#all we know is that they're not related and have male DNA

[vyunok-obyknovenniy]

Disclaimer: I am not an archaeologist or a professional researcher, this is just some things I learned and my personal theory

I get the impression, that it's mostly a guessing game here ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

It reminded me of the two embracing maidens of Pompeii and how now the DNA test revealed that they were men (you can find a ton of articles about that)

According to BBC news: Ancient DNA was preserved in bodies that were encased in time-hardened ash.

From what I could find, sex of the remains is usually identified by the shape of the pelvis or skull and long bone measurements... but considering the wide variety of human body shapes, this method isn't that accurate (especially if you remember that intersex people exist).

What also plays a big role is how the person was buried: what items were put in their grave. There are skeletons who had both sets of items and even if you can determine their sex, you can't determine their gender. Male skeletons being buried with "women's things" and vice versa. There are tons of remains, that just stay unidentified, etc.

As an example, here's an analysis of the Weapon Grave at Suontaka Vesitorninmäki, Finland, published in the European Journal of Archaeology

The "two maidens" were assumed to be women for so long, because archeologists just decided, that the embrace was too "feminine" (and so was the shape of their thighs for some reason?)

Art doesn't even have a DNA that could be tested like that, so what exactly is depicted is usually a guessing game. There often is information/records, that give researchers something to go off of (how that society worked, what their views were, how they usually depicted certain things, people or deities, etc.), but unless the artist labeled their work, a lot of the time we can't be sure of what exactly they made.

(The person on the pottery really reminded me of the blanket burrito Achilles)

@kebriones

[icewindandboringhorror]

I still very loathe the Media Trope of ‘’cold genius man doesn’t feel emotions and never has relationships... UNTIL.. one random relatively bland Preddy Woman comes along and warps his entire personality and ability to think, his heart has grown and his seeming asexuality has evaporated, he is now Normal :)” or whatever like... AS a walking generic hermit archetype myself.. we would NOT act like that .... just let people be detached weirdos in peace, you cowards .. OR, don’t bother to write one in the first place if you find us too boring to exist realistically in our natural state lol.. pathetic 

[threepandas]

YANDERE!All For One.

A horrifying concept! Thanks, we (love) hate it!

He is ALREADY dangerous enough. Unhinged enough. Having his complete and undivided attention? His INTEREST? His fucked up, Machiavellian, sociopathic lil squirrel brain, COMPLETELY focused on the task of hunting you for sport?

Ha ha... *deep inhale* *starts screaming, never stops*

The man was already a living horror movie monster. Making him a yandere makes him WORSE~☆. Which is GREAT. For us, specifically. The readers. Not for the victim. THEY are fuuuuuuucked. Possibly in the literal sense, but unlikely.

Mind games and power plays are more fun.

The pointless struggle. Possession of something. The resemblance to Self. Because HE is perfect. Other people? Abhorrent. They're Rats. Vermin. Less, even, then that. They are nothing but occasionally interesting Quirks with meat attached to them. Sometimes useful servants and peons, born to be ruled.

But respective PARTNERS?

Gods NO. Don't be disgusting.

He is PERFECT. Powerful. He pulled himself up from the ruins of the early Quirk riots, the first days of those ugly wars, and became something MORE. Ascended. A Dark Lord, meant to rule, BORN to rule, over this new age of Man. It all makes perfect sense to him. He has plans within plans. Stretching out for centuries.

He just needs to get his brother BACK.

End this little rebellion.

It's a set back. Just a set back. And he's being PERFECTLY reasonable about his brothers Quirk. Utterly sane. He's ALWAYS been level headed and rational about family... is what he tells himself.

But he's NOT. He's Yandere AF.

His parents? He doesn't care AT ALL about. They nominally were supposed to control HIM. Uninterested, thanks. But? His weaker little brother? We SAW how he reacted. So I propose? You gotta be RELATED to him. And THEN the Bad Touch Instinct flips on.

Do you ACTUALLY have to share blood with him? No. But it would seriously help your survival chances. But the more you LOOK like him? The closer your Quirk to his? The more you are "him but weaker somehow"? The more INTERESTED he is.

The sort of Yandere he is? Is almost entirely dependent on HOW he learns of your existence. Cause? There is no way in HELL he had sex. At least not with ANOTHER PERSON. He has thousands of Quirks, thank you very much, any need he has? He can settle HIMSELF. Don't touch him.

Keep your filthy, filthy, disgusting paws to yourself.

So if someone SOMEHOW managed to get PREGNANT with his child? :) Well, now. :) he Certainly does have some Very Violent QUESTIONS. For EVERYONE involved. Starting with: How did you get his DNA? And did you touch him?

And once THEY are brutally dismembered corpses? You know, AFTER the child is born. Yandere time! They will want for nothing and KNOW nothing but him. Vault baby 2.0!

But?

Let us say? That the "mother" isn't an idiot. She KNOWS that she Oop's'd a baby with a Fuckin Psycho. Time to RUN. Let's EVEN give that kiddo Self Insert Powers! Cause WHOOPS? "Mummy... mummy I think I stole a quirk." (At least that random toddler seems WAY happier?) Oh SHIT! That's, KINDA DISTINCT.

Uuuuuuuuh *frantic maternal mental math* my babyyyyy.... has.... a....

SUPPRESSION Quirk! Yep, JUST like great *garbled cough* Aiko! Runs in the family, real rare. Looks like a two touch. Once to "suppress" and again to "UN-suppress" RIGHT, honey? *confused child nodding* yep! See! That's EXACTLY what it is. Nothing to see here.

Now PUT IT ON THE FUCKING FORMS.

And? That probably WORKS. For a while. Cause Mother moved them to the DEAD CENTER OF NOWHERE. Where her Quirk won't get her panic pregnant by any SUPERVILLIANS at a fucking Super Strength Thrown down (gdi, what even IS her life?!). But? Really only takes ONE(1) person, don't it?

One person to notice... waaaait a minute.

I've felt this before.

When AfO gave me my Quirk. *Looks at person in front of them*

And? Male? Female? Non-binary? Doesn't matter. He'd be INSTANTLY so, so horror movie creepy.

Suddenly EVERYONE AROUND YOU knows who you are. Is very polite. Your hotel is immaculate. Your food gourmet. People watching without watching. But are you imagining it? You haven't changed anything from yesterday. Why all of a sudden?

He gets the test results.

You Are His.

Suddenly the watchers are GONE. There is only ONE(1) watcher. Tall, broad, pale. An immaculate suit no matter how out of place. Red eyes. A placid face that might as well be carved from stone, for all the genuine human expression it shows. Never there when you turn your head.

Across the street. Atop buildings. In the shadows of alleys.

You can't tell if you're paranoid or your eyes just aren't quick enough. Was there someone just outside the window? Was that REALLY a shadow you saw, cast from the otherside of the door? You live in a safe neighborhood... don't you?

You can't tell if it's your reflection you're seeing or NOT.

Your gut says it isn't. (Says RUN.)

One by one, he'd pick off those around you. What information do they have? Who amongst his loyal can he replace them with? Isolate, isolate. Slowly, ever so slowly. Like a spider weaving a web.

Shhhhhh, shhhhh. Can't let you startle. Have you NOTICE. You'll fight. Hurt yourself pointlessly struggling. Things aren't ready yet. We must continue to play pretend. Go about our little lies. Enjoying the "freedom" he allows. All while he observes. Learns. Refines his plans accordingly.

People can adapt to damn near anything. As long as it doesn't hurt them. Sometimes even when it hurts them. A watcher? That... that never DOES anything? Maybe it's just some Quirk you unknowingly picked up. It's a crowded place, the city. It could happen.

Would explain why it went from lots of them to just one! You got control of it. Yeah. Yeah that makes more sense. (We rationalize away SO MUCH, in this age of Quirks.)

Which makes the fear so, SO much more real. So much SHARPER. When you jerk awake. In your bed. In your room, in your apartment. Where you SHOULD be alone. To a powerful hand, clamped like steel across your lower face. A familiar hole humming against your lips, dead center of a strangers palm.

That's your Quirk.

Why does-?! Eyes flick up as you struggle to breathe. Red, red eyes. White hair. Your face but older, watching you struggle, coldly handsome and deeply masculine. There's only one person he COULD be. All For One. You panic. Have to escape, but you can't get leverage. Scrambling pointlessly at the hand effortlessly pinning you to your bed. Crushing you too it.

Your fingers catch at his suit, his expensive watch, but despite your frantic efforts nothing draws blood. No amount of bucking so much as rocks him. He waits you out. Watching you panic yourself nearly unconscious. Not enough air. Can't breathe. Can't BREATHE!

Coughing, confused, and struggling to suck in air, you finally go limp.

He breaks into a grin. It is the stuff of nightmares. Croons down at you, like praising a pet, that you did good. Calls you by NAME. Oh god, he knows who you ARE. You don't have a lot of Quirks, never wanted to be like him. But you're SCARED. Your hands shake as they come back up.

As though you're going to try and pull his hand away, again.

Palms against skin. You... you try to RIP as many Quirks out of him as you can. Hopefully it hurts. M-Maybe it'll stun him?

He jerks. The grip on your face turns brutal, crushing, then relaxes back to suffocating. For a brief, terrible moment, you were certain you were about to LOSE your lower jaw. He shudders above you. Eyes sliding close he seems to revel in the sensation he just experienced.

Lifting a hand, he runs it through his hair, down his face, his neck. Lightly. Slowly. A shudder. As though he can't keep his hands off himself after that. Please God, let that not be what you think it is, starting to press against you through your covers.

His eyes, when he opens them, BURN.

A hand braced next to your head. The choking scent of his cologne, spiced and musky, burning at your nose. It mixes, like the calling card of something DANGEROUS, with his sharp aftershave. He leans down with the sort of ease that speaks of incredible muscle control. The movement utterly fluid.

A hungry grin, getting closer and closer. Then nothing but mad, crimson eyes filling your view. Your view of him blurs. Tears. All your long muttered plans for anger and sass abandoning you, now that the moment has come. You... you don't feel terribly brave. You feel cornered.

His hand move from clamped over your mouth to holding your face still.

He enjoys the view. Watching you cry for him. Muses in a low voice, just for you, that he wonders... will you try and fight next? His brother did. And you have far more Quirks then he possessed. Should he rip them out one by one? Or all at once? He could give you MORE. Share some of the interesting ones.

But, ah, you'd have to EARN that. Now wouldn't you?

You truely are his child. Covetous and greedy, just like him. Tell him... did it feel GOOD? Did you HUNGER? Want his power for yourself? His greedy little thing~♡

Is he a platonic Yandere? Does he want to screw you through the decadent king sized mattress? Yes. Somehow both. Somehow neither. Honestly? You can pick! He is EXACTLY that level of Weird about it. Just like with his brother.

He wants to croon and cage. Tie them up and discuss the newest research papers. Cuddle like equals yet have them at his feet. He wants to fuck himself. But only his PAST, WEAKER self, whom he can dominate. And while it's PREFERABLE they be into that? He doesn't give a shit if they aren't. Obviously... outside of a quirk? This is not possible.

(God knows he's probably TRYING.)

So the next best thing? Someone who LOOKS very, very similar! He would be OBSESSED. And the harder it was to get them? The more CONTROL he had? The closer they were to being LIKE him? The deeper his Obsession.

This has been my Yandere AfO Talk. If ya'll write anything, for the LOVE OF GOD, LINK ME.

[thehyperfixationspeedrunner]

Welcome to:

✨️Gods and DNA✨️

Aka, do you know that thing that people with ADHD sometimes do where they try to find logic in a thing in a piece of media that there isn't supposed to have logic? That is me at 3 am last night. Buckle up because this is a long ramble.

