#we have bills to pay

[bearotonin-international]

ahhhh, to be a himalayan brown bear free and floofin in a field of flowers

[micxsso]

[transgendz]

I need help to bring my roommate back to the doctor for his ear infection which has been treated twice now and still isn't better. I'll do art for anyone who gives $50, just dm me at my art blog @theartistrans

Dm me for proof or more info

$creepiecrippl

V: @tab-99

$0/$60

[o-wild-west-wind]

okay, here’s my actual thoughtful post: I get why people are upset about the finale…I really do. but I want to mention that there’s a bigger picture to this story that’s missing if you’re zooming too close onto Izzy as a character, and I’m honestly so grateful that the show stuck to the thematic arc it introduced in season 1 because, as per usual, it’s about the themes 🤌 and this show never skimps on the symbolism!!

so here’s the thing: the primary themes are toxic masculinity (& it’s opposite, queer joy); trauma; love as a healing force for the above; and, title alert—DEATH. because it’s so much more than a cool title!

now, Izzy has always represented something metaphorical about all of these points; most directly, he’s always represented masculinity, and s2 has been an arc of toxicity deconstruction. but crucially, he’s also represented all that for Ed, who is the deuteragonist of this show. because—don’t forget—Stede and Ed are the show.

I’ve always doubted myself for feeling this after seeing how fandom saw Izzy as a third romantic figure (which like by all means have a blast in your fanfics I don’t care it’s about joy at the end of the day and pursue that as you want to), but after hearing something about djenks referring to Izzy as a father figure, it confirms a major point for me—Izzy is also in a lot of ways a parallel to Ed’s dad, and a representation of the trauma and guilt Ed felt from that formative killing. for so long, Izzy was an aggressive shadow in Ed’s life, and a tangible reminder of those daddy issues—someone telling him what to do, keeping him Blackbeard—and the beautiful thing is how that changed this season, how Izzy became a version of masculinity that could love and be beautiful and make good from the hurt, the literal poison into positivity. someone antithetical to his own paternalistic force, healing our daddy issues one drag show at a time. BUT, Izzy is still thematically representative within Ed’s arc—and by also representing the trauma that made Ed “Blackbeard,” it does make smart writing sense as to why Izzy died (NOT saying you can’t be sad about it—stick with me for a moment).

because here’s the thing—as aforementioned, this show is also about DEATH. killing is the root of everyone’s trauma, and reconciling a relationship with death is the ultimate arc Ed and Stede are both on, with the ultimate path of learning to live despite its inevitability. there’s a reason it was such a huge thing that Ed couldn’t personally kill, and then in this episode killed so many people with his bare hands in the name of love—and there’s a reason that was framed as a good thing. and there’s also Ed’s (and arguably Stede’s) active suicidality, which has been a huge force driving this season. these are characters who see death as this all-consuming thing, and they see their own deaths as the only solution. death is the traumatic force driving almost everything about their being for so long—and its reconciliation is everything for them, the greatest sign of growth. so Izzy’s death, and everyone beginning again with love—healing each other with love—is a cap to it all. it’s death as a positive force, for once. it’s death as love, not trauma. it’s death as something that will always happen, but this time not forced by your own hand. it’s a death to everything toxic, to what “Blackbeard” represented, and all the while a sort of rebirth. it’s kind of a death to…death? it’s functionally like the real physical moon replacing the giant romantic imaginary orb: it’s taking the thing that’s been artificially morphed in Stede and Ed’s heads and making it real this time, with all the bittersweet emotions that come with tangible reality.

and honestly, I’m glad that it was tragic and emotional. I didn’t think I’d be so devastated to see Izzy die, but it really did get to me, especially because of everything he said to Ricky and then to Ed. but think of it this way: Izzy and Ed might be romantically compelling because they were toxic and charged (and I hope people still enjoy everything they get from that dynamic in fan work), but imagine if the show had actually gone in that direction—where would it take us thematically? it would kill the thesis; it would be love as chaos and entertainment, but not healing. instead, this show gave us something so much more powerful: a legitimate, fully-fleshed trauma arc.

trauma hurts. Izzy’s death hurts. but that’s okay. that’s great, actually! it means the storytelling was effective—that Izzy’s arc made you feel something. and i know this won’t be every viewer’s experience, but honestly? I’m glad I can have this grieving process in such a beautifully framed light in the safe space ship of this show, because let’s be real—death, real life death, fucks you up. and let me tell you, I could’ve used this show during so many episodes of grief in my life. but here it is now, reminding us that our grief and trauma doesn’t define us—and WHAT a powerful thing for queer love, especially, to be presented as the thing that heals us all. ESPECIALLY when so much grief and death in this community is woven so deeply with the trauma of our identity.

so grieve as you need to, but don’t forget to turn the poison into positivity 💛 because that’s what the show is telling us—choose live, despite!

[mxtxfanatic]

Fandom Gripes #24: Fans acting like the act of interfering in a rapidly deteriorating situation with the intention of helping makes you not only a bad person but also just as bad as (or worse than) the person/people causing the bad situation has got to stop. Blaming mxtx protags for not successfully saving the people they tried to help despite directly helping while others were either 1) actively trying to kill the people the protags were trying to help or 2) passively watching as others actively tried to kill the people the protags were trying to help is like irl when a good Samaritan saves someone’s life but then get sued later because saving said person’s life left them with injuries. Which is why we now have to have Good Samaritan Laws in America to discourage people from deciding that saving a life isn’t worth the consequences.

[yrsonpurpose]

alex: henry and i have been together since the beginning of this year

henry at the beginning of the year:

[shukruut]

🤑

[mermaids-ate-my-dinner]

[b33viemm]

MAIN POST

3. PETITIONS:

@anti-kosa-bill-links <- BLOG WITH MORE POSTS WITH RESOURCES AGAINST KOSA/EARN IT

LET ME KNOW IF I MISSED ANYTHING AND SHOULD ADD SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE STILL HAVE TIME! SPREAD THIS, REPOST IT AND ALL OF THESE LINKS

[writterings]

man living in the countryside can suck because you're not a priority when it comes to disasters. my family had to live in a no heat, no electricity, no hot water house for two months when i was kid not because we couldn't pay the bills but because an electric line went down during a snow storm on our street and we weren't important enough to get it fixed in a timely manner.

[uncanny-tranny]

Something I wonder when people say "do what you want as long as it doesn't harm anybody" is that it opens a question people don't always answer: how do we define harm?

I agree that people should be "allowed" (hate that phrasing) to live how they want/need to live, but when we attach "...as long as it doesn't hurt others!" I sometimes wonder how harm is defined. I think it's intuitive to define harm as physical, but we know that that isn't the only type of harm out there.

I'm not trying to be ornery or whatever, but I do want to encourage people to think critically about how they view and define harm. It's vital that we should have an idea about what harm is, lest we oppress people because we think they are "harming" others (e.g., "you can't transition because it stresses me out!")

[brother-emperors]

soon*

*like, maybe. it'll get done whenever it gets done. but I love how the banner turned out :)

[frecklystars]

flirty 😘😘

☆ ̗̀  drawn in December 2022   ̖́☆

[tomatosup]

can we talk more about the post vacation sadness? that gut wrenching moment when you return and know you have to go back to the same painful routine again. i have a hole in my chest this is not normal I feel like I’m grieving i desperately need life to feel like when you’re on vacation

[gayvampyr]

gen z is defined as those born in 1997-2012 but i feel like if you were born between 97 and 03 you constitute a small middle generation that’s old enough to have favorite movies on vhs but not old enough to have used “adulting” unironically