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steveandbuckysdaughter · 2 months

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I am so so so so so TIRED to see people fatshaming two perfectly healthy girls because they have round faces. It’s disgusting.

The actresses of Mai and Azula are on point for their roles. Hell, if they were chosen there must be a reason, it’s not like there’s no Asian actresses out there they could choose from.

People can’t accept that Azula can have a characterization beyond “crazy and sadist sicko”. She’s a perfectionist. She’s an asset to her father. She’s jealous of Zuko’s birthright and of how it might take what she has away. Those are things that OG Azula too had. The only difference is that we actually see it in season one and have a background on her, rather than writing it in a rant. And what has been added only makes her a more complex character, given the change in the family dynamic as well.

And Mai? The actress is talented, she delivers a good Mai, and does justice to the character. She’s 17 and at the beginning of her career, of course it won’t be perfect. She gets to grow. Thing is, you guys won’t let her, because a square jaw scares you so flipping bad that you feel the need to shame her for it.

Everyone is a body positivity advocate until a girl with a rounder face shape is cast as a character in a live action you are NOT forced to watch? Seriously?

I’ve seen so many people on the internet calling them all sort of names, fatshaming them, insulting their work without even focusing on the acting. And I’m like, what’s to fatshame there? Let me tell you: nothing.

If I have to put it through your thick head like this, so be it. Even though I hate talking about and comparing bodies.

This below is a picture of Azula’s actress.

She has the face card, she has the jawline, and she has a fit, enviable body. And you still have the audacity to “fat-shame” her?

These two pictures are in costume. Again, face card and an enviable body. She even has the expression for Azula. You see a girl with a rounder shape of face and will automatically go “no she’s too cute to be Azula!!” Dude. No. When she will actually deliver as the crazy girl we know, she will devour. She will, and you all will switch back because that’s what you are, slimy switchers.

And now, onto Mai’s actress, a very beautiful girl with talent and looks. She is literally so pretty, and you dare hate on her? You dare shame her for how she looks? From what I’ve heard she’s a minor, too, so this makes you 100000% more slimy and undeserving of any sympathy in my book.

This is her, this is the girl.

She’s literally so pretty. Maybe she hasn’t got the same facial structure of Mai, but she delivered all her lines she had in the little screen time and with the discutibile scenes she was given. She was good. But you see a square jaw, a rounder shape of face, and are immediately triggered.

And you can’t even use the stupid argument of “she’s fat”, because this is literally her.

A very normal, very healthy young woman. Not as skinny as OG Mai? So what? She’s still a fricking thin girl. Nowhere as “fat” as you haters make her to be.

I shouldn’t have to explain common sense and basic decency to grown adults, and yet here we are.

This is honestly so frustrating. In the year of 2024 you can’t possibly justify insulting girls like this, with no shame. It’s absolutely idiotic and shows very a big lack of brain cells. I see you, haters, behind your device, with your insecurities and shame for yourself, laughing at two girls who made it farther than you ever will. You can critique the acting once you’ve seen it in full potential. Until then, shut your tramp up. This is very small dick energy of you.

I don’t see why I should treat you with kindness when you are so eager to make this kind of jokes about pretty and in shape girls you are very obviously jealous of. Go touch some grass, incels.

#I hope anyone who sees this copies the link and sends it to whatever bitch-ass they see commenting this crap #Mai #ATLA mai #Azula #ATLA Azula #lizzy yu #Thalia Tran #NATLA #ATLA #avatar the last airbender netflix #netflix avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar #avatar the legend of aang #avatar the last airbender #body positivity #rant #Ross rants

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 2 months

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Aita for not making any of my characters, that I have to crank out daily, pansexual/polysexual/omnisexual specifically and only making them bi?

🏳️‍🌈👶🏼 so i can recognize this later lmao also I'm not panphobic or anything, this isn't about the validity of the label, pan is fine.

So i (20snb bi) have a project I'm working on where I take all the characters from a specifc media I'm into and pair them up with each other to make every possible ship kid from every possible ship(excluding characters who are kids themselves or are related or something, that shit is gross). Basically taking every character and pairing them up with another and creating a kid I think they'd have. Its a big project with lots of characters and I'm easily over 400 at this point. I really enjoy this, even if I'm not even 25% complete.

However I set a schedule for myself that at least one ship kid needs to come out each day which, considering I draw them, color them and give them some development and some even have siblings, (The refs themselves easily take me an hour to an hour and a half) I have to make lots of them quickly to keep up with my daily grind. I've been doing this project for over a year and although it's stressful, I can get them out quickly with breaks for myself.

Their character sheets all have some pretty basic info like their name, gender, pronouns, personality and more but it also includes their sexuality/orientation. I have a pretty basic list of options for what their sexuality will be: straight, lesbian, gay, Enbian, bi, Aro, ace and aroace with a few random things like polyam, WLW and a good amount of the something-loving-something/juvelic terms. I did this because, well, there's not many entirely unique orientations outside of them and although I love mogai/xenogenders and complex identities, I dont want to potentially drag up discourse or bring problems to my budding art blog over it. Its just not worth it to me to turn something I really care about on its head, even if I like microlabels.

In this case, I'm using bi as an umbrella term as most of the other terms share the same definition with slight variations in wording or action but not much difference in practice. We all like everyone, it's basic stuff. However, apparently this is a problem.

I've gotten one or two anons asking me questions about my guides asking some kind stuff like is this lesbian ship kid a butch or femme or Is this picture of them now or just at the age you put on the ref and other harmless stuff. Then things got rude with some Nbphobia but thrice now I've gotten asks:

1. Asking snarkily if im a panphobe

2. insulting me for not specifically writing pan or Omni and just writing bi.

3. Saying that I "clearly dont care about pansexual representation." Then brought up how my primary oc is native american so i clearly care about representation but that oc used to be a sona and I'm native?? Its confusing. (And Lowkey racist shit to just assume any native character is a "diversity quota" character instead of just a person existing but I digress-)

Im not pan, im bi so ig these people assume I'm not cool with pan people which isnt true? I have nothing aginest them, they are just pretty similar and I dont feel like it matters if they are specfically bi or pan or poly or any other label. I don't go into details like that for any other sub-group, not even pronouns and I included combinations and some common Neopronouns. I understand the importance of representation but my project has less than 50 people looking at it every day, Im not netflix or something. I'm one guy on the most LGBT blogging site with a big project and very little audience, I'm not showing people who wouldn't already know what pan is that pansexuality exists.

This project isn't that deep considering the characters in question aren't human/dont have human characteristics.(no it's not hazbin/helluva) Also ive never spoken about lgbt discourse or stated anything remotely close to it beyond the guides just passively having characters who are an LGBT identity. I've not even mentioned all the potentional orientations they could have so I'm not sure where/why this came up in the first place. The most politcial things ive said are calling out a creator in my fandom who outed themselves as a transphobe and mentioning im pro-palestine. That's it.

I mean this is pretty low stakes, I can just block these people and be done with it and this some seriously online shit but I just wanna check.

Am I being an asshole for just writing bi instead of specifying their mspec label because I have to produce characters quickly and I don't see enough of a difference to warrant a change/specification that would ultimately slow and clog an already stressful and complex project?

I dont think I am but idk lol

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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akutasoda · 3 months

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Noticed ur requested are open so I gonna the idea I had so got inspired by Genshin archon quest and I was in love furina charcter and sm wondering if u can like crossover type request if ok with u

So I was wondering if I may request a Dan heng / IL X fem Reader

Where reader is basically similar to furina maybe Reader

was tasked by hydro archon focalor maintaining the guise of an Archon; as a new "human", she had difficulty taking the role but eventually mastered it. Additionally, a curse was placed upon her, rendering her unable to die so long as Focalors lived, but also preventing her from pursuing her own happiness. Reader is Aware of the prophecy that would doom Fontaine so reader has to play the e role of Hydro Archon for 500 years . maybe the astral express landed like in new universe tevat Fontaine and trying to figure out the new world maybe Dan heng Mets Reader noticed her and like feels connect to her due to him having experience past burdens and he can tell something up with can see right through reader act. Wants to get to know her maybe reader and how to help her and

Maybe reader like has momment alone to herself crying carrying this burden not be able to show it until Dan heng shows up but reader is stubborn to show or to tell her burdens maybe she goes to trial for being fraud and the express and Dan Genf have to help reader if this makes sense

(This idea I had in mine but I hoping romantic fluff comfort fic but also lore wise I hope this makes sense again if this too difficult of request I can change it I just like hope this is ok

Aslo furina supremacy love her

a preferred outcome for a doomed prophecy

synopsis - maybe the prophecy wouldn't turn out all that bad

includes - dan heng ft express crew + neuvillette

warnings - fem!reader (no pronouns mentioned howeve), reader is based on furina, fluff, angst with some comfort, maybe ooc?, wc - 1.5k

a/n: ahhh im so sorry this took so long!

