#rae’s meta

[artbyblastweave]

Okay, Time for that belated Shrinking Rae post-

In the comics, Shrinking Ray's "arc" (bearing in mind an extremely liberal definition of that term, they had exactly one scene showcasing this) was that he was implied to be developing an inferiority complex; he's not necessarily incompetent, but he's out of his niche, his clever shrinking-based plans kept getting upstaged by brute-force solutions from the more conventionally powerful heroes like Invincible. He's the scrawny, nerdy little guy with the joke powers, he never gets a win, and in most fights he literally isn't visible. In the fight with the Lizard League his death is framed as pathetic and ineffectual- there's one or two panels between "I'll make you pay!" and getting eaten alive by Komodo. All of this is doing a couple of things- it's emphasizing that again, this is in fact a story and setting where superheroes sometimes just die really badly with limited fanfare- a thing that IIRC hadn't happened since the original Guardians team wipe in issue 7. Second, it's an indicator that the new Guardians are structurally kind of on the ropes. They're heavily staffed by second stringers, they exact second they have to split their forces they suffer a 66 percent casualty rate, and that's with backing from two capes who aren't actually part of the team. Grim! Anyway, when they do the adaptation Shrinking Ray becomes Shrinking Rae, because they want to tweak the gender balance of the cast and the pun is too good to pass up. But I think that there was a reasonable reluctance to transfer the "arc" from the comics one-to-one, because to be blunt, "Ineffectual Nebbish Glasses-wearer who whines a lot and dies pathetically," paired with absolutely nothing else, is gonna read as misogynistic if the character is a woman now. So in the adaptation Rae is markedly more competent. We're introduced to her taking down a much larger opponent by fucking around inside his ear canal, which becomes a favored trick of hers. There are traces of the self-esteem thing- the visual gag where she physically shrinks about a foot when getting chewed out in the briefing- but the overall throughline isn't "look at this loser who somehow ended up on the guardians." In the Lizard League fight, she doesn't get eaten- she's deliberately trying to execute a Thanus maneuver and just fucks it up, seconds after successfully killing a different villain the same way. And there's a second where it looks like it might work, too, before hope is cruelly yanked away. Which makes for a markedly cooler death scene- but who died? What was actually going on with her? Anything? In some sense she's cooler, but it's kind of an undifferentiated cool. She had what, Six lines? Seven? On balance I think Rae is still doing her fundamental job in the story, which is to pad the Guardians roster for a while and have someone who actually dies and stays dead as a result of the Lizard League fight- but I think they definitely missed an opportunity to give her some more texture than her comic counterpart had. Part of me thinks that the show would have been a good place to go even harder on Shrinking Rae being in over her head, but in a considered way, to emphasize that the Guardians aren't well managed- maybe tie it into the tensions between Robot and Immortal regarding sustainable team management practices. Part of me thinks you should go the other way, that if you're gonna do away with the idea she's underwhelming you should blow up her role, have her actually say and do some things that affect the story or the team dynamic in any noticeable way, because as it stands she's kind of visibly siloed as the designated mauve shirt. I'm definitely of one mind that this showcases something I suspected was gonna bite the show in the ass, which is that they're (laudably) diversifying a secondary and tertiary cast whose main role in the source material is often to die badly or fade out of focus.

#invincible #shrinking rae #invincible spoilers #thoughts #meta #invincible comic #invincible season 2 episode 5 #800 words of meta on a character with six lines and a brooklyn accent jumpscare

[nicholasmoorethetwittermigrant]

Ok but I love Barbie’s opening scene because the 2001 homage could’ve so easily been a shallow gag where the whole joke is “get the reference?” but instead it’s priming you for how completely literal the Barbie-as-Monolith idea is to the movie’s themes and conflict.

Seeing the movie I was a little caught off guard by just how unreal the “real world” was both in and out of how people specifically reacted to Barbie’s presence, but in retrospect the opening counts on an understanding of 2001 to immediately say

“This isn’t just an alt universe where Barbieland exists adjacent to reality, but one where Barbie is without exaggeration a primordial cosmic force the discovery of which fundamentally altered how human beings think and evolve.”

The Monolith as a visual metaphor for Barbie’s impact on the world is already a clever little bit of observational comedy, but taking the scene beyond metaphor and into the literal text of the film, to where Barbie’s presence as this reality-shaping object of import is just taken as a given by everyone in the film, that’s freakin genius.

It’s rare to see such an overt reference to another piece of media end up being such a smart and pivotal bit of actual storytelling, and its fascinating to see the film explore “what if humanity’s relationship to the Monolith was reciprocal and the Monolith was actually a Person?”

#barbie movie #barbie 2023 #2001 a space odyssey #margot robbie #Greta Gerwig #ryan gosling #Ken #Allan #just Ken #Simu Liu #issa rae #america ferrera #meta

[gffa]

Favreau can pluck the relatively minor character of Cobb Vanth from the Aftermath books and give him a fairly prominent role in not one but two of his series, can remember that Brendol Hux was part of the attempt to rebuild the Empire and go so far as to cast Brian Gleeson in the role, can bring Gilad Pellaeon into live action, but refuses to put Rae fucking Sloane’s name in his mouth?  She who had a far more central role in the Aftermath books and was an important leading figure in the Imperial remnants?  Just completely ignore her existence and neither of the unnamed women from that meeting could possibly be her character?  I see.  Coupled with this season’s absolute refusal to say Satine fucking Kryze’s name, I’m starting to give Favreau some serious stink-eye.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #brendol hux #gilad pellaeon #rae sloane #satine kryze #meta

[lycorim]

A red sun rises like an early warning.

(Click for better quality. Also I keep thinking more and more about the Tullys and the environment and I’m currently spaced out and restless on extra-strength cough syrup so I’ve added a marginally-relevant meta rant below the cut enjoy)

Characters' appearances are extremely important to the narrative of ASoIaF, and not just in the obvious ways like Joffrey's blondness being a dead give-away that he's a bastard. We see multiple instances of a house's colors tying back to it's members' appearances; the Starks (grey and white) traditionally have grey eyes, the Lannisters (gold and crimson) have golden hair, and, my main point of this tangent, the Tullys (red and blue) all have red hair and blue eyes. They are unique in that both of their colors are represented in the traditional Tully Look and, while the aforementioned houses also have meaning tied to those colors (Starks are the "colors of winter", Lannister colors are almost absurdly regal and wealthy), theirs are directly tied to the environment they rule - it's the red clay and the blue water of the river that give the house its colors.

In this, the Tullys are thematically inseparable from the river, its environment, and its fate.

Unfortunately for them, the narrative makes it very clear that war devastates the Riverlands, almost more so than any other region we see - bodies clog the river, forests and farmland are obliterated for sieges, and the wildlife is described with very little diversity (mostly just predator species like wolves) when it is described at all.

At the same time, the Tullys are being killed off, imprisoned, and displaced left and right, a near mirror of how the earth is being handled.

It's important to note that a considerable portion of the environmental destruction is done not just by enemies of the Riverlands, but by the Tullys themselves. It is Brynden, after all, that destroys vast swaths of the farmland, essentially killing it for the foreseeable future. This is the narrative telling us that it's not just the Lannisters or the Freys responsible for their demise, but themselves, as well.

They are a doomed family, and Martin tells us this the moment he tells us that Catelyn has red hair and blue eyes.

#can’t believe I gave this tumblr dot com post a fucking artists statement #I’m never taking nyquil again Jesus Christ #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #catelyn stark #lady stoneheart #asoiaf meta #fan art #my art #game of thrones #and following this i guess lady stoneheart is the dead earth come back to reclaim itself? which is badass as shit #also listen to Bottom of the River by Delta Rae if you haven't already it's a hard banger

[pinchedlittlefox]

Rae never had a chance to have a family or a daughter, but...

Fate sets her upon a different path.

And here she is looking after a damaged five/six year old while she tries to keep Brendol's treachery at bay.

#armitage hux #novel snippets #rae sloane #I need to make a separate meta blog for Sloane. She's an amazing & well developed character. And that spans beyond the Aftermath trilogy #There is so much more to her than her relationship with Armitage. #but i am pretty sure that she influenced him.

[liankuea]

KinnPorsche Ep. 4 — Ramblings on Faceless Kinn

Have you noticed that we see less and less of Kinn's face and eyes as the scene progresses?

Random question, I know but hear me out.

At the start of the scene we are able to Kinn's entire face (this is his main mode of communication atm so it needs to be visible to both Porsche and the viewer), but as Porsche begins to goad him into admitting that he likes him, he unconsciously starts to turn towards Porsche. We move back and forth between 3/4 and side profile views of his face until we see it clearly and fully for the last time right before he kisses Porsche here.

The last bits of his control and restraint leave him as he sighs deeply into the kiss and in that moment, there is a change in perspective which is beautifully shown in the movement of the camera.

The focus shifts to the both of them, then slowly moves onto Porsche (where is mostly stays for the rest of the scene) and this is the moment where we lose Kinn's face for the first time.

From then on, we only catch glimpses of his face, mainly his side profile, when he's kissing and caressing Porsche's chest. Then we lose him completely when they're standing against the window and Porsche is unbuttoning his pants.

When never fully see his face and eyes again. He is completely lost in the moment, in Porsche (to the point where even his own reflection in window is overtaken and shielded by Porsche), essentially becoming a faceless, unknown version of himself — no longer the man who is controlled, calculating, and damn near infallible. An argument can be made that is he hiding from himself and feelings, but that is a post for another day.

I also found it interesting that we also don't see Kinn's face from Porsche's perspective either, which could be interpreted as — this version of Kinn is one that is uncharted territory for not only Kinn, but for Porsche as well.

I could flesh this whole thing out a bit more, but my brain isn't really cooperating atm. In the meantime, here's a tiny aside on reflections and mirrors — as I previously mentioned, most if not all of Kinn's reflections are overtaken by Porsche. However, that is not the case here.

We are able to see Kinn's face and reflection with every emotion on full display. Some people have speculated that this a scene from their "second first time" so I am interested to see how the scenes parallel each other.

#idk what this is but i hope it makes sense #feel free to discuss #rae watches #kinnporsche #kinnporche the series #kinnporsche meta #text

[raeloganthesonic06fangirl]

With the Disney100 celebration going on this year and the confirmation that Darkwing Duck is included in the festivities as confirmed merch drops, I really hope when the thing gets to the 90s themed stuff that maybe, just MAYBE, we finally get a QuackerJack toy.

Dude's been a character for like 31 years, and he ain't go no collectible toys. Y'know. The guy who's main schtick is toys?

The funny cartoon duck who lives and breathes toys, and hates video games... and is in like seven video games, two of those appearances of which have been released in the last five years.

I just want a QuackerJack plushie or a figurine or, heck, even a FUNKO POP FIGURE, he'd look so good with my Megavolt toys. I'll even be fine with a rubber ducky collaboration thing that squeaks when you squish him, I don't care, I just want a tangible QuackerJack object that isn't a shirt, comic, game, episode, or a postage stamp. 🥺

#rae is such a dork #darkwing duck #quackerjack #Or gimme a Mr. Banana Brain doll as a meta collectable so my knitted QuackerJack doll has his little buddy #Disney just please show this guy some love for once #Disney dropped the ball when they let a certain comic writer totally mess up his entire character arc timeline beyond the point of return #I bought all three Disney Afternoon Adventure hardcover books because they all had one (1) QuackerJack sighting each #I just want QuackerJack merch to exist it's the least he deserves

[strangerwheelerthings]

Saw your post about Nancy not being a particularly social person. I notice she's always listing off names of supposed 'friends' (sleepover at Ally's) or implying she's meeting large groups of people (S1 meeting people from school at the diner) to Karen when we never see her interacting with them. Do you think any of these friends actually existed in the first place? I noticed on Murray's board in S2 about Barb, there was an interview with a "school friend" so I wonder if Nancy and Barb were part of a larger group as acquaintances but exclusively best friends with each other? I also wonder why she feels the need to put up a front in front of Karen that she's more social than she actually is?

This is a really great question, thank you! I’ve actually thought about this a lot, especially when planning that post.

Hawkins appears to be a small town, so that is the basis of how I’ll be interpreting things.

In season one, Nancy and Barb don’t appear to be high on the social ladder, but they also aren’t low enough to be actively bullied. We know absolutely nothing about Barb’s social life outside of Nancy, but it’s very possible that Barb had a few school friends that she wasn’t as close with. If she did, I imagine that Nancy knew them, but wasn’t particularly friends with them herself. Nancy would have talked to someone other than Jonathan and Steve when she went missing, if that were the case.

Every example of Nancy specifically mentioning the name of a friend are all used in the context of a lie. None of them are ever even referenced again in passing. I’m fairly certain that Nancy is not going to sleepovers with Ally, or anyone else, after Barb. However, Nancy acts like she expects her mother to be familiar with these names. This is where small-town Hawkins comes into play. People just know each other. No matter how introverted you are, the smaller the town, the more familiar you are with All of your classmates, and the more familiar your parents are with many, if not all, of your classmates. It’s inevitable. 

This leads into one of the most important points; Nancy is introverted, but not a hermit. She is NOT a social butterfly, but she is fairly socially adept. My understanding of Nancy’s social situation at school is that she is generally well-respected, but not especially close to anyone. According to Robin, she has somewhat of a reputation for being a priss because of her closed-off nature. In contrast, not only has years of close proximity forced a level of familiarity with a large portion of the school, but Nancy’s work for the newspaper has also required her to talk to many of the students. She’s friendly enough with plenty of people, but it’s different to talk to people for the sake of talking.

Season one shows us that Nancy is aware of social expectations. This may have changed a bit over the years, but these expectations matter to her on some level. She does change her behavior to be more socially acceptable, and this is something that may occasionally push her out of her comfort zone. She does occasionally go to parties and other ‘group’ things. She even invited Jonathan to the Halloween party in season 2, but as I mentioned in the previous post, if it weren’t for the trauma, Nancy likely would have spent the entire evening just sticking close to Steve and/or Jonathan. I’m uncertain how much she actually likes those kinds of group events in general. In her senior year, I imagine that she only went to activities she could write an article about. This is somewhat because she was very lonely that year, and somewhat because she seems to have matured a little out of that need to shape herself to fit the expectations of the people around her. 

As for Karen, I’m not sure how much of a front Nancy puts on. Each of the lies we know about, have a valid reason for existing. However, I think Nancy is putting up a bit of a front. Nancy has been through an extraordinary amount of trauma over the course of the show. Trauma that she couldn’t tell her mother about, even if she wanted to. She doesn’t want her mother to see how much she struggles, so she puts up a bit of a happier/more social face. She also isn’t exactly close to her in the first place, so it’s easier to dissuade misplaced concern and uncomfortable conversations if she hints at having more friends than she actually does. 

To circle back to your first question, I think those ‘friends’ are people she’s acquainted with at school. They’re people her mother has probably met, or knew of, because of this or that throughout the years. I don’t think they are people she hangs out with. I don’t even think I’d go as far as saying they sit together at lunch. Once her comfort people are gone in her senior year, Nancy seems more like the type to then work on the newspaper or go to the library, if that’s allowed, during lunch.

This all may be me projecting onto my favorite character, but sometimes people just don’t have friends in high school, even if they aren’t one of the bullied outcasts. Nancy genuinely seems like this is the case. She values close relationships, but doesn’t really have any. She’s lonely partially out of her own design and personality, and partially because of tragic circumstances. She retreats into herself, or into work/projects, when things get rough. She can become very driven and single-minded on an goal, making other things fall to the wayside. All this makes it difficult for her to connect to others, and probably makes her seem more intimidating to others than she actually is.

#this all also makes me appreciate Robin even more #cause that girl just checks all the perfect boxes for nancy #it also makes me appreciate jancy too #Nancy is able to understand and relate to this strange outcast boy far more than any of the popular kids like steve #nancy wheeler #stranger things #st meta #nancy wheeler meta #rae answers #hope this makes sense #but I'm not going to spend forever reworking this so have what i would blurt out if you asked me in person #this was a really fun ask tho #i could spend forever discussing this kind of thing

[raeflora]

I said the basics of this on twitter but I honestly don't understand the sethmer dair comparisons like they're completely different ships. seth was obsessed with summer for years, much like how dan was obsessed with serena (serena, not blair who he apparently fell in love with after 5 minutes of interacting with her at an internship). seth and summer were on the same social standing in terms of wealth, it was more their differering popularity among their peers that prevented them from interacting. it's also worth pointing out that seth is very into comic books and other "geeky" hobbies, which summer wasn't into and looked down on. however, once she kissed him she realised that she did have romantic feelings for him, and that he saw her as more than a fun party girl or marissa's best friend. although initially summer was worried about their peers' reactions to her dating seth, they worked through it and they happily dated publicly at school. even when they broke up everyone could see that they belonged together, and that they still loved each other. they worked so hard to stay together and try to go to college together because they knew that they're meant to be together, and were willing to work on their relationship and adapt to challenges together. their first time together was bad, yes, but that's because they were both virgins who had never had relationships before. they communicated about it and worked through it, like they did throughout their relationship.

dair's first kiss made blair realise she wanted to be with chuck, and made her realise that all that was between her and dan was friendship. blair barely interacted with dan throughout high school because she looked down on his social standing, and dan didn't seem interested in her at all. yes they became friends and yes they did date, but blair treated him like a child throughout their 2 month relationship and very clearly didn't enjoy being seen in public with him (they never hold hands whereas sethmer were always doing something affectionate in public). dan wasn't meant to be a geek like seth and ostracised by his peers due to his hobbies, because at nyu he seems very popular and well liked, it's the massive difference in social standing and wealth (and the fact that dan's been spying on them this whole time instead of trying to have a conversation) (also nate befriends him very easily so obviously if he tried to befriend them sooner he may not have been such a self proclaimed outcast). dair's first time is bad, but unlike sethmer they weren't virgins (far, far from it) and they don't communicate and get drunk instead. throughout their relationship they lie to each other and don't trust each other at all. unlike sethmer when they break up the only person who thinks they should get back together is dan, and he gets called out on how delusional he is because it's obvious blair wants to be with chuck.

sethmer and dair aren't rich girl/geeky boy because dan's not a geek. they aren't mean girl/soft boy because dan's not soft. they aren't rich girl/poor boy because seth's not poor. they aren't bf loves gf more because summer loves seth just as much as he loves her. seth and dan aren't really similar personalities, yes they're both smart, "nerdy outcasts" but they're vastly different in their actual characterisations. seth is a geek and proud, he loves comics and emo music and he wants to get away from all the fakeness of being rich in newport. dan is literally the opposite, he wants to be part of the upper east side so badly that he'll do anything. he's athletic (he plays soccer at school) and he dates lots of women throughout the show (aside from anna, seth markedly doesn't) and he'll betray his friends if it'll get him what he wants.

seth and summer's relationship spanned 4 seasons and ended with them getting married (and, to quote summer, seth was her destiny). dan and blair had 7 episodes where blair was blatantly in love with chuck the whole time and ended with them breaking up entirely off-screen through email (and, to quote blair, she would rather be with no-one than with dan). there are no comparisons between the two beyond superficial tropes that don't even fit them. if you're a fan of both then fine, but don't drag sethmer down to the same level as a ship who are inconsequential to the plot of their show when they drove the plot of theirs.

#sethmer #anti dair #seth cohen #summer roberts #blair waldorf #dan humphrey #seth x summer #dan x blair #(technically but please pay attention to the ANTI dair tag!!) #long post #gossip girl #the oc #gossip girl meta #the oc meta #rae talks to herself

[consulaaris]

zori aviriq ✧ il mheg

picked up sage and gave zori a cute glam to go with it <3 also i just think she deserves some time to stop and chill with the flowers

bonus:

#rae plays ffxiv #oc: zori aviriq #ffxiv #gposers #ffxiv au ra #omg idk if i’ve posted her since the hair change for [redacted] reasons #i have so many SB/SHB zori lore posts to make sjdjkdk #i do think sage is gonna be one of her main EW classes tho #obsessed with the meta of her picking up a healing class again after she dropped it post HW #q

[what-shitfuckery-is-this-ew]

BARBIE

GIVE ME MORE

I LOVE IT SOOOOOOOO MUCH

OK BUT WHY DID THE CEO OF MATTEL ACT LIKE THIS MOVIE DID’T MAKE FUN OF HIM

#my post #barbie movie #barbie #barbie the movie #barbie 2023 #the barbie movie #greta gerwig #ryan gosling #margot robbie #issa rae #barbie movie 2023 #barbie cast #america ferrera #this barbie is depressed and that’s ok #it was so meta and anti-consumerism and feminism and like i hate that it’s gonna give mattel more money #i genuinely believe if you watched the movie and then get merch you didn’t watch it right #diy barbie merch

[nicholasmoorethetwittermigrant]

I started watching I’m In Love With The Villainess, and man the absolute whiplash (positive) I got from seeing a show actually challenge the “object of affection reacts with disgust/fear when someone is openly gay” gag.

I’ve NEVER seen an anime do that. In my experience the “ew gay” punchline is always where the discussion ends.

#i’m in love with the villainess #anime #gay #Yuri #meta #rae taylor #claire francois

[cristicremme]

audio is from aisha rae’s furry video :D

#kirby #Meta Knight #susie haltmann #planet robobot #flamberge kirby #francisca kirby #<< ig?? they're there for like a second #audio is from aisha rae #i dont want to talk about how long this took me.. #also sorry for the grunkly quality i fucked something up L #wdym this isnt what happened #my art #animation #i didnt know that links made posts not show up in tags bruh im dumb mb

[chimaeracrewandfriends]

What’s with all the Gay Imperials?

Hi everyone!

 So there’s this trend I’ve been noticing in some of the new “Canon” Star Wars stories we’ve gotten that I’ve been noodling around with in the back of my mind, and I figured that since it’s Pride Month, I’d try to vocalize it. As glad as I am that there are openly gay characters in Star Wars now (none of them from movies or TV of course, have to keep the mainstays of your franchise nice and clean), there is a somewhat unfortunate trend I’ve noticed, where the gay characters tend to be Imperial-aligned.

Below is a chart of all the characters confirmed to be non-straight as well as the stories where their same-sex attraction was referenced:

 Obviously, I haven’t read or played everything and there’s only so much Wookiepedia scouring you can do, so if I’ve missed out on anyone, please let me know. I’d love to get examples that prove me wrong. I’m sure there are probably one or two in the High Republic sub-franchise, but I’m so disinterested in that era, I wouldn’t know. Also, I’m only including characters whose same-sex attraction is explicitly referenced in the text/supported by authors’ comments. We can point out blatant homoeroticism and ship characters all day, but what I’m focusing on here is specifically the writers’ intentions. Cause… oh boy, what are their intentions?

So, diving into statistics, of the 12 characters I looked at, 8 of them are Imperial characters. Sinjir Rath Velus and Magna Tolvan are a little complicated as they later defected from the Empire, but even then, 50% Imperial is still not a figure I’m wholly comfortable with. I think that it goes without saying that having your gay characters be fascists (or at least indifferent to fascism) is not a great look. I’m not saying there absolutely shouldn’t be gay Imperials, but them being a majority is bad optics in my opinion. Furthermore, of these 12, I’d say only half of them have their sexuality impact their story. The rest are brief references that don’t really factor in. Which is fine, not every character needs to have a romance storyline, but it is part of this discussion. And to be clear, this just my analysis and opinions, it’s completely valid to disagree with me.

To start with non-Imperials with brief references, we have Sana Starros. She had a relationship with Dr. Aphra in college. That’s about it. And there’s also the (in)famous Amilyn Holdo. She’s one of many characters who makes this list by virtue of mentioning in passing that attraction to a single gender or species felt limiting on one occasion.

For more involved relationships, there’s Kaeden Larte, who was introduced in and has only directly appeared in Ahsoka’s eponymous novel as one of the former Jedi’s many semi-platonic female love interests. And Conder Kyl serves as the main love interest for major POV character Sinjir Rath Velus in the Aftermath trilogy and while their relationship was rocky, they ended up finding purpose in each other.

Despite the problems I have with the writing of the Aftermath trilogy, the alleged insertion of a “gay agenda” isn’t one of them. Rae Sloane mentions offhand that she never had time for relationships with men or women. At least she’s one of the more nuanced Imperials. Similarly, Varko Grey, from the Squadrons game, mentions that he has a husband in one of the many pre-flight npc conversations.

For characters with more focus on their sexuality, let’s start with Delian Mors, who easily could have been another “single throwaway line” character; it’s mentioned in her backstory that her wife died prior to Lords of the Sith. However, it’s also brought up a couple times that as the governor of Ryloth, she enjoys keeping green-skinned, Twi'lek women as servants, behavior that’s certainly imperialistic and fetishistic. After that we’ve got Chelli Loni Aphra and Magna Tolvan from the doctor’s eponymous comic series. Dr. Aphra was basically conceived as “evil Indiana Jones” and is an in-universe Darth Vader fangirl. As mentioned previously, she had a relationship with Sana Starros in the past and over the course of her own comic series she develops a homoerotic cat-and-mouse relationship with imperial Captain Magna Tolvan, who eventually joins the Rebel Alliance. Honestly, I’m fine with gay Imperials like these two, and both of them, specifically Aphra, are well-written. As is Sinjir Rath Velus, a former loyalty officer for the Empire, who later defected to the New Republic. There’s kind of “have your cake and eat it too” when it comes to Velus’s gayngst. Despite assurances that the GFFA isn’t intolerant towards non-heterosexual relationships, he still feels awkward telling a woman he isn’t interested because he’s gay and has trouble with public displays of affection with his boyfriend.

And now we have to talk about Tarkin. Tbh, this one bites. To have arguably one of the most evil and authoritarian characters in the franchise in a same-sex relationship… problematic is a good word for it. Granted, it’s never explicitly stated it’s Tarkin in the story, but context clues indicate that’s who he’s supposed to be. (I haven’t listened to the audiobook, but apparently the voice actor does a Peter Cushing impression for the character.) Although, having read Of MSE-6 and Men, I understand the story potential there; to have someone as stuffy, aristocratic, and high-ranking as Tarkin in a secret relationship with a low-ranking stormtrooper is both comedy and drama gold (the story, as it stands, is merely okay in my opinion). And because there are no female Imperials in the OT, that relationship would have to be gay. (It’s not unlike what you see in fanshipping for media with male-dominated casts, predominant M/M ships are inevitable.) As for TK-421, see above. I will say, it’s somewhat intentionally hilarious that gay icon Luke Skywalker walks around the Death Star impersonating a gay man. Or maybe that was the implication all along.

Overall, I’ll just say I’m not entirely enthused that not only is the cast of characters slanted towards Imperial, but also the Imperials tend to have their sexuality be a bigger part of their characterizations. And I think you could make an argument that there is some inherent harm in having so many villainous gay characters and I’d probably agree with you. But I believe there’s a bit more to it than that. And again, maybe I’m missing a lot of data and there are more heroic gays in stories I haven’t read. I’ll fully admit I’ve read more Imperial-centric stories in the past several years, mostly because I enjoy villains and find Imperial politicking and bickering to be amusing. That and the similarities between the Empire and the U.S. are getting harder to ignore every day.

When concerning some of the more well-written gay relationships or ones with the potential to be narratively rich, it does pose the question “Should certain story developments, regardless of their quality, be avoided because of the unfortunate implications?” The simple answer is “yes” but a more nuanced one is “it depends on the context” which is… not exactly helpful. Because context and presentation are important. Even with a couple of the characters whose sexuality is more prominent, the writers fell into some easy traps vis-a-vis cliche negative stereotypes. As mentioned earlier, Delian Mors’ fetish for Twi'lek women plays into stereotypes about lesbians being predatory. She’s also a drug addict as a result of her wife’s death, which I honestly can’t tell if that’s supposed to make her sympathetic or not. The demonization of drug users is another topic entirely. Even Sinjir’s story hit a speed bump when Jas, who knows he’s gay, assumes that his interest in Temmin Wexley may be sexual, which, even as a passing joke, comes uncomfortably close to associating gay men with pedophilia. It’s these kinds of (hopefully) unconscious biases that can even seep into characters who the writers are putting genuine effort into.

On a related note, we’ve gotten a few transgender characters in Star Wars over the past few years, and as far as I know, none of them are Imperials. This does lend some credence to my theory that writers aren’t intentionally being malicious by having gay Imperial characters in their stories. After all, if their intentions were to make gays look like fascists, why not throw trans people under the bus as well? Based on the available evidence, I believe that some of these writers simply believe (or want to believe) that we live in a post-sexuality society, where it’s okay to have gay villains without there inherently being negative connotations with that association; that there’s no assumed correlation between sexuality and morality. And while that would be nice to think, I’m not so sure that’s where we’re at now.

