#and there's a very fine line between that and queerbaiting

[stimmingandstruggling]

my dream for a modern live action death note:

- it takes itself completely seriously. i want ZERO irony/making fun of itself. i need some actor man to take a potato chip and eat it with total seriousness.

- light and L have an insane amount of tension, i’m talking destiel levels of eye sex and queerbaiting, but they are never allowed to kiss. maybe when L dies they get one ambiguously queer line. but it’s gotta stay at least a little bit ambiguous

- misa isn’t explicitly homophobic anymore but she is like That #ally (just more subtly homophobic) (obviously shes gay but she doesn’t know that yet). instead of “are you on THAT side of the fence ryuzaki” she’s like “it’s FINE if you’re gay but light is MY boyfriends and i just don’t think it’s APPROPRIATE” and L just ignores her completely. she claims L as her Gay Best Friend despite him never confirming if he’s queer and her not really liking him. for Diversity

- she’s like i can’t be homophobic i do a pride month photoshoot and L is like okay. i don’t care

- focus on how the 24 hour news cycle, overwhelming access to information, and constant fearmongering and doomscrolling drives light fucking crazy (sorry i have to be weird about light here)

- instead of a magazine light very blandly watches porn on his laptop. looking actively bored. L doesn’t say explicitly “your son is gay” but he looks over at soichiro and says something like “hm. he’s popular with girls, you said? okay.”

- some awful misa and light sex scene but it cuts between that and light at L’s grave, their months handcuffed together, etc. hannibal style or something idk i’ve never seen it i just got a play by play from a friend

- naomi gets a bigger part because she’s awesome

- light and L are stuck in ambiguously queer purgatory but rem is very explicitly in love with misa. they kiss once before she dies and from then on misa seems a little more subdued with light. like she’s not so sure she really wants him

- when the detectives are talking about L someone mentions how he’s “on the spectrum” and everyone nods seriously. later it’s mentioned again and L overhears and he’s like you can just say autistic. everyone apologizes profusely but he does not give a shit

[flock-of-cassowaries]

I’d count myself as a very casual Nandermo shipper, but the way the whole sitcom outtake bit was framed was just… very off-putting.

Spoilers below the cut.

Like, to introduce it, Nadja (in her characteristically condescending tone) says that she’ll just “make them hallucinate the ending they want”.

Which like, yes; Nadja would say that. But to then actually cut away to it, and in the context of a very, very meta episode… it really feels like the writers are just being shitty to the Nandermo enjoyers in the audience.

And the line Nadja says after the conclusion of that rather half-hearted St. Elsewhere reference (TIMELY!) feels similarly disparaging. (She says that the people who imagined that have “lost 15-20 IQ points.”)

Again, it is in character, and the hypnosis-IQ link has been set up previously, but it just felt… mean.

And like…. I get that writers can be annoyed by fan demands shaping the show, but it’s extremely ungracious to be nasty back to fans.

If I’m being really generous, I can see how perhaps they could have written it, and thought “Is it nasty? No, it’s not. It’s fine! It’s a joke. It’s in character.”

Buuuuut… I think maybe they needed to sit with it for a bit longer and reflect on the implicit part, because… it was ugly. And it shouldn’t have been in there.

( Honestly, the whole script felt like it needed a lot more time and care than it received. )

I also thought that the whole “It will be good when the cameras are gone” bit, and the “Climb into my coffin” bit were… like, if those parts weren’t queerbaiting, wtf is?

Like, the main/only narrative consequence of those sequences was to edge the Nandermo shippers in the audience, and like… for what? If it wasn’t just to be mean, was it to pad the run-time?

It was just… so stupid.

And again, I was never personally in the “If those two don’t kiss, I’m going to riot” camp. But the whole exercise just felt like it was meant as a gratuitous slap in the face to people who really liked this ship.

Like, the episode barely even had a plot. For a minute there, it felt like they were starting to do something with the monster and the Guide*, but instead, they just took a hard left into mocking the Nandermo fans in the audience for, I guess, the crime of being enthusiastic about the relationship between two characters.

*CW for sexual-exploitation / sexual assault implications in the last bit of this post (and no, I cannot believe I need to say this in a post about What We Do In the Shadows, but here we are).

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* I did not love the idea that they were contemplating murdering one of their peers to turn her into basically a sex doll, and it was pretty well-established IN THE PILOT that murdering another vampire was a huge crime, but who cares anymore. Whatever. Fuck it.

[certifiablyinsanez]

I am immensely enjoying the attitude I’m seeing from the fans of Dead Boy Detectives. Because the fan base is full of queer people who likely grew up in a world with zero representation aside from queer-coded villains or queerbaiting. As a natural side effect of that, people tended to go feral if a ship didn’t turn out a certain way. It was torture, because it felt like a bunch of hurt kids were trying to hold the hands of those making media; like toddlers trying to steer a giant to just listen to them for once. And it didn’t work for a very long time. The lines between queerbaiting, canon relationships, and all the messes of human interaction in general blurred. It causes some to have knee jerk reactions when it comes to queer media.

But with DBD, everyone seems to be in agreement that it would not only be fine, but still a good show, if Edwin and Charles didn’t end up together. Because after enough years, queer people grew up and started making things themselves, producing, acting, etc. We don’t have to yank and pull. We’ve finally been seen. Sure we love the get togethers and love but in real life things can be messy. Many queer people experience unrequited feelings, something that would usually be painful to watch but DBD handled it so gracefully that we’re all pleased with the outcome. Glorious.

[roo-bastmoon]

So privacy has been violated OR...

... a smear campaign has begun.

Let's just get this new dating scandal out of the way so we can get back to buying and streaming...

Listen, I don't share unofficial content, but by now everyone in this tag knows there's a video going around that's supposed to be of JK in his apartment with Bam, walking around back-hugging and perhaps kissing a girl. Folks say there's the same couch, same wall panel, and a mood lamp.

I'm side-eyeing this because it's super grainy footage, the windows are different, the wall panel seems to be in different places in the two videos, the guy is shorter than the girl, and he's wearing a mask indoors. Plus, the account that dropped the videos supposedly posted then promptly closed up shop, which seems like they had the intention for deliberate sabotage instead of clout chasing as a sasaeng.

