#(he was trying to make a point about fetish- and tokenization and i see that)

[yakuzacanons]

hiiii!!! I think I read your posts pretty much everyday and am loving absolutely everything you write!!

This one thought has been bothering me for a while: what would our boys think of their s/o being a foreigner? I guess some of them would pay no mind, some of them would be bothered at first, maybe some of them would even use their s/o as a token! What do you think?

Good question! Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. Last post of the night kiddos, see y'all tomorrow eve.

Kazuma Kiryu

Doesn't mind and doesn't care. People are people. He likes you because he likes you. It's that shrimple. Seriously though, it never phased him. He doesn't ask questions about it either. Feel free to share exactly as much or as little about your culture as you'd like.

Majima Goro

Similar mindset as Kiryu but he would ask some questions. Somewhat interested in cultural differences, like the fact that Americans don't take off their shoes before going inside. It's not always aimed at YOUR culture specifically, he's just curious.

Saejima Taiga

He's a little resistant at first. Saejima's a little more old school and likely always saw himself with a more traditionally Japanese spouse. Mildly confused at some of your cultural differences but gets used to them. His affections towards you are more powerful than his confusion. Besides, he's easily confused anyways by a lot of things.

Akiyama Shun

Thinks that it's really cool that you're a foreigner. Might even think that's what makes you so interesting in the first place, at least when you first meet. Tries to learn words in your language but never pronounces them well.

Tanimura Masayoshi

As a mixed race guy, he kind of relates to you. He's pretty respectful of your culture and enjoys sharing his with you but he would never pressure you to do the same. Mostly just accepts it as is, no questions asked.

Ryuji Goda

Like Akiyama, he likely finds your cultural differences enticing when he first meets you. Finds himself actually caring about your cultural and is pretty respectful of it. Goes out of his way to try to remember important holiday events from your culture. Would punch anyone who makes fun of you.

Nishikyama Akira

Generally prefers an Asian spouse but he's open to other possibilities. Kind of guy to dumbly ask "Why" or "Huh" when you do certain things that relate to your culture. Little bit dumb about it all. Doesn't exactly judge you though but he can be openly confused at times.

Daigo Dojima

Honestly he has never thought about dating a foreigner and probably thinks it's expected of him to have a Japanese spouse but doesn't let that stop him. Daigo's a big sweetheart when in love so where you're from or what culture you partake in doesn't bother him none. Genuinely supportive and loving all the way.

Mine Yoshitaka

Might be a little guilty of fetishizing your culture or using it as a token point of interest. What can I say, Mine really does want to look cool in front of everyone, even more than Nishiki. If you tell him, he'll immediately knock it off. He likely just didn't realize that it bothered you or offended you.

Tatsuo Shinada

Also guilty of making your culture or foreigner status into a token subject, but more so in the way he just asks a LOT of questions. He doesn't realize it makes you feel like you're a zoo animal or like a science project. His intentions are well placed though, he just doesn't know when to stop asking.

Ichiban Kasuga

He'll just be like "Okay, cool!" with a thumbs up. That's how much you being a foreigner affects him. Bless his gentle heart, he could never fathom how anyone could judge you or treat you differently just because you're a foreigner.

Tianyou Zhao

Sympathizes with your struggles and is really understanding. Would be down to share cultural foods or holidays with you, either from his culture or yours. He's just generally really chill about it.

Joon-Gi Han

Similar vibe as Zhao but would whoop the ass of anyone who made fun of you. He knows all too well what it's like to be outcast just because of who you are and how much that hurts and he'll be damned if you ever feel bad for being yourself.

#majima megaphone moment #yakuza #yakuza headcanons #yakuza imagines #ryu ga gotoku headcanons #ryu ga gotoku #ryu ga gotoku imagines #goro majima #majima goro #akiyama shun #akira nishikiyama #shun akiyama #nishikiyama akira #ryuji goda #taiga saejima #saejima taiga #rgg #joon gi han #zhao tianyou #tianyou zhao #tatsuo shinada #ichiban kasuga #kiryu kazuma #kazuma kiryu #tanimura masayoshi #daigo dojima #mine yoshitaka #yoshitaka mine

[sunshinemarauders]

Racist Experiences in the Marauders Fandom

These anonymous submissions come from a survey I published several weeks ago where I asked for fans in the Marauders fandom to share their experiences with me. I was overwhelmed with the results, and this is, in their own words, some of the submissions I was sent.

There has been lost of push back against fans using POC fan casts for various characters

weird reactions to desi james or east asian sirius!!

I have seen people get upset when characters are fancast as non-white actors (like dev Patel for James)

Clash of opinions about fanon Hermione being black

I have seen lots of racism towards people's newer fancasts, as all the OGs (ben barnes, andrew garfield, aaron taylor-johnson, etc.) are white and some people are trying to change that!

I saw a fanart one time, where james had a darker skin (he was latino) and someone commented that it doesn't suit him

I draw Sirius black as Asian and I’ve gotten quite a few racist comments about this and I’ve seen a lot of racism about desi James. Also when BIPOC people cosplay characters that people think are “white”

People tend to cast characters as white, and sometimes I see people getting mad someone is fancasting a non-canonically black character as black or as a person of colour (I've seen some good black Remus, non-white Lily, non-white Peter fancasts, and yet, there is still peope being sooo mad about it like??). Sadly, I think a lot of people can tell about the fact that fancasts are often discussed and hated for no reason when they're not white or whatever, when it's basically just a fancast, that goes against the "canon" a bigot (JKR) made up.

the first that’s coming to mind is people fighting against the interpretation/portrayal of characters as poc (most often james bs i think he’s most popularly hced as desi but also others) either that or just straight up gatekeeping

Only the general feeling that the white characters are more interesting and loved than any of the characters of color. Racebending seems token, like nobody wants to be exclusionary but also don't have the comfort or confidence to make that diversity ring true in terms of cultural resonance. By cultural resonance I don't only mean make them ethnic but to portray and discuss or casually mention the postcolonial personhood or third culture kid experience as applies.

A comment on my fic about making it a “racial jungle”, saying that it wasn’t accurate for the time period even though representation of races otherwise had no significance in the fic

theres is a lot people that will fight tooth and nail for exclusively white maruaders (in terms of fancasts) and they slander other people in the fandom for using more diverse fancasts such as desi james or black evan

I've seen it in passing, especially towards POC writers/people who HC characters who were not diverse in canon.

People not wanting desi Potters in art or otherwise

One Harry Potter fan got mad at me for drawing James (and Harry) dark skinned

GOD THE FRIKIN FANCASTS. They really don't matter that much and everyone makes it such a big deal. To me at least- representation only really matters if its real. If there's fat Peter, darkskin Dorcas, desi James, or Japanese Sirius/Regulus in a fanfic, that is the representation of that. It doesn't need to be reflected in a fancast used in an edit. Personal opinion but annoying as fuck I just wish everyone would enjoy the fact that someone spent time pouring over numerous tiny clips from many different TV shows and movies just for fun, and other people getting mad that they didn't use a person that literally doesn't exist angers me to no end.

mostly just a complete ignorance of POC identities. sometimes poc characters are ignored in favour of white characters. but also, even when POC are centered, i often see like a lot of fetishization and stereotyping and it's just... not good...

there’s a lot of jewish people in the fandom that have pointed out antisemitism within the fandom a few times. i am not jewish, and i cannot speak on the issue, but that’s something i’ve heard a lot. i’ve also seen the whitewashing of fancasts for characters like mary and dorcas who are widely accepted to be women of color, so that feels weird to me, but i think? that’s everything i’ve noticed or heard.

i've seen racism thrown to black creators, poc fancasts, and at myself for being arab and head-cannoning the black brother as arab.

There was a black dude cosplaying remus and their were people saying remus wasnt a N-word but it was a white person saying it

I have seen some fans respond in a racist way to Black fans who have called out the racism in the way in which Black characters are written and portrayed in the fandom.

#marauders #mwpp #mwpp era #remus lupin #sirius black #james potter #peter pettigrew #lily evans #the marauders #marauders era #wolfstar #remus x sirius #jegulus #regulus black #regulus x james #regulus arcturus black #sirius orion black #pandora lovegood #pandora lestrange #bellatrix lestrange #narcissa black #narcissa malfoy #evan rosier #rosekiller #barty crouch jr #james fleamont potter #fleamont potter #euphemia potter #harry potter #harry potter fandom

[clairenatural]

hi! i shouldn’t have made this post! i did it thinking it was a joke without thinking about the implications, full context and the hate spreading i was contributing to! it was ignorant and i don’t want to delete for accountability but pls stop reblogging it it’s Not A Good Post

#this is about the mackie variety article i have nuanced cohesive thoughts abt it but this is not a cohesive or nuanced Statement it's simply #a joke #(it's also not me coming for mackie more on that below) #bc that quote i just. keep coming back to it. i do think i know what he was trying to say (and i'm trying to take it in good faith) but #HI PALS if you're here looking for my original tags. they're all here but i actually DID make a longer clarification post #bc as it turns out. it's hard to be cohesive and nuanced in tags sigh #(ok these are not condensed thoughts but tl;dr variety asked a weird leading question on a recorded audio interview and i'm more mad about #that bc it's a part of the broader issue of media like variety leading this false narrative and pushing actors into making these statements) #(he was trying to make a point about fetish- and tokenization and i see that) #it was messy and badly worded. i think variety boxed him in by framing the question is a super gross leading way #variety is the real villain here but that answer was a MESS and could have been navigated without even bringing up (let alone villainizing) #real queer fans #the best faith reading i could get out of it was that he was trying to criticise fetishization/queerbaiting/people making ships gay for #clout or internet points #which is. a real issue! but by presenting the entire sambucky phenomenon as just fetishizing shippers end up demonizing real queer ppl too #the way the media treats shipping especially ships that are dominated by queer people is disgusting #this narrative that fans on the internet shipping men is going to somehow endanger representation of close platonic friendships is just. #wrong? it's a straw man argument used to avoid saying ''im uncomfortable with my character being read as queer'' #and im tired of it #and actors who are uncomfortable with their characters being read as queer or portrayed as such in fan works need to 1. self-reflect and #2. keep their mouth shut #(to clairfy. i don't mean mackie there. variety is the one who made it abt platonic love or w/e) #(''actors'' is general as this is a broader problem im not accusing him of anything) #but this is just one moment indicative of a broader issue in the way these questions even come about and are addressed #ALSO. there is no shortage of close platonic male superhero relationships even if you only look at the mcu and ignore the comics #variety what the FUCK are you talking about. #mae.txt #negativity #not spn

[epic-sorcerer]

Queer imagery in BBC Merlin

Content warning: kink/fetish, fisting in particular but I show I big image containing a long list of different kinks, homophobia, dom/sub dynamics, sex

Merlin is shown wearing a purple tunic in s4, despite the fact he is a servant and purple(especially with such saturation) was extremely expensive bc purple dye was so hard to make. Gwen also has a light purple dress(or maybe 2? It’s hard to tell). Even though it’s definitely lighter than Merlins tunic, it’s still expensive.

it was illegal for peasants to wear expensive fabrics because of the Sumptuary Law. Basically it makes sure that lower class people are not fashionable. However, BBC Merlin doesn’t seam to care about that law, considering Merlins other bright clothing so take this was a grain of salt.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that there’s no way they could have gotten their hands on these clothes without the help of nobles. Gwen might have, because she works with clothing and could have easily mixed blue and red dye together. Merlin probably not have because he’s never shown to be particularly materialistic or interested much in fashion, despite his bright clothes. Bright Purple would have been much, much harder to get.

It makes the most sense for Merlin and possibly Gwen too to have been gifted such expensive clothing by a noble for being a good servant. I’d imagine Arthur would be the one to give Merlin the tunic and morgana the dresses.

Why does this matter? Lavender(and also purple in general) was considered a queer color starting in the 19th century. Queer men especially were said to possess a “streak of lavender” and a serge of homophobia at the time was often referred to as the “Lavender Scare.” Purple and lavender is still used now to symbolize queerness.

Since Merlin is a modern interpretation of Arthurian myths, it would be perfectly plausible that this symbol was on purpose. Merlin/Arthur and Gwen/Morgana are both extremely popular ships and they are both shown to have a very deep form of trust(Gwen/Morgana being at the beginning of the show). Arthur and Morgana gifting Merlin and Gwen purple clothing could be show them they accept their queerness and/or signaling their own queer attraction to them.

Now, this next symbolism concerns only Merlin/Arthur.

Merlin is shown to have three neckerchiefs.

Navy blue, red, and light grey. Why does this matter? Well, let’s take a look at something called the handkerchief code, also known as the hanky code or “flagging.”

This code has its origins all the way back in time during the Wild West in the USA, but got more popular during the late 20th century in USA and UK gay bars. This code was used mainly by queer men and some nonbinary people to signal to other queers what they wanted sexually. While typically worn in people’s back pockets, a handkerchief could also be worn around one’s neck to show they are a versatile and experienced.

According to this code, Merlin is into;

Red: fisting and getting fisted. This color was hard to get an exact shade from, but the second best option was dark red for double fisting which is honestly so similar I’m not sure if it really matters much.

Light grey: stone topping and getting fucked by a stone top

Navy blue: fucking and being fucked anally

For any one wanting to make their own interpretations of Merlins neckerchief colors(the lighting makes it hard to tell the exact ones) have a look at this handy chart

Not only that, but Arthur is seen wearing a favour on his left arm in s3 ep 4.

