#but i think the fact that they are non-poc x non-poc plays into it a lot more than people realize

[nathaniacolver]

supercorp shippers' obsession with having kara/melissa be swifties is directly correlated with the fact that it's a white x white ship and i won't take any other explanations. like i can't explain it but i also just did like. capisce?

[tiajk]

Little Miss Hamilton(I think i’m actually hilarious)

Masterlist

Warnings: reader is seen as the Hamilton of the crew, reader is implied to have powers but not have eaten devil fruit, Poc reader implied (brown skin, curly hair ), It’s a platonic mostly (hint of zosan x reader not a hint it’s plain a day), Cursing, pre time skip im mind, Best friends Nami & Ussop (such an underrated duo), Mostly the Anime in mind when writing this, no use of name or y/n, grammar errors (i js know there are)

A/n: Told you guys another fic would be out today (I love Hamilton) (if you watch Hamilton what’s your favorite song(s) mines are satisfied & Non-stop), you guys i wrote this with the worst stomach pain im gonna fucking die

Dividers from ; @y-yushin & @anitalenia

—It almost felt like a reward every single piece of it. Starting with the fact you were apart of the straw hat pirate crew. Luffy claimed that you were all the best including you. most of the time dismissing him with a smile and a small “thank you!!” Then going back to your books and writings. thinking back to the fights you’ve been though you were grateful for having your powers what was more important was knowledge knowing every single piece of information that you found valuable was important to you and you would do anything to obtain it. Even if that included staying up late at night sleeping all during the day which at first no one thought was odd just assuming you were like Zoro. At night was when you did your true calling the most knowledge obtained from the Stars making charts, maps, and hypothesis’s about the moon and why does it change every single night. Mind running through thousands of ideas on how. Most of the time you would ire yourself out so much that you would fall asleep on deck but someone would always awake in the night to check most of the time it was Sanji and Zoro. Whenever Zoro found you he would grumble stings of curses out of his mouth when he saw you. He didn’t understand why you would leave yourself out in the open just to get more information about the stars but he would rather die then let you sit out in the cold. Sanji was the same way he would find you most of the time after Luffy tries to sneak into the fridge and he can’t go back to sleep. Tonight is no different from the rest your slumped on the deck your book is closed secure so the wind wont open it with little bits of pages sticking out of it your notebook stacked on top as well. Sanji & Zoro both cant sleep tonight instead of arguing with each other the just drink and get to know each other better. Surprisingly there laughing together playfully bantering each other when Sanji’s expression changes and goes outside Zoro doesn’t know what he’s doing at first but then it clicks in his head you were probably asleep on the deck again. He follows Sanji out the kitchen door seeing Sanji picking you up bridal style already you look peaceful its like your boy knows that Sanji’s got you and that your safe. While he’s climbing up the stars when he passes zoro he stops “Can you get her books I would usually would get them but your here to help me this time”. He wants to roll his eyes but he can’t and for once he just listen maybe it’s the alcohol flowing through his system or maybe he knows how important your books are to you it’s your dream. During the day most of the time nami watched over you she would distract from your books claiming how you both needed a break. Dragging Ussop(he wanted to go) as you guys al go shopping and play a little dress up. By you guys its mostly nami and ussop finding clothes to give you and you to try on while they give you there opinions (Ussop has good fashion taste cant change my mind (u prob could but pls don’t). Nami Had this beautiful Long body con dress the base of the dress was a peachy pink with coral all over it the coral being in all different shapes the colors being blue, purple and ifferent shades of pink as well. “Go try it on it’s gorgeous and goes perfect with your skin tone ” taking the fabric from her hands you go to the dresseing room sort of excited to try it on. when you finished putting you examined your self in the mirror in the dressing room it was the perfect length on the floor but not enough to drag on your feet to annoy you but it hugged everywhere and it just felt perfect you didn’t really care if you have to go into debt for nami to buy this dress it would be worth it. While opening the door holding your hair in a low pony with no ponytail holder some curly staying in the front. Nami and Ussop mouth dropped to the floor when they saw you “What is it bad” you confidence going down slowly but it accelerates when nami says “It’s perfect on you we have to buy it it was literally made for you” you smile at her thanking her for the compliment “I agree it’s an amazing dress for you”.

—When going back in the dressing room as you put your other clothes on thinking what would Zoro and Sanji think about the dress you shiver at the thought of the reaction and shake it from your mind. When you guys head back to the ship it’s not loud and that worries you automatically as you speed up your pace to the going merry. Going to the kitchen is ur first stop and it was correct. You see Luffy, Sanji and Zoro all cooped up around something but you don’t know what “HMH” clearing your throat to get their attention. The all look in shock not expecting you to be there. Luffy hides the object behind his back “We thought you guys were still shopping?” “Well we're back now” You look at all three of the they seem nervous. Luffy is sweating hard “What do you have behind your back Luffy?” “Nothing” You don’t believe him so you place the shopping back on the counter and sit at the table with them “What’s the problem guys you seem nervous did i do something wrong?” They all looked at each other silently communicating “No we just don’t want you to get mad at us” it was really confusing why would you get mad? “I won’t promise” Luffy looks at you one more time just to make sure he brings the object in front of him and on the table it’s your book your book with everything in it. Part of you wants to get mad but you don’t “where did you find this?” “It was on the table fore you left I saw it and wondered what it was about didn’t know it was yours” Zoro states with his harms crossed looking at you “It’s okay but are any of the pages missing” you say examining every page that you could get your hands on slightly worried that some valuable information could be missing “No I made sure that nothing happened to it” Sanji blows the smoke out of his mouth “What happened?” Nami ask as she enters the room “Nothing just my books” Ussop comes behind you one of your books was open and he’s peeking at it over your shoulder “woah you wrote all of this?” you honestly didn’t think that it was a lot not enough knowledge so it wasn’t a lot. Nami comes and looks as well “Wow it really is a lot is that why your always up at night writing?” You start to feel a little bit on the spot which it doesn’t really matter that its you its just the subject “Yea but I could write more i dont feel like it’s enough” Zoro thinks to himself ‘what will be enough for her’ “Why it’s it not enough you write like your running out of time”…………

Part 2 coming soon ( i couldn’t finish my stomach hurts and it feels like i have the throw up)(update i threw up and i’m sick ass hell)

[aliypop]

That's Alright for Such a Night

(Rewrite Chapter 3)

Word Count: 2.742

Writers Note: So far I'm enjoying rewriting this

Warning: mostly fluff / Historic Language and Values

Pairing: POC OC x Elvis

Plot: During the Louisiana Hayride two breakout stars meet in a rush only to learn they've dealt their cards in the hands of fate.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

  Memphis, Tennessee,1955

"How would you like to consider headlin' for Elvis and The Blue Moon Boys?"Hank Snow asked. Cecelia had tried her hardest not to blow her cool. Besides, he was the second Hank she wanted to meet. 

" Why do you ask?" Cecelia questioned, Elvis still standing by her side.

"Well, you're a crowd-pleaser if I ever did see one." He laughed, "Course, you'll need a bit of rebranding, a band even." He smiled at Cecelia as she looked at Elvis, who had a big smile on his face,

"So whaddya think Ms. Valmos, Mrs. Valmos," Hank looked at both women, waiting for an answer. 

"Seems you've got yourself a done deal," Cecelia said as she shook Hank's hand.

"And I'll be there too." Midge merged into the conversation, causing Cecelia to groan. Did anyone think she was capable alone on her own?

Nashville, Tennessee, August 21st,

"TIME TO GO!" Midge shouted, knocking on the front door of Valmos Manor. It was two in the morning, but Cecelia was up and ready and dressed. Rollers were still in her hair as she had on her scarf, "Good morning Elvis..." she said, a bit sleepy, as she kissed her poster.

"STOP KISSIN THAT DAMN POSTER!" Midge said for all of Tennessee to hear from the porch. Great, now Cecelia was both tired and humiliated. Walking down the hall with her suitcase in hand, she made a trip to the guest room, which was where Rosa had still been 

"Sleeping." Rosa softly shouted, turning again in the soft bed. 

"Midge is waiting outside." Cecelia groaned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Let her wait." Rosa laughed, "It's our tour anyway."

"One, it's not "our" tour. We're headlining. Two, we have a long drive, so get up!"

"Does it matter?"

"You'll miss Scotty naked," Cecelia smirked, 

 Rosa tripped on the floor, rushing to get ready. A naked Scotty Moore was all Cece had to say. Rosa brushed her teeth, washed her face, and doused herself in perfume. Midge, however, had been honking her horn non-stop, telling the girls it was time to leave.

 Behind Midge were Scotty, Bill, and Sam, with Elvis in the passenger seat, combing his hair in the mirror. Sometimes, Midge wondered if he was vain or if he admired looking nice. 

Midge looked at her niece, who had already been sleeping against the window. She had black hair like her mother, green eyes like her father's, and very light skin to the fact she was damn near close to passing, but those weren't the reasons she was sitting in the passenger seat. It was because she could play the bass fiddle and carry a note. Daphane was the secret weapon for the tour.

"There is no trace of a naked Scotty Moore," Rosa growled at Cecelia, who was putting her suitcase in the trunk and saying to herself it was too early for this.

"Please get in the car." Cecelia wailed. 

"Okay, okay. Rosa threw her bags in the trunk, her head turned back as she heard a horn.

"Hiya, sweetheart." Scotty winked as Rosa waved back at him. Both Midge and Cecelia wondered what that girl saw in him.

"Do you mind if I help you with your bags?"

"I wouldn't mind at all." Cecelia gulped as she saw Elvis walk over. Even at two in the morning, the boy had the nerve to look so beautiful. Oh, how God cursed him to look so dashing.

 "You look pretty," Elvis said. Even without makeup, she was an angel. And under the fluorescent street lights. How did God make such a beautiful girl, and how was he so lucky to gaze at her and smell her rose-scented perfume? 

 "You do, too. I mean not pretty, but beautiful, I mean handsome!" Cecelia's stomach growled as Elvis let out a laugh. She was charming, shy a little, but it was cute. When he heard her stomach growl, Elvis had pulled out a half-eaten sandwich, 

"Would you like some? I wasn't gonna finish it, no way." Elvis had said, lying a little, but he could always eat. It was about appeasing this little lady that was more important.

"What's on it?"

"Banana's peanut butter and bacon," Elvis said, shrugging his shoulders. Cecelia was hesitant as she took a bite. Surprisingly, the texture wasn't bad, And the peanut butter leveled out the salt and sweet. Leaning over for another bite, Elvis looked at her, "You want the rest?"

"Yes, but I owe you breakfast." Cecelia smiled at him, taking the sandwich as they got in their cars,

 "Do I even want to know who gave you that sandwich?" Midge asked, shaking her head. Usually, she'd lecture her about taking things from strangers, but the last time she checked, she wasn't Denise. 

"It was Elvis Aaron Presley~" Rosa sang as Cecelia blushed, "Ooh yall are swappin' spit already." 

"Can it, RoSa!" Cecelia blushed, flustered in the face. 

The first few hours were peaceful. The girls were all asleep, and Midge was lost and alone in her thoughts. The radio was playing Only You, and the sky was still glittered with stars. Midge was in the zone. But behind Midge was the bachelor mobile, known as Elvis and the boys with their blazingly loud music. Elvis was strumming his guitar along to the beat of the song Speedo. Bill was asleep, and Scotty couldn't wait for morning so someone else could drive. After all, he could only actually see good out of one eye.

The sun was rising and hot, with a chilly undertone of fall. The girls all started to stir like little creatures, and Midge knew. They'd be hungry.

Arkansas, 1955

"Good morning, girls." Midge said, parking into a diner she had seen on an exit sign.Cecelia and Rosa took the rollers out of their hair. If she hadn't packed her makeup bag, she'd been putting that on too, but as the two were about to head out all they heard was a high-pitched scream.

 "CECELIA VALMOS IS ON MY AUNTS CAR!"

"Midge. Who's this?" Cecelia asked, blinking a bit at how loud she was.

" Daphane Fontana, my niece and the third member of Cecelia and The Garnets." Midge shrugged, 

"YOU'RE SO PRETTY IN PERSON AND I KNOW ALL YOUR SONGS AND-"

Cecelia applied lipstick while turning her scarf into a bow around her neck. 

"Welcome aboard." Cecelia smiled, opening Daphane's door.

 Rosa was already out linking arms with Scotty and peppering him kisses,

"We're going to jail," Cecelia mumbled, 

"Oh, lighten up." Rosa grinned, 

"Fine, but I'm not responsible for you if you get caught! It is 1954 you know!" Cecelia sighed, rubbing her temples, Rosa gave her the finger as Cecelia growled in anger, she sometimes cared way too much. 

 "Handful already?" Elvis asked,

"Rosa and her antics, not to mention Daphne, who's a fan of mine, and supposedly I'm responsible for making sure she knows every word and note in the songs." she groaned," Pres, I wanna go to sleep and eat until I combust," she pouted as she was lying in his lap. The breath in his body left him. He didn't know where to put his hands except for her cheek. Was that normal for a guy to touch a lady he was getting to know?

"Uh, Cece."

"Hmm." Her tired eyes looked up at him. 

"It's kinda hot out here."

"Oh, right."

 Elvis helped her up as they began walking into the restaurant. They had gotten stared down, but Elvis didn't Care. Of course, Arkansas was nothing like Louisiana or Beale Street, but it still shouldn't have mattered who he was walking in with. Besides money was green and everyone had it,

"We'll catch up with you after breakfast." Cecelia smiled. Daphane, Rosa, and Midge all walked toward the colored side of the restaurant,

"You sure," Elvis asked as Cecelia nodded. They sat down at the table in the back. Cecelia could hear the millions of girls screaming. A soft chuckle left her throat as she saw the look of the younger black patrons whispering to each other.

     "That's Cecelia Valmos..."

                   "Cecelia Valmos...."

