#bc idk i feel like neither girl or boy but also both but also sometimes it depends on the context

[lonesomeloved]

so maybe I'm a girl and maybe I want another girl to play with my hair and call me a good boy.... what of it

[angelwiththeblue-box]

Hi idk if you remember me but I was called ef anon and I rise back from the dead with another rant specifically about Lab Rats this time and the flanderization of the Rats

My main thing is that Bree turned into the token “mother girlboss who fights in high heels” character when that wasn’t even her character to begin with. She was a teenage girl who grew up weird bc she was both isolated for all her life and also raised with only two brothers and a weirdo egotistical father. As a teenage former girl who grew up socially stunted for different reasons and had two brothers and sisters who acted like brothers sometimes, that shit stays with you like I’m in uni now and I’m still pretty weird. I just hate how she was kinda forced to mature (but still in a childish way which is complicated to explain but I feel like you get it) while the boys regressed in character until they turned extremely childish and immature (especially Adam)

I have more to say but ig this ask turned into just a Bree critique anyway more coming soon maybe

-ef anon

NO ANON UR SO REAL FOR THIS

bree deserves to be a weird girl bc she is!!!!! shes a kid and she had a fucked up childhood!!! she and skylar couldve bonded over the fact that neither of them are good at social stuff and started high school late etc etc but noooo theyre both girls and they love shopping

bree can be feminine she can like that stuff, but she shouldnt be fighting in heels shes literally a runner and also just bc shes the only girl in lr and one of two in ef doesnt mean that her personality should be reduced to it

[rocksanddeadflowers]

THINKING ABOUT BEAUTY AGAIN!!! (I love you Starship I love you asexual and trans coded protagonist I love you bugs I hate you bugs wow bugs.) A lot of the song is bug facts but the main point of the song is very "Kiss The Girl" with the romance and "don't judge appearances" vibes

Lizzie getting comfortable around the boys and infodumping about bugs while they play in the gardens and/or woods together.. .. the trio are already crushing so hard too

"Spreading pollen, how can you not fall in love?" <- she fully says that and the boys are trying so hard not break no one has communicated their feelings yet it's such a mess "And it might make you sneeze but you better believe it's beautiful stuff." <- Jesse has cringe allergies now I can't unsee it. He's the loser that sniffles and is all snotty every spring (I can make that joke bc that's me).

Also I feel like there's trans allegories here (tbh I can dig up trans or aspec allegories from anything sometimes so)

"If you’re preoccupied with what’s on the outside, you get lost in the “how it can seem", but open your eyes and you’ll be surprised, to find out how much more something different can mean!"

"So look out, it's all around, kinda weird, but that’s neither here nor there, you can face it, embrace it, no need to fear the beauty."

I mean the whole point is "don't judge a book by it's cover" so it can kinda fit the kids especially if they're not passing yet AND it fits the Beauty and the Beast vibes going insane bye

(Actually wait!! The verses the frame these space bugs as living in a utopia ("We don't got any kind of worry" "no wealth, no poor, no hypocrisy, just beauty") while not fully true is definitely romanticizing the better aspects of insects, both bug world and earth insects. Lizzie saying stuff like that bc it sounds like being part of mother nature sounds so much better than being human sometimes bc humanity can be so messy and complicated and scary and idk if I'm explaining that right. I'll probably come back and ramble more later but you maybe get it!!! Sometimes wanting to be a frog or a beetle just vibing even if you know there's cons to living like that too)

[haganez]

sometimes i think about my gender and I like i feel like a girl and a boy and both and something in between and also neither maybe im gender fluid or bigender or genderqueer and as helpful as those labels are i love just saying nonbinary bc idk if anyone of those could encapsulate what i feel in relation to gender but nb holds all of those things and more i love my gender and how happy i feel in it all. now if only i could swap out my cooch for cock every time i wanted to itd all be perfect

[bisluthq]

I think I’m sort of in the middle? Taylor knows the amount of hate her exes get when she does these things, it’s not like she’s unaware of her “power”. So in situations like this, and other stuff like the Ginny and Georgia tweet, it does feel like she wants her fans to actively hate on people. But at the same time, she’s built her whole career on sharing her experiences with people and that’s why people relate so much to her. She’s dialed that back so much since the earlier days, she doesn’t do the secret messages anymore. I saw a video the other day showing that debut had “to all the boys who thought they could break my heart, guess what? Here are 14 songs written about you. HA.”. She’s not doing that anymore, probably because she’s a 34 year old woman, but still. She’s clearly dialed that back and it doesn’t look like she’s actively trying to attack anyone. I don’t know where the line is between sharing your story and sending your fans to undeservingly attack your ex. I would also like to add that people exaggerated how good Joe was, he had to be the best at literally everything. If Joe didn’t complain about that, he can’t complain about people making him out to be worse than he actually is. It also makes sense that when Taylor put him on such a high pedestal (again, higher than he should’ve probably been), and then fans put him on an even higher one (Taylor mentioned many problems even in the good songs that I feel fans ignored), that the fall from it would be even bigger. Fans talk about him as if he betrayed them. They’re mad at him because they thought he was perfect and, since Taylor can do no wrong, they have to blame him for anything and everything that could have gone wrong. I think Taylor is at fault for making her fan base what it is, but she also couldn’t have possible known, as a petty 16 year old, that it would ever come to this. So idk, there are some things she might be able to do, but I don’t think they would help that much

I agree with literally EVERYTHING you’ve said (except that there are things she can do bc idk what those would be lol). The reason I was personally so invested in T/J is the songs NEVER made him - or her - out to be perfect and it felt like such a real relationship that was so wonderfully open to us. She made it very clear IN THE SONGS that he’s moody, that he gets cold sometimes and pulls away, that he can be a little sanctimonious and that he can be a little flirtatious with other girls but it never goes further than that. That’s all in the lyrics. And those aren’t great qualities but like come on, you’re never gonna find someone perfect and for 6.5 years-ish it worked. She also made it clear that she’s moody and temperamental and overreacts to shit, that she wants to be acknowledged for the goddess that she is (which imo she is but like I see why when you’re living with her you wouldn’t necessarily feel that way every day), that she takes a lot of things super personally, that she’s petty and a lil basic and that she’s got a whole host of other issues. That’s ALL like FROM HER LYRICS. That’s WHY I was invested in that relationship. Because it was the first time I heard an artist in real time speak through something that was weird and complex and flawed but obviously beautiful??? And I did kinda feel like a friend lol ngl because she shared so much. It almost felt like my friend K’s relationship (the one that kinda set me up with my now bf like she introduced us not expecting a romantic connection but lol neither were we - she was just like “I know you two would have fun together because you’re so similar”) where I constantly think they’re about to break up but I also wouldn’t be shocked if they outlast my bf and me because we… have our own cockroaches in our heads and shit lol and we’re both very temperamental people and like we say this is forever (hence the bracelets) but like what is forever lol yk? He’s tried forever before and failed and I’m personally not willing to commit to that.

fans chose to ignore the lyrics and focus on her telling sessioners he’s the perfect boyfriend which like… should remind fans that sessioners aren’t her friends lol. No one is perfect. She wasn’t claiming he is in the music - which imo is very honest from her POV and that’s why *I* love her. She obviously wasn’t going around claiming that to her friends (“I talk shit with my friends”). But like when she met with randoms wtf else do you want her to say??? Do you meet random people and tell them like “my partner is ok for the most part like I’ll stay but he/she pisses me off sometimes”?

as for connecting all this to teen Taylor idk what you expect lol like do u want a teenage girl to like… not hate her exes??? Especially ones who cheated on her (Samx6) or who moved on really quick (not domestic violence Drew)?? Like obvi she was pissed off and she didn’t expect it to get to… this when she was lol.

but yeah I agree with your thesis and like idk Swifties are weird and if you listen to the music and like apply it to your life she makes the best music in the world imo. I’m not as invested in T/TK as T/J yet because I don’t have the music. It’s the music that really makes me love her. If you don’t love her music or don’t understand it and just like harass her exes like that’s ok the internet is a wild place go ahead but idk if you’re a fan of the music/artist or you’re just a weird person on the internet (of whom there are many).

