#a separate personality who is not the worst dude in the entire world

[traincat]

who at marvel comics is carrying a torch for norman "killed gwen stacy, abused his son for years, murdered a baby, traumatized peter and countless others for years, literally the marvel equivalent of usa president 45" osborn?

my secret theory here is that we're dealing with a legion of writers who have hit some kind of terrible collective midlife crisis where they start sweating thinking of all the maybe not great dad moments they participated in in their own lives (which probably don't include baby murder but you know) and they start going "was this terribly abusive father REALLY so bad? maybe he DID love his kid somewhere deep inside, and that makes everything bad he did, including selling his son's soul to the devil for five dollars, okay, because he meant well, kind of." and that's why we're in this completely mystifying scenario. can norman just try to kill another baby or something please.

#*replies #norman osborn #i don't think fandom is ENTIRELY blameless here #if you go into the norman tags you'll see a lot of cutesy dad norman fanart courtesy of no way home #because raimi norman has been spun as inherently separate from the goblin #a separate personality who is not the worst dude in the entire world #which is not the case with comics norman at all #but marvel comics currently caters very heavily to marvel movies #so the legion of uwu dad norman stuff is NOT HELPING

[keyotosprompts]

not easy to please ⋆⭒˚｡⋆

alternatives to popular tropes

⇴ siblings's worst enemy

they're your sibling's enemy, so of course they're yours too. they're despicable and you seriously want them dead. luckily for you, the feeling's mutual.

⇴ struggling ceo and their know-it-all office worker

how did this mf become the ceo of one of the most progressive countries in the world?? they're clueless and you're the one that has to fix all their mistakes. you seriously don't get paid enough for this (unless they can come up with another way to pay you).

⇴ marriage of inconvenience

what happens in vegas stays in vegas. except when you've signed an official marriage contract, and everything is so much more complicated before. now this person is stuck with you until you can divorce! (or will you?)

⇴ forbidden hate

your parents absolutely adore the idea of the two of you together. they have wedding pinterest boards, future plans, and baby names for the two of you. only one thing: you two kinda hate each other, and hell would have to freeze over before you'd ever get with them.

⇴ no more second chances

sorry dude! f'ed up really bad the first time, and now you're not giving anymore chances, and your ex has to deal with the consequences. one problem: they can't deal with the consequences bc they're literally in love with you. hm. just what will this person do to get you back?

⇴ not so secret identity

everyone knows who they are. not even the old mask and hat trick could prevent people from identifying them. and it's fine–they absolutely bask in the fame. one problem though: they're a constant target to the entire world. perfect!

⇴ separated from each other

they never get any alone time. alone together in an elevator? too bad, a party of ten just showed up, pushing the two of you on the opposite side of the elevator. finally alone at home? nope! unfortunately, your friends make a surprise visit! oh how will you two ever get past this?

⇴ "you deserved it."

a normal person would've asked "who did this to you?" except your bond is not normal. not in the slightest. i mean seriously, what does this person want from you?

⇴ "i can't have you, so i'll let someone else take my place."

they know that they're not good enough for you, and that you deserve someone better than them. so, they choose to let you go, and hope that someone else can make your world light up like they used to

⇴ the one that is still here

everywhere you go, this person is there. whether it's physically, mentally, or spiritually, everything ties back to them. everything reminds you of them. you couldn't even escape if you tried.

⇴ playboy but he's actually a nerd that cannot get play

he's gorgeous–he's the most attractive man you think you've ever seen in your life. you think he's probably got it all–girls or boys coming up to him nonstop. only, that's not true in the slightest. somehow, he's managed to fumble every single time.

⇴ nobody wants the bad boy

he's troubled. there are rumors of him starting fights 24/7, and he lives in a bad area. he could really fuck someone up. nobody wants him.

⇴ "you must be delusional"

lovers that know that they're in love with each other, but when admitting it to their friends, they shut down their feelings.

⇴ loving someone to save them

none of that breaking up nonsense. love is power. their love and support causes you to be stronger than ever. knowing that there's love out there gives you a reason to keep on going. love saves you.

⇴ too smart to live

you've outdone yourself this time. bypassed every guard, rule, and law without anyone catching you. so, of course, there's only one solution here: to eliminate you.

⇴ different worlds (revised)

you grew up poor while they grew up rich. now, in the present, you are the more successful one, while they are struggling to get their life together. now, you must help the one who used to be in your current position, and fix things together.

⇴ one-sided blind date

rule one of having a blind date: you should not know who you're meeting. well, too late! you sneaked a peek at your friend's phone and found out who you'll be seeing soon. now, you're scrambling to get out of this date because you know exactly who it is.

#keyotosprompts #fluff prompts ⋆˚✿˖° #writeblr #writing #writing prompts #otp prompts #otp writing #imagine your otp #creative writing #writing inspiration #writers on tumblr #writing prompt #writerscommunity #creative inspiration #writer stuff #tropes #character dynamics #about writing

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

This is gonna sound absolutely bonkers and freaky but bare with me. I always say like theres 3 types of Yanderes fr

1) you got the one that would rather cut their darling open and burrow inside of them (not literally but like figurative)

2) the type that would cut themselves open and would want darling to live inside of them

3) and finally the type that would sew darling to their side or whatever

I would think that Yves would be option 1 mainly because I feel like he would take great satisfaction in literally living inside of his darling, like the amount of things he could observe with hearing and feeling the bodily functions of his darling around him, would probably be the most succulent brain food to him. Like he’s living in his hyper fixation. Probably his own personal heaven when you think about it. Your post about Inside Out really solidified this for me.

Blanche would be option 2 or 3 mainly because his possessiveness. Like he doesn’t want darling to go anywhere that is outside of his home and finds the most happiness with being only being with his darling. His darling is his one and only true friend that he wants to keep forever and forever and prefers to isolate them within the house.

Leveret, we don’t know much about him but I wanna say he gives off option number 3. I feel like he likes to poke and prod at his darling physically so they would need to be whole next to him for him to properly do so 🤔

Cyprus and Monty also gives number 3.

Alien Cowboy Yan from Language Barrier gives 2. Mainly because Blanche kind of reminds me of him in terms of territorialness of it all. How he acts around those who are around his darling, always wanting his darling to be kept in the home and within arms reach as well.

I love your writings fr and sorry for my weird ramblings fr fr

ur weird ramblings highkey slaps and is a banger my dude, pls don't be shy ramble som more 🙏🙏🙏

yes you are right, Yves is having a field trip if he could just live inside you, to know how it feels and to see the world through your eyes. Like its his only wet dream and if he has a dream like that, he would wake up sobbing because he wanted it to be real so badly, a treasure trove of data all gone because it was only a dream

You're pretty accurate for Blanche too, he is protective and super possessive, although he does enjoy documenting your habits from time to time, but the most important thing to him is the bonding and relationship you and he share. and the fact that you are all his, he would rather cage you up, rob you of your free will and make you a personalityless zombie than let you be 100% free to see how you would react to certain circumstances on your own

Cyprus and Leveret does like poking fun at you, they would like to have you separate to them, they like seeing you all flustered up and shy, all cute and small. They don't want to control you entirely that you become a mere doll, but they don't want to stay in the shadows and observe either, they want a companion with their own thoughts n feelings and they like the thrill of 'taming' and owning you in a sense

Depending whether you're a dom or a sub in the relationship, Monty can be a lot of things

Like if you are a strong character that takes the lead in the bedroom like in it was only supposed to be a one-night stand, He would be territorial and tries to scare off any rivals, but ultimately he is seeking for your approval, you have a leash around him

if you are pretty weak in character like in Best and worst of Both worlds, Monty is still territorial and protective, but he assumes the role of someone who's leading the relationship, kind of trying to tie a leash around you but it isn't too tight, he would be pretty lax with rules and stuff, he is the type that thinks you could do no wrong because you are naive and shit, only thinking that the outside world is tainting you, so he needs to shield you from it while letting you enjoy your life

The cowboy yan 2718 is a mixture of type 2 and 3, yes he wants you to be in the house because that's where its the safest, but he would relent his strictness if you're acting out enough, prioritizing your happiness and safety more than anything else. He tries to keep a leash on you, but he wouldn't tug on it or shorten it IF its also hurting you, he would resort to just chasing you around,,, but given the chance, he would like you to live inside him so you would be safe and protected, but you wouldn't be happy and that's a problem for him

#yandere #yandere male #yandere oc #oc yves #tw yandere #yandere oc x reader #yandere concept #male yandere oc x reader #yandere x you #yandere x reader #language barrier #oc cyprus #oc blanche #oc leveret

[film-in-my-soul]

Jake Seresin: Domestic Goddess | 868 | dalearden / @dale-arden

Summary: Too many people would fall about laughing in disbelief if they saw this, Jake “Hangman” Seresin in love and domesticated and absolutely revelling in it. Fuck ‘em, he thinks, because he’s had a fair few near death experiences in his time by this point and has had to see those he cares about the most get put in harm's way far too often too. It would make anyone grow and embrace what’s important in life, or should. He’s seen too many pilots who went entirely the other way...

out here in this water so deep | 889 | dalearden / @dale-arden

Summary: It would have been so much worse if he were alone and he can admit that now, if only to himself, that being alone was bullshit and had just been a shield because being in love was hard and being hurt sucked. He’s older and wiser and has come far, especially since the mission.

No Need to Take it Slow | 1,357 | allylikethecat / @allylikethecat

Summary: “You’re staring again,” said Phoenix, surprising Jake. “Shit,” he swore, sloshing his own beer as Bob snickered behind her. “Don’t worry,” she said, eyes glittering dangerously, “it’s cute.”

Soft | 2,208 | allylikethecat / @allylikethecat

Summary: Bradley had shifted on the couch, mouth open as he snored softly. His tee shirt was pushed up, soft, pale unblemished skin on display, though when he closed his eyes, Jake could still see the dark purple-black bruises that littered Bradley’s body after he had been forced to eject after the 10 G climb.