But people say the apartment set up seems really similar and the man has a similar hairstyle to what JK had in the beginning of 2023. So I guess it's Schrodinger's cat at this point.

(Isn't it curious that apartment-related scandals seem to happen on the day new content drops? Hmm... I digress.)

Look... If Jungkook (or Jimin) ends up dating someone else, I'm still going to support them as individuals. I'll be sad of course, because Jikook had AMAZING chemistry and I was really rooting for them to be together forever and all... but, I want them to be happy and fulfilled more than I want them to fit into any fantasy or ideas of my own.

That being said: at this very moment, half of Jimin's insta feed is about Jungkook. Most of Jungkook's lives for 2023 have JK mentioning Jimin, or even being totally focused on Jimin. There's years of super duper sus history between them. Right up to and including yesterday, where Jimin very heavily implied they are sharing Chuseok together.

It feels really weird to me that Jimin would want to tie JK's hair back neatly, call JK baby, beg JK to stay longer at his rehearsal, and joke that he can handle seeing JK naked -- but JK can't come over to shower and visit b/c Jimin says he just isn't that easy... if JK were in a relationship with someone else.

It also feels really weird to me that JK would light up like a super nova any time Jimin commented on his lives, would beg Jimin to hang out, would sing all of Jimin's songs and memorize Jimin's interview content, would travel with Jimin for his debut, then roll around naked in bed grinning and blushing while flirting with Jimin on live... if JK were in a relationship with someone else.

That would make Jungkook kind of a shitty boyfriend and Jimin kind of a shitty friend.

I know Jungkook is cultivating this cool guy/ladies man image right now and that is kinda baffling. I know friends can play-flirt, too... but to do all that on lives, after all their history together, knowing what half of Korea and ARMY thinks? Hm.

That's not "fanservice;" that's really toeing the line of queerbaiting. And it's really hard for me to imagine Jimin or Jungkook doing something like that. Jimin said he hates fake bromance stuff. (I guess anything is possible. It's a new chapter, after all. Maybe it's par for the course in idol-world.)

Hey, maybe Jikook had an amicable break up but are still really close and are fine teasing each other? Maybe they always liked to flirt but never were together? Maybe I've been reading it all wrong this whole time? Or maybe this is a bullshit video?

Whatever the reality is, I'm prepared to acknowledge it. At any time.

I'm not in a cult. I don't have to convince myself of anything. Jikook's behavior had made me think Jikook were in a relationship. If JK is dating someone else now? Okay then. I will just stop posting Jikook content and continue to help OT7 and celebrate my bias with all my heart.

No need for elaborate conspiracy theories or coping histrionics. If JK is in his Loving Women Era, good for him. Go with god, my brother. (Personally, I'd never recover from losing my chance to be with Thee Park Jimin, but that's me!)

But something about this just doesn't quite feel right. I wonder if he'll address it at all, like he did when folks filmed him in his gym or sent food to his home? Because if this is somehow real, it's a HORRIBLE invasion of privacy; home is supposed to be a safe place, and stalkers are scary.

And if it's not real, then someone is going to an AWFUL lot of trouble to overshadow Jungkook's release and upcoming album and that is unhinged. The kind of trouble that reminds me of apartment break-ins and tampered mail.

In any case, like I said: I'm ready to accept whatever the reality is, once the reality becomes clear.

I really love Jungkook. I really love Jimin. I really love BTS. They were there for me at the darkest, lowest point in my life. So whether I was right or wrong about Jikook, it doesn't really matter. In the end, I support them as far as I can.

But also, I sorta think this video may just be bullshit. So let's let them have their privacy, and focus instead on voting for Jimin and buying and streaming for JK instead, hmm? Eventually the truth will come to light.

No matter what happens, let's behave in a way that would make Jimin and Jungkook proud.

Love, Roo

[pinchinschlimbah]

Hi, something is bugging me today and I need your input on it. You wrote something about Kyo and drag, and I have the same feeling. I've been back to Dir the last 6 months after almost 15 years gap. During this gap, I came to terms with my queerness, took a deeper interest in queer culture and (tried to) educate myself. I have a sweet spot for drag artistry that tends more to the fraeaky side. Because of my taste in general, let's say I'm more a Dragula entouthiast than a Dragrace one. I'm sorry if this is long and twisted, but I like to provide context... I also have to "hide" this interest at home, because my partner is a transwoman, but she's also stopped hormones and tend more and more on the NB side of transition (long hair, not shaving beard, non gendered clothes, going with "any pronouns is fine" but still using the female name she picked). And she's not really a drag fan, in fact, it's a little transphobic for her. And I get that, some dragqueens (gay cis male ones) do have a little problem portraying female figures... I guess you get what I mean.

Back to Kyo. Maybe it's because every Kyo fan I met was a problematic person (lol)? Very, very obsessed with him, almost religious to anything he does, like he's the fucking messiah! So I started to pick on him, making jokes, just to piss off these women I used to hang with. Turns out, 15 years later and even if these women are not in my life anymore, he's still the butt of the jokes, my lolcow, the target of my bullying. In a strict circle of choosen people who get my sense of humour and never online or to his face (like I could harrass him IRL lol). I just don't like the guy and he's doing a perfect job at fuelling my despise. He comes off as arrogant, acting like his shit doesn't smell, gathering a circle of followers who will fistfight you if you dare to criticize or question anyhing coming from him.

With that in mind, when I saw this pic https://www.instagram.com/p/C-XoBeES7Wo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== my brow raised... I see wig, fake eyelashes, overdrew lips, everyhting is drag coded! And the MFing lolita headpiece??? After the infamous clip of him and Die poking fun at gothic lolitas! It was too much for me. I don't give a rat's ass it was like 20 years ago and they might have change minds about gothic lolitas, cross dressing or whatever! I felt angry, like, I don't know why but I was pissed. And here is why I'm bothering you on Christmas' eve while I should be working.

