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darkcircles4lyfe · 26 days

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it's a story about hands (reprise)

Yeah, okay, today's the day.

I gave my blog that title for a reason, you know, and it has loomed over me for years because the hand motif is absolutely everywhere and you could go on about it forever.

Maybe that's something I'll never actually attempt to do, but this chapter, we reached a breaking point.

Before I continue, I need to give a big, big disclaimer: I do not have a physical disability, so I'm not able to speak about that from the standpoint of representation as a first-hand perspective. I have at least listened to enough disabled people to know that fictional characters who become amputees only to miraculously gain their limbs back is, um, a trope. Disabled people in general being "healed" is a conception we would really prefer to avoid here. Not to call people out, but I don't think we're giving enough space to acknowledge that.

I don’t feel comfortable making the judgement call about what should happen. I’m leaving that open. I also don't want to downplay people's emotional reactions. Honestly, I don't know if I can accurately define the line between acknowledging real pain vs. ableist pity. But I’d like to talk about the possibilities of what could happen. Other characters have definitely gotten permanent disabilities as a result of their hero work, or even just the side effects of their quirk. But, for better or worse, I don't think this case is really about representation. Not that Horikoshi won't do that justice. He might. What I'm saying is that's not his purpose for having Izuku lose his arms. It's meant to be symbolic, so we can explore what it means. The other thing I’m keeping in mind here is that Horikoshi is notorious for playing with our expectations, like, alllllll the time. I mean, just take a few chapters ago for a classic example. Eri appeared at the end, and we all assumed she was about to take some sort of action to save someone with her quirk. Then, immediately following, we were given an explanation for why that wouldn’t be happening. And now it’s clear he wanted to do that “fake out” not just as a silly cliffhanger prank, but specifically so we would know not to suspect that Eri could be the miraculous solution to Izuku’s loss of his arms. Rest assured, there is no easy way out of this.

The expectation at play in this particular instance is an old one. It’s very understated, but its subtext has burned so brightly, you’d be a fool not to notice it. It sits with anticipation like one half of a call and response. Man, I was so certain. Lots of people still are. I was really looking forward to printing the panel where it happened onto a t shirt and wearing it proudly. All the hand motifs in this story radiate thematically from a single moment, the one that started it all for Izuku.

It raises all kinds of questions about the act of saving, who needs saving, why, what does it mean, what are the dynamics of power, politics, honesty, exploitation, compassion, pity, disdain, sacrifice. Katsuki has dealt with many of these since he first rejected Izuku’s hand. While Izuku was the one who was convinced Katsuki would keep on rejecting him…

…Katsuki was the one who kept that moment in his mind all these years and eventually came to regret it.

Katsuki is the one yearning for that hand-hold, the one who has imbued it with so much more weight than it ever originally had. Izuku, in contrast, does not allow himself to dwell on what he wants. To illustrate this difference, we need to look at another piece of foreshadowing:

Ugh, do y'all remember when lots of folks were complaining about how there never seemed to be actual consequences for Izuku's destructive treatment of his own body? I don't blame them, I was concerned and confused about it too. There were several "fixes" along the way. Recovery Girl healed him, but left a physical reminder. Then he started training to fight with his legs… sometimes. Then he got support items. All of these were unsatisfying non-conclusions because they didn't present Izuku with a lasting enough impression to change in a meaningful way. They didn't address his core, his origin.

Of course, that all changed this chapter. Now it looks like our frustration was inflicted intentionally. With the current context in mind, all of these moments look more sinister, like this day was always gonna come because they kept putting bandaids on a deep emotional and psychological wound. The problem is pretty much spelled out for us here:

As Katsuki put it, he just doesn’t take himself into account, ya know? He doesn’t care what happens to him. And he lies about it, to keep others from worrying, to keep them safe. To keep them from returning the favor and putting themselves in harm’s way for his sake. His motivations are noble,

…but what about the little boy inside Izuku? Who saves him?

This is all about Izuku giving himself up to the point that he literally has no more to give. The thing is, I bet he saw this coming. He knew his limits and decided to keep going anyway, because his personal safety and wellbeing are not important. Now that way of thinking has come back to bite him because the fight isn’t over yet, and he’s already made his sacrifice. So now we know who will be more distraught over this. Not Izuku—Katsuki.

It’s not about Izuku becoming disabled, it’s about how Katsuki wanted to use the intertwining of their fingers to communicate that he would never let go. Never stop valuing him most. Never let himself make the mistake of rejecting him again. Never let Izuku be so reckless with his life. To say: “we are in this together.”…if only Katsuki believed he deserved to be able to say such things. To reach out his hand would have been the ultimate way to simply imply them and let Izuku be the one to decide. Then, to feel their hands clasped together would be more than either of them dared hope for, but so beautiful, so right. A moment they’ve waited their whole lives for.

Yeah. That’s what we were expecting. We’ve been so comfortable. Horikoshi gave us all the signs. He tempted and teased us over and over. BUT. You know he does this thing were he gives us a desirable, completely plausible and simple thing to look forward to, and then he snatches it away. And THEN he replaces it with something much better, something we were not expecting at all because it seemed too good to be true. That’s exactly what happened when Himiko snatched Izuku away, and we were robbed of the chance to see him and Katsuki fight together. In hindsight, though, I’m glad things went a different way because now there’s so much more depth and angst on display. Likewise, in the present moment, we may consider how, as one door closes, another opens.

As wonderfully meaningful as the hand-hold would have been, perhaps it is still too simple a resolution for Izuku, for his and Katsuki’s relationship. Tbh, it could have been done like 100 chapter ago. At this point, there’s so much more potential. There are a couple of ways it could go. If Izuku stays armless, Katsuki will be forced to use other methods to get his point across. He’ll have to do something else, or say what he means, or both. Yes, I’m talking about what you think I’m talking about. If I say it, I just might jinx it (lol), but I mean it. I’m being serious. Either way, if Izuku did get his arms back in the end, I’m sure that it wouldn’t be an easy fix. It would be hard-won against Izuku’s self-destructive mindset, and/or by Katsuki’s conviction. Again, I say this knowing it is not meant so much as a representation of disability, but as a representation of Izuku’s greatest character flaw taken to the extreme. I know this might sound harsh, like, hasn’t he been through enough? I get that, but… I’ve said it before and I say it again: Izuku is stubborn as hell.

I wish I had a resounding final note to end this on, but I kinda don’t. I’m not sure what’s best. Now we just have to wait and see what Horikoshi has in mind.

#lin speaks #bnha meta #bnha manga #bnha 419 #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #bakudeku #bkdk #dekubaku #dkbk

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fallenclan · 1 month

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Related to FallenClan designs! All your designs are super amazing, what’s your simplifying process/how do you decide design for cat pelts? Cause I always struggle with simplifying/deciding how they look especially bengals and cats with white patches… thanks if you respond!

I’m ADHD and struggle with consistency and simplifying lol, though more complex designs are pretty, I lean more towards what you do w/ you’re cats as they are simple but still super pretty + it makes it easier to consistently draw them all for stuff like this! (These comic like moon updates :])

(Also hope none of this came off as offensive, it’s all meant positively! I really really admire you and your designs :])

ty for the compliments!!! very sweet ask and I shall do my best to give a good response o7

generally my method with designing characters/drawing is to just wing it. fuck it we ball basically. but i DO take a lot of inspiration from other people's warriors art, taking the time to analyze what i like about their styles and what different sorts of patterns i can use

(i also regularly consult the Clangen Sprite Guide for better looks at white patches/tortie patterns and such, highly recommend)

the first thing i decide when i'm designing a new cat is what fur texture i want them to have. i have four that I pick from (pictured below, in order), wavy, spiky, curly, and square.

i decide the fur pattern based on the cat's personality (a more stoic cat might have square fur, while someone more bubbly might have curly, or someone more excitable have spiky, so on and so on), and also based on their parents/how many cats i've designed with that fur pattern recently.

after that is snout shape, which is probably my favorite part. i love to draw cats with a very pronounced snout, not unlike an oriental shorthair, but i generally slide around between that and a more typical, stubby snout, occasionally veering off into the very square snout of a maine coon. this is also a great spot to determine how sharp you want their jaw to be, which is something that can really help set a design apart! (a couple of snout examples below)

then i usually move onto colors. i like to pick an undertone for the cat first, so i know what sort of pallate to work with. as you can see in the pictures below, ravenstar has a purple/blue undertone, and toadbelly has orange/red undertones

this helps me make all the colors look nicer together, so i don't end up doing something like making a very warm colored cat with blue-toned white patches (which would make the white patches look super cold/too bright), which can be a really cool stylistic choice, but isnt what i tend to go for

once i've drawn out the cats fur shape and picked my colors, i'll move onto the base coat. over my time of having the fallenclan blog i've discovered that having a very simple pattern underneath the normal pattern can add a lot of visual interest to a cat, and make them look less plain.

here's a good example! one of the first cats i designed, oaktuft. their pattern was super basic--one base color, plus the inside of the ears, and then the color of their patterns.

and here's another cat that i designed a little more recently--Shiverspots! you can see that even just the small change of adding a bit of a lighter color to her underbelly made a world off difference. plus my style got a lot more defined lol

i have a couple of different base patterns that i use. here's a few more examples. i've even started to experiment with more than two colors!

once i've got the base done i move onto patterns. this part can definitely be tricky; trying to make a dozen brown tabbies with short fur be distinct can be . a challenge. i like to follow the steps of what i've already designed--a cat with spiky fur might have very sharp, angular stripes, and a cat with curly fur might have much rounder ones.

i think a good rule of thumb for if your pattern feels a little too basic is just to throw some more colors in there. another shade of orange, a more pale tint to some of them, whatever. and don't be afraid to erase it and start again! sometimes a design just won't work, and thats fine :)

the final thing i do is to add little design quirks. a particularly sharp jawline, downturned eyes, a crooked smile or a gap tooth, whatever! little things can really give your cats character.

i really hope that this helped!!!

#fallenasks #fallenreferences #<new tag i guess???#looking back at this i suppose i lied at the beginning . i do have somewhat of a method

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max1461 · 2 months

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Here's my other problem with tumblr discourse: even when I make the context/intended interpretation of a post really explicit, people ignore this context and respond to it in like... for lack of a more charitable term, a discoursebrained way.

So a while ago I made a post about some ethical intuition I had, and at the top I put a huge disclaimer which said something to the effect of "this is just an expression of my feelings, it's not meant to be a philosophically airtight position, please don't take it as such", followed by a readmore and then the actual post. Why did I do that? Because I figured that if I didn't, people would nitpick it in various technical ways that missed the basic point. Lo and behold several people still did that, and when I replied basically restating the disclaimer, one of them said "oh I didn't even see that. Well I think if you post a half-baked thought online I retain the right to nitpick it".

I guess that's true. My blog is public. But the point is that I want to use my blog for certain things and not others, right, that's what I'm attempting to do. And people seem actively resistant to my attempts to guide the discussion on my blog in certain directions, which makes blogging less enjoyable. Of course some people will always do that, that fact doesn't bother me, but it feels like the irrelevant/point-missing discourse so often overshadows the meaningful discourse that I start to feel less of a desire to put in the effort.

Like, the point of issuing that disclaimer was to say, as explicitly as I could manage, "I am trying to have a discussion about feelings and intuitions here, I am aware there might be ways these intuitions are not fully consistent, but that is not the discussion I'm trying to have". But even so explicit an attempt to specify a conversation topic does not work; the discourse machine demands a certain kind of engagement and that is the engagement every post will get no matter what.

I don't want to put the person who missed my disclaimer on blast: it's honestly an error that anyone could make and on its own it's no big deal. If said person is reading this: you didn't do anything wrong and I am not mad at you, to be 100% clear.

