#and tbh that’s why i think it’s such an issue with white men because they’re culturally used to banking on that social power to persuade

[abowlofpetuniasandawhale]

this is absolutely not meant to sound patronizing but if you’re frustrated and upset because you feel like people don’t listen to what you have to say, actionable ways of dealing with that are to learn about rhetoric and how to structure arguments and just develop better communication skills in general.

i’ve seen so many good ideas shot down because the person wasn’t able to effectively explain or support their pitch and was relying on the audience to “just listen and hear me out” and then it feels personal when they’re not able to get what you mean, or they’re just not convinced by it.

i’ve also seen people (usually white men) deal with that feeling by becoming super bitter, obstinate, and pushy, refusing to take no for an answer and just digging their heels in. that just creates a lot of conflict and makes people actively not want to listen to you at all because now they know if they let you get a toe across the threshold, you’ll try to kick the door in.

the fact of the matter is that no one is obligated to listen to you or get onboard with your pitch just because you really want them to and that is not a personal affront, nor is it a bug.

[hotpinkstars]

GIRL DAD OR BOY DAD? - sunday, boothill x reader

- or more clearly, to what gender would they want to have more, and general headcannons of them as papas ☺️

- brainrot brainrot brainrot BRAINROT AHHH... i love these guys and i can do a part 2 for others later but godd theres absolutely not enough dad stuff for these men (especially sunday... if there is its all yandere) so never fear novas here! ahem anyways enjoy

- warnings none! pure fluff!!! wc 711

Sunday is so a girl and boy dad.

Reason why I say this is because he likely needs an heir to take over his position when he gets too old to do so, but he also wants a baby girl he can spoil as well.

Don’t worry! He loves both of his kids the same! They’re the greatest things that have probably ever happened to him and he cherishes them with his whole life. He thanks the stars above every single day for the opportunity he received to be a father to multiple beautiful children, and thanks you for granting him the chance. 

Dunno, but I could see this man wanting a handful of kids. He wants at least one girl and at least one boy, but I could see him shooting for 3-4. Will he be around to care for them? Not all the time, but he tries his hardest (and he definitely has the resources to care for that many).

Considering they’re half halovian and half human, they look pretty much just like their father! Some have your eyes, but they all have his hair. His hair and his gorgeous wings. They have your features though, such as your face, body type, etc.

His favorite part of the day is when he gets to collapse on your shared bed, his kiddos following behind him to cuddle their dad, and most of the time you all fall asleep together. Normally, you wake up just you and him because he’s good about putting them in their own bed once they fall asleep.

Once his kids get older, he’ll teach his son(s) combat and good form. He wants them to protect, and wants to raise them to be strong and independent. With his daughter(s), if they ask to be taught combat, then he won’t see much of an issue with it. He also wants to teach them independence, but in a more subtle form. 

Just expect that his children as teenagers are going to be the prettiest kids around holy shit. They’re obviously enrolled in a private school due to their fathers high status but they always come home and list the compliments they’ve received that day. Thankfully you two have raised them well enough for them to realize that it’ll be bad if all of these get to their head and stroke their ego too hard…

Supportive father asf! All I’ve gotta say here

Don’t play Boothill is SO a girl dad hello have you met the man

He’s so excited when his little girl is born ahh he’s always dreamed of being a father to a girl and his dream has officially come true!!

Obviously, if you had a boy, he’d love him the same. He just wants children of his own tbh lol

His daughter knows western culture fresh out of the womb my friend. It’s like she was born for little cowboy boots and the cutest little cowboy hat. She’s even got a western name, he brought it up and you liked it, so the name you two settled on was Cassidy.

She has his hair! It’s absolutely gorgeous once it starts coming in- a pearly white color with little black streaks stemming from the roots. She has your eyes and your face, and his slimmer body type (before he was turned into a cyborg. This isn’t canon I actually have no clue what he looked like pre cyborgification lmao).

Oh lord, your daughter is so spoiled. On every mission he goes on he’s always bringing something back for her. It could be a super fancy necklace or even just a little trinket he picked up from a street vendor, but she has a whole shelf full of the things her daddy gives her.

She thinks it’s so cool he has a metal body. She asks about it alot but she’s really fascinated with it tbh. She likes to call it “daddy’s special feature!” and he always melts to that sentence gosh

He probably teaches his daughter how to use a gun when she gets older. He, similar to Sunday, wants his daughter to learn self defense tactics and learn how to fend for herself when necessary.

She totally has his accent. Change my mind period.

[campbell-rose]

Helluva Fucking Rant: S2 E6 

OKay I’m a big fat liar and my pants are burning my ass rn, I know I said I’d do Rwby designs next but then the whole leaked episode drama happened and now it’s out and I need to complain. 

*Off the bat, I’m not going to talk pacing mainly because I have little experience with dealing with pacing (having never written anything more than comic strips lol). The episode didn’t feel too fast but anyway 

I’m going to organize this based on gripes I have per character. 

Fizzarolli: He is my baby. He's like kind of babygirl if that makes any sense. “Maybe I could burn the milk this time” 

I adore Fizz as a character. He’s not babified or infantilized like a lot of Viv’s other gay men. So far. Who knows, the writers have proven how adept they are at contradicting and retconning characters. But uhhhh what the fuck was he doing in Greed? Am I stupid? Like, it’s never spelled out. Is it for pr? Is it a deal with Mammon type thing? Is he promoting something? If he had somewhere to be why did he let his dogs run him all over creation??? Like, bit of an issue there as it’s only vaguely mentioned that he was practicing something. 

His backstory is like... acceptable I suppose. Not what I was expecting. I was expecting like, what we got, and a combination of some other theories I had personally. See, my issue is the fire and how imps have been shown in previous episodes to be, ya know, IMMUNE TO FIRE. Imagine if, and bear with me here huge stretch I know, imps are immune to fire and hellfire – but not holy fire. Like, shit straight from the angel’s burning halo type fire. That would make sense, since hellfire is a thing in pop culture and biblically accurate angels are all gold and flames! 

I do like the idea that fizz’s entire body is white from scars, however I think his scars need texture for the idea to sell. Maybe in full costume it’s covered with makeup, but come on people he was lit on fire, you ever seen a healed burn? Fizz being scared of the flames legit made me sad, I love him so much. However they’re trying to show he’s got like ptsd (maybe not exactly but still) from it, but it feels inconsistent to me for some reason. On a final note, he never should’ve forgiven Blitzo in any way, shape or form tbh, I would’ve preferred what Barbie did just straight up, I don’t like you, I can’t forgive you please leave me alone.  

Asmodeus: This cemented for me how much I fucking hate his design. His stupid head is so tiny and his body is built like a brick shithouse like, it’s so unbalanced and weird looking. I like his character here I suppose. No noticeable inconsistencies from his first appearance. His va is killing it tbh, love him so much what a king. 

I’m fine with his character, what I’m not fine with is the weird consent angle their going with. Like... he is the SIN of LUST??? Valentino is more of what I’d expect as the sin of Lust compared to Asmodeus. Also, the WEAKEST and most NON THREATENING SIN??? KESHADOG IS RIGHT THERE 

Crimson: He should’ve been hired by Mammon to get back at Asmodeus. Maybe Asmodeus has an unpaid debt with Mammon and has been shirking him so Mammon is like ‘i have your fucktoy now, give me my money or you won’t get him back’ 

Like his little video chat could’ve been context, like “You don’t know me, but you may know my employer – Mammon?” 

The paperwork would make sense then, Mammon is sending over contracts and bullshit Asmodeus has to sign. The importance of reading the fine print would be even more present because Asmodeus is dealing with someone on his level who can actually fuck him up, not some nobody imp he could kill with a glance! Crimson’s motive could be that Mammon offered him a share of Ozzie’s stock and would let him run some shit because Crimson has become a prominent member of higher society despite being an imp, which is the only reason Striker is partnered with him. 

Striker: Striker baby doll, please just fucking kill Fizz. Like, stop fucking standing there, kill the fucker. Omg I was so annoyed with his lack of action this episode. Both Fizz and Striker are incredible agile and snake like characters, this whole distraction song should’ve been a mix of striker trying to kill Fizz/Fizz avoiding him and Crim’s gang being just flabbergasted by the bullshit they’re witnessing. It’s been shown before that Crimson ony ever sits on the sidelines while his goons get killed so like????  

Anyway, Viv can try as hard as she wants to paint Striker as in the wrong and a bigot, but it won’t work on me. He’s completely in the right because imps are literally the slave/working class in this caste system. Fizz is (to imps in the slums and less fortunate) probably the epitome of a pampered lapdog plaything of the upper class. ANd that could’ve been something interesting to explore. Why not show the perspective of other imps that think like Striker, maybe have them be antagonistic to Fizz because he’s Asmodeus and Mammon’s pet, or maybe Fizz finds out that’s what people think of him and he’s horrified and that’s why he’s mad Blitzo calls him a whore. But no, because Striker is an evil bigot who sides with the evil woman Stella so nobody else thinks like he does. 

Also, his new va has the sexiest voice i've heard since live action Buggy or sub Crocodile so I'm not complaining about him taking up screen time

Him all disheveled is straight up working for me

Blitzo: Once again he gets away with being shitty and stupid and awful because he’s a woobie. Why the fuck was the crux of their hatred based on a birthday cake and the miscommunication trope??? I hate this so much.  

Was Blitzo in love with Fizz? Is that what that blink and you’ll miss it letter was? I’m getting very tired of this show having blink and you’ll miss it plot beats. That isn’t showing not telling, it’s like sweeping shit under a rug. Its like they think just because it was on screen for a frame the audience will catch it and be like ‘omg it happened’ or feel smart for catching something. Stolitz making up through text shouldn’t be a pause the video and read moment for fuckssake. 

I’m finding it very ahrd to tolerate Blitzo. On the topic of him though, I saw the leaked episode. WHY was Barbie taken out of the final flashback???

What the actual fuck???? Like... once again the women in this show are just shoved away and forgotten this is like Naruto level female character writing guys. Naruto had one good female character and she was still sidelined half the damn time. 

Also i fucking hate how this show can't be serious for more than five seconds like when Fizz and Blitzo hug and Blitzo is like 'haha wanna make out' i hate this but it isn't as egregious as having dildos during an abuse scene

Conclusion: Animation was amazing (also one of my fav animators KittenSneeze is an animator for Spindlehorse now like i love them so good for them), plot was whatever, characters are where the story falls, this won and I can’t anymore. 