Is this bloody cultural appropriation or not? I'll die on the hill that drag is for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color or whatever. But, where do you draw the line between hommage and plunder? Inspiration and deadpan lootering of the art of a discrimlnated community? Artists who takes risks when performing, in clubs targeted by gunmen and bigots? I KNOW Japan has a different aproach to male impersonating females on stage, kabukl and everything. I KNOW "it's not that serious, Mary!" I KNOW it's Japan and Dir will never acknowledge any personal infos. But it's twisting my guts he's only showing and not talking. At least, can he say somewhere he's paying hommage to a culture that inspires him. Somewehere everybody can read it, not in a magazine interview that will only reach japanese speaking people. Just share something on IG. It's getting personal, I need Kyo to tell me he's not the arrogant asshole I think he is since 2000. Because everything he does is sending me redflags, from the day I listened to Mazohist of Decadance I question his opinion on abortion, from the way he acted toward fans I dread he hates women, which is rich considering he built his career on the back and the purse of women. And now he's queerbaiting? Because he's not an idiot and saw where the potential was? Yes, I'm getting too emotional. Sorry for the rant, the mispelling and the bad english. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say, here and if you feel like it answer to my void shooting. But I'd understand this is an overwhelming message and you don't have time or interest in it.

Have a great day, celebrating or not, I'm going to lie in bed with a book and try not to hyperfocus on the crap in my head.

Hello! First of all, thank you for taking the time to write out all of this. I'm going to try my best to answer all the aspects here but if you think there's anything important I've missed, feel free to follow up. Also necessary disclaimer that all of this is just my opinions garnered from my best understanding of following Kyo's work, at the end of the day Kyo is a stranger on the other side of the world speaking a language that I have to rely on third party translations to understand, and I can't ever truly know exactly what's going on in his head.

So first of all, it seems the main question you're asking is, do I think Kyo's usage of drag imagery and culture is appropriation or queerbaiting? Personally, I do not. Based on everything I've seen and heard from him, it's clear to me that he's got a deep appreciation and understanding for the culture of drag, and has done his homework as someone who is looking to be part of the drag community. I myself am someone who is deeply involved in my local drag and queer community, and every drag person I've shown Kyo's recent work to has recognized his appearance and mannerisms as drag, as one of us rather than an inauthentic imitation for some sort of clout. The couple of friends who I've pulled down the diru/vkei hole with me, have felt the same way I have of resonating with Kyo's work in part because the kinds of drag he does reminds us of ourselves and our friends and the drag artists we look up to, and it's exciting to see someone who looks like that and performs like that also making such good music (drag queen music, as a genre, is unfortunately usually uhhhhh not great hahaha) and being so highly recognized for it.

[As a side note, I'm sorry to hear that your partner has had such a difficult time with drag! I think RuPaul in particular has unfortunately had a heavy hand in trying to separate drag from transness in a very ahistorical way, especially in the earlier seasons of Drag Race which then filtered into the popular opinion about what drag was or should be. But luckily I think most people in the community have since come around to the idea that drag is more about an exploration and celebration of all types of gender expression and identity rather than just "men pretending to be women" and while I think you're much more likely to find people with more in-between expressions in more local communities who aren't concerned with being palatable for television, Dragula has been good about showcasing people all over the spectrum and even Drag Race has come around more recently to featuring openly trans, female, and nonbinary people on the show!]

While I do think it would be really cool to see Kyo give acknowledgement to the specific drag artists who he appears to be directly inspired by, I don't think it's accurate to say he hasn't given any acknowledgement to the drag or queer community as a whole. Of course there are the magazine interviews, which yes they are created for a Japanese audience but translations are available online and digital autotranslate features make it infinitely easier for these interviews to be accessible to wider audiences than in previous decades. In these interviews [here and here], he has expressed support for queer rights (something still very controversial in Japan!), repeatedly brings up queerness and his support for it even when it's not super related to the questions asked, stated that he aims to title and write his songs from a place outside of gender, refers to himself as effeminate, said that he names his songs after drag queens and other queer people, that he modeled Candis (song and video) after Showa era gay icon popstars and that his intended primary audience for the song is gay men, that a show he watched when he was younger about a trans woman had a lasting impact on him, and that he has incorporated queer imagery into his shows with the goal of showing support for the queer community and to display queer love as something beautiful and important.

Even outside of magazine interviews...I think Valentina and the media surrounding it is a perfect example of him being as outright as he can without saying the quiet part out loud. (as I've been yelling about recently, the fact that there are so few officially Out queer Japanese musicians is a whole complicated issue but long story short I don't blame him given the oppressive culture there for not outright identifying himself as queer. I think it would be cool if he did, but I'm not holding my breath even if I do believe him to be someone of queer experience) The song is named after a drag queen. The song is from a feminine perspective. Kyo is in undeniably feminine drag in the video and using feminine/draggy mannerisms. He's holding a "Melty-chan" doll which, thanks to Kyo sharing a post about this on his instagram story when the promo photos first dropped, we know this doll is from an art exhibit specifically about navigating life as a queer person. While not exactly textually related, he also posted on his insta story about Catwoman being his girlfriend AND the Joker being his boyfriend, at the same time he was posting teasers for the shoot.

And also, importantly, the interview where he's wearing lipstick and lingerie begins with the interviewer's shock at Kyo presenting this way, and Kyo responding with "Really? The truth is I wanted to do it earlier, but the timing now ended up being perfect. It's a worldview not possible for DIR EN GREY, but I thought it's fine with sukekiyo." I think a lot of what you're interpreting to be insincere or malicious intent is actually just growth and letting himself be who he always wanted to be but felt he wasn't allowed to explore after a certain point and turned to lashing out at those things instead during that time. It's very very clear looking at Dir en Grey's chronological history that they got caught up in a particularly ugly bout of toxic masculinity/internalized misogyny/queerphobia in the early-mid 2000s, and I don't blame you for being put off by things they said and did during that time- I also bailed around then because I was at best uninterested and at worst actively upset by those versions of themselves. And that's part of why I've found their turnaround so exciting- looking at everything, to me it seems pretty clear it wasn't a sudden pivot as a cash/attention grab now that queerness and drag are trendy to a certain marketable audience. It was a gradual process over the past decade of the whole band learning to love those parts of themselves again that they started with in the early days and then abandoned and admonished, to get to the point of again being as flamboyant and theatrical and feminine as they are now.

I'm curious where you got the impression that present day Kyo is arrogant and full of himself and seeking out mindlessly devoted followers when I've honestly been frustrated with the exact opposite impression reading his interviews. He consistently gives the impression of having incredibly low self-worth, going on repeatedly about how he doesn't think his talents or skills are particularly impressive and he doesn't believe others when they tell him he's amazing or that they're a devoted fan of his and so on. It's made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to be kinder to himself because his work is, in fact, incredible and he is deserving of love as much as anyone else. I do think he has the tendency to often be intentionally obtuse or annoying in interviews and appearances (such as wearing a bag over his head at the M&Gs on this year's European tour or the infamous film screening appearance from a few months ago where he sat on the floor eating snacks and putting tape on Shinya's shoes instead of answering the questions) which is not going to be everyone's cup of tea and might not be yours! But I personally don't find these actions to be coming from a place of arrogance, I genuinely just think he thinks it's funny and is trying to amuse himself and others when for someone who does those types of appearances often, they can end up feeling redundant and uninspiring after a while just by nature of doing it so many times.

I admittedly have not read many interviews from the toxic masculinity era which may be where your primary impression is coming from, but this one (from a western metal magazine, in I think 2008) stuck out to me as particularly interesting, where the pull quote significantly twists what he actually said and paired with the chosen photo makes him look like a huge dick, but the actual sentiment in the textual quote is that the band is trying to act more tough and "bad" than they actually are because they think they're supposed to, which I feel like really encapsulates what was going on with them at that time and their desperation to be taken seriously as heavy metal musicians outside of the vkei costumes and theatrics.

I do think it says a lot that no one in the industry has had anything bad to say about any of the members (other than poking fun at them for being too shy offstage) and that they've had no personal scandals that I've seen, that they've been able to remain an active and successful band for nearly 30 years with no lineup changes, and that Kyo has two other active bands who he seems to get along very well with. I don't think any of this would be the case if he was actually as miserable and annoying to deal with as he likes to pretend he is, since artistic talent only gets you so far if you're insufferable as a person. I think there's a good chance that under all his bristling, he is actually just a nice guy haha. I hope some of this has been insightful or helpful for you, and as I said at the start, please feel free to circle back if you have more to say!

[jewishdainix]

"Realm of the elderlings is queerbaiting"

Fitz and the Fool literally confessed their love for eachother and merged their souls for eternity after their biological daughter told the Fool that Fitz loved him more than he ever loved anyone else. It's fine.

"But robin hobb said -"

I'm pretty sure she spoke against the homoerotic interpitation of fitzloved was more than a decade ago.

Neil Gaiman too said at one point that he doesn't see Aziraphale and Crowly as a couple and look at Good Omens now.

I think that we as a fandom tend subotage our own experience and analysis (and honestly, our fun) by focusing too much on an opinion that was expressed a long time ago, and never really applied to the text itself. (Which, the thing that happen in the actual place are what matters. Hobb saying Fitz is straight is no different than jk r*wling saying that dumbldore is gay.

(She also wrote a line in AF where after meeting Carson Fitz drops the fact that upon meeting men he sometimes gets a feelling of an "instant connection" of a "deep friendship that could have been" which sounds like the description of attraction/a crush/whatever you'd call this (Idk the difference between these Im aro) by someone who wouldn't know to call it what it.)

"They didn't kiss"

1) By the end Fitz had Jane Prentiss levels of worm infection and was very very weak. Non of them initiating a kiss at that point makes a LOT of sense from a watsonian perspective.

2) Did "I said into his panting mouth" mean NOTHING to you???

3)

[ok-sims]

Good Omens 2 and playing with expectations

so I watched good omens for the first time in like 2020, had a blast but didnt really think about it again until s2 came out.

and now i realize that one of the things that caused me this obssession brain rot this time around is just how the whole season, but specially the ending, completely subverted my expectations, yet everything that happened is extremely coherent with season 1.

crowley has been asking aziraphale to run away with him for quite some time now. and aziraphale has been "choosing" heaven over him.

smaller things are very coherent too. crowley and taking part in nebula/planet/starmaking. aziraphale and forgiveness. crowley being "unforgivable". alpha centauri.

how can such a coherent finale surprise and smite me so much?

I guess part of it is the queerbait that many fandoms have been subjected to, historically (I was very much into sherlock back in 2014-2017, so you can see where I am coming from...)

but another part is how the final fifteen have a very different tone to the rest of the series. of course, there are some heavy moments in both seasons (the Golgotha being the main one), but those were taken from the biblical lore and not directed to aziraphale and crowley. while there is some drama between them in s1, it is never really serious .crowley was devastated when he thought aziraphale was dead, but we (the audience) knew he was fine. soon, they reunited and faced the end of the world together. there was the fight over holy water in the flashbacks, but we see then make up in the very next scene. so our expectations were set to having crowley and aziraphale have their conflits to be: silly and/or quickly resolved.

I guess that, along the fact that their feelings now have an undeniable romantic nuance confirmed to them, was my fall down the rabbit hole.

I did not expect the series to acknowledge so clearly, very much on screen, the romantic connection between them. before that, this was really heavy subtext, but the leap to text is still pretty uncommom in similar works. even more rare is having the characters kiss, because it leaves no room for subtext anymore. it changes the dinamic between the characters, as well as the perspective of the audience. tv often runs from this sort of change, because it is a risk, but I'm very glad the show took that risk and went with it without looking back.

the risk of changing the tone (even if just for the final fifteen) is also often avoided. "is this show not a comedy?" "isnt everything fine at the end?" so we were left with our expectations completly subverted in both aspects. and yet it all makes sense with everything good omens has showed us before. we were blindsided by the expectations that were firmly constructed for us, the audience, but the ending played out in consonance with the narrative built all through seasons 1 and 2. aziraphale creates situations just to have an excuse to see crowley. crowley is always coming to aziraphale's rescue, no matter what trouble this may give him in hell. btw, crowley could not care less for hell or heaven. "we can go off together, angel". "listen to yourself".

s1 and s2 are so very much in line. I'm glad good omens had the courage to take the leap and subvert everything we were expecting: be it subtext to remain subtext, or a comedy to have its conflit being easily resolved in time for the credits to roll in. and it did it all while making perfect sense for the narrative, with no last minute ill-planned plot twists. it's no wonder we haven't been normal about it since july: when was the last time you watched something like this?

[iwanthermidnightz]

But we all know Taylor is indeed queer baiting, right? I used to think she was part of the LGBTQ+ community, but I've seen things, I've been here for too long and, even though I really wanted to believed she was with Karlie, every clue pointed out to be just queer baiting, which is sad, you know.

I’m sorry you feel that way but I very much disagree with the queerbaiting argument, and since you’ve been here for too long, you know why most of us feel this way. I don’t want to get into this neverending debate again, respectfully.

I just think there’s a difference between wanting to be seen through art and not wanting to make an official statement. It’s clear she wants to exist between those blurred lines, at least for now. And that’s fine.

It seems a lot of patience has run out for Taylor, waiting for her to make a big move and *some* get fed up with the stunts (which I get) and decide to throw all the other stuff out the window as if it’s not true, but that’s just not how it works.

​The last few months have really done a number on people, I’ll say that. The turning tables has been wild to witness.

[kit-middleton]

Started watching Teen Wolf...

I was between obsessions, digging through what I could watch and wondering if it was worth getting upset at the queerbaiting of Teen Wolf. Then I realized that JR Bourne, who I’d had a crush on since perhaps Stargate SG1, wasn’t just a 2 or 3-episode guest star, but actually part of the main cast? So, yeah I decided to watch it. 

(Btw, anyone remember the television ad for Canadian beer where JR Bourne played up the whole “Canadians are nice” stereotype but every single “nice guy” thing he did was specifically to get laid? My man, you have that face and that voice, scheming is... not necessary. But it was a good ad. And he’s really hot.)

I’m stil on season one and I am too (and too ace) old for high school shenanigans (for fuck’s sake, there is a monster killing people, can you stop thinking “but I can’t be with Allison” for five minute, Scott?!?) but I like it.

As expected, I am seriously crushing on Chris Argent. I feel like I’ll be very into Derek in a season or two when he’s just a bit older. But guys, seriously, both of them need to stop being so inappropriate with the characters who are supposed to be teenage boys. 

Derek practically lives in the high school’s boys locker room. Not to mention the constant appearance in Scott’s or Sriles’ bedrooms. I know you don’t mean anything by it, but that makes you look super creepy, Derek. 

And this keeps happening:

Chris Argent keeps stepping into the boys’ personal space. Chris, buddy, there is a fine line between intimidation and... the opening scenes of a bad porno. And the scene where he traps Jackson with car problems in an empty parking lot, then cross behind him and touches his neck? You’re being weird, Chris.

So far, I’m getting pretty much what I expected from years of gifs. What I did NOT expect was to find evil Peter Hale so fun. He keeps commenting on women’s skin as if he wants to wear it and it’s as hilarious as is it terrifying. 

I haven’t gotten to this yet, whatever it is:

All this to say: wow, you weren’t kidding.  

[wrongcaitlyn]

hi hi! first off I AM SUCH A HUGE FAN LIKE YOU HAVE NO CLUE. I literally shake every time you release a new chapter it’s insane. i’ve been following since… maybe chapter 14 of talk your talk and go viral (i just need this love spiral)? and i have been reading them as soon as they come out and wow. just read the new chapter shaking screaming crying throwing up. But to get to the actual ask i swear on my life that sometime in the og fic will said that he was going to make a solangelo ship account and become the biggest solangelo shipper lol. i just looked and it’s in chapter 21! “Which is a strange concept to think of, obviously, but he’s going to move past that. The only thing that really matters is that he wakes up in Will’s arms, and Will, somehow, finds it all hilarious. He is, however, going undercover on his Kanye West hate account to become the number one Will Solace x Nico di Angelo shipper, and to most of stan twitter, he’s probably coming off as insane and delusional.”

please tell me if will actually went through with that account. cause i was kinda confused in the new chapter when will said the solangelo rumors were getting annoying. since yk. he was egging it on.

sorry for such a long ask but i’ve just been wondering and AAHHHH IM SUCH A HUGE FAN YOU HAVE NO IDEAAAAAA I also made a playlist for this fic that’s probably over 10 hours long at this point most of it consists of songs i think nico would make because i’m insane.

HI omg literally thank u so much😭😭💔💔 it makes me so happy that you like the fic that much!!!

to answer the question, he definitely did, at the beginning - but that was still very early on in nico’s career, and his fan base was pretty small (at least compared to how it skyrocketed later that year). i think there’s a very fine line between joking that “haha these friends would make such a cute couple i ship!” (what will was doing) compared to certain “fans” who will insist on nico coming out and them having a public relationship/trying to find “hints” and “clues” that aren’t there/theorizing abt them having broken up, or them pining, or basically just invading nico (and will’s) privacy (what will is annoyed by/what other ppl are doing).

will ended up abandoning that acc when he got to college (1 bc he didn’t have time and 2 bc of people becoming too invasive). will def was egging it on back in hs, mainly just to counter the piper x nico rumors and bc he thought it’d be funny, but it became clear at some point that people weren’t seeing the joke aspect of the ship, and taking it way too seriously (bc even tho will thought it’d be funny, he didn’t actually want to out either of them).

plus, yk what happened at the grammys. having ppl try to out nico or accuse him of queerbaiting is really not what will wants to encourage! he made a mistake bc he was a teenager and he is not perfect! (tho tbf, nico thought it was funny at first too, and then just kinda forgot abt it when he became less active on social media)

DROP THE PLAYLIST💳💥💳💥 (i literally have 20+ playlists for this fic and will never turn down some more. i have an obsession.)

tysm for the ask!!! this ended up being a very long response lmao but i have way too many thoughts abt this au😭

[alarrytale]

Genuinely asking what’s the fine line between being fame and attention hungry and being obliged to stunt? The more he participates in stunting the less sorry I feel for him and his situation, it seems that it’s his choice and hes fine with it and doesn’t want to change it and cares currently only about his fame and money. I love hl so much but it’s so difficult to accept their priorities and the way they manipulate the fandom

I think you've got to draw your own lines. What you are comfortable with and not, based on how much agency you think they have or not have. Only you can make that decision.

I agree that Harry the last couple of years have seemed very Hollywood oriented, yachting, living the life of the rich and famous and just generally taking advantage of all his privileges. Hanging around people with questionable morals, making fake friends and helping others with their image rehabs. Launching Pleasing off of his own brand at blood prices for a quick buck. Pricing his tour at ridicous levels during a cost of living crisis. All of this are examples of things that makes it harder to give him any sympathy at all. His current image is a rich, privileged white dude who's faking his way to the top while also trying to make money. He's queerbaiting enough to get that queer dollar, but presenting straight to get the parent dollar too. We thought he was different, had morals and lines he wouldn't cross. I wish he had someone around reminding him of his ankle screw tattoos. He might have, and this is all an image he's selling. Everything he does off stage is such a turn off though. So much of what he's preaching and saying seems hollow. There's become a discrepancy between what he's saying and how he's acting. He's trying to be everything to everyone all at once and nothing seems authentic anymore. I think his current behaviour is pushing people away. At least it should be.

It's all generally worse when he's off tour. It has always been like that. This stunt in particular seems not so bad actually. I just think we all have major stunt fatigue and we are tired of his face. It's also worse for us fans when he looks happy and not miserable. He's majorly overexposed and he's gonna end up like TS, needing an image overhaul if he's not careful.

If you don’t agree with their priorities and manipulation the best thing (and only thing) you can do is to call them out on it and don't buy the things they are selling you. Don't feed the monster.

[psychewritesbs]

Thanks so much for sharing your metas @theanimepsychologist , I learn a lot of things from you...

Sorry for just realizing it now, that you are the writer of one of my favorite 'Soul Eater' meta ever from a few years ago (love it so much).

Now I found your blog again through your JJK metas (new fan here, just got to JJK fandom last year)....

Can I ask something, do you think SatoSugu is queerbaiting? What do you think about Gojo and Geto's relationship as romantic subtext?

(Sorry if you don't ship them, it's just, I want to know objective pov like you that neither love nor hate Gojo and Geto as characters).

If I ask these questions to SatoSugu shipper or anti SatoSugu (Gojo/Geto hater) both of those groups are subjective to their likes and dislikes...

But if you don't want to talk about it, I understand, sorry if I ask too much.

Also, just want to tell you, one of the main reason why I entered the fandom, is because of stsg. The fan arts and fan fictions for SatoSugu are amazing....But I love JJK more and understand more about the story & characters are thanks to you @theanimepsychologist (Sorry again if my main reason for entering JJK fandom is because of shipping).

Well this is awkward... I've since changed my username and perplexed moots and followers alike because of it.

Anyways, is stsg queerbaiting???? HMMMMM let's taco'bout it under the cut.

I think the ship in the manga walks a very fine line between queerbaiting and whatever the opposite is, but imo, it is ultimately not queerbaiting. More about this in a little bit.

If I'm honest though, if we go by the strict definition of queerbaiting as a "marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation," the anime feels by contrast queerbaity.

I say this because MAPPA seems to be very aware it is catering to a very specific target audience...

Like... did they have to go this hard with Nanami?

Similarly, they took creative decisions that were very openly supportive of stsg as a ship while still remaining somewhat ambiguous to all of the people who do not see the romantic undertones.

In other words, MAPPA goes out of their way to make certain aspects of the story more obvious, which can feel like it is very intentionally speaking to an audience that would enjoy such changes.

Honestly tho, I LOVED the creative liberties that the anime took in general.

ANYWAYS.

My thoughts on stsg... I've actually talked about how I do like this ship before. I used to be on camp "they're just friends" and came around because I saw the vision and now I can't unsee it. But the fact that I had to be shown the vision in order to "get it" makes me feel like you have to see the ship through a certain lens in order to appreciate it romantically.

Thing is that I personally find it dissatisfying that a ship is presented to me in little "hints" and "clues" rather than through the dynamic itself. Which is where the queerbaiting allegations come in.

HOWEVER, to me, knowing how Gege writes by subverting tropes, the "queerbaiting" hints are very intentionally placed in the manga to say "these two were lovers" as opposed to doing it for "marketing purposes".

Personally, I much prefer Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle's kurofai because the clues are hidden in the dynamic and their emotional behavior to one another.

Compared to stsg, I can only read romantic subtext in two or three canon stsg panels, but I'm also not sure if it's because of Gege's skill level, lesser focus on emotional intimacy, idk...

That's how I see it at least. And I honestly respect anyone who doesn't think of them as lovers because, again, the ship is somewhat hidden in clues, not in the dynamic. And say a stsg fan reads this, they could very well think "is she blind?!"

And this is where we get into post-modernism and jjk's main theme: no one owns the objective truth. You are reading jjk through your very own unique lens, and any meaning you make out of jjk is always filtered through that lens. Trying to say your truth is absolute is basically power scaling.

At one point or another someone has to agree to disagree.

So yeah, you'll hear me say this bit about not owning the ultimate truth a lot.

Anon, thank you so much for the kind comments 🥲. I am so happy to hear you loved my Soul Eater write up and that you've ran into my jjk rambles too.

Honestly, I love writing about my favorite ships and nothing makes me sadder than the state of shipping in jjk fandom because people won't just mind their own business about who should be shipped with whom.

As a side note, I've been brainrotting about atsumei recently. Might actually write about the breadcrumbs because these two move me the way some of my absolute favorite ships, soma, asucaga, and kurofai move me.