So, do you know how it is stated in the Percy Jackson books that gods don't have DNA, and that's why you can technically date your cousins if you're a demigod?? Well I always thought it was a bit weird and I was studying for Biology (we're obviously studying genetics) and I thought about the fact that Percy's a man and that just couldn't make sense if gods don't have DNA (for the people who don't know the last for of the 23 pairs of chromosomes that we have define your sex, if you are a female your chromosomes are gonna be XX and if your a male their gonna be XY, therefore the woman can only give an X chromosome while the man can give an X or a Y) because if the don't then Percy would be a female.

Following that thought I thought of the fact that Poseidon and Percy share a few physical appearances (the books mainly talk about the eyes, the hair colour and a few facial experiences) and that has always bugged me, because how can you give physical traits when you don't have DNA, aka the thing that defines your physical appearance (among of a lot of other things)???

So I came to a conclusion. Gods do have something similar enough to DNA but that DNA is not defined by their ancestors, they're created as brand new (which makes sense since they are completely different from eachother but are all related). With this conclusion, we now understand why you can date your cousins but not you siblings, is not just a moral thing, you ARE biologically related to your siblings but not to your cousins.

Following this, there is also the demigods descendents to have in consideration. When people think of the possibility of two demigods have a child that is a god they act like there is an allele that can determinate if your a god or not, do the mendelian chess (don't know if that's how it's written in english) and say the chances are 25% but that doesn't make sense. With this theory, the chances are much smaller because in order for that to happen in the gametes of both demigods, there needs to be just the chromosomes of that not-DNA-but-works-as-such. However, in camp Jupiter, they talk about generations of demigods and that normally the powers get weaker and weaker. BUT the opposite can happen because the child of the previous set of demigods can have more of those gods chromosomes than the parents instead of less and if that keeps happens generation after generation that is a chance that one of the descendents turns out a god.

With that I conclude my essay saying that gods have what I'm gonna call G-DNA (gods-DNA (to all the biologists that are right now hitting their head on the closest hard surface if that is a term like that pretend that there isn't)) and children of demigods can be gods.

[roseaesynstylae]

First it was Law, then Kid, then Killer. Now it's King. Forgive me, it's just that I'm a sucker for some of the hottest men in manga. On that note, I have some thoughts about King. Warning: My thought processes got dark at points, so I feel that I should state up front that, while not mentioned in detail, there are mentions of incest and rape.

I'm wondering where King is right now. I mean, all seven of the (known) Seraphim, which were made from his DNA, have been revealed. The last we saw him, the newest addition to the "Assholes in the Marines" group had him and Queen restrained, with King being impaled with a vine pretty close to the heart. That in no way means that he's dead; people are insanely durable in One Piece, and Lunarians are explicitly stated to be extremely tough even by that standard. The best case scenario is that he somehow escaped off-screen. Worst case scenario, he's been dragged back to the lab, which is probably the worst fate he can imagine. Regardless, I'm hoping he'll show up again.

I have to wonder what he'd think about the Seraphim. I don't think he'd have a positive opinion. Think about it; he had his DNA taken from him, likely while he was being experimented on as a teenager, and it was used to make super-powerful soldiers for the people who were responsible for wiping out every other member of his race. I doubt he'd be pleased to know that, however indirectly, he's being used for the World Government's gain. And then there's the fact that, given his circumstances, he couldn't have given consent for his genetic matter to be used and the fact that it was subsequently used to make children... Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels like this has a vibe that, depending on your perspective, can be likened to rape or might actually qualify. You know, there's some really dark stuff in One Piece. It's just thinly concealed by the wackiness.

I'm wondering if another Lunarian will show up in the series at some point. Sure, they might be completely gone aside from King, but this is Oda. You never know. I've thought a bit about this. The best option is that there's at least one Lunarian aside from King hiding out in some remote place far from the World Government's reach. The worst case scenario is that they're in a lab, being experimented on. The former is the happiest choice, the latter is the most dramatic choice. Guess which one is most likely to be canon?!

Related to above, I have some ideas about what would happen if there was one more living Lunarian, who's also female. While I imagine that King would be incredibly shocked and likely very happy, it would still mean that there would only be two Lunarians left. That, and even if it isn't brought up, there would be an unspoken implication of "We are literally the last of our kind and we happen to be a male and female pair, which is usually what's required for making children. Hmm." Going deeper into that, I can confidently say that even if King and this hypothetical Lunarian woman end up being compatible and attracted to each other, even if they both want to try to continue their race, even if none of the numerous potential problems that couples run into while conceiving and carrying a child to term occur, even if they have a lot of kids... It would be a short-term solution at best, at least in terms of keeping the Lunarian race alive without getting involved with other races (which is an entire other bucket of worms and filled with concerning implications, but for the purposes of this example, I'm talking about the Lunarian species as opposed to hybrids). Keep in mind, I'm working off of the assumption that King and his hypothetical partner are really the only living Lunarians left. That would mean that, if they had kids, there would be no other Lunarians to continue on with, unless they decided to go down the route of another white-haired, fire-associated, almost gone group: The Taryargens. (This can also be called the "Let's Ignore Taboos and the Westermark Effect Option.") But even assuming that they went that way, it would all be gone in a few generations. Minuscule gene pool + inbreeding = Die slowly due to the disorders and lethal recessives brought on by said inbreeding. This, of course, isn't factoring the offspring marrying and having children with members of other races, but it's worth noting that that healthier, saner, and infinitely less disgusting option would still lead to the Lunarian race going extinct. Their genes would eventually be subsumed by everything else, the hybrids would go on to having an increasingly small percentages of their ancestry be Lunarian, and it would eventually end how you'd expect. I mean, my knowledge of genetics is shaky at best, but even I know this.

Well, the above all got dark and depressing, so let me end by saying that I would describe King in a single word: UMPH. (I think that's what I'm supposed to use.)

[ikchen]

hellp, is the claim made in 2011 by the Swiss company IGENEA that king Tut's DNA is a 99.6% match with western European Y chromosomes accurate? I've tried to find it but I've never got that it has been "proved" or "debunked"

lmao look their website literally says:

"In 2009, extensive DNA tests were performed on Tutankhamun's mummy and other members of his family. However, these were only partially published in February 2010. The results of the Y-DNA test have been kept under wraps despite several requests.

With the help of a Discovery Channel recording, iGENEA has now succeeded in reconstructing the Y-DNA profile of Tutankhamun, his father Akhenaten and his grandfather Amenophis III."

So they're saying "hey we pretend that we know Tut's haplotype now lollol" and it's apparently Haplo-group R-M269.

50% of male Europeans have that. So are they directly related to Tut?

Weeeelllll NO. Turns out this Haplo-group emerged around 7500 years BC in Eastern Europe. So obviously half of Europe now has that Haplo-group. Nothing to do with Tut. Also his kids (daughters who couldn't even have passed on that Haplo-type) died really young

Now, the fact that (they think) Tut had that Haplo-group is a bit special, because only like 1% or Egyptians had that, but then again Egypt had some nice trade contacts to Eastern Europe (see: the Hittite empire, the Amarna Letters, etc). So maybe his dad's dad's dad's dad or smth was imported from there.

Kinda like my own great grandfather, who was imported from Swabia after all the men in great gran's village (in Bavaria) died in WW1...

[blandacheadcanons]

We could have a DLC based on Claudia's life as an assassin and madame, or Lydia Frye. The WW II is an interesting setting for a game and I loved her character

I'm still not over the fact that Aya was supposed to be the protagonist from Origins but they changed to not make the poor "macho men clients" to cry

*Before we get further into feminism, I want to make very, very clear: we love and support trans people here, ABOVE ALL ELSE. Terfs are templars.*

DLC would be cool, but I think it would still be the same thing that they're doing: treating female characters (and thus women as a whole) as second fiddle.

Their whole pattern so far has been "men are in the main games - the ones that we advertise, and reference, and build off of - and women are in that... Other Stuff. The side parts that don't get acknowledged."

I mean, raise your hand if you've listened to Assassin's Creed Gold (which still doesn't have a female assassin protag but does have a modern day woman).

Summarize the plot of ac liberation for me off the top of your head.

Who killed Mongke Khan in the series?

Do you know anything about Shao Jun that's not related to Ezio? I'm not even sure Ubisoft does.

And even when female characters do get to take the main stage, they have to share it! Usually extremely unevenly!

Aya, as you said, was meant to be the protagonist of origins but was sidelined for Bayek. Most of the time that you're playing as her, you're actually playing as a boat.

Evie and Jacob were supposed to share the spotlight evenly, but he ended up with 3 times as many missions as her. And there were diegetic, lyrical songs about the targets in the game, but all of them were for Jacob's targets! None for Evie's, unless you count the one for Roth, who they both fought.

Odyssey and Valhalla technically have canon fe.ale protagonists, but with a gender choice, and all or much of the advertising was for the male character.

Gender choices that don't even work in context. The explanations they gave us were. Just ... Bad...

The "the girl is the canon character" thing feels a bit like Rowling's tweets about Dumbledore and Hermione. Diet Allyship: all the fanfare of diversity in art with none of the commitment!

And the gender choice would be really cool with a Little rework. Like for the protagonist of that modern day game that people have been clamoring for. Or a genderfluid\genderqueer character.

The latter could even bring the disguise system from liberation in.

Or they could break off the multiplayer functions they had and make a fortnite-esc game with customizable or a variety of characters. In fact, weren't there whispers of them doing just that?

But nope. Cis men only, or weird, contrived reasons for why the machine that reads your DNA like a book has decided to make it a choose-your-own-adventure story.

[amethystina]

💗 Five Comfort Characters, Five Tags 💗

I got tagged by @miss-ingno! Thank you so much 💜

I honestly don't think I have any "comfort characters" as such unless we're talking about my own OCs, but I'm going to assume that no one wants to hear about those. So I'm going to pick characters that I like or find very fascinating instead. This is by no means an exhaustive list because they're basically just the ones that popped into my mind while writing this, but yeah. Also, I'll be splitting it into female and male characters because I can.

Female characters:

Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. I just find her so incredibly lovable. And her whole aura and outlook on life just makes me so relieved.

Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones. Never mind that I never finished it. I still love her to bits (I also have a crush on Gwendoline Christie but that's neither here nor there…)

Evelyn Carnahan/O'Connell from The Mummy. The movie is a childhood staple and I always looked up to how much braver and more capable she became as the story progressed.

Edith Cushing/Sharpe from Crimson Peak. This might be partly because I love the movie so much, but I just like how HUMAN she is. There's something relatable about her even if we have so very little in common and I find that fascinating.

Joan Watson from Elementary. I just really like her. She's smart, she's funny, she's resourceful, she's badass, she's human. In the best way possible.

Male characters:

Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII. I mean, he's an asshole and all, but he's been a favourite character of mine for so long that it's probably hardwired into my DNA at this point.

Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez from The Losers. Because he's just calm and sensible and I can probably write him in my sleep. That's how comfortable I am with him.

Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch the Third from the Simon Snow series. I just finished reading this series and there's just something about Baz that I find very likeable and relatable. I'm very partial to Baz.

Arthit "Oon" Rojnapat from SOTUS. Look. When Arthit cry, I cry. It's as simple as that. And I'm always a sucker for "seems like an asshole but is secretly a big softie."

Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Okay, so this one is partly just nostalgia, I will admit, because Supernatural played a big part in my life at the time I was watching it. And Dean was just always the character I gravitated towards.

Bonus — My UNcomfort Character:

Kang Yo Han from The Devil Judge. I love the fucker to death but it also makes me incredibly uncomfortable to know how similarly we seem to think and work as human beings. It's like watching a "Worst Case Scenario" of yourself x'D

And I'm still terrible at tagging so just do it if you want to! :D

[mashounen1945]

Here's a commentary by @mondengel2 [tumblr.com/mondengel2/737069143339171840]:

I wonder how this messes with evolutionary lines as they've been mapped out so far, or if it explains some strange gaps. Maybe this is the first time two so completely unrelated species produced hybrids, but maybe it's not.

