#my friend WHEN I SAID QUEER ICON WHO DO YOU THINK I WAS TALKING ABOUT

[daincrediblegg]

I suggest you watch Halston UuU

I watched it when it came out babey 😎 and hitting my second watch with my mom now and my god I’m loving it even more this time around

[leonardalphachurch]

saw the question of “how long does it take rvb to pass the bechdel test” and i got curious and also wanted to make myself mad so.

my answer is Reconstruction: Chapter 5 (s6e5). there’s a recorded conversation between sheila and tex about the ship crashing.

my answer with no caveats is Evacuation Plan (s9e4). carolina, 479er, filss and south all participate in a conversation that takes up a good chunk of the episode.

i talk a LOT more about the state of female character interactions under the cut.

the first time two women talk at all is s2e11/bgc30:

sheila bisexual moments. while iconic, this isn’t much of a conversation (tex doesn’t ever speak to her) and it’s certainly about a man so. doesn’t count. next!

next is s3e1/bgc39:

while here it’s implied that they are actually having a conversation at least we still don’t actually see any exchanges between them and they’re still talking about men and quote “Boring stuff like oppression, and a hostile work environment.” which is great but. a) we don’t see it. and b) again, still about men

next is tex and kai’s exchange in season 5. which is misogynistic as fuck and even if it did pass the bechdel test i would refuse to count it. but guess what! not only are they talking about men, but we literally do not see them talk to each other. kai speaks to tex “who’s o’malley?” but tex doesn’t respond to her, instead asking the guys “who’s the girl?” (s5e10/bgc92). then they talk in the background of the next episode while church and tucker are misogynistic. then it’s two more episodes until we get this gem

y’know, girl stuff! how fucking charming. these writers really have a great grasp on how woman act. god, it’s even worse when compared to tex and sheila’s conversation earlier. in what world would tex be fucking intimidated by kai.

and you know what the joke of this all is. even if they did have a conversation here that passed the bechdel test it still wouldn’t count under some rule sets because kai still doesn’t have a name at this point. great work team.

s5e15/bgc92 has a deleted scene where kai calls up a girl friend and they talk… i’m not counting it because 1) kai is as of yet unnamed and the girl friend is never named, 2) the conversation is ostensibly about junior, though they do talk about other stuff enough that you could argue it’s not about a man, but 3) it’s deleted. you don’t get credit for shit you deleted.

next time two women talk to each other is recovery one episode 4. this is the first time we see two women have an actual, back and forth conversation. the conversation is between south and commamd about wash, delta, and the fact that south isn’t rejoining freelancer. i do think this conversation fits the spirit of the bechdel test (two women talking to each other with deeper characterizations unmoored from being about men) but that’s only really by technicality. command isn’t a character here and doesn’t become one for another 4 seasons; the conversation is only retroactively a deeper one. it’s up to you whether or not you pass it. i think it’s important to remember that the bechdel test isn’t really a hard test to determine what’s feminist (and was made in the first place to be about queer women being able to see themselves in media) but rather a marker to help sort out if the female characters in a work are allowed any depth outside of men. this exercise is less about finding a scene fitting exact criteria and more about. me going oh god it really is fucking bad out there huh.

my actual pick, as i said in the beginning, is s6e5. though tex mentions gamma and the aliens, the conversation is still about the fact that the ship is crashing. and in terms of the spirit of the test, two women yelling at each other as they die definitely fits definitely fits “deeper character motivations outside of men” imo. it’s. kind of really sad though. the first time we ever see tex and sheila have an actual conversation is the last time we really see either of them, chronologically. we only got to see them have a relationship as they were dying. why couldn’t they have been friends in life.

if a recorded conversation isn’t good enough for you, you’ll have to wait until s8e15. season 7 does not have a single woman in it. tεx and filss talk about pfl’s files. it’s not exactly an in depth back and forth and the conversation is shared with simmons and church but. it’s something. i think sheila and tex’s convo fits the spirit of the test a bit more but. let’s chalk it up to two conversations in the 8 seasons. fantastic.

all right, season 9 time. come on, a third of the main cast is women! that’s gotta bring our numbers up, right?

episode 1? no. 2? no. 3?

incredible! we have a conversation between female operative and pilot! just kidding. the wiki doesn’t name them bc they haven’t been named yet, but this is a conversation between carolina and niner! no funny business! just an actual conversation between woman! wow. only took us nine seasons to get to a point where i can confidently say something passes the bechdel test with no caveats. unless we look at the 60 second rule. then. oops.

but… wow! episode 4 has… THREE women? talking to each other? and then a fourth joins in? i thought it was a myth! being able to handle so many women on screen at once… they really did something special here. anyway, this episode is the first to pass with flying colors. i can’t time shut bc i don’t have the videos on hand but i’m certain this passes the 60 second mark. great work! if only it didn’t take you nine years to get to this point.

ugh. i had more written past this point but tumblr erased it and i don’t feel like fucking redoing it. i got to the point i wanted to so. maybe i’ll continue this later. would like to explore the rest of pfl and chorus. it’s impressive how well pfl manages to avoid having women actually speak to each other. they’ll literally be in the same conversation but never actually address each other. this happens multiple times.

[sequestered-song-skirmish]

Round 3 Poll 13

Use My Fkn Pronouns：　「I first met Allegra on the bus in 8th grade. I thought they were cool, but I didn't approach them for a couple months because I couldn't figure out if they were a boy or a girl. When I finally did talk to them, they told me they were nonbinary and explained what that meant. They asked me why knowing their gender was so important to me that I was afraid to talk to them, and that question spurred a series of epiphanies that lead me to who I am today.

The conversation moved on. We giggled about how mad their mom was that an *allergy medication* of all things used the same name just a couple years after she had her baby. They told me that they were a guitarist and that someday they were gonna be a rockstar. I said that when it happens, people will finally think of the musician first and not the medication, and we cheered.

Being openly gay and trans in a red state is fucking daunting now, but it was even moreso a decade ago. Allegra was *the* out queer kid in our class. Having the grit to withstand that kind of social abuse while remaining a goofy and deeply kind person speaks to their character. They used their music to carve out a precedent for the classes below us: showing them a queer person can be out and well-liked and successful while still having personal boundaries. Even here.

Next month they'll be onstage performing at the biggest music festival in the state. The song I submitted is the flagship single from their second album. It's about how tiring it gets to have to ask for simple respect all day every day. It's at about 3,600 some streams on spotify now, which puts it above the stream limit. (I submitted Windmill, a personal favorite of mine off the same album, as a backup.)

I think Use My Fkn Pronouns should be included in this bracket because it represents my friend standing on a stage and singing out to thousands of people, in the face of a government that is actively trying to erase them, that their life and experiences have value. They're gonna stand up there and BE the role model we needed when we were kids, and they're gonna fucking rock while they do it.

Even if it doesn't win, I want everyone to know that I am so, so proud to be their friend.」

Fang into Vein：　「okay listen.

Not only is this a chilling and beautiful song about vampires (the way he sings "it means nothing to me" the first time?! HOLY SHIT) it also is by someone so fantastic I don't have words for it.

So he is a Trans Elder TM, he is iconic for many reasons but most of all because he transitioned publicly in his mid 40s after having an established career and EXPLAINED THAT HE IS A CHANGELING, that a faerie had lived his life for him under a glamour while he the real boy had been kept in faerieland! It's the best metaphor of all time and he has stuck to it for 15 years no matter how much it baffles cis people. Also he is kind and thoughtful and if he were a spiritual leader I would follow him. Might be too popular for this bracket but this song only has 1.7k plays on youtube (I can't check spotify because I don't have a computer)... so, thank you for your consideration!」

[qiriex]

Why do DnP have such a large transmasc/lesbian following?

Hi! So I put out a general feeler post about this, and it seems like y’all are interested in a big ass post about Dan and Phil’s relationship with their LGBT audience. Click on the read more for a bit of unhinged analysis.

I have… a lot to say on this matter, and tbf I warned you it would be long. This will mostly be focused on the wlw (specifically lesbian) and transmasc experience with DnP. Before I get into it, I wanna state that I am NOT transmasc. I’m a he/they afab lesbian, but I am in no way talking over any transmascs who have differing experiences. This post will mostly deal with the AFAB experience, as I am not AMAB and can’t speak for our lovely transfems/enbies/cis men! I love you guys, and I would love to hear about your experiences too, though! I’m going to be using as much non-gendered language as I can, however I’m talking about some pretty gendered topics so bear with me. One more thing to note is that when researching this, I found a lot more examples of Dan shouting exact communities out. This is a post about them both, as they are both extremely important to queer communities! It’s just that Dan has generally done more press runs relating solely to his sexuality, so there is more content there. I’m sure I’m missing a lot, though, and if anyone has more Phil focused clips/screenshots I would love to link them here. This is very much a work in progress post, I’m sure I’ll be adding more later and if you have screenshots/clips/anything, my dms and my submissions are open! Okay, done with disclaimers for now, I think. This post will be split up into a few sections: DnP talking about the LGBT community (both pre and coming out), how they empower their wlw following, how they affirm transmasc identities and what they mean to the LGBT community as icons. I would like this post to be free of any in-fighting drama, both from the Phandom and LGBT side of things. We are all awesome! 

