#had it existed

[xbomboi]

thoughts about Epic Winter, & reconciling its place in Ever After High’s story as a whole

i wanna talk about epic winter because it—arguably more than any other aspect of the franchise—is definitely ever after high’s ‘ugly duckling’ piece of media, so to speak.

now obviously, a lot of it has to do with being the final big installment in eah’s main story, its premise being a side quest that sidelines the main protagonists in favor of new characters who are comparably far less compelling as the show’s actual leads, leaving the audience without any actual closure to the story which they were following.

in isolation, epic winter isn’t that terrible (though i think most would agree its better parts are the ones centered around already-established characters as opposed to the new ones), but in context it leaves a sour taste.

i entirely understand why anyone rewriting the series would either heavily rework it, only keep more important story beats such as daring’s arc & faybelle’s side plot, or completely remove the outing altogether.

in my case, however, deleting epic winter isn’t an option; my intentions are to continue where ever after high left off, and organically finish what they started. that means epic winter stays in tact, sanity be damned.

with that writing handicap, i can’t edit any pre-existing media in the ever after high animated lineup, which has forced me to brainstorm ways to recontextualize the purpose for epic winter’s place in the story and make the time spent on its story retroactively feel, at the very least, a little more worth it.

and the solution i found comes from viewing all that is introduced in the special through chehkov's gun.

(if you're unfamiliar, chehkov's gun is a narrative rule that everything introduced in a story must be done so with a purpose to serve. i.e. if you give a character a gun, they must shoot it.)

what's done is done; if we have to go on this detour following crystal winter and the top of the world, so be it. but let's pocket it like a tool that can be used later.

so here's my idea: bring crystal and the winter kingdom back into the story later down the line when the events of the story have reached a far more grandiose scale.

basically, i think the best way to use crystal would be when the story reaches a point of confronting and opposing the ruling powers in the fairytale world. having become the new snow queen, naturally, she'd be included in a gathering of the rulers of the kingdoms in the fairytale world.

i want there to be a moment in the story where the ruling powers gather together, and we see familiar faces return (including ones that we'd be introduced to after epic winter but prior to this), such as snow white, king charming, the queen of hearts, and of course, crystal.

with her outlook that would most reasonably be more aligned with the students at ever after high, she could end up being one of-if not the sole person-those present to voice opposition to whatever unfavorable verdict the rest of the rulers have made, as it would serve as direct conflict for the protagonists. she'd find herself outnumbered and ultimately her voice holding little to no power to sway the decision (especially being disregarded for her rather young age). afterwards we'd see her reflect on her frustrations with her colleagues and their rule of the system, thinking about it in terms of what kind of ruler she wants to be, before seeing her find determination towards something, though we aren’t yet shown what she actually decides to do.

the next time we'd see her would then come a little later, the conflict reaching the most dire circumstances. all hope is lost for our heroes; raven, apple, and co. would be down on their luck against odds they're unable to overcome. and that's when crystal would show up to offer her support, providing the numbers of her kingdom as allies to help better the odds. (she wouldn't be the only ally to show up, as this would be a 'getting help from all the friends we made along the way' ordeal. she would simply be one of said friends.)

crystal's help would ultimately play a part in winning the conflict. and because the audience would be familiar with crystal and the winter kingdom to a decent extent way prior to that point, the inclusion of it in the present fight at hand wouldn't feel like an ass-pull or a deus ex machina of sorts; it would make sense and feel earned for the most part.

and i think that's honestly the best thing to be made of epic winter's main adventure. we can't change it or fix it as it is, but we can create a payoff for it all later down the line. think of it like begrudgingly doing chores that lack any enjoyment factor, only to find that afterwards, you're glad you did.

so, yeah, that's my idea for how to give epic winter a genuine purpose. but i'm just spitballing.