[alivegirlmari]

which skamiverse character do you think would fit in best with the Yellowjackets?

OKAY INSANE QUESTION. had to spend all weekend thinking. idk whether you meant who would best fit as in like, who would be friends with the team?? or who would just generally exist in the yj universe?? so i'm doing a bit of everything <3 long as fuck so under a read more.

mailin is, i believe, the only canon girl soccer player, so the most boring superficial answer ofc is that mailin is the best fit. however:

nora m. and lottie would be a bittersweet type of almost, i think, if they were ever in a group project together. one time everyone bails on a meeting so lottie is like let's ditch the library come over to mine my parents are out. at some point they pause for a break and have a drink (lottie offers something alcoholic, nora declines, lottie doesn't question further but Knows something is up and grabs them both sodas). i don't think they'd be completely honest about their respective mental illnesses or family situations, ofc, but there'd be a shared, quiet understanding borne from a few anecdotes and the implications underlining them. it's nice to be able to breathe for a few hours, to admit the depth of your loneliness and momentarily allow yourself to cast it away. at one point, lottie puts on some music. they dance and laugh and let themselves be teen girls before lottie's parents come home. i think they'd say hi to each other in the halls, and nora would cheer when lottie scores a goal (the cashqueens go to mailin's games), but i just can't see them - for multiple, complex reasons - becoming besties. or at least, not publicly? i think it's one of those 'we'll have the magic of that night and i'll always be grateful for it' dynamics. fuck i actually want a fic of this now lmao.

in many ways shauna/jeff/jackie is just a parallel universe eva/jonas/ingrid situation. so i think shauna would be friendly at school with some of the evas (i'm thinking og eva and megan, not an eva but she'd also like liv imo), but they'd never quite click, either. shauna recognizes something in them she doesn't like - or, she can't recognize herself at all bc in her mind her situation is worse. but they'd share notes sometimes.

rip javi you would've LOVED being a tiny big brother to umut inci <3 there's a world where javi, wanting to become closer to his dad (or perhaps forced to go with him? similar to how he and travis go on the nationals trip) goes to mr martinez's games & training sessions and sees the u12 boys team warming up first and talks to the sullen kid kicking balls really hard. tfw you love your elder sibling but things are hard and neither of you really has the language to express it all.

constantin and randy. obviously. they have drinking competitions at parties; constantin eventually hates randy for not being an alpha male like him. unforch it is the 90s and randy does not have the emotional intelligence to recognize constantin is an alcoholic spiraling. (was that plot like...ever addressed?)

zoe m. and mari besties, spiritual sisters, and soulmates every friday and saturday night. berlin slash wiskayok you are NOT ready. but i don't think zoe is as bitchy as mari is. or as smart, tbh? mari would def hate the instas's s5 stunts. it'd be a very intense, fiery, party-focused short-lived friendship. a 24/7 drunk girl in the bathroom vibe. always about to collapse but absolutely beautiful while it lasts. pre-s2 cris would also love both zoe and mari btw.

yara and tai are the resident It girls who run things bts. i'm assuming tai did multiple extracurriculars. she meets yara, class president, overseer of all, at one of them. they immediately just get each other's vibe and have the 'can work in silent tandem and get everything done in ten mins OR will spend an hour giggling' type of friendship. yara faux-casually lets slip that she's bi once. does she already know tai's closeted and wants to make her feel a little less alone, or is she just hoping she is, desperate to know she's not reading too much into it, wanting to feel a little less alone herself? (tai freaks out regardless. they make up, eventually. yara becomes the world's first tai/van shipper. they smile at each other, a little wistfully, across the room and over the crowd at parties.)

tai would think redouane was a bit of a class clown at first, but she'd see him on the other side of the gym sometimes, always working out, playing with the younger students, putting away equipment correctly, and she'd come to respect him. van would LOVE his lil films. he'd be on the yearbook committee and make sure to take really good photos of van for the yj page, and give her the outtakes, and they'd talk Cinema. bilal comes along once and he and van invent the Just A Goofy Little Guy Convention. but i also think they recognize something in the other - a desire for More from life, but a situation beyond their control that may not allow for it - and maybe they wouldn't talk about it, but she'd sneak him movies for zak and he'd sew her something to pin on her jersey.

pre-s6 lola would love pre-crash nat in the sense that they'd both skip classes to smoke behind the school. unforch lola would rather die than exercise so she also thinks she's better than nat bc she's not an athlete. max also likes pre-crash nat for her bisexual smoker swag.

nobody hates this more than me but tiff is v mistycoded like her first response to being rightfully slapped in the face is to fake a broken neck with a brace to make people feel bad for her. they also only have one friend. they'd absolutely HATE each other though. s6 tiff would def bully her. s7-10 tiff doesn't, but keeps a wide berth, and offers no real apology for her past actions. moira's existence is the only thing that stops misty from putting a dead rat in tiff's locker. the second moira's 18 though? oh it's over.

(tiff is also 10000% the allie stevens of the yj universe, btw.)

some of the william remakes, mostly senne & noah, give me jeff vibes. as in the fandom loves to think they're better men than they are but if you think about it for more than two secs you're like, hold on...but didn't they once...? however alejandro IS travis and i mean this in a way complimentary towards both. alejandro & travis: guys who eventually become one of the girls. guys who love their gfs but love isn't always enough. guys and their almosts, their what ifs, etc.

lucas r loves paul's aesthetic, esp. his earring. he also loves mari. but i don't think mari loves him. tragic (misty loves him bc she loves a gay man she can put in a cage. he doesn't love her at all. less tragic.)

lucas vdh would light a cabin of girls on fire no question. he doesn't even need to know about the cannibalism to do it.

crystal is obvs those two theatre/musical kids that approach the evas in every season one. i could not tell you their names if you put a gun to my head. they might not've even been theater kids. but that's her: Very friendly, Very unable to read a room, Very much deserved better. speaking of deserving better: ava and crystal musical duo when???

jackie [handshake emoji] maya: girls who are doomed by the narrative. girls with complicated families. girls who love really hard. girls who are in love with, and have their heartbroken by, their best friend*. i actually don't think maya would like pre-crash jackie tbh. she's too normie for her. but college jackie and maya meet when jackie's roommate drags her to a campus enviro protest, and they'd become friendly, esp. when maya spots jackie hesitantly entering the lgbt students union. jackie helps maya shave her head once. they talk about femininity and gender and lesbianism and something clicks maybe they become roomies. maybe they raise a plant together. (*yes max is maya's canon bestie but s9 took everything from me debshirley are NOT taking my lola/maya besties headcanon too)

anyways um. did not mean 2 write an entire essay here. sorry for taking ages with it. lmk ur thoughts anon <33

[vinnymauro]

what kind of Cheerscoops Mutual:tm: would i be if i didn't ask you about them?

cheerscoops!!!

when I started shipping it if I did: i really do not know. it was sometime summer/fall 2022. someone made an edit and i was like alright. according to my tag the first post is from october.

my thoughts: i love this idea of them being in the same circles but not really ever having the chance of being closer. actually i'm going to tell you bc i have 3 cheerscoops aus to write from my follower event and it's going to be centered around this idea of wrong time, right person. that maybe it could have started in 83 but steve met nancy and/or chrissy had jason. and maybe something in summer 85 but chrissy had jason and steve was sad boy scoops. it's going to be fun i think bc i love the idea of them genuinely being so right for each other but always with the wrong timing. and obviously i love a good rarepair, i love to operate in au, so there are a lot of possibilities with them. i'm also obsessed with the fact that shut up and dance by walk the moon is them. idk if i ever told anyone that. but my tag for them in bookmarks on ao3 is my discotheque juliet teenage dream.