Dan and Phil are both queer men who came out after acquiring a large fanbase that was predominantly AFAB (love you transfems and cis dudes going strong btw). However, a community that started out as a common “fangirl” fanbase over the years has shifted into a predominantly LGBT fandom with a disproportionate amount of specifically transmascs and lesbians. The word fangirl was often thrown around as an insult to people like us back in the day, but I think it makes perfect sense that a group of disenfranchised, young, queer AFABs would be drawn to DnP. Both of them were, for obvious in hindsight reasons, vocal supporters of the community. I can’t find an unedited version of the clip, but this clip from 2017 is a great example of that. Correct me if I’m wrong, but not a lot of non-out YouTubers educated their community in the way that Dan does in this clip.  I think sometimes it’s lost to time how bad YouTube used to be, that 2013-2017 time period was peak anti-SJW era. As basic as what he said was, somebody with his level of influence taking the time to educate his audience on queer issues as a presumed straight man was very meaningful. This not only created a safespace for young, queer AFABs but also made their specific audience more saturated with us than your typical “straight” YouTuber of the day. Their audience shares more demographic similarities with someone like Tyler Oakley than someone like Zoella, which makes sense in recent years.

This tweet from Dan from before he was out displays my point perfectly. To my enby ass, things like this meant the world to me and I can imagine it’s much the same for my transmascs out there. Going back to the clip earlier, though, I think that how willing to break gender norms they both were had even more of an effect in attracting transmascs who hadn’t yet fully discovered themselves. This isn’t denying that a lot of transmascs who were already out were drawn to DnP! Most of my Phandom friends were actually transmen back in the day. However, I think in retrospect there’s a huge pipeline from going into the fanbase as a cis person to coming out of it as… not. It makes perfect sense to me that a generation of transmascs would be drawn to and model themselves after the two of them. Going back to the YouTube landscape of the time, even their contemporaries had a much meaner edge that DnP just never had. This unfortunately made them targets of their fellow “vaguely emo relatable YouTuber” scene; people like Shane Dawson and Onision immediately come to mind, at the time they would have been in a similar category but in retrospect are nothing alike. There was an air of cruelty that Dan and Phil never fed into, consistently remaining themselves. I think that as a baby transmasc, people who stayed loyal to their principals even when it wasn’t the cool thing to do was really empowering. In a time when my friends were all fans of LeafyIsHere, Dan and Phil weren’t afraid to be kind. To be soft, even with the context we have now of how scary that really was. After BIG/COTY dropped, it was easy to see why they were great queer role models.  But I’d argue that they’d always been this, even before we knew they were queer.

This one will be a little bit more personal, but I would like to start this section out with a personal anecdote. I grew up in a fairly liberal household, in which I was told being gay was just fine. However, my mother just so happened to use the word ‘lesbian’ as a descriptor for any woman she thought was “unsuitable”. Ugly, boyish, mean, it didn’t matter; to me, lesbian was an unmistakably bad word. I knew that the word didn’t mean that, but intrinsically I had never heard it as something positive until I heard Dan simply shout out the lesbians on a YouNow stream. Simple, right? Four years later, and BIG came out. I identified as a bisexual “who would never actually date a man ahaha” at the time, and it was life changing. Dan and Phil have frequently shouted out their lesbian fanbase over the years to the point where it’s developed into a bit of an inside joke. This is meaningful for a multitude of reasons, one of which being just how demonized not only the word but the group can be. Even when poking gentle fun, neither of them ever lean into hurtful stereotypes. I went to We’re All Doomed last November, and when Dan took his jumpsuit top off the audience screamed. He yelled into the mic “I thought you were all lesbians!”, to which the crowd screamed even louder. You can poke fun at each other without playing into things like the mean lesbian stereotype, for example, and I think it’s things like this which show that they have a genuine appreciation for their lesbian audience. I can only speak from my own experience when I say that I was originally drawn to them for their authenticity even in a hostile environment. I was a closeted lesbain who had grown attached to closeted gay men, because on a level I didn’t understand yet I related to them. It was a parasocial relationship that if I never had, I wouldn’t have come out. This section is a lot less objective than the others, because for me it’s impossible to look at this objectively. A lot of the reasons that transmascs would be drawn to DnP are why lesbians would, especially in a less than LGBT friendly era like the 2010s. They were never afraid to be perceived as weaker than their peers if that meant being kinder, and from a lesbian lens this wasn’t how I modeled my new relationship with gender off of but what I wished the world was like. I grew up with a deep, fundamental fear of men that is still there, but when I would watch actual sunshine Phil Lester and Winnie the Pooh ass Daniel Howell it made me realize that there are people out there who have your back.

I think this is where the conversation turns to now; we are mostly all adults, DnP have been out and proud for four years now. The pair have returned to YouTube (gloriously, might I add) and can talk openly about even the most mundane parts of being queer. Dan has been a very outspoken part of the community, doing a really lovely bit of standup about it. Watch it if you haven’t. I don’t think either of them are obligated to be spokesmen for the community, in a way I think one of the most powerful things they’ve done after BIG/COTY is to just continue living. Watching two queer people thrive how they have is incredibly important. They’re still just as great role models as they have ever been, just with nothing to hide this time. I think now that most of their younger fanbase has grown up, we’ve been very reflective of our past with the Phandom. Certainly not me (lie). It’s not a mystery to me, though, that two groups of closeted AFAB children would attach themselves to figures like DnP. The pair’s content encouraged a level of creativity, of believing in yourself against all odds that was and is unmatched to this day. We can moan about how much of a demonic fanbase we used to be, but the fact is that we turned out alright. People wonder why our fanbase feels like the most healthy parasocial family this side of Tumblr, and that’s because in a way we are. We were raised by these two British dudes to be how we are today; smart, funny and creative. All kids have a rough teenagehood, don’t they? It’s no wonder why queer kids would be drawn to a culture like this, one in which despite everything there is still hope that we will one day grow up to be our honest selves. Dan and Phil did, and so will we.

Thank you if you made it this far! I know this is a bit over sentimental, but they mean a lot to me. They did back in the day, and they definitely do now. Like I said in the beginning, feel free to add on. I would love to hear about this from a transmasc perspective, or any other perspective! I just love talking about these two lol. Love you guys.

[x-on-the-calendar-business]

ryan ross iceberg (tier 8)

tier 1, tier 2, tier 3, tier 4, tier 5, tier 6, tier 7

darkest waters (final tier):

teen ryan’s pimples:

i’m so sorry for this one.

it refers to a set of tweets from twitter user prettynpuunk (i’m so sorry to her for bringing them back up but it’s lore).

honestly these are just so iconic. they will always live in my head rent free

“is is true you have a monster cock:”

this is something a fan genuinely asked ryan once (which is so gross and i hope that person is having a terrible day).

allegedly, it has been said by ryan’s exes that he is well endowed. also, i can’t find a source for this, but i swear that once shane morris said that about ryan as well. according to twitter searches, the rumor of ryan having a monster cock goes back as far as 2009 [i]. there’s another rumor that a picture was leaked at one point (i think?), but i’m not going to search that out. if any of you were around in those days, let me know if that’s unfounded or not.

i think the term “monster cock” comes from a picspam on livejournal, referenced here; however, the picspam itself is no longer available [ii].

target fruit aisle:

apparently there was an “incident” from teenage ryan in the target fruit aisle, which led to him getting banned from the store. it’s unknown exactly what happened, but it’s theorized that either a) he and his friends were throwing fruit at each other, or b) he knocked over a display of fruit.

he’s not actually GRRIII:

if you don’t know what GRRIII means, you’re too far down in the iceberg.

according to obituaries and genealogy trees, discussed in this livejournal posts and its comments, ryan’s grandfather and his dad are actually named george hammond ross sr and jr respectively [iii]. since neither of their middle names are ryan, that means ryan is technically not the third. he is still the third george ross, though.

pissing on tour bus furniture:

according to a tweet, brendon said in an interview that ryan pissed on tour bus furniture, but ryan said it was an accident [iv]. they say it was hard to tell if it was a joke or not, but it was. it's at 2:40 in this interview.

(thank you to the anon who sent me this video!)

romp movie:

this refers to a phone interview in which ryan says that he and brendon went to see a romp movie, and then they both say that ryan’s other hand was uh…busy [v]. it was also definitely a joke. they talk about it in this interview at 8:55.

