#and I find it interesting how this typically only comes up to defend bi characters against people not wanting them in m/f relationships

[ibuprofinator]

I think it would be helpful for us to divorce characters from their non-het sexualities in the sense that it's not something THEY chose, but was given to them by writers/devs/whoever for (usually) very specific reasons.

this part of the reason why playersexual vs bi and gay/lesbian headcanon discourse is so annoying to me. there's always a sect of people who refuse to engage with the REASON why all the da2/dav/bg3/etc companions are bi. there's sometimes this instance that just because they aren't playersexual by that one person's definition of the word means it's good rep. when, no, sometimes the reason they're all bi or there's only bi options with straight - but no gay options - is a form of homophobia AND biphobia. biphobia in the sense that it's used as a way to not alienate straight players instead of a sexuality they respect. homophobia in the sense that, well, they don't want to engage with sexualities that are "more exclusive" for lack of better phrasing.

and then you get into the nuance of them making characters that are very easily read as lesbian or gay due to coding or steryotypes that queer people can recognize straight, or bi/playersexual in such a way that their queerness can be ignored (which, off topic but stereotypes like fem gay men/masc lesbian women etc aren't always BAD but that's a whole other discussion).

and then talking about or having headcanons for non-het sexualities of an all-bi/playersexual cast of romancable characters turns into people saying you're "erasing bisexual representation." which is also kind of insane since some random person on the internet, or even a popular fan interpretation, is never going to have anywhere near the same weight as the actual piece of media. fandom is always going to be a smaller portion of the fan base than the people who engage with a piece of work more casually that make up the bulk of its consumers.

we can talk about how people ENGAGE with headcanons that turn a bi character into a gay man/lesbian, but it's not biphobic on its own to say (for example) Korra is a lesbian.

[cyrusthedragon]

Okay, I know this post will read only one man and his dog, but I really need to write down all my thoughts on season 4, and just keep it structured. If you're interested in discussing it - you're always welcome!

HUGE SPOILERS BELOW, CHAPTER 1/2

Word count: 1,057

Includes: Vicky Neuman, Zoe, Kimiko, Frenchie, Hughie, Hughie's mum

1. Victoria Neuman + Zoe

First of all, I really need to appreciate this intro cuz, excuse my goddamn french, Vicky Newman is HER. Vicky Neuman is absolutely HER, I'm really looking forward to her character development. I honestly don't think she's a villain, she's just an antagonist, but a very good one. She is not a bad person in any particular way, she has an Idea in her, she has a Meaning, she has Reasons and Motivation. More Neuman please, especially in GEN V. Thanks.

Like Vicky, her daughter is also a scary ass Supe, but unlike Vicky, who's a bloodbender, Zoe's powers hardly can be used for anything good. Some headcanons here:

While Vicky thought that she was the monster because of her “terrible” abilities, she, by injecting her already grown-up daughter CompV, somehow created a real monster. She stupidly turned her child into a freak, who will be very difficult to accept by society, because her... superpower is something that u often see in nightmares. And it’s unlikely that the typical "don’t judge a book by its cover" slogans will be enough to accept that someone can pierce your mouth while kissing you with their four...tentacles? Whatever they are. I personally find them cute, btw, but in The Boys Universe, I'm not sure ppl will accept Zoe. Zoe, forgive your mom. She's not thinking rationally when she's worried about you.

It is also very much worth thinking abt her willingness to kill without any questions asked. That was definitely not her first murder. Vicky could use her power, as a politician perhaps, and bring victims to Zoe so that she could kill them and get used to it.

2. Kimiko

These are just very beautiful shots that I want to share with yall. First - Zoe tore off Kimiko's hand, it just grew back :D I love this scene for its absolute absurdity. God bless Karen Fukuhara. + Demonstrated that Annie can fly, also a good introduction to new abilities! Well done!

Secondly, I ADORE Frenchie's reaction here, it just shows so much love he has for her: Kimiko's face literally peeled away, she REATTACHED IT, and Frenchie, her platonic soulmate, at first was confused af, and then he UNIRONICALLY SMILED to his girl being literally unkillable. I feel you, Serge, I love her too!

Kimiko is very balanced. Information about her comes up every season, and each time there is enough information left to theorize but be satisfied. She's small and cute, like a mouse. She loves girly stuff like doing hair, wearing jewelry, and dressing up. She’s all about having fun and smiles a lot. Her gentle, kind personality totally contrasts with her powers of mega strength and near-immortality from regeneration. She was raised to defend and attack, but her empathetic nature is well shown in the smallest details.

For example, new information: Kimiko gets wasted super fast. I adore her.

3. Frenchie

Next to Kimiko, literally being her soulmate (i fuckin' can't believe that we're so lucky that in addition to the chaos of dicks and murders, we also have the genuine, platonic love between a man and a woman AT FIRST SIGHT), is Frenchie. We've already seen he's bi; this isn't the first rodeo, but now he shows it ON THE SCREEN, HURRAY, COMRADES. I'm very proud of him, he's my baby 🥹 we finally, with the help of his new love interest, found out about all the murders he committed when he worked for Little Nina and even before that. Frenchie is a very balanced character, just like Kimiko, you learn a little about his life in each season, and each time enough to build theories and be satisfied. I wanna know how to write like that.

My favorite things about Frenchie are his wild love affairs and his doglike loyalty. He's got an unbelievable knack for forming strong platonic (with Cherie also sexual, but you get the point) bonds with women, who end up adoring him. Probably because he has a heart of gold and doesn't act like a jerk. He also sincerely tries to be better. C'mon now, he's doing his best! All the love for my boy.

4. Hughie

Hughie loses the only person who has been with him his whole life. His father was a great, excellent parent. But it’s time for Hughie to stand on his own two feet and become at least a little bit the main character - which means, eh, i guess rest in peace, Mr Campbell?... If this doesn't happen, I'll be overjoyed. Although besides pushing Hughie to mature, the coma plot also provides a chance for us to learn about his mother. His dad is in a coma - won't she come? Here we learn a lot of interesting things about our babyboy.

Hughie's emotional outburst when he sees his mum for the first time since he was just a kid is very realistic and I love everything in here, including the cast choice. Because Hughie is a spitting image of his mother. This kind of attention to details makes me wanna chew Kripke's brains off.

Hughie is very similar to his mother: in speech, in movements, in facial expressions. For some reason I really like this. He, like his mother, has tenderness and a steely core, they are both very stubborn. Although he also has a note of “cowardice” from his father, his desire to push forward and that decision in the first episode to go help Butcher and take revenge on Reggie were just visible sides of his mother’s character.

Not gonna say that was the original idea, but I think Hughie saw Butcher in his mother. Because 'I'm not made to be a father'. And he realized that Butcher was almost just like she was. At least it seems to me that way. That being like Butcher is... normal. Ppl do fear being parents. And this is currently the best representation of postpartum depression, very realistic shit, Kripke, I'll stuff your brains into a Thanksgiving turkey. With all love and respect.

If you've made it this far, congratulations, you're a survivor! If suddenly s/o wants to be tagged in the second part of this review (well, sort of), write in the comments and I’ll tag you!

[rpbetter]

"writes dubcon therefore is a freak who should be bullied off the site" ho boy i'm fed up with people acting as if consenting adults writing [insert "problematic" fictional thing here] is the worst thing in the world. seen way too many people justifying harrassment of REAL PEOPLE by "they write thing that triggers me". ok, and? mute the tags or don't follow! "it triggers someone" is not a valid reason to ban a topic. piano music triggers me yet i don't go around demanding everyone stop playing the piano.

Anon, not only is everything you said absolutely valid, but also, thank you for demonstrating that triggers are incredibly varied and as such, we cannot predict everyone's triggers. Making the entire "point" of banning for possible triggers invalidated as hell.

We should be aware of things like the most commonly occurring phobias (things like arachnophobia and coulrophobia that are, additionally, easily triggered by imagery) and tag them. We should be aware of very obvious triggers, that are, again, easily set off by imagery, like blood, eye trauma, and depictions of domestic violence. And we should always read and be aware of our writing partners' stated triggers so that we can tag them appropriately or even decide that it isn't going to work because our muse, canon story, or interests are going to present an unfair situation in this partnership.

But triggers can be highly unusual, as well as activated differently (even at different times) for everyone. I'm not triggered by seeing hotel rooms in pictures or movies, I'm not triggered by writing scenes that take place in them, but I'm triggered to some degree by being in one. It's outrageous oversimplification to act like all triggers are the same, they all display the same way, they're all going to trigger someone on the same basis, everyone's going to react the same to their triggers. There is absolutely no way to prevent 100% of possible triggers for 100% of the population, 100% of the time.

Add to this that way too many people trivialize triggers by throwing around that term to justify the banning of something that makes them uncomfortable or that they take a personal, moral issue with. "I don't like this" and "I'm grossed out by this" and "this makes me feel uncomfortable" is not being triggered. It's just a good way to weaponize the better nature of other people so that they comply.

Most people legitimately do not want to trigger someone, especially if they have triggers and know what it's like. Just like no one wants to be accused of cruelty towards trauma survivors in general, or be designated a pedo, rape apologist, or fascist. They're all things to weaponize in order to isolate, shame, and control. And that's really fucking gross. These are serious, real things that have no business being trivialized to police content, win internet arguments, or garner popularity.

The potential for someone to be triggered isn't a reason to ban anything; we have tags, we have blacklist.

While I'll be the first to say that tumblr's blacklisting can be as shitty as everything else on the site, the primary issue with running into content you don't want to see comes down to two factors: no one tagging/tagging correctly and actively exposing yourself to that content. Going through people's properly done tags and blog warnings about their content in order to "call it out" is actively exposing yourself by choice. You actual walnuts.

Calling people on on their "problematic" content is bringing those topics to the attention of other people. That's the whole point of this gross behavior: look at the freak pedo abuse apologist I found, they write dubcon!! Don't look if you'll be triggered uwu

Buddy, pal, my guy...you just put that on blast for anyone to run across. Maybe their blacklist catches those words in your callout post, maybe it doesn't. Maybe they think you're a safe space because you promote yourself that way, so they click it anyway. Point is, you just willfully and irresponsibly exposed people because it's more important to you to demonize a rando on tumblr RPing something you take issue with. Good job!