the express had experienced all sorts of worlds within the galaxy, some not even taking form of planets but rather ships and such. each and every one housing a variety of colourful characters and deep history that spurred the current state it resided in. but they all had one thing in common, they all had a page in the expresses data bank.

the memories however, travelled with the trailblazer that experienced them. and after trailblazing for so long nothing seemed out of the ordinary when the express had an unexpected malfunction and needed to dock at the nearest planet - it wouldn't be the first time. however one would only need to take a step outside to realise that something indeed was different.

you were aimlessly wandering around the vast halls behind the court, looking for something to satiate your boredom. recently the lack of trials had bored you half to death and more annoyingly gave you less things to think about so, more often your mind would drift the the prophecy.

but you wanted to shake these horrid thoughts and push them to the back of your mind. and your wish was soon granted when you heard the voice of fontaine's ludex call your name from behind you. your initial reaction was to turn around with the biggest grin and address the man in front of you but he looked more somber, more serious than usual.

he kept his words short and brief and urged you to follow him to help with a situation that he claimed 'shouldn't get out of hand' or 'into public news'. and while you did follow immediately, your mind resurfaced the ideas of the prophecy and assumed the worst - maybe today was the day?

and as much as you tried to force yourself to not assume the worst, you couldn't stop the rapid pit of dread forming in your stomach.

you were your nations archon. and so it seemed only appropriate that you were the first person to greet the newcomers from beyond your world. all your boredom soon dissipated as you became rather eager and intrigued about your nations new visitors - but all questions would have to wait until you got the express members into your proper office.

and you had managed to get them there with minimum stares and whispering from your nations residents. you felt as though this issue was definitely better tackled within the confines of your private office. and based on what the lady named himeko had briefly told you, it seems you made the right call.

you had been introduced to all the members, seeing they would be staying here for quite a bit it'd only be polite - you may have additionally asked alot of questions as it wasn't everyday you met people that travelled through space. you also told them a tad about yourself and offered some background information about your lovely nation.

you welcomed them to look around and told them to not hesitate to ask for any help. in turn, himeko told you about the expresses data bank and gestured toward dan heng who you had been told compiles most of it. you expressed how you would be honoured you nation would be included.

over the next few days the express came to learn that they would not be leaving for a few weeks, but out of all the express members the one you had encountered the most was dan heng. he had gotten himself quite well acquainted with neuvillette and so you saw him often - mostly on his quest to fill out the data bank. and from your very first interaction it seemwd as though you both were doomed to get along.

over the first week, you and dan heng often conversed to the point ehere it seemed as though you had known him your entire life. neither of you could explain it but there was something there, something that made it easy for the two of you to converse - much to the expresses shock.

dan heng was quite surprised himself but he had grown accustomed to your presence in an alarmingingly short period of time, but there must've been a reason for this right?

he had a very strong, natural sense of perception - so much so that he could tell something was bothering you. no amount of happy go lucky attitude could fool him into thinking something didn't plague your mind constantly and because he had barely known you, he didn't say anything. it wasn't his place, he would tell himself.

but he could hardly ignore it when he walked in to your sobbing form. it had only been two weeks and the express was near ready to depart, so dan heng wanted to collect some final information. he had wanted to know more about the residents and who better to ask than you. he found neuvillette and asked where you were, he was told your office. when he arrived at your office he knocked, knocked again and knocked again. but each time was met with silence, normally he would've turned around and assumed he went the wrong way but he had heard sniffling on the other side of the door, so he opened it.

your head immediately whipped around upon hearing your office door creak open and you were left shocked at the sight of dan heng. you immediately swiped your eyes of any lingering tears and asked him in a meek voice that he should 'come back at a better time' and how he should 'seek out the ludex for anything at the moment'. dan heng wanted to protest, sure he wasn't the best at comforting people but it was clear that you needed some support. but he left.

and that wasn't the last time. only a few days later did he re-emerge in your office just to catch you crying as you stared aimlessly at the mirror that, for a brief moment, he swore had another reflection in eerily similar to you. now more than ever did he want to help. he had briefly heard you mumbling about some prophecy and he could immediately gather that this was some sort of burden you carried.

now, he knew a thing or two about carrying burdens, he knew how tormenting and stressful they could be - he did have frequent nightmares afterall. and even though he had know you for a mere few weeks, he wanted to help. afterall, wasn't it the trailblazers mission to help those across the galaxy?

unfortunately himeko and welt helped remind him of a painful reminder. once the express was up and running, they would leave and the likelihood of him ever seeing you would be close to none. and no matter how much he would talk about atleast trying to help now, if you didn't let anyone know what was your burden, no-one could help.

it was the last day in your nation, for the express and for you. the express were set to part and dan heng wanted to bid you farewell but only neuvillette showed to bid them farewell. neuvillette expressed how you had told him to relay your goodbye message. but even so, neuvillette also knew some of the prophecy and he encouraged them to go despite their joint insistence on thanking you - if they didn't leave soon, they too would be washed away in fontaine waters.

but the express crew knew something was up by now. and very reluctantly neuvillette told them of the prophecy after their insistence that they travelled worlds to help people and so if they could do anything they would. neuvillette expressed how nothing could be done. but dan heng wasn't so deterred.

however, it seemed as though the celestia herself had taken a form of pity. the prophecy didn't come true. and despite your trial going ahead and you being found guilty, you weren't to be executed. neuvillette still gained full control of hydro and sovereignty and forgave the sins of the residents of your nation but in turn he found a way to forgive yours aswell.

due to dan heng's insistence of helping you, it spurred the rest of the express to want to try just as much. and so neuvillette was offered with the idea of you joining the express. this way you could be free from the curse and still live out the rest of your days, and neuvillette allowed it. it was still your final decision however but you gladly accepted.

you still felt sorrow of having to leave some people behind, namely neuvillette, but he encouraged you to go - he would've of been in much pain to see you die. and your connection with dan heng seemed to pull through once more. as the instant you saw him you ran to give him the biggest hug anyone could offer in thanks for everything he did and he gladly reciprocated the action.

#x reader #x fem reader #x female reader #hsr x you #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail x you #honkai star rail dan heng #hsr dan heng #dan heng x reader

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ratrrriot · 7 months

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i would like to hear what you have to say on what nine symbolizes in terms of sonic and tails' bond :0

OK SO

You know how Sonic and Tails are very different,but the same when it comes to their core values? it’s easy to see that their approach to situations and their ways of thinking/expressing themselves are nothing alike. How sonic lives as a nomad while Tails has chosen to build homes for himself, or how Sonic trusts his instincts while Tails trust his intelligence. How one relies on his body while the other relies on his creations,How one is confident but impulsive and the other is careful but doubtful,etc,etc. But it's because of what they have in common that these differences allow them to complement each other as teammates and as people: They both have big hearts,love adventure and view the world as something beautiful and worth protecting. This perfect mix of characteristics is what makes them inseparable.

And here's the thing: Many of us see them as friends who have a brotherly bond ,right? and at least in my case,i think that's because the fact that they met when they were so young led them to shape their identities together the same way many brothers do while growing up. They have influenced each-other,thats why they have the same worldview. They have gone through so many of the same experiences through the years and know eachother so well that at this point they look like they originated from the same place, as if they had been together since the start of their lives or raised by the same people,neither being true. This is what makes their relationship be so indestructible, A backbone of shared experiences is what gave birth to their unbreakable bond.

NOW, THIS IS WHY NINE IS SO INTERESTING. Nine is truly, COMPLETELY different from Sonic,and he can't be like a brother to him because they just met. Even if they already have perceptions of one another and formed a friendship quite easily based on the kindness Sonic showed him, Sonic can't expect Nine to have the same worldviews and core values as him and Tails because he comes from another world, one that didn't have a Sonic until now,one that made him go through completely different experiences and that ,by consequence , shaped him in a completely different way. What prime! Sonic needs to realize is that for them to understand each other,he needs to stop expecting him to complement him the way Tails does and make an effort to find some common ground instead. Form a new,different bond and a new way to enhance each other.

Nine's whole character is challenging Sonic to prove that his and Tail's friendship is truly a “cosmic truth” ,as Ian Flynn once said. That they aren't the best of friends just because they grew up together,but because something deep inside them connects them beyond that day Sonic saved him from the bullies. If he manages to form a bond with Nine, then they will have proven that he didn't just found Tails because of proximity, but because of some kind of force of destiny, and that he could save him in any world if necessary, no matter how late.

#rat answers #unbreakable bond

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nose-nippin-fun · 3 months

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Hazbin Hotel Episode 4 Discussion:

I’ve seen a lot of nasty posts floating around today criticizing Vivzie and the show. I’m not here to discredit your feelings, but I think that the darker tone of episode 4 merits some constructive discussion beyond a knee-jerk, pearl-clutching reaction.

