#and i'm STILL on the lookout for a robin figure i like

[annalyticall]

Being a new Robin and Zoro fan is killing me when all the figures I can find of them are just Male Gaze Robin and Male Power Fantasy Zoro. I know a lot of it has to do with their post timeskip design changes that I haven't gotten to in the show yet but some of these figures still have the ugliest sexual dimorphism I've ever seen like

Robin vs Robin Figures

Zoro vs Zoro Figures

Zoro protecting Robin vs Zoro protecting Robin Figure

Please let lesbians and bisexuals design their figures I can't take it anymore

[e-b-reads]

Books of the Summer: May-Aug 2024

I'm back baby! These little blurbs at the top are usually where I put my disclaimer that these books are the ones I recommend, but not necessarily my favorites, and that particularly holds true for this summer when I consider a few that didn't make my list below: I read 20-something(!!) of the Hamish Macbeth mystery series, by M.C. Beaton, over June and July, and obviously I liked them because I just. kept going, but I also have several quibbles with them (e.g., twenty books and several years into the series, the main character is still "about 35"). I enjoyed them as something mostly brainless. Then in August, I read and very much enjoyed the Windrose Chronicles, by Barbara Hambly, a particular type of 80s portal fantasy, but in this case although my enjoyment was unalloyed, I feel like they're a rec for very specific circumstances or specific people. Anyway, thought both these series deserved some sort of honorable mention, but my official Books of the Summer are:

May

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin): This is one of those tragedies where no one could have done anything different because of who they are as people, but even as you know what will happen from the beginning of the book, it's still worth reading to understand how. Also Baldwin is so good at writing. Not a happy book, but worth it.

June

Last Call at the Nightingale (Katharine Schellman): I'm recommending this one because it seems like I've seen (at least a few) people on the lookout for a good mystery set in the 1920s that is (queer) female-centric and not entirely trusting of cops, and this is definitely that. (Also the other book I saw being recced for that kind of thing was Dead Dead Girls, and I read it a little while ago and tbh was unimpressed with the writing.) I also read a few in another series by Schellman this summer, and I generally enjoy her mystery plots and attention to historical detail, while she also always makes sure she has a diverse cast of characters.

The Bellamy Trial (Frances Noyes Hart): A classic mystery (as in, published during the Golden Age), interesting in its trial formatting - the murder has happened, we're hearing everything in the courtroom sort of from the point of view of a pair of newspaper reporters. It's fun the way details are revealed.

July

The Ropemaker (Peter Dickinson): Did you know that Peter Dickinson was married to Robin McKinley? True power couple. I love The Ropemaker, I think I originally found my copy in a used book store with absolutely nothing to go on but the cover (it was years ago), and have read it several times. I particularly like that the main character doesn't have magic (and magic isn't entirely common in the fantasy world, though several other characters can do it), and she starts out feeling reasonably upset and left out, and then starts to realize that her own lack of magic is a particular, specific strength.

August

The Documents in the Case (Dorothy L. Sayers with Robert Eustace): I think I found this book by poking around the "Mysteries" section in a used book store, which is always a good way to find odd anthologies and Detection Club collections. This standalone mystery is, as it suggests, a collection of documents (mostly letters) meant to illuminate a mystery: handily, the son of the murdered man is collecting them and writes a little bit of analysis for us/the official to whom he is sending them, so we eventually get gaps in the story filled in. I particularly like the way that the nature of the medium means that every character is an unreliable narrator to some extent, and it takes a little reading before you can start to figure out who to trust more. I have read this a few times and always forget that it is kind of a chilling little story, in the end, but also really good!

[princeescaluswords]

"C'mon man, I don't wanna be Robin all the time!" Says Stiles

"Well tough luck, because I never asked to be Batman yet here we are. I don't even have Batman MONEY at least, even though Derek could help out in that department. So *shrug* yeah, Batman but without the funds" says Scott

(btw, this isn't me ~hating~ on Stiles for this comment, it's very in character and typical of teenage boys just so stans don't try painting this as me bashing him)

That scene in Pack Mentality (1x03) is actually crucial to understanding what's going on in Season 1 of Teen Wolf, but it also shows how fundamentally wrong-headed fandom takes can be. If people ever wonder what individuals like me are talking about when they complain about about fandom fixating on the nearest white boy to the exclusion of all else, this is a primary example how they take a great scene in a story and turn it into a Sin Committed Against Their White Favorite.