Furthermore, dubcon itself is such a hilarious issue to take. Do they realize that isn't always sexual, or? Not? I'm thinking not. Funnily enough, one of the oldest posts I've been working on for this blog is about exactly this topic, the myriad situations that are dubious consent. That doesn't have to be sexual, and neither does it have to be intentionally predatory. You can come up with some amazing character development with a lot of muses in the RPC with dubcon because almost everyone's muse has some manner of trauma that might negate their perception of their own consent...and what do you do then? Is it removing more agency from that muse to shut them down, or is that always the better option? Can you separate your opinion as the mun from your muse's natural reactions? How does this impact the muses involved not just that moment but the next year?

Point is, dubcon isn't always some rapey situation. Even if it was, even if someone is writing it that way, it's literally not your business or your problem.

There's one mutual-in-law on my RP blog that really bothers me. They write things that I find fetishizing, incredibly rapey, all around shit that bothers me. I don't want to see it, some of the things they write makes my damn skin crawl. This person doesn't know it, we certainly don't speak and I don't think they like me very much, but I've repeatedly defended their right, specifically their right as a person with some long-term callouts on them, to write what they want to. I have them blocked and their urls blacklisted so I never have to see my mutual reblogging their threads. It's not a problem because I don't click "show anyway." Why would I, if it genuinely bothers me so much?

That's how you handle things that bother you; you use the tools available to not interact even by accident. Not by launching a morality crusade.

If any of us want to write what we enjoy, we have to allow others that same freedom. It's always a matter of time before this policing grows to include more and more topics, it's been used multiple times to get well-meaning people who don't fall into the general demographics to police queer, BIPOC, and other marginalized groups off of platforms. We've been fortunate in most of the RPC that it implodes on itself before it gets all the way there, but even so, you can see it.

It starts with things that produce a visceral reaction in the great majority of people, positions this with a repeatedly condemned idea presented as solid fact that fiction is reality, and you've got the start of something awful. Today it's something you don't like, maybe even something that triggers you, so you either support it or you quietly allow it to happen. Who needs to write that "freak shit" anyway, can't they just be gross privately? Six months from now, it's something "problematic" that you enjoy like violence that's canon-typical for your muse, or your OTP because they're gay and that's fetishizing, they're cis male and female but one or both is bi and that's bad representation, or they canonically have a rocky relationship so that's romanticizing toxic/abusive relationships.

If you can't care for any other reason, you really should care about how it is going to impact you sooner or later. In an environment like this, you can stay in your space, put warnings on your blog, and tag properly and you're still going to get a callout if the wrong person finds your blog. Just takes a single person with more time, energy, and skewed ideas of justice than they have reading comprehension or common sense.

Again, I cannot encourage people enough to give warnings, but it's difficult to ignore why those warnings are slipping; they're a way to be found, designated as a Problem, and called out. Look, it's another reason why callouts actually make things worse, not better! People put that shit in their rules so you can avoid content, they're being responsible and interested in promoting a safe RPC. Let them do it, damn.

You can't tag everything, and if you've never experienced what a giant series of repetitive tags is like on a screenreader you probably should before you tag seven paragraphs of possible issues. You can tag for visuals, you can tag for the obvious things, and you can tag for what's in the rules you agreed to when you followed/followed back. But you should also warn people that you write "dark topics" on the tin, and expand on that in your rules for specific things like graphic violence, toxic relationships, dubon, and addiction.

That's how responsible adults, not over-aged children, make better decisions about their mental health and general comfort. Not by appointing themselves the watchdogs of the damn RPC, here to protect you whether you want to be or not, find that incredibly insulting or not when you're in one of their categories of people who must be protected, by forcibly banning Problematic Everything. Problematic, of course, being entirely in the eye of the content police.

It's fiction. No one and nothing real was harmed. It's great that you are so invested in the fictional world and people that make you happy, but take a fucking big step back into reality. The real people you're harming with your bullshit had every right to peaceably exist. If what they're writing is triggering to you, stay. away. from. it.

Without any coincidence whatsoever, that's how you get from the base-point of Problematic Material to Problematic Mun. Yeah, it's just fiction, it's just RP, but I also took something out of context OOC or was upset by their tone on their own blog or couldn't exercise the minimal adult logic to remove myself from their presence OOC as well. So, now, you've got OOC behavior being added to the callout, if it wasn't already. Everyone is now ableist, transphobic, racist, and a misogynist because it lends that visceral reaction to the callout and ups the game from just being "y'all so gross you aged up a cartoon character to ship" to "this is REAL and it won't be tolerated! OP is actually a pedophile, they told a sexual joke in a discord server with a minor present and I have the receipts!"

What are the most storied callouts in the entire RPC? I'm absolutely certain the same names came to mind no matter what fandoms you're in, and one of them was "Matt." Another was probably "Ares/Snow". They're all successful and keep being brought up out of the closet anytime people are bored enough because their primary punch is the mun themselves being a predatory threat to the community. The mun is verified to be a bad person. Well, of course, that's got to be repeated, it worked. (Even if it did not, at all, work and only made it harder for people to avoid any of these muns.)

Are there people in the RPC who are legitimately a problem? Absolutely, yes. We're all supposed to be adults, however. Part of being an adult is having and acting upon one's agency. If someone is coercing you into things you are not comfortable with, shut it down. If you have difficulties being certain of those situations, run it by a trusted, honest friend or available, impartial source in the RPC for a second opinion. If you can't handle any manner of confrontation, there really are situations in which it's perfectly alright to block someone without any discussion. It's just the internet, you're in control of your space. Own it.

Minors are a whole other can of fucked up worms I'm not even getting into right now except to say that because a minor exists in a space they were told to stay out of does not mean we ban all topics inappropriate for their consumption.

tl;dr: banning shit doesn't work anyway, the whole idea is predicated upon some incredibly problematic takes IRL, and no, there's no justification for it outside of intense personal problems with one's own importance. That energy would be infinitely better spent volunteering one's time to help real people in crisis or after surviving one, or even oneself in developing some healthier approaches and thought patterns.

[trashno0dle]

Okay so last night I came up with a Harry Potter AU - and honestly I actually hyped myself with it. But here we go- 

Set in the movies. Ginny-centric (I'm only just starting to get back into Harry Potter now for some reason, honestly I don't like to think about the books and the terf bitch who wrote them so let's just ignore that)

Basically Ginny's a lesbian. Yeah that's right, fuck Harry and let my girl get with Hermione. And that's exactly what she does in this AU. And instead of being tossed aside after Chamber of Secrets and brought back as a love interest for your typical hetero couple plotline during round about Half Blood Prince Ginny confesses her feelings towards Hermione. And Hermione being the bi queen she is says "lmao fuck Ron" and gets with his sister instead. The two had unresolved feelings for one another anyway, and I'm adding a lot more depth into this later on but yeah.

Then Deathly Hallows comes along. And then Ginny's lost when she finds out her girlfriend has disappeared along with her brother and his best friend. Hogwarts is hell. Death Eaters all over the castle, Slytherin reigns supreme. And Snape isn't taking any bullshit off anyone. And instead of backing down like she would have done, instead of quacking in the very presence of him Ginny steps up to defend her fellow students and their pride. She's leads the revolution of Gryffindor's in a fight against their superiors, she doesn't back down because unlike canon Ginny she's not there just for the sake of getting in a dumb hetero relationship with Harry (Harry and Ginny shippers don't @ me no hate towards the ship just complete hate towards she who must not be named for writing it the way she did) there's a lot more background to her character shining through here, how despite being under the influence of Tom Riddle she's never fully forgiven herself for what she did back in her first year, she's hurt, scared and lonely just as she was back then. And she knows Hermione hasn't abandoned her, she never would, but as the months draw on she starts losing hope. But never entirely. Ginny's scared, hurt and angry - angry about the way she and others are being treated. Her behaviour winds up getting her punished because revolution doesn't come without a price. 

Then the fateful day comes when the golden trio returns. And Hermione immediately rushes into Ginny's arms. Ginny's so unbelievably relieved that her girlfriend, her brother, and her friend are all safe. Hermione asks how Ginny was hurt due to her girlfriend having a few new marks and scars and Ginny tells her how terrible Hogwarts has become. Ginny admits she thought for a moment that Hermione ditched her, but she never fully lost hope that she'd return. Part of her had almost believed she was dead. The two girlfriends share a heartfelt moment and they share a passionate kiss, not before Ron bursts in, uncomfortable at first before he tells them that Harry is confronting Snape. It's there they witness Snape's defeat. And then when news comes out that Voldemort and the Death Eaters are moving against Hogwarts the school prepares for battle. 

Instead of Hermione and Ron going down to the chamber it's Hermione and Ginny. Ginny facing her trauma once more. There's a brief moment of Ginny breaking down but Hermione reassures her it was never her fault and it's all in the past. We never got to see Ginny talk about what happened in her first year because it was just brushed aside like it never happened and her facing absolutely no fear or anxiety towards it is unrealistic and we deserved a little more insight to how Ginny handled it. Anyway, the two get the basilisk fang and Ginny leaves, looking back once more before putting her past behind her once and for all. And so the battle goes on as normal. Harry "dying" and all. Y'know for this AU I won't make Draco an asshole and I'll give him a shot at redemption. He doesn't join the Death Eaters side and he's relieved when Harry stands against Voldemort once again. Drarry? Hmm- up to interpretation I guess.

And when Bellatrix corners Ginny it's not Molly but Hermione who steps in, facing her trauma as well, slightly bitter about the torture Bellatrix puts her through. So you can expect a, “not my girlfriend you bitch!” As Hermione and the crazy bitch duel, thus resulting in Bellatrix's demise. No regret here folks, that crazy bitch deserved it alright. And so Harry kills Voldemort and the Death Eaters flee. I was debating whether or not Fred should still die or not and I didn't want to differate from canon as much as I already have, unfortunately Fred dies during the battle as usual. The Weasley family grieves, each of them distraught. George is destroyed by the loss of his twin brother. Hermione watches from the side with Harry as the Weasley family embrace one another.

About 6 months later Ginny finishes up her last year at Hogwarts, moves in a nice house on the outskirts of London with Hermione and the two live together like that for a couple of years before finally getting engaged, getting a cat (because all wlw couples need cats) no more Voldemort, no more drama, just them. And that's all Ginny really needs. 

