#out the real thing and frame their experiences from and opinions from that because sometimes a game of telephone happens if you know what i

[ducktracy]

Idk how influential you are on the LT fandom on a Whole but you definitely inspired me to check out the originals, and especially appreciate Porky/Daffies more. It helps that my favorite short for years was Yankee Doodle Daffy!

AWWWWWWWWW THIS IS SO SWEET THAT IS 100% MY GOAL THANK YOU!! you don’t know HOW much this means to me!

i tend to stay away from fandom spaces/don’t consider myself a part of the fandom, so quite honestly your guess is as good as mine—i HOPE people think of me or associate me with these cartoons HAHAHAHA but 100%, my goal is to spread the joy of the originals and shed a light onto the people who made them and how their experiences and input inform the cartoons as a whole, and maybe how our perceptions of these shorts and characters have changed as time has gone on…

there’s no right or wrong way to enjoy the franchise, but i really do think it is a more fulfilling experience to Experience The Originals for yourself. i really enjoy talking about cartoons that are given less love from a mainstream angle and that 100% includes the Porkies and Daffies (and is also why i’m so adamant about spreading The Porky Gospel; he gets such a bad rap and is so underappreciated and every person i’ve spread my gospel about him to seems to really like or appreciate himself after HAHAHA. Daffy will always be my #1 favorite but he doesn’t really suffer from this, though i absolutely think his ‘40s persona gets a lot of misunderstanding as well)

THIS REALLY MEANS A LOT TO ME GENUINELY. making the plunge and checking out the cartoons is the best decision i’ve ever made. there’s a lot of rightful hesitancy to be had since there are SO many cartoons and it’s hard to find a starting point (and not to mention the many, many, many, many aspects that have aged poorly and/or were poor to begin with), but i can’t begin to tell you how fulfilling this experience has been.

so, if anyone who’s following me is cautious about making the plunge, i encourage you to give the originals a chance, ESPECIALLY if you’re into more modern LT media to familiarize yourself with the source material. you absolutely do not have to be a nut like me and watch every single in chronological order, but these cartoons are so ingrained and formative in the animation landscape today that i think anyone with an interest in animation should definitely give them a chance. and, if you’re a bit of a history nut like me, it’s very fun to see the evolution of culture as a whole as the years go on… radios evolve into TVs, the rambunctious attitudes of the shorts during the war years take a more domestic turn after the war, celebrity references depend on the decade, even the stylings of music, and of course the art styles of the shorts themselves… it’s so fascinating from a multitude of reasons. i really can’t tell you how happy i am to hear this (and Yankee Doodle Daffy is a GREAT favorite to have!)

#i’ve never fit particularly well with fandom spaces because i’m a bit of a contrarian and very stubborn/dedicated to my points of view and #often times they’re viewpoints or interests not largely reciprocated by other people and so i just really enjoy marching to the beat of my #own drum. i don’t go in tags or look up fanart or anything like that #not that that’s a good or bad thing but i feel the originals as a whole are undercirculated in fandom spaces or misinterpreted/viewed with a #very fandom centric point of mind if that makes sense. and while there isn’t anything wrong with that i personally encourage people to seek #out the real thing and frame their experiences from and opinions from that because sometimes a game of telephone happens if you know what i #mean. like i’ve seen people say Bugs Bunny was 100% intended as a gay icon in good faith and that’s just blatantly false. i WISH the #intentions were in good faith and he 100% is a gay icon but… these cartoons were made by people who made fairy jokes and described their #units as being filled with ‘drunks and queers’. i’m 100% for reclamation but i think it’s ignorant to assume they weren’t laughing AT us #while making those jokes… and i guess that’s just my issue with fandom as a whole with that sort of misinterpretation. #not at all trying to be like ‘i’m better than you because i watch the originals’ FAR FROM IT i don’t think i’m better than anyone at all but #i do tend to wish people would watch the originals more and familiarize themselves with them because i feel so much more fulfilled as a #result and i want others to experience that same joy #AHHHHHH i’m sorry i hope this doesn’t sound preachy or egotistical i’m in too deep i don’t wanna come off as the fun police or like I Am A #Genius You Are Doing It Wrong way. i’m digging myself in a hole here and gotta stop but basically thank you #anonymous #asks #long post

[drewsbuzzcut]

Keeping Up With The Barzals

mat barzal x model!fem!reader

a visceral in doses fic (editorial edition)

warnings: mentions being parents, having insecurities, mentions vibrators, early issues in a relationship, hints at sex, and I think that’s all… let me know if I missed something. ALSO: this takes place in 2027, so they only have Nolan!

Appealing, show stopping, the symbol that love doesn’t have to fizzle out with the pressures of success, or the responsibilities of true adulthood. I get the opportunity to interview the most famous couple to ever grace our social media feed. Y/n and Mat open up about their lives in the limelight.

A very pristine woman who isn’t afraid to change things up and dirty her clothes, that’s Y/n (soon-to-be) Barzal. From dominating the catwalks to being the best mom she can be, Y/n is a layered masterpiece. Y/n will go to the ends of the earth for her family. If that means she’s helping organize charity events for her husband's hockey team, or turning away jobs to be present for her son, she’ll do it. When asked about it, she said it’s a major privilege to be able to turn away jobs for her kid’s sake and to be able to help raise money for the Islanders.

As a model who is this generation’s icon, she’s awfully real. There’s no hiding or pretending when it comes to Y/n. In my opinion, that’s what makes her so inspiring and likable to everyone. However, don’t confuse her privacy for lying. There’s been many instances when Y/n had to keep aspects of her life private to protect those she loves. Times when the audience wasn’t too kind about her choice.

“There was a time when many people thought I was never around Nolan when he was an infant. It seemed that everyone got used to me posting little updates on my Instagram story, so when it stopped people were confused. People thought that I just hired a nanny and was never around my son. It hurt to hear those speculations, especially because they were so far from the truth. Nolan got really sick. He was only 6, almost 7 months and he got really sick. Mat and I had no clue how he contracted his sickness, but it was scary for a little while. I stopped working for that time frame, and I followed Mat, with Nolan of course. Mat had to continue working, but I just couldn’t be without him while our baby was going through what he was going through, so I traveled to each location he traveled to. I of course posted Instagram stories and posts, because not all my days were bad, but I didn’t and wasn’t going to post anything about Nolan until he was 100% better.” Y/n goes into detail about one of those incidents where she went quiet about certain things in her life.

“So many people think it’s so easy to be productive and encouraged all the time. I go from personality to personality with each photo shoot I work on. Not because I’m trying to be fake about who I am, but because sometimes photo shoots require you to step out of the person you are, and it’s not always a bad thing, but lines do get blurry and your mind gets foggy. It’s actually easier to get lost in emptiness, trying to get your feet to touch the ground. I think that’s why I try so hard to be open with my supporters. I’m holding myself accountable all at the same time. Becoming a mother definitely helped me with some of the fog. Becoming a mother made me stronger. I’m always being my best self for my son. I am also always being my best self for my husband. They’re everything to me.” Y/n gives us a little insight on what it’s like to experience the not so glamorous side of a fast paced lifestyle.

Aside from being a mother and a model, Y/n is the person who is determined. No one has to write a story about her, because she’s already writing it herself. I’ve never come face to face with someone with such confidence that’s still so humble. Y/n knows how to cook, knows how to style any piece of clothing, knows how to love herself and others selflessly, and most importantly, she can write. If you’re asking why it’s important that she writes when just about anyone can write, I mean Y/n really knows how to write. I am lucky enough to have received early access to the first draft of her very first manuscript. The words this woman can write are amazing. That’s just putting it lightly. It’s important that Y/n is such a phenomenal writer, because she has the chance to share her wisdom and thoughts. I happen to think her thoughts can change, if not the world, at least one person’s life.

“Don’t make me seem like I’m all work and no play. I can be loose around all my edges.” Y/n states as we near the end of our interview. As I said, she’s continuously writing her own story even when my pen stops. After hearing her out, I’ve come to the conclusion that she is the life of the party that every 20-something year olds wants to be. She blazes a fierce trail of being true to her indulgences. If she’s craving an ounce of music to fill her veins, she’ll gather her best pals and partake in a night of clubbing. If she craves a big, private party, she’ll rent a huge yacht and let her girlfriends go wild. There’s no barrier that will contain Y/n. She breaks any bounds because for her, living life isn’t about being uniform or perfect. Being a mom, a role model, or just someone who is responsible won’t stop her from being who she truly is. That’s not to say that Y/n is a big time party girl, or that she doesn’t care about herself or her surroundings. She does care, she just knows when not to.

Before kids, Mat and Y/n had one word to describe their relationship. “Sex.” They both splutter with laughter when they see the shocked look on my face. They assure me that “sex” isn’t the word they’d use, but I don’t think that sex is a lie to get a reaction out of me. It’s easy to see just how strongly they feel about each other. They’re playful and very teasing with one another. It’s all very sensual, though. You can feel the heat they radiate when their eyes connect with each other.

“Our relationship is chaotic. The type of chaos that makes you run in circles, pulling on your hair. The type of chaos that you search for when life loses meaning. The type of chaos that is unexpected, but welcomed and makes you feel alive. It’s scary, but only because it makes you feel so much. ‘Chaos.’ It causes pain and happiness, but the happiness is always there. The chaos makes us strive to be better. It makes our love timeless.” Y/n and Mat answer the question with a sureness that’s rare.

Speaking of being timeless, the envious pair are set to get hitched at the end of May. You may have noticed that they’re already referring to each other as husband and wife.

If you’re looking for tips on keeping things fresh, continue reading.

“We don’t force sexual activity. We also don’t plan it, we just let our feelings do what they do best. I don’t know if that’s because our connection is too strong, or for whatever reason we are usually in sync. Maybe it’s our constant teasing. We never go a day without teasing each other. It makes our touches, our kisses, more intense.” Mat explains.

“We also kiss a lot. We will never not kiss each other if that’s what we feel we should do. Lately, people have gotten used to hiding their affection, but they shouldn’t hide it. Embrace it, unless it really does make you uncomfortable. It’s actually so funny because I know Mat wasn’t really the type of person to be into PDA, but it changed when we got together.” Y/n chimes in.

“Yeah, that’s true. I never cared for PDA, but like Y/n said, when you feel it, you feel it.”