(the same anon sent me this video, so thanks again!)

the Q stands for quintessence:

remember ryan’s Q tattoo and the cult theory? we’re back to that. in other pictures from that night, you can see that ryan has things representing the 4 elements: earth, air, wind, and fire. the Q could stand for quintessence, which is also called the 5th element [vi]. so, it relates to spirituality, not a cult.

if you’re interested in reading more about this, you can do so here:

bugs in his ass:

the first line in cape town is “took you in the vineyard a couple hours after i met you.” it’s easy to read this as he took her TO the vineyard, but he says IN the vineyard, implying that they might have had sex in this vineyard. and whilst doing that, ryan probably got bugs in his ass.

he can’t park:

this is another reason why ryan ross is a queer icon.

someone parked next to ryan’s car once (his trans am) and provided this picture:

i think there have been other reports of fans who said he cannot park.

panic! wouldn’t exist if ryan wasn’t playing fisher price in his yard the day he met spencer:

this is self-explanatory, but the day ryan and spencer met, which was when they were around 5-6 years old, ryan was playing with a fisher price toy in his yard. of course, had this not happened, we wouldn’t have panic!, the young veins, high hopes (which would be nice, i think), this iceberg, amongst many other things. it’s the butterfly effect.

personal bit about this, panic! is THE hyperfixation for me. no matter how many others i’ve had, nothing has me in the same chokehold that panic! and ryan ross do. with my panic! phase, it is never a matter of if i will enter it again, but a matter of when. because it will happen. but since that band has been such a huge part of my life, it’s so weird to reflect on this entry and imagine what the world would be like without it.

anyway, it just felt right to end this on a sappy note.

also i want to give an honorable mention to corky b roll. i can’t believe i forgot to include it, especially because it was a HUGE ryan meme when i first got into panic!:

thank you so, so much to everyone for the notes! and thank you to anyone who read any of this, especially those of you who made it through every entry. it really means the world that anyone would take time out of their day to read what i have to say about this man lol

another thanks to anyone whose posts i referenced throughout; your service and contribution to the ryan ross lore will not be forgotten.

and with that, this is the end of the ryan ross iceberg explained.

references:

[i] https://twitter.com/search?q=ryan%20ross%20monster%20cock&src=typed_query&f=top

[ii] https://bandfandom-ref.livejournal.com/134497.html

[iii] https://bandfandom-ref.livejournal.com/71193.html

[iv] https://twitter.com/checkyesjuul/status/1369125668726865922

[v] https://twitter.com/checkyesjuul/status/1456098187416989702

[vi] https://pathetic-at-the-disco.tumblr.com/post/175514546326/was-ryan-ross-in-a-satanic-cult

[charlieconwayy]

Just curious what you don't like about Cory/Topanga if you feel like talking about it!

hey, i don't mind!

first off i think boy meets world in the context of just a purely heterosexual show makes it age pretty poorly, and that all stems from cory and topanga. i know one of the writers said a while back that the writers room was torn between shory and corpanga, and tbh, rewatching as an adult, that's extremely evident. i'm not gonna make this post all about shory bc that's reductive but i am first and formost a shory girl and a firm believer that cory matthews is a gay man

so let's get into it.

i really really love s1/2 corpanga. idk if it's just bc ben/danielle felt more natural back then or if it's bc they actually allowed cory to be wrong and topanga to be right, but it's just so sweet. one of my all time fav ship moments from the show is the frickin sock basketball scene where they touch hands and he giggles. so adorable! but i think what really makes them suffer after s1 (and kind of s2) is just that they clearly made topanga a normal, kelly kapowski girl-next-door type to make her more "desirable" for the male audience. that could be an entire separate post, but it's so fucking obvious that that's what the change was and it sucks because topanga was great the way she was.

they're not like hatable in season 3 exactly, but the "old married couple haha look how old gross and boring they are" trope when they were legitimately sophomores was just weird? and this is a retrospect thing but i hate how the show just kept retconning shit and pretended they never broke up in season 3, as if a HUGE storyline and one of the most iconic episodes (the happiest place on earth) wasn't about them getting back together? and for me just the concept of the ~universe wanting them to be together~ over and over again is just so fucking lame when they were so toxic. (great video on this here)

they really don't do anything wrong in season 4 either, but a long walk to pittsburgh is honestly so beyond ridiculous LMAO. i know everyone talks about how romantic it is, but i hate it because topanga literally runs away and moves back to philly just for cory. i know they claim it's to finish at john adams too, but i would find that much more believable if they had developed topanga AT ALL outside of cory. we know almost nothing about her home life and they wrote trini out so we never even see any friends of hers! the trend of them fighting and talking down to amy about their love is so fucking stupid too. like you are sixteen. it is fine to love someone and want to be with someone, but amy is right that it's not healthy for them to be as obsessed with each other as they are. like cory literally doesn't know who he is outside of topanga and that's NOT healthy.

oh lordy. s5. i'm not going to get into how much i hate that shawngela (a MUCH happier, more interesting relationship) was reduced to "wanting to be corpanga" in both their intro episode and then fucking gmw, but even the "old married couple" stuff in "chasing angela" at the restaurant is so annoying. "last tango in philly" is one of my fav episodes, but it's the perfect example of how cory can never accept he's wrong. shawn tries to tell him they should stop, and he just tells shawn he knows nothing about relationships and keeps being a dick about topanga and her (obviously gay) friend. but obviously, you're here to hear about how i feel about the cheating. yes, cory cheated and he genuinely liked lauren. for the show to act like he didn't is just gaslighting their audience. and tbh? i think ben and linda cardellini had excellent chemistry (certainly more than he and danielle did at that point . . .) and i think it's completely healthy to date more than one person! it was nice seeing cory be able to open up and bond with someone else, and yes, what he did was cheating. just bc he changed his mind and decided he "couldn't live without topanga" (bless u probably queer writer for what u did w that line :') ) doesn't mean that it didn't happen. topanga had EVERY right to break up with him. it does piss me off that we barely saw topanga's reaction to the breakup when there was a whole ep dedicated to shawn's reaction (and i say that as the #1 shawn stan), but that show hated women lbfr. AND WHY TF WAS IT BAD FOR HER TO KISS JONATHAN JACKSON WHEN SHE AND CORY WERE BROKEN UP????? bc cory can't accept things not going his way and not having control. the "we are a masterpiece" scene makes me so fucking angry omg i cannot

and i mean, bro, the yale shit has been talked about to death, but topanga lawrence going to the same college as straight d-student shawn hunter has got to be the dumbest, most woman-hating shit the show ever did. love can survive long distance if you put the effort in, trust me. (yes i am aware that the show prob didn't want to separate their main couple, but s6 was almost entirely about shawn anyway so????)

then in seasons 6 and 7 we get into the "cory yelling at and publicly humiliating topanga" trend. "undapants" is iconic so i'm not gonna go into that episode (fuck you "take her back to your tornado infested trailer park" line!), but i can name at least seven occasions where cory pressures her into sex. and rider strong is right. it was extremely holier than thou how they constantly made it seemed like corpanga was better than shawngela for not fucking before marriage. like isn't there a line where they call shawngela sluts in s7? the whole honesty bit in "the truth about honesty" (admittedly one of my fav eps) is also just ridiculous bc both of them always get pissed off at the other one for being honest, even in the past. i've seen people get mad at topanga for throwing yale in cory's face but lbr, who didn't see that coming? i guess maybe it's a little weird bc she'd never been resentful about it before, but that's a HUGE thing in their relationship. and yes, it is weird that she's using his razor without his permission but again just the pressuring her to show him her ass is also fucking weird (it's also weird imo that they've been together "their whole lives" but they've only ever kissed, but again, holier than thou bullshit)

one thing i can say about how weak and uninteresting their relationship actually is is that their ENTIRE wedding episode is about shory, bc they are the much more compelling dynamic in cory's life. weirdly enough, i do actually really like cory's vows though?? on a shawn hunter stan note, oblig "that best man speech was bullshit" comment. it's completely normal and healthy to have a best friend outside of your partner? especially when you can't be honest with your partner. god i fucking hate that bullshit. just like how i hate in "seven the hard way/the war" how they portray cory abandoning his best friend/true life partner for topanga AND THEN IN FUCKING GMW THE BAD FUTURE FOR EVERYONE LITERALLY CAME TRUE!!!!!!! omg i will go insane if i think about that for longer than a few seconds.

end of post, but leaving this here

[mooifyourecows]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Sure! (given in no particular order)

1. Daichi from Haikyuu, of course.. I just love everything about him. He's a great captain and he has a big appetite and he's so down to earth and masculine in the best ways, what a man!!! I want a tattoo of him on my body!

2. Pam Poovey from Archer. It's hard to stand out in a show where nearly every character is the single most interesting person in the world but I really do think that Pam takes the cake. She's a real one. She stays true to herself no matter how much everyone else begs her to stop and I RESPECT THAT. Also she's a fat character who isn't limited to being the Fat Character. While her weight does come up, often in insulting jokes or bits, she has so much else to her that it feels like such a small part of her character.

3. Princess Carolyn from Bojack Horseman. Out of all the insanely good character arcs in Bojack Horseman, Princess Carolyn's is my favorite. Usually the hardworking career woman character who wants a baby winds up the most disappointing character for me because she always gives up her career to be a mom but NOT MY GIRL PRINCESS CAROLYN. She said I want to be a badass boss lady AND a mom and I don't need no man to get what I want! And she did that shit. She deserves it.

4. Linda Belcher from Bob's Burgers. I aspire to be like Linda. She's fun, she's extroverted, she is just so excited to live her modest life with a struggling burger business, a husband she actually enjoys spending time with, and 3 kids she adores with every fiber of her being. She sings and dances at any given opportunity and doesnt let embarrassment faze her. What an icon.

5. Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings. Every time I think of him I wanna cry. He's just so.... perfect.... and wonderful.... He is the sweetest, bravest man to ever exist and NOBODY CAN ARGUE. The original Ride or Die. We all need a Samwise Gamgee in our lives. 🖤

6. Usopp from One Piece. That's my boy! He's so funny and relatable. I love characters who are brave while being terrified. Despite his wacky goofy personality, he's complex and insecure but he stands by his guns and isn't afraid to challenge even his best friend/captain to defend what he believes and GOSH what a stand up guy ammiright?

7. Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place. I love a disaster of a woman. She's a selfish bisexual with zero shame, what's more to love? I just can't help it. I'm weak for women who are just The Worst ™️.

8. Manny from Swiss Army Man. I mean... He's dead, he teaches us what it means to be alive, and he's played by Daniel Radcliffe. He's basically the perfect character, right? Listen, Swiss Army Man is my all time favorite movie and I want everyone else to like it too. I can't even talk much on it because it's so much better when you watch it yourself. Especially if you love amazing soundtracks, beautiful visuals, and queer revelations.

9. Hal from Malcolm in the Middle. I'm such a sucker for husbands who are obsessed with their wives and men in touch with their emotions and Hal is the epitome of both those things! I watched this show while growing up and I truly think that Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Hal taught me how men are supposed to act, especially in regards to their romantic partners. And now my own partner is basically a less theatrical version of him so it paid off ya know?

10. Judas Iscariot from Jesus Christ Superstar (1973). This is mainly based on performance. Carl Anderson did such an AMAZING job playing Judas that he literally stole the show, imo. Jesus who? You mean Judas's boyfriend? It's not JUST his performance though, the way the character is written is so well done that I feel like Judas is the real main character. Yeah, this is the story about Jesus but he ain't the star, ya dig? He's a basic bitch in comparison to the complexity and emotional turmoil of Judas. Also they're gay and in love, what a tragedy! This is cinema!

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

Thank you for creating this account, you are so brave.

Prefacing: I used to tolerate TS and her music when I was a teen and couldn't really avoid it. Now I'm 25 and I find her abhorrent as a human being.

(I'm not American and where I am from TS was never a Big Hit, unless we're talking 14 year old girls that eventually grow out of liking her. It's not entirely for a good reason, my country's a bit too conservative-brainwashed to like a self-proclained "girl boss" on a gov. level.)

Something that I noticed about that cult-like worship of that frankly boring woman is that most of the interesting shit about her is 1. made up 2. not about her music and I DO NOT understand how this is even considered a singer anymore.

Like, for example. A bunch of liberal queers like her because they take her bland music and fill it with their own meanings. Her lyrics are so soulless and boring and generic you can apply them to anything. You don't have to go listen to staples of quuer music like what drag queens, or queer women, or Black gay men create: because their music is visceral, it speaks onto real lived through opression that not everyone can relate to. But not with fucking TS! She writes the most TYPICAL line and a bunch of people assign some secret gay meaning to it. The amount of times I saw TS added to playlists for queer content is ridiculous. Like she wouldn't be half as popular if her music was regarded as what it is: straight white girl soliloquy.

The shit about her love life? Should not be fucking mentioned in regards to her as an artist. She's SO fucking fake. She will complain that people only see her as some girl who dates all those guys but she's the one fucking monetizing her love story. I'd understand if she didnt TRY TO but she fucking does! She knows she's bland and boring and she relies on people liking gossip enough to listen to her crap.

ok quick note when you said “liberal queers” it should be “queer liberals”. im assuming english isnt your first language so your native tongue has different grammatical rules but in this instance you put “queer” in front of “liberal.” i just don’t want you to be accused of being homophobic or anything so this is a quick note for you

you said you were 25 and everyone who’s been following this blog has been 20+ demographic in particular. i think it must be because we’re old enough to remember her entire journey starting w the 2009 kanye west mtv incident up until this moment. her staunchest swifties on here were born after the fearless release 💀

hmmmm i always wonder what people imply by Taylor Swift being a global superstar. like she’s isn’t popular in the entire continent of Africa but that doesn’t count apparently? and as much as she is popular in south asia, so much news is framed with a western perspective and all westerners think whiteness is default, and this includes taylor swift. i wouldnt be surprised if theyre inflating her popularity abroad as they are here in the states. idk

and so true! she’s known for her controversies and dating drama. even her music is known not for its success but ppl questioning the legitimacy of her grammys she’s received for her music.

also your gaylor hate—i understand. im not straight and i think gaylors were lobotomized by taylor swift’s music like genuinely these bitches have bricks for brains. there are soooooooo many better queer musicians especially musicians of color who write songs of their literal shared experience of queer love, identity, etc. but here they go theorizing that taylor seift and karlie kloss secretly dated 😭 it reminds me of this convo i had with my friend about gay people admiring/looking up to straight and cis people and labelling them as “gay icons.” its so stupid and reductive and continues to marginalize actual queer artists.

also talking abt taylor swift playlists i will never forget when i found spotify’s bad bunny x taylor swift playlist inspired by their photo from the 2023 grammys 💀 it was so dumb

“straight white girl soliloquy” PERIOD ANON! i need to start making a list of what you guys say cause its fkn fire

taylor swift embedded her relationships so deeply into her brand and music that its inseparable from herself. she really does define herself by her partners and her fans do too, which is why they expected this to be a joe alwyn album.

she really is so unoriginal and unremarkable and that’s why her thing WORKS. because to swifties she’s like “another everyday girl like you and me :)” 🙄 whatever. yuck!

[ashratfox]

I yapped way too much in this post so skip to the big text if you don’t want to read all of the specific things, but in general I’m curious how people who don’t think Mike is gay/bi and think he’s a good character defend him.

Ok, so I know this is something a lot of other people have probably said, but I think if Byler isn’t canon Mike is a horrible character. Under the assumption that Byler is canon, his actions make sense. Season 3 Mike is still a dick, but I understand why, and I can kind of relate so I immediately jump to his defense whenever someone says he’s a bad character. But if Mike isn’t struggling with sexual identity and heteronormativity and all that shit, he does seem pretty poorly written. I realized this while arguing with my mother, because she hates Mike, and a lot of the GA does—because a lot of the GA doesn’t think Mike is queer.

Mike’s behavior towards both Will and El in a lot of instances is only well explained by him being queer; for instance, his inability to tell El he loves her and how he acts around Will in the beginning of season 4. He can’t say “I love you” because he doesn’t love her—not in the way that would imply, at least. I often change my mind about whether I think Mike is bi or gay, so it could be that he had a crush on her before but is in love with Will, or that he never liked her romantically at all, it doesn’t really matter. He’s still not in love with her, but he does love her (platonically), and he’s confused and feels pressured to keep up the facade that they’re a perfect happy couple. Why he’s unable to say it doesn’t make much sense otherwise. Not being able to write it in letters could be explained by how he’s watched his parents not express love to each other, but why can’t he say it when prompted? I could understand his hesitancy, but not his outright refusal, when he knows it’s what El wants to hear. The only time he says it is when El’s life is on the line and after Will encourages him, which doesn’t seem like a huge improvement.

Similarly, his treatment of Will is strange. Why can’t he hug his best friend? I know they haven’t talked in a while, but there’s really no reason for it to be so awkward. I also think Mike kind of ignoring Will in favor of doing couple stuff with El is because it’s what he thinks he’s supposed to do (heteronormativity!!), but he clearly was paying attention to Will, enough to call him out for “moping” all day. And then there’s his unnecessary emphasis on “We’re friends. We’re friends.” There’s no reason for him to clarify it. He’s defensive, because he’s considering the possibility that they could be anything other than friends, which Will did not suggest. This scene is obviously a parallel to the rain fight in s3, too, in which Mike says his iconic “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” line. A lot of people suspect this is more projection than anything else, which could be true. Otherwise he’s being a massive asshole, because obviously he knows how it sounds, even if he didn’t intend it to reference Will’s sexuality. He knows how Will’s been bullied for it, whether it’s true or not. I’m not 100% sure about that one, but it’s interesting.

Anyway, I’m saying all of this because I’m curious how non Byler shippers defend Mike. I know a lot of the GA just hates him, but if you really love Mileven then you can’t hate one half of the ship. So.

Milevens, what makes Mike Wheeler a good, well written character and not a shitty, poorly written asshole?

(p.s.: let’s all respect each other’s opinions on ships because we’re all just here to have fun!! obviously I’m a byler but I love you milevens!!)

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Three Word Fic Titles (2) Masterlist

part one

An Arranged Marriage (ao3) - MarriedPhan1234

Summary: Dan and Phil are forced to marry each other, even though they’ve never met. Differing life experiences leave the boys unsure of how this could possibly work.

A Wizard’s Misgivings - jilliancares

Summary: Dan Howell’s entire family has been in Slytherin, and there’s no doubt he’s supposed to end up there too. Phil Lester does’t exactly know what to do when he finds himself liking boys, so he’s usually just horrendously mean to them.

Back to Normal (ao3) - iamphanaf (taylorann14)

Summary: When Dan joins Phil on a family vacation to Florida, Phil’s mother thinks they’ve finally gotten together, Dan panics and goes along with it…

Communication Is Key (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: In which au Dan and Phil are friends with benefits despite the fact that neither of them want to be friends with benefits and Dan just sucks at talking about his feelings

Demons And Diners (ao3) - kae_karo

Summary: A broke Dan, on the run from his previous life, finds temporary shelter in an abandoned diner…for the night? (Dan POV)

Empty Double Cups - cafephan

Summary: Dan and Phil are in a relationship, but you wouldn’t think it. They attempt to surpass their first milestone as a couple – their first house party, where everyone would see them together.

Follow You Home - paradisobound

Summary: Dan and Phil are neighbours who are there for each other whenever they need help. When Phil breaks his ankle, Dan helps him take care of his dog, and their friendship begins to grow to something more.

