So, just curious how many writers and creators will have to be forcibly outed by relentless harassment before we acknowledge that "This queer characters was written by a cishet person and that's why they're bad" is not good criticism.
I’m thinking about Mahito’s great great uncle maintaining and preserving a peaceful and beautiful thing in a way that to an outside observer looks tedious and unimportant, hoping to pass the duty off to a successor but ultimately he cannot find one and dies with it.
I’m thinking about the specificity of the blocks being made and handled with care, not with malice or ill intent.
I’m thinking about Hayao Miyazaki, a bastion of beautiful 2d hand drawn animation who refuses to retire.
I’m thinking about a world where animation is so rarely made with love over profit and efficiency.
I’m thinking about how, though the old man didn’t see it, the next generation still hangs onto a piece of that beautiful, tedious thing and takes it with them because it feels important.
I’m thinking about Mahito being told he should forget, but no. He shouldn’t.
the way they both sidled up to each other. the way they kissed under the moonlight. the way they set and respected each other's boundaries. the hand holding, the thumb war, the gentle smile, the "you won." this is the queer representation i needed. queer people being unapologetically queer in all the gentle, sweet ways we know.
very sinister to me whenever i see posts that are like “it’s so cute/romantic how zuko is a dick to every member of the gaang except for [the one op happens to ship him with]!” first of all, the notion that “a troubled guy who is rude to everyone but you” is somehow a sweet romantic ideal is just eminently problematic. no one should want a boyfriend (or girlfriend, or partner of any kind) who is an asshole to all your friends and loved ones and everyone they’ve ever met, even if they’re the sweetest kindest cuddliest person when you’re alone. that’s just an obvious red flag. but also, it’s not even true?? zuko treats every member of the gaang like shit at some point during the latter half of book 3, even if he is also (somewhat) nice to them at other points. he yells at katara about “how unfair it is that she doesn’t trust him yet” (it’s not. it’s totally deserved), he brusquely dismisses toph’s feelings when she tries to open up to him about her childhood trauma, he basically mocks and belittles aang for clinging to the remnants of his culture that zuko’s direct forefathers literally wiped off the planet (which he does in multiple episodes, btw), he exploits sokka’s photographic memory for his own ends after interrupting his date to force him to recount one of the most traumatic days of his entire life like sokka is just there to be his genius butler or something, and he mostly just seems to pretend that suki doesn’t even exist. this also goes for every other character btw, including mai, ty lee, jin, song, jet, or whomever else you may ship him with. the only character zuko is consistently nice to is that kid lee from “zuko alone,” bc he’s healing his inner child or whatever. so romanticize the fact that zuko is inexplicably good with kids all you want, but when it comes to dating, i actually think zuko should take a vow of abstinence for at least the next decade or so.
let's cut to the chase, zelda fandom. you're not gonna spout incredibly hateful (and sometimes downright misogynistic) things about yona just because she is prince sidon's fiancé. you're going to at least treat her with the same respect you'd give any other character. if you're upset because you're into sidlink you're going to remember that healthy polyamory or amicable breakups or gentle rewrites of canon or other numerous solutions exist, and if you don't like her or think nintendo made her specifically to spite sidlink shippers (they didn't, get your head out of your own ass 🙄) you're still going to be polite.
you are above taking potshots at female characters who "get in the way" of your ship, okay?