Saying goodbye to all my ghosts | 5,399 | strawberryspitt

Summary: Jake and Bradley move in together and find Goose's old Polaroid pictures.

playing for keeps | 3,684 | ginnydear

Summary: “He’s uh,” he starts, trying to pull himself together. Phoenix has wandered over now, mouth open as she looks at the scene in front of her. “He’s cuddly, when he’s sleepy.” “Javy,” Hangman hisses, though it’s not nearly as biting as it could be. “To the grave, dude.”

from this day to the ending of the world | 3,904 | dalearden / @dale-arden

Summary: Jake flies the mission instead of Maverick and takes the hit meant for Bradley. The two pilots find themselves stranded in enemy territory battling against the willderness and, in Jake's case, a bullet wound from the guns of a fifth gen fighter. It's the worst possible time for Bradley to realize just how deep his feelings for Jake really run.

your hand on my thigh, barely on my mind | 4,442 | RippingOffZeppelin

Summary: He looks the same, he always has, even when he was fresh out of the academy and vibrating with potential coming into TOPGUN, references glowing to match his perpetual summer tan.

To Feel a Little Love | 5,887 | allylikethecat / @allylikethecat

Summary: “You saved my life,” said Rooster, crashing into the blonde, without thinking Hangman reached out, grabbing him by the belt loops to steady him. Bob snorted and gave Hangman a mock salute. “Thank god- he’s your problem now.” “What did y’all do to him?” Hangman asked, looking from Phoenix to Bob. Like Rooster, they were clad in their civvies. Unlike Rooster, they were both nearly sober, or at least appeared to be. “Shots,” said Phoenix with a shrug. “Not everyday you come back from the dead- twice.”

When you're ready | 45,445 | The_Splendid_Wren

Summary: After the suicide-mission-that-wasn't the pilots of TOP GUN go their separate ways to enjoy a much earned week of leave. Rooster is set to spend his time with Maverick in an attempt to rekindle their familial relationship but it gets complicated when unresolved trauma from nearly dying keeps him from truly opening up. With a host of other issues like his unknown next assignment and his feelings for a rival paralyzing him, he truly has no idea how he ends up at the Seresin ranch house in Austin, Texas with the object of his desires right in front of him. Or, Rooster is suffering PTSD and his friends and family try to help him. Whether that's getting therapy or confessing his very deeply buried feelings remains to be seen.

Please see below for more recommendations!

baby, darling, fiancé, husband | 1,026 | nqther

Summary: “Also, I want a diamond.” “Yes, sweetheart.” “I want it really fucking flashy.” “Of course, Jake.” “Tomorrow. I want it tomorrow.” “Whatever you want, baby.”

I miss you most | 1,056 | Venezia

Summary: “Wanna know what I missed the most though?” Jake asked. Bradley had already closed his eyes but there was a smile playing across his face, “The mustache?” Or when Bradley comes home from a deployment and Jake lists all the things he’s missed.

and I went to bed, and I loved you | 1,091 | multifandommonster / @mitthrawnu

Summary: His Bronco is a sight for sore eyes when he slides into the well-worn seats, bag tossed carelessly into the back, and he takes a deep breath as he leans back against the leather. His body comes back to him in pieces, the tension in his limbs from stress and small spaces slowly draining until he feels like his chest can relax. Exhaustion washes over him in waves, but he doesn’t let himself succumb just yet. The promise of home is enough to keep him going.

Time, Mystical Time | 1,163 | perishablealex / @perishablealex

Summary: All of a sudden, Jake’s five again. The cold bite of the bathroom countertop digs into his thighs as his feet swing restlessly where they hang off the edge. The razor bounces off the sink, guided by the precision of the strong fingers that hold it. One, two, three tinkering taps before the blade runs under the water once more and the hand cuts the air in its upward motion. Or: Jake watches Bradley shave and some memories come up.

Choose You Again (And Again And Again) | 1,181 | inspiredissue / @despitesunlight

Summary: When Bradley proposes to Jake, it’s nothing Instagram-worthy. He doesn’t organize an extensive date night featuring the first restaurant they ever went to and a walk on a pier. He doesn’t throw rose petals on every imaginable surface and light a million candles. Their friends don’t even know it’s happening, because, truthfully, Bradley wasn’t planning on it. Or; Bradley realizes exactly how much he loves Jake and impulsively proposes. Cuteness ensues.

Propose | 1,272 | arami_d004

Summary: “What did you just say?” Rooster asked Bob. Bob repeated his question quietly, ever so calm. “I said, has he already proposed to you?”

Shining Star (Like A Little Diamond) | 1,656 | boobooblue / @letsboo-boo

Summary: "Weatherman said there might be a meteor shower yesterday, didn't think it would actually happen." Jake smiles, breathless. "Better late than never, I guess." "I don't think I've seen one since I was twelve," Bradley admits, just as in awe. "Really?" He turns to face Bradley briefly, wiggling his eyebrows. "Any wishes you've been waiting to make?"

And Time Can Do So Much | 1,704 | FabuMazX

Summary: "I guess I knew when we had a fallout and for the first time, I couldn’t let him walk out. Even if we had to sit there giving each other the silent treatment, I’d take that over not having him any day.” The moment Bradley realised he was in love and wasn't going to let that go without a fight.

we wouldn't have to eat kraft dinner (but we would eat kraft dinner) | 1,797 | multifandommonster / @mitthrawnu

Summary: He brings the whole pot over once he deems it sufficient to present, and when he sees the small, grateful smile on Jake’s face, his heart clenches near-painfully in his chest. “Most gourmet on the menu,” Bradley teases, spooning a hefty scoop into Jake’s bowl. “Kraft macaroni and cheese, huh? You really pulled out all the stops,” Jake replies, but Bradley hears the sincerity in his tone.

these sentimental teardrops | 1,936 | multifandommonster / @mitthrawnu

Summary: “Pot, kettle,” Bradley hears, and he makes the effort to turn his body enough to see Hondo walking back to their section of the hangar. It’s on the tip of his tongue to respond with something smart until he sees who’s trailing behind, and then— “Bradshaw, as I live and breathe,” Hangman says, and Bradley feels himself smile despite it all.

of a feather | 2,501 | dracculaura / @dracculaura

Summary: jake and his three-year-old daughter, sophie, run into bradley while trick-or-treating

Brought To Light | 2,584 | perishablealex / @perishablealex

Summary: Bradley is officially introduced to Jake's son, Sam, in a night of trick or treating.

it doesn't have to hurt | 3,253 | bottledyarn

Summary: Hangman tries to help, even after the planes have all landed and the glory is gone.

paper rings | 3,539 | davidbyrne / @katiesharms

Summary: When Carole Bradshaw dies, Bradley’s given all of her jewelry.

my picture in your pocket | 4,530 | ginnydear

Summary: Staring back at him from Rooster's phone is Hangman, eyes bugged out of his head and tongue sticking out. It’s obviously a selfie and Bob thinks it’s gotta be one Hangman took himself, based on the angle. It looks like Hangman isn’t wearing a shirt either, which only adds to Bob’s confusion. five times someone picked up roosters phone and saw a selfie of hangman.

One More Miracle | 6,695 | FabuMazX

Summary: Bradley sees the exact moment that he reads his mind and his smile falls. Jake’s brow furrows slightly and Bradley sees him swallow. It’s not until Payback brushes past his shoulder that Jake blinks, breaking the line between them; then he’s gone, pushing through the crowd towards the door while the others stare and call after him in a confused cluster. So maybe he needs one more miracle. It takes a suicide mission for Bradley to realise he's not ready to give up on them. Now he just has to convince Jake. That's miracle number one.

Promise Me, Just Hold My Hand | 8,033 | Earthangel_44 / @yikes-00

Summary: The five times Rooster hints that he wants kids, and the one time Hangman agrees. AKA: Bradley has baby fever and Jake doesn't like kids.

you've got my heart stumbling | 8,161 | lightwoodsisabelle / @nicogayngelo

Summary: Bradshaw looked up, big brown eyes meeting Jake’s from across the room. A series of emotions played across his face before he settled on bemused, shooting him a short wave. With a scowl, Jake turned back to his laptop. He had bigger things to do than worry about Bradley Bradshaw.

you've tasted love and it tasted sweet | 24,086 | transbrvcewayne (FinishedKitten) /@transbrvcewayne

Summary: He was trusting Jake with himself, to not hurt him and to take care of him. It was an overwhelming feeling, locking him into the moment, committing as much of this to memory as he could. If this was just a one off he could live with that as long as he could remember this.

Master Reclist · Personal Masterlist · Blog Nav.

#hangster #sereshaw #hangster reclist #reclist #top gun maverick reclist #fanfic reclist

[titleleaf]

re. that culturaltutor thread on minimalism and beauty

(moving my commentary to a separate post to spare the Tumblr user who reposted the thread, who’s a totally normal antiracist/anti-white-supremacy SFF person -- you can find the Twitter thread in question reposted on their blog but I don’t fault them at all for not spotting this)

This guy is fully being weird about it in a way I unfortunately am not surprised by from a dude with an all-white Classical statue twitter av and the handle “The Cultural Tutor”. I’m very much a maximalist and my idea of a calm space is one that feels cozy and personal rather than one that feels sleek and tranquil, but each of these instances of “character” in design is the product of decades or centuries of advancements in design thought, materials, architectural method, and urban planning. I can point to a dozen instances of thoughtful, sensitive architectural detailing in 21st century architecture in my own city -- bike racks with individual emblems symbolizing historic neighborhoods, sidewalk repairs imprinted with brief poems on each newly-poured slab, elaborate bike bridge fences celebrating local Native cultures and artists, a wall of green plant life in the middle of a skyscraper -- and those are all the product of conscious choices that say something. They, in fact, make you feel something, despite being decidedly minimalist by this dude’s standards and emphatically modern. They would not have been seen in my city in the 1880s or the 1920s and I’m fine with that.  There is sensitive, meaningful detail and grace in modern design, and it is safe to say this person is not looking for it.

Piling every example of any disparate preceding period’s artistic and design output (or any of the ones that catch the OP’s eye, wherein you might start to notice some patterns: a 13th century English cathedral, a gold-painted “Victorian” doorbell of who knows what provenance, an English civil architect and engineer’s fancy bench circa the 1870s, an iron telephone kiosk designed by hey another English architect circa the 1920s...) is absurd as grouping all the causes for what we’re perceiving as unpleasant sterility (capitalism, hostile design, passing stylistic fads, changing perceptions of what looks “prestigious” and “expensive”, the most recent several decades in aesthetic thought, lazy landlords giving my entire 1910s-era apartment a shitty paintjob because who needs charming wood detailing. and many more) under the heading of “minimalism, so as not to offend anyone, effacing our (whose?) cultural identity”. Stroking a boner for classicism and the general concept of the past is not the same as insightful commentary on design.

