#obviously I’m not against gay representation

[transmychem]

kicking off my first analysis…

the most “clearly trans” (or not?) song by mcr.

“Not That Kinda Girl”

this unfortunately quite literally involves gerard and how they seem themselves.

lets dive in..

“everybodys talking bout the way you left your man” not to be THAT person but… around the time this song was (most likely) wrote was when Gerard and Bert McCracken had a falling out… not to mention they literally held hands during the Under Pressure performance. so.. yeah “everybodys talking bout the way you held his hand”

now these could be interpreted as filler lyrics… however i would like to interpret it as Gerard figuratively drowning in the media’s portrayal of him and the expectations society has. kinda enough said..

ignoring the “borrowed” lyrics and the implications of that… jk.. there are a lot of implications of gerard borrowing lyrics from one of the first technically “feminist presenting” songs about a woman who is done with societies shit. sound familiar?…

“so say goodbye to all my friends” if im getting my facts right Gerard lost two good friend around this time… Frank and Bert… from my knowledge frank and gerard and well most of mcr for that matter were fighting and on the verge of quitting the band. and well i already mentioned what happened with Bert.

“i fell in love with her again” … this is obviously about Gerard and Lynz relationship.. a lot of people, even people close to him, did not want him marrying Lynz for countless reasons whether theyre valid or not. They got married around this time, and there was a lot of controversy because these things happen when youre a hot and famous rockstar especially a hot famous rockstar that kisses men… because the women want you the men want you and the gays want your representation. everyones gonna hate his spouse by default (not defending lynz (IDK anything about her)these are just facts…)

“everybodys talking bout the way you cur your hair” we know Gerard cut his hair and dyed it white for the black parade around this time. everyone was talking about it. obviously didnt give a flying fuck.

“everybodys talking bout the way you smoke that there” sensitive topic warning: … people were probably still talking about Gerards known cocaine addiction… and his path to sobriety and caring wayyy too much about what he does. they criticize him for smoking cigarettes bc ppl are insane and paranoid for some reason. i guess people are always hypercritical about celebrities especially if theyre a huge role model for vulnerable youth. Gerard has never cared too much about all that though. “i dont care at all”

now that we have established this song is clearly about Gerard, lets talk about a reoccurring line in this song

“cause im not that kind of girl”

this phrase has been kicked around for ages about women who sleep around or something. being “not that kinda girl” implies your “different from other girls” mostly in the sense that youre not a floozy or whatever… like lets not pin queens against eachother..

now why did Gerard use girl? he could have said “not that kinda guy/boy” but perhaps no one would get the reference unless they can read into the irony…

but i think Gerard likes the irony of using “girl” as a way to refer to themselves. because people have treated him and his relationship like hes just some “silly girl” or something. like they think Gerard is some kinda whore for kissing men and having gfs… the way society tends to view bisexual/queer people… (using bisexual bc theyve done things with guys and girls publicly and that makes you bisexual by societies standards..)

this song doesn’t necessarily have to do with being trans if you put it that way. Gerard is probably using “girl” to refer to themselves because of the irony.

but i’m gonna say this song is trans because why the fuck not.

thats just how i interpret it. it has trans vibes.

does not necessarily mean its about gerard, because gerard has made up so many characters for his music alone, why would this not be about just another character? the answer lies in the fact that all these things happened to him. hes talking about himself. isnt all singing, all lyrics, really about self awareness and self loathing or pondering of self? dont get me started… also the fact that all characters authors create are some fragment of themselves.. so yeah. referring to yourself as a girl (if you were born male) is just kinda trans…

now one last point after this conclusion. possibly a stretch. this song could be Gerard telling people they’re still queer even though they’re in a relationship with a woman. If this song is about Gerard being a girl then they’re saying they’re still queer for being in a relationship with another girl... tumblr dont FREAK. i said it was a stretch. (though it’s literally in the text…) but could just be like i said, just Gerard saying they’re still queer despite being in a “heterosexual passing” relationship and nothing else…

and this part i almost forgot… sorry for being all over the place i have adhd…. but this part kinda confirms my theory. “all your life i let you down”… is Gerard saying they let us down by letting society believe they are cis? idfk.

anyway. thats what makes me think this is the most off the bat transgender esque song.

transfems and lesbians this is YOUR song.

<3

[atlafan]

Here’s what else I’m pissed about because now they’re going to have to change Francesca’s story completely.

Okay, so in her book, John dies. She thinks she may be with child. She finds out she isn’t, so Michael goes to India because he feels guilty for John’s death because he loves Francesca and has LOVED Francesca for years.

Two years go by, and Francesca is like okay I’m done mourning, I want to try having kids with someone, and re-enters the marriage mart. She’s a hot commodity because everyone knows she’s not a virgin, so a ton of men go after her. She was also basically running the estate while Michael was gone.

Francesca had fertility trouble. It’s such a real thing that happens, and I connected with her so much for this. Watching your siblings continue to have babies and grow their families while you can’t is one of the hardest things to go through. Being ready to be a mother and not knowing if it’s ever going to happen is a horrible pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

So, now they’re just going to skip all that because in order for the Killmartin estate to stay as it is, they’ll need an heir. And since Micaela is a woman, the estate can’t be given to her. So, that means Francesca is either going to be pregnant with a boy, or will have already have had a son by the time John dies. And now what? The girls are going to bond while they raise the baby together? That’s almost insulting. Like oh these girls are going to fall in love because of maternal instincts???