                                           "Wait, and Rosa Calhoun..."

"Would you like an autograph or photo... They'll last longer." Cecelia asked as a herd of teenagers gathered around them, 

"This is Daphne, by the way. She's a part of our new group, Cecelia and The Garnets," Rosa introduced her as she was signing menus, napkins, and even hands. 

Looking over her shoulder, Cecelia had caught a glimpse of Elvis. Girls nearly threw themselves at him, and guys tripped to get to him. Midge saw the look in her eye as she knew what would happen. A riot, 

"You're going to cause trouble, kid." Midge laughed, watching Cecelia fluff out her curls some more.

"Eh, sue me." she shrugged,

"CECELIA VALMOS!!!!!" 

Who knew that many white teenagers knew of her existence? Elvis took a deep breath as he stood next to Midge. Exhausted at his newfound fame. 

"This is your fault, Presley."

"I didn't do nothin..." He gave her, his charming smile as she laughed, 

"I'm too old for you and married Casanova." Midge joked as he laughed with her,

"Do your parents know? I sing to you in your rooms every Saturday night." Cecelia laughed, flirting with the guys as Elvis's cheeks got red, 

"She could sing to me every night." 

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that..." Midge laughed yet again. 

"ELVIS PRESLEY !!!!!" 

And there it was, the sea of black teenagers mixing in with the white teenagers, and suddenly, it was a notion of being asked to leave, 

"Is this going to be my life now?" Daphane asked

"That's a great question kid." Midge shook her head,

"So, is that a no-go on breakfast?" Elvis questioned as Scotty groaned, 

"Do you only think about food?"

"Sometimes I think about girls too." Elvis laughed. 

"There's a McDonald’s, and when we get there, all you are staying in the car!" Midge grumbled. 

As their journey continued, it was nightfall again, and they had a small one-night concert in the city. Daphane was going through music. and what outfit to wear. Rosa was somewhere necking Scotty in the dressing room, and then there was Cecelia, sitting outside looking at the stars. 

"Nervous?" Elvis asked, sitting next to her, the wind blowing the scent of his cologne her way, 

"A little." she sighed,

"Wanna tell me what's on your mind,"

"It's nothing, kid," she looked at him, 

"Kid..." he laughed, "Cece, I'm probably older than you,"

"Oh yeah when's your birthday." she chuckled,

"January 8th, 1935," Cecelia gasped as her eyes got wide, 

"What's wrong."

"I'm January 7th, 1935!" she grins, "Which makes me older than you by a day!"

"Eh, you're just one-day-old expired milk." He playfully rolled his eyes at her. The two laughed and carried on. She was amazing from what he had seen of her so far. She was gutsy, brave, classy, yet funny, all the things that made him fall in- 

"Elvis..."

"Yeah, what's wrong..."

"What if I go out there and they hate us." 

"Well, I don't hate ya, so there's that." he winked at her as she playfully shoved her. 

"You're nervous 'cause you care about what you're doing."

"I guess you're right..." she smiled. Elvis booped her nose as she blushed,

" I know I'm right. If you didn't care about the music you do, you wouldn't be here." he smiled as his hand began tickling her ribs and she doubled over laughing. She was ticklish! 

This was going to be a field day for him. He kept going as she kept laughing harder. Cecelia would get him back. Both of their laughter filled the great outdoors. Cecelia was on top of him, taking note of some of the skin of his stomach being exposed,

"Don't you dare..."

"Ticklish there, Mr. Presley."

"Very..." shit, why would he say that!

Cecelia took her soft hands and began to tickle him as he tried to hold back his laughter. Her thighs were on both sides of him as she focused on getting him to laugh, "Cece! Stop!" he kept laughing, tears in his eyes as he then went back to her hips, causing her to nearly collapse again in laughter. Their faces were nearly inches away. She could feel his wavering breath on her lips, and he could feel hers on his ear. The moon was full and beautiful. Stars shining. But all he could focus on was the angel on top of him. Elvis was a devil in disguise. Cecelia was now on her back, looking into his hypnotically appealing eyes. 

"Hi there..."

"Hello..." she flipped him back over. She didn't know what was taking over her, but something told her she had to do this, Cecelia leaned closer, 

"I shouldn't..."

"Shouldn't what?" 

"Cecelia, where are you? Ceceli- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO -"

Both Elvis and Cecelia got off each other as Midge shook her head.

"Tickle fight!"

"Tickle fight my ass..." Midge groaned, "You're not even dressed." 

"Earth Angel, Earth Angel..." Cecelia was in the dressing room singing as they were getting ready to head to the motel, "Will you be mine..." Rosa noticed how she was giggling,

 "What's gotten into you?" Daphne asked.

"I might have, uh almost kissed Elvis..." Cecelia said to Daphne.

"You did what!" Scotty looked at Elvis,

"I didn't kiss her," Elvis blushed hard, "Well, we almost kissed," he smirked, fixing his hair in the dressing room.

"I mean, you can kiss your friends, right?" Cecelia asked,

"I mean... I've kissed Scotty in places that I would consider very friendly." Both Daphne and Cecelia gagged, 

"I mean, I've kissed Rosa..." Scotty smirked as Elvis laughed,

"By kiss, you mean fucked her Scotty," Elvis laughed harder,

"Yes, mother, of course not mother." The concert was finished for the night, and both bands found themselves in a hotel, bought with the money Denise had stowed away. "Everything's fine. We should be in Texas by tomorrow, noon time." Cecelia sighed. She couldn't sleep, so here she was, taking a call at 4 a.m. in the hotel lobby.

 "I'll be sure to get some sleep." She then hung up the phone. Curling up in a chair, Cecelia went back to reading her comic books while also reading the horrid articles Jet had said about her. It broke her heart. 

"Can I join you?"

"Sure it's an open area." Cecelia shrugged until she saw Elvis tuning his guitar, 

"You like comics?"

"Yeah." she looked up at him,

"Well, I got a question for ya then."

"Hit me with it,"

"Okay, so do you think Captain Marvel Jr. could kick supermans ass?" Elvis asked, 

"Realistically, no, Superman would throw him further than the rock of eternity. Now, Batman, he could kick his ass!" she grinned as Elvis held onto his heart,

 "That raises the question, Wonder Woman vs. Batman?"

"Wonder Woman. She's a demi-goddess, and Batman is human, but with that said, he has an advantage because he's human. But if we're talking, Jay Garrick for the win."  

"Guess you got a point there," he laughed, "But I still think Captain Marvel Jr. Would win." She laughed hard as she looked at him, 

"If that keeps you up at night." She shrugged, 

"Say what's keeping you up at night." 

"I don't know." She looked at him, "I'm a bit worried."

"Worried?"

"You wouldn't get it..." 

"Try me," he was by her foot like a puppy,

"I guess I'm worried about how people may perceive me." she sighed. 

"Perceive you?" 

"Yeah, my mother wants me to have the girl next door image... Doris Day, but I like Peggy Lee," she smiled, "She's classy but edgy" Elvis smiled,

"I wanna be the Rita of music, or Lena Horne on camera, or gutsy and funny like Lucille Ball!" she sighed, 

"I wanna be so many things but." 

"But what, you wanna make a name for yourself, and be all those things, don'tcha." 

She nodded, 

"Well, I wanna be the next James Dean." 

"I once got a kiss from him," she giggled, "I think you can do it!"

"What kiss ya better than James Dean?"

"No, be the first you." She looked at him, "I mean, you gotta follow that dream I guess." Cecelia smiled,

"You need to take your advice to Cece. You're so confident in yourself. And also not."

"That's not true!"

Taglist: If you wanna be tagged let me know!

@darkmoviesquotespizza

@sissylittlefeather

@richardslady121

@thegettingbyp2

@presleyenterprise

@sissylittlefeather

@dkayfixates

@rjmartin11

@thetaoofzoe

MORE TO COME IN CHAPTER 4

[sloth-babied]

The Problem is You

Shuri x POC reader

Summary: You befriend Queen Shuri after you start working in her lab as a foreign student. However, she starts avoiding you after you start seeing a boy.

Contains: Fluff, a bit of angst, and some good ol’ hand touching.

Word count: 2033

Notes: The reader is non-confrontational, slightly awkward, and an idiot despite being a literal genius. Enjoy!

You were intimidated by Shuri at first. Understandably so as she was Wakanda’s head scientist and queen of Wakanda. You worked as an assistant in her lab for volunteer hours. Your university had STEM programs abroad and Wakanda became one of the more recent locations to allow foreign students. Amazed by Wakanda’s advanced technology, you couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Lucky for you, you became one of the rare students who got to work side-by-side with Queen Shuri Udaku.

Initially when you met Shuri, you kept things formal. You’d say, “Yes, Queen Shuri,” and “No, Queen Shuri,” and “My apologies, Queen Shuri,” all of which Shuri was fond of, but halted about two weeks in when she realized you would not stop.

One day when you were alone in the lab working on recalibrating one of Shuri’s nanotech suits, she snuck behind you, looking over your work. “When do you think you’ll be done?”

Your body flinched, making her grin.

“Uh, two days should suffice, my queen,” you told her as you concentrated looking through the microscope. You observed how the nanoparticles reshaped and reformed.

You heard her chortle before she leaned on the table you were working on. “You know you don’t have to call me ‘queen’ every time.”

Dropping the probing tool, you quickly moved your head away from the microscope to face her. “Oh, god, I’m sorry, did I–did I offend you in any way? W-What would you rather have me call you? I wasn’t informed of anything other than referring to you as–”

“Woah, woah, calm down,” Shuri chuckled again, putting her hands out to stop you from babbling. “I just feel like we’ve spoken enough that you don’t have to be so…formal all the time. We’re friends, no?”

Your brows raised. You didn’t know she considered you a friend. You thought she was just nice to everyone. Maybe you should have realized she wanted your friendship based on how much she joked around with you in the lab.

You nodded, shifting your weight from one foot to the other. “Okay. Uhm…what do you want me to call you?”

She smiled humorously. “My name is just fine. And drop your shoulders, you look tense.” She said, softly pushing your shoulders down, which you didn’t know were raised in the first place.

Ever since then the two of you officially became friends, both inside and out of the lab. She invited you on your own mini tour around Wakanda. She treated you to different Wakandan foods in town, even though you profusely told her you wanted to pay her back. Each time you did, she would deny your offers by waving her hand and saying, “Colonizer nonsense.” 

Not to mention the fact that she was the queen of the wealthiest nation in the world.

Something you liked about Shuri was the way she touched you. Every time she laughed, her hand would find your shoulder or she would lean in closer to you, brushing her body against yours. Whenever she hugged you, she would rub your back. When you sat around having deep conversations, she would randomly play with your fingers.

Working with her was more than lab hours–it was spending time with someone you had grown to care about so deeply. 

That’s why it hurt when she wasn’t around as much. Perhaps that was your fault.

Not long ago you mentioned to Shuri that there was another transfer student working in her lab that you had feelings for, though she didn’t show any signs of distaste. In fact she properly introduced you to him. She said she was happy to do it, or so she made you think. You and the student soon became friends, but you felt there was a strong possibility for more. And yet, something was telling you to slow it down, especially after the distance between you and the queen grew more apparent.

Instead of directly confronting Shuri about–what you hope–isn’t her avoiding you, you bake her chocolate chip cookies as a reason to see her. 

When night falls, you find yourself standing outside of Shuri’s room with a container of cookies in your hands. You tell the Dora Milaje guard, “I’m here to see the queen, if that’s okay.”

Before she could respond, Shuri comes out a few seconds after hearing your muffled voice through her bedroom door.

“It’s okay, they can come in.” She tells her. 

The guard gestures the Wakandan salute to Shuri before moving out of your way. You enter Shuri’s room, and the door slides shut behind you. You examine her room while removing your shoes. After all the time you spent with each other, you never once stepped foot in her bedroom before. You look at the hand-woven Wakandan mat beside her bed and the dim purple lights hanging on her walls. Her curtains are still open, but the room is mostly dark. The city lights subtly radiate into her room, and the moon shines on her bed. 

“You can hear the city from here,” you comment as you walk closer to her window.

“Oh,” Shuri heads to the window. When her finger hovers over the glass, a holographic screen appears. “I can turn off exterior noises if it bothers you.”

You shake your head immediately. “No, don’t! I like it. Unless you don’t like it, then…” You trail off.

“I like it,” she simply says. She waves the screen away and shoves her hands in her pockets before walking over to her messy bed to sit on.

The atmosphere is awkward, but it doesn’t erase the strange feeling that emerges in your chest; a feeling similar to the one you got with the boy you liked. However this feeling felt indescribably right, especially when you notice the light of the moon perfectly laying on her face. Her dark eyes glisten, and her brown skin is blue under the moonlight. You take a deep breath.

“So what brings you here?” Shuri asks, plopping her hands on her lap. 

You shake your head out of the trance you were in.

“Right!” You walk over to hand her the container. “I made you cookies.”

Shuri looks at them in your hands then up at you. One side of her lips turn upward.

“You came all the way here from your campus to give me cookies?” She asks jokingly while taking the container off your hands. “You could have texted me about it. I would’ve sent someone to bring it here.”

You put one of your hands into the pocket of your jacket. Your other hand goes to scratch the back of your neck.

“I don’t know,” you shrug, “I guess I just needed an excuse to see you.” You mentally scold yourself for sounding so sentimental.

Shuri looks down at the cookies to hide the somber expression on her face. There’s a semi-long pause in the room that both of you notice. 

“Try one,” you break the silence. “Tell me what you think.”

Shuri opens the container and takes a cookie out. She looks back up at you when she takes a bite out of it. She nods while furrowing her brows as she chews. 

You give her an expectant look. “So? What do you think?”

She continues to nod when she finishes chewing. “Terrible,” she jokes. 

“Terrible?!” You chuckle. You steal a cookie from the container and take a bite. “This is amazing, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you say with your mouth full.

