#also the sourcing for this is two tumblr posts cause the video those posts link to no longer exists

[lovethytendytenderly]

The Phoenix by Fall Out Boy // an edit a day til penguins hockey, a countdown (day 11)

x x

[otomiyaa]

nice.png

(literally how I named the image, couldn't think of something else)

Hi guys :') To my followers and tumblr friends, I'm really sorry if my sudden disappearance scared or upset you. It wasn't quite... planned. And today was a busy day and I needed some time to consider what I wanted to do.

Short version of the story:

My tumblr account got terminated for copyright infringement. A certain Mr. Green got me in unlucky trouble (ref 1, 2).

I won't get it back, or try to get it back. It's gone.

Needed a moment to consider 2 options: ask Mia to extend my dramatic farewell letter and stay gone, or make a new blog.

Not planning to post new writing here. I won't be using words like 'never' or 'forever' because I'm a known clown with things like this, but the intention is to no longer post fics. I will finish Tickletober on AO3 and then take a break from writing. So yes, I cancel the swiftscribbles event too, sorry!

When I opened my laptop, I could see my old blog in its final hour lmao (I found out about the loss on my phone). So that's what the snap is from on a fitting grave. It was fun while it lasted!

Long version of the story:

Losing my blog(s): My Tumblr account with main blog + sideblogs got terminated overnight, it was quite the surprise! I've either been reported or tracked by bots. The posts are a bunch of numbered URLs I can't open, but the message is clear: for including anime content, genshin impact or media from other sources (whether it's videos, screenshots, official art, gifs or even fanwork) you technically can get a strike. Upon googling the claimer I quickly found this first, and knew it was a lost cause. Although it feels shitty and unlucky, I am in no place to appeal. It's like when I used to make AMVs in the past, you never knew whether a song or even anime footage was going to give your YT account a copyright strike or even a ban, it was a gamble. I have lost YT accounts before, and now I lost the Tumblr one. With 7+ years of tickle trash content and a bunch of sideblogs. But oh well, moving on!

Starting a new blog: It was a serious consideration whether this was my ultimate chance to do what I've always said I wanted to do eventually - quit my blog. My first thought was to ask Mia to share my explanation and literal goodbye with you guys, and stick to my chaos of a Twitter account to indulge in fandom stuff. But then I thought of how happy Tumblr made me, even without the fic writing, but just.. reblogging things, getting random asks, shouting about life and of course, about tickles. I decided to make a new blog after all, but also decided the following:

The 7K+ milestone swiftscribbles event is cancelled, for which I apologize! The follower milestone, together with the motivation to write the fics, and even the asks with the requests I got, all died with my former blog.

I will see how long I can survive without posting a new fic or drabble. A loose headcanon or two might fly around sometime. And if necessary, a link to a new fic on AO3.

Tickletober? Hell yes I'll finish it, I would cringe in bed for 49 days at least if I would stop. I just won't post the fics here, but on AO3.

Reposting/reblogging my old works? Undecided at the moment but I'm tired and lazy. I don't feel too upset since most of my fics are still on AO3 at least and not completely gone.

Anyways, I'll see what happens and how long I can enjoy this nerfed version of blogging.

Surprisingly I'm not upset about losing my other blog, there were a lot of memories but it was also very cringe. I'm gonna be just as cringe here, but at least I feel cleansed.

For those who choose to follow me again, thank you, but please know that there won't be much original content coming from me, for now!:)

[walks-the-ages]

"Favorite Doctor Survey" Update February 11th, 2023, ~9pm Eastern Standard Time:

[ID: a screenshot of a pie chart which has a multitude of colors in sections, the largest being labeled with percentages of 23.3%, 16.3%, 11.6%, and two are labled 7% while the rest are not labeled. there is a list of Doctor Who incarnations off to the side with color coding which trails off. end ID]

So far, we have 43 votes, and right now, the 8th Doctor is in the lead with 10 votes, aka 23.3%!

I am extremely delighted with this fact, we need more people to appreciate the Eighth Doctor ~! For anyone who is unaware of it, the Eighth Doctor is not limited to just the 1997 TV movie and a few minutes in Power of the Doctor--

--oh no, this Bestest Boy Ever has not only over a hundred audio dramas (and counting!!) on Big Finish, but also at least 74 Novels to his interation! If you do not know the Eighth Doctor yet, now is your excuse to go watch his movie on the web archive and then dive into the world of Big Finish to experience his adventures with Charley! :D

*Ahem* So, onto the next "Favorite Doctor!"

To no-ones surprise, the Twelfth Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi is holding steady in second place, with 9 votes!

There's a slight error in the graph because I realized I'd forgotten to add his actor and year to the 12th doctor listing and the answers already submitted didn't get edited, so Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor is not just the dark teal 16.3% you see above, but also the dark blue right underneath it which is the first 2 original votes before the updated info.

In 3rd place, appropriately enough, we have the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee! He currently has 5 votes, aka 11.6%!

Everyone seems to love his dynamics with UNIT, being earthbound, and his fatherly/grandfatherly relationships with his companions-- not to mention his chemistry with The Master!

Tied for 4th place, we have the Sixth and Second Doctors, each with 3 votes, aka 7% !

One, Five, Nine, and Ten each have 2 votes,

Four, The Valyard, The Shalka!Doctor, Eleven, and Thirteen all have 1 vote each,

and so far we have two write-in answers: one vote for "The Lethian Campaign Assassin" (an extremely intriguing wiki article) and one vote for the Master!Doctor from Power of the Doctor :D

Let's keep those votes rolling in! I pretty much have no time limit on this poll lol, i'll just post periodically when there's a significant number of new votes or if someone else takes the lead!

In the meanwhile if you haven't taken the survey yet, here is the link to cast your vote:

And if you'd like to see what all the hype is about for the Eighth Doctor, here is a link to a gorgeous fan-made upscaling of the movie, which was posted to the archive by the uploader-- you can stream it from the archive (make sure you set it to 1080p and give it plenty of time to buffer!)

Or, even better, download the mkv video, and use VLC media player or a similar open source program so you can adjust the playback speed to around 96% for the proper pitch and speed!

When they were doing US to UK conversion they uh. lol they fucked up the framerate so to fix it the movie was sped up on release, so watching it without adjusting the playback speed will make everyone sound like chipmunks comparison to their normal voices, but can also cause some motion sickness from the weird, fast framerate

! So I highly reccomend downloading it so you can adjust the playback speed a custom amount! Oh, and don't forget to favorite to show the upscaler some love for their hard work, they made it into a beautiful masterpiece! [ it literally looks better than my physical dvd i bought years ago lol]

If you'd like to dip your toes into some other, slightly more obscure Doctors featured on this survey, I also have a link to the 4k Upscaling of "the Scream of the Shalka", an animated Doctor Who episode from 2003, which was never continued (on screen at least; it has one short story sequel written available online, "The Feast of the Stone"!

Scream of the Shalka, in 4k HD, again, thanks to fans taking the time to upscale things!

Scream of the Shalka short story sequel:

(please note for fellow Shinigami-Eyes users, there is no transphobia in the short story, the entire BBC website is now universally marked red in shinigami eyes)

[dlamp-dictator]

"A public apology or admittance of all the skeletons in the closet, controversies, and other mistakes recently made would go a long way in rebuilding goodwill with me. As much as I would like see to see a rehiring of fired artists I know some of those folks might had broken NDAs to speak out and professionally that wouldn't be a good look to ignore, so maybe a quiet and private restitution for those effected would be a good way of good PR." -Allen X, September 3rd, 2023

Welp... looks like I gotta' answer for myself, huh?

Okay, so been debating this one for awhile now too, but thankfully this took a lot less deliberation, namely because I had the intention to way a few days before talking about it. For those new a quick recap.

About 2-ish months ago the video game company Project Moon, develops of games such as Library of Ruina, Lobotomy Corporation, and most recently the gacha game Limbus Company, had been bombarded with a number of controversies including the firing of a beloved artist, several other artists involved with the company coming out to admit the company's mismanagement, the removal of certain side materials and content, and a few other major things I personally haven't been keeping up with nor care to discuss in detail. This had led to a mass boycott/protests against Project Moon's latest game, Limbus Company by what has mostly been the Korea fanbase for a while now, but several Westerners, myself included, have also taken a step back away from the game in either solidarity of the cause or wanting to stay away from a game that is actively losing profit and could shut down in the next few months due to the massive profit dip.

As of two months later, the loss of about a third of their profits (depending on the source) and Tokyo Game Show going in full swing drawing further eyes on them, the company has finally spoken about the issues that had happened during the summer event and gave official apologies on it, promising to do better with how they manage things going forth.

That's the general situation as far as I care to look into it and this post is mostly me backing up my own words that I said early this month. Now that Project Moon has officially apologized how do I feel and do I think it's worth coming back?

Short Version: Yeah, this is more or less fine... For now.

Long Version: Well... it's more complicated than that.

To repeat, I did wait about a week or so after this apology came out because a lot of things tend to get lost in the noise of fandom and tensions get high for really dumb reasons. Also, needed to make sure things didn't explode further or another necromancer decided make Project Moon's skeletons start Cossack Dancing out of their closet again before I could get a word in. Especially given how Tumblr and Twitter work in terms of mob mentality I'm glad I waited a minute before posting. But with that all said here's the general rundown of the apology (link here for those curious):

An admittance that bad things happened and that they offended certain parties to the point of feeling pressured to let go of vital staff/contractors.

An admittance that said bad things were due to cyberbullying and other online attacks via social media.

An admittance to a spread of misinformation that lead oversea fans to come to conclusions of varying levels of accuracy.

An overall apology for the mishandling and harm said issues have happened to both staff and fans.

A promise to take a harder stance against cyberbullying and spreading of misinformation, including legal action (I believe Korea has some stricter laws against cyberbullying than the US) if need be.

A denouncement/non-endorsement of hateful ideologies and promise to do better in the future with their management of employees.

These are all the basic gist of what was said. This basically covers everything I wanted them to cover in an apology back when the month started (and if this also comes with another free 1300 lunacy down the line I won't complain either), but the important thing in terms of criticism is that the overall wording of the apology is very vague. Personally, I think this is about as direct an apology as we're going to get from a company, but I also know that this is written with enough wiggle room that this is either everything I personally wanted to hear from Project Moon, or a general smokescreen that is worded with just enough admittance that they take minimal heat for it. I'm an optimist, so I'm looking to the former, but I don't blame anyone for thinking the latter. Not to mention the way they discuss the use of legal action in terms of cyberbullying and misinformation is a bit suspect as well. It's to the point that several parties and groups can and have come to different opinions and conclusions on this apology.

While I have came to the conclusion that Project Moon is, if not remorseful, then at least savvy enough to understand they needed to say something in terms of admitting fault to get their customers back, I still understand if some people see this more as a company getting their arm twisted and grunting out a few vague words of apology to get people back into spending money on their product again.

For me, this is... enough. For now. I'm taking the stance of the Youth Union: I'll buy it for now, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open for future misdeeds if news comes my way. I completely understand if folks are wanting more, either a more direct apology, some actual proper action done about the misinformation and aforementioned hate groups, them admitting their losing money with all this happening, so on and so forth. This is one of the more popular Korea companies with a global audience, so they should have the influence to do something like that. However, I also know barring an actual lawsuit this is probably the most to expect from a corporation in terms of actions taken.

I'm... willing to accept this for now. My previous points still stand though. Canto V needs to be a 12/10 for this game to truly make a comback, and Project Moon should probably keep it's head down after the TGS ends and stay quiet and peaceful until that update is ready. This game still lost a lot of profit and trust is earned, not bought. But for now... I'm willing to at least redownload the game check things out again. Again, this is... enough. For now.

For those still on the fence I believe the second legal entity that could be an actual threat to Project Moon has finally gotten the funds together for a proper lawsuit and you can just wait until that to fully goes through and see what happens. I'll equally say that for those still hardline against continue to stay away from this game to just ask yourself what you want from the company and what will it take to bring you back. If your faith is truly crushed and you have no interest in Project Moon anymore then I recommend going to games like Arknights, or Monster Hunter, or even Eternal Return, all fun games with a pretty decent gameplay loop that's worth playing.

As for me, the Mirror Dungeon is calling and there's still enough time for me to at least get Molar Yi Sang for the log-in event. I feel okay enough about this game to actively do that overview I was wanting to write months ago and I'll happily start working on that this week with all the other stuff I'm writing doesn't wear me out first. Until then, I'll see you folks later.

[thevictorianghost]

You said in your finnrey/zutara post that studio meddling was involved for both. I knew that this was the case for finnrey because of racist cowards. But I never knew that was the case for zutara? Tbh I just assumed from the get-go that aang and katara were the main ship and I thought it was cute for them to end up together in the end. Though it is really interesting to learn that zuko and katara could’ve also been a serious thing and I think they could also work together rather nicely. What happened behind the scenes that caused it not to happen? Was aang originally gonna be set up with toph or have no love interest?

Oh hello! Hi! My first anon. Welcome :)

Before we start: I’m going to write Kat/aang, A/ang and Bry/ke like that so it doesn’t appear in the tags and I’ll bold some sections for emphasis. 

I don’t think the writers even considered Toph as a love interest for A/ang. It was always about Kat/aang vs Zutara.

It’s no secret at this point that Dante Basco and Mae Whitman, who voiced Zuko and Katara respectively, ship Zutara. Dante Basco is known as the “captain of the Zutara ship”. They’ve written multiple times about Zutara on Twitter and Dante Basco said in an interview that he really thought, at one point, that Zuko and Katara were going to end up together, that he thought it was going that way, and that he loved the idea of fire and water together.

As for the writers, it’s a bit more difficult to find information, since the show ended 15 years ago. But Aaron Ehasz, head writer of ATLA, has come out and said there was supposed to be a fourth season and it was dropped in favor of the movie. He said it on Twitter on April 1rst, 2019 (while also saying sorry for picking that date, it wasn’t an April Fools!). He said that M Night Shyamalan wanted them to focus on Book 4, but Bry/ke (Bryan Konietsko and Mike DiMartino) “wanted to focus on the movie”. You can find those tweets here. Not about Zutara per se, but it does show not everyone was on board with how the show was going to end behind the scenes.

Speaking of the movie, when asked about The Last Airbender, M Night Shyamalan also gave his input on the situation. He talked about how, by the time Book 3 came around, he wasn’t sure if the series was supposed to end there or if there was going to be a Book 4. He said to Bry/ke: ““Dudes, I gotta know this. This is critical! This has to end. This has to end. If it doesn’t end, I’m not on board. But if you don’t want to end it - it’s all good.”  They were like “no, we saw it as three seasons for each element that he has to learn.”  And I said “great.”” This is where it gets interesting, though: “At that time they hadn’t even decided where things were going to end, even like who Katara was going to end up with. All of that stuff hadn’t been figured out yet.” 

It’s interesting to me how he mentions this is who Katara will end up with. Not A/ang, not Zuko. It’s always about Katara.

 Someone who interned on ATLA has been quoted as saying that “If you check out the I.P. Bible then you’ll see a Kat/aang endgame was never planned from the start, it was supposed to remain a one-sided crush throughout the whole show.“ and that “The actual decision to make them a couple came about much later at Bry/ke’s request, largely because they were frustrated at the popularity of Zutara.“ Of course, not everyone in the production was full on one side or the other, as the post says some were neutral about it. “Some of the crew liked Kat/aang, I know Joaquim [Dos Santos] was a big Kat/aang supporter but more of them were neutral about it, Ehasz was not fond of Kat/aang but he didn’t mind too much since he’s a mature adult and all that.”

