debated but what makes an ideal the moral of the story is in the portrayal. How the narrator depicts the events, how people around the heroes react... all are a part of portrayal.

The story choosing “Muriel fighting is a good thing” earlier puts in the foundation of a moral. The story tells us Muriel has to fight, it’s the right thing to do. He has to be brave for the people he loves.

This choice affects how his past actions will be perceived; now, him escaping the arena to save himself is cowardly, abandoning Morga is cowardly.

The story tells us it wasn’t, but shows us that it was. This is the end of the midpoint of the story, at this point we need to have a good grasp on what we should perceive as wrong or right for us to feel invested. If we zig-zag between the morals we won’t know which actions we should root for. But more than that, the conclusion will not feel cathartic as it will inevitably demonstrate the opposing ideals clashing at its climax.

Villain doesn't necessarily have to be sympathetic and Muriel's route makes no effort to make him as such, but they need to be understandable. What danger does Lucio pose to the status quo, what makes him a compelling villain? Whether he conquers Vesuvia or not doesn’t drastically affect Muriel’s way of life, he’s been in hiding for years. He doesn’t threaten to steal MC’s body, Muriel is not compelled to pick up arms to save his beloved. He wants to protect the people from going through what he’s been through, right? That is what the story wants us to think. But what has he been through? Fighting was his choice, Lucio tricked him into it. Lucio later tricked Morga, his own mother, to save his own hide. This tells us that Lucio is a manipulator, but he doesn’t manipulate his way into Vesuvia, he barges in with deus ex machina monsters. He doesn’t demonstrate his skills as a tactician by making deals with neighbouring kingdoms to get their armies. We don’t know his strengths therefore we don’t know his weaknesses. If he seems to be losing he can just conjure a giant dragon to burn everything down, we just can’t know. That is why the application of deus ex machina is highly taboo, the victories don’t feel earned and defeats feel unfair.

4. Tone. Playing with the genre is not uncommon and a game such as Arcana has many opportunities to do so. It is a romance story, everything else is the back-drop. The tone works best when its overall consistent but tonal changes act as shock for the audience to keep them engaged and keeping one tone indefinitely gets us desensitized. We can’t feel constant misery if we are not made to feel tinges of hope in between. Good examples of dramatic tonal change (that I can think of): Mulan - arriving at the decimated village, La Vita e Bella - the father’s death, M*A*S*H - death of Hawkeye’s friend. Two of these examples are mostly comedy which is why this tonal shift affects us so, it was all fun and games until we are slapped in the face with the war going on. There are no one liners in those scenes, the story takes a moment to show appropriate respect to the dead, it gives its characters time to digest and come to terms with loss. Bad examples are the majority of Marvel movies.

In Muriel’s route there’s never such a thing, Muriel has a panic attack and MC kisses him. This unintentionally tells us, the genre being romance, that the panic attack only served to further MC’s advances. It tells us that he’s never had the control of his life and it’s yet again stripped from him by the decisions of player character. This is not the only instance this happens. The story shoe-horns in multiple cuddle sessions between important plot beats. And it does the exact opposite during a moment where he is having a heart-to-heart with the person he loves by having the ghost of Morga appear to give an ominous warning/advice.

When he runs off during masquerade it’s built up to be an important plot point. Muriel will finally face his past, he’s been running away from it all along, and he will have an opportunity to be accepted back in. MC is supportive but ultimately, it’s meant to be Muriel's moment. But as I mentioned above this is not his story anymore so he’s not given any time to address his problems, instead a ghost appears to tell him what he needs to do, again. Because we need to wrap the story up, we don’t have time.

Remember how I said the 2 Options will be important later on, well here we are at the very end. Upright and reversed.

“Portray Muriel fighting as a bad thing”

This suggests that the triumph of Muriel won’t be through violence. Maybe he will outsmart Lucio in a different way, he won’t play his games anymore. This option suggests that Lucio will not be beaten by his own terms.

“Portray Muriel fighting as a good thing”

This option concludes with Muriel finally overcoming his reservations on violence and doing what's right to save the people he loves. And bringing justice to people who Lucio hurt.

If you are wondering why the upright ending feels random, this is likely why. The ending plays out as if the story was building on the 1st option while we spent chapters upon chapters playing out the 2nd one. It is unearned.

(The reversed ending, being reversed, also uses Option 1 path but in which Muriel can’t achieve his narrative conclusion)

The Coliseum is filled with people who are on their side against Lucio’s shadow goons. Because we can’t have people being on Lucio’s side without addressing the duality of human nature, even though it’s an important part of Muriel’s story. The people who watched and enjoyed Lucio’s bloodsport are no more, they are all new and enlightened offscreen. We completely skipped the part where Vesuvia comes to terms with its own complacency and Muriel simply feels at ease because the crowd is cheering on him now. This is what happens when you give the character a chance to challenge those who have been complicit in his abuse (masquerade scene) and completely skip it to move the story along.

Muriel doesn't get justice, ever. The people only love him now because he's fighting for them instead of his own survival. Morga or her clan doesn't answer for the massacre of Kokhuri, Vesuvia doesn't answer for the sick entertainment they indulged in and Lucio doesn't answer for Muriel's enslavement. It is not even acknowledged, nowhere in the story (except the very end of reversed ending, and even then it almost gets him killed so its clearly the wrong thing to do on his part) is a choice presented where Muriel has an opportunity to get any sort of compensation where he instead chooses to move on.

I don’t intend to straw man anyone but this is a sentiment I’ve seen a lot; “It’s a short story, a dating-sim, what do you expect?”

I expect nothing, I’m simply explaining why some people feel how they feel. It is a short dating-sim but it seems to me like it was aiming to be something more by borrowing elements that were clearly far above their weight range to tease something more and under deliver. It is okay to feel content with the story, and it’s okay to feel let down. If we had a unanimous decision on literature we would never be inclined to write our own stories.

[kustas]

Process, budget and framerate - Traditional hand drawn anime limitations part 1

Part 1 of a series of posts answering the question of - what makes older anime “look better”?

Please keep in mind this is a basic explanation that does not take in mind how individual productions/studios might work, it's only a general case scenario.

EDIT!

I get regular reblogs on this series of posts. I did not source the information in them which I should have. Due to the low audience and time it takes I likely will not. This post however, contains information a teacher of mine gave me I now believe is fake from reading up independently on the topic as well as talking with industry people. As a result I am locking reblogs for now, until I will maybe some day come back to edit the original. Apologies for posting misinformation.

Step one, process

Where the anime industry is unique is that it works slightly differently than western-style productions. below, the typical workflow for a classic Disney film:

In Japan however, the jobs are shared differently, like so:

Step two: Ouch, budget

Japanese animators comparatively get "more" work than the US workflow, and more control, and this ties in to how you cut corners to make a production viable.

