#manly beacon

[tpeakphotos]

Zabriskie Point in Death Valley NP is one of the park's more popular attractions. Composed of sediments from the ancient Furnace Creek Lake, many millennia of erosional forces have made it an absolutely otherworldly landscape. It is one of the most popular places in the park to watch a sunrise or a sunset looking out over the rugged terrain and colorful striae to the valley below and the mountains beyond. I had high hopes for amazing sunrise colors when my wife and I drove there early on the morning of the 17th as there was a perfect thin high cloud deck over our heads. I hoped this would throw color from the east behind us over the entire scene. Alas, upon our arrival we found that the only LOW clouds for miles were right over where the sun itself would emerge over the eastern ridgeline so the sky never really colored up. There was also a quite large group of folks attending a photo workshop which made it a bit of a challenge just to find a place to stand for picture taking. We persevered though and found a decent spot off to the side and waited out the sun for a while. Our patience was rewarded with a bit of nice golden light after the sun crested the aforementioned low clouds. I believe the prominent peak in the right part of this frame is known as Manly Peak, AKA Manly Beacon, named for William Lewis Manly, a 19th century pioneer known for rescuing several “49er” families from the many perils of Death Valley. Prints and merch available: https://tpeakphotos.com/featured/zabriskie-morning-mike-lee.html

[devonpink]

Wish Granted

Alex wasn't big on superstition, but he could make an exception for the wishing comet that only appeared every few hundred years. As it darted through the night sky, he closed his eyes and wished with all his heart. He felt silly, wishing as intensely as he did on a giant clump of dust and ice hurling through space, but he was desperate. Desperate for change. As much as he pretended to be a beacon of gay pride for all to see, in truth, he longed to be straight. But not just straight, he wanted to be completely transformed. No longer a scrawny gay loner nerd but a confident, muscular, tough jock. He wanted to be part of a frat full of other jocks as jacked, dumb, and tough as his ideal self. He wanted to be a suave ladies' man, the big man on campus. He longed to be the ultimate straight frat bro.

He went to bed doubtful, but by morning, he awoke amazed to find his wish had been granted. He wasn't in his tiny, tidy dorm anymore but a massive, messy frat house, his new home. He stunk to high heaven like he partied like an animal the night prior, a mixture of cheap tequila, obnoxious deodorant, and pussy; he loved it!

He enthusiastically hopped off his bed and rushed to the cum stained mirror in the corner, ecstatic to see his new and improved self. He beamed from ear to ear, amazed at the sight. His slim 5′8″ and 143.3-pound body had bulked and swelled to a 6′2″ and 175.4 mass of pure masculine muscle. He couldn't believe how big his feet now were, from a size 44 to a manly 46. He flexed and cockily smirked at his reflection, loving how dumb he felt; his brain felt the size of a peanut.

To further delight, Alex discovered he was now the star of the wrestling team, an unstoppable beast. He was no longer an awkward, nerdy, loner gay boy but the ultimate straight frat bro jock! He now had tons of like-minded bros and was able to get any pussy he wanted and would. His former high grades were now abysmal, being dumb as a brick, but copying off the nerdy gay boys who fawn over him will quickly remedy that.

Alex was finally everything he'd always wanted: the big man on campus, adored by everyone.

I guess wishes really do come true!

[reashot]

Red Like Roses... (It's period 🔴)

Warning: fluffness inside. Also really long.

At Beacon during a more peaceful time.

Pyrrha: Hmmm it's quiet, too quiet.

Ren: I agree. It's never a good sign. We should be ready for something.

Jaune: Ready for what?

Nora: Oh you know usually things never stay quiet for long especially when we're right next door to the main characters.

*yang burst into the room*

Pyrrha: And speaking of the devil.

Yang: Quick hide! *brace the door behind her*

Jaune: Oh Shi- okay gangs we trained for this! Quick initiate Pattern Delta Phi.

Nora: Aye, aye dear leader, let's initiate plan hiding under our bed's like cowards.

JNPR: *Bracing for Impacts.*

*Yang holding the door with all her might*

Ren: Wait what are even hiding from in the first place?

Yang: No time to explain. Here it Comes!

A large sounds resembling explosion came from across the hallway. The door starts to violently shakes and rose petals soon violently burst into the room. Even with Yang putting all her strength into the door. Some rose petals still managed to get inside.

Yang: .... I think we're in the clear now.

Pyrrha: What just happened?

Yang: Eh, promise not to freak out?

Jaune: Okay, I guess...

Yang: Good enough. *shows team JNPR the source of the roses*

Ruby: Huee~ *sniffs* huee~ 😭

Jaune: Ruby?

Ren: It seems to be her.

Pyrrha: Wait. Where are Blake and Weiss?

Nora: Found them. They're buried under all of this Rose petals.

Blake: *coughing up a bunch of petals* Eww I got some of it in my mouth.

Weiss: .... I just saw my grandfather.

Jaune: Okay, can someone now please tell us what is going on....