What makes me happy about them: i feel like they'd be really good for each other in terms of understanding parental issues, the implied abuse with chrissy's mother, the implied abandonment from steve's parents. i think they could such bright spots in hawkins for each other.

What makes me sad about them: well. chrissy died. and they never interacted. and we must operate in aus.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: i have only read 2 so far and neither did anything to annoy me. i should read more but ya girl(gn) cannot focus on fics right now. but i think a lot of steve fanon annoys me to no end so i'm very selective about how people write him.

things I look for in fanfic: happiness!!! they both fucking deserve it.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: i've said it before but i'm a whore. i ship both with multiple people. but happiness over all.

My happily ever after for them: they get the fuck out of hawkins, away from their family, and have the family they deserve. (whether or not it comes with nuggets, that's up to chrissy)

who is the big spoon/little spoon: oh it's so classic but steve's big and chrissy is little. unless steve is sick. bc you know he's a baby when sick if his guard is down with someone.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: baking/cooking. i'm deep in the headcanon that steve can cook and cooks well and i like this idea of chrissy baking a lot when she's not under her mother's thumb.

send me a ship, character or 5 to rank

[tangents-within-tangents]

Okay wow. This is something I’ve been contemplating and confused about lately and it’s really interesting to see that it’s actually common and maybe correlated with asexuality. I don’t know much about agender or nonbinary identities, but I kinda feel like this is different. Like I don’t feel nonbinary, I don’t feel neither male or female, or genderless. I’m completely fine being and identifying as female. It’s just that I feel like I’m only female because I was born with a female body, you know? And I thought this was just being cis, bc I’ve never felt I was born in the wrong body, but I also never really felt strongly about it anyway (kinda like how a lot of ace people are biromantic bc they feel equal lack of sexual attraction for both/all genders).

I've always thought of my gender as no different from any other physical trait like eye color: I just have brown eyes so those are my eyes, and it’s irrelevant to anything else about who I am. Maybe sometimes I wish I had green eyes and I guess I could wear contacts if I really wanted to but that would be a hassle and who cares? (Like holy crap is this why it took me so long to understand transgenderism?? Loll same way there are a ton of things I don’t get on account of being ace)

But obviously gender has more social impact than eye color, so being born a woman has shaped my life experiences and perspectives and I do identify with that. So in that way, being female is still an important aspect of my sense of self, but as far as I know it’d be the same way if I had been originally born male instead.

But at the same time, there's a lot of typically female things that I don't relate to. Like I went through the whole heroine’s journey/tomboy phase/rejection to embracing of femininity thing, but there are still a lot of things that, while I can now respect, I just don’t get. I don't paint my nails, I don’t wear makeup, my ears aren’t pierced, I’ve never liked shopping or romcoms or boy bands. I’ve accepted that there is nothing wrong with the color pink bc it is seen as “girlie” but I’m still not comfortable wearing it so I don’t. And maybe none of that matters at all bc why does it need to be gendered anyway, but sometimes I do have a hard time relating to other women, the same way I can’t really connect with really masculine guys (but maybe that's just about interests anyway idk). I guess I've just been noticing lately how often I don't relate to female characters bc this type of girl isn't usually represented. And a lot of that comes back to being ace bc having crushes is often presented as the "normal" growing up experience for girls and it just was not for me.

i feel so seen!!

(twitter thread)

[notabled-noodle]

trans/queer question here if ur okay answering. if this makes sense… what does it mean/what is the word for when .. u strongly identify as something (ex: main thing for me is boy and mlm) yet… I also relate to being sapphic/girlthing/neu/nby at the same time.. and I want to put that identity out there and emphasize it … but I also don’t want people to see me as a girl at all .. and I also don’t know if I fully identity it.. is it fake is it less real than my other identity? It’s as if there are two versions of me. but I also DO want people to see me like that but I don’t ! it’s like some paradox if that’s the right word idk. like yes I feel these other gender feelings besides boy but is that actually apart of my real gender or just some feelings .. want to be seen as binary boy trans but also I don’t… but also I’m nby? but I’m also not? It’s so confusing ! i relate to the very feminine magical girl kind of gender but also I don’t want to be seen as girl exactly bc I’m boy and don’t want to go “well I’m both binary trans and nonbinary trans”? I want to pick one.. but yet I do want to say both? has this happened to anyone else .. paradox identity

hi there! I’m your local carnival barker for the concept of being multigender! we have many labels that may suit your needs! there’s…

bigender — feeling two genders at the same time

multigender — feeling multiple genders at the same time

genderflux — you have one gender, but the intensity of the gendered feelings go up ans down

multigenderflux — you feel multiple genders, but they’re all separate dimmer light switches (the intensity of each gender goes up and down)

and then there’s the good old “genderqueer”! a beautiful word to suit any and all queer gender needs. you can pair it with another gender, or you can just go “fuck it, I don’t know what’s up, but I sure do know I’m queer”

in all seriousness — neither of your genders are “more valid” than the other. I know it can be confusing to be experiencing multiple conflicting gender feelings at the same time, but that doesn’t mean you have to “pick a side”.

I’m multigender(flux). my genders are lesbian, demiboy, and queer. I always feel all three of those genders, but the amount of input I receive from each gender will change depending on the situation. sometimes I’m 80% lesbian, 18% boy, 2% everything else. but that doesn’t mean that the genders I’m feeling less of in that moment are no longer important

all this to say:

you’re allowed to be confused

you’re allowed to experiment

it is possible to be both a binary trans man and nonbinary trans at the same time

try not to obsess over the labels, and just try your best to do what feels good for you

it’ll be okay! your gender is your gender, and I’m proud of you for trying to figure it out. just know that who you are will always go beyond your identity labels, and that it’s okay to sit with the confusion for a bit

good luck, and I wish you all the best

[dinoburger]

I'm 16 episodes in out of 26 in the Arashi no Yoru ni TV series, I'm pretty sure both it and the movie span the first 5 books in terms of plot from what I've gathered, so for the most part there's nothing really that new?

the introductory episodes are pretty much identical to the movie's first beats, but the rest of it is more meandering, I believe all of the important stuff doesn't happen until the end of the season.

most of the plotlines revolve around the same handful of gimmicks and don't really add much, or mirror similar beats in the movie but in a more drawn out and less meaningful way

you could describe almost every episode with different combinations of:

Mei and Gabu are trying to meet but get inconvenienced

Mei and Gabu have a misunderstanding

Mei and Gabu are trying to keep their friendship secret

a lot of plotlines also seem to have like, repeated story beats, which is pretty normal for a lot of stories aimed at children - think Goldilocks or, like those kid's picture books where there's a repeat gimmick "Are you my mother?" kind of thing - but here sometimes it feels less like a buildup to a punchline and more "we had 10 minutes of story and we need to fill a 20 minute slot, let's just have Mei chase a bird and have it fly off again or Gabu run back and forth one more time"

I'm pretty sure Boro and the wolf cubs plus Barry's sister Lala and the weird airbrushed she-wolves are new additions to the cast, I can't remember exactly, it doesn't really matter that much bc they're not that interesting and the designs this iteration has... I wish I could be nicer about them lol, but it doesn't do any of them much justice.