It’s honestly crazy that these two only have one child. When I told them that, they both laughed. Y/n was the first one to tell me that their baby boy would be their only baby for a while. Mat was unsure of her words, but nonetheless agreed with her.

The baby talk sidetracked our initial conversation of intimacy, but this type of intimacy between the small family is actually beautiful. They both went on and on about the throes and joys of parenthood. They were both surprised at the fact they were having a baby so early on in their relationship, but they told me it genuinely made their bond unbreakable.

Looking at the way their eyes always gravitate back towards the other’s, and their lingering touches that soothe their anxieties, it’s easy to see why they’re so desirable. It’s not about Mat being an attractive athlete, or Y/n being the most beautiful model, it’s the way they portray the feelings of love and passion.

Here’s their last relationship tip: “Don’t focus on finding the perfect person, or being the perfect person. Be yourself. I know it’s cliche, but be yourself. If you find THE one, they’ll always love you for who you are. Your passion and affection will never dim. If you’re feeling lonely, don’t settle for someone who doesn’t deserve you, just buy a vibrator.”

The so-called ladies man who turns into a puddle at the sight of his wife, Mat Barzal isn’t who you think he is.

As an athlete whose privacy is a bit more respected than the average celebrity, we needed to do a deep dive on New York’s finest hockey player.

Rising to early stardom, the young hockey player was perceived way before he got the chance to grow up. Different outlets vaguely recalling Mat as the playboy, or even a wasted talent. They had no clue who they were writing about, that much is clear. Mat is wise, something he says he learned from Y/n, and he’s not some egotistical man, looking for power. Sure, he’s confident in who he is, but that doesn’t make him conceited. He’s actually smart, despite what stigmas have been formed on hockey’s best. He’s not a one track man.

“Hockey has always been a big thing for me. It’s probably one of my biggest accomplishments, winning the cup and just having outstanding numbers, but my accomplishments don’t stop there. I’m proud of the man I’ve become and the father I’ve become. It’s taken a lot to not get crushed under the words and expectations of people on the outside. I still struggle with ignoring the unnecessary noise. Sometimes it seems like no one’s realized that I’ve grown up. To them I’m still a young boy who received too much too fast. I just want to say that I’m not denying that part of me, but that part of me is also stagnant. I’m not a young boy. I’m a man, a man with a wife and son. I know I’m still young in age, but certainly not my actions. Don’t get me wrong I’m not some grandpa. I get out, I drink and I sometimes act wild. I also know when to be responsible because I do have a son and a wife, whose reputation can easily be reflected off my own reputation.”

Mat Barzal is someone to be proud of. He’s also someone who many want to be friends with; I don’t blame them.

“My party days? I don’t know if my party days will ever be over. My wife, who’s younger than me, is a smoke show. I want to take her everywhere, show her off. She’s the love of my life, why wouldn’t I want to, you know. She’s also keeping me young and active. She usually doesn’t like to go to parties alone, so I’ve become accustomed to attending them with her. Plus, my teammates know how to throw a party, too. I love going to those and so does Y/n. Ever since having a son, it’s been a little harder to party. If it’s a get together, we’ll most likely bring Nolan along because we know there will be other kids there. And no, we’re not drinking or driving with our son around, or in general. If we have Nolan with us, I won’t drink, just simply enjoy the vibes and get drunk off my wife and see her enjoy herself. If it’s just Y/n and me, it’s a whole different story. We will get drunk together, but we will make sure we have a safe ride home through our car service.”

An all-around easy going guy with a great sense of humor, and an undying love for his wife and son. Hockey does not define this man.

For someone (Y/n) who’s so public about a lot of things, it really throws people for a loop when they’re out of the conversation about their relationship. I don’t even have to ask them about it, I see it all the time on Twitter. There are always questions about what’s going on, or if they’re even still together. The biggest speculation I’ve seen is that their relationship is all PR.

I honestly don’t understand the need for people to immediately demote a relationship to a PR one. It’s actually offensive, to the couple at least. I'm going to say it once, and once only, Y/n and Mat are not a publicity stunt. I feel that most people know that by now that they have a kid together, but if you didn’t know, now you do.

“We never thought our relationship would be such a big deal to many people, but anytime I’m not wearing islanders gear or pictured with barzy in the span of 1 minute, magazines are popping out new headlines by the minute. ‘Y/n and Mat: The Breakup of the Century,’ ‘Y/n no longer engaged to the hockey heartthrob.’ People live for us to say that our relationship is perfect. It’s not. That’s a fact. We’ve had so many issues in our relationship, not that we’d share all of them, but it’d just make everyone go ballistic if they knew. Something as complicated and beautiful as a relationship shouldn’t be dictated or have an opinion formed by people who know nothing about the couple and their history. Mat and I aren’t perfect; a big portion of our relationship has been built on our issues.”

Just because they’re a powerhouse couple, doesn’t mean they don’t have their insecurities. Talking with the couple, I learned a lot about how they feel like they have to hide their true feelings due to being perceived certain ways.

“A lot of fans expect us to be indestructible, yet they’re usually the ones tearing us down. I hate to admit it, but a lot of our fights have stemmed from actions of those watching us online. It’s not that we necessarily believe what they’re saying, but some of it lingers in the back of our minds. We then start to pull away and not talk about the way we feel. It’s going to surprise people when I say that Y/n and I have gone to couple’s therapy so early on in our relationship. It was a hard time that I wouldn’t change because it showed each other that we were in it no matter what. Thick and thin.”

“People might be bothered about what I’m about to admit, but I don’t really care. In the nicest way possible. Anytime I see someone talking negatively about OUR relationship, I post pictures of us. We can be doing the most mundane tasks, or out and about, I will post it to rub it in their face. Is it immature? Sure, to some. In all honesty, who wouldn’t show off their man if they’re as wonderful as barzy is. Sorry that y’all didn’t get to him first,” Y/n states, walking over to her husband and laying a passionate kiss on his lips. They’re clearly not bothered by the presence of others when indulging in each other.

a/n: This was something different for me to write, but I loved it and I hope y’all do too!!

#mat barzal #mat barzal fanfiction #mat barzal fic #mat barzal x reader #mat barzal imagine #mat barzal blurb #mat barzal smut #mat barzal fluff #mat barzal angst #nhl imagine #nhl fic #new york islanders #visceral in doses

[cupcakeslushie]

In the show Donnie has been canonically confirmed to be autistic I believe and Mikey with ADHD. Did those prove to affect how they were treated or raised in any way? And aside from flopping on people does Donnie still have a bit of a aversion to touch and people who are exceptions? Or does he ignore any uncomfortable feeling he has about anything because he's been through worse and if so how do the turtles help him unlearn these negitive things?

Did Mikey's ADHD ever get him in trouble with big momma and in the battle nexus? I would ask more but I don't want to overload-

Donnie is still autistic, and Draxum did try to “train out” the behavior he didn’t consider warrior-like (God he’s such an asshole in this—and I LIKE canon Draxum 🤣 but I really am making him worse than Shredder at this point). He waited to start the really heavy experiments until Three was older, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t punish him harshly when he “acted foolish”. Draxum would grab and pull Three all the time, either by the arm or he’d use his vines to restrain him where he wanted him. So most of Donnie’s touch aversion here comes from being reminded of that. I am personally of the opinion that Donnie isn’t as so much touch averse in canon—He’s seen constantly touching his family and April and though sometimes he may have a slight grimmace, you can see that he eases into the hug and even initiates a lot of them. I think his hangups are more texture based and that he doesn’t like being caught off guard, which are still present here, and unfortunately, Draxum uses against him in ways we’ll find out. But Donnie does appreciate that his brothers and Splinter give him the option of saying no. It gives him a sense of control over the situation and he finds accepting and initiating contact easy and comforting more often than not, unless it’s a real bad day.

Big Mama was very doting on Mikey, and spoiled him rotten. She got him the best tutors for his education, but Mikey drove almost all of them into quitting except for his martial arts, and art tutors. As a result Mikey has more of a classical art style, and Big Mama puts his paintings all over the lobby of her hotel. But Big Mama is fickle, and after so many years she grows bored enough with him, and sees how strong he’s gotten, that she can’t pass up the opportunity of dropping him into the Nexus. She still gives him treats for his wins, but it’s framed more like prizes to her champion than gifts for her child. Still, Mikey sees them as gifts for doing well, and imagines one day when he wins enough fights, she’ll let him out.

It isn’t until after he’s rescued that he reads up on art therapy, and tries to get back into art. Sadly he finds he doesn’t have the taste for it anymore which devastates him and causes a bout of intense depression…until April suggests that he try a whole new style, something his tutor never covered, and takes him on a tour of the city to see all the coolest street art. In days he’s got most of the lair covered in graffiti.

Mikey does have ADHD, in fact most of his scars come from times where he got distracted in the ring. At night in the barracks he tries to pull from happy memories and beneath the good times spent with Big Mama there’s something else he can’t quite grab hold of, but it comforts him enough for him to keep fighting. On the other hand, Leo remembers almost nothing from Shredder warping his memories so much.

Lastly, Shredder was a harsh taskmaster, very manipulative and told Leo lie after lie to get him to hate Splinter. Leo trained from before sunrise to after sunset, and didn’t talk to many people outside of Shredder’s inner circle of commanders. He was taught a wide range of studies, including war strategy, weaponry, and languages. Shredder was never really…cruel, without reason like Draxum, but if he ever felt Leo was lacking in training or not following his commands to the letter, he would show no mercy. Leo is treated with a lot of respect from most of the foot recruits. Of course some of the older commanders (🤐) aren’t too happy when a literal child is given such a high position of power, but they would never argue with the Shredder.

If you have any more questions please check out the Separated AU tag and my pinned post! I might’ve already answered it!

@lockoutkey @nyxthedragon225, @froggiethelesbian

#separated au #ask slushie #rottmnt separated au #that’s pretty much all I’ll say at the moment on their childhoods as i have plans to expand on them further #hopefully that’s enough to tide everyone over until i can get pages out

[my-jokes-are-my-armour]

Normally im anti gatekeeping but can we make a rule that if you just read the headline of an article and don’t read the whole thing and/or check its source, your not allowed to be a witcher fan, how am I supposed to believe someone read a 7 book series if they can’t even read past a headline

This is common sense to check and verify but in the ere of social media, the truth is "feelings". And headlines and short reads are sadly the norm. And they (those who write these articles) know it. Basically if they get your affect they win. Because it is way easier to believe your heart than try to work out your head. And a good title is sometimes just all they need.

Personally, I can't believe someone has read the 7 books saying that this season is not book accurate enough. Of course this isn't 100% book accurate. There are deviations (some bigger than others) and inventions. But for the big parts, the framing, and even some details, this is.

You know, I clashed with an internet friend who told me she read the books and was saying things like I see on hater posts. I just learnt after few precise questions that she stopped at Blood of Elves. She was repeating just other hater stuff because they pushed every buttons that triggered her about what she knew. She is a witcher fan but for the frame she knows. She still doesn't like the show and I respect her real arguments for that but I just saw here the work of confirmation bias.

We have a tendency to believe more someone who say something close to our own feelings or inner belief. And if you made your opinion beforehand there is no way you get out of the pit easily. It needs work and patience to compare and verify, and read the books to check again etc.

Also when you play the games, the experience is very different and very compelling in its storytelling. I knew the games before the series and the books, through let plays and I loved it. So I bet there are a lot of gamers in the frustrated mass. They are fans also, of course, but through a different lence. And they probably want a different experience from the show. Experience they will never get since the framing stays the books. So ... frustration again.

And I can give a "funny" example for people don't read but say they have just to push the cursor on the down level.

When you see people downrating episode 7 to the worst episode ever with so many complaining about the source material, you know that they have not read the books. The 7th episode is the worst noted ever and this is the most book accurate thing of the whole series, period !

They downrate it mostly because there is not enough of what they want in it. Again. Feelings and frustration are speaking not the head.

And that is exactly what those articles do or what attracts people to the hater videos. A lot of people are frustrated since S2 and locked on that frustration for months, so they were already willing to burn the season before hand. They find here and there other people that express frustration and anger and each deviation from the source material is more commented than what is correct. And I don't even go to the place where this is only to deguise shady discourses.

Bonus :

I just put that picture here again since it's lost in my big review of S3 and it amuses me a lot to play dumb to confront people to reality. Too much politics, mages and Ciri... Well this is the books... You're welcome 😅

I am sorry if I deviated in my answer but I need to say things clearly. And I am sure that conclusion won't be read by those who believe I agress them.

For me there are different kind of fans. All valid. But in terms of opinions about the show I discard almost immediately the headline burst of anger ones and I value those who can articulate both positive and negative points of view.

#answer time #tws3

[thosemintcookies]

Okay so basically I think something to discuss about Daredevil in general is the underlying reason Matt is daredevil. I think a lot of post-DDTV fandom emphasizes Matt's character as one primarily concerned with righteousness and justice, where I am personally of the belief that successful and versions of Matt are primarily about the masked identity as escapism.

The problem with framing Matt's character to be one of justice is that it runs into two major roadblocks:

1. The Ableism.

When Matt's character is about righteousness and justice it frames his disability in a metaphorical way ("justice is blind"). This lets the narrative avoid really contending with actual ableism, as his disability becomes a thematic accessory to the real issue of justice. Coupled with a huge emphasis on matt's piety and upward mobility, it also plays into inspiration porn, as it becomes a rags-to-riches story where Matt is an overseer as Lady Justice is, venerated for being detached and pure, a figure of judgement apart from the rest of abled society, as opposed to a regular human who is a part of regular society.

2. The Morality Aspect.

When we have Matt as a symbol for justice, his views are reified as unquestionable; as a symbol and conduit for justice, he can't be wrong about things. That just sort of makes his character weaker overall in my opinion. We can't trust that he's an unreliable narrator and flawed human as is literally every single other person is in the cast.

(In the comics, this is explored way more. He is called out on multiple occasions for his shortsighted views on crime, which don't effectively get at the root of social ills associated with systemic and structural injustice associated with higher criminality. Luke Cage notably says he's not getting rid of crime, merely displacing it. The narrative also goes to great pains introducing other characters with other ideas of "doing what's right" (Milla, who works in housing, Ben, who serves justice through journalistic exposure, Foggy, who is loyal on a personal level while being pretty ambivalent about his methods, etc etc.) Introducing new perspectives is sort of the point. If the thesis of Daredevil is "justice exists outside the law" the answer isn't just to punch people.)

In addition, it sort of ignores the other ways Matt is privileged. Again, as Justice, he can't be wrong, which means we're encouraged to ignore the ways his status as a lawyer and as a white man play into his biases. He's not neutral. Volume 2 as a whole also emphasizes the way his being myopic and, honestly, sexist, ruins his marriage as he fails to consider his partner's needs and frames tragedy that falls onto the women in his life as primarily his own issues, rather than traumas his wife/friends are dealing with. In Soule's and Zdarsky's runs we have characters like Sam Chung and Cole North who challenge Matt's experiences with citizenship, and sense of neutral raciality. Again, this isn't an accident of the writing. We as the audience are being asked to consider other perspectives.

(Also having him be more prominently Catholic while having him be a symbol of justice is also implicitly a colonial message.)

The intent of DD as an escape from his regular identity, as it was originally conceived, serves a larger narrative purpose. He gets an escape from ableism and other systemic barriers to being able to serve his sense of justice (which, as previously stated, can be very flawed). It's fundamentally self-justified identity, not a selfless one. It's liberating for him personally, and something he pursues because he enjoys it (despite it being pointed out on multiple occasions that it is sometimes detrimental to his health and relationships.) (Also I think it makes him have a more fun personality, because it lets him be cocky rather than burdened.)

The duality of being a truer version of himself as a masked man allows him to be a complex messy character. Explorations of his character tensions (straddling poverty vs. status, marginalization vs. privilege, violence vs procedural justice, etc etc) are more interesting. His dynamic tensions with other characters (both on his side and antagonists) are made more rewarding as we see competing interests play out and we are encouraged and challenged to take a stance rather than assuming Matt's simply correct.

In addition, this also is why I'm overall not a fan of this idea that just anyone can take on the helm of Daredevil. Daredevil is, unlike some other marvel characters, not really a title so much as an escapist identity taken on by a very specific mentally and physically disabled man to contend with his specific feelings of impotence and marginalization, which doesn't really work unless we explore these themes in other characters, or they were established to similarly be preoccupied with this identity tension.

#daredevil #meta

[hovkinnie]

honkai domination and kolosten arc spoilers/rambling+ some heavy complaining after the read more (it's basically a whole ass essay im so fucking sorry lkfjdslkfjdslkfj)

thinking ab how fucking rad and meaningful kolosten would've been if the domination arc had ended with kiana and HoV coexisting instead of what we got.

It definitely would've been better to do that with more setup of them actually talking throughout the story (which is the same thing you can say about the way it went, imo) but even without it- it would've been even more in line with what I think are the most resonant themes of that story.

The thing that made me fall in love with honkai like I did was the themes around victimhood and antagonism. Sirin, Wendy, Bronya, basically all the Herrschers we've seen- whenever a character that wasn't Otto during the beginning stages of the story became a threat to the world, it was never really because they were "evil". They were victims of the cruel world around them, sometimes victims of the same organisms that fought against the supposed real evil of the honkai, and either broke or lashed out because of their real vulnerability.

But in a lot of those moments the story understood two things: one, that that's a tragedy, one that deserves to become motivation to change the world so this kind of thing can't happen again, and two, that if at all possible, despite the threat they might pose to our characters or the world, what they deserve isn't hostility but compassion. Because they aren't the perpetrators of their own violence, only the victims through which it becomes externalized.

This compassion IS extended to Sirin, not only in Second Eruption but also through Kiana, who, despite being a danger in a sense because of HoV, is shown compassion as one of two different people carrying on from Sirin's past.

But imo, it undercuts this theme that HoV isn't extended the same compassion. Because HoV is not only a more direct threat to the world than just Kiana by proxy, she's a much more direct inheritor of what Sirin could represent: A righful anger at the world that victimised her, one that isn't content to fight to protect that world.

And in a story that had at that point so wonderfully allowed characters who were framed as villains to be accepted for who they are, to be recognized as the victims they are and shown a path forward that didn't end with them burning out, in a story with Bronya's self-determination being fought for, with Mei becoming a Herrscher that fights in her own way to protect who she loves, with HoS being shown compassion, Fu Hua being stopped from sacrificing herself for absolution and a pointless so-called victory, with Seele being allowed to live in harmony with her other self and taking her own name, it's just painful that HoV's anger cannot be accepted and coexisted with.

I know that it's not a hugely popular opinion, but I think kolosten drops the ball with Otto, and I think it's because until that point, we had seen Otto from the perspectives of those who were the most hurt by his actions, some of whom might have developed a sort of stockholm syndrome but who were still able to see the hurt he's caused the world. We knew, always, that his view of the world did not include the real compassion that we'd seen growing in the main cast towards those victimised by him, the thing that to me was the emotional core of honkai. Where kolosten fails for me is that now we got so, so, SO much from his own perspective, his own hand-washing, while getting absolutely NOTHING about the people he'd hurt.

We knew throughout the story, always, that the kinds of experiments he'd done to people en masse for hundreds of years were a kind of mass torture that was what created Sirin as a Herrscher in the first place, the pain that created her anger. We knew that Kallen would've been better off if he'd never been so obsessed with her because we got her perspective on that history, and we knew that the world would've been better off in the years after that because we got the perspectives of the people most hurt by his actions. And yet kolosten gave us none of those perspectives, only focusing on him, the people with the most stockholm syndrome for him, and Kiana as a newly-reborn protagonist who isn't about to let anger cloud her judgement.

All kolosten felt like was a pity party for what was undoubtedly one of the most horrid men imaginable in that world. And that's really only because there were perspectives that were sorely lacking, perspectives that could've been there, ANGER that could've been there, if HoV was allowed to exist, if she was allowed to be there to say what I wanted to say the most to every character that I otherwise adore throughout that entire arc.

"Fuck this garbage fire that's been burning for 500 years. He doesn't get his pity party, or his one in a million shot to save someone who never wanted to be saved by him. He's hurt too many people to deserve anything other than a million void lances tearing him apart, one for each person whose life he ruined by existing."

Because if your compassions for victims doesn't extend to accepting that they're allowed to just fucking HATE those who hurt them, then it isn't worth shit.

#(this is like actually extremely long tbc pls don't click if ur not ready to read a whole ass essay) #honkai #honkai impact #honkai spoilers #herrscher of the void #hov #im not tagging anything else cause i don't want this to be seen as like tagging hate or w/e? #i love honkai and i talked ab the reasons why in here #it's just #i couldn't stop thinking and wanted to write it out #all the reasons why it felt like at some point it started really failing in the regard that i used to love it the most #yes even beyond the fact the girls are gay #i read yuri every day that's not gonna be what moves the needle and makes something one of my favorite games ever

[access--granted]

I hope you don't mind me saying something and there's no pressure to publish this, but those are the type of people who refuse to consume any content that isn't steven universified lmao.

Addiction isn't a wholesome journey that's void of bad choices and hardship. You absolutely should not he attacked because you wrote a character into a realistic scenario without a good ending. That's life. That's how real life issues actually play out and involving that in your stories doesn't mean you're "shaming" people.

It's like saying that Sherlock should be removed from TV and literature because he too is an addict and... oh boy... some of that canon points out that it negatively impacts his relationships and he sometimes does and says shitty things.

Don't let this era of puritan bullshit in fandom spaces get to you. Either a child stumbled upon your work or someone who never learned how to engage with media that's designed to tackle and portray difficult topics.

"This alcoholic made a bad choice in my story" does not fucking equate to "shaming addiction" and you're a moron if you disagree with that statement. Quit sending anonymous messages to small authors because you don't know how to scroll past things you don't like.

I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate your ask. I completely agree with everything you've said. It's totally ridiculous how, in this day and age, we're not allowed to remotely touch on bad real-life experiences in any way, shape, or form in our fiction.

In my opinion, also, it's not like I even pulled the idea out of my ass. Leon has been seen turning to alcohol multiple times, so I was just basing my ideas off of that, and from experiences people I know personally have gone through.

Unfortunately, that anon last night caught me at a very low point - one that I'm still struggling with currently. So, I didn't see any other option than to just delete the work. Maybe I'll repost it in the future because I've seen multiple other writers on here touch on similar subjects in their fics and I see nothing but praise. Currently, though, I'm just not in the right frame of mind to be dealing with negativity of such a narrow-minded sort.

I'm sorry for going off on a bit of a rant. I just wanted this blog to be a space where I could be free creatively, but there's always someone out there ready to rain on someone else's parade, and unfortunately, I'm not too good at dealing with that kind of stuff lmao.

#lees mail 📬 #askbox: diobrandass

[kicktwine]

I hope you don't mind me asking, but what are your blind thoughts going into stormblood? Although you mentioned having received slight spoilers, despite what you may or may not know, are you hopeful or wary about the upcoming expansion ahead of you and ch'ahri?

I dunno hardly AAANNYTHING here is a complete list of my thoughts

kugane tower jumping puzzle (I will not be attempting to win this one) (I’m decent at jumping puzzles, but only because I’m on controller and enjoy platformers)

Godzilla 💕💕💕💕 no one told me Godzilla was here (seriously even the music and laser beams were goji-like) - they seem to be leaning into some tropes this time (with Gosetsu as well)

people seem to like the omega raids? excited for those. Halfway thru Alexander as we speak and those are fun I love gobbie

i am slightly wary going into the actual story content, since the concept of freeing ala mhigo is a healthy amount of detached from real-world allegories but also a healthy amount more connected to real world conflict around annexed powers and occupied peoples than we’ve previously gone into. It’s very grounded - the primal is a consequence, rather than a part of the conflict, and I expect them to split the focus. Insofar as post-arr and heavensward are, I mostly like how they handle complex societal topics and I trust them as far as not mucking it up entirely goes, but I put myself at a literary distance about the whole thing because im not one to speak about if they’re gonna handle it well. I’m gonna watch and mess around in the world they give me first. As far as pre-stormblood goes, in my not-a-guy-who-knows-things opinion, they handled it about a 7/10? Some dialogue bothered me, some things were like dam the horrors of war and desperation so true😔 (this is a positive). Some things were like yo is that Godzilla

I do LIKE the tone though. I think they did a tonal shift into something a little darker and brought in a Silly Guy to balance it, and it feels like they have a complete grip around their overarching story and world now.

I also wonder if they’re doing two things at once and how they’ll handle it? I want to visit Doma. I want to visit doma I want to visit that underwater bubble city you look like the monkie kid dragon place. Ch’ari will probably like it too, he’s one of those weird cats who likes water and being in water

i wasnt all that interested in the trailer aside from pretty location, it seems very stereotypical fantasy asia world tour. meteor buddy grow your hair out you look so good in Dawntrail

im trying to keep my opinions my own, since I hardly hear anyone talk about stormblood, sandwiched as it is between heavensward (everyone’s first exposure to the good kush) and shadowbringers (everyone’s perfect baby). So, about 1/4 wary of the msq content, 1/2 excited for the new dungeons and fights (is all of stormblood going to have 15+ enemies coming at you at once?? My frames get scared unless I’m wired into the internet and go down to 30 fps when they all load in), 1/4 excited to see new environments and new characters again :]

Ari is always excited to go to a new place. He always tries to make a good first impression, because whatever you do next (even if you’re rude) is colored by your first impression, and it sometimes fails and sometimes works to his benefit. He didn’t have a good reputation in Limsa, and it was shaky AT BEST in Ishgard, this is the first city he goes where either no one knows him or if they do know him it’s in a positive light. New experience for kitty

#do NAWT talk to me about it in replies please WAIT until I’m done #I don’t want your positive reassurance or your negative opinion I want to experience #You can tell me if stormblood puts a bunch of adds everywhere though. I’ll have to remember to plug the pc in. to the wall. AGGDDJ #ask #play game #anon #stormblood #heavensward spoilers #(????????)

[destinygoldenstar]

We all have our takes by the rating system. You know, what decides what media is for kids and what's not. Some of it is accurate, and some ratings are given for BS reasons.

Sometimes it's too harsh (Take 'Blue Is The Warmest Color')

And some of it is not harsh enough (Take 'Watership Down' I didn't see it, and I don't want to, but its a popular example)

But movie ratings and TV ratings are different from each other... IN EVERY COUNTRY. So I'm just gonna do the US.

Movie ratings you have G-PG-PG13-R-NC17

TV ratings you have TVG-TVPG-TV14-TVMA. There's also TVY and TVY7, which is basically just G and PG.

I haven't seen Clone Wars, but I think I understand people who say it's not a kids show and is somehow rated as one.

But some of it is a personal thing, like…

…no.

Just no. In my opinion. Arcane is nothing short of equivalent to an R rating.

I think there’s a bias because it’s an animated product, so people could think ‘how bad could it get?’

No, it’s not just bloody violence, it’s not just curse words (and the F-bomb rule movies have that they break as they say it more than one time.) It contains heavy themes of mental illnesses, war, terrorism, and there’s a lot of complicated thought processes I can’t imagine kids understanding. The Hunger Games wishes.

But that’s not why this brief rant is here, you know what it is:

Seriously.

Has anybody in the rating system ever seen an episode of this show?

I was in a state of shock, and I already knew. Okay, forget dark themes for a second, forget it’s basically cartoon torture on its characters.

You still have multiple shots of characters stark naked, and they sometimes HOLD on those shots. The second episode literally has this for ten seconds.

There’s also a lot of sexual harassment in this show that’s blatantly sexual harassment. There’s multiple scenes of people vomiting ON SCREEN. (Rainbow barf counts too reboot)

And there’s also a lot of swearing in the show where it’s very obvious what they were gonna say before it cuts away, or even bleeps it out. For those who never seen the show, you’ve probably seen a screenshot on Lindsay with a censor over her hand as she’s cursing.

Yeah that is NOT a single frame. That’s not a one off thing. It’s the focus of the scene. They HOLD on these bleeps for a LONG time to let you sink it on. And it’s THREE times in this ONE episode!

Also zombie mutation, also one character gets paralyzed, also heavy themes of internet trauma and harsh celebrity life that’s actually kinda too real at some points. You’re telling me that a teenage girl getting her shirt ripped off in public, and a boy who sees her shirtless talking about how amazing that experience was, followed by other characters asking if they could see it, IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR KIDS?!

This isn’t even innuendos you often see in kids stuff. This is blatant, on the nose, and themes of the show are about how awful the celebrity life is in such detail. (I guess not as much as Bojack Horseman, an actual adult show, but still) This is not a kids show. Period. It’s… its…

Too much. It’s too much.

That’s it. Rant over. Just to get that off my chest. Now you know why my GF isn’t into this show. It’s because of this stuff.

#total drama #ratings #age ratings #Arcane #quick thought #quick rant

[passengerseatprophet]

seek pt.i

Golpari’s never liked bedtime stories. Not even as a child, and when her sisters came along, she figured quickly that she much preferred to be the one to tell them. Nazanin had hated when Golpari tried to read her to sleep—perhaps because listening to another child’s clumsy attempts to decipher an already rather boring string of words wasn’t exactly the most profound experience. Her youngest sister though, Mahzad, had been the most forgiving, and even when she wasn’t, Golpari’s singing was always proficient enough to soothe away her ever-snappy temper.

What she remembers now, when the deeply personal clutter of the house crashes down over her head like stormwater, like she’s tried to part her way through the red sea and failed halfway to shore, are bedtime stories. Told by a cruel man with much crueller intentions, barely out of the grave and already dead-set on putting her six feet under, if only for the hollow victory of offering no hand to a drowning woman. Only so much ground to cover with the bottom of a bottle, and none were thick enough to averse from the apprehension that, really, he had been the one drowning all along. It caught up to him in glass shards and bloody hands, that. Eventually.

Left him plenty of time to let his mean streak run rampant though. Enough time to try and get under her skin with the subtlety of a fucking missile—it had been a dumb bomb, this drunken rage of his, aimless and lethal to even be near when he finally decided to explode.

Hardly any of it fazed her, frankly. The wounds she’d pressed closely to her body had been clawed into sickly pale skin long before Ghost decided he liked hurting her.

She remembers carrying his miserably limp body all the way back to his quarters once he’d had enough. Or been kicked out. The latter was much more likely, violent bastard that he was. Got a real problem getting mean when he was drunk, when he felt helpless. Pulled back his jowls and lunged for a soft throat.

Gets it from his dad, she thought back then. Still thinks so. The only difference to then is that she would never say so to his face.

The equally miserable parallel to how she used to carry her sisters to bed was never lost on her. How she used to brush the hair from their faces gently, kiss their heads and whisper a soft goodnight before leaving the door ever so slightly open so the light from the living room would still illuminate their room. How she hauled his massive frame down several hallways and simply dropped him once the door was closed behind them. Three minutes is what it would take for him to accept that Fog would not move a single fucking finger to help him up. Then, he’d crawl on all fours to his bed, haphazardly throw himself onto crinkled, half kicked off sheets and snarl at her like the wounded dog he was. Sometimes she’d snarl back.

Most nights, she just stood there, waiting for his incessant rambling to commence. Loved to talk, albeit slurred, but Golpari was never quite sure whether he remembered she was still with him until he tried to raise his head and throw a glance her way, until he tried to pry her apart ribs first with a tongue he reinvented into a knife but was unable to wield with anything but his own unfocused misery.

Rare were the occasions where he’d cry instead of alternating between cursing her out and permitting the wispy memories of Saeda Stallard to come back to life, only to turn them vile with the butcherly twist of his mouth. Golpari would have preferred the crying, she thinks, had it not been for the fact that it made her feel a vague semblance of compassion for him. A sacred thing, which he decidedly did not deserve.

Ghost seemed to be of the opposing opinion, seemed to think he deserved every last bit of her compassion, deserved the presence of this phantom he traded his own hauntings for. And he thought he was right to act the way he did, at the time at least. Perhaps that is what caused the most devastation, the fact that he considered himself absolved of his wrongs.

The Patron Saint of glassy eyes and whatever war there was to fight at 04:34. His apostles a cheap bottle he got off of who-fucking-cares and the woman he fucked but never loved.

No one else loved him enough to keep him from the next bottle. Golpari certainly didn’t love him enough to do so either. Couldn’t possibly bring herself to look at his screwed-up face and feel anything in her heart but vague, disappointing indifference for this sorry excuse of a man. She dragged him to bed because no one else would. Same way she continued to allow him into her bed when the woman he loved had found someone else.

Coming back from the dead only to realise the love of his life married some dickhead from wherever the fuck Graves had crawled out from must have hurt—made him violent, too. Fog does not particularly like to think back to any of the things he had said, just grimly recognises how her knowledge of Stallard must far surpass that which Stallard has of her. For a moment she contemplates telling her, if just for the sake of coming clean. The thought is objected as fast as it occurred. Saeda Stallard has a right to her secrets, and Golpari would never dare intrude upon that. She’ll keep them safe with the stones in her pockets.

The house is cold and a little dark, and the other woman giving her an undecipherable up-and-down does not seem to care enough for the comfort of an uninvited guest to change that. Stallard, Fog reminds herself, She’s got a bloody name now. The lights stay off. Fog is not afraid of the dark—or maybe she is and has yet to come to terms with that, years after the concrete cell—but twilight makes her uneasy. Got her the name, too, that squeamishness around early mornings and dark afternoons. But she can manage, of course she can—wouldn’t be where she is now if it weren’t for the fact that she manages. Barely, at that, but she does.

What little light the sun is providing this time of day illuminates the skeleton of a house that could’ve looked pretentiously charming had the ugly knots in the walnut flooring been left out. Instead, it has character, is reigned by anarchy of an amazon-package-graveyard and shoes kicked off anywhere but on the shoe rack. Golpari is fond of it immediately, reminded of the big dark spots on her own doors, where her foots hits them regularly to open or close. The place is as nice as it is a mess.

Stallard leads Fog past several unstable towers of laundry that need to be put away in a manner so natural that she is almost convinced they’d done this before; and Golpari follows her through the labyrinth of clutter with similar poise, as though she already knows the way to the kitchen.

“Apologies for the shithouse,” Stallard says, switching a pile of laundry onto another with one hand. The other has been holding onto a shaker with an iron grip. Protein shake, presumably.

“I’d say we would’ve cleaned beforehand, but that’s not true in any fashion.” The remark is flat, orchestrated by Stallard’s arms gesturing broadly. The protein shake takes the place of a cigarette, while a huff replaces the laugh Golpari thinks was supposed to follow it.

She hums, unsurprised but faintly amused.

“No, no. We’ve all lived in much worse circumstances, I’m sure,” she says, probing the biting edge of the blade of common history with just enough weight to see if it still cuts. Stallard chuckles, and that is all she gets in reply before the conversation resumes to much more pressing matters.

“Do you drink tea, Miss Golpari?”

“Any and all, yes,” she slides the black coat from her shoulders, holding onto the soft suede before draping it over the back of one of the barstools. Stallard’s southern drawl pulls apart the syllables of her name, makes it sound softer. No longer like a question the way the emphasis on the very end always suggested to those unfamiliar with Farsi. Fog does not have it in her to correct Stallard, who nods along to her words. Picks ups her phone for a second and types an almost hectic message. Likely to the other occupant of the house, the one still at the beach. The electric kettle she puts on to heat the water feels slightly out of place. Must be Simon’s then.

“What’s your poison?” is what she asks instead of caving under Fog’s questioning stare, going through a tea cabinet she clearly does not frequent often. “Lapsang souchong, Earl Grey, raspberry, peppermint. I got a thing of Irish Breakfast and Russian Caravan. Honestly, I think Simon’s taste in tea is shit.”

Fog snorts at that, and the scar on Stallard’s face pulls her skin taught as she smiles. Snooping through her file, Fog had deliberately stayed out of the more personal details—not that Ghost seemed to spare her any. She only wanted basic info, wanted to be in the know. The scar hadn’t been in either file or stories, so Golpari does not pry. The questions must be tiring as is.

“If It’s all the same to you, I think I’ll have a lapsang souchong. It’s been too damn long,” Golpari hums, taking a second to consider. A smile not unlike Stallard’s tugs at her lips as she settles smoothly onto the seat of the stool her coat is resting on. Saeda nods again and lapses into silence. Technique turned habit unintentionally or at the very least without ill intent, sit in silence and wait for the other to be uncomfortable enough with it to start talking. Fog recognizes it immediately. Years of training did that to you; using fucking interrogation techniques in polite conversation. They’re easy enough to ignore though, and Golpari does just that. Leans back in her seat, one leg crossed over the other, hands idly folded on her knee. Contenting herself by watching Stallard make tea.

“I’d heard about his diagnosis. Bad business, that. Though Kate says that things aren’t nearly as fucking grim as barracks chatter is making it seem,” Golpari starts after a while, not too sure as to why she leads with that. To strike rapport, perhaps, it is the only common topic so far that she can think of.

It seems to work just fine, has Stallard digging for a cigarette to busy herself from whatever reaction she’d rather not display. “Kneejerk reaction is to ask whether Laswell is still snoopin’ on everyone’s shit, but I’m guessin’ Price has still been doin’ some reassurance for the old guard, before the ink on the retirement papers are official, and Soap and Gaz go Captain and LT respective.”

It gets Golpari to crack too, that vaguely annoyed nonchalance, leaning back on the chair even further. Her eyes glimmer brightly. “Oh, absolutely fucking not. She’s still a horrendous—hmm—let’s say eavesdropper. But, no, that one was courtesy of Price.”

“The old fuck should come and visit,” Stallard snorts the sentence, but it does little to cover for the way her smile dims and bitterness sets in by one droplet. “Any of them should.”

She says it so leisurely, like the information is neither new nor important. Golpari tries her best not to let on just how crushing the weight of it is to her. You’re the first to visit. The only.

Simon’s a loner, always has been. Part of what drew Fog to him was the shared sentiment of not needing—and at times not wanting—company. Her ice had melted significantly with age and Soap’s non-existent awareness of personal space. Get enough liquor in her and Fog might just admit being fond of the kid. No amount of anything could get Simon to admit the same, to admit that he misses them. The sting she feels for him is unlike the compassion she’s had all those years ago. It is outright pity, which is frankly worse. The rest of 141 is out and about saving the fucking world or whatever; he knows that. Knows that there is no room for a dog with a limp and pulled fucking teeth. Golpari’s of use to the mission still, with all her CIA shit, but she does not assume her place in their life to be high enough for any to contact her if it were her in Simon’s place. Pain was the first and only thing communicated between Fog and Ghost, and even years down the line, it is a native tongue they share. The world did not stop to let her settle into a country she’s spent over half of her life being gradually estranged from. It will not stop to let Simon's cancer-corroded stature catch up with it, either.

#fog #stallard #mentions of ghost #cw: alcohol abuse; mentions of verbal abuse; out-of-context and kinda fucked characterisation of Ghost (not sorry) #almost four thousand words in and we finally got to the end of this installment #a win is a win lads

[gemsofthegalaxy]

watching Sarah Z's new video on Queerbaiting and i wonder if it's gonna be kinda similar to Rowan Ellis' video on representation where like,

calling out queerbaiting is similar to calling FOR queer representation, where we (a certain subset of nerdy bookish/moviesh internet queers) have been focused on those specific things for a while and they've both kind of evolved past their usage

because queerbaiting imo is still shitty, when done as an intentional marketing tactic by PR and higher up executives for a fictional show. but it's also really hard to tell if it was just the case that nobody on the show had the will to fight for explicit queerness, if it came down from on high as a directive, if it was someone trying to sneak something past the censors, etc. and it ends up just encouraging bickering among fans and in some cases eating our own. as well, some people have pushed back to the point that they prefer queerness to be non explicit, and i've gathered this is sometimes because queerness is transgressive but what popular media tells us tends to be filtered through a marketable lens, therefore things that are truly queer and transgressive come from reading in what may or may not be intentional, but it still queer anyway. i don't fully get this, because i would like full frontal unabashed queer romance, personally. i love romance regardless of the gender of the people involved, shoot me i guess?

and on that note. "representation". it's just, like... i get why people want representation and why they frame their argument in this way- that showing queer stories is a Good, because it allows people to see themselves, and also for people to learn about queerness by sympathizing with fictional characters. but it also ends up getting sticky and into a lot of politics around what is "good" and "bad" and "problematic" representation... and yet, at the end of the day, nobody should be getting their full understanding of a social issue from fictional media alone, first off, and not everything can, will, or should be relatable to every single person out there, so nitpicking about what is good and bad might get into the territory of invalidiating real experiences just because one person has no concept of frame of reference even though, there's also a very real person who has experienced that exact thing.

still. as a fat woman, i do in fact want more fat "representation", as in, i want to see more characters who are fat, especially in stories where they are the leads and their fatness is incidental and not mentioned at all, especially not in a derogatory way. other people might want more stories about fat people facing adversary and rising above it, or other facets of fatness, or somewhere on the spectrum. i do think there is value in showing more diverse bodies on screen. in addition, people who are from different cultures, have different skin colours, etc. having representation is "good" but that is not the only reason to do it, either...

because another thing that can happen when representation is the single goal is like.. well.. what if the story isn't even that good? like. first and foremost i want stories that i Enjoy, regardless of any diversity aspect. a story is more likely to be enjoyed by me if it shares my values, sure, but it's not a guarantee. it still needs some level of quality, or at least something to sink my teeth into. this opinion is one ive involved into over time and still shift and change a bit on, day by day. currently my fav blorbos are horrible rich men ! like, sure, theyre gay (to me.) but like. theyre bad people lmao. and that's fine. but if i was still adamant about not watching stuff that doesn't have mostly women characters in it, i'd never have given this show a chance. i still do like to watch shows by and about women, though.

anyway. rambly, idk. i barely even started the video lmfao.

#gems watch

[witchy-kittyy]

Raiden head-canons and ideas no one asked for but I need to get my thoughts down.

-Raiden often visits the Emmerich home and brings stacks of really shitty movies with him that him and Sunny can mindlessly watch while sharing popcorn. Sunny always puts a ton of pillows on the floor and blankets so she can sit with Raiden on the floor since he refuses to sit on the couch because his frame is a bit too heavy and he doesn’t want to put a dent in it.

-when Sunny was young (MGS4 time) Raiden would let her just be as girly as she wanted with him, she’d braid his hair and stuff and he’d let her so she could at least have somewhat “normal” childhood memories too amongst all the fucked up stuff. During this time Raiden also manages to find Sunny pictures of Olga, so she could at least see what her mom looked like.

-During Raiden’s procedures during MGS4, Sunny would often climb onto the lil gurney bed with him so he wasn’t alone, she’d tell him all about her trials of cooking her eggs and get a lil sad that he couldn’t try them and tell her his opinion. But he’d smile and tell her the smelt delicious and he was a lil envious he couldn’t but that one day if he could, he’d like to. She’d often fall asleep against him, his bits of armor were cold but she didn’t mind, at least her savior and hero was there. And having Sunny there during this time was a big comfort to Raiden too.

-Post MGR, During a visit to the Emmerich home, Raiden asks Sunny to make him her famous eggs… saying he never backs out of a promise. She happily scurries off and returns with her Sunny side ups. They’re wonderful.

-Sometimes Raiden brings John around to the Emmerich home too, Pre-MGR before they moved to NZ. John and Sunny get along and Sunny is talking about codes and things that not even Raiden understands but John is enamored with it all. Post MGR lil John tells his dad he wants to get into Science or the Arts, he’s not sure which. Raiden supports whatever he wants so long as he doesn’t get into war, he doesn’t want his son to walk the same path he did.

-End of MGS4, once they return home as a family, Raiden gets himself and John wooden katanas, something sturdy and decent. No shitty plastic swords for his son. And they enjoy having mock sword fights out in the back yard while Rose watches. Raiden feigns defeat a lot, always collapsing in a very dramatic fashion onto the grass. There’s a lot of laughing, especially from Raiden.

-although he enjoys the mock sword fighting, sometimes when he watches from a distance as John plays, he can’t help but feel a sinking feeling in his gut as he pictures his younger self in John, one afternoon it gets a bit too real and Raiden collapses onto his knees, trying to calm himself down from an attack, John calls out to him and before long there’s small arms trying to wrap themselves around Raiden. He asks if his dad’s okay, to which Raiden replies that he is now, but he gives his son a tighter than usual hug. Maybe to unconsciously ask his son to never actually get into violence or to maybe just go back in time briefly and give his younger self a much needed piece of affection.

-Roses cooking is horrible, that’s canon. When Raiden is home in between ops he has a ton of rations stashed in that stealth-camo case for his blade that he generously shares with John when she’s insistent on cooking that night. The fact he can turn his taste receptors on and off at will is a godsend.

-Raiden’s a pretty decent cook tho, despite not needing to cook for such a long time. Between his trip to Alaska and learning scouting from that, he did pick up some techniques from the experience. He’s also a clean freak. Doesn’t really like clutter either, a very bare-minimum to live person, but its partially between his living conditions as a kid but also because of how he is with work, got to pack light. Rose on the other hand enjoys her mementos. Raiden doesn’t mind them if they’re important to her, he personally just doesn’t care for such things for himself. But he will admit it does make their house feel homey.

-Alt HC for his relationship, post-MGR, Raiden and Rose choose to get divorced, they still care for each other and Raiden still plays a big part in raising his son. It’s more so for safety reasons and that he wants Rose to be able to move on with someone who will at least be a constant in her life. Rose can never and will never truly understand whats going on in his mind, she’s never been on a battle field, Raiden needs someone like that. Enter a Samuel Rodrigues that didn’t die, that wound wasn’t fatal, he’s just a very good actor thanks to Wolf’s lying.

-Raiden hates being seen as weak and hates showing too much emotion and affection in front of Sam, before and after they start seeing each other. It takes a lot for him to finally break the walls down for Sam.

-^^^ Raiden is very princessy- he’s stuck up, cold and kind of an asshole in his early relationship with Sam. Sam is just a smug asshole who likes to poke at him and see what makes him tick. But he’s a lot more compassionate than Raiden in the beginning, even after Raiden lets his walls down.

-Post MGR, after doing whatever Raiden was doing, he returns to work for Maverick after everything died down. While the team at Maverick are his work colleagues, Raiden sees them as found family. and they feel the same way about him.

-Continuation of above, once he starts up at Maverick again that’s when Sam shows up, a very heated argument takes place, the two of them end up in the training room to brawl because Boris yelled at them to take it someplace else that WASN'T the briefing room.

-Synopsis of what my main fic is based around: Sam sees a completely different side of Raiden when they’re told their next op is protecting a VIP in Liberia. Raiden is completely stiff. Boris apologizing that he can’t spare someone else to take this mission, he only trusts Raiden with it. Raiden assures him that he’s okay with it. But something unexpected happens on the op, causing a chase, which neither Raiden or Sam could keep up with. Raiden encounters something that haunts his soul and he politely asks everyone back at HQ to turn their codec’s off and for Sam to give him a minute. Sam’s never heard Raiden break. And he never wants to hear him break like that ever again.

Update 1 additions:

-In continuation to the memento hc, Raiden keeps one. Snake’s SOCOM. He gets a custom holster made for his MGR body (like it was originally meant to have in MGSR), although he barely uses it, its there if needed but more so to keep a memory of his hero alive and with him since Snake most likely passed around the time MGR takes place.

-Raiden has a sweet tooth, although he doesn’t indulge in it often saying it loses its value if he does it too often, but he enjoys having the odd chocolate (milk or dark, preferably dark). On a bad night, after a nightmare, Sam handed him a cup of hot chocolate to warm him up and calm him down since coffee might not be the best thing at 3am. Since then that drink became his comfort drink of choice.

-Raiden has a few self-destructive “coping mechanisms” and tendencies brought on due to his PTSD. One being putting his life and body in harms way by engaging in risky activities as a means to numb and distract himself from dealing with the issue, another becoming increasingly distant and prone to outbursts of aggression to try push people out and away.

Update 2:

Raiden goes through about 2 bottles of conditioner a month. He conditions his hair every fucking morning, how else is he gonna keep it looking that silky and fluffy and so soft. Even though I doubt his hair grows anymore, because cyborg, and it’s most likely a wig but it still needs to be maintained.

Update 3:

-My guess for Raiden actually being born in Liberia (and Liberian despite the fact he would’ve never been acknowledged as a Liberian citizen officially) is that his actual father ended up marrying a Liberian woman. Just that Rai ended up getting all of his father’s features and none of his mothers, it’s entirely plausible and has happened as far as I’m aware.

-Raiden often has to deal with depersonalization /derealization, and just in general not feeling human. While being a cyborg doesn’t bother him on most days any more, some days it hits a bit hard, either with the stigma surrounding it while he’s just trying to do every day things or if he catches a glimpse of himself when he’s already not feeling great, it just sends him spiraling. Often he’ll just sit down and stare at nothing while going through the motions, often not realizing he’s being called, only really being brought back when someone touches him, but it either startles him or sometimes he doesn’t even register it. It’s another one of those things he seems to self-treat with sparring so he can make himself feel sensation, and that he can let his body run off of an “auto-pilot” like feeling, not really thinking about things, just doing. 

Update 4:

-Raiden is incredibly harsh with himself, from other HC discussed above and in canon (for example his room being so bare, not allowing himself any sort of luxury), but he is very soft with others, especially children and animals. It’s in the way he’ll make himself smaller by kneeling down to their level, dropping his voice so its softer to not frighten, even in his combat body his touch is light and gentle.

-^^^ in addition to this with his relationship with Sam, after the walls had come down, he can still be cold but its more so due to the harshness he inflicts on himself, but every now and then his touch is very soft, it still surprises Sam sometimes just how soft he is capable of being, he wonders if Rose also thought the same when they were together.

-There are times where Raiden does completely come out of his shell for Sam, for a bit. Long enough for Sam to see Raiden being somewhat carefree. It comes when they watch movies together, although Sam isn’t one for them he enjoys seeing Raiden completely change when discussing movie trivia, it happens often when they play trivia games together the one night as a date. Although Raiden can be quite hotheaded and it can make him come off as a bit dim-witted, he’s actually incredibly knowledgeable, very intelligent and absolutely wipes the floor with Sam’s ego when it comes to trivia nights. But its so worth it to see how his face lights up when he gets to explain things he’s passionate about.

I think for now that’s everything I have in my mind. Might add more later as I think of things <3

#raiden #mgr raiden #raiden mgr #metal gear raiden #samuraiden #samuel rodrigues #jetstream sam #this was written more so that I can keep track of my ideas but I thought itd be fun to share them #rairose #some thoughts on the sears family cause raiden deserves happiness #Aven’s Ramblings

[iviarellereads]

Full TLT series to date thoughts on rereading Harrow the Ninth, chapters 11-15

A probably semi-regular weekly bonus to my reread blog, since sometimes you realize things on reread that just make you need to yell in a full spoiler space.

(Fair warning, this one's a lot more personal than usual. Controversial hot takes inside.)

