#but i think hes like. actively a twink. like as a triangle he is a twink

[oury-boros]

heres the thing. i will actually defend twink bill with my life. i just also think we must expand our concept of what a twink looks like

[mingjue]

character bingo do taishakuten lmfao

When i say i actively hate this cunt i am not kidding. The pure POTENTIAL that taishakuten had, especially in relation to Ibaraki or even Onikiri, was genuinely wasted on a game that only cares to pander to the fujoshi fanbase. I believe hes Indra? I think? I cant remember but the guy hes based off of is so damn OP and has SO much they couldve built off of but no they went for euginicist blond haired twink

I honestly hold him in similar light that i do jgy, the only difference is that canon jgy is actually interesting whereas taishakuten is genuinely fucking intolerable, ESPECIALLY as of sporos event. The memory wipe thing was such a pitiful fucking retcon and while it does bring in an interesting dynamic between shuten and asura, we're left with a 'naive & innocent' taishakuten who doesnt remember the legitimate tyranny, genocide, & pure torture that he put the celestial realm and asura through. Literally you would think the son from a noble family would know how propaganda works if he wanted people to see asura in such a positive light

Also on top of this, ive despised celestial arc ever since they took one of THE most major character traits of ibaraki and brushed it off in two slides. What the fuck do you mean taishakuten just fucking pulled out the shard in his arm. Why were there no repercussions? Why was it so easy as to just. Pull out a shard. Shuten couldve done that. Even seimei couldve, or seimeis DAD LMFAO?!?! we're given no actual gravity of how powerful that shard is outside of the troubles ibaraki had been going through pre celestial arc, and even then when theyre actually IN celestia ibaraki doesnt seem to be bothered by it too much outside of it guiding him? In fact iirc it doesnt even go over the shard quite literally speaking to ibaraki. You couldve had your toxic yaoi love triangle (or. Square) if you wanted something reprehensible but literally it was dismissed in one breath

Also taishakuten was responsible for the destruction of sealand whether yall like it or not, idc if orochi wldve gone after it, taishakuten participated in consuming the energy w/o questioning OROCHI of all evil gods

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 04 (first part)

(Masterpost) (Episode 03) (Episode 04 second part)

Warning: Spoilers for all 50 episodes!

Also warning: these posts just keep getting longer how are they getting even longer good lord I had to split this one. 

School’s in for the Summer!

All of these nice young actors show off the results of their movement training as they beautifully perform prostrate bowing in near-unison. (yes, there is a Chinese word for this action, but it’s used in English in a shitty orientalist way, so OP is going to call this prostrate bowing)

Note that the very last person to hit his knees, by a wide margin, is Head Snob Jin Zixuan.

Lan Qiren looks them over with pleased dickishness.

I am really wondering what actor Huang Ziteng looks like without a struggle beard and mouth blood and chronic fainting.

That's...a lot of crosses, my dude

(more after the cut!)

Lan Clan Rules

The Lan rule set is basically a checklist for shit Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang can get up to this summer.

The rules include several that Lan Wangji is actively breaking this very moment, including “Don’t wear any jangling objects like beads,” “don’t be suspicious,” “don’t pierce your ears” and “don’t be supercilious.”  

Wei Wuxian’s Summer Project

Extrovert Wei Wuxian gets started on the important work of making new friends. Waving to Lan Wangji in class doesn't get him anywhere (apparently), but he meets Nie Huaisang and forms one of the most important relationships of his two lives.

He doesn’t even know what they are being mutually squirrely about yet but they are instantly on the same wavelength.

I like you, yeah I like you, and I’m feeling so bohemian like you

When Wei Wuxian discovers that this classmate has smuggled an entire live birb into this boring-ass lecture he is completely delighted, and they are brothers in troublemaking from this point onward.

This is where we learn something important about Nie Huaisang. He wanted a rare canary, so he stalked it for three days, caught it, and caged it.  

This careful hunter is 15 or 16...I wonder how much more patient and determined he will be when he's 35 or 36?

The Salute Ceremony: The Unstabby Bit

The Jin Clan starts off the salute ceremony by presenting Lan Qiren with a fancy book bound with gold string.

Wei Wuxian is genuinely impressed, but Jiang Cheng calls it "meretricious" [op looks it up] which means "apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity." Wow, Jiang Cheng is so deliciously bitchy.

Then it’s Nie Huasang’s turn. Wei Wuxian is impressed when he hears his name, meaning he befriended him without giving a fuck about who he is, which is sweet.  I adore this friendship and think there are so many reasons NHS chose WWX to carry out his vengeance, none of which come from him being the dread Yiling Laozu.

The Salute Ceremony: The Thirsty Bit

To represent the Nie clan, I present this nice pot to Lan Qiran, and this rare and beautiful twink to Lan Xichen

Note: the trash talking jerks in the background are from the Jiang clan. Yanli does not remind them about their manners.