From what I’ve seen, the biggest complaint from viewers, myself included, is that this emotional episode with some fairly intense depictions of SA/r*pe was not prefaced with a content warning aside from the usual small text in the top left corner. I truly do believe Amazon should correct this going forward so that viewers can feel better prepared for tone shifts between episodes. That being said, here are my defenses of the show.

Hazbin Hotel has had a huge fan following since the pilot release back in 2019, which set the tone of the show. Between the pilot and Addict music video, people had a pretty clear indication of the adult themes that would be present in the project moving forward. The show is set in Hell, the place where the world’s worst sinners are trapped in the afterlife. This is not an excuse, this is an explanation. There are going to be several characters with tainted morality, some of whom are irredeemable. That’s why they’re in Hell. This show is not meant to glorify sins, but to shine a light on flawed, relatable characters who will grapple with ethics and other struggles and come out changed in the end.

“I can’t believe Angel doesn’t leave his situation and stays stagnant.” Have you ever lived through/witnessed abuse? It is never this easy to sever ties with an abuser. They position themselves in power to control and manipulate, and many times, it’s not physically safe to get away from them. Also, this has been ONE EPISODE, you cannot expect a character with deep trauma to be totally different after a 20-30 minute episode. Angel’s character arc will take time, but his interaction with Husk at the end is an important first step in that direction.

“So Angel is supposed to just get over his trauma because he and Husk sang a song about it?” No. If that was your takeaway, I’m truly sorry you missed the point. Husk is the only person who’s been raw and blunt with Angel (on screen) about dropping the Angel Dust persona and being Anthony. Angel is used to having to put on a flawless, sexy act at all times, so much so that that’s how people really believe he is at all times. Husk sees through this mask Angel developed to protect himself and tell him through their song that imperfect and broken as he feels, Angel isn’t alone in struggling with feelings of powerlessness and addiction. He’s not comparing his loss of overlord status to Angel’s horrible SA, he’s finding common ground and empathizing (the best way a Hellbound soul can). This song wasn’t a solution, it was a gateway to vulnerability and the beginning of change for both characters.

“We’re expected to just ship Huskerdust after Angel has done nothing but sexually harass and push Husk’s boundaries?” No. That’s absolutely the wrong reason to ship anything. While it’s true that in the first three episodes, Angel sees Husk as eye candy who might be able to distract him from his suffering, episode 4 brings a necessary shift in their dynamic. Angel is used to everyone around him wanting Angel Dust, the pornstar. But for the first time, someone doesn’t want that coveted persona, and he can’t comprehend this. Angel has no control over anything except the act he keeps up, so he clings to it as a false sense of power. It’s only after Husk tells him that he likes Angel for everything he is off camera that Angel starts to treat Husk with respect, which will pave the way for any future Huskerdust shipping.

You don’t have to agree with what I’ve written, and I absolutely don’t blame you if you’ve realized this show is not content you can comfortably consume, but please understand that depicting difficult material is not the same as glorifying or excusing it. This episode was hard for me too, because I care about Angel Dust, and I am so eager to watch his growth as the show continues. My heart goes out to anyone struggling from triggering this episode caused. I hope you’re able to safely navigate away from this show while respecting the viewers who continue to watch.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel discourse #hazbin hotel discussion #tw: sa #tw: abuse #tw: long post #spoilers #hazbin hotel spoilers

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justadeadreaper · 4 months

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❇COD Plague! AU

The downfall of humanity... plagues. For how long has the world suffered at the hands of the submicroscopic agents of death and cancer? Mutating the body to overwhelm every cell to produce another corpse to be thrown to a pit filled with a mound of bodies all suffering the same macabre fate as they rot amidst the earth. All for their Mistress who urges them on to continue their ravaging across all of humanity, just following her mantra and her undying will.

Consume... Consume the body, consume the cells. Eat your way through its walls, eat your way through each and everyone one until there is none left that have not felt our hunger.

Conquer... Infect. Infect the host. Override their engines, twist and turn and manipulate their nature, subjugate them to my every whim and thought until my reign overwhelms them all.

Multiply... Force them to make more of us. Make more of us. Split and squirm and overwhelm the cell. Millions upon billions upon trillions until it bursts. Then repeat until we have multiplied to the point that there is no more of the host but only us.

Destroy... Destroy anything that is left over. Use what you have to pick away at the body even if it is bit by bit. Destroy its will, make it weak, make it desperate. Take and destroy until they are withering away into the wind. Destroy all their will until they have nothing left to live for but only wish for the sweet relief of death

Kill...

Kill. Them. All.

With the will that she commanded her agents spread and spread until it destroyed all it could. Humans huddled in fear at what she did, praying to whatever God they had to save them from the same fate as the mounting bodies that mounted outside their villages in the burning heaps to try and save others from the very same fate that tried to take them all. But, apart from fear, how did humans react in other ways?

A common way was to make a figure of this plague. No one could tell you the why as no one knew. Every person had a different reason for giving these diseases physical figures for all to see so no one reason could be accepted. Some say it was to humanise the disease, to put it on the level of humans so that it would not be as feared as it was. Others said it was to comprehend the disease as no natural thing could be behind the disease and they could not believe that their Gods would do such a thing to them so they had to create a figure, a representation to do so. Then again the physical forms could have just been made for forms of entertainment such as poetry and paintings where it could be appreciated and show the true tragedy that would otherwise not be known. Although shock was another reason proposed by others as it would show as to why you should fear such a thing as most had features that would occur in humans if they ever did catch it, to show how powerful it was, how it could change you beyond an unimaginable degree.

They just did not realise that by making his physical representations that if enough people believed in them that they would become real. And that is where our dear COD characters come in as now they are not stuck as mere mortals in the military to kill people but they are the diseases. Across different time periods and different countries with different amounts of victims to their cruel goal, they are twisted forms of themselves as now they represent the diseases and everyone’s fears.

Like my last AU, this is an AU that anyone can use but this is just the foundation and base and the basic rules to it so people can build from it and have a starting point to expand from. All I ask is to use the tag I made for the AU, for you to credit me for the AU, and credit me for using my version of the character, apart from that go wild and have fun with this AU, if you have any questions please ask as no question is a dumb question.

#plague!cod au #plague #disease #cod #call of duty

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cool-fancier · 7 months

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Unlikely Heroine

Synopsis: The mysterious Bada Lee lived in the peaceful building next door. Her beauty first drew you in despite being distant. When your ex-boyfriend stormed in one night, Bada saved the day, establishing a connection that grew stronger over common interests. You both revealed your feelings to one another on a rooftop under the night, beginning a remarkable relationship that led to the intriguing neighbour becoming a beloved friend and love interest.

Living in the peaceful flat next door was Bada Lee, a mysterious and graceful woman. She appeared uninterested in the world outside her door as she went about her regular tasks. But you couldn't help but be drawn to her; she was a picture of beauty and grace that had you captivated.

You had been living in the same building for months and often caught glimpses of Bada in the elevator or hallway. Her flowing dark and blonde highlighted hair, perfect sense of style, and the mysterious aura that enveloped her were all things you couldn't help but notice. She appeared distant and far away, like an unreachable star.

You eventually gave up trying to talk to her as time passed. She didn't seem to be much interested in her neighbours, so you decided to content yourself with observing her from a distance.

One awful night, when you were relaxing in your flat after an exhausting day, your door got an unexpected and unpleasant knock. When you unlocked it, your ex-boyfriend was there, angry and drunk. His motives were obvious. he wanted your return no matter whether you want him in back.

Your heart was bursting with fear as you struggled to fight him off, but he persisted without restraint. His loud voice caused a disturbance that echoed down the hallway and drew the attention of your neighbours.

When you believed there was nothing else to do, Bada Lee appeared at the door next to yours and swung it open. Her typically cool, collected demeanour had changed to one of furious determination. She gave your ex-boyfriend a burning gaze that caused him to shiver.

She spoke the words, "Enough," in a voice that would not allow for debate. "Get away immediately and leave."

She enters the room with authority, and your ex-boyfriend was startled by it. He stammered, "Who are you?"

Bada's reply was straightforward yet effective. "In this building, I won't put up with harassment. Now go."

He stumbled away while cursing under his breath because of her comments and attitude. Bada held her ground until he was gone from sight before turning to you and giving you a worried expression.

Her voice softened as she questioned, "Are you okay?"

Even though you were still in shock, you were able to nod. "Yes, I'm grateful. Without your help, I don't know what I would have done."

Bada gave a comforting grin. "Everyone gets a little assistance from their neighbours. I'm hoping he won't bother you ever again."