Anyways I'VE RAMBLED WHY DID NO ONE STOP ME?, it looks like you are feeling worried about my thoughts on you starting to read jjk because of stsg. I say it is a wonderful thing that you started reading it and found enjoyment in it.

Thanks for reaching out, and as per usual I apologize on taking forever to answer asks... I have like 50 and I do try to answer most of them.

[pearwaldorf]

"The Best Revenge is Dressing Well" is still such a good episode. I remain eternally angry there wasn't any room in S2 for Frenchie and Olu grifts. It would have been so! good!

I'm kind of glad I started watching after all the episodes were out, because if I'd ended on "You wear fine things well" I probably would have lost my entire fucking mind. It still feels a little surreal, even on the second rewatch, and that is how I know decades of queerbaiting fucked me up.

The "night night!" awkward slap thing is hilarious and so very them. But the mutual look back!! Oh my god. Is it possible to have a fast burn and pining at the same time?

--

I'm sad there wasn't really time for fuckery in S2, because episode 6 is pure theater kid gone wild. Both Ed and Stede are overdramatic bitches and they didn't really have a chance for pageantry in S2, and that fucking sucks.

Jenks said the bathtub scene was filmed early on, and the rapport between Rhys and Taika made him think a romance could work. I remain absolutely floored it wasn't written in from the beginning, because it feels like an inevitability. Is that what craft* is, making something that feels like it was always meant to be that way?

--

I feel Ed deeply in episode 7 because I too hate nature and become absolutely intractable when I'm hangry.

"Coming Nana, I'm coming for some caaaake!" still hits as hard as the first time.

The problem with extended bits is you have to dance the line of prolonging it just long enough to be funny but also ending it before it gets driven into the ground. (Family Guy never understood this.)

--

I still think Jim/Jackie would have been a super great ship. Two bad bitches (gn) setting aside their differences to have a drink, talk about life and maybe bone? Here for it.

Throwing Calico Jack into the mix is such a great way to highlight the usual state of things on the Revenge. I don't think it's a matter of violence (they're pirates) but rather cruelty and disregard. Whippies. The turtle and crab fight. Karl.

I think the first thing I ever heard about OFMD was the foot touch. I watched the whole "The Chain" sequence before I knew anything about the show. I was intrigued enough to give it a shot, even though I was still suspicious it wasn't a queerbait. (Despite having been informed by multiple trusted people it was canon. That's trauma, baybee!)

Honestly, I still think the most remarkable thing about the show is it gave me feelings about a Fleetwood Mac song**.

--

* There are very few perfect first seasons of television. The ones I can think of are Veronica Mars, OFMD, and IWTV.

** Landslide doesn't count, because everybody has feelings about Landslide.

[hraugur]

shit, buddy

you ever get into something that isn’t, like. that good. like, it’s alright, the plot is serviceable and has its moments here and there, ups and downs, highs and lows. but the characters are really fun and the dynamics have a lot of potential and a lot of the people making it are obviously skilled.

and there’s a lot of good shit that could hypothetically happen if all that potential is used to its full capacity but it probably won’t because why would good things ever happen. so it’s carried almost entirely by the fandom and the headcanons the fandom builds around it. because that has happened to me twice now.

i thought wednesday was fine. not great, not terrible, just fine. the plot was a pretty standard YA supernatural crime thing and it was serviceable and like, not too bad, all things considered. but the characters were really great, i thought. especially the dynamic between enid and wednesday was really good. or, well, not even good, it just had a lot of potential, which i think is mostly owed to how well the actresses mesh and get along because the plot and the writing sure as shit was not doing them any favors. like it had enough potential for me to immediately go look for fanfics back when i watched it in fuckin november, and i’m *still* reading fanfics about them routinely and it’s almost february. i havent been this into a ship in AGES, dude. and it’s just like. i dunno, it’s so clear to me that that is literally all thanks to the chemistry between jenna ortega and emma myers. and it’s just so disappointing to see yet another example of very clear queerbaiting, like, you cannot deny how romantic that final hug was between them, wayyyy wayyyyy more so than anything involving any of the fuckin stale piece of bread white boys in the cast. not to imply that those actors didn’t do a good job or anything but it was just like. there is nothing here. there is absolutely no chemistry between these characters. what fucking signals, tyler. and it’s fuckin weird cause it wasn’t even built up all that well or anything, all things considered. and it was STILL leagues beyond anything else in the show in terms of emotional impact and potential for romance. BANG. enid transforms to protect wednesday. BANG. violence committed. BANG. stumble through the woods covered in blood. BANG. oh hi ajax. BANG. is that wednesday? get the fuck out of my way snakeboy i gotta go hug my GIRL cause we’ve been through the fuckin MEATGRINDER together dude. and it’s just so fuckin lame that john netflix is afraid of taking a fucking risk. or not even a risk, like, dude, it’s 2023, wake the fuck up. because, i dunno. i guess i’m conflicted when i see people tear into the show and call the writing terrible because, i mean, yeah, it wasn’t anything special, but the characters have so much potential and again, dude, there was a shitton of CHEMISTRY happening. and obviously i’m just some clown on the internet, i know nothing about what it’s like to be famous or in the spotlight, but i can’t imagine that being basically just a kid at 20 and seeing grown ass adults talk shit at something you worked hard on feels even remotely good. it’s conflicting. i liked parts of it, but most of what i liked has since been expanded on by the fandom and made better and more interesting, so my view on things is probably bit skewed by now and i’m not fuckin joking when i say i have read several books worth of fanfics in the last two months LMFAO. like, i dunno, take yoko for example. actually not even a character in the show. fanon, though? brilliant. oscar worthy. perfect. i love her. canonically she might as well not exist but she has been utilized to such perfection in fanon that i’m honestly sitting here just going, dude, how did they fuck that up? there is a perfectly good shithead-vampire-induced series of comedy moments LINED UP and nobody in the writers room even considered it. it’s just so LAME to see these loser corporations drop the ball on something that could have so EASILY been great or at LEAST good. like there are a shitton of really good ideas floating around on ao3 and i’m just sitting here like, how the fuck didn’t these professional writers think of this? i’m pretty sure i have more stuff i want to say about it but i tend to start talking in circles and repeating myself when i need to express something that causes conflict in my brain. blagh. i dunno. i’m not sure where i’m going with this. i saw a post where some guy tore into the show pretty harshly. and because i enjoyed parts of it, liked the performances of most of the cast despite the flaws in the plot and am really into a ship from the show, some part of me became defensive but like, phrasing aside, nothing the dude said was anything i particularly disagreed with. and that’s kind of a weird headspace to be in, i guess. the other example of this is obviously homestuck, the epilogues and homestuck 2 and i’m not even going to get into that fuckin total shitshow.

