#and a lot of other bigotry still stands

[funishment-time]

More asks, you say? Dare I... I must... I call upon the mighty powers of SEVENTEEN!!!!!!!!!!

your wish is My Command!!!

17. List five headcanons for your favorite characters!

another reason why Junko went off the Deep End is because, as the Ultimate Analyst, she sees every possibility. in a sense, she views the multiverse all at once. there is nothing interesting to her besides death because it's all happened, is happening, will happen. (Kamukura probably has something similar going on, but he reacted Differently)

surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Mikan is the ex-Remnant who needed the most medical attention after coming out of the NWP. not because of anything that happened in the NWP, but because of her acts before that. she had really Frankensteined herself, to put it mildly

there are lots of characters i headcanon with a body type different than how they're portrayed, or a body type they're only sort-of suggested to have but the sprites don't really Follow Through. for example: i see Kaede as quite thick, a bigger girl, very hourglass shaped

inexplicably, Taka is in charge of moderating a lot of HPA's review sites. he is not proud of arguing with Kokichi people on Yelp about the state of the boys' bathrooms, but someone has to do it, and the SHSL Social Media Director died in a fire last year, so...

Kokichi once tricked Yasuhiro into a pump-and-dump crypto scheme

BONUS: a general headcanon for Hope's Peak Academy i don't think i've talked about much yet. it's a locus for obsessives, hyperfixators, neurodivergent folks, and...Robots. so: they may not be the most PC bunch, coming from Different Backgrounds and all, but it's kind of a tacit thing that most of them are playing around with gender and sexuality. SHSLs who can't cope with that generally leave, so it self-regulates. pride parades and labels may be foreign to some of them, some of them may still refer to themselves as Slurs you only ever heard your parents use, but YOU are considered the weird one if you're a genuine shithead to others for it. why make fun of someone for being gay when you can make fun of someone for being in the Reserve Course anyway

[windrunner]

seeing people “blaming” certain pride flags on gen alpha “tiktok teenagers”on here is hilarious because every time i’ve seen it it’s always been for flags that were made by either millennial or gen z bloggers (gay man flag, pan flag, agender flag, etc.) right on Tumblr

like. girl. you have BEEN at the devil’s sacrament. shut up

( worth noting that i don’t know a single flag in widespread use which was made and published on tt originally, but this site tends to pump them out once every 2-4 years on average)

[saucingitup]

Kraken broadcaster JT Brown shares why Pride is so important to him and why he’ll be celebrating the LGBTQ+ community all month long

June is an exciting month. There’s Stanley Cup final hockey on the TV, the sun is shining down on Seattle, I hit the links on Father’s Day, and it's Pride month—a month dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. In our house, June is a busy month, but nothing gets celebrated harder than Pride.

Earlier this month, I had the honor of playing in the Seattle Pride Classic at the Kraken Community Iceplex. The invitation to share the ice with LGBTQ+ players from all over is an honor I don’t take lightly. Striking up a conversation on the bench between shifts, I turned to the player next to me. “Nice tape job. Canucks fan?” I said, noting the different colors of tape spiraling down the blade. “No, these colors represent one of the queer flags,” they said.

The bad news is I felt like an idiot. The good news is, I’ll always recognize that flag. Trying means stumbling, losing the puck, shooting wide (pick your analogy), but I’ve never been too proud to admit I caused the turnover and apologize. And we both laughed because sometimes falling on your ass is funny.

From ice to asphalt, the Pride celebration continues as my family and I will be at the 50th annual Seattle Pride Parade on June 30. As someone who is known for their flair for flashy game-day suits, it should not come as a surprise that I love an excuse to get dressed up. Throw in good music and free swag and you’ll understand why I don’t miss a pride parade.

And no one does pride quite like Seattle. It’s no wonder the Kraken pull up to the parade every year with a crew so deep I momentarily worry we’re going to hold up the parade. We’re out there flinging Kraken giveaways like someone is keeping score of how many each employee can hand out—I always aim for the high score.

Of course, being an ally isn't just flinging Kraken patches into a crowd or embarrassingly mistaking flag colors for rival team branding. A lot of it is just showing up.

I show up for my queer wife so she knows I support her even if I still don’t understand what “Brat summer” means. I show up for my kids so they know I love their authentic selves no matter what. I show up for my friends so they know they’re safe with me. I show up because there are LGBTQ+ people out there who are being stood up by the ones they love, by policies, by corporations, by strangers.

People always praise me for being an ally, but having been on the receiving end of bigotry, I know how much easier it is to stand on this side. When I fight for BIPOC equality, I am always lifted by the voices and support of the LGBTQ+ community. Every single time, they have supported me in my fight to help end racism in hockey.

They have been incredible teammates to me and so being one to them was never a choice I made, it was just something I did—and will continue to do with whatever platform I’m given. Everyone deserves the safety and support to live their authentic lives. When we lift up those who need us most, we all reap the benefits of a safer and more inclusive space.

This Pride month, I’d like to encourage others to show up—unabashedly loud and proud—for yourself and for others. Have a happy, safe, and fun Pride!

[autismswagsummit]

Got a post in my reccomended that reminded me of something I need to make clear, that's gone poorly addressed here until now.

Last year, while you may remember it fondly, the toxicity demonstrated by my voters and fanbase regarding who to vote for (especially during the later rounds) was genuinely atrocious. It moved well beyond the point of lighthearted competition and into genuine vile behavior and often ableism that I cannot let slide as we go further into season 2. This extends to (and is primarily relevant to) Donatello fans. I give you guys a lot of credit for the success and fun of this blog, but it is pertinent that you also remember that Donatello fans in particular were credited with the most cruel attitudes in the wake of Mob's victory. I understand being upset because of a loss, but this is ridiculous.