What’s a favour? It’s a fabric strip of affection commonly given by maidens to knights before a tournament as a symbol of good luck. It’s often a very important scarf, hankcerchlif , towel, really any bit of cloth that can be tied around someone’s arm. This is also a popular trope in historical media for a female love interest to give a favour to a male one to show chemistry between them.

Regardless of your stance on Merlins gender identity, you have to admit how commonly Merlin is shown to be gender nonconforming(GNC) or otherwise be associated with “womanly” qualities. Especially in a society so heteronormative, the only “pure” option for a knight receiving a romantic gesture would have it be from a woman. If the token was from a queer man, it would also out the noble and cause lots of horrific chaos and destroy both of their reputations.

Even if it was common for women to give knights favours, queer men still existed and with that came romantic gestures—this time hopefully more secret.

Even though the favour on Arthur’s arm doesn’t look exactly like Merlin’s neckerchief, Merlin was the only person to speak with him while preparing for the tournament. Also, the original theorist who I linked in my sources also pointed out that Merlins neckerchief looks lopsided. Almost like Merlin tore off a bit of it and hastily tied it back on.

Although this theory is definitely flawed, it doesn’t matter. Arthur is still wearing a red handkerchief on his left arm. But what does that tell us exactly?

Regardless of wether or not it was Merlin’s, the red is the same shade and also implies Arthur is also into fisting. What about the placement? Sicne it’s on his left, it shows that he is a top/dom, meaning that he prefers to be the one fisting. Since it is worn around his upper arm, it shows that he is simply into the fetish, compared to what other placements mean. In another source, it shows taht upper arm means switch, but because Arthur is wearing it on his left it wouldn’t really make sense for him to signal being a “top-switch” compared to being a top and having the fetish in general.

If you look closely, you can see a different colored stripe on the favour. It’s hard to tell exactly what the color is, it could be yellow, gold, orange, etc. because the color is so dubious, I’ll just leave y’all with a list of color meanings that may apply to Arthur’s favour.

YELLOW: pisser/watersports kink

YELLOW, Pale: spitter/spit kink

MUSTARD: Has 8+ inch dick

GOLD: two looking for one

ORANGE: anything anytime

Also, it’s important to bring up what many in thsi fandom refer to as the “fisting scene.” Where Arthur threatens Merlin by showing him his gloved fist and pulling a bit at the glove.

In the blooper, you can see Merlin’s actor(Colin Morgan) breaking character and giggling as Arthur shows him his fist. Many in the fandom agree that this was a clear innuendo for fisting, and it is very well possible.

Merlin is shown hitting Arthur and saying he was just doing some horse play, but still indirectly convincing Arthur that he needs to teach Merlin a lesson. This is actually a common act in BDSM sex, where the submissive person purposely angers the dominant into punishing them in a way that somehow involves sex or fetish play.

If you look closely, you can see Merlin is wearing at kinky red fisting handkerchief, showing Merlin is perfectly capable of being a submissive fistee. Also, the hanky code also includes other symbols such as latex or rubber gloves that, surprise surprise, also mean fisting. Although it’s more likely Arthur’s gloves where made of leather, it can still further be interpreted as a fisting symbol if you want. Either way, Arthur’s favour still holds water as he is undoubtedly the dom in this situation.

Also, Merlin is very impulsive and a madlad. Tell me he wouldn’t wear his secret fetish symbols infrount of stuck up, Roman Catholics who are none the wiser. He’d probably think it’s hilarious which is probably why he wears them almost everyday. Merlin loves playfully misbehaving(and is also a brat sometimes) so it makes sense for him to have some dangerous fun.

Now, you may be asking. Why does this matter? At the end of the day, it probably wasn’t intentional. Well, there is alwyas room for doupt BUT I do have some ferther proof. One of the co writers of BBC Merlin—Johnny Capps—actually won a Stone Wall Award. You know, an award named after a core part of queer culture?

The award’s website and Wikipedia page say they give the award for art that describes the LGBT experience well. While I am unsure why or what Capps made to be nominated, it still shows he is very much in touch with queer culture. Capp himself even said at an interview about Merlin, “... in the end, deep, deep down it’s about sexuality and things you just can’t tackle head-on.”

Well, what says more about sexuality than the main characters fist fucking each other? That’s a lot of sexuality. While I am unsure of Capp’s age, he does look to be about middle age and it would make sense for him to know about a code popularized in a 70s to 90s. Especially for someone who has made multiple queer oriented stories in his life time.

Sources:

Why is purple considered the color of royalty?

Sumptuary law

How lavender became a symbol of LGBTQ resistance

How Lavender Became a Symbol of LGBTQ Resistance(part 2)

flagging opinicus rampant

Handkerchief code

DO YOU KNOW THE HANKY CODE?

Picspam: The Red Favour (Proof of Arthur Wearing Merlin's Favour in 3x04)

Five medieval love tokens

The Lady's Favour

Hanky codes

Nominees for Stonewall Awards announced

Merlin series 5 spoiler-free launch report

Pls reblog I spent hours on this /np 😭👊

#tw kink mention #tw sex talk #tw eye strain #tw homophobia #tw queerphobia #research essay #long post #Merlin #bbc Merlin #Merlin bbc #merthur #merlin/arthur #gwen/morgana #morgwen

[maidenvault]

I watched the live action Cowboy Bebop.…JFC

Imagine talking a big game about diversity in your adaptation and then having an absolutely cringeworthy line fetishizing Jet as a black man and making the clearly Chinese syndicate largely white.

Imagine thinking you’re doing some good queer rep by making the absolutely valid change that Gren is non-binary now but then preserving absolutely nothing about the character but their queerness as if that isn’t totally textbook tokenism. Gren had a unique story with emotional impact in the anime and is now basically the sassy gay friend from a 90s sitcom.

Faye is one of the all-time great female anime characters because she’s a painfully human mess under all the toughness. Netflix Faye could not feel further from a real person. Nobody fucking talks like that. She wears a smug “badass” look when she shoots Asimov, whose death is meant to feel like a tragedy mirroring Spike’s.

And they clearly think they somehow did a feminism with Julia, ugh. Sure, have her take charge of the organization that has destroyed her life and so many others without giving her any real motivation except that Spike failed to save her. I can’t stop thinking about how ridiculous it is that she’s kept deliberately mysterious in the anime and actually appears for maybe 12 minutes altogether yet still comes across so much better than the naive schoolgirl Netflix has made her into. In what little time we see her, she’s portrayed very much like Spike’s equal and counterpart - cool and composed no matter the danger, similarly hardened by life, and certainly intelligent and capable (she’s survived three years on her own with the syndicate hunting her). She’s caring at her core but also believably dangerous; there’s never a motivation explained for why she was ever with Vicious that makes her into a victim.

And God, making Vicious her abusive husband is bad fanfic level of doing the most boring and obvious thing. You know, ‘cause we’d never see it’s a bad relationship and he’s a bad man otherwise. In trying to give him some depth they only made him so much more of a cartoon. The more I think about it, giving him some kind of humanizing backstory is so lol because the only backstory we needed for him in the anime came from Gren, who was possibly in love with him and had years in prison to obsess over how the fuck this man he fought beside and trusted could do what he did to him. That Vicious so coldly betrayed him shows that absolutely nothing is sacred to him and makes it unsurprising when he sets the final tragic events in motion by carrying out a coup against the Elders. He literally just has to be set up as the gun that’s bound to go off in the final act.

But honestly my breaking point wasn’t until Jet unironically said “It’s family time,” lol. There’s no hugging, birthday parties, or orgasms on the Bebop. The whole point of the story and its reason for ending tragically falls apart if these aren’t the loneliest and most emotionally repressed assholes in the galaxy.

#cowboy bebop #jet black #julia (cowboy bebop) #grencia mars elijah guo eckener #vicious (cowboy bebop)

[therealtsk]

tsk i’m DYING to hear your play-by-play on which worm characters have dumb fanon interpretations

UH OH YOU JUST OPENED THE FLOODGATES so the short answer is pretty much every major character but I am a high-effort bitch so let's do this: Taylor Hebert: jfc, I could probably hit a word count limit talking about Taylor alone. First you have the dumb as shit TINO (Taylor In Name Only) phenomenon where people just straight up SI as Taylor but pretend it's her and she's basically a different person wearing Taylor's skin like an ill-fitting suit. Then there's the Memetic Escalator Taylor interpretation where Taylor's Warlord era characterization is flanderized so hard that she turns into her world's version of Doomguy where her response to literally everything is ultra violence, mutilation and torture and she can totally beat up anyone you guys hahah coin sock goes brrrrr you go brutalize those totally deserving victims queen. And then there's shy, stuttering, soft spoken "useless lesbian" Taylor which is not as common but still, fuckin straight men and the way they infantize gay women. Taylor is perhaps the most consistently inconsistent characterization I've seen in fandom, it's fucking wild Lisa Wilbourn: Has two fanon settings. Taylor's best friend who exists solely to give exposition and get the "Stop Coil" subplot rolling (occasional gay subtext will be added in a way that feels fetishy) Or, the evil bitchy blonde who is first target of the SI. I constantly wonder if the people who write the frankly masturbatory SI's are aware that we can tell they're still bitter about girls not dating them in highschool. Brian: basically does not exist in fic aside from the occasional joke cause racism and also because of how popular wlw ships are in Worm fandom. you deserve better dude Alec: has a few token appearances in wormfic fandom that usually have him as the comic relief alongside Aisha, which might actually be for the best considering he's a rapist and the Worm fandom's uhhhh tendencies. Moving on- Aisha: prankster girl that alt!Taylor will adopt as a younger sibling. hopefully is not part of the totally-not-a-harem considering she's even younger then the rest of these teens Bitch: Another girl to fall into alt!Taylor's definitely-not-a-harem, but with more butch tendencies. Basically has no personality in fanon outside of her dogs Parian: SHE DOESN'T HAVE A SHOP FFS also another member of Taylor's totally-not-a-harem Flechette: yeah it's a harem Sophia: holy shit you think Brian's bad? The racism in pretty much every fanon depiction of Sophia is off the charts. Hyper-violent, super edgy, "predator/prey" speech inbound, will get humilated/killed in some new, supposedly satisfying but actually just deeply uncomfortable way, probably throw in some E88 shit too just because Emma: again, do the writers know we can tell they're still malding over the fact that the pretty girls in highschool didn't date them? fanon emma is pretty much a cardboard cut out of whoever was mean to the author. something something bitches three Madison: in fanon has a C53 fetish, occasionally is also Browbeat. don't ask why Victoria: gets hit with the blonde stereotypes even harder then Lisa, "Collateral Damage Barbie" is one of the phrases that activates my flight or fight responses. she basically is an entirely different character in fanon. bubbly dumb blonde girl with a massive temper and well other sexist bullshiit Amy: I hate even touching this character with a ten foot pole but basically is hit with the "soft useless lesbian" trope hard enough to make her into a completely separate person from her canon self. whether or not this is a good thing is still up for debate Carol: in fanon, an evil bitch who exists solely to bully Amy Mark: who? The rest of New Wave: cannon fodder for Leviathan Danny Hebert: literally stale milk instead of a personality, will probably die before the fic is over but we won't care because the author did not care either Armsmaster: hahaha robotman go brrrr or is an arrogant self-aggrandizing shit, can't interact with people without Dragon helping him 24/7 Miss Militia: fanon bat'd into team mom,

idk where this came from considering her first instinct upon seeing children is to pull out a gun holy shit wait is she actually Taylor's true mom- Velocity: canon fodder for levi Battery & Assault: sitcom wife, sitcom husband! please ignore how fucked up this relationship is if you look at it for more than two seconds Dauntless: haha armsy is JEALOUS also cannon fodder for levi Triumph: who? The BB wards in general tend to be incredibly bland, the only ones who have fanon personalities of note are Clockblocker and Vista. The former being such a huge prankster that every other line is a joke- or him complaining about how BULLSHIT Alt!Taylor's powers are. Vista is an angry kiddo who says that Shadow Stalker doesn't count as being a girl on the team The E88: no personality for any of them except that Kaiser is noble and really isn't that bad and also Purity did nothing wrong totally she's just a hot mom trying to do her best, please ignore how she exclusively targets characters of color and literally calls white criminals more civilized than miniorities- the worm fandom has something of a nazi problem i hate it here The ABB: racism and honorable samurai lung even though that has no canon basis so again, racist stereotypes The Slaughterhouse 9: This one makes me just as sad as the Lisa shit because dear god this is such a good cast of villains that fanon completely flattens to bowling pins for the Alt!Taylor of the week to mow down, why does this fandom suck so much. Anyway Jack is just the Joker, Crawler is masochistic, etc i'm moving on now The PRT/Protectorate as a whole: They are an evil paramilitary organization that pressgangs kids into signing up to become child soldiers, and somehow at the same time, they are a bunch of idiots who listen to the PR department and have stupid things like RULES that prevent capes from COMMITTING VIOLENCE. Being called "the biggest gang of all" is common and some shit like "at least the criminals are honest" is a likely statement. Cauldron: whoo boy this one really boils my blood but fanon Cauldron are just a bunch of evil idiots who can't even tie their shoelaces. basically a bunch of dudebros are upset that women run the world and that two of them essentially have "I win" powers so they have to make them lose to their SI- er, Taylor in fics so they can assuage their masculinity, which totally isn't pathetic Scion: Is at once the end all be all of worm you can't write a wormfic without scion or else it's TOTALLY MEANINGLESS because what is the point of a story if all the characters are going to DIE in a few years anyway, and at the same time is incredibly easy to defeat- this ties into how Cauldron is stupid. Scion Truthers pls shut up and go read something else okay I think that's everyone I would apologize but the only thing I'm sorry for is how messy this is

#Worm #Parahumans #Worm Fanfic #Worm Fanon #if you can't tell #I'm a little annoyed with the worm fanfic fandom #dear SI writers stop being such creeps #and nazis pls fucking leave we don't want you here go away

[juniaships]

Me thinking Xiaolin Chronicles was gonna be good from the trailer then I watch the actual show:

Sighs* Where do I even BEGIN???

