#they were the only sapphic women representation i knew for a long time

[chrysalis-the-butterfly]

Queer Ladies of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Sonic franchise doesn’t have a whole lot of romance.  There’s the occasional ship tease, and that’s about it.  And there definitely isn’t a lot of queer content.  

However, there are some Sonic characters who have been confirmed to be LGBT+ in some way.  It’s usually just a behind-the-scenes comment from someone working on the series, rather than representation in the story itself - but hey, it’s better than nothing.  

I was interested in the women and girls in particular, so here’s all the (almost) canonically queer ladies associated with Sonic the Hedgehog.  

Look under the cut to see the full list!  

Sally Acorn is bisexual and Nicole the Holo-Lynx is in love with her.  

Pre-reboot, Sally was Sonic’s girlfriend.  Post-reboot, however, the writers place a greater emphasis on her connection with Nicole.  This would suggest that Sally is bisexual.  

Nicole loves Sally back, so - depending on whether you see her pre-reboot interactions with Shard and Espio as friendly or romantic - you could read Nicole as lesbian or bi.  

At one point during the Spark of Life arc, Sally asks Big the Cat if he minds that Nicole isn’t organic like the rest of the Freedom Fighters.  Big’s response is, “As long as they’re nice, I don’t care what anyone is.”  This exchange could be read through a queer lens - in which case, Sally is checking to see if others are okay with her dating Nicole, and Big is suggesting that he’d accept them.  

Ian Flynn has stated that he supported the Sallicole pairing and left subtle hints to it throughout the Archie Comics series.  However, it wasn’t featured too strongly because he knew a large proportion of the Sonic fanbase would not accept Sally dating anyone other than Sonic.  

Gold the Tenrec is sapphic.  

Evan Stanley stated on her Tumblr blog @spiritsonic​ that she was “leaning towards either bisexual or lesbian” for Gold’s orientation.  She added that Gold would crush on Blaze, Sally or Clove: “women who seem to have their s*** together”.  

Gold’s sapphic identity was never established in the comic before it was cancelled.  In the Silver Age arc, her only appearance, she was surrounded by boys and men - Silver the Hedgehog and Professor Von Schlemmer.  

Clove the Pronghorn is a lesbian.  

Aleah Baker has stated that Clove was intended to be written as a lesbian.  Her conflict with Sally and Lupe had “a mix of admiration of their leadership with a bit of a crushing angle”; that was Baker’s mentality when writing.  

However, there was “zero romantic angle” to Clove’s story, her lesbian identity was never acknowledged, and the comic ended before she could be put in a situation where romantic stuff would become relevant.  

Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf are in love with each other.  

The creative team at IDW Publishing is aware that people ship Tangle and Whisper, and has been leaning into it in subtle ways.  For example, Whisper’s tail wags rapidly when Tangle puts an arm around her.  

Flynn has explained that SEGA does not want the IDW comics to “go in-depth” with any romantic relationships - even Sonic and Amy are supposed to be “just very good friends”.  So in a similar vein, Tangle and Whisper have to be written as “really, really, really, really, really, really the bestest of friends.”  But hints are still being dropped.  

Amy Rose and Tekno the Canary got married and had a kid.  

In Sonic the Comic, Amy and Tekno were two Freedom Fighters and good friends who were sought out by the Ring of Eternity, a sentient dimensional warp which sent them on missions to right wrongs and fight injustice through time and space.  

In an issue of the fan continuation Sonic the Comic Online which was co-written by Nigel Kitchen (someone who contributed to the original series), a glimpse into the future reveals that Amy and Tekno will settle down together and have a son, and that Sonic will be his godfather.  

Given that Amy and Tekno also have a soft spot for the boys in their life (Sonic and Shortfuse, respectively), it could be said that they are bisexual in this continuity.  

Rouge the Bat and Topaz had something going on.  

When these two women first meet, Rouge asks Topaz what she likes to do with her handcuffs (a joke that was cut from the official English dub).  She also teases Topaz about her age and weight.  

However, it’s hinted that a more friendly, or even romantic, relationship has developed over time.  When the portal to Sonic’s world is powered up, Rouge gives Topaz a gem - “a steal” from the jewellery store - as a parting gift.  She then bids her companion farewell as she enters the portal, leaving Topaz weeping.  

Rouge could be considered to be bisexual, given her canonical interest in both Topaz and Knuckles.  

Emerald the Iguana is genderfluid, Crystal the Cat is bisexual, and Sapphire Flutterby is a lesbian.  (And Jewel the Beetle might be a lesbian too.)  

Emerald, Crystal and Sapphire are some of the “Jewel Crew” OCs created by Jennifer Hernandez.  They have made cameos in the IDW series now that Hernandez is an official Sonic artist.  And one year, for Pride Month, Hernandez posted a picture of the Jewel Crew waving various pride flags on Twitter.  So I’m counting them as official queer characters.  I know, it’s a bit of a cheat.  

Three of Hernandez’s OCs are queer, and the other two (Jade the Cat and Ruby Ringtail) are allies.  

One of the queer characters is Emerald, who is genderfluid.  Emerald used to have she/her pronouns, but I don’t know if that’s still the case.  

Secondly, Crystal (the pale pink cat) is bisexual, and Hernandez ships her with Mighty the Armadillo.  

Finally, Sapphire (the butterfly) is a lesbian, and Hernandez ships her with Jewel the Beetle, as seen in her Patreon art.  This could mean that Jewel is also a lesbian, or at least questioning her orientation.  

And there you have it!  All the (almost) canonically queer ladies of the Sonic franchise!  

