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crystalelemental · 2 months ago

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Full tierlist is here, breakdown of the S-tier. As the youth say, these are my blorbos. The kids still say blorbo, right?

In all seriousness, this is going to be the longest part by far. The major difference between A-tiers, who are largely some of my favorites you may have seen me talk about a lot, and the S-tiers here, is that S-tiers are so personally compelling they define my attachment to the series. I am going to talk A Lot. So, reverse order, let's talk about S-tier.

Clair Crystal Lore: I am a younger cousin of a particularly talented older cousin. I'm sure this immediately sets the stage for why I like Clair so much. Having her try so hard to be stronger than the talented older cousin, and being Very Angry that she can't seem to be no matter what she does, resonated with me profoundly. The very first fanfiction I wrote was as a roughly ten year old child, giving her the victory over Lance I felt she deserved, and nearly two decades later I recreated it in one of my personal favorite fics. Clair just got me.

In terms of what she is within the series, Clair, like Whitney, exudes personality in a short window of time. Uniquely, Clair refuses to give you a badge after you beat her, demanding you go through an additional trial. Notably, this mimics modern games giving their pre-match trials that feel completely pointless, but instead of a time waster, Clair's actions define who she is. She's a sore loser who cannot stand when others are recognized as being more capable than her. She hates that Lance seems to be the favorite, she hates that the Elder doesn't recognize her, she hates that this random challenger can waltz in and beat her. She's set to refuse accepting you passed the trial, until threatened with consequences of...telling Lance. Which she considers a big enough deal to relent. She hates that he's the favorite...but she does respect him. It's an absolutely divine presentation of this kind of dynamic, for a hot-headed character seeking recognition, feeling like they're overshadowed.

The fun is that Clair, at least visually and in team composition, is highly distinct from Lance despite both being dragon tamers. This is something HGSS loses a bit given evolutions and team expansions, but Clair is defined as someone aligned to the sea, while Lance is defined as someone aligned to the skies. It's a common joke that Lance is secretly a Flying trainer, but that's by design. He is master of the skies, high above the rest of the world. And in contrast, Clair belongs to the seas, with an ace defined by its presence deep below the waves, and a typing that leaves its sole vulnerability as other Dragons. Symbolically, this is an excellent presentation of how she perceives her relationship to Lance. That sense of inferiority in comparison to him is, quite literally, her core weakness.

When I write Clair, I like to think a lot about what she'd be with age. As the cools off, I imagine her to be more introspective and reflective, moving from the external comparison to the people she respects but feels she cannot measure up to, to comparison to her past self and where she's going in her own life. This is undoubtedly projection, but Clair has always been a profoundly important character to me because of that personal connection.

Cynthia Perhaps my most normie opinion of the entire tier list: Cynthia is really cool actually. I feel like there are not many people willing to argue this, save to be contrarian. Which, mood, I'll get to that, but call it what it is. Cynthia's an excellent design, and a notoriously difficult challenge that keeps her ranked as a favorite for most. Yet at the same time, I am also part of the group that gets really frustrated with the general fan perception of Cynthia. Part of that is...too much waifu-ing of a character who Does Not Look LIke That, but in equal measure, people tend to over-emphasize the coolness of Cynthia and ignore that she's kind of a massive dork.

What's presented in-game is honestly fascinating in comparison to her predecessors. Consider previous champions. Blue is the son of Professor Oak, the most esteemed researcher in the series. Lance is the prodigy son of a prestigious line of dragon tamers. Steven is the son of a powerful CEO of the foremost company in Hoenn. By comparison, Cynthia is the granddaughter of the chief of a podunk village in the middle of bumfuck nowhere mountain. Cynthia's rise is from relative obscurity, and what she does with this fame is...kinda wander around pursuing her personal interests. She takes after Steven in this way, being a recurring presence in the player's adventure, but never really taking over the spotlight.

Much like Dawn, her personality is solidified by her contrast to Cyrus, who exists in opposition to human spirit, and more thematically, to emotion. Like Volo and Cogita, her namesake can align to the "I think/wish/feel, therefore I am," with Cynthia being the "feel." She is wholly emotional, driven by her internal whims and what captures her interest. She's open and earnest, almost to a fault, being willing to address Cyrus' philosophical inquiries with "If you hate people so much, just go live by yourself, I don't care about your tantrum."

Following her feelings is what leads to her arrival in Unova. She literally spends half a year, every year given she's in both games, just hanging out at the beach with her girlfriend/wife Caitlin, and exploring ruins. At no point is the question of whether whether she should spend so long away from her job important to her. Cynthia travels when and where she wants, and more importantly, crashes at a "friend's" place while doing it. Masters expands on this a bit, confirming that part of her reason is that Darach tidies up for her. She's bad at housekeeping, tends to make a mess of everything, and she likes having someone help take care of it for her. The illustrious Champion of Sinnoh cannot clean her room. That's endearing to me.

Cynthia, for all her perceived polish, is a massive nerd and a domestic disaster, and that's fantastic. I love a character that can present as effortlessly cool and a complete dweeb depending on circumstance. The level of excitement and whimsy she expresses about legends and myths and her research, before she goes into Serious Battle Mode and stomps your shit in, is the sauce that makes her so appealing. I don't think you can have a truly engaging Cynthia without both sides in play.

Geeta In very provable terms, Geeta is the least popular champion in the series. People, broadly, Do Not Like Her. Part of this is comparative. In a game that introduced a ton of strong and present personalities, Geeta does fail to stand out, being more downplayed and seemingly all business polish. When you're surrounded by lunatics, being the "normal" one is less appealing (see my stance on Larry). Part of this is fan response to the concept of having a boss, actively vilifying her for incredibly benign actions, and making absolutely wild assumptions about her leadership style and capabilities based on incomplete information. I'm not beating around the bush on this one, I think people are overtly hostile to Geeta for no reason, and it's become a self-reinforcing stance in fandom as people flock to the general consensus. And me? I am many things. A massive hater, deeply biased by aesthetics, possibly too old to write this many words about a children's series for children. But the very core of my being, is being contrarian. And damn if her spot here isn't everyone else's fault.

Let's address the former issue. Geeta, in presentation, comes off very down-played, being the polished and calm business woman who, by appearance, exudes too little to stand out. This is facade. Just like Larry, Geeta self-identifies as fairly normal, but is possibly the least hinged of any particular group. When Penny hacks into the League system and embezzles tens of thousands of dollars in funds, her response is "That's awesome. Buff up our security system and we won't tell the feds." I have seen people spin this to "Geeta is blackmailing Penny," in case we want to keep counting of meaningless vilification attempts. Geeta is lackadaisical about rules and, apparently, legality. When you go into Area Zero without permission, it's Rika that snaps at you about breaking rules. Geeta thinks it's fine, and is giving special permission to people outside her institution to explore.

Her battle also highlights a lot of how she is as a person. Like okay, I'm assuming everyone landed critical hits, or had her get a lucky shot in, right? If you didn't, the short is that Geeta comments on everything, but it comes across as wildly condescending. "Surely this isn't enough to deter you," "Yes, that's the correct move in this situation." She seems really smug, but the thing is...she's being genuine. She's clapping for you, smiling the same way she always does. She does think you're doing a good job and is trying to be encouraging, and is so so bad at it. I think there's a reason she considers Nemona her sort of successor; she likely sees a lot of herself in Nemona's complete lack of social grace. She is singularly driven to make Paldea's league exceptional, and despite her efforts to be encouraging and enthusiastic, comes across as condescending or insincere, and I don't read that as intentional from her at all. Despite claims that they were obviously setting up Villain Geeta, she's been on the level the whole time. She's just awkward, guys.

When I write her, this is what I like to lean into. She is deeply awkward, and has no idea what she's supposed to be doing outside of her job. She runs two organizations, and has zero known personal hobbies. In many ways, she's a foil to Larry. Larry doesn't like his position, but as a means to an end, has thrown his entire life into work in hopes of an early escape, with nothing to fall back on. Geeta knows nothing but her work, and is likely to die at her desk. She knows what she likes, but doesn't know how to act outside of that, and it rubs people wildly the wrong way.

Which leads to the second issue. Fan perception of her is starkly negative, and this personal friction leads to assessments of her abilities that are wildly critical given that we don't know what she stepped into. Consider Paldea as a whole. This is the only region where we have a legitimate, fully funded Academy for research. Trainer Schools in other regions are exclusively for battling, but Paldea, uniquely, has Pokemon Biology, Home Ec, Mathematics, as if any ten year old needs to know that shit when you have dinosaurs that are your friend. No other region provides such a robust set of studies for future career paths. Paldea's League, then, is in direct competition with all of these other fields of study, in a way other regions are not. Of course there's not as much money behind it, it has significant competition.

Despite this, people will assert that it is Geeta's poor management that results in Gym Leaders taking a second job, when...Unova. Unova also has Gym Leaders take on secondary, more lucrative positions, and no one criticizes Alder's management skills. If anything, Geeta is keenly aware of the fact the League doesn't pay well, but still expects her Leaders to at least care about their job. Notably, no one gets fired. The Leaders remain despite the performance review, and despite many showing outright apathy about the position. Moreover, while it's not necessarily her doing (though I assume it is), the LP system subsidizes pay. This one gets her a lot of flak too, calling LP a form of company scrip (Vilification Count: 2), but last I checked, company scrip cannot be used at your local independent hot dog stand, with a 1:1 ratio for actual cash. If anything it's the polar opposite; lacking in direct funding to pay better, a system was implemented in which League members, in addition to their actual wages, receive LP that operates, somehow, at a 1:1 value with proper currency. This is both a brilliant move to incentivize people to take the positions, and an outright miracle of bureaucracy that she got nearly every organization in the country to agree to it.

I can go on about her battle being badmouthed as poor design, and how that's really just game design failing an otherwise competent team, but I've done that before and I don't want to spend forever one one character. My point is, Geeta is the closest I come to "Everyone else is interpreting this character wrong." Geeta is absolutely fascinating to me. She wants so badly to make the League as grand as any other, and in the face of massive competition that puts them in a less favorable position, has largely risen to the occasion. She's not perfect. She makes Katy hold back so challengers experience early success, which is behaviorally sound for competitors, but unsatisfying to her employee. She's not infallible.

But she cares deeply for her people, and wants the best for them. That's why she doesn't just ignore Penny's actions, she offers her a job putting her known skills to positive use and guiding a career. That's why she "forces" Larry to use Flying types; she's aware he's in a rut and doesn't love what he does, and is nudging him to expand his interests and horizons. That's why she has Nemona sit out of the Academy Ace Tournament; difficult as it is for her, Nemona is gearing up to take her place as Top Champion, and needs practice organizing the event rather than being its top competitor. People don't really like her for it. Again, social graces are nonexistent, and her sense of what's right to do isn't always what people want. But there's a reason those performance reviews end with everyone showing renewed interest and investment in their positions. Contrary to popular belief, Geeta knows what she's doing, and is damned good at it.

Valerie Aesthetically perfect, I adore Valerie's design. What pushed her over the edge is a particular bit of dialogue from someone in the hotels who talks about various characters. He tells you that "Miss Valerie" is actually from Johto. Her fashion is largely centered on Johto fashion, but she came to Kalos for reasons we don't really know. Which should get the brain juices flowing. For me, the connection was obvious: from Johto, kimono-based attire, mains an Eeveelution. That is a Kimono Girl. Formerly, at least, but that is a Kimono Girl, you cannot convince me otherwise.

So then Masters jumps in, produces the Silver and Ho-oh event where she knows all about Ho-oh...only for them to have her say "Sorry, I'm not, I just know a lot about it." Which...okay. I'm choosing to interpret that as strictly literal. She is not, in this iteration, a Kimono Girl. But either she was and is no longer, or wanted to be. This is fan speculation in spades at this point, but that's half the fun, right?

In the former case, it's...kind of whatever. It implies that she got bored or something, but the conclusion is she left of her own accord. Perhaps to pursue fashion, who knows. But I find these conclusions relatively boring. They don't really lead you anywhere. The latter case, however, has implications. Did she want to become one but couldn't? Why couldn't she? Did she fail out? That seems unlikely, given her knowledge of relevant Johto mythology and working understanding of Johto fashion. Was she not allowed to become one? Why not? Is the position something you're born into, and despite how much she admired them, she just couldn't follow those footsteps? Or was something else in play? I have an answer, but I'm literally in process writing a fic with my answer and don't want to spoil that, so look forward to it, shameless plug.

My point is that, very succinctly, Valerie is the kind of character who is sprinkled with just enough connected dots that you can really run wild with speculation about what her deal is. And her deal becomes exponentially more fascinating when she talks about wanting to literally become a Pokemon, Mystery Dungeon style. Valerie, what in god's name does that mean? Like you want to look like one? Your clothes do weight thirty-three pounds, apparently, so dedication to the need for fairy wings. Or do you want to physically metamorphose into a fairy? Do you assume that's possible based on the forbidden Sinnoh deeplore we're all now privy to? How do you expect to...actually, talk to Opal, she may know a thing or two.

Valerie just winds up being a favorite off of aesthetic preference, and finding her really interesting to speculate about. I can safely say she's probably the "shallow" favorite of the seven, but there's a reason she's #4. I think there's a lot of enjoyment to be had with speculation about a character, where canon doesn't answer too much for you but gives just enough to really get you thinking about it. Also I think all gym leaders should be completely unhinged, my biggest criticism of Galar is that everyone's kinda downplayed, and Valerie is one of the least hinged characters we get in the series. I love her dearly.

Roxanne I have a strong affinity for the straight-laced, serious, studious types. Needless to say, Roxanne is so in this category that, when I first played Sapphire, Roxanne was my favorite instantly. There is a cute bookworm girl who is really into cool rocks? I like cool rocks! Attachment established.

The core of "cute nerd who is deeply fixated on her interest" is the appeal. Roxanne is an absolute treasure, being deeply invested in rocks because she is a lover of history, and rocks (specifically, fossils and such) tell a story about the ancient past. She'd get along well with Cynthia, is all I'm saying. But within her own region, she has the closest connection to Steven, her Rock Pal, who she talks with endlessly about different rocks and stones. What's fun is the contrast. Steven's appeal to rocks seems to be that he finds them pretty and likes the rare ones. He's the equivalent of a card collector who likes showing off the shiny reverse holo foil he pulled. Roxanne, however, is about story. She actually knows how to play the game and maybe this common isn't flashy and impressive, but she loves the tricks it can pull and thinks the art really captures the story they're telling through the flavor text.

There's also her teacher/tutor angle, depending on perceived age (recently leaked documents state 14, though your stance on unreleased internal documents that have very evidently changed is up to you). Roxanne knows a lot, but is also someone who wants to share that knowledge with others. She seems to like working with kids, doing so voluntarily and, presumably, does a good job. Her younger gym trainers all seem to look up to her, anyway. She is admired for her skills and knowledge, if nothing else.

Fan perception, but it's her social relationships I think bear examination. She has Steven, who...we never see directly interact with her in the series proper. And she allegedly has Brawly, who she interacted with in the demo of ORAS but again, never in series. She just mentions getting your number from him, so we know they're in communication, but nothing else. And the thing is, while she is admired for being the top of the class student, that tends to come with some social distance, as she may seem more unapproachable. Add in a tendency to start monologuing in really technical detail about her specific area of interest that not many others are going to reciprocate, and you have a good recipe for a character who is, at some level, rather isolated. There's a reason that, even within Masters, her only close associations seem to be other Rock-type trainers, who share her fervor for rocks.

Masters added dialogue about how she always wanted to train a Golem specifically. This feels like a minor detail, but (1) Geodude is fairly common, so this isn't particularly unreasonable for most people, except that (2) it's a trade evolution. To make that, specifically, your distant goal that you're hoping to one day achieve implies that...you don't have someone to trade with. You're easily talented enough to train up to a Graveller. But Golem? That requires something that goes a step outside of your knowledge. Which is the premise of another fic I wrote, are you sensing a pattern?

Despite this, Roxanne never really seems lonely or sad, or even all that concerned about it. She's the type to be perfectly fine with a small, close circle of friends she gets along with. And it's not that she can't adapt to other areas of interest, she teaches for god's sake. But she knows what she likes and stays true to that, pulling just enough competence to interface well with anyone she needs to.

Roxanne, similar to Clair, hits at a very personal level, even if some of that is due to strictly personal interpretation. While I will often bemoan fandom tendency to big up random characters that are canonically blank slates, I do at least understand the personal connection to a character based on what you've perceptually built of them. Roxanne is, in many ways, that kind of character to me.

Jasmine I am a slut for Johto. By region, it is my favorite, it's a nostalgia thing, it is part of my soul, it will never leave me. In particular, I attached very strongly to Olivine, a city near the sea. While not quite the same thing, I spent a lot of my younger days near the water, and feel a profound connection to it. Olivine felt deeply like home to me because of that. If I were going to have my own Pokesona, which is definitely not a thing I did as a child, they'd live in Olivine. And naturally, this meant there was connection with Jasmine.

Aesthetically, Jasmine is another that just clicks with me. Incredibly cute design, backed by an ace that is a giant metallic snake monster. You have no idea how much I love that Masters kept this going by giving her Celesteela. Jasmine's just a fun and eye-catching look, especially with the HGSS redesign.

Her personality is best encapsulated in her intro. "I use the - Clang! - Steel type! ...do you know about Steel type? They are very cold, sharp, and really strong. Um...I'm not lying." First note: Jasmine describes her type in very tactile terms. She is someone who thrives on the sensory, and appreciates the qualities of cold, sharp, and the noise they make, with her "Clang!" in Masters' sync moves being interpretable as a vocal stim at this point. Second note: she introduces herself and her type, and then the script falls apart, so she just starts talking about her favorite type. There's even a delay before she starts talking again, implying a bit of silence as nothing happens. Third: following that, there's another pause, where she tries to fill the silence and what she comes up with is an incredibly awkward "I'm not lying" before giving up and just starting the fight. Our girl is incredibly awkward, and I adore her. Because despite this, she tries to break out of that mold.

Jasmine is very mild-mannered and soft-spoken, often apologetic and uncertain, but she tries. Jasmine is constantly pushing herself to move out of her comfort zone. She's one of few characters who actively travels to another region. We find her in Sinnoh, where she's taken up Contests as well, which I always interpreted her as being particularly invested in personal experiences. Yet where we find her is Sunyshore. By the sea. It's comforting to her. It reminds her of home. What the game shows us is a young girl who is deeply socially anxious, trying her best to push herself to get out there. She's doing it scared, but by god, she is doing it.

We also get more of her general life, given the little mini events in HGSS. We get to know that Jasmine is a huge eater despite her slender frame (girl, same), and we get to see her talk to Erika, who she cannot socially keep up with. Erika has her flustered in like fifteen seconds flat. And god bless Masters, because when Jasmine talks about Erika, it is in absolutely gushing praise with literal hearts bursting over her, transitioning immediately into blushes and insistence you never tell Erika because that's really embarrassing. Girl is down bad for the girl who...kinda teases her for giggles. That's her best friend/girl crush. I'm not even theorizing, Masters has basically canonized that.

Jasmine is just an entire mood, being socially withdrawn but trying to branch out, awkward but trying so hard to engage with people, pushes herself to do all the things she desperately wants to experience, and finds comfort in the ocean and her preferred sensory input. She feels like one of the most fleshed out characters in very little time on screen, and unlike many who get development, hers is less about grand sweeping character arcs, and more about her day to day. It's about knowing the kind of person she is. I find her deeply relatable, and delightfully charming.

Caitlin Among the many archetypes that capture my interest immediately, there is no more powerful category than "Has very strong emotions, does not understand them at all." When you combine this with a wealthy lady who barks orders, I stand literally no chance. Getting to know about EVs and competitive stuff was the worst thing to ever happen to me, but it did mean I challenged the Platinum Frontier, and I cannot begin to tell you what Caitlin did to me at that age. Seeing her come back in BW1, now a member of the Elite Four using my favorite type in Psychic, was an instant kill. No one did it like Caitlin.

Of course, this is the initial hook that would eventually drag me directly into gacha hell once again. Seriously, I picked up Masters specifically because I wanted to play as Caitlin. What drew me to her was the background they go in to.

See, Psychic, as a type, is often associated not with thought, but with feeling. With empathy. Sabrina initially asserts that everyone has some Psychic power, they just don't realize it, with the implicit lesson being that your ability to connect with others and to feel things out is a form of psychic power. Tate and Liza show similar given their coordination tactics. Caitlin is the next evolution of that, taking the concept of "Psychic powers as emotional strength" to a different conclusion. Specifically, what happens when you can't control it?

In Platinum, Caitlin is forbidden from battling. They don't really go in depth about why, just that she can't, so Darach does it for her. When we meet in Unova, the answer is explained: "the force of my emotions shook me greatly. When my power awoke, I came close to destroying everything around me." She's even clear about what the emotion was, talking about how she's never beaten Cynthia, and would explode with rage. She doesn't handle losing well, and has eruptive psychic power that make it actively dangerous for her to get mad.

Caitlin is someone with anger issues, whose understanding of elegance and poise is to just not do that at all. Just don't get mad. She even refers to that time as her "weak self," as if trying to distance from that part of her. But while battling, when you get to her last Pokemon, she says she needs to stay cool and collected no matter what, as if talking herself through it. And in her villa, she'll talk about how she thinks it's better to just have no psychic power at all, than power you can't control. Using the "Psychic powers as channeling feeling," she's someone who thinks it's better to feel nothing than to feel out of control. There's a reason I think she and Cyrus would have stuff to talk about.

By BW2, Caitlin has dropped the "weak self" and no longer talks herself through things while on the verge of losing, instead presenting as much calmer and even enjoying the match. But that personal philosophy stays. She pursues this notion of an ideal, elegant self, but that self is one completely divorced from the things she is feeling. And it's only through experience confronting those emotions and working through them that she actually starts to properly adapt.

Specifically, losing to Cynthia got her used to it, and helped her learn to calm down. In her position as Elite Four, losing to the protagonists (and likely Iris) further built familiarity. She keeps it in check now. It's delightfully powerful, and resonates very strongly on a personal level. As someone who has also had difficulty controlling frustration and anger, and also internalized shame over it to the point you think the only thing to expect is Never Get Mad, Caitlin lands extremely hard.

Coincidentally, this is also part of why Caitlin/Cynthia is my big pairing. Cynthia, canonically, is part of what got Caitlin to where she is. Their battles taught Caitlin to accept loss, and Cynthia's continued presence with her through explosive outbursts shows a level of trust and care that is, frankly, rare in the series. Friendship is a huge thematic point of Pokemon, but in many cases it's interest in similar things, or that sort of kid friendship where you both are playing in the same sandbox and therefore are friends right now. Caitlin and Cynthia have this incredibly fascinating backstory of a girl who could not control her power, and a girl who stuck with her until she could. Even if you're weirded out about age gap or just don't like the ship, there's something uniquely powerful to their dynamic I don't think you can get anywhere else in the series.

Caitlin is just the most personal connection I have ever gotten out of a Pokemon character. She is the ideal aesthetic, she mains the best type, she's a powerful temper doing her best to be composed, grappling with internalized shame and a desire to be rid of those feeling entirely, but makes her way through to better control it without suppressing who she is. It's like I said, absolutely no one did it like Caitlin.

Shameless Self-Promotion If you read through all 39 of those paragraphs, maybe you would like to read 39 other paragraphs of fanfiction? If so inclined, here's the link to my AO3 account, where I have written:

Several Caitlin/Cynthia fics, and some Caitlin-specific fics

Geeta-positive propaganda

General-rated Volo fic, which one comment tells me is super rare

WataOshi fic, but not a pairing anyone cares about

That one Little Goody Two Shoes fic

Among others. I also cross-post each fic under this tag on Tumblr, with some commentary if you're into that sort of thing. I've been working on new projects that should hopefully start going live by the end of the week too. I'm hoping to have one or two up tonight, we'll see.

#pokemon tier list #pokemon characters tier list #pokemon replays #pokemon #caitlin #jasmine #roxanne #valerie #geeta #cynthia #clair

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sophieinwonderland · 6 months ago

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Hello Sophie, I'm Rune, a tulpa in the "Ross" system. You've done some great wonders for our community and my system and for that I thank you a thousand times. I'm sure you've gotten plenty of responses to THAT post you blogged yesterday, and it made me feel pretty conflicted. I understand where you're coming from, but it still seemed harsh. Do you genuinely believe it's a mistake for anti endos to receive love? Or any of the other points you made (I didn't disagree with all of them)? Maybe I'm too much of a pacifist, but I felt like that crossed a line we as a community shouldn't. I'm aware they also use tactics like these and worse ones, but it still feels wrong to me.

Sincerely, Rune 💜

Genuinely? I don't know...

I had a whole post typed up saying that I don't honestly believe that, that it was mostly about getting a reaction, but the more I've thought about it the angrier I've gotten.

When SAS's main blog was doxxed by AEV and their friends, I watched the whole anti-endo community cheerfully defend it.

When there was a vent sent to AEV talking about wanting endogenic systems to kill themselves, the anti-endo community here ignored it.

When there was a post with a picture saying "Death to the Endos of Tumblr," their community said nothing.

It feels like the absolute lowest bar for human decency in a community is not calling for people to die for existing, and calling out that behavior when you see it, but most anti-endos have failed to clear even that bar.

And it would be one thing if these were small posts from blogs nobody cared about, but the picture calling for death to endogenic systems had 60 notes, and AEV is one of the biggest anti-endo blogs currently.

And let's not forget the "endophobic" flag, a twisted mockery of pride flags, made a few years ago that got 240 likes while the flag was all about how much they hate endogenic systems.

And including that reblog about how they hope it helps people perceive endogenic systems as enemies and not people to really drive the point home.

(Also... why is there a thin "blue" line in this flag. I know it's not actually blue, but that's what they call it and it's a weird design choice.)

And then I think back again to how Aimkid was bullied off of social media by anti-endos for the crime of being traumagenic system who happened to be pro-endo.

And how despite anti-endos claiming to be doing this all for the sake of trauma survivors, using their trauma as a shield, many of the people who are most hurt by anti-endos are trauma survivors. Either purely traumagenic ones who are bullied by them like Aimkid was, or ones who are mixed origin with CDDs and are denied access to support because they're partially endogenic in some way.

I've said before that people can change. And I believe that. How people are now doesn't have to define them.

But as I look at the anti-endo community as it exists right now, the vast majority just suck and are terrible human beings. If they're not actively participating in the worst actions of their community, they're at the very least seeing it and choosing to remain silent.

#syscourse #pro endogenic #pro endo #systempunk #syspunk

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punks-never-die205 · 9 months ago

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What do you find most attractive on Kid? Looks and Character ❤️‍🔥

Hmmm...

Looks-wise, I mean the scars are hot, but honestly I appreciate the punk-vibes. Also, that post-time skip THICC is... yeah. Yeah, I like my big boys.

Character-wise, I love the attitude. I love the scenes we get that show he knows how the world "works", and while Luffy has decided to ignore that part, Kid keeps it in mind.

I don't know if either or is better or right, that's beside the point, but Kid's defiance of it while being painfully aware of it is interesting to me. The loyalty born from it, the way he defends his crew, the fierce choices and risks taken because they're alive.

They're ALIVE because they're pirates. There wasn't any real living on that island, even after it took Victoria, even after they tamed it and took it over - it wasn't living. They were just existing inside the lines of how the World Worked.

Kid says the island was too small for him.

So he goes out, some island punk with, currently, no sailing knowledge save for whoever he got for the crew aside from Killer, Heat and Wire. When we see him in Wano he's not just a punk on a boat, he's someone who fights on the seas - he's a pirate, a captain - knowledgeable and accomplished.

With no mentors.

Six months with Rayleigh and Kid would be a demon. Just knowing how to use all the haki he has available with some level of efficiency that wasn't "figure it out as I go".

I love that you could switch Luffy and Kid as the protagonist of the series and it would still work. One Piece with Kid as the lead would be a much darker title, sure, but the other themes fit. That no existence is illegal, that freedom is paramount, etc. Kid doesn't buck the ideal of "piracy" the way Luffy does, but honestly we don't know how much of what and who Kid is, is propaganda. There's no canon to run off of, but I'm fine with that.

We don't know if he and his crew have done good deeds. I can see the Kid Pirates rebuilding a town - Kid especially is a builder. Luffy overthrows a government for a bowl of food, Kid overthrows a government because fuck the WG.

And yeah, there's assumptions in there, but it's all based off what we do know. We know that Luffy and crew are perceived by the public different from who they are - people know, sure, cause they've done great things, but the general populous sees them as terrifying and violent pirates.

Same as the heart pirates, the kid pirates, etc. People are terrified of Shanks and Whitebeard, 100%. Because government propaganda.

The only acts of violence we see from Kid (and Law) that aren't directed at Marines are directed at pirates. We're just not following those two cause it's not their story.

And there's something like 3,000 islands? I think I read somewhere. So there's plenty of places where Kid and Killer and the crew have stellar reputations. Maybe Kid deals with the underground to keep from being surprised, or to buy someone to free, who knows?

But Character-wise, that's why I love him. It's why I love writing him, because we have this Big Bad Guy who wants you to know he's big and bad, but he's also making like mechanical butterflies and letting birds nest in his hair, he's naming his ship after a dead friend who probably called their home island too small, and he's learned from every hard lesson he's experienced.

Which I won't get into in detail, cause it's not released in anime and I try not to spoil anything that's still manga-only.

#eustass kid #quin answers #side blog #julez7 #... maybe ran that a little long

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fismoll7secinv · 5 months ago

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15 questions, 15 people:

I was tagged by dear @a-very-fond-farewell 💚I hope you get your lobster sanctuary! 💚

1. are you named after anyone?

nope

2. when was the last time you cried?

I don't know, I don't really cry

3. do you have kids?

never

4. do you use sarcasm a lot?

yeah, quite casually in everyday life, but I try to tone it down

5. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

I'm bad with faces, I might not recognise someone who's new to me after interacting with them every day for 2 weeks (based on a true story) xdd so what I notice at first is the overall vibe they present, which is a combination of their posture and body language, clothes and accessories, facial expressions etc. This doesn't tell absolutely accurately who they are, but it shows how they want to be perceived mixed with some unconscious elements they might not notice themselves, which is interesting to me

6. what’s your eye color?

eh idk, people say they're blue when I'm in a blue pool, green when I'm among greenery, grey when it's a bit dark. I guess they're a subtle mixture that looks like nothing until there's something external that brings out one of the colors. it's a bit annoying tbh, so I usually just say grey

7. scary movies or happy endings?

i love horror, very high on my list of fav genres, but I also love happy endings, just not necessarily in horrors. In media other than horror I need HE or I feel down. So i'd say: both

8. any special talents?

