#almost as if representation is important. huh.

[cononeillbreastingboobily]

Thoughts and feelings about Izzy in s2ep4 and what it means to me as a fellow disabled person:

Yeah, so, that episode, huh?

You know, I already knew going into this new season that Izzy's storyline is going to hit me hard regardless of the exact little plot points it might have, but it's only now, several hours after I've watched eps 4&5 that I'm really starting to digest what his story means to me in it's current shape. This is... a bit long. I also mention a character from a different show - Isaac from Sex Education.

Izzy has always been a bit of a dick, right? That's the reason a lot of people hated him in the first season.

Well, now he is a bit of a dick and disabled. And let me tell you how fucking ecstatic I am about that.

You see, looking for disabled characters in media I consume has rarely been gratifying - if they are there at all, which already is rare, they have very little to do, and if they're even semi-important, they're almost always the epitomes of goodness. Nice, understanding, quiet, patient.

Barely there.

The first time I truly felt something change in this area was with the appearance of Isaac in Netflix's Sex Education. He's sarcastic, funny, talented, honest and mean.

The fandom of that show hated Isaac, let me tell you.

It was mostly because he took direct action to separate the main ship of the show that had many people obsessed. As you'd expect. People's ableism immediately jumped out. As you'd expect.

Because how dare he have his own motivations and wants, and to do what he thinks is right?

Barely there.

And now we have Izzy. Izzy, who also did what he thought was right, which in s1 of the show was trying to separate Ed and Stede. He wasn't trying to make himself too likeable at any point (well. when the crew almost mutinied on him in s1 he did do a last ditch effort but. you remember how well that went).

My point is that now we have someone who isn't particularly nice, and now he's dealing with a sudden loss of ability in his body, which is going to make him even worse. He's angry! Of course he is! He's hobbling around with half a leg gone, humiliated, exhausted, barely recovered from impromptu amputation, no anesthesia. And a suicide attempt! He's angry at himself, his body, at Ed, at Stede, at God if he still believes in one, and who knows who else.

He isn't suddenly going to become nicer to people just because. He doesn't need to be humbled.

(a little sidenote: I do not accept the reasoning that Izzy somehow deserved to lose his leg, that "oh what did he expect riling up Ed when he was heartbroken?" etc. He wasn't expecting to get shot in the fucking leg. Nobody fucking deserves that, and if you think that Ed shooting him in the leg and Izzy subsequently having to have it amputated was an "appropriate punishment" for "what he's done", you're just cruel and wrong. Now scram.)

But that's the point. Disabled people deserve help regardless of whether or not we are nice.

Thankfully (not from Izzy's point of view - his pride was definitely bruised in that moment) the crew saw him struggle, and acted in kind. Because Izzy is their dick. And now - also their unicorn.

And it means so much to me that we get the representation of disabled people who thrash around and rattle the bars of their societal cages, furious at the world that isn't welcoming to us, and receive love and care and an invitation to a loving community regardless.

We shouldn't have to be here just when ableds are ready to give. We aren't meek vessels for your good will. Izzy is such a painfully realistic (as far as the universe of the show permits, given it's unavoidable goofiness) portrayal of the anger of someone who's lost some of their body's past ability, and how one might deal with it.

And I really wanted to say something about that, because I'm afraid it might get lost in the discussion about the more popular and more easily digestible aspects of the show.

#ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #long post #disability #ableism #disability in media #tw suicide attempt #ofmd meta #ofmd s2 meta

[sunsolii]

Napoleon (2023) Review

I know many of you have posted your own reviews and what I'm going to talk about will cover most of what people have said but I wanna give my own perspective on the movie. As you know spoilers will be said, so if yall still haven't watch the movie go before reading.

Alright first, I would like to say the movie overall wasn't that bad nor it wasn't great. Some battle scenes were a bit confusing, Borodino was the one which I got the most confused because of how quick the scene was. One moment I was watching soldiers fight and then it was done, which I guess they wanted to get to the part of Napoleon arriving at Moscow but I digress.

During the Seige of Toulon, I was a bit confused with Napoleon's reaction throughout the whole battle. He was hyperventilating and panicking which seemed strange to me since he was always calm and collected during stressful situations, especially this battle since it was his 'debut' and was an important plan in getting Toulon back in French hands. I understand him being a little bit nervous, but he had to stay calm for the soldier's sake.

Now, lets talk about Napoleon and Josephine's relationship, oh boy, it was a mess. I did like how Naps acted a bit awkward during their first meeting since he was pretty shy and weird around the ladies in real life, but after that the whole relationship seemed too toxic than what it really was. Like the scene where Josephine returned to the chateau after Naps came back from Egypt and him yelling at her and basically telling her she was a slut, him threatening divorce because she couldn't get pregnant at the beginning of their marriage, or when Naps got angry at Josephine yet again and threw food at her, or him slapping Josephine during the divorce scene. I literally let out a gasp when that happened. That whole representation of their relationship was a freaking mess, and don't even get me started with the sex scenes! They were so weird and Naps making animals noises before doing it didn't make it better. I think the worst for me was when Naps called Josephine "little one" like don't start with that kinky shit smh. Also the part where Alexander went to visit Josephine at Malmaison was not necessary, they did develop a friendship but it was nothing more than that.

Besides all the negative things I did like a few things about the movie. For starters Napoleon's first interaction with Josephine, that was a nice touch. The lamb chop scene was hilarious and everyone including me laughed at the scene. Naps falling down the stairs after almost getting killed by the Directory and saying "oh fuck" under his breath while standing up was funny. Even the scene afterwards where Naps and Lucien were struggling to get out and keep everyone inside was funny. His facial expression he made while trying to regain himself had me dying.

What caught me by suprise was Junot being in the movie because correct me if I'm wrong but no other movie had Junot included in it, so when Naps first yelled "Junot" during the Seige of Toulon I was like 'huh? Junot? Like Jean Andoche Junot?? THE JUNOT?? I can't believe what I'm hearing!" and sure enough Junot was in the movie! Even though it was only for like 30 minutes but him being in the movie made me so happy because he is never mentioned in any form of media.