Avatar Extras (special events on Nicktoons where episodes of ATLA were shown with fun facts) were released where it was said that Zuko was supposed to be Katara’s love interest. It was said two times at least. I’ve only ever found screencaps of these, but I found these here on Tumblr. 

When asked about these in the Avatar Extras, Bry/ke said that it was just a joke and that Kat/aang was always in the DNA of the show. But if you’re here to tell fun facts to your audience about your show, maybe put a disclaimer that says some things might not be as truthful as they think they will be?

And the intern mentioned earlier also said that “No one was having full-on ship wars in the writer’s room but we did joke about it, and we toyed with the idea of Zuko and Katara falling in love a couple of times.“ So that goes well with the Avatar Extras.

Meanwhile, other writers, like John O’Bryan, have been quoted talking against Zutara in favor of Kat/aang. EDIT: Thank you to @exhaustedhope for giving me a source for this quote! This link also has a few images for the quote, so I’ll add them here.

Thank you again! And also the use of Zutara fanart to badmouth the ship in favor of Kat/aang? Dude.

If this was the way people behind the scenes were thinking of Katara and A/ang’s and Katara and Zuko’s relationships... well that doesn’t really make me think “Kat/aang was in the DNA of the show” either, huh? Zuko was never officially her love interest, Katara never actually “went after that guy”. But the thought that she might made them uneasy. 

(Btw, let’s not forget Zuko actually does care about Katara, enough to put his life on the line for her in Book 3, so that mischaracterizes Zuko.) 

This comment by John O’Bryan fits with this vision of Zutara Bry/ke has, where Zuko is nothing but a broody, emo “bad boy” who doesn’t care about Katara at all. It’s shown pretty well in their dreadful “joke” made at Comic Con in 2007. You can find the video here. Here, Katara ends up with A/ang and “should have never doubted the will of Mike and Bryan!” (yuck). So Kat/aang was always the “right” way for them to end the show, right?

But then! Even Bry/ke themselves have said that Kat/aang was forced. They said it in 2014 when Korrasami became canon in Legend of Korra. On Korrasami and Kat/aang, they said this: “Originally, [Korrasami] was primarily intended to be a strong friendship. Frankly, we wanted to set most of the romance business aside for the last two seasons. Personally, at that point I didn’t want Korra to have to end up with someone at the end of series. We obviously did it in Avatar, but even that felt a bit forced to me.“

So they admitted that Kat/aang was forced. They even mention the ATLA ship wars in the post. “Either direction we went [about Korrasami or Makorra], there would inevitably be a faction that was elated and another that was devastated. Trust me, I remember Kat/aang vs. Zutara. But one of those directions is going to be the one that feels right to us, and Mike and I have always made both Avatar and Korra for us, first and foremost.”

Okay. So what’s real about the behind the scenes of ATLA and what isn’t? Was Kat/aang in the DNA of the show, or did they go back and forth between Kat/aang and Zutara like they did with Korrasami and Makorra? 

There have been conflicting informations scattered across the Internet over the years. Some people say one thing and others react, saying the opposite and that the first thing was false. Some people lied, or joked, to mess with the audience and toy with Zutara - or not, or maybe, or perhaps... What I think, though, is that not everything was set in stone. Some people were for Zutara and some people were for Kat/aang. And even after all of that, the big takeaway for me was: the end result that Bryke wanted so badly was lackluster in and of itself.

[bayrut]

Hello Tumblr, I think most of you have heard by now, but if not: there has been a huge explosion in Beirut, Lebanon on August 4 2020. It was caused by 2,750 metric tons of explosive ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse at the port of Beirut, but it's still unclear what initiated the explosion. 

These are just the current estimations but more than 135 people have died, more than 80 are missing, 5,000 injured, and 300,000 people are now homeless. The explosion did not only cause damages in Beirut, damages were reported in cities even 10 km away, and the explosion was felt and heard all over the country. People in Cyprus and Greece (more than 270 km away) have felt and heard it too. Experts are estimating that the damages are worth 10 to 15 billion dollars (USD). The explosion was so powerful that it created seismic waves equivalent to those of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake

A few big hospitals are located in Beirut, and were hit by the explosion. People are running from one hospital to another, they’re rejected in 6, 7, 8 hospitals before finding a place where they can be treated. Some people are being treated on the streets on plastic chairs because the hospitals are overloaded. Pharmacies are being used as makeshift hospitals. Med students, who haven’t graduated yet, are being called to help in hospitals. People are finding people that they do not know on the streets, and are carrying them to hospitals.

The government literally does not care, and their negligence has led to the explosion: the chemicals have been stored at the port for seven years. The president waited more than 14 hours after the tragedy to address the people, when leaders from other countries had already addressed it and started organizing help (For example, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was awake at 2 AM yesterday to work on sending aid).

The Lebanese government hasn’t cared for a long time. Since October 2019, people have been protesting over the unfair treatment. The country has fallen into an economic crisis (you can read more about it here). Since then, the local currency has lost 86% of its value, and because most food is imported, the prices have tripled everywhere. Approximately 39% of the people had lost their jobs, most of the rest have been working on half of their usual salary. A lot of people literally cannot afford food anymore, and even those well-off can only afford basics. This is a twitter thread with the most important details. The situation is only going to get worse now.

In addition, right before the explosion happened, a second wave of COVID-19 was starting in the country. Cases have already started to increase dramatically after the explosion, and will probably keep increasing.

Beirut isn’t only home to 300,000 people, it is the economic center of the country. Most of the people work in Beirut, most of the universities and schools, (and big hospitals, as I already mentioned) are located in that city. All of this is gone. The pictures are horrifying, it looks like a war zone. The port itself is very pivotal for the country’s economy, which makes the disaster way worse.

Petitions do not work in the area, and donations cannot be sent to the government, because they cannot be trusted (even during this year’s economic crisis, many countries had refused to help because they do not trust the Lebanese government). If you can help financially, please consider donating to these trustworthy sources:

Lebanese Red Cross: they have been providing medical aid and helping to treat people. They are probably the most trustworthy source possible. All of the money from the donation goes to this non-profit organization. 

Impact Lebanon: this non-profit organization has been raising money for disaster relief, but there is a processing fee that goes to the fund-raising website anytime a donation is made. 

DAFA: this local NGO has been providing help since the beginning of the economic crisis. They don’t have a donation section on their website, but this link is to their official GoFundMe page (I called to make sure). Since it’s on GoFundMe, a processing fee does to the website.

Caritas: this local NGO also has been providing help. The donation directly goes to them.

These two carrds have links to more local NGOs, which are helping after the recent events but are not specific to the explosion aftermath.  

If you can’t donate, please please please reblog this. Likes do not help, but reblogs do. When you reblog this post, someone who can help might see it, and I really mean it when I say that every bit of help counts. If you can’t donate, you can also help by watching this video on YouTube, all the money from the ads is going to the Lebanese Red Cross. There is no sounds, but please play it on full volume for it to actually help.

Also, you can help by reading about what is going on, but not only in Lebanon. Lots of countries all around the world are going through crisis, and we often don’t hear about any of these unless the country becomes on the verge of collapse. Please try to keep up with recent news, try to read headlines about what’s going on around the world, try to learn and educate yourself. Those are the first steps to real change. 

Thank you for bearing through my long post, I hope it made sense, I am still overwhelmed. It’s been a bit over 24 hours, but I am still in shock, and a lot of information might be missing. Feel free to add to this if you have relevant information.

[popurikat]

Trying to make sense of parts of Future (Mystery Skulls)

Since my last analysis went so well I thought I’d make this post as well, especially because Future really did confuse me and I know others might be lost as well; so lets discuss this together! It will be lengthy as I am basically spewing my thoughts out right on the videos immediate release date (there will be a read more option after my first thought to avoid long positng). Well first things first, I wanna address that I've been curious about what kind of spirit Arthur's arm could be (since I am not too well acquainted with any canon on its background part at least) and I think I have concluded that the closest thing to it could be is a Tenome; which is a Yochai that possesses a man's body and moves the eyes to the palms. "found lurking in cemeteries, hands outstretched, as if he has only recently lost his vision and is searching for something. Get close enough, and you’ll find out in quick succession that a) he’s not blind, but looking with eyes embedded in his hands, and b) what he’s looking for is a snack." (fyi, most of my mythos information is coming from Wiki just as a heads up)

And sure enough he found a great source for his hunger. Something he has been EYEING since the start. Which now leads me to my next points on the video...

At first watch I was convinced that each strand found on Mystery’s heart represented a singular soul bond, I thought that blue was for Vivi, Green was for the hand, pink for Lewis, purple for Shiro, Yellow for Lance, Orange for Arthur, and black and white were unknown. Which, didn’t settle right for me. SO I went in and re-watched the clip a couple more times and saw this:

Vivi’s (blue created after she got hurt) and Shiro’s (white created after she died) strands were connected to the strands located next to them. A start and an end. Mystery’s promise to Vivi to stay at her side for generations as he was spared upon prior defeat of Mushi. And then of course we have the promise of power and sustenance for Shrio as they held a symbiotic relationship for most of their lives that was only severed due to an interference. These double strands of fate are especially clearer in the scene with Shiro in Future. As the black strand gets clearer the more she gets injured or emotionally hurt, it eventually leads to the leak of the white strand on her death. Meaning; Black/white=Shiro; Purple/Pink=Lewis; Blue/Green: Vivi; and Orange/Yellow: Arthur. And why am I inclined to believe Lewis and Arthur are apart of Mystery’s heart? Well that's because those two were the only ones fully streaming before Vivi’s and Shiro’s appeared. We know that Arthur lost an arm to Mystery and discovered his identity (ergo losing most of his trust in him) insinuating both strands to arise early on of his color scheme, as well as with Lewis’ death occurring under the protection of Mystery when they were grouped and having his soul go restless/ in pain. It wouldn’t make sense to add family members or side characters not included in the mainline story to this grouping unless they would play an important role in the finale, which isn’t likely since we have only one more video left as Ben stated it was going to be a 5 video series. I am also inclined to believe each person has two strands because of Kitsune lore: “ Kitsune keep their promises and strive to repay any favor. Occasionally a kitsune attaches itself to a person or household. They follow their word of honor. They become self-destructive if they break a promise, and when someone else breaks a promise, they become deadly enemies.” Plus, It would make sense as to why in this short battle Mystery sprouted his last 3 tails when it came to Vivi and Shiro and how their connections affect his power. (more on this in a bit) But, furthermore; if anyone else notices, the Band-Aids on the heart are also remotely located on the sections of Vivi’s and Shiro’s strands specifically because for both, Mystery has vowed to protect them and has failed. 

Now then lets talk about a few things on Mystery’s ultimate form shall we? The final form of a Kitsune, its celestial form as shown here is called a Tenko. (yes I am aware of the Kumiho, but that is a fully evil, flesh eating, 9 tailed fox that specialize in illusions and well Mystery has never been portrayed as human). The Tenko makes even more sense when taken into consideration that Mystery’s third eye (typically a form of wisdom connected to overpowering the mortality of ones self) opens. So how was this done in such a short amount of time? “Kitsune do not accept aid from those who are not willing. they do not ask for help, and as such, most aid must come from another's initiative. Kitsune are emotional and very vengeful. Kitsune will lose their temper at the slightest provocation. Once someone has earned a kitsune's enmity, the kitsune will begin enacting revenge that can become quite extreme. On the other hand, those who have earned a kitsune's trust and loyalty will see a friendship that can last through many trials. Freedom is very important to the kitsune. They do not accept being forced into something they do not wish, and do not like being bound or trapped. Doing so weakens the kitsune.” Mystery as we know is very much controlled by his emotions, going head first into things constantly based on reaction and his inability to control his power under distress. His tails arose in the fight sequence every time he fulfilled his oath AND used 100% of his form/power. Therefore, his tails grew because he wasn’t holding back anymore, not his grievances, not his appearance, nor his hesitance in his evident distress of being bound to two entities that both required his aid.  My last note on these images comes from a tumblr user’s reverse audio clipping (https://nebulous-rain.tumblr.com/post/633555549749952512/ok-so-yknow-that-one-reversed-part-of-future). The rewind of the clip of Mystery’s transformation plays “When I’m With You”, which yes, cool a possible Easter egg to the next song! BUT what is this song about? Let me just bring up the first line of the song: “You got me hanging by a THREAD...I wish I could turn back time...I wish I could rewind life...” and before the chorus “I’m gonna make it right”. We know that this can refer to rectifying the wrongs of Lewis’ death, but more accurately to do so we need to defeat the evil inside this mutt that is pulling the strings of this whole fiasco. And this might just be the intro portion of the next mystery skulls mind you as we’ve also gotten many false starts with the previous two videos where hellbent used “every note” and future used “enemies” alongside the main song. BUT WE HAVE TWO YEARS ANYWAY, WHY BABBLE ON ABOUT THIS. LETS MOVE ON!

Hearts in this series have not been just for identifying the dead or for aesthetic purposes, they are the life force of each powerful legend. I am actually surprised to see Shiro have a heart as she started off as a creation from Mystery and therefore her lifeforce is just his blood and without it she is nothing. I am curious about her color pallet though, her heart is purple and pink. Lewis’ is gold/yellow with touches of orange. And Mystery’s is just red, but it has a mix of everyone’s essence within it to keep it tied and whole. Shiro’s could be colored this way in reference to Lewis’ aid to help find her creator; which would explain why Mystery surrounds himself by color as he required outside help and how Lewis’ heart is yellow in reference to how recently Arthur helped him remember his friends/hidden memories. One thing we have learned about hearts is that they can be broken repeatedly and can be ripped apart from the body, but they can be repaired too through resolution/hope. Lewis restored his heart in hellbent by using Vivi’s flower petals and finding hope that he will get revenge, only for his heart to be repaired again through Arthur’s touch. Shiro may have withered away, but her heart is essentially not broken, she’d need Mystery to restore it as it was flung into space (and that again relies on Mystery finding his sanity and finding it in himself to even bring her back). And as for Mystery himself, he’s gonna need the whole gang to reach out to him to extract the parasite within and restore balance. I really want to know more about the heart properties and how they give their users their powers as well Vivi is able to summon her strength through a material connection (bat) that function in its own way as the vessel a heart does since its connecting her to her ancestry.

NOW to finalize, I offer you two queries:

WHO IS ARTHURS HAND REACHING FOR!? I know it seems like Mystery, but that would be counter productive for the hand demon if he has Arthur interfering with his control. Is it still after Lewis as we’ve seen previous times where his arm acts up only in Lewis’ presence and when specifically other “magic” is at play? If so, is the goal to ward off Lewis and Vivi from defeating Mystery? Is Arthur gonna use the arm to find his own power as we’ve seen when he is able to momentarily cease control of it he kinda ruins anything electrical he touches and well, electricity is currently running rampant in there.

and lastly, I am really curious how touch sensitive hearts are, We know that even the smallest of brushes can detect memory/links to the person holding it (as seen with how Shiro managed to get soul flowers in hellbent), but the fact that Lewis was so in touch with the feeling of Arthur EVEN THOUGH ARTHUR GRABBED HIS HEART THROUGH HIS METAL HAND MIND YOU!, that he still managed to feel the disturbance instantly. So my question is, is the touch sensitivity reliant on how close someone is to someone? I would like to say yes cause when Shiro touched his heart he didn’t react instantly, he felt her rummaging his memories and was awoken, but he didn’t kick her butt by fully reforming until after she had long since stepped on his heart and then forced the memory of Mystery to arise. But yeah, its a nice little detail.

Either way, thanks for reading! Feel free to add on, comment, or even dm me about more Mystery Skulls information and theories! Love to hear them!

[thefirsthogokage]

Palestine Masterpost

I will be adding more things as I can when I come across them, so please be checking back.

