#50 Questions Tag

[harbingersglory]

Hello, could I have transfem Signora x fem!reader smut? Any scenario is fine, just need dom Signora railing me 😩

{☆} characters la signora {☆} notes drabble, fem reader, sub reader, dom la signora, transfem la signora {☆} warnings 18+ content, restraints, temperature play, face fucking, degradation, pet play

There's a moment of silence that lingers for far too long, the cold nipping at your exposed skin until you feel shivers wrack your body. You squirm instinctively, seeking out the fading warmth of the thick furs laid out beneath you, yet finding nothing but the cold that chills you to your bones. You can't even see, your eyes covered by black fabric, silk tying your arms together behind your back.

It's almost torturous waiting like this. Your knees sink further into the fur as you lean your weight forward slightly, exhaling a shaky breath. You begin to wonder if Signora left you there– maybe you'd annoyed her earlier and she was punishing you. You hoped not. She wasn't known for being lenient when it came to punishments.

But the brush of her fingers along your jawline squashed that fear, your breath hitching as her thumb glided over your throat, the heat of her skin making you shudder. The contrast of the cold room, of your freezing body, to the unnatural heat that simmers beneath her skin is immense– your knees would have definitely buckled if you hadn't been kneeling already.

"Did you think I'd left you here all alone? You're shaking like a dog." The soft, biting lilt was nothing more than a murmur, but for you it was impossible not to hear the pleased tone beneath the roughness of her voice. Your heart leaps into your throat when her fingers trace back up along your jawline, lifting your head and tilting it back just enough to be uncomfortable.

You open your mouth to speak, but your words are silenced by her thumb slipping past your lips instead– you don't fight back, even though the sudden intrusion catches you off guard enough you almost bite her finger instead. You almost consider doing it anyway, but she's so rarely in a good mood it feels rude to spoil it.

"Pets don't speak until they're told," She chides, pressing down on your tongue slightly and laughing at the way you almost choke in surprise. "And I don't remember giving you permission."

You can only manage a garbled whine in response, your face burning in embarrassment– but it's quickly silenced by the click of her tongue and the creak of the old chair you know sits by the fireplace, her thumb sliding out between your lips to drag you closer. Close enough to feel the rush of heat across your skin as your cheek is pressed against her thigh, her hands resting on the back of your head. You can't see it, but you sure can imagine the smug smile that must be tugging at her lips right about now.

"Let's see about fixing your little disobedient streak, darling." She murmurs, digging her nails into your scalp and tugging you even closer, the furs beneath you doing little to prevent the ache in your knees from kneeling. But you don't complain– you know what she wants, and you want it too. "Open."

Like the dog she seems so fond of treating you as, you listen– you're not as surprised this time when her fingers fill your mouth, forcing it open even further until you can feel the saliva collecting and dribbling down your chin. She doesn't seem to mind, even laughing at how pitiful you probably look, drooling all over her fingers.

But Signora is a hard woman to satisfy, and this will hardly do anything other then work her up enough to really break you in. You can just barely hear the rustle of fabric over your heartbeat, gloved hands tugging you closer and forcing you to press right up against the edge of the chair. It's almost uncomfortable, the way the chair presses against your chest, but she always has you teetering on that fine edge.

"Perhaps you can be trained after all." Signora's voice is like a balm, the heat of her body driving away the cold and urging you impossibly closer, until you feel her hand guide you down just as her fingers slip out of your mouth again– right up until you feel her cock against your cheek. "Show me that you can be obedient, mutt, and maybe I'll let you sit on my lap."

You know she's just dangling a treat just out of reach, but you can't help but reach for it anyway.

Your tongue drags across the underside of her cock, so slow you can hear the hiss that rattles in her chest halfway between pleasure and impatience. You take your time anyway, lingering until you reach the tip and press a kiss against it. You almost wish you could see her face, but she's never been fond of expressing anything outwardly when you can see it– just the idea of her brows furrowed, of her face flush and her lip caught between her teeth..it's enough.

It's not hard to imagine it anyway when the heat grows hotter, nearly turning the room into an oven before she catches herself. You aren't stupid enough to mention it, but your smile must be enough, because a low growl makes you shiver– so you drag your tongue from the base to the tip again, revel in the way it throbs beneath your tongue. For a moment you almost have something like control, your saliva dripping down her aching cock as you lap at it like a mutt.