Michael yearned for Frannie for years. Are we going to get that with Micaela? Because the way the show just set it up, it looks like Francesca is going to be the one yearning. And that’s fine, but I hate the storyline of, “oh I’ve been gay this whole time and I guess I never really loved the person I married”. It’s been done, and that’s not fair to John. I understand that in those days it obviously would’ve taken a person a little bit longer to realize they may not be straight, and that’s fine. But I think it’s going to negate all of the love John and Francesca had.

In the book, both she and Michael fought so hard against their feelings because they both felt guilty about John. But eventually, Michael helped Francesca realize she didn’t need to feel guilty. And she finally went to John’s grave and talked with him and she knew deep in her heart that he would want her to be happy. Michael would make her happy. And Michael is right by her side with all of the fertility struggles. He’s even open to adoption! Most men of his status wouldn’t be.

And I feel bad for even complaining because the representation absolutely matters. It’s a huge win for the community. If I hadn’t read the book and been so attached to tue characters, I’d probably be excited about this change. But I’m just disappointed because I wanted so badly to see Michael on screen, truly being pained by how much he loved her. And I wanted to hear his deep voice say all of the wicked things to her that he does in the book.

Ugh!!

[devine-fem]

I wanna hear you talk about JonJay. I just need to hear someone else’s dislike for it from someone that also actually reads comics and I’ve noticed you had JonJay DNI in ur bio.

WHEW. Listen disclaimer: If you like Jonjay. Do not read this. Also, do not interact with me because if you like Jonjay, you will not like me.

My issue is that I kind of like Jay’s fight against colonization but that is it. THAT IS IT. My problem is that it came about in such an awful way… like it’s like Representation 101 that you don’t do what Tom Taylor did with Jonjay… he created a character for another character to be queer and not only that made the characters boring…

The thing about Jonjay shippers is that a lot of the time the shippers enjoy the racist/bad writing version of Damian… they always weirdly speak like they hate Damian… Also, people who are an apologist for older!Jon… HAVE TO BE ILLITERATE… like there’s no way…

My friend was telling me that they’ve never met a Jonjay shipper who had good takes and good taste in media… it just doesn’t exist… and how hostile they are with young jon and damijon in general… I’m not going to lie… hating damijon and liking jonjay never made mathmatical sense to me… even if its not damijon… I’d prefer ANYTHING over jonjay… I trust that any other ship has plenty more substance… and no, it just… jay’s character exists to put down Jon’s… as long as Jay exists… Jon will never be able to grow and shine… read SSOKE and take a second to realize that the focus there is Jay and not Jon!! THAT IS WHY SSOKE IS SO BORING! like jonjay shippers only really care about jay anyway which makes no sense ???! thank you for telling me to rant because i dont get those people at all

AND PEOPLE WHO SHIP JONJAY AND HATE JON? it just makes no sense like wtf?? i guess it kinda makes sense because theres no way you like jonjay and actually gaf about jons character… you probably just like gay superman and thats it like… tom taylor hates good romance… its like dickbabs hurting babs… jonjay hurts jon…

im rambling but yeah, i hate jonjay… its the only ship i hate besides like obviously incest ships or tim x anyone LMAO but like its not about getting in the way of my ship, its about being a bad ship that is associated with the character assassination of my favorite character… i guess i kind of think of it the same way roy fans think of jayroy but also i like daminika (or my idea of daminika) so like its really not about “getting in the way of my ship” i really could care less… ships are fanon

dude. dude. listen. i saw a jonjay shipper say that damijon has no chemistry because they barely have chemistry as friends… talking about chemistry and bring a jonjay shipper is crazy? CHEMISTRY SALES BABE? adventures of jon kent couldn’t break 6 issues and you wanna talk about chemistry? the proof is in the pudding… the people dont like mid. dude. listen. jonjay shippers are just idiots… they have to be 😭 your brain cant be braining in order to like that bro. they be like “i love you 😐” LMAO LIKE JUST NO EMOTION LIKE WHO CAN ENJOY THAT. thank you jonjay for reminding us youre dating because honestly we could NOT tell. cant wait for you to disappear all year then reappear during june 😭

[kitsunekat9]

PJO Show Casting

Okay so before I start THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT ABOUT ANNABETH. Any of you racists who wanna complain about her being black, leave. That ain’t what this post is about.

Spoiler warning for Episode 8 of PJO

The actor for Zeus is black. And that’s a horrible decision made by the casting director. Looking at the power dynamic and hierarchy, Zeus is the god with the most power, whom everyone must bow down to. In the show’s own words, he’s “the one everyone fears and MUST obey” or something along those lines. Zeus is basically the epitome of white patriarchy. So in casting a black man to play his role, the PJO show loses that subtext of oppressed children fighting against a patriarchal system that abuses them. And yeah, maybe in the books Zeus isn’t ever really held accountable, but it was heading that way in Trials of Apollo. If you wanna argue that the show shouldn’t bring politics or whatever into a kids’ show, I’d argue they’d already did that by making the change with Medusa, and portraying her in a sympathetic light. We got to see Medusa as a victim of the gods, and the whole narrative of the entire show is that the gods are not the omnipotent, infallible beings they claim to be. It makes more sense for Zeus to be white because white men hold the most power in society. Making Zeus black in the show just falls straight into the Angry Black Man stereotype, and it also looks worse considering Hades and Poseidon are both clearly white. The show has made Zeus a power hungry, greedy, egotistical aggressor (which his character is, I’m definitely not arguing against that), but casting a black actor to play his role cheapens the allegory and subtly worsens people’s perceptions of black men. Yeah, you could argue it’s not that deep. However, it just doesn’t sit right with me that the show is (rightfully) making Zeus somewhat of an antagonist while also making him black.

