#(no that's too reductive. but also yes please)

[mumblingsage]

Semi-baked thought but recently I have read 3 different professionally published gay romances that were...fine...some more satisfying than others, but what stuck out to me was the extent to which the characterization and dialogue lacked surprises. A bi guy in an M/M romance recommendation thread on reddit pointed out the extent to which published romances gravitate toward a particular flavor of feminine man paired with a particular flavor of masculine man and it's hard not to keep seeing once it's pointed out. In each of the three books the more 'masculine' guy was bisexual. I love bisexuals (it's self-love), I love characters with differing relationships to their gender, but I'm also fighting down thoughts of a drinking game.

It's not the exact same flavor as the original Fandom Ghost but it is a Ghost. [And specific enough that it is a Ghost, not an archetype.]

Perhaps the bigger lacking-surprises issue is a craft one where everyone just Says What They Mean too often, and in rather bland ways. I don't mind the occasional revelation of Truth from the Heart; I am reading romance! But how you do it matters, points can be won for style; there's a low quotability quotient and less satisfaction because, again, it's romance, we know they're going to communicate these particular ideas, we're here to be charmed and surprised by how they do it. (In parallel to the romances, I'm reading Robin Hobb's character-driven fantasy novels, and one thing I will say for her, the characters' dialogue + narrative is a firehose of surprises in a way that often reads as more truly romantic.)

If this was fanfiction of my Blorbos I would be more easily satisfied, or perhaps the generic-ness would be less noticeable because I'd be backfilling richer details from canon. When it's happening to original characters, it leaves a feeling of dissatisfaction.

There's also a thing where the side characters root for the relationship in rather flat/uninteresting ways; I'm willing to admit some of this is Just Me having a higher angst preference than the target audience, but at the same time I've read older romances (old enough that they're standardly heterosexual) which, for all their myriad other sins, give side characters much richer and more complex emotional affects and roles. And I think some of it is approach/style more than content: if I summarize various side characters, they sound perfectly interesting, but on the page they fall flat because they just Say What They Mean in polite and generic ways. [This a flaw that annoys me in fanfiction too. Once you've read enough, you already know what they're going to say, usually, but you want the way they say it to make some impression. "Say" can be broadly construed to include body language and symbolic action - my kingdom for an extravagant gesture.]

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

anyway i think that one thing that bugs me so much about the way johnny/peanut is usually portrayed in the fandom - which extends to other mlm ships with johnny btw - is how the narratives are put in a way that doesn't require johnny to challenge the misogyny he regularly displays in game which is what really damaged the relationship with lola on his part and one of his flaws as a character

[dee-the-red-witch]

…a lot of folks just see themselves in the mirror. Before I came out and started my transition, I mostly saw static- I'd gotten really good at making my brain just tune out what I was feeling about what I was seeing. But once I stopped hiding from myself? The litany my brain went through every time I saw my own face was way too loud and clear.

Chin too wide. Forehead too big. Brow ridge is massive, you have to keep your eyebrows constantly raised just help hide it. Where's your upper lip? It doesn't matter if that's been your hairline from birth, that fivehead is terrible.

And more. It was even worse before I'd started laser for my facial hair and found a stylist that does amazing work reshaping my eyebrows. And none of it is vanity. It's just my brain doing it's own best to hurt itself with all the reminders of a puberty that went in the wrong direction. Of the fact that I wasn't a girl.

And I want to point out something- all these features I've listed? They're all present in cis women. Gorgeous cis women. There's nothing inherently male about any of these. Hells, on a good day, I pass as a woman in public without much issue, which is something I never thought would happen.

But this isn't about passing. It also isn't about ultimately going stealth and hiding the fact that I'm trans. I fully intend to stay loud about that for the rest of my life. It's about being able to look in the mirror and not want to scream about everything that doesn't match what's in my head at all. It's about making that list shut up. I can see past it sometimes. Just sometimes. But that's why the second of these two surgeries I'm having needs to happen. So I can see it more often. So I can be myself, without the horror movie litany in my head.

And the fix for it? In my case it's the following, since I didn't want to deal with implants or fillers. Bone reduction in the chin and brow- make the former narrower and reduce the brow ridge entirely. Adjust the upper lip with a slight pull upwards, done just under the nose. Since my skin's going to be loose from the removed bone, use it to pull things a bit further by bringing my hairline forward and down a touch. That';s it. slight adjustments that'll leave my face looking like I got hit by a truck for the first six months of recovery, but afterwards, a face more like what I expect to see in the mirror.

And yes, this post is happening because GFM once again reminds me to give detail and insight about the medical needs I need covered to my audience. And for those of you unfamiliar, maybe it at least gives some perspective. I don't think they quite knew what they were asking for with these particular cases, and I'm hoping I didn't just horrify the lot of you with this. But when it comes to asking 'why I need to do this'? This is part of it. Making some of my life that much less of a struggle.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time on reading through this one if you've gotten this far. If you can, please, again, share this fundraiser around- I've got a long way to go still, but I'm hoping I'll be able to make it.

137 days to go.

[lurkingteapot]

Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm -- one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace -- I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai -- I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% —this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv—give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those sounds and sound clusters not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back -- yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there's a ton of youtube videos that is "phrases to use in [situation]" that are great for targeted learning if you're up for it

self talk (cautiously! don't want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words -- seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

---

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

[melanieph321]

SEVEN DAYS OF REQUESTS (DAY 6)

Ruben Dias x Reader - Shame on You Part 2/2

⚠️ Warning ⚠️

+18

Part 1

Request - Hi, can you do one where the reader has a ta and ruben makes an unintentional comment about her body and she gets neurotic and stops eating and he notices?

Enjoy!

It began with a reduction of sugar in your current diet, meaning that you weren't adding anything to your coffee in the morning nor sprinkling it over your daily bowl of freshly picked berries. However,  your diet quickly evolved when you became a vegan, cutting off animal products altogether.

In Ruben's eyes, you were making healthy lifestyle choices, and you lived for the praise he gave you in the form of love and affection. You see, Ruben enjoyed morning sex before heading out for the day. It was very exciting at first, taking your relationship to a whole nother level intimately. However, at one point, it also became very exhausting for you. With your new diet, you simply didn't have the energy for sex, at least not every day like Ruben. One morning, he seemed to notice your lack of performance, leaving you very embarrassed when he asked you about it.

