#you gotta hate the heteronormative thoughts

[feelingtheaster99]

Again Gorgug fucking killing it with asking the good questions because it never occurred to me whatsoever that Ankarna and Cassandra might have had a child

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Kataang is a ship that dared to be different. Not sure why people think Kataang is a sexist ship when Katara and Aang both protect and support each other and neither is the damsel and the hero in the relationship.

And yet people think ZK is better than the average M/F ship when the reason why ZK is so damn popular is because of annoying overdone hetero-normalic tropes. To the point where people think Zuko taking a hit for Katara is romantic coded (and apparently me and my peers are """delusional""" for not seeing it as romantic coded) and that ZK fanfics are such romantic fantasies of Zuko saving Katara and Katara being such a meek little girlfriend for the badass chad fanon!Zuko. (As if the ZK fanbase is aware that Zuko and Katara are both pure yang energy and they have to make Katara meek to make the ZK ship work.)

I mean yes I am annoyed Z/tara is as popular as it is but Kataang is canon and ZK is dipping in popularity and it feels like the bulk of the ZK fanbase is just annoying ass middle aged women who get pissy at a kids show for not being the adult show they want...

Just food for thought...Especially considering ZK shippers act immature trying to 1-up people by saying their ship is popular (I mean, are they unaware Zukka topped Z/tara?) And again, popular doesn't automatically mean good...Especially since Z/tara is only popular because it hits all those hetero-normalic beats that people adore so much.

Guys, come on, let's be serious here. I LOVE kataang, with all my heart, BUT best friends to lovers is as cliche as enemies to lovers, main guy dates main girl is as cliche as hero falls in love with the villain who changes side. To quote my best friend @dragomer "A knife is cliche. It's still what you use to cut shit with."

The problem with Zutara fans is not the they prefer the more "traditional" romance, or that it's cliche, or that it's smutty, or that they sometimes make it a toxic dynamic, or that it's not a "progressive" ship. The problem is they feel entitled to push their preference as the only correct one - it's the same issue that made the fandom for Zukka, an actual non hetero ship, so hated by everyone else. No one likes the people that think only they are allowed to have fun with fanon. No one likes the people that expects them to disregard canon for the sake of their prefered fanon.

And speaking as a bisexual woman: we gotta stop with this nonsense of labeling straight ships "non-hetero normalic" for basic shit (and the reverse of it, the "hetero-normalic gay ship" that is literally just the age old homophobic question of "But which one of you is the woman?" with woke language attached to it). It doesn't matter if Kataang is "heteronormative" or not, because:

1 - All that matters in fiction is if something is WELL WRITTEN AND ENTERTAINING, not if it's progressive or more on the traditional side, if it's cliche or "subverting expectations".

2 - What media you find entertaining has nothing to do with your politic views and real-life sexual preferences. Liking one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories doesn't make you a racist, disliking Freddie Mercury doesn't mean you're homophobic (though it does mean you have shit taste in music), liking the most traditional straight romance ever doesn't mean you're straight yourself.

3 - In the case of Avatar in particular, lets be fucking real: no way two straight writers back in 2005, while working on a kids show in a network that had a long history of banning episodes of shows that tried to hint or full on talk about homosexuality, were thinking "How do we make this straight ship less 'hetero-normalic'?" They were just writting whatever felt right for the characters and story - that's why Avatar, while flawed and a product of it's time, aged WAY better than many shows of the time that had "be progressive" as the goal, it avoided forced narrative choices that were only made to beat the audience over the head with the moral lesson of the day.

[thrilling-oneway]

whenever people want to hate on d4dj why do they jump straight on "It's queerphobic bc..." as if it doesn't have the best queer rep of any rhythm game out there.

1757 words about queer representation in D4DJ and other rhythm/gacha games below cut

Like there are actual valid reasons to not like d4dj. There's definitely an issue with sexualising the high schoolers, I've made posts talking about it before. But at the same time, if you as someone who plays other of the major gacha/rhythm games is going to say that, you should probably address that SIF, bandori (and maybe enstars? it's been a while since I played) have some dodgy cards as well. Admittedly these cards are mainly old whereas D4DJ is still producing these, but you shouldn't act like your preferred game is perfect either.

But especially saying that D4DJ is queerphobic is so weird. To say that just proves you have no idea what actually happens in the game, and you're just taking screenshots out of context.

Firstly hayakoko. Okay so in the flashback where they get together they said "but we're both girls". Yeah, it's a cliche line that screams 'written by a hetero person', but within the context of the story it's not that bad if a little cringe. Neither Hayate or Kokoa had liked a girl before they started dating, this is literally stated on screen: Hayate says that she was a little surprised to realise that she had a crush on Kokoa. They're baby gay at this point in time. I think Kokoa's an interesting one to point out as well, because she's the one who said the line in the first place, and even after she admits that she likes Kokoa as well and they start dating, the True Love Kiss side story shows her being insecure about PDA in school. It reads a lot like she's had a very heteronormative upbringing, which is very common for queer people. It's probably more common in Japan where they still don't have equal rights for queer people (they don't have marriage equality, same-sex couples can't marry, the exception being if one is trans and hasn't legally changed their gender. and after they're married they can't legally change their gender). Not to mention she goes to catholic school, and as far as I know there's some issues there. So I don't see anything wrong with Kokoa not wanting to be out publicly, and being a bit insecure when she and Hayate confess. You gotta remember they are 15 as well (and ~14 when they started dating). Their relationship isn't going to be perfect, and that's normal.

And then Aoi and her gender presentation. Aoi has always been a very masculine presenting character, and is explicitly GNC, so I can understand that some people were disappointed with her wearing long hair and a ballgown in the Aoi & Haruna Relations event. But the anger some people hold towards this. Come on, how badly can you miss the point? Aoi's gender presentation has been a part of her character since her initial card story. She says she actually used to dress more feminine and have long hair in high school, but decided to change her look because she thought she suited the shorter hair. She also mentions that when she presented fem, she would be told she looked like a cross dresser, which obviously offended her. It's not hard to see that Aoi just wants to be seen as Aoi. It's not about how she presents her gender, she's still Aoi no matter how she dresses - Tsubaki mentions this in the A&H Relations. Nothing was retconned or de-canonised when Aoi wore hair extensions and a dress, it wasn't a sudden unnecessary change. The event explores the fact she wants to try different looks outside of her usual 'princely' one, but she's a bit of a people pleaser and is unsure about it because people associate Aoi with "androgynous good looks". There was no pressure from anyone to be feminine, there was actually pressure the other way. She wore a dress and had long hair for one (1) event, and 2 illustrations. Her most recent card has her in trousers with short hair again. Like you don't have to pounce on it being erasure because Aoi wanted to dress more feminine one time. She doesn't hate being GNC now, she's not permanently feminine now - Aoi being GNC is a part of who she is. Aoi being fluid with her gender expression is a part of her queerness and I don't get how you can miss the point so badly to call it erasure.