Your luck was beyond words. The modest neighbouring woman had not only seen you but had also helped you out when you were in trouble. It was a kind act that showed a lot about her character and made you once feel appreciative and intrigued.

You said, "Thank you, Bada," your voice full of genuine appreciation. "I don't think I've introduced myself properly. I'm [Your Name]."

Bada held out her hand as her cheeks were somewhat flushed. "I'm Bada Lee. It's nice to meet you, [Your Name]."

You couldn't help but feel as you shook her hand that this chance contact marked a new chapter in your life—one in which the mysterious woman next door was no longer just a gorgeous stranger but an unexpected heroine who had saved you at the crucial moment.

You became more and more drawn to Bada in the days that followed. Her brave and thoughtful deed stayed in your mind. You had been captivated by her strength and compassion as well as her lovely beauty because she had shown them to you when you were weak and in need.

One evening, as you and someone else were both in the lobby of the building checking your mailboxes, you gathered up the nerve to start a discussion. "Bada, I wanted to thank you again for helping me that night. It meant a lot to me."

The corners of Bada's eyes wrinkled as she grinned. "You're very welcome, [Your Name]. I couldn't stand by and let someone harass my neighbor."

You continued, encouraged by her warm response, "I've always noticed how quiet you are, but you truly shocked me. You're not just a lovely neighbor, you're also incredibly brave."

Bada's flush grew stronger and she took a minute to look down before catching your eye. "I appreciate you saying that. I guess I've been quite private for a while."

As your conversations grew in frequency, you realised that Bada was much more sophisticated than first appeared. She loved to dance and was a talented one at that and she had your enthusiasm for classic literature. It seems that she had a sophisticated and detailed world hidden underneath her guarded appearance.

You couldn't help but think that as your friendship grew, it may one day develop into something more. However, you were cautious since you weren't sure if Bada shared your views or if she was merely acting as a good neighbour and friend.

Bada turned to you one night as you were both relaxing on the building's rooftop and admiring the distant city lights. "[Your Name] knows that I cherish our friendship more than words can say. You've brought a lot of light into my life."

Your heart was thumping as you gazed into her eyes. "Bada, I feel the same way about you. I've loved having you as a friend, and I cherish our time together so much.

Bada rarely showed vulnerability, but her stare indicated more. "I have to admit something, [Your Name]. I came here with the hope of a new beginning free from the burdens of my old life. But since meeting you, you've encouraged me to look for more than just a new beginning. I now want to actually live because of you."

Your hope swelled making your heart skip a beat. "Bada, I feel the same way. I had no intention of meeting someone like you, who makes my heart beat faster every time we talked."

Bada reached out for your hand with a kind grin on her lips, sending a shiver through your veins as her touch. "I'm glad we found each other, [Your Name]. Maybe it was fate that brought us together that night."

You both realised that this chance encounter was unique as you sat next to one other on the rooftop under the starlit sky. It was a bond forged in the quiet moments, in acts of bravery, and in the shared dreams that filled the night.

And as your hands joined, you sensed the start of a new chapter, one in which the mysterious neighbour was no longer just a lovely stranger but a treasured friend who had saved you and won your heart in the process.

#bada lee #bada lee x reader #swf2 #swf2 x reader

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rontra · 6 months

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Tell us about they/them lesbian Cinder with text to back it 👀

askfbhs okay but this post is like 2000 words long

statement one: doing a reading of a text, and then using that analysis to draw a particular conclusion for one's own enjoyment, is largely disconnected from the authorial intents that created said text. it's common for a piece of text to be able to be read in many ways, and for those readings to be able to used as supports for a multitude of conclusions. by no means should this post be framed as a comment on what "the canon text Means", because that is fundamentally not what we're trading in. we're not "proving" anything

statement two: cinder's character is complex, deftly written, and can be mined for a lot of meaning, much like all of rwby. there's a lot going on at all times in this show, and many parts remain to some degree an open question since the story hasn't finished yet. you can draw dozens of readings from almost everything in this work. by the same hand, some parts of this post were necessarily abbreviated for time lmao

statement three: cinder's relationship with gender SPECIFICALLY is genuinely textually interesting no matter where you go with it in the end, so if nothing else, at least enjoy Thinking About It... 😌

the core idea here is actually really simple hahaha. we'll take a scenic route though, to affix that idea into a more complete picture. a Pattern if you will

cinder is very strongly characterized by two linked ideas: the fear of being powerless, and the annihilation of the previous self that was powerless. the outward face of cinder's identity is very unstable because of the latter; a lot of conscious effort is expended trying to erase the cinder fall that once existed--the one that was at other people's complete mercy (and received nothing of the sort). cinder is always in "survival mode", trying to achieve some sense of personal safety and to avoid being perceived as weak and vulnerable. that terror and hunger nipping at cinder's heels is what leads into salem's claws--into a new grip of abuse, of course--because salem promises to solve it and give all the power cinder could want and more. yeah?

the most easy-to-track manifestation of those twin drives is, of course, where they intersect with a major piece of rwby's own thematic language: weapons! in rwby's language, weapons are closely tied to their wielder's identity--"They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us!", famously! (v1e2)

(...which also gives us very funny little unrelated nuggets like the eternally faceless and repressed "i was the machine, just following orders" winter having weapons whose names--if they even have any--we don't know. but that's a knowing smile for another day)

cinder was trained by rhodes to wield two swords, an idea that's later combined with archery into what we consider "cinder's weapon", Midnight. in the flashbacks of v3e7, Midnight is in its earliest and most ordinary form. this Midnight is made of normal weapon stuff like metal lmao and cinder uses it very effectively in taking down amber. HOWEVER, as soon as cinder lays hands on half of amber's power, this version of Midnight is thrown aside and destroyed: the pyre that destroys Midnight is used to demonstrate cinder's power and intimidate the Fang. after this—for the duration of the beacon arc—cinder instead uses glass to form a replica of Midnight. this "imitation Midnight" lasts until cinder is maimed by ruby atop beacon tower (and presumably medevac'ed by one of salem's other guys LMAO)

after 1) suffering this defeat, and 2) obtaining the rest of amber's power, cinder flat out stops using Midnight. beyond this point, cinder solely relies on magic to create an ever-changing roster of weapons as needed. with the completion of Autumn's power, so too is the killing of Midnight completed: as far as cinder is concerned, the "self" that was connected to Midnight no longer exists. the part of cinder's story and identity that was in Midnight has been buried and no one will ever know about it again. preferably everyone would just act like none of it ever existed and cinder has Always been powerful (and did NOT just get rent asunder by a teenager! please and thank you!)

the incremental deaths of Midnight really show the crutch that power is to make cinder feel safer and more confident, and the urge to destroy the past/the version of cinder who was not as powerful. once cinder has the maiden power, Midnight is unnecessary. it's also interesting to see that many of these magic-made weapons are visibly fractured, fragile, and expendable, which i'm sure in the Weapon Symbolism Show doesn't mean anything its fine 😭😂

anyway in this new era of relying completely on magic we start to observe another quirky aspect: rather than drawing on personal identity, cinder will frequently imitate other characters who were in some way "powerful" (or at least "impactful"). see: floating array and miló. cinder imitates people who left an impression of strength or skill; in endlessly chasing "power", cinder is nabbing pieces of what makes other people powerful and cobbling them together, to cover the "flaw" (heavy quotes) that is cinder's own identity.

without you, i am nothing.

still, what does cinder keep falling back on, like a habit you can't shake? the original! and when cinder defies salem's orders in v8, what do we finally see again, for just a brief moment? hey, i thought you were dead! for as much as cinder wants to pretend the past is dead and buried, it sure seems to be Haunting us: right there underneath the paint, as soon as cinder stops thinking about copying someone else, or is defiant of salem's control and has to rely on Just Cinder (god forbid!), there it is again.

"okay, that's fine," you might be saying, a few million words into this gigantic post, "but what does any of that have to do with cinder fall's gender". listen to me. this was all setting up very important context for the funniest thing about cinder fall.

like, anyone that's even half-awake while watching rwby will notice the huge differences between how cinder acts and looks in the beacon arc VS how cinder has acted and looked Since Then. beacon arc cinder is smooth and in control and mature and dangerous. and of course, she's feminine. i've seen people outright call this incarnation of cinder a femme fatale! and i guess i can see why; she has mystery, beauty, a little bit of seduction to sway people. she plays manipulative games. and of course, she's dangerous. cinder in the beacon arc is exceedingly threatening because of how good she is at being the underdog; when she has to use cunning instead of brute force and scheme her way uphill in both directions, she kills it! literally!