Xiaolin Showdown is a huge comfort cartoon for me so to see it be utterly RUINED by the poorly executed sequel? Reboot? I don't know all i do know is its very existence left me feeling colder than Heylin Power Tsunami Waterblade Ice!

So what do I find wrong about XC? PLENTY!!!

Clay is even more in the background than the original

He has a weird goat fetish and lacks a personality (he was smart, wellmannered, down to earth but now he's just in the background)

Also his sister got replaced by a twin brother who is a lame Cow based superhero

Tomoko (Kimiko's sister) may be a spy but it's pretty clear she's a Mary Sue hate that term but it's appropriate here

Ping Pong's design is so lazy like he's literally Omi but smaller and with glasses and casual clothes slapped on

Ping Pong barely has any flaws or quirks other than a really long french name and being super hyper

His element [Wood] is the closest we'll ever have to a Dragon of Nature but he NEVER USES IT!!!

Even his signature Wu (which is a peach which is kinda lame) doesn't have any abilities that can be exploited in any useful way

Face it he's not a member of the team he's Omi's sidekick and tbe last thing Omi needs is a sidekick

We could have had another badass female character with a unique personality to add to the team & see new elements like Metal or Aether, but no we get an Omi Clone

No acknowledgement of Jermaine; who was built up to become the fifth member of the team (rest in memory Lee Thompson Young 😔)

Dojo is creepily obsessed with Master Fung his entire personality is just crying over Fung

Also the way zits grow all over his body to alert the discovery of Shen Gong Wu is disgusting af

He's yellow now (which is actually accurate to common depictions of eastern dragons) but the green made him so iconic 😔

Kimiko is now The Girl Monk; barely has her temper&sass; also she no longer switches outfits nor seem to be the tech expert

Poor Raimundo he didn't deserve this

He's no longer the leader because everyone is Shoku now depriving him of a potential growth

That episode with Salavdor Cumo helped to establish the criminal as a foil & personal enemy for Rai...

So you'd think he and Cumo fight at the end right?

WRONG!!! It's Omi that gets to fight Cumo; erasing any chance of Raimundo showing his growth

You're going to see a LOT of that with Omi

Now we get to the Tron suits call it nitpicking but idc at this point

O-KAY so the suits, where do I began?

The show doesn't clarify if the suits are the result of a new aspect of a reboot or the result of the new rank

Speaking of which the very narrative flips back&forth on whether it's a reboot or a direct sequel

Wuya's backstory was changed and now she's back in spirit form??

The CGI is unnecessary I would forgive if it took place inside a computer but no they change art&animation style

The suits themselves don't look bad but if I'm gonna be honest here their Wudai Orion forms were a lot stronger

The colors is what I have to pick apart so bear with me:

Now, Clay's orange suit kinda makes sense since it puts into mind literal clay soil & magma (molten earth)

But wasn't green his signature color? Well they gave it to Ping Pong instead

Which also makes sense given green represents life, leaves, grass, fruits etc

Kimiko should NOT have worn a pink suit that only makes her look even more of a token & her color was red for fire

Omi should've worn white (the latter because that was his wudai) but now he's wearing blue; at least it's an aqua blue

Raimundo's suit is a dark blue even though his colors were light blue and/or teal

Omi spends the show acting worse than he was in the original yet gets rewarded by the narrative

Kimiko's arc of becoming the first Dragon Rider in centuries gets overtaken by Omi because it's HIS connection that ends up saving the day

Ignoring all of Kimiko's hard work, way to pull the rug out under her 😒

New characters like Rocco and Princess Laila are introduced yet barely explained or given more time to develop

The monks' arc of finding a new temple is easily resolved in like, one or two episodes

I get the name change due to greedy WB but the names make no sense (saving thus part for another time)

Also the monks have to use wu to access their element even though in the og they could use them without the use of wu due to growth in rank&power

So yeah they had major downgrade in power

Shadow and Chase has a really gross in----t subtext

Chase is no longer the charismatic mysterious warrior but an obnoxious Pretty Boy who always has to insert himself into showdowns (basically they use him too much)

Shadow - everything about her personality reeks of try hard wannabe Sexy Villain

His redesigned dragon form is kinda bad

Jack's new outfit isn't as memorable as his OG one

Also his new voice doesn't really fit

Okay that's about it I have more to write but trying to decipher every flaw in this terrible travesty would be way too long

#anti xiaolin chronicles #xiaolin showdown #bad writing #they wasted a perfectly good plot #they wasted a perfectly good character #cartoons #animation #reboots #sequels #feel free to add on #venting

[chaneajoyyy]

Hey gwirrrrl! Can you pointe in the direction of Erik Killmonger x plus sized reader fics?

Hey miss mamas!!! I sure can!! 

ERIK X PLUS SIZE!READER FICS (UPDATED)

- how i feel, right now, animal, chains series, purple herbs & gardens, risks & new beginnings series, better with time, let’s play, without a doubt, sizzling pans & slow jams, misinterpretations, visions of gold, out business, come through and chill series, nights, slow burn, a siren’s allure, venom, the one, maybe they’re right, sore loser series, i’ll be alright, spooky cookies & vampire fangs, screams in the night series; knock, knock series; imagination, the cure series, poptart man series, this must be our song, conversation starter, heaven is a place on earth, twins?, say it, i’m there, his princess, his for the night, sugar baby series, authority series, baby shark, lemme try, take our time, say the word, sudden reunions series, memories of you, more ways than one, lemme try it again (that’s my face), not in budget, i would like to see it, pease mama bear, she likes me, guess what, times like these, tell me your secret series, he gets it from me, baby see baby do, see what had happened was, who me?, so relax, three kings of dreams, deck the b-…halls?, do it again, be quiet, you so crazy, how that sound?, you’re so handsome, sit still, leave me aloneee, don’t hide, or maybe, send it to mommy, but i’m sick.., you thought i wouldn’t find out, he’d make you his, ballet baba, ain’t that right?, he wasn’t having that, being honest, that’s all it took?, then stop ignoring me, since you can, but i thougth…, jealous, i won’t tell you again series, hit me, no reply, i’ve alway been, you sure?, no more tummy time, toss ‘em, you done now?, sing it baby, doped up, battle it out, for however long, bath time, bedtime stories, i’m sorry, was that so hard?, i owe you that, whatchu say?, hard headed, it should’ve been you, take our time series, baba’s day, whatever she wants, nope, can’t even look at you, not again, nose wide oen, just a bit longer, come on over to my place, fences & bullriders, right now, mr. telephone man series, designated command strips, one way or another, you ain’t hear that?, autumn leaves & cookie thieves, open up- @supersizemeplz

- all erik fics and headcanons- @nahimjustfeelingit-writes

- all erik fics and headcanons- @eye-raq

- teach me series, when you’re mad series, waffles series, slow ride series, movie night series, let’s talk about sex series, mines, thunderstorm, girl fuck you, eat your breakfast seres (with eat your dinner), secret admirer, amusement park fun, displays of affection, night at the movie theaters, silent hearbeats series, kissing strangers series, worship, loving the way you love it, day drunk, smile for me daddy series, just like you, we goin to hell, breeding time- @thehomierobbstark

- late again, halloween party, imprint, a man in love, v.i.p (includes m/baku), daddy’s home, y’all again?, okay? okay, prisoner of love, family cookout, kiss, what’s cooking good looking, expecting headcanons, food headcanons, crying headcanons, nsfw headcanons, foot fetish series, halloween headcanons, lingerie headcanons, jealous headcanons, kevin’s  heart series, untitled series- @madamslayyy

-carnal stimulation series, next lifetime series, hoe ass erik series, dirty little secrets series, hennything is possible, sunday dinner series (with payback), a.d.i.d.a.s., green goddess, suddenly stevens, beauty is her name, it’s complicated. i’m sorry, the great reveal, neighbors know my name series (part 2 to @hearteyes-for-killmonger‘s story of the same name), the devil speaks xosha, mile high, trap card, act up, let me smell it, up late, i’ll take your man, carry on, dreams & nightmares- @goddessofthundathighs

- headass youtube couple series, fix my crown series, all skate, cutting ties series, #tsrbaewatch,  @apantherinmypastlife

- all erik fics-  @wawakanda-btch

- all fics- @hearteyes-for-killmonger

- say my name series, beg for it, the coat room, charley horse, full court press, house party, boyfriend makeup challenge, gumby, the let out series, disorderly, token, all i wanted for christmas is you, hit the showers, neo, erica; veni, vidi, vici, i will be here, trick or treat, the wakandan boys when they’re sick (includes t’challa and m’baku)- @sonofnjobu

- mine, unravel me series (includes belong to you), i missed you series (inlcudes you a’ight and if they ain’t looking), rated e, on braodway, no average bitch,  @brownsugarcocoabutterwildflowers (scroll for erik killmonger x reader and erik killmonger imagine)

- all tasting mellow fics- @tastingmellow

- laid up series- @pastelastronomy24

- come lay with me, house hunting series, stretch marks, the footbal jerseyy, you sure?- @marvelmaree

- the deal series, nuggest of truth, girlfriend, all i want is you, care for you- @wakandamama

- rated e for extra petty, elbow deep series- @puffmamaa

- she got game, where’s the smoke, s.d.m., from paris with love, where the hoes at? (with t’challa and m’baku), written all over your face, baby bump series (wit cuddle buddy,, and hc: chubby!erik trying old clothes), not in that way, here kitty kitty, computer blue series, chunk series- @ghostfacekill-monger

- all erik fics- @stripper-patrick

- he spills series (with t’chala and m’baku)- @captainsaveasmut

- i’m cleva series, do me baby (part 2 of @killmongersgurl‘s serieserik’s created a monste)-, @killmongerdispussy

- sorry he’s gone, mad issues series, curiosity happy weight- @curls-and-crosses

- nah baby i got you- @inxan-ity (scroll for erik killmonger)

- all fics- @writerbee-ffs

- paragone series- @dynastynoire

- all fics- @eriksjournal

- the sweetest taste series, late night drive- two of a kind series (includes ‘03 bonnie and clyde prequel), beyond the lights series, mad love series- @wakandaforeverwrites

- all erik fics and headcanons- @plussizeappreciationfics

-thanksgiving w/ mr. stevens and the udakus series (with valentine’s gumbo),  @mermaidchansons

- all erik fics- @muse-of-mbaku

- all fics- @eerythingisshaka

- all fics- @artisticestheticreads

- insecure series- @erikslulbaby

- return the favor series- @taint3dvirgin

- a day at the beach with erik, prompt 19 “what’s cooking, good looking”, stay here tonight, greater purpose of chaos, sharing disney movies with erik, 90s disney movies with erik-  @hidden-treasures21

- new year’s surprise series- @thefantasyride

- for the love of money?, my first & his only, the big chop, braid my hair, short staffed, visiting hours- @bakarilennox

***PLEASE HIT ME UP TO ADD YOUR STORIES OR ONES YOU KNOW. THERE ARE MORE I FEEL LIKE I MISSED***

#the bp plug #bp librarian at your service #let’s chat #sip tea #talk fanfiction #erik killmonger x black!oc #erik killmonger x black!reader #erik killmonger fanfiction #plus size!reader #black panther fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #thickemadame

[elskamo]

How about a Genderswap AU where Duncan & Alejandro are both women?

I love the idea of having different AUs exploring how the contestants’ experiences have changed regarding their gender. While this sort of thing was an introduction for me to explore my own identity and project onto characters I know that there are other users on here that find this topic triggering so I’m gonna answer properly under the cut so they can skip this post if they wish to. I know the ask specified an AU where they’re both female but I felt like talking about other scenarios with different genders too. This answer only has female and FTM, I did attempt to write more but my answers were getting less character specific and more generic and you deserve a better response than that. For clarity in case you aren't already aware I'm answering this as someone who's AFAB and a transguy.

I’ve talked a lot about issues with toxic masculinity and struggles with identity expression for Duncan, I really should start talking about Alejandro and his identity more now that I’ve spent some time trying to figure out his character too. In alt universes where they aren’t cisgender males I feel like both of them would still face various problems regarding their identities and how they’re perceived:

For a start the way I envision Alejandro’s experience as a teen girl would be wildly different to the way he’s portrayed on the show as a teen boy, frankly if I could I would rewrite a lot of his character as a guy! It’s no secret that Alejandro was a Latin lover stereotype that used his looks and sexuality to his advantage during World Tour but I can barely see that happening in the regular canon, let alone as a woman. Alejandra (Google says this is the female version of the name, please correct me if I’m wrong or if you headcanon a different name) would struggle a lot with being sexualised for her looks and for being “exotic” and this would have a massive impact on her mental health and self-esteem. 

