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gay-jesus-probably · 3 months

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I like the general fandom trend to just take the plot of Hyrule Warriors as a loose guideline at best and just use the whole concept as a good excuse to get blorbos to interact across timelines, BUT I'm very disappointed that everyone is missing the comedic potential of a very specific squad of characters:

Young Link (aka Mask), who walks out of the nightmare of Majora's Mask and immediately gets portal kidnapped into a temporal war, takes one look at the whole mess and decides that you could not fucking pay him to admit to being the resident expert on Time Shenanigans. He introduces himself with the title of Hero of Termina, and definitely doesn't have any other ones, that would be crazy. Hero of Time? Never heard of him.

Tetra, who is a kickass pirate captain with zero patience for people trying to shove her into the Designated Princess role, and realizes immediately that Oh Fuck, this Hyrule has a lot of Ideas about how the Hero and the Princess are supposed to properly play their parts, the second they realize she's technically a Zelda they're gonna shove her in a goddamn dress and damsel her again, that's not happening. So she's definitely just a really cool pirate captain, nothing else going on here at all, definitely not the heir of the Hylian royal family in her time, that'd be crazy.

Ravio, who is literally just a palette swapped Link, meaning that the second his hood comes off, things are gonna get Awkward. There's no way in hell he's dealing with all that Hero baggage, that's Link work, so that giant bunny hood/mask is practically superglued to his head, and he's not taking it off for love or money.

Spirit Tracks Zelda, who is just in the Phantom Armour the whole time, and passing herself off as just a friendly ghost posessing a suit of armour to help the Hero of Spirits. Of course she isn't Princess Zelda, that's ridiculous, if she were a Zelda then people would start getting really weird about her technically being dead, and boy does that ever sound like a whole Thing she doesn't want to deal with, so she can't possibly be Zelda, she's just a nice ghost knight. Also, her teenage grandma is here, and that's kinda weird, so it's easier to just not admit to being royalty and avoid that awkward conversation.

Finally there's Sheik, who is not the Princess Zelda of the era straight up abandoning her war torn country for months at a time so she can risk her life in extreme cosplay for no clear reason, but is instead the actual Sheik from Ocarina of Time, who just beat Ganondorf like a month ago and is still trying to process what the fuck to do now. Also, he's been pretending to be a boy since he was ten, and is realizing there's a pretty good chance that he isn't pretending anymore, so that's a whole other can of worms. But for the last seven years of his life, being Princess Zelda meant certain death, so he's not really inclined to introduce himself like when in a new and stressful situation (not to mention he might actually just not be a girl named Zelda anymore), so he automatically introduces himself as just Sheik the spooky ninja man, and fuck he's in too deep to back out now, looks like he's committing to the bit. If you think you sense the Triforce of Wisdom on him, no you don't.

Cue shenanigans as the five of them attempt to hide that they're all actually kind of A Big Deal. The group motto is "Nobody says shit", which is usually delivered as a frantic hiss whenever someone slips up. Just the reunion between Sheik and Mask alone would be absolutely buckwild given how they parted, and how they're both frantically pretending to Not be involved with each other. For added hilarity and/or drama, Sheik gives his semi-bullshit cover story of having just been a friend of the Hero of Time, then runs into said Hero of Time and they both have to desperately pretend not to know each other, because if anyone picks up on the mountain of baggage between them then Mask is busted, and he won't hesitate to drag Sheik down with him out of sheer spite. Not to mention the weird balance of Sheik being used to this Link being a teenager that's actually a small child, and now has to adjust to Link who is a small child that's actually a teenager.

Also, i really feel like we're all missing out on the comedy potential of Ganondorf recognizing Young Link on sight and the two of them immediately launching into a grudge match with some extremely personal and specific insults on both sides. Meanwhile literally everybody else is just standing there watching, trying to process the fact that out of every single person that's been pulled out of time, Ganondorf only has personal beef with a literal nine year old.

I just feel like we're all really sleeping on the potential for Shenanigans here. The whole thing is an absurd mess, why not have some fun with it?