Overall it wasn't as bad as I expected. I still wished they would've added other marshals like Murat and Lannes, but I do appreciate them adding Davout since he is also someone who doesn't get mentioned in movies a lot, so props to you Scott (I guess). I did get over the historical inaccuracies pretty quick, but Wellington and Naps meeting did rub me the wrong way knowing that they never met each other in real life. Also, Ney with a moustache...why??

So that's all I wanted to say about the movie. Sorry if this was a longer post, but I wanted to write down everything before I forget. Thank you for reading!

#there was guy snoring behind us which ruined almost half of the movie #we got churros afterwards tho #napoleonic era #napoleon bonaparte #french history #napoleonic wars #napoleon 2023 #ridley scott #joaquin phoenix #movie review #josephine de beauharnais #a mimir

[the-blorbo-project]

Blorbos at Conference!

Long time, no update, but this project is moving forward! This weekend, we're at a conference hosted by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, or SCMS, presenting as part of a panel devoted to fan studies.

Why do panels matter?

First and foremost, it's a way to get research before a bunch of other researchers while it's still in progress. This helps catch poorly formed ideas, surface new good ideas, and share what's coming up with the fan studies research communities. It's also good for our humble PhD student CVs!

The Findings

Of course, the most interesting part is what, actually, we're presenting, AKA the findings! They're a work in progress, and the hardest part is the coding (talked about here). Therefore, I'm focusing on what I could do deep analysis on relatively quickly. (note: these images don't have image IDs because I summarize them below, but they're graphic representations of what I talk about in the text).

The majority of survey respondents were young: about 39% were 18-22 and 32% were 23-27. A further 17% were 28-32, about 8% were 33-37, and then it got progressively smaller from there. Shoutout to all 3 respondents who were 63 and over! So glad you're here.

In terms of social media usage, most people used tumblr - unsurprising, since that's where we got our most traction for the survey. Discord was the second most likely. Part of a later analysis will be seeing if these terms are more likely to be used by different age groups or on different platforms, which is cool.

Almost everyone surveyed had heard of these terms. Blorbo was the most-used and meow meow was least used, but very, very few respondents had not heard of these terms at all. This may be in part due to how we used them in our survey recruitment, since we did want to find people who knew what these terms were so that they could define them for us.

These numbers slope slightly down because something broke when we imported them into NVivo (a coding software) and frankly I don't understand it well even when it actually works, let alone when it breaks.

Here's a little visual of the terms you suggested for characters. Unfortunately, NVivo crashes every time I try to exclude words from this word bubble (like "term"), so it's not as clear as I'd like it to be, but there are some interesting ones. Particularly interesting are the cluster of gendered terms; husbando and waifu, malewife, sexyman, boy, girl, etc. I want to do some analysis of this because it parallels some preliminary coding results. Y'all also really find your blorbos scrunkly/skrunkly/scrungly, huh?

I also want to figure out how to tell the visualizer that "glup" and "shitto" go together, because "shitto" all by its lonesome over there is cracking me up.

Qualitative Findings

Like I said, the coding is...so far from done. That's mostly due to some Ao3-author levels of life disruption from both of us. BUT! I can tentatively say a couple of things:

There are notably clear definitions about these terms. We weren't sure if there even really was a definition of "blorbo", but it clearly refers to a very specific kind of one-true-character. By contrast, comfort characters are associated with experiencing positive emotions, and meow meows are more likely to be evil or morally grey (but you love them though).

Unsurprisingly, your characters make you happy. We're distinguishing between general positive emotions, attachment, relatability, and one-true-character belovedness. Also sexiness, but that (surprisingly) hasn't come up that much.

There are a couple of ways in which darker themes come up. Villains remain beloved, but a recurring theme is also using tragedy or trauma in fiction as catharsis.

Finally, there's a lot of playful and tactile language. "Rotating him in my mind" really is that common.

Additionally, I'm really interested in the role of gender. Many of you referred to your blorbos/meow meows as your guys, with some of you clarifying that it was "my little guy (gender neutral)". Others noted that most characters you'd seen people describe as blorbos or meow meows were men/masc. This did not come up for comfort characters. Analysis of the characters you consider exemplars of each definition will help flesh out this analysis.

Still to Come

SO much. Who are these characters? Is a specific character exclusively a meow meow, or are they also a common comfort character? What types of positive emotion are associated with each type? Are these character types or do they speak to a fan's individual (or a fandom's communal) relationship with a character?

Additionally - we didn't ask about neurodivergence, but many of y'all referenced it. I'm looking forward to exploring that as well.

That's all for now! I present this live in about two hours. If you're somehow following this account AND at SCMS, please come by!

#mod sarah #blorbos #blorbo from my shows #research on tumblr

[kafus]

venting about some csa related stuff ahead

survived a difficult therapy session today, my therapist referred to my scarring as genital mutilation, and like yeah she’s right but it’s still really surreal to hear that. somehow i’ve never thought about my own scars as genital mutilation despite that literally being what it is. i’m really emotional at the moment over this tiny thing that honestly didn’t take up that much time during the appointment. it almost sounds too heavy, like that shouldn’t be my reality, but it is. i’ve experienced genital mutilation. huh.

has me thinking about my struggle lately with picking how to illustrate my scarring because i would like to be able to represent it in art as a more neutral feature of my body instead of always using the motif of pitch black vaguely blood adjacent liquid just sort of covering and coming out of that entire area. but also my Mutilation (i guess is what it is, yeah) isn’t easily draw-able. it’s mostly internal and the part that is externally visible would really only be able to be illustrated in a realistic and detailed style. i also don’t want to have to literally draw my genitals to represent it. so i’ve been trying to think of some sort of symbolic scar shape that can just sit neutrally on representations of me in art that isn’t graphic but that i feel properly symbolizes it.

people talk about scars being proof they survived something and making that visible to others but my scarring is not visible without me taking my clothes off and asking someone to literally look at my genitals which i’d rather not do! lmfao. the only way my physical scars can be visible in any way that isn’t Posting Nudes is abstracted through art. so this is important to me

i guess that’s also why i’m making this post because as horrifying as it is i wish my scars could be seen. and talking about it is a way of doing that ig

#kiki was here #kiki.txt #csa tw

[trainsinanime]

The ending: Movie versus Season 5

I still maintain that the best way to watch the movie and the end of season 5 is back to back, interrupted only by a short drive home from the cinema, so you can really compare them and get a full on knot in your brain.