What you might have noticed yourself or, if you're like me and have parents who watched the first mech anime get exported to their country in the 60s with a disdainful eye, is that disney-like animation is MUCH smoother, where anime tends to get choppy fast.That is due to how work is split up, and what budget entails!

(note: in Japan, animators are paid per drawing. in the US, wages are typically per hour. this is still the case)

And...

That's why "we ran out of cash midway" in the US gives you this

And in Japan, this

Framerate a parte

Apologies here but i have to get technical. To make a cel animation, or anything traditional 2D hand drawn, you have to take photos of a bunch of drawings in order. For each frame of your movie, you have to take one photo. What most don't know and that becomes more obvious in anime is that you do NOT typically draw 1 drawing per frame. It works like this:

Your film is, in video game terms, in 24fps. This is inherent to the physical medium and because Edison was a cunt

Gamers lie and the human eye accepts the illusion of fluid movement with anything above 12fps

Western (disney AND europe) animation is usually animated on 2s. In video game terms, 12fps

Anime is usually animated on 4s, 6fps. You can also animate on 3s or ANYTHING really

Extra frames can be given to perfect really subtle pacing, like lip synchs. You can also drop frames when nothing happens

With this "drawings budget" in anime, it's why on shows like Berserk 90s, you know when a battle is coming because the rest of the episode looks like a powerpoint presentation.

Nowadays, on digital media, the constraint of the 24 fps is inexistant. It's still used because we are used to it, but you can do whatever because instead of photos as frames of a film that's rolled on a machine, you draw on a computer and render your art there. That's why 2D shows made from puppet rigs with tweens are so smooth looking, because the animators define point a and b and the curve between them, and the PC calculates the resulting movement.

But anime is not tweened, it's hand drawn by people, so you still have this limit of drawings because of budget, and the frames issue remains. This is why I believe sakuga compilations are so popular - because flashy FX are among the moments in shows where it is visible that the animators drew more per second, which looks smoother, and is also closer to what we westerners associate with "good animation".

As a sidenote, anime being so mainstream nowadays, this uh, stigma? Against lower frame rates is vanishing and it's becoming trendy as hell to emulate anime choppiness. Spiderverse is THE most mainstream example of this, but as your local tumblr advocate of lesser known films, I will redirect you instead to Princess Dragon.

Part one done.

Continued in part two: Cels, their limitations, and why they’re hard to make look ugly or good

[fairestwriting]

May I rq hcs for Idia, Vil, Epel, Lilia and Floyd with a s/o who's a cosplayer and loves dressing up as mainstream characters

Idia Shroud

You know he loves it. Gets starry eyed everytime you show him a new cosplay, listens with the biggest smile on his face whenever you talk about what characters you want to go for next. If you post pictures of your work online, you bet he's your biggest hypeman.

Though... he does wish you'd branch out to some lesser known stuff too. Yeah, Idia's a bit of an elitist when it comes to media, and you don't really get the worst out of this side of his (Since he's so starstruck with your cosplay) but he'll be tugging at your sleeve, recommending you all sorts of obscure anime and games, because to him that stuff's just so much better.

Still your number one fan though. Whenever he has it in him to go to cons, he'll gladly come to them with you, looking so proud whenever anyone asks you for a picture as he steps away.

Vil Schoenheit

Vil doesn't get much about this sort of culture, so there isn't a huge interest overlap like in Idia's case, but he can appreciate good costuming, and just a well done job in general, so he's pretty involved and supportive, just in a less enthusiastic way.

Even though he doesn't know these characters at all, despite them being mainstream, you can totally have a conversation with him about the more general aspects of cosplaying, he has a lot to say when it comes to the proccess of putting the outfits together, due to his experience with costuming from his acting work.

Won't go to cons with you, that's way too many sweaty people for his taste, but he gives some good advice on how to avoid people who don't know what look but don't touch means.

Epel Felmier

Another one that doesn't get the media-focused aspect of cosplaying much. Epel can probably recognize a couple characters you dress up as, but he's just not that into the stuff. He does think it's cool, though, and when he can see the similarities between the characters and your cosplays, he gets pretty excited.

Is vaguely scared by the amount of effort that goes into it as he begins to understand it more. Things like makeup, styling and caring for wigs, contact lenses, having to DYI accessories... Epel feels lost when you talk about it, and he knows he definitely couldn't do something like that at all.

Goes to cons with you if you invite him, though he has no idea what's going on around him. Will have a fun time if he can see stuff on the two or three shounens he's a fan of, though.

Lilia Vanrouge

Really into it actually. Lilia has a bit of an otaku streak too, and with how he saw other people online having that much fun with cosplaying, he felt compelled to try. He never got too serious about it, but seeing how good your cosplays look makes him wish he did.

You going mostly for mainstream content doesn't really bother him. You get recognized more often that way, right? Lilia sees the work you put into your costumes, he knows it'd be a shame if you just did all of that and no one paid much mind to it since they didn't know what character it was.

Will not only attend cons but also cosplay with you too! He jokes about not being nearly as good as you and usually goes for simpler characters, but you two will definitely have a blast together.

Floyd Leech

He thinks you look so cool! Really loves it whenever you show him your new finished costumes, they always have so much detail put into them! Floyd will circle around you and point them out, sometimes compare with what he remembers from previous cosplays, but either way he's just really enjoying how his Shrimpy looks, and will brag about it to anyone willing to listen.

However, he... doesn't understand the stuff going on behind the scenes, really. Maybe he recognizes a character or two but he isn't very invested in any shows or games, being very much the type to drop media in a whim, and all the work you have to do to put the costumes together just... eludes him.

He'll go to cons with you if he feels like it, though! Which ends up being pretty often, since there's always a thing or two at them that grab his attention. Floyd is a surprisingly good con buddy, easy to find in the crowd and scary enough that no weirdos dare to mess with you, plus he's just fun to be around.

if you wanna support my work, you can buy me a ko-fi or commission me!

[amp-le]

HEAR ME OUT - I am a POC, a Filipino who realized a bit too late about how cool my country is.

I'm so sick of just sitting back and seeing my pre-colonial culture fade into obscurity like this.

I've been thinking of making literally any media-related thing for Bikol / Bicol mythology to maybe help it become more known cause I really think it's super decent and was highly impressed when I first learned bits about it on the internet years ago.

This is why I made that post about Bulan a few months/years back cause i'm just... so passionate abt this alright?

Every time I remember that Bikol myths could be mainstream if only the right pieces of media was published by now, i just.... feel so bad

I just want to produce something memorable and will make the internet go nuts over it.