*Cardin burst into the room*

Cardin: Why the Fuck are there Roses all over the damn hallways!?

Russel: Don't try to lie we know it's coming from team RWBY!

Yang: Wow, wow! False accusation, much?

Dove: Well we can't help it. Because whenever something bad happened It's usually always you four.

Sky: Fucking Main characters shit...

Nora: I know right!

Pyrrha: Nora! Which sides are you on?

Nora: Oops my bad... (I mean, I'm not wrong 😒.)

Ren: *shrugs his head* Nora...

Jaune: Can all of you please stop being aggro for just one second!

You're upsetting Ruby for brother's sake.

Ruby: Wah! Wah! Wah! 😭

Jaune: Also can someone please tell me what just happened?

WBY: *looking at each others*

Yang: *sigh* (I guess I'm the one that should tell everyone.)

How do I gently put this? Ruby is in her special time of the month...

Jaune: Oh...

Cardin: The fuck does that even mean?

Russel: the month?

Dove: I see... (Maybe if I silently nod people will not think I'm dumb.)

Sky: (okay, she had her period. What does that have to with anything?)

Blake: Typical.

Weiss: Can you guys be anymore of a dudebros cliche?

CRDL: Hey!!!!

Yang: Let me put it this way. Every time Ruby has her "special month" her semblance's goes all haywire for some reason.

Jaune: Okay I get the gist of it. Team CRDL go outside and clean the hallway.

Cardin: What! Why the fuck should we clean up their mess?!

Jaune: Because I fucking said so. Now go!

Cardin: Geez... Whatever. C'mon boys, we better clean up team RWBY's mistakes. Again!

*slams door*

Blake: Thanks Jaune.

Weiss: Geez Arc, when did you grow a spine?

Yang: I gotta say Vomit Boy. I never knew you had it in you.

Pyrrha: *blush* (So manly.)

Nora: That's our Jaun-Jaun.

Jaune: Blake, Weiss. Please help Cardin & his team with the clean up outside.

Weiss: What! No way. Why should we help those dunderheads in the first place.

Jaune: Because they're right that the mess was started by your team.

Weiss: I'm sorry, our? For the record it's just Rub...

Blake: We're on it Jaune. C'mon Weiss let's help clean up all this roses. *drags Weiss away*

Jaune: Pyrrha, Ren, Nora. I also want you to go out side and help them.

Pyrrha: I understand Jaune. I will do as you ask.

Nora: Oh c'mon Jaune, why us too?

Jaune: Because they're our friends, Nora.

Nora: Well I'm about to go back to my room... *gets yoinked*

Ren: It's okay Jaune. I will get her to help us.

Nora: *grumble* (Fucking Main characters....)

Jaune: Thanks Ren. And Yang I want you to stay and find Ruby's "hygiene" products.

Yang: Wow, wow! Settle down cowpoke. I don't think you being a man is qualified to be the one to help with Ruby's "issue."

Jaune: I have seven Sisters...

Yang: Sweet brothers in heaven!

Uh, I take that back you're clearly overqualified.

At least I don't have to help clean up. But what're you going to do Jaune?

Jaune: I'm going to go back to my room to make a tea for Ruby.

A few minutes later.

Jaune: Here you go Ruby. A sweet herbal tea with plenty of honey and sugar.

Ruby: ... *sniffs* Thank you Jaune. 😢

*sips*

Jaune: It's okay Ruby you don't have to thank me.

Ruby: But I caused so much problems for everyone. *sniffle*😞

Jaune: *headpat*

There, there Ruby it's okay that what's friends are for. And you didn't troubled me one bit. In fact I'm happy to be of use to you. It reminds me that I'm still useful to someone.

Ruby: Jaune please don't think like that. You always were important to everyone.

Jaune: *kiss forehead*

It's nice of you think that Ruby. But I'm not. I'm not special like you. You're destined for great thing while I'm.... Just me.

Ruby: 0-0

Jaune: What's the matter... Ohhh, ohhh no. I'm so-so sorry Ruby I didn't realize that... I usually did that to my little sister whenever she's sad.

Ruby: *blush*

I-I don't mind it at all Jaune. It's just that if you want to do it to me again a little heads up would be nice. 😖

Jaune: I'm so-so sorry Ruby I promise that I... Wait, what do you mean by again?

Ruby: Uhh....

Yang: *clears throat*

I seems to have interrupted something here.

Jaune: Y-Yang!

Ruby: Sis!

Yang: Look Rubes I don't need to say this but remember what dad said. No boys. And Jaune please don't take this the wrong way but please for your sake please don't get any idea with Ruby. It will not end well for you.

Jaune: O-of course. I will never-ever think of Ruby like that. We're just friends after all.

Ruby: Friends... 😭

*starts crying*

Jaune: Oh, what's the matter Ruby?