I am not "calling out" or targeting anyone in particular with this. I am well aware that this behavior does not belong to all of you. The majority of yall are darlings and I couldn't be more grateful for your support. But I let you all off way too easy last time.

Let me make it clear: You are voting on your favorite autistic headcanon/canon character. The metric of "autism swag" does not exist, and should never be used to bully or harass other voters. It's a title that was made up and based off of the names of the other poll bloggers at the time, not a real concept. It is not serious, nobody is winning anything besides a PNG that gets put next to their character if they win.

If I catch wind of any genuine death threats, bigotry, or otherwise unnecessary cruelty sent towards any participants during the course of this season, I will start disqualifying characters. If you cannot keep it civil when polls are live, I see no reason why you should be rewarded with your character's victory.

I deeply apologize to anyone who has been by this cruelty. It is my responsibility as this blog's operator to keep behavior civil, and it's something I've been mishandling up until now. This poll has grown well beyond what I originally thought it would be, it has since day one, and I need to prioritize learning how to handle its reach if it's something I want to continue.

The polls will still run as scheduled, this is not an announcement of a delay or cancelation, simply a firm reminder of where I stand on the harassment demonstrated by people in my follower base.

Thank you for your time and understanding. I hope going forward we can all be kinder to eachother, and understand that at the end of the day, we are here to show love towards our favorites, not hatred towards strangers that have done nothing to you.

[unlimitedbutchworks]

i gotta be honest with you it’s kind of fucking annoying as hell seeing transmascs watch all the insane recent transmisogyny and go “this is why we have to care about trans people, listen to trans siblings” no. this is about trans women. this is transmisogyny, plain and clear, and a big fucking reason why so many (cis and trans) tme people on this site still have such a transmisogyny problem is because they listen to other tme trans people about transmisogyny over trans women. a lot of people spreading these stupid callouts are transmasc and just not caring enough/looking close to see the transmisogyny! many of them are part of the problem in this way and we cant be afraid to recognize their bigotry just because they’re also trans, we have to stop excusing this behavior. stop getting defensive and generalizing this shit and start actually trying to seriously stand with the women in your community who are getting othered and socially murdered every other fucking day

edit: this is specifically about the recent shit with predstrogen and others deletion

[wis-art]

While I will happily shit on European racism and openly talk about bigotry here, I do not accept people reducing every single culture here to nothing more than fascism and making it sound like we have nothing else going on in here. I'm polish, I don't like how Americans and most Western European nations treat poland as some kind of backwards goop monolith of nothing else than racism and bigotry, and worthless poor people, justifying reducing us to nothing more than the shitty stereotype. We, young people, queer people, trans people, still exist here and we are talking about issues and working towards changing them. And if you fail to see anything BUT problems with Europe then I don't know what to tell you. Your allies here exist and we stand here with you, we don't like colonizers either, while I acknowledge that Europe heavily benefits from the history of colonialism and a LOT of European wealth is directly stolen from overseas. It is not a system I want to live in and I will talk about this and do what I can to change it, even though I can't do much, I'm fucking disabled and poor myself unable to work or even walk much. Don't downplay queer cultures and movements anywhere in the world, hold each other up and work together, because we won't be able to dismantle this system of oppression if we just all try to be on our own and alone. I hate this inequality I hate it so much.

[helluvapoison]

Lucifer x Imp!Reader

warnings: imp bigotry, heavy topics, lowkey angsty (happy end, i swear)

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

• Secret relationship, baby!

• Let’s get into the hard part first, shall we? The discrimination of Imps isn’t something Lucifer set into motion. They helped him build Hell into what it is today—! Which is… flawed. Fuck, there’s no excuse. Know that he doesn’t condone it and he’s ashamed to admit he allowed it get this far

• That saying “history repeats itself”? Yeah, Hell isn’t immune

• It’s an elephant in the room situation when your and Lucifer’s feelings come into play. Along with the enormous power imbalance. He would never take advantage of that, by the way, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s there

• Those issues are in the beginning though. Yes, it takes a lot of time and many painful conversations but now? Undoubtedly worth it

• Lucifer is quite proud of himself for the charade he concocted. You pose as his employee! No one would question it and you could hang around as much as you like! It’s perfect, right?

• “It sounds like a shitty romcom plot.” You snort

Lucifer’s smile is unwavering, eyebrows high on his face as he awaits what he longs to hear.

“But?”

Sighing, you softly return his smile, “It’s perfect.”

• And like a shitty romcom, it is

• Naturally, there’s ups and downs

• For Lucifer, the worst is that he hates keeping you a secret. It’s not that he wants to dish it live with Katie Killjoy and Tom Trench, he’s rather private as is, he’s just so— happy! He wants to show how proud he is to be yours! Unfortunately, that would do more harm for all of Hell. Selfish as his wants might be, he wouldn’t do that. Especially if it meant putting you in danger

• Occasionally he takes you to meetings and events. You try and slip into the background, supporting him from the shadows. Even from the other side of the room, Lucifer’s eyes will find you standing amongst the other Imps. He accidentally ends up ignoring whoever’s trying to rub elbows with the King of Hell

• (Honestly, it’s a miracle no one has found you two out yet. His longing gazes are far from subtle)

• Sometimes those outings don’t end well. A blue blooded dickbag might’ve dumped their drink on you or shoved you because you were “in the way” or berated you in front of everyone. Lucifer sees red and the entire event is cut short via a demonic rage. On a positive note, his publicity goes off the charts! “King of Hell defends his people, no matter the race!”