Hung(over) On You - secretlywritingstories

Summary: Tipsy Dan were brave enough to talk to boy. Drunk Dan was secure enough to make out with them. Blackout drunk evidently went home with guys - or well, one guy who seemed much too kind and considerate for someone who had been forced to deal with blackout drunk Dan’s incompetence.

Ink And Alice (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Dan joins a band instead of going to university, and then he meets Phil.

In My Way (ao3) - INeverHadMyInternetPhase

Summary: Daniel Howell is 21 and Britain’s newest star. He’s just been cast in the much-anticipated film adaption of Last Man Standing, the popular teen fantasy novel with a huge fanbase hanging off his every tweet. In other words, Dan has made it big.

Phil Lester couldn’t care less. He’s a stressed out PHD student working part time at a bookshop while he struggles to get into post-production. He’s 26 and still lives in a tiny flat on the fifth floor of a building with a lift more broken than it is in use. He loves books, but he thinks big film adaptions screw with the plot too much.

Needless to say, Phil is less than impressed when Last Man Standing is getting filmed in his hometown. And he certainly doesn’t want anything to do with obnoxious, arrogant, so irritatingly perfect leading actor Daniel Howell.

long-distance lads (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Dan worries that he’s going to miss Phil while on tour.

On The Road (ao3) - yikesola

Summary: Phil still isn’t quite used to it all being okay. He isn’t used to Dan not fearfully dissecting a tweet reply that called them queer icons. He isn’t used to things like what the two teenagers they bumped into at the airport said when they stuttered out, “I met my girlfriend because of you,” feeling only good. No twinge of bittersweet. A fic about changes and landscape.

Pastel Meets Punk - doomedhowell

Summary: Soulmate AU where pastel!dan is dragged to a party by his best friend PJ, who ends up leaving him alone at said party. Dan meets punk!phil and they hit it off immediately. Dan doesn’t realize their soulmates until later, and sets himself a mission to find his soulmate once again, with the help of his friends.

Paying In Naivety - xinyanhowell

Summary: “My friend bet me twenty dollars that I wouldn’t walk up to a random underclassmen and ask them to prom, well now I’m twenty dollars richer and no, that doesn’t invalidate the offer, you’re actually kind of cute.”

Shake It Out - howellesterfics

Summary: Phil has been pining after Dan (despite his affinity towards edgy fashion), but sometimes it feels like he doesn’t really know him at all. Maybe all they need is a little liquid courage.

Star Crossed Enemies (ao3) - Junebug1312

Summary: When Dan’s school decides to put on Romeo and Juliet, Dan is beyond excited. Until the lead actress drops out and Dan’s enemy takes her place. Add in a kiss scene and everything starts to fall apart rather quickly.

Who knew the theatre program could be so dramatic?

The June Video (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Dan posts “the June Video” as originally planned… in 2018, right in the middle of the Interactive Introverts tour.

The X-Philes (ao3) - UnorthodoxSavvy

Summary: Phil is a psychic. Dan is a detective. When Phil is visited by the ghost of his brother, he knows something isn’t right. Can he and Dan solve the case, or will they become the next victims?

What He Wants (ao3) - bestelitecouple

Summary: Dan Howell always gets what he wants.

From the car he was given on his sixteenth birthday, to the job as president of the Drama Society in Year Ten, Dan has everyone wrapped around his finger. He likes to do things a very specific way, his way, and he’ll do anything to keep it that way. Even if it means fucking Phil Lester until his ass falls off in order to keep the auditorium for the Drama Society. At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself. (Or in which Dan and Phil are both presidents of different honors societies that have to share the school’s auditorium and work together for the production of the spring musical. Dan, being a brat, comes up with a dumb plan to get it back, which works fine, until his feelings come into the mix.)

Your Crowning Glory (ao3) - pasteldanhowells, rainbowchristy

Summary: Dan is 18 years old when the news is suddenly sprung upon him that he is next line to be the next king of Genovia, but things don’t go as smoothly as he thought, between having a suddenly busy schedule, a new lifestyle, an arranged marriage that Dan has no control over, and worst of all, Philip Lester trying to steal his crown.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Beast Anon here! 8D Oh-ho! Wings of Fire is ICONIC! So glad to hear its merch has taken off at last! ;D

In answer to your questions, hmm...golly-gee, when it comes to your AUs there's a lot to choose from xP Although, if I had to pick on the spot...I can't help but notice your Dark AU has been getting a lot of attention lately, and I have been warming to it for the interesting twists and turns it has been taking :) I think X-Men 97 has really been going great, I'm loving it! Something I really like that I noticed recently was just how efficiently each episode manages its 20-30-minute runtime, it's another sign the show-creators put a ton of effort into the whole thing ^^ Now, my favorite platonic yandere of the week...is gonna be Beast. Always. I don't have that nifty little nickname you gave me for nothing :> Right, I'm going to be completely honest with you...I have no idea who/what Marvelade is, but, sure, if you're interested in how they'd handle the very introspective and fascinating 'What If' series, I'm all for it ^^ I've been doing very well, thank you for asking! :D And how about yourself? How've you been in the span it took me to respond? Anything new going on? ^^ In terms of topics I'd like to talk about, hmm...what do YOU think of the X-Men 97 show? =p

I am alright 😊 I planted a rose bush (I hope I did it right), and I've made a new AU...😅 That's a specialty of mine, isn't it? I have been catching up on some much-needed sleep, though, so it's good. As a kid, sleep wasn't as exciting; when you get a bit older, it is very much a necessity. I sometimes wondered as a kid, if adults at work and jobs had a mandatory nap time, if that would help with their stress? I was a weird kid, to be fair, but i think younger-me made a point to older-me.

I think X-Men 97 is doing pretty swell! It's using their time very well, as you said! Thirty minute episodes, yes! And there are a few curse/cuss words/adult words... So that's fun, in a way. The characters... I think they're sticking to their core personalities, which is good. They're acting the way they did in the Animated Series, and the show fits that theme, just a few years from then. I like Morph. I like Roberto. Older Magneto is looking well for an older guy, and now im sure he and Xavier at least had a QPR (queer platonic relationship) in that universe. Wolverine is grouchy and working on being a dad, so that's great. Jubilee is awesome, that never changes. The Jean Grey/Madeline Pryor thing was handled better than the comics did! (Yes, I actually know about that, yay!; I know a bit from the comics, just not, well, a lot😅). And I like that they can part on nice terms; let these people be friendly and have friends, darn it! Beast is still the same sweet, Shakespeare-loving furry scientist we all love (he was humming/singing classical music, that's a plus, and I didn't know I wanted that until it happened!) Storm lost her powers... I think she might get them back? But I'm not 100% certain. Maybe... 75% certain? Scott needs a vacation, a therapist, and possibly a few cups of relaxing/night-time tea, if not the whole package (he needs sleep and therapy, and I hope he gets it, poor guy needs a break-) So... Yeah, I think they're doing right by the series, they're using their time wisely, they kept the characters on point/in-character, and I can't wait to see more!!!😊💛💙

(I hope you are okay, Beast Anon! Thank you for checking up on me, and I wish you the best this week! Have a treat:🫐🥧🍓🥞🧃)

[just-a-plain-old-bitch]

Ok, I just saw someone do this and I just did it to my friend...

So here are the Les Amis and Co. As described by me :)

Enjolras: oh boy, gay. Very gay. Also blonde. He has a big forehead. (This is the guy Joe Quinn played). He likes red a lot. Sings a whole damn song about it. He dies

Combeferre: what a funky man. He likes moths. Also, like the ENTIRE fandom has decided he's a medical student. Pretty sure it's not canon tho. He's played by that guy I was on about the other day who I thought was like 40. He also dies

Courfeyrac: gay. Short king. Defo likes theater. Literally everyone's friend. Either dating Jehan or Combeferre depending on the fanfic you read. I've met the guy that played him in the film. Also dead

Grantaire: Cynic. Has a crush on Enjolras. The fandom has decided he's a cat person and he does art. Bi. He's an asshole. But a loveable one. Honestly I can talk about the different characterisation of him for DAYS. My boy Vicky Hugo did him so dirty tho. Also dead

Feuilly: Orphan. Bless him. Sweetest boy. Honestly so slept on. Wants to adopt the whole world. Enjolras has had a crush on him. He also makes fans (how funky is that!). He's ginger. Most people Headcanon him as Polish (same tbf). An icon. I can talk about him for days. Oh he's also tall. And dead

Jean "Jehan" Prouvaire: Monarch of "what the fuck is gender?" No fashion sense whatsoever. Also another favourite of mine. Gay. Or queer. Something along those likes. They also speak like 10 languages (canon) I find that so freaking cool. He also plays the flute. And he does poems. Alistair Brammer plays him beautifully. They are the youngest of the barricade boys. They were kidnapped on the barricade and died alone. (I can talk about them for months)

Bahorel: Sometimes queer. Sometimes straight as fuck. I can't decide. Sports a stunning moustache. Boxer. Very muscley. I don't think about this guy enough. I should. He's a funky guy. Very loud. Also dead

Bossuet: B A L D. Big part of his character. Oh he's also bi. And polyamorous. Dating Joly and Musichetta. Very clumsy. Vicky Hugo makes this VERY obvious in the book. It's like he has 2 personality traits. Bald and Clumsy. He's also rad. Best buds with Grantaire. Dead

Joly: Med student. Also a hypochondriac. And germaphobe. This man.. please help him. He's very extravagant. Has a cane. And a top hat. Dating Bossuet and Musichetta (as said earlier). Also short king. Also Chinese. What an icon. And he's dead.

