#I was an RA and the majority of us were female or non-binary

[captain-danwilds]

For your WIP Wednesday:

I am so interested in what you have for the Foxes RA.

That poor person has to deal with all kinds of stuff. They have to be either so cool with the team or opt to stay out of it. They gotta have Coach's number on speed dial lmaooo

WIP Wednesday 10/9. My document is literally titled "Poor Exy RA". I feel like you just have to accept the chaos to survive.

Sam clicked away from her email hoping that it had changed.  She brought her curser back over, but the horror still awaited her. 

“Congratulations you’ve been placed in Fox Tower!” 

She was in hell. She had to be.  She wasn’t sure exactly what she had done in a previous life to earn this dubious assignment, but it better have been worth it.  

Sam was the furthest thing from athletic.  She tripped regularly over air.   Still, she thought as she prepared to read her email and hopefully get to the third line.  She didn’t have to be athletic to be supportive.

 Plus, she had glitter glue pens.  Bitches love glitter glue pens. 

“Resident Assistants are a vital part of our community.  We are grateful you will be stepping into such a crucial role.” 

She was a student.  They were student-athletes.  They had the most important thing in common.  (Yes she was lying to herself. She could admit that.

“Central Hallway Floor 4 is a co-ed floor that contains six suites.” 

Okay, up to 24 students.  That was one of the smaller assignments.  Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. 

Then she opened the accompanying Excel file and immediately regretted it.   How early was she allowed to quit and still not have to pay for room and board?

[thenugking]

Grand Academy For Future Villains, Chapter 1: Introduction. A commentary for Three.

Because no one can stop me.

Here’s the important decisions, and other things it feels relevant to comment on, from Three’s playthrough. Contains spoilers for GAFFV, obviously, and there’s a few references to the sequel, although nothing I’d really call a spoiler. All game text is copied from the text files, found here.

General CW for the whole thing: parental abuse, internalised dehumanisation as a trauma response. Three’s not doing well.

Specific CW for this chapter: misgendering, transphobia

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

***

Rathna hisses with satisfaction, takes you by the wrist, and pulls you after her through the archway into the blackness.

It feels a bit like doing a belly flop into a pool of cold mercury. (And you would know; the exercise facilities back home were very well-appointed.) When the ringing clears from your ears and the fuzziness from your eyes, you're standing in a subterranean chamber. The walls are dripping. The lights are flickering. The screams are echoing.

An icy voice echoes in your head, making your ears sting. "Prepare yourself…to be screened."

"Oh, I am prepared," you assure Rathna the Soul-Flenser. "I trust the Academy! And if they say I need additional screening, I'm sure that's something that really is necessary for everybody's safety!"

How would you classify the expression in her dull metallic eyes? Quizzical? Startled? Pitying?

"Your faith," hisses the cold voice after a moment, "is… touching to me."

"Speaking of touching," you say cheerfully, "we'd better get to the screening part, right? The sooner I get screened, the sooner I can be reconstituted by, who is it, the fourth-year Resurrections class?"

There is a long pause. "No..." Rathna says. "You have passed the screening already. You are a true student of the Academy."

Nonplussed, you head up the stairs in the direction she indicates. As you glance back, you could swear she's wiping away one dishwater-gray tear.

Three’s entire introduction is them being a Good Student - it doesn’t even occur to them not to wait in line, or to try hiding their many, many weapons, or to try and get out of additional screening. They pick Rathna because they’re pretty sure Phil will mess it up and not screen them properly, which means they’re messing up too. 

Phil, in Three’s opinion, clearly has zero discipline or competence, and they dislike him instantly. With his utter lack of commitment to the screening process, he’s off to a great start as Perfect Student Three’s unintentional narrative foil.

Rathna, on the other hand, they develop a mutual respect for in this scene. They don’t interact again in-game, and aren’t going to go out of their way to hang out with each other, but I like to think they get along well whenever they do see each other, and are at least friendly acquaintances. (I was very offended when the second game told me Rathna was my enemy, but I like Miriel Bloodshrike, because neither of these things are remotely true for Three.)

VERY WELL, THREE. BUT I KNEW YOUR MOTHER ONCE. AND SHE GAVE YOU ANOTHER NAME. YOU WILL BE THREE AT THIS SCHOOL, BUT TO MAEDRYN THE QUANTUM-WITCH, ONE OF OUR PROUDEST ALUMNAE, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE...

It's true. Your mother named you

#3.

Hardly a name at all.

I mean, Three’s life revolves around keeping their mother happy. They’re not going to throw away the name she gave them. They only changed it from the number to the word because of the massive bureaucratic hassle that trying to input your whole name as 3 was. And what would they change it to anyway? It’s not as if they have an identity outside of Maedryn, is it?

(This does, of course, result in a lot of funny experiences in-game, where people try and psych me out by knowing my birth name and Three’s just, “Yes, that is my name, are you feeling all right?” It’s not impossible that these still take place, even with Three using their mother’s name; in the very next scene, Xi reveals they can hear how people spell things. I’m sure there are some people in the Academy who would deliberately say 3, rather than Three, and hope that Three hears the insult. They don’t.)

As for gender… I think Three at this point still mostly identifies as female. They come out as agender part way through their first year, feeling more confident after meeting a lot of non-binary people at the Academy. They don’t tell their mum. While I’m glad that the game doesn’t have Maedryn misgender you, the fact that she consistently deadnames you and gets angry at you changing “her” body if you become a monster makes me feel it would be very in character for her to do. I’m sure she hears Three is using they/them pronouns now at some point, but has better things to do than remembering to use them.

If asked about their pronouns, Three will tell you that you are welcome to call them whatever you wish, and their closest associates usually use they/them. Expressing their own preference would be far too close to acting like a person with their own desires and feelings, though. Luckily they can easily justify being agender as, “What does a weapon need a gender for?”

“Let's get to know you, Three. What do you hate most?"

 #Incompetence and idiocy.

And right now, Phil’s incompetence and idiocy in particular. Three is already up to 75% competence at this point, by the way.

Well, that's your mother. How do you feel about her?

#I'm proud to be her child. But I plan on choosing my own path- while keeping her as happy as I can.

The actual answer here is a lot more complicated. Three certainly doesn’t plan on choosing their own path, they exist only as a tool of their mother’s and are well aware that being anything more would not make her happy. They think Maedryn’s achievements are incredible and that she’s the cleverest person they know. They think they might be proud of her, if not of themself. They love her.

They’re also far more aware than they let on that she’s abusing them, and that they’re never going to get the love and approval that a part of them buried deep down still wants. While they absolutely keep it to themself, they dislike the way Maedryn’s destroyed worlds that could have had so much to offer, and believe she should treat her goons and servants (themself excluded) better.

And they have no intention of ever letting her know they've ever thought anything negative about her, because they value their life too much.

"Excuse me. I'm Three, and I-how did you do that? What were those wires, and all that stuff you were saying about humanity?"

"Nice, isn't it?" says Xi with pardonable pride. "Like I told you, I'm the ultimate fusion of human and computer. Instead of veins-" their voice is suddenly coming out of the speakers again "-wires course the length of my body, running directly from my mind to the Network."

"Oh! Computers!" the other student breaks in. "Whyever would you want to be all tangled up with those...things?"

Xi narrows their metallic eyes contemptuously at him. "I'm a cyberpunk villain. It's what we do. Wait- who are you again?"

The student draws himself up proudly. "Aurion Umbrator Malisar, Scourge of the Universe, Bane of Virtue, Shadow that Swallows the Light, and I-"

Xi sniffs. A shower of sparks falls from one of the wires. "This is the first time you've ventured outside your genre, isn't it? Let me guess, spawned in Fantasy, and now you're here expecting everything to be the same magic and mush you grew up with?"

"Well, that would explain things," Xi continues. "Trust me, pitiful lump of flesh, computers are the way to go. Why, the true power in this school, DarkBoard--no matter what any other genre says--is an artificial intelligence, one who has truly ascended beyond the tether of matter and mind-"

"That's the problem!" Aurion protests, waving his schedule again. "It will not heed my bidding!"

"Well, of course not, if you're talking to Them like that." You can hear the reverence in Xi's voice when they speak of DarkBoard. Odd, since as far as you can tell, the Grand Academy's administrative AI is basically a glorified secretary.

And Three gets to meet their best friends! They’ve been given permission to ask questions about something very cool! Even if they would never be caught using the phrase, “All that stuff,” and would much prefer a, “Would you elaborate further on your state of being, please?”

This also forms the very early seeds of their friendship with DarkBoard. They believe everyone deserves respect, and they know how easy it is to underestimate someone as being a tool. The majority of their previous knowledge on DarkBoard came from Maedryn, who they also know underestimates people she considers below her notice, so they’re very willing to take Xi’s opinion on DarkBoard over Maedryn’s. And if Xi calls DarkBoard a They, rather than an It, They is what Three will use too, because secretary or not, it’s only polite.

Xi sighs. "You've got to organize yourself, pitiful lump of- Aurion. Make some choices. Look. What do you want to do?"

"Have legions of darkness, take over the universe, slay the proud and noble, bring about a black reign of terror on the land, cast evil spells from my fortress, shoot out wires from my hand like that, seduce the pure and innocent, callously waste human life, destroy the world with a word, blow things up, have great men fall before the slightest motion of my hand, manipulate people's minds, be able to call up balls of fire, beat up the heroes, have Ultimate Weapons of Destruction, and wear a nifty cape!" rattles off the aspiring Scourge of the Universe breathlessly. "And more things, too, if they teach them."

Xi looks as if the student's enthusiasm has overloaded their circuits. You step in.

#Tell Xi I'll help Aurion with his schedule. That should earn me some points with the RA.

I mean, if Three had circuits, they’d be overloaded by Aurion’s enthusiasm too, but if there are two things they like, it’s sorting out schedules and making people in positions of authority happy! This encounter doesn’t make Three and Aurion friends, that comes later, but they gain a small amount of respect for each other, at least.

Sidenote - I’m not sure how close Aurion and Xi are supposed to be, they don’t interact much after this in-game, but I love their interactions here, and I really enjoy Three, Aurion and Xi as a group of friends.

#Better get Xi to advise me on this. Isn't assistance in their job description?

You stick your head out into the hall. "Xi? Can you help me with something?"

After a moment, Xi appears, expressionless.

"I need to get my books," you explain, "so I need to access my money. Can you tell me how to make DarkBoard do that?"

One of Xi's wires cracks like a whip. You hope that means yes.

Three might value self-sufficiency, but they also value making use of the resources available to you, and when someone’s job is to provide you with help, it would be arrogant and foolish to rely solely on your own conjecture.

They are also an eighteen year old who’s never spent much time with people their own age suddenly discovering that they find cyborgs in control of wires they grow out of their fingers really hot.

#Get a quick fund refreshment from Mom.

It won't make your mother happy to have you draft her account like this--she prefers more face-to-face groveling, as you've had plenty of chances to observe--but you know that you can make a quick transfer from the Student Security Deposit. A few words to DarkBoard, and the money is yours, with a little extra cushion to cover you in case of emergencies.

I mean, Three’s definitely going to call Maedryn up for a proper groveling session later tonight, and hope that helps a little. But she’s also expecting them to get perfect grades, and they’re worried about their chances of doing that without all the equipment available. Anyway, that’s their first day at the Academy finished!

[seadwelliz]

Is “She-Ra” really a bait?

I’ve stumbled upon a cutting-to-the-core article about DreamWorks’ deceptive marketing that I quite recommend reading: https://geekdad.com/2020/01/baitworks-how-dreamworks-engaged-in-predatory-marketing-towards-lgbt-fans/ It explains the magnitude of the disaster of Voltron: Legendary Defender’s finale and makes a rather gloomy prophecy about future of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Who am I to argue with truth? DreamWorks does have shitty policy and most likely we won’t see a queer relationship between major characters bloom onscreen in this show. Yet there are numerous reasons why She-Ra can’t be put at the same level of queerbait with Voltron.

The major difference is between the showrunners. While VLD creators were clueless and ignorant, She-Ra’s creator is queer herself and she fully well knew what hardships she and the show’s crew had to endure and what concessions had to be made for her work to see the light.

A little off-topic about VLD: while I’m not defending the showrunners, the catastrophe that was Season 8 was very likely... not completely their own decision. There are lots of useful meta on Tumblr about the Season 8 having major last-minute changes - things that have solid proof in the season itself. A major character was erased from the season, other characters’ arcs were mutilated and sewn together anew, so it became indigestible both plotwise and character-wise. Sadly we will never know the true reasons behind these changes, but most likely they were not entirely the showrunners’ fault. What definitely was their fault, however, was marrying Shiro off to a stranger and having the audacity to boast their being “progressive” for it. Most likely, the story went like this: Shiro had his usual share of development and interactions in the initial Season 8 (we know for sure the moment with Zethrid holding Keith hostage went differently and involved more action from Shiro than just gaping into the void) - changes to the plot happen (for whatever reasons) - away go all the scenes involving Shiro except for him barking orders - the showrunners go oops. Didn’t we boast having a heroic character that is also gay. Welp, nothing heroic about him now, so we definitely need to throw a bone at lgbt+ community - how about we have a gay wedding! It will be so charming, such a win-win, lgbt+ audience is gonna looove it! ...Well, what could possibly go wrong.

Trying to salvage the season’s remnants, they destroyed their only gay character’s arc trying to pass it off as representation, killed off their only woman of color in the main cast trying to pass it off as a dramatic turn of events, then stood in the enormous pile of fuck-up they made preaching about how it’s okay if not all the viewers’ expectations are met. Ew. Real gross.

Noelle Stevenson, however, is nothing like that. She knew the limits of what she could do from the start, so she’s been subtly preparing everything since the show’s beginning. I’m quite sure that She-Ra’s finale is not going to be nearly as disastrous as VLD finale. Moreover, all the show’s seasons were finished (and confirmed) beforehand, so they are not getting last-minute changes.

Most importantly, Noelle made sure that all the relationships between characters are treated equally, be they f/f, m/m of m/f. There are literally three canon couples in the show, all of them are secondary characters, there is one m/f couple (Micah&Angella), one m/m couple (Lance&George) and one f/f couple (Spinnerella&Netossa). There are no relationships in the main cast that are stated as romantic in-canon. No homosexual relationships between major characters are allowed? Well, there will be no heterosexual ones either! All romance becomes subtext, all of it. Painfully obvious crushes (Seahawk’s on Mermista, Hordak’s on Entrapta, Scorpia’s on Catra) are repeatedly named “friendship”. There is literally nothing that could prevent the hetero crushes from becoming text, yet they stay subtext, because the lesbian crush stays subtext.

Text is always better than subtext, yet subtext is better than nothing - if treated with due respect and care. She-Ra is wonderful representation-wise: it has a world full of diversity and devoid of xenophobia, an amazing cast of female characters with well-written personalities and interactions and diverse body types, a major non-binary character, portrayal of healthy happy homosexual relationships (although between secondary characters), thought-out and dramatic queer dynamic between major characters (although kept subtextual).

The article above states that Steven Universe, unlike She-Ra, treats its lgbt+ audience with respect. But, while SU is an amazing show with breathtaking canon lesbian relationships, it still uses an excuse to bypass censorship: the “rocks from space” are officially sexless. Sadly, She-Ra can’t have such an excuse.

In She-Ra’s case DreamWorks are to blame for censorship, not the author. I’m sure that Catradora is going to get the best subtextual confirmation that can be done in these circumstances.

Though the end of She-Ra is going to be a bit sad (Catradora and other queer ships getting no i-love-you and no wedding onscreen), it will definitely not be as devastating as Voltron’s ending.

While we hope for a better future where queer characters and relationships are treated fairly in all media, we can still enjoy She-Ra and what Noelle managed to do for representation - which is quite a lot, especially in comparison with other popular kids’ animated shows.