#and it's cool to see queerness represented in so many different ways!

[uncanny-tranny]

Learning things about international queerness and queerness in "non-western" cultures is so important and so amazing. Queer people are everywhere and, throughout history, have made their mark on the places and cultures they lived in. They are vital members of humanity, and we wouldn't be where we are today without them

[destinationtoast]

1/3 - Hi there! Three (I think) part ask incoming. You're the main person I know of who compiles tons of interesting fandom stats, so I wanted to ask you about it if you have the time to answer. :) I think a lot about how AO3 works great as a fan*fic* archive, but for other fanworks, like images, audio, video, etc., it's only as good as wherever the media is being hosted. With the way hosting sites come and go, or change their TOS to nuke nsfw or queer content, etc., it makes me wonder

how many broken image links litter AO3 at this point. I know it's not considered the primary place to find fanart, but a lot of folks do post images there—for events like Big Bangs, as standalone art, and even as decorative section breaks, etc. My question is: do you think there's a way to look at, say, works tagged with #fanart (of which there are 99,504 atm) and determine what percentage of those are broken links? From what little I understand, one would have to (perhaps with the use of a simple bot?) try to open any link bordered by the <img src> html, and see what portion of those return an error versus what ones actually load? I suppose it could even be something like looking at fanart posted in 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022 to compare how many older links are broken versus newer links. Anyway, this may be completely unfeasible, but I figured I'd ask about your thoughts! Thanks!

Ooh, thanks for the great question! I took a while to answer because I wasn't initially sure what to recommend and ended up gathering some data to investigate. (If anyone else also has relevant data, please share in the notes!)

I liked your idea of looking at samples different years going back, and I decided to look through 100 AO3 works tagged "Fanart" (or a subtag) that were posted 10 years ago -- as a very fast starting point, I didn't even take a random sample of works, I instead looked at the first 100 multimedia fanworks posted in July 2014. (And August, when necessary; see more notes on methodology at the end.) Please keep in mind that this sample that may not be very representative of AO3 more broadly; to get better estimates, more sampling would be needed. Based on this initial data gathering (and the fact that most fanworks on AO3 were posted within the past 10 years), I would tentatively guess that that most fanart, fanvids, and podfic on AO3 still have accessible multimedia.

Given how many broken links and embeds there are on older webpages, I assumed that a ton of the links from 10 years ago would be broken. But I was pleasantly surprised by the results:

Wow -- 10 years on roughly 90% of the multimedia still works! I was honestly floored; I'd been originally planning to also look at 5 years ago to see how much better that was, but if ~90% are still working 10 years on, 5 years ago doesn't have room to be dramatically better. (However, I'd love to see more follow up sampling across different years to find out.)

There were a lot of AO3 users in this sample who posted multiple works -- some posted as many as a dozen multimedia works in July 2014. I didn't want the results to be overly skewed by any one fanwork creator, so I also redid the analysis with just one work from each unique creator:

Okay, cool, those results are pretty similar. I also did some further breakdowns on this smaller set of works to look at which hosts creators were using, and how many of the hosts were still working:

The most common fanart host used in this sample was Tumblr, then wixmp -- which I think from some very quick googling might be because Deviantart switched to using Wix for image hosting at some point? (i.e., I think most of those artists may have posted their art on Deviantart, then linked to/embedded the image on AO3, and the image's direct URL was was wixmp.) There were a few other hosts at the time that were used by 5+ different artists in the sample, and then there were a whole lot of hosts were used by just one or a few artists.

Most of the 10-year-old fanart is still up for all of these hosting categories! Photobucket is the least reliable of the most commonly used hosts. In the Other category, 25% of the links are broken, but that's still better than I expected (see full host list here).

This is getting long, so I'm moving the breakdowns for fanvids and podfic beneath the cut:

Fanvids were almost all hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, or both (the above categories are not mutually exclusive). All the Vimeo links still worked, whether they required a password to view or not. Most YouTube links were working, and the few missing ones had almost all been taken down by YouTube for copyright reasons (according to the errors I got -- I'm not rendering judgment about whether they were actually fair use), rather than by the vidder who posted it. And almost a third of vidders also linked to other hosts besides the big two, but many of those links were broken; 59% still worked. (see full host list here)

For podfic, mediafire was a popular solution 10 years ago, though many podficcers used it as a backup rather than the main link that they shared. A lot of podficcers made use of a fandom hosting site that specialized in podfic -- either parakaproductions.com or audiofic.jinjurly.com. Four podficcers used soundcloud (often as a backup). And once again there were a lot of less-frequently used hosts, often used as backup links; 69% of those still worked. (see full host list here)

Some methodology notes and further thoughts:

For fanvids and podfic (but mostly not from fanart), the fanwork creators tended to provide multiple links, and in those cases, I counted the multimedia as working if at least one of the links was still working.

I counted embedded media and links to other sites that host the media all the same way.

I counted the media as broken if I got a 404 when I tried to visit it, or if a site like YouTube had taken it down due to copyright issues, or if I got an Access Denied message for a site like Google Drive.

I counted the media as working if it required a password that was given on the page (common with Vimeo), or if an embed was broken but there were working links to other sites.

How representative is this data? Well, these samples contained most/all of the multimedia fanworks posted in July 2014; that month, there were 70 fanvids, 135 podfic, and 186 pieces of fanart posted that haven't been deleted since. So it's pretty representative of July 2014 specifically. :) But there could have been, say, a fanwork challenge going on in July 2014 that caused unusual uploading patterns then.

The above data gathering and analysis took me several hours over several days. If you want to follow up, you could do more data gathering similar to what I did (I'm happy to elaborate on my process as needed). Or you could write a bot to do something similar; you could have it fetch more AO3 fanworks and try following the links within each work. However, that would be slightly tricky; I ran across more kinds of errors and complicated situations than I expected (e.g., if a YouTube video has been taken down due to copyright, it still has a working YouTube page; sometimes an embed is broken, but if you open the link within the embed in a separate window, it still works fine; many Vimeo links require a password to test, and it could be hard for the bot to reliably find the password in the surrounding text). So you'd have to program your bot to be able to handle a bunch of different special cases.

Regardless of which path you are considering, if you or anyone else does any follow up work here, I encourage you to start by looking through a bunch of fanworks yourself and deciding which scenarios you want count as "working" vs. "not working," and any other things you want to pay attention to.

Hope that helps, and please feel free to DM me with follow up questions. And if you follow up, please share anything else you figure out in this space!

[anticmiscellaney]

what's your favorite part of writing and drawing newoldrare?

Apart from the fact that I love writing and drawing and have fun doing it and would do it all day every day if I could, it's that I can do exactly whatever the fuck I want with it.

It's likely commercially unpublishable for a range of reasons. All the stories are designed to be printed by specific processes and assembled in ways that will probably not translate to a convenient book, and nothing about traditional publishing sounds like a good deal to me. The comments I've gotten about my other scripts relating to music have been annoying. "Young people don't know who these bands are" - okay I'm not writing YA but no problem, books are a great place to find out about new things. I'm making stories about what I'm interested in and they are an invitation for readers to join me, as I have joined many creators in their interests.

I have a few graphic novel scripts that I'd be happy to draw for traditional publication and maybe one day I'll get the chance, but I also have a full time job because I need health insurance to pay for surgery. I have rent and bills and student loans. There are only so many hours in the day, and if I'm not getting paid to do art, I will only be making art I'm insane about.

NewOldRare is what I'm insane about. The art styles and approaches are varied because I love to try different things for different stories. It'll keep growing; I have a lot of ideas noted down, a lot of scripts of various lengths written, and quite a few thumbnailed. It's small scale. It's specific. It's niche. I hide a lot of things in the backgrounds and they don't necessarily matter to the story, but they matter to me. It's probably pointless, it's just quiet snapshots of the lives of two ordinary people and it's kind of silly, but I care about it. It's partly a response to how alienating I find most queer comics/art, but it's not offering incisive commentary or judgement. It also started as a porn illustration series and I forget most people don't know that because I can't post any of it here.

I held off on posting any of it online for a pretty long time and just sent people PDFs of it because I didn't think anyone else would care - friends are obligated to at least pretend. The fact that some people I don't know like it and see value in it is strange to think about, but also very cool.

I guess that was a long way to say I love doing this work because I enjoy the process, but I also like what it represents about my development as an artist and it has helped me figure out a few things.

[perpetual-oratorio]

Earlier today I came across a tiktok of a queer cis woman responding to a transphobic and interphobic asshole. I'm debating whether or not I should link the tiktok in a reblog- I think it would help illustrate my point, but I'm also not trying to put her specifically on blast, this is about a dynamic I see all over.

The guy was doing a lot of the standard "everyone's cool with LGB people, but why are you associating with trans or intersex people, this is just making you look bad" concern trolling. The response tiktok was clearly meant for a general (us american and british, given the specific context) audience and has a lot of the pitfalls you would expect. Like, it was a mistake to teach cis people the idea that "sex and gender are two separate things" because they then can use that to further enshrine sex as simple and unchangeable, you all have seen the posts talking about this dynamic, that's unfortunately totally expected for this kind of video by cis queers for a presumed cishet auduence, this is not a novel observation I'm making.

But something else grabbed my attention also, especially in light of that other post that's been going around on here about appeals to tradition in the lesbian community. When this guy was making the case that cis LGBs and trans people have totally different struggles and are just entirely different from one another, and so shouldn't be grouped together, her only response was to point to history. You see, many of the people at Stonewall were black trans women, and Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were instrumental in the early usamerican queer liberation movement, and trans people have always been here. All of that is true, of course, if a bit revisionist about how accepted trans people were in those communities.

But that was the entire argument she had for trans inclusion- trans people were there and are therefore grandfathered in, which is very much the standard script cis people follow for answering this question. The thing that struck me and motivated me to make this post is how it feels like cis LGBs can get by without understanding the basis of their own oppression. It feels like usamerican conservatives handwringing about gay people "destroying the nuclear family" should have given the game away for the actual anxieties underlying homophobia in the same way as conservative handwringing about how transition can harm reproductive capacity does for transphobia. The fact that that is the same anxiety, the same desire for control of (social and biological) reproduction, should be the clearest sign that we are (ostensibly) part of the same community not because cis queers feel they should be nice to us, but because we are on some level the same thing in terms of the societal transgression our open and proud existence represents. It's frustrating how often it feels like the best we can expect from cis people, queer or not, is a surface level appeal for diversity and not a deeper understanding of the shared basis of our oppression.

[outrunningthedark]

There's literally zero suggestion that Ryan is uncomfortable portraying a queer character compared to Oliver. IDK what your anon is talking about. Like you said he acknowledged the difficulty of getting a storyline like that out to the GA due to toxic masculinity and homophobia but those are just the facts on the ground not an indication that he's personally opposed. Oliver's good at giving diplomatic soundbites to the fandom and cultivating a persona online, Ryan's more blunt and he answered honestly that's the key difference here. Their chemistry has never been denied, Oliver didn't say anything particularly revolutionary, the question is whether there's a serious intent to act on that to create a romantic storyline and I would have to say I agree with Ryan I don't see it happening. There's really no need to be like oh we know Oliver's cool but who knows about Ryan because it's like based on what exactly? Him stating facts that none of this was planned and it's unlikely the writers/creators will pivot?

Honestly I get a little uncomfortable with the way some people ascribe certain views and attitudes to Ryan while simultaneously blowing smoke up Oliver's supposedly enlightened ass, it feels a little prejudiced and in bad faith.

(This isn't aimed at you, I think you're very fair and I agree with you almost all the time. It's just a comment at the language I see used and the implications when this is brought up)

Just want to thank you for reiterating my point because it's something I think is going to have to be repeated over time as each season passes without Eddie being Repressed or Buddie going canon. We don't know how Ryan feels about the Buddie as a legit ship, whether he wants the show to go for it or not, because he doesn't approach the subject the way the fandom wishes he would. He's matter-of-fact. He's realistic. He's seen enough within the industry and in his own life (upbringing and friends he may have made along the way) to understand the tough spot the show put itself in by making neither Buck nor Eddie queer from the start. TBH, R "vs." O is not unlike the way older members of our fandom try to interact with/educate the younger ones. So many here have grown up in a time when queer representation is becoming "the standard" even if TV shows aren't making it past the second season. But those of us who remember the *really* dark days aren't scared to talk about the ages of the folks running these networks or the demographic they're making the shows for impacting how they envision a story line and ensure it plays out. Oliver represents the younger fandom. He understands why fans he's interacted with love the ship and would say yes in a second. Ryan is the rest of us going "Do you hear yourself right now? Do you really think Buddie is as popular IRL as it is online?" There is value in Oliver publicly supporting Buddie, absolutely. But there is also value in having someone speak in a way that aims to prevent fans from getting their hopes up over a story line that may never come true. Ryan is not trying to discourage you. He's trying to protect you and your feelings.

[dearinglovebot]

Not really a question just wanted to say love your blog a whole lot!!