I just want to make our culture, like, mainstream.

No more Philippines as just an outsourcing country that's used for manpower and left to fade into obscurity.

It doesn't even have to be me, but if you want something done, sometimes you yourself have to work on it.

So I want to do this.

If any of you folks want to help bring an idea to life, I'll be all ears.

We could do a book, a webcomic, a game, an album, literally anything. I'm technically still just a young adult with no money and no job but I want to work on something I can be proud of, even if there's no pay.

And while exactly zero people will probably respond, just let this be my promise to myself, and also a message to hold accountability. I'm putting this out on the internet (granted, the deeper parts, but still) so I convince myself better to do this.

As a side note, someone has actually written a book Percy Jackson-style about this, I've read it and while there's a lot to criticise about it and stuff to improve upon, it was still a step in the right direction!

The book is entitled The Seventh Moon by Jeremiah Cordial. Check it out and support the author if you can.

TLDR:

I wanna create a piece of media regarding Bicolano mythology as a passion project, so if you have a similar drive, don't hesitate to hit me up and we could work on one! Or don't lmao, either way i'm doing smth!

[elfwreck]

1983, your choice of media

Two books came out in 1983 that changed how I look at the world:

Prometheus Rising, by Robert Anton Wilson

and

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

While Bradley's gotten a lot of (well-deserved) outrage for her life decisions, which, on review, shaped a lot of her fiction, it's hard to overstate the impact of Mists. It was the first mainstream-popular story of a classic myth from the POV of a minor female character, and a villain at that.

In the traditional Arthurian legend, Morgan le Fay is a background character who exists to cause problems. Mists kicked off a revolution in rewriting mythology, and it resonated very strongly in the neopagan communities. It was very much a declaration of "We all know history is written by the victors.... so what might they have skipped?"

And, in retrospect, you can see a lot of Bradley's id showing through the story: the child neglect and occasional abuse; the weird incest themes; the sexualizing of what should be platonic relationships. I haven't re-read it in many many years, and I wouldn't expect it to hold up. Whatever magic it had back then - historians screamed at her bad research while the mystic communities put the book on their must-read lists and pushed it at new pagan and witchy people - there are no doubt better books for that now. But it was first of its type to get widespread coverage: a subversion of a classic men's adventure tale, written for the people who were told they had to play "ladies in waiting" while the boys got to pretend to be knights and kings. Suddenly, "priestess or princess" weren't static, sidelined roles in women's fantasy worlds.

(We still need that. Need more of it. Strong mythic stories where women are the ones shaping the world, and doing it without just stepping into men's traditional roles.)

Prometheus Rising holds up better. It's Wilson's breakdown of Leary's "8 circuits of consciousness" idea, and it's packed with brain-breaking segments, designed to make the reader question everything they understand about reality and their way of relating to it.

If Mists was about reconsidering history with the notion that the forgotten and oppressed may have had an entirely different story - and may not have considered themselves "the losers" even if they agreed on the facts of "recorded history" - Prometheus sought to teach that there is no "real truth." That we are all working from limited perspectives and jumbled incomplete data, and we all make flawed conclusions, and that is just how humanity works. The goal isn't to find the "right" approach. The goal is to understand that some approaches are considered "proper" and some are considered "immoral" or "illegal" in various cultures, and that despite that, some people are still going to use those approaches.

Less than ten years after the secret police game was established here by the National Security Act of 1948, the books of Dr. Wilhelm Reich were burned in a New York incinerator by government order. This was a shocking sight to some of us, who remembered that we had recently fought a long war against Nazi Germany for, among other things, their crime "against civilization" of burning books. Shortly thereafter, Dr. William Ivy, former head of a department at Chicago Medical School, was subjected to ten years of legal harassment for espousing a radical cancer cure. More recently, Dr. Timothy Leary was sentenced to 38 years imprisonment for espousing controversial ideas about neurotransmitter chemicals and reimprinting the nervous system. Now there is a war on against holistic physicians. It does not matter whether any or all of these "heretics" were right or wrong. Scientific truth is only determined after a generation or more of research; it is not determined by throwing the dissenters in prison or burning their books. The point is that the secret police game immediately creates the social context for a return to the mechanisms of the Holy Inquisition.

Prometheus includes practical exercises that readers can use to test its hypotheses. One set:

EXERCIZES

Start collecting evidence that your phone is bugged.

Everybody gets a letter occasionally that is slightly damaged. Assume that somebody is opening your mail and clumsily resealing it.

Look around for evidence that your co-workers or neighbors think you're a bit queer and are planning to have you committed to a mental hospital.

Try living a whole week with the program, "Everybody likes me and tries to help me achieve all of my goals."

One of his earliest points is that, whatever you believe, you will find evidence for it. Compelling evidence. GOOD evidence. All of humanity works this way; this is how human brains function.

Mists taught me that I didn't have to accept the male-dominant propaganda that surrounded me as The Ultimate Truth. Prometheus taught me to be wary of just replacing it with someone else's new Ultimate Truth.

[the-huntsmans-homebrews]

The future of the Huntsman’s Homebrews: A love letter and an invitation to my followers

TLDR: Support me in making life changes that will support my better mental health by following my new (and currently very rough) independent blog over at https://huntsmanshomebrews.wordpress.com/

First off, thank you for taking the time to read the long version of this post!

Following extensive counsel with my wife and my counselor, I’ve determined that Tumblr is no longer an effective platform for me to be using, due to the proximity to triggering content that it places me in. This problem has always existed, but it’s gotten worse in recent years, with the advent of popular mainstream media that is in itself triggering to me and the laughably ineffective Tumblr pornography ban with the ensuing completely nonsensical flagging algorithm.

The short version of this is that, in spite of all of the stresses of life, Tumblr has become one of the most stressful arenas of my life — which is, obviously, a severe deterrent to posting consistent new content/updates on a Tumblr blog.

That said, there are so many positive interactions that I have had on this journey of homebrew and (admittedly loose) community building, and I don’t really want to give that up.

So where do we go from here?

Firstly, I am going to be severely restricting my access to Tumblr going forward, meaning one update a month or less.

Second, I am working on putting together a standalone blog, https://huntsmanshomebrews.wordpress.com/ . As of this posting, it isn’t great, but it’s a work in progress and, hopefully, with a little work, it can turn into something really cool.

This is a really scary step for me. I really want to be able to keep justifying the Huntsman’s Homebrews Project in my life, because it’s something I do genuinely love. I’m scared that moving away from Tumblr will undermine that effort.

If you’ve ever used (and enjoyed) some of my homebrew, I would really appreciate if you might be willing to follow the new blog, rough as it may be.

