#onscreen knowing you can't really relate to them at all.

[introspectivememories]

i love!!! pavitr!!!! best part about him is that the astv creators just said he's indian. he could be any type of indian and you wouldn't be wrong. maybe he's malayali. maybe he's from mizo. maybe he's from punjab. maybe he's tamilian. maybe he's from sikkim. you decide!!!!

[ontologicalsynaesthesia]

Queer Metaphor and Queer Literality

People have been comparing Our Flag Means Death and Good Omens a lot, but the similarity that stands out most to me is on the meta level of how they do their storytelling. I think they both feel like a similar flavor of meaningful queer story because they depict queerness at both a literal and a metaphorical level, where the positive elements occur at the literal level and the negative elements are depicted through metaphor.

On a literal level, both series are full of explicitly, textually queer characters who have actual romances with kissing and everything. Characters can be trans and express their gender in non-normative ways without reprecussions (mostly). There's almost no depiction of overt homophobia onscreen. I'm not sure whether Neil Gaiman or anyone else involved in GO has talked about this choice, but I know David Jenkins has said that he wanted to avoid making the characters in OFMD constantly deal with homophobia and queer trauma. It's not that they take place in queernorm worlds, exactly; it's more that the bad stuff largely happens offscreen. (I've addressed this in an OFMD meta about season 1.)

But the thing is, neither show actually shies away from depicting homophobia and queer trauma - it's just that they happen at the metaphorical level.

In GO2, both Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship to heaven and hell is, metaphorically, that of queer people to a stiflingly heteronormative society that will never truly let them belong and be themselves at the same time. They find community in each other - they are the only people in the world who have experienced the things they've experienced (and isn't that a relatable queer feeling!), and they also find community in queer humans, in a way. But to their home societies that originally gave them belonging and purpose, they're outcasts, and that's very lonely for both of them. They both deal with this very differently; Crowley abandons heaven and hell entirely and embraces his outcast-hood and independence (even though it's still lonely), while Aziraphale still longs for that sense of belonging and eventually decides to try to assimilate again (even though he can't really be himself there).

There's a lot more you can say about metaphorical queerness in GO (like in this recent Tor.com article). But basically, Crowley and Aziraphale's differing reactions to the ostracism of their native society mirror two different ways a lot of real life queer people respond the ostracism of their native societies, even though Crowley and Aziraphale themselves don't really face explicit homophobia for their queer romance onscreen.

OFMD intertwines the metaphor with the literal in a different way. In a way, piracy is a metaphor for queer community; we've all heard Izzy's "piracy is about belonging to something" line in the trailer (even though we don't know the context yet.) But pirates also commit acts of violence, and most people consider them horrible monsters. Stede and Ed both struggle with feelings of monstrousness that are about their piracy-related actions on the surface; but those feelings are instantly and horribly recognizable to a lot of queer people. Chauncey Badminton's "you defile beautiful things" speech is burned into my brain in part because that's exactly what my internal monologue sounds like sometimes (and I think you can pretty easily interpret that speech as being about Stede being literally queer as much as it's about Stede killing his brother; Badminton comes just short of outright saying it.)

When Stede leaves Ed, Ed dives headfirst into being the monster everyone believes him to be. He hates himself; he thinks he's unlovable; he commits as many atrocities as he can in the hope that someone will put him down, and he'll deserve it. I think he feels that Stede left him because Stede, too, saw him as an irredeemable monster, and he tries to make it true to justify his own self-hatred. Ed's self-destructive rampage is an over-the-top expression, in the context of a pirate story, of some deeply recognizable and relatable queer emotions. It's easy for society to make us feel monstrous; Stede dealt with that by trying to remove his influence from the world and return to the (heterosexual) status quo, and Ed dealt with it by trying to live up to the monstrousness he felt inside himself until it destroyed him.

I think one reason these two shows have been so effective - and been effective in similar ways, to more or less the same group of fans - is that this combination of literal queer joy and metaphorical queer suffering feels like a very deep, authentic, relatable portrayal of queer experience. It's fun and wish-fulfillment-y, and avoids getting too close to the reality of the negative experiences a lot of fans have probably had. But at the same time, it filters those negative, complicated, and familiar experiences through the lens of the fantastical, which gives them a certain clarity and emotional grandeur that they couldn't have in a work more true to life.

I'm pretty skeptical about equating "representation" to quality (I've read a lot of deeply mediocre queer books), and I don't think it's quite accurate that these shows have been so successful simply because they depict queer protagonists in queer romances; I think that take misses something, because in this day and age, there are a lot of queer romances out there and easily accessible. But I think the way queerness is embedded into multiple levels of storytelling in both these shows gives them a lot more depth of meaning and emotion, and I think that's a big part of what fans have latched onto.

[kimberlyannharts]

So Darkest Hour is over, the MMPR main series has wrapped, so what do we do now? We......check out the adventures of this team led by a giant polar bear? Sure!

It's Power Rangers Infinity!

= For those who haven't seen the previews: our main character, Lola! She's cute, I like her a lot; even if admittedly BOOM has really been dishing out the Green Ranger girls one after another lately. (As for her last name being Navarro.....put in a pin in that for a second. Unfortunately it doesn't go where you might think it goes.)

= Obviously there's no way to prove it but moments like this kiiiiiind of feel like this was written back when BOOM figured they were finished with the PR license. It's a little too on the nose

= GIRL YOU LOOK SO GOOD

= Though I am a little annoyed because her lines here about looking for Lola for a long time made me think my theory that she was targeting her because she was related to Tyler/Shelby (or Poisandra just THOUGHT she was) was real. Unfortunately Lola's last name being Navarro isn't at all relevant (she targets Lola because she overhears that she writes PR fanfiction, so she wants Lola to make a weak team she can beat, it's a whole thing) so I guess in the end it was just an Easter Egg. I guess it's not too much of a surprise as this is set in "our" world rather than the Dino Charge world, but still, if you were going out of your way to pit a Dino Charge villain against a main character with the same last name as a Dino Charge character, you'd think that was leading up to something

= Group shot of the team! Along with the names, since I kind of skimmed my first reading and didn't retain them kjkdjf

= Also I just noticed Braylee's visor is shaped like a megaphone. That's cute

= Unfortunately the Poisandra Stan Society skipped out on PMC 2024. I totally would have gotten a picture with them otherwise

= Obviously as this is a one-shot book making gags out of the concept of "unlikely character archetypes as Power Rangers" the Infinity team members don't have the most complex personalities, but it's vital for you to know that the Pink Ranger, Penelope Prescott, is a lesbian. Anyway hot bear time

= I literally went into this book thinking the polar bear (Coach Kumo) would end up being a joke one-note "haha is that an ANIMAL as a ranger??" a la Yale but he actually ended up being my favorite character so uh. Yeah. Power Rangers Infinity did the whole "animal ranger" thing better than the main series. Make of that what you will

= And a look at the other teams. And okay, I'm just going to come out and say it; we did canonically have a pirate team in the show. I KNOW THEY DIDN'T DO PIRATE STUFF BUT I DON'T CARE, THEY STILL EXISTED, IT'S NOT AS OUTLANDISH AS THE HOCKEY BEAR UNIVERSE

= I do have to admit, for as much as this book tries to joke about how Poisandra isn't a threat and can't find a team weak enough for her to defeat, they're pretty casually talking about how she's basically committing mass genocide. Like their teams/universes are literally dead. I think that counts as beating them

= Proud of the book for not calling them "Paisley Force"

= your uber is here

= Anyway actual worst part of this book is it implies Poisandra took out Curio too which SHE WOULD NEVER DO!!!!!!! THAT IS HER BESTIE!!!!!!! Sledge getting her this ship is 100% in-character though

= Poisandra has committed mass murder and kidnapping but nothing compares to the evil of committing Lola to the path of customer service

= Still a better Green Ranger reveal than M/tt

= This silly one-shot parody comic sure has a lot of death in it

= speaking of death:

= MORE ONSCREEN DEATH THAN DARKEST HOUR IN THE ONE-SHOT GOOFY PARODY COMIC I'M GOING INSANE

= This is sweet and everything, but it kinda takes me back to how members of this fandom would uhhhh kinda harass the writers and BOOM about including their own ideas in the comic. (And the actors too. Firsthand witness to that at PMC 2024!) So to all up and coming writers and artists: please keep your submissions and pitches to professional settings

= see you, space cowboy...................