I grabbed this off Twitter. An explanation of the history of what happened with Palestine and what is happening with the Palestinians.

The post with the two people talking about the situation that is also very informative and a quick guide to the history.

This post contains a link to a website with information as well.

This post contains links in one of the reblogs. A couple of those links are "Watch to donate," which is a great option if you can't afford to donate yourself.

-> Post by sukunasfootrest

This is a very important post with a lot of links and things to do. Read this before donating anywhere. This is probably a post you've seen reblogged a lot

Numbers that can show you how uneven the situation is between Palestine and Israel.

NEWS, MAY 16TH, 2021:

Post One (Twitter Grab)

Post Two (Twitter Grab)

->Information - with sources - about how Israel treats Black citizens including Ethiopian Jews

Here's a hint: The US and Canada do this to their indigenous populations.

->Links to Petitions and Places to Donate

Post by an Israeli who stands with Palestine.

->Why the US doesn't intervene

(The Negroponye Doctrine)

->NEWS: MAY 17TH, 2021

•Israel destroyed Gaza's main COVID testing facility (Tumblr post) (link to an article)

-> Last year, Israel destroyed multiple sites in Palestine said to be COVID testing sites: source one ; source two. ; source three

-> Someone posted that Gaza asked for a cease fire and Israel REJECTED that, also, other tweets from Palestinians about what they are living through.

->More Links with places to donate and an update of some stuff that happened with sources (added May 19th, 2021)

->The US is the only nation blocking the UN from demanding a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. (Added May 19th, 2021)

-> More absolutely atrocious things Israel is doing, including on planning to bomb UN created schools, schools that are housing people whose homes were destroyed in other bombings by Israel. (Added May 19th, 2021)

-> More children dead, including several being treated for the psychological trauma that Israel caused them. AND another one with a link to letter formats that you can send to the government in the US (to Representatives), Canada, and the UK. The US is planning to send $750 million MORE dollars to Israel. AND they are taking out Gaza's communication and internet abilities (Added May 20th, 2021)

-> Israel is reportedly still at it after agreeing to a ceasefire. Other videos in this Twitter post as well as this one. And another one. And yet another one. You can look up more under #ISRAELBREAKSTHETRUCE on Twitter. (Added May 21st, 2021)

-> Multiple things that have happened since it has gone quiet about Palestine. (Added June 2nd, 2021)

-> More things that happened on June 2nd (Added June 3rd, 2021)

-> No longer hearing about Palestine? That doesn't mean there isn't more work to be done. Israel is still bombing Palestine. Here are some more helpful links. (Added here June 16th, 2021)

-> Below the video, there is a website that people can donate to (Added June 19th, 2021)

->Israel is demolishing the only Palestine Vaccine administration location and PCR testing site. (Added December 11th, 2021) (Sorry, I'm not sure why the link isn't here)

-> IOF attacked worshippers at one of the most holy Mosques in the world during Ramadan. (Added April 18th, 2022)

-> Nakba Day Education (Added May 15th, 2023)

-> Various places to donate to help Palestinians (Added October 12th, 2023)

Because so much has been happening since October 7th, 2023, I haven't been able to update this like I did in the past. Please check the #palestine #gaza #israel and other tags. Thankfully, there is a lot of news out there now, so hopefully there are many posts crossing your dash and you are getting further educated from many more sources than you were in 2021.

WhereToDonate/LendAHand/HowToHelp-Masterpost

[asteriluv]

YooA & WM Entertainment Cultural Appropriation: What’s Happening and Why it Matters

(written by @asteriluv and @lizannbeth1999​)

As you may have heard, OhMyGirl’s Yooa’s new Bon Voyage promotions have been met with accusations of cultural appropriation from Native Americans and their allies (if not, you can check them out here). This post breaks down what was appropriated and the impacts associated with this appropriation. As fans, we were especially disappointed and hurt by this situation.

Our goal with this post is not to cancel, bully, or otherwise insult YooA, OhMyGirl or WM Entertainment. Instead, our goals are to educate people about the situation, change the narrative surrounding the situation, and call activists, allies, and fans to take action against this cultural appropriation. After reading this post, please sign our petition here to demand the removal of the appropriated imagery from Bon Voyage promotions and other releases.

Overall, we want people to understand that this concept is not inspired work, it is cultural appropriation. While some pieces of this concept may be inspired by Princess Mononoke, the other pieces that we take issue with are based on a racial stereotypes, primarily about Native American plains people. This incident is inexcusable, and we ask that you join us in taking action against this cultural appropriation. Details on how to take action are included at the end of the post.

Long post below, so, tldr: The Bon Voyage promotions culturally appropriate multiple Native American cultures through the usage of war paint combined with other factors such as jewelry and paint in traditional tattoo patterns. 

[Image description: Bon Voyage album release promotion featuring Oh My Girl’s YooA wearing face paint mimicking war paint and wearing turquoise jewelry]

Firstly, the face paint used in the Bon Voyage promotions is similar to both traditional Inuit tattoos and Cherokee war paint for new warriors. War paint for all Native American tribes is a part of culture and spirituality which was criminalized in the United States up until 1978, when the AIRFA (American Indian Religious Freedom Act) was passed granting Native Americans freedom of religion. 

[Image description: man in war paint]

Additionally, war paint has been appropriated in redface (when a non-Native person wears traditional Native American paint and clothing in a disrespectful way), as well as in the promotion of racist tropes. This happened even during times when Native Americans could not wear their traditional war paint legally. You can find many prominent examples of redface within old west movies, fashion events, and Halloween costumes. We were unable to find a photo of war paint exactly the same as the style as YooA is wearing because it is a style of face paint most often worn by people participating in redface.

The picture below was found on Pinterest (photo credit:  amylynnlarwig.com). It was tagged as “tribal face paints”, “Halloween ideas”, and “Halloween makeup”. See the problem?

[Image description: Model wearing face paint meant to mimic traditional Native American war paint.]

[Image description: Bon Voyage album release promotion featuring Oh My Girl’s YooA wearing face paint mimicking war paint]

Within this context, YooA is using the traditional war paint as an aesthetic. This is wrong and never justifiable. This is not appreciating, promoting, or sharing Native American cultures, this is mocking it. It de-humanizes Native people by reducing them to an aesthetic.

Asteri: “For people who don't think it's war paint, it is, as a Native person I'm telling you it is. Seeing this caused my stomach to swell from anxiety. A lot of racism towards natives comes from using us as costumes or just general redface... Second Nations (non-Natives living in the Americas) playing cowboy and Indian, calling the "Indian" kids injuns or squah, but that's extreme. Oftentimes, it’s over sexualised costumes and misuse of our cultural clothes and the inaccuracy of their portrayal. This is redface to me and is inappropriate. It also reminds me of non-Native kids uvulating at native kids while wearing fake feathers and face paint.”

Many people have been claiming that the paint that she is wearing is not war paint, but instead paint inspired by characters from Princess Mononoke. While aspects of the album concept may be inspired by the film, the war paint is most definitely not. Even if the concept was completely based on Princess Mononoke, it would still be cultural appropriation for YooA to wear the face and body paint because many characteristics used in the film’s character designs are based on Japanese shamanism.

[Gif description: clip from Princess Mononoke with the title character riding a wold]

Some people have also pointed out that the face paint in some photos is also extremely similar to Inuit face tattoos. Inuit people have been persecuted for participating in this and other aspects of their own culture. In addition, their culture and traditions are closed to those outside of their tribe. 

(note: neither or the writers are Inuit, and we do ask for input from Inuit people about the accuracy of this claim as well as their opinions on this situation)

[Image descriptions: 1-3: YooA wearing black face paint with two black, horizontal lines on each cheek and one vertical line extending from her chin to her lower lip]

Some of the jewelry used within the Bon Voyage promotions is also appropriated from Native American cultures. Now, the jewelry itself is not an issue. It is completely okay for Second Nations or Non-Native people to wear if it is ethically sourced. But mixing war paint with turquoise jewelry shuts down the Princess Mononoke argument. Wearing war paint as a Non-Native, which on its own is redface, and pairing it with jewelry that has been considered sacred and is specifically a Native American style severely weakens all arguments that this is not Native American CA(Cultural Appropriation)/Red Face.

(Asteri notes that the jewelry has many similarities to Diné designs; we are not Diné , and we do ask for input from Diné people about the accuracy of this claim as well as their opinions on this situation)

Through these points, the disrespect to American indigenous cultures through cultural appropriation is shown. There will continue to be arguments about this situation, but it does not change the fact that this is cultural appropriation and both YooA and WM Entertainment have disrespected Native people and their cultures. Cultural appropriation de-humanizes those whose culture is being taken by reducing their people to an aesthetic and mocking their cultural and spiritual identities. Here is what we are asking for from YooA and WM Entertainment:

Here is what we are asking for from YooA and WM Entertainment:

Written apologies from WM Entertainment in both English and Korean that include details of what they have done, the impacts of what they have done, and a commitment to educating staff about cultural appropriation to make sure that situations like this are not repeated.

A video apology from YooA

The complete removal of culturally appropriated content from the Bon Voyage promotions and videos

Now, you may be wondering what you can do about this situation. Here is what we are asking people outside of the company to do:

Sign our petition here and share it

Contact WM Entertainment on Instagram and on Twitter (WM Entertainment main and OhMyGirl accounts)  through comments, tweets, and DMs to tell them that the promotional concept is disrespectful and harmful; explain how you are impacted by the situation and/or how you are standing in solidarity with Native Americans (WM Ent: Instagram, Twitter; Oh My Girl: Instagram, Twitter)

Boycott the single and album releases until the previously listed demands are met

(If you choose to complete any of these actions, please be respectful toward YooA, OhMyGirl, and WM Entertainment. Remember that our goal is to change the narrative surrounding this situation and take action against cultural appropriation and its harmful effects. We do NOT want to cancel, insult, or bully YooA, OhMyGirl, or WM Entertainment. In addition, please act respectfully toward everyone involved in the conversation, whether they be activists, fans, or others. 

Additionally, we do not wish to harm YooA’s career. As fans, we hope that she will continue to have a successful career after this situation is dealt with appropriately.)

Thank you for reading this post and for your support in working toward a solution.

Other Resources:

About cultural appropriation

Tumblr Post of a compilation of links to readings about settler colonialism

[dt-canim]

Oh boy, this is gonna be a long one haha. This is a bit of an unusual post, but Tumblr, I need some assistance.

Ok so I've always have known about autism and stuff like it but it wasn't until about a year ago that I started looking into neurodivergency more. If you're wondering, it was brought about by my favorite Ducktales episode (season 3 episode 6: Astro Boyd) airing for the first time and I saw people talking about its autistic/neurodivergent themes.

Since then, I’ve been picking up some of my tendencies and it got me wondering. I never remember getting tested for this stuff so this is just based on my experiences and research. So for educational purposes, I'm gonna put some of the traits I do and see if any neurodivergent ppl relate lol

The first thing I want to touch upon is something plenty of us are probably familiar with: stimming. My experiences include;

Excitedly hitting a book I'm reading because of a cool call back, a really funny joke, or simply something badass happening (this just happened to me other day lol)

Flailing my arms and/or legs when something similar (to the point above) happens in a movie or tv show I enjoy

“Vibing” with my best friend includes: waving my arms and head around, bobbing up and down like I am an idle video game character, and/or just generally moving in place for a solid minute or two

The next thing I will mention: Hyperfixations

If you have seen my Tumblr, profile, or simply paid attention to the beginning of this post, you may not be surprised that I hyperfixate with my favorite show, possibly ever, Ducktales. I got emotional last year when I heard it was ending and legitimately cried at the end of the last episode. I mean watching those final credits still makes my heart hurt. (And I know I'm terrible at posting but I will never truly leave the Dt fandom)

Sometimes it happens rather quickly. For instance, I went to the mall with my friend last Saturday and impulsively bought a book called The Extraordinaries. I finished it in 3 days and I swear if I don't go back to that Barnes & Noble and get my hands on the sequel soon I will do crimes.

When I find things to hyperfixate about it is all I want to talk about with people for a while. But then I feel bad when they don't share my interests because I don't just want people to listen to me babble my head off all the time about stuff they don't care about.

Something I found out recently, losing track of time apparently can be a neurodivergent trait.

So yeah I've done this a lot. Overall, I just have terrible time management skills. I'm not great at putting things down on a timeline and it makes me anxious when I do so.

Also, since going into homeschooling about 5 years ago, I constantly lose track of time. Most of the time, I only know what day and time it is because I have a calendar next to my bed and a phone around me at all times. (off-topic but it annoys me that I used the word time so often here)

Prioritizing tasks, knowing how to start things, and just overall getting shiz done..???

I have. So many. Sketches I want to finish. But I keep going to a new one cause woop I just got a new idea must do it now right?! (Seriously though, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much art lately)

I have a comic I want to start developing but I have no idea how on earth I should do that. And sometimes things seem obvious, like get the outlines for your story, get main plot points down, PUT YOUR DAM IDEAS YOU HAVE IN YOUR HEAD DOWN SOMEWHERE ANYWHERE. But nooo I'll just sit here and keep starting new sketches of my main characters. That'll get you a product you'll be happy with.

Sometimes I will just sit there thinking ok I'm sitting here but I have work I need to get done and I am running out of time to do it and it is stressing me out right now but I can't move I can't do it but I need to because it needs to get done and I am running out of time but it is stressful. Rinse and repeat for at least a half-hour, maybe take a nap lol.

This point is the fact that even though I never got tested I know I have maladaptive daydreaming which has a link to Adhd and neurodivergency in general.

For those who don't know what that is, I will try to explain. Yes, it is daydreaming but it's more than that. (you know what? I'm just gonna put the traits I found off of a site and add my feelings toward it lol)

extremely vivid daydreams with their own characters, settings, plots, and other detailed, story-like features

daydreams triggered by real-life events (mostly media I consume in my case)

difficulty completing everyday tasks (kinda like the stress-sitting I mentioned earlier just with daydreaming mixed in)

difficulty sleeping at night (at the time of making this point is it currently 3 am, though I am aware I'm up rn because of this post, it is usually because of the daydreaming)

an overwhelming desire to continue daydreaming (ok that's just...accurate)

performing repetitive movements while daydreaming (typically I walk around my house like a ping pong ball)

making facial expressions while daydreaming (idk I usually mouth what my character are saying or replicate the face their making)

whispering and talking while daydreaming (^^)

daydreaming for lengthy periods

The last thing I will mention for now is my family cause many sources say that this stuff is commonly genetic soooooooo

My mother has been diagnosed with dyslexia since she was a kid.

We've suspected that my brother has Adhd. To put it in perspective I will paraphrase something that his 2nd-grade teacher once said. “He moves around so much I want to just strap him to a chair sometimes but I am afraid to do it cause I think he'll explode”

I have more I could potentially talk about but I don't want to make this too long. I just want to know if anyone relates to this. So here take this mess of me hahahaaaaaaaa

[ymbly]

Sanders Sides Fan Fic: Switched

Chapter 1/?

AN: This chapter follows quite close to the first episode of the show, but as the fic goes on it will go a bit more out on its own

-

Three.

There were three. 

Apathy, Pride, Judgment.

Logan, Roman, Patton.

Dark, evil, ‘Dark Sides’.

-

Three.

There were three.

Caution, passion, self preservation.

Virgil, Remus, Janus.

Light, good, ‘Light Sides’.

-

One.

Thomas.

Thomas Sanders.

His role in this was more confusing than the world itself. 

-

Sides.

Strange beings with much of them unknown. 

All of which wore the same face.

Each with their own color the rainbow.

The one thing that made each unique.