Shuri chuckles too, but the solemn look in her eyes doesn't go away. You expect her to elaborate on the cookies when she opens her mouth to speak: “Did you ask him out yet?”

Oh.

You sigh before taking another bite of your cookie. “Not yet,” you say. “I don’t know. Should I?”

You don’t know why you’re asking her that. Her opinion shouldn’t matter in your romantic relationships. Your eyes shoot down to the floor, one foot of yours sliding right and left on Shuri’s mat. She doesn’t answer.

“I don’t know,” you repeat. “He’s really nice. And funny.” You’re so unconfident in everything you say. “I mean…I don’t know.”

You really don’t know. You knew an hour ago. What happened?

Shuri takes the cookie in your hand and drops it back in the container. She watches you fidget. “What don’t you know? Don’t you like him?”

“I do,” you answer. 

Your eyes don’t meet hers. They still don’t when she reaches for your hand and starts playing with your fingers. You faintly see the tattoo on her hand and feel your heart thumping in your chest. 

“Then what’s the problem?” She leans forward, tilting her head to get a better look at your face.

That’s the question, isn’t it? What is the problem? Maybe the problem is her tenderly dragging her nail against your middle finger. Maybe the problem is her slowly dragging her thumb up to your palm. Maybe the problem is not being able to muster up an answer you could have come up with without Shuri around. 

To your mistake, you finally look back at her. Your shadow covers some of her face; her genuinely concerned face. You inhale deeply when you notice the moonlight hitting her left eye. In a frozen state, you get caught up in its twinkle; your own star right in front of you. You get caught up in the heartaching crinkle in her brows. And the way her head leans in makes you wish she could lean in just a bit closer. 

You get so caught up in analyzing the details on Shuri’s face that she suddenly gets up. She stands over you, firmly placing her hands on your arms in a worrisome manner.

“Did he do something to you?”

You rapidly shake your head. “No! No, no, no. He didn’t do anything like that, I promise.” You reassure her as you remove her hands from your arms. The grip you have on her wrists remains.

“Then what’s stopping you?” She questions you more. 

Without your permission, your eyes flick to her lips then back to her eyes. Shuri doesn’t fail to notice where your eyes land. She looks at your lips too, though she doesn’t do anything. She refuses to get her hopes up. Instead she nods and removes her wrists from your hands as she takes a step back from you. In spite of that, you take an impulsive step forward. Consequently, Shuri falls back on her bed, catching herself with her hands. She looks up at you, merely waiting for whatever action you commit to next.

To be frank, you have no idea what you’re doing. You have no idea what you’re doing when you grab her hand, and you still have no idea what you’re doing when you tilt your head and lean in to peck her lips. After you register what you just did, you quickly move your head away, hoping you didn’t cross any boundaries, but Shuri takes advantage of her hand in yours and pulls you back in for another kiss. Her soft lips instantly make you forget what you were talking about. Her other hand finds its way to your jaw and caresses your cheek with her thumb. Her hand–previously in yours–moves to your back to pull you onto her lap. Her hand slides up your back to your neck then down to your waist giving you a gentle squeeze. 

Unsure where to put your hands, you settle them on her cheeks, and god, you never wanna pull away. Unfortunately Shuri does. There’s a grin on her face when she looks at you, and now you feel yourself become embarrassed. You smile and cover your face, but Shuri removes your hands from it while she lets out a soft laugh.

“You need to start being more direct,” She shakes her head in amusement.

The only thing you could do was hide your face between her neck and shoulder, muffling out an, “I know.” 

She caresses your back one more time before kissing you again. She pulls away once more. “You better not go out with that boy after this.”

You giggle and so does she. 

[legendheroes]

Welcome, this blog is full on delusional and crossover art/stuff between the Digimon TV series protags. Ah, and stuff from that peculiar XW AU setting i didn't shut up about on my artblog last year LOL.

Expect chaos and shitposts here. Also some canon divergence because some series i didn't rewatch for a long long time ago.

There's only love and unhinged energy here. Daisuke might be present in most of those because yeah, i love this kiddo a lot.

I won't tolerate any series/game/manga hate in this space. If you don't like any of them, please unfollow/block me instead.

Askblog → @tomorrows2top Artblog → @digitalgate02

Call me Ni (she/they), btw. Please be over 18+ to follow this blog, since some stuff might be not recommended for minors (mostly language, i don't draw/write NFSW/smut stuff). And don't steal or edit my stuff please! If you don't agree with my headcanons or ideas please politely block or mute this account 💦 I accept fact checking/corrections, but as long they're done in a non-passive-aggressive or non-mockery sense. And yeah, my English my not be perfect as well (and i can only read kanji and so little stuff in Japanese, having to double check stuff with friends with better skills than mine orz)

Blog status: lurking

↓ Some important things to be said regarding asks are below the cut ↓

I won't write/draw AUs or Stories/Fanfictions, OCs or even headcanons/theories from other people. Even the old ones i've collaborated with i prefer to not touch them again (because, i lost contact with people and also lost all the posts/details of them )

Please avoid sending me many of "what do you think of [X]" questions because sometimes those kiiiinda make me get no idea what to answer, or perhaps i've been answered/posted something related to it before. Even so, if you would like to send one of those, first check if i hadn't answered it or something similar to it first!

At this moment, this blog is me being delusional about the AU thingy on the pinned post. Most of those posts might be about them.

My memory is foggy about certain series, so if i end up misremembering something... Yeah, please contact me asap.

I know i've said this on countless accounts but, I have little to zero knowledge of the American dub, so my portrayal/answers/headcanons/etc are all based on the original Japanese version and sometimes stuff borrowed from the BRPT dub (which is mostly the same as the original JP for most of the series -- except Fusion). So please, don't assume that I had watched the US dub or that I am American.

My stance on the digimon (monsters) are that there's more than one of each species within the multiverse. So, Daisuke's V-mon/Magnamon, OG & Reboot Taichis' Agumon/Omegamon and Takato's Guilmon/Dukemon are not related to the Royal Knights.

I will follow all canon material if possible when working with canon versions of the characters, BUT only what i can work with. If something gets in conflict with the main TV series (Adv99-02-Tamers-Frontier-Savers-XW-Appmon-Adv2020-GG) i will reject the contradictions and use only the stuff not affected or influenced by it. Basically playing with the idea the events we know in certain media are played differently in-universe, adopted from Pixiv Dictionary. Explained better by Shiha in this post here.

I don't like passive-aggressiveness. If you have something to correct in my posts, please do it politely.

Usual common etiquette -- No hatred towards people's religions, sexual/romantic orientation, gender (or lack of), PoC, ethnicities, etc. I won't hesitate to block if needed.

Do not edit my art or repost it. If you wanna use it as an icon/sidebar, ask first. And no, you cannot use my art on A/I & N/F/T for ANYTHING. If you do that, I will block you immediately.

If you like, ship them in the age of the AU setting, please don't ship the adults with the minors. I beg you to not tag me in anything suggestive about 20yo!Daisuke/Tagiru. Please. (however i do accept any adult Daisuke/Takato and adult Takuya/Daisuke SFW content.)

[my-darling-boy]

Genuinely asking, isn't self-diagnose with a condition kind of dangerous? Because legitimizing self-diagnosing opens a door to many malicious people who would want to exploit the fact they can self-diagnose? And in turn, make the space of autistic people worse?

Was going to skip this, but I’m writing a LONG response because I’m VERY exhausted with the amount of misinformation I see on this “self dx is dangerous” take, so buckle up and allow me to info dump.

Recently, authentic_autism_advocacy, an Instagram account run by a supposed medically diagnosed autistic woman was discovered to be a non-autistic woman, Connie Manning, posing as a medically diagnosed autistic person to spread hate and anti-self diagnosing speech. In reality, she is a neurotypical mother who regularly uses her autistic son for clout; she also turned out to have a hand behind CalmWear, a brand of sensory compression products designed for disabled people. Not only had she been spewing hatred towards other autistic people, she had been accusing well known AFAB autistic tiktokers like beckspectrum of faking being autistic and threatening self diagnosed autistics and saying they are a danger to the community, and engaging in other incredibly discriminating behaviour. Yes, she herself was a neurotypical person posing as a medically diagnosed autistic to perpetuate hateful rhetoric about self diagnosed people and used her voice to speak OVER autistic folk for financial gain and exploitation of autistic people, including her own son. If you want to read this roller coaster of a story, an autistic person wrote an entire article on it with tons of screenshots and sources.

So let me make one thing clear to you.

The purpose of actually, genuinely self diagnosing is not done to attract attention or to parade around and exploit other autistic people. Self diagnosed autistic individuals have recognised due to difficult life circumstances, financial hardship, bigotry and stigma within the medical/legal world, being a minor, lack of insurance, lack of proper access to safe care facilities, being denied assessment due to incompetent or biased practitioners, and/or any other obstacle that they may temporarily or permanently be barred from diagnosis. Self diagnosis does NOT instantly mean a person is posing for clout, nor does it indicate a person is trying to wring money from assistance services or exploit other autistics. And nts who use self diagnose with intentions of harming the community? That’s NOT self diagnosis, that’s abuse of something meant to aid people blocked from medical care or financial means to that care. All we can do for autistic people, no matter who we perceive them to be, is treat them the same way we would any other autistic person. Because the moment you start deciding by your own book who deserves respect and who doesn’t, you’ll be on a slippery slope to locking out thousands of autistic people from the community. If it’s discovered a person like Connie is literally abusing the system of self dx to intentionally mislead the community, by all means, we must hold them accountable. But you cannot simply go about granting and revoking access from people just because someone lacks a diagnosis or doesn’t fit your idea of what being autistic looks like, especially if it’s based on stereotypes.

Moral of the story? Isn’t it ironic how anti-self dx people will 100% believe a user who claims to be medically diagnosed but shows no “written proof” of it, yet always demand written proof from a self dx person? It’s almost like even anti-self dx people can’t tell the difference between someone who is medically diagnosed autistic and someone who isn’t. Well, that’s because they can’t. While there might be common traits, autism has no set model, it is a spectrum, no autistic person is alike; Policing self diagnosed people about their self diagnosis isn’t a form of protecting the community. It’s a form of gatekeeping. If you find yourself granting instant acceptance, without asking for proof, to a person insisting they are medically diagnosed like this neurotyical mother, but then prohibit self dx people from entry entirely on the grounds of not showing proof of medical assessment, you are upholding a double standard. This is why policing autistic people’s diagnosis, self or not, is inherently useless.

So here’s the thing... instead of asking people to stop self diagnosing, what you should instead be asking yourself is, “Why do people self diagnose? What kind of medical system could possibly be in place where people feel they need to resort to self diagnosis rather than get an actual diagnosis?”

Well, it’s mainly common knowledge among most of the autistic community that diagnosis is NOT easy to come by.

One of the main reasons why people cannot get a diagnosis is due to financial/insurance reasons. It’s reasonable to estimate that by the end of 2020 almost 30 million Americans alone were without health insurance. I’ve heard costs out of pocket for an autism diagnosis are between $500-$6000. If a person or a family cannot afford health insurance—which by the way on average is around $5,400 a year for a single person and $13,800 for a family here—where are they supposed to pull out $6,000 to get screened?

You might be asking, “Well aren’t insurances supposed to cover disability?” Sure, there are options for disability care through health insurance—not even going to get into that—but like a lot of things in the US, this is a severely flawed system. A lot of private health insurance will stop or limit coverage for an autism diagnosis or assistance services once a person reaches 18 to 21 years old. In most states, coverage has a higher chance of being denied to autistic adults coming with the added age cap or ONLY covering ABA, an abusive, manipulative “therapy” used to force social compliance and trait suppression on autistic people. The fact that ABA, a conversion therapy, is covered, but little else, shows exactly what insurance companies think of autistic people: they’ll only cover us if we want to learn to be “normal”. This can leave many undiagnosed autistic adults who cannot afford analysis, insurance, or safe assistance services with nowhere to turn. If I was not on my parents’ insurance, there is NO WAY I would EVER be able to afford a diagnosis. I don’t have $2,000 lying around. The MONEY ALONE would prohibit me from getting a diagnosis, no matter how many autistic traits I presented.

When I was going through this system years ago to start a diagnosis, I was shocked to find no therapist within three hours of me was accepting adult patients. “Up to 18 only” their websites would say. And in the event I had found one (1) that accepted me as a then 20 year old with X insurance, and that person refused me diagnosis, I would be out of options unless I planned a 5 hour drive which may have also led me to another biased screener. A person seeking self financed assessment can waste thousands of dollars therapist hopping.

People will say, “Well I live in X place, and where I come from, it’s covered!” Well the reality is that everyone in the world does not live where you live. It’s not realistic to assume everyone is in the same position as you or your family to afford care or access the same resources as you. When you say, “Just go out and get a diagnosis! It’s not that hard!”, understand you are speaking from your personal vantage point where screening may be easily accessed or easily covered/is free OR you have no personal knowledge of what that process is like yourself.