To say that all “minimalist” (read: post-1900? post-1950? predominantly painted white?) design is “soulless” or “has nothing to say” or lacks charm or character rankles me, at the exact moment as Twitter is reckoning with again, statue-avatar trad weirdos making this same argument about degener-- oh, sorry, “modern” art, or why Impressionist art has no meaning and no beauty and its artistic proponents were clearly all draft-dodgers who shirked their patriotic duty in World War One. (No evidence and no chronology on that one, just vibes.) This whole thing is one long shrill dogwhistle about modernity and tradition (guess which political movement is obsessed with those particular themes right now? they are actively recruiting!) and seeing it get re-circulated on Tumblr with a quasi-leftist hat on in the tags about how it’s capitalism that made modernity ugly doesn’t make me happy.

EDIT: Another user has also noted that this dude’s Twitter follows are decidedly sketchy. 

https://eelfuneral.tumblr.com/post/688437928734736384/i-hate-boring-homogenous-architecture-as-much-as

Best case scenario, this dude’s a trad and comfortable rubbing shoulders with more overtly-racist/white supremacist/neo-Nazi trads, worst case scenario... yeah. 

#more information than you perhaps require

[duochromium]

if you had the choice to meet one touhou character irl (assuming your personal safety is a priority) who would it be and why

me and w.d. gaster had this exact discussion once except they were fully allowed to murder you if they felt like it

the specifics: you and one 2hu of your choice are locked together in a white void. you are both spawned around a table, chairs, and meal in the middle (it is irrelevant what). this white void is separate from both our universe and touhou’s. both of you will be sent back home after one hour and the 2hu will lose all memories of this event happening (you won’t tho)

this is basically just a specific way of asking “what 2hu would you sit down with and try to talk to for an hour”

he immediately suggested sumireko which i countered with “sumireko is just some high schooler i ain't tryna talk to a woman for an hour straight”

yukari would be a good pick because

-generally respectful

-extremely wise and would probably be down to talk philosophy (dude imagine talking philosophy with someone thousands of years old. enlightening)

-probably wouldn't kill me if i'm not a dick?

rinnosuke would be interesting just because he’s super interested in the outside world so he’d just ask you questions. i wouldn’t be able to break it to him that he isn’t actually going to remember any of this afterwards.

the worst picks would definitely be flandre or rumia. rumia is just giving you a slow and agonizing death but even if flandre doesn’t want to eat you she’s still probably going to be interested in some form of traumatizing you

the worst pick that wouldn’t hurt you has got to be eiki just because she’d yell at you any time you (pesky mortal) try and interrupt the silence she wishes to dine in

both orin and komachi would probably only want to talk about death and ways you could die. like they’d be really relaxed and non threatening the entire time but i really doubt they’d be up for a more comfortable conversation topic

sanae would probably just want to ask about mecha anime as soon as she finds out you’re from the outside world

aunn lunges at your neck after you turn your head a little too fast due to her underlying pitbull genes

alice would only want to talk about her dolls for the entire hour and it would get really creepy after 5 minutes but that wouldn’t stop her

i think if yuuka didn’t like the meal she would split your head open and feast on your brain just because she’s bored

marisa would be a pretty fun conversation actually, not to mention you could have her tell you about magic which i’m sure is extremely fun

okuu and you have a funny conversation for 10 minutes before she has the idea to see if she can break out of the white void by nuking it. you die in the process

mystia would be awesome if i can bend the rules where she has access to a grill and a supply of fresh lamprey. i have GOT to try those damn eels of hers

yuyuko would be pleasant but she’d steal your food and you’d be kind of hungry. fatass

kaguya or mokou see the white void and immediately think “oh i’m getting fucking pranked by that immortal bitch” and try to commit suicide to get out of it. they come back to life 5 minutes later very pissed off that they’re still not in gensokyo

junko has a nice meal with you if your skin color is up to her standards

tldr: yukari because she wouldn’t kill me and is probably fun to talk to

#touhou #touhou project

[fancyfade]

choose violence: 1, 6, 7, 10, 12, 22

1: answered here (link)

6: which ship fans are the most annoying?

:P Oh wow a choose violence one indeed. I have seen so much character hate in dick ships. like. Babs is put down and simplified, people speak of her character from a place of ignorance to try to explain why her ship is bad, Kory is put down and simplified people speak of her character from a place of ignorance to explain why her ship is bad (and on AB dickb.abs side, people just accept ableism if it means they get their ship). Like. The problem is not the relationships themselves, it's the fans who prioritize male characters above all else and it happens in more than 1 group of shippers.

7 what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I don't really hate any characters because of how fandom interacts about them, I can generally separate canon from fandom pretty well.

I think my characters with the longest #character name negative tag, which is often influenced both by how they are portrayed in fandom and in canon, are jason todd and tim drake. :P Sorry dudes. But I still like you. But when I see bad stuff in canon or fandom i make negative posts about u, or more of my take on the bad stuff which I realize can be perceived as negative and tag it as such.

10 worst part of fanon

God there are so many. NGL I do not like the 'my blorbo most be the most oppressed and special person ever and everyone around them is mean and unreasonable'. Like whether it's Dick or Jason having relationships with Bruce that are way oversimplified from canon for the sake of angst (or always going with the most black-and-white, boring version of a canon story told multiple times, often a retcon), Tim being bullied by the entire Batfam and oppressed by a 10 year old, or Damian's childhood in the League being written to be even harder than it was with a lot of emphasis on physical abuse it's terrible.

12 the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Helena Kosmatos (aka Fury v1). I just learned that she had more than 1 comic appearance like a week ago and I already love her. What's not to like? She's super strong, her power was first activated by murderous rage she felt towards her nazi collaborator brother (who she then killed) and she can turn into a giant red monster and power up even further.

... however I have to warn everyone that like. Young All Star comics are not very high quality. And (link) So I'm not really saying you have to go read her comics, just that she's unpopular (because no one knows who she is) and I love her.

22 your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

hmmmm...

like the character everyone gets wrong, this one is hard for me to tell because you kind of wind up naturally surrounding yourself with people who like the same things you do, so you can be insane about those ideas together. Like LexCorp Talia is great and generally ignored in fandom (unless the person in question is a Talia fan), but the people I talk to about Talia all love it.

I guess overall it's not my favorite part of canon, but it's still a thing I like in canon that I think most people ignore :P Crisis events. I don't always like the interpretation that the world literally changed, like often I try to think of things that are less reality altering, but I do like the giant scale and characters all working together and I think they're fun fic fodder.

#dc comics #ask #tumblr games #nonbinaryhectorhall #negativity

[kyogre-blue]

Doing Golden Slumber on my alt for... furnishing reasons, mostly. 

Surprising that wind gliders seem to not be an international thing? Yes, the desert has long flat stretches, but there’s a lot of cliffs too, so you’d think the eremites would be familiar with them. And no, you don’t need a Vision to operate one. Former ill girl Anna in Mondstadt gets a gliding license after becoming an adventurer, and she’s just an NPC. 

This, combined with how Tirzad’s sister worked on the Scarlet Sand Slate, which is also the same research that Jebrael’s wife was pursuing (with the same slate??) made me sure that they’d turn out to be the same person. I am still shocked that this isn’t the case. 

I wonder if that was the plan originally but the writer changed it later? 

Given how Jeht is dragged into the Tanit mess because she has nowhere else to go, I suppose they couldn’t have given her this long-lost relative on the side while still barreling into that plot. Tirzad is a spineless little weaner, but tbh I think he’d still be better than the Tanit. 

(fun fact I just found out from the wiki: Jeht is mentioned in some notes you can find in 3.6, which says she’s formed her own mercenary group to hunt down that blind dude from the falcon world quest. That’s something, I suppose, though not really the direction I’d want for her)

I missed screenshotting this in-game because I’m buttonmashing most of the time, but I did a double-take when I processed this properly. 

The traveler has a backpack?? And that’s where we’re keeping our carrots and cabbages? 

Combined with Venti citing no pockets as a reason for why he misplaced his invitation during Irodori and Enjou knowing how much mint we’re carrying around, it seems like the thing with characters being able to pull out stuff (including weapons) from some pocket dimension is not an actual thing that exists in Teyvat and is rather just a player-only visual shorthand. 

Well, not that you can entirely trust quests to correctly give worldbuilding details. See: GAA 1 Paimon not knowing what waypoints are until you activate one on the island, while in the very next patch, Katheryne cites you using them to teleport around as an obvious thing. 

This is so weird to me, in light of Dirge of Bilqis. 

Look at this thoughtful, gentle perspective on the desert. Jeht loves it, she loves the sand and sees hope in the desert. Look at the significance she gives Benben. Look at how kind she is even to Tirzad. 

I know you can say that her time with the Tanit made her change, but it just doesn’t feel like two parts of the same story. 

I really, really wonder if Jeht was not originally part of the Tanit plotline and got written into it at a fairly late point for some reason. Maybe she replaced a separate character that was originally supposed to be a new NPC? There’s several reasons I could imagine as to why this might have been decided on...

But I suppose there’s no way to know. 

At the start of the quest, Tirzad refused to even consider taking opinions from non-academics, so he’s... slowly growing... VERY slowly. (This is at the double pyramid, so still only like halfway through.)

One thing I do like is that Paimon and Traveler are very able to call out that Tirzad is annoying and just plain wrong. Jeht and Jebrael don’t hold back either, and Jeht is the one who is generally portrayed as the middle ground, “correct” option in the NPC group, so this is pretty much writer-endorsed. 

This is really nice compared to Liloupar in Dirge, who gets maybe a couple half-hearted admonishments about calling everyone servants or worse and suggesting they should be in chains. 

Seriously, how are these two quests supposed to be two parts of one story...