Oh, and they also adopt a kid too. Felicia Granger-Weasley who's a trans girl who just so happens to be Harry and Draco's nonbinary kid Robin's best friend. Because trans women are women, trans men are men and you better fucking respect nonbinary people's identities and pronouns or Ginny and Hermione are going to come bust your kneecaps.

Yes. I wrote this much just to explain my AU where nothing really changes except Ginny's badass and a lesbian, Hermione's bi, they're a couple, Harry and Draco are also a couple at this point and Ron's a lonely little shit.

Point is it's better than what lord terfemort made up in the end and I think my versions better if I do say so myself. I know that's bold of me to say but at this point who cares :/ ekshskshsks

[spookyc]

I sure do!!

Well then, I shall divulge.

So, in my talentswap Kiyo is the protagonist as he is the ultimate detective. Originally this was just because I thought it fit but I definitely have more of a definite reason as to why I chose him for the ultimate detective. So a big thing I wanna do with this au, is to give more of the unpopular characters a spotlight, this can be seen with the main central group of the game, Kiyo as the ultimate detective, Tenko as the ultimate astronaut, and Angie as the ultimate child caretaker/assassin. (Which, yeah, It's kinda funny how these three ended up being the main trio considering what happened with them in canon) And when I played v3 I always thought Kiyo was super interesting, not only his talent but also his entire personality. It was so unlike what you would expect from the typical dr cast, I mean the creepy guy of the cast isn't the main antagonist? It was so different and it drew me towards his character, and I even indulged in a few of his free times which were always super fun just because I learned something new with each one.

And then, well, chapter 3 happened. I don't believe I have to explain what happened with that. I remember being kinda bummed out, I mean, the creepy weirdo just ended up being a creepy weirdo, a creepy weirdo who was abused by his shitty sister, but a creepy weirdo nonetheless. Didn't help that I have a brother that I'm decently close with; the entire thing just made me very uncomfortable. So I figured it would be super interesting to go through a story with Kiyo's lenses, to understand why he believes the things that he does and to give him a second chance, in a way.

Also when I really sat down and thought about it, it made a lot of sense to me. Like, in this au I want to keep their backstories intact, (for the most part) and I also wanna keep the fact that they were originally pursuing their canon talents until an event happens that changes their mind. So originally Kiyo was still gonna go for the anthropolgy route, but on one of his vacations, he happened upon a murder case. In the beginning he planned to just observe how the scene would play out, but because he's so attuned with people, he ends up finding out the killer and has him arrested. After this he becomes fascinated with criminals, about their ideologies, their psychology, the history behind past criminals. And so he then redirects his path towards that of a detective, perhaps partially out of a sense of justice, but mainly out of a morbid curiosity to see, "how far the depths of humanity can go."

I also noticed how in the canon story Kiyo often likes to observe others and sorta likes to stay neutral on most topics and I feel this would really benefit him as a detective. But yeah! That's essentially the reason I decided to make him the ultimate detective but let's dive into more of his background and how he grows throughout the story.

So, let's just go ahead and get this out the way. The sister issue. Now, as I stated before, I have a brother I'm close with myself so the entire incestuous relationship with Kiyo and his sister makes me deeply uncomfortable. So I'm sorta divided on two options. 1. I could eradicate sister from Kiyo's story completely and pretend she never existed. Or 2. I keep sister but simply change the form of abuse she inflicts on Kiyo. I'm leaning more towards the second option as this way I'm not just neglecting the abuse Kiyo went through, but I also don't have to make myself uncomfortable by acknowledging the incest stuff.

Anyway! Moving on to the more exciting stuff. So, I still want to have Kiyo involved with the occult, or at least he used to be. See, possibly a year or two ago, (and possibly in regards to sister's death but I'm undecided on that) Kiyo performs a ritual that goes horribly wrong. And the result of this ritual enables Kiyo to see and hear the spirits of the departed. And while at first it was intriguing, it soon became annoying at best and mentally draining at worst. It's simply a fact of life he has to deal with, and due to this power he can see and hear the ghosts of his dead classmates throughout the story. Which is both a blessing and a curse.

Now, as for his development throughout the story, here's what I'm thinking. Now, Kiyo doesn't really have many confidence issues, he's proud in his line of work and he's unapologetic about his beliefs and such. And I wouldn't really wanna repeat Shuichi's storyline anyway. So, for this au, I think Kiyo's arc throughout the game will be learning to trust and gain acceptance amongst people he loves. Rather than the twisted perception of love that Kiyo gives off in canon, I'd want Kiyo's result from sister's abuse to be that no one loves him and no one ever will.

He then begins to believe that love doesn't exist, and not just romantic love, but any kind of love. But rather than grow depressed by this fact, Kiyo uses it as a way to uplift himself. Telling himself that he doesn't need love and that he's perfectly fine being alone. To put it bluntly he's basically just coping from the abuse, trying to use it as shield to protect himself when in reality it's just a sword pointed at himself. But then again, what reason would he have for not believing this? This very concept is what's made him such a great detective.

He doesn't take sides because he can't understand the reasoning behind either side, not in an emotional way anyway. And even though he's incredibly successful in his work, there's a part of him deep down that is terribly lonely. A part of him that longs for company, a part of him that wishes he knew why hatred always burns in the eyes of those he arrests. And it isn't until he's kidnapped and taken to the Ultimate Academy that he finally has to acknowledge this part of himself. This starts with his relationship with Tenko.

Which, as you might expect, doesn't start too well. Tenko of course still has her "degenerate male philosophy" (though after chapter 1 this part of her becomes severely toned down and we get to see what her actual character is like sorta like what canon should have done before chapter 3) but Tsumugi, (ultimate pianist) accompanies Kiyo for a lot of chapter 1 and this sort of slowly warms Tenko up to Kiyo. After chapter 1 tho, when Kiyo flawlessly solves the first case, Tenko sees how useful Kiyo is and grows a sort of begrudging respect for him. After the trial she congratulates him on a job well done and Kiyo appreciates the gesture, obviously being able to tell that it wasn't something she was particularly ecstatic to do. Chapter 2 comes around and if you read my ask about Maki (ultimate artist) , you know this is when she starts spreading the "rumor" that Angie is an assassin.

Kiyo initially doesn't buy this at all, because even though he's exceptionally good at reading people, Angie is a total blank for him, so he can't really confirm or deny the rumors. What he does notice, though, is that Tenko seems to he strangely angry at these rumors, growing visibily distressed whenever Maki brings them up. He doesn't really get it, seeing as though he's only seen the two talking a handful of times, but he brushes it off but he doesn't get involved with people's personal bis. Until Tenko comes to him. He's surprised to see her and even more surprised to see the angry expression on her face.

She tells him that they can't keep letting this go on. He asks what and she responds with the rumors. He agrees that the rumors have gotten out of hand but he asks her what she wants him to do about it. She tells him that he is the only one that the others will believe. And he's like, fair enough, but why do you care so much. And she responds saying, "Because I have her motive video." Kiyo is shocked by this info and asks why she can't just tell them herself. And she says that, "Well, because the rumors are true, she is the ultimate assassin."

Kiyo is again flabbergasted and asks Tenko if she intends on him lying and she says yes. He asks her why, in the most sincerest tone, truly not understanding why anyone would go this far to lie about someone they hardly know, Tenko responds. "Because something isn't right, Monokuma has to be playing some trick, there's no way Angie is capable of murder." Kiyo still doesn't understand, but seeing the fierce determination in her eyes, he knows he won't be able to refuse her offer. And so he agrees that tomorrow he will do his best to dispel the rumors about Angie and convince everyone that she isn't an assassin. And then, the very next day, another body is discovered.

Immediately the opportunity to clear the air is gone in the mass confusion. And it's not long after that everyone begins to pin their blame on Angie. So, Tenko approaches Kiyo again asking if she can accompany Kiyo on his investigation, but only on the basis of defending Angie. Kiyo, who isn't used to working with others, hesitantly agrees and the two form a reluctant partnership. Kiyo initially plans to work on his own but after Tenko finds a few vital pieces of evidence he grows more accustomed to her presence and the two actually bond quite a bit, although they don't admit it.

Eventually the investigation ends and the two head to the trial together, convinced that Angie isn't the killer. Of course the main lie of this trial is that Angie is not the ultimate assassin, the only real thing that was pinning her to this case. After that is cleared up, Kiyo, along with some help from Tenko, solve the case. All is well and good with the world it seems, until Maki speaks up. She asks Monokuma to show Angie's motive video, just to be 100% sure that she isn't the ultimate assassin.

Immediately Tenko retorts, saying that they already cleared up that she wasn't but Maki replies.

"Well, if you're so sure that Angie isn't an assassin, then you should have no problem with me showing this right?"

"Unless, you know something we don't?"

The others agree with Maki and demand that the motive video be shown. Tenko looks to Kiyo, demanding he do something but Kiyo shakes his head. "They're too far gone now." Tenko clenches her fists, but doesn't say another word. With a grin of pure malice, Maki tells Monokuma to show the video and he complies, if a bit reluctantly due to Maki's tone. The video plays and the truth is revealed, Angie is the ultimate assassin.

After the video the students erupt into an uproar, angrily turning towards Tenko and Kiyo and demanding why they lied. Tenko responds that if they hadn't lied, the rest of the students would have gotten them killed. They also turn on Kiyo, asking why a detective would lie. He responds saying it was the only way to get to the truth. He also adds that Angie being an assassin had nothing to with this case, they already determined the true killer.

But despite their statements many of the students are still outraged as they mount the elevator. They also notice Angie is not with them, as she seems to have disappeared during the chaos. Two individuals however observe the scene with twisted glee, Maki and Kiibo (ultimate supreme leader). After everyone gets off the elevator, Tenko approaches Kiyo. She thanks him for standing up for Angie, and this time she actually sounds genuine. She then admits that maybe he's different than the other degenerate males and that he's not so bad. Kiyo accepts the sort of compliment and Tenko walks off.

And for the first time Kiyo feels happy. Now he's felt satisfaction after a solved case and even sometimes felt contentment but, he can't remember the last time he felt happy. The last he felt like he belonged. And after this the two from a solid friendship, one that will carry them throughout the entire game and Angie joins the squad too and as much as I'd love to get into their relationship this post is far too long already and I wouldn't wanna waste anymore of your time. But! I hope this was enjoyable at the very least.

I really enjoy getting these asks because they always help me to flesh out the story and the characters and they're always super fun to write so if you ever wanna know about any of the other characters, don't hesitate to ask. Thanks for the ask!