Quiet, reserved Lan Xichen greets Meng Yao with compliments and a hand massage and by doing this thing with his mouth.

No words are being produced at this point, he is just...parting his lips gently while he rakes his eyes over Meng Yao’s face.

Meng Yao doesn’t mind a bit

Flames on the Side of my Face

The Wen Clan guys have left Club Ruohan and are coming to summer school. Wen Chao is evil. It's subtle but you can tell by the way he casually sets people on fire.

Lan Clan Rules for Gate Keepers

do not draw your sword to stop someone from setting you on actual fire

do not use magic to stop someone from setting you on actual file

do not call for help when someone sets you on actual fire

Wens Qing and Ning believe in helping people, so once the smell of burning flesh starts to annoy them, Wen Qing puts out a solid 80% of the flames.

Note: We’re going to be spending a lot of time hating Wen Chao, so now might be a good time to have a look at (actor) He Ping out of costume.

Clearly, Wen Chao is just a beautiful troubled person with pretty moles who totally deserves a second chance.

The Salute Ceremony: The Stabby Bit

The Wens interrupt Jiang Cheng’s salute. Lan Xichen apologizes to them for not knowing they were going to show up like a bunch of interrupting assholes.

Lan Wangji wants to murder Weng Chao and looks at Xichen for permission but Xichen says no.

I never get to murder anybody not even that Su She asshole

So Wei Wuxian starts running the WWX fight book, which has to actually be pretty gratifying for the Lans, who are stuck being good hosts.  

He skips the windup in this situation of heightened danger, so he is formal, polite, and doesn't cross any boundaries. But Wen Chao came looking to fight so it escalates immediately, with Jiang Cheng also getting in Wen Chao’s face.

The Wen Clan decides to teach the Jiang Clan a lesson.  This is really the seed of the Lotus Pier massacre...it was always going to happen. The Wens draw swords and almost the entire Jiang Clan immediately draws as well.  

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both use the same sexy move, kicking their swords up off their benches into their hands.

Nie Huaisang hides behind Meng Yao, who immediately uses his whole body to shield him and shows a bit of his titanium spine. I LOVE Meng Yao’s strength here. 

Wen Qing protects her brother by putting her arm across his chest, which is not going to be helpful in any way if someone wants to stab him.  

To end this urgent and dangerous standoff Lan Xichen slooooowly brandishes his flute and plays a little toodleoo for 15 full seconds, eventually causing all the swords to fly up to the ceiling and then down into the floor.

{I know, flautists, I know. Never let facts get in the way of a joke!]

Everyone politely allows him to do this without actually taking any swipes at each other.  Then the swords all magically vanish along with the holes they made in the floor, which is convenient.

Now we get to see Lan Xichen angry, and oh my god, the tiny glimpse of that secret fire. 

Now Wen Qing finally steps up to defuse the situation. She cannot believe she has to work with her boss's horrible stupid son who insists on fucking up every project, god why did he ever get made a vice president I can't believe I have to work with this tool.

Meanwhile, Lan Xichen is going to rue the day he introduced Wei Wuxian to Flute Magic.

Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang 4-EV-R

After the ceremony Nie Huaisang, calling Wei Wuxian “Wei-Xiong” (brother Wei, a bit more formal than -ge) praises his bravery. Wei Wuxian says that he enjoys resisting evil, harking forward to his chivalric calling & future promise with Lan Wangji.

Jiang Cheng says, without irony, I think, and with only a little bitterness, that normal people can't compare to Wei Wuxian’s bravery. Wei Wuxian downplays his courage and says that he wants to teach Nie Huaisang to have fun.

Now - hopefully we've all seen Fatal Journey, right? I won't spoil it here. But if you've seen it you know that a person who gives Nie Huaisang permission to be his true self is going to be precious to him.

Lan Wangji shows up and Wei Wuxian calls out to him, calling him "Ji-Xiong." Lan Wangji totally blows him off but Wei Wuxian is undeterred.

Xichen and Qiren Talking.

Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren talk about this whole Wen situation while Qiren pours some tea that appears to just be hot water. Dude.

Qiren is afraid this murdering of cultivators is going to be something the two of them can't handle. You think? There are already about 16 dead cultivators in the mosh pit at Club Ruohan; at what point are you planning to handle it?

This Ship is Sailing

Meng Yao comes to say goodbye to Lan Xichen and to trade hearts with him. Also to have a lot of feelings that his giant eyes and adorable dimples cannot contain.

Lan Xichen: Don't bow to me. No need to thank me like this. We’re equals. As equals we could take turns kneeling to each other, if you catch my drift.

Lan Xichen: Why not stay for several days? Oh if you're Nie Mingjue's boy I guess I have to let you go. He's great. Really. SO great.  

Lan Xichen: Look, you’re with Nie Mingjue and I’m with Nie Mingjue and it only takes one stroke to turn a Vee into a triangle, is what I’m saying.

Grown-ass man Lan Xichen is so much less prudent than his teenage brother. Each of them has fallen hard for someone but the much younger Wangji tries to control it. Hopeless romantic Xichen goes right over the cliff, as well as deliberately knocking away many of the fences around Wangji’s heart so Wei Wuxian can make a home there. We love him for it, of course.

Episode 04, Part 2 is right here.

[lacependragon]

Things in GI Joe Renegades I Continue To Think About Daily:

This universe’s version of Snake Eyes is the least scarred he has ever been. We’ve seen almost half of his face. Even though Zartan has his whole comment about “You need these more than me”, we have no evidence of that. We’ve seen the entire lower left side of his face (our left, his right), the entire upper left side of his face (same), and a piece of the middle from his eyes, twice. Also, in the footage from the explosion, Tunnel Rat says “so that’s why he wears a mask, but it can’t be that bad based on what we saw. Therefore, I think he’s got more of a Zuko + a couple facial scars thing going on in this universe. Less than Scarface, as Mindbender calls him.

Duke/Scarlet/Snake Eyes love triangle was genuinely interesting, but based on Duke and Snake Eyes’ friendship? They’d make a fantastic poly ship and I wish I knew of people who shipped it poly, because I need more content than just what Ashley and I can create.

The only time we see Snake Eyes really emote is when it comes to Duke and Scarlet. He has a lot of body language in Castle Destro he doesn’t have in other episodes (including a very gay pose in the Coyote at the end) and that was an episode involving Duke’s supposed death. He’s very close to the whole team, to start emoting, but the way he emotes for those two makes my heart happy.

We never see Scarlet with her hair down. We see a different hair style for every main* character except Scarlet and Roadblock. We see past Duke and fake security guard Duke, we see Tunnel Rat with his hat off and his hair combed, and we see Snake Eyes in the past and before the explosion. I wish we got to see her hair down.

Roadblock and Tunnel Rat would make a fantastic old-married-bickering style couple. They’re always together and it’s cute. I like how much they obviously care about each other. They were the first two to really bond and that bond sticks through the whole show.

Flynt and Duke have some serious FwB exes style tension. With Flynt being his CO that makes me wonder about a lot of things.

I’m sorry but I fucking love Mindbender. He’s basically an evil twink in firefighter boots. I would love to write him as actively gay. See how Destro takes it.

I wonder what would have happened if Lady Jaye had been forced to go on the run post Homecoming. How would that have changed the story? Would the Joes have been able to adapt to her being with them, rather than just a voice on the inside?

I have watched this show at least four times in as many months.

[fxndom-hoe]

So I was reading a ScreenRant article about what BBC Merlin got right about the stories and what it got wrong, but some of their explanations about the show were wrong and it was starting to annoy me. So I decided to hash it out here on tumblr and have my piece. And so that means you all are forced to hear me rant about some dumb article from the internet (or you can ignore me, I’m not the boss of you 😂).

Anyway, here's:

(I’m not gonna go through all the points, just the one’s I feel they got totally wrong.)

(Also, I’m going to try to keep this as unshippy as possible, but my own interpretations of the show are probably going to come out.)

WARNING: MENTION OF R*PE FROM SOURCE MATERIAL. ALSO, SPOILERS!!!

Ok so maybe this is my own opinion (like this whole post is going to be) but Merlin is technically a teacher. Not in the sense that Gaius is, not in the traditional “here, read this book for a lesson” sort of teacher, but he has actively tried to teach Arthur right from wrong during some instances where the royals were being stupid. Especially when Uther was trying to influence Arthur to do something that he thought was right (but since we know Uther, it was usually (always) actually wrong). Merlin was there to tell Arthur that his father was wrong, and in a way, that’s teaching/being a teacher.

Also, Merlin not being a lover is really a matter of opinion. He may not have had many actual romantic relationships canonically, but that isn’t what defines a “ladies man.” He’s attracted lots of women (and women). “Seen as inferior” my ass. In season one, Gwen had a major crush on him. In season five, Merlin had a slight flirtation with Sefa, even if that didn’t really last long. Throughout the series, we see the sexual tension between Merlin and Arthur. And Gwaine fell madly in love with him since they first met. And, of course, there’s Freya, which they already implied. So just because he’s only had one on-screen relationship doesn’t mean he’s not a heartbreaker. Also, he may not have had an actual relationship with Morgana, there’s definitely some kind of tension between them after she turns evil (whether it’s sexual or just them being enemies is up to you).