I've had a music talent since I was little, couldn't understand how other kids didn't know how to play the flute or keep the rhythm. I've also heard various ppl say that I somehow know how to arrange things to be aesthetically pleasing, but I could never explain how to do it, it just looks better a certain way. A bit for drawing, considering how fast I improved compared to some other people, but I haven't pursued it farther than sketching. Sport comes pretty smoothly to me and my body, I've always been "the athletic girl"

I may sound like i'm bragging but i try to be objective for my own self. After all "talent" means nothing and is just bitterly wasted if you're not practising, so for me it can be more of a shameful thing that I let rot rather than something to be proud of. It's also so useless when teaching others, because you don't know how to explain shit when you do it intuitively, which tripped me a lot of times while trying to teach someone. Very annoying and sometimes isolating in a sense that you just vibe with yourself instead of sharing the experience with others

9. where are you born?

in a hospital

10. what are your hobbies?

reading, writing, taking care of plants, pen & paper rpgs, collecting weird trinkets and paintings, drawing, horror movies, detective stories, listening to podcasts

11. do you have any pets?

we have a dog but I moved out of my family home recently and the doggo stayed there, I still visit often and walk him, but it doesn't feel like he's really mine anymore :(

12. what sports do you/have you played?

I did gymnastics and horse-riding for a few years as a kid, used to jog in middle/high school, I also go on a trip to the mountains at least once a year to hike bc I'm obsessed with it. Recently I like to do yoga and fitness to bring my body to its limit and stretch all the pains that keep accumulating. I almost didn't move from my desk for over a year some time ago because i was too busy with uni, work and a few other big things, and it ended up in a neck injury that escalated to a few months of rehab. Now I move a lot so those nightmarish pain and several contusions don't repeat

13. how tall are you?

taller than most women and many guys

14. favourite subject in school?

all languages, math, biology

15. dream job?

neuroscientist, astronaut or pilot of small planes

I have no idea who did this already, feel free to ignore as always. Tagging @prommethium @miyakuli @still-gathering-roses @carmine-sunlight @wikipedie

#tag game #shh yzz #niki

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anawrites3 · 2 years ago

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Hi, Ana! I hope you have a good day! I remember you've said Slade's people love Dick but I wonder wether were there any who wished ill for him? Or saw him purely as King's glorified fucktoy and made a mistake of suggesting something like that around the King himself?

Hi, anon! Thank you, I hope you're having a great day as well ☺️💕 And I absolutely love your ask, thank you for the opportunity to talk about this!!

The short answer is yes, of course some of Slade's people wish ill for Dick. A bunch of them want to get rid of him too, but let's not focus on that now. Actually, there are Defiance's common people that wish ill for Dick! Just a few weeks ago Defiance and Gotham were at war so obviously there are people who still perceive Dick as an enemy.

I could try to draw this out but I'm shit at drawing 🤣 so let me do it this way: I'd divide Slade's people in three groups - ones that love Dick right away, ones that are uncertain and wary of him, and the ones that straight out hate him. That last one can be split up into another groups - into those who literally just wish Dick ill and nothing more; those who are spitting hateful words at him whenever they can; and those who'd try to make his life harder and attempt to physically hurt Dick to show him how below them he really is.

I won't divide them even more cuz that would get messy but I'll just add that yes, some of them see Dick just as Slade's little slut, others see him as a pawn in Slade's plan for more power and even Gotham itself; some even think of Dick as war trophy. You get the drill.

About those that spit out hateful words at him - Dick just allows them to swear at him and call him bad names. They're not stupid and they don't touch him so it's not like they're doing anything. Besides, he's already used to mean words, being called a bastard child and bastard prince in Gotham, so ignoring them is easy. He's not going to lower himself to their level and try to make them stop doing it - it didn't work when he was a kid and it won't work now.

Slade, on the other hand. Slade has ways of making them shut up.

Hope that answered your question alright! And now (who would have guessed it?) a little story :3

- - - - - -

Dick liked Slade's men, those closest to his husband. All of them were very polite, treating him with respect and they always made sure he was comfortable with what they were doing. Sir Wintergreen reminded him of Alfred, with being in charge of most things and the way he was fussing over almost everything. He also wasn't afraid to tell Slade off if the man did something wrong, which was a trait very rare even in Defiance.

"You can come to me with any problem you have." He assured Dick quietly one day when Slade wasn't there. "We both know that His Majesty is the one you should report all issues to first but if you ever feel uncomfortable with telling him anything, I'm right here at your service."

Dick really appreciated it. Slade had a lot more important matters to take care of than what little problems Dick could have. Sir Wintergreen, while still being Slade's right-hand man, assured him that he'll always find time for him and if not take care of the problem himself, then he'll know who to talk to.

But there was something Dick didn't dare to tell even him.

"Look where the hell you're going." One of the men sneered at Dick. His hands twitched, as if he wanted to shove Dick at the wall for standing in his way. "You shouldn't even be in this part of the castle."

Dick straightened immediately, raising his chin. He was just walking around the castle, admiring portraits that adorned its stone walls, when they walked from around the corner and almost bumped into Dick, too busy talking to notice him. But it was all Dick's fault, of course.

From what he knew, those men still worked strictly for his husband but not as directly. Slade still saw them frequently, at meetings and what not, but they mostly took orders from other knights, such as sir Wintergreen or sir Isherwood.

Dick absolutely despised them.

"I'm allowed to be here." He said, because despite whatever they were thinking, Slade never forbade him going into certain parts of the castle or exploring it on his own.

"You're allowed to stay on your knees by our King's bed." another one of them snarled. "And that should be enough for you, Gotham whore."

"Watch your tone-"

"Or what?" The first one stepped forward, towering over Dick with a nasty grin. "You're not even married to our King yet. What can you do?"

"Nothing." The third one offered lazily with a smirk of his own. "Even after you marry him, there still will be nothing you can do. Wanna know why?"

"Get out of my way." Dick hissed out through clenched teeth.

They stepped away and let him through, cackling loudly behind him even as he forced himself to walk down the hall in calm steps. Arguing with them would be useless and won't change a thing.

“Look at that, he doesn’t wanna know!”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s because he already knows well that he’s nothing more than just our King’s glorified fucktoy!”

Breathe. Breathe, Dick.

He did his best to ignore the way they kept calling after him, yelling insults and names and turned a corner as soon as it was possible. It wasn’t very likely that they’d follow him but Dick still wanted to get as far away from them as he could, as far away as it took to stop hearing them. He disappeared behind the wall with his eyes closed, taking a deep breath and managed to take only a few steps before bumping into someone painfully.

He bounced off a strong chest with force and supported himself with the wall, desperate not to fall to the floor. Not in front another one of them, not after all the talk about him staying on his knees-

“I apologize-” he started, straightening. “I’m-”

His Majesty Slade Wilson stood in front of him, dressed in all his regalia with a sword strapped to his hip. He looked at Dick with a face that betrayed no emotion and suddenly Dick couldn’t utter another word. He could just look his future husband in the eye, with his lips slightly agape and fingers shaking. His chest began to hurt and only then he realized that he stopped breathing.

“Are you hurt?” Slade asked lowly. His voice was tinted with contained anger and Dick violently lowered his head.

“Your Majesty-” Dick said, gasped out the words, but he didn’t know what else to say. Slade heard them. Heard what they said about Dick, still could hear the laughter and comments coming from behind his back.

“That was quite a force you walked into me.” Slade continued. His voice turned more gentle as he reached to cup Dick’s jaw fondly and raise his head for their eyes to meet. “I shouldn’t be standing in the way like that, my prince, I apologize. Are you alright?”

Dick swallowed, throat bobbing nervously. “I’m fine,” he whispered.

Slade nodded.

“Good.” he said, stroking his thumb against the skin of Dick’s cheek. He leaned down to kiss him and Dick… Dick let him, eyes fluttering closed when their lips pressed together. Usually, Dick tried to stop this sort of affections as they weren’t married yet but this time he allowed himself to forget and find comfort in the sensation.

The kiss ended as soon as it began, and Slade stepped away with the last brush of his lips against Dick's temple.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Slade said. His eye burned with anger again as he looked over Dick’s head. “I have a matter to take care of.”

He started towards the source of still-ongoing laughter. To do exactly what, Dick didn’t know, but he knew one thing - that Slade was a man that didn’t shy away from any fight and that he just heard someone insult his fiance.

There was a sword at his hip.

“Please-” Dick started. His voice trembled but it was still enough to make Slade stop. “You don’t have to-”

Slade looked over his shoulder at him. He no longer looked like a man that could softly cradle his face like he did just a moment ago and kiss him so gently he forgot about anything else.

“It’s not your choice to make.” Defiance’s king said. “It was theirs.”

#we need more of protective Slade #this was in my wips for so long im so fcking sorry #and i said it before but maybe someone didnt see it - the last chapter of conflict resolution will have to wait a bit #cuz im fighting with the fics for sladin week's mini event #i was thinking its taking place by the end of may but no its at the beginning #so yeah #sladick royal au #anon #sladick #sladedick #dickstroke #sladin #slade x dick #my writing #if there's any mistakes or something feels wrong its because i have a headache #so sorry about that

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sixty-silver-wishes · 8 months ago

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so @fredersen and I have been coming up with some fun metropolis (1927) headcanons, specifically about the fredersen family and who hel was. (as you can see, I love awful rich people as long as they're fictional) I haven't read the original metropolis novel, so these are specific to the film, although I'm pretty sure they're not canon to one another since while harbou wrote both, iirc there are plot and character differences anyway. so, my hcs:

hel fredersen was a celebrity, and was just as ruthless as joh. however, while joh's city and business empire was built on strategic deals, connections, and intimidation tactics, hel's charisma helped make the fredersen brand more appealing to the public and potential business partners.

hel and joh's marriage was primarily to suit their own interests and power-hungry natures. however, the two were genuinely attracted to each other, albeit in a heavily toxic way. hel would openly flirt with rotwang to make joh jealous- but he was also kinda into it. joh would also make a point of ignoring hel for long periods of time to focus on building his city, just to make her more desperate for his attention. so naturally, these two had a kid.

when hel was alive, she had a sort of "people's princess" persona that helped her and joh placate the masses, allowing her thousands of fans to look the other way when it came to their mistreatment of the working class. hel would make all these big, public displays of charity towards the workers, but these were shallow and didn't do much.