Marius: poor soul. Help him. Constant state of confusion. But somehow he pulls 2 bitches? Idk how either. Bless him, he's trying his best. Courfeyrac is his comfort extrovert. He is also afraid of Enjolras and Combeferre. Don't blame him tbf. Noodle boy. He's so tall.. like 6"5 or something. He actually survived.

Eponine: Has a crush on Marius in canon. But my Headcanon.. she's bi. She's also a bitch. But in the best way. I love her. Feminist. Marius is probably also scared of her. Shitty childhood. But y'know, she vibes. She also reminds me of you. And I've seen the person that plays her perform live. HOLY SHIT I cried. (For the record, the show was Frozen). Also dead

Cosette: Marius' main girl. In canon. Headcanon she's defo queer. Cottagecore goth. Adopted. Listens to Taylor Swift (so does Eponine, I forgot to mention that) she's probably Eponines girlfriend, let's be fair. She needs a hug. Trauma central. Bless her. I love her so much. I'm still deciding weather I like her with Blonde hair or Brown hair. Her and Jehan are besties. She also survived.

Musichetta: Icon. Ginger. Suuuper curly hair.. like wild. Pansexual. Also poly. As said earlier, dating Joly and Bossuet. Don't know much about her.. but she defo loves musicals. Watches bootlegs with R (grantaire) when bored. Indie/grunge style. Girl boss. I believe she survived.. idk tho

[historyhermann]

"We wrote her that way": Entrapta and autistic representation in She-Ra

Entrapta forgives Catra for exiling her to Beast Island at the end of Season 3, and being a jerk to her in the past, in the episode, "Taking Control"

In November of last year, I wrote about Entrapta, one of my favorite characters in the animated series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, because she is morally gray character, a hacker, and a "smart and quirky chaotic neutral icon." In that post, I examined her character in the first four seasons of the show, noting that she is an autistic character who makes her own decisions, acting as "a princess with prehensile hair who is [also] a scientist and inventor always trying to tinker with ancient technology. " I also criticized some who claimed she is a "hurtful" representation of autistic people, noting that she is sweet and underappreciated, pointing out that Bow is the only one who sees her sympathetically, and that she stays in the Fright Zone by choice. I further noted that she is dedicated to science and research, sticks up for Catra when Hordak wants to send her to Beast Island, and stated that when she is rescued from Beast Island in Season 4 she "goes with them back to Bright Moon because of data and scientific discovery, not because of friendship or anything else." I additionally made a comparison between her and Peridot in Steven Universe, with storyboarder Maya Peterson (the same one who said Peri is asexual and aromatic), said she doesn't interpret Peridot as autistic. I intend this post will be an update from my previous post, talking about her in the show's final (and fifth) season, which started streaming on May 15th.  If you haven't see the new season, please do so because this post is filled with spoilers! It is important to write about this because series creator ND Stevenson confirmed that Entrapta was autistic, basing Entrapta on an autistic person on the SPOP crew, a full-time storyboard artist named Sam Szymanski. [1]

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog and also Wayback Machine. It was originally published on May 27, 2020.

Most of the commentary about the new season has focused on the mutual confession of romantic feelings by Catra and Adora, shipped as Catradora, who kiss in the show's final episode, with their love literally saving the world (and universe) from destruction. This is the right focus, while some have noted the other LGBTQ characters confirmed like Seahawk (whose ex is named Falcon), Kyle and Rogelio, the relationship between Perfuma and Scorpia, or the romance between Bow and Glimmer, among many other topics. [2] After all, as Lindsey Mantoan, wrote in a CNN opinion, She-Ra is the "best queer representation on television." In the process, however, little has been said about Entrapta. In fact, of many reviews I looked at, only a few even mentioned her in their analyses, despite her pivotal role in at least part of the season. [3] While one reviewer for A.V. Club (Shannon Miller) claimed that the show trades an in-depth look at Entrapta's treatment for "heroics," and saying there could have been "more reflection from those who have outwardly had more difficulty understanding Entrapta’s mindset, " another, for Forbes, Linda Maleh, says the opposite. Maleh argues that Entrapta gets a lot "a lot of screen time as she learns to balance her love of machines with her desire to connect with people," calling her entirely "adorkable," and that her character gives viewers some of the most touching and funny moments of the show. I tend to agree with Maleh more than Miller. Similarly, I think that Heather Hogan of Autostraddle makes a valid point in saying that Wrong Hordak brought out the charming parts of Entrapta, stating that it was nice to see her understanding how to work alongside friends, express herself better, and her feelings, while the princesses "start to understand her for who she really is." Although it is positive these reviewers noted her role in the season, there is clearly a lot more going on about Entrapta than what Miller, Maleh, or Hogan talk about.

Entrapta, who is between the ages 28 and 30, appears in every single episode of the fifth season, apart from episode 10, can be said to be the "smartest" character in the series. In the previous season,  she was rescued from Beast Island by Bow, Adora, and Swift Wind, reminded about her true friends while ancient technology continued to pull her in. In contrast, in this season, she struggles to find a place among the other princesses, as highlighted in the episode "Launch." Since Entrapta has been a morally grey character in the past, it makes sense that the princesses are a bit distrustful. Even Emily, with her name as an obscure reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, turns away from Enttapta when it appears that she cares more about tech "than saving their friend." After that episode, the princesses begin to understand her better. She later helps out Adora and Bow save Glimmer from Horde Prime's flagship. Glimmer is transported through space by Catra, in her first likely selfless act. She then helps Adora, Bow, and Glimmer successfully rescue Catra from Prime's flagship, called the Velvet Glove. She even does surgery on Catra, removing the chip in her neck. She, additionally, forgives Catra after she apologizes for treating her terribly. As a reminder, at the end of Season 3, Catra panicked when Entrapta tried to warn Hordak to not start the portal. She then orders her to be sent to Beast Island. She is shocked with what she is done (as is Scorpia by this cruel act against her), beginning her descent down a "dark, dangerous path." Basically, Catra blamed Entrapta for her own mistakes.

In the rest of the season, Entrapta continues to help the princesses and tries to disable all the chips before being transported to Prime's flagship. She apologizes to everyone when captured by Prime, literally the head of a cult of mindless drone soldiers. Whether Entrapta has platonic or romantic feelings for Hordak, the latter shipped as Entrapdak by one of of the show's story editors (and some other fans), it is up the viewer. [4] As some fans noted back in March, a few months before the recent season premiered, it is clear that there is "some chemistry between her and Hordak" and some even call their relationship "sweet," although I'm not sure I would go that far. In any case, it does mean that Hordak is more than a one-dimensional villain like in the original She-Ra: Princess of Power series in the 1980s which was used to sell action figures for Mattel. Through some searching, I did find an interview with Stevenson (complete with unfortunate spelling errors by the person who wrote the transcript of her interview responses) where he specifically talks about how Entrapta grows in this season:

I think with a character like Entrapata [sic], we sort of live in a little bit of her own version of the world that the other characters don’t always understand...It's not only Entrapta learning how to empathize and connect with others, but also for others to learn how to empathize and connect with her. And so I think with both sides of that, we see [Entrapta] growing this season. What I think has always been [Entrapta's] strength is that, even if she might struggle with communicating her feelings or understanding other characters when they’re communicating their feelings to her, I think her strength as a character -- kind of her superpower -- is that she sees humanity in everything. Not just in humanoid or organic creatures, but she sees humanity in robots. She sees humanity in the AI that drives ships. She sees humanity in one clone in a million identical clones and knows their personality and knows who they are and knows how to connect with them... I think we see her make a lot of progress on that front, but then we also see her. I think she does more than almost any other character in humanizing characters who have never been humanized before by anyone....It's so much of what is the heart of this show. It seems like that’s what makes Etherea [sic] special in general is that everyone who comes to Etherea [sic] isn’t getting broken by it a little bit. They end up making connections and falling in love in ways they never thought were possible. And I think Entrapta really embodies that."

Furthermore, as a morally grey character, who played a "big hand in some of the Horde-led destruction on Etheria," she still cares about her friends. While some may question her renewal of the individuality or "humanity" of Hordak, becoming his first genuine friend, later leading him to turn against Horde Prime, she clearly had a "unique perspective on the world that not everyone understands." Earlier in the season, when she encounters Hordak before he is freed from Prime's control, in an attempt to access the computer control center of Horde Prime so she can disable the mind-control chips, helped by Swift Wind, she tells Hordak “remember, your imperfections are beautiful!” When the essence of Prime is destroyed by She-Ra, he is freed, and is soon reunited with Entrapta, who says that she is "so glad" to see him back.