I feel like she’d be very uncomfortable around boys in general and wondering if they’re only trying to use her, I find it unlikely that she’d have many, if any, male friends. Her friendships with other girls would be few and far between, unfortunately there’s always going to be girls who judge you based on other’s reactions and the way guys act around her is fuel for bullies to use as slut shaming, regardless of how Alejandra truly is. That being said she’d form some very close, loving friendships with some of the girls who are able to recognise those toxic behaviours and help her feel more comfortable in her own skin even when everyone else is trying to either tear her down or fetishize her.

Duncan has always been very sore and sensitive about his reputation and I think that’s a trait that would still be present regardless of gender even if it manifests in different ways. In canon Duncan has brothers that he seems very close to and he appears to have a much better relationship with his mother than with his dad due to his delinquent status, I can see those relationships being more or less the same however the main conflict for Donna and her father would be due to him finding her too masculine. Rather than her inner struggle being between wanting to be perceived as a bad boy but having a hidden soft side, Donna would feel conflicted around how feminine she is.

She’d grow up with brothers and feel completely comfortable roughhousing and being seen as one of the guys but as she gets older and peer pressure becomes more prominent amongst girls her age she’d start worrying about how she’s viewed by her classmates. She’s torn between being upset that her male friends don’t see her as a girl but feeling unease about making herself appear more stereotypically feminine. As she gets older she’d gain more confidence in regard to being herself rather than trying to force others to view her as either a total tomboy or an over-the-top girly girl.

I can see Alejandra and Donna having major conflict with each other to begin with due to their vastly different experiences as women before gradually growing to accept their differences and helping each other to feel more confident and comfortable in themselves and around their peers.

If Alejandro were FTM I feel that he’d spend even more time working on his body in an attempt to appear more traditionally masculine, sometimes exercising to the point of exhaustion to try and achieve his ideal figure. He’d likely also be very conscious about his clothing, attempting to keep his surgery scars covered up at all times even if he was overheating. I can see him being more wary of relationships than in canon, wanting to take things more slowly and get a feel for how his potential partners may react to him and his body before letting things get physical.

FTM Duncan would almost certainly go to extremes given his behaviour in the canon show. He’d likely be very insecure about how much smaller he his than some of the other boys he’s friends with, especially in regard to his lack of muscle. I can see him trying to go stealth and doing unsafe practices like binding too long and too tightly despite how dangerous it is and likely to hurt him. It’s also pretty likely that he equates manliness with toughness and as a result he really tries to big up how much of a man he is by constantly picking fights and bullying any of the guys he thinks he can take on.

Alejandro and Duncan wouldn’t get on at first, with Duncan in particular always trying to goad Alejandro into fighting. When the two realise that the other is transgender they find themselves constantly checking up on each other, especially when they find out about some of their more unsafe behaviours. Upon getting closer and more comfortable they won’t hesitate to call each other out on Alejandro exhausting himself and Duncan’s bad binding practices.

I was going to write about gender nonconforming/genderfluid/nonbinary stuff but it was just getting far too generic to the point that you could sub in any character and it would make no difference. I’ve spent far too long answering this ask already so I’m gonna end it here and try and give myself some time to think about some of my other interpretations before I share them, you guys deserve a properly thought out response than a few token sentences.

#total drama #transgender #genderswap #td alejandro #alejandro burromuerto #td duncan #duncan total drama #total drama duncan #duncan td #ask

[larktb-archive]

Hi! I'm too shy to come off anon, but I need your help understanding something. I hope I'm not bothering you!!

I don't want to interact with anyone who is a fascist, but I'm not entirely sure what makes someone fascist. Can you please explain it to me?

I know I could look it up myself, but I know that not all definitions online can be correct and I just want your perspective;;

Thanks!

Hi anon! Well, fascism comes in many forms so “sussing out who’s a fascist” is technically a little harder to do than having a simple checklist. After all, doesn’t a White Supremacist have different beliefs to a Japanese fascist? And doesn’t a Japanese fascist have different beliefs to a Wahabist? These beliefs clash don’t they? Well, yes and no. Sure the surface level beliefs are different but the underlying core beliefs of these groups are actually quite similar; it’s the specifics which are different. Even though it isn’t a “bible” on what is fascism and shouldn’t be taken as gospel, Umberto Eco has an essay called “Ur-Fascism” which contains 14 points, which can help us identify whether certain beliefs are fascist no matter the specifics of their belief system. I’ll explain the points in short and give some examples. Quick disclaimer, I am not an expert on fascism or any of the ideologies I’ll discuss by any means so if you aren’t taking Umberto Eco’s writing as the 100% correct truth, definitely don’t take mine as that either (this is how you should treat most sources tho):

1. Cult of Tradition and 2. Rejection of modernity

I put these two together because they’re kind of inseparable. This is basically the idea that there was a “glorious past” that people need to return to and modernity is a corruption of that “glorious past”. In British fascist thought, this past is generally the 19th century at the zenith of the British Empire or mid-20th century Britain. The latter is more common for people who wish to be a little more PC with their writings; instead of trying to use a by-gone era that pretty much no one alive can remember, they use a much more recent time with nostalgic ideas of “the good old days” which doesn’t seem threatening on it’s surface but is dogwhistling for a time when there weren’t as many immigrants in the country.

You may have seen the “reject modernity, embrace tradition” meme and it’s pretty much the most obvious incarnation of this idea. Similarly you may seen people online use “degenerate” as an insult. If you look at the meaning of the degenerate it means “having lost the physical, mental, or moral qualities considered normal and desirable; showing evidence of decline”; it’s microcosm of these ideas put into a single insult. This is why you tend to see conservatives use it more than progressives.

I’d also argue that terfs obsession with 2nd wave feminism and their utter rejection of intersectionality and modern feminism is another manifestation of this idea. 

3. Action for actions sake

This is less detectable in terms of individuals but still important to note that these people tend to support action without a cause. Sure the insurrection at the white house earlier this year was action, but it had no substance behind it. It was action for actions sake, which is why any principled leftist didn’t support it. Fascists will tend to openly just call for action but won’t be very specific about the purposes of the action; as long as they agree with the ideology behind it they’ll support it. It’s why fascists love harassment campaigns and mindless acts of terror. Take Wahabist terrorist orgs like Al-Qaeda or ISIS, it doesn’t matter if bombing an Ariana Grande concert has no point, the only point is the action itself.

4. Disagreement is treason  

This one’s pretty self explanatory, they will ostracize you if you disagree with them. Again, terfs tend to do this, and I had a long conversation with an ex-terf I called a dumbass, who basically said that she was ostracized by them and mocked for having different beliefs (hope she’s doing well actually). There’s numerous stories from ex-terfs like this.

5. Fear of difference

There’s a tendency for fascists to group people into “us” and “them”. “They” are considered to be intruders who need to be removed whereas “we” are the people who deserve to be here because it is “our” right to be here. In Zulu Nationalism, this tends to be any non-Zulu speakers who they deem to be “Shangaan” even if they aren’t actually Tsonga, it’s just a pejorative at this point. If you see vague references to the “elite” without any reference to who they are and what makes them “elite”, this is tends to be a dogwhistle for Jewish people. Western Fascists have very little issue with the workings of capitalism itself or the accumulation of wealth by capitalists, they just don’t like “them”, taking “our” stuff. Any references to “us” and “them” is pretty much a red flag.

6. Appeal to Social Frustration

Fascists will tend to brush upon actual issues faced by the poor today but will instead blame it on an outside force. You’ll see job loss being blamed on immigrants or vague “elites”. Terfs do this too. They’ll see young girls who are genuinely struggling with patriarchal issues and divert all that pent up rage towards trans people and the “q*eers” (which they do tend to use as a slur unlike what most people would have you think). 

7. Obsession with a Plot

Everything is a conspiracy! The election was rigged! 9/11 was fake! that fucking pizza place/this furniture company is a sex ring! All of these are supposedly plots by the deep state who are trying to do... something or other. You’ll notice these “Plots” don’t actually have a purpose, but the fact that there is a plot itself is the issue. This is a way of engendering paranoia in the group while also feeling that there is a constant war against you even if there isn’t. This is also why, despite news sources being pro-capitalist the right will swear up and down it’s leftist media which is controlled by “them” (usually just meaning Jewish people).

8. The enemy is both strong and weak

“Trans people have infiltrated academia and the only reason people refuse to see gender as an immutable biological concept, is because they’re too afraid of the trans cabal to say anything. But also everyone can tell trans people are crazy and haha you have a high suicide rate.” It’s contradictory that’s the point. They need to feel that they’re both counterculture but also they need to be winning at all times so that contradiction is necessary. Also the use of the word “cabal” is a pretty big red flag for all forms of fascism.

9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy, 10. Contempt for the weak, 11. Everybody is educated to become a hero and 12. Machismo and weaponry

All of these are kind of interrelated so I’m grouping them together (also this is already fucking long as hell so I don’t wanna bore you any further). You’ll tend to see a love for the military or at least military aesthetics when looking through fascist blogs. Guns aren’t just a tool for fascists, they’re representative of masculinity and the necessity of violence. Pacifists and anyone who refuses to fight are weak and therefore are “degenerate”. If you do not fight, if you are not willing to fight, you cannot be a “hero” (an ubermensch or a matyr). This comes with the fetishization of violence instead of the recognition of violence being an means to an end, and the worship of individuals rather than of communities and organizations. Take Japanese fascists and their lionisation of the imperial military and their desire to once again have an actual army.

Terfs don’t necessarily fit these roles except for arguably 10 considering how much they seem to look down upon the mentally ill and those who commit suicide and surprisingly 11 since that involves the hatred of non-standard sexual activities and terfs hate non-standard sex (this is from the most vanilla bitch who is very uncomfortable with kink but understands its not inherently good or bad). I have a feeling this is more so because terfs are mainly women (there are male terfs ofc) whereas this was written for male led organizations. 

13. Selective populism

When fascists talk about “the people” they tend to mean “the people we like”. “The working class” can be translated to “this cishet white christian man from Minnesota who owns land but hey he lives in a rural area so he’s working class right?”. They’ll also tend to have “tokens” who will suddenly become the mouth piece of the entire community they’re supposedly representing even if no one in the community asked them to (i.e. Milo Yiannopoulos). 

14. Ur fascism speaks Newspeak

They speak in terms which are both inaccessible to anyone outside of their circles whilst being so simple that once you learn them it becomes easy to understand. They abhor any form of “academic” speech so you’ll rarely see them source things (unless those things happen to agree with their views, which is rare but Jordan Peterson is popular for a reason) and if they do source things they probably wouldn’t have read them fully and will rely on you also not reading them. This is to limit any critical thinking so that your brain is basically jellified into an unquestioning organ which only responds “yes” or “no” and only appeals to a higher authority without any form of reasoning involved. This is why they complain about “the lefts memes being too wordy”... because they’re used to not having to read (this is somewhat tongue in cheek but heyho if the boot fits).

And that’s the 14 main features of fascism, if anyone is displaying multiple of these ideas then they are most likely fascist, and if an organization or group continuously replicates these ideas, then they are definitely fascist. I hope this wasn’t too long but like I said... very complex topic. (Also hopefully this is written well, it’s 10 PM and I am surviving off Irn Bru energy drink). Hope this helped!

#long post #lillypad.txt #ask away #Anon

[warsmith-38]

How I would do RWBY pt.6

Season Six.

RWBY and JNR (and Ozpin, Qrow, and Ilia) on route to Atlas.

SSSN and CFVY have responsibilities in Mistral so they stay back. IE: Ozpin now doubts their loyalty due to their headmaster being compromised.

RWBY and co. get stopped at SDC border checkpoint.

Almost get detained for questioning.

Blake remembers the last time a friend of hers was ‘detained for questioning’.

Winter intervenes, using the authority of the military. Allows RWBY and co. into Atlas.

As soon as they get a moment away from the grunts Winter embraces her sister and admonishes her for not even leaving a note when she left.

She understands why she left, but still.

Blake ribs her a little.

Yang points out to everyone that she’s the only one who’s never ran off without telling anyone.

Winter takes them all to Ironwood.

Ironwood explains that the Atlas military has been doing everything they can to keep the peace short of using scorched earth tactics.

The SDC and the White Fang have armed patrols going through the streets, are having regular firefights in the streets, harassing civilians, and blowing shit up, but almost always peace out when the military shows up.

Jacques is incommunicado and Sienna hasn’t been publicly seen in Atlas for over a decade.

The Atlas government is a bunch of corrupt fuckwits taking bribes from both sides (and Salem too).

Ironwood is doing all he can, but he’s being forced to do it with his hands tied behind his back.

Ruby wants to know if anyone’s seen Cinder.

Ironwood tells her that they’ve been busy with more pressing matters.

Winter says that she has encountered and even fought CEMN.

She lost half of her unit and CEMN got away.

No sign since then and no agents to spare to chase them anyway.

Ruby’s disappointment is curbed by being reunited with rebuilt Penny.

Aren’t data backups a beautiful thing?

She lucked out that her memory core wasn’t destroyed with the rest of her old body.

Her new body, to make room for newer and better features, had to do away with the data backup thing.

If she dies now, she’s dead for good. She only had the one extra life.

Both are beyond overjoyed to see each other again.

Both thought the other was dead until Penny saw Ruby on a news broadcast from Mistral.

Ruby cries while saying that she never thought she’d be able to hold Penny in a hug ever again.

Ciel is there too, not that anyone in or out of universe really cares. (…I care)

She is Penny’s supervisor as well as both Ironwood’s and Winter’s aide.

If she was old enough, she’d take up every vice there is due to how crappy her jobs are.

Everyone notices that Ironwood’s forces are almost equal parts human and faunus.

They cite that they’re sick of the SDC’s many abuses, the White Fang’s lies and broken promises, and the self-righteous indignation of the both of them.

Both sides suck and they have chosen option three.

Option three being telling both sides to go fuck themselves.

Ilia starts to think about things.

Weiss and Winter go to try to talk to Jacques to get whatever intel they can and/or stop the fighting.

Blake and Ilia try the same with Sienna, following whatever dead drop signs they can.

SDC secretary tries to wave Weiss and Winter off.

Jacques hears that his daughters are here and drops everything to talk to them.

W+W try and get Jacques to de-escalate.

He says he’s stuck in a stalemate and can’t even if he wanted to.

If he de-escalates then the White Fang will go wild at the sign of weakness.

He also admits that he’s ready to do the same should the White Fang try to de-escalate.

W+W tell him there’s a good chance that most of the more recent problems are Cinder and co. operating as accelerationists.

Willow enters the picture and sides with her daughters.

Eventually browbeat him into agreeing to a negotiation with Sienna if she also agrees.

Weiss has moment with her mother, finally addressing family problems.

Willow tells her that Jacques was contacted long ago by someone willing to give him an extra monetary and military edge in the fight.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that that someone was Salem.

Weiss is considerably less optimistic about the peace talks now.

Blake and Ilia manage to track down Sienna.

They get sneers and threatening looks from the White Fang members at her hideout.

Blake gets a ‘I’m sorry you had to kill your ex-boyfriend’ hug from aunty Sienna.

Blake accepts the hug in the name of diplomacy.

Doesn’t mention that a good chunk of Adam’s problems were made worse by Sienna’s actions and prompting or were just straight up her fault.

Blake and Ilia try to get Sienna to de-escalate.

Yeah, talking, that’s how you stop violent terrorists, totally. That’s a thing that works.

Sienna tells them that she will only de-escalate if Jacques does so first.

Until she gets a token gesture, it’s business as usual.

Blake tells Sienna about Cinder and that she’s probably causing most of the recent issues for Salem.

Ilia corroborates.

Sienna says she already knows and doesn’t care as long as it might give her an edge.

Damn the ever increasing body count.

Besides, Salem herself has been bankrolling a good chunk of the White Fang’s efforts for a while now.

Blake leaves in a huff and Ilia goes with her, both now entirely disillusioned with Sienna’s leadership as well as Sienna herself.

Ruby, Penny, and Ciel are hunting for signs of Cinder.

Get minimal results but it’s a nice opportunity for them to reconnect.

Penny is more than a little worried at how starved for vengeance Ruby is.

Ciel is skeptical as to if it’s a good idea to leave Penny alone with Ruby.

Yang is with Ironwood, trying to help however she can. Mostly kicking the ass of anyone who slacks off.

Yang is a pretty damn good XO.

She may not have the head for direct leadership, but is good at making troops do their best.

She has gained experience in such things since working with RWB.

Jaune is strategizing circles around Ironwood’s upper echelon.

Hasn’t acted this smug since wargaming night.

Ren and Nora are helping the boots on the ground, even managing to catch a good amount of both SDC militia and White Fang members.

Easier to legally prosecute people if you can catch them. Looks better in the papers and such.

Ozpin is conspiring with his inner circle as to what Salem might be planning in Atlas.

Interfering with the WF-SDC conflict to this degree isn’t Salem’s style.

She didn’t start this one, but it is her style to start a war and bankroll one or both sides.

However, she would leave it at that and let the two sides kill each other as they naturally would.

Come to the conclusion that Cinder is operating as a rogue element from Salem. That makes her less predictable and, as such, all the more dangerous.

That still leaves them in the dark as to what Salem is planning in Atlas or if she even has an active plan in Atlas for that matter.

Ruby meets Penny’s ‘father,’ a weird mad scientist who has a lot of projects ranging in levels of insanity.

Projects include but aren’t limited to: Super lasers, ICBMs, logging the genealogy of most of the planet (this one is important), Penny, making good tasting fruits taste like cat fur, pineapple on pizza, and so many more horrifying crimes against decency.

Atlas higher ups would get rid of him for being insane, but he has tenure.

Some of his projects are rather useful, too.

Ruby makes her excuses and leaves with Penny as the scientist tries to reveal certain revelations.

Yang discovers a little criminal element in the city.

That little criminal is Neo.

Yang learned her lesson from last time, takes her time to take Neo down.

Neo, surprised at how badly she’s losing, escapes with a tracker that Yang plants on her.

Weiss and Blake meet up to touch base on whatever progress they’ve made in peace talks.

Frustratingly little.

They’re both about to return to their contacts and relay plans when Sienna herself shows up with a sizable entourage.

Says that Weiss is coming with her as a bargaining chip against Jacques and asks Blake to stay out of it.

She ain’t gonna.

Ilia takes care of Sienna’s entourage.

WB vs Sienna.

Fight is cut off when SDC forces come to detain as much of RWBY as they can ‘for their own good’.

Goes about as well as expected.

Willow shows up to kick the crap out of them while Blake and Weiss cheese it.

Weiss and Winter had to get it from somewhere and they sure as shit didn’t get it from Jacques.

RWBY reconvenes.

Peace talk plan failed because both sides are led by lying douchebags more concerned about winning than the actual reasons why the fighting started.

Both sides are also being prompted to keep fighting by the same ancient witch-bitch and are too ignorantly angry to even consider the idea.

Fighting ain’t stopping but they can at least see if they can nab the people making things worse.

Ruby is eager to see if she can find and murder Cinder.

Weiss calls for an intervention on Ruby’s vengeance fetish.

Tries to tell her that this is ridiculously unhealthy and taking Cinder alive could infinitely be more useful.

Ruby lashes back at her, citing that Cinder killed Penny in front of all of them.

Penny then comes in to say salutations to everyone.

Ruby then cites that Cinder killed Ozpin.

Ozpin tells them that he’s been ‘killed’ plenty of times, Cinder ain’t special.

Ruby then cites that Cinder killed Pyrrha.

JNR point out that Ruby said less than a dozen words directly to Pyrrha during their time at Beacon and are very offended that Ruby would try and use Pyrrha’s death as a justification for her vendetta.

Ruby refuses to not go after Cinder but does reluctantly agree to try and calm down about it.

Weiss gives her a hug and says that she’s an idiot but she’s still her best friend.

Penny befriends JNR because she’s Penny.

RWBY sets off right as newest round of street skirmishes happens.

Both sides have tanks, explosives, and things that you’d need a really damn good lawyer to justify usage for ‘security’ purposes.

The latest delivery of bribes has arrived so the Atlas government orders that the military stands down and stays out of the conflict entirely.

Ironwood (with Ozpin’s prompting and despite Qrow’s objections) decides fuck that noise.

Orders that any and all SDC or White Fang combatants are to be met with extreme prejudice (the shooting kind of prejudice, not the racism kind).

What’s the government going to do, he’s the one with all the guns.

The monkey with the biggest stick makes the rules.

Peace through power! Peace through power! Peace through power!

JN(P)R work to help maintain order and minimize collateral damage in the warfare.

The P now stands for Penny.

RWBY maneuver through a warzone to where the tracker leads them.

Tracker is leading them to SDC headquarters.

CEMN are planting a big stupid bomb with a big stupid White Fang symbol on it.

CEMN season/arc final boss fight.

The plan was B fights C, Y fights N, R fights M, and Y fights E.

But we all know that was never actually going to happen.

W+Y fight E+M.

B-level 2v2 rival match. Go!

Countdown ‘til boom-boom starts.

Blake gets to work on the bomb. (She’s already had her decisive rival fight)

CEMN did their homework. It’s the exact kind of bomb that the White Fang would have used.

That also means she knows exactly how to disarm it.

Ruby chases Cinder and Neo further up the building.

Corners them and prepares for a fight.

Cinder points out that it took an insane rage state for Ruby to stand a chance and now not only does she not have that, it’s two on one.

Neo then cheap shots Cinder.

Neo reveals that she doesn’t even hate Ruby.

Ruby vs Roman was just business. Live by the sword, die by the sword. No hard feelings.

Her involvement with CEMN was just a ploy to fuck over Cinder, whom she blames for Roman’s death.

Cinder roped him into this crap, not to mention she was the one that set off the bomb that killed him.

Neo’s been subtly fucking up Cinder’s plans as much as possible without being noticeable.

If not for her, Atlas would have exploded while RWBY was chilling in Haven.

Neo’s plan was that Ruby would go berserk again and tear Cinder to pieces with Neo providing the extra edge to Ruby so that another draw doesn’t occur.

All she needed was the three of them alone together.

Is a little disappointed at Ruby’s level headedness, but is fine with helping non-berserk Ruby beat the ever-loving shit out of Cinder.

And yes, she manages to communicate all of this without speaking a word.

Cinder goes all out but so do Ruby and Neo.

Fire vs White fire with illusion bullshit.

Cinder’s grimm arm is an even greater liability than the last fight due to Ruby’s growing skill with the white fire.

Still a very dangerous opponent.

Neo gets her shit kicked in, but due to her help, Cinder is weakened.

Ruby gains a close victory.

Now comes the moment of truth.

Cinder cowers away as Ruby approaches with the scythe raised.

Neo is enjoying what she’s seeing.

Ruby cuts off the grimm arm, burning it afterwards, and cauterizes Cinder’s stump.

Neo feels gypped but shuts up (ha) when Ruby glares at her.

Says that the both of them are under arrest, but she’ll say something nice about Neo helping.

Neo is both annoyed and not willing to argue with the girl who can shoot white fire out of her eyes.

Emerald uses Willow as hostage, seemingly kills her (hallucination).

Weiss awakens her second semblance. Summoning. Summons the knight from the white trailer.

Kicks the ever-loving crap out of Emerald who then reveals that it was just her semblance and Willow is just unconscious.

Weiss still punches her and knocks her out.

Speaking of punches, Yang overpowers Mercury and knocks him out too.

Team CEMN is down like Frazier.

The bomb’s defused too.

Everyone’s proud of Ruby for resisting the urge to do brutal murder. ‘Cept Neo, that is.

Oh wait, the war is still happening.

Oh wait, no it isn’t.

SDC and White Fang stand down.

Willow and Ilia assumed command of their respective organizations, exposing all the accelerationist false-flags, and the fact that both sides were being led by members of the same Cabal.

Both sides de-escalated, stopped fighting, and detained their respective leaders to make them sit down to peace talks.

Ciel even manages to convince Ironwood to not have all of both sides lined up against a wall and shot.

Blake and Weiss give speech about togetherness and neighborliness and sunshine and you get the idea.

Jacques and Sienna both agree that ‘yeah, we could have handled all of this better, huh?’ and accept jail time while people try to fix relations that they came very close to permanently ruining.

They would have both gone to jail anyway but it sounds better to say that they ‘accepted’ the penalties.

CEMN is now also in custody. (This is seen by a motherfucker that looks like a black armored Myrmidon).

Ironwood officially crosses the Rubicon (RWBYcon, A-hey~) and deposes the corrupt fuckwits in the Atlas government and puts himself in charge as military governor.

Makes a point to emphasize to Ozpin that his position is very much temporary.

He’ll set up a new government after they’ve made Salem calm down for a century.

Ozpin ignores him and reminds everyone that this whole thing had shockingly little to do with Salem’s current masterplan.

They still have work to do.

But they did just finish taking out every meaningful member of The Cabal.

So for now they’ve earned a little party to blow off some steam.

Season six done.

World Travel arc done.

#RWBY #Rewrite #Ruby Rose #Weiss Schnee #Blake Belladonna #Yang Xiao Long #Team JNPR #Penny Polendina #James Ironwood #The Schnee Family #Sienna Khan #The White Fang #Cinder Fall #Neopolitan #Myrmidon #How I would do...

[smartguyreviewed]

2x5 - Dumbstruck

Original air date:  October 8, 1997

Yay, an episode where TJ is actually acting like a kid! And also an excuse for me to rant about how much I despise group projects.

A very over it Lisa Simpson (played by Yeardley Smith) is handing back tests to her dumb ass students save for TJ and this annoying white kid named Clark that we’ll be introduced to briefly because Mackey ended up being the lead token white on this show, right next to Yvette’s cute friend Nina.

Clark asks how TJ did. He humble brags and Marcus snatches his test to gloat about his brother finally not doing well at something. Sike! TJ got a 110 on his assignment. Marcus is dumbfounded since he clearly doesn’t even put in the bare minimum. 

Lisa has to remind Marcus that demonstrating how you actually studied will get you more points. She gives her lazy, remedial students a chance to make up for their piteous attempts with a makeup assignment, an oral group report on WW2. Now everyone is mad at TJ because he fucked up the curve of the grading system, facilitating the need for a makeup assignment. Mackey is pissed.

Marcus and Mo of course decide to stick all the work on TJ while they go to Dawgburger. TJ, now wanting to fit in with his cool brother and bestie, agrees but is promptly thrown into a garbage can by Mackey and his 30 year old goon when they give him shit for being smart. Because the plot calls for it in this episode, TJ isn’t masterminding a plan to put fudged up charges on Mackey’s record or flunk him out of school forever. 