[shortpplfedup]

Tomorrow's a big day for me so I of course woke up in the middle of the night in a spiral and can't get back to sleep, so I'm gonna try to get out some thoughts I've been having about chemistry and sexuality on screen, especially in the stuff I've been watching lately.

When I'm referring to sexuality here, I'm most often not referring to sexual identity, but to how characters experience sexual desire and respond sexually to each other, which is directly related to ideas of onscreen 'chemistry' as it's seen and judged by audiences. I see chemistry often conflated with heat levels by audiences as well, and I definitely think those are two separate things. This is a thing that's been coming up for me over and over again in the BL space as I find myself...let's say often not into the pairs that others are into, and more into pairs that others don't see as having chemistry. I'll also I guess come out here and say I've been on my own journey of discovery recently, realising I'm acespec, very likely demi, and alongside that (because as I've mentioned often both here and on @the-conversation-pod that I process my feelings through media) thinking about how I bring that lens I didn't even know I was looking through to my analysis of The Stories™️.

@absolutebl has written a lot about their 3 dimensions of good chemistry as physical, emotional and intellectual, and I've found that to be a useful frame. I tend to use 'vibes' a lot to describe what I feel in character interactions, because a vibe between people is such a specific and personal thing for me, and sometimes resists more objective and perhaps useful explanation. 'Vibes' also mirrors my own experience of sex, romance and attraction. To use ABL's frame: physical, emotional and intellectual dimensions of attraction/chemistry are just inseparable for me. And perhaps most importantly for the way I view sexuality on screen: physical attraction is driven for me by intellectual and/or emotional attraction, but never the other way around. In other words, I can see how being intrigued by a person or emotionally invested can make you horny for them, but horniness on its own, while fun to watch, is not really something I get.

Right, with all that preamble out of the way, here are some recent characters and pairs I've found myself really feeling the vibes on that I thought were maybe misunderstood.

Kawi, Be My Favourite

Even when Krist does the work to beat the 'bad actor' allegations it seems he can't catch a break...lol. Kawi is the character who finally compelled me to write this, because I think Krist was doing some great subtle work on emotional attraction and sexual discovery via emotion that got lost in a Disk Horse stampede based on a throwaway line from a secondary character. Kawi had to have feelings for Pisaeng, and then think about what that meant, in order to reach a place of sexual desire. And then that desire didn't look like desire is expected to look, and so its genuineness was questioned. Audiences don't generally see fondness and deep affection as 'sexy', or accept sexual desire as something one has to think about. But I truly appreciated seeing Kawi take this particular journey towards having sex with Pisaeng and having a clearly joyous experience once he got there. The chemistry these two have isn't 'hot' but it is very grounded and emotionally resonant and I found it very affecting to watch.

Cher, A Boss and A Babe

I mentioned on the pod when we talked about ABAAB last season that I very much enjoyed Cher's journey of sexual discovery from 'do I like this?' the first time he and Gun kiss progressing through 'I think I like this' and 'I definitely like this' and eventually to 'gimme dat body' when they have what I called 'married sex' near the end of the show. @bengiyo mentioned on this same episode liking that Cher has to try out physical intimacy with Gun multiple times to determine how he feels about it, and I agree. That's a very undiscussed paradigm, that sex is often not immediately enjoyable/desirable, and wanting to try again because you're still not really sure isn't a bad thing. Their big final sex scene is another scene that isn't 'hot', but there is a very specific and deliberate heat in Cher's eyes when he undresses Gun and looks at his body that sells the physical dimension of their chemistry.

Ray/Sand, Only Friends

I enjoy how grungy and unromantic the sex is on Only Friends because that's how a lot of casual sex actually is. These people are mostly getting their rocks off, not really falling in love or even connecting emotionally or intellectually...except for Sand and Ray. Sand is the kind of man who probably feeds stray cats, so he finds Ray intriguing despite knowing he's a disaster area. Ray is desperate to feel something other than the void inside himself, and he likes the way Sand spars with him. Neither of them is really horny for each other in the traditional sense, and the sex is almost rote in its progression but was definitely fire for the two of them regardless because of the intellectual stimulation driving it. Alas their minds can't fuck, so their bodies will have to suffice.

Basically, people wanting to inhale each other is definitely fun to watch, I'll grant that, but I like getting to explore different kinds of functional sexuality and chemistry on screen, and don't buy a lot of the 'no chemistry' reads.

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 5

Part SEIS of my attempt to transcribe and discuss all the text that appears on screens and tablets in G Witch, because I got that dog in me! This is episode 5, "Reflection in an Icy Eye"

<< Episode 4, if you so dare.

Till and Suletta Boiled Eggs Indulgence.

Shall we begin?

TEXT: WINNER PILOTING DEPARTMENT KP003 ELAN CERES F/D-19 ZOWORT 7 WINS 0 LOSS 0 TIE

At the end of Elan's 3 v 1 duel, we get a look at the Zoworts ID and the fact that he has 7 wins and no losses.

When Bel is speaking to the Peil witches, we get another look at Aerial's profile. What's new here are the terms on the bottom right, those being

PMET LINK PMET SUBLINK BIOINFO LINK PILOT DATA LINK MS DATA LINK INTEGRATED PMET LINK

I could not tell you what any of these mean, BUT I have recorded them for convenience.

The text on Nuno's tablet is very difficult to make out, but we can for sure read CONTROL SYSTEM on the header at the top, so we know that's what he's looking at here. I'll give my best guess as to what the 3 sub-headers say, from top to bottom.

I-MSEACTRL-SYS I-MSEECTRL-SYS 5011-ONCODE

If my transcription is right, the first two are probably meant to be read as something like I - MOBILE SUIT [EA/EE] CONTROL SYSTEM

I'm not as confident in the bottom one though, i think i have ONCODE correctly but I'm not sure if the first half is really 5011, which would be Aerial's Permet Code ID. But it's the only interpretation that makes sense to me because I can only read it otherwise as SETH-ONCODE. And I have my doubts about that one.

Some broader looks at Aliya's divination table

Of course, everyone and their mother would tell you this, but Aliyah points to the stone that landed on the Roman Numeral for 12, wondering if it represents 'a brother' of Suletta's. This is foreshadowing the Eri reveal, as Aerial + the Eri clones that pilot each one of its GUND Bits adds up to 12, meaning Suletta has 12 sisters.

Of course, the stone in the middle represents her mother, and Aliyah comments that it's very big.