The second thing that bars a ton of people from being diagnosed is the fact that when autism was first discovered, its research was HEAVILY centered on white, cis, heterosexual men. The idea that autistic people are ONLY cis, white, heterosexual men carries on to this day. If you are an outlier to this stereotype, your chances of being misdiagnosed with something else or refused diagnosis skyrocket because so-called “professionals” don’t know how to observe traits in any other person besides a cis, white, heterosexual man, and refuse/fail to recognise the endless ways in which a person can be autistic. ALL the time I hear how AFAB people will go in to get screened only to find out their screener does not believe AFAB people can be autistic, because yes, sexism and anti-lgbtq+ ideas play a huge role in the incredibly outdated diagnostic process, because autism is still believed to be an “AMAB only” thing. People report going into a therapists office and being asked questions like, “Do you like going outside? Do you like having friends?” and being told that if you agree with either of these, you cannot be autistic because criteria at some places is so backwards, you can’t even say you enjoy conversation without failing the test. Other things commonly heard during the analysis are screeners telling someone they are too smart/articulate to be autistic, gas lighting them by saying they are mistaking their symptoms for something else/making them up, telling a person they seem normal, dismissing clear autistic traits by saying they’re unique “superpowers”, or intentionally misdiagnosing a person as ADHD INSTEAD of autistic. People on social media have also pointed out what influences racism has on the diagnostic process as well and how lack of research and understanding of autistic POC contributes to under-diagnosis and stigma has only contributed to refusal of care and under-representation of POC in the disabled community, as one autistic Black woman points out on Instagram, “I found excellent articles that support and validate my feelings and experiences, but I could find no research on autistic Black people.” Additionally, because research has primarily been done on young men, this means anyone who is not a cis man and is over the age of 18 and is seeking a diagnosis has a much higher chance of not receiving one because screeners don’t understand how autistic traits may present differently in adults, especially since adults are very likely to mask. Some autism screeners are so against autism they have told clients they would only diagnosis a person autistic if it was their last resort to avoid “placing a burden on their shoulders”. These reasons are largely responsible for why autism is incredibly mis/under-diagnosed. This ask would be the length of a novel if I included every single type of discrimination and mistreatment during the evaluation process alone, but understand it can be incredibly biased, sexist, transphobic, racist, or just flat out ableist. And guess what? Though this process can take as little as a month to get sorted, that is rare. The assessment SHOULD be very short. But a lot of autistic people have reported their diagnosis took more than 2-4 years because of having to waste time, energy, and money hopping from therapist to therapist looking for someone to take them seriously, as many autistic people compiled on the actuallyautistictiktoks page on Instagram point out.

The last thing I want to touch on is this idea that people have that self diagnosing is dangerous. “What if someone self diagnoses and they take advantage of services that are meant for autistic people?” ...The Big Things you think I am going to take advantage of as a self diagnosed autistic person, like scholarship money for instance or SSDI, I do not have legal access to without a formal diagnosis. I cannot waltz into a law firm and ask for a $5,000 scholarship for autistic people without a diagnosis, because they WILL NOT give it to me!

Let me tell you some of things I’ve “cruelly taken advantage of” as a self diagnosed autistic person. I bought glasses with blue light protection, because screen and fluorescent lighting at work and even natural blue toned light from the sky lowers my threshold for some sensory input like noise and social interaction; wearing them to work everyday has improved my sensory thresholds incredibly. I’ve talked to my manager and told him I’m autistic and that I have a hard time understanding vague direction and may need to step away briefly on occasion to tend to a shutdown before a meltdown comes on at work; he had no problem with this. I use subtitles; sometimes I have trouble processing audio or reading facial expressions and tone, and being able to see the words displayed on the screen gives me a significantly better understanding of what I watch. All my life, I have been having meltdowns which I had mistaken for mental breakdowns or panic attacks and having access to resources that walked me through preventative methods and tips on what to do if I have one has been ENORMOUSLY helpful to me. All my life, I was trying to deal with them thinking they were something else; becoming aware of this and accepting that they are in fact autistic meltdowns has helped me not only go through them, but has helped me redirect stims which at their worst previously had me hitting and clawing my arms, slapping my face, and even hitting my head. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait 4 years for a diagnosis to use resources I could be using to make my life more accessible right now!

People will say, “Oh well yeah, I don’t mean You are one of Those Types of self diagnosed autistic people, you clearly sound/look autistic, I’m talking about other people.” The thing is, there is no broad “sounding/looking autistic”, that’s stereotyping, and you can’t demand everyone who interacts with you show you their Autistic Card, because again, not everyone is able to be diagnosed, especially given the mistreatment and stigma present towards autistic people in the medical field! And what made you ask for their diagnosis? Because they “don’t seem autistic” to you? Why didn’t you ask for their diagnosis? Because they “seemed autistic” to you? By denying anyone who doesn’t have a diagnosis resources they may very well need, you are denying assistance to thousands of people who are without means to be diagnosed. And I am SO tired of seeing comments online on self diagnosis posts that “people don’t know what they’re taking about” as if they know us personally, like are you me? Are you my doctor I’ve consulted? Did you watch me academically research and consult with other autistic people about being autistic for over 3 years? I’m tired of “well, one time a self diagnosed person laughed at my actually autistic diagnosed friend...so all self dx people are evil” because there is ZERO correlation between a person being self assessed and their behavior towards a non self assessed person. The fact both those arguments are in use whenever self dx comes up is yet another form of gatekeeping.

Self diagnosing autism is not begging for attention or Evil Criminal Money Funneling Schemes. It is a result of a deeply flawed medical and insurance system that has failed to give proper attention and care to those who need it, it is a result of resources not made available, of safe support systems not there for kids and adults alike. You want to talk about what’s truly dangerous? How the hate group Autism Speaks has been parading itself around since 2005 as an advocacy group for autistic people and has been misusing millions of dollars worth of donation money and promoting stigma and hatred around autistic people; no autistic members are present on their board. How Sia and her new film Music was nominated for 2 Golden Globes despite it replacing the original autistic actor with a neurotypical actor, using offensive stereotypes, and using the main autistic character as a prop, and featured an extremely dangerous bodily restraint scene on an autistic person having a meltdown in public and featured very insensitive content due to Sia’s lack of consulting with autistic people to make the film (spoilers in that article).

Instead of policing autistic people, whether they fit your idea of what an autistic person is or not, redirect your efforts and your energy to dismantling systems and holding others accountable for perpetuating harmful stereotypes about autistic people that are legitimately dangerous on such a scale that they have created insurmountable damage to the autistic community. But I guarantee you, worrying over whether your classmate is “faking it” will not do any justice to the decades worth of discrimination autistic people face still today.

I understand. You care about the community, you don’t want autistic people to be exploited or taken advantage of. I don’t want to be exploited and taken advantage of as an autistic person, and I don’t want that for others! But I also understand that when we self proclaim ourselves as judges of random autistic strangers on the internet or start accusing people of faking or demanding to see medical paperwork from people when the basis of our suspicions is “this person doesn’t look like my stereotyped view on how I think an autistic person should act”, THAT is when you really run into trouble. Because if you are allowed to deny self dx people entrance into the autistic community, what’s stopping you from thinking you have the power to deny ANYONE entrance into that community?

And there is power in self diagnosis for many autistic people. When the evaluation system is literally rigged to set you up for failure and put you through unnecessary hardship, self dx is a self affirming, empowering tool to take back control from a process designed to gaslight and crush you. The evaluation process was NOT formulated by an autistic person, nor was it made to be inclusive of all autistic people. Until the evaluation system in place for autistic people is safe, accessible, and free to ALL, you have EVERY right to self diagnose.

[dragynkeep]

rooster teeth + their antisemitism.

bringing this thread over but it can also be found on twitter here. ♥ 

disclaimer : i am jewish + have been watching rt's work (mainly rwby) for like 3 years now. i'm not saying they're aggressively antisemitic but bigotry doesn't need to be violent to be bigotry. ignorance is also not an excuse.

the most foremost + prominent of their antisemitic behaviour is their animated show "camp camp", which i've pointed out before in other tweets the absolute bucket full of antisemitic caricatures + "jokes". they were asked about this in an ama + this was their response.

this ... is a piss poor response. the featuring of antisemitism in their show for jokes did nothing to address how cruel + hateful + harmful antisemitism & those who follow that mindset are. they did nothing to "condone" antisemitism in their jokes because there's no push back.

the characters used for these jokes, a literal adolf hitler stand in, are idolized + adored by the fandom. by the creators themselves. all you need to do is google the character's name or look in their tumblr tag + you'll find cute fanart for days. of a literal dictator stand in.

camp camp has been called out by jewish people before, for the weird amount of antisemitic "jokes" in it that feature the character "dolph" (our adolf hitler stand in) targeting the only jewish character in the cast, neil. this features mainly in the episode reigny day.

the show is directed by a jewish man, @/JordanCwierz (not that it excuses the antisemitism, you don't need to propogate hate against your own people with your shitty comedy show) but the episode itself was written by @/kerryshawcross, who is not.

in the episode reigny day; there are multiple references to jewish suffering + prominent jewish figure anne frank. from neil hiding in the attic, writing in his diary; to dolph demanding the other kids write numbers on their arms in reference to the concentration camps.

& for all rt said the want to "condone this hate"; at the end of the episode, dolph is given an award for all he did during the episode. this isn't condemnation, this is literally praise! this is making fun of a genocide that some people still to this day don't believe happened.

and when you look at the comments, well. i'm not seeing any condemnation, rooster teeth. i thought you were shedding light on the dark parts of the world to not condone it? mind telling your fans that?

the references to the tragedies during Shoah (the holocaust) isn't just contained to reigny day; it also featured in the premiere episode of season 2 of camp camp — cult camp. there, they reference the gas chambers used to murder jewish people. & they lampshade it too.

again: while this show is directed + overseen by a jewish man, that does not erase the fact that these tragedies, that are *still denied by a good chunk of people in modern day* are being used for comedic value with no push back or condemnation. & are written by two non jews.

it's even more frustrating when in the episode reigny day, there was a genuinely funny joke about neil's jewish identity that didn't play on tragedy or antisemitism! they can do this but choose to be lazy + co opt a genocide for humour !!

i haven't even gone over the breadth of "jokes" mired in antisemitism or just plain RACISM in that episode but to quote a handful : 

adolph saying juice to mean "jews" when neil was hiding in the attic

adolph not approving of "mixing colours"

adolph does the nazi salute

so this was camp camp. unfortunately, the antisemitism is not contained only to camp camp, it has it's roots in rooster teeth's other main ip; rwby. mainly with the treatment of the characters coco adel + adam taurus, though in different ways + from different audiences.

the antisemitism through coco adel comes from the person her character is modelled after; known nazi collaborator, coco chanel. coco adel is a "fashionista" who follows her teams "themeing" of sweets; her's being chocolate. however a large portion of her design is based on, coco chanel, as seen through her famed necklaces, beret, the bag, her emblem and her colour scheme of black + gold.

while coco chanel is known for her fashion company; she's also known for the fact that she built that fashion company on the back of being a nazi collaborator. this woman spied for + slept with nazis. it's not outright antisemitism but it is uncomfortable + inappropriate.

especially when : a. coco (adel) is a lesbian, + would've been killed by the people that her major inspiration supported & b. we need to stop elevating antisemitic icons to fame because they were "infamous." there were plenty of other fashion designers to use.

i had brought this up before + non jewish people in the rwby fandom were quick to jump to rooster teeth's defence, despite their previous antisemitism, & play the martyr for this company of majority non jewish people.

rooster teeth are not stupid, no matter how much they try to convince you they are so they can have excuses for things like the entire white fang plotline or how may zedong sounding like mao zedong is just a coincidence, or how they refer to a chinese character as a ninja.

from coco we go onto adam which is more of a fandom thing, but has been encouraged with the weird amount of ableism coming from vas + writers alike with his backstory + storyline. adam is a faunus, an ethnic minority in the world of remnant that are poc - coded.  in his backstory he was a child slave to a racist company who was scarred using a branding iron over his eye. this was very reminiscent of african slaves being branded when they tried to escape but is overlooked by the majority white fandom.

people also feed into the hate for this character with a va, arryn zech’s unfounded headcanons that he was a "psychopath who tortured animals as a kid"; miss zech has her own history of ableism that's excused but to put this on a minority character is disgusting.

this all feeds into how the fandom will call adam a "nazi"; he follows his own ideal of how faunus are superior to humans + that they will rule remnant given the chance. a gross mentality but not one appropriate to call him a nazi. why?

because nazism is white supremacy.

nazi ideology is directly tied to the ideal of a white, superior race that should rule. adam is a POC CODED CHARACTER. he is part of the minority in remnant + the writers compared him to malcolm x, which is a whole other bag of cats that is inappropriate for me to comment on.

comparing fictional characters to nazis is antisemitic in and of itself. nazis are still very much real and a dangerous threat to jewish people to this day. we don't need goyim appropriating our struggles + fear to hate on a fictional character. yet it keeps happening.

overall; rooster teeth is not outright with their antisemitism. but that's the point. these are majority non jewish creators either unaware or uncaring of the hatred they are validating + do not care enough to fix it when we are tired of it.  this mentality then bleeds into the fandom itself + puts jewish members of the fandom at risk. it makes us feel uncomfortable, it hurts us to see other members of the fandom idolize people with this mindset + the antisemitic characters they create.

at the end of the day, there is a culture here that has not been addressed completely. they will pay lipservice to jewish fans (with the chanukkah tweet) but then keep playing into stereotypes + harmful antisemites. it has to change + be acknowledged. by rt + the fandom alike. @ people in the rooster teeth fandom, who enjoy rwby or camp camp, LISTEN TO JEWISH PEOPLE. we are uncomfortable!! we are hurting!! we are tired of you not fucking listening to us because you don't think it's antisemitic as if you're the people being hurt. do fucking better.

[mack3030]

Types of Paywall Abuse --- A post...

I think it’s time to tackle a topic that might make a few simmers uncomfortable, but we need to talk about it, because in addition to seeing a lot of people complain about it in general, I’ve also been getting some anons in my inbox talking about it. So let’s discuss this. 

Now, first of all, I would like to clarify a couple of things: 

When I speak of PAYWALLS here, I am talking about custom content that can ONLY be accessed by paying, or viewing an ad through a virus filled ad shortener link (which is just as bad).  Pure early access content, where you pay for it and get it earlier than everyone else who gets it for free IS NOT PAYWALLED CONTENT. 

This is why it is called a pay “WALL” because the wall portion indicates that you cannot access it without paying a fee/toll. 