--hey that was a lot of she/her all of a sudden. hmm. let's talk about women (audience cheers) NO I MEAN. evil women (audience cheers louder)

cinder's life is strongly marked by two women in particular: the madame and salem. both of them exert an immense amount of power over cinder; when we talk about situations where cinder has been powerless, these two people are the ones that spring to mind. in cinder's world, which is very coldly divided into people who Have Power and people who Do Not Have Power, both madame and salem very much Have Power. they have maybe the Most Power It's Possible To Have, by cinder's math. this also makes them Very Important figures for our examination, because what they are will reflect back onto cinder's malleable self.

madame and salem are both feminine, both older, both powerful; examine these two and suddenly you start seeing the pieces being stolen. the mature shade of red the madame wears. salem's levelheaded control paired with her distance and mystique—(trying not to say "and her cleavage")... v8e6 even places explicit focus on the sound of the madame's high heels as a herald of incoming danger.

their bearing, their ways of navigating the world, the way they dress. their… oh my god… their gender presentation!!!

the thing about cinder fall is that the mimicry of power does not stop at weapons. this is a Pattern that extends BEYOND merely "doing the floating array trick". the entirety of beacon arc cinder, including gender presentation, is mimicry. because in cinder's mind at this point, the most powerful thing a person can be is a mysterious older femme.

to cinder, ideas traditionally associated with femininity, specifically the femininity of adult women, are explicit markers of power and threat; and these things can be picked up and worn and imitated. these things can be performed. but there's never a sense that cinder owns these things or is particularly attached to them (i mean, beyond cinder's conception of Power). furthermore, cinder doesn't fully understand how these two women operate, and (being far younger) lacks the experience to fully embody them.

(--the way cinder handles emerald in particular is very revealing of this disconnect, as the dynamic shown as early as v2 is a clear attempt to wrangle her the way salem does her own minions; but cinder fails to understand and execute the crucial part, which is tapping into what emerald actually wants. because cinder, living in their own "survival mode" priority list, can't understand or relate to what emerald wants from them. the attempts made to replicate salem's affectations only push emerald away and strain her loyalty.)

but goddamn if cinder doesn't think power is stored in the gender!

it's interesting, then, that after the beacon arc blows up and a huge L is handed to Femme Cinder, they gradually drift further and further away from this; the illusion has broken. in lockstep with their drift from salem—cinder's exile, then intentionally testing the ice to see how far salem will let them stray—the further they go, the more they assert themselves, the further they also stray away from those "markers of power" associated with salem and madame. in the era of the blink-and-youll-miss-it flash of cinder's own identity, of Midnight, we also witness the ever-increasing straying from the performance of femininity that the beacon arc cinder clung to. huh!

so, let's see, we have a very intentional and consistent streak of cinder attempting to annihilate their own identity and replace it with something else (something strong) (something no one can hurt); this theme is visible both in their armory and wardrobe. cinder is terrified of who they'll be without these masks, because that person has been victimized, betrayed, and abused by every person who had power over them. the solution cinder has in their mind is to Become So Powerful that no one can do that to them ever again, no matter what they have to do or sacrifice to get there. and a lot of that conflict is slathered in this layer of Gender Stuff! this is INTERESTING!!!! no matter what people take from this post i at least hope you can find this aspect interesting, especially if you hadn't really thought about cinder's mimicry before...

anyway the very Gendered tension in their character comes bearing down twice as hard when considering that madame verbally invokes ideas about "being ladylike" while she's abusing them, reinforcing this mental link between Being Ladylike = Having Power, Not Being Ladylike = Not Having Power (= being crushed under the (high) heel of those that Do). cinder's femininity is ungenuine at best and coerced at worst; in my opinion, that much has been gestured at pretty overtly

from here, you can draw whatever conclusions from it that you please; e.g. would cinder LIKE to claim femininity for themselves in a genuine way, or would they not? do they feel attached to it, or not? in the Midnight glimmers of cinder's own real human self—the one they try so desperately at every turn to kill and bury, by directly coöpting pieces of other people they think are powerful—what do you see there? that's a conclusion for you to draw, of course…

you've no doubt twigged by the pronoun heehoos happening in this post that i'm quite fond of they/them cinder lol. i like my non biney lesbian struggler (the lesbian part Specifically i don't have a whole post locked and loaded for, that's just because im a lesbian and i like it<3). i rotate the disconnect between cinder and their identity and their performance in my mind and go "huh! your gender is Lesbian. congrats sweet prince" well anyway i think salem shoulda been cool FOR ONCE and offered to give them top surgery when she was gluing them back together after beaconSJHBHBNSDHB

of course, there's a myriad of ways to take this and make it serve whatever gender and pronouns headcanons you like, so i'm not saying it definitely means exactly what i personally like. like i said at the start, i'm not interested in "proving" anything or whatever. i'm just observing that it's interesting, and then im applying it to beef up headcanons i personally like... so you do as you will, too 😌

but to me, no matter what final conclusion is drawn, gender is a performance and cinder fall is trapped on the stage! goodluck up there!

#is this the 2000 word cinder gender post. im gonna scream

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chaos0pikachu · 6 months

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Top is Boring & He Didn't Have to Be

tldr: I'm stanning Top outta spite b/c the show won't develop him beyond being Mew's True Love

Hear me out, I have been on the "Top's a fuckboi" train since ep01 and while I don't think that anymore I do miss when Top had a freaking personality.

There's a separate post to make about what I consider mid writing in regards to Top and Mew's romantic relationship, but I ain't getting into all~~ that in this post. The point is, during their relationship both post and pre breakup, Mew under goes change, and is the focal character in that entire story. He's an active participant in that plot and has subplots with Boston and Ray.

Top doesn't. Top exists only to be Mew's True Love at this point. He has no story outside of that. He wanted to get with Mew for selfish reasons initially, somewhere along the line fell in love (which was majority from Mew's POV), and now just wants to win Mew back.

As a character his story has become stagnant: Top starts the series pursuing Mew, post inciting incident he's still pursuing Mew. Nothing's really changed for him as a character he's doing the same shit.

What does Top want outside of being with Mew? We don't know! It doesn't matter. That's his only motivation: to win Mew back. He character begins and ends there.

He hasn't even been given a scene to like, talk about why he loves Mew so much. Or for us as an audience to understand why he loves Mew; let's look at a counterpoint: Sand & Ray.

Textually Ray has said Sand makes him incredibly happy, we've also seen them bond over common interests like music, Sand has been a foundation for Ray's rehabilitation. We've also learned things about them via them opening up to each other. Ray has opened up to Sand about his mother, Sand has talked about his father, he's shared his dream of traveling to music festivals with Ray. I have my issues with Sand and Ray as a couple, but the narrative has made clear why they like each other at least. And been sure to have them both take an active interest in the other (even if Ray was poor touring for a bit).

We've only seen one scene where we see that Mew provided Top with a sense of comfort (with his insomnia), and then like, nothing outside of that. Everything else is from Mew's pov. Their various dates have always had Mew as the focal point, and none of them had Top opening up to Mew or Mew taking an active interest in Top as a person. So we learn nothing about Top by extension. He's just The Ideal.

I originally thought this was intentional, but apparently it was not and just meant to be viewed as straightforwardly romantic. Because they broke up and we still haven't learned anything about Top outside of: he's in love with Mew, he wants to be with Mew.

Hell during their silent dance date I woulda taken Top saying he wanted to be a disco dancer but is pursuing business instead for stability like something! Top also did coke to cope but that was dropped too and even that ended up being more about Mew than Top. We don't see Top bringing up his past coke usage even as a warning for Mew, or cautionary tale, or even like "remember when you told me to stop doing coke and now you're doing coke what the fuck happened Mew??"

All the other characters at least have interests. We know Top draws, but the show hasn't even given him a like "lemme draw Mew like one of my french girls" scene. Or a scene where he like, shows Mew his drawings of his family and talks about them.

Did Top start drawing as an outlet after the fire? Does his family support his art? Does he have any interest in like, exploring art museums, does he want to open his own art exhibit, or travel to see a specific piece or work or anything??

There coulda been a parallel with Boston/Nick where Top's other boyfriends never took an active interest in his art but Mew validates it making it hurt all the more when Mew burns it in front of him later.

Other characters are allowed interests and backstory to enrich them. Nick has an interest in tech, okay now he's interning at an animation/film studio. Ray has his alcoholism recovery storyline, Sand loves music and wants to travel festivals. Boston likes photography. They've all talked about their families at some point and we've met all of their parents at this point (including Mew's even!).

Does Top have parents/guardians or was he an egg? Is he bl baby jesus?

What does Top want? Who is he as a character?

The narrative may have no empathy for Boston as a character, but at least Boston is a fully realized one. He has motivations, a home life, he has interests, he's going to New York, he's selfish, impulsive and genuinely can be a decent person. He's got relationships with various characters that aren't about his relationship with Nick, nor is that all he discusses with them.