Spoilers for both, I’ll reblog this on the 29th for the Netflix crowd, you know the drill.

Both endings have to deal with similar issues, but do them in very different ways. The problem is that while Miraculous Ladybug isn’t actually complicated, it has some complicated stuff in there that it doesn’t deal with on a day-to-day basis, and the end of the fight with Hawkmoth has to resolve them. The biggest point here is the relationship between Adrien and Gabriel.

Adrien loves his dad, and there is an argument to be made that Gabriel has some affection towards Adrien, maybe. Gabriel does everything for Adrien, at least ostensibly, but Adrien is dedicated to stopping him. Gabriel believes he’s a bad father and it isn’t worth even trying because he can resurrect Emilie and have her do the work of raising Adrien. Stopping Hawkmoth implies revealing the complicated nature of this relationship.

Do you redeem Gabriel? If so, does he die in the process? Does Adrien forgive him, or finally cut ties? Do you bring Emilie back or not? What about Nathalie? What about Sentimonsters? Oh, and isn’t this whole story actually supposed to be about Marinette?

The movie resolves this in the most simple, some might say most boring way imaginable. Gabriel sees that Adrien is Chat Noir, Adrien sees that Gabriel is Hawkmoth. Gabriel goes, „sorry“, Adrien goes, „I forgive you“. It’s as simple a resolution as can be.

It’s also deeply unsatisfying. Gabriel and Adrien had barely talked up to that point, and it did not seem like there was any actual affection there. Gabriel also drops his whole motivation almost immediately, and changes his entire outlook on life just because he’s seen Chat Noir. Granted, same. And yes, it does mean that he becomes the only one in the movie with a character arc. But it’s too short, too simple, and it feels hollow. Oh, and Marinette? She’s just there, ultimately not relevant to the main plot of her own movie at all.

The show, in contrast, has gone in a different direction. It has a much more complicated setup, with the whole sentimonster stuff and Kagami’s mom and what not - a lot of stuff to resolve, so it makes the bold decision to not even try.

Adrien finally makes a break with his father, in Representation, when he beats him up and tells him what a bad father he is, which is well deserved. It’s a bit drastic for a kid’s show, but it makes sense. Some fathers don’t deserve to be forgiven.

And then it just ignores Adrien and makes it all about Marinette. Huh.

The show certainly ends stuff, but it doesn’t actually resolve anything, to the point where there’s a fandom debate about what the wish actually did and didn’t change. It’s wild. It’s weird. Parts of it are absolutely glorious, especially the visuals, but I have no idea why they did it that way.

So we, as a fandom, have seen the end of the Hawkmoth arc twice, and we have the choice between two endings: A boring one, or a baffling one.

Personally, I am focusing on fun and fun visuals here, and in that regard, we did win twice, and ultimately that part is the most important for me. In story terms, I found both a bit unsatisfying, but at least the show has given us more to talk about. That’s why it’s my personal favourite here.

#miraculous ladybug #ml season 5 spoilers #ml movie spoilers #ml season 5 #ml movie #ml awakening spoilers #ml awakening #ml s5 #ml s5 spoilers #ml recreation spoilers #ml recreation #recreation spoilers

[tommysparker]

one person asked me to share my thoughts on the Red White & Royal Blue movie and that’s all i need so here you go! spoilers below

Okay so let’s start with the things I did like:

Taylor and Nick had AMAZING chemistry. They did a fantastic job with what they were given and I can genuinely envision them as the book characters. All the cast did a great job.

The scene with Alex and Ellen was so heart touching. As a queer person who’s come out to their parent and not been accepted, I almost started bawling when I saw Ellen holding Alex on the couch and telling him how much she loves and accepts him. It was a beautiful thing to see and I’m so happy we have more of that kind of representation in media; a safe space to come out and be yourself. Also Ellen’s knowledge of all the different labels in the community and her saying “The B in LGBT isn’t silent” is super empowering.

On that note, Alex’s speech at the end about privacy and how it’s your choice to come out (if you want to come out). Again, a very important message for people to hear and understand. Seeing the effects of being outed hopefully will open people’s eyes and we’ll see less pressure for people to come out or label themselves. And also hopefully people will stop butting into celebs lives in general.

To end the short list of things I liked: the bit with the phone calls was done in a clever way. I thought it was pretty cool, although it felt too much like walmart Heartstopper.

Now, on to everything I didn’t like about this movie

The writing was SO. FREAKING. LAZY. 90% of the movie is exposition. All tell no show. They pretty much only payed attention to the sex scenes and even those weren’t very interesting.

THEY CUT SO MANY THINGS. When I heard they cut June and Rafael, I was disappointed but figured it was to save time and they’d combine their stories with Nora/Liam respectively (which is what I heard). To my absolute disappointment, neither was done and on top of that they introduced this new character named Miguel who is nothing more than a jealous ex hookup. Not only that, they erased Alex’s parent’s divorce and Henry’s mother, two very important parts of their character backstories.

Continuing on about things that were cut, pretty much any actual bonding time we see with Henry and Alex in the book was reduced to short one-minute scenes and cheap montages. Instead they were replaced with beats that were 15-seconds too long that were meant to say something but simply didn’t translate properly.

Also, they completely cut out Alex’s whole awakening and immediately jumped to him coming out to Henry when they meet up after their first kiss. I get it made for a cute little haha funny banter moment but COME ON. Part of Alex’s character arc is him coming to terms with who he is after denying it for so long, and seeing that process is so important to show for people who are doing the same.

The movie felt so fast paced. Every ten minutes a new important story beat happened without giving the audience any real time to process whatever happened before that. By the time they were in Paris I had no interest in them “making love” for the first time.