#sonic the hedgehog #wlwsonic #sally acorn #nicole the holo-lynx #gold the tenrec #clove the pronghorn #tangle the lemur #whisper the wolf #amy rose #fleetway amy #tekno the canary #rouge the bat #topaz #topaz sonic x #crystal the cat #sapphire flutterby #jewel the beetle #emerald the iguana #jewel crew #queer #sapphic #lesbian #bisexual #bi #pansexual #genderfluid #lgbt #archie sonic #post-reboot archie sonic #idw sonic

[davekat-sucks]

Since it’s pride month I think a fascinating thing about the progress of how LGBT people are represented in society and media is how queer couples became more accepted into the mid-to-late 2010s and ordinarily shows that only had straight couples were allowed to, and sometimes tried, to add a non-heterosexual couple into the show’s canon.

I think the most fascinating example of this was bubbeline, or the ship between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the vampire queen from the cartoon Adventure time.

The show ran from 2010 to 2018 and was in the prime position to build this ship up in later seasons, which helped since as far back as season 3 of the show Marceline and Bonnabel had been implied to be friends for a long time.

What’s also interesting was that in the early days, the show may not have intended for them to get together romantically, as they both had ex-boyfriends.

Episode 1 of the show has P.B. Try to revive her old boyfriend Old Mr. Creampuff from the dead, and another episode has Finn and Jake tricked by Marceline’s ex boyfriend to remove the memory of their breakup.

So a lot of the early seasons of Adventure Time really imply these two women to be straight, until the later seasons. They hang out together A LOT in the later seasons, and share a canon kiss in the finale, which really coincides with the Obgerfell Vs Hobbes court case and changes in censorship for kids media.

And to be fair, they were the best fit for each other. The only primary male characters Princess Bubblegum knew were Finn, who is underage until the 1st season of the show, Jake who is a dog and in a relationship with her steed and friend lady rainicorn, and her serial kidnapper the Ice King. Marceline was like, the only other adult who was nice and obviously attracted to her. It’s a funny pipeline from 2 straight women to a sapphic (I think) pairing between 2 bisexual women.

So I think Adventure Time is really a time capsule of how LGBT representation progressed with the legal protection of gay marriage by the supreme court.

Now I know this is a Homestuck account so I’ll finish off with an addendum.

Homestuck was ahead of the curve since it doesn’t have to deal with federal regulation by broadcast media by television.

Hussie had canon same-sex couples in the comic by 2012, implied same-sex attraction between 2 characters (Kanya and Rose) by 2011, and a race of Bisexual aliens (and Kanaya said to be a lesbian exception to the rule) by 2010.

This representation really helped struggling queer people finding their identity in the early 2010s. It’s a good thing that came from queer Homestuck ships, for better (RoseMary) or for worse (DAVE-KAT)

It just sucks that Finn's character had to be ruined during Adventure Time's run. But I can definitely agree that Bubbleline definitely is one of the better cartoons to show how LGBT was able to be pushed through TV media during its time. Rosemary's buildup was definitely better in early acts of Homestuck. Just wish that Act 6 and Post Retcon did more besides being that lesbian couple. Cause at least with Bubbline, the two girls are distinct even when they are apart. Like Marceline being a vampire queen, can play the bass, beautiful vocals, and has quite a heavy backstory. Princess Bubblegum is a girl who is also a scientist, has committed atrocities in order for her to stay in power, and her origins are just as shocking as well. Even when they had episodes together before they were declared as a couple, the two girls are separate characters with their own dreams, motivations, and goals that isn't always about the partner. You don't get to see or hear anymore of Rose's psychoanalysis. Not even the silly girl side of her that isn't from alcohol. Where is her playful side that she would do with John or Dave? She probably treat Karkat the same way she did towards John since they are leaders and parallel to each other. Kanaya doesn't bring up fashion anymore or do anything on the meteor for people like Karkat, Dave, or Terezi. Hell, even in Post Retcon, she still seemed chill with Vriska despite that she was her ex-crush. Was she just happy to have two bad girls on the meteor that she would rather watch them in admiration and do nothing else? Homestuck may have been the earlier presence of LGBT themes and characters, but payoff for it all as it progressed just got worse that the built up for it was better in comparison.

#Homestuck #HOM3STUCK #Rosemary #Davekat #KatDave #KarDave #KatDavev #Bubbleline #Adventure Time

[mysticsapphicsblog]

How long did it sink in for to when you realised you were a lesbian? Or did you just kinda know from the first moment? (Not the first moment but like when you started questioning or was like “I might be a lesbian” or whatever)

Okay I'm not sure I've ever written my full coming out story down on here but you, lucky anon, are now going to graced with my story:

I did not know gay people existed until I was 12, I accepted their existence but didn't think it should be in public. I had had crushes on men before so I would never have considered the possibility of me being gay.

I was 14, I was in my emo phase and my best friend sent me a picture of Lyn-z Way and basically said she's really hot. It was at this point I started question, but I didn't think about it again for months.

I was almost 15 when I had my first crush on someone (I later found out he was a ftm trans boy but at the time I only knew him to be a girl with short hair). It was at this point I decided pansexual was a label that fit me and I came out to some friends as pan.

I'd say a year went by, and I decided that pan didn't feel right for some reason so I started telling people I was bisexual, but that didn't feel right either. I wished so badly that I could just tell people I was gay but the fact I had been attracted to men, made me think I couldn't be gay. (the effects of comphet)

I started using sapphic as a label when I was 16 because, to me, it felt more closely associated with wlw specifically, but I loved that it was still flexible.

I turned 17 and had a crush on a girl (who would eventually become my first girlfriend). It was at this point I decided that lesbian, as a label, fit me. I could only imagine my future with a woman, and I could only see myself marrying a woman. I came out soon after I turned 17, just over two years ago now.

It took me three years to finally figure out I was gay, and come to terms with it. I think my comphet was partially to blame, but also for the lack of representation of masculine, androgynous and butch women in media - because when I was first questioning myself, I couldn't understand why I didn't feel attracted to feminine presenting women - because I'm solely attracted to masculine women and butches, which I know now.