Top talks to Cheum, well it's about Mew. Top talks with Ray, well that's also about Mew. Top talks with Boston (post breakup), yeah, that's about Mew too. Even his conversations with Boeing are about Mew. Heck his convos with Sand are about Boeing and Mew so I guess there's at least a little variety there.

I was hoping for Top and Boeing to have like, A Conversation. Clearly Top feels safe enough to rely on Boeing to help him sleep, that would require a certain level of trust right? Or does Top have a rotating list of ex's he asks for help with this? Or not? We don't know he never discusses it! What was Top and Boeing's relationship like post-breakup? Boeing seems bitter, and yet he's also helping Top out with something super personal at the same time?

Does Top have any friends? People he can open up to about, ya know, himself?

I know that people (shippers) probably would've disliked it but I think there coulda been something if Top and Boston actually became friends post-fucked-up-hook-up.

Their consent was violated after all, what if they got to, ya know, actually talk about that? What if at the party Boston and Top didn't talk about just Mew and after Boston's bitchy comments they had a real conversation? We learned something about Top and how he's feeling outside of sad-mew-dumped-him. What if he told Boston about how he can't sleep, so he's been drawing more, and Boston sees Top as like, A Person, rather than a conquest (lord knows Boston needs new friends who won't call him a whore and say he should've never been born).

Or hell Nick?? Maybe Nick could've reached out to Top and been like "sorry I recorded you having sex without your consent bro" and Top could again, talk about what happened to him and how it effected him outside of Mew?? Nick is good at making friends, he's a good listener, he's genuinely sorry about what he did so why not? Nick could've talked to Top at the party, and it would have opened up a chance to get Top's pov on what happened. Top could've made a friend!!!

But nope! Top's only motivations is just to exist for Mew and it's so frustrating. There's a lot of opportunity to explore and expand on his character and the show hasn't given it. Top went from being fun, messy, interesting, to being dull and boring and it's so sad.

Like at this point I'ma stan b/c he deserves better as a character rip

#only friends the series #chaos pikachu speaks #it's been 11 episodes and what the fuck do we know about top outside of:#he's hot rich prefers polos has trauma with fire & can't sleep and used to sleep around a lot #oh and he's in love with mew #for reasons #god this got so long jfc #chaos pikachu metas

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jewishdainix · 8 months

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While I do totaly understand how Fitz's reply to Nettle in their ride from Jaamphe in Fool's Assassin is seen as just a silly attempt to deny queerness , there is actually a lot to analyse about it!

When you dissect it it actually shows Fitz's failure to both bridge the gap separate his and Beloved's relationship with/from queerness, and the Six Duchies' understanding of it.

Let me explain.

The view in the Six Duchies on queer relationships* seems to be that they are Scandelous relationships that are purely sexual.

The homophobia we see from the characters shows that: When Starling was insulting Fitz she said that she was sure he whispered Molly's name while Lord Golden was fucking him; when Dutiful asked Fitz if he and Lord Golden were sleeping together, but not if they were in a relationship; when Chade told Fitz he knew he didnt sleep with men; Lant saying he was afraid when he first met Fitz because he heard rumers Tom Badgerlock also desired men.

Even during The Quarell Fitz talked about that same sexual aspect, saying he would never want to sleep with the Fool.

When Nettle asked him about his and Lord Golden's relationship, and if the rumors about them were true, she brought back that old idea of the Scandelous, purely sexual nature of queer relationships.

And that wasn't what Fitz and Beloved's relationship was.

Whether or not you interprit Fitz being secualy attracted to Beloved, their relationship was not what the Six Duchies' idea of queer relationships was. It was an emotional connection that their relationship was built on, not a purely sexual one with no care beyond sexual desire.

Which is why Fitz said there was nothing "improper" about their bond. Why Fitz said that what they had wen far beyond that.

Fitz was still unable to separate the idea of being in a relationship with Beloved with that view of queerness (he almost did, by the end of Fool's Fate, but whatever progress he made was undone by him repressing his love for Beloved all those years apart. Admitting he loved Beloved would have meant he was not able to pretend he got the Happy Ending he so desprately clung to, buts thats a whole other post).

But thats just the part about him not being able to seprate queer relationships from the view on them in the Six Duchies. Because of those views, he doesn't know how to recognise his feellings for Beloved (and other men) as what they are.

When Riddle told him how he remembered that he and Beloved were "very close" Fitz didn't oject like he has done with the acusations/questions that were related to the supposed sexual nature of his relationship with Lord Golden. He hadn't replied with anything, but mentioned that his silence said more than any thing he could have said himself.

When meeting with Carson, Fitz immidietly mentions how he felt a "feelling that sometimes comes of insant connection, a deep friendship that could have been".

Lets dissect that aswell, since I already put this under a readmore and dont care about how long this post gets. (@tragediegh and I talk about this quote every couple of days so everything I say here is recicled from our dms lol)

"Instant connection, a deep friendship that could have been," implies that the relationship Fitz is thinking he would have is very close, but it is not based on an actual expirience with that person, rather their first impression on Fitz - their vibe and how they look (interesting how Fitz says it about Carson, a gay man).

"That sometimes comes" shows that it is an - if not a common one - an occurence that happened multiple times.

This sounds like someone describing a crush/romantic atraction without knowing that what they are feelling is that!

The reason Fitz describes it as a "deep friendship" and "instant connection" and not "romantic feellings towards men" is because how he still view queer relationships from that homophobic view the Six Duchies have, and because of that is unable to connect his feellings towards men (amd beloved) to what they are.

...

* mlm relationships, technically. We havn't seen what they think of sapphic ones (even in The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince Felicity mentions how possible homophobia only briefly, though they do seem to not consider lesbian sex as not actual sex which makes since with how their culture views reproduction) and I'm pretty sure Six Duchies people don't know about trans/genderqueer people because *gestures to everything*

#fitz and the fool #realm of the elderlings #fitzchivalry farseer #fitzloved #fool's assassin #assassin's fate #internalized homophobia #love how this shower thought i had in the shower took me 50 mintues to write

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glowingvenus · 8 months

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why you should read FENCE

dear followers, you may be thinking "what is this obscure comic that you're suddenly full throttle obsessed with. i don't even know you anymore. i'm scared." and so i'm here to tell you what FENCE is and why you should read it

i'm not normally into comics, or stories about gay teenage boys doing sports. i prefer books about adult lesbians who can't do ten jumping jacks without getting lightheaded. BUT this series is magical, i swear. it takes a lot of tropes that are common to the genre and plays with them in such interesting ways.

here's our hero, nicholas, who has nothing but $2 and a dream of becoming a great fencer:

and here's nicholas' father, who doesn't know he exists:

and here's seiji katayama, ranked second nationally:

and here's how it starts off for them:

and here's where they're headed:

and who's that blond guy? i hope it isn't jesse coste, top-ranked fencing royalty, nicholas' unknowing half-brother, and seiji's ex-"something"...

there's a diverse cast of other characters to love, more than i can list here (but special shout out to the adorably energetic bobby, sunshine captain harvard and campus heartbreaker aiden, his bff and secret admirer).

this story truly goes beyond what you'd expect from the genre. it's fun, funny and super cute, but it's also got a real sense of tension, of rivalry, of steadily simmering romantic potential that puts it in a league of its own. and, it's not explicitly stated (yet?) but this is def def def an ADHD/autism romance in the making.

we fence fans are a small community but we're really worried about this series not being able to continue if there's not enough interest. so i can't recommend enough that you check it out, and if you like it, buy it and show your support!

so far there are 5 volumes (each consisting of 4 single issues), and 3 out of 4 of the next volume (fence: redemption) have been released. the next issue is out on September 13, 2023 and it's gonna be a fucking juicy one.

where to buy: preferably your local comic shop, if not then bookshop.org to support local bookstores, or any retailer of your choice!

*if you can't buy it or find it in a library, you can find it online for free pretty easily via google, but please do buy it if you end up liking it.

i'm out of room for pics in this post but i'm also gonna link you to the special pride edition cover of fence: redemption #1 because it's really good. thank you for your time. *ungrips your shoulders*

#fence comic #fencecomic #for the love of fuck give me a note or two on this #i took all these photos myself when i could have. well. anyway.

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gwenllian-in-the-abbey · 1 month

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"You told me it was our duty to hold the realm united against a common foe. By naming me heir, you divided the realm. I thought I wanted it. But the burden is a heavy one. It’s too heavy. If you wish for me to bear it, then defend me. And my children."

Episodes 8

What is your opinion on this speech?