I think maybe the most interesting thing the series introduces is the existence of the 3 goat clans? Mei's herd are the white goats, but there's a herd of black goats that reside a ways off and a herd of patchy/spotted goat which, sort of exist. I don't believe this is ever touched on in the movie.

I'm actually a little sad there's only two plotlines that majorly involve the black goats. The first one is when we're introduced to Kuro-san (literally. "Black". he's a black goat named Black.)

idk I was kind of excited to see Mei interact with another goat who's a bit more of an outsider? But he literally stops being relevant like, halfway through the episode and gets written out so that Gabu can have a jealous argument with Mei

We learn in the 14th? episode that when Mei's grandma was younger there was a lot more tension between the black and white goats, and she had a secret relationship with one of the elders that mirrors Mei and Gabu's.

go Grandma

again, we never see Gabu eat on screen, though we do see other wolves talk about eating rabbits and moles which are depicted with some sentience like the goats... so there's a weird unanswered question floating around of "how the heck is Gabu supposed to not starve and also appease Mei's moral sensibilities" that is just never addressed at all or even really referenced aside from moments we see Gabu have a lapse of willpower and start slobbering over the idea of eating Mei or another goat

I think what this series really does is make me appreciate the homoerotic subtext of the movie a lot more. Like. It gives a lot more punch to the overarching "we have a secret relationship neither of our families would approve of" plot instead of it being just another prey/predator story where the prey animal is the girl one and the predator is the boy one, in the sense that the other goats are just as guilty of ostracizing Mei for his feelings as the wolves are for ostracizing Gabu

I will have to rewatch the movie again after this so I can appreciate it fully for everything it does right

[firelxdykatara]

gods, ok, apparently i’m not done.

atla fandom? we need to have a chat.

(....ok that made me sound pretentious as fuck. and maybe i am, but this needs to be said, cause i’m getting....real, real tired of a Certain Corner of this fandom and as a result, this is gonna be a discourse-heavy post so feel free to scroll past if that’s not your bag. as always, my salt posts all carry the catch-all #salt for ts tag, which you’re free to blacklist/filter at your leisure. i’m Very Annoyed at the moment, which will probably come through in the following post, so just. yknow. be prepared for that. or ignore it, that’s perfectly valid too.)

under a cut bc i do care for my followers and their sanity i swear lmao

there’s a real serious issue in this fandom with not understanding what queer terminology actually means or implies, especially when applied to a fictional narrative.

i’m specifically talking about ‘coding’, here. (if i were in a more meme-y mood, i might have said ‘the atla fandom found out about the term “gay-coding” and haven’t shut up since’.)

to the people who say ‘zuko is gay-coded’, i have this to say: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means. because he isn’t. i’m sorry, but he’s not! and the fact that this is such a prevalent claim in this fandom is distressing, bc it says to me that none of y’all know what gay-coding is or when and how to apply it! please, i’m begging you, go and look up these terms and what they mean and when they should be used before actually trying to plug them into your critical analysis, because when you misuse them and then call other people delusional for disagreeing with you it casts a pall over the entire fandom and is, i think, the root of some of the worst toxicity this fandom has to offer.

and the thing is, there are cases where gay-coding would apply--for instance, a couple series that are famous for queerbaiting their audience by coding their main characters as being attracted to one another (sometimes even despite their openly stated sexualities) come to mind, but those shows bare no similarities at all to atla and how zuko was written and portrayed! (and it would be funny, if it weren’t so obnoxious and infuriatingly wide-spread throughout the fandom, because the only queer couple we actually seen on-screen in either show wasn’t even queer-coded in any respect, and they’re canonically bi! [yes, i’m shading korrasami, or more accurately i’m shading bryke for refusing to give ka the build-up and development they deserved].)

this absolutely isn’t to say that headcanoning zuko as gay is a bad thing or invalid in any respect. (although the tendency for zukka shippers to do this specifically to keep zuko away from katara and/or invalidate his canon relationship/attraction to girls is more than a little eyebrow raising. especially since sokka is usually allowed to be bi, bc fans have no problem letting sukka stay in the background bc it’s no real threat, while jetko shippers are happy to have both boys be bi. [possibly bc katara is less a threat to jetko bc jetkotara is every bit as valid as any single ship between the three, but zukka can’t exactly let katara join in, and if the potential exists for zuko to be attracted to her then canon giving them the far deeper emotional bond becomes a threat to zukka’s existence? idk for sure--you be the judge.]) i prefer to hc zuko as bi (and always have, long before the atla renaissance), bc i don’t think zuko being attracted to boys is outside the realm of possibility, and it isn’t a threat to my ship since zuko&katara had a deep and emotional bond in canon that is very easy to develop further into something that becomes explicitly romantic--but the headcanon itself isn’t really the problem (although what it’s often in service to can be).

it’s the strange insistence that this is the only way to read his character, bc he was coded that way and so anyone who doesn’t see it must be too straight to understand--and i really shouldn’t have to say why and how that is so incredibly fucking insulting. (the ‘hetero lenses’ comment wasn’t cute when it came from bryke six years ago, and the same sentiment being repackaged and delivered by zukka shippers ain’t cute now.)

calling zuko gay-coded not only demonstrates ignorance as to what the term actually means, and how to usefully apply it in critical analysis, but also validates the frankly bullshit insertion of institutionalized homophobia in the world of atla where it was neither needed, nor wanted, nor ever hinted at in canon. as a queer woman i’m still infuriated by one fucking comic panel shoving institutionalized and systemic homophobia into a world where it was entirely unnecessary (and doing this in the first installment of the franchise showcasing a queer relationship??? making korra and asami worried about ‘coming out’ when they could have just gone on to have cute adventures together and tell people ‘hey we’re dating’ and have everyone else be ‘that’s awesome =DDD’ [because it is, in fact, possible to just have a world without homophobia i promise!!!!!] double yikes, i’m still pissed at bryke about it), and i doubly hate that ‘zuko is gay coded’ has become so widespread that ‘ozai hates him bc he’s gay’ has become a staple in that part of the fandom.

not only does making zuko gay and implying (or outright stating) that ozai hated and abused him because of it completely undermine zuko’s character arc by making his abuse about his sexuality rather than ozai’s toxic pride and anger at seeing himself reflected in his ‘weak’ son, but it comes very close to outright stating that abuse and trauma are inherently gay experiences, and they aren’t!!! they really aren’t, i promise!!!

abuse and trauma narratives exist outside of ‘my dad hates me because i’m gay’. and, quite frankly, there are MORE THAN ENOUGH queer trauma narratives out in the world. we do not need to start trying to retroactively make them canon in a series where they didn’t exist! if you’re gay and see yourself in zuko and project your own experiences on him, that’s understandable and valid. that does not make zuko gay-coded. and honestly, the insistence that he is makes very little sense to me, because you’re essentially trying to give the show credit for work you put into interpreting the characters! why would you want to do that? why not own your own headcanons and take credit for them, rather than insisting they are canon and everyone else is wrong for not seeing them??? like, i’ve said before that i’ve always headcanoned zuko (and katara) as bi, and even support it with my interpretations of evidence from the show, but the difference between ‘i think zuko is bi’ and ‘zuko is definitely gay-coded’ is that i know that bi zuko is my interpretation of canon, and that it is work i’m putting into the show that wasn’t actually intended by the creators/writers, no matter how much sexual tension i read into the jetko swordfight.

and like, zuko’s character arc doesn’t actually parallel a queer one all that well to begin with. it’s easy enough to do the work and twist it sideways just enough to make the general points fit, but the fact is, zuko’s arc is not one of self-discovery. it’s not one of coming to understand something fundamental about himself that he can’t change, that he was hated for, and coming out to his father in a dramatic confrontation where he shows that he understands himself and doesn’t need his father’s acceptance to be fulfilled.

zuko’s arc is actually one of trauma and healing. and those can (and often are--like i said, there are more than enough queer trauma narratives in the world, atla really doesn’t need to be one of them) be part of queer narratives, for sure! but they aren’t uniquely queer. and zuko’s confrontation with ozai during the eclipse doesn’t read like a ‘coming out’ at all. (yes, i’ve seen that post. yes, i rolled my eyes and moved on, bc unlike some people, i’m capable of not clowning on correctly tagged posts i disagree with.) zuko is specifically confronting ozai over his abuse, because his arc wasn’t about discovering anything fundamental about himself (and therefore realizing that ozai was hating him for something he couldn’t change)--it was about realizing that he was not at fault for the way his father treated him. it was also about realizing that the fire nation was broken and corrupt at its core, and that his father was an aspect of that he needed to break away from so that he could help the world begin to heal.

he says it himself:

Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.

making this about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.

is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.