I wouldn’t call Golden Slumber unapologetically hard-hitting, but it’s obvious enough with what it shows that you can’t call it accidental. It definitely wanted to say that academics steal from native people and are barely different from Treasure Hoarders in the worst case, that they make unfounded assumptions and refuse to consider any alternative perspectives, that they are prejudiced against native people, rude and entitled... Seriously, this is spelled out directly. 

It’s a hell of a thing, compared to Dirge of Bilqis and the Tanit. Man. 

Anyway, I got the furnishing I wanted, so we’ll see how much I manage to progress after this. 

#playing genshin

[kyrieanne]

Initial Polin Thoughts from Season 2 of “Bridgerton”

RMB is my favorite book, Polin my favorite love story in the series, and I can’t help but think about their characterization because...well, that’s what my brain does. 

(Behind the cut cause clearly spoilers...) 

To me, the theme of Colin & Penelope’s arc this season was the distance between caring for someone and seeing them wholly. 

It’s easy to see Penelope’s heart eyes for Colin, but he also has slotted Penelope into the role of damsel-in-distress and he her hero, even a platonic one. Marina warned Colin - fairy tales don’t exist - but he does not want to believe that. Penelope with her heart eyes and without a male family member’s direct protection…well the situation confirms the world view he prefers to imagine himself in. Obviously, it’s a romance so we will ultimately get an HEA so in the long run Colin’s belief wins out, but I think a very wise & appropriate step in his arc is not only recognizing the world isn’t made up of far off adventures and fairy tales, but in also gaining the wisdom this fact makes the HEA richer and far, far more precious…

…which I think will be wrapped up in him learning that while he understands Penelope he doesn’t always see her. They say things to and about one another that the other takes one way when the speaker meant it differently. There’s the “you don’t count” but also the idea that she is in a category wholly unto herself, which gets us to THAT scene in the last episode. 

It’s just my opinion and I totally respect other interpretations, but I think Colin - in Colin’s mind - was never going to talk about Penelope with those men (friends? dudes who go to the same club as him? IDK?). This wasn’t Anthony or Benedict asking. It was locker room talk, and while in NO WAY do I think he’s thinking about her romantically at this point (the derision Penelope heard - and if I’d been her I’d have heard it that way too) was not what Colin thought he was saying. To him, he was shutting down idle gossip about a person for whom he has an entirely separate category. She is Pen.

(Yes, I think he’s slow on the uptake, but I do think, if you give him the benefit of being a dumbass, Penelope being in some fuzzy category all her own makes perfect sense to him.)

…but here’s the more important thing, I think:  Penelope isn’t in her own category. Not in the stuff of fairy tales kind of way: good, sweet, adoring, in need of rescue. She is Pen, but she’s also Lady Whistledown and a wallflower and a thousand other things that complicate Pen. She is as flawed and human and messy as the world Marina was talking about.

Colin understands the core of who Penelope is: fiercely loyal, extremely capable, amazing…but he doesn’t see her the way, say, Eloise does. The way the audience does.

It’s why this whole season while they grew closer, shared hopes & fears, they kept talking past one another at really critical moments. There is a distance to cross from understanding the core of a person - the best parts of them - to seeing them wholly - the not best parts of them - and loving them still.

RMB is my favorite book of the series (can you tell?), and the through line is what Lady Danbury says to Penelope in the novel, “I am more than what people see, what even I see in myself.”

Both Colin & Penelope are learning that. It’s angsty. It’s painful. It’s delicious. It’s the opposite of what Kate & Anthony did this season:  enemies to lovers, seeing the worst first and only later, the best. Colin & Penelope have a different story. And I think, just maybe, we’re in track to see that story unfold.

#bridgerton #polin #bridgerton season 2 #penelope featherington #colin bridgerton #romancing mister bridgerton

[spearxwind]

(Shronkle Anon) no for sure!!!! httyd three makes me feel as if I am foaming at the mouth if I think about it too long. Just!!!! What!!!!! So much about it is just… terrible.

Personally, I do enjoy httyd 2, but it sort of almost occupies a separate pocket of canon than httyd 1, for me. If that makes any sense. (httyd 3 is in the garbage can outside.) like the first httyd is just the pinnacle of cinema tbh can’t get better than that, can’t do better.

Honestly I could probably make a whole novella out of my problems with httyd 3 (you CANNOT spend 2 whole movies and multiple tv shows emphasizing their bond and then put it directly in the shitter because toothless got horny! You can’t oh my god what the fuck) but the current thing that’s really got me going on the sheer stupidity scale is.

Okay so there’s a lot of stupid stuff in the hidden world. For example: the hidden world. But! This isn’t even something I picked up on until recently but!!! Hiccup saying that the world isn’t ready for dragons? What the fuck, my guy?

Aw man yeah I’ve decided the world isn’t ready for dogs so I’m gonna seal them in a pit for a thousand years. That’s SO STUPID. it’s SO dumb!!! My guy there have been dragons! If there was a point when the world “””didn’t deserve them””” it would be during httyd 1 where you are slaughtering them on the regular!!!

It really just makes it sound like dragons sprang out of a pit like a year before the events of httyd 1 when that almost literally could not be further from the case. “The worlds not ready for dragons” eat my whole ass there have BEEN DRAGONS! THERE ARE DRAGONS! DRAGONS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR LONGER THAN YOU HAVE BEEN ALIVE whatttt do you meannn the world isn’t ready for them????

Every day I spend thinking about httyd3 is a day I spend shocked and astounded that it actually made it all the way to being a complete finished released film. How.

YEAH YEAH EXACTLY ITS LIKE SO MADDENING THIS MOVIE UNDOES LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE. ITS SO STUPID.

also i just realized. the bad dudes of the other movies are so stupid. grimmel especially "hes the one who killed all the nightfuries" im sorry?? the nightfuries that NO ONE had seen ever before hiccup shot one down?? the nightfuries that drago allegedly killed too, to make his funny little black hide cape or whatever.

like, even with the help of dragons im fucking sorry but vikings slaughtering every genre of dragon for generations was not enough to make them go extinct, there is NO WAY two funnymen slaughtered an entire species in the span of ten years. its simply incorrect on every level. like they are vikings god dammit they dont have machine guns

Also yeah as you say 'the world isnt ready for dragons' girl why are YOU the voice of dragons??? Spend two whole movies making sure people can live in peace with them and such and then in the third one they get a single absolute psycho killing them and then theyre like well. Instead of punishing one single bastard and feeding him to the wolves proper viking style... we will take all the dragons and put them in a pit. Forever. Okay. Makes complete sense!

Its apparently the end of the books too but like. Would someone care to spoil to me WHY the books end like that in the first place? Cause i think the trope of 'the magic/creatures leave the world at the end of the story' is literally THE worst trope ever. And much respect to the book fans but there better be a hefty reason for that to happen, unlike with the hidden world

#ask #anon #httyd #nothing in the movie makes sense remotely at all it is so disjointed might as well be a comedy #its also forgettable as hell. doesnt even have the super fun good visuals the second one had. it really has nothing going for it #like nothing at all. nada #its so forgettable i watched it with my SO this summer after ignoring it for years cause i wanted to see the trainwreck #and like. yeah. yeah........ #i dont remember jack shit from it other than a couple vague scenes and that it was infuriating #ALSO THEY DISNEYFIED VALKA TOO. THEY GAVE HER MAKEUP. AND THEN MADE SNOTLOUT SIMP FOR HER THE WHOLE MOVIE #INCOMPREHENSIBLE

[directorofthefalselastact]

jang hayoung or, no one cares what a child thinks

this afternoon, on the way to work, i managed to think so hard about jang hayoung that i was trapped behind the steering wheel just absolutely bursting with love and disappointment for her narrative role, and then the moment i got out of the car i forgot absolutely everything (thanks capitalism). i remember now though! jang hayoung, here i come! so this is all mostly thanks to some changes in the ebook during a specific kim dokja and jang hayoung scene that, while not actually revealing anything that the webnovel didn't already implicitly say, made more explicit something very important about jang hayoung's entire existence: to be someone who would actually care what he, kim dokja, a lonely and isolated 15 year old boy, has to say. and i think that's kind of neat! frustating, also, but neat. so like i said, this is not strictly speaking new information. in chapter 217, we have kim dokja prickle with guilt at the thought of his own needs bringing this person into a cruel world: his need for someone who: 1. likes to talk and tell stories (cute)

2. unlike his idol and fantasy boyfriend yoo joonghyuk has tasted the bitterness of reality (lmao)

3. and again, unlike joonghyukie, actually listens to what other people have to say! (LMAO!)

so we already have an understanding of what kim dokja was thinking when he first asked tls123 for a new character. but what the ebook adds to this is more illuminating.

“I think there is a huge wall (between people).”

ebook kim dokja, the moment he says this, immediately cringes from saying what he calls “the voice of a 15 year old kim dokja”. knowing what we know about that time in kim dokja’s life… this moment of vulnerability is especially revealing, and it’s only made more so when he goes on to realize that jang hayoung was “someone who would listen to and accept a 15 year old”. this, of course, draws a connection to jang hayoung’s easy communication with the abyssal black flames dragon, a constellation who’d frozen his mental age at 15 as well. and isn’t it something that kim dokja would be so bewildered by this choice? to willingly trap yourself in what kim dokja could probably call some of the worst years of his life? his most obsessive, most lonely, most disconnected years… and jang hayoung was made to bridge that disconnect. not only that, she apparently enjoys it! she is a symbol of his guilt for contributing to her creation, and beyond that, she is the uncomfortable proof of a young kim dokja who once thought things like “people have walls between them that i find impenetrable. i want to connect to others, but i can’t. i want others to connect to me, but they won’t.” and now she’s here, in front of him, hearing him share this mortifying thought and saying “how interesting! i want to hear more. tell me more.”