It's not a one-off mistake that bothers me, it's the fact that this is how discussions on here so often go that putting in the effort to discuss things productively often feels wasted.

Another example of this that... if you go through my #society tag, you will see a lot of uncertainly in my phrasing. You will see me say a lot of "it seems like we should..." and "we should find some mechanism to..." and so on and so forth. Why? Because, as I've mentioned before, I've gotten a lot out of political discourse on here. When it's good, I actually find it quite good. But it's good when it has a constructive or collaborative tone, when I am bouncing ideas or thoughts back and forth with someone. Generally I am trying to invite this kind of discourse.

Sometimes, again, I say it really explicitly. I don't have them off the top of my head, but I know there are quite a lot of #society posts where I've said something quite straightforwardly to the effect of "here are some niche social/political issues I've been contemplating, does anyone have any ideas for how to respond to them". Obviously there's a spectrum in how explicit I am about this, but even when I'm really clear, most of the responses I get are still "discoursebrained", in the sense that they seem antagonistic and generally more interested in saying "X guys are cool and Y guys are lame" than in productively engaging with a set of ideas.

Even if you disagree with my claims or my premises, there is a way to state that which adds to a conversation instead of shutting down a line of inquiry. I am always trying to invite this type of mutually-productive discussion, and I so rarely achieve it.

Over the years my methods have changed. I come from a background of like, forums for specific nerd interests. Those places are plenty contentious, full of plenty of drama and disagreement. But ultimately, I always still felt that productive discussion was valued above destructive discussion; that because we were all united in a common goal of [doing our nerdy hobby], a comment where you build on someone's idea to say something useful to others or to introduce a new insight was generally valued above one where you just said "you're wrong for such and such reasons, hah!" or even "you're right for such and such reasons".

Coming from this background, I assumed this would also be the case on tumblr, and that I would not have to put in any extra effort to invite this sort of discourse. Alas, this was not true; even long and thought-out replies from respected discoursers often just amount to "here are the guys I agree with and here are the guys I disagree with, for such and such reasons". This is lame and boring and not appealing to me.

So over the years I've tried to be more and more explicit about what types of discussion I am trying to have, I've tried to tee up the sort of interactions I want as much as possible, but it hasn't really worked.

The problem is not strictly the quality or measuredness of the responses or their tone or anything like that. These are the things most people focus on when they critique the discourse, but I think they miss the point. The problem is that most responses don't seem to be intended to advance a mutually-productive discussion, they don't build on the base of what they are responding to, they just make various assertions and statements of allegiance in the vicinity of the material they are responding to and call it a day.

Maybe this is too harsh. I'm sure I do this too. And it's not always bad. Sometimes I use someone else's post openly as a jumping off point to elaborate my own ideas (although I try to be careful about this, and also make it somewhat clear that I am doing it), and this can be productive. I do actually want to hear people's ideas. It's not any single instance of these things I'm complaining about, it's just that discoursey responses seem to drown out all other types of discussion, even when you are really clear about what type of discussion you are trying to have.

So that's my complaint.

#navel gazing

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mybrainproblems · 4 months

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hello, i'm finales georg...

i don't want to further clutter up the notes on this post while responding to the tags below but the persistence of the "finale is short/scenes are missing/extra ad break” conspiracies drives me absolutely bananas when i've watched the finale ten times and have posted about this A LOT trying to clear things up. (disclaimer that yes, i'm a goddamn destiel shipper but i care about Facts above all.)

ok but this is weird because i'd swear the episode was shorter (11 missing scenes!) but okay. maybe we all mandela effected ourselves into #beleving that. because it felt shorter. but i will die on the hill that it had another ad break. i understand this person has the thing #recorded with ads so i am thinking maybe different ad breaks in different idk time zones??? #because the finale did air an hour earlier in canada so maybe idk i am reaching here but maybe different states or whatever had different #ad breaks??? as for the last minute changes - wasn't the cover band asked for permission to use their version of carry on like a week before #the thing aired??? so even if the episode was 42 minutes and had no additional ad break - which i am side eying but lets say all was normal #i will always say they were changing thing until the absolute last minute (carry on my wayward son X 2 #the crew on the bridge which is not only giant 4th wall breaking but also wow they really got all those people in one place in times of #covid???) #anyway. tinfoil hat stays on sorry guys :/ (via @officialmisha)

short and snarky: there are plenty of real and sourced examples of network homophobia and scripted/directed destiel scenes being cut to point to. we don’t need to make this stuff up just bc the finale wasn’t what we wanted. so it’s not the mandela effect — it’s ppl repeating a conspiracy/rumor bc it supports their narrative and it’s easier and more fun to repeat something that supports a narrative they already believe (misha or something destiel was cut) vs the boring act of fact checking.

longer circumspect answer with links bc like many ppl i am in my debunking era and i rewatched "roblox_oof" last night.

like i said. i've watched the finale ten times. i’ve gone over the episode with a fine toothed comb and posted a detailed breakdown of timing marks on my blog. it’s actually extremely obvious where the ad breaks are once you know roughly where to look for them (they have a longer fade to black instead of a quick cut scene change). there’s no room for extra ad breaks and i think this conspiracy/rumor persists in part bc the episode feels so sparse in terms of cast and the fact that the episode’s momentum hits a barn post (and rebar) less than 20min into an hour-long programming block.

also i’m begging ppl to actually look at that timing mark post. it’s very straightforward and i spent a lot of time on it. i don’t care if ppl plagiarize it at this point if it means this conspiracy stops. i've got almost every second accounted for.

the "eleven missing scenes" that you're thinking of are probably from the finale script of questionable authenticity that @spnscripthunt acquired back in 2021 which can be found here. it's dated as the “final draft” from 11 sep 2020 and filming on 15x20 wrapped on 10 sep 2020. as noted at the bottom of this superwiki page "[the] script came from someone claiming to have been the person who did the closed captions for the show in Russia. There are some indications that it possibly may not be authentic, but this has not been confirmed."

if we go with the possibility that this was a transcript meant for subtitles, the "omitted" scenes were probably written but never filmed since it's the "final draft" and not a color revision (blue, green, yellow, etc). unfortunately, i’ve lost track of where i read it and a preliminary duckduckgo search isn’t bringing it up bc there's a program for script writing called final draft, but iirc the “final draft” version of a script is a transcript of what was filmed (e.g. there are parts of that 15x20 script that ended up being deleted scenes on the DVD). spnscripthunt also has an example of a confirmed final draft for 09x02 (funnily enough, also a dabb-penned ep). if anyone can confirm with a source that i have the purpose of the “final draft” version designation wrong, please let me know! i love being proven wrong with Facts.

i do want to acknowledge that the two “final drafts” do look different from each other and the 15x20 one doesn't look like a “real” final draft script since it lacks the revision/versioning dates that a script would normally have on the cover page. it could be that it was intended for subtitles; there's the chance it's been re-typed to anonymize it if there was anything indicating who the "owner" was, tho that seems a wee bit cloak and dagger to me. and again: it's considered of questionable authenticity. there are some things that don't quite line up but oh dear god i don't want to get even further out into the weeds than i already am.

i won't disagree that it's weird as hell that neoni only got asked about using their cover seven days prior to the episode airing (tiktok here). my personal theory is that they were hoping to get a more expensive song (maybe a zepp song, idk) and didn't manage to secure the rights in the end. again: this is pure conjecture on my part! but i could absolutely see someone working on the show hearing neoni’s cover and liking it and then maybe they were using it as a placeholder until it got down to the wire and they had to make a call/send the ep to networks. because yes, it is baffling they played a song and then a cover of it with only a 40 second break between. (i do actually really like the neoni cover! the placement is just weird and i think it could have worked if they had the kansas version at the beginning and closed with neoni's full cover.)

as to the 4th wall break COVID stuff: robert singer talked with variety magazine about filming the last two episodes and the logistics of filming during a pandemic. whether they should have been filming during a pandemic is a separate discussion but their use of office vs set pods, strict quarantining and daily testing meant that they had zero positive tests in the month they were filming (18 aug to 10 sep). so given all that, i personally don’t think it’s totally out of pocket to have everyone standing outdoors on a bridge for maybe an hour to get a drone shot of them together. (i won’t get into incubation periods and viral load, but if everyone tested negative that day and every day for a month prior, it was a fairly low risk scene to film outdoors and for all we know everyone was masked until the last possible second. there were plenty of outdoor masked protests in 2020 that weren't superspreader events.)

and before anyone brings up “but misha was in vancouver!” i know someone who looked into it and they said no dice, nothing matched up between the backgrounds in those pics and places in vancouver. his statements about “us” going back to set over the summer were pretty generic in hindsight and “we”/"us" could be him or the spn crew generally. unfortunately i’m not able to find those tweets but the use of “we” was likely so as not to give away he wouldn’t be returning to set. (bc we were absolutely casbaited!) and bc it comes up a lot: the "onion field pic" was from when they were filming 15x17 and was not taken while filming 15x19 and 15x20.

besides, it would be ridiculous to go through the financial and logistical headaches of bringing someone into the country to film during a pandemic, only to cut their scenes in the end! honestly, the script is pretty tight when the scenes are given so much breathing room! the only thing i could see being further cut down is The Monologue and even then, i don’t think there was any intent to cut it down given it was filmed in fairly long takes.

i’ve said it many times before, but i believe the finale was fucked long before they returned to set. walker got the green light in sep 2019 and it was being marketed heavily as a “follow on” show to spn given jared’s involvement. the demo they were courting for walker has little to no overlap with the demo for destiel fans — why would they want a finale that catered to a demo they weren't interested in courting? we just went through a historic double strike that exposed so much of the rot of business interests overriding creative vision. this isn't completely unfounded conjecture.

i will not apologize for the length of this bc i wanted to be thorough, but i do want to give context that i think the reason these conspiracies and rumors grind my gears so much is because anyone can fact check all of this. the truth is out there and absolutely none of it is that hard to find. the most time consuming/difficult part of this was finding someone who had a DVR’d copy of the finale from when it aired live and they actually found me themselves after i’d been low key asking around for a year!

and like. i get it. conspiracies are fun. but there are so many sourced instances of network homophobia and destiel being cut that it's like. why is this something folks are hanging onto? the cw is notorious for having upper level meddling with finales bc there's a follow-on show they want to shuffle fans along to and spn is no exception.

#this is my personal bugbear / debunking hill to die on #it's so easy to disprove and has been disproved for so long at this point and it just keeps. on. getting. repeated.#finales georg #destiel #spn #unfortch most destiel folks don't venture outside the ship harbor and this has been LONG debunked by w/incest blogs #as in like. days after the rumor first started circulating in nov/dec 2020. (and it takes next to nothing!)#i'm a more recent arrival to the fandom (feb 2021) which i think gives me a bit more distance being able to watch the finale 10 times lol #but like. it is RIGHT THERE. folks don't even have to watch the ep. just pull it up on netflix/DVD/whatever to see the runtime.#the 'new post' button is right there. screencap my post and dismiss the effort i've put in somewhere i don't have to see it.#fandom debunking #i heard tommy tallarico was the first american hired to work on supernatural (his mother is very proud)

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transgenderpolls · 3 months

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Submission Guidelines/Disclaimers

First, things to keep in mind when you submit:

there is a limit of 12 answers for polls, and on this blog one of those answers will always be 'show results,' to allow for people that the poll doesn't apply to to see without skewing data. so in reality you have a maximum of 11.

there's also an 80-character limit on the options

SO, if you go over those limits, know that I will take it into my own hands to decide which answers to omit and/or how to re-word it to fit the limit.

even otherwise, expect that the wording of your submission may be slightly altered in order to be more inclusive (when it doesn't affect the data), or because i think you missed an option that you probably meant to include, or just to make it sound less clunky. if you have an issue with any changes upon posting, i'm happy to hear you out.

it'll likely be about a 4-5 day wait between the time you submit and the time it gets posted, with the current number of submissions i have + my own polls

if your poll is addressing a very small group, don't be surprised or angry when the 'see results' poll is the biggest. that needs to be there to keep data from being skewed by anyone's curiosity.