Second of all, I would like to remind the public at large that this is not hate, it is a critical commentary. I am not going to go for these creators personally, nor do I want to. I, as a member of the community who plays the sims 4, and downloads/uses CC, would like to simply hold some of these creators accountable for actions that are unethical and unsatisfactory to the community in which they serve. That is it. No more, no less. I simply believe they CAN do better and BE better than this. 

Now, let’s get into the meat of this. 

The main type of abuse that I have focused on has been what I call Permapaywalls. 

Permapaywalls:

Content that cannot be accessed ANY other way than either paying a certain amount via patreon or another service, OR viewing a link through a virus-filled ad that puts your computer at risk. 

There are many creators who are well known permapaywall creators, with at least 80% or more of their content being locked behind these permapaywalls. Sometimes they may release a few items for free, but this is very similar to being allowed to test drive a car before buying it. It’s to entice the user/viewer into liking the brand, and then buying in.

I’m not going to delve into this too much because I’ve already expounded on this topic a bit. So let’s go further. 

The next type of abuse is what I like to call “Exclusive Loopholes”. 

Exclusive Loopholes: Creators who try to “get around” EA’s early access policy by offering a majority of their content as early access, but holding back certain items only to those who “subscribe” to their “patreon exclusive” content. 

There are some who are okay with this, thinking of this as a neat “bonus” for those who subscribe and support. However, the sims team made it clear: 

Folks who have a Patreon page are welcome to provide folks with "early access" incentives for their content but it should be made available to the general public within 2-3 weeks of it being given to folks early.

- Simguru Drake, The Sims Forum

Notice nowhere in this answer does it say anything about BONUS CC incentives. Nowhere. This is just a method that certain creators try to use to keep people from decrying them as “big bad paywall creators”. This way they can say “oh look, we do early access, we’re following EA’s rules~!” while still holding content hostage. 

If you want to offer your patreons some exclusives, here’s some ideas:  * Share pictures of your process, or work in progress content coming up.  * Allow them to have input into your process via polls and questions.  * Have an exclusive discord community just for your patreons where they can talk to you easier and share excitement and input about your content with you and each other.  * Have exclusive streams where only you and your patreons have the link to see you go live making content.  * Host a workshop on how to make CC using your process. (I see all of you who steal meshes from other sites sweating over this. ;D)  * Pause billing for a month and say “you know what, since you guys have been loyal and supported me, have a month of patreon on me!”  * Anything that honestly doesn’t involve only giving those patreons CC and not releasing it to the public. 

Let’s talk about another type, and oh my lanta, this type has had some anons messaging me ALL up in arms. I like to call this type “The Donation Disaster”.

Donation Disaster: Someone who CONSTANTLY uses the “downs” in the up/downs of life as excuses to not release content on time, or delay it while still collecting payment from patreons. Bonus “you’re a jerk” points if they then try to use those misfortunate circumstances to beg for even more money from their patreons on multiple occasions. 

Look, we all have junk that goes on in our lives. But when that junk is used as an excuse for you continually delaying content while still charging your patreons (and not using the pause feature), it makes them feel cheated.  In addition, when you then ask for donations to help you during your difficult time, and turn to your patreons instead of the support networks that are around you (ex: friends, family, religious communities, etc.), that can be VERY off-putting. You might be able to get away with it once, maybe twice, without a large chunk of your community turning against you. But the more regular it becomes, and the more they hear about how strapped for cash you are and how you’re asking them to give more than their pledge, and you’ll soon find yourself being called a scammer. Regardless of your intent, or if your problems are reality, you’ll find people’s empathy for your situation will be lacking.

I’ve had a few anons in my inbox talking about different patreon creators that always seem to have an excuse for why updates aren’t coming just yet, or why x is broken, and with their excuse comes a plea for help with bills, and a link to a paypal or venmo. 

Everyone has junk, don’t get me wrong. And it sucks to go through the junk we have in life, but if you’re reaching out to random people on the internet as your first method of support, you might need to be looking someplace else for support first before you come to the people who are already paying you for content you make. A one time “hey I’m in a bind, I need some help” donation thing might not be a bad thing, but when it becomes a constant pattern on your patreon....people aren’t going to take it well...at all. 

And last, but not least, I’d like to talk about the last kind of patreon abuse, which frankly, is really upsetting to me. I don’t even really have a name for it, because it’s literally so much of a “what?” thing in my head. I don’t even understand why it goes on.  Now, this practice involves the black/POC community, and frankly, as a white girl, I don’t feel I should be speaking over the community and what they have to say. Thankfully @xmiramira​ spoke on it, all the way back in 2019. Here’s an excerpt from her fantastic POST:

Even new creators who JUST joined the community sliding up in TBS with locs and braids talking about Patreon only. GTFOH. I’m not okay with creators doing Patreon only CC PERIOD, but my main discussion is focused on NON BLACK simmers making CC catered to US, and making it PATREON EXCLUSIVE IN AN ATTEMPT TO FORCE US TO PLEDGE, and how people are ASSUMING that I’m OKAY WITH THIS, and ASSUMING that I’m letting it FLY in my community. Just because I don’t go off about shit as frequent as I used to doesn’t mean I cannot see and I am not doing what I can to keep the fuckery OUT.“Oh but your friend has a Patreon” I don’t have an issue with what @ebonixsims is doing because it’s all early release. It gets released to the public a few weeks later. It’s not being kept behind Patreon, forcing people to pledge to her. Despite this, she’s still doing really good with it. So don’t get it twisted, I’m not on social media arguing with folks so people just assumed I’m okay with this shit, I’m really not. I’m actually two seconds off dropping Patreon share folders. (That also have my shit in it) Supporting people is one thing, but a lot of these motherfuckers are becoming extremely exploitive, and it’s aggravating. It’s like you goofy motherfuckers sit in DMs like “yeah let’s make some CC for the negros and put it on Patreon” Fuck outta here. And it’s not even just hair, it’s skins and even CLOTHING STYLES. Y’all are really wilding the hell out. African necklaces, black girl magic chains, Juicy Couture sweatsuits. Who the fuck do you think you’re fooling? IM TIRED! Next time someone asks me where I got something and it’s Patreon exclusive I’m dropping a SFS link. FUCK OUTTA HERE!

Here’s the deal. The black community has been fighting for a while to be able to feel represented in this game. Here’s two articles (ONE, TWO) talking about this issue.  But the thing that has me upset is the fact that SO many creators of content that is AIMED at Black/POC simmers are locking that content (or a good majority of it) behind paywalls. And what’s even more shameful is some of those creators are POC themselves! They understand what it’s like to feel that they cannot make themselves or have sims that look like them in this game, yet they still lock their content away and expect people not just in the SIMS community, but in the POC community to pay through the nose for it.  The fact that this is STILL going on, two freaking years after she made this post, and that both NON POC creators and POC creators are engaging in this behavior is honestly disappointing and shameful. I believe black/POC creators should be supported, BUT they should be supported without depriving their OWN community of representation and access. And frankly, if you’re a NON POC creator and you’re specifically targeting this group to make money off of them with paywalls, I have only one thing to say to you:

I’d speak on it more, but frankly, I’d rather let the people who are actually in the black/POC community speak on it, so if any of you want to let loose in the comments about this problem, go wild. I’m happy to sit back and listen, and I suggest others do the same.

[craziestfangirl98]

My thoughts on Love, Victor season 2 cause I have too many feelings and I need to talk about it.

Disclaimer No. 1. This has massive Love, Victor season 2 spoilers so pleaseeeee leave if you have not watched it. Also if you do not want to engage with it.

Disclaimer No. 2: This is my opinion on the season so if you don't agree please leave. Don't come for me. I don't mind having proper discussions but I don't want unnecessary arguments so thanks.

There are a lot of unpopular opinions so as I said earlier if you don't want to be respectful, please leave.

I absolutely adoooooooored this season. I think it met its potential quite well and I liked how it panned out. I felt it was brilliantly done. I know a lot of people don't agree with me but I actually saw that it was gonna be an acquired liking but yeah.

THIS POST WILL BE GETTING TO THE MORE MAJOR PARTS OF THE SEASON. MEANING VICTOR, RAHIM, BENJI AND VENJI.

Let's start with individual breakdowns.

Right of the bat we see that this season is gonna deal with Victor with the rest of the world. The first season was very internal and dealt with his own stuff in his own head. We very minutely see his interaction with different people and how that internally affects him. This season was more of how the outward world dealt with him. His intersectionality of being a Queer POC that plays sport really adds to the discussions within the queer community and the sense of being outcasted within the community. I liked how he was able to talk to Andrew about the whole being 'the most non gay gay' and also not being 'gay enough'. It was really nice and I loved that interaction. I also liked the fact that they discussed the whole aspect of being stressed about the first time and such.

I liked the full cabin sequence in terms of his anxiety about having sex for the first time. That too with an experienced gay. It all just makes sense and makes me glad that it was addressed.

I loved him as the 'mentor' for Rahim and the fact that they could relate to each other about being POC with religious parents I think was the exact push needed for the discussions to move forward.

I think his conversation about his queer experience as a POC with Rahim was something I have been waiting for since the first season. He definitely should not have revealed Benji's secrets without talking to him and that was a mistake on his part and something that will affect Venji in a long while. But the fact that Rahim and Victor relied on each other was not surprising.

I am going to address the rest of the aspects of Victor with regards to his relationships with each of them after their individual breakdown.

Now moving forward to Benji.

I know its gonna be a hard truth but I think his character was the one that I liked the least. And this is specific to the fact that his motivations are hidden from us. He is not really open to talk to us (through victor). I had the same problem with him in the first season and was hoping he would be fleshed out more. We only see him as an extension to Victor and just his boyfriend. Even then, we barely see him communicating with Victor or anybody else all through the time. Also, that being said, I have seen a lot of people say he was OOC but I think he was actually not really OOC. The way he reacts to Victor's mom's reactions although they come from a place of wanting better for Victor, he doesn't really think twice about why Victor must not be reacting or doing so subtly. He feels very unsympathetic on many occasions and that is a pattern we see from season 1.

I'm not saying he didn't have any troubles of his. Cause he definitely did. We know that with the drunken driving episode and the AA meetings and the strip club story. They were all awful, but that doesn't excuse him from trying to understand where Victor is coming from. Maybe having a little more context and communication about him would make us understand him and his motivations better.

This season specifically, I actually found him to be very token-ish of a gay guy which is weird because it has two other gay characters (or 5 based on the multiple cameos).

Now getting to Rahim.

I LOVED HIM. He is, I think right behind Victor in my heart. I fell in love with him barely minutes into the episode. His coming out retelling was the most wholesome of all things. I loved the friendship Pilar and him shared. I'm surprised we didn't get a scene with Pilar teasing him about his crush on Victor but I think that was because the writers didn't want to make it obvious. I felt he had a character of his own that was explored more than just coming in between the main couple. The one episode where they skip school we found out more about him and it was intriguing to say the least.

He is a Muslim gay boy who likes to put nail polish and fashion and believes that his parents will not accept him. It is soo refreshing to see this theory get denied and the parents being completely okay with it. Next, Victor and him have an interesting relationship between the two. When victor needs his mind to be taken off of things or talk to, Rahim does just that and when Rahim needs some advice or just some support Victor does that.

NOW VENJI.....

I think this is again... a little unpopular right now, but... their relationship was not that great this season. And I.... kinda expected that to happen. That is for multiple reasons. They spent 50% of their time making out, 40% of it fighting and 10% communicating. Were they flawed? Absolutely and I get that. They had massive miscommunication problems. Trust issues and everything under the moon. It is to be expected especially cause they are teenagers and they are not mature enough. That being said, flaws are not when you are dismissive of your boyfriend's issues because he doesn't fit your ideal gay stereotype. Flaws are not when you say your boyfriend is too much for you to handle and say something like you are the only one taking care of them. That's manipulation. Flaws are not when you don't realise that the context your boyfriend comes from is very specific to himself and if you want to do better you need to be open to listen to where he is coming from instead of getting offended by him saying you are white when you don't get the specifics. You need to understand that by saying you are white, he is not dismissing your experience with alcohol addiction and with your father taking you to strip clubs and shit. He is just saying you don't get where I am coming from. The reason I say I saw it coming is because even in season 1 we see Benji go ahead with what he wants to do instead of thinking about the consequences. Case in point the kiss on Victor's birthday. Victor told Benji that his grandparents are homophobic and still he kisses Derek. Because it is fiction and a teen drama the consequences weren't dire and it came to be a growth point for Victor but just imagine if the consequences were different. If it ended up being something worse, what then. I feel this season we are especially able to see Benji out of the rose tinted glasses that Victor had last season.

That being said I admit that Victor was also not entirely good. He did breach Benji's trust. I don't see how they can go back from there. He didn't communicate from his side as well, but just think of it like this if someone says you are too much to handle would their partner actually be willing to communicate what's bothering them?

The things about Isabelle walking on sex. If it was my house anything remotely sexual, irrespective of the gender would have been met with shame and anger just as Isabelle did. They are 16. The little brother was right next door. In any way whether it is straight sex or gay sex it would still have been met this way I feel.

So yeah as much as they are supposed to be the main star couple of the show they lack in almost every aspect. So yeah...

Now coming to VICTOR X RAHIM

Straight off the bat, I don't know if I watched the same season that others did because I actually felt the chemistry between them was actually more than Venji had in scenes other than the make out ones.

Also, they come from similar backgrounds. They understand each other much better than any white dude could ever understand them. They actually talk and communicate.

Rahim and Victor on the other hand are both new to this whole being gay, out and proud thing and I feel they would understand each other better. I think a big problem people have with them is that the writers fall back on the love triangle trope and stuff but I like it in this instance. It made sense to me.

Why? Because they are teenagers. Also, the gay pool in schools are so small and people are bound to explore. Like Victor said, what are the odds that you end up with the first person you start dating?