hel fredersen founded her own "charity," which was marketed as a way to improve the standard of living towards the poor, but in reality went towards gentrifying homes so that people couldn't afford to live there. this allowed joh to send them to work underground when they couldn't pay.

hel kept the love triangle between her, rotwang, and joh going for as long as possible, because, well, it's useful to have both the most powerful man in the city and a mad scientist inventor hopelessly in love with you.

joh named his kid "freder fredersen" essentially for brand recognition. think elon musk with the whole "x" thing.

a minor workers' uprising occurred after hel's death, as her funeral was extremely expensive and elaborate. as the workers are likely just mass buried when they die, this public display of social inequality, combined with a period of perceived weakness for the fredersen business empire, led to protests and some revolts. however, they were unsuccessful, as joh responded by worsening his intimidation tactics and working conditions.

rotwang's robot doesn't look exactly like hel, but rather his vision of her. as he was obsessed with her but she rejected him for joh, he wanted to make his ideal version of her that he could control, and would ultimately be used against joh.

hcs for after the events of the film:

joh and freder leave an empty spot at their dining table for hel. when freder and maria got together, they had an extremely tense dinner with joh- both so freder could introduce joh to his partner (in both romantic and political terms), and so they could try to work out an agreement on integrating the two societies with him. maria unknowingly sat in hel's seat, which created some very stressful tension, both because joh thought she looked so much like hel, and freder has never seen anyone in his dead mother's seat before.

freder and maria's relationship would likely go through some rocky patches by the end of the film. I think they initially fell in love because of what they represented to one another, but as they'd get to know each other as people, things might get a bit more complicated- maria has high expectations for freder as the "mediator," and freder doesn't feel quite prepared for the role she's put him in. forming a more substantial romantic relationship between them would have to come through understanding each other's perspectives on their social and political duties as well.

things would be extremely difficult at first after the ending- an entire displaced population from underground has nowhere to go, and is now living among a privileged class who previously had little idea of their existence, but benefitted entirely from their labor.

joh, meanwhile, is using freder's "mediator" status for his own business gains. maria is infuriated by this, and insists that freder confront him about it. freder is also uncomfortable by his father's actions, but doesn't want to disappoint him, in part because he and maria need his funding to accomplish their goals.

joh and maria HATE each other. freder is stuck not only having to mediate between two entire classes of people, but also between his dad and his girlfriend, who also happens to look like his dead mom.

#metropolis #metropolis 1927 #headcanons

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pennyserenade · 11 months ago

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Hello! Hope you’re doing well!! I’m not sure you’d like followers to respond to/ interact with your posts w your thoughts in the tags but I just wanted to say that I totally agree w your thoughts on Coryo and Sejanus LOL. Im v surprised (tho I guess I shouldn’t be given how old I am at this point + the no. of fandoms I’ve been in) that people can read them so differently from the novel. Coryo is an unreliable narrator and that makes it kind of fun to read because his pov shouldn’t always be taken as the truth. In fact I think it’s fun to read how differently his peers view him/ his r/s w other people vs what he himself perceives. Sejanus is such a nice, sweet boy and it’s kinda sad that other people don’t read him that way just because the book is filtered through coryo’s thoughts haha. He’s kind and dares to stand up for what he believes in… I think the saddest thing abt his story is that he was genuinely trying to help others directly but unfortunately the people he spoke to weren’t the most honest/ dependable (I don’t think the stuff with the rebels would have gone down well) and he also trusted Coryo (I don’t blame him cause Coryo was the only “nice” person in the Capitol) 😭 I suppose that’s also how difficult it is to deal w people sometimes IRL (in extreme situations). Anyway ya just wanted to share my thoughts :x feel free to ignore if this isn’t something you’re ok with!!

hi nonie! i'm absolutely okay with followers interacting with my tags and posts/coming to talk about this stuff with me! as you can probably tell i've got a lot to say about this stuff - i'm just a chronic in the tag poster lol.

because suzanne collins wrote the ballad of songbirds and snakes in a third person point of view, i think that readers have taken to assuming that what they're getting is an unbiased narrator, when in fact we are still very much getting a biased point of view from coriolanus. sure, we are distanced from his thoughts--not exactly seeing things through his eyes as we did with katniss--but that doesn't mean we don't have access to him and that his thoughts aren't distorting what we are seeing. i've thought a lot about the reasons suzanne collins might've chosen to use third person pov when she used a first person pov for the rest of the novels, and i don't think there was one definite reason. some of the brilliance of suzanne collins' writing lies in the fact that you do have derive these meanings for yourself at times. personally, i like to think that she chose to use third person pov because this story, while very much coriolanus-centric, belonged to characters like sejanus plinth and lucy gray, too.

the fact that this book came out during the trump's presidency isn't at all lost on me. i think what suzanne collins was saying was: look how badly this system failed this once privileged white boy. for all intents and purposes this should make him angry, and here are these district kids who have suffered just as he has. he can relate more to them than he can to any of his capital peers. he knows what it is to hunger and suffer and fight for your life every day, to be made to perform. when coriolanus turns his back on sejanus plinth and lucy gray baird, it is so tragic because he was meant to side with them and yet at the end of the day he turned his back on them because he wanted to be with 'his people.' he upheld this system that had so failed him because he thought people like lucy gray and sejanus plinth were primitive and less than because that's the mindless shit he had been fed his entire life. this is exactly what happened during that election. i've seen countless white people, who are every bit as poor and destitute as the immigrants that seek to come to this country for help -- if not more -- turn their back on them and support trump. even the poorest of whites think they are better than the richest of latinos or black people because this what their systems teach them, and it makes them feel good to think that.

i think that's why sejanus was district 2 turned capital. i believe that this was commentary on how, no matter how far poc and/or immigrants come, these white people will always view them as less than and that the system will never be forgiving of them. i do genuinely believe that coriolanus thought that sejanus' parents would save him in the end, and the fact that they couldn't was so shocking because he had, up until that point, seen the ways wealth had benefited plinth. he could not conceptualize a world where wealth wouldn't get a person what they wanted because he did not know what it was to be district. they did not see sejanus plinth, heir to the plinth fortune. they saw a district rat, a nameless, faceless traitor to kill. it is no surprise that coriolanus snow climbed to the top on the back of sejanus plinth tragic ending, because that's simply what happens every day.

i do understand and don't absolutely hate the conversations people have surrounding sejanus' privilege and what he chose to do with it/ what he chose not to do, but i think to consider sejanus an annoying, selfish character is erroneous. he was a boy who knew that this system would never favor him and was trying his best to envision a world where it might, and yes he did make stupid rash decisions, but at the end of the day what killed him was coriolanus snow and snow's desire for power. sejanus plinth was not stupid for trusting coriolanus snow, either; coriolanus snow was evil for betraying the boy's trust for his own self-serving agenda.

it is hard to live in a world like this. even as a white woman with a mexican father, i have have had to experience the kind of things sejanus did with people talking poorly about him and his family behind his back, and openly to his face. i am not accepted by either side and never will be, just as he wasn't. i will say i do experience immense privilege because of the color of my skin, and i won't ever pretend that i don't know that, but that's what i'm talking about: no matter how much i look like them, and act like them, i will always be a mexican's daughter and i am happy about that fact. i am mexican as much as i am white but it doesn't make the fight i have to struggle because of it any more fun.

#misc.#the hunger games #coriolanus snow #sejanus plinth #lucy gray baird #hunger games analysis

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causesciencethatswhy · 10 months ago

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The way jimin presents is much more obviously queer than any other member (purely based on mannerisms, cause if you hear joon or yoongi talking about love for a few minutes you can put two and two together). And his overt queerness makes a lot of cis hetero shippers (or kpop fans ) uncomfortable because they're forced to confront their internalized homophobia and misogyny head on. So they find a way to diminish his importance to the other members or villanise to cartoonish levels to deal with that discomfort.

(I'm the anon you responded to with this^^)

Add onto that how a lot of ARMYs seem to assume that just being a BTS fan makes you an ally/intelligent/a good person, and it's the perfect scenario for some cognitive dissonance. Only that JM haters and Tkkers don't seem to have enough cognitive for it to be anything. Even (maybe especially, even) shipping two men doesn't automatically make you supportive of the queer community and understanding of the struggles just existing as a queer person brings about.

They always clamour "but two gay men wouldn't do xyz in a homophobic country", failing to recognise that queer people have existed through so much worse and still have done things wildly more gay than anything Jikook have done.

There's also a lot of them who only see JM's gender expression and "queer subtext" (meaning fashion choices, and the whole concept of his photofolio + album) while disregarding JK's. Like, that man pulled out the most feminine look and attitude in his "bobs+bangs" Calvin Klein shoot. And he fucking owned it. But instead, at least in my perception, the fandom is split on him: one half genuinely sees and appreciates JKs expression of himself, while the other mostly memes it to death and ridding it of meaning. Any perception of JK as a potentially non-hetero man is forgotten the moment he presents as classically masculine again, aka stereotyping the whole queer community to death.

The latter doesn't happen with JM, because - like you said - he fits the common perception of a gay man. Which is all fun and games for the many "The JM effect" compilations, but for cis shippers it starts sliding into homophobia the moment they need to stop perceiving the members as Ken Dolls and instead treat them as actual human beings with all their complexities, faults and incongruent behaviour.

Which brings me onto Hobi. Now, I don't think he gets it quite as bad as JM.

One reason being that there's simply not as many Yoonminers who aren't mainly tkkers. The latter often uses the former to not be seen as a JM anti, but aside from compilations getting spread to push the "married couple" agenda, they don't focus their attention on it. (Also can the "arguing a lot = being in love/married" thing plz die? As someone whose grandparents argue every 20 minutes (real numbers) it's the actual worst and not really a reflection of romance...)

Another one is that Yoonminers do not care about original content at all. From what I've seen during my baby army days, they pick and choose everything down to the tiniest detail. So they mostly ignore that Hobi even exists as a possible variable.

Which brings me to my next point, which kinda breaks my heart: I don't think a lot of shippers in general, and the tkk/ym crowd in particular, see Hoseok as someone to focus their attention on. He gets forgotten a LOT, relegated to the fun sidekick comic relief while the ships are the mc's. (Which is why, imho, it's always his releases a lot of the fandom doesn't care about/actively ignores). The actual deep founded love every single member of BTS has for him - to the point they should actually propose - is insane. How can you think Ym is more real than Sope or Jihope? How can people be that willfully obtuse?

As someone who thinks Jikook could be real (2019, I am looking at you), I had my doubts seeing Jihope interact a few times. But what gets me is how fucking whipped Hobi gets every time he watches Jikook be all adorable. He looks at them like the proud BFF who got them together. A lot of that is his general love for the maknae line and his personality, but that level? The instances of it happening?

...

.......

This was a lot. Okay.

Tl;dr: BTS are human beings, also Hoseok is the best person on the planet probably. Be gay, do crime🏳️‍🌈

Even (maybe especially, even) shipping two men doesn't automatically make you supportive of the queer community and understanding of the struggles just existing as a queer person brings about.

This!! Is so key to everything wrong with a large group of shippers and even solo fans. This idea that because you ship on m/m ship over the other, you are no way capable of making homophobic assumptions and statements. To a lot of shippers shipping a potentially queer couple is just another way to fulfill some forbidden romance fantasy of theirs and not actual concern for the lived reality of queer couples in conservative countries.

Which is why the painful torture of two boyfriends being torn apart from each other like star crossed lovers sounds more palatable and realistic to tkkrs than a queer couple deciding to stick by each other's side through thick and thin, despite the risks. It's less spicy I guess, but who cares of queer joy when the dramatics of the other possibility is so much more enticing.

Everytime I see tkkrs make the whole, "being gay in the military is forbidden so a gay couple would never risk going together" argument, a part of my soul dies. I don’t know what's more offensive, the idea that a closeted couple will just forget how to behave around each other after potentially years of being together because Gays and their crazy sex drives, am I right?

Or the alternative explanation that queer people in conservative countries just never make risky descions for the sake of their partners because the law forbids them from even existing.

Both explanations are tone deaf and ignorant of the lived reality of queer people. Its a direct result of straight people dominating shipper spaces. I do sometimes wonder what queer tkkr shippers make of these theories (cause I'm sure they exist as well). Are they perhaps more sane or do they subscribe to this bs as well ?

And oh my gosh yes about jungkook. That boy has very vocally played about with his gender expression and has been the one ignored the most by seriously cis heterosexual fans. This daddy Dom fantasy they project onto him is a bit much though I do think he does enjoy a more masculine cool image for himself as well. Which to the straight mind is confirmation for all their wattpad inspired fantasies of him. It's unfortunate but alas, stereotypes stick , especially those made by people with a very set view of the world.

As for hobi and the ynmner /sope dilemma, I totally get it. Ynmn shippers do tend to get on my nerves from time to time as well and it no doubt does have something to do with the correlation of them to the tkkr subgroup. I have grown fond of the ynmn dynamic since my baby army days I must admit though, because you can clearly see how much yoongi genuinely appreciates jimins presence and how jimin relies on yoongi for emotional comfort. It is sweet, but yeah I don't necessarily see anything else going on there.

Same goes for sope honestly. Nothing has ever made me seriously question them, except the sunshine bf with grumpy bf dynamic they do fit into very perfectly. They also clearly rely on each other for emotional support (Bring Hobi, hes my vitamin 🥺) but yeah Nothing as eye raising ig ? But yes, i can completely see why it's so frustrating to see how Hobi is dismissed within other shipping dynamics similar to the treatment j/m has gotten. Hobi does tend to get overlooked a lot in these bts dynamic discussions when he very much does embody the heart of the group and the members love for him is so heartfelt and grand, we really seriously underestimate his significance to keeping the bts spirit in line all these years.

I love my ball of sunshine who holds and even bottles up a lot emotionally for the sake of his fans and the team. And he always deserves more appreciation by everyone in the fandom (myself included)

Ps. Jihope in that one 2020 music bank live was definitely a 👀 moment lol.

#jikook

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funkymbtifiction · 2 years ago

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image fixes

I was pondering why so many people mistype with the Enneagram and/or struggle to find their core type, and it dawned on me that their image fix might be muddying the waters. It's related to shame and how you are perceived, which means the image center is subtly influencing how everyone presents themselves, ALL THE TIME. It can even deceive you and cause you to identify with something you are not, because it's less shameful than admitting to the "bad side" of certain types.

For example, a 3 fix won't want to identify as a core 6, because of competency fixations. (3: I am competent/cool, being a "repressed thinking" 6 sounds bad and will make people look down on me.) A 4 fixer won't want to be identified with 9 or 6 right off the bat; it doesn't fit their self image and is too pedestrian (6/9 are the most common types -- eww!). A 2 might not want to be seen as a 2, since "give to get" is incredibly off-putting to them. (I know one 2 who typed herself 6 for a long time, because "they're the 2 without an agenda.")

I started thinking about this after noticing how many sp/so's in typing videos open a can of pop/beer or pour a glass of wine, and drink from it while answering the questions. My reaction was "I would never do that, it feels cringe to me." Then it dawned on me that I wouldn't do it, to image-curate (this is not me; I want to be seen in another way -- hello 3w4 fix, finding stuff to sneer at!), but another type would do it, also to image-curate. For me, it's "nooo, too casual/every-man!," for them, it's telling people something about me -- I drink beer, I am chill, these questions aren't bothering me, I'm an every-man (or look at this expensive/special bottled water / wine I drink, unlike other people). I would think "I want this video to look like Y, so I won't do Z," and they would think "I want this video to look like X so I will do Q."

Thing is, no matter where our image fix is, we're doing this stuff all the time without even noticing it -- image-curating. Trimming the truth a little so you look better. Or ignoring this part of the story and playing up that part so people notice THIS about you and not THAT. Loudly drawing attention over here instead of there. Pointing out how you are different, sharing the nice thing you did, humble-bragging, etc. Sitting a certain way in a video. Slouching in your chair. Picking your best side to show to the camera. Or doing the opposite and thinking "I'm gonna wear a ratty t-shirt to show I don't care / don't ascribe to traditional concepts of fashion/beauty." The higher the image focus, the more this is instinctual, but we're all still somewhat aware of it.

To land on an image fix, you have to think about what you're curating and sharing with others for specific reasons and why. #Everyone is broadcasting their image fix all the time, even if they aren't core image types; everyone 'edits' what they want other people to know about them. 3s project competency, success, and what they got done; 2s make sure others know how sweet and generous and affectionate they are; 4s remind others of their brokenness, separation, and how they can't be fixed. What are you sharing and how is it helping or hindering you in admitting to your core type?

#enneagram #image types #heart fix #tritype

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creampuffqueen · 5 months ago

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You absolutely don't have to answer this one if it's something you'd prefer to keep to yourself, but... was there any particular reason why you struggled with your confidence as a writer? It's a little funny, a little sad, that no matter how good someone is at what they do, at certain times they're unable to perceive their work that way

yeah i don't mind at all! i've been in a very good place confidence-wise for a while now, so i'm definitely able to look back on some of those moments more objectively. i think it's very important to share that everyone struggles with confidence at times, no matter how "good" their work seems.

i think my struggle with my confidence as a writer, both then, occasionally now, and always, stems from the fact that i have never been a super confident person as a whole. i have always had very bad imposter syndrome, ever since i was young, in pretty much all that i do. school, work, hobbies, anything really. i always have had this underlying feeling of 'i'm just faking being good at [thing], i was only good at [thing] because of dumb luck, one day i'm gonna be super bad at [thing] and then everyone will Find Out'.

find out what? idk. but that is something i've experienced for a very long time. most of the time i'm able to ignore those feelings, but every now and then they really rear their ugly head and i sort of get stuck in a rut.

as for the writing itself. i actually can pinpoint what i was specifically struggling with at the time. for starters, i was still finishing up school when i was beginning to plot out my fics for yangvik week, and my spring semester was rough. my adhd became incredibly unmanageable and my overall mental health was probably at the worst it's ever been. not super conducive to writing.

the other part of this struggle was actually because of my other fic, 'the push'. i love that fic and i am very proud of it, but it BLEW UP, becoming popular beyond my wildest imagination. it's only been out for a few months but it is one of the most popular things i have ever posted. last time i checked, it is the most popular work in the entire yangchen/kavik tag on ao3, which is just crazy to me.

unfortunately, the downside of this is that i began to feel like nothing i wrote would ever be as good as that fic. the imposter syndrome appeared full-force. i began to wonder if i should even bother writing for yangvik again. i mean, i had created the most popular fic by dumb luck. there was no way i could create something of that caliber again, right? and if i wrote something that wasn't as good, then people would know that i'm secretly a terrible writer.

this was also extremely exacerbated by my outside mental health struggle. i would struggle to write because of my adhd, and then would beat myself up about it because 'oh i just trekked through that mental block before, i should be able to do it again'. (spoiler alert, no i couldn't).

but somehow, the stars just seemed to align for yangvik week. by some miracle, i had both the free time to write AND working medication that actually let my get my ideas down. i published my fic for day one and it was very well received, and i was able to focus on that rather than my own imposter syndrome, and finally feel some confidence in my writing again!

so this is just my message to other artists: everyone struggles with their confidence at times. it isn't always mental health related like mine was (though you should always prioritize your own mental health! making art is so, so much harder when your brain is out of whack) but everyone feels a lack of confidence occasionally. your art deserves to be seen, no matter if you think you've just created the second mona lisa or you think it's a dumpster fire. someone out there is going to love it, i promise <3

thank you for the ask!

#ask box #katkastrofa #writers on tumblr #okay to reblog

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twilightguardian · 2 years ago

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@kob131

The OP blocked me so I didn't see your reply. Which, fair enough, if they don't want to get notified of our discussion. It was their post, we honestly should have moved off it earlier.

I switched because you literally said your problem was his arrogance. What, would you like me to ignore that and keep focusing on the word spite? It was what I was originally talking about, with most people either claiming one or the other or usually both at the same time, and then you clarified your position on the matter. So I switched. It's not hypocritical, my dude. It's how conversations work.

You don't get to talk about me sidestepping your challenge. My response was to tell you to actually watch his damn content because that's where you'll find it if you want to see it so badly and you ignored it and then shot back a challenge at me without acknowledging it. That's not how things work, my dude. Learn about how burden of proof works, please.

If you couldn't possibly bother to look up anything on Raymond's channel that's your own damn fault, like it would be my own damn fault if I saw... idk, one video of Unresolved Textual Tension's videos and complained about Maria's flippant recapping of the book she's reviewing. If I didn't watch any time they review a book she likes and she still reviews the book the exact same way meaning she isn't flippant out of hate, me bitching about how salty she is would mean I have egg on my face. There's plenty of examples in his reactions where he praises the show's writing that tell me you didn't even bother.