I still question myself sometimes, but lesbian is a label I am finally comfortable with. Thank you for this ask anon, I hope you all enjoyed my essay :')

#sorry for writing so much #i didn't go into me being demisexual because i haven't fully figured that out yet #this is the whole story #it's something #erin's anons #erin's post

[fycarmensandiego]

My thoughts on the new show

It’s not really a proper review because how would I even do that, so here are my various thoughts, somewhat collected! (This is long as hell, fair warning.)

General thoughts:

Le Chevre and El Topo are definitely a couple. I’m so glad other people in the tag are seeing this too. My first inkling was when they were hugging each other after graduating, but it was Carmen’s comment that they only ever work together that really got me like “oh they’re gay.”

Speaking of gays, Dash Haber (Countess Cleo’s courier) is one. His voice is so gay-coded, I knew this one immediately. Not crazy about him being an antagonist (even among antagonists), but he amused me, so he’s good.

Even if they have the same names, these are different characters. The exceptions here being Carmen, the Chief, and possibly Julia. This isn’t a Tomb Raider: Legend case of putting characters in different situations and slightly changing their personalities, or even a Tomb Raider 2013 case of radically changing their personalities to coincide with their new paradigms. Chase, Zack, Ivy, and the rest are really entirely new characters that simply share their names with past characters. It’s almost as if the names are references to the past shows and games than ties to those characters.

For the most part, they even have different designs. Zack is certainly the most radical change, but even the most similar have some changes. Prof. Maelstrom isn’t nearly as stocky as his namesake, and while Dr. Saira Bellum has wild hair like Dr. Sara Bellum, it’s a strange shape as well as a strange color, and her skin is darker.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened in the franchise, either. Minnie Series from Where on Earth is apparently a totally different character from Minnie Series from the original Where in Time game. Adventures in Math changed a lot of the characters’ designs and backstories: some, like Jacqueline Hyde, still had the same core, but others, like Jane Reaction, are so different they have to be considered different characters. And then there are all the different iterations of the Chief: old white guy, middle-aged white guy, middle-aged Black gal, hologram, presumably white guy shrouded in mystery...

I will say that as a result of this, I was disappointed with Zack and Ivy. Not because this Zack and Ivy are bad characters, but because Where on Earth Zack and Ivy are my favorite characters in the franchise after Carmen, and I was looking forward to getting to see them, or at least characters resembling them, again. But, it is what it is.

I get the Kim Possible comparisons, but they’re not where I’d jump first. There are similarities: both are action shows with deliciously OTT villains (though the VILE gang wish they were as effortlessly iconic as Drakken, Shego, and Señor Senior, Sr. and Jr.) and similar art styles, and Player/Wade is a fair comparison. But I have to say I’d never have thought of that comparison if I hadn’t seen it here on Tumblr, perhaps because KP was rooted in Kim and Ron’s daily lives (Sailor Moon-style), whereas CS is rooted in its overarching plot (Chuck-style).

I do agree with another comparison: Coach Brunt and Countess Cleo, and Eartha Brute and the Contessa. I saw a post in the tag earlier today that brought this up, and while I hadn’t thought of it - probably because the Where in the World show is one of the parts of canon I’m least familiar with - it seems legit to me. I had wondered why these two were seemingly born out of nowhere, when the other three had their names and likenesses drawn from Where on Earth characters. (Shadowsan seems to me to be based on Suhara’s design and, to some extent, personality, with Shadow Hawkins’ name.) The specific theory that post espouses, that it’s a legal issue, seems possible to me. Although the World villains did appear in other Carmen media, I know WGBH and WQED own the copyright to the show, though they licensed the franchise from Brøderbund. So I have no idea what the legal tangle is behind that show, and I imagine it’s very complicated.

Speaking of WGBH: I wonder if Zack and Ivy being from Boston is an incredibly subtle reference to its location there.

I have mixed feelings about the art style. It is great in still shots, but I found it a little hard to watch as animation for very long.

I don’t ship anything – yet. Julia’s clarification of “travel partner” is certainly ripe for shippy implications, but for me there’s really not much on a personality level to ship her and Carmen at this point. (Likewise Carmen and Ivy, or Carmen and Zack.) I could definitely get behind Julia having a crush on Carmen, the way I feel OG!Jules certainly does.

As to Gray... he was plainly asking Carmen out / hitting on her when he gave her his card. But even on the way to the date, she insisted she saw him as an older brother figure. Like with Julia, I could potentially get behind it in future, but I’d have to see it developed further. There’s also the matter of him trying to kill Carmen, which I’m not crazy about... Carmen’s forgiven him since he was under orders from VILE, and his mind-erase courtesy of Dr. Bellum has given him a fresh start, but it didn’t change who he fundamentally is as a person, and that person made the decision to join VILE and ultimately to agree to kill Carmen. But I’m not totally anti-Carmen/Gray at this point.

(In re Carmen’s sexuality: I have always felt strongly that all of Carmen’s previous incarnations were ace/aro, but this Carmen? The sapphics have claimed her, and I’m here for it. I’m fine with her being gay, bi, or pan. I’m fine with her being acespec and/or arospec, or not.)

I was surprised by the violence. Scenes of literal attempted murder would never have made it in previous shows or games! In fact, a lot of the melee combat wouldn’t have. The franchise hasn’t always been totally non-violent - Ivy whacked the occasional villain around on Earth, and ThinkQuick and Stolen Drums both required the player to destroy VILE robots, the former featuring robots with personalities - but I don’t think it’s ever been shown in such detail as the combat scenes in this series. I don’t have a problem with it, exactly, but it was a little jarring.

Things I didn’t like:

The educational moments were utterly didactic. I guess you could say the same about Earth, but I feel like it integrated the education into the plot better, and it certainly made the educational moments more fun by working jokes into them. Meanwhile, this show is taking the Stolen Drums approach of info-dumping for two minutes and then moving ahead with the actual plot with no attention to education thereafter. To go back to my favorite video game (I warned y’all), fucking Tomb Raider: Legend did a better job integrating education with action. And it’s not even supposed to be educational!