This may be me being really nitpicky, but the first time we see Excalibur IS 👏 NOT 👏 WITH 👏 FREYA 👏 This is the part that made me want to make this post. MERLIN 👏 DID 👏 NOT 👏 GET 👏 EXCALIBUR 👏 FROM 👏 FREYA 👏 Like, did the writer of this article even watch the show??? The episode where we see Excalibur for the first time is LITERALLY CALLED “EXCALIBUR!!!” And in the episode, it shows Excalibur being made when Kilgharrah BREATHED ON IT!!! Like, I don’t mean to be rude to the author, but you literally just had to watch the show one (1) time to know this. Maybe don’t write an article about a show you’ve never watched?? (Again, I really don’t wanna be rude, but this really rubbed me the wrong way.)

Again, I’m probably nitpicking, but wasn’t that the point of the show? Like, “Here’s the story of King Arthur except Merlin’s a twenty year old twink instead.” ? I mean, this really wasn’t all that big of a deal, but I need content and I had an opinion on this, so I’m sharing it. 

I mean, for the most part, this is right. We got the whole love triangle thing going on between these three. We got the tasteless “Lancelot du Lac” episode, which I just... we’re not going to talk about it.

 I think we all know, at this point, assuming we’ve all seen the posts talking/complaining about how Gwen was a princess, but instead they made her a servant. Especially because I think in the source material, Gwen was white, and when the show made her black and demoted her to a servant it was racist. Personally (and if this is racist, you guys should call me out on it), I like it because it shows a poor woman of color rising above everyone else and becoming queen, and that’s very badass of her and very empowering for WOC. (I’m not BIPOC so if I’m wrong about this, and anyone who is BIPOC found it offensive that they made Gwen a servant rather than a princess, you have every right to be.)

And now for my complaint: Gwen did actually become an antagonist for a few episodes. I mean, yes, she was technically under Morgana’s spell, so that makes her a victim more than a villain, but the storyline of Dark!Gwen makes her a temporary antagonist. So, article, you are wrong (in a way).

Ok so apparently Uther is just a despicable man no matter what story you try to tell. Just absolutely disgusting. And the fact that in the tales, Merlin actually helps Uther r*pe a woman 🤢🤮 Absolutely disgusting. 

But that's not why I’m talking about this part. The reason I bring this up is because if you watched the show, you would know that Nimueh tells Uther that they WERE FRIENDS. She wasn’t just some random sorcerer who he asked to use dark magic. She was his FRIEND who he asked for help when his wife couldn’t conceive. I think it might’ve also been implied that she was Court Sorcerer (but that might’ve just been a headcanon that I read). But either way, Uther didn’t just turn to dark magic to have a child. He asked his friend for help then betrayed her when it backfired on him.

Again, no matter what happened, Uther is just all around a terrible man.

Ok so this part I don't really have a problem with, but I am confused. I haven't read any source material, so I don’t know this for sure, but I thought Arthur did know about Merlin’s magic. Maybe not in all the tales, but is there not a single one where Arthur knows of Merlin’s abilities? Can someone who’s read up on the source material fact check this for me please. Because I thought the whole “magic is illegal so Merlin has to hide from Arthur” thing was made up for the show, but maybe I’m wrong? Someone help please, thank you! 😊 

Ooohoohoo! Again, no problem with this specifically, but I am reacting. I always thought that Merlin always played a big role in Arthur’s life (not as best friend like in the show) but like an important advisor. I thought Merlin was more than just someone who played a minor role in Arthur’s life. Like, Merlin is such a big figure in pop culture, I could never even imagine that he wasn’t that important in Arthur’s life. Is he more important in the stories than he is to Arthur himself? Is that it? How does that work? I think it might be because I’m a huge Merthur shipper (yes, I know I said I wouldn’t bring ships into this, but I had to for this one), but I really can’t imagine Merlin not being important to Arthur. I mean, I watched this three hour long movie called Merlin starring Sam Neill, and if I’m remembering that correctly, didn’t Merlin raise Arthur? I can’t really remember, but this just feels so wrong to me.

So that's the end of the screenshots, but I do want to mention that the article (which I’ll be linking in the source) talked about how a difference between the story and the show is that in the story, Merlin doesn’t have a family, and just...   HOW SAD??? That is so heartbreaking, and maybe that’s just me imagining the show’s Merlin, our sweet boy who cares about family so fucking much, without a family, and that just makes me sad. But is that true, though? Does the Merlin in the King Arthur tales NOT HAVE A FAMILY??? OOOOOFFF! That’s fuckin rough. 

All right, so this is the end, but if any of you have opinions on the article or on my own opinions, I’d love to hear them. Thanks to anyone who actually read this whole thing. It was kind of long and pointless, but some of what was mentioned brought out such STRONG EMOTIONS from me, I just had to share.

[princessmuk]

Things I want to see more of:

• Guys who have interests and personalities that don’t match up with traditional masculinity who are straight

• LGBTQIA+ rep that doesn’t fit into stereotypes

• LGBTQIA+ rep that is treated just as naturally as a straight person/relationship would be

• Male friendships that are strong and emotional and healthy, and stay as friendships

• Male friendships between an LGBTQIA+ male and a straight male that are strong and emotional and healthy, and don’t involve one-sided romance

• Ace and Aro representation, together and separately

• Bisexuals who would never even think of cheating on their S.O.