I can't help but wonder if Miorine is represented somewhere here as well?

This scene is where we finally get to see the title of the book Elan is reading. As I stated before, this book is The World as Will and Representation (Translated in the show proper as The World as Will and Idea) by Arthur Schopenhauer. The importance of this book to understanding Elan's character cannot be overstated, and it's worthy of its own post, but simplified as far down as possible (and also acknowledging that I have yet to read the essay myself, it's long...I'll get to it though, I promise...)

The two most essential ideas of this work in their relation to Elan are that:

All human suffering and conflict is a result of the "Will" that exists within us: An ever striving force that pushes us to pursue our innermost desires.

In order to reduce the inherent pain and suffering that comes with life's cruelty, one can minimize their desires, and deny the force of their will.

In simpler terms, if you never desire anything from your life, even the idea of living itself, you will never be made to suffer from the lack of it.

From the shows beginning, we can see how Elan completely embodies this philosophy. He denies love, he denies his emotions, he never acts of his own accord, only following the orders he's been given by Bel and the Peil witches.

But that changes when he meets Suletta, because Suletta awakens within him one of his deepest desires. To find someone who is like him, someone who understands him.

But when he realizes that Suletta isn't an Enhanced Person, that he's still completely alone, he can't handle it.

Because he allowed himself to want for something, he invited suffering back into his life when it was something he was not allowed to have.

And now that he's opened his heart to desire, it's not something that can be closed. For the rest of our time with him, we see how this incident with Suletta has broken the spell. When he duels Guel, he tortures him. Shaddiq repeatedly acknowledges that there's been something different about him ever since he was with Suletta.

In the multiple scenes when Elan sees the candle of the birthday cake when he closes his eyes, the flame represents how his will has been relit. It's the flame of his desire. And despite his continued insistence that it doesn't exist, that he still doesn't want anything, doesn't need anything, the flame only keeps growing.

It sparks up when Suletta sings the birthday song to him.

And it all comes to a head during their duel. He immediately starts listing off the things Suletta has that he doesn't. Friends, family, a past and future, even hope. And laments that it's just not fair, demands to know why she can't let him have one thing.

When he fully accepts himself, and remembers the person who celebrated his birthday, he realizes that it was wrong to assume that he had nothing, and to continue to believe that he could never have anything.

But, tragically, in fully accepting his desire, he also had no choice but to accept the suffering that comes with it. And, well.

Yknow.

Anyway in this scene we can see the path that he wants Suletta to take in the testing sector.

We can see that Lauda's Dilanza is registered as such in Asticassia, and its ID code is MD-003 1L. Despite being registered as such, both Elan and Rouji refer to it as "Regolith" in this duel.

This is the Pharact's navigation system. At the bottom, the warning says: ALERT: MALFUNCTION JOINT SENSOR: ACTIVE MINOR DAMAGE FROM [???] STATIC ELECTRICITY.

We can see that the Pharact is showing that the static electricity is damaging its joints. This is where Elan gets the idea of how to defeat Guel.

TEXT: (top to bottom) ALERT DMG CTRL-SYS ON

MD-R-0099[?] RIGHT LEG - [???] DAMAGE

MD-O HEAT AXE - RECOVERED

This shows up on the display when Guel is hit by the Pharact's stun beams for the first time. Though my transcription might not be fully accurate, we can at least glean from this that mobile suit components seem to have their own internal codes used by their various systems. That's cool!

When Guel is immobilized by the static electricity, the warning on his screen reads ANAMOLY DETECTION

Bonus: When Guel first makes it through the stun lasers and approaches Elan, you can actually see the monitor start writing out "TARGET LOCKED" before cutting to the next scene.

They really must have had a whole team of people working on these UI elements and they REALLY gave it their all!

Anyway, that's all!! Sorry that this one kinda took a detour down the Elan train for a bit there! I always get carried away with these things...

Uhh as a reward.... hmm...

One time I saw Shaddiq referred to as "Malibu Sephiroth" and I've never been able to forget it. It's so real. God Damnit.

Click here to go to Episode 6! >>

Click here to go to the Masterpost!

[sapphyreopal5]

This is an older interview with Jared Padalecki and Nicholas Knight from the Supernatural Magazine issue #2 (Feb/Mar 2008), pages 10 to 15. [x]

"Another reason why Padalecki felt at home so quickly is his relationship with Jensen Ackles, who plays his onscreen brother, Dean. It's common knowledge that both of the actors are from Texas and that certainly helped them relate to one another, but it's their personal relationships with their siblings that truly set the foundation for their relationship. 'I have an older brother and a younger sister. And Jensen has an older brother and a younger sister as well', Padalecki points out. 'My brother and I are super close. When Dean and Sam get along, that's how my brother and I get along. We definitely tease each other. My brother and I will rib each other all the time, but there are no punches thrown. It's pretty laid back'.

'I think the reason Jensen and I got along so well was because we really didn't go about bonding', Padalecki continues. It didn't feel like a blind date. It felt like we were continuing a relationship as opposed to saying 'Alright, we're supposed to hang out with each other, so let's go play Basketball or something.' We just sort of hung out. It was really lucky. We just hit it off immediately. There's no rhyme or reason to what happened.'"

Hmm, are you possibly referencing this blind date story you mentioned a couple issues later, Jared?

Family Man

"Whenever Padalecki does get a rare free moment, enjoying the sites of Vancouver isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That honor goes to his family, who are much too far away for the actor's liking. 'I remember I had a conversation with my father one time, and he said, ‘Well, can’t you just call me for five minutes?’ And I was like, 'I don’t want to just call you for five minutes. If I’m calling my father, I want to talk to you for a while. You know what I mean? I want to know how your life is going and I have a good hour conversation at least.’

You act for free- you get paid to wait.’ In a 14 hour work day on set, you're waiting a lot, but you can't just go running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You have to keep in character, and you use that time to try and make the scene better, not make phone calls and stuff. So, when I’m working. I definitely put everything else on hold.”

That “everything else” includes Padalecki’s love life, although the actor still tries to see his longtime girlfriend, Sandra McCoy, whenever possible. “She and I visit as much as we can," he discloses. “I'll come back to L.A. on the weekends, or she'll come up to Vancouver. But it’s not as easy as it could be.” Padalecki and McCoy met on the set of the movie Cry Wolf. And while they enjoyed working together at the time, they have differing views about repeating the experience.

"I’d [like to], but I think she probably doesn’t feel the same. I think she’s like, 'You do your thing. I'll do my thing.’ It’s definitely not as easy as it was when I was on Gilmore Girls and living five miles away from her, but we make it work. Spending time with his girlfriend, chilling with his friends and family, hanging out with Ackles… all these things take time away from something else that Padalecki bves - sleep. “I really like to sleep,” he chuckles. ‘That's the first thing that comes to mind because that’s what I’m most deprived of! I remember I used to watch my father go to sleep watching television and I was like, ‘How can you sleep? It’s not even dark in here.'"

Green Screen

"For Padalecki, keeping in shape isn't the most challenging aspect of working on Supernatural. “It’s definitely the green screen.” the actor states. It’s one thing to sit and talk to somebody and have a conversation - I’ve done movies and plays where you’re performing a monologue, and that’s always easy. But when they say, ‘Right, look at this wall. This X mark is the face of a visual effect that we haven’t made yet. so you're just going to have to imagine something scar>’ - that’s definitely the hardest part. It’s not like pulling teeth or anything. but it’s definitely weird. I always find myself thinking, ‘I hope they make this thing look scary because I’m going to act scared, so I hope they don’t sell me out."'

