#and this is not to exclude the many headcanons from the fandom especially ones such as both of the twins are trans

[naughtybg3confessions]

(Not a confession.) I've been working out submissions for the trans day, and there was also an interesting discussion on the topic on r/okbuddybaldur, and I've been wondering - where do you think the line is drawn between 'naughty confessions' and 'fetishization'? I'm trans (transmasc-leaning NB), I have trans hcs, many of them are smutty, I find them hot, trans people ARE hot! We are! But is there a point where it just becomes fetishistic?

Related, what about stereotyping? Tall, buff transfem Karlach, or slender, pretty transmasc Astarion, for instance (which I genuinely do love, especially together). Questionable if you're ONLY going with the more stereotypical view (ie. 'Shadowheart is small and fem and definitely cis, Karlach is tall and butch and definitely trans'), or questionable at any time?

(Relatedly, this comes up in the discussion on Reddit - someone shared their frustration with always seeing Aylin as trans and Isobel as cis, and shared their frankly incredible trans Isobel headcanon.)

Not at all trying to start Disk Horse or anything, just a trans fan writing up submissions and overthinking things. Have an excellent day!

Well let me start by saying that I'm cis, and not exactly an authority on this subject. I have no magical way of knowing where all our confessions are coming from, but I do have some safeguards in place to reduce harm.

First of all, confessions that fetishize real life groups of people are strictly not allowed in our rules. It's up to my own discernment (and that of our followers) what constitutes that, but generally any use of slurs or reinforcing negative stereotypes is a clear tip off. If someone is making trans folk out to be freaks or fetishizing things about them that belittle their gender identity, that's obviously a no go. But so far, no one has said that. There was one confession sexualizing dysphoria that towed the line for me, but my gut told me the submitter was trans themselves and simply had a humiliation kink. Which they later confirmed!

Not speaking for the fandom at large, but on this blog at least it seems like all the characters are "transed" pretty much equally, from Shadowheart to Halsin. With the exception of Gortash, who seems to get the lion's share of those confessions, but that doesn't ring any alarm bells to me.

I certainly wouldn't want to disallow trans hcs for any particular character. After all, it is a fact of life that some cis women are big and tall, and so are some trans women. Should they be excluded from being found attractive just because of a few bad eggs? But I'm always happy to see more variety, thought, and creativity put into confessions overall. Y'all are certainly encouraged to break the mold around here.

I do my best to use my best judgement in moderating confessions so that everyone feels safe and welcome here. But I'm not perfect, so if anything ever slips through the cracks I won't hesitate to listen to our trans followers, remove the confession and learn from the experience. Should that ever happen, I may ask the anon to clarify their intentions as well, as sometimes people just phrase things unintentionally poorly (Hanlon's razor and all that).

Anyways, I hope that answer was satisfactory, it's an interesting and nuanced topic to be sure. And I bid thee an excellent day as well!

#answering asks

[wackachewbacca]

A gentle reminder for all critters

Everyone and I mean every single person in the group Vox Machina is QUEER. No one is straight!

Vax’ildan is practically the poster child for bisexual disaster for this whole party. He’s flirted with: Gilmore, Percy, both of the Briarwoods in the incident that earned him the said title bisexual disaster, and Keyleth who became his partner.

Vex’ahlia is probably also bisexual based on encounters with Keyleth and possibly also Zahra.

Keyleth is demi and possibly also bisexual/pansexual based on her encounters with Vex’ahlia.

Percy is bisexual/pansexual. He’s been kissed by both Vex’ahlia and Vax’ildan, and been flirted with by Taryon Darrington which he didn’t mind and the two of them became friends afterwards.

Scanlan is pansexual. He’s been with multiple genders according to campaign and the show. He also flirts with Percy at one point under the effects of a charm effect which could only happen if you were attracted to the gender of the person.

Pike is bisexual/pansexual. According to campaign, she has spent time with women.

Grog probably also falls somewhere under demiromantic or possibly aromantic. He’s not really into romance altogether, but he enjoys sex with people of the opposite gender from him.

Taryon is gay. He has had a prior relationship to a man and confessed to being in love with Percy. He does not care for romantic or sexual relationships with women.

I know it’s been some time since we’ve seen them all during their romantic relationships but they are all queer. And just because most of them ended up in relationships with people of the opposite gender from them does not make them being queer less valid. They are in queer relationships and denying it and saying they’re straight is erasure of the identities each member belongs to.

#and this is not to exclude the many headcanons from the fandom especially ones such as both of the twins are trans #you are all so valid and I hope you get god sleep at night #and the vexleth shippers as well you guys were looking toward the future #this is not to call anyone out I think we all need the reminder #I think it’s been so long for some of us that we don’t think or remember them being very queer #critical role #cr spoilers #vox machina spoilers #vox machina #vaxildan #vexahlia #keyleth #percy de rolo #scanlan shorthalt #pike trickfoot #grog strongjaw #taryon darrington

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Aita for bluntly telling a telling a friend I don't want to discuss *media* with them after them not taking the hint for a couple months?

I read a serialized manga —nothing mega popular like op or jjk but popular— as do many other folks excluding this friend from a different fandom. This manga fandom is full of shippers who can't figure out how fan shipping works so they shit on the manga for not making their headcanons true. They'll call the author illiterate fetishizer over ships and frankly most of them read it through other fans' tweets or tiktoks so I don't care for those opinions regardless. I think the manga doesn't deserve the hate and real readers who look up meta or volume extras enjoy it more. Needless to say I have my own fave ships with varying degree of canon backing, and I'm a "hag" fan I make my own food without resorting to bashing someone's work.

This dear friend of mine has been on and off into this manga for about a year, has been part of a server that's full of Those shippers, but also talk to me and another mutual separately when they remember we also like it. Problem is that their opinion about the manga changes according to who they're talking to, if it's us two individuals this manga is aight, good shit, if it's the server girlies they Loathe that manga it burned their crops— the latter is their real opinion I have proof of that. Naturally I don't enjoy discussing it with them but lately every time there's a new chapter they comes knocking, "Omg did you see 👀? My fyp was saying this and this"

One time I had dismissed them saying I hadn't read it to discuss anything, I fell into a habit of saying this again and making other excuses while being publicly open about hating the manga hate bandwagon over ships. They should have noticed this but I can't be sure. This week again they wanted to talk but I was pretty upset about something at work so I went unfiltered and ranted just a little bit. My sister believes they use me to form discussion topics for their server which was also bugging me. I said to them, "You should start reading the manga if you want to discuss it. I'm getting tired of correcting you and you should know I can see what you tell your other friends so can you quit making contradicting comments in my dms?"

They got really mad and started subtweeting me so I blocked them. Replies to them are still visible and I saw another mutual tell them whoever didn't communicate nicely was a bad friend and it's sad that a long time friend would break up over ships. I'm having a little guilt feeling now because I was really not in my best mood yesterday.

I can't say I'm new to this sort of inane arguments over ships especially in today's fandom climate, but them being all Jekyll and Hyde to desperately be part of the conversation while never reading the manga first hand is still crazy to me. This could have been a nonissue.

So was I the asshole or are we both in the wrong? please share if you faced something similar or like what my sis said.

—💜

#aita #am i the asshole #ship discourse

[luulapants]

Goncharov (1973) is a perfect example of how fandom creates a shell around a piece of media and then slowly erodes the core it was originally built upon.

I have been in two fandoms that echo chambered their way to a theory invalidating all of canon, thereby making the source material itself irrelevant. One is the “Scott is an unreliable narrator” theory from the Teen Wolf fandom, which uses an odd POV choice from the series finale (the protagonist telling the story of their final battle to a character in a flash-forward) as evidence that the entire SHOW is actually him telling a heavily edited version of the story to make himself look like the hero. The other is the “Ghostfacers Effect” from the Supernatural fandom which also uses a weird POV episode (told through camera footage from a ghost hunting crew) to argue that, because the characters swear (bleeped out) in that episode but nowhere else in the series, this is evidence that the whole series is censored and edited by the author/God Chuck.

Both fandoms had animosity between fans and show creators, especially from queer shipping bases. Both have a huge amount of fanworks for those ships, and both experienced the “fandom echochamber” effect. Reinforced by positive responses from those seeking fluffy, kinky, self-insert, or otherwise wish-fulfilling stories, popular fanon characterizations slowly drifted until many fanworks featured characters virtually unrecognizable as their canon counterpart.

These drifts are addressed differently throughout fandom: Most people look at it and say, “No, that’s not canon, but it’s fun to read sometimes anyway,” or “This is just my headcanon.” Fanfic readers who never watched the source material are oblivious and perpetuate fanon characterizations as canon. Canon lovers decry the OOC-ness and complain that they can’t find fics about the actual characters they want to read about.

And some start arguing that fanon is actually more correct than canon.

Thus, the erosion of canon begins. “These episodes don’t count because the head writer was garbage.” “They made the character act like that to advance the plot - they wouldn’t have actually done that.” “Everything after this season is basically a different show.” “This happened off-screen but the network was too cowardly to show us.” And, finally, “Canon isn’t real.”

There is no canon. It’s a fanon shell wrapped around a desiccated center.

It’s Goncharov (1973).

Why do we need a source material? Canon isn’t real!

No shit canon isn’t real. It’s a fictional show.

You can’t argue the objective reality of a fictional story.

“But what’s the truth?”

None of it. None of it is the truth. It’s about werewolves. It’s about a gay angel. It’s not real.

You can argue objective reality in real-life historical accounts, analyzing sources and biases and excluded viewpoints. In a fictional story with an unreliable narrator, you can argue about what the text of the narration reveals about them. But there is no argument to be had about the objective reality of a fictional character. They are the text. Everything else is interpretation.

Why can’t your interpretation be what it is: an interpretation? Why can’t your headcanon be a headcanon? Why do you feel the need to saw the ladder off from underneath you? Why does fanon need to be more “true” than canon? Why would you rather have a fandom built on nothing than a fandom built on a text that disagrees with it?

Goncharov (1973) is the perfect canon because it will never disagree with fanon. It has no voice to do so. It is the perfect void that people have been trying to carve into their respective canons for years.

As Andrey said before his final betrayal, “You once told me you built your empire from nothing. You can’t get something from nothing, Goncharov. And so I fear we are nothing.”

#goncharov #fandom meta #fandom #supernatural #teen wolf #teen wolf meta #supernatural meta #if you are from a fandom that has created a similar theory PLEASE add a comment!!

[cryptiicism]

i realize that perhaps that there are definitely some issues that need speakers to amplify the voices of the many, but perhaps there are certain issues that could be reworded to highlight other issues. with people who are affected by those issues.

such as how important the trans headcanon for kabru is for poc who don't have as many characters they can project upon.

this is in response to my post where I talked about how there wasn't enough art where laios is depicted as trans too, and frankly that was uncalled for.

even if he poses as a character that people who don't feel like they're " trans enough " or pass to the point where they feel excluded from their own community, could relate to, the issue could've been presented better.

especially because he's one white masc character in a basket full of them while poc have mainly just kabru in this fandom to project upon.

and i deeply apologize, because kabru is a very important character to have, and i hope to keep learning in the future from people who are different than me.

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #dunmeshi laios #dunmeshi kabru #labru #we need more representation for poc in media #especially for trans people of color

[katyspersonal]

11, 17, and 21 for Micolash!

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

11) How did you “fall in love” with this character?

Although I liked him from the start, the "falling in love" did not happen instantly! Especially because my primal Bloodborne exposure was within an extremely small and secluded group, in which a snobbish near-Redditor friend would condemn "cringey Tumblr girls crushes" XD I was a little nervous upon realising that my attraction and curiosity to Micolash was only growing with every day, that I kept checking the same fanarts of him every day. I was not thrilled to feel judged so I was in denial and forged exclusively lorediggey interest. And then I just took my confidence back with this meme that started it all:

Basically, there was no particular trigger, but instead, everything I've learned about this character became planted seeds, and yet they sprouted and kept growing. My own wild, unhinged imagination and daydreaming was the water, good fanart and headcanons were the sunlight. Ironically though, this same friend helped to nourish it; he is very good at making impressions of characters and I asked him to write as Micolash in my starvation for more dialogue. It was so in-character that it did feel like getting extra script of Mico's lines.

17) Have you ever felt physical pain over this character? (ex: physical heartache).

Yeah... I am a little ashamed of it, but ey. No need to beat myself up for how my brain is wired? I've had two times of unexplainable nausea (as it, I was not sick or poisoned) because of this man! Both times happened after a particularly striking dream revolving around him. I also sometimes got strong headaches because of him, when I was spiralling into thinking about him too much!

21) Are your feelings about this character platonic, romantic, or familial? All of these feelings at once maybe?

All of these in this order of development, and currently all of these at once. Like I said, I was instantly fascinated by him, then it grew into a strong crush.. And, strangely enough, whereas I instantly latched onto Rom, kinned her even, and shipped Romicolash, my brain involuntarily imagined an OC that I could project onto more than onto Rom, yet that'd be his sister. So, I had a chance to imagine myself being with him, and yet threw it away for familial relationship instead? This is a part of the many years long string of strange self-sabotages, in which whenever I fell hard for a fictional character I'd "ruin my chances" by making their sexuality exclude me, or inventing any other way why we could not be together even in my dreams. What scares me so? But hey, at least I had Rom, right? .....right?

Wrong. Meet the description I've glossed over at first, but that changed everything when @val-of-the-north convinced me to really peer into it all like 'ohhhh whooo could they beeee?'. Given the context, the description could be referring to Micolash and Rom, and my lore brain instantly picked up 500+ canon-fitting clues and explanations for why it absolutely made sense. I was delighted by it. I was frustrated by it. I felt like a genius that deciprehered a mystery that fandom did not see for 6-7 years. I knew Romicolash shippers would shy away from me for that one and I felt lonely. I felt proud because on the other side I started a "trend" that ricocheted across the fandom so much that now headcanon of Rom and Micolash as siblings is the norm, not exception. I hated myself for sabotaging my only means to "be" with Micolash in my dreams.

But in the end, I just... accepted it? I've found peace in knowing that different parts of my identity feel differently towards this man, and I can't sacrifice either. And I was able to internalise the differences between my Rom, other people's Rom and Rom as 'general character concept'. So I can like teacher-student, I can like friendship, I can like familial, I can like ship, I can like them as enemies. But this applies to me-me too! It is easier to name what feelings I do not have towards him hahah;

#bloodborne #micolash host of the nightmare #ask replies #ghhhh I love this ask meme but I think I'll rather not answer any more Micolash questions on this one #talking about him in depth like this brings back absurd amount of very intimate and curious memories #damn it's been 3 years.... time flies #I remember ancient times when the only attention Rom ever got was to be shipped with Micolash XD #there is for sure way more variety for her these days! #still I am champion of self-sabotage

[mdhwrites]

I feel like lately people started to ignore toh, Idk some artists I followed already moved on to other stuff to make content about (if you exclude mark). With Amphibia I think it lasted a year more after it's end till everyone completely moved on and I still can see some fanarts of it.

I guess people who said toh would be timeless may rethink that, it didn't even last a year.

So first: Timeless doesn't mean it will have an eternal fandom. Just that it will always be able to connect with an audience.

Second... I mostly agree. Like my timeline has definitely become MUCH more Amphibia focused nowadays. I don't see a lot of TOH art which... isn't surprising? Lumity was dying by the end of S2 because people just didn't have much to do with them and S3 really highlighted how shallow a lot of the characters and what not were.

It's not surprising that we didn't get the Amphibia of trying deepfake the fandom into thinking new episodes were coming out or a movie was in the works because... What do you do with these characters? MoringMark is doing pure fluff. I've seen a couple that I follow go strong but... Mostly by doing stuff like future children or Lumity as perfect mothers, stuff like that.

And that includes myself. I still do Lumischa but I swapped to AU stuff pretty much exclusively a LONG time ago now because sticking with canon was just... boring. I follow Yukifrill and she recently started doing Blight family stuff due to a dream but she explicitly said that part of why she even can again is because canon can no longer rip apart her headcanons, her desires, etc. like that. That's just kind of an awkward place for a fandom, especially with a show like TOH where most of the characters are mainly their base archtypes.

Buuuut: TOH will always have the shields of Disney meddling and LGBTQIA+ representation. Regardless of how good you think the representation is or if you think the meddling or shortening mattered, it doesn't effect things. Plenty of people will still hold onto TOH being an almost perfect being that we were just robbed from being the ultimate show ever.

This isn't even a joke. In a non-cartoon server I'm a part of, someone decided to bring that another server they were a part of talking about stuff they we were ever robbed from seeing in TOH. Others replied about Disney meddling, representation and how Lumity was still one of the best relationships they'd ever seen in ANY media.

Which, as a romance writer, that last one makes me REAL sad. It also is a sad irony because no one would have bat an eye if not for Disney and now Disney is also the excuse they use for it being bad. That makes me sad as an indie who no one cares about. At least not with his writing.

Because if my work is bad, no one is going to cut me any slack. If I cut corners because my brain is bad, people are just going to put it on blast. I'm an indie after all. Who is holding me back? Certainly nothing like what held TOH back, even if TOH also had an entire team of writers instead of only one.

But when enough time has passed for the knowledge of those excuses not to be common anymore... Will people still be able to excuse TOH for what it is?

Addendum: I want to make something clear since I've been letting my jealousy and personal pain show a bit more recently. I do not hate the show for being popular or successful. Dana and the crew put a lot of work into the show and I'm happy for them that it found so many. That it enriched so many lived. So many creative endeavors never do.

So yes, I get frustrated by the excuses. Get hurt by the cheats no one is willing to talk about. That's as much personal as it is professional though and if I'm just being honest, I'm still happy TOH was made and reached its audience. It means a lot to me just as it does to many others. I would not make these blogs if not for that.

I just wish that my interest in TOH didn't bring with it pain sometimes, but that's a personal problem, not TOH's.

==========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#the owl house criticism #toh critical

[mqfx]

id love to hear your thoughts on jyl! freudian or otherwise, with however many mentions of soup that you prefer 🥺🤲

just saw this :0 well i wouldn't say that i have many intelligent thoughts about jyl anymore especially since i don't really get the chance to talk about mdzs / cql much so i'm afraid i'll have to disappoint you on this count (which makes me a hypocrite i know)

but i did go insane below this line so watch out!

but i will say again what i said a few weeks back about us (fandom, society--you choose) missing out on a broader richer storytelling experience (?) when we continue to look over women's stories to get to the "more interesting" men because "well the author made more content about them so there's more to work with". not gonna belabor this point bc many have already pointed out that people will come up with all sorts of elaborate headcanons to talk about mr. blorbo who showed up in the back for ten seconds but nary a word to spare for the women who did quite a lot of narrative heavy lifting. did you know that i literally found a fic where wen chao becomes a ghost and gets together with qi rong in the underworld? do you see the same effort given to women with a similar level of narrative importance or prominence?

in this case part of it IS the fault of mxtx; more named men have died in mdzs than there are named women characters in it altogether (and even then, most of those women died too!). let's count:

women: wen qing, granny wen, jiang yanli, yu ziyuan, luo qingyang (mianmian), baoshan sanren, cangse sanren, a-qing, madam jin, jinzhu and yinzhu, meng shi (jgy's mom), qin su (jgy's wife). i bolded the ones who are dead by the end of the series (total: 13 women, 11 of whom are dead)

"important" men who died: wei changze, jiang fengmian, jin guangshan, jin zixuan, jin zixun, jin guangyao, jin rusong (child), su she, wen chao, wen zhuliu, wen ruohan, wen xu, wen ning (came back), song lan, xiao xingchen, xue yang, nie mingjue, wei wuxian (came back), mo xuanyu (total dead: 19, or 17 if you don't count the resurrected, 16 if you don't count the child)

13 total women characters vs let's say 16 dead men. and i'm sure i missed a few (<- nearly forgot xue yang) but who cares right now. what does this say about mxtx's priorities as a writer, or at the very least how women figure in her imagination?

''but charlie! they had a great impact on the narrative!" this is true. without meng shi's suffering there would be no raison d'etre for jin guangyao. without baoshan sanren's teachings there would be no xiao xingchen and song lan's tragedy, and no a-qing means we wouldn't even have known. no cangse sanren means no wei wuxian means no story at all. no wen qing = no core transfer. no jiang yanli = no jin ling, no yunmeng brothers, no heart to tether them from falling off the edge of morality (both have committed heinous acts in war regardless but jiang yanli represents for them why they had to do it. she's their home and their family that they fought to protect--and for what!) i could go on with each one, but my point is that if you take even one of these women out of the story, it all falls apart, right?

so why don't i hear anything about them?

and because you asked and i love you, let's focus on jiang yanli here: WHY is she more often than not excluded or otherwise glossed over in all the myriad discussions about how tragic the yunmeng brothers are? was she not also their sibling, their family? did she not also suffer the war and the near-total wipeout of her sect? the death of her husband? she DID but no one seems to give a shit about her unless it's to fucking call her SOUP as if that's the only thing she did!

no paragaph-long popular elegiac posts on her experiences and the incredible fortitude it might have taken not only to withstand all that but to do so with nothing but forgiveness? (speaking of forgiveness: that she forgive jin zixuan at all? out of unwavering love????) because it's not easy to stay kind in regular real-life conditions let alone what she had to face, on top of which was the daily terror that she might lose the last three people in her family she depended on as a non-powerful woman in a misogynistic society. how much of this was because mxtx couldn't be assed to develop her character, and how much of it is actually because despite what mxtx might have written, most people would not even notice because she's a woman?

the thing with interpreting fictional works or talking about characters is that you can't accurately pinpoint how much of the character was authorial intent, how much is your projection, and how much was a happy accident. what makes the curtains blue? i could just as easily say that "jiang yanli was the strongest character in mdzs because unlike the men who used their pain to justify their descents into crimes, heinous acts, and corruption, she (who had suffered equally or worse) managed to remain steadfast to her principles" as i could "jiang yanli remained static as a character because mxtx couldn't think of a way to develop her, or otherwise didn't give a shit about her role aside from sacrificial lamb for wei wuxian's and jiang cheng's pain".

but we can't even get to those goddamn discussions when people refuse to take her as seriously as they take their fucking war criminal beeboos so i'd be wasting everyone's FUCKING TIME

#hewwo #asks #anonymous #long post #mdzs #and don't get me wrong. i love those beeboos too and i'm not innocent of the ''woobifying some guy'' charges #but i do wish we could talk more about those women. and without fanonizing them into Strong Competent Woman or Mother archetypes

[l0velylecter]

Thank you for writing from a girly/feminine perspective! A lot of popular writing styles nowadays stick to the very tomboy-ish and gruff "not like other girls" perspective and I have trouble relating to that. I hope I'm not offending anyone with this ask but it's nice to find a writer, especially in the COD fandom, who doesn't perceive femininity and gentleness as a weakness.

Hi, darling anon! 

Thank you for this sweet message. Before I continue, I just want to clarify that :

There's nothing wrong with tomboy-ish and gruff girls, but you are right: there is something wrong the moment their authors use them to bring other women down for being the opposite.

Whatever I will say next is just my opinion, nothing is fact-checked, so feel free to disagree if you do 

I noticed that a lot of times, things get lost in translation very easily when writing about women. And in this block of text, when I say women, I also refer to non-cis women. Often modern media have, unfortunately, conditioned us into thinking that women are inherently weak, so we tend to either accidentally (or with purpose) make women 'different from other girls / unlike other girls.' to have people take them seriously.

But the real question here is: What's wrong with other girls?

There are many ways to uplift women other than bringing each other down. Of course, girly girls can co-exist with adjectives like smart, badass, powerful, strong, and independent. 

And honestly, as a girly girl, I am quite tired of girly-girl erasure. And I am tired of girly girls being portrayed as only two-dimensional characters with no worth or substance to the story. Always the punchline to an overused and unfunny joke. 

And even if these headcanons and imagines are all so well written, as lovely as it is to see kick-ass readers/characters who can let's say: physically fight, use a gun, and are part of the military, as a girl who can't even lift her suitcase I find myself unable to relate to these pieces. One might say: ' But it's just fantasy, it's supposed to be unrealistic.' 

I agree, however, I want my fantasies to also cater to my perception of reality if you get what I mean — my preferences and style. Maybe it's easier for me to see myself as a benefactress to a private military unit than a soldier. This is why I prefer to write about readers as civilians, non-active duty personnel, people in non-military professions, etc. because I can picture it better. And as a writer, my skill of writing can also improve and expand, sooner or later I won't be that restricted in writing and can write about all sorts of readers in all sorts of scenarios. Because I know I cannot put women into boxes, certainly not one that excludes people from enjoying a fandom: which in this case is call of duty.

By the end of the day, my wish is to see more inclusivity in writing about women/female characters! women are allowed to be traditionally feminine, women are allowed to be kick-ass, women are allowed to be smart, women are allowed to be brave, women are allowed to be strong, and women are all allowed to be all of the above at once! 

If you don't agree with how an author writes their reader, it's not difficult to scroll and find something more to your taste. I have received a few messages in my inbox complaining about how I am writing unrealistic reader povs, I never reply to these because by the end of the day: this is all fantasy. And I'm sorry, but to quote one of these messages: maybe it is difficult for certain anons to see themselves as an 'it girl'...but not me though ( stay safe💋) 

In conclusion : women of all backgrounds and settings are not weak, and women shouldn't be restricted to just a 'trope' or a label. there is strength in being gentle and there is courage in being kind. 

Again, please correct me if I use any wrong terminologies, and these are all just my opinions. Thanks for this wonderful compliment anon, you gave me a chance to speak out about what I've held in my heart for a long time. You made my week <3 

smooches x

#rant #sweet anon #call of duty #cod #tbh

[seventeenlovesthree]

Fandom Shipping Polls - Mimi Tachikawa Shipping Analysis (Poll I + Poll II)

As pointed out in the main post, every single Chosen Child will get their individual analysis post to check on the status of the current popularity of their ships. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Mimi, shall we!  

The overall results / spreadsheet

Disclaimer: As the “Someone from 01/02″ and “Others” options from poll 1 and the “Someone from 01/02″ option from poll 2 have been excluded from the final analysis due to redundancy reasons and all results were culminated in another “final count”, the results will not be 1:1 to what the polls look like:

Overall votes: 127 (approx. 111 in sum after the exclusion), the main poll got 89 votes, the secondary poll got 38 votes.

The “Others” choice in the main poll received 4% (approx. 4 votes) and 2% (approx. 1 vote) in the secondary poll. The comments/tags did not specify any preferences here (aside from characters that were already part of the main choices).

Ship Analysis

1st place: As you may have guessed, I had already started to prepare the graphic designs a few days before the polls had ended - and I actually did expect Koushiro to win this one, considering how many times he had tied with Jou and actually surpassed him in the votes for the majority of the run-time. However, Jou (22%) picked up speed in the last few days and won with a lead of three votes in the end. Within the tumblr fandom - and especially throughout the last year -, the ship has gained visibly more attention than it has in other internet spheres, especially Japanese centric. Considering how their bond is displayed in the anime, framing their arcs to intertwine at several points in the timeline around the theme of “selfish choices vs own choices”, it is not surprising that they are viewed as viable romantic options for each other as well. They do discover their roles as supporting characters while also supporting each other just splendidly, with tiny hints of (mutual) affection sprinkled in, making it quite an appealing ship.

2nd place: Koushiro (19%) came in as second choice, despite the fact that he had led the poll by a marginal lead several times. And that is not surprising at all - as mentioned in his own analyis already, Koumi is considered to be one of the most popular Koushiro centric ships world-wide. This is due to their set-up in the series as being odd-balls of the same age while simultaneously bouncing off of each other very well as one of the go-to “opposites attract” dynamics. Additionally, Tri canonically made Koushiro crush on Mimi, solidifying a consistent fanon-headcanon (which usually goes the other way round, with her having a crush on him instead). While the portrayal of the crush was not appreciated everywhere equally, they have always been going strong for valid reasons. 

3rd place: For the first time, we actually have an undeniable tie, as both Sora and Taichi received the exact same number of votes (14 = 13%). While Sora had comfortably remained as sole heir of the third spot for a long time, Taichi had slowly but steadily caught up to her - leaving several choices behind that will be thoroughly mentioned in the Honorary mentions section. Sora’s lead is easy to explain, as both girls have been supporting each other and growing together throughout the series, displaying a gentle and loving bond despite their obious differences in character and design. Taichi on the other hand may appear to be more of a subtle choice in canon, but enjoys a lot of popularity as potential partner for Mimi in fandom, due to their rare, yet endearing interactions with one another.

Honorary mentions: Here we have quite a number of interesting characters, such as Miyako (who had tied with Taichi for fourth place for quite some time, but ended at 9%), Meiko (7%), Yamato (6%) and Michael (5%). While Miyako, Meiko and Michael are usually shipped with Mimi due to their foundations in the anime - with Miyako and Meiko being clearly enchanted by her and Michael and her bonding during her time in America -, Yamato is among the male fanon favourites. As Honorary mention among the honorary mentions, Takeru (2%) can also be mentioned.

“The 1 vote squad”: This spot is reserved for for Ken (1%) and Wallace (1%).

“0 votes go to...”: Hikari, Daisuke and Iori received 0 votes each.

Annotations: N/A.

What did the other polls say?

Mimi won Jou’s (38%) and Meiko’s (42%) polls, came in second in Koushiro’s (21%) and (technically) Sora’s (18%) and also finished third in Miyako’s (17%), thus making her one of the most represented choices in the “higher tiers”.

While Taichi and Yamato scored higher in Mimi’s own poll, she did not receive as many votes in their respective polls (5% and 4%), but still counts there as Honorable mention.

She was more of a niche choice in the polls for - surprisingly - Iori (2%), Takeru (1%) and Daisuke (1%). 

In the polls for Ken and Hikari, she received 0 votes - just like Hikari did in her own, thus ruling Mikari out as viable ship completely.

Notable additions / comments / thoughts

While her polls did not receive the most amount of votes, it is quite clear that Mimi inherits the reputation as currently being one of the most popular Adventure characters overall. With 127 votes, Mimi came in fifth after Taichi, Ken, Takeru and Daisuke, and even though the overall numbers are still just a comparably small sample size, it still makes her the female character with the most votes - and the most diversity in the results so far. While Jou and Koushiro were never threatened to be surpassed as first and second place, the competition between them - as well as between Sora and Taichi as third place - had been tough. Plus, several characters (Miyako, Meiko, Yamato and Michael) surpassed the “niche” option of 1-2 votes, indicating that there is quite some variation in the way how and with whom people like to ship Mimi. There is also the (in my opinion very important) notion that she’s a highly popular choice not only in the polls for the male characters (Jou and Koushiro in particular) but also in the polls for the female characters (Meiko, Sora and Miyako in particular). Which is absolutely backed up by her canon portrayal, as she is having some of her most emotional character development moments during interactions with other female characters - while also displaying quite a tendency to be affectionate and physical with them. With some male characters, she may not share as many interactions in comparison, but due to her personality structure, openness, kindness and sincerity, it is absolutely understandable that the fandom enjoys the potential her relationships offer. Still, I really hope to reach a wider audience if I choose to repeat the polls once the fandom is not as quiet as it is right now.

The comments in the tags have only referred to the already mentioned choices (”MIYAKO” and “SORA”) in all caps in particular). So the “Others” option did not reveal any other potentially preferred suitors. This leaves room for speculation, but usually, the option is reserved for OC ships or for when people prefer to not ship a character at all or when they’re considered asexual (which will definitely be a future option to include as well!)

Other Analysis Posts 

Taichi Yagami Shipping Analysis

Yamato Ishida Shipping Analysis

Sora Takenouchi Shipping Analysis

Koushiro Izumi Shipping Analysis

Jou Kido Shipping Analysis

Takeru Takaishi Shipping Analysis

Hikari Yagami Shipping Analysis

Daisuke Motomiya Shipping Analysis

Ken Ichijouji Shipping Analysis

Miyako Inoue Shipping Analysis

Iori Hida Shipping Analysis

Meiko Mochizuki Shipping Analysis

#mimi tachikawa #digimon #digimon polls #digimon shipping #meta #my two cents #my edit #joumi #jyoumi #koumi #somi #soramimi #michi #taimi

[lemonhemlock]

I dont see Helaena cheating. I see her having feelings for Aemond both romantic and sexual in nature but I don't see her cheating. And IK people bring up the "so you don't want female characters to have agency and sexually fulfilled lives? So you think only men are allowed to cheat? So you think all people with autism are aroace robots with no interest in sex?" arguments and I believe some anti-helaemonds genuinely smack of that kind of thinking, but something it's simply: I just don't think Heleana is that kind of character from what we have gotten. Helaena not cheating doesn't mean all real woman cant ever cheat or all female characters cant ever cheat, its just in Helaena's case she does not. There are female characters who cheat, not as many as men, but they're there. I don't see why Helaena specifically not cheating would be such a big blow? Is it because of the autism? In that case the scarcity of autistic characters should be criticised IMO; we shouldn't need to make one autistic fill a niche by herself. Thats just sad tbh.

It's the only reason I don't believe anything happened between Helaemond on the show and will be very surprised if it has or will unless helaena does a 180, which IG could be a kinda fun angle - her becoming more like Aegon/a Dragon. But there's so much gonna be going on I don't know if we need this. I'm just a little sick of Aemond I guess.

Just to maybe drop a different perspective.

hey there, i want to take this opportunity to assure everyone that, with all my ranting, i'm not really a prescriptivist person, bent on shaping the way people interact with their chosen piece of media :)

so, if that's your interpretation of helaena's character, that's completely fine in my book, and you are entitled to your headcanons. don't get me wrong here, i'm not trying to police the way people consume fiction or how they like to play in their own sandboxes, lord knows there is enough room for all of us under the sun. so, if you think that she wouldn't cheat for various reasons, i'm not here to contradict your view specifically and tell you you're wrong. our opposing opinions can co-exist just fine in the space-time continuum. :))

personally speaking, i interpret their social & familial roles breaking down so much within this cycle of generational inbreeding that whatever this is doesn't even register as cheating anymore since the regular boundaries start bleeding into one another. but that's bc that's what i find a really cool idea to explore, others can and should come up with their own takes

i only take issue with a certain type of moral framework that excludes all other possible interpretations bc it doesn't fall within whatever the circulated papal bull stipulates at the moment. especially when it's over really silly stuff like this. meaning to say that other people are not stupid or badly-intentioned or sinister or secret team black sleeper agents :)) for enjoying alternative possibilities. and, i have to say, it does feel really kind of rotten when you hear how other greens talk about helaemonds like they carry the plague, bc i think there are some really lovely people in this little internet niche that could contribute in a lot of positive ways to the fandom.

i, for one, can't control how people choose to judge me for not shutting up about this (lmao this really unintentionally feels like coming out, which is absolutely ridiculous, touch-grass-levels), but i'd think it rather childish if 1. i felt force to go underground and lie about it so people wouldn't blacklist me for this dumb reason and 2. i couldn't really engage in other ways bc people formed this unfair opinion that i'm some tainted radioactive waste. i write a lot of meta on a lot on topics and i enjoy talking to a wide range of people, which is why i rarely even block, so, that's just a personal disappointment i would have as a fandom navigator.

at the end of the day, it's.... you know, whatever, as far as i'm concerned, because i have a big mouth anyway and i don't really shut up IRL either, so, in that regard i had to already teflonize myself. but i feel like a lot of users are held back from participating and being more active for fear of judgment, which is just a damn shame, as the toxic voices always tend to drown out the ones who would really help turn this place into a more pleasant experience for everyone

so, what can i say, i'm a big softie, y'all

#hugs for everyone etc #ask #anon #helaemond #it's barely even monday & i'm already causing waves

[quillsmora]

Oh my gosh that person wasn't right telling you how to excluded a non starmora ship from the starmora tag. Why should you have to do that?! It's the starmora tag. Only fics about starmora should be in there. If people want to ship Peter/Donald Duck there's a tag they can use that's not starmora. I'm so glad my attachment to mcu fandom is coming to a close. People are gonna make me dislike characters I used to love I swear.

peter/donald duck made me cackle.

but yeah, i guess my post struck a nerve, or maybe someone just really wanted a fight, or possibly genuinely wanted to give me advice on how to use a site i've been on for seven years now, idk. i'm not the one to try and pick fights with, especially not on tumblr of all places (my header on mobile was a genuine reaction from one of my friends lmao).

i'm also in the same boat of generally being over the mcu, at least until the guardians or peter or even gamora return because they're the characters i care the most about. i don't think anyone could ever sour my love for nebula though, i've headcanoned her as a lesbian for so many years that no crackship or misinterpreted interview quotes can change how i view her character arc through a queer lense also shipping nebula and quill, in my opinion, disrespects their character arcs in canon but that's not the point.

#ask #anon

[sigmadolos]

Anonymous​​ said: Alright I can't come off anon because anxious but oh your portrayal is so 💕 I don't see many people doing such nice analysis of Sigma like I had hoped when getting into this fandom since he's one of my very favorites.  But I found your sigma and he's so unique and interesting and I can tell how much you've put into him to make him so special and that makes me so happy to see.  It makes all your headcanons and thoughts and threads so fun and interesting to read, even threads I'm not a part of.  He's just so lovely I can't get enough of your portrayal of Sigma I'm so excited to see more.

How’s my portrayal? Feedback is welcome!

   Don’t worry anon! There’s no obligation to come off anon! That’s why I have it after all! (Plus as someone who likes to anonymously send hc questions to others to surprise them & make them happy, I keep it open for that. Or anyone who wants to send in questions or write ic even if they dont have a blog).

   But thank you so much! It really is a shame, I’ve been here since the beginning so I can definitely understand where you’re coming from. I’m glad that I can give you that analysis! And fear not, there will be more analyses in the future for sure. It’s an honor to have been discovered like that and I’m glad you can enjoy it!

   I’ve really put in a lot of work over the years with him. We didn’t have much to go by for a long time so a lot came from analysis and my own theories that were flexible enough to adapt with canon as necessary. Excluding my color design since - well a lot of that came from Greek color palettes and now i’m attached (but i did get the grey eyes & off-white hair right!) It makes me happy to hear that people can enjoy my presentation of him! 

   I think especially because the fanon tends to baby him a lot and I don’t want to shy away from the darker / more manipulative aspects that tend to get overlooked.  I get it, its easy to forget how Sigma was first presented, but that was so crucial to how Sigma presents himself when he’s not helpless. Which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea when they want ‘do no harm’ sigma. So it’s nice to see people are enjoying my headcanons and showcase for him.

   Thank you so much for sending this Anon <3 Especially reading threads you aren’t a part of?? That’s such a high compliment since it is common for lots of us just to read things related to our muses and not so muc others. I hope you’ll stay around for a while to write with me (if we do / if you want ! ) or to at least enjoy further explanation of his character!

#anonymous #THIS GOT ME RIGHT IN THE HEART #i was stuck in standstill traffic when i saw this #and i was 🥺😭💖 #ooc || an absolute mythology nerd

[betty-bourgeoisie]

Yeah, no. The US may have the second largest Jewish population in the world, but Jews only make up about 2% of the US. Before the Shoah, most European nations had more than 2% Jewish people in their population. Lithuania might be a good candidate for a Jewish APH country. People still go on pilgrimages there today because of the learning and art and culture that happened there before the War and Soviet times. But then, as you point out, there's also the problem of what to do about the Christian elements. Might be best to make Jewish sibling characters that are homeless and take turns sleeping on different countries couches. Some countries may even let them sleep in the guest room! But even then, care will be needed to avoid negative Jewish stereotypes.

Just to clarify, I don't headcanon Alfred as culturally Jewish purely based on the numbers - If we went just by that then Alfred would be Catholic, which, while statistically relevant, isn't really one of the religious groups most associated with influencing U.S. cultural norms, and those cultural norms are what I personally find important for creating headcanons.

And in that sense, I think Judaism has absolutely had a significant and noticeable cultural impact on American culture, especially when it comes to the arts, labor and welfare policies, language (I mean think about how many "Americanisms" are actually just Yiddish), and even how other spiritual groups in the U.S conceptualize their religious practice. This is also why I specified that he is culturally Jewish. While I think most of the fandom would agree that he is some flavor of protestant in his worship practice, and I tend to concur, I think Jewish cultural norms have had a strong impact on him and would still influence how he interacts with spirituality to some extent.

I also try to take into consideration that an important aspect of most liberal-leaning faith groups in the U.S is ecumenical practice and that a lot of synagogues here share space with liberal Christian churches, mosques or alternative spiritual communities, with those faith groups often having a strong influence on each other while in the same place. That's something that I think would influence Alfred's faith as well.

Additionally, I don't think the nation-tans should be excluded from holding minority identities. A character that is supposed to represent all people within their nation is also going to represent minorities and oppressed groups. Notably, the Quaker faith, which I also mentioned him being in that post, makes up less than 1% of the U.S population and has also faced significant discrimination within the U.S. but you don't seem to be taking issue with that headcanon so I'm kind of questioning where you're coming from with that last ask. Like I'm willing to have discussions and disagreements on what Alfred's faith practice is, this is fandom, we all have different headcanons, and it's meant to be fun, but when double standards like that come up it does make me question where your disagreement is coming from.

#Like idk I don't care what other people headcanon him as #but I'm not gonna put up with people saying he CAN'T be a certain religion #cus he literally represents the U.S. #he can be whatever religion you damn well want him to be #cw: antisemitism mention #I do like the idea of Lithuania being Jewish too though

[mangora]

Since TD fandom is just a coven of queer ex-discoursettes at this point I feel it necessary to show you all some epic bits of queer history from TD in relation to Cartoon Network where it aired (despite being made by Fresh TV which doesn’t have a big enough repertoire to compare representation from):

•Technically since Owen is attracted to Justin and Izzy even though it’s treated as a joke, he could be considered the first bisexual character to appear on a show on the Cartoon Network, excluding Daniel Stopframe from Moral Orel in 2005 who was actually only featured on the Adult Swim block.

•Svetlana’s status as a transgender woman has been debated as not all alters in a system whose gender does not align with the body’s biological sex are technically trans if they don’t identify as such due to reasons such as always identifying with the same gender in their headspace— however, since Svetlana has the same body in the headspace as Mike who is either a cis man or just had like scarless top surgery at 16 (doubtful even though I personally believe in trans Mike supremacy), Svetlana could technically count as one of the first trans girl characters on Cartoon Network (next to Alice from Superjail and Anita from The Oblongs, who were also only on adult swim; she would be the second overall canon trans character to appear on the children’s programming network next to the Dad from Cow and Chicken, and the first trans woman as Dad is a trans man).

•While less concrete, the visual of Shawn in what looks incredibly like a binder could also be hinting at him being a trans man, which would make him the second trans man on the network

•Jo’s voice actor Laurie Elliott has said she believes Jo is a lesbian. This is debatable since she never showed attraction to women in the show, also some people are uncomfortable with it considering that she fits some maligned stereotypes (ex: “only masculine female character is a lesbian” trope, the mean lesbian trope); however, this would make Jo TD’s first lesbian by some standards and perhaps the fourth/fifth (excluding the many minor lesbians from Cow and Chicken) lesbian on the network by others, and the second or third on the children’s only block on CN (only possibly beat by Velma Dinkley from the Scooby Doo franchise [though her sexuality was confirmed later and only in a few pieces of Scooby Doo media] and Hotdog Water/Marcie Fleach on Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated who was also kind of iffy). (Edit 10/6/23: Jo was also stated to be “butchy” in her All Stars character bio)

•Tom was allegedly confirmed gay by Tom McGillis, I can’t find sources bc doing Total Drama research is a literal nightmare especially now that all the shit has been taken down and only archived on the wiki or in the sketchiest places imaginable, but, yeah that makes sense. He was purportedly based on a gay fashion designer. This would make Tom the first confirmed gay character on the show, even though he doesn’t show attraction to men (though does have characteristics that lead into gay stereotypes). I think Jacques was also headcanoned as gay by a writer but this is even more tenuous.

•Noah kissing Cody’s ear in The Big Sleep could be considered the first gay kiss on Cartoon Network, even though it’s one sided and unconscious and also a joke.

•Noah is considered by many to be gay coded, or at least be coded in a way that alludes to him being some variety of queer. User u/Rosepink29 on libreddit has a pretty good essay on this: https://libredd.it/r/Totaldrama/comments/ptkjdh/an_essay_on_noahs_sexuality/ . It’s thought the introduction of Emma as a love interest in Ridonculous Race was meant to disperse these rumors but that’s not confirmed and there’s really no proof, it’s just circumstantial. (Edit 10/6/23: Noah could also still fall under the bisexual umbrella, especially considering he also hugs Bridgette in a way that could be considered romantic in “Anything Yukon Do I Can Do Better”)

•Lightning has openly said he “doesn’t judge” gay men after Jo, who he thought was a man, said “I’ve never even kissed a guy”. In his biography, Lightning also broke up with his friend, Thunderbolt, because people yelled lyrics from the band Queen at them (Queen’s lead singer was attracted to men). He also has various moments that might imply him to be attracted to men, such as biting his lip when Sam brings up Scott kissing a gentleman. This could count as gay coding, though some people also argue Lightning is on the aromantic and/or asexual spectrum because he expresses he’s never kissed a Super Bowl ring over a person in A Mine Is a Terrible Thing To Waste, and because he’s never had a love interest or fallen into the womanizing stereotype most jocks do on television.

•Many of the contestants in Hawaiian Honeyruin have to do the Hawaiian wedding challenge with someone of the same gender— though the idea of this being romantic is mostly based on individual reactions rather than the premise of the challenge itself considering many participants in this challenge are family, such as the Sisters, Adversity Twins, Father and Son, and Mother and Daughter.

•B’s revealed to have a dead name they no longer use, which could imply them to be trans. They also have many autistic-coded mannerisms like stimming and selective mutism, which isn’t inherently queer but still cool

•In I Love You, I Love You Knots, when Chris tells Dave he has to kiss a person next to him, he looks at Shawn instead of Sky first. This is mostly a gag but still interesting. It’s also worth noting Shawn didn’t want to not kiss Dave because he was a guy, but rather because he was afraid Dave was a zombie.

•When Alejandro helps Tyler and Ezekiel up in part one of Walk Like an Egyptian, they both appear flustered and Tyler says, “I like girls” unprompted, which may imply they are both attracted to him. In Tyler’s case this would put him on the bisexual spectrum considering his relationship with Lindsay, in Ezekiel’s case it’s unclear if he’s ever been attracted to women but it’s likely he is considering he seems to be attracted to Bridgette in one of his bios, which would also put him on that spectrum.

•Courtney and Gwen’s interactions in All Stars may come across as romantic to some viewers, namely their team up in You Regatta be Kidding Me and in Suckers Punched when Courtney says “I never missed Duncan, but I really missed you”

•Duncan calls Chef a “Transgender troll” in The Princess Pride. It’s as an insult so this makes Duncan the first transphobic character on TD? I guess?

•Several characters such as DJ, Kitty, Mal, Brick (unless you see that one interaction with Dawn as romantic), Lightning, Staci, Beardo, Leonard, Sugar, Amy, Scarlett, Max, and more never display romantic attraction in the show. It’s highly unlikely all of them are aromantic but this lends credibility to the idea that some of them could be.

Edits post-TDIR release (spoilers):

•Raj and Bowie have both been confirmed to be gay men within the show

•Wayne uses the term bi (bisexual) in the show, making him one of the first cartoon characters to do so. He’s also an ally

#alex’s td rambles

[katyspersonal]

Some responses

Oh jeez...... Guys, I did not expect my post to resonate with so many people. I was aware that the problem of people feeling excluded and mocked just for less common headcanons had to be big, but I still thought this post would stay between me and all five of my followers, hahah; I am glad that some people feel really heard here! Some are for very different reasons, too?

I ESPECIALLY want to point out this one, because it is exactly the result I've been seeing a lot:

@tsunbath I've heard similar things from (former?) Malenia fans, and also I know at least two friends for whom Maria was ruined as a character because of how toxic her fans were. You are VERY right about the fact that Malenia would've hated to be the symbol of gatekeeping and bullying in the fandoms! I feel like the same would go for Maria; there is no direct confirmation, but I doubt many people can argue that she IS compassionate soul. Like... how do those toxic fans keep making the deep, compassionate, tragic female character into THE symbol of mockery, exclusion and aggression? Beats me.

It just deeply resonates with me how actions of the bad type of fans can create aversion to a character or a ship. I've had this phase with Mariadeline ship tbh. My advice would be - avoid searching content for the character/ship, try to find a tiny pool of people that likes them but are normal and respectful about it, allow yourself to feel identified with "normal fans of the thing" pool rather than dread of identifying with toxic gatekeepers by association... Like, the ship got recovered for me this way, same as Maria's character herself. Just remember that toxic fans and normal fans are not the same entity... It is a very rare case where division is HELPFUL! Hopefully you will be able to recover Malenia for yourself and not think of those l00sers anymore.

@mycopok I know Mal, easily the best person to have ever crossed BB fandom, and nothing will ever replace her </3 I am just happy that her positive influence still lingers even after becoming way less active, like... yeah, fans just should be allowed to explore any idea they want. Maria x Laurence is SUPER interesting concept! In fact, the initial post WAS made because of someone venting that they were afraid to post their Maria x Laurence stuff out of fear of being ostracised!

@underworldsheiress Yeahhhh again, you are not the first one I hear a story like this from. I also heard takes like 'tomboys are the grossest aesthetic, either come out as a trans or get back in line' (not exagerration). It is REALLY unfair how a woman looking masculine should be either her being a butch lesbian, or... well, no longer being a woman in the end. Infighting and forcing pointless norms on each other is a huge problem with LGBT+ community, you'd expect people to gather to support each other but... people will be people I guess :/ Anyways gigachad move of you to wear what you want.

@alma-amentet I don't quite agree with your tastes on body types maybe not gonna lie; However what you pointed out (not so much in the tags, I saw what else you said heh) is a very good example of how fandoms are open spaces and everyone should feel welcomed here. Like, the girls in the fandoms will have absolutely ridiculously specific tastes regarding male characters - not liking shorter height, not liking slim build, prettifying their canonically not-so-attractive face, judging them in sexy look contests, throwing insults towards their appearance quirks at times...

But once someone tries to pull similar things with female characters - all HELL breaks loose. Double standards in the fandoms regarding genders of the characters are absurd. I even once saw someone in BB fandom whining about how someone attempted to discuss which female character was hotter with them...... after we, as a fandom, CONSTANTLY have shit like 'sexyman contest who is sexier Mico or Brador vote now from your phones!!!!'. .... Like idk if you need to hear this as well or not, but everyone should be allowed to say 'muscular women aren't my taste' for the exact same reason why everyone is allowed to say 'muscular men aren't my taste'.

@fantomette22 @rhythmloid Devotees of the Biphobic Order are the bane of every western fandom's existence at this point for real though :/ They will see a female character that wears pants and kicks ass and start shaking over her like Gollum with The One Ring, ignoring all the context, nuance, her personal story, other possibilities, etc... Like I said - feelings of real people who just try to enjoy the fandom are more important than some toxic bunch's creepy obsession with the character they want to crown as their token masculine lesbian based on stereotypes, no less. I say if they really care about masculine lesbians, they should direct their activity towards real world and real people. Because, again - fandomry is not activism.

Anyways thanks everyone for speaking, and sorry if the tagging annoyed you or something fdsjhfh I really appreciate that, and I do hope you all will be able to find your own group in the fandom that'll keep you mentally safe from the toxic fans ruining characters for you. Like a power barrier in the middle of the chaos! I know I did find mine, lol

#dash commentary #long post #(wow look WHO is using a tag like this hahahaha) #fandomry rambles #disco horse #controversy #fantomette girl your tags are as long as my post itself fdhhdfhsd #you had a lot to get off your chest pffffft