#what points to brock being trans . hes brock .

[botseeksbot]

dont let my posts fool you . i think theyre both trans .

[tropicalscream]

Venture Bros & Transmisogyny

This is by no means exhaustive, well written and many people have said better & more than me

Venture Bros is weird in that it has some really bad trans coded characters who core is a shitty joke but also those said characters are also some of best trans rep I've seen in western adult animation at all

Take Dr. Girlfriend/Guild Councilwoman Shelia & Colonel Hunter Gathers.

Both their orgins are shitty joke. that's their origin and core.

Shelia is literally "haha woman has deep man voice & everyone questions if she's a woman "

HG is basically the other side of that. "haha man wit fake boobs and in dress thats so weris and funny"

But then like the joke ends. the plot continues and these characters who started out as shityy transmisogynistic caricatures become some of the undisputed coolest, smartest and most badass characters in the series

In a world of Necromancers, Super Villains, Demi Gods and Supersciense. These two regular mortal humans are the ones no one ever wants to fuck with

Shelia is loved, lusted at and sought-after by heros and villains alike. she starts as just the girlfriend/prize to villains having a dick-measuring contests.

Then goes on to become the leader of the whole organization by her own merits, intelligence, snd tenacity and is respected by all by it.

Hunter Gathers is your Nick Fury, he's literally Hunter S Thompson, he's the person who trained Brock Sampson, is a Master Spy & commands untold loyalty from his troops.

He got a sex change to infiltrate a all woman assassin group but his face was still "male" and that was the butt of many jokes.

But even after he goes back to being male he constantly laments how he misses being a woman like unironically.

He literally says at one point: "I miss my breasts! Inside me is a woman screaming to be let out!"

I guess thats what happens when a show was on for 20years and is a product of its time and was darl.and edgy but then dropped the edge and became this huge world and a show about Failure in all its forms

And in a show about Failure where everyone's a washup, has-been, burnout and a joke

Its the two trans ones that stopped being jokes and ended up top dogs

[losersroom]

could u directors cut the conversation of gay90s where it's like "I’ve been thinking about April. You know, before I left." to "“Absolutely,” says Brock, who has never understood anything less in his life"....whatever pieces of that that u want to!! i just love that conversation and would love to hear ur behind the scenes!!!!

GOD so like. alright that whole fic grew out of a conversation me and g were having Forever ago about this post, particularly the second point. and i was like, oh hey, that reminds me of this story i wanted to write about brock going to the gay 90's. and then i sat on it for like two more months.

so the important thing to take away from this is that it was only ever supposed to be that first part, where brock and jonas run into each other and then jonas sucks him off and they kind of subtly agree to not talk about it, the end. but like, i am at heart a gigantic sap and i wrote up to there and realized i couldn't leave it on the final line of. it can never happen again. because i too have been gay and closeted and sad about it, and i didnt want to give all that to brock.

(the other thing, which you didn't ask about but here it is, is like. a lot of these thoughts and attitudes i gave brock in that fic were just... how i felt, about myself and queerness and everything, at age 21/22, born and raised in the midwest. and like obviously i grew up and got over it and i'm extremely queer and trans and married now, and i want to think, hey, in this universe i'm constructing, it can get better for brock, too. we just have to get him there.)

anyway i had to then construct like. a narrative throughline from blowjobs to some sort of mutual understanding. ive said this before but i always think it's fun in these things to like, present brock's opinions and perspective and expectations and just pepper in around the edges hints of what jonas is actually thinking and feeling and doing, which. doesn't always line up. and then make people guess what's going on in his head, same way as brock is guessing. what i HOPE people took from that scene is that, you know, that whole summer brock spent thinking about jonas, jonas was thinking about him, too. trying to work out in his head if brock being there was a one-time thing or if there's an opportunity to have something more. and i DONT want to get into whether or not i think jonas actually has a history in this continuity with any of the people that brock imagines he might, because i think it's more fun to leave people room to draw their own conclusions, but he definitely has more experience with Being Queer In The NHL than brock does, and navigating that world, and being just. careful about it. exercising caution. he might want to mess around with brock again, but he has to approach it with discretion, you know, in case brock... Isn't into that. (but in my heart, because i'm me, i also like to think that jonas is interested because it's brock, not just because he's there and potentially the only one of their teammates available. u know. in my heart everybody's in love, im a romantic, i can't help it.)

so that scene was just intended as like. connective tissue. but it wound up being my favorite part of the entire fic lol. just the... palpable awkwardness of trying to figure out if a guy is interested in you. being on the same page without really being on the same page. and then jonas choosing to just hang out awkwardly and watch a terrible movie at 2 am with brock not just because he cant think of another way to extract himself from the situation now that its clear theyre not going to fuck, but because he sincerely likes spending time with this idiot, lmao. that's Real. that's a move i would have done, when i was dating.

[bugsinthebayou]

I got my buddy my pal kassandra @brothbitch to name and describe the lifesteal members. (we only did the ones i know/know of.) he only knows them via osmosis. heres what we got.

Branzy

-Okay so first of all his name is Branzy and he is. Well.

-Imagine a trans guy.

-Now imagine if that guy was subtlety fucked up.

-Now imagine if that guy was actually like really really fucked up but hung out with an even more fucked up guy so people just think he’s the normal one.

-Thats branzy

-Also autistic vibes but i get that from any character you like

Clownpierce

-Okay right off the bat his name is Clown

-he has a very nice voice according to you

-He’s like intimidating but that’s just cause he hangs out with a guy more pathetic than him. In reality he’s not that scary

-Also I LOVE MY PATHETIC WIFE energy

-Supports branzy's wrongs more than he does his (admittedly few) rights tbh

Reddoons

-Oh uh. Hmm… The tux isn’t quite capitalist enough when paired with the shades but does give off cooler than you energy…

-His name is Red

-He's like an authority-figure sort of character?

-Chill but will turn on you if it suits him- at the beginning.

-Eventually after an arc or 2, he realizes the meaning of friendship.

-True friends get to see behind his glasses.

-His voice is probably really nice.

-Why are his shoes so detailed and why are his soles flesh colored

Spepticle

-OOoH another red!

-Hmm.. He’s like, a really nice guy.

-His name is probably something like. Bl..an? Blain? His names Blain.

-He’s just a chill guy, his streams consist of being a friend.

-People give his character angst even though it has none.

-His character has a lot of music symbolism though.

-He kinda looks like an allay but I don’t think that has anything to do with anything

roshambogames

-Ewughq

-What is that

-His lore is that he’s like. Glitched somehow. He’s the one with a lot of angst.

-Uhhh. His name is brock. Short for Brocken.

-His character probably has something like memory loss?

-It’s like.. a skeleton? And it’s face is split in two?

-Anyways definitely the biggest theatre kid of the server so far.

-That’s all I’ve got to say about this one though

parrotx2

-:0!! Parrot boy!

-You talked about this one when you were discussing the uhhh owl lingo!!

-Okay hum. Well I forgot the canon name…

-But. I’m going to call him. Cl…Ering? Clering??

-He’s like. The mischievous one. The parrots always are. Something stolen? House burned down? It was clering.

ashswagg

-ooOh!! Another suit boy!!

-He and red have definitely teamed up at some point.

-I’m going to call him purple which by lifesteal rules is like naming a child girl.

-Uhh. He’s like Red but more strict. That thing on his tie? Definitely from red.

-They have like a good cop bad cop thing going on but they constantly break through it to just talk to eachother.

-Definitely a ride or die duo.

-Upon closer inspection I actually don’t think purple is the stricter one.

rekrap2

-oooH!!!

-Okay hm.

-He and blain are like unproblematic besties except this guy actually does end up doing some fucked up shit. (Blain supports him tho.)

-I think he enjoys using tnt for his evil doings. On his streams he’s always either farming or being an evil master mind. On other peoples streams he’s just a little freak.

-Probably the most normal person on the server but everyone still gawks at him for no reason.

-Uhh.. Zackery is his real life name but on the server he’s known as Zee.

ItzSubz

-Okay enderman hybrid obviously. Either that or like. Demon.

-This one is definitely transgender. Popular among people who enjoy crying.

-His arc probably centers around being dehumanized. Tries to be feral, is not very good at it.

-(He likes chaos he just hates the prep it takes.)

-Has a dog. Would die for said dog. Not very good at causing chaos but touch that dog and you fucking die.

-He judges people often. He is judged often. Probably the person taking this the most serious character on the server but he accidentally breaks out of it a lot.

-His and Brock’s story is pretty intertwined but it hasn’t been revealed yet

-Anyways his name is. Mal.

PrinceZam

-Okay right off the bat he’s like. The ruler of the server.

-He’s not actually but he goes around saying he is.

-Clown and Mal have tried to kill him and they have failed.

-His name is Smiley. King Smiley.

-He, like Mal, does not have the grinding necessary for backing him up but like. Everyone likes him so it never gets him into trouble. Other than with Clown and Mal.

-But like, he’s good at PVP I think.

-Oh also refuses to wear helmets

-Cant cover up that crown y’know?

Vitalasy

-OH KAY this guy definitely has something to with Mal.

-I think his name is something like. Icious. Or Cal. Something to do with Mal.

-He is also incredibly dark and broody. Everyone can tell he and Mal are somehow related except for him and Mal.

-They will just get into the most obvious “YOU GUYS HAVE SHARED HISTORY TOGETHER” scenarios and walk out like “what’s that guys problem.”

-They have teamed up to kill people before tho.

[i showed him vitalasy's youtube pfp]

-Oh my god I take everything back all of his videos that are not on lifesteal are bedwars related.

-Mal is really into the roleplay thing but he himself is just chilling.

-He mostly just hangs out whenever he’s on the server, his name is just his channel name. Something like Mkalk? I cannot read that so I’m assuming that’s what it says

-Mal will text him in advance to do lore, but he’ll mainly just watch until it’s time to fight.

-He is AMAZING at PVP. Absolute god.

-Also enjoys grinding and is good at it.

PlanetLord

-Oh I’ve seen this one! Didn’t learn anything about him. I think he has a dark gray version though?

-Anyways he certainly is on the server. Mainly a neutral party but just in the fact that he has no Allies. He logs on every day and chooses violence. Also good at pvp, mid at grinding.

-After every battle he does a skin change and pretends to be completely innocent.

-Then immediately after the person he fought walks by he changes back and insults them.

aand done! god damn

[zairas-realm-gateway]

Because of my feral hyperfixation on Bruce Campbell (that apparently has been mounting slowly since childhood), my sister and I often discuss his many characters. Because Bruce is such a charismatic and varied actor, we love discussing the flare he gives to those characters.

More specifically, the sexual and/or gender identities of those characters based on how Bruce plays them. In this post I primarily want to talk about Brisco but I feel like I have to talk about a few others first. Just a couple because my sister and I constantly talk about these characters’ identities.

First up is the lovely Charles Travis (From Congo 1995, for those that don’t know). My personal obsession since childhood, god I want to kiss him. *cough* ignore that...

In the unfortunately, very short time we have with Charlie, he definitely gives off straight vibes. But these are non-toxic straight vibes. Despite being exhausted and stranded in the middle of the Congo, he’s got a bright, friendly disposition and you can hear his chemistry with Karen in the short conversation they have. Honestly, we needed more of him but this post isn’t about that... anyway, Charles is a sweet straight/cis man who may or may not have daddy issues because he let his asshole father send him to the Congo for no good fucking reason!

-

Up next is an easy and familiar choice: Ash Williams, the man who got bitchslapped by destiny and has three kids. 

There’s a lot of content with Ash. You really get to see his chemistry with other characters. I won’t get super deep into it because so many other Tumblr authors

have described it in far more detail but Ash gives off the opposite of straight vibes. The man is definitely giving off bisexual vibes. Ash loved all his girlfriends very much and had excellent chemistry with them. But Ash also has a soft, overly friendly vibe with other guys such as Scotty and Chet. The particular touchy-feely, constantly stealing long glances at each other vibes that Ash shares with Chet is what I’ve talking about. Also, there’s the obvious headcanon that Ash is trans, which I love. The entire series is full of evidence of Ash being trans but I also like to look to the second season of AvED for evidence. The dialog in that season, especially when talking with Brock and Cheryl, is incredibly trans-coded. Go check it out, it’s a great show.

-

Also, honorable mention before I get to Brisco: Autolycus

I haven’t gotten to the part of Xena with him yet but already I can tell you that this man is decidedly not straight. Like literally every other character in this show, this man is some intense flavor of queer.