I really haven't had much to say about 11-13, but 14. Just. Let's address this in order of appearance.

Harrow "so rarely ate for pleasure that it was beyond imagining" that she would learn to cook. Just gonna smirk knowing chapter 25 is coming. Soup.

The BOE! It's not until the end of the chapter that Jod says the least bit of who they are but I gotta yell now. Fascinating how he views them. He's the paternal figure framing himself as "bitten" by their ungratefulness. These children of the children's children's children on down ten thousand years or more of history, of the billionaires who fled and he couldn't reach in time. He killed his whole SOLAR SYSTEM trying to kill them instead and he still has this tone. He's still trying to make them pay for their ancestors' sins. And I mean, what sins they were, if the dream River in Nona is at all the real story. But, I think it's kind of incredible. I don't think he's right to still be pursuing vengeance, I don't think his actions were acceptable, but I can see how he came to it and why he can't let it go.

And then John's gentleness with Harrow over the circumstances of her conception just totally undoes me every single time. Just to THINK about, really. I said it in the initial notes, but I'll expand it here: I know some people hate him, find him manipulative and irredeemable, but I think Muir is doing something deeper than that. At least with him. Ianthe is irredeemable and perfect for it. John…

Like, sure, you could read this as a scene where he realizes how much more power he has over Harrow knowing this blackmail, but he's never used it that we've seen, he's never leveraged it against her to get her to comply. He manipulates, yes, but I firmly believe he also cares in his own way, twisted by circumstance and ten thousand years of anger and pain and lack of therapy and nobody being able to tell him no.

And I guess I also just… I saw a tweet before Twitter went to hell, about how John is Maori, he's an Indigenous man with a whole lot of baggage from his society about it, and Muir making him out to be irredeemably evil feels so insensitive that I don't want to believe that of her until I have to. I think a lot of people are projecting their assumptions and biases and opinions and expectations of fiction onto him rather than giving him room to be more complex than that, even though a lot of them are the same people who love other characters, particularly women, for similar, if smaller-scale, atrocities. And, heck, I'm also projecting my life experiences onto him, I'm not saying that's BAD.

I just see a lot of who I could have become in John, the way I see myself in every sociopath in fiction who isn't played explicitly for a villain, because I don't think it's that clear cut, here. I want to think there's room for him to change, the way I have tried to change. Somehow. I bring my hope like a candle into dark places, knowing that at any moment (well, when the final book is released) it could be snuffed without warning.

And of course, chapter 15, where we learn Alecto died twice. Once when John blew up the world, and… once, metaphorically, when he left her in the Locked Tomb? Or something else? True death, the death of sleep, or the death of her heart? But the part of her that becomes Nona still loves completely and guilelessly. It bears thinking about.

#tlt #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #nona spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb spoilers

[talkingaboutblkcinema]

Chameleon Street

written by Russell Cash

Chameleon Street is a 1989 film that was written, directed, and starred by Wendall B. Harris Jr. The film is loosely based on the true story of William Douglas street, a con artist from Detroit. The film follows Street as he lies his way into a variety of different careers.

If I had to describe chameleon street in one word it would be Unique. It’s a film, unlike any other I've ever seen. At no point was I totally sure where the story was going to go next. The film is about Street, a black intellectual who’s after two things: money and women. Street is willing to tell any lie and pull any scheme if it will get him closer to those two pursuits. In fact, lying is Street's greatest asset. Throughout the film, he lies his way into being a surgeon, a lawyer, a reporter, and a husband. His nature of lying is where the film gets its name because like a chameleon Street is always changing to best survive in his environment. 

The main focus of the film is giving the audience a look into Street’s mind. The film opens with him being analyzed by a psychiatrist and the entire story is narrated by him. This means that all parts of the story are focused through the lens of his thoughts and feelings about the world. The way the movie is shot and edited gives it a dream-like atmosphere. This atmosphere combined with Street’s questionable mental state can make it hard at certain times to know whether or not what's happening is real or fake. Ridiculous events like Street perfectly performing surgery with no training, going to a french revolution-themed costume party in an incredibly detailed beast costume, and pretending to murder his own daughter are all treated as completely plausible and normal and not insane. All of these factors come together to form a look into the strange mind of a career con artist s. The moments feel even more insane when you learn that the film is based on a true story.

The film also works as a kind of power fantasy. Street is the archetype of how many black intellectuals see themselves. He’s always the smartest person in the room, he’s leagues above his white colleagues, he’s able to accomplish anything with some slick words and a couple hours of reading, and his only weakness is women. He also never fails on his own. Even though he lies to get jobs he is always excellent at them and is only forced to leave when someone rats him out. He even says at the end of the film that he could do anything, even become president if wanted to, right before he goes to jail after his wife rats him out. 

This film was really well made in my opinion. The story, atmosphere, dialog, and editing all come together to make a truly unique film experience. The unique framing of the story allows the film to transition between multiple different genres from scene to scene. Sometimes it’s a comedy, sometimes it’s a drama and sometimes it even becomes light horror. No matter what the tone, the movie always manages to hold the audience's attention and leaves you guessing what wild event will happen next. Usually, when directors cast themselves as leads in movies they feel like vanity projects, but in Chameleon Street, it feels like Harris was the perfect person for the role. He gives an excellent performance in every scene he’s in and manages to perfectly portray an apathetic con man. It amazes me That Harris was able to create such a well-made film completely independent. 

[pumpkinpaix]

mdzs fandom, diaspora, and cultural exchange

Hey everyone. This post contains a statement that’s been posted to my twitter, but was a collaborative effort between several diaspora fans over the last few weeks. Some of the specifics are part of a twitter-localized discourse, but the general sentiments and issues raised are applicable across the board, including here on tumblr.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably seen a few of my posts about this fandom, cultural exchange, and diasporic identity. For example, here, here, and here. This statement more directly criticizes some of the general issues I and others have raised in the past, and also hopefully provides a little more insight into where those issues come from. I would be happy if people took the time to read and reblog this, as the thought that went into it is not trivial, and neither is the subject matter. Thank you.

Introduction

Hello. I'm a member of a Chinese diaspora discord server - I volunteered to try and compile a thread of some thoughts regarding our place and roles in the fandom expressed in some of our recent discussions. This was primarily drafted by me and reviewed/edited by others with the hopes that we can share a cohesive statement on our honest feelings instead of repeatedly sharing multiple, fragmented versions of similar threads in isolation.

This was compiled by one group of diaspora and cannot be taken to represent diaspora as a whole, but we hope that our input can be considered with compassion and understanding of such.

For context, we are referencing two connected instances: the conflict described in these two threads (here and here), and when @/jelenedra tweeted about giving Jewish practices to the Lans. Regarding the latter, we felt that it tread into the territory of cultural erasure, and that it came from a person who had already disrespected diaspora’s work and input.

Context

The Lans have their own religious and cultural practices, rooted both in the cultural history of China and the genre of xianxia. Superimposing a different religious practice onto the Lans amidst other researched, canonical or culturally accurate details felt as if something important of ours was being overwritten for another’s personal satisfaction. Because canon is so intrinsically tied to real cultural, historical, and religious practices, replacing those practices in a canon setting fic feels like erasure. While MDZS is a fantasy novel, the religious practices contained therein are not. This was uncomfortable for many of us, and we wanted to point it out and have it resolved amicably. We were hoping for a discussion or exchange as there are many parallels and points of relation between Chinese and Jewish cultures, but that did not turn out quite as expected.

What happened next felt like a long game of outrage telephone that resulted in a confusion of issues that deflected responsibility, distracted from the origin of the conflict, and swept our concern under the rug.

Specifically, we are concerned about how these two incidents are part of what we feel is a repeated, widespread pattern of the devaluing of Chinese fans’ work and concerns within this fandom. This recent round of discourse is just one of many instances where we have found ourselves in a position of feeling spoken over within a space that is nominally ours. Regardless of what the telephone game was actually about, the way it played out revealed something about how issues are prioritized.

Background

MDZS is one of the first and largest franchises of cmedia that has become popular and easily accessible outside of China. Moreover, it’s a piece of queer Chinese media that is easily accessible to those of us overseas. For many non-Chinese fans, this is the first piece of cmedia they have connected with, and it’s serving as their introduction to a culture previously opaque to them. What perhaps is less obvious is that for many Chinese diaspora fans, this is also the first piece of cmedia THEY have connected with, found community with, seen themselves in.

Many, many of us have a fraught relationship with our heritage, our language—we often suffer from a sense of alienation, both from our families and from our surrounding peers. For our families, our command of the language and culture is often considered superficial, clunky, childish. Often, connecting with our culture is framed as a mandatory academic duty, and such an approach often fosters resentment towards our own heritage. For our non-Chinese peers, our culture is seen as exotic and strange and other, something shiny and interesting to observe, while we, trapped in the middle, find ourselves uprooted and adrift.

MDZS holds an incredibly important place in many diaspora’s hearts. Speaking for myself, this is literally the first time in my life I have felt motivated and excited about my own native tongue. It's the first time I have felt genuine hope that I might one day be able to speak and read it without fear and self-doubt. It is also the first time that so many people have expressed interest in learning from me, in hearing my thoughts and opinions about my culture.

This past year and a half in fandom has been an incredible experience. I know that I am not alone in this. So many diaspora I have spoken to just in the last week have expressed similar sentiments about the place MDZS holds in their lives. It is a precious thing to us, both because we love the story itself, and because it represents a lifeline to a heritage that’s never felt fully ours to grasp.

It’s wonderful to feel like we are able to welcome our friends into our home and show them all these things that have been so formative to our identities, and to be received with such enthusiasm and interest. Introducing this to non-Chinese friends and fans has also been an opportunity to bridge gaps and be humanized in a way that has been especially important in a year where yellow peril fear mongering has been at an all-time high.  

History

However, MDZS’ rise in popularity among non-Chinese audiences has also come with certain difficulties. It is natural to want to take a story you love and make it your own: that’s what transformative fandom is all about. It is also natural that misunderstandings and unintentional missteps might happen when you aren’t familiar with the ins and outs of the culture and political history of the story in question. This is understandable and forgivable—perfection is impossible, even for ourselves.