This may be a weird semi question but is it weird that I find the raptor/handler lady as great mutism/selective mutism/ disabled rep? Like to me what makes her fascinating is how she does not say a word and feels closer to her animals cause for me I feel more close to my animals then anyone else and shut down and go mute sometimes. Like the is cool as a villain because we can’t really read her. I know in general disabled folks are put as the villains but to me she’s not really a villain? Like I’d find her offensive if we didint see more of HER as the show goes on, I see her as like an anti hero, hero of her own story. Idk maybe I’m yapping about nothing but she’s been my fav human Jurassic villain and also a cool representation and it makes her more badass

aweee thank you ❤️❤️

this got long I’m sorry. TLDR; it’s never weird to find characters relatable. it’s beautiful. the handler is my girlfriend who I love dearly but, for me, she’s not someone I consider mutism *representation* quite yet. open to having s2 rock my world with her tragic backstory though

honestly, there’s layers to it in my eyes. it’s like: are flamboyant villains used to mock queerness? yeah. will I still say they served amongst my fellow gays? yes. do I think they’re good representation to the wider public? absolutely not.

i don’t think it’s weird at all to love her and feel kinship in her. i like what we’ve seen of her so far. she’s fascinating in how little we know about her or her motivations. I hope she continues to girlboss her way across the world and strike fear into the hearts of many. and i think a lot of us do tend to closely bond with our animals because they don’t put unrealistic expectations on us. that’s a very realistic aspect of her. my cat is my hashtag best friend 4 life. but I do also think there’s a difference between good representation and interesting characters that we like.

personally, I think the handler is a relatively unoffensive portrayal, but I wouldn’t consider her representation for mutism. for one, I genuinely haven’t heard any talk of them consulting any nonverbal people to respectfully portray her like they did with brooklyn’s limb difference. for two, does she accurately show the experience of mutism? her backstory is going to play into this, but in her current state, I’m meh. most people already assume I’m plotting their downfall because im a non-expressive (autistic) and silent bipoc but she genuinely is trying to kill people so (tbf i wish i could hunt people for sport too sometimes so maybe not THAT inaccurate). I think the strongest thing she has going for her representation wise is that she used body language to comfort the raptors instead of words. that ability to silently communicate with her pack felt real.

how they handle her in s2 might change my opinion, but rn I don’t see her as rep in the same way that, say, yasammy represents me as a lesbian or kenji represents me as a member of a diaspora. love that freaky woman but when I explain what it’s like to be me, I wouldn’t use her as an example is my basic thought process. I’ll never knock other nonverbal people’s thoughts cause we aren’t a monolith but *i* see representation as something made for us. yaz and sammy were handled so lovingly and thoughtfully and THATS what i want representation to mean (<- guy who can’t go 2 seconds without praising yasammy)

I would also like to lightly push back on the idea that verbal shutdowns are the same as mutism, though. being mute means that you speak rarely, if ever, on a constant basis. they’re distinct experiences, though some people (like me lol) will have both! the way I’d describe it is kind of like: verbal shutdowns are temporary breakdowns caused by high emotional stress. but being nonverbal is daily life. it might be physical, mental, or both but it’s not really something that changes without purposeful interventions. the experiences are relatable to each other, but they have their nuances

I DIGRESS! at the end of the day, there’s no authority on representation thought because that defeats the purpose of us all being unique people with our own opinions. if a character makes you feel seen, then that’s beautiful. keep loving them. don’t let anyone tell you it’s weird. our experiences shape how we relate to characters. the good, the bad, and the ugly. hell, you’re talking to the person who soapboxes about autistic claire everyday because I think she acts like one of us. she’s relatable to my experience so I’m gonna claim her all I want every day of the week. that’s the beauty of fiction

I hope this didn’t come off as shaming or superior in any way. I tried to emphasize personal opinion where I could but again I’m autistic. makes me sound more confrontational than intended online. I genuinely do not think it’s weird in any way. I mainly just hope s2 gives the nuance I’m looking for in her portrayal

[respectthepetty]

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow 101

Lesson 3 - Other Visuals

Because I get so many asks about colors, I decided the best way to celebrate Pride is to educate anyone who is interested in how to better Read the (Visual) Rainbow and simultaneously allow myself to appreciate queer media.

Do you ever notice visual cues when watching a show? Do you ever feel the background noise is trying to tell you something important?

Well, either way, this lesson is for you!

As mentioned in Lesson 1, visual rhetoric is the use of images to persuade the audience of the piece's purpose. Since shows are a collection of moving images, the objects included within them are used as tools to enhance our understanding of the show.

*This is a Semantic Error appreciation post*

Metaphor, Metonymy, and Meaning

To save on time, the simplest way to explain these (which they are different) is that a single item is used for a larger abstract idea. There are many examples, like a smiley face can represent happiness but also the facade of happiness, a dove can represent peace, and an hourglass represents times. For instance, when Puen gifted Talay a pink hourglass, which was his color, it symbolized the borrowed time they had, but also the time they had spent with each other in that universe.

If lights turn on after a period of darkness, this represents an awakening or enlightenment.

If we see hearts, we know it's love.

If someone's face is hidden behind other objects like a mask, they have a secret.

If we see rain, it usually means sadness (like tears), and a storm meanings conflict.

And if we see a man drinking bitter chocolate while he watches his crush go to lunch with a bunch of women, we can assume he, too, is bitter.

But you don't always have to look at the deeper meaning of objects because sometimes, the object speaks directly to us:

Clothing - That's a Loud Outfit

Clothing is one of the easiest elements to notice in media because it is on the characters, and we regularly see them.

Let's rewind to Lesson 2 - Color Basics. We learned about the difference between warm colors and cool colors, and that the colors include lighting. If you watched George Michael's "Freedom! '90" music video, you may have noticed that the lighting changes from cool to warm during the video. Maybe you noticed the changed truly began with the burning of Michael's infamous BSA Rocker's Revenge leather jacket that he wore in his 1987 "Faith" video which cemented him as a sex object.

Michael, the epitome of masculinity at that moment, surprisingly decided to not appear in this video. Instead, the music video famously featured supermodels (in their prime - LINDA EVANGELISTA!) in various states of undress. If you noticed the lyrics, Michael sings that clothes do not make the man as the chorus builds to Michael repeating "Freedom!" several times.

The burning of Michael's jacket, a piece of clothing, brings warmth and happiness due to what the jacket symbolizes. The models, whose job is to wear clothing, experience warm light the more they shed their clothes.

This is visual rhetoric at its finest. The visuals are reinforcing the narrative of the song. Normally, nudity means freedom and vulnerability, but within the context of the song, it means even more. The clothes do not make the models. They themselves are the show. Michael, much like the models, wants to distinguish his identity and separate it from the labels that have been imposed on him. The lighting, the clothes, and the items all support that message.

But sometimes the clothing isn't symbolic. Sometimes the clothing tells a blunt message, where it clearly spells out who or what the character loves.

Sometimes its more subtle, like the possibility of the W over Kitae's heart representing his love for Wan.