[stormguard798]

Jonnor: the storyline, the ending and my personal thoughts- a barely coherent rant.

To be frank, I heard about Lena and Stef Adams-Foster and Jonnor far before I even started watching the show. They had been touted as someone of the most influential lesbian and gay characters on television period, and eventually, I needed to see why for myself.

I could spend a whole other post espousing on what the creators did right with Stef and Lena, but that’s not what I’m here for. For most of Season 1, we’re introduced to Jude and Connor as friends, and honestly, we don’t get much of an inkling that they might end up being anything more than that until the very last episode. (Whilst I deem the Ouija board the cutest moment between the two of them - and yes, I believe that Connor did intentionally move that marker thing so that Jude would have closure with regards to his adoption - it felt like more of a friendship thing than anything else.)

And in Season 2, the awkward tension between the two on the ‘are we more than friends’ side of things, and while the whole parent forbidding it and literal instant teenage rebellion is pretty cut and dry, I feel the tension ended up being quite palpable and engaging, despite there not being very much of it. And I must say, I truly loved the last 2 episodes in handling both Jude and Connor’s coming out and getting together. (And let’s be perfectly blunt here, up until this point at least, Jude’s game is WAY stronger than everyone else’s.

But as we hit Season 3, I feel just a little bit disappointed - it’s as if the entirety of the honeymoon phase of the relationship happened completely off-camera. Whilst Jude’s entire turmoil with labels raises an important issue concerning the whole LGBTQIA+ community in general, I don’t feel like there was much showcasing of the relationship as a whole. (Side note here: please don’t ever out someone on their behalf. In my mind, that’s like Cardinal Sin No. 1) In a season filled with all the Callie/Brendan drama, the Mat and Mariana nonsense, and honestly whatever the hell Jesus is doing, is it too much to showcase a functioning relationship for once? It feels like the creators spent so long setting up for this relationship, only to show so little of it.

And now the breakup. Oh boy. I’ve never been in a relationship myself, but you’d think that after they’ve reached the ‘I love you’ stage in the relationship (which, given what they’ve already been through together, with Connor shoving Jude away and getting shot, is not that far-fetched to think about), they’d at least try a little…harder? I guess maybe with the sext Jude realises that he doesn’t actually view Connor in that way, or that he doesn’t want to think about things like that at this point, I’m not entirely sure. Either way, I don’t think that the 2 would be stubborn enough to not at least talk about how to make each other feel comfortable.

Or maybe they are: after all they did spend more than a year playing the blame game, avoiding each other instead of talking about they feel. Entirely to stereotype here: is this just a guy thing? Who the heck knows. Anyway, Jude feels sad that Connor doesn’t come down to San Diego to visit (weird that, it’s like he’s trying to avoid his sort-of homophobic, not accepting dad that he moved to get away from in the first place. Oh wait.) nor does he understand why Connor is immersing himself in all these activities in school (it sounds like he’s trying to ‘lay down some roots’ as Principal Sanchez said back in S1 and fit in within a completely new school as an out gay kid. Oh wait.). And Connor, the sweet, sweet child that he is, does nothing to defend himself or try and work things out. Just like that, a relationship that has been developing that had been developing for multiple season is broken up with the fanfare and drama of a dying mosquito.

Disclaimer here: I’ve stopped watching after the S3 finale at least for now based on just how upset I am with how the entire Jonnor relationship was handled as a whole. Maybe I should give a little more leeway to both Jude and Connor, for whom this is their first relationship, but considering how close they were, I’d expect them to try to at least fight for their friendship, if not their relationship. (Again, the sad lonely person in me has no idea if being friends with an ex makes any sense, but as Jude rightly pointed out, they were friends first.) What they’ve been through together is a lot to take on for anyone who’s still in middle school, and I find it incredibly strange that they wouldn’t even try to preserve anything of what they had. Maybe they decided that thisbeing the first relationship, they were bound to hit a lot of roadblocks, that it was incredibly unlikely they were going to find ‘the one’ on the very first try, but it’s not as if they don’t care deeply for each other. Cause they clearly do. As a third-culture kid, I find that whilst you do absolutely have to put in work to maintain a relationship, it’s definitely possible and worthwhile to do, but only if both parties are willing to put in the effort. Even in the very last episode, Jude is still questioning his sexuality, wondering that if he  does like guys or if he only liked Connor, showing the depth of if not romantic then platonic feelings they have for each other. And having such a pathetic breakup doesn’t do the relationship as a whole any justice.

And while we’re at it, can we just address the shallowness of Connor’s character as a whole? Besides mainly being touted as Jude’s love interest, (because at least from what I recall, he always shows up in reference to Jude) the only other facet to his character is that he’s really scared of coming out to his homophobic dad. Though it’s not to say the story of being out to parents who aren’t always the most supportive is not an important storyline, it’s also one that gets used a lot. Connor is a student-athlete, who besides an avid interest in sports, shows immense interest in other activities that are typically seen as stereotypically male. (Not that there ever should be stereotypically male things, but eh. You catch my drift. I hope) I  believe that the storyline of an out athlete trying to navigate the mire that is middle and high school sports would be incredibly fresh and engaging (especially considering Connor’s age and the working out of his identity), but I guess that not everyone feels that way? Either way, I feel a little bit robbed.

Now let’s have a brief discussion of what Jude actually represents. Simply put, he isn’t someone who is afraid to be themselves, to put on nail polish simply because he likes it, to start dating a guy simply because he likes him and be curious and thoughtful about working out who he is. Jude’s constant struggle of trying to work out how to organise his identity is something that I must imagine every LGBTQIA+ person has had in their lifetime, and ultimately his desire to not pretend to be someone that he’s not is something that we can all appreciate, such as his kissing of Taylor in the season finale to work out whom he’s attracted to. While I can guarantee that not a single person’s journey of self-discovery will be the same, the example of someone who is given the freedom to explore who they are and not be ashamed nor embarrassed about it is the shining hallmark of what everyone’s journeys should be like. And if it does end up with Jude being written as someone who’s bi or pan or just not straight in general, that’s a storyline that I can absolutely accept and respect.

As so amply demonstrated by Jude’s attempting to find online gay porn, the discussion of any kind of relationship or exploration of any sexuality or gender identity that isn’t a cis-straight one is completely undiscussed. I know at least for myself, that meant I experienced a lot of guilt and shame in trying to parse through who I was and whom I liked because the entire thing felt illicit. Like it was blatantly wrong. That because no one else talked about, I felt completely alone in the endeavour. And I must imagine that’s an experience that is certainly not unique to me. That is why I was so looking forward to a functional, relatable young gay couple, and I think my disappointment by how Jonnor panned out is perhaps seriously influencing how I’m viewing the whole breakup. (Cause seriously, the only other canon couple I could get behind is Coldray, which had negligible screen time - though that’s for another rant.) And judging from the general discourse on the internet, I think I’m not the only one who feels generally upset by how Jonnor ended. Either way, it’s not for me to decide, and I hear that Jude finds a new relationship in Season 4. Though I certainly don’t think that it’ll be nearly as wholesome and simple and just heart-warming as Jonnor was.

Ultimately, being the purveyor of fanfiction that I am, and given how generally dissatisfied I am with how the break-up went, I 100% plan on coming up with some canon-extension fanfic to explore what might happen if Connor and Jude did end up meeting again when they were older, when they’ve gone through a few more relationships to decide what they’re  looking for and what a relationship should be like, and see what might happen then. Honestly, I have absolutely zero clue where it’s going to end up going. But I do think it’ll give me the kind of closure that I’m looking for, and that’s okay. And for those are satisfied with how Jonnor ended, and who are very happy with how Joah (I refuse to call it Nude XD) turn out, and Jude’s character as a whole turn out, I absolutely respect that. Cause ultimately these are all fictional characters, and they should be treated as such.

Happy pride everybody. May you too be able to be yourself.

[crqstalite]

pt. 18, into the lion’s den, pt. 7 (bisauur && nadia)

so i kind of lied because in between these two chapters i made a new consular baby, and her name is bisauur! no, she and nadia aren’t together, because i intend to write bis with zenith (don’t kill me, i really, really like the few fics i can find with zenith/female jc), but i think they’re a cute pair as sisters :)

written: 10.5.19. word count: 4,029.

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character song: run boy run, woodkid

character file: bisauur & nadia grell, padawans to naji iresso

-

bisauur has met quite a few interesting characters since she joined the crew of the defender class starship, the polaris. something the young miraluka jedi still isn't yet over, as everything is still so new. without eyes, using the force to become familiar with her new surroundings is fascinating work. from seeing how the ship's gears fit together, how the engines whir at night as she slips off into sleep. sometimes she still runs into a wall or two because of all the years she spent in the temple, but the warm, familial energy that courses through those of the crew makes it easy to laugh it off, no matter who passes by.

qyzen is an interesting character. someone who kills for sport is an interesting idea, if not also rather morbid when matched up against the jedi code. the trandoshan doesn't offend her though, and she's accompanied him on a few hunts over the three years she's been on the ship. he's good to keep conversation with, even thought it took her a while to fully grasp the guttural language. he doesn't ever mind when she speaks in basic, but he and naji were proud once she managed to figure it out.

tharan and holiday are also two very interesting characters. tharan's scientist background makes him an exciting person to talk to as she learns about chemicals and the such. he's taken her to see the stars many times over when they land on certain planets, and her favorite so far has been the cool air of alderaan. holiday is a darling, but she has a hard time sensing when she's near her, lacking a force signature holiday tends to be a surprise in the darkness. the woman (or hologram, as bisauur has had to learn) is still kind though, and apologizes when she does startle her.

zenith confuses her more often than not. bisauur typically doesn't agree with his methods of getting things done, but she has learned the apparently very helpful skill of sharpshooting. or at least, can aim without shooting herself in the foot. the polaris' crew seemed surprised when they came back off of balmorra with zenith chuckling as she slipped the rifle off from around her shoulder. she enjoys the twi'lek companionship, and the things he can teach her in the art of war. he and tharan tend to ask quite a few questions about how a miraluka can really see, but she counters with how eyes work and why they work. that shuts zenith down, but tharan is still firing back with answers.