(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)

anyway, uh, that was a lot of words, so have a tl;dr: zuko is not gay-coded. there is nothing uniquely gay (or even uniquely queer) about his character arc or characterization, and he was certainly not coded gay in an attempt to sneak a queer character past the censors. if anyone involved with atla was gonna try that, it would’ve been in lok, and as established, they didn’t even manage to queer-code the actual queer relationship before the last few minutes of the final episode. headcanoning zuko as gay is absolutely fine (though if it’s only done to keep him away from female characters he may otherwise be attracted to, that smells more like misogyny than anything else), but insisting that this reading is the only one that makes sense, and anyone who doesn’t agree must be straight (hello, queer woman here making this insanely long thinkpiece) is very much not.

ship what you like, but stop trying to invalidate other ships and other interpretations of characters just to make your ship seem more plausible. it’s really not a good look.

[melrosing]

ok I'll share. I've been avoiding barbie conversations online (as much as that was even possible to do) bc I didn't want to get spoiled but the vibe I was getting was that it was going to be a film that might have been somewhat fresh in like 2012 but in 2023 it's just a repetition of all the conversations we've been having over and over throughout the fourth wave. and yeah that's exactly what it was.

like first of all I really don't buy this retroactive notion that Barbie was this paragon of feminism for little girls who have all become disillusioned since, like I ALWAYS felt alienated by the barbie brand as a kid, even as a skinny white girl, and every time I was gifted one of those dolls it was a reminder that this is what I as a girl was supposed to like and was supposed to be like, and that nobody seemed to care much if that wasn't me. the fact that they introduced Career Barbies and whatever else in the 2010s in an effort to appeal to modern sensibilities means nothing to me, it's just marketing. if they didn't think it would make profit, make the press, they wouldn't have done it.

so the brand just feels like entirely the wrong vessel for a feminist manifesto, and the manifesto itself is just so stale. like 'imagine if girls had the same jobs as men!'/'who cares if you have cellulite!'/'aren't boys boring sometimes!' like uh huh okay!! you got anything else?? I don't expect barbie to start speaking on abortion rights but from a director like greta gerwig I sure expected something more cutting than what we got, which was almost like an introduction to feminism to those who'd never heard of it

and I know Greta Gerwig is capable of greater subtlety and nuance than this so I assume that at least in part this was down to the fact that the whole film was an aggressive marketing vehicle for Mattel. and also chanel and chevrolet apparently?? like these brands stuck out like a sore thumb in a film that was pretending to be above all that, but the presence of Mattel throughout was just especially uncomfortable, like they joked about it being a male dominated company whilst flogging its wares through a feminist parable, and the 'sell sell sell' messaging just felt weirdly contrary to what the film seemed to claim was its heart, which is 'you can just be you without all the baubles' or whatever

and I think ultimately it didn't have anything to say that hadn't been said more articulately a hundred times over, in films that don't contradict themselves throughout. there was probably a good film in there that could've been made without Mattel glaring over everyone's shoulders, instead critiquing the Barbie brand's hollow pretences at feminism and white girlboss feminism more generally. or they could have just made a fun film about barbie, because the music and dancing was mostly great. but instead we got this which is pretending to be both and achieving neither and I really hate to be a killjoy but I just. really resent films as tawdry as this repeatedly placing at the forefront of the conversation around feminism, we need to stop having the same discussions over and over, and the only reason we are is because these are the easier conversations that are simple to sell. the more complicated shit is harder for brands to grapple with, and I am sick of brands being placed at the centre of debate on pressing social issues!!!

so idk what i was really expecting from a film called Barbie but in short I wish we could stop pretending it's something that it wasn't. everyone suddenly embracing the barbie brand and barbie nostalgia because they've decided it's feminist now just feels Bad

sitting on unpopular opinions about the barbie movie

[centralsaints]

mcl headcanon masterpost pt.1 - armin

let's start this off with my long term favourites; the twins. this is armin's part, and alexy is next!

will start this with his full name being armin frederic lemaire

if you name a joint, he has probably dislocated it at least once in his life. he’s always been hypermobile, having chronic pain (mistaken as growing pains) and fatigue, being prone to dislocation. that later becomes a diagnosis of hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome.

that makes him also prone to getting migraines and headaches regularly, explaining the whole hating bright lights thing

he has had an eating disorder on and off since he was about 15; partly diagnosed, he meets the criteria for OSFED, so his ed is a bit. weird and all over the place. it’s mostly periods of restriction with a fear/disgust of food, followed by periods of binging and eating more or less normally. he’s closer to atypical bulimia, in terms of specifics, because the binge/purge episodes aren’t that frequent. he went inpatient once, and still jokes about how he was the only guy there. only his family knows about his eating issues as of now.

another thing about the ed is that it was already kind of in the making when alexy had his unaliving attempt, but that was really what kickstarted it all.

around UL, with nathaniel going absolutely off the fucking rails, armin and amber struck an odd friendship. they both could clock the other on their fucked up eating issues, but neither said anything for a long time, until amber did. they agreed to try and recover together.

his favourite pokemon type is ghost (thank you anon, idk anything about pokemon but i wanted to include this)

he plays animal crossing with kentin (who doesn’t like admitting that he plays it because it’s very relaxing for him) and jade.

he’s a gemini sun, cancer rising, libra moon, same as alexy.

he has add (adhd inattentive type) and his most common stims are bouncing his leg and chewing his pens. his object permanence is also absolute shit, if its out of sight, it doesn’t exist.

he doesn’t untie his shoes when taking them off or putting them on, and has ruined many perfectly good pairs of shoes that way.

he has made tik toks starring rocket the ferret

his playlists are lo-fi music, video games and movie soundtracks, and like. twenty one pilot.

his nose is crooked from when he broke it around 11 years old

he also bruises really easily (mostly due to his EDS) and his legs are always covered in various bruises. he’s also very clumsy, which doesn’t help

he doesn’t like alcohol; he doesn’t like the taste, the way it makes him feel and the aftermath; it doesn’t take much to affect him and he’ll sleep for an entire day. but he’ll sometimes drink in social situation just to not feel left out.

he’s bisexual. the less obvious stuff; what’s his type?? I know having a “type” isn't really a thing and u like who u like. with that said i think hed like slightly androgynous looking girls (soft spot for shaved heads. its soft;;), girls who are very very feminine but in an out of the ordinary way (think lolita, hyper pop fem vibe, goth girls in corsets, etc), guys who work out (he has a weakness for back muscles), in general people who stand out in a crowd be it with their appearance, style or their attitude

no i still have absolutely no idea how he would come out. i think he probably didn’t. he just started talking about it naturally, because it wasn’t a big deal. i think one day, either his mom or alexy made jokes about oh, when would he finally take this one cute girl on a date, and he just said, or maybe it’ll be a boy. it just happened like that

ref post for his fashion sense

he can do a killer winged liner. look, man’s into cosplay, of course he can.