It’s cool that Hades is kinda gay-coded and very clearly not evil, as the books intended. Hades is fair and it’s a correct portrayal, but making him the innocent (sorta gay) white man against Mean Dickhead Zeus is not a good choice.

Furthermore, I’m conflicted on their choice of actor for Percy. Don’t get me wrong, Walker Scobell is incredibly talented and he was able to pull off a lot of good emotional scenes. I’m just… torn about the decision to make him blond instead of dark-haired because we lose the ability to imagine Percy as a marginalized kid fighting against oppression and standing up for what he believes is right. In the books, it’s obvious that Percy and his mother are poor, don’t live in a great area, and don’t trust authorities like the police to help them. These are all experiences shared by people of color, and a lot of fans imagined Percy with darker skin, thinking he could be black, other POC, or mixed race, which makes Percy a great symbolic underdog that POC fans can project themselves onto. In the show, Percy is very, very obviously white. With dark hair, people could have at least pretended Percy was mixed race and white passing, strengthening the narrative about not fitting in and being of two worlds. He’s blond, and pale skinned, so that’s no longer possible. PJO loses that nuanced angle of a boy from a minority community rising up to become a hero by making Percy just white.

Annabeth’s casting, I have no problem with. It’s important for little black girls to see themselves in her role, because she’s the daughter of the wisdom goddess, which is not a trait stereotypically associated with black girls. Annabeth being black shows that yes, black girls ARE smart, and brave, and can be heroines too. Would’ve been cool to make her blond, since blond black girls are often seen as dumb and that would be a great subversion, but I’m not too fussed with it.

Anyways these are just some thoughts I have on representation in PJO. I have plenty of other thoughts about other subjects on the show, so feel free to drop by my inbox or just chat with me about PJO. :)

[rikeijo]

Hello! :) Hope I don’t seem like I am trying to cause drama. 😅 I would like to ask how different and / or similar is the YOI fandom in Japan compared to the English fandom? Another thing I’m curious about is how do Japanese BL / GL fans view view Western shows with LGBT+ characters? For example does The Owl House have a lot of GL fans or do they not really care about the show?

Hello! Thank you for the message!

I don't think that it's trying to cause drama... In case of YoI and all the very unusual things that happened with this IP, if we try to understand why it happened, imo, it's impossible to see the whole picture without taking into consideration how Jp anime industry&fandom perceive LGBT+ related stuff.

The main difference is that, in case of anime like YoI, in Jp, majority of people think "fujoshi" when they see it, not "gay representation/ LGBT".

This is a quote from an article I happened to read recently (link) that answers a lot of your questions. A person, who works for a company that specializes in BL marketing, talks about Jp and Asian BLs.

"In Japanese BLs there is a lot of settings and cliches expected to appear in the story. There is so much that I'll only give you an example here, one that is difficult to explain in words - for example, the seme (the man that leads in the romantic relationship) is cool and the most popular person in the class, and on the other hand the uke (the man that is led) is more plain, and a bit of an natural airhead - this pattern is one of the classics. In BL, part of the culture is to enjoy those settings and story templates.

(...)

Of course, in the West, there are also BL stories called M/M, which portray romantic relationships between men and they have a lot of fans in Jp. But according to Tsutsui: "In the West, those stories are created more in the context of LGBT and are of a different kind that Japanese and Asian BLs."

(...)

Also, in BLs there is a lot of taboos, called "jirai, landmines". If you detonate those because you lack understanding [of the BL culture], users will immediately go away.

One example of a landmine is when seme and uke swap places, called "reverse"."

Of course, YoI isn't BL, but fans of YoI ships have exactly the same mindset: one uke, seme(s), enjoying our fantasies, not interested in LGBT. Obviously, it's not 100% of the fandom, but the vast majority is really like that.

VicYuu (Victor seme, Yuuri uke) is the most popular ship (seme the coolest character x uke the main character "I'd like to read shojo manga, but they have women there and I hate those" template is the most popular fujo template for every story - for example, in case of JJK, the most popular ship is... Gojo Satoru x Itadori Yuji (15) with almost 700 millions views in total on pixiv). So, that Yuuri doesn't look uke enough and Victor looks like a "fa*got with fake eyelashes" (that's a quote), when he should be a masculine seme, in a lot of arts is one reason why fujos started to hate members of YoI staff. Just like that person in the article said - for fujos, it's a landmine. I've talked about it a few times before - one of the most hated YoI staff member is Mitsurou, and there is plenty of reasons why she was targeted, but one is that the way she draws Yuuri and Victor is more similar to how "YuuVic" fanarts are drawn (and often you can basically tell the ship by how the person draws the characters)...

I don't know a lot about The Owl House, but of course, it has fans in Jp as well - only, I think that those fans (of Western LGBT shows in general) are more from the progressive side and there is little overlap with classic fujos (so a kind of BL/dojinshi fan). Another example, the Witch from Mercury was also popular with the progressive people of Jp twitter and they were also bashing the IP holders because of the marriage controversy... Of course, more progressive people read BLs, too, but many are against being labelled as "fujoshi"... That's generalization, but fujos are those people who labelled and still call heterosexual love "normal love" - I think that says a lot.

In my observation, YoI's Jp fandom is in majority fujo-fandom (2016 was a few years ago...). In 2023, however, more and more people are more open and know more about LGBT+ stuff, so there is also growing "progressive" population of fans on twitter etc. and those people gravitate towards different shows/have different interpretations compared to classic fujos.