(also, lmao at ebook kim dokja sighing and deciding to channel his inner abfd before he goes on to explain his chuuni little ideas about ~the infinitely wide gulfs between us, each man an island, woe~ like whatever makes you feel better, dude.)

alas, due to the nature of orv, it’s difficult to separate discussions of jang hayoung from kim dokja, but it doesn’t diminish how interesting she is. her belief that these insurmountable walls can still be crossed as long as a person tries hard enough, long enough, acts outrageous enough… it’s both advice that kim dokja needs and advice that he doesn’t really believe. but jang hayoung believes it, and damn, it seems to be working just fine for her! maybe he’ll catch on eventually.

anyway, my disappointment is mostly just the criminally underutilized potential of her ability to bridge these gaps between lonely people (EXPAND HER ROLE IN EPILOGUE SING SHONG LEMME SEE THOSE SIDE STORIES PACKED WITH CONTENT YOU PROMISED) and to a lesser extent the nature of her existence as a Lesson To Learn for kim dokja. the second part is really not so bad seeing as how yoo joonghyuk is in the same boat, lmao, but You Know. Women.

alright enough about this clown kim dokja. some jang hayoung musing.

1. wait i lied. little bit more kdj time. so this is something that i am absolutely just making things up about it is for ME and not something i believe is authorial intent but. jang hayoung being trans, if perceived through the lens of “borne from the cri de couer of a lonely teen”, could be read as a brash and open example of a person liberating herself from a societal expectation of gender. her off handed “people on earth judge by the cover” does have its ties to kim dokja commenting on how the eyes of strangers kept enforcing unwanted identities on him all his life: son of a murderer, strange lonely man, somehow Other in some subtle way… ahem, perhaps a little indulgently, even the notion of Being A Man could be another thing kim dokja has had imposed in him and perhaps… even unconsciously… chafes at…. MAN I JUST DON’T THINK THE WAY KIM DOKJA TREATED HER WILL EVER BE SOMETHING I GET OVER, I’M COPING HERE ALRIGHT.

2. an author’s note about characters and food mentioned that she drinks like a fish, eats like a bird, and is a picky eater. plus she likes tofu. beloved premature grandma of my heart.

3. i think, as a fandom, we are obligated to investigate her complete lack of respect for han sooyoung (affectionate). why does han sooyoung let her get away with giving her a noogie. why does jang hayoung so boldly ignore her brusque refusals to answer her questions. (sidenote: WHAT did she see yoo joonghyuk do with a computer that led her to declare him technologically incompetent, babygirl please i wanna know so bad). WHO will write them going on day trips to go see their mutual bestie abfd perform in concert. i am reaching out a hand to you all. don’t you all want to see jang hayoung drink han sooyoung under a table. i do.

4. i also think her friendship with aileen is so good! what the fuck! they’re family! (for the life of me, i can’t remember, but does their shared last name indicate that jang hayoung reincarnated in the body of aileen’s family member (sad???) or that it’s just a New Body and aileen took her in and shared her last name (aw) like if anyone can clarify do let me know. i don’t want to go searching lmao i’m too lazy) jang hayoung being her assistant in the shop… helping her out… beating up rude customers… family…..

5. super special ebook changes: her messages to the constellations now go [15 year old schoolgirl, looking for a texting friend~] and [15 year old schoolgirl, looking for a texting friend, any gender….] because she is the Queen of the Catfish and knows specificity is key. which matches very nicely with my previous mention of the scene where kdj tells her to send swk the “grow hair grow” meme being switched so that she 1. performs a cutting analysis of swk to diagnose him with Old Man Disease and 2. crafting the perfect message to pull his aggro instantly and 3. proving to all the monkey man fans that the only valid and sing shong approved face claim for swk is kim kwang-kyu. you’re welcome. all in a day’s work for master communicator jang hayoung.

#orv #sona orv cinematic universe #jang hayoung (jang hayoung) #the woman the myth the legend #her ebook art was so good you guys #so good. i think about her always #someone should draw that scene of her curled up in the back of the ferrarighini with the btss master

[ichinoue]

Bruh if Ichigo ever DID do all that shit for Rukia (in people's pipe dreams) then I would have hated Ichigo for being an obsessive, petty, simp. That would have totally ruined his character for me.

I mean really, imagine that. ALL that chaos and death just because Rukia got a boo-boo? Nope, no thank you.

Yeah, the Ichigo IR's created in their heads is a terrible person who doesn't care if one of his friends was literally being held hostage by his greatest enemies--No, no. He doesn't give a shit about his other friends, he didn't go to HM to rescue Orihime, only to avenge Rukia. In the minds of ichiruki fans, Ichigo is so fuckin' lame lmao honestly. He's this love-sick puppy who doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything but Rukia. They insisted that Ichigo's "dream ending" was to end up in SS with Rukia, leaving his friends and family behind, when in reality, Ichigo never asserted that his goal was to become some captain or be part of a noble family in SS or w/e--his main goal and motivation was always to protect; simply that. But IR's twisted his entire character into some lame ass simp for Rukia. He goes to HM after Orihime is abducted? That was for Rukia. He breaks down in tears in the fullbring arc, crying about how badly he wanted to be able to regain the power to protect again (over pictures of Chad and Orihime's faces)? Nope, he's crying because he wants to see Rukia. He's fighting the dude that killed his mom? Nope, he's fighting him because he's destroying Rukia's home. Rukia, Rukia, Rukia. He has no other motivations. He's the worst shounen protag of all time. And the crazy thing is, the same people who complained about IH because ""Orihime is too dependent on Ichigo!! She relies on him too much!!"" (ignoring that that was part of her character arc, an obstacle that she managed to overcome in the end as she became self-reliant and fought with him side-by-side)...the same 👏people 👏 who always pitched a fit about how ~toxic and unhealthy~ IH was because Orihime was too dependent on Ichigo.....created this fantasy world where Ichigo is so incredibly dependent on Rukia???? They wax poetic about how he can't function without her, he needs her, and he's sooo depressed and useless when she isn't around (which isn't true, clearly, considering they spent the last 65% of the manga separated in between the occasional reunion, but again, this is what they've convinced themselves)....and THAT'S not unhealthy? That's not ~toxic~ ? Like, why is it so bad that Orihime relied on Ichigo too much in the beginning of the story, but yet it's soooooo romantic for them to envision Ichigo as some lovesick sap who can!! not!!! function!!!!! without Rukia? The double-standard is just insane lmao

#anti-ichiruki

[dangermousie]

CFC 176

I couldn’t get to this chapter until now and I can tell you - I know what withdrawal feels like. Eeeek! My name is Dangermousie and I am a Meatbunholic.

1. Chen Man’s actions are more of a hurt/disappointment to XQC than He Yu’s because he trusted Chen Man and viewed him as a nice person and so. Can XQC have a break please? As I was telling @vierran45, he needs to discover something to heal him and undergo the course of treatment for it on an island inhabited solely by geriatric lesbians because clearly his beauty is too calamitous for anywhere else being peaceful. He’s like one of those vixens in harem dramas, having a ton of rich young men going nuts for his favor.

2. But also how interesting that at least my MTL refers to Chen Man’s gross actions as CM reverting to his original heart - clearly his true heart is not sunny good one and his thoughts are grosser than his actions - like some sort of virgin/whore complex on steroids where now he knows XQC can be with men and younger ones at that, somehow he becomes like a peace of meat to be pawed. THE FUCK! Even if XQC enjoyed banging a different young man every week, that still does not mean Chen Man is entitled to him - instead XQC is entitled to pick his own partners. He would be within his rights to bang every man in the world except Chen Man and Chen Man has no rights to assault him over it. The whole “rich young master of course thinks everything belongs to him” attitude is def coming out.

3. The reference to XQC being shoved into an ice cave by this is such an interesting one to me because there are so many references to how HY is melting him. CM’s actions are just making him freeze harder because it’s not that XQC has a kink that activates when some young dude tries to molest him - he loves He Yu because he’s He Yu (and HY always treated him as a person btw, even when it was a person to torment) and Chen Man would get the same results if he tries to force himself as when he was gentle - XQC does not like him this way and cannot like him this way.

4. WHAT THE FUCK, YOU DISLOCATED HIS WRIST? I HOPE YOU FUCKING DIE PAINFULLY AND SLOWLY I HATE YOU!!! He’s already physically on the brink and now...even at his worst and maddest, HY never did something like this and you are supposedly sane and nice the FUCK. And then he’s all I can give you power and cash! Great, he can use that cash to fix his fucking wrist! Also, what the FUCK how does Chen Man think that just because XQC is not straight his whole character is different and he’d be all about money and connections? He’s not a 19th century courtesan the HELL!!!! Just because his sexual orientation is different than what Chen Man thought, does not mean his entire character is different - clearly for Chen Man, XQC was just a cut out to project his fantasies on. God, I hate him, I hate him, I HATE HIM!

5. He Yu kicking the door in ahahaha OK this is like a telenovela now. I love it. Also, He Yu really lost it and was about to murder Chen Man. Good. But I love that XQC can stop him with just one word.

6. Ahahaha XQC’s “wtf is wrong with me where two young men I tried to take care of are obsessed with me” moment reminds me of CWN is 2ha. Heh.

7. Chen Man finally snaps out of it. Congrats, now go jump off a cliff. In the great “shall we burn Chen Man at the stake” versus “he is only momentarily erring, we love him, look at all the other characters who did terrible things who we still love” debate, I am on the former side but also I want to say one thing (but me being me, that one thing is lengthy.) All three of Meatbun’s novels that I’ve read deal, in their very different ways, with the theme of redemption. And the sequence is clear - you cannot be redeemed without repentance. And you cannot repent unless you acknowledge what you did wrong.

Redemption can happen at any point - it is never too late as long as you are alive, and it is separate from forgiveness (one can be forgiven without proper redemption and repentance, one can be fully redeemed without being forgiven by their victims - I love that Meatbun realizes that) but it can never happen unless the first step of acknowledgment by the perpetrator of wrongs is taken. And by that I mean - the ability to admit “I was wrong” - admit to others perhaps but even more crucially to yourself - and to end that sentence with a period instead of going “I was wrong BUT” because the moment you start justifying yourself, you are not really admitting whole-heartedly to wrong doing, you are trying to excuse it and the result by implication becomes this is not a wrong doing at all and so you don’t even get past the first step in the redemption sequence.  

