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kingk8art · 4 years

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hetalia rant

pls ignore how I won't use any proper punctuation or capitalization because my arms and fingers all hurt from volleyball :( Edit: My arm’s are better now so I’m actually using proper capitalization and punctuation (special thanks to my friends for proofreading and also Google autocorrect.) Special thanks to my friend for helping me out with writing this.

so i'm one of those people who joined the hetalia fandom like REALLY late, having first watched the anime in like 2017 or 18. Nevertheless, when I heard about how the anime was coming back in 2021 I was really excited!! I’ve been reading world stars lately but there’s just something in the hetalia anime that made me love it so much. the voice acting and how it’s animated and everything, it really brings the characters to life! out of curiosity I searched up hetalia on twitter. keep in mind that i’m pretty new to the fandom so i never really got to see the shipping wars, or really any toxic part of the fandom, since i wasn’t there when hetalia was at its peak.

What i saw was really different from what i expected to see. I kinda expected twitter threads hyping up the new season, or things like that but most of ones I found in the top section were hate comments about hetalia, and things about why it shouldn’t come back. I was reading these and I was like, wait why? Some of them actually made sense, and the others had flawed logic. Here are my rants on why hetalia ISN’T anti-Semitic or problematic (as of now).

Misconceptions About Hetalia

1. Hetalia is About Nazi Germany or the Holocaust

If you’ve actually watched the show/read the manga, it’s quite obvious that although some of the events take place during WW2, it never mentions Hitler, Nazis, the Holocaust, or anything like that. and there’s a good reason for it. In the first place, hetalia isn’t meant to be a serious comic. The manga only focuses on subjects like funny things that happened to historical figures/occurrences during a war, weird inventions; generally those kinds of things. It focuses on the cultural differences between countries, or wholesome moments in history (such as when two enemies stopped fighting on Christmas day to play soccer.) Hetalia itself is antiwar. Consider the main character himself: he absolutely hates fighting. I don’t see how hetalia can be anti-Semitic or pro-war at all. But what I will say is fucked up are those certain cosplayers that did the Nazi salute, posed in front of a Holocaust memorial, etc. But I can still guarantee that the MAJORITY of the fandom is not like this. Every single fandom has its bad apples, some more than others. It’s not right to generalize the entire fandom as anti-Semitic, racist, disrespectful shits.

Do people realize that Germany’s character in Hetalia isn’t Nazi Germany? In the first place the Holocaust wouldn’t be Germany’s responsibility — the depictions of these characters are meant to portray the people as a whole, not their systems of law or government. It’s stated in the series that nations MUST obey orders from their “boss” (which probably refers to the country’s ruler, president, prime minister, or other leaders at the time. Nations can’t choose what their superiors do, or what those under that control do. Saying Germany is humanized Nazi Germany is like putting that label on all German people without considering factors like time period or representation. Hetalia characters are a mere representation of each country’s people, nothing else.

How does mentioning WW2 in a comedy make it offensive? There are PLENTY of movies, novels, and other kinds of media that take place in WW2 and yet are in the comedy genre. Ever watched Jojo Rabbit? If you thought Hetalia was offensive, have you ever watched South Park or looked at CountryHumans? I do get why some people dislike Hetalia, but why does it receive so much hate for something that was never in the series (or generally speaking, for the wrong reasons)? It may have flaws, but there’s a strong definition to what those flaws actually are. It doesn’t revolve around antisemitism or Nazism.

2. Hetalia is Racist and Stereotypes People

Now this is a pretty controversial topic. Being a comedy about personified countries, stereotypes are really something that HAS to be used at some point to make the characters funny. But does that automatically make it racist? No. I saw this on a YouTube video comment section somewhere, but stereotyping (generalizing) that all stereotypes are ‘bad’ (or have negative connotations/associations) is literally stereotyping. Not all of the stereotypes are bad. Like the way Britain acts like a gentleman or likes drinking tea, which in a way, is a British stereotype. That’s not a bad thing, just funny to see in the show — played for comedy purposes, and not necessarily offensive.

Although Hetalia characters are sometimes influenced by stereotypes that revolve around the actual countries and represent the people in general, they DO NOT always represent what those country’s people are actually like. Also, I’m pretty sure the point of comedy about personified countries is to use some of those generalizations. Specifically, stereotypes that the Japanese have about foreigners. France is portrayed as a flirty man because in Japan France is known for being a “romantic country.” But that doesn’t mean that they think all French people are like that — it’s just a lighthearted joke. And now, Hetalia characters have grown to be more of their own character rather than simply a humanized country at its base. Despite being a personification, they’re like their own person, not just used to depict stereotypes. Just because a character has a certain personality trait doesn’t mean Hima believes that everyone from that country has the same trait. It’s not meant to be racist, and isn’t.

What I Think Was/Is Problematic

As much as I love this show, there were DEFINITELY some problematic things that people tend to ignore.

1. Korea Controversy

As a Korean American, I have to say that I was quite disappointed when I learned about how Hima portrayed Korea in the manga. I won’t go that deep into this one since it’s not that relevant to what I'm talking about now, but it was definitely a HUGE problem and I’m glad that he was removed from the series.

2. Iron Cross on Germany

The iron cross that Germany wears in Hetalia (in every time period) is a military decoration that was used since the King of Prussia until the time period of Nazi Germany in WW2. Today, it’s considered a hate symbol, similar to and alongside the swastika. To be fair, it wasn’t just a decoration used purely for the Nazis, unlike several other examples of Nazi symbols and memorabilia, so I suppose it could be up to each person to judge whether it should pass or not, despite the surrounding circumstances — it isn’t up to me as part of the fanbase. But personally, I think it should have been removed/not used in the first place. I mean, it wasn’t that necessary, seeing all of the military uniforms drawn in Hetalia were simplified anyways. Perhaps it would be much less problematic if Hima didn’t draw the iron cross, and the same goes for the other presented issues.

3. Japanese Imperialism

The way Hima portrays Japanese Imperialism was pretty offensive in my opinion. An instance is the presentation of the Japanese invasion of Korea. It wasn’t just like how the colonies were under Great Britain’s rule. It limited much more of Koreans’ rights and was much more gruesome. I don’t know about anyone else and can’t speak for each individual, but as a Korean, portraying all of this as Japan merely patting Korea on the head is fucked up. This ties to the controversy of Korea’s character. From what I’ve seen, Hetalia is pretty close to a rightist (in Japan, not the US) series. I won’t dive too deep into that, but rightist — or in Korean, 우익 — animes are animes that glorify their country’s past/country, or use content to make fun of or criticize other nations. Actually, it’s probably much more complicated than that, but as of now I don’t know much about it. It mostly ties to the tension between Koreans and the Japanese, so if you’re not either, there’s not really much to worry about. But (maybe because I’m Korean) I found it weird that the manga seems to give every single character a bad/negative characteristic except Japan. I guess it’s only natural, since the creator is Japanese. But then again, France was basically drawn as a rapist/pedophile, but I have never seen a French person complain about it. Or maybe they just completely avoid Hetalia? If anyone knows about it, I would be glad to listen. Perhaps it’s just a bias that I have as a Korean. It could also be a cultural difference too, since we tend to be very patriotic.

4. The Title: Axis Powers

Although the main character is Italy, and the story revolved (emphasis on the past tense) around the 3 countries that were part of the Axis, Hima should have been more considerate with the title of the show, thinking about what the Axis Powers actually did during WW2. Just “Hetalia” would have been fine. But it also should be considered that when Hima started drawing the manga, he did not expect it to become a long-term thing or for it to blow up so much. Thankfully, only the first two seasons of the anime were titled as Hetalia: Axis Powers, and later seasons were titled more acceptable things, like World Stars (manga) or The Beautiful World.

5. Seychelles

Personally I don’t find a problem with there not being that many African/South American countries in the show. Africa’s country borders (and all of that related material) were very different from what they are today, and it would be really fucking hard for Hima to keep track of all of those while still writing good characters. And unlike Europe, Africa’s history was not transcribed much, and is a lot less-known. The problem with Seychelles was her skin color, which wasn’t accurate. But that’s since been fixed.

Is Hetalia Really Problematic?

My most straightforward answer for this question would be no, it is not problematic as of now. Something I realized while listing all of the aspects of Hetalia that I personally thought were wrong to put in was that most of them don’t exist anymore. Besides Germany’s iron cross, all of them were removed from the show. Korea was banned from the anime, and he no longer appears in any of the manga strips. The manga strays further and further away from topics like Japanese Imperialism or WW2. Most of the time in the manga, countries do not wear their military uniforms anymore, but stick to more casual clothes. The characters stray further away from stereotypes that Hima used to use as a comedic effect when he first started drawing. My point is: Hima learned his mistakes. Which only makes sense, considering all of the criticism he probably received when the series first started. I think that’s a good thing. Now back to what I was ranting about earlier. I don’t get why people are saying Hetalia shouldn’t come back! The new season is most likely going to be based off the most recent Hetalia manga series, which is Hetalia World Stars. If you’ve ACTUALLY READ THE MANGA AND DIDN’T JUDGE THE ENTIRETY OF HETALIA BASED ON ITS FIRST FEW SEASONS, you would know what World Stars is about. It’s about all sorts of things. My personal favorite strips are the ones about ancient Rome! It’s not just drawn to give readers a laugh but it actually teaches you some history. Other than Rome, the manga is also about the trends of clothes in certain countries/time periods, industrial revolutions, or just the interactions between the characters in general. I really don’t see how animating these would be harmful at all. The subjects don’t revolve around what a lot of opposers say/negatively connotate the series with. If you think bringing Hetalia back is a terrible thing to do because the fandom would return and start doing toxic/weird things, I really don’t know how to respond to that. The fandom already died out around the time the last season was released. Now newer fans will come around, and the former fans would return (hopefully) matured up. It's already been 5 years since the last Hetalia season aired, after all. And like I said earlier, toxic fans never represent the entire fandom. If you really hate the fandom that much, I recommend not getting involved at all.

#hetalia #rant #hetalia 2021

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genshin-obsessed · 3 years

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Bunni anon here, I don’t get the anniversary drama, their a company working on two games at the same time and need to make money, the drama is not needed imo- Bunni

Hello, hello! To preface: I’m talking about the original rewards. Not the new ones, which they’ve changed like 3 times now? I’m not sure whether you meant the current drama or the previous one so I addressed both here o:

Also to keep my sanity, I’m still sticking to my dwindling belief that this was just Mihoyo trolling us, that’s all :’)

I wanna start by saying you’re kinda right. They are a company who wants to make money. Gacha games are known for being kinda pricey. There’s nothing wrong with a company wanting to make money, it’s why they started this anyway, but that’s not the issue.

It’s not about making money for both games, it’s that their players- who keep them afloat- who also deserve a thank you (I mean, no one was expecting anything. We didn’t think Mihoyo would genuinely give us 5 stars, we were hoping but not expecting). Not only that, but the original anniversary rewards were plain disrespectful. Not because it wasn’t enough for us, it was blatantly asking for free promo when they already get it. Don’t forget, I’m literally a genshin writer. Just because I’m not making super beautiful art work doesn’t mean I’m not promoting their product. Then we have the artists, YouTubers who make videos, cosplayers- whatever it may it, it was already free promo but that was because we genuinely love the game.

Their anniversary rewards asked for more without giving anything in return- or barely if anything.

For example the art work submissions. Whether you’re an artist or not, you must know how long art takes to make. Whether it be digital or on paper, that’s hours of work artists take out of their day to make. They 100% deserve compensation for that and their original rewards stated they had a chance to win 100 primogems. You know, the same thing they can get from 2 days worth of commissions. And that was only 1000 winners. So if like 50k people submitted art work that takes hours to make, 49k only get 100k mora.

Then we have those cosplay submissions. Cosplay takes time and it’s definitely not cheap. Whether they had make their clothes/weapons or they buy it, they also deserve proper compensation. I believe the original rewards were the same? Chance to win 100 primos to 1k people. Same thing, 50k people spend tons of money and time to make beautiful cosplay and like 49k get mora in return.

Now I know you’ll say they offered more, they had tablets, AirPods, even iPhones and that’s great and all, but it was still a competition. For their 1yr anniversary. That’s something they could’ve had whenever. That could’ve been any event at any point but they chose it as their anniversary event. For reference, Honkai had better rewards with crystals, outfits, weapons, and the like. We didn’t ask for iPhones and AirPods, we wanted gifts in the game we could use.

Now don’t get me wrong, what people are doing right now- review bombing other games- is just stupid. I’m not sure what they’re doing but sinking other games to prove a point isn’t the way to go. Punishing other developers who have nothing to do with Mihoyo is a waste of time and it just shows how toxic this community can get. That’s completely messed up and I won’t defend it for a second.

I also think the art work submissions have been changed now? I think you can get like 5k primos or like 6k primos? I’m not entirely sure. I really hope I wasn’t looking at the wrong thing-

#🌸─ pocket tries #⊱ ─ bunni #serious #you’re half right #but I also wanted to kinda explain other POVs

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tessatechaitea · 4 years

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Cerebus #11 (1979)

The only weapon you need to provoke a police officer to violence is scorn.

Sorry! The above caption had nothing to do with The Cockroach's first appearance in Cerebus and everything to do with how the Omaha Police arrested peaceful protesters by claiming that they're purpose was to "attack and/or provoke police officers to violence." Also, you can tell they're already spinning and lying by adding the "and/or" so they can imply that the protesters are planning on attacking police. And, well, even if they weren't (and they did say "or"!), their other main plan was to provoke them. But of course everybody whose ability to perceive reality isn't clouded by their incessant need to defend police no matter what understands that police will abuse their power at the drop of an eye roll. They believe any slight disrespect is an excuse for a violent rebuttal. They force physical violence on people whom they have no reason to arrest simply so the person can struggle against the assault, as any normal person would do, and then claim resisting. Police should be confronted by scorn and disrespect at every turn. Only when they learn not to instantly resort to violence and threats will they deserve to not be. Welcome to my comic book and/or police review blog! Deni's "A Note from the Publisher" continues on a theme that I hadn't noticed until just now: every new issue of Cerebus now seems to be a landmark issue! It's an interesting self-promotion take that I have to admit I'd never thought of trying. "Every new Eee! Tess Ate Chai Tea review is a landmark review!" You know what else is a landmark? Places & Predators, my Cribbage-based Roller Playing Game! You don't even really need any friends to play it. Just read it like a book and enjoy it! Or play it like a Fighting Fantasy Adventure Book! Use some online Cribbage app! Figure out how to use the crib in ways the online app definitely won't let you! Oh, the reason this is a landmark issue is because more letters came in than normal! It's a hit! Deni also reveals that she'll be making the Cerebus plush toys that were advertised in previous issues and at half the price! So kudos for stealing that job from the person who originally made them! It probably wasn't anything so dramatic but what fun is going through your life defaulting to the best, most optimistic possibility in every given situation? Have some fun! Act paranoid! Purposefully misunderstand your father and scream in his face! Kick a dog! Sorry! I got carried away! I would never kick a dog unless it was attacking me. But even then, I'd be wishing I was kicking the owner who let it go off leash. The dog doesn't deserve my epic self defense tactics in its soft face. But the owner certainly does!

The basics on the origin of The Cockroach.

I didn't realize Dave came up with The Cockroach because it was gross and disgusting. I just thought it was a more clever version of a bat, keeping to the shadows, hiding, surviving, a constant annoyance to poor people. In any case, The Cockroach is the greatest parody of The Batman, hands down. Because The Batman has become such a parody of himself time and time again, you just need an absolutely Batshit insane version of him. I don't do segues so Cerebus has come to Beduin to sell the Black Blossom Lotus. Just look at all the continuity Dave Sim is giving his readers! I wonder how many comic book fans would list "continuity" as their number one favorite thing about comic books? Like, are there people who would list that above great writing or terrific art? Judging by how terrible a lot of mainstream comic books are and how rabid many of the fans, I'd suspect it was a fairly high number. Maybe 65 out of 100, Bob. Change that card! The Merchant Cerebus deals with is a kook who might just have a super secret identity. It's weird to think of the Roach as being capable of actually living an independent life! I suppose he's just barely hanging onto his sanity at this point (and, of course, only during the day). But then he comes into the mystical aura of strangeness that aardvarks apparently exude out of their buttholes and he just loses it completely. He becomes less a merchant slash superhero and more a superhero slash zombie cosplayer. Also he becomes one of the greatest characters ever created! There are like four of them in the entirety of Cerebus! The exclamation point is because I think that's an incredibly high number and not because I think it's an incredibly low number. Most comic book's protagonists never quite make it to the greatest ever! Plus I'd probably give Cerebus more than four but a lot of them are just really good parodies, satires, and slightly-off representations of characters and people who already existed. The merchant buys the Black Blossom Lotus from Cerebus for 100 gold pieces and then promptly drops it out of the window and into the Feld River.

Not only does Dave Sim come up with a bunch of memorable plots across three hundred issues, he also comes up with a lot of good Dungeons & Dragons campaign ideas.

The Merchant pays Cerebus a sack of gold and gets ready for bed as Cerebus begins to leave. Before Cerebus can even exit the hallway outside the merchant's bedroom door, Cerebus begins to hear loud ranting coming from the other side. It's a lot of hissing and threats of murder. Against his better judgment, Cerebus decides to see what's happening and gets his first look at the guy who will be a huge headache to him for the next two hundred issues or so.

One thing I like about Dave Sim is how honest he is when recounting where he came up with or stole his ideas. He gives plenty of credit for the Cockroach and his hissing to Marshall Rogers and Jules Feiffer. It's admirable because a lot of people would just figure, "It might make me look less of an artist and who's going to know anyway?!"

Just a few days ago, my old elementary school friend who was blown up in Iraq and then became a comedian playing to Christians and patriots (which I mention so you'll understand how, as a wounded veteran, he'll never be criticized by his audience and he'll never really grow as a comedian) posted a Tik Tok on Facebook that was just a film of a television set capturing the "Masked Debate" bit on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The clip only shows all the clips of news readers saying "masked debate" and none of Oliver's or the show's set-up. He then watermarked it with his Tik Tok name. Now all of those naive followers who can only seem to reply to his posts with the laugh/cry emoji probably think he wrote it. Better yet, they're probably mostly Trump followers who would never admit to finding that libjerk Oliver or his show funny. What's even better is that the Tik Tok has some quote along top that's watermarked with somebody else's Tik Tok name! So it looks like Bob doubly stole the bit. Man, I wish I'd joined the army and gotten blown up and then found Christ and developed an audience of uncritical naive yahoos who would wildly applaud everything I wrote! Why didn't I join the army?! Oh, that's right. Because I believed I had a future right out of high school. Well, I guess Bob is having the last laugh now! Cerebus follows Cockroach across the rooftops to find out what's going on. He eventually witnesses the Cockroach confront a man in an alley, accuse him of killing his parents, knock him out, and steal his gold. The gold part of the night helps Cerebus to ignore all of the other confusing stuff. The Cockroach doesn't gloat for long. He's off to find another victim! Cerebus witnesses him mug another guy whom he also accuses of killing his parents. He also admits to doing this for thirty years. So now Cerebus thinks the guy is crazy but also crazy rich. At the end of the night, the Cockroach returns home and drops the gold purses into a secret panel in the wall. He falls asleep, wakes up, and, when he sees Cerebus, acts as if Cerebus were just leaving. So Cerebus realizes that the merchant doesn't have any idea what the Cockroach is doing. Which means Cerebus is going to recover those gold purses before the Cockroach comes back! At the moment, Cerebus doesn't realize that he's going to be finding thirty years worth of gold purses in the merchant's walls. Can you imagine how boring the last two hundred and eighty-nine issues of Cerebus would have been if Cerebus managed to steal all of the Roach's gold?! I'm sure some of you are thinking, "It wouldn't have been any worse than the last hundred issues we did get!" Also, can you imagine how fat Cerebus would have gotten drinking tons of ale and eating loads of rich foods? I'm laughing so much just trying to picture it! Ha ha!

Eight feet of gold would make Cerebus fatter than a domesticated raccoon!

In the end, Cerebus only makes it away with three sacks of gold. But in the process, he manages to completely screw up the Roach/Merchant equilibrium that's lasted for thirty years. In trying to exploit the man's mental illness so that he'd help Cerebus move the gold, Cerebus drags the Roach personality into the daylight. From here on out, the Roach will simply be a pawn of others, susceptible to almost any second-rate demagogue (although most of the people who subsequently control the Roach are of the first rate variety). The Aardvark Comment section was two pages this issue and had this letter that I don't think was being sarcastic?

I guess I also wouldn't necessarily consider a chainmail bikini as "a disgusting costume." He's probably thinking about Power Girl.

Also, and I admit it might have been a joke, but Dave Sim reveals that Ronald Reagan is Cerebus' father. That, um, makes sense! Cerebus #11 Rating: A. I almost gave it a B+ for variety but then I remembered I just read the first appearance of the Roach. I also forgot that my ratings don't actually mean anything.

#Cerebus #Dave Sim

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bloodwarmed · 4 years

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I messaged you months ago about not being comfortable with Western fandom and saw that you liked a post from an artist in fandom. It’s actually about the fact that I’m not comfortable with wh*te people cosplaying our characters that wear traditional(or even heavily traditional-inspired clothes). Why can’t they pick some modern series to cosplay, or even better from the plenty amount of white characters they already have? and even if it’s non religious it’s still appropriation to me. 1/2

I agree with you that if they're not thinking, trying to imitate an asian character with makeup can come dangerously close to yellowface, especially with regards to eye makeup and face tape. On sexualized chinese-inspired costume, I agree with the post you reference with regards to the fact that there's nothing inherently wrong with non asians cosplaying mdzs/untamed, yet I will feel sometimes unsettled about sexy versions and unsure if they’re purposefully turning chinese garments into fetish objects. A lot of my doubt about whether or not its offensive arises from the fact that the source material is an explicit 18+ webnovel. I feel like the fandom content will inevitably include sexual themes because of this. When making things sexy there's a dilemma of either including the original chi styles and risk fetishizing it, or excluding the chi aspects and risk whitewashing / erasure. I guess in a sanitized scenario people would agree not to make sexy mdzs art, cosplay, fic if they’re not chinese,, but it's impossible when the fandom has such a wide audience,, especially with the release of Untamed on netflix. (Also we all can clearly see this does not happen in JP-originated animanga fandoms. PLUS identity debates like this could open a can of worms about who is allowed to like BL e.g. are women and nonbinary fans entitled to engage in sexual content of gay men this way,, how to do it without fetishizing etc.) There's definitely a lot of cultural exchange involved and it is difficult to disentangle mis-appropriation from that.

As I’ve said im a chinese person living in a chinese-majority country so mis-appropriation of chinese culture by white (or other) people does not hurt me in the same way it would an overseas chinese minority. I brought this up with my asian-am friend who's also in the fandom and has more & different insights from myself:

People of diverse backgrounds will cosplay MDZS because The Untamed is aimed both domestically & internationally. The untamed was supposed to do a worldwide tour in 2020 that was only stopped by the virus. Most entertainment mediums like anime or a TV drama will be utilized and worn by many people. A blanket ban might be too much when they sell costumes/cosplays officially.

Because the source material is explicit, MDZS fandom will inevitably have sexual content (incl. cosplay). The concerns are definitely understandable, But also there are asian cosplayers in asia who do sexy versions as well. I don't like the sexy stuff but again, it's fandom and it will inherently get sexual,, that vs. the yellow fever is two issues that get conflated.

Is cosplay mis-appropriation? if it was a daoist priest costume or monk it would be disturbing but since this is of a tv drama and the costumes aren't historically accurate I wouldn't consider it appropriation,, but it can feel personally gross and that's okay too. honestly this is such a fraught issue most of us online will never be able to really have a definite yes or no answer, but i just hope to be able to explain it to my friends and have them consider it:

are they disrespectful to the original culture? or profitting off it? (especially with native american stuff buy native american! let them profit and you get a great warm jacket or pair of moccasins)

are they using historically significant or sacred objects?

what are they dressing/do it for?

Note: Anon, my friend, and I naturally have different perspectives & backgrounds. I’m sharing them because I find the discussion valuable for highlighting sensitivities some fans might not have considered. Obviously none of us can speak for a whole community, kindly do NOT use any of our words to talk over other chinese and/or asian fans if they're speaking about their own discomfort and experiences with racism in fandom.

#歪 #ask to tag

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dakt37 · 5 years

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2/? The 1st group pretty much told me I can't cosplay as this character because my Asian ethnicity and it didn't look right. Okay pretty sure that's not what cosplaying is but what do I know. The 2nd group we had planned and it wasn't till we got down to the hotel that I was told oh I didn't feel like it so I didn't bring the costume. Sorry for the long explaination. But how do you go about decieding what to do? And is it bad to cosplay alone? I just have this anxiety about it. I feel like 2/3

3/3 (hopefully) I feel like I don't have friends to cosplay with. So do people actually meet groups or others that cosplay? Maybe it's because I'm so social awkward that I haven't noticed if there are but it seems like people already have their people. Any ways thank you so much for listening and I sincerely hope I'm not being a bother to you

Unfortunately it seems like tumblr ate the first part of your message. :( But I’ll try to answer the best I can. Cut for length!

First of all, that group that said you couldn’t cosplay a character because of your ethnicity is racist, snobby, and flat-out wrong. I agree with you: Cosplay is for EVERYBODY, regardless of race, gender, body type, skill level, etc. It’s about sharing your passion for fandoms and characters you love, or the general artistry of costuming. As long as you’re not disrespectful about it (ie don’t paint your skin to cosplay someone of a different race), I believe that anyone should be able to cosplay any character they want. Sometimes I feel like some people these days are losing sight of that, and think of cosplay as inherently competitive. They get too hung up on screen-accurate “perfection” and lose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be fun. And sure for some people it’s more about the sewing/building than the specific character (I did Castiel because I found a great coat and wanted to try making wings, not because he’s my favorite character), or about finding characters who look like themselves, but those are personal choices. What someone else’s meat suit looks shouldn’t affect who they’re “allowed” to cosplay.

The second group sounds just plain rude. It’s okay if you have to change your cosplans for whatever reason, but at least tell other people about it ahead of time if they were building their own plans around you.

It’s perfectly fine to cosplay alone! My friends and I usually do the sort of “alone together” thing where we are all from different fandoms. We’ll also routinely split up at cons to attend different meetups and panels. It’s also fine to show up to a con totally by yourself! I actually attended a con alone for the first time last year. It was definitely nerve-wracking at first, because I too get anxious in situations like that. It literally took me 20 minutes to work up the nerve to get my picture taken at a display. But I found that taking pictures of other cosplayers helped a lot. Yes you have to approach strangers, but it’s a natural and expected interaction at a con. After a while it got easier to talk more, to ask how they made or got parts of their outfit, or how they feel about something from the fandom they were cosplaying from. And from the opposite side, I have met and in some cases forged long and solid friendships with people I met at cons who were there solo.

Panels and photo meetups are great places to meet people who share your specific interests, especially because they come with built-in icebreakers and topics of conversation. Lots of cosplayers have social media accounts they’re willing to share; I actually only got an instagram account because people at cons kept asking for my insta name so they could tag me in photos. From there it’s easier to keep track of who you’re seeing from con to con, to chat with fellow like-minded nerds, and to plan in-person meetups. Facebook groups for specific cons are also good ways to meet people. Some are more active than others for whatever reason, but in the active ones I constantly see strangers sharing their cosplay progress and encouraging each other, looking for roommates to cut down on hotel costs, asking “is anyone else cosplaying from X fandom?” to get little meet-ups going, and generally looking for and sharing advice about attending cons. There are also cosplay-specific facebook groups. I follow ones for twi’lek aliens, Padme Amidala, and local charity costuming groups. All are full of nice and helpful people willing to give advice and encourage each other, buy/sell costumes and props, request/offer commission work, and pool resources (the Amidala group is particularly good at posts like, “hey guys I found this perfect rare fabric and can get a discount in bulk, who’s in for a few yards”?). So yeah, social media is a super great tool for cosplayers, is my point.

As for how I decide what to cosplay, it’s a combination of factors for me personally. What fandoms I’m currently obsessing over, what outfits really inspire me, what fabrics I can find at a reasonable price, what new sewing/building skill I want to try, and what my friends are doing (because I am a HUGE sucker for group cosplay, lol). I have a massive list of all the things that have made me go “oh I want to cosplay that,” and honestly most of them will never get started. I know a lot of cosplayers (and artists generally) are far more disciplined than I am, but personally I tend to get things done in spurts of random energy when a Muse just happens to really move me for whatever reason. So I just roll with whatever feels the most fun to work on at the time. When I realize that I’m getting too stressed out or frustrated, I switch gears. I put a dress on hold for 8 months once because trying to sew the stupid poofy sleeves made me THAT MAD. :’D

I think I’m just rambling now though. If you want to talk more, please feel free to come off anon and send me a chat message! I might be slow to respond because I’m not active on tumblr every day, but I swear it’s not intrusive or annoying to me at all! :)

#dakity yaks #i hope at least some of this was coherent and helpful #Anonymous

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theteablogger · 7 years

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Andy’s Instagram

I said in my "I'm back" post that Andy is still engaged in some of his old behavior patterns on his Instagram. He said last fall on Facebook that he has "no real interest in maintaining the big public persona fandom thing," but that was and is obviously not the case. Here is a run-down, with screenshots in case he deletes things. Other people's faces and usernames will be censored and comments will only be included if they're relevant in some way.

Overidentification with a fictional character

This is the most obvious element of Andy's Instagram behavior: the majority of his photos concern or are linked to Bucky and the MCU in some way. Until very recently, if he wasn't actually in costume for the photo, his comment would talk about how much his hair looks like Bucky's, he'd refer to himself as Bucky, or Bucky would appear in the tags. To some extent, this is normal for cosplayers on Instagram and other social media platforms; however, given Andy's history, it seems like a terrible idea for him to engage in this sort of behavior.

Remember, this is the guy who verbally, emotionally, psychologically, sexually, and otherwise abused a number of people for years and tried to excuse his actions by claiming that his mental illness/es had caused him to believe, among other things, that he was the embodiment of various fictional characters and some real people, and/or was in contact with them as they existed in parallel universes, and that everything he did was necessary to save the world. Only four years ago, he said that he'd been writing something from Neville Longbottom's point of view and suddenly started to see and hear this fictional character in the room with him. Within the last three years, he was explicitly tying in Destiel with his relationship with Brittany in SPN meta posts. Just last year, he was claiming to have very specific sense-memories of New York in the 1920s and '30s, but lampshaded it by saying that he probably picked up some information during "the gap-filled years", which he felt made him even more like Bucky. This was around the same time that he started talking about how his hair had mysteriously changed color all on its own to look exactly like Bucky's, much as it changed when he "became" Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.

As I and others have said time and again, if Andy honestly believes that he did horrible things to people due to mental illness making him unable to differentiate fantasy from reality, why would he ever engage in behavior that risks triggering an event like that again?

Here are just a few examples:

#buckyhair and #buckywiththegoodhair come up a lot.

Andy’s hair just naturally looks like Bucky’s. Yup.

Of course a fictional character's training has any bearing at all on Andy's real-life abilities.

This post has nothing whatsoever to do with Bucky, but note the hashtag.

I find it very hard to believe that Andy's really been planning this tattoo for years and that it has nothing to do with Bucky. I guess we’re supposed to believe that it’s a huge coincidence that the current design and his future plans for it coincide so well with the placement of Bucky’s metal arm. Without explicitly saying so, he offers this as evidence of how he’s “so connected to Bucky”.

Yes, Andy himself is a superhero.

Again, there is no actual Bucky in this post.

Here, Andy over-dramatizes his actions while being hit by a car to make it seem as if he responded in much the same way that a highly trained supersoldier would. Someone replies, "You are literally Bucky oh my god are you okay??"

Andy also says on his Instagram that his Bucky cosplay has motivated him, more than anything has before, to work out and to get in better shape. While this is a good goal to have, it's worth noting that talk of/promises to change lives for and by means of fandom (and characters that Andy channeled or embodied) was a major component of the BagEnders and DAYD cults. In the latter case, getting into better physical shape was part of it, with “Dumbledore’s Boot Camp” and the cross-country hikes.

Tying fandom in to real-life politics and world affairs

This was also posted on tumblr. The text is a paraphrased quotation from The Avengers, from the scene in which Captain America saves the life of an elderly German man (by implication a survivor of the Nazi regime) who is the only one brave enough to stand up to Loki.

Andy is hardly the first person to conflate being a slash fan with political or social activism, but considering his history, this gets an extra hard eyeroll from me. People's lives are at stake due to LGBTQIA persecution in Russia, so naturally it's an extremely emotionally charged issue, and Andy is right there to take advantage of that. He also talks about learning Russian, supposedly for career reasons, although people on tf-talk have pointed out that the Russian film system is closed to outsiders, the field is rather crowded in Eastern Europe, and oddly enough, people in countries that are not Russia tend to speak primarily non-Russian languages. (A Russian class did not appear on Andy's Spring 2017 transcript, so he only took it for one semester, if at all.)

I also notice that he says he's "about to learn a lot about Russian time zones", as if he's never had a Russian friend before. One of the women that he emotionally manipulated via tumblr and Skype is Russian and lives in Russia.

This is not the only post of Andy as Bucky wearing a POW/MIA shirt as part of his cosplay and using hashtags like #honorourvets and #powmia. If he really wanted to honor military personnel, a minority group, etc., he wouldn't use them as props to draw more attention to himself.

Another post about cosplay and slash fandom as a form of activism. What a shame that his cosplay partner puts his real-life relationship ahead of "being a tree by the river of truth", and that his fiancée puts her discomfort with "anybody else gettin' their hands on her man" (as Andy says in the video) ahead of their great chemistry. [/sarcasm]

Andy has repeatedly made passive-aggressive comments about this man's being unwilling to do Stucky photos because of his and his fiancée's boundaries. I didn't think much of it until I noticed that a comment giving Andy kudos for showing respect had been met with pontification about how he would really love to be able to do Stucky photos, but "real life romances come first" and he wouldn't want to do a Stucky shoot with a "stunty, stilted, or no-homo vibe".

I also think the way he refers to his "wonderfully devoted fan following" in Russia speaks volumes about how he thinks of them. Everyone is just a means to an end, and usually that end is narcissistic supply.

Here's some post-election political Bucky art. Run through Google Translate, the caption reads (bolding mine):

I'm sorry that my Russian is bad, small and new. I'm grieving for America tonight. I do not believe in religion. I believe in God. I do not think I found this place by accident. Here I learned that a place can have bad leaders, bad laws and good, strong, kind people. It's Russia. Now it will be America too. I hope we can change and have good leaders and good laws.

He continues to portray himself as wise, compassionate, and haunted by the fact that the rest of the world is not equally so. This also continues his old pattern of imparting mystical significance to his participation in a fandom.

Using superhero imagery "to highlight the problems faced by real world vets" on Veterans Day seemed disrespectful to Andy…so instead, he posted a picture of Cap and an apology to veterans for Trump's having been elected. Because that's completely different.

International Women’s Day. See previous point about his use of people and issues as attention-getting devices.

Courting younger, politically-minded people with condescension and a hefty dose of misinformation

Here are just a couple of Andy's posts about the 2016 presidential election:

I can't even tell you how many times Andy made tumblr posts inviting random strangers to his (his parents') house to hang out and have fun; this is the same old story from another angle. Anything to lure new people into his influence. (This video is incredibly condescending, by the way.)

This (part 2) (part 3) is the Instagram version of this misleading tumblr post. I'm going to go ahead and admit that this and several other tf-talk comments about his BS surrounding the election were from me because I was incredibly angry about Andy's once again taking advantage of people's completely justified fears about a volatile situation.

See also this brief but masterful takedown of his "shh everything will be fine" tumblr post after the election.

Here's a completely unironic post (part 2) (part 3) about how back in the day, only intelligent, right-thinking people had the ability to share their opinions with large numbers and wide ranges of people—but now any jackass pleb can get on the internet and spin anything in any way that they want, to reach any nefarious end. "Credentialed experts, not Instagram gurus. Data, not anecdotes." There he is again, hiding in plain sight.

Talking about how poor he is

It mainly takes the form of the usual posts about doing or making XYZ impressive thing on a shoestring budget because Andy Is Wise and Resourceful, but there's also this (part 2).

Stupid art school! Not only do they expect Andy to take art classes instead of just accepting that he is The Most Talented; they also expect him to purchase supplies! Thus he can no longer attend VA ComicCon…unless his friend knows "a magic money tree or a way to get free tickets." One or the other must have materialized, because he made it to the con anyway. Obviously Andy's friends are free to pay for things for him if they want to, but remember that he has a history of lying or "bending the truth" to get money out of people.

Making and endorsing extremely poor decisions

Yes, he says that he only had one Oxy with his giant tumblr (sic) of wine. That doesn't matter. It's unwise to mix any amount of opiates with alcohol, and equally unwise to discuss it publicly, especially given his tendency to encourage much younger people to regard him as some sort of font of wisdom and life advice.

This is how Andy achieves the one-armed Bucky look. Yes, a lot of people can pop their shoulders in and out of joint at will, but it's a bad idea, especially given the amount of time that he spends with it in this condition.

I spoke with the same doctor whom I consulted about the horrific binding injury that Andy claimed to have sustained. They said that repeatedly dislocating one's shoulder is very likely to cause instability of the joint, which can be debilitating (and quite dangerous, I would think, if his shoulder went out while lifting weights or something). Additionally, every time his shoulder is popped out and reset, Andy risks incurring torn muscles and stretched or torn ligaments/tendons, a trapped nerve, and vessel damage. Some of these effects become increasingly likely the longer it's out of joint. Andy, if you happen to read this, please stop doing this stupid thing. I may not like you, but I don't want you to injure yourself, for fuck's sake. And please stop instructing other cosplayers in how to accomplish dangerous things for the sake of a costume.

I have no idea whether Andy was checked out by medical personnel after he was hit by the car. I hope so. It's the #noexcuses tag that really gets to me. Attention, everyone: never, ever assume that you are 100% okay to engage in strenuous physical activity after an incident like being hit by a fucking car. It doesn't matter how slowly it was moving at the time. Without a thorough physical examination, you cannot be sure that you haven't sustained a non-apparent injury that will cause trouble later. Something like this is absolutely a valid reason not to go to the gym the next day, as intense cardio or weight training may exacerbate damage of which you are not yet aware. This post of his is incredibly irresponsible.

Promoting DAYD

Last October, in a post that featured photos of the GoT feast, Andy referred to DAYD as "a fairly popular HP companion novel", as if it were the HP equivalent to the Star Trek novels rather than a fanwork.

Andy continues to urge new people to check out the fan novel that he used as the basis for the second cult of personality in which he manipulated and took advantage of a great many people. (Also, DAYD got a neutral, one-line mention in an Atlantic Monthly article alongside Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, but okay.)

He is so hoping that someone will ask about that tattoo.

Grooming female companions

I'm not sure what other word to use for Andy’s relationship with this person, as public information about it is limited to what appeared on Instagram. Please understand that I am not judging her at all and do not wish to identify her in any way. Considering Andy's behavior with Abbey, Brittany, L, Silven, and others among his female friends/followers, I think it's important to talk about it.

This is the first overtly romantic cosplay picture that Andy has posted in MCU fandom. His cosplay partner’s comments are very telling:

It really was the best day for me. … I love you my handsome cosboyfriend you seriously are my best friend my love and I truly believe my partner I know when you call me "your" Natalia that I am loved and care for more than I could ever imagine. I love you

If this person is roleplaying as Natasha, it makes no sense to refer to Bucky as her "cosboyfriend". She is talking about Andy. Whatever is going on here is pretty fucking intense. And given his proclivity for redheads, it is not lost on me that he has selected a character who’s had a canonical relationship with a red-haired woman in the past, giving him an excuse to act out scenes like this.

Here is a romantic photoset of Andy with the same woman, to whom he now refers as "the cosgirlfriend". She replies,

I love you my beautiful cosboyfriend … By the way you owe me roses now … [you're] the beauty im the beast

A commenter asks whether this is "canon, or just two beautiful people being beautiful together," wondering whether Andy and this fellow cosplayer are an IRL couple. Andy neatly dodges the question by referring to the comics.

Andy's "cosgirlfriend" has also called him gorgeous, left a suggestive comment on one of his bathbomb photos, talked about missing him/his face, and referred to him as "baby" and "dear". All of her comments were left within ten days, and of course Andy didn’t respond publicly to any of them. In my opinion based on what Andy has done many times over, the little information that I have (not all of which I am comfortable sharing) suggests that this may have been another situation in which he love-bombed a woman and quickly established what she felt was a very close, deep relationship with romantic possibilities, and then backed off just as quickly. As of 5/30, Andy had taken down the first picture of the two of them and she'd asked for the second to be removed as well. He did so earlier this month. I have not attempted to contact this person, as I feel that would be crossing a line, but I'm guessing that she requested their removal because she’d received negative attention and/or warnings about Andy.

Miscellaneous

I will not share screenshots of these, but Andy has posted several pictures of himself with young children. He loves kids, perhaps in part because they tend to be so much more credulous than adults and they make great attention-getting props. In one notable instance, he posted a picture and video of a little boy from Romania, who he said was a huge Captain America fan who'd love to hear from Sebastian Stan. Andy and some of his friends tagged the actor several times in the posts and comments. All the boy talked about in the video was his Pokemon fan creations, while Andy tried hard to drag the conversation around to Cap and Bucky. The picture that he posted was also Pokemon-related, as was a later image of a drawing the child had made. It seems likely, given his past behavior, that Andy is using this child (who may or may not be interested in Marvel characters at all) to gain the attention of the actor who plays the character around whom his life currently revolves.

Andy has consistently referred to the kittens as "our babies" for a couple months now, which is understandable because he lives with them, but also makes me nervous because of his history with the rabbit, the mouse, and Boo.

He recently shared a picture of himself with a very good Seven of Nine cosplayer and called back to his days in the Star Trek: Voyager fandom. Reminding people of the first time that you lied your ass off to a fandom for attention is probably not a great idea, Andy.

Here he is using another flimsy excuse to humblebrag about his alleged genius IQ, which he's been doing from the very beginning. Andy never changes.

Andy also now has a Patreon on which he is offering a tutorial for Bucky’s metal arm. Someone at tf-talk has noted that his bio includes a different origin story for his costuming interest than he gave in Viva La Cosplay. Then, he wanted to appear charmingly naïve and to make his work look more impressive by claiming a lack of experience. Now, he wants to look super legit to attract more patrons.

The higher reward tier includes a 20-minute [Facebook] messenger session for Q&A and for Andy to talk the patron through customizing the arm for themselves. A) Facebook’s policies mean that a lot of people will have to give Andy their RL names for this...which is one reason that he likes using Facebook. B) That doesn’t seem like very much time to go over customization. Would any cosplayers like to weigh in on this?

#andythanfiction #andrew blake #andy blake #bucky #mcu #cosplay #social justice

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totallytubulargirl · 7 years

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Tmnt loveboat: 💜 Donatello meets Penelope

Summary: It’s harmonys Halloween party! And Donnie meets someone special ;))

Chapter 4 Donnie extended his bo staff onto Mikey’s chest, pushing him awake. “Oh good you’re awake.” He smirked. “We’re about to leave.” Mikey flung the blankets off of him. “Im coming!” He exclaimed, running after his brother. They were preparing to go to Harmony’s Halloween party. Donatello jogged to the door were Raphael and even Leo awaited him. “Hai.” Heard Donatello, and all of them stood stiffly, even Michelangelo, who was halfway across the room. “Be careful my sons.” Warned splinter, walking into their view. “Remember losing a battle is hard for you, but losing four sons would be much harder.” They all bowed, in respect for their sensei, even though they were about to disrespect him by lying to him. “Yes sensei.” replied Leonardo. Splinter hugged each individual turtle before retreating into his room. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching my stories.” He waddled away, happy to have a Friday night to himself. “Do ya think he knows?” Asked Raphael once master splinter was out of ear shot. Leo huffed in shame. “No.” “Come on guys!” waved Donatello, running towards the exit, with Michelangelo trailing closely behind. Raphael and Leo looked at each other doubtfully before following Donnie and Mikey. ——–>(timeskip) Donatello slowly treaded on the sidewalk, his brothers following in a neat line behind him. He pressed a button on his watch and a hologram of a map hovered above it. “I think this is the place.” He said, pushing his glasses up. “Ya think genius?” Asked raph. “Obviously it’s the one with all the people goin’ in it.” “Hey I see harmony!” Exclaimed Michelangelo. Harmony jumped and waved from the front porch of the giant two story house. She ran towards the turtles. “Oh my gosh I’m so glad you guys came!” She smiled hugging Mikey. “For a second I thought you were going to wuss out.” She smiled. “So what do you think Michelangelo!” She said in a song like tone. She spun around, showing off her 70’s style dress that stopped right below her butt and her white knee-high playform boots. A pair of funky glasses with a golden metal frame and giant hoop earrings topped the whole look off. “I love it babe,” he smiled. “especially that dress.” “Get a room.” Raph smacked Mikey upside the head. Harmony furrowed her eyebrows. “Now now Raphael play nice,” Raphael backed off but didn’t say anything. “But first come dance with me Mikey.” She pouted before grabbing his hand and leading him into the house, where thumping music threatened to bust the windows open. Mikey shrugged has he was dragged away, abandoning them on the sidewalk in front of the house. They watched as a bunch of 20-something’s talked in groups on the lawn and the porch. Lots of people were dressed up fabulous costumes, a feather from a girl who was dressed as a giant peacock tickled Leonardo’s nose as she walked by. She stopped to look over her shoulder at him, “Hey turtle boy.” She grinned seductively, wagging her tail of feathers in his face. He half-smiled as she sauntered away. “Woah.” Said Raph and Donnie in unison. They walked into the house, ducking slightly at the door frame. They barely fit in a house already crowded with so many people. “Hey guys do you see Mikey?” Yelled leonardo over the music. “Yeah he’s right there!” Yelled raph pointing to the corner of the room. They all followed Leonardo, finally reaching Mikey who was dancing with Harmony. “Woo this is great!” He yelled. Raphael pumped his fist in the air. “Hell yeah let’s have some fun!” Soon enough, they were all dancing, sometimes with different girls sometimes just with each other. Music swallowed their thoughts as they finally were able to let loose. Even Leo danced, letting the music engulf his burdens and whoosh them away. Donatello panted. “I’m going to get something to drink!” He yelled at his brothers. “Get me a water!” Leo yelled back, preoccupied with the peacock girl who had hit on him earlier. Donnie ran to the fridge, grabbing two waters and sitting on a bar stool in the kitchen. He wiped the beading sweat off of his forehead. He spotted a pretty girl, with round blue eyes and bright red hair staring at him from the couch. He quickly averted his gaze, taking a sip from his water. The girl on the couch watched what she thought was a frat boy dressed as a geek turtle. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to work up the courage to talk to the tall and muscular turtle. She pulled her fuzzy pink sweater over her tummy. Oh I shouldn’t have worn this. She thought, peering at the fat on her stomach. Her faced turned an even darker shade of red. She took a deep breath. It’s cool. She thought, he has to be a cosplayer. His costume was so realistic, it’d be hard to believe it if he wasn’t a professional. She stood up to go compliment him on his costume, taking several deep breaths as she approached him. Donnie felt someone tap his shell, he turned around, startled by the pretty blue eyed girl who stood uncomfortably close. “You’re costume is pretty neat!” She yelled over the music. “You’re like a fighting turtle geek hybrid.” She struggled to describe it, only relaxing when Donatello chuckled. “I guess something like that!” She nodded her head. “I’m Penelope,” she introduced herself awkwardly. “Or penny is good too!” She smiled. Donatello’s heart fluttered at the way she batted her eyelashes at him. His throat was suddenly dry and his shell was getting tighter by the second. “Uh Donatello,” his voice cracked. “Or you know, Donnie.” She laughed, and his heart skipped a beat. The world jumped, “Donatello.” His name rolled off her tongue, slowing time down around them, their eyes met and Donnie thought about the way stars were exploding somewhere in the galaxy and he was here, right now, with her. “Do you wanna dance?” He blurted. He froze, his body tensing up with her silence. “Sure!” He stood up, awkwardly smiling as he led her to the corner of the room where his brothers awaited his return. “Hey don there you are!” Yelled leonardo, joyously. “Look guys don’s back!” His brothers roared all patting him on the shell at once, cheering. They all jumped, bumping shoulders. Penny laughed, they all had to be brothers, she thought. And definitely jocks of some sort. The turtles shook the house, making a quite a ruckus. Harmony watched as a tall slim man standing next to penny leaned over, “Look at these jerks.” He commented. She creased her eyebrows, “They’re not jerks, they’re just having fun.” He grabbed her arm, with a firm grip. “Come on let’s get out of here.” He tugged at her, she tried to snatch her arm away from him, but he kept his grip. Harmony tapped Mikey on the shoulder and pointed at them. Donnie turned around, only seeing a man grabbing penny and the disgust on her face. “Hey leave her alone, dude.” Donnie knocked his hand off of penny, slapping it away, Raph stepped forward but Leonardo stopped him, “Donnie’s got this.” He said, standing by in case he really did need them. Penny stepped next to Donnie, wrapping her body around his arm. He cringed, his heart stopped, suddenly everything around him sounded muffled. The man approached Donnie, he poked him in the chest, but all Donnie could think about was the way penny’s skin felt against his. He looked down at the man, obviously intoxicated, suddenly he could hear again, “-bitch.” Was the only word he heard, and Donnie kicked his ankles, knocking the man over, spilling his drink onto his face. He whined, splashing all over the place, struggling to get up. “My dads a lawyer!” He yelled in frustration. “Time to go!” Yelled Leo. Donnie and Mikey grabbed their girls, and ran after Leo and Raphael. By the time they reached the end of the block they were all laughing again. They stopped, letting the girls catch their breath. “Woo!” Exclaimed harmony. “That guy was a class A asshole!” She wiped a tear from her eye, only to create another one by bursting into laughter. “And he was wearing a suit?” She put her hand on penny’s back, as she laughed along with harmony. “Who wears a SUIT to a Halloween party?” She asked, jokingly. “Who knows, maybe he was dressed as his dad ‘the lawyer’” Mikey said mockingly. “Yeah too bad we didn’t get to kick some shell.” Raph grumbled. “So, who’s your friend Donnie?” Asked Leo. Donnie suddenly felt anxious again. “This is Penelope.” He said, stepping beside her. “Or penny’s cool too.” He looked down smiling at her, and she batted her eyelashes at him and his heart swooned all over again.

#tmnt #tmnt bayverse #tmnt donnie #tmnt donatello #tmnt leo #tmnt mikey #tmnt raph #tmnt loveboat #tmnt oc #tmnt fanfiction

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