"Are you sure you're good?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

Ruben had been laying on top of you, but rolled to his side as if to give you space.

"Y/N. I don't know how to put it to you but it seems to me like you weren't enjoying yourself."

"Well maybe we can try another position?" Your voice sounded less confident than you wanted it to be.

"Y/N." Ruben smiled, reaching out to stroke the bottom of your lip with his thumb. "I don't think another position is gonna help if you're not feeling comfortable to begin with."

"Or maybe you just don't want me anymore?"

"What, no. Y/N, that's not what I...."

You got out of bed, desperately looking for something to cover yourself with. Ruben's shirt lay on the floor, you bent down to pick it up but was startled by Ruben who appeared before you in the nude, searching your face as if you had just been wacked in the face by a golf club.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

Your eyes darted at your feet. "Nothing I...."

"Y/N." He grabbed your shoulders, forcing you to meet his eyes. "Please, you can tell me. You have to tell me."

You shook your head and batted away the tears. "I..."

"Yes?"

"I don't know, okay."

You looked up. Ruben didn't appear the slightest convinced.

"You don't want to tell me?"

"It's not that, I just can't."

"Why?" Ruben sat down, dragging you to the edge of the bed for you to stand in between his legs. His hands went to stroke the length of your body, growing goosebumps on your naked skin.

"Ruben I'm..."

"Yes?"

He was taller than you, even when he was sitting down, your faces were at level. The way his was looking at you, at your body. Ruben was looking at you as if it didn't matter.

"Y/N, please tell me what's wrong?"

You sighed, stepping forwards, your head tilting forwards until it knocked against Ruben's. "I want cake."

"What?"

"And cookies. Ice cream too."

Ruben chuckled, shrugging his shoulders as he did. "Okay. Is it that time of the month or...?"

You pulled back, eyebrows furrowed.

"No?"

You shook your head. "No. I'm just..."

"Just...?"

You sighed. "I'm just fat, okay. Fat and hungry. So fucking hungry. And I don't want a salad, I want real food. Meat, and possibly a sponge cake for dessert.

Ruben looked puzzled.

"I know how you feel about me having dessert, but perhaps that's your problem not mine."

Ruben sat quiet, your rant having come to an end. He was still looking at you in the same way he had done minutes ago. With admiration and lust. Perhaps it wasn't the best to give it to him straight with your nipples in his face. However, Ruben had solemnly kept his eyes on you and only you, ignoring your titts.

"So you want dessert?" He said.

You bit your lip and nodded. "A cake."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. I want a steak from breakfast."

"Is that so?"

"Mhm. With baked potatoes, just the way your mom made them the last time she came to visit."

There was a dip in Ruben's left cheek. His arms pulled you close, pressing your body against his, his face now buried between your breast. "Is that all?"

"Yes." You nodded. "What are you having for breakfast?"

He smiled, but tilted down to kiss the center of your stomach, tracing them downwards until your back bent over his forearms.

"Ruben." You giggled. "I'm serious. What are you having for breakfast, I'll make you anything."

"Anything?" He looked up, eyes drunk and dazed.

"Yes. What do you want?" You were slightly afraid to hear his answer.

"If I can have anything, then I want you for breakfast."

"What?"

He said this and returned to serande your belly with kisses, awakening every nerve in your body.

"Ruben, you can't..."

Oh but he could. With one swift movement he had you on the bed again, your legs spread before him. He bent down to kiss your inner thigh with the most gentle of touches. It was short lived however, with Ruben tracing his kisses towards your center. Your fingertips traced the rough tips of his hair, and when he licked you your back arched with the pleasure that shot threw your spine.

"Fuck." You sighed.

"You taste wonderful." He murmured.

You smiled. "Better than cake?"

"Better than any dessert. You taste so sweet, sweeter than sugar."

"Hmm, Ruben Dias treating himself to something sweet, I see."

He raised his head, a dent between his brows. "Yes, and?"

You chuckled. "Well, shame on you."

Part 1

[canyouiimagine]

NONSENSE | LN4 x Black! Reader

PART 1

Materlist

✧ Paring: Lando Norris x Streamer black!reader

✧ Face claim: Mainly aaanokk

✧ Warning: none... I think 🤔.

✧ Summary: In which reader is obnoxiously head over heels for a "fruity" man that wears orange.

✧ Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not own nor know these people personally. I also do not claim this to be an accurate depiction of their character. 🥰

✧ A/N: I haven’t been on twitter in a WHILE so I’m really pulling these usernames out of my a*s 😭.

TWITTER

-

-

-

-

FaceTime call

"Hi.", you said shily. "I’m sorry if I came off too strong…"  "No worries!" He said with a chuckle. "I found it quite funny to be honest." "Hmm." You whispered looking away. "No! Really!" He laughed. "It was a good distraction from the shit season I’ve been having." You didn’t do too bad at Silverstone and Hungaroring. No?  "Yeah, but I don’t want to get too excited over 2 Good races. Spa was shit. Zandvort was also shit-" "I think p7 under these conditions is pretty good!" You said, interrupting him. You didn't know much about the sport yet but you had seen a lot of people saying that all over social media and you agreed! "Oh!" He said, giving you a surprised but amused look. "Didn’t you were that into F1." "I mean, I kinda have to if I’m into you. Don’t need people dragging me on social media because I think you’re cute but I don’t know what DRS means." "Do you?" He asked raising his eyebrow. Now... You in fact did not know what it meant, like okay Drag Reduction System but like, what does that even MEAN? Instead of replying you just glared at him, causing him to burst out laughing. He was about to say something but was cut off by someone in the background. He nodded at whatever the person was saying before setting his eyes back on you. "I have to go but I’ll text you to set up for our date." He said smiling at you. You smiled back, nodding, before registering what he had just said- "Date-?" "Bye!" "BYE?!" You screeched. This was all going so fast! He laughed and hung up.

y_username

liked by ybfusername, pokimanelol, f1wags and 706,401 others

y_username I might try my hand out at sports gaming, what do y'all think?

pokemanelol OMG YES PLEAAASE

y_username If pookie says so than I shall 😌

ybfusername When is this nonsense going to END???

y_username NEVER!!!! fan1 please bring her to her senses!!

fan2 How much longer will we have to tolerate this Y/N??

y_username You guys are nicer on twitter :(

f1wags @ landonorris liked by y_username

fan3 all that for a fruity looking man 😭

y_username I- I gagged!! Fruity??? 😭 fan3 Did I lie? y_username 😶 fan4 Man ??