he’s played mystic messenger ironically at first and then ended up actually liking it

he actually can draw, because he spent all middle school drawing anime characters in all his notebooks

he always sits kind of awkwardly (proof is the episode 12 illustration lmao) because 1. bi people can’t sit right (source: me) and 2. he’s just. really lanky and has long limbs and doesn’t really know what to do with all of it

this one is from an anon last year: “I have this weird hc about the twins. Alexy sleeps with like a million pillows and blankets , while Armin tries to sleep with pillows but throws it out every time even though he's asleep.” and i love it. he also probably sleep in very weird positions which leads to him waking up hurting a lot of the time

he also has a weighted blanket that he and alexy kind of just. get turns using when they both still live at their parents house. it helps armin’s pain, and alexy’s overstimulation issues. when they leave, armin gets the weighted blanket

armin has a dimple on his right cheek when he smiles

he helped alexy dye his hair until they moved out and started living separately

he has his driving license, but alexy doesn’t

he’s scared of dogs (he probably met demon at one point bc i like him and cas being friends, and he was so nervous about it, poor boy

he likes taking ice cold shower in the evening because the cold water and then sinking in a warm bed make him sleepy and actually helps him fall asleep

he probably played dnd at one point

he smokes ouid occasionally, at first it was recreational, but it kind of helped with his joint pain so

i think this is all of them? i might be missing a few ones i never wrote out or that are buried in my files but i honestly don't feel like going through the dozen unfinished fics and compilation documents that mention armin in my drive or i would still be here next year

[problematicfavesareproblematic]

Band of Brothers-

Cute/charming things they say when they walk into a room and see you/you walk into a room and they see you:

Babe: 

“oh SHIIIIIT! There’s my BABY! Do you see her, fellas? GodDAMN, I’m a lucky sonofabitch!” 

(you blush so hard and are just like Babe, we’re at work stahp it but he dgaf).

It’s embarrassing and always makes Martin glare so imploringly at you that you’ll go over to Babe just to make him be quiet. Because, you know, YOU’RE AT WORK. 

This bitch is shameless when it comes to loving on you, having once come to stand next to you when Sink was giving an important announcement and straight-up PINCHED. YOUR. ASS. 

how you didn’t yelp is a miracle, and how no one else seemed to notice was equally astounding 

(oh, the boys noticed. They kinda shipped it tho, so it was more a matter of hiding their joy). 

Needless to say, it only happened the once, something you made Babe swear after you pulled him aside and punched him in the arm. 

Don’t worry, you kissed it better.

Roe: 

bb boy doesn’t say anything at first, 

the smile he saves just for you is playing at his lips as you walk up to meet him, tho.

The moment you’re close enough that he can smell the  sweet mint of your gum, he’ll whisper something sweet like “hey you” or “mon amor”, or maybe just your name 

(bc let’s be honest, his accent is 10 out of 10 and he could read me the dictionary and I’d still rock an ugly giggle/snort combo). 

If it’s a more serious situation, like if you’re hurt oh lordy

he will literally shout your name until either you shout back or someone tells him where you are. 

I could see him being a face holder, in the sense that he does it to reassure himself that you’re okay and make sure he has your undivided attention. 

Since getting injured in Carentan, you hadn’t been as close to the frontlines as you had been, so when you were needed you are REALLY NEEDED, 

and even if he didn’t like it Gene knew you were the best at what you did. 

Gene also feels better if he knows where you are.

 Even when you eventually return to Easy, he will feel better knowing which Foxhole you’re in, and knowing he’s seen to it your first aid kit was fully stocked.

Liebgott: 

THAT FUCKER’S SMIRKING AT YOU SO OPENLY that whoever he had been talking to instantly goes 

*sigh* y/n’s just came in, didn’t she? 

And he won’t even ANSWER because he’s already shoving past them to walk up and eye you with obvious satisfaction. 

“Bout time you showed up,” he’d say casually, hands finding your hips giving them a quick squeeze. 

“Sooner we get briefed, sooner we can get outta here.” 

(You’re not fully sure what ‘getting outta here’ entails, but if the way he looked at you was any indication, you had a feeling it didn’t involve anything less than PG-13 sexy times.)

Bull: 

“Hey, little lady.”

He’ll say it no matter how tall or short you are, how wide or how narrow.

He will always say it to you that when you first see each other in the morning 

(sometimes, you wake up to Hey, little lady being kissed into the soft skin behind your ear.) 

(Once while on a 48 hour pass, he’d woken you up that way in a REAL bed and the two of you had nearly gotten him sent up Curahee for being late coming back because you’d ended up spending more time in that bed than either of you anticipated Whoops)

(Even if he had been late, he definitely wouldnt have minded, tbh. He fully considered going AWOL if it mean neither of you had to leave the bed)

but throughout the day he’s more concerned about getting his hands on some part of you whenever the two of you had been apart- 

even if it was for like five minutes. 

Nothing over the top- holding his arm up and out so you can step into his side, a press of his lips to your temple. 

Idk guys i just feel like he’d just love you so much that everyone would be able to see, which they do and they all think it’s fucking cute

Buck: 

He doesn’t always call out when he sees you, mostly because your eyes always seem to find his. 

The two of you could be across a field from one another with a thousand angry Germans between you, guns blazing, and the two of you would always spot each other like two honing beacons. 

If its downtime and you guys don’t have to be on your guard he’ll ABSOLUTELY wolf whistle in at you, 

You’ll see a stupid grin lighting up his face as he nods in your direction. 

“Take a look, boys. I think we’ve got ourselves a…” 

and he always waits until you’re close enough that he can wrap a quick arm around your waist and pat your hip. 

“Certified babe-asaurus!” 

(in a foxhole somewhere, a wild Babe’s head pokes up in confusion). 

You groan and boo him, and whoever he was with inevitably ends up booing him too.

But he doesn’t care because seeing you smile makes him so happy you guys.

Lipton: 

If you’re in public, he will quietly step up beside you and place his hand gently between your shoulder blades.

He’s not super into PDA, which you didn’t mind because what he didn’t show in physical touch he more than made up for in open admiration. 

He is in awe of you 

sometimes he worries you forget how highly he thinks of you, how highly everybody thinks of you 

(you don’t forget, but he’s just one of those people who will get intrusive thoughts like that and sometimes has a hard time shaking them so plz just let him say it ok?)

so he always whispers some praise with his greeting 

(Hey, beautiful...Doin’ okay, love?...What’re you thinking, brilliant girl?). 

It’d probably seem like overkill if anyone else did it but Carwood is just so goddamn sincere that you can’t help but duck a quick kiss to his shoulder. 

HOWEVER! 

If you two kids are alone….

OH BOI. 

He is handsy, coming up and caging you with his arms, 

probably pulling you close quickly so you lose your balance and he can hold you a lil bit.

(He likes to sweep you off your feet im so sorry)

 That’s when his praises are hushed and sighed between long slow kisses. 

Nixon: 

Like Liebgott, he’s a snarky motherfucker who will get the most self-satisfied grin on his face the moment he sees you, instantly turning on the famous Lewis Nixon charm ( something he’d long since decided belonged to you and you alone.)

“Uh oh,” he’d say, looking you up and down before raising an eyebrow.

(bc your hot but also he doesn’t want to get all flirty if you’re hurt or sick or something’s up bc ur not just something to flirt with- YOU ARE A BADASS WITH BADASS RESPONSIBILITIES AND THAT WAS SOMETHING HE very often and sometimes FOUND SO HOT THAT IT MADE HIM THINK HE MAY HAVE AN AUTHORITY FETISH this has been a PSA) 

“Here comes trouble.”

you roll your eyes, the behavior you once found cocky and arrogant having becoming endearing somewhere between Toccoa and England. 