Base Guidelines For Submitting:

poll must be related to being trans. it doesn't have to be exclusively directed at trans people, but if you want cis people to be allowed to answer, please make that clear in your submission. otherwise i'll default to it being a trans-only poll.

it CAN be directed at a specific type of trans person, such as trans men/women, non-binary people, trans lesbians, trans moc, etc - literally you can address any specific trans group you want, just make sure to say so.

it CAN relate to sex, just try to be tasteful about it.

What would make me NOT post a submission:

if it's an opinion poll about the validity of any particular type of trans person. "validity" is a moot topic and i'm not going to encourage it, and in any case i'd like the focus of this blog to be about recording experiences (real, undeniable, forever in stone) rather than opinions (always changing, meaningless)

if it's something like "trans people: do you like pineapple on pizza?" or some other question that doesn't actually have anything to do with being trans. if you wanna send something like this, make your case for why it's relevant that the poll is directed at trans people.

if it's some other obviously offensive shit, obviously. no racism or whatnot here.

FAQ:

Who counts as trans?/Can I vote on a poll for trans people if I'm nonbinary?

We self-define here, so if you consider yourself trans, you're trans. Non-binary is definitionally under the trans umbrella - though you're not obligated to consider yourself trans if you don't relate to a trans experience.

Why isn't there an option for X?/You missed an option.

Sometimes I may genuinely miss an option, but 9 times out of 10 the lack of the option is either due to the poll limits on tumblr, or because it goes against the point of the poll. For example, if the question begins with "If you're on HRT," then "i'm not on HRT" isn't going to be an option. If the prerequisite of the poll doesn't apply to you, then what you click is "see results." If it's something a little less concrete, polls will always include some kind of "other" option anyway.

Can you get rid of the 'see results' button? Or can you not include it on this particular poll? I only want X people to respond. This poll is ONLY for X people.

If a poll is on this blog, it's for everyone, questioning and simply curious people included. It's also not going to stop curious people from clicking if there's no 'see results' button. It ensures that the data doesn't get skewed, and gathering data is what polls are for. It doesn't hurt you to see a big see results bar. The data is still there. If the bar does wind up obscuring more significant data, that means the poll was addressing too small of a group to begin with. And that's NOT the end of the world. This blog is far from the only place where you can get information about other trans people's experiences.

#mine

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shychick-52 · 4 months

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'Day of the Sorcerers' is an even deeper study of Cedric's complex, tormented character than I thought at first. Now, there were a TON of amazing callbacks and symbolism in his incredible song (My Evil Dreams) to his friendship with Sofia and his painful conflict over whether their friendship or his evil dreams were ultimately more important. Here's two examples of incredible symbolism (one is from the song, the other is later in the episode)...

During his fantasy of becoming king, the rubies in the crown are clearly the same rubies Sofia made/gave him way back in 'Cedric's Apprentice':

I think the rubies in the crown represent (like the song in general) how deeply torn he is over his ambitions and her friendship. And it was a good callback to how similarly torn he was back in 'Cedric's Apprentice' after Sofia left him the rubies she transformed with his guidance (arranging them into a heart shape)... back then, he only just started to see her as a friend; what makes the song/symbolism in My Evil Dreams so powerful is how far their friendship had evolved since then and how much she's come to mean to him, which he can't deny.

Later, when Cedric freezes the rest of the royal family and takes the throne, it's not Roland's throne he takes and transforms, oddly enough- it's Sofia's:

I was talking to @bettathanyou about it recently. We think a possibility is that the symbolism reflects the tragedy of Cedric originally choosing his misguided ambition over her friendship, and the grim reality of that choice. In his song "My Evil Dreams" he chooses his ambition over friendship and over Sofia, and you see the grim reality that at least in that moment, Cedric truly has chosen himself over her.

And then Betta went on to add that it also likely reflects Cedric's true desires deep down, which isn't power, but friendship and love and acceptance and support- all of which he's always had in abundance in Sofia (but always forced himself to believe it wasn't enough, which was part of his tragedy). Cedric always claimed he wanted to be king, but he doesn't even take THE KING'S THRONE! He takes Sofia's throne, and we all know what Sofia represents- love, kindness, friendship, respect! All the things Cedric truly wanted, so of course he would take HER place and morph it into his own!

I absolutely agreed with Betta. And then I summed it up by suggesting that it perfectly reflects how even tho on the surface he appeared to choose his ambitions over her friendship, deep down (subconsciously) he still valued and craved her friendship above all.

And this is something else I noticed ONLY last night after watching this episode again. Cedric transformed Sofia's throne (and the surrounding pillars) to be raven-themed, symbolizing his "loyal" familiar and friend. But as we know, Wormwood never cared about Cedric or had any confidence in his abilities- he only cared about serving a powerful, evil master and becoming powerful by association, which was the only reason he ever stuck by Cedric and did all he could to help him steal Sofia's amulet. It's also why he so obviously manipulated Cedric in the song 'My Evil Dreams' when he was so torn, pushing him to choose vengeance and power over Sofia's friendship: "The princess may be nice to you / But what about the rest? / All those who point and laugh at you / Must see that you're the best!" (And ofc, Wormwood would eventually abandon Cedric, because he finally realized that Cedric turning over a new leaf meant he was of no more use to his own plans for power).

So, the symbolism in having raven-themed decor in/around what was once Sofia's throne is that it represents the difference between his relationships with Sofia and Wormwood- the purity of Sofia's true friendship and the toxicity of his relationship with Wormwood.

@bettathanyou @fantadym @moonypears-blog

#cedric the sorcerer #cedric the great #princess sofia #headcanon #character analysis #character development

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utilitycaster · 1 month

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Fjord

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

2. Favorite thing: so much, but I particularly like how good and effective he is at herding the cats of the Mighty Nein. There are many reasons why they bonded so tightly, but a factor was that Fjord early on was insistent that they figure out ways to work together. You can tell how carefully his backstory was constructed; part of why Sabian and Vandran are such beloved figures despite almost no screentime is because you can get such a clear an outline of them from Fjord’s behaviors and discussions that is honestly more thorough than that of some fully introduced NPCs. Getting back to the original point, you can tell from early on that this is someone accustomed to team dynamics under pressure (ie, a sailor). In general, everything we learned about Fjord, as it was revealed, made me go “ohhhhhhh yeah that makes sense,” which is in my opinion the sign of incredibly skilled storytelling and character building.

3. This is tough; this is a character I truly love and I am always team “this person’s flaws are an important part and erasing them means you do not fucking get it," so like, I am in favor of his perfectionism and control issues and closed-off-ness and in case it's not clear from my Midst blogging and which characters I'm drawn to there, nor my enjoyment of Vex, a particular vibe of which he is one of the best examples. I also, admittedly, am defensive because while people watching C2 now without all the fandom discourse of C2 tend to enjoy him, he got done rather dirty by the fandom and was the recipient of basically every single thing I dislike that fandoms do (he is not alone; Keyleth got this with the added complication of rampant misogyny, and Veth got shades of this too, and all have similarly been received much better by people watching without fandom influence). So, for example, while I would love to have seen more of his backstory in-game, I am hesitant to say that because, well, ever notice how Caduceus was sidelined by the party and we didn't explore his past but Fjord avoided his backstory? Ever notice how Caleb's asshole behaviors are because of trauma but Fjord (grew up in a Dickensian orphanage, bullied over his race to the point of willing self-harm from a young age, betrayed, stabbed, and left to drown at which point he was forced into a warlock pact he didn't remember) is just an asshole? (I'm saying this as someone who very much likes Caduceus and Caleb, but this was blatant from the fandom, and pretty constant too.) So to be clear I think he has plenty of flaws, as a complex character, but I do not dislike those flaws as canonical aspects of him.

Anyway. The joke but also kind of true answer is, as Laura herself pointed out, why did he wait 7 entire years to propose to Jester.

25. I liked him from the start but Beau was actually my favorite in early C2! I liked the top table (and what faint impressions I had of Yasha) from the start, but Fjord had the Percy and Vex trait of "guy who can act normal in a social situation when no one else can" for the first stretch of the campaign, which meant he was high up there but didn't move up in my estimation until he started to reveal how civilizedly (not a real word, but vitally important as a modifier here for a number of reasons) unhinged and insecure he was.

#answered #Anonymous #there's like...a list of Reasons Why I Decided To Pick Up The Spiked Bat In C3 #and the way the fandom treated fjord in C2 is like half of it #cr tag #character ask meme #cr discourse #i suspect this got discourse-y enough to warrant this in the middle

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yelenasdiary · 2 years

Text

Lifetime Crush

Pairing: Kate Bishop x Reader

Summary: Kate has been your crush since you could remember, she amazes you in every way and sometimes you found yourself flirting with her, thinking she felt the same until she brought her boyfriend to meet you.

| Fluff & Angst | 1.7K | Light swearing |18+ Light Smut!

AC: You guys always have such great ideas for requests! I love this one!!

*This is a request from my old blog*

Katherine Elizabeth Bishop better known as Kate Bishop or the woman who makes your heart skip a beat just when you hear her name. Let’s just go back a minute, Kate and you have been best friends since kindergarten, your mothers being the best of friends, so it was no surprise that you and Kate become best friends. Growing up with Kate was full of laughter and fun, she made school bare able, she always managed to make you laugh if you were down in the blues or bed ridden with a winter cold. The two of you spent most of your time together, weekends and school holidays were usually the two of you having sleep overs and going on little adventures.

When puberty hit and you were exploring your sexuality like any normal teenager you quickly discovered that Kate meant more to you than just a friendship. She was everything to do you and nobody ever came close to catching your eye the way she did. Although, scared it would ruin the years of friendship you kept it to yourself and acted as if your feelings for the brunette never existed. Here and there she’d flirt with you which confused you, not knowing if she was just playing around or being serious. She knew you liked girls and she never judged you for it.

“Honestly I could treat you so much better than her” Kate comments as you boost about the new selfie one of your favourite celebrities posted on Instagram. “I don’t doubt that for a second but she’s so fucking pretty!” you replied, playing along with Kate’s comment.

“What exactly is your type?” she asked. You froze wanting to turn to her and say her name, but you knew you couldn’t. “Uhm, honestly, I haven’t thought about it much. I think if you have a wonderful sense of humour, a big heart and aren’t up yourself and disrespectful then I’d be interested I guess?” you looked up from your phone.

“Come on, Y/n you’ve gotta have a type” she said, “like, I love a man who dreamy eyes, beautiful hair, and lips to die for!” she gave you an example, her words hurt knowing you weren’t her type. “Oh. Well, I guess brunettes with captivating eyes” you replied. Kate rolled over to her stomach while she flipped the page of her magazine before looking at you, “so would I be your type?” she asked suddenly.

You felt your heart skip a beat once again. She was looking at you with a soft smile and again you so badly wanted to say yes but you held back. “Well, you’re my best friend” you mumbled, “wouldn’t it be weird?” you asked. Kate shook her head, “I don’t think so. I mean we’re too good of friends to let a relationship get in the way, right?”

“Right” you returned your attention to your phone. It was moments like that when she battered her eyes at you and asked such questions that made you think that maybe she liked you the same way, but you didn’t want to ask her and if she said no than you’d be so embarrassed.