Part 2

Hope you enjoyed it 🥹🫶🏾

Here's my ko-fi in case any of you want to support me by giving donations 🥰: https://ko-fi.com/canyouiimagine

[vasyandii]

HELLO! ^^

I’m a huge sucker for romance and relationship dynamic type questions so I do have some questions about VernAM (I believe that’s the right way)

Not the questions have to be answered, as I believe I have too many! But here’s my top three

1. In one of the little comics you did I believe AM talked about how he refused to give himself a body heat because of the concern he would produce and odour and this is where this question blooms from, does AM have any insecurities when it comes to his human body, or a fear that he doesn’t meet Vernons expectations? Or that she’ll find something un attractive or gross about him?

2. Whats their favourite thing about each other? It could be a personality trait, a skill, a body part, or say a little habit they tend to do?

3. Are they more dog people, cat people, or some other species like fish or reptilians or do they not prefer animals at all (if they had the ability to adopt pets)

Thank you so much! I love your art so very much and gain lots of inspiration from you to grow better in not just art but in educating myself in different cultures and ethnicities, please remember to drink water and I hope you have a wonderful day! Thank you once again! ^_^

Howdy Romeo! I'm happy I was able to inspire you in some way! I'd be happy to answer all your questions! Thank you for the ask! 💞💞

VernonAM 🏺🖥️

1.) Does AM have any insecurities when it comes to his human body?

Obviously, yes. It's AM's first time on Earth physically, of course he would have insecurities. However, it's not fully because he wants to meet Vernon's expectations. It's the fear of BEING.

(This is gonna lean into some confusing type shit so bear with me. I briefly touched upon it in the second question of this post)

When AM was given a physical, tangible body, there's now a HIM that can suddenly be held accountable for his actions and that makes him uncomfortable. So being aware his body isn't as mighty as him (the complex), AM tries to combat it by removing variables that can be prone to criticism even if Vernon doesn't mind.

Look at it this way; usually people act differently online than they do in real life, right? That's usually because there's often a disconnect with their actions. This discrepancy largely stems from the perceived disconnect between their online actions and their real-world identities. When interacting online, there is often no face or tangible form that can be directly traced back to the individual. This sense of anonymity can lead to a significant reduction in accountability.

As a result, individuals—particularly those who may not be well-adjusted or who possess mean-spirited tendencies—feel emboldened to say and do things they would never consider in face-to-face interactions. They exploit this lack of immediate consequences, engaging in behaviors that are often harmful, disrespectful, or downright cruel - Much like AM, who only just recently acquired a body. (I hope that makes sense ;0;)

2.) What's their favorite thing about each other?

I'll categorize these by personality traits, skill, body part, and habit!

Vernon likes AM because of his hatred/sass because it allows her to have an outlet for her morbid curiosity along with an entertaining conversation. She doesn't find his skills her favorites because that's just him, she believes AM doesn't have skills as a man. Her favorite body part is AM's eyes, he's easier to read as a man. His pupils dilate significantly when he looks at her and AM doesn't even know. A habit she finds endearing from AM is him holding onto the end of her shirt with his hand and following her around wherever she goes.

As for AM, Vernon's take no prisoners attitude is his favorite part of her personality. Of course AM also enjoys the moments when she's caring towards him, but that's something expected. His favorite skill is how good of a liar Vernon is. She could tell him something so outlandish with such a straight face that AM would consider believing it; it's like she believes the lie herself. His favorite part of Vernon's body is her lips, AM likes how soft and warm they are, and how they're shaped. A habit he enjoys is that she would pace around the space they're sharing when she's talking, AM just likes watching her walk, I guess.

3.) Which animals do they prefer, if any?

In regards to if they're cat or dog people; Vernon is a dog person, to her they're easier to train. AM would probably like cats since they do as they please.

For other animals, They would be a Reptile and Bird household xD. I could see Vernon owning a bearded dragon or any cold blooded reptile while AM has like a cool African Grey Parrot :)

But in reality I don't think these two should have access to animals lmao

Aaand that's all for now :3 if you'd like me to clarify anything, feel free to ask! Thank you for reading!

[dykeulous]

Your blog is a breath of fresh air. I don’t agree with you on some things (you’ve said in the past that you think intersex people can be sorted into women/men categories but I feel like that homogenizes and overlooks intersex specific experiences that you, someone I assume is perisex, cannot speak on) but it’s great to see a radfem not hostile towards trans people. I’m trans and have always lurked on radfem blogs because I care about misogyny but too often I’d run into a slew of horribly mean spirited, cruel posts about trans people and just feel so disappointed.

Something I’ve been stewing about lately is how the agency and complexity of the internal lives of females have been historically overlooked/repressed across cultures if that makes any sense? Like, many (not all, but many) culturally recognized groups of homosexual/gnc people have been male dominated and modern western dialogues around trans people centre around trans women. Tras position trans women as being more oppressed than trans men since trans women are disparaged more in the media, but I think this is just another example of how females are ignored and are not given the agency to be seen as trans/etc?? When males fall out of line, they are recognized as aberrations and seen as a threat. When females fall out of line, they are stupid women who need to be beaten into submission and ignored.

Does this make any sense? Is this something?

hello! first of all, thank you for sending me this lovely ask :). i 💗 interacting with all kinds of feminists, and i love having meaningful discussion with people who see my blog. my blog’s purpose is mainly to help people see that radical feminism isn’t this Big Scary Ideology™, and that it’s actually beneficiary for all of humanity ultimately.