#honest to god though i'm positive that had there been at LEAST one more special after epic winter #that shifted focus back to the already established characters and story #even if it was still inconclusive on eah's story as a whole #had it existed #epic winter wouldn't be AS hated as it is #it would most likely still receive a great deal of (deserved) criticism #but there wouldn't be the same amount of disdain held towards it #oh well #eah #ever after high #ever after high epic winter #eah epic winter #epic winter #crystal winter #raven queen #apple white #daring charming #faybelle thorn #ramble #duncontent

[littlemsterious]

i was thinking about that post comparing Jessica Rabbit as an asexual to Barbie and an asexual and then i thought of the Neil Gaiman post (was it a post?) about Crowley and Aziraphale being asexual sexless and then this happened.

anyways. thoughts?

sorry it took so long I meant to do this a week ago but my brain is full of rocks.

[Image ID a three sided venn diagram. the big circles show Margot Robbie's Barbie sitting in front of a mirror, Jessica and Roger Rabbit from the poster of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens standing back to back. Between Barbie and Jessica Rabbit it says "sexualised by society". Between Jessica Rabbit and Aziraphale and Crowley it says "Knows what sex is". Between Aziraphale and Crowley and Barbie it says "no reproductive system(?)". the center is the asexual flag. End ID]

Also i haven't seen the Barbie movie as of this edit so at least please tag your spoilers.

#please enjoy this i made it look so pretty #barbie #jessica rabbit #who framed roger rabbit #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #asexuel #i will do an image id later I’m sorry words dont exist right now #i’ve had a lot of the same questions i will respond eventually. maybe. we’ll see

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

#transgender #trans history #transsexual #transphobia #Magnus Hirschfeld #holocaust #holocaust denial #book burning #j.k. rowling #jk rowling #just in case you missed what i mean by all this: go fuck yourself anon :) #trans people have always existed #and we will always exist #if you really wanna pick a fight with me over well-documented history then you better bring in some sources to back your shit #queer history #queer #lgbt+ #lgbta+ #lgbt #lgbt history #edit: i finally got around to those damn image IDs. i am so very sorry for totally forgetting that's my bimbo moment of the month #also real quick i thought about adding an image of the actual building but the only one i can find has a Nazi parade in front of it #it was taken the day of the book burning raid and honestly if i were to include it then i'd add it to the first few paragraphs #and i think the story's better told when you uphold the hope Magnus Hirschfeld and all the researchers he worked with had #also keeps being brought up: yes Hirschfeld was a eugenicist. it was a popular belief set that was only discredited after WW2 #Hirschfeld died in 1935. he literally didn't live long enough to see science turn against those beliefs and practices #considering how he changed his mind on transitions i like to think he would've changed his mind on eugenics too if he'd lived

[lgbtlunaverse]

Obsessed with characters who portray themselves as worse than they are. Who are lying to everyone including themselves about it. People generally assume if someone's lying about themselves they're trying to look better but sometimes they're trying to look worse. They attribute agency to where they had none, add intend to accidents, try to convince everyone that this is something they did instead of something that happened to them.

#this is about tenko bnha #but it is also about dahlia ace attorney #watch the nezumiVA videos on ace attorney trilogy they're great #anyway dahlia saying she (at like. 6 years old) apparently convinced her father to abandon her sister. hmmm #also everyone including herself thinking of her as the manipulator in control with terry when she was 14 dating a 20 y/o #anyway these characters both did do terrible things but feel the need to pile on more and remove nuance from where it exists #to convince themselves that this is what they really want. that they chose this. #it's about the loss of control it's about being a victim feeling worse than being a villain #at least if you were the bad guy you had autonomy #shimura tenko #shigaraki tomura #dahlia hawthorne

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

#9/11 #serious post #not a shitpost #this should be one of the first things kids learn when they learn about the 9/11 attacks #politics #this is just...it's such an essential and brazen fact and i rarely see basic outrage over it #i want outrage. i want fury. i want disgust over the way fundamental facts are disguised and discarded and downplayed #because there are things we should KNOW. basic fact we should ALL KNOW. and they are tucked away in the footnotes. #and no this is NOT to put the blame on other middle eastern countries #we know this was carried out by a specific terrorist organization not a national government #but King George the Second decided (and was encouraged by his cabinet!) to invade a nation! #a nation that was not at all related or responsible!!! #a dictatorship to be sure--but a dictatorship that King George the First had been happy to support #so what changed? why did we go in guns blazing to DEMOLISH a country *we had NO PLANS OF REPAIRING*??? #well. because they wanted a villain didn't they. a nice clean war. clarity of purpose. us the heroes against them the villains #and when you're in that mindframe--truth is irrelevant. you can pick your villain (your victim) by rolling a roulette wheel #truth is irrelevant #worse: to the people in charge #truth is a HINDRANCE #'Alternative facts' existed long before it became a catchphrase #facts don't matter. truth doesn't matter. the impulses of a handful of volatile & rich & power-high people--that's History. congratulations

[keepinventory]

#👽 < text tag #FINALLY got polls FUCK YES #ive been so so curious about this for so long. and also i wanted more people to know about :+)'s existence. becayse i like it. #had to redo this because the first time the arrows got turned into code -_-

[inkskinned]

the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.

sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.

you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.

it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.

but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.

they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.

they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.

barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.

and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.

but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.

they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!

this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.

#this shifts gender so much bc it actually affects everyone #yes it's a gendered phenomenon. i have written a LOT about how different genders experience it. that's for a different post. #writeblr #ps my comments about seeing someone cry -- this is not to shame any person #and on this blog we support workers. #at the same time it's a really hard experience to see someone that looks like you. clearly in agony. and have them forced to keep going. #when you're young it doesn't necessarily look like acting. it looks scary. and that's what this is about - the fact that teens #have likely already been exposed to that definition of things. because the internet exists #and without the context of healthy education. THAT is the image burned into their minds about what it looks like. #it's also just one of those personal nuanced biases - #at 19 i thought it was normal to be in pain. to cry. to not-like-it. that it should be perfunctory. #it was what i had seen. #and it didn't help that my religious upbringing was like . 'yeah that's what you get for premarital. but also for the reference #we do think you should never actually enjoy it lol' #so like the point im making is that ppl get exposed to that stuff without the context of something more tender #and assume .... 'oh. so it's fine i am not enjoying myself'. and i know they do because I DID. #he was my first boyfriend. how was i supposed to know any different #i didn't even have the mental wherewithal to realize im a lesbian . like THAT used to suffering.

[flopity-flips]

did you guys hear they bodied bubbline and rupphire in best yuri bracket on twitter

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #pearlina #off the hook #marina and pearl #pearl and marina #pearl houzuki #marina ida #I've been dicking around with making splatoon renders lately i had to do this as soon as i saw the update drop #sorry I've been dead i forgot Tumblr exists

[clevercrumbish]

Terfism is targeted at radicalising older-middle-aged women in order to sever the otherwise naturally-forming bond that makes trans women and older-middle-aged cis women the strongest of comrades via our shared interests and experiences.

#That woman on Twitter who started squaring up to Julie Bindel because a nice trans lady had given her a neck pillow on a long haul flight #is actually God's perfect trans ally #she's the protoform and the poisonous seepage of terfery has denied us the ecosystem she's meant to exist in

[gouinisme]

#signed a former muslim in a mostly muslim area who didnt know people were actually taught that santa existed for the longest time #throwback to the time our white primary school teacher asked what we wanted from santa claus and we were all like. ma'am what do you mean #santa's not real did you think santa was real? #and she had to try her best to protect the like 2 white kids in the class from learning santa doesnt exist #poll #christmas

[nerdpoe]

Phantom, the new addition to Young Justice, just accidentally made Impulse cry.

Whoops.

Impulse had been talking about a candy that had been in the future, that he missed a lot, that had no equivalent in modern times.

So the next time Danny was in the Zone, he asked Clockwork if he could reach into the future and grab a bar. Clockwork just told him that the timeline he was talking about was dead, but that the people from it were occupying the Zone if he skipped forward in time a bit; maybe one of them knows how to do a homemade version?

So he does that, with the help of Clockwork, and manages to find someone from that doomed and dead timeline that knows how to make a homemade equivalent.

He returns to the world of the living and recreates it, and Impulse is beyond ecstatic for both the food and the recipe.

Then he asks where Danny found this.

Danny, mostly human but having been something other for so long that the concept of 'Death' doesn't hit him the same way, cheerfully says he sought the dead souls of the future that had been dissolved and asked.

Now everyone is glaring at him and Impulse can't stop crying.

Shit.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc #dc x dp #phanfic #story prompt #the souls in timelines that get destroyed still exist #and they gotta go somewhere #clockwork threw him into the future but in the ghost zone because like #ndb #it's candy and introducing it to young bart isn't going to cause the end of the world #if anything it strengthens his motivation to avoid it #barts crying tears of relief because he was SO SCARED that everyone had just stopped existing completely #but they exist in a different form #but he can't catch his breath and stop crying long enough to say that

[redbelles]

Big wheel keep on turnin’ Proud Mary keep on burnin’

TINA TURNER (1939-2023)

#tina turner #musicedit #musicsourcedaily #popularcultures #userbbelcher #chewieblog #userkd #userlolo #userrobin #underbetelgeuse #usertom #usersunny #userreh #userk8 #* #proud mary keep on burnin' #this video only exists in like 240p but i just had to gif it

[hellsitegenetics]

this is literally the coolest gimmick blog i have ever seen, i took a genetics class in tenth grade and i’ve been obsessed ever since. could you analyze this ask too?

String identified:

t ta t ct gc g a , t a gtc ca tt ga a ’ c. c aa t a t?

Closest match: Lysandra bellargus genome assembly, chromosome: 10 Common name: Adonis blue butterfly

#tumblr genetics #genetics #butterflies #asks #requests #sent to me #congratulations on getting the first butterfly so far #and such a beautiful one too #i had no idea this thing existed but now im really happy i do

[kindaorangey]

miles literally chose to pursue physics instead of art even though in itsv he clearly enjoys art more because he wanted to have a chance of seeing gwen and peter again so badly only to find out they had the ability to visit him the whole time and chose not to.

#across the spiderverse #across the spiderverse spoilers #miles morales #like the betrayal exists on so many levels im. its not just that they could have seen him and chose not to #its that he was busting his ass to get even a glimmer of a chance to see them. and they had the chance to see him and didnt take it. #god #thunder rambles #em is waiting for her spider bite #atsv

[madamemiz]

sad: falling out of a hyperfixation

tragic: watching your beloved friends and mutuals fall out of the hyperfixation while you're still in it

#oughhhhhhh #this is about the dca fandom but also about every other strong fixation ive had over the years lol #i know it's normal and inevitable esp for less popular works or minor characters with little canon content #and there's nothing wrong with smaller communities of course those rock #but there’s just something special about getting into something at the same time as a lot of other people all at once #and existing in this chaotic fandom space that's just bursting with creativity and passion #i've been in fandom spaces for as long as some of you have been alive and i've only come across that sort of unbridled joy like #a handful of times at best #it's just a heartbreaking feeling to see real lightning in a jar fandoms like that wither away as people drift away #(understandably so!) #anyway don't mind me i'm just having thoughts #musing about fandoms past as well #that i too eventually moved on from but remember fondly even if im not active in anymore #also my music just aint hitting right so im just sitting in silence which makes me more Contemplative(tm)

[nicosaysnope]

one thing about jean that fucks me up sooo bad is that he is just a kid. he's so young. he's scared of getting lost in airports. he closes his eyes on the back of a motorcycle so he doesn't have to see traffic. his favorite magnet is a little bear with a red barret.

#aftg #the sunshine court #neils also very young ofc & i'm not normal about that either #but jean's also so sheltered (awful way to describe this in context). neil had to like. exist out in the world on his own and stuff