In time, it will hopefully be a fully functioning homesite for this project, where you will be able to sign up for newsletters, follow links to other relevant sites like DM’s Guild, read blog posts about balance and game design, and so on and so forth.

I am so grateful to all of you for having supported me on this journey to this point, and I would love to have any and all of you join me on the next arc of my adventure.

Michael Leonard, A.K.A. The Huntsman

[likeadog]

okay so im seeing people get anons about this and its coming up in friend groups so i think now's actually a pretty good time to tackle the idea of religious (specifically cultic) abuse in media and how we as an audience interact with it

TLDR: dehumanization and sexualization of cult victims furthers the misunderstanding that cults "don't exist now", and RA survivors would feel much safer in fandom spaces if people acknowledged and analyzed the harmful portrayals of cults in media.

cw: discussions of cults, abuse, and sexual assault

also, if you have questions, please shoot me an ask or dm (off anon preferably, though)

let me start this with a disclaimer that i dont think every media that features ra is inherently bad. i think thats a bit harsh and as an ra survivor ive come to terms with the fact that there are going to be depictions of it in ways that maybe dont give it the respect it deserves, and trying to "what about [x]" everything will only lead people to talking in circles with themselves. what i want to address here is how you, as a consumer, respond to and parse out what cultic abuse means in any particular portrayal of it.

*also please don't harass people about their RAS status, like, if you see someone enjoying something with a less than stellar portrayal of cults, don't send them asks or dms like "well are YOU a cult survivor?" reducing the consumption of media to a yes or no game based on identity-- especially an identity that comes as the result of explicit pain and spiritual violation is not only derivative but also degrading to survivors and the people you're grilling. all we want is for people to think carefully about what they spread and portray, and how they think about those situations.

so, i think the first thing to tackle is...what is a cult? This is something that's surprisingly hard to define, especially in fictional settings with fictional cults. For example, (and pardon the use of this example, I don't feel like hunting for others), My Hero Academia has an organization in it that I would say fits the criteria for being a cult, but by and large isn't considered one by fans because it's not explicitly called a cult. (Although numerous cult jokes have been made about it). It also has an organization that IS explicitly referred to as a cult.

So, when you're dealing with how to process what is and is not a cult-- and how to make your presence safe for RA survivors, you have to be able to sift through more than just "did the narrative tell me this is a cult?"

There's a few different models people use; one of the most popular being the BITE model-- but I should clarify that the BITE model is really tailored towards religious and strictly hierarchal cults, but can be applied to other kinds of cults.

(and yes, there are cults other than religious/spiritual ones. corporate cults and wellness cults have been on the rise, and it's good to keep that in mind both when engaging with media and also in the real world.)

However, I'm a religious cult survivor, so a lot of my experience is strictly irt this, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, and know that I don't speak for every cult survivor, every religious cult survivor, or every religious abuse survivor. I am One Guy on the internet.

When it comes to media, I have a few questions I run through in order to figure out if something is A Cult.

1) Fringe Ideas. This one is one of those that most people know-- and often incorrectly use to attribute cult status to other things. However, it is worth mentioning, that you don't become a cult by following mainstream ideologies. BUT. BUT. not every group with weird ideas is a cult! Some groups are just weird and are fine being weird. It's a rectangles and squares situation. All cults have fringe ideas and behaviors, not all fringe ideas and behaviors belong to cults.

2) Hierarchies. Cults always have people in power, at least in my experience. There have been ideas thrown around about "completely decentralized cults"-- but to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that concept, and I don't know enough about it personally to say whether or not it's legitimate. If you have any sources, hmu.

BUT. Most cults have a power structure. You're going to have leaders, usually with a handful at the verrrrry tippy top, whose word is law. This can be associated with things like religious ideas (channelling god) or being "a genius", like in corporate cults.

3) Control. I cannot stress this enough; cults are all about control. How you think, feel, behave-- they discourage critical thought, encourage snitching on each other, buddy-group behavior; the BITE model explicitly lists these models of control.

4) Us V Them. Cults will give all those that oppose them or simply don't believe them a bad name. They're uneducated, they're evil-- it varies cult to cult, but you'll see them turning the non believers into a homogenous, frightening group. They want to discourage looking outwards, and they want to viciously isolate members.

Other things of note are extremism, talks of enlightenment, harsh punishments, the cult eating large portions of the member's finances, etc.

However, this post is largely to address FICTIONAL cults. and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that fictional cults are rarely fleshed out in a way that can be held one to one to a model, and, more often, don't even afford the victims of a cult humanity.

and this is one of THE biggest issues you find in cult portrayals. the leader is usually a charismatic, or perhaps menacing, figure, one that usually our protagonists-- who are rarely cult victims, they are typically outsiders (not inherently bad, mind you)-- faces personally, with the hoardes of mindless zombies forming one giant hurdle.

Naturally, this can be...hurtful. There's nuance to who is and is not a victim in a cult (although my rule of thumb is to look at what abuses that person specifically exerts over others-- and you can be both a victim and perpetrator of abuse. to treat them exclusively is lacking all nuance), but the people are the bottom, even if they joined willingly, are people who were preyed upon. Not only that, but many media cults forget that people can be born into cults, and never really had a choice to begin with. To treat these people like they are mindless-- or that they deserve the suffering they are in because they are there-- completely erases all nuance, humanity, and understanding to the cult survivior struggle. Not only that, but it continues to sensationalize and deify cult leaders, which is doing their job for them, really.

The second biggest issue is the romanticization and sexualization of cults, religious abuse, and cultic abuse.

(yes...this is a thing.)

The use of cults as a way to make a character edgy or tragic is one thing, but there's something sinister about using it to project a certain sexual behavior onto that character-- whether it be as the subjugator or subjugated. Sexual abuse is rampent in cults, and ritualistic sexual abuse is used to justify it. To sexualize the idea of a cult(ist) raping and abusing someone is...beyond offensive to anyone who has been in a cult where their sexual safety and autonomy has been compromised. Or, in some cases, the cultist is so naive and sheltered they can be easily coerced and taken advantage of due to their brainwashing.

This is...bad? This is bad. To ignore the fact that these depictions are just as harmful as any other romanticization of abuse is to ignore the real suffering of cult victims.

Really, the larger problem is that people don't really think cults exist, not really. They're all things of the past, or things that exist solely in fiction-- when in reality, every day cults form and continue to grow. If you've ever met a mormon, you've met a cultist. The moment you begin to process and parce the fact that this isn't as bizarre and unusual and fictional as it seems, you take the steps to respecting people who have been in that situation and become better at detecting cults, cult recruitment, and are able to more clearly assess what you take in.