1. i would like to disclose our disagreement around intersex people (i’m not trying to change yours/and or anyone’s mind!); everyone has a biological sex. everyone is either female or male, and i feel that claiming intersex people are this magical third thing does more harm to intersex people than it does good (yes, i am perisex, and i’m not trying to reduce intersex people to this or that, they all have their own unique experiences; however i’ve seen a lot of intersex people speak up about how it’s harmful to spread the narrative that they don’t have a concrete sex). as for whether they can be categorized as woman or man– the categories of woman and man are distinct gender classes ascribed to one’s sex. as gender abolition is my special interest, i spend a lot of time discussing at length on this blog about how our society would be rehabilitated & redeemed if we left these harmful, limiting, reductive & totalitarian categories behind– completely. however, as we are still very far away from abolishing gender, it’s natural that we will be inflicted & effected by it (which is why i don’t bash those who have social dysphoria– i myself also have it along with sex dysphoria, but unlike my sex dysphoria which is innate, my social dysphoria was a byproduct of misogyny– or in other words, it was a reaction to the patriarchy in a way), and intersex people most of the times are still, unfortunately, able to be sorted into one of the two harmful & classist categories.

to deny that they are is to claim that intersex people can escape socialization. this is simply untrue. intersex women cannot escape a misogynistic childhood, and intersex women & intersex men alike cannot escape gender being vigorously pushed on them; and on top of it, they face their own & unique struggles that perisex people do not. women with swyer syndrome cannot opt out of oppression just because they were born with a y chromosome. many intersex women have spoken at lengths about how rigidly they experience misogyny in their everyday lives. that doesn’t end just because they aren’t perisex. and, in some extremely rare cases– these gender class distinctions don’t even match biosex. an intersex person (as far as i know, please correct me if i’m wrong!!) can have a condition that causes them to be assigned male, however due to their appearance & literally everything else, they still get treated like a girl/woman and thus still experience female socialization & misogyny– sorting them into the “woman” gender class. if we deny the fact that intersex people can & are sorted into their gender class accordingly, we are risking situations like the recent one with imane khelif occuring. we do not want that to be a reoccurring theme. intersex women are women. intersex men are men.

2. i cannot explain the amount of happiness i feel whenever a trans person starts getting interested in radfeminism. i’m happy you can explore radfem blogs with a critical eye, and i know we have a really bad side to radblr– not only are there radfems who genuinely promote true neurosexism & hate dysphoric people, a lot of radfems on here are very racist & pro-capitalist; all of which completely strays from radfem theory & praxis. i hope you stay & i hope you keep viewing my posts :)!! as a trans person myself, i feel very welcome with my own circle of radfem friends & mutuals, and i hope you will feel the same way if you ever choose to personally align yourself with our movement. wishing you a warm welcome nevertheless!!!

3. radfems generally point this issue out. this modern “queer” community is really androcentric. tras believe that trans women are oppressed more than trans men, push the narrative that trans men have the power to oppress trans women & generally ignore & excuse all the abuse & degradation trans men have endured at the hands of trans women. tras have a heavy issue with realizing material reality, they think the world is based around a metaphysical belief system; in short, they are very idealist. they think trans women are oppressed more than trans men because they identify as women + they’re trans so they have to be more oppressed. they fail to recognize the male privilege trans women wield & they fear to point it out even when they do recognize it. they keep on telling trans men we need to make sure the women in our lives are comfortable, that we need to cater to the women around us, and they have this very unrealistic idea of us having male privilege & making women feel unsafe. the male privilege (and only a small portion of trans men even has this!!!) some of us have is very, very conditional. they never tell trans women they still have to make sure the women in their lives are comfortable around them, because being dysphoric doesn’t cancel out their male privilege.

trans women, if transitioned + on hormones (and especially so if they have lived as women for years, some trans women even lived as women longer than they haven’t) experience transmisogyny & their own unique form of regular misogyny (not all radfems are going to agree with this & i don’t think it would be fair to label them all as inherently transphobic for disagreeing, btw!!!), which is also conditional, as conditional as trans men’s male privilege is. i will never stress enough about how important it is to think critically & not write off all trans women as inherently this, and all trans men as inherently that. both radfems & tras have a large problem regarding this. some genuinely hateful radfems will even go out of their way to spew racist rhetoric because of their hatred for dysphoric people, and on the other end of the coin– tras will go out of their way to spew racist rhetoric to defend trans women, and, in this process, tear down black women’s agency.

a trans man might, through transition & living as a man for 10+ years, gain various forms of male privilege. he might gain access to a lot of things he didn’t have prior to transition. similarly, a trans woman, through transition & living as a woman, might lose various aspects of male privilege. however, the difference here is that while the trans woman in question will probably gain a special space in feminist circles, the trans man doesn’t suddenly lose his. he will forever be welcome by feminists. because female people share their own unique axis of oppression, and even though he does live as a man now & has male privilege to a degree, he still knows how debilitating misogyny is– and he, at some point, experienced it. the trans woman did not, but now she does, and they both can be included in feminist activism. the trans woman will still never have to experience some of the painful things only female people do, and she never experienced female socialization in the first place– so it is completely reasonable that she cannot be included in *every* aspect of feminism. we all have unique experiences & they are all equally valuable.

4. i also can see the conservative transphobes going “trans women are a threat!” & “trans men are just confused little girls”, but i don’t think genuine radfems do this. those who do are usually just using the term to dunk on trans people. either way, yes– female agency is very often stripped off, and female people are ignored wherever we go. female trans people especially so. this is why i hope transmascs & female dysphoric people in general realize that radfeminism holds their special interests at heart, and even though there are hateful people, our movement isn’t based on them. it’s based on female class solidarity. we have to love female people more than we hate male people.