Also, regarding the wedding. Benji said he would not come, so I don't think he has the right to question who he came with. It was completely innocent on Victor's part because he did invite Pilar first. I guess it is the whole first slow dance that was the betrayal and as much as their chemistry was palpable I feel Benji should have allowed to here him out. I don't know maybe you all feel different about it but I feel that is not a betrayal on Victor's part. What could have been a betrayal was the kiss. I know it is once again a repeat of the cheating stereotype and I had hoped that the showrunner's did it a bit differently but well it has happened. (But again the chemistry in that kiss!!!)

What do I want to happen next. I definitely ship Victor x Rahim more than Victor x Benji. I would love for it to be Rahim behind the door but it feels unlikely that the showrunners will actually do that so my hope is even if they get together, Benji and Victor realise just how much they don't fit with each other and break up amicably and then Victor x Rahim gets explored and slow burn happens.

I don't want Victor to be the only one apologising if Venji do get together again. For whatever small amount of time. I need them to communicate better.

So yeah..... this was long and what I thought of the main portions of Love, Victor. It's really ironic how people love everyone other than Victor in a story about him and care for all the stories other than him.

[villainous-queen]

Hi i love your blog so much!! I'm a huge fan of toxic romance/problematic ships too so it's really fun seeing other people have similar taste. Anyways i was wondering do you have any recs for villain x heroine ship with a poc heroine? I've been thinking about this and there's a lack of poc female leads in dark/problematic romances.

Do you think race plays a part in making creators more hesitant in writing stories with them? Because i feel like there would definitely be more criticism if a heroine was poc and the villain white. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thx a lot. Happy to be of service ;)

I definitely think that race plays a part in villainous and problematic portrayals of relationships. I’ve mentioned this before but most of the time “villains” are either white or sometimes Latino, very rarely do you encounter black villains. “Heroines” on the other hand are almost always white. If we think back to the beginning of film even we can see this. Just look at Sessue Hayakawa! He was a Japanese actor in America during the 1910-1920s. 

His "broodingly handsome" good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood. [Wikipedia]

So sexy! But thanks to racism (and the later 1930s Production Code) he wasn’t allowed to be depicted in a romantic relationship unless the woman was Asian as well. So instead he was typically depicted as the villain. In the 1915 film “The Cheat” he BRANDS a woman! Reportedly women screamed (in a good way) when it played in theaters!

What I think is happening now is a swing back of the 1930s Production Code. We’ve gone too far the other way and now we aren’t allowed to depict non-white people as villains, except Latinos. I can also point directly to the demonetization of “Mexicans” and the racism still expressed towards those of Latin decent as the reason why we are allowed to depict them as villains. I think generally a lot of people are still uncomfortable with “mixed” relationships and I think just on that fact we generally get less of it. Then add to the fact that some people are uncomfortable that the “vulnerable” are being menaced, so although white heroines are much more common when we do get non-white heroines I suppose being menaced by white people makes people uncomfortable. I know various TV series and films get criticism for making another “straight white male attractive killer” such as Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s You or the weird amount of flack the film “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” got for hiring Zac Efron as Ted Bundy because Zac Efron is “attractive” when Ted Bundy was seen as attractive in his time?? That was one of the points of the film?! Still I think the trend is from a desire to show “positive” depictions of non-white people the same way people are reluctant to create negative portrayals of people who happen to be under the LGBTQA+ rainbow. The public wants “strong female” characters, especially strong non-white female characters. I think people forget that “victims” can be strong as well? Still, overall I think people want to just avoid race as much as possible and just make everyone “white” just to avoid any implications. I want to see more non-white villains and heroines! 

Anyway, off the top of my head I recommend Stay (2017), Shadow and Bone (series) and From Dusk Till Dawn (series). Stay (2017) has Devin Books as “Claire”, she has a bit of a mixed ethnic heritage but it includes Mexican and Native American. Her co-star “villain” is white. Shadow and Bone (series) has Jessie Mei Li who is half English, half Chinese; her co-star is English/White. From Dusk Till Dawn (series) is a little odd since I’m including it for Santanico Pandemonium who is played by Eiza González who is Mexican. Santanico was both a villain in the series and later was revealed to be a victim of various bad people. Does she really count? Idk but I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here. She has various “romantic prospects” (even women) but technically the villain is also Mexican/Latin but I ship her with a white guy (not my OTP but whatever) so idk either. Of course you can always try non-English language shows and films. Again it seems that we only have Latin actors for the most part? It’s hard to think of African American actors for this? Urgh. We need more black actors in this genre!

My followers, anymore suggestions for “villain x heroine ship[s] with a poc heroine”?

[adverbialstarlight]

The Penumbra Podcast and the Case of (Accidental) Racism

That’s right folks, I’m here to discuss racism today. Shout out to the Penumbra server for having a discussion about this with me and adding additional details that I’ve included in here. Also, warning this is Long, so get ready.

First off, we’ve got the nearly all white cast, especially the main ones who show up a lot. You might already be going "But what about Anjimile, Simon, etc? They’re POC!" and yes they are, but I refer mainly to the core cast such as Noah, Josh, Kate, Stefano, etc. who are the most reoccurring cast members.

The fact that the cast of Penumbra has the only POC playing minor, usually one-time characters conveys the message that POC are insignificance in narratives especially queer ones. Though no one likes to admit it, white queer people can be the most harsh and oppressing of POC. Many people are so easily ignoring of this, especially in media such as Penumbra, though because of what I consider pinkwashing. Pinkwashing is mainly used in the context of Israel at the moment, but the basic definition is “The practice of… presenting… as gay-friendly and progressive, in order to downplay… negative behavior.” [x]

I’m sure it’s not intentional, but it often feels like people overlook the lack of true diversity in Penumbra because they’re so distracted by all the LGBTQ+ representation. And it’s fantastic, really, as a queer person myself, it’s so exciting to see. However, no level of “everyone’s gay” can hide the fact there’s hardly any brown characters or actors around.

And with that lacking representation within the Penumbra universe, it helps support another racist viewpoint, that POC don’t exist in Sci-Fi/Fantasy (beyond the occasional “look at this exotic non-European” which is terrible). You might be thinking, “Ly, but Sir Caroline is dark and Juno is almost universally HC’d as Black especially after Mikaela’s art!” to which I say, but it’s not explicit in canon. In fact, nothing really is, when it’s not about queer people. Sure the whole “race is no longer relevant” schtick is going here, but that’s not really the point. It’s basically the equivalent of “oh I don’t see color :)”, which dismisses the real life significance and sweeps the issue under the rug of queerness super lazily. If you can make ways to explicitly have queer characters, it doesn’t take much effort to put the same energy towards including POC (and properly, might I add).

Even with the current “rep” from the fandom view, it’s not really that great. For one, with the Juno as Black HC, and therefore Sarah Steel being Black, it fits into some pretty harmful tropes you might not even have considered. Dour, grumpy Black man (who is then contrasted with happy, nicer and lighter Peter Nureyev, but that’s for another time) who came from the Bad Area and tends to get hyper feminized? Just a thought. And particularly towards Sarah, by having her subsequently being Black helps play into the “crazy Black person” stereotype that’s often cast onto real Black people with mental health issues, the idea that Black mothers abuse their children (or, if HC’d as non-Black, the “non-Black guardians who abuse Black children” pattern), and that she’s that “tragic Black woman who thinks she’s better than everyone else but isn’t.” (Disclaimer, I am not Black and cannot provide any further commentary towards this particular area.)

There’s also small details within the podcast that really don’t bode well with me. For one, a lot of people in the Cerberus Province and their accents were… kind of racist. I understand the need to portray that they’re in someplace that’s Other, but poor people and “bad guys” all talking in those accents and with grammar like that doesn’t sit right. You know how people mock immigrants whose first language is something else like Spanish, Chinese, etc.? Talking exactly like that. Especially the line of “learn to talk right” in Time Gone By Pt. 1, it didn’t sit right. It portrays that there’s xenophobia in Mars towards Outer Rim people, sure, but that phrasing combined with all the accents and such? Not too great. There was also that really weird bit about Jack in the “podcast” Juno listened to where skin peeled off and the skin beneath was much paler, which I suppose is supposed to help show he altered his appearance but it read more like brownface to me. No one’s perfect, of course, but catching racist undertones and actually acknowledging them is kind of important.

Along the lines of how damaging completely dismissing race, it clashes immensely with some of the themes of the podcast, particularly in the Junoverse. Class issues, ableism, sexism, the justice system, and especially homophobia have been tightly tied to people of color for a long time. It’s unfortunate but true. The biggest victims of these problems are people of color, and it should at least be acknowledged even if “this world doesn’t care about race” or whatever the excuse is. I understand that they don’t want to cross a line and try to speak for POC about issues relating to them, but the way to avoid that is not by ignoring it completely.

Sophie and Kevin have discussed how they wanted to do research for mental health topics and queer identities to portray them right, so once again I ask, why can’t you put that same energy into including Brown and Black characters?

And here, I don’t mean “look this character is randomly brown, weehee!” but actual, real POC. Not a basically white person with a nonwhite name and brown skin. Let them have a culture, do some research to make it non offensively portrayed especially with stereotypes, but at least let them exist. In podcast, in canon. If you’re just going to keep “confirming” things using the “out of pod, word of god” tweets/official art/whatever that not everyone will actually see or know about, that makes you about good as J.K. Rowling, “wizards shit their pants” or not. And no one wants to be JKR.

They’ve got a platform and they’re white— which is a pretty large platform boost since people don’t like to listen when POC say something, just when a white person regurgitates it— so why not use it to be truly inclusive of everyone? Why not acknowledge their faults and work to improve? Just some food for thought.

End notes/TL;DR

The solution here is not to “cancel” Penumbra or anything of the sort, I personally will still be consuming it for a long time. You can love something and still be able to critique it. The takeaway here is that there are some issues in the podcast, ones that some people aren’t ready to face but that we need to acknowledge. We live in a society that has ingrained so many racist ideologies into everyone— this includes nonwhite people!— and the way to make a change to it is not by vehemently denying if we’ve done something racist but doing research, having conversations, and learning. Given the heightened activity in BLM, people are beginning to pay more attention to racism in the world around us, and an important place to inspect as well is fandom and the media we consume.

As for the Penumbra crew themselves, I encourage them (even though they probably won’t even see this) to do their research and make a real effort to show that they do in fact care about people of color, particularly Black people. The explicit support of BLM was a great show of support, but it’s not enough. You want to show that you care, then directly let them exist in your podcast as well.

Disclaimers

1) I am aware that Sophie Kaner is half Japanese (?), however that does not give them a get out of jail free pass. People of color are not immune to racist tendencies, even if they weren’t aware it was even happening. Especially in East Asian culture, it’s a bit complicated.

2) I am a nonBlack person of color so please take some of what I say with a grain of salt. Don't forget to listen to Black people, please.

3) This all does not mean I hate TPP or that you should either! I love the podcast to death, but it is healthy to be able to acknowledge the flaws in something you love.

edit: alright, yes Noah is Jewish which does count for something, but there’s also something to be said about Jewish people being used as an excuse of not having much rep in lots of media. Also, white passing POC is a whole other can of worms that’s a bit of another tangent and I don’t really have much to say on it. This does not change the issue.

[zhilan]

was debating on voicing this or not, but saw a convo on talking about something similar so thought to share. Even if there's some true Melby fans, it feels like straight shippers have convinced the Charmed writers to go with Melby, and by extent straight shippers got to speak over queer fans on a queer story. Melby still feels forced and I just can't really back it up. I feel bad for Bethany, who apparently is gay herself, having people have this talk about a character she plays. 1/2

Pre Charmed I was one that never really saw much difference if it was a gay or hetro person playing a gay character. I never saw the big deal about whether a person of x sexuality or race wrote about a gay or poc characters. Charmed changed that, with Melonie Diaz seemingly being anti Abimel, not understanding why people shipp them. The writer stuff is self explanatory at this point, sad it feels like ppl r ok with gays getting less if it's cis het pocs benefiting. (2/2)

Okay, so a lot of things here but first we'll talk about Melby. I agree there are some people who do genuinely like them (but they’re few tbh). I was one of the people genuinely excited for Melby when Ruby was first introduced - especially because I was feeling zero chemistry from MelKat and I was so relieved they replaced Kat with Ruby as a love interest because for me personally, I do think Melby does have chemistry and I was into it. But the season progressed... and nothing. My big problem with Melby is that their entire relationship was developed offscreen, and the very very very little that we do have onscreen doesn't really have much continuity. I mean. Here's a summary of their development (like this is ALL the Melby content leading up to the ILY:

2x12, they meet

2x13, they wake up in bed together (awesome, we never even saw their first kiss LOL), end of episode they decide to be casual

2x19, they break up (even though they weren't even a couple??)

3x02, they're back together without addressing the issue with magic

3x06, they break up, again. make up again.

3x12, they're saying i love you

Like... literally WHAT?! what?!?! I've seen many poorly written wlw relationships (because that seems to be a standard for a lot of shows) but damn, Melby takes it to a whole new level. And I think the thing that makes it even more frustrating, is that the fact is literally all the other wlw ships, canon and non-canon (that's Melko, Melda, Melkat and Abimel) ... ALL have better writing, better build-up and better development that Melby has. It's the fact that we've had better wlw writing before this, that's why it's harder to just be okay with it because we know the writers are actually capable of doing better, so why are we stuck with a non-existent ship instead? I’d take Melko, Melda, Abimel and even Melkat whom I don’t really like - over Melby because they all actually have content. And Jada, Niko, Kat and Abigael are their own person, instead of a love interest written to fit Mel in whatever way is convenient (which is a whole other issue too). And it feels even more unfair when you consider Melby only gets about a tenth of screentime compared to the het ships on the show when Mel is just as much a lead character as her sisters.

