#// I could also see trans girl Kara

[protectthevulnerable]

// I don't really Do dc anymore but I still regularly think about trans woman Barry Allen

#// Also enby Alex Danvers #// I could also see trans girl Kara #// and/or nonbinary Kara #// and genderfluid Lucy #// Look I'm gonna trans all of your characters lol #ooc.

[theashrider]

My toxic trait is… taking the lesbian characters I used to ship back when I was gay, and turning them into straight (or at the very least, non-lesbian) ships now that I’m straight.

Without context, it sounds insane and probably homophobic. But I find it really hard to abandon my comfort ships just because I can’t relate to them as well as I used to before.

I started shipping Supercorp before I realized I was trans. In my head I always imagined Kara being non-binary or transgender due to a mismatch in kryptonian-to-human gender concepts. I needed to find comfort in the idea of a character that’s seen as a woman but is actually just incorrectly categorized as female due to her exterior appearance. I made up a gender spectrum for Kryptonians to justify this idea, and I used to daydream about what it would be like to be an alien that isn’t confined to human gender identities. I imagined that getting called Supergirl would cause discomfort and awkwardness because these humans saw long hair and heard a soft voice and decided that this alien, this being from however many light years away, was surely a girl in the way that human girls are. Hell, I even imagined Kryptonians having the ability to regulate their hormone levels and having a wide vocal range that allows them to switch between feminine and masculine tones without needing to practice. I fantasized about having that type of super-human ability to control my body characteristics to finally look and sound the way I did in my mind.

I started watching Xena because I knew it was a popular wlw show, but eventually started imagining Gabrielle as trans in an Ancient Greek time period where trans guys probably couldn’t do anything about it. Then season 5 happened and suddenly Xena was calling Gabrielle the father of her baby and Gabrielle was stepping up to protect their child, and I latched onto the idea of this closeted trans guy who’s living as a woman but still manages to find a way to be a parent and a partner in a non-traditional way. That helped me cope with my inability to medically transition, seeing this short, talkative, feisty character as a closeted trans guy that everyone else (including their partner) saw as a woman. I took comfort that Gabrielle could find a way to be a good partner even without being able to present herself the way she wants to. I’m around the same height as her. I will never be able to change that, and neither can that character. But she is still a father and a bard and a soulmate and all of that transcends the physical reality of her body.

Doctor Who has been my favorite show since I was a kid. It has been present in my life through every phase and new discovery about my identity. I shipped River Song with the Doctor from the moment I realized she wasn’t just a two-episode guest character. Then the Doctor became a woman and we never got to see her interact with her wife. But I wondered what it would be like to have them meet, have them figure out their relationship now that they’re both women. And I started thinking that maybe the Doctor wouldn’t be completely comfortable in a female body, since she’s been living as a man for so much longer. So I decided that, in my head, whenever River and the 13th Doctor met, the Doctor would have a hard time communicating that discomfort with her wife. I imagined that she would crave regenerating back into a man, or maybe regenerating as a cisgender woman who doesn’t feel like she’s a man who looks like a woman. I’ve had times where I wished I was a woman even though I have a female body and brain, just because I can’t imagine women feel the same way trans men do in their minds. So this character that can change the way they look and sound like, really just gave me something to hold onto while I struggled internally over my appearance and my voice.

I wonder whether other trans people have done this with characters they love and take comfort in. I also wonder whether voicing these feelings and ideas in primarily wlw (or mlm) spaces would hurt or offend the members of that community, considering how common straight characters and ships are and always have been. It feels a bit isolating to be in these communities and fandoms but not have anyone to relate to because you’re not really shipping the same people everyone else is shipping. You’re shipping a version of them that you made up, and probably doesn’t match with canon at all. I can’t find many fan works that cater to my headcannons (and I don’t have the artistic ability or time to make them myself) but I also don’t feel like I can ask for them from fandom creators.

I’ve never seen anyone else talk about something like this. I’m interested in finding others who also do this or have done it in the past to take comfort with their own gender identity. And I think I just needed to finally write all of this out.

#trans #transgender #ftm #trans men #supercorp #xena and gabrielle #xena warrior princess #the doctor/river song #13th doctor #kara danvers #mini rant #ugh #this makes me feel better #but also #too vulnerable #shipping #fandom

[unlovableoniwitch]

It's really interesting to see and be aware of people be in denial of Type Moon works having lgbtq characters or people trying to call Nasu a coward about them or whatever because from what I've heard, there's a character from Kara no Kyoukai known as Ryougi SHIKI for instance who is literally a trans man, and the original light novels for it came out in the mid to late 1990s (can't remember if it was 1996 or 1998). Obviously there's been trans characters well before that but that's a trans man being written in the mid to late 1990s here.

Then there's the visual novels starting with Tsukihime where there's quite the evidence that Tohno Akiha and Kohaku are both bisexual, including an erotic cg with them together. There's also some implications that Tohno Shiki and Inui Arihiko could have feelings for each other that they don't realize as well throughout Tsukihime and even more so in its sequel Kagetsu Tohya, both from 2000 and 2001 respectively.

It only gets more explicit with Fate Stay Night from 2004 and its sequel Hollow Ataraxia as well (don't know the year) with explicit sex scenes involving multiple women infatuated with one another and more blatant text than ever confirming and alluding to their bisexuality. Not only that but from what I've heard, at least one character has some gender stuff going on and she's the popular blonde lady called Saberface or something.

There's also Mahoutsukai no Yoru, or Witch on the Holy Night in english where Aozaki Touko is clearly shown to have sexuality towards both men and women with a kiss forced upon Kuonji Alice and Aozaki Aoko dating a girl (albeit unknowingly) once and finding Kuonji Alice to be beautiful. There's also this one brown haired girl who's name was Kuma I think who literally just has blatant bi moments involving a drunk passed out Aozaki Touko and Aozaki Aoko in a bunny outfit. This came out 2012 by the way.

When you lay it all out like that, I can't think of a Type Moon visual novel that doesn't have some type of bi or lgbtq moment or character. People who think the nasuverse is straight are either probably anime onlyies (hell, there's probably lgbtq stuff in various anime as well) or just being cisheteronormative, lol. Can't help but think some of this denial is just racism too to be honest.

There's also Fate Grand Order but I don't go there. Astolfo exists though.

#type moon #lgbtq #tsukihime #kagetsu tohya #fate stay night #fate series #mahoutsukai no yoru #witch on the holy night #mahoyo #kara no kyoukai

[frosty-the-killer-doll]

i read the Elsewords chapter and i have to say damn that kiss, that Olivibe, let me tilt you like we're dancing while we're passionately making out, kiss, it was perfect and everything and perfect <3<3<3<3<3 also also i have a question, would you have any hcs for Olivarrisco, these three specifically together?

thank you girl i love making blorbos desire each other carnally

i think barrisco are annoying little shits on their own, but they both individually love fucking with oliver so much already that it's amplified when it's the three of them. together their one goal in life is to make ollie so mad he fucking killts them

unfortunately this can also have the opposite effect; if oliver has a good enough comeback for one of them, the other immediately defects to his side. there is no loyalty in war

i've always thought about ways barrisco could fight with their superpowers at the same time, like cisco riding on barry's back while he's speeding and cisco's out here throwing portals and vibe blasts, and now i am thinking about ways to add oliver to that mix. oliver delivering barry arrows to throw like lightning through cisco's portals? barry tightly holding onto oliver as he fucken jumps off a building into a vibe portal? much possibilities, much to think about...

barry is shit at secret keeping whereas cisco loves to make bad jokes so their oliver-related sexcapades are well known, oliver will destroy both his boyfriends if it's the last thing he does

sadly barrisco knows all of his kinks so they can simply blackmail him. (all jokingly, ofc)

to me barrisco are t4t. they are binary trans men and sometimes gnc. i see oliver as amab- not necessarily cis tho. i think he's somewhere on the non-binary side of things, but doesn't really know it himself, bc, yknow, the fuck is being a man supposed to feel like? he doesn't know the feeling of what he's 'supposed' to be feeling. now, oliver has quite a lot of trans/non-binary women lovers (iris, felicity, sara, kara), but he starts to understand that he doesn't quite feel as manly as one would think he does by being with trans men like barry and cisco. they are so happy to be men, so happy to play with gender roles, giddy at their top surgery scars and laughing in skirts. is that what manhood is? is that what manhood can be? does oliver wish he was trans? is oliver trans?

all that to say, t4t4t ot3 and all of ollie's tranny partners come together to help him figure himself out further after he first accepts that he may not be most definitions of man, thanks to barrisco

once they walked passed a bunch of bees and it triggered cisco's phobia, freezing him in place until the bees had flied flied away. barry and oliver stayed with him the whole time, running their hands through his hair to ground and comfort him silently. after all, since you've read the olivibe fic, you KNOW i think cisco loses speech sometimes if his anxiety and surprise response have enough sex. i i don't know another way to explain what i mean. they're having sex i guess

on the barry side of trigger responses he gets weird during thunder storms. not completely silent or dissociated, just... slow, confused, derealized. if the derealization escalates to complete depersonalization- depends on how long and loud the thunder storm is- he goes into little space. yup, i hc barry as an age regressor! iris is usually his caretaker when he gets like that, live-in partner and all, but that doesn't mean cisco and ollie do nothing. cisco has as many comic books and art supplies as agere!barry could want, and barry adores oliver's cooking no matter his mental age.

meanwhile- oliver does dissociate from time to time. his flavor of ptsd includes flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, depression etc etc. one way his intrusive thoughts love fucking with him is forcing him to imagine what it would be like to snap barry's neck like a twig, stab an arrow into cisco's thigh, dig into felicity back until he cracks the spinal chip that lets her walk. the thoughts scare him a lot, and he's almost more afraid of what his loved ones would think if they saw the things his mind makes him see. he worries they wouldn't feel safe around him- he wonders if they should feel safe around him at all. even tho barrisco can't see into his mind's eye, they can tell when he's having the bad thoughts again, and get extra touchy and all up in his personal space to show him just how much they trust him, just how much they know the thoughts don't actually mean anything. they're not scared of him; he doesn't need to be scared of himself.

i hope u like dez i plan to do something with olivarrisco during multiamory march 2024 so PREPARE!!! 🫡

#frosty answers #arrowverse asks #arrowverse polycule au #arrowverse #cisco ramon #barry allen #oliver queen #olivarrisco #olivarry #olivibe #barrisco #the flash #the flash cw #cw the flash #arrow #arrow cw #cw arrow

[maevethewerepuppy]

Puppy HRT - Part 1 Pre-Transition

A story about a trans woman named Hailey starting the HRT process - only without realizing that she signed up for the Government's new Pet and Work Animal Renewal Project, where the hormones she will be taking will not just feminize her, but also turn her into an obedient pup for her roommate Kara.

Content Warning: • Normalized Petplay • Brainwashing • Unrealistic/Unsafe Hypnosis • Mistress/Pet Relationship • Darker Themes • Dubious Consent

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I nervously sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office, my leg bouncing up and down slowly. My loose black hoodie hung over my body despite the heat of the day, nearly 30’c outside. Next to me was all the signed paperwork, all done up in a nice folder. All the pre-treatment testing, the psychologist’s sealed assessment, early blood hormone level testing…

“Miss Hailey?” The voice of the nice receptionist called, snapping me out of my own thoughts and back to reality. The reality that I was finally going to be able to start taking the medication I needed to make my body feel right. “Here.” I replied, my voice way too deep and masculine sounding, but I couldn’t afford a vocal coach so online videos were all I had to work with. It didn’t help that I was tone deaf on top of it. I got up as the receptionist came around the desk, gesturing for me to follow. She had this warm smile on her face, as if I wasn’t the disgusting person I constantly saw in the mirror. I followed her back through the hallway to the doctor’s office, simply passing a small smile back at her.

Guiding me into the office, she gestured for me to sit down on the standard, uncomfortable exam table. I muttered a quiet thanks as I did so, setting my paperwork on the doctor’s desk in the room. Informed that the doctor would be there in a few minutes, I simply waited in silence.

Soon the doctor, a smart looking man with short brown hair and a pair of circle framed glasses stepped into the room. He was dressed in his lab coat and sat at the desk I has put my documents onto, glancing over them briefly before turning to me. “So, Miss… Hailey, is it?” He asks, as I give him a brief nod before he continues speaking, “Seems like we finally have everything we need to start on the medications. Thank you for being so prepared, not many clients are this organized about starting the process. Why don’t we start discussing the changes we expect to see physically and mentally, then I’ll write your prescription?”

I nod again, and he begins to talk. Speaking about what the expected timeline is and what effects and side effects we could see, but… I was not listening. My ears were ringing as I numbly nodded along to his words, my heart pounding in my head. Everything was finally happening; it was going to be real! I was going to finally start the hormone replacement treatment and become a girl, physically! I’d been waiting literally for years for this point and to get here was just liberating.

“So, I think that explains everything. Do you understand what I’ve explained to you?” He asked me, a soft smile on his face as he finished up, catching me off guard for a moment as I caught up to reality and out of my fantasies.

“Yeah, I do. I have been waiting for this for so long, Doctor. Please…” I replied, my voice breathy as I tried to keep from shouting at him to just write me the note and let me get the medication already.

“Alright then. Let’s get you started then.” He turned to his computer and started typing out the prescription for me. Soon it was printed off and in my hands as I headed down the elevator to the pharmacy. The doctor had also given me some extra sheets of paper and pamphlets, one with a happy woman on the front of it, but I was far too excited and overly eager to get the medication that I failed to notice the fact she was naked and wearing a collar. It simply remained forgotten.

I handed over my prescription and only a half-hour later I was walking out with the two different medications in hand. The names were far too long for me to worry about memorizing, but at least they had the instructions right on the bottle. I was told to take one of each after dinner each night, so it wasn’t a hard process to remember. We’d be upping them slowly over time, but to get me started and adjusted this was the right dose.

Regardless, I was extremely excited and relieved to get home and start taking them. The small apartment I shared with my roommate Kara wasn’t the best place, but for the most part she was nice enough the little we interacted, and we both paid our bills on time. She sometimes got a bit loud doing gaming streams in her room but those were during the daytime, so I put up with it.

As I got home, she was up making grilled cheese in the kitchen area just across from the front door. She turned her head to me, giving a small smile as I stepped in and hung up my keys. Moving into the small living room I dropped my paperwork on the coffee table with the mail, keeping the meds close. “How was your appointment?” She asked as she turned her attention back to the food.

“It went well… Finally got the approval process finished and I’m starting the medications today.”

“Congrats! It’s good to hear things going well for you finally with all this stuff, it’s been practically forever since you started trying to get it!”

I gave her a small nod, muttering out a thanks as I headed towards my room. It was not hard to notice her expression fall as I moved on without much conversation, but I didn’t have the energy after dealing with the doctor and public earlier. I just needed to get into the quiet isolation of my room.

Out in the living-room, Kara picked up the flyers that I’d abandoned in my haste to get away from a conversation. Picking it up and starting to read it over, an idea began to form in her head as she saw the title.

‘Puppy Hormones and You – A guide to changes and training you’ll need on Puppy Hormones!’

#pet pl4y #puppygirl #bd/sm pet #pet pl@y #puppyposting #hypnokink #dumb puppy #creative writing #kink story #kink writing #trans nsft #F/TF #Casual petpl@ay #unrealistic #fiction

[t0x1c-r3d]

If Killjoys: California and National Anthem were connected

(Ignoring any plot holes / inconsistencies that come with that ofc ; a lot of this is just for fun, so there's not a lot of reasoning)

The helium wars and analog wars

2 different wars. The analog wars are mentioned in National Anthem. If the 2 universes were connected, I think I'd put National Anthem first. That being said, what if the Analog Wars were BLI's original plan, the prototype stage if you will.

And once we get to the point of the Helium Wars, this leads to Danger Days and Killjoys: California. BLI has greatly improved their tactics and technology.

For example, now the drac masks actually work and put them under control instead of people just becoming zombies. Also, they found out the killjoys could see through the hallucinations, so they revamped the pornodroids and made them actually look like they should permentantly and easier to control.

And so they're a lot harder to beat when you get to the point of Killjoys: California. Because you can tell Dr. D and everyone has kind of just started giving up on actually beating them and instead are trying to just permanently outrun them because they've improved so much that they don't see a chance. Especially with the fab 4 dead, they think it's hopeless.

Jamie is related to the Venom Brothers (like their grandpa or something)

Whenever they changed the concept with the story, inspiration for Party Poison (and Val Velocity) came from Mike Milligram. So, if the stories were to be connected, I think it'd be interesting to make them related.

What if Mike and Kara were siblings like Party and Kobra?

I like to parallel Kara being a trans woman, if she holds the same part as Kobra, with the hc of Kobra Kid being a trans man, just because as far as we know Kobra Kid is a guy but it still keeps the trans thing as a whole (I guess?)

Anyway, Party and Kobra found an old box of things belonging to Mike and Kara. At the time of looking through the box, filled with belongings and pictures, Kobra was questioning his gender. The brothers found pictures of Kara both before and after her transition. It didn't take them too long to put 2 and 2 together.

Party totally thought that Mike was really badass and based their style off of his. And since they have the same, or at least very similar, masks, what if Mike's mask was in the box. Party finds it and decides to take it and use it as their own. After all, it's a cool mask, and Mike's dead, so it's not like he needs it anymore... It becomes like a family heirloom sort of thing.

Kobra somewhere has an old pair of Kara's sunglasses and wears them instead of his own sometimes.

BL/IND has records of the past war.

Going with the idea of the Venom brothers being related to Mike and Kara still. They have records of the original killjoys / killjoy groups.

Not counting the girl, the relation is one reason they send one of their top ranking scarecrows, Korse, after them. It's expected that whoever runs with the brothers would become a major problem for BLI and their plans. It runs in the family, after all. So, they remember how hard the fight against Mike Milligram and his crew was, and they don't want to take any chances with the fabulous 4 and all their friends.

#the true lives of the fabulous killjoys #killjoys california #killjoys national anthem #i have way too many ideas and headcanons about them #thank you to my best friend(s) who originally had to listen to this rant

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Followup from my other one. This time, I’d like to plug nine more obscure or underappreciated series that I very much enjoy. Some of these are only in manga form, and some might require one to sail the high seas so to speak. But like...this is a niche Tumblr blog and I feel like my vibe was pretty indie already so have fun with it!

TOP LEFT - Attack no.1: This one is probably the hardest sell which is a damn shame. It’s a series from the 60s, there are pretty good fansubs out there but the manga has never been translated to my knowledge. Attack no.1 is one of the most important anime of all time, a volleyball shoujo made in the wake of the Japan Women’s team bringing home the gold in the 1964 Olympics. That sounds pretty mundane now, and a lot of it would feel that way on casual glance today too. But...it was the first. First shoujo sports series and really one of the earliest that wasn’t a kiddie magical girl show. Big, big deal that aired in primetime. Completely unafraid to touch on misogyny, racism, cold war tensions, and being one of the only anime I have ever seen call out Japan’s erasure of the disabled point blank. You’d also see the birth of so many sports anime tropes, but they make perfect sense couched in this epic that ties Kozue’s journey from middle school superstar to Olympian together with this saga of Japan undergoing massive social change. Can’t say enough good things about this one, it’s dated but still amazing. It also has this like, oddly hardcore edge to it. Kozue ain’t called “oyabun” for nothing.

TOP MIDDLE - Glass Mask: One of the bestselling shoujo series of all time. Still need to finish this one but as a former theatre kid I love it. Same format as so many others, rivals and challenges and meeting true companions...but the theatrical nature makes it feel so classy. Melodrama in the best way possible.

TOP RIGHT - Rose of Versailles: Yeah, it’s another one of the most legendary shoujo of all time. Lady Oscar, raised as a man and this captain of the guard added into the backdrop of the French Revolution. Is it entirely historically accurate? No, but still uses enough legit detail you’ll walk away with something. Beautiful, timeless. Oddly enough one of the first anime I got into outside of what I could find on TV. The one that kicked off a fascination with the history of anime and manga. A lot like Glass Mask, you’re getting a big, sweeping romantic epic. Both in the lovey-dovey and literary sense. Bara wa bara wa...

MIDDLE LEFT - Kanojo ni, Naru Hi: Or literally “The Day He Became She.” Figured fans of a blog that ostensibly started about Okiku might like some other good stories that use trans themes. Short but has good scans for it and the sequel series. Starts off a little weird but opens up a few chapters in and makes sense. Set in a world where physically transitioning can just...happen to some boys in order to keep balance. That’s just an excuse to handwave away the stupid points people get hung up on, which leads to the real strength of the series. Said this about Kiku, this is one of the few times I’ve seen a trans narrative that deals with “what comes next” so to speak. Also an amazing romance story in its own right that follows the Kare Kano tradition of getting the couple together early and letting them face hurdles as a pair.

CENTER - Kyou Kara Yonshimai: “Four Sisters, Starting Today.” Short series that executes a simple premise. Starts off as a family of three sisters buzzing with excitement to see their sole brother for the first time in two years. You can guess from the title what change makes for the inciting incident. What I like about this one is how well it executes; all four sisters shift believably around this new revelation. While it doesn’t sugarcoat friction it may cause in families, it’s always from a place of love. At the start, they’re all in proper “roles” for their family order. By the end, they’ve all followed their new sister’s example and ended up finding out where they fit in the best.

MIDDLE RIGHT - Full Moon wo Sagashite: This was like, the seasonal flash in the pan of 2004. Almost immediately forgotten when it ended but well liked at the time. It was the first series I pirated off of BitTorrent...over dialup internet. Patient process of letting it run overnight, took about two weeks for a 4 episode batch. Worth it, cute magical girl idol series. Not an uncommon blend. Centered around the hook of its young protagonist Mitsuki having cancer. Not afraid to be tragic underneath the sugary exterior. Songs are fun too. 

BOTTOM LEFT - You’re Under Arrest!: This one is deceptively good, think of it as a precursor to the “cute girls doing cute things” genre from the early 90s. But it’s about adults which is incredibly refreshing. Focuses on a pair of traffic cops, so its like a really petty police procedural. One of the major supporting characters Aoi happens to be that classy trans girl archetype a certain samurai we like here fits to boot! Comfy hand-drawn animation that sticks to the episodic format. A fluffy sitcom that can spruce it up with a little action when it wants to. 

BOTTOM MIDDLE - Paradise Kiss: Kinda forgot until I was writing this that it’s another one with a good incidental trans character in the main group. Unique series about haute coture fashion design. Ended up doing the same thing as Yu Yu Hakusho where it trying to be modern when it came out ended up making it a great period piece for the 00s. Fun cast, lots of pretty visuals, the fashion world is enough to keep things interesting given it’s a short series. Love the ending theme for the anime, funky animatic to a Franz Ferdinand song.

BOTTOM RIGHT - Lupin III: Does this count as obscure in the West? Even when it was on Adult Swim it was always late in the block. Never hear people talk about it but I’ve always loved the tales of the gentleman thief. Lupin, Jigen, Goemon, Fujiko, and Zenigata. You only need five main characters for such a massive franchise. The James Bond parody Austin Powers wishes it could be. Funny as hell and has delivered so many good emotional stories hidden in there to boot. A true classic. “Rose & Pistol,” or “Shot Through the Heart” in the English dub, is absolutely burned into my brain.

#attack no. 1 #glass mask #rose of versailles #kanojo ni naru hi #kyou kara yonshimai #full moon wo sagashite #you're under arrest #paradise kiss #lupin iii #50 follower spectacular

[myucornerorg]

Thanks @real-life-senshi for the tag!

The Rules: Tag (9) people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the following:

Four Ships:

Oh boy. TBH I'm not that into shipping really. I guess I have a few though.

Brainy x Nia (CW Supergirl): Definitely the beta couple of the last couple seasons of the show. I do kinda wonder how their relationship would've developed had Season 5 played out as planned (the ending of the season got kinda messed up due to COVID lockdowns, which is why the "beat Leviathan" plot got carried over to the beginning of Season 6). They got a fair amount of focus in Season 6, as they dealt with how Brainy's actions in Season 5 affected them (also they had to write Kara out for most of the season because her actress was on maternity leave, forcing them to instead focus episodes on the rest of Supergirl's team). I felt it was a strong ship, with two goofy, geeky people - one an alien genius who's not very used to having emotions period and the other a half-human, half-alien girl with dream-related powers - who both clearly like each other but don't know how to spit it out. The "Prom!" two-parter, where they go back in time to get DNA to help track down Kara, had them try to fit in in late-90s small town America, which was hilarious. Also, in general, even with all the hype over Nia being the first transgender superhero ever (she's also played by a real-life trans rights hero, Nicole Maines), aside from a little focus when she was first introduced, they haven't made it her sole defining trait, and have developed her beyond that, which I appreciate. I'm not sure their relationship had its full time to develop - towards the end it seemed doomed to fail since at some point Brainy was going to have to go back to the future time he came from. But in the finale he decided to "screw destiny" and came back for her, so they still have a chance!

Pokéshipping (Ash x Misty): From Pokémon, obviously. This is Pokémon's oldest ship and I have stood by it for years (to be fair, I haven't seen enough of the anime to justify the other Ash ships anyway). But then I'm biased, since Misty has long been a favorite character of mine from Pokémon. It's been cool seeing her come back in more recent seasons and still have a dynamic with Ash. It started with him accidentally frying her bike with Pikachu, and her tagging along to make him pay her back, but they ultimately developed a strong friendship, which I think is only rivaled by his friendship with Dawn probably. Of course, since I ship them, I wish there could be more - and there are songs showing Misty has feelings for him ("Misty's Song," "He Drives Me Crazy," "I've Got a Secret" from Pokémon Live). The second movie also teased the idea, though Misty strongly denied it. As for Ash, we have no idea how he feels. But let's be fair, he barely acknowledged Serena's feelings, and hers as far as I can tell were WAY more obvious than Misty's (Serena pretty much started traveling with Ash cause she had a crush on him). So I'm guessing he's just completely oblivious. He'd have to grow up a lot to realize how Misty feels. And now Ash's time in the anime is basically over. Though, they did leave things pretty open-ended with him, so...

Yowzah (Doctor x River Song): This is basically my main ship from Doctor Who (though I do also support Tenrose). For this ship, I usually define it as Eleven x River specifically, since they interact the most. Though their relationship is crazy complicated, their banter is always fun to see when they do meet. Because I didn't watch Doctor Who quite in order when catching up on old seasons, I actually saw their romance in basically chronological order - starting with Series 5-7 and ending with 4, where Ten meets her but she ends up dying - which somehow made it even more poignant. I did appreciate that before Steven Moffat left, he resolved their whole thing by having Twelve finally take River to Darillium (the last place River saw "her" Doctor before traveling to the Library and meeting Ten), and having Twelve come to terms with her being gone. While there are still Big Finish audios coming out to flesh out River's personal canon, I consider her timeline with The Doctor finished, and I don't expect her to show up again (although, they brought back Jack Harkness, so I guess no one's safe). I don't feel like there's any sort of future they could give them - "The Name of the Doctor" already showed River post-death. I suppose they could delve into their past still, especially if they keep the Timeless Child plotline when Russell T. Davies takes over again. I'd kinda love for River to meet the Fugitive Doctor. I feel like they would be BFFs in a heartbeat. At any rate, River is a fun character, and for now I've been indulging my interest in this ship via the Eleventh Doctor fanfic I've been working on for years (I have an idea for a ship fic with them too).

Mamoru x Hina (PGSM): So not sure this is even a ship but decided to add it anyway. When it comes to Sailor Moon, I'm typically in the Usagi x Mamoru camp pretty strongly. Especially in the manga, where their relationship really gets some deep development (it gets development in the anime too, but not in the same way I feel like). But the live-action series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon just didn't do their relationship justice. I get that they had limited episodes to work with, but they could've done better. They also tried to make things more dramatic by revealing Mamoru was engaged, right at the point of the show when Usagi was starting to think maybe he wasn't so bad after all. And then try to twist the knife even more by making Usagi realize that "OMG this guy's girlfriend is actually NICE." Hina, meanwhile, didn't get much development beyond being the "other woman" who clearly loved Mamoru more than he did her. That she was the "childhood friend" in this scenario probably didn't help either (anyone who's watched/read enough shoujo knows that the "childhood friend" rarely wins in a love triangle). She did at least respect that Mamoru had a lost past he was trying to find clues to, and tried to be supportive as much as she could. And when Mamoru got cut off from a call with her when Kunzite attacked him, she seemed genuinely upset. (She also got upset when she found Usagi's handkerchief in Mamoru's dresser, but that's more like a "OMG are you cheating on me?" kind of upset). Ultimately she saw the writing on the wall and broke up with Mamoru. I mean, sure, if the show was going to follow the original Sailor Moon plot, Mamoru and Usagi were going to have to end up together somehow. But instead of trying to create a genuine love triangle with actual drama attached, they had Mamoru in a relationship he didn't really care about and Usagi, as much as it pained her, willing to honor that relationship. Thus they started to kinda reluctantly become just friends instead. But while it can be argued they did develop some feelings for each other eventually, their whole romance seems to be based on the fact that they loved each other in their past lives, and fate is doing its darnedest to bring them together again. Except that in the past that caused the destruction of the Earth, a fact that initially no one remembers except Sailor Venus, Zoisite, and Kunzite, which is why those three are pretty strongly against Usagi and Mamoru getting together (Beryl also tries to split them up later, either personally or through her "shadow" Mio, since the Beryl/Serenity/Endymion love triangle is also still a thing). Then they get separated since Mamoru goes to study abroad in England, and then later lets Beryl capture him to save the Shitennou, causing all this angst where Usagi tries really hard not to make the Silver Crystal activate, as this would not only make her hardcore "I don't care about anything but my prince" Princess Sailor Moon side come out, but it also inadvertently powers Queen Metallia, neither of which is good for the safety of the Earth. Even once Beryl is defeated and Usagi and Mamoru are *finally* set to get married, it's clear Mamoru is not that enthusiastic about it, which is what leads to Usagi breaking things off and Mio showing up and being like "I'M BAAACK" and kidnapping Mamoru to be her groom in her circus-inspired base. So...anyway, it's just hard for me to ship Usagi x Mamoru in PGSM for these reasons, so I lean more toward shipping Hina with Mamoru. After all, the short "Hina Afterward" made it clear that she still thought about him after they broke up.

Last Song: Not a song per se, but...the Suzume soundtrack on Spotify. It's actually quite a good soundtrack. Sadly, they didn't include the songs Serizawa plays in his car during the road trip part of the movie (probably for copyright reasons), but I found a couple Spotify playlists people made of the songs he plays: this one and this one. One of them is "Rouge no Dengon," the opening song to Kiki's Delivery Service, which I recognized immediately when I first heard it as that's my favorite Ghibli film.

Currently Reading: This translation of Virgil's The Aeneid, translated by David Ferry. It was the one recommended by Blue of the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions in his Virgil video, so I figured it had to be good. Now, being a mythology buff, I knew something about the Aeneid going into this (I also watched OSP's video covering it), but I'd never read it in verse before now. And it is actually quite good. Sure there are boring lists of people at times, and Virgil spends like 10 stanzas describing the decorations on Aeneas's shield in great detail, which I could care less about. While I definitely had to consult the list of names in the back a few times to know what stuff was, the text was otherwise quite understandable as is, which isn't easy with old texts like this as far as I can tell. Ferry does a good job making it readable but not TOO modern. Would recommend.

Last Movie: The anime movie Suzume, directed by Makoto Shinkai, who did Your Name and Weathering With You. As I mentioned in this post, it's REALLY GOOD.

Craving: I'm looking forward to the game Hogwarts Legacy. The Switch version got delayed till July and it bugs me a lot. Also, this game called Sea of Stars is finally coming out soon that I backed on Kickstarter. I've never backed a video game on there before, so that's exciting! Besides that...I bought a TON of 3DS and DS games in my pursuit to get the games I wanted before the 3DS eShop shut down a couple months ago, so looking forward to those. In the process, I found out my DS Lite can still read GBA cartridges, allowing me to replay old favorites like Kim Possible 2: Draaken's Demise and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well as games I missed (like all of the Gen 3 Pokémon games - if I can track them down - and Tales of Phantasia, which I just recently found out even HAD a GBA version).

As for non-gaming things...I haven't been to Disneyland in years, despite living less than 2 hours away from it. Sure, as an autistic person, theme parks can be kind of a nightmare, but I really love Disney movies. Also, I haven't been there since before the Star Wars land was completed, so I really want to go there and see that, as I'm also a big Star Wars fan.

Also I do miss doing covers on my YouTube channel, I'll admit. I'd also like to do more collabs, but the SeraMyu cover community seems kinda dead now, especially since our sort of Fearless Leader (and the one who encouraged me to join in the first place) @sailorzakuro seems to have moved on.

Tagging: @ainomessage, @fyeahsailormoon, @glitzyglee, @galaxia-gorgeous, @gracemyhearto, @kosmosinusa, @katieban-kaiteiban, @love-boat, @sailormoonsub

#off topic #supergirl #doctor who #pokemon #pgsm #suzume movie #the aeneid #hogwarts legacy #sea of stars #3ds #ds #gba #disneyland #star wars #seramyu #sera myu #sailor moon musicals

[bookclub4m]

Episode 187 - Favourite Reads of 2023

This episode we’re discussing our Favourite Reads of 2023! We talk about our favourite fiction and non-fiction books we read this year! Plus: Our favourite comics, video games, documentaries, podcasts, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Favourite Fiction

For the podcast

Anna

The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao  (Episode 172 - Domestic Thrillers)

Jam

Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones (Episode 184 - Horror)

Matthew

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus, vol. 3 by Eiji Otsuka and by Housui Yamazaki (Episode 184 - Horror)

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2023 edited by Lisa Unger and Steph Cha (Episode 186 - Suspense Fiction)

Meghan

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (Episode 176 - Fantasy)

Not for the podcast

Jam

Heaven’s Design Team by Hebi-Zou, Tsuta Suzuki, & Tarako

Naked mole rats do not die of old age

Owls’ ears are at asymmetrical heights

Tarsiers have two tongues

Accidental Elephant (YouTube)

Matthew

Ammonite by Nicola Griffith 

Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (Wikipedia)

Meghan

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

Anna

Daisy and the Duke by Elizabeth Cole (The Wallflowers of Wildwood)

Favourite Non-Fiction

For the podcast

Matthew

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara (Episode 174 - Economics)

Meghan

Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith (Episode 182 - Lyric Poetry)

Anna

They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers by Sarah Scoles (Episode 178 - Aliens, Extraterrestrials, and UFOs)

Jam

Histories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson (Episode 170 - Gender Theory & Gender Studies)

Not for the podcast

Meghan 

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Anna

Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and what we can do about it by Jennifer Breheny Wallace

Jam

The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption by Shannon Gibney (also discussed in Episode 181)

Matthew

Thirty-One Nil: On the Road With Football's Outsiders: A World Cup Odyssey by James Montague

Other Favourite Things of 2023

Anna

If Books Could Kill

The Meme Stock Cult (patron episode) & two parter on Nudge

Folding Ideas - This is Financial Advice (YouTube)

Two Point Hospital / Campus

Oxygen Not Included

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Jam

Nimona (film)

Shuna’s Journey by Hayao Miyazaki

Matthew

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

Nier: Automata (Wikipedia)

Meghan

Ten Candles

Le Plonguer - Stéphane Larue

Runner-Ups

Jam

Games 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Wikipedia)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Wikipedia)

Redactle

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore (Episode 176 - Fantasy)

Boy Island by Leo Fox (comic released via 133 installments on Instagram; link is installment #1)

Changing my name (legal procedure)

Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (cookies)

Moon (celestial body)

Matthew

Comics

Box of Light, vol. 1 by Seiko Erisawa

Cryptid Club by Sarah Andersen

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún Deluxe Edition, vol. 1 by Nagabe

Incredible Doom, vol. 1 by Matthew Bogart and Jesse Holden

Mimosa by Archie Bongiovanni

Steeple, vols. 1-3 by John Allison, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Luen Yang and Gurihiru

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen: Who Killed Jimmy Olsen? by Matt Fraction and Steve Leiber

 Books

Boss Fight: Jagged Alliance 2 by Darius Kazemi

Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams by Alfred Lubrano

Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada's Chinese Restaurants by Ann Hui

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Dr. Kit Heyam

The Caped Crusader: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

Games

Hitman: World of Assassination Trilogy

Yakuza 0 (Wikipedia)

Tetris Effect

Bayonetta (Wikipedia)

Video Essays

The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse - Folding Ideas

Panzer Dragoon Series Retrospective - A Complete History and Review - I Finished A Video Game

 Meghan

Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

Onley's Arctic: Diaries and Paintings of the High Arctic by Toni Onley

Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst: The Creation of a Garden by VitaSackville-West and Sarah Raven

Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga by Benjamin Lorr

A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold and Charles W. Schwartz

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton

Made-Up: A True Story of Beauty Culture under Late Capitalism by Daphné B.

Witch King by Martha Wells

Bad Fruit by Ella King

Other Media We Mentioned

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Theme Hospital (Wikipedia)

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, January 2nd when it’s time for trains, planes, and automobiles (and bicycles) as we discuss non-fiction books about Transit and Transportation!

Then on Tuesday, February 6th just in time for Valentine's day we’ll be discussing the genre of Humourous/Funny Romance.

#episodes #best of 2023

[kaemulti]

DC SUPERHERO GIRLS HEADCANNONS

i’m gonna start writing headcannons whenever i get sad/anxious for a number of different fandoms. it takes my mind off things, even if only for a little bit. this time it’s gonna be about dcshg 2019. i’m honestly obsessed with thinking about the mundane teenager things we don’t see in the show that all the superhero/villian kids go through so i wanted to write some stuff about that.

•karen is actually more popular than she realizes, people think she’s sweet even though they rarely see her/don’t have classes with her

•leslie and dorris are a thing to everyone BUT themselves; they hilariously don’t even realize they’ve basically been dating for years: carpooling together, hanging out before and after school, bullying kids like a tag team, skipping classes together, movie nights, shorting out the exercise machines at the mall to make that misogynistic jerk at the fitness store scared, buying their favorite snacks for each other without thinking much of it, etc.

•barbi not only hates diana with a burning passion but ALSO tatsu because both girls excel in both their academic and physical education classes, unintentionally surpassing barbie by a long shot whenever the opportunity presents itself

•jessica and hal hang out at sweet justice after their week day training classes and even invite barry when he has the day off

•kara is completely oblivious to the fact there are a bunch of girls crushing on her at school, she keeps wondering why they whisper about her and never make direct eye contact with her as she walks through the hallways. she only finds out what is actually going on when she opens her locker on valentine’s day and gets COVERED in cards. she doesn’t tell most of her friends about it (she knows they’ll just be annoying) but she does vaguely ask jess about how to write people back, turning them down nicely and whatnot, she’s not a monster for gods sake, she’s just not ready for a relationship.

•babs and diana like to study together the most even though barbra never really pays attention, she mostly talks about different batman articles and comics she read and new gadgets she’s created but diana doesn’t mind TOO much because she has an growing interest in modern day ‘world of man’ technology

•diana can NOT sing to save her life. the girls thought that having a karaoke night would be fun sure, but nothing would’ve prepared them for the laughing fits they had when diana started screeching into the mic. They also find out that Babs is always off pitch and Jessica refuses to sing in front of people. alternatively, however, zee, kara and karen (in that order) are the best singers in the group.

•zee keeps inviting kara to these crazy expensive-super long wait list restaurants even though she knows kara probably won’t eat any of the food. she doesn’t really know why she keeps doing it, especially after the whole giant tentacle incident, but she does know she enjoys kara’s funny comments and cute laugh enough to continue.

•when selina first saw diana she might of had a tiny sexuality crisis, no she won’t elaborate.

•tatsu helps garth work on his confidence and he helps her with her HUGE slight fear of open water. even though they don’t know the other is super, they still help each other as much as they can. tatsu will train garth to do some basic defense techniques against bullies and they’ll go swimming every other week, garth always making sure to keep as much water as he can away from tatsu’s eyes and nose.

•kara and barry like to race each other whenever they get a chance to go to the pier. kara always cheats so she never loses but barry doesn’t mind because he’s her friend and it makes them laugh.

•steve is actually really good at embroidery, his mom taught him when he was younger. he once made a wonder woman shirt for diana and when he gave it to her, she fainted.....twice.

•pam is allergic to three different types of flowers but she still nurtures them in her garden at home whenever she can. if her allergies get really bad though, she’ll ask jess to help her water them, ONLY because she needs to keep her precious flowers alive, NOT because she is actually jess’ friend...she thinks.

•the first time carol met barbie they both got into detention for loudly insulting each other’s fashion sense in the middle of math class. (they still haven’t apologized to each other so they keep acting like it didn’t happen because they both think they’re right)

•the first time harleen called pam “green bean”, pam blushed and giggled...like FULL blown diana talking to steve giggle. and then she pushed harleen off a bridge with a vine on accident. harleen thought it was the funniest thing ever and pam could only awkwardly apologize for almost killing her teammate

•oliver and zee tried to co-write a christmas play but they were so busy fighting each other on who had a better ending they didn’t actually order any props or costumes for it. leaving the main actress to perform in a pirate outfit.

•kara still hangs out with bizarro super girl every now and again and they take turns ranting about their idiot cousins, it’s all light hearted because kara still has some emotional stuff to work through.

•diana unintentionally starts a “who will come out next” contest when she asks the girls about same sex attraction. she had seen leslie and dorris making out in one of the locker rooms (yes they FINALLY got together together) and asked her friends what it meant. after a lot of confusion as kara stumbled over her explanation of the lgbtq+ community, she ends up coming out as a lesbian first, followed by babs, who is bisexual, karen, who is questioning but absolutely had a crush on kara before their food fight detention day, and zee who is trans. they end up going to metropolis pride two months after that.

•diana is still convinced there is an oracle at the pier so every other sunday the girls go so she can spend all of her money on “knowing the future”

•babs never really gets angry on the daily and the rest of the girls learn why when some jerk at sweet justice insults jess’ looks because she wouldn’t go out with him. barbra turned bright red as she let him have it, words coming out of her mouth faster than barry can make their ice cream (they didn’t think she had it in her). and if he he ended up glued to his bed the next day, well, jess will let batgirl get away with that one JUST this once. barbra will NEVER not stick up for her friends.

•kara and babs often have multiple sleepovers a week, harleen even joins them sometimes when kara doesn’t mind her LOUD presence.

•the girls never get mad at one another when someone breaks down or blows up after holding certain feelings in for too long. whether it’s kara ghosting them for days leading up to her mom’s birthday, diana overworking herself to the point of exhaustion when she gets homesick, karen refusing to go out to anywhere except for school and tough missions for weeks at a time because she thinks she doesn’t matter, zee reading too many spells at once and giving herself an awful migraine after messing up an easy one, jessica isolating herself at lunch so she can sit in the library alone and cry to herself quietly after a hard day of training, or babs not being her normal happy self after having a heated argument with harleen, there will ALWAYS be a shoulder to cry on when someone needs it. If that comes in the form a knock on kara’s door as her friends invite themselves in with her favorite foods and a mega ‘feel better soon’ music playlist in tow, an impromptu destress retreat that they force diana to go on where she is only allowed to use a weapon if there is a direct threat, making a giant list of all the things they love about karen and reading it to her from outside her window, someone closing zee’s spell book and holding her tightly as her eyes turn back to normal from flaring pink with anger, all the girls quietly sitting with jessica one by one in the library and gently holding her hand as she lets out what she can, or buying limited edition comics and leaving them as presents for babs in her section of the hideout, there is ALWAYS someone there to make it hurt a little less.

the end :))

#tatsu yamashiro #dcshg19 #dc super hero girls 2019 #dc superhero girls #kara danvers #kara zor el #diana prince #barbara gordon #jessica cruz #karen beecher #zee zatara #super girl #wonder woman #green lantern #bat girl #bumble bee #zatanna #DCSHG #DCSHG19 #giganta #livewire #cat woman #harley quinn #star sapphire #poison ivy #invincabros #the flash

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

RASHIDA RENEÉ WANTS YOU TO KNOW YOUR HISTORY by  Alexis Rene Moten (Culture Jock)

Let’s start this article with a quiz: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

Stumped? It’s safe to say that if the question were asked to name a White model that wasn’t Kate Moss or Cyndi Crawford, best case scenario you would’ve excelled with a list to provide. Maybe something like: Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Shalom Harlow, Carla Bruni, Heidi Klum..you get my point.

At times, Pop Culture can be a fair-weather friend. Monday’s It-girl becomes Friday’s nobody and by Sunday there’s a new hot thing in town to get all the girls in a fuss. But as nostalgia-trends rises as capitalism’s newest enterprise, endorsed largely by social media app, Instagram, history is being retold by the agenda of it’s curator. The selective hearing of  Instagram accounts like @90scelebvibes (391K followers) and @90sanxiety (793K followers) present a facade that the past was rather beige, leaving largely out the credit due to the Black and people of color creatives that developed and inspired the trends imitated today.

Bay area based, Fashion archivist Rashida Reneé, takes on self-love to a familial level celebrating her love and the appreciation of Black designers, models and other fashion industry influencers that otherwise go forgotten in our modern culture. In fashion, as in anything else, things old become anew. However, Reneé takes on the responsibility as a trend gatekeeper, providing evidence of what fashion used to be and recognizing the faces we longed forgotten.  

Q: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

A: Beverly Peele,  Gail O’Neill, Iman, Kara, Young, Karen Alexander,  Louise Vyent, Roshumba, Veronica Webb, etc.

Culture Jock: What is a typical day for the most hated hoe in the city?

RR: (laughs) It’s weird, I kind of like to keep it to myself. Keep track of what I like and my thoughts. I don’t know. I'm very low-key person in real life, but when I do leave the house (pauses) I do, I promise! I just like my personal time, but when it’s time to be out I am present, as much as possible. I do what I do becauseII like giving information to people and give them links and information just so they know.

CJ: What brought you into fashion archiving?

RR: My whole archiving process was originally for myself and filling in spots of information where there it was empty of black people. Of course, there is street fashion, but in terms of online fashion, sites like Manrepeller, you didn’t see a lot of black girls doing it and the people doing it I thought were lame. Finding other black people who weren’t anti-black in those kind of spaces. I felt a lot of people were trying to make us to assimilate. Everyone was kind of like doing the same things and it was like, ‘Naomi Campbell!’ But if it were any other dark girl it didn’t matter. So, I started my own blog and then I had to stop myself from posting Naomi Campbell’s photos too. I would do one picture of Naomi Campbell a day and try to really give props to other black woman involved and black people in general. When I was younger I was familiar with the other models not just Naomi Campbell, my mom was really in it with Naomi. She worked in a beauty salon, which had magazines of all the models. Like, black hair magazines, they always listed the models so, no matter what you knew who they were. Whoever it was in the 90s, ‘this is who that is and this who that is.’ You’d see the oldest Destiny Child’s video shoots in black hair magazines. I just haven’t seen other people doing that. There are other girls now that focus more on Hip Hop in 90s and 2000s. Livejournal, fashion spot, Tumblr, people didn’t go out of their way to scan the black models or even try to name them. It’s funny, people online, they don’t even try to hide their biases. No one was really fashion blogging the way I like or how I see .

CJ:In your piece for Office Magazine you mention, from Patrick Kelley to today’s influence of Dapper Dan, American culture from its roots drips of Black influence and culture. Why do you think Black culture is so immutable and where do you see the ownership of our creations.

RR: People I mean know, it’s just like, it’s weird and odd to even talk about. Not just people referencing me or copying, I feel like I am being gaslit all the time or being told that. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people and lying about it. People hate black people but they think we are cool. I can’t even (pauses)yeah it’s very weird. The twitter thing is weird (sighs).

CJ: It is weird.

RR: (sighs) It’s not really helping them. It’s boring to live with no personality. To see someone interesting and steal from them to bolster themselves. [On social media] we have the means to share with each other, like, moments that are of shared experiences of oppression and that is even imitated. I don’t know why the copy of things are okay. It is such a multi-layered thing. Or the way the Stans talk like mainly the Black queer and Black trans talk and how all of that is now being used by everyone. Ariana Grande, ya know, icons talk like girls on the ballrooms did back in 2006. Parodying things. It helps them develop their own brand, I don’t understand their fascination with us anyway. I’m into my own shit and own culture. I like the way black people express themselves and other people use us and what we do to talk to each other or communicate and then take that to feel cool. I’ve always been,like, ‘why would someone want to be like this?’ or pretend. I don’t get it. People run out of content. I know people used to make fun of me and the things I used to be and ironically they are into it now. People need to find their own hobbies. They are bored.

CJ: The internet is complex. It’s a parody of itself.

RR: Knowing your history is important. You need to know where you came from to know where you are going. When it comes to fashion archives the question is, ‘what is it that you are looking for or trying to highlight?’ My concern is that fashion archiving is feeding into nostalgic trends, where it’s easier to mimic what was done before rather then create new moments. Do you share the same sentiments?

CJ: What is it about fashion that excites you?

RR: It’s so fun and so funny. The dolls are taking over. That’s how most things go, the things that happened come back with a hyper focus. It really is going full out now. It’s interesting to see how people are dressing now. [Fashion] is always reflective of the political climate. Think about the 80s everyone is dressing like a dickhead. Then when people got sick of dressing like a dickhead, minimalism comes in. We cycle through trends so fast, today. I remember a girl wearing a hair clips and no one was into it. Then the next week everyone was wearing them, then I see Cyndi Lauper in an interview wearing hair clips. She’s like 50-something and she’s wearing hair clips made out of Swarovski crystals. It’s so interesting. It’s funny how it happens. Now everyone is into fashion.

CJ: Who are your biggest fashion influences ?

RR: My biggest influences are Naomi Campbell and my mom. Girls I follow on the internet. My mom is from San Francisco lives her own life and is very eclectic. I get a lot from her and different taste. Foxy Brown is also very inspiring, I reference her a lot I think about her and Steven Miesel. Steven knows how to do everything. Steven can do everything. Everyone knows I am a crazy Beyoncé fan. But, I have different girls for different moods. My main inspo is Naomi and Foxy Brown. I really gravitated to Foxy because she was more into Prada and Chloe when Stella McCartney was there. Because of Foxy I love Chloe. She was very cool. Naomi is, you just aspire to that level of greatness. There is no one else. Even in her flaws she handles them so well. I can’t imagine someone else with that kind of rap sheet to not get fully canceled. I judge people by how they react to criticism. She handles it really well. I find that really inspiring.

CJ: What film or television do you think has the best fashion catalog? If you could what character's closet would you love to raid?

RR: I am so frazzled. There’s so much stuff I like. I write things down specifically, because I can never remember. I watched The Nanny last year with Fran Drescher, when I was really depressed and was like, ‘Wow this is inspiring.’ Brenda Cooper, her mind. Everyone had a look in. Pose, is another one. Everything has intentions from the main characters to the background characters. I really like the first season of costume design. It’s commitment to that era. Someone is always dressed like, Karen White or Jodi Whitley. Elektra is very dynasty, that high lady energy. I love that about the show. I love Glow, the costume designer, Beth Morgan. I love when people do era shows, specifically the 80s and they don’t try to soften it, especially in makeup or hair. They aren’t scared to embrace the ugliness, I love that. That’s what good costume design is about. High fashion is easy, but what really gets me is watching old movies and looking at the clothes.  

CJ: We are moving into a new decade of 2020. I have a feeling it may be the year of 2020 vision and final clarity. What are your aspirations for this new era and what do you hope to see from the world?

RR: I feel like the children are our future. That’s what I’m looking at, to see what the kids are into. People are more focused into what they look like and I remember if someone dressed a little bit out of fashion it was a huge deal and get talked about. But now they are embracing their weirdness and experimenting. Do you watch that Tik Tok stuff? I just want a regular life. Happy, healthy, all my kids are happy and healthy. When I move to [Los Angeles] and get hotter, hotter and I want to  become, what is that called, a wellness person? I want a Goop moment, but with Solange aesthetics. Maybe make a propaganda film to get people to stop wearing wigs.

#Rashida Reneé #Rashida Renee #Foxy Brown #Naomi Campbell #Beyoncé #Black fashion

[freddieslater]

10 Favourite Female Characters From 10 Different Fandoms

(List your 10 favorite female characters from 10 fandoms, then tag 10 people)

Thank you so much for the tag @a-lil-bi-furious !! ❤️

1. Malia Tate from Teen Wolf

Starting off strong — literally, she has the strength of, like, a bear and the temper of one! My angry girl!! I just loved her from the very first second we were introduced to her after turning back. She went through so much, and it clearly had a big impact on her, and we got to see her grow through most of it (but not all of it because the writers suck a bit) and work to become a pack member instead of the lone coyote she had gotten used to being. Also, she insanely pretty and cute so she’s allowed to growl at people every so often!

2. Liv Parker from The Vampire Diaries

My angry and extra sassy girl — witch edition! There’s just something about her that I love. I really understand Tyler; she could insult me and blast me across a room with magic and I would fall in love with her. But we know that a lot of her mean-girl attitude comes from her family issues, and it’s more of a defense mechanism than anything. So, it was nice to see a softer side of her around both Luke and Tyler — and Jo, on occasion. She knew she was the “weaker” twin and as much as the thought of dying scared her, she still stood strong and tried to find a way to save Luke from having to live with that guilt by finding another way — just as she saved Tyler from triggering his curse by killing someone (who was already dying because of him) for him. And then in the end, knowing she was going to die anyway, she saved him again. She deserved a way better ending and more of a chance to grow since we definitely were not done with her story, so I will be forever bitter but I love and appreciate the time we had her for!

3. Hope Mikaelson from Legacies

Is it cheating if they’re from the same universe but not the same show? I just love this little Tribrid so much. She’s gone through a lot her entire life — literally, she had people trying to kill her before she was even born. She lost her mum, and then her dad, and her uncle. Not to mention the, uh, killing a bunch of people in between and also finding out your first boyfriend helped kidnapped your mum in a plot to kill her and you (that he didn’t know about, given, but still). And having virtually no friends at school. But she still tried to be so strong all the time, to a point where she really should let more people in it and see that soft, vulnerable part that’s still in there. Her anger is justified, and sometimes out of her control due to her family, and I wish they’d let her get real help for it. She shouldn’t have to be the “hero” or the “saviour” all the time and I wish they would just cut her a break, let her rest, and have a moment of happiness that doesn’t end with her feeling like she didn’t deserve it.

4. Wanda Maximoff from MCU

(First of all, you don’t know how painful it was having to wade through a bunch of Pietro gifs in the process of finding this one.) The version of Wanda in the MCU is very... complex. Obviously there’s a lot of issues With the character, but if I’m focusing solely on who she is in the MCU, then I love her so much. And she definitely has some issues in her life. She starts off as the bad guy, angry and seeking “justice” (and revenge) for what happened to her parents, and in the same movie, we see her realize that the side she was working for wasn’t any better. We see her character develop quite a bit in just her first movie, and then over the course of the next ones, we see more sides to her; her guilt over hurting innocent people through a quickly-made decision, her compassion for Vision and for those other people, her grief over losing Pietro and Vision. And she herself is so powerful! She tries to live with the pain she’s endured but it takes over without her control, because both her grief and her magic are all-consuming. And I add this because I still refuse WandaVision’s change to the timeline: she went through all of this before she was eighteen. She’s so young, and in pain, but she still tries so hard to push through because other people need her, and she doesn’t want them to suffer like she has. Also, I just think it’s pretty when she does those little hand movements to possess people and her eyes turn red.

5. Nymphadora Tonks from Harry Potter

She deserved the absolute world. Her death was unnecessary, and I hate it, because she should have gotten to live the rest of her life raising her son, happy with her husband, and just generally being alive. She was so full of life and joy, and she tried to be the source of those things in the middle of a literal war when everyone was at their lowest and felt hopeless or angry. Also would’ve loved more scenes of her and her favourite cousin, Sirius, because they would be chaotic and they both deserved that. ALSO also, she’s very pretty, can change her appearance and chose to have pink/purple hair and dresses like how tiny me wanted to dress, so I immediately fell in love, of course.

6. Kara Danvers from Supergirl

She’s just so kind and compassionate despite everything the world has put her through — but she’s also angry deep down, and she’s hurt and in pain, and some of my favourite moments of hers are when she’s allowed to express that. When she’s allowed to really just lose it and lash out at the people who hurt her because she pushes it down for so long so that she can help everyone else that it finally just explodes.

7. Jody Jackson from The Dumping Ground

TW: mentions of different forms of child abuse. This girl deserves the whole world but I promise you that the world does not deserve her. The same can be said for pretty much all of the characters in The Dumping Ground, to be honest, but god she has just been through so much. Neglected by her mum from a very young age, abused physically and verbally by her and (presumably) both of her brothers, and it’s implied she’s abused sexually by one of her brothers as well. Of course when we first meet her she is angry and terrified. She still is because the trauma developed and was never fully dealt with, so she still carries it all around in her mouth and fists, until one little thing happens to make her lash out. And she knows she has a problem — she is terrified of becoming her brother, and sometimes her mum, and all she wants is to not hurt the people she loves. Because she loves so much, it’s just hard for her to know how to show it sometimes because sometimes all she can remember is how her family “loved” her. But she’s grown so much since she went into care and she’s getting help at last, and I just have so much hope for her happiness in the next series to come.

8. Annie Marks from Good Girls

She’s short, fiesty, will make jokes at the worst possible time, won’t stop calling a literal gang leader who has threatened her life on more than one occasion “gang friend”, was incredibly supportive and accepting of her son when he came out as trans, will punch someone when necessary (probably also when not), has a semi-friendly co-parenting thing going on with her ex, and is just all around adorably ridiculous.

9. Casey McDonald from Life With Derek

Ignoring Derek in the gif — Casey usually does, too. Casey is a perfectionist, and frankly, sometimes quite annoying about it and some other things, and yes, she definitey initiates a lot of the arguments between her and Derek. And that is why I love her. She is in no way perfect, and her striving to be comes from anxiety and insecurities that are partially the result of the instability in her life. I love how, no matter how much she may despise Derek, when there’s a real problem, she tries to help. She cares about the people in her life, and I can’t wait for her to return to as a mum of four!

10. Ashley Garcia from The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia

Someone give the world TO her, please?? It’s a shame this fandom is so small because she deserves so much love and appreciation. She’s a literal genius but lacks... a lot of social skills at the start of the show. But she learns from her friends, and gets to experience new things, including having a crush for the time (and the second!) and she’s just generally living life as a fairly normal teenager. While still being an absolute genius. I just love this smiley little dork so much!

Tagging: @pad-foots @donnas-troia @childofsquidward @multifandomlover121 @superarrowverse @dance-is-life27 to participate if you want to, but as always, no pressure! And anyone who wants to do this but wasn’t tagged — you have been now! Go do it!

#tag games #favourite characters <3

[sapphicmsmarvel]

SG: Meeting Kara Danvers

black lives matter 

masterlist

You woke up with an extra pep in your step. 

Cat had hired a new girl, and she was near your age, you were twenty-two this new girl was twenty-four. According to Cat she was very awkward and did not seem social at all. But she had a great resume so Cat hired her. 

You stopped at the local bakery and picked up a sugar cookie, chocolate chip cookie, oatmeal cookie and peanut butter cookie. You knew her allergies because of the forms Cat had her fill out. You wanted to give her a warm welcome. You even got her peruvian lilies, in flower language they stood for friendship. 

You were desperate. 

And a part of you was hoping that she was queer. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone else in the lgbtq+ community in the office, that allyship would be great. You saw your only work friend, Winn at his desk. You smiled at him as you set the lilies and box of cookies on the new girls desk.

Then walked over to him. You handed him his sugar cookie in a paper bag, “ooh, Y/N L/N I love you.” He sighed as he bit into the sugary goodness. 

“I love you too, dumbass.” You whispered. “Hey, no cursing in the workplace.” He chided. “Cat ain’t gonna do shit.” You laughed. 

Then Cat’s private elevator opened up revealing Cat and the new girl. 

“Wow.” Winn and you both whispered as you both saw the new girl. 

She had stunning, shiny, bouncy blonde curls. A gorgeous smile was on her face as she talked to Cat, nodding along at instructions. Her cheeks were flushed from nervousness. She wore a lavender blouse, white jeans and white flats. 

It was almost alien like, that she was that beautiful. 

They went into Cat’s office to talk about things, then five minutes later, “Y/N!” 

You left Winns desk and walked into Cat’s office, “yeah?” 

“Please show Kira your office because of how often she’ll be there getting things.” 

You nodded, “no problem!” 

“Better not be,” Cat sing-songed as you lead Kira out. 

Once you were out of earshot of Cat, you said, “don’t worry she seems scary, and she definitely can be, but it’s really great working here.” then you remembered you never introduced yourself, “i know she called me Y/N, but I never said, nice to meet you I’m Y/N.” You chuckled holding out your hand, she shook it, “Kara.” 

You nodded, “Don’t take her getting your name wrong personally, she does that until you’ve worked here for a while.” 

“Does she get your name wrong?” 

“She did when I first started.” You nodded, then came upon your office. “And this is probably where you’ll spend half of the day because proofs never stop going out for designs.” 

“Okay.” She giggled. 

You led her into the room, you saw her eyes twinkle at your pride flag above your desk. “Hm,” she hummed. 

“What?” You asked, grabbing a stack of files. “I like that you have a ____ pride flag in here.” (fill in with your sexuality, example: lesbian pride flag, pansexual pride flag, trans pride flag, etc😊)

Your heart thrummed at not only the acceptance in her voice, but the awe and recognition. Maybe she was queer in some way. 

“I gotta represent myself in some way.” You nervously smiled and shrugged as you went to sit on the sofa. 

“I respect that, the ability to be open about it.” 

You shrugged, “I’ve identified as ____ for a while, I’m proud.” “As you should be,” she sat next to you. 

Then you started going over everything, all of Cat’s schedules and diets as well. You were trying to help her out as much as possible because not only you had a kind heart but you also understood how freaking intimidating Cat could be. 

“So how long have you worked here?” She asked.

“At this building? For four years. For Cat, since I was sixteen and a junior in high school. She was doing a presentation, and saw me drawing in the audience. After she asked to see them because they seemed important. Little did she know they were designs for CatCo, I was a huge fan of the powerful CEO that was a woman. She hired me on the spot, I’ve been working for her since, I was able to move out at eighteen. It was great.” You smiled. 

Then you grabbed her hand, enjoying the fact that she blushed, she was really cute. “She has her moments where it seems she doesn’t like you, but she does. Or else you would not have made it past ‘hello’ at the interview.” You smiled, “you’re doing good even if it’s just your first day.”

She smiled, and you went back to the files. 

Since then, Kara has not gotten you out of her mind, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.

#supergirl #supercorp #melissa benoist #kara zor el #kara danvers #alex danvers #kara x reader #kara x you #kara x y/n

[lgbtqiahistoricalromance]

Finishing Out Summer 2020 TBR List! - Updated 7/31

Starting back in March, I was adding novel after novel for purposes of reading during social distancing and Summer 2020. I’m hoping you all found some great reads, even if you haven’t been able to read them all. *Here is another batch to round out Summer 2020, and I’m thrilled by the selection that includes sapphic, trans MCs, and more eras and locations than any list to date.

Leather and Lace by Rebel Carter (Good Sky series #5) - May 20th - sapphic

Mary Sophia James came to Gold Sky, Montana to find a husband at the insistence of her overbearing mother. Striking out in spectacular fashion after setting her eye on Julian Baptiste, her options are dwindling, and time is running out. She needs to find a man to marry before her condition becomes…obvious. Her mother’s prejudices and sharp tongue aren’t helping matters and Mary, to her shame, hasn’t behaved much better. But all her plans are derailed when she spots the most beautiful person she’s ever seen across the town square. Alex Pierce is strong, intriguing, looks stunning in a pair of trousers…and a woman.

Gold Sky is accepting of all types of love, and that between women is no different. Still, Alex didn’t expect to be so floored by the sight of the firey haired, yet fragile looking young woman. Mary needs to be married and Alex has a solution. Because in Gold Sky, Montana there are many ways to be married…and not all of them include a man.

Leather and Lace is a 35k word novella set at the same time as the events of book 2, Hearth and Home. It includes a passionate and romantic f/f love in a town where diversity, and love, reign supreme.

Note : Leather and Lace has a bit of mail-order, arranged married, kind of secret baby with some foreced proximity sprinkled on top!

The Sugared Game by KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures #2) - August 26th

It’s been two months since Will Darling saw Kim Secretan, and he doesn’t expect to see him again. What do a rough and ready soldier-turned-bookseller and a disgraced, shady aristocrat have to do with each other anyway? But when Will encounters a face from the past in a disreputable nightclub, Kim turns up, as shifty, unreliable, and irresistible as ever. And before Will knows it, he’s been dragged back into Kim’s shadowy world of secrets, criminal conspiracies, and underhand dealings. This time, though, things are underhanded even by Kim standards. This time, the danger is too close to home. And if Will and Kim can’t find common ground against unseen enemies, they risk losing everything.

The Revolutionary and the Rogue by Blake Ferre - August 24th

Perrin deVesey knows pain. As a member of Crimson Rose, a secret club for men who love men, he’s taken the vow “to stand and shield.” Standing together during these perilous times is the only thing keeping their necks from the guillotine. Now their leader is using the club to rescue wrongly accused traitors. After losing a past lover to an unjust execution, the decision to support this treasonous cause is easy…until a devastatingly handsome Committee Officer complicates Perrin’s whole world. Officer Henri Chevalier hates aristocrats. But the man he finds while investigating Crimson Rose is more than just wealthy and fancily clothed. He’s a rogue that could take him to the heart of the uprising and stop it before it starts. His plan to get close to Perrin and steal his secrets backfires, though, when Henri finds himself falling for the damned aristo and his dangerous smile. His heart is even more conflicted as he learns the truth behind their cause…and the truth his own people have been hiding. Together they must make the choice—to stand and shield at any cost—and their love might be the deadliest weapon in all of France.

Healing Lance by MD Grimm (A Warrior’s Redemption #1)- July 28th

A baby’s laughter. A mind uncaged. Lance is known as Scourge, the warrior in the black armor, the dog of the warlord Ulfr Blackwolf. He was just a boy when Ulfr found him and molded him into the perfect weapon. He slaughters and pillages on command, merciless and numb, devoid of emotions. Then a baby girl laughs at him during a raid. And everything changes. When Gust, a talented healer, is out deer hunting and stumbles across a magnificent horse bearing a mortally wounded rider, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever. Gust applies all his skills to his patient, determined to save the rider’s life, and is rewarded when the man opens his eyes. As friendship, and more, bloom between warrior and healer, so does the danger over the horizon. Ulfr has not forgotten, and Lance must take his first steps on the long road to redemption.     

The rest of the series is either out this Summer or finishes in Sept!

Unhallowed: A Novel of Widdershins (Rath & Rune Book #1) by Jordan L Hawk - July 17th

Monsters. Murder. Librarians. Librarian Sebastian Rath is the only one who believes his friend Kelly O’Neil disappeared due to foul play. But without any clues or outside assistance, there’s nothing he can do to prove it. When bookbinder Vesper Rune is hired to fill the vacancy left by O’Neil, he receives an ominous letter warning him to leave. After he saves Sebastian from a pair of threatening men, the two decide to join forces and get to the truth about what happened to O’Neil. But Vesper is hiding secrets of his own, ones he doesn’t dare let anyone learn. Secrets that grow ever more dangerous as his desire for Sebastian deepens. Because Kelly O’Neil was murdered. And if Sebastian and Ves don’t act quickly enough, they’ll be the next to die.

My Heart’s in the Highlands by Amy Hoff - July 17th - sapphic - time travel

The year is 1888. Brilliant and beautiful, Lady Jane Crichton has fought the constraints of her Victorian Edinburgh upbringing to become one of the first women to attend university for medicine. Denied a degree because of her gender, she decides to marry a closeted gay man, providing him with political and social cover and herself with the time and money to pursue her scientific interests—one of which is a time machine. Jane’s machine works…but not exactly as she expected, and soon she has crash-landed in the 13th-century Scottish Highlands. There she is rescued by a wild, red-haired warrior woman, Ainslie nic Dòmhnaill, next in line to the chiefship of the great Clan Donald, the rulers of the Sea Kingdom of the Isles. Despite the constant threat of attacks from enemy clans, harsh winters and a touch of homesickness, Jane finds herself bewitched by this land, this time and this magnificent woman. The rough and warlike Ainslie also feels the magic and revels in a passion and love neither she nor Jane had ever imagined. But Jane is hiding a dangerous secret—one that threatens to tragically transform their Highland fairy tale.

Kinship and Kindness by Kara Jorgensen (A Paranormal Society Romance #1) - releases July 29th -trans MC

Bennett Reynard needs one thing: to speak to the Rougarou about starting a union for shifters in New York City before the delegation arrives. When his dirigible finally lands in Louisiana, he finds the Rougarou is gone and in his stead is his handsome son, Theo, who seems to care for everyone but himself. Hoping he can still petition the Rougarou, Bennett stays only to find he is growing dangerously close to Theo Bisclavret. Theo Bisclavret thought he had finally come to terms with never being able to take his father’s place as the Rougarou, but with his father stuck in England and a delegation of werewolves arriving in town, Theo’s quiet life is thrown into chaos as he and his sister take over his duties. Assuming his father’s place has salted old wounds, but when a stranger arrives offering to help, Theo knows he can’t say no, even if Mr. Reynard makes him long for things he had sworn off years ago. As rivals arrive to challenge Theo for power and destroy the life Bennett has built, they know they must face their greatest fears or risk losing all they have fought for. With secrets threatening to topple their worlds, can Theo and Bennett let down their walls before it’s too late?

More under the cut...!!!!

My Highland Laird: Sci-Regency Book #5 by JL Langley - releases August 10th

Bannon Thompson, talented artist and youngest son of the Duke of Eversleigh, is hastily shipped off after his latest indiscretion. After crashing on rural Skye, leaving him and his valet the sole survivors of a diplomatic mission, Bannon must navigate the complexities of a primitive clan society and take up a role he never wanted: helping a sexy Highlander ensure the safety of both their planets.

Laird Ciaran MacKay wants nothing more than to keep his clan safe from the off-world intruders who killed his father. Suspecting complicity among his own people, he has no choice but to trust outsiders from a spaceship crash—and he can’t seem to fight his attraction to the stubborn redhead. Drawn to the handsome laird, Bannon risks a bold affair. But there is more at stake than reputations as they find two lost Regelens and uncover the Intergalactic Navy’s plot.

Artful Deception by Jackson Marsh (The Clearwater Myseries Book #5)

“Deception. The lie that tells the truth."

A damaged painting tempts Lord Clearwater to a final battle with his arch-enemy, and it's not a summons he can ignore.

Archer must free his homicidal brother from incarceration and reinstate him to the title. He will be left humiliated and penniless, but free to live his life with Silas with no threat of exposure. The alternative is death.

Drawing inspiration from a work of art, Clearwater manipulates a series of illusions to stay one step ahead of the endgame. While James, Tom and Silas race to solve clues and reach Archer before the fatal deadline, the assassin, Dorjan, remains hot on his heels ready to kill.

The sixth book in The Clearwater Mysteries series brings back popular characters from previous adventures in a fast-paced, twisting mystery that can have only one of two possible endings.

Or perhaps one of three. After all, deception is the lie that tells the truth.

Ten or Fifteen Miles by BL Maxwell - May 27th

Tim Latham had only been riding for the Pony Express for a week before he has to show the new guy the trail. Being raised on a farm in the Sacramento area, the Pony Express gave him an opportunity to see more of the country beyond his family’s little plot of land. He loves everything about the job: the adventure, the scenery, and the speed. Racing the wind on the back of a horse was as close to perfect as he could imagine.

Jeremiah Rollins grew up in San Francisco under the shadow of his father's successful shipping business. But Jeremiah craves the adventure he reads about in the dime novels he can’t get enough of. On a whim, and despite his father’s disapproval, he signs up for the Pony Express and leaves his old life behind for the steep, rocky trails that cross the Sierra Nevada. Both men are excited to begin their journey on their first ride together to Nevada Territory. They set out, making their way from station to station, racing as fast as their horses can carry them, and their friendship grows every mile. They both wanted adventure, but they may end up getting more than they dreamed of. Every ten or fifteen miles brings new experiences, and new feelings that grow with each mile they pass. 

People Like Us by Ruby Moone (Winsford Green #2) - July 21st

Arthur Fitch clawed his way out of the violence and poverty of the slums of London to become a valet to the aristocracy. His ambition to secure a higher position led him to a disastrous appointment with a cold, brutal man, and when things come to a head, Arthur is forced to flee into a snowstorm to find safety. Joseph Wilkinson is the Winsford Green blacksmith. He has a good life, good friends, owns a thriving business, but at the end of the day when he goes home, loneliness consumes him. When he stumbles upon a small man determinedly trudging through the snowstorm, he invites him into his home to shelter. Arthur Fitch is older, smart-mouthed, and as prickly as hell. But, as Joe peels back the layers, he discovers a warm, funny, vulnerable man whose tastes in the bedchamber leave Joe gasping and desperate for more. Trouble is, having found the real Arthur Fitch, how can he convince him that life in a small town can be infinitely better than working for an Earl? That love really is possible for people like them? Particularly when Arthur’s past catches up with him in horrifying fashion.

Seaworthy bu KL Noone (Character Bleed Book #1) - August 1st - bisexual MC - contemporary, but with a lot of historical touches

An epic motion picture! A gay Napoleonic War love story! Ballrooms and battles at sea! Romantic happy endings on the silver screen! And a film that’ll change everything for its stars ... Jason Mirelli can’t play adrenaline-fueled action heroes forever. He’s getting older, plus the action star parts have grown a little thinner since he came out as bisexual. This role could finally let him be seen as a serious dramatic actor, and he needs it to go well -- for his career, and because he’s fallen in love with the story and the chance to tell it. The first problem? He’ll be playing a ship’s captain ... and he hasn’t exactly mentioned his fear of water. The second problem? His co-star: award-winning, overly talkative, annoyingly adorable -- and openly gay – box office idol Colby Kent. Colby’s always loved the novel this film’s based on, and he leapt at the chance to adapt it, now that he has the money and reputation to make it happen. But scars and secrets from his past make filming a love story difficult ... until Jason takes his hand and wakes up all his buried desires. Jason could be everything Colby’s ever wanted: generous and kind, a fantastic partner on set, not to mention those heroic muscles. But Colby just can’t take that chance ... or can he? As their characters fall in love and fight a war, Colby and Jason find themselves falling, too ... and facing the return of their own past demons. But together they just might win ... and write their own love story.

The Engineer (Magic & Steam Book #1) by CS Poe - May 28th

1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton is a magic caster with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam. He’s sent to Shallow Grave, Arizona, to arrest a madman engineer known as Tinkerer, who’s responsible for blowing up half of Baltimore. Gillian has handled some of the worst criminals in the Bureau’s history, so this assignment shouldn’t be a problem. But even he’s taken aback by a run-in with the country’s most infamous outlaw, Gunner the Deadly. Gunner is also stalking Shallow Grave in search of Tinkerer, who will stop at nothing to take control of the town’s silver mines. Neither Gillian nor Gunner are willing to let Tinkerer hurt more innocent people, so they agree to a very temporary partnership. If facing illegal magic, Gatling gun contraptions, and a wild engineer in America’s frontier wasn’t enough trouble for a city boy, Gillian must also come to terms with the reality that he’s rather fond of his partner. But even if they live through this adventure, Gillian fears there’s no chance for love between a special agent and outlaw. Based on the short story, “Gunner the Deadly.” Entirely revised, newly expanded, and Book One in the exciting new steampunk series, Magic & Steam.

Pirate’s Promise (Pirate’s of Port Royal Book #1) by Jules Radcliffe - May 12th - the rest of the series is also out this Summer!

Press-ganged as a boy, Job Wright must learn how to live as a free man.

For years Job has been a captive, treated as a servant—and sometimes more—by a crooked merchant crew. Until the day his ship is attacked by pirates. English pirates, no less, and Brethren of the Coast, a brotherhood of free men who owe allegiance to no one but themselves. Job thinks he's been rescued at last, but he's badly mistaken. As an Englishman aboard a Spanish ship, the Brethren believe he's a traitor and an enemy. But just when pirate justice is about to be delivered, Garrett Dubh intervenes. He both saves Job's life and recruits him to the pirate ship Audacious.

Surrounded by a fearsome crew, Job finds protection under Garrett's wing. He's ready to do anything for the handsome pirate—things he'd never willingly do for another man. But Garrett ignores Job's shy overtures. He believes Job is too traumatised by his past. Too young to know what he wants. And nothing Job says will change his mind.

To show Garrett he can take care of himself, Job leaves the safety of the Audacious. He joins the most ruthless Brethren crew in the Caribbean, led by the enigmatic and cruel Rusé.

But in the French pirate haven of Tortuga, thoughtless actions can have fatal consequences, something Job is about to discover. And this time, Garrett isn't there to save him.

Chasing a Legacy by D. A Ravenscroft - May 2020

Against the tense political backdrop of the Second French Empire, siblings Camille and Marianne find themselves wrestling with personal demons both past and present. As Camille strives to keep family secrets buried and unveil a plot against them, Marianne becomes involved with the handsome Baron Auclair and his mysterious younger sister. Little do the siblings know that soon their very different lives will come crashing together…

-

The sequel to a sequel! In this follow up to the unofficial Les Mis sequel ‘Chasing a Ghost’, we follow Enjolras and Grantaire’s children, Camille and Marianne, through dangers untold and family strife. Set in 1866, towards the end of the Second Empire, this story has murder, mystery, romance, drama, comedy, and a pet lion. And yes, it’s very, very queer.

https://www.lulu.com/en/gb/shop/d-a-ravenscroft/chasing-a-legacy/paperback/product-y58wrq.html

Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian (Seducing the Sedgwicks Book #3) - June 23rd

Will Sedgwick can’t believe that after months of searching for his oldest friend, Martin Easterbrook is found hiding in an attic like a gothic nightmare. Intent on nursing Martin back to health, Will kindly kidnaps him and takes him to the countryside to recover, well away from the world. Martin doesn’t much care where he is or even how he got there. He’s much more concerned that the man he’s loved his entire life is currently waiting on him hand and foot, feeding him soup and making him tea. Martin knows he’s a lost cause, one he doesn’t want Will to waste his life on. As a lifetime of love transforms into a tender passion both men always desired but neither expected, can they envision a life free from the restrictions of the past, a life with each other?

Best Laid Plaids by Ella Stainton (Kilty Pleasures #1)- August 31st

In 1920s Scotland, even ghosts wear plaid.

Welcome to a sexy, spooky new paranormal historical series from debut author Ella Stainton.

Scotland, 1928

Dr. Ainsley Graham is cultivating a reputation as an eccentric.

Two years ago, he catastrophically ended his academic career by publicly claiming to talk to ghosts. When Joachim Cockburn, a WWI veteran studying the power of delusional thinking, arrives at his door, Ainsley quickly catalogues him as yet another tiresome Englishman determined to mock his life’s work.

But Joachim is tenacious and openhearted, and Ainsley’s intrigued despite himself. He agrees to motor his handsome new friend around to Scotland’s most unmistakable hauntings. If he can convince Joachim, Ainsley might be able to win back his good name and then some. He knows he’s not crazy—he just needs someone else to know it, too.

Joachim is one thesis away from realizing his dream of becoming a psychology professor, and he’s not going to let anyone stop him, not even an enchanting ginger with a penchant for tartan and lewd jokes. But as the two travel across Scotland’s lovely—and definitely, definitely haunted—landscape, Joachim’s resolve starts to melt. And he’s beginning to think that an empty teaching post without the charming Dr. Graham would make a very poor consolation prize indeed…

The Gentleman’s Thief by Isobel Starling (Resurrectionist Book #2)

Tuesday 28th December 1897. Mr. Benedict Hannan, the owner of Hannan’s Auction House in Fitzrovia, London, receives an unexpected visitor at his Bloomsbury home. The man on his stoop sends Benedict’s heart into a flutter, and on inviting the mysterious stranger into his house, he is inviting mystery, adventure, and volcanic desire.

Sebastian Cavell—master thief, gives the impression he has sought out Benedict for the sake of business, but the kind of business Sebastian has in mind has nothing to do with making money!

Cavell has been tasked with finding the whereabouts of a missing German aristocrat. With Benedict’s society connections, Sebastian gains access to his Gentleman’s Club and to men whose behavior is not so gentlemanly!

Benedict is pulled into the circle of a dangerous secret society and he not only learns the truth about the mysterious Sebastian Cavell, but learns the truth about himself and all he truly desires.

The Curse of the Mummy’s Heart by Julia Talbot - June 30th

Something is rising in the desert sand, and between two adventurous men.

Famous 1920s Hollywood actor Douglas Fitzhugh and his brother Donnie are headed for Egypt on a classic monster movie quest. Their mysterious benefactor, a man they call Grant, has sent them to find a stranded archaeologist, and all they have to go on is a handwritten journal. That's just the kind of adventure Douglas loves, and he never passes up the chance to get away from his studio-driven life.

Charles Angeloff is also on his way to Egypt with a special object his father has asked him to return to the tomb he ripped it from. Charles is just out of university, and when he meets Douglas, he falls hard for Douglas' charm and his worldly ways.

As they travel, more men of adventure join them: a cowboy, a rich seminary student, and a librarian. When they're all together, it's like magic happens, and the men all realize they're on a mission to stop the horror that stirs beneath the desert sands, even as that creature sets its sights on Charles. Will Douglas and Charles lose each other just when they've found what they both think is the man they want to be with forever?

Starcrossed: A Paranormal Historical Romance (Magic in Manhattan #2) by Allie Therin - May 18th

When everything they’ve built is threatened, only their bond remains… 1925 New York Psychometric Rory Brodigan’s life hasn’t been the same since the day he met Arthur Kenzie. Arthur’s continued quest to contain supernatural relics that pose a threat to the world has captured Rory’s imagination—and his heart. But Arthur’s upper-class upbringing still leaves Rory worried that he’ll never measure up, especially when Arthur’s aristocratic ex arrives in New York. For Arthur, there’s only Rory. But keeping the man he’s fallen for safe is another matter altogether. When a group of ruthless paranormals throw the city into chaos, the two men’s strained relationship leaves Rory vulnerable to a monster from Arthur’s past. With dark forces determined to tear them apart, Rory and Arthur will have to draw on every last bit of magic up their sleeves. And in the end, it’s the connection they’ve formed without magic that will be tested like never before.

Another Chance For Love by Ellie Thomas - July 4th

Former British Army Lieutenant Adam Merryweather survived the Western Front of WWI and has slowly recovered from his injuries. But can he heal from a broken heart? Torn between family duty and personal happiness, he sacrificed his love for Alf and has never ceased to regret it in the two years since the war ended. Adam is slowly putting his empty life back together, working for the family firm in the city centre of Bristol and trying to stop his mother’s meddling to find him the perfect socially acceptable bride. When he happens to meet Alf out of the blue, Adam is determined to try again. But convincing Alf to give him another chance may be too much to hope for. Can a chance meeting bring them back together? Or has Adam lost another chance for love forever?    

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite - July 28th - sapphic

When Agatha Griffin finds a colony of bees in her warehouse, it’s the not-so-perfect ending to a not-so-perfect week. Busy trying to keep her printing business afloat amidst rising taxes and the suppression of radical printers like her son, the last thing the widow wants is to be the victim of a thousand bees. But when a beautiful beekeeper arrives to take care of the pests, Agatha may be in danger of being stung by something far more dangerous…

Penelope Flood exists between two worlds in her small seaside town, the society of rich landowners and the tradesfolk.  Soon, tensions boil over when the formerly exiled Queen arrives on England’s shores—and when Penelope’s long-absent husband returns to Melliton, she once again finds herself torn, between her burgeoning love for Agatha and her loyalty to the man who once gave her refuge.

As Penelope finally discovers her true place, Agatha must learn to accept the changing world in front of her. But will these longing hearts settle for a safe but stale existence or will they learn to fight for the future they most desire?

--

*If more come to my attention after this is posted, they will be added!!!

#lgbt romance #historical romance #sapphic #trans romance #f/f romance #m/m romance #books

[supercasey]

More Info on Scout’s Brothers in my Interpretation of Them

From working on my latest TF2 fic, I’ve been getting even more invested in my interpretations of Scout’s brothers than I was back when I wrote “Jeremy” last month, so here’s more information on them, including their appearances, who their spouses end up being later on in life, and their kids (if they have any).

(Putting this under a readmore for the sake of literally everyone)

((Tumblr, please don’t fuck this up for mobile readers. If it does end up looking like crap, I’ll make a Google Doc for this.))

Name: Grant Grayson-Kennedy Jr. Age: 34 (11 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Bisexual Hair Color: Dark Brown Eye Color: Grey Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Grant Grayson Sr. Their S/O: Amelia O’Malley (36) Their Children: Lauren Grayson-Kennedy (8), Kara Grayson-Kennedy (6), Rupert Grayson-Kennedy (4.5), Timothy Grayson-Kennedy (2) Occupation: Air Force Veteran/Lawyer Personality: The family peacekeeper. Probably the most pragmatic of his siblings (though he’s still quite the fighter), Grant has been helping his mom out with his brothers from almost the very beginning, becoming more helpful as more kids were born. He’s a family man, and adores his family to bits, doing almost anything to keep them safe. Was actually considered as a possible recruit by The Administrator, but she decided to not hire him in the end, as he seemed too wise to be manipulated.

Name: Timothy Grayson-Kennedy Age: 32 (9 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Homosexual Hair Color: Dark Brown Eye Color: Dark Brown Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Grant Grayson Sr. Their S/O: Duke Hammond (32) Their Children: Sarah Kennedy-Hammond (3), Jeremy Kennedy-Hammond (1) Occupation: Cartoonist Personality: The family heart. The most gentle of his brothers, Timmy is especially close with Jeremy and Grant. Kinda nervous about being a father, but with his childhood best friend turned lover at his side, he isn’t quite as scared anymore. Stays in contact with his siblings well enough, but tends to lose track of events/announcements due to living all the way in California. Doesn’t approve of mercenary work in general.

Name: Jacob Grayson-Kennedy Age: 31 (8 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Heterosexual Hair Color: Light Blond Eye Color: Light Blue Their Mother: Rebecca ��Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Grant Grayson Sr. Their S/O: None Their Children: Ana Grayson-Kennedy (3), Mia Grayson-Kennedy (3) Occupation: Freelance Guitarist Personality: The family sword. Was always pretty rough ‘n tumble even when compared to his brothers, so he got into a lot of trouble alongside Malcolm when he was a teen. Finally cleaned up his act when a one-night-stand resulted in him having twin daughters, who he loves dearly and has sole custody of. Has a better relationship with Arthur now that they’re adults, and actually lives with him in downtown Boston.

Name: Arthur Grayson-Kennedy Age: 31 (8 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Pansexual Hair Color: Dark Blond Eye Color: Dark Blue Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Grant Grayson Sr. Their S/O: Markus Browning (29) Their Children: None Occupation: Carpenter Personality: The family shield. Not quite as mellow as Timmy is, but he’s pretty damn close in terms of general kindness towards his family and friends. Has struggled in the past to find his calling, but he loves his job in carpentry, and loves that he gets to live with his twin and nieces! Has an on and off boyfriend who he keeps a secret from the family, as he’s nervous to come out as pan, even though Timmy’s been out as gay for a few years now.

Name: Patrick Walsh-Kennedy Age: 30 (7 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Heterosexual Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Terrence Walsh Their S/O: Felicity Homer (28) Their Children: None Occupation: Hairdresser Personality: The family shadow. He’s never liked being in the spotlight, even when he was young and into street brawls. Was beaten by his bio dad a lot as a kid, so he’s fairly skittish as a result; jumps at loud noises and has claustrophobia. Still checks in on the family every once in awhile, but he prefers to stay with his GF in relative solitude. Loves his job so much, even if it does involve being social sometimes.

Name: Malcolm Walsh-Kennedy Age: 27 (4 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Heteromantic Asexual Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Terrence Walsh Their S/O: Dolores Jamison Their Children: Luke Kennedy-Jamison (5) Occupation: Wrestler Personality: The family instigator. Was by far the most reckless and violent of his brothers (yes, even more so than Jacob), which led to him getting arrested a number of times in his teens. Is trying to turn his life around, but it’s hard for him. After he found out that Jeremy is a mercenary, he flipped his lid, and he’s still pissed at him about it. Loves his son, his wife, his mama, his brothers, and that’s about it tbh.

Name: Curtis Walsh-Kennedy Age: 26 (3 years older than RED Scout) Gender: Cisgender Man Sexuality: Bisexual Hair Color: Dark Blond Eye Color: Blue Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Terrence Walsh Their S/O: None Their Children: None Occupation: BLU Scout Personality: The family drifter. Spent a lot of his childhood teasing Jeremy and trying to be his mom’s favorite, neither of which worked in his favor. His mom still loves him of course, but he’s not the favorite (no one is). He drifted for a long while after high school, struggling to land a job, before he was hired to join BLU team as their Scout. Now he continues teasing Jeremy as an adult, which leads to a lot of matches turning into Scout vs Scout fights.

Name: Jeremy Kennedy Age: 23 Gender: Transgender Man Sexuality: Pansexual Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Baby Blue Their Mother: Rebecca “Becky” Kennedy Their Father: Jeffery REDACTED Their S/O: None Their Children: None Occupation: RED Scout Personality: The family runt. He tried so hard to keep up with his brothers as a kid, but was always told to not play as rough due to him being FTM. After coming out to the family as a man, and living on his own for awhile, he’s become even closer to his brothers than he was before, save for maybe Curtis, who he fights with every time they see each other. He knows Curtis is the BLU Scout and constantly teases him for losing so often to RED, which leads to even more fights between them. (I should note that I don’t characterize Jeremy as transgender in the Kids AU, mostly because I think he’d be too young to come out, and seeing as I don’t want to write him as a “girl” for the entirety of the AU... he can be trans in that AU if you want him to be, but I feel uncomfortable writing such a young child as being trans, so do with that what you will.)

Information on the dads!

Grant Grayson Sr.: Grant, Timothy, Jacob, and Arthur’s dad. He was a well respected man when he was alive, and actually had a decent relationship with Becky for the most part, but it became more strained when he left for war after the twins were born. About a year into his military service, Grant was killed in action, leaving Becky a widow. She loved him, but after his death, she accepted the fact that it wouldn’t have lasted forever with him, though she still misses him sometimes.

Terrence Walsh: Patrick, Malcolm, and Curtis’s dad. He tried hooking up with Becky the minute Grant was shipped overseas, but she always turned him down, as she was married and not a cheater. After Grant’s death though, he swooped in and convinced Becky to start going out with him, leading to Patrick’s birth and a second marriage for Becky. Unfortunately, Terrance was a real POS, and he routinely beat the kids as well as Becky. He was assassinated a few weeks after Curtis was born by Spy, freeing Becky of his abuse.

Jeffery REDACTED: The RED Spy/Jeremy’s dad. He met Becky while she was still stuck in an abusive marriage with Terrence, and soon after they met, Becky begged for his help in getting rid of her husband so she and kids could finally be safe. Feeling bad for the mother, Spy did just that, killing Terrence and making it look like an accident. Afterwards he planned on going on his merry way, but Becky convinced him to stay in her home while he waited for more work to roll in. During this time, they fell in love, and he soon married her (though it was an under the table sort of deal, where he also took on her last name), and after a year or so of marriage, Becky became pregnant with Jeremy. Unfortunately for Spy, people were after him, so he had to leave the family behind, but he’s still technically married to Becky, and she refuses to date anyone in his absence.

And that’s what I’ve got! Btw, I chose the last name “Kennedy” for the family based on the quote “You’ve got the luck of a Kennedy!” since I headcanon that Scout’s Mom has been through a lot, and in turn so have all of her children in one way or another. The family’s unlucky, but at least they’ll always have each other! Feel free to ask me questions about the family if you have any.

#tf2 #tf2 headcanons #tf2 scout #tf2 scout's mom #tf2 scout's brothers #tf2 spy #red scout #blu scout #long post

[supergay-supergirl]

why supergirl season 5 was actually good: sort of an essay

This has been sitting in my sticky notes for months and I figured now that I have a Supergirl blog, I can actually post it.

People love hating on Supergirl Season 5. And I get it. I admit that it had a lot of problems. But I did like the season overall, and there's enough out there about Season 5’s problems, so here is a post about some things that were great about Season 5!

1. Lena’s Arc

Apparently everyone hates how this was executed, but I really liked it. I like how 5A allows her to scheme and lie and altogether explore the darker (Luthor) side of herself, because only after experiencing what she’s been afraid of becoming can she fully come to know herself. I like how in 5x07, she gets to scream and cry, to express to Supergirl how much she’s hurting, and how betrayed she feels. I like how in 5x13, Kara finally accepts that Lena joining Lex was not her fault, and that she didn’t deserve to be manipulated (“From now on, you’re accountable for your own actions.”). I like Lena’s growing obsession with erasing human pain through 5B and the fact that we know exactly where her motivations come from, and we feel for her because we’ve seen how much pain she’s in herself -- but at the same time, we can still oppose her ultimately villainous actions, which leads us to hope for her redemption. (A lot of this is due to Katie McGrath’s stellar acting as well.)

I love how the season shows just how much Lex’s continual abuse and manipulation affects her, and shows her standing up to him at the end. I wish they had focused more on Lena instead of pushing her aside in favor of Lex in 5B, but overall I liked how they expanded on the Luthor sibling relationship from Season 4, even if it was missing some of the complexity of the previous season. And finally, I love the way Lena fights so hard to regain Kara’s trust in 5x19 (and succeeds!). It felt like there was more of a balance between the two starting from 5x13, where previously it had always been Kara apologizing and trying to gain Lena’s trust.

2. Supergirl’s New Look

PANTS. PANTS. PANTS. PANTS.

For Season 4, Kara the Reporter got a more professional wardrobe as she began to mentor Nia, and the switch to pants feels like the same thing for Supergirl. It completes the transition from “young adult” to just “adult.” It may have been reasonable to call Kara a “girl” in Season 1, but by now, she is an adult woman, and I’m glad that her wardrobe reflects that.

I was opposed to Kara’s bangs at the beginning of the season, but they have definitely grown on me. Like the pants, I think they mark an important change in Supergirl’s character, one that is better appreciated by the audience than the characters. Now, when I rewatch previous seasons, I think, “Wow, Kara looks so different now.” I didn’t think that when I rewatched episodes after Season 4. The bangs are a way to identify Adult Kara as having changed a lot from how she was at the beginning, and like the pants, I feel like they complete her transition into adulthood.

(But are the writers expecting us to believe that nobody who knows Kara would be suspicious that Kara and Supergirl got bangs on the exact same day? Seriously.)

3. Eve Teschmacher

In Season 4, Eve Teschmacher was a brilliant, eager-to-please young woman who (whoops) turned out to be evil. And she was great. But I was dissatisfied with her betrayal because it came so out of the blue, and it was a complete 180 without much buildup at all. Season 5 gave her the humanity that she was lacking, first with her mom, then with her desperation not to have to kill. Not to mention, some pretty badass fight scenes.

4. J’onn’s Swagger

J’onn’s storyline in Season 5 is not nearly as deep as in Season 4, and I see that as a good thing. Season 4 J’onn was wonderful and necessary, but in a season that has a lot of strong development for Kara and Lena, it was nice to have a relatively static character who’s at a good place in his life. Season 4 let J’onn discover the man he wanted to be, and David Harewood brings a new confidence to Season 5 as a result of that. It’s fun to watch him strut around in his supersuit and say normal things as if they’re great proclamations. It’s nice to see the happy, healthy adult relationship between him and M’gann. The easy trust they have with each other causes them to act more like they’re married than dating, as opposed to the younger characters who are often caught up in relationship drama.

5. Kelly Therapy Face

All the characters need a therapist, and they finally got one! Well, Kelly is technically a psychologist, which I believe means she could be a therapist but is not necessarily? I don’t know things. Anyway, it’s nice to have a calm, supportive presence in the group, and this effect is helped by Kelly Therapy Face. Kelly Therapy Face is the face Kelly makes when she’s listening to you talk about your problems. Kelly Therapy Face and her generally calm presence bring down the interpersonal drama of the group and solidify the idea that all these people are growing into full adults, with adult relationships and adult responses to issues. Their emotions are stabilizing, they’re building stronger support systems, and they’re gaining a better understanding of how the world works and their places in it.

This is more of a Season 4 thing -- this season really didn’t give Kelly the screentime she deserved -- but I also love how even though Kelly acts as a source of support for others, her own fear and trauma are rarely glossed over (see: the end of 5x05). This gives Kelly a humanity and realistic quality that many emotional-support characters don’t get. It also shows the key difference between Dansen and Sanvers: whenever Alex and Maggie had conflict, they swept it aside rather than working through it, leading to their eventual breakup, but when Alex and Kelly have conflict, they listen to each other and try to fix it. In accordance with their adult-ness, Alex and Kelly also seem to be in agreement that it’s okay to have conflict in their relationship (“And I might not know every little detail about you yet, but I know you,” 5x02).

6. Reality Bytes

Calling attention to violence against trans folk, exploring Dreamer’s dark side, and showing the strength of Kara and Nia’s mentor-student relationship in one episode? Just. Yes. Either Nicole Maines was projecting a lot or she’s a really good actor (probably both), but either way, as a trans person, I felt this episode on a personal level: the anger, fear, and frustration at knowing that your community is being targeted and the people you’re supposed to trust (i.e. the police) are probably not going to do anything about it. Additionally, Kara and Nia’s conflict in 5x15, and the fact that Kara compares Nia’s experience to her own, is a great marker of how far Kara has come. In Season 1, Supergirl felt a similar anger and hurt when villains sought her out, but by now, she’s more at peace and can offer Dreamer reassurance and comfort.

7. Brainy’s Plot

Brainy’s storyline in Season 5 is nice because it manages to remain stable as an important, but secondary, plot. It enhances the sense that there’s more going on than we realize and gives us a view into the scheming of the villains, while not taking over too much screentime or audience brainspace.

8. Jon Cryer

As annoying as it is that the writers gave up a lot of Lena’s screentime to Lex, Jon Cryer’s performance in Season 5 is just wonderful. He can go from acting totally in control to screaming in a matter of seconds. Lex Luthor is witty, assured, and charming in a weird way. On the other side of his personality, he is a madman who cares about no one’s interests but his own. Jon Cryer’s acting manages to package all this great but conflicting writing into a brilliant, awful, occasionally sympathetic villain who has more than his share of awesome (and terrifying) scenes.

9. Alex’s Grief

I like that Alex gets to let go of her emotions a little this season and express herself. Especially when Jeremiah dies before 5x16, Alex has a really tough time (and a mention of her possibly drinking problem! Expand, please!). She tries to escape from the pain of real life through virtual reality, but eventually realizes that she has to face her pain rather than avoid it, which is a major theme of the season. What’s great about 5x16 and the next couple episodes is that the other characters allow her to grieve. They could have told her to get over it and see all the happiness in the real world — it would have fit with the theme — but instead, they support Alex as she grieves. They listen without judgement when she expresses her anger that Jeremiah left and forced her to take care of Kara. Kara and Kelly are (mostly) understanding when Alex doesn’t want to go to Jeremiah’s funeral, and when Alex arrives late at the end of the episode, Kara lets her know how much she appreciates that Alex came at all. Throughout her life, Alex hasn’t had much opportunity to be herself and express her emotions, an idea that’s repeated over and over again starting from her coming-out arc in Season 2 or even earlier. Now that Kara can for the most part take care of herself and Alex has a good support system, she finally gets the opportunity to be vulnerable.

10. Andrea Rojas’s Moral Ambiguity

Is Andrea good or bad? Neither. She’s a person who wants love, success, and money, who does sketchy things to promote her company but also fights fiercely for her father and cares about the safety of her technology. Before Andrea, Lena was the main morally ambiguous character, and she could be categorized as “playing for her own team.” However, Andrea goes a step further, crossing into a territory I would call “not playing a game at all.” She’s just a human being trying to have a good life, and that causes her to do good things, bad things, and everything in between. In a show that often accentuates the difference between heroes and villains (“Don’t let them down by stooping to his level,” 5x15), Andrea is a reminder that most people aren’t good or bad -- they’re just living their lives.

TL;DR: They’re all adults now and Lena needs a hug.

#supergirl #supergirl season 5 #kara danvers #lena luthor #j'onn j'onzz #kelly olsen #dansen #nia nal #dreamer #brainiac 5 #alex danvers #andrea rojas