Stop trying to make “caper” happen. It’s not going to happen. It’s a perfectly good word to use from time to time, as it always has been in canon, but for “The ____ Caper” to be every episode title, and for it to be used at every opportunity in the script when “theft” or “heist” or another word could have been used just as easily gets annoying. The thesaurus: it exists. Also, it’s so overused that at a certain point I started thinking of the culinary garnish instead of a crime. (And I’ve never even eaten capers. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen them in person.)

I’m not crazy about the newly established genesis of Carmen’s name. Having her grow up with no name but “Black Sheep” makes me feel uncomfortable tbh, and while I like the significance of her choosing her own name, pulling it off a hat label seems cheap. And out of character for someone as thoughtful as Carmen.

Some of the villains seemed like real cultural stereotypes. Thankfully, it was not nearly as bad as Adventures in Math, or we’d literally have had Le Chevre saying, “Hon hon hon, baguettes!” but Shadowsan and Paper Star in particular made me uncomfortable as they felt like very stereotypical “Japanese” characters. The same could be said of Coach Brunt, who while not a stereotype of any marginalized group, was definitely a bit one-note. Coach Beiste, but evil and Texan.

Cross-language misspellings. Namely, Shadowsan and Le Chevre should be Shadow-san and Le Chèvre, should they not? The omission of accent marks has always been one of my major bugaboos, and while it’s not the first time the franchise has done it, it still annoys me. Shadow-san’s missing hyphen annoys me even more, since the hyphen indicates that other honorifics could be used, and in fact, it would (if I understand correctly) be more appropriate for his students to address him as Shadow-sama or Shadow-sensei while his peers call him Shadow-san.

I felt some real misogynistic undertones to Tigress. In a show that otherwise is quite female-forward, it irked me that of Carmen’s four classmates, only one is a girl - and she’s the one who becomes Carmen’s rival. And then for that to continue throughout the series, setting her up as the mean girl to Carmen’s good girl (in many ways, the Regina to Carmen’s Janis Ian), really bothered me. I certainly don’t think female characters have to be perfect, or expect perfect representation, but it feels like Tigress’ development just was not done mindfully, and instead they let themselves fall into misogynistic tropes. It’s not like you to pit women against each other, etc. etc.

The ages and timeline confused me. Carmen seems to be in her late teens or early twenties throughout the main part of the series (I saw a post that mentioned she says she’s 20), yet she was clearly still a preteen or young teen when she stole Cookie’s hard drive. Since Cookie’s delivery is an annual event, its information shouldn’t last Carmen those several years to grow up.

By a similar token, Player seems to be the same age in the flashbacks as in the present day. As a result, he seems a little older than Carmen to start, and a few years younger to conclude. It messes me up. Not least because, not gonna lie, I want to be sure it’s okay for me to be so gay for Carmen.

Things I liked:

The references to previous canon. Along with the aforementioned names, we have:

Rita Moreno’s cameo! (Please, please, God, give us another Rita cameo and cameos for the rest of the Earth cast next season.)

Mentions of punning names. This was delightfully lampshaded with Gray’s original codename of “Graham Crackle” and the subsequent drags from his classmates. And while most of the other characters didn’t get punning names, one of the two who did was Rita’s character, Cookie Booker, the bookkeeper - or, indeed, book-cooker.

The very meta plot point of Carmen getting her outfit by stealing it from Cookie, voiced by her previous incarnation’s voice actor.

Frequent utterances of “Where in the world is...” or “Where on Earth is...”

Tigress’ name, a reference to an Earth episode where Carmen faces a new rival. I don’t know if the Duchess plotline was also a deliberate reference to this episode, or a subconscious one, but it’s so similar that I can’t think it was total coincidence.

I’m thinking “the cleaners” are a reference to the Ick brothers, the janitors from World and USA 3.0.

Carmen is ginger. I have a significant bias for redheads. (I dye my hair red and am only half-joking when I call myself transginger as well as transgender. Heaven on Earth-era Belinda Carlisle is one of my major style rolemodels.) Carmen suddenly being auburn for the first time just makes her even more endearing to me than one would have thought possible. Plus, Ivy and Zack both being redheads? Iconic.

Carmen is also gorgeous. Now, unlike some of you, I have never previously been gay for Carmen; she’s always been more of a big sister figure to me. Instead, as a kid, I was gay for TV!Jacqueline Hyde, Ann Tikwittee, and Ivy, in that chronological order. But the moment I saw this Carmen with her hair up in the trailer, I was a goner. And in her cocktail dress at the charity auction, or her black catsuit at the end of episode 9? I thirst. There were several other points as well where I was just like, “Oh my god, she’s so pretty.” Yes, darlings, I am very gay.

That choker. Most fashionable thing Carmen’s ever worn. Fight me. We love a stylish queen.

Player has a fidget spinner. And it’s only seen briefly, which to me says it’s an everyday part of his life, not something they threw in to try to seem cool... Which in turn allows me to point to something and headcanon that Player is autistic. He’s also known mostly by a username, and spends most of his time working on his special interest, and doesn’t seem to be one for socializing in traditional ways. We love an autistic prince. (Also, this makes him in some ways a male version of my girl Futaba from Persona 5. Again, iconic.)

(To be clear, especially since it wasn’t in my little self-introduction the other day, I’m self-diagnosed on the autism spectrum. So well-written characters being autistic is really fun for me.)

Player is from Niagara Falls, near where I live (I’m on the outer edges of the Buffalo/Niagara Falls MSA), while Zack and Ivy are from Boston, where I’m moving next month. Totally personal to me, but I’m so delighted. Now, granted, Player is on the Ontario side of the Falls rather than the New York side, but still. (Hell, who can blame him for not living in Niagara Falls, NY? It’s a hellhole.)

The VILE leaders stay iconic. Countess Cleo’s crush on Zack in his “Duke” guise is hilarious and adorable, and Dr. Bellum’s obsession with cat videos? Legends only.