Of course, behind the scenes of a show like Supernatural, it would only seem natural that strange things would happen, and Padalecki confirms that there are inexplicable things going on in the shadows. ''You always say, "Oh. It's just a breeze.'” he laughs. “But I remember one time we were filming an episode called Skin, which is one of my favorites. We were filming in this house, and there was a clock on the wall and it just fell off and everybody was looking around and all the crew guys were like, ‘All right, back to work.’ When things like that happen, you just don’t want to look any further into it, you know?"

[meme-streets]

blondie gender thoughts

these are sort are a combination of headcanon and analysis, so i’ll start with the former. some of this is under the cut as this got rather long.

if you’ve seen me rambling on here you know my feelings about supernatural blondie & his weird relationship to his own humanity. and i feel like he doesn’t want to be a person and doesn’t fully think of himself as a person but rather as a sort of mythic figure. so, while i understand where people are coming from when they say all his weird bullshit is like a masculinity thing or an internalized homophobia thing, i don’t think it’s quite that–i think it’s something that’s very personal and specific to him. his thought process is not “if i do xyz, i won’t be a proper man,” it’s “if i do xyz, i will be dead.” i figure he probably doesn’t think about gender like at all. and iirc we never even see him interact with a woman onscreen (in gbu, i mean), so he is defined entirely by his relationships to other men, and i think that results in something like this: he’s a man in that he is among men, and he is treated as a man, and he does the things that a man does (in the new mexico territory, in 1862). he is a man by relation and a man by narrative function, but there’s nothing under there, nothing that goes all the way down–which is how he is with just about everything. he’s all gender role and no gender identity; after all, he has no identity at all, really, so why should he? and i think that gender role (or at least the primary one) is more specifically “gunslinger” than it is “man.” the gender binary that exists in blondie’s head is closer to “liable to shoot me” and “not liable to shoot me” and these do not necessarily map onto man and woman. do you see what i’m saying. agender blondie. at least a little bit.

furthermore, i think there’s something interesting about his relationships to tuco and angel eyes specifically. the weird homoerotic subtext. the way they fight over him. the fact that angel eyes basically kidnaps him and dresses him up and tries to force a partnership like some kind of dracula’s bride type bullshit. the fact that blondie implicitly asks tuco for help killing five dudes and for some reason tuco interprets this as blondie wanting him to kill all five dudes himself, as if blondie is a damsel in distress that tuco has to rescue–when he thinks it’s just angel eyes he literally even says “i’ll kill him and be right back.” as @the-lions-mouth pointed out to me awhile back, angel eyes saying “i want the blond alive” as if blondie is a hot girl. narratively, blondie is a drifting, gunslinging man, but narratively he is also (in some weird sense) the love interest, the girlfriend in the love triangle. he is also, narratively, tuco’s guardian angel, and angel eyes specifically refers to him as a “golden haired angel,” which strikes me as having some kind of weird subtext that i can't quite pin down. so to the aforementioned gender roles i shall also add "girlfriend" and "angel", and also "obligatory white guy in a western," but that's another post entirely.

and again: never do we see this man flirt with a woman or even, if my memory serves, interact with one (in gbu specifically). so far as straight romance goes he's essentially a sexless character, and yet there's definitely some sexual subtext especially with the guns (the way it zooms him on him holstering his gun when talking to angel eyes, the holster shots in the final duel). which is not necessarily entirely relevant to the gender thing but it is interesting to note, and (getting back into headcanon here) i think would be an aspect of the way he relates to the men around him–sometimes he sleeps with them, or at least he think about it.

additionally: blondie is rather visually distinct from the men around him. (obligatory disclaimer that clothes don't equal gender; i am talking about a character from a movie made in the 1960s and the significance of the visuals to the audience, you understand). he has a rather soft silhouette–with the iconic poncho, certainly, which is extremely distinguishing–but also with some his other outfits, especially the dark shirt he wears he wears at the beginning. observe:

that shirt is huge on him. i've marked up the image a bit to draw your attention to a few details (yes i know this is a pepe silvia moment but just bear with me). first of all: the distance between what appears to be the actual point of his shoulder and where the seam for the sleeve lies. it's hanging off him, which both significantly softens the line of his shoulder and also makes him look like a kid who got into his dad's wardrobe. second of all: note the fold of fabric hanging over his belt in the second image i have circle as it's a little hard to see behind his sleeve. it's at the very least way too big around and quite possibly too long as well, though that's hard to tell with it tucked in. third of all: the distance between the cuff of his sleeve and his actual hand, marked in the first image–granted it appears his cuffs are unbuttoned which would make them wider, but still, the sleeves are billowing off him. note also the deep folds everywhere in the fabric; he is absolutely swimming in that shirt. (yes, the fact that eastwood is very tall and rather skinny makes it unsurprising that most shirts long enough would be too wide, but this is a movie set; the choice not to tailor it feels deliberate). it looks like a hippie shirt, almost a blouse, not to mention the pattern, while not actually floral, is close. there's also the silk scarf he wears, which stands out rather dramatically from the usual neckerchief and even from the one angel eyes wears; i still think it's meant to resemble a noose. i'm not saying this is meant to look feminine so much as unique, in a way that signals to the audience (to use a clichéd phrase): "hey! this one's not like the rest!"

there's also the second duster he has, the one he gives to the dying soldier:

the lapels are hanging fully off his shoulders–once again softening his silhouette–and the sleeves, while not terribly loose, are long enough he's had to roll them at the cuffs. the costume designers for this seem to love putting blondie in oversized clothes. again, not so much feminine so much as different.

this isn't even all i could talk about but i'm beginning to sound obsessive. all this to say: blondie is very distinct from the men around him, both visually and in terms of character. he is among men but he is not necessarily the same as them. what i'm getting at here is that i feel like blondie does manhood like a job rather than something that has any real emotional significance to him like it does to tuco (but, ah, that's for another time). assigned male by narrative.

[hpowellsmith]

Since it’s not really mentioned I was wondering how are trans people viewed in the CDLC universe since polyamory and same sex relationships are pretty normal.

Brief sidenote - in Westerlin and Zaledo polyamory isn't legally supported. In Westerlin it's considered fairly unusual compared to a two-person romance; in Zaledo it's more commonly seen, but there isn't legal marriage for more than two people. Elsewhere - Jezhan and Teran in particular, since those are the places I've written about most - it is both socially normalised and legally supported.

Relationships and marriages regardless of gender are socially normalised and legally supported throughout the Creme de la Creme world, and it's considered commonplace for people to have kids regardless of their anatomical setup. (You don't get people quizzing parents about how their child came to be.)

Nonbinary people are considered as ordinary as someone whose gender is binary. People commonly use they/them pronouns and it's not considered something notable.

The above is all pretty supported by the games; there are people in same-sex relationships who are married, who have kids, and there are various nonbinary characters who living their lives. The MC can be nonbinary and use they/them pronouns (and in later games choose their own) and other characters take that in their stride.

Where it becomes more complicated is that neither the NPCs or the MC talk about being nonbinary (this is the case for Blood Money too, where the characters aren't gender-selectable). When I was first writing Creme in 2018 I thought it would be cool to have nonbinary characters with their gender unmarked - showing that the world understands their gender straightforwardly. On a personal level I was also having a lot of gender feelings and I felt nervous about going into more specificity - even a step removed from my own experiences, in a fictional game. (I feel nervous talking about it now!)