Sometimes, the clothing tells the plot because Jaeyoung wears his "DIE BITCH" jacket when he first meets Sangwoo since he really wants that bitch to die.

And sometimes, the clothing can just be for funsies.

Posters - The Writing is on the Wall

Printed material can offer textual support for the show's purpose. It is another layer of what we are seeing play out on our screen, but sometimes, it's harder to notice.

If you watched Hayley Kiyoko's "She" video, you might have noticed that her clothing spoke to the audience. She wore a bright shirt that reads "Everyone Loves an Asian Girl" with rainbow socks.

But you might have also noticed the posters on her walls.

Lance Bass who was a member of NSYNC, the second-best boy band behind Backstreet Boys, publicly came out in 2006. It was a big deal. He is the first poster we notice since it's bright red. The poster on the right of him is of twin sisters and openly gay musicians, Tegan and Sara. Sprinkled throughout the posters are ones for Fanta Orange. Coca-Cola had a popular campaign titled "This Coke is a Fanta" which was based on the (homophobic) Brazilian phrase "Essa Coca é Fanta." In 2018, Coca-Cola flipped the phrase and produced limited edition red coke cans filled with orange Fanta and distributed them while embracing the phrase. If we didn't realize Kiyoko was gay from her socks, the posters help to reinforce the song's purpose - Kiyoko must stay true to herself throughout her struggles.

The writing on the wall helps focus the audience's attention on what is important in that moment.

Because it can tell the characters' state of mind like being in hell.

Or what we should expect from the plot of trying new things and doing things differently.

Signs - Follow the Signs

Much like posters, signs clearly spell out what we are supposed to understand from the scene. If the sign is next to the character, we can assume the sign is about the character or their arc.

Like letting us know the character is having a queer awakening.

Books - Judge Them by Their Covers

Books tend to reinforce what we are seeing within the scene and can also offer additional information about the characters that isn't vocally stated. If we see romance novels near a character, it implies the character, regardless of their outwardly appearance, is a romantic at heart.

Or perhaps they are trying to learn more about their robotic crush by reading "AI" or feeling it's "Doomsday" because they caught feelings for a guy.

Activity

Remember that you are watching a visual piece of media; therefore, the visuals ARE being used to persuade you. If there is a lot of items in the background, pause the scene, and examine what is being shown. Are the items simply telling us about the character's personality? Are we being told about the plot? Are we being told more?

Also, keep in mind that the item may be talking to you in a language you can't speak. Most of the included examples were in English, but a few aren't since the media we are consuming is not in English. You might miss some textual clues, but think about why you are being shown these items.

There are many more ways that the background noise provides visual support for the narrative, so to prepare for the next lesson, watch either music video, and think about how the split screens are being used to show barriers, boundaries, and order.

Joel Corry x MNEK "Head & Heart" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRuOOxF-ENQ

Silvy "Queen" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZLGkkDHkRE

[naranjapetrificada]

I'm also a queer black adult. There's a difference between spending money for sources of comfort vs needlessly spending stuff to flex status in very childish ways. We definitely see that as we boycott all these companies. Would the latest iPhone be nice? I guess, but it ain't that impressive to support Congo's genocide. Is that Stanley cup cool? Honestly not really, and it definitely ain't worth supporting another genocide for. Even ofmd, it really wasn't that important for queer media or even black queer media, which a lot of Black shows were also canceled at the same time. No one talks about how important black rep is here though. Despite this, however, you are not seeing black people gather funds for a billboard for a show unless we talking about blm. Because that's more important than getting a show back on the air as a flex. So we as adults can recognize the bizarre message we see when people are out here begging for help, and dismissed as scammers. But the moment a donation post for a billboard gets put up to get a show back to production, it meets its up almost instantaneously. As an adult I literally study these kinds of phenomenons in our capitalist society. I'm not sending this message to come at you because you are not the only one who does this, and I certainly am forced to partake in capitalism. But I do want to share that these are the "adult" conversations people are going to have and question. For as many "we can support both ofmd and Palenstine" I read here, I see the same bloggers attacking Palestinians and Black people for rightfully being upset that they certainly do not "do both" with the same amount of passion

Thing is? I don't disagree with almost anything you said, and the frustration is real. The disparities are real. I've been on the other side of that and needed support and seen whose fundraisers met their goals quicker than mine did. All of that is real and under ideal circumstances, yeah, the billboard people could have handled all this better.

I think the differences in where I come at all this from is that:

I watched the live feed of the billboard for a minute, and people put all kinds of less-than-important shit on it. So when I see people talking about how wrong the billboard is I just remember the like, graduation-announcement-level other stuff that was on it for the same price. I'm not saying the idea still didn't rub me wrong but I am saying that put it into perspective for me at least.

This show has changed lives, which may sound silly, but that's art sometimes. There are people whose lives are better and bigger and more authentic than ever before because of this weird mix of kindness and space to be queer that isn't like anything I've ever seen before. I understand that not everyone had such an impactful experience with it but I've found that incredibly moving and valuable and worth the fight for a 3rd season.

More than anything else, I value the efforts to get the show renewed because it feels like a watershed moment in the TV and streaming industries, and things will only get worse from here. I'm aware of all the Black shows that got canceled before OFMD did but a lot of the time people only care when something comes for their shows, and now we've got a a bunch of agitated white gays (who to be clear to everyone except the asker, are NOT the show's sole audience so please stop talking about it that way) who we can and should be pushing to include Rap Sh!t and Love Life etc. when talking about all this. Because it does represent a trend that's coming for everybody, it just started with going after POC and queers first. FWIW I actually did make a post the other day aimed at OFMD people to try to get them talking about the Black shows that were canceled first. (I deleted the original post because my notifications were killing me but reblogs of it should still be floating around out there)

I'm not out here trying to say that people's perfectly understandable frustrations are invalid, it just has felt inconsistent the way a lot of (almost entirely white) self-styled leftists have been coming after OFMD as if it's uniquely horrible.

When BIPOC object to the disparities Asker pointed out, I lift that up and value it. There are things I might say in other forms of this conversation that I would have with other BIPOC away from prying eyes that might surprise you. But right now there's too much noise in this conversation from people who don't actually give a fuck about any of their talking points, they just see an opportunity to dunk on a cringe fandom or they're operating with incomplete/incorrect information about things or in the least surprising/most transparent move of all, they're projecting a bunch of inaccurate shit onto Taika and using it to criticize him in as pattern that's familiar and obvious to every POC watching it happen. That's not what I think you're doing or anything Asker, but it's important context for the conversation we could/should be having and something that keeps getting left out of the conversation.

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1B! MATCH 2 OUT OF 8

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Original Fairytale:

The girl, the myth, the legend. The one who started it all. She skips into the forest with head held high, unknowing of the wolf and the many, many retellings of her story. Something, something, puberty, something, something, men are wolves. Just let my girl wear her red cape and be on her way to Granny's, please and thank you.

I feel like in a lot of modern adaptations they get lost in making Red Riding Hood more a girlboss who fights back or making her secretly (or not secretly) the real wolf or having her and the wolf be love interests, they lose a lot of what made the original fairytale so good. AND SO CHILLING! We have been told this story so often since childhood we can forget how frightening it can really be. A lost young girl, punished for the follies of childhood. I also think that even in the "happy" endings when the huntsman saves her there is this sense that she will never be the same. Her childhood is over. And that's haunting! The horrors of unprotected innocence.

The Path:

Each of these girls deal with their personal demons- in this case, "wolves-" as they grow and mature on the path of life. Each of them represent a different stage of a young person's life as they go through the world and the different ways in which that world can turn on that young person when they allow themselves to get lost in a dense forest, culminating in their reflection on the life they led.

the path is just a really cool underrated game idk man

i just really really like the path 🤷‍♂️

I will admit I'm only familiar with The Path through Izzzyzzz's seminal video on the subject but her Vibes are pretty iconic

(Scarlet) Most underrated sister imo. Her story is hauntingly sad and has themes of "lost of childhood" in a completely opposite way from the original Red Riding Hood, a good twist on the story.

(Ruby) The most well-known of the Path girls and the most goth, I get very sad when I see her. I know "teen angst" is a joke but sometimes I see reminders of just how full of despair teenagers can be. Her self-destructive tendencies and her "Charming Wolf" are leading her down a path (pun intended) that could kill her if she is not saved in time. It's so easy to dismiss teenage impulsion but only the survivors can.

(Ginger) Girl is so queer. Love that for her.

(Ginger) lesbiam

(Robin) Little girl sees giant wolf and wants to take it for a ride. Nuff said. (Also her room is the scariest imo. A child learning about death and their own mortality is mundane but terrifying)

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E1) Steven Universe: Revolutionizing LGBTQ Representation in Cartoons

Hey there, I’m Mia, and welcome to the first entry of my blog! All of my posts are going to follow a similar structure, with the first half being about the show I’m covering, with a summary, what I enjoyed about it, and all that good stuff. The second half would explain what effect it had on the greater cartoon landscape, or what it represents in the industry. Today I’m going to be talking about a cartoon that’s very close to my heart: Steven Universe. The show first aired in May 2013 on Cartoon Network and ran for 5 seasons, a movie, and a single-season epilogue series. It’s about this kid named Steven, a half-human half-alien hybrid, who’s being raised by three ancient alien warriors named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (as you can see in the intro). Together they fight monsters and protect the earth from danger. These aliens are called gems, and every member of their species is based off a different kind of gemstone, from physical, chemical, and spiritual standpoints (which I think is REALLY cool, by the way). Over time, Steven Universe’s focus goes from wacky adventures to exploring deeper themes, such as grief, toxic relationships, depression, and living up to other people's expectations. The show has been praised for its absolutely stunning animation, incredible songs, and the way they developed their characters. It also has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you care about that kinda thing. 

Now let me tell you, I absolutely LOVED this show as a kid! I watched every episode as it came out, I drew fanart (see the picture below… Also ignore how bad it is. I drew it when I was like 13, okay?), I made my own gem-inspired characters, and it really impacted my view on the world. A major part of the show is its message of treating others with kindness and acceptance, which I try to live by to this day. 

Now then, how did it revolutionize queer representation, do you ask? Well, a majority of the characters on this show are part of the LGBTQ community. Stevonnie is a nonbinary character, the first out of many to appear on the show. Pearl is in love (though it’s unrequited) with Rose Quartz, Steven’s late gem mother. Every gem character on the show, in fact, are feminine-presenting agender beings. And Garnet, the most important character for this section, is actually two characters: Ruby and Sapphire, who were so in love that they vowed to fuse together and live as one for eternity (super adorable by the way oh my goodness). All of these characters were probably my first time seeing prominent non-cishet characters on TV, and the same thing can be said for a lot of people around my age at the time. It wasn’t easy for the show to do this, however. The most explicitly queer characters, Ruby and Sapphire, had to be censored in many non-North-American countries, with kisses cut out and some languages using masculine pronouns to refer to the more butch of the two, Ruby.

Despite all this pushback, Rebecca Sugar (the creator of the show) and their crew worked hard to make sure their characters were allowed to be who they really were on-screen. All this came to a climax during the 2018 episode “Reunited”, where Ruby and Sapphire have an entire on-screen wedding ceremony to celebrate their love. This was a HUGE deal at the time, and even countries where equal marriage was banned HAD to air the episode, due to about a million other plot-essential things happening during the second half. I vividly remember staying up until midnight JUST to watch the episode as it was released online, as I was extremely invested in the pairing.

Being able to have a queer wedding episode was no easy feat, and the Steven Universe crew had to fight hard with the network executives for them to allow it, but in the end, it was all worth it. After SU was able to break boundaries for queer representation in cartoons, other shows came along and were able to have out and proud LGBT characters as well! Adventure Time, which Rebecca Sugar started working on before moving to their own show, featured a kiss between two of its lead female characters: Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. The Owl House had the Disney Channel’s first openly bisexual protagonist AND first nonbinary character, Viewers were able to see a beautiful relationship blossom between Luz Noceda (the main character) and Amity Blight, her girlfriend, and Raine Whispers, who uses they/them pronouns has to be one of my favourite characters in the entire series!

Though this representation doesn’t only mean a lot to the world of animated television, it also means a lot to ME. I’m nonbinary and queer, and my family isn’t the most accepting of people who share my identities, so it meant the world to little 13-year-old Mia, who was ashamed of who they were, being able to see characters who were just like them! Those characters, as unimportant as the casual viewer might find them to be, allowed me to see parts of myself represented for the very first time. People like me were able to exist and be themselves, unapologetically, and it inspired me to do the same, many years later.

Okay, I just realized how long this entry was, so I’m ending it here, but in my defence, I had a LOT to talk about! Thank you all for reading, and be sure to tell me what you thought in the comments section! Also, if you have any cartoon series you’d like to see me cover, I’d love to hear it (though I already have an extensive list LOL). See you all in the next blog entry!

[dusty-pistol]

Probably cringe yap session ahead describin how I feel about myself under the cut, woo!! Cuz I think I learned how to put it into words. Not a vent, but will be talkin bout possibly upsettin topics! Please take care of yourself. =]

So I know I make jokes and such about my identity. Deerboy, power armor, all that. But there's a reason for all of it. See, I don't do labels, really. I used to, but there's too many for me to really look at and say, "Oh, that's me." I know what I am logistically. I know I'm just a person, so you don't need to remind me. But I don't feel like anythin. Regardin queer terms and labels anyway. I'm none of those. But I do have things I identify with for certain reasons. And I wanna explain those so yall can understand me better!