Once again, there's so many bad portrayal of cults that it would be...stupid to call for an immediate disowning of anything with it in it. I personally have come to terms with the idea that I will have gripes about these portrayals in most cases, but rarely do I see people other than fellow RA or cult survivors discussing these portrayals. I'm hoping people can become more aware and willing to discuss cults in a serious and analytical context and criticize how they're portrayed in the things they love.

And once again, cult survivors are NOT a monolith. If a cult survivor expresses they are uncomfortable with something I said here that I'm not, or vice versa, listen to the people who actively surround you and whom you care about.

[deanwasalwaysbi]

Thinking About How This Wasn't Actually a Denial

But was it self preservation?

The year was 2013 and rather than a denial, Jensen said "Don't ruin it for everybody now."

What was the fan 'ruining' for everybody? The Con? or something else? So if I was a tinhatter - and sometimes I am - I might think about other tv shows from the past that were covertly queer and how they handled the question, were TV shows 'out'?

Mainstream shows like Bewitched, you know, shows that are so clearly straight, you can tell because... well. ... they never technically used the word 'gay'. ... witches honor

SPN Film Studies is Back in Session! Join Under the Cut for more on supernatural & the story about how Bewitched! came out of the Broom Closet

Bewitched aired from 1964-72, it's so old the first season was in B&W. The show starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, the strange housewife with a stranger secret. Her husband, Darrin, unwittingly married into the whole witchy family, from the now drag icon Agnes Moorehead's Endora with her open marriage, to the unmarried and batty Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne who played the mother in Hitchcock's heavily gay coded 'Strangers on a Train'), to the extremely coded Uncle Arthur (gay actor Paul Lynde). (We can't know for sure, but it seems at least 4 members of the cast were gay themselves.) The core premise of the show involves Samantha balancing who she really is with repressing that self for the safety and comfort of her family.

Samantha and her husband keep her [ahem] 'queer' nature a secret which gets harder on Samantha when she has to tell her daughter to live the same way, “I know what fun it is to be a part of the magical life ... to have so much at your fingertips. But we’re living in a world that’s just not ready for people like us, and I’m afraid they may never be. So you’re going to have to learn when you can use your witchcraft and when you can’t.”

There are plenty of generic 60s wacky hijinks but there are also whole episodes metaphorically about repression being harmful, episodes where characters asked if another was a 'thespian', episodes where Darrin was queercoded while under a spell, episodes about representation & bad stereotyping in media, and even two episodes where witches discussed whether it was time for witches to come out to the mortals, (whether mortals could accept that they were just nice normal people trying to live their lives like everybody else - or not - and would just freak out and kill them again).

When it came time to recast Dick York's Darrin with a new 2nd lead, Elizabeth and her husband, William Asher, knowingly cast the gay Dick Sergeant. (Although he wasn't out publicly at the time.) Then, when Sergeant came out in '91, Montgomery supported him and the two served together as the grand marshals of the Hollywood pride parade.

Dick Sargent expressed in the 90s what he would want in a Bewitched reunion episode: for Darrin to meet another like couple, a witch and a mortal who are married, and another, and another, and end up forming a whole community and support group, finding out that it was never so uncommon after all, that it was actually "about 10% of the population." The two would march in the first mortals and witches pride parade, saying they should have come out years ago.

In '94, Montgomery had this to say about the queer themes of the show, “Don't think that didn't enter our minds at the time. We talked about it on the set, that this was about people not being allowed to be what they really are. If you think about it, Bewitched is about repression in general and all the frustration and trouble it can cause. It was a neat message to get across to people at that time in a subtle way.” (x)

Interviewer: Are you concerned that your involvement in the gay-pride parade will lead people to believe you're a lesbian?

"[Laughing] I'm really not worried about that. There are bigger things to worry about. Like the presidential election and finding a cure for AIDS. I did the parade in support of Dick. I mean, in the end, didn't we all?" (x) (Montgomery was also one of the first celebrity allies to fight for LGBTQ rights and support HIV/AIDS-related fundraisers.)

So did they talk about it at the time? No. You can bet they didn't speak about it publicly. What would have happened if a fan, publicly, had asked Elizabeth, William, or Dick about the show's queer allegory content? This was a time when being gay was a literal felony. They would have had to have lied or risked losing the show, their careers, and possibly subjecting themselves to violence.

Now. back to Jensen and the Schrodinger's long con:

This was in 2013 - The same year that the Supreme Court of the United States struck down a federal ban on gay marriage. You certainly couldn't call homosexuality illegal in the US at that time. It's the same year that Dabb and Sgriccia spoke about the Aaron moment on the DVD and whether there's 'this potential for love in all places' for Dean. Of course Jensen said this about the very same scene: "But it was - you know - it was comedy. It was a comedic moment in the show and fortunately Dean gets a lot of the comedic moments in the show and it was just, you know, Ben was poking fun at the fact that - you know, how can we make this very kind of manly, heterosexual guy uncomfortable - uh -you know, or  or have him back on his heels and throw him off his game a little bit.”

I'm reminded of 2012 when Ben Edlund stepped in about a Destiel question at comic con, pretending it was some freaky thing that fans had made up even though he'd already written and directed TMWWBK, which had already aired.

Jensen: “What’s Destiel?” Ben Edlund: That’s some weird shit. Jensen: Is this something that you created, Ben? Ben: You don’t want any part of that.

Or the next year for season 9 when Jensen said “I think the whole Cas and Dean thing has gotten out of hand”  “I don’t think there’s anything secret to their relationship even though a lot of people wish there was” EVEN THOUGH- that season we got the nightstands acknowledgement and Misha (or both of them?) was told to “play him like a jilted lover”

Or Jensen's knowing bromance smile in 2015

I think recent events (cough spn gate) have made clear that the network and many viewers were still uncomfortable with CAS being gay in 2020, deleting even familial mentions of Cas from the finale episodes once he was revealed to be not only gay but also in love with Dean. (x) (x) (x) Can you imagine then what Warner Brothers would have said to an acknowledge bisexual Dean Winchester in 2013? Granted, there was no Trump election, but legitimate, could that have been the end of the show? Or the Russian and Conservative US viewership? Is it possible that Jensen would have feared so?

Is it possible that Jensen had a more personal reason for a knee jerk defensive response?

So was Jensen covering in 2013? Well. This happened 5 years later in 2018:

That hostile "? No." came even though Misha confirmed that he and Jensen had discussed Destiel by that point. Granted, discussing Destiel as a concept and accepting Dean being inherently bisexual are two very different things - Cas is GN after all - still, less than encouraging.

I may never get over the jumps back and forth that Jensen did. At this point I think there's no denying that a lot of SPN's queer content was on purpose, even as writers and actors were telling fans and network execs otherwise. Yet when each person involved was brought in? that question haunts me at night. I have gone off before about the timeline in my pursuit of whether Jensen was Ben Hur'd (x) and, if so, for how long. I'm sure many in this fandom have so much to add.