He has absolutely no qualms about PDA (verbal or physical), so it’s up to you to reign him in 

(especially if he’s a lil tipsy, poor Luz didn’t need to hear Lewis’s sloppy and shameless plea for you to let him eat you out on top of piano he’d found in the attic of the billet he’d been assigned. You weren’t able to look at George for a week without wanting to die of embarrassment and Lewis Nixon didn’t get any for two weeks. He was sure to never make such a mistake ever again) 

And Dick had probably grown blind to how Lewis liked to pull you his lap and run his hands up and down your thighs while you played with his hair. 

Also, like Lipton, he probably saves the more explicit acts of PDA for when the company has scheduled downtime 

(but only bc you told him he needed to keep it in his pants any other time he tried to get cute with you)

but you can bet your ass his hand will always try to tap it (your ass, that is.)at least once

a day when he isn’t supposed to.

That’s when you get to punish him whoopsies

Dick: 

since the day you were introduced to Dick in Georgia, the boy always made sure to stand when you entered a room and will call you “ma’am”,

(you know, LIKE HE DOES ONLY BECAUSE HE HAS TO FOR SOBEL BC RANKS. I feel like he has a “we salute the woman, not the rank” speech queued up for anyone who tried to give him shit for it BUT THAT’s JUST ME)

but he has a knowing look in his eye that makes the term ‘ma’am’ feel anything but impersonal.

It confused the shit out of replacements, who would automatically stand because their superior officer (that would be Big Dick Winters) did- only to see you standing there in your fatigues with a coffee in each hand with a look of mutual confusion on your face. 

(bc while they like you, but they’re confused still bc while you’re a boss ass bitch,  you didn’t outrank him...or at least they theink you dont?) 

Babe had been the one to ask you about the longing looks and lingering glances, and when you didn’t know how to answer him you’d gone to Nixon, 

He’d burst into tearful laughter and was unable to get it together enough to explain anything.

Dick had been the one to bring it up the next time they were alone, weirdly enough, as she proofread his report for errors that didn’t exist. 

Because you warrant it, he’d said when pressed for a reason why he greeted her like a ranking officer, looking down at his boots as they both blushed like teenagers at a school dance. 

After that, he still stood wherever you walked in

but now he made a point to brush his fingers against yours at some point during the time you were together. 

He’s the definition of a slow burn friends-to-lovers story, and boi can get spicy LEMME TELL YOU.

(this is my first writing thing ever plz let a sister know if there are any glaring typos. Also i’m roughly 97 years late to fandom but I brought y’all some starbucks so plz let me in thank you)

[misterbitches]

what i like abt muren and li chen

i’m sorta burned out and my vagina is bleeding so lemme see if i can type this. probably can lmao. my brain is going ten miles a minute.

1. the fact that they were friends first.

 someone on here said this and idk who but i don’t want to seem like it was my idea. 

the fact that they are friends and didn’t have like a connection previously and it developed. most times friends-to-lovers has a basis of some sort of romantic interest from another person so they were not truly ever friends, you know? and many relationships people aren’t friends first but that’s the best kind. and they are the truest form in that (i wouldnt say truest means good but just i think a representation of) they were truly friends, no attraction at least consciously, and were lead into it. 

2. bc they know each other well and are friends they know each other and LAUGH and if you can’t laugh with your love then there is no point. 0. lmao. i love it

idk they fell easily in2 the luvy duvy part and u can actually believe they are into each other like outside of kissing. gee. also hello! when lichen like threw the heart in the office and muren caught it? bitch! i woulda been like ew!!!!! and blushed but muren was like that’s right that’s my bitch

3. bouncing off 2 um uhhhhh the way they interact so i guess this is 2 but whatver i like lists now

muren is >:O but super sweet and receptive to others. so he responds to people and it isn’t just stoic for stoic sake or with not much substance. idk how to say this but oftentimes sometimes i feel like characters will be too oppositional to offset their partner and it can be extremely annoying to watch because it’s part of the dynamic but sometimes there’s a lack of reciprocation. i like that even if muren is quiet he smiles a lot and lets people know through his actions and shit. esp his mans. and when he needs to talk, he will. 

lichen is perfect for this because of reasons. what do you even say about this dude holy shit. first of all he really is a fucking himbo. he’s not even dumb he’s just a fucking himbo. it’s great to say the way they express their excitement and the best thing to hear, “i can be myself around you”

4. u cannnot tell me that this top/bottom discourse is actually not ridiculous esp for them bc there is no way that my eyes are seeing what i see yet there’s some struggle when they’re trying to constantly grapple with the masculine/feminine aspects (this is a good thing)

with the way that they hang off each other. esp bc lichen is shorter than him and stockier and he can attach himself like a barnacle. the way he expresses glee and love is very “feminine” at times IE reliance, support, putting your head on his etc but then there are times when he is the one to hold muren too. so it’s like they are clearly on the same  level in how they exchange love and stuff and exploring the dynamics but it clearly isnt as structured as the usual ones and it shouldnt be so they should just stop talking about this shit cos ur both getting fucked god shut up

lichen squeals like a girl and is obsessed with him. he is clingy and also says “what do you want to do to me.” if this show is gonna sit us through the agony of this stupid discourse and they tell me they arent gonna sw*tch or whatever (not that they cant have other forms of sex bc that is not that difficultand as adults w eknow this but anywaaay) then they simply are wrong

5. the ~gay 4 u~ thing is dumb and i cannot believe it tbqh cos it’s like sir....but i am glad that lichen like expresses attraction to his physique and personhood as a man and acknowledging that that is something and a part of the attraction.

 it was probably a happy accident but it’s still a good one. there’s sometimes an idea of like sexual attraction being sorta nebulous when someone is like getting into a rship with the same gender but not being sure about their sexuality or whatever or still liking another gender explicitly where they cant admit they find things attractive or enticing even when they are in a same sex relationship and it is so fucking confusing and doesn’t make sense. i wish instead of trying to make it cut and dry they just went honestly mabye they dont know but theyre both men and thats a factor. ok lets move on now. :) 

6. they make u feel nice

especially in comparison to the show being messy and also there’s some crazy stalker man running around you know they temper that 

they’re just really fun to watch. it’s an interesting dynamic and particularly with xing si in their lives it’s nice and i’m so glad there’s no one else to ruin it like say a brother who is a waste of space. but it’s mostly good feelings for them and you can see why they like each other, that they can stay together, and how helpful a relationship can be as you grow as an individual

7. while i am sure there will be further misunderstandings...comm...unic...ation?

literally boys are dumb as hell but idk if my reading is correct on this one but SO FAR TO MOI im like wow u guys like actually talk. woah. and i think that’s nice. yest i had a breakdown in front of my fam bc i am sometimes emotionally stunted when faced with distress so it’s nice to see people talking that out in particularly with like jealousy and stuff

AND their interactions in public and the understanding. knowing it takes time and stuff for them to adjust and allowing them the time. they are extremely different to other people and they want to be distinct and they can be and arre to each other they dont need to follow anyone else’s rules (except the costume department sometimes needs to get better pants for muren like that’s my rule tbh but that’s neither here nor there)

did some1 call them emotional support himbos? i think so cos word. 

oh one more thing idk the name of the actor playing li chen and im too tired to look it up but i like him a lot i think he does a good job of going seamlessly between like a jubilant person and an actual human being. he plays well at being oblivious but not outright stupid and emotionally stunted or not picking up certain signals. i think at times it seems like he doesn’t always have a sense of self  like trying to be something else for other people but then he realizes like he can’t do that so all he can do is be himself which leads him 2 his mans but yea. the actor does a decent job! it’s a fun character to wathc