By this point, it is clear that Entrapta is not the "worst kind of villain" as some described her and is more than a person who "only cares about the pursuit of knowledge," no matter the consequences, as Brett Elderkin described her, also calling her a "mad scientist," but rather just a morally grey character, or perhaps "chaotic neutral" to use a Dungeons and Dragons term. That brings me to a recent article by Megan Crouse in Den of Geek appropriately titled "She-Ra: In Defense of Entrapta." She states that while Entrapta occasionally embraces the trope of not caring about "people who might be hurt when dangerous experiments go wrong," she is much more than that, and dramatically changes in Season 5. Crouse added that Entrapta in Season 4 was not truly happy as a hermit on Beast Island, although she maintained her fascination with science, missing people, and afraid that "her friends will inevitably abandon her." She then talks about the episode "Launch" where Entrapta's conflict with the fellow princesses reaches a boiling point, putting others in danger, with her actions "extremely, comically risk," wanting to win at no matter the cost. After Mermista accuses Entrapta of not caring about any of them, and not being trustworthy as a result, she responds by saying she didn't realize they were angry at her. She then retreats to apologizing, one of her many defensive mechanisms, stating

I’m not good at people, but I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up, too.

As she barrels ahead, Mermista pulls her back by her hair (just as Horde Prime does later), and is finally convinced of her good nature when Entrapta declares “Glimmer needs us!,” indicating she is willing to put herself in harms away as much as anyone else. As Crouse further outlines, while Entrapta's action is similar to what she has done in the past, as she begins to explain how and why she acts and feels the way she does, gaining more friends along the way. Even so, she still clearly has trouble reading people, which is not "magically cured throughout this season." While Crouse says that it would "have been nice to see Entrapta really feel the consequences of her dangerous actions," I would counter and say she did grow a lot in this season. On the other hand, I agree with Crouse that it is "sweeter to see her pursue science and friendship" than just tinkering with technology on Beast Island. While I can see why she argues that Entrapta is annoying, she makes a good point that Entrapta is not letting her "loner tendencies turn into complete isolation, but nor does she have to completely change who she is." As a side note, Entrapta cuts her own bangs, as Stevenson said once, although this is terrifying considering her power tools! Yikes!

Now, lets get to the elephant in the room: Entrapta flirting with technology. The first time this happens is in the episode "Launch," declaring flirtatiously: "Hello. You are very technologically advanced" before almost being blown to smithereens by the Horde robot. Then, in the episode "Stranded" she says: "Darla and I are going to spend some quality time together," again in a flirtatious manner, leading to confused looks from Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. Now, robosexuality, a term seemingly coined and/or popularized by Futurama, means the "love and/or sexuality between a humanoid and a robot." From these two interactions you could say that she is robosexual. Let us consider what Stevenson said about Entrapta: that she is learning to connect and empathize with others, and sees humanity in everything, knowing their personality and how to connect with them. One fan put Entrapta very well, remarking that she is a functional adult who can make full decisions, arguing that she is "chaotic good with a bad moral compass who likes to fuck space nazis," saying she makes bad decisions. I can agree with that to an extent, except to say that it makes sense why she ended up working for the Horde, since the princesses had not really liked/understood her before that point. Another fan noted, correctly, that Entrapta (and Scorpia) but had to earn the trust of the princesses in their own ways.

That's all! Comments are welcome.

© 2020-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] In her first tweet, she responded to a fan who asked if entrapta is autistic, saying that "many of us relate to her and love her so much and it would mean a lot if we could get confirmation of her being autistic." She responded by saying: "yes, we wrote her that way. One of our crewmembers was on the spectrum and related to her specifically, and had a huge part in shaping her story and character!" She further explained that "the crew member was board artist @Sizzlemanski. His first episode was Entrapta’s introductory episode in season 1 [System Failure] and he had a HUGE hand not only in defining her physical acting, but also pitched me several ideas for her arc early on! He basically became our go-to for Entrapta."

[2] As Stevenson stated on Twitter, he hopes that in the future we stop thinking about LGBT representation as a "race or a contest" and as more of a "community effort to uplift voices that have not yet had their stories told," with each individual piece of media as a "broadening of horizons."

[3] When ND Stevenson was interviewed by comicbook.com, Nerdist, Gizmodo, A.V. Club, L.A. Times, Polygon, Digital Spy, GLAAD, EW, and CBR, the interviewers understandably focused on the Catra/Adora slow-burn relationship, but never asked a question about Entrapta. One interviewer for Collider asked "...So we’ve got Bow and Glimmer, we’ve got Sea Hawk and Mermista, we’ve even got kind of an interesting relationship with Entrapta and Hordak, and then obviously CatrAdora. But did you know from the beginning how everybody was going to pair off or is that something that kind of developed over time?" but he never specifically replied about the "relationship with Entrapta and Hordak." Reviews of the show in The Mary Sue, PinkNews, LA Times, tor.com, and ScreenRant do not even mention Entrapta at all!

[4] On Instagram, ND Stevenson said that Entrapta would follow Hordak to Beast Island as his community services for his crimes and as a result, the "two would develop a romantic relationship and reunite with the bot she left behind in Season 4, keeping her promise to return," so it sounds like it is leaning toward romance, as noted in a summary on her fandom page. Also see Emily Hu who noted they did board a scene with Entrapta and Hordak but it never ended up being included. There is clearly a connection between Entrapta and Hordak, but I'm still not sure if it is romantic or friendly. It could really go either way.

[thunderpounce-inc]

Rough draft ref for Cloudy & Orange, my two dumb TFA OCs who still need actual names

Cloudy is actually the transformer in my icon, making the ridiculous facial expression!

There IS a story to go with these guys, though idk if I will ever write it or anything. Said story mostly explores a pre-war spot on the timeline, actually, so there isn't much interaction with cannon characters.

It goes about like this:

Cybertron has a semi-functionist caste system, and Cloudy is a 'war-frame' transformer literally manufactured BY the military, like a soldier ant. Cloudy is an experimental model from a line of attempts at biomimicry, to make soldiers that were even more effective, ferocious, and resourceful than normal

Cloudy is kind of like if the MILITARY commissioned a much more real, much more genetically engineered (which, I would like to note, I headcannon that basically all TFA transformers are genetically engineered; they come in different 'models' and 'upgrades'; and that just sounds a lot like 'we are genetically engineering ourselves and are at the brink of outright cladization' to me) 'cat' 'catboy' than one normally thinks of. Less 'cute NYAH!', more 'scary TIGERboy who could bite your arm off'

also, uh WARNING! (robot) cannibalism is touched on below a bit

Cloudy serves in the Cybertronian military (he was BORN there,,,), during which he is stranded on a ship after a battle goes pretty Bad. Cloudy is the sole survivor of this, and pulled through by drinking fuel from the corpses of enemies (MAYBE fallen allies too, dunno how dark I wanna go). I DO know that even just doing that to DEAD non-transformer enemies would be a big deal, since transformers normally live entirely on inanimate fuels like energon, oil, ect- so I imagine even drinking BLOOD would be indistinguishable from cannibalism to them. Cloudy is literally intentionally programmed to like the taste of blood and this stuff distresses even him (arguably even more so BECAUSE of that)

Eventually the war Cloudy was forged for (most likely conflict with the Quintessons) is won, and he gets to go planet-side while on stand-by. Cloudy tries to do that Civilan Life, but its kind of tough when everybody is smaller than AND and kinda scared of you. He makes friends with this more open-minded motorbike (Orange) while he's there.

(they meet when a disaster of some kind causes a building to collapse, and Cloudy lunges at the nearest way-too-tiny-to-survive-this bot (Orange) to shield them. They get split up after that since Cloudy gets knocked unconscious, and first responders drag everyone off the scene for medical attention. But when Orange next bumps into Cloudy, he's determined to actually talk to him and find out what this 'scary war-frame's' deal is. Which is good, because Cloudy is way too shy to initiate conversation like that, haha)

Cloudy's secret eventually gets out when investigations of the stranding reveal that all corpses had been exsanguinated and gnawed on, all rations exhausted, and Cloudy came back weirdly healthy for a guy who should have starved to death. He's then sentenced to 'you die fighting in the gladiator pits, OR you die right now!' Cloudy gets immediately shipped out to the pits on the spot, and then Orange follows him there because he is a stubborn, loyal little mother fucker.

From there the story is less defined, BUT I know both of them become Decepticons when THAT war breaks out, seeing as both have become quite sympathetic to 'yo the current situation on Cybertron is FUCKED!'

I would also like to note, by 'reptile handler trust-bond', I mean some kind of wacky queer platonic(?) relationship defined primarily by it's foundation of carefully earned trust. I'm not very good in the social department, gonna be honest, but I like animals a lot, so that was the best analogy I had. Cloudy and Orange's relationship isn't romantic, I wouldn't say? It's based primarily in how Orange is one of the very few people Cloudy, who is very distrustful, is willing to trust closely.

[wouldyoudoanythingforme]

There is something to be said for why taylor chose to pair the blue,purple, pink flag layered jacket with the iconic 1989 jumpsuit when she never wore the two together to the best of my knowledge, while having speak now- the album with the closeted gay man music video- taylor swift tell 1989 taylor swift the words "you're being too loud."

A phrase she also used in the last great American dynasty, to refer to herself as "the loudest woman this town had ever seen," and culturally queer people use "loud" as a term to mean GAY AS FUCK, which is a song that talks about a love story that ended with the death of one of the partners that happened in the rhode island house was THE background backdrop for 1989 era and her squad era, whom she called "situationships" in the 2019 vogue article, a word she used again in glitch in a romantic sense- which is how the word has always been used as and has never referred to platonic friendship in this way because it doesn't make fucking sense LMFAO anyways and how she referred to their love story specifically as the last great American DYNASTY (kingdom) because taylor lives in London now.