• (A motherfucking miracle, I tell you)

• Lucifer likes to take care of you when those incidents occur. He feels guilty. For everything. Reassuring him has always easy for you in any other situation. This one just bleeds into something personal. A failure

• So, you let him take care of you. It improves his mood bit by bit. Could be pancakes! No matter the time of day, Lucifer’s go-to are pancakes. (He’ll simply die all over again if you let him feed you too) Could be a bath for the two of you to share, he loves washing you and putting a bubble beard on your face

• Sleepovers can be a tad difficult to pull off but no one disturbs him in the mornings. He loves having you in his arms all night long. Kissing your horns, forehead, eyes, nose and lips— yes, in that order— before wishing you only the sweetest dreams

• Lucifer has a rubber duck that looks uncannily like you sitting on his desk at all times

• Oh! And despite being an Imp, you’re still taller than your beloved short king. It’s slight but he adores the difference

♡ a/n: if i had a nickel for every time a blue blood fell in love with an imp, i’d have /three nickels HAHAHA

[inkskinned]

one of the things that's so frustrating is how often the arguments against us are actually happening to us. we said - you need to watch out, this will evolve into allowing fascism into legal statute. and we were told: you're a sensitive snowflake. you're annoying and stupid and have no concept of reality. nobody really believes that stuff.

but it's indoctrination for kids to even see queer people. it's grooming for kids to even be around queer people. it's disgusting to even put rainbows on kids clothes. it's inappropriate, shameful, still-an-argument. like any of this is new - we know already. for you, even seeing someone unashamed is the same thing as "forcing" it onto you. because god-forbid you confront any internal thought you have. because god-forbid you practice empathy. rage is better, i guess. it keeps you pretty.

this has always been the way of some people - a while ago, it would have been "sinful" for my white mom to marry my hispanic dad. once, in the year of our lord 2015, someone told me that "mutts" deserve a woodchipper. that one particular insult stayed with me - not because it was the first or last, but because there was something so unbelievably violent about it that i couldn't figure out how to hold it. the idea that someone is so assured of their bigotry and rage that they would paint this kind of a picture. even jokingly, even with the anonymity of the internet, it kind of centered things for me. a sense that, for some people, their rage burned so unimaginably large that it blocked even the basic fact of my humanity.

at one point, while i still had enough fire in me to get into long arguments, one of the bigots i was "debating" (being harassed by) said: to be honest, it's about the sex, not the love. between you, me, and the four walls of this blue hellsite, i actually didn't really care for "love is love" as the slogan of our community. it seemed so placid, so gentle, so ally-focused. where was the vitriol? where was the hours i spent agonizing over myself? where was the quiet moments of my life, filled with the sound of other people's hatred? this static that settles over everything; even for the action of holding her hand.

the world is unfair. i am an adult, and without the veneer and small-pond syndrome of my teenage years, the slogan has started sounding more desperate. the more places i went, the more people i met. love is love. love is defending him on a rooftop bar. the drink she throws at me goes down into my shoes while i stand there, wishing i had a better retort than what the fuck. love is both of us, keeping our heads down, the black SUV full of frat boys (?) pulled up next to us, howling, for five whole blocks, until we both gave up and had to stick our bare legs into the thicket by the side of the road, giving over into tick country rather than let it go on any longer. love is a lazy spring afternoon, my hand on her belly, the fan spinning overhead. did you hear the whole thing about target?

did you hear about being the target? that's a fun little parallel, isn't it. it almost feels like the game that-is-about-me is being played without-my-participation. someone wants to set fire to my life, and i have to wait for a response from a capitalist institution. i am watching a tiktok where a white woman under white lights complains about adult swimsuits, even though i think a lot of people would benefit from having swimming options that are not "instagram-inspired bikini" or "impossible to move in but otherwise pretty".

sometimes it just seems so fucking stupid. like, just to check, the rage you feel and the hatred - you could really just avoid all of that by minding your fucking business. sometimes (and this is true): it's not about you, and people don't need your permission. like, i don't understand any obsession with sports, but it seems to make other people happy. american football literally results in grievous bodily injury - and yet there are onesies for babies that say future quarterback. i personally don't love it, so i just don't buy that stuff. i walk by it, and don't let it bother me. there have been so, so, so many times that i was told - "so what if he's a little bit homophobic, if you don't like him, don't watch his movies." "so what if they fired her. don't buy their product." "so what if they wouldn't make a rainbow cake. just don't support them."

sometimes i feel the meaning of it scud against my body, an orca whale inside of me, threatening the boat. it is too large to see from my place; this shadow of a thing that dwarfs my petty other-concerns. i need to find a dress for an event, and florida is passing more anti-gay legislation. i need to text my friend back and confirm our plans, and someone is throwing beer bottles to the floor in a walmart because a different case had rainbows on them. it is a long fall, if i look down into it; this sense like the bottom doesn't exist. like i have only ever dipped my toes in.

sometimes i am unbelievably tired of talking about it. it feels like it has become too trite in my own poetry - queer writer complains about the state of the world! how original! - and then something else happens, and i am here again. i remember that it isn't a moment. i remember it isn't a scattered population of cartoon evil-doers, intent on world domination from behind handlebar mustaches. it is a concerted effort of real people with real power who really-do want to see my end. it is a lifetime of dodging the beercan as it sails out of the back of the van. it is a lifetime of not-kissing once we leave the apartment. it is a lifetime of watching someone protest our existence and then, very slowly, giving them the finger. it is a lifetime of holding my friends' hands and hearing the same agony in their life that i lived through. it is us, together, our faces turned upwards, the night sky so vast, milky way overhead like a lacework zipper.

it is a lifetime of staring down woodchippers.