lieutenant felix iresso is still a bit of a mystery to her. naji mentioned something rather odd occurring to the man years before they'd met, but his force signature is kind and warm. he often smiles, and like zenith, is talented with weapons of the long-range kind. as much as naji doesn't want her to know (or possibly she knows bisauur knows), a large portion of his force signature is tied with hers. as forbidden as it, they make an adorable pair together, and fight well side by side. he was the one who taught her basics of piloting, though she's confined to the co-pilot's chair indefinitely.

nadia makes her smile in a special kind of way. the others are years upon years older than both of them (nadia is still only 24, and bis is only just catching up to her now), and it's like having the sister she'd always wished for. though there's a clear cultural seperation between the two, they're happy to spend their days together and learn side by side as the world twists and changes around them. nadia teaches her about the world outside the temple, and in return, bisauur teaches her of the more advanced force abilities she posesses.

in all, bisauur is rather happy with her new station on the polaris, and the others have accepted her wholeheartedly so far. though they've been through so much more with naji than she has (she only joined them while naji was stationed on corellia, fighting the first son. a terrifying expedition for a brand new padawan, she was confined to the polaris), the woman treats her as a daughter nearly. given, only a year or two seperates them, but as kind and as sweet as she is, bis wonders if this is what it's like to have a mother. everyone else on the ship she'd assume has a mother, no matter how fractured their relationship might've been. bisauur has none to remember, or even try to remember because her records seem to have been erased. it's a sad and disturbing thought, but she reassures herself because the council must've had a good reason.

the way the force flows around her without her even trying as she sits across from nadia leaves her bored while they both attempt to meditate in the medbay without dissolving into giggles and gossip as they always do. it's rather hard, even if both young women are trained properly in the force. they're simply too good of friends to be trusted to carry out naji's lessons by themselves, and it seems nadia's edging on forgoing it as well as her concentration wavers. something's troubling her, and bisauur just barely opens her mouth to ask what has her force signature all frazzled when the datacron they've been levitating together drops to the ground and she takes her head in her hands, crying out in pain. "nadia!" bisauur cries, shuffling over to her on her knees to take the pained girl into her arms, "nadia, what's wrong?"

the initial pain doesn't pass as quickly as bisauur would've hoped, as tears flush the pale girl's face, a ghastly shiver falling over her body as she holds her tight. once it seems to, her force signature and breathing pattern drop considerably, not quite relaxed but better than it once was as bisauur allows her to recollect herself. this is rather odd, what's gone on that has nadia in such a fit? she'd never seen her like this before, and that concerns her, "nadia?" she whispers, trying to scare her any further, "nadia, are you alright?"

"i-it felt like...l-like i was being shocked!" nadia tries to explain, stumbling over her words as she stumbles to her feet. her eyes are bloodshot, as if some invisible force really has sent volts of lightning through her body. furiously wiping away tears, the girl dashes out of the med bay and because she can hear it, stomps up the stairs as fear leaves whispers imprinted on her aura.

"nadia! wait!" forgoing her own shoes, bisauur collects the datacron and hurries up the stairs to the flight deck to follow after her. what could've caused such a sensation to rip through her body like that, especially without any other interference? looking down at the datacron, she wonders if possibly what she found inside could've caused something like that to happen. bisauur hasn't actually gone poking around in one for a long while, so she's afraid for her friend.

however, her thoughts get the better of her once she reaches the landing, so much so she runs headfirst into zenith, who she quickly apologizes to before rushing into the common area, where nadia's fingers are dashing across the holoterminal's buttons. "wait a moment, nadia. what are you doing?"

"trying to contact naji. the only other reason i can figure i would've felt that is if naji was in a similar state of pain." nadia nips at her bottom lip for a moment as her fingers still, poised above the controls, "you don't think she's died, do you?"

bisauur tries to comfort her in the best way she knows how as her own worry pierces her heart. she's forgotten that she and naji had an amazingly strong bond between the two of them, and just the thought that their master might be in some serious trouble causes her to frown as well. the way that nadia described it, she's terrified the woman might've encountered a sith. they're the only force users that could've overpowered her, and got her guard down so far that whatever shield she should've had present would've failed. twirling a strand of grey blue hair, she pulls nadia's hands away from the console, "i doubt she would fall to such a force, nadia. and remember, she specifically told us not to contact her while she was planet-side."

nadia seems conflicted as her eyes refocus on her fellow padawan. "but what if she's in trouble and really needs help?"

"then i'm sure she or the lieutenant will contact us when they are safely out of harm's way. but for now all we can do is wait." she responds as nadia's gaze drops from her's to the ground. "whatever happened, we both know the lieutenant would put his life on the line for her. there's no way they wouldn't come back without the other."

"i guess you're right." nadia mumbles, sniffling away any tears that remained, as bisauur brushes away the few that escaped her bare knuckles, "it's just that our force bond had never responded to pain like that before. i really hope she's okay."

"you and me both." she says, as the ship shudders under her stress. just enough for only her to truly notice, before nadia squeezes her hand in hers. nadia's own calming heartbeat allows her to breathe again,

"i felt that. it's not so horrible to be scared, bis, as long as you channel it correctly." nadia's trying to be brave, repeating nearly exactly what naji had told her the first time the polaris had been attacked and the ship sustained more damage from her own anxiety than the oncoming ship. "we can be scared together."

"we heard screaming, is everything alright?" holiday asks as they both hear footsteps behind them, finding not only zenith (her face heats once she realizes just how hard she ran into him), but tharan and the aforementioned hologram (she can only tell because of her voice and as friendly as she is with her, a shiver runs down her spine because she can't tell where she's projecting herself) as well.

"we were only startled a bit, is all." bisauur responds as she reaches out in the force foolishly to find the projection or listen closer for when she speaks again before she turns her tone serious, "have any of you heard anything from naji or the lieutenant?"

"not lately, no. now that i think about it..." zenith trails off in thought, "usually they check in around dinnertime. it is rather late, isn't it?" his force signature is flooded with concern, as is tharan's. she wonders if qyzen has left on another hunt, as his signature is nowhere to be found among the group that had come to find them. "you think they ran into trouble?"

nadia only nods and tharan frowns. "our fair naji surely must be caught up with something. there must be no reason to panic just yet." the reassurance doesn't help too much, as tharan must've seen her instinctively frown, "i'm sure it's nothing serious. she'll be back to tell us her adventures when she and the lieutenant return."

"sith aren't exactly known to be the merciless type." nadia frets, clasping bis' hand in her own in terror, "what if someone found them out?"

"i'm sure whatever trouble they ran into, they can handle themselves. lieutenant iresso is rather protective of naji, he wouldn't let her get hurt." bisauur's nerves are on end as the hairs on the back of neck stand up straight, holiday's voice having moved from in front of her to behind her now. "we'll just wait a little longer until they check in again. they're supposed to come back soon, aren't they?"

"after they gather enough information about that sith they were hunting, we're supposed to extract them." zenith finishes. a tad bit of annoyance enters his aura, possibly from the mention of said sith. "shouldn't be too much longer."

even though they're all aware they're talking about the barsen'thor of the jedi order, they're all on edge when the seperate to go to sleep and no message comes to the polaris. it's late, and no one should be up worrying about the pair. but, tharan stays up tinkering, zenith is doing something other than sleeping obviously, and qyzen has yet to return.

she and nadia dress almost silently as they go off to their own bunks before bisauur beckons her over to her own bunk instead, not wanting to be alone for the night without the others also sleeping in the crew quarters. nadia pauses, but quickly dashes over and snuggles into the blankets beside her. has it always been this cold without her fellow padawan, she wonders as nadia warms her. she hadn't expected to feel so alone without her master, but still surrounded by the other occupants of the ship. even though she can't truly see nadia, she still smiles as senses the other girl roll over to look over at her. "she'll come back, she has to come back. she wouldn't leave us alone, and you're right. i would know if she was dead."

"that sounds about right." bisauur whispers, rearranging her hair so it can lay freely behind her instead of over her eye covering, "she's still out there."

nadia's force aura is clouded over with fear at first, before her resolve shines through. "she's naji iresso. no one could kill her that easily." bisauur grins, before nadia's warm hand presses against her cheek to turn her head just a bit. her warm lips press a kiss against left cheek, then she snuggles her head into the crook of her neck. a bit startled, she returns the favor by lifting her bangs and kissing her forehead playfully as nadia giggles. "sorry, force of habit."

"with naji?" bisauur asks. it seemed she also treated nadia as more of a padawan than a sibling or lover, but bis has learned a lot since joining the polaris' crew.

"no, with my father. don't take it the wrong way, you're like the sister i never had, but i love you like family bis."

bisauur must've paused too long after she admits this odd fact, because nadia panics, "if that bothers you, i'm sorry! i should've asked first."

"no, it's quite alright, nadia. it's just...i've never had a sister before. i don't know what that's like, but i do believe i like your version of it." she hugs the girl tighter, nuzzling her head into her hair, "i love you as well, nadia."

"glad to hear it. good night, bi-sis."

"good night, nadia."

-

naji almost can't run fast enough through the crowd of sith to find felix. the other, much more dignified than she is now (all with shoes on, unlike her after she'd ditched them outside to run faster through the garden), all grunt and gossip in disapproval. usually, she'd care and hide within whatever garment she's wearing, but all that matters is getting through the court and finding felix, master delux or kira. and not run into the women that had just shocked her hard enough to cause her to still be twitching now. barely being able to hitch up her dress high enough to keep running, she nearly knocks over a drink or two on the tables she passes in panic, all the while still trying to pick out darth nox's force signature among the other sith. it grows colder and colder as her vision begins to black out nearly from pain but also from fear. nox had left some burns somewhere, one that the strap on her dress is brushing against with every step she takes, and a few others on her arms.

all naji wants is to find felix and get out of here.

thankfully, it doesn't take too long to get to the furthermost wall and retrace her steps to the ornate couch she'd been sitting on, fake nursing her ankle earlier in the evening. felix's force signature is giving off that's he's rather uncomfortable talking to the other man, but both of their eyes lift from one another once she just barely stabilizes herself against her husband, panting hard as her vision blurs. the pain is becoming too much to handle herself, and it sounds as if someone's stuffed wampa fur in her ears, as felix calls her name.

"what's with her, she drink too much?" the other man asks, cocking an eyebrow as she can barely make out his words.

naji beckons for felix to lean down a bit, their universal signal for that something's gone wrong and they can't talk about it in front of present company. once he does, she's barely able to whisper, "she's knows. get out." before she loses consciousness completely, slumping in his arms as he can barely keep her upright.