-

Things had been unchanged for decades. Everybody had their roles. Their part to play. Their domain of Thomas’ psyche. 

They each had something to do. A job that never changed. Perhaps that’s why several were growing bored of their current lives.

-

--

---

----

---

--

-

A web series wasn’t exactly Janus’ favorite idea of Thomas. In fact, he heavily disliked the idea of Thomas creating one. Not to mention the fact that the web series was supposed to include the sides in it. Now that, he despised even more. He’d much prefer Thomas to be out pursuing a more traditional path to fame, but what could he do? It’s not like he was the one driving Thomas’ passion.

Virgil wasn’t against the idea by any means, more just the fact that he had to be in it. Being the literal embodiment of caution didn’t exactly help with this by any means. The camera hadn’t even started yet and he already felt like his heart was going to burst out of his ribcage. However, nobody else seemed to notice this since over the years he’d gotten quite good at disguising his fear. 

Remus was always excited to do something new, so this was no different. He felt as if there was electricity running through his veins. The kind of excitement mixed with slight anxiety that leaves you feeling drained later but pumped up in the moment.

Thomas had nearly finished the intro, and while there was little script for the sides, they all knew soon would be the time for them all to join in on the conversation.

“I need to have a sit down with myself, figure myself out, and maybe come to a better understanding that we all could learn from. Let’s do this!”

Virgil was the first pop up, oh god why did he have to be first?

“Hey,” Virgil greeted simply as he appeared on screen.

“This is my cautious side,” Thomas began, “My fears, fight or flight, all of that is in his domain. He’s also a constant reminder of my emo phase.”

“Hey-!” 

“Hey did you know that one fourth of the bones in your whole body are in your feet?” Remus quickly interrupted as he rose up. Virgil let out a quiet sigh at Remus’ introduction. Could’ve been worse though, so there was that. 

Thomas paused for a second before speaking, “This is my passionate side...somehow. Everything that keeps going, and random facts too apparently.”

“Gotta spice things up sometimes, Thomathy,” Remus replied.

“How is a random fact about bones ‘spicing things up’?”

“I’m surprised things aren’t more derailed,” Janus stated as he finally appeared in the room.

“We’re close,” Virgil answered as he eyed Remus. The chaoticness could be annoying, but he didn’t mind it too much usually. 

“And finally this is my self preservation,” Thomas started as he went back to his cheerful attitude from before, “Well, not as much in the physical sense, but trying to make sure I get by okay in life…I think,” Thomas attempted to explain.

“He also looks like he stepped right out of Spirit Halloween,” Virgil quietly said under his breath while looking at Janus.

“Says the one who looks like he hasn’t seen a mirror in weeks,” Janus replied. 

“Now enough of that, you two can fight when we’re not recording,” Thomas quickly added, breaking off the short argument.

“So what are we doing here anyways?” Virgil questioned.

“Well, people know me from all the Vines I make, but I don’t feel like people really know me know me.”

“Well perhaps they would if you posted YouTube videos more often,” Janus replied.

With a slightly annoyed look on his face, Thomas responded, “Okay, all right, that’s fair,” Thomas quickly started, “But I don’t know if I know me! There’s some things even I need to figure out about my own identity. Like, okay, relationships.”

“A one way ticket to-,” Remus began.

“Let’s not go through that door,” Janus cut in.

“Just gotta find somebody that will accept you for your flaws, I guess,” Virgil adds.

“Everybody does have their own flaws, and you could say that love is about accepting those,” Janus tried to explain. 

“Yes, that is definitely important. Flaws and all. Speaking of which-.”

“Are we bringing up flaws now? ‘Cause you have more than -” Remus quickly began.

“Passion, sto-,” Virgil started before being interrupted.

“I believe this would be of interesting conversation,” Janus once again cut in.

“You’re so fucking boring!” Remus said to Thomas.

“You’re often too selfless,” Janus added in.

“You keep changing your path in life, like all the time, way too often,” Virgil finally gets out.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Thomas quickly said after. 

“Well, remember everybody does have flaws,” Janus reassured.

“You’ve got good parts about you too, like uh, like you’re alive,” Virgil replied since he couldn’t think of a compliment.

“You aren’t a murderer,” Remus started, “Yet!” 

“Excellent compliments, guys,” Janus remarked as he rolled his eyes, “You try your best to get your work done and it shows. There, not that hard.”

“Well, thanks I guess, guys,” Thomas responded.

“It’s hard to think of stuff on the spot, okay?” Virgil attempted to reassure him as he messed with the strings of his hoodie. 

“Okay then, what else do I need to figure out?”

“Biggest fear?” Virgil quickly replied without thinking.

“Being boring!” Remus quickly answered.

“What happens after death,” Janus followed.

“What if you were stuck in a state of limbo for the rest of your life-,” Virgil began to reply to his own question as his eyeshadow slightly darkened.

“No, no, we are not talking about fears! I am well aware of those! I am talking about what I need to figure out about myself,” Thomas anxiously interjected. 

“Would you eat a clone of yourself if you had no other source of food?” Remus spontaneously questioned.

“Not...not those kinds of questions, Remus,” Thomas replied with a sigh.

“What kind of an impact do you wish to leave on the world?” Janus added, replacing Remus’ question with his own.

With that began the end of the video and Thomas’ speech to the viewer. Virgil felt less anxious than he thought he’d be, Remus felt, well, like Remus, and Janus felt a bit drained but other than that quite good. One by one, they sank out. Virgil, however, couldn’t stop a thought from rattling around the back of his head. What if this series provoked the dark sides?

-

I don’t write much so it might not be the best but hey I tried

Ao3 link

Edit: Formatting is a little weird because tumblr doesn’t let me do it the way I like

[notafrogblog]

Who wants to read an entire fucking essay I’ve been writing over the last few months it’s about viddy games wooooooo

Video Games's Popularity

16% of entertainment hours in 2018 were spent playing video games, according to a study by The NPD Group, an American market research company (Stych). Video games have become more and more popular as they have become easier and easier to access through consoles, computers, tablets, and phones. Video games and gaming have become some of the most popular topics to watch on youtube, twitch, and other platforms, which is shown by the fact that youtube has a trending section just for video game content. I myself watch video game content whenever I get the chance. Merriam Webster defines video games as "an electronic game in which players control images on a video screen." If you use that definition for video games, it means gaming is a lot more widespread and prevalent than you'd first think. It would be a struggle to find anyone below the age of twenty who's never played a video game in some form. There are thousands of people in online communities who discuss video games and the people who play them, on sites like Reddit, Twitch, YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, and more. Video game music, posters, clothing, and general merchandise is popular and lucrative for the companies that make and sell the products. People continue to invest their time, money, and energy into playing and enjoying video games. Video games are such a big part of the online community and my life that I decided to take this opportunity to learn more about them.

While researching this paper, I found different types of sources than I was expecting. Many articles on video games are outdated, poorly written, or simply didn't contain much information. Most possible sources were game reviews, tabloid-esque gossip, or talked about events occurring recently in the gaming community. These weren't very helpful for the type of topics I wanted to discuss. When I set out to write this, I expected to find more analyses of video games or game genres as a whole, or perhaps more in-depth writing. Although I did find articles that were in-depth, they were often very niche, scholarly, or outdated. Video games as a culture moves indescribably quickly, with new games always being released. The vast amount of content and places to share said content on the internet makes video games so widespread, it's near impossible to categorize and talk about video games a whole, rather than individual games or franchises. I suppose that's why there are so many game reviews. People are always looking for new games to play, new content to view. I did my best to find articles and sources I could use to talk about video games a whole, as a culture, and as a complex and nuanced form of entertainment. Part of my own interest in video games is due to the large variety of games and game content available. I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about video games, especially after researching this essay. But I don't know much about games as a whole, or why people play them. As much as I love to talk about and watch video games, I don't play them often myself. I wanted to know what made other people love playing video games so much. Both my brothers are very engrossed in their respective games and consoles, and I found myself wondering what compels them to put their time and energy into something that doesn't give me that same satisfaction. Which begs the question, why do people play video games? What keeps them coming back? What makes video games so enjoyable?

I started by looking in the school databases, and on credible sites like the Washington Post and the New York Times. Video games is such a broad topic, but many articles focused on specific games or events. While I researched, I wondered what is so compelling about video games. I had some hypotheses. Video games often have a plot, a list of tasks to complete, or some sort of storyline. I found an article about the stories and plotlines of first-person shooter games, one of the most popular genres of games. In the article, David M. Leeson explains what differs between a multiplayer and a single-player shooter: "Most multiplayer shooters are gameplay-driven: play sessions consist of one or more matches, in which players compete with each other (either individually or as teams) to win the game, either by scoring points or capturing objectives. Most single-player shooters, by contrast, are story-driven: play sessions consist of one or more levels, in which the player is told the story so far and then must overcome a series of obstacles to find out what happens next." Already this provides some insight into what compels people to play video games. Multiplayer shooters, such as Fortnite, some Call of Duty games, Battlefield games, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, depend on other players to keep you interested. Winning a match is the main objective. In single-player games, the goal isn't to win a round, it's to complete the story. In a way, this makes a single-player shooter similar to a book or a movie. The difference between them is that the player takes an active part in moving the plotline forward, which keeps the player interested and motivated to find out what happens next.

A storyline isn't the only thing that can be necessary to keep a player motivated. The gameplay plays a big role in keeping the player interested in continuing the game. Games have two main parts, speed and strategy. Speed-based games rely on fast reflexes, immediate feedback, and quick thinking to be enjoyable. Games like these require you to be in the moment the whole time, ready to react to whatever is thrown at you. Games that are more speed-based include titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and endless runner games such as Temple Run or Subway Surfers. Despite being very different games in style, aesthetic, plot, and goals, these all rely on speed as a main mechanic. Another aspect of games is strategy. Strategy-based games take a slower route, and are more based on planning and thinking before you act. Strategy games often have some sort of back-and-forth mechanic between the player and some sort of other entity, usually a non-player character (npc) or the game itself. This includes games such as battling games such as Pokemon, storyline games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and many mobile games. Strategy games require the player to think about what they want to do before they do it, and often have multiple storylines or options for how to play the game or what to do when. All games have elements of both strategy and speed, but usually one takes precedence over the other. Each category of game has its pros and cons and its own problems.

There are a few problems with speed-based games that the developers must remedy for the game to be enjoyable. Firstly, games with speed-based mechanics are often very easy to pick up and learn. Many Super Smash Bros. players will mash buttons or spam attacks rather than use combination attacks or the full variety of moves available. Speed-based games must introduce a learning curve for players to learn new skills, become better at the skills they already have, and some sort of challenge that requires those skills to be used. Another problem with speed-based games is the lack of variety. One character with only one set of moves can quickly become boring to play. Most games don't have this problem, with many games having multiple characters. Breath of the Wild, however, only has one playable character, Link. Nintendo keeps BotW from becoming boring by having Link have many weapons and clothing to collect and choose from to use, food items to temporarily boost stats, and a way to upgrade Link's health points as the game grows more difficult. Many endless runner games (i.e. Subway Surfers or Temple Run) lack this attribute, which causes players to become bored of them after playing for a while. While they may include customizable or lots of character choices, the changes are purely cosmetic and don't impact the gameplay.

Strategy games have issues as well, most notably those to do with speed. Strategy games often have a slower pace, and making the pace too slow can cause players to become bored. This was an issue with the role-playing game Final Fantasy VII, a 1997 turn-based rpg by Square Enix. Final Fantasy VII is set to have a remake by Square Enix, the first part of which was released on April 10, 2020. An article I discovered addressed some flaws in the original game as well as what the remake should have to make the game better. The article reads: "Modern releases of Final Fantasy VII include an option to speed up combat by a factor of three, and after turning it on, you quickly learn that you almost never need to turn it off to more carefully manage the flow of battle, such is the monotony of just attacking and healing over and over. This speed boost is greeted by latter-day players as a crucial "quality of life" improvement. It doesn't matter how many oakleaves you've acquired in 22 years; when letting the player essentially skip the gameplay is treated as a godsend, you don't have a very good game." (Vogt) As said in the quote, the ability to speed up gameplay shouldn't be necessary. The gameplay is also described as monotonous. Games must be interesting to keep players motivated to continue playing. Keeping players interested in the game is a big part of video game making.

Game designers and developers must put player enjoyment first when making a game. Even if the ultimate goal is to make money or gain popularity in the community, player enjoyment is what leads to a game's success. If a player isn't having fun playing a game, they won't recommend it to others, or join an online community about it, or even continue playing it. For this reason, I decided to find information about the process of game design and development, where ideas came from, and how enjoyment of the game came into the mix. I found an academic study of a game jam in 2013. A game jam is an event where multiple groups of game makers come together to make games in an allotted time using a given prompt. The study discusses multiple aspects of the game jam, including initial ideas, prototyping, and game development and testing, the latter of which is shown in the quote here: "Participants [in the game jam] removed systems within the game (e.g. attacks requiring combinations of buttons rather than single buttons) or reduced the total number of components used (e.g. fewer game levels or types of enemies). Swapping mechanics occurred when already implemented systems were buggy or dysfunctional or when playtesting (personally or with others) showed them to be overly complex or unintuitive." (Zook) This quote shows how game developers must think about how the players will interact with mechanics, especially mechanics they aren't used to. Mechanics are how you do things in the game, whether it be with certain buttons, an item, movement, interaction with the environment, or a combination of these. Mechanics must be easy to pick up on and learn for beginning players, but difficult to master so as to keep players entertained. The quote shows how initially complex mechanisms such as button combinations or buggy systems can be unintuitive for the players, and therefore need to be fixed. If a player has difficulties with the game's function, it won't be fun to play. Games must be fun if they want to keep players interested.

For this paper, I interviewed one of my friend's younger brothers, an avid player of video games. Ian plays video games for a few hours every day, he says, on xbox, nintendo switch, and mobile devices. In the interview, he says that what he thinks makes video games enjoyable is having fun. Although he plays video games more suited to younger users, there were a few things he had to say about games he disliked. The main things he didn't like about games were the difficulty (too hard, too easy) bad graphics, or he "wasn't as interested as he thought he was." His viewpoint as someone who plays a lot of video games is very useful for the question I'm asking. Difficulty of games is something that is hard to balance for game developers. As discussed earlier, the mechanics must be intuitive so the player can pick up on them easily. However, if the entire game is easy, the player will get bored, just like Ian did.

"What makes video games enjoyable?" is the question I've tried to answer. So, what does make video games enjoyable? I'd say it's a variety of things. Video games are so complex, and what makes them entertaining is even more complex. There's such a huge variety of video games available to play, on dozens of platforms and consoles, and in many different ways. Expecting to find just one answer for such a broad question would be unjustifiable. So, I've determined a couple things that make video games enjoyable. As Ian said, games should be fun. Fun means different things to each person, so different games will be better for different people. Different difficulties and styles of games will be different for different people. A more casual game style, like mobile games or kid's games, might be more enjoyable for a gamer like Ian. However, strategy based games such as Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, or shooting games such as CS:GO might be more suited to older players. In short, what makes video games enjoyable is the variety of games there are to play. Games are for everyone, and each type of video game has people who enjoy it, and people who don't. There is no one clear answer to this question. Unfortunately, this means that if I want to be more involved in playing video games, I'm going to have to try some games and find out what I like. If you're interested in video games, I suggest you do the same.

Works Cited

Jabr, Ferris. “Can You Really Be Addicted to Video Games?” New York Times, 22 October 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/magazine/can-you-really-be-addicted-to-video-games.html. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Leeson, David M. "Northrop Frye and the story structure of the single-player shooter." English Studies in Canada, vol. 37, no. 2, 2011, p. 137+. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A294194389/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=e5b85bc6. Accessed 18 Oct. 2020.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/video%20game. Accessed 5 November 2020.