And so yeah. And it sucks and it’s annoying because it’s mostly the straight people shoving it down our throats - blaming the lack of investment for Melby on racism when it literally has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with - again, the lack of everything! (And omfg, is2g when it’s the white cishets telling qwoc who ship Abimel we’re racist.... stfu perhaps??) Honestly, Melby scenes for me are cute - on their own, without context bec with context it just sucks. They’re enjoyable, but they’re not exciting because the best part about shipping is the build-up, the waiting-for-it-to-happen. Melby had none of that. And that’s usually the part where you start getting invested on a ship, yk. At least that’s how it is for me. 

As for Bethany, yeah I agree it sucks because... I mean I don’t know her, but I follow her Insta and she seems like a genuinely nice person (with a super cute cat!) and idk I mean I haven’t seen people tagging her or anything when expressing disappointment with Melby so I don’t think she’s aware of the discourse. (I hope, because she deserves better than that) but honestly none of the criticism for Melby falls on Bethany. It’s not her fault at all. It’s on the showrunners for having it play out the way that it has.

And Melonie. I mean yeah. I have nothing against her, really. But as far as wlw representation goes, we know that she has a voice in the writers room from one of her interviews and even Abimel aside since that’s not the canon ship, I feel like it’s important to notice that even for Melby she doesn’t really push for more of it. She seems very content with what we’re given (which is next to nothing lbr) and I’m kinda meh about it — and I agree this is where the difference between having hets play gay characters matter. Because gay people will usually push for better gay representation because it’s personal to them and they know exactly what it means to the audience. Like look at how Chyler Leigh from Supergirl is constantly pushing for better wlw. And of course that’s not to say hets never do that because some do (like Azie Tesfai, for example bless her soul), but then for some it’s just a job. And to be clear, I’m not hating on Melonie for not doing more, but I think it’s also true that an actual lgbt actor might make more effort.

** I always think there should definitely be poc writers for poc characters though, that’s non-negotiable. And lgbt writers for shows with lgbt characters. Charmed is lacking in both, unfortunately. 

[i-did]

hi mlm here. so i want to write andreil smut but im a virgin so i have no idea what exactly sex is like. but i do not want to write it for the.... straight women gaze. what are some things that are accurate to write about. this is prolly super nsfw but i dont know who to ask.

Okay so this response took me literally months, and I'm sorry about that. I honestly was so excited when I got this question. I don't know why I put off responding?? But here I go: 

CW for discussion of NSFW, STD’s, and a lil homophobia

I bet a lot of people who write smut are virgins tbh, that's not to insult anyone or anything, but like writing is a non physical way to explore sex and fantasies by yourself, so you’re definitely not alone lol.

So you're MLM and want to write smut, (and others who want to get my opinions on writing non-fetishistic smut).

Porn is porn and can have unrealistic circumstances to fulfill said fantasy, such as anything from people messing around in locker rooms to tentacles.

To get a general sense of what is common in MLM sexuality, (rather than the typical feminine gaze that is seen in smut) looking at gay porn and gay porn categories is good insight. 

Bear culture, muscle culture, leather culture, etc. 

These are obviously still porn and unrealistic, however being attracted to sweat, jockstraps, and muscles is very common outside of porn. 

Bear culture is a body-positive movement that started because of the gay community's fat-phobia, age-phobia, and overall shittyness about body hair. 

Leather culture is also really big, it started because of the belief that gay men couldn’t be dominant or “masculine”, even in bed. So in America, leather culture was a way a lot of MLM embraced themselves. 

Going to pride, you will see many men wearing those leather harnesses, it doesn't indicate a preference of topping or bottoming necessarily, they're just something mlm wear and has grown quite popular in the culture, I've known some men to say it feels like a security blanket for them. 

And I think it’s very important to understand these cultures or at least be aware of them on a base level if you’re going to write gay porn. 

Also looking at erotic MLM art made by men, there is Tom of Finland, who was very historically significant, and is the most famous erotic gay artist. There is gay literature, one that openly talks about sex quite frankly is the book “We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan” which is a series of diary excerpts from a real gay trans man where you follow his life up until he died during the aids epidemic. He talks about sex with partners and discovering himself as well as what being a gay man means to him. He has a real love for sex in a way that is very unashamed and interesting to read about. We know that he wrote the latter half of his diaries with the plan of compiling them and publishing them but he passed away and people in his life carried out this wish for him. He is considered a significant part of gay and transgender history because of this, and his diaries are in LGBT museums. 

Reading gay poetry, looking at gay art, erotic, romantic, grungy, whatever, and you will find and see how they portray things differently than when it’s not portrayed by gay men usually. I mean there is a clear difference between yaoi and bara and that's the audience and authors. Some yaoi are made by MLM, (well technically their called gei comi, or gay comics in Japanese)

“Also known as ‘gei comi’ or ‘men's love,’ bara comics are by men, for men. There is a yaoi equivalent to this, and it is called ‘gachi muchi’-- it is written by women, for women.” – myanimelist.net (lol)

 but more than 90% aren't. I haven't ever heard of a non-MLM bara artist, but I'm sure there's at least one. 

Of course, I've seen things depicting MLM just together pretty realistically that didn't feel like it was written by someone who definitely wasn't MLM, but these scenes tend to be more writing in the general sense of art in the general sense rather than porn, which has a huge gap in characteristics between stuff usually written by MLM vs when it's written by women. (sorry about the binary language here)

I know some people don't like any realism in their porn, but I personally really like small details such as prep being mentioned, foreplay, even acknowledgment of the existence of condoms even if they choose to go without.

Especially as an MLM who lives in America currently, the ever-present acknowledgment and stigmatism of AIDS is around us. We think about it, even when we don't want to. An entire generation of MLM, trans people, and a lot of POC were wiped out. Not necessarily a PWP detail, but including discussion of prep, PrEP (the anti HIV medication) and/or getting tested, even for diseases besides HIV, is a small detail that I think is nice. MLM often have to have a moment when opening up a conversation about sex where HIV is mentioned, our dating apps and hook up apps have sections where you put positive, negative, non-transmissible/undetectable, or prefer not to say. The books take place in 2006 so PrEP didn't exist yet, but also the aids pandemic was happening when they were being born and as young kids, so it wasn't that long ago in society's mind. It's still illegal for many trans people and MLM to donate blood despite that the blood is screened for diseases after donation. 

Also, some realism I like is when a character isn't getting their ass ate first in the morning. Like, for me that's a huge turn-off because I think “holy fuck hygiene.” specifically with anal play I just really think even casually mentioning “washing up” or basic prep, or if you want more accuracy/details mention time between last meals or “x only ate a salad, so he would be fine”. It's like a joke in the gay community to eat chili fries or some shit on a date to indicate that either there will be no anal, or if there is you’re not going to be the one to do it, because you just fuckin ate those fries to say so. 

A cock just going in without prep and no condom is going to A) hurt very bad the body does not do that naturally and can cause injury B) get shit dick.

An also not sexy detail that is common for sex is just laying down a towel so you don’t have to wash sheets. Lube on hands? Wipe off on the towel that you’re on rn. Laying down a towel is pretty normal especially for anal. But this is if you’re going for a much more playing for accuracy sex scene. 

Honestly just writing fingering and prep and stuff like that in my opinion goes a long way and also gives the audience more to read. 

Also, sex is way more than peen in hole. Get creative, frottage, mutual masturbation, docking? Idk like thigh fucking, fucking buttcheeks but not hole, handies, blowies, anal oral, Neil doesn’t have to be the only one who gets his ass ate and things don’t have to follow formulas, in fact, they’re better when they don’t. 

Sex comes in many forms, and like I’ve definitely been with someone and he took off his shirt and I was like what, because he was skinny and clean-shaven and I didn’t expect him to have nearly as much chest hair as he did. I bet honestly Neil has a massive bush, like fuckin, massive. 

Andrew and Neil don’t have to like everything the same amount, Neil could be like “I wanna lick your armpit” and gets really off on it, Andrew is neutral but likes that Neil likes it and agrees even if it does nothing for him physically. Honestly, Neil having a sweat kink imo is pretty fitting lol. 

Try not to categorize the characters into “the bottom” and “the top”, or “the man” and “the woman”

This is something I see a lot and pay attention to how “the bottom” tends to adopt traits that are seen in straight porn that are over-exaggerated. I’m not saying it's inherently wrong to write someone as slim, but we know Neil isn't delicate, but I personally wouldn't categorize him as slim. He's a college-level athlete and is definitely muscular and defined, he has some bulk at least, he isn’t model lean for sure imo. You also often see PWP where the bottom makes a bunch of noise and the top makes none, or the top grunts and the bottom mewls, these are things I personally feel gives the bottom the role of a woman in porn. I don’t think Andreil have rough sex necessarily, but I do think when Neil does make noise, it would be because it was practically punched out of him by the feeling, and would sound more like a gasp than a kitten or whatever. There's nothing wrong with writing them both grunting, both of their voices being lower. Someone bottoming doesn’t suddenly magically not have secondary sex characteristics and stubble and body hair or a deep voice or however, they’re like everywhere else. 

When I read an over-emphasis on Neil’s slim waist and swaying hips and ass I’m like,,, okay someone please mention Andrew looking at Neil’s dick or bulge or shoulders. As an MLM, what do you find hot about men? I like stomachs and arms and shoulders, jawlines, collarbones, asses yes but like in a different way than how I like women’s asses (I’m bi lol) they are smaller and I like them muscled and squared almost. I look at veins on hands and noses and shoulders and backs, I look at a lot and I honestly don't have a type. But yeah so think about what you like, why you like it, what you might want. Or look at what others like, and why and how they want and like it.

what would Neil like, how would he feel about it? And Andrew. I kinda feel like Andrew is low-key masc 4 masc but that's just me lmaoo. Anyways, good luck writing. 

[llendrinall]

I'm with you on how terrible we found Fantastic Beasts. Now let me ask, how would you have written/built the Fantastic Beasts storyline?

I have not watched the 3rd movie so it’s possible that they have managed to turn it all around, but to start with I would give some actual connection to the movies beyond the title and characters. Otherwise it just feels like those children books: “X goes to the park”, “X in the supermarket”, where we see the same people in different situations but they are disconnected from each other.

I probably would have gone a different route all together, but suppose Warner has already hired the actors and started building the sets so we must use at least some elements from the movies. In that case I would make a story of discovery and reflection in three parts, with narcissism being the main theme.

First movie

Newt goes to NY with his magical bag. Most of the film is the same, but we get a sense of Newt being less childish (less painfully obvious and thinly surreptitious wand waving around muggles) and a bit more selfish. However, we should like him more for it.

Newt is, to the society of the time, completely mental. Rather than going on hunts and collecting trophies, he is recuing animals! I would emphasize that the animals he keeps have been compromised and can’t be safely returned to their habitats and since conditions and wizarding zoos are deplorable, he keeps them with him. The exception is that thunder bird he has come to release.

And that’s his goal, releasing the thunder bird, which he pursues with extreme focus. He doesn’t care about anything else which is why he is so open to Jacob the Muggle. Newt could be imprisoned* and Jacob would be obliviated into a stupor, but Newt doesn’t care about personal risks so he doesn’t care about the danger he poses to others. He is selfish that way. A generous kind of selfishness, sure, but dangerous.

I’m sorry, but the President of the MACUSA is not a woman nor a POC. It must be a white man surrounded by white men, one of whom might be either Catholic or Jewish and that’s all the diversity you see. Are there POC wizards? Yes. But not in positions of power. There is a bigger emphasis on the separation of wizards and No-Maj, with waaay more surveillance and harsher punishments. Suspicion alone may be enough to break your wand in some cases.

* And that’s how I could believe that POC wizards and witches (WWs from now on because “magicals” sounds weird) aren’t intervening in muggle spaces. They must be suffering similar levels of racism. They are tolerated, maybe they have better prospects that POC muggles, but that’s it. I can’t believe none of them would show some solidarity to the Non-Maj, unless it meant being summarily executed.

(Oh, and there would be this scene in which we see law-abiding and conscientious Tina stalking the house of an African-American muggle family. Nothing is said of it, other that Tina used to work with a muggle-born partner but now she works alone. Keen-eyed viewers will notice some hoodo trinkets in Tina’s flat, and a photograph of Tina with an African American woman, and then we will know).

I don’t remember Credence’s storyline very well, but it doesn’t matter. What is important is that Graves (powerful white man Graves) develops some sort of empathy. He doesn’t want it, but it’s there in his heart now. Maybe something with Newt’s animals. Some “beast” (look at how they say beasts and not animals) should have maimed and eaten Graves, but doesn’t because Newt is there in all his animal-loving glory. Graves gets to see the monster as merely a scared and hurt animal and learns to treat others with some decency and kindness.

That would be a nice classic movie, (prejudiced man gets over himself), but we can’t end it here. I would even allow for Tina’s scene stalking the house to be cut in order to have time for the climax: the moment when Graves realizes his society and his government may not always be right and defies direct orders by helping Credence. As I said, I don’t remember what the deal with Credence was, but Graves fixes it. There will be a personal cost to his career, but losing a promotion is nothing compared to saving a life, which is what he does. No ambiguous explosion or cloud of smoke. Credence is evidently and irrevocably safe at the cost of Graves being demoted.

There is no Gellert Grindelwald whatsoever, except maybe some government secretary mentioning they like that guy from Europe.

Second movie

Set in London rather than Paris. Newt receives the visit from a lovely, lovely, gentleman who, as it turns out, doesn’t think Newt is a fool. The charming gentleman asks Newt about the dragons, specifically the ones in Gringotts and oh, oh, Newt is against it. It’s abominable and unethical. But Newt would rather not think too much about it because, what can he do? He would rather focus on helping those he can and on spreading his thoughts on animal conservation. He is publishing a journal, although he admits it doesn’t do too well. He has twelve subscribers and seven of them openly mock his papers during dinner parties.

The charming gentleman says, but what if Newt could do something about it? What would Newt be willing to do? Would he break the law?

Newt laughs. He is forbidden from leaving the country. He is no stranger to jumping, crossing, tampering or breaking the law.

