#but I'm not surprised they didn't want to alienate dudebros

[lady-in-the-lair]

The key to enjoying movies is to go into them with extremely low expectations

[cosmics-beings]

I personally encountered the opposite problem - there was an incident not long ago where some people who headcanoned Starscream (and several other characters) as transfem got really angry about people using she/her for Megatron, or saying Megs was a lesbian. Made me really sad :( . Whether it's Star, Megs, or any other character, it's saddening when people attack queer headcanons like that, and I'm sorry people said that about Star. like we're all trying to enjoy the same alien robots and the way we see ourselves in them, and even if we interpret them differently it shouldn't be hard to respect others interpretations

Even if I didn't see it happen, I 1000% believe it, because again, this fandom is really weird with hc characters as femme and like i said, a lot of people tend to project their own identities into characters and get really upset when feminity is something ascribed to a character in a non joking or nonsatrical manner.

(I remember some people were getting mad at Ratchet being seen or portrayed as a woman/transfem and having she/her pronouns by fans. )

i probably wasnt in the fandom during that, but i believe it. while i'd wanna say it was probably dudebros, i wouldn't be surprised if it was actually other queer people. the people who are angriest the most at femme starscream tend to be queer folks which are so jarring. It makes me happy to see that lesbian/fem megatron (and starscream) are overall so popular.

So it wouldn't surprise me if I saw those same arguments for Megatron if it was also queer people. but i could also see it being dudebros who know nothing about transformers past Michael bay's scrap metal grave yard.

But regarding fem megatron:

Twitter is really the place that introduced MEE to lesbian fem megatron, and i actually really like it. that is one thing that i like about some secs of fandom, that femininity and identity is not assigned to body type. and fem megatron is pretty and i love her. but it doesn't surprise me that people got offended by that.

and it's shocking (but not shocking) that there was a whole discourse over that.

When it comes to starscream, every so often, I see people really getting in their feels and really getting mad. I ever have come across people who are like 'block me if you use she/her pronouns for starscream', and that is just off putting and misogynistic, and i won't even go into why that is, especially when it's not harming anyone. and i do believe what you're saying about megatron too. he's also a character people tend to cling on to and heavily project on.

(wrt to megatron and starscream, it has made me sad to see some megatron fans say stuff like 'im tired of starscream being portrayed as feminine, it's time for megatron to be feminine and starscream to be masc'. it's not common, but i have seen some megatron fans upset that starscream is feminine and they are vocal about it, because megatron is not?? but it's also okay to want megatron to be feminine without shitting on feminine portrayals of starscream or acting like fem starscream compared to Megatron is bad. if it gets to you so much make them both feminine or just make megatron feminine and Starscream masc without having to shit on feminine portrayal of him. as someone who likes both characters that used to make me feel guilty. i know this wasn't 100% the point of this ask and sorry for derailing. i just assume if we're talking about both, then i wanted to share this. and it's sad because, i haven't ever actually seen any femme!starscream fans upset at femme megatron, in fact those are the ones who mostly make megatron femme. at least I'm thinking of a few )

i'm glad i don't see it happen often, but whenever it does, it's just really really...ugh.

And i agree too, we should all be able to enjoy our interpretations, especially when fem hcs (whether transfem, queer femme, etc.,) aren't the majority in fandom content at all. And like at the end of the day, if you don't like someones interpretation well, that's fine. what's not okay is being shitty and misogynistic toward people. and honestly, i do have to raise an eyebrow at people who are uncomfortable at fem/femme hcs for characters like starscream and megatron as well. that's just weird to me. there's never not going to be anything weird to me at people vocally hating to see characters being femme. and i don't mean genderbent in harmful, cis-heterenormative ways. i meann getting mad at queer people for making characters queer + fem.

And for me , personally, I always thought it was interesting for aliens to be fluent in their appearance, gender. they are literally alien beings so it's not like they'll have the same concept of gender. one of my personal hcs, especially for miners is that they're all inherently 'nonbinary' simply because when they were created, they didn't have the concept of gender. so sometimes they flip-flop with their genders. and i think stuff like that is just fun to explore.

