#but only one of them had the courage to make canon queer characters

[arowithanotp]

SAT voice: lesbians are to once upon a time as gay men are to bbc merlin

[marypsue]

So if you follow me (and aren't just stopping by because you saw one of my funney viralposts), you probably know that I've been writing a bunch of fanfiction for Stranger Things, which is set in rural Indiana in the early- to mid-eighties. I've been working on an AU where (among other things) Robin, a character confirmed queer in canon, gets integrated into a friend group made up of a number of main characters. And I got a comment that has been following me around in the back of my mind for a while. Amidst fairly usual talk about the show and the AU and what happens next, the commenter asked, apparently in genuine confusion, "why wouldn't Robin just come out to the rest of the group yet? They would be okay with it."

I did kind of assume, for a second or two, that this was a classic case of somebody confusing what the character knows with what the author/audience knows. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like it embodies a real generational shift in thinking that I hadn't even managed to fully comprehend until this comment threw it into sharp perspective.

Because, my knee-jerk reaction was to reply to the comment, "She hasn't come out to these people she's only sort-of known for less than a year because it's rural Indiana. In the nineteen-eighties." and let that speak for itself. Because for me and my peers, that would speak for itself. That would be an easy and obvious leap of logic. Because I grew up in a world where you assumed, until proven otherwise, that the general society and everyone around you was homophobic. That it was unsafe to be known to be queer, and to deliberately out yourself required intention and forethought and courage, because you would get negative reactions and you had to be prepared for the fallout. Not from everybody! There were always exceptions! But they were exceptions. And this wasn't something you consciously decided, it wasn't an individual choice, it wasn't an individual response to trauma, it wasn't individual. It was everybody. It was baked in, and you didn't question it because it was so inherently, demonstrably obvious. It was Just The Way The World Is. Everybody can safely be assumed to be homophobic until proven otherwise.

And what this comment really clarified for me, but I've seen in a million tiny clashing assumptions and disconnects and confusions I've run into with The Kids These Days, is that a lot of them have grown up into a world that is...the opposite. There are a lot of queer kids out there who are assuming, by default, that everybody is not homophobic, until proven otherwise. And by and large, the world is not punishing them harshly for making that assumption, the way it once would have.

The whole entire world I knew changed, somehow, very slowly and then all at once. And yes, it does make me feel like a complete space alien just arrived to Earth some days. But also, it makes me feel very hopeful. This is what we wanted for ourselves when we were young and raw and angrily shoving ourselves in everyone's faces to dare them to prove themselves the exception, and this is what I want for The Kids These Days.

(But also please, please, Kids These Days, do try to remember that it has only been this way since extremely recently, and no it is not crazy or pathetic or irrational or whatever to still want to protect yourself and be choosy about who you share important parts of yourself with.)

[this-is-a-podcast-fanblog]

welcome to night vale kind of sucks

I can't believe I'm doing this again but here goes: I'm writing a call out post for the behaviors made by my favorite podcasters. I love Night Vale. Let me make that clear. My whole blog is Night Vale. I've cosplayed Night Vale. I've been in this fandom for eight years, and I've been holding out hope that the show will become "good" again for a long time. I've been a fan while simultaneously acknowledging some of their very harmful behavior. But this last episode just really cemented for me how the issues with their writing are not just failures of plot and theme, they are actively harming the communities that support them. Night Vale has turned from the show that canonized a queer relationship in 2013 and celebrated its thousands of fans, to something devoid of passion and almost unrecognizable in its messaging. These issues have been present for a while, but now they are everywhere in the show. They're completely overwhelming.

Why did an abused person not only forgive their abuser and say that he was "doing the best he could"? No, really - we had an entire season about generational trauma, a deeply personal topic for many people, and then you paint an abusive father as "misguided"? It's a slap in the face. Why do prominent female characters, particularly antagonists, always get either killed off or written out of the story by... ascending into the stars I guess? (So Lauren's the most powerful foe ever but then she's defeated by six people telling her they don't like her. Cool cool.) Why did the writers deradicalize a Black woman whose original story was about her courage and opposition to authority? Why was Tamika's role this season to be a caretaker for The Boy instead of her position in local government? Why is there only one recurring trans character in the show?

The worst thing of all for me though is the partnership with Betterhelp. Betterhelp, which sells people's data and has been called out for it time and time again. There was no excuse for them to take this sponsorship, especially when, oh yeah people were calling it out for endorsing conversion therapy. There are doctors on Betterhelp who have OFFERED CONVERSION THERAPY, and that's who they're promoting to their majority queer audience. But there's especially no excuse for this sponsorship when BetterHelp is collaborating with the Israeli Occupation Force. When Betterhelp is publicly associating itself with the army that burns people alive, that bombs hospitals, and is actively colonizing Palestine.

And before anyone says, "Mercury, why are you only writing a call out for the Betterhelp thing now after you didn't like this episode?" Well, I've been publicly calling them out for MONTHS over this. I've replied to almost every episode's Q&A to tell them they need to stop this partnership as well as replying to them on their socials asking why they're still working with this company.

Plus, this isn't just me disliking this episode - I'm seeing posts on the wtnv tag from abuse survivors who got extremely triggered by this and it just breaks my heart. Genuinely, why did they do that? This arc had such beautiful and introspective writing about parenting and it feels like they just threw it all away.

I don't know what note to end this on. I really hope they take their hiatus to reassess some business practices and write a better season. And mostly that they stop partnering with Betterhelp.

@nightvaleofficial

[doctormaxbankman]

PLEASE TELL ME MORE

Honestly Kayla, finding this in my inbox is the highlight of my week, one of my favourite blogs on here @nilefreemans

I honestly have so many thoughts about bucktommy overall but tommy kinard is such an enigma in many ways and it’s kind of like sudoku where it’s a fun puzzle to play around with headcanons based on intentional and unintentional canon information and i have so many thoughts whenever i see gifs

cause like yeah it’s very easy to just be like yeah i’ve seen pics of lou with earrings but choosing to interpret it as an intentional character element adds so much to tommy’s character

cause yeah ear piercings are way less gendered now but i know i certainly grew up hearing so many gendered rules about who could or couldn’t get their ears pieced and the “gay earring”, and i imagine that would have been so much more amplified for Tommy, just the layers of pressure and closeting he is seemingly under prior to chimney begins— which makes the pierced ears even more interesting because jt means in universe that there was some point in time that tommy felt like he could step out of those confines and take what looks like this tiny little step but in reality is profound for him but only temporarily since we don’t see him wear them even outside of work iirc.

and i’m just fascinated by these little pockets of liberation for characters like tommy —like for ref. I watched spn and one of my favourite fic tropes is Stanford Era Dean where for a brief moment he doesn’t have to be hunter nobody is perceiving him and he gets to just be himself a queer man— which just feels very Tommy

like i don’t have hard or fast ideas and tommy doesn’t seems like the most traditionally impulsive (like buck) but more of a measured impulsivity where maybe he doesn’t seek things out but he’ll eagerly engage when it’s there- i mean see every time chimney has ‘dragged’ him into things/information out of him

So while I could easily see it being a throwaway line of like “oh yeah I forget about em, I got them when I lost a bet” or as a more active rebellious move of like hey I can't do something grander but I can do this and the kind of people who would see this as gay are the people I'm looking to spite right now

But my personal favourite is (again a lot of this is me just wanting an version of the stanford era dean segment of A Thousand Lives fic but Tommy pre-buck) I really enjoyed the idea that Tommy got his ears pieced because he wanted to just sincerely, even more so if in a bitter sweet way it’s in this blip of tommy’s life prior to coming out when he’s out to himself and dating men, going to queer spaces etc. and one of them is some queer man with the patience of a saint who one evening in a moment of calm intimacy probably brushing their hands through tommy’s hair and when noticing his ears ask tommy if he’s ever thought about getting them pierced- and at this window of post army and either pre LAFD entirely or just pre-buck 118- he has just enough courage to say yes and agree to getting them pierced, and like eventually this partner would somehow convince him to do some level of gender bending expression or drag like a Halloween costume (like please can somebody draw Tommy doing rock horror) and then bittersweet it’d probably link back to tommy being just not being ready for or in the right environment to be really fully out and a mutual break out as the other guy looking for a more visible relationship

i really wasn’t expecting this to be this long i had to fully delete a tangent i had about my thoughts on tommy and love actually but that’s for a different post lmao, again really honoured that you enjoyed my rambly tags enough to want to hear more, i wish i wrote fic so i could put these ideas together better but at least it’s there

[tag-that-oc]

QUESTION! Are there any obvious ideas I missed for an OC I will share that will flesh them out more? (I say obvious because developing unique ideas isn't your job. I'd like to ask, since you as a collective blog have experience with original characters).

Essentially, her name is Koda, and she is a twenty-one-year-old human(oid) who's a bit messed up. I intentionally autism-coded her (and have been debating/nervous about making it canon), since I am autistic, and I wanted to give her a few traits that I feel 'boiling' inside of me. She's particularly interested in creating stuff from other things, especially exotic materials (from, say, exotic sources).

More specifically, she's an absolute fan of monsters and freaky animals. Even more specifically, she makes crafts out of them, such as manipulating hard pieces of animal to create weapons (blunt heads, blades, mechanism shells for more complex stuff), using skin to create unique leather, either for style or for unique purposes (a fire-based monster's leather being fireproof? Good for a journal, maybe?), and finally, making meats and organs into foods.

Her past isn't the best. Her (supposed) biological parents died protecting the town they lived in while she was young, being adopted by a soldier who had found her wandering. This man, named Elmer, was mostly nice, but he intentionally isolated her from groups of people he didn't like (which is dangerous, since the world is rather strict about hate-fueled actions), which mostly included people who went against the typical stuff of nature (the queer community of that world). She did have internet access, but since she believed him, she also believed that she was reading nonsense (as he had told her).

A stranger who was injured met her, and she managed to dig up the courage to help him to a clinic. He helped her gain the confidence to socialize with others by listening to her rambling as they walked. Not only that, he asked questions and was generally a nice person in return for her helping him.

This let her interact with people she didn't understand fully and slowly began to come to an understanding. The nonsense she read online was real--and these people weren't bumbling idiots, they were genuine people, who weren't forcing anything onto anybody. Because of the people Elmer tried to hide from her, she learned more about herself than she ever would with him alone. She was attracted to women, as opposed to men, and it added a little more sense to her life.

When confronting Elmer with this, however, he grew irrationally angry and grew far more aggressive than he had EVER been in her life--alongside this, he did something for the first time and punished her with actual pain and injury. In his manic state, he forced his own daughter's hands into their furnace, and although it was only for a few seconds, the damage had been done.

He made her go outside and seemed to regret the irrational and violent reaction, but not before a familiar stranger had wandered the streets he had before and caught his eye on a silhouette familiar to him. The man who had unintentionally given the courage to explore approached her. She didn't cry, yet her blankness explained more than enough. The man looked inside the building to see another man he recognized, and not positively. The furnace, the familiar man, and the cowering young woman with seared hands, it was not hard for him to piece it all together.

The familiar stranger curtly explained for her to sneak in, take her things, and flee somewhere, intentionally trying to engage her survival instincts so she could be safe from Elmer. As she blearily complied, he ran in with his blade and raked scars across the man. She had given him a request, blurry yet clear, and he complied. The man was left sobbing, blaming Koda as she blankly ran with blood streaking down his flesh. The man with the blade imparted to him that he would not hurt her again, and knocked him unconscious.

The series of events was unfortunate, but she went to the only other place she knew for real; her parents were not from the village she was born in, and so, she made her way to a place known as Timu town. It was a respectable journey on foot, but she managed to make it, nearly falling unconscious just as she stepped into town. Yet, a woman found her. Not only did she find her, she took her to her home, and nursed her until she awoke.

For a while, although the woman let her stay, Koda remained closed to her, not even exchanging names with her. Yet, the woman pried into her with wisdom that could only be responded to with respect and comfort. Her name was Rhoane, and Rhoane listened to what Koda had to say with a similar respect to the familiar stranger who had given her this opportunity.

And, so, Rhoane allowed Koda to live with (as long as she contribute to the household of course), and Koda's life has been alright since!

Yet, (spoilery for her story), she doesn't realize that Rhoane is the mother of the familiar stranger, *and* her grandmother!... And that the familiar stranger is her father.

Uhh... sorry for rambling. Again, if there are any easy ideas I'm missing to flesh her character out, please point them out! If not, just have my rambling.

She sounds really interesting!! sounds like you've done a really good job of fleshing her out already. Not a specific idea, but I find that if a character needs fleshing out more something that helps is putting them in various different situations that they wouldn't end up in canonically to figure out how they would react in those situations. And sometimes you find out new things about them in the process!

[stobinesque]

8, 9 & 11 for Steddie Ask Game 😊

huzzah! thank you ☺️

8: Favorite Steddie Headcanon you've read or written?

Oh!! At first I was going to say I don't know, but then remembered this post by @inklessletter (which I did also write fic of), where Eddie in Season 4 is flirting, but less out of an active crush on Steve, and more because "well I'm gonna die anyway might as well go out with a bang." As much as I enjoy various incarnations of Eddie having had a crush on/been in love with Steve since pre-s4, that is very much how I tend to hc Eddie in particular.

9: Do you imagine they would have been childhood friends?

I have enjoyed every single childhood friends AU I have read, and love friends to lover as a trope wholeheartedly. But where their canon characters are concerned? Ehhhh. I've really enjoyed canon compliant fics where they have a singular chance encounter as kids that sticks with the each of them for years (bonus points if one or both doesn't actually realize who it was). But beyond that I think childhood Steve and childhood Eddie would have too much working against them to really form a connection. I think even where they're both at in season 4 requires a good amount of Eddie stretching and Steve bending for them to reach an equilibrium that works. One of the things I actually find appealing about Steddie as a ship (in a canon context) is that it feels like a relationship that would work only because of how Steve has grown and developed as a character over the course of the show.

11: Which one would confess their attraction/love first? Why?

I flop back and forth on who I think it would make "more sense" to confess! I think Steve is more willing to risk immediate rejection than Eddie is, but that Eddie is more secure in their...potential? I think that Steve might be willing to confess his attraction, but would potentially hold himself back from confessing genuine feelings because while he could stomach an immediate rejection, he doesn't want to subject himself to a slowburn heartbreak again. Conversely, I think the popular hc that Eddie would be afraid of an immediate and somewhat vehement rejection is pretty spot on, but the second he realizes Steve returns the feelings he's 110% on board and ready to dive in. Ultimately I think it comes down to 1) whether or not one of them comes out to the other, independent of confessing their feelings and 2) how obvious Eddie is being in his flirting. I think if they get to a point where they're friends, and Eddie comes out, and is obviously flirting with Steve but in a way that Steve can accurately pinpoint as romantic flirting and not just sexual tension, I think Steve probably musters the courage to confess first. If Steve comes out to Eddie first, I think Eddie confesses on the spot. And then there's just a whole lot of other combinations of ways that could play out, obviously. There's also the fun definitely-not-going-to-end-badly scenario where they fall into bed together and both think it's just about sex for the other person, and in that situation it is truly a toss-up on who confesses first, but personally I like it to be Eddie, (largely bc we just have more canon evidence of all of Steve's specific baggage). (also all of that is assuming Steve already knows he's queer, which is my preferred way of writing Steddie <3) ...that one got away from me, oops.

[twisted-tales-told]

Alright I’m here for Part Two which is: Jegulus fics that have either already Hurt Me To My Bones, or I am predicting will Hurt Me To My Bones. 

Choices by Messermoon If you’re reading this, and its not in the top five things in life thats causing you pain, then I simply do not understand how your brain works. In other words, I’m dying out here guys. I found it at 14 chapters long. The prank had just happened, I caught up in one night and ONLY THEN did I see the canon compliant tag aka. I didn’t stand a chance. The meer existence of Lupercal fundamentally changed me as a human being, and Mia somehow became my favourite fictional character I’ve ever had the honour of reading about. Reading this makes me so thankful I learned how to bookbind last year, because making my pretty typesets is How I’m Coping. I also just owe a huge debt of gratitude to this fic because it reminded me why I love writing and gave me the courage to apply to creative writing school. I found out last week I got in.

Don't worry, darlin' by achylss has already hurt me, and will hurt me more. I’ve accepted my fate. I don’t know how to describe it but the line “One couldn't yield such a storm without peculiar strength and bravery.” reframed my entire perspective on how I treat myself when I’m struggling with my mental health. This fic has some content warnings so make sure you check those but if you’re in a good place I really recommend. I could not describe what it’s about if I tried, I won’t do it justice. 

Drugs and surgical scrubs by anauro Believe it or not it hasn’t actually hurt me yet but boy do I think it’s going to. Basically The Marauders are drug addicts, Regulus is an anesthesiologist, and after an *Altercation* leaves James with a stab wound Sirius guilts Regulus into looking after him. It is a very realistic portrayal of drug addiction. What made me fall in love with this fic was, first of all getting to read all the cool medical terms and what they mean, and secondly Marlene Mckinnon being Regulus’ queer confidant and surrogate big sister. Also Andromeda and Ted. Just them both being there made me so happy. 

Flowers by gwenstacylvr Okay Listen. Theres a story as to why this one is on my list and I have not known peace since I read it. (content warning: Regulus dies via suicide attempt in this fic, and it’s about grief, moving on etc. James does fall in love with Lily, but Holy Fuck That Hurt More Somehow?)  I was minding my business on tiktok when the user pr0ngslover (I’m 99 percent sure that was the username) had posted an edit. It was to the Sufjan steven’s song Fourth of July. So basically I was already in pain, and then I had the audacity to ask if it was based off a fic. And they responding, yes, Flowers by gwenstacylvr. I went. I read The Fic. It has been almost five goddamn months and I have not mentally moved past it. I cry when I eat a kit-kat, I cry when I find the edit on my camera-roll. I could not even tell you why. I’m a bit of a stickler for structure, grammar, all that stuff when I read literally anything--honestly it’s just habit at this point. But when I tell you I don’t give a shit that the storytelling is inconsistent, or that the grammar isn’t the best in the world, I mean it, cuz it still managed to destroy me anyhow and I gotta give it that. 

Fade Into You by euphorial_docx Again, it hasn’t hurt me yet...but I think it’s gonna, and I’m willing to bet on that. The bittersweet ending tag is taunting me. I love Pandora in this So Much and I will somehow headcanon pandalily in it. I don’t care what actually happens, I will project those two being in love with every fic I read where they’re present. 

I See Stars and Painted Lies By Iwantedausername There are only three chapters in this fic so far, and it does not tag whether its canon death of James or not and that freaks me out man. Like Regulus survives the cave, but my brain will wormhole a way into worrying its gonna be canonical death ending. Basically James & Regulus were sort of together at Hogwarts but the fic really starts after he escapes the cave with the Hocrux. I love James’ characterization so far, Remus is really great too. Even if it’s not canon compliant I’ve already felt hurt at multiple points. Also, as Mary MacDonalds #1 fan, they better get her the hell out of jail real soon she deserves better. 

Anyways there’s my painful Jegulus fanfic list if you were looking to get your heart broken. 

[this-is-krikkit]

Top 5 queer characters

ooooh good one, thank you !!

5. Frankie Bergstein. The most gentle soul out there, hilarious whether she wants to be or not, an incredibly loving and warm character who ends up falling in love with a woman who's shown her nothing but disdain most of their lives before they end up in the same shitty situation. What i especially love about her is that in my headcanon where that show didn't queerbait us to death, she's the bold and crazy one who doesn't care about other people's opinion, she's the one you'd expect to be brave and loud and clear about how she's in love with her best friend and it's not just platonic. But i actually love the idea that she might be the one struggling most with that realization and how to act on it, because she used to be so open and loving of everything and everyone (and still seems that way) for the seven decades before the show starts ; and she got her heart broken so badly from the twenty year old affair, that although she did get attached to Grace quickly enough and jokes about being more than friends all the time, she's deadly afraid of those feelings and what may come of them. I absolutely love this strong and funny and silly woman on the outside, who hides a much more vulnerable and frightened woman on the inside, who deserves all the lifetime of love and affection Grace has never allowed herself to feel or show anyone.. until now, post-canon !!

4. Crawley, my actual demon child, who is way too good for this world, and the other two he's visited. (And i've been torturing myself for a solid half hour trying to pick between him and his equally amazing boyfriend Aziraphale, and ended up flipping a coin for it. I'm sorry Aziraphale. I love you so much.) Anyways, back to Crawley and his ridiculous crush on an angel that makes him do crazy things such as going to actual heaven to save said angel's ass, and who embodies Iris by the Goo goo Dolls so perfectly it's a lil suspicious and he probably had smth to do with that song coming to life while he was under cover on Earth. I love a tv show that brings a book to my attention, i loved both of those media and i cannot wait for season 2.

(do i need to explain that gif choice ? no i don't. bye.)

3. Charity Dingle, chaotic bisexual icon if i ever saw one !! haven't had a chance to catch up with the soap since the Vanity shit hit the fan, but i'll get back to her one day because i miss the truly Slytherin Queen that she is (sorry for the HP mention but it belongs to us now, fuck JKR and terfs in general). Pretty sure she's the most flawed character in this list, but i apparently LOVE a queer anti hero ? She's a lot of things and not all of them good ; she's a cheat, a liar, a bad mom most of the time, selfish and venale and has trust issues towards everyone and herself the size of a mountain. She's also a survivor of terrible abuse, a fighter, a love-starved but deeply insecure person who won't let that be seen easily. She's the only such representation i've ever seen of a wlw woman esp in a popular soap, and her simply existing gives me so much hope that society might just be evolving in the right direction ? Idk man, on the good days where i still have faith for lgbt future, she sorta gives me hope for our queer lives to become part of the norm and not just sensational and weird.

2. Regina Mills from OUAT. What a great show with a great lesbian power couple and awesome message about queer families, or so i'm yelling somewhere in that parallel universe where the two cowards who wrote it grew courage instead of magic beans and made Swan Queen canon. I grew to love this character, it wasn't love at first sight (although def lust at first sight, shout out to them Evil Queen gowns) and now i'm trying to write self indulgent fics from her pov and day dreaming about all the things she deserved that she never got. Best redemption arc (apart from my #1 down there maybe) i've ever seen, a full badass bitch energy. Sidenote, Lana Parrilla being the biggest and loudest Swan Queen supporter in the cast felt suspicious to me in the beginning (idk, i don't get me either), but i'm finally at a point where i can fully appreciate how awesome that was of her.

(Yes that gif was queerbait. Yes i still get excited seeing it.)

1. Obv my number 1 queer bitch forever is ROOT from Person of Interest, it's been 6 years and i'm still in denial of the byg trope they pushed down my throat a meer day after she finally got her tiny sociopathic soulmate back. She was a lot of things that i can't detail or i would die from dehydration bc the tears would consume my entire stock of water, but she also happened to appear in a TV show i actually loved. I mean i did start watching strictly for the gayness i vaguely knew was ahead, let's be real, but POI is a show i really came to love so much even when she wasn't a main character. It touched me deeply, and i still rewatch it and get blown away by the genius of so many of its episodes, from the mind blowing plot twists to the soundtrack. I had so many kids on that show and loved them all so much, just thinking about it hurts... We were robbed of a Shoot reboot, and i'll leave it at that.

(look at her being so passionate and right and fierce and hot. loooooook. i would have followed her into battle from day one of her psych ward escape 😢 )

[orangerosebush]

Obligatory pride month HC post for a few of my belovèd AF faves.

Putting this below the cut as it will be a smidge long. If your headcanons differ, please know that this is only intended to be my very own, self-indulgent reading of some of the characters -- I love to hear how people's readings differ from my own, and I truly do think of the series as being inherently conducive to a multiplicity of interpretations.

Artemis Fowl II: I have a whole post on the fact I love to read (and write) Artemