#to be negative for a second

[angstics]

this post about lesbian divas rlly delighted me. it's fun to see this niche topic talked about and expanded on with lots of examples. soooo i compiled all the responses as of 21/09/23 10:30pm EST and put them in a spreadsheet. then ranked them by how much of a diva i consider them lol

first off, the general list. i found 152 unique responses in the replies, tags, and comments. some were only first names so i didnt bother researching into who the poster was talking about. images for ease of viewing:

second... what is a diva?? clarifying where im coming from is important to understand my upcoming opinions. i should make clear that im talking about DIVAS as in DIVA WORSHIP as in LIZA MINNELLI-BARBRA STREISAND-BETTE DAVIS-LADY GAGA etcetera. dykes can see these female celebs as divas as well, but what the original post touches on is the male diva.

this rthko ask explains the diva well. you should also take a look at scholarly articles and books -- divas have been a part of recorded gay culture and esp gay male culture and drag queen culture forever -- the term isnt concrete. rthko says that "there's no real formula" but lists these typical features of a diva:

larger than life -- glam, humor, charisma? would a drag queen impersonate them?

theatrical / proximity to theatre

sexy / horny -- rthko notes here that these arent requirements, citing liza's lack of sexual overtness

strength

niche -- can be popular but not a general crowd-pleaser

gay rights supporter -- before it was cool

now rthko is talking about female divas, even noting the blind spot for bi/lesbian fans and artists. i say you can apply the same features to male celebrities to identify the male divas dykes idolize. i should note that some of the ppl on the list are women or genderqueer. so the list is not entirely male.

another note: im putting so much emphasis on DIVAHOOD because it's SUCH a specific term. not all icons, "weird little guys", "blorbos" are divas. one thing rthko doesn't touch on is how a diva often has a strong sense of self that the devotee can identify and want to emulate -- at the xtreme, leads to drag art. if they dont inspire and amaze, then are they a diva?

lets get into part 3: which of these 152 people / concepts / groups are honest to god divas? you can argue they're all Icons to some extent (the bare minimum being having a lesbian fanbase) but do they have what rthko and i (and gay culture researchers) consider to be the features of a diva?

first thing i did identify those i both recognized and "saw divahood within". ended up with 44:

then i shrunk down the list even further to 18 (again, pure opinion):

then i ranked the 44 more methodically by mapping out the 7 features of the diva:

several important notes:

this ranking is not definite -- though i tried to be fair, considering the limits to what i know, it is subjective

i dont know the histories of some of these people, so i may be missing some things. an inverse example: i know far too much about gerard way, so i had a good idea of how he fit into each feature

some of these i couldnt decide whether i should check or not. al pacino i was esp worried about... couldnt justify checking those boxes the way i can for other people

either way, my findings yielded interesting results! 3 of the most commonly talked about singer-songwriters (bruce, bob, johnny) ranked low. this may indicate that there's other features to the male diva that arent specified or dont apply to females divas / gay male devotees. perhaps defined gender expression, or “voice for lesbians”, or something else.

all of the people with a score of 4 or more can be emulated. "sex" (meaning overt sexuality) is the least common feature, after "theatrical".

though anyone can be a diva to anyone, there's a certain "canon" of who is a diva in gay circles. liza barbra bette gaga. this messy qualitative approach is an attempt to figure that out for dyke divas. i would love to talk about it more.

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[casscainmainly]

Before posting to the Duke Thomas tag, think:

Does the post actually include Duke Thomas?

Does Duke Thomas say more than one throwaway line/question?

Is Duke Thomas more than just a prop for another character?

Is Duke Thomas more than the timid/shy/normal one?

If you answered yes to all these questions, congratulations!!! You can post to the Duke tag. If your answer is no, maybe avoid the Duke tag!

[mipmoth]

Submas VIOLENCE

[grim-arcade]

-insert ominous whistle sounds- caught up with chaos theory today and i'm obsessed with the Handler and her microbangs <3

[tsudratscigam]

TCO and TSC having siblings moments cuz i love them so much you dont understand

headcanon time: before TSC, TDL was TCO's only true friend and brother but after the whole showdown thing TCO was pretty much left alone. For him TSC was just a random stickperson with godly hidden powers until he saw how TSC actually tried to save him during the "wanted" episode when TCO got shot by the merchenaries that left him injured. After that i like to imagine that he actually cares about TSC but doesn't show it (hopefully we get more TCO and TSC interactions in the next episode please alan im begging you please please please)

[trappedinacomputer]

I find it kinda funny how Blue thinks Bad is the one who's leading this war and he's the one with all the big plans when it's actually Tubbo lashing out and Bad is just sitting in a recliner with a pipe, reading a newspaper like "yes princess, that's very good, take my credit card and get whatever you want"

[nando161mando]

The lib stasi is monitoring those with ''negative'' views of health insurance companies

[based-and-rinpilled]

George and Sapnap in the other room

[waywardsunlight]

Hunter and Luz's deaths being reverses of each other is crazy work in so many ways. Hunter is working on his emotional well-being, and beginning to accept himself. He lists the things he wants to do in order to stay focused so he can take himself (and Belos) out. Hunter hasn't been able to fully escape his trauma, in fact it literally overtakes him and he hurts people he loves, and he's holding onto the potential life he won't get due to Belos. Hunter's possession is forced on him, it's out of his control, it's the unfair expectations and history of violence that he could try and recover from but it still a part of him.

Luz has been in the exact opposite mindset. She's been really depressed and doesn't see a future for herself where she doesn't hurt everyone in her life because of her guilt. Luz is planning to sabotage her friendships in order to protect her friends from her perceived "brokeness". But her death is sudden and shocking, her sacrifice isn't made out of guilt but of an inherent impulse to save somebody else. Luz has to choose to come back, and she accepts a "possession", where she's in control. Luz has to accept that she's good, that she is worthy of life because she's here, right now, and she is enough.

They both also deal with the aftermath differently, with Hunter grieving and being angry at himself for what happened (which Luz and their friends perceive as him being angry at them). Hunter wants to get revenge on Belos at first, but then his focus shifts to protecting his friends and fighting for the Isles instead. Luz comes back with a lot of joy and excitement, she's happy to be alive again and its fun and she's more than happy to get revenge. After that fades, Luz is left tired. But they both end the series getting on the same page- they both love their families, and they both choose to live.

[sad-kiersten238]

[ghostbredtt]

doodle dump. don't look at me.I was insane back then

[ganondoodle]

Hi! I absolutely love your art! I saw a post saying how demons are able to have kids by themselves. How does the whole process & the birthing process work exactly?

hello! thank you so much for this ask!!!

(i made some sketches and wrote down some notes on this but i will explain in more detail below that ... its pretty long again .. sorry qwq)

demons (in my OC story and world) are .. essentially "built" around the idea of what a natural guardian of an ecosystem could look like that is as indestructible as possible while still being very much a living being

their biology is somewhat simplified (if you want to call it that), meaning they dont have nearly as many organs as we have and it works rather 'simplistic' (like they recover their energy passively through the particles of it in the air- which is a reason why they need to breathe (other being to get the blood to the right places) and usually only eat if they had a loss of energy/blood, like a bad injury they needed to heal quickly or spending too much on magic use- and its literally just converted into magic/blood)

(truth be told i havent thought out or designed each and every organ, forgive me :V) but the main things are, four lungs, a demonic heart (the most important thing that keeps everything running), a second red blood heart (like humans have, but very small and a rather useless remnant of their evolution, sorta like the leg bones some whales still have), the reproductive organ (usually somewhat between the lungs, directly below the heart, but it depends on each demon) and a stomach which is also the dead end of their system (they are supposed to be able to digest everything that goes in there, if theres somethign they cant it has to be vomitted)

-having offspring is generally extremely rare, demons dont die of age and are (or are supposed to be) very hard to kill so its purely a deeply personal choice for them to have one- each demon can have them given the organ isnt damaged and they decide to kickstart the process (you cant really force a demon to carry a child)

-their genes work a little differently, a child from one parent isnt really a clone and inbreeding is technically nigh impossible with them in the sense that offspring wouldnt show any negative defects (culturally it would be a death sentence, as a romantic relationship that is, demons being single parents throughout generations isnt considered inbreeding) -if two or more demons are partners and want a child of them both they can exchange genetical information via heartblood (the highly concentrated blood in their hearts, which is the only thing that openly carries genes) deliberately through .. well cutting and transferring blood (alot about demons is really about their blood) which influences how much a child may resemble them for example but also mixes up the gene pool of both the parents as well as the offspring