D4DJ is genuinely one of if not the best mainstream gacha/rhythm game for queer rep. There's so much more than just this: Tsubaki and Aoi are canonically in love with each other and there was even an attempted confession (they got interrupted), KyoShino have implied romantic feelings, same with NagiHiiro and RinMuni (mainly from Muni's side). Haruna was pretty much confirmed as lesbian during the A&H relations, and has had crushes on two separate characters. Saori's sapphic as well (there's one or two implications that she's bisexual). Having Hayate and Kokoa in a relationship opens the doors to more ships becoming canon in the future. The only negative representation I can think of in this game is Noa, so if you really want to go out of your way to say D4DJ is queerphobic, there you go. Noa likes cute thing, cute girls, and flanderisation took hold quickly to the point of her being creepily obsessed with the ri4 girls and a few others, and literally stalking them. Yikes. Her writing is improving though, especially in All Mix where she just occasionally comments on how cute they are without taking it too far, and they actually let her have other personality traits expressed that had pretty much been forgotten.

My point here is that if you're going to say D4DJ is bad rep or homophobic, you're admitting that your game is worse for representation. I'm not saying that the games in the "Big 3" (proseka/bandori/enstars) are bad by any means (idk about enstars actually I didn't play for very long), but D4DJ has definitely taken some big steps in queer representation that those games are seemingly too scared to make. Having a canon sapphic couple is a game like this is a huge deal, I'm not even sure if it's been done before. And before anyone says "but anhane and minoharu went on a double date in Buddy Funny Spend Time", neither of those pairs are stated or even fucking implied to be in a relationship outside of that event. It kinda just happens in one event, and even then it's still a bit vague on whether either of the couples are actually dating in the event. It's definitely heavily implied that anhane/minoharu have mutual romantic feelings, so they are arguably canon in that sense, just not in an established relationship sense. Bandori has done this as well with PareChu, have them go on dates and be clearly romantically interested in each other, only to never actually be a couple (I know tsumutsumu and reochi have called parechu an official couple, but that's word of saint paul rather than word of god, so take this how you will). Hayakoko is HUGE for this genre, and could mean good things in the future of other rhythm games (especially other Bushiroad ones).

--Break here where I went on a tangent about non-D4DJ queercoding--

Outside of schroedingers dating, both bandori and proseka have characters who are implied/canonically queer. I'll make this short because this is getting really long now and I apologise to anyone who's still reading.

For bandori, Arisa has a crush on Kasumi, Kaoru can be considered as canonically lesbian just from how she's presented, YukiLisa has a lot of implications for romantic feelings, as do MocaRan. Himari is also an interesting case, as she could be read as bisexual or comphet lesbian, it's never really made clear (at least as far as I know, I stopped playing bandori a while ago, and am not up-to-date on story, so anyone who's still reading feel free to add to this or correct me). There's probably some stuff missing here as well.

As for proseka, it actually has quite a lot of queercoding. I already touched on anhane and minoharu earlier, but Kohane and Minori are both heavily implied to be lesbian, An as well (although there's like one or two hints that she could be bi. I can cite them if needed). Mizuki is canonically transfeminine (their gender is unconfirmed), and they have been shown to be attracted to women. ShizuAiri and AkiToya have a lot of romantic implications in their relationships, EmuNene has gradually been getting more and more actually (Amidst a Dream). Ena is implied wlw and Rui is implied mlm okay I think I got everything tangent over.

--End of break--

Regardless of my criticisms, all of the games I've mentioned definitely show how much queer rep has grown and become a lot better in the last decade or so. While not focused on the rhythm game, the first generation of Love Live (2010-16) queerbaited* a fair amount. To give one example, there's an 'interview' with Honoka from 2015 where she heavily implies that she's straight, despite having ship tease with other female characters. Compare that to what we have 8 years later, and you can definitely see improvement. However I think it still needs to be addressed that what we have isn't perfect, and it probably will take while to get to a point where we can have more openly queer characters/couples, especially considering Japan as a country (and american/else localisation teams). But I think more people need to recognise how important D4DJ is for queer representation within this genre. It's really not common to have queer romance and gender presentation be directly addressed and frequently shown, and not just for the sake of making money.

I'm bad at ending essays.

* Queerbaiting - intentionally and maliciously leading a queer audience to believe they will receive representation which is then not provided. Whether the rhythm games mentioned do this or not is... debatable? It's done for the money which ticks the intentionally malicious box, queer people aren't for capitalising on. But a good amount of the time it's done to bait straight people who like yuri/yaoi. I do think it's queerbait though like heavily ship teasing a couple and then throwing in a line to imply one of them is straight definitely queerbaiting. april edit: it took me over a month to realise that there were words missing in that last sentence sorry about that. hi anyone who's reading this in the future

[vvh0adie]

an aspect of heteronormativity i don’t get is telling your friends they can’t date your ex

preface: no. don’t get with a person that was abusive towards anybody, friend or not. you’re not an exception to the rule because it will always creep up

that being said, if people don’t end on bad terms, why are you still holding ownership over that person -and quite frankly your friends?

now i can understand if the relationship was just fresh and your homie immediately jumping in dms and i honestly find it crazy that an ex would entertain it because it’s like you just got out of a relationship. give yourself a break (someone people have a fear of being alone and think they constantly need to be in a relaahionship)

but after some time you need to let people move on and you need to as well. whatever those people do does not concern you

you can’t keep memories tied up with a person. have them but don’t think they’re only unique to you. your ex was apart of the relationship to and they moving on

seeing someone you thought you’d end up with become intimate with your friend can be tough. but if things didn’t end tragically and this person is able to move on, is that not a sign that you may need to sit with why you can’t?

the more you dwell on them, having tunnel vision, the greater you are at missing out on your person

granted if you continue to be around, you shouldn’t be subject to jabs by the new couple and other friends every waking second about the relationship not working out. and honestly if your friend group is doing that, honey it’s time to cut them off

and also getting upset that they may be doing things for your friends that they never did for you can be bittersweet. i wouldn’t call that emotional abuse but rather a lack of commitment/passion which obviously made the relationship end. maybe not in the sweetest of terms but no break up is gonna feel good. nobody was at fault, you just weren’t compatible and that doesn’t make neither one of you bad people

i’ve never seen this amongst queer people -at least nonheteronormative ones and i’m sure it happens in ones that are, it’s just very rare. i actually have a tendency to want to date my friends. i want to get to know you then develop further

(hit dog will holler. if it don’t apply, let it fly for this next part)

cuz from my viewpoint, why would i be building that platonic relationship within our dating phase? that sounds like im just bumbling around with a stranger while learning everything about them as im kissing and holding their hand and possibly having sex with them

that’s scary to me. next thing i know, im married to a person and im learning the basics of who they are during our marriage. why didn’t i know you had all these complications before we became partners?

and of course you’re never really going to know how someone acts in a romantic relationship until you get with them, but you should at least know their basic disposition towards humanity. if they not a good friend -person overall- what makes you think they’ll be an even better partner?

i would def let my ex date my friend. cuz honestly im not “letting” them do anything. i can’t control them and i shouldn’t want to. is that really a friend?

and no i’m not exempt from having those bittersweet feeling but i do have the autonomy to dictate how i act around them. the same for them

if you can’t do that and you know you’re going to be combative and lingering on “what could have been” then maybe it’s time to leave them people behind

it’s okay for friendships to end

but i would hate to lose out over something like that. to sever those friendships. like you miss out on a wedding. baby announcements. friend trips. academic accomplishments

like yeah they can be built elsewhere but depending on how long you’ve known your friends thats gotta be hard

if your ex and friend aren’t causing you any harm (instigating emotional, mental or physically harm) then let them be happy with each other

your emotions are valid, but you must be accountable for your emotions/actions and know when you need to dip for your own happiness and theirs. (even if you can’t bring yourself to be happy for them, just do it for yourself)

cuz if we being honest some people sabotage or harm themselves by engaging with things that they know they can’t take. and they should seek therapy

note: i feel this way about divorced people too.

[sailorblossoms]

Thinking about how in the rat hunting scene, when Baz allows Simon to go with him for the first time and they start to talk about Simon's sexuality, Simon is avoidant at first. He doesn't really consider Baz's questions, which challenge what he believed of himself during the Watford years, beyond his knee-jerk reactions. And when Simon is avoiding, he reverts back to parroting those previous beliefs (he has a hard time fully letting those go, it's a whole process).

He used to think his feelings for Baz were all just "how much he hates him" and "he gotta look out for his plots!" So when questioned if he liked Baz in 5th year, he doesn't just denies it, he overcompensates even. It's a way to resist questioning. He says "I didn't like you then, I don't even like you now" which is obviously bullshit. He couldn't put 2 thoughts together without falling into repetition on how much he likes Baz, just before they went out. And how long ago was that? 20 minutes ago? An hour?

He used to think in the lines of heteronormative fairytales. He thought he was attracted to Agatha and that they were meant to marry, so when asked if he was attracted to her, he goes "even inanimate objects are attracted to her" and on the surface level, it seems like a strong yes. But in the context of a character who does everything to avoid processing, that's still refusing to process, the exaggeration actually feels like overcompensating. Again. This whole section of the scene is deny, revert back to previous territory, overcompensate as a way to dig his heels in--all with the goal of, again, avoid processing.

When he finally does start to process, he drags himself through it kicking and screaming. It's hard for him, but towards the end of the scene, what he have is Simon finally letting go of those previous assumptions he held on for so long, assumptions that were actually wrong for him, to reach truths about himself. No, he was never actually into Agatha (perhaps there's nothing more telling than actually considering a sexual experience with a girl and that being the thing that not only makes you think nop, I wasn't attracted, that wasn't it, it's even the main thing him uses to reject a whole sexuality) (fittingly, what he liked with her was the lack of processing because of the lack of feelings.) And that's also when he allows himself to admit that he always wants to kiss Baz, he always have (also answering why he wanted to jump him, which he didn't know back then. That was attraction for Simon).

(On a funnier note, there's creatures in the woods that do like Agatha, they find her calming. Who knows is Simon didn't see a tree literally bend a bit towards her or the like haha)

[shellxrls]

I know this looks long but I’m not against you I support you. I just gotta say something and pardon me if my mind is a mess I’m at work LMAO.

Hi, I ghost read your stuff I’ll admit since I’m from another fandom and don’t know anything about rafe or jj or John b (my bad if I butcher their names lmaoo). But that last anon pissed me the fuck off. I’m a fan of your content writing wise and I like how you depict sexual dynamics and have so much of a variety for that, it’s refreshing to see.

I really hate when random crazy “fans” of male characters put them in a box to force heteronormativity onto them especially sexually. When you’re queer yourself, you understand and view sex differently, it’s like you’re constantly questioned about your “straightness” or if the things you do would question your integrity as a human being.

You’re blaming me cause I’m pegging a male person when his g-spot is in his ass? Or two guys just happen to be attracted to each other even if it’s out of curiosity? Literally that doesn’t change the story or the character necessarily, just adds another dynamic to explore. You’re just mad that this headcanon doesn’t fit into your preconceived narrative of said character, and now you’re resorting to homophobia.

Literally fuck off. Let guys suck a little dick and fuck each other in the ass, it doesn’t hurt nobody. You’re frothing the mouth with hatred at the thought of two male characters that haven’t even been confirmed straight. Shit is crazy LMFAOOOOO like?!?!

thank you so much for sending this in omg !! first of all, the whole beginning is so sweet, i really appreciate it and it brings me so much joy knowing ppl are willing to read my work despite not being involved in the fandom <3.

secondly, all of this is soo valid i’m so glad i get to have this on my page !! it’s completely crazy to me as well how ppl can resort to being so blatantly homophobic and jump to immediately categorising those who aren’t straight as weird or odd just for the fact that they disagree with us on a simple topic. sexuality should never be a weakness and it’s stupid that ppl view it as something to be targeted.

you are just so absolutely right and honestly i don’t think i have anything else i could add, you’ve said everything perfectly.

[longeyelashedtragedy]

For the ask game: 3, 19, 29, 30?

3. i am most proud of "visited upon the sons." i think the quality of all my writing was questionable this year, but this fic did exactly what i wanted it to do, and it was so fun to write, once i got in the headspace, that i still miss it. it was also fun getting to write a whole "making of" post about it.

wait guys i hit post too soon LOL watch this space

19. let's see, i already said pepling and frank+daddy A...i would like to write the gross jamie x franko x christine threesome, i won't lie! i'd also love to explore more of Frank Sr's motivations for how he feels about harry 👀

29. i can't choose favorites of anything! i do love:

-But here he is kissing Rob in Rob’s car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and it doesn’t feel anything but right.  from "the prerogative to have a little fun"

-You will remember Granit Xhaka’s last night in this office, on this desk, glowing like something more than human, as much as he’d insist he was no more than a man.  Glowing like an angel—the kinds from the Bible, the ones so beautiful and terrible, the kinds whom God trusts to convey His messages.

You’d always thought of Granit as your beautiful beast, but in the end you were wrong.  You met him as a beast.  He left you as an angel.

Only a supernatural force could move on from this, and you, Mikel Arteta, with the name everyone but Granit mispronounces, are exceptional, but you are human too.  You had an angel in your office, and now there’s a darkness around the edges of the room that the overhead lights can’t dream of illuminating. from "how to stay there"

and of course--everyone knows i'll say this!!--

-

And now he’s alone.  Or is he? 

There’s a ghost somewhere in the ripped pieces on the floor, and there’s a ghost in bed with Mason.

And the ghost has a name—he’s never known before, and he’s wondered for decades now. It has the same name as the one on the Wall of Fame at Stamford Bridge.  It has the same name as the one there, ripped and thrown to the bedroom floor.  It has the same name as Dad, as it happens.  And it’s here, thinking his thoughts.  Holding his Mason tight like it loves him. from "visited upon the sons"

but also from there i like--well i like the whole fic but i also enjoy--

Mason saying “I love you, daddy,” like the wind’s been knocked out of him.

He thinks of the West Ham jersey crumpled in the bedroom.  God, why?  Why has he kept it?  Why does he talk about the bad times out in public, so openly it seems to go against some kind of survival instinct? 

Dad’s never mentioned it.  Never said son we should talk about all that. Never even said why the fuck do you bring that old shit up?  Crying for some cake again Frankie, ain't you?  Never, nothing, like he’d never told the stories, like he’d opened his mouth and no sound had come out.

He gropes behind him with the hand that’s not down the back of Mason’s joggers, finds the neck of the rosé bottle.  There’s still some left. He drinks right out of the bottle. 

“Don’t get drunk, daddy,” Mason giggles.  “You’re my manager.”

Mason, Mason, Mason.  Don’t get drunk, daddy.  You’re his manager.  Even though Jamie got drunk, Jamie and Dad and Uncle Harry and—Jamie and—

He presses his forehead to Mason’s and then kisses him and tastes his moans, sweet like wine against his lips.

30. the biggest surprise while writing actually came from writing "visited upon the sons!" i don't really follow many gender or sexuality expectations but also sort of don't advertise this in the real world--i just live my life--and i came away from writing this realizing how much i truly hate and not just hate--resent!--heteronormative societal expectations being put on me. in most of 2023 i was putting in the hard work trying to feel comfortable around "normal" people and a lot of this involved me being a part of conversations with very very typical "cishet" opinions like 'can men and women truly be FRIENDS' and 'i hate waxing and it's expensive but i gotta do it for my boyfriend!' all of which left me very "bitch, you live like this?" i realized when writing frank's memories that the extent to which he is so tired of Lads always bringing up The Ladies is very much a reflection of something i felt strongly about that i didn't even realize. and genuinely, i think realizing this helped me feel so much more comfortable in my own skin? so thank you, Fucked Up Franko <3 viva la lampardverse!

[svartalfhild]

.

Listening to the album Tommy by The Who for the first time since I was a teenager has awakened long buried memories of the time I pretended to be someone's girlfriend in order to go see the 2009 Star Trek movie when it came out.

I really really wanted to go see it, like I was fucking obsessed, but my parents sure as fuck were not going to take me, and I had friends who wanted to see it too, but I'd not met them in person before because I'd met them over FB through a mutual friend, so I had to convince another friend to come with who had parents willing to drive.

Enter the friend I will here refer to as Collin.

I use the word friend loosely here. Collin was a friend in the sense of he was an absolute shitshow of a person who was one of the few people in school who didn't hate me and didn't give a shit about my bad reputation. Didn't hurt that he had some of the same interests. One of the things about him, though, was that he was constantly trying to get me to date him and I had absolutely no interest in him whatsoever, especially after having seen all of the previous drama of his love life. He was also the only person I knew who had had sex (we were in our early teens, so that was a big deal), so I knew that that was an expectation of his and that made the whole thing even less appealing, especially because I didn't really trust him (and I didn't know I was ace yet either). When I say shitshow of a person, I mean it.

Anyway, Collin told me he'd ask his dad if he'd be willing to drive us, and then later he was like "yeah, he will, but only if it's for a date, so you gotta pretend to be my girlfriend for an afternoon" and I was like "Wtf, really? And then what?" and he goes "Oh, I'll just tell him it didn't work out if he asks why there haven't been anymore dates." And I didn't see any holes in this plan and I could not bear the thought of not seeing this movie, so I was like alright fine I'll do it.

Plan went off without a hitch (although apparently my distance was sus, so I had to agree to sit close to Collin and hold his hand), but to this day, I still don't know if his dad really wouldn't have let him go to a movie with a girl without it being a date or if he straight up lied to me to trick me into going through the motions of a date with him, because either were entirely plausible. His family were a bunch of redneck Republicans from Mississippi, but also he very much went in with the vibe of "someday you'll date me for real". He had this notion that if he could just worm his way past all of my emotional walls and get me to let go of my relationship angst, I'd surely break down and let him date me.

There's a lot to unpack there.

First of all, if that really was his dad's attitude, that's its own kind of fucked up. It's the implication that romance is automatically far more important than friendship. It's the idea that boys and girls shouldn't just hang out together. Just...ugh, the intense heteronormativity and amatonormativity of it all.

(Silver lining! When Viva la Vida came on the radio and I was like "oh I like this song!" his dad turned up the volume and no one has ever done anything like that for me before or since.)

If it wasn't his dad's attitude and he'd just made that shit up to manipulated me, then that's, uh...pretty violating, especially because this scenario forced me to be physically close and have contact with him when I didn't want to. I'm glad it wasn't something I had to carry on with afterwards.

As the years went on, Collin's shitshow levels only increased. Less than a year later, he started bringing packs of beer in his backpack and showing up to class high as a fucking kite. His romantic relationships got increasingly messy and he got way too comfortable saying racist and homophobic shit. I had very little to do with him by the time we graduated. While I was in college, I heard he was in jail. Shocker. A few years later, he came in with his family at the sandwich shop I used to work at. We pretended not to know each other. Never seen or heard about him since, thank fuck.

Anyway, I think this may explain why I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for fake dating tropes most of the time.

[aroaceconfessions]

I’ve got some happy aro thoughts today and I want to share them with someone

So I started writing this fanfiction. AB and AC are canon couples. At some point, while I was writing the individual pairs, I ended up going a poly relationship route where A is dating B and C, but B & C aren’t dating (and in my story they had a history of friends with benefits before they met A)

I wrote something where B realizes their feelings for C aren’t just “I don’t hate you because my girlfriend loves you, but I wouldn’t be around you otherwise”. It went slightly romantic and I was like “Okay. Now I just gotta bs the romance and we’re all set!”

Some other things happened and C ended up realizing their feelings are also something more towards B

I wouldn’t call it a qpr, because (1) this is a supernatural but still pretty heteronormative universe in canon, and (2) the characters wouldn’t call it that themselves

I don’t feel the need to explain this in the story currently (because it’s just a bunch of oneshots that could be tied together IF the reader wanted to). And there’s only a few people reading. One person told me that they liked how I wrote B yearning and it made me super happy (at that point I still thought it was going to develop into romance). But I’m still pleased that what I wrote came across as feelings

And I’m just. So so happy about it. Here’s these two characters whose whole story revolves around A (so much so that through A: one of them became human (physically, from supernatural creature) and the other one changed their whole life to live as a human (or become a demon king, it’s a multiple ending story)) But still, B & C’s relationship is their own and I can enjoy it as a romance repulsed aro

[thechangeling]

Not gonna write you a love song

I was having the aro blues so consider this my way of dealing.

Cw: mentions of arophobia, internalized arophobia, sex and reckless drinking/unhealthy drinking habits.

///////////////////

Alyssa was lonely, but not for the reasons everyone thought.

She sat at the dinner table with her parents, with all her aunts and uncles, cousins, her siblings and of course their parners. Their husbands and wives. It wasn't really something she had noticed until she started getting older. How everyone was conveniently paired off by a certain age.

And now everyone was looking at her expectantly.

When are you going to get married Alyssa?

When will you settle down?

When will you grow up, the unsaid question.

She stared at all her little nieces and nephews and younger cousins. She had never really been entirely happy or free as a child. She always been the freak. But now she misses the days when she was allowed to just be a child and be adored and doted on for no reason other then she was the new baby and that's supposedly what you do with children.

There were less expectations, less judgement. Less questions.

When will you settle down and be normal?

She can't look at old photos of herself without crying. Without aching. Without wanting to scream.

What happened to that little girl? That little girl who was so beloved? She would never be that again. Now she was tainted. Broken. Queer.

And incapable of loving the way everyone else said she should.

Anush once asked her what she would do when Ty got married. Alyssa didn't understand the question. Anush explained to her, like she was an idiot that when Kit and Ty finally married and started their own family, he would have less time for her. They couldn't always be so attached at the hip.

Aly remembered thinking that he would never betray her like that. What they had mattered. Mattered enough not to be thrown aside for some stupid boy.

The wedding was strange as all weddings were. Alyssa loved a good party with some dancing but the ceremony? The vows? She didn't understand the flourish. The show. If you love someone that's enough. And then she watched as her best friend promised to love and cherish Kit above all else and it felt like a betrayal. Like a knife wound and the pain bloomed even more from the knowledge that no one else would understand.

Aly watched women and men and basically everyone single at the wedding excitedly gather together for the bouquet toss. Kit said that even though it was a heteronormative tradition he still wanted to do it. For the sake of holding pretty flowers and for the sake of getting to throw something. Gotta respect that.

But she couldn't help but genuinely puzzle over how clusters of full grown adults were screaming and pushing each other out of the way in an effort to catch the bouquet. To be the next one married. Julian Blackthorn jokingly asked her why she wasn't scrambling for the bouquet with the others and she honestly replied that she would rather die then be married.

And then she got that all too familiar feeling warning her that she had broken a social rule as his face fell.

Freak. It rang in her head as she made a beeline for the free bar. As she downed tequila shots. (Tequilla is for when you hate yourself) her sister always joked. It rang in her head as she danced with a pretty girl with dark thick braids, with ebony skin and round cheeks. Took her home and pulled her into bed as Aly tried to lose herself in pleasure and put weddings put of her mind.

When they woke everything was fine until the other girl asked for Alyssa's number.

"To hook up again?" Aly had asked. "Or to hang out?"

There was only a moment of genuine peace and serenity from the warmth of human companionship, before she said, "actually I was hoping we could go out? You know like on a date." And Alyssa's stomach had  dropped.

And then next came then infamous let down speech of "it's not you it's definitely me" and the familiar shame and guilt over hurting somebody this way again took hold.

A

Ty tried his best to be there for her. But he wasn't always. He had a job to do that was very time consuming, which he constantly reminded her of. Sometimes he only saw Kit because they lived together. Aly couldn't help but think that if she was living with Ty this problem would be solved. But of course that would be ridiculous wouldn't it? A married man also living with his bestfriend from his teenage years?

Alyssa thought it sounded pretty normal, but she had always clashed with the rest of society of what was supposedly normal.

Anush suggested to her that she should get a partner too after he started dating a girl who he went to the scholomance with. To help with her loneliness and distract her from missing Ty.

Right because of course that's why you should date, she thought sarcastically. To fill a void.

Alyssa was lonely but not for the reasons people thought. She was lonely because she knew that no one would ever love her or prioritize her as much as she would them. She was lonely because she would always love Ty more then he loved her.

Her therapist seemed to take issue with this thought. She told Aly that just because Ty loved Kit, that didn't mean he loved him more, or didn't love her as well. But Aly knew how this worked. You prioritize your spouse. Your one true love over everything. And she could never do that, be that.

Ty was the love of her fucking life but she wasn't his.

The first time Alyssa heard the word aromantic was from Kit of all people. But in the end she supposed Kit was her reflection in a crude way. Mirror mirror. In some ways he understood her pain and loneliness because he was the same. Which is why it honestly didn't surprise her when he showed up in New York looking to talk.

He told her that Ty didn't love her any less and he wasn't trying to prioritize his marriage over his friendships it was just a matter of conviemce seeing as they lived together and often worked together seeing as they both had jobs associated with shadowhunters (Ty being a centurian and Kit being a therapist for both downworlders and shadowhunters alike). Alyssa lived in a different city and she and Ty didn't work together anymore.

Alyssa had given up being the downworlder lesion to the scholomance in favor of going back to school to get a degree in special ed. She desperately wanted to become a dance teacher, but one who specifically ran a program for autistic and neurodivergint students. (It wasn't the most well paying job which her parents wouldn't be to happy about but Alyssa was determined to make it work.) She gave the lesion gig to another werewolf of the New York pack.

She would always be happy that she did it, seeing as that was how she met Ty and Anush, but honestly it wasn't her passion and she just didn't gave the stomach for it anymore.

Kit told her that Ty probably would have been telling her all of this himself but he honestly didn't know she was so unhappy because she never actually said anything. Which was fair. And Aly understood that. But that wasn't the biggest problem. That wasn't the reason she was feeling like such shit lately. And she couldn't even explain it to Kit because he wouldn't understand.

The problem was the looks her parents gave her everytime she showed up for a holiday single. The problem was the fact that she couldn't afford an apartment on her own and everyone she knew was planning on moving in, or spreading living with their partners. And Alyssa couldn't live with the pack forever. The problem was that she wished she could live with Ty but packing up everything to move across the country for your married friend was seen as more then a little weird and was practically unheard of.

The problem was that her entire life she had been surrounded by fairytales and romcoms and metaphorically beaten over the head with the idea that love, romantic love conquers all. Anyone who is capable of falling in love is capable of being saved from the dark side.

Finding the word aromantic and learning what she was was vindicating, but it was also depressing. Because this meant that this was something that she would always have to put up with forever and nobody would ever understand. Not really. Not when they could go home to their spouses and she was left out in the cold as a designated non-person.

Not worth saving.

And it was really starting to wear her down.

One of Aly's favorite things about hanging out with Jaime Rosales, besides the general good vibes all around was that there was no talking about romance. Well... occassionally the fictional kind but only if there was a certain level of unreal to it like scifi or fantasy. No one talking about their boyfriends or girlfriends or whoever. No one talking about marriage. She and Jaime talked about music or family, dancing and just life in general. So many people seemed to forget that there was a whole world beyond falling in love. Alyssa didn't get it.

She hadn't realized how sick she was of constantly having to follow up every critique of amatonormativity with "it's ok if you want to fall in love! There's nothing wrong with that!" As if the world ever said anything different. As if they were the ones in the minority.

Jaime offered to marry her in order to get her family off of her back. Of course she would still be free to hook up with whoever she wanted and Jaime would be free to persue nobody because he wasn't interested in any of it. She loved the idea of the two of them just hanging out and calling it a marriage. It felt like cheating the system. But it probably wouldn't work out. They would need to make up a mundane career and cover story for Jaime and Aly was just so sick of lying to her parents about everything.

But it still meant a lot that he offered.

When Alyssa got out of class that day she recieved a text from Ty.

Hey Aly. Kit informed me that you were unhappy. I regret not checking in with you sooner. That was my fault. I don't want you to think I've been avoiding you or that I don't care about you. I've simply just been very busy.

I know societal expectations dictate that you prioritize your romantic partner above all else, but as you know I have never been much for following societal norms. Neither is Kit. Janessa is over at our house constantly, and as slightly irritating as this is, (they are both very loud when they are together) I am happy to make him happy. I know he feels the same way about me. I would love it if you came and stayed with us for awhile. However, I understand if you are far too busy with school.

I'm sorry I don't say it very often but I hope you know how much I love you. If you want to talk, you have my number.

Always,

Your Ty.

He texted like an old man. It was one of the things Alyssa adored about him. She shook her head, trying not to fall apart in the middle of the hallway.

Breathe in, breathe out.

She texted Ty back,

Thank u. I love u too 🖤

The black heart was theirs.

Alyssa wasn't lonley anymore.

Tagging: @lavender-scented-rat   @littlx-songbxrd    @have-a-holly-jolly-angstmas @amchara @wagner-fell @sandersgrey @the-wckd-powers @spooky-drusilla @arangiajoan

[tcmmykinard]

Oh absolutely! Like, i’ve probably got a far more negative opinion on EA than you bc i honestly thought they were hella cringey 99% of the time, but i would never EVER take it out on the actress or anyone else involved, that‘s just vile. Especially since i‘ve come to realise that what i disliked about them most is what fandom made of them? Like, taking a completely rational look at that whole storyline, it‘s so clear that that‘s not a love story and was never supposed to be one, but panicked shippers and lovers of heteronormativity alike tried so hard to make it one. „Oh god, they are trying to make them a family“, „Oh they are such a cute family“…No. No they are not.

right?! i mean i didn't love them for sure but also i thought they were cute! and definitely not worth the overreaction that some people had over it lmao like idk.. even though i didn't necessarily hate or love them, i didn't see them lasting and it was pretty predictable how their breakup was going to be imo so i didn't see any reason to be so negative and 'threatened' for buddie?

idk the way i saw it was just look at how much effort and love the writers have put into every other *lasting* relationship on the show and then look at the ones that they put in for eddie (ana) and buck (most recently taylor) and how they both predictably fell apart like?? y'all gotta have a little more faith in the writers and how well they know their own characters than this, tbh..

[erikaqueenpauline]

it's hard out here for a tranny. . . I ain't gonna play that martyr card and ask for pity but the shit I gotta put up with? LESSER SOULS WOULD BREAK. These fucking heteronormative misogynist dumbfucks have no fucking idea how hard Pauline is. bitch I just made it back from uw hospital to troy drive wearing a dress, no shoes because I wasn't wearing shoes when ambulance took me to er, no glasses so couldn't see shit I am blind as fuck, for some reason went to er w/o glasses, no phone, no wallet, no bus pass. blind shoeless wearing a dress with no bus pass I still got home and just did not even give two fucks about the numerous people who decided to loudly discuss their opinions about transgender people right in front of me as if I was not there hearing it like I really hate having to hear people debating about what is or isn't natural or "should" be allowed or how trans women "should" dress and what qualifies someone as transgender like GO HAVE YOUR LITTLE TED TALK DISCUSSION SOMEWHERE ELSE I DON'T want to have to constantly listen to this shit! so fucking annoying can I get from point a to point b without being the topic of someone's conversation, leave me the fuck alone, IDGAF what your opinions are, I do not want to be a fucking political/ideological springboard for you to debate your views on , i just wanna go from point a to point b without anyone giving a fuck about me, I do not need to be an iconoclast warrior, I'm a fucking person (allegedly) going through my own shit that you probably could not even fathom. hate Madison. people run they fuckin mouths too recklessly hear I feel like in bigger cities people mind they own business more and don't feel so fast and loose with the fucking mouth diarrhea. BITCH U DONT HAVE TO SAY EVERY THOUGHT THAT ENTERS YOUR PEA BRAIN. SOMETIMES your opinions and commentaries and unsolicited advice and suggestions and judgements are not that fucking important, blabbermouth. don't speak on shit you don't know about! simple as that!

by the way I overdid it in the dxm went 4TH PLATEAU for sure my blood glucose got so fucking low and I fell out roommates had to call ambulance EMTs took my blood glucose level and it's like 50 if I remember correctly (ballztrippin, iwas) squirted glucose sugary stuff in my mouth. made me drink apple juice and orange juice and eat the world's dryest turkey sandwich lol. at first hands shaking too bad to drink juice nurse had to hold it to my lips. yeah, that's the ugly side of dxm addiction. haven't taken anything since before I went to the er and I'm STILL TRIPPIN HARD. GODDAM PAULINE SLOW YA ROLL ON THEM MUCI! SHIT! bout to watch another horror movie on Tubi watched "Nicole" last night (before ER) and it was AWESOME. highly recommend that film. peace out lil dextronauts and trannies, whoever's reading this. ❤️

[llycaons]

lot of fun opinions on that homophobic shonen protags poll

the debates over yusuke rage. he was openly transphobic on screen, but is also friends with kurama so..hm.