So yeah, generally & simply speaking, in Jp, fujoshi, BL =/= LGBT. And btw, as I was labelled fujo-hater in the past, I don't think it's "bad" that fujos like to feminize their uke so much to self-insert and fantasize about the masculine seme(s) loving them, effectively making the ship into a heterosexual ship, because that's what they prefer (although when a grown-up woman is fantasizing about a tiny teenager having sex with a man twice his age and size, well... I'm not sure it's healthy) but I just don't think that it has much to do with LGBT rights and being allies or anything like that, and that it's something that should be acknowledged, too.

[farmerlesbian]

hi farmer lesbian!

so ive identified as bisexual for a long time but ive discovered recently i feel very comfortable within the lesbian ideas of gender and specifically the butchfemme community. i’ve been dating someone recently who also identified as bisexual but has related to transmasc lesbians understanding of gender as well as posts about butches. we both kind of see ourselves within the butchfemme dynamic but i’ve been very tough on myself with calling myself a lesbian because i’ve dated a man before (…in middle school..)

it’s gotten to the point where i’m really worried to label myself because of what it’d imply for my partner? but also what people would say? and while i know i dont HAVE to label myself it just sucks to know theres an identity im drawn to and feel like i fit into that i cant immediately slip into

hmm i'm not really sure how to guide you here. i guess i want to challenge you on some of the things you're saying here, it feels like you're coming at this from maybe the "wrong" angle (wrong feels too harsh a word, maybe just not the most helpful angle)

you're worried you can't call yourself a lesbian because you dated a boy in middle school? i think.. a LOT of lesbians dated boys in jr. high and high school and there are lots of late in life lesbians who were married to men for years before figuring out who they are and coming out. this is all completely normal and common. like, dating one boy in middle school doesn't really mean much tbh. i wouldn't base your identity or label you use around something like that. i dated a bunch of boys in high school and early college when i was still figuring out who i was. your labels or identity or gender or sexuality don't need to account for all you life experiences and past. it's not so much about your sexual history but describing who you are *now*, what you're interested in, in the present.

you say both you and your partner really like Lesbian Genders and butch/femme stuff. that's nice, but liking and relating to lesbian culture and gender stuff doesn't make you a lesbian haha! it's who you're attracted to and who you're not, that determines your orientation. gender and orientation are different things, as i'm sure you know. obviously very connected and stuff. like, for example, just because someone identifies as a man it doesn't make him straight, even though heterosexuality is an integral part of manhood, in the dominant culture. gay trans men are certainly not rare! the same goes for you guys.

also, remember that transmasculinity is a broad umbrella and encompasses a wide variety of people and their identities and experiences. plenty of butches aren't transmasc, and probably most transmascs aren't butch.

i will tell you that in the course of running this blog and being on the internet, i've probably seen and shared thousands of photos and drawing of people. not once have i ever seen something that represents me and my wife. if you are seeking out representation or examples of the options to be, in order to figure out who/what you are, i would advise against that. seek what feels true to you, what feels honest and right. you do not need to be similar to other people in order to find belonging, acceptance, and community. (though of course this is absolutely nothing wrong or bad if you do find others just like you, if you do fit in to existing roles and dynamics! that is of course perfectly normal!)

now, i don't know you or your partner. you know yourselves best. i can't tell you what you really are or really aren't. and i certainly am not going to tell you what you can or can't be! everything i'm saying here is to prompt you to think about and questions to ponder for yourself.

so, i think you have some points to think about, why have you been identifying as bisexual? what is drawing you to the lesbian label? have you tried using 0 labels and not thinking about your identity or labels for at least a month or two (if not a several months) and then coming back and evaluating it afresh? what about the butch-femme dynamic are you drawn to? what is holding you back? you are allowed to discover that you are a lesbian! or you are allowed to continue to be bisexual! i can't tell you who you are - but you're allowed to be and do whatever you want, whatever feels true to you! even if it doesn't make sense to other people or you don't see anyone else like you out there. you gotta be a little bit brave!

hang in there, and sending much love to you and yours! 🧡

[leaves-of-laurelin]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you @daisymae-12 and @affectionatelyrs for the tags!

I have this sci-fi actors au for Alex and Henry that has slowly begun to form into something coherent in my mind. I’m still in the outlining/planning phase, but below is a passage which is some internal monologue for Alex and also serves as exposition for the plot. Putting it under a cut since it’s a little long.

There’s a moment in the movie where, after a near-death experience, Dev gives Qindeli a massive bear hug, lifting him off the ground, and the whole thing has been slowed down and gif-ed and over analyzed within an inch of its life. Specifically it’s Qindeli’s facial expression as Dev’s arms wrap around him, which contains ‘the most obvs gay panic ever’ per the fans. The scene is a favorite of the shippers and one of their many points of proof that the characters harbor deeper feelings for each other. There’s even some really well made fanart of an alternate ending to the scene, one where Qindeli spins around inside the hug and plants a kiss on Dev’s mouth.

However, having actually been one of the actors on set, Alex knows none of what people read into that moment was intended, that there was no direction given by Raf to Henry for his character to have some subtle, decodable reaction to the hug. The truth behind the facial expression is obviously something simpler, that it was Henry the actor—not Qindeli the character—who was reacting; that it was Henry trying to conceal his distaste of having Alex’s arm wrapped around him instead of some hidden clue towards Qindeli’s true feelings.