-

"what'd mier do to her?" andronikos (as he's learned the man's name after a night of his slightly drunken rambling) mutters under his breath as he stands to help felix, "gave her a run for her money, from the looks of it. your girl has a sharp tongue, huh?" he chuckles, as if it's an inside joke both of them should understand from their one-sided conversation they'd had that night. he whistles with clenched teeth, "burn marks? doesn't seem like something mier would do unprovoked."

felix isn't sure how to answer his pestering questions, but his eyes widen as he catches a glimpse of the burn marks adorning her porcelain skin, her blonde hair framing her face as strands stick to her sweaty forehead. gathering her up in his arms, he turns back to andronikos before departing out the opposite direction from where she'd run in, "it was nice meeting you and the darth, give her our regards!"

once he's out of earshot of any other sith and down a few halls, he lets his own fear flood his emotions. "by the stars, what did you do, naj?"

he's never been one to panic, and with his wife incapacitated he's not going to now. his first thought is getting back to their suite and letting her sleep off whatever happened for a couple of hours while he collects their things and contacts kiveqil and kira of the violent occurrence but quickly scratches that idea when he realizes whatever happened would cause darth nox to come looking for them. nothing would keep her from getting their suite location from any of the thul servants.

alright, screw that thought. first order of business is getting in contact with the polaris. he's not sure whether darth nox can track either of them, so his first thought is getting back to organa. but, there aren't any direct taxis from house thul to house organa, and if he asked for one some suspicion would immediatly be raised. and, the polaris would probably be shot down by anti-orbital canons as soon as it hit the surface if he called them down here. his best bet would be finding a speeder and riding that as far as he can towards organa.

it'd look suspicious if kiveqil and kira left nearly at the same time naji had bolted inside, most likely with a sith on her tail as well, so though 'communication was key', he figured giving it a bit of time before contacting them would serve them all well in not getting killed outright. setting her down gently on a couch far from the dance hall, he tries not to pace as the call rings the polaris. surprisingly, zenith is the first to pick up. "lieutenant. your check-in period passed hours ago."

"i know. look, plans failed and we need to get out of here now. how fast can you get here?" zenith must hear his frazzled thoughts through the holocom because he stands up just a tad straighter.

"something went awry?"

"you could say that." he tries to keep his fear out of his voice, but his eyes keep darting away to naji's slumped over form.

"we'll be there soon." zenith responds, and his pictures flickers away into darkness again. the sun has finally set outside and the moon seems to be on it's way to providing them with the moonlight needed to travel. picking her up again, he figures stealing a speeder would be faster than getting one from a droid because the preset location would surely be imperial controlled anyways. he's not sure how many credit chits he has on him right now, but thank the stars both of them kept their weapons on them and had arrived in this same outfit. nothing important would've been left in their suite.

finding one left unattended on the far side of the palace courtyard, he prays naji won't be mad at him later for getting her out safely. as lawful as they both are, she'll have to forgive him later as he sits her in front of him, one arm around her waist as he manages to get the struggling safety harness around both of them. revving the engine, they're off through the courtyard. thank the stars it's late, and they manage to make it into the snowdusted countryside without running anyone over.

the moonlight would be beautiful, if he wasn't noticing the burns on her exposed back. it only strengthens his resolve, as he promises to make whoever did this to her pay dearly for it.

-

"andronikos!" he's sat back down, bored without the soldier to talk at, and is considering getting another few champagnes from the servants walking around the ballroom (knowing full well if he got too drunk mier would smack the alcohol out of him). no one bothers talking to him, most likely because of who he is and what he looks like at the moment, but thats how he likes it. but, mierrio doesn't look exactly happy to see him as she stalks up to him, as he stands from his seat on the couch. "where is fess?"

"why're you looking for him?" he asks, and he's afraid if he was force sensitive, she'd burn him down or whatever it was they felt when others were angry around them. he was never very sure.

"the woman he was with was not a sith, andronikos. she's a jedi, and you let her go?!" andronikos doesn't particularily like being scared of his wife outside of the bedroom, but the murderous look in her eyes sets a different kind of fear in him. like second-hand fear, but worse. "i suppose i can't be angry with you, you wouldn't have known. however, i'm sure she wouldn't have come alone..." she trails off, fingering her saber staff in her hand. mierrio must've chased down the woman from the garden, as he can still see the evidence of leaves on the trail of lavender tulle behind her. "unless she had a death wish, but most jedi seem to have plenty of those these days. stay here, would you? i need to find lord x'ire."

"wait a second, would you?" andronikos asks, and mierrio whips around angrily.

"what? i don't have time for you right now."

well that stung in a way he didn't think it would, not after so many years, "hold on before you go off on your violent tyrade, babe. look." she rolls her eyes, before following his finger to a discarded holocom. her eyes widen, before it's replaced with a murderous smile, and she picks it up, looking at it curiously.

"why, you may be a genius and a half, nikky." she says sweetly, "i still need x'ire. he may be tied to all of this, iridonians still aren't commonplace among the sith. but, this holocom could get us more information than interrogating him could."

"does that mean you'll pay even a bit of attention to me now?" he asks slyly, and she rolls her eyes, before stepping on her toes to reach her mouth to his. she nips his bottom lip as he pulls her closer, though just a moment later she pushes him away, "really sith? just when things get exciting in this stuffy ballroom."

"i promise i'll make up for it later. but for now, i have a jedi to catch."

[jonkentdeservesbetter]

Okay okay okay okay okay.

I love this concept. It’s got my creative sparks flying and I just HAD to ramble!

So, the premise: the events of S2 were all caused by a mind-link dreamscape, which is why everything was so weird and so wrong.

There are things I really like about the original concept, and things I’d change if I were a Superman & Lois writer making S3. For instance, I would make it Clark, Jordan, Jon and Lois, JHI and Natalie, in the dream. I’d also probably go with the Black Mercy idea rather than Kryptonite, or some tech; similarly to the Dominator mindscape-tech.

We know that over the summer (between S1 & S2), JHI and Natalie left, and then Lois met with them, and they all returned to live at the Kent farm. Well, we never saw them INSIDE the house, right? My thoughts: when they entered, there was a trap that got them. Some instances of the dream are shared, but others only happen in one or two minds…

Additionally, the prison changed things—or at least, it felt like that to the characters. It made up the distant, cold and snappish Lois that they remembered over the summer. It made up Clark’s visions, and Lois actually being wrong about Ally and the Inverse Society, and it made Lucy insufferable.

It made up Candace, Jon’s girlfriend, since Tegan dropped him all over again.

It made up Sarah’s cheating, the idea having come from Jordan already learning she’s bi and his own insecurities about being able to keep her interested, and made him dream up a scenario where fake versions of his half-sister and brother would compare it to his own secrets, since to Jor, they’re similar.

It made up JHI’s injury, then moved on from it like it hardly happened. That’s why, when he gets another head injury, it was just fine.

But these are all just the tip of the iceberg!

Like, the source of the dreamscape is purposely praying on things that bring out strong emotions in each prisoner, as well as making them do things they never would: in typical Black Mercy fashion, it needs them to stay engaged and fueling the illusions.

Fears and desires are both fulfilled.

Fears:

Lois becomes a harsh mother, Clark a harsh father. Lois loses Clark, and isn’t reassured. Jon is immediately given up on by his dad, who also never listens, doesn’t ask about his health after XK, and is left behind while his dad and brother go flying. Jordan is losing Sarah. He loses his dad, and so does Jon. Micky attacks Jon, and he can’t defend himself. Clark is losing control of himself. Lois is losing her only friends and sister. Natalie repeatedly has to face the mortality of her dad. Clark’s mind conjures a new reason to feel guilty, even though it’s so unlikely: Lana’s lingering feelings for him; this is because the Black Mercy has once again created new memories (the retcons). Additionally, it’s being fed info about the real world, or perhaps future events: Lana being mayor of Smallville, and Daniel Hart quitting.

And there’s obviously more: Jon’s afraid, since he was wrong about Jordan/powers changed his brother, that he’d be changed just the same: enter one “evil” doppelgänger Jonathan-El with the powers of Superman.

Clark also fears who he might be if he ever lost his way. Enter Bizarro; Clark’s subcon. mind is aware of how he’s unintentionally been neglecting Jon, so Bizarro does, too. But as the Black Mercy learns their fears, it pushes them to act in ways they wouldn’t, in order to feed into the pain of the illusions. The real Clark goes back to Jon and makes it clear he loves him, but Jon’s false-dad then goes back to treating him as he’d dreamed…

Lois suddenly finds herself unable to move, despite the fact she always would, instead just watching as her family is hurt and hurt…

Almost losing Jon, almost losing her dad, almost losing Clark, almost losing Jordan…

And for Jordan, everything seems to be telling him he can’t ever be with Sarah, the girl he loves. Even Sarah’s own mom says it.

JHI keeps getting pulled into heroics, afraid to not be there for his daughter, but unable to do nothing, even as he tries to resist it…

And of course, this is a dream, so their minds conjure up more than necessary, weaving a story—Lana’s hurt at the lies, guilt after yelling at Jordan. Kyle’s infidelity. The Merging and splitting of the two worlds…

In the S3 pilot, we get flashes of moments as they happen inside the mindscape, of who they belong to; who saw what and who did not, as well as the Black Mercy growing…

But we don’t see anyone saving them.

When all hope is lost, though, the Lane-Kents and the Irons gasp and jerk awake like they’d just been drowning, and we do see. It was Chrissy, who was worried when Lois never came to work, and went to the farm. Who saw the alien parasite (ha, the REAL Parasite of S2), and, remembering Sam, had called and gotten him involved. The DOD, now run by Anderson, because Clark had met the man over the summer and that, at least, had been real, saved the “civilians,” with Sam staying apprised, due to relation.

(Bonus points if instead of the DOD getting them free, because it IS a giant Black Mercy feeding on multiple people, Jon’s powers emerge and save them, but only Jon knows—he obviously doesn’t tell the DOD, and the DOD doesn’t know what happened (but are very suspicious, maybe…?), however, Jon also isn’t ready to confide in his family; he doesn’t know how much of that hellscape was fabricated, and how much…wasn’t. Not to mention, he just dreamed up two not-so-great versions of himself, he’s very much not confident he can handle powers morally!)