-(important add on- this sort of blood exchange would need to happen right before kickstarting the process otherwise it would just mix with the general gene pool- a theory to explain, at least in part, why brutal fights are such a common thing in demon culture is to indirectly raise the chances of heartblood mixing in the act of fighting instead, since romantic relationships are so rare among them and most are single parents)

-once the process is started it can only be slowed down but not stopped (unless getting it out prematurely), and at reaching ca. 5% of development a demon is unable to change into humanoid/their smaller form since the fetus cant change form with them, trying it anyway is extremely dangerous

-offspring are considered to be 'full term' when they are born and can produce their own energy/digest food to gain more, though they can be born at about 50% of development without dying, then however need to cling to another demon to feed on their blood in order to reach that dev. stage

-its largely not visible when a demon is carrying a child, though it also depends on the demons 'built' and general condition (for example, Shargon is very slim and has little energy storage, depending on how long he lets it develop it might cause visible changes on top of typical behavioral ones, if Eadrya would do it they could without anything being noticable except the required refusal of changing forms really)

-a demon carrying an offspring will refuse to change form, likely refuses to engage in fights, generally retreat depending on their social status and might show shortness of breath (it puts pressure on the lungs and heart especially in the later stages and with slimmer or smaller demons), rest more and forage for things that are highly convertable to energy/blood if they cannot recover it passively evenly as it is used (a somewhat stable energy/blood/magic -sorry i still dont know what to call it so its not confusing- level is beneficial to the offspring, a lack of it can put both at risk)

-birth is generally initiated by the parent or when it has reached full term, and since its done so via the mouth it has to pass by the lungs and heart, compressing them both immensely for a short time, not being able to breathe and possibly causing the heart to stop temporarily depending on how far along the offspring is/big compared to its parent- Shargon cant carry fully to term since even an appropiately sized one has to pass through his slim body (Jyothi was born at around 90%, Tyura at roughly 56%) and it causes great stress on his system since hes chronically lacking energy in part from being hunted down alot (Tyuras early birth happened bc Shargon was critically injured by Eadrya and hunted by them during the earlier stages as well)

-it IS possible to allow it to grow to full term even when it cant pass by the lungs and heart though it involves bending or breaking bones (if he carried Jyothi the remaining percentage he would have had to do that) or in extreme cases to cut themselves open, given their healing capabilities that might sound not too bad but it is extremely painful, risks dangerous injury to both and permanent damage to the reproductive organ (also their healing is often more of an active thing rather than a passive one, especially with bigger and more dangerous wounds that need quick healing, meaning they have to actively "do" it, which is hard when you are literally dying)

-the offspring is within an translucent egg like bubble (though squishy) of ideally highly charged demonic blood, the outer layer can withstand quite a bit; ones born before reaching full term (in which case it would dissolve right away) either remain within it (if sufficiently charged with energy) or it dissolves/is cut open during or after birth and the child has to cling to another demon to feed on their blood this way

-uniquely, before reaching full term a young demon can convert any elemental type of blood to their own, losing that ability afterwards

-offspring can be of any elemental type from any parent though the likelyhood is slightly higher for ones with the same type, even moreso when it is a single parent (Shargon is thunder, his firstborn is wind, his second also thunder)

I hope this isnt too long and uuh answers that!! <3

[polecatt]

i don’t think derap realizes that we love zam for playing girl/gender diverse and queer characters because he’s so respectful while doing it, but derap thinks it’s just funny so when he tries it or does some bit about it, it always comes off or IS disrespectful

[angst-and-fajitas]

The hand of god is light, but it wavers from time to time

[formulanni]

Lance Stroll as the Nine of Cups:

An environment of luxury and emotional stability, where all available comforts await you. Indulging in all the joys that life has to offer you is signaled by this card, though at times there is a sense of smugness that comes from taking your situation for granted.

This card also symbolizes having your wish fulfilled. Achieving what you desire. Obtaining your goal. Getting what you think you want.

The nine of cups is directly related to the Hermit, card 9 of the Major Arcana. It therefore has an element of solitude about it. It's a card of emotional happiness and fulfilment which is enjoyed alone.

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls