#best parents in comics poll

[ducklooney]

Who do you think is the best parent for Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck?

It has passed, but I wish all fathers, uncles and grandfathers a happy Father's Day. And this quiz will test your knowledge of cartoons and comics how well you know certain materials. This is just to confirm your opinion. By the way, here we are not thinking so much about the biological ones, but about the real parents who have been with them all their lives. So who do you think is the best parent for Donald's nephews?

And this is not only for Ducktales (both versions), but also for all cartoons, comics, video games where Donald's nephews appeared and were with their parents. So it applies overall. Who do you think is the best parent who gave the most to Huey, Dewey and Louie?

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

This absolutely counts as propaganda, thank you so much

Roy Harper

Aside from stepping up to raise Lian on his own (and raising her well), he also did a lot to help Grant with his trauma

Added!!

ROY HARPER MY BELOVED <<3

Accepting any and all propaganda for him btw

[jewishcissiekj]

I like and reblogged ONE Jewish-related post and suddenly the whole Jewish side of Tumblr is after me?????? ("after me" including showing up on my for you page here and scaring the shit out of me)

I don't even like Judaism I just like using my ethnicity and background as a fun username and also been raised and lived Jewishly for the past number of years I've lived what the hell bro

I know for a fact my brother has been a part of this community but nooo don't take me I'm trying soooo hard to be resentful toward this religion (religion-specific, not the people), don't make me like more stuff about it now

[i-care-bout-things-too]

Batfam Ages:

Okay, there is no such thing as an exact science when determining the ages of the Batfam, but the easiest thing you can do is work of the concrete ages that you /do/ know, and make them fit with canon events to the best of your ability. Now, canon changes all the time—which definitely makes this a challenge, but I’m going to just explain my process for determining their ages and you can disagree if you’d like, or you can use this to write fic like I do where ages are semi important,

Let’s begin. I’m going to give you the arbitrary number of 15, this will be important later.

Dick Grayson:

Depending on the canon, Dick is 8, 10, 12, or 15 when his parents die. All of these numbers will have problems depending on which you pick, but I go for the safe bet of 10 years old. Why? Well, a little known fact is that Dick ends up in juvie after his parents die, and he’s not immediately taken in by Batman. Thus, it takes a little while longer for him to become Robin, which doesn’t immediately happen after he becomes Bruce’s ward anyway, because Batman doesn’t immediately go and spill the beans. Thus, Dick ends up in Bruce’s car at around ten or eleven, but doesn’t become Robin until he’s 12.

Now Dick is Robin up until he’s about 18, when Bruce takes Robin from Dick because it’s too dangerous and Dick refuses to quit. Dick joins up with the teen titans full time, and he’s still Robin for a little while longer until we get Nightwing, aka Discowing, for the very first time at age 19. Simultaneously, while this is happening, a little kid is stealing the Batmobile’s tires.

Jason Todd:

Our beloved street rat Robin, Jason Todd, swings a tire iron at Batman and then gets taken out for fast food. It’s great, it’s cute, it doesn’t immediately lead to his adoption though, either. No, instead Jason ends up in an orphanage that is trafficking children. Bruce shows up one day to check up on Jason, and is made aware of this by his soon to be first adopted son (yeah, you heard me, Dick isn’t adopted yet). They take down the trafficking ring, and Bruce adopts Jason. Jason then becomes Robin at age 13.

Unfortunately for our boy, he was widely disliked by comic fans across North America, DC did a little telephone poll, and by a few hundred votes, DC changed comic history forever by killing off a high profile character what seems like /permanently/ for the first time ever. No resurrections this time. (Hah, right!). Which is to say, Jason Todd has the second shortest run as Robin at just two years, dying at age 15.

Tim Drake:

So then we get Robin numero 3. Tim Drake sees Batman getting darker and more violent and goes y’know, someone should do something about that. He tries talking to Nightwing, but he’s in a bad place with Bruce after learning Jason died via a Newspaper (yeah, Bruce sucks for that one), and tells Tim he won’t be going back to Robin. Thus, lil Timmy Drake gets an idea in his head. He looks himself in the mirror and goes, I can fix him, and then, Tim Drake becomes Robin at age 12.

Tim Drake has one of the longest runs as Robin, with only a mild interruption from a lil blond Bat.

Stephanie Brown:

Stephanie Brown starts off as the vigilante Spoiler, whose whole purpose in life is to spoil the plans of her C-list villain dad, Cluemaster. She meets Robin (Tim), hits him in the face with a brick, and then ends up dating him. Unlike most characters who appear a few times and never come back, Stephanie manages to stick around. She gets pregnant at age 15 (it’s not Tim’s, and no she did not cheat, this happened priorly), she gives birth, the baby is put up for adoption, and she becomes Robin after Tim’s dad, Jack Drake, finds out Tim is Robin and bans him from it. Tim is forced to quit and Stephanie picks up the mantle. She’s clocks in the shortest run as Robin, working with Batman for about two months before Bruce forces her to stop. Tim picks up the mantle again, and Steph goes back to being Spoiler—only to get killed by Black Mask, making her the second “Robin” to die. DC does retcon her death, and we later learn she was only badly beaten and sent off to live in a foreign country before she makes her return.

Jason Todd, Again:

While all this is going on, stuff is happening behind the scenes. Namely, Jason coming back to life. A common misconception here however is how long Jason was actually dead. While I wouldn’t be able to find the panels to confirm it, the true number is a “short” 6 months. Yep, while years passed in the real world, possibly decades, actually, Jason was dead all of 6 months. According to the books, he undigs himself from his grave six feet under (because Superboy punched through the multiverse or something?) and ends up wondering around Gotham as a mindless little zombie. Conveniently, Talia al Ghul stumbles upon her beloved’s lost little bird, and she decides to take him home and train him. He’s with them for a bit, gets dunked into a Lazarus pit, comes back very very angry, is shipped off to the all caste for a bit, and upon his return to the al Ghuls, is informed he’s been replaced by little Timmy Drake.

Jason makes his whole plan, and decides to make a splash by returning to Gotham wearing an old moniker of the Joker’s and taking over Gotham’s underworld. He beheads a few criminals, tries to kill Tim, tries to get Bruce to kill the Joker, and doesn’t really have success in those latter two objectives. That puts Jason at age 19, roughly. We don’t really know how to count the months he was dead.

Damian Wayne:

Shortly after Jason’s unmasking as the Red Hood, Damian Wayne turns 10 years old and beats his mother, Talia al Ghul, in combat. His prize is to be taken to his father and given to him for training. We know definitively that Damian is 10 thanks to this we can measure out the age gaps between the others and get their ages at this point in time. Dick at age 19 became Nightwing, while Jason is made Robin at age 13, so they have a six year age gap. Jason dying 2 years later at age 15 leads to Tim becoming Robin at age 12, they have a 3 year age gap. Tim is Robin for 3 years before Jason comes back and Damian trails after him a few months behind, putting Tim at around 16/17 while Damian is 10. I tend towards 16 instead of 17 because DC stopped aging Tim for a while, so it just makes more sense to pick the lower number. Thus, when Damian is 10, Tim is 16 as is Steph, Jason is 19, and Dick is 25.

Thanks to Damian being quite young, DC has kept an active track of how and when they age him. We know Damian is only with Bruce a few short months before he disappears into the time stream and Dick makes him Robin, and we also know that Damian’s 11th birthday is celebrated after Bruce is reinstated to the proper time. However, DC follows this up by killing Damian and making him the third Robin to die, the second to do so in the suit itself, and he’s dead for a significant number of months. In this time, Dick also dies—as in his heart is stopped by Lex Luthor for a few seconds, and then restarted, after his identity is revealed on live TV. Bruce decides to let the world believe Nightwing died and stayed dead, and Dick is sent off to Spyral to do secret spy stuff for Bruce. There is an issue around here in the “Grayson” run that claims Dick is twenty-one years old, which is ENTIRELY incompatible with the time line I just painstakingly established, and I go ahead and outright dismiss it because it clearly doesn’t work with a majority of canon. While Dick is with Spyral, Damian is brought back to life, and he goes on a year of redemption (which doesn’t actually last a whole year, but I digress). He and Dick meet again, and we move into Rebirth somewhere around here with the conclusion of Spyral and Batman and Robin Eternal.

General Events:

Damian turns 12 presumably sometime during rebirth, although not specified, I do believe Truth and Justice issue #6 to be his 12th or 13th birthday, but I lean towards 12 because of the costumes everyone wears in the issue. Steph is spoiler, Cass is Orphan, Tim is Red Robin, Red Hood has yet to don his solo Outlaw uniform, and Barbara is Batgirl.

I can’t name a specific issue for Damian’s 13th birthday, but it’s canonical that Damian turned 14 in his solo Robin series, Robin (2021) while he was off finding himself before the Lazarus Tournament, and since then, there’s been the Shadow War, Batman Vs Robin, Dark Crisis event somewhere around there, the Lazarus Planet event, Gotham War, DC Knight Terrors, and Beast World event, which catches us up to the modern day world.

Since Damian hasn’t yet turned 15 despite ALL of that going on, and is still for now at least, 14, that means Tim and Steph are 20, Jason is 23, and Dick is 29.

I know I mentioned Cass and Babs, and I would love to give you a proper age for them but I don’t know where to place them in DC canon like I do the others, however people do commonly place Cass roughly around the same age as Jason making her 22 or 23, and Babs tends towards being 6-8 years older than Dick, although that is an age gap DC has been slowly bridging over the years. Still, I put her at 35 years old. I don’t have a reference for Duke Thomas either, but he’s commonly placed as being two years younger than Tim making him 18 currently.

Lastly, I bring back the arbitrary number of 15, given that that is the number of years that separate Dick and Damian, I also use that age gap between Dick and Bruce—meaning that Bruce took Dick in when he was 25, and placing Bruce at 44 years old in main continuity.

Overall Ages Currently:

Bruce Wayne: 44

Barbara Gordon: 35

Dick Grayson: 29

Jason Todd: 23

Cassandra Cain: 22

Tim Drake: 20

Stephanie Brown: 20

Duke Thomas: 18

Damian Wayne: 14

[hotmusketeerspoll]

Magnificent Musketeer Tournament

Porthos Poll 3 - Round 1

Porthos - Frank Finlay The Three Musketeers 1973, The Four Musketeers 1974, The Return of the Musketeers 1989

[no text propaganda submitted]

Porthos - Howard Charles The Musketeers 2014-2016

He gave Porthos so much more depth than other portrayals, which just made him seem like a drunken idiot. Howard is an underrated actor and in my opinion the hottest member of the cast (although really the whole cast is ridiculously good looking). His casting also added a nod to Alexandre Dumas' family history and race which is worth noting.

The complete list of entrants can be found here.

Additional Propaganda under the cut

Frank Finlay:

Howard Charles:

I feel like a lot of adaptations will pigeonhole Porthos into a comic relief kind of role, so I love the depth that The Musketeers gave him, especially with regards to his parents and upbringing.

[ladysmutwriter]

Morantic: Better luck next time. (1)

Bruce Wayne/Batman x Female Reader.

Inspired by "There is no good or bad, just actions".

⚠️: This chapter does not include anything NSFW, however the next chapters will include graphic content. MDNI, dub-con, violence, stalking, obsessive love disorder, eventual smut.

You stared at the window, seeing your town slowly go tinier and disappear as you went into unknown territory. Your hands nervously played with themselves, picking at your skin as the train softly moved, the occasional sound of someone coughing or someone with their phone wathing videos being the only things distracting you.

Searching in your bag, you took out your printed curriculum, such a simple paper yet it included so much from you: your full name, capacities, where you studied, etc. Your parents had made sure you never missed a single class, even in university. They had made sure to give you the best tutors; without them, you'd never have been as prepared as you were today, and now your biggest test was about to begin. Gotham. A city with no laws, filled by sin and corruption, where the strongest survived and the weakest died with no mercy.

But you were here to make a change—you knew you had it in you.

As you drifted off thinking, you slowly closed your eyes, falling asleep as the day outside became darker 'til night arrived. A few hours later, the train stopped.

(...)

You walked to your new apartment, your low heels clicking against the dirty floor as you struggled to carry your heavy suitcase, filled with clothes and books. Opening the door, you felt the smell of moisture on the walls and dirty feet. You had some work to do; after all, this was your new home. The hours passed as you cleaned, your limbs aching as you made sure that no room smelt like shit, successfully making it look somewhat hygienic; you still had to buy furniture and some food; your stomach aching in hunger—outside the morning was arriving, the first rays of sun coloring the grim city, making you give a small smile—your first day here.

To no one's surprise, getting outside was awful. On your way to a furniture store, you saw homeless people eating rats all the way to someone being stabbed in an alley. But as you bought a simple bed (king-sized; you were a messy sleeper), some stuff for the kitchen, and a couch, you went to buy something to eat. On the way to it, you stopped at a drug store, buying a first aid kit since you never knew when you'd need it.

Going back home with a warm meal in a plastic bag and the other one filled with supplies, you arrived at your apartment. You looked at the hour, 3 PM; the furniture was supposed to arrive at 5 PM, so you had some time to kill.

Sitting down to eat as you watched Youtube on your phone, then you took a nap on the hard floor, the hours of no sleep taking a poll on you, and even if it was short and uncomfortable, that nap helped as you now felt ready to keep cleaning. A few minutes later, your doorbell rang; the furnite had arrived.

As the men let the boxes inside, you began decorating the place with the new stuff—the couch next to the window, the bed in the side room, etc.—and soon enough, it was 9 PM. Feeling your stomach growl as you felt hungry, you called for some Chinese takeout. Probably half an hour passed as you were called by the delivery man, and going down to the first floor, you picked it up, paid, and went up—except you heard something on the fire exit stairs, as if someone had collapsed on them.

Peeking your head out of the window, you saw someone in what seemed like full black armor slumped against the metal stairs outside your room, a puddle of blood running down his armor.

Groaning, you thought of your chances—you had heard something about this "vigilante" everyone called Batman, your guess being that this was him, or perhaps it was some sort of comic villain that once you healed him would gut you like fish. But your morals won the fight, and you decided to climb out of your window and drag him inside your home. It wasn't easy; he weighted a shit ton and was leaving a bloody mess as you dragged him through your floor. You laid him down on your couch, quickly taking off his chest plate to see how deep his wound was. And holy sh*t, were you met with a nice view, a nice, toned torso, pale skin covered by different scars, and soft skin to the touch? You had to take a deep breath as you collected your thoughts and went to heal him up.

It probably took you about an hour and a half to stitch his wound, clean the blood, etc. Your eyes tired as you yawned, feeling proud of your little work. Moving to discard the bloody gloves, you went outside for a smoke break, hoping the stranger would wake up and lean by himself so you'd avoid the uncomfortable moment of being like, "Hey, I sort of practiced my doctor skills on your unconscious body!" Yeah, that'd be too awful.

Thankfully for you, as you were on the metal staircase smoking, the man inside woke up, his senses being on high alert as his last memory was being stabbed on the chest, his eyes frantically moving around the room, only to find first aid kits and some boxes filled with house stuff. Seeing your shape outside the window as you smoked, he took the chance to slip out of the front door without making a single sound.

[mlmshipbracket]

ROUND 1: POLL #41

ROUND 1 POLLS [HERE]

PROPAGANDA BELOW

Timothy "Tim" Drake/Bernard Dowd:

Tim and Bernard getting together is historical, marking a change in the direction of comics. For a long time, DC has been playing it safe, usually making background and minor characters queer, or introducing characters with their queerness as a plot point. Tim is not only a major character, but one of the most popular in the lineup, and was generally treated as VERY straight for most of his history. So putting him in a relationship with another man was a loud way of pushing comics in a more progressive direction like they were earlier in their existence. Not only that, but Bernard was NOT a love interest invented for this role, but an established character from earlier in Tim's story, one who was not only conceived of as straight, but behaved aggressively sexually towards women and only women. By stating that he had a crush on Tim at the time, it reframes what was a pretty common type of joke in the era into terms that are easier to understand and sympathize with as a queer person, woman, or any other comics reader that isn't thought of as the default. It gives the story a lot more depth, and opens possibilities of complex queer readings of earlier works through this lens.

Pat/Pran:

they are the best childhood friends-to-enemies-to-lovers except it's actually childhood rivals-to-secret childhood friends-to-rivals-to-secret friends-to-lovers. like they do it all. romeo and juliet style deal that they're families hate each other and they're meant to hate each other too but they're just two kids who live next door and they can never fully get on board with what their parents want for them. they have hands down THE BEST first kiss in the history of television. like it's insane nobody has come close to this before or after

they are unparalleled and if you haven't watched Bad Buddy you're missing out 

[dccomicsbracket]

Young Justice (1998)

It's 6-8 fifteen year olds living in a cave, and their only adult supervision is a robot wind machine one of them graffiti-ed all over within the first five minutes of meeting him. The only two with anything even RESEMBLING normal childhoods are the demigod and the son of two billionaires (literally just some guy). They have an alien motorbike and at one point they save the world from aliens by playing baseball. Everyone in it is just so stupid all the time and I love that for them (god bless 🙏) Never has a comic quite that batshit and quite that sincere graced my presence I just love it and I enjoyed reading it

Blue Beetle (2006)

Just a good introduction to a character with a satisfying conclusion. I love you, Jaime, a guy who's just trying to do his best for his loved ones and his local community. I love you Khaji Da, scrungly lil dude speaking in glyphs. I love you, Brenda, and your complicated relationship with your aunt who adores you, but is also a crime lord. I love you Paco, a genuinely good friend. I love Jaime's family and the way they all adjust to Jaime being a superhero. I love the effort made to portray Jaime as a person with community and connections. i looove jaime sososo much he's such a fun protagonist and the developement of his character + his relationship w khaji da is sooo interesting and well written. i love seeing him bond with his little alien bug parasite !! all of the side characters are also so great like brenda and paco are so fun and la dama is suuuch an interesting character. jaime's family is also so lovely they clearly care abt jaime so much and its nice to see a kid superhero with parents who respect and also deeply care abt their kid. the art is also very fun overall its just a really stellar run dc comics, poll, best of dc pollQuite honestly one of the best written comic runs I've ever read, DC or otherwise. It flips so many standard comic book tropes on their heads and does it well. The main character is the epitome of just some guy and he is my favorite of all time. AMAZING characters. Fresh perspectives on comics tropes that are so overused it's hard to imagine comics without them. Everyone is worthy of respect and treated with dignity, even the villains. Khaji Da's character arc is amazing. And the adults make me laugh so much. Guy and Peacemaker as mentors who IMMEDIATELY recognize this kid is FAR more emotionally mature then they are, so they're not going to bother with that side of mentoring!

The New Teen Titans (1980)

[wosomarvel]

communication - 06

a/n: i'm pretending there are no more injuries! manifesting i guess. i'm so sorry this took so long. the end of the semester was really tough for me but i have the next three weeks off, so i will try my best to get a few more updates out. i'm thinking two or three more parts until this series is over.

warnings: this episode talks (briefly and not in detail) about depression, anxiety, and shitty parents. it's not too bad, though. more hurt/comfort than angst. even then, bordering more on the comfort side.

i am going to once again reiterate that the schedule of games does not follow real life. i'm going based on vibes and vibes alone.

-----

"sim, we need you to settle something for us."

sim's heart dropped at the sight in front of her: mary and millie, both in their training kits, arms crossed with no hints of a smile on either of their faces.

"whatever it is, i'm sure someone else could-"

"it has to be you, because you're the most impartial person here right now," millie cut sim off.

"and we trust you to be honest," mary added.

sim's face contorted with confusion.

"who would win in a fight? me," mary gestured with her hands towards her own body, "or millie?"

"nope!" sim replied to the question. "i refuse to get involved."

sim knew better than to definitively answer any sort of question like that. no matter who she picked, she would pay for it in the form of relentless teasing or tickling.

her eyes darted around the meal room, looking for a savior to come to her rescue. she gulped almost comically when she saw there the few people around were otherwise occupied.

"it's alright, darling, you can admit that i would absolutely wreck mearps here. as vice-captain, i'll make sure she can't attack you for it."

as tempting as millie's offer was, sim was almost certain that millie could only protect her for so long.

"how about i ask the fans?" sim prompted.

now it was their turn to look confused.

"i'll put a poll up on the instagram or something," sim added, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"see, this is why it was a genius move to hire you. smart, she is," millie praised.

a blush took over sim's face as she fiddled with the phone she'd just pulled out of her pocket.

across the meal room, leah watched on fondly as georgia and keira conversed around her. it was nice to see sim come out of her shell a bit more around the team. though leah still had the distinct feeling that it would be a while before the younger girl felt comfortable being vulnerable around them, it still brought her a sense of relief that sim was no longer so painfully shy. she actively participated in the conversations and shenanigans typical of the team.

the team had taken well to sim's steady presence, adopting her as though she was a playing member of the lionesses.

it had only been a few months since their conversation on those bleachers, but leah could already see the difference it was making. sim looked... lighter, in a sense. like the weight on her shoulders had eased. leah was starting to to see a light in sim's eyes that hadn't been there when they had first met.

"what are you lookin at?" georgia asked.

leah's lips turned up in a slight smile as she nodded her head in sim's direction. "remember how closed off she was when she first got here?"

keira shifted her gaze, smiling when her eyes settled on sim's figure filming mary and millie.

"she's fit in quite well," keira agreed.

"she's cool. she said she'd let me tattoo her once i've properly learned how," georgia added, nodding her head.

"she what?"

-----

sim sighed, settling into soft sheets. sarina had permitted her to room with alessia at st. george's park and sim had never been more grateful.

she closed her eyes, the melody of alessia's singing wafting in from the bathroom, its door left ajar. she let it ease the tiredness that had settled into her bones.

this particular camp was exhausting. she knew it wasn't her job that was draining her energy at this point. the federation had recently hired a few other people to help out in the social media department so sim was now only in charge of the instagram, twitter, and tiktok. the longer form content and brainstorming was no longer under her purview.

sim suspected leah and sarina had something to do with that. she'd been annoyed at first, but was now incredibly thankful for their interference.

despite that, sim was still feeling drained and on edge. it frustrated her that she couldn't put a reason to the way she was feeling.

the past few months had been good to her. her relationship with alessia was blooming into something beautiful. there was no pressure when alessia around, and sim was starting to become accustomed to the light and airy feeling that came with her presence.

sim had fallen into a steady routine. now that her workload with the lionesses had significantly decreased, she had a lot more time on her hands. though her pay from the lionesses hadn't gone down, sim had still taken up a casual job at arsenal as a photographer. though she'd majored in communications in uni, she had minored in visual media.

working with the lionesses was fulfilling, no doubt, but sim missed the more creative aspects of her visual media minor. alessia had proposed the idea of working with arsenal one day during an impromptu photoshoot, sim taking random photos of alessia as they spent an off day lounging at home.

jonas was used to seeing sim's face and after a quick conversation with the higher ups, sim had secured a press pass.

in the mornings, sim and alessia would meet up with beth, viv, and leah for a quick coffee before training. she'd spend the day at colney with the team, taking pictures. she had befriended laura and teyah, the two remaining members of the ACL squad. after training was done for the day, alessia would drive her home, the two spending the rest of the day together.

sim hadn't moved in with alessia, but she spent more nights at the blonde's place than her own.

once or twice a week, sim would accompany alessia to team bonding. she stayed in contact with ella.

sim was content with her life. happy, even.

the way she was feeling now, however, had her scared. scared that the feeling would linger and turn into something heavier. scared that she would slip back into old ways, having to push herself just to get out of bed in the mornings, to eat something, to want to exist.

sim didn't want to go back there. she didn't want anyone to see her like that. more importantly, she didn't want alessia or leah to see her like that. she didn't want to be a burden. the two gunners deserved better than that.

"hey, baby."

sim was broken out of her thought process by alessia's voice, followed by a quick peck to her forehead.

sim hummed in response, moving over to make space for her girlfriend on the bed. alessia set her kit and toiletries off to the side before sliding in beside sim, pulling the comforter over the two of them as the younger girl turned her back to assume the little spoon position.

sim breathed a sigh of relief as alessia's arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close, almost cradling sim to her front. she felt some of the tension leave her body as alessia pressed a gentle kiss to her neck.

"are you alright, love?"

sim contemplated telling the truth for a moment, ultimately deciding against it. it's not even that bad. i just need to grow up, she reasoned with herself.

"yeah, just tired," sim replied.

"can you turn around for me?"

of course alessia would see right through her. it was honestly frustrating at times.

sim had always been good at lying, something she'd had to learn to survive her parents when she was younger. however, alessia could always tell when sim was lying.

not that sim made a habit of lying to her girlfriend. she just wanted to shield alessia from the darker parts of herself for as long as possible.

"love?" alessia prompted.

sim turned with a sigh, keeping her eyes closed. she would crack as soon as she made eye contact with alessia's baby blue eyes.

alessia's hand came up to sim's face, pointer finger tracing the subtle crease between her eyebrows.

"can you open those pretty eyes for me, baby?"

sim relented, never having been able to refuse a request from alessia. leah never let her forget it.

sim's eyes fluttered open, causing alessia to frown at the clear exhaustion evident in the set of her eyes. "what's wrong?"

again, sim debated whether or not to tell the truth. she had almost settled on trying to lie, but her resolve crumbled at the look of concern painted on alessia's face.

how could anyone ever lie to a face like that?

"everything just feels... heavy. it's hard to explain. it's like my entire being is just exhausted. especially my mind. there's just this weight over everything."

it was silent for a few beats. alessia's hand came to rest on the side of sim's face, her fingers gently scratching at sim's hair.

alessia considered her next words carefully. she was thankful that sim was starting to open up to her and all she wanted to do was help. to alessia, what sim was describing sounded a lot like depression, but she didn't have nearly enough information or qualifications to come to that conclusion. she also didn't want to push too far with her questions and cause sim to shut down again.

alessia settled on a question that would allow sim decide how much or how little to reveal.

"do you feel like that very often?"

"not anymore," sim whispered out, averting her eyes. "it's not that bad right now. i actually feel good most days. i still feel better than i did before the FA hired me. i'm just tired the last few days. don't know why."

though it concerned alessia that this feeling seemed to be somewhat familiar to sim, she was also happy to hear that things were okay at the moment.

"that's alright. everyone has bad days. what do you need from me right now, my love?" alessia asked, pulling sim closer, the hand that was on sim's head pulling the girl's head to her chest.

sim's eyes teared up slightly at alessia's actions. she had never felt so loved and cared for. it quieted the insecurities that plagued her mind, that constantly told her she was too much but at the same time never enough for alessia.

"i just want to be with you right now."

despite the waver in sim's voice, alessia's heart melted.

"alright, love, i've got you," alessia replied, pressing a quick kiss to sim's temple before shifting so she was on her back, sim automatically placing her head on alessia's chest, curling into her side.

sim let the warmth wash over her, grabbing a fistful of alessia's sleep shirt as she tried to snuggle closer.

"thank you," sim breathed, drowsiness starting to take over.

"you don't have to thank me. i'll always be here."

"i love you," sim said without thinking.

there was a moment of silence and sim's heart dropped.

of course, she just had to go and fuck this up too. they hadn't said it yet. why did you have to go and ruin the moment? she thought to herself.

her muscles tensed before she moved to pull away, but she was stopped by alessia's arms squeezing her tighter.

"i love you too," alessia said back. sim could almost hear the smile in her voice.

-----

the lionesses' next game was against spain, a world cup rematch. it went without saying that the girls were a mix of excitement and nerves. everyone dealt with it in their own way.

leah was immersed in film of barca and spain in the days leading up to the match. she remembered how helpless she had felt watching the world cup final and was determined to lead the team to a win this time around. it didn't matter to her that this was a friendly, that great britain had already qualified for the olympics.

millie could often be found beside leah, the two huddled over a tablet.

esme had created so many friendship bracelets that she had to order more thread.

katie had taken a bunch of the girls around town shopping, going to different coffee shops and trying to stay distracted.

ella had organized a mariokart tournament in one of the conference rooms for the girls that had stayed behind.

alessia was beside herself with nerves and had opted to waste away in her room under the guise of resting. sim had tried her best to assure her girlfriend, but her duties as social media admin made it difficult to get time alone with her.

sim was relieved when her latest round of meetings with the other media staff was over. she wanted nothing more than to care for alessia.

sim quietly eased the door open in case alessia actually was sleeping. when she turned after closing the door, it was to the sight of alessia sat on the bed, staring into the space above the television as it played old episodes of friends. her heart panged a little at the sight.

sim walked over to the bed, making a quick plan in her head. she knew that nothing she said was likely to make alessia feel better, so she settled on physical comfort.

alessia was shaken from her trance by the soft kiss sim placed on her temple.

"today's a hair wash day, right?" sim mumbled against alessia's skin, getting straight to the point.

"yeah, why?"

-----

twenty minutes later, sim was sat on the couch with alessia sat on the floor between her legs, the pair watching old episodes of superstore, sim's hands massaging coconut oil into the blonde's scalp.

"how did you even think to do this?" alessia mumbled.

"oiling hair is just a thing desi people do. i don't remember the exact origin. different people use different types of oil for different reasons. my maasi* used to do coconut oil before a wash once a week. in the winter, when our hair was dry and frizzy, she would rub baby oil just into the ends every now and then." (*maasi is mother's sister or cousin sister)

"yeah, but why are you doing this now?" alessia prodded. considering this was the first time she had heard sim voluntarily speak about her family, alessia didn't want to push too hard, but she was curious.

not that she was complaining. the massage was doing wonders for her headache and she was more relaxed than she had felt in weeks.

"just noticed you were stressed. obviously, i've never been in the same situation as you so i can't do much in the way of words. but i remember how relaxing this was for me so i figured i would share," sim replied somewhat sheepishly, hands stilling.

alessia was overwhelmed with affection for the younger girl. it was almost offputting how easily sim could read her, how she could anticipate what alessia needed before she herself knew what that was.

alessia reached a hand up to squeeze sim's arm, unable to vocalize how she felt in the moment.

"the massage part is almost done. then we need to let the oil sit for at least a half hour, and i'll wash it out for you."

the pair fell silent, no words needed between them. when it was time for a rinse, alessia sat on the ledge of the tub, leaning gently on sim's body behind her.

"as much as i am loving this right now, i'm going to have to ask you to hurry it up before i fall asleep here," alessia said, breaking the silence.

sim chuckled softly before turning on the water, using the handheld shower to rinse alessia's hair.

"thank you for this," alessia spoke, grabbing a soft towel to dry her hair off.

"you don't have to thank me," sim said shyly, a blush creeping on to her face.

alessia turned to look at sim, and the younger girl almost melted under the tenderness of alessia's gaze.

alessia knew that it was hard for sim to accept any gratitude, so settled for rushing forward and wrapping the girl up in a tight embrace, arms settling around sim's shoulders as hers wrapped around alessia's waist.

sim rested her forehead against alessia's sternum. sim's family never showed any physical affection, so it had taken her a while to get used to just how touchy her girlfriend could be, but sim would be lying if she said she didn't come to love it.

"let's head to bed, yeah? i'm going to fall asleep standing up and take you down with me. then you'll have two bad knees," alessia giggled.

"and then you'd have to carry me everywhere and we can't have that, can we? because then you'd have bad knees and leah would have my head!" sim replied with a chuckle, turning alessia's giggles into full-blown laughs.

-----

the cloud that seemed to be following sim around refused to fully recede, always lingering around the edges of sim's consciousness.

she had done a well enough job of hiding it from everyone. she'd made the effort not to push people away, but that didn't mean that she was asking for help either.

a part of her still felt ashamed and annoyed at how she was feeling. her life was the best it had ever been, so why was it so difficult for sim to just suck it up and enjoy it?

it was currently match day -1, and the lionesses were doing some light training on the pitch before they would head inside for a film session and tactics meeting.

sim was bundled up against the cold on the sidelines, filming when she needed but mostly just watching her girls work. the jealousy she felt while looking at them hadn't abated completely, but she could mostly shove it down and not let it become a problem.

"how's it going?" ella nudged sim, having made her way over after sarina concluded the training session.

"yeah, i'm alright, you?"

ella wrapped an arm around sim's shoulder, starting the walk back to the locker rooms as she chatted about something joe had said to her a few weeks ago.

alessia stole sim back from ella as the team filed into the locker room.

"hey! you get to see her everyday!" ella whined, making grabby hands as alessia steered sim towards her own cubby.

alessia simply stuck her tongue out at ella before gathering the things she needed for a shower and stepping out.

"oh! my family is all coming out for the game tomorrow, so don't run off with alessia so quick because i want you to meet them," ella said, grabbing sim's arm and setting her down on the bench in front of her own locker.

a nervous smile took over sim's face. "really?"

though the idea of meeting ella's parents was admittedly nice, it make sim more anxious than anything else.

"oh, yeah, they'll probably end up liking you more than me," ella responded jovially, trying to pull sim out of her head.

"speaking of," leah interjected, "sim, do you need tickets for any guests of yours? i can probably get them into the friends and family section."

sim immediately stiffened. she couldn't have this conversation with the team. not today, when she was already feeling so on edge.

"oh. no, i don't have anyone i'm bringing to the match," sim said, trying to make it clear with her tone that this wasn't a topic she was willing to elaborate on.

unfortunately, it seemed no one got the hint.

"what, parents couldn't make it?" millie chimed in.

"nah, they're not around anymore," sim said with a sigh, trying to brush it off with a wave of her hand.

however, it seemed to have the opposite effect. there were a few silent moments of tension before rachel's voice cut through.

"i'm really sorry to hear that."

sim's brow furrowed in confusion before she realized how her statement sounded.

"oh! no, don't be. i'm pretty sure they're still alive, we just don't... we're estranged. we don't talk anymore," sim rushed to clarify. the last thing she wanted at the moment was sympathy. especially when it came to her parents because the truth was, she was much, much better off without them in her life.

there was still a lingering tension in the locker room, though the air had lightened considerably. this was the most the lionesses had heard sim say about her family. even leah didn't quite know what to say. she settled for taking a seat beside sim, whose face still donned the same look of confusion.

she didn't understand why this seemed such a big deal.

"you don't want to reach out? mend things?" rachel continued quietly.

"trust me, it's better for everyone if we stay very far away from each other," sim said with a chuckle.

she cut herself off when she realized no one was laughing with her.

"you can't know that for sure. you should consider extending an olive branch, while you still can." rachel had turned to face sim properly now, almost a pleading note in her voice.

sim's back straightened, hands clenched into fists in her lap.

she took a deep, grounding breath before speaking. "look, i'm telling you, my parents and i do not talk anymore and it's for good reason. i don't owe anyone an explanation. please, drop it."

leah didn't think she had ever heard that level of iciness in sim's tone. she looked at sim, biting her lip as she did. it was like looking at the face of a different person. sim's face was completely blank, not a trace of emotion to be seen.

leah didn't say anything, figuring that rachel would respect the younger girl's wishes and stop pushing.

that didn't seem to be the case.

"i just don't see what could have happened that you're okay with never speaking to your parents again." rachel's voice had taken on an accusatory tone.

millie placed a hand on rachel's shoulder, trying to signal to her best friend that she should stop before things got too heated.

before leah could say something herself to defuse the tension, sim stood abruptly.

"rachel, i respect where you're coming from. really, i do. but i'm starting to get very frustrated with this conversation, so i'm going to leave before i say something i regret."

with that, sim left the locker room, the rest of the girls stunned into silence, only the sounds of sim's cane hitting the floor being heard.

"well, i think that is the politest way i've ever heard someone say 'fuck off,'" said millie.

leah stood to go after sim, but beth beat her to it. "i'll go," she whispered. leah nodded before rounding on rachel.

rachel looked like a fish out of water with the way her mouth opened and closed, searching for words.

"i know your heart was in the right place, but you pushed too hard. just be gentler next time, yeah?" leah asserted, her voice stern but not unkind.

"i'm sorry, i just-"

"it's okay. it's not me that you should apologize to. and don't take her reaction personally, alright? i don't even think alessia knows the full story about her parents."

-----

alessia walked back to her cubby, running a hand through the tangles in her damp hair. by the time she was pulling on a hoodie, she noticed a few things.

for one, her girlfriend was not where she had left her.

secondly, the few stragglers still in the locker room had their eyes trained on her, but averted them when she returned their gazes.

tooney was also stood awkwardly in the space around alessia's cubby, as though waiting for her.

"what?" alessia spoke with a frown, looking to ella when everyone else refused to meet her eyes.

"well..." ella's voice trailed off. she wasn't quite sure how to explain the situation without framing it like an argument and blowing it out of proportion. she did not want to be caught up in the middle of the awkward tension that now permeated the space.

"what?" alessia repeated, her voice now stern.

"look," ella said, holding a placating hand up to alessia, "it's not bad. there was just a conversation about sim inviting her parents and things got a little... tense? but everyone is fine, and beth went to look for sim."

confusion was replaced with concern and a little bit of anger.

"a conversation with who? where is she? is she alright?" alessia rushed out.

"you should hear it from her. i don't know where she is, but beth went to look for her, so it's okay. don't worry. it wasn't a big deal."

that was the thing, though. alessia wasn't sure that it wasn't a big deal.

sim's parents had come up in conversation a few times, but the most sim had ever let on was that they were no longer in contact.

it wasn't for lack of trying. however, the few times alessia had tried to venture further and pushed, sim had shut down, going almost completely silent and stony-faced. each time, it took hours to bring the girl back out of her shell.

the fact that sim wasn't feeling herself recently didn't do anything to ease the concern she was feeling.

with those memories in mind, alessia rushed out of the locker room to find sim and beth herself.

-----

beth looked everywhere for sim. she checked back on the training pitch, in the bathroom, the meal room, the media office, before finding her figure sat in a corner of one of the physio rooms.

beth's heart melted at the expression on sim's face. it was clear from the tightness in sim's jaw and shoulders that she was trying hard to keep her emotions in check.

sim was so caught up in whatever was going on in her head that she didn't notice beth's presence until she felt a hand settle on her clenched fist, forcing it open.

beth frowned at the indents in sim's palm from where her nails had dug into the skin.

"i'm sorry," sim rasped.

"what for? you didn't do anything wrong. i actually think you handled that in a very mature way."

beth's words seemed to fall on deaf ears as sim continued rambling.

"i'm not angry with rachel. i promise, i'm not."

beth shook sim's hand, prompting her to look up. "even if you were angry, you're allowed to feel that way. clearly, she pushed you on a topic that was sensitive for you," beth said gently, almost as though she was explaining something to a child.

"but she didn't know she was pushing. rachel didn't do anything wrong either. i can see where her reaction came from. she lost her father, and i know that he meant a lot to her. she would probably do anything for a little more time with him. i just-" sim ran her free hand through her already messy hair.

beth stayed silent, prodding sim to go on with a nod of her head.

"it's just that not all of us got lucky with our parents. i'm happy she has a great relationship with hers, trust me, i am. but some people have shit parents, and don't want to be pushed into mending bridges that were burned for good reason."

beth noted sim's reluctance to use the word "i" instead of "us" but chose not to say anything. as far as she knew, this was the most anyone had gotten out of sim about her parents.

"her heart was in the right place, but she was still insensitive. she could have been a bit kinder to you. i lost my mum too, so i know where she's coming from, but i also know that not everyone has nice parents like mine or hers. you don't have to defend rachel to me, alright?"

sim nodded, resting her head on beth's shoulder.

"you don't have to talk about what happened with your parents, but i'm here to listen if you decide you want to. i'm sure the same goes for the rest of the girls as well," beth continued.

a comfortable silence fell over the pair. in that moment, sim was overcome with affection. she felt so seen by this new family she had found in the lionesses. unable to voice how much it meant to her, sim tried to put all that emotion into a squeeze of beth's hand.

when beth squeezed back, sim knew her message had been received.

[pennysperfectpolls]

Penny Poll Preliminary Match 15

Peni Parker (Spiderverse/Marvel Comics)

Penny (Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog)

Penny Scavo (Desperate Housewives)

Alfred Pennyworth (Batman)

Only two will move on

Propaganda under the cut

Peni Parker (Spiderverse/Marvel Comics) Propaganda

her name is technically penny its just spelled different!!

——

She has a robot and they’re best friends!

——

the spiderman cute girl version of shinji evangelion. she is so cute and deserves all the good things in the world!!

Penny (Dr Horrible's Sing-along Blog) Propaganda

Likes frozen yogurt, wants to set up a homeless shelter, makes bad choices but is wise enough to notice after the fact, a fabulous queen gone too soon

——

Deserved Better. That's my propaganda. Girl who would probably be more developed if she wasn't written by Joss Whedon

Penny Scavo (Desperate Housewives) propaganda 

https://techteam-qa2.fandom.com/wiki/Penny_Scavo

Tom and Lynette Scavo's oldest biological daughter together.

Penny was angry that her parents forgot her birthday because they were busy preparing for their unborn son. Penny ran away and checked into a hotel. Lynette showed up and talked to Penny, telling her that having a girl was a good thing because they were catching up to the boys. Lynette and Penny stay the night to bond before returning home to the boys.

Alfred Pennyworth (Batman)

No propaganda given

[bestcomicsparents]

Battle of the Best Parents in Comics!!

If you want to submit someone for the Best Comic Parent of All Time, here you go!

Rules for sumbitting:

1) Please include the character’s names and who they’re the parent of.

2) Please include reasons for submitting (why they’re a good parent).

3) While you CAN submit as many people as you like, there will be preliminary rounds, so not everyone will be used!

4) Please submit through the ask box.

5) Only one parent/set of parents per submission please!

6) I will be closing submissions after I get 40 parents/sets of parents.

7) No LEGO versions of people (ex: LEGO Batman or Joker). Other comics affiliated media (ex shows) is okay!

Let the best parents win!

Inspired by:

@jokersexymancompetition

@bad-mom-awards

@riddlersexymancompetition

[omniuravity]

I didn't check my poll because I'm an idiot, so here are my comic con pictures and experiences.

Here's some tags: @bloodypeachblog @fatgumsurpremacy-remastered @dynogadget @moths-and-mantids @pinkhimecat

I saved up a lot of money from my summer job to pay for this because I am financially irresponsible. I also spend $100 for the VIP pass because I wanted the best experience possible for my first convention.

So there were lots of cool guests at the convention I went to, but me being myself, the people I was the most excited to meet were some of the cast members of Hazbin Hotel (specifically Blake Roman, Erika Henningsen, and Amir Talai).

Day 1:

I get to the convention center and find out my boyfriend (who took most of the pictures) didn't buy a VIP ticket because he bought his literally the day of the convention.

When we got there all the VA's had gone to their respective panels (there was a Hazbin one, a Fairly Odd Reunion, stuff like that), so we just wandered the convention center. I bought an Alastor print from a vendor, and he bought an Angel Dust print.

To pass the time we went to the Hazbin panel and I asked a question and gifted each of them bracelets I made. My question was, "What's your favorite line that you didn't say?"

Erika said, "Cause I'm having sssex with everyone here!"

Amir said, "Who gives a shit?"

And Blake said "What? They say insane shit all the time!"

After the panel, my boyfriend and I rushed to get in line, and he had to stand in the normal line (which was wrapped around the convention center). Meanwhile, I breezed past everyone in the VIP line and got the opportunity to talk with Blake, Erika, and Amir. Amir even traded a bracelet back when I met him. Unfortunately, my boyfriend didn't get to meet anyone that day before he got tired and we decided to go home.

Day 2:

I chose to cosplay as Valentino this day, and I really wish I wish I did it the day before so I could've met Blake in the fit. Anyway, I get to the convention center at 9:30 (since I thought VIPs were supposed to get in there at that time) and security stopped us and said VIPs get in at 10 or 10:30 I don't remember. Regardless, my bf and I went to Party City to buy a $10 feather boa that ended up basically disintegrating throughout the convention. I am still mad about it. When we get back and are allowed in, I brought him as my plus 1, so he got to be in the VIP line with me while he gave his ticket to two of his friends. We met Blake (I met him again). My boyfriend was especially excited since they talked a good while. We wandered the convention and bought more things before going home for the day.

Looking back:

I had a blast at my first convention, and adored meeting the Hazbin cast though I wish I made time to meet the Fairly Odd Parents cast while I was there. I also wish I had a cosplay planned for both days instead of just the one though I fucking rocked my cosplay.

Here are the pictures I took!

Day 1:

Day 2:

Thanks for listening!

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Racism)

1.) First, her creator has it as a hard Canon rule that every single episode she has to be wrong about something, even if it doesn't make sense for her to be. She got to be with a boy who liked who she was and not the fact that she was a hero, who is much better suited for her as a partner than the one she is constantly shoved with. Her superhero partner constantly pushes past her romantic boundaries and is actively encouraged by everyone else in canon around him, even when she states multiple times that she doesn't want to date him and they are not a couple. He's always trying to take away from the fight, and several times when he is turned down he will take it out on her. The creator of the show describes him as flawless. Her suits are awful, they're literally just decorative spandex on her body, giving her no structure or support.