Meanwhile, the replies have a few people quoting Ian Malcolm's "life finds a way" line from Jurassic Park, as well as a few others pointing out the uncanny similarity between this scientific discovery and how Pokémon breeding works.

The replies also include this detail @jlokate117 pointed out:

Hang on: the chromosomes doubled... and the hybrid survived?! I distinctly remember my Genetics professor talking about euploidy a few weeks ago, mentioning that plants generally survive this but animals do not, so that's amazing! With it still being a hybrid, it's probably a triploid organism, which is gonna be fun to try and study, and almost definitely means it's sterile.

And there's this question brought up by @ddddiamond:

This is "spaghetti on wall", but I wonder if the lack of an adaptive immune system in fish/complicated placental gene regulation of development/and plants' weird chromosome counts... or maybe these two fish just randomly, out of everything, are compatible. The weird serendipity of science accidents.

There's also this commentary by @tetrafelino:

Honestly, this just makes me think the current taxonomy might be a bit faulty and misleading.

Here's @muerodelata adding a little "fun fact" about how sturgeon genes work:

Not to mention how freaky sturgeon gamete genetics is. Like... You don't know if a fish is male or female until they're about 3 or 4 years old because their sex doesn't express before, and making genetic tests is kinda difficult because... Well, humans have 2 forms of sex chromosomes, X and Y, right? Sturgeons have 24... Twenty-f***ing-four. So having this f***ed-up genetics mix viably with another fish is, like... miraculous?!?!?

Lastly, there's this thread of replies on a bit of data that was mentioned in this post:

@theriu:

The interesting thing for me, based on some of the reblogs in this chain, is the assumptions regarding the Evolution Theory and our own accuracy at dating things. Like... It says they separated 140 million years ago as if that is an established fact, rather than a calculated guess that cannot be indisputably proven (because there's no time travel). I wonder if a few scientists will look at this and go "Maybe, based on this, we need to reexamine a few things". Which is good science!

@princeofbadassery:

My guess is that the estimation is based on fossil records of both species. Like... If you find fossils of both in 140-million-year-old rocks, then you know they had already diverged at that point.

@theriu:

I agree! I was actually raising an argument about, firstly, whether our dating methods are as accurate as we think they are (we often get highly different results among those different methods), and secondly, whether our understanding of DNA and what makes one animal a distinct species from another is accurate.

And this other thread of replies with regards to what exactly allows hybridization to happen:

@d-jevil:

So, it turns out the good ol' method of "If it looks alike, it fits" works better than Evolutionary Science. Got it.

@thinking-about-bats-again:

Is it because fish are similar even if they've evolved a lot? Like... Did mammals genetically diversify way more than fish ever did?

@cheetour:

Zoology graduate here! It's actually the reverse: even most genetically distant mammals are all much more related to each other than the most distant fish species are. In terms of genetics, "Fish" is a taxonomic group that contains most of the Animalia kingdom within its evolutionary tree. Amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals... All of these have a fish as their common ancestor. Physiology tends to be a greater factor in crossbreeding than genetics. Genetic variation and physiological variation don't always correlate! The physiology between a squirrel and a whale is wildly different, and on top of that, they've only got a small set of evolutionary traits to work with between them. These two fish, on the other hand, had plenty of base materials with which to develop the same physiology in two different genetic ways. So, it's not exactly like if a squirrel and a whale had offspring. It's more like if you took two squirrels and separated them for 140 million years, then you checked back and they had both separately turned into two different kinds of whale.

@the-mercurial-star-o-vesper:

Do you mean to tell me that, eventually, fish are gonna evolve into Fish? That all fish evolution, no matter how distant, leads to Fish?

@wasabikitcat:

Actually, it's more that all evolution starts with fish. "Fish" literally isn't an actual taxonomical category because, if it is, either everything is fish or nothing is fish. Many fish species are more unrelated to each other than they are to us. We all come from fish. Fish is All.

NEW FISH JUST DROPPED

[doggiedayoutnc]

DNA is Cool!

Meet Pepe, Penny, and Jolene: Discovering the Family Ties Between Our Furry Friends! 🐾

🐾

Did you know that dogs can have unexpected family ties just like humans? At Doggie Day Out NC and Bark n Ride Rentals, we recently discovered that our three beloved fur babies—Pepe, Penny, and Jolene—are actually cousins! Thanks to some cool science from Embark DNA (not sponsored, just genuinely cool!), we've uncovered some delightful family connections that have brought these pups even closer together.

🧬 A Paw-some DNA Discovery!

So, how do three dogs from different backgrounds end up being related? It all starts with DNA. Embark DNA testing offers a peek into your dog's ancestry, breed mix, and potential relatives. When we got the results for Pepe, Penny, and Jolene, we were in for a big surprise—they share a common ancestor! Though they come from different places, their DNA revealed that they are cousins.

Here's the breakdown:

Pepe: A charming 3-year-old male Pomsky with striking blue Merle fur. He's got a spunky personality and loves to cuddle, making him the perfect little companion.

Penny: Our sweet 3.5-year-old girl, Pom-Chi-Poo-Super Mutt; full of love. Penny's gentle nature has been the heart and soul of Infinite Hearts Animal Sanctuary, and now we know she shares a genetic link with her playmates.

Jolene: A 6-month-old female Great Dane with beautiful blue Merle fur. She's not only growing fast but also growing closer to her cousins!

Despite coming from different places, these three share a significant portion of their genetic makeup. It's like finding out your best friend from another state is actually your cousin—such an exciting and heartwarming discovery!

🌍 The Science Behind the Bonds: What Makes Them Cousins?

The concept of "dog cousins" works similarly to how we think of human cousins. Dogs share relatives through their ancestral lineages. While humans might trace their family tree back through grandparents or great-grandparents, dogs' family ties are rooted in their breed origins and the genetic markers they inherit from their parents.

Think of it like this: Pepe, Penny, and Jolene all have distant relatives in their family tree that connect them. Somewhere back in history, their great-great-great-grandparents were related. This makes them cousins, even if they were born in different places and have different parents!

Embark DNA identifies these shared markers and can pinpoint relations as close as siblings or as distant as extended cousins. For Pepe, Penny, and Jolene, they share enough genetic markers to be considered cousins! Imagine how wild it is that these three canines, from different places and backgrounds, have a family connection that goes back generations!

🧠 Fun Science Facts About Dog DNA

Genetic Markers Are Key: Just like humans, dogs have genetic markers in their DNA that can tell a lot about their ancestry. These markers are like little clues that show us not only what breeds a dog is made up of but also if they have relatives nearby!

Dogs Have More Genes Than Humans: Did you know that dogs have around 20,000 genes? That’s a lot of room for interesting traits, behaviors, and even hidden relatives to pop up!

The Mystery of Coat Color: Jolene and Pepe both have stunning blue Merle coats. This unique pattern is controlled by a specific gene, and since they are cousins, it’s likely they inherited this gene from a shared ancestor! Penny, although not blue Merle, carries the same lineage that ties her to these two beauties.

Why Family Matters: Dogs, like humans, benefit from family connections. They tend to play better, communicate more effectively, and can even have better emotional health when they have family around. We see it every day here at Doggie Day Out NC!

🐕 Family Fun at Doggie Day Out NC and Bark n Ride Rentals

Whether they're playing in our dog park, enjoying a bark-tastic car ride with Bark n Ride Rentals (check out barknriderentals.vip), or just lounging around at the sanctuary, Pepe, Penny, and Jolene’s newfound family bond adds an extra layer of joy to everything they do. Their bond isn't just about shared DNA—it's about the connection and love they share every day.

🚗 Take Your Pup on an Adventure!

Pepe, Penny, and Jolene are always up for an adventure, and we know your dog would love one too! With Bark n Ride Rentals, you can rent a pet-friendly vehicle that’s perfect for road trips, daily excursions, or even a quick ride to the park. Visit doggiedayoutnc.com to learn more about our services and start planning your next dog-friendly outing today!

🐶 Join Our Dog-Loving Community!

Follow us on Tumblr and Facebook to keep up with our furry family, get tips on dog care, and see how our community of pet lovers is growing every day. We’re more than just a sanctuary and rental service—we’re a family. And now, thanks to Embark DNA, our family ties are stronger than ever.

Feel free to share this amazing story and spread the word about the incredible bonds that connect us all, both human and canine! 🐾

[bloodyspade0000]

30-day knb challenge: Day 1- Favorite Male character

↳ Haizaki Shougo

I am not justifying Haizaki's behaviour. I think he needs a tall glass of respect woman juice and therapy. This is just meant to explain why he is my favourite character and help you better understand him as a character. Do not send hate or take my words out of context. You will be reported, deleted and cancelled. Thank you and enjoy. :)

My favourite character is Haizaki Shougo *dodges tomatoes* a lot of people in the fandom hate this guy for many reasons. It's kind of funny how many people hate him and the amount of hate he gets just for existing. Like bruh; he's sixteen, leave him alone. 😂

His whole existence is just sad. He was literally created to be hated.

Like straight up, Tadatoshi Fujimaki even admitted that he hated Haizaki. Haizaki's sole purpose of existing is to make the Generation of Miracles look better even though they’re just as problematic as he. No one is fucking perfect and is about time people woke the fuck up and realized it. Your faves are problematic move the fuck on.

Yes, the Miracles are redeemable but so is Haizaki. Yet, unlike the Miracles, he does not get redeemable. No, he disappears and is never seen again. Like bitch, what the fuck!? if you’re gonna introduce a character to only have them disappear for a long time and either have them show up again or just never mention them again. Wasting the potential they had to be a very good character or not having them redeem themselves while the other characters who were just as fucking problematic get a fucking redemption arc because they’re fucking main characters!? What’s the point of that character even existing in the first place? What kind of bullshit is that? Just to have them exist to make the main characters look good? How the fuck does that make sense? Like where is my Haizaki redemption arc? Do I have to write it on my own? I will write it. I am writing one.

Haizaki is the only character I could relate to. Being second best, struggling to find somewhere to fit in and overshadowed and replaced by someone everyone thinks is better than you. It's fucking depressing, okay? You spend your whole life thinking you’re not good enough, and it hurts. I don't feel like going too deep into it because I don't owe you a detailed explanation of my trauma, okay?. So I'll save that for my fics where I self-project half of it onto Haizaki. It’s a coping mechanism, okay? Therapy is fucking expensive.

The anime ruined his whole character, got rid of his whole arc and shorted it down, and made him worse than he really is.

A post explaining how the anime did him dirty and goes more in-depth about his character

I am not trying to justify his actions, i.e. him manhandling Alex and beating Himura up. He does terrible shit. We all do lousy shit sometimes, but that doesn't make us bad people. Making mistakes is a part of being human, and we're supposed to hold people accountable for their actions and help them realize what they’re doing is wrong, allowing them to grow and change. Not condemn them and ostracize them, which leads to isolation and a lot of psychological trauma and self-hatred, and as someone who has dealt with—is still dealing with all three. It is not fun. It makes living painful. Highly unrecommended.

Haizaki does not have a positive role model in his life nor anybody he can turn to, everyone has already given up on him. Even Nijimura and Kuroko didn’t even try to help him, being more focused on the Miracles. (Yes, I know kuroko tried to stop him from throwing his basketball shoes away, but that doesn’t fucking count because after that Kuroko just gave up on Haiazki too). Haizaki has probably grown grew up knowing only violence and not a single ounce of kindness, turning him into the bitter and angry little boy he is.

Haizaki had so much potential. But instead of making him a great villain that potential was WASTED on fucking Kise.

Also, the Kaijo vs Seirin match in the winter cup was completely useless because Kise already got redeemed and he literally got no character development from it.

And Seirin was gonna fucking win anyways because duh thier the main characters. 🙄

Now some headcanons I think about a lot:

1. He gets abused. Some psychological behavioural consequences of child abuse are unhealthy sexual practices and juvenile delinquency, and Haizaki exhibits all three which are some external behaviours of most (NOT ALL) male abuse victims. Haizaki's a womanizer, aggressive, hostile and violent. Yet, he backs down when someone stronger than him comes around and puts him in his place i.e. Aomine and Nijimura.

a factsheet explaining the long term consequences of child abuse and neglect

How to help a friend dealing with family abuse or neglect

How to Handle Abuse

2. He's a victim. And when you're a victim, you either become angry and cynical with everything and everyone around you, swearing never to be a victim again and struggle with gaining back control of your life. Not wanting anyone to see you being vulnerable because being vulnerable makes you weak. Being weak makes you shatter. You always shatter like glass, cutting yourself every time you pick up broken pieces, watching as blood trickles through your fingers.

Your body is constantly on high alert. The default is flight or fight—survival to the fittest.

Or you bite your lip and keep your head down, bottling everything inside and looking for escapes or seeking validation. You want to be wanted and loved because you struggle with loving and accepting yourself. There's always a voice in the back of your head telling you, you're not good enough or that it's your fault. That everything is your fault. Self-hatred and self-doubt are your tormentors.

Or it's a combination between both—a constant struggle.

And I believe Haizaki portrays both from the way he acts and presents himself. Especially since his motto is literally "Survival of the fittest,” and he had once told Kuroko, " there are bad guys and then the really scary people," or something along those lines, which I believe he is talking from experience. You learn from your experiences. They either make you or break you.

3. He's touch-starved.

What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved?

4. He's bisexual and has a lot of internalized homophobia. I can just feel his internalized homophobia rolling off of him. Bruh, I just know cuz I am bisexual, and I have struggled with internalized homophobia and still sadly struggle with it cuz I grew up surrounded by homophobic people.

I still live with them. 😭

Also, we live in a society that thinks straight is the default.

What internalized homophobia is.

5. His sexual awakening was probably Aomine or Kise. Could be both 😂?

6. He cries himself to sleep every night.

7. He's observant and a great judge of character. It's a fact. This guy literally predicted the downfall of the Miracles. Straight up warned Kuroko too. Too bad Kuroko didn't listen to him.

8. He's hilarious. When he first appeared in the manga, he literally called Himura a loser, lol. XD

9. He's a closeted softie and a total tsundere.

10. doesn't know how to react to kindness and will think you're threatening him or will feel really awkward and uncomfortable but will cover it up with his scowl, or he'll have a breakdown.

11. needs a lot of reassurance and head pats

12. swears a lot. Has no filter.

13. His bother is in the yakuza or some high position of power, and he feels inferior to him. It also explains why Haizaki gets away with things because he would have been kicked out of school if his bother wasn't either-or. I'm talking about his bother being in the yakuza, lol. XD

14. He and Momoi dated for a while but broke up on a mutual understanding that thier relationship just didn't work out. They're best friends and hang out sometimes.

15. Haizaki's good with kids and just genuinely likes them. He would be a great father and try his best to raise his kids right.

16. He gets sick really easily

17. He's clingy

18. He has no friends, mainly because he doesn't want people to get close to him because he's afraid of getting hurt again. Also, everyone in knb hates him.

19. He watches cartoons cuz he was never allowed to watch them when he was a kid. His childhood is trash, okay?

20. He hides in the closet because that's where he feels safe the most—rhetorically and literally.

21. Sleep-deprived and only runs on caffeine and spite.

List of fics that portray Haizaki better than the anime:

Heavy is the head by extrastellar

Idle Hands by DarkWoods

Another Chance by regretting my username_ (777imou_offline367)

What Matters is that We're Together by StrawFairy

06:00:00 of Haizaki Shougo (4) by ReiClien

This Is Happening by SharkGirl

What is Love by voices_in_my_head

A completely uncalled catharsis by oddball

One-shots

intertwined, under a spell by kornevable

ԼƠƔƐ & ӇΛƬƐ by Arthuria_PenDragon

delirium by extrastellar

me with you by doublejoint

Turn My Camera On by wordsliketeeth

At Summer's End by doublejoint

Taste by Hibari1_san

I Can't Get Enough of You by HisDarkSecret

I don't care if it hurts by llowsywriter

Ashes by doublejoint

broken things by lowsywriter

Series:

Finally found each other by suzakukills

This Is Happening Universe by SharkGirl

DNA by flowerway

My WIPS:

Isn’t it lovely?

Broken Crown

Love me, Love me, Love me

Grey skies

Rabbit hole

A playlist of songs that I believe fit Haizaki

Kuroko’s basketball’s manga

In conclusion, You can hate Haizaki as much as you want. But just keep it to yourself. Haizaki is my baby and I will protect him with my life.

[pseudo-hero]

I just came to add:

Another thing I should have mentioned on the homophobia point (what I should have mentioned first, tbh) is that what makes not allowing Kon-El to be acknowledged as the son of Superman so homophobic is the fact that it can be assumed to be because they don't want to acknowledge that Konner has two fathers and that both of them are men that most everybody want to be believe are 'oh-so-straight, uber-masculine men's men with a sci-fi flair' types.

Related to that: I noticed that some felt it was gross to physically but not mentally age up a young Jon to almost-adulthood and then make him male-attracted. I'm assuming because that reads to them as predatory and like an excuse to sexualize a child. While I don't necessarily agree or disagree with that opinion, I want to make it clear that I believe people's anger towards Jon coming out as a bi male was majority rooted in anti-lgbt rhetoric and had little to nothing to do with concern over his changed age or even characterization. Also, last I checked, children can be sexual minorities and conscious of it.

Although everybody and their grandparent wants to act like they're a geneticist once they find out what the word "clone" means (myself included I guess), a lot of people know far less about genetics than they think they do. For example, I've seen someone/some people say that because you apparently share half your DNA with a sibling irl, that this makes Kon and Kal genetic half-siblings... (Which I guess implies that this must always be the case for irl siblings 100% of the time and that Kon must share 50% of his DNA with Kal...) Goodness. Okay so, while acknowledging that there's very little in this universe that we can truly prove without a shadow of doubt and that science and everything else around us are always changing, how does Kon sharing only a large chunk of his DNA with Clark (but also someone else!) automatically make him Clark's half-brother? But his progenitor Lex Luthor is still his father?? To me, that's like saying Clark himself is the half brother of his own father but the son of his mother... And fwiw DNA does not have an exact, never-faltering logic to it. We have ways of predicting how a child may come out in terms of genotype (actual DNA) and phenotype (appearance) but that does not mean they will come out that way. Punnett squares aren't fortune tellers. DNA—at the end of the day—is actually some-what random/up to chance. Almost like the lottery.

So all that being said: There's literally no way to and nothing that can prove, that Conner is anything but Clark and Lex's child. That's it, that's all. Honestly, I wish some fans out here would just admit that they hate the idea of Superman fully-accepting and raising his own damn children if they weren't acquired the 'right way'—and not try and act like there's a true, justifiable rationale behind their feelings. Sheeeesh.

Conner Kent basically is a child from (medical) rape. Not calling him Clark's child is basically the mentally healthiest way to cope with this for everyone involved.

Note #1: I first want to apologize for taking this long to respond, though it's not the only time that's happened and probably won't be the last. I'm still surprised that this particular blog even got an "ask", to be honest! That being said:

WARNING: This post is about—among other things—sexual assault, properly defining/utilizing the terms and has a few violent descriptions within it. Some possibly unpopular and controversial opinions are below. Absolutely no harm or insult to any person or group was intended while I typed this out (including to the "asker"). I hope any possible readers will make it to the end before judging. I've typed this up for anybody, with no one in particular in mind, so 'you' therefore, refers to anyone as well as what's said in the "ask". This gets into and brings up a lot different subjects and ideas in regards to the Kal-Kon family relationship (both in-universe ones and meta ones), so apologies to the above anonymous user if it ever seems like I'm going off on a tangent; although I like to think all of this was relevant to the "ask" in some way.

As always, I'll try to be open-minded to differing opinions/information and I hope any possible errors made can be forgiven. This is also going to be really, REALLY L--O--N--G because I have a hard time giving short, straight-to-the-point responses for anything, I guess. Especially topics that have wide-reaching implications. I switch between character names a lot (and other quirks), may get a little repetitive (but I will try to make new points each time) and I also may at times be harsh on Clark here (but it's arguably DC Comics and their partners that are truly at fault, not him).

Note #2: I've always wanted to make a post about why Clark's treatment of Conner throughout the years has been questionable writing at best and detrimental to Clark's character at worst [as part of a not-yet-completed series on what's destroying Superman's character and legacy these days, in fact] but maybe this will end up being that post [or they'll just share many points/arguments in common].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry, but I'm not playing that game. Only rape is rape. You comparing (and perhaps twisting) Conner Kent's/Kon-El's creation to being that of a "child from (medical) rape"—which, mind you, I can't help but be reminded of "rape baby" (one of the names unfortunately often used on such victims-by-proxy for the wrong reasons) when I read it—is not only, to me, an insult to any version of the character's backstory and the hardship they've gone through, but to those who have actually experienced the trauma of rape or other forms of sexual assault (or being conceived from any such act).

While I understand why some interpret Kon's creation that way/where the belief comes from, I feel that's only one possible interpretation and one that unfortunately—on top of promoting offensive and less-than-rational conclusions—might actually be missing the point about the real reason(s) Kon got and still gets treated the way he does.

First off, let's get down to how every version of Kon was created before getting into the details of the origin of one or another, and proving how none of them sprouted from rape: Kon is, put simply, a genetically engineered progeny; a form of "test tube baby" (not meant to be disparaging). He was made in an undoubtedly sterile (purposefully loaded word) lab from the ideas, research-based input and experimentation of dozens of scientists and geniuses, his human parent typically included. (Note how I didn't name a human parent? I'll get to that.) After many failed attempts, there was a success, first dubbed Experiment 13.

There was no warmth or genuine intimacy involved in E13's creation, just as is the case with 95% to 100% of sexual assaults (I'm trying not to assume how it went for all victims). However, there was also no physical contact, beyond perhaps the extraction/finding and adding together of DNA-type substances. (You know, what with every version of Kon being treated solely as science experiments in their early days and all.) Without physical contact, specifically/particularly/especially of the sexual variety, already the case for Superman being "raped" begins to fall apart and we can get closer to what fandom/societal problem is really behind this idea being pushed and what truth is continually missed/hidden due to said problem acting as a cover.

Continuing from before: So, as we all know, almost every version of Kon-El/Conner Kent get's his DNA from a male kryptonian progenitor (always Kal-El/Clark Kent unless stated otherwise) together with the also-male human progenitor's, and rarely anywhere else. These days most versions of Conner seem to be the half-human genetic child of Lex Luthor and Superman, and it's been like that for a while. In the beginning however, he was solely a clone of Superman before it was later decided that he was actually an altered clone of some now-forgotten man named Paul Westfield and that he only mimicked Superman's powers. They later changed it up again ("retconned" it) to the Lex Luthor/Superman combination origin(s) for the 2000's version of him, but in doing so, made it clear in BIG, bright letters that Kon is not a "clone" anymore. Unless—we're calling him a binary clone (what we all are).

That's right, a binary clone is one of many words for child. It's just a specific type of child/progeny. Here's another definition example, with the same description. I would hope no one needs to see the definition for child, too, but you never know. So, notice how so many of the definitions for child match up with what Kon is? What are the people that argue that Superboy is not Superman's—or that he's neither Clark's nor Lex's child—really trying to say or inadvertently saying, I wonder? That Kon is no one's child? That he isn't even a child (unless someone wants him)?? Good luck using that logic with real life "test tube children" (in-vitro children, if we want to be clinical), foster children and adoptees. Bet they'll really appreciate the insensitivity.

As for his age? Why does that matter? At his oldest, he's an upper teen, so still an impressionable minor. And who ever said you needed to pop up in someone's life as a perfect, little chubby cherub to be their child? Who said your parents needed to accept you/get the chance to raise you, for you to be directly descended from them? If a parent dies before a child is born (and stays dead), is the child not their child anymore? Even if someone meets their kid—that may appear to others, to have been created when the parent was a teenager—when the youngling is already a teenager him/herself now, that's still their child, isn't it? Look at all the questions that we are forced to ask when certain fans try and come up with arbitrary definitions, explanations and excuses (or ignore preexisting ones) for what makes a child a child.

As far as I can see, Superman is not delusional nor prone to denialism and isn't known for letting his emotions (or what some believe his emotions are or should be) get the best of him. At least, he's not supposed to be. Some writers in the past have had different ideas on that. In my opinion, they often ruin things for a large amount of us though, seeing as engaging in poor, contradictory behavior will never automatically = a character being more complex. It's more likely that the character will just come across as very petty, selfish, obnoxious or callous, things Superman generally should not be; maybe even should never be.

All that is to say that the need to pretend Kon is anything but Clark's (and Lex's) child in-universe and based on real-life standards, has nothing to do with authentic science or logic and at times doesn't even involve an agreed on continuity. You (the "asker") may already realize this (since you mentioned mental health and coping in your "ask") but many others don't seem to yet. In fact, the exact science isn't what matters, considering how the situation is fictional and therefore mostly pseudoscience anyway.

And even if it wasn't fictional, consider that animal reproduction is technically considered sexual whether two organisms had sex/copulated or not because of the act of the male and female gametes (sex cells) coming together. Based on that, can or can't Kon be considered just another typical mammal (mammal-alien hybrid?) made through a form of sexual reproduction, even if he wasn't made from the combining of male cells and female cells (typically not used in his case) nor (most likely) any sexual cells at all? Does it even make a difference in regards to his parentage? In reality, it actually doesn't and that question is only a pedantic-semantics one. All such questions are.

What actually matters here is the basics. Cells/DNA from these two beings were melded together to make another being. No intercourse was needed or involved. A large amount of people would still consider that as a child being made, with or without the added story context. (Many mythologies have had similar events happen in them, fwiw.) So why shouldn't our honest, selfless and compassionate Superman view it that way? Where is the extensive evidence that this is solely about Clark and his family's feelings anyway, especially in the present day? I'm sure that may be the excuse some writers hide behind, but let's be real here.

Clark, in multiple continuities, has had no problem giving Kon a name (twice, if you count Conner Kent too), encouraging him to have a secret identity like Clark, so he also gets to live his life outside of being a hero, has occasionally been seen spending time with Kon by choice, mentoring him, fighting alongside him, sending Kon to the boy's grandparents for raising in the calm, warm town of Smallville (where Clark himself was raised), enrolling him in school in that same town, literally considering him family...but he won't dare go as far as to call him son??

Now, don't get me wrong. Do I believe Superman knew what was going on just before and during Superboy's artificial development? No. He never knows until after Superboy is already out in the world flying around. Does that make it non-consensual and somewhat or very violative to him? Of course. But besides these adjectives/descriptors and (if you want to count it) the springing of a child from the experiments, the situation actually—again, I say—has little in common with rape. (POSSIBLY VERY TRIGGERING LANGUAGE FOUND BELOW. If you can, pay special attention to what words I put emphasis on.)

Rape can be and is many awful things. The severity of the act can range from little to no bodily injury but major emotional/psychological harm from awareness of the unwanted/forced sexual contact you were put through, to very extreme bodily and mental harm. It can cause tearing, often-heavy bleeding and infection in any targeted orifice (vagina, anus, mouth and/or throat) that can take months to heal from or that the person never fully recovers from. It can make it painful to move and do certain positions with the body. For specifically the female reproductive system, it can lead to damage that's so horrible that a woman can no longer reproduce and so is left infertile. Or she can be left with a pregnancy that's taken root in her own body that she of course was not planning—since it was forced into her—and one she often won't feel like she can handle birthing. There's also always a chance that she could die during the months before the labor begins, if not during the birth itself.

In the case of one form of medical rape (which again, I don't believe Clark was put through, unless you're talking about a different definition for it), it's rape because the victim gets impregnated by semen that they did not agree to have used on them. So it's rape by deception, if not also due to the disturbingly forceful nature that 'fertility treatment' often comes with.

Can someone tell me what about any of that, purposefully emphasized words and all, is the same as how Kon was created? Am I really supposed to believe that Superboy's surprise creation through indirect means, is equivalent to the above in any way for any person involved? In the early years of the character's creation, it was implied or outright stated that Superboy got his Superman DNA from scientists—I believe CADMUS—stealing Clark's presumed-dead body and taking a bit from it (Kon was originally supposed to replace Clark, but not destroy him). What did they get? Maybe a hair? A skin cell from one of his arms? I'm not sure.

However, this was in the early years and the most violative it ever got. (Actually, I don't recall that version of Superman being all that shaken up over the matter compared to how some seem to think every version has been regarding Kon's creation, even though that one probably had some of the biggest reasons to be; he even reached out to Superboy first, in fact. Only to be rejected by him.) It also wasn't, and is still, not rape. It's overall more comparable to someone stealing his/her ex's or one night stand's condom off their body or from the trash to cause a pregnancy. A horrendous deed—but not rape.

I'm stating all this because your claim is built on a false premise. One that likely comes from an over-reliance on and desire for extreme comparisons/equivalencies. One that appears to be a very common opinion in the fandom, but which is still misguided. It's imperative that we try not use the word rape (or related words) to seriously describe any other different action just because we disapprove of it. It's superbly harmful and frankly, disingenuous.

Are you calling the situation rape because you truly feel that this is what happened or because it's the worst word you could think of to try to make people feel even more horrified than they may already feel about the situation, and to shut down conversation on Clark's strange behavior toward and relationship with, Conner? Is it that you do realize that sexual assault is a severe issue and definitely no laughing matter, so you use mention of it so flippantly to emphasize your point, not realizing that this is only contributing to the problem?

I often wonder if a huge reason for this is because many nowadays are, thankfully, far more knowledgable of the importance of consent, but to the unfortunate extent that they separate it from the actual acts that make sexual assault, well, sexual assault. Again, lack of consent by itself is not what makes something rape. There has to at the least be forced penetration involved, too and arguably blatant sexual intention.

Likewise: Stealing someone's wallet or squeezing all the money out of their bank account without their knowing, is not "financial rape". Beating someone to a pulp and leaving them there injured is not "punching rape". Wiping someone's mind of memories is not, technically, "mind rape" (despite how popular that term is now). Leaving a baby or puppy on someone's doorstep and hoping/expecting that the owner of the home will sacrifice their time to raise them, is not "nurture rape" (or "nurture coercion" for that matter). You know why all the previous is true? Because, again, only rape is rape!

Languages are always changing, adapting, sometimes shrinking but also expanding. We often add definitions to words that may not have been implied before and use metaphors and other figurative speak to make points. However, words have those original definitions for a reason and especially in the case of crime and morality, it is not wise to dilute the meanings of words for your personal opinions/arguments/headcanons. That is not only hurtful but possibly dangerous.

If you feel that this or that version of Clark is right to be weirded out by Conner for being created 'unnaturally' (based on average, modern human POV), just say so. If you feel some version(s) of Clark is right to be disgusted by Conner for being made without his knowledge or ability to stop it (presumed dead or alive), just say so. If you feel modern versions of Clark are in the right to reject Kon solely because of who the human parent typically is, i.e. Lex Luthor (since we all know that connection and Lex's intentions when creating Kon must somewhat play an enormous factor in some people's view of Kon's existence), just say so.

If you, for similar reasons, despise every version of Lex Luthor and believe he's an irredeemable monster (which I find understandable, even though I personally do like the character) and therefore that everything connected to him is tainted too, just say so. If you are so preoccupied with comparing Damian Wayne's (usual/modern/recent/current?) conception origin to Kon's own, to the point of only noticing possible similarities and wanting to claim the situations are exactly the same, despite the obvious differences (and despite how that makes Superman/Clark negatively appear but in comparison to Batman/Bruce this time who accepts his child, regardless of the actual sexual assault that took place to create him), just say so.

If you just have a certain set of characteristics in mind for Superman or think it should be anything goes if it entertains you, as the rule of thumb for Superman writing, then please, just say so. That way people with a different opinion than you will know what worldview they're really arguing with when you debate. You do not need to use a word (rape) with an already established definition that's important enough to be referenced in laws the world over, to emphasize your point. Your argument should be able to stand on its own without doing so.

It wouldn't surprise me if one of the biggest contributors to modern people's current view of Clark and Conner's relationship is due to largely popular, dramatic media like the animated series Young Justice. The show had a take on them that was based on certain older-but-still-modern comic interactions with the more modern look/personality for Kon and it was considered by many to be realistic/relatable in regards to Superman's viscerally perturbed reactions toward and avoidance of Kon. However, some others saw it for what it also was: An excuse to seep out as much angst as possible to make us feel for Kon, but at the expense of Superman's characterization.

Compare their relationship here to the one they had in the DC Animated Movie Universe film, Reign of the Supermen (a sequel to The Death of Superman movie from the same universe; both are based on the 90's Bronze Age comic(s) that I've mentioned already). It was Lex in that movie that was being unquestionably vile toward Kon. As you might expect! And it was Clark who, only after knowing Kon for a short period—probably 20 minutes at most in-movie and a few days in their world—showed the poor mentally-abused child compassion and immediately took him under his bright red cape of hope and, as often happens these days, got help from Kon's grandparents in raising Kon. As you'd definitely expect! Although it wasn't exactly explicitly said in the movie whether he considers Conner his son or not, their relationship there was still handled infinitely better from the jump than was the case with alternate versions of their relationship. The reactions from these two men from different media that are supposed to be the same character, are like night and day! It's almost like they're not the same character (hint, hint)!

There was no unnecessary drama or hypocrisy on Clark's part in ROTSM (remember they'd both be seen as dangerous in the eyes of regular earthlings). Beyond a moment of eyebrow raising, and some possible annoyance or hesitance, Clark seems to grow accustomed to Kon's existence very quickly (after Lois already had, without his realizing!) and starts acting sensibly about it afterward (while still coming across as a warm but stern and outraged father; again, as you'd expect!) which I think was a good thing and arguably just as realistic as the reverse, with the added benefit of not making Clark look douchey, un-empathetic and unreasonably judgmental. We should be way past acts of actual!superdickery in this day and age, imho. Considering the universe he exists in, Clark should be ready to take on whatever is thrown his way, even a hormonal teenage "clone" of himself, no matter if they have a human parent or not, and even if Clark doesn't get along with that parent. Seriously, more writers need to remember that. The DC world is insane and anything could happen; so the characters ought to be mindful of that at all times.

Which leads me to ask: Why should Clark be extremely upset almost every single time Kon pops up anyway? Why does he have to be extremely upset at all? He didn't get a choice to thumb up or thumb down Kon's creation but beyond that, what was forced on him? As I noted earlier, he didn't get forcefully impregnated or even deceived. No one made him let Kon into his life either and Kon is a good kid anyway who wants to be the best superhero he can be and who's typically no worse than cocky. (Though some versions of Superman surprisingly need to be convinced/reminded of Kon's innocence.) Less honest people will try and dance around the elephant in the room, which is that they wouldn't think what was done with Clark's DNA was a big deal if Kon hadn't come from it. "Well, duh!" you might say. Duh indeed, because without Kon's existence, literally no argument can reasonably be made that Kal was harmed in anyway. (Unlike with physical attacks, which are obvious. The harm done to him would then, at most, be emotional/psychological but only if Clark acknowledges on some level what/who Conner is (his son!) but struggles to accept him/rejects him despite/because of it. Superman (and the fans that do the directly-above), should focus their ire on the true wrong-doers, not a victim. I mean really, Conner has only done wrong to Clark and his family/friends once, while brainwashed by somebody else!! (It was Lex Luthor, of course.)

This means that they know Kon is his own person with endless potential, who is vulnerable and always at risk of manipulation, who deserves sympathy regardless of how he was made and who just needs an outstretched hand from someone who cares and wants him to stay on the right path, despite where he came from. Which means they also know what it says about Superman for him to neglect Conner, but just accept it as "a blind spot" as opposed to calling it out as the horrible writing decision that it always is. Kon in the ROTSM movie is the biggest victim in that scenario and it's made clear there. In that movie, Superman didn't turn his back on or avoid Superboy at any point and dived right into a father-son relationship with him. Thank goodness.

I reiterate: The parent in the movie that actively created him without the other parent's knowledge, treated him like fresh garbage, like a toy that doubled as a tool/weapon, like an object. The other parent on the other hand refused to do the same and instead did right by him and took him in. Kon's feelings and needs were acknowledged as they deserved to be. Clark was called dad by the boy and he more or less stood in his role that wasn't gonna change whether he wanted it to or not, nor whether he accepted it or not. A parent is a parent the moment they have a kid, even if they choose not to be there for them. Adoption is one way of becoming a parent that I admire (as long as no cruelty was committed for it to happen) and I'm happy for those happy to be adopted. However, mind you, Clark or The Kents raising Kon who is one of Clark's own bio kids, would be regular parenting/grand-parenting; not adoption or fostering.

He also did have a choice btw, when it came to that movie, as he always does and like everyone else has/would. He could have chosen to ignore/avoid Kon and left him to teach himself how to swim, but this is Superman we're talking about here and he, more than anyone, would ideally never behave that way to someone in need (least of all a child/his own child!). Even if other people in his place would unfortunately be unable to (which I understand and can sympathize with). Superboy did appear to be physically younger (if not emotionally) in ROTSM than he was in YJ, but my point still stands for both stories and related.

In fact, if memory serves right, (as briefly referenced earlier) the 90's version of Superman which the TDOSM and ROSTSM movies are loosely based on somehow wasn't near as avoidant around or upset by the 90's Kon-El Superboy (Kon sure was annoyed by him though) as the character was in some later writers' stories, despite supposedly being of the same continuity and despite the fact that Superboy became a better person and hero as years passed. Which actually kinda adds to my point about how ridiculous this behavior/flaw from modern versions of Clark is. Funny. It also sort of reeks of higher-up interference to me... Almost like they needed an excuse to keep the two apart; very separated and in their own books with rarely any overlap, before eventually deciding to recurringly erase one of the characters from "canon" and/or their connection/closeness to the other more prominent character...

Which, finally, is what the reasoning for constantly excluding and distancing Kal-El from Kon-El really all comes down to. Six things actually, which are all often/always connected: 1. Keeping tradition going which often causes 2. Plain old homophobia to win when it comes to writing decisions, but also usually leads to 3. Clois favoritism, both of which are due in part to 4. Fear of trying anything new and 5. Peeving off the fanbases within the fanbase, whose members all have their own version of Superman in mind (think about the YJ vs ROTSM example), which brings about 6. Laziness and simplicity for simplicity's sake and we can't forget 7. That probably more than anything else (and where the other seven stem from) there's the issue of THE FOCUS ON $$$ [profit, with as little effort and change put forward to gain it as possible, or in some cases too much effort used on the wrong thing(s)].

The need to always hold on, in some way, shape or form, to tradition is a tale as old as time and an obvious reason for Kon's constant alienation from Kal and the larger Superfamily. I mean really, think about it. Although I focus a lot on how Conner is treated by DC and specifically Clark, he's not the only child from his life that Clark's failed to raise or be there for to the best of his ability. It's just the most glaringly obvious with him. Every reappears-in-"canon" minor (so not imaginary story character) that pops up at Clark's doorstep gets the short end of the stick, often multiple times at different points. In fact, it's happened so many times now that it's becoming a fandom "joke" and is even—for me at least—starting to become an expected outcome on Clark's part. And guess who it began with? That's right; Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl: Cousin of Kal-El/Superman. In the earlier Silver Age comics, Superman got up to some very weird or borderline abusive acts that he often involved Supergirl in. From refusing to take her in and keeping others from adopting this innocent teenage orphan, to forcing her to play pretend as his love-interest (likely as a not-so-veiled excuse to kiss her on the lips), to admitting he actually wanted her in that way, but couldn't, solely because of Krypton's cousin marriage laws?? Supergirl admittedly came across at times like she had an unnatural attachment of her own to her cousin but all the same, she was far younger—even underaged by many standards—traumatized and in need of guidance, yet that version of Superman didn't notice or care and even took advantage of this fact. The tradition has been, for a while, to have Superman treat/neglect the children in his care so horribly that any chance of them having something of a father figure-child type relationship or mentor-student relationship is nullified. In one of the most recent issues of this current run of Action Comics (2016), Superman has once again come across a child, no, two children in fact, and actually took them both in. This isn't the first time he's done that (Lor-Zod/Chris Kent ring a bell?) but knowing how every other attempt at parenting by main universe Clark has ended, I'm hoping and praying that his sweet, impressionable, ill-raised, adopted twins named Otho-Ra and Osul-Ra (girl and boy) aren't destined for tragedy. Or outside involvement that cuts their childhood short. Or somehow still getting rejected in the end after the fact because it's not convenient enough for Superman/Clark and Status Quo. Considering how cluttered the current Action Comics's Super-Family is starting to seem...it wouldn't surprise me one bit if any of these options happened to them in due time.

Now, the homophobia. Do I really need to explain this one? The closest we've ever gotten to a gay/bi main-universe (not alternate) Superman...WASN'T EVEN SUPERMAN. Not really. It was his son who I bet you the editors at DC wanted people to confuse for the other when it came to the news article titles. Perhaps as a sort of "test" to see how much they could get away with doing with the real deal. I don't say this to shade Jon, only to tell is as it appears. Clearly a large amount of the fanbase failed the test. So although we do get to have a bi-Jon now (And possibly a basically-bi-Kon? Bicon?) whether or not some people hate it, the backlash over that Superman's coming out (and maybe even the anger over his secret identity being revealed) is proof enough for DC that Clark literally cannot come out, even if he wants to. Decades of subtext be damned.

Clois is and always will be the favored partner for Superman by writers. There's nothing wrong with that imho. It truly is the quintessential superhero comic romance. The issue is that any deviation from this (even if just for a short amount of time) is often met with outrage from a huge (or just loud) portion of the fanbase, causing writers to have to find a way to backtrack, cutting back on creativity. Now it often seems they're scared to try anything genuinely new and fresh with Superman. Who could blame them? They have previous examples that prove what will happen if they do.

It should also be noted again that keeping characters as separated/distant as possible (in this case, Superfamily characters) allows for DC to have each of those characters to have a series of their own so more comics can be made sold!!

I understand we all have a version of Superman in our heads that's "the correct one" but that's exactly why arguments about what's "right" or what could "work" for the character often go nowhere. It leads to the quality of stories being affected and the companies putting in less effort into creating, knowing that simple and typical is what's wanted anyway. It's like: Why even bother?

So to reiterate one more time: The #1 concern will always be about making as big a buck as possible through as little a means as necessary. If editors and co believe lack of change is the way to achieve that, then that's what they'll do. Them continuing into the present day to stop just short of acknowledging what Kon actually is to the Superfamily likely has very little to do with the usual excuses, and a whole lot to do with the aforementioned, with everything else leading back to it.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats #20 | Squalid Motels and Desperate Gals, courtesy of Kim Christy

This review contains mild spoilers.

When I first heard of Kim Christy, I knew I had to delve into her work. Here is someone who was involved in the drag scene in the '60s and went on to direct and produce pornography from the '80s onward. She's also a trans woman director (and occasional actress), which is not just unusual in golden age pornography but even mainstream cinema today. Unfortunately, figuring out where to start was a challenge. There's a very good interview with her on the Advocate but which doesn't really delve into her directing work. So I did the highly risky and ill-advised move of scanning through the titles in her filmography and trying to pick out ones with interesting sounding premises. Even this was a challenge, as a lot of her movies sounded like they didn't have a terrible amount of story. (A good many of them also had certain slurs in the title, which are unfortunately common in trans pornography.) So out of the crapshoot of movies I picked, I can't say I really got to the bottom of what makes her work interesting or even gelled to most of them, but hopefully I can convey what makes the ones I did take to interesting.

To start with the most slight, the two Divine Atrocities movies are basically a collection of sex scenes. There's a theme of dominant women running through them, but otherwise there isn't much tying together in terms of staging, aesthetics and the like. The segments have titles like "The Leather Lass Tamer", "Rubber Rampage" and "Ms. Degradation", but truth be told, nothing here is terribly shocking. So there isn't a lot to either of these movies, but if you're watching it for those reasons, they're enjoyable enough. A few of the segments feature trans performers, and I did find that Sulka had a nicely imposing screen presence in her scene, and while Sugar Nicole briefly threatens her partner with her "big black cock", I did like that for the most part the movies don't discern between these scenes and the ones with cisgender performers. In the eyes of Kim Christy, there's room for everyone in this great sexual melange. Also notable is the threesome scene with Janey Robbins, who (after likely reading Dan Savage's column) tells one of her partners, "If you don't find a different way to fuck me, you can forget it, I'll have to find somebody else", and in the first time in the history of civilization, gets mad at her male partner for not climaxing quickly enough. "You always say it'll only take a few minutes. Time is the only thing I can't replace, and it always takes too long."

A bit more substantive narratively but less interesting is Momma's Boy, with a premise that you can guess based on the title. Tantala Ray presides over a brothel set during an indeterminate period, where she presides over her girls and also her son, who mysteriously became a deaf-mute at a certain point of time. Why did her son become a deaf-mute? Will we ever find out? Spoiler: it's incest. Tantala Ray does have a weird enough screen presence to make her parts watchable, but this has none of the charge that, say, Taboo brings to the same material. (It's worth noting that Ray in this movie, looking like a debauched queen of Mardi Gras in one scene, is a camp villain while Kay Parker plays her role straight in the other movie.) As it's shot on video, the movie is not very nice to look at, and the dirt cheap production values make it unclear whether this is supposed to be a period piece. Some of the dialogue is amusing ("Oxford?" "Guess again." "Princeton?" "Try Biloxi Tech, my sweetie."), and there is some old timey music and one of the clients wears an ascot at one point, so it's not a totally squalid affair. (It's classy, see? He's wearing an ascot.) As the son, Jerry Butler does a cringe-inducing lisp, but I did chuckle at his last line.

A bit easier to recommend is True Crimes of Passion, where Janey Robbins plays a private detective (cheekily named B.J. Fondel) who invariably bungles her investigations and winds up in sex scenes with the people she's supposed to be investigating. "Out of the fog and into the smog" begins the overwrought voiceover, which truth be told doesn't compare to the likes of Chandler but I guess the effort is nice. The first case involves her investigating the wife of a minister whom her client suspects of infidelity. Surprise, surprise, it turns out the wife has a girlfriend with whom she has dominant sex. Thanks to Robbins' investigative prowess, she gets found out and forced to join the proceedings and ends up getting her client, a Dan Quayle looking motherfucker in a cowboy hat, captured as well, which leads to an incredible burn.

"The lord will punish you for this."

"The lord already has, he gave me you for a husband."

Also, when Robbins is forced into cunnilingus, she says over narration, "Oh Christ, I'm not even sure I've seen one of these things up close", and yeah, okay, Janey.