S., Ian. Personal interview. December 2020.

Stych, Anne. “Americans' favorite forms of entertainment are digital.” bizjournals, 28 March 2019, https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/03/americans-favorite-forms-of-entertainment-are.html?page=all#:~:text=The%20shift%20to%20digital%20is,research%20by%20The%20NPD%20Group. Accessed 2 November 2020.

Vogt, Ryan. "For all its greatness, Final Fantasy VII wasn't a good game. Let's remember why." Washingtonpost.com, 7 Apr. 2020. Gale In Context: High School, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A619723232/SUIC?u=midd34407&sid=SUIC&xid=0b17c660. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

Zook, Alexander and Mark O. Riedl. "Game Conceptualization and Development Processes in the Global Game Jam." School of Interactive Computing, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, http://www.fdg2013.org/program/workshops/papers/GGJ2013/ggj13_submission_4.pdf. Accessed 11 Oct. 2020.

[onyv]

HOW THE ANIMATION SERIES ‘POWERPUFF GIRLS’ AND ‘MY LITTLE PONY’ BUILD STEREOTYPES ABOUT GENDER AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR THROUGH CERTAIN CHARACTERS?

ABSTRACT

The topic of this essay is related to animation - art as ancient as it is modern. Despite a step up aside from standard graphic design, animation deserves properly attention as the only art that unites everyone else: drawing (illustration), acting (movement), music and narrative, and this makes it so appealing field for visual expression.

The subject of this study will be the wonderful world of the creative family of Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust and this choice is not accidental. He is a consequence of long-term interest (initially as a fan, and now professionally) in the animations created by them.

This study will seek to reinforce the stereotype that in the late 20th and early 21st century women are independent , strong enough and  able to cope with life's challenges on their own, which is embedded in 'Powerpuff Girls' (animated series created in 1998 by Craig McCracken), as well as the stereotype that behaviour is not a function of gender and in this sense there are no 'good' or 'bad' genders. There are those who act socially acceptable and those who do not, which is reflected in both animated series : 'Powerpuff Girls' and 'My Little Pony : The Friendship is magic"(created in 2010 by Lauren Faust.)

The influence that these series cause as well as their reflection in social life and in some manifestations of the subculture will also be affected.

This essay will offer an overview of some gender and behavioural specifics of the characters from animated series ‘Powerpuff Girls“’ (1998) and ‘My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic’ (2010). This matter will be explored using various descriptive and comparative methods and knowledge of semiotic analysis obtained in previous levels of education, as well as with the help of well-studied existing literature on gender stereotypes and human behaviour and their reflection in a modern animation for children.

●  The composition (environment) as a surrounding background in the two animated series will be analyzed and compared. Will be answered how and to what extent it can influence the actions of the characters which reflect certain social and gender stereotypes.

●  Concepts such as Second and Third Wave Feminism will be addressed and an analogy will be made between feminism and the heroines of the Powerpuff Girls series.

●  A review of the actions of the characters from the above-mentioned animated series will be made, and the link between existing concepts of the role of gender and social behaviour in society will be sought. The perception that the imposed gender stereotypes should generate certain perceptions, questioning their appropriateness will be challenged (and this will protect the rights of certain societies and groups such as the Queer society, for example.) The essay will stand behind the thesis that behavior is not a function of gender, considering the behaviour of a particular character with an unidentified gender identity from "Powerpuff Girls".

●  Existing gender stereotypes will also be compared and challenged with some alternative ways that determine the place of gender identity in human society. Will be answered of the question why animation designed for a little girls, such as "My Little Pony", affects a certain group of people (young men called "Bronies") and how they interpret the gender stereotype (or lack thereof), creating and developing a certain modern subculture, such as the Bronylore sites, for example.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The choice of this topic is due to the fact that in the process of studying I was very impressed by the tasks related to video making and the animations that I used in performing these tasks. In addition, the topic expresses my desire to continue to engage in animation as a practitioner in a future, and if this happens, all of the above issues regarding gender and behavioural stereotypes would be useful in creating credible animated characters.

All cartoon characters have their own story, and even if the interactions between them seem to "make" the film, the fact that the characters are always in touch with the world around them should not be overlooked. They are part of it, they see it, they touch it, they move and meet other peers in it and all this pushes the action forward. This surrounding world and its story creates the composition of the animated series, and it depends on it whether the action will increase or decrease when one of the characters is placed in it. Therefore, here will be considered some characteristics of the composition and their manifestation in the two considered animated series ‘Powerpuff Girls and ‘My Little Pony : The Friendship is Magic”.

The layout of the composition in the animated films is a special type of design, which is created by layout artists and background painters.

Both the exterior and the interior composition in 'Powerpuff Girls' and 'My Little Pony: The Friendship is Magic' are used as a background for the actions of the characters in building social and gender stereotypes. Let's see how this works.

The exterior images of Townsville in the 'Powerpuff Girls' series appeared as a result of the interaction between the bourgeois aesthetics of post-war America in contact with the more popular taste of the 1950s. They show a love of urban architecture and its details (especially the Precision style, which later grew into American modernism and the UPA house style - the dominant style in animation in the 50s and 60s.) The three little heroines act in this urban environment, by demonstrating their superpowers and protecting the city from evil monsters and invaders, which reinforces the stereotype for the belief in traditional values.

                                       Fig.1. The City of Townsville                                             (Source : Fandom.com)

In contrast to Townsville's modern urban environment, Ponyville's exterior view from 'My Little Pony' expresses the idea of ​​living in a natural environment. Ponyville's infrastructure is presented as medieval architecture in a country style, recalling the fact that the Middle Ages were the period in which most magical spells were performed. The typical cottages have a wooden frames and thatched roofs overhanging the upper floors. There are all kinds of buildings here, just like in the human commune: train station, clock tower, hospital, day spa, joke shop, Hay cafe, Golden Oak library, theater, even school (which challenges one of the possible existing stereotypes who claims that this animated series presents the girl's brilliance and beauty as more necessary than knowledge and learning.)

                                                 Fig.2. Ponyville

                                          (Source : Fandom.com)

As can be seen from the design of the three girls' bedroom, it is built almost entirely in pink and pale purple (except for the blankets, colored with the characteristic individual colour of each one of them), which is associated with the female sex, according to the existing modern social stereotype.

                                                                 Fig.3. The bedroom of Powerpuff Girls

                                              (Source : Weheartit)

This certain ‘girlish colours' trend in the interior composition of bedroom continued a decade later in "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" and this once again confirm this stereotype: pink and pale purple are just girlish colours (and therefore unacceptable for boys.)

                                             Fig.4. Fluttershy's bedroom

                                               (Source : derpibooru.org)

This naturally raises the question: do not such restrictions impose from an early age a reluctance to see the other point of view, that of the opposite sex? Or it is deliberately ignored? Isn't part of the natural emotion of childhood taken away by stereotyping such as 'animation for girls' or 'colours for girls'? Because it is a fact that 'My Little Pony" is perceived equally positively by both sexes up to a certain age (4-6 years), but not after the children pass primary school age, where the distinction becomes especially pronounced.

Usually the exterior and interior compositions in children's animated series change very quickly as a result of various factors, some of which are:

● Atmosphere (Rainy, Cloudy,  Sunny, Underwater, Outer Space,  Smoky, Foggy, Dusty); ● Mood of the characters (Sad, Bored, Аngеr, Excited); ● Colour and technique used (Monochromatic/graphic/ оr high-contrast colour, Realistic оr Abstract); ● Point of View and Object Specifics (proportions). Since they all influence the construction of certain stereotypes, some of them will be visually analyzed using the semiotic methods studied in the previous levels.

    Fig.5. Atmosphere composition : Rainy, Cloudy, Sunny, Underwater, Outer

                                       Space, Smoky, Foggy, Dusty

                                              ( Source : Tumblr)

● VISUAL ANALYSIS I :

* Representation :

This distribution includes eight compositions of the layout reflecting the atmospheric weather: Rainy, Cloudy, Sunny, Underwater, Outer Space, Smoky, Foggy, Dusty.

* Where is it located?

The City of Townsville, in the air, underwater and in space.

* How is the characters are placed in the compositional frame? What surrounds them?

- Rainy composition :

In the center of the composition is a man who is strangely smiling. He wears sunglasses while it rains from the sky. Only the upper part of his body up to his shoulders is visible.

-Cloudy composition :

In the foreground is a girl with black hair and green clothes, behind him a girl with orange hair and pink clothes, and behind them a blond girl in blue clothes. All three fly in the clouds.

-Underwater composition :

In the center of the composition are two women surrounded by water who appear to be sinking.

-Outer Space composition :

To the left of the center and below is the girl with black hair and green clothes; in the middle of the composition is a blond girl with blue clothes, and at the top right of the center is the girl with orange hair and pink clothes. They fly (or fall) from the starry sky around them.

* Is their activity presented as typical (or atypical)?

The three girls have superpowers, so the actions they perform can be defined as typical for them.

* Does the design meet the genre expectations?

Yes.

* What is the preferred audience?

Mostly children's audience (over 3 or 4 years), but also for all older children and their parents.

* How is the composition built? Why is the composition built in this way?

- Rainy composition - In dark blue colours, because apparently the action takes place at night. The emphasis is on the figure of the man in the center for which lighter shades of blue are used.

- Cloudy composition - The composition is built in monochrome colours to make the three characters to stand out.

-Sunny composition - Townsville buildings are only presented as outlines (no details).

-Underwater composition - The composition seems to be diagonal and creates a feeling of fluidity due to the position of the bodies of the characters underwater.

-Outer Space composition - Here the feeling of height is achieved through the facial expression and positioning of the bodies of the three girls within the composition, which cannot be the same if the action takes place on the ground.

-Smoky composition - This composition is interesting because of the viewing angle (from above). Maybe that is the point of view of someone who flies.

-Foggy composition - Just like the previous composition in this one the angle of observation it is from above.

-Dusty composition - There are no figures here, and the feeling of dust (smoke) comes from the abstract shape of the black background, in the center of the composition, which resembles smoke after an explosion.

* What is the message here?

The message is that in most cases, girls (women) can have many different abilities to deal with the dangers that surround them.

* Stereotype and its challenge

A stereotypical example here may be that girls have to stay at home where they are well protected because they do not have the necessary strength to deal with the dangers of the world around them.

However, they go out, use their superpowers and prove that this is possible, which challenges the stereotype.

● DECONSTRUCTION :

* Foreground.

In the foreground here can be seeing :

- Rainy composition - A long face man with a strange smile.

- Cloudy composition - A girl flying into the sky.

- Sunny composition - City landscape.

- Underwater composition - Two drowning female figures.

- Outer Space composition - Three flying (falling) girls.

- Smoky composition - Smoke.

- Foggy composition – Clouds.

- Dusty composition - Explosion.

* Background.

In the background can be seeing :

- Rainy composition - Part of the urban landscape of Townsville.

- Cloudy composition - Two more flying girls and clouds.

- Sunny composition - Sunny sky.

- Underwater composition – Water.

- Outer Space composition – Sky and stars.

- Smoky composition - Car and building.

- Foggy composition - A city seen from above.

- Dusty composition - Black sky.

* The shapes in the composition are :

- Rainy composition - Dashes (rain.)

- Cloudy composition - Circles (eyes, heads, clouds.)

- Sunny composition - Vertical and horizontal outlines of buildings.

- Underwater composition - Body shapes (bodies.)

- Outer Space composition - Circles (heads, clouds.)

- Smoky composition - Rectangles and angles (car and building) and Abstract shapes (smoke.

- Foggy composition - Abstract shapes (Clouds.)

- Dusty composition - Abstract shapes (Smoke after an explosion.)

* The colours used are :

- Rainy composition – All shades of blue: from dark to electric blue.

- Cloudy composition – Monochrome gray, black, orange, yellow, green, pink, blue.

- Sunny composition – Orange, beige.

- Underwater composition – Blue, orange, purple.

- Outer Space composition – Blue, orange, black, green, pink, yellow.

- Smoky composition - All shades of green: from dark to electric green.

- Foggy composition – Blue-green.

- Dusty composition – Black and red.

* Positive and negative spaces :

The only composition in which the ratio between positive and negative space is the same is the Sunny composition.

● ICONOLOGY (According to Panofsky's three levels) :

* Rainy composition –

- Level 1 Description : Here you can see a long-haired smiling man on a rainy night. There is a building on his right.

- Level 2 Identification : Мъжът изглежда странно защото носи слънчеви очила докато вали  дъжд. He's probably walking down a street because the outlines of a building can be seen on one side of him, and it looks like the light from a street lamp is falling on him.His facial expression is smiling but that smile is sinister rather than benevolent. He seems to be a person who has committed a crime and is happy with it. The night time in which this walk takes place proves this once again because night is the best time to cover up the evidence of the crime, and the rain only reinforces the feeling of anxiety in the whole composition.

- Level 3 Analysis : From ancient times, mankind has known such villains who committed their crimes at night: Bluebeard and Jack the Ripper are among them.

* Cloudy composition –

- Level 1 Description : Herе can be seen a cloudy sky in which three girls are flying.

- Level 2 Identification : The sky is thick gray, there are clouds, which suggests that there will probably be a storm soon. The girl's face in the foreground is angry. The flying girls are in a hurry for somewhere. The posture of their bodies shows their determination and fearlessness. Even the approaching storm cannot stop or frighten them.

- Level 3 Analysis : Historically, such a brave girl-hero is Jeanne d’Arc, whо leads an army, wins many battles and becomes proof of how a young girl can be stronger than many men and win much more than them; Amelia Earhart, who began with her flying experiments at the age of 20 and became the first female aviator who fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and more recently Greta Thunberg, who is a winner of Human Act Award 2020 and The International Children’s Peace Prize, which is awarded to child who has made a significant contribution to advocating children's rights.

* Sunny composition –

- Level 1 Description : Here can be seen а very high buildings and above them a sunny sky.

- Level 2 Identification : The sun in the sky is almost in the middle of the composition, indicating that it is probably just before noon. There are various office buildings and TV towers, and judging by the height of the buildings, it can be assumed that this is happening in America, because there are cities with similar architecture : Boston, Chicago and New York in America, for example.

- Level 3 Analysis : The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in Manhattan, New York. It was built in Art Deco style and it was completed in 1931.

* Underwater composition – 

- Level 1 Description : Here can be seen two women drowning underwater.

- Level 2 Identification : Women are not on an equal footing, one of them with orange hair seems to be in the power of the other with black hair. The black-haired woman's face is visible, and it shows that she is furious, while the other woman's face is hidden. Both are wearing clothes, not swimsuits, which shows that they fell under the water not of their own volition, but after an accident.

- Level 3 Analysis : Is it possible that someone standing under water will come to life again? Yes, if his name is Harry Houdini. The magician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries has repeatedly proven that it is possible (albeit with the help of illusion.)

*  Outer Space composition - 

- Level 1 Description : Here can be seen three girls flying or falling amongst the outer space.

- Level 2 Identification : The girls' facial expressions suggest that they do not enjoy this flight. It seems that someone threw them into space against their will.

- Level 3 Analysis : From 7 to 20 February 2008, a space flight took place with the ship Atlantis. During the flight, the German Hans Wilhelm Schlegel went into space for 6 hours and 45 minutes to prepare the module for scientific work, as well as to replace the spent tank with compressed nitrogen on the station hull.

* Smoky composition –

- Level 1 Description : Here can be seen a stopped car. There are scattered sheets of paper around the car, and smoke can be seen in the air above the car. There is something on top the car that looks like a human body.

- Level 2 Identification : The car is parked diagonally, which is not the usual way to park. Scattered sheets of paper and smoke in the air, as well as the body (if it is a body) on top the car, suggest that an accident may have occurred.

- Level 3 Analysis : Many historically significant figures have died in a car accident -James Dean (1955) who played only three roles but remained forever in the history of cinema; Albert Camus (1960), the "father" of existentialism; Jane Mansfield (1967), considered by many to be the heiress of Marilyn Monroe; Grace Kelly (1982), the muse of Alfred Hitchcock; and the mysterious car crash in Paris that killed Lady Diana Spencer (1997.)

* Foggy composition -

- Level 1 Description : Some irregular shapes can be seen here and some of them are hidden behind a fog.

- Level 2 Identification : It looks like a city view from above. Some roofs of buildings and clouds can be seen. This could be the point of view of a passenger on a plane or someone parachuting.

- Level 3 Analysis : According to Online Symbolism Dictionary " Fog illustrates obscurity, indistinction; in the Bible, it is an image preceding great revelations. It is the "GRAY zone" between reality and unreality, and uncertainty about the future and beyond. According to Browning it can represent approaching death. Isolation. A transformation into the unreal."(1997, 2001)

* Dusty composition -

- Level 1 Description : Here can be seen red circles on a black background.

- Level 2 Identification : The circles are irregular, they have the shape of a cloud that scatters in the air. Resembles exposure after a bomb.

- Level 3 Analysis : A similar sight can be seen after the atomic bomb explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

● SEMIOTICS :

* Rainy composition -

 A MAN - (Signifier) - A male human being which could be:

- An icon (anatomical look of man; cartoon character.. ) -> (signified)

- A symbol (Jesus Christ, Buddha,John Lennon,Yuri Gagarin -> (signified)

- An index (as a consequence of God, monkey, extraterrestrial project) -> (signified)

* Cloudy composition and Outer Space composition -

A GIRL(S) - (Signifier) - A small female human being which could be:

- An icon (anatomical look of girl; cartoon character.. ) -> (signified)

- A symbol (Greta Thunberg, Little Red Riding hood) -> (signified)

- An index (as a consequence of the relationship between her parents) -> (signified)

* Sunny composition -

URBAN ARCHITECTURE – (Signifier) - The physical appearance of a city.

- An icon ( many buildings built at a short distance from each other.) -> (signified)

- A symbol (London, New York, Tokio) -> (signified)

- An index (The building is a consequence of the planning and technological construction by the man.-> (signified)

* Underwater composition -

A WOMEN (WOMAN) – (Signifier) - A female human being which could be:

- An icon (anatomical look of woman; cartoon character.. ) -> (signified)

- A symbol (Indira Gandhi, Valentina Tereshkova, Madona) -> (signified)

- An index (as a consequence of the relationship between her parents) -> (signified)

* Smoky composition -

A CAR - (Signifier) - Мachine for transportation which could be:

- An icon ( machine that have four tires and transport people.) -> (signified)

- A symbol (Tesla Cybertruck )-> (signified)

- An index ( a consequence of the development of a technical project created by mechanical engineers) -> (signified)

* Foggy composition -

A FOG  - (Signifier) - A cloud of condensed water vapor (microscopic droplets or at a temperature below 0 ° C - ice crystals) that starts from the earth's surface and reduces visibility below 1 km. It could be:

- An icon ( water droplets ) -> (signified)

- A symbol ( obscurity, beyond, the zone between reality and unreality) -> (signified)

- An index ( as a result of meeting two air fronts.) -> (signified)

*Dusty composition -

AN EXPLOSION - (Signifier) - Oxidation reaction that produces emission of gases and dust which could be: 

- An icon ( Cloud dust after the release of energy in an extreme manner. ) -> (signified) 

- A symbol ( Hiroshima and Nagasaki )-> (signified) 

- An index ( as a consequence of oxidation reaction that produces large amounts of hot gas.) -> (signified) 

● REDUNDANCY AND ENTROPY :

Elements of Redundancy and Entropy can be found in some of the eight compositions.

* Entropy can be seen in Cloudy and Rainy compositions and this is the logo of Cartoon Network. It is clear from the logo that this layout is related to the animation.

* Redundancy:

The element that is not essential for Rainy composition is the building, because the content can be understood without it.

The elements that will not affect the Underwater composition if they are not there are the clothes of both women.

● BINARY OPOSITES :

* Rainy composition - Light/Darkness

* Cloudy composition – Real / Fantastic

* Sunny composition – High / Low

* Underwater composition – Villain / Victim

* Outer Space composition – Real / Fantastic

* Smoky composition – High / Low

* Foggy composition – High / Low

* Dusty composition - Light /Darkness

Foreshortening:

This approach is often used when the power of one of the characters (usually the villains) or one of their super abilities should stand out in the composition. For example : the power of Sedusa, which is hidden in her hair, as well as her ability to incarnate; the influence that Him exerts on all; the physical strength of Big Billy; the ability of the Mayor of Townsville to fly (but only in sleep).

          Fig. 6  Sedusa, Him, Big Billy, The Mayor of Townsville

                                            (Source : Tumblr)

In another case, foreshortening in the film it is used to reinforce the stereotype that in order for a woman to be physically attractive, she does not have to be smart (later this stereotype was challenged by Miss Bellum 's actions.) However, in 99 percent of her appearances in the series, she is presented only as a body without a head.

                                          Fig.7  Miss Sara Bellum

                                               (Source : Tumblr)

Complex scenes and the use of 'Dutch angle' in some compositions:

In some more complex scenes, where they have to present several actions at once, the layout artists have divided the field diagonally, which allows them to present two parallel actions in one frame.

                                         Fig.8  Gangreen Gang I

                                             (Source : Tumblr)

The horizon is usually in the middle of the screen and coincides with the eye line of the observer. But when the scene requires tension and drama, the Dutch angle is used in the composition, which reinforces the feeling of insecurity and instability. In the case of Him, its use is a very good solution because it reinforces the stereotype that sometimes the lack of a clear gender identity can be quite confusing and even frightening.

                                                 Fig.9 Him

                                             (Source : Tumblr)

But how does it all actually begin?

The year is 1998. A new American animated series about superheroes is conquering the world. This is the story of the three little girls Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, living in the city of Townsville, who were invented by their father and scientist Professor Utonium. Girls have superpowers and use them in their fight against evil: starting with local street thugs, and ending with superpowers of universal evil such as insidious demons and vampires.The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera for Cartoon Network and created by animator Craig McCracken. Conceived and developed under the name 'Whoopass Stew!' in the second year of McCracken's studies at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), the series debuted in late 1998, has its 6 seasons (78 series),  as well as a special edition of the feature film and a special edition of the anniversary film to celebrate the 10th anniversary, as well as various comics, video games, clothes, toys and other franchise and ended in March 2005, winning nominations for six Emmy Awards, nine Annie Awards, and millions of fans around the world.In the animated series, the leadership implicitly belongs to Blossom (orange long hair, pink dress wide black resembling a karate belt and a red bow); the sweetest is Bubbles (blonde braids, sky blue clothing) and the most combative is Buttercup (black short hair, green clothing).     

                                            Fig.10 The Powerpuff Girls                                                   

                                     (Source: thefluffybunch.fandom.com )

The shape of the body, head and eyes of each of them resembles a circle (in fact, the bodies of all three are disproportionately small and their eyes are disproportionately large relative to their heads), but in fact this deformation, as well as the emphasis on their round shape is not random. Round shapes are characteristic of the feminine principle and thus the idea of ​​dominant feminism is introduced.Initially, nothing threatening is found in the vision of the girls, but if they are confronted by a bully or a villain, they immediately become a real threat to him, showing their super fighting skills, which shatter the traditional notions of ‘femininity’ associated with meekness, shyness and cowardice. Over time, it turns out that McCracken was right about his choice of this type of female superhero; many other films on the subject appeared, and critics began to define the movement of "girl power" that began in the 1990s as feminism from the Third Wave (the Second Wave is typical of the feminist movement of the 1960s.) The new movement does not aim to oppose to the femininity of power, but on the contrary, shows that both are possible together and the result is quite attractive. Many emerging figures and groups stand behind this concept and develop it to varying degrees, starting with the young female punk band of the 90's Riot Grrrls, who first showed that rebellion and femininity are not mutually exclusive concepts, and continuing the trend with the hysteria for a indisputably the most successful girl band in the history of pop music, the Spice Girls, which openly promotes ideas of female power and potential.

                                                Fig.11 Spice Girls

                                            (Source:  eonline.com )

Unlike the feminist generation of the 60s which advocates for gender equality, for privileges of working mothers and against the gender discrimination in applying for job, as well as against sexual abuse against the physically weaker sex, the girls of 90s do not need to be rescued, they do not want to be protected or receive special privileges because of their gender as they can handle everything on their own.  They openly and clearly state their place in the world through their behavior, as well as by following the messages in the texts of their favourite girl bands.In the 90s, not only was the dominant male role in society challenged (which is the main merit of The Second-wave feminists) but it went even further by challenging the stereotype that femininity and sexuality were something that should be to be denied (or belittled at best). Young women in the 90's believe that female attractiveness should be manifested as an expression of opportunities and strength. In this sense, maintaining good physical and intellectual condition are mandatory challenges, and films such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997) and "10 things I hate about you" (1999) only prove it. In ‘10 Things I Hate About You: Kat, Rom-Com Feminist’ (2020) ,Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles' character) reads Sylvia Plath and chose the role of an antisocial and self-sufficient feminist, because she is fully aware the strength of her intellect and abilities, but in the same moment  she is attractive, smart and physically fit young woman.

So, is the fictional character Lara Croft from the 2001 series of video games and film, who portrays her as a smart and physically fit young archaeologist who takes risks and copes no worse than men with many challenges on the way to achieving her goals, and thus becoming a role model for a thousands of young women of her generation.

As can be seen, in 90s the women can be strong and independent and to deal with their enemies alone and from this current point of view the myths about their dependence on men remains in the past.

From all the above it can be concluded that in creating the three Powerpuff Girls, Craig McCracken is not only influenced by all these processes, but also manages to visually present the destruction of the stereotype for the weakness and insecurity of femininity, as well as myths about the social and role of women dependent on men in a particularly original way through the interactions of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup with the rich variety of the other characters in the series.

Conditionally, the interaction with these characters will be divided into four groups:

- interaction of Powerpuff Girls with a female characters,

- interaction of Powerpuff Girls with a male characters,

- interaction of Powerpuff Girls with a creatures and

- interaction of Powerpuff Girls with non-heteronormative characters,

and a comparison will be made between the Powerpuff Girls and one representative of each one of them.

Among the interaction of Powerpuff Girls with the other female characters stands out one - that of glamorous assistant Miss Sara Bellum. This character challenges one traditional stereotype. Her emphatically feminine appearance (and as already commented more precisely her body because her head is missing) does not necessarily mean that she is stupid, but on the contrary; when necessary, she can make the right decisions and even be quite 'intellectually sharp'.

                                       Fig.12  Miss Sara Bellum’s head

                                             (Source : Fandom.com)

As for the interaction of the Powerful Girls with the male characters, there is a kind of "competition" between them. This is clearly evident in the interaction of girls with Gangreen Gang - a group of troublesome hooligans and bandits, known for their antisocial behavior, who live in the town dump in Townsville. Among their members are Ace, Snake, Lil 'Arturo, Grubber and Big Billy. The boys are mostly known for committing petty crimes, such as vandalism and harassment of the young or elderly. (Ace has to some extent "evolved", replacing a member of the Gorillaz who was imprisoned for a while). The Gang are characterized by their green skin, and all the gang members have black hair, except for Big Billy, who has red hair. They appear to be teenagers, but they vary widely in height and body type. Their species is mutated human.

                                               Fig.13 Gangreen Gang II

                                              (Source : Fandom.com)

The three girls, however, worthily oppose and manage to defeat them, not only because they use their physical superpower, but also because they can be friendly and smiling and say "please" and "thank you." Thus, another stereotype is challenged - that of the Second-wave feminists, who are traditionally bad, while Craig Mkraken's heroines behave in a traditionally acceptable way.

The other characters in the animated series are portrayed according to traditional notions of gender stereotypes: Townsville's female characters are portrayed as cowards (for example, they are afraid of insects until someone fearless man comes to save them), while the male characters are portrayed as aggressive. Fuzzy Lumpkins, Amoeba boys and especially Mojo Jojo, who is the main antagonist and the main enemy of Professor Utonius and the strong girls, are constantly planning to conquer the world or at least cause harm to someone in the neighbourhood.                                                                          Mojo spend a lot of his time inventing a new weapons or technology and even on several occasions his plans succeeded.

At the end, the feminine principle wins again, thanks to a typical feminine quality that men can't stand: being nice. In this way, the female 'being nice' becomes a super power, but falling into male hands, it is again subjected to destructive criticism, which reinforces the gender stereotype.

                                               Fig.13  Mojo Jojo

                                           (Source : Fandom.com)

After all this, however, there is a more special kind of interaction between the girls and someone who is 'a villain so evil, so sinister, so horribly vile that even the utterance of his name strikes fear into the hearts of men. The only safe way to refer to this king of darkness is simply... HIM." With these words this mysterious character is represented by The Narrator in the episode ‘Octi Evil’.

What do we know about this mysterious being? Very little. - Him is a highly manipulative creature that has a high  enough charisma that he persuade and manipulate the beings; - He is an all powerful being. The most powerful in the world second only to thegirls. Or at least, that is what the series wants us to think; - He has a interesting relationship with the professor. Usually the focus is on his atypical (unrecognizable) gender identity and here the confusion comes from the fact that he speaks with an ominous high voice and wears high heels and sock nets, which is a sign of non-heteronormativity, according to the existing stereotype. Can this strange and contradictory character really be characterized as non-heteronormative and can this characteristic contribute to the naturalization of prejudice or the exclusion of groups that identify as non-heteronormative (such as Queer.) According to Goodreads " Queer identitites may be adopted by those who reject traditional gender identities and seek a broader, less conformist, and deliberately ambiguous alternative to the label LGBT."(Goodreads,2020) 

As a result of the above, the following question arises: can Him, who embodies the world's super-evil, serve as an ideological support to viewers whose beliefs and cultures mock non-heteronormative people and violate their rights? And is his characterization of super-evil really related to his unclear gender or is it a consequence of his unacceptable social behavior? 

Interesting is the opinion of Dennis, according to which "Him presents the latest trends in animation that show homosexuality as "either stupid or sinister"         (p. 138, 2003) and he is about to be right because in the new animated version of "Mr. Magoo" released in 2019, the assistant of the main antagonist called Little Weasel is again presented with the characteristics of a non-heteronormative person, which again raises the question of why (and is it correct) to use a non-heteronormative character in a villainous role and in a negative context? What causes the construction of such a stereotype in the minds of young viewers?

On the one hand, it is good for children to be prepared for life, because in it they will encounter all kinds of challenges and all kinds of people (Him could be of any gender); on the other hand, what makes Him really evil and dangerous is his manipulative nature and the fact that he is a collection of contradictions. The interaction with someone who has similar behavior in the real life can always deceive or confuse them, because they are often not well prepared and they don't know how to react.

This essay stands behind the thesis that the feeling of absolute evil in the series does not come from the non-heteronormative man (Him), with whom the Powerpuff Girls often interact, but is the result of the contradictions from which this character is built: Santa Claus and Satan; human body and legs and lobster clamps instead of arms; a voice as thin and attractive and as powerful and furious as lightning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd3PJHCrQ7k

The contradiction inherent in his nature causes shock and horror in the observer, not the lack of gender identity. This character once again emphasizes the fact that evil is stronger than all genders and individual traits.