[piracytheorist]

The Briar Siblings' Lies

It's very interesting that in the family of lies and secrets, the lies of the Briar siblings are included, and I'm pretty sure that will play a role whenever they find out about each other.

I expect Yor to be heartbroken and angry at Loid when she'll find out his lies, but I'd also expect her to be heartbroken and disappointed when she finds out how much Yuri lied to her.

Yor might have kept her own very dangerous secrets, but there are huge differences in their circumstances.

Yor took up her assassin gig when she was just a teenager, orphaned and with a little brother to take care of. Amidst the cold war brewing, there would be various criminal organizations looking for people to drag in, and a poor, desperate, kind, and almost supernaturally strong teenage girl was the perfect recruit for Garden.

Whether this is Garden's initiative or not, Yor has a strong determination to kill her targets as quickly and as painlessly as possible, along with avoiding unnecessary bloodshed. She has studied human anatomy specifically for this very reason, to be able to kill her victims with mercy. She's realistic about the situations she's in, but if talking things through is even a tiny bit possible, she'll give it a try.

Though her morals are slightly skewed for the average civilian - it's understandable to kill someone in self defense, but her main targets are situations where she plays judge, jury and executioner - she's still retained a lot of her humanity that allows her to be a kind person and a caring sister, mother and wife.

And then you have Yuri.

Yuri fell victim to a more sinister kind of indoctrination - extremism and bigotry. Having grown up in poverty caused by the war and the deaths of his parents, and having an overwhelming wish to protect his sister, he was the perfect target for Ostania's nationalistic propaganda.

But the tragic background leading up to this choice and the want to protect his family is where his similarities with Yor's case end.

Yuri wasn't left with no other choices. Yor was already supporting him financially when he started working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that was a job that he could stay at and be independent. He was older than Yor was when she became an assassin. I can assume that some underhanded methods were used to lead him into the duties of the SSS, but even so Yuri had more control of the situation, more choices to choose from, and more information at hand. It's directly opposite to Yor's circumstances.

Yuri tortures people. The SSS specifically want him, despite his young age and lack of experience, exactly because he won't hold anything back, even when it makes him feel conflicted.

The SSS may be taking advantage of the ease with which he tortures people, but it's still something Yuri willingly participates in - and again, considering the fame of the SSS among civilians, it's almost certain Yuri knew what he was getting into. He's giving up his own humanity, going down a path of "us vs. them" and while Yor plays judge on who gets to live, Yuri plays judge on who gets to be treated like a human being.

While two similarly dangerous and demanding professions, and (at least according to what Franky says) following the same government's orders, it's two highly different cases. I think Yuri will be mostly horrified to learn what Yor went through for his sake, but Yor will be very understandably heartbroken. Yuri could understand that Yor had no other choice, but Yor will know that Yuri had all the best choices right in front of him, and yet he chose this.

And it's why I believe this is the revelation that will hurt Yor more. She could explain Twilight's lies by the fact that they didn't know each other before, she could explain Anya's secrets by her young age and innocence, but there will be very little for Yuri to stand on - and the thing is, Yuri knows that. He knows that what he's chosen to become isn't what Yor raised him to be.

Currently he may be seeing himself as a martyr for his cause, that he needed to potentially break his sister's heart in order to protect her and "the country she lives in". He'd rather have her feeling heartbroken and betrayed by him than with her life and safety in danger. He'd rather her hate him than get hurt.

How will it hit him when he realizes she's already been doing the same for him, and has already been endangering her life for over a decade for not only his sake, but for the world in general too? When he realizes all the work he's been doing to protect her was in vain because she has been walking into danger herself all along?

It's a really interesting dynamic, because the revelation could either break them or make them. They both have a very heartwarming background together, they both love each other deeply, but it's a trial they'll both have to go through at some point.

(Anime only fan here, don't spoil me for the manga)

[lackadaisycats]

I've seen some edit in tiktok spreading some 'fun' facts about Lackadaisy... And some seem to make their own theories but telling it like it was the truth. One that I remember correctly is that there's some kind of racism going on, they said that it was because of Rocky and Freckle was originally Irish, they got discriminated? They even said once that Freckle is suffering from poverty (That I may disagree, looking at those mini comics of their childhood). And even the whole "police academy" is not working for him is also because of the discrimination. Do you had anything to say about this? Cuz I love your comic, and seeing people spreading false information about it were making me concerned...

There was a lot of pronounced anti-Irish/anti-Catholic sentiment in the US stemming from Protestant 'nativists' in the mid 1800s. But, by the late 1800s, the Irish were making a concerted push into positions of relative societal and political power. That included joining police forces.

Although there was still plenty of anti-Catholic sentiment in upper echelons of American power in the 1920s, the children of Irish immigrants weren't up against the same degree of establishment bigotry that their ancestors encountered, nor did they generally face the same levels of hostility and discriminatory practice that other immigrant groups and people of color were grappling with.

Anyway, Freckle's ancestry was not standing in the way of his becoming a police officer. Those fun facts sound like someone's head canon.

[s-exy-sapphillean]

I'm losing my fucking mind at this fandom constantly trying to minimize aaron's complexity and woobify him

I can't stand anyone who looks at a chapter of aaron getting to confront andrew's hypocrisy but also getting confronted with his own shitty behavior and the main thing u take away is "omg he said he doesnt hate gay people anymore! Confirmation he's not homophobic!" or "andrew is a horrible person and aaron has done nothing wrong (or the reverse)"

Aaron is literally doing a "i'm not transphobic, i only misgender those trans people who are bad people" but about nicky's sexuality. Him justifying them with nicky's own shitty behavior does not make the remarks he's made any less homophobic. The entire chapter, the way bee questions him and the way he realizes he actually has to explain to andrew that he doesn't have a problem with him being gay shows how much these remarks have not existed in a vacuum, have never only affected nicky, have always, in effect, been homophobic.

This is not me wanting aaron to be homophobic, this is me being pissed about people wanting to rob aaron & his relationships to his family of layers of complexity. About people trying to make a person unlearning bigotry he's aware of and has admitted to into something simple and easy and quick. About people viewing bigoted actions and remarks as only defined by their intentions and not their effect.

Aaron is a damn complex character. He was raised with shitty worldviews and shitty behavior. He literally did used to hate and be disgusted by nicky for being gay. He's unlearning that shit. He's still grossed out by nicky for being a creep. And now he's confronted by the fact that his history of actual bigotry and his displays of disgust at nicky's remarks about others simply do not exist separately from eachother and that that has affected his relationship with andrew. And he gets to sit there and has to actually convince his brother that he doesn't hate him for being gay. Stop trying to minimize the importance aaron's past homophobia and homophobic remarks play in the twinyard's relationship.

Also i'm pissed off how little people are talking about aaron finally FINALLY getting a dig in at andrew's hypocrisy. About how andrew's actions also aren't only defined by his intent to protect but have cause a lot of hurt. About how unfair he's been to others, to katelyn, because he himself hasn't even tried to reflect on his own presumptions and prejudice against the people aaron wants in his life and how they might be wrong.

This bonus chapter is so important to me because it's practically everything i've always imagined their shared therapy sessions would be like. And because andrew getting pushback and aaron getting a chance to voice his stance and perspective and andrew actually having to listen is so important to me. Most of the canon material is so dominated by perspectives sympathetic to and/or protective of andrew and it's so good to get a chapter that isnt that. And obv Aaron's perspective isnt unbiased either, but it balances out somewhat against neil's perspective dominating the narrative. And while bee ofc isnt a perfectly impartial party, therapy with her is the perfect setting to provide this perspective.

I love the TKM bonus chapter and i hate how a lot of people are choosing to talk about it

[a-deep-ocean-of-secrets]

What do we think Tommy's dating history is?

We are all very familiar with Buck’s extensive dating history and his serious relationships, so I thought we’d throw Tommy a bone and speculate a bit on his past. Let’s start at the beginning. 

In 7x10, he revealed to Buck that his father was a lot like Gerrard, so Tommy essentially grew up in a homophobic household. When did Tommy start realizing he had feelings for guys instead of girls? Middle school? High school? And, with the bigotry he would have been facing at home, would he have acted on those feelings at all? Or do we think he tried to push such desires aside and have girlfriends instead? Did he ever have a crush on a boy at school? Maybe he would have kissed one and claimed it was a ‘drunken mistake’ at a party, or under the guise of a dare he might have kissed a boy under the bleachers. Or maybe he had one close guy friend and they would ‘help each other out’, but would staunchly proclaim ‘no homo’ afterward. 

Next is his time in the army. It’s a sad thought that he might have viewed joining the army as an escape from his father but would have ended up in an even harsher environment under DADT and with COs who most likely shared traits with both his father and Gerrard. He would have had to actively hide his sexuality (if he had even made peace with it yet, which is unlikely since he probably went into the army right at 18). Do we think he would have let himself explore any potential feelings he might have had for his fellow brothers in arms? I know some theorize that the reason he left the army could have been a dishonorable discharge due to DADT, but he didn’t express any negativity when briefly speaking of his time in the army to Buck. I think he would have kept a tight lid on his feelings, and maybe continued to believe he was straight. 

Assuming right after he left the army he went into firefighting, that puts him at the 118 with Gerrard, who was terrible. So he was once again under the thumb of a bigot. From “Chimney Begins”, we know he claimed to have a girlfriend, but he was quick to have an excuse for why she couldn’t come and cook for the 118. Was the girlfriend real or just a lie for Tommy to pass as straight? If she was real, were they in a genuine relationship or was Tommy using her as a beard? And if Tommy was secretly single, was he exploring his feelings for men on the down low? Going to gay bars or clubs? Hooking up, but never taking it further than a one-night stand? How much self-loathing would he have been dealing with? 

Jump ahead to Hen arriving at the 118 and being unapologetically herself, which helped in getting Gerrard ousted. A few years pass as the 118 cycles through captains but has a better workplace environment. Even as Tommy has become closer to Hen and Chimney, he still doesn’t feel comfortable coming out, probably due to the lingering effects of Gerrard. But in that time, do we think he has taken more steps in accepting being gay? Maybe he has tried dating instead of just hooking up. Or was he still firmly in the closet? 

He told Buck on their first date that it wasn’t until he left the 118 that he felt ready to fully embrace his identity. So, in universe, he has only been out of the closet for six to seven years. What did that look like when he finally accepted that he was gay? Did he have a Buck 1.0 phase where he sowed his wild oats? Did he want something serious right off the bat? We know, just like Buck, he’s dated people he’s met on calls and that it never ended well. 