• Disabled characters whose storylines don’t revolve around their disability

• Lesbian representation that isn’t all about sex

• wlw representation in teenagers

• Healthy poly relationships that don’t involve a breakup storyline

• Romance novels and movies from the guy’s perspective that are healthy and not creepy or sexist

• Non-binary characters existing in peace

• Trans characters played by trans actors

• Bisexual/lesbian relationships

• Ace relationships where the Ace person never has sex and the other person is okay with that

• Ace relationships where the Ace person, of their own accord and because they want to, have sex with their partner

• Introverts who are still introverted at the end of the story

• Aro rep that stays Aro

• Ace rep that stays Ace

• Teenagers playing teenagers in movies and TV

• Women who have personalities and develop, no matter what stereotypes they may play into

• Girls who are feminine and who happen to fit into society’s view being potrayed as smart and kind (or even as mean or strong or blunt or anything, literally any personality trait) instead of being the popular girl who follows every trend because she has no identity

• Girls who like pink but it doesn’t define their personality

• Straight guys who like pink

• LGBTQIA+ allies who wear pride merch

• LGBTQIA+ allies who don’t really care if people think they’re gay

• Fashionable boys

• Girls who don’t wear makeup and don’t feel the need to

• Girls who don’t wear makeup even though there’s pressure for them to

• Girls who are insecure about their looks but realize their looks don’t define them

• Girls with body hair

• Interracial relationships with no drama centering around it being interracial

• Interracial LGBTQIA+ relationships

• Characters with Tourette’s who don’t swear all the time (or maybe even ever)

• Characters with a neurological disorder that don’t get diagnosed for a while because their symptoms aren’t as noticeable

• Characters with a neurological disorder that was never officially diagnosed

• Autistic characters who are fleshed out and don’t fit into stereotypes

• Autistic characters who fall in love

• Deaf characters who only use sign language and can’t lip read well

• Mute characters

• Parent/child relationships that are healthy and full of love

• POC in roles that combat their stereotypes

• Characters who speak many languages

• POC in the fantasy genre

• Historical dramas featuring LGBTQIA+, POC, disabled, mentally ill, etc. characters

• Realistic sibling dynamics

• Realistic portrayal of teenage relationships (I.e. not sexualized but also not acting like high schoolers only ever hold hands or smth)

• Potrayals of emotionally abusive relationships that seem okay at first

• Men being abused by their female partners and it being taken seriously

• Characters from the South who are liberal

• Characters from Appalachia who are intelligent and rich with personality, yet still have their accent and way of life

• Female spies and assassins who get what they want without seducing men

• (But also: Female spies and assassins who seduce women instead)

• Media where the main cast is all POC

• Middle Eastern representation that doesn’t fit into stereotypes or imply they are evil or terrorists

• Muslim characters who aren’t potrayed as evil

• Muslim girls who wear hijabs in media

• Media where the white guy is the villain

• Indian characters who don’t fit into stereotypes

• Characters from West Asia

• Black female characters who don’t play into stereotypes

• Black male characters who wouldn’t hurt a fly

• Black characters as doctors, lawyers, politicians, mayors, presidents, royalty, etc.

• Vegitarian/vegan characters who aren’t potrayed as annoying and who respect the lifestyles of others

• Villains who have tragic backstories, but are held accountable for their actions

• Stories without a villain

• Nerd girl x hot popular dude but they both have personalities that go beyond their stereotypes and the nerd girl never gets a transformation scene

• Nerd/jock dynamics, platonic and romantic, straight and gay

• Conventially attractive guy with a personality x girl who isn’t conventially attractive and also has a personality

• Characters getting called out on their privilege and realizing their mistakes

• Women who save their S.O.

• Giggles during confessions and kisses

• Men who confess in cheesy, awkward ways

• Men who confess to a woman and are rejected, but move on and stay friends with the woman

• LGBTQIA+ characters who confess to someone also LGBTQIA+ and are rejected, then move on and stay friends with that person AND have an actual relationship with someone else later

• Women who confess to men, ask them out, take the lead in the relationship

• Characters not forgiving someone who hurt them, even if they have become a better person, because they are still hurting

• Characters in abusive relationships who break up — later they meet up again and the abusive one has changed into a better person, but they don’t get back together

• Relationships (platonic or romantic) in which both characters treat each other badly and both are called out for it

• Characters with last trauma getting better but still having their trauma affect them in small ways

• Characters with PTSD being potrayed accurately

• Sociopaths and psychopaths being potrayed accurately and not as killers

• Characters with learning disabilities who are still intelligent

• Characters who are intelligent but have a hard time expressing it

• Characters with ADHD who still have personality and are potrayed accurately and are fleshed out

