#I don't trust disney with any queer characters

[sleeperagentclone]

They're gonna butcher my boys :(

[thoseyoulove]

I usually just reblog here and don't speak much, but I've been reading too many different takes on this and wanted to say this. This is a Gothic horror about monsters, yes. You can't watch this show thinking is a Disney animation and they'll be basically perfect all the time. There's murder, physical assault, sexual assault, there will probably be incest at some point and more. Everyone that decides to still watch the show is willingly signing up for it. Nobody is forcing them to watch it, it's their call and they should recognize that. And, yes, the show isn't about moral codes and punitivism. It's about exploring the depths of existence and immortality, how high and deep down they can go, if they're condemned to suffer forever or if they can evolve, forgive each other, forgive themselves and find some sense of peace. If you want characters to be condemned and die for their crimes and mistakes, there wouldn't be anyone left to tell the story. Sure, you can still watch it anyway, because the writing, the acting, the score etc are phenomenal, but know that's not happening and that's never been a promise the cast or crew has ever made. Know that certain wishes for yours won't be granted. You can still have a lot of fun, but you know what to expect and that you'll never be fully satisfied.

That said, this doesn't mean the characters should always get a free pass to do whatever the hell they want and everyone should always accept it either. Even on the show, their actions have consequences, the characters get disappointed, hurt, angry, remorseful etc. They break up. They need to make up for each other and gain their trust back. Yes, they're vampires and their bodies and minds work differently, but they still have pretty human feelings and that conflict is one of the premises of the show. Not to mention how a lot of their problems are pretty human too, and stuff that hit close to home for a lot of individuals, so their audience made of real people will react in different ways. If somebody isn't counting the days to see rape, sexual exploitation, incest or any of these heavy topics, it's their right. They may even have traumas with it and, honestly, they shouldn't reveal their personal stories so people learn how to be sensitive and stop calling them weak or mocking them. But if people don't have problems watching that kind of content, or even like some characters known for such actions (focus on some because I don't know how they'll adapt them and if/how they'll be redeemable), that doesn't necessarily mean they support or do that in real life themselves. Perhaps don't make assumptions about strangers without having a pretty good reason to.

People have their own tastes, experiences, triggers and boundaries and they know what's good for them or not, when they can keep watching something or when they should drop it. And that counts for people of color, women, people who are queer, disabled, neurodivergent, part of any minority and/or have a history of being abused. You may be in one of more of those categories, but other people may react different and have different opinions too. People aren't a monolith. We can talk about it and this should be a healthy place for anybody that feels safe to talk and share their opinions and experiences. But if you ever have an impasse, you can mute, blacklist, block words and people. There's nothing wrong in respecting your own personal boundaries and you should never risk your own peace of mind for something that is supposed to be entertainment. Just don't go to people's Twitter/Tumblr accounts to bother them, change their minds or make insensitive jokes, maybe? It's really not that hard.

[milehighmegs]

Healing Through Fiction

TW: Discussion but not recounting of SA and DV

Also, this is a very personal story, so if you're not comfortable with/don't have the spoons for a stranger's darkest confession, please go now, and with my full understanding.

In the wake of the allegations against NG, I find myself incredibly conflicted re: being a fan of his work, namely Good Omens. Only days before I learned about this, I was taken by an irrepressable urge to watch GO, over & over, and relive all the joy, pain, & bewilderment of the connection between Zira & Crowley. As an AuDHDer, with a smattering of other ND issues thrown in just for funsies (thanks God-or-whatever), seeing both the pure love and the heart-rending conflict between these two ND- and queer-coded characters has given me a deep insight into my own world. This will be long, so bear with me, and it gets a little tangled so I'll do my best to sort out this particular ugly bag of snakes.

[Note: I identify as cishet female, so when I refer to the LGBTQIA+ community in terms of my experience, I do not mean to infer that I'm part of that community. I am, however, a staunch ally & advocate, so please know that none of the reference to nor any language surrounding such reference is intended to be offensive. If at any point I do offend, please accept my apologies and educate me on better ways to address this.]

So.

A number of years ago, as a full-blown adult, I was touched by a family member in a way that family shouldn't be touched. Afterwards, I not only had deep feelings of shame, anger, hatred, & self-loathing, but I also had a dark feeling that something like this had happened to me before. It danced just at the edge of my memory while never stepping fully into the light. But I felt it, deep in my bones. Could I say for certain that I had been molested as a child? No, and I still can't. But I can't shake the feeling. The suspicion that maybe, just maybe, I'd been through this already, when I was too young to process it, thereby shoving it way down in order to bury the corpse of such a horrific experience. And yet its ghost has always haunted me, always been there at the corners of my emotional vision, always sliding up alongside me when things got intimate with all of my partners, no matter how deeply I loved or trusted them.

In addition to a potential traumatic childhood experience, it wasn't known at the time but I am (as mentioned) AuDHD. Because of this, I have a hard time getting to know people at first, but once I see even a hint of reciprocation of friendship, respect, or trust, I unload. And I mean like, UNLOAD. Having spent a vast majority of my life feeling rejected by peers, teachers/adult "authority" figures, even my own family, any sign of acceptance by others is like water in the desert. Alas, because I've come on too strong, it's overwhelming for others (both NT & ND), and it was all an oasis of my own wishful thinking. Again comes the rejection, again comes the self-loathing, lather, rinse, repeat.

Shame spirals really and truly suck.

To escape the harsh reality of my lonely little world, I did what any good "gifted" kid would: I disappeared into books. My favorites were fantasy, or historical fiction/period pieces (think 'Little House on the Prairie' and 'Number the Stars'). When it came to TV, I of course watched cartoons, but my favorite shows were the primetime sci-fi serials that my parents watched, namely Star Trek: The Next Generation and Quantum Leap. I won't get into a huge expose on the impact ST:TNG has had on my life (that's a story for another time), but it IS pertinent to my point (which I SWEAR I'll be getting to eventually!). Movies were especially fun escapes, though I wasn't much of Disney kid. I was (and still am) WAY more into the dark stuff. My top 4 favorite childhood films are 1) The Dark Crystal, 2) The Secret of NIMH, 3) The Neverending Story, and 4) Labyrinth. I also loved (and still love) just about anything Tim Burton. These years would have been prime for me to get into NG's works, but alas, I wasn't to find out about them until I was much older. As I got older, music took a starring role in the dealing-with-my-feelings-via-art arena, especially heavy, loud, frequently angry music. I was the "goth chick" in high school, and I've got the pictures to prove it. I still cherished the stories, shows, & movies from my younger years, but my tastes grew darker & angrier as I found less acceptance among my peers & family as a teenager, and even more pushback from those damned adult "authority" figures. This has continued into my adulthood.

So on that note, and (sorta) rounding back to the title here, stories are my favorite thing in the world because they offer the experience of living someone else's life, or putting yourself into that world and living the life of your choosing, rather than the one that was handed to you and in which you then made choices, not all of them good. Also, stories offer us a chance to be part of something bigger than ourselves because the central point of what I would deem a good story is that it's greater than the sum of its parts. The biggest reason ST and Marvel are my biggest fandoms is because they're primarily about good if flawed people doing their damnedest to set themselves or their differences aside and come together to save the world. While I don't imagine I'll ever be part of something quite that grandiose (but a girl can dream, yeah?), it's still something I've always craved: to be part of a group of people who, even if they aren't saving the world, they're saving each other just by being together. And I don't mean 'saving' in the sense of the broken-wing or savior complexes; I mean they're offering trust, friendship (or more), respect, support, & honesty to one another by accepting each other exactly the way they are BECAUSE of their so-called flaws. They pick each other up off the ground in hard times, and lift each other up onto their shoulders in good ones. They come together to achieve goals that they couldn't without one another, and always share the burden of defeat as well as the fruits of victory.

To put all of this into a somewhat messily wrapped package... Good Omens (and all the fan theories, analyses, and art of such) has been more insightful and liberating for me in terms of my emotional health than my 40+ years of relationships, attempted self-discovery, & shadow work. Watching Zira & Crowley love each other so thoroughly depsite the fact that they're supposed to be ineffable enemies gives me hope that in all my broken, battered, self-loathing ways... maybe I can be loved like that, too. What NG and Sir Terry Pratchett created all those years ago, and what has been brought to life by the brilliant messieurs Sheen & Tennant, is imo the (literal!) greatest love story of all time. The conflicts, their "flaws," and their ultimate acceptance of each other through it all, is the purest form of the deepest love ever in all of fictional creation.

And this is where the conflict comes in.

In addition to my suspicions about previous childhood SA, I spent a good chunk of my teen & earlier adult years being... well, promiscuous. It boils down to a desperate need for acceptance & validation as well as having been starved for physical affection as a child (we are NOT a lovey-dovey family). Sadly, the reality was a string of being used and then rejected, or enduring a continuous, insidious stretch of lies, manipulation, gaslighting, & verbal, even almost physical abuse. One of my former partners came very close to full-on assault, but stopped short of inflicting actual physical pain or damage. This does mean that it does not count. I had to learn that after years of trying to reconcile with what had actually happened.

Following my SA as an adult, I was lost, confused, angry, ashamed, and I dove deep into a well of anger, self-loathing, isolation; I even flirted with a bit of misandry. And could anyone blame me? I was, after all, hurt by a man I had loved & trusted for literally my entire life to that point, and that trust was broken in the worst possible way. Nearly every other time a man had touched me like that had led to pain, shame, & feelings of abandonment. I told myself that men couldn't be trusted, that even though they weren't all That Guy™, I would never know who I was actually dealing with until it was too late. Better to just put up the walls and be done with it altogether. I'm still struggling with this today, with no small amount of cognitive dissonance thrown in thanks to a few ongoing complicated situations in my life. Will I ever really learn? <sigh>

Having found comfort & healing in stories like Good Omens, learning about the allegations against one of its creators (and of other works that I've admired & loved) throws a big giant wrench into this whole thing. What a cruel twist of fate, finding out that someone who created something that had eleviated the pain of my trauma has potentially inflicted that EXACT SAME kind of pain on other people? It's the purest form of conflicted cognitive dissonance I can think of. Ironic that so much of my personal emotional development should come from the work of a person now accused of the thing that gave me the need for recovery in the first place.

As another interesting connection to GO, I feel kinda like Crowley: he was cast out of Heaven, and because of it, he met and developed a defining relationship with Zira, the very person who makes him feel safe, feel loved, and whom he loves in return, knowing that Zira has (almost) always sided with the very people who cast Crowley out in the first place. It's a wicked circle, is it not? So on top of finding healing in the underlying but obvious implications of GO, I identify with one of the lead characters. I also identify with them being "outcasts" (as in outcasts from their respective societies) in terms of their rebelliousness, and their reality-related "otherness" in terms of their queer/nonbinary/gender fluid presentations and ND tendencies. I'm not LGBTQIA+ myself, but I relate to and sympathize with being ignored or actively driven away by people who don't accept me for who I am in my entirety, although this is more related to my ND status (Zira & Crowley are more frequently referred to in the LGBTQIA+ sense than in the ND sense, but it's in the same vein). There's more to this relatability with Crowley in terms of being the "errant child," but that'll go a little too off subject to get into here.

[Again, I don't mean to claim that my ND experience and s**ual trauma are the same as or worse than being ostracized, physically hurt, and/or chronically bullied for being LGBTQIA+. I only mean to draw similarities between my experience and the descriptions & stories of these characters. I ask again that you educate me if I'm in the wrong here.]

So... what IS the point that I SWORE I would get to eventually? Here's the point:

My point is... dolphins. That's my point.

Sorry, couldn't help myself. =)

That healing through fiction & escapism, and the support & artistry of a strong fan community, is valid and helpful, and therefore should be as accepted as traditional therapy. But what do we do when the creator becomes the source of pain for other people? Everyone's answer to this is going to be different, and for different reasons, and EVERY ONE OF THEM IS VALID BECAUSE IT IS PERSONAL. (I will have NO talk of anyone being "wrong" for their opinion on MY blog, so be gone, foul fiends.) I am in the camp of separating the art from the artist, and yet... I can't ignore the accusations against him. I can't ignore the stories of these women, because I know how I felt when I talked about my assault with people I thought would believe & support me. They defended him. Made excuses, tried to blow it off, told me not to talk about it... it was infuriating, and invalidating, and all kinds of other awful shit. I know what these women are going through, so I can't ignore this whole thing outright. But then I turn on 'The Sandman', or scroll through my 'Ineffable' Pinterest board, or see the copy of 'Neverwhere' on my nightstand... it's a fuckin rollercoaster, folks.

If you can relate to any of these experiences and you feel up to sharing, I'd love to hear your story. I know that a cishet woman saying shit like 'I'm a safe space' can induce eye-rolling hard enough to see brain matter, but my intention is the same.

Thanks for getting this far with me, and for being my own safe space. Tumblr, while I'm EXTREMELY late to the party, is my favorite place in the world... next to my own little mental creation of Zira's bookshop, where I peruse the shelves with wonder, cozy up in a big comfy chair, and flip through tomes of ancient wisdom while my cocoa doth grow cold.

-MK

[maryellencarter]

So I've been tussling with how to write this post for some time now.

Uh, the background good news first? I appear to have worked almost an entire pay period and also March is a three paycheck month, so I'm making some very solid progress on getting caught up on my bills, and it seems like this might even continue. I know I tend to be more optimistic than is usually warranted, but 70 hours in my time clock when working all my scheduled hours would put me at 72 is pretty damn impressive, especially compared to how I've been doing for a really long time.

So then I was poking around and trying to figure out what one even does with disposable income. I've been going to a knitting group at a local yarn shop recently (I forget if I mentioned here but a friend was able to get me some KN95 masks and some helpful information about transmission rates so I can socialize safely again! This is probably a big factor in me being less depressed and more worky again also), but I don't really enjoy owning yarn I don't have A Plan for, so right now I've got a cable sweater for Leia, a fancy silk lace scarf, a puffy hexagon blanket, and a crochet baby blanket going, and I just really don't want any more yarn until I finish with one or two of these projects.

Recently, though, as y'all have probably seen, there was an announcement going around about the American Girl doll brand announcing a pair of 1999-themed Historical Character dolls. Because Tumblr is the "we are getting old" website at this point, there were Noises. (They have a Pizza Hut "Book-It" reading program playset. I have never been smacked in the face with nostalgia so hard in my entire life.)

As some of y'all may also remember, I used to have a whole collection of American Girl dolls and furniture and whatnot, because I was trying to do the whole "believe you can be safe and stable now and have the things you were never allowed to have as a kid" thing with a reasonable part of the money I'd inherited from my then recently deceased grandmother (a lovely human being, and by extreme genetic good luck the relative I take after physically, so that I don't have to deal with the whole "growing up to look exactly like my abuser" thing that some people have to suffer through). Then the 2016 election happened, I had a horrible depressive spiral, was unable to work, sold 90% of my collection to pay the rent, eventually became homeless anyway, and lost the other 10% by trusting the wrong person to keep my stuff safe when I had no other options.

ANYWAY! Not the point. The point is that I started poking my nose back into the American Girl website, and then the wiki in order to try to figure out what all I'd missed, and I'm kind of being like "hey, I could hypothetically afford some of this stuff again now".

(I personally find it hilarious that the brand is trying to walk a line between "Addressing trans and nonbinary identities in our helpful book on puberty for preteens? Sure, we'll do that, we're progressive! Also did you say Harry Potter collaboration? That's a license to basically print money from customers who are nostalgic for the same era we were most popular in, let's do this", which is exactly the kind of seesawing I expect from Disney -- who owns American Girl via Mattel.)

So *anyway*, and this is the part of this post I'm really struggling with: I also used to be heavily involved in the part of the American Girl adult collectors fandom that describes itself as "queer-friendly and socially conscious". That part of the fandom runs the wiki (which is an extremely useful and well-constructed resource). I don't know who-all from those days may still follow me on Tumblr, and I'm actually not looking to cause drama, just sort of thinking out loud as I so often do on the tunglrs, but after five years away from the fandom and having poked my nose back in, I'm running into a royal shitton of memories (and a little new information) that's making me go "Holy fuck, this place was *incredibly* toxic, no wonder I got utterly burned out on trying to interact with the dolls and items the way they demanded everybody should. No wonder I still feel like I'm walking on eggshells to even say anything or post a picture related to this fandom."

So. Let's be real. I'm saying "the way they demanded". It's one person, backed up by other mods who don't create their own separate demands. This particular section of the fandom is ruled with an iron fist by one self-described Angry Black Woman who... the very kindest way I can find to describe it is, she's a walking talking demonstration of how you cannot create a single safe space that's safe for everyone. I made a post several years ago that went a little bit viral, where I pointed out that being uncomfortable with a very verbally aggressive black authority figure can actually be because of the "very verbally aggressive authority figure" part, say if you're a survivor of emotional abuse *koff koff*, and doesn't have to mean you're "uncomfortable with black anger" Because You're Racist. That post was a direct reaction to multiple instances of seeing this person tell people "you're pushing back against me being verbally abusive, that's a racist action on your part".

That's the kindest, most nonconfrontational way I can come up with to talk about the situation. Less tactfully, after going to look over the forum rules for this subsection of the fandom -- hoping to realize I'd just been an extremely sensitive tortellini at the time and they weren't that bad, because I know I was an extremely sensitive tortellini in other matters -- in actual fact, I've been reminded very loudly that these rules are a 13k essay on topics such as You Must Be Okay With Verbal/Emotional Abuse If It's Directed At You By People Of Color, All Cultures Of Color Are Closed Cultures Now (So Don't You Dare Put This Black Doll's Clothes On Any Other Doll), and the real kicker for me, Only Selected Queer Identities Are Suitable For Public Discussion (subsection We're Redefining Queerness To Exclude Polyamory, new since I was last here, with sub-subsection Oops We Didn't Mean To Exclude Asexuals Only Those Icky Cishets, and fun guessing game Are We Excluding Aromantics Or Did We Just Forget They Exist, Ask And See If You Get Banned).

I... genuinely didn't mean to go on that long. But this is exactly why I'm making this post. Because I have a *lot* of trauma from trying to figure out what's actually racist or offensive and what's not, while being in a community where anything the main mod doesn't like can suddenly be declared an offense against social justice, and if you ever step on her toes, you're likely to be relegated to the ranks of the damned (aka the white Christian mommybloggers who own more than six white dolls or less than 50% dolls of color). And as probably all of you know, I do a lot of thinking out loud about trauma. Which is a PROBLEM, because this person definitely still follows me here (I don't know who else from the fandom does), and Tumblr blocks don't keep people from seeing your posts, only interacting with them.

So. Uh. There's probably going to be... more of this. I'm making this post now because I'm almost done sewing a doll skirt, I want to show it off here, and I'm also having a really nasty anxiety attack over how this person is definitely going to metaphorically rip it to shreds in the dedicated forum thread for mocking homemade doll clothes (mostly from Etsy) that don't live up to her exacting standards of Historically Accurate Doll Costuming. (The skirt is gathered instead of using 1800s-style "cartridge pleats"! The horror!)

Yeah. So. Um. I guess... if you follow me from when I was last in AG doll fandom, here's where I stand, at least right now. I'm not going to name any names, but you likely know who I'm talking about. I'm not going to go after anybody or cause trouble on their blog, but I'm not going to pull any punches when I'm talking about the ways they and their policies have made me feel unsafe in the fandom. And I'm not going to follow their byzantine rules based on the concept that a single doll can only have one ethnicity and one backstory. A doll, in its essence, is a shapeshifter the way a character actor is a shapeshifter, and not all of us want to create 50+ fixed individual characters that can't wear each other's clothes.

If you can't live with any of that, feel free to go commiserate with each other. I'm not planning to go back to the forum, so don't worry that I'll see anything you say there. (I'm not even planning to publish the rules publicly, since they're not viewable when logged out, although they are a trip and a half to read without the context of the dramas that shaped them.)

If you're scared what will happen to your standing in the fandom if you like my posts or keep following me, though... maybe that's a place to start thinking.

[edalynn]

huntlow shippers say its pretty much confirmed they'll be canon and i do see some of their arguments. blushing is used as shorthand for romantic feelings so it makes sense for some to interpret hunter blushing as a crush. and to make it more balanced shippers then look at scenes of them interacting and stretch the logic a bit to argue that willow also has a crush (though i absolutely don't see it lol).

but i feel like the crew is more teasing the fans with the ship than actually foreshadowing that it would happen in the story, you know? they go out of their way to avoid any actual conversation between hunter and willow after their first episode together. and even though hunter is given the "romantic" shorthands willow is given none.

in that one stream when someone asked if the ship would happen dana found it rly funny and reacted like they were going to tease the fandom with something unexpected. and they can't kill off one half of the ship bc that would go against the vibe of the story and hunter and willows character arcs. but if they're just going to make them canon then it's weird that dana would have such a big reaction to it. i would have just expected a cryptic smile and a "stay tuned ;DDD"

same with that one promo art of thanks to them with huntlow holding hands like if they do get together why would you show that on a piece of promo art? especially for an episode where they don't get together? it would have been more impactful if they just let it happen in the show without alluding to it in the promos. they definitely didn't do that for lumity or raeda. same thing with some other promo arts where huntlow are standing next to each other or that one where hunter is looking at willow.

i can buy that hunter has a crush but i can't see willow having one, or them getting together in a well-written way. im really hoping they go with the "willow rejects hunters love confession" route bc they haven't had a conversation in almost 10 episodes and i trust the crew to write romantic relationships better than that. i hope the crew's push for the huntlow ship is just a big troll on their part (although it would be kind of mean to huntlow shippers if it was just a troll)

The whole belief that it’s “confirmed canon” is honestly my biggest gripe with huntlows because the ones that insist it is canon are the ones that come after people that don’t ship it, as if there haven’t always been people in fandom spaces that actively ignore actual canon ships anyway. It’s definitely frustrating because blushing is often used as romantic shorthand, but toh has down an amazing job from day one of showing characters blushing at people they look up to or admire with absolutely no romantic context (I.e. Willow at Luz, or Luz at Eda which is CLEARLY one of awe and admiration) so I think if they pull the rug out from under shippers and have it said or implied “it was because he looked up to her the whole time, not romantic!” It would be very on brand and also hilarious. And if it IS a crush, I’m going to decide to ignore canon and say Hunter has very little social skills and has no idea what just admiring and wanting to be a person’s friend feels like so he thinks it’s romantic attraction lol. In the other hand with Willow, she clearly has no romantic interest in him whatsoever. As I said before, we’ve seen Willow blush and it’s only ever been in a platonic sense (aroace Willow 👀) so if that’s shippers’ marker for romantic attraction she definitely is NOT interested in him in that way.

I definitely agree with you that it feels like a tease, and it would definitely be Dana’s MO for a show she’s so heavily laden with queer rep for the straight “couple” to get the usual queerbait treatment. It would feel like a fuck you to Disney and every other show that has made queer ppl the butt of their jokes for so many years and I think that’s beautiful. Also im so glad you think the same thing about that stream. I’ve said the EXACT same thing in the past- that reaction was definitely not a blushy uwu my pairing reaction that was the reaction of a person that has some shit up her sleeve in regards to the question lmfao. Dana hasn’t reacted that way visibly about lumity OR raeda which she later in the same stream said was her favorite ship, so reacting that way to a ship that’s not even canon and that fans are constantly theorizing about seems SO un-Dana terrace to me. Like I cannot stress enough how much that would not make sense lmao.

I haven’t seen the promo art of them holding hands??? Kind of glad I haven’t seen it? But yeah, the way they’re always looking at each other in promo art. It definitely seems like a tease, though because none of those episodes have really had them interacting at all. I genuinely cannot see how they could produce a well written romance like you said even before this last episode, but ESPECIALLY now after this last episode. It would feel cheap and like they’re using a romance as the thing to heal hunter after all the trauma he’s gone through. With flapjack, you know,, and being the most important thing in Hunter’s life, it feels they’ve narratively gone too far for huntlow to end up being anything more than a “sure your best friend might have died to save your life, but you’re all better now because the girl said yes :)” type deal. It makes me feel kinda sick thinking about it because it would feel disrespectful to everything he’s just gone through. Hunter needs time to grieve and re-find himself, the thought of him having any romantic feelings for anyone/a crush on anyone after what happened wouldn’t make sense. Like “oh yeah that was traumatizing, but potential romance!!”. Like it would be shelving all the trauma he now needs to process and make flapjack’s sacrifice feel so cheap because I cannot see hunter having any interest in anything like that anymore directly after that’s happened. When people are traumatized like that they tend to close off, emotions shut down, etc (not to say that’s exactly what will happen, but it narratively makes sense after all that with how we already know hunter acts) and wouldn’t actively be thinking about a romance but would more likely be distancing himself. I swear to god if we get a scene of the hexsquad and camila of hunter explaining being a grimwalker/what all happened and it ends with him blushing at Willow because she for once ever does something romantic back or just hugs him or something I will snap because like I said it would make it feel like flapjacks sacrifice is being pushed to the wayside just to further a random ship that barely has any canon evidence. It already would have felt cheap to make it canon before, but it REALLY would now. That being said, I agree with you that I trust that if they were going to end up romantic the crew would have done much better writing for it rather than it feeling like a constant tease AND I trust Dana to handle the aftermath of all the shown physical abuse Hunter just experienced better than to make huntlow canon to “fix him”. The amazing quality of writing for lumity and raeda really doesn’t lend high hopes for huntlow actually becoming canon & I hope it stays that way for the sake of the writing.

[yippieitsarvensart]

YIPPEE!!!! YOURE SO REAL AND SO VALID I LOVE TALKING HCS WITH PEOPLE AND HEARING THEIR PERSPECTIVES!!

Bring it back to Floyd because I love yo project on him SO MUCH, I like to think that even though he likes clothes and fashion now way more than he did when he first got on land (sensory overload anyone?), he still has certain fabrics/materials he avoids like the plague. Jade and Azul avoid said fabrics as well so he can run up and tackle them at any time without worry of touching the Gross Fabric. Tablecloths and cushions in the lounge were made with this in mind as well.

So sorry Scarabia lovers but I haven't studied Kalim or Jamil under a microscope long enough yet to come to any detailed conclusions, but neither of them are neurotypical that's for sure!!

Also skipping Pomefiore bc they scare me (/j I just don't pay much attention to them personally sjheiddjbdjffb)

I mean Idia is the obvious one, right? He's the most universally agreed on, he literally goes nonverbal regularly and has aids he made with his engineering/programming special interest to accommodate that, like it's just. It's RIGHT THERE ya know? He almost leaves nothing to discuss XDD Him and Riddle are clashing autistics and it's a shame, you hate to see 2 pretty people fight but especially when they're on the same team 😔

And then there's Diasomnia. HOOO BOY is there Diasomnia. Lilia and his gaggle of autistic kids. Starting with Malleus, he also almost leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to how he is, like?? Idk it's so Right There!!! His special interest is gargoyles obviously, he also has heavy preference/safe foods, he never seems to be on the same page as his peers, leaving Jim to feel isolated and Different, not only does he not fluctuate his tone so people can't tell when he's joking, he can't hear tone to tell when other people are joking so it's just miscommunication after miscommunication. He enjoys learning now things but prefers the company of his most trusted people, that or either quite isolation in a dim/dark area to decompress!! He's the type of guy who doesn't realize he's been overstimulated for like 6 hours until he gets to his room and lays down and it hits him all at once and he's like OH! Oh THAT'S why I felt like shit and wanted to smite everything and everyone. Okay, cool.

Idk if this will make sense to anyone else but like, Silver is Disney princess coded, right? And Disney princesses are autistic coded in small ways, right? Yeah. Yeah that's really the only way I can explain it SKSBAIKSDHHD but like!! I know I'm right okay!!!! As a very very sleepy autistic person I just KNOW, I see him and I know. Also animals love him which like, understanding animals better than you understand if someone is trying to deceive/take advantage of you? Idk dude, that's pretty autistic /silly

Sebek is tough because I havent fixated on him at ALL and have like none of his cards, but the BIG STRONG INTENSE EMOTIONS and lack of volume control and how he's apparently actually very emotional/sensitive, and how he likes to stick to his routine and his people and anything that interferes will be YELLED AT ACCORDINGLY!!!! Idk, I don't really know this man (yet) so I also can't fully explain my vision here XD

Also, everything is platonic unless specified otherwise btw!! Yuri Jeizu is so canon, but to me the octotrio is like, SO queer platonic coded so I almost always just default to that akshsksndhf

It's nearly 4 in the morning and I'm going INSANE, like there's 8+ rambles I could send you about queer/identity headcanons and ships!!! I haven't even STARTED on the side characters yet, I have so much fuel in this hyperfixation fire!!! Also if you literally ever want me to stop for whatever reason let me know and I will, no hard feelings akdvejskfh, I know answering a lot of asks can be A Lot

PLEAS ENEVER STOP unless you run out of things to talk on !!!!!!!!!! this is so in-depth I'm reading and nodding like yes yes I get this I GET YOU... Also literally same with Scarabia LOLLL I skipped most of the story... sorry Scarabia stans... I literally only paid attention when the octatrio was around.. skull emoji!!

And actually answering tons of asks ain't that hard for me right now, I'm full of writing energy because I've been working on an AU between twst and another franchise I'm #insane about >_< (I've been trying so keep it at a not insane level of detail because I know I'll focus too hard on certain characters but I also desperately need feedback on it... NOT THAT I'M ASKING RIGHT NOE THOUH I'm just complaining aha) (unless.... unless..........)

Floyd finding an interest in fashion (especially shoes) is something I forget often for some reason, I think it's because I also hc that Floyd hate hate HATESS the feeling of clothes (just fuckin' all kinds of clothes, he especially hates having multiple layers of all different kinds of clothing items on at once) against his skin, so that's why his uniform is never on properly...

I can't talk a ton about lots of other dorms bc I'm so not deeply invested in at least half the entire cast HSAHHAJKFDJ but you are so incredibly real and right I'm shaking /pos

If it's 4am bestie boo you should probably sleep and save the ranting for tmr!!!! or don't, and just keep slaying here LMAOO I'm in a discord server SPECIFICALLY for twst hcs and I'm THIS close to c+psting a bunch of this into there (or just sharing the post I DONT KNOW) cuz it's SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

[thetreetopinn]

When the queer leftist atheist goes to a conservative thanksgiving

I am very tired.

It has been a very long day.

Mostly because I spent the last 48 hours helping my mother with 90% of all of the preparations for Thanksgiving--prepping something like ten items for everyone to eat--as well as clean up, organizing, table-setting, 5-year-old wrangling, etc.

But I am also very tired because of my brother-in-law.

See, they say something you should never talk about at Thanksgiving is politics, and fucking hell let me tell you what--I know that all too well. I'm the black sheep of the family when it comes to my politics. I have learned well to not say SHIT if I can help it. I will end up getting dog-piled on.

So yeah, keep my mouth shut, don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.

And then my brother-in-law looks me dead in the eye and asks me "Hey, do you have any bitcoin?"

That was how it started.

I replied with "No, I stay as far away from anything crypto-related as I possibly can."

He wanted to talk about his favorite sports personalities getting shafted by the crypto-crash and thought I'd be sympathetic.

I am not. Not in the slightest.

"They knew what they were getting into when they bought into an unregulated financial speculation instrument. It is a scam. Nothing more, nothing less. They're trying to speedrun every financial crisis that has happened since the great depression, and it looks like they succeeded."

He promptly shut up.

Preparations continue, discussions are had, there's a video that he and my sister are confused about because their kid is way into it, and they're not doing the picosecond of googling to find out what it is, so I do the hard work for them, find out it's inappropriate for someone so little, and they ban him from watching it. Brother-in-law starts going off on a mini-rant about media:

"It's gotten so bad you don't know who to trust, not even Disney, they're trying to brainwash kids."

I want to jump in. Oh fuck do I want to jump in so god damned badly. Holy shit do I want to just clap back with "Oh yeah? Brainwashing them how? EXACTLY? Is it be an even more ardent and fanatical devotee of the mouse so they will be excited to consume more product? Then yes, I agree. If you say the world 'woke' at all, then no, because Disney is absolutely not work. They axe shit all the time because it's "too woke" and queerbait constantly."

But I don't. I don't give him the rundown of what happened with the now deposed CEO who elected to not advertise the children's animated film that has an openly gay lead character so it would fail and use that as justification to axe more queer stories. I keep my fucking mouth shut.

We do the usual prayer around the table--as an atheist, I'm surprised I don't burst into flames--and while we're eating... my brother-in-law starts asking me about Mars.

"Do you think we'll ever get to Mars?"

Now... I know EXACTLY where this is going. I know PRECISELY who he wants to talk about. I know SPECIFICALLY where he wants to drive the subject... but I don't let him.

See, I'm a fucking space nerd and I can talk CIRCLES around the subject he wants to bullseye without ever straying into that maelstrom. Yes I know I'm mixing my metaphors. I don't care.

We have a legitimately decent discussion about the difficulties of spaceflight and traveling to another world and how NASA has provided so much spin-off technology and the actual benefits of having a human space flight program... even though he's trying--TRYING HIS DAMNEDEST--to bait me into something more provocative, whether he means it intentionally or not.

He sees he's not gonna get me this time and the discussion dies down.

Hours later, we're watching a movie, the credits roll, and I swear to you... completely unprovoked, not even mentioned anywhere in the film, nothing. Completely and utterly out of the blue:

"What are your thoughts on Jordan Peterson?"

Okay, sit down boo... we gonna have a FUCKIN' CHAT 'cause I got thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

You wanna go there? Let's go there. There is no FUCKING way he didn't know that was going to cause a problem. Peterson is too polarizing a figure. So I lay it on him as politely and gently as I can.

"I don't like him. He pushes a lot of wrong-headed ideology. He is a liar and a charlatan who has messianic thinking."

Hooo boy... turns out my brother-in-law is a Jordan Peterson stan.

Fucking great.

He starts in on the bullshit about making misgendering someone a crime you can be imprisoned for. I rebut with "no it's not, that's a lie"

He comes back with "I don't know where you get your information from" and "Just look it up, get out your phone and look up Jordan Peterson C-16"

So I fucking do, right there, in front of him.

In less than 30 fucking seconds, I find a legitimately credible source that says "No, Peterson is full of shit, it's not a crime, you can't be sent to jail for using the wrong pronouns" and I say "So he lied... like a liar."

And of course... because it runs counter to the narrative he wants to believe, he laughs derisively and dismisses me. I counter with "oh by the way, if you wanna come at me with that guy who was held in contempt for misgendering his child? That didn't happen either. He was held in contempt because the judge explicitly said to not discuss the matter of the court case in public, and he went and did that... even tried to raise money off of it. The judge slapped him with 'you were told explicitly not to do that, and you went and did it anyway"

Brother-in-law's response...

"Ah."

Just... fucking hell.

To my sister's credit, she saw where this was going the MINUTE he said the name "Jordan Peterson" and started packing everything up to haul the family home. She knew her husband was baiting me, she knew he was doing it all fucking day, and he finally got me to take that bait.

They left, and it was just me and my parents.

I apologized to them for getting argumentative, but it's something that's deeply important to me, to fight back against those false narratives that have gotten people killed--RECENTLY.

There was a... 'discussion' to be had, and my parents trotted out the same, tired centrist talking points "How do we get back to where we can just have a normal, civilized conversation and respect each other even if we disagree?"

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN RESPECT

PUSHING THE DANGEROUS AND LIFE-THREATENING MISINFORMATION PETERSON AND HIS ILK PUSH ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE GETS THEM--AND QUEER PEOPLE IN GENERAL--KILLED. YOU DO NOT POLITELY ARGUE WITH THAT.

You try to gently educate if you can. You provide documentation and sources and evidence if possible. But you do. not. DEBATE. This is not a discussion.

My dad whips out this "When I was your age or younger I too had a lot of really strong opinions. I felt like my opinion was the most important one and everyone should agree with me."

And I stomped down HARD on that shit:

"I'm sorry... is that what you think of me? Do you really think I believe my opinion is the most important one? If that's what you genuinely think then we need to have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT discussion."

It took me 30 god damn minutes to get both my mom and my dad to come around to the simple idea of "this isn't just a difference of opinion, this is pushing back against dangerous misinformation that gets people killed" and even then... they clearly didn't fully get where I was coming from.

My mom brought up "well I hear all this hateful stuff from the LGBTQIA+ whatever community"

"What hateful stuff, specifically? I wanna address it."

"Well... all this... you know... they force little kids to have surgery-"

"That doesn't happen. That is a lie. No doctor will perform gender affirming surgery on anyone under 18. And HRT, they will not provide that if you're 12 or younger. If you're talking about puberty blockers, those are completely safe and reversible--even though getting them is extremely difficult. You can't just go to the doctor and ask for them and boom... your child suddenly has HRT and new genitals. It takes YEARS sometimes just to take the first step--EVEN FOR ADULTS."

"Then why do politicians keep saying it?"

"They lie. They lie to keep you afraid. To keep you hating the 'right' kind of people. To keep you whipped up and voting for them. That's why."

Mom didn't like that. I don't know if she accepted it or not.

When I asked her point blank "Do you think gay and trans people should be allowed to exist with the same rights as straight and cis people?" she DID say that she does think they should.... so... at least her heart is in the right place I guess.

I didn't hear an answer from my dad on the point.

But they really REALLY wanted to make it sound like it was MY fault for rising to my brother-in-law's bait. Motherfucker was TRYING, and god damn did he fucking succeed.

Mom trotted out the "Whatever you wanna do in your own home, that's fine. I just don't want it in my face."

That's when I started talking about representation in media, how straight cis people are EVERYWHERE... from a queer perspective, heteronormativity is shoved in THEIR faces from every angle.

I went on to talk about the Hayes Code, which neither of them had heard about, the 'bury your gays' trope, the fact that the queer community loves Disney villains like Jafar, Ursula, Scar, etc. because of queer coding

Because "well if this is the only representation we get, then we'll take it and make it our own"

I told them about Strange World and how the former CEO tries to bury it because of his raging homophobia.

My mom was shocked... ACTUALLY SHOCKED... about the queer coding of Disney villains.

"That's wild... I never saw them like that, they were just bad guys in Disney movies to me."

"Yeah... exactly my point. You don't see it. Queer people do. And if you can only see yourself in the villain... what's that say? That tells you that's what the world sees you as."

I went on with: "Why is it that when we see a little boy and a little girl being boyfriend and girlfriend in movies and what not, it's cute and innocent, but if it's a little boy and a little boy or a little girl and a little girl, it's suddenly SEXUALLIZED!? Why isn't the little boy and the little girl seen as sexual?"

Neither mom nor dad could answer.

Eventually, it came back to: "How do we get back to having rational, civilized discussions again?"

"I don't know, but as long as a person's right to exist is up for debate, there is no civil discourse to be had. It's either you get to have rights, or you don't, and one of those is fascism."

I can see their desire to want to do the right thing, to be okay with people different than themselves... but they've just swallowed so much bullshit propaganda over the years, and they continue to. I don't know if I reached my dad. I feel like maybe I reached my mom. We don't fully agree on abortion--like, she is concerned for the life of the innocent or whatever wording she actually used, but she damn sure doesn't like the idea of the government having a say in what you can and can't do with your body.

At least we are in full agreement on that front. I tried to frame that as 'right to privacy'... but then she brought it straight back over to the vaccination card.

*LOUD, ANGRY, QUEER, LEFTIST SIGH*

"A woman's right to chose to get an abortion does not affect the life of a person she bumps into at the store. Whether or not she is vaccinated can kill that same stranger--and has killed people. I am 100% in favor of everyone having personal liberties and freedoms... but the very second your personal liberty results in someone else's death--some random person you ran into at the store or on the street... that's when it becomes something else entirely"

We also had a discussion about abortion--about when they happen the most, about why someone gets a late-term abortion, about how there are so many potential carve-outs that the government ought to allow that I just said "at that point, why do all this fucking means testing? Just give them abortion care. They're already going through enough heartbreak as it is, just let them make their choice and not be judged or criminalized for it."

There wasn't a response after that.

Dad started turning up the volume on the TV at a certain point. I think he was fucking done with me. And you know what? That's fine. I don't need his approval. I don't need his blessing. I don't even need him to fucking agree with me.

People should have the right do what they want with their own bodies. If he disagrees with that, then he's in favor of state regulated bodily control, and that's fucking fascism.

Yes, that does mean I have to be in favor of a good many things that I might disagree with--like surgically altering yourself to look like a cat... yeah, that weirds me out... but whatever, it's your body. Do what you want with it.

You wanna smoke or chew or dip or whatever? I'm not particularly fond of it, and I have some VERY strong feelings about the tobacco industry... but... it's your body. Just don't force ME to breathe your second hand smoke. I already have enough respiratory issues. It comes back to that whole personal liberties affecting another person thing.

God I'm so fucking tired.

There are so many other, better educated, better practiced, better tempered people who can handle this kind of discussion.

I hate having to be a queer elder for my own fucking family when I came to the community so late in life... especially when I have literally zero support among them.

"You just get so... so... mad."

"YEAH... BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE LITERALLY DYING BECAUSE OF THIS SHIT. WHY AREN'T YOU MAD!??!"

I think I may have to take a pass on meeting up with everyone for Christmas. If this is the direction it's gonna go again... I'm not sure I can handle it. My brother-in-law clearly wants to bait me into this shit and I don't have it in me to stay out of it.

I hope everyone had a better thanksgiving than this.

Love and solidarity.

Trans rights. Gay Rights. Reproductive Rights. Black Lives Matter. Land Back. All of this good stuff.

I just don't have the strength to handle all of it all of the time, and the world seems content to force me to do so more often than I'm able.

I could use a hug.

[slythering-tear]

Introduction

Welcome to my blog! | She/her | New writer <3

REQUESTS CLOSED

I write Y/n multiple-chapter series, or one-shots, with the goal of letting my readers escape reality and dive into new adventures with different and unique settings, allowing them to interact with their favorite fictional characters! It is all up to your imagination, so why don't you come along for the ride?

I have no idea how this app works.

Just a heads up, English is my second language and I am still struggling with it to some extent. Blame my online punctuation checker for any mistakes made!

Quick format of how I am comfortable with writing Y/n:

Y/n L/n (Your name, last name)

Gender: Non-man (Woman, Non-binary)

Sex: AFAB / Intersex / AMAB

Appearance: Masculine/Androgynous

H/c (hair coulor)

E/c (eye colour)

S/c (skin colour)

Since I am tempted to be self-indulgent, I will write Y/n with the following images in mind (unless specified/requested otherwise):

Tall

Short hair [above shoulder level]

Most likely AMAB, though Y/n's chest area I will leave to the reader's own preference and imagination [wearing a bra or not]

Non-man, Sapphic, Masculine-presenting reader ONLY!

I will write practically anything unless stated otherwise! I will NOT write:

Male reader (I do not hate men by any means, but this is a blog dedicated towards WLW and queerness)

Insest/Stepsest

Anything to do with minors unless it is SFW

Rape/Non-con

I will add more to the list as I go, I guess? Nothing else comes to mind rn but you get the point - don't be gross!

My favourite tropes to write:

Enemies to lovers (quite literally want to kill each other until something changes)

Rivals to lovers (a more light-hearted version of 'enemies to lovers')

Friends to lovers

Unexpected plot twists

ANGST (Both with or without comfort. I am sorry but I am both a masochist and a sadist when it comes to some heavy angst - it hurts so good! Makes me feel alive..) character death, traumatic experiences, abuse, manipulation, dark themes, addictions, sad ending, violence, toxic relationships, etc.

Slow burn (I just love it when the story isn't rushed and the tension between the characters is thick!)

General-Fiction, Fanfiction

Paranormal, Magical, Supernatural

Fandoms I am interested in writing for:

Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Avatar: The Legend Of Korra

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Descendants (Disney Movies)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (TV Series 2018–2020)

The 100 (TV Series 2014-2020)

Honkai: Star Rail

Genshin Impact

Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK)

Please read my RULES below before interacting, thank you!

I have stated what I am comfortable with writing so please be mindful of that whenever you request something, and if you do, make sure I am accepting requests at the moment!

Consume my content at your own risk. I trust that after you are already on this app you are at least mature enough (not necessarily in age)!

I am a minor (17), so if you are uncomfortable with that fact, you are free not to read my work.

Keep civil when interacting with my blog, that'd be greatly appreciated. Any constructive criticism or comment on my work will be welcomed! I am more than happy to chat.

!!My blog is a safe space for queer people of any color, race, gender, etc. IF YOU ARE A HATER YOU CAN FUCK OFF!!

[zorilleerrant]

honestly, I don't think it's possible to queerbait anymore. no one is so hard up for queer media they're willing to watch something they hate for the merest glimmer of a tacit acknowledgement that queer people exist. they might be upset that a movie or show isn't queer enough, but if they're still watching, they're watching for reasons other than hoping it will someday mention queer people.

now it's not like you can't use this phenomenon at all. something can still advertise on the premise that it includes asians, and people will absolutely show up to ten seasons for four episodes with an asian character in the background, even if they're not named and don't have any lines. people will watch a shitty awful show just for starring someone in a wheelchair. people will flock to a movie with an explicitly autistic character played by an autistic actor.

but there are so many shows and movies with explicitly queer characters now that people can choose by genre where they want their queer representation. they can choose by tones of shows they prefer. they can follow actors they like and avoid actors they dislike; they can even pick writers and directors they trust to create a good story. if it's not good, they're not stuck with it, because there are other options out there, even without diving into indie content.

it's easy to find a gay or lesbian character, and easy to find a gay or lesbian relationship. it's easy to find a bi character and easy to find one in a stable relationship with either a man or a woman or one that's casually dating/sleeping around. it's harder to find trans and nonbinary characters, but by no means virtually unheard of. plenty of works in plenty of forms and genres just have those. popular ones that everyone's heard of, too.

like, even with Disney's repeated First Gay Characters, did anyone actually shell out money just for that? because I think it was mostly people who were interested already disappointed in something they would've been disappointed in whether or not it was advertised. because they would've watched it anyway.

[fouralignments]

Never Forget the Boner Joke

I. DO. NOT. TRUST. DISNEY. PERIOD.

ESPICALLY WITH THE FOXVERSE X-MEN CHARACTERS.

Does the Dadneto/Quickson fandom have a short term memory problem to forget about the Boner Joke? Made at the expense of Peter Maximoff's character, who was played by Even Peters. Wandavision built up all this hype around the idea of Mutants being the MCU and let theories run afoul. Disney didn't even try to dispel the rumors and as to not get everyone's hopes up, but instead said what were you expecting and FUCK YOU to X-Men Fandom as if Disney cared about what Even Peters's Quicksliver meant to us. Adding salt to the wound MCU fans said that Quicksliver sucked and thought the Boner joke was a masterpiece of cinematic comedy writing on pare with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when in actuality a sucker punch to Foxverse X-Men fans in order for them to get them hooked on Disney+.

I'm not saying you can't like Wandavision or the character of Wanda, Vison or any Marvel character for that matter.

I don't trust Disney and you shouldn't either. They don't give a shit about the characters. Or at least ye forget about other controversies surrounding Marvel's productions that aren't even a year old yet.

Loki series making Loki a shell of his former self, disrespecting the fandom surrounded him and the mutli layering subtext of colonialization, abuse, queerness, and imperialism. Also making the colonizer the good guy and writing off King Odin imperial conquests across the nine realms as 'good' painting Loki's actions as king of Asgard as cowardly and unbecoming of a king to let the nine realms rule themselves. Just shrugging all that interesting intersections of conflict within Loki as Loki being a selfish narcissist. Yeah...I'm sure that isn't going to upset fans at all.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. CEO Bob Chapek said: "interesting experiment," by only releasing Shang-Chi on Disney+ unlike "Black Widow," "Jungle Cruise" and "Cruella" would have both a theatrical release and be released on Disney+. When Shang-Chi was ground breaking in terms of Asian rep at a time when its really needed.

I could go on

Queerbaiting. Racism. Sexism. Imperialism. Classism. American Exceptionalism.

The blatant and disrespect in Wanda and Pietro's backstory just making them Nazi and anti-romani sentiment said by Wanda's actress. MCU/Disney being a propaganda arm of the military-industrial complex. Disney trying to go back to the Hollywood System and blacklist Scarlet Johansson. Obliviously taking a Miles Morales's story and plastering it on Peter Parker and also taking his poverty, which quite frequently showed up in his storylines, not even address it and its no longer a problem. Taking the entire plot of Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and making it suck.

I could write whole essays on each one of theses topics. In fact I have! I wrote a 20 page essay on how the US media promotes US imperialisms aboard focusing in on the Afghanistan and Iraq war. I featured the MCU quite heavily in that essay.

Personally, I've stopped watching Marvel movies after seeing Infinity War at the drive in. I was constantly looking at my phone wondering 'when the fuck is this movie going to be over with?' I was bored out of my mind and I didn't care about the plot or the characters. On some levels I liked that they interacted, but I still preferred their individual movies instead of end of phase 2 or whatever it is for the climax. MCU is basically a tv series on the sliver screen, we just been doopted.

There was a time that I enjoyed Marvel movies, but I just don't care anymore. If your wondering theses are my favorite marvels in no particular order: Black Panther, Antman and Wasp, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Thor.

If the rumor is true that Charles is going to be facing Wanda and then has his neck snapped. I expected the MCU to do no less with their treatment for the Foxverse characters.

The X-Men are canon fodder in order for the MCU's characters to look more powerful. Which I don't care for.

THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT.

All they care about is making money and if they have to make soulless, lifeless husks of the characters, Charles, Erik, Peter that I hold dear. I want no part of it.

Now if you ask me. For all their flaws, the X-Men movies have soul and are well produced and Disney cannot take that away from me.

[vampibrainrot]

Devin Grayson made a new statement where she talks about Yelena's sexuality. As a comic fan and aroace person, I will be talking about my impressions of what she (Devin) said.

Before I start, I want to clarify a few things:

1) I will break this into pieces and be as clear as possible, but english isn't my first language and there's a lot to be said.

2) I am not trying to put words in anyone mouth or change the context of what have been said. I will only talk about MY point of view of this whole situation as an aroace. I'm leaving the links at the end so anyone can read and make their own conclusions

3) I'm not here to argue and will not do it. Don't waste your time trying. If you want to discuss the matter in a friendly and respectful way, then it's different and obviously I'm open to hear what you have to say

4) I don't speak for all the aroace community. As any other group of people, we have different experiences and opinions. What I think it's not necessarily the same of what someone with other experiences think. If you want to support us, hear as many aroaces as you can. Just let us have a voice.

Okay, know talking about what I'm here for: a few days ago, Devin made a new post on her blog where she talks about Yelena's sexuality and how she (Yelena) would approach it. She spoke about her thoughts on the matter and also her contract with Marvel/Disney.

This is one of the first things that she says about Yelena. At first, she never thought about her romantic life or sexuality simply because it wasn't relevant. But years later, when asked about Yelena's sexuality, Devin said that made sense for Yelena to be ace, which makes total sense since Yelena never had shown interest (both sexually and romantically) in anyone. In Black Widow (2001), her aunt Olga tried very hard to get her a date and she refused every single time or made excuses to not go.

Then Devin explains about the situation of queer people in Russia and how this affects Yelena's see herself. The important thing here is that she makes clear that Yelena might not had known about labels like "asexual" and "aromantic" and if she ever questioned her own sexualiaty, she would keep to herself.

Going back to the famous panel where she says "I'm not anything". Considering the circumstances she lives in, makes sense for her to say that she ain't anything when asked about her sexuality. I myself have said this before I knew what asexuality and aromantic was, that's the reality for many aroaces and is part of our experience of discovering ourselves

After talking about Yelena, she explained her situation with Marvel/Disney. Legally, she doesn't own or has a say on anything related to Yelena and Marvel may have different plans for the character

But if Marvel didn't wanted the association of the character with the aroace community, then they wouldn't put the article from where this quote come from on their on web site. Obviously, this doesn't mean that Marvel will just make Yelena say the words "I'm aroace" anytime soon (unless if it's financially good for them)

She ends the article saying that she supports all headcanons (and too people don't trust or rely on multimillionaires corporations and much less sign contracts), but in MY point of view, supporting someones opinion isn't the same as not having one, specially in her case when she's exposed to attacks from fans and all.

Conclusion: at the end of the day, things stays quite the same. We need to keep fighting for aroace Yelena and hopefully, Marvel might do something (again, big corporation, so it's definitely nothing explicit like saying "I'm aroace", but something more subtle, like Nadya/Wasp saying she not interested in " teenage things")

The links:

Devin's article:

http://www.devingrayson.net/devingraysonblogish/yelenas-sexuality?s=09

Interview on Marvel's website:

[jessmalia]

tell me your favourite disney songs pleaseeee

Ok I gotta start out with the BEST one so I'll just have it out there

I'LL MAKE A MAN OUT OF YOU IS A FUCKING MASTERPIECE! IT'S THE BEST DISNEY SONG EVER AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL! People have criticised me for liking it before because "uwu it has SEXISM in it that means it's BAD" like yeah??? it's a movie about female empowerment of course it's gonna have sexism in it, that doesn't make it problematic you fucking idiot. It's about as cold of a take as "oh no did you hear that Brokeback Mountain has homophobia in it? not very woke of them" like dude have you no critical thinking? I don't give a shit about the sexist lines it's a fucking BOP okay. I mean the lyrics???? "We must be swift as the coursing river With all the force of a great typhoon With all the strength of a raging fire Mysterious as the dark side of the moon" like WHO COMES UP WITH THAT?! And that's not even mentioning the fucking visuals okay? Like I genuinely believe it's the best training montage of all time (I haven't seen Rocky but my mom has and she said it's not as good. usually I wouldn't really trust her on these kinds of topics but I'm gonna take a wild guess and say she's right). I mean, the fucking visual of Mulan using her intelligence to climb up the pole and get the arrow, making everyone's training take a turn for the better? BEAUTIFUL! Also bisexual legend Lee Chang is shirtless during the entire thing 100/10.

Keeping it on the Mulan track, Reflection – the beautiful song that awakened something in EVERY queer kid (honestly tho I never really struggled with my queer identity that much so I actually relate to it more on an autistic level). Also THIS IS AN EDMUND SONG, I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES! 15/10. 

Then just, the entire Beauty and the Best soundtrack. It’s my favourite Disney movie of all time, it’s truly their magnum opus, and every song is a BOP. I relate to Belle so hard and she was also my first ever fictional crush at the age of 3. “Belle” is a great opening number that’s extremely musically effective since it serves both to establish the world and as an I want song. Belle (reprise) is just as great. Gaston is a great hilarious villain song that perfectly illustrates how the towns folk blindly love and follow Gaston AND how much of a fucking meme he is. Be Our Guest is grand and beautifully animated, and it serves to make us (and Belle) see the castle as home perfectly. Something There is just THE perfect song to illustrate growing romantic feelings. Beauty and the Beast is such a beautiful fucking love song I want to play it at my wedding! And The Mob Song has a Shakespeare reference in it, plus a lot of relevant as hell lyrics to its theme “We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us And this monster is mysterious at least” what more could you want? honestly this entire song kinda reads like they’re going to kill a gay man or something, which makes sense since it was written by one, and it’s honestly terrifying through that perspective 20/10. 

I Won’t Say (I’m In Love) BASICALLY INVENTED MUSICAL THEATRE ITSELF HOLY SHIT! I fucking love to associate it with any ship that includes one of the characters being in denial (which is most of them). I’ve been listening to it a lot more lately since I put it on my meter playlist and it NEVER gets old. The muses trying to get Meg to say that she’s in love accommodated with her just refusing to admit it works soooo well. My favourite lyrics are “It's too cliche I won't say I'm in love” and “My head is screaming Get a grip girl Unless you're dying to cry your heart out” and “Face it like a grown-up When you gonna own up that you got got got it bad” and the ending part “At least out loud I won't say I'm in love” that one gets me every time. 20/10. 

Kiss the Girl is a fucking bop. I don’t have much else to say about it other than that. I hope my friends will sing it while trying to set me up with someone someday. 10/10.

I See the Light is such a wonderful love song and it always makes me think of Draco and Aria. Just the concept of finding your greater purpose through this person you never so coming, ah 😭😭😭. “You were my new Dream” “An you were mine” 10/10. 

I have a couple of songs where only the swedish version is special to me, and it’s all just cause memories with my dad from when I was little. So, idk you can listen to the swedish versions if you want even tho you won’t understand it (I mean you can just look up the English lyrics so that doesn’t really matter). Those are Thomas O’Malley, Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat (Alla Snubbar Vill Ju Vara Katt) and The Bear Necessities (Var Nöjd Med All Som Livet Ger). Me and my dad used to watch Aristocats all the time and his favourite character was Thomas O’Malley, so his love for the character and the song sort of seeped into me as well, and we both loved Alla Snubbar Vill Ju Vara Katt (I’m a cat person, what can I say?). We also watched The Jungle Book a lot and my dad was absolutely OBSESSED with Var Nöjd Med All Som Livet Ger. He sung it ALL THE TIME. I honestly think I’ve heard that song more than Let It Go. 15/10. 

Of course there’s a lot of other fantastic Disney songs out there (Hellfire and A Whole New World come to mind, I feel like they deserve an honourable mention) but these are just the ones that are more special to me personally. 

Also yes of course Reflection is a Henry song also but it’s just a given that if I relate anything to autism it also applies to Henry Mills

[diamondcitydarlin]

It should also be noted that Kate used Loki's genderfluidity as a constant hype train and advertising platform. Remember, there were just constant interviews/posts/articles about the show taking a massive step forward in the realms of trans representation, and then you watch and the show aaaaand...

sex: fluid

But you'd still see articles of the director patting herself on the back for bravely spoon-feeding the trans community this somehow groundbreaking advancement that also never manifested itself in any way.

She only stopped a while after the show ended when people realised she'd been blowing hot air the entire time and not only didn't do anything she promised in that regard, but never meant to.

I'll always be joyous for bisexual Loki, but I'll also never forget she used her getting him bisexual mainstream as a 'so you'll trust me when I make all these genderfluid promises too, right? You'll promise to watch the show, right?'

She did worse than queerbait in the end. She used the entire trans umbrella community as an advertising pick-me-up and as a trans guy miserable enough to still be here boy have the terfs recognised it too.

I remember, yes, and while my disgust with all of this exists and continues to grow stronger the more I hear, I will never know what it means to be excluded, appropriated and exploited in this way so I really appreciate you sharing this with me.

I've been mentioning this on my various flows of consciousness that I post here insofar as what it means for queer shipping, but the capitalist exploitation of queer identity is absolutely a problem across the board in mainstream entertainment. The corporations behind these productions are seeing a benefit in acknowledging queer identity and stories, specifically doing so with as little substance as possible.

In the case of Loki I don't necessarily fault the fans/viewers/public that got excited about the hint to Loki's gender maybe being more openly fluid in expression going forward (p sure if you carbondate my posts you'll see I was one of them lmao), or those of us that got excited about him confirming his attraction to more than one gender ('the bit of both' is still...a thing but that's another post). Because it was ultimately supposed to be more than that, right? These were meant to be the start of a character journey into an openly queer experience and it was only after Disney/Marvel/the creators collected all the accolades that it became clear that was literally going to be it. Boom bam we did that and now that's over and we can go back to writing for a cishet white male audience uwu

So yes, queer exploitation is absolutely a thing regardless of how ignorant corporations pretend to be about what they're intentionally, knowingly doing and they benefit from engaging writers/directors etc that also have their own self-centered motivations and won't be pushing too hard for the "difficult stuff".

And you know, all of this aside, it'd be one thing if Kate had genuinely believed she was doing a great thing at the time out of honest ignorance and THEN chose to listen to and amplify genderfluid/trans voices correcting that assumption and giving reasons as to why it failed. Because I get it, I can be dumb about this stuff too and it's important to acknowledge that so I can keep learning. (she also could have avoided the whole thing by fighting to have genderfluid/trans writers on the team but I digress)

In general, the casual comfort a lot of people have with being transphobic and disregarding trans/gf voices these days makes me physically ill. It is unspeakably cruel, and I am so sorry that it keeps happening again. And again. And again.

For what it's worth, none of you are alone in this fight even though I know it must feel like it a lot of the time. You have allies and those who care about your experiences and want to prioritize them, myself included, and I hope you will continue feeling safe on this blog anyway to be open with me about how the trans/fluidphobia in the show made you feel, how it could have been done better, how it SHOULD have been done better, how we as a fandom can craft our stories and headcanons to best incorporate this facet of Loki's character

[sparrows-corner]

I posted 203 times in 2021

12 posts created (6%)

191 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 15.9 posts.

I added 322 tags in 2021

#marvel - 60 posts

#mcu - 41 posts

#sam wilson - 39 posts

#tfatws - 38 posts

#bucky barnes - 32 posts

#art - 27 posts

#fav - 25 posts

#anthony mackie - 23 posts

#sambucky - 20 posts

#tfatws spoilers - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 98 characters

#sam wilson is a jumps head first into action without any preservation and 100% knows his own worth

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

So I'm gonna need a scene where Bucky has his cat, Alpine, tucked into his jacket while he rides a motorcycle.

That's literally all I need from the show. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

47 notes • Posted 2021-02-27 19:55:54 GMT

#4

I'm pretty sure others have covered this so I'm going to make this short and sweet. But when it comes to what the director, Kari Skogland; or the writer, Malcolm Spellman have to say regarding Sam and Bucky's sexuality, please just disregard it.

These people, Marvel actors included, are put through rigorous media training and are instructed on what they can and cannot say regarding certain topics, sexuality included.

Even if they are coding a character a certain way in the show, they can't just come out and say that.

Plus, they also aren't coming out and stating "no, Sam/Bucky is straight"

As a queer Native American, trust me, I fucking get how desperate we are for representation. And it sucks how aggressively heteronormative the superhero genre can be. But please, as someone who has been doing this for a long time, try to not to take what they say in interviews to heart—even if they didn't actually feel that way, they wouldn't be able to say anything about it anyways.

Blame the house of mouse and the old-fashioned standards Hollywood still sets.

72 notes • Posted 2021-04-29 15:09:18 GMT

#3

THE ELECTRIC GUITAR IN YOU'RE NOT SORRY OMG

98 notes • Posted 2021-04-09 04:45:44 GMT

#2

*inserts The Office "they're the same picture" meme*

486 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 15:25:39 GMT

#1

There is literally NO hetero explanation for this.

1. The tight hold they have on one another the entire time they're rolling despite the fact that they could've let go and been totally fine.

2. Buckys hand on Sam's waist?!??!? I don't think I need to explain that one

3. The fact that when they stop rolling they don't immediately separate. THAT'S GAY YOUR HONOR

4. Buckys little eyebrow quirk as he looks down at Sam. SIR YOU ARE FLIRTING

5. Not pictured but Bucky staring up at the sky after rolling off of Sam just ✨speechless✨ because he is having MANY gay thoughts. Like come on.

Disney really went "oh you think you've seen queerbaiting, we'll show you queerbaiting"

526 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 14:38:45 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Eda's Requiem" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

...

...

...HOW IS SEASON TWO SO GOOD?! WE'VE HAD SEVEN EPISODES SO FAR, AND EACH ONE OF THEM WAS A HIT!

Take "Eda's Requiem," for example. It's yet another episode where I have NOTHING bad to say about it! That's two weeks in a row where that happened! HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!

HOW!

HOW!

...But anyways, "Eda's Requiem." It's another fantastic episode, and I'm about to dive into explaining how and why. Just keep in mind, it's gonna require spoilers to do so, so be wary of that as you keep reading.

Now, let's review, shall we?

WHAT I LIKED

Eda’s Checklist and Grom Photo: Within the first second, "Eda's Requiem" perfectly sets up Eda's central conflict in the episode. Despite spending years being on her own and looking after herself, she now has two kids that she's constantly caring over. Eda can try all she wants to say that she doesn't care, and I bet she has in the past. But given the hard work she's putting into getting King and Luz what they need and having a grom photo of the three of them together pinned in her mirror, it's pretty clear that those two knuckleheads wormed their way into her heart and are never getting out.

Eda’s Worried About King and Luz Leaving: And thus, that's precisely why something like this bothers her so much. Eda inadvertently adopted two rambunctious rapscallions (Yeah, I know. I'll get to it), so the idea of them not being around her anymore is going to be terrifying. That is a situation most parents, especially mothers, can identify with. It’s called empty nest syndrome and it proves just how much Eda loves Luz and King that she can't stand the thought of her babies leaving the nest. It's yet another well-made, wholesome, found-family moment that this series continues to excel at each week, making me extra excited for more like it to come...while also readying myself for heartbreak when one of them eventually does leave Eda.

Eda and Raine’s Music: Ok, I don't know the exact instruments that were played during this episode, but I also don't care because it was all (for lack of a better term) music to my ears. Every time Eda and Raine played resulted in melodies that are so beautiful and filled with so much emotion and feeling that I'm honestly tempted to listen to them again, multiple times, on repeat. Shows rarely do that for me, as background music doesn't always draw me in as much as lyrical songs do. Usually, it takes something so extraordinarily composed to give me the desire to listen again, and that's the case here. So huge congrats to Brad Breek for doing so. Seriously, the man's been killing it this season.

Eda’s Bard Magic Causing Things to Turn to Ash: This was assuredly a surprise side-effect of the curse. The fact that Eda can sort of do magic at all was its own shock. To then reveal that a specific type can do dangerous things to people and environments is...Well, it definitely brings up its own fair share of questions. Like, how can she do this? Will she do it again, one day? And are there other types of spells that can be negatively affected by Eda's curse? We don't get answers for any of these questions, and odds are, we never will. But that's alright with me. Because if a show makes me consider these many possibilities after a brief amount of time, it is a show that has to be doing something right. Even if I don't get the answers I want, the fact that it caused such a reaction makes me less willing to care.

Raine Whispers: Hey, would you look at that. Another fun, interesting, and compelling character added to the list of this shows' other fun, interesting, and compelling characters...how is this series so good at this!?

Joking aside, Raine's pretty good. I like Raine. They could have been this super serious leader who lost all their fun after years apart from Eda, but I'm glad that they're not. There are moments when Raine takes their job as leader of the BATs seriously, as one would, but I still prefer the fact that they kept a jovial nature despite how grim their situation is. It's an admirable trait to have, and it avoids the trope of making leader characters boring just because they're the ones who have to take things seriously.

Oh, and also, Raine's Disney's first non-binary character who has a stake in the plot. This is a tremendous deal, as you don't usually see that many non-binary characters in children's animation, let alone ones that hold importance to the story. So it's pretty cool for the writers to feature Raine, as it helps several kids feel as though they're finally seen and respected. And the fact that Disney of all companies gave the thumbs up is even more impressive. I hear people say that Dana Terrace should have pitched The Owl House to more progressive networks to avoid pushback, and while I absolutely see your point, I'll have to respectfully disagree. Disney is the largest entertainment industry of all time, so if you want to make LGBTQA+ representation normalized, you gotta stop making splashes and start making waves. Because if the same company that made three racist cats in the span of a few years manages to say that being gay is a-ok, then you know there's something wrong with you. Yes, Disney ended up screwing over the show anyway. But for that one moment, when kids felt pride after seeing a character like Raine, then, in the end, it's kind of worth it.

Also, if you're still having issues with more representation like this popping up in kids' shows, then allow me to redirect you to the complaint department.

...I made that post earlier today for this bit. YOU HAVE BETTER APPRECIATED IT!

Day of Unity is meant to be a Secret: At least, that's what I got when Raine stumbled over their own words. So if it's true, then I wonder why? Why does Belos want to keep the most critical change in the Boiling Isles a secret? Does he want to make it a surprise for his grateful subjects, or does he not want to spread worry and fear amongst the wild witches? It has to be something big if he doesn't want his followers to even say the words "Day of Unity." Whatever reason he has, we most likely won't know until the future. A future that I grow more and more afraid of each week.

Hooty Eating Echo Mouse: My heart sank in that brief moment when I thought that Hooty intensely screwed Luz over in getting back home. But looking back...it is pretty funny.

Just the suddenness of Hooty eating the poor creature that Luz desperately tried to earn its trust is priceless in how shocking it was. And also, Luz's expression.

That was the look of a young girl who immediately shoved her hand down an owl demon's throat the second the scene cut away. The Owl House may not always be a hit in the comedy department, but scenes like this prove that when it's funny, it is hilarious.

Luz and King Entering the Grand Prix: Not much to discuss here. It's just a cute subplot that adds frivolity to the intensity of what's going on through Eda and Raine's story. But I will say that I love how both stories occasionally interconnect with each other through the many moments of Eda being worried about King wanting to leave to find his father and avoiding any conversation about it. It helps both plotlines feel like they belong together, without being something like "Through the Looking Glass Ruins," whereas both stories could have been in their own episode. Which is neat.

How Bard Magic Works: I really love how this season is diving into how the other magic types work. More specifically, the ones that seem a little vague. I mean, stuff like healing, potions, and plants are easy to figure out, but what does it mean when a witch's talents are construction, beast keeping, and bard magic? We've been getting a lot of clearing up lately, with bard magic looking like a witch can control their environments and enemies through the power of music. Which is fair. Music is pretty powerful in the metaphorical sense, and I actually love that it's powerful in the literal sense when in the Boiling Isles.

The BATs: Not much to comment on these three either. The BATs have the potential to have an entertaining dynamic, but they do very little in this episode that I can't say much other than I hope they make a return in the future. But I will make this claim: Amber is my favorite. I'm sorry, but her screaming "You're not our mom!" to then go, "Bye, mommy Eda" is just too precious for me not to love.

I'm a simple man who falls for cute s**t. Leave me alone.

Raeda (RainexEda): Well, EdaxCamila, you were a fun crack ship while it lasted, but I'm afraid that this is now goodbye. The current canon has provided an incredibly adorable and believable relationship that I would be a monster not to support with my whole bi-heart. It's been real.

Ok, back in serious mode: I love these two together. Eda and Raine are grown-ups, and they still act all flustered near each other as if they were still Luz and Amity's age. It's definitive proof that you're never too old to get flustered near a crush, and seeing them interact adds a sense of wholesomeness when seeing them together as well as heartbreak when they're forced apart. Plus, we get confirmation that Eda's LGBTQA+! Whether she's bi, pan, or whatever, now that we know Eda can catch feelings for someone like Raine, it's yet another case that The Owl House is the most important series to the community. Because having the main character be queer is fantastic in its own right. But having the same apply to the motherly mentor figure? That's is an extra bit of normalization that anybody would be willing to appreciate.

Unique Guard Designs: Not many fans are going to appreciate this, primarily compared to everything else this episode does perfectly. For me, I actually like that you see a few Coven Guards looking differently from the others, as it helps make them less like clones and makes it seem like anybody of any body type could be a part of the coven.

Gus Looking Uninterested when Presenting Grand Prix with his Dad: I am positive that you didn't notice this (I didn't even notice it until someone else pointed it out), but there's something to dissect here. It hints that perhaps Gus isn't as interested in his father's field of work as one might think. If he did, he would look a lot less bored and much more excited to be helping Perry Porter present the race. It could just be the race itself, but judging from Gus' expression, it really seems like the kid would prefer to be anywhere but there. And why would he have that reaction to a race that his best friend is competing in? To me, this seems like an inkling of what Gus' relationship with Perry could be, which may not actually get time to shine, what with how little wiggle room the series has now (Thanks Disney). Regardless, it is interesting to notice, and it will certainly have fans thinking for a while.

Bump Being Smug of Luz Being in the Lead: That's it. Principal Bump looking smug as his human student is beating the students of his rivals is yet another moment that proves why Bump is easily the best cartoon principal.

Darius: First of all, this guy is f**king fabulous, and I love him. *Snaps*

Second, he is definitive proof that you do NOT want to f**k around with Coven Leaders. Lilith may have had her intimidating moments, but none of them compare to the guy who can turn himself into an abomination monster where only magic that hasn't existed before can take him down. It's genuinely scary to see Darius lose control, and I fear for the day when Luz inevitably ends up in his crosshairs.

With that said, Darius' still a ton of fun! He may be threatening, but he's just a flamboyant guy that hates the idea of getting his outfit the tiniest bit dirty. And I love that. I love that these Coven Heads have actual personalities instead of being generically evil. I consider it preferable to make villains entertaining rather than blatantly scary as I'll remember the personalities first and the villainous acts last.

Eberwolf: But this one's my favorite. I told you: I'm a simple man who gets easily swayed by cute s**t. And Eber? I mean, just look at her:

She's just a cute widdle rascal! I just want to pinch her cheeks, give her a belly rub, and--

...Eberwolf is not a cute widdle rascal. She is a strong, independent woman, and I will respect her as such from this moment forward...lest I feel her wrath.

That is all. Let's move on.

Eda and Raine Attempting a Final Performance: This was the best scene of the episode. It looked gorgeous, it shows the dedication Eda and Raine have for stopping Belos, and it says so much through so little. Go back and look at how Eda and Raine regard one another when performing Eda's requiem. Through their expressions and a few short words, you know they understand that if they complete the song/spell, they probably won't make it in the end. And yet, they don't care. They both know bad stuff will happen if Belos wins, so Eda and Raine put everything to the side, both their feelings for one another and the people they leave behind if it means putting an end to a tyrant. That level of dedication...Words can't fully describe how powerful that is.

Raine Sacrificing Themselves Instead: But in the end, Raine can't do it. Not when they know the life that Eda has and the people she'll be leaving behind. It's an extra bit of nobleness to the character seeing that Raine refuses to take away a woman from two kids who need her the most. A tad bit selfish, sure, knowing what Belos has planned. But when it comes to love, the romantic, familial, or platonic, the best decisions aren't always the logical ones.

Eda Crying: Luz crying tears me up, but seeing Eda cry is a whole different level of heartbreak. Like Lilith, Eda has her emotions locked up tight, with the closest she came to weeping were those two tears in "Young Blood, Old Souls." In "Eda's Requiem," she cries but almost quickly stops herself. As if she knows that doing so isn't going to save Raine. That is...even worse than seeing Luz break down after losing Eda. The fact that Eda refuses to give herself time to mourn losing someone she loved is tragic because crying is the most natural way of showing grief. Turning that off isn't healthy, and seeing her do it with little resistance is sad to me. It's sad to see a character I love can easily shut off all emotions despite how badly she may want to embrace them. It's one of those moments that, again, by doing so little, it shows so much.

“No one watches Crystal Balls anymore. It’s all about streaming.”: Oof. Even I felt that burn towards cable.

King’s Message: King's message was the pick-me-up I needed after the heart-wrenching sadness this episode put me through a few minutes ago. Seeing King say who he is and listing all the things he loves is nothing short of adorable. On top of that, I adore that Eda willingly recorded the whole thing. She may not want King to leave, but that doesn't mean she'll sabotage the one thing he wants. Especially not after Raine gave up everything so Eda could be with her kids. The opening scene may prove how much Eda cares about a rascal like King, but this heartwarmingly sweet moment reveals just how far she'll go to make him happy.

King’s Dad Reveal: ...ok, I'll be honest, I did not think we'd get that reveal this soon. Dumb of me to say, considering the number of times I've said that these writers don't waste time getting to the s**t, I know. But still, it's pretty cool knowing that King's dad is alive and well, added with the fact that we've got a fair idea of what he looks like. At this point, it's only a matter of time before we see him figure out where the Clawthorne residence is and witness the tear-jerking moments that will follow.

King Changing his Name to King Clawthorne: Not the official adoption I was expecting Eda to make...but DANG IT, is it still diabetes-inducing levels of sweetness!

Personally, I feel like the main reason why Eda breaks down this time is not only because she shouldn't be worried about King leaving her life, but also because Raine's sacrifice wasn't in vain. Her kids really do need Eda because no matter how far apart they'll be, she will always be a part of their life...dang it, I'm going to cry too!

What those Coven patches really do: Well...that was horrifying to see.

...Writers, if you kill off the best non-binary character in animation (it's a short list, I know), we are going to have PROBLEMS!

IN CONCLUSION

"Eda's Requiem" is--surprise surprise--another A+. The emotions hit hard, the representation hits harder, Raine is a fantastic addition to the cast, and it was all surprisingly cute at times. Season Two is currently on a hot streak, constantly winning with every episode that's come out so far. When a bad episode does eventually show up (IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!), I'll be sure to sing my requiem then. For now, I'm just gonna enjoy the ride.

[wandaposting]

do you think billy & tommy will be explicitly queer? I know Disney wants lgbt rep in the MCU but I don't really trust them after the whole "first gay character in endgame" thing

if the “cute boy next door” casting is any indication, yes most likely! i also spotted some pretty strategic placement of rainbows in the last episode, so billy at least will be explicitly gay in the show itself (...i hope). i’m a little less confident about their bi representation in tommy, but if valkyrie really is getting her glow-up in thor4 then it’s reasonable to hope that they’d do the same for tommy somewhere down the line