Marvelous! The charming gentleman reveals that he, like Newt, is unhappy with their society. It is weak and corrupt* and someone must do something about it. They have to fix it.

So the charming gentleman introduces Newt to some other like-minded friends and together they plan a heist to get into Gringotts and release the dragons. It is time to build a society one can feel proud of!

We get the heist, which is clever and delightful. The charming gentleman is brave, smart and powerful with his magic. There is a moment when some of the co-conspirators, and even the charming gentleman himself, get inside some vaults. This is not what they had planned! Not at all. But the charming gentleman assures Newt that he has good reasons.

They get out. And here comes the Nagini moment. Meaning I really, really, really, don’t need to see an Asian woman condemned to whatever that was in the second movie. I don’t need to have beautiful Neville kill a woman who has been turned into a snake and then a Horcrux.

But, do you want an “oh no” moment? Here it comes.

Because of the heist, Gringotts revises their security measures. That poor dragon in Deathly Hallows? The one with scars who had been conditioned to fear a certain sound? Newt’s fault. And the charming gentleman doesn’t care.

We have established in the previous movie that Newt is somewhat selfish and short-sighted. He rejects his society and cares only about his animals which is very nice. Newt is well intentioned, but that is not enough. Not caring about politics is the privilege of those in the elite (and despite Newts’ eccentricities he is very much the elite). The previous movie had Graves’ awakening. The man discovering something about himself in this movie is Newt.

Newt realizes that he must be an active participant in society. Sadly, he only realizes it after he has helped Gellert Grindelwald steal a number of very important artefacts as well as some gold to fund his project to reform Europe.

The epilogue of the movie has Albus Dumbledore visiting Newt, telling him not to be too hard on himself because he, Dumbledore, also fell for Gellert lies. And if Newt wants to do something about it, Dumbledore has some ideas.

* History fans might not realize immediately, but hopefully they will catch on the fact that all of the beautiful arguments from the charming gentleman are about weakness of the state, which is a common fascist trope.

Third movie

In which characters from previous movies are brought back without having to completely destroy their personalities.

Graves is in Europe and he pays a visit to Newt to ask for his help. Graves is using his new found empathy (that he didn’t want) to investigate a series of highly suspicious murders and incidents. The victims were all Latinas so it was dismissed, but Graves thinks there is something.

Two scenes later in comes Tina, who has quitted her job in order to track the murderer of some friend’s friend. An African American child is dead, no it was not the No-Maj, it was someone else, someone who wanted to cover their tracks and leave no witnesses and Tina is going to eat their heart.

Is it possible that Graves and Tina are after the same person? Yes and no. It is two different henchmen but Dumbledore has no trouble going beyond the small picture to see the pattern. He knows Grindelwald always had an interest in powerful artefacts, not just the Deathly Hallows.

Grindelwald has stolen the Macguffin, a powerful artefact belonging to a Latin-American community. With that and the Elder Wand he will be unstoppable. Oh no!

But! Newt realizes there is something missing. The raven is not a symbol of death in all cultures. Grindelwald might not fully understand what he has taken or how to use it.

So Graves and Tina go fight Grindelwald’s organization and be awesome together, delaying Grindelwald’s big coup. Meanwhile, Newt illegally leaves the country, goes back to NY, takes Queenie and deploys her. Because Queenie is nice. She plays the vapid pretty woman, but she is above all nice and if someone can make a hurt and distrustful community open their door to strangers, it is going to be Queenie with the help of Jacob’s bread.

And, indeed! They succeed. The bruja Latina explains about the Macguffin. Grildelwald doesn’t understand what he has stolen. It is not meant to be used like that at all.

They go back to Europe quickly, Newt relays this information to Dumbledore and he steps to his duel with Grindelwald armed with the knowledge and insight that comes from showing some measure of respect to other people for once.

(And if it seems that Dumbledore’s victory rests on other people’s work, well, Dumbledore’s main trait is his ability to earn people’s trust and devotion. But I guess Newt and Queenie could have brought the bruja with them and after a nice chat with Dumbledore she agrees to share their secrets with him, so he has the opportunity to show he is different).

Rather than having a man realize something, this movie is about the consequences of not opening your eyes: Gindelwald’s fall. It would also nicely establish Dumbledore’s best manipulative traits. If we must have het couples, Tina saves Newt’s from some mook and taker a kiss. Graves goes with the pretty Lestrange, I guess, to have a long life of morality sanctioned crimes.

(A TV show. Twelve episodes. Cancelled after the first season. Graves and Lestrange are back in the States helping oppressed communities and dodging the MACUSA and whatever the equivalent of the FBI was back then).

[youngbugandtonystank]

I’ve seen a lot of things on Twitter recently about the hype over white ppl vs black ppl at marvel on Twitter about how ppl always hype up the white actors and characters but never the black ones .. and about how the black character don’t get that much attention weather it be interviews or even with social media following ? I just wanted to know what are your thoughts about the subject?? I mean I kinda do agree .. with some of them about how they are feeling with the situation

This post can explain pretty well how racist Disney can get, especially with TV shows and movies. Here, let me share it:

This content was made by @anikawalia. You can find more of this in this source: x.

Some of these things happen with the MCU too. Well, Disney /= MCU.    

While I adore some of these friendships, it always bothered me how they make the black/POC characters the sidekicks and best friends:

White hero, sidekick of color: why Marvel needs to break the cycle

The problem with this is they get reduced to ‘sidekick/best friend’ when they can cast a black/POC person to be the protagonist instead. Some of those characters are disrespected in major ways in the MCU. They’ve missed several opportunities to introduce more non-white leads. And sometimes they don’t even get them the promo those characters deserve. Ned Leeds for example, Jacob Batalon was the only member of the main cast that didn’t get an official poster/promo for Far From Home, even if Ned has been a major part of Peter’s life and a big character in the previous movies to the point that he had a cameo in IW and Endgame, yet he didn’t get promo for a movie where he actively participates in. 

Or the fact that they kicked out Laura Harrier only to give a romantic relationship a spotlight. And when asked about it, Watts said Liz was probably older because of Laura’s age. Disrespectful af. Laura was very vocal about continuing in the MCU, and she didn’t even ask to be Peter’s love interest, no, she wanted to play a more important role in the franchise. She said she wanted Liz to become Firestar and even hinted that she wouldn’t mind playing Black Cat. People forget to credit her for being the first black lead female and love interest for a Spider-Man adaption. Nobody cared about that, they only said she was only a ‘love interest’ that we shouldn't care about because she's not MJ. And this is exactly the problem when they’re casting black/POC characters. They’re not accessories or representation points. If she wanted to continue and they clearly have space for characters like Betty Brant and Happy Hogan, then why is Liz not getting the same treatment? Sorry, I went off but this makes me really mad. You have no idea how excited Laura was about getting this role. Literally every interview, she mentioned how much she wanted to continue. 

Also, the Latin-American representation. I’m not even going to start with this because lmao I’m getting mad. I hope we see America Chavez, Anya Corazón, and Ava Ayala getting their rightful throne in this franchise. 

Here are some thoughts some of the actors shared about this:

"I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white," Anthony Mackie.

Laura Harrier thought Zendaya stole her role because she didn’t think Marvel was going to cast two black actresses in the same movie

Zoe Saldana: Because you’re not just dissing me, you’re dissing what that child considers important in their world.”

Benedict Wong: This idea of a manservant-sidekick. That’s not something that appeals to me. I sort of found that out myself, and I thought, “How can we change this?” Maybe there’s a kid who’ll watch and say, “Oh wow, there’s a superhero representing me.” That’s what we want from diversity.

Lashana Lynch: We didn't have to explain that Maria is Black, you can see that she is. She's raising a young Black child, as well." 

Jacob Batalon on critics are praising the diversity in the film. And how does that make him feel and what does it mean for him as a Filipino-American.

Michael Peña on How is the MCU doing in Latinx representation?

But we also should celebrate some wins here, our new James Bond is Lashana Lynch, our new Captain America is Sam Wilson, we have a canonical princess Shuri Udaku, and the queen of Asgard is Brunnhilde, let’s celebrate that♥ Also, War Machine deserves his own TV show on Disney +.

[sagevalleymusings]

BreadTube so White Because the Viewers are White and Other Hot Takes

I have a playlist of long-form video essays that I created for work about a month ago. I often find that a person talking in my vicinity but not to me helps me stay focused, and video essays because they’re academic are often better for that because the topic is vague enough and the tone even enough to ride the line between “boring enough to fade into the background” and “fun enough to not be annoying.” And they have the added benefit of being very long for YouTube standards, so the transition isn’t distracting. 

There is a fine line for the criteria to make this playlist, which vaguely nebulates to “something I enjoyed enough to watch multiple times, by a creator I’ve followed long enough to have formed a parasocial relationship with, whose content is both vague but relatable in a way that I won’t feel the need to form a separate opinion or contribute to the dialog in some way.” And ultimately that’s very personal and very specific! Rowan Ellis’ “definitive proof that captain marvel is gay (spoilers)” got cut from the list for being too chaotic, but Hbomberguy’s “Flat Earth: A Measured Response” got to stay despite also being quite chaotic. And even though I have a lot of Lindsay Ellis on the playlist, I often wind up having to skip them because, since they’re essays about a specific movie, they wind up being too niche and draw my focus away from work. And yet I also have Folding Ideas’ “A Lukewarm Defence of Fifty Shades” with no issue.

The best videos tend to be by Contrapoints or PhilosophyTube, because both creators speak in soothing tones with vague but relatable content. It’s practically ASMR for academics. 

But there’s something interesting about all the names so far. They’re almost entirely people branded as BreadTube. And they’re entirely… all white. 

Naturally I am fixing this bias. There are creators I listen to on repeat who are not white. I listen to CJ the X’s videos three times in a row when they release and often go back to the archives again when Melina Pendulum aka Princess Weekes uploads a new video. But they didn’t make the first pass when I was putting this playlist together. Why?

For a lot of the artists I didn’t include, there were perfectly valid reasons. CJ the X is too chaotic, Princess Weekes is too niche. Khadija Mbowe’s videos are both vague enough and relatable enough that they should have been included, but I found out about them relatively recently, and their voice doesn’t fade into the background for me the way a more familiar voice would. T1J meanwhile I have the opposite problem with. He speaks so calmly and gently that his voice doesn’t give me enough focus to stay alert at work, and I get distracted. I had perfectly valid reasons for not reaching for those creators first in every instance. 

But… these issues were present in white creators too. I just made allowances. Lindsay Ellis is as niche as Princess Weekes, but rather than not include Lindsay, I just skip it if it’s not helpful. Hbomberguy is… Well, not *as* chaotic as CJ because no one is as chaotic as CJ. But if Harry’s work is too chaotic for me that day I just skip it. Why include Folding Ideas’ Fifty Shades videos, but not Kat Blaque’s? 

I mean, I know why. It’s because I am a white person, so I subconsciously relate better to other white people, and have to consciously think about that in order to avoid doing it. I know all that. But I still wanted to bring it up, partly to just advertise some cool, under-subscribed Black and POC creators, many of whom are trans or non-binary. In fact I think T1J is the only video essayist I follow who isn’t in some way queer. But I also think it’s important to talk about this issue not just from the creator standpoint, but also from the viewer standpoint. Yes, I have to go out of my way to seek out creators of color lest the default BreadTube white aesthetic overtake my YouTube recommends. So I do that. And you should too. 

BreadTube is white because the people who decided what BreadTube is are the viewers, and the viewers who decided that were predominantly white people viewing content by people who looked like them. And although this is partly because if Contrapoints name drops Lindsay Ellis, that’s a way to discover a new creator and BreadTube does tend to reference each other, this isn’t entirely a failure on the creator’s part. 

I think for me the person with whom this is the most obvious is Princess. Princess and Lindsay work together on the PBS series “It’s Lit.” They have similar talking styles, similar production quality, similar professional experience, and talk about similar subjects. I went to a book talk for Lindsay’s book, and Princess was there (if I recall correctly as a moderator). They advertise for each other. And yet, Lindsay Ellis has 1.1 million subscribers, and Princess has 120,000. 

I think it’s safe to say that most of the people subscribed to Princess are probably also subscribed to Lindsay, but that clearly doesn’t go both ways. Most of the people subscribed to Lindsay are NOT subscribed to Princess, and that was, at the very least, a subconscious choice, because Lindsay has advocated for Princess specifically by name on more than one occasion. I can hazard a guess that most people would have a reason why Princess’ content didn’t catch them the same way, and I’m sure it would even be a reason that made sense. But the reason on its own is not enough to hold something as being removed from any underlying racial biases. If I am saying “well this person’s content is too niche for this playlist” but making that allowance for someone else, then there’s still an underlying bias at play, even if only on a subconscious level. 

This is something that comes up all the time when liberal-minded white people are grappling with racial justice. I see it happen over and over again in hiring committees that a diverse pool gets slimmed down to the most qualified white men in the pool. And you could absolutely justify that by saying that the most qualified candidates rose to the top. But when one of those qualifiers is “a good fit” and other ambiguous language, people are encouraged to go with their gut feeling about a person, which often when no other information is present defaults to “people who look like me.”

I have heard activists claim that anti-racism at times goes too far, because it creates such a fixation on race that it feels like that’s the only thing you’re talking about. It makes more of a big deal about race than was there previously, and surely that’s a bad thing. 

But the thing is… had I not been paying attention, and in the habit of questioning my own behavior, my playlist would have continued to be devoid of any people of color, purely on vibes alone. Race wasn’t a big deal because all of that was going on subconsciously. By thinking about it and talking about it, all we’re doing is bringing an existing problem into light. 

Anyway none of this is new news and I’m ultimately procrastinating on a Monday like always so if you want more leftist long-form video essays in your feed by trans and non-binary people of color go subscribe to Xiran Jay Zhao or Khadija Mbowe or Kat Blaque or CJ the X.