-

Alrighty, enough of that.

On to Brisco!

Brisco County Jr, the sweetheart cowboy who always looks towards the future.

The past several days I’ve been thinking a lot about Brisco. Why? Because I fell head-over-heels for his disheveled ass, shut up! Now, I would like to say that at the point of writing this, I have only seen the first few episodes but there’s been enough context there for me to really think about this. I know that Brisco gets a girlfriend later in the series/season (he’s a male 90′s MC, it was mandatory he gets one). That being said, I see Brisco as being Gay/Ace with intense top energy (his constant confidence and self-assured aura). 

In like the three episodes I have seen of Brisco, this man has zero (0) romantic vibes with any of the women. His flirting, what little there is of it, is very mild and performative. Most of his relationships with women have a deep platonic vibe to them. Unlike Brisco’s energy with both Lord Bowler and Socrates. When he talks with them, it’s quite flirty and upbeat, playful. He teases them gently and is quite open with speaking to them. Despite him and Lord Bowler being rivals upon meeting, they already friendly protective of each other by the second episode.

The friendship that Brisco has cultivated with Lord Bowler by that point is very soft and affectionate. There’s a deep tenderness that transcends friendship. Lord Bowler drops his rough exterior around Brisco in ways that is not normally done.

People, you do not sing to your rival to comfort them while they’re in pain and dying unless there is something deeper going on with your relationship!

Also, in the episode where he goes to the town full of nothing but women, he doesn’t flirt with a single one. The professor keeps making insinuations about how great their situation is and Brisco’s just like “meh” about the whole thing. In that episode, during the trap set up in the bathhouse, Brisco never even casts an interested look at the naked woman in the bath. He simply thanks her for her help and leaves. Brisco also has decidedly platonic, almost sibling-like chemistry with the town’s sheriff. When he leaves town, there’s only a goodbye. No sidelong glances or shoehorned kiss. Nothing. They’re both the two least horny people in existence.

Speaking of Brisco not being horny, we not come to the part where I see him as being asexual. Though, he is not sex-repulsed. He will have sex if his partner wishes to. He’s not enthused or enticed by sex. Sexual intercourse is not a driving factor in his life. He would much rather be out discovering things or talking to his horse. 

I have a few examples of Brisco in situations where in any other show, the male lead would be overly enthusiastically engaged in the situation:

This is the body language of a man who is viscerally uncomfortable. You can tell by the crease in his cheek where her hand touches that he is actively recoiling from her in-coming kiss.

For this gif, normally in this situation the male lead would be doing one of several things: leaning into the touch, eyes drift down to watch where she is enticingly touching, returning the soft touch, or leaning his head in to continue the conversation. But Brisco does none of these things. He completely ignores what her hand is doing. His eyes stay on her face at all times. He isn’t checking out her very obvious tits. and he is once against actively leaning his head back as he speaks. He doesn’t so much as twitch at her touch. Brisco is completely unphased and uninterested in the sexual implications of their intimate positioning.

This is the least sexiest version of the “omg, I accidentally fell on you in a scandalous way” position I have ever seen in my life. Brisco’s mind is entirely on the situation outside of his intimate positioning. His mind is no way engaged in the fact that he is basically straddling a beautiful woman, he is too busy calculating the amount of danger he’s in. Something that most male leads do not immediately focus on when in such a position.

In conclusion, I’m just here to say that Brisco is an example of performative heteronormativity. He is playing “his part” in normal society but is not enthused by it. He knows how he's expected to act and does so when the time calls for it but does seek out opportunities to act in a hetero or allosexual manner. He would much rather either be on his own and daydream or converse with male friends/acquaintances all while having a deep feminist respect for women and their rights to safety and happiness. 

[kiefermorgen]

Is that [BROCK O'HURN]? No, that’s [KIEFER MORGEN]. The [30] year old [OMEGA] [TRANS MALE] is a [BUILDER] in the [VENOIS] pack. If you ask their friends, they’re known to be [KIND-HEARTED] & [RESOURCEFUL], but they urge you to be cautious, because they’re also known to be [INHIBITED] & [CLINGY]. Their friends also say that they’re into [BEING BRED & FEMINIZED] but don’t even think about trying [SCAT & VORE] with them. [XS, 30, HE/HIM, EST]

Kiefer Morgan’s life almost ended as soon as it began. Discovered in the woods are a mere infant, abandoned and without any clear indication of who his family were or what pack they belonged to, Kiefer could have died out there had it not been for the kindly young couple from the Venois pack who adopted him and raised the babe as their own. They were appreciative of the gift that had been presented to them, and they supported Kiefer in every way he required them to, weathering every single development and change their surrogate child experienced from childhood to adulthood.

As the years went on, Kiefer’s incredible strength and resourcefulness helped him to become somewhat respected in his craft among his pack, but the loss of both his parents left him with an unbearable sense of loneliness only made more apparent by his lack of a mate. Now well into his third decade of life, Kiefer fears he will never belong to someone in the way he longs for, but he does not give up hope of finding the person who will finally make him feel whole again. If his life has proven anything up to this point, it’s that nothing is ever a lost cause…

[bills-pokedex]

Worldbuilding Month: Day 3

{According to my outline, today was supposed to be “explain to the audience that culture is not erased but rather embraced; it just happens to coexist alongside Common and other international efforts for unity and peace,” but because yesterday’s post was so in-depth, fuck it, we’re talking about gay stuff.

Putting this behind a cut because the intro is long and the meat of the post is longer, and also, I’m one of those people who say the word “queer” a lot and would prefer to have this up as a warning so I don’t have to explain to folks why it’s okay and why the “queer is a slur” thing is TERF rhetoric.

Because Pokémon is a children’s franchise from a country that’s somehow more conservative about LGBT+ issues than the United States, it should come as no surprise that there’s very little explicit queer rep in canon, and anything that could conceivably connected to the LGBT community is either: A) actually fanon, or B) treated as a joke. (See any time crossdressing is brought up for the latter.)

It should also come as no surprise that I like to ignore this. Or, rather, I like to briefly touch on it now and then because I like the idea of using media to discuss topics of real-world importance, so the short answer about whether or not homophobia/transphobia/etc is dead is “legally, yes; culturally ... eeeeeeeeeeh.” As in, no one’s outlawed being queer. Gay marriage is legal everywhere. No government, national or otherwise, cares that you’re gay. Resources are not that difficult to find if you’re new to this and trying to figure things out, and the trainer community is very, very queer and very, very prone to having older trainers mentor younger ones so they can figure things out for themselves. (For the latter, the entire point of training according to trainers themselves is to go out, find themselves, and change their lives out there, so even if the rest of the world was just like it is IRL, honestly, training would probably be a lot like Tumblr, only with fewer TERFs and a lot more walking.)

On the other hand, there’s still a lot of tension. The entire idea of world unity and openness is still a pretty new thing, so older generations aren’t as accepting of queer people as the younger generations and various governments themselves are. There’s not really any violence, exactly, but it’s not exactly unusual for someone to have a parent who believes their lesbian daughters just need to meet the right person or a grandparent who’s just casually transphobic. The point is Bill’s world is definitely a utopia compared to ours, but it’s not perfect. Yet.

When it comes to culture beyond the old-fashioned folks out there, queer people are pretty well-accepted. There’s no push for having queer people in certain roles because on a greater scale, discrimination doesn’t exist. To that end, a lot of the characters you’re familiar with may be queerer than you think.

Which means I’m about to get into a List, but first, a couple of side notes:

1. The canon pokémon professors are largely ace, straight, or lowkey bi. Professor Juniper is definitely a lesbian, and Sycamore is pan, but the majority of the others are currently cis dudes in marriages with cis women, cis dudes who were once married to cis women, or Professor Magnolia (who’s aro). The point here is that most of the canon pokémon professors are at least attracted to a gender other than their own.

2. Giovanni is a painfully straight dilf, but the other evil team leaders are some form of queer. For example, Maxie is gay af, Archie is pan and in a poly relationship with his own executives, Cyrus is aroace, Ghetsis is sexually attracted to taking over the world (and himself), Lysandre is very gay and lowkey pining for Sycamore, Guzma is bi, Lusamine is also painfully straight, and Rose is pan but pretends to not be interested for the sake of the media.

3. All of the pokémon storage system administrators are queer with the exception of Amanita, who’s eight years old and therefore we are not going to fucking talk about what she wants right now. Granted, this is largely due to Bill’s habit of adopting every underdog he can find and turning them into administrators, and it just so happens that society’s most offbeat characters might be a little bit queer, generally speaking. I’ve gotten into which flavors of queer in previous posts, but I might bring it up again in a resource post of its own this month if people are interested.

4. Ash Ketchum is perpetually ten, so like Amanita, we’re not gonna talk about what he wants. He is, however, absolutely questioning his gender. (Red, who’s a separate character from Ash, will be mentioned below. Likewise for Blue, who’s separate from Gary. Alls I can say is Professor Oak had really bad luck with children and just so happens to have three orphaned grandchildren.)

That leaves the gym leaders, trial captains, kahunas, Frontier brains, and the Elite Four gauntlets/Champions, which are as follows:

KANTO

Brock is bi but doesn’t realize it.

Misty is painfully straight.

Lt. Surge is painfully straight.

Erika is trans and a lesbian. She may or may not be pining for Sabrina. (Related note: She’s the daughter of one of the kimono girls from the same troupe as Bill’s mother. I bring this up because of the whole technically canon point that only girls can learn the dances to summon Ho-oh and Lugia, which means Erika was taught these once she came out.)

Koga is ace but heteromantic.

Janine is a lesbian though. Koga doesn’t know, and Janine, knowing her father is super-traditional, has no intention of telling him, so she’s 100% in the closet.

Sabrina is ace but questioning her romantic orientation, and probably the only thing that gets her really flustered is the entire concept of romance (which is to say, Erika).

Blaine is gay.

Blue is very gay.

Lorelei is aroace.

Bruno is straight.

Agatha is straight and also salty over a failed relationship with Professor Oak. (Blue’s father is her son, by the way, but not Gary’s.)

Lance is gay af.

Red is pan and perpetually confused by Blue.

Trace does not exist idek what you’re talking about.

JOHTO

Falkner is bi.

Bugsy is aroace.

Whitney is a lesbian who likes to pretend she’s bi so no one questions why her gym is full of pretty girls only.

Morty is gay and publicly in a relationship with Eusine. (Or, at least, people know he’s in a relationship, but the media just refers to Eusine as “a local pokémon collector” and nothing more.)

Chuck is bi and happily married to his wife, thanks very much.

Jasmine is trans and aroace. (I like to pretend Special didn’t happen.)

Pryce is aroace.

Clair is probably the gayest gym leader you’ll come across. Yes, I’m including Kalos here.

Will is gay.

Karen is not only gay but also has been elevated to gay icon by the media. She is the sort of gay baby gays look up to and hope to be one day.

HOENN

Roxanne is trans but straight.

Brawly is bi.

Wattson is shockingly (no pun intended) straight and happily married.

Flannery is gay. She’s not as gay as Clair, but she comes very, very close. She’s also post-op trans.

Norman is aroace, and we won’t get into what that means for his marriage.

Winona doesn’t care for labels. (She’s nonbinary but goes by she/her and she’s pansexual.)

Liza and Tate are, like, eight, so we’re not getting into this either.

I take my comments about Clair back. She’s the most lesbian gym leader. The gayest gym leader, hands down, is Wallace. As an unrelated side point, he's not in a relationship with Steven Stone, contrary to popular belief.

Juan is Wallace’s gay mentor, but because he came from an older generation, his queerness is kinda toned down by comparison.

The entire Hoenn Elite Four is aroace. All of them. Glacia is trans.

Steven Stone is also ace, but he’s panromantic. He’s currently in a relationship with adventure.

SINNOH

Roark is gay.

Gardenia is gay. And trans.

Maylene is bi.

Crasher Wake? Gay.

Fantina? Gay.

Byron? Bi and married to a cis woman.

Candice? Gay.

Volkner? Very gay. Not dating Flint, weirdly enough. Yet.

Sinnoh is famous for having an extremely gay lineup, in other words. It’s a meme among the pokémon training queer community that one day, everyone will just move to Sinnoh and be ridiculously gay in the snow.

The Elite Four, however, is three-out-of-four gay, with Aaron, Flint, and Lucian being the gay ones here. Bertha is not gay but rather aroace and also trans.

Cynthia isn’t gay, contrary to popular belief, but she is in a wlw relationship. She’s actually pan, and her partner is Diantha.