“Oh, I forgot to ask, can Cameron come over for movie tonight?” she asked you. A name you’ve never heard before, “Who?” you asked. “Oh, I totally forgot, he’s a guy I’ve been seeing” she spoke. Your heart sunk, breaking into a million pieces but who were you to say no? “Uh, sure, I don’t see why not” you threw a fake smile her way. She jumped off your bed and stepped out of your room to call him.

----

“Y/n, this is Cameron” Kate introduced you to the tallish stranger. He was exactly what Kate had described earlier. Beautiful hair, dreaming eyes and lips she would die for.

“It’s nice to finally meet you” he smiled, his teeth perfectly in line. “Kate doesn’t shut up about you” he joked. “Oh, she’ll chew your ear off you” you joked with a fake smile. Kate noticed your smile disappearing rather quickly.

“Hun, why don’t you go make some popcorn for us?” Kate pointed towards the kitchen before he followed her requests.

“Y/n, what’s wrong?” Kate turned to you once Cameron was no longer in sight.

“Huh? Nothing” you smiled once more, fake of course.

“You’re lying. Do you not like him?” she asked.

“What? No, Kate he seems great. I’m just tired and got a headache” you lied. Although Cameron was nice, you were just salty.

“Are you sure? Because I can ask him to leave” she offered.

“Don’t be silly! It’s fine, he’s great” you walked off into the living room before she could speak another word.

As the movie went on, you couldn’t keep your eyes from glaring over at the couple, his arm around her while she interlocked her fingers with his. The giggles she made when he made a joke or when he would kiss the top of her head from time to time send you into a pit of jealously. Unable to take it anymore you stood from the armchair you sat in.

“I’m going to call it a night. It was nice to meet you Cameron, Kate, I’ll talk to you tomorrow” you smiled at the two before making your way to Kate’s front door.

“Y/n, wait” Kate said from behind you. You turned around and looked at her. “Somethings wrong, talk to me” she spoke.

“Kate, nothing is wrong I just don’t want to be around the two of you, enjoy your night” you grabbed your coat from the hanger by the door.

“What do you mean?” she frowned.

“I’m happy for you, I am, I’m glad you found the guy with beautiful hair and lips to die for. I just don’t want to be around it; I hope you understand” you explained.

“I’m sorry, you’re upset because I have a boyfriend? That’s not my problem Y/n. I can’t believe you’re being childish right now” she scoffed.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow” you opened the door.

“Don’t bother!” Kate spat, clothing the door after you.

You got home and could help but cry to yourself. You let your jealous get the best of you and made a fool of yourself.

----

Kate tried to call you multiple times a week after that little argument you had with her but ashamed of yourself and the way you acted; you’d been ignoring her. Letting her calls go to voice mail, her texts go unread and pretending you weren’t home when you heard her knocking even though you swore, she could hear your TV on.

All her texts were the same, “are you okay?”, “please call me, I’m sorry”, “Y/n please don’t ignore me” etc.

“Y/n are you here?” you heard Kate’s voice travel from your apartment’s front door. Then it hit you, you gave her a spare key! Sliding out of your bed you walked out and met her in the hall.

“What are doing Kate?” you sighed, waiting for her to lecture you.

“I’m worried about you, you’ve been ignoring me for weeks” she explained, you walked by her on the way to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, I made a fool of myself, and I didn’t want you feel like it was your fault” you explained.

“You didn’t make a fool of yourself, you’re my best friend. I love you no matter way” she said, “I just want to know what happened” she added.

“I can’t” you mumbled. Kate walked over to you, “you can. What happened” she repeated.

Looking to her eyes, you lost yourself like you always had, she was the woman with beautiful hair, dreamy eyes, and lips you would die for. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship Kate” you spoke.

Little did you know that Kate knew you better than you thought, she always knew you had a crush on her, but only recently did she notice how serious it was for you. She found herself becoming distance with Cameron and eventually told him things wouldn’t work. She loved how you cared more for your friendship than a relationship so she took it upon herself to show you nothing could ruin what you two had.

Kate’s lips crashed against yours before you had time to register what was happening. You pulled her closer as she deepened the kiss. Her tongue exploring your mouth while her hands cupped your face, pushing you against the fridge deepening the kiss even more.

“Kate” you whispered her lips once you both pulled away for air. “Shhh” she replied before her lips attacked your neck, biting ever softly. Your hands roamed her body as you moaned softly. Once she left a few marks she spung you around, lifting you up onto the counter before lifting your shirt over your head.

“I was stupid” she spoke before attacking your neck again, your right hand running through her hand, “I’m sorry” she said between kisses from your neck to your collarbone. “Kate” you said, cupping her face to look at you. Her hand ran up your exposed thigh. You’d only been wearing an oversized t-shirt and panties. “What is love?” she asked, her hand getting closer to your dripping core. “Are you sure about this?” you asked.

She moved your panties to the side, running her fingers through your folds causing you to moan. “What’s your type?” she whispered before kissing your lips again. “You” you said against her lips. She rubbed circles on your bundle of nerves pulling another moan from you. “Kate, say it” you grabbed her arm, stopping her actions. Kate looked you in your eyes, “I want you; I like you; I didn’t see it before, but nobody makes me smile you do, nobody gives me butterflies like you do, I hated you ignoring me all because you were scared to tell me how you felt” she explained.

“You knew?”

“You confirmed it when you left my apartment that night”

“This isn’t going to ruin anything?” you asked, just to be sure.

“If it was, I wouldn’t have my hand down there” she smirked.

You crashed your lips on hers once more, you felt her smile against your lips. “Not here though” you said.

“Bedroom?”

“yes” you smiled.

Taglist: @red1culous | @bentleywolf29 | @natasha-belova | @kiwiana145 |

#kate bishop #kate bishop x reader #hawkeye #marvel #fanfiction

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takerfoxx · 3 months

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All right, one of the main things I talk about on this blog are ships, so here's a quick rundown of my favorites.

Kyoko Sakura/Sayaka Miki (Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Ah, KyoSaya, my beloved. What can I say about them? Let's start with how they are each other's perfect foils, with several important similarities to draw them together while several major differences to keep that spicy clashing. They are the perfect example of soulmates, two characters who, when in opposition, constantly get worse and worse, but when they're on the same page, they bring out each other's best qualities. Not bad for a relationship that started with mutual murder attempts and had a murder/suicide as its midpoint!

Canon? Eh, sort of. Obviously, PMMM likes to skirt the line, but they definitely knew what they were doing. So, not officially confirmed canon, more of, "And they were roommates!"

2. Suletta Mercury/Miorine Rembran (Gundam: the Witch from Mercury)

You know a pairing is strong when it's the most recent one but also rocketed up to the number two spot.

Suletta and Miorine are opposites attracting in its purest form. The socially anxious and all loving country girl and the cold and cynical corporate heiress, these two are such fundamentally different people that if it weren't for the bizarre circumstances that brought them together, they probably wouldn't even be friends. But they were brought together, and as the grew to understand one another and got closer, both they and we found just how much they had in common, and how perfectly they complemented one another, with each of their strengths covering the other's weaknesses.

Canon? Absolutely. They're married, bitches! No further interpretation needed!

3. Shinji Ikari/Asuka Langley/Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

The one poly ship I am absolutely feral over, AsuShinRei (or the Israfel Special) are an example of a ship that cannot work in canon, would absolutely be a terrible idea in canon, but man, don't you wish you lived in the world where it would work? For as toxic, avoidant, and abusive these three are to each other, their respective traumas and personalities are such that if they could get just the slightest bit better and reach out to one another instead of pushing each other away, they would click so wonderfully well. Alas, it is not meant to be.

Canon? Lol, no.

4. Princess Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

I debated putting this one so high up over the heavy hitters that it sits atop upon, but at the end of the day, as a grumpy autistic introvert, these two just meant so much to me. It's like each represents different aspects of my personality, and watching them interact made me feel seen in a way I didn't even know I needed.

Canon? Kind of. At the very least, they're extremely close friends with a possibility for romance.

5. Luz Noceda/Amity Blight (The Owl House)

I had a real hard time choosing whether this or Catradora should take the number five spot, but while Catradora has that wonderful enemies to lovers with so much delicious angst, Lumity edges it out by being the rare pairing that got together at the midpoint, letting us actually see their relationship build and grow instead of ending on them getting together, and it was wonderful.

Canon? Absolutely.

6. Adora/Catra (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

But let's not take anything away from Catradora. I love enemies to lovers. It's that spice of conflict between two people that are at constant odds but also deeply understand one another better than their friends do that makes all the difference, and them being former best friends just pushes it over the edge. You can feel how much they care, no matter how often or how violently they fought, and Catra being pulled back from the brink and the two finally being honest with their feelings was so cathartic.

Canon? Hell yeah.

7. Nanoha Tamamachi/Fate Testarossa (Lyrical Nanoha)

An oldie but a goodie. Nanoha and Fate are probably my first real ship, and set the standard for many of my ships to come. Enemies to lovers, close personal relationship, battle couple, whole nine yards. And while it predates me truly getting into shipping, meaning I'm not as gaga over them as I am the others, you have got to respect those who paved the way.

Canon? Basically. I mean, the time period and culture prevented them from outright saying it, but come on.

8. Marisa Kirisame/Alice Margatroid (Touhou)

To be honest, I don't ship/ship these two like I do the others. More of, I read a lot of really touching doujins about these two when I was first getting into Touhou and I like their dynamic. But like NanoFate, you have to give it up to the OG's.

Canon? Nah.

And any other ships fall into "I liked them when I was a kid, but feel really weird talking about them as an adult" or "MC x Best Girl in a harem series, but does that really count?" or stuff that I like but don't feel strongly enough about them to include.

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samwisethewitch · 1 year

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I know this isn't the theme of my blog but as 1.) a genderqueer person, who 2.) has a media studies degree, I want to talk real quick about JK Rowling, the idea of separating art from the artist, and why you literally cannot consume media created by JKR without contributing to real harm against real people.

First let's talk about Death of the Author, because I see a lot of people misusing it online. Death of the Author is a theory from postmodern literary criticism that basically says that an author's intentions and personal beliefs shouldn't impact how readers interpret their work. Basically, this means that the author's own interpretation of the work is just as valid as any reader's interpretation, and vice versa.

Critics who subscribe to Death of the Author believe a work should only be judged by what actually appears in the text, not by what the author later claims it "really meant." So if, for example, an author becomes radicalized after publishing her books and later claims that her racist, pseudo-fascist villains were secretly a metaphor for trans people, Death of the Author would tell you that interpretation is utter bullshit and doesn't magically become canon just because the author said it.

I see a lot of people online equate Death of the Author with the concept of "separating art from the artist," but these are separate concepts. Death of the Author just means that the author's own interpretation of their work isn't any more valid than the audience's. Separating art from artist means we as an audience can appreciate a person's artistic achievements without condoning all of their actions and beliefs. So, for example, I can appreciate that HP Lovecraft revolutionized horror fiction while also acknowledging that he was horrifically racist -- and me condemning his racism doesn't change how influential his work was.

Setting aside that there's a huge debate over whether it's even possible to separate art from artist, the main difference between HP Lovecraft and JKR is that Lovecraft is dead and has in fact been dead for so long that his work is in the public domain. That means no matter how many times I read his work, watch films based on his stories, or talk about his role in the history of modern horror fiction, he doesn't make a penny. Whether I engage with his work or not does not change the fact that Lovecraft is dead and is not getting any money from me.

JKR very much is making money off people engaging with her work, and she's openly using that money to hurt people. (See here, here, here) As long as she's raking in Harry Potter dollars, she is going to keep turning around and funneling them into hate.

I don't want this post to get too long, so here's a quick rundown of some of the defenses I've seen and why they don't work:

"I only watch the movies on streaming services! I've already paid for the subscription, so it doesn't matter what I watch with it." That's not how streaming services work. Streaming services track views to determine what content is worth throwing more money at. This is why "hate watching" makes no sense. Streaming services don't care if you like what you watch. They only care about how many viewers it brings in, and if something gets a lot of watchers, they're going to renew contracts, greenlight sequels and spinoffs, and give more royalties to the creator.

"I only watch the movies when they run on cable." Again, not how this works. Like streaming services, cable networks track views to determine what programs are bringing in the most viewers. The reason these networks run the HP movies so often is because they know people will tune in to watch, which makes them more money. They're going to keep paying for rights to run these movies until they stop bringing in viewers.

"I checked out the books from my library! I thought we were supposed to support our local libraries!" In general, yes, libraries are great, but they also operate on supply and demand. That means if books are consistently checked out and have a long wait list, the library is much more likely to order new copies to meet the demand.

"I grew up on Harry Potter."/"It's my favorite book series."/Other appeals to nostalgia. Thankfully, the HP books genuinely don't actually do anything that hadn't already been done well, if not better, by other authors. If you're craving fictional wizard schools, allow me to recommend Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Last but not least, I want to remind everyone that JKR also publishes adult fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Don't buy, rent, or borrow Galbraith books either.

#transphobia tw #transphobia #antisemitsm tw #antisemitism #terfs fuck off #terfs dni #fuck jkr #jk rowling #harry potter #robert galbraith #books #bookblr #media #lgbtq+#queer

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disabledunitypunk · 7 months

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I wanna talk about a real problem in marginalized communities, but especially the disabled community.

The conflation of "privilege" with "oppression".

Here's two examples that I'm directly pulling from experience.

I am not intellectually disabled. I have fluctuating cognitive disabilities, but I have privilege over people with intellectual disabilities.

I also have significantly disabling chronic illness to the point where at times I have not been able to engage with hobbies due to being too sick. Disabled people who are less sick and more able to pursue activities they enjoy have privilege over me.

It's something that's not neat and simple, either. An intellectually disabled person who is able to engage with hobbies vs me? We would essentially both have privilege over each other on different axes. You can't then determine that one of us is ultimately generally more privileged than the other, because that's not how it works. Like if you have privilege x and they have privilege y, it isn't x-y=positive or negative privilege. You can't "solve" that equation because x and y aren't variables that can be substituted for number values.

So, first taking the example of hobbies - a recent controversial post we made that invited harassment. People were quick to tell us what our own experience was and that we weren't experiencing ableism - because they had had the privilege of never experiencing it. That was lateral ableism, and not okay.

Note: There may be people who DIDN'T have that privilege who were also saying the same - though everyone I saw talking about this specifically mentioned their ability to do hobbies, and that was who the main part of my response was directed at. However, I even specifically responded briefly to any people who were doing that - much more gently - to basically say that if they were being assimilationist out of fear that they didn't have to be, and to remind them that they aren't bad if they can't have hobbies.

On the other hand, way back when I first started this blog, I talked about reclaiming the r slur as someone who had significant trauma from being called it as a kid. I talked about how the reason I was called it was specifically because of my social issues due to my developmental disorders while being a gifted kid.

To make it clear - I was called the r slur for not understanding social cues and rules as a "smart" kid, because that's one of the things it meant to them. They weren't insulting my intellectual intelligence, but rather my social ability - at most, you could argue they were insulting my social intelligence - which having a low amount of WAS actually a feature of my disabilities.

I also spoke about how I wasn't reclaiming it to continue treating it as a bad thing, to insult even just myself, but rather to say "so what if I am? that's not bad". Y'know, the whole point of reclaiming.

I was told what my own experience was and that I was experiencing misdirected ableism because they were actually insulting traits I didn't have and therefore they were actually hurting intellectually disabled people but not me. Not because they had the privilege not to experience what I did - but because me having privilege was treated as the right to tell me I had never experienced the ableism they had.

They were treated not just as the experts on ableism against intellectual disabilities - which they are, of course - but also the experts on ableism against people who specifically DON'T have intellectual disabilities when it takes the same or similar forms as ableism against intellectual disabilities.

We all know that bigots don't wait to find out your correct identity before attacking you. We all know that there are identities commonly mistaken for others, that can set you up for repeated abuse over an identity you don't have. But what we refuse to acknowledge is that there are types of bigotry that can manifest identically in some ways for two different identities - and that anyone who experiences that bigotry is an expert on it and deserves to have a place in the conversation about it.

Someone with intellectual disabilities fundamentally cannot know that people without intellectual disabilities DON'T face the same kind of ableism on the basis of other disabilities that person DOES have because they have not ever lived that experience, just as, say, I couldn't say that an intellectually disabled person never faces specific kinds of ableism I face due to being a wheelchair user, because I am not intellectually disabled.

What I can say: "I face these types of ableism because of these disabilities and this is how they manifest."

What I can't say, because it is erasure and lateral ableism no matter my relative privilege: "You don't face this type of ableism for [disability I don't have] because it's exclusive to [disability I have] and any ableism that manifests that way is actually an attack on me."

Fundamentally, you cannot say that someone with a different disability DOESN'T face a specific type of ableism because you are not an authority on the experience of that disability. You are an expert on the experience of your disability. You cannot claim exclusive experiences because to do so, you would have to experience the disabilities you don't have while also not experiencing the ones you do. You would have to verify experiences that you simply don't have - in multiple places and contexts and presentations and as multiple people.

Oh wait, there's a simpler way to do that.

Listen to people about their experiences of their own disabilities and the ableism they face for it.

(Plaintext: Listen to people about their experiences of their own disabilities and the ableism they face for it.)

It's not ableist to say "no, you aren't the only disability that faces this ableism" or "no, it isn't targeted at you when it's aimed at me" or "actually, bigots also use [slur] to mean [definition specifically attacking my disability]". It is however ableist to tell people that because they have an axis of privilege over you, they can't talk about their own oppression on an entirely different axis because you've decided that experiencing similar oppression means you're the only person who experiences said oppression.

Or to put it more simply: Experiencing a type of ableism does NOT give you the right to speak over others when they say they experience it too for different reasons. Having something bad happen to you as a group does not give you proof that you're the ONLY group it happens to.

"X is caused by y, therefore x is ONLY caused by y" is quite literally a logical fallacy. It's called fallacy of the single cause (at least it's a nice obvious name, honestly).

This is the same discourse as cripplepunk. In fact, it's the primary motivator behind most slur discourse, and the reason why I'd honestly rather have blanket permission issued within oppressed groups I'm in* for everyone to reclaim in good faith** any slur that affects that group.

**What does "reclaim in good faith" mean? It means reclaiming only for self-usage, and only for self-usage specifically in a positive way - so no "ugh, I'm such a useless cripple", for example. True reclamation does require use of it against you/your disability in the first place, however, part of not being a cop about it is assuming that anyone who uses it in a positive sense for self-labeling has in fact experienced that. In short, it involves believing people about the oppression they explicitly say or imply through their reclamation that they've experienced.

*Note: I am specifically NOT a person of color or a member of an oppressed ethnoreligion/ethnicity, and recognize that dynamics of racial and ethnic oppression may be unique in some ways. However in disabled, queer, plural, alterhuman, and other marginalized spaces I do occupy, these are my feelings.

It is lateral ableism to tell another disabled person that they haven't experienced a type of ableism or didn't experience it due to their ACTUAL disability and therefore have no right to reclaim what was used to hurt them.

It is ableism to say "the bullet meant to shoot you, that hit you, was designed in part to hurt me, and therefore any time someone is shot with it, it was actually an attack on me. Hand over the bullet and never keep it or use it as you please again or you're basically shooting me with a different bullet." (For those that struggle with metaphors, the bullets are ableism.)

It's ducks saying that deer have no right to reclaim shotgun shells. Yes, slugs are more common than buckshot, but there's literally a type of the same exact kind of ammo designed for use on the deer too. In just the same way, some slurs and other forms of ableism are more typically used against one group but even have a (sometimes identical) variant specifically designed for use against other groups. "Mental cripple" and "retard" for sociodevelopmental disabilities are prime examples of this.

This is a wider problem in marginalized communities. "If you have any privilege at all, ever, you need to sit down and shut up about your own experiences. Only our least privileged members are the experts on any of our experiences. They make the rules about which of your own experiences you're allowed to talk about and what you're allowed to say about them." What's important to note, is that this is coming as much from the members with said privilege as the ones without.

And yes, this is an EXTREMELY insular community issue, but it's not mutually exclusive to the fact that large portions of the community DON'T listen to the less privileged ones about their own experiences! Just like the hobbies example (which, I know people may dismiss or cry 'false equivalence', but I want to again note that it primarily affects bedbound people who are too sick to do things they enjoy, and therefore less privileged by any metric).

I specifically referenced that example because it's exactly more privileged members speaking over less privileged members about the less privileged members' OWN experiences.

In fact, I'd say it's in fact a RESPONSE to that kind of being spoken over. It's an extreme pendulum swing in the other direction - "you need to shut up and LISTEN to us about our experiences". Which, if it stopped there, would be perfect! It's the part that follows it - "therefore, if we experience something, we're the ONLY people who are allowed to talk about it and the only people who even experience it".

I've seen time and time again, too, that even if you conclusively prove you experience something, the goalposts just get moved.

"Well, you experience it but not systemically."

"Okay, but you experienced it less."

"It didn't hurt you as much because it was meant to hurt me instead."

"Well, you're probably reclaiming it as an insult." (despite no proof of such, or even proof to the contrary)

"Well, if you experienced it systemically and it did hurt you and you experienced it just as much, it's actually because of [other identity that we begrudgingly acknowledge is affected] and not [identity that you say actually caused you to experience it] and it therefore isn't even [same type of bigotry] but [completely different type] instead."

"Well, even if you experienced it systemically as much as I did, it still hurts me more because it's about my identity and not yours, even though you were the one literally being attacked with it."

And if all that fails it's "no, that's not why you experienced it" or "no, you didn't experience that".

All examples I touched on earlier in this post, but still important to talk about specifically.

The person being hurt by a type of ableism, including slurs, is the person who they are being used against, period. It doesn't matter if they have "the right" disability. It doesn't matter what group the slurs or ableism is primarily used against. The bigots are TRYING to hurt the person they are specifically using the bigotry against, and that person is the one who ends up hurt by it. Full stop, no argument.

And if someone is hurt by a word, especially repeatedly, they have a right to reclaim it. Period.

At the end of the day, does this matter all that much? It's just community microaggressions, right?

Here's my feelings on it: I'm never going to let petty infighting get in the way of fighting for total disabled liberation. Just because some individuals are guilty of lateral ableism doesn't mean I won't fight for a world in which they face no ableism. It would be ableist of me to leave them behind over something like this. Not to mention, there's no need for anyone to be considered an authority on ableism in a world where there is none.

That being said, it is still a minor hurdle on the way to disabled liberation. If we police our own community and shut down discussions of ableism, how can we effectively fight for our right to not be policed or shut down by abled people? We're demonstrating that it's acceptable behavior.

You can argue all you want that abled people should recognize that it's different and they don't have a voice in the conversation - but what about those who are explicitly telling abled people that it's okay to shut down THESE disabled people talking about THEIR experiences because they're privileged invaders in the conversation and abled people should use their privilege over us to act as an even higher authority and stop us?

What about the conflicting messages of "abled people use your power over these disabled people to force them not to talk about the ableism they experience, but not these OTHER disabled people doing the same thing".

It's one thing to make a blanket statement to say "hey, if someone is actually attacking the validity of a disabled (or any marginalized) identity or talking over them about their own experiences, then shut that down". Saying a given marginalized identity doesn't exist or is inherently harmful is always bad. Talking over someone on their OWN experiences, when they are simply talking about things they've directly experienced, is always bad. I don't think it's the end of the world to say "use your privilege to shut down ableism" to abled people.