I don't think having unmarked nonbinary characters is necessarily a bad thing! But it does mean that nonbinary MCs miss out on being able to discuss shared and differing experiences with nonbinary characters, or being in community with these other people with shared identities.

On that note, in Royal Affairs, Creme de la Creme, and Noblesse Oblige, you can choose pronouns but can't state specifically that you're a trans man or woman, nor are there explicitly trans women or men onscreen. I don't go around saying "hello this character is cis" in or out of the narrative, and I don't make any assumptions about characters' or MC's anatomy. So it's possible to interpret that characters or the MC are trans and I welcome that... But equally if it's left up to interpretation like that, it makes it possible to play the game assuming that there are no trans women or men around.

I don't want to say "yes, trans people are loved and celebrated in this setting" without explicitly backing that up in the games themselves. Trans people are loved and celebrated in the Creme de la Creme setting, but going forward my goal is to reflect that more fully in the text itself. Which is what I'm doing with Honor Bound, both with characters in the game and with the MC - and, I hope, in a way that feels good for me and for players. So: in Honor Bound, there are explicitly trans major characters, the MC can be explicitly trans themselves regardless of their pronouns, there can be more shared chat on the subject of being trans and/or nonbinary if the MC wants to chat about it, and there is more specificity about how nonbinary characters relate (or don't relate) to their genders.

Thank you for the ask - I know it's been a long time. I didn't set out to post this on Pride month but here we are: it's a nice coincidence!

[hannahbarberra162]

hi!! ive loved keeping up with your writing for the past few weeks, i always look forward to the email telling me something new ❤️ im not on tumblr as much, but I had another question! you don't have to answer if you don't wish to, but I was curious as to something; marco, actually. you write about him a lot, throughout your works and asks. I guess I wanted to know a few things, specifically why- is he your favorite one piece character, or just someone you enjoy writing? I love seeing how you characterize him, and honestly, since im only on marineford (a few episodes away from, well.. you know.), I haven't seen much of him. whenever he is onscreen, though, I see the man you write him as, haha! im having trouble separating the hannabarbera marco from canon, but im sure they're close with how excellently you characterize people. so, why Marco? what about him do you like, and is he your favorite character in one piece? or anything else you'd wanna explain about your opinions on him! im all ears!! 👂❤️

This was such a kind ask @celine-zzz!! Thank you for such wonderful compliments!! I really really appreciate it. There are a lot of amazing Marco writers in the OP fandom, I'm not sure I'm closer than anyone else. Don't worry about Marineford!! Come live in Delusion with me.

The funny thing is, Marco isn't my favorite OP character. He's up there, for sure, but he's not my #1 (Ace probably is, maybe Usopp). I would say he's in my top 5? I do really enjoy writing him though. I thought about this for a while, I think it's a few things.

I think I relate to him in the sense of being responsible for a circus when you're the one who has to keep things together. Marco's the Mom Friend, and I can relate to that. He's keeping Ace from jumping into the water on a dare, he's making sure Pops isn't drinking, he's watching to make sure the patients in the infirmary are OK, everyone depends on him, and he's trying to get all this shit done on three hours of sleep.

I like to annoy him. Just like his brothers, I think it's funny to annoy the calm, collected Marco. So I put him in situations I think he'd be irritated by, basically. Or situations he would normally avoid. I wanna wind him up and watch him snap like a rubber band.

There's something about his personality that lends itself to artistic interpretation. Marco is intensely loyal, strong (physically, emotionally), and smart. That combination can be interpreted in a lot of ways and I think it's fun to explore. How deep does his loyalty go? Would he cross personal boundaries for those he loves? Is he actually kind and selfless?

I actually like writing a lot of OP characters, but I've mostly published my WBP fics. If you ever have a suggestion / ask, please feel free! I can't promise I'll write them all, but I love seeing them. I'm writing some Doflamingo, Benn Beckman, Croc, Buggy, lots of stuff, it all just takes time.

Thank you so much for this ask, it really brightened my day.

[larnax]

no idea if you have done something like this already or if you're interested in the game anymore but a rank of octopath 1 characters? based on which character you personally like the most vs the least

I think I've ranked my top 3 before but I haven't done all of them!

Therion for complex personal mental-illness related reasons. I want to put him lower but he rewired my entire brain chemistry so that wouldn't be honest. I love OT1 thief and a lot of his story is so close to being good but he wouldn't be this high if I didn't have problems

Tressa! Currently, used to be Alfyn w/ her 3rd but she's shot up recently. She's the member of the cast I would most like to hang out with. Her gameplay is delightful and her story is just a fun time, playing to Octopath's strengths without tripping flat on its face like most of the stories do

Alfyn. Apparently a controversial pick but I think concoct is fun to balance and his story is... conceptually good it just suffers the most from Octopath's dedication to having all the stories be separate meaning he and other characters can't conflict

H'aanit. Her chapter 3 is one of my favorite in the entire game and her final boss' design is so fucking cool. She ranks at the midpoint because her story has high highs but pretty boring lows, like I forget Natalie(I think?? That's her name???) every time she's not onscreen

Cyrus. I really like about 10% of his character and story. But only 10%.

Olberic. I think we got off on the wrong foot because I think killing kings is awesome but his story never really clicked with me. I like the moment in his ch3 where the game forces you to challenge Erhardt which I think is an interesting expression of how much Olberic's vision has tunneled into this at this point destructive urge for revenge forcing him into a fight... but that's kinda it. Slightly below Cyrus but they have basically identical problems.

Ophilia. She's so boring. Her story has the moral complexity of a child's picture. I hate the Church of the Sacred Flame being the unambiguous good guys forever whose view of the world is objectively right how are you gonna have a pantheon with each of the eight protagonists having their own patron and then one of them is just Christian God. Why does her final boss monologue have voice acting and Therion's doesn't

Primrose. I know this is controversial but I cannot get past the orientalism and just... don't really like the rest of it? Also I'm biased because my first impression of her after her chapter 1 was her really bad banters with Tressa

[artist-issues]

I don't know if your still active or not, but here goes. I'm an American born and raised in america. My skin color is brown light. Every time I hear the word black people all I see is dark skin Americans from me. When I saw a character that was brown skin light like myself I saw no problem with it until someone on twitter said it was racist and made them darker. Why is that? Also I hate the little mermaid movie, I grew up surrounded by white people in schools, stores, everywhere. Not once I experienced racism. I refuse to join the whole "let's hate white people parade" and I hate when white skin Americans are starting to hate themselves. Sorry if my wording was wrong.

I think there's probably lots of reasons for people making everything about race. For one thing some people like to complain needlessly because it gets them more notice on social media. For another, some genuinely believe the lie that race matters.

Race doesn't matter. We're all people. Doesn't matter what shade of skin color you have or I have or anybody has. Geez, I don't understand why that has to be said so often.

It's like if somebody had a smaller pair of ears than most of the people in Hollywood and we all went, "well unless I see an actor in that role with ears as big as mine, I can't relate to them!"

That's just silly. It's just silly.

(Now obviously, when people have an issue with a "lack of representation in media," as they term it, they don't normally defend it as "I have to have someone of with some of the same physical attributes as me onscreen, in a lead role." What they really mean is not an emphasis on physical attributes, but an emphasis on a kind of person--a person who has some of the same experiences as them. Ancestrally, socially, ulturally--usually assuming there's some link between the physical and the experiences. Which is also silly. Because one, that's not a good correlation to make, and two, you don't have to have the same exact set of experiences as someone else to relate to them, or even to empathize with what they're experiencing.)

If you can relate to an insecure animated lion in the Lion King even though you're not a lion; if you can relate to a robot looking for love in Wall-E even though you're not a robot; if you can relate to a kid waking up with incredible spider powers and learning how to take responsibility in any Spider-Man movie, even if you're not a kid waking up with incredible spider powers--then maybe it's time to acknowledge that some things are just universal, and more important, than others.

We're all humans. That's the important thing for characters to represent.

You can relate to insecurity, to looking for love, to learning how to take responsibility--because all humans can. You don't need to relate to an outward appearance. You don't even need to relate to a culture--again, you're not a lion living on a ceremonial rock ruling over animals (like Simba.) You're not a robot built for cleaning up a higher being's mess (like Wall-E.) Yet you can still somehow relate to them--because humans can relate to anything that feels human.

Including each other, even when we aren't lions--or black--or white--or brown--or robots--or have ancestors who were oppressed--or have ancestors who were oppressive--

We can empathize with and relate to one another, because we're all made in the image of the same God.

People should stop zooming in on what makes their own experience different and alien from everyone else's, and then insisting that everyone LOOK AT IT in the form of "representation." Why do they want to scream the same "nobody understands how this feels except for people who are in the exact same racial-socio-economic-gender-political-age situation as me!"?

Why do they want to do that? Because being a victim, being different, being special, doesn't make you more relatable. It just raises you up higher than everybody else. It says "give me special attention, without accusing me of wanting special attention."

We don't want to relate. We want to be special.

We don't want to focus on what makes us similar anymore. We want to focus on what makes us different. We don't want to unify; we want to divide. We don't want to love each other in spite of past wrongs or current wrongs and differences--we want to hate each other for those things.

And if we're not in the people-group that everyone is calling "special" at that particular moment, we want to at least be associated with their "struggle" by calling for "representation."

That's the main reason why, I think, people cared about the shades of skin in casting enough to call one another racist.

[agnesmontague]

not to salt openly on main or anything but instead of playing up a grown adult man's ineptitude to the point where he doesn't even know how to search for the nearest children's hospital on google or recognize food in the refrigerator, they could have instead utilized the part where he tries to give miri cold medicine for adults as a visual metaphor for the fact that she has completely different needs from the two of them; it's all fine and well to be miri's video game buddy until the moment where you have to step up to be the adult in the room, which... really should have been the crux of rei's character arc imo?

rei's stunted development has always been more of an emotional issue--sure, he doesn't take care of his body all that well either, but the real impact of his upbringing is that he doesn't know how to relate to others in a more responsible manner, because he's never been put in that position before. his deal is that he "doesn't know what love is", including self-love, and love here also encompasses the capacity to care properly for others. kazuki wasn't only doing the physical housework, but also bearing the brunt of the emotional work that goes into keeping a child on-schedule and out of danger, which rei had to deal with for the first time while alone with a sick miri. instead we get about a grand total of about 2 minutes of screentime on the kind of internal turmoil this caused him ("i can't do anything...") and exactly zero minutes on the effort that he had to expend in kazuki's absence while miri needed him--all we get is the final shot of him asleep that only implies some of the work. he's not even the one who presumably takes her to hospital! what was the point of having kazuki out of the picture on his little grief journey, if not to show us the development of rei in real time?! kazuki doesn't even come home to a clean house!!!

i think my irritation with ep 7 stems mostly from the inability of the writing to address the (usually very gendered) inequality of housework and emotional load distribution within a household in any cogent or meaningful fashion, instead using it as the vehicle to explore kazuki's backstory and cut in a few comical scenes of rei in distress instead of actually taking the issue as seriously as it could have. kazuki didn't just leave the house bc he was sick of daily life, he was grieving and being devalued in his household while a 4 year-old and a 25 year-old manchild roommate were constantly testing his patience. i was really, really looking forward to some kind of significant emotional reckoning on rei's part that we got to see onscreen, one that was more consistent with his character (he was NOT this helpless before, even in ep 1 before he met miri) and that would actually mean a little more for the plot than.... honestly whatever we got in ep 7.

also, just on a personal note, as a former (and sadly ongoing) rei stan, it's not very cute to watch a grown man flounder around his own fucking house not knowing how to call a cab or fry a single egg. it's not sexy. it doesn't serve. bring back the sexy rei suwa right now or i'll storm the fucking studio with a torch.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

maybe someone's made a [queer lens on marble hornets] video or text essay, what with its fanbase always being noted to be (& seem. but also be) mostly queer, but a cursory search hasn't shown anything. it won't be making it either but i can throw bulletpoint ideas out to no audience perhaps

always classic idea that the characters should truly be Posting, but interesting the way the Tone of the series from the start means that the Mystery & Dissonance extends to the narrator/Poster & the way they interact with the audience. everyone's ostensibly been, & continues to be, living ordinary real world(tm) lives, but there's like isolation, disconnect, detachment, and a lot of Omission / Obfuscation, in universe & deliberately, out of universe, also deliberately, to create the material / effect in the first place. the main character is Elusive wherein like idc at what point they were known as "J", later jay, later jay merrick, taking some time to really show up onscreen either. like sure maybe you're posting A Mystery with a lot of Mood, maybe it's like [if someone was trans but not yet out / aware of it]. a lot of things are hidden &/or simply left unseen, just out of frame laughing too (keep thinking of e.g. how Apartment Mess was filmed by very Limited mess creations with very Limited lighting & filming. forgetting a couch fort that just makes its way into the video) like odd when antique stores & doctor offices & jobs to be fired from & "looking stuff up online" & stores & etc are shown or mostly seen peripherally / distantly & referenced. a lot of separation, omission, secrecy

the nature of the premise wherein thee point is often Suspense. the primarily queer fanbase vs like the common complaint of "nothing happening" when something always happened & it was often a) related to plot / broader threads & there's always b) suspense, including if there was no apparent Especial danger or event or anything else unusual. there could've been, we know, and also even if you live for the ramped up [what counted to everyone as "something happening"] moments, it's not as effective if it actually happens all the time, i.e. more Predictably. that it Might Not Happen (which is created by the way it indeed sometimes does not happen) is how it gets to still be surprising. anyways here there's also sort of a Lack of separation. one of those situations like "oh even temporal & spatial limitations can't guarantee some safety zone" like uh oh horror on your porch. horror outside in a bunch of different places. horror in your house. horror in His house. horror in the film shoot alleyway. in the basement. in that basement. in another basement. in the abandoned building. in another one. in the maintenance tunnel. in the hotel. in the car (not In the car. but watch out) all at any time. oh jay was chilling out somewhere? what if now he's not & in some completely different danger place & time b/c go to hell.

and of course, all for what? no clear "rules" or "goals" or even clear end results in practice, and everyone's only left to interpret, speculate, and react accordingly. ambient threat that could manifest anywhere anytime for any reason, including "no apparent reason." queer experience. neurodivergent experience

all the Goings On and events and danger and disruptions and shakeups of mh being removed and apparently hidden to the "normal" world just out of frame, which is continuing apace & supposedly unawares. yet some people, inexplicably to them, being like "well yet again: homophobia is raiding my refrigerator" which indeed doesn't "disrupt" the "normal." our characters keeping it hidden away, dealing with it privately as best they can, which is largely like [ignoring that, i guess]

personal identity mysteries too. aforementioned distance from "who is the narrator/pov character here?" various characters of unknown identity visually & in like "hey who sent this message from afar. cryptically" tim as this character with a whole thing like hmm it's like i mysteriously have this disconnect with some alter ego i don't really understand but i guess it's there & kinda femme? (ofc a lot of ways to interpret this or anything else. i also don't think of there being One True Queer Analysis Angle/Conclusion ever here or anywhere else). other people who Get It but maybe don't quite understand why & can't or don't want to try to explain it. yet we're dealing with something here, & have more success together

that, & again even the mysterious Communication that tends to happen. left looking for clues and getting information given only obliquely, distantly, to be decoded & maybe nobody manages that. also like, perception. ppl still having really different experiences. ppl being like "yknow what i'm talking about" & someone else they expect to be like "of course" being like well i'm partway like "sure" but also [???] like no fixed Standard to these experiences, even shared / concurrent ones, an across the board context of [well yeah shit's gonna be Not Normal(tm), Confusing, Inexplicable]

well anyways i only have the wherewithal for so much but like queerness positioned as existing "wrong" such that before you realize what's going on there it's still always like hmm what Is wrong. what's off. what's a constant simmering threat that can manifest surprisingly in various ways in various times, places, situations. what else is hidden. what else is here. and then when you do realize what's going on like well yes and just consciously like Watch Out. even while it can still lurk & surprise. which, to be sure, the reactions to queerness / violence against it is only part of the landscape of queerness. but here in this horror media it's like yeah it's like how being a trans person can be, for example.

[flowisk]

Empgold

probably should have put a cut before my wittecest post as well, but, well. we live and learn

tw: incest, age gap, grooming, all part and parcel

What made you ship it? ironically, one of the first things I was exposed to in a toh context was empgold related. um... so it was in my head when I started watching. and it's... hunter loves belos so much, early on, and belos is so creepy about it and so willing to twist hunter's affections to do things for him and then there's this undeniable layer of emotional incest and imagery related to sexual abuse you can subtextually read into the work so... it was around eclipse lake? and then it just gets even 'more' heavy later on. probably one of the earliest things in their relationship was hunter just guiding belos behind closed doors, this whole... 'special' and private role designated for hunter that just had to be him despite adults existing in a capacity where they could do the same thing.

What are your favorite things about the ship? in many ways, it's a natural extension of something like wittecest. there's a codependence, and one that hunter has really no choice in whatsoever - he has to rely on belos. belos is his guardian. belos shapes his world. it's also a viscerally terrifying and traumatic dynamic, and that's a big part of it. i'm really... well I'm attracted to complicated traumatic dynamics that have some 'love' to them (more from hunter's end here). and that make me feel things. there's always an element of fear and unease. there is so much trauma to unpack from hunter's angle of the relationship - he's expected to cater to belos in all these ways he really shouldnt've have to, and he never really gets what's up or is even capable of understanding WHERE he stands because belos never informs him of anything - and HE'S the one who knows more about belos than anyone so there's no one else he can ask either! and then of course, there's belos' side where he just sees this, shadow of his brother in hunter and he's holding up this comparison, this photo side by side with hunter and hunter is just never aware of it. even though belos can be hurt in ways he won't admit, he's ultimately 'playing' when it comes to hunter. and for hunter, he's not playing. he can only believe what belos tells him. there's this really fascinating tug of war of hunter being this... confidante who is blessed with these private moments with belos, who seems so 'obviously' special on the face of it, but really having absolutely no real context for his relationship with belos, not really, and who is constantly mistreated. and he can't have any context because No One knows. I love the projection, too. it's a very tragic dynamic. especially because hunter is willing to do anything early on to make belos happy, and his world is so firmly shaped by belos.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? not really? I guess I would like to see more trauma based work on the relationship that really digs into the depths of it, but like. I do know people doing that, and it's always really interesting (you, for one) I think it's a shame it's so hard to talk about this kind of relationship though, or the specific kind of abuse potential going on here is such a taboo topic. I think it's just unfortunate to me that sexual abuse/grooming of that nature seems so alienating to talk about when philip is, in canon, someone who grooms and is willing to kill kids (and almost certainly has, given like, so many plot elements) I don't think suggesting there's sexual abuse going on in this dynamic is unusual given philip's absolutely weird obsessive relationship with his brother, how he projects that onto hunter, how he plays with hunter's mind, how emotionally incestuous he is to hunter onscreen and how very few limits belos has on violating any moral code - it's a very easy read from the text for me. philip has this weird dynamic with kids in general, and I think sometimes people who read into some kind of obvious implications are shamed for it.

[loyalhorror]

uhh, the ask emoji fandom thing but whichever ones you want to answer for RDR, Black Sails, and Sandman, with a bonus side question of have you done any of the Manderville quest stuff in ff14

OUGH. marxz i am so fond of you (not just for sending this ask i prommy). let's see.

Have you done any of the Manderville quest stuff in ff14?

I DEFINITELY HAVE but I don't remember it at all... maybe @notjusthespongenextdoor can tell me what the fuck I did sdlfksndfkjg it was so long ago

👿Least favorite character

RDR: hmmm I can't really think of anyone I genuinely dislike as a character, at least within the main 'cast'? obviously everybody fucking hates Micah but I love him as a character even if I think in some respects he's sort of WAY too obvious as a villain in a way that makes some gang members look like idiots for allowing him to stay... but then on the other hand I think that's kind of the point + it's proof of how much control Dutch has over everyone. HANDWAVES.

BS: Fucking Vane. I don't like the shit he did in-universe to Max (though I will accept that that was a poorly written plotline in general... or at the very least one that made it just really hard to empathise with anyone responsible afterwards) AND I feel that his redemption arc was kind of "eh". But mostly I think fandom kind of burnt me out on him because I just don't get the hype around him.

SM: hmm it probably depends on what version we're talking about... I don't really like show!Lyta (whereas I love comics!Lyta) but I think that's just because like. The acting and writing in the show isn't always Great(TM). I can't think of anyone where I just HATE them when they're onscreen or anything in either version... with the show I don't like the scenes with Desire+Despair but that's because their dynamic creeps me out as someone who is VERY squicked by codependent sibling relationships in media, I love both characters individually.

WAIT. I JUST REMEMBERED. In the show it's definitely Joha.nna Constantine I'm sorry I just. Do not like the actress much to begin with. I also don't really like what they did with Constantine's gender-swapped design, so to speak - she doesn't look like Constantine at all aside from the trenchcoat. They couldn't make her a cocky blonde gal (preferably with short hair, give me butch sapphic Constantine or else)? I know they were probably going off what they wanted from the acting rather than anything appearance-based, and it's better to have a good actor who looks different than a bad one who matches the comics version, but. GESTURES. I wish it'd been ANY other actress skldfndkjfng. I'm picky with my cocky English people. The wrong vibe can turn it rancid.

😍Character you have the biggest crush on

RDR: HMM good question. it used to be Dutch (yeah yeah I know) but nowadays I have no idea, once a character becomes my blorbo/I start writing them longterm I tend to lose whatever 'crush' I had on them... BS: [head in hands] it's hal gates. i am not immune to fat old men. i want him to [REDACTED] S: HM depends on the day and it depends on which character(s) I'm relating to the most on a personal level. Tends to rotate between Dream, Lucien(ne), and lately, Hob.

