#< i've never had a fandom so small ive had to tag the author

[woof-squiggles]

"Lick it."

[9/25/22]

[cj-kenobi]

i just finished a book series for the first time in. a long time. I've been keeping up with it since i was like 13. what the Fuck do i do now how do i recover from this event what do i do with my life

[tprings-hair]

2!

2. My favorite fic from the fandom that I’ve read

ooh. this is HARD. I'll link a few of the best fics I've read so far, but this is absolutely not the full list of fics I love.

for tos:

Sugar in Your Hand by WerewolvesAreReal | the ultimate spirk fic. I'm begging everybody to read this right now.

Human Souls by kcscribbler | tag to operation: annihilate! everything by this author is fantastic, but I'm picking this as a sort of representative because it shows what they do best: pick out small canon moments and turn it into an emotional exploration of the episode's events. this one has spock visiting kirk's nephew in sickbay and teaching him to play chess to deal with his grief and give him something else to focus on.

Command and Control by HeronS | tag to the menagerie. this is such a fantastic look at the dynamic between kirk and spock and this constant doubt kirk seems to have through the series that spock may betray him. also shows once again why kirk is a better captain than spock would be, how kirk manages the optics of being betrayed by a senior officer, and how he can work with spock afterwards even now those doubts have been confirmed.

I need a drink of cool, cool rain by Moreta1848 | the worldbuilding for vulcan culture in this is really interesting and feels very real, and the way kirk and spock are sort of circling each other and never quite saying what they're thinking out loud? very in character. also I love it when anything talks about rain. mind the rating

The Empty Hand by Reyka_Sivao | a look at t'pring after the events of amok time that looks at vulcan society and the amount of agency she actually had. this one is so good, I hate it when people just say "oh she's a bitch because she turned spock down" and this is a fantastic exploration of why it's not nearly that simple

and for aos:

Gambler's Knife by thegeminisage | a look at what aos kirk might have seen and done on tarsus iv, starting with the premise that aos kirk would have shot kodos right there in the theatre as soon as he recognised him and going into wild and dark places from there. it gives you the perfect setup and payoff and I love the characterisation, the detailed worldbuilding, the connecting thread of the knives, it's just so good. definitely mind the rating and trigger warnings on this one.

the ship in port is the safer one (but that's not the reason it was made) by KiaraSayre | one of the things I didn't like about aos is that it honestly didn't seem like kirk was very good at actually leading people and getting them to put their faith in him (or actually want to listen to him at all, ever). this fic makes me root for him as it shows how he learns to be a decent captain and all the many (many) mistakes he makes along the way. seriously, I love this fic so much. read it for the puns if nothing else! mind the rating

[busket]

i agree with many aspects of this post; trans men should not always be depicted as small and effeminate, more variety of characters should be headcanoned and represented as trans, but as a trans man and a long time dungeon meshi fan, also disagree with a lot of what you said here

first of all, in canon, kabru is not particularly effeminate. he's a playboy, he's a schemer, he's a fighter. he might be stronger than laios, but he fails in the dungeon due to his lack of knowledge about monsters. he knows how to quickly take down human opponents. he lives in the basement of a pub and his room is a mess. he forgets to feed himself so hes kinda lanky. he loves politics and history and sociology. nothing about him is particularly feminine, those are all very unisex traits, nudging closer to the masculine side imo. People haven't picked out kabru from the cast and made him trans be he's more girly, because he's not. ive been reading dungeon meshi since 2017 and personally I started headcanoning kabru as trans when I read his flashback about being a child under milsilrils care. the themes of wanting to be useful, wanting to fight and explore but being coddled and overprotected by his adoptive mother was relatable as a trans man. People I've seen headcanon him as trans are the same, they are other trans men that relate to kabrus character.

Secondly, fandom is not representation. you don't need to make your choices about what headcanons and ships you like based on what would be good representation in the world. trans men do need representation of masculine men, but headcanoning is not where we find that. headcanoning is saying "I really like and relate to this character, I wish he was like me". and in a fandom for an anime of majority young people, the trans masc fans are going to be young and early in our transitions and looking for characters that more closely fit our lived experiences.

your assumptions makes it seem like fans are like "let's see, I need to headcanon one of these characters as transmasculine to fill my quota.. I know! I'll pick the effeminate one to be a trans man!" if this were the case, why is trans masc mithrun not more popular? or lycion? all the elf men are so visually feminine that the official translation didn't know they were men until the author confirmed their pronouns. mithrun was given they/them pronouns for much of the mangas run.

Thirdly, just because something brings you dysphoria doesn't mean it's bad. I've drawn art of kabru with breasts, I've designed fankids with him and laios for fun. and you know what? I've had so many other trans men tell me "thank you for drawing him like this. I'm a trans man that can't have top surgery and I never see people loving our bodies like this" or "I'm a trans man that's gotten pregnant and had kids, seeing you draw art of kabru being a father feels so wonderful". keep in mind that trans men are also expected to preform a higher degree of masculinity than cis men to be respected; and many of us feel a longing to reclaim and celebrate parts of our feminine identities. we are allowed to have breasts and children and still be respected as men.

it's true that trans senshi laios and chilchuck is more uncommon, but personally I see it pretty often?? at least the latter two. you said you don't even like the show in your tags, which tells me youve only seen the surface of the fandom, only whats the most popular. so like.....why nitpick what trans men are doing to have fun in a fandom that you're not even a part of? from a media you haven't fully consumed and make assumptions about the content and fans of the story?

I get kind of dysphoric seeing Kabru being the only one to get depicted as a trans man in all the dungimeshi fanart, he is short, effeminate, cunty- its weird, why is your first assumption the feminine short man is trans? What exactly do you think is inherent to the afab body that makes it such a immedianet thought?

You cant really ..tell queers just by looking at someone.

Why is it never Laios or Senshi? Its uncommon to see transmasc art of them, and i know why that is.

Theyre "traditionally masculine"

Which isnt true entirely, Senshi was described as effeminate for a dwarf, but he adheres to Our standards of masculinity, so he doesnt appeal to the inherent idea people have of trans men- and people think trans men are women.

So. Yknow. Think before you trans i guess. Youre actually perpetuating some bad ideas by not having any range in your depiction of transgender men.

If you only ever draw short, cunty, pretty, effeminate, snappy yet subby men as transgender men...

You...are doing a poor job at spreading transmasc positivity.

Even if you yourself are transmasc you are still susceptible to perpetuating the idea that trans men are inherently weaker, softer and more feminine compared to cisgender men.

Yes gnc trans men exist, its important to depict those in art aswell, but unique gender presentation doesnt equate to your personality.

The problem with trans Kabru is all the art im seeing of him "mothering" Laios' children, taking on a "female" role in the ship art, adhering to a status quo because of his vagina..

There is just a lot of shitfuckery and i think you need to give it more thought before deciding the femmy subby man is a transgender man.

And i've NEVER seen a transfem Kabru- oh but everyone LOVES transfem Laios, theres probably more to unpack about transfem Laios being so prevalent but its not my place to do so.