#but I can't believe yusuke has votes when he canonically kissed his bestie#he's a transphobe not a homophobe

obviously there's overlap but! much to consider. he's also someone who grows up a lot during the series and is notably more chill as an older teenager. he definitely said slurs as a 14 yr old tho

ichigo is barely developed but his series is full of stereotypes of gay men as overly concerned with appearance, evilly effeminate, and sexually predatory. 'he has gay friends' says one tag but um citation FUCKING needed! wait shit

#ichigo doesn't understand but he's got the spirit you know? like he thought uryu was gay and tried to be supportive

oh fuck this might have actually happened. okay maybe ichigo isn't the worst but I'm leaving up my earlier thought bc im not a coward

#ive never seen bleach but that guy looks like he'd be an iphone user

ichigo actually predates iphones! but this is not relevant to the discussion

also the tags calling edward a smug atheist bastard vs. his 'love is love' edit lmao

#who the heck slandering Edward Tho!? This boy ain’t give a crap about homo he got better things to worry about. you go little atheist boy.#He the bane of the military existence for a reason that he works for that only keep him around because he good at alchemy. KNOW THE SERIES.

first of all the way this is written is insane. second of all what does being homophobic have to do with being the bane of the military?!

WAIT THERE'S MORE

#who the fuck is calling edward elric homophobic???? yeah he's an annoying atheist but he's so so antifa

PLEASE HE WORKS FOR THE MILITARY

The amount of people saying "edward isnt homophobic" is so funny. The "love is love i see no difference) meme is not the actual edward elric hes a libertarian military brat. Get a grip #''hes so antifa'' you gotta be smoking dick

LIBERTARIAN EDWARD ELRIC

I see why people call yusuke and naruto bi or gay but edward I never really saw it...his friendship with ling seems very hetero to me. fma always came off as a a very cishet series (lest we forget arawaka's 'men are muscular and women are va-voom' doodle + the heteronormative nuclear family ending). and deku and ichigo too I think they're just straight kids

#also izukus homophobia comes from his bully being a fruity bastard

scream?

'most of these protagonists would never be homophobic' I think you've wildly overestimated the average early 2000s 15 year old shonen boy ngl

#kirito vouldnt care less about anything but his friends/harem#he dropped fighting to live out his little nuclear family fantasy#being homophobic isnt on his radar

wow I wonder if having a nuclear family fantasy would predispose you to certain regressive ideas about gender roles and sexual orientation. it's not like most people consciously make an effort to Be Homophobic it just arises from a set of assumptions and stereotypes you're exposed to in a homophobic society....I feel like the person who wrote this may be stupid. this guy is sweeping the poll currently and at least half of the tags that mention him fucking hate him so it sounds like he's a piece of shit. some people are defending him saying he's bi tho. tbh I didn't even think people liked sword art online, famous harem incel incest fantasy about a chronically online gamer boy, in the year of your lord 2024 anymore

back and forths about deku. as a more recent shonen protag he seems less hateful to me but he also seems very het and the author is nasty so. hm

#wtf voted Luffy? he would never. he's literally a pirate

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE PIRATES CAN'T BE HOMOPHOBIC. like I agree but also what an argument, it's kind of nice to see luffy so low since I liked his vibes in the live action but WHO IS VOTING GON??!!!!! you're saying gon is more homophobic that YUSUKE??!!! I don't think gon even knows what homophobia IS and if he did he'd think it was messed up! not a single tag here is disagreeing so maybe they were mistaken votes

goku struck me as foolish yet well-meaning which is what everyone is agreeing.

#also. Goku is aroace spectrum in my hearth. just throwing that out there

god I wish I lived in a world where that meant he wasn't homophobic.

naruto seems to be a mixed bag bc he almost definitely is gay (even tho some ppl in the tags are like umm it's only POSSIBLE) but nobody can agree if he ever stopped being internalized homophobic about it or if he's a more 'confused but he's got the spirit' kind of deal

yuji ranks very low, which also makes sense bc jjk is a newer series and most shonen in the mid-00s had a lot more homophobia in general than they do now. he seems like a decent kid, tho I never finished s1. the pink hair makes him seem chiller than most

kagome is getting mixed reviews but mostly landing on the not homophobic side. having seen nothing of inuyasha I cannot comment. some tags saying she's a fujoshi some saying shes bi some say both

lots of people saying lucy fairy tale so I'm obligated to mention her but idk shit about that show except it looked kinda misogynistic so if she WAS homophobic I'll give her a pass/s

#kirito is the only answer here because everyone else is gay

im sorry but edward and ichigo are like some of the straightest guys in shonen like please

and FINALLY arguments about whether death note should be included, since it was run in shonen jump. it's not a purely action/fantasy series, so that's probably why it was left out, but it WAS targeted towards teenage boys so I guess it would technically count. anyway everyone is saying light would win by a landslide if he was listed

thanks for coming to my breakdown I will probably revisit this in a week when the poll ends

[littlerosetrove]

My spoiler thoughts for episode 6x14

Why is Eddie simply DRIVING (in a pick-up) so attractive??? How??????

Eddie was soooo sassy towards his Pepa. Bitchy Eddie, my absolute beloved. 😆💕

Also, Eddie jumping to “I can’t marry a stranger.” Ummm, the compulsive heteronormativity is real with this guy. No one said anything about marriage my guy.

Okay. I’m saying this as a married person, but even so, I too would hate to be set up on a blind date, but that’s just me.

Sunset picture in Pepa’s house, that was behind Eddie in the scene! Just a little more detour on McFuckin Sunset y’all!!

“I just feel like I have to perform.” Ohhhh my god this is not a straight man. And Eddie was so =((((( during that lunch scene with the fire fam. He was GRUMPY about a WOMAN texting him. Help, he’s so funny and gay. 😆

Buck is so unbothered about Eddie going on this date with… Veronica? Buck knows Eddie so well.

JFC that bakery scene!! 😳 A very specific worst nightmare right there. Really sucks for the boss lady, but uhhhh glad she realized that hey, removing safety measures is really dangerous and stupid, no matter “the numbers.”

So Eddie’s “date”? I just wanna know WHAT was Eddie gonna say after “full disclosure”?????? Let the queer man speak!! But also, Veronica (I think is her name) said something about not wanting to break her own heart, which Eddie did say he could relate to. Yeah, I think Eddie IS afraid to have his heart broken again.

Shush Maddie was wonderful during that panic attack call.

Can y’all imagine season 2 or even 3 Eddie just - talking about his not-date like that with Bobby? Buck doesn’t count because it’s well established that Buck and Eddie really… don’t talk about any type of romantic partners with each other. Statistically, they avoid it as much as possible. We Buddie folk know why ofc. ;)

I did see spoilers for this, and it’s true that at least 3 people have told Buck “you died,” but Buck hasn’t said it out loud himself. Yeah, he’s not fully processed it yet, hence I think the death doula in an upcoming episode who will probably help him with that.

Bobby has a praise kink, omfg. 😳😆 Just like Buck, because like father like son fcghvjlkjhg 😳😆

Well, I appreciate that Athena calmed down the audience in a good way, for lack of a better phrasing. Hm, interesting that the bodybuilding son only did it for his dad? Yeah dude, you gotta do stuff that you love and want, not just for what others want.

Damn, the conversation between Ravi and Chimney got dark and got me emotional.

Loved the conversation between Pepa and Eddie. Eddie at least admitting he doesn’t want to be alone. Now the thing is is for Eddie to realize that he’s not alone. He’s with Buck a lot, which… I’m so curious how often he mentions he is with Buck? Like, Eddie wouldn’t hide that he spends time with Buck and yet? Somehow Pepa at least seems to think Eddie only has Chris, when Eddie already has a partner in Buck.

Maddie and Chimney singing to Jee was so sweet. 🥺

So I definitely need more scenes/episodes with Ravi and Chimney. I really enjoyed this pairing/dynamic.

So Novak may be new at dispatch? That was a good call from Chimney, and just great leadership, showing Novak he can still help people.

Oh to be bear hugged by Buck. 🥰

If anyone is saying this was a bad episode, well they’re wrong. This was a great episode! I think it was well balanced in everything. *ticks off fingers* We got: - Chimney processing/working on his grief around Kevin, and understanding he can be a leader. - Ravi is coming back! - Eddie is at least admitting that he doesn’t want to be alone (which helps him get closer to being with Buck, people need to chill). - Hen working on how to deal with Nathaniel in her family's life, with some guidance from Athena.  - Some good fire fam scenes.

[lovromajers]

Do you care to explain your feelings and opinions on flash (the series) I'm interested in your thoughts

Its SO bad. Listen to me the PACING.... Ok wait obviously spoilers but trust me you aint missing much

One episode is perhaps 30 minutes and they (at least season one, not that far in yet) introduce a new villain (meta human), give them a story, have to get them killed/imprisoned/made good WHILE the flash aka barry allen has his like family problems as in he has a crush on his STEP SISTER. and his dad is in prison because hes been (falsely) convincted of murdering his mom (so the dads wife) WHILE the STEP SISTER (iris is her name) is writing a blog about flash WHILE he is concealing his identity (btw his step dad joe knows about it)... Yeah yeah.... AND THE PACING. ITS SO BAD FISH..... BITING IT BITING IT

Noooww that WOULD be ok if it was not happening at once. Im sure that if it was done well you could show how much responsibility flash has and like hoe hes overwhelmed and stuff... BUT IT ISNT DONE LIKE THAT.

ALSO the flash has a little theme (obviously) and it takes up about SEVENTY PERCENT OF THE EPISODE. AND ITS ALWAYS IN THE FOREGROUND. WHYYYY

Now let me give you a basic idea of what most (incredibly influenced by season one) episodes look like: A GUY IN A CAR!! A GUY ROBBING SOMETHING!! The police is trying to stop him... WHATS THIS?! HE CAN CONTROL/MODIFY _??? NOOOO!! now normal barry allen forensic chemist and his detective step dad joe enter the scene.... He KNOWS something is off.... Omg he SEES THE GUY. he runs to STARLABS!! where cisco caitlin and wells wait.... He tells them about the meta human (people affected by the reactor explosion IN STAR LABS) and then barry is like I GOTTA STOP THIS GUY!! AND SAVE LIFES. He runs up to the guy, gets his ass beat, tuns to starlabs to complain like waaahh i cannot POSSIBLY beat this guy.... AND THEN THE TRIO FEEDS HIM LIKE AN EASY SOLUTION. HE GETS A MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH BY JOE.... AND THE HE RUNS OFF AND BEATS THE GUY.... (during this btw he like has funny nerd storylines! Omg hes always late how FUNNY he cant get a DATE)

Thats the entire first season fish. I hate it. (affectionally)

Now.... This is all ok and alright.... Yeah? I mean typical shitty american series we GET IT.

Now i have to tell you about the worst part (so far) of this series..... THEY SHOW WELLS AS THE BAD GUY IN THE FIRST EPISODE. BRO. BRO. BRO. THE ENTIRE STORY IS THAT WELLS IS FROM THE FUTURE. HES A FUTURE FLASH. HE GOT MAD AND CRAZY AND WANTED TO LIKE BE THE BEST FLASH OR STH SO HE MURDERED SOME PEOPLE IN HIS TIMELINE. WENT BACK. KILLED BARRYS MOM. AND THEN WANTS TO DAMAGE BARRY. AND ITS THIS HUUUUGGGERE THING RIGHT. AND THEY SHOW HIM AS A TIMETRAVELER AND EVIL GUY IN THE FIRST EPISSOOOODEEE AGRGHGRHHDH!! &! &! '! #! _? &?? -? &

Anyways.... The characters are annoying and not fleshed out.... Its always the same as in the same 3 attributes (50% of the characters are NERDS and i garantee you every 2 episodes theres a "uhm.... In english please?" joke) but thats OK. Iris is annoying though...

Howeveerrrr..... Its fun.... Its quirky....... Ive only rewatched a but of season 1 and theres EIGHT.... So maybe i will post an update when im done

Conclusion (feelings and emotions): anticipation, anger, frustration, fondness, hate

(multiple times i started clawing my ipad because i was so devastated by the bad writing, think i started crying at one point because it was so bad)

ALSO not enough gayage. Like too much heteronormativity.....Boo boo tomato

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.