UNOVA

Cilan is straight. Chili is ace. Cress is gay.

Lenora is bi and extremely happily married.

Burgh is aroace and nonbinary. (Pronouns are they/them or he/him.)

Elesa is ace but doesn’t quite know where she is romantically speaking.

Clay is extremely straight and furthermore one of those old-fashioned people I was talking about earlier.

Skyla is a very proud lesbian.

Brycen is gay and in the closet because he’s afraid Unovan tabloids would have a field day with that.

Drayden is gay, but Iris is pan.

Cheren is gay but too uptight to admit it.

Roxie is bi and also poly, incidentally.

Marlon is bi.

Shauntal is gay. She has a crush on Caitlin.

Marshal is gay.

No one really knows which way Grimsley goes, and he seems to delight in not telling anyone. (He’s bi.)

Caitlin is a very tired trans woman who’s also bi.

KALOS

You would think Kalos would be gayer than Sinnoh, but actually no. A lot of them are actually straight, bi, or simply ace. 

Viola, Ramos, and Wulfric are all the “we’re just cis and straight” crowd.

Grant, Korrina, Clemont, and Valerie are all ace.

Valerie is homoromantic, though.

Olympia is bi and also post-op trans.

Malva is straight and once had an unfortunate thing for Lysandre.

Wikstrom is straight.

Siebold is shockingly straight, to the surprise of literally everyone before he’d clarified this point.

Drasna is gay ... which is also to the surprise of literally everyone, who all thought she was straight.

Diantha is openly gay, but her relationship with Cynthia isn’t public knowledge. She leans into the gay identity to be a lesbian icon for younger queer kids, but she’ll still accept roles for straight characters (even ones in romance movies) because she wants to also show off her range as an actress.

ALOLA

Ilima is gay and trans.

Lana is eight and what is this.

Kiawe is bi.

Mallow is also gay and trans.

Sophocles is aroace.

Acerola is surprisingly not ace but rather just simply straight. I have this headcanon because I refuse to make a pun out of her name.

Mina is pan af.

Hala is straight.

Olivia is very, very straight.

Nanu is too tired to care. (At one point, he was bi, though.)

Hapu is a baby gay.

Kahili is an awkward af gay.

Molayne is not only gay, but he’s also the storage system admins’ wise gay uncle, who possesses the only brain cell among the storage system admins’ gay community. He’s also nonbinary (they/them or he/him), but he’s honestly extremely chill about pronouns.

GALAR

Galar is basically the Sinnoh for bi people, ngl.

Milo is bi.

Nessa is bi.

Kabu is bi.

Bea is bi.

Allister is eight years old and what is this. (Probably ace, though.)

Opal is actually pretty straight. She was once in a relationship with Mustard.

By contrast, Bede is very gay. And also trans.

Gordie? Bi.

Melony? Bi.

Piers? Very bi.

Marnie is bi but kinda denies it.

Raihan is extremely gay and for some reason thinks the other Galarian gym leaders are gay too.

Klara is bi.

Avery is bi.

Leon is bi.

Mustard is straight and once had a relationship with Opal but is currently happily married to someone else.

Peony is basically like Clair and Wallace for straight people. Like ... he’s the straightest person you will ever meet. Take all the stereotypes about straight people, remove the toxic masculinity, and distill the results down, and you will have Peony. Peony is so straight you can use him to hang pictures perfectly. He’s so straight that if you’re ever insecure about whether or not you’re gay enough, you need just to stand next to Peony for five minutes. Peony is basically why almost everyone else is a little bit bi—because Arceus or Mew or whoever put all the straightness in the world into Peony and went, “Wow, I think I went a little too far.” Peony is that straight.

ORANGE ISLANDS

Most people probably don’t care about this region because it’s an anime only, but I care.

They’re all gay. Luana’s daughter exists because of a sperm donor, but Luana herself isn’t married and is very much a lesbian.

Furthermore, Rudy is trans because Electric Tales of Pikachu once made a trans joke about him, and you know what? I’m going to fix that so it’s something that actually respects trans people.

The Orange Islands are basically the other location gay trainers say they’ll turn into a queer commune, only it’s for gay people who judge the snow-loving gays hardcore. (To be fair ... they have a valid point. Listen. Listen, my fellow queer people. Why would you want snow when you could have sunny beaches and no frostbite?)

BATTLE FRONTIER

Anyway, Noland is aroace.

Greta is ace but biromantic.

Tucker is nonbinary (they/them or he/him) and also aroace.

Lucy is straight, shockingly enough.

Spenser is aroace.

Brandon is aroace.

Anabel is bi.

Palmer is straight.

Thorton is aroace.

Dahlia is homoromantic but ace.

Darach is 100% straight.

Argenta is aroace.

The Battle Frontier is, in other words, the closest thing to a Sinnoh or Galar for ace people. }

[lux-has-too-many-fos]

🌈🌈🌈 for whoever you'd like to share, please!~

Okay okay okay

Imma just... Do all my Brawl Stars f/o's :)))

Belle

Pansexual, Aromantic and Transfem

Tbh thats just me projecting and the fact that she just has massive pan vibes. Idk how to explain them lol

Also shes canonically a single mom, that always talks about her son, but never about the parents

Sounds like a "I thought I had fallen in love but then I realized I had just forced myself to do so due to amatonormativity and I had to end the relationship cuz it was just not good for me, but they didnt take it well and I had to run away"

Or maybe thats just me lol

Byron

Aromantic and Homosexual

Like

Look at this man

Does he look "Straight" to you? Does his super exagerated theatre kid wannabe voicelines sound "Straight", to you?

He litteraly has the aro flag in his color palette like kxkdkskks

Also, He has a white ring, Aka an Aro ring, has spent most of his life traveling along, and loves reptails and anphibians (Aka frogs)

DOES HE SOUND STRAIGHT, OR WORSE (J), ALLO TO YOU?

Anyways

Piper

Aromantic Lesbian

You see, Piper had a role in the game where she was a "Heartbreaker". Men came in hoardes to try and "conquer" her, but she always ended up rejecting them

That doesnt sound very straight or allo to me sis

Bo

Queer

I just think he doesnt really care. That kind of stuff is trivial to him, so he just uses the most comfortable and broad label he found. And hes pretty happy like this!

Brock

Transmasc, Pansexual and Demiromantic

The trans part is almost canon at this point. His old design used to be a girl (He was called "Rocket girl* on his concept art) but he ended up being a man

So I took him with my filthy trans hand :)

The pan part? Again, just the vibes :D

About the demi part, again, he is currently living with two robots, only has friends, and shows very little interest in other people in general

Not very allo to me, no sir

Jacky

Agender, Aromantic and Asexual

She just doesnt care

She can say and do anything, and never cares for what others may think. And she just seems so happy and free

And thats how the aro label made me feel to some extent

So to me, that freedom translates to "I dont feel it, so I dont care about it"

Shes just doesnt care about Gender, or romanticism, or Sex. And thats how she is so happy and free

Well that got personal

8bit

Aromantic, Asexual and Agender

Its called projecting sweaty :)))

Rosa

Lesbian Demigirl or Pansexual Demigirl

Its just that she was released in Lesbian Visibility Day, and for some reason I associate demigirls with Nature?

The Pan part is me projecting again lol

Nita

Aromantic and Asexual

Again, spent most of her life with just her family and some animals. Never showed any urge to go find anyone else. That does not sound allo in any way

Crow

Aromantic Asexual

He has many lines and moments where he reffers to his friend (Or his crew) as the most important part of his life. For fucks sakes he lives with them, and the only moments we se him smiling is when he is with them.

That aint very allo of you Crow

Bull

Biromantic Asexual

The vibes are strong on this one

Plus im 99% sure he paint his nails black, and thats just Bi Ace culture

Bibi

Homoromantic Asexual Demigirl

Do I have to say anything else?

Emz

Bisexual Demiromantic

For the demi part its just me projecting

But for the Bi part

CMON

My beautifull wife, aka Tara

Bisexual Aromantic and Bigender

I feel like the only way I can truly feel comfortable in a relationship like the one I have with Tara is if I share those parts of me with them, because im still insecure about them.

Ive seen and experienced aro, trans and biphobia so many times, from people Ive concidered friends or family, im just so afraid of finding someone, caring for them that much, and then being so dissappointed.

Also she has the Bi Flag on her color palete

:D

[leoninekelter]

All of my Avengers headcanons!

- Steve- bisexual

- Bucky- gay

- Tony- bisexual

- Stephen Strange- gay

- Natasha- aroace (occasionally lesbian, depends on which one I’m feeling at the time)

- Cooks along with cap and teaches Wanda with him since she’s interested, Avengers would probably just get takeout every day if they didn’t tbh

- Wanda- pansexual

- Loves scratch and sniff stickers. She cam to America and didn’t find out about them for a year, and then one day she ran into the living room with a sticker sheet screaming “PIETRO HOLY SHIT”

- Her and Vision are now both obsessed, along with magnets. At some point everyone just sticks magnets on Bucky and Vision sometimes and they like it.

- Vision- non binary (he/they)

- Clint- bisexual, non binary (they/them, doesn’t have dysphoria and is AMAB), ADHD

- Since I don’t injure my nose a lot, I live vicariously through Clint and every other week they have a nose bandaid.

- After like, two days, they’ll show up and have several new bandaids in like seven new places Clint wtf we just fixed you

- Half of them are for decoration, they loved colorful stickers and then Wanda’s discovery just fueled his need for colorful bandaids

- Pietro- aroallo (homosexual) or homoromantic homosexual, depending on what I feel like again

- I simply reject his death. He is alive. Periodt

- Not to show emotions, but he’d literally die for Wanda

- In the first month of being in the Tower, he just stuck by her side and was ready to kill the toaster because they’d never seen half the stuff there in their life

- Rhodes- trans (he’s gone through his whole transition by now, doesn’t like to bring it up much. I did it because I can idk)

- Loki- genderfluid bisexual (they/she/he)

- They knot and untie their sweater strings when they are nervous or bored. When they aren’t wearing a sweater they braid their hair strands.

- I also live vicariously through Loki, and they have several ear piercings.

- Thor- lesbian (jk pan, but doesn’t care for a label)

- Bruce- biromantic demisexual, autistic + OCD (haven’t completely worked out this headcanon, but I love it lmao)

- Has a blue point Siamese kitten named Einstein Thor got him once

- On the corner of his desk is a really shitty card Thor made for him. It’s like his favorite thing in the world besides the Odinsons and his cat.

- Einstein’s fur is really soft and smells really good so he constantly (I can’t make this not sound weird but idk) rubs his face in his fur cuz it’s so nice

- Likes to listen to music to focus or calm down, like Cavetown or Walk the Moon or Green Day (specifically Basket Case)

- Valkyrie/Brunnhilde- Bi

- Chews on the collars of her shirts. This wasn’t a habit that developed until her first gf died :(

- This is why she tries to wear jackets and things that aren’t fabric

- Her teeth hurts if she bites too hard on things after years of this, because they chew so much

- It only happens when she’s zoned out now, though

- Yes this is me projecting onto characters leave me alone 😔

- Hela- lesbian

- Her hair is never kempt. She probably hasn’t brushed it in years. Her hairstylist almost got punched last time she tried to straighten it out, now she just trims the bottom to her best ability and doesn’t bother.

- Accidnetally killed Valkyrie’s girlfriend in a car crash years ago. Doesn’t like to talk about that or emotions, but it fucked her up. She cried a lot after it and only Thor and Loki know. She’s much rather have Val hate her than talk about it though

- More of a satanist than anything else, she kinda just vibes

- Ultron- non binary (duh)(any pronouns, masc)

- Nebula- lesbian (sapphic hehe)

- Tried to stab Mantis once because she thought she was messing with her emotions, when really she’s just gay

- Still hasn’t smiled yet. She will one day though.

- Mantis-pan, autistic (ahaha we love irony and Mantis in this house) she/they

- Really, really dense. Despite being an empath, can’t understand tone or emotions of others or herself very well.

- It is her only goal in life to make Nebula smile. As she gets better at interaction, she hopes to get better at making her smile.

- Doesn’t actually like to read Nebula’s emotions though, because Nebula feels fiercely. She looks so empty but she is so much more emotional than anyone she’s ever read.

