#not saying that Abe is written to be neurodivergent but you get my point

[steakout-05]

//ableism mention tw

ok just gonna say something really quick: i absolutely hate Abe's characterisation in the reboot of Clone High because it is nothing like how he acted in season 1 and it just. isn't funny. they've turned this good-intentioned but flawed loser kid who just wants to be like the original Abraham Lincoln but doesn't know how to, into a self-centered and arrogant asshole who literally almost said a horrible ableist slur twice in the first episode. like. i'm being serious, he almost says the R-slur twice in the same minute and i dunno about you but i really don't find it very funny when a) the only "joke" behind it is "oh look at how bad Abe is compared to the more progressive sensitivities of the new generation of clones, isn't he just terrible", and b) they felt the need to completely rewrite a pre-existing character that fans are already attached to to do something against his own morals for the sake of a shitty joke, and c) TOPHER WAS RIGHT THERE!!! isn't he supposed to be the asshole or am i missing something?? like...

i'm not saying you can't have "edgy" or "dark" comedy or whatever, but personally, i don't find it very funny when a character that actually means quite a lot to me and is one of my favourites is twisted and rewritten into an arrogant asshole in an apparent attempt to appeal to the people who hate Abe for his flaws in the original show. especially when he's rewritten to be someone who would say a slur that's literally been used against my fellow disabled peers, myself included. it just feels... wrong. it actually hurts a lot to see a character i once loved and found to be one of the funniest and most important characters in the show be turned into an arrogant dick, with barely any thought or meaning put into him. i don't like what they did with the rest of the OG cast as well (such as Joan making a complete 180 in her entire character, JFK's character assassination, the removal of Gandhi, Cleo barely being in it etc.), but to me, they did Abe the dirtiest in this season and i'm really disappointed that one of my favourite shows had to continue like this :(

#clone high #abe lincoln #rant #sorry this post is a little heavier than what i usually post on here but i just felt like i really needed to say this #abe from clone high is actually quite an important character to me and i'm still upset that he's been written so poorly in season 2 #like he's a silly parody of a teen drama protag but honestly i think his struggles in the original series are actually really meaningful #like he's a little shy and doesn't exactly know how to express his ideas in the best way but wants to help and i just think that's so real #especially as someone who struggles with that myself #he has so much pressure to live up to the OG abraham lincoln and he really wants to be like him and tries but doesn't get it #i mean he even says something like that in episode 2 when joan and gandhi come to see him in his room and that's really relatable #so to see him so horribly misinterpreted as a selfish asshole really hurts me. #they've essentially done the thing where a fandom will tear apart the neurodivergent coded character #and write them off as selfish and arrogant and completely misinterpret everything about them #not saying that Abe is written to be neurodivergent but you get my point #it's kinda like that #he's relatable to me as an autistic person and a lot of his struggles are similar to what the autistic community experiences #also i'm sad that gandhi had to get removed because he's important to me too #he's actually one of my favourite ADHD reps on tv i've seen and he's just really funny #i know he was removed because people in India got offended and they probably don't wanna cause another incident like that again #but still it's such a shame he couldn't be included because he was a great character #also slightly unrelated but i think turning characters into a moral debate it stupid and often results in stuff like this happening #ableism mention #tw ableism mention

[saetoru]

hiiii i hope you know how much i love ghe way u write haitham !!! also sooo true haitham is definitely autistic!! (me too haitham me too) i think u get how haitham is actually a quite kind and selfless person despite people think hes arrogant, egoistical and such but like if u read some if his voicelines like the one where hes asked what concerns he has he says smth not about him but how people tend to hurt themself and like cmon would an egoistical person have that concern??? also he doesnt look down on anyone its just he knows how capable he is and like ughhhh i feel like ur writing is a breath of fresh air cause like some people make it seem like hes some arrogant dude BUT HES NOT HES JUST AUTISTIC GUYS like when people say they dont like him and its just traits that autistic people usually have…. anyway thank you for sharing ur writing i love going through ur haitham tag it makes my day

HELLO HI I LITERALLY READ THIS LIKE 3 TIMES AND MY SMILE GOT SOOOO BIG EACH TIME IM GONNA TRY NOT TO RAMBLE AS I ANSWER THIS

but omg yesyesyes i agree he’s got so much pointing towards him being autistic and ppl will bash so many things ab him and it makes me so sad but also i’m like … maybe u ppl just don’t like traits that tend to describe autistic ppl idk … BUT i read so many fics of him being autistic and i see kaveh having adhd a lot in fics where they’re written to be neurodivergent and i think the authors i’ve read from so far have done such a good job of writing them and yeah. u get it. he’s definitely got sensory issues i know this is so real and true in my heart

