#there are so many lesbians in this show though

[comradekatara]

I'm rereading Kyoshi novels and a question is swirling around inside my head. I've seen some people say that Rangi is a " duplicate " of Azula. However, I can't really figure out where it comes from. When I read the novels, I never made the connection between Rangi and Azula. I personally don't see any similarities between the two characters, but when I saw some people making that point, I became unsure. Am I wrong? Did I miss something that caused me to misunderstand Rangi's character? I'd love to see your analysis.

I mean, I don’t think “duplicate” is a fair term to use here, though I get the idea. I have said in the past that rangi is like “if azula had a better relationship with her mother.” even just superficially, they share a lot of aesthetic similarities: they are both intimidating and powerful fire nation teenage girls. most people agree that reading azula makes the most sense (even if some of their reasoning is simply “she’s mean,” which… isn’t great); rangi canonically is a lesbian. azula’s relationship to/absence from her mother is a gaping wound that haunts her, whereas rangi is also her mother’s daughter, but as informed largely by her presence. rangi is someone who shows endless loyalty and dedication to those she loves, insisting to kyoshi that her devotion her stems not from how powerful she may be (as the avatar), but out of love for who she is as a person. azula is someone who is equally defined by her loyalty and devotion, but that fealty can never be defined on her own terms, because the power is the point, ozai’s coercion is their very bond itself. so it’s not so much that rangi is a duplicate of azula, but rather that she functions in many ways as a response to azula, offering her a potential path forward (through, chronologically at least, setting a precedent, no less). where azula is denied agency, held captive by ozai, beholden to his whims and gluttony, rangi is given the choice to follow kyoshi, and does so out of unconditional love. where azula’s desires are negated and used against her, rangi is given the possibility to move forward with kyoshi on her terms. where azula is a maelstrom of grief and conflicting emotion (turned inward) over her love for and the loss of her mother, rangi’s mother is afforded the privilege of surviving every time, and only ever affirms her love for and dedication to her daughter. rangi is who azula could have been had the world been kinder to her. she’s not perfect, and she’s endured her fair share of suffering, but at least she’s free.

[bi-hop]

my thoughts on rgu ep 3

we're baaaack! my previous posts are all now under my rgu liveblog tag

lord, here we go with the extended recaps even though it's only episode 3-

it's interesting how memory is being played with here with Utena. such a formative moment is reduced to a strange fairy tale, a piece of gossip with faceless characters. the only proof of it is vague recollections paired with a single physical piece of evidence: the ring. but said ring is also associated with other elements of the world that she is still not fully privy to... just hm

the running gag of Utena being like "you need a friend" and Chu Chu being like "?" and Anthy being like "?" amuses me but also doesn't... can't put my finger on why though so I'm just gonna note it down and circle back to it

the Utena-sama stuff is funny. like, oh, okay, it's fine when girls are admiring you from a distance because you can write it off as a joke, but a girl insisting she's engaged to you and referring to you reverently is when you're finally like "actually I desire men, I totally want to date a boy, the masculinity has nothing to do with being gay, I want a NORMAL BOY" OADJODSJODS OKAY SURE UTENA

Girl, you claim to want to date a guy and then a guy flirts with you and you're immediately like "let's keep it platonic, dude". alright-

^ NOT AT ALL IMPLYING ATTRACTION TO DUDES MEANS YOU'RE RECEPTIVE TO ALL ADVANCES. just kinda funny immediately following a scene where she's like "erm actually I'm totally straight! I am a heterosexual!!!"

"is the prince bi too. did he kiss all of the duelists orrrr..." - riveting commentary from the girlfriend. I have no stance on this, I just think he seems like a creep

communication? in MY anime? it's far less likely than you'd think. (Touga is annoying but what else is new)

the council finally clueing in to the fact that Utena is not in fact in contact with End of the World (whoever THAT is). Saionji is also hiding or something? good fucking riddance

Anyway, I think the use of a prince as the model Utena bases her appearance on and also simultaneously the vague object of her desire is compelling in a compulsory heterosexuality narrative because it's a perfect analogue to how some lesbians I know would simply invent an idealized guy to project feelings onto due to the insistence of heterosexuality as a regime that a girl MUST desire a man. the easiest man to desire is the one you only vaguely remember from your childhood and have no real chance of meeting-

can everyone just leave Anthy alone????