- Starlord/Quill- Bi, ADHD

- Gamora- trans :))))

- Peter Parker- trans, ADHD, isn’t sure or medicated yet tho so F in the chat

- Venom- non binary (they/them)

- Eddie Brock- obviously gay, shapeshifting alien bf hello

- Carol- lesbian

- Maria- lesbian

- Sam- he’s straight in most of my stuff but if I feel like shipping him with a hoe (cough Steve or Buck) he gay now idk

Ships:

OTPS

Steve + Bucky

Tony + Stephen

Thor + Bruce

Mantis + Nebula

LOVE

Wanda + Natasha

Wanda + Vision

Pietro + Clint

Carol + Maria

Bucky + Sam

Sam + Steve

Sam + Bucky + Steve

Carol + Val

Wade + Peter

Peter + MJ

Peter + Ned

Bruce + Tony

Rhodey + Tony

NOTP

anything inc*st and/or p*dophilia. Pretty basic, but... seriously pls dni

Inc*st includes half/step/adopted siblings :)

OKAY

basically everything else I don’t rly care what you ship lol

WON’T MAKE CONTENT FOR:

anything shipping Steve with a girl, or shipping Nat with a guy. They rub me the wrong way but I don’t mind if you guys mind your own business, you’re still very good people I bet :)

[maaaaarveeeeel]

They Can’t See Us If We Move

Summary: Alexander Pierce is in the process of opening a new park. However, after a horrible accident the safety of the park has raised some serious questions. Now, in order for his beloved park to open, he must get the opinions of three renowned experts, Dr. Steve Rogers, Dr. Bucky Barnes and Dr. Tony Stark, to sign off on the safety of the park. But what happens when everything doesn’t go as planned. And what happens when his grandchildren are in the middle of it all?

A/N: So I got excited and decided to post chapter 1 early. I’m going to work on this more tomorrow. Few things, anyone that only knows the movie you’ll notice I stole a lot of dialogue from it in this first chapter (I promise I don’t do that in the later ones, just this first part has a lot of science stuff that I’m not about to fake.) Anyone that knows both the book AND movie, I’m sure you can appreciate why I picked Pierce for Hammond (he was actually a huge ass in the book.) As for the deaths, remember this is an au, so just because it says “lives/dies both” doesn’t mean I’ll actually follow that, or have to. Enjooooooooooooy! (I’ll add tags and warnings as I post chapters)

Warnings: Only one in this is Pierce being an ass and slightly transphobic towards Bucky (it’s very subtle) 

Characters:

Grant (paleontologist, lives both)- Steve Rogers 

Ellie(paleobotanist, lives both)- James Buchanan Barnes (trans, woman to man)

Malcolm (chaotician, lives both)- Tony Stark

Hammond (InGen CEO, dies book, lives movie)- Alexander Pierce 

Muldoon (game warden, lives book, dies movie)- Sam Wilson 

Gennaro (lawyer lives book, dies movie)- Bruce Banner

Wu (chief geneticist, dies book, lives movie)- Dr. Stephen Strange 

Tim (kid dino knowledge, lives both)- Peter

Lex (kid hacker, lives both)- Morgan 

Arnold (chief engineer, dies both)- Nick Fury

Nedry (computer programer, dies both)- Brock Rumlow 

____________________________________

Chapter 1

Steve wiped the dirt off his face and gave a happy sigh as he looked down at the newly dug skeleton. It was a big find for them, an important one too. 

"They're ready to try again babe." 

Steve turned towards the voice and smiled. Bucky, his boyfriend, was walking towards him with a small smile on his face. He grunted and started walking towards the man, letting the diggers know where he was going. 

"Think it'll work this time?" Steve mumbled.

"One can only hope." Bucky sighed, rubbing Steve's back and kissing his cheek. 

As they approach where their team was set up Steve frowns. Some of the volunteers have, once again, brought their kids with them. He doesn't understand why they feel the need to bring them. It's not like the kids are allowed to do anything. The bones are far too fragile for them to be handling. In Steve's opinion they shouldn't even be here, but Bucky says if he wants the volunteers to come help he has to accept the kids. 

"Ready to try again?" One of the volunteers, he thinks his name is Clint, asks from where he's sitting in the chair. 

Steve just nods and turns where two others are standing with the machine. A moment later a loud noise, like a gunshot, echoes through the canyon. 

"How long does it usually take?" Bucky asks, looking at the screen.

"Should have an immediate response," Clint replies, "shoot the radar in the ground, then the image bounces back."

Suddenly the screen lights up with an image, and the group lets out sighs of relief. 

"Amazing," a volunteer shouths, "in a couple years we won't have to dig anymore."

Steve frowns at this. "Where's the fun in that?"

Bucky smiles and pats the man's arm before looking back at the screen. "Postmortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments." He turns and looks at Steve. "Velociraptor?" 

"Yes, good shape too." Steve smiles and points at the screen, then frowns as it goes fuzzy. 

"What happened?" Clint asks. 

"Dr. Rogers isn't machine compatible." Bucky chuckles.

"They've got it in for me." Steve mumbles. "Look at the half-moon shaped bone. Hard to believe they never learned to fly." The group behind him laughed and he rolled his eyes before turning towards them. "Well, we've found that dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than they do reptiles. See, look at the pubic bone," he turns and points at the screen, "it's turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae is full of hollows and air sacs, just like a bird."

A kid steps forward and looks at the screen then towards Steve with an unimpressed look. "That really doesn't look all that scary. It looks more like a six-foot turkey."

The group's eyes go wide and Bucky sighs. Steve's jaw clenches and he steps forward, eyeing the kid. 

"Alright. Let's try something. Try to imagine yourself in the Jurassic Period. You get your first look at the, what'd you call it? Oh yes, the six-foot turkey! As you move into a clearing, but the raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago. He moves like a bird; lightly, bobbing his head. You keep still, because you think that, like a T-rex, his visual acuity's based on movement, and he'll lose you if you don't move. You're wrong though. Not with a VELOCIRAPTOR. You stare at him, and he just stares right back at you. That's when the attack happens. Not from the front, oh no, from the side, from the other two raptors that you didn't even know were there." Steve walks around the kid and wipes his face. "See, Velociraptor's are pack hunters. They use coordinated attack patterns, and they'd slash at you with this," he takes a claw from his pocket and holds it in front of the kids face, "a six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. They don't bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, they just slash here," he uses the claw to fake slash at the kid's chest and thigh, "or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. Point is, you're alive when they start to eat you. So, you know, try to show a little respect." 

The kid held back tears and just nodded. Steve smiled then turned and started walking back to the dig site, Bucky close behind. 

"If you wanted to scare the kid you could've pulled a gun." Bucky chuckled. 

"You want one of those?" Steve snorted. 

"Not that one, but a breed of Dr. Rogers would be interesting." Bucky laughed. 

Steve stopped and looked at Bucky. "Buck, you're a man, you can't have kids."

Bucky smiled and leaned up and placed a small kiss on Steve's lips. "While I appreciate the endless support, I was born in a woman's body. Might as well make use of it." 

Steve snorted, but before he could say anything Bucky stopped him. "Women aren't just baby makers, I know Rogers. Don't get started, you know what I meant."

Steve rolled his eyes and opened his mouth but was cut off by the sound of a helicopter. The two spun around and started running towards the dig site. 

"Cover anything that's exposed!" Bucky shouts. 

Steve runs towards the helicopter and yells at the pilot that just stepped out, he just points to a trailer on the other side of camp. Steve then turns and runs there. 

He slams the door open and growls when he sees a man rummaging through the fridge. The man turns and smiles at him, popping the cork of a bottle of expensive champagne.

"Hey, we were saving that!" Steve growls. 

"For today, I guarantee it." The man says with a smile. 

Steve steps forward and points at the man's chest. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Alexander Pierce, and I'm pleased to finally meet you in person, Dr. Rogers." He shakes Steve's finger, then blows the dirt off and turns back towards the kitchen area. "I'm glad to see my fifty thousand a year is being well spent." 

The door slams open once more and Bucky walks in yelling about the asshole who just covered their bones. 

Steve quickly turns and grabs his arm. "Uh, this is our paleobotanist, Dr. James…"

"Barnes." Bucky finishes, raising an eyebrow at Steve. 

Pierce raises an eyebrow at that. "I thought Dr. Barnes was a woman?"

Bucky's jaw clenches. "I'm a man."

Pierce raises his eyebrows. "Well someone back at the company is going to get an earful for that one." He says as he pours the champagne in his cup. 

"Buck, this is Alexander Pierce." Steve whispers. 

Bucky's eyes go wide at this. "Um, hello Mr. Pierce, I'm sorry for my outburst-"

"It's fine," Pierce smiled, "I can't imagine my entrance was all that good. Anyhow, I'm in need of your assistance." Pierce offered a glass to Steve. 

"What kind?" Steve asked, accepting the glass. 

"Well, I'll get right to the point. I like you," he looked at Bucky," Both of you. I can tell instantly with people; it's a gift." He sipped his drink before continuing, "I own an island, off the coast of Costa Rica. Leased it from the government, and I've spent the last five years setting up a kind of a biological preserve down there. It's really spectacular.  I spared no expense." He sighed, and leaned against the sink. "No doubt that sooner or later our attractions will drive kids right out of their minds." 

"What are those?" Steve asked. 

"Small versions of adults, baby." Bucky chuckled. 

"Not just for kids, adults too. We have plans to open next year. If the damn lawyers don't kill me first. I don't like them. Do you?" Pierce laughed. 

Steve and Bucky looked at one another and shrugged. "We don't know any."

Pierce laughed again. "Count yourselves lucky. I have a particular one that represents my investors, and he says they insist on outside opinions."

"What kind?" Bucky asks. 

"Well, your kind." Pierce says. 

"Why would they care what we think?" Steve asks.

"Well, it's right up your alley. Why don't you both come down for the weekend? Have a look around? I'd love to have the opinion of a paleobotanist as well. I've got a plane standing by." 

Bucky and Steve looked at each other. They weren't all that impressed with the vague answer. 

"Now isn't really the best time. We just dug up a new skeleton." Steve said. 

"I could compensate you by fully funding your dig." Pierce said, pouring himself another drink. 

"This is an awfully unusual time…" Bucky mumbled.

"For a further three years." 

Bucky and Steve look at each other with wide eyes and smiles then instantly hug one another and cheer at this. Pierce smiled and sipped his drink when he heard Bucky ask where the plane was.

Tags (open):

@xblackboard-monitor-vimes

@buckyssbabyy

@honestly-dontknow

[benisasoftboi]

A Very Serious Pokemon Theory

A while ago I wrote a 2,406 word essay about Pokémon Live! that I thought no one would read. And then, apparently, a few people actually did read it. I found this incredibly flattering - and have also taken it as a challenge to write something even more niche and completely unnecessary.

I will therefore be attempting to convince you of my theory that Pokemon Live! (the Pokemon live-action stage musical) and the Pokemon Christmas Bash music album actually take place in the same universe - one that is more similar to our own than any other in the franchise. My explanation will include reference to the American military, Jesus, politics, infinite multiverses, and the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. I feel that I should warn for very frequent reference to homophobia, as well as a brief reference to something that could be seen as anti-Semitic. Also, someone will get a Tony Award at the end.

If any of that intrigues, please read on.

The Works In Question

I’m going to briefly explain what Pokemon Live! and Pokemon Christmas Bash are - the initiated can feel free to skip down to the next section if they want.

Pokemon Live! was a live action Pokemon musical that toured in the US from September 2000 to January 2001. It is best known among Pokemon fans for including a subplot that revealed that Ash’s mother and Giovanni dated, possibly implying that Giovanni is Ash’s father - leading to an incredible showdown between Ash and Giovanni where Giovanni, no joke, taunts Ash (a child) by implying that he slept with Ash’s mother, and then follows that up by telling him that nice guys finish last.

Outside of Pokemon fandom, it is mostly known because the character of James was played by a young Andrew Rannells. Rannells would go on to be a very successful Broadway and television actor. One of the things he’s best known for is originating the role of Elder Price in the musical The Book of Mormon. He has, as of writing, been personally nominated for two Tonys, but won neither. This will be relevant later.

Pokemon Live! can be watched for free on YouTube, albeit in very poor quality. It follows Ash trying to win a ‘Diamond Badge’, which is actually a ruse by Giovanni to train his (~mechanical marrrrrvel~) Mecha Mewtwo. It’s a really fun, bizarre ride, because there’s something weirdly earnest about it - like the creators were genuinely, sincerely trying to make a good musical. They did not succeed. It’s a dumpster fire. But a glorious one. 