                                                        Fig.14 HIM

                                               (Source : Fandom.com)

Although this essay supports the notion that to be non-heteronormative is not something perverted and dangerous that adults should protect children from, the animated series "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" which appeared 12 years after "Powerful Girls" is evidence of how indirectly an animation designed for young girls can become a challenge to the social construction of gender through the subsequent manifestations of subculture (a different folklore currents and communities such as "Bronies", or Japanese postmodern art movement known as "Superflat", and - why not - the art sharing platform DeviantArt / partly /.)

                 Fig.15 My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic

                                   (Source : Fandom.com)

The last discussion in the essay will be related to the question of why animation intended for a target group of little girls, such as "My Little Pony", affects a certain group of people (young men who call themselves ‘bronies’) and how they interpret the gender stereotype of the cartoon characters (or lack thereof). What is the role of children's animations in the creation and development of a subculture, such as the network of Bronylore sites?

Although Lauren Faust, creator of "My Little Pony" and wife of Craig McCracken, (who previously worked with him on "The Powerful Girls") is adamant that the 'My Little Pony : The Friendship is Magics' was conceived and implemented as an animation for little girls, this series is becoming very popular among an unusual demographic audience of young men who call themselves "Bronies" (The term is a sum of the abbreviated "bro" and "pony" and distinguishes adults fans, most often ages 18 - 34 who follow" My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic" from the target audience of young girls.) The Bronies use "4chan" or create their own network of online sites "Bronylore", where they publish their comments and comics related to the show. Why this series has such an impact on these young men and how the bronies interpret the gender stereotype of the pony cartoon characters (or lack thereof)?                                                             According to Claire Burdfield "Riley Kilo, a Brony and 4chan user,  stating that “people were attracted to the cuteness of the pony avatars”.(Burdfield, 2017)                                                             This essay assumes that this is possible because the animation, itself, allows the bodies of the characters to be reshaped in ways that transgress conventional barriers of sexuality and allow viewers a much wider scope in which to explore alternative ways of seeing the place of gender identity within human society. But what the essay emphatically does not accept is the fact that Bronylore identifies potentially transgressive themes in My Little Pony, develops them in deliberately uncomfortable ways, and neatly adapts them to real-life issues relevant to its followers’ social and psychological lives. With this, this sites become a danger for the real target group, this still unformed audience of little girls and boys, who could get a misconception about the meaning of concepts such as friendship, love, cooperation, with an only one wrong click on such a site - something that the creators of the animated series would definitely not want to happen.

With all of the above, an attempt was made to look into the world of modern animation by comparing existing gender and behavioral stereotypes in society and their reflection in the children's animated series "Powerful Girls" and "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic".

- Descriptive and comparative methods were used, as well as semiotic analysis, to clarify the role of composition as a natural environment where the characters operate and supporting factor for their behaviour.

- By comparing relationships: girls (courage, strength) / boys (defeat); young (energy, opportunities) / old (weakness, incompetence, helplessness, infantilism) were challenged some of the stereotypes in society.

Other existing understandings were challenged, such as that female beauty and glamorous appearance does not necessarily mean that women are stupid or girl's brilliance and beauty as more necessary than knowledge and learning.

- Through historical review and documentary facts, the terms "Second Wave Feminism" and "Third Wave Feminism" were examined and compared, and evidence of their impact on the creation of the cartoon characters Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup was applied.

- The question of why (and whether it is correct) to use "non-heteronormative" gender in villainous roles was answered as part of a broader discussion of the relationship: gender - social behaviour. The essay defended the position that it is not gender that makes a character good or bad, but his social behavior. This also protected the rights of certain social groups, such as Queer society.

- Using modern data, in a broader context were analysed some manifestations of the subculture, which arose as a result of the impact of the animated characters from the series "My little pony: Friendship is magic" on certain social groups. An answer was given to the question of what provokes these certain groups of fans to self-identify as "Bronies" and to create digital content on specialised sites.

After the whole study, the academic literature and working on this essay, my belief that I wanted to practice animation became even stronger. I have the feeling that one of the most prominent schools in the world for training of such significant contemporary animators as Craig McCracken, Lauren Faust, Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, 1996) and a decade later - Pendleton Ward ( Adventure Time, 2010) is the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and my desire to deepen my knowledge, moving forward with a master's degree in animation, takes me exactly there. Moreover, Cartoon Network Studios (my most dreamed workplace as a future practitioner) is also located there, in California. Of course, it's just a dream for now, but as Bubbles said : "You should do what you want to do." And Blossom would add : "Being a Powerpuff Girl isn't about getting your way...It's about using your own unique abilities to help people and the world we all live in."                                                                                                                         

                                       REFERENCES :

● Alex J Taylor, Mr Magoo and Modern Art, Oxford Art Journal, Volume 42, Issue 3, December 2019, Pages 412–414, https://doi-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/10.1093/oxartj/kcz015

● BBC, (2020), Second Wave Feminism, [Online], Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/second-wave-feminism/zdhw382?fbclid=IwAR0CgNwQQ01Zx8KZTs7OXpt2zQ7x7b3baPrH2J2zYOnpu2lF2pLsMPqmjfA  , [Accessed 18 Oct.2020]

● Burdfield C.,(2017), A brief  history of the 4chan ‘Pony Wars, [Online], Available at: https://cstonline.net/a-brief-history-of-the-4chan-pony-wars-by-claire-burdfield/?fbclid=IwAR1nWN411GjOsah3AFcDgEsxgAOM5iWgzLtKdORGKHxjKWeQLEoKnbFHxZs  ,  [Accessed 18 Oct.2020]

● ELLIS, B., 2015. What Bronies See When They Brohoof: Queering Animation on the Dark and Evil Internet. Journal of American Folklore, 128(509), pp. 298-314,369-370.

● Goodreads, (2020), Queer, [Online], Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/genres/queer?fbclid=IwAR0UXLjDqiOC_Hk2RwrLglZcMY2G6iPFofxJMlsiTsuwq1oQOvzifXNx1ZU  , [Accessed 18 Oct.2020]

● Griffin, M., Harding, N. and Learmonth, M. (2017) ‘Whistle While You Work? Disney Animation, Organizational Readiness and Gendered Subjugation’, Organization Studies, 38(7), pp. 869–894. doi: 10.1177/0170840616663245.

● Hager Lisa, (2008), Saving the World Before Bedtime : The Powerpuff Girls, Citizenship, and the Little Girl Superhero, Children's Literature Association Quarterly Volume 33, Number 1, Spring 2008 Johns Hopkins University Press , Article

● Kirkland, E. (2010) ‘The Politics of Powerpuff: Putting the ‘Girl’ into ‘Girl Power’’, Animation, 5(1), pp. 9–24. doi: 10.1177/1746847709356643.

● Knight G.L. (2010), Female Action Heroes : A Guide to Women in Comics, Video Games, Film, and Television, Publisher ABC-CLIO, LLC, p. 228-237

● Richter K.,(2010), My Little Homophobic, Racist, Smart-Shaming Pony, [Online], Available at: https://msmagazine.com/.../my-little-homophobic-racist.../ , [Accessed 18 Oct.2020]

● Rosenfeld M.,(2000), Powerpuff Girls: Good Guise, Bad Guys, [Online], Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/12/26/powerpuff-girls-good-guise-bad-guys/79a54733-9e40-4633-a5c4-46c040bff6c2/ , [Accessed 18 Oct.2020]

●  Santos, G., Mancio, C. P., & Maranho, E. (2019). Queer representation incorporated at “Him”, character of “The Powerpuff Girls". Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts, 11(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.7559/citarj.v11i1.588

● Schmidt G.,(2016), Cartoon Network’s Powerpuff Girls Fight Evil on TV and Beyond, [Online], Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/business/media/cartoon-networks-powerpuff-girls-fight-evil-on-tv-and-beyond.html?fbclid=IwAR262Wmc4CU-5uN33JczcQnvr8Q7BOc9PXKi7UNp0O_gpxouSz3vnO8foOs , [Accessed 18 Oct. 2020]

● The Take,(2020), Is the character HIM from “The Powerpuff Girls” transgender? [Online], Available at: https://the-take.com/watch/is-the-character-him-from-the-powerpuff-girls-transgender?fbclid=IwAR3Ubj88aK55Zv4MY_tD5vapAdZGq8KmbBom0fHjnA1KYBZJwjPYH82UdUA , [Assecced 18 Oct.2020]

● Wineman D.,(1998), SIGNOFF; Never Underestimate the Power of a Puff, [Online], Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/15/tv/signoff-never-underestimate-the-power-of-a-puff.html?fbclid=IwAR0ylJhQJ11WVzoTKHq7GR-wyIXjix6uMDv8TrXvFUEMdIZxz5eCdDbuus4  , [Assecced 18 Oct.2020]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATION :

Fig.1. The City of Townsville [online image] Available at: https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Townsville?fbclid=IwAR3K_KazdzNZdCXBLY89bcQVCf4ffktRpe5P4Q4yCK-gNFobQ1fgmw6RJls , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.2. Ponyville [online image] Available at:

https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Ponyville?fbclid=IwAR3N6cqy-H-xhT9kjoe4w7OwDzoqfreRRaqxBeiSeDYJBpOm5JELMcjo0D8 , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.3. The bedroom of Powerpuff Girls [online image] Available at: https://weheartit.com/entry/327702990

[Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.4. Fluttershy's bedroom [online image] Available at: https://www.derpibooru.org/1144404 ,

[Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.5. Atmosphere composition : Rainy, Cloudy, Sunny, Underwater, Outer Space, Smoky, Foggy, Dusty [online image] Available at: https://madoddball.tumblr.com/post/635218255016067072/how-the-animation-series-powerpuff-girls-and-my?fbclid=IwAR2wYp-NQXROdoxU8QWJTZnU86s0yLL2PX8RC2yVttpN3FXXgYllI-eEDMM , [Accessed 9 Dec 2020]

Fig.6. Sedusa, Him, Big Billy, The Mayor of Townsville, [online image] Available at: https://madoddball.tumblr.com/post/635218255016067072/how-the-animation-series-powerpuff-girls-and-my?fbclid=IwAR2wYp-NQXROdoxU8QWJTZnU86s0yLL2PX8RC2yVttpN3FXXgYllI-eEDMM , [Accessed 9 Dec 2020]

Fig.7. Miss Sara Bellum, [online image] Available at: https://madoddball.tumblr.com/post/635218255016067072/how-the-animation-series-powerpuff-girls-and-my?fbclid=IwAR2wYp-NQXROdoxU8QWJTZnU86s0yLL2PX8RC2yVttpN3FXXgYllI-eEDMM , [Accessed 9 Dec 2020]

Fig.8. Gangreen Gang I, [online image] Available at: https://madoddball.tumblr.com/post/635218255016067072/how-the-animation-series-powerpuff-girls-and-my?fbclid=IwAR2wYp-NQXROdoxU8QWJTZnU86s0yLL2PX8RC2yVttpN3FXXgYllI-eEDMM , [Accessed 9 Dec 2020]

Fig.9. Him I, [online image] Available at: https://madoddball.tumblr.com/post/635218255016067072/how-the-animation-series-powerpuff-girls-and-my?fbclid=IwAR2wYp-NQXROdoxU8QWJTZnU86s0yLL2PX8RC2yVttpN3FXXgYllI-eEDMM , [Accessed 9 Dec 2020]

Fig.10. Powerpuff Girls [online image] Available at: https://thefluffybunch.fandom.com/wiki/The_Powerpuff_Girls , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.11. Spice Girls [online image] Available at: https://www.eonline.com/news/1042491/every-time-the-spice-girls-playfully-shaded-victoria-beckham-over-skipping-their-reunion-tour  , [Accessed 15 Oct.2020]

Fig.12. Miss Sara Bellum’s head [online image] Available at: https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Sara_Bellum_(1998_TV_series)?fbclid=IwAR28VwKq-1fvlplwTQKAdbVC7TaXwe-ChTXnl0vUTWCSMrWrumKMK15Q2X8 , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.13. Gangreen Gang II [online image] Available at: https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/The_Gangreen_Gang/Gallery?file=Gangreen_Gang_laugh.jpg  , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.14. Mojo Jojo [online image] Available at: https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Mojo_Jojo_(1998_TV_series)?fbclid=IwAR0Tieaf6nn877NUbcMH2Y5yhrETvy3Ggg381DVl6PH66J_XOlC92DvDPAk , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.15. Him II [online image] Available at: https://powerpuffgirls.fandom.com/wiki/HIM?fbclid=IwAR3xrLszNdwPo_m9dyqOUqcafQVvGO_cwcNxtc0W-i2LzI8EiskxkSMxv4Y  , [Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

Fig.16. My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic [online image] Available at : https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/My_Little_Pony_Friendship_is_Magic , Accessed 15 Oct 2020]

VIDEO SOURCE :

10 Things I Hate About You: Kat, Rom-Com Feminist (2020),video, The Take, Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XevO7MCmGY&t=984s , [Accessed 9 November 2020]

          Status: Submitted 

All content copyright © 2020 v_onyeukwu

[sapphetti]

Announcement

Hello!

My blog is going to change slightly and I want to be transparent and explain why.

My mistake:

So recently I have been looking into copyright laws and realized that oh shit some of my posts might be copyright infringement. I know I probably should have looked more into copyright laws before I started this blog but let me explain why I didn’t. Mainly, I saw a lot of people doing the same thing so I thought it must be okay. Secondly, my reasoning was “this blog is for a good cause, it’s not like I’m trying to gain financially from this so it must be okay”.

Well after reading up on it I have changed my mind. I was entitled to think that it was up to me to decide how another person wanted to distribute their artwork, and for this I am very sorry. But I don’t want to just say sorry and do nothing, I want to actually make up for it So what I have done these last few days is I have removed all the posts I suspect might be copyright infringement. This includes a lot of poetry, photography, screenshots from movies & music videos and modern paintings.

I will of course continue to post though. The change is that for my new posts I will take advantage of two cases where it is actually allowed to post artworks that aren’t yours. Those two cases are:

1. When the artwork falls under public domain. To my understanding, unless the artwork is protected under some special license (which seems to be rare), the copyright for an artwork dissipates when the artist of the artwork has been dead for 70+ years (in some countries the time is a bit shorter or longer than 70 years, generally it’s always 50-100 years). Today the year is 2020 so if the artwork was made by an artist that died before 1950 it is in the public domain and I can post it.

2. When I have gotten permission from the artist. Before I sometimes posted the artworks even if I couldn’t get ahold of the artist (like for example photographs by famous photographers or poetry by writers I didn’t know how to contact). But from now on I will only post artworks if I have gotten permission from the artist, even if it’s a famous artist that is difficult to contact.

Also, I have always done my best to reblog instead of posting artworks. Sometimes you might have seen me post artworks from smaller artist. The reason for that is that the smaller artist haven’t had a tumblr account, so I have asked them on instagram if they were okay with me reposting their art on tumblr and they have said yes. The artists I haven’t gotten permission from have been more famous, often older artists without social media or a website with contact info. But from now on I will try better to contact those artists, or if I can’t get ahold of them simply not post their artworks.

How this will change my content:

Paintings: There will mainly be older paintings, since they more often belong to the public domain. These might not be very diverse and are often made by men but of course I will do my best to make it as diverse as I can.

Photography: There will be less photography from famous photographers (such as Catherine Opie, Donna Gottschalk etc) and probably less photography overall since I will need to ask for permission every time (most photography was made in the last 50 years or so and therefore does not fall under public domain).