So let's start off with my persona. My persona is actually a shapeshifter. The main form it takes looks exactly like me, just with deer features. Antlers, ears, tail, hooves, things like that. Because I identity with deer. Specifically, whitetail bucks. That's why I call myself a deerboy. Cuz I identify with them. The animal features do represent how different I feel around everyone else, however. It's a metaphor for bein nurodivergent in a nurotypical society.

Now, onto the thing that's a little more emotional. The whole power armor thing. See, before I even got back into Fallout, I've always felt robotic. (Before you read these, please don't do the things I do that are listed here. They aren't healthy for you, and just because I do them doesn't mean you should too. Don't cause problems for yourself. I am actively trynna improve myself, and I have a therapist to help.)

•The way I talk is typically monotone, and when I explain things, I explain them as if I'm readin from a wiki page. Usin formal words and go into detail about the topic.

•The way my body works. My right shoulder likes to slip out of place and lock up. Makin it impossible to move my arm unless I push it back into place. (No, it doesn't hurt. It just feels kinda strange.) And most of my joints lock up easily like my knees and elbows. I'm sorta twitchy as well.

•I don't need much fuel to function. I run off of little to no rest, food, and water most of the time. And I have a very small appetite even then. Speakin of sleep, I rarely dream. I close my eyes, and when I open them, it's day. At least I feel recharged afterward. But it still feels wrong and upsettin to rely on those things to function in the first place. I've gotten so used to ignorin my body's alerts for food and water that I don't notice I need to eat or drink until I'm shakin and my head hurts. But don't worry, my parents remind me instead since they understand.

•I overheat and shut down easily. Summer is my worst enemy cuz it's too hot, and I can't function properly if I'm overheated. So I shut down, and I can only focus on gettin somewhere to cool down. I'm built for the cold. Not heat.

•I'm very focused on certain things, and I push myself to get things done regardless of whether I need to take care of myself. I could be bleedin, and I'd still wait to tend to my wound until after I'm done with what I was workin on. I used to push people away to focus on schoolwork back in middle school because I didn't want them to interfere and make my grades drop. I didn't have any friends, but at least I had straight As. That's all that mattered to little me.

•I do a lot of research on topics that interest me. A bit too much from what people have told me. I just like to know everythin there is to know about these things. I'm very knowledgeable when it comes to injuries, firearms, history, and Fallout lore.

I know I probably just listed things that sound like autism, and you wouldn't be wrong. But I'm just explainin it how it affects me and makes me feel. It makes me feel like a machine. Like I'm just an object to society meant to work for the rest of my existence. Which unfortunately also wouldn't be wrong since that's what society expects.

You might be like, "No, don't worry, you're not a machine! You're a person just like everyone else. Don't be mean to yourself." And as nice as that is, I really don't mind bein referred to as a machine. I used to dislike it. But after a few years, it kinda started growin on me to the point where I identify with it. It ain't mean to me.

But how does any of this relate to Fallout T-60 Power Armor? Honestly, it doesn't make sense. You'd think I'd associate myself with an actual robot in the Fallout franchise. Such as a Sentry Bot or an Assaultron or somethin. (I do identify with Sentry Bots, but this has a different focus.)

I identify with Power Armor because it just feels like me. Not bein inside a suit of Power Armor. I mean the armor itself. Like a sentient suit of T-60 Series Powered Combat Infantry Armor. That's what I feel suits me best. I look at that armor, and I say, "That is me." Even though I'm well aware I'm just a fragile human person. As I've said before, you don't have to remind me.

Sorry if it seems cringe that I refer to myself with robotic terms. It just feels right. Now that I got all that off the old chest plate, I think I'm feelin a bit better. Thank yall kindly for readin this far if ya did. And thanks for understandin me if you do. =]

[agalnamedlunasea]

*shakes a bag of treats to lure out your DR headcanons*

Psspsspsspsspss

ALRIGHT YOU’VE CONVINCED ME but im putting this under a readmore bc ive got charts and shit

Sexuality

Aspec

Gender

SO I think the charts mostly speak for themselves? I definitely don't have the energy to go into *every* individual person nor do I necessarily have much to say about some of em, so I'll only go into detail about ones I have particularly strong thoughts about/ things to say. But feel free to ask specifics! Can't guarantee I'll be able to answer but still. ANYWAY SO

I wanna start by saying I am the least confident in my aspec headcanons? They're extremely flexible moment to moment and I'm not attached to many of them. I could see almost anyone almost anywhere with only a handful of exceptions, honestly

I almost put a "cis but they've still got something goin on" category on the gender one,,, I woulda put the antags, Yasuhiro, Sonia, Angie, Gonta, maybe a couple others in there,,,

Not really represented here but im a big fan of genderfluid imposter and byakuya

All the protags are trans, and also they're all bi except komaru, fun fact 👍

Literally all of em are queer in some fashion, as you can tell from the fact that I forgot to put a "straight" category on the chart...

Anyway some in particular that im fond of that ive not really talked about before:

I love love love hc Aoi as a nonbinary lesbian. Its like,, lowkey projection,,, but I think its supported by the text. She's got some hang-ups surrounding womanhood and being a woman and how that relates to her relationship with men (im thinking specifically of her last fte). I think it would be a nice resolution to that struggle for her to shed the expectations she feels entirely and embrace who she is, even if its different from what she feels like she's "supposed" to be. Idk I think its a natural conclusion

I enjoy nonbinary chihiro for a similar reason. I think it would also be a natural conclusion to her struggles with gender and what masculinity and femininity means to them

And somewhat related I hc sakura as a cis lesbian also bc of her struggles with femininity?? I like the idea of her conclusion being to embrace her femininity wholeheartedly. She enjoys being feminine but has a hard time reconciling that with her strength. Id like to see her enjoy both of those things about her

Hm i wonder if those say anything about me, im not projecting even a little bit

I hc that akane is pan but for the longest time she just. Doesn't realize not everyone is like that? It was never even something to think about for her. Like she'll be talking to nekomaru and she's like "really you've never thought a girl was hot? Never? Men, I get ya, but *no* girls? That's possible?" And nekomaru gives her the most disappointed stare.