There is a similar discussion about the prevalence of nonwhite Imperial characters over the past several years. And again, I think that comes from a belief that we live in a post-race society, which is not a new idea, the concept of being “colorblind” in this way started gaining relevance in the 90s. It’s good that we’re having these discussions now, because they’re important. And I think one of the reasons why there’s been more diversity among the Empire’s ranks as of late it that their casts are entirely human as opposed to the multi-species Rebellion and New Republic. So there’s some logistical reasons why, but that shouldn’t be a sole reason, ya’know?

If I wanted to be very, very generous, I could argue that the inclusion of nonwhite, nonmale, nonstraight Imperials does work well as it demonstrates that there will always be people in various marginalized groups that will still want to join and try to benefit from oppressive power structures. There may even be a writer or two that intends that, consciously or not. Because even with a more diverse Imperial cast, the high-ranking officials are still predominantly straight (presumably), white men. But… I think that’s a bit too nuanced of a view for the current crop of Star Wars writers to collectively hold at large.

And you may call me a hypocrite for shipping Thranto and writing slash fanfics with Imperial characters… and that’s not entirely unfair. But, please understand that there’s a big difference between me writing free stories in my little apartment and the published works of a multi-billion dollar media giant.

So after going through all this, I’m going to have to say I’m not opposed to there being gay Imperials, but it would be nice to see some changes. Namely, writers should try to avoid negative stereotypes and write more non-Imperial gay characters, especially ones whose sexuality is more than just a passing reference. Writers should ask themselves “What is the context of this character’s sexuality and what kind of message does it convey?” And, as I said, given that we haven’t seen any transgender Imperials, I think the writers do have the degree of self-awareness to do better. And who knows? Maybe in earlier drafts of stories, there were more heroic gays and they got straight-washed during the editing process, so proportionally more gay Imperials make the final cut. That’s the line I’m taking, writing less gay Imperial characters isn’t as important as writing more gay non-Imperial characters. But at the same time, it shouldn’t just be about hitting some quota. Again, I would like to see a greater level of awareness and consideration of the implications of what they’re writing, which would fundamentally lead to stronger long-lasting change. If the writers truly are well-meaning, this would result in characters whose sexualities are better incorporated into the narrative and would hypothetically lead to more good guy gays because the underlying issues of the creative process have been addressed. I hope that’s not too big of an ask.

Sinjir/Conder and Aphra/Tolvan are great canon gay pairings that we’ve gotten and it would have been a shame to have never gotten them at all because of a complete ban on gay Imperial characters. But it would also be cool to continue to see more couples with that quality of writing, ideally more heroic ones, so I’m not going to put my foot down and say absolutely no gay Imperials. That shouldn’t be the focus, is my main takeaway. The problem isn’t that there are gay Imperials at all, it’s the naivety and unexamined bias (and likely homophobic editors) that led to there being a greater number of gay Imperials. And who knows, I believe starting sometime soon, Star Wars novels will be released under a new publishing house instead of Del Ray. Perhaps they’ll have more progressive editors. Fingers crossed.

#star wars #sw meta #pride month #galactic empire #delian mors #kaeden larte #chelli lona aphra #magna tolvan #sana starros #tk 421 #wilhuff tarkin #rae sloane #sinjir rath velus #conder kyl #amilyn holdo #varko grey #lords of the sith #doctor aphra #from a certain point of view #aftermath trilogy #leia princess of alderaan #star wars squadrons

[liankuea]

Yeah I would like them to talk things out too. But the last scene and the absolutely insane range of emotion each of them were displaying made me realize that sexual intimacy is their strongest line of communication atm. Kinn bursting into tears as Porsche held him close in those final moments just solidified that for me.

#there is so much to upack #rae watches #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #kinn x porsche #text #kinnporsche meta

[welcometololaland]

the way there are fics on your wip list that aren’t on your actual wip list gjfjjfjfkfkd (yes I’m in that doc too, did you forget? You can’t get rid of me lmao)

Tell me about META FIC pls 🙏🏽💖

LMAO OOPS! yes meta fic. let's just say its a bunch of messages in a doc right now.

The premise is somewhat similar to chapter 7 of Seven Years but yet to decide how it's going to work. Mostly just obsessed with how ridiculous and meta this could be 💜

#WIP game #ask game #Lola Writes #rae tag #meta fic