#legend of zelda #hyrule warriors #for the record im picturing the sheik-mask reunion as being the spiderman pointing meme for like five minutes #also my mental image of sheik is extremely Bad haircut (he does it himself with a knife and doesnt care about making it even)#and a ridiculous tanline across his face from wearing a mask all day #OOT magiaclly growing out zelda's hair and manifesting a Royal Gown was some top tier bullshit and i'm always angry about it #like dude. literally all of princess zelda's finery was made for a ten year old #she's like eighteen now. nobody's making royal finery for teenage zelda. where was she supposed to get that dress.#i am eternally on my agenda to let zelda wear some goddamn pants without an immediate magic makeover to *fix* it #anyways nintendo's sexism aside i like sheik being trans its very fun and sexy of him #tfw you go into hiding to escape political assassination and accidentally trans your gender in the process

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flappingdragon · 28 days

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⚠️Rant⚠️

I’m so tired of seeing “dom Lucifer”, “top Lucifer”, and “daddy Dom Lucifer” Is he just not allowed to bottom?

Is he not allowed to feel like an ant under MC? Is he not allowed to grovel at MC’s feet and BEG for them to have their way with him? Is he not allowed to be submissive? Is he not allowed to be at MC’s mercy? Is he not allowed to be dominated? Is he not allowed to scream out MC’s name from pure overstimulation? Is he not allowed to be a slut for MC? Is he not allowed to be a brat for MC? Is he not allowed to be a whore for MC? Is he not allowed to beg for mercy? Is he not allowed to beg?

This man is clearly not just a “dom”. He can bottom, too. Just give him a chance and let him. Maybe he gets too tired and doesn’t want to do all the work for once.

I’m looking at the ones who always write gender neutral MC’s as bottoms. Maybe some people want to see more top gn MC.

Don’t be basic. Consider both sides. Look at your recent posts and think to yourself: Are they inclusive?

Let. This. Man. Bottom. For. Once.

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vintage-bentley · 25 days

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I’m tired of hearing that newly-out trans identified males must be given patience, understanding, and unconditional support while they work through the awkward stages of “figuring out how to be a girl”. Because actual girls are not afforded this privilege. There is nothing a teen girl could do to avoid mockery. There is no grace afforded to a teenage girl, so why should it be afforded to men who want to mimic her experience? Why should a man be allowed to have an awkward “girlhood”, when girls aren’t ever allowed the same?

#and no I’m not saying that teen girls SHOULD be treated this way. they absolutely should not #what I’m saying is that it’s ridiculous to act like a man deserves more kindness than any teen girl ever gets #he wants the authentic girlhood experience? he can be mocked and degraded and hated like a girl #my ramblings #radfem #gender critical

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uncanny-tranny · 1 year

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Just a reminder that trans people, you aren't betraying anybody by transitioning. You aren't disappointing women, or men, or whomever because you have decided to transition. This is a personal decision, and if somebody put so much stake into your gender that they feel betrayed by you when they were wrong, that is (frankly) not your problem.

You aren't betraying anybody.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #mtf #nonbinary #saw a post and this trans guy felt as though he was betraying women by continuing to be a woman in STEM and like...#...why do we owe people that? why do *you* owe them that?#i get why i totally get why. it's just frustrating to see because it isn't their fault but also they don't deserve to feel like they're...#...BETRAYING a whole gender. like does anybody else see how ridiculous that sounds?#how is gender that fragile that we can BETRAY it by transitioning???? like that's wacky to me #so besties... you are betrating nobody by transitioning. you never have. you just *weren't* that gender #if people started seeing transition as embracing who we are rather than BETRAYAL that would do wonders

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hard--headed--woman · 2 months

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sorry but the way all of tumblr is currently crying, whining, screaming genocide and human rights violation and threatening everyone because some dude's blog has been deleted is just so fucking funny. you people have no real problems and no life outside of the internet it's hilarious

#radblr #gender critical #the world is a transphobic hell because i have been banned from tumblr :((((#look at them crying trans genocide and trans rights uwu #ridiculous #radfem safe #radfem

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starlightseraph · 5 months

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my favorite quote from the the star beast wasn’t any of the emotional doctor speeches or the analysis of queer identity, it was “I AM THE BEEP OF ALL MEEPS!”

#and the gender stuff was a bit clunky let’s be honest #also i’m not sure i like how the metacrisis was resolved #if that is the end of it #but overall best dw episode in years #incredibly and wonderfully ridiculous #and as imperfect as it was it still made my nonbinary heart happy #doctor who #david tennant #catherine tate #fourteenth doctor #tenth doctor #donna noble #starlightseraph’s brainrot

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imissthembutitwasntadisaster · 6 months

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Heartbreaking! Girl finally goes to a small church study group trying to engage more with her church and is immediately frustrated but may just be being dramatic!