The problem is telling abled people that someone TALKING about their own legitimate experiences is bad and it's okay to shut it down. Abled people should not ever be given permission to do so - whether using their own judgment or just doing so on the word of disabled people.

Even besides that, though, it's still ableism, and lateral ableism is also a barrier in the way of total disabled liberation. It is an active threat to unity, to our ability to organize and demand change. We can fight to remove it from our communities while still focusing our energy primarily outward on fighting for liberation within the larger abled world.

Finally, it's an issue because it creates more hierarchies to solve existing ones. It says "instead of addressing the actual ableism, we're just going to flip it so you're the one experiencing it instead". It's like the so-called "feminists" that just want a matriarchy. It's not about creating a safer environment, it's about being the one to perpetrate the harm currently being done to you.

So, in cases where neither group has any real systemic power over each other, it doesn't even do that - it simply creates an environment where the original harm continues to be perpetuated while another new harm occurs. It devolves into a petty slap fight, distracting from actual liberation while also causing both parties to be hurt. That's not acceptable praxis. It's not praxis at all.

Even with the harm being small in scale, it's still not okay. Two injustices don't make a justice, just as two wrongs don't make a right.

This is very much something we need to address - in disabled spaces being my focus here - but also in queer, plural, alterhuman, and other marginalized spaces. And all of stems from the idea that "privilege" is the same as having the power to oppress someone. It's the idea that if you have an axis of privilege over another person with the same overall marginalized identity as you, that you are equivalent to being nonmarginalized compared to them and therefore disagreeing with them in any way about your OWN marginalized experiences is bigotry.

Functionally, it's that you're a bigoted privileged invader of marginalized spaces if you dare to have an opinion on a shared type of oppression. And speaking as a transfemmasc person, mayyyyyybe we should actually kill that rhetoric forever.

#ableism #privilege #oppression #reclamation #cw guns #fwiw it seems people who are MORE privileged are MORE willing and likely to harass over this #while less privileged people are more likely to block #and I cannot overstate that harassment is never acceptable #which is why we also have a hard rule about simply ignoring or blocking when we're the ones in a position of privilege #and that should be your rule too #(I mean engaging respectfully if you disagree is fine either way tbc)#just having been on both sides it would not be okay for me in the cases where I am less privileged to tell people what they experience #in fact that's the whole reason I created this blog #cripplepunk discourse led me to advocate for all neurodivergent people being able to reclaim cripple and being included in cripplepunk #if they wanted to be and found meaning in doing so #because 1. cripple is not a physical-disability-exclusive slur #and 2. neurodivergence can be physically disabling #so if there was a movement that centered physical disability that didn't gatekeep a universal disabled slur #people physically disabled by their neurodivergence should STILL not be told that they're wrong/lying about that experience #and should be let into the space on the basis of their neurophysical disabilities #also a lot of times the posts that are like 'able-bodied NDs do not derail' are talking about experiences that both groups experience #and it's not 'derailing' to say 'hey I experience this too for a different reason!' even if said reason is not at all physically disabling #I've seen SO MANY physically disabled people say 'neurodivergent people don't experience this!!1'#and just sat there going 'I experienced this as a neurodivergent person before I became physically disabled for YEARS #and continue to do so due at least in part to my neurodivergence now that I have a physical disability that could also contribute to it #anyway #mod stars #unitypunk

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that-ari-blogger · 3 months

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Here We Go! (Agony Of A Witch)

While it isn't wrong to say that Agony Of A Witch is the episode in which The Owl House picks up speed, it is possibly the understatement of the century. This episode switches vehicles from a golf cart to a drag racer and puts a rock on the accelerator.

But, pacing isn't everything. The true test of a story is how well it handles the turns, how efficient it is with its maneuvers, and how much this metaphor falls apart.

I actually think this episode is phenomenal and is a demonstration of the character writing muscles that were previously glimpsed in Understanding Willow being put to full use.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House, One Piece - Whiskey Peak, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)

My thesis for this post is that it explores motivation to create a compelling conflict that draws on entirely well-meaning intentions that contradict each other. As in, there is an antagonist in this episode, that being Lilith, but she isn't entirely villainous, I don't think.

Let me define some terms. A villain is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as the following:

"A character in a book, play, film, etc. who harms other people."

This definition sucks. That's right, this little Tumblr blog about The Owl House is going toe to toe with Cambridge. Fight me, nerds (please don't actually fight me).

In my opinion, this definition manages to be both reductive and unhelpful. While "harm" is a fairly open term, that is a problem, because it encompasses characters who don't constitute as villains. For example, Deadpool is a villain by this structure, but so is James Bond, and Obi Wan Kenobi has removed enough people's arms that it has become a meme.

Hooty causes harm in this story. Is he a villain? Don't answer that.

On the other hand, what about villains who don't succeed in causing harm. Mr 5 is unquestionably villainous in One Piece, but he gets his arse handed to him in Whiskey Peak, and doesn't really succeed at anything other than looking like a chump.

So, there is some intentionality there. Allow me to propose my own definition of the term, that I will be working from:

"A villain is a character who willingly does bad things, as described in the story, even when given an option to do otherwise."

In this case, "bad" is defined as whatever the story's themes advocate against. In the Owl House, this is willful ignorance, bigotry, and denial of another's freedom. It is the latter of these that characterises Lillith as villainous and has characterised her as villainous for the series up to this point.

But this is where the intentionality comes into play, because for the majority of season one, Lilith has been the main villain, trying repeatedly to restrict Eda into joining a coven, and she still fills that role here, but this episode makes that more complicated.

I cannot gush enough over how incredible this opening scene is, it feels like what would happen if Wes Anderson did more than just look pretty (apologies to any Wes Anderson fans out there, I just don't like his movies).

The imagery here is clear, a massive castle made by an architect who clearly had a thing for the Eye Of Sauron. There is a cage being walked across the bridge, and shadows everywhere. This is where the villains hang out.

Good sound design often goes unnoticed, except for when it is meant to be overwhelming, but I genuinely think that this scene is carried by its subtlety in that regard. There is nothing here, just the wind, and the sound of marching. In a story about freedom and expression, this is a place where there is absolutely zero of that.

This is Belos' first appearance, and he is steeped in religious imagery. He is in a place of worship, plated with gold, on a massive stained glass window.

You can tell a lot about a person by how they talk about themselves, even more than how they physically appear. For example, someone who appears unkempt might be less tidy and refined than someone in a suit, or they might be the most eloquent person you could ever meet. In short, actions speak louder than appearances.

So, lets look at how Belos has chosen to present himself. First up, he is huge, and towers over those looking at the window. But he also towers over the others in the frame. Those others happen to be kneeling to him in subservience, worshiping him. Belos presents himself as powerful and worthy of praise.

He is also leaning into the idea of freedom expression in his villainy here. Because there is colour in this room, but only on his window. Only when looking upon him, can you be free.

The room, however, is gold, the same colour as his mask and cloak, so he definitely has a hand in the limiting of power

Then there is the fact that this is a window. To see the outside world, Lilith needs to look through Belos. Even when she isn't trying to see him, he dictates what she sees anyway. Belos revels in control.

I also want to talk about the religious imagery here, because it plays into his personality. It shows a character who thinks of himself as deific, who has placed himself in the centre of the room. When people pray, they pray to him. This is a narcissist.

Back to Lilith, the start of this episode goes out of its way to hammer home Lilith's goals, and hints at why they might be.

"I haven't forgotten what you've promised me. I will bring you my sister, Emperor Belos."

I think that Lilith manages to walk the line between villain and antagonist in this episode, fully exiting the former in the finale of the season. She doesn't appear to be doing things of her own volition, but that isn't clear enough yet to say.

I also want to stress this, forcing someone to do something doesn't have to be physically bending their arm behind their back and making them do it. In this case, Lilith has been handed two choices, one of which is objectively worse, so the choice is self-evident.

Luz and Eda on the other hand, get their motivations laid out as the episode opens after the credits. They want to protect each other.

Eda is struggling with the owl beast curse, and that has been getting worse. But to protect the naivety of her student, she has been hiding this fact from her, until it is too late. Remember how I said the story emphasises willful ignorance as bad? Well, that is explicitly how Eda's actions to obscure the truth from Luz are framed.

Eda repeatedly does this over the series. She hides elements of her life from others to make their lives better in her eyes, but it always backfires. People find out, and the result is always worse.

Then there is Luz, who is idealistic and determined. She wants to help out Eda, and when the opportunity to do so falls out of the sky in front of her in the form of a road trip.

Both of these characters want to protect each other, but that means they can be used as bait for each other. Contradicting goals from compelling intentions.

Ok, one more thing about Belos.

"The Relic Room. These items are reminders of our great Emperor's overwhelming power."

Kikimora is saying the quiet part out loud here. Look, everyone! This guy is powerful. Worship him.

Anyway, this conversation is so revelatory about Lilith. Belos issues demands, and though they aren't spoken with any real menace, the threat is obvious.

That threat is why I keep bringing Belos up when talking about Lillith, because in the same way that Amity was a key part of Understanding Willow, Belos is a key part of understanding Lilith. Because that threat colours everything she does.

The audience doesn't even get told what happens to wild witches and why Lilith fears it so much, but we get the malice in him from his tone, and from how the scene frames him.

Take, for example, the first thing we actually see Belos do:

You know that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where Christopher Lloyd's character murks a shoe? (It makes more sense in context). Well, that is what is happening here. Belos kills a small creature and drinks from its life force. If you take that with the imagery surrounding him, it is valid to say that the Emperor of the boiling isles is a vampire.

If Belos is willing to do this, what might happen to Lilith?

Once again, however, that sound design carries this scene, because there is no way this moment would be nearly as intense if it wasn't for that heartbeat that Belos breathes in time with. The man controls the scene, right down to the beating of the heart in your ears. This man is terrifying.

Now, I have been saying this name for so long that it is starting to become white noise, so before that fully sets in, why is Lilith called Lilith?

Contrary to the general public opinion, I love stupidly edgy names in fiction. I think there is a place for cheese, and antagonists definitely fit that mould. Don't get me wrong, I think if a character's name is "Skullcrusher" or "Shadow" or "Tazerface" and that doesn't immediately get picked up on as needlessly over the top, that is a disruption of my immersion, but names that have that edge attached to them are writing gold to me. Lilith is one of these names.

Lilith isn't directly in the Bible, but she is referred to in folklore as Adam's first wife before Eve. According to Britannica, she is credited as a mother of demons, specifically succubae and incubi.

In terms of pop culture, however, the name Lilith has spiraled into being synonymous with "evil lady who might be demonic," the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series is a descendant of her and characters in Devil May Cry, Supernatural, and Doctor Who bear her name.

So, this is a name that is traditionally associated with evil, mostly. Wherever you find stories with people who are "inherrently evil", you run into people who explore what that means, and so there are a few stories out there that either take Lilith's side, or suggest that the name should not be used to make a judgement about a person's character, a fact that I agree with.

Lilith Clawthorn doesn't really engage with this directly. Instead, she bears a name that has moral implications, and makes that person morally complex. The traditional betrayer angle is brought in through her relationship with Eda that I will get to in a moment, but the misunderstood aspect is important here as well.

I love the fact that Gus and Willow are fully prepared to help Luz out here. Someone is in danger, so they offer their advice, and this scene also jumps in on that theme of honesty. Once again, the truth outs itself, and I don't think Luz would have lived through this episode if it hadn't.

Eda, meanwhile, spends the entire episode filling that maternal role for Luz. She knits for her, she has photos, she discusses the human "growing up", so its not exactly subtle.

So, naturally, the moment Luz is in trouble, Mamma Owl Beast doesn't hesitate to try and save her.

I think that Witch's Wool cloak is a cool little metaphor for the two's relationship. This is an item that can protect one of them, and Eda is willing to give it away to Luz, even after admitting she needs it for herself. But, Eda still can't tell Luz about it, because she still refuses to actually tell Luz how much she means to her.

On the other hand, we open this episode still without knowing who cursed Eda, and the dream serves to remind the audience of that, without having to do a "previously on..." segment.

I do have a love for when The Owl House messes with aesthetics, and this weird, amorphous blob is a really neat way of obscuring the assailant's form. Character design in cartoons is often focused on silhouettes, you can tell almost any two characters in this series by their shadow, for example. So, it's a neat bit of direction to hide that.

But, Ok. I know what y'all came for. The fight.

The first thing to point out is that the Clawthorns have a signature spell, that being this teleportation thing. The only characters in the entire series who do this burst of light and then warp are Clawthorns. There's some foreshadowing going on there.

"Renounce your wild ways and join the Emperor's Coven. He can help heal your curse!" "Don't believe everything that bone head tells you. He doesn't want to heal me, he wants to control me."

So, we have the two sides and their goals and ideologies. Freedom vs Safety, and we will get back to the nuance of this next week, when all the reveals happen. But for now, this is what both sides think they are playing for.

One of the most prevalent pieces of advice on the internet for combat in TTRPGs such as Pathfinder and D&D is "roleplay doesn't stop when initiative is rolled", in essence, characters are still characters when they are fighting. This scene is an example of what that means.

Eda is direct and to the point, she comes out of the gate looking for blood and clearly has the upper hand throughout this fight.

Lilith, however, is clever. Not to say that Eda isn't, but Lilith fights more tactically. She uses Luz as a shield, and is constantly talking and trying to get under her sister's skin.

"It's sad to see you slowing down, Sister. Tell me, is it the curse?" "Maybe it is the curse. But then how pathetic are you that you can't best me at my worst."

Eda is a ticking time bomb, and Lilith knows that she just has to outlast that. She is buying herself time.

There's also something really cool about how Eda and Lilith's magic is coloured. Eda leans into the fiery orange of wild magic and Lillith takes on a bright blue, and both of those kinda relate to Belos a bit.

Belos' gold is similar, but not exactly the same as the wild magic, he is offering freedom, but not exactly. Meanwhile his eyes are the only things in the entire series besides the magic that have that bright blue tint (Camilla's uniform comes close, but it isn't as bright).

"You always thought you were better than me. That I could never beat you at anything." "I am better than you." "Then why were you so easy to curse?"

Tick, tick, boom.

So, let's talk about redemptions for a moment.

There is a general atmosphere on social media that Lilith's redemption arc wasn't handled well, and I would like to peacefully say that I think this idea is bogus.

The argument comes from two points, the first being that Lilith wasn't built up as enough of a threat, and the second that she skipped the redemption part of her arc and moved straight to being redeemed. The latter of those arguments is a discussion for a later date, but the former I would like to discuss here.

This episode shows Lilith at both her most villainous and her least at the same time. It gives you a hint at her true motivation, and hints at her being manipulated, but it doesn't spell it out, yet. It's a set up for what will come later.

But in terms of being a true threat, let me just lay out what Lilith has done so far. Curse Eda. Capture Luz. Throw two children into a wall. Throw another child off a bridge. Try to push said child into a bed of spikes out of sheer spite. This is all in this episode, by the way.

I think Lilith needed to spiral like this so that she had further to climb from in her redemption arc in later seasons. You can't redeem someone who ain't done nothing wrong.

Thank you, nameless strawman opponent, you were very helpful in proving my point. Anyway...

"Luz, thank you for being in my life."

Wendy Malick needs more praise. This line is incredibly well performed, and that tiny hesitation is golden.

But, the meaning of this is also important, because this is the first time Eda has actually expressed any affection for Luz directly to her face. Otherwise she has been the distant, cranky mentour.

The Owl House plays with tropes a lot, but the mentour sacrifice is one it plays almost straight, and it hits incredibly hard. These are what Eda thinks are her last words to Luz, and its a thank you.

"I am richer for having known you, friend."

(If you get that reference, you can have a cookie.)

FINAL THOUGHTS

It's important to the pacing here that the heroes lose this episode well and truely. It sets up the finale well, and it gives an air of malice to both Belos and Lilith that is imperative for the next episode to have any weight to it.

This episode has garnered a ton of affection from the fan base, and I think it might be more popular than Young Blood Old Souls, and possibly on par with King's Tide and Hollow Mind, but that is just my observations and not backed up by any statistics. Let me know in the replies if you agree or disagree, I'm keen to know what you think.

Next week, I am tackling the finale, Young Blood Old Souls. So stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...?#the owl house #toh #toh lilith #toh eda #toh luz #the owl house lilith #the owl house luz #the owl house eda #the owl post #emperor belos #toh belos #the owl house belos

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meatriarch · 2 months

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MEATRIARCH OVERVIEW.

m'kay so -- mostly putting this together as both a quick look for new faces & a lil' refresher for those who've been following for a while but also as a general overview on not just how i run things but also on my muses, their portrayals, some blog updates, and so on! ♡ meant for clarity & hopefully ensure there's no confusion about certain things i may mention on the dash but always feel free to shoot me a message / ask for anything further! ♡

MARIA AURORA FLORES.

starting off with my main girl, my pride & joy, my sunshine incarnate. i write maria as someone very warm & with a whole mess of love to shower on those she cares about. she is achingly sweet, doting, affectionate; she adores her friends, adores her mama & sister, has a complicated relationship with her father. i've done quite a bit to flesh her out beyond what gun's put out for her in the slightest & i love where she's grown over the months since adding her onto the roster. she is my main / primary muse -- so know i constantly yap and ramble about her, i have headcanons and lore posts sprinkled all over the blog & the archived blog. i love & adore her as a muse and she's become both incredibly special to me & easily one of my absolute favorite characters to write as. that being said, with how much i've added to her, i view my portrayal of her as more oc at this point than a character of gun -- unfridged my girl, yanked her away from them and took off with her lmao alot of what i've built with her was both greatly helped by the dynamics weaved together with my affiliates / mains' portrayals which i'll get to later on ♡ but know some things may not carry over into interactions between my maria & any duplicates of my affiliates' muses!

ANA FLORES.

i haven't gone through much writing for ana yet -- but know when i do speak of ana in a general sense on here? i am specifically referring to my own ana & my personal flores' family lore! if i refer to other ana's in future posts i'll most likely note so either by, for example, ' renee's ana ' or if its to that point in plotting, then with a dynamics tag on the post! otherwise assume when i'm yapping about ana in general i'm referring to my own portrayal of her by default! c: ( note that all you cute ana mutuals are still more than welcome to interact with posts about her / her & maria / the flores' ♡ just something to keep in mind if i refer to her in a general sense in posts! )

DANNY ALEJO - OSORIO.

ya'll may know our just some guy danny by gun's canon of him -- danny gaines. the danny here however is technically my own portrayal of danny gaines that i developed before he was officially dropped & we got his last name. should i interact with others writing danny gaines? i'm completely gucci with considering my danny & gaines as entirely separate characters! otherwise, the speedrun of my danny is as follows : danilo alejo-osorio is mexican-colombian, befriended maria in their early teens. he comes from a broken family with a very fractured & a.busive father, his mother returned to colombia and started another family there believing he'd have a better life staying in the states. he went through a very rough period hanging with a real shitty crowd of so-called friends, got into a shitton of fights, broke into homes and businesses with them, stole shit, broke shit, just in general not great influences. a break-in went wrong, his "friends" scattered, and he was arrested when the police showed up, and spent time in juvie for it. none of those friends ever came by. his father didn't, none of his family did. maria, her mother and ana, instead, were his constant visitors. and it was her coming to see him, her encouragement and push for him to do better is what finally made him realize he needed to turn his shit around. at the point of maria going missing & the house, danny's going to trade school by the southern coast for ship & underwater welding courses & training. he & maria are best friends. he is her ride, die, kill. gun noted once upon a time how strong dannys' devotion to her is -- my danny is very much devoted to her. he would kill for her without hesitation -- and not in his dire au's, even, but just in general. danny would do anything for those he cares about. any of the friendgroup. my danny is gaines but stronger - thanks for coming to my t.ed talk. (:

THE FLORES FAMILY.

my personal take / lore is as follows basically : papa flores ( ramón ignacio ) & mama flores ( carmen ainara ) were long-term sweethearts whose marriage and little family seemed perfectly ideal. however, the closer that their eldest daughter, maria, got to her teen years, the sicker carmen started to become. she attempted to keep it under wraps, hush-hush from the girls' to not worry or scare them. but she was diagnosed with a lung disease ( p.ulmonary f.ibrosis fingerguns @ silver for same braincell lmao ) that is considered ( esp in the 70s likely ) to be terminal. while the girls' weren't aware of her being ill to that degree, ramon fully was. and the stress of coming to terms with his wife being sick and finding out that she may eventually pass due to it, so he claims, "caused" him to start an affair. carmen does find out, and ramon removes himself from the flores' family home to move in with his affair partner. maria, being forgiving and more gentle-hearted compared to ana, attempted to still paint him in a positive light so that ana wouldn't resent him. tried to give him the benefit of the doubt -- that he at least still did love them all. that he'd keep the promises to still be active in their lives, still show up when he said he would -- however, there's only so many excuses, so many promises broken, so many calls never ringing through, before that hope crumbles. ana would witness both her mother & maria deal with their fathers' heartbreak through closed bedroom doors, and it'd only make her despise him more for it. when maria later goes missing, ramon returns to try and help in whatever ways he can -- and ana is very unreceptive to him being there. he lost his chance in her eyes to play "dad" to them. and she makes it known clearly to him how much she resents him and reminds him he's got no place in their family, anymore. that he's there ONLY to help find maria and not to expect shit from any of them.

THE HEWITTS & THE SAWYERS.

by default, i say a giant fuck you to the difference in continuity's when it comes to the family! i write the hewitt's as an extension of the sawyer ( or, slaughter ) family tree. the hewitts & sawyers connected when luda mae married charlton hewitt sr. luda, in my personal canon, was born into the family through one of grandpa sawyers' many kids' he's taken in over his long-fuckin'-ass lifespan lmao alot of the family dynamics that are my canon here stem from lamb & i's back & forths. i find blending the various iterations of the family -- from originals to remakes etc -- as all just extended families to each other alot easier to work around and opens the door to more interactions with canons' from other versions of tcsm! c: i'm currently slow-piecing together a family tree of the hewitt-sawyers based on that blended concept. to the sawyers, luda is referred to by aunt or grandma ( sometimes ma luda, even ) and thomas is referred to as cousin tommy.