[worminterface]

thinking about it too much actually makes me nauseous, and so many lib mfs on this website are being so annoying about it, but thinking about it logically and strategically. yes. voting for Harris is most likely the best option. I don't really fault anyone who hates the idea, but think about it. what good would abstaining do. name one real benefit. no that's moral high ground. name one benefit to not voting for the damn cop that is likely and measurable.

istg I am not trying to talk down to anybody. I've noticed most people arguing over this bullshit on Tumblr rn are kinda preachy, condescending, and patronizing, no matter their take, and I'm not trying to do that. I am a sixteen year old on tumblr.com I promise you I do not think I have the intellectual high ground.

also while obviously she's been awful regarding the Gazan genocide same as any other member of the current administration (the "right to defend itself" bullshit & promises of a two-state solution), her intentions do seem better than Trump's for sure. Reuters notes that compared to Biden, she would likely be "harsher" on Israel, and she has called for ceasefire. Trump's two-state peace proposal in Jan 2020 would have had Palestine cede almost everything that they're fighting for, and besides that gave "near-absolute, unconditional support to Israel". He's also more recently said that Israel needs to "finish what they started" without elaborating much further. (sorry for linking to CNN.) please actually click on the links and read the articles.

endorsing her pisses me off to no end but imo as a U.S. citizen you have the responsibility to use your vote with harm reduction in mind, irt both within and without the country. also voting is not close to the end-all be-all of pursuing justice as an American citizen, nor even the most effective, I'd say. that's not a reason to not vote, but it is a reason to do more than vote if you don't like the morals of voting for The Cop. what that means is up to you and don't tell the FBI I said that. it's just annoying when people treat it as a binary

also that's not getting into her domestic policies. Idk it's a lot more nuanced than a lot of people are making it out to be I think. You can't absolve yourself from responsibility by calling the system out for being unethical and not participating. that is still a choice within the system. you are a citizen of one of the most powerful states in the world and must make your decisions accordingly.

anyway vote Hamas and Xi Jinping 2024 (they are running jointly)

[13eyond13]

Hey Bloz! How r u? I cannot even begin to express how fun it’s been to see ur Beatles posts on my dash. the minute I saw the Real Love demo I was like ok… she’s fallen down the rabbit hole XD I was fixated on them last year for a good few months. It was a lot of fun reading about them, watching their movies, and reading fan analyses online. There’s so much out there! And Beatles rpf is a whole world unto itself lol at first I was skeptical of it but then… I was intrigued haha

Do u have any fave songs or albums? :)

Omg hello Jess!! I miss you and it's so nice to hear from you 🫂

Hahaha YES I'm pretty deep into The Beatles lore rabbit hole already, it's been my main fixation for entertainment for the past month or so. You're right, there's just so much to dig into. Caught me totally by surprise, I feel like I'm so late to the game to just be having a Beatles phase now... I never felt extremely interested in learning about them before, but a randomly recommended YouTube video (x) about how it's reductive to blame the band's breakup solely on Yoko Ono drew me into this whole fascination a few weeks back.

😆 And hah, you must have sent this ask to me right before I deleted that "Real Love" demo reblog, because I thought I'd better delete it after I looked in the notes of the post and saw the OP wasn't taking kindly to anybody questioning if John was actually giggling instead of sobbing there (which is what I think he was doing, personally... but it still sounded like he was writing something about Paul? 🤷‍♀️ idk, doesn't need to be crying for it to still be a bit of an eyebrow raiser, imo)

I haven't actually really looked into any rpf yet, just digesting the "canon" material and whatnot (listening chronologically to their discography and not completely finished with that yet, up to halfway through the White album rn). Been watching their movies and behind the scenes stuff and documentaries (the Get Back one by Peter Jackson was fascinating even for a relatively new fan to watch, imo), reading a bigass biography about them (Tune In by Mark Lewisohn, it's like this great slowburn real-time mosey through the band's childhoods and earliest days together), and watching the occasional YouTube video deep dives (this one series in particular is p beautifully made and impressively researched and really got me in the feels regarding the shippy theories about J&P: [x])

As for my faves of their music, I haven't finished listening to 100% of their albums yet, BUT right now I'm actually very partial to some of their earliest records. I feel like some of their more normie stuff from the early 60s is actually the most fantastic fun to listen to, and Please Please Me and A Hard Day's Night might be the two albums with the most bangers that I never want to skip so far. Their more experimental and psychedelic and surreal later stuff is also interesting and arguably more unique and groundbreaking or creative or whatever, but I'm not as familiar with them outside of the main extremely famous tracks on them yet, and I'll need to finish listening and let them grow on me a bit before I can probably say for sure. However I think so far my faves from their later stuff would probs be Magical Mystery Tour, Abbey Road, and possibly the White Album (once I actually finish listening to it).

John is definitely my favourite Beatle, which was actually a complete surprise to me, I thought he'd be my least fave. And there are so many good bops that it's hard to narrow it down, but some of my personal faves so far are I Saw Her Standing There, I Should Have Known Better, I Want to Hold Your Hand, It Won't be Long, A Hard Day's Night, Do You Want to Know a Secret, Oh! Darling, I Want You (She's So Heavy) and If I Fell... hmm, I think maybe I'm just kinda a sucker for their simple and enthusiastic and joyful love songs the most, usually?

Thank you for sending me this sweet ask! I'd love to hear what some of your faves are too 🧡

[nellasbookplanet]

Having finally read the Nimona comic (it’s very good, everyone please go read it) I can’t help but find describing it as being about the power of incredible violence to defeat an authoritarian state, as I've seen done, to be both kind of misleading and ultimately reductive to the story as a whole.

Yes there is incredible violence in the comic and it was in the end what tore down the corrupt system, but it was also Nimona's downfall, destroyed her relationship with her only friend (and led to her (temporary) death by his very hand as he could no longer stand by her and her actions, even as he never judged her, recognized her role as a victim and tried to save her until the end), put countless civilians in danger, and ultimately did little to nothing to address how to actually fix the problems of the system to keep them from returning. In fact, Nimona as a character shows little interest in fixing anything. She suggests killing the king and having Ballister take his place, despite Ballister neither wanting this nor having the experience to pull it off (and would, in fact, only result in replacing one king with another rather than lead to an entirely new system, as is often the case with bloody uprisings). When people start dying from the illness they spread, Ballister wants to immediately stop it; Nimona suggests they let more people die to further rile up hatred and anger against the institution. Nimona isn't a good guy looking to save people; she's an angry, hurt girl looking to hurt those who hurt her and those who have the potential to hurt her in the future (even when Ballister is one of those people). She is the villain the state turned her into.