Alex doesn’t fault the shippers though, he understands the desire for more queer representation, particularly in genre movies. And if people feel a deep connection between the characters then that just means they did their jobs well as actors, especially with how unconnected he and Henry remained off-set throughout filming. Plus, given Raf’s cinematic history, it’s not a stretch to bet against both lead characters in one of his films being straight. So, it shouldn’t have been that big of a surprise for Alex when he received the script for the sequel and discovered that ‘qindev’ is, in fact, going canon. And it wasn’t that big of a surprise, really, it’s just… now he has to fucking stage-kiss Henry.

No pressure tags: @cha-melodius @cricketnationrise @inexplicablymine @dumbpeachjuice and anyone else who wants to join.

[my-coven-is-claudia]

I wouldn’t say outright terrible but like. It ain’t good. I’m just gonna bullet it to make things simpler since I’m horrible at explainin this sort of thing.

There’s the queerbaiting with Garrance, which immediately docks all the points I’d give them for a canonically queer character.

There’s the random tiny implications of characters possibly being queer that’re then never followed up on. For example, the fact that it’s implied Dante would’ve kissed Aaron even without being pushed. This isn’t bad per say, but it’s annoying.

There’s Katelyn who could’ve been good rep except she was given a girlfriend for two seconds and then to my knowledge her attraction to women was quite literally never mentioned again. I have no problem with her ending up with a guy and not a girl (<- Don’t quote me on this but I’m pretty sure that’d be biphobic if I did), the problem is that it feels like they just threw Katelyn in there for brownie points. Being queer isn’t and shouldn’t be a personality obviously, but it affects your life a little more than just what kind of person you date and that’s all we got with her.

There’s Vylad who’s canonically pansexual except people dislike his voiceactor, the only reason we know this, so they won’t acknowledge it.

There’s Melcinda which I can’t exactly comment on because I haven’t seen the part of the series that canonized it, but that’s also a problem. Starlight and When Angels Fall are very late seasons. I have seen every season prior and part of starlight, I did not know they canonized melcinda until someone else told me they did. Not that they can’t make characters queer late in the show, it’s just that we barely have any other queer characters before that.

There is Guy and Nate from love~love paradise. I don’t mind the characters but they are literally the buff guy x twink fanfiction stereotype. Why do we act like that was great representation.

So essentially: they have rep. they absolute have rep. but I will not give them any praise for it.

the rep they don’t have makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

the rep they do have is either in the teeny tiny details, briefly thrown in, literally not in the show outside of being confirmed from a possibly canon source, or so late game in the show that if you can’t sit through the, in my opinion, horridly written later seasons you won’t even know it’s canon.

It’s mostly wlw, which would not be a problem if the canon mlm rep we got wasn’t either barely present or just outright a stereotype. Garrance was queerbaiting, the implied queerness of other male characters (ex: Dante, Zane) is not acknowledged past that, Vylad’s sexuality was canonized outside of the show, Guy/Nate are a stereotype. The problem is that we have both wlw and mlm canon rep, but the mlm rep we have is of much poorer quality when it counts at all.

yeah you bring up some very good points - totally agree with you!

there clearly wasn’t much thought put into the queer rep and it’s definitely blink and you miss it kind of representation. basically if you either don’t pay attention at all times or watch all the content outside of the main seasons you will probably not pick up on it. for example,, katelyn’s girlfriend,, luca,, is introduced in the fcu series which isn’t a main mystreet season so some people may have missed that.

also about melcinda,, as someone who watched all of mystreet,, I can’t recall it being explicitly stated that they got together. i think it was alluded to and also in mini games but i can’t actually remember them becoming canon. i think it might’ve been something jess confirmed on twitter or something. so that definitely makes the rep even worse lol

also yeah how queer men are treated in mystreet is actually abhorrent. i never liked guy and nate because,, as you said,, they’re walking stereotypes. obviously,, there are relationships like that in real life but if in your work the only canonical gay male relationship is a literal stereotype then that’s definitely an issue. also not to mention garrance. i deserve compensation for that cuz i was legitimately convinced they were gonna get together in the end oml.

i could talk for hours about how katelyn’s sexuality was swept under the rug and how her relationships were just mishandled so much but to give jess some credit,, katelyn’s bisexuality doesn’t seem to be something that was just “shoved in”. ever since the side stories it was alluded to that katelyn was interested in women and she flirted with aphmau multiple times. although i don’t like how she turned out in the end i think there was an attempt,, just wish it was addressed in the main series. maybe katelyn could’ve had a conversation with another character about her sexuality or maybe she could’ve talked to her dad about it because that was literally a plot point that was never resolved.

[koishikomeijiofficial]

I have bugsnax but haven't gotten around to playing it, do you suggest it? What do you like about it?

I LOVE BUGSNAX SO MUCH PLEASE PLAY BUGSNAX IZZY MY BELOVED

i love it so much in so many ways, the visual design is so whimsical and colorful, the puns for the bugsnax themselves are so good (shishkabug, fryder, buffalocust, scorpeno, and poptic for example) and they’re SO CUTE

the characters are these muppet looking fucks with cute fuzzy paws and big goofy teeth with names like beffica winklesnoot and gramble gigglefunny, and these goofy looking dweebs all have very deeply human problems and thru their personal quests u can help them cope with these issues, including things like an inferiority complex, abandonment issues, and paranoia; some of these personal questlines end in morals like giving up is not always a bad thing and sometimes it’s truly the best thing for yourself and the people around you, sometimes you may never get closure and it’s important to learn how to deal with it, and not letting your desire for knowledge hurt yourself or the people around you. the characters are so goofy looking but they carry some of the most genuinely human traits and storylines that i’ve ever seen in a game