1. There was a lot of talk about how Judas was rotten to the core and he was clearly so good at hiding how EVIL and TWISTED he was compared to the other disciples look at this man he's such a LIAR and I hate that kind of talk because it's so dangerous! Because low-key the point is that we're all like Judas we all betray Jesus constantly like? He wasn't some evil being? Like I get their point he did do a worse thing but that doesn't mean he was like more sinful like idk I hate that separation.

2. We were talking about Mary using her hair to dry Jesus's feet and how it seems a seperate different woman was described doing something similar in Luke. We have this discussion about why she might use her hair entirely removed from cultural contexts. I ask if there were perhaps any cultural contexts surrounding hair given it seems like quite a ritual act. The temperature of the room drops and I get a lot of "not that I know of" in a tone that indicates I am a fool for wanting to read the Bible rooted in the history that it is literally part of.

3. One man, who actually is trying, tells me about how women's hair was their glory and usually tied up. I ask then if we think there's a gendered aspect to Mary's act because it's literally her using something inherent to her femininity. I am informed no, the only reason men didn't do it was because they had shorter hair. The conversation moves on before I can point out that the only reason men had shorter hair and women longer was cultural reasons, meaning that Mary's act WAS inherently culturally gendered and maybe it would be interesting to look at it in the context of Jesus's treatment of women within an oppressive society. I fume for the rest of the evening.

#I need Kaylie to tell me if I'm being ridiculous or if these are valid issues #one thing about me is I am an ACADEMIC #if I can ask about cultural context I will! If I can ask about social creations such as gender I WILL!!!#let's analyse MORE!

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kaladinkholins · 3 months

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i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

okay note that nonbinary is an umbrella term, and applies to a vast range of gender identities, but it's my personal preference to use it as is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels. more power to you if you are though, but anyway.

essentially when i refer to mizu as nonbinary it means that i interpret mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that by nonbinary it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no one way to identify as anything, and everyone views gender in a specific way.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is an inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier, plus it's what the creators use, and because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my stance.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

#mizu blue eye samurai #mizu bes #blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #sorry if this is redundant btw i just cant stop thinking thoughts :3 #btw i am a mixed* southeast asian who is also nonbinary. just in case that's important context #by mixed* i mean i'm asian+asian but diff ethnicities lol. i dont have a white bone in my body god bless<3 #my whiteness is purely learned thru cultural osmosis + bcs my parents taught me english as a first language (boooo 🍅🍅🍅)#also i live in the global south so i think EYE know a thing or two about being gnc in a society of rigid awful gender roles‼️#so likeee i think its ridiculous that its an either-or thing #mizu can be nonbinary while still being a woman of colour ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#also ummm as much as i love queer themes and gay people i wish people would talk more about the racial otherness / community aspect #as mentioned in the post above #you don't need to read bhabha's whole book btw but just take a look at some of his ideas and you'll get what im talking about #like the fact that the fandom mostly ignores those themes in the story makes me feel like :( :/#cuz to me THATS the thing that spoke to me most and its a shame that its just not talked about enough #i mean i know why thats likely the case. but still.#whoops im rambling again 🤪#fandom.rtf #shut up haydar #meta dissertations.pdf

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astraltrickster · 6 months

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#memes #media #gender #this meme brought to you by me trying to figure out whatever the fuck the deal is with the lyn twins in genshin impact #they're weirdly identical as many fictional m-f twins are #but why did lynette get the cat ears when lyney didn't?#there are a few possibilities #one is that it's related to epigenetic factors #i.e. they both have the genes for it but some factor caused them to only selectively activate in one of them #one is that it's an x-linked recessive trait such that they started as xx or xxx #and split such that lyney is xx heterozygous and lynette is x/ with the one x carrying it #another is that it's a y-linked trait and lyney is x/ and lynette is xy #or you know they could be fraternal with just ridiculously similar traits #or genetics just work differently in that universe #or any number of things really because biology is fucking weird #but shhhh i LIKE to think of the less common possibilities #especially when said less common possibilities mean they're both trans

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chaosandwolves · 6 months

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No but they look sooo good!? And so happy!!!

And my emotions are screaming at me cause I wanna be them but I wanna be with them but I wanna be their friend 😭😭😭😩😩😩😩

Pls they're so gorgeous and pretty I can't

#the amazing devil #joey batey #madeleine hyland #Pls Joey I'm BEGGING #Spare some gender #Please #The gender envy I have with this man #It's ridiculous

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mmmalakai · 4 months

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Have you known me all along?

Barry Allen x trans ftm!reader

‘Coming out to your boyfriend as a trans man’ || Hurt/Comfort || Flash fiction (unintentional pun haha)

Word count: 800+

TW: Unintentional misgendering, deadnaming, gender dysphoria.

Note: The pronouns for Y/n change from she/her to he/him after he comes out.

Y/dn = your deadname. P/p = preferred pronouns (Can be substituted for any pronouns but Y/n will be only referred to with he/him pronouns by the end of the fic.)

“What are you doing?” Barry walked into their shared bedroom and tilted his head as Y/n stood in front of the mirror.

She flinched and turned around to look at Barry. Her head lifted slowly and there were tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Oh. Sweetie...” Barry walked up to her slowly and placed his hands on Y/n’s hips.

Y/n stood still for a moment, the feeling of Barry’s hands on her grounding her for a moment. Enough to get out a few words.

“I... I hate this body..” Y/n mumbled as tears started to slip down her cheeks.

Barry tilted his head and smiled sadly. “Why?” He thought the world of his girlfriend and he knew that Y/n was truly beautiful, no matter what she thought she looked like. He rubbed up and down the sides of her torso comfortingly. “You’re so beautiful, Y/dn.”

Y/n seemed to tense at that, her body going rigid as she tried to pull away.

“It’s- no, that’s.. not right..”

“What isn’t, baby? Come on, I’ll listen. I promise.” The way he kept looking at her with so much love hurt Y/n.

Barry pulled her over to sit on their bed, “Look at me, babe. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

Y/n took in a deep breath and tried but choked and shook her head.

“Okay then. How can I help?” Y/n stayed silent, knowing that there wouldn’t be a way for Barry to comfort her without outing.. himself.

“Do you want me to tell you how I feel about you?” Y/n glanced up at him and shrugged slightly.

“I think you are the most beautiful, gorgeous girl I have ever met.” Y/n’s legs started shaking as she stared down at her hands intensely, shaking her head.

“Yes, you are, Y/dn. Your body is amazing, you’re just so perfect..” He reached for her hands and held them delicately.

Y/n pulled her hands away and shook her head again, finally speaking up, “Stop, I- don’t..”

“Why? Please, sweetie. Just talk, that’s all I want.” Barry could feel his own hands shaking in anxiousness but he clenched them into fists and kept as calm as possible. “You don’t have to tell me about.. everything if you don’t want, but you gotta tell me what you’re feeling. Please?”

Y/n was starting to get frustrated, not at Barry but at herself. He deserved better than this broken mess of a person. He deserved better than someone that he could never truly love if they were themself. Y/n didn’t even have the courage to tell him he wasn’t normal.

Well, if they broke up over this, might as well be now.

“I don’t wanna be beautiful or gorgeous or.. or like.. pretty. Not the way you think,” she said bitterly. Barry opened his mouth to ask questions but shut it as he saw her starting to speak again.

“I wanna be.. handsome and pretty and.. and attractive the way that..” Y/n took a deep breath and forced it out, “I wanna be the way that boys are.”

Barry raised his eyebrows and then frowned, having an idea of what she.. he? What.. they mean.

“Sweetie, uh... I- I love you, okay? Could you tell me more of what you mean? Please?” A small sigh escaped Y/n as.. as they stopped tensing so much. That small “I love you” was enough to reassure Y/n to continue.

“I’m not a girl.. I’m transgender. I’m… a boy.”

Time seemed to freeze and he felt.. just so awful. Of course it was a mistake. He was the mistake. Barry just had the worst luck with girls, didn’t he? Y/n was just.. wrong. Barry didn’t deserve to have to deal with him and his baggage.

Y/n had already mentally prepared to leave. Then he felt hands holding his and finally looked up to see Barry barely smiling with tears in his eyes.

“You’re a boy?” Barry asked.

Y/n hesitated to say anything, but Barry beat him to it.

“Look.. I still love you, baby. I love you. Boy, girl, anything else, whatever. I love you. You have.. the biggest, strongest heart I know. Whatever you say, it can’t change how I feel about you. Do you get that?”

No, he most certainly did not get that.

Y/n frowned for a moment, his head dizzy from this insane turnaround of events. Barry smiled even wider and cupped his face gently, and giggling. It made Y/n’s heart melt and slowy, he smiled.

“You still like me?” Y/n muttered, hesitantly leaning into the touch of Barry’s hands on his cheeks.

The other man just laughed and pressed a kiss to Y/n’s forehead before whispering in his ear.

“I have a boyfriend now…”

Y/n gave out a short laugh as Barry stared into his eyes intensely. He was.. not at all used to feeling this frighteningly affirmed.

“You like boys..” It came out as more of a statement than a question but Barry smiled and nodded anyway.

“Mm.” Y/n raised an eyebrow at his vague answer as Barry grinned and continued, “I guess so. I never thought too much about it,” he chuckled then nudged Y/n gently. “But I do like one boy in particular.”

Y/n could feel his smile widening at his amazing, adorably stupid boyfriend. “You are such a dork.”

He shrugged and nodded his head, “Yeah. But you still love me.. and I still love you.”

Another flash of warmth went through Y/n’s heart, “That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” They both giggled. Yes, they were both dorks, but who cares?

They were also in love and it was cool!

Barry whispered as he pressed another kiss to the tip of his nose, “Mhm. Very cool.”

They were silent for another beat, just sitting together and holding one another. After a while, Barry pulled away and looked Y/n in the eyes. His eyes were still looking at him lovingly but he definitely looked like he wanted to ask Y/n something serious.

“So.. should I still call you Y/dn? And well, I haven’t had time to research much on.. on being gay or trans or anything, not since Iris came out as bi but.. pronouns? What can I call you?”

He looked to Y/n timidly and it made him laugh, kissing him then flopping back to lie on the bed with Barry following. Y/n curled up as Barry put his body around him protectively.

“Y/n.. and p/p,” Y/n said.

Barry smiled and laughed, “That’s a good name.”

“Thanks, picked it out myself,” he said without hesitating.

Name-changing humour, always hilarious. Yes, it was extremely dumb but it made Barry laugh.

“Did you now?”

“Yeah, I did.”

They looked at each other and laughed. All of the fear and self-hatred Y/n had felt before seemed ridiculous now. Barry loved him, full-stop. Barry would always look at him with all the love in his massive heart. He would always love Y/n for his heart, not for his identity. And of course he would do the same for Barry, when the exact same applied to Barry being the Flash.

Looks like a lot of people had secret identities, huh?

Barry interrupted Y/n’s thoughts as he reached for Y/n’s cheek and pressed another soft kiss to his forehead.

“Beautiful boy.”

Y/n felt tingles go down his spine and he tried to hold back his smile. “Don’t you dare make me cry again, Barr.”

That made Barry smile again like the stupid little miscreant he was. “Mm. But, what if.. you’re just my beautiful, pretty, handsome boy? I mean, you’re just my amazingly wonderful boyfriend, aren’t you?”

“I hate you.” Barry felt a tear slide down Y/n’s smiling face and he wiped it away while laughing.

Another comfortable pause of silence occurred and yet again, Barry broke it.

“Listen to me. I will be here for you no matter what. Whatever you need, I promise. I guess you could say I’ll…”

“Don’t say it, don’t say it..”

“… be there in a flash?”

Y/n groaned as he rolled his eyes and smiled again. “I really do hate you.”

Barry tilted his head up smugly against the pillows. “You love me.”

"I really don’t.”

Y/n took another deep breath and snuggled into Barry’s chest even more.

“I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner."

Barry frowned, "You didn't have to. It’s not like I’m entitled to know everything about you. I mean, come on. You should know I’m big on secrets.” He smirked at Y/n cheekily and sighed again.

“I should be sorry. I am sorry. I’m sorry if I made you scared to tell me, and for.. calling you that stuff earlier. Misgendering and the naming and whatnot. I promise, you are a man and no one gets to tell you who you are except for you."

Y/n avoided eye-contact and shrugged again, trying to hide how much Barry’s words meant to him. “Alright..”

Barry raised his eyebrows, “For real?”

Y/n sighed, “Thank you, Barry.. I love you.”

Barry smiled and tucked his head into Y/n's chest.

“I love you too, Y/n.”

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a-room-of-my-own · 4 months

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No rest for the stupid.

#gender critical #politics #ridiculous #next step #Noddy is in a polyamorous relationship with Big Ears and his car

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shinobicyrus · 2 months

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Reblog if you're a threat to humanity.

#listen I'm not Catholic #but most of my extended family is #and I was fooled into thinking that maybe - just maybe -#Pope Francis #was the ''good'' Pope #but then shit like this makes me remember:#the Catholic Church #just can't help itself #a part of me is kind of laughing because it's just an inherently ridiculous thing to say #like...really Padre?#we're looking at a resurgence of fascism - a land war in Europe #climate change #Genocide in Gaza #escalating tensions in the middle east #we just got over a goddamn PLAGUE #but people questioning the false dichotomies of gender? that's not just a threat - it's *THE* threat???#obviously the rhetoric is awful and inflaming and terrifying #when one of the oldest and most powerful Religious Organizations in the World #calls other human beings a threat to HUMANITY ITSELF #Transphobia #Gender #Catholicism #Religion

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sad-endings-suck · 27 days

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Blue Eye Samurai: regarding Mizu’s “plot armour” or her “ridiculously over-powered” abilities.

“Mizu is way too overpowered, it doesn’t make sense.”

I feel like a lot of people don’t realize just how much the mind over matter mentality plays a roll in Mizu’s “abilities”. Mizu isn’t the best because she’s physically the strongest, or had the best training, or the most experience, or whatever. Mizu is the best because she has single-minded focus and immense tenacity that borders on psychotic due to how intensely dedicated to revenge she has been for almost all of her life. All the years she spent training, all the time she spends taking out enemies, she is being driven by single minded focus and iron willed determination that never wavers. She has been sharpening and honing not just her body, but her mind, for exactly this. She has dedicated her entire life to her quest for vengeance, and in her own words, there is no room in it for anything else.

People also seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what kind of training and how much training Mizu has or has not had. As the audience, we’ve only been shown bits and pieces of Mizu’s past, which includes her experience learning martial arts. Asking shit like “how is she so good with a sword if she’s only self taught?” is like asking “how can she read and write if Master Eiji is blind?”. The answer is that Mizu has obviously learnt these things from more than one source, but documenting her entire education in detail doesn’t exactly serve a purpose to the narrative. We are explicitly shown in one of Mizu’s flashbacks that she’s been practicing with a wooden sparring sword since she was very young. It’s actually her child self that we see in that brief particular flashback. Not her teen/tween self, her child self. She’s also following the movements and instructions of an older man that is clearly a skilled samurai or warrior of some kind based on context (which y’all love to ignore). Besides, who else would want/need a sword from a master sword-maker besides an expert swordsman? How many skilled fighters from all over Japan have come to Master Eiji’s forge hoping for a blade, and wait with nothing better to do but train while their blade is being made? How many of them have divulged information about certain fighting styles (like Shindo-Ryu, which Mizu was familiar with despite never having been to the dojo before). Or practiced around her and with her? We are clearly shown through Mizu’s flashbacks that receiving training from a visiting client has not been unusual for her throughout her apprenticeship with Master Eiji, and her little spar with Blood Soaked Chiaki was no one time event. Yet Mizu is never given the benefit of the doubt by the audience, despite context clues indicating that she should be.

“Taigen has way more training in an actual dojo, so why is Mizu better?”

Whereas Taigen, while he was determined to become more than just a fisherman’s son and was driven to rise through the ranks of the Dojo and become a skilled samurai, did not have that same desire or determination to hone every part of himself to be the most deadly weapon he could possibly be, like Mizu did. Taigen believes in the samurai code of honor and upholds it in his own way (preventing him from learning how to “fight dirty” so to speak) and he also had a life outside of his training (he had a social life, he drank, he partied, he snuck around a lot to see Akemi presumably, etc). In fact, we actually never see Taigen practice, train, learn, hone his skills, or anything (to my recollection) throughout the whole season, until he’s bested by Mizu in combat. I’m assuming Taigen had to work quite hard for several years to become as good as he is, but I get the sense that ever since he has been regarded as a prodigy he has allowed himself to get cocky and maybe a bit too comfortable. He has always been the best and always thought himself to be the best, so he never needed to give 150% effort when he fought. In fact, as he got older and more practiced, and it became more and more apparent how much better he was than everyone else, he probably stopped giving his 110% and allowed himself to get a bit comfortable putting in 100% effort, and then eventually 80% effort (which is part of the reason why I think he’s so pissed he lost to Mizu in their first fight, because he knows he could have done better: been less cocky, been more tactical, more driven, etc).

We also never see Taigen meditate or mentally or physically prepare himself the way we do with Mizu. Mizu will pray before a major upcoming battle, not because she’s religious, but because she’s mentally, emotionally, and spiritually preparing herself. We even see Mizu submerge herself in very cold ocean water (during the winter mind you) as a ritual/practice of sorts that serves to center herself and prepare mentally and physically for what’s ahead when she feels herself getting “too emotional” or too stressed or unfocused or even just slightly off kilter. Mizu sacrifices every part of her life, so that she can be the deadliest version of herself possible. She has no social life. She has no friends, or significant others (Mikio aside). She has no other activities to participate in, because she’s been completely alienated and thus being anything but the best is not an option in her mind because she has no options. She tried married life. She had the best possible life that she could have had as a biracial woman in Edo era Japan. She did as she was told by her “mother”. She showed her true self to Mikio, just as he desired. Yet the blood and vengeance still caught up with her. She has no other options anymore. Pursuing revenge is the only thing she knows how to do, because every other avenue in life has been cut off from her. So she has to be single-mindedly focused on her vengeance, which means being as skilled and as dangerous as she can possibly be. She has no hobbies or jobs or responsibilities beyond sword-making (which allows her to become as familiar with the blade as possible) and training herself. If she has extra time, she uses it to practice, to train, to improve, to simply maintain peak performance. Such as when she was hacking through those trees in episode 2. Afterwards, we see Taigen attempt to replicate her training (by cutting down trees with his sword). Though even then, it was more about curiosity and trying to suss out Mizu so he could gauge her skill level, then it was about actually honing his own abilities (until episode 3 when he practices with Chiaki’s broken blade). Which does count as training in its own way (assessing your enemy), but my point still stands. Taigen does not have the same unwavering focus and force of will that Mizu does (partially because he does not actually want to kill Mizu, as we do see Taigen go cold blooded with focus when he kills Heiji Shindo, but those are whole other discussions).

“Mizu just has ridiculous plot armour, that’s the real reason she survives every encounter.”

I feel like people that think Mizu has ridiculous plot armour are just not at all familiar with the Samurai or Western/Cowboy sub-genres at all, or even action as an overarching genre on its own. I don’t believe I have ever engaged in a single piece of action media in which the protagonist didn’t have “plot armour” in some way. Basically half of all male protagonists from any and all modern western action movies ever, have been way too over-powered and been able to take a ridiculous amount of damage that should have killed them multiple times over. These action heroes (who in western media are almost always cis-het white men) have ridiculous plot armour in the most classic sense. Yet no one complains when it’s a white man. Only when it’s a queer-coded biracial woman of colour. Shocking.

In fact, you could argue that every main character in every fictional story ever told has plot armour to a certain degree, because having an entire narrative revolve around one character is inherently “unrealistic” and therefore the main character has plot armour, yes? No? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Oh, and on the topic of the samurai genre specifically (and many martial arts based action media) there are certain genre specific tropes that are nearly integral to the genre. One of the most prominent being the samurai/ronin/warrior/martial arts master that is “ridiculously over powered”. It’s literally part of the genre. In fact, the western/cowboy genre is quite similar to the classic samurai genre. Now, how many westerns have you watched in which Clint Eastwood or John Wayne shoot 5+ guys with one pistol before any of the guys they shoot even get a shot off? A lot I bet. Is that not the definition of “over-powered” and “unrealistic”? Or is it just a genre trope, or even perhaps, a genre staple? No one thinks Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2) is over-powered. No one thinks that Joel (The Last of Us) is over-powered. In fact, when the TLOU show came out, people actually complained that Joel, the fifty-something year old man that has been living in a post apocalyptic wasteland for 20 years, was not badass or strong enough (he kills dozens of humans and super zombies and he’s legally a senior). So, who is the “judge” of what is and is not realistic in action media that borders on sci-fi/fantasy based on how “over-powered” the protagonists “realistically” are?

“It’s just weird that Mizu is so powerful when other characters within the story are not. It makes Mizu such a Mary Sue.”