Pokemon Christmas Bash is an album released at Christmas 2001. It features 10 Pokemon themed Christmas songs, some of which are covers of existing songs, and others which are entirely original. The singers are all members of the 4Kids anime cast. Most of the songs are hilarious, and it’s obvious that everyone was having fun with the whole thing (contrasting Pokemon Live!, which was apparently absolute hell to work on). 

Fun fact, at least one of the songs was written by Eric Stuart, James’s original English voice actor (unless you want to get anal about it, in which case I’m talking about James’s second voice actor, following Ted Lewis, who did all of seven episodes versus Stuart’s hundreds). All in all, there’s not a lot else to say about it (for now). It can all be listened to online, but a physical copy will set you back a hundred dollars or so.

Both Pokemon Live! and Pokemon Christmas Bash are American-made entries into the franchise, and are therefore considered non-canon by most fans. I find this attitude very boring, especially since the Generation 6 games established Pokemon to exist in an infinite multiverse rather than just one fictional universe with one canon. There’s no reason these two can’t exist in their own bizarro canon universe, far away from the rest of the franchise - and I am now going to begin presenting my theory.

The Weirdest Line In Pokemon Live!

Pokemon Live! is filled with strange moments. Mewtwo Ex Machina. Team Rocket on scooters. Brock stopping the entire plot to sing and dance about his polyamorous inclinations towards much older women. 

But the strangest (to me) is when James references Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. By name. Seriously, here’s the quote:

Well yeah, but where does [Mecha Mewtwo] stand on campaign finance reform, social security, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, for the unfamiliar, was America’s policy regarding gay and bisexual individuals serving in the military, instituted in 1994, and repealed in 2011. The policy basically meant that if you wanted to serve, you had to stay in the closet - but also no one could harass or try to out you. In other words - ‘it’s okay that you’re having gay thoughts, so long as you never act upon them’. (Was that an inappropriate time to make a reference? Can’t be more inappropriate than referencing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a Pokemon musical, surely...) 

I talked about the meta-level homophobic implications of this line last time, but here, we’re looking at this from an in-universe perspective. It raises important questions.

This must mean Pokemon Live! takes place in Pokemon America, as opposed to the Pokemon Very-Loosely-Japan that we see in the anime and games. So if there is a Pokemon American military, what other American staples are there Pokemon versions of?

So why is there homophobia in this version of the Pokemon universe? No other Pokemon universe has homophobia (sidenote, is it not a little bit darkly funny that the most homophobic piece of Pokemon media is the musical?). In fact, most other Pokemon universes are kind of progressive, if anything - very equal opportunity regardless of race, gender, nation regionality.

Pokemon Christmas Bash has us covered.

Nobody Don’t Like Christmas

Everything we need to know comes from the fourth song on this album - ‘Nobody Don’t Like Christmas’. 

This song is sung entirely by Meowth, and well. Look. Maddie Blaustein was a very talented voice actress. Perhaps she was also a good singer when not doing the Meowth voice, I don’t know. 

But Meowth should not sing. Singing and Meowth do not go together. No one should have heard that voice and thought ‘let’s give that character a song’. It happened in the anime as well, and it’s the worst part of an otherwise great episode. 

If you can look past the grating vocals, though, this song is incredible. The whole thing is a three minute diss track for every non-Christmas holiday, going everywhere from shaming the dateless on Valentine’s Day, to pointing out that Thanksgiving isn’t all that fun for the turkeys, to just straight up declaring St. Patrick’s Day to be dull.

But there are three important lines here to consider.

The first is my personal favourite line in the whole song. 

The Fourth of July / Can be a real drag / If you can’t get no one to salute your flag

Firstly, I love that Meowth is offering the warning that patriotism can only go so far and that eventually citizens’ blind loyalty to country will evaporate if given sufficient reason, leaving celebration of said country hollow and meaningless. A bold choice for Christmas 2001. Not to mention a necessary message for today. 

More importantly though, this suggests that these songs might be being sung by specifically American versions of the main cast. The Fourth of July is a holiday only an American would reference in a song like this, as no other country celebrates it - it definitely wouldn’t come up if they were, say, British, for example (in that case, would probably mention Guy Fawkes Night instead). Even more unlikely if they’re Japanese.

However - it’s worth remembering that Meowth is actually canonically American (he is from Hollywood), meaning it isn’t unreasonable for him to make this reference. This is where line number two comes into play.

Memorial Day is a day to forget!

That’s right, everyone.

Meowth hates the troops.

It’s true. Why else would he dismiss this holiday?

But why does Meowth hate the troops?

We return to Pokemon Live! for answers.

Pokemon and the American Military

Interestingly enough, these are not the only franchise entries that mention the American military. Gym Leader Lt. Surge was explicitly described to be an American soldier in the early games (also fun but not really relevant fact, his anime counterpart shares his English voice actress with Meowth - if him having a voice actress seems odd, the explanation is that Blaustein was a trans woman, and so mostly played male roles as they suited her voice better). 

Real world locations have been gradually phased out as the franchise has continued, and later games implied that he is now from Unova, the region based on America. 

Meowth never seemed to have a problem with Surge in the anime, suggesting that in that version, he does not hate the troops. So what’s different in Christmas Bash?

There’s only one explanation.

Remember, Pokemon Live! establishes the existence of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Also remember - James and Meowth are good friends. And James is gay.

What? That’s always been ambiguous, you say? 

Go watch Pokemon Live! and tell me that version of James isn’t gay. Watch one scene with him in it. Go watch it and then tell me that man is straight. Go and do it. You can’t. Pokemon Live! James is gay as Christmas.

Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a policy that discriminates against gay people. James may not be a soldier, but it still does reflect social attitudes towards discrimination, and so is something he would likely oppose on general principle. And as James’s friend, Meowth would likely do the same.

Meowth hates the troops because he is an ally.

And so we have our definitive connection. This also confirms that we are in America in both entries.

Probably Blasphemy

So what’s the third important line then?

Who wants to go through all that Yom Kippuren?  

A reference to Yom Kippur. This is a Jewish holiday that I do not feel equipped to explain, due to my definitely not being Jewish, but I understand it to be extremely important in the Jewish faith. 

Essentially saying that it’s too tedious in a song about how great Christmas is doesn’t seem like a great look, 4Kids, just saying. I doubt it was done maliciously but like... still.

However, this confirmation of the existence of Judaism confirms something much bigger - the existence of religion. Another American staple! 

Up until now, this has been ambiguous. Sure, we’ve been referencing Christmas all this time, but there have been no references to Christ, so we could assume that Christmas is a secular holiday with a weird name. It’s already somewhat secular in the real world - my family couldn’t get less religious and we celebrate it. But if there is Judaism, it is totally reasonable to assume there is Christianity. And that opens a whole floodgate.

So firstly, this finally gives us an explanation for where Pokemon Don’t Ask Don’t Tell probably came from! After all, which religion is most associated with homophobia in real-world America? (No hate towards non-homophobic Christians, just for the record, but like... this is a problem, to put it mildly). So this further solidifies the connection, putting them in the same universe.

Plus, the song ends with Meowth stating that he actually hates Christmas! So Meowth is again being an ally - he’s just, like, the kind that takes it really, really far and maybe needs to chill just a little?

Secondly, this makes a certain line from another song on Pokemon Christmas Bash even funnier, where Brock replaces the beginning of the hymn Joy To The World with:

Nurse Joy is a girl / She sure is fun / But I like Jenny too!

Because this means that covering that song with those lyrics isn’t just kind of inappropriate out-of-universe, it’s also inappropriate in-universe!

But what’s really messing with me is the hundreds of new questions Pokemon Christianity raises. How do they reconcile Arceus with God? Is God in this universe a metal goat, or do they coexist? Was there Pokemon Jesus? I’m not sure I’m okay with Pokemon Jesus. If there is Pokemon Jesus, did Pokemon help with the crucifixion (the Timburr line seem like they’d have been helpful)? Or was Jesus like, a baby Arceus, and therefore probably quite difficult to crucify? Is there Pokemon Heaven? Is there Pokemon Hell? How do the Pokemon Christians feel about Mr. Mime, who is clearly an insult to God? What is a Pokemon church service like? Are there different sects of Pokemon Christianity? Were there Pokemon religious wars? Are there Pokemon Catholics? Pokemon Protestants? Pokemormons???

I don’t like this.

And here’s another question.

Remember how I mentioned how Andrew Rannells played James? And how he also originated Elder Price in Book of Mormon?

Well. Here’s the thing. 

Pokemormons are a very real possibility. If there is Christianity, and also America, then it wouldn’t be unlikely for them to exist in this universe.

However, we have determined that this is one universe, and therefore, James and Andrew Rannells cannot coexist. Only James exists in this universe.

So who first played Elder Price in The Book of Pokemormon?

Okay, So, Full Disclosure, This Is Basically Just My Fanfiction Now, But the Sunk Cost Fallacy Says You’ll Probably Stick Around Since You’ve Already Read Over 2,000 Words Of This Nonsense By This Point, and I’m Going to Take Advantage of That

I think it was James. 

I think James went on to start a Broadway career. I think he was in an unlicensed Karate Kid musical, and was Tall in Jersey Boys, and then wound up as Elder Price. I think he did a great job. I think he got nominated for a Tony when award season came round, along with lots of other people involved with The Book of Pokemormon. 

But he didn’t win it. Norbert Leo Butz won it for Catch Me If You Can (I had to look that up, was planning on changing it to a Pokemon-joke title - but what do you know, it already has one. Serendipity!). 

James no longer has a Broadway career. But he does have a Tony.

He stole it.

Because here’s the thing - Team Rocket are actually pretty good at crime when Ash and Co. aren’t around. Remember that one time they stole an entire stadium?

They could have literally stolen the whole show, but instead they just stole one thing - that Tony Award. And so James now has an award for Best Actor in a Musical, as well as the unofficial award for Most Extra Thing Ever Done At The Tonys. 

James disappears, but his legacy remains. In this universe, all Elder Prices have lavender hair - fans reject any Price who tries to avoid this. 

Meanwhile, Jessie, James and Meowth sail off into the sunset in their balloon. James is happy. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will be repealed soon. He will have a chat with Meowth about overzealous allyship, though he appreciates it all the same. He smiles at his friend Jessie and takes her hand. Christmas is a long way off, but he can’t help but be excited all of a sudden. He’ll spend it with his family - Jessie, Meowth, and now, his stolen Tony Award.

In the meantime, they’ll do what they love best.

Be gay and do crime.

What Have We Learnt?

This is the most homophobic Pokemon universe we know of

It’s also a universe where everything is set in America

Meowth is surprisingly politically aware

Meowth hates the troops

There was a Pokemon Jesus

4Kids maybe should have hired some sensitivity readers

James from Pokemon possesses more Tony Awards than Andrew Rannells 

I have way too much free time

Anyway, this was 2,698 words long and a terrible use of literally everyone’s time. It is rambly and extremely self-indulgent and goes off on countless tangents and you could probably poke like ten holes in it without trying. Please don’t take any of this seriously. It’s now 4 AM. Thank you and goodnight. 

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

“After the disappointment of the Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man movies, everyone’s favorite wallcrawler has been having a renaissance. Entering the Marvel cinematic universe in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, the webslinger fully redeemed himself with well-crafted live-action film in Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

 Yes...okay...that was definitely what Homecoming was....

 “and a wildly successful spin-off film Venom, ”

 I mean financially successful sure...

 “In the midst of all his success, Spider-Man has quietly become one of the most inclusive and socially conscious superheroes of today.”

*raises eyebrow*

 Okay...go on...

 “Last week, it was announced that Spider-Man: Far From Home would feature two out transgender actors playing trans characters, the first big-budget superhero film to do so. Spider-Man: Homecoming also featured a queer character, as well as numerous people of color.”

  Wait who was the queer character in Homecoming?

 “It’s also worth mentioning that Spiderverse included a Jewish version of Peter Parker, who is typically portrayed as either secular or Christian.”

 ....ehhhhhhhhh....yes and no.

 In media adaptations barring maybe one (the 1994 show cos I do not remember where he got married) Spider-Man is portrayed as...I guess secular but really it’s more that they just don’t say anything.

 It’s not that the character is not a believer in a faith per se, especially if you go by older adaptations during times when hardly anyone was secular. It’s just that they, understandably, aren’t saying anything.

 In the comics Peter is some kind of Christian but probably a Protestant (unless you go by Amazing Grace where he is an atheist but that’s hot trash we don’t talk about) but we don’t really talk about it that specifically.