Paper Star is generally fantastic. It’s actually too bad for me she’s a villain, because I find her super likeable. Her tendency to hum/sing to herself is also really endearing, and she’s another one who’s easy to headcanon as neurodivergent. I really hope we get more of her, and more of her outside combat and the daily business of villainery, because she’s easily my favorite of the VILE crew.

Tigress is also awesome. Yeah, the female character bias is real, but she’s def my second-favorite, which amplifies my annoyance at the aforementioned misogyny. To be honest, though, part of it may be that she’s basically Amanda Evert, my girlfriend from - you guessed it, folks! - Tomb Raider: Legend, with purple lipstick.

Zack and Ivy met Carmen while casing a donut shop. This is so delightfully silly, and I adore it. Like, who the fuck robs a donut shop of all things? I feel like it could’ve been a reference to them being fat, maybe one that was meant to be developed further but ended up on the cutting room floor? On that note...

The fat positivity is real. Zack and Ivy are still able to move around and are even somewhat athletic; the Countess crushes on Zack; and nothing negative is said about their weight (except the potential implications of the donut shop). I love this.

Carmen and Jules’ conversation. As I said above, it’s not enough for me to start shipping them, but I love that Carmen casually addresses her as Jules rather than Julia. It’s so much like when people I don’t know well call me Soph instead of Sophie, which I always love because it connotes that closeness. Moreover, since Julia’s previous incarnation / namesake was almost always called Jules, and was Carmen’s former detective partner, I feel like there’s an implication that Carmen coined that nickname and it became her primary moniker. It’s just so good, and shipping or no shipping, I really hope we get more interactions between them next season.

The voices are good... mostly. Maelstrom is definitely the one I was most impressed with, as his voice has a lot of character while still being easy to understand. Liam O’Brien was doing a great Tim Curry impression there, but much less egregiously campy and therefore more believable. Sharon Muthu was also fantastic as Dr. Bellum - not as fantastic as WOEICS!Sara’s voice actor (Candi Milo?), but then, who could be? And Kari Wahlgren’s performance as Tigress was snarly perfection.

Gina Rodriguez is a big departure from Carmen’s typically low-pitched voice, but she’s perfectly fine. I never sat up and went, “Wow, what a performance!” but I can’t find any fault with it either. Finn Wolfhard as Player is obviously cross-promotional stunt casting, but surprisingly, it’s also perfect casting.

On the minus side... Zack and Ivy. Part of it is that their accents are so ridiculous that it’s distracting (see above Tim Curry comment). Part of it is that, at least to my ears, the accents aren’t believable - I thought they were supposed to be from Brooklyn until they mentioned Boston. I actually don’t fault the VAs for this, as they both have moments where I got the sense they’d be capable VAs for the characters (and I know Abby Trott is talented as I loved her in Tales of Berseria and Nier: Automata), but rather the voice director(s) who pushed them toward those performances. I feel like if the direction had been different, I’d have liked Zack and Ivy a lot more.

That plot twist. I truly never saw it coming. I suspected that Coach Brunt was not, in fact, the one who found Carmen, but I’d actually thought it might have been Prof. Maelstrom. The extent of Shadowsan’s revelations was a big surprise to me. Kudos to the writers for pulling that off.

Conclusion:

It’s not the series I expected. It’s not the series I hoped for. But it is one that I enjoyed, both on its own merits and for revitalizing the franchise. As I said last night, it is a hell of a feeling to have new Carmen content in 2019 (that’s actually getting attention), and for it to be really good content is a relief.

If anyone else wants to share their thoughts, either one-on-one or with the rest of the community (as it were), please do! I’d love to talk more about this series and this franchise and the thieving queen of my heart, Ms. Carmen Sandiego.

#cs2019 #carmen sandiego spoilers #reviews

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Charmed 1x01 “Pilot” Review

There had been rumors of a Charmed reboot for years. Before that, there were rumblings of it being a sequel to the original series. At long last, the rebooted series has arrived. The new series follows Mel and Maggie Vera (Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffrey), as well as their long-lost half-sister, Macy Vaughn (Madeleine Mantock), as they discover their new powers that were bestowed upon them after their mother Marisol’s gruesome murder. It follows the same kind of formula that the original series had, but that’s basically it.  

As much as I had wanted to delve into every single article and promotional video leading up to the pilot episode, I had to hold myself back. Much like many fans, I was a huge fan of the original series and scoffed at the idea of a reboot so soon after the series finale. (It’s only been 12 years.  That’s not a lot.) However, then I decided to be an adult about this fictitious work and it give it a shot. Hollywood hasn’t been pumping out very many original ideas lately, so we’ve got to work with what we’re given and make for the best and make the best of it, they did!

Going into this with a very open mind, I was delighted by what greeted me. There was a light-hearted air to the episode, despite it starting off with a murder and the sisters in mourning. It was a great set-up to help us get to know the new sisters and their whitelighter guide, Harry (Rupert Evans). Mel and Maggie were the two sisters who had grown up together in a small college town called Hilltowne. Mel, the oldest of the two, is a hot-headed grad student, as well as ardent feminist and sapphic queen. She has a beautiful, kind, and caring detective girlfriend, Nico Hamada (Ellen Tamaki). After Marisol’s murder, Nico breaks up with Mel, not because she doesn’t care, but because Mel is just so angry all the time. Mel knew something was up with her mother’s mysterious death, but no one had given her the time of day, including Maggie.  

Maggie is an 18-year old undergraduate, starting her first year of college. We’re introduced to her trying to rush a sorority on campus. Maggie’s personality dictates someone that wants to fit in with those around her. The sorority is cliched, including the sorority president. That was basically one of only two parts of the episode I didn’t like. The sorority president, Lucy (Natalie Hall), comes across with this fake niceness that your typical “mean girls” always seem to sport. Lucy makes it clear to Maggie that she’s a shoe-in for joining the sorority, but wants Maggie to be more like the other pledges by falling a bit more in-line with their image.  