Idk why but nagito and nekomaru being the only gay men on the island is a lil funny to me

Also. I read a singular fic where nagito was demisexual and I was like ok you've convinced me (can you tell. I am. Easily convinced. About this kind of thing)

I go back and forth on whether I hc izuru as pan or aroace. Things like gender don't really matter to him, I just can't decide how that would work in terms of attraction for him 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

I would just like to call attention to transfem hiroko hagakure. Good for her

Rantaro. Feels v aroace to me. In that way where everyone who likes men is like "wow he's so pretty I can't believe he doesn't have a partner id love to date him I wonder if he's interested in anyone" and then he's just like "hey you guys check out this cool thing I found". Like the reverse of bi but noone wants him. Attractive but doesn't want anyone. I can see aspec tho. But that boy is definitely not allo

Once again. Idk why. But kiyotaka, nekomaru, nagito, and kokichi being the only gay men on the chart. Is a lil funny to me. Idk Idk Idk

Ummmm I think thats most of what I wanna say??? I might elaborate more another time but there's that 👍

[mr-laveau]

Hi!

First of all, i wanna say i love your art and how every tiny little detail tells a huge story and resmble an important thing in your character

Second of all, how did you that?

I am now your little funky student that needs advice on making ocs more interesting

Oooooooh! Well first of all, welcome to class, my funky student! Secondly, the short and lame answer is:

I'm a character designer, it's my job to know how to do that.

The long answer tho...

In my approach to character design (of which, there are many approaches as this subject is individual-based so my way isn't the ONLY way), I tend to focus on a few things in my initial thought process:

What is this character's story? - What's their role in the plot? What's their personality? What's the setting of their story? What are the deets?

What is the medium in which people will be exposed to this character? - Will they see this character in a game? A comic? A dating sim? An animated show? Is this just a design to be posted? Depending on the medium, this will affect how you design the character, in terms of how that design will be conveyed as its used within the medium.

What do I visually associate this character with? - after understanding the character, what do I associate with this character's concept? What comes to mind when I think of them? Do they remind me of something/someone specifically? What's the connection?

What are icons/symbols represent the above associations and how can I incorporate that into my design? - This tends be very important for me because my style is heavily reliant on shapes and dynamic geometry so depending on that, I can squeeze shapes and symbols in to make the character more interesting and more recognizable to people who view those symbols.

Are there any extra details I wanna squeeze and would they make sense with the narrative? - This question is as basic as follows so ask yourself, is there anything I wanna input to make it fun? If so, what is it and how will it make sense?

Has this already been done? - I've been more keen of this question as I've spent more time in the redacted fandom because the base fact is, everyone has drawn a listener and if I wanna be seen, I gotta be able to stand out. In your case, does your character stand out amidst the rest? If so, cool! If not, then depending on your intention with that design, you may wanna revise your design and see how you can freshen it up in a different way with what you've already thought up.

To more properly explain my process, I'll use my poly redacted OC, Carter Wilde • Casanova, since I think it has a very strong design I can use to explain this process!

What is Carter's story? Carter is a character based on the listener traits of Smartass and Non-canon Freelancer in Lasko's BAs. He's a a telepath and a teacher at DAMN who acts as the main character in his own story to resolve the issues in DAMN from the perspective of a new teacher! He's a fiery soul with unorthodox methods that get his lessons across and a bratty streak around Aaron and Lasko.

What's the medium in which people will be seeing Carter? People will mostly be seeing Carter through illustration which allows me to get creative with how I want to present him but in my usual designs, I will often design them in mind to be a part of an animated show or a dating simulator. For Carter, he's designed in mind to be conveyed in a Visual Novel, hence why he's designed from the waist-up and is designed to be conventionally attractive.

What do I visually associate this character with? Carter is based on my writer username, the Bratty Telepath, and shares a last name with Oscar Wilde, an Irish poet/playwright. As such, I associate him with stuff like the mind, the brain, writing, the rebel genius aesthetic, punk culture and queer iconography!

What are some symbols and icons that represent the associations I've listed above? Some elements in Carter's design are based on punctuation marks!* His hair puff is dyed pink and resembles a brain, his nails are painted in both the colours of the pan flag and the recent poly flag, his tie is loosened, suggesting that he may have a more relaxed form than other teachers, he wears a choker which according to BDSM is indicative of him possibly being a sub, his entire outfit suggests he may not be an average teacher. *His tie and one of his earrings = exclamation mark, his hair tie and his other earring = comma/semi-colon, his bindi (on his forehead) and the buttons on his gloves = periods. Additionally, his nails are painted in CMYK which is a colour model used in printers.

Are there any extra details I wanna squeeze and would they make sense with the narrative? The bindi was also a last minute decision for me actually but worked out because Carter is desi and raised closer to his Indian culture and the bindi is believed to be representative of the third eye which also adds to the fact that Carter's a Telepath.

Has this already been done? Not to my knowledge...in this fandom, so I think I'm pretty good on this end.

I hope that gave you an idea of what I was talking about! I love pulling together stuff like this cuz it's really fun pushing things together and forming something seemingly simple but intricate! Hope that helped!

[honeyhotteoks]

Hello! This is a bit of a late response considering I read the 3 new chapters on the day you released them but I’ve been super busy and wanted to fully compliment them rather than respond in a rushed manner. I was actually on a college residential trip in Germany but dropped everything to read the new chapters, I was so excited and it did not disappoint! So here comes my stupidly long list of thoughts that no one asked for but I’m giving to you anyway because I am hyper fixated on this fanfic-

As a Hwa bias, chapter 10 was cruel, but in the best way possible. The way their alpha x alpha relationship is similar to that of wlw or mlm one in real life is so painful but such a smart metaphor. My situation is in fact very similar to his, being queer but financially dependant on my parents, so this definitely hit home. I hope the best for our Sanhwa but I love the subtle representation this dynamic is providing for us. The fact that neither of them let Wooyoung in on it because they want to protect him from the truth, are you trying to break my heart?! I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for them in future chapters. Mingi admitting fault is my favourite thing ever. I hate the trope of the main love interest being as close to perfection as one can be, Yungi having flaws humanises them so much and adds a whole lot of depth to their characters, making the story itself so much more interesting. But I’m also so happy that we are back into Yungi x Y/n fluffy era.

Chapter 11 was the prefect breath of air between 2 very angsty chapters. I literally love Wooyoungs character so much and getting to see him happy made me feel all giddy inside. Also love that Yeosang and Jongho are more included in this chapter. I hope we get to see Woosangs relationship develop more in future, they're such as cool side couple and deserve the best. The way Minseoks character slowly became more prevalent created great foreshadowing to the threat he would become, it’s paced so well and is such an enjoyable sense of anticipation.

And chapter 12. Oh chapter 12. Alike to chapter 10, I like the way that it represents trauma while being in a fictional and fantasy context. It gives the opportunity of being able to empathise with such an experience as it acts for a metaphor of traumatising experiences many of us have have in real life without directly describing it. And my god is it described well. I feel so much rage towards this fictional character, its not even funny. Once again Wooyo and Y/ns omega friendship that non of the others will ever be able to understand is so heart-warming and the way that Yungi and Woosanhwa put their differences aside when the person they love most was in danger. But also…wdym Hwa was sat with his head in his bloody hands?! I need to know! I didn’t even stop to think about the guys perspective because I was so invested in how Y/n perceived it but that teaser you dropped has made me so hungry for it. It’ll add weight to this climatic portion of the plot and so much depth to characters as were able to see how such an awful situation will influence their rational.