 We just know that he and his family celebrate Christmas and very, very occasionally Aunt May references going to church and that she, Peter and MJ believe in a monothetistic deity they refer to as ‘God’.

 And really apart from the Church thing there is no clue to Peter’s religion and Marvel probably (wisely) would rather keep it that way. He even got married in a civil ceremony!

 However in the SUBTEXT...he’s Jewish. And it’s basically an open secret that he is and always has been Jewish.

 “The Spider-Man video game also featured a wonderful easter egg for queer fans by having a giant rainbow flag, as well as several smaller ones, scattered around the game’s fictionalized New York City map. ”

 I mean that’s wonderful but I wouldn’t call that an Easter Egg so much as...it’s just what you’d find in modern NYC.

 “Even the Venom film got in on the fun, with fans shipping Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the titular male alien-symbiote after the two kissed in the film. Sony even encouraged the pairing, releasing a romantic comedy-esque trailer for the film to promote the home release. While some complained of queer-baiting, most felt that it was all in good fun and included queer people in on the joke, instead of making us the target.”

 Again, good for them but I don’t think that was the movie actively trying to be positive towards queer people.

 Brock and Venom kissed when Venom was bonded to Brock’s ex-fiance and had a pronounced female form, being an adaptation of a character literally called She-Venom.

 And it was based upon a script written in the 1990s so really it was more the movie did it and then people took it as a thing that was shipping Venom and Brock (even though Venom is sexless). Brock and the symbiote have been shipped numerous times in the comics but the subtext has always been that the symbiote, if any sex, is female. In the Spec cartoon it is referred to as Symbi (a pun on Cyndi) and in the Spider-Girl comics it is marked out as female (granted this happens after it’s bonded to a woman).

 And again, headcanon away but like...that probably wasn’t intentional at all Sony were just being goofy or unintionally made something people took a certain way.

 “Indeed, even in the comics, Spider-Man has always been a fairly inclusive hero. Miles Morales was introduced in the early-2000s, taking over the mantel from Peter Parker for several years. ”

 Okay, this is so weird for me to be correcting such a praising point but lets really look at this.

 First of all Miles didn’t take over Peter’s role for several years he did it permanently.

 Second of all Miles is from 2011 so that’s not the early 2000s, that’s the early 2010s, but okay maybe that was a typo.

 Third of all, is it really all that logical to say this franchise that began in 1962 has always been fairly inclusive and then cite a character from 2011 as proof of this? Wouldn’t examples from during the FIRST quarter century have been more apt?

 Fourth of all...eh. Has Spider-Man been fairly inclusive from the start? Yes, no, its complicated.

 Look there were exactly 0 LGBTQ+ characters in Spider-Man until maybe the 1990s and even then I couldn’t off my head tell you who they were. Felicia Hardy is bisexual but we didn’t find out until the 2000s and it was most prominent in an AU. Really the most significant LGBTQ+ character who’s had the fact that they are queer be more than a one off reference was Max Modell and he debuted 2011 and IIRC wasn’t established as queer until 2012. In defence of Spider-Man the Comics Code literally FORBID any character be anything other than straight until the 1990s and even then it was relatively rare, even in X-Men which you’d think it wouldn’t be.

 If we’re talking POC again this one is a bit complicated Glori Grant, Joe Robertson, Randy Robertson are frequently appearing POC characters but not in every run and they aren’t usually as prominent as like Jameson, Aunt May, Harry Osborn, MJ, etc. Characters of other ethnicities are even less frequent and I don’t even know what we should make of Puma/Thomas Fireheart. I mean A for effort, they wanted a Native American character who wasn’t really a villain and wasn’t exactly a sterotype so there is that I guess.

 Again though...most other Marvel franchises decade by decade weren’t much better with this and we should give credit where credit is due to the same guy who created Black Panther writing a nuanced scene where 2 black people in the 60s separated by age discuss different approaches to civil rights with neither being proven right or wrong.

 When it comes to disabled people, outside of evil insane villains, forget it, there is nothing before Flash Thompson in 2008 unless you count Aunt May’s chronically poor health.

 “Spider-Gwen quickly became one of the highest-selling female superhero comics. Spider-Woman was a prominently featured bisexual character, and the female Asian-American hero Silk also had LGBT supporting characters, Rafferty and Lola, who were in a healthy relationship. Additionally, many view vampire villain Morbius, who is getting a spin-off film starring Jared Leto next year, as a metaphor for those suffering during the HIV crisis of the '80s. ”

 Again...Spider-Gwen and Silk are 2010s characters so that’s not ‘always fairly inclusive’.

 I don’t even know if Jessica Drew is bisexual, I’ve never heard that but I don’t think she is.

 Morbius as a metaphor for HIV...MIGHT be true if we are specifically talking about his 1990s solo-book which I’ve never read. But the character as originally created 100% was never about that because he was created in the 1970s before HIV was known about.

 “Unlike his Marvel counterparts Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, Spider-Man’s world has accurately reflected real world diversity for years.”

 ....Not really.

 I’m not even saying Spidey maybe haven’t been comparatively better at it than those guys but he’s deffo not been accurate.

 Plus to be fair to the other guys, Captain America and Iron Man have had at least one major black supporting cast member and in Cap’s case he was fairly candid about social strife and issues.

 And with Thor it’s not that fair to throw shade at him for not reflecting the real world given that 90% of this characters and stories are literally pulled from fantasy and myth. I don’t even know if there are any queer figures in Norse myth let alone poc.

 “While it’s a seemingly simple idea that any of us can be a superhero, it’s sadly still a radical concept in a endlessly growing film genre that has predominetly centers straight cisgender white men. ”

 Well that’s mostly because the comics the movies adapt are about those types of people.

 “That is because relatability and inclusion has always been core to Spider-Man’s appeal and message. It’s why the late Stan Lee decided that, unlike other superheroes who expose parts of their faces, Spider-Man had to wear a full-face mask.”

  Stan Lee only speculated that that was part of Spider-Man’s appeal, he never had any input on that design choice it was all Steve Ditko...who frankly was unlikely to have been thinking about that...

 “Even further, Spider-Man isn’t the king of a country, a billionaire, a woman out of a Greek myth, or a brilliant scientist. He’s just an average high-school kid from Brooklyn who always strives to do the right thing even while struggling to balance his everyday life and hiding a secret identity.”

 WHOA there buddy...Spider-Man isn’t routinely ‘a kid’ nor is he from Brooklyn.

 MILES is from Brooklyn but Peter, as evidenced by that great big caption in Captain America: Civil War, is from QUEENS.

 “And it’s the idea of balancing a secret identity with everyday life that has always allowed Spider-Man to connect with queer audiences long before comic writers were allowed to explicitly include LGBT characters.”

 ...I’m not denying this necesarrilly but whilst i’ve heard stories from poc who connected with Spider-Man I’ve never heard this about LGBTQ+ fans of Spider-Man.

“Indeed, perhaps the strongest part of Spider-Man’s inclusivity is the subtlety to which it has been done. While Black Panther, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman rightly put issues of identity front and center, Spider-Man’s quiet diversity allows audiences who typically cry “SJWs are ruining my favorite characters” to actually see diversity showcased without it being overt.”

 Errrrrrr...sure....*represses memories of when Miles Morales was first announced*

 Lets um...wait and see what happens when those trans characters show up in the movie this year okay.

[loveforpreserumsteve]

Call It What You Want (Trans!Steve and Pan!Bucky Modern Summer AU)

Fifty:

Walking into the house, Steve lagged a little. Intentionally trying to get a moment alone with Bucky. And Steve suspected that both Natasha and Sam knew. Natasha walked just a little bit faster to the guestroom and Sam started flipping lights off on his way to his shared room with Bucky. All Steve could do was blink as he watched them head off in separate directions.

Soon enough, the pair was left by themselves, and suddenly Steve didn't know what to do.

"So," Bucky started, causing Steve to let out a little sigh of relief. Bucky shoved his hands into his shorts pockets and bashfully glanced at the floor as he suggested, "There's, uh, this… thing…"

Steve's brows were furrowed and he smirked, "What kind of… thing?"

"A movie marathon," Bucky answered, peeking up at Steve.

Chuckling, Steve asked, "You know that you already asked me to that right?"

"No," Bucky shook his head. Chuckling, himself, Bucky clarified, "Slasher Sunday. It's at midnight and they play the classics."

"Of course, they do," Steve teased. Thrilling at the way that Bucky's cheeks blushed. Mainly thrilling at the knowledge that Steve had an effect on him.

With his cheeks still red, Bucky continued, "This weekend is the Nightmare on Elm Street series."  Then, a bit remorsefully, Bucky added, "But it's totally okay, if you don't want to."

Trying not to answer too quickly, Steve didn't want to seem too eager. Out of all the teen magazines and the romcoms that he'd been absorbing over the years of his short life, Steve knew one thing: being eager scared boys off. Even though Steve wanted nothing more than to readily agree to spend all the time in the world with Bucky, he held back. Trying to play it cool.

"We don't have to watch those, if you don't want to," Bucky rushed, raking his hand through his tousled brown hair that was starting to curl in the humidity. Rambling now, Bucky continued, "Although we could still watch movies. Movies are always best, I think. I mean, it's quiet and then you have something to talk about after instead of trying to think of something. And there's, there's cuddling, and --"

"Buck," Steve interrupted, giving him an amused quirk of his brow and lips. Bucky immediately shut his mouth, pressing his lips tightly to keep himself from talking while a blush flamed his face and ears. Steve's grin just grew as he accepted, "I think Slasher Sunday is a fine idea."

Then, before Steve can overthink the situation and his decision, he stood on his tip toes and pressed a sweet kiss to Bucky's cheek. Noticing the way Bucky's smile slowly stretched across his face, Steve moved back to placing his feet flat on the ground and turned on his heels. Wanting to look over his shoulder, but refraining from doing so as he walked down the short hallway to the guestroom.

As soon as he closed the door behind himself, he leaned against the door, trying to catch his breath. Lightheaded from the adrenaline, Steve pushed a shaky hand through his floppy blond hair. He needed to calm down. He needed to get a better grip on his heart. They only had two weeks left.

With a clay mask on her face, Natasha exited the ensuite and held out a jar of the smooth mask to Steve in a silent offer. Steve nodded and pushed himself off the door. Crossing the area, he passed Natasha and splashed his face with water first. Just needing to calm down a bit.

"So," Natasha started, setting the jar on the counter, "I take it, it went well."

Trying to fool Natasha as much as he was trying to fool himself, Steve rolled his eyes, "We're going to watch movies."

"Ooh," Natasha playfully cooed, holding out a thick headband for Steve.

"Don't even start," Steve chuckled, slipping the headband on and pushing it back up his forehead to get his hair out of his face. Lying to himself, "It's exactly like every other Monday, except on Saturday."

Playfully, Natasha wiggled her brows as she gleefully teased, "Saturday is date night, babe."

Steve started applying the mask to his face and paused to inform Natasha, "You're insufferable."

"Don't get mad at me for pointing out facts," Natasha held her hands up in mock surrender before poking Steve's side.

"It's not a big deal," Steve attempted again.

"It's not a big deal," Natasha mocked, rolling her eyes.

With the goo only applied to half of his face, Steve paused and chewed on the inside of his cheek as he admitted, "It's not. It's just a…" Steve paused trying to find the right word, but only being brought back to how Bucky had described the movie night, "Thing."

"You can call it what you want, but he likes you," Natasha softly insisted. Somehow always knowing how Steve was feeling and knowing exactly how to help him. Then, Natasha made her own confession, "Not just in an oh-you're-around-so-I-might-as-well type of way. But the something-more type of way. Something real."

Steve stood there for a minute. He wanted to believe Natasha. He wanted to trust her and see what she had seen. But his own insecurity and Brock's words wouldn't let him be happy. In his vulnerability, Steve quietly questioned, "Yeah, but does he like me for me? Or does he like me because I was born as a girl?"

"Stevie, I hate to break it to you. But you were never a girl," Natasha reassured. Her tone kind and nurturing. She leaned on the counter, crossing her arms along her chest. Giving a little shrug, "You might've been born with female presenting genitalia, but you were never a girl. From the day we met, I could tell."

Rolling his eyes, Steve scoffed, "We were eight, Nat."

"Yeah, and I was already crushing on other girls," a smile curling the corners of her lips as she nudged him, "But I never had a crush on you. I think my soul knew you were a boy before my eyes did. Knew before even you did."

Shaking his head, Steve went back to caking the mask back onto his face so it wouldn't be too uneven. Making faces to get it into the crevices, Steve reasoned, "You're only saying this because you're my best friend."