[crimsonxe]

Love watching chuds/neckbeards/dudebros getting called out on their bullshit, “Is this really Superman?” -chuds

Actual Superman fans “Yeah actually this IS Superman who isn’t some macho edgelord type but a beacon of hope who’s considerate and awkward”

Like even my casual ass can point to something like Superman & Lois where Clark is hardly “macho manly man”; he’s caring, considerate, sensitive, supportive, awkward, a puppy to Lois (which he is in every incarnation of the character), being hopeful to an extreme, and also being a superhero. Not shocking that certain types latch onto a warped edgy alternate idea of a male character.

[jboy44]

Professor. Port " arc you are late...wait

Jaune holding adrian " playing parental responsibilities cwrd

Port " play accepted. So this is your baby boy adrian, relax beacon cares about young parents. Also jaune good show nothing more manly thrn being a dad. You are more man then that schnee jerk could ever be.

Jaune takes seat by his friends

Whole class staring at adrian trying to process this " .....🤯🤯🤯🤯😱😱😱😱😱

[ultram0th]

Do you think that I could be turned into a big hot muscular werewolf to join Derrick’s pack?

Sure!

The mere second you submit your Ask, you witness the room around you shudder; and in the blink of an eye, you find yourself magically transported to Beacon Hills. Particularly, into a loft that had a standing mirror against the wall.

And in the corner of the room is your new alpha: Derek Hale.

He stood with his strong arms crossed in front of his buff, hairy chest, eying you expectantly.

Immediately, your heart began to race faster in your chest and a surge of lust crashed over you. Your cock rocketed to life, and a buzz of intense desire took over your entire form. Just the sight of your new alpha was enough to drive you desperately horny, an unsettling sensation of emptiness taking over you.

However, before you could react, you noticed something off in the mirror.

With a wordless gasp, you watched as your reflection in the mirror began to warp. Your muscles began to inflate, blowing up your body to an enormous size. Your arms packed on serious size, inflating your biceps to the size of melons. Your thighs thickened up, forcing you to readjust your stance. Your chest ballooned outwards, forcing your larger pecs out in the open. An itching sensation crawled over your skin as dark hairs began to sprout all over, making you look like a hairy bodybuilder.

As your transformation progressed, your senses grew sharper, illustrating your new werewolf powers. You could hear a lot better, even picking up on some of the fauna outside. Your eyesight improved drastically, allowing to see every new hair follicle on your meaty chest. And your sense of smell increased... and your mouth watered at the manly musk that wafted off your new alpha.

But you weren't done changing yet.

Your eyes widened when you saw our butt continuing to grow in the mirror. You glanced over a broadened shoulder to watch as your ass bubbled out from your back, protruding farther and farther outwards. It formed a perfect shelf from your lower back, looking ridiculously large and round.

You looked up at Derek in confusion, but again, looking at your alpha created that intense want deep inside of you. You couldn't help yourself before you dropped to all fours and wagged your rotund booty towards the other werewolf, begging to be stuffed.

Derek smirked. "Welcome to the pack," he playfully growled before pouncing.

You wildly howled as you were fucked, loving your new position as the pack's new muscle bottom.

[omgthatdress]

Julie’s Funky Flower Outfit is definitely the most egregiously 60s of Julie’s collection. While go-go boots and miniskirts were still very much a thing in the 70s, they were very different than this.

(1stdibs.com)

I’d like to see a purple minidress with a huge collar and these boots:

That would be a great 70s look! I love that they tried to bring Disco into Julie’s collection, but uh.... disco was very much an adult scene.

Disco dresses tended to be long and flowy. Pantsuits were shiny and sparkly. They moved with the body and were meant for dancing.

In the beginning, disco was a scene dominated by people of color and gay men. Disco was fundamentally Black music.

Disco didn’t really become mainstream until 1977, with the release of Saturday Night Fever, which was based on an article that was entirely fabricated. That kind of ruined it. It lost its edgy coolness and became whitewashed and lame.

However, since straight White men cannot let anyone else have fun that doesn’t involve them, there was an almost immediate “Disco Sucks!” backlash. It was unabashedly racist and homophobic. Its main supporters were “manly” rock’n’roll fans who apparently just hated dressing up and having fun. In July 1979, the Chicago White Sox tried to get fans to see a game with a “disco demolition night” that would burn a bunch of disco records, and it ended in a riot.

1970s proto-incel radio host Steve Dahl built a career out of shitting on Black and gay people just having fun and looking better than him, and then had the gall to say, “I’m worn out from defending myself as a racist homophobe” yeah poor fucking you. The glory of disco will live forever. There’s a reason “I Will Survive” is the ultimate disco anthem.

“I Will Survive” isn’t just a fun disco bop, it’s a declaration and a rallying cry that took on a very literal meaning during the AIDS epidemic. After the Pulse shooting, I broke down crying when I heard the chorus:

“Oh no, not I, I will survive Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive I've got all my life to live And I've got all my love to give and I'll survive I will survive!”