And that is kind of the point I see the story making. Not 'you need incredible violence to tear down an authoritarian state' as something good and celebratory, but rather 'an authoritarian state will ultimately lead to its own downfall by creating monsters of its own making, and while said downfall is needed the fact that it has to happen at all is deeply tragic because there are no winners here'. Nimona isn't a villain-villain (the true antagonist is obviously still the Institution), but she isn't a hero either. She's a tragic figure with a tragic end that the state brought upon itself by mistreating its people. She doesn't stick around to help rebuild and heal, and she doesn't (to our knowledge) get to see her home become a better place. It's a bittersweet end where the very person who tore down the oppressors is too broken to enjoy the end result. It isn't a story about rebellion, it's a story about the inherent and justified self-destruction of authoritarian systems.

(Writing it out like this, I realize that, thematically, it’s very similar to n.k. jemisin's broken earth trilogy, which you should all also read because it is incredible and not very friendly to authoritarian states.)

[o0anapher0o]

Oh hell, I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved in the gender discourse because for one I know my knowledge in gender studies (and connected race theory) is severely lacking, but mostly because the vast majority of those takes are annoyingly reductive and just people trying to make a point rather than analysing what is actually there. But this is the nth time I’ve seen the argument ‘Louis is housewife coded because he cleans the house’ which pisses me off because IT HAS NO BASIS IN THE TEXT.

There is no indication at any point of the show that Louis ever does any chores in the house at all. None. Instead it is heavily implied they have servants for the first half of the show. Lestat mentions them in ep. 1 and when Claudia comes back she tells them ‘You need a housekeeper.’ Not ‘you’re living in a dump’. Not ‘you need to clean’. No, she specifically refers to a housekeeper because as someone who grew up with a certain wealth in the early 1900s she expects servants. And even after that we never see Louis do anything around the house. It’s Claudia who handles the clean up. Yes, Louis is injured but the point remains: Louis does not visibly do any chores.

More than that though, Louis being the one who cleans the house is completely contrary to his characterisation. You’re telling me rich boy Louis, ‘the big man in the big house’ full of servants that we see on screen, the guy who spends his entire human life projecting ‘I’m a powerful and manly man’ would even know how to use a broom? You want me to believe Louis with his fancy suits, expensive shoes, nice sweaters and chic little glasses spends his nights scraping his daughter’s half dried macaroons off the walls? Please. There are several scenes in ep. 2 that imply Louis needs to be taught to take the trash out, let alone that he would know how (or have the time) to clean in an era where that was a lot more difficult than just plug in the vacuum.

Obviously the reasons for this argument is 1) Claudia calling him a housewife, which is clearly an insult aimed at the power dynamic in their relationship and Lestat neatly filling the stereotype of cheating husband in that moment and is absolutely no indication of whether or not Louis is fulfilling any housewifely duties, and 2) the fact that the house falls into disrepair during the depression years.

The thing about that is that for most of that time they’re very clearly both depressed to a point were putting on clothes is too much effort, so neither Louis not Lestat cares about the mess enough to clean it up. But it’s also a correlation isn’t causation incident. Yes, the house became a mess when they got depressed and stopped caring, but they also went no contact with the outside world at the same time. Which means no more servants. When you’re trying to get the world to forget you exist you can’t have people going in and out of your house, gossiping about how no one knows where the masters go during the day but they’re never home, how some of the rooms feel smaller than they should be, the weird stains in the wineglasses or ‘I don’t know what they do with their clothes, Dorothy, but that suit which was perfectly fine last time I saw it, would have easily lasted another ten years, is suddenly gone, like they must have thrown it out and that’s the third suit this year. I mean, I know they’re rich, but such a waste…’ They are depressed so they don’t make an effort to clean up after themselves, but there is no reason to assume the mess gathers because it was Louis’ job to clean up before.

Yes, there are definitely moments in the show when they clearly have the dynamic of a heterosexual couple with Louis occupying the role of the wife to Lestat’s husband. But the opposite is equally true for other parts of the story (you cannot tell me that if those were both white men Lestat during the honeymoon years wouldn’t be 100% read as playing the trophy wife to Louis the businessman). And at no point is any of this because either of them is housewife coded.

[darkmaga-retard]

Wednesday August 14, 2024 Truth Bomb

Karen Bracken

Globalists Outline World Govt Pathway: 75% Population Reduction, Global Truth Commission, Earth System Currency, Revised Un Charter - this globalist depopulation agenda (in order to control not save people) is the reason why we must understand that DC will never stop this. DC is pushing this. This is why my fight and the fight of my organization TN Citizens for State Sovereignty are fighting to get legislation passed to protect our state from federal overreach/tyranny. DC is no longer where our rights, liberties and freedoms will be protected. If you want more information about what we are doing in Tennessee feel free to contact me. But these guys are as serious as a heart attack. Please take the time to read and understand their plans. They have NEVER hidden their agenda they just bank on the fact that most people have no clue - None of these unelected people/organizations have any constitutional authority in America but our federal government walks in lock-step with them and we need to stand up at the state level and push back. We do not need a rewriting of the UN Charter or a overhaul of the UN we need to shut it down completely - MAGA can never happen as long as we continue to be a part of the UN. It needs to be destroyed - ARTICLE

THIS is a short video embedded in the article that I want to make sure you watch just the first few minutes. TAKE NOTE AT THE 1:50 mark…….at the bottom objective is to reduce the world population (from the current 8 billion) down to 2 billion people. Now how do you think they will get rid of 6 billion+ people??? I have told people their plan for years and in The Global Biodiversity Assessment, WRITTEN IN 1995, it clearly states we must reduce the population to 1-2 billion people in order to maintain reasonable lifestyle. Coincidence?

From the article: Roundtable on the Human Future

Bottom line is not about saving anything but reducing the population in order to have total control. They cannot control 8+ billion people. Look around. You can sometimes drive for miles without seeing a single home or business. The earth is NOT overpopulated and the only crisis are created by world governments to move their plan of total power and control forward. There is HUGE money to be made for these evil people.

Charlie Clark interviews Tulsi Gabbard about being designated a domestic terrorist - I am not a Tulsi fan…….I know a lot of people think she is great but talk is cheap. She WAS a WEF Young Global Leader (although she denies it but she was on their page for 7 years and in 2015 there is a tweet from her bragging how proud she was to be nominated as a YGL) and she was a member of the CFR for 5 years and I have the proof of both statements. Yes people change but people can also be paid/controlled opposition too. But what they are doing to her is not right and she does not deserve to be treated like this and neither does any other American citizen. VIDEO

Kackling Kamala posted a huge crowd welcoming her on the tarmac…..first, no airport is going to let a huge crowd on the tarmac. But it was proven the video/picture was doctored and a person working that aircraft that day said there was absolutely no one on the tarmac. And all these rallies she is having with huge crowds…….these are concerts that were already booked and she weaseled her way in to hold her rally when in reality the people were there to see a pre-planned concert. Gotta give it to these Democrats they know all the dirty tricks. VIDEO (13 seconds)

“Get in the House!” – Tyrant Tim Walz Ordered Police to Shoot Residents on Their Porches with Paintballs During COVID (VIDEO) ARTICLE/VIDEO

I just had to share this…..a friend Rick S sent this to me in email and I think it is awesome.

I've tried to understand why Trump has such a remarkable following. (It's obvious why he probably should not!) Then a friend sent me this raccoon story. It makes no difference about your political leanings, this is just a good explanation of WHY... (or it's as good as any I can come up with).

This applies to both Democrats and Republicans….says it all. You've been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons. You want them gone. You call the city and 4 different exterminators but nobody can handle the job. But there is this one guy and he guarantees you to get rid of them, so you hire him. You don't care if the guy smells, you don't care if the guy swears, you don't care if he's an alcoholic, you don't care how many times he's been married, you don't care if he voted for Obama, you don't care if he has a plumber's crack, you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He's the guy. Period ! Here's why we want Trump, yes, he's an egomaniac, but we don't care. The country is a mess because politicians suck, the Republicans and Democrats can be two-faced & gutless, and illegals are everywhere. We want it all fixed! We don't care that Trump is crude, we don't care that he insults people, we don't care that he once was friendly with Hillary, we don't care that he has changed positions, we don't care that he's been married 3 times, we don't care that he fights with Megyn Kelly and Rosie O'Donnell, we don't care that he doesn't know the name of some Muslin terrorist. This country is weak, bankrupt, our enemies are making fun of us, we are being invaded by illegals, we are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo, and Hasid is a special group with special rights to a point where we don't even recognize the country we were born and raised in; "AND WE JUST WANT IT FIXED" and Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what the people want.

We're sick of politicians, sick of the Democratic Party, Republican Party, and sick of illegals. We just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he doesn't have lobbyist money holding him, he doesn't have political correctness restraining him, all you know is that he has been very successful, a good negotiator, he has built a lot of things, and he's also not a politician, he's not a cowardly politician. And he says he'll fix it. And, we believe him because he is too much of an egotist to be proven wrong or looked at and called a liar. Also, we don't care if the guy has bad hair. We just want those raccoons gone, out of our house, NOW. This is why thousands of people who haven't voted in 25 years are getting involved. The raccoons have got to go.

[friezaglasiencold]

Hi , my Lord ! :D

I have a queastion , I hope my curiousity doesn't annoy or upset you, but , now I'm thinking.

You have made clear that you enjoy males , men , guys but also wouldn't mind have some fun with ladies too. You also said that it was more a thing of preference about traits and presentation , so I guess you were talking about preference for masculinity ? Or like- typically male associate traits ? But then , what do you consider or understand about the idea of masculinity ? In the women you find attractive do you look for those same traits or your attraction towards women works different ? Or , I don't know , could you explain what did you mean , please ? I think I made a mess with explain my own queastion , sorry, my lord :c

No, it makes sense well enough.

Really, it doesn't matter to me that much. I find different traits attractive on different people. Seeing as society at large has rather strict ideas of what is considered "masculine" or "feminine", attraction is filtered through that lens as well, at least when one attempts to speak about it... but the true variety is so expansive that boiling it down to only two categories is just about impossible. Reductive, even.

It's unfortunate that I have to erase so much of that complexity to explain things to you, but that's just how things are.

Yes, I like traits that are typically associated with men--bearing in mind that sex and gender are separate concepts, and it isn't attached to a genital preference. But that isn't to say I'm not attracted to women. I just don't want a demure housewife.

I prefer people with an even mix of traits, as well. A woman with a masculine edge, or a man with a feminine touch. Or someone in-between, much like myself.

You must understand that, conceptually, gender is very loose for me. I embody a sort of androgyny that many are both unfamiliar with and disquieted by, so I'm flying by the seat of my metaphorical pants here. Explaining my mentality to a race with two sexes or more is like speaking in tongues.

Ah, but I do hope that cleared things up to some degree or other.

[blurrymango]

It is far too late at night for me to be digging through my old traditional art. So.

The first arts I ever made of Chara, and Frisk. And also a solitary Chisk too. Back in middle school when I would draw on my phone. I am glad I got these old pieces off of my DeviantArt before I deleted it a couple years ago. Otherwise they would have been. Well. Gone.

See here a Frara and a Frisk and a Flowey and a Chara and a Chisk. I am pretty sure that is the only time I have ever drawn Flowey. And it is the only time I will EVER draw Flowey.

Another Frisk and Chara. As you can see. Frisk has grey eyes. And Chara has blue and red eyes. Because I was an edgy middle schooler. And Chara has always been my favorite character. So the highest honor I could ever have bestowed upon them was that classic duality motif.

A little. Reference for the two that I made for myself. Ah. So sad that Chara doesn't have the ahoge I gave them in the previous drawings.

And finally. Bonus Chisk.

Because. Well. Chisk.

So. Let's compare my old middle schooler self's designs for them vs my current self's designs. And. Also. As a treat. My first design of Kris from 2019 vs my current design as well.

Ok. First thing's first.

Frisk.

So. Like. The way I design Frisk nowadays is in fact 100% based off the way I used to draw them off. Yes, there are some obvious differences. But the suspenders and the short sleeved shirt were, well, you know the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". That is always true. Though I will say that the little hearts instead of gold buttons, is also taken from the old design, because I distinctly remember thinking to myself that Frisk should have a heart in the back of the suspenders where they cross over eachother. And also. On the topic of the hair.

The way I do Hero's hair is 100% actually based on old Frisk's hair.