And then she used loud again in the chorus of you need to calm down but the way it's written can be loosely interpreted as the homophobe screaming at taylor "you need to calm down, you're being too loud" because the "and I'm just like" there.... that is often used when recounting a story to a friend and ur repeating what you said to them and she says "you need to just stop, can you not stop on my gown?" And she also said "shade never made anybody less gay" and she called the queer pride "sunshine," a term we know she uses with true love see: the best day and daylight, which brings me to the lyric "step into the daylight and let it go," and if you don't think about how excited taylor was to release this album and if it doesn't make you want to scream when you think about 2018 taylor writing these lyrics and being so excited to come out and have her fans analyze them and come to the conclusion that she stepped into the sunshine on the street at the parade and let everything go only to then get the me! Announcement we got where she was crying and looking very sad wearing a pansexual colored colorful flag outfit and to not only have her fans drag her for that but to then go on to write midnight rain, a song about how she's thinking about the choices she made in life to break up with taylor Lautner and how that sent her down a dark and winding road into the woods we saw in cardigan and willow where we know she had been abused, groomed, manipulated and sexually assaulted by men in the industry and then victim-blaming and called a slut and a bitch and a witch and a villian instead of being a 19 year old child who nobody protected from the predatory men in her life and how in cardigan specifically we see a glimpse of Taylor's disappearance and how she escaped from a ratty old cottage into a lush wonderland but that same piano that transformed her life took her into turbulent waters where she could do nothing but cling to her music and that is what saved her the entire time she was presenting this glamorized version of herself but that was how she found her way back to the same house she tried to leave in order to find better and bigger things (I think this video is so well shot because it really is a fantastic metaphor for her mental health and how she starts off in a sad place and goes on a journey to find external homes to make her happy but everything she tried made it worse until she realized she's all she's ever needed to be happy my cells are on fire right now) only she's returned and she's happy and satisfied instead of wistful and sad, and that is when he shows up at her door and leads her out into her actual reality by her side.

And then you think about how 1989 taylor responded to speak now taylor with a goofy ass smile, big headphones on, and says "thank you" thank you for saying that, comes to mind and then you realize that she wants to be on the street in the sunshine on the parade so fucking badly and then dear reader comes on shuffle and you just lose all ability to function because wow ouchie

[inutaffy]

could you maybe tell me about the various byler gates ? when you have the time ?

yeah sure!

so there were a bunch of theories after vol1 drop (we didn't call them gates then) and after vol2 they all started to get fleshed out and with the joke of "watergate" made by dustin (and vecna opening all those gates) we just kinda adopted it for different theories for season 5 or analysis about byler or season 4

scriptgate: this is the non show related one. so 8flix is a site that like gives scripts to people/public (film students use it etc) and there was a gofundme to donate to 8flix and like you would get your email signed up on the list and then the stranger things script sent you. the first one was episode 8 (vol2) basically it was supposed to come early august. like august 3rd or something i do not remember exactly but nick (8flix guy) got a lot more people on his email list than ever, and he wanted to do it one by one rather than a big release so we waited like 3 days or so (THIS TIME PERIOD IS SO ICONIC HONESTLY HILARIOUS SO MANY MUTUALS MADE.) there was like people drinking sangrias, i made a pizza, people were making crafts in the tag, it was a big sleepover. very fun, each time it got delayed it was funnier and funnier 😭. anyways we finally got the scripts (but at what cost) and they were so fuckinf depressing there was not a dry eye in the house. will said "i hate who i am" and nancy said "jonathan who?" it was terrible. and a couple days later stranger writers basically implied they were fake. like they were fake scripts. AND THEN EVERYONE TURNED ON NICK. it was a big thing but basically he was saying they weren't fake, and there's 2 big theories: that either he had very early scripts or just a bad source. anyways netflix said he could keep posting them as long as it wasn't revealing anything that wasn't already known (spoilers for season 5 i guess) (worth noting that when nick got his acc hacked on twitter "he" said shit like he was gonna name his source and 2 actors had confirmed the scripts. he was hacked so ignore this. i believe him at least)

letter gate: theory that mike has written letters to will while he was gone but never sent them, also most people believe that he kept said letter in his pocket in the custom blue shirt he wore throughout season 4

pocket gate: finn mentioned this in the hair chair before the st costume designers said this but, they made him a custom shirt (the iconic one for season 4.) few things to know! the pocket opens sideways, it looks like there could be something in it (because it never creases), the costume designers used triangle imagery on robin because of its meaning to the queer community and the pocket is a blue square with a grey triangle, and the pocket was mostly pointing towards will the entire season, will was always on mikes left! very few times was it pointing towards anyone else

breathgate: so i THINK this gate is about mike and max paralelling/lumax+byler endgame secured. so when mike saw the painting in the scripts that the stranger writers twt released it said "his breath catches" and when max was asked by lucas if she wanted to go to a movie friday it said "her breath catches." this could also be about how byler... breathed in sync when they were out in the field in the ending scene. or it could be about that very deep breath mike took when he was looking at will when they were in the van!

bald mike wheeler: i don't wanna talk about it <- traumatized 😶 KIDDING anyways so people basically edited this pic of mike in the hell fire outfit as bald and started creating a "cult" out of it and making their mutuals and friends worship bald mike. byler tag chaos obvi. my mutual rori sent like 20 images in my inbox. i was frightened.

matt duffers basement: ok so someone was pretending to be matt duffer on tumblr and made an "official" account and idk how really but people started claiming he was locking him in his basement and people started making a joke out of it and the person running the account played along too lmao. it was a sleepover in there

twilightgate: basically people editing mike and will's faces on edward and bella . don't miss that era .

wormgate: OK THIS COULD EITHER BE ABOUT THE TIME PERIOD WERE PEOPLE PUT MIKE AND WILL'S FACES ON WORMS OR ITS ABOUT MIKE OR WILL ASKING THE OTHER "would you still love me if i was a worm" i think it's the former tho

mikhailgate+background guy gate+wills love interest gate: they're all connected im sorry. so mikhail is enzo/dmitri's son, and people started theorizing saying mikhail was going to make an apperance in hawkins i forgot the logistics of it, but basically he's boris from the goldfinch but like. stranger things. so he looks like mike but more russian LMAO. i forgot the- willhail! that was the ship name! basically so mike could be a jealous bitch they made up an entire character! there was fanfic and fanart, people were serious. background guy, were basically taking a bunch of extras and making characters around them. like that dude with "hell" on his shirt i think his name was brett, there was fanart of him ! and then the goth girl that looks similar to eden was el's gf apparently! those 2 are most prominent i forgot the others. and will's love interest was just all of this. people would even take people from other media. like i saw one that had miguel from cobra kai (apparently argyles cousin 💀)

birthdaygate/memory gate: so this one i don't keep up with because i don't like it. i know what it's about though! so will's birthday is mar 22nd and people in the pre vol2 era thought his bday was gonna get addressed in vol2 but it wasn't so now there's a big conspiracy that it's going to have a bigger play out in s5 (like him blowing up at everyone /mike etc) but some people think it's because vecna can... steal memories. this claim is backed up by the lyric "let me steal this moment from you now" from running up that hill. someone can explain this gate better than me

babygirl gate: someone made a tweet that made it to tumblr basically saying will was rubbing his back whispering babygirl in mikes ear so he could say i love you to el/his girlfriend. which sparked people to make will's quotes to mike say babygirl instead of mike(his name.)

decedants gate: is just like twilight gate. i forgor if mike is mal and will is ben. i think that's right. yeah. it was cool!! comparing byler to their relationship!! about how mal chose to be with ben because he makes her happy!

playlistgate: mike has a very queer coded playlist, promiently "smalltown boy" by bronski beat. it's a song about running away/leaving. this could also be about finn's playlist called "drive" which could be a playlist for mike (it's known that he makes playlists for his characters.) or this could be about (tender emotional music) and how the stranger things sound track proves byler endgame! or about how spotify /st took off a bunch of peoples playlists (some songs off mike and maybe will's too i think.) im not Exactly sure what this one is about.

flickergate: !!!!!!! MY FAV!!!!! season 5 theory mike and will go to the upside down and kiss in the wheelers garage! REMEMBER HOW MIKES GARAGE LIGHT FLICKERED AS WILL LEFT? byler kiss secured! that "it was a 7. the demogorgon, it got me." WAS THEIR FIRST REAL ONSCREEN CONVERSATION! also where everything went wrong, and immense forshadowing. any 7 is a byler number. also the upside down is stuck on nov 6 (day will went missing) so they would technically kiss on that day. a lot smarter person can explain this one.

salt lamp gate: basically a pic of mike licking a salt lamp and people in the byler tag talking about licking their salt lamps . i don't know what prompted this

gridgate: so duffers posted this story boarding grid (blank) back in like end of august/september. and then updated it but it was BLURRED. they blurred it. fucking tease. so people started to unblur it and read what it says but u couldn't make out anything really. and something we thought was a drawing was a pen holder. upsetting. what the hell. they were making fun of us. anyways we were insane for that.

things i'm not smart enough to cover or idk what they're about: 8:15 gate, ikea gate, google maps gate, mjgate, white rabbit gate

anyone feel free to add on!/tell me anything i missed!