also the twist at the end of the game is well and truly Fucked Up. i highly suggest completing each characters personal quest line all the way, not just because the stories are So Fucking Good, but also because doing so gets you the best ending even if you fuck up the final gauntlet and hearing everyone’s post-finale dialogue is so worth it

as for the bugsnax, they’re super fun if u like puzzles, since some of them are pretty straightforward to catch and others require quite a bit of thinking and planning, and u can use other snax against each other to your benefit; for example, using a frozen/freezing bugsnax and using the buggy ball and/or sauce to lure them to a snak that’s on fire and have them attack each other, which will nullify the freezing and fire at the same time and allow both to be caught; another is using a snak’s favorite sauce, covering another snak in it, and watching the first snak knock the other one dizzy so u can catch it

i’ve seen bugsnax advertised as a “horror game for kids” and i Strongly disagree, obviously it’s design is very childlike (and i’m not saying kids wouldn’t Get It) but the problems these characters face are very adult in nature and i don’t think it should be written off as a kids game solely based on the visual design

also the obligatory Representation™️: there’s a canonical lesbian couple, a canonically gay couple, and a canonically nonbinary character too (: floofty is a little freak i love them so much

bugsnax is just so fucking GOOD and it’s so close to what i would consider a perfect game (some of the snax are a pain in the ass to catch which is my main gripe, but that’s probably more of a Me problem than it is a Game Design problem) and i would highly recommend it

the steam version also includes the DLC by default which is really pog

please play bugsnax

for Him.

[thebetterluthor]

OUAT, traditional values, and the concept of found family

I’ve been thinking about what drives people to like some aspects/characters of a piece of media, in this case OUAT, and what drives them to dislike others. E.g. I like Regina, but I dislike Snow White. And it’s not just a “well she’s an enemy of my favourite character” thing, I can point out a long list of reasons why I feel that way.

In the end, I’ve reached this conclusion: For OUAT specifically, different characters represent different set of ideals.

Let’s start with Snow white for example:

She is the absolute representation of traditional values. She’s the clean cut Princess (who should have the throne by God-given right). She’s also following traditional paths in life (fall in love with some dude, get married, have his babies), and she puts a lot of value in traditional familial ties (her closest people are literally her family members, and their moto is “we will always find each other”). There are also some other quite heavy handed religious themes involved here (Emma dropped in a tree as a baby... to save the people of the Enchanted forest... as it was prophesied... white Moses anyone??), but I’m not going to get into that, I’m just going to say that if you’re the kind of person who puts a lot of stock into traditional family values, religion, etc, chances are you’ll be firmly into camp Charmings.

Regina on the other hand is the absolute rebel. She challenges tradition every step of the way: She falls in love with the stable boy, goes against her mother’s wishes, hates the man she gets married off to, doesn’t believe in the institution of monarchy and as such, has no issue with killing her husband and usurping the throne. 

Also, traditional family? Fuck that, Regina annihilates her family right off the bat: she sends her mother to another realm, and she sacrifices her father to be free of them/find her happiness (as in, there is no happiness in her traditional family for her). Also, she renders herself infertile so no child of hers will fall under the control of her blood family, and she obviously hates her husband and his family, and of course, kills him too. Regina is firmly in the Found Family camp. The person she loves the most in the world is her adopted son, her BFF was an isolated sorceress (Maleficent), and she found her true love while taking a stroll in the woods (and went into very un-traditional relationship paths with him, his ex-wife, and later her sister and Robyn).

I do find it fun that in the end, both Regina and Snow end up with a mix of found family members, and blood related family members, finding happiness in the middle ground (this includes the time when Roni thought she was making a family out of her community when in fact she was making a family with her granddaughter, son, and daughter in law).

I’d also like to point out that the show, however much time it spends on the Charmings, and Rumpelstiltskin etc, it is very much about Regina’s journey. From being a piece that didn’t fit in rightly anywhere (in her family, at the castle, in the Enchanted forest in general, as self-assigned mayor, etc) to being elected Queen of all Realms.

Anyway, it is interesting to notice how we are all, consciously or subconsciously, drawn to that which reflects our set of values, and the way we see the world.

[the-aaaaa-battery]

The argument “LGBTQ+ representation will make children gay/trans” is so stupid and here’s 1 of the many reasons why:

The people who say this obviously know that LGBTQ+ people exist. They have seen enough LGBTQ+ representation and media that they feel that they need to actively be against it.

And yet, they’re not gay. They’re not trans. Unless they’re only pretending to be cishet.

By their logic, anyone who sees LGBTQ+ media or representation becomes gay or trans. “Anyone” includes them. But they’re not queer. So how can they say that their kids will become queer?

I’m going to immediately assume that anyone who uses the “my kids will turn queer” argument is also queer. (Okay, not actually, but using queerphobes’ argument, this is a perfectly logical assumption to make.)