[awkwardanxiousasexual]

Soooooo I finally watched the Teen Wolf Movie and I have a couple thoughts that I need to write down....

- First off, I don’t really get Hakari as a character? Is she supposed to be Liams girlfriend? Just a friend? I got the impression that she and Scott had met before and knew each other but I have no clue how they met or how well they knew each other. I felt like we got to know nothing about her other then that she is a Kitsune. I suspect that this is a result of Arden Cho declining to be in the movie. They needed a Kitsune in the main cast because the villain was the Nogitsune but couldn’t use Kira. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of her lines were originally Kira’s and they just changed the name. 

-I don’t like that Allison came back. It’s fine and all but it’s just not my vibe. I kinda assumed that once all the villains were gone she would disappear? I thought that she was more a projection or a spell and wouldn’t stay alive so now that she is real (I’m assuming) I feel kinda weird about it.

-You can always count on Teen Wolf to have queerbait. Eli really does come across as a Sterek child. Like he very much had Stiles energy (clumsy, bad at lacrosse, sarcastic, obsessed with the jeep) while being Dereks son. There is no way that the writers had no idea what they were doing with this. Coming from someone who doesn’t even ship Sterek, it’s so obvious that they wanted Sterek shippers to draw those parallel even though it’s not canon

-I HATE Malia and Parrish together. It doesn’t make any sense at ALL. Why do they keep trying to pair Parrish with these younger women??? Like I get that they are both adults but when you remember that he had that weird flirting thing with Lydia in season 6 and now this? Plus Malia was with Stiles, then Scott, now Parrish? Can’t she just exist without a relationship for a bit please?

-The chemistry teacher was not a good villain. I literally forgot about him lmao he was not a memorable enough character (imo) to have the dramatic face reveal and need the hood the whole time. 

- I feel like the idea of Eli being scared of being a Werewolf because he saw his dad as a monster was a really interesting idea that went terribly. It could have been fleshed out a lot more. It just felt like a really fast jump from Eli cant transform to Eli is a werewolf. 

-Overall, I feel like there weren’t enough meaningful interactions between characters? Why didn’t we get to see Liam and Mason talk? They are best friends!! Or Liam interacting with Scott more given that he was Scotts beta? I saw this on tumblr earlier (sorry I don’t remember from who) but Eli and Malia are literally related and it’s hard to tell. It’s implied that Malia was somewhat involved in his life since she knows that he has issues transforming but it’s not obvious from their interactions. A lot of this movie just felt awkward because these characters have pre-existing relationships that went ignored. It doesn’t help that the cast was just whoever was willing to show up and not who was needed for the story

-Derek dying is a terrible ending to his character especially since he burned like the rest of his family. I don’t think that he would just abandon his son. I get that he was dying to protect him but there had to have been other ways to kill the Nogitsune

[golbrocklovely]

people who ship larry and really anyone who tries to force a certain sexuality on people irk me like no other. and it’s sooooo embarrassing

i’ve seen grown ass women like 60+ who have children and grandchildren trying to convince people that “larry is real” 🫠 do whatever makes you happy but seriously? you have a family and much bigger responsibilities so why are you focusing on two people who have said either that larry wasn’t real or that they weren’t gay. i hate even saying the word larry. if you have to consistently look for “proofs” in between the lines of the things they do than maybe it’s time to let it go.

i have never once thought they were romantically involved. the boys in my highschool class were FAR worse than harry and louis. like you would genuinely believe they were in love or something because that’s what teen boys do, they think stuff like that is funny.

anyways sorry for the long rant i just cannot with people who try to force sexuality on people. if either of them were actually gay and wanted the world to know, they would. it’s 2023 and queer is not a dirty word anymore.

disclaimer: i've noticed that every single time i talk about harry styles on here, i somehow get either asks shitting on him or asks being rude to me bc of some opinion i have of him. i'm letting you know this now - i do not care. idc if you don't like him bc "he queerbaits and his music isn't even that good and he didn't deserve his grammys and blah blah blah" IDC. sorry. i don't want your think pieces. i don't care what you have to say about him, especially if it's negative. if you don't like him, totally fine. but i do, so just move it along then. don't read this ask. why frustrate yourself over someone you don't like.

now about your ask lol

imma be honest with you, i don't really know everything about larry, mostly bc i was never into one direction (jonas brothers fans where you at?) but i did at one point or another watch some videos on them, out of curiosity. and let me tell you, the lengths some of these ppl go to is very interesting to me. bc at some point, you just gotta face facts: they aren't together. and that's okay.

especially when you try to question their sexuality and shit. that's when it gets gross to me, too. you aren't owed an answer to someone's sexuality, and questioning will not make the person more comfortable to come out, if that's something they are considering.

i don't mind the occasional conspiracy theory or kiki about fandom drama - god knows i would be a hypocrite if i said otherwise. but there comes a point where you gotta be honest with yourself and what actual reality is vs what you want it to be. those are very much TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

like i've seen some ppl go as far as to claim that louis' baby isn't really his and that harry is contractually obligated to appear straight and shit like that and i'm just like…. none of this exhausts you? bc this is such a reach, and borderline insane.

is it possible that maybe, at one point in time, louis and harry could have been a thing? sure. i'll give you that. they were both young boys thrown into fame and needed someone to lean on, so i can believe that maybe they leaned on each other and things could have gotten more than just platonic. but clearly, that just isn't the case anymore. let it be.

if you still believe, you're allowed to. go ahead and do so. but don't expect everyone to agree with you.