• Characters with OCD who potray lesser-known parts of OCD

• Characters who have triggers (not just triggers like guns or smth either, like a certain smell or the taste of a certain kind of bread or green socks or smth set them off)

• Characters who smoke but quit

• Characters who turn to drugs but find healthier ways to cope

• Poor characters spending money on themselves once in a while

• Depressed characters who are less creative when they’re more depressed or off meds

• Characters with anxiety who stay anxious but still overcome their fears

• Characters who take medicine and pills taking them and getting better

• Doctors who ignore problems being called out

• Characters being on their periods and it not being treated as a joke

• Characters who get injured and face a long path of recovery, but it isn’t the main storyline

• Characters with scars still being seen as beautiful, and not just to their love interest

• Aro characters who aren’t completely disgusted by love

• Characters who don’t want children but still are kind to them

• Couples getting married and never having children

• Adoption being normalized in media

• Characters who fit into more than one box (e.g. she’s a musical lover who also draws, and loves math, or he plays basketball but wants to be a politician)

• Nerdy men who don’t get the girl and are okay with it

• Nerdy men who respect women

• Nerdy women who are beautiful

• Nerd characters who don’t gatekeep when another character mentions they like the thing they’re nerdy about

• Male/male presenting characters who wear makeup

• Male/male presenting characters who wear makeup and are straight

• Characters being investigated by police who are innocent but still use their rights (don’t let the police search their house, don’t talk during the interrogation w/o a lawyer present, etc.)

• A man and a woman who dislike/hate each other still not liking each other by the end of the story (or, they’re friends in the end but not in love)

• Exes who are still friends and don’t get back together

• Exes who live together and don’t get back together

• A group of friends living together

• Characters who eagerly learn about a new culture and respectfully join in on an activity

• Single characters who stay single

• Characters who question their sexuality

• Characters who don’t use labels and just do what they want to do

• Twink/twink dynamics but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters

• Bear/bear dynamics but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters

• Twink/bear dynamics but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters and neither of them are referred to or act like the “male or female of the relationship”

• Butch/butch dynamics but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters

• Femme/femme but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters

• Femme/butch dynamics but they’re still both developed, multi-faceted characters and neither of them are referred to or act like the “male or female of the relationship”

• Love triangles that end in polyamory

• Love triangles that end in gay

• Love triangles that end in no couples at all

• Pedophilia being called out and punished

• A storyline that features grooming and punishes it

• LGBTQIA+ POC characters

• Medical dramas that are medically accurate and aren’t all about sex

• Characters will moles on their faces not being described as ugly

• Characters with big noses not being described as ugly

• Characters or different religions who practice their religion and celebrate their holidays in the story

• Stories about indigenous people

• Characters who aren’t conventionally attractive who aren’t defined by that and are still respected and loved

• Characters with tattoos that are just normal people and not part of a gang or smth

• Characters who change an opinion that has long defined them because of something they see, experience, or realize

• Teenage characters who don’t have much free time

• Teenage characters who have to ask permission before they go out and do things

• Black characters with natural hair

• Characters with dyed hair that are still very professional

• Stories that pass the Bechdel test

• LGBTQIA+ couples with kids, adopted or conceived with their genes or bodies

• Trans Female/Trans Male relationships

• Gay men and lesbian women in relationships with trans males and trans females respectively

• Stories that take place in modern day Africa, South America, Central America...

• Characters who are strong but not in skinny yet muscular way

• Overweight characters who are healthy that love their bodies

• Overweight characters who love their bodies but aren’t healthy and who try to treat their bodies better

• Overweight characters that love their bodies, period.

• Skinny characters who aren’t healthy and try to treat their bodies better

• Characters with realistically proportioned bodies

• Characters with freckles

• Female veteran characters

• Characters who are ignorant to their privilege and learn better

• Characters who are ignorant to their privilege despite trying not to be that learn better

• Christian characters who aren’t racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.

• Feminist characters who are men

• Female feminist characters who still fit into many traditional roles

• Female feminist characters who are empowered in other ways than sexually

• Men who are called out on objectifying women and change their behavior (and, if called out by a woman, who don’t get with the woman that called them out!)

• Characters with brown eyes having their eyes complimented and spoken poetically about

• Realistic female armor

• Elderly characters learning from young characters

• Romance for elderly and past middle aged characters

• Stories about older characters that aren’t about sickness or crazy mid-life crises

• Couples with children who divorce but stay friends and raise the children

• Divorce storylines that aren’t 100% angst and have a happy ending other than the parents getting back together

• Male characters who cry and aren’t viewed as less of a man for it

• Male characters who express their emotions healthily

• Characters who learn to express their emotions healthily

• Female characters who are strong and empowered yet still cry and have emotions

• Child characters that act like actual children

• High school dramas with actual high school drama

• Superhero movies and comics with female leads

• Groups of friends with a 50/50 f/m ratio

• Guy characters who are friends with lots of girls and see them as sisters

• Girl characters who are friends with lots of guys and see them as brothers

• Sisters protecting brothers

• Wives/girlfriends protecting husbands/boyfriends

• Femme characters protecting butch characters

• Twink characters protecting bear characters

• Traditonally feminine characters (female or male) who are still strong and can kick ass

• Feminine female/female presenting characters who don’t shave

• Male/male presenting characters in skirts and dresses

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head... definitely didn’t get everything or include everyone, so please add on if you think of more!!

