#she is a category of her own

[wednesdayorwhatever]

[markantonys]

THE WHEEL OF TIME | Lanfear's outfits in season 2

[wistfulwatcher]

I asked him that, Nat.

[companion-showdown]

Who is your favourite companion?

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

propaganda under the cut

Ace McShane

She's brilliant. One of the best written and developed companions of the classic series, such a template for the modern era. So many different fates and stories across the different media. If you don't love her in one you're bound to in another. And then she got her return in the new era to boot. Oh yeah; and beating the crap out of a Dalek with a Gallifreyan enhanced baseball bat. What a legend. she's... ACE! (@seven-times-champion /@elden-12 )

Ace is the natural predecessor to modern female companions. She's a fighter, smart, caring, an explosives "expert", a match for the Doctor despite being so young. She follows her own morality, will smash a dalek with a baseball bat no problem, and has a banging wardrobe! (anonymous)

Donna Noble

you already know who she is bc she's the most iconic companion of all time. imagine teleporting into the tardis on the worst day of the doctor's life (so far) and not clocking any of his angst and SCREAMING at him to take you back to your wedding not only is this THE funniest introduction it's symbolizing how she saw the doctor at their worst, underneath the front that they put up, and due to this she understands them on a level like nothing else and changes their life forever. "you don't just need someone to stop you, you need someone to keep you going". AHHHHHH. she isn't in love with the doctor she calls them out whenever they're being awful and need to be whacked on the back of the head. she is filled with so much compassion for the smallest person she reminds ten of the kindness that was beaten out of him and she is so so loving to everyone except for herself. she loves her trans daughter so much. she changed the narrative of the doctor back from the tragedy it was into something hopeful. healing is real and possible through the power of queerplatonic relationships actually. donna sweep or i blow up the website (@aq2003 )

[puppyeared]

i feel like. theres designing a character with certain themes and motifs in mind, and then theres making a gijinka for the water bottle on my nightstand

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

idk if this is still the case but when i was really In It in animorphs feelings a couple years ago because i was unemployed for the first time in my adult life / temporarily living alone in the last house my family lived in / freaking out about climate change / generally Going Through It, and like poking around the animorphs scene on tumblr, there was this notion commonly expressed that rachel and tobias were "toxic," the major piece of evidence for which was the scene in 33 where she "tries to trap him in human morph." which like first of all i'm SOOOOOO SORRRY that the fucking fifteen-year-olds secretly fighting a guerrilla war in which their greatest threat is the mind-controlling slugs they're trying to save humanity from but their second greatest threat is the diminishing hourglass of their collective sanity as they all have to work steadily harder and more desperately to not just completely lose their shit entirely from all the violence and literal 24/7 constant threat and murder that is happening, like i'm sorry two literal children who have managed in this ongoing horror show to forge a bond of loyalty and affection and care and attraction and understanding that can act as a kind of solace neither of them have any other way to access, sorry those actual murder babies sometimes have some communication problems. lmao. but also it's insane to me that people read that scene (in which they're dancing to, i'm not making this up, iris by the goo goo dolls - i mean they don't tell us the song but it's a slow goo goo dolls number that even tobias knows, so - they're dancing to iris by the goo goo dolls at a school dance that is not going well because they are both awkward about the newfound public Officialness of their relationship and rachel who is the only one of them who has ever been capable of socializing like a normal person is in a particularly bad mood because of the emotional hangover of her starfish adventure [great concept executed terribly in the previous book], and then like after two entire minutes of letting himself feel some nice emotions tobias spots the clock and starts leaving to go demorph and then rachel runs after to him to awkwardly attempt to share that she is very fucked up about how insane she has become and she wants to hold on to things like school dances and also this is all happening in a hallway by a student poster on red tailed hawks that states their lifespan of a handful of years in the wild, it's so good) as rachel trying to trap tobias in morph, when like, first of all, "good thing happening -> time to punish myself for feeling nice for 5 whole seconds " is like THEE tobias thought pattern because he's the number one kidlit trauma baby of all time, like truly the first time i dove back into the series i was struck by how well his narrative voice captures Child Of Insane Family Dysfunctionality, he is NOT a reliable narrator on this, but also second, and more saliently, like, believing this scene is rachel attempting to trap tobias in morph requires that you believe rachel, all by herself, made a plan in advance and then attempted to execute it, which is a skill we literally never see her demonstrate even one fucking time outside of the comfortingly familiar hunting ground of the mall

[money-and-dandellions]

Meg would switch between Apollo's pronouns every time they met

[blood-choke]

Feels like i just need to say something??? I don't think I've seen any IFs captures the fucking silliness of lesbian dating so fantastically (yes i call it all silly). The mess, the jealousy, the omg-are/were-you-dating my ex? The figuring out about identity part, idk I'm rambling but you just managed to capture that lesbian spirit so well, i know there's vampires and magic stuff in there but everything is so realistic! Except for one thing and I'm grateful for it, is how civil the non-femmes are with each other. Okay cause like at first I was already on competition mode like at the first time all 3 of the ROs are in the same place (i know silly especially after what has happened previously), cause I was just so used to it. But no, everyone was so civil, I was a little wary about Hana but then she hit on the MC and I was like 👁️👄👁️ wait what? And the supposed "bitching and moaning" That Hana did, man I found it to be exactly not that. It was a very respectful conversation and request and wow I wish that is how it is in real life (Ofc I can't speak for everyone's experience but that is how it is for me). Anyway awesome IF!

thank you!!!!!! i am so happy the lesbian spirit comes through 😳 and honestly that was exactly the one thing i wanted to avoid and why i chose to make most of the ROs butch (and also because i love butches. and also because i think it’s funny that Valentina completely surrounds herself with butches, even Joan and Lucky lol)

there absolutely is a kind of competitiveness that i’ve found in butch/femme spaces and butch4butch relationships are still pretty rare and looked down upon even in some lesbian circles (we’re those lesbians (derogatory)). i still wanted there to be jealousy with Valentina and Hana and that tense rivalry but i wanted to do it in a way that wouldn’t immediately pit the three butches against each other, and i wanted all of them to be open to the mc and not even think twice about her being butch too.

obviously the tension will still escalate as the story progresses especially if you’re choosing to be monogamous but honestly the girls are too old for some of that shit LOL

[kithj]

full line up of all my lesbian vampires from the lesbian vampire cinematic universeTM

[friendofcars]

sorry to all the essays and notes and everything (an apology to myself really) but im doing the td3 pov data now instead

[randomnameless]

i know you said hopes had negative character development for the cast, but who do you think is better in hopes than in houses?

Better like in better writing, or better as in I appreciate them more?

Without a doubt, I'd say Felix and Sylvain who are better in Nopes than their FE16 versions, and in a way... Rhea herself, thanks to having more screentime when she isn't PTSD'ing lol

Call it chauvinism, but Sylvain in Nopes was scrubbed out of everything that made him... unlikable/feel flat in Houses.

His sob story about people only wanting to fuck him for his title/crest really felt... straight out ripped from some High School AU, with John McChad acting like an ass because the only girls who want to date him are interested in his situation as a heir of his dad's big company, and not because they love him. Yay. Great. Perfectly what I'm looking for in my medieval fantasy game where you whack people with swords.

Add to that the focus on crusts being the supposedly only reason why people are lusting over him - and not because, hey, you're a member of one of the most important noble houses in the Kingdom - to play in the general "crust bad" orchestra that can lead on the Supreme path, and the fact it's never ever adressed, and we have... this, which completely, to me, hides the other parts of Sylvain's character - like being someone who thinks outside of the box and resolves to lessen the reliance on his relic to defend the border by... creating a situation where they'll be no tension at the border, aka, a peace with Sreng.

Now, Sylvain works so well in Nopes partly because all of his "wah ladies only want my penis because i'm rich :'( " is erased, so we see a character who takes his duties as the heir of Gautier seriously, assists his Lord and friends and bring "new ideas" to help everyone. Sylvain, under his frivolous appearance and behavior, actually thinks and learns and suggests a lot of things that are quite useful, a bit like a "what if Sain wasn't only interested in courtship, but was raised as a future lord and had insight and suggestions on what to do". So sure, it's not as quirky and memorable as John McChad's sophomore year of school, but it fits better, imo, in the FE series.

As for Felix, well, it's more or less the same, his entire "duh boar bad chivalry bad and stupid - but wait no don't die and i'm sorry to have hit you dad i liked you but I was too busy playing the tsundere that I never got to say it to you before you died" schtick felt... old and annoying in FE16.

Sure, Felix can have his own, personal feelings about Dimitri being a hidden boar, but Felix is also the only heir of Rodrigue, and will become the next Duke Fraldarius, aka the second most important person in the Kingdom after the King himself, and the one tasked to protect it. Should Felix completely ignore his feelings and do what is expected of him, or take his role seriously? No, and Nopes has him give some "boar this, boar that", but Felix isn't a petulant 16 years old who wants to be "edgy" anymore, Felix is the next Duke - something he never shied away from, especially in his FE16 paralogue! - and has to start learning the job, thinking about Faerghus in something else than small jabs thrown at Dimitri and how to protect its people and second the King.

Heck, Felix's support in Nopes with Dimitri where Dimitri confesses about the ghosts, where Felix tries to carry him, the more or less cutscene where the general feeling is him saying to Dimitri he can count and rely on them... Given how FE16's Felix was written, even in AM, I can't see it happen before Rodrigue's death... and yet, in AG, Rodrigue is still alive (his optional death doesn't change those scenes), so when FE16's Felix realises there were more important things to do to help both his friend and country and dad but he only noticed it too late because he was too busy... being edgy, Nopes has him drop the edgy act (not completely drop it though, else it wouldn't be Felix anymore!) and act (lel) as his FE16 self, but only, without needing his dad to die first.

As for Rhea...

Having more screentime seriously helps, just like being allowed to talk about non plot relevant things with someone else than Billy or about Billy, I gushed a lot about the Nabatean paralogue, but it depicts her relaxing with her family (pissing on the "u r the only person i can talk to myself not the archbishop" pandering shit from FE16 even if FEH pissed on it first) and making tiny baby steps at apologising and confessing part of her guilt (for something completely stupid like Seiros the Warrior "borrowing" Cichol's shield to gift it to Willy!) to a member of her family.

Would that mean she would have confessed about the rez Sothis plan to Seteth earlier on? I... don't know, don't think so, and we don't have enough interactions between the two.

Compared to FE16 where she is an oyster until Billy turns green and Seteth nags her again and again and again, here she willingly makes the first step to apologise... sure, it's for something silly and not, resurrecting their mother, but it feels like a small progression (tiny baby steps) from FE16 where she has to be reveal stuff due to forced circumstances.

I also like how it sort of teases (or maybe that's just me lol) Seteth realising that Rhea still misses days long past to an unhealthy degree (tfw too much nostalgia), or just, having to remind her twice that those days are gone. Would he later realise her strange nostalgia hides something more deep, and ultimately her wish to "return" to those days by resurrecting Sothis?

idk, it's fuel for HCs and AUs, but for what it's worth, this paralogue and Nopes in general help flesh out Rhea more than what FE16 does, aka tying 80% of her mentions/appearances to Billy and Sothis.

(hell, in Nopes, she finally has lines with Flayn!)

[commsroom]

the way pryce degenders hera as a form of control feels even worse because there are a few occasions where she doesn't. "make it so she can't say her favorite word or give her a new recurring nightmare" and "trying to be the most adorable girl at the county fair"... it's reflective of pryce's general attitude towards others (less that she doesn't recognize their autonomy and more that she enjoys taking that autonomy away), and the particularly vulnerable position hera is in with even the most fundamental aspects of her identity, but it's also. just such a trans experience of womanhood. that even the people who want most to deny her any respect or recognition as a woman will still sometimes implicitly think of her that way and deride her within that context.

[70thmoved]

[moe-broey]

GIRL......................... suspension of disbelief I know but.

Obviously you can pick out a BUNCH of the dragons as that Is an ongoing trope (dragons aging differently than humans, so they can look younger than they "actually are") (also while I did try to avoid including them to make them more comparable to Nino, I think Flayn can fit in either category for the purposes of The Context -- esp cause her dragon blood is meant to be secret)

Not only do we have Heroes skewing younger (a lot fitting into another trope of What If There Was A Baby Sister) we also have Baby Banner. Where the whole point is they are baby.

LIKE....... maybe I'm speaking way too soon and maybe the whole point IS this will backfire LMFAO, but it IS absurd to be presented with her art (which, def still looks youthful!) and having her say yeah I can pass as a kidnapped child. Which COULD be true! But also what do you mean no one is going to know you're a part of the Heroes. Why is no one fighting her on this. Not even including the dragons there are like a handful of Heroes who fit into her exact vibe. Some even MORE baby than her.

[edmundhoward]

absolutely adore that shot of jane seymour glaring icily at anne boleyn, clutching her neck after anne rips her locket from it. subtlety is an art form and michael hirst is not an artist <3

[96percentdone]

actually like for real is "morally grey" just being used as a stand-in term for 'character who is well written and interesting and nuanced' as opposed to like a character whose morals and actions are too messy to be classified as either black or white? because if that's true i hate it here. like i really do.

there have been 10000 posts about how people can't be normal about fictional women, and that's true. often you see fictional girls talked about like they're the devil for like being mildly sassy at the fan favorite the one time, but truly like evil or actually morally grey women get fuckin morally whitewashed by so many of their fans like they also can't bear the idea she might suck shit.

that's not like a strictly fictional woman phenomenon, evil/morally grey men get this shit all the time, because i think on some level people can't like. cope with the idea their faves suck. i feel like a lot of people want to feel like the characters they like are good because they fear its a reflection of their own morals if they're not. and it's not. the things you like in fiction are not an indicator of your morality; they just are things you like in fiction.

but that said i find the phenomenon more interesting when it comes to ethically dubious/bankrupt women because truly for a website constantly screaming about how they want well written women in villainous roles, you guys do not know what to do with them at all even when you like them! When you are given the thing you've been clamoring for forever, you either want her to die or you're scrambling desperately to make her less what she is, and in the process desecrating the things that made her interesting and unique. often it just ends up dovetailing back into classic misogyny where if she's not perfect and pure then she's not worth it, but i just kinda don't think fictional women have to be 'good' or even 'not evil' to be worthy of attention, praise, and adoration.