[reneewalkersbiceps]

NO I TOTALLY AGREE it was soooo. sterilised. considering they had gay sex (im the anon that asked btw)

like the book is not perfect but there is a LOT its missing in the adaptation. they really just completely nerfed most of the female characters. they entirely erased alex' sister june (who had a big part of both the plot and impact on his character). bea had so much depth that they judt completely took away. Who is this woman in sundresses and kitten heels thats literally not the bea from the book in any way!!!! and nora too is so much more. Rounded. in the book

and they took away rafael luna (first gay hispanic senator in the book) and kindof gave most of his role in the first act to miguel. and the choice to make MIGUEL the person that (is implied to have) leaked the emails is. hoenstly it left a horrible taste in my mouth. the jealous gay hispanic guy outed him? really? when in the book it was the republican who was running against his mother? you gave that role to MIGUEL INSTEAD? it really. really pissed me off like its a very very different story to the book while still being the same premise

and the book is a lot more explicitly anti monarchy too. i mean it isnt really. its bery bare bones what if the prince was sad bc the monarchy was bad :( but it IS 10x what the movie gave us. in the book they visited tipu's tiger in the v&a which is a tiger eating a european soldierband henry talks about how his mum used to say that the tuger was angry bc her great great great great grandfather stole the statue and she thinks they shld give it back but gran says they couldnt (the book has a queen instead ofna king). and like. when i read it i was like yeah this is bare minimum anti monarchy at the end if the day it was nothing revolutionary. but. the film. man. it gave NOTHING.

man i am so sorry i didnt mean to write so much it got away from me. but. yeah. very dissappointing movie

i’m glad you can shed a bit more light on the discrepancies and issues book to film because i haven’t read the book so obviously i’m a bit ill-informed in that respect! it sounds like the book (as usual with adaptations sadly) had a lot more depth and was a lot more fleshed out, i definitely would’ve liked to see more depth in many of the female characters!

i’m now so mad that they cut what seems like a very important character (rafael luna) for the ‘i don’t like this person so i’ll out them’ trope :(

also, as a brit who is incredibly anti-monarchy (which i do understand may bias me a bit) i feel like they verrry much played it safe in the representation of the british monarchy in the film and it sounds like the author went in a bit more on it in the book?? i really despise the monarchy for many reasons so i think most depictions of the monarchy will fall short for me though to be honest.

all in all, sounds like the book is much better so maybe i just went wrong in terms of watching the movie before reading the book (a fatal mistake 😖)

p.s. i love getting an in-depth ask to my inbox, please don’t apologise for your passion and feelings about something! x

[philsmeatylegss]

why does a character being bi or pan in a movie/show change you wanting to watch it?

(If you missed it, I made a confessional that I don’t really engage in media where a character part of a gay couple is bi/pan and I begged for forgiveness)

It’s really just more of a personal preference I think. I get why it’s done, statistically more people are bi/pan than full homo so there’s a larger audience for relatability and ofc bi/pan people deserve representation not arguing against any of that.

I think for me it just has a lot to do with relatability and a lack of content. I tend to indulge in media where the main character is more similar to me. I also do believe I am subconsciously jealous that bi and pan people have the opportunity to be satisfied in a heterosexual relationship while that will never be a possibility for me.

I get quite oddly defensive about it which is a toxic trait on my end. Quite honestly, I know this is irrational, but the jealously I have manifests into thinking bi/pan people are “less lgbt” than fully gay people, which I’m fully aware is very disillusioned and that’s why I never push or voice this preference as I am aware it is objectively wrong

Just a personal preference tbh. I obviously love Heartstopper which has a focus on a gay couple where one is bi, so obviously I can get over it. I just feel like I have so many issues this becomes something that not as urgent as the issues I have which will majorly fuck me over in life, but I am aware it has a lot to do with self esteem but I just don’t think it’s that bad to indulge what I prefer, but I also see that the preference stems from toxicity which I do need to work on

[official-chekov-enjoyer]

Barbie is finally officially out so I can talk about how the plot of the movie feels very trans. (Spoilers, obviously)

So I went to an early viewing party for Barbie and got to see it before it came out which was super fun and an awesome experience. And going into it I hoped for gay jokes about Ken (cause he was accidentally made gay with Magic Earing Ken and Cali Girl Ken) and I absolutely did get those jokes. It was awesome. Additionally I expected that, as a trans man who was brought up on Barbie’s and at some point mentally connected my gender expression with Ken, I’d want everything Ken wore in the movie. (I especially want the “I am Kenough” hoodie.)

Something I didn’t expect was that Ken would be SUCH trans representation. Let me explain.

Ken is a man who is oppressed by his society. As a trans man I can confirm that trans men are oppressed in our society. Ken is a man who gets to discover the benefits of being a man in a male-dominated culture which most trans men also experience at some point. There is a moment where we all discover the system that was once against us is now for us and still fucked up.

Also KEN DOESNT HAVE A DICK i know trans men can get bottom surgery and have a perfectly functioning Penis but not all do. Not all can, not all want to, and Ken doesn’t.

And last but certainly not least; Kens are not given the same rights as Barbie’s. Is it a feminism joke? Yes. Will I, a trans man and a feminist, interpret it as a Trans Rights joke? Also yes.

And before anyone gets upset: if people can interpret the matrix as anything but a trans metaphor I can interpret the Barbie movie as a trans metaphor. The way we all experience movies will be personalized and the way we interpret a movie will never be exactly what the creators wanted us to see. Every piece of art when given to the public for viewing will have 1mil+ interpretations based on personal factors. Everyone will enjoy it differently so don’t get miffed that I’m interpreting a feminist movie to also include a trans allegory.

[tinkerbitch69]

ALAN SCOTT: THE GREEN LANTERN #4

I’m enjoying this series. Seriously, I am. (first issue was kind of a dud but it’s picked up so whatevs)

Buuuuuuut…

I gotta talk about this issue

SPOILERS AHEAD

So in this issue, it is revealed that Alan’s former lover, Johnny Ladd (what a name) and the golden age Red Lantern are in fact, one and the same. And this isn’t a Winter Soldier situation, he was not brainwashed by the soviets but he was in fact…A spy! The whole time!