At the Henderson crib, TJ is attempting to do the assignment but the boys are watching The Three Stooges with non-copyright stock sound effects and can’t be bothered to lower the volume. Even Floyd stops scolding Marcus and Mo to join them. Apparently, TJ thinks being a genius and being entertained by slapstick are mutually exclusive.

Yvette is in the kitchen frowning at her fruitless yogurt when TJ comes in to whine about feeling left out. Yvette, as usual, is there to provide motherly advice and reassure TJ that he’s too brilliant to relate to simpleton humor. She even suggests that he’ll be the only non crooked black politician on the Supreme Court. Aww. TJ will revenge porn her in the future.

Just then, a truck pulls in with daddy Floyd’s wood--hehe--and the boys, including Mo, gather in the garage to bring in Floyd’s wood--last time, I promise--to wherever it needs to go.

Yvette comes in after the gang delegates how the work flow will commence and then commands the plot for the episode when she tells TJ his shoe is untied while Mo and Marcus are handing boards to each other. This ended well.

After passing out, Marcus, who is terrifyingly not alarmed, just calls for Floyd and then we end up at the hospital where it seems that TJ’s relatively light board smack has now rendered him dumb. Not only dumb but more childish than usual.

Marcus cares nothing about TJ’s prognosis, however, because he is a horny teenage boy and the doc is hot. Yvette has to literally drag him out of the room by his ear.

The doctor tells Floyd that this strange concussion could leave TJ acting like this for weeks. Of course Floyd is concerned since TJ is gifted. The next morning, TJ is so forgetful and delayed at breakfast that Floyd and Yvette have to play charades to help him navigate feeding himself.

Marcus comes in and asks if TJ is back to normal because he doesn’t want to do anything that makes him use his own damn brain for a change. After Flody sees this because Marcus did it right in the kitchen where he was about three feet away, he of course takes Marcus aside to tell him to quit badgering TJ to get well again.

At school, Mo thinks it’s a good idea to simply undo TJ’s problem by hitting him in the head again. Since we’re working off corny sitcom logic, he’s not exactly off base here. I mean, it did only take two light hits from a wooden board to turn TJ into an imbecile so why not do the same to get him back to normal, right?

During class, TJ is wowing everyone with his diminished IQ that was announced to everyone in the class for some reason. Eh, it’s Piedmont so I really shouldn’t be surprised that all of his business is out there.

Lisa is pissed because now that TJ is dumb and she hates Clark for some reason, teaching will be damn near impossible because nobody participates. I think I feel her pain because she asks a super easy question (what naval base did the Japanese attack) and nobody but annoying ass Clark answers. Poor thing. She probably came into this profession bright-eyed and bushy tailed, ready to change students’ lives and become the next Erin Gruwell but ended up becoming nothing more than a de facto babysitter.

TJ is taking advantage of being one of the guys by making fun of the more deadly effects of dropping bombs and says it led to radioactive monsters. The boys laugh but Lisa is aggy that nobody is taking this seriously. To spite her idiot students, she makes the reports worth half of their grade. Mackey blames Clark instead of the teacher who literally just assigned it. For some reason, this tickles Clark even though he’s going to end up in the garbage soon.

Since TJ is one of the guys again, he manages to tag along with the crew at Dawgburger, a place he wasn’t invited to earlier since he was going to do their group assignment all by himself. In hindsight, I hated group projects because I did all of the work anyways since my cohorts were dumb as rock boxes, so this wouldn’t have bothered me at all. Abolish group projects!

Post Dawgburger, TJ is in bed reading a comic and shooting the shit with Marcus. This is sweet. I like seeing siblings bond on TV shows because the regular narrative always seems to involve them all hating each other. Here, there’s no drama, just Marcus actually being responsible because he’s studying for the oral report and TJ, in what would be his natural state if he weren’t a genius. They even have a heart to heart when TJ asks if he’ll be okay and what would happen once he’s back to normal. Marcus says he’ll still stick up for him. Aww.

In geometry the next day, TJ’s intelligence just comes right back after he flawlessly recites the Pythagorean theorem when the dorky teacher asks. Once he realizes this, and after having probably the few easiest days in a while, TJ understandably commits to pretending to be a dolt. That is until pops sees TJ’s quantum physics magazine inside of a comic book!

Floyd traps TJ by making up a pretty damn good scenario in the Jughead comics but later confirms the lie by letting TJ know that wasn’t in the comic. He goes into how he likes being dumb with the guys because they like him more. Makes sense! TJ has nothing in common with them outside of attending their school but now he’s intellectually on their level. He knows this would change once he goes back to his regular self. Floyd should know this too but alas. I do love how he tells TJ he won’t rat on him. TJ returns the favor by telling his dad that he should write for the Jughead comics because that story he made up made him LOL super hard.

We cut to school where Mackey is just finishing up his group presentation about the X-Men invading Iwo Jima. Lisa Simpson isn’t impressed. Marcus and crew are up next and poor Marcus is struggling. I think it’s so funny that Marcus, a singer with a whole ass band, has stage fright upon trying to remember everything he studied for but just goes to show that music comes easier to him than school.

The internal monologues of everyone come up. Marcus is trying to remember what he studied. TJ contemplates bringing his brain back. Mo is...fucking beatboxing in his head. This shit had me dead when I first saw this episode. 

However, Lisa ain’t having it. She is two seconds away from using the dreaded red pen before TJ saves the day and begins talking about WW2. The boys are shocked but it helps trigger Marcus’s memory and then he’s able to spew out the facts. Mo doesn’t contribute but he will definitely take the credit! 

Later in the Henderson crib, Marcus is pissed because TJ almost let them fail. Although TJ is reminding Marcus that he put his effort into something and it paid off, Marcus is still annoyed leading TJ to think he doesn’t like him anymore.

Marcus explains that he enjoyed TJ’s company when he was dumb because he finally felt like what he is: his older brother. Kind of hard to feel that way when your younger brother is better at everything you do and a major know-it-all. He even admits that he can’t even pretend now that TJ is smart again because it won’t feel the same. I like when Marcus is doing more than chasing girls every episode because he shows maturity at times that is pleasing to watch.

He offers to instead be an older brother in other ways like threatening other people with violence if they make fun of TJ. Cute, but we all know Marcus is scary. Nice gesture though! Floyd comes in and tells the boys good night. At the end, we see Floyd took TJ up on his advice and is submitting an idea to the Jughead comics. Aww Floyd. I wish we’d gotten a subtle nod to if his idea was used because he seemed really happy with himself afterwards. Eh, whatever. Parents aren’t people so who cares.

Things I noticed:

- Clark being oddly satisfied that he knows Mackey and his fellow middle-aged adult friend are going to put him in the trash. Clark either has a crush on Mackey and didn’t like TJ for the attention he got from Mackey or he has some sort of a trash fetish. Or both. Maybe that’s why Lisa doesn’t fuck with him.

- “Okay students, now watch as I turn left to a right triangle.” I’m a dork and this actually made me laugh. Tough classroom, though.

#smart guy #mo tibbs #tahj mowry #yvette henderson #marcus henderson #jason weaver #essence atkins #omar gooding #john marshall jones #disney #90s #nineties

[clairenatural]

Hi! just to clarify something, I made that joke post not to directly attack Anthony Mackie, but because the idea of telling queer fans that we are “exploiting homosexuality” by shipping is just. hurtful ngl, and we’ve been told it SO much  (especially in the supernatural fandom, where we've been getting hit with this a LOT recently from various cast and crew members and other parts of the fandom) that I had to somehow laugh about it.

That being said! I don’t blame Mackie for this. I don’t think when he said that he thought he was talking to queer fans. I do think that he was trying to say something about fetishization/tokenization of queer men, either to somehow get internet points and clout or. you know, for fetishization purposes. I know he himself has experienced both fetish- and tokenization, and it’s a conversation we need to have. To most people outside of fandom, media and entertainers, shippers are ~crazy fangirls~ who fetishize queer men, which was definitely (unfortunately) the outward face of fandom in the early 2010s (and, honestly, still is a problem in a lot of spaces). I don’t blame him for answering with this in mind.

I have a huge problem with Variety, though. I hate that they teased it as “Anthony Mackie on sambucky” but actually asked him a leading question framed in some moral panic about the dearth of close platonic male friendships which simply....doesn’t exist. Not in media at large and certainly not in the MCU. The “but what about close platonic male friendships!!” narrative is a straw man created by an industry that is fundamentally uncomfortable with its stories and characters being read as queer but doesn’t want to admit that (I’m not accusing Anthony Mackie of this--it was Variety who framed the question like that).

tl;dr: I’m not upset at Anthony Mackie for answering the question he was given, as best as he could. I’m not upset at him for being proud of how he played Sam and his friendship with Bucky but not seeing either as queer. I don’t, completely honestly, even ship sambucky that much. I’m mostly upset at Variety for asking a shipping question that framed shippers as the enemy of close platonic friendships, which just furthers the narrative that shipping men on the internet is 1. somehow a threat to the massive amount of close male friendships seen on television and 2. the work of horny fangirls and not queer people making our own representation where there isn’t any to begin with. 

I also really don’t like how out of the entire interview, in which they also talk about the much more important topic of Sam becoming Captain America and Anthony talks about his own feelings about representing Captain America as a Black man--which I think is much more interesting and relevant to the television show and character going forward than fandom activity--the three tweets they’ve put out about it are all about the sambucky segment. Likely knowing that it would be controversial and drum up interest. I hate that. (that’s an entire separate post about how just as much as variety and similar publications push unfair narratives about shipping they also.....intentionally pander to us and use us for engagement and it puts the actors unfairly in the line of fire)

#so you know how i said i wouldn't write a long post with nuanced and coherent thoughts. well. i did #nobody asked but i needed to get the thoughts out lol #i was getting anxious about being misconstrued bc after some thinking + listening to the actual questions he was asked #my rage was transferred to variety #bc im actually so angry #NOT at mackie. at variety and just. #SO tired of this!!! false narrative that queer people on the internet wanting representation is mutually exclusive #with portraying healthy close male friendships #or that it is somehow harmful or disrespectful to the narrative #long post #negativity #mcu #not spn

[tytrack]

here’s a longer than necessary response that i spent too much time on

obviously there are two issues here: the selling of the necklace and the criticism of the music video as an orientalization/appropriation of chinese culture. i am talking about the latter because OP’s critique of the necklace doesn’t rely off the implications of selling that necklace as much as it does about the actual music video that 127 partake in. we can say that they’re linked but honestly when OP says that the yelling of “hwah” in the bridge of the song is another example of stereotyping and orientalism, i think there’s a lack of resonance that needs to be addressed.

i’ll preface this by saying that my research thus far has been related to orientalist reimaginations, the reconfigurations of temporality, and the blurring between past/present, arab/berber/european (particularly spanish as it has a “dark half brother” narrative in relation to the rest of europe), and subsequent violence on muslims prior to and during francisco franco’s fascist regime in the spanish protectorate in morocco and imaginations of the arab as the “other” and the gross fetishization through colonial artistic and literary mediums. the idea of orientalism as it was conceptualized by edward said focuses on european (particularly french) distortions of the arab and particularly north africa. i’m telling you this because the way that orientalism is thrown around without any regard to its particular muslim and arab contexts, history of violence, and relational dynamics between east (the east as clearly defined as the muslim world, not by me, but by said and those who have written about orientalism) and west (europe) as it pertains to its systemic decimation of the “muslim world” and establishment of empire from the colonial period through the war on terror, diminishes its significance and the ramications that people have endured for over the last century.

the thread started because OP had a problem with necklaces another fan made that used the chinese characters SM chose to include in the title of the music video. specifically, the music video is entitled: 영웅 (英雄; kick it), using the korean, chinese, and english. the korean/chinese mean “hero,” which obviously doesn’t mean “kick it,” but there’s a long list of korean titles where the korean/chinese title of a particular medium does not match the english because like…..the problem with translations as an idea. a word for word translation doesn’t make for a better translation. additionally, something can have two titles to signal a colon ( : ) or semicolon ( ; ) as the mv does. for example, a book title like the universal enemy: jihad empire and and the challenge of solidarity. here we have: 영웅 (英雄; kick it). anyways the point here is that the music video doesn’t specifically focus on the chinese characters as appropriative aesthetics but all three languages are incorporated to title the mv. if the mv was titled in korean/english only or even just english, that discredit would underscore an appropriation.

the mv is referred to as a “culturally blind ass” concept and there is “absolutely no differentiation between chinese/korean culture they made into one giant mess of aesthetics to market to ignorant international fans” through the referencing of orientalism for the consumption of a western audience. as stated in my original response, 127 make it clear that bruce lee is the inspiration and central to the concept of the video. bruce lee is a household name as a martial artist and actor, among many other things, all around the world. his global significance cannot be diminished strictly through the “ownership” discourse as his cross-cultural interactions between his own lived experiences are as chinese AND american. if we even consider the implications of him being born in san francisco, dying in hong kong and being buried in san francisco, this conversation cannot be reductive. furthermore, the doctrine of jeet kune do was conceptualized by him and his filipino-american martial arts instructor dan inosanto at the jun fan gung fu institute in seattle in 1960. jeet kune do itself is a martial arts philosophy that is based on the hybridity of bruce lee’s own personal experience and philosophy and he specifically referred to it as a non classical form of chinese kung fu. his establishment of the institute/jeet kune do coincided at the same time as mao zedong, founder of the PRC, began the cultural revolution, where the hong kong film industry started to prepare for an international/western market. you just cannot ignore the dynamic cross-cultural phenomena at play to build bruce lee’s social and political movement.

as paul bowman writes in his Beyond Bruce Lee: Chasing the Dragon Through Film, Philosophy, and Popular Culture, “the popularity of Bruce Lee and of martial arts per se are both clearly inextricably linked with the processes and effects of internationalisation or globalisation of and within cinema.” [page 6] further, “Bruce Lee often features as a countercultural motif, in much the same way as (and sometimes even alongside) the likes of Che Guevara and Jimi Hendrix. As testified by innumerable autobiographical accounts, filmic allusions and popular cultural juxtapositions and combinations, Lee functions in diverse popular narratives of struggle.” [page 42] this entire chapter delves specifically into bruce lee as an icon of popular culture that is so globally entrenched that it’s hard to even begin to list instances of his presence in movies, art, films, video games, political inspirations, and music. these are actually all modes of aesthetics, and this is actually really important because the idea of aesthetics is that it has the power to be self-reflexive and provide commentary on itself that derives its source from a real life phenomenon.