"No," Natasha harshly shook her own head. She strictly clarified, "I get to say this because I'm your best friend. But it doesn't make it any less true. Just like how it doesn't make Bucky's feelings for you any less true."

Looking down at his hands, he tried not to think about how much they still looked feminine to himself. A bit bitterly, Steve informed, "He's only ever dated girls."

"So? I used to only date boys and talk about dating boys. Didn't mean that I didn't like girls," Natasha explained.

Steve was glad that he had her. He was lucky to have a best friend who understood and accepted him. A best friend who could explain away his insecurity and correct him.

Smirking, Steve asked, "When did you get so smart?"

Playfully Natasha shrugged and teased, "Must run in the family."

Not knowing if she meant his family or the Barnes, but not caring. Steve wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. Letting the hope in his heart grow as she reciprocated the hug.

[wrestlingisfake]

Double or Nothing preview

Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - The winner of this match will face the winner of the Casino Battle Royale at a later date to determine the first AEW world champion.  Interestingly, Jericho is scheduled to challenge for the IWGP heavyweight championship on June 9, and this match may indirectly affect that one.

This is a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 12, where Jericho began his sudden shift from “I’ll never wrestle anywhere besides WWE” to “I can be the Brock Lesnar of New Japan.”  Neither man has had a match since Wrestle Kingdom 13 earlier this year, where Omega lost the IWGP heavyweight title in the main event, and Jericho lost the IWGP intercontinental title in the semi-main. 

Jericho’s character outside of WWE has been a leathery weirdo brawler, whose services are highly valued by promoters even though he’s totally uncontrollable.  He’s randomly ambushed several top names in New Japan, and he seems to be gunning for Cody Rhodes down the line, but his recurring nemesis is Omega.  The general idea is that Omega entered the “greatest of all time” conversation with his six-star performances in 2017, and that puts a target on him for legends like Jericho that want to make a statement.  Omega defeated Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12, then Jericho shockingly attacked him at All In, then Omega’s team defeated Jericho’s team during Jericho’s wrestling cruise, and then Jericho attacked Omega again at AEW’s February 7 media event.

This is basically the biggest match AEW can present at this point.  It’s a rematch from the Tokyo Dome, featuring the biggest current star who’s never been to WWE and the biggest ex-WWE star they could sign.  In some ways it’s a coup they could put this together in a US show, but in other ways I’m disappointed that AEW couldn’t come up with something hotter.  18 months after his first NJPW vignette, the challenge for AEW is to prove Jericho still has mileage as a 48-year-old resident legend, and not just as an occasional special attraction.  Luckily, Jericho is keenly aware of this stuff and pretty good at finding ways to keep himself over, so hopefully this match will set up a good direction for him.

I tend to think Omega should win here, but Jericho is coming in with a pretty shitty win-loss record, considering he’s been set up as the top heel in the company.  A win for Jericho would add momentum to the angle that he thinks he’s singlehandedly put AEW on the map, and set up more matches down the line.  Then again, Omega is the actual ace of the promotion, and needs to be protected as such.  So I’m expecting a creative finish, but I don’t know which guy will win.

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson vs. Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix - The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt) are defending the AAA tag team championship.  This feud started with the Lucha Bros. showing up at an AEW press conference, taking exception to the Bucks calling themselves the greatest tag team.  This led to the Bucks flying all over the place to ambush the Lucha Bros. at various indie shows.  Finally, when the Lucha Bros. won the AAA tag title at Rey de Reyes, the Bucks suddenly showed up for an impromptu title match and won the belts.

It’s worth noting that a rematch for the title has already been booked for AAA’s Verano de Escándalo on June 16.  So the outcome of this match won’t have much impact on which team ends up with the belts in the long run.  With that in mind, the logical outcome is for the Bucks to win to establish them as the benchmark for the strong tag team division they’ve been promising.  Penta and Fenix aren’t enhancement talent by any means, though, so I could see them scoring a win on the Bucks’ turf.  But until the Lucha Bros. put a ring on it and sign with AEW, it would be risky to put them over.  I’m leaning towards the Bucks retaining.

Cody Rhodes vs. Dustin Rhodes - Dustin, 50, is the son of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes and his first wife, Sandra; Cody, 33, is Dusty’s son by his second wife, Michelle.  This is virtually a direct follow-up to their match at WWE Fast Lane 2015 (as Stardust and Goldust), which had been the closest they’d come to their dream of doing the match at a Wrestlemania.  A year later, Cody left WWE to begin a meteoric rise in the non-WWE scene, leading to his leadership role in AEW.  Once it became clear Dustin was leaving WWE, it was obvious he would end up here.

Dustin delivered a strong video package about needing to prove he’s still got it, and wanting to settle old scores with Cody.  Cody cut an intense promo likening Dustin and his era with Old Yeller, suggesting he has to put Dustin down because he loves him.  You can debate the wisdom of indulging in this storyline at a pivotal point in AEW’s beginnings, but you cannot argue that both men as fully committed to proving it can work.  Hopefully that results in some killer storytelling and a good match.  I have to think Cody wins here, and the brothers hug and Dustin ends up with a backstage job or something.

PAC vs. Hangman Page - ...already happened, so I guess you can watch that here.  The match on this card had to be cancelled.  The angle is that Page was so hype to fight Pac that he went to an indie show in England to do the match a week early.  Pac intentionally got disqualified and then pillmanized Page’s knee; he claimed he only wanted the Double or Nothing match to injure Page, but since he’d already succeeded with that he wouldn’t be coming to this show.  I suspect this match was intended to determine a participant in the match to crown the first AEW world champion, since Page has been talking about wanting that spot for months. 

As of this writing, AEW hasn’t announced what Page will be doing on this show, or even if he’s kayfabe recovered enough from the knee attack to have a match  This could be trouble, because it leaves fans to imagine all sorts of crazy surprise opponents that the company may not be able to deliver.  Already people have been actively speculating about CM Punk (the Dave Chappelle of wrestling), Jon Moxley (formerly WWE’s Dean Ambrose), and Joey Ryan (who had a farcical feud with Page last year).  How AEW handles this mess will leave a lasting first impression with fans, particularly fans like me who’ve seen all the stupid things WWE would do in this situation.

Britt Baker vs. Nyla Rose vs. Kylie Rae - This is a three-way match, so the first woman to score a fall over either opponent will be declared the winner.  Baker is probably best known as the wrestling dentist from the four-way match at All In last year.  Rose made headlines as the first trans woman signed to a major wrestling company, and I’ve just learned she starred in a Canadian sitcom a few years ago, playing a computer programmer, which is an interesting contrast from her “Native Beast” wrestling persona.  Rae is relatively less known, but she’s a smiley happy character in the vein of Bayley, and she’s from Chicago so I know who I’m rooting for.

Unfortunately I think the big story in this match is whether the live audience will accept Nyla, or if a bunch of jerks try to start transphobic chants or something.  I think the hardcore AEW audience is cool about it, but there’s just no way to know until she goes through the curtain.

Of these three, Baker seems to be the one they’re pushing as the face of the division, which may make her the favorite.  But the fact it’s a three-way with nothing tangible at stake makes this one hard to call.

Christopher Daniels & Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian vs. CIMA & T-Hawk & El Lindaman - Daniels’s team is SoCal Uncensored, which has become something of an underground sensation via their sing-along catchphrases and Being the Elite skits.  Cima’s team represents a faction called Strong Hearts, consisting of the wrestlers who joined him in leaving Dragon Gate to found Oriental Wrestling Entertainment in Shanghai. 

OWE is one of several attempts to expand the wrestling industry into the lucrative Chinese market--AEW is clearly partnering with them to cultivate Chinese talent and a Chinese audience.  Note, however, that Cima, T-Hawk, and Lindaman are Japanese, not Chinese; the Chinese wrestlers they’ve been training will presumably appear in the future.  This match seems to be less about China than about getting OWE over with the AEW audience, and acknowledging the influence Cima has had in the careers of wrestlers like Daniels and the Young Bucks.

If you weren’t paying attention to ROH last year, you might be surprised how hot SCU has become with the kind of fans that’ll be at this show.  When I went to All In I was prepared for the sea of Bullet Club shirts and constant Elite chants, but the response to anything SCU did was far more intense.  They really should win here, although there may be a plan to use them to establish the Strong Hearts as a force to be reckoned with.  It’ll really depend on how often Cima and the OWE guys are planning on flying out to do these shows.

Aja Kong & Yuka Sakazaki & Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida & Riho & Ryo Mizunami - Kong is legendary monster heel, whose career goes back over 30 years.  As for the others, I don’t have much info on them.  My impression is that this match is designed to help introduce joshi (Japanese women’s wrestling) to the west, which would suggest the younger participants in this match (Sakazaki, Shida, Riho, and Mizunami) will be groomed for long-term roles in the company.  From what I’ve heard, Kenny Omega wants AEW to spotlight Japanese women as a unique attraction, similar to how WCW used cruiserweights and luchadors back in the day.  It’s a clever move, since the other US promotions have male Japanese stars, but joshi is still rather obscure in the west.  On Being the Elite they’ve played up Kenny Omega’s history with Riho, so I guess I have to pick her team to win.

Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta vs. Jack Evans & Angelico - Chuck and Trent are the Best Friends, who were on the verge of breaking up when we last saw them in New Japan.  Evans is one of the original big names from the super-indy days in the early 2000s.  Angelico has been teaming with Evans in AAA, Lucha Underground, PWG, and elsewhere.  The Young Bucks have talked a big game about making the tag team division more important in AEW than in other promotions, but matches like this one will determine if they’re really serious about any tag teams but themselves.  I can’t decide which team should win, but I’ve got a soft spot for the Best Friends so I’m rooting for ‘em.

Casino Battle Royale - This is a 21-person gauntlet battle royal match, scheduled for the pre-show, where the winner will qualify to for a future match to determine the first AEW world champion.  Typically this kind of match starts with two participants in the ring, and each additional participant enters every 90 seconds or so.  The twist here is that five participants will start, and every three minutes another five enter the match.  The final entrant, being “lucky 21,” gets to enter alone, meaning only one person will have that “freshest person in the match” advantage.

The rules for elimination have not been specified, so I assume it’ll be the standard rules for most battle royales.  After entering the match, a participant will be eliminated if they exit the ring over the top rope and both of their feet touch the floor.  Participants can avoid elimination by stalling their entry into the ring, or by exiting the ring under the top rope, or by going over the top and keeping one foot off the floor until they can re-enter.  Eliminations can occur at any point in the match, before and after the last participant has entered.  The last person left in the match after everyone else has been eliminated is declared the winner.

Confirmed entrants for the match include:

Ace Romero (the big fat dude from MLW)

Billy Gunn (he’s an ass man, womp womp)

Brandon Cutler (the Young Bucks’ old buddy from PWG)

Brian Pillman, Jr. (the son of the “loose cannon” from WCW/WWF)

Dustin Thomas (a guy with no legs who impressed everyone at Joey Janela’s Spring Break recently)

Glacier (the Mortal Kombat guy from WCW...yes, that Glacier)

Isiah Kassidy (one half of the tag team Private Party)

Jimmy Havoc (an edgelord from the British indie scene)

Joey Janela (sleazy guy from GCW that does the Spring Break shows)

Jungle Boy (Luke Perry’s son doing a Tarzan gimmick) 

Luchasaurus (a guy who seems to be neither a luchador nor a dinosaur)

Marq Quen (the other half of Private Party)

Michael Nakazawa (Kenny Omega’s old buddy from DDT)

MJF (obnoxious preppie douchebag from MLW)

Shawn Spears (WWE’s Tye Dillinger/Cody’s old buddy from OVW)

Sonny Kiss (formerly XO Lishus in Lucha Underground)

Sunny Daze (scary weird guy that makes Bray Wyatt look like Mr. Rogers...okay, I’ll admit that’s not a very helpful comparison right now, but you get the drift)

???

???

???

???

That leaves four spots remaining as of this writing.  Knowing AEW, those spots could go to some of the guys who are signed but not booked (like Darby Allin or Peter Avalon) or to total unknowns, or to giant surprise stars.  It is entirely possible some women could be added to the match.

Obviously that “lucky 21” spot is perfectly suited for a big surprise entrant to shockingly debut, run wild, and win the whole thing.  However, since this match is for the pre-show, I don’t see them blowing their wad on a really big surprise.  On the other hand, the winner of this match has to be a credible contender for their world championship, so they can’t just give it to Joey Ryan or whoever.  This is where you really start wondering if Jon Moxley is available.