I’m gonna make an example of this before it stands out as the most annoying thing to me still. The museum scene is a masterpiece in the books but on the big screen it’s so…bad. Half of the scene was done in voiceover for no reason (once again going back to exposition) and the other half was so boring I could barely pay attention. And the “history, huh?” moment being a spoken thing between them, as opposed to through email like in the book’s completely erases the basis all of their supporters held onto in the books. All the signs, the t-shirts, the graffiti, the way they did it in the movie makes it so none of that could exist.

I really wish we saw Alex’s side of things when they got exposed, especially the way it effected his mother’s campaign. I wanted to see him he told he’s off the campaign and how badly it hurt him. Instead we got one scene of exposition and a single shot of him gushing abt Henry and saying he misses him.

From a cinematography perspective, there was some very pretty shots that were obviously made to turn into promo posters.

That’s pretty much all I got for now off the top of my head. I’ve been trying to cleanse my brain of the film for the past 4 hours lmao

If you have your own opinions, please share respectfully!! I want to hear what you liked or disliked about this.

#red white and royal blue

[ordinaryschmuck]

Quick Thoughts on Echo

I feel like Echo is going to be one of those shows where, depending on who you are, you're either going to REALLY love it or REALLY hate it. For me, though, I'd say it's...MOSTLY good.

The action is well-done and well-choreographed (don't let people tell you differently). You feel the punches and impacts a lot of the time, showing off how brutal and violent a character like Maya Lopez is.

It's also great to see the MCU get dark and gritty again, killing people, showing blood, and diving deep into the darkness of a character's backstory. They really did show a little girl watch as her mom bled to death, huh?

As for the characters, almost everyone here is written and acted well. Maya, especially, works as this character shrouded in darkness that her family tries hard to bring back into the light. And her family are all charming as can be, with the performances being entertaining and allowing each actor to do well to sell that they care deeply for Maya despite her shortcomings.

Then there's the representation, which I'm told is on point. Marvel worked well with the Choctaw Tribe to make this as authentic as possible, and I'm willing to take their word for it. I'm too white to know how authentic all of this is, but I haven't heard anyone other than other white people complain so I think it's fine. But...Okay, there are SOME negatives to be had with how it connects to her powers.

In the show, Maya has the powers to reach out to her ancestors, where their strength ECHOES through her and her bloodline, making THEM strong. Each episode even shows us one of her ancestors and just what made them so cool and empowering. And, yeah, that's a cool concept with half-decent execution, and I like all the different ways each ancestor is represented. The problem is...that isn't Echo. That couldn't be FARTHER from Echo. Echo's powers in the comics is that she's kind of like Taskmaster, she can memorize a person's fight moves and stand out on her own because of it. The reason why she doesn't do that HERE is because the person in charge of this series saw that and said, "Nah, that's stupid. I'm going to do my OWN thing." And call me crazy, but if you can't find a way to make a superhero's powers cool in an adaptation, then maybe...DON'T write for that character?

Because I already went over this with Ms. Marvel. The superhero's powers are their most important feature. Spider-Man swings, Superman flies, and Hulk smashes, it's a whole thing. You change the power, and it's not the same superhero anymore. And it's a weird change too. Like, this character doesn't need big, glowy superpowers to be badass. It sort of takes the punch out of the fact that she's this disabled hero who kicks butt despite being deaf and missing a leg. Give her superpowers, and it gives this idea that she NEEDS them to prove that she's capable instead of...proving that she can do it despite her disabilities. It's why I liked Episode Three within this first season. It shows how resourceful Maya can be in a dangerous situation with the episode hinting that her ancestor's spirit is guiding her gunshots and aim, but not enhancing her strength and abilities. THAT is how I think the power change could work better, where the ancestors' spirits guide Maya but leave her own strengths to win the day. None of that weird glowing shit. You don't need weird glowing shit if all she's fighting is the Kingpin.

Speaking of which, Kingpin's in this...And he's not as engaging as he was in Daredevil. The show tries SO HARD to force this relationship between Fisk and Maya, and...it doesn't work as well as it should. Like, Maya's rage towards Fisk? I buy that. THAT works. Fisk's love for Maya? It...feels disingenuous and almost out of nowhere, especially since Hawkeye didn't do much to show us that bond in the first place. The writers COULD HAVE, but they wanted to leave Kingpin as this big surprise just to get audiences to cheer. And I'd say that'd it be for the best to save the real bonding moments with Echo and Kingpin for ECHO'S show, making it more about her, but...it falls short. There's not enough time to showcase Maya's relationship with Fisk BEFORE the big betrayal, and it hurts the show and Kingpin's character considerably with how badly he's shoehorned in. I do like this one idea in the end where he faces his trauma and there's some decent set up for what lies in the future. Other than that, he...doesn't work well here.

Overall, I'd say Echo works fine enough. When it's good, it's REALLY engaging and some of the MCU's best work. When it's bad, it's pretty awkward and obviously rushed out. I'd still recommend it as a great time as these five episodes just fly by with some epic, brutal fun. But if you want something that hits the same highs as Daredevil, you're going to be disappointed. This isn't Daredevil, this is Disney trying to BE Daredevil. It works fine enough, but let's hope these edges are polished out by the time Daredevil: Born Again comes out or, at the very least, Echo gets a Season Two.

(Also, don't worry about having to watch Hawkeye. The first episode catches you up quick...It's poorly paced and rigid, but it still catches you up if you want to watch Echo for, well, Echo)

#echo #maya lopez #kingpin #wilson fisk #marvel cinematic universe #mcu #mcu reviews #quick thoughts #what i thought about

[animit-y]

Hi, I really love reading your blog, thanks for sharing your posts. Also, love your otps. I get what mean, I also have ships almost from any media that I love.

Do you mind if I asked why you love those couples (your otps)? You can pick at least 3 or 4 couples, if you want to write the reasons.....

Aw thanks!! Just recently decided to try Tumblr again :)

I’ve talked about Steven/Marc and I think BingYuan already, so here’s a couple of the Absolute Favorites!