Macy Vaughn is a scientist. She recently got a position at the same university that Mel and Maggie attend, working under a Professor Thaine. While taking a walk, she stumbles upon the Vera house a few short months after Marisol’s murder. She recognizes it from a picture she has of herself standing in front of it in Marisol’s arms. Macy was told by her father that her mother died when she was little. She discovers that part was a lie, but we see her reading about Marisol’s murder on her first day of work. She ends up visiting Mel and Maggie and telling them she’s their sister. She basically ends up rocking their world, as the house completely loses power.  

The house may have lost electrical power, but these three young ladies gained their supernatural powers by all being under the same roof together for the first time. Turns out, that broke the binding spell their mother had placed on them. In the original series, the sisters had a binding spell placed on them so they could grow up as normal children, safe from dark forces. One can assume, based on this knowledge (unless you’re new to the world of Charmed), that it’s the same reasoning in the new series.   

Soon after meeting, the three start to exhibit new abilities. Macy discovers hers at a bar.  She ends up flinging a beer bottle at the wall...without touching it at all. She believes she’s drunk and clumsy and makes a flimsy excuse to leave her friend behind and go home. Mel finds her power when she’s catching up with Nico at a coffee shop. Nico’s a concerned ex-girlfriend at this point and while discussing Mel’s behavior after her mother’s death, Mel starts freezing time. Understandably, she’s freaked out and flees. Maggie finds her abilities during rush at the sorority house. She’s being introduced to other girls in the sorority and when she shakes their hand, she hears their thoughts about her. They’re typical judgemental sorority thoughts, but it’s enough to weird out Maggie and make a spectacle of herself in the meantime as she runs out of the house.  

The three women soon find themselves waking up tied to chairs in the Vera’s attic. Harry (mentioned above) introduces himself as a whitelighter; their angelic, spiritual guide. He’s also the man who took Marisol’s vacant position in the Women’s Studies department at the college. Harry informs them that they are the Charmed Ones and it’s their destiny to take down the forces of evil and stop the apocalypse. Obviously, this is met with trepidation. Macy explains that it’s all just science and that magic isn’t real. Maggie is fearful of these new abilities and isn’t sure if she wants this. Mel seemed to be the only sister who was thrilled by the news! They now have the ability to find out who murdered their mother.  

What actually gets them all on the same page eventually is when Maggie is attacked by her ex-boyfriend, who has been possessed by a demon. Was he the only evil being on campus? Absolutely not. Professor Thaine, who Marisol had been the sole reason for charges being brought against him because he’s a sexual predator, is evil in all the ways there can be. We’re first introduced to him earlier in the episode on Macy’s first day at work. He had the charges against him cleared, but protests were popping up on campus. By the end of the episode, Professor Thaine is made out to be the first big bad these new Charmed Ones have faced and defeated. They originally believed he was the one who killed their mother, but his dying words say otherwise.  

The episode ends with with sisters gathered around a Ouija board, attempting to communicate with their mother on the other side. “She” informs them not to trust Harry. This can go one of two ways: 1) The spirit the sisters have come into contact with isn’t their mother and is potentially an evil spirit/demon attempting to turn the sisters against their Whitelighter. 2) Harry isn’t who he seems.  I’m quite partial to number 1. It might just be that it’s my belief that Whitelighters are a force of good. If Harry is indeed a Whitelighter (he has the healing powers Whitelighters tend to have at least), I believe he must be good. If he isn’t, I’ll be the first to eat my words and express my disappointment.

As far as pilot episodes go, it wasn’t very groundbreaking. This show is still very much in the shadow of the original series. My hope is that it comes out from behind that shadow sooner rather than later. I want this show to stand out on its own and it very well could. It offers intersectional feminism, which the original series severely lacked. For the original series at the time, it was great feminism...for white women. Times change and representation needs to grow. If your feminism is lacking in intersectionality, then I know I certainly don’t want it. Fans of the new and old series, alike, should just give this series a shot. I am a very firm believer that you should never judge a show on its pilot. Let the season speak for itself. Let this show stand on its own.  

The Power of Three is back and just as strong as ever!  

Some thoughts:

It is WAY too early to tell who my favorite sister is going to be, but at the moment, it’s a tie between Macy and Mel.  

The line about the power to freeze time being “very common with control freaks” had be laughing hysterically because, damn, if that wasn’t just true for Piper, and now Mel.  

Pilot episodes are so cheesy, but this one was great for introducing the new sisters.

These sisters are also related to Melinda Warren! (Just like the original sisters!) It’s a show about magic, so naturally there could be a number of tie-ins to the original series.  

What the fuck is with the orbing? Is it even called “orbing” in this series? Whitelighters are supposed to “orb” in and out. This is the only thing that could possibly make me think Harry isn’t a Whitelighter...unless this is the new orbing that isn’t “orbing”. (This was the second of two things I didn’t like about this episode, FYI.)  

I’m sick and tired of seeing fans of the original series bashing the new series. Give this show a shot or don’t, but let the show speak for itself and stop harassing the actors and other people involved in the reboot. If you don’t like something, nothing is stopping you from simply not engaging. Be mature. It’s just fiction. Fiction is supposed to give you a break from your current reality. I’d gladly take a reboot over our current reality any day of the week.  

Charmed airs on Sundays at 9/8c on The CW.

Sarah’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

#Charmed #Pilot

[astralbooks]

Amy of the Necromancers - Jimena I Novaro

Read: 22/07/2021 - 08/08/2021

Rating: 3/5

Rep: sapphic main character, sapphic love interest, non-binary side character, black love interest, black side characters, vietnamese-american side character, latina side character, main character with depression and bouts of dissociation

CW: child death, d slur used as an insult, drug use, interactions with police, discussion of terminal illness, death due to cancer in backstory, stillbirth in backstory, discussion of domestic violence, child abuse, suicide attempt

Review:

I’ve ended up feeling pretty meh about this book. As I was reading it, I enjoyed it. The characters were likeable enough that I cared enough about what would happen to them that I was okay with continuing to read. I liked the pacing of the story and that we were given the time and opportunity to get to know all of the characters, which was something that was sorely needed due to there being so many of them. Even when I put the book down for a long time, I was still able to remember who everyone was when I picked it back up, and that’s because the characters had been given the room they needed to be well established. The themes of the book, of dealing with death & grief and of family, were handled well.