And please, if I said anything problematic by accident, tell me!! Anything I said I wanted to see more of that featured a group I’m not a part of was based off things I’ve seen and heard people in those groups discuss. If I said anything that played into negative stereotypes or just doesn’t sound right, please do tell me. The point of this post is to be positive and fresh, not to say anything discriminatory or offensive. If I said anything that wasn’t my place to say, also please tell me. Anything problematic will be removed from the post.

If there’s anything you want me to explain why I want it, feel free to ask ^^

Edit: changed “ftm” and “mtf” to “trans males” and “trans females”.

[roidespd-blog]

Chapter Fourteen : G AS IN GAY

GAY… MEN ?

It is quite hard to tackle what gay is exactly as it looks simple enough but the specifics are way more complex. If I use it as an umbrella term, it covers men, women, trans men and trans women who happens to identify with this sexual orientation. Easy then. But the term “gay” was rejected by many lesbian women who wanted to forge an identity on their own aside from the shadows of homosexual men. So today, you can come out as a ‘gay woman’ but never use the word because it is still too broad and tight to people who are not exactly you and have more privileges. Also, and that’s the really interesting thing about it , the word gay has been favored by homosexual men most of all when describing their sexual orientation. And since I’m trying to cover everyone, I think it’s quite inevitable I begin dissecting what’s closest to one category. Consider this article about Gay Men — sorry, everyone else. You did or will get your due.

SEMANTICS

The word “Gay” is an english word which made its appearance in the 12th century. It comes from the very old french word “Gai”. “Gai” meant joyful, carefree or bright and showy. A meaning that was incorporated its english counterpart with the now famous Gay Nineties of late 19th century. Gay became a synonym of Homosexual in the 20th century. That’s when it got real sexual. Although to be fair, in certain circles, it was already the case, as someone gay could mean “addicted to pleasures and dissipations”.

One of my favorite movies of all time, Bringing Up Baby (1938) with the exquisite Katharine Hepburn, seems to be the first film to use “gay” in reference to homosexuality. Cary Grant is forced to wear a woman’s feather-trimmed robe when his clothes are sent to the cleaners. To that he says “I just went gay all of a sudden!”. And believe me, he was not in a carefree mood.

The earliest paper trail of the use of gay as homosexuals comes from Alfred A. Gross who said something so vile, I cannot NOT share it with you (as it shows how the world perceived, perceive and keep making us perceive ourselves) : “I have yet to meet a happy homosexual. They have a way of describing themselves as gay but the term is a misnomer. Those (…) are about the saddest people I’ve ever seen”.

If you really go into the specifics of what gay and straight mean, you see the world’s perspective of those “life choices”. Straight means seriousness, respectability, moral. Gay means uninhibited lifestyles and hedonistic values. And I’m not even gonna mention all the euphemisms that were created after the word gay. I already did in a previous article.

GAY AS AN IDENTITY

Gay as an “identity” is not something that is embraced by all. Some find it too clinical, focused more on the physical actions of one rather than his romantic feelings. Some rejects it because they see the undesirable cultural connotations and still-current negative slang usage of the word. Some loathes because it sounds too limited and box-like. I find it too broad and unfair to the rest of the community. Gay was for so long everyone in the community in the eyes of the general public. Because men were the most flamboyant and out there for so long, they overshadowed the rest of their brothers and sisters and appropriated the word for themselves, forcing the slow built of the acronym L G B T Q + (One letter at a time). As usual, men (as homosexual as they were) weren’t gonna let space for anyone else. Now, everything “gay” is a direct reference to homosexual men. A gay bar is mostly directed at bars with men. But let’s be real for a second. As GAY MEN, it is quite hard to forge ourself a proper “identity” with this word as its use has been turn so much against us.

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“That’s so gay” This pejorative usage had its origins in the late 1970, as homosexuality was seen (ahah, “was”) as inferior or undesirable. it is still a common phrase for people nowadays. I honestly can’t stand it. EVEN gay people use it and I’m not even sure they grasp the irony of their words. It harms the community by using a common phrase that spreads casual homophobia. Don’t do that, it’s LAME (see, another way to say things. Isn’t it nice?)

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Gay is not an identity. If you are a gay man, or an homosexual man (whatever the term you want to call yourself), you are describing your sexual orientation. Though it is part of your identity, you have a lot more to publicly claim that your love for cock — and if you can only define yourself as a cocksucker, well you’re more narrow than my top, almost-never-bottomed asshole.

