#Riot needs more queer rep

[lablass-2882]

Happy Pride Y'all

[sg-x00-airgetlam]

Disabled Trans Girl Needs Help Again (Stuck in a Fascist State Edition)

Unfortunately, after several months, I haven't been able to find a job I'm capable of working here. I live in Montana which you might have seen in the news recently for silencing our trans rep Zooey Zephyr, throwing her supporters out of the gallery with riot police, and then passing/signing one of the most transphobic bills into law. It's not quite Florida death penalty stuff, but it's about on par with the horrible Missouri one. Healthcare ban for Trans Youth, taking away insurance coverage, etc.

It's legal to discriminate here in hiring etc for being trans, and my state medicaid coverage is going to stop paying for my hrt later this year. I'm pretty scared of even my city, which was relatively left leaning, becoming more and more hateful. There have been shooting threats made against local queer events even. Also, my housing situation is going to become extremely unstable after July. Bozeman has possibly the single worst housing market in the country.

After a lot of blood tests and scans etc trying to figure out the cause of my worsening chronic fatigue, pain, and digestive issues, my doctor is diagnosing me with fibromyalgia. I'm in constant pain, and I spend a lot of my time in bed each day because I can't even focus on my computer etc with it sometimes. That combined with autism/ptsd is making my life in a city with very little in the way of social resources extremely hard. I am trying to get approved for disability, but it is taking forever.

Ideally, I would like to somehow leave this state and go somewhere more trans friendly. Last time I asked for help, I was able to replace my dead car battery, so I'm able to actually drive now. However, the voltage regulator on my alternator is apparently broken. I'm unsure how soon that will become a bigger issue.

In terms of more immediate problems, I've run out of food again, and I'll need to get more catfood and litter soon. Anything anyone can offer helps a lot.

I can receive payments on my venmo, @ Talon-Battle. (The name should show up as Claire Battle).

Here are some pictures of my cat.

Thank you for reading/reblogging/helping me!

[shaunashipman]

One of the things I'll never forget is watching people get bullied out of the 911 Fandom for pointing out the friendship between Hen and Chim is extremely prominent in response to BoBs whining about how Buck should have gotten with Eddie instead of Taylor because there needs to be more male female friendship represention but then turning around saying that Hen and Chim don't count because Hen is a lesbian. And the amount of hate that got sent to people who were defending Chimney and calling out a lot of the racism geared towards him after he punched Buck.

Plus I resisted watching 911 for the longest time because all I ever saw about it were the queerbating accusations. So imagine my surprise when I finally watched it only to find out about the sheer amount of Queer representation. Is the show perfect? No. Because nothing is. Are there things that personally squick me out in the show? Yes definitely. But I'm not going to bully anyone over liking the things that rub me the wrong way.

not the male/female friendship shit 😒 but when we say we need more queer guy/straight guy friendships they riot

how does it not count because hen's a lesbian? does there need to be the possibility of them being attracted to each other but they "just work so much better as friends" for ppl to be satisfied?

and yeah, they woobified buck so hard about the punch, because gods forbid a man who's wife is basically missing and who probably hasn't slept in days doesn't act completely rationally on learning his friend was keeping information from him about his missing wife. meanwhile the same people play "racism police" and harrass a fan artist into deactivating because they felt the artist was whitewashing jee, despite the artist being korean themselves

hen & chim is so slept on. sorry not sorry but they are better besties than buck & eddie. they are the OG, they are literally ride or die. we deserve to see so much of them, so much hijinks. but they're a butch black lesbian and korean man, so they don't get as much focus as the white & white passing men.

I would love if we got an episode of basically chim and hen just doing their own, amateur sleuthing with shit going wrong. don't even need the other characters I will be glued to my screen to watch whatever nonsense they get into.

and there is so much queer rep. as happy as I was about buck being bi, I was also seething at the amount of "the gay firefighter show is actually gay now" like newsflash motherfucker! it's been gay since the word go.

[alice-jem]

Personally I find the chemistry between Luz and Hunter obvious and if the show was created even 5-10 years ago no one would have much of a problem with Hunter and Luz shippers. It would’ve been what everyone expected to be endgame. Sure, I love lumity, it’s a cute sapphic high school romance. But narratively, there’s a case to be made for lunter while lumity is more just to be cute. Plus Luz is bisexual so any argument about erasing her sexuality doesn’t make sense. Plus it’s not like fandom is on the same level as the actual tv show like if a group of people want to imagine Luz and Hunter dating that does absolutely nothing to take away from the canon sapphic romance! I don’t have anywhere I feel like I can express this without getting literalky DOGPILED by Twitter teenagers who think the end all be all of queer liberation is making cartoon teenagers kiss.

I somewhat heard that type of rant that I've been interested to discuss before.. But I think it's better if Hunter has been introduced first than Amity tho. To make Hunter as a Male Lead. Yet the romance plot of TOH didn't go on that route. Because (ugh, another straight couple in Disney)

Unfortunately, everything has been already set by arranging Willow and Hunter as a pair instead Hunter is compatible to be paired with Luz because, Luz is with Amity now and both had feelings for each other before Hunter came. So I can understand what they're trying to defend the sapphic canon ship because THEY NEED LGBTQA+ REP, so if there is a straight couple in their favorite cartoon/show, the fans will gone RIOT and they will forced to make the straight couple to stay friends or platonic then shove it to everyone's throats. But their annoyance of not wanting Luz (who is a CANON BI) had a chance to NON CANONICALLY be together with a GUY who has 10x potential chemistry than Lumity. (I also love Lumity too from enemies to friends to lovers). The thing is, Willow shows to become the heroine for Hunter yet still GoldenLuz/Lunter scenes has more sparks even tho they're jumping to make a side couple (Huntlow) alongside with Raine and Eda (Raeda).

And the biggest and shittiest agenda they've got in the TOH fandom is to make these two characters (Luz and Hunter) as sibling-coded into their dynamic which is a HEADCANON. But FOR THEM IT'S A FACT because of the quarrel, all that banter and starting to helping and protecting each other away from danger/harm. And yet they theorize that when we look at Lunter, it's like there are both young Philip and Caleb.

So the issue of Lunter is because the TOH fandom can easily took it down or banish the ideas and options about Luz and Hunter to become a non-canon ship especially boy x girl ships in general media where the main protagonist is a BISEXUAL/GAY/LESBIAN or part of the LGBT rep. Some of them are a bit oversensitive by the "non-canon" ships might be ruined their canon gay/sapphic ship. Like only you can ship this MC with their same gender and NOTHING ELSE. I tried to keep away from the shipping discourse because the majority wants Lunter to see as siblings, and then they will despise somebody in every fiber of their being who ships Luz and Hunter where they are both BI for each other. Like who are they to have a right to demand a person who just wanna ship without their validation? Toxic TOH fans ain't had a right to accuse somebody because they LIKE a ship that they DON'T like. Yet also the Lunter shippers didn't wish for Lunter to be canon as well. Because they can ship them without a problem canon or not-canon as long as they don't attack nor cause such any harm to others. Yet these antis has so many claims to prove that their ship Lunter is wrong and there's nothing to support of shipping them romantically. So they will non-stop accusing Lunter shippers based on their ship which i migt turned out to become 'problematic' by many.

Luz and her bisexuality is the purest rep where she likes and attracted to guys and girls. Yet when they keep telling to such people that it will erase her sapphic love between her and Amity if Luz is going to be with Hunter in the long run.. That doesn't mean Luz isn't Bisexual anymore. How can these people pushing the hatred towards Lunter where they haven't heard the word "multishipping?" So every shipper has options which good ships to be shipped with this character. They never acknowledged poly ships too so, it's too late to speak up to toxic anti Lunters out there. Stubborn as hell lol. As a Bisexual, people must understand that they cannot ruined their Bisexuality by liking or dating a guy!

[mocweepe]

ohhhhh my gxd it was never abt da brick

[strangertheories]

I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen in vol 2 because the duffers tend to accidentally write amazing things. But I don’t know if that’s enough this time with Choices.

Because this is like the One show keeping Netflix going (as is tua but that’s a different topic) and if they really do stuff that makes fans severely unhappy I’m not sure how many will watch s5, especially if they do a time jump which for me always seemed like lazy writing (ignoring the fact that I do that in my fics lol) because like is it gonna be used as an excuse for characters to not mourn other characters? (Kinda like Bob again)

At the same time I have no idea if they’re just saying body count and in reality all of our mains who we love are safe but people like parents or Brenner or Owens possibly Enzo and Murray aren’t. Or the blonde douchebag who’s name I constantly forget.

Like is it a body count we need to worry about or are they messing with us and pulling a s3 again but with more characters that we know well enough (ex. The doctors and parents, Murray, even Enzo)

I feel like a major major character is going to have to die this season for the stakes. The main characters have way too much plot armour. There is no way Hopper survived that explosion, we never saw how Brenner got attacked by a demogorgon and got just a scar and there's this general feeling that our characters aren't at any real risk. I get characters like Billy died but he was dead anyways like everyone else in the flayer. And all the other characters were kind of minor and were only introduced at the start of this season.

Characters like Eddie and Dmitri (or Enzo) are definitely at risk due to this pattern but I dunno, I kind of feel like someone needs to die. And I love all of these characters and would not wish death on any of them, but I feel like it's getting to the point in the show where they're not kids anymore and they're in serious danger so just kill one of them off. I think there's certain characters who are still safe because they'll be needed in S5, specifically Will and Eleven. They're needed for the origins of the UD so their plot armour doesn't feel like it's because they like them but because they're plot relevant.

On the other hand, there are some characters I will absolutely riot if they kill off and not just because I like them. If Will, Robin, Lucas or Erica dies I will be genuinely pissed off. This show does not have much queer rep and it only has two main black characters. They've all been sidelined way too much this season and their plot lines (at least Lucas and Robin's) were dropped so fast. If any of them die, the show is killing off representation and characters that black people and queer people can look up to. I get they shouldn't survive just because of their sexuality or race but if lots of straight/white characters get to survive, it just feeds into statistics about representation and takes away role models. This applies to Mike as well if he is confirmed as gay or bi.

I really hope that the Duffer brothers try to do what's right for the characters and the show and not what's popular. I get from a corporate pov this might not work but I think Netflix knows they just have to let the Duffers do their thing. If any of the characters listed above die, it'll be bad for the show. I also think it would be a huge loss for the show to have no Max or Steve because whilst it's sad, they're also very refreshing and integral to the plot and comic relief so it would hugely impact the show's dynamic and not nessecarily in a good way. I do in general have faith in the Duffers and Volume 2 though. S4 is one of the best seasons of the show and of television in general so far so it'll take a lot to screw it up.

Thanks for the ask (:

[guiltycorp]

skittybliss here: Idk I'd rather they not explicitly tell us over Twitter. I'd rather get the answer through the text itself - especially if they really are planning moments that will answer our question in S2. They wouldn't spoil whether a straight character has feelings for another character on a show, so I don't see why they would do it for Viktor if that's the direction they're taking. Not to mention, if the answer is truly no and they did not intend to queer code him and they come out and say that, then that will forever be used to dismiss the queer reading of Viktor. I think they're balancing it well. Literature is meant to be read through different lens. We don't need an author to tell us the "correct" interpretation of Viktor. A text written by an author who didn't mean to write in any class themes can be analyzed in a Marxist lens. Same for the queer lens. Author intent matters but if we make it the end-all-be-all answer to a text, we get into dangerous territory. People who don't read literature critically will always accuse people of being "delusional" for applying critical lens they don't agree with.

We don’t really disagree that much, but... The twitter writer answered that question (‘was viktor intended to be queercoded or is that just something people are looking too much into’) when she absolutely didn’t have to, that’s the problem. As it is, she only vaguely refuted the ‘queer’ part while leaving the actual ‘baiting’.

Queer reading of Arcane!Viktor is and will be dismissed until it becomes literal text, that’s how regular homophobes and various antis work and always have, and yeah, it doesn’t matter what the authors’ intent was when it comes to viewing the text with a critical lens. Such confirmation would only help verify that the ambiguous reading is more likely intentional than not and thus 100% relevant to the character arcs, but it’s not necessary.   It also doesn’t mean it’s not upsetting when creators play to both sides, giving one side an argument to ‘prove’ that this reading is delusional and the other side hope that it still might happen after all.

With current strides that lgbt fiction makes, an outright confirmation that the writers didn’t mean for Viktor to be queer wouldn’t be too much of a deal either way, especially now that Riot finally allowed some mlm rep in League (the previous post was written before that happened). Plus Arcane is very much a collaborative project, and a lot of cues come from the visuals which were wholly on artists’ shoulders, so we’d still be free to theorize however much we wanted. Plus there’re also League iterations haha.  

But in itself asking for confirmation from only one writer is a very innocent thing.  Like, I wouldn’t ask such a question precisely because I’d also rather wait for s2 and see what they do with Viktor next, but I understand the curiosity! And I have wondered myself whether it was intentional in s1, that was what my original post was about after all. 

You say 'they wouldn't spoil whether a straight character has feelings for another character on a show, so I don't see why they would do it for Viktor', but just compare these answers about the possibility of Jinx having friends and Jinx having more interaction with Ekko... and the way she went off about Viktor. Do you see the difference there?   

It wasn’t even a ‘wait and see’ at first, only some confusing found family reference and that there’s no stigma against LGBTQ+ in Arcane’s world so naturally affection between men is more freely allowed. Only then followed by a more straightforward ‘wait and see’ after people became upset, familiar to anyone who came across queerbaiting before.  Oh, maybe I’m not being very fair, perhaps she was roleplaying as Jayce?  — Mr Talis, there are rumors that you and your partner might be partners in more than just Hextech, how do you respond?  — Well, you see, luckily there’s no stigma against affection between men and Viktor is like my brother, so I suppose yeah, we’re more like family than just professional associates :^) Not sure about Viktor’s view of our relationship though, we’ll probably learn that when he finally stops dying. Thanks! 

[shebeafancyflapjack]

Let's go with Z because i feel like i know what you think of many of the others and because who doesn't want to ramble about fandom!

As for the fandom, well choose whatever you want but if you have trouble deciding, i would love to hear your thoughts on TOH

Z - Oh, where do I start? First off I just need this show to start again already because this mid-season hiatus feels like forever.

Second, I don't buy the crap that this reason this show was cancelled was because of "branding". Disney and Disney Plus has no problem hosting warped, weird and macabre children/family shows and movies on their platform. My theory is they didn't know just how hard Dana was going to swing with her LGBT rep, not just by having Lumity become canon so quick but also Raine and Willow's dads etc. They were probably expecting their usual "groundbreaking" queer rep that can be easily edited out for other countries. You can't really do that with TOH.

And I am sad because, as much as I'm loving S2, I am already feeling how the pacing of this show will suffer with being rushed to finish when Dana had a much bigger plan. I doubt there's gonna be space now for example Willow, who I love but gets sidelined too much, to have her own focused episode while characters like Hunter - who I also like - feel like his arc is going quick in just the few episodes he's appeared in. Much like Michael, I'd have loved to see more of this cocky little shit side that was in the first episode who just appears briefly as a minor antagonist before he gets woobified and sympathetic (and I love that shit but I like it done well paced).

I just hate that Disney have their claws in this because I feel like it's less likely they would ever let another, more liberal network take it to let Dana play it out as intended. Maybe with enough fan demand we'll get a revival or something but I guess it's still early days and how this season ends will be a big indicator on how things will go.

But I just love it so much! I never got massively invested in shows like Gravity Falls or Steven Universe or even Avatar - as much as I did watch and enjoy them. TOH is the first which has made me feel like a kid reading Harry Potter again and wanting to live in this world but with the bonus of such an amazing cast of characters (sorry I was never in love with the HP cast, just the world itself). Luz is so underrated and yet she's the most fun and inspiring fantasy protagonist ever. Eda is such a milf, King is adorable and Hooty is a riot. I love Lumity to bits but it is that core found family that are the heart of the show for me.

[southern-belle-outcasts]

6. how do you feel about pride month? //You and all the babies

17. what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtqa characterization in media? //For you~

28. what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten? //For you, Cisco, Padmé, and Rogue

@meretrixious

a pride meme...from the beginning of the month...

6. how do you feel about pride month?

//I love pride month, I love people celebrating who they are and rubbing it in the faces of people that don't want them to be that way and continuing to fight for equal treatment. I do wish it was more educational? Like had a long chat with Dragon and Rose on why pride con with educational speakers and lgbtqia+ artists/businesses, fun activities, accessibility (wheelchairs, A/C, seating, chill out zones for sensory overload, etc)...would be much better than just parade or heat stroke at festival with everyone crowded and shiz. Like, partying is fun and all but would love, especially as recently accepting of my queer status fully (have I said how much I hate the phrase 'baby gay'? cuz i despise it, i don't like infantilizing my sexuality to make it more palatable for people) to be better informed via pride event on history, resources, etc. Just my lil opinion on it. Can't combat shit when you're in the dark.

Rogue- "Ah didn't go to anythin' pride related till last year...but yeah, Ah like it. Ah still ain't wrapped my head 'round why it bothers people so badly but Ah'm a bitch so yeah, rub it in people's faces. Start a riot if needed."

Sara- "Well, I don't see why I wouldn't jump at the chance to kiss a girl and piss some Karen off. I will always be proud of the fact I've loved men and women."

Cisco- "Good shit. Totally support it. My past relationships don't reduce my pan-ness."

Farrar- "If someone says you're not allowed to be with someone of your gender, I hope you kick their feckin' knees in."

Nilza- "I'll go if there's going to be drinking and dancing involved, otherwise I have better things to do than stand on the sidewalk all day hot. I don't need to go to pride to be able to fuck women."

Padmé (modern verse that I still haven't written up yet)- "Even after there is finally true equality, which legally is a long way off unfortunately, I don't ever see reason not to hold pride month."

Kaylee- "I don't have a problem with it...but I've never gone to pride. Please, seriously, don't say 'now you need to prove you're actually bi'." she might bite

17. what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtqia+ characterization in media?

//Oh, gods. You mean besides bury the gays? "I'm queer ergo that's my only character trait and I exist to be funny". This is not to be mistaken as my taking the side of the asshats that say "you make everything about your sexual/gender identity, shut up". No what I mean is that is LITERALLY the only thing they are on the show. They're only ever seen either a) sucking face of someone with the same gender, b) hitting on someone their gender, often without any degree of chemistry, sometimes to the point it could be considered harassment, or at least fall very much within 'cis white male' style of flirtation despite obvious differences in that character's identity, c) using their gayness or whatever as their source of humorous asshole-ism and it gives them a free pass to do shit a straight character wouldn't do naturally or without different consequences. Again, I'm not saying that sometimes these things don't occur in real life, or can't be well done...but you need a fleshed out character. I'm really sick of cardboard cookie cutter queers in media. And while yes, my brand of pan is 'not gay as in happy, but queer as in fuck you'...can we have more rep period? Soft and nice queers, shy queers, fat queers, disabled queers, queers of color. queers of a religious identity other than the hardcore atheist or the rebellious christian, queers that would be accused of being 'straight passing' or 'comphet'. Y'all we use a motherfuckin' rainbow to represent us, and just about each and every canonical queer instance in media is predictable af.

28. what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten?

//"Why are you acting like you can just change your name and be a different person? You have to earn that, you need to show change in yourself. Is this for attention? Are you now throwing away science?." -this was all back to back so I'm counting the convo as one massive, headache inducing question-

Cisco- "'Don't you want kids?' As though it suddenly is impossible if I do end up being with someone that doesn't have said equipment. That...yeah no, there was yelling involved. And it's not as though I'm not still attracted to women!"

Padmé- "'What do you mean you don't imagine fucking attractive people you see? Everyone does that.' I quite literally do not. I said as much, I do not see why it needed repeating."

Rogue- "'You're not one of you sinful mothers, right? Like, you're not broken, you want a man in your life?' Ah swear t'god Ah almost committed murder...and momma wouldn't have actually given a shit had Ah done it."

[ineffablebuddies]

Thoughts on how the Star Trek remakes should approach the characters , in a way that I think would be realistic for 2021 and our current climate:

Romantic relationships:

Sulu/Chekhov - We know they spend a lot of time together on a one to one basis, especially in the films, and they are very endeared to each other. It also wouldn’t change their dynamic or the dynamic on the bridge, and could slip into any future films or shows without change to character. (unlike Spock and Uhura, which I don’t hate, but required adjusting Spock’s character in order to enable a pre-existing relationship.) Like, all you’d need is one throwaway line to make it canon and you could keep the rest exactly the same. And there is obvious value in representing an interracial same sex relationship.

Uhura/Scotty - this would work as a slow burn, because Scotty is a bit of a hopeless romantic whilst he is younger, and is easily misled by his heart and can be a bit overprotective in a very 60s style which is a character flaw integral to his character (and is the plot of a few episodes). Which is why a slow burn is nice for him, because he needs to learn to come from a place of genuine respect and deep affection. And whilst I do like that Uhura stays relatively unattached as one of the few prominent female characters in tos, I do think that as a black woman it is important to allow her to have a romantic relationship due to current representation issues. Which is why I think the slow burn is also nice for her, because you can’t change her character, or make her the object of affection, but showing a deep love and affection developing on the job is nice. We also only start getting the scotty/Uhura romantic dynamic coming in the films when they’re much older. And again I think this is one you can show without having to change anything integral to them. Same with checkov/sulu that it shouldn’t be a plot point, but a character thing that happens without needing to be focused on. Neither of them seek it, but it happens naturally.

Amanda/Sarek - obviously this is already canon, but I think it should be explored in a little more detail. I also think we can do away with the whole “Vulcan is incredibly sexist and treat women as property” thing, which doesn’t actually make sense considering the female Vulcans we do meet, so doesn’t really add to the world building anyway.

Ambiguous Relationships:

Kirk/Spock/Bones - now I know this is controversial, but I don’t think they should necessarily make them canon in the remakes, except possibly at the very end of the shows/last film. To focus on the romantic relationship between Kirk/Spock too early on will potentially reduce the time for Bones to be included as a very necessary part of the main three, and the fact of the matter, the three of them are presented as having a deep bond, not just Kirk/Spock. And there’s a certain level of yearning and unspoken love that really defines their relationships. They should always end up together in some manner, with no other romantic attachments. Part of me would love to make it a ployamarous relationship, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen anytime soon.

I do think however that they should make Spock gay, and I think they should keep the relationship with the Romulan commander but make it a man, because that was actually very well written and acted, but the fact that Spock is able to use that romantic affection to his advantage against a woman is a little sexist considering it’s like the only time we see a female romulan commander, but as a man we wouldn’t have those same issues. And I think that’s the only other relationship we should see Spock have outside of Kirk/bones, because it’s marked by the fact that he can’t act on it the way he would like to, and none of the other relationships in tos really work IMO because it just seems ooc for him. But I think it’s important to allow him to be confirmed as gay considering he is queercoded.

I don’t think it’ll be as easy to confirm a queer identity for Kirk, but I think that for the women he has flings with, he should never be the one to initiate it, but have the same flaw of scotty as being a bit of a hopeless romantic who can be misled by his heart, and again that would give more value to the slow burn he has with Spock. I think you can very much allow him to refer to Spock with love, and I think you can confirm a relationship with Spock at the very end, but I think it should be non-sexual. Vulcan kisses are the way to go, and should allow you to give confirmation of romantic love whilst also having plausible deniability for the people who would riot against it.

I think it’d be fucking amazing if we could cast a trans guy as Kirk. I don’t think you’d get away with saying the character is trans, but having a trans actor and just never mentioning it in show may just be enough to get away with it. Especially if this is a relatively unknown actor who passes completely so casual watchers can’t even get fussed about it (I know this wording has some issues, but I’m thinking more about getting around execs and producers, than on what would be best for rep.)

I’m torn on how far you could get away with including Bones in their relationship. The bones/Spock dynamic is interesting because it is like enemies to lovers, they definitely develop that care for each other, whilst Kirk/bones are old friends. I think Bones shouldn’t have romantic relationships on screen, and should maybe be quite unromantic as a result of his divorce. I don’t think we should ever meet his daughter, though I’m also quite interested in the idea of his ex wife having remarried for a number of years and then having a brief affair with Bones, before breaking it off, but then gives birth to his child but it remains a secret. Because it’s definitely part of his character that he has no attachments to his home, and it makes more sense of his attachment - his love for a daughter that never knew him - if it’s one he can’t do anything about. And would understandably make him more bitter towards his ex, which can make him more unromantic. But I don’t think it needs to be a major plot point.

Like I said, Spock/bones/Kirk should always end up together in some way. And I think it’s in their character to never define why they end up together, but to acknowledge that they can’t live without each other. And I think you could get away with including that as ambiguous to how far their love for each other goes. There’ll be too much backlash to make it completely canon for it, but you could get away with the Good Omens approach. Perhaps you could include Bones in a Vulcan kiss subtly enough to get away with it.

Characters who should be important:

Christine Chapel - she should definitely be in it and made a more significant character, because otherwise Uhura is really the only woman in the show. But it’d be very nice to have a woman who doesn’t need to have a relationship, and there’s no need for her romantic desire for Spock to exist in any remakes. It would also be nice to just make her a doctor from the get-go. Her friendship with Uhura was present in tos, but can now be focused on more, as well as her supportive role to Bones throughout. She wouldn’t be part of the main group, but she should be a big part of their lives.

Doctor m’benga - he was an interesting character, and it’d be nice to have a fixed medical team that work closely together. There’s also a potential for an interesting concept of him being an expert on Vulcans, Bones being an expert on Humans, and thus they’ve both been hired on the ship to work together for the sake of Spock. Also, having another established doctor on board could give an actual explanation for why it’s okay that their only doctor keeps beaming down to dangerous missions and going up to the bridge for no reason lol. Plus there is a lot to be said for casting a dark skinned black man in the role of knowledgable caregiver, especially if they can make him more of a scientist of alien biology too. There may be value if it naturally develops of him having a relationship with chapel, because whilst I like allowing women to exist without relationships, it might be balanced out with the positive representation of an interracial relationship.

Lieutenant Rahda - remember her? She was like In one episode but was great, and she should definitely be introduced as part of the bridge team again. Though her exact culture or religion is not disclosed, she is seen to wear a bindi, and i think it’s always a great time to add more diversity. It makes sense to have more people in the bridge crew too, even if they aren’t part of the main team dynamic. Considering the current political climate, it’d also be a great idea to add another bridge crew team who is visibly a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, seeing as various countries are still trying to ban that.

Walking Bear - he was only in the TAS for one episode, but again I think he would prove a valuable addition, especially considering star trek’s representation of native people has never been the best, so it’s time they started to make up for that a bit. In most episodes there’s always usually others in the bridge that are helping the main team, and it’d make sense to have a fixed cast of who these people are and flesh them out a bit more.

Saavik - she shouldn’t be in it until much later, at least not as part of the enterprise crew, but there is something very interesting about her character and the dynamic with Spock (which is why I think they should meet later on, because he takes on a role of mentor which is a dynamic shift, and thus should probably happen later. Multiple Vulcans on board is also a dynamic shift that I think should be addressed more.) I do wonder whether it might be nice to move her to being a scientist rather than bridge crew, as that would afford her more interaction with Bones as well, who I think we should get to see interact with other Vulcans more, to establish that he is not xenophobic despite his conflict on Vulcan philosophy with Spock. (Or at least if he does start xenophobic, to start showing his development away from this.) She also should not have a relationship, especially not with Spock oh my god. I think a nice way for her to be introduced would be if she was staffed on a Vulcan only ship that the enterprise for whatever reason has to work alongside, because I think we need to see Spock interact more with other Vulcans and see that Vulcans, despite claims to the contrary, can have the same xenophobic failings as humans. I think her being one who is sympathetic to the enterprise and to Spock is a nice set up to them then meeting later and working together (and also why she might change careers and move away from the Vulcan only ships, as we do get the sense it is unusual for Vulcans to serve on board a starship.) Whilst I do think that a romulan/Vulcan offspring could provide an interesting story, I think she should be fully Vulcan in order to make her acceptance of Spock more poignant.

Kevin Riley - I just think he’s neat. Also maybe we can return to the Tarsus 5 colony story point?!?!?!?

I’d also think it’d be cool to establish some engineers that work beneath Scotty, and a mix of genders of course.

But yeah, I think there’s a lot of ways that any remakes could stay true to the original, whilst still pushing for progressiveness in the same spirit as tos, whilst managing to manoeuvre around execs and producers and negative media. Star Trek should always be progressive for its day, and it’s a new day now, so we need to keep moving onwards.

[incarnateirony]

You really are patient Min! It's incredible tbh. Fandom drive me crazy sometimes but your blog is that peaceful corner where no one call who thinks like me(us) delusional. So thank you! That being said, this gonna be everywhere, (sorry!) it's kinda crazy how some lanes in fandom kinda miss the whole point of the show, not just then destiel portion... The philosophy of it all. It's sad TBH, how ppl dismiss the whole louder than life subtext (and text) bc they don't like what they see. (1/3)

But yeah I get how DeanCas is important and know how ever body screams bout rep in every chance they get. ( that freakin important too don’t get me wrong, but you know every story has its porpoise!) SPN wasn’t about rep in the frist place and TBH, what a whole bunch of ppl what for rep in it is kinda of no no for this kind of story and those kind of characters, (2/3)(Third part eaten twice by tumblr)

Okay, first off: Was… was porpoise an intentional typo because i–

…*clears throat*

“what a whole bunch of ppl want for rep in it is kinda of no no for this kind of story and those kind of characters,”

Winner winner chicken dinner. I don’t know how many people pay attention to Bobo. I mean REALLY pay attention to Bobo, not just as a token of convenient argument. One look at his feed will tell you that this man’s idea of representing his own middle aged male LGBT demographic is wildly different from what this female and youth dominant fandom thinks is what would seal it, or what they dream of or imagine happening.

I, too, love adorable fanart of them. I also recognize that most of this fanart looks like it could be modeled off of poses from the portraits of Buttigieg and his husband that Bobo drags to fuck and gone for its heteroconformity and polished presumptuousness. A great deal of people trying to talk LGBT culture in this fandom are more LGBT people who still live inside of het culture. And yes, you can still even be gay married while wedged in het culture.

Bobo is a counterculturist. This isn’t hard to fucking see. From his feed, to his episodes, to his articles talking about the Big Gay Window-Smashing Pre-Antifa Liberal Riots he used to partake in, and really still does if recent candids of him being spotted in ICE blockade walls is any indicator – this man wants nothing of it. Not your conservatism (even if he recognizes that in a conservative culture you have to be willing to take steps in conservative queer content to gain more liberal doses of platform [Review of “The Attack Queers” By Bobo Berens 2003]), not your heteronormativity, not your polished garbage. He. Wants. None. Of. Your. Crap. Like Open Borders Bernie Or Bust Berens.

And you know what?

HE. IS. THE. DEMOGRAPHIC. BEING. REPRESENTED.

HE. IS. WRITING. HIS. OWN. DEMOGRAPHIC.

LOUDLY.

And quite frankly, has DECADES of TRACEABLE, TANGIBLE, FEET ON THE GROUND ACTIVISM that makes all the queerbait or subtext screaming in this fandom look like a wailing daycare.

He’s written so many goddamn circles around this fandom some of y’all will be figuring out some shit in ten years, like the Dreamhunter Paradox. Congrats, a lot of y’all don’t even realize you’ve shown your asses at holding MLM to different demands than (rival-less) WLW. So either you’re biased (consciously or subconsciously) against MLM content, or you’re literally judging the content based on argumentation value with morons/finding any excuse because it’s not YOUR pairing. There is no in between. Oh wait yeah there is, “abusing socially conscious dialogues to sound respectable rather than entitled because it IS your ship and you’re pushing for more and more content past existing validity, and you don’t want to sound like you’re just complaining so saying ‘representation’ sounds right, though that still hovers close to argumentation option #2”. Next?

Now beyond my big gay rage, to address the other stuff–

*Along* the lines of ship-war fandom, which is really what most of this boils down to (eg, “it’s not valid until I can win every argument without any question from any intentionally daft idiot ever, which basically, never”) – people get so hyperfixated on singular nuances in the story, eg, Destiel as a phenomenon, that in laser focusing on it not only do they miss the overall sum of philosophy in the show, but ironically even parts of those hyperfixations themselves because they end up so tunnel visioned on a given path (IDK, did someone obsess over a random line from 3-5 years ago and decide the angel oath [that one off line used to explain why nephilim aren’t everywhere in case anyone’s confused wtf I’m even talking about] needs addressed before it counts, or that they need to address the heart tie’s mechanics before anything after it ever counts ever, or are they chasing a pipe for an Empty storyline that’s not gonna pay out in the direction they want, or–) – during this, this bizarre self-created prison the fandom has made, only to explore their own cages defining their existence and experience manufactured by themselves – they miss SO MUCH they would even be after.

Anyone I can pry a few bars from the jail cell of to let them slip out and see the world clearly and positively again, I’m happy to help.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: “A Night Off”

So RWBY has this weird thing going on in Volume 7 where it’ll give me a truly horrendous episode and then manage to turn things around just enough so that, despite my frustrations, I quite like parts of the next week’s stuff. That proceeds to get my hopes up, only for them to turn around mess it all up again in the following episode.

What I’m saying is, I should expect next week to be a pretty rough ride.

First, let me chuck out the details I personally loved in this episode that fit better together than spread out across a recap. Namely, treating Oscar like an actual human being. Thank you, Rooster Teeth, for:

Having him continually be involved by monitoring Jaune’s aura levels. (It likewise hasn’t escaped my notice how much he’s been paired with JNR lately. The fandom might get their new ‘P’ after all.)

Giving Oscar some thoughts and feelings beyond just the Ozpin situation. He’s worried about not having his semblance yet. Hark! A characterization!

Nora very kindly firing back with, “Well, I bet we’ll all be jealous when you do.”

Yang using Oscar as a convenient armrest. Granted, Yang hasn’t exactly treated him well enough lately to have earned that kind of casual buddy-buddy-ness, but if the writing is never going to call the group out on their Volume 6 behavior then I’ll take unearned kindness over continued indifference or cruelty

Jaune going out to the movies with Oscar and them both inviting Weiss. I mean, same issue here. Why is Oscar so comfortable and eager to hang out with the guy who attacked him? I wish that we had some acknowledgment that these kinds of things don’t just disappear once someone apologizes. Jaune still hurt Oscar, badly enough to leave him flinching against a wall... and none of that even takes into account Oscar’s supposed hesitation about lying to Ironwood. He should be acting more like Ren, involved with the group yet wary at the same time.

In addition, keep in mind that Oscar is currently living in this happy bubble where everyone has chosen to forget that Ozpin exists. I’m still highly suspicious of how they’ll treat him once Ozpin is out in the open again and Oscar is the convenient scapegoat for their anger. As said though, for now I’ll take it. I mean, look at that smile.

Right. Onto the actual plot.

We open on the aftermath of the Mantle riots, which is somewhat disappointing. I had hoped the group would actually be involved in that, giving them the chance to tackle a situation where brute force can’t be the go-to answer. You can’t punch out desperate citizens or run them through with your scythe. Instead, Ironwood’s men are handling it and we reconvene with the group the next day, election day. For the record, we know it has only been a day---and not longer rioting as I initially assumed---because Weiss comments that her father dropped that bombshell “the day before the election.” Which for me just speaks to how much time must have passed during those training montages. The political parts of this volume couldn’t have happened in any short amount of time. 

We’re shown an interview with Hill wherein she quite firmly doesn’t condone the rioting, but admits that there are good reasons for it as well. Her body guard stands very awkwardly in the background in a way I don’t think the shot really needs.

We then segue back into the group training and, like I mentioned above with Oscar, there are a lot of details here that I really enjoyed. Two of which are Weiss creating a mini version of her knight to sneak up on Winter---yes, please show us this kind of creativity in the actual fights---and Nora and Jaune practicing with a rubber ball. Ren is also deep in meditation while all this going on, which raises some questions about how aware of the world he is in this state. Is he able to simply ignore all the commotion, even Ruby flying straight at him? Is he so deep down that he’s entirely disconnected until he resurfaces? If so, does he only meditate like this when he’s 100% sure he’s in a safe place? Would the group be able to wake him if something were to happen?

As you can see, I’m obviously a little too invested in details and world building lol.

Speaking of world building though, we learn a little bit more about semblances here. Namely that, like hinted at in Volume Five and recently with Harriet, all their semblances are “evolving.” Jaune can apparently regenerate his own aura now, much more quickly than he could before. And Ruby...

Okay, real talk. Did I miss something here? It’s entirely possible I did, but if not what even was that conversation between Ruby and Oscar? She flies at the pillar Ren is seated under, divides into three rose petal clusters to get around it, and recombines on the other side. You know, the thing we’ve known she can do for a long while now. Since Volume Four I believe. Except then we get this exchange:

Oscar: Have you always been able to do that?

Ruby: I don’t know. I don’t normally think it through that much.

What are you talking about? Of course you know, Ruby! This isn’t a new technique. And what do you mean by, “I don’t normally think it through that much”? Is the writing trying to imply that she’s done the split thing so instinctively in the past she didn’t even notice she was doing it? I’m just massively confused by this moment. Others have pointed out that the writing tends to make up easy to solve “problems” for the cast to deal with so it looks like they’re achieving some kind of growth. The most egregious example being Ruby’s lack of hand-to-hand in Volume 5, culminating in a single headbutt against Mercury. Notably, this supposed flaw hasn’t resurfaced at all since then. Not even, say, when she’s at a party without her weapon and Tyrian attacks...

This feels like another moment where they just threw out something random to make it look like Ruby is improving alongside with the other, actual developments they’ve managed to think through, such as Jaune’s aura. Which is particularly strange considering Ruby was set up as the one to evolve her semblance. Which will probably still happen... but why paint an old skill as new along the way? It’s just all very strange.

Anyway, we get a nice shot of Ren coming out of his meditation where the whole world is gray like when he activates his semblance. Excellent visual cue as to his emotional state. This continues as Ironwood arrives and the group lays into him about needing to trust Hill. Which is hilarious considering that none of them are currently trusting Ironwood. He points out that common ground can only exist “if she’s open too”---unlikely given the second half of the episode---and Nora is about to challenge that when Ren interrupts, asking about mission assignments. Ironwood announces that they’re getting the night off instead.

Note though how guilty Ruby looks after all that talk of trusting others.

We cut to the girls later that night in their room, listening to the election news and getting ready to go out. It’s all very cute, but I think Nora is onto something regarding how Blake and Yang are always together. It’s so blatantly obvious they’re falling for one another, especially after this episode, and I’m honestly thrilled we’re finally getting some queer rep beyond former villains and minor characters. However, I hope that as Blake and Yang’s relationship develops that the writers don’t completely lose track of their co-dependency issues as well. Meaning, Yang totally wrote Blake off because she “ran away,” AKA went home precisely like Yang did, warping a natural and understandable choice into a personal betrayal. Blake in turn broke down sobbing and promised Yang to never ever leave her again. Separation is not a new issue for them. Their desire to spend every waking moment together is definitely cast as romantic now, but it’s also tied up in their inability to function well without each other. As we saw recently, a throwaway comment about fighting with someone else generates legitimate anger in both of them. Couples have to be able to spend time apart, so I hope the writing eventually lets the girls work through all that as well. 

For now though, they’re going dancing with FNKI. Very bad dancing based on what little we see. It’s enough to convince Weiss that the movies are her best choice here. Especially since she’s clearly not interested in Hill’s preemptive victory party. We see a tiny bit of that tension between Weiss’ views and Nora’s, but nothing with any substance. We just keep getting tiny glimpses that Nora is potentially passionate about the people of Mantle before it’s all quickly overshadowed by her romance drama with Ren. More on that in a moment.

The two of them plus Ruby make their way out into the streets where Ren admits that, “We spent so much time worrying about how Ironwood would react to the truth about [Salem], but have any of us even considered how we’re going to beat her if we work past that?”

Ruby reminds them that Jinn told Ozpin he couldn’t destroy her. Nora: “Maybe someone else could?”

It only took you weeks to figure that out! Though I love how this still---still---apparently has no bearing on how they view Ozpin. This was another perfect, quiet moment where three characters, notably three of the least angry characters, could have acknowledged how terrifying this information is. How they still can’t bring themselves to tell Ironwood, a man who thus far has done nothing but support them. Wow, I totally get why Ozpin would have trouble telling us. Oh also, we just realized that maybe Jinn’s information was specific to him. Maybe someone else can destroy Salem. That’s a pretty big revelation. I wonder if Ozpin himself realizes that? We should probably try to talk to him at some point.

It’s while they’re talking about the heavy stuff that Ren mutters about how they should still be training. Nora counters that they deserve a night off and the two of them clash enough to walk off angry. We see now at least part of what’s been bothering Ren lately. Nora is a very bubbly, silly, go-with-the-flow sort of person, whereas he is hyper focused on becoming as strong as possible in the hopes of finding a way out of this Salem mess. He doesn’t want to hear compliments while searching for a geist, or have her playing with his hair while on patrol, or turn training into a conversation about their relationship, or waste time on frivolous parties. There’s obviously a happy medium between Ren’s work ethic and Nora’s relaxed attitude, though they haven’t worked through that at all because they’re too busy kissing. Again, more on that in a second.

They reach the party, Penny is there, Nora and Ren dive into another fight that serves to canonize both them and Blake/Yang. Nora comments about how they’re spending so much time together, Ren observes that they’re at least friends again, and the response is,

Nora: “Friends, huh? Just friends?” Ren: “What else would they be? Nora: “Two people who have gone through so much? I think there’s more going on...”

It’s clear at this point that Nora is talking about them rather than Yang/Blake, but the initial comparison holds. Though she uses them as an in to discuss her own relationship, I doubt she was lying here. She clearly views them as a parallel to her and Ren: two partners who have been through a great deal together and, as a result, have grown to love each other as more than just friends. Those who insist that Rooster Teeth isn’t heading in a Blake/Yang direction don’t have much of a leg to stand on anymore. That ship (ha) has long since sailed. 

Ruby sneaks away from their fight though nothing terribly exciting happens. She adorably clings to Penny’s arm. They adorably fist-bump (ouch). Marrow and Hill get into a conversation about making change and whether or not she’ll accomplish that within the bounds of the law. Funny... I thought we saw that very same theme last volume. If only the writing acknowledged that there’s a connection between this conversation and our protagonists. We’re supposed to see both sides of the situation here: Hill’s need to bend the rules once in a while and Marrow’s desire to keep the peace; how the law is a man-mad construct that’s far from perfect and the importance of making change in a way that will stick---namely, legally. Here is a complex look at a morally difficult question and notably both Marrow and Hill are minor characters. It’s only when RWBYJNR is involved that the message moves from ‘Each side has a point’ to ‘Teens are 100% justified in breaking the law and anyone trying to stop them is an evil, crazy racist.’

It honestly astounds me that Rooster Teeth can give us that subtly here but never when it comes to our heroes.

When Ruby finally returns she finds Ren and Nora still fighting. As she snuck off we heard Ren admitting---in the round-about way of theirs, pretending that they’re talking about other people---that he’s worried, there’s a lot going on right now, and basically implying that he doesn’t know how (or doesn’t want) to balance a new relationship on top of all the horrific Salem business. Which, fair. The problem is that they don’t discuss this. Hill’s speech about how they’re always stronger together resonates with Nora and she tries to initiate a conversation, asking Ren to explain more fully what’s bothering him. To talk about it. He admits that talking has never been his strong suit.

I expected this to segue into a cliche, “Well try” moment and we’d finally get Ren and Nora bonding outside of their jokes and silent communication. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Look, I’m all for a renora kiss, but we have got to stop portraying sexual assault as romantic. Because that’s what Nora does here. It doesn’t matter how sure she (or we as the audience) are that Ren will like this kiss in the end. Grabbing someone and kissing them without their consent is sexual assault. Ren has not agreed to kiss her. He hasn’t expressed any desire here to kiss here. He’s completely blindsided by it and is flailing before he gives in.

People will justify this because, again, we all “know” that Ren secretly wants it and will be grateful that Nora got him past his fear. But that’s a terrible message to perpetuate in a world where others insist they also “know” when someone “really” wants them (they don’t) and where kissing or sex is seen as an easy way to supposedly solve problems between a couple. How many times have we seen an angry woman in media essentially told to shut up by a guy kissing her? The message is that her thoughts and grievances aren’t important here. The man knows her better than she knows herself and the second her forces her to start kissing him she realizes that’s really all she needed all along. That trope isn’t redeemed by changing the gender dynamic. Ren clearly has problems with their relationship that he’s struggling to work through. Nora clearly recognizes as much. Yet instead of acknowledging them and overcoming them, she erases any potential development by forcing him into a kiss. I’m sorry, it doesn’t matter how much Ren enjoys it a few seconds in. The continued message that forcing sexual intimacy on someone will fix both their hesitation and your relationship problems has go to stop. Kissing Nora doesn’t magically solve whatever it is Ren has been grappling with for the last six episodes. You know, the stuff they were just arguing about.

Once again, RWBY succeeded in giving me something I wanted, but in a way that severely downplays that enjoyment. I wanted a renora kiss, but not without consent and as a way of ignoring their issues. I wanted more focus on Ren and Nora as a whole this volume, but it would be nice if their characters could exits outside of each other some. Like the criticisms against Blake and Yang, Ren and Nora seem to be a package deal. They don’t fight with anyone else. They don’t go to different activities (why can’t Ren continue training if he’s that focused on it? Let Nora vent her feelings to a friend while he’s gone). They don’t interact with Ruby when they’re out with her. Their arc, it seems, doesn’t exist outside of each other. Which I suppose is better than no development at all, but still.

From then on things devolve rather quickly. While Hill continues her speech---and we see the ever closing gap between her and Jacques---Ruby gets a quick look at Tyrian’s tail before Watts turns out the lights. From there Tyrian proceeds to murder so many people, including attacking Fiona and going after Hill. All the while Ruby and Penny struggle to attack, despite the fact that Penny clearly has night vision and hangs back too long, obviously for plot purposes. It’s when she finally gets him away from Hill that Watts turns the lights back on, making it look like Penny had attacked the crowd and Hill was defending herself from her. I’ll admit, making Penny suitably creepy during the battle helps sell it.

Man do I hate framing plot-lines though. Not in a ‘Rooster Teeth shouldn’t have done this’ sense, just that it hurts to watch people react so badly based on a misunderstanding. This setup works best when there’s no one to refute the assumption. Yet here we have Ruby who absolutely saw Tyrian there, Penny who absolutely saw him with her night vision, Marrow who just made a connection with Hill and took the time to insist, “This wasn’t us, I swear,” etc. We’ve even got really basic stuff like, does Penny have blood all over her blades? Yet based on Hill’s look, all the evidence against Penny being the attacker isn’t going to do much good. Which makes for a more frustrating experience than a sad, yet understandable one.

We end with Jacques thanking everyone for his victory, rigged by Watts. Watts uploads the video of the attack, which has presumably either been altered in some way or just shows Penny in that damning position with her weapons out. If the former, that would at least go a long way towards explaining the inevitable backlash against her. An angry mob in the heat of the moment is one thing, but if Watts is looking to convince the entirety of Atlas that Ironwood is using his robot---a robot the people seem to currently love---to take out his competition, a doctored video of Penny attacking innocent people is far more persuasive. For both them and us the audience, wondering why everyone is this gullible. So far we’ve gotten some truly excellent villainy this year. Let’s continue that with them thinking ahead. 

At the very least this should (should) provide us with some excellent development for Penny. She’s long struggled with her status as a robot and being the defender of Atlas seems to have helped her come into herself. Having others accept her differences as a boon will do that. Now that she’s labeled as nothing more than a dangerous weapons again? We should see some inner conflict. The writing didn’t let her or anyone else grapple with her death. For the love of everything, at least let Penny grapple with this. 

Finally, Ruby and the others are forced to spend the night defending the city from a ton of grimm. Seriously, take in how many grimm showed up because of an election. Now think about what will happen if Ironwood announces Salem’s existence... I don’t think the cast is admitting to themselves precisely how many lives they’d be sacrificing by pulling that stunt. Ironwood at least (as far as we know) truly thinks he has a shot at winning the war. Ruby has no excuse at this point, with the exception that telling people about Salem is just plain hard.

Insert standard ‘Ozpin was right and they’re being hypocrites’ meta here.

And that’s it, folks! Issues aside, an all around better episode than some of the others we’ve gotten this season. Based off of experience it’ll be a small miracle if RWBY manages to keep that up next week.

Until then 💜

Minor Things of Note

All the people who were arrested the day of the election... do they get to vote? I know Watts rigged things, but potentially keeping everyone that furious with Ironwood from deciding who will oppose him on the council won’t exactly look good... especially combined with the Penny situation. Not that I think RWBY would actually introduce that as a complication. Just a thought.

Another extremely nit-picky thing, but it’s hilarious to me how bare the girls’ room is. Obviously there’s little time or inclination to animate personal items, even the few they have, but it kind of looks ridiculous to have this sterile space with one mirror and one tube of mascara. Here are the exact things we need for this scene and nothing more! I do like that shot in the mirror though.

Fiona getting teary-eyed over Hill being on the council was beautiful. I barely know them, but I like these two.

I’m just gonna post this again...