127′s use of hiphop, rock, 90s concept, bruce lee and martial arts (in addition to the motif of struggle/trauma), samuel jackson, and the film enter the dragon (a joint american/hong kong production) as a korean pop culture group is not a blurring of eastern cultures as OP says, but rather an example of the globalization phenomenon represented through song using a wide array of references. crystal s. anderson has written an amazing chapter about this, specifically within the context of kpop and black culture:

Rather than relying solely on potential connections between Korean artists and the historical and social conditions of African Americans, an examination of the aesthetics of the performances of both K-pop artists reveals how K-pop bears the imprint of transnational black cultures, which circulate the globe and are redeployed in new, hybridized forms. Focusing on music aesthetics extends the script of authenticity to account for the ways that these Korean artists adopt and adapt black musical culture. These K-pop artists also show us how the circulation of cultures affect reception, for it is the fans who are familiar with black musical cultures who mark K-pop performances as authentic. Such recognition is yet another by-product of the circulation of cultures, which raises the ability of fans to see one culture in a variety of global contexts. Knowledge- able global audiences may also construct meaning from music aesthetics that transcends cultural and historical context. Gerald Early argues for the transcendent nature of the Motown sound, “The Sound of Young America,” in the 1960s, describing it as something “beyond and before words.”55 Thus, examining K-pop artists’ engagement with black musical aesthetics reveals the impact of traveling cultures, which transcend national boundaries in new and exciting ways. [page 301]

i am “annoyed” because of the way the colonial legacy of orientalism and cultural appropriation is utilized to argue that the mv is culturally insensitive. i also think using sicheng’s name to imply that if he were in the group it would be “more” okay for 127 to utilize this concept and bc he’s not in the group anymore (for whatever unjust reason that SM decided to fuck that up) it’s “wrong,” is blatant tokenism and inappropriate to say the least.

i also don’t think my “take” should be dismissed because i’m an “educated” person speaking from an “academic perspective.” i took the time to provide sources in this response because i think reading about these issues, instead of using academic jargon to try to prove your point, is more productive. i only brought my academic stance because of the terminology that OP used, and i think terms need to be defined, contextualized, and carefully considered. otherwise we’ll just be writing twitter threads that are easily misconstrued and shift away from the issue at hand.

#i spent fucking three hours on this response and i have a migraine now #also i was taking a NAP when alex was responding to anon messages LMAO #if you guys want any chapter to the book i referenced/anderson's excellent chapter #which is called 'the african american music tradition in k-pop' #please let me know and i can upload them (or you can access them through jstor if you have a school/library account)

[theseerasures]

Frozen 2 Reaction Post

surprisebitch.gif

this is 5000% because i don’t wanna do other stuff, but is it not poetic justice that i should come back to the tumbls for Frozen 2: Elsa Runs Away Some More

i’m gonna prologue this by saying that by and large i enjoyed the film tremendously; of course since this is 2019 i would have enjoyed anything that didn’t end with Elsa committing nonsensical war crimes before being put down like Old Yeller or pulling a no-homo to transcend time and space (that’s right, i’m hip enough to know about TWO of the biggest media fiascos this year, you jelly?), but the film was enjoyable even beyond that, mostly in how it affirmed my own opinions about the universe

HOWEVER, there were also huge problems that really have to be addressed, and we’re gonna start with those

cut for length and a truly immense amount of spoilers

things i didn’t like:

so the Iduna being Sami All Along thing was, um. bad! it was bad, and really reads like the team trying to cover their asses after the blowback from the first movie. why was it such a big deal for ~a Northuldran to love an Arendellian~ when Arendelle was 100% at fault in the conflict? were the spirits just like “oh the indigenous tribe that has cared for us and lived alongside us for centuries are fine i guess but OH LOOK the whitest among them just made googly eyes at the son of the guy who wants to colonize and enslave us, let’s root for those crazy kids and make their firstborn the avatar”

making Iduna a White Sami and leaning on the excuse that in real life the Sami people are linguistic and ethnically diverse and some of them can pass as white would have been fine if they didn’t EXPLICITLY RACIALIZE EVERY OTHER TRIBE MEMBER ON SCREEN. come on guys, just admit you liked Last Samurai but knew that that exact premise wouldn’t fly anymore

why couldn’t it be just a nice person who saved Agnar? why did we get yet another version of the old Pocahontas fetish?

why did Iduna being Northuldran REMAIN such a big deal to the point that she never told her kids about it and she and Agnar had to tell separate but equal bedtime stories about the same event??

whew i’m so glad this all happened so Elsa, the whitest non-anthropomorphic-snowman character in the movie, could save those savage natives with spears! They Needed Her Guidance

the songs this time mostly...felt like they didn’t really want this movie to be a musical but were contractually obligated to write songs for Disney until the heat death of the universe

case in point: Some Things Never Change was going for the Happily Ever After vibe that the Steven Universe movie had, but it...didn’t really feel earned. we obviously needed a place-setter song, but it didn’t really establish anything about what the characters have been up to or what might be still bothering them, because apparently everything is great! this worked for Steven Universe because it came off of five SEASONS of character development, but Elsa’s last big character revelation that we the audience saw was “wow guess i’m not the worst scum on earth after all.” the timeskip can only do so much, is what i’m saying

Kristoff got NOTHING to work with. i’m not like, horribly broken up about it since i know they had to keep it tight for the kids, but fucking OLAF got a heavier arc than he did, and it feels like a missed opportunity that they didn’t link HIS backstory to the Northuldrans, what with him being orphaned/abandoned/raised by trolls already set up. it doesn’t have to siphon into the White Savior main story at all, just have--i dunno, a few more scenes with the Northuldrans and him realizing that he’s probably descended from refugees who got cut off from the forest

the proposal thing was cute until i realized that they were going to just hit the same beats over and over again with each scene. it should have been resolved in act 1 instead of Kristoff disappearing for half the movie and then tacking on the proposal at the very end. not every subplot has to be stretched out to the end! in this case i feel like stretching it out actually REGRESSED aspects of Kristanna, since it relied on Anna misreading so many signals that it strained believability even for Anna. we’re supposed to think they’ve NEVER talked about this, despite having dated for 3 years and consistently trading off on being the most Extra person in the room?

the confirmation that Olaf’s fingers can wiggle will haunt my dreams

me when the stone giants interrupted Elsa’s conversation with Honeymaren: yOU COCKBLOCKERS

i find myself growing increasingly weary of the now token Disney Wink at Camera, and Elsa rolling her eyes and her past self doing Let It Go was probably the apex of that particular antipathy. showing that you’re so Over the song that made you billions in a movie that you’re shilling to the EXACT SAME CROWD is the most obnoxious humble-flex i can think of

as much as i liked Elsa jumping into the Pit of Past Misdeeds and freezing to death, i think the scene happened waaaaaayyyy too fast, especially if you compare it to how long it took for Anna in the first movie. she’s not really given any time to process what’s happening, and it kind of lessens the emotional impact.

Olaf is gone!! he’s gone, i miss him so much!! i cry myself to sleep!!!! OLAFFFFFFF!!! false. i do not miss him

i distinctly recall liking Olaf just fine in the first movie and actually found him tolerable here too, but wow i was not happy when they resurrected him, even though i knew it was a sure thing

maybe it’s because NOTHING had consequences in the end and even Arendelle, the place that all the characters have been treating like a thoroughfare for two movies, had to get saved at the last second!! Arendelle the place??? we were supposed to care enough about that to want it to be saved?? it’s not the fucking GALACTICA guys! there weren’t even any people left in the town! it’s bizarre that they tried to go so hard in the reparations route and then swerved at the last second. let Arendelle drown you cowards! let the Northuldrans offer help in solidarity if you really wanted the “bridge between worlds” angle, but come the fuck on! didn’t something like this happen with Life Is Strange already?

why didn’t Elsa go to her sister’s coronation is it just like a thing now for her to miss the major life events of her family members

the statues they unveiled at the end were horrifying

things i liked:

a lowkey thing that i’ve always appreciated about the first movie was its willingness to Go There when it came to depicting well intentioned parents who are still mired in various character flaws and wound their kids deeply, so it was nice to see that return and get expanded with parents who had Lives separate from their kids which made them That Way, and the consequences of those Lives often come back to influence subsequent generations no matter how much they try to keep it contained. it’s a good, logical extension from what happened with Elsa in the first movie.

and it’s another Steven Universe vibe, but they can go further with it faster because Elsa and Anna are the hegemony in this movie. they’re the history-makers, so their family drama very easily becomes political, and the lessons they pick up from family memories immediately end up changing the fantasy history landscape. it’s dope

baby Anna’s lil feetsies

Anna wanted to marry everyone and Elsa thought kissing was gross

everyone does feel palpably older! the first movie had a very teen feel insofar as everything was We Have to Do This or We Will All Die Immediately, but this time around all the characters feel much more comfortable in their own skin throughout the movie

everyone getting more than two outfits and all wearing pants

the revelation after so many headcanons of Elsa being a ruthless pragmatist, Elsa always being two steps ahead politically, Elsa being a literal and metaphorical chessmaster that Elsa is...actually just kind of spacey and weird was for me extremely welcome. i think part of this was done in service of Anna becoming queen at the end, but it makes sense. “attack it with ice powers” and “run away” are still pretty much the only two strings to Elsa’s bow. this is not to say that she was a bad queen, or that she didn’t try her damndest to be a fair and just ruler--when it comes down to it i think Elsa still knows more Facts about how to rule a kingdom than Anna ever will, it’s just that she’s also horribly averse to conflict and “pacing in place while blaming herself” is pretty much the extent of her productivity under serious pressure.

what sets Elsa apart (other than the ice powers) isn’t that she’s prodigiously talented, but that she’s kindhearted and extremely sensitive to the emotions and fates of others. (she’s the one who asks what happened to the spirits when Agnar is done with his half of the story.) she agonized over hurting Anna one way vs. hurting Anna another way for THIRTEEN YEARS and still couldn’t make up her mind until she was literally backed into a corner, and even that decision was “run away but FARTHER.” Anna wanting to reconcile with Elsa even after thirteen years wasn’t just because Anna’s love eclipses all; Elsa also left that door open for her, because she could never be quite as ruthless or even SELFLESS as to send her sister away for good. (”then leave! actually jk i’ll leave instead”)

but Anna wasn’t ever the exception for Elsa, either. Anna wasn’t the only corner of Elsa’s heart that she left open--Elsa’s like that with EVERYONE, even people she just met, or disembodied voices in the wild. Elsa can never do quite as many Right Things as she thinks she should, she can never be quite as driven, as strong, as single-minded as she thinks she needs to be, to fully commit to making decisions for other people. she feels too deeply and wants too much, even after all those years of trying to scour herself out with a lathe. it’s what ruins and saves her.

Anna and Elsa being horrible at charades in diametrically opposite ways was the most life affirming thing to happen to me this year

Elsa couldn’t act out ice

the two of them had MULTIPLE conversations with each other that didn’t immediately result in mortal peril!!! what a world guys

Into the Unknown fucking slaps but i’m now REALLY confused about the diegesis of the songs in this movie. i’d assumed they were all happening in story, what with the Voice and the multiple references to Let It Go, but Elsa literally bays at the moon in the middle of the night here and no one woke up??? maybe they’re all just really heavy sleepers who knows

or maybe the staff just take it in stride at this point--oh, Her Majesty is singing and crying again

Kristoff and Anna CANONICALLY FUCK, and not even in the typical cartoon “look they have kids, they canonically fuck” way in the “hey my sister and her snowchild that we’re all coparenting together are asleep on the sled, shall we fuck a mere three feet away without even putting up a divider or something” way

gotta give Jen Lee kudos for making the “Elsa has ice powers because she’s the fifth spirit” retcon make thematic sense. the most obvious way to go about this WOULD have been the avatar direction, but Elsa isn’t the union of the four elements but the union of the spirits and humanity, which is to say that she witnesses them and keeps their memories, bringing them to life and solidifying them with her powers. she’s obviously the best person for the job, since y’know. she spent thirteen years on one memory alone.

wait does this mean Elsa is basically the Resurrection Stone?? buhhhh i don’t wanna think about it

of course Anna’s sword just came from her grabbing it from an ice statue i don’t know what else i expected

i laughed at both of Olaf’s reenactments i don’t know what to tell you

i feel...Some Kinda Way about the discourse saying that Mattias being black is problematic because it suggests black collusion in indigenous genocide, but it’s not my place to comment on that, so i’ll just say that it was a pleasure to see Sterling K. Brown having fun in a role instead of his usual gravitas and misery

Elsa first making eye contact with the icemander, or Two Feral Creatures Recognize Each Other As Such--i can’t believe i thought Hiccup would be the weirdest horse girl i’d ever encounter in fiction when it’s OBVIOUSLY Elsa

ELSA COULDN’T ACT OUT ICE

what a novel concept to have Elsa charging forward while Anna tries to pull her back, telling her to slow down, that she’s climbing too high

appreciated the subtle seeding they did of Anna’s political savvy, what with her actually talking to the lost Arendellian soldiers and restraining herself from making outlandish promises to everyone she meets

Kristoff made a friend!