[disaster-by-chance]

Saw Turning Red with my family today and let me just say, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

I mean, I automatically knew that I would enjoy it once I saw how "alienated" it made the white dudebros feel on Twitter because if the dudebros are going to hate it, then I'm going to have it.

Liking or not liking a movie because of that relation connection you feel towards it isn't necessarily a bad thing, but that shouldn't be the only thing you base your opinion on.

There's a running joke that my siblings and I have about "Asian-led films" and how most of the time it's a Chinese character because China makes big bucks at the box office and that we Koreans won't get a film about us or our culture. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, I out of all people know how meaningful representation is, but being Korean didn't stop us from enjoying this film! Hell! I think this is the first time there's been a Korean in a Disney or Pixar film, or any animated film I've seen from any of the different animation companies! When Abby started going off in Korean I was like, "!!! AYO!"

Same with Encanto, we aren't Colombian, my mom's family is from Mexico, but Mirabel has been the closest character from any sort of film I've seen who looks like me. Right down to the large glasses! I don't have curly hair though, that's like the one difference. But still!

A movie doesn't have to be relatable to be enjoyed, but goddamn if you're going to shit on something because you "don't feel seen" and you're some cishet white man, my brother in christ, you need to sit down and just not say anything.

That being said though, I was rather surprised at how much I ended up relating to this movie once it ended. It wasn't the only reason why I liked the movie but it certainly was why I ended up liking it a little more than I thought I would.

For some time now, around the time when Luca came out, I've started realizing how drastically different my relationship with my mom is. And long story short, it's gotten way better than what it used to be.

Look, I grew up in a Christian household with a Hispanic mom and Korean dad, both of who worked as educators in the district I went to school in. Even if my dad was the more easy-going despite the stereotypes of Asian parents being hard on their kids, they were pretty strict. Bs weren't good enough, hell A- wasn't good enough, I never felt like I could share my interests with them because I didn't want to be made fun of, and every decision for my life was made by them. I didn't feel like I had control and it felt like it was just me and my friends against the world at times.

However, my friends left me and I became attached to my mom as a result. Like Mei at the start of the movie, we were attached to the hip basically. It was a complete turnaround from how I used to be with her.

I had had those moments of "this is my life, I can do what I want" so when those conversations were happening between Mei and her mother, I was wondering if my mom could recall those moments too. In movies like this, I wonder if she also sees herself in those parents who push their kids towards greatness because that's how they were raised or something along those lines. My mom doesn't have an overbearing mom or anything like that though, she's just the way she is because of her beliefs and personality. (If anyone gets enneagram shit, she's an 8 and I'm a 5, we don't get along normally).

When Mei was deciding to keep the panda but was afraid it would lead to her losing her mom I was just like,, "Damn..." because I feel the same way. How can I keep who I want to be and my mom? I feel like I have to give things up about myself to keep the relationship I've built up with her, and it scares me sometimes.

A few years ago I somewhat hated my mom. I hated that she made me scared to ask about going to a friend's house, hated that she was homophobic and transphobic, hated that she wanted me to be hyperfocused on grades, and really just hated how she made me feel.

Now, things are so much different. Now she wants me to get friends and get out of the house. Now she actively asks about different identities and respects transgender people. She still cares a lot about grades but at least now she can be understanding and accept Bs. Now she engages in whatever I'm fixated on and doesn't make me feel bad about me being me.

I think the film just really hit hard for me because I've been reflecting on my changed dynamic with my mom for the past week and watching the film with her was like a fluffy red panda paw to the face.

Not only did I see myself in Mei (albeit maybe just toned down a bit more and with a clarinet instead of a flute) but I saw my mom in Mei's. It just seemed to be a reminder of how different things are and how it was a good idea to stick around and see things get better.

TDLR; Turning Red was a really good movie and I enjoyed it a lot. Being able to relate to it on different levels essentially made me enjoy the movie more than I thought I would and helped me further reflect on my dynamic with my mom. If you get the chance, I recommend you watch it!

I think my only critique of the movie is that it made me hungry. I'm in desperate need of some steamed dumplings.