AND HE IS SOOOOOOO KIND. i think ppl gloss over the fact that al-haitham doesn’t look down at anyone so much like everything about this man is so disciplined. so disciplined. like someone of his intelligence in a nation like sumeru could do sooo much bad but he literally just wants to have simple life where he goes to work and goes right home HE JUST WANTS PEACE. and his voice lines IF PPL WOULD JUST READ THEM. like the one about when ppl read difficult and abstruse books and then he says “jk i don’t enjoy watching ppl struggle lol” AND YES. THE ONE WHERE HE BASICALLY WOES ABOUR HOW PPL MAKE THEIR LIVES MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT NEEDS TK BE. he’s so caring by nature and i feel like even he doesn’t even understand that to some extent like i think he sees himself as a practical guy who just wants everyone to have peace for the sake of practicality. BUT HE ALSO JUST. CARES. YOU KNOW ?????????? they way it’s just canon that he’s misunderstood by ppl at the akademiya and he just doesn’t bother to correct them bc he doesn’t care to. THROWS UP HES SOOOOOOOOOO LOVELY I WISH MORE PPL WOULD SEE IT. i cannot tell u how many fics i read and then have to close bc. they just. THEY MAKE HIM SO ARROGANT AND MEAN BUT ARROGANCE =/= CONFIDENCE. he’s aware of his capabilities okay :( he’s not some condescending know it all. im just rly picky ab the way he’s written fjsjdjf so then i’m like. ok. i gotta write the content i wanna see 😔

but omg i’m rly glad you read and like my haitham writing sometimes i get carried away and make it so like…self servicing w the way i write him and the dialogue and then i get embarrassed to post it skfjsjfn but i’m very excited u like it I AM KISSINF U ON THE MOUF and also i am kissing ur brain for understanding him

#asks! #i did indeed ramble but #HE MAKES ME LOSE MY COMPOSURE OK

[funforahermit]

Miscellaneous Steve meta

I spent so much time with the Steve/Barracuda gifs last night, and my thoughts keep circling around this stupid series... There's a LOT of things about Steve that I want to talk about, and they're all only half baked, but I'm on a night shift and I'm gonna try and broach a few.

Oh,,, SPOILER WARNING for pretty much all of Wrecked I guess. Just to be on the safe side.

"My friends and I are going home"

In the series 2 midseason finale Steve is torn between siding with his problematic pirate lover or his fellow castaways. They're all trying to sway him in their favour, and they're trying very hard, which is understandable since he's (once again) holding a gun.

I think it's very interesting that he chooses the way he does. Because the point Karen makes is basically "the Barracuda will say anything you want to hear, but you can't trust her", which is probably true, but if Steve had taken that thought to its logical conclusion, he would have noticed the same was true for the others - they too were in a situation where they would basically say anything to win him over, so why did he trust them?

I can't really answer that. It might be because he knows them longer. It might be because deep down he cares about them more than he cares about The Barracuda. It might be that he sensed some integrity in Karen, at least. It might be that he's just dumb. And lucky.

I found myself thinking "well they say they're your friends now, but how do you know they won't turn around and stab you in the back later??" And then I thought about how the rest of the story plays out and found, to my amazement, that broadly speaking trusting them turned out okay. (Not counting Chet. He's just... he's just wild. No one can trust Chet.) But yeah, they really do start to become a family at this point. Well, a dysfunctional family, obviously, but still.

(Also, on a different but related note, while writing this I suddenly realised just how much everyone's fate literally lies in Steve's hands here for a hot second. Like whoa, how did that happen?? He may be #7 on the call sheet, but he's frequently written as a key player. Sweet!)

2. Headcanon neurodivergent Steve

I can't really back this up (yet)... Another rewatch is due for all sorts of half formed thoughts I have, and when that rewatch happens I will definitely pay attention to anything that might feed into this theory.

For now I'm just gonna tell you what prompted the thought, and that's the flashback sequence in season 1 episode 8. Steve's backstory.

(I would insert a gif here, but I'm at work....) Remember the work day montage? There's one scene where he sits down to eat a sweet pastry thingy. You can see that there were several more, and he's eating the last.

Speculation time! The fact that it's the last of the pastries tells me that his colleagues already ate without him. The fact that one pastry is still there tells me that they left it for him though. So. I propose that amongst his colleagues he's popular enough to be counted in for food things, but not popular enough to be missed when he doesn't join them for eating. And why doesn't he join them? He might have been really busy and couldn't make it in time. Maybe it was a hard day. I mean the whole point of the flashback is that he's about to have a really shit day. So that might be it. But maybe he didn't even try very hard to make it in time. Maybe he prefers to eat alone. Maybe he's not very good with social situations.

Skip forward a bit to this scene: "Eric, you just fired me! Why would you come here?!" "Well I thought you'd go to a bar or something..."

His (ex-)boss assumed the natural thing to do for a man who just got fired would be to go get drunk in a bar. Steve's first choice was to go home though. Why? Now, again, this is pure speculation (and projection), but I think in an emotional crisis he probably prefers his comfort zone to a public place.

Neurodivergent Steve. Subscribe now (:

3. Todd

I'm thinking about writing a series of meta posts about all the main characters' dynamics with Steve throughout the series, and I was gonna start today with a brief post about Todd, but to be honest I'm really quite tired now, so this won't be very coherent. In fact I don't think it will be anything 'xD

There's a lot of material to talk about for Todd and Steve in season 1 alone, from the awkward golf club/baby misunderstanding situation to the reversing power differential in episode 5 and the kind of mirrored redemption arc/villain arc that follows.

But on my mind right now is a very brief and unimportant blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in 02x06 that just amuses me:

Steve: "I was mostly in the Barracuda's tent, having nonstop crazy sex" everyone else: "Ew!!" "How???" Todd: "Hell yeah."

#steve rutherford #wrecked #rhys darby #long post

[googledocsdyke]

for communitynatural: i think it's interesting that while abed & cas are paralleled, as well as dean & troy, abed and dean speak in near constant references because that's how they relate to the world, while cas and troy just. say things. because they aren't scared of being emotional

ALRIGHT unfortunately this is gonna be long. i wanna deconstruct the cas/troy thing but i’m gonna put a pin in that for now because you’re right! but you’re also wrong! both abed and dean constantly mediate the world through pop culture, in a way that initially makes them seem really similar, but actually when you look at the respective ways their References and Homages work, it actually highlights how different their characters are, and how well they work as foils (different, complementary) rather than mirrors (similar, paralleled)

i think the key difference is that abed uses pop culture to make sense of the world, while dean uses it to make sense of himself. like abed has a very clear & coherent internal sense of who he is, and he's comfortable with it. he knows that who he is isn't someone the world always perceives as "acceptable" or "normal", so sometimes he uses pop culture to translate that person into something or someone “acceptable” readable by the world. but it never actually modifies his internal sense of who he is! key moment: in early season 1, where the study group is intent on making him over so that a girl will like him, and "teaching" him to be "normal". he goes along with it, and when the plan fails, they all express regret that they somehow damaged his self-esteem by forcing him to think that he needed to change for other people. and you know what he says?

"when you really know who you are and what you like about yourself, changing for other people isn't such a big deal." like this is a line that is SO key to understanding abed's character, and makes him like truly one of the best characters on television (it would've been so easy for his internal conflict to come from him hating himself for being autistic(-coded), and they DON'T do that, and it's GREAT) 

and like. can you IMAGINE dean winchester saying that. like can you imagine him saying that even as a joke. for all his efforts to present himself as a Coherent Swaggering Hero, he has DEEP internal turmoil over who he really is, and all the points at which this heroic masculinity fails. half the time, he is gripped by self-hatred. and when he "changes himself for other people" it's not something he casually flips on and off. it's at the very core of his identity. it's something he cannot remove from himself. he knows full well that "your taste in music? dad's. your jacket? dad's. do you even have an original thought?" he then proceeds to listen to the same music and emulate john winchester in essentially the same ways for the next decade and a half.  dean winchester only IS dean winchester because of the external influences that force him to change. and part of this comes from his own compulsion to be written as/write himself as Hot Action Hero at all costs. like literally at the cost of his own life. it's a game that he can't stop playing. when he gets hit by a CAR he wants to know "did it look cool, like in the movies?" abed would never ask that. abed would just know it looks cool. dean has this pathological need to see it reaffirmed by an Audience, a Ceaseless Beholding Gaze that compels him to perform action hero masculinity at all costs

there are two key points of comparison that really cement this for me:

when abed says "i got self-esteem falling out of my butt," it's like an incredibly sincere line. he genuinely is comfortable with himself and has a high opinion of himself. sure, sometimes he gets distressed that the world doesn't see him the way he sees himself, but he knows who he is and doesn't attempt to repress it or lie to himself about it

when dean says "i think i'm adorable" or "there are no men like me" or like any of the "i am dean winchester and i'm amazing and i love myself" swagger lines, it's a PERFORMANCE of self esteem masking, like, a deep core of self-hatred. his entire personhood is built on him lying to himself — (dean to himself in 5x04 voice: i know that lying face i've seen him in the mirror). he can't truly have self-esteem or self-stability because he doesn't truly have a sense of what his Self even is

the han solo thing. in the season 2 finale during the paintball war, abed very consciously takes on a han solo persona because the setting demands it ("it appears we've exited the western and are headed for more of a star wars theme"). he dressed up as han, drops an iconic line or two, and has a Hero's Makeout with annie (who’s “playing” leia) in-character. but as SOON as they're both soaked in paint (and thus their characters are Dead within the game) he snaps out of it with no problem whatsoever. annie calls him "han" afterwards and he literally says he only did it “because the context demanded it.” abed knows exactly when he’s playing a role and when he isn’t, and very consciously turns it on and off.

but dean. OH DEAN WINCHESTER. he is playing the pop culture han solo hero role at all times and will never admit to himself that he is performing. it soaks into like the very core of his being. to quote tumblr user minor-mendings, “dean is trying to be the movie cowboy, the outlaw, the han solo type, with no realisation that that person doesn’t really exist.” i go over this in more detail with my han solo + dean meta - in so many ways he is So Thoroughly Not the pop cultural role that he insists on playing with complete sincerity, and that the writers insist on writing him into with complete sincerity. abed always knows when he is Playing and Referencing and Homaging and Alluding. dean NEVER knows when he is Playing and Referencing and Homaging and Alluding because his whole life is play, an elaborate repetition of stylised acts

so you're right, i think dean and abed are really interesting characters to read alongside each other in that they both 1) sincerely love pop culture in its own right in very fun and neurodivergent ways and 2) use their pop culture knowledge in their own self-fashioning and the way they translate themselves to the world and 3) engage with the world through Homage and Play and enjoy playing Roles. HOWEVER. the way they respectively use pop culture is so deeply different and indicative of fundamentally different processes of self-fashioning and self-perception, that i can't read abed as a dean-figure or dean as an abed-figure. they're complete inverses of each other! dean is a troy mirror/troy-figure and an abed foil

#answered #dean studies #communitynatural #spn #community #wrote this while in line for a covid test wkdffdjfks sasha behind the scenes #anyways communitynatural hive eat this one up #caniwritemywayout

[a-tad-bit-peculiar]

Thoughts on Book Five.

WELCOME TO THE SHITSHOW EVERYBODY BUCKLE THE FUCK UP (spoilers and some capslock under the cut, lads!)

Alright, I have too many thoughts, so I’m going to sort them into a list, starting from ten and counting down to one. Also, as a disclaimer: I really enjoyed this book! I can’t wait to see how the series ends, but I have lots of things to complain about. So, here we go!

Also, no hate to anyone who liked these parts. This is just my personal opinion!

10. The Kids

I LOVE all of the content focusing on the kids and their personalities! The dinner scene where everyone is talking about the resurrection soup is a really good Enoch scene, plus there’s SO MUCH good Hugh in this book! 

On the other hand, I noticed a few negative things about Emma and Millard.

Millard felt really bossy and arrogant, or at least, Jacob thought he was. Multiple times throughout the book, his enthusiasm and passion is twisted into something annoying and condescending. On top of that, Emma was turned into nothing but her relationship with Abe. She doesn’t do anything but mope over her failed relationships, which brings me to my next point.

9. Jemma vs. Portdesh (aka the romance plot)

What the actual fuck.

Jacob Magellan Portman, please quit thinking with your dick. It’s okay to be single. You don’t need to get into a relationship with every heartbroken girl you find, okay?

My main few problems with Portdesh are these:

For one, Jacob just dropped his feelings for Emma far too quickly to be reasonable. For instance, I’m a teenager around Jacob’s age, and I just went through an incredibly messy breakup (not going to go into details due to privacy on my partner’s part). It’s been almost two months--which isn’t a lot of time, mind you--and I’m still dealing with the repercussions. Jacob dropped Emma far, FAR too quickly, rendering an ENTIRE BOOK SERIES OF EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT completely null. I’m not saying that Jacob and Emma should get back together, I’m saying that Jacob isn’t dealing with his feelings in a realistic way. He’s a teenager, and an incredibly dramatic one at that. Love is messy and imperfect. It’s okay for him to be heartbroken and single. Let him have negative feelings.

Also, there’s the whole thing about him doing the exact thing Abe did to Emma. Again.

For another: NOOR’S CHARACTER IS SQUANDERED BY JACOB.

Noor Pradesh has the potential to be an amazing, relatable character--it’s just that Jacob is in the way. Instead of being her own person and allowing for solo development, Noor is thrust immediately into the role of “love interest for protag.” Instead of Noor reacting on her own to situations, she always traces it back to Jacob, because Epic Teen Romance. Please, Jacob. Quit making her into this perfect trophy girl. Nobody wants to read about that.

This book barely passes the Bechdel test, and the only reason it does is because Miss Peregrine exists.

8. Caul and the Prophecy

I’m honestly really disappointed. Caul was dead and gone. The ‘oooo he knew all along’ thing feels lazy and bland. I would’ve much preferred if Leo was the main villain; the dangers of peculiar America were much more interesting to me than reviving Caul. Also, Leo just being suddenly chill feels like a total letdown. I really hope he’s planning something nasty in secret, otherwise the whole Niece Monologue would have been for nothing.

About the prophecy, I have a single thought: cheap. I’m honestly not too interested in where it leads at this point, as it feels impossible to resolve well in a single book. I mean, come on. There are SIX MORE saviors to find. In ONE. BOOK. Riggs better have something great hidden up his sleeve.

7. Hugh’s desperation

Now HERE”S how you write some heartbreak, folks! Jacob needs to take a few notes from this man, because Hugh definitely cares more than Jacob seems to.

Despite what Jacob tells the reader, however, I feel that Hugh’s completely justified in his feelings.

NOBODY gave two shits about finding Fiona in books four or five. Everyone just accepted it, gave a sad little nod, and moved on with their lives. Hell, the only mentions of Fiona were when Hugh was upset and Jacob felt bad for him.

Miss Peregrine wore black forever because of Victor, and yet here we are. Not caring about Fiona.

As much as I love Miss P, I smell some unintentionally written favoritism.

6. Abe

Are we gonna just never tie off all of the loose ends related to Abe? Like, what the fuck happened to Leo’s niece? Is there anything else he’s hiding? Was Emma rightfully jealous of V? Are there any other agents who worked with him? Are there any more peculiars mad at him? How does Jacob feel about him? Is Abe just...a bad dude now? 

Abe being written off as a bad guy seems wrong to me. He tried so hard to protect people, and this is how he’s repaid. Such a damn shame.

5. V

(Haha, number five is V. I’m hilarious.)

Oh, want a new and interesting character who’s revealed to be an ymbryne with a badass shotgun? One you’ve been looking for for literally the entire book? Who was arguably more important than the titular event? Who you can already tell you’re going to love, just by how she’s written?

Oops, too bad, she’s dead now.

4. Horace’s cravat

The best goddamn thing in this entire book.

3. The Deadriser Loop

Jacob should’ve taken Enoch with him instead of Noor. Bonding opportunity: wasted.

2. Sharon and the Anti-Ymbrynes

Now we’re fuckin’ talking. The loop protesters are SO intriguing, I really want to see more of them! But please, Ransom Riggs, don’t just write them off as fools!

Jacob needs a reason to act so reckless. One of the reasons the fanbase is beginning to dislike him is because he acts so selfishly all the time. If the protesters were used as a springboard to drive Jacob into going against the ymbrynes, he’d be much more justifiable. ESPECIALLY if the protester group is gradually shown to be bad, not immediately.

1. Fiona

Fiona Frauenfeld I missed you so goddamn much.

Fiona is LITERALLY my favorite character in this entire series. Yes, even in front of Enoch and Horace. She’s so interesting and complex, and the fact that she’s coded to be neurodivergent (PTSD) and is CANONICALLY MUTE is so, so great!

It’s just...even with her being so wonderfully reintroduced...

She feels like a scapegoat. 

Who was the one to go missing? Fiona. Who was the one presumed dead? Fiona. Who was the one who got her tongue cut out by wights? Fiona.

I know I’m not explaining my thoughts well, so I’ll put it this way:

It feels like a bit of a cop-out to have the mute person lose their tongue, but maybe that’s just me.

Despite that, though, I missed her and Hugh so much.Their reunion broke my heart into a billion pieces! I’m glad she’s back, and I really hope she gets lots of screentime in the next book! Her tongue being gone seems like a great opportunity for character development, and my fingers are crossed that Riggs plays with that in book six.

Fiona I love you sweetie mwah...

And that’s it for my thoughts! Once more, I really enjoyed this book! I’m just picking it apart because I love this series so much. Ciao, dudes!

#mphfpc #rant #long post #tcotb #tcotb spoilers #Enoch O’Connor #Emma Bloom #millard nullings #hugh apiston #fiona frauenfeld #horace somnusson #bronwyn bruntley #olive abroholos elephanta #claire densmore #jacob portman #victor bruntley #alma lefay peregrine #jack 'caul' bentham #myron bentham #noor pradesh #jemma #portdesh #thats what im calling it #capslock //

[sunkern-plus]

dan’s written as how i’d like him to be but everyone literally in v treats him like he’s stupid and has brain damage and is worthless except for sakura, blanka, laura, ryu, and zangief. fang says “maybe you were poisoned at birth” and abigail accuses him of having “a few spare parts loose” so obviously the neurodivergent coding is intentional because other characters are pointing it out in a highly ableist way that’s essentially the same thing dan harmon did with abed nadir in community i’m gonna fucking throw a fit. why do my favorite characters always get treated like they’re mentally handicapped and brain damaged when they’re smart but just don’t understand how to socially interact or make friends or keep friends it’s like it’s a personal attack on people like me. it literally makes me think of the times in elementary school where people would call me the r word in public and i’d just have to take it because i’m the stupid joke that nobody likes, i’m the backup friend, i’m the idiot that everyone treats like a joke, but like...it hurts being treated like dan hibiki gets treated all the time. it hurts. that doesn’t even cover how his reality issues (getting things that happen in (in universe, i assume kof is a franchise in sf) fiction confused for things that never happened) or his extreme mood changes and he’s just blatantly written as some form of neurodivergent but haha, it’s just a joke because dan’s stupid and doesn’t know how to interact properly. it hurts. i wish capcom didn’t hate autistic/otherwise neurodivergent people so much.  i don’t even remember yoshinori ono being this insensitive with his dan writing, god. i just feel hurt

[simptasia]

3

“list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with”

oh fuck

okay so i’m not listing EVERY SINGLE FANDOM i’m in because that’s fucking ridiculous so i’ll just go for ones i can think of, ya know, the big ones

for obvious reasons, i may be repetitive. like, i’m listing characters who remind me of me in some way. so expect a lot of ND and/or sweetheart characters

community: abed nadir. for being the best, well written portrayal of an autistic character that i’ve ever seen. of course, every autistic person is different and i’m not exactly like abed (i’m moody and expressionate) but like, he’s so well done. and his main special interest is my main special interest: fiction. we’re both basically living tvtropes.org. i love it. and most autistic characters on tv get spec interests like maths or detective stuff. which is great but What About Me

lost: hurley. of all the lost characters, hurley is def the one most like me (i’m mostly a hurley/jack fusion. yeah.) like, he has this positive aura that causes other people to be better people. but also people don’t always take him seriously or they find him frustrating at times. and how he wants to make everybody around him happy, whilst also struggling deeply with his mental illnesses. the whole sad clown/stepford smiler thing. if i was a fictional character, i feel like i’d be like him, like… he’s a character who comes across like he should just be comic relief, but he’s so. much. more. oh my fucking gosh, i love hurley

ghostbusters: ray stantz. RAY IS ME IF I WAS A GHOSTBUSTER. heart of the ghostbusters so legit autistic

x-men: charles xavier. all x-men characters are relatable by default due to the whole outsider thing (and the allegories, so many allegories) but charles is definitely the one i most see myself in. i’m, of course, referring to the movieverse version, because the comic versions of charles have some issues with morality. movie!charles is far more kinder and good of heart in a very genuine way. also the mcavoy one is the one that’s the most #me. like, here’s this character defined by hope and empathy. like, it’s been made clear to me that i’m empathic to the point of being in pain. and boy, if that ain’t charles. these traits are his greatest strength but also his greatest weakness. basically… first class/apoc for when i’m up, dofp for when i’m down. like, charles is like me, because he’s somebody who has absolutely faith in the basic goodness of people, despite knowing different. he has the information to be a realist but he’s an absolute idealist. also how he’s on the verging of breaking at any given moment 

(i’m aware that everything i’ve said here also applies to nightcrawler, who is my absolute fave, but charles also has a lot of relatable behaviours on top of all that, which puts him firmly in the slot of “most me x-men character”)

lord of the rings: samwise gamgee. of all the hobbits sam is the one who’s most like me. and, like, i’ve never properly been able to explain why i say that. i guess i can attribute it to him being made of love and also he’s an incorruptible being? also he just wants to stay home and have a family

disney animated features: belle. she probs reminds me so much of me because this was formative movie for me. anyways, like, listen to all the stuff the townsfolk are singing about her in the song “belle” and that pretty much sums up why i find her relatable. also she’s an unshallow nerd. hello, point of the movie

pacific rim: newton geiszler. oh my fucking gosh. newt, oh gosh, newt, how do i even explain this. newt… is me. he’s an emotional raw nerve. he’s a landmark of neurodivergent relatability in media. he’s obsessive, self-absorbed and enthusiastic. like that charlie day screeching info dumping kinda way. on that note, i also find charlie kelly from always sunny disturbingly relatable. the best way i can phrase it is that: charlie = me as a kid, newt = teen to now. yeah, try to wrap around your head around that concept. anyways, the absolute lovable instability. also newt is somebody who loves his spec interest (and everything he’s into), like, all the way. no holding back. not a hint of detached irony. newt is the physical manifestation of going really fucking hard on ur special interest(s)

there’s definately a lot more but those are the ones i felt like doing

basically i relate to nerds/geeks, outsiders, socially weird people, anybody neurodivergent, people who scream/cry a lot and people with loving & idealistic/hopeful dispositions. also i find it amusing that one person (me) can find both charles xavier and newton geiszler equally and passionately relatable

people are complex creatures

#me #its actually a very short list #but i go on about each character #which is why it's a short list #in reality i have like a bagillion fandoms #but i dont have the strength

[salora-rainriver]

Gaycoding and You: a Useless Ramble about Milkshakes and 1950s Humor

Ok lemme just start out this Disk Horse by saying that y’all are fuckin fakers. There’s no fuckin way my whole dashboard was secretly hardcore Archies Comics fans who read every motherfuckin issue and have been following the exploits of the Riverdale Crew for years. Shut the fuck up, we all read the comics casually while waiting in line at the grocery store, and now that a dude is confirmed ace, you all basically did the discourse equivalent of pullin’ an all nighter the night before the midterm. 

I’m calling your fucking bluff, you ain’t intimately aware with ANY archies comics characters. Do y’all even know the name of that old lady who’s the teacher who has to deal with Archie n Juggy’s shit? the one who looks like a pencil with a cotton ball slapped on it? Cause I fuckin don’t. For all I know, she’s one of the fuckin Pearls from Stevens Universe, and she took a teaching job in this obnoxiously idyllic suburban neighborhood because she’s a masochist. 

So now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s move on to this alleged “gay coding,” 

Aight so in all the times I’ve read dem Archies Comics, Jughead’s basically been the dude who has 2 things on his mind: burger and nap. That’s it. Sometimes hes thinking of havin a milkshake with that burger. Nice cold 1950s diner style milkshake. His favorite napping spot is a hammock under two trees. It’s probably in his backyard or by the lake in the park and he just has that hammock permanently set up. Maybe he has multiple hammocks permanently set up around Riverdale and no one takes down the Jughead hammocks because that would be rude. In the carefree high school world of Archies Comics, where girls wanna date boys and boys wanna date girls (seriously there’s fuckin PAGES detailing the lighthearted yet completely overdramatic conflicts of archie, reggie, betty, veronica, and their Hetero Drama), Jughead is the quintessential Man Who Doesn’t Give A Single Fuck. As far as we know, he’s not even aware that schoolwork and romance and jobs exist. He literally doesn’t even look once at anything that other people build whole story arcs about. This is his character, this is the comedic trope he fills. He’s the straight man to Archie’s Hetero Bullshit, but he’s also the clown who’s amusingly uninterested in things he should be interested in. like his grades. get it together, Jughead. 

At least, that’s the impression I get from all those years casually readin Archies Comics while my mom loads the veggies on the conveyor belt. Who tf knows, maybe Mr Happy Meal Crown batted his eyelashes at Reggie and blew him a kiss like a big fat flami- aw who am i kidding, the only reason Jughead would bat his eyelashes is during Masochist Pearl’s class cuz he’s bored and wants to sleep. 

Anyways, Jughead’s character out of the way, we need to talk about this weird-ass idea that every single example of a male character refusing to date women is Gay Coding. 

Now I’ve mainly read only the Classical Literature that my middle n highschool teachers gave me to read, and not much else, but BOY HOWDY did I read the SHIT out of those. You’re talking about a girl who cried her ass off at the end of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, in a hotel lobby where people were starin at me like I was a weirdo. Point is, I paid more attention to those verbose messes than most ppl my age, cause I’m a nerd. 

And let’s get something straight. Lack of APPARENT attraction to a character of the opposite gender ISN’T gaycoding. And no I’m not saying this because of modern-day conceits like “someone not attracted to the opposite gender could simply not be attracted to ANY gender”, no you wet blanket, listen to me. 

If Mr. Hooke isn’t interested in marrying Ms. Fairweather, there’s three main reasons for that, and you can usually tell which one it is right off the fucking bat: 

- Hooke is Gay as Shit, and in love with his assistant, Sir Appleseed. You can tell because he’s always seen hanging out with Appleseed, and the two of them spend a lot of time together and regularly express affection for each other with words of praise. Also Appleseed’s like a decade younger and he’s very pretty. Very very pretty. A paragraph is written about how Appleseed has a lithe yet muscular body and nice abs. Any modern reader will giggle at how obnoxiously gay this is. People will debate at length on whether the author intended Mr. Hooke to look like such a fuckin flamer. 

- Hooke is straight, but he’s a misogynist intellectual who sees the advances of Ms. Fairweather as a distraction from his Deeply Important Work. Whenever someone mentions Ms. Fairweather or women in general, he speaks at length about how he refuses to give in to their succubus wiles, and how he has a greater purpose. He may also mock Fairweather’s perceived shallow desires. The modern reader soon starts to feel intense hatred for Mr. Hooke, because the dude is so fucking obnoxiously CONCEITED, SHUT THE FUCK UP, but victorian guys probably deeply respected the dude for his chosen celibacy. 

- Hooke is just a weirdass loner introvert. People confusedly ask him why he won’t marry Ms. Fairweather, and he just kinda ignores the question. He doesn’t seem to have a single opinion on the woman’s advances, and seems almost oblivious to them. The intent of the author was, of course, to portray Mr. Hooke as an eccentric man, and also maybe to push the idea that women are a drain on mankind’s intellectual pursuits. Or maybe the author just wanted to show how “weird” Hooke is for not wanting to get married. Either way, the modern reader will start desperately wanting to shake said author by the shoulders and shout “YOU WROTE AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER, YOU NITWIT!!!” 

The point I’m trying to make here is that merely not wanting to date the opposite gender isn’t gaycoding, it’s too fuckin ambiguous for that. Either the character’s gay, or they’re straight and also illustrating weirdass misogynistic cultural standards, or they’re just a fuckin weirdo, in a way that was probably meant to imply neurodivergency, let’s be real, but any modern reader would unanimously agree it’s probably just asexuality, written from the perspective of people who don’t realize that’s a thing that can exist, and it isn’t a weird nameless “fuck marriage” disorder. 

Anyways, 1950s is a bit different. In the context of Post WWII Oldies, specifically comedic comic books set in a suburban high school, if a dude doesn’t want to date, it’s more likely that the authors saw him as someone who was too dumb, ugly, lazy, or nerdy to ever get with a girl, so they made him uninterested in women just because it’s not very funny to see a dude get sad bcs no one will date him. We can feel better if we imagine they’re just uninterested. And That’s Jughead. He’s not coded gay, he’s coded as a nitwit food-obsessed lazeball, and if we’ll be honest, the original writers PROBABLY wrote him with Stoners in mind. 

Jughead’s not running through a literal maze of women to get to his precious delicious milkshake because he’s gay, my dudes. He’s doing it because he spent all morning fuckin Blazing it, and he’s got a fierce case of the munchies, and munchies waits for no girl. He’s got that in common with Norville Rogers, AKA Shaggy from Scooby Doo. WE HAVE SEEN THIS TROPE BEFORE.

Point of the matter is, when the writers made him ace, it’s because they decided maybe Jughead should be more than a cheap stoner joke who’s friends w/ Archie. He’s still a stoner joke, of course, but now he’s a stoner joke that also cleverly doubles as an example of the ace community injoke about cake. You know the one I’m talkin about. 

And that’s all folks. 

#I wrote a fuckton im sorry #that discourse shit