Has he had a serious boyfriend? Do we think he’s ever exchanged an ‘I love you’ with someone? Moved in with someone? Maybe he even planned to one day marry one of his partners? What is his type? We know he doesn’t like dark and broody (case in point: Buck). What was he looking for when his old pal called him up and asked him to fly them into a hurricane to look for a lost cruise ship?

[olderthannetfic]

Whenever I see the "there is no F/F content in fandoms, fandoms hate women" discussion on Tumblr, all I can think of is a phrase that is guaranteed to enrage half the Tumblr fandom audience, maybe more: "Have you tried imageboards?".

When I was younger, I used to frequent different anime and cartoon-themed imageboards. Big ones like 4Chan's /a/ and /co/, smaller ones meant for specific fandoms or kinks, non-English ones in my native language, you name it. The users were mostly straight men, and the F/F content and shipping flourished there. The "waifu threads" exclusively dedicated to gushing about female blorbos. The wast majority of kink content involving fictional women, either alone, with a nondescript self-insert man or with each other. The F/F fanart, fanfiction and ideas were just limitless, to the point where you would struggle to find one or two discussions about the guys in the midst of everyone celebrating the women.

The anime, cartoon or comic has a cast full of women? They will all get love. Women and men both? Women will generate much more discussion. One or two women amidst the cast full of men? People will mostly post about the two women, deal with it. Sure, there were designated boards and threads for the male characters, but good luck expecting there to be as much activity as there were in the waifu threads. The fandoms with lots of female characters, such as Touhou Project, thrived on these grounds, and much F/F shipping was had by everyone.

Now, of course, the imageboard culture is an entire separate beast. Right-leaning, edgy, bigoted - basically, what you get if you put a bunch of ostracized and lonely cishet male nerds in an echo chamber and let them feed each other bullshit all day long. A lot of the F/F art they made was sexual in nature, something that could be decried as sexualisation, but, the way I remember it, it was not much different from what is often done to male characters by straight women who ship M/M because they find the two dudes hot. A lot of gushing about waifus by the anonymous 4Chan dudes could be seen as misogynistic, despite the language being practically the same as when a Tumblr fandom girl is describing her blorboman and the things she wants to see done to him.

It all comes down to the the real life influencing the way we interact with fiction: male sexuality is viewed in a different light than female sexuality, despite both being more or less demonized in our society, just in different ways. Men are always predators, women are always victims. When a guy has sexual fantasies about a female character, he is a creep who wants to hurt real life women to enact these fantasies. When a woman has sexual fantasies about male characters, she cannot tell fiction from reality and is at risk of getting hurt by men while trying to enact these fantasies. And if either of them fantasizes about a same-sex couple, they are fetishizing queer people, obviously.

However, that's just how people roll - you cannot change what gender you are attracted to, and people with similar attractions stick together. It just so happens that the fandom side of Tumblr largely consists of straight women and queer men, so you get ships with guys, while the fandom side of 4Chan and the like largely consists of straight men, so you get ships with women. Both sides also happen to have cultures that don't mix well, and someone who frequents one place is likely to avoid the other.

I don't frequent 4Chan anymore, and I'm not big on fandom Tumblr, either, but Tumblr continues to be the unique place where I am more likely to stumble upon erotic fandom content featuring men than women, who are the majorly discussed and shipped characters practically everywhere else. I obviously do not excuse 4Chan's bigotry and rampant hateful bullshit, but my point still stands: if you want to see more F/F shipping and discussions of girl blorbos, but don't feel like making some yourself and creating a like-minded community on Tumblr, you should try your luck elsewhere on the Internet, especially when it comes to anime and cape comic fandoms. Tumblr is a unique place in terms of male-centric fandom content, and honestly, it's not that bad, if Tumblr isn't the only place you find your stuff at. It simply occupies a specific niche and doesn't offer much of everything else (though you can still find it if you look).

--

Now, be fair: plenty of imageboards are full of nominally straight guys who love millions of female blorbos... and art of Link getting wrecked.

[in-flvx]

I keep thinking about Edwin's dad. We know nothing about him other than he knew a lot of colourful words for people he judged. Words he said often enough that edwin picked up on them and took over his dad's judgement on people, which he keeps mirroring a century later. Edwin's family was very obviously well off, so his read on people is heavily coloured from this. He also seemed to look up to his dad, his opinion mattered to edwin, and only Charles calling him out on it because of the comment edwin made about crystal, which made him rethink that.

And it's such an interesting window into their relationship, and their social standing at large as well. It's obvious through their behaviour, down to their accents, that they aren't from the same class. Charles likely got into the boarding school through a scholarship, probably a sports scholarship (he says that it didn't matter to his dad how good he was, or how good he was at sports, he'd still get beaten) while edwin probably got in as an expected part of his life conjecture. And their first meeting is borne from compassion and a mutual understanding. But edwin used the insults his dad taught him often enough towards Charles that the latter started looking them up. Charles, due to his own upbringing, seems very used to, and takes it lightly, to be called bad things. Which is were his parental abuse and being British Indian come into play. Its par for the course. Rather words than belts and stones, probably. And he knows that edwin genuinely loves him and is committed to him, even before the confession, so he puts even less weight on them.

But yea... just thinking about Edwin growing up with neutrally okay parents, for that time. Teaching him the accepted forms of bigotry of their time. Burying his own homosexuality deep within himself. He is then surrounded by other kids who share his parents believes, and keeps to himself to stay safe. Getting into detective fiction due to his love for mysteries and compassion for the wronged parties. Spending 70 years in hell, where he probably unlearned a lot of his learned bigotry.

Getting out, and meeting this lower class, half dead, half Indian kid, who tells him he got beaten to death for protecting someone. And Charles is funny and smart, and inquisitive, he oozes charisma, charm and compassion. And he is everything Edwin's own parents are not bc of that. So Edwin falls for him. Is glad about the companionship as well, after 86 years of loneliness, 70 of which he spent in literal hell, Charles is the beacon of light, and of difference, he always craved in his own life and death. It helps that he knows that Charles won't stay long. Edwin can be open and soft, without fearing consequences, bc Charles will go to the afterlife soon anyways.

But then Charles decides to stay. With him. For him. Which is a whole other conundrum, and also exactly what Edwin had craved for longer than he knew. But edwin is still at the beginning of unlearning his upbringing, and Charles doesn't seem to mind at all when Edwin speaks his mind. So he goes on with it. He can be crass and insulting, and speak his mind, and he only learns after 30 years together that Charles might actually hurt from the things Edwin says to him, and other people. Things his father had taught him...

[bitimdrake]

Thoughts on Jack Drake's death in Identity Crisis? I personally dislike it because it's a fridging (and somehow only the third worst death in that book behind "why did she have a FLAMETHROWER tho" and "that's not how Firestorm works you're confusing him with Human Bomb"), and it took away what made Tim stand out in making him an orphan like the other Robins. I'm not a Batfam expert so I haven't read a ton of the surrounding stories but it feels like there was more they could have done with Jack.

I would not personally call it fridging because I think we've gotten waaaay too liberal with that term, particularly when removed from the original context of misogyny (*unless perhaps we are applying it to other bigotry, which I do think is worthwhile), and because "side character dies to push forward a main character's story" is...not a bad thing. That's a perfectly valid story telling trope that can be used well or poorly.

THAT SAID. I do think there was more to do with Jack that could have been really interesting!

He'd just found out Tim was Robin, and imo there was sooo much that could have be mined from that. It could have been a really interesting and major shakeup in Tim's story, without entirely changing the fundamentals of his character. I'm so interested in the theoretical arc of Tim and his long time hot-and-cold distant dad trying to figure this relationship out now that Jack finally, for the first time, is both (a) interested in actively pursuing a relationship with his son (he's been on and off since shortly after Tim became Robin) and (b) actually able to get to know his son (which has been impossible from Tim's side since he became Robin and starting keeping so much of his life secret). Jack decided to be supportive, but their relationship is messy! Their history is complicated! And he still has understandably mixed feelings about his son fighting crime! How do they figure this out??

(Unrelated, I still think about this one fic where Jack comes back to life circa Brucequest and realizes his archeological skills can help. The future story it implied. The gentle question of can Tim and Jack repair their relationship. It compels me.)

I'm of two minds about Jack dying at all. On the hand, I do agree it took away a lot that made Tim unique as a Robin and lumped him more in with the others. On the other hand, there has been some nice stuff as a result of him being adopted into Bruce's family. And, e.g., I don't think stuff like his relationship with Damian would be remotely the same if Tim still had his own father.

Also like. the theoretical fandom shift from this would be fascinating. The best known batfam characters who are not Wayne family are largely women at this point, which means fandom is extra inclined to ignore them. But if one of the core bat boys was not part of the literal family, would that actually shift the whole fandom focus away from Force This Into A Nuclear Family Mold? Would we see an entire thematic shift? Or would people just be trying to contrive reasons why Tim's very much living father didn't count....

[cxtangerina]

k2 is such a funny ship to me, like it's just plausible enough to be kinda sorta realistic if you squint and pray and look at it sideways, not quite a crackship but not able to get off the ground as more than a particularly popular rarepair either. they had, like, one big episode together back in season 3, a handful of major moments over the years that people hold onto with an iron grip, and basically nothing else outside of a plethora of fantastic fancontent and dreams.

i think i like it for the exact opposite reasons that i like kyman, actually, they sorta stand as complementary ships in my mind. where k2 barely has any actual basis in canon & comes heavily from fanworks and speculation about how well the characters would match each other, kyman is practically canonical, at least when it comes to cartman's feelings, and is at least regularly joked about and referenced in-show. personally, i also tend to see k2 as a ship that is kinda miraculously requited, whereas kyman is usually stuck in unrequited hell, which...

...well, this gets into more specific character analysis, but a big part of this is that i tend to see cartman as having very fucked up views of both romance & sexuality that have especially interesting implications when you consider him to have a crush on kyle, specifically.

on the one hand, i think his cupid self is evidence enough that he has a very fairytale, idealized view of romance, based more out of the hollywood movie image of what love is supposed to be rather than anything in reality. south park adults being utter fucking idiots 99% of the time means that most, if not all, of the kids don't have a lot of good role models to base their actions off of. i'm not gonna talk out of my ass about childhood development more than i understand it, but i don't think it's too controversial (?) of a take to claim that kids understand & learn about the world through watching it just as much as interacting with it, particularly when it comes to their own parents.

cartman is a piece of shit, and while a lot of that comes from him and his own bigotry, he's still ultimately a kid in show and you can trace where some of his worst traits originate from in the people around him, even if he makes the personal decision to push it as much as humanly possible. i think the trend in recent seasons for many adults to try and at least appear more pc only makes this more obvious, actually (coughcoughrandy), though talking about that is maybe biting off a little more south park politics than i'm willing to chew for this particular post.