The second scene is probably the most notable as it features Christy as a performer. Robbins visits her friend to investigate a death threat against her friend's brother (also Robbins' ex), and the twist can be deduced when you start wondering why a seemingly minor character gets an unusually large amount of screentime. The scene features a trope that likely isn't terribly sensitive by modern standards, but I get the sense from that Advocate interview that Christy isn't too hung up about such things and one must concede that the film is a product of its time and genre (and within that context, there's a lot worse out there). The last scene has Robbins spying on her neighbour in hotel to get some industry secrets, which leads to some really awkward dialogue about champagne and then a threesome involving her client and mark. Like the work of Yasojiru Ozu, this scene breaks the 180-rule, but I guess if this is your thing, you might enjoy it. At the very end, the mark just gives up his secrets to the client. The secrets of male bonding sometimes elude me.

Easily the most accomplished and enjoyable film from Christy that I watched was Squalor Motel. It combines the sexual variety of the other films with a sense of camp and grounds it in a distinct, memorable location. There isn't much more "plot" than the other movies, as it's basically about a motel concierge doing her job over the course of a day, but as it follows her bumping into a variety of (usually horny) guests and finding herself in amusing (and unfailingly sexual) situations, there's enough of a narrative through line that it feels like a "real" movie where the other movies strained for similar effect, and the movie uses a soundtrack of icy synths and jazz that sounds like imitation Angelo Badalamenti to give it all an alluring vibe. I'm gonna make a wager that David Lynch would have liked this movie. Look, I have no idea what his viewing habits are or what sends his motor running, and the thought of him jacking it furiously to this or any movie is not something that brings me pleasure. But this shares some of the campy tone and surface qualities of his works, and I also wanted to leave you all with that image.

Why does the motel have its own house band (to whom people try to listen to while they engage in all kinds of sexual congress)? Why is Jamie Gillis made up like a vampire and trying to sell marital aids? Why does the one guest's blow-up doll turn into a real person (and prove, uh, extremely vocal during their scene)? Why is the owner wearing a pig mask and a tutu while he spies on his guests? Why is everyone laughing at the newlywed? Why is the one scientist with a Hitler mustache and his shrill-voiced assistant conducting experiments (read: having a threesome) with Tantala Ray? And how are most of these things taking place in the mysterious Reptile Room in the middle of the motel? With an extremely winning Colleen Brennan in the lead role (sporting a pair of thick glasses, a Lucille Ball updo, and a big, toothy smile), we'll have a pretty good time finding out. Like a lot of hardcore movies, this is pretty episodic in structure, but its distinct atmosphere gives it a nice sense of momentum as it drifts from scene to scene.

With its nice production design (and the fact that it seems to have actual sets, rather than being shot in what I assume are people's homes like in the other movies), Squalor Motel feels a bit more upscale and lavish than the average porno. While I don't have any budgetary information handy, I do know that the production had an assistant director, Ned Morehead. To what extent he contributed to the movie's DNA I can't say for certain, but the directorial effort of his I watched, also produced by Christy, had many of the same qualities. Desperate Women starts off feeling pretty stylish with its spraypaint style opening credits (although it loses a bit of style when it misspells star Taija Rae's name as "Taja Rea"). Taija Rae plays a reporter who ends up wrongfully convicted for a murder and thrown in brutal women's prison presided over by the sadistic Tantala Ray, who seems to get her jollies from spying on her prisoners as they get it on or abusing them with the help of her dimwitted guard. During such incidents, the guard frequently ends up ejaculating on her uniform as a source of comic relief. (One such scene ends with a shot of a photo of Ronald Reagan.) I must however disclose, without revealing too much about the shameful inner workings of my hopelessly degenerate mind, that the denouement of scene involving Ray, her guard and Sharon Mitchell did not leave me unmoved. Mitchell plays a prisoner who befriends Taija Rae, and it's worth noting that despite being one of the best actresses in classic porn, she's saddled here with an atrocious Hispanic accent and at one point sings a bit of "America" from West Side Story.

By porn standards, this is actually quite well produced and has a relatively sturdy narrative. (I must however note that one scene has a blatant ejaculation-related continuity error.) Women in prison movies tend to be pretty squalid affairs in general, at least in terms of production values, so this doesn't feel too far off from the real thing and offers more explicit versions of the same pleasures, while its sense of humour gives it a nice campy quality. Tantala Ray especially delivers in a pleasingly over the top performance as the teeth-gnashing villain (the camera often frames her severe face in wide angle close ups), and say what you will about Sharon Mitchell's accent, I did like seeing her pop up in here. With all the flamboyance and excitement around her, Taija Rae almost becomes a supporting character in her own movie, although I must confess that I found her character's hopeless naivety pretty cute. ("I didn't wear rubbers, it's sunny out".) With a fun cast, a firm handle on the genre's pleasures and a groovy soundtrack, this is a pretty good time.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Male!Mari where he is Bruce Banner's kid since Sabine, Tom, and Bruce are poly but they were able do that medical thing that was said to be able to have the baby be able to have the DNA of the 3 parents. Buuuuut he's tall and lanky having Tom's height but Bruce's kind of skinniness. He seems to not have the hulk genes but...he's super strong which he's embarrassed about. (I liked the trans Mari hdc but I forgot to change the pronouns but they're good)

Awesome.

-Okay, here’s the thing. I knew kids who were tall and lanky in highschool. Hitting puberty? We actually had a tally about how many times they fell over. It was hilarious and yes teens are mean. The class has one for Marin.

-Marin tries to downplay his strength cause like... dude it’s kind of a giveaway. However, everyone knows his dad is the Hulk so like they know. They all know.

-This AU has Avengers taking place while Bruce, Sabine and Tom were dating and Tony helped with the gene stuff for Mari.

-Everyone knows who Marin is related to so he’s not bullied in school. Chloe and him don’t get along but she doesn’t dare try anything. 

-Marin totally tells his parents about being Ladybug cause like Hawkmoth isn’t a dumbass. It’s the HULK. 

-Marin goes by Ladybug cause fuck gender stereotypes. 

-Marin is bi as hell and has a crush on Adrien, and Alya. And Chloe though he’d rather rip his own eyes out than admit it. 

-Luka comes around and like... okay he has a boyfriend now.

-Luka has FEELINGS about Marin being able to casually pick him up. Bruce, Sabine, Tom and Tony find this all hilarious. Pepper films it.

-Side note- Pepper and Tony are Marin’s aunt and uncle basically.

-Now Lila. Oh boy. When Lila comes she has two people to latch onto. Model Agreste or Hulk’s kid Marin. And while Adrien is cute Marin is the one with all the connections. So what she going to do.

[punkscowardschampions]

Nancy & Rio

Nancy: Hey Rio: Hiya babe Rio: what's good? Nancy: I need to like Nancy: ugh idk it's such a bad idea, like I already know Rio: You wanna Thelma and Louise? Nancy: Who wouldn't want that much gay subtext Rio: Susan Saradon is a babe Rio: what's the actual drama then, shitty husbands and creeps at bars assumedly ain't it Nancy: Okay so you know how I have the misfortune of having to share a birthday, well, now he also wants me to do a joint party Nancy: except not Nancy: he wants my share of the guestlist cos he's gone over his own Rio: Seriously Rio: 🙄 Rio: Well that sounds like a nightmare Nancy: Right? Like I don't have to see enough of all his fuckboy friends already Rio: So you've actually got to be there Rio: that's so rude on so many levels Nancy: I might just leave once mum and dad do, it's not like they're gonna stay and chaperone all night Nancy: That's where you come in Nancy: Save my birthday from total ruin, yeah? Rio: They should, last party I went to the house was basically a write-off after Rio: What can I do, obviously I'll do it but catch me up Nancy: Oh Nancy: maybe they will and I will have to stay Nancy: But my original idea was more Thelma & Louise, naturally Nancy: You're the most fun person I know Nancy: and it is Halloween, there's gotta be something else on offer Rio: Yeah, you do live in one of the most exciting places in the world, nbd Rio: of course there's something more fun to do! Rio: I'll start looking now Nancy: You're actually the best ever Rio: N'awh, you're so cute 💖 Rio: see how quick you are with the compliments after I've saved you 😘 Nancy: 😉 Nancy: Who's immune to such blatant heroics? Nancy: If you save me from having to spend a minute at this party you can have anything you want Rio: 😳 Rio: Steady on Rio: I'm good, might not be THAT good Nancy: I was more thinking from my wardrobe Nancy: You're not really my type, cos of the whole related and straight thing Rio: Sure Rio: that whole thing Rio: not gonna turn down a tour of your latest purchases obvs Nancy: That sounds really flirty still but I'll go with the less awkward version of events Nancy: Things are weird enough with this party, like Rio: I can't help being this irresistible, babe Rio: but I won't say it's a date, just a plan Nancy: You're flirting with me but sure, we can both be irresistible, I guess Rio: I am not Rio: Straight and sharing DNA, remember Rio: you only got 1/2 so you're more suss Nancy: A lesbian remember? One convo and you're moving in Rio: 😂 Rio: Won't just do carry on then Rio: tah for the warning Nancy: You're so welcome Rio: Already gonna look so underdressed without being caught without 😱 Nancy: Um with full access to my wardrobe, not for long Nancy: Anything less than utter perfection is not an option if I have to show my face at the party for even half a second Nancy: I'm beyond prepared, and in case you can't tell, beyond STRESSED Rio: I caught that Rio: gurl you're gonna get stress spots if you don't tone it down Rio: you'll look 🔥 Rio: assume it's a costume party? Nancy: God, don't, the girls he invited would love that to happen to me Nancy: especially cos no, it's not Nancy: 🙄 Rio: Honestly, you had one job Rio: such an easy cop-out Nancy: He says no costume could make him look as hot as his labels, that's a paraphrase, I wasn't listening well enough to deliver a direct quote, sadly Rio: 🤢 Rio: Please don't try any harder to remember that was upsetting enough Rio: definitely find something better to do Nancy: Right? I literally get gayer every time he opens his mouth Rio: 😂 Rio: Not a choice but if it was, I get it Nancy: God was like, with him as a brother you've suffered enough Rio: Though it would be funny if you can find a man more unbearable Rio: he'd be fuming Nancy: My dad too Rio: Oh, the male posturing Rio: let me down, if no one else Rio: such a laugh Nancy: Maybe I should have turned this plan on its head and come to you to celebrate Nancy: Get away from it all Nancy: his friends are like clones and nobody thinks that's bizarre Nancy: like the girls are just 😍💘💋 Rio: Match their boys to their bags Rio: weird Rio: we should still do something special for you though Rio: it's your birthday as well, after-all Nancy: Yeah but I'm the weird one, okay then Nancy: It is but I don't feel as if I need to be all 🎉🎂👑 Nancy: He's got that covered Rio: Don't worry, I know your style Rio: and that it ain't his Nancy: He doesn't have any Rio: 🔥 Rio: ice that on the cake, babe Nancy: If ANYTHING was allowed to be homemade I would Rio: Can't imagine your Ma in a pinny, like Nancy: If my dad asked, then maybe Nancy: They are so gross but that's a convo to have in therapy one day Rio: Yeah, that is NOT my present to you Rio: lemme get qualified Nancy: What ARE you getting me though? Rio: No spoilers! Nancy: 😞😞😞 Rio: Surprises are fun Rio: don't be sad Nancy: Never in this house Nancy: But I trust in your gifting abilities Nancy: 🧡 Rio: And I'll bring over all the kids...interesting homemade attempts Rio: what more could you ask for? Nancy: Tell Junior he's so rude for refusing to get on a plane Nancy: It's not a phobia if you just don't want to Rio: Real talk Rio: ride or die until he's scared he'll end up at this party too Rio: bless Nancy: Like, I get it, I don't want to be in Chelsea either but I'd do it for him Rio: I ain't getting in the middle of gay drama Rio: I know better Rio: I could beg on your behalf but we both know, unlikely Nancy: Oh my god, you're not allowed to out him, even to me Nancy: It's a secret that we all know, okay Rio: 🤐 Rio: I do forget he's younger than us, like actually no pressure but also you know NONE of us are gonna be mad so Nancy: So problematic, you'd fit right in at the party actually Nancy: He's an adorable little old man Rio: 😱 Rio: 'Scuse me Rio: don't be starting beef with me, I'm coming Nancy: 😂 Rio: Literally so rude Rio: don't make me flip my hair at you Nancy: Babe please, I can do it better Nancy: Mine's so long now Rio: Alright showoff 😉 Rio: mine would be too if I straightened it Nancy: [sends a show offy hair flip clip but cute like look] Rio: Awh, you look so cute 🧡 Nancy: I look so 🥕 but I make it work Rio: straight 🔥 I swear Nancy: Okay but never use straight to refer to me, thanks Rio: Such a hater Nancy: Of men, exactly Nancy: You would be too if you went to our school though Rio: I can imagine Rio: tory central Nancy: Lord, it's like a timewarp of values but the levels of privilege have kept sky rocketing Nancy: The party's gonna be like Gatsby's except if the green light was shots and nudes Rio: Ahh the irony Rio: How do you stay even slightly sane/normal Nancy: I don't Nancy: They are the 'normal' ones and I'm obviously insane with grief about it Nancy: Oh please let me in your oh so exclusive club so I don't have to hang my head in shame Rio: nah, fuck that Rio: just the lunatics running the asylum Nancy: I hate it here so much Rio: Is there anyone vaguely decent you hang with? Nancy: No Rio: That's so crap Nancy: I'd rather have no friends than fake ones cos there's nobody real around Rio: I feel that too Rio: but its hard having to spend, what, 7 hours a day alone and surrounded by dickheads Rio: hope you're making your weekends worth it, yeah Nancy: I'd love it if they left me alone Nancy: That's what weekends are for, definitely Rio: Enough about those boring bitches anyway Rio: my mum wants to talk to yours, the usual, but they're cool with it so Rio: 👍 Nancy: I'll let her know when she comes in Rio: 🤞 she doesn't talk her ear off so hard she won't let me come like hell no, this fucking family Nancy: I can't even let that be a possibility Nancy: Do you want me to have a birthday breakdown, mum? Nancy: I don't think you have time in the schedule for that Rio: Hit her up with those birthday demands Rio: it's my party and I WILL cry if you don't do what I want, like Nancy: I don't wanna go there but if I have to, I will Rio: 👑 Rio: if there's ever a time to be a tiny bit of a diva Rio: I have to make a fuss or bitches will be tryna skip to Christmas like nah Nancy: That's so rude Nancy: To you and your dad Nancy: Also who in the hell wants to skip to Christmas? It's so stressful oh my god Nancy: Give me all the shopping days, thanks Rio: Seriously Rio: not a grinch or anything, gimme presents then too but come on Rio: attention is the best 🎁 for the eldest of 10, duh Nancy: Do you wanna be the joint guest of honor at this party instead of me? Nancy: As far as attention goes, you wouldn't get more unless you lock Buster in his room or something beforehand Rio: 😂 I know you're not identical but I don't think your ma would appreciate the insinuation that me and him are in any way twinning Nancy: You could wear a costume Nancy: He'd hate that as much as he'd hate sharing the spotlight even a little Rio: No shade but 0 lack of desire to white face Rio: but that's tempting, have I even got time to think of a decent costume though Rio: hmm Nancy: I can't lie, I'd be tempted if I was staying Rio: We so should Rio: maybe we'll need one for wherever we're going once you've made your joint wish or whatever the fuck Nancy: I'm with you on everything except I'm never blowing out candles with him for as long as I live Rio: Jokes, you definitely have enough 💸 for separate wishes Nancy: 🙏 Rio: This will be fun Rio: I'll send you details of anything that sounds good then Nancy: I'll send you any costume ideas I have, obvously Nancy: Thanks Ri Nancy: You seriously are the best Rio: Definitely Rio: and don't mention it, I had nothing good on anyway, this'll be way more fun than whatever lame party I was gonna be at Nancy: I feel like I definitely just complained about my life this entire convo Nancy: Which needs to be mentioned since I didn't even ask how you are or anything Nancy: Like, yeah that's gay culture but you know Rio: Nah, it's your bday, soon Rio: fully in support of that diva ish remember 👑 Rio: and same old same old here Rio: all good Nancy: Yeah? Nancy: Feels like forever since we've had a real life interaction Nancy: I'm glad you're coming Rio: It has been a while Rio: always feels like that since Schools in full swing and sucking the life outta us all like summer never happened Nancy: Unless you're Buster and school's your playground Nancy: I'm honestly surprised he isn't breaking in to have the party there since he loves it so much Rio: When you're gonna peak, gotta make the most, I guess 🤷 Nancy: I wish, you know he's just gonna keep doing better and better Nancy: Failure's not an option, like Rio: Not an option but a reality Rio: all well and good living that mantra and letting it take you as far as it can but I swear, real life is gonna hit him so hard, it won't be good Nancy: Maybe I took his share and mine, that'd be about right Nancy: I'll throw him a party for his mid life crisis though, of course Nancy: What are sister's for Rio: 😂 Can't wait to meet his hilariously age-inappropriate bae and pretend to give a shit about his sports car, like Nancy: I'll show up in mine like hey bro, older, hotter girlfriend in toe Rio: 🙌 Rio: Power moves Nancy: She can drive so I just get to pose even more extra when we turn up Rio: and you just want a driver, lbr 😜 Nancy: You'll thank me for not driving Nancy: The girlfriend who doesn't exist won't when I'm that distracting, though Rio: 😏 Rio: go off boo Nancy: If only that saying was true Nancy: about quiet ones Rio: can be Nancy: I can't even remember how it goes Rio: it's always yous, basically Rio: bit ominous Nancy: Oh Rio: Init Rio: Junie can't be convinced Rio: spent a solid 30 there trying Nancy: He's no longer my best friend, you are Nancy: Next time he wants to know how to let a girl down gently I'm not helping Rio: 💔 Rio: cold, I'll break that news to him gentle tho Rio: old times sake Nancy: My mum's just text me so I'll gently persuade her that you need to like, stay forever Nancy: Easy, obviously Rio: Obviously Rio: with your persuasion skills and her laidback attitude Rio: 😉 Nancy: She's in such a great mood too after another meeting with my form teacher who is himself convinced that Dyslexia only affects working class children Nancy: I tried to tell him that's the stock I'm bred from but he also believes that girls should be seen and not heard, like Rio: Ugh Rio: What a prick Rio: though not that surprised Rio: any issues and the royals hide their kids in asylums so Nancy: They only let girls in during the last century or whatever so he's far to old to have ever interacted with one Rio: Yeah, probs far too invested in the boys if the stereotypes keep ringing true Nancy: Gross but probably true Rio: Someone has to rub 'em down after rugger, babe Rio: 🤷 Nancy: Stop trying to trigger PTSD in me Rio: 😂 soz Rio: jus' sayin' silver lining you don't have to deal with the predatory masters, even if they at best tolerate your existens Nancy: Thank god, since I came out more lads have told me they fancy me than ever before, I'm already inundated and wanna die Rio: Nothing sexier than unavailability Nancy: Nothing sexy about how they show their 'interest' though Nancy: If that's how they approach straight girls I don't know how we've survived as a species Rio: Go on, wow me with their chat Rio: need a laugh Nancy: Most of them don't even bother to speak, their love language is clearly touch Rio: 😬 Rio: Rapey Nancy: It's scary, like Nancy: I thought posh boys were meant to be repressed Rio: Nah, they're THE worst Rio: untouchable in return for all the grabbing they're into Rio: and SO many mommy/daddy issues Nancy: Gross Rio: Fun if you're feeling it for the weekend but yeah Rio: not a mood you wanna marry into really Nancy: If I wasn't gay before I definitely am now you tried to force your tongue down my throat in the middle of the school hallway, thanks so much  🙄 Rio: That's so grim Rio: hope you smacked him Nancy: My brother has essentially one use to me Rio: It's something Rio: don't discount it Nancy: I can't unless I also wanna take up boxing myself Nancy: Not really my thing so Rio: Least you know he gives some shits, yeah Nancy: He likes to hit stuff Nancy: I've always known that Rio: Yeah Nancy: Anyway, I have to go Nancy: If I ignore this deadline it won't Nancy: and the essay won't write itself either Rio: Oh no Rio: lame Rio: but good 🍀 Nancy: Thanks, I need it Nancy: At least until my mum gets back and I can ask her about romantic classicism Rio: I'm too dumb and poor for this shit, sorry xoxo Nancy: I do have the money to buy myself an essay where my brain has failed me Nancy: but I'd have to make it look Dyslexic enough so I might as well just write it Rio: 💔 Rio: Sad times, princess, sad times Nancy: ikr 👑💧 that's my crown of tears not like Nancy: any other liquids Nancy: I'm definitely not putting any sweat into it Rio: 💪 you got this Nancy: I've got 🍀 because of you Nancy: I'll make it work Rio: 🧡🧡🧡 Nancy: xxx

[astriline]

now that I'm thinking about it I'm very curious as to how goron reproduction works, and if that reproduction could be called "fucking"

What we know about gorons is that they're all rocks. Every main goron we've met has been male, but is this because of how we as humans perceive them? There seems to be no gender among the gorons, which leads me to believe that none of them are male or female, but they mostly use male pronouns because of how masculine their appearances are to humans.

There is evidence to suggest that there could be women gorons, as you can find one in Gerudo Town, but that goron looked exactly like others, no features pointing out that they might not be the same gender as other gorons. They were probably just let in because "hey a goron isn't a vai but they're not a voe either whatever we'll let them in"

So here are my theories regarding goron reproduction:

1. Gorons do have genders, specifically sexes, which makes them capable of reproduction but they do not see each other as their assigned sex.

2. Asexual reproduction. This one is pretty unlikely seeing as how, though a lot of gorons look similar, some of them are different enough that they aren't clones of another or something. Also I don't think that multicellular organisms are capable of asexual reproduction (then again I haven't taken biology in years and I remember nothing so I might be wrong)

3. in oot Darunia has a son named Link (or after whatever name you chose for your player) in the adult timeline. No mother is mentioned, though, which is a common trope among all forms of media. But then in mm, the Elder of the gorons has a baby, again with no mother. And then of course there's Yunobo, who is a descendant of Daruk. I'd take a gander and say that Daruk is Yunobo's great grandfather, because if Daruk were Yunobo's father people would have mentioned it. There aren't mentions of the goron lifespan anywhere so I'm just assuming it's similar to a humans, and in a hundred years a family on average would go for about three generations. It is also possible that they have very short lives but I'm already off topic as it is so back to my original point, all gorons with children have no partner which suggests that a goron child could be created through one parent. But again, asexual reproduction feels unlikely to me.

4. Goron babies just pop out of rocks occasionally. This isn't a solid theory however because Yunobo inherited Daruk's protection, which would imply that there is a blood(?) relation there

5. The weirdest one, the one with the least amount of sense, but also the one I think is most likely, goron babies come from eggs. Rock eggs, to be exact. You know how some animals that don't have sex but still have to have children with a mother and a father work? The female lays eggs and the male fertilizes them, I believe that most fish do this. So for gorons it's kinda like that, but it only requires one parent. No goron lays an egg cause that's weird but maybe there are special rock eggs that when are in contact with a potential parent will hatch, partially formed from a parents DNA but also they're part rock. This would explain why gorons usually call each other "brother"; they're all rocks. Idk that's the biggest reach but still my favorite of my theories.

TLDR: Daruk probably can't fuck but Revali can fuck and that's terrifying

we still don't know if Revali has fucked but Daruk has definitely fucked seeing as how Yunobo is his direct descendant how does that make you feel

we don’t know anything about goron reproduction so there’s no way to know if Daruk has actually fucked, in the human sense. They’re all rocks can rocks fuck?Regardless I’m still much more terrified of the idea that Revali might have fucked