Rhaenyra is absolutely correct that Viserys divided the realm when he named her heir, despite telling her it was her duty to hold the realm united, and that he placed a heavy burden on her shoulders and didn't do a whole lot for her in terms of practical support. I think it's interesting that the show chose to highlight how neither Rhaenyra nor Aegon particularly want to rule. I think for show!Rhaenyra, it makes a good deal of sense. I always got the sense that if Viserys had disinherited her, show!Rhaenyra's pride would be wounded, but she would probably be at least a tiny bit relieved. It's that same pride that won't let her just admit that it might not be worth it, that maybe she'd rather just step back (and there's a cut dialogue with Daemon in which she voices these doubts to him and he immediately shuts her down saying she's weak like Viserys... hm!). In light of this, it isn't particularly out of character for show!Rhaenyra to be considering the peace offer Otto delivers (book!Rhaenyra is another story, she has no doubts and does not give a fuck about keeping the realm united, she wants to win, period). She has a good life on Dragonstone, her kids are out of the public eye and aren't facing accusations of bastardy, and Daemon has his dragon hobby to keep him occupied. She doesn't need the throne, and if it's not actually that important to Viserys, then he should just say so. If he really wants her to be queen and has a good reason for it, then do something. She has a point.

That said, if Rhaenyra doesn't want the burden, she can give it up at any time, and if she actually does want to be heir, she's not doing herself any favors either. She is the one who stayed away, who went to Dragonstone and was absent from court while the green council built up their power base. And while yes, Dragonstone is the official holding of the heir to the throne, most heirs split their time between King's Landing and Dragonstone because it's important for the heir to learn the workings of the realm and to make connections and alliances. Dragonstone is only a few hours away on from King's Landing on dragonback, and it's a relatively small holding with only a few villages, so it's not as if it requires its prince or princess to be in residence at all times. Aside from that, Rhaenyra also had three bastard children and put them in the line of succession, which she knew was going to cause problems (and in this, Viserys did offer her a ton of support, including allowing his own son's maiming to go unpunished and Vaemond to be killed to maintain that lie). So it kind of goes both ways. Rhaenyra acts like she doesn't really care all that much about being heir beyond the validation it gives her, that she is the favorite child, the one he chose, and Viserys stubbornly keeps her as heir but does nothing to shore up her claim or mitigate the threats against her, and it's divided the realm despite Viserys insisting the realm must remain united, so what are we actually doing here? I liked this scene, I think it reveals a good deal about show!Rhaenyra's mindset.

I think if done well, the show can have Rhaenyra really spiraling due to grief and rage, going from feeling like she should preserve the peace and that maybe it isn't worth it, to feeling like she has to win out of spite (and I think this can apply to both sides. You have Otto and Rhaenys giving Alicent and Rhaenyra similar speeches in the trailer) and a desire for vengeance. I don't... hate this? But the show has to stop giving Rhaenyra the chosen one rightful heir halo and admit that she doesn't go to war for the good of the realm, but for her own very personal reasons.

#asks #hotd discussion #anti viserys i targaryen #anti rhaenyra targaryen #anti team black #but not really in this post #just putting that there because people get weird #anti viserys is always real though

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ddaroll · 1 year

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To be honest, I feel uncomfortable that Transformers fandom has a tendency to want Optimus only to be morally flawless.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you have to love all OP.

I fully understand with all my respect if you only want that kind of Optimus who is morally flawless.

The problem is the overcriticism of him who does not fit that standards of fandom.

Optimus is like the icon of Transformers. so he's in everyone's head like a soup with the images of all continuities rather than being thought of separately in each universes.

And if some Optimus in a particular continuity is being morally gray or making bad choices, people simply just read the wiki or read posts about that or ignore about the context why he made such choices then overcriticize him with confidence like he's the only one who's done wrong/bad things in the story.

And that's… that's just so weird. I've seen so many posts that overcriticizing him and getting self-righteous. They seem to feel themselves like… morally neat when they criticize Optimus. "I'm a very smart and analytical person who can spot these flaws even this overrated moral icon character!"

and... idk why but they are also obsessed with collecting Optimus' little faults and saying that Optimus should beg Megatron for forgiveness for THAT.

It's really weird considering Megatron also has done so many wrong things and they're always throwing same shits at each other in stories, but beyond that, above all, THEY ARE ALREADY PAST THAT STAGE!!

The two are no longer care about minor disputes in the past!!!

Megatron just wants to make Optimus know that his way is wrong, you little blind idealist, and Optimus is like "please just stop that madness and genocide and colonization. Universe hates us for this."

Do you really think that if Optimus apologizes to Megatron for the little things he did wrong in the past, the war will end just magically? AND DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT OPTIMUS NEVER TRIED SUCH THINGS DURING THE WAR?

I mean, if you really love and understand Optimus Prime, you should know that Optimus would have tried all the nonviolent ways to end the war arleady!

The initial feud between the two is no longer a matter now!The war between of them is now nothing but a huge ideological conflict!!

They are just divorced old men with a long history, not a fresh couple just started meeting each other!!!!!!

I just can't understand unless they enjoy criticizing the character who is considered as a moral icon to self-righteous themselves. I would fully understand if they criticize other characters equally, but no, they always have a huge double standard just for Optimus.

if they are all just nothing but Optimus haters, I still don't like it, but I could understand but this is also actually happening in Optimus fandom. Please show some love for him. at least don't try to prove your morality through him. please.

Oh I just read through what I wrote and I can see my anger is being expressed like a gradation LMAO I'm so sorry lol

anyway, so, yeah, please just see him as the same way like when you see the other common characters.

If you don't think of him as an overrated moral icon, or someone who should always be right, or a vessel of some kind of old ideologies (somehow people think that objectively correct ideologies are boring and outdated), but a person, you can enjoy the Transformers stories so much deeper. a low understanding of him will prevent you from enjoying thoes stories a lot. Like those ppl who blame Optimus just for cooperating with Ghost, without thinking about the consequences of not cooperating with them.

btw, the reason why I deleted my old tumblr was largely because of this. Back then, IDW Megatron was showing his redemption arc, and IDW Optimus was making mistakes to keep the peace he had barely achieved. and… yeah, I think you would know what was happend in Tumblr at the time. I left the fandom for 4 years because of that. The funny thing is, I didn't even know I was in love with Optimus until then. Anyone who knew me at that time would know how crazy I was about MTMTE lol

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darklinaforever · 7 months

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For people who say Tentoo isn't the Doctor because "he would be half Donna's" on pretext he "sound / look like her", specifically because of this moment :

Well... admire almost the same scene down to the head movements, but with different dialogues :

As for the "Oi", yes, often said by Donna :

youtube

Now admire the 10th Doctor who has also already used this expression :

youtube

The only thing the Doctor did in relation to Donna was echo Donna's tone of voice. Which, if you know the Doctor Who universe, is not the first time this has happened :

Oh, and he also stole her this expression :

youtube

Which can either always be explained by the voice thing we just said (the most logical). Or maybe it's because the Doctor is simply imitating the behavior of his companions... Hello Clara :

You could even theorize that Ten's tongue tics come from Rose (I mean... David Tennant outright said that Ten imprinted on Rose. So thinking that isn't that crazy) :

I'm not even the only one who thinks so :

The tone of voice and the expression "Well isn't that wizard ?" are literally the only noticeable changes and they are minimal compared to the other regenerations ! Other than those two things, Tentoo acts like he always acted as the Doctor / Ten (including the way he speaks) :

Even in official audios with Tentoo (from what I know), those two things are literally always the only differences ! In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it's even just the famous expression "Well isn't that wizard ?" which is listed as being the only difference in Tentoo since Metacrisis / Regeneration (don't hesitate to correct me about this subject in the comments if I'm wrong ! I really need to listen to these audios). Which is logical that he only has minimal changes, since the essential symbolic goal of Tentoo was that the Doctor no longer changes, to remain Rose's Doctor :

Afterwards the only thing Tentoo lacks is having said "Allons-y !", and "Molto Bene !". And since he keeps his "Oh yes !", "Oi !", "Brilliant !", "Ha !" even "Well...", and according to the "Empire of the Wolf" comic, he also kept "What ?!" (Oh, and also his glasses) So, I think it's pretty obvious that he kept it "Allons-y !" and "Molto Bene !" too. (In addition to having, as shown above, kept all of his physical ticks)

Ten himself doesn't say all these expressions in the episode JE. He only says "Brilliant", and that makes sense, because we're not going to make a character say all of his cult quotes in one and the same episode. The individual being doesn't work like that. The only reason why Tentoo throws out so many of these expressions is precisely to make the public understand that he is still the Doctor we knew ! But obviously that wasn't enough for some...

Beyond that to return to Donna and the Doctor, they have always looked alike anyway. What are two more similarities ? Evidence from one of my old posts :

And why does it look the same ? Because brotherly relationship :

What the metacrisis essentially allowed was to make them real brothers and sisters at the biological / DNA level. And I don't know if you have brothers and sisters, or if you know someone who has brothers and sisters, but similar ways of speaking in tone, and having expressions in common, that happens a lot among brothers and sisters. The fact that they literally only have one expression in common is a miracle. And then frankly a minimal addition when you consider how similar the Doctor and Donna have always been.