To remind people who might have completely forgotten the context for this scene, which is more common than you might think: the night before, Scott had been summoned out of his bed by the alpha to help him kill Garrison Myers, a bus driver. Scott, in his subconscious state, had turned the whole experience into a dream of him murdering Allison. Allison turned out to be alive, but Scott had been completely freaked out by Garrison's injuries. Was he hurting people? Was he going on killing sprees? Derek, lying to Scott like the manipulative jackass he was, had not only failed to tell Scott about the existence of the alpha at this point, but he had also refused to tell Scott that the alpha was using his mind control powers to get Scott to kill with him in order to bind him to the pack. All Derek said was that he could help, "but it's not going to come for free," but Scott should go back to the scene of the crime and open up his senses.

Got that so far?

So, Stiles drives him to the school and Scott prepares to break into the bus -- now a crime scene -- to figure out if he savagely mauled his old school bus driver, and tells Stiles to wait for him.

Scott: Hey, no, just me. Someone needs to keep watch.

Stiles: How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?

Scott: Because there's only two of us.

Stiles: Okay, why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time.

Scott: Nobody's Batman any of the time.

Stiles: Not even some of the time?

Scott: Just stay here.

Stiles: Oh, my God! Fine.

Scott climbs over the fence and discovers that he had been summoned by the person (whom he thinks is Derek because that's the only other werewolf he knows about) to kill the bus driver, but Scott resisted. However, Stiles, on lookout, notices the approach of a guard, and signals Scott to get out of there. Scott leaps the fence with his werewolf powers and they successfully make their escape.

In my opinion, this scene serves many functions, but the insight into Scott and Stiles mindsets at this point in the series are the most important. Scott is terrified but still brave enough to confront what might have happened, and as we know, brave enough to confront Derek when he thinks Derek is trying to get him to kill people. Scott is also beginning to become a leader. This argument with Stiles shows that he's beginning to think tactically and seriously about what's going on. Most importantly, Scott is right. They were able to get away without getting caught because Stiles was on watch and he had the jeep ready. If Stiles had been with Scott they might not have seen the approaching watchman and I am absolutely sure that Stiles wouldn't have been able to leap over the exterior fence.

The Batman exchange shows that this has become very real to Scott; people's lives and his life are in danger. Even if he doesn't die, if he murders someone his life will be ruined. It hasn't become real to Stiles yet, and I'm going to argue that it isn't completely real until Peter savages Lydia on the lacrosse field. He's still views this through a lens of comic books, of adolescent power fantasy, of an opportunity to be the star of the show. He's aware that Scott's a werewolf and there's danger, but he think that he and his best friend can beat the odds, like it's another form of sneaking out of the house after curfew. It also hints at Stiles's insecurity about his own nature, which is an interesting and understandable part of his character.

I love the scene. I don't love how fandom treats it.

To give a clarifying example, there's a typical Scott-bashing fanfiction series called "Not Robin All The Time," which looks at this scene and doesn't see Scott's terror at possibly having murdered someone or the fact that he's right about how they have to treat this seriously, but instead argues that Scott is selfishly oppressing Stiles by not letting him do what he wants when he wants. Unfortunately, this isn't a unique perspective. Fandom holds it against Scott that Stiles was Stiles, and not some badass super-detective/spark/archmage in episode three. That's the worst sin to them, that in Season 1 Stiles wasn't given the focus. The terror and violation that Scott undergoes is ignored or worse, turned into something done to him for his own good, while Stiles -- who could have been completely safe if he had just stayed out of it and the fact that he didn't IS his heroism -- is the true victim. Scott selfishly hogged all the attention from the villains.

In addition, you can't count the number of meta posts and fanfiction which looks at this season's entire setup and says the real problem was Scott being selfish -- as one stupid shitty Harry Potter power fanfiction crossover where Harry condemns Scott for lacking empathy before removing his powers and turning him human, though ironically they don't have Scott dancing with joy afterward -- and not putting his own life to the side to serve Manipulative Brutal Fuckup Derek Hale's every need.

And the reason is clear. Fandom looks at a show and finds the Hottest Damaged White Boy and simply stops caring about anything else. I've witnessed the fandom's reaction to Shadow and Bone and listen to them insist that the obscenely rich and powerful Darkling is just misunderstood. I've finally watched RWBY after seeing the discourse and the moment I saw Ironwood, I rolled my eyes, because of course. Of course he would look like that.

Here comes the chorus: "Why don't I just let people enjoy things?"

Because they aren't. They're not enjoying these shows. They're rehashing the same clichés about the Morally Ambiguous Hot White Guy triumphing again and again and again, which play directly into the way they enjoy a culture created by white privilege and supremacy. Then they get offended because people point out that their inability to move out of their comfort zones not only strangles new creative avenues of storytelling but reinforces Hollywood culture paucity. It's a cycle that's not going to stop any time soon.