Music: There will be no screenshots from music videos as those fall under copyright laws. I will still post a link to the song and the music video (if there is one). By the way, I will not ask permission from musicians when posting their music as tumblr has a feature that I will use where you can post links to audio clips without it being copyright infringement.

Movies: I will not have any screenshots from the movies. Instead I will only have a link to the trailer of the movie, and I will try to always link the trailer from the official account that belongs to the movie’s creators so they will get the revenue.

Books: I won’t include a picture of the cover of the book. Instead I will link to the GoodReads page of the book where you can see the book cover.

Poetry: I will either post older poetry that falls under public domain, poetry that I have got permission to post or videos made by the poet where the poem is read out aloud.

Sculpture: Pictures of sculptures can fall under public domain, therefore I will only post links to websites where you can read about and see photos of the sculpture or in some cases links to videos where someone has filmed the sculpture.

What I need from you:

Please reblog instead of repost my posts. If you do not know the difference, please read this post.

If you see me making a post that you think is copyright infringement, please tell me about it and I will look into it.

If you own the copyright of an artwork I have posted and want it to be removed, tell me right away preferably through sending a message.

Respect the copyright laws. Do it for your own sake, do you really want to risk getting sued for a simple post? But more importantly, do it for the artist’s sake. Making a living through being an artist today is really difficult and people stealing art without giving proper credit is a big reason as to why. This causes a lot of people who might have created masterpieces to stray away from the art world. I don’t know about you but I love art and it would be absolutely amazing to see a world with more thriving artists in it.

If you really, really, really want to repost instead of reblog one of my posts please follow these guideline:

Look up who the artist is and if they are dead or alive. I always write the name of the artist in the post. From now on I will also include the year they died (if they are deceased) in the post. If you still find it unclear, message me and I will provide further explanation.

Is the artist deceased? Look up the laws about the length of copyright in your country (here’s a list). If the copyright for the artwork has dissipated, also look up if any special license applies to the artwork (my best source for this is Wikimedia Commons, let me know if you know of any other reliable sources for this). If the copyright for the artwork has dissipated and there is no special license applied, the artwork falls under public domain and you are free to use it however you like.

Is the artist alive? Contact the artist and ask them for permission to repost. Here is a guide of what to include when asking for permission. 

Apply fair use. This is an exception to the copyright laws that applies when you are using someone else’s artwork for either commentary/critique or parody. I am not very knowledgeable in what exactly does and does not constitute fair use so I would advice you to look into this further through other sources if you’re interested.

I want to add that I have neither studied law or art so my knowledge on this topic is of course limited. If you have more knowledge of these topics and have something to add, please do so! I really value all your opinions and feedback.

Lastly I want to say that it’s okay to make mistakes. I mean I even just admitted to doing the exact same thing. But I also think it’s important we really start paying attention to this issue as every day I see tons of reposts of artworks that doesn’t even give credit to the artist and honestly it upsets me.

That is it for now! Sorry for a long post, but I have really been wanting to speak about this. Stay safe out there <3

ps. I have recently become more active on my instagram, so go give me a follow if you’d like!

TL;DR: I have made the mistake of not asking some artists for permission when posting their art, so from now on I’m gonna do that. I ask you to follow the copyright laws and reblog my posts, not repost.

[elodieunderglass]

Hey Elodie. :) so I was reading your moss post and I had a question: you know those algae lights that they want to put everywhere? How does that work? If the CO2 goes to making biomass of a plant, how is algae so good at making O2 when there isn't a ton of it physically? I mean presumably it is pretty good at it cause afaik that's where the O2 on earth came from to begin with?

(in reference to my general grumpiness about people’s claims that moss sequesters more carbon than is physically possible)

To engage with this post, you’ll first need to know that photosynthetic organisms absorb carbon dioxide and break the molecule apart. Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. These organisms keep the carbon atom and release the two oxygen atoms. This is how plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. The carbon atom goes into their biomass. Right now, there is too much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, caused by the burning of carbon, which reacts with oxygen when burned to form carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is making the atmosphere too hot. As our economies depend on burning carbon, people do not want to stop doing it. Many people are now interested in “absorbing the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere” in order to survive on the planet. The problem is, as I point out, that the atoms of carbon have to go SOMEWHERE. Carbon dioxide doesn’t just magically turn into oxygen - the C atom is still there. And when plants break CO2 down, they need to do something with the carbon - they use it to grow. The C atom goes to making the biomass of the plant. If you see a product that claims to use plants to suck enormous amounts of CO2 out of the air (I argue) you should look for the biomass that it will produce. If you can’t see where the carbon went, it’s probably not real.

Anyway! Ah! It’s a good question! but there is a ton of algae physically! And it does make biomass! Lots of it! PLANETS FULL OF IT! It’s its best trick. And it grows very quickly, too. The fact that algae still produce a huge chunk of the oxygen we use today is a big clue to the fact that there is Really Quite A Lot of It. Anyone who has ever had an aquarium can attest to how quickly algae can increase its biomass. That’s where the carbon goes! Into the biomass! That’s where the oxygen comes from! It’s discarded as a product of all that growth! There’s a huge amount of it!

I’m just going to dump this whole quote from a relevant paper here:

There are several reasons for the greater biomass yields of algae versus land plants. Generally, algae have higher photosynthetic efficiency than land plants because of greater abilities to capture light and convert it to usable chemical energy (Melis 2009, Weyer et al. 2010). Under ideal growth conditions algae direct most of their energy into cell division (6- to 12-hour cycle), allowing for rapid biomass accumulation. Also, unlike plants, unicellular algae do not partition large amounts of biomass into supportive structures such as stems and roots* that are energetically expensive to produce and often difficult to harvest and process for biofuel production. In addition, algae have carbon-concentrating mechanisms that suppress photorespiration (Spalding 2008, Jansson and Northen 2010). With algae, all the biomass can be harvested at any time of the year, rather than seasonally. In contrast, only a portion of the total biomass of terrestrial crops (corn cob, soybean seed) is harvested once a year

* this means that instead of slowly growing into a more complicated structure, like plants do, algae just doubles and doubles and doubles. FYI, moss is a plant. algae is not. algae can casually double its mass even caring, and that’s where the carbon goes: literally into LITERALLY doubling the biomass, INCREDIBLY quickly. Moss will not. Moss will grow, become more complicated, and eventually flower - all quite slowly, in comparison.

Anyway, here is a picture from the paper, showing the Biomass. you can see exactly where the carbon is going. There is so much carbon being made here, they’re literally turning it into ... oil?

Yeah... oil. Algae fuel is considered to be a reasonable replacement for fossil fuels. (starting link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel). Algae fuel is used as reliable gimmick in science fiction, as a renewable fuel that spaceships can generate as they go - the handwaving possibilities are endless: ‘ooh, here’s a thing that takes the waste breath of human crew and makes fuel and oxygen out of it. hurray!’

So you may be like, “oh Elodie, but surely burning carbon-based fuels contributes to climate change, because it releases CO2, so uhhhh why would you bother replacing fossil fuels with a slightly fresher version of the same product?”

and I’m like “YEAH I KNOW RIGHT? the argument is that because algae removes the CO2 from the air, and burning the oil releases the same amount of CO2, it’s argued that it’s a carbon-neutral fuel. the carbon goes in, the carbon goes out. The algae puts it into the atmosphere and it takes it back out. it’s always the same carbon.”

WHICH. THE MATH CHECKS OUT, BUT I DON’T LIKE IT. The argument for developing algae fuels is that the math works out as carbon-neutral, and that it reduces reliance on the oil industry and its geopolitics, as every nation on Earth can easily grow and refine their own oil. BUT I STILL DON’T LIKE IT.

Anyway, the trick here is to look for the biomass. In the diagram above, YOU CAN SEE WHERE IT IS. The carbon goes from the carbon dioxide into the algae, where it can be made into carbon-based fuel. The carbon is THERE. it is FOUND. The peer-reviewed, heavily researched industry is so confident in the math, and the carbon, and the physical laws of photosynthesis that algae can genuinely be called a carbon-neutral fuel. The carbon has been AUDITED. the mass is KNOWN.

So what about those “algae lamps that [THEY] want to put everywhere?” I know exactly what you’re talking about. They are glowing street lamp things full of algae and they have the amazing claim of “fixing as much carbon dioxide as 200 trees.”

Those appear to be bullshit. Sorry.

However, on Tumblr, you will find a lot of posts about the algae lamps. I know. I’ve seen them. And I really wanted to believe in them! I may have even reblogged one! But then I just couldn’t find any more evidence about them. And neither could these science bloggers who tried to track down ANY ANSWERS AT ALL in 2012, https://www.citylab.com/life/2012/04/streetlight-powered-algae-actually-possible/1854/ and again in 2015. https://www.zmescience.com/science/biology/the-green-algae-street-lamps-that-suck-up-co2/

The algae were reported on in 2012 and 2013 as a funky startup invention, but apparently, only one lamp was ever made. The inventor, an utterly obscure man known as Pierre Calleja, does not appear to have a scholarly record and his scientific qualifications are a bit murky. A few scientists appeared to have asked, “Since algae grows so quickly, what will you do when they overgrow the container/ block the light?” and “Anyone who has maintained an aquarium know that removing the algae - even if you want algae! is part of maintenance; won’t these require a huge amount of maintenance?” and there was no answer. There was definitely no peer-reviewed research. The claim of “fixing as much carbon as 200 trees” (by generating equivalent biomass) cannot be backed up because all of the actual materials have disappeared from the web. The TED talk he did is gone. The startup has vanished. The website is gone. Considering that it attracted millions of dollars of investments, that’s sad news for stakeholders, but normal for a startup based on an idea easily blocked by the question, “don’t you need to clean it.”

Calleja reappeared in the news in 2017, having left the lamp startup (the article has some explanations - apparently the issue was ‘finance people’) and now he wants to make vegetarian smoked salmon out of algae. https://thefishsite.com/articles/algae-can-spearhead-a-culinary-revolution So I think it’s fair to say that the lamps didn’t work and aren’t going anywhere and have disappointed a lot of people and wasted a lot of money. However, I like his new project better. It’s obvious where the biomass is going. It’s going into the fake meat! Carry on, Pierre!

“They” are not going to put them “everywhere” because there is no secret panel of “Them” who, like, Decide Things. There was one inventor, a few reporters who talked about him, no scientific research, no marketable product was ever created, and now the creator is trying to generate fish. Just because that post has 6 bajillion notes on Tumblr doesn’t mean it’s real.

(It’s a bit awkward because two of the science communicators who reported on the lamps are friends of mine, and I know that they simply reported on it in good faith as an interesting bit of pop news, based on the now-vanished TED talk. The tumblr post in the screencap claims its source as Jess’s 2012 snippet from the Grist, which was just meant to be a cheerful description of a cool Youtube video of Pierre Calleja’s TED talk... which has now vanished from the internet entirely. She wasn’t reporting on research, just pointing out a cool video. But yeah, the ‘‘‘‘‘source’‘‘‘‘‘‘ for the Tumblr post we’ve all seen is ... literally just my friend, mentioning a cool TED talk she saw. in 2012. Which is now gone. Because the startup folded with its tail between its legs. And people are using it as a ‘source’, which I don’t think is fair!)

[disrmament-necessary]

More about Aromanticism and Arophobia

I’ve already discussed aromanticism here, but that was mostly an overview of arophobia and the sources from which I’d come to expect it. This post has been living rent free in my head for a while, but I didn’t really know how to put it into words until I was talking with my good friend (@cartwheellou, another aro/aspec person who has also discussed aro issues on tumblr). There’s a real disconnect between ace/aro folks and the rest of the queer community. We’re going to focus on aro folks for the sake of this discussion because the experiences faced by aro and ace folks are not identical, and oftentimes the experiences of aro folks are not discussed or are simply ignored. 

For many allo folks, it is difficult to understand aromanticism because they experience attraction and love in different ways than what is normalized, and so it is hard to empathize with aro people and be good allies for them. From my own experiences, I think this is mostly due to a fundamental misunderstanding of two things. Firstly, there is a misunderstanding of different types of attraction, primarily because many peoples’ romantic and sexual attraction are the same/overlap (i.e. heteroromantic/heterosexual, biromantic/bisexual, etc.), and so they do not understand how different types of attraction interact and take form in a person’s life. This ties in with not understanding attraction and love beyond the romantic and sexual sphere, which I will also discuss. Secondly, there is a misunderstanding of what people want, desire, or need out of life in order to be content. 

The first has caused a great deal of strife for my few aro friends/acquaintances and myself. The vast majority of my allo friends, and allo people I know in general, don’t understand the amount of time, effort, and emotional labor that I, as an aro person, put into my platonic relationships. And in doing so, they devalue those relationships that mean the most to me; this is a common experience among aro folks I’ve talked to. In my personal experience, and from talking with my aro friends, close platonic relationships are incredibly important to many aro folks, and can be some of the most dear and important relationships we have. This misunderstanding comes from a lack of knowledge regarding different types of love and attraction. Most allo folks have the privilege of never needing to consider these things, because they put more focus on romantic and sexual attraction. There are, in actuality, five main types of attraction that are often discussed (romantic, sexual, sensual, aesthetic, and platonic). I’m not going to detail here what these all mean, as there are other resources you can use to educate yourself beyond a biased opinion; there are articles and youtube videos linked at the bottom that I think would be more helpful in understanding aromanticism, asexuality, and different types of attraction. The main point I’m trying to make here is that for aro folks, particularly aro folks who don’t want to or can’t sustain romantic/sexual relationships, there are other types of attraction that can lead to close bonds between people. When society puts different, quantifiable values on the types of attraction, we end up valuing some more than others, which is unfair. While an individual may find one type of attraction more important or meaningful, it is an entirely personal opinion, and holds no sway over anyone else or their values of attraction. It is important to understand this because it ties directly to the second reason I’ve detailed as to why aro folks are often misunderstood, misrepresented, and excluded—perceptions of wants, needs, and desires in order to attain happiness or contentment.

This second reason is more subtle and nuanced, I think, because it is primarily influenced by societal norms that we tend not to think about but that still have the capacity to do a great deal of harm. Most of the things we are ‘meant’ to want out of life or are expected to want in order to be happy fall into two categories. One, capitalistic ideals such as money, fame, and power. And two, allonormative ideals such as family, romantic love, and children. Some people want these things, and that’s perfectly alright, but many people don’t. While this experience isn’t exclusive to the aro community, it impacts us in different ways. While allo folks can often write off any lack of desire for these things by saying they don’t want them (or through replacing one expected desire with another such as replacing children with pets; basically, the desires of allo people are written off as actual, viable, understandable reasons), many aro folks can’t do this. When an aro person says they don’t want something because they’re aro, they are seen as somehow broken or wrong; ace people often face the same struggles but in different ways. In doing this, we as a society push a lot of self loathing onto ace and, particularly, aro folks for not wanting what they are expected to want, and that is, in my opinion, one of the leading reasons why it’s often so hard for aro folks to accept their identity, and why so many aro folks have a hard time coming to terms with their identity. You can only tell a person their wants and desires are wrong so many times before they start to believe it, and when that commentary comes from everyday sources it’s easy to see why aro folks face so much backlash and negativity. 

https://www.them.us/story/facts-you-should-know-about-aromantic-people

Basic info about aromanticism

https://www.healthline.com/health/types-of-attraction

Some terms surrounding attraction and different types of attraction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mjWPAhPGnk#:~:text=Even%20though%20we%20are%20not,aesthetic%20attraction%2C%20and%20platonic%20attraction.

A simple video about the five aforementioned types of attraction

(Also check out Ash Hardell’s youtube videos on the ABC’s of LGBT for more information; their book is a great resource for understanding romantic vs. sexual attraction and various identities, orientations, etc.)