Afterwards, the families need to recover. And, with only the Lane-Kents to get what they’re going through, the Irons decide to stay close by. They all help each other heal, and THAT is season 3’s focus; and maybe Intergang does come back, because yeah, obviously there’s gotta be a big villain plot.

Desires:

Jordan gets all his powers, gets to be the hero, no matter the adversaries. Clark gets to have his brother, even dreams up a Tal-Rho he got to grow up with, who was soft and dedicated and loved. Lois…I mean, did she get any wins? Her dreams were always her family’s wellbeing in the real world, so maybe we can say the Black Mercy could only really focus on her fears, and/or that she had so much fear it zeroed-in on it. JHI and Nat had their moments as they rebuilt their lives together, got a new home, a new family, became superheroes together. Jon…well, technically he had a girlfriend, briefly he had powers…yeah Idk; same as Lois…?

In any case, everyone is saved, S2 is (thank fuck) thrown in the trash, Clark is suddenly very aware of Jon’s struggling and is back to having always been a gentle, loving dad. Lois is also back to always being a good, loving mom, and has renewed focus to save Lucy, but this time there are no world-disasters tied to her sister being rescued. Jordan’s back to a BELIEVABLE hero-rising story, and also is abruptly back to dating Sarah, who’s always been loyal, and doesn’t know who and what he is. And Jon…well, he finds out that his dad DID have that flying lesson with Jordan, the real Jordan, BUT he only didn’t talk to Jon after almost dying because the Black Mercy kept messing with his mind—he did screw up, he did forget Jon, just like he didn’t think to take Jon to the Fortress or to meet Jor-El, but he isn’t the asshole who repeatedly dismissed hearing out his son, who didn’t care to check that Jon was healthy after taking Kryptonian drugs, ect. There’s a path forward for them. They heal.

And Sarah is back to being pre-S2 Sarah, who’s a good character, and can I stress again that Lois and Clark were always and return to being understanding, soft parents?

I’m rambling. But also: Lara is S1 Lara again. That is also a big thing. Anderson gets a re-do of his character, the Supermen may have never existed, but Tag Harris does again. The boys and Natalie are basically a year younger or whatever and we can get more school stuff. Jon is free to get a new boyfriend significant other, because Candace is…well maybe she exists, but they only dated for like two seconds before the dream-prison and now he needs to break things off.

There is no Everyone Can Have Powers drug flooding the halls of Smallville high, BUT, like Lana eventually becoming mayor, and Kyle (probably) also being caught having cheated (and his atonement now going on off-screen because we saw it already), we find out that XK is giving the members of Intergang quick and temporary powers—with similar side-effects to the personality as Red K did to Clark in Smallville the show—in Metropolis. And, the dead JHI was killed by Intergang.

And now we have to wonder, how’d the Black Mercy weave in future events? Or, things that were happening IRL in another city? Because the prisoners didn’t know!

Or maybe someone has some precognition…

Who knows?

[its-a-queer-thing]

(Same anon about Svetlana) First off thank you for answering in such detail, you brought up things I had forgotten about, such as the random oral sex with Kev and V, which definitely was out of order and personally I think handled badly by the writers. I also completely agree with her lying being wrong which is why I only really loved her for the start of season 7. I think the writers missed a perfect opportunity to represent polyamorous relationships positively with the thrupple

Hi again! :D Thanks again for asking for my take on her, it’s always really interesting to list out the pros and cons and figure out why exactly I feel a certain way about a certain character, and Svetlana is one I had yet to do that with.

Should I get started on all of the opportunities for representation the Shameless writers wasted??

Fuck it, here I go… Warning, it’s long and likely controversial.

There are a lot of things I kinda defend the writers on, so I’ll start with those…

It’s probably controversial, but I do defend the way the Shameless writers handled the storylines of the men who are raped/sexually assaulted on this show and how their assaults never REALLY referenced or talked about. The reason I defend this is because men who are raped in real life are ignored and many men who ARE sexually assaulted either know it but aren’t comfortable talking about it because men are expected to be sex machines and so grateful for any and all attention, or don’t even recognize what happened to them as a sexual assault. Some men may not care as Frank seemed not to other than the statutory angle; but I guarantee most, even if they don’t label what happened to them as “rape” (like Mickey) are still affected as we saw with both Mickey (who PERFECTLY demonstrated rape trauma syndrome symptoms) and Matty (who blatantly called his assault what it was, and explained that biology does not equal consent). I see a lot of people talking about how Matt’s rape was never addressed, but it was. Debbie talked to Lip about it and Lip represents a big population of people who think men can’t be raped or should be grateful for the attention (and come to think of it, it’s ironic that Lip was the one to tell Debbie that ugly nonsense he said considering we watched him be sexually assaulted by Mandy… But clearly he doesn’t recognize it as a sexual assault either…). Was this on purpose? I personally think so, I think it was the writers’ way of saying “Didn’t like that? Well, that’s how people talk about this stuff or they don’t talk at all. So now talk about it and bring awareness so we can fix it.” Maybe that’s a little optimistic considering who the executive producer is… but it’s how I look at it, because these events are NOT ignored on social media or conversations about the show. So the viewer has the choice to take an opportunity to talk about it, or not, and luckily many people HAVE taken the opportunity to talk about it. So, if I’m right and the writers intended for these plotlines to get people to talk: it worked. And if not, it worked anyway.

Another thing I typically defend the writers for is how they show/talk about pedophilic relationships and the double standards of them. A lot of people are bothered that no one in the show seems to care that Ian was molested by multiple older men and that no one calls it what it is: Pedophilia. No one has a problem with Ian having sex with older men, but as soon as Debbie is mentioned in a hypothetical relationship with an older man, it’s out of the question. Now, I personally think they did that on purpose to show that there is NO difference and yet our society seems to think there is. Boys are expected to sexually explore early so for some reason a young boy with an older woman or in Ian’s case, a young boy with an older man, is typically not a problem by society’s standards. They did this with the number of times that Ian’s sexual history with other men was brought up (Ned, namely) and only casually referenced without ANY disgust at Ned (Jimmy more concerned about his dad being gay than that he was molesting a minor) or concern for Ian (Fiona casually throwing out that Ned was getting blown by a teenager but unconcerned by the fact that her minor brother was in a relationship with a grown ass man). So I think this was purposefully shown to reflect the ugly truth of how we view young boys’ sexual development vs. girls. I thought they did a good job at showing how much bullshit this double standard is (and that’s not to say that I’m mad we treat young girls as flowers per se, it’s more that I think we need to care as much about how our young men are looked at in their sexual development as we do the young women). They even went on to show Debbie trying to start a relationship with an older guy and as unfortunate as it is, I think they did it to show the realistic teenage girl in today’s American society. It was going on when I was Debbie’s age and I’m sure it’s only getting worse. They were able to represent how and why girls are growing up too fast and I think started a great conversation, especially with what she did to Matt and how confused she was about consent, then with her getting pregnant and starting a conversation both about girls/women who trap men by getting pregnant and then about guys that run/how easy it is for guys to run.

Something I am irritated by is the continued misconceptions of bisexuality. Now, maybe I need to follow my own advice from the above example where I defend the writers and remind myself that people do see bisexuals as cheaters with a fancy label, or non-commital, or confused, etc. etc. And maybe I COULD look at it like that, if they were to give us a positive example of a bisexual to counter the failure that was Caleb and if they hadn’t made Ian force himself to have sex with a woman even though he’s never doubted his sexuality (and to an extent, Mickey since some people keep mistakenly labeling him bi).

So now we get into where I have a BIG beef with the writers concerning representation:

The misrepresentation of the Trans community… Trevor… They can’t make that okay… They had the PERFECT opportunity to bring in a beautiful Trans character (luckily they got a Trans actor so there’s that going for them…) but completely ruined it by turning this character into an ASS. Trevor is just so unpalatable and unfortunately I’ve talked to several people who made outrageously transphobic comments (about Elliot, actually) and while I explained to them why their comments weren’t okay, they just immediately defended their words by saying that Trevor made them care even less about wanting to understand the Trans community and genderqueer people. I’ve luckily seen lots of people online taking the time out to correct any misinformation about Trans people and genderqueer people and luckily people were responding well from what I read, but the fact is Trevor left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths and the Shameless writers honestly can’t make that right without basically reintroducing Trevor (or another Trans character) as a completely new person. It’s really upsetting as an ally because I want people to understand the Trans community and more about gender identity and EVERYTHING related to the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but if the media representation is going to look like Trevor?? We’re never going to get there.

The poly relationship. I have a few problems with it. First that it started because two people were on the brink of a divorce. They were opening up a really interesting dialogue about sexual miscommunications after big life changes (like having a baby) and the pressures of being new parents (and I even liked that they had Veronica not connecting to her children the way she was feeling pressured to because more moms need to understand that this happens sometimes and it’s OKAY!) But then, Kev and V cheat on each other, are sexually assaulted by Svetlana and then suddenly both have feelings for her?? And so compromise their confusion by starting a poly relationship with her?? The way the thrupple formed bothered me, basically. BUT once it was formed, I liked how they found their own flow and their own rhythm because that’s important to notice that poly relationships are just about finding what works for you and the people you love. I like that they showed the communication issues to show that poly relationships are ALL about communication. That’s something my friends in poly relationships stress whenever we talk about it that the reason they like poly relationships is because there is no room for secrets or hiding feelings if you want something like this to work. And that’s definitely where the thrupple went wrong (Well… that and Svet tricking them into losing the bar…) I just enjoyed that they made it look so natural ONCE they got it going, but like I said getting it going made it look pretty negative… and then the end result fucking tanked it.