2.) victim of both the crew's misogyny and racism the show literally cannot be normal about her i submitted her to the character massacre poll so im gonna repeat some of the stuff i said from there shes a 14 year old girl n a rule of the show's bible is that marinette must always be the one to learn a lesson so shes always wrong according to the narrative even when she actually isnt in the wrong one of her main character traits is that she has a crush on adrien and cause shes a teenage girl shes of course portrayed as obsessive and stalkerish for… having pictures of her fashion model crush in her room n knowing his schedule even though hes super busy n it would be reasonable for her to keep track of his schedule so she n his other friends could actually hang out with him despite being half chinese and (from what i remember) her mom being a first generation immigrant she has no actual connection to it for all intents and purposes her being half chinese is almost irrelevant for her character unless the show feels like being weird about it such as having her white crush be more knowledgeable about chinese culture than her n her parents being based off of the creator and an ex girlfriend of his (his tweet about that is still up btw) which leads into the next thing of marinette is weirdly sexualized by the show she has the most blatantly body paint suit of the girls (cause all of them have body suits seriously pretty much all of the women n girls in this show could be submitted which is bad considering its a girl power show for kids) the camera frequently frames itself on the lower half of her body in one of the comics after she detransforms shes left naked (an issue entirely invented for this comic) and has to wear a box as clothes n there was a scandal about a member of the crew drawing her naked which the show's creator defended (remember this guy said marinette was like his virtual child) shes not winning in her love life either so both marinette and adrien are superheroes with secrect identities n neither of them know who the other person is under the mask marinette likes adrien who is chat noir's civilian identity and adrien likes ladybug who is marinette's superhero identity hes not into marinette n marinette's not into chat noir however chat noir constantly flirts with ladybug (usually instead of actually helping her) ignores her rejections of his romantic advances n throws a hissy fit whenever she doesnt priortize him (such as not helping her defeat the baddie thats frozen all of paris cause last night she didnt show up for a date he set up when she told him she couldnt go on a date cause she already had plans with friends threatening to quit when most of paris was underwater due to a different villain cause marinette got trusted with an important secret n he didnt and attempting to use cataclysm (his ability to destory anything) on marinette's best friend when marinette had her use the ladybug miraculous in her stead) while her own pursuit of adrien only ever ends in her own humiliation cause the crew just thinks its so funny for a teenage girl to get repeatedly humiliated for the crime of wanting to ask her crush out n then yank her back when she tries to move on with a guy who openly has a crush on her respects her n is very supportive of her which is something they literally wrote her to do n pressured by pretty much everyone to ask out adrien (as a civilian) n date chat noir (as a hero) cause the show doesnt know how to properly develop a romance for their main couple beyond having everyone say theyre meant to be and then also this is more of like the show's general misogyny and double standards but when girls crush on the same guy theyre all catty bitches to eachother (n then also two of them are irredeemably evil cause the show hates teenage girls n thinks the show's main villain (who only isnt a child abuser if you dont considering neglect n emotional abuse real abuse) is more redeemable than two cartoony mean teen girls) while guys crushing on the same girl are chill n buddies with eachother

3.) We’ve seen time and time again she’s capable and smart and creative and can really do anything she puts her mind to-but canon forces her to fall for a guy after he halfass apologizes (never actually says sorry and lies about never having friends when in the same episode he keeps saying he’s this persons friend) about a misunderstanding because ooh white boy go hard I guess and thus for multiple seasons have her go stupid around and simply because of this boy. This same boy but now hero form she’s doesn’t know, gets to trying and flirt with her over and over even after she tells him very nicely that she doesn’t like him like that, thought they were just bantering, and that she likes someone else. The narrative punishes her when she does anything that the boy doesn’t like, either by him not helping her as a hero in fights or scolding her in both forms. Additionally, her character is through the ringer when ever it comes to him because “she’s boy crazy” like teaming up with her bully to ruin this girls dress because she is attending an event with him- which goes way off base for her character- and this happens only whenever he’s involved. They have her be weird around him like sniffed his pillow once and took a hair from what she thought was a statue of him and also have her never function normally around him-which fine that can be true to life cause she’s 13-but when she falls for this other boy who makes her relaxed and helps her to be who she is happily-the narrative pulls a 180 once they date showing she can’t forget about the first boy and putting her pictures she took of the first boy back in her room when they were previously removed. Last thing because I think this is getting way too long sorry, but they sexualize the hell out of the female hero: from their poses and shots focusing on their chest, butts, or movements of them, but also the male heros costumes are way more intricate and detailed where as the main character for three plus seasons only had a red bodysuit with black neck and black spots while the male hero had a black suit detailed with a golden bell, leather belt as a tail, black ears, green cat eyes, and more. I just can’t with this show doing girls dirty and then claiming “girl power”

THRONÉ ANGUIS (OCTOPATH TRAVELER 2) (CW: Incest)

1.) so her story is about her trying to get out of the mafia she was recruited by at like age six because they specifically prey on orphans with no better options, the mafia has a very familial structure and their leaders are called mother and father, the two parents hold the keys to the collar all the snakes get stuck with which will inject them with poison if they try to remove them without the key. so already the game is setting up a bunch of cool not-technically-incest to force throné into but just you fucking wait. because at the eleventh hour of a story that has been mostly good with obvious potential hamstrung by the fact that throné has very little agency in what's supposed to be her first time deciding what she wants to do for herself instead of being beholden to her parents, but then the monkey's paw curls and again ONE CHAPTER BEFORE THE END OF THE GAME it suddenly stops DEAD for her father to explain that actually he knew her biological mother and they were in love but the kid isn't his because he and actually all of the blacksnakes including her and her mother are the biological children of this one dude who's immortal and obsessed with impregnating women and he's done it so much that he has enough kids to just fill an entire mafia so also fuck all that story about how organizations like this prey on desperate people it's just the weirdest season of 19 kids and counting you've ever seen and also yes all of that is describe in EXCRUCIATING detail so you really understand the degree to which throné is a victim of incest. her biological father gets to monologue for like actually two minutes about all the women he's impregnated to the woman who is still processing that she's apparently the victim of like three different kinds of incest from this guy she just met in addition to anything she suffered at the hands of the parents and then he spends the entire boss fight being profoundly horny and then the story just ends when she kills him and gets her collar off and that's it that's fucking it they're just like alright well story over. and all of this is presented in an extremely voyeuristic way and throné herself gets fucking eviscerated by Sexygirl Femmefatale design and her own story barely cares what she thinks or feels about all of this which is probably why they don't even bother to set up what happens after she you know finishes the climax of the fucking story????? and then ALSO the catholic inquisitor character gets paired with her and he's very condescending to her and treats her as his sidekick and the agonies are eternal. could we not have given this girl a fucking break from being treated like a toy by self obsessed loser dudes for three seconds. there are fun protagonists in this game. she could have been hanging out with a silly italian cowboy.

[multiplebirthinwebcomics]

Multiple Births

Round 1 Poll 3

Read El Goonish Shive

Read Schoolbus Graveyard

Submitted context (including spoilers) and propaganda under the line

Ellen and Elliot : While they are twins, they aren't technically "same-birth" because Ellen was a duplicate of a gender-bent Elliot created by a magical artifact.

So, for context, one day Elliot got hit with a magical beam of "turns-you-into-a-hot-girl". In an attempt to disenchant Elliot using the magical artifact the "dewitchery diamond" the enchantment on him was actually extracted and transformed into a whole new person with an entirely new soul: a girl named Ellen, who has all of Elliot's memories, but is her own person. Ellen later gets a second set of fake childhood memories from a non-existent dream alternate universe where, among other things, she was raised as a girl, which helps her personality grow beyond just being a female duplicate of Elliot. All of this to say that the answers to the question "is Ellen Trans?" is "by any real-world definition, technically no. But beyond that, yes, very much so". (Side note: Elliot would later figure out that's he's "gender casual", in part because of Ellen asking him "haven't you ever wondered about the fact that I was able to adjust to being a girl so easily despite having all of your memories?")