At no point while reading this book did I think that I’d rather be doing something else with my time. However, at no point while not reading this book did I think that I’d rather be reading it, which meant that it always took a lot to convince myself to pick it back up again, which in turn led to the aforementioned incidents of me putting the book down for a long time. This happened more than once.

Amy’s tendency to dissociate was written really well. It was clear that Novaro knew what she was doing during those segments. Dissociation is something that I’ve only experienced a couple of times myself, and Novaro nailed the descriptions of it perfectly. I’d recommend this book for the representation of dissociation alone.

Neither Amy nor her love interest clarify their sexualities or use any terminology to describe themselves other than to say that they like girls, and I could argue the pros and cons of this approach, but when it happens in conjunction with a minor character calling the protagonist the d slur in a scene that has no purpose other than to demonstrate that teenagers are assholes sometimes, it’s a lot more questionable. Why was there space for the protagonist to be called a slur, but apparently no space for her to call herself a lesbian or bisexual or another label or to clarify that she specifically doesn’t use any? I’m 99% sure that the reader is supposed to understand that Amy’s a lesbian, but if someone came away from this book with a different conclusion then that would be perfectly valid because as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing here to contradict that.

It’s specifically said that all of the women in Amy’s family are born with some kind of necromancy related ability. I’m genderqueer, and it bugs me when a story features powers that rely on a character’s gender and then doesn’t attempt to address how trans people would factor into this system. The powers being restricted to women within Amy’s family doesn’t serve any purpose, it could have been said that the powers are restricted to people in Amy’s family and literally nothing about the story would need to change to accommodate this. Amy’s family being made up of mostly women wouldn’t need to change, and neither would Amy’s father not having powers. Amy’s father married into the family so of course he wouldn’t have any powers. What was the reason behind saying that only the women in Amy’s family have these abilities? This didn’t feel like a malicious choice by Novaro, more so a thoughtless one.

It’s a lot easier to pick out the things I didn’t like about this book than the things that I did, but overall I did enjoy reading this book, and if the premise sounds at all interesting to you then I would recommend checking it out, and I’d especially recommend it if you’re looking for a book that features a well written portrayal of dissociation. I don’t feel like I wasted my time here. Like I said at the top of this review: meh.

Thank you to BookSirens and the author for providing me with an e-arc in return for an honest review.

#review #book review #amy of the necromancers #jimena i novaro #books #booklr

[musical-chick-13]

So, I want to talk about why The Half of It was such a wonderful thing for me to see, as a queer woman.

I was a few years younger than Ellie when I realized I like women. But I had no idea what that meant for me. So, as I’m sure most young sapphics do, I turned to TV and movies.

But, see, the thing is, the only “happy ending” I ever saw, the only point of reference I had for what a fulfilling life as a queer woman looked like, was being in a cute f/f relationship. Due to the representation that was available to me at the time (and, to be honest, that has been available until very recently), it seemed that the only two options for me were to angst over my sexuality until I died at a tragically young age or to magically end up in a long-lasting, love-conquers-all, spectacularly happy romantic relationship.

And that second option, for a wide variety of reasons I don’t want to get too into, was just something that was never available to me.

The long and short of it is that I grew up in a very conservative, religious community and felt very unsafe being fully out. (It’s kind of hard to meet people that way.) There was also the fact that, during this time, I knew very few queer girls (or, at least, very few queer girls who knew they were queer). For a lot of my friends/coworkers/few family members that I was out to, I was the only queer girl they knew personally (maybe if I were lucky, I was one of two), and this continued until I was in my twenties. I made the decision time and time again to focus on school and barely had time for anything else. I have suffered from multiple concurrent mental illnesses as far back as I can remember, which completely changed how I was able to approach relationships and dating, if I even could approach dating at any given time in light of what I was dealing with.

I’m not saying that I’ll never be in a romantic relationship or that wanting to be in one is bad. But the idea of unambiguously-requited-love-as-happiness was one I never had a frame of reference for. And as much as I preached that no one needed a romantic partner to make them whole, as much as I believed that music and platonic relationships and a fulfilling job were enough to make my life worthwhile, I always had this voice in the back of my head asking, “But what if you’re WRONG.”

I didn’t have any representation for the kind of happiness that I thought was within my reach. Every piece of media and every person in my life kept screaming at me that the only way I could ever be happy was to find a romantic partner. That I could never be enough on my own. That the ultimate, purest expression of queerness was finding a girlfriend. That me not dating/kissing/etc. a woman at this particular moment in time meant that I, despite existing as a queer woman, was not “queer enough.”

But The Half of It blew all of those doubts out of the water. Here we had a story that, at its core, was about accepting one’s identity. The central relationship was a platonic one. Ellie had a happy ending. And she didn’t need to enter into a romantic relationship with Aster in order to get it. She found fulfillment in in her close friend, in going to a good college, in getting through the talent show mostly unscathed, in herself. And, God, did I need that. Finally, finally, I had an example of what happiness as a queer woman could look like for me. No more “Your life only has value if you find a girlfriend.” Because I could hold this movie up as a counterpoint.

Watching this movie was the first time I had ever seen that. The first time I had seen the narrative of “You are enough on your own” applied to a queer woman specifically. And that in and of itself was a truly revolutionary thing to see. And it breaks my heart to see all these people claiming the movie is “not gay enough” or was a completely worthless waste of time. Not all queer experiences look the same. Not all happy endings look the same. And the answer to disappointment with a lack of representation is having a wider breadth of queer media. It is not decrying an important movie with an important message written by a lesbian who directed one of the few queer movies with a happy ending all the way back in 2004 for not ending a specific way and portraying a specific kind of personal fulfillment.