You don't get to make stuff up about how you perceive someone to be when you don't bother to do anything except watch (maybe, or maybe you don't, I don't know you, nor have I looked you up. I am just responding to you as you are right now) his Fixing videos and then claim he's arrogant because he said on his twitter one time that he thinks he's better than M&K.

And really, who cares? Having a writing job on a show doesn't inherently make you a good writer. It means that their works are public and up for critique, which anyone is free to do. Writers on other shows are called bad all the time. Stephen Moffat was called a bad writer all the time who should have stayed an episodic writer. Raymond has said that he doesn't think they're BAD writers, either. Just that, like Moffat, their strengths are with shorter, more contained stories. You'd know that if you watched his content, because he's said it multiple times. Point is, Raymond backs up his words with action while most people don't. Most people just sit and complain and say 'bad writer' and then move on with their lives. Raymond is a writer and is doing FRWBY and his own content outside of Fixing RWBY.

Anyway, I do believe I didn't fully take a look at what you were saying and respond to it, you're right, so I'll correct that.

Prove it. And not by saying "this thing sucks". Actually explain in detail why certain things you take issue with are a problem and taking into account the changes Fixing RWBY has made into context. It should be easy for you to do, since you claim he didn't do a single thing better. Not a single aspect is done well. Nothing at all. So you should have plenty of material to choose one thing.

Keep in mind that I may actually agree with you on something. I don't think Fixing is perfect, but just because I don't think that something is the way that I would have done it means that it's bad necessarily. You have to look at more than one aspect before you determine the difference between it not being for you and it being actively bad. Stepping away from your personal preferences to look at something objectively, I can understand the decisions made.

Mupa and I talked about how it would have been easy to make Ren or Jaune Ozpin's host. Ren has the green theme, same as Ozpin. He can also pull off the wiser-than-he-seems aspect. Jaune is meant to be Joan of Arc. Hearing voices in his head is RIGHT THERE. Missed opportunity, if you ask me lol

Though I've said it before, I actually chewed Raymond out in vc once for replacing Oscar because I was looking forward to seeing his interpretation of Oscar. I also pointed out that the point of Fixing is to stick to canon as close as possible.

Thing about spiteful passion is that you quickly get burned out by it. It wears you down if you keep it up for long periods of time. Raymond has been working on Fixing RWBY for YEARS. Because he loves the show. He's said he loves the show multiple times on his channel. Doing a big project on something you love also wears you down, but you are rejuvenated in the end by the end product. Things made out of spite are only effective in the short term, not the long.

You're making a lot of assumptions here, bud.

That a fan, who has less power than the creators, cannot or should not have the ability to insult the writing. He doesn't insult the writers, at least as far as I remember. He doesn't say 'fuck Miles/Kerry the piece of shit' or anything like that, he says he's a bad writer. Oh. How terrible. He's made jokes before about burning idols of Miles in his backyard, sure, but that's not an insult. It's comedy. You don't have to find it funny, but it's not meant to be taken seriously, it's not a threat; the guy jokes around a lot.

That as a fan he should be held up to the same standards as the professional writers, who are held to a professional standard and judged accordingly. Keep in mind: a lot of fanfic authors out there do believe themselves better than the writers of the fandom they write for. Or unrelated professional authors. There's a reason 'I've read/written better fanfic than this' is a common insult.

He does less and risks less of himself than the original creators. What does this even mean? How do you know how much work Raymond does or does not do to make Fixing RWBY? Creating a base world like RWBY is easy. It can be done in mere hours. Or any story meant for younger audiences, not to talk about RWBY specifically. Sailor Moon is a very simplistic story whose premise and characters can be created in a few hours. Spice and Wolf is a premise that is very simplistic world building. And I've seen plenty of authors who have put blood, sweat and tears into writing fanfic, or rewriting something. Making sure the lore is correct, or references something, the characters are fundamentally the same, expanding on things, adding things that don't contradict, and if you are changing aspects of the canon lore, making sure it still is within the boundaries of what the canon is. My own fanfic is an example I've put a lot of thought and effort into with it being an AU pseudo-rewrite based on my gripes with my own main fandom, so I have to constantly cross-reference to make sure I get characterization right despite the alternate scenario and build up new character arcs from scratch despite a lot of the work already being done for me. To say that because he's building off something already established so he doesn't work hard is an insult to all fanfic writers.

This is just reiterating the point you've already tried to make. He's a fan who is not making money selling Fixing RWBY. Thinking that you should criticize a fan making a fan project is a dick move in any fandom that I know of. It's a nonsense question and just makes you look more like a bully. It's a power dynamics thing. Raymond has no real power over RWBY. He's "punching up" as they say. Anyone claiming that they should have the right to criticize a fan and say things about them because "they're doing it too" is being petty and acting like a child.

For the record: didn't Miles literally say he hates people who criticize just to be spiteful or to be mean? He called out people who do that because it's inappropriate. So why do you feel it's okay to do it when the person you're supposedly defending doesn't condone your behaviour?

Raymond loves criticism, actually. He looks forward to any time someone can give him honest critique of the show. He actively says at the end of his Fixing videos to leave comments and criticisms in the comments section. He addresses them. He's acknowledged mistakes that he's made, and strives to do better.

Not all criticism is written equal, though. Saying 'I think this thing is weak/poorly executed because of xyz reasons' is different from 'ew you did zyx how dare' or 'how dare you change [literally anything] you're a hack writer'.

One is a genuine critique talking in detail about the flaws and why they view it as a problem. The middle is saying they don't like a concept. Okay? Noted, I guess. The other is straight up being a troll or a petulant child.

Raymond takes into consideration the first, sometimes the second and laughs at the third. But he's also allowed to defend himself.

Skipped to here in your next post because I already addressed what you said above.

It's subjective. Also, you're being the second person in the example above. What else am I supposed to say here? 'Nuh uh.'

If you don't explain why, there's nothing to talk about. I do not agree it doesn't improve shit. I don't agree it bloats anything and I don't agree that the project is overworked.

Like I said, get up off your lazy ass and look at his reactions for yourself. They're right there. He talks about what he likes and what he doesn't like and everyone usually says he's consistently the nicer one of the group (to RWBY) apart from Dashie. It's not my job to make you drink, I will just point in the direction of water. If you haven't watched his reviews and caught when he compliments the show, that's on you. If you haven't seen when he says directly that he loves the show, that's on you.

But here, scroll through this guy's post. If the videos are still up then watch them. Now you can't say I didn't show you where. Because they're right there.

Eat your words.

Back to your current reply.

It literally doesn't matter, friendo.

Also you claim to know how much his book has been seen now? How many people bought his book? Since you know so much, please tell me, I'm curious. His video views on his announcement aren't indicative of that, I hope you know. The Artificer has been reviewed by at least one other youtuber, a booktuber, so it's out there. It might get picked up by more. Not everyone who casually reads books leaves reviews, either. I know I'm one of those people, because I have nothing substantial to say, or I just don't feel like it even if I do.

I ask why the hell do you care about his other works and whether they're popular. But if we're comparing here, you have a company of at least 300 people by the time of volume 2 compared to a single man. And you think a company with a budget of any kind, no matter how small it may be for marketing and merchandise is really comparable to one man? Like frig. Bigger youtubers than him don't even compare to Company money. Shadiversity for instance, for all his popularity, doesn't compare to Company money.

It's disingenuous of you to act like they are.

I'm not lying lol

Saying you're a better writer than X doesn't make you spiteful gtfo with that stupid argument lol

You're so caught up with that one little thing. Is that your main gripe with him? Would you actually think not a whole lot is wrong with Fixing RWBY if he didn't say that one singular thing you don't like? Are you basically trying to give him a taste of his own medicine? If not, then what the hell does it matter? He said something you don't like. Do you go around disliking and talking shit about everyone who has said something you don't like ever? Or do you move on because in the end it doesn't matter?

You think he's not proving himself better. Say how and why. Popularity doesn't matter, my dude. There's plenty of quality shit out there that's obscure. Look at all the things out there that bombed at the box office but became cult classics. Doing numbers is not indicative of quality.

You perceive him to be arrogant. Doesn't make him so. I think you just have a stick up your ass because he insulted someone you have attachment to and admire and you view him as a bad guy meanie head for it.

I don't think he owes Miles or Kerry anything. He doesn't need to be nice to them. It's ridiculous to think that just because his channel makes money off RWBY content that means he has to be grateful to the writers of the show and thus not say anything derogatory about them.

It's also none of your business, nor do I understand why you whiteknight (not meant to be an insult, it's just late and I can't think of synonyms) for them so much when you don't even know them personally as people. They're professionals. They're big boys with big boy pants who take criticism a lot better than you have. It's the professional world. They're not the only writers who have had mean things said about them, and they're not the last. They probably have learned to let the criticism roll off their backs and pick out what is harsh, but fair criticism and what is just people frothing at the mouth.

He's not fucking MysteriousMrEnter where he used to fly into such a rage calling them names and wishing death upon them he caused other people to harass the writers of Spongebob on twitter. He said the writing was bad. You can criticize someone's work without insulting them as people. You can criticize someone's work without thinking the writers are bad people. Raymond has shot ME down when I said they were bad writers and explained to me where he thinks their strengths are. I've said it many times. If you haven't seen him say it when he has multiple times, that's on you.

He HAS said things in a fit of rage and he regrets it. Terrible thing owning up to his mistakes and trying to be better. What an asshole.

Nah. It's because after I replied to you the first time I learned you're a known issue in the community and I had little faith in you that you would actually be honest. Plus, I'm busy; leads to inaccurate reading, for whatever that's worth. I'm making up for it with this by giving you the proper attention. If I was actually like Lilith Fairen I would have blocked you the moment you replied to me and then kept talking about you behind the block, laughing at how pathetic you were for being a rwby stan who thinks it's okay to harass small creators and blah blah despite that not being the reason you were talking to me.

It's happened before, where I thought I could have a decent conversation with someone only to learn they'd actively ignore anything Raymond said that was positive, the person wanted to believe whatever he wanted about the man and say shit about his content due to that false belief that he hated the show. I'm glad you are actually talking to me and engaging, but we'll see where it goes.

#kob131 #rwde #rwby #fixing rwby #frwby #also probably missed some but I try to take the swears out because they sound so aggressive #but I just swear casually in my conversations

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genderqueerdykes · 2 years ago

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hello! I’m an anonymous asker who’s sent in asks before, about PCOS stuff.

If it’s not a bother, would you be willing to share ways to potentially share neopronouns with family who, while they are supportive, don’t always understand and can sometimes be hurtful? I’m very scared to even suggest the idea of not using He/Him or to go into my gender experience because I get backhanded comments and changes in how they see me it I do. Would it be worth it at all to mention it?

Also, how would I go about binding better? Currently I wear a binder with a sports bra over it, but it hurts sometimes and still doesn’t make me as flat as I aspire to be.

Thank you and have a lovely day!

hi there! welcome back, we're glad to see you again!

it can be a real gamble with family, so i understand your apprehension. some families are surprisingly good about these kinds of things and will catch on and respect it, others will just deny or ignore the requests. i would say you can gently bring it up in convo, like saying a friend of yours uses neopronouns and you want to, as well, or you can just be blunt about it and say hey, he/him and she/her just don't work for me. here's what actually works for me

if they're receptive you can go into more detail and let them know that those just don't fit you and they're not who you are. honestly i find saying that's just. not who i am. even if that's how they perceive me that's not who i actually am and i don't respond to those pronouns because they're not mine. they don't register as mine in my head so i don' tknow people are talking to me when they use those

if they resist, you can try to double down. if you're confident enough, it can sometimes make folks agree to use them even if they don't necessarily like them. the thing is they don't have to like it. it's your identity, you deserve that respect. but there's a chance they may not. it sucks when they don't, so if you do end up in that spot feel free to come back and let us know. some folks just don't quite "get" it and sometimes it's best to just try to ignore the incorrect pronouns when possible

also for binding, it can be tough, most binders won't get a person totally flat if they have a larger chest. i would definitely not recommend putting on anything over a binder as binders are already harsh enough on the ribs. i definitely get dealing with dysphoria, but rib damage and potential pneumonia is not something you want to deal with, nor is potential nipple damage. if you find your current binder isn't enough, you can try layering clothing and seeing what clothes help obscure that part of your body better, or you can try to look for a different brand. i recommend Underworks, personally!

i used to use 2 somewhat loose sports bras over top one another but i don't know how safe that is. pain can be very common but if you're in a lot of pain it's better to try to do what you can with whatever other clothing you have if possible. i hope that makes sense, binding can be very bothersome at times due to how complicated it is. i hope you can find something that works better. a different style of sports bra might help you

good luck with everything, i hope you're able to get at least a few family members to understand and work with you. let us know if you need anymore help, we're rooting for you. stay safe out there!

-Leum

#asks #answers #neopronouns #pronouns #coming out #leum

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mangodestroyer · 2 years ago

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I feel like I could make a whole series on toxic behaviors I ignored/overlooked. But here's one that's been nagging at me for a while that I feel like no one talks about. And this one is surprisingly common.

Every time I see a woman say, "Women are so much drama.", without fail, they end up being an unpleasant person to be around at best. And most times I actually got to know women who say this, they end up being the ones who cause a ton of drama themselves. So this phrase is kind of like when people say, "I don't like drama." and end up causing a lot of drama. It's the same blame shifting tactic, but even worse because it has some internalized misogyny sprinkled in there.

Basically, if they perceive you as female (which literally everyone does for me because even if I'm NB, I would find it difficult to not look feminine because that's just how my body is), they're automatically assuming that you're an overly emotional person who likes to cause trouble. That means any time you show a negative emotion or have a complaint, no matter how valid it is, you will probably be dismissed. Trust me, my ex, mother, and sexist af male boss have done this to me. My mother LOVED to accuse me of always starting drama, unless I made myself super robotic and kept to myself all the time. Boss laughed and said I needed a tampon when I got annoyed over not having something explained to me when I needed to get something done and we were short on time (he also complains about his wife and working in a store full of woman, so...). My ex kind of just had an, "Eh, oh well." reaction whenever I was discontent with something (one of those things was her father being a jerk to me). And guess what? These people have all been antagonistic in some way.

It also has that, "Not like other girls." undertone to it which is just... bleh!

I think I used to be very forgiving of this one because, like I said, it's very common. Misogyny in general, like all forms of oppression, is very widespread. Lots of people see no problem with these types of things. It's kind of like how, as a neurodivergent individual, I was always expected to take criticism and bullying for being "weird" and "different" because my behaviors were "disruptive" (i.e. stimming, failure picking up on social cues, speech problems, ect). I was taught that this was a non-problem and that, "Oh, well, they COULD be doing so much worse to you and it is kind of true!" What I failed to realize was that, by minimizing my discomfort with these behaviors and ignoring my gut, I was giving these people permission to push my boundaries. And those who are familiar with boundary pushing behaviors might know that it tends to lead to more important boundaries getting pushed. And things can get UGLY. So yeah, if someone is dismissive of something they're doing that makes you uncomfortable, and keeps doing it, even if it doesn't seem like a big deal, you might not be wrong to feel uncomfortable and shouldn't tolerate it.

I blame a lot of this on spending most of my life in a conservative, small, rural town. However, I've seen this behavior coming from a lot of "liberal, feminist" individuals as well. I've come to accept that tons of people are just like this, but that doesn't mean I'll be forming deep bonds with people like this in the future. I know there are people out there who don't say stuff like this. I try to spend more time with them now.

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cutebunnys50 · 1 month ago

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Things automatically become important when you love them. It doesn't matter what the thing is: it automatically gains value when you love it. This kind of conversion can also be applied to loving yourself.

That's why it's important to love loudly and visibly, if that's what you want to do. It doesn't matter if the thing is popular: a lot of things become popular because either it's really good (a lot of love or effort was poured into it) or a lot of people say it's really good (the people love it and spread that love and made the thing popular).

Instead of asking "why isn't this thing popular" or "why does no one like this thing-- it's so underrated/overlooked/ignored", you can ask yourself "how much do I love this thing" and "do I love this thing enough to get over the fear of being perceived as an amateur ("bad" art) or a loser (being the only fan, especially if it's niche)?"

Some people don't like characters only because they're popular; they developed an interest in the character because a lot of people loved that character, and they just followed the trail to where there was a lot of love/energy.

AI art will never pass the test of "true" art because art itself is effort and love (putting your time into something and making something new/something that didn't exist before). What AI art does is turn everything into slop/content that's consumed and then usually discarded in the never-ending quest for more. In real art, you can usually revisit it and wonder about why the artist made certain decisions (word choice, paint stroke, color choice) and that actually connects you to someone else and helps you see into their mind + understand them more.

AI art doesn't care for the fact that 90% of art is actually the struggle/journey. Art that comes from an artist's own experiences for example lends what they make some extra authority, believability, and impact. Kind of like why "professionals" exist as a concept: pros honed their craft or are really knowledgeable about something and they're important because you can't replace, say, 10 years of experience with microbiology (example) in a couple of minutes (of Googling).

Stories in general (like coming of age stories, hero's journey stories, or underdog stories) are compelling because you see the journey of the protagonist and see how they struggled but still (usually) "won." (If they die horribly, then the story is usually a warning about what NOT to do or something, lol. Or maybe there's some other reason the author/artist created that, whether it's good or bad.)

Most people aren't interested in stories where the characters are automatically good at everything and have no problems whatsoever (those characters are usually looked down on as "Mary Sue"s or "Gary Stu"s even if they're allowed to exist), but things like AI art immediately skip to the finished product/end result as if the (artist's and character's) journey didn't matter at all.

(Screw AI art.)

That's why, even if AI art looks really convincing and even looks good, it's still soulless. If not for the environmental impact, people should make as much as they want, but at least leave the real artists out of it. A real artist will always be better than an AI artist, even if the real artist only did a 5 minute scribble, because the real artist at least used their hands (or something else) to make something while the AI artist just asks the plagiarism machine to spit out slop. AI artists want the prestige and praise of being a "real artist" without putting in half as much of effort-- that's why some of them hide among real artists with their fake AI speedpaints and process drawings and pretend that they didn't skip most of what helps make art so good. If AI artists are so proud of AI art, they should say it with their whole chest. I suspect part of the reason they don't is because they know AI art has a bad reputation (for good reason) and they don't want to lose followers/money/etc. from admitting to using it, but deceiving people is always worse. A lot of AI art people don't have morals in the first place so they won't care, but lying to someone will cause an even bigger backlash than if you'd been upfront in the first place.

AI art is already being used to replace real artists because corporations and whatnot don't care about the environment, and they assume only the finished product matters. Someone who values love or humanity will usually be able to tell when what they're being presented with is devoid of it, however, and even if it does get so believable that you can theoretically get what you want at the click of a button, most artists probably won't be a fan of it because they're the ones who were thrown under the bus. In this case, it's a matter of taste, morals (environment), and ideology (not wanting to reward harmful behavior or practices), but it's here that I absolutely can't speak for other people. No idea if their desire for convenience will override all those other pesky things like not wanting the Earth to burn down.

Real human-made art will always exist as long as you have any surface and any kind of writing implement, but AI art can't be made without technology (computers, training data, programs, etc.).

This is different from things like machinery that helps people do labor because the premise is different: people assume the artist's journey and struggling is something you want to bypass immediately, but even if you feel that way (valid), it's the journey (movie) that makes the final result and everything that comes after it so good. Otherwise you're just creating pretty pictures in a vacuum, and the ease with which they can be made probably makes them less meaningful as a result. AI art can be forgotten after a couple of minutes, especially if you know it's AI. It's usually the concept of the art that's compelling, so even if they make a good idea happen, the AI part absolutely detracts from it. I mean, we're literally praising the human part here (having the idea), not the execution, which is the point of making art in the first place (making your ideas a reality).

When it comes to art and love (synonymous), "bad" art (amateurish) needs to exist for good art to exist, so it should not be shamed. It doesn't necessarily need to be shared but even if it is, it's good because you made something, and that alone is pretty amazing. It's proof of your existence and your own mind.

At the end of the day, I think the best kind of creator is someone who makes their characters (and people in general) think, "I'm glad that this person drew that character" and "I'm glad that person loves that character so much-- it really shows."

The passion comes first and the talent (in art) and everything comes after. That's how most people started, so I hope they're able to remember that feeling and even act on it, if they want to.

#random essay #about art #and love #anti AI art too obviously

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