My final beef is that most people of color on this show are negative. We have V and she is MOSTLY good though in later seasons we see some unsavoriness, but that’s okay because she can’t be perfect as a regular character. Liam is frequently addressed when people are confused that he is the son of two white people and it looks like they may start a discussion about token black people in diversity efforts with Liam in private school, which is a great conversation to start and I hope they handle it well. But Liam was really infantile up until basically season 7 and even then he didn’t REALLY act like a 6 year old. Let’s be real, he was WAY too quiet. Now whether that’s an age thing or race thing, I don’t know and probably can’t say because I’ve seen this happen on multiple shows where the writers don’t know how to integrate a child that started off as basically a flesh prop but who is now capable of speech. Kenyatta turned into an abusive asshole (and I called it from the first time I saw him. Really tall and buff black dude… I knew they were going to go that route right away, though I hoped with all my might it wouldn’t happen). Debbie’s foster mother in season 3 was a demon of a woman. One of Carl’s foster father’s was a bit of a prick or at the very least really uptight. Roberta (Monica’s girlfriend in season 1) was a bitch and wanted to steal Liam so she was basically a villain. Nick had potential, it looked like he was all about defying the odds and showing that he was more than his history in Juvie (he just wanted a simple life of farming, a bicycle, and to be away from people! And to top it off, he needed Carl to guard him in the bathroom because he was too afraid of taking a shower by himself! I mean, this kid was a teddy bear despite his appearance and I was ROOTING for this kid because of that) but then he ends up going to prison because he suddenly got homicidal over his bicycle. He was such a sweet character, and yes I suppose an example of a victim of the system, but I don’t know why, but Nick’s arc really bothered me. I feel they could have done more by having Nick show Carl (by positive example not negative) that the thug life is not all that and that Carl should be grateful he doesn’t HAVE to resort to the thug life. 

Whew. I am SO sorry this turned into what it did. When I get started… I get started and there is no stopping me! Hopefully everyone agrees, though obviously that is unlikely, so if anyone disagrees or wants me to clarify something please shoot a (respectful) Ask. I love discussions so long as they are respectful and informed.

Sorry again Anon for this monster of a response, but hopefully you enjoyed it! Lol.

Thanks for the love!

[frostbite883-archive]

DBM Bra hating

These comments won’t be in order. With that said..let’s do it to it.

Tregrenos

So, is it Hyukhyuks turn to eat a Senzu in the middle of the match?

#GetGudBra

Me:...I doubt that would happen seeing as that hulking monster never did carried senzu beans after it’s ‘birth’.

A Poverty-Stricken Antelope

@Tregrenos

Now I understand another reason why I hate Bra: she heals mid-match like a little bi***. She wouldn't last 10 seconds in a Dark Souls duel.

Me: So you say.

Itsarge (gamergater or former GGer) and snowflake exchanging some words with each other.

snowflake:

My view on Bra: She's an awkward character. Literally. She's an entitled princess of a Deity-God-Warrior and Bulma, so she's a overpowered brat with a genius level IQ, and obsessed with strength and being better than everyone, which makes her relationships very one-sided and binary. She literally divides the world up into people stronger than her and not stronger than her, and only acknowledges one person as legitimately stronger than her. No, seriously. It's a problem. Try writing like a tomboy teenage girl would talk, who's obsessed with beating everyone she comes across. At best it would come out as parody. It is hard to find that voice, and harder still to make it resonate with a predominately male audience, and yet harder STILL to do it within the confines of traditional shonen story-telling, from which DBZ is inspired. So Salagir took cues from cocky, pre-redemption Vegeta (not a bad idea). But I believe it only jarred the readers more. The gender-swap seemed obvious and artificial and distracted the reader from the story. The same problem occurs in superhero comics. Iron Man? Everyone accepts that a white dude of indeterminate age can be of genius level intellect, have his own company, and be a superhero/playboy in his copious spare time. Riri Williams? A 15 year old black girl who reverse-engineered Iron Man's tech? Whom he then decided to fund and sponsor? UNBELIEVABLE, according to the backlash. Not a real Iron Man/War Machine, it was obvious that the writers simply "made her up." X-23, Laura Kinney? Not a true Wolverine. "Just created as fan-service." Dr. Jane Foster? Not a real Thor. "Just a writer gimmick." This begs the question, why not? What dissolves the suspension of disbelief with these characters, while the suspension of disbelief is limitless with traditional characters? People claim they want new and interesting stories and challenging plots and characters, the same way they claim they want to lose weight. But they really don't. They want the old chestnuts, the familiar, the predictable. The sugar and the salt. If a story is predictable, you don't have to think about it too much. It won't upset you. People dislike being upset. Shonen style stories are the most predictable on the planet. Good always wins. Evil is punished. Virtue is rewarded, and sins are rebuked and/or reprimanded. Good guys and bad guys are obvious and look the part. So Salagir set himself up with challenge in U16 Bra: an unsympathetic, one-dimensional character who happens to be a girl whose cockiness and obsession with strength is/was rewarded, not punished. Her morality is questionable. It's a deliberate inversion of the typical shonen character. But plot-wise, U16 is integral to the story. So she had to wear Plot Armor from the beginning, as well. Also DBM is moving along, plot-wise, at the pace of Freeza's kitchen timer. And there's also a peanut gallery of readers dissecting everything you do every page? Uh-oh...

ltsarge:

Regarding their statement people could buy iron man cause he is a white male... You know I take issue when people bring this line of thinking up. I think their iron heart girl, being a 15 year old black girl is a total cash grab gimmick appealing to their xtreme social left. In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. I don't think it's unreasonable to call out this type of pandering where it's seen. If marvel really wanted a black female heroine to take up the reigns of them iron man, they could have gone with this character. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Knight It would be way more believable for an previously established in comics older black lady who has personally designed by tony stark tech, to take up the Ironman mantle than some 15 year old prodigy made up whole cloth. Same with female thor. If she - hulk or black widow went around welding his hammer (them latter which has occured), I would totally buy it. Having some super powered feminist be the new thor, and telling thor to check his privelege seems almost a parody of sjw influence in comics, yet it's played horribly straight. Sorry for the digression in this thread

snowflake:

But the entire superhero genre is pandering. Captain America punching Hitler? Meek and Mild-Mannered Clark Kent becoming Superman beating up anyone and anything with complete moral justification? Batman being the God-Damnned Batman? Itsarge - In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. That's a totally legitimate power-fantasy. It's just not aimed at you. At least you can console yourself it's likely to fail commercially. And just wait until the Enchantress gets her hands on her! As for Misty Knight, they were probably wanting to avoid anything smacking of blaxploitation. In fact, since Riri Williams looks like her exactly, she'll probably end up being a clone or something. Anyway, my point is that female superheroes are a challenge. They're a challenge to draw (how sexy is too sexy? how muscular is too muscular?). They're a challenge to write. They're challenging to present in an appealing light, and they're a challenge to plot for. And then there's the audience predisposed to hostility against such characters, and then there's the fact it's on the internet, which simply makes everything worse!

ltsarge:

1st up, female superheroes are not a challenge.  Just focus on making a good character, that happens to be female.  Black Widow, Ripley, Sarah Connor, Lara Croft, Rukia, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Bulma Fucking Briefs... (I can go on but you get my drift.) 2nd.  Anyone complaining about them being too sexy is either a prude or hypocrite, considering the over masculine features of male heroes which gives plenty of fanservice to people who like men.  And before anyone says any Anita Sarkeesian-esque excuse about how male superheros having amazing body appeal to the male power-fantasy, go do a cursory google image search on any male hero, ESPECIALLY if they anime, and take off your parental filters.  You will see endless fan art of male characters from Ichigo to wolverine to Raiden who are all in sexually explicit poses, if not flat out porn of them.  Probably the latter. Hell just look at fucking Twilight series if you want an entire series dedicated to the female gaze upon appealing strong masculine figures. The point is, if you're overly concerned about the sexual imagery of a female character, you're in either fear of the rabid feminist crow, or possibly the overly conservative crowd.  Considering their are female characters throughout comics and anime that are sexually appealing but renownly well written speaks volumes on how little an artist or writer should give a fuck about whether they are too muscular or sexy.   3rd.  Regarding superhero pandering like Captain America punching Hitler (or similar heroes punch insert political villain) in the face.  You may note that is something that is often mocked by comic book fans for how politically charged and nationalistic it was.  If that low bar is what we are setting as defense for female thor, than sure, well than I guess those examples of bad writing justifies absurd levels of feminist pandering.

4th.  Most of the arguments brought forth in the discussions regarding all this since the comment about "people are more willing to allow for a white male Iron man, but not Insert minority character" that have emerged as defense of bra, seem to be desperate attempts of justifications for an overall badly done character.  You don't need testicles or white pigmentation and blue irises to recognize the Bra for the most part has not jived with the fan base.  I've made a hefty list in this thread of why her character has problems, and none of them are because she has a vagina.  In fact, I have criticized many of Salagir's Original Characters for the same reasons, but Bra has either more or all of the flaws of the others such as Gast or King Cold. Let's be real.  If Bra was not a female character, people who defend her would not have certain cards in their arsenal.  If this character was Vegeta, and I was defending her, you wouldn't see me saying "Oh you vegeta haters dislike Vegeta because he's a male.  You are all sexist!"  or "its difficult to right an arrogant MALE character from space" I don't give a fuck that Bra is a strong female character.  I give a fuck that her blatant mary sue traits are not addressed, and in story she's not criticized for being a bratty person. Just because there is a lack of "strong female" characters in DBZ cannon (not complete absence, as there are still many in DB/DBZ), is not a good excuse for building a shitty one.  We don't need affirmative action in comics or fan comics.  If people want to make a strong female character, that's good, that's fine!  But if there is one that's made that has HUGE FLAWS, we shouldn't say "Well, there are no other strong female characters, so thank god for BRA."

snowflake:

Well, on the flip side, if Bra was male, I doubt we'd get as much demands for PUNISHMENT!1!11 or "Punch me harder, Daddy" jokes. At this point, we'll just agree to disagree. We're talking past each other. I have faith that all of your complaints with U16 Bra will be addressed in the story eventually. U18 and U16 have had limited interaction since the beginning of the story. There's a reason for that.

ltsarge:

I'd be happy to argue at length over female portrayals vs male, so if u'd like to merge some of this over to a new thread that be fine with me.

Me: Hopefully, they don’t do that. Not because I think they’ll lose any argument or whatever you’d have with them, but out of the fact that whenever they DO point out flaws in your arguments and show you evidence you’ll just conveniently ignore them. You’re def. not someone worth conversing with.

Me: And seriously, why would you liked their last post to you?

prphd and ltsarge like this

Me: I mean with the way you went after them, I’d rather they didn’t get a like from you let alone anything else (although, this could be your way of respecting your opponent or whatever you would refer to them as, still, it doesn’t make it any less awkward seeing as how antagonistic you had been towards that person, a stranger no less...who you try to inject your thoughts and feelings towards while replying to their post when it wasn’t warranted).

Me: And some Anti-SJWs wonder, bitterly, on why some social justice advocates don’t take them seriously. Let alone obligate themselves to even talk things out with them.