Once again Chai you have blown me away and allowed me to enjoy reading in a way I never believed I could. I’ll continue rereading these amazing chapters until the next update. Much love,

- 👻 anon

oh my goodness thank you SO much for this comment. i've read it a couple of times now, and i just really appreciate that chapter ten resonated with you. it took a while to figure out that dynamic with san and hwa, but i'm really happy with how it came together.

i hope you also enjoy the chapter 12 from the boys perspective release.... your comment on seonghwa's bloodied hands..... all is revealed and i really hope you enjoy that too!!

thank you as always!

[noctilionoidea]

hiii whos your fav person from greek mythology

Hi! My favourite figure in Greek myth is dionysos! Prepare for a long one lmao

the reason why is actually really complicated. When I was younger I wasn’t at the proper reading level to read the primary sources, so all I had to go off of was abridged or children’s editions. It’s really complicated to explain his domain in an elementary school setting, so then I only knew him as the god of wine. However when I got older i had a mental health crisis, and once I recovered I was looking for new philosophies to help my changing world view (I had just come to terms with the fact I was queer and unable to actually fit in to society due to various factors). I had always loved the books I read on Greek myth, so I went back to that. Eventually my interest was peaked on actually looking for the texts myself.

I read texts like this, just for context- first, I take in the story being told. That’s fun, excited, emotional like watching a movie! But then, sometimes at the same time, I try to think about how I interpret this. The curtains are not just blue here, this is either a religious text (ie homeric hymns) or something based in religion and existing storytelling for an external, non theological purpose (ie Ovid). Then I need to recognize if my interpretation is valid to the historical background or is from a completely different point. I also do this with other religious or folkloric stories, because I grew up on Irish fairytales and folklore. I am aware as well that this is a fallible method. I’m bound to be wrong at least sometimes.

Dionysos managed to be the biggest interest because despite the fact that he was clearly written as a divinity, he also managed to come across as extremely human. He was counter to the ideals of his homeland, he was treated as a foreigner, his divinity was being constantly denied, and he represented a lot of concepts that I fell under. In a way he helped me accept my own chaos and the fact that I’m in a constant state of change. also, I deeply love many of his domains and symbols. Tigers and leopards, snakes, madness, queer identity, theatre, death and rebirth, and counterculture (I don’t think that’s an unfair reading in the modern day at least) are all just very fun and important to me! He’s really cool. This actually is part of why I’m always displeased with versions of him in popular media. They always focus on the wine aspect when he has so many aspects to him! It’s aggravating lmao.

But of course, this is my own perception of him from my own life experiences. The fun of it is that different people see things different ways!

I also really love Aphrodite, Ares, Ariadne, the Nysiades, Penthesilea and Ino!

[crystal-in-nagasaki]

itoshima

In the beginning of July, my partner and I made our way up to the town of Itoshima in Fukuoka (which I also visited before here) to meet some friends who have a house there. Frankie met these friends when she first came to Japan, and they've been very important to her life as queer role models. One of the couple is a Japanese trans man, who grew up partially in the US and can speak native English. It meant a lot to both of us to see a queer couple thriving together in Japan, with their own house and careers. It gives us a lot of hope for the future <3

Anyway, we drove up on a sunny Saturday and stayed overnight until the following day. The first day one of our hosts had to work late, so we went to visit a shrine and torii gate with his partner.

The shrine we visited was called Sakurai Shrine. According to our friend, it has gained popularity recently because a popular pop band singer has the same name, which I thought was funny. The shrine building seemed very old, but beautifully built. Around the back of the shrine, some of the woodwork was painted in bright colors that reminded me of the Korean style. I received a goshuin at this shrine, but it didn't have a special design, so I didn't take a picture of it.

After the shrine, we drove a bit further to the coast to find a beautiful white torii gate, framing two large stones connected by a rope. According to JapanTravel, these stones are said to represent Izanagi and Izanami, the Japanese creation gods, and their eternal connection. Because of this, it's a popular to spot for couples, and is said to give their love power. It was really beautiful and seeing the two rocks inseparable by the crashing waves, I could feel its spiritual power.

After admiring the torii gate for a while, we headed into town to get dinner and drinks at an izakaya with our hosts and their friends, an international couple from the US visiting Fukuoka. It was a lot of fun sharing conversation in both English and Japanese about cultural and language differences. I love being a part of the international community and learning about many different kinds of people!

After a long night of chatting, laughing, eating, and drinking, we returned to our hosts' house and enjoyed lighting some sparklers together, which is a popular summer activity in Japan. The sparklers had many different kinds of colors and sparks, and it was really fun.

With that, we called it a night and headed to bed in their big beautiful old Japanese house.

The next morning, while our friends slept off their hangovers, my partner and I and one of our hosts took a short walk down the street to a local beach to go swimming. The water was cool and refreshing and we enjoyed swimming and playing in the waves.

A little ways down the beach was a small island with a tiny shrine and torii gate on it. I was interested in checking it out, so we made our way down the beach toward it.

We climbed up the island's stone steps through the trees to find a shrine, and we each said a small prayer to it. There are many small places like this in Japan that you can discover, and I think they're so lovely and hold a lot of spiritual energy.

We finished up at the beach and headed back to our hosts' home to rinse off. From there we headed out to see one of our hosts' childhood home up in a nearby mountain. Before stopping at his home, we headed up to the very top of the mountain to check out a waterfall called Senjuin Waterfall. I was not informed that it would be a bit of a hike to reach it, so I was struggling a bit in my beach trip crocs, but after about 500 meters up the rocky mountain trail, we found the beautiful waterfall with a stone monk watching over it.

From there we headed a bit down the mountain to our friend's childhood home, which was a beautiful house surrounded by nature. We also saw this cat outside, whose dark fur had been bleached brown by the harsh Kyushu sun!

In our friend's house we met their parents, who welcomed us and treated us to homemade tarts and this Japanese dessert in which you sandwich red bean paste between two wafers. It was so delicious and they were so kind! Since they had spent some time in the US, they could also speak English really well.

From there, our trip had come to an end and it was time for us to head home. It really meant a lot to us to have older queer friends in Japan, who can show us what a successful, loving, and proud queer relationship can look like in Japanese society. I'm so thankful I got to meet them, and that they so graciously let us stay in their home and showed us around their town. I hope that we can meet again in the future, in Japan or the US!

Thanks for reading <3