Nanami looks nice, but I've watched too many shows with blonde mean girls to trust that she really has Anthy's best interests at heart...

circling back to the girls and how they treat Anthy (which includes Wakaba of course because Wakaba is meant to be a window into what the other girls are thinking IMO), there's this continual theme of everyone viewing Anthy as like... this seductress almost who is ruining the lives of boys like Saionji over nothing. She's 'shameless', she's a 'creep', whole time she's being abused and treated as an object. the relatable brown woman of color experience, I fear

Touga: I don't care about Utena. I care about a feminized fantasy of her I have in my head, even though my attraction to her started with how she regularly dresses. This is because I can fix her aesthetic-

Anthy and her social anxiety... man... just let her sit in the dorm and play cards with Chu Chu

and sure enough, Nanami sabotages her out of misdirected jealousy. girl, you need to be freed of the idea that girls are competition for your brother's affection. also, you need to kill your brother. you will do this for me and become a feminist-

I'm not surprised that the retaliation against Anthy is called a prank that maaaybe went too far. I'm especially not surprised this commentary is directed towards a moment of sexual violence. ty to Utena for intervening

gay people be dancing on loop... that is all

fun episode! much to chew on! on to the next

[horsechestnut]

South of Nowhere is so funny. Every episode is just...

A Plot: Spencer thinks she’s gay, but also Aiden is kind of cute. Either her or Ashley makes a new friend and the other gets extremely jealous over it.

B Plot: Clay struggles with racism and/or his own internal struggles about being a black teenager raised by a white family and trying to find his place in the black community. 50% chance of something traumatic happening to him that will never be mentioned again.

C Plot (optional): Glen is a teenage boy. 

[ashleyeveerson]

Haven't been able to think about anything other than the victorian/edwardian/WW1 twink and his 80's punk almost-boyfriend for a week, send help

[ciderjacks]

hey if u guys r sad about ofmd and want another show with gay people to watch you should consider watching Deadloch. It’s really good it’s really really good uh it might get a second season if the creators decide to do that.

if you watch good omens you’ll be able to watch Deadloch they’re on the same service. Uhhhh One of the actors from ofmd is there shes one half of the main duo (the other half is played by Kate Box who’s an amazing actor and Dulcie is now one of my fav characters ever) gets to wear an open Hawaiian shirt for like 3 of the 8 episodes which is a bonus. It’s extremely gay and it’s fun and beautifully written and no queer characters die and it’s satisfying and funny and Please watch it I’m begging you please watch itPLEASE

[hecatesbroom]

To be honest I was wondering if you have a top 5 of books 👀

Hii! Now, that's a hard question :') I have so many!! I think if I were to make a top 5, it'd look something like this:

(Limited to English books only because I really wouldn't know how to choose otherwise haha)

The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir (if I had to pick just one, it'd be Harrow the Ninth, book 2 in the series)

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (which he wanted to have published as one big book, so hey, this isn't technically cheating!)

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

I tried to vary a bit in genre with this, and honestly my favourite books change quite frequently, but I'd say the top 3 are pretty stable! (I'm not sure anything will ever be able to beat The Locked Tomb for me anymore haha)

[itsbrucey]

Hihiii! I have appeared with an invisible microphone up to you (you seem very talk to me idk why- could be your banner on your profile hmm) Jonah and Lorraine? What’s their deal? (/nf ask ofc :]])

People like commenting on my banners and I just realized both my main and side have fucked up Markipliers. Hm.

Also. Cracks knuckles. Ok this will probably be NONSENSE I am very tired but here's a fucking run down ( maybe I'll add tomorrow/later idk)

Jonah and Lorraine are two of my OCS that are in this circle of my Darling Wonderful OCS aka the ones I actively think about and make content for. They're in the same realm as Dulcie and Eli and Marley and Vio. Which is to say My Main Ocs.

They're also the select few that have a story/narrative of some kind! Of which I'd like to one day actually write or make comics for.

The basics of Jonah is that she's essentially a super soldier experiment, not being "finished" but the newest model that's being worked on. All lab grown, not a "real person" and therefore is not treated as such. She's made as an organic war machine and is extremely strong and durable; tear tanks and armies apart with her bare hands strong and durable. But she's also INSANELY dehumanized and abused within her facility to the point where she's just kind of. Completely apathetic and numb and permanently in a Fight state of being as a defensive mechanism.

She ends up turning on the facility during a regular trial run of her progress and she SLAUGHTERS most of the lab and facility workers. She escapes the facility and doesn't really have anywhere to go so she just Picks Somewhere. She ends up escaping to a city and climbing through a random window post-carnage and meeting Zach. A random fucking English major who can't really do anything about this massive murder woman who is now in his place.

Her entire thing is that she's learning what it means to be human while dealing with A: trauma and PTSD from Everything and B: a government desperate trying to get her back. Big Woman enjoyers who want someone severely emotionally stunted and permanently stressed out but trying her best may like her. Also she's bisexual and her blood is BRIGHT pink.

Lorraine is a chieftess of a sky island that floats over The Abyss, governing it with her two brothers. She basically oversees the safety of the villages and makes sure people are fed and tended to. Things have been getting hard though, as the island keeps crumbling little by little, and the island seems to have been falling apart faster after Lorraine's father died and she took over. She ends up getting betrayed by one of her brother's and challenges to a duel because he blames her for things sucking really bad + he's jealouuuuussss.

Lorraine loses the duel and gets stabbed through the gut with the family spear ( which has lightning magic fun fact ) and physically KICKED over the side of the island by her brother. She falls and falls and falls, spear STILL INSIDE HER, and she falls into The Abyss, which is like. An infinitely stretching void way below the island. If you fall over the edge, you aren't coming back.

But Lorraine falls into The Abyss. And wakes up. In a fucked up new world that is mangled and twisted and decaying. She gets attacked by some [creatures I haven't named yet ValleyStalkers idk] and manages to fight them off with her spear, but just barely. She faints bc of blood loss + exhaustion + lightning magic. But THEN. PLOT TWIST BITCH SHE JUST DRAGGED INTO A LITTLE ROCK SHELTER BY A LITTLE GIRL. PEOPLE CAN LIVE DOWN HERE.

Lorraine gets nursed back to health by this young girl and Lorraine is hellbent on clawing her way back up to the island and slaughtering her brother for his betrayal. And she adopts the girl and sets off on a journey to leave The Abyss. Also she's like in her 40's-50's and is a cool trans woman with a wife. For my woman enjoyers who like a stern and commanding lady who is also very sweet and sacrificial. Also who has a kickass lightning spear passed through her family's lineage.

Lorraine's lore document is collecting dust as we speak but I'd like to finalize some lore of the worldbuilding + Abyss, as well as OTHER CHARACTERS WHO AREN'T MENTIONED BC THE STORY NEEDS DEVELOPED. Jonah doesn't have a lore document yet bc I'm. Lazy.

Thumbs up!! This is like. The general overview of them. My beautiful amazing battle women.