//Potential Spoiler Warning for — Luca, Heartstopper, JJK, Sk8//

1. Luca & Alberto — Great time to mention that, as of 2024, THESE TWO ARE CANNON!!!!! this is a story about two young boys who go on this journey of self discovery with each other. “It’s just a kids movie about fish”… babes if you don’t get it, just say that. Luca is such a masterpiece of a movie and an honestly even better representation and allegory for Queer Youth and Queer Joy than anything I could possibly ask for.

2. Nick & Charlie from Heartstopper — On the topic of self discovery and Queer Youth. It’s not even the fact that they’re in love that makes them Soulmates. It’s Everything else. It’s how easy they talk to each other, it’s how comfortable they are with each other, it’s the pure support they give each other, and all the work that they put into each other. Heartstopper shows the beauty of Queer Youth and the love and joy of the LBGTQ+, as well as the struggle and hardships and that’s what makes this such a good show. THATS what makes Nick and Charlie soulmates, the good AND the bad.

3. Satoru Gojo & Suguru Geto from JJK — AAH I LOVE JJK AND THE ANIMATION AND THESE TWO IDIOTS ARE ALL I CANNTHINK ABOUT. Gojo “my heart and soul” Satoru. Calling each other their, “one and only”s??? The parallels with them and the colors and the animation??? There’s a whole mini Arc designated JUST FOR THESE TWO AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP?? HUH?? Right Person, Not enough Time. They’re so tragic I can’t fucking do this anymore. Even the fact that Itadori and Megumi Parallel these two… God. I’m never getting over SatoSugu.

4. Reki & Langa from Sk8 the Infinity — Don’t even get me started on these two. I went into Sk8 like, “oh a cute anime about skateboarding!” And left it feeling emotionally traumatized and WAY too related to Reki. Like.. I wasn’t expecting the pure Sadness that is these two sad gay boys on their journey of self discovery and realization of what’s important to themselves (each other). This anime and this pair, wether you view it romantic or not, have such a power over me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was so real and the message of the whole anime just felt so powerful, I don’t think I’m gonna recover.

#pixar luca #luca #luberto #heartstopper #nick nelson #charlie spring #jujustu kaisen #jjk #satosugu #al #sk8 the infinity #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #fandom

[acti-veg]

Ok so everyone hates peta yada yada, and a lot of pro-fur blogs cite that peta faked that one video of the animal being skinned alive, (which lets say it is, if it is, yeah horrible, but the laws are horrible in china for animals, so it very well could be happening and it doesn't stray from the point that this is wrong and animals being abused for fur and then killed for it is stupid and not needed) HOWEVER! I cannot find a single bit of proof for this EXCEPT for two things, an interview BY THE FUR INDUSTRY, which then went to PETAKILLSANIMALS (dot com)..so....??? that's the proof? that they faked that? people who want money from fur and a group that hates peta and is pro fur?? like? huh?

People generally dislike PETA for the wrong reasons, in my view. Much of the more shocking claims does come from Peta Kills, who are a front for a rather notorious lobbying company, almost definitely acting on behalf of animal agriculture industries. Of course, PETA are advocating for a cause people don't like, so nobody cares where the 'information' comes from since they agree with it and confirmation bias kicks in at that point.

PETA are really not even an AR organisation, most of their campaigns are welfarist, and they opt for shock tactics that do more to alienate than advocate, not to mention the sexism, ableism and racism that has been prevalent in some of their more high-profile campaigns. Their method has become to attract the most attention they can in whatever way they can, which doesn't work but I suspect it has become more about engagement, clicks and donations than animals at this point.

All that said, their undercover work is usually very solid and has been important for the cause. Most of their guides are also very helpful and well written, so they can be a good resource for new vegans. They're not a good representation of AR but they're also not the puppy killing cartoon villains the meat industry and their supporters like to pretend they are.

#ask #peta

[stevethehairington]

🦋🦈💛for the writer ask game :)

hiii ty for sending this in!!

🦋 Which character is your favorite to write?

so like if we get ~ technical ~ about it, i suppose my answer should probably be steve, since i have almost twice as many fics written from steve's pov than i do eddie's. BUT i feel like that number is not an accurate representation of my feelings about it because i genuinely do LOVE writing eddie's pov too. like, writing BOTH of them is just so much fun either way, it's hard to chose one over the other in terms of which i like more. because sometimes that depends on who i'm vibing with more in the moment, or it comes down to the day too, or even the concept for the fic!

but yeah, they both just have such different headspaces and different ways of thinking and analyzing and assessing a situation and it's really fun to explore that for both of them! i love putting myself in each of their shoes to determine how they would respond to a certain situation or certain line of conversation.

(honorable mention to dustin, nancy, max, and wayne tho because writing them/in their pov is SO fun too omg)

((wow, i really did not give you a Solid Answer here huh? lmfaoo it's the bisexual in me - i can't make decisions. why pick just one when i can have all?))

🦈 Which character is the toughest to write?

toughest ooh hm. so going off of the list of character i have written for, i think i have to go with robin for this one! i love robin so much and i loove writing her - whether i'm writing as her or including her in the story - but she is the hardest for me to nail down i think. because like she's so many things, and she's got a lot of specific details about her that can very easily turn into a caricature if done wrong (i.e. her rambling, her sarcasm, her scathing insults that are delivered in affectionate ways). she walks a very fine line with some of these things, and finding that line can be tricky!

i think it will get easier to do the more i write her, so it's just something i have to work on, but yeah, she's probably one of the tougher ones for me!

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

ohhh love this one! i think one of the most impactful lessons i've learned about writing is that self-indulgence really is the greatest thing to embrace. like, i know that the reason a person writes is different for everybody, but for me personally, i write because it's fun to me. i write because i have a story to tell. i write because there's a scenario i want to see my favorite characters in.

obviously, i LOVE the validation i get from posting my works and sharing them with people, and that does play a huge role in it too, but first and foremost i write for myself. so embracing the things i like and the things i want to see - no matter how niche they are - makes alllllll the difference in the world in my works!! doing that means that i can have fun with my fics, i can write the things i want to see and know that i'm making myself happy with it! it means that writing is easier for me to do because i'm doing what i want to do, not what i feel like i have to do, yknow?

and the best part about being self-indulgent with your writing is that not only does it benefit you as the writer, but it benefits the readers too. because, like, when you come across those totally and completely self indulgent fics it is SOO obvious that the writer enjoyed themselves while writing it! it is SOO obvious that the writer had fun with the fic! it is SOO obvious that the trope or topic or detail included is something important to the writer, something that they care about deeply, something they're passionate about!! and seeing that - recognizing that the writer had fun and enjoyed themselves and indulged, that makes it sooo much more enjoyable to read.

so yeah, my biggest piece of advice to any writer out there is to be as self-indulgent as possible!! it's the best thing you can do!!

fanfic writer ask game

#asks #corrodedbisexual #fanfic writer ask game

[goodstuffexe]

I gotta gather my thoughts after the first watch of season 4 omg !!SPOILERS!!

First and foremost I don't think this season was bad at all but I do think that it indeed could be better and doesn't quite hold up with seasons 1-3. I recently rewatched (and with recently I mean the days before thursday) the previous seasons and oh my I really forgot how much I loved them and OH how good the pacing was in season 1 and 2 especially.

For example I got the feeling that 4x01 to 4x03 kinda dragged on and made the impression they want to delay the main plot for as long as possible. (What could be explained by the fact that they have 3 whole seasons to fill still) While the first 3 1/2 episodes of season 1 play out during one whole day and you don't even notice it. Kinda a bad example tho since it is the beginning of the series soo another good example would be the first two episodes of season 2 which handled continuity of the plot and problems our babies still needed to solve on the way SO good while also staying at the Moon Nexus and goofin' around for almost 2 whole episodes.

Buuut I'm definitely gonna rewatch this season because I binged it on thursday quite harshly and that's usually a bad idea and not the way I like to watch my shows lol. I just missed them soo much o.O

Okay now with that out of the way..

OH MY GOD RAYLA, my poor children.. So much sadness :( Okay I understand that Callum and Rayla indeed had no time to talk and A he didn't want to (which is legit and def understandable) and B they had more important things to talk about but I'm SO dissapointed that not one of them asked what Rayla did in this 2 years?!? Like huh?! Not even Ezran. I'm so baffled about this it blows my mind. Did she went to see Ethari at some point? (I don't think so because she said when she gave her blades to Rex that she thinks she's not going to see Runaan or Ethari ever again soo) Did she travel the whole of Xadia all on her own until she found Stella and just came to the realization that she wants to go back and stop her search out of the blue?? What the fuck happend in two years that's a damn long time gurl

I LOVED Ezrans speech and the song played by Corvus. So powerful while Claudia and Ibis fight to the death omg very epic

Aaravos straight up possesing Callum through the heckin mirror OMG and the dragons needing to beat him at his own game because he's too strong and they couldn't risk a direct confrontation aah

Makes me wonder if he is going to be a flat evil villain like the Fire lord 🥴 now that Viren has half a redemption arc lmao

OH Viren omg that realization about how he wants to spend his remaining 30 days with what he has left aka Claudia was so natural in my opinion after seeing him having a full on panic attack and being afraid of heights after falling to his death. It was out of character buut still kindaaaa maybeee felt more believable than Callum and Raylas meeting uhmm

I said it it was realllyy awkward and not the 'normal' kind of awkward it just wasn't very... it was not the way I expected them to react I'm surprised Callum actually kept his shit quite good together and Raylas lacking apology and her reaction also felt rly out of place. Tho I think she will find some words, some better words than just sorry, next season. And I hope we will hear from her what she did and where she went and she hopefully reflects on what she did and why she went away and how she hurt Callums feelings badly and aaaAAAAAH

Terry is a pure baby

He's also quite sus

Did you hear how he called Viren legendary!? What the heck is wrong with this boys morals? Calling someone who brought down the capitol of the sunfire elves, killed their queen and almost raged a huge war on all of Xadia legendary? I love how he talks with Viren about his childhood and I rly like how Viren himself starts to listen to him more seriously but I'm concerned about this little elf :(

Did you notice that the human girl who revealed Aaravos' treason has only one arm? Quite the detail but I thought it was nice tdp goes every extra mile for representation

I LOVED the conflict in Lux Aurea between Janai and her brother. Best subplot this season. How they talked about their people worrying and then they showed us an actual conflict and the consequences it brings and how Janai deals with it in her own and a modern way. I love that they take their time and give reasons behind the actions of the characters and how they continue to make the world feel more alive by showing us how humans and elves manage to get along with each other. Janai's brother (sry forgot his name) portrays that typical traditional worldview and I love how it stands in contrast with Janai who takes on being queen, a role which she didn't even want to have, with a fresh and open mindset influenced by the humans they now live with. Hehe influenced by Amaya hehe *blushes*

I also love the symbolism of the sun seed as a new start a beginning of an era in unity *cries*

The only problem I have with this is, that no matter what, if Janai's brother would have won the duel between him and his sister, he also couldn't bring back their old capital city, which he used as a reason at some point. And if he could he would have tried surely by now? Or is that just me?

Seeing the gap widen between Soren and Claudia BrEAks mY HeArT but it also feels very believable the way they interacted when Soren found and briefly captured her. Claudias villain arc is certainly undeniable and it makes me sad :(

OH AND SOREN!! Ah the best boi (ofc next to Callum my dork and Ezran being the most reasonable -now SO grown up O.O- best boi heh) he really shines this season in my opinion with some nice jokes as always but also with being a great friend and protector of the king. I love how he tells Rayla how Callum felt when she left him. He has indeed made the jump from "only" being the funny and strong goofball with the evil dad to the lovable and just friend who does everything in his way to protect and help the people he loves and it makes me SO happy omg.

Someone thought the others don't appreciate him enough for what he does and I gotta agree a bit. The look on his face when Zubeia appreciated his moves aah he was so proud x). But they were very worried about him when they found his armor, so yeah I guess more interactions with the boys pls \ o.o /

Sooo these are *most* of my thoughts I think for now. Correct me if I got something wrong- it was a wild watching session. Ofc I'm very much loving Rayllum smiling at and hugging each other after 2 years being apart :') and I'm very excited which direction the story will take. I'm now gonna rewatch the season and go cry some more about it yaay

I HOPE THEY DON'T TAKE 3 YEARS TILL THE NEXT SEASON AGAIN

#the dragon prince #tdp season 4 #tdp #rayllum #spoilers

[trainchomp]

absolutely thriving with ace aro trending, I love seeing other people who identify how I do [it's almost like representation is super important] WOW SO HEARTSTOPPER SEASONS 2 AND 3 HUH?

#lgbt #asexual #aromantic #heartstopper

[drbtinglecannon]

001 with TOH! Or, because that one was predictable, 003 with Lilith 💜

I'm a'ok with predictable haha, I'll do both!

TOH

1. Favorite character:

This is so difficult but I'll have to say it's a tie between Eda & Darius

2. Least favorite character:

Tibbles, other vile chars (Odalia, Kikimora, Terra, Adrian) are at least fun to hate, have good designs, and contribute to good char analyses on why they're like that & the harm their abuses caused. Tibbles is just...a capitalist pig, which is a great pun but he's still boring

3. 5 favorite ships (canon or non-canon):

Raeda, Lumity, Huntlow, Gustholomule, Dariraeda. Or every char x therapy

4. Character I find most attractive:

Darius, Raine, Eda, Camila, & Steve all take turns bearing the title of "most fuckable person in the grocery store". Lilith isn't qualified solely out of respect

5. Character I would marry:

I feel like Camila would be the best choice haha

6. Character I would be best friends with:

I would've loved to have Luz as a friend in HS

7. A random thought:

A headcanon I have is that Eberwolf's a polyphyodont (his teeth continually replace themselves) like a shark. This horrified Darius at first

8. An unpopular opinion:

*sighs* Huntlow is a perfectly cute ship that's still important representation regardless if either char is queer or not, and if it ended up canon it would not ruin the queerness of the show nor would it be "horrible rushed writing". There are clear hints for a romantic angle plus it's been directly paralleled to both Lumity & Caleb/Wittewife, and after everything the show has been through & did for queer rep it's fucking nuts people are this mad over something minor. No one has to like x pairing but it's honestly depressing to see these complaints so often.

Also m/f does not automatically mean "allocishet" nor is it inherently bad, signed a queer person in a straight passing relationship

9. My canon OTP:

Lumity & Raeda are so fucking incredible and both mean so much to me, sometimes I can't believe they're canon

10. My non-canon OTP:

There's a lot of ship questions huh. So here I'll put "Darius Eber Hunter & Flapjack all live together & it's sweet chaos" because I have put a lot of HCs, writing, and energy into thinking about them

11. Most badass character:

Steve convinced a god to not care about godhood during his journey of leaving "faceless minor character status" via quietly quitting a cult. Goals

12. Most epic villain:

Belos is really the only choice, but even further Belos is probably one of the top villains in western animation, guy is unstable yet iconic

13. Pairing I am not a fan of:

Bosh//low & gold//ric were unavoidable for years (2yrs for bw 1yr for eh) it was awful

14. Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):

I don't wanna say "screwed up" bc despite any gripes I have I love almost every character, but I think Lilith got shafted esp with how prevalent she was at the beginning of S2 before leaving. I know why storylines had to be dropped but I think Lilith suffered a lot more from it than others

15. Favorite friendship:

Gus & Hunter, I had no idea what to expect going into LR and I adore every moment of it & everything that's come since

16. Character I most identify with:

Amity & Eda are both extremely relatable

17. Character I wish I could be:

Eda hands down I wish I was that trash milf criminal

--

Lilith

1. How I feel about this character:

I'm an outlier in that I always loved Lilith, even after S1 first ended and so much of the fandom hated her (for good reason tho). Her friendship with Hooty means so much to me and was so funny to see start

2. Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

N/A aroace queen

3. My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

The tragedy of her relationship with Eda is just. Ah. It kills. Lifelong damage that she can't ever take back from a moment of weakness caused by the world Belos made, but she was able to lessen the load of it and through that finally starts to really understand & sympathize with her sister and work to rebuild their relationship after decades

4. My unpopular opinion about this character:

I don't think it was bad writing that Luz so easily forgave Lilith at the start of S2, that fits Luz's character so much to think of transgressions against herself so lightly and focus more on the ones against Eda -- but since Eda also easily forgave Lilith bc that also fits her character so much, Luz would follow Eda's lead there. That said I'm gonna write a fic about the hard apology Lilith gave Luz offscreen

5. One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

Apologies to Luz, King, & Eda, the heart-to-heart with Gwen & Dell, the confrontation with Raine about cursing Eda

6. Favorite friendship for this character:

I think so much about how Lilith befriending Hooty is what made everyone else finally start treating Hooty with any respect or kindness

7. My crossover ship:

N/a aroace queen

#asks #answered #thanks for asking! #sorry to get salty there. like no one has to like xyz but gosh it gets annoying & depressing to see #im gonna scream i cant believe s3 starts tomorrow

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

Isn't there way more male villains though? And I doubt marvel are saying anything particularly deep about that. It just seems to be what it is.

that's like...the opposite of my point. for one thing, when we're talking about tropes and storytelling trends, we're not talking about, like, acts of nature, or other things that just are what they are; we're talking about fictional narratives, created by other people with their own biases and senses of what's normal and what isn't, and of course if the people creating those narratives tends to skew heavily cis straight white male, then you're going to get a lot of stories that reflect a cis straight white male point of view, right? if nearly all the people making the stories are white guys, you're going to keep getting stories about white guys, even if those stories increasingly fail to reflect reality. that isn't a thing that just happens.

you'll notice, too, that I was talking about numbers and trends, and that was my specific context for criticizing this storyline. tropes and trends, almost by definition, don't happen because of a single person's choices, or because of a single piece of work. they exist purely in the aggregate. they exist because nothing exists in a vacuum and it's really, really weird to act like it does, as if every piece of media must only be approached on its own merits or lack thereof without ever considering a larger context. I mean, shit, the MCU put a ton of work into building this probably-way-too-big-by-now interconnected universe, they want people to be fans of the whole damn thing, they want people to consider the whole context when it works, so of course it's reasonable to think on a larger scale when you're looking at themes.