He Yu was at that stage early on where he knew what he was doing was bad but that “BUT” lurked all-consuming: “but he lied to me, but I am lonely, but but but” - he only placed his foot on the first step of long road to redemption when he stopped justifying the horrible things he did even in his head. And Chen Man is not there. He may or may not ever get there (as I said, in Meatbun redemption is possible at any point) but currently he is stuck in “I did wrong by trying to assault XQC, BUT...HY did it first, I saw him first, I love him (ha!) etc etc.” And it’s that which makes him currently incapable of redemption. Yes, he views XQC as a fancy expensive toy he is entitled to and that sense of possession (he offers him money like he’s a whore! Though he’s supposedly known him for a decade - he clearly doesn’t know him at all - even at his maddest, HY knew better than that) is disgusting but even worse things and attitudes can be redeemed. What cannot be redeemed however is a person who does not think he needs to be. And therefore here we are with Chen Man.

8. HY fixing XQC’s hand and holding him and asking him to let HY protect him. My heart!

9. XQC’s heart hurting when he lies to HY that if HY keeps him it will just be an empty shell. Paaaaaain!

#cnovel #meatbun doesn't eat meat #case file compendium

[sanstropfremir]

I’d love your thoughts on BTS and their current image and music if you have them and aren’t afraid of the mindless internet hoards.

Personally, I liked a lot of their older stuff, but haven’t liked anything since I think the Fake Love promotions 3+ years ago. They’d started losing their personality and soul before that album cycle, but it feels like the sanitization of their image and artistry really kicked into hyperdrive after that. Now most of what they do seems like a sterile money grab driven by the Hybe hive mind which is a shame.

ok alrighty (cracks knuckles) let's get into it.

now that i've fully given myself a headache watching the majority of the bts videography, here are three points i'm going to cover:

performative character and the lack thereof

interesting aesthetics and the lack thereof, and

the inevitable cracking of perfection

ready, set, let's begin.

1.

idol music is very clearly definited by spectacle based aesthetics. and it's had that structure for its entire existence. so i gotta hand it to hybe for this one, because they managed to revolutionize being utterly fucking average. the triumph of bts is that they're just some guys and they look like just some guys. hybe found a niche in the system and then gamed that system to the tune of one of the largest musical acts in the world. they're not marketing bts as a romantic parasocial relationship, they're marketing them as your friends. and that is just as insidious to lonely kids as a run of the mill romantic fantasy. but that's not what i'm here to talk about today.

there's a pattern i find very interesting with bts mvs and that is that i don't remember anything about them. specifically, i don't remember the stuff that's happening IN the video; not the styling, not the setpieces, if i didn't know the members i doubt i would remember them either. what i DO remember, is how expensive the production is, and specific shots. i couldn't tell you what a single member was wearing, but i sure as hell remember that first upward angle shot of jungkook and the rusted park ride in spring day. or every single time they do that birdseye shot of jin in like every video. honestly as far as i'm aware jin has only ever worn a loose fitting beige longsleeve shirt.

it took bts a long time to establish any kind of consistent visual character. and the character they did establish.... i don't know if you can call a family-friendly-style clean aesthetic 'character'. they debuted as a hip hop group to little (comparative) success, and then made a switch to doing an early version of where they're currently at right now. if you've seen any of the mvs, you know that this is a pretty significant visual change. i don't think it is inherently a bad change, since the visual branding for hiphop based groups always tips over into iffy terrritory, but it is dramatic enough and early enough that it doesn't strike me as a natural evolution. concept switch ups are common, but they usually work because the members have established a bit of character for themselves, used their performance abilities and presence to fit into a niche in the group. the idol mould is perfect for showcasing the performers; that's its function. the groups that are the most fun to watch are the ones with stage presence, the ones who know how to perform, who can act all the parts they need to play. and bts? 4/7 actual performers on a good day. in my personal opinion it's 2/7.

i'm gonna expand on what i said about jimin here (this is technically the first part of this series), because it does apply to the rest of the group on the whole:

and i think here is where we see the main crux of the difference between taemin and jimin as performers: taemin has both an artistic and an idol persona. we know and understand him to do solo work that has a separate artistic meaning to just him being an idol. even though this performance was pre-move, i would still say this applies, because he's hot off press your number, where he's acting in a story based mv. jimin on the other hand just has his idol persona. he's not known for creating the same kind of storytelling that taemin is.

bts has been very insistent on the image of the group as a single unit. despite having the size of fanbase and the revenue that would make any official solo debut a massive success, none of them have done any substantial solo work. this isn't artistically a problem, and i think it's very admirable of them to be so dedicated to the image and the legacy of the group, when that can be an uncommon trait in the industry. i do however, think it starts to become an issue when we want to discuss what the artistic visions and images of groups are. shinee taemin and solo taemin have two distinct artistic representations, and taemin himself will attest to that. it's the same with all the shinee members that have solo careers, and the same with other groups. jackson, bambam, yugyeom, and jaebeom's solo work is all very different from got7. yixing's solo work is very different from exo's. even the subunits within exo all have their own character (cbx and sc). kpop groups all ostensibly are trained under the same system, so why the disparity with bts? mostly, it's their brand of "authenticity." it's impossible to perform authentically, by the nature of performance as a medium it is unnatural, and tragically, not everyone is naturally interesting, or suited to performing: that's why the performing arts even exist in the first place. it required painstaking training to be good at performing; it is a complex set of skills and those skills are not learnt by "being authentic." being an idol is not just the singing, dancing, rapping; that's only half the work. you need to be able to act to be a compelling performer. pulling your true self and emotions out on stage every night is a fast track to burnout and psychological issues, there's plenty of evidence. the only member of bts of whom i can say for some certainty has a persona and a stage presence is jhope/hoseok, a) because he's kept up a very specific brand in the solo work that he has done, and b) he has actual dance training, not just kpop dance training. the rest of them may have the kpop dance and the kpop vocal training, but what they do not have is the ability to market themselves as compelling performers on stage. taehyung is the only other member i would hesitantly give a semblance of persona and ability to, but i think he stumbled onto that mostly by accident. and if all the pieces don't each have a distinctive colour, how can the whole machine be visually interesting?

2.

bts may never have been able to establish an aesthetic brand, but what they did establish is an intellectual one. if you talk to a fan, the schtick they give is that "it's about the lyrics." as noble as having an intellectual or cerebral message is, what does that look like? how do you portray intellectual on stage, on film? what about intellectual is interesting to watch? cerebral, by it's literal nature as a descriptor, is very difficult to communicate in visual language because it is internal. to successfully communicate cerebrality and intellect in a short form medium like music videos requires a deft hand with metaphor that can elude even an experienced designer. and honestly? i don't know whether to applaud hybe's visual team for being the most successful subtle contemporary designers i've every seen, or to decry them as worst kpop designers i've ever seen. maybe both. regardless, i don't think they're able to cross the gap.

there are exactly four mvs where i actually remember the content of the mv and not the frame it sits in, and those are dna, idol, the singularity comeback trailer with taehyung, and war of hormone. and of an eight year career......that's not very many. these four mvs have at least an inkling of interesting spectacle and character, but even then, it's still a stretch. there is absolutely nothing to write home about in the styling for dna, other than it's well colour matched. I don't even know if I should include singularity because it involves none of the other members. idol is probably their most interesting mv because it actually has alternative styling and varies (at least a little bit) from the standard hybe boom crane shot-that-shows-off-how-we-can-afford-big-studio-spaces-and-locations. the company and the group would be loathe to admit it, but war of hormone is a well designed and interesting mv for the time it was made, with a well crafted gimmick and some actual showing of character from the members. it was the start of a potential that they squashed quite quickly because it wasn't picking up in the hiphop-group-saturated market of 2014. but the rest of their mvs? remarkably uninspired styling. like it's truly impressive how boring the styling is. and like i've said, that is the triumph in their aesthetics: they all look like normal dudes (if you had professional skin + makeup techs looking after them for the last 8 years).

all of this is a carefully crafted image that's tailored to hooking an audience, especially an international one. the mvs are boring in the relative scale of kpop, but they're just different enough from a western pop mv to catch attention. and once you do sink a hook, there's a direct clickfunnel of content that bills itself on these men being "authentic" and "self-producing," which is a huge draw to international fans, because people are racist and believe that the kpop industry is a factory that produces idols like clones, where none of them know how to do anything other than sing and dance and all the music is just handed to them by companies. and they have SO much content that there's no way a new fan can get to it all in a timely manner, so they'll never have to engage with any other kpop artists' work if they don't actively seek it out. but that's another essay for another time.

3.

that brings us to current day, in which at least the last five bts releases have been in the same aesthetic vein of positive, sanitized, and pristine. i said it in one of my txt responses and i will say it again here: money scrubs the humanity from the aesthetic of living. minimalism is for rich white people. hybe and bts may have pivoted their style and brand directly into the lane of mass appeal, but when you pair that with the amount of money funding them, there's a cognitive dissonance between the message and the aesthetics in which it's portrayed. some people do like the clean cut looks, and i won't say that they don't work, but as you've likely gleaned from this response, it isn't my style and if you've been around and reading my writing for longer you'll know that my tastes runs much closer to the messy and the weird, so very little about any of bts' visuals have appeal to me. i do find the contradiction of applying the appeal of radical relatability with the aesthetics of expansive (and expensive) minimalism interesting; it's an extremely fine line that hybe is walking and eventually they are going to tip over, the porcelain mask will not hold forever. maintaining the all ages aesthetic is going to be difficult now that all of them are grown ass men. with other groups of this member age and generation there's very obviously been a shift to a more adult tone, and not necessarily explicitly. got7, mx, nu'est, btob, shinee, 2pm, and groups that have older members like a.c.e and sf9 have all made slow shifts in tone that are undeniably aimed at a maturing audience: they know their core fanbases are aging with them and they (the fans) are not as interested in the 'boy' in boy group. and most of them have telltale visual styles, enough so that i can distinguish a specific group's mv. the last year and change of mx mvs have a very distinctive character; got7 too, since easily as far back as if you do. i can always tell an a.c.e mv by its impeccable fashion and formic styling, and although shinee has always had a more experimental aesthetic edge, their sound and voices are unmistakable.

honestly, i can't predict what bts is going to do in the future, but i personally don't believe they can keep up their clean aesthetic indefinitely without some fallout. part of the fun of following bands is watching them grow musically, and the last couple of years of bts haven't felt like growth. there are fans that have already started realizing it, and there's likely to be more soon.

---

the third part is here, which is a short followup about some of bts' industry influence.

#this is long one dear readers #a very long one #strap in #i've sat on this for probably a week now in the hopes my brain can make some interesting connections but honestly? #not a lot about bts is interesting in comparision to the rest of the kpop industry #personally i am of the opinion that lyrics do not matter in idol music and i am not interested in them in the slightest #and bts videos ARE extremely bland visually #unless you like looking at expensive production. whatever floats your boat i guess #they make a lot of sense as an entry kpop group but once you get actually into the industry there is SO much happening #which i talk about in the third part a little bit #this is way too long i am so sorry anon and everyone else who has been asking about this topic #im not entirely sure it's coherent at this point but whatever. its out there now #i wanted this to be under 1k and that emphatically did not happen #it is double that. why am i like this #875 #kpop questions #kpop analysis #group analysis #text #answers

[imasimpforshanks]

Hello <3 Can I ask for Angst alphabet with Coby ?~ thanks a lot <3

Angst Alphabet - Coby

a/n: BRUHHHH HIS WAS SO HARD TO DO BC HES SUCH A SWEETIE 😭😭😭😭😭💗 regardless, I hope you like it! x

ALSO - please note reader is a civilian and not a marine (but coby is still a marine). It was just easier for me to write it this way !!

A- Accident (would they blame themselves if you died in an accident?)

Coby wouldn’t exactly blame himself, but he would feel really weak. It would be lots of comments about his own worth and capabilities such as: “I’m still too weak” or I’m never going to be strong enough”. (kind of similar to Zoro in that sense).

B-Break up (How would they break up with you?)

He would try to be as honest and as upfront as possible, but he gets really anxious and just starts stumbling over his words ending every sentence with “ya know?”. In the end, he just uses every cliché in the book because he can’t remember or seem to find the ability to say what he really wanted to.

C-Crying (how would they make you cry?)

This dude is far too much of a sweetheart to ever make you cry. If you were to cry because of him, it’d be because of how much time the two of you have to be away from each other. He hates having to leave you because it’s always a lot of tears on both sides.

D-Death (how would they react to your death?)

He would be devasted. Crying in front of anyone and everyone he doesn’t care. Coby would also become really unmotivated and go through a little bit of an existential crisis like “What’s the point of this anymore?” “what am I even doing?”. Eventually he’d remember how much you believed in him, and how much good he could really do in the world – so, he’d keep going. For you.

E-Emotion (what is one emotion they would try to hide the most and how would they do it?)

Honestly, Coby is someone who is extremely open and expressive. He doesn’t (or maybe it’s more accurate to say he can’t) hide his emotions. That’s just not who he is. He expresses openly whatever emotion it is he is feeling.

F-Fight (do you two ever fight? How big are the fights? What do you fight about? Etc.)

He genuinely tries to avoid fighting with you at all costs. Nothing between the two of you ever escalates that far because Coby manages to talk the two of you out of whatever tension has been built.

G-Guilt (what is the biggest thing they feel guilty about?)

It’s not necessarily guilt, but Coby still feels as though he owes Luffy his life. Because of Luffy, Coby was able to become a marine. It’s because of Luffy that Coby continues to work as hard as he does. Most of what has happened in Coby’s life is all thanks to Luffy and because of that, he feels as though he has a debt he can never repay (even though all of this happened because luffy was just being luffy).

H-Heartbreak (what would cause them pain in the relationship? How would they deal during a break-up?)

Having to be away from you for long periods of time (obviously because he’s a marine) is really painful for the both of you. It can but quite a bit of strain on your relationship as long distance isn’t easy.

During a break-up, his mind would be all over the show. At work, he wouldn’t be able to focus properly which would cause many problems for not only himself, but others around him too.

I-Injured (how would they react if you are badly injured?)

Panic mode: activated. All his focus is shifted to you. He forgets about everything around him and is set on trying to get you help. He doesn’t even try to take down whoever, or whatever, caused your injury. You are his one and only priority in that moment.

J-Jealousy (what do they do if they are jealous?)

The sweetheart would feel so nervous. He’d keep to himself and try to avoid you for a while because he can’t stop thinking about how much better off you would be with literally anyone else.

K-Kill (would they kill for revenge?)

Coby is definitely not the type to kill for revenge. He hates all the killing and death that happens in the world. He’s a person who is all about trying to stop the cycle of hatred. so despite the anger, pain and hurt he would be feeling he would put all of that emotion aside, and settle it a different way.

L-Loss (what is their greatest loss?)

During Marineford when marines (and pirates) were dying left and right, Coby was shocked. It was far too much unnecessary death. Witnessing all that death was an emotional overload, but it did lead to one of the most pivotal moments of his life.

M-Mistake (what is the worst mistake they ever made with you?)

Unfortunately, it was something entirely out of his control. But one time he had to leave for a mission with the Marines in the middle of the night. He couldn’t tell you anything about it or why he was leaving. He just had to up and leave.

N-Nightmares (how often do they have them? What are they about? How do they deal with it?)

Sometimes Coby has nightmares about Marineford. The constant voices and cries of agony form an endless loop in his sleep, gradually getting louder and louder until he screams himself awake. After waking up in a panic he manages to calm his breathing. Then, Coby gives himself a pep talk “that is why you’re working so hard. To become strong enough to be fleet admiral so nothing like that will ever happen again.”

O-Outrage (how and why would they get mad at you?)

As with the fights, I don’t think Coby really gets mad at you. Probably over something minor like you ate the last cookie or something. It’s not anger, he just gets pouty until you say you’ll make it up to him.

P-Past (what has happened in your relationship that changed the way you saw each other?)

Having to do your relationship long distance was a pivotal point for the both of you. For most, it can be a deal breaker and it comes with more negatives than positives. But, for the two of you, it was a wake-up call, and, it was the moment you both realized “I can’t live without you, we will make this work”.

Q-Quality (what is their most dangerous/toxic quality?)

I wouldn’t say this is dangerous or toxic idk (???) but ANWAYSSSSS. Coby lacks certainty in his own decisions. He’s not so bad now, but it used to be a lot worse. He second guesses himself too much, which can be the difference between life and death in a high pressure situation.

R-Rejection (how would they react to you rejecting their confession (or the other way around))

Being rejected by you would definitely impact his self-esteem. It’d bring up a lot of insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. (PLS DON’T REJECT THIS PRECIOUS BOY).

S-Scars (battle or self-inflicted)

Coby does have a scar on his head. It’s not entirely certain when or where he received this scar, but it’s likely to be from his rough training with Garp.

T-Trust (have they ever broken your trust?)

No, Coby has never broken your trust. In fact, your relationship is held up by the unwavering trust the two of you have in one another. It may seem funny to say that, because trust is a vital element of any relationship, but it’s particularly the case for you two. Being a marine means there’s going to be quite a few things he can’t tell you, but you know he can’t tell you and he really appreciates how much you understand that.

U-Urge (how badly do they want to see you after you guys separated?)

He’s had to learn to cope with not seeing you for long periods of time. But, despite all that practice it’s still unbelievably difficult. When he can, he’ll write you letters to keep you informed about his safety. He won’t ask, but he’d really appreciate if you wrote him back.

V-Vicious (what do they do when they lash out on you?)

I genuinely don’t believe he would lash out at you. He just wouldn’t. Maybe, he’s slammed a few doors, but other than that… (sorry I feel like this one is boring af ugh).

W-Weak (what makes them feel weak how do they try to avoid it?)

Coby always felt weak and incapable in his abilities. Sometimes those feelings resurface. But honestly, he trues to avoid this by remembering how and why he is where he is. He thinks of all the people who have helped him along the way (Luffy, Garp etc.) and it motivates him to push forward.

X-X-ray (what do they hate and show it most obviously?)

He hates needless violence. He understands in some situations violence is necessary, but, then there are some situations (like the end of marineford) where lives are being lost for no reason whatsoever.

Y-Yearn (what is one thing that they want but can’t have?)

He wants nothing more than to openly be BFF’s with Luffy. Given the two different worlds they live in, it’s just never going to happen, despite Luffy being a genuinely good person. (I KNOW THIS IS MEAN TO BE ANGSTY BUT I COULDN’T HELP IT LMFAO)

Z-Zero (what do they do/say in your dying moments?)

Oh boy. There would be endless amounts of tears. Through sniffles and snot, he’d be trying to thank you for everything you’ve done for him, all the love and support you’ve shown him.

#coby one piece #coby x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #one piece headcanons #one piece imagines #angst alphabet #one piece alphabet

[asagimeta]

The time has come again to remind everyone that good queer representation does not necessarily equal morally good queer characters

I’ve heard that apparently there’s a renaissance of anti-Hannibal going on lately? And that + the rise in popularity of media like Helluva Boss and Killing Eve, and the addition of more openly queer charectors in existing media- from comic book based media to long-running shows like American Horror Story- I feel like this needs to be said again- not necessarily by me but I posted about it way back when Hannibal originally aired it’s finale so I figure, what the hell

Good representation =/= morally good characters

You can have both, absolutely, but you can also have them separate, and you can have all combinations of the reverse too

Ofcourse, to be clear right in the beginning, what counts as “good” representation vs “bad” reputation is going to vary from person to person, everything from life experiences to media exposure to personal opinions will dictate where you land on the sliding scale of “good” or “bad”, someone who’s consumed quite alot of queer-focused media, for example, is going to have a very different opinion than someone who’s only seen one background gay in a TV show that one time, and someone who’s a really huge fan of horror is going to have a much different opinion than someone who’s only a fan of lighter-hearted fair

With that said, in my personal opinion, the measure of good vs bad representation relies less on the character and more on the presentation of said character- less, not entirely

To get what I mean, here’s the best example I can think of:

Castiel from Supernatural is, objectively, a good charactor- if nothing else he’s morally good by most standards, certainly by the time season 15 rolls around, but his canonically queer presentation is just.... horrible, horrible representation and I’ve only met literally one person myself who disagreed with that

Cas is presented as being a really tragic figure right from the start of his coming out- the one thing in the world that would make him truly happy for even a single moment is confessing that he’s in love with Dean, even if Dean rejects him, just saying it is enough, that is..... sad

If it had been framed differently, it actually could have been very good representation, in a “I don’t need you to validate me, I’m being honest about who I am for the first time in my life and that’s enough, I’m enough” way, but it wasn’t, it was framed as pining, as “Even if you don’t love me, my acknowledging openly that I love you is enough to make me happy”, and again that could have worked if framed differently but.... it’s followed up by the infamous “Gay angels go to Super Mega Turbo Hell” thing and like.... no....