Elsa met one (1) girl that wasn’t her sister and immediately decided she had to live in the woods forever

Tribe Leader Lady’s reaction to Kristoff’s proposal

can’t believe Lost in the Woods invented cinema and music videos

the sisters at the shipwreck is hands down the best scene in the entire movie, aided by the drastically different palette they used to color this scene--all grays, browns, and blacks, even the surrounding environment, like Agnar and Iduna’s despair polluted the whole landscape. Elsa and Anna look horribly out of place here, like they can’t possibly be real in a world that looks like this.

it really snuck up on me how much this scene is a pivot for both of their characters: Anna’s instinct here is to look forward, to find clues that will point them to the next step; Elsa’s instinct is toward grief and, after the reveal, self-blame. for all her growth there’s still a part of Elsa that sees her existence as the catastrophe that keeps hurling the wreckage of the world at her feet. it’s something that i don’t think she’ll ever be able to completely move past.

Elsa, looking at Anna like she’s the only real thing in the world as Anna tells her that she believes in her, more than anyone or anything

“i just don’t want you dying trying to be everything for everyone else!” jesus fucking CHRIST guys

Olaf’s growing up crisis was mostly just...kinda there for me, but i will say the cut to his horrified expression when Anna said the word “dying” really did get to me

Anna switching between a Formal Court hairstyle and an Athleisure hairstyle is Bi Representation, Elsa getting increasingly more disheveled over two movies is Lesbian Representation

do i Get horse movies now

Elsa happy crying when she sees her mother in the cave made ME incredibly happy--her face is so much more dynamic this time around!

i wanna make fun of her for her stupid Dance Dance Revolution ice magic during Show Yourself but honestly..........fucking superb you funky little lesbian

aw Elsa you stood up to...an ice hallucination of your racist grandpa! in another three years (six years in production) you might be ready for Thanksgiving dinner

Elsa in the last movie: i’m never going back, the past is in the past!!!!

Elsa in this movie: brb gotta go hurl myself into a Pit of Past Misdeeds and turn myself into one of the embodied memories

Anna immediately understanding what went down at the forest before and that even if she wasn’t directly complicit in the violence she benefits from it every day, deciding to rip down Imperialism Dam without hesitation

The Next Right Thing didn’t really do it for me musically but as a core concept for Anna’s character and ethos it fucking ROCKS (pun obviously intended). i was so worried going in that they wouldn’t know what to do with Anna after the first movie other than give her powers, but instead we got confirmation that this IS her superpower: her ability to forge ahead with whatever life has given her has ALWAYS been her greatest strength.

this also explains why she felt so aimless and intent on protecting Elsa and nothing else before this point; Anna isn’t interested in delving deeply into the past, not when every other member of her family was consumed by it. with this she’s finally able to convert memory into action, and she shines.

(of course she couldn’t have GOTTEN to this point if Elsa hadn’t been so convinced that the past was worth pursuing, confirming my belief that the two of them share exactly one brain cell)

OBVIOUSLY action for Anna translates into “make myself bait for stone giants and STAND ON THE VERY DAM I WANT THEM TO RIP APART” Anna you fucking walnut

Anna threw the first brick at Imperialism Dam, actually

the understated moment when Kristoff just pushes aside his own insecurities and just asks Anna what she needs

the shot of Elsa falling into the water after she’s thawed nearly did me in

Elsa horseback riding over the water is. wow it’s the gayest thing i’ve ever seen

Anna’s coronation outfit made me kinda wistful. she looks so grown up! she looks like her mother

(i mean she always looks like her mother they literally have the same face but whatever you know what i mean)

me on my deathbed: eLSA COuldN’T aCT oUt ICE

stray observations:

is Arendelle just a tourist town where one day the guy who owned the largest house was like “this is a KINGDOM NOW I’M THE KING” and the 50 other townies who lived there were just too polite to argue

i mean it’d explain why the queen, her heir, and the heir’s consort could just waltz out of there for a week long trip and leAVE THE TROLLS IN CHARGE

when they first started getting chummy with the Northuldrans i lost my god damn mind and was like “are they gonna give Kristoff a boyfriend and Anna a girlfriend what’s happening”

is it required that female Disney protagonists have to go to a blue tinted place to realize that the magic answer was in them all along now the same exact thing happened to Moana and Rey

Elsa’s ice creations are confirmed to fade away if she dies, which...is a confirmation we needed i guess

why didn’t Mattias and Yelana fall in love to make the Chosen One instead, they had chemistry

(i mean. i know why)

i hope Anna got to yell at Elsa for at least five minutes and maybe slug her for pulling that “i’m going to Mordor alone!!!” bullshit

for a second at the end i was like “are they gonna do the HTTYD thing where we flash forward to ten years later and Anna and Kristoff take their kids to visit Elsa IS KRISTOFF GONNA GROW A DAD BEARD” but no we just had lesbian wind and origami instead

whatever your take on the movie i think we can all agree that the scene where Olaf calls the Irish “a plague on this planet which is slowly rotting it down to the rind and which must be excised” was NOT okay

#'wow i wonder how many words this post is--actually maybe i don't wanna know' #frozen 2 #disney #helen writes meta

[piccolina-mina]

I cannot speak for anyone else, and I'm not trying to. I can only speak for myself as an observer and a friend. And sometimes I feel really bad for bisexual fans, especially the bisexual men who are out, open, or quietly observing, and still active in the RNM fandom.

There used to be many bisexual men who shared their thoughts, but a few I remember left fandom. There are many women, but it still comes with a pressure and expectation to only appreciate specific parts of the series or face erasure if they don't comply.

It must be gratifying to have a strong bisexual character let alone a male character like Michael. You don't see it often at all. Bi characters are rare and bi men are like unicorns on TV, and how they are represented can vary. But one thing that has been consistent and obvious is that Michael is a character Carina has invested in a lot.

A lot of effort and care goes into how he's portrayed as a bisexual man. She seems very in tune and careful with how she wants to depict that, for better and worse, and sometimes at the expense of other aspects of the show that require sensitivity, awareness, and care too.

And I have seen how important that is to many bisexual fans but particularly bi men. But I can only imagine how difficult it has to be when you're seeing your representation onscreen -- you're seeing yourself reflected -- and you constantly see it regarded as "bad bi rep" usually over trivial things.

Michael is confident, out, unapologetic. He has an interesting story of presumably when he realized he was bisexual. He has those moments of insecurity, but he's consistent. And he's never treated as less than or not "manly" or anything like that by the majority of the characters -- the important characters.

His Bisexuality is never treated like a character flaw by the others.

His friends, acquaintances, siblings, and love interests don't look down on him for being bisexual. It's not the sole thing that drives his arc, or the only reason he's "relevant." He's a multi-dimensional character who happens to be bisexual instead of "the token bisexual character."

It seems pretty damn awesome.

But sometimes I imagine it has to be hard to see all of these factors and then see the frequent takes that he's "poor bi rep."

And it has to be invalidating that only one of his relationships matters and the other one is constantly torn apart.

Isn't that part of the "pick a side" frustration bisexuals face way too often? Why unwittingly perpetuate it so much?

Isn't the whole idea supposed to be that both of these relationships are valid and meaningful in different ways, and that's OK?

On the show you have Alex and Maria, and neither of them make Michael feel like crap because he's bisexual. Alex doesn't treat him like he's less queer for dating and sleeping with women. He doesn't shame him (something that has been known to happen with some popular queer ships like Calzona on Grey's Anatomy, for example) for being bi.

Any of the issues they have, have absolutely nothing to do with Michael's sexuality. That has to be refreshing.

And Maria doesn't judge Michael for being bisexual either. All fandoms as a whole, in general, tend to fetishize and/or love mlm ships, but as we know, irl wlw are fetishized and revered more, usually by straight men who think a woman's bisexuality is for their sexual pleasure, gratification or chance to have a threesome.

In real life, it's obviously difficult for bi men dating etc. For every Maria, there's a woman who only thinks she's a "beard" or pitstop until her bi lover is gay, or feels insecure that she can't give him something someone else can, or a plethora of other misconceptions and ignorance.

But Maria isn't like that. None of the drama surrounding her relationship with Michael had anything to do with him being bisexual. It was never about the parts of who he slept with, but her relationship with who he slept with.

And to hit home that Michael being bisexual didn't make him less desirable or attractive to her, they kissed after the truth came out. And they both enjoyed it.

People hate that and tear it apart, but I imagine that was also something important to show.

And then, fandom, fandom from all walks of life and different genders and sexualities find this bisexual character attractive and desirable.

It has to be messed up as a bi male fan to see part of the fandom, a great deal of them straight women be shamed or ridiculed or referred to as homophobic for liking Michael and Maria.

It has to be messed up for bi female fans to have their sexuality completely invalidated because they like miluca. To be called homophobic or biphobia despite being bi themselves for liking Miluca.

Or to have their love of this ship and this representation that is important to them reduced to them just wanting to self-insert with Michael (I mean, hey, what if it's about self-inserting with Maria? Because that's what a hell of a lot of queer miluca fans are thinking about).

Or to have them criticized for it if that's the case, but it's widely accepted that bisexual and straight fans can thirst over the two men just fine.

What is wrong about thirsting after one or both parties of miluca in equal measure as one would Malex? And doing it with them as a couple rather than individually? Why is that only an option with them separate but not with them together as it is with Malex?

Like, a (so far) straight female character is criticized for having feelings for this bisexual man and straight female fans are criticized for liking miluca, or hell, self-inserting with miluca, and finding this male character, who happens to be bisexual, attractive and sexy.

Bi female fans are criticized for liking miluca or self-inserting either way with Maria and Michael. Their sexuality is always questioned for enjoying this ship as if they're somehow less queer for enjoying it.

No one ever considers that they're enjoying the hell out of thirsting over Maria via this relationship. It IS Maria after all.

Michael is hot. Maria is stunning. Only one of these relationships is giving queer miluca fans Maria, right? Why is enjoying that via their relationship not an acceptable option? For bi fans of any gender? For straight fans?

To Maria, to the fans of the miluca ship, Michael's bisexuality doesn't matter or make him less than, or less attractive. He's accepted and cared about and desired.

And some people read that as latching on to a straight presenting ship and thus being inherently homophobic and biphobic, instead of seeing, and appreciating, and enjoying that there are no qualms, no judgment, no prejudice, no second guessing about shipping a presumably straight woman with a bisexual man.

His sexuality never hinders him from being shipped with anyone. It never stops him from being desired. It doesn't stop fans from enjoying and self-inserting either. He didn't stop being viable when it was revealed that he was bisexual.

And if people can see that and respond that way to a character they love, then maybe it breaks the stigma about dating, falling in love with or sleeping with bisexual men. Maybe people can apply that to real life too.

And that's the power of representation in media, and how influential it can be. That's something special and important too.

It's not something that happens easily, and like with any disenfranchised group, experiences are always different. It's not always the same for bi men versus bi women. Intersectionality comes into play. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that just a basic understand of people and their experiences.

Ironically, both experiences by both male and female bi fans are being invalidated and/or erased here often when it comes to this, which is very unfortunate and sad to see.

I mean, I can't shake the concept of someone's experience battling being rejected or invalidated, and then watching something where someone like you isn't being rejected or invalidated for their sexuality, and many of the viewers and fans aren't rejecting or invalidating this character's sexuality ... but then seeing some of those fans are rejected and invalidated for enjoying one or both of this characters' relationships. 🤔

Their acceptance, not tolerance, their acceptance of bisexuality is rejected and criticized. It doesn't make sense.

And yeah, it's a love triangle. But it's a love triangle between a bi man, a gay man, and a woman. Something you do not see often at all. And sexuality isn't the root of the tension or conflict. Nowhere. Not once.

It's played out like any other love triangle. It's normalized because the whole point is that bisexual people being attracted to more then one gender is normal.

They're subjected to the same things as everyone else, including love to hate love triangles.

I don't know. This isn't even in response to anything specific, it's just, sometimes, I really sympathize for the bisexual fans and friends, and I really feel bad for the bi men in the RNM fandom who thoroughly enjoy having this representation and enjoy both relationships and the depiction of what it's like having feelings for two different people for different reasons who then see parts of that which they appreciate and make them feel seen always ripped apart so often.

Man, it must feel like A LOT sometimes.

But again, I'm not presuming to know how anyone feels, and I certainly can't speak for them, but I would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind on occasion.

#it's a lot to see and a lot to hear so i know it's a lot to experience #like damn ... sometimes different perspectives on this are not considered at all #roswell new mexico #anyway ... carry on i guess #don't forget to spell my name right when you bash me *finger guns* #rnm discourse #rnm notoriety #rnm fandom fkery