Sammy Guevera vs. Kip Sabian - The opening match, to air on the pre-show.  Guevera is a former AAA crusierweight champion.  Sabian has held the IPW:UK championship, and based on the limited data I can find for that title, he may well still be the champion.  Considering how much of this card consists of wrestlers I literally never heard of until they were booked for this show, it says something that these two are so obscure they’re in the opener.  But that’s to be expected when starting a promotion from scratch.  Hopefully they both give us a reason to care who they are.

[tawneybel]

Because I mentioned I was going to eventually get rid of my old shower curtain, my mom surprised me and got me an Edward Gorey one. Gashlycrumb Tinies! 

One of the recent ghost books on ghost I read mostly just (intentionally or not) taught me how to fake spooky sh*t at seances but in the entry on mirrors it mentioned looking into one at night was considered bad luck. But that’s kind of hard to avoid. I already knew using candlelight to look into a mirror is considered to be unlucky but I think a cellphone’s flashlight doesn’t count. Anyway, going to the bathroom at night is going to be spookier. :D 

Life’s been kind of hectic lately, mostly due to things outside of my control. I want to get a new job this summer. And fix my sleeping schedule. I’ve been getting stress dreams again for the first time in a while. I don’t count a bad dream as a nightmare unless I wake up terrified but it still sucks. Going to ask my doctor if melatonin is a good idea.  

My dog (see above) had a nasty cough after getting knocked out for some dental surgery, which is supposed to be normal, but it lasted for a while so we took her to the vet. And it turns out that the reason she was scratching on my door every night to be let outside was because of a UTI. She’s doing better now. 

Mm, there’s a lot more things to talk about but I’ll save that for another post. 

The Dark Knight: There was a scene where a bunch of men got their uniforms stolen and they were tied up and g*gged. I watched the trilogy out of order. To be honest, I get kind of bored watching these but the villains are cool. Bane’s darling but now that I’ve seen Venom I prefer Eddie Brock. Jonathan Crane is kind of cute, too. 

Now I finally get why people like the Joker so much. He gives not a single f*ck. So many things could go wrong at any moment during his plans, he relies so much on luck, but he has so much confidence. I feel like if tried to slide down a hill of money I would hurt myself. The best scene was the Joker walking quickly out and away from the hospital. Also, the bank heist in the beginning. 

Crimson Peak started to get good when Edith and Lucille were having the butterfly discussion and ended up being better paced than I thought it would be. But after Carter got his head smashed in, I’m not sure why Edith would go with Thomas after that. 

Gothic horror is actually fun to learn about in school because the genre’s progenitors would probably be into yandere and monster f*cking. It’s like... In the first art history class I took, we were looking at Renaissance paintings and there was a fair amount of stuff with a de*th and the maiden motif. The modern equivalent would be a lot of metal album covers.

Brain Damage: I was looking for infestation movies and I’m so glad I stumbled upon this. Not because it’s particularly good but ‘cause the MC is super cute. Basically the talking leechy thing pumps Brian full of an addictive fluid through the the back of his neck and they have a faux symbiotic relationship where Aylmer gorily eats other people’s brains.

There was a scene where Brian’s brother answers the phone lying on his stomach in his und*rwear. Followed by a scene where Brian takes his pants off and you see his t*sh. Also a very brief M/F/M thr*some dream that gets gruesome real quick. 

The Stuff: If you’re into The Blob, you’ll probably like this. The mode of killing is a bit different. Stuff’s alive and controls people from the inside. 

A Cure for Wellness: Shout out to his movie for showing n*ked/scantily clad old people without getting weird about it. Within the first half hour I was surprised when it didn’t do well at the box office. The visuals draw you in but it was probably too long and could have been better. I wasn’t expecting to it get kind of fantastical. It’s got existentialism, surrealism, mystery... Uhhhh... I’m not sure whether to classify it as fantasy or sci fi. 

Venom: Hits so many k*nks. Dan’s cute, Anne has good taste in men. Carlton Drake gets symbioted. Actually, I’m not sure if he or Eddie is sexier. The first guy to get possessed in the Eminem video is also cute. Best line is Venom saying, “Look at her. She has no idea we are going to get her back.” The Rorschach-like ending credits were cool. 

Sleepaway Camp: Before I watched this, I already knew the ending. Sort of. To be honest, I expected “Angela” to be an offensive portrayal of a trans woman but the situation was more like David Reimer, minus g*nital m*tilation. The ending itself... Aunt Martha may not have gone on a murder spree but she’s the scariest person in the film. Otherwise I wouldn’t have said there’s anything terribly special about this film. Based on the synopsis of the sequel, I’m probably not going to watch the rest of the franchise. 

Hell Fest: Pretty typical modern slasher but the atmosphere is great. It was also funny. I’m just gonna use bullet points for this.

“You know what? He deserves at least some dignity after death.” “Let’s give him a b*ner.” 

When asked if he mentioned something about having a f*tish for p*ddles, Gavin answers, “I have never said that in my entire life.”

Why did Asher get hotter while he was struggling and getting stabbed in the eyeball?

It took me a minute to recognize Tony Todd. Sad. 

Men in Black II: At no point in the film did Serleena, who is capable of transformation and has tentacles, transform into a male und*rwear model. :’( 

Fullmetal Alchemist: (The manga.) A military fantasy that raises some good questions about ethics. And dat solar aesthetic. The chimera designs were so cool. Envy is a cruel, skimpily dressed shapeshifter with a grotesque “true form” and Lin gets willingly possessed by Greed. So that’s right up my alley. 

Break My Heart 1,000 Times: Good time to read this. It takes place in February. Read this because I Still See You has Richard Harmon. The book started off decently but I didn’t like the protagonist’s behavior near the end of part three. And there’s some sexism. Like hysterically slapping her love interest and blaming herself for not having any weapons in her room because she’s a girl. Seriously, I keep a bigass King James Bible on my nightstand. If anyone breaks in, they’re getting brained by the Good Book. Or a lamp. Or the nightstand itself. But hopefully my dog would maul an intruder first. 

Christine: Wasn’t really into it but you might be if you’re into corruption, e.g. a nerdy guy becoming slightly more physically appealing jerk*ss. 

The 100: I got teary-eyed when Clarke and Lexa were saying goodbye and then the latter accidentally gets short. Poor Murphy can’t catch a break, as usual. Started season four the other day. 

Hostel: DUMB REASON TO GO “OUT OF BOUNDS”, FELLAS.

Going into this, I thought I’d like Jay Hernandez’s character the most but then I found the other guys cuter until the end then I really liked Paxton. Weirdly enough, I found Alexei cute. There’s decent whump but I’m not into v*mit. 

I think I saw an ad with the guy who tortured Paxton when I was in elementary school but I mistook it for something from one of the Saw movies. This was obviously before I had any interest in watching these kinds of movies. XD  

Songs of the Day: I’ve been listening to a lot of Dead inside the Chrysalis/Dedderz lately... I’m crushing on Manek Deboto. He should be the one wearing a th*ng in the She’s So Rad music vid! If they ever do  “He’s So Rad” they should include Elm Street’s Jesse Walsh and Brian from Brain Damage...

[danvssomethingorother]

YOUR AU RUSTY POST keeps coming across my dash omg so Im here fishing for headcanons!!! What do you think the better/Asshole Dimension is like? The boys, Brock, friends and foes?

Ohhh this is a fun ask.

Ok so like for the most part, for characters who have no personality in canon, I have a multiple choice kinda head canon thing since I write fics and like changing it up all the time. 

I know I have said in the past AU Rusty is probably a villain but since then I have also come to like the idea of him being more of neutral party neither on the OSI or Guild’s side.

I’m going to be using those head canons for my fic ‘Success in Progress’ and I don’t wan to give away future plot points.

But for this particular ask, I am going to go with my head canons for if AU Rusty is a villain.

- He started out his career in villainy when he was hanging out more and more with Action Johnny, neither liking that their dads were just forcing them into the roles of adventurer scientists. One day while they were smoking weed together, Johnny tells him they are going to rob their dads. Rusty is so high, he’s like whatever man, that sounds amazing.

- They both get super cheep, Scooby Doo like monster costumes and get their asses handed to them by the original team Venture who are freaking pissed these idiots were trying to steal dangerous chemicals that they were probably going to get high off cause they are super dumb teenagers.

- Rusty and Johnny are no longer allowed to hang out with each other after this but they are rebellious teenagers and are kinda sick of being controlled by their dads, so they run away together. They are both really bad for each other and only bring out the worse in each other. They were both living in their car, addicted to drugs and selling faulty doomsday weapons on the black market ready to murder each other when they are arrested. This draws the attention of not David Bowie who is just fascinated that Jonas’s son is out of control like this. He is the one to bail Rusty out and asks him if he really wants to do this, if he really wants to be a villain just to piss his dad off.

- Rusty becomes the sovereign‘s personal apprentice at 18 and begins working under him and learning from him personally how to be a professional bad guy.

- He meets Brock in Berlin a few years later on Brock’s first assignment with the OSI and they begin a rivalry of sorts. Brock always two steps behind Rusty when he becomes his own villain and they have a pretty love / hate sort of relationship.

- Rusty pretty much sets up most of his early years to messing with Brock who he has a huge crush on and yeah they start sleeping together. Rusty starts setting up traps and stuff just to lure Brock in and have him thwart him so they can have sex.

- Everything changes a few years later when Rusty has the twins, he has been caught up in his own selfish desires so long, he doesn’t stop and try to change for anyone until they are born and he realizes he doesn’t want to put them through the same shit his own dad constantly put him through.

- He moves to New York and puts all his focus on a career in Broadway, its the same basic principle as arching, its just acting and that’s what he finds he really likes to do.

- Brock and him get together officially and raise the twins together and later get married.

- The twins never die because Rusty asks a favor of his old mentor to make sure no one harms his family, sovereign cares enough about Rusty to agree to that. He pulls his strings so nothing can happen to Rusty and his family.

- When the twins go off to college, Rusty probably becomes the next sovereign  after the death of the former one because he was personally trained under him and knows the Guild inside out.

Just some random head canons I have:

- Monarch is probably obsessed with Rusty in this dimension too, so he probably also became a hero just to take him down. They also probably become friends because Rusty finds it amusing this man didn’t even sign up to be in the OSI or anything, he just has a super petty grudge against him and just started like breaking into his base to break things just because.

- Rusty probably went to a therapy group for side kicks like he did in canon but came out of it wanting to improve the lives of Boy adventurers and side kicks cause man all their lives are messed up.  He later uses his power as sovereign to make more direct changes like the Guild isn’t allowed to do such and such to children but he starts with charity organizations getting former sidekicks / boy adventurers the help they need.

- Before Rusty became sovereign, he arched Brock one last time, Dean and Hank rock, paper, scissored who would be on Brock’s side and who would be on Rusty’s side.

- Rusty the musical was only a big hit because it was based on a memoir Rusty wrote years ago about the abuse he went through as a boy adventurer.

- Rusty hired Jared on the spot as the lead role because Dean had a crush on him and he was trying to play match maker.

- Rusty never forgave his dad for the abuse he went through but he did eventual forgive and come to terms with the original team Venture and they probably went to therapy together.

- Rusty probably worked with Copy Cat a few dozen times in his career and considers him a good friend.

- I personally head canon him as trans and bi. 

- When canon Rusty comes to his dimension, he is more worried he is hitting on his husband then the fact he tried to murder him (that he can forgive cause they are Rusty, of course they are self destructive enough to try to kill themself like that) but him flirting with Brock is what lead him to work on a dimensional portal to get rid of him for good.

- Dean nor Hank become villains or heroes, Hank goes into acting like Rusty had because he always enjoyed helping his dad set up shows and Dean goes into journalism.

- JJ probably exists but he’s probably a failed Jonas clone Rusty found and took pity on then his twin brother he ate in the womb. They have a decent relationship, JJ doesn’t always agree with the weird dramatic things Rusty does but he loves his brother.

- Rusty is nicer and lot more stable then his canon self, mainly because not David Bowie supported him and encouraged him to get help when he needed it becoming a father figure to Rusty (the twins called him Grandpa before he died). He can still be a huge petty asshole when he wants to be though. 

And I’m going to stop now. Characters like AU Rusty are fun because you have a model of what they are like (I mean he is still Rusty Venture) but you can totally just go all my town now on him and change what you want as you see fit.

If you guys have more head canons, feel free to share them!