point is, cartman as a character in particular does not have a lot, if anything, to base his idea of what a healthy, happy romantic relationship looks like, which isn't only because liane is single though that may be a major contributing factor. love isn't work to cartman, it isn't about the maintenance of a relationship or communication or all the more realistic and slightly less pleasant parts of loving someone that hollywood doesn't find dramatic or interesting enough to show. rather it's a fantasy, something that happens to people that they have no real control over. i wouldn't be surprised if he believes in soulmates or love at first sight, even if the likelihood of him admitting that out loud isn't especially high.

on the other hand, i think his view of sexuality is greatly influenced by not just liane's sex work, but the way she is slut-shamed and treated like garbage by the rest of the town for it. i tend to view cartman as having a very transactional, cynical view of sex and sexuality, where sex is only used for personal gain (whether that be money or power, likely at the expense of someone else/the submissive party), and sexuality is an inherent character flaw, a weakness that must be overcome unless you are able to twist it and use it for your own (material?) benefit- see the streaming wars & cartman wanting his mom to seduce a rich man for money as a recent example of this.

it's a running gag in TFBW that cartman uses douchebag catching their dad fucking their mom as a tragic backstory, and doesn't seem to understand how reproduction actually works even when kyle basically says it straight to his fucking face. even as a joke, there's still a lot of underlying truth behind why he would believe this. cartman is aware of his mom's sex work, even if he may not want to fully admit/believe it, largely because of situations where he's specifically getting shit for it. he knows he has a father, and that he is (in)directly responsible for said father's horrible death & consumption, but he only really cares about that insofar as it means he's half ginger. sex has only ever been presented through its most vicious power dynamics to him- why would he see it as a good thing, as something that could ever be loving, especially when contrasted against such an idealized, purified view of romance?

(you could also extrapolate from this how cartman associates sexuality & romance with femininity & his brand of sexism to get some particularly delectable transfem cartman ideas, but i digress.)

ANYWAYS. this is all to say that cartman having a crush on kyle (or anyone, really, but kyle is obviously the most emotionally volatile example) instantly pits those two conflicting views against one another, like he wants something that he doesn't even think could ever exist: a happy, healthy romantic relationship, where sex is just a normal thing that they can choose to do or not. this is where a lot of kyman angst comes from for me, with cartman either trying to stuff that round desire back into the square hole of how he views the world, or having his ideals fall ever further apart when the feelings are unrequited. and, on top of that, none of this being actually said out loud because communication is impossible.

this is why i always see kyman as making each other worse, especially if they actually manage to make it into a romantic relationship. i simply Do Not see kyle being a patient enough person to help cartman work through the intricacies of all of his expectations and idealized fantasies and internalized fears surrounding such mutually screwed views of romance & sexuality- on the rare occasions that kyle does show some interest in romantic relationships it's usually pretty centered around himself, and to be frank i only see his interest in romance going down as he gets older.

i've heard some people talk about kyle before like he's the "moral compass" of south park or whatever and while that may be true by the end of the episode, one of the things i like most about him is the fact that he struggles so much to get to the best conclusions. this is kind of getting back into the k2 side of this analysis, but where kenny manages a much more effortless selflessness, even pushing it to the point of being both a strength and a flaw when kenny stops caring about himself for the sake of others, kyle is a lot more self-centered than he cares to admit and it influences a lot of his attempts at being a good person.

this is both my favorite aspect of kyle, that he really has to put in the work to be the good person that he wants to be, and also the primary bad trait that i think cartman brings out of kyle. by being such a notoriously horrible shithead, he gives kyle the perfect target to unleash his annoyance on, getting him so caught up in arguing and proving himself to be the better person that kyle forgets to actually listen to the people that he's supposed to be standing up for. cartman is a fantastic troll and, at least in show, kyle definitely has not learned to stop feeding him argument fodder yet.

sidenote: about kyman entering a romantic relationship... wasn't sure where to add this, but it's for this exact reason that i also see kyman (or this version of kyman where cartman gets worse with age, rather than better) only actually happening in the universes where kyle has lost all other meaningful connections, to the point that feeding a troll to get off on an argument is the best possible option, even if he's old enough to know better. especially if he's old enough to know better.

again, k2 is the opposite of this for me in that i see kyle & kenny as having a lot of potential to bring out the best in each other.

if kyle's worst trait is that he gets too caught up in his own feelings & desires to truly be the good, selfless, thoughtful person that he wants to be to actually do genuine good for the sake of others, kenny's problem is that he skews too far in the opposite direction. i kinda already said this, but to state it outright: kenny's biggest strength and his biggest flaw are the exact same, that he is selfless to a fault, to the point of consistently putting other people's safety and happiness above his own when he thinks it would be of help the majority/the people he loves. this was the key kenny trait that was established by the end of BL&U, and it has only gotten more prominent in the years since with his mysterion persona.

it is in this way that kenny both stands as someone that kyle can look up to & admire for how effortlessly he dedicates himself to the people he cares about the most, but also, simultaneously, as someone that kyle can take care of himself and offer the same help back to. and i don't even think kenny needs to say very much out loud to push kyle towards a lot of these conclusions, he kinda just has to exist and be noticed and kyle has the intelligence to figure it out himself, to recognize the shit that kenny puts himself through and his (usually) quite noble reasons for doing so, and want to offer him the same love and care and dedication that kenny never allows himself to have.

really, the difficult part of this is being noticed at all in the first place. again, i said earlier that k2 is kinda "miraculously requited," in my mind, specifically because the aspect that's missing in the show and almost always must be provided by fan content for k2 is that spark/push forward that gets them close enough to start talking and for kyle to notice kenny in the first place. it's just lucky that's one of my favorite things to figure out and write for those two, hehehe.