But you're both growing impatient– the sharp click of her nails against the chairs arms makes you shudder, urging you to lift yourself up just enough to wrap your lips around the head with a muffled groan. You consider dragging it out just a moment longer, just to see if you can get her to whine, but she knows you better then you do– before you can even blink, her hand shoves you down. You, predictably, gag. Your throat burns from the stretch, but it's not unpleasant, eased by the pleasured hiss that tumbles from her lips. Signora at least has the mercy to let you get used to it for a moment before she drags you back up, the emptiness in your throat making you whine before she's shoving her cock back down your throat. Your eyes sting with unshed tears, your own sounds of pleasure muffled and garbled as she does it again– and again.

"Finally quiet, mutt?" She laughs, but it's strained– her voice quivers slightly as she fucks your throat like your nothing but a toy to her, drool dribbling down your chin and tears staining the blindfold. "If I knew it was this easy to shut you up, I'd have done it a long time ago."

You so badly want to do something, but with your hands tied behind your back and her fucking your face so rough, so fast, you can barely even think..there's not much you can do but let her, your cunt clenching around nothing. You really hope she wasn't lying about that reward, for once. You're practically dripping on her floor while she uses you, just barely able to squeeze your thighs together for a fraction of friction.

It only serves to make you more desperate, though.

"Fuck– or maybe you're too stupid to know better. You'd just let any pretty woman with a cock use you," Her breathing was getting heavier, more strained, but her grip on your hair didn't relent. Neither did the harsh thrust of her hips, her cock constantly hammering into your throat until you felt dizzy. "You're lucky I'm even willing to train a mutt like you."

Your mind starts to feel fuzzy, the words blending together until she digs her nails into your scalp and forces you down again– and keeps you there. You nearly gag again when you feel her shudder, her cock throbbing in your mouth as her cum spills down your throat, your hands straining against the silk binding them together. Your eyes roll into the back of your head, nostrils flaring and your body tensing– you don't even realize you'd briefly lost consciousness until your find yourself on her lap, rather then on your knees, her hands brushing the strands of hair stuck to your face with sweat out of your eyes.

It's the most gentle she's been all night– and likely as gently as she will be tonight. You lean into her touch anyway, groaning softly and shuddering at the taste of her on your tongue mixed with her cock throbbing against your thigh.

"I'm not done yet, darling. Did you think I'd let you get away with a little light training?" She laughs, cupping your jaw and pressing a kiss that's far too gentle to your cheek, the warmth of her body almost suffocating– but you welcome it, like you always do.

So you nod, smiling drowsily and spreading your legs like a good pet should.

[ejsuperstar]

Long live the king.

ty @lilybug-02 for keeping on posting about avm and making me go "oo i need to do my avm human designs" every time i see one of your avm posts

[joelletwo]

[ID from alt: gintama fanart of katsura and gintoki facing each other on either side of a gold-framed mirror. gintoki faces it, back to us, mostly colored in. katsura holds the frame and leans out from behind stone-faced, hair and kimono only barely colored in, enough to distinguish him from the blank smiling reflection of a long-haired man gintoki sees. the bright blue sky is cloudy in the mirror; everything uncolored is the gray of a default canvas, and the lineart is sketchy]

^_^ the besties!

[maeamian]

I've finally found my people: folks who are deeply passionate about the waste of liquid helium. Sorry all you beloved mutuals who aren't into liquid helium you're dead to me now, get interested in cryogenics and we'll talk again.

[wingsofhcpe]

fuck funko pop for what happened but people replying under posts about it with "nendoroid is a cute alternative!" have me like... bestie the cheapest funkopop is like 8€ (funko mini). The cheapest nendoroid I have ever personally encountered was 50€. These are absolutely not interchangeable.

[snckt]

“we’re not friends,” he said, finally and quietly. “we’re sweethearts, ok? go ahead and laugh if you want to.” “i never laugh at a man’s romantic life,” i said. “that’s his own business.”

a very belated valentine to my most beloved sweethearts 💕

[ilumel]

— a rare moment of repose for the inquisitor.

[landscaping-your-mind]

today has been a day of procrastinating tma stuff and actually doing irl stuff (my washing! which is always like a four hour ordeal, but finally my favourite hoodis are clean) So, yeah didn't even get done writing things, much less the tma relisten. But I made a promise in the tags of an earlier post that I'd ramble about jontim here, so... I just... I'm sad about them.

Firstly, did you know that MAG 50 - Foundations is the last time we hear Tim and Jon have a good moment together on tape? Barring of course MAG 161. And here it's cracked foundations. Do you know that in MAG 11, Jon says he trusts Tim most of all, for it not to be a joke? Do you know that in MAG 159 Jon's mind immediately jumps to Tim and Sasha when asked where his friends are? They feel like they were friends, really close friends, that just... fell apart. Do you know how it feels to lose your rock. To lose someone you always thought was going to be forever for you? Do you know how it feels to be betrayed, to have someone you thought was your best friend turn on you and hurt you? Do you know how it feels to stand in document storage, and look at each other, and see the person you trusted, and see how it all fell apart, and see fear and mistrust, and see a want to repair things, but it's already too late?

Do you know how it feels to look at the person who represents everything that's wrong about this place, and know that they're the only one you're ever going to trust to be real?

"I'm still me, Tim. I'm still me." "You know what? You're actually right." "What?" "You're the only one."

@a-mag-a-day

[punkrockisafulltimejob]

For those who are unsure of whether or not they really have the "sensitivity to cold" symptom of fibromyalgia, because you think that it's just you not being able to handle colder temperatures like other people, that's one way of putting it. The other way is, when it's winter and the temperatures start dropping, do you feel your pain more intensely? Do you feel like you have more problems with your joints? Is your partner always commenting how cold your fingers and toes are, but it somehow gets more frequent in winter? Those are other ways to consider being sensitive to the cold.

[carriehobbs]

every day i am so grateful that you enable me. ocposting is my favourite hobby in the world

(these are probably not the best screenshots i have of seraphine but they are my favourite screenshots of seraphine. i love her little scooby doo peek-around-from-behind-the-door)

seraphine is (one of) my redemption durge and she's a drow college of lore bard who i have romancing astarion. i said specifically that i wanted to talk about the way that she and astarion are mutually (and, in some cases, not-so-secretly) using each other in their act 1 romance, but to make that make sense, i'll have to explain a little bit about her.

one of the things that (as her player) sets her apart from my other tav/durge runs is that seraphine is really rather pragmatic (and a little ruthless) in her approach to handling problems. she gets off the nautiloid and knows only two things about herself: that she has an illithid tadpole in her head and that she has violent and inexplicable urges. whereas juno (my other redemption durge) immediately responds to her dark urges with revulsion, seraphine compartmentalizes that shit until act 3 (thereafter she handles it so badly she tries (and fails) to break up with astarion). it's not that she likes the urges (and she certainly doesn't like that she has these seemingly external forces trying to make her do things she does not want to do - if she's going to murder her way across the sword coast, it should be because she wants to do it, not some unwanted urge), it's just that she has bigger problems that require more attention than fretting over if she's a bad person. specifically: 1) not becoming a mindflayer, 2) not slaughtering her way through the countryside uncontrollably, and 2.5) in case she does slaughter her way through the countryside, finding a way to make sure her newfound allies with an unfortunate amount of morals do not kill her for it.

see, seraphine recognizes that power doesn't just come from who has the most money or political pull or even physical power. there is power in being liked, and there's power in being owed. and the way she sees it is that, if she fails to resist her urges and does kill someone, if she's built up goodwill with her companions who like her and feel like they owe her for helping each of them with their personal troubles and being an all-around-good person (helping the tieflings in the grove, etc.), they will be more likely to forgive and ignore her own issues (and, to her credit, this does work: she gets caught after she kills alfira and, while they disapprove, no one tries to kick her out of camp or kill her. she just gets the verbal equivalent of a slap on the wrist).

so when astarion approaches her and starts flirting with her and suggests they have a sexual relationship, between him coming on way too strong and the fact that she's actively endearing herself to everyone else in the camp using similar tactics, she can easily spot his attempts to manipulate her. at this point in the game, she's figured out what will make the other companions like her, but she's only just figured out how to handle the issue of astarion (in her playthrough, he propositioned her immediately after handling the gur hunter in the swamp, which is the introduction of the cazador-is-looking-for-astarion plotline). and when astarion propositions her, she realizes that she doesn't need to figure out how to get astarion to like her, or how to make him feel like he owes her. he's handed her on a silver platter a way to manipulate him into needing her, such that he will tie his own fate and his own safety to hers (and, if she goes down, he loses his protector, so he better be inclined to prevent her from going down if need be).

i think it's important to mention that seraphine does actually like astarion (because i definitely just made it sound like she doesn't). they're not super close at this point, but she genuinely enjoys his company. he sees the world in a similar way (not perfectly similarly - she wants to shake sense into him when he disapproves of helping people because she's playing the longest con of her life and he's not getting with her program), at least in terms of wanting power (so that he can have freedom). she also finds him funny and she gets his sense of humor. one of my favourite moments in the earlier stages of their relationship is when astarion runs pickup lines past her and she's having a grand old time giggling like a schoolgirl at the melodrama of it all. so she's using him, but she does also like him. just as he's using her, but (in time) comes to like her too.

(an odd note, as well, that doesn't really fit into this but is tangentially related: seraphine starts helping with the companion's personal quests because she needs them to like her and, over time, helps them because she grows to like them as people. but it always feels like she is helping them with their problems. but with astarion, freeing him from cazador always felt like their problem together. it was something she felt actively and equally involved in, even from the start, even if she didn't understand it. in fact, in astarion's act 2 romance scene where he tells you that he has real feelings for you, seraphine realized in that exact conversation that she had real feelings for him too, and all of her behaviour very quickly made sense.)

so it's in this fashion that seraphine and astarion are both using each other in act 1 (and into parts of act 2). seraphine fully knows that she is trying to manipulate him and that he's trying to manipulate her. astarion, on the other hand, doesn't. (i think that, as a character, he would be socially savvy enough to put together what was going on, but the game itself doesn't seem to anticipate that players might take this approach to his romance. i think that's why, in astarion's act 2 romance scene, you have the option to get mad at him for "revealing" that he began your relationship with the intent to manipulate you, but have no option to tell him that you were manipulating him too. so canonically, astarion didn't know that seraphine had figured out his game. i headcanon that she does eventually tell him this - maybe in act 3?).

of course, as their romance progresses their feelings for each other change and the manipulation tactics disappear and they're just two people who love and care for each other deeply. as i get closer to the end of act 3 in seraphine's playthrough the more i am convinced that they become strangely domestic post-game.

[youredreamingofroo]

~ @simblr-question-of-the-day ~

So I kinda have like... series names and then also just like, names that are treated like story/series names ig... idk I'll just do all of them LMAO

(putting it under the cut cuz ermmm this is long LMAO)

Make the Most of It - Sims 2 Rotation w/ Roo So I actually came up with this name on a whim iirc? I know I wanted to make this series, but I didn't know what to name it, so I just started taking silly little dramatic shots and then while I was doing the "Make the Most of It" (which didnt have MtMoI on it at this point) gif I was like... oh "Make the Most of It" fucks so hard for a title... especially for this series... and yea 🤷‍♂️ Idk or remember if there were other names I was gonna go with

Hiraeth - Roo x Leo Story Arc So originally I just wasn't gonna have a name for these two, or at least, I wanted one but couldnt think of anything, but one night I was DEDICATED to finding a name for this arc, so I started looking up phrases in other languages that either meant longing or loving someone ahdbsjns I had a tab on notepad with all the names I was gonna go for (I was gonna do phrases from Welsh,,, Irish and I think Swedish too?), but ofc i closed it and didnt save it 😒 Anyways, I know the other name I was gonna go for was "Cwtch" which is a Welsh word for "cuddle" or "embrace", and I ALMOST went for that, but then I considered Hiraeth ("deep longing for a person or thing which is absent or lost; yearning; nostalgia; spec. homesickness") and was like ohhh thats so much more fitting- I also chose to go with Welsh because Leo is Welsh and Leo is the reason this is happening.. so it kinda just made sense to make it Welsh. Also haven't talked abt this, but Roo knows about Hiraeth from Leo :)

WE'RE.ALL.SICK - Story with a cast of Three iirc when I thought of this title, I wasn't even planning on making a Story, but then i though of W.A.S and just thought "this would make an INSANE story..." and 🤷‍♂️ now we have W.A.S. Although the whole story was essentially made around this name, There is also meaning behind it, and that is "We're ALL Sick", refers to the people oppressing people who are "different" (chaotic birthmarks on the green guy, weird scarring on the yellow guy and blindness and masc frame on the red/blue gal) and the people who are "different" or as the oppressors call them, "Sick", so it's jabbing at the Oppressors and mocking the name given to the Oppressed :'L

MYGENERATIONALCURSE - Hero's Story I made this on a whim ngl LMAO But I love it because it is accurate to Hero's lore, she has a generational curse dating as far back as ~100 years ago, there was no other name in mind, it was kinda like fate

It's All Wrong - Ithuriel x Nanel Story I know I've never really gone into depth over what the fuck "It's All Wrong" means or refers to, but basically Ithuriel is the "Repository of Sin" and her job requires her to be isolated from other Angels, and is literally not allowed to communicate with other Angels including Nanel unless necessary, and if she WERE to communicate with Nanel/Other Angels outside of when necessary and got found out, she would be executed. Nanel is the highest Angel Messenger, she goes to the Pits of The Damned (Hell) and goes to Purgatory and across Heaven to deliver messages to others, typically an angel wouldnt be allowed to traverse the Pits of The Damned or Purgatory, but she has a job-exception, and this also includes delivering messages to Ithuriel, which is the only time Nanel is allowed to converse with her. So that being said, Nanel and Ithuriel, if you havent caught on, are deathly (literally) in love with each other and were dating prior to Ithuriels Job Assignment, and they continue to secretly date and converse, but the point is that their love is secretive and "all wrong", hence, "It's All Wrong"

AMNESIA - Gameplay/Story of Sharkie Shaw I know literally nobody (besides my irl, Oksana and I think one other person) knows about Sharkie, but basically, the name refers to how Sharkie experienced Amnesia as a Teen and stupidly ran away from home while experiencing Amnesia, so she became Homeless and a shell of a person and had to rebuild herself and her personality and life from the ground up :')

The Wolf (Sheep) - Onia's Story If you remember Onia from the Feelings Post (She was jealousy), basically her whole shebang is that shes a Sheep in Wolf's clothing, and that's what "The Wolf (Sheep)" means :) (also, sheep being in parentheses nods at how she's trying to be a wolf and hides her sheep-like personality if that makes sense LMAO)

There's also Vanella, Kyneva and Phoenix (Vanella from this post, Kyneva - Sadness and Phoenix - Grief from the feelings post), all of which I am planning on giving "story" names, but havent had an idea for them yet :P

if I didn't mention having an alternative name then I PROBABLY didnt have an alternative name that I was gonna go with or I just dont remember <:))

[shima-draws]

In regards to the rarepair week, is it necessary for the mod/s to determine what's a rare ship and what's not for the event to happen? If it's just a general create-what-you-want ship week event then it might not be necessary to establish a list of what can and can't be created for. Like, not trying to knock you so absolutely do what you want!! But considering how many characters are in OP I think trying to figure out what does and doesn't constitute as a rarepair would just end up being so long and drawn out (for you) and so limiting (for creators) because a complete list is never gonna be possible

Yeye that's definitely fair! I just want to be thorough and at least get a feel for the more popular (?) ships in the fandom and see whether they're truly considered rarepairs or not. Like Croc/Doflamingo - some people might view it as a rarepair. I personally don't bc I see content for them pretty often. But that's my own personal bias; maybe the fandom sees it differently. Which is why I wanted to ask in the first place :") I definitely don't wanna limit people from creating what they want but I also want the event to be enjoyable for everyone, so someone making content for a ship and someone else going "Hey wait they're not a rarepair I see art/fics for these guys all the time :(" is the kind of situation I want to try avoiding if I can 🤔

I'm not gonna be super strict on limitations either way lol I mean at the very least the REALLY obvious popular ships (i.e. Zosan, Lulaw, Zolu, etc) are off the list already. I'm done posting polls too so the potential candidate list was pretty short to begin with. But yeah no I promise this isn't gonna end in me yelling at people for including ships that aren't considered rarepairs. I'll probably just provide a list for people to go off of with ships divided into categories of "please don't make content for these bc they're everywhere and this event ain't about them" and "fandom doesn't consider them a rarepair, but if you do and you wanna make content for them anyway you can absolutely go for it".

I want people to have fun and do what they want first and foremost!! Any guidelines/rules will be super laid back. I just want people to be able to have fun exploring all the rarepairs the series has to offer rather than just going straight to the ships that are more "mainstream", even if they ARE considered a more uncommon ship. Hopefully that makes sense and I don't sound like an idiot lmao

[octoagentmiles]

Try list any Octo-Agents and think of an Episode you Think give them a Shining Moment

W O O F this took a while– I was thinking long and hard about this because there are SO MANY good moments and episodes 😅, and so many agents– it was difficult, but I’m happy with my answers 👀

Ranger Marsh’s Shine Episode is definitely The Monitor Lizards. I LOVE this episode, it’s one of my favourites in the whole series so far—not just because of the events in it, but as a concept. I LOVE the callback to the Great Swamp Search!! I watched the 2nd season blind, and seeing all these familiar faces was SUCH a fun surprise. It’s good for Ranger Marsh as a character, because it actually shows him doing his job as a Ranger, not as an Octo-Agent. It also reinforces the fact that he truly cares for and is friends with these creatures, even if they are invasive, and that he's willing to travel to check in on them. This is another episode that also proves (to me) that the writers know they’re dealing with an older audience for the show, and are more likely to delve into solid lore and continuity. This episode makes me really hopeful for more of that.

Natquik’s Shine Episode, WITHOUT QUESTION, is The Red Fox. Honestly I feel like I don’t need to explain why, but I will because I like talking ✨: Natquik is my favourite Octo-Agent, but overall we haven’t actually gotten that many episodes dedicated to him yet. The Red Fox gives us a close and personal look into what Natquik is like by himself (I love episodes where characters are alone 👀), how he deals with problems (by ignoring them until they get worse—which is interesting... *stares at Barnacles*...), and even hints toward his family, by showing us his family portraits, and leaving us wondering, “Where are they?” – There are so many moments I love in this episode, from when he first discovers the kits, decides to help them stay warm, rushes to protect Barnacles, to his bittersweet goodbye at the end. It’s all so perfect.

Tracker absolutely shines in The Missing Lake. Honestly, he shines a LOT in Above and Beyond, considering he never got his own episode in the main series, and was only in Operation Deep Freeze for two scenes. AnB has been really good to Tracker, and I’m so grateful they decided to make him an Agent. The Missing Lake sticks out to me the most, because for the most part he is by himself (and I’ve already mentioned my love for that <3), and unlike all his other episodes, we get to really see him be responsible and use his Polar Scout skills in action. He’s often portrayed as a follower, who just goes along with whatever he's told to do, but he takes charge twice in this episode: when he offers to help Rowan, and when he stays behind to save Buck. Love that for him.

Calico Jack. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Calico Jack....... I could talk forever about this funky old cat man. He doesn’t just shine, he GLOWS in every episode he’s in—but alas, for the sake of this post I will be focusing on The Harlequin Duck. I love the showing of his gentle parental instincts in this episode, and his singing; since we know he canonically has a theme song, that I headcanon he wrote himself. I think far too much, and often, about how he legit panicked when he realized the egg was missing. How his first instinct was to hide that fact from Captain Barnacles. He was terrified, having a full blown panic attack on screen. He apologizes to the mother duck with such genuine solace, and promises to get it back “On [his] honour as a pirate!” ...Which is extremely significant to me, considering Kwazii was the first character to EVER say the phrase: “On me honour as an Octonaut!” in The Flying Fish after Inkling’s book was lost – and of course as a final touch, I adore seeing him work with Pete to get the egg back. The way he tosses the egg in the air, fully trusting that Pete will catch it... they’re so in sync, just as pirate and parrot are meant to be ;)

Paani... I feel like there’s so much more to him than what we’ve seen so far, it almost feels unfair to assign him a “Shine Episode”. So, instead of highlighting a single episode, I’ll quickly talk about three that stick out (PS: you might sense a theme 🤣):

The Barnacle Geese - Uncle Paani. I like the “I’ll be my own uncle” joke, and the Edgar Allen Poe reference. I think Paani’s determination to help the chick (who doesn’t seem to want help) is nice to watch, and helps to prove his worthiness as an Agent—which is always fun considering his hesitance when Barnacles tried to recruit him in S1E1. In a way, this episode also makes Paani seem more like Barnacles. See my old post analyzing the show’s intro. (*Stares at the episode title* 👁️👁️)

The Arabian Camels - Take a shot of cocoa every time I mention my love for episodes where characters are forced to be by themselves. This one is especially interesting to me though, because we know that Paani was alone, for a very long time, before he met the Octonauts. He has no trouble working and getting by alone, and we get to see him exhibiting that, while being out of his element (a dry desert) at the same time; and that’s really cool.

The Lonely Frog - ...Y’know how they constantly make the Octonauts/Agents meet creatures with similar issues to them? Yeah. *Stares at the episode title.* *Stares at the end scene where he says “Kinda like when I met you guys!” before obnoxiously jumping into the lake, in response to Shellington+Peso saying “They never even knew each other existed before! [...] and now it’s like they’ve known each other all their lives!”* *STARES MORE AT THE EPISODE TITLE,,* *wonders how long Paani was actually alone before becoming an Agent...*

Pinto, where art thou? He wasn’t in S2 at all, which was a bit disappointing since we just saw him get an Octowatch in S1. I would’ve expected him to be pressing that button every chance he got, giving us a “Penguin who cried Octoalert” episode. But anyway,, The Curious Penguin is the PERFECT episode for Pinto. It shows his personality really well, and I love how his distractions and the things he learns and discovers help him to save the day in the end. I think Pinto (just like Kwazii) is a good portrayal of ADHD, and how he just needs to be in the right environment to succeed. Each time Pinto messes up or loses focus, isn’t because he was left alone and couldn’t be trusted—it’s because he was left alone and understimulated. So when he’s thrown into a sudden high-stakes situation, all of his focus hones in on the moment, and he’s able to save Dashi and Paani by himself.

AND, because you didn’t say it had to be an Above and Beyond moment, I want to throw some love at The Oarfish episode from the main series. In this episode, Pinto no longer views Peso as “less” than an Octonaut, and is so excited to watch him do his job—it’s really cute!! His impulsivity is once again a positive thing—granted, it seems to annoy Peso a little, but when you think about it he kinda saved the day by being impulsive. He sounded the Octoalert without permission, which let the captain know to come back before their radio signal cut out, and by being unafraid of the “monster” and swimming outside, he was able to discover what the problem was so that Peso could help. He did good.

Pearl.... I love Pearl a lot, but I can’t think of one specific episode that comes to mind for her. I love The Pupfish because it introduces Peri to AnB, and I love how he teaches her how to tie a knot, so she can save the algae (and Glen). I like The Bison episode because it’s interesting watching her not doing something with algae for once, and The Pink Glacier because her and Kwazii’s dynamic was something I didn’t know I needed, but now I want more of (/p).

Ryla. Possibly controversial opinion: I liked Ryla in The Caves of Sac Actun, more than I like her now in Above and Beyond. I know she’s only gotten 3 episodes so far, but she’s really missing something. Sac Actun gave us lore on her right off the bat: she’s old friends with Dashi, she’s a skilled cave explorer, she’s spunky, she’s purple. AnB hasn’t given us much yet. So far her only shtick is caves, and that’s getting a bit repetitive. Consider every moment she has in Sac Actun as her “Shining Moment”, because honestly that whole movie is a 10/10.

Koshi,,,, she hasn't gotten that much yet, but I'm gonna say The Longfin Eels is her Shine Episode. I like the way she narrates the whole episode, because it's very in-character. Plus we know she’s literally writing about this adventure in her diary as she's telling it, as if it were a mystery book. She reminds me of narrators from 1920s film noirs, and that’s cool. Also! Honorary mention of the scene when she gets her Octowatch: I loved that for her <3

Min is below the cut, because my answer for her includes some very heavy SEASON 5 SPOILERS, including SCREENSHOTS:

All of Min's appearances so far are dear to my heart. However, my favourite has to be her own introductory episode: The Giant Chinese Salamander.

The Rainforest Rescue is another amazing episode for Min—she’s a wonderful character on her own, of course—but I think we can all agree that she and Inkling are very adorable together (no matter how you interpret their relationship).

When Above and Beyond aired on Netflix, there was a lot of confusion around Min, from the younger audience and other fans who hadn’t seen S5. The Giant Chinese Salamander introduces Min with a 20-minute special; showing her in high-stakes action with Kwazii, bonding with the Octonauts, being an all-around Cool Person™, and a flashback of how she met Inkling when they were younger.

She saved his life. He was thrown far inland by a rough storm, and was trapped until she found him. I honestly headcanon that Min partially (if not outright) inspired Inkling to form the Octonauts, and this moment could have literally sealed the fate of EVERYTHING we know.

But! Until S5 comes out, that's all I've got to say~ 👋💝

[homoeroticvillain]

oogh not really happy with this, but i finally drew rey, who is teddy's betrothed [lore dump in tags]

[destinationtoast]

How to address non-binary characters in fandom stats about gender

@once-a-polecat asked a thoughtful and interesting question in response to my post about Canon gender representation & shipping:

So, I know this is a VERY small number of characters (statistically speaking), but how do you deal with, or plan to deal with, the increasing numbers of characters who are non-binary in canon? (Jim Jimenez in OFMD, or Desire in Sandman for instance.) If you’re documenting how prevalent it is that fans introduce gender diversity to binary characters at some point you have to address the question of canon characters who do not have a binary gender. And I understand how much of a tricky question this is because it’s less easily traced across fandoms and some characters may not have a binary gender in ways that do not track with Western human society (they may have culturally significant genders or be non-human beings etc…), but small numbers and diverse types of genders gets difficult for data visualization purposes.

I wanted to give a long-ish answer (or really, to discuss a number of possible answers, all of which sometimes apply but aren't complete on their own), and I also wanted to open it up to others for ideas, so rather than reply in the notes, I'm replying here.

One answer is to say that I'm limited by the data I have available about canon (e.g., in that past 2018 work I was pointing to about Gender representation in canon vs. fanworks, I was working with someone else's movie data set, which didn't contain any data about canon nonbinary characters). That raises a question for future analyses -- does anyone know of a reliable list of canon nonbinary characters that is kept up-to-date? How good is Wikipedia's List of fictional non-binary characters, e.g.? Also interested in lists of canon trans characters.

(A quick aside, because I'm about to talk about limitations: I'm incredibly grateful for the AO3 tagging system, and everyone who makes it work! In part because it allows me to do far more complex stats about all this stuff than any other fandom platform -- or other media platforms, period. And because it gives us all some pretty outstanding sorting and filtering superpowers. Hallelujah! Okay, now onto some limitations. :) )

Another possible answer is to say that my stats are about how people tag things on AO3. So for the most part, I just follow however people are tagging things on AO3 -- and if AO3 users start tagging more ships as "Other" as they often do when a canon nonbinary character like Jim Jimenez or Desire is involved, some of my tag-based stats will pick up that kind of thing (even though I'm currently investigating F/F and M/M specifically, about which more below, I do often include more shipping categories than that). However, this is also only somewhat satisfying, since tagging practices differ between fandoms and change over time (e.g., I *think* more people used to tag some ships involving nonbinary characters, like LaFontaine/Perry from Carmilla, with gendered tags like "F/F" rather than with "Other" -- though maybe that particular example was just because L/P was often a background ship). And I know the use of "Other" can also be touchy; it can be frustrating to lump together human-only ships like Oluwande Boodhari/Jim Jimenez with ones like Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote, for one thing. (And AO3 could even change some of these tagging options in the future, which might make such data even less useful.)

Another answer is to say, "Nonbinary characters are usually just noise, statistically, because there are so few of them -- I can ignore them most of the time." (Which you nodded to in your question, though you didn't suggest being so dismissive about it. :) ) There are some times when I make those kind of omissions or oversimplifications, though I avoid it when possible. For the purposes of my upcoming "F/F vs. M/M" analysis, this answer and the previous one both come into play -- my initial goal is to look at how explicitly queer fic differs between fanworks tagged "F/F" vs. "M/M." Which will unfortunately miss a whole bunch of queer fanworks featuring nonbinary characters. But I am going to simplify things by initially focusing on those two largest and most explicitly queer ship tags.

A final answer is to say that I've tried to make up for limitations in my other work by explicitly seeking out and analyzing gender diversity in some of my stats, like my analyses of Trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse characters on AO3. [Edit: and then I addressed the possible visualization complexities by looking at each of the common tags -- like "Nonbinary Character" -- separately.] At the same time, because I don't know which characters are trans or nonbinary in canon, those stats have been vague about which gender diversity is coming from canon vs. from fandom -- see my above question about good lists of canon gender diversity. (Also, this doesn't capture types of gender diversity that aren't reflected in the tags.)

Finally, a shoutout to @centrumlumina who does a fantastic job hand-labeling the gender and race of all the characters for the annual top AO3 ships analysis. I am in complete awe. Canon race and gender are both things I wish were easier to analyze/find data about -- but at least for the characters in the top 100 ships each year, Lulu has provided a great data source!

Thanks for the question -- curious to hear if/how others think about this topic.

[moonyistired]

✨ Lil Menace ✨