Image sourced from Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #4 by Tim Sheridan with art by Cian Tormey

And Like…I get it. Lies! Deception! Drama! Pathos! it certainly makes for a more interesting story and slightly problematic representation is often the only interesting representation but I feel like someone should address this

Image sourced from Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #4 by Tim Sheridan with art by Cian Tormey

As demonstrated by these panels, Red Lantern explicitly targeted Alan because of his interest in his Johnny persona and used it to his advantage. He explicitly states that Alan’s desire i.e his sexuality made him more susceptible to manipulation towards his ends. The ends of a covert soviet spy.

And like, this would be fine if it didn’t play right into McCarthyist Lavender Scare propaganda.

For those that don’t know, the lavender scare was a moral panic that coincided with the red scare of the 1950’s and was pushed by similar proponents such as Joe McCarthy. It was concerted effort to block and expunge gay men and women from positions in the federal government. The justification for such blatant homophobia was that their sexualities and the private ‘activities’ they may be involved in outside of work would make them more susceptible to blackmail and thus coercion by soviet agents. McCarthy claimed this would make them an increased security risk compared to their straight counterparts and thus justify discrimination against queer individuals serving in the US government & military

So making Alan’s ex boyfriend a spy who successfully targeted and manipulated him through his homosexual desire feels…idk kinda icky to me. Like this is obviously not a one-to-one parallel, but I think it’s worth mentioning that through trying to create a more engaging story, this issue is playing into homophobic attitudes that were prevalent in a roughly contemporaneous time period to its setting and like, I think that should be addressed.

This isn’t a call-out or cancel post of the creative team behind this comic. It’s a great story with phenomenal art and a piece of media is obviously capable of including slightly problematic elements without being problematic as a whole but I still think it’s something worth discussing when analysing or critiquing this comic book.

So yeah. That’s my hot take for the day, if you’re reading this thanks for indulging in my wannabe media analysis 💚

[hyperjynx]

I'm losing my mind in a hurricane so uh

Ranking Ensemble Stars Units Based on My Deranged Headcanons/Opinions

Starmaker Productions

Fine - 5/10

I’ll be honest, despite being a partial Tori main, I’m pretty neutral about Fine. They get points for representation of Theater Kids™, manipulative pretty boys, and Tori’s :3 face but as far as music goes, they’ve never really stood out to me.

Trickstar - 4/10

I actually really like Trickstar but I feel like out of all the bands in ES, they’re the ones who would have a “my mom sold me to 1Direction” fanfic written about them in-universe and for that they get points subtracted

Ryuseitai - 6/10

Unrivaled Meteor Ranger fucks hard and every member of this band has had a warrior cats phase but in extremely different ways. Chiaki probably kins Firestar. Kanata goes apeshit over the Sunningrocks debate. You get no further elaboration.

Alkaloid - 10/10

GRRRRGRRRBARK I LOVE ALKALOID #1 Alkaloid enjoyer right here if you don’t like Alkaloid gtfomp /j. The songs? SLAP. My moratorium? WINGED. Mayoi? IN THE WALLS.

Cosmic Production

Eden - 9/10

Eden almost gets full points. Hiyojun. The biblical references mixed with EXTREMELY horny lyrics. ALL of them are hot.

HOWEVER: for the love of GOD they NEED to fire their choreographer I am BEGGING,,, what the fuck is That One Part in The Genesis (YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT)

Valkyrie - 5/10

Look, I fucking LOVE Valkyrie. The songs go hard. I blast 'em all the time when I’m handed the AUX. If the band was just Mika (possibly also Nazuna?) then they would get full points, but I have a personal grudge against Shu for existing (top hat, manipulative but not pretty enough to get away with it, enjoys the French, the Nazuna situation) so he costs Valkyrie 5 entire points. 

2wink - 6/10

Their name just being [TWINK] makes me lose my shit but the fact that they’re secretly the angstiest fuckers in game gave me enough psychic damage to subtract 3 points. 1 additional point has been subtracted for those matching midparts.

Crazy:B - 7/10

Crazy:B never misses with their songs. -3 points for Rinne Amagi.

Rhythm Link

UNDEAD - 8/10

Okay you can tell I’m OBVIOUSLY biased towards emos but god. UNDEAD. They work really well together. As a chronically ill vampire kinnie Rei owns my heart and I love him. -2 points for being just a tad basic but overall very good

This does not contribute to the rating but I had to point it out: Kaoru’s whole Thing is that he’s a playboy and Really Likes Women™. Sir explain this then:

Ra*bits - 4/10

Hajime and Nazuna my beloved but Mitsuru and Tomoya look like they came directly from The Promised Neverland and I’m not an impartial judge so -6 for making me think about that show again

Akatsuki - 5/10

I mean. Yeah. They’re fine. Nothing for or against them. Slash! Blade of Resolve fucks but thats about it from me

New Dimension

Knights - 7/10

They have some bops, but I’ll be honest most of their points come from the fact that Ritsu and Arashi are my blorbos I love them. -3 for the “Is He Bothering You, Queen?” vibes I’m hit with every time I hear Grateful Allegiance

Switch - -2000/10

They are magicians and they give gamer vibes and are therefore Untrustworthy. Also the shading on Natsume’s hand at the end of Emerald Planet makes me think of the hot dog hand people in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Perish.

MaM - 9/10

I’m entranced by his cringe fail personality and his cowboy hat, what can I say

-1 point because Madara is not a band, he is a gay cowboy

-1 point again because anyone who nicknames themselves “mama” is Untrustworthy

+1 point though because attempted murder is funny and Madara is pretty