The Half of It was the first time I ever felt heard as a queer woman. It was the first time I saw my experience with queerness represented onscreen. It was the first time I walked away from a piece of media going, “Happiness is attainable.” And there are no words to describe how much relief and joy and gratitude I felt upon watching it. Alice Wu for president.

#the half of it #wlw #alice wu #ellie chu #sorry I just got tired of seeing one too many Hot Takes™ #this isn't even getting into the immigrant/POC identity aspect of the film which I am very unqualified to talk about because I am not one #but that's also an important line of representation that we need more of and people are (predictably) ignoring that #mc13 has OPINIONS(TM) #behold! a creation!

[pajaritafem]

How does your boyfriend feel about your label?

I don't want to answer this at our current state, because that would erase the progress it took to get here. So, I'll give you the entire history of how he felt. When we first met, I was playing around with labels due to internalized lesbophobia, and because I had never heard of comp het before. I went as bi, and then pan for like a week, and then poly for about three days, until I settled on lesbian. This entire time, he only knew about the bi and pan stages. He was aggressively against transmen dating lesbians. He actually went on this long rant one day (While I was a closeted lesbian) about how all lesbians do is hurt transmen and how transmen should never, ever EVER date lesbians and they should just stick to bi/pan girls. Reasonably, this induced a lot of fear into me, and so for the next 3 months, I never once brought it up. I never once fought for myself. I was scared. And, since I was so scared, was I actually a lesbian? Couldn't I go as another label? I struggled with myself a lot, but something just felt so damn right about lesbian. So, I took my tumblr, which was originally going to be a poem blog, and made it my little nook. My space away, and created the lesbian positive, lesbian centered blog it is today. I also created a board on pinterest full of all the sapphic love and posts I could find. I convinced myself this way, I could be happy. I mean, my label didn't necessarily deny that I liked girls, I could just ignore the penis part, right? Wrong. I realized that on the 4th month, when I became comfortable calling myself lesbian and came out to my close friends, safe family. My "space away" did something else to me: it filled me with pride. I fell in love with being a lesbian. I felt liberated. I was liberated, and I wanted the whole damn world to know. So, I told him. And I was met with a lot of adversity. And again, I was silenced. But this time, I was silenced with rage. He was so rich in a luxury he didn't realize he had. He was so rich, in fact, he didn't even realize it was a luxury. He has been out for 4 years now, and he was surrounded by support. I sent him trans positive posts, researched trans issues, I did my best to be the lover he deserved. I never once told him he couldn't possibly be trans because I was a lesbian and conventionally, that just didn't work. I wanted that. I wanted selfless support. But, I didn't get that. I got things like "You're not a real lesbian." "Why don't you just go as bi with a preference for women?" And it hurt. Every part of my soul hurt. So, one night, I went onto my instagram, and changed the part in my bio that read: Queer Queen and changed it to: {L}GBT It was a small victory. A whisper into the roar of the world. It was public, but it was small. It fit perfectly into the palm of my hands. It was exactly what I needed. Even though I never said that damning L word around him, that was it. I finally stood up for myself. He found it that night, while he was at work. I wasn't expecting him to notice, I had so much in my bio, why would he even pay attention? But he did. I got a text asking me, "Why are you trying to give people the idea you're a lesbian?" Rage. Red hot rage is all I felt. The idea?! No, mister, you've got it all wrong. There isn't a damn idea to it. I would never imagine in a million years sending him a text like that about being trans. That would be abusive. I would be the scum of the earth. Why is different about me?! That night we fought. We fought hard. I was done hiding. I was done giving and not taking. And if he didn't like it, then he could leave. It was time I loved myself. It was time I celebrated me. I get to be selfish, but, how could being honest about who I am be selfish?! He cried that night. I cried that night. The fight drug on for hours. I wasn't going to budge this time. He wasn't going to closet me, no way, not again. And because of my relentlessness, I was convinced we were going to break up that night. We didn't, thankfully. He came around to accepting me, because I advocated for myself, because he didn't define my label. Because I wouldn't let him define my label. He came around to accepting me because we chose our love, especially over some words. But, it didn't stop there. The happy ending isn't here, not yet. He accepted me, but he had that straight rhetoric, "Why can't you just be what you are and be quiet about it?" It still hurt. He got trans pride, but I couldn't be proud to be a lesbian? No. It wasn't enough for me. When it came to telling my grandma, she made one comment, mildly referring to his body. "I figured that much with that boyfriend you have." I didn't think anything of it. She didn't intentionally misgender him, didn't pry me for his deadname, didn't make slurs. I didn't think anything of it. But he did. He made that night (the night I came out to the most important person in my life!!!!!!) About him. About that one tiny comment, about how I didn't defend him. He had forgotten this is my first time being close to a trans person. All my research didn't tell me when to protect him from slightly transphobic comments. I didn't know that was a problem. And he was relentless. When I messed up, he forgot that I needed him to guide me, and he was hard on me. We fought again that night. I felt he had robbed me of a beautiful, memorable moment. He felt I didn't care about defending him. It eventually got better. He let me talk about it, but he'd tell me that my "obsession" with lesbians was unhealthy. I wasn't obsessed. But seeing lesbian representation in media, seeing lesbian couples in love, it made me happy and excited. So we fought, again. I was tired of this conditional support. I was tired of the comments meant to silence me. I was proud, dammit! But, we over came it. We communicated, as we had so many times before. I advocated my way to where we are now. Now, he tells me when there's a lesbian couple at our job. He doesn't give the devoted, selfless support, like looking into lesbian-specific issues, but I don't need that. I just need to be heard, without being silenced. To answer your question, he is supportive of my label, because he doesn't define mine. Because my label is my identity only and not an attack on his manhood. But make no mistake, it took us a long time to get here.