“HOW DID YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF GAY YOU WERE ?”

PINK TRIANGLE

It is commonly accepted that a gay man needs to walk a certain way (or “funny”), talk a certain way (or “girly”) and dress a certain way (or “colorful” which can also describe their personalities). As television and cinema were slowly opening up to the idea of homosexuality, it was shown that a man who loves other man had to show it in every way possible. Be gayer that gay. What’s the point of all your fuss if we, straight people, can’t even recognize you ? The truth is, as I’ve said earlier, gay is not an identity. If you happen to be a homosexual, you identity traits should not be affected by it. Unfortunately, we are a group in constant renewal as we are not born into our community but later join it (or not). And since the world has mostly denied us existence, the only basic structure we have is the simplistic binary heterosexual perception the world has of us. The colorful ones.

Matt Bomer is gay. Liberace was gay. Do you see any specific identity traits between the two of them, beside their sexuality ? 

That doesn’t mean you can’t cultivate your feminine traits, be flamboyant and fabulous. But just like everything else, you need to be sure that you have this inside of you because it is you, not because you adapted to the heterosexual gaze. And that’s just the idea of gayness that has been cultivated by society in general. I now want to talk about the idea of gayness inside the “gay community” (by that I mean gay men).

2. GAY TRIBES

As I was researching the different gay tribes that a gay man can belong to (I don’t know then all by heart since I refuse to adhere to them in any away — although as a younger man I described myself as a bear trapped in the body of a twink), I immediately landed on an article from Fast Company called “An Illustrated Guide to Recognizing Your Gay Stereotypes”. The article was talking about the work of illustrator Paul Tuller who was “reclaiming and celebrating” the archetypes of the gay community. That made my blood boil into supernova-like temperature.

Among those illustrations were the following clichés :

The Bear (a husky, large man with a lot of body hair) The Twink (a typically younger, thinner, gay man with little or no body hair) The Twunk (a young gay man who had the face of a twink and the physique of a hunk — jesus…) The Otter (a typically thinner, hairier gay man) The Drag Queen (that is a JOB. Do you even understand your community ? shut the fuck up)

There’s also : the Daddy (a man who is usually middle-aged and had a more dominant personality) the Jock (a gay man with an athletic build who typically enjoys sports) the Geek (a gay man with deep and enthusiastic knowledge of one or more hobbies, activities, professional fields or intellectual pursuits) the Poz (someone who is HIV positive… ) the Discreet (a gay man who is not out) the Clean-Cut (that’s a way of grooming!) the Rugged (that’s ALSO a way of grooming!) The Leather (it’s not an identity itself since it refers to a sexual fetish but whatever)

Those are terms that you can find to describe yourself on dating apps like Grindr (you can only choose one, three if you pay premium access).

Gay man, do you recognize yourself in these ? Off course you do. You can even associate those terms at will and make a comprehensive description of the image you have of yourself and/or the one you want others to have of you. Unfortunately, we are never going to advance as a community and a movement if we keep trying to put our own in little boxes. I do not want someone to come over to me and assume that because I look young and I’m somewhat thin, he gets to fantasize about me or be interest in talking to me because I’m a twink. I don’t want to put into the world that I’m in pursuit of a Daddy Bear with Leather interest ! That’s offensive and reductive. Why are you willing to do to ourselves what others do to us ? Don’t you see that the 50-year old cliché of the Fabulous Gay with pink feathers coming out of his ass is just the grandfather of “The Tale of the Bear and the Otter” ? (just made up that name, I need to make a children’s book out of this). I honestly think that tribes inside a tribe are the most counterproductive artifacts a person can face and it kills the individuality one can have. That’s just my opinion.

I haven’t even talked out the body issues that comes with the fact that you are gay.

This is what you’re supposed to look like :

That’s the picture perfect image most gay men are looking for on dating apps. To some, if you don’t look like that, you’re not even worth looking at. I mean, I already talked about racism on another article, but this is different. This is what a young 16 year-old think is supposed to be desirable. That’s the goal. Sweet boy, most people don’t look like that. I have fat. I have a little belly. I’m not okay with it but I can’t really fight it. I also believe that the gay community, NOT society, gave me the impression that my body was not enough to be considerable good looking. Sure, I’m cute. But hot ? Never felt that way. If I was a heterosexual man, I do believe that I would not be subjected to that much scrutiny from my sexual partners. And if I feel like that, I’m sure I’m not the only one.

So, “How did you know what kind of gay you were” ?

Young gay boy, you don’t need archetypes to define what kind of gay you are. You need to define what kind of human you are and the rest will follow. Don’t fit into a category put together by the community just like, previous to that situation, you decided not to fit into the category society wanted to put you in (aka straight). It took me years to know that. Build an independent spirit that is not polluted by pre-conceived notions of gayness. I hope you let yourself grab that opportunity too.