Actually no, not conclusion. You know what really makes me hate Helluva Boss? It isn’t fair. I know that sounds childish and stupid, but who cares I’m childish and I’m stupid. Why is it that someone like Viv, who consistently doesn’t take criticism and is just a shit person all around gets rewarded for doing dogshit all the time. Yeah it’s a bit step for indie animation or whatever but she literally has Alex Brightman in her fucking pocket I don’t wanna hear it. Lackadaisy has earned it’s time in the goddamn spotlight, not Viv and her stupid creations. It’s so unfair. She got popular off of happenstance for her kesha sparkledogs and now she’s off bastardizing demonology and writing borderline backwards gay and female characters and she’s getting praised as the patron saint of queer rep and indie animation. Like, she doesn’t deserve it. Genuinely. I wish I could just post my demon story and people would just flock to it like flies to shit and shower me in praise and protect me from any criticism. But that’s not how real life works, but for some reason it is for Viv. Its just... I hate it. 

Anyway, baby rant over. This episode was like 7/10 tbh. It wasn't amazing but for Helluva Boss it was good. Sarcastic Chorus made a video about it that I'm gonna watch because honestly his takes could convince me this show is on Arcane's level lmao. Bye bye <3 

[vacantgodling]

personally bothers me when ppl are like uwu Iago is gay for othello and completely ignore his racism let alone the racism throughout the play

lmao thank u for stopping by to talk old books with me :3c

but tbh thank god i’ve never seen this take in the wild because i just 👁️👁️ did we read the same play? are you okay??

iago’s like not even subtly racist. like the whole play is very racist in general when you start deconstructing it and thinking about it with a critical lens.

(such as: black/dark skinned men are going to come around and seduce your pure white daughters with either “magic” or their physicality, abuse them, black men are inherently violent and angry and good for their physical prowess, the only reason a white woman would love a black man is because she pities him… like i can go on)

however, aside from desdemona’s father, iago is the Most and honestly only maliciously racist character, and it’s not even just towards othello lmao (looking at his speech about how a black woman who’s smart would only be of value if she married a white man 😒) like, i understand the ideology behind wanting to read homoerotic jealousy into his actions because why is he so fixated and jealous of this (1) man who has “everything he wants” and tbh perhaps it could work if the play itself wasn’t saying, in part, that othello cannot be trusted with the things he was “freely given” stolen because he’s black/dark skinned/from the Moors, however ya wanna put it.

like it’s easier to read homoeroticism into fucking julius caesar (the play, and i suppose the man) than this play. in hamlet, CLEARLY, than this one. and then it creates a whole host of other issues with the play IF iago is gay because then *insert a slew of homophobic stereotypes here*

however, what gets me is the play already does give reasoning behind iago’s actions. like as i was reading wiki and analyses of it after i finished my first pass of it, there seems to be a lot of “discourse” around iago’s motivations and how they’re not clear… but they are? at least to me? like, he’s egotistical, and big for his britches. he’s petty and jealous and feels that he deserves things simply because he wants them. he wants the lieutenant position because he feels he’s owed it for being done the disservice of having to serve a Moor in the first place and for being a tenured soldier for so long; and whether or not cassio is competent are neither here nor there, the point is if you get passed up for a promotion at work: work harder, accept it, or just fucking quit. but iago decided to make it everyone else’s problem. it really didn’t have much to do with desdemona herself (though i could argue that he was perhaps jealous that othello had a pretty wife who actually loved him; because even though i mentioned the racist sentiments about white women and black men earlier i don’t think desdemona is a racist character in the slightest: she fell in love with othello for who he is and she is faithfully in love with him to the end. that doesn’t change the outside perspective of those who see their interracial relationship, which is very translatable into real life in how interracial relationships are viewed but that’s a whole different conversation), nor do i think did it have to do with this weird homoerotic tension people want to force into the reading.

whenever iago says that he ‘loves’ othello, people should understand that in this time period the word “love” was (1) more freely used to describe a wide variety of positive emotions (2) in this context probably meant something more akin to “loyal” that he wouldn’t betray othello or that he values him as a subordinate should (which is clearly sarcasm) and (3) be read with heavy damn sarcasm especially when iago is not talking directly to othello. he doesn’t care about othello in the slightest; and i would argue that even if iago was made lieutenant from jump he would be scheming about how to become general. we would still have a play about how iago hates and wants to “dethrone” othello. like he’s just fucking selfish in how he treats everyone throughout the play lmao. he doesn’t even describe othello in a “i hate that i yearn for you” type of way like there is Nothing that can construct this narrative to me in the text.

so like long story short (i didn’t mean to rant but yknow ya got me going) i think a homoerotic reading of iago is just kind of out there at best and just irresponsible at worst. there’s plenty of other characters you can read as gay in shakespeare’s works, even fucking desdemona and emilia in this play itself have a better gay reading than iago and othello lmao.

obviously shippers gonna ship and like do you but i just don’t see it.

[fite-club]

Greg here, I saw this post that annoyed me to no end that essentially said “it wasn’t trans mens responsibility to uphold trans women when talking about their own issues” and tbh that attitude was one of the biggest reasons I turned away from that community immediately. I cannot for the life of me understand why that’s a necessary thing to say and it feels so insidious to do so. Like yes, hypothetically, any marginalized person is allowed to talk about the separate issues they have dealt with and they don’t necessarily have to bring anyone else up, but why does it require a stance and a tumblr post to do so? It just leads me to believe that these people have a severe victim complex and are trying to find sneaky ways to act like trans women are part of the issue and MAKING them speak up for them and like… No they’re not?? Like these people are just plainly being misogynistic manchildren?? If someone speaks up for trans women when speaking on trans issues they are simply doing a good thing and trying to act like it’s some chore and oh woe is me what about the trans men like UGH give me a break!! These dudes are so weird!!!

it’s fucking bizarre and literally only makes logical sense if you consider trans women to be equally or more privileged than trans men. anyone of any marginalized community should realize that uplifting and boosting the most victimized and silenced voices is THE key to everyone’s future. y’know, like “high-functioning” autistic activists supporting autistics with severe needs, or white-passing POC standing up for darker-skinned POC, or affluent people giving financial support to unhoused people in need… like, yeah, you’re expected to stand up for transfems, because that’s what you should be doing. if that seems unfair to you… you aren’t the social justice advocate you think you are

[obscuremarvelmuses]

My new work duties/schedule has put a dent in my Darkstar reread but I’m back with commentary on Champions #16-17! There’s not a lot new for Laynia’s characterization here, but I learned her powers are way more potent than I thought, there’s hints that her backstory was probably originally intended as something very different than what we eventually got, and it turns out she’s met a fair few “evil” mutants that I didn’t realize she ever had!

Champions #16 OMG the cover indicates we’re going to have Magneto and Dr. Doom?! Why don’t I remember this?! The first page is Magneto fighting the Champions. Beast is also there. Dialogue indicates that Magneto made a deal with Dr. Doom that he (Magneto) could have one ally from among the mind-controlled Avengers (I guess Doom is mind-controlling the Avengers in some other issue) if Magneto could free that one from said mind-control. He apparently did so successfully with Beast, who was at this time an Avenger, in hopes Beast would lead him to Xavier and the X-Men. And according to Beast “I did, but they weren’t home! So I did the next best thing! Welcome to LA, Maggie!” Magneto laments his choice, asking “why, by all the powers, did I choose you?!” while the pair of them fight the Champions, Laynia included. I thought she’d never encountered Mags, but I was wrong! Also, Hercules is accusing Beast of treachery, but my bet is he brought Magneto to the Champions specifically so they would kick his ass. Like, Beast sounds like he’s on Magneto’s side while they fight, but this is my bet.

  Magneto knocks a metal beam into Angel and Laynia cries out “Warren!” in horror which is more concern than she has ever shown for BOBBY nearly DYING. Besides that, she’s just utterly absent from the fight for ages. I think maybe the writers realized she’d win way too easy with her powers—like she could just teleport Magneto through the Darkforce or something—so they just…sorta wrote her out for a bit for story’s sake. But then at the very end of the brawl, when Magneto flies off with Beast to go fuck up Doom for reasons, Darkstar suddenly reappears, encases herself and the Champions in a sphere of Darkforce, and uses that to follow Magneto through the sky! Blah blah blah, Doom is doing stuff with politicians at DC, the Hulk shows up, then Magneto, and then Darkstar touches down with the Champions a sec later. Warren is ASTONISHED that “Darkstar got us from LA to Washington DC in a matter of minutes!” which yeah is IMPRESSIVE. I’d forgotten she had speed like that, holy shit. I’ve always apped her on the much more conservative side power-wise at servers and boards. Natasha responds that “We still don’t know the limits of her powers” and Laynia says “One day soon, Widow–I promise!” So Laynia is kinda the mysterious mystical one of the team in this era, I think. Not magical, but like, the kinda freaky “we just don’t really understand her abilities and how far they can go” kinda way, is the vibe I get. She comes off as intended as very. . .Wanda-y, tbh, and it makes me wonder if there were bigger plans for her at one point. Also this is the first time she’s called Nat “Widow” instead of “Madame Natasha” perhaps because they’re in front of a bunch of civilians. Anyway. Big fight. Doom mind-controls Laynia, Warren, and Nat and commands them to kill Magneto. Meanwhile Beast tussels with Ghost Rider, Hulk is punching Hercules, the White House Guard is going after Beast and appear to also be under Doom’s control. . .lot of super-chaos but nothing worthwhile for Laynia notes, except that at one point Magneto wraps an iron gate around her and she can’t use her powers due to it squeezing so tight she feels she’s about to pass out. So jotting that down for my own reference, she can’t concentrate enough to use the Darkforce if she’s in that sort of situation—strangulation, suffocation, etc. Fight ends without Laynia doing or saying anything else, no further notes. Good issue for some powers-related stuff in terms of both capabilities and limits, but nothing in terms of characterization. Champions #17 has them fighting a bunch of Sentinels on the cover. A narrative box on the first page informs me that they fought MODOK in a non-Champions issue, Super Villain Team Up #15 and Iron Man Annual #4, so I’ll check those out next. But first I definitly want to read this issue because it begins with the Brotherhood of Mutants (currently Blob, Unus, and my lovely Lorelei!) charging into the Champions HQ begging for help! Got MY attention! Got the Champion’s too, especially because bursting through the wall after them is the Sentinels! Which ignore Hercules and Natasha, as they’re the only Champions there, and not mutants. As for where everyone else is, Warren is flying around LA, and down below Laynia and Bobby are in line to see a movie in which Johnny Blaze did the bike stunts. I bet Bobby thinks its a date and Laynia thinks it’s building team bonds. Warren’s gotten the alert from the others and comes to get Laynia and Bobby, Bobby transforms into his ice form and someone asks if he’s “a frozen streaker?!” which is pretty funny, at least til he’s recognized as “that mutant freak, the Iceman!” and the crowd attacks him. They swiftly realize they can’t hurt him, so decide to turn on his “lady friend” in retaliation, which goes about as well for them as you’d expect. But this only incites the crowd further as they realize “they ain’t human, none of them!” (so they were totally ready to assault Laynia thinking she was human, just for associating with a mutant I guess) and Johnny gets involved as he’s there in the flesh—er, flaming bones��too. Weirdly, Bobby suggests maybe Johnny planned this, which is an accusation I don’t really understand? Maybe Johnny had a falling out with the team I missed because I don’t read if Laynia isn’t on the panel? Whatever. Anyway, Angel carries Bobby to the Champions HQ, Laynia offers to carry Johnny, he’s really hostile back and tells them to all stop pitying him and drives his motorcycle up the side of the building. Yeah something is going on, I just don’t give a shit. Laynia discards the coat she was wearing, showing that she had her costume under it all the time. So she just went to the movies like that. I’m actually not sure we’ve SEEN her in any normal clothing at this point and I now headcanon she doesn’t have any and hasn’t thought to ask for some because an individual wardrobe would be far too decadent. What’s even more interesting is her thought balloon as she does it: “Pity? At last I understand his coldness towards me! He thinks I see him as a monster! But if he knew of my birth, he would know Darkstar is the true unhuman!” I definitely think something different was intended for Laynia’s origin at this point than what we got. I’m not sure she was even originally intended as a mutant. Not that “raised in a USSR facility from birth as a weapon for the State” is exactly normal, but I really get the vibe something freakier than that was the original plan, given lines like this. Interesting. Would really like to know what the idea was, if I’m right. Meanwhile, a dude in green on the roof is watching all this, thinking “Excellent! The lambs march to the slaughter!” and how he cannot fail now. This same dude was also watching the Sentinels attack earlier from the shadows. Pretty sure it’s Vanisher. Laynia and the others join the fight against the Sentinels while the Brotherhood cowers (REAL HELPFUL, YOU GUYS) and when Laynia hits one with the Darkforce, it goes on the fritz, declaring “alien force disrupting systems” suggesting her Darkforce can disrupt machinery, rather like Shadowcat’s phasing. Also interesting to note! The Champions take out the Sentinels, but, gasp! It was a SETUP! The Vanisher was the brains behind it the whole time, and the rest of the Brotherhood was just acting! Which is disappointing, I like these three (Blob, Unus, and Lorelei) and thought them running to the Champions for help was cute. Oh well. Vanisher blasts them all with a knock-out ray, but Laynia, as her thought balloons reveal, is “Barely. . .conscious! But. . .I must act! I cannot let him. . .kill….those who have befriended me!” AW BABY ;-; SHE DEF DIDN’T HAVE FRIENDS EVER BEFORE THIS I mean later it’s established she was raised with Vanguard and Ursa Major but that’s not really the same thing as people choosing to befriend you, is it? Anyway, what happens next is ABSOLUTELY WILD—Laynia uses the Darkforce to animate the remains of the ruined Sentinel! Holy shit! It attacks the Brotherhood, and Vanisher, realizing it’s Darkstar’s doing, is about to kill her, but Bobby, now conscious again too, stops him. Vanisher is about to flee, claiming that no one can stop him from doing so with his power of teleportation, and Darkstar declares that “No human, perhaps! But Darkstar is more than human! Much more!” and uses the Darkforce to actually FREEZE HIM HALF TELEPORTED HALF OF HIM IS STILL THERE THE OTHER IS NOT It’s not gory and hes not dead, the “open” part of his body is covered in Darkforce, but dear GOD that is disturbing, and Darkstar thinks so too. As Bobby gawks and wonders how Vanisher can be alive, Laynia turns away from the sight into Bobby’s arms, saying “I-I don’t know! Oh Bobby, hold me!” The issue ends with Warren saying “Did you hear what she said? About not being human?” which, yeah, technically Warren isn’t human, but like. . .Darkstar definitely seems to mean something bigger than just being a mutant (which, actually, ARE human, humans with mutations are humans) Hercules concurs that “Aye lad! In truth, there is a mystery here!” and Ghost Rider thinks “And maybe I’ve been wrong all along!” The issue ends here. Yeah, whatever Darkstar’s original origin story was meant to be, I think it was probably something a lot more eldritch in nature than just “mutant with connection to the Darkforce” for sure. Alas, I’ll probably never know what it is!

[papirouge]

I unironically want Christian women of all kinds to stop listening to namely white Christian men old and young (and women too) who push that “great replacement theory” that I keep seeing crop up even in Christian spaces. If you’re happy about your heritage that’s one thing. Like celebrating traditions or culture. But to go full “our [white] people are endangered” and demonizing mixed ethnicity or race couples is just gross and cruel to me. Bonus if you’re adopted too. They’re told to be fruitful and multiple while believing people like my big family are “taking over”. I come from a big Asian and Afro-Hispanic family with some non-white middle eastern relatives too. We’re not doing anything but existing. What’s going on with these people lately? Does anyone feel like this?

...... what I'm about to say may shock you but I lowkey believe the great remplacement is real lol (Non Whites) immigrants are making more kids than locals and it only takes time before they outnumber them - at least in places where there is already a huge immigrant population 🥴

But my biggest issue is how the Whites are acting like victims about it. What's stopping them of having kids? You can't be oppressed by people breeding 💀 why wouldn't Christian be bothered about it anyway? oh yes, that's because White people with 6-7 kids is God's glory, but any POC with big families are a threat to society 💀💀

And this whole "keeping tradition" excuse is retarded. In France, churches are filled with black/subsaharian Christians bc the Whites don't go to churches anymore (the only Whites there are senior citizens who belong to a generation when religious education was still alive). That's right, the Negroes are keeping their precious White Chrisitian culture alive - they should thank us tbh💅🏾. I even heard that in Russia they import priests from Africa bc the younger generations got totally disinterested from religion/clericalism. Interestingly enough, you hardly hear those rightoids talk about it. It's easier to point fingers are immigrants than acknowledge their own shortcomings.

But I'm not naive enough to think this hypocrisy is only in White countries. If you're from a multiracial background you may not understand that, but racially homogeneous countries will always have a self preserving instinct. My family is in Congo (so a pure Black country) and I know some people are wary of Chinese flocking over there.....when they are just taking opportunities that their corrupted government fails to exploit. There's also racism within (Black) Africans following the ethnicity (pretty much like the Whites othered the (Ashkenazi) Jews or Irish), notably regarding through intra continental workers migration flows.

I was very surprised to see sooooo many Chinese when I got there 🤯 But it didn't start recently: back when China was under (Mao's?) Communism many Black African countries hosted Chinese students. Communism was very successful in Africa (bc African cultures values are very *community* oriented, as opposed to Western individualism). That's around that time my mom had a fling with a Chinese student and he wanted to take her to China but my grandma refused to let my mom go bc "she would be killed over there" lmaooooo 🤣

[fookinfandoms]

Angel of the Morning | Tangerine 

pairing: tangerine x female reader

plot: Part Two to All in a Days Work! 

Not edited, I’ll do it later.  

warnings: language, mentions of blood, violence, they’re assassins idk what you expect tbh, Smut! Unprotected* P in V, dirty talk, rough seggs.

taglist: @jonnae17 @caotica-e-quieta @ashyyslashy @imslimshadey @or1on-writes @robertdowneyhiddlesbatch @sweetangerinee @marv3lwhor3 @m00nkn1ghts @hello1276​ @revenstaz​ @deceitfuldevil​n @piechans @stickyllamapersonatree​​ @dangoo1o @idk-what-to-name-this127​ @stevebuckysdoll​ @crystal-jack-asripines​ @isuwhw818 @noz4a22 @dogsandrocketsocks​ @rowen-mp3​ @ivedonemywaiting13​ @queenofstarsanddarkness​ @miraosu​ @mistonk​ @white-wolf-buckaroo​ @rickiisrad​ @duuckyfuzz​ @piechans @chanooopy​ @potentially-kinetic​ @adrienette715​ @feralforfruit​ @mushywutty​ @blackparacosm​ @sugarpenchant​ @justshutupmars​ @cuddlyklaus​

 The bar was lowly lit, the occasional drunk pondering around the place like it was heaven. It smelt of an old wood and spilt alcohol, the occasional stickiness of the countertop making your drink look less appetising. A dingy place like this meant no cameras, no security and no angry men with guns. 

It was nice. 

You were still in France, having left Paris for a smaller and less populated area. Your payment was successfully in your account with next to no issues, and a plane ticket back home had been booked with your name on it. So why were you even here? 

You knew why, and you knew he had tracked you down. He wasn’t as clever as he thought. He was alone, that you knew for a fact. It was unusual for the fruity twins to be separated, which is why you weren’t in the least bit worried. If he wanted to, he could’ve sniped you from the building across the road, hell, he could’ve paid a drunk to slip something in your drink.

But he didn’t. 

Instead he had pinged your phone to your exact location. He had styled his hair a little differently, and he even tucked his shirt in a little tighter than usual.

Tangerine was nervous. 

Your smirk into your drink as a familiar body took to the seat next to yours, his hand raising to order a scotch and another beer. He stood out like sore thumb, his accent sounding stronger as he gives a thumbs up to the bartender. 

“Been waiting long darling?” He gives you a quick glance, his eyebrow quirked with his usual cockiness. 

You turn your head, taking in the assassins appearance as he slides the new beer to in front of you. He gets comfortable on the stool, his arms resting on the counter as he faces you.

Holding up your current bottle, you shake it a little, showing there was only a few sips taken. “Not long at all.”

“S’good then, how’s my intel?” He chuckles at his own joke, watching as you take a look around at the dimly lit building for any listening ears. You lean forward, your eyes narrowing with a humorous glint.