In the meantime we'll just have to cherish this moment from 2019:

Interviewer: 'So, tell us just a little bit about what you’re most excited to tackle with your character this final season.’ Jensen: “Cas. Just like a full football form tackle.”

Bewitched references in SPN:

2.05 - Dean: Well, it looks like he can't work his mojo just by twitching his nose, he's gotta use verbal commands.

2.20 - Dean says Barbara Eden was hotter than Elizabeth Montgomery - sigh - Dean.

7.05 - Dean thinks a husband has no idea his wife is a witch, and refers to him as Darrin. Dean also indicates he likes the first Darrin better. - (I guess I can't make a comment about how much TV Dean watched as a kid if I get all of his references and also haven't saved the world.)

14.03 - Jules refers to the witch as 'Brunhilde' - this is a minor character in bewitched but more so from mythology and likely referred to the cartoon witch from WB cartoons - the stereotypical witch that faced bugs bunny with the green skin and straw hair.

let me know if you have any to add. Stay Witchy ✌

[justmenoworries]

Not Up For Interpretation - An Essay On Nonbinary - Erasure

(Trigger Warning: Misgendering, Transphobia, Nonbinary-phobia)

If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know this was a long time coming. I’ve made several posts about my frustrations concerning this topic and how much it hurt me just how socially accepted erasing an entire identity still is. While representation marches on and things have become better for nonbinary people as a whole, we still battle with a lot of prejudice - both intentional and unintentional.

In this essay, I want to discuss just how our identities are being erased almost daily, why that is harmful and hurtful and what we all can do to change that.

Chapters:

What does Non-binary mean?

Nonbinary- representation in media

So what’s the problem?

How do we fix it?

1. What Does Non-binary Mean?

Non-binary is actually an umbrella term. It includes pretty much every gender-identity that’s neither one or the other so to speak, for example, agender.

Agender means feeling detachment from the gender spectrum in general. If you’re agender, you most likely feel a distance to the concept of gender as a whole, that it doesn’t define you as a person.

There are many identities that classify under non-binary: There’s gender-fluid (you feel you have a gender, but it’s not one gender specifically and can change), demi-gender (identifying as a gender partially, but not completely) and many others.

Sometimes, multiple non-binary identities can mix and match.

Most non-binary people use they/them pronouns, but like with so many things, it varies.

Some nonbinary-people (like me) go by two pairs of pronouns. I go by both she/her and they/them, because it’s what feels most comfortable at the moment. But who knows, maybe in the future I’ll switch to they/them exclusively or expand to he/him.

There is no one defining non-binary experience. Nb-people are just as varied and different as binary people, who go by one specific gender.

There are non-binary people who choose to go solely by she/her or he/him and that’s okay too. It doesn’t make them any more or less non-binary and their identity is still valid.

If your head’s buzzing a bit by now: That’s okay. It’s a complicated topic and no one expects you to understand all of it in one chapter of one essay.

Just know this: If a person identifies as non-binary, you should respect their decision and use the pronouns they go with.

It’s extremely hurtful to refer to someone who already told you that they use they/them pronouns with she/her or he/him, or use they/them to refer to a person who uses she/her.

Think about it like using a trans-person’s deadname: It’s rude, it’s harmful and it shows complete disrespect for the person.

Non-binary people have existed for a very long time. The concept isn’t new. The idea that there are only two genders, with every other identity being an aberration to the norm, is largely a western idea, spread through colonialism.

The Native American people use “Two-Spirit” to describe someone who identifies neither as a man nor a woman. The term itself is relatively new, but the concept of a third gender is deeply rooted in many Native American cultures.

(Author’s Note: If you are not Native American, please do not use it. That’s cultural appropriation.)

In India, the existence of a third gender has always been acknowledged and there are many terms specifically for people who don’t identify with the gender that was assigned to them at birth.

If you’re interested in learning more about non-binary history and non-binary identities around the world, I’d recommend visiting these websites:

https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/History_of_nonbinary_gender

https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Gender-variant_identities_worldwide

https://thetempest.co/2020/02/01/history/the-history-of-nonbinary-genders-is-longer-than-you-think/

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-variance-around-the-world

Also, maybe consider giving this book a try:

Nonbinary Gender Identities: History, Culture, Resources by Charlie Mcnabb

2. Non-binary Representation In Media

The representation of non-binary people in mainstream media hasn’t been... great, to put it mildly.

Representation, as we all know, is important.

Not only does it give minorities a chance to see themselves in media and feel heard and acknowledged. It also normalizes them.

For example, seeing a black Disney-princess was a huge deal for many black little girls, because they could finally say there was someone there who looked like them. They could see that being white wasn’t a necessity to be a Disney princess.

Seeing a canonically LGBT+ character in a children’s show teaches kids that love is love, no matter what gender you’re attracted to. At the same time, older LGBT+ viewers will see themselves validated and heard in a movie that features on-screen LGBT+ heroes.

There’s been some huge steps in the right direction in the last few years representation-wise.

Not only do we have more LGBT+ protagonists and characters in general, we’ve also begun to question and call out harmful or bigoted portrayals of the community in media, such as “Bury Your Gays” or the “Depraved Homosexual”.

With that being said: Let’s take a look at how Non-binary representation holds up in comparison, shall we?

This is Double Trouble, from the children’s show “She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power”.

They identify as non-binary and use they/them pronouns. They’re also  a slimy, duplicitous lizard-person who can change their shape at will.

Um, yeah.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Did I mention they’re also the only non-binary character in the entire show? And that they’re working with a genocidal dictator in most of the episodes they’re in?

Yikes.

Let’s look at another example.

These three (in order of appearance) are Stevonnie, Smoky Quartz and Shep. Three characters appearing in the kid’s show “Steven Universe” and it’s epilogue series “Steven Universe: Future”.

All of them identify as non-binary and use they/them as pronouns.

Stevonnie and Smoky Quartz are the result of a boy and a girl being fused together through weird alien magic.

Shep is a regular human, but they only appeared in one episode. In an epilogue series that only hardcore fans actually watched.

Well, I mean...

One out of three isn’t that bad, right?

Maybe we should pick an example from a series for older viewers.

Say hello to Doppelganger, a non-binary superhuman who goes by they/them, from the Amazon-series “The Boys”.

They’re working for a corrupt superhero-agency and use their power of shape-shifting to trick people who pose a threat to said agency into having sex with them. And then blackmail those people with footage of said sex.

....

Do I even need to say it?

If you’ve paid attention during the listing of these examples, you might have noticed a theme.