Anyways, Elliot immediately viewed Ellen as his sister, and Elliot's parents immediately accepted Ellen as their daughter. Elliot/Ellen's friend Tedd's dad (who works for the part of the government that covers-up the existence of magic & hides it from most of society) used his authority/resources to make it so that all legal documentation says that Ellen is Elliot's twin sister, with the "official" cover-story that:

Mr. And Mrs. Dunkel couldn't afford to support themselves and two children, and could barely afford to keep one (Which. Technically, would have been accurate [since we later find out Mrs. Dunkel had to drop-out of college at 21 when she got pregnant with Elliot]). As a result, Ellen wound up in foster care. Now that the family is financially secure, she's been reunited with them

Regarding the "They fall in love with the same person" cliché, at the start of the comic, Elliot was dating Tedd's cousin Nanase. However, unbeknownst to both Elliot & Nanase at the time, Nanase was actually a Lesbian. Even though she really liked him as a person and they got along really well, she just wasn't interested in him romantically and was going through the motions trying to make the relationship work. She broke up with him when she realized that he had unresolved feelings with one of his childhood friends, because she knew he would be too passive to act on those feelings himself.

Flash forward to the storyline of Ellen's creation, and picture this: You're Nanase, you've recently broken up with the person who was the closest you've been able to get to really feeling something romantic for a guy, and after telling your gay best friend Justin this fact, he starts needling you about the about the possibility that you might be a lesbian, which you deny. But lo and behold, you are face to face with someone who is literally just said ex-boyfriend, but a super hot girl. You get close because you are one of the only people able to comfort her through the very traumatic experience of "being brought into existence with only memories of a life that aren't your own". And you feel things with her that you've never felt before.

Long-story-short, Nanase and Ellen develop mutual feelings for each other, confess said feelings, and become a couple."

Taylor and Tyler : They are each other's whole family (well their mother is alive but not very present since the death of their father). As of the last chapter, one might end up being used as a tragic backstory for the other.

[sentientgopro]

So, let's talk about names, I've been wondering how most people pick their new name, so I guess a poll is the best way to do it:

(Edit: Just now realising an alternate version of your current name e.g James-Jane is probably a popular choice that I forgot to add to the poll. Just add a reply about it if this was your choice.)

So, despite not being able to transition for a long time still, and knowing I want to boymode for as long as possible when I do start transitioning, I still haven't been able to stop thinking about names, even though I won't use it for a VERY long time. I'm unoriginal as fuck, don't have supportive parents, and I might not come out to friends because I'm not transitioning for a long time, so characters was the best starting point.

I started thinking about Gwen (Poole, not Stacy, well I like both, so idk.) and quickly found I like the character, but don't like the name for myself. Same story with Madeline. After a bit of trial and error I found a decent name from a bit of a leftfield place, and kinda vibe with it, Samantha. (Bonus points if y'all can guess which character named Samantha I got it from.)

Ofcourse, this name doesn't feel like me yet, and from what I've heard online, that's normal. Ofcourse me, complete regular dude, 6 foot fuckin 1 at 16 year old doesn't relate to that name yet, but from what I've heard elsewhere (cough cough, one of Brooke/ transgirlofthevalley's comics) the further througg the transition you get and more you use it, the more the name starts to feel like it fits. Whatever, the name sounds nice, that's a good enough start. Again, doesn't feel right yet, so won't use it for a while until I start actually transitioning.

But anyway, I'd love to hear other people's stories about names.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group E Round 4: Hinamatsuri vs Mawaru Penguindrum

#E2: Hinamatsuri

Psychic girl is adopted by Yakuza. Hijinks ensue.

#E3: Mawaru Penguindrum

Sending us penguins will NOT fix our terminally ill sister, but thanks anyways.

Details and poll under the cut!

#E2: Hinamatsuri

Summary:

While reveling in the successful clinching of a prized vase for his collection, Yoshifumi Nitta, a yakuza member, is rudely interrupted when a large, peculiar capsule suddenly materializes and falls on his head. He opens the capsule to reveal a young, blue-haired girl, who doesn't divulge anything about herself but her name—Hina—and the fact that she possesses immense powers. As if things couldn't get any worse, she loses control and unleashes an explosion if her powers remain unused. Faced with no other choice, Nitta finds himself becoming her caregiver.

Propaganda 1:

Hinamatsuri is about…

Hina, who is a psychic metaphor for autism ala Mob but imo better. She’s not only a weirdgirl who’s friends are almost all other strange girls, but she’s also into stuff that is just so either unfitting for her age or she’s just really intense about.

Nitta, who deserves all the fangirls and husbando-ing that every other random guy in anime gets. He’s a bachelor who loves pottery and can cook so well that Hina convinces her friends they have a gourmet chef working for them. He’s also a yakuza and is beloved by the aniki for being incredibly tough and scary. (He is gentle as hell with Hina.)

A bunch of other weird girls (Admin: this part of the propaganda has been cut due to possible spoilers)

Propaganda 2:

Hinamatsuri is an absolutely hilarious anime with some of the best comic timing I’ve ever seen. It’s so funny, the various girls are such nonsense.

Hina starts as a violent blank slate and develops into a lazy greedy horrible little gremlin. Anzu starts as a prideful edgy rival but eventually becomes a wholesome overly grateful insecure mess. Hitomi is forced to become more and more competent, independent, and adult because she can't stand up for herself and say no to people asking her for favors.

Nitta is a fantastic viewpoint character because he outwardly takes so much in stride that it’s easy to forget how annoyed and stressed everything makes him until he snaps.

Trigger Warnings: There is child nudity, but only for a Terminator reference. There is some comedic child neglect and slapstick. There is a child who is homeless, but it’s treated very sensitively.

#E3: Mawaru Penguindrum

Summary:

For the Takakura family, destiny is an ever-spinning wheel, pointing passionately in their direction with equal tides of joy and sorrow before ticking on to the next wishmaker. With their parents gone, twin brothers Kanba and Shouma live alone with their beloved little sister Himari, whose poor health cannot decline any further.

On the day Himari is given permission to temporarily leave the hospital, her brothers take her out to the aquarium to celebrate, where the family's supposed fate is brought forth with her sudden collapse. However, when Himari is inexplicably revived by a penguin hat from the aquarium's souvenir shop, the hand of fate continues to tick faithfully forward.

With her miraculous recovery, though, comes a cost: there is a new entity within her body, whose condition for keeping her fate at bay sends the boys on a wild goose chase for the mysterious "Penguin Drum." In their search, the boys will have to follow the threads of fate leading from their own shocking past and into the lives of other wishmakers vying for the Penguin Drum, all hoping to land upon their chosen destiny.

Propaganda:

Do you like weird artsy stuff? Do you love magical girls? How about weird, messed up character dynamics? Then boy oh boy, Mawaru Penguindrum is the show for you! The show starts out funny enough, but will quickly spiral into an intense and intricate plot, involving fate, the mafia, magical destiny-rewriting spells, and penguins. Which yes, before you ask, the funny penguins are in fact plot relevant.

Penguindrum isn’t really a show about all that stuff though, even though it is. It’s a very symbolic story, about living under the crushing heel of capitalism, and the quiet poison of the societally expected nuclear family dynamic. I could write an essay on each and every single one of the characters, as they’re all given a lot of depth and time to grow. Every character has their own baggage that, one way or another, ties back to someone else. Everyone in this show is connected in some way shape or form, and that’s really highlighted when everything starts to fall apart. Be warned: this show is NOT a light watch! If you’re the type of person who gets really into deciphering symbolism and creating your own meaning from pieces of media, then this show is for you!

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Flashing Lights/Flickering Images, Gender Identity/Sexuality Discrimination, Guns, Incest, Kidnapping, Nudity, Pedophilia, Rape/Non-Con, Smoking, Suicide, Bomb Threats/Attempts and Terrorisim

It’s a very major plot point. This show is HEAVILY based off the 95 Tokyo Sarin Gas Attacks, so if content like that is triggering to you, tread lightly.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form with your revisions, and I’ll consider adapting those changes.

New: Starting round 5, screenshots will be included in the poll post. You can submit screenshots through the form linked above, or through here, via ask or dm.

Guidelines in submitting screenshots:

No NSFW or spoilery images.

Pick some good images please. Don’t send any blurry or pixelated ones.

You may send up to 9 screenshots, but not all may be used.