We hope for consideration and respect when we give our knowledge freely and when we raise the issue of our own discomfort with certain statements or actions regarding our culture. Please remember that what is an isolated incident to you might be a pattern of growing microaggressions to us. In non-Asian spaces, Asian diaspora are often lumped together under one umbrella. In the west, a lot of Chinese diaspora attach themselves to Korean and Japanese media in order to feel some semblance of connection to a media which approximates our cultures because there are cultural similarities. This is the first time we've collectively found community around something that is actually ours, so the specificities matter.

There is a bitterness about being Asian diaspora and a misery in having to put up a united front about racial issues. Enmity towards one group becomes a danger to all of us, all while our own conflicted histories with one another continue to pass trauma down through the generations. Many of us don’t even watch anime in front of our grandparents because of that lingering cultural antipathy. When the distinctions between our cultures are muddled, it feels once again like that very fraught history is flattened and forgotten.

Without the lived experience of it, it’s hard to understand how pervasive the contradictory web of anti-Asian and, more specifically, anti-Chinese racial aggressions are and how insidious its effects are. The conflation of China the political entity (as perceived and presented by the US and Europe) with its people, culture, and diaspora results in an exhausting litany of criticism levied like a bludgeon, often by people who don’t understand the complicated nature of a situation against those of us who do.

There is often a frankly stunning lack of self-awareness re: cultural biases and blind spots when it comes to discussions of MDZS, particularly moral ones. There are countless righteous claims and hot takes on certain aspects of the story, its author, and the characters that are so clearly rooted in a Euroamerican political and moral framework that does not reflect Chinese cultural realities and experiences. Some of these takes have become so widespread they are essentially accepted as fanon.

This is a pattern of behavior within the fandom. It is not limited to any specific group, nor does it even exclude ourselves—we are, after all, not a monolith, and we should not be placed on pedestals to have our differing opinions weaponized against one another in fandom squabbles. We are not flawless in our own understandings and approaches, and we would appreciate it if others would remember this before using any of us as ultimate authorities to settle a personal score.

It is difficult not to be disheartened when enthusiastic interest crosses the line into entitled demand and when transformative work crosses into erasure, especially when the reactions to our raised concerns have so frequently been dismissive and hostile. The overwhelming cultural and emotional labor we bring to the table is often taken advantage of and then criticized in bad faith. We are bombarded with racist aggressions, micro and macro, and then met with ridicule and annoyance when we push back. Worse, we sometimes face accusations of hostility that force us to apologize, back down, and let the matter go.

When we bring up our issues, it usually seems to come with the expectation that there are other issues that should be addressed before we can address ours. It feels like it’s never really the time to talk about Asian issues.

On the internet and in fandom spaces, Western-coded media, politics and perspectives are assumed to be general knowledge and experience that everyone knows and has. It feels like a double standard that we are expected to know the ins and outs of western politics and to engage on these terms, but most non-Chinese have not even the slightest grasp of the sort of politics that are at play within our communities. We end up feeling used for our specialized knowledge and cultural background and then dismissed when our opinions and problems are inconvenient.

As the culture represented in MDZS is not a culture that most non-Chinese fans are familiar with, we’d like to remind you that you do not get to decide which parts of it are or are not important. While sharing this space with Chinese diaspora who have a close connection to the work and the painful history that goes along with being diaspora, we ask that you be mindful of listening to our concerns.

Cultural erasure is tied to a lot of intense historical and generational trauma for us that maybe isn't immediately evident: the horrors of the Pacific theatre, the far-reaching consequences of colonization, racial tensions both among ourselves and with non-Chinese etc. These are not minor or simple things, and when we talk about our issues within fandom, this is often what underlies them. This is one of the first and only places many of us have been able to find community to discuss our unique issues without feeling as if we’re speaking out of turn.

With the HK protests, COVID, the anti-Chinese platforms of the US election etc., anti-Chinese sentiment has been at the forefront of the global news cycle for some time now, and it is with complete sincerity that we emphasize once again how important MDZS fandom has been as a haven for humanizing and valuing Chinese people through cultural exchange.

Experiencing racial aggression within that space stings, not just because it’s a space we love, but because it feels like we’ve been swimming in rapidly rising racial aggression for over a year at this point.

Feelings

This is a difficult topic to broach at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. Many of us have a wariness of rocking the boat instilled in us from our upbringings, and it is not uncommon for us to feel like we should be grateful that people want to engage with something of ours at all. When we do decide to speak up, we’ve learned that there is a not insignificant chance that we’ll be turned on and trampled over because what we’ve said is inconvenient or uncomfortable. When it is already so difficult to speak up, we end up second-guessing and gaslighting ourselves into wondering whether there really was a problem at all.

We’d like to be able to share what we know about our culture and have our knowledge and experience be taken seriously and treated with courtesy. This is a beautiful, rich world built with the history of our ancestors, one that we too are trying to connect with. When we find it in ourselves to speak up about it, we would appreciate being met with consideration instead of hostility.

We don't have the luxury of stepping away from our culture when we get tired of it. We don't get to put it down and walk away when it’s difficult. But if you're not Chinese or Chinese diaspora, you get to put this book down—we'd like to kindly request that you put it down gently because of how much it matters to all of us in this fandom, regardless of heritage.

What we are asking for is reflection and thoughtfulness as we continue to engage with this work and with one another, especially with regards to how Chinese issues are positioned. When we raise issues of our own discomfort, please take a moment to reflect before reacting defensively or trying to shut us down for spoiling the fun—don’t deprioritize our concerns, especially in a fandom for a piece of Chinese media. We promise most of us are not trying to start shit for the sake of a fight. Most of the time, all we want is acknowledgement and a genuine attempt at understanding.

Our hope with this statement is to encourage more openness and understanding between diaspora and non-Chinese fans while we navigate this place that we’re sharing. Please remember that for many of us, MDZS is far more intense than a typical fandom experience. Remember that the knowledge we have and research we do is freely and happily given, and that it costs us both materially and emotionally. Please don’t take that for granted. Remember too that sometimes the reason for our discomfort may not be immediately evident to you: what seems culturally neutral and harmless might touch upon specific loaded issues for us. We ask for patience, and we ask for sincerity as we try to communicate with one another.

We are writing this because there’s a collective sense of imposed silence—that every time the newest round of discourse crops up, we often feel as if we’re walking away having created no meaningful change, and nursing new wounds that we’ll never get to address. But without speaking up about it, this is a cycle that will keep repeating.

This is not meant to shame or guilt the fandom into throwing themselves at our feet, either to thank us or beg for forgiveness—far from that. We’re just your friends and your fellow fans. We are happy to have you here, and we’re happy to create and share and play together. We just ask to be respected and heard.

Thank you. Thank you for listening. Several of us will be stepping back from twitter for a while. We’ll see you when we get back. ❤️

* A final addendum: here are two articles with solid practical advice on writing stories regarding a culture other than your own.

Cultural Appropriation for the Worried Writer: Some Practical Advice

Cultural Appropriation: Some More Practical Advice

The thread on twitter is linked in the source of this post. Thanks everyone.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #the untamed #the untamed meta #cql #asian diaspora #chinese diaspora #race #racism #mine #mymeta #once again my tag failing me because this is a collaborative work #but! for the sake of organization #statistically average #cultural appropriation #cultural erasure #what else do i tag this im so wired

[prof-peach]

I really enjoy your posts, developing the pokemon world in a thoughtful and detailed manner! There's one thing I'd like to ask though, is there a reason why you sometimes put down some of the canon characters or attribute awful flaws to them? :/ It does feel a bit disheartening, as a fan of some of those characters haha ^^;

Honestly? Personal choice. It’s my blog at the end of the day, and I find some of the characters jarring or uninteresting, the anime especially pushes pretty OP, often loud, and unbalanced characters on viewers. It doesn’t suit my tastes, it doesn’t suit how the world works here. For that reason I choose to write differently about them. This however is my opinion, and at no point do you have to concern yourself with it, if it’s not how you view something.

The beauty of the internet is that we are all entitled to a space to communicate ideas and thoughts, and so long as no laws are broken, and you aren’t unkind, people can either enjoy the content, or move on and find something they like even better, or if you’re anything like me, just make your own blog to put your own thoughts and feelings out there! Which has proven to be very enjoyable too, so I always encourage others to go about voicing their likes and dislikes in this way.

I understand people like certain characters, they enjoy different things to me, but it’s also totally not my business what they believe in, nor my concern. I do my best to be polite, strategic, fair and honest, but I do not lose myself to the viewers, and will not be swayed in how I choose to run the blog. A lot of my narrative choices are based on personal wants or likes. Is that selfish? Yes entirely, a blog is just a collection of your own likes and thoughts, they are inherently self satisfying. Does that make it bad? No. Selfishness can be good in moderation, it can keep you sane and safe, and considering the tumblr blog is entirely free and regularly updated, I don’t feel the vast amounts of content created for nothing is a selfish act entirely. People often find a bit of intrigue and joy here.

Of course I mean no harm to you and those who enjoy the show, or certain characters, and encourage you to find more appropriate blogs if the ideas here upset you. Your experience online is tailored by your own choices, and the people you follow and interact with. I am here to enjoy the community just like you are, in the way I feel fits the world, and will continue to do so, because it’s a blog I run, and curate. It’s very easy to forget behind the blogs face, a real human with their own like and dislikes exists, and they make content often to lean into those things they enjoy because the shows and games just don’t provide enough.

I will not apologise for creating fan content, I will however encourage you to make healthy choices, and go forward with your own ideas and plans in place! There’s always more room for different opinions and viewpoints, and those can coexist with other people’s opinions if you let them. I’m sure a lot of the viewers here will agree with you, and enjoy things that perhaps aren’t framed in a nice light here, I know for a fact there’s some stances of characters and certain species that don’t suit folks, especially the younger crowd, but that is the choice of the blog. Please do block or delete us from your following list if it’s not suited to your tastes though, we don’t hold any hard feelings here. People gotta do what they gotta do.

#no harm done op #just a topic I get quite agitated over #once you put yourself out on the internet #people think they have power or influence over what you do #like they own your content simply because you shared it #and they can change it to suit them #fact is no one can do that #social media isn’t alwasy there to bend to everyone #sometimes it’s ok to just see something you don’t like and keep scrolling #been feeling the pressure of others opinions quite a lot lately #perhaps that what got this going #but honestly it’s no big deal and I do hope you find a better way to enjoy the content and dodge the bits you don’t enjoy #or just find better communities suited to your wants! #both are good #pokemon #ooc #sorry for the serious topics #bet folks won’t like this one hah