Namely that characters canonically identifying as non-binary are either

supernatural in some way, shape or form,

barely have a presence in the piece of media they’re in,

both.

Blink-and-you-miss-it-manner of representation aside, the majority of these characters fall squarely under what we call “Othering”.

“Othering” describes the practice of portraying minorities as supernatural creatures or otherwise inhuman. Or to say it bluntly: As “The Other”.

“Othering” is a pretty heinous method. Not only does it portray minorities as inherently abnormal and “different in a bad way”. It also goes directly against what representation is actually for: Normalizing.

As a general rule of thumb: If your piece of media has humans in it, but the only representation of non-white, non-straight people are explicitly inhuman... yeah, that’s bad.

So is there absolutely no positive representation for us out there?

Not quite.

As rare as human non-binary characters in media are to find, they do exist.

Here we have Bloodhound! A non-binary human hunter who uses they/them pronouns, from the game “Apex Legends”.

It’s been confirmed by the devs and the voice actress that they’re non-binary.

Nice!

These are Frisk (bottom) and Chara (top) from the game “Undertale”. While their exact gender identity hasn’t been disclosed, they both canonically use they/them pronouns, so it’s somewhere on the non-binary spectrum.

Two human children who act as the protagonist (Frisk) and antagonist (Chara), depending on how you play the game. (Interpretations vary on the antagonist/protagonist-thing, to say the least.)

Cool!

......

And, yep, that’s it.

As my little demonstration here showed, non-binary representation in media is rare. Good non-binary representation is even rarer.

Which is why those small examples of genuinely good representation are so important to the Non-binary community!

It’s hard enough to have to prove you exist. It’s even harder to prove your existence is not abnormal or unnatural.

If you’d like to further educate yourself on representation, it’s impact on society and why it matters, perhaps take a second to read through these articles:

https://www.criticalhit.net/opinion/representation-media-matters/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/why-on-screen-representation-matters-according-to-these-teens

https://jperkel.github.io/sciwridiversity2020/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/05/22/why-is-equal-representation-in-media-important/?sh=25f2ccc92a84

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-representation-the-media-matters

3. So What’s The Problem?

The problem, as is the case with so many things in the world, is prejudice.

Actually, that’s not true.

There’s not a problem, there are multiple problems. And their names are prejudice, ignorance and bigotry.

Remember how I said human non-binary representation is rare?

Yeah, very often media-fans don’t help.

Let’s take for example, the aforementioned Frisk and Chara from “Undertale”.

Despite the game explicitly using they/them to refer to both characters multiple times, the majority of players somehow got it into their heads that Frisk’s and Chara’s gender was “up for interpretation”.

There is a huge amount of fan art straight-up misgendering both characters and portraying them as binary and using only he/him or she/her pronouns.

The most egregious examples are two massively popular fan-animated web shows: “Glitchtale”, by Camila Cuevas and “Underverse” by Jael Peñaloza.

Both series are very beloved by the Undertale-fanbase and even outside of it. Meaning for many people, those two shows might be their first introduction to “Undertale” and it’s two non-binary human characters.

Take a wild guess what both Camila and Jael did with Frisk and Chara.

Underverse, X-Tale IV:

(Transcript: “Frisk lied to me in the worst possible way... I... I will never forgive him.”)

Underverse, X-Tale V:

(Transcript: “I-It’s Chara... and it’s a BOY.”)

Glitchtale, My Promise:

(Transcript: (Referring to Frisk) “I’m not scared of an angry boy anymore.”)

Glitchtale, Game Over Part 1:

(Transcript: (Referring to Chara) “It’s ok little boy.”)

This... this isn’t okay.

Not only do both of these pieces of fan-art misgender two non-binary characters, the creators knew beforehand that Frisk and Chara use they/them-pronouns, but made the conscious choice to ignore that.

To be fair, in a video discussing “Underverse”, Jael said that only X-Tale Frisk and Chara, the characters you see in the Underverse-examples above, are male, while the characters Frisk and Chara from the main game remained non-binary and used they/them (time-stamp 10:34).

Still, that doesn’t erase the fact that Jael made up alternate versions of two non-binary characters specifically to turn them male. Or that, while addressing the issue, Jael was incredibly dismissive and even mocked the people who felt hurt by her turning two non-binary characters male. Jael also went on to make a fairly non-binary-phobic joke in the video, in which she equated gender identities beyond male and female to identifying as an object.

Jael (translated): “I don’t care if people say the original Frisk and Chara are male, female, helicopters, chairs, dogs or cats, buildings, clouds...”

That’s actually a very common joke among transphobes, if not to say the transphobe-joke:

“Oh, you identify as X? Well then I identify as an attack helicopter!”

If you’re trans, chances are you’ve heard this one, or a variation of it, a million times before.

I certainly have.

I didn’t laugh then and I’m not laughing now.

(Author’s note: I might be angry at both of them for what they did, but I do not, under any circumstances, support the harassment of creators. If you’re thinking about sending either Jael or Camila hate-mail - don’t. It won’t help.)

Jael’s reaction is sadly common in the Undertale fandom. Anyone speaking up against Chara’s and Frisk’s identity being erased is immediately bludgeoned with the “up for interpretation”-argument, despite that not once being the case in the game.

And even with people who do it right and portray Frisk and Chara as they/them, you’ll have dozens of commenters swarming the work with sentences among the lines of “Oh but I think Frisk is a boy/girl! And Chara is a girl/boy!”

By the way, this kind of thing only happens to Frisk and Chara.

Every other character in “Undertale” is referred to and portrayed with their proper pronouns of she/her or he/him.

But not the characters who go by they/them.

Their gender is “up for interpretation”.

Because obviously, their identity couldn’t possibly be canonically non-binary.

Sadly, Frisk and Chara are not alone in this.

Remember Bloodhound?

And how I said they’d been confirmed as non-binary and using they/them pronouns by both the creators and the voice actress?

It seems for many players, that too translated to “up for interpretation”.

(Transcript: “does it matter what they call him? He, her, it, they toaster oven, it doesn’t matter”)

(Transcript: “I’m like 90 % sure Bloodhound is a dude because he could just sound like a girl and by their age that I’m assuming looks around 10-12 because I’ve known many males who have sounded like a female when they were younger”)

(Transcript: “I don’t care it will always be a He. F*ck that non-binary bullsh*t.”)

(Transcript: “Bloodhound is clearly female.”)

(Transcript: “I’m not calling a video game character they/them”)

(Transcript: “exactly. The face was never fully shown neither was the gender so I’d say it means that the player is Bloodhound. So it’s your gender and you refer to “him” as yourself. It’s like a self insertion in my eyes.”)

So, let me get this straight:

If a character, even a player character, uses she/her or he/him, you can accept it, no questions asked.