Essentially the Doctor didn't want to change, he wanted to remain Rose's Doctor and he did. He remained the same physically, in his vocal expressions and body gestures. But ironically he added a little of the impulsivity of his ninth incarnation with whom Rose fell in love, and finally definitively concretized the brother/sister bond he had with Donna, from a human point of view, on the biological plan. But since the body has no real importance for the Doctor, he kept something more tangible from her, namely, a fondness for the way she spoke (as he did with Rose, but in a less present way), especially since he will technically never be able to see her again. And all that, well it’s very beautiful.

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frozenearthwife · 2 years

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Ruby is a rare type of protagonist

This is gonna be long, you’ve been warned!

I am a grown ass adult woman. I like female protagonists, I prefer watching them and relating to them, and always have.

I’ve watched a lot of animes since my teenage years, upwards of 400 last I counted on MyAnimeList a few years ago. I’ve been to Tokyo - twice - and spent at least 20 hours scouring the anime stores of Akihabara. I paid the Japanese mailing service to send a Saber figurine back to my home country since it was too big to bring in my luggage. (This one!)

Why does this matter and what does it have to do with Ruby? Read on:

During my years of being an utterly anime fanatic, I started to grow bored. After 400 animes, you’ve seen most of the plot twists. Most of the stereotypical personalities. All the classics have been watched and rewatched. The story beats, even if presented in a new packaging, becomes predictable.

You start to see the patterns, so to say. I’ve been hyped more times than I can count, only to be disappointed when yet another promising series took a predictable, cliché turn with its story or characters. It may not be sudden, sometimes it happens several episodes or even a few seasons into the show. So you never know for sure until having spent a lot of time watching.

There are a lot of GREAT animes with male protagonists, but how rare isn’t it to find one that does NOT build towards the guy being needing to become stronger than his enemies and winning some important final fight? (as is common in shounen in general)

As time went by I found myself getting more and more picky with what I wanted to spend time watching. I prefer shows with the cool, badass, strong girls, since those are the ones I enjoy watching and them being girls makes it easier for me to relate and enjoy their achievements.

Cool...

Badass...

...strong girls.

These are what I want. Finding them, however, can be tedious work, especially in the role as main protagonists.

In the anime world, there are some common tendencies with strong female characters:

1) The badass female character is either a side-kick to the male protagonist, eventually become overshadowed by a male protagonist, OR in some cases by some new girl, because heaven forbid any of the cool girls get developed beyond their one single character arc. (ex. Fate/Zero, A Certain Magical Index, Shakugan no Shana, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Sword Art Online, Attack on Titan, any anime with a harem, and so many others - they can still be good shows though, that’s not the point!)

2) There are great animes out there with great female protagonists, however they are usually either a) sexualized (ex. Kill la Kill) or b) shows geared towards kids (ex. Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, The Owl Hourse (yes, I’m putting this here even if it’s not an anime) or c) romance focused (ex. Revolutionary Girl Utena). I love these shows for other reasons though!

3) The actually great action animes with badass female protagonists that are allowed to develop and not be overshadowed by their crush/secret male protagonist etc. do exist, but are sadly few and far between. (Soul Reaper is pretty great with Maka, although BlackStar steals a lot of space, and I prefer the anime for this exact reason. A Certain Scientific Railgun was my fav for a long time, but sadly Mikoto is in love with the harem protagonist of the main show and gets overshadowed whenever he’s involved.)

And it doesn’t matter if the show is named after the girl(s) or not!

Here are two girls, each with their own anime named after them (Railgun/Index). Guess who’s the most important character who actually drives the main story?

Shakugan no Shana: Yes, Shana is the name of the girl. Guess which character gets the most power-ups and biggest development?

There’s nothing wrong with liking these shows, I mean I watched them too, and I enjoyed them for the most part... but sometimes I just... whish the dude would stay a side-kick?

So, first impression of RWBY was... cautious optimism?

When I first watched RWBY, because an online friend suggested it, I was surprised to find four strong female protagonists - and Ruby presented as the main protagonist what with the very first episode being named after her and there was no guy in sight.

Seems good? Even if the animation is super wonky. Ruby is cool. I like her. She has an awesome weapon too and is competent with it. She even bites back at people instead of becoming submissive. She gets saved in first episode yes, but it was by an adult woman after a woman took over the fight from Roman.

Also no fanservicy panty shots, suggestive angles and what-not? Seems promising.

But I’d seen this before. A show starts out with a cool, interesting, badass girl as the main protagonist. Then at some point some guy gets introduced, and it turns out he’s special, and she crushes on him, and then he gets stronger, and now she’s his side-kick, and more girls come along, and everything keeps scaling upwards forever (except the original girl), you get the idea.

Then the show turned into some hybrid of Harry Potter x Sailor Moon x high school anime spinoff wannabe with questionable quality? Okay, but maybe with these interesting girls and some cool plot it can work?

The Jaundice episodes seemed to fulfill the prophecy and I lost interest halfway through. Yes, even if the episodes were just 6 minutes long.

I dropped RWBY and didn’t touch it again for several years.

By this point V4 had just finished. I was bored one day, and I decided to give RWBY another chance.

Got past V1 and V2. It was better than I remembered. Got to V3 and... oh no, is Pyrrha gonna do the “stealing the protagonist role” thing?

Ugh. I hate when shows trade out their main characters for new ones because they can’t figure out how to develop the ones they already have. Pyrrha is fine, but I’m already commited to team RWBY you know? Pyrrha is so OP compared to the others, it won’t be fun watching her just demolish every single foe ever, especially if she’s gonna have magic as well. It’ll just be her special story along with her romantic story with Jaune. She is going to overshadow team RWBY and then what, is Jaune gonna come along and do the same to her eventually?

With little faith left, I pressed on to episode 9, 10, 11, and... holy shit.

HOLY SHIT!

They really did that, didn’t they? They really made me think they were incompetent, cliché writers and all that. That they were gonna focus on Pyrrha and Jaune going forwards because they had no idea how to tell a compelling story with the girls they’d already established as “main protagonists”.

And then they a) Killed off the “ace student” promised for greatness and b) destroyed the High School setting and c) Allowed the bad guys to win and d) Introduced an actual competent villain AND e) Gave new depth to team RWBY and Ruby in particular.

I was HOOKED. I realized RWBY is a show that allows its protagonists to take a backseat now and then, only to hit hard with the actual meaningful stuff. Developing and letting side characters shine as well, so that it doesn’t seem like team RWBY are the only characters with purpose in this world.

Cause no matter how special or strong or high on the political ladder they are, no character in RWBY has all the answers, nor do they have any means to actually stop Salem.

They still don’t!

Ruby has her silver eyes, but they didn’t “save” Beacon, or Pyrrha, or Penny, or Atlas. Actually, they may be more a curse than anything, now knowing about the Hound and what Salem can do to silver-eyed warriors. Not even a meaningful curse in the “I’ll become a cool vampire” type of curse, but just... horrible! No! Do not want this! Actually bad curse!

Ruby can’t solve this alone. She’s not all-powerful, she isn’t the shounen protagonist who always powers up in a pinch, she’s not the Maiden of all Maidens, she doesn’t always have the answers, she’s not Ozpin’s host or Salem’s Chosen or any of those clichés. That’s not the point of her character and the story we’re being told.

Ruby, like everyone else in this story, has to train, and learn, and fail, and do mistakes, and be wrong, and correct herself, and try again, and do better next time, and trust, take risks, experience loss and helplessness, and we have not seen the end of her development. I’m hyped for V9 not because of new fights, power-ups or what-not, but because I’m excited to see what Ruby has learned from their failures so far, how they’ll pick themselves up, and how they’ll try to approach the defeating of Salem.

Because at this point in time, they have no idea how to do any of it, and that’s what excites me most about RWBY and Ruby’s character in particular.

Ruby does not have all the answers, but she’s trying anyway, because the alternative is to give up.

She’s 17 years old and has been thrust into war against a foe that can’t die, into a role of leadership she has no grasp on how to handle. She’s trying to learn from those around her, imperfect human beings as they too are. She’s doing her best, and although she happens to have special Grimm-melting laser beam eyes, that won’t stop Salem. It won’t save Remnant from the gods.

“What are you?” is going to be a very interesting question to explore in V9.

Ruby is a rare type of protagonist because she’s not the answer to every problem, she’s not the Chosen One solely able to save the world. Yet she’s also not overshadowed or sidelined by someone else. Her story intrigues me more than anyone else’s, in any other show I’ve seen.

#RWBY #Ruby Rose #my precious child #RWBY has great writing #And I would pay to read the actual scripts #Or a book form of the scripts

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