“How’s the head? You retort, your hand raising to flick at his forehead. He winces at the feeling, knowing he had no way at hiding the bruise that currently resided on his skin. 

“You can ask me that later,” Tangerine quipped, noticing the way your eyebrow raised at the innuendo. “Don’t you worry.”

“Later huh?” You elbow at him gently. “And here I thought you were going to take me into a back alley and put one in the back of my head.” 

“Haven’t decided against it yet,” It was clear he was joking at the way his lips curved into a small smile. “Besides, whose to say Lemon isn’t waitin’ around the corner with a frying pan right now.” 

“Because Lemon is currently sitting in room fourteen of hotel étoile, and he’s just ordered room service,” It was your turn to smile at his shocked expression, and Tangerine didn’t know what to think. How easy were they to track? How did you know about the room service. “What? You think I’m the only one here who can be traced? Please.” 

He sits there with his mouth slightly open, wondering if he should contact his brother and rearrange his stay. But as you begin to chuckle next to him, Tangerine knew that you weren’t a threat, nor did you have any hits out on the two of them.

He exhales loudly, his head quirking to the side as he takes a sip of his scotch. Tangerine had read your file, of course you would’ve done your research before staying put in such an open location. You had the whole situation under control before he had even stepped foot in the bar. 

Clever. 

“Why didn’t you go home?” The Englishman chooses to change the subject much to your enjoyment, and you shrug at him in response. He takes another swig at his drink as you finally answer.

“Guess I needed some vitamin C.” Tangerine chokes on his scotch, immediately wiping at his chin with the back of his sleeve as you wink at him. Maybe it was the beer talking, or maybe it was the last few days finally weighing in on the two of you.

You had been thinking about the fucker with a 70’s pornstache since you had left him on the kitchen floor. 

Maybe it was the way he looked underneath the flickering neon signs, but god he looked good. The pulsing adrenaline he had left in your veins when you were both tussling in the kitchen, sure -  he had left a nasty bruise on your stomach, but you had given him a few more reminders on his own. 

The two of you talk for awhile, Tangerine having taken his jacket off to cover your bare shoulders during your second beer. He didn’t seem as bitter about the whole frying-pan-to-the-forehead ordeal than you thought, choosing to see the humour in it now more than anything.

You almost felt guilty, but considering he and his brother were only offered a quarter of what you were paid - you would’ve been stupid to refuse the job.

He talks about his brother, and it warms you seeing how highly he spoke of him. Having a partner was something you never considered - let alone a sibling, so it was clear the two of them had a serious bond. Tangerine was careful with what he admitted, just as you were with your own backstory.

You told him how you had been in the job since you were eighteen, having been handled by Xan and his team since the moment you became Angel. 

You told him where the name had come from, mentioning how your first ever job was pretending to be an Angel in a Christmas play in order to take out the king pin who had organised the event. It annoyed you at first, until you realised there were people out there with alias such as Tangerine, so you really couldn’t complain.

He laughed loudly at that, bringing up the nickname you had given the two of them upon first meeting. The ‘Fruity Twins’, it had irked him at first, but he realised then he would let you joke about anything at his expense if it meant he saw you laugh. 

Tangerine was now showing you his tattoos, having noticed you observing them when his had pinned his sleeves back. You asked about various scars surrounding them, nodding along as he told you about every job that had caused them.

He pointed at one on your collarbone, and you told him it was actually from your childhood, and any scars from work were hidden behind clothes. 

He didn’t miss the hint with that one.

A wide grin falls upon his lips as he notices your eyes lingering on his ring clad fingers, his hands tensing under your gaze. “If you want to get out of here love, all you have to do is ask.” 

You feel your skin heat up at question. Tangerine studies the way your lips turn upward as you think over his words, and it isn’t until you look into his eyes that Tangerine’s blood begins rushing in all directions.

It’s always the eyes. You don’t break eye contact, it was nearly impossible when he stared into your soul with such a darkened gaze. He shouldn’t be here, you shouldn’t be here. The two of you were supposed to be at each others throats.

So why did you want him in yours so bad?

You should be with anybody else but him. You weren’t scared by any means, hell, the mere thought of the man was enough to excite you, let alone having him in front of you eye fucking you like you were his last meal - And how could he tell you that you were the only thing on his mind the entire time you two were apart? 

Lemon blamed the concussion, told him he was thinking with his cock and not his brain, but Tangerine knew he had to see you again - even if you were dangerous.

The two of you should be taking each other out, no doubt paying off someone else’s bounty. You were the last person he should trust, just as he was the last person you should be taking back to your hotel.

You nod at him. Tangerine stands, holding his arm out for you as your free hand pulls his jacket tighter over you. He keeps you close as you leave, his arm wrapped around your waist in a gentle grip.

It felt like hours as the two of you walked in a comforting silence. He let you lead the way, not knowing where it was that you were staying. Tangerine wanted so badly to press you against any nearest surface and kiss you, to feel you against his body like you had done to him in that kitchen. 

But he was a gentlemen, and he knew it would be more comfortable to throw you on a bed than it would a bricked surface. 

It was nice walking the streets, rarely did you get to enjoy another countries quiet time, let alone with someone at your side. Deep down, you felt that Tangerine felt the same, noticing the way his hands would squeeze at your sides as you walked. 

By the time the two of you had found your hotel and entered the elevator, Tangerine was already beginning his playful touches. His fingers began sliding from their position on your hip to your rear, his hand cupping your cheek as you pressed your floor.

He kept his attention on the doors as you squirmed a little, feeling the goosebumps on your skin with every gentle touch. 

You see him smirk in the corner of your eye, and you match it, pulling your hand forward to glide over his crotch slowly. Tangerine’s smirk immediately disappears, and his head whips to yours as you give him an innocent smile. 

“Are we playin’ dirty love?” He mumbles down at you, his eyes closing a little as you apply a little pressure to his clothed cock.

“Are you complaining?” You ask. Tangerine shakes his head eagerly, cursing aloud as the elevator doors open to an empty hallway. 

You find yourself pressed against your rooms door before its even clicked shut, his lips hungrily meeting your own. Your mind instantly is taken back to a few days ago, revelling in the way he pushes into you like you were going to disappear.

The hair above his lip tickles at your skin - and you had nearly forgotten the feeling. It was unusual, but not uncomfortable. His calloused hand cups your jaw, tilting your head so you’re at a better angle to match his pace. 

Tangerine pulls away for a gasp of air, his free hand sliding his jacket from over your shoulders to meet the carpeted floor. You’re panting, your chest rising quickly as the larger man props his arms against the door above your head.

“Been thinkin’ about these lips all week darling,” He groans, his own breath coming out laboured. “You been thinkin’ ‘bout me?”

You nod, choosing not to speak. You were worried you would end up telling him to strip then and there. Tangerine didn’t exactly look like someone who liked taking orders.

Maybe he would learn. 

His lips press back to yours, his tongue gliding along your lips in a silent beg to let him in. He groaned against your lips, your skin feeling soft and warm against his own, and Tangerine pulled you away from the door. His arms rope around the small of your back, warmth pouring over you in a wave that suffocated you so perfectly.

He parts from you again, the air leaving your lungs in a small sigh. He eyes you, his blue eyes roaming over you in a clouded gaze. You feel his rings pressing into your skin, and Tangerine leans down once again, leaving you to release a soft moan as he bites at the skin on your neck. 

Your hands press against his broad chest, scratching at the material of his shirt as he continues nipping at your throat - no doubt leaving marks. The heat in your lower stomach grew with every kiss, the throbbing ache between your thighs beginning to dominate your thoughts. 

It wasn’t like you to let someone control a scene, so as Tangerine was distracted with the zipper of your dress, you push him away, letting him fall to the bed below. He sat upright immediately, his breathing just as erratic as yours. 

He’s about to speak when you’re on him again, pushing him down and straddling his broad thighs. His hands reach under your dress instantly, his fingers dancing with the flesh of your ass and the lace of your panties. 

“Fuck,” He curses through clenched teeth. Tangerine couldn’t get over how beautiful you looked, your lips swollen and your clothes askew. “I want you so fuckin’ bad.”

You chuckle down at him, your eyes half lidded. “Yeah?” You whisper softly, flashing the fruit a sweet smile. You grind against him, biting your lip at the groan that escapes his lips. “How bad?”

“God,” He keens, feeling his cock straining against his pants. “K-Keep movin’ like that Angel.” 

“Who would’ve thought you would be so needy.” You tease, and it was then that you saw the gears turn in Tangerines eyes. 

You had already bested him once, made him feel smaller than anyone had done so in a very, very long time. The bruise on his forehead was a reminder every time he had woken up this past week. He wasn’t going to let you control this time too, not if he could help it. 

He was good with his hands, you’ll give him that. Tangerine had grabbed at the waistline of your dress, tearing at the fabric until it pooled around the blankets at your side. Your eyes were wide at the action, whereas Tangerine’s eyes were on your bra covered breasts. He had a quick glimpse of them before when you had hidden a usb in there, and the man grinned as you sat upright.

“Do you have any idea how much that cost?” You gasped, staring at the designer name in pieces. 

He sits upright with you, your chest now pressed against his. He grins at your expression, knowing you weren’t entirely as pissed off as you attempted to show. “You’ve got a million in the account love, I’m sure you can buy more.”

Asshole. 

You don’t respond, knowing it’ll be an insult more than a complaint. Tangerine glides his fingers over the bare skin of your back, and your eyes close at the feeling. “What to do with you hm?” He mutters, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of your lips. 

He wanted to be rough. He wanted to take you then and there.

But you just felt so good like this, touching him and grinding against him like he was the last man on earth. 

He continues his exploration on your skin before he’s cupping your face, kissing you a little softer than before. His moustache again tickles at your cheeks, causing you to grin against his lips. He’s quick to soften your sounds, nipping at your lip to grant his tongue entrance. 

You’re gripping at the ends of his shirt, pulling at the fabric and loosening it. Your hands slip under, and it was your turn to run your hands over the hard muscle that lay beneath. “Take it off.” You mumble in between kisses.

“You could rip it?” He jokes, pulling away to meet your unamused expression. He shrugs, pulling his shirt up and over his body. The fabric joins his jacket on the floor, and you don’t hide the raised eyebrow as his tongue darts out as he attempts to kick his shoes off.

“You’re not as scary as your file makes you out to be,” You reach behind you, unclasping your bra and letting it fall to the ground. “You’re just a little softy aren’t you?”

Tangerine’s eyes immediately land on your breasts, his head jerking to the side as he exhales. “There’s nothin’ little about me love.” He leans forward, taking a nipple into his mouth before you can reply.

Yeah. 

You could feel him beneath you. 

It’s definitely not a gun in his pants.

Your hands wound their way into his hair, tugging as he bites at the skin of your breast. “Fuck.” Your head falls back with a moan. 

He decided then and there that he could listen to your pretty noises forever. 

He wants more.

As beautiful as you looked on his lap, Tangerine was done letting you believe you had the upper hand. His cock was hard in his pants, almost straining against the rough material in a need for release. With a gasp, you find yourself thrown onto your back, Tangerine’s hands on either side of your head as he pins your lower half beneath him. 

“That’s better,” He releases you for a quick moment, however keeping his eyes on you as he unbuckles his belt. “Bit quiet there Angel, you alright?”

You nod, not able to stop yourself from ogling at the view above you. Various scars covered his abdomen, a tattoo resting on his pec, a familiar bruise resided on his hip, disappearing towards his back.

Your doing, naturally.

“Look at the mess you’re making love,” Tangerine nods towards your panties, chuckling at the way you squirm under his gaze. “What a fuckin’ sight that is.”

He goes to lean forward, when you grab his shoulder, shaking your head. He gives you a confused look, and you curse loudly. “I want you, now.” 

“And you’ll have me,” Again he goes to kiss above your pubic bone, scratching his chin along your lace underwear. “Just want a taste, that’s all.” 

“Mmf - please, just fuck me already.” God you wouldn’t blame him for mocking you, who were you right now? You barely recognised your own voice. 

“What’s the rush?” He taunts, that cocky voice of his stronger than ever. “Not that I’m complainin’, begging looks good you.” 

“And you’ll good on me,” You groan as Tangerine rips your underwear, lifting your ass slightly to pull it away. “Stop ripping my fucking clothes.”

He sniggers, drinking in your now naked state. Your pupils dilated, lips swollen and skin flushed with heat. 

An angel.

The corner of your lips twitched, your tongue swiping over the skin as you nod towards Tangerine’s crotch. “Need help?”

His zipper was undone, the bulge of his cock flush against his underwear. He shakes his head, taking the time to stand and remove his pants completely. Before you could say his name, the man was back on top of you, his palm spread on your throat before grasping at your hair as you moaned at the sensation. 

Tangerine wanted to watch you come undone. He wanted to watch your eyelashes flutter as you hit your high and screamed his name. He wanted his name to be the only thought on your mind. “So beautiful,” He sighs against your throat, groaning as you grind against him like a broken record. “A real fuckin’ angel.”

His cock rests against your thigh - thick, hard and throbbing. You part your legs, letting him rest between you more comfortably as his own hard thighs cover yours. Your hips roll into his, and you grinned at the delicious sound he let out as his tip swept over your cunt. 

Your skin burned under his touch, and Tangerine tilts his head, mumbling your name against your cheek before bringing his lips to yours once more. You sigh into his mouth, the sound disappearing under his own groans. His cock bumps over your slit and your hips shift, brushing his head through your wetness as Tangerine reaches down with a free hand, lining himself up. 

Your head hits the pillow as he slides in, and it felt like the air had been taken from your lungs as you felt the mouthwatering burn of his size. He curses loudly as his hips snap against yours in a hard thrust, bottoming out.

“Fuck,” He grunts with a lick of your lips. “D’you feel that? D’you have any idea how fucking good you feel? Squeezin’ me l-like -“

You clench around him, cutting him off from his rambling. Tangerine repositions his arms before he slowly pulls out, revelling in the soft whines leaving your swollen mouth at the action. He let you enjoy his teasing thrusts for a little longer before he began thrusting harder, your words becoming incoherent as his pace quickened.

His pounding is hard and definitive, and you find yourself wrapping your arms around his shoulders in an attempt to hold on. He just feels so heavy and he makes you feel so unbearably full.

“O-Oh god.” Your eyes squeeze shut, and Tangerine kisses at your cheek - an almost sweet action in comparison to the assault he’s hailing on your pussy.

“Just me Angel,” He grunts, a playful tone behind his usual gruff voice. “Just me.” 

Tangerine finds a steady rhythm, his thrusts bringing his hard body flush against yours in a dire need to feel your heat. One thrust lands just perfectly, a loud moan forcing its way out as he laughs against you.

“Yeah?” He taunts as he mimics the sound, noticing the way you just manage to roll your eyes at him. “Oh we can’t have that now.” His voice was merely a whisper as he says your name, a shudder running through your body as you clench around him, causing his own hips to shudder in return.

He fucked into you at such a pace that you knew he had ruined you for anybody else. It was his goal, to mark you and leave you wanting everything he could give. Tangerine felt you squeeze around him again, the lewd sounds of his cock pushing into your soaked cunt making his thoughts clouded. 

His finger just glides over your clit as you come undone, cumming on his cock with an arched back and raise of your hips. His eyes widen at the sight, a charmed smile on his cheeks as your eyes roll into the back of your head. “Good girl,” He laughs down at you, continuing his thrusts. “Aren’t you just gorgeous.” 

Tangerine’s breathless, his attention solely on the way you shake beneath him, your breasts bouncing as you climax. He can feel the own pulse of his dick throbbing as you squeeze around him, and as his name leaves your lips in a silent prayer he too comes undone. He cums inside of you with a final snap of his hips, his body shuddering as he curses loudly. His head rests against your shoulder as he stills, his grunts like music to your ears. 

He rests on you gently before pulling out, the immediate empty feeling making you sigh as he rolls onto his back beside you. “Fuckin’ hell.” His breathing was sharp, a slight sheen on sweat on his chest. 

You just stared at him in a comfortable silence as you attempted to find your bearings, watching as Tangerine grabs your hand, entwining his fingers with yours. “You with me?” 

You nod at him with a smile, and he chuckles, a cocky grin finding it’s home. “S’good, because we aren’t done.”

“What?” You almost whine, and he sits up, gripping at your waist and dragging you closer to him. 

“Head darling,” He looks at you like you’re the one not making any sense. “Gotta give you somethin’ to ask me about in the mornin’ yeah?” 

[29-12-2011]

Hope this is okay to bring up but all th points u made in that post abt ppl white woman-Ifying viktor Yeah. It’s impossible 2 scroll through certain tags on this site (or any tbh) without seeing some bad jayce take because people don’t understand they’re completely separate characters. Or refuse to read viktor as he actually acts in arcane OR league just because he’s their scrungly sad little meow meow who can do no wrong and everyone and everything is out to get him. It’s incredibly annoying too because people are Making content based on league lore, but are basing it off other people’s fics instead of reading the lore, so it’s like a self repeating cycle, not sure how else to explain it but it just sucks ass and it makes it hard to interact with th majority of ppl making art for the two of them

that is true! sorry, didn't mean to localise it as an issue particular to just arcane because yeah, it's been happening since the arrival of 2016 viktor's lore (and maybe even before). i can't count the number of times jayce has been accused of genocide(?) or stealing blitzcrank by hiding him in his trenchcoat and running away or purposely trying to get viktor expelled (in the order of significance ascribed by most fans), or any other weird crimes people can dream up because the fact is that if you look at his biography instead of basing your entire knowledge off of drabbles and AUs and author's notes and inside jokes and references he did... none of these things?

like there's nothing gloating about how he describes viktor getting expelled -- i'd argue he didn't intend for it to happen at all. but somehow in fandom discussions or reddit posts people stretch it to jayce stealing viktor's wife and kids or whatever i really don't get it! and if you argue from the lens of interpretation i'm not sure what textual basis you'd have for that at all given that jayce is notably distraught after losing viktor.

of course jayce doesn't do himself any favours by not mentioning blitzcrank, or trying to defend himself, but you only really fall victim to thinking viktor was in the right by doing an entirely surface level reading without realising, hey, maybe trying to strip people of free will is bad?

i understand being more emotionally engaged with viktor's side of the story, and if you read jayce's biography after reading viktor's your viewpoint is already shaped by the uncharitable way viktor depicts him, but honestly if you're going to try to engage with these characters in a serious level i'd at least ask for you to try and figure out what is going on (or don't, if it's more fun i guess i can't really police how you consume fictional men).

the "genocide" that they believe is happening (please google what genocide is) is so... GUYS HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY VIKTOR WAS ABLE TO CONTROL AND ORDER AROUND THE AUTOMATONS THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE ZAUNITES' NEW BODIES? like there is room for nuance here obviously if you can be bothered to think it through but at a surface level glance viktor is not in the right here. i'll defend viktor and write him and love him until the day i die but that's not because i agree with what he is doing, it'd be because i enjoy him as a character and find him interesting to explore.

maybe people conflate this emotional attachment with the belief that since so much wrong has been done to him (which i won't deny, just that a lot of it wasn't jayce's fault) viktor must be in the right, and jayce becomes the target of this righteous anger because how dare you not defend this poor little meow meow victim of all of society's faults!

and all of these things are multiplied tenfold by looking at it through the lens of arcane and refusing to even consider how the two SEPARATE iterations would fuse together. now white woman A!viktor is dying, and isn't that just so pitiful? why WOULDN'T you let him commit all those atrocities, and if you REALLY LOVED HIM you wouldn't BETRAY HIM AND SELL HIM OUT! WHICH TALIS DOES NOT DO BECAUSE THOSE EVENTS ARE NOT PART OF ARCANE THEY ARE PART OF LEAGUE! or something or the other. and frankly this is just disrespectful to all four characters.

the image most arcane-only fans have of giopara would be "asshole", which is true, but he's also a complex layered character that loses a lot if you choose to reduce him to one archetype, and if you choose to misinterpret a character and then blame him for your misinterpretation it's like... well i really don't get it but it's whatever because it's for real just a video game biography/TV show.

[menalez]

this is something that i've been trying to understand for a while from a curiosity-driven standpoint, and i was wondering what your thoughts are on it. this is specific to american politics most likely. why do you think "leftists" - like TRAs, libfems, male leftists, etc,- target white women in a way that isn't about racism but is about sex? i'm not at all talking about legitimate issues with racist behavior. more like the ideas that white women are even worse than white men at every ism which has become super popular. white men seem to be not brought up anymore, or any men at all. and i'm trying to figure out who sort of started this pseudo-activist thing? because it delegitimizes actual critiques of racism from white women, and has eclipsed critiques of racism and grown into something a lot different imo. i feel it isn't the best word because i don't want to put a "victim" or "delicate/fragile" slant on this, but i guess white women are the scapegoats to white men in leftist spaces and everyone's going along with it? i'm trying to understand how "progressives" got to this point. again not talking about condemning racism from white women (absolutely needed and shouldn't be policed) i hope you get what i'm trying to say. like why do you think this came about and who benefits from it?

tbh to me it’s because anti-feminist rhetoric has subtly become more accepted and normalised + white men still have power and have successfully moved the target from them and avoided all accountability by arguing it’s their white moms’ and other white womens’ faults that they did what they did. they’ve coopted woc not having much voice and facing racism and often even misogyny from white women and use it to justify their misogyny, as if white men are somehow better. also every oppressed group, such as women in this case, are held to higher standards from my experience. when you’re a woman, you don’t get away with what men get away with. it’s the same reason why black women, or lesbians, or other woc, etc are all held to far higher standards. when lizzo used a questionable / “problematic” word, she was treated far more harshly & with far more contempt than a white man or even white woman would. when ellen got called out for not treating her celeb guests well, she was cancelled in a way straight white men criticised for sexually harassing, abusing, or otherwise harming their female coworkers haven’t been. when azealia banks was being racist, she was criticised for it in a far harsher way than for example iggy azealia was. the examples are endless but the point is, minority groups especially when they’re women get held to different standards. somehow people only think it’s a problem when they see a black woman or a lesbian or even het white women do it. look at how “terf” vs simply “transphobe” (who are the ones actually being the population that commit hate crimes against trans ppl) are treated. people love to pretend that they hold others accountable but white men don’t get this treatment. men in general often don’t get this treatment.

this isn’t so say white women haven’t played a role in upholding white supremacy and racism, but to act like they’re the main instigators or like they’re worse than white men is a joke. white men are white women’s oppressors, and white men have been the “patriarchs” and the leaders of countless hate movements against LGB people, women, and poc. to remove accountability from them is to justify them and it is honestly pretty misogynistic. it sucks bc this conversation was started by woc & even poc in general to speak about how white women played a role in racism against us, and now it’s been coopted by white men as a way of dodging their role in racism as well.

[enderspawn]

op I am pleading for you to talk about c!Schlatt I keep getting interrogated for saying c!Schlatt was the best president and he really didn't do anything super terribly wrong please talk about him

i mean... im sorry anon but idk abt best PRESIDENT. manburg under schlatt.... kind of sucked imo JFKDLSJFKL

1. manburg had massive food shortages, to the point the average citizen (including fundy) had to eat spider eyes to survive.

2. he imposed ludicrious tax of his civillians (namely niki. we dont know if he did that to Every Business like w fundy or if he targeted niki specifically bc of her closeness to the ex-president, but neither is good)

3. exiled those who he saw as political opponents to keep his power

4. straight up ignored his cabinet a lot of the time to make his own decisions (such as destroying the white house, which led to quackity leaving)

5. was widely hated by all the citizens. literally at one point all the ppl left in manburg was schlatt and jack manifold (who was MIA on the server and left to found Manifold Land when he came back)

6. held a public execution, AGAIN without the consent or knowledge of his cabinet (IF I REMEMBER RIGHT. i know big q opposed the execution at minimum, but idk for sure if he knew it was planned at all before the festival)

7. was basically at war his entire presidency thanks to pogtopia's existence

and thats just what i can think of rn! the reasons i like c!schlatt are fully based around him as a character and HIS personal development, not around his policies or actions. especially when compared to the other two presidents, who either won or prevented a war and kept the majority of its citizens happier and healthier than Manburg, he's.... probably the worst president they had tbh

BUT since you gave me an excuse to ramble abt him anyway, i wanna go on abt what i DO like abt him (under a cut bc this post is already kinda long oops) but

tldr; i like schlatt bc of his relationships with others, his flaws and pitiable moments, and how he is a fantastic parallel/foil to the characters around him

I like his complex (and yes, abusive) relationship with quackity, especially after his death and quackity's feelings flipping rapidly between hating him and missing him. but before that they did have a honeymoon-esque period-- at least from quackity's view.

watching their date you get the idea schlatt mightve never really been interested in him and mightve just been using quackity's interest in him for his own advancement! but we dont know.

maybe he did truly love quackity in his own fucked up way in the end, even if he wasnt a good person. maybe he regrets his actions and cruelty. or maybe he doesnt.

in the end they were (like the animatic i linked said) "built from the same dirt", they're both incredibly ambitious and prideful people and parallel each other a LOT (see: q's need for power, his want to execute ranboo paralleling tubbos execution, etc). they're not good for one another, but i love seeing just how they fall apart together (i hope you die, i hope we both die kind of beat)

and.... god his relationship and impact w fundy i could ramble abt all day dude. fundy kept schlatt's sword after his death and calls it an heirloom. we dont know 100% how old fundy was when wilbur was exiled (i mena... he ran for president but current fundy is like 20something and tommy ALSO ran as vp at 16) but we can assume he was a late teen. his own father was gone, but schlatt... seemed to CARE. he showed him affection.

fundy's never truly felt like hes BELONGED anywhere (even the country his father said was all for him, he felt ostracized and made different by his fathers doting babying) and because of that hes always looking for a group to be a part of. hes a people pleaser (its part of why hes so easy for big q to get for las nevadas).

and schlatt GIVES him that feeling of belonging he deserves. hes a spy the entire time, yes, but he becomes conflicted about it as time goes on.

could schlatt just be using fundy and filling his head with empty praise? sure, i couldnt fault you at all for that interpretation, its perfectly valid. BUT, i dont think so. he seemed genuinely shocked to see fundy oppose him on nov 16th. remember, he didnt know fundy was a spy.

in that moment he realizes just HOW alone he is and always has been. and its a tragic moment: the last person he had, the person he himself mightve truly CARED about left him just like everyone else. he was alone, truly and fully. even his allies were only there out of obligation and bc of him paying.

he knows his health has been failing him. he cant even swim due to muscular issues but he refuses see a doctor about it because he refuses to let himself be seen as weak.

hell, one could argue that issue leads to his abraisive and abusive behavoir in relationships: he refuses to let himself be true and genuine to anyone, there always has to be a wall and a proud perfect persona. its part of why hes a great villain both in narrative and to watch as a casual fan: just like c!wilbur, he's playing an act.

hes a foil and a parallel to wilbur. both are men who hide their true selves behind a certain role or persona they feel they have to play while they hide their crumbling health (schlatt's more physical and wilbur's more mental). both experience their rise and fall. but wilbur isnt despised, even if he thinks he is, while schlatt isnt truly loved by anyone, even if he thinks he is.

most of all, their deaths couldnt be more different. wilbur went out with a bang. a large dramatic scene fit for a storybook, with a long monologue and cinematic final blow ALL made to fit how he saw himself in a story and simply filling a required roll. but schlatts death is practically overlooked (especially in comparison to wilburs death and everything else that happened that day).

he built his entire persona about being this massive, larger than life powerful guy but he died small, weak, and frail to his own failing body. its... pitiful, honestly. it doesnt feel fitting, it feels wrong. his life up that point demanded drama, but his death was nothing more than... an accident, almost. unintentional. clumsy. its fucking brilliant.

[kayla1507]

I honestly don’t get why people are tolerant or sympathetic towards Todd but absolutely hate North. I mean, North is A) A badass B) a victim of horrid trauma C) A character we spend more time with and Todd is just…….nasty. (I’m not sure if it’s because I’m biased, as I was physically attacked by a family member with substance abuse issues and also my brain can’t picture Todd without making him 3 times as gross) Todd also seems more like a plot device/obstacle than an actual character, so there’s that. I’m sorry I’m just shouting into the void at this point thank you.

Dear Anon, I’m sorry to hear you had a „Todd“ in your life.

You are not alone with your opinion. I have zero percent sympathy for Todd myself, what he did to Kara and Alice warrants no forgiveness and, even if they spared him, this jerk still has it in him to expose and watch Kara and Alice be executed at the bus terminal out of pure spite. Todd’s mini “redemption” was to feel sorry for himself and how his live went down, he never genuinely apologizes to his victims but sobs about how much he misses his real daughter which is another slap in the face for Alice. He was a horrible, horrible person from start to end.

The fact that North, a survivor of abuse, is universally more hated in this fandom than Todd, a child abuser, is unfathomable. I can’t even say Todd’s horrific actions are being excused by the fandom because he’s a hot, young, white man see Daniel and Connor. I have no idea why people defend Todd. My best guess is they pity him for his failed existence and the loss of his bio daughter. There’s also the small section of folks who generally don’t hold androids to the same standards as humans and don’t consider his treatment of Alice child abuse since she‘s not a human girl. Todd having significantly less screen time than North and not triggering any unwanted “forced romance” may be another factor why his character is better received.

Tbh, the only credible villains who aren’t solely a plot device are Amanda and Perkins. While I agree with Todd being the initial obstacle to kickstart Kara’s storyline, I feel like Quantic Dream designed him with a sufficient amount of character depth in mind. He’s addicted to drugs, his wife and child bailed on him, he’s jobless with no perspective. He copes by beating up his substitute “wife” and “daughter”. Like for other „plot device”-villains such as Leo and Gavin, a bigger picture is being provided to see why Todd does what he’s doing (like in Leo’s case being neglected by his father, Gavin’s afraid to lose his job and probably a racist too).

To the average player, Todd‘s tragic backstory makes him more pitiable and „real“ than cartoon villains like Zlatko and RK800-60 who are only evil for the sake of being evil. And to some players North feels evil as well just for the sake of it because they A) either never learn about her backstory or B) realize they are being actively punished by the game for doing what North pushes them to do.

Because doing what North wants will make the player hated by public opinion and potentially lock them into a failed demonstration/failed revolution bad ending. I think a lot of people are feeling like they’re being set up by North. And it doesn’t do her popularity any favors that she’s a woman who talks back to men in power. If she was a generic goody-two-shoes love interest with no opinions who dutifully exists for the eye candy, similar to how Simon is being portrayed, she’d be undoubtedly more socially accepted. Because that’s what the average gamer expects from their female supporting cast, it’s why Chloe is so mega popular despite being barely involved in the plot, let’s not kid ourselves.

[i-did]

I would like to hear more of your opinions on fandom depictions of Neil, if you don't mind! Your post made me realize some things I wasn't even aware of when reading aftg fic!!

Yeah sure I have a lot of thoughts on this. I think this is an overall fandom issue and not just an aftg fandom issue, but the feminization of neil as well as the ironing out of his personality to make it more palatable is definitely a thing.

I've noticed in a lot of fics hes a lot friendlier, a lot less distrusting, and a lot more oblivious. I also noticed the amount of demand for vixen neil, and neil in dresses and skirts and crop tops, neil crying and being vulnerable isn't a challenge on traditional masculinity because andrew and the other guy foxes don't receive nearly the same amount of demand.

There is heavy emphasis on people wanting not just neil but andrew to be softer, and while that's okay, it's important to remember the moral of aftg is that trauma makes some people hard, and intense and not traditionally likeable, and that those people aren't broken and don't need to be fixed. So when people just, ignore that and make andrew and neil a lot softer, neil always sitting in andrews lap and other things, lots of expressions of PDA, and other out of charter moments, it erases the idea nora was trying to convey.

I've stated before about how the fandom also often doesn't mention body hair but when it does its andrew having facial hair and neil having less typically, but also there is usually emphasis on andrew having a deeper voice than neil, who sometimes gets written almost as whiney and petulant or pouty.

-nsft text below-

I also think there is an overall lack of understanding of mlm culture in fandom which is largely a women's space. I won't go into detail here but how pwp is written (especially a lot of the trans andrew or neil ones) are not with a mlm gaze in mind, after all if it was proper gay porn then only mlm would be turned on by it, but the consumer in mind isn't mlm at all, both because the authors are almost always not mlm, but the readers aren't as well. There is emphasis on neil being more vocal and whining, mewling, whimpering, and moaning, all common in how straight porn treats the woman, while andrew is emphasized in being a lot more quiet, maybe grunting and groaning.

Lingerie is not common in gay porn outside of fanfiction, jock straps?? Thats a thing thats a huge thing, but in all the pwp I've seen of them in their exy gear I haven't seen it mentioned before, not a cup or jock strap or anything like that.

Neil is also the one being put into the lingerie and there is emphasis on him feeling pretty rather than handsome and him being petite and slim rather than a bulky athlete

There is also an overall lack in realism in preparation and dynamics that are physically impossible or unsafe but thats a whole other thing.

This is just off of the top of my head, I can get into the fetishization of trans andrew fics another time thats a whole other thing, but yeah this is just my unprepared thoughts and observations I've noticed.

Fanart also tends to lack the men having bulges, i respect trans hc but i have possibly never seen a flaccid penis in running shorts neil is wearing. They don't go away they sit there and take up space.

-end nsft text-

I have more to say when it comes to the dealings with trauma in fanfiction but for another time. I also have a huge rant about how fanon deals with the race in fics, both nickys canon race as well as the fanon everyone else's race

Overall, people can write what they want to write, and fiction is fiction and i cannot stop anyone from doing anything, and people can interpret the characters how they want. But when writing fiction, the authors own biases can slip though, the charters are written by them after all. An author who writes a torture scene isnt someone who has done that, but an author who writes let's say nicky as even more predatory, slutty, stereotypically gay and "ayeyeyye" in fanfic is unknowingly being racist and homophobic.

A person existing in real life fitting steryotypes is one thing, I've been told like once a week that im stereotypically gay since I've been alive, and have been under a lot of fire for being both "too mexican" and "not mexican enough" but an author who is not mlm and is white can still fall into these pre conceived notions they don't realize they have. There is no such thing as a real life queer couple being heteronormative, but someone else writing one can be because they're not real people, they're characters.

Why does this dynamic appeal to you? Are you projecting? In what way? Why do you think x character is more passive and y is more aggressive? Are they like that in canon ?

When quarantine started I threw myself into aftg even more, but quickly became depressed and felt gross and watched, I felt lonely as an mlm and isnt white in a dominantly white wlw/wlm fandom. Most of tumblr is queer white women dominant tbh, in the same way its American dominant, and fandom is like that too. I still have a hard time talking to my friends who aren't mlm about fandom stuff sometimes because I will tell them something bothers me and I'm not sure they understand or take it seriously. I was so depressed because my personal escapism was making me feel worse.

My depression has gotten better since then, but I still get very uncomfortable with the word "twink" being applied to not just neil, but now any queer man, especially when not said by someone mlm.

Okay I'm gonna stop here lol this was a longer ramble than planned. Ah. Don't cancel me don't twist my words I swear I don't care what others do this is just my observations

[bill-weasley]

eternals: and what i thought

this is gonna be a very long review and by no means is it bad but it’s just long and i had a lot of thoughts, mostly about the outward racism of the fandom. and how extremely disappointed i am that a lot of countries want nothing to do with it because it features a gay family. lmao. ok. 

alright first and foremost, 10/10. the movie in itself was perfect. i knew from the jump ikaris was gonna be shady. like you just knew. pretty white men are dangerous. and imma be so honest, i don’t see the hype over ikaris. i get it, he’s cute, but okay??? yall act like kumail and dong-seok don’t exist, but go off i guess. 

i think my issues with the movie stems more from what the generalized ppl are excited over versus the movie itself. that’s not to say that the movie didn’t have it’s issues. because it did.

first and foremost let’s get the basics out of the way. the pacing was off balance. at times it felt too rushed and at times it felt too dull. i never knew when to time out my pee break in a 2 hour and 45 minute long movie. that shit was tough. 

i think the cgi was -- not great? we’ve seen better in marvel films? we rly did.

the sex scene??? did i think it was necessary? absolutely not. i don’t think it added or took away from anything. everyone was hyping it up as it’s so important and shit, and tbh -- it wasn’t. if anything what i got from it was a lying manipulative man gaslighting a woman into loving him over the next few thousand years. shit was uncalled for. then again, i really didn’t like ikaris and sersi. they creeped me the fuck out. i was relieved --- so fucking relieved that he fucking flew his dusty ass into the sun. was that mean? idc

i will never stan or fangirl over a man who not only kills a family member, but tries to kill the rest of them too. i don’t give a shit what his intentions were. do not @ me about ikaris. i don’t fucking care.

sersi was so calm, level-headed, beautiful, perfect and damn right she needed to be with kit harrington. a+. pls stay with a man who treats u right. idk what’s gonna happen w/ him in the future, but rn, he’s good.

alright now we’re gonna get to the part that made me rly upset. maybe im being irrational and shit, idk. but the asian rep was not what i wanted. i know initially i was super hype about a bollywood scene and stuff like that --- but..... it was a whole bag of stereotypes. like....... yall??? kingo and karun were used as comedic relief???? why did they force kumail to get so buff for him to do nothing??? not even be a part of the last fight?? turn on his family?? yall??? was this the rep we wanted??

do you guys understand what it means to me to have a brown man be a part of marvel for him to be sidelined as comedic relief. and i know a lot of you white ppl are gonna tell me to stay in my lane and be appreciative of what i got, and im here to tell u -- no. im not. it felt like they were using head-nodding, the we-worship-you attitude (esp with karun -- and i get it, they’re gods but c’mon it was so intense. we already have a really fucked up history with this, lets not add to this stereotype) 

idk i was kinda really annoyed with this.

now let’s move to the love of my life, my moon, my sun, gilgamesh. he was the mpv. i don’t give a shit what anyone has to say. he was the mpv. he was the sexiest, the baddest bitch, the strongest bitch. a+ i just love him more than anything. 

what i don’t get is how the fandom gave no shits about him? and they’re weeping and pissing themselves over ikaris??? lmao not only that, because he’s asian and he’s thick -- he’s not considered good enough to be a potential love interest to angelina jolie.

yalll weak as hell and it’s showing.

lmao. like i said--- my issues with eternals wasn’t about the movie itself. it was a great movie, had a few flaws, but overall great. what i don’t like is our racist ass fandom. anyway, that’s my two cents.

[miraculouscontent]

Asks I got about the “Marinette makes mistakes” tweet:

i-would-rather-be-a-fairy said:

I’m starting to think that the writers don’t particularly like Marinette.

Did Marinette spill coffee on the laps of the writers and they’ve been salty ever since? Because that’s all I can imagine.

Anonymous said:

Is there ANY episode where Marinette doesn't make a mistake and has to learn a lesson? There has to be right?

I feel like there must be? Like, “Silencer” at minimum, but I guess maybe they thought that her trying to combat Roth was her mistake and it got Luka akumatized? It wasn’t portrayed as a mistake though exactly?? (If anything, it just looked like her being awesome, and Luka being akumatized ultimately led to Roth being outed on some level, so it all worked out.)

Even episodes like “Stormy Weather” that really don’t need to be about her mistakes shoehorn in a line about “I should never have left Manon” (if she had, she would’ve been in the ice dome instead of Alya, but okay I guess; dialog choices in this show are so weird).

It really puts episodes into perspective knowing that they have to force Marinette screwing up/learning/apologizing in every episode.

Anonymous said:

Just curious about that Shanghai tweet: were you the one who sent it? I know there are other people who notice Marinette's unfair treatment, but I just wanted to know if you've ever reached out to Thomas Astruc personally.

Nah, that wasn’t me, I don’t use Twitter.

Plus, if that had been me calling Astruc out, I wouldn’t have blurred the name. I’d want full credit.

Anonymous said:

I am so irritated by Thomas Astruc's tweet. Do they even realize they're sacrificing Marinette's character and positive Chinese representation to make her chase after a boy and THEN get blamed for it? Yes, you read that right, a bunch of white men in a room decided that a Chinese heroine doesn't deserve to celebrate or learn more about her culture because she's in love with a white boy(who knows more about her own culture than her) and they need to use her as a punching bag. Ugh. At this point?

I am just completely done with the show. Yes, you heard me. DONE! Because the writers have admitted that their entire show is based around their main protagonist suffering, when it SHOULD be about "girl power". I'm not saying Marinette is NEVER allowed to make mistakes, be clumsy, or learn a lesson, but when the writers will literally REFUSE to let her develop and force her to always be in the wrong against ALL LOGIC, that's where I draw the line. As it stands, I can't recommend this show to any one.

I'm pretty much only watching because I don't like to leave shows unfinished(although there are shows I've simply stopped watching, this is the only one I've seriously been following to this extent since it started), and for the few Lukanette moments/other rare moments of Marinette being happy. Because the writers have NO RESPECT for their main character, have ADMITTED as much, and don't see a problem with it, or why everyone is upset. Oh, and they'll block you if you disagree with them.

I really wish I could’ve been in the writing room the day they said, “Hey, let’s make it so our biracial representation is always the one that screws up and has to learn a lesson/apologize for it!

Anonymous said:

I know comparison is not the best way to say why something is good or bad, but I think "Miraculous Ladybug" is as controversial as it is because "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" (a show I watched almost religiously for the first 4 Seasons) did the Lesson Of The Week so much better and came first.

I watched that show for a little over four seasons and I can confirm that the lessons were way more spaced out and balanced (though personally I feel like Dashie got the shaft on most of hers).

Keeping its rules like Miraculous would be like if Twilight was the only one allowed to screw up.

Anonymous said:

Disney's baby tv show "Sofia the First" genuinely deals with the "mc makes mistakes" so well. Initially, the main character is more prone to making mistakes (even if she’s generally well-meaning and kind), but she actually consistently applies her lessons and grows with them. At some point clearly the writers saw that this character’s development is complete; there is nothing more they can do with her because, due to applying her lessons, she is emotionally mature enough to handle anything they throw her way. Then they made a genuinely smart choice to commit latter seasons to having the mc become a literal guardian of the realm who travels to help other people solve their issues by applying the lessons she has already learned.

The show has a big cast of characters and distributes the lessons equally amongst all of them, as well as having many episodes, even in earlier seasons, where the main character actually /is/ in the right, and the lesson acknowledges that. TBH the show’s ability to consistently develop characters in an episodic format, as well as not disrespecting any of them and being written w/ heart, is impressive. Freaking Thomas Astruc wishes.

THAT WAS BASICALLY EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED; MARINETTE LEARNING LESSONS AND THEN BEING A “GUARDIAN” TO HER FRIENDS AND HELPING THEM LEARN TOO.

ugh, and instead it’s just--nope, she always screws up because it’s the rule

Anonymous said:

WAIT WHAT WAS MARINETTE'S MISTAKE IN NEW YORK?? WANTING ADRIEN TO GO??

APPARENTLY???

Or arguing with him mid-battle but can you honestly blame her after he betrayed her trust like that??

Anonymous said:

“It’s the rules of the show she makes a mistake and learns” SIR it’s season FOUR

I think we were meant to read it as, “a season 4 making Marinette screw up again even if she didn’t actually screw up.”

elflynns-horde-of-stuff said:

So the rule of 'Marinette must always make a mistake and learn something' inspired a little rant. I hope you're okay with this! Because it's usually a good thing for tv shows to have a rulebook for their stories, but they have to be GOOD rules. And this (awful) rule is easily fixed! Which makes it even more frustrating to me!

First. Replace 'Marinette' with 'A character' that way multiple characters get focus and development throughout the series. (At least the would if status quo wasn't God.)

Second. Why does all if Marinette's mistakes have to be huge? Why can't she use the wrong fabric for a design, research, and correct it? Or pronounce a Chinese word wrong and learn more about the language? Or use the wrong ingredient for Guardian related magic? If she has to be learning something every episode, why not allow her to develop skills and hobbies? Why make her miserable, anxious and guilty all the time? What purpose does it serve?

It is moments like this, where I am reminded how much potential this show has in better hands. Marinette deserves so much better it breaks my heart!

It breaks my heart too and I agree!

I dunno, the rule is so restrictive. It’s not that all restrictions are bad but this one specifically is crippling.

[thedreadvampy]

ok the thing I'm struggling to find words for in my mind tonight is. a deep discomfort with the framing that complex relationships to sexuality and gender are something exclusive to queerness. that cishet people's relationship to sexuality and gender is by definition simple. and that's a tempting idea and like, yeah, there's much less impetus for a cishet person to examine their sexuality and gender. but that doesn't mean there's no complexity to it. and this isn't intended as a Don't Be Mean To The Poor Straights post it's just. observably not true that no cishet person has a complex relationship to sexuality and gender.

queerness is a complicating factor in people's relationship to sexuality and gender - we are made more conscious of the ways we don't fit what's expected, our sexuality and gender is often what is used to justify marginalisation and it comes with a whole host of pain and joy because of that, and the way that queerness is marginalised forces us into direct conversation with our sexuality/gender

but queerness isn't the only complicating factor in people's relationships to sexuality and gender. like as a woman who is pretty Definitely Cis I still have a huge ongoing wrestle with my gender - it's female, but what that means and how that's expressed and how that affects how i move through the world is still complicated and fraught and often messy and contradictory. that doesn't make me trans but it does feel pretty alienating that in a lot of queer spaces there's this implied assumption that the only type of gender complexity is a discovery of non-cisness.

(and tbh a lot of the time that's fair because a lot of people aren't cis and as I say like. it's much easier to Never Have These Conversations (with others or with yourself) if you're cis. so a lot of cis people never really name their gender troubles because they're not brought face to face with them.)

but there are a lot of things that affect your relationship to your gender. for me, I know I'm a woman, but how I'm a woman is a messy question wrapped up in trauma, in misogyny, in bisexuality, in autism, in body image, in the specifics of who I am and how I relate to the world and how I want to be seen and why. and there kind of is a thing in a lot of IRL queer spaces I hang out in where people jump straight to diagnosing me with Trans of Gender if I try to discuss a complex relationship with womanhood, or a desire to present as GNC, or a discomfort with being performed in certain gendered ways. and for a lot of people that is a step on the route but as far as I can tell it's not for me, I've spent many years trying out the shape of different genders because I had got into a headspace that any complexity in my relationship to genders must mean I was Not Cis, and for me it just didn't fit, womanhood remained the best fit. and I don't regret that, I think in an ideal world everyone should push themselves to question their gender and try out and see what good, and some people are just statistically gonna be cis like. it would be a weird numbers game for absolutely nobody's gender and sex to line up.

but I'm getting sidetracked. I was thinking about how cis and het people have the capacity for equally complex relationships to gender and sexuality as anyone else, and why that's important.

(I've never been straight or even thought I was straight, but I have occasionally talked to straight people and like. I have never met anyone, straight or queer, with a simple and uncomplicated relationship to their own sexuality - is it right, is it socially acceptable, there's shame, there's trauma, there's confusion, there's gendered and racialised and ableist baggage)

and like. it isn't that sexuality and gender aren't less of a fraught space for cishet people as a group than for queer people as a group. obviously in a group that faces a history and present of marginalisation and active violence on the basis of sexuality and gender, those are more intense complexities, and because of that there's also more intense joy as well as intense conflict. we are able to build community through marginalisation. we're brought face to face with our complex relationships to ourselves and because we can't ignore it we have built the language and community and frameworks to explore it and revert in it in a way many cis het people haven't.

but.

understanding intersectionality means understanding that as much as the marginalisation of queerness is bound up in the complexity of our relationships to gender and sexuality, so are power structures of race and gender and health and neurodivergence and wealth and class and geography and culture and language and religion and politics and education.

ultimately sexuality and gender are a huge element in how we relate to the world and our bodies and ourselves. and how the world relates to us. and there isn't a person on earth for whom that's 100% simple.

and idk I think a) to pretend that cishet people can't experience their bodies and themselves in a complex way is just a denial of reality, b) it simplifies out the many intersections of identity and power in all of us (even the straightest cisest manliest rich white dude) that make our social and personal identities messy and intricate and c) it gets in the way of us building meaningful intracommunity solidarity through a shared understanding of the beauty and pain and infinite variety of gender and sexuality

also idk. it's weird to me. to me it posits that to be cis, to be straight, to be allosexual and alloromantic, is a default whereas queerness is a deviation. and I just don't believe that, I don't think there's a 'normal' and uncomplicated Default State and then everyone outside it is a complication. I think there's value in embracing that othering in the world we live in, where we need to find strength in anger and in resistance, but I don't think it represents a truth about the world as much as a reclamation of the weapons used against us.

to me it feels similar to the way that white people thinking of ourselves as aracial and everyone else as racialised is an act of unconscious white supremacy. or the way that people are really keen to draw a sharp line between the Disabled Other and the Healthy Normal People. the idea that there's Normal People and Diverse People isn't...good...really? and this is in itself a messy issue because I do think there's a lot of power and value in taking pride in the complexity and thoughtfulness of queer relationships to sex and gender and I don't think there's some great evil in joking at the expense of the privileged. but when that starts to inform your actual serious thinking I think it can be counterproductive because erasing the complexity of cishet identities and acting as if any complexity in relationship to sexuality and gender means someone's Wrong About Being Straight/Cis is kind of reinforcing the otherising of queerness.

ughhhhh this is why I say it's hard to find words. because to me now it sounds like I'm saying 'don't suggest people might be queer' and like. do do that. we're in a world where that space isn't left open for the vast majority of people and straight or not, cis or not, allo or not, I think pretty much everyone benefits from having the space and community and language to have a conversation with their own identity. but that's kind of my thing like that conversation doesn't have a right answer. the conversation needs to have room for a model of straightness and a model of cisness that doesn't immediately slam the door on further exploration.

(also I've mostly been taking about cishet people here but let's be honest it's really a question of cis AND/OR het. one thing I'm finding really difficult at the moment is that there seems to be a lot of conversations about queerness and gender expression which conflate GNCness and a complex relationship to gender exclusively with being trans, and a lot of the time talk about how being a woman and being sapphic affect your relationship to gender are understood as less authentic explorations where they incorporate cis gendered identities. and a lot of discussions about complex cis wlw relationships to gender and womanhood get coopted by terfs who think that because their complex experience of gender is a cis one that means all complex experiences of gender are cis ones being wishfully misinterpreted (this is because TERFs have. no capacity or will to imagine experiences beyond their own, apparently) and that leaves. for me. often very little room to authentically discuss and explore with others my own identity as a cis wlw who uses she/her pronouns and still has a complex relationship to gender. and indeed as someone whose attraction to men (and no it's not straight but it's different-gender) is as textured and complex as her attraction to women. like it's a long way off the top of the list of Things To Worry About but I think about it a lot.)