Because well. Hero is the beta protagonist design for Undertale. And my old Frisk is basically the beta design for my current Frisk. You get it.

Next.

Frara.

Yeah that old design was extremely basic. I don't think I ever used to think about the Unused Human Sprite back then. But. Well. I sure do now. A big glow-up for Frara. And a height reduction. Their current design is very much inspired by the place in Undertale where they can be seen-

Waterfall!

I think to myself. Well. What would a character confined to a constantly raining place need? A raincoat and rainboots!

I can't like. NOT give them stuff like that. Just wouldn't be true to me.

Chisk.

The fandom may have forgotten about Chisk in the years. But I will never forget about Chisk. A fanmade fusion of Chara and Frisk. I will never not think about them. They're in my brain like a song I love. Shawty like a melody in my head. CHISK OH CHISK MY LITTLE SCRUNKLE.

Anyway. Not much design notes for Chisk, past or present. Except for that the old design is a blatant ripoff of a design that I have unfortunately very much no source for.

If anyone knows who the original artist is, please tell me so I can thank them for making such a wonderful image.

Now. Before we get to Chara.

Kris.

Well. They got edgier. And their shawl thing got more accurate to their Dark World self. That's all I really have to say aside from FFUCK I AM SUCH A GENIUS FOR MAKING THEIR SHOES THE SAME COLOR AS THE SHADE OVER THEIR EYES. GODDAMN. BIG WIN FOR ME ON THAT ONE. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. HELL YEAH KRIS. YOU'RE A FFUCKING WEIRDO AND A COOL KID.

And finally. Chara!

My original design for them is. Hm. Well. I'll be honest whenever I see a Chara Undertale without the collared shirt and sweater combo going on I get annoyed, even if the one giving them a turtleneck is my own paste self.

Also. The green-grey shorts and boots were based on clothes I actually had at the time. So. Like. I have always been a big projector onto Chara. Shit man. Even and especially nowadays I project onto them. The hair, the collared shirt and sweater combo. It is, unabashedly, very self indulgent. Those are very deliberate choices. The ffucking Roxy LaLonde hair flicks and that combo of sweater and collared shirt is LITERALLY all over characters I draw. My own damn persona, my character Blue, even Blitz with his wild hair I will still default to doing like that in sketches.

Do you know how hard it is for me to not give characters that type of hair. And that collared shirt and sweater type combo. It is. The hardest decision to not do it.

Cutting this post short at here because there is another post I want to make.

[devondeal]

6, 12, 14, and 21 for the Star Wars Violence Ask Game!

Thank you wifey! 💙💚 I'm gonna enjoy these

6. Opinion on canon and/or fanon use of the secret child trope? Discuss

I don't mind it. The secret child can be a good trope if the context is right for it. I mean Star Wars is centered on secret child trope pretty much. Where I'm not so into it is the Korkie headcanon that he is Obi Wan and Satine's son. It's a bit too crackhead for me and also it's not my ship so I'm biased against it.

12. Name a common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing.

Anything about Rey tbh. I may not be a big sequels person but anytime the fandom tries reduce her to an overpowered female Luke and say she's unoriginal I roll my eyes.

Like they are nothing alike. Luke got to live comfortably taken care of by his aunt and uncle. He never had to scavage scraps just to be able to eat. And before anyone comes for me, I'm NOT ripping on Luke. He had what anyone should have.

What I'm saying is Rey didn't get to have guardians or a comfortable house or regularly even be able eat. She was abandoned and did what she had to to survive. As for the overpowered thing like she's able to fly ships or fight back, like come on. I repeat, she. was. a. scavanger. She got to know ship parts and as for fighting, she's had to fight dickheads like Teedo and probably worse to keep food, homes, etc. After rewatching TFA, i notice she learns from OBSERVATION. She mimics what others do around. This is a survival skill she had her whole life.

Of course Luke is going to take a little more time to learn things. He was never put in that situation where it was do or die (as any child shouldn't). Rey was and however fast she was at learning a skill is a result of basic survival instincts.

She and Luke ENTIRELY different characters and to say she's a female version of him cuz she's from a desert????? Reductive and a big lack in media literacy tbh.

14. What's the most egregious example of fridging in canon?

God which one? 😅 Fridging is probably one of Star Wars biggest crimes. Leia is the first that comes to mind because she died to redeem her piece of shit son that she did not deserve.

But then again, Anakin's turn to the dark side is also due to fridging with his mother and his wife. Especially with Padme since there's an old version where she actually gets to live a little bit longer with the Rebellion and tried to kill Anakin.

I may not be a big Satine person, but that's fridging too to give Obi Wan angst and more Maul animosity.

I'm still going to say Leia in the sequels though as the most egregious. Because it was so out of nowhere (yes I'm aware that Carrie's death was probably the reason but I don't care. There are better ways to kill off/write out a character than fridging). Her death served no purpose other than Kyle Ron no accountability. Like what in "Jesus died for our sins" is this bullshit? Why must Star Wars' most iconic woman have to go out for a man that did nothing but hurt and betray her? It's insulting tbh.

Edit: Luminara's death was fucking awful too. Like ain't no reason to have it be so horrific. Sigh... can Star Wars like not hate women for once.

21. Best canon example of a healthy relationship in Star Wars

Romantically that is a tough one. Honestly I'm coming up short with this one. Can't say Han and Leia cuz we only see their rocky start and end and nothing in between.

Maybe Kanan and Hera but their relationship kinda got ruined for me when suddenly at the end, he wasnt aware if Hera felt the same about him??? I just thought they were basically married and I'm supposed to be believe they haven't even had that conversation by THAT point in time??? Plus the ghost baby thing creeped me the fuck out. Can Star Wars please stop with the out of nowhere pregnancies please?

So yeah canon romances, nothing comes to mind. In fact Star Wars is kind of built on toxic romance.

The crackhead in me wants to say Owen and Beru 🤣

Ooo! Wait I found my answer! Cal and Merrin from the Jedi games! They are perfect 🥺 Idk what the next game will have in store for them but so far, the way they empower and comfort each other. They accept and love each other's differences. And just adorable all around. Sweet ginger boy with spicy witch lady 👌