#they should be on the complicated women's podcast

[echosfandoms]

Inspired by this post

[islandoforder]

on a train to the seaside, crocheting a sundress, and listening to the complicated women podcast which is real and on spotify

[figscigfigs]

my favorite moments from episode 10 of fantasy high junior year!!:

adaine and aelwyn bonding over aelwyn working for the bad guy again (at least when you were being evil you were doing things that were interesting and cool)

adaine’s pure hatred of cornlilac cottoncunt (“and she’s stupid as well!! this is great!! she doesn’t know how to use google!”)

“you keep my name out of your mouth”

“but november (if that’s what month it is) is our month!”

jace’s truly INSANE announcement that began with “we’re having a rough one!” and just continued on down that path the whole time

“who’s asking” “your mom”

gorgug NEEDS business class (or more)

“do you have to go so soon??”

naked (with sports bra) is so lesbian, i love

“i just feel like we should all be a little bit closer” says the girl who kissed everyone she’s talking to like 3 weeks into knowing them and is currently standing in front of her adventuring party in a sports bra and g-string

aguefort’s email bit might actually turn the school into a democracy

just the parallels between in season one, gorgug and zelda and in this most recent episode mazey and fabian make me wanna rip my hair out

"they famously hate you guys" "how can they famously do anything if they re not famous" "jealousy surrounds me"

“you could be on the complicated women podcast” said after doing a full investigation to find out that there are like seven fiendish things going on with fig right now

if you met that man, you would know it’s comedy of errors how he became a god”

wanda childa.

not anything that fabian had going on this episode. i don’t even really want to talk about it you’re telling me he got a massive neck tattoo and no one even went to the appointment with him?!?!?!?!?

[glitteringobliteration]

this might be an unpopular opinion. i’ve been seeing (and posting) a lot about buddy dawn since finishing the episode (which, expected! makes total sense given all of the everything about the end of the episode). but i think something important to keep in mind is that we shouldn’t be treating him like a soft little cinnamon roll baby boy now just bc he’s dead.

the same exact thing happened with lucy frostblade and yolanda badgood. another blog on here (i can’t find it at the moment, i’ll tag them) made a post about this phenomenon and how it shows up in reality too, and it’s exactly what emily was referring to when she was saying (as wanda childa) that the complicated women’s podcast episode about lucy was “nothing she could get her rocks off to.”

we start almost romanticizing these characters and people once they’re gone, but they were complex individuals with full lives, with the capacity to be good and bad.

buddy dawn’s death doesn’t negate the actions we‘ve seen him take in the show thus far. yes he was brought up in a highly restrictive environment and his beliefs have been shaped by his surroundings, and we can’t fault him for that. he was just a transfer student in the wrong place at the wrong time. he was used as a pawn in kipperlilly’s game, and that should make us upset for his sake. but i don’t think we should be waxing poetic about him just yet. right now he’s still just a cleric of helio who got fucked by his circumstances. we don’t know anything else yet.

he did deserve better. we’re obviously allowed to feel upset or overwhelmed by what happened during the episode. but he’s probably going to get revived and we’ll learn more next week. everybody pls calm down (i’m guilty as well i’m talking to myself too)

[triptychgardener]

what are your thoughts on the idea of transmasc roxy in general

I have to say I've grown much less fond of the concept as time progresses. I think transmasc Roxy as it appears in postcanon feels like one of many moves made in the epilogues to specifically jab at certain parts of fandom, but in such an odd way that feels kind of hostile. Roxy being headcanoned as a trans girl goes so far back that it was a common heacanon in 2012! It's mentioned in a premier Homestuck history and backreading podcast (Homestuck Made This World). The XY in Roxy's name is literally referred to as CHROMOSOMAL in her intro! She refers to herself as a girl more than any other character in the comic! Hussie's earlier notes say that same-letter chumhandles (GG, TT) are girls, where the hetero-lettered chumhandles are boys (EB, TG). And then along come Roxy and Dirk, who have TT and TG as their own chumhandles! They're even noted as having their personalities be so much more like their opposite-gendered ancestors! So it feels like a. VERY distinctly odd choice to make Roxy in particular, of all characters, transmasculine. I don't want to say it's intentional, but it's odd. It also speaks to two trends I dislike about fandom trans headcanons specifically when it comes to Homestuck, but also elsewhere. 1. The idea that all characters are cis by default, and none of them could have been trans before the game. Saying that when Vriska Serket and Kanaya Maryam exist is essentially factually incorrect. It's disappointing ESPECIALLY because some of the best Homestuck fanon (and canon!) thrives on the voids between what is said, the implications that get turned on their head. and 2. The denial of the fact that trans women can, in fact, have complicated relationships with femininity and womanhood! This is far too much for me to go into on a work night on my Homestuck blog, but especially with the Lalondes, who have Things about femininity (Roxy being the "cool girl" ultra-accomodating, never making a fuss out of her problems, and Rose's Whole Deal with her mother and her mind games) that ring Very True to me as a trans woman. Obviously, headcanon is not erasure, but at this point I can't say I care too much for transmasc Roxy. Also, essentially making Roxy into another Strider just sucks as a character arc. Dave should be more of a Lalonde not the other way around.