[princeoftheroses]

Since you want asks, PLSSSE I want your Utena TH0ughts. WHAT is your favourite black rose episode? actually how do you feel about the black rose arc in GENERAL

black rose arc, black rose arc, oh black rose arc!!! by you adding how do i feel about the arc in general you are unleashed me to make a long post giving my very disorganized thoughts about this arc.

a couple of people call it a filler arc? i guess technically it is because it does not directly contribute to the main storyline and it wasn't in the manga and also the ending of the arc sort of makes it so the whole arc kind of didn't happen???

but also i think if a person labeled it as a filler arc they are kind of missing the point?? even if it doesn't contribute to the main plot (which it absolutely DOES but i'll get to that) it adds so much nuance to the characters of utena.

you get to see side characters and how they tick!! some of which like kozue and shiori become very important later as they become miki and ruka's rose brides in the akio arc! (side note : what was up with ruka he just kind of showed up and disappeared lmaooo)

also, it adds to akio! (tw warning for only the next paragraph, i'm talking about akio so you can except me talking about grooming and abuse)

not only is this where akio is introduced, but he is always so omnipresent. it was ... honestly really terrifying to see how chill he acts with utena here. of course the real grooming begins in the akio arc but you can see how he starts here. how he kind of builds himself as anthy's cool older brother that utena can trust and ask for advice for... but we the audience know that he CANNOT be trusted as even know we see him being shady af in the background. i really feel like if we skipped straight from the first arc to akio arc a lot of the creepiness of akio would not have been realized because of ... just how NORMAL he akio acts to utena. he's charming, he's smart, and he overall is somebody utena SHOULD be able to trust bc we should all be able to trust an immediate family member of a best friend , but of course the world doesn't really work that way. anyway akio tangent over because BOOOOOO akio (he honestly terrifies me so much because of how many predators like that exist and you can meet without realizing their intentions)

BACK TO BLACK ROSE ARC

one of the main reasons i feel like this isn't a filler arc, at least not in the traditional sense of the phrase, is because it builds a lot character relationships. something that i didn't like when i first watched revolutionary girl utena but now is one of my FAVORITE things is that for a while we don't really get a straight forward utena/anthy episode. because their relationship doesn't need to build in an episode, it just slowly builds over time. we just see these two causally existing and they just start to trust each other.

in the akio arc we get to see just how close utena/anthy have gotten over the series because of their late night conversations. like how if the black rose arc didn't exist akio wouldn't have been as impactful, if the black rose arc didn't exist it would feel more sudden how close utena/anthy have grown imo.

this arc adds a lot to the world as well. as long as the students stay inside of school they will not grow. dead people wander the halls thinking that they are still alive. these two facts contribute a lot to utena theorizing and analysis (mainly, the ideas that ohtori exists within a plain of frozen time literally because of anthy's magic and metaphorically because the cast is very cozy in their coffin) and i could not thank this arc for that enough. not only are these very cool ideas that may or may not have inspired elements in my own story (i can neither confirm or deny that one of my oc story is heavily inspired by utena) but they just add so many layers!

this arc also felt necessary because of the new duelists??? if we went straight from the first arc to the akio arc then it would've kinda gotten very tiring to see the student council constantly duel and lose to utena (with the exception of touga's sole victory to utena in the first arc before she duels him again and wins) but these new duelists possessed by the black rose are very interesting!

if i did have to make a compliant about this arc, though, i will say that at times the stories felt very disconnected to each other. while it was very funny for utena to not even know who keiko was when she dueled her, it would've been nice if sometimes the arc of the black rose duelist intertwined more with utena. as the arc goes on, the student council is on alert and is trying to figure out where the black rose is coming from, but they never really try to ask utena about it and utena never really tries to get involved? she just is chill until she gets the note to go to the duel arena to fight the black rose duelist. i don't really have a solution on how to fix this? maybe have the student council member that the black rose duelist takes the sword from be more involved? idk.

the villain of this arc mikage also really fascinates me??? i... really like him??? but not even as a villain ... i just really pity him. the realization he has in his duel with utena that everything he has been doing is for nothing because mamiya is already dead .. that always really hit me? the horror in his voice when he starts to recall the truth in his false memories.... for some reason, this is one of the most terrifying parts of the show for me. the realization that something you were doing, something you were doing that might've been awful but you were doing it because of somebody you care about deeply and love, it was all for nought. how much time he has wasted...

even before his duel with utena, there's this moment when after he got punched by utena he says something like "if she hadn't seen my duelist ring and challenged me to a duel, she could've killed me" or something like that, he's just so pathetic and i feel very bad for him but at the same time am too disconnected to him to truly feel empathy for him... that's some TOP TIER shit

overall, this part of the show is one of my favorites. the only part i like more is the last few episodes because it makes me very emotional.

NOW FOR THE SPECIFICS

favorite black rose duelist: honestly? wakaba. the girl deserves it this is stress relief for her. not only is this duel very emotional as i don't think we've ever seen utena refuse to duel somebody (at least not in the way that she does in this episode) but just the SHEER emotion.

i'm a real sucker for fighting the person you care about the most which is why the dark signer arc in yugioh 5ds is the best yugioh arc and this just really takes the cake in this arc. utena always shows concern for the black rose duelist because they are clearly people in pain who were not able to properly duel with their grief which let mikage manipulate them, but it's taken to a new level here.

the way that after the duel is completed, wakaba comes home to her empty dorm where saionji used to be but now isn't always gets me. she's just such a lonely girl and that's never really resolved for her. a lot of the other duelists have a optimist note to end on (kozue asking miki for a milkshake, shiori and juri saying hello to each other as they walk past, keiko being friends with nanami again, etc.) which is why the fact that wakaba is more alone now then she is ever... it is a feeling i can relate to an almost embarrassing amount.

favorite episode: COWBELL OF HAPPINESS, NANAMI TURNS INTO A COW-

ANTHY YOU GLORIOUS TROLL-

favorite episode that isn't cowbell of happiness: i'm very torn between the landscape scaped by kozue and thorns of death. shiori and kozue are both very interesting characters that i like a lot. but i'm going to go with thorns of death for now, as while i really like the landscape scaped by kozue, i think my preferred miki/kozue episode is their episode in the akio arc. meanwhile i like thorns of death way more than i liked whispers in the arc (mostly because i just do not really care that much for ruka, but azure paler than the sky was a banger and he was in that?) i just loved the feeling of seeing shiori the girl juri loves so much and juri's reaction to seeing her. the way my heart was wrenched when black rose shiori mocks juri... it really did hit different. but the hopeful ending did make me feel a lot better. i do like the way that juri out of all the student council members is the one closest to self actualization and this really sets that up even if there is still a bumpy road until then.

honorary mention: the boys of the black rose and kanae as a black rose duelist are both really great. i feel like if this wasn't the arc opener it would've had more room to stretch its legs and show how horrific it could've been. kanae is a girl i feel really bad about and similar to wakaba, i don't really think her episode was a very optimistic ending for her especially since akio probably killed her later in the show?

honestly the minute akip appeared on screen, engaged to a girl who HASN'T EVEN GRADUATED and is also emotionally manipulating her so much and having his little sister manipulate her too... throw the whole man away

tl;dr - the black rose arc is very good and i like it a lot, the ending of the arc really fucks me up, somebody give mikage & all the black rose duelists therapy, throw akio in the garbage, and this show probably exists in some sort of time loop / frozen time space as a metaphor for the whole coffin thing but you can probbaly find people smarter than me talking about that.

oh and go rewatch cowbell of happiness it's great