I can’t help but feel it’s once again taken on new meaning today when people are out there openly calling for trans people to be erased. Disco is powerful and meaningful. It’s hope and something to hold onto, a beacon of light in times of immense darkness. We will survive!

[sterekotypes]

Okay I fucked up because I know I’m supposed to be working on my WIPS but I can’t stop thinking about delinquent Eli getting in so much trouble that the Sheriff can’t help him get out of it.

Then Eli gets put on parole with court-mandated community service and therapy. Somehow, Eli gets Stiles as a therapist and he doesn’t notice his new therapist and his single father making goo goo eyes at each other.

In fact, it takes five months before Eli catches them all over each other. And god, Eli was an idiot to think Stiles was there to help him. When he thinks back on it, it was so obvious that Stiles was just thirsting after his dad. That Stiles was just using him to get to his dad.

Maybe he didn’t give it much attention because it’s not like his dad ever fell for antics of horny PTA moms and slutty soccer dads. Maybe he didn’t expect his father to betray him with the only person who actually heard him when he spoke. Who didn’t lecture him over every little thing. Who didn’t breathe down his neck because Eli was never going to be the golden boy his dad was as a kid.

Eli can’t even look at them. He rushes off into the preserve ignoring the rain and the thunder and the lightning because his internal storm is so much bigger and scarier. It may have been a couple hours or a few minutes when he hears a shout and a crash, and that’s Stiles who just fell and knocked himself out.

And shit. Eli drags Stiles to the hospital because even though Stiles is a betrayer - he can’t let Stiles die. And the nurses are looking at Eli with that look when he finally gets Stiles in the door.

It’s the same look the mall security had when he caught Eli with a pocket full of borrowed merchandise. Then he called the cops. It’s the same look the manager had when Eli was grinding the railing in front of Beacon Hills First National Bank with his skateboard . Then he called the cops. It’s the same look the old man had when he caught Eli spray painting a dick under the overpass. Then he called the cops.

The nurses called the cops. But he doesn’t see Sheriff Stilinski, just that Parrish asshole. And Parrish is too happy to throw Eli into a holding cell taunting him about how juvie should really straighten him out. And fuck. His dad is going to be so mad. So so mad. And while he’s waiting for his dad to show up all he can think is how did his dad ever get such a fuck up for a son.

So he’s not prepared when his dad shows up. He doesn’t mean to start crying but Jesus. It’s been a stressful night. And who cares if he’s crying?

Its 2023. It’s manly to cry now. 🙄

And his dad is arguing with Parrish about false imprisonment being a federal crime and if he wanted to his dad could sue this department so hard for violating Eli’s rights that he would own this place. All the while he’s dripping all over the floor of this rinky dinky fucking office.

And Eli just wants to get out! He’s already got to tell his Judas of a father that his Brutus boyfriend is unconscious and it’s Eli’s fault because he was looking for him and and and -

Eli collapses into Derek’s arms instead and mumbles his confessions into his dad’s shoulder. They load into the car and his dad tells him about his childhood. How Eli’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins all burned to death. How his dad blamed himself. How his dad had his own wild streak living in New York with Aunt Laura.

And New York? Hot-wiring cars? Drugs? Breaking into buildings? Aunt Laura? Leather jackets?

Eli tried to see the delinquent that his father described but none of it matched with the man who drove Eli to his first date. Or the man who always added a little note in Eli’s lunches. Or the man who gave Eli tickets to his favorite band for his birthday last year.

And he doesn’t have much time to unpack it, because his dad ruffles his hair and slides out of the car. All casual, like he didn’t say a series of some of the most insane things to ever be spoken in the span of 15 minutes.

Instead he follows his dad through the hospital until they get to Stiles. And from the doorway of the room, Eli sees Sheriff Stilinski, shaken. And he sees Stiles smile at his dad and his dad smile back and - alright his dad has never smiled like that at anyone.

Then Stiles looks at Eli and smiles even wider. He calls Eli his hero. Says “It’s probably bad form to fire your hero right after he saves your life but I can’t be your therapist anymore.”

And Eli’s stomach turns into stone and his heart drops and - right of course, because Eli was dumb to think anyone would be able to stand him for too long. Plus he nearly got Stiles killed tonight.

“Don’t look like that dude!” Stiles says. “It’s like a huge conflict of interest to be in love with your patient’s father.” And the sheriff goes pinched like it did that time when he realized it was Eli who filled the high school pool with enough orbies that they starting coming out of the toilets and sinks.

And his dad. Omg it was sick. His dad gets the stupidest, dopiest look on his face and Eli almost vomits!

Then his dad says “you do?”

And Stiles! His face does the same look and Jesus! It was dis-gust-ting!

And Stiles says “yeah” all soft.

And his dad says “me. Me too. Uh. I love you too.”

And of course now Eli’s the asshole standing in the way of his freaking dad being happy. Which is not cool because they are Betrayers! Eli has a right to stand in the way, just so you know.

Like he didn’t HAVE to be okay with this at all.