💐Comfort character

RDR: John my beloved... BS: Somehow it's Silver, but that's mostly because of what I've written with my friend Seras over the past several years with him + Seras' Horst. S: Dream, most of the time. Sometimes it's the Corinthian (specifically pre-runaway era Corinthian) but not often.

❤️‍🩹Character who deserved better

RDR: Abigail... I feel so fucking bad for her in so many different ways. Not in a "John was sooo shitty omg" way (though he WAS a dick) but just like, man, what a tragedy of a life. BS: MAX. The s1 abuse arc was awful in a thousand different ways but primarily I just don't think it was sensitively written at all. It's not necessarily that I think they shouldn't have included it, but holy FUCK the like... implications that it leaves about every other character who stood back and allowed that to happen or was otherwise complicit in it is uhhh. Not great. S: Dream but also not at all because I think the tragedy of his story is my favourite thing about it. Like Abigail, it's "he deserved better if we look at it in-universe but from a narrative standpoint the agony is so fucking tasty and I wouldn't change it at all".

[gralunaisland]

Hey, I'm @xanvasofxords! Glad to be talking to you for the first time, until now I only ever saw your posts but never interacted much. But holy shit you speak so true--

Anyways, you know, I don't ship Gray with anyone. Because there's simply nobody I find is a suitable love interest for him in the series. I don't ship Graylu, just as that anon, but I passionately hate Gruvia. Why? Because it's result of a serious character assassination of two characters at once. One of them *cough* Gray *cough* used to be my favorite once before Gruvia brainrot took over Mashima. Sadly, now I don't care about him.

That said, I can't completely ignore his butchered character every time he's onscreen. So I just wanted to elaborate my own thoughts on the topic about Lucy and Erza being Gray's type :

Gray has carried the guilt of being the reason of his master and her daughter's despair. It's pretty normal for him to resist people who express their love towards him. It has to be done slowly, eventually breaking the invisible wall he surrounds himself with. With friendship. There's no other way than friendship.

The friends Gray grew up with mean his world. Why wouldn't they, they've been there since he joined the guild. They've been sharing happiness and sorrows together. Especially team Natsu members are a crucial part of his life. They helped him overcome his past with Ur and Deliora. He needs a person who values the relationships just as much as him if not more.

Gray is mature, but he can be pretty childish too. I think he needs someome to match his energy. She has to keep him in check while also being one with his fun-loving nature at times.

Gray is quite hesitant in terms of being affectionate in public it seems. He needs someone to respect that boundary for him and wait until he's ready. Someone who won't embarass him.

Gray needs someone who isn't dependant on him. Someone who can take care of herself even when he's not present.

I don't think Juvia has even one of these unfortunately. She's completely dependant on him emotionally, will literally drown a town with rain if need be. Doesn't respect Gray's boundaries and embarasses him publicly and even in front of thousand people in a arena. Her only gag is love and love rivals and love rival sensor. She doesn't match his energy except stripping alongside him and picking his clothes. She tries to compare herself with his friends all the time. Can't bear to think about him being alone with anybody, let alone Lucy. She wants him to choose her over everybody. She forces herself onto him with no regards of his discomfort.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine about this who follows you. So here is a piece of my mind! I'd message you off-anon but tumblr would reveal my main blog so sorry for the anon!

Hi, @xanvasofxords! Nice to meet you! I've seen some of your awesome posts around in the anti-tags, and I agree with a lot of what you say! You've got a very refreshing take on certain aspects of FT, so I am delighted that you're stopping by!

Onto your thoughts:

I totally understand where you're coming from, how you don't ship Gray with anyone. In all honesty, as an Anon has sent in an ask before, I would be totally fine if Mashima didn't make any ships canon and kept the focus on friendship and familial love. I think the show had its best moments when it stayed on course with the moral of the story. Not every friendship has to boil down to romantic love, and it's very refreshing to see powerful yet platonic love between friends. I personally think Gray staying by himself would be just as healthy as him being with Lucy, but that's just me, so please do keep doing you in regard to your ships haha.

Oh man, I so agree with you here though, that gr///via simultaneously destroys 2 characters' characters (ha) at once. juvia had all the potential to be a really cool, relatable heroine, who overcame feelings of loneliness and low self-worth with the help of her friends. Gray had the potential to finally put himself first for a change and value his own life so he could live for his friends and for himself and not just throw his life away for them.

But nope.

With the introduction of gr///via, juvia loses all individuality and self-agency. she finds no worth in herself, only in following and slobbering over Gray. she loses all relatability when she begins to act selfishly and creepily and obsessively as soon as someone shows her an ounce of human decency. she doesn't even care about friends, no matter what the once-in-a-blue-moon "i love friends" moments will try to have you think, and she would abandon any semblance of friends at the drop of a hat if it meant she could be with Gray.

With the introduction of gr///via, Gray now is shackled to a woman who doesn't actually love him but wants to possess him, and he's now manipulated into only living for her (not himself nor his friends) and only wanting her to be happy (disregarding himself entirely). There's being selfless, and then there's completely losing your sense of self. You can't help others by neglecting yourself completely, you know. juvia doesn't care that Gray's devolved into this; she just wanted him in her clutches, so she's happy Gray's joined her in her sick, manic, twisted version of love.

Yeah, you put it perfectly: it's a "serious character assassination of two characters at once". Neither of them is the best they could be, and they're no longer recognizable to whom they once were.

I don't blame you for not caring about the current 100yq Gray anymore; for me, I still hold true to the old Gray, the real Gray. The current Gray is definitely not the one we knew and loved.

Onto what you say next, wow.

Just wow.

I'm blown away by your thoughtfulness; you've parsed everything so wonderfully!

I agree with you 100% about your analysis of Gray and how romance would go with him. Wow, you make such good points; I'll give a few thoughts, but I really don't need to, because you've hit the nails on the head, my friend.

There's definitely no way to romance with him outside of friendship. That's the only way he's gotten close to people before, so it wouldn't make sense for him to fall in love with someone he was never friends with. He most definitely was never friends with juvia, considering friendship was never on the table with her, only romantic partners. she doesn't care about what he wants; she just wanted to date him, to own him. That's definitely not friendship. And friends were his whole life, so it makes even less sense that a woman who hates his closest, dearest, female friends just because they're women would become the object of his affection.

As for the rest of the characteristics, all of which I agree with, juvia absolutely doesn't fulfill any of those requirements. she in fact demolishes them by being the exact opposite of what Gray needs in a healthy relationship. I'm not going to reiterate it because you made such a perfect conclusion yourself, but I will say that my gosh, I don't understand how people could like juvia and this pairing when juvia doesn't even exist. she's not her own person; she has no personality or goals or motivations outside of Gray. The only things left to her are her jealousy, her selfishness, and her obsessiveness. Otherwise, she gives Gray nothing, and she herself is nothing, which you can see clearly if you take Gray out of the equation. (I talk more about this in this old post of mine).

I'm happy that we got connected through a follower of mine and a friend of yours! The Anti community is still strong! And don't worry about the anonymous thing, it really doesn't matter to me whether someone uses it or not! Anyway, thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts! This was such a meticulously written ask, I am very impressed!