#I love asking artists: This character but dress them up goth

[idledreams4]

Putting the "Goth" in Gotham

yeah so I'm assigning a bunch of people subcategories of goth. And not just the characters where this would be something reasonable to do. Its been a while since I did something like this and I'm having fun with it!

If any artists want to draw the characters in the styles I give them, feel free, just tag me so I can see it!

Bruce: Baby Bat

Yes this is mostly because of his nickname. (Baby Bats, in case anyone hadn't heard someone call him that)

Selina: Mall

Girl would rob a Hot Topic or a Spencers blind ok. Y'all gotta be with me on this one.

Ecco: Romantic

its Ecco. Need I say more? This would ABSOLUTELY be her style. She's one of the ones I think would be more than happy to dress up according to their subcategory. She would just love it! Well Season 5 Ecco would idk about S4... She was a little less fun before that bullet. But trust me, she would be romantic goth.

Jeremiah: Vampire

this one was actually pretty difficult to decide. I jumped around alot before finally settling on Vampire goth. Me and Persephone had actually talked about this a while ago and I think we said Nu goth, and I was considering Victorian Goth for this. He likes to look put together, but still flamboyant, and with some of the outfits I've looked at, this is the one for him. Also, it's Jeremiah. Tell me he doesn't have eccentric vampire energy?

Jerome: Deathrock

His cult basically decided this for him lol. They already have a very punk style and I think if Jerome's life had gone a little differently he would have spent his teenage years in a heavy emo phase. This would be one of the subclasses he'd be all for.

Jonathan: Mopey

no I'm not calling him mopey, I'm saying mopey goth would be his style. Its very layered. I'm seeing a lot of long coats, scarves, boots, all in black. It could easily be combined with either medieval or Victorian styles to give a plague doctor-y appearance. But trust me, look it up yourself and tell me that's not Jonathan's style.

Jervis: Steampunk

you know what, Jervis would vibe with steampunk goth. Originally I was just thinking "ok what's one I haven't said yet that would involve a top hat" but then I remembered that in BTAS Jervis was working in some kind of engineering. What is literally characterized by tophats and engineering? Steampunk. So this feels like a good fit.

Oswald: Glam

almost gave this to Riddler but the fashions are more Oswald.

Ed: Nu

He's a little more reserved and timid, so I think he'd fit with some of the softer looks of nu goth.

Riddler: Cabaret

yeah I'm doing him seperate from Ed. They'd have very different styles. Riddler is all about the glitz and glamour so I gave him cabaret goth.

Lee: Gothabilly

her makeup was already pretty Gothabilly, and I think she could vibe with the fashion. She totally had goth vibes in the later seasons though I just don't know what to classify her style as (please feel free to give feedback!)

Gordan: none

well he sucks so he actually doesn't get one. Like everyone else would kinda be like "ok fine yeah whatever" (or totally into it) if I asked them to dress up in the category I gave them. But Jim? He's a party pooper. So he just wouldn't.

Barbra: Perky Goth

I think she'd be a perky goth. It leaves room for some bright colours, which I think she'd like, but it's not pastel goth. Its very fun and idk I just think she'd vibe with it. (Specifically like... Season 2 era though. In later season I think corp goth might be more her thing. Fetish goth could also work as an overall but I didn't really want to label anyone with fetish goth... 😅)

[ankiebitez]

Obey Me! with a goth Mc

lucifer, mammon, leviathan, satan

notes:

this was written with the like 80s trad goth style in mind so like big teased up hair, bold makeup and clothes, etc. plus some of my own experiences bc I've been into alternative stuff since i was a kid and i live in the south so

i don't think there's anything gender specific in here but i mean. this is mostly just self indulgent and i am a guy so idk if i should put gn or male reader but ehhh i might go back later and add some stuff specific to a male/masc reader bc there's like crumbs of male mc content

im gonna try to do the other brothers and side characters too if i can but i just felt like posting these for now bc i need some time to think of stuff for the others

Lucifer:

probably wouldn't care much or think much of it when you first show up

i feel like he would like some kinds of goth music and it might be one of the things that helps him warm up to you

he would probably like more of the melodic types though, probably not too into the like 80s synth type stuff

anyone that makes fun of you for how you dress and look is gone immediately. no questions asked, they're just gone.

if he's close to you he might let you try doing his makeup and hair ONCE with enough begging, but will immediately wash it off and say to never do it again. (even though he secretly liked it)

i could see him listening to rosetta stone and christian death probably

mammon:

probably got scared the first time he saw you if you do like extreme makeup and everything

"lucifer are you sure that's a human?"

wont say anything to you about it though

after he warms up to you (like within 10 minutes) he loves it though

i feel like he'd be okay with some goth/80s music but wouldn't pay it much mind to have favorite artists, would probably like a good few songs separately though

would let you try to do his makeup and hair whenever you want, would complain about it but wouldn't mean it and would blush the entire time you do his makeup

wouldn't mind doing goth related stuff with you as long as it's not too scary

finding, altering, dyeing, or styling clothes? he'll totally help

going looking for records? he'll go with you

going to goth clubs? he'll totally go with you and he'll probably have a good time

if you want him to watch horror movies or something though, he'll do it but you're gonna have to hold him probably

would probably say the "damn i want a goth gf/bf" thing to attempt to flirt with you unironically

is like ur guard dog anyone that makes fun of you is getting chased down the halls of rad

leviathan:

probably wouldn't care much when you show up

would probably still consider you a normie and would be surprised if you told him goth people get made fun by other people in the human world

would defend you from anyone that makes fun of you or tries to, he's summoning lotan

thinking about when a alternative creator i like said something about solidarity between alternative people and people that are into anime stuff and then said in the 2000s when she was 14 someone made fun of the dude she was dating for liking anime and she "defended his honor" by beating the shit out of him THATS YALL

admires you for dressing how you do and asks you how you have the confidence for it

i could see him listening to some goth stuff but opposite to lucifer he likes more of the goth synth type stuff

would listen to like softcell (not sure if they're considered goth but i like them and i feel like he would so-) or she wants revenge

satan:

oh he's in love

has read about the human world goth subculture before and knows a lot about it but he definitely wants to talk to you and ask you about it personally

if you like reading gothic literature he's IN LOVE he would love to read it with you

would like more of the classic and melodic kinds of goth music

he probably wouldn't mind going to a goth club with you every once in a while

would be fine watching horror movies and stuff with you

he would 10000000% do the gomez and morticia arm kisses thing

he might let you try doing his hair and makeup every once in a while, wish he had longer hair and he'd remind me of sean brennan in the 80s when he had the long blonde teased up hair

i could see him listening to rosetta stone and london after midnight

[plusvanity]

Any Ash headcannons?? I know in your fic u kinda touch on strict family or sm? (If you don’t got any that’s okay thought I’d ask anyway sense you’ve done Sal and Larry lol)

Oh, yes! I have HCs for all the characters from SF! ^^ Talking about Ash now..

-Ashley is a general sweet girl. She's shy by nature but once you get to know her, she becomes more and more her true self.

-Growing up, she had a few close friends but nobody stood out to be called 'best friend'. Not until she met Maple in middle-school. The two became inseparable as Maple (who was already into the alternative scene) shared all her favorite bands and rock teenage magazines with Ashley. They helped each other in finding their best original style. For Maple, it was classic Goth while for Ash, it was post-grunge.

-Ash's favorite band and main influence will always be Velvet Underground. She fell in love for the dark, gloomy lullabies and the hauntingly beautiful voice of Lou Reed. (She shared this band with Sal and when Sal was head over heels for Ash, he'd make mix-tapes and play all her favourite V.O. songs) She also loves Pearl Jam, Joy Division, some Iggy Pop' classics and Patti Smith. (Oh, man. SHE LOVES PATTI TO DEATH. MUSIC AND POETRY AGHH)

-Photography and D.I.Y: Just like Larry, she's into sewing stuff. (The most crucial thing every 90's alternative kid must know) Band patches, messy-cropped tops/ shirts and ripped jeans. She loves to personalise her clothes and she's pretty smart in finding ways around her parents not to be too 'right in the face' BUT dress cool and stuff. (It screams grunge but like.. soft grunge if it makes any sense???)

-The relationship with her parents is pretty good in general. Yes, arguments happens sometimes and most of them gravitate around her 'dressing style' but it never escalates into anything too bad. Both her parents are generaly busy people (her father is a workaholic) but they love and want what's best for her. This implies expectations for a real money-making career and yadda-yadda. She still tries to explain to them how she'd love to go into a more 'artistic oriented' field such as professional photography. (We'll get to see what happens lol) She's also got a strict time to be home and if it happens to be late (after 8 pm), her parents would expect Larry (Ash uses him as a 'bodyguard friend') or all of the gang to safely bring her home

- as Sal moved in Nockfell and she got to know him, she instantly liked him as a friend. Silly, funny little dude that she loved to talk to and hang out with. She's very protective and supportive. She'd be the first to defend Sal whenever Travis comes around with the intentions to fuck with them. Her reacts are quicker than Larry's and she's not afraid to stand up for her all of her friends no matter what. (There are hundreds of reasons why Sal got so infatuated with Ash, I cannot even start on this but here's like one of them lol)

In time, it didn't take much at all for her to find out that Sal had a massive crush on her. (Everybody knew and giggled behind Sal's back like silly teenagers do) The knowledge flattered her so much that she actually started developing feelings for Sal. She even expected at some point (thanks to Maple's push and Larry's assurance) that Sal would finally make a move and she'd confess her feelings too.

But it.... tragically didn't happen. It wasn't because Ash was 'too good for Sal' or 'an insufferable bitch' as it's typically depicted. (My heart aches for this girl) Sal did disappoint her, not once, not twice. She wasn't into hard drugs (smoking menthol slims and a bit of weed once in a blue moon was all she ever did) and when she saw how her 'crush' got literally shitfaced by what on Earth him and Larry took... it just crashed the whole fantasy of 'knowing Sal'. In the end, she didn't knew much at all.

-She still holds onto her friendship with him even after everything that happened and even though the spark in her heart faded, she still loves him as a friend. She'll probably alwasy do. She'd always go out with him, drag him to buy some fucking decent shoes and listen to music together.

That's pretty much all the trivia about Ash, I hope I didn't bore you too much haha. Ty for the question! ^^ 

[shy-nightmare]

So I’ve been trying to think of some ideas for my OCs now that I started posting artwork and chapters of my story when I found @marinerainbow’s fashion posts. She did these awesome fashion posts for her lovely bunny girl Poppy O’Hare and the deadly beauty Shiny Weasel, A.K.A. the Toon equivalent of Jennifer Tilly. If Smartass is James Cagney’s Toon counterpart, there’s no way in hell Shiny ain’t the Jennifer Tilly of Toontown XD. I agree that it can be crucial to discover your characters’ personalities and/or tastes since you’re the creator, so I thought, “If Rainbows can do it, so can I! 😊” I’m no expert in the field of fashion even though I give my OCs killer outfits (Get it? Killer? Because they’re Twisted Toons and vigilantes? …..I’ll see myself out XD) LMAO, but I really wanna give it a shot. Twyla’s gonna go because ladies first!

@weaselnerd and @lastofautumn, I hope you guys enjoy this post! 😁

Credit for inspiration goes to @marinerainbow. Please go check out her own wonderful content ^^!

Twyla’s Wardrobe

Casual Outfit

Let’s get one thing straight. Twyla is Gothic and she is damn proud of it! She’s also a biker tomboy, so whether she’s on her own or going around doing hers and her pack’s vigilante business, she mostly prefers wearing studded biker jackets and dark-themed clothing. When it comes to jewelry, she only wears a bare minimum of two; earrings and her beloved crescent moon necklace. For the rest of her outfit, she mostly wears form-fitting jeans and sweetheart crop tops. She also loves wearing Gothic outfits with floral lace sleeves and chain-embedded jeans. To her, it’s about style that’s also comfortable! However, she is PAINFULLY oblivious of her own beauty and the attention she gets.

That’s another reason why her brother is an overprotective, trigger-happy gunslinger 😅

And when Twyla was first drawn, I wanted to give her a dark Goth elegance of sorts, but I also wanted her to stick her tomboyish, street-punk roots and the first reference I came up with was Toralei Stripe, Monster High’s bad girl. Twyla’s iconic outfit represents her Goth Queen status, but she’s also feisty and ferocious to a sinister degree lol. Also, you know those silver heel boots she wears? Those are REAL-LIFE dagger heels. And did I forget to mention she’s also a martial artist? If you make her angry and she gives you a mean kick, you better pray those daggers won’t stab you where the sun don’t shine 💀.

(I know these aren’t dagger heel boots. These are the closest ones I could find, I’m sorry 😭)

Loungewear

Cute and comfy, that’s Twyla’s motto! UwU I mean, that’s the point of loungewear 😆

She prefers tanks and shorts or pajama bottoms if it’s a little chilly. Not only will she wear Gothic loungewear, but she’s a H U G E fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas ever since she was little, and she will go out of her way to get ALL the merchandise. From coffee mugs and sweaters to pajamas, she WILL get them. No questions asked LOL!

Formal Attire

Twyla rarely wears a dress or a skirt. And when I say rare, I mean really rare. She would only wear dresses and skirts for a special occasion, and only for a special occasion. If she does wear that kind of attire, her more feminine outfits are similar to the Hex Girls (A.K.A. one of the most beautiful and iconic Goth Queens of all time, also my idols ^^!). She would also add her own accessories including crescent moon and skull chain embellishments.

Fun fact! Jennifer Hale, who voiced Thorn, is Twyla’s VA 😊

Also, she would occasionally wear soft-material boleros, lace-hemmed or corset tops and flared out pants. But those outfits are usually reserved for early spring and/or summer seasons, but she’d definitely wear one for the fall if she’s feeling like it.

Speaking of seasons, she also wears outfits that are casual, comfortable and classy at the same time, like she’ll wear turtlenecks and keyhole sweaters during the winter. And when the spooky season comes, she will DEFINITELY wear Halloween-themed outfits like

Sleepwear

Once a Goth, always a Goth! And sleeping is no exception. Twyla likes to wear tanks and shorts to bed. She doesn’t have to worry about trying to stay warm during frigid cold winters since she’s a walking fur coat 🤣. She mostly wears pj’s with crescent moon and/or dark occult and celestial patterns.

Bonus! Gangster Suit

She is a gangster like her brother, so whether she’s on a case or other “special occasions”, she wears a suit of her own. And they are, obviously, styled in black and purple. But unlike Tom, she hardly ever wears a tie, so she wears open or one-button blazers over sweetheart tops and form-fitting chain-embedded trousers. She keeps her fedora, her jewelry, and of course, her dangerous dagger heels <3

Twyla is Gothic even as a gangster. I actually plan on posting her gangster outfit drawing before I post Chapter 6 ^^!

[lumilasi]

So i have been scrolling trough your blog for a while now, enjoying the lore and the many beautiful characters and designs. And i keep coming back to your blogs header image, the striking green hair, beautiful lighting, it is amazing, i haven't been able to find the full image though! i would love to see it and hear more about the character! love the design!

Aww thanks! Glad you like them! Also sorry for late(?) response, timezones and all....

This is the full image in the header: (there are 2 versions, can't recall which one it is)

It was part of my Spooktober series last year. (Here's the OG post too)

Her name is Avane Faydream, or Ava Mantis; she's mostly known as Ava by her friends. Ava is a mixed heritage Mantis Fairy-Dreameater where she has abilities belonging to both beings. (Her Dreameater heritage is why she has black wings, typically her kin have green ones. Her eyes also come from her dreameater dad)

The image above is not her "canon" design though, apart from her hair, Here's her actual ref. (Some info below miiight be slightly outdated though, I tend to develop and change things overtime, but the designs at least are up-to-date)

She also has this outfit that was inspired by a really pretty Japanese modern dress I saw online once when researching for inspo for outfits to another character: (Her OG version was Japanese, now she doesn't really have direct connections to human world, but I'd say her mother, if placed on earth, would probably be from Asia somewhere, though not necessarily Japanese.)

Ava is kind of my main lady, because she has direct connections to all of my "main" characters, from working for the Goth Dad Jurou/Alistair as a tattoo artist, to being one of Azul Samaros/ Chester Knight's friends he sometimes ask for help from. (When Azul says he knows someone, he goes "I know a gal" rather than "I know a guy" quite often lol)

She has a boyfriend, a bi Grimmhound (with some Lycan heritage) named Roman Bosco, who used to work for a human mobster (or more like was forced to/the guy was also in love with him but in kind of a toxic way....) and he's one of those absolute sweetheart, romantic teddy bear guys. (His ref here if you wanna learn more about Roman)

(Roman has vitiligo btw)

Her dad Lawrence is sort of the 'antagonist' for my main story Night City Parlor, and she sort of tends to meddle in her dad's business to try and protect people from his influence. This includes Jurou, she actually went to work for him to secretly keep an eye on him, knowing her dad would be interested in someone as powerful as Jurou. (She also works together with her uncle, who ends up becoming Jurou's love interest lol)

She loves her dad dearly, but he's somewhat gone off the deep end after what happened to his wife/her mother; he's not coping with her condition well, burying himself in his dangerous and important work, which has started to erode his moral code. As a result, Ava feels the need to protect others from her dad's worse tendencies. (Ava has some of these personality traits from her dad, where she has the capability to be somewhat manipulative and occasionally struggles with empathy. Unlike her dad though, she is self-aware of this and actively works on not giving in on her worse impulses, and will let her friends/BF/Family call her out on it and listen)

I guess I can also list couple of fun facts:

Ava's design took me SO long to get into a place where I liked it. This is kind of typical for me with ladies for some reason, but once I did manage to create something I loved, she quickly became one of my favorite characters.

Ava has a couple of friend groups; 1. the day-to-day one with her coworker and friend Claude, as well as their boss' adoptive son (and Claude's BF) Caelan. 2. Her "sneaky action" group which includes both the former and current right hand woman of her dad, Marci and Aimi. (Typically ones she goes to, when she wants to meddle into her dad's business, or alternatively do something more dangerous lol) 3. Her Girl Bestie, Taiga (A kitsune, works at a hair salon she often goes to, they do girls night hangouts)

Ava is Demiromantic/Demisexual, she basically had no interest in either until she met Roman and slowly developed feelings for him. (She was actually kind of worried her dominant personality would be off-putting to him given his history, but they had a honest talk about it and he basically didn't mind because she tries her best to be the best version of herself despite her mental hiccups)

Ava is NOT good with kids, she has no proper patience to deal with them, and tends to be awkward around children. That being said she tends to try and be a good role model to the ones she has around her in her day-to-day life (namely her boss Jurou's daughter, who's a huge fan of hers lol).

Ava has a lightning bolt tattoo (not shown on the images above, given they are timed before she got it) designed for her by Roman. She basically appeared suddenly in his life like a 'lightning from clear skies' and completely changed things for him, gave him a chance to built the kind of life he'd actually want to live, instead of being forced to work for a criminal.

This got kinda long, but that's what happens when you get asked about your characters I suppose lmao

[satosktty]

gothic gojo headcanons ..

Satoru mainly delves into lolita, trad, romantic, and mall-goth; indulging in multiple alternative fashion aspects but also aligning with the subcultures dark romanticism literature and darker interests — Satoru canonically is well versed in Japanese mythicism along with history // I think he would enjoy sharing some of the less known parts with Shoko when he's up for it.

He enjoys reading and being whisked away especially by Edgar Allen Poe; he has a very close attachment to ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allen Poe as one of the first short stories he's ever read for the Dark genre. He also delves into the Gothic fiction genre and loves horror films and games; a favorite of his being Haunting Ground and the Siren Series

He doesn't often wear the stereotypical gothic colors and has mainly Haute Couture outfits made; he wears a lot of whites, lighter colors ( sometimes lighter blues ) and then a mix of darker, more common gothic based color schemes. His fashion is also heavily inspired by visual kei as well.

He enjoys very over the top fashion-styles and tends to accessorize a lot with necklaces; heavy belts, skirt and dress layering. In gothic-lolita he especially adores the doll-like look with lots of laces and ruffles.

— His favorite bands that are adjacent to Vkei and Goth culture consist of Kuroyume Sex Pistols , Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Kane to Juusel, and The Cocteau Twin

He’s also pretty big on nu-goth ( especially inspired by misa amane and the other death note characters that can be more described with this style and a mixture of mall goth and visual kei ( ex; mello ); he uses Mello and Misa as inspiration for day to day styles when he doesn't feel the urge to dress up entirely into trad or lolita goth stylization.

He has a fixation with the history behind literature and artistic movements and decides to get into art; perfecting it in two weeks which bored him to death. But at least if Yuji or the other students ever asked him to draw something he'd wow them.

Is invested in so many fashion styles that he changes up a lot; loves experimentation and practically the embodiment of anti-fashion. Hates Enfants Riches Deprimes so much but loved the design behind one of their 2024 season outfits; he spitefully learned to sew and design just to make it and wear it without supporting him.

Most likely a lurker on alternative chatwebs; getting into more music he can enjoy of most genres - they start group chats filled with osts and niche vocaloids and other rare music pieces

[angelmelon]

love her but this reminds me of an (honestly petty, you don’t have to take this seriously) complaint I’ve had for awhile

Rusty not knowing. What fucking aesthetic she’s going for with ANYONE

okay so for example; I was tryna get help on GAP designs with my mom once and was going to Blair (not Blaire, obligatory spelling change. Blair Veronica Hromova and Blaire Hopburn are very different characters, establishing this for the inevitable conflation by idiots) and my mother’s first question when I asked for help on her outfit was her aesthetic (or, rather, her “style” as she put it, but she meant the same thing essentially)

I paused for like 20 fucking seconds and said “uh, her inspiration is like….?????” …… “?? Aussie?? Goth beach girl?? Who also dresses like a basic pumpkin spice bitch but with an unusually alt haircut but also she wears a Juicy top once (very much not a 2016 thing, by the way 😭😭)” and then. Eventually, very confused with a wee bit of sweat on her brow, she sends me a picture of her friend over text!! Now I’m gonna do an artistic recreation as to not doxx this woman:

I mean… yeah shows that from a description multiple people can fit it. But at the same time shows that both me AND my mom were really fucking confused upon hearing a description of Blaire

also Poppy being punk is kinda funny to me like she definitely fit it more when she actually HAD Liberty Spikes but whatever flat goku ripoff bullshit she has now is making me think corporate punk more than anything. Also the weird off the shoulder top Rusty gives “HOP” characters when she can’t think of how to dress them… horrendous

also aside from Shez most of the Yonique workers I simply cannot pick up on an aesthetic (which. Sure, okay, they’re just dressed casual), nor any PREFERENCES of (KIND OF A BAD THING WHEN YOURE DESIGNING CHARACTERS TO HAVE BOTH NO AESTHETIC NOR ANY PERSONALITY TO DISCERN FROM THEIR DESIGN) from how they dress. The outfits change from boring outfit to other, not even tangentially related boring outfit so quickly that it’s just. Confusing

at first I actually interpreted Riley’s style from the cover and a few of the first stuff I saw from the comic as being. like. “Hello sir I am her partner” type respectful timid dork boyfriend woman edition. Which. MAKES SENSE she was seemingly very recently disfellowshipped from a cult where the majority of disfellowshipped members kinda sit in the back of meetings hoping to be reinstated for like at least half a year before giving it up. Like, even if she became comfortable with butch fashion at some point (good for her, everyone recovers at their own pace) there’s that sort of awkwardness you can discern from people with religious trauma (coming straight from the horse’s mouth, except my trauma is from Catholicism, not JWs), and since this is character design, it’s cool to see that come across in the way she dresses too. …then I saw her dressing basically the same as Jaden in the first chapter and got really really confused. The inconsistencies are really distracting. They’re fictional characters. Either dress them in the same thing (aside from in like. Special cases like ballroom night I guess??) or if they change outfits all the time keep their preferences CONSISTENT so I KNOW WHO THAT IS

like Riley’s sihlouette in chapter 11.5 VS in ballroom night is completely different and it pisses me off to no end as an avid character designer

want to know how to do good gender nonconforming character designs?? The like million characters from Cookie Run are RIGHT THERE

Woman

Man

Shoutout to Cookie Run one of my favorite references for character design in general

Found some Blaire bits too!

Wuv my wifey so baaaaad aaaghh 💜

[lostwithspace]

//I can’t find me posting this earlier, so I guess I should post this now

Kusa being his goth-y self, by Nnamierart

[cowboyjen68]

hello! i just want to say first of all i love your tiktoks :-) and also, i have a question. would a butch lesbian be "allowed" to wear makeup? i've always felt very "masculine" (like the way you described it on your tiktok page as being a sort of energy) and that is reflected in the way i dress and otherwise present myself. i also have read many experiences of other butch women and relate to them. however i also like to wear makeup sometimes (usually in a pretty dramatic way, inspired by my friends who are drag queens) just because i think it looks cool and feels like drawing or painting & becoming kind of a character. but i also know that butch women generally do not wear makeup and that seems like a pretty important part of the label/identity . sorry this is so long but i'd really appreciate hearing your perspective on it!

This is hard for me to answer. I have always had an aversion to make up. I always figured it was because I was "lazy" but also knew on some level that I thought wearing it would attract the one kind of attention I was supposed to want but DID not want.. the attention of boys and men.

My sister is a strong, independent straight woman and she loves makes up and looks good with or without it. In her younger years she wore it to look good for men, but now, married for over 40 years to the same man she just loves playing with the colors and the "art" of it.

I still have no interest in make up. I hate the way it feels, looks, the time suck, the money, all holds no appeal for me and that is probably a bit due to being butch but also my general personality. I have little patience for that much work. I enjoy seeing women wear make up because it helps them feel better about themselves. I hold no judgement on women who have more confidence once they have put on make up.

I am unendingly grateful and honored when I know my girlfriend put on make up because she wants to look nice.. for herself and for me. I think she looks as beautiful all puffy faced with sleep lines in the morning sun as she does dressed up and with make up on. But it is okay to want to dress up, to put effort into looking nice for oneself or for a loved one. My opinion.

I don't really know any butches in my age group or near that who wear make up. BUT when I was younger my butch friends were more like to experiment with things like goth make up or more artistic looks. Mostly for nights to the club and not so much day to day. Many butches of all ages might us concealer or other cover ups to feel less self conscious about skin blemishes or scars. This is human nature.

Butch, to ME, is not so much as an identity but a word used to describe what is an innate and recognizable energy that is unique to masculine lesbians. SO IF I decided to one day wear make up I would still be recognized as butch by those who understand, and even by those who are not sure what they are picking up on. And it would, quite frankly, be weird enough that people would ask me if I am "ok". LOL

Wearing Make up does not "take away your butch card" . It is just not something most butches enjoy or care to try. But butches come in all personalities and interests. Butch is how we see ourselves AND very much how we are perceived with no effort from us.

[kissagii]

sorry for this, but is there a little chance i could get a moodboard with my new description for matchups? 👉🏻👈🏻

my name's tsuki, i'm 17, my pronouns are she/her, i'm bisexual with female preferences and bilingual, i can speak italian which is my native language and english because i have foreign and living abroad relatives.

i'm 5'11, i have fair skin, round shaped face with a small double chin, potato nose, long brown hair with blonde shatush, undercut and bangs usually tied up or braided, dark brown/hazel eyes, thick black eyebrows, small and rosy lips, i wear glasses and i'm chubby. i don't think i have a specific aesthetic or clothing style, but i like dressing cute but comfortable.

my occupation: i'm a student at artistic high school with specialization in scenography and i take singing lessons at a music academy, probably i'm gonna start riding horses soon.

infp, enneagram type 4, kuudere, ravenclaw, lawful good, sun gemini ascending pisces with moon gemini and descending virgo, i have both daddy issues and mommy issues, i have ADHD focused more on the attention disorder, borderline tendenting and i also suffer from emotional dependency.

i'm fatherless and i have a complicated relationship with my mom, i also lost a lot of people that meant the world to me so that's why i tend to get attached to people.

i'd describe myself as a crybaby, impulsive, anxious, envious, touchy, logorroic, stubborn, ambivert, loyal, friendly, honest, sensitive, empathic, open-minded, insecure (i have a low self-esteem), patient, imaginative, little bit of a perfectionist, easily affectionating and trusting people who are nice to me, i usually relate to dark/goth characters but i'm actually a softie and whenever i'm interested in someone, i can act very awkward, trying to get close to them. i can't control my emotions by myself well.

my love language are words of affermation, acts of services, gifts and physical contact (both giving and receiving).

my hobbies are singing, dancing, writing, cosplay, manga reading, drawing and baking, i would say cooking but i mostly do that to survive.

i like: listening to music, mugs, crystals, yankee candles, witchcraft, astrology, butterflies, art, makeup, self-care, perfumes, rainy days, staying in bed all day, comedy, shopping, plushies, watching youtube, cats, dark colors, pastel colors, musicals, sweaters, sunflowers, lillies, travel abroad, vampires, mermaids and nymphs, junk food, desserts.

i own a pandora bracelet and each charm i collect describes my personality and hobbies, but most of time I forget to wear it.

i dislike: anxiety, panic attacks, being the tallest, discussing news and policity, raspberry kisses, tickle, balloons, fireworks, static electricity, snakes, watermelon, eggplants and zucchini with seeds, citrus fruits, coffee, sodas, being alone for too long, spending too much time on my phone, when someone close to me is sad like crying or has an important medical check-up, foot fetish, horror stuff (I'm rarely into it), eat in front of other people, i can't stand parents which don't allow their kids to go to therapy when they ask for it because they need.

thank you in advance and sorry for the poem... 😅

of course!! i was actually hoping you'd request so i could get an example matchup on the blog haha

i match you with...

𝕞𝕚𝕜𝕒𝕤𝕒 𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕟

and

𝕟𝕠𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕒 𝕜𝕦𝕘𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕜𝕚

[the-sound-of-her-wings]

I Am Not Starfire, And That's Okay

I recently read I Am Not Starfire and I had lots of thoughts, which are under the cut. It is spoiler-heavy and an analysis of the main character, who I find to be a charming, flawed, and incredibly human character.

Mandy is a fascinating character and a great look at a teenage girl who feels ostracized by the people around her and who feels disconnected from her parent. Mandy is by no means flawless, and that's what makes her very interesting. It also makes her relatable.

Mandy starts by talking about how she's noticeably different from her mom, being the "Anti-Starfire". She's a regular kid, can't fly, and doesn't own a swimsuit, while her mom is a superhero, can fly, and always wears bikinis.

On page 11 she mentions "her mom hasn't liked how I looked since I was twelve. She wears less than a yard of fabric every day, yet somehow, I'm the one who's dressing weird". While I understand people who call this slut-shaming, and I'm inclined to agree, but I think it's a little more nuanced than that. The next page reads, "My friend Lincoln convinced me this is the cultural divide that happens between family generations born in different countries or universes. His parents were born in Vietnam." This tells me that the authors intended to point out the difference in dress more as another difference between Starfire and Mandy, and less as a reason to blatantly slut-shame Starfire. I think there's absolutely a conversation to be had about why the authors decided to use this language instead of conveying the point differently. I also think it speaks to how Starfire has more or less been sexualized from inception, and how people look down upon her character because of that. In the context of this book, though, it's one of Mandy's character flaws that I think fits her both as a character and reflects what I've seen from actual teenage girls. Our society coaches us to view women who dress a certain way as less than women who don't and unlearning that takes time and effort. I don't think this comment about her mom should have been put in there by the authors, but I do think it fits in with the values American society in particular teaches about women.

Page 15, 16, and 17 all point to a far more complicated state of existence than Mandy points out within the first few pages. For one thing, Mandy has to deal with people who love her mother and only want to use her to get information about her mom and the other teen titans. This is shown by the "Titan groupies" who ask her to tell Starfire what they say about her. Another thing she has to deal with is the expectation to be a superhero and have powers like her mom, and the questions about who her dad might be. She gains her first real friend, Lincoln, because he tells the people asking about her parentage that they are assholes.

It is revealed that Mandy has a crush on Claire after she gets assigned a group project with her. Mandy is in denial over the crush. She thinks about the fact she's meeting Mandy at the end of the day throughout the rest of the school day, causing her to explode something in Chemistry Class. I find this to be highly relatable and gives her character a softer side to the edginess she desperately tries to portray herself as.

While talking about the project with Claire, it is revealed that Mandy ran out of her SATs and didn't complete them. While Mandy tries to paint this as a cool badass moment, the way the comic artist portrays the scene makes me think Mandy had an anxiety attack. Mandy didn't run out of her SAT because she's some kind of alternative badass who doesn't need to take them. Mandy ran out because she got overwhelmed by the sounds of people chewing and the pressure of the test. While she frames it differently, it's clear to me that Mandy is avoiding taking the SAT again because she doesn't want that to happen again.

When Claire invites her to hang out with her friends, Mandy gets treated like she isn't there, or as some kind of unwanted outsider. The topics they discuss seem to be specifically made to make Mandy uncomfortable, like mentioning how stretchy jeans are only made for fat people, and asking if aliens don't go to college. Jaded by this, Mandy makes up that aliens actually have to go through this huge blood right and battle to the death, but tells Claire's two friends she was joking before leaving. This tells me that Mandy deflects her pain by using humor to cope and has no issue clowning on people who are trying to belittle her for being an alien.

Starfire tries to bring up going to college after this, and Mandy just flees to her room. She hasn't told her mom she didn't take the SAT yet or that she isn't going to college. She feels distant from her mom, which is explained further through a montage of birthdays where she never got her powers. Her mom expects a lot from her, and Mandy thinks Starfire is disappointed about her lack of powers.

Later, Mandy invites Claire over to her house to complete the project they are working on. The Titans are still there when Claire arrives, but she seems to ignore them, as they leave shortly after. Mandy and Claire bond as they continue the project. Mandy reveals to the reader that she's never had a girlfriend, except for one time at sleep-away camp where she kind of dated a girl for four weeks. She didn't tell her who her mom was because she was tired of living in the shadow of a superhero. But the relationship ended because Mandy had lied about who her mom was, and the girl she was dating didn't understand why she would lie. I think this really shows just how much Mandy actually wants to be a normal girl like everyone else, to the extent that she'd lie about who her mom was. Her edgy demeanor at school and around town where her mom is known to be her mom is a defense mechanism to having lived under the shadow of a superhero her entire life.

When it's revealed that Claire took a photo with the Titans at Mandy's house, Mandy is understandable heartbroken, and furious. She thought she had been making a real connection with Claire, but this photo makes her think she's been used, again. Claire seems genuinely baffled by Mandy's reaction to this, thinking little of it. But to Mandy, it is a breach of trust from someone she thought cared about her. I think her angry reaction to Claire makes sense because of this, even if it might have been disproportionate to the offense.

On top of this, Starfire has discovered that Mandy walked out of the SAT and doesn't plan to go to college. After a heated conversation, she runs away, but her mom finds her. And then Blackfire finds her. Turns out the fake story she told Claire's friends earlier in the story was actually true, even though Mandy didn't know it.

Since Claire actually cares about Mandy, she tracks down Lincoln who explains to her why Mandy reacted badly, and that she should probably apologize for taking the photo. Claire also admits that one of the friends from earlier, Deb, actually dared her to take the photo. Claire is a good person at heart, but this action shows that she can still be influenced to do something that would hurt another person. And while she might not have known it would hurt Mandy, Deb probably did.

Starfire and Blackfire fight since Mandy has no powers, but Starfire gets injured causing Mandy to realize just how much she loves and cares about her mom, even though they don't see eye to eye on most things. This finally unlocks her powers, as she's let go of most of the resentment she's held against her mom. She even gets asked for an autograph by someone in the audience after the battle.

The story ends with Mandy training her powers, studying for the SAT, and reconciling with Claire, sharing a kiss, and becoming girlfriends.

I've seen a lot of discourse that frames Mandy as being "not like other girls". I don't believe this framing actually fits Mandy very well. The only girl Mandy ever says she is not like explicitly is her mom. She is the only woman she compares herself too, and the only person who she seems to have a lot of resentment for, aside from people who use her to get to Starfire. Additionally, Mandy falls for someone who is what a stereotypical, normal popular girl is often portrayed as. She's preppy, wears makeup, gets good grades, has friends, and runs a fairly popular Instagram account. If Mandy was extremely into the "Not like other girls" rhetoric, she would've made fun of Claire for all those things. Instead, she admires her for them. Mandy is fat, has acne/freckles, dresses goth, and wears a nose ring. If this is the reason people are identifying her as a "Not like other girls" girl, then they don't understand that trope. Simply dressing differently from your peers, being fat, and hating your mom does not make her the "not like other girls" trope. It actually makes her like other, real-life girls who dress and act similarly, because that's who they are, not because they somehow think they are better than other women.

I'd also make the argument that, fundamentally, Mandy IS different from other girls on the account of having a superhero mother and potentially a superhero father. Her life is completely altered by Starfire's existence as her mom and is likely only relatable to the children of other superheroes and celebrities. She is not like other girls because of her mom, and that still doesn't make her someone who falls in line with the conception of being "not like other girls".

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope others do too. I read Mandy as a flawed character who was trying to figure out how to exist outside the Shadow of her mom- and eventually succeeds, by learning to embrace her mom. I would've preferred if Mandy had a slightly darker skin tone, as her features seem black-coded to me and Starfire is also often black-coded. Otherwise, I do think this was one of the best DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults I've read, alongside Teen Titans: Beast Boy and Teen Titans: Raven.

[purekesseltrash]

Chapter 12 of Bury Them Deep, the final chapter, is out!

Fave Excerpt:

Mezou jammed his hands inside of his coat pockets, unsure of what to say or even do besides grin like an idiot.  Tokoyami came to a stop finally and stared at Mezou, mouth open as if he was about to speak.  He gaped for a moment more before a distinctly annoyed look came across his features.  “Fuck,” he hissed, “I had a whole speech that I was thinking up on the way here and suddenly I have found my mind to be a blank slate.”

Mezou laughed, unable to help himself, “I don’t need speeches.”

Tokoyami stepped forward to grab at Mezou’s coat, his grip firm and his face honest, “You deserve them.  I fear I am an incurable romantic and this is simply how I function.  But my words have fled like cowards and the only part of the speech that I can remember is this, but it is the important part.  Let me take you on a date.  A real one.”

“I’d like that,” Mezou said softly.

Fun Facts:

- Hand to god, I had not decided on names for all of Shouji’s siblings until I had to write them.  Thank you, Japanese Name Generator.  Though Makoto is another Sailor Moon reference.  I also had not know that Shouji’s mom was where he got his artistic eye from, though I am glad for it.

- My favorite Hip song is ‘Lake Fever’ or ‘Scared’.  I thought that the lyric in Lake Fever was ‘You whispered Courage’ for the longest time, legitimately until I checked the lyrics to write the pivotal fucking scene only to find out that no, it was ‘hurry’.  It all worked out, thank GOD.

- IDK if anyone noticed, but I ship them as Tokoshouji, as opposed to Shoutoko.  I like the idea of Tokoyami being one taking the initiative better and it seems to fit his character anyway.  I don’t see this dynamic often and it drives me nuts because I could write an ESSAY on why it works so well.  Idk.

- Not even gonna lie, the last Mic segment made me cry.  It was like my final good bye to everyone reading, it’s personal.  And it’s basically me peeking out there, as opposed to just Mic.  For all of hockey’s shitty aspects, it’s the best game in the world.  I love it and I want it to be good and I will do what I can to make it be good.

More stuff under the read more about my future plans with this universe:

- So I have written a chapter and a half of an Erasermic prequel, basically telling the story of what happened when Shouta retired and ended up drugged to the gills and numb to the world at Hizashi’s doorstep, despite the two of them not having seen each other in legitimately over 10 years.

- I also have a side story of Kirishima and Bakugou, both with an idea of how they got together as well as what happens to them when they get to the NHL.  (Spoilers:  Kirishima does not have a good time as the first out and gay NHLer.  He basically gets buried in the minors despite being legitimately good.  Eventually he finally quits hockey way too young.  Bakugou meanwhile is a generational talent and is legit too good to bury in the minors.  When Kirishima retires, Bakugou flies to Tokoyami and Shouji’s house, where Kirishima is licking his wounds, and is like ‘Marry me.’  Kirishima tells him that he’s only going to say yes if Bakugou proposes with a Cup ring and Bakugou is like ‘Bet’.

- I also have one in mind on Ojiro and Shinsou.  They had an amicable breakup when they graduated, both understanding that the life of a hockey wife wasn’t gonna work for Ojiro.  Ojiro went on to meet a super cool alt girl through the info sec community and they got married and had a daughter.  They end up splitting up amicably when their daughter is around 7 and split custody without much of an issue.  Ojiro works remotely and lives in what is basically a lake cabin up in northern Minnesota.  He and Shinsou have kept in touch and when Shinsou finally retires, he comes to visit Ojiro.  The fic would go over them meeting up again.

- And then, of course, there’s Shouji and Tokoyami.

They get their shitty apartment in Atlanta.  Kenta helps them with the deposit and also goes with Shouji as he tries to find one.  Shouji ends up getting taken on by Orca, a buddy of Loder’s who generally doesn’t take Midwestern farm boys on as apprentices but he makes an exception, despite the fact that his work very afro centric.  Shouji is a nice guy though and a damned hard worker and has a good eye so Orca keeps him on for a long while.  Shouji still ends up picking up a bunch of odd jobs here and there, mostly grunt work like putting up drywall, but it gets him and Tokoyami through the absolute agony that is legal school.

Tokoyami goes into intellectual property law.  He knows how much work goes in to art and creative stuff and he wants to protect people like Shouji.  He ends up making a pretty nice living and they’re able to pay off the credit card debt that they accumulated during Tokoyami going through law school.  Shouji actually starts doing pretty well for himself too, mostly with his pottery but still with some sculpture.  Eventually Tokoyami proposes that they move to Raleigh, both because it makes sense for both of them and their jobs and well... because they have a hockey team.

Shouji never gave up hockey.  He had some years right after college where he did struggle to even look at his gear.  He had told his parents that he was gay and not going to the NHL over the phone as they were planning to come to his graduation, because he just couldn’t take them wasting money when he knew that they would never want to talk to him again.  Unfortunately, he was right.  Kenta still came to his graduation though and had two bullhorns that he slammed the entire time that Shouji was accepting his diploma.  He even brought Shouji his own pride flag and insisted on taking a picture with him holding it.  He posted the picture on his facebook with a very bold pronouncement that he was very proud of the first Shouji to get a college degree and how anyone that had a problem with his little brother could take it up with Kenta.  Still, Shouji went through some real mourning with the loss of his family and he took a small break.

But then he came back to it, once they started to get a little extra spending money.  He found a beer league group in Atlanta and started to really get back into the game, researching ways to improve in his downtime.  It got a little weird sometimes at the beer league games because sometimes Shouji would forget that he’d decided to wear eyeshadow or would forget that he had on entirely wrong undergarments but everyone accepts that goalies are weird so it was accepted.  Eventually he ends up having people ask him to coach for their kids, which he is loathe to do until Tokoyami points out that it’s better than Shouji do it, as someone who knows how damaging expectations and pressure can be, than anyone else.  So that becomes a little part time job of his.

Everything isn’t perfect for Shouji and Tokoyami.  Nothing is perfect.  Tokoyami is a borderline hoarder and Shouji can’t stand mess and that causes them to fight enough that they wisely seek counselling. But they’re happy.  Tokoyami eases up on the goth stuff and accepts his accent a bit more, though he still dresses in dark colors, especially for court.  Shouji actually gets to play around a little with the whole genderqueer thing and makes up for the time that he spent avoiding anything that would make him seem too gay.  And they still work really well together, becoming the pair that everyone from college kind of groans at, because they’re so ridiculously in love, but also envies.

They get season tickets to the Carolina Hurricaines.  You’ll see them with Tokoyami in a Devils jersey and Shouji with one of many from his massive collection.  Tokoyami will make comments here and there during the game, showing that he does actually listen when Shouji talks about goalie stuff and they only ever miss a game for gallery openings or work events.  Otherwise, they are there in their seats, holding hands and watching the game.

Feel free to ask me any questions!  I’m more than happy to talk about this, if you couldn’t tell.  (Also, I do have some half written smut so uh.... yeah.)

[aroaceacacia]

why you should check out future smp!

future smp is a small minecraft server started by mysticat, frostbyte freeman, and animagician. the server's whitelist now has a roster of 23 very cool creators, including people like pixelcraftian, zyphon, and firebreathman!

every player is genuinely such a sweet person. like i cannot tell you enough how great they are. theyre thoughtful and they try to learn, and listen if theyve been corrected. they're all so nice to be around. a rly great bunch.

they have lore! it's not super intense, just every few streams or so they do in character stuff. and they let us know beforehand and usually will have lore in the title. and if you're behind on lore, they have a lore document summarizing events so far for people who've missed things! in addition, the events of the christmas arc are on youtube :)

frostbyte freeman's monologues are legitimately a reason you should watch this, mans improvises dramatic ass speeches and heartfelt, real, and raw character arcs and THEN goes on twitter and posts screenshots of a build hes made as part of a character beat and leaves us an emotional playlist with a title in italian

they're all pretty young! the streamers range in age from 13 year old apden to 23 year old mysticat. it's honestly really cool to be watching creators who are younger than me (and who are peers in age with many of my friends) because it feels kind of like I am supporting a younger sibling sometimes. makes me proud. and especially with that in mind, their maturity is astonishing - apden in particular was one of the creators at the forefront of calling out a creator who was scamming and sexually harassing people.

they are Queer !! that I know of there are 4 members who use any pronouns, two gay people, and two bisexuals!

they are funny! frost's weird ass dynamics with literally everyone else make me laugh out loud, mysty has such great comedic timing, deadhawk and longjaws have a really cozy and fun dynamic that fills me with joy, they're all so much fun. wolfeei showing up to a presidential campaign debate wearing a shirtless buff skin. keegan deciding that his detective uniform is a maid dress. bigman walking up to the mic and saying "free my mans he ain't do nothing wrong" in response to wrongfully incarcerated animagician asking which candidates would free him. jack notsouls being a flower loving catboy who thinks that giving flowers to the ominous void rift in the sky is a good idea

the community is really great! we're mostly based on twitter where the creators tend to hang out but its really great being able to easily interact with them and each other, like we have a groupchat there and a discord server! it's a lot of fun and just about everyone in the community is wonderful. it's an interesting mishmash of people from the creators' stream chats/fanbases pre-smp, irl friends, online friends, and people who came because they saw frost's "how the blue bats won mcc 9" video and liked his content and found future that way

they appreciate artists SO much. a bunch of them have fanart reels with credits on their streams, they reply to just about everything, they get so happy to see art you have no idea. they have the custom pictures in item frames plugin on the server so they can hang fanart! they have art by me and by many of my friends on the walls of the government building! hell j even wrote a fic and linked it on twitter and the guy I wrote it about read and approved it! and to top it all off they Commissioned Me to make them their official group picture, like! that's supporting artists baby!!!

you want interesting character designs? they have two frogs, a cat, a penguin, a bird, a tedsattic, an ironstarr, and a literal cookie. rinnly wears a box on their head. dec is a goth. pixelcraftian is a funny little man. john needs a life is a jojo cosplayer. bigman is a snowman. bigman is also the president. the penguin is his secretary of defense.

a handful of them are current or former MCC testers, many of whom met or became testers because they were runner-up mcc 10 applicants, and dec is a noxcrew artist! theyve also participated in smaller events in the community, or even bigger ones, like minecraft ultimate! the upcoming retro rivals event has 4 future smp members on team space invaders (the fact that they didnt put pixelcraftian, the man whose brand is Loving Mario, on the mario team is a crime).

this is a long post but I'm dead serious please check them out!! I'll link their introduction slide show in the notes, which is a good place to start for most of these creators!

[nonconstories]

Okay I watch WAY too much true crime for someone with anxiety this bad so Ronan scares me the most out of the pack. 😭😂 Love addict had me on the edge of my seat bc what if Justin came home suddenly!? My favorite characters are Alice and Fletcher! I love badass women and Fletcher must be protected at all costs. Moondrunk is one of my favorite stories just perfect! I know they’re all your babies but who’s your favorite? Do you have a favorite story or just one that you had a ton of fun writing?? Sorry if I’m being too nosy or asking too many questions! From one writer to another youre very talented! 🐝

You're not asking too many questions, Bee, this makes my day!!! I'm thrilled Ronan freaked you out so much, and I'm double thrilled to hear that you love Alice and Fletch so much! I have a deep fascination with true crime too; while I didn't draw inspo from any particular serial murderer for Ro, that is the vibe I was shooting for.

For favorite characters: Kase is REALLY up there. I love writing a character who buries his social awkwardness under ten tons of Displaced Rage and Aggression and I have a huge soft spot for tortured artists who dress like a 90's goth wardrobe threw up on them. Alice is up there too; I grew up on a steady diet of Buffy and Totally Spies...she's also the spiritual successor to an RPG character whose story came to an end earlier this year (RIP Juliet, you were one of a kind).

For favorite stories: Teeth and Karma will always hold a special place in my heart, as will Moondrunk. Unstable Compounds was INCREDIBLY fun to write, just because Mace is so unhinged.

Thank you for your kind words, Bee. You're a gift.

[elskamo]

any mtf duncan hcs/concepts my b ?! 👀💖✨

I am loving this concept, I feel like I’ve been seeking out a lot of trans/NB headcanons for characters since I’ve been free to explore my own gender identity more. That artwork I reblogged for FTM Duncan the other day is still playing on my mind, I kinda wanna send an ask to the artist to tell them how much I love it and how validating it is but I feel so awkward doing that when anon is off, then again when I do stuff anonymously I’m pretty sure you all know I sent it anyway!

One of my friends really likes the idea of genderfluid or MTF Duncan so I did some sketches a while ago for him to help us visualise it better. I struggled a bit getting the body right since I couldn’t find a TD body type to work from that fit but I feel like the aesthetic was pretty good. I live by the beach and we also have a pretty big punk/goth scene here too so a lot of the fashion is full of knee or thigh high boots, fishnets and ripped jeans type stuff, and a lot of crop or tank tops and I feel like Duncan would enjoy wearing those kinds of looks. I like the idea that Duncan really explores his identity through his fashion so some days are dressed down with baggy band shirts and other days he goes full on with those massive converse boots and jean shorts. Duncan also does a lot of stuff with piercings and having his hair dyed in canon so I can definitely see him experimenting with different piercings, jewellery, dye, and makeup.

I’ve mentioned a lot in private chat and I think at least a few times on my blog that Duncan struggles A LOT with toxic masculinity and identity issues. You can see it plain as day on the show that as much as he tries to play it off he cares so much about what others think of him, he’s constantly thinking of how he appears to others and wondering what they make of his image. Some of his behaviour also reeks of teenage boy putting up a front, a lot of his actions seemed pretty forced to me when I was watching like with the flirting and bullying, like he only did it because it was expected of him. That could just be me interpreting things wrong but I always thought something seemed really off about it. I feel like all this behaviour he’s exhibited would make it extremely hard for him to fully come to terms with his gender identity and that he wouldn’t be able to explore it, come out, or transition until he has some proper support in place like a councillor or support group.

Other ideas and things I like for this I guess are: Donna as a new name, DJ and Geoff changing their little trio’s name from Killer Bass Boys to Killer Bass Buddies to show their support, DJ taking Donna out on a ‘first date’ kinda thing as friends so she can get the whole chivalrous guy and pampered girl experience, Alejandro taking her on a genuine first date and being super in love with her because I’m Aleduncan trash, Heather and Courtney trying to teach her how to walk in heels and her looking like Bambi trying to walk for the first time, casually stealing some of the TDI girls clothes to try and see how they’d look on her, the girls letting her keep the stuff she stole because of how cute she looks wearing them.

[la5t-res0rt]

this was written several weeks ago in response to asks i was receiving i am posting it now it is very long the longest i have ever made and it is not very well edited but here it is in this final essay i talk about how shitty rae is about black people in her writing as well as just me talking about how her writing sucks in general lets begin

hello everyone 

as you may know i have received a lot of anons in the last week or so about issues of racism in the beetlejuice community both just generally speaking and also within specific spaces 

i was very frustrated to not be getting the answers i wanted because i typically do not talk about what i do not see but in an effort to be better about discourse i went looking through discourse from before my time in the fandom and i also received some receipts and information from my followers and from some friends

keep in mind that the voices and thoughts of bipoc are not only incredibly important at all times but in this circumstance it is important that if a bipoc has something to add you listen and learn and be better

i admit that when this happened i wasnt aware of the extent of what occurred and im angry at myself for not doing more at that time and i want to work harder to make sure something like this doesnt go unnoticed again

im a hesitant to talk about months old discourse because i have been criticized for bringing up quote old new unquote but this is very important and i am willing to face whatever comes from to me

lets talk about this

content from our local racist idiot that may be months old but its important

putting my thoughts under a cut to spare the dash but before i begin obviously this is awful

lets fucking unpack this folks

right out the gate op states that she supports artistic freedom but then within a couple words she goes against that statement

being entirely canon compliant isnt artistic freedom and even so if this person has so much respect for canon they wouldnt be out here erasing lydias obvious disgust for beetlejuice in the movie or ignoring lydias age for the sake of shipping that shit isnt canon either 

also we love the quick jab at the musical there hilarious we love it dont we because god forbid a licensed and successful branch on a media have any standing in this conversation but whatever

now lets scroll down and talk about the term racebending

the term racebending was coined around 2009 in response to the avatar the last airbender movie a film in which the east asian races of the characters were erased by casting white actors in the three leading roles of aang sokka and katara 

whenever the term racebending is used in a negative light it is almost always a case of whitewashing like casting scarlett johansen in ghost in the shell or the casting of white actors of the prince of persia sands of time instead of iranian ones

this kind of racebending erases minorities from beeing seen in media and is wrong

all that being said however racebending has also been noted to have very positive after effects like the 1997 adaptation of cinderella or casting samuel jackson as nick fury in the marvel movies nick fury was originally a white guy can you even imagine

i read this piece from an academic that said quote writers can change the race and cultural specificity of central characters or pull a secondary character of color from the margins transforming them into the central protagonist unquote

racebending like the kind that rae is so heated about is the kind of creative freedom that leads to more representation of bipoc in media which will never be a bad thing ever no matter how pissy you get about it

designing a version of a character as a poc isnt serving to make them necessarily better it serves to give new perspective and perhaps the opportunity to connect even more deeply with a character it doesnt marginalize or erase white people it can uplift poc and if you think uplifting poc is wrong because it tears down white people or whatever youre a fucking moron and you need to get out of your podunk white folk town and see the real world

the numbers of times a bipoc particularly a bipoc that is also lgbt+ has been represented in media are dwarfed by what i as a white dude have seen myself represented in media is and that isnt okay that isnt equality and its something that should change not only in mainstream media but in fandom spaces as well

lets move down a bit further to the part about bullying straight people which is hilarious and lets also talk about the term fetishistic as well lets start with that

this person literally writes explicit pornography of a minor and an adult are we really going to let someone like that dictate what is and what isnt fetishistic

similarly to doing a positive racebend situation people may project lgbt+ headcanons on a character because its part of who they are and it helps them feel closer to the character and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that

depicting lgbt+ subject matter on existing characters isnt an inherently fetishistic action generally things only really become fetishistic when the media is being crafted and hyped by people who are outside of lgbt+ community for example how young teens used to flip a tit about yaoi or how chasers fetishize trans people

but drawing a character with top surgery scars or headcanoning them as trans is harmless and its just another way to interpret a character literally anone could be trans unless if their character bio says theyre cis and most of them dont go that deep so it really is open to interpretation and on the whole most creators encourage this sort of exploration because it is a good thing to get healthy representation out in the world

as for it being used to bully straights thats just funny i dont have anything else on that like if youre straight and you feel threatened and bullied because of someone headcanoning someone as anything that isnt cishet youre a fucking idiot and a weak baby idiot at that like the real world must fucking suck for you because lgbt+ people are everywhere and statistically a big chunk of your favorite characters arent cishet sorry be mad about it

lets roll down a bit further about the big meat of the issue which was when several artists were drawing interpretations of lydia as a black girl which i loved but clearly this person didnt love it because they have a very narrow and very racist and problematic view of what it means to be a black person

and before i move forward i must reiderate that i am a white person and you should listen to the thoughts of poc people like @fright-of-their-lives​ or @gender-chaotic it is not my place to explain what the black experience is like and it certainly isnt this persons either

implying that the story of a black person isnt worth telling unless if the character faces struggles like racism and prejudice is downright moronic 

why use the word kissable to describe a black persons lips now thats what i call fetishistic and its to another extreme if youre talking about a black version of lydia on top of that

the author of this post says herself that shes white so clearly shes the person whos an authority on the black experience and what it means to be a black person right am i reading that right or am i having a fucking conniption

how about allowing black characters to exist without having to struggle why cant a black version of lydia just be a goth teenager with a ghost problem who likes photography and is also black like she doesnt have to move to a hick town and get abused by racist folks she doesnt have to go through any more shit than she already goes through and if you honestly think thats the only way to tell a black persons story you need to get your brain cleaned

you know nothing about the complexities about being a black person and i dont either but you know wh odo black people who are doing black versions of canon characters they fucking know 

lets squiggle down just a bit further 

so the writer has issues with giving characters traits like a broad nose or larger lips if theyre a woman but if theyre a man suddenly its totally okay to go all ryan murphy ahs coven papa legba appropriation when approaching character design like are you fucking stupid do you hear yourself is that really how you see black men like what the fuck is wrong with you

none of the shit youre spewing takes bravery it takes ignorance and supreme levels of stupidity

do you really think you with your fic where a black lgbt+ woman is tortured and abused where you use the n word with a hard r to refer to her like that shits not okay its fucking depraved and yeah we know you love being shitty but like christ on a bike thats so much 

can we also talk about this

what the fuck is this fetishistic bull roar garbage calling this black character beyonce dressing her up in quote fuck me heels unquote are you are you seriously gonna write this and say its a shining example of how to write a black character youre basically saying ope here she is shes a sex icon haha im so progressive and i clealry understand the black experience hahahaha fuck you oh my god

on top of that theres a point where this character is only referred to as curly hair or the fact that the n word is used in the fic with the hard r like thats hands down not okay for you to use especially not in a manner like this jesus christ

oop heres a little more a sampling for you of the hell i am enduring in reading this drivel

oh boy lets put a leash on the angry black woman character lets put her in a leash and have the man imply hes a master like are you kidding me are you for real and what the fuck is with calling her shit like j lo and beyonce do you actually think thats clever at all are you just thinking of any poc that comes into your head for this 

also lydia fucking tells this girl that she shouldnt have lost her temper like she got fucking leashed im so tired why is this writing so problematic and also so bad

hold up before i lose my head lets look at some of her own comments on the matter of this character and what happens to her

hi hello youre just casually tossing the word lynch out there in the wide open world as if thats not a problem that is still real like are you fucking unhinged there have been multiple cases of this exact thing happening in our firepit of a country in the last five months alone like how can you still have shit like this up for people to read how can you be proud of work like this in this climate

and also what the fuck is that last bit 

what the actual fuck

i dont speak for black people as a white person but you do!? im sorry i had to get my punctuation out for that because wow thats fucking asinine just because one black person read your fic and didnt find the torture and abuse of your one black character abhorrant doesnt mean that the vast majority of people not only in the fandom but in the human population with decency are going to think its okay because its not 

i started this post hoping to be level headed and professional but jesus fucking christ this woman is something else white nationalism is alive and well folks and its name is rae

if you defend this woman you defend some truly abhorrant raecism

editors notes 

in order to get some perspective on these issues more fully some of the writing by the author was examined and on the whole it was pretty unreadable but i want to just call back to the very beginning of this essay where the person in question talked about holding canon in high regard but then in their writing they just go around giving people magic and shit and ignoring the end of the movie entirely like are you canon compliant or nah 

the writing doesnt even read like beetlejuice fanfic it reads as self indulgent fiction you could easily change the names and its just a bad fanfic from 2007

also can we talk about writing the lesbian character as an angry man hater like its 2020 dude and als olets touch on that girl on girl pandering while beetlejuice is just there like here we go fetishizing again wee

i cant find a way to work this into this already massive post but

im going to throw up

okay so thats a lot we have covered a lot today and im sure my ask box will regret it but this definitely should have been more picked apart when it happened

please feel free to add more to this i would love more perspectives than just my own.