He’s just such a good person that he chose to forgive them. And if he had plans to guilt them into getting him a car well… that’s the price they have to pay.

What? He said he was a good person. Not a saint.

[invested-in-your-future]

Would you say that Jaune's issues were dealt with better than Ruby's, worse or just different?

I think I talked about it before, but I feel like the writers ended up massively misreading what the issue with Jaune is.

So whichever issues they do try to deal with are fundamentally different from the ones they need to deal with.

And in roundabout way, Jaune gets to "deal" with the things Ruby should.

Jaune gets to angst about Pyrrha, having failed her and so on (in spite of being the ONE character in entire cast to have gotten actual moment of closure with her). Ruby gets to watch him angst about Pyrrha instead of having to deal with what happened as after all she was the one who saw it happen and having idolized her as this definition of what a Huntress should be.

Jaune gets to deliver monologues about leadership and how he never asked for this and how he wants to be better and Ruby doesn't - the moment in V4 where Ruby begins to and the show just has Jaune steal the monologue is SEARED into my brain. It's so emblematic of what's wrong with the character.

Jaune gets to worry about failing his teammates. Ruby gets to watch her teammates get saved by Jaune rather than being allowed to deal with the very obvious self-doubts about her leadership that should have arose after her team went all different ways at the end of V3. Which in turn makes her handling of the whole Atlas situation feel ultra unfounded.

JAUNE gets to give Penny "closure". Now that was needless and redundant in the first place, but Penny's end is with Jaune rather than her actual best friend half of whose issues were built on Penny dying. Instead Ruby dealing with that gets OFFSCREENED.

Most of those...aren't really needed for Jaune.

Jaune's issue never was that he just wasn't good enough protector or that people keep dying around him or that he should "man up (and get a Cardin haircut)".

Somehow, somewhere along the way, the showrunners had decided that the main flaw with Jaune is that he just isn't manly tortured hero enough. The the main issue is that he is "too wimpy" and thus needs to "man up" and get a cool haircut and knight aesthetic and be all tortured hero.

Not the inherently toxic attitude he had originally approached being a Huntsman with, where he seemed to have based it around the notion of "respect" and "fame" rather than duty.

Not his initial lack of accountability or inability to understand boundaries.

Not his misguided self-destructive notion that because he's at Beacon he will now be the protagonist hero and has to protect everyone and live up to "being the hero".

Not his subconscious belief that "because he's the nice guy with a family legacy, he must do it and succeed at it"

Not his insecurities and needless toxic attempts to "prove himself".

Not his absolute inability to let himself be vulnerable.

Not the undercurrent of unintentional misogyny that comes from the way he approaches others, especially women (remember when the show celebrated that he kept bugging Weiss after she had said no to him?)

Not the idea of how character is positioned in a position to challenge gender-stereotypes.

Not the undercurrent of misogyny in the writing of the character.

No. He gets to Adam Jensen around with "I never asked for this", while walking through a trail of dead women.

If my doctor had prescribed laxatives to treat my flu, I sure wouldn't go around congratulating them for having prescribed me something even if entirely wrong.

[lilithfairen]

How to accuse a work of "wish fulfillment" because it isn't about telling women they need to stay in the kitchen~

I'm going to delve deeper into this pathetic screed the loser head mod of /r/RWBYcritics wrote, because it's so very telling about the way RWBY "critics" view stories that don't blame women for everything~

Let's see, just off the top of my head in instances where characters in Team RWBY were depicted as "wrong" in any way:

Ruby overburdening herself as "the leader".

Weiss not understanding her brother is the result of the same upbringing she went through.

Blake being a member of an extremist group, then abandoning her friends after the fall of Beacon.

Yang's overreliance on letting loose with her Semblance.

Just a few examples, off the top of my head, because the protagonists of this show have a thing called "character development". It's this funny thing where, when a character of a story has flaws, they often work to address or grow out of these flaws. So it's not that RWBY has never depicted Team RWBY as being wrong, it's that RWBY doesn't always depict Team RWBY as being wrong that pisses off this loser.

So it's "wish fulfillment" to have a story where...characters suffer defeat and tragedy, but rather than wallowing in their loss and suffering, they rally themselves and return to the fray, determined to fight for those they love?

I can see that sort of thing being a form of "wish fulfillment" for people who've experienced trauma and depression, in that stories that tell such people that Things Get Better can be invaluable to them. All the more so when these stories feature characters that those people can identify more closely with, perhaps because of gender or sexuality. But I can see the idea of disparagingly referring to such as "wish fulfillment" for the sort of people who don't believe anyone but strong and confident white men can handle such a burden.

Was Ruby told that she was "perfect"? Nope, the specific word was "enough". Ruby felt like she couldn't live up to the burden of leading the fight against Salem, only to be reassured that it would be as much a burden on anyone else's shoulders. This is an interesting thing, because our angry white guy writing this conflates a story saying a woman isn't a complete loser responsible for everything bad that happens with claiming the story is declaring her to be "perfect".

