suburbanweeb - Tumblr blog

suburbanweeb · 2 years

Text

Something I don’t think enough people recognize when it comes to making shows more diverse, there is so much going on behind the scene that you literally can’t “just add them.”

Alex Hirsch had to wait until the end of Gravity Falls to show that Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were in love so that way the show didn’t get prematurely cancelled. And even still, that was censored in other countries.

________

The Owl House has a bisexual afro Latina protagonist that falls in love with a white lesbian. They kiss several times on screen and say “my awesome girlfriend.” It also has Disney’s first nonbinary character (Raine Whispers), their bisexual love interest (Eda Clawthorne), and an aro/ace woman (Lilith Clawthorne). However, because like five people said that TOH wasn’t the “Disney brand” the show is prematurely cancelled. So even with everything that TOH did, it only won battle but lost the war.

________

The art crew for Encanto had to fight to make Luisa buff. And when they were finally able to make her buff, Disney didn’t make as much Luisa merchandise because they thought little girls would want Mirabel or Isabela’s since they’re more “feminine.” (I think the same thing happened with Namaari when RATLD came out but I’m not sure. So don’t quote me on that.)

*Also, Luisa out sold Mirabel and Isabela. So that’s a win.

________

Bubblegum and Marceline couldn’t kiss until the series finale of Adventure Time because it would’ve been cancelled. So throughout the entire series, the crew always just had to imply undertones about their past. Since HBO produced Obsidian, they were able to kiss on screen.

________

Korra and Asami’s relationship had to tempt down so that way Nick could continue airing the show and they weren’t allowed to kiss until the comics.

________

Turning Red got so much unwarranted criticism because not only did Mei’s mom say “pads” but she showed them on screen. (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if that made you uncomfortable, that’s a sign that we need to do this more and not less.)

________

Some countries marked She Ra as 18+ because Catra and Adora kissed on screen. (Once again, I’m not sure if this completely true but ND Stevenson had to fight to actually show them kissing on screen instead of a fade to white.)

________

Steven Universe is the gayest show I’ve ever seen in my life which was both good and bad. It was good for obvious reasons. Example being that it was the first show that introduced to me nonbinary people in a way that wasn’t “haha, look, she uses they/them pronouns. She’s so funny and quirky.”

And it’s bad because it put a target on it’s back. SU has been censored so much that it’s honestly a miracle that we got an ending. And in most of the countries that censored SU, they usually portray Ruby as a man. So I can’t imagine how bad the censors were when the wedding happened and Ruby wore a dress and Sapphire wore a suit.

________

Also, you have to remember the outdated idea that gay/trans topics are “too mature” for kids to handle (there’s an episode of Adam Ruins Everything that talks about this). So it’s easier for shows with an older audience (like Arcane) to have queer/trans rep.

Not to mention, if you ever go on Insider’s website to look at the queer/trans characters in cartoons [here], most of the characters are revealed to be queer only online and not in the actual show.

________

All of this BS because God forbid that kids find out that other people exist.

Representation is important but please, just be aware of the actually struggles that go on that you don’t see and be thankful that this is where we are now because even though it might seem like it at times remember that this is actual progress. We need to keep pushing studios to do more. I’m sure that there’s millions of untold stories that would be made if not for this prejudice.

32K notes · View notes

suburbanweeb · 2 years

Text

Therapy Confessions

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40427490#main

Marcy's visit was probably one of the best weeks of the past 10 years. Anne showed her and Sasha sound her new job (and may or may not have made them both cry a little at showing them her amphibians named after some old friends). They went out to lunch every day; Sasha told them about some interesting new client she was getting from the same town in Connecticut where Marcy now lived of all places; Marcy showed them some unreleased chapters of her webcomic; all felt right with the world.

And then Marcy had to leave.

Anne wasn’t too worried about seeing her off this time. Nothing could compare to the first time anyway. So, she, Marcy, and Sasha went their separate ways again; however, something just didn’t feel right. Anne couldn’t exactly tell what it was, but whatever it was caused her to sigh every time she looked at her newt Yunan or her toad Grime. But, being the ever optimist, she just assumed seeing her old friends and being reminded of her old life shook her up a bit.

She pushed down the unease in her stomach and decided not to worry about it too much.

~~~

Sasha was trying. Frog, was she trying. This paperwork in front of her had been starring her down for almost 30 minutes and yet was still just as blank as it ever had been. Sasha just didn’t care enough to process the words in front of her. How could she? Marcy had gone back to her house and Anne back to her life about a week ago now, so how come their smiles played in her mind every time she blinked? Why couldn’t she just think for two minutes without wondering how Anne would feel about coffee after work? Or if Marcy was open to Facetiming sometime later tonight? And why couldn’t she just do this damn paperwork?

“Hey,” her coworker opened her door slowly, “You doing ok? I’ve passed by a few times now and you haven’t moved in like 20 minutes or something.”

“I’m fine, Matt,” Sasha closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, “just, a little confused I guess.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Short of this paperwork for me? Not really,” Sasha laughed, “but.. Thanks. I think I’m just gonna head out early today.”

“Ok,” her coworker started to close the door, “you have my number if you need anything! I hope you feel better!” With that, Matt left.

Sasha put her head in her arms and laid on her desk for a moment before stretching, grabbing her things, and heading home.

~~~

Marcy was not ok.

She had read enough fanfiction in her life to know what was happening, but unlike fanfiction, Marcy wasn’t the nerdy but lovable girl next door. No. That would be too easy. No, Marcy was the nerdy but lovable girl on the other side of the country. Because life never gave Marcy Wu a break. From literally being possessed by a supercomputer to having a gay crisis in the middle of an aquarium last week, life just loved giving Marcy that sweet, sweet character development.

All she wanted to do was do some storyboarding for a new chapter, but no. No, she had to spend the next 5 hours hyperfixating on drawing her, Anne, and Sasha in their old Calamity Trio superpower outfits from memory. Because of course she did.

By the time she was done, the sun was way below the horizon and her stomach was growling. She begrudgingly left her desk to go make Ramen, left with only the thoughts of red and blue space girls.

~~~

Anne was going insane.

“No, mom, I’m telling you, I can’t stop thinking about them. I think I’m going crazy,” Anne was on the phone with her mother while on her way home from work 2 weeks after Marcy had left again.

“Well, sweetie,” her mother said, “have you reached out to either of them to, I don’t know, ask how they are?”

“What? No!” Anne gasped, “That would be weird! I haven’t talked to them in years… not really.” Anne looked sadly at her hands gripped tightly on her wheel.

“Anne, they planned a whole surprise party for you and found where you worked just to go see you. Marcy flew from the other side of the country for you, and Sasha was the one who organized that whole week for you guys, work schedules and all. I don’t think it’s an over-exaggeration to say that they still care about you,” Mrs. Boonchuay finished.

“I guess then…” Anne trailed off and suddenly felt terrible, “I guess then I haven’t been as good of a friend as I thought.”

It was silent for a minute before, “Anne, you had some growing to do, and so did they. I don’t think they hold anything against you for focusing on yourself for a while.” Her mother laughed a little, “I can hear you overthinking from over here.”

Anne chuckled, “Well- you’re right. You always are. I’ll think about it, I guess.”

“Or,” Mrs. Boonchuay offered, “you could go see a certain therapist to go work out your feelings.”

And that’s how Anne ended up outside an office building, a small paper with an address written on it held tightly in her sweaty hands.

~~~

“Hey, uh, Sasha,” Matt knocked nervously on Sasha’s opened door.

“What’s up, Matt?” Sasha looked up from her computer.

“There’s a nurse -or something- here to see you? She looks a little old to be a client of yours and a little too young to be a parent,” Matt finished, his voice filled with uncertainty.

Sasha’s heartbeat sped up. No, no, I can’t get my hopes up Sasha thought.

“Alright,” said standing up, “where is she?”

“I’ll just go get her!” And he sped out of the room.

Sasha sat down and tried not to think too hard about that interaction and more about who would just show up at her office without warning. A beat of silence passes before-

“Hey, Sash,” Anne said nervously, “How’s work?”

~~~

Marcy was losing it. She couldn’t even focus on anime without her heart deciding to plant another never-gonna-happen scenario into her brain.

This was the last straw.

She was gonna call Sasha.

It’s not that weird, she reasoned with herself, she planned that whole ‘Anne Birthday’ thing with me. This is just a friendly call to see how she’s doing and maybe see if Anne is doing well after that. That’s it. Marcy was trying to calm her racing heart as she pressed the FaceTime call button on a contact labeled Commander Sasha .

~~~

“Anne?! What are you doing here?”

Anne walked into her office slowly, her face a little red, “I just… thought this would be better than just some random text.”

“So you showed up at my place of work unannounced?” Sasha deadpanned.

“I just- I... I felt- I couldn’t just-” Anne sputtered.

“Hey, hey,” Sasha’s voice was gentle, a smile played on her lips, “Take a seat, let’s talk this out, but next time, I’m making you pay for your session. You don’t get special treatment because you saved a planet one time. Student loans are a bitch.”

Anne laughed. Like a lot. Probably more than she should have. She was just relieved. This was Sasha , there was never anything to be worried about.

“Ok, ok,” Anne responded, “I’ll just text you next time, but I guess I just thought that it would feel a little insincere.”

“And why is that?” Sasha was clearly in her element.

“I think I just…” Anne trailed off, not sure if she wanted to continue.

“This is a safe space, Anne,” Sasha said, “No judgment.”

Anne took a deep breath before rambling off, “I think I have a crush on you and Marcy but I feel bad because you two have been such good friends even after all this time apart and I never really bothered to reach out and then that whole thing with my birthday happened the other week and now I can’t stop thinking about it and we haven’t really talked a lot since middle school but wow did my gay panic only get worse and I don’t know how to deal with any of this so I came here because sending a text felt too cheap and like if I did that then I wasn’t actually trying and-”

“Woah, woah,” Sasha’s heart was definitely going at an unhealthy rate. She tried her best to stay as calm as she could. “Can you repeat that for me, but slower?” Sasha’s voice was smooth and gentle and Anne was not ok. The lesbian gods were being merciless.

“I just… really miss you and Marcy. And I don’t think I realized how much that was until Marcy left again and you just… went back to your life and I went back to mine,” Anne was looking down at her hands twisting in her lap.

Sasha reached out to touch Anne’s shoulder before-

{iPhone Piano Riff Ringtone}

“Hold on, sorry.” Sasha grabbed her phone out of her pocket, reading the contact Master Marcy .

Sasha’s face went beat red, she smirked, “You said you missed Marcy too, right?”

~~~

Sasha picked up after the first few rings, and to Marcy’s surprise, with Anne in her office. She felt like she just interrupted something.

“Uh- hey, Sash, Anna-banana,” she could feel her cheeks redden, “If this is a bad time, I can text you-”

“No, no,” Anne said quickly, leaning in towards the phone, “your timing couldn’t be better actually.” Anne had a soft smile on her face, she was on the big fluffy chair sasha had in her office. “I just-” she stopped, took a deep breath, and said, “I have something I need to tell you both.”

“Me too,” Sasha and Marcy said simultaneously.

They all looked at each other and laughed, their faces flushed.

“Okay, okay,” Sasha said, “Why doesn’t Anne go first?”

Anne sat up and leaned away from Sasha and Marcy for a second and closed her eyes, Change is scary, but it’s a part of life , Anne thought. She took another deep breath and opened her eyes, leaning towards Sasha and Marcy on her phone.

“Ok, I know I haven’t exactly been the most consistent friend in your guys’ lives, especially after middle school. But, last week, I guess it just made me realize how much I missed having you both in my life and-” Anne tried to slow her heart. She clutched the cushions underneath her and looked at her friends' faces, “I think I really like you guys. Like, a more-than-best-friends like.”

The room went silent. Anne began to feel herself shrinking into her seat.

Sasha giggled, tears starting to make their way down her face, “Is that what this was about, Boonchuay?”

“Yes? I don’t think this was exactly my plan, but… yeah,” Anne laughed with her, “Is that how you’re gonna say yes to asking me out?”

“I guess so,” Sasha was smiling so lovingly at Anne before she turned to her phone to see Marcy very clearly screaming while on mute.

“M- Marcy?” Sasha sputtered.

“AAAAH! Sorry, sorry. I just got really excited,” Marcy was out of breath, “And before you ask, yes, that is how I am saying yes to dating both of you.”

They fell into a conversation about cute date ideas shortly after that. Sasha suggested a streaming movie date, Anne suggested a video chat dinner, but Marcy was already a few steps ahead of them.

“I can just move back to LA!” she beamed.

“You- what?” Anne asked.

“Yeah,” Marcy responded back cheerily, “I mean, I’m 23, so it’s not like I need to live with my parents anymore. Plus, there’s a ton of jobs I can go into for art over there, and in-person networking is way easier than online.” Marcy looked proud of herself, but Anne and Sasha held looks of concern.

“Marcy, as much as we would love that,” Anne started, “I think it’s just a little more expensive here than it is in Connecticut.”

“Yeah, Mar-Mar,” Sasha added, “plus, do you really wanna fall into the U-Haul Lesbian trope that easily?”

“Well actually Sasha, that’s not what that means, but also,” Marcy continued, “I was planning on moving over there soon anyway, I’ve been saving up and applying to jobs over there. Connecticut was never my home, not really,” Marcy started playing with her fingers, “Anywhere without you two is kind of hard to call home.”

It was Anne’s turn to start crying. She got up and hugged Sasha and her phone. “Marcy!” she cried, “When you get here,” she sniffled, “I’m gonna give you so many hugs, you’re gonna pass out!”

“And maybe a little more than hugs,” Sasha said, kissing the top of Anne’s head.

Marcy grinned widely, “I’ll look forward to it, girlfriends!”

#amphiba #amphibia fanfic #sashannarcy #calamity trio #sashannarcy fanfic #also on ao3 #fanfiction #fanfic

24 notes · View notes