Cas is a good character who is queer, he is not a good queer character, because his existence as a queer character lasted less than five minutes and was immediately followed by literally going to what’s worse than hell for expressing his queerness

There is no way I can express the amount of levels of Bad that is, to say nothing of how Dean treats the entire experience for like.... ever... from there on out

But now let’s look at Hannibal, who is objectively a pretty bad character morally- he’s stupendously written but yeah I mean look the dude eats people there’s just no getting around that

But I would argue that he’s excellent queer representation because of how he was presented

Hannibal’s sexuality is never defined, for starters, there’s never a “very special episode” moment where he has some long-winded coming out speech, in fact we don’t quite know how he identifies but because he’s written so artfully we don’t really need to, his exact sexuality doesn’t feel like it needs to be known because, frankly, not much personal information is known about Hannibal anyway, and sexuality feels like one of those arbitrary things that he wouldn’t really care about defining

And that’s the other thing- he’s far from sexless and yet he places no emphasis on sex, he isn’t hypersexualized but he also isn’t being kept as a Ken doll to preserve the message of gay purity (because I don’t know apparently there’s a Thing some people have about how gay people aren’t allowed to be sexual???) he’s just... a person

And that’s really what it comes down to that makes him great, he’s a person first and queer second... or third.... or fourth or fifth.... it never defines who he is, it’s just part of who he is, and regardless of your opinion on Hannibal specifically, I think that is something most queer people strive for in representation

It’s great to have stories that are focused on queerness but it’s equally exhausting to only be able to have characters who’s lives revolve around their sexualities, it’s nice to go into media and go “Oh that character that I already like for these reasons is also queer, that’s so cool!”

Hannibal also skillfully side-steps stereotypes, despite falling into the category of being “polite, thin, and neat”, despite loving fine wine and fine art and fine culture, he never feels like a flamboyant theater kid with a decoration-diploma, wich is how alot of queer characters in this category can feel

His story is about alot of things and his relationship with Will is at the center of much of it, but that relationship didn’t become explicitly queer until the show was almost over- not because it was sudden or poorly written but because it was a slow build up, wich is also refreshing, as alot of times it feels like queer characters are made as explicitly queer as they’re allowed to be as quickly as they’re able to be on screen so that the show can grab those important Representation Brownie Points from episode one and either introduce a Manwhore or a Uhaul Lesbian right away and just kind of leave them in that trope until “someone comes along and changes that” or whatever, I don’t even know what straight writers do half the time, but Hannibal- as a show and a charactor- doesn’t do that, he’s just allowed to exist and tell his story, and THAT is good representation

With the heavy-handed example over with though, I want to tackle the biggest part of this entire “debate” that makes me interested in it:

Queer people are allowed to be bad people

Queer people are allowed to be lazy and unattractive and non-political and angry and jealous and yes, “bad” and evil too

Wile I DEFINITELY prefer to have morally good characters- especially after literally a century of rarely getting more than The Evil Homosexual stereotype and all it’s kin- I also don’t like the direction some people are taking this where queer people are only “allowed” to be 100% morally flawless and good and righteous at all times because it’s just so unrealistic, and because it does the exact same thing that the opposite stereotype does: Puts queer people in a box, makes us a decoration for the straight cast so that the creators get Representation Brownie Points and can’t get yelled at on Twitter, and treats us like we’re some other species (and not in the cool way like werewolves but more like... well, decorations, as I’ve said before)

And if you’re worried about the way straight-cis people perceive us due to seeing evil queer characters, you should be equally worried about how they perceive us seeing nothing but morally flawless ones

I could get into An Entire Thing about the history of Straights trying to turn queer people into what they want us to be and present an inaccurate depiction of us to their brethren for their own benefit but I’ll make it relatively simple

The old way of keeping The Queers away from their Innocent Straight Children was to turn us into villains so that we would be ashamed of who we really are and hide ourselves and pretend to be The Good Christian Folk nextdoor and not get overly political or loud or different

The new way of keeping The Queers away from their Innocent Straight Children is to turn us into sexless Ken & Barbie stereotypes so we can be ashamed of who we really are and pretend to be The Good Christian Folk nextdoor and not get overly political or loud or different

By sterilizing queerness into something they find more “acceptable”, they’re doing the same thing they used to, but now through a lens of “Aren’t you happy you get what you want? You can get married now! You can hold hands in public! Just make sure not to do any of that other crazy stuff you people get up to and you can stay at the Civil Rights Table :)”, we’re still not “allowed” to be sexual human beings, it’s just framed in a way that makes us feel like the people shunning us are on our side wile those same people are still in the corner going “Just don’t kiss in public ok?”

And I could go On about this for some time but let’s get back to the point-

Queer people are three-dimensional people and we should be allowed to be so, we should be allowed to have characterization outside of The Gay Love Interest and The Gay BFF and The Gay Butler and so on, outside of the stereotypes being imposed on us

That’s one of the main reasons I love Yuri On Ice so much, and love Batwoman so much.... and one of the main reasons I love Hannibal and Harley Quinn and Helluva Boss and Killing Eve so much, all of these things star queer characters and queer relationships to different degrees (Batwoman, for example, makes a MUCH larger point and political stance about queerness than, say, Hannibal) and they’re all about something other than queerness too, the charecters are three-dimensional and they’re not built around their sexualities or side peices for straight people

And none of them are PUNISHED for their sexualities either

Going back to Castiel earlier, stereotypes are hardly the worst of our worries when Burry Your Gays, Gayngst Induced Suicide, and Gay Guy Dies First are still alive and well- among others

From Frank N’ Furter in Rocky Horror Picture Show to Tara in Buffy The Vampire Slayer to, oh look, it’s Supernatural again with not just Cas, but also Charlie, and even arguably Dean (but that’s a much longer story for a much different time) and many many more... sometimes just having any gay charecter live through a franchise is enough on it’s own- setting the bar awfully low there but it’s still hard for a shamefully large amount of franchises to step over

In some cases like Tara, it can be pretty decently argued that the death has little- if anything- to do with queerness, but in examples like Cas and Frank, it’s pretty blatantly obvious, especially when the other queer characters in their respective franchises didn’t exactly fair well either....

Matt Baume put it best when he said that until recently, you had to choose if you wanted your only source of representation to be dead or evil, and most people chose evil

Now-a-days that’s clearly not the case as much but there’s still a heavy enough flavor of it there- and villains are just part of gay culture, dating all the way back to prohibition, queer people identified as outlaws because we literally were, so pirates and cowboys and other anti-heros and villains became a staple of the culture that’s still very much alive to this day, thus leading to another point: Identification

Straight people can identify with pretty much whoever they want- from superheros to princesses to any and every kind of villain

Tony Soprano is a horrible, horrible person but is notorious for being beloved among straight white males because he’s a projection of who they want to be- powerfull (and wealthy)

Stolas from Helluva Boss actually presents a pretty similar power fantasy, he’s part of a family who lives outside the larger part of the law, he can kill (nearly) anyone he pleases, he’s physically and socially powerfull, he’s wealthy, he has a nuclear family, he gets to screw around with whoever he wants with the only one taking issue being his wife, the only real difference is that Stolas is queer (and much more fashionable... and pleasant)

Queer people should be allowed to have those power fantasies as much as straight people are

Speaking as a bisexual female myself, I absolutely ADORE Villanelle from Killing Eve, I really don’t care that she’s a bitch or has killed an uncountable amount of people, it’s fun to project on her, and seeing a very flawed woman fall in love and be vulnerable and open herself up to a relationship and get that relationship with another woman is AMAZING to me, that doesn’t make the relationship it’s self healthy or good, but it’s still fun to watch and plays further into that identification

I love Korra and Asami from Legend Of Korra, they’re a sweet, wholesome relationship between two sweet, wholesome characters and I adore them... but I’m allowed to adore Eve and Villanelle too, even if the relationship is toxic and the characters have baggage and Villanelle is literally a serial killer

Ofcourse enjoying something doesn’t make it “good”, I enjoy alot of trash B rated (and C rated) horror movies too, it doesn’t mean I think they deserve Oscars (if that’s really the measuring stick we’re going to use), but I think when it comes to representation, it’s important to distinguish the difference between good queer character and a moral queer character, they just... aren’t the same

Light Yagami from Death Note, Bill from Kill Bill, and Joker from Batman are all just... horrible, horrible people, there’s no doubting that, they are morally terrible... but my god are they fantastic charecters- they’re interesting, they’re three dimensional (even if only occasionally in the Joker’s case), they’re well written and complex, there’s a reason why they’re iconic and why they’re still talked about decades after their introduction into the world, they are GREAT characters who are morally bad, and characters like Hannibal and Villlanelle are in that boat too, they just so happen to be queer- and there’s what it all boils down to

People being queer, not queer people

Some of the most beloved examples above like Yuri On Ice and Legend Of Korra are praised for being about people who are queer, people who have stories focused on other things and are just allowed to exist without their sexualities defining them, and the same should be said and appreciated for villains who are queer too

In an age where so much queer-focused media is about tragedy (the period lesbian dramas and Gayngst teen media for example), and so much of it is focused on the same exact aspects of queer life (coming out, dating around, getting or being married, but mostly coming out), it’s great to have characters who just so happen to be queer without those things being the center of their storylines- and without them being canon fodder or the Gay BFF, or being a terrible stereotype from the 90s that just won’t die...

And that by no means is to say you have to like these characters- not at all, there are PLENTY of objectively good/well-written queer characters who I don’t like for whatever reason- but to call them bad representation just because they’re bad people is sweeping ALOT under the rug

And I know I’ve harped alot on avoiding queer-centered storylines like coming out stories and relationship dramas, but those are fine, they have their place just like everything else, really, they just don’t need to have the only place- that does a disservice to so many other types of queer stories- for the heroes and the villains, because morality and goodness have nothing to do with one’s sexuality, just like one’s sexuality has nothing to do with morality and goodness

#other #lgbtq