[queenbeegertie]

I was listening to this podcast, you might have heard of it, it's called The Complicated Women Podcast! Trailblazing! They mentioned something about hair changes being cathartic after a terrible break up. What should I do with my hair? Any tips welcome!

[b1gwings]

fig should really get sparrow on the complicated women podcast

[elialys]

why do you think Hellen said no to Dales proposal?

I’m glad I waited before answering your question because I’ve listened to the Emsolation podcast with Michael Lucas (the show writer) in which he answered all kinds of questions about season 2, and that was one of them!

(I’m paraphrasing here, it’s been a few days since I listened to it!)

According to Michael, one of the main reasons why Helen rejected Dale’s proposal is because Helen genuinely can’t see herself having that kind of ‘normal’ life, not just with Dale but in general. The fact that it was Dale proposing made it even ‘worse’ because of how…atypical their couple is. Michael said Anna was pretty set on the concept that if Helen had a choice, she wouldn’t be in any relationship at all, that she was with Dale because she genuinely loved him, but it wasn’t something she felt ‘fit’ her, so Helen basically freaked out at being proposed to.

Because I love spending hours analyzing character’s motivations, fears and limitations, I’ve also thought a lot about this, not just because I’m going to be writing about it 😅 While I absolutely loved hearing Michael’s explanation and obviously believes it to be true since, duh, he literally wrote those characters, I think it’s even more complicated than Helen ‘simply’ not wanting to get married.

To me, from what we’ve seen in season 2, between the hotel scene in 2x01 with Helen’s reaction to learning Gerry had propositioned Dale, and the return of Tim in 2x04 reminding her of what’s happened before, she still had a lot of insecurities regarding Dale’s sexuality. The way I see it, even though I’m sure she believes it when Dale says he loves her and that he’s not just a closeted gay man trying to convince himself he’s INTO WOMEN, I’m sure it’s still one of her fears, that Dale is basically hiding with her, even unconsciously. And that to Dale, proposing to her and making her his wife is another way to PROVE THAT HE’S LIKE EVERY OTHER MAN.

Which is what was actually happening, in my opinion?? Even if I one hundred percent believe Dale is bisexual and that he absolutely loves Helen, he’s clearly not comfortable with that bi side of himself, in great part because he lives in a world that doesn’t accept people like him, and he’s been traumatized as a teen for having feelings for another boy—not to mention how his mum clearly doesn’t support *not being straight*. I highly recommend listening to Sam Reid talking about Dale in the official podcast for ep 2x06, he explains this so much better than me right now haha.

Basically Dale is trying to mold himself into what he believes a REAL MAN should be. So yeah, like he told Garry in 2x03, ‘of course’ he wants to get married (“Doesn’t everyone?”), because if he marries a woman, he’s CLEARLY NOT HAVING GAY THOUGHTS.

What I’m trying to say is that I think Helen is very much aware of that on some level. Of the fact that her sweet bi babygirl Dale is desperate for STRAIGHT VALIDATION, and that she might have been afraid it would just blow up in her face one day when Dale realized he actually did need “more” than what she could give him as a woman.

I’m not even going to delve into Helen’s insecurities about herself as a ‘fucking disaster’, because I could write a 40-pages long essay about her to be honest, but hopefully you get the idea. These characters are complex and very messy, and I think they broke apart because they weren’t communicating properly, which is often why people break apart. Dale never *asked* Helen if she was actually interested in marriage, even after his shitty first proposal. If they had talked about it properly, I think a lot of this would have been avoided.