Okay… so, with all that in mind, let’s circle back to where I started when referring to Mizu as someone driven by unwavering determination, and how that affects her “abilities”. That facet of her personality and motivation is nothing new when it comes to the action genre, especially for protagonists of revenge storylines. Think of Kill Bill or John Wick. Why does John or the Bride keep going and keep winning even when they are constantly getting injured and always fighting. Is it because they are simply that much better than everyone else? Yes and no. No, because they are not superheroes (technically), but also yes. Because their single minded determination and need for revenge drives them to push that much harder than anyone else on their skill level. They are the best, but they win against everyone else that is also “the best” because they want it more. They need it more. Mind over matter. They are willing to endure what others are not through sheer will and pure cold rage. Mizu, Beatrice Kiddo, John Wick, and so many more similar protagonists in action-revenge narratives don’t keep winning and keep getting back up no matter how inured they get because they are just “that much stronger and more talented than everyone else”. Yes, they are extremely skilled and would probably be one of the strongest and most deadly combatants/killers in their respective universes regardless… but their refined skill and raw talent and power are not the only reason they win. Their unwavering force of will, extreme determination, ice cold fury, and single-minded focus on revenge is what drive them to be that much tougher. Their tenacity is their superpower. They want to win more than their opponent does. They need to win, because this is their one and only goal in life as of now. Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai) Beatrice (Kill Bill), John (John Wick), they all share a philosophy in life when it comes to their revenge, which basically boils down to “Either I kill you, or I die trying. There is no middle ground, there is no negotiating, no other choice, no path of least resistance, no other goal or motivation. You will die, because I ain’t fucking dying until you do.”

Mizu doesn’t have plot armour and she’s not over-powered. She is an archetypical protagonist of the action-revenge narrative and the samurai/western genre as well. She arguably even has better reason to be completing the feats that she does than John Wick or The Bride, because the medium of Blue Eye Samurai is animation and not live action, and the genre borders on magical realism far more than Kill Bill or John Wick. Now, how many anime protagonists (probably almost all male) can you think of that are “ridiculously over-powered” especially compared to any live action counterparts, but no one complains about it? Why does no one complain about it (aside from misogyny)? Because the medium of animation inherently has different “rules”, expectations, and set standards for suspension of disbelief, than the medium of live action film or television. For example, is it ridiculous and unrealistic when you’re watching a Looney Tunes cartoon and Bugs Bunny’s legs pinwheel in super-speed for 3 seconds straight before he starts running, or when he runs off a ledge and gravity just lets him hang there for a sec so he can look straight at the camera before he falls? No, it’s not “unrealistic” or emersion breaking, not even a little, but why? Is it because any of those things seem even remotely probable or “realistic”? Of course not! It’s perfectly acceptable because the medium, genre, target audience, atmosphere, art/animation style, narrative choice, storytelling style, and more, have all established that Bugs Bunny defying physics is normal in Looney Tunes, and therefore not a “plot-hole” or “unrealistic”. In fact, if Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry didn’t defy physics in ridiculous ways all the time, then it feels far stranger and off-beat than if they did. Same goes for pretty much all action anime. If the characters in those stories were strictly limited to what is 100% humanly possible in real life, most of those animes wouldn’t even have storylines anymore. They’d be turned into completely different content that may be unrecognizable from the original source material. Or wouldn’t even have any material anymore because all the characters would be dead after their first fight scene. So why is Blue Eye Samurai being held to a different standard?

Now, do y’all get it yet?

#long post #mizu #blue eye samurai #👏 genre and👏 medium matter👏#so does author intention >>>#if a story is telling a narrative that you personally don’t like but it is succeeding at what it set out to do that does not make it bad!!!#so sick of white boys on the internet calling any physically capable or martially skilled female character a Mary Sue #and it almost always boils down just to gender #a female character could be ridiculously overpowered but so long as there is a male protagonist that is even more overpowered they don’t ga #but as soon as there is a female protagonist with any kind of proficiency a male character in the story doesn’t have all hell breaks loose #if i hear one more man so much as utter the words ‘Mary Sue’ in my vicinity ever again i will be resorting to Mizu style conflict resolutio #men never learnt what the term ‘Mary Sue’ actually means and if you don’t know what something means then either research it or stfu #it’s such loser behaviour that shows such a pathetic measly capacity for any kind of critical thinking or reasoning much less media analysi #anyway rant over #this was sitting in my drafts #blue eye samurai analysis #mizu blue eye samurai #taigen blue eye samurai #taigen #overpowered #plot armor #media analysis #mizu bes #bes taigen #netflix bes #feminist critique #bes #blue eye samurai meta #reading comprehension #rant

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