THOMAS & THE TITLE OF "L.EATHERFACE".

i was going to make this its own post but i'll add to this one instead. but with the idea of the hewitts & sawyers being just on massive family unit? of course there's the question of how the fuck do both thomas & bubba ( or other iterations of LF ) work then? i'd argue its primarily due to the fact that those who don't personally know them both don't know their actual names, and simply refer to them by the most notable feature -- the masks. with my thomas, yes, he does take faces of victims and he does wear them. however. thomas' skin condition -- flesh-eating disease / tumor growths on his face -- is why he wears his animal-leather half-mask. that half mask is his primary mask. he is almost always wearing that or varying versions of it. when thomas DOES skin someones' face to wear? it is almost always out of rage. hatred. it's done to intimidate. to unsettle. its from back in september but, one of my thomas' replies to kels notes this about thomas! the masks of both animal & human leather are still very much a part of thomas as i write him -- but, when it comes to the hewitt-sawyers being one family unit & thomas & bubba co-existing? "l.eatherface" becomes a title in a sense -- two giant motherfuckers who wear masks?? they get confused for one another. despite thomas being arguably much larger both being beefy & being 6'9 compared to bubba. they both don't really stray far from home. how often do outsiders get a chance to see them both separately let alone close to one another? likely not a common sight. it'd be very easy to spot one of them and then assume they are one in the same, honestly. that's how i go about things here, at least! it ties into more, again, of the back-&-forths lamb & i have minecrafted especially but, i'm all for altering that for specific interactions for those who don't want to meddle with all of that! (:

NANCY.

spooky momther will retain what her abilities have grown into by my personal headcanons across the board! however there are certain points to how i portray her that, from any posts about her i've made, are tied into lamb's johnny and so know that there will be differences in how she may be with other johnnys! i'm all ears to how different nancy & johnny's relationship can turn out! if theres anything i feel overlaps with other dynamics of theirs, i will let you know and we can work something else out c:

GENERAL PORTRAYAL NOTE.

mentioned it already but : all muses here are very heavily canon-divergent & built out from their canon lore by my own brainrot going wild with them all. with that in mind, i do just about consider each of my portrayals of these muses as my own oc's at this point with how much i've added onto them / built them up from literal nothing like in maria's case. i'm more than happy to either adapt how i write any of them to better fit into anyone elses' takes! and i'm more than happy to welcome more into the brainrot that i've minecrafted with the flores' or the hewitt-sawyers etc! that's something to come from plotting however! if we haven't really spoken ooc / etc then i default to a more general vision of the characters for the time being. i'm all up for taking different routes with new writing partners so please don't be shy about reaching out! c: if theres anything that conflicts with pre-existing personal lore of mine or is too similar to plots or dynamics i have already, i'll let you know and try to offer alternatives!

AFFILIATE PORTRAYALS & RELATED AU'S.

i have a few writing partners who i am affiliated with & with their respective tcsm canon muses. kels' leland, rae's connie, & lamb's johnny -- when i refer to leland/lee or connie or johnny in general on my posts, do know i am specifically referring to their portrayals as my general lore across my blog takes their muses & the dynamics built between them into account ♡ like i mentioned in ana's lil section, i'll start to make note in posts when i am referring to duplicate johnnys / lelands / connie's / etc for when im mentioning others' portrayals specifically! by default though i am always referring to my affiliates' portrayals when i post c: just wanted to clarify that though in case it was at all confusing or unclear ♡ affiliate verses here are as follows so far : - cold case ( cc / maria's dire au ; with lamb's johnny ) - no one saved you / we saved us ( nosy / wsu / maria & leland's joint dire au ; with kels' leland & lamb's johnny ) - oath binded ( maria & johnny's red string & reincarnation au / with lamb's johnny ) and then the still babiest dire au for my danny, - choke chained ( with lamb's johnny ). these verses, for me, are strictly worked with lamb ( & with kels for nosy/wsu ) -- meaning i'm not writing in them or doing similar au's with other portrayals of johnnys or lelands! again in case i haven't been clear on it before and it causes any confusion or anything! ♡

MARIA & JOHNNY.

i am not going to be shipping maria in any romantic / intimate sense nor am i open to any prolonged captive plots & interactions with other portrayals of johnny sawyer. those types of dynamics & interactions i've decided from this point on to close that for my maria to lamb's johnny ( @johnnysslaughter ) ♡ there has been a lot of plotting & build up between my portrayal of maria & lamb's portrayal of johnny and their varying dynamics across verses / au's and their different trajectories. and because of how many different iterations of their dynamic has been pieced together, i personally am not going to be taking other plots / dynamics with other johnny's that fall under the same umbrella as the dynamic between our maria & johnny do -- again meaning, i personally won't be shipping romantically / intimately nor will I take on plots that run parallel to cold case / no one saved you re: maria being taken captive for a prolonged period of time with other johnnys. alot of this decision on my part is very much due to how much we have developed them together -- another big part of it is my trust & comfort level with lamb to explore those dynamics between maria & johnny. this doesn't mean we are exclusive to one anothers' portrayals -- i am happy to write with other johnny's! and lamb is welcome to interact with other maria's! but from this point onward, i will only ship maria & johnny with lamb. ♡

#[ 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘦. ] ── * psa.#just to offer some clarity and to update in a sense how i run things / how my portrayals go / etc etc here!! esp for the newer faces c:#esp with how i personally structure the family in my baseline canon across the blog. bc i feel some may get confused why #i talk about the hewitts as being part of the family despite being a different iteration of them c:#i may either add onto / do an additional post at another time if i remember things i forgot to note but. for now this is fine lmao #it went longer than i intended to anyways-

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king-craftsman · 2 months

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Sorry to ask this as an anon, but what do you think about white/western people? Being one myself it sometimes feels like we get the blame for everything. Now a days it seems like we are all brushed over the same comb. Because of this I even find my support for certain causes wavering. What does it matter what i do or think, if I will be hated anyway. Even as an "evil white western" person I wish for Palestina to be free. But I also hope my country can still exist and aren't globally hated.

I have no clue why you'd ask a...*checks notes* transformation fetish blog, about views on white/westerners, but here goes:

When people criticise whiteness, it's more the institution than the actual skin colour. I notice a lot of white people tend to view such criticism through the lens of discrimination because we live in a world which has trained people to view others as "lesser than".

You're used to thinking that when someone says "(blank) people", they must mean in the derogatory/racist way because that's mostly what whiteness teaches, that some races must be superior to others. Nobody thinks black people, asian people, hispanic people, etc. are genuinely "superior" to white people. It's just white people throughout the history of the West have often tried to ascribe this "superiority" in order to justify their institutions.

You have manifest destiny. You have justification for slavery. If you dehumanise indigenous and black people enough, you can subliminally coach yourself to believe that due to your superiority, you are better. They are not human. Therefore their pain, their agony, their suffering is more justifiable because they are not on your level.

It's just that this has gone on for so long that it is now the bedrock of much of Western society. When you create a society based on the justification for discrimination, for stealing land, for slaughtering people, you cannot just "move on." You have to embed those lies into society and not just in thoughts and feelings, but in culture, laws, history, the overall system. Otherwise, what's the point?

Nobody hates white people. People hate "whiteness", they hate this concept of a superiority complex because not only has it led to uncountable numbers of deaths, lynchings, imprisonment, hate crime, suffering and so on, but it doesn't even help you now.

Now, when we say "we shouldn't do this or that", your instinct is to feel attacked and guilty and believe we will come for you, the way that you have come for us. That isn't true and it never was. It's the same reason why when people say "Black lives matter", others will say "actually no ALL lives matter."

When did we say they didn't? We know they matter. When black people say "we want this", it is not "we will TAKE this from you", it is "we want this too." Whiteness has evolved you to instinctively believe that the only way you can interpret "we want this" is a "we will TAKE this" because that was what was done in the past.

Also there is nobody who is anti-racist and will genuinely believe that all white people are evil. Once again this is what the West has trained you to believe, as if racism, discrimination is just a natural instinct. It was a tool of oppression used by a select bunch of white people in order to justify why they could have a bunch of land, money and power.

People will do anything to get the power that the colonizers had and still often do have to this day. They tricked you because rather than actually aid the average white person, they treat the average white person how everybody should be treated and use you as a foot soldier to keep others down. You get the least amount of benefits for most of the risk.

The American Civil War is a prime example of this. The Confederates helped further create racist white folk who were so hell bent on this "whiteness" they would do anything to preserve it, even if it meant going to war for the sake of keeping slavery. Then they died and lost and many lucky enough to survive were now disabled from war injuries or had PTSD and slavery was overturned anyway. You see how far "whiteness" got you then? It's a trick, used for the sake of power.

Perhaps in some sense, the lie got so riveting that the colonizers truly believed it. I think for the most part, they did. But any evidence on the contrary, cannot be accepted.

If you look at history, the modern day views on race would be far from how we engage with it and I don't mean, "oh well it's wrong to say the N word and segregate people compared to 100 years ago", no when I say modern day history I mean the last couple hundred years.

We've been on this planet for thousands of years and not until very recently in the scope of our human history did we have very...odd thoughts about race. Genetically you would be so shocked at how completely different people from different countries can share more similarities than say two ethnicities that have grown up in the same area beside one another.

If your support for certain causes waver due to the criticism not even of you, but just the society that raised you and protected you at the expense of others and continues trying to brainwash you, then I don't know what to say. Like yeah it sucks being criticised, but it sure sucks a lot more to have to worry about your skin colour, race, stereotypes, culture being mocked (and then stolen anyway), your hair, your clothes, the way you speak and more. Then continue to say "oh but come onnn we stopped enslaving you and segregating you and mocking you, so we're all equal now right?"

Sure bud.

But what do I know, I'm just a transformation-fetish blog and I got some writing to do. 💀

#also im not african american but that is the easiest example to use #but i am black though #just not in america (thankfully) in the UK (kill me)

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opinated-user · 5 months

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aww, i'm not the Brittany Gallade Stalker anymore? guys, i lost one of my titles. i don't know who i'm anymore! as long i'm still one Brittany then i guess i'll be fine... but also... i hope i don't have to tell people to not go bringing up my posts to LO. not because i mind she responding, i know she'll anyway if she feels like posturing about something, but because i have said many times before to not interact with her, period, just to see a reaction out of her. i encourage people to not interact with her at all. the whole point of this blog is to spread awareness about her and deplatforming her. i can't do that if people just keep validating her platform by going to interact with her. plus, we all know she'll only use it as more fuel for her own victim narrative so, really, why would you want that? i know it's possible that LO send herself that message, but just in case i want that said: don't interact with LO. don't watch her videos directly, don't try to get a response out of her. moving on... who is going to tell LO that this the very first time she openly talked positively about the art of her wife? (it's rethoric, don't actually do that). by that i mean, she just uses the art of MO, whines in stream about how MO isn't drawing pokemadhouse fast enough, whines about how she has a life that impides her being exploited even more and talks about how many more fanart she'll keep ezqueezing out of her.

oh, and i'm meant to assume that the quality of her art has nothing to do with why you aren't showing your avatar anymore in any of your videos?

those two pieces of art are actually an example of the kind of problem that people do notice with MO. when she's doing things fast enough for you not to whine about it and churning out as many fanart as you want, it looks rushed. it looks unfinished and halfassed because you constantly tell her to make art that way. that can't be healthy for any creative person, just about in general. the fact that she's not even being paid for it speaks badly of you as a partner and a boss. that's not me saying it, it's a fact. one piece of art here and there is just a perk of having an artist as a partner, but you very much has abused that by having MO making entire animatic, multiple visuals for videos, an entire webcomic that you want fully coloured, animatic for that webcomic and all without any paid at all. but when MO can have all the time of the world and there's no wife telling her to forgot anatomy, it looks just so much better. for one, the color choices for the character designs are miles better than whatever is that you're asking her to do for your OCs. there's more flare, life and drama in that one picture of the green character that has ever been in all of pokemadhouse. i don't know why you won't just let her dress saige with something nice for once.

i literally said that MO on her own is a decent enough artist. funny enough, that's the one point that all critical blogs agree on. it's really quite transparent the kind of gasligting you're doing when people can clearly see me saying as much in that message, but still choose to present it otherwise and just ignoring entirely the rest of the point. your constant request for art from her and telling her to halfass it to make it as quickly as possible are my issue. a seasoned artist can do with a quick workflow because they know what they're doing, but MO is not there yet. so all you're really doing by using her like a slot machine for more art and fanart with your weird ideas of "right proportions" is keeping her away from actually learning. for the record too: i call you LO because Lizzy and Courtney, with Lizzy's blessing, wear the last name Orchard better than you. we went over this already.

#lily orchard #lily and mikaila orchard

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