[silence-the-musical]

“Do you guys think Mary Ann should be on the Complicated Women Podcast?” LMAO

[eyebrow-incident]

Princess Bubblegum should be on the complicated women podcast

[killerwizrd555]

they should have me on the complicated women podcast

[church-of-lilith]

need an episode of abbott elementary in s3 where janine is going through her self discovery journey and decides that maybe she should try dating women.

but then she thinks that sounds a little scary so maybe she should test the waters by just going to a gay bar.

but then she’s not sure if she’s allowed to do that because is that her occupying queer spaces as a ‘straight’ woman?

she asks jacob about it in the teachers lounge the next day and he talks about how it’s a complicated issue and gives her a bunch of articles and podcasts—but the idea of all that overwhelms her.

she’s feeling disheartened until melissa pulls her aside later and very nonchalantly tells her that if she wants to try going to a gay bar, they can go on saturday.

and janine is like ‘oh okay?’ and melissa is like ‘yeah dw about it, I know a guy.’ (but by guy she means the lesbian who owns the bar who she dated for a week back in the 80’s.)

so they go and have a great time, and janine doesn’t find anyone to kiss or take home but she thinks that her sexuality maybe isn’t as black and white as she previously thought.

melissa is proud of her but begs her not to mention it to jacob, because he’d never let either of them hear the end of it if he knew they’d gone without him.

ultimately we find out that ava was also at the bar that night, despite the fact they didn’t run into her.

she lets it slip in the teachers lounge on monday and jacob does indeed take great offense that he wasn’t invited.

[acidbathcat]

one thing is so many main stream islamic scholars like yasir qadi, noman ali khan, mufti menk, etc are surprisingly very progressive in terms of how they talk about women. i saw a globally famous sheikh do a QandA and someone asked him about marrying 4 wives at once. his answer was “are you stupid? this is pathetic.” and has advised against polygamy every time. another time a woman told him a man who wanted to propose to her asked her what her “body count” was. he said “this is extremely disrespectful to you and you should never talk to him again.” and i’ve rarely seen them police what women are doing and instead are constantly putting the responsibility on men to behave. and i can’t really wrap my head around the disconnect. if all the scholars are generally decent and good men, then why are so many muslim men continuing to be the exact opposite. is it so deeply engrained in the culture that not even the most pious and respected can change their minds?

meanwhile there’s a whole running joke on instagram about muslim male “podcasters” (all westerners) that talk solely about what women should do such as “you can’t wear a winter jacket over your abaya” and other stupid shit, and they have NO education or qualification to speak on it. to be a scholar you need like 10 years of schooling/a PhD in theology. it’s extremely sinful to preach without any knowledge.

anyway don’t offer insight if you don’t know what i’m talking about because it’s way too complicated for me to explain from the beginning and if no one knows what i’m saying then pretend i’m talking to myself

+ i’ve only observed all this because my dad leaves youtube on auto play blasting lectures full volume all evening so i’m forced to listen.

[theketcherrrr]

U know what we're talking on the ketcher tonight. One of the main reasons i hate the "akechi was a test subject" thing is bc its always saying like, wakaba did bad stuff too. Which is fine. and even if it leads futaba to have an arc about having doubt about her mother: thats fine. I host the complicated women podcast, like id stan wakaba all the more for it, but just the Vibe I Get. And it may not be intentional but the Vibe I Get is that "since wakaba abused akechi, futaba should forgive him for killing her." And thats just so wrong to me. I dont think I've really liked anyones take on futaba forgiving akechi, but this one is kind of evil. They genuinely have enough going on that you can write. like is it not enough that akechis mom killed herself, something he likely holds a lot of guilt over, and then he turned around and did the exact same thing to futaba? like, thats beautiful. thats poetic. thats the smartest thing persona has ever done. you dont need to make wakaba a bad person or akechi somehow MORE traumatized

[cinamun]

Per your RRR chit chat request, I have some thoughts:

To be fair with DJ, he was already bussin it down in the shed before the aunties could have a say on that location. I thought they moved too fast too fr and all DJ did was take her to the carnival and she let him hit. BUT Ryker has already been established as a potential “bad guy” so anything he says and does will be critiqued regardless. Bishop breathes and we write think pieces 😂 (not saying they’re at all the same, just that we also see him as a bad guy so he could be truly minding his business and we’re still throwing tomatoes). All the last guy initially did was pull up in a truck and take Dira home and we hollered about him until he was shutdown by DJ at prom. Amaya never got the “bad girl” presentation and she was also introduced when they were kids so idk honestly maybe that has something to do with it or maybe there was a little hidden double standards in there. But I’m pretty sure if it was Rah trying to break her off it that musty AV room no one would’ve had anything to say cuz of how he’s been portrayed to us as the “sweet good guy who can never seem to get his chance with the pretty girl”. Then look at how Jay, Rah, and Amaya dress vs how Ryker dresses. Clothes absolutely do not make a person BUT whether people want to admit it or not they have the potential to play a huge role in first impressions and a person’s perception of you.

But that’s just my opinion of course.

OHHHHHH THIS IS SO GOOD!!! COME ON NOW!! Its how characters are introduced and I think that does matter. We are all a little biased based on how we perceive someone. Its just human nature. AND i think the society we're in (the West) makes us prone to accepting a double standard for women and girls. Kinda like how Darren got called out on his misogyny (or whatever that girl's name was).

BUT ALSO....

We, the Aunties™ knew something was coming when DJ had the talk with his dad and then we saw it all playing out at the carnival. Shouldn't Darren have told him to wait or something? Like he told Jay? Indira thinks he should have and Darren thinks this is different because Jay was legal and Hope wasn't.....

All that to say this: Indya and Darren should know damn well how badly sex complicates literally everything. They've had early and solid discussions with their kids about sex, but why didn't they actively intervene to stop their kids from having sex? Didn't Indya just say in the podcast that she wouldn't have "let" Hope have sex if she knew she'd be a grandma?? lmfaoooooooooooo

I say we blame the parents, fuck it.

[badasstransswag]

A couple times now (and also furthered by the last anon we got) I've felt the passing need to maybe make a "don't make me tap the sign" kind of post and with the influx of the comment of "Trans women have lost multiple times to people with just 'vibes'" I feel the need to put my foot down --

I don't know how many people are going to see this and it's generally for my own peace of mind: Every single character on this poll is on here because they are an "actually" trans person. The two people who made this poll weren't happy with the amount of "trans swag" polls that round one would pit Tumblr's most popular blorbo (not textually transgender) against a guy from a one-shot manga that ran in shonen jump for two months (canonically transgender), so every character selected from personal requests made to the moderators, the moderators' own choices, were chosen to be on theme ("badass" in varying ways, canonically trans) from the submission form. Whether this be through metatextual technicalities (characters like Kainé), stated specifically (characters like Elektra), or having storylines that reflect being transgender - including a change of gender identity (characters like Oryx, Cagliostro, and Sylv).

So, the sign in question:

(Ergo, we have excluded characters like Bridget and Lily Hoshikawa because of simply how many polls we'd seen them on)

We'd also had a problems with how many of these other brackets were set up, and this poll was seeded specifically so that in characters' first rounds, they would go up against someone who we perceived had around the same amount of fans (For example, we thought Sam had a chance against Testament because the podcast she's from is constantly on Tumblr Trending). Unfortunately there's nothing we can do about any discrepancy of popularity in rounds such as the current one, the semifinals, because of the circumstantial nature of them.

To address some things we've seen in tags specifically for this round:

Oryx is "actually trans" -- no matter how fantasy-space-opera the terminology is, he still effectively took space worm HRT, and while neither of the moderators are Destiny fans a few people more familiar with the games were asked to make sure it was a choice made of his own volition and desire.

Qitian Dasheng Sun Wukong is a bit more complicated - you can read this ask for a longer winded explanation using the text, but a more concise and down-to-earth explanation is that the nature of Journey to the West as both entirely an allegory and as a classic with a trillion adaptations, SWK has been an honorary member of the Chinese trans community since the realization that he can be read that way. He may be (hyperbolically, but still) the only character in the bracket not to have turned to the camera and said "I'm trans" in the original text, but hey, there's definitely an adaptation of the character out there who has. The original source was used here because of its connection with the character itself and the fact that is where the resonance comes from originally.

TL;DR: Every character on this poll is trans, this was a deliberate choice by the trans people who made it, and I'm only a little sick of one side of match-ups being referred to as 'actually' trans. This is not an apology, this is a "you should have read the pinned post before complaining".