Remember, kids: men are the only ones allowed to protect the ones they care about. Ruby tries to help her uncle fight off a psychotic assassin, unaware of the Semblance he never told her about? What a selfish fucking bitch amirite!

Ah yes, the selfish desire of "not standing around and letting the Grimm be lured to Argus". Why didn't she just fucking walk to Atlas, huh? Or send her friend back to her abusive father? What a selfish fucking bitch amirite!

This is 100% the sort of thing that comes out of the mouth of the kind of man who takes a woman out to an expensive restaurant on a first date, then screams abuse at her because she won't have sex with him afterwards. The attitude of "this man gives her things, how fucking dare this woman not unconditionally obey him in every fucking way".

Again: What a fucking selfish bitch Ruby was to try to help her uncle fight off a psychopathic murderer, huh?

"Why isn't this selfish bitch being punished for being a bitch?"

Yep, the wish fulfillment of "sometimes doing the right thing pays off". I can see how you'd resent this when you're a drooling stan of the authoritarian who decided to leave thousands of people to die at the drop of a hat, because he wanted to be The Hero and only he was allowed to be The Hero because he was a Manly Man Who Mans.

Get out the Anti-Strawman Spray, Batman!

Yep, because we saw that Ruby's plan ultimately did unite the people of Remnant in Vacuo, that means there was literally no panic whatsoever following the announcement! That's how logic works!

The "end point" was Ironwood's original plan before he threw it out the window, because there wasn't really anything wrong with Ironwood's original plan. Get the folks in Mantle to Atlas, evacuate with Atlas. That Ruby and her teammates were forced to work in secret, infiltrate Atlas command, and then seek medical attention for their critically-wounded friend as a result of Ironwood going Full Fascism is obviously all her fault. Bitch bitch bitch etc.

Man, I can think of nothing more despair-inducing than the idea that the Man in Charge doesn't have the one and only possible solution to any problem!

Hope is leaving thousands of people to fucking die, because the white man who wrote this does not identify or sympathize with anyone in Mantle.

Hope is the Man In Charge doing whatever he fucking wants and stupid bitches like Ruby falling in line and accepting their place.

Hope is adamantly clinging to a male authority figure, despite the glaring logical flaws with his plans and the glaring moral flaws he exhibits with every passing second.

But if it's a woman who keeps fighting for the right thing, she's a selfish bitch.

You notice how this screed somehow juggles between "Team RWBY are depicted as if they can do no wrong and always succeed in everything" and "Team RWBY ruins everything and makes everything worse for everyone"? It's a common tactic of fascists, actually; the enemy is both strong and weak at the same time. But why would the white man who idolizes a male military authoritarian and vilifies women, the poor, and minorities utilize fascist rhetorical devices?

The best part about "critics" like this is that RWBY is a story that introduced a plot device and exposited specific limitations to its power in the story, and none of these idiots can wrap their heads around a single part of that.

"When Salem does not do things the Staff has never been claimed to be able to do, that will just be wish fulfillment."

Well, anyway, here's me calling you stupid (and a drooling sexist pig) (and a racist fucko) (and a fascism stan)~

[marcmarcmomarc]

To me there seems to be a criteria RWBY characters have to meet in order to make an appearance in RWBY Chibi.

1. They must be easy to make into a chibi.

2. Their personality must be easy to comedically exaggerate.

3. Their voice actor must be within the show’s budget.

4. They have to make sense, since RWBY Chibi is set in a timeline where Beacon Academy never fell.

So remember to recite this to the people insulting CRWBY for “not knowing how to use their characters for Chibi”. It’s obnoxious enough that they think Chibi is better than the main show (Gee, I wonder why), but this almost rivals it.

1. Don’t quote me on this one in case I’m wrong, but I remember CRWBY stating that translating the models from the main show into cute tiny chibi designs is not easy.

2. The chances of someone like Salem being in Chibi are next to zilch. How can they take someone who isn’t supposed to be funny, who is only present in the darkest of scenes, who is a force of nature more than just a simple villain, and comedically exaggerate her into a funny chibi? You look at who’s already in the show, and you can see how it’s easy to believe they’re still the same character, despite the exaggerations. Weiss’ brattiness, Yang’s puns, Jaune’s butt-monkey status, Nora’s crush on Ren, Pyrrha’s crush on Jaune, Ozpin’s obliviousness and treatment towards his students, Oobleck’s craziness, Port’s attempts at manliness, Winter’s militaristic attitude, Emerald wanting Cinder to love her like a daughter. What is there to comedically exaggerate about Salem? Of course, not that nothing Salem has done hasn’t been funny (I mean, she took a dive into a pool of Grimm like she was in the Olympics), but what can they exaggerate personality-wise, I mean?

3. And even if they can make a comedic Salem work, RWBY Chibi has a smaller budget than the main show, and Jen Taylor is an expensive voice actor. Cherami Leigh being another one, so Chibi Ilia doesn’t stand a chance.

4. And for anyone who’s that upset over the lack of Chibi Oscar, again, RWBY Chibi is set in a timeline where Beacon Academy never fell. If Beacon doesn’t fall, Ozpin doesn’t get killed. If Ozpin doesn’t get killed, he doesn’t reincarnate. If Ozpin doesn’t reincarnate, Oscar never leaves his farm, meets the main characters, and trains to become a Huntsman. So what the heck can they do with a Chibi Oscar?

So, long story short, the complaints about the character use in RWBY Chibi get under my skin, and these are what I think are the reasons many characters aren’t present.

[comatosebunny09]

Kyojuro is super brave. But sometimes I wonder if even he gets scared. I also wonder what it takes to scare him shitless. Like, I feel like he’s all confrontational and manly around his s/o just so they don’t panic. A beacon of light in the darkness. But he’s probably losing his shit on the inside when he stands between his s/o and danger, more afraid of losing his love and not being able to protect those around him than he is his of losing his own life.

[siflshonen]

Come to my panels at AWA 2023! I've got four this year.

Eijiro Kirishima: Positively Reclaiming National Identity and Making Masculinity More Inclusive

Friday, October 27, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m

He's dependable, manly, hard, and a beacon of positive masculinity! Come take a deeper look at My Hero Academia's Eijiro Kirishima in this educational and entertaining breakdown of his "manly" philosophy and how it ties into the cultural climate of real-world modern Japan! Warning for manga spoilers, minor foul language, and a surface-level discussion of sensitive topics like Japanese petit-nationalism and sexual content.

Oh, and be on the lookout for surprise guest Mina Ashido!

If you've read the Kirishima presentation, it's similar - but it's more fun live and when I'm dressed like Izuku Midoriya.

[thestrangestthlng]

Bi Buck and the internet interneting

I'm absolutely fucking living for the positive male bisexual representation we've been getting in media. Three masc male bis in the past year (and some change) is fucking amazing. Not only are they coming into their sexualities, their growth and development is detailed and explicit.

Furthermore, we have them having their sexual awakenings at different phases in their lives. There's no timetable on figuring out your sexuality. Personally, I as already in my late-20s/early thirties when I realized that yes my aesthetic appreciation for women was more than just aesthetic appreciation. We have Nick Nelson falling in love with his friend in high school, Alex Claremont-Diaz falling in love and having his awakening in his early-mid twenties, and now Buck realizing that his jealousy and feelings are more than just wanting to be friends in his early thirties.

Of course, the internet loses its collective minds--mostly for good, but you know the internet is always going to the internet.

There were a bunch of comments about how the show was "ruined" and asking why everything has to be gay. Here are some direct quotes.

"ABC just fucked up an amazing show and ruined my favorite character."

"Enough already. Why must it be in every freaking show on television? We'll see how the ratings go."

"Not Buck😢. ABC has just ruined 9-1-1."

"I'm done... tired of not being able to watch anything with the gay agenda having to be added."

"Ruined the show for me."

"WHY WOULD YOU RUIN BUCKS CHARACTER LIKE THIS. BYE"

"BRO WHY DID YOU MAKE BUCK GAY NO"

"Didn't and don't like where this Buck storyline is going.. smh"

Let's start breaking down this fucking foolery. First and foremost, 9-1-1 is a RYAN MURPHY show and the show has been queer af the whole fucking time. What we're not going to do is erase Hen like she hasn't been there the whole fucking time.

So, I personally this that people are mad about this development in his character because Buck is masc. Not only masc, but he's a firefighter, a manly man's job. Being a queer masc in that type of setting is threatening to some men's heteronormative opinion of what masculinity is. It makes them uncomfortable because he's not a stereotype. Buck's personality hasn't changed because he's started kissing boys. Hen is not an issue because Hen having a more traditionally masculine role as a lesbian is not "threatening" to their opinions of what masculinity is. Michael isn't an issue because he's not a main character, he's not in the 118.

But someone is like "not everything is homophobia" and went on to say about how sometimes people just don't like change and that if you got to know someone for six years as straight you won't like it if they were suddenly queer.

Holy microaggressive queerphobia Batman.

Buck hasn't changed more than his character growth and development over the years. Also, they've been shining a queer beacon over his head for years, which is why so many people were hesitant to get invested in the show thinking it was just going to be another queerbaiting situation.

As a bi myself, I am ecstatic to see more and more positive representation, but to sit here and say that his character is ruined or the show is ruined because he did what they've been hinting at for years, that's goofy.

Like, if queerness offends you so much, why are you watching it?

Moral of the story is that queer people come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, mannerisms, etc. The fact that media is including more masculine presenting queer men is amazing, because we've been force-fed stereotypes that are palatable for straight men for decades. It's supercalafragulisticexpialidous that we have bisexual male representation because that's new new. There's so much biphobia and bi-erasure it's so amazing to see it on the screen (and also not just being queerbaited for years.)

Hollywood: Keep it up.

And because I can: have some bi boy appreciation:

Just lusting; nothing to see here.

Honestly, though Taylor is so fucking pretty, he's literally punchable.

They're literally low key raising a family together, and ya'll are surprised. (Also, side note, I will die for Christopher.)

[twilightguardian]

Lilith wasted no time. You gotta wonder if she loves Fixing RWBY just as much as the rest of us. She's just a tsundere for Raymond! We all know that she's a lying piece of living garbage but let's see what kind of laughs she has for us this time.

"Random" PTSD. Because as we all know, PTSD isn't triggered by things that can be tangentially related to the thing that we have issues with in question. So flashes of red going into a dark tunnel reminding her of Adam's red and the dark cafeteria of Beacon. Nah. Not similar. The episode was totally out of nowhere.

Breaking news: Conman is better at gambling than teenagers. More at 11.

lmao WOW she's pressed. Over basically nothing, too. What is the issue with Blake wanting to talk about what's bothering her? What's wrong with former classmates wondering what's eating at her? Is it because they're men and you don't like those things? Is that it? Like seriously what an odd thing to have a freak out over. How dare men exist and do things.

You can tell Lilith doesn't pay attention because they don't barge in to talk about how totally better people they are. They come into the room to talk to everyone and finds only Blake there and are surprised, because they never knew she was a faunus.

Victimized. That, Lilith, is called past tense. I know you haven't noticed, but it's called character growth. Cardin and Velvet worked past their differences.

Plus, they're not love interests. Yet. Raymond is still on the fence about it because it's not important to the story. But he's blushing because it's a girly thing to have on his weapon and he's a burly manly man, so being teased about it makes him embarrassed. But no, it can only be because he's in love with Velvet. I forgot. Blushing doesn't exist as a psychological involuntary response triggered by emotional stress associated with passion, embarrassment, shyness, fear, or anger. No. It can only be from romantic stimulation. Shoujo anime taught us that.

Why is the main villain of the arc appearing in the arc?!

Stop trying to make transphobia happen, Gretchen. It's not going to happen.

I already explained why this is stupid, but I wouldn't put it past liars to deliberately ignore it or twist my words no matter what I say. So there's barely use explaining anything beyond what I already said. After all, only a moron would genuinely take me saying 'I don't believe you could use your sexuality as an excuse to not know how flirting among this sex works because you're not that dumb' and skew it as queerphobic and me calling Lilith an idiot. Then again, tumblrites were never known for their intelligence. There's a reason I also called out rwde for also having their own Liliths among them, after all.

What? You mean in a series where the main purpose is to stay as close to the original show as possible where it doesn't need to be changed doesn't change things that doesn't need to be changed... doesn't fix shit that doesn't need changing? What a fucking concept.

It's almost like this series is a reconstructive exercise to show how with only a few little tweaks, RWBY could be great and doesn't require a big overhaul to make it good for those who have issues with it or something. That Raymond thinks the show is mostly fine, it just failed in a few things in terms of execution, worldbuilding and other fundamental things and was primarily fine and not completely broken. Wow. You can tell when someone fundamentally doesn't understand something when...

You know it's really funny because we're currently arguing with a guy over the rewrite, because he also thinks it's subpar. Which is fine, but he has his head up his ass to smell his own farts trying to teach Raymond (and subsequently ALL of Hollywood) how to properly write fiction and that he's going to REVOLUTIONIZE the industry. Truly, this guy is what these people claim Raymond is: arrogant, and delusional about his own abilities. Anyway, based on what I've seen his spelling error-riddled script basically makes the girls into murderous psychopaths who will throw everyone else, even their teammates, under the bus to save their own skin and he calls that character development. Truly we live in a clown world.

He might need to be looked at, too, but as per agreement, only Raymond is allowed to look at his script so far. Because he seriously thinks his ideas are so good that people would want to steal from him.

Who are Raymond's pet characters who drove the plot forward?

Roman didn't do shit this episode except hide underneath a table, so that's not true.

Cardin got two scenes where he nudged Blake forward. It's not like he went out and did the work and repaired her relationship with Yang or anything, and then after that he and Russell mostly did the same thing Dee and Dudley did. So unless you're saying D&D were integral to canon and overshadowed the girls, I'd also say that's not true.

Adam? For once she tells the truth. The villain causes stuff to happen. Like in the majority of fiction. Villains usually drive the plot, yes, congratulations, you figured it out. Have a cookie.

Nora and Ren saved Roman. Nora goes and fights with Team RWBY on the roof. Ruby goes and retrieves the weapons. RWBYN take centre stage in the train car scene. Ruby cuts the train car.

But for as much as she loves screaming about how Raymond is misogynistic for this, that and the other, Lilith never really talks about the girls of Fixing in relation unless degrading them, calling them useless, or saying they only exist to be love interests for men. She has some major projection going on.

[jamesusilljournal]

Zabriskie Point [Manly Beacon], Edward Weston, 1937