[blaintism]

blaine in blame it on the alchol has always been so interesting to me, and i wish that the episode was told more from his perspective. what always stands out are the things he says to kurt - it’s more confusing for him, and he’s trying to figure out who he is.

i wonder a lot about his journey with being gay to this point. perhaps he’s always had these questions, and came out before truly being sure of who he is, and if there’s one thing about blaine, he can fake confidence. it might be a degree of projecting, but i get this idea that, despite being “out and proud,” blaine still has a lot of insecurity about his sexuality, and, maybe just a little bit, is seeing if his attraction to rachel is real because of this insecurity. this seems very possible when, in the very next episode, blaine drops the absolute bomb that keeps me up at night that, at the very least in his mind, his father has tried to “make him straight,” and when later we learn about the sadie hawkins incident.

this is a kid who has been attacked for who he is, who believes his father doesn’t accept him, of course kissing a girl under the influence could give him these thoughts that maybe that is a possibility for him. his relationship with his dad could be better, it might make the world safer for him. but in the end he has to accept that that isn’t who he is. to me, that’s a much more compelling story than kurt’s side of things, and i think a really relatable plotline for someone like me who identified other ways for a long time because the idea of being gay was difficult.

and an aside: this could all work so well into klaine getting together in t-minus two episodes. what if blaine demonstrably sees how his feelings for rachel are not the same things he feels for kurt? what if the security this episodes conclusion gives him of knowing who he is makes him more ready to be with kurt? much to think about.

[lighthouseas]

there has always been queer rep in 911 guys

[jrueships]

THESE PHOTOS ARE KILLING ME

[etcnnante]

actually i have to talk about how vital yossarians sexuality is in catch 22 and how, despite how the hulu show is the best adaptation of the novel, still manages to almost completely ignore it in favor of the infidelity between yossarian and scheisskopf’s wife. which, is still a vital plot point, but to favor that almost completely over the relationship him and the chaplain share has me insaneeeee especially because of how prevalent homosexuality was among all branches of the U.S. military due to how young and inexperienced many of the drafted men (and women) were. like he CONSTANTLY calls orr a very handsome and attractive man, the most beautiful out of the entire battalion. it’s wild to me that it is never explored bc of geo.rge clo.oney’s homophobic ass

[helenhuntingdon]

Of course another lesbian show was cancelled

[heatmiiiiser]

Ggrrr I wish disenchantment was better. I binged it all because I'm sick somebody talk to me about this.

[nyancrimew]

Sorry, it was unfair of me to send that to you without proper context since you might not be aware of these issues. Irredeemable media refers to any thing with a creator or content  that is harmful and/or bigoted. Of course every piece of media has problems, but irredeemable media is when those problems cannot be ignored and are an indicator of someone's beliefs. 

For example, Harry Potter is irredeemable media because every one knows that JK Rowling is a transphobe, but some other piece of media like Twilight would not be considered irredeemable because even though Stephanie Meyer has done some bad things, they are not as widely talked about, so someone who posts about Twilight on here isn't completely likely to be a bigot, but a Harry Potter blogger would. Also, I know the "to be cringe is to be free" people like your blog, but a lot of the time, what is considered cringey on here is actually based on what is irredeemable. No progressive person or reputable blogger genuinely makes fun of My Little Pony fans any more, however plenty make fun of Hazbin Hotel fans and the such because that content is irredeemable and shows someone's beliefs. So usually, a piece of media being considered embarassing to like on here usually indicates that it is irredeemable.

As for why the other pieces of media are irredeemable, Hazbin Hotel is made by a woman who has many well-documented accusations of bigotry against her and has drawn zoophilia art, not to mention how her work leans into stereotypes about gay people (having a gay man character be a sex addict, a lesbian be named after the female body part Vagina, etc.) or at least that's what I've heard. Attack on Titan is created by a known fascist and many illusions are made to nazi imagery and nationalism in the anime. Captive Prince has a racist premise that sexualizes slavery and non-con. 

People can tell you that liking irredeemable media doesn't say something about who they are, but that's fundamentally false. If someone is uncaring enough to still post openly about these types of media, it's clear they don't care enough about not supporting bigotry. Yes, even if they don't give money to the creators, because they are still willingly exposing themselves to bigoted or harmful content and enjoying it.

The previous ask was not meant to be accusatory. Rather it was meant as a concerned question. Believe it or not, there are still some users on here who indulge in these pieces of content, a few of which hide behind the excuse of being part of a minority (Black, trans, whatever) or simply deny how bad their media consumption is to escape accountability. I wouldn't want you associating with those types of people and have that ruin your reliability on this website.

Hopefully this ask has educated you more on these issues and you'll be able to spot irredeemable media in the future and block it out.

incredible essay, you get a C for Creativity

[azelletown]

im so glad this series got big and now i finally get to read it but also this is going to destroy me by the end of it huh

chapter 38 absolutely fucked me up, this shit is just real, i've been in situations and arguments exactly like this (minus the dragon sister and all) where i've lost what i thought were friendships because i had finally failed one too many social awareness checks

especially these panels had me pause and take a second

like, laios' point of view of their friendship was so nice and sureau, instead of being honest, bottled it up because he applied his assumptions of social awareness onto laios who then couldn't have ever known something was wrong

harmless examples of things i used to do and can talk about here: in middle school i would tap my fingers onto my desk to the rhythm of whatever song was in my head, and at the end of the 4 entire years we spent together, one of my friends lashes out at me about how i'm annoying everyone with it, and then more of my friends and other classmates would start telling me and scolding me about that and all the other habits i had that were annoying them as if those were things i were doing to purposefully piss people off. i even had a teacher yell at me seemingly out of nowhere because i'd lay head on my desk in her class and she apparently always took it as me being rude and "falling asleep" ??? in highschool i mispronounced a guy's name for 2 years until he called me a dick for it even though he never told me how to pronounce it correctly!!!!! i would also stare a lot, all the time, but again people only told me after so much time had passed that they just got mad at me

it got so bad that i started to minmax most of my social interactions, and i still do it with most of my IRLs to this day

i was literally hit with the Laios to Kabru Pipeline

Anyways this manga is peak, the show is also peak, go read/watch the neurodivergent dnd lesbian cooking show, i feel like im going to have a LOT to say about kabru in the future chapters

[libraford]

Now that I work with a bunch of homophobes, I feel the weight of being a 'one of us.'

"Why are women so --- oh but not you, you're different."

"Why are gays so--' but you're not like them, you're more like us."

Krusty The Bird Killer rants for five minutes about black women being 'sluts that all have eight kids with different fathers because they'll lay with anything that moves,' and then talk sweet to our secretary, a black woman in her 40s who doesnt seem to count as a black woman when he's ranting.

I've been trying to put words to this behavior for awhile now. And I think it just comes down to 'us vs them.'

I showed up to work in a cowboy hat and work boots, wasnt afraid of the men's room, and lifted a 50 pound trash bag full of dog shit on my first day. I'm not like other women to them. I dont count. I'm one of us.

I talk about my girlfriend in a quiet way: I dont declare queer supremacy and I dont make my whole life about being queer and oppressed. I'm not like other lesbians. I dont count. I'm one of us.

They dont know me. They dont know my girly interests and they dont know about my political art pieces and they dont know about the fake eyelashes that I wore during pride. They certainly dont know I'm trans.

I passed their test. I'm 'one of the dudes.'

I'm really not, though.

If they saw me outside of work, I would be a Them. But they got to know me first. I'm in their list of "thems that are us." And every them that they meet can be an us. But they dont go out of their way to meet many thems.

I'm a Gay. I'm not the Gays. I'm (to them) a woman. I'm not Women. The secretary is black. But shes not The Blacks (pardon the phrasing, it hurt me to even type it that way.)

Every person is the stereotype of their group until someone gets to know them. But that doesn't disprove the stereotype- it just means that the person doesnt count as part of that group anymore. They're with us now.

Respectability politics really dont get us anywhere. If you're out to disprove the stereotype out of a sense that you'll change their minds, I'm telling you that energy is better spent living authentically if you are safe to do so.

Your influence on them doesnt change their perception of the box they put you in. They just put you in a smaller box. Fuck their opinions.