and of course I'm not saying Kevin Feige et al. are deliberately trying to say something deep about women being unable to handle power. I think it doesn't matter because I'm not talking about what they're trying to say. I'm literally just talking about numbers: how many title characters have we had? what's the ratio of male title characters to female title characters? (remember, roughly a third of the title characters have been female, and that's if you're really stretching it.) how many of them have started out good and gone catastrophically bad before redeeming themselves at the last second through a sacrificial death? that few, huh? no, I don't think Marvel Studios is trying to make a deep poing here. I think Kevin Feige and various directors just don't care enough to recognize the unfortunate implications of some of their decisions, mostly because they don't have to, because it's obvious the money will keep coming regardless.

but that's the other thing, I wasn't talking about villains. I don't really...care? like, yeah, I'm sure the MCU has had more male villains than female ones, but that's a totally different discussion than the one I was having, because I was talking about title characters. protagonists. generally speaking, heroes. the characters the audience cares about and pays money to see. viewpoint characters. the ones we're supposed to sympathize with even when they screw up. the important ones. the ones where, you know, we talk about representation because that shit actually matters. and unless this Wanda isn't actually dead or we also end up with a male title character who is a good guy for a long time, turns catastrophically bad for one reason or another, and redeems himself at the last second by dying for the greater good, then I think it's pretty reasonable to look at it in terms of tropes and numbers and say that it's gross.

(I actually don't want them doing this with a male character either, or going the Ben Solo route with somebody who's mostly been a villain but then gets to be Not A Villain before heroically sacrificing themselves. I think it's a shitty, lazy storyline. way more interesting for the character to survive their heroic sacrifice and have to live with the consequences.)

#conversations #anonymous #meta #my meta #marvel cinematic universe #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff defense squad

[sirensoftheweb]

BRITNEY SPEARS CLONED AND REPLACED?!?!?!

By: Hydra 🐍

Looks like you fell into the trap of conspiracies with that title huh?

I would like to start this discussion with the quote provided by Bridle saying, “We’re all looking at the same skies, but we’re seeing different things.” 

When I first read this, I was immediately transported back to a memory of visiting the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City. One of the “exhibits” (I put the word ‘exhibit’ in italics here because it feels wrong to describe these pieces as merely “art” on display for the public) was a wall filled with squares identical in size, yet significantly different in colour. The idea behind the installation is that many different people saw the sky that day, but all viewed it differently (almost exactly what Bridle mentioned in their quote!). Bob may have woke up, looked at the sky and said, “What a nice clear blue sky we have today,” but our perception of the colour blue may not be the same as Bob or anyone else for that matter. 

I guess the point I am getting at here is: no matter what we are presented with, we will each perceive (insert item) in a completely different way, unique to our individuality. 

Take Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain for example. Where I may be disgusted that someone has simply turned a urinal on its side, signed it, and called it “art,” someone else may view as beautiful; An everyday item that we don’t think to appreciate. If anything, the piece opened up major discussion of what “art” meant to each individual. Trust me when I say the artists and intellectuals of the world took little time to get their grippers on the “clearest” explanation of Fountain’s purpose and importance. 

As an Arts and Humanities student (advanced at that! Thanks SASAH!) that feels the pressure of abiding to the intellectual lifestyle, I can’t help but call upon notable philosopher: Immanuel Kant. Kant has this crazy in depth theory about individual taste… but to spare some time, I will just bring up his critique of the aesthetical judgement. Kant’s critique states, “In order to decide whether anything is beautiful or not, we refer the representation, not by the Understanding to the Object for cognition but, by the Imagination (perhaps in conjunction with the Understanding) to the subject, and its feeling of please or pain” (OSU Library). 

So what main stream, controversial, opinionated, subject can we apply all of this to?? 

CONSPIRACY THEORIES 

I’m going to bend Kant’s critique to fit my argument and you can’t stop me (!) because guess what? This is my post and you are simply a mere voyeur to my biases hehehehehe

Conspiracies are the ideal beautiful object in this scenario. We spend time listening to them and forming our own opinions on them (whether good or bad), not because of the “logic” provided from them, but because they free our imagination. They allow us to think and discuss beyond popular and imposed upon beliefs (I’m talking societies of control type shizzz), but all though we can express freedom of speech within this, it can lead to dangerous outcomes. 

Elise Wang’s TED Talk “Why some conspiracy theories just won’t die,” describes the dangerous outcomes of conspiracy theories. Where one may think they are silly and lighthearted, another may use certain conspiracies to validate a negative opinion (Wang mentions violence and racism) to commit crimes. Do you remember that time a mob invaded the U.S. Capital because they believed that the Democrats were “rigging” the election against Donald Trump? Well the FBI considered that to be an act of domestic terrorism, proving that people act upon violence when applying specific conspiracies. 

So what is the solution? Wang suggests that media literacy is the solution that has been proposed, but she does not agree with this. Wang says, “[...] being presented with information that contradicts a firmly held belief is more likely to back fire, making you cling to that belief harder than it is to change your mind” (4:56). When confronted with evidence that challenges someone’s beliefs, they will most likely respond defensively, even if it means ignoring or distorting evidence to fit their prejudgments. Instead Wang’s call of action is: work as an activist. Instead of falling down the rabbit hole of trying to debunk people’s theories (because at the end of the day we have realized media literacy doesn’t work), we must stop giving a platform to radicalizers (14:54). → “[...] proactively protecting the people that conspiracy theories target” (15:02). I agree with Wang in the sense that this has worked in the past. I hate to bring up Trump twice, but he did become a lot more irrelevant once he was put in time out and banned from Twitter.

You may be wondering how we went from talking about a urinal to serious societal issues, and I am also wondering the same…. I guess I am leaning into my yapper characteristics. Anyway’s with all this said, I hope Wang’s solution won’t prevent me from being provided with a good ole’ video about how Chuck E. Cheese reuses old pizza…

#conspiracy theories #chuck e cheese pizza time theatre #immanuel kant