But when a character uses they/them, suddenly their identity and gender are “up for interpretation”?

This attitude is also widely prevalent in real life.

Many languages only include pronouns for men and women, with no third option available. Non-binary people are often forced to make up their own terms, because their language doesn’t provide one.

Non-binary people often don’t fit within other people’s ideas of gender, so they get excluded altogether. Worse, non-binary people are often the victims of misgendering, denial of their identity or even straight-up violence when coming out.

People will often tell us that we look like a certain gender, so we should only use one set of gendered pronouns. Never mind that that’s not what we want. Never mind that that’s not who we are.

Non-binary people are also largely omitted from legal documentation and studies. We cannot identify as non-binary at our workplace, because using they/them pronouns is considered “unprofessional”. We don’t have our own bathrooms like men and women do. Our gender is seen as less valid than male and female, so even that basic thing is denied to us. I’ve had to use the women’s restroom my entire life, because if I go into a male restroom, I’ll be yelled at or made fun off or simply get told I took the wrong door. It’s extremely uncomfortable for me and I wish I didn’t have to do it.

And since non-binary people aren’t seen as “real transgender-people”, we often don’t receive the medical care we need. This often renders us unable to feel good within our bodies, because the treatment and help we get is wildly inadequate.

It’s especially horrible for intersex people (people who are born with sex characteristics that don’t fit solely into the male/female category) who are often forced to change their bodies to fit within the male/female gender binary.

And you better believe each of those problems is increased ten-fold for non-binary people of color.

We are ignored and dismissed as “confused”, because of who we are.

Representation is a way for Non-binary people to show the world they exist, that they’re here and that they too have stories to tell.

But how can we, when every character that represents us is either othered, barely there or gets taken away from us?

We are not “up for interpretation”.

Neither are the characters in media who share our identity.

And it’s time to stop pretending we ever were.

For more information about Non-Binary Erasure and how harmful it is, you can check out these articles:

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/08/common-non-binary-erasure/

https://www.dailydot.com/irl/nonbinary-people-racism/

https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Nonbinary_erasure

https://traj.openlibhums.org/articles/10.16995/traj.422/

https://medium.com/an-injustice/everyday-acts-of-non-binary-erasure-49ee970654fb

https://medium.com/national-center-for-institutional-diversity/the-invisible-labor-of-liberating-non-binary-identities-in-higher-education-3f75315870ec

https://musingsofanacademicasexual.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/dear-sirmadam-a-commentary-on-non-binary-erasure/

4. How Do We Fix It?

Well, first things first: Stop acting like we don’t exist.

And kindly stop other people from doing it too.

We are a part of the LGBT+ community and we deserve to be acknowledged, no matter what our pronouns are.

Address non-binary people with the right pronouns. Don’t argue with them about their identity, don’t comment on how much you think they look like a boy or a girl. Just accept them and be respectful.

If a non-binary person tells you they have two sets of pronouns, for example he/him and they/them, don’t just use one set of pronouns. That can come off as disingenuous. Alternate between the pronouns, don’t leave one or the other out. It’ll probably be hard at first, but if you keep it up, you’ll get used to it pretty quickly.

If you’re witnessing someone harass a non-binary person over their identity, step in and help them.

And please, don’t partake in non-binary erasure in media fandoms.

Don’t misgender non-binary characters, don’t “speculate” on what you think their gender might be. You already know their gender and it’s non-binary. It costs exactly 0 $ to be a decent human being and accept that.

Support Non-Binary people by educating yourself about them and helping to normalize and integrate their identity.

In fact, here’s a list of petitions, organizations and articles who will help you do just that:

https://www.change.org/p/collegeboard-let-students-use-their-preferred-name-on-collegeboard-9abad81a-0fdf-435c-8fca-fe24a5df6cc7?source_location=topic_page

6 Ways to Support Your Non-Binary Child

7 Non-Negotiables for Supporting Trans & Non-Binary Students in Your Classroom

If Your Partner Just Came Out As Non-Binary, Here’s How To Support Them

How to Support Your Non-Binary Employees, Colleagues and Friends

Ko-fi page for the Nonbinary Wiki

The Sylvia Rivera Project, an organization who aims to give low-income and non-white transgender, intersex and non-binary people a voice

The Anti Violence Project “empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and supports survivors through counseling and advocacy."

The Trans Lifeline, a hotline for transgender people by transgender people

Tl:DR: Non-Binary representation is important. Non-Binary people still suffer from society at large not acknowledging our existence and forcing us to conform. Don’t be part of that problem by taking away what little representation we have. Educate yourself and do better instead. We deserve to be seen and heard.

[angeloncewas]

This is gonna be random but I really don’t get why people are acting like fnaf sucks or whatever just because they either don’t like Scott and/or found twf. Like I’ll agree that twf has a better story structure, but it’s also a completely different genre of media?

The fnaf games were never really about a story until the fandom started wanting it to be about a story. The appeal of fnaf has always been the game mechanics and how it made horror game history back when it first came out by being not only an a semi-unsettling horror game, but by exploring more management-type aspects.

Scott makes fun of the fandom and their obsession with their being answers and a story consistently and they always feel let down by it as if that hadn’t always been the case. It kind of reminds of how people now look at Amnesia at being a really boring and bad game when it was one of the biggest breakthroughs in video game history along with earthbound and the old RPG maker horror games.

I think a lot of it might just be because it got popular and people feel like they have authority to hate on it, but it just makes me sad when people write off how much impact this stuff has had. Even games like Baldi’s Basics and Granny or whatever other semi-janky horror thing that has went mainstream introduces unique aspects to the scene that people undermine because it’s “not scary enough”

Video game history is so cool though honestly

I always associated TWF with stuff like Petscop moreso than FNAF (since it's not a playable game? to my knowledge?) so I'm surprised to hear that people are doing them like that. I guess it makes sense considering the timing and all that went down with Scott though.

"The fnaf games were never really about a story until the fandom started wanting it to be about a story." Hardcore flashbacks to all the FNAF Game Theory videos I've watched oml; "but would the people accept it that way."

It's easy to hate something in retrospect. Undertale is cringe, Steven Universe is problematic, and now, apparently, FNAF is a bad game. Maybe it is - I'm sure some people feel vindicated since they've hated it all along - but it turned a struggling GameStop worker into a millionaire so I don't think it was some kind of dumb coincidence. I feel the same way about people writing it off; just because we've progressed now doesn't mean it wasn't a huge step forward back then, y'know? It was such a revolutionary franchise for a reason and even if it didn't hold up at all nowadays (which I don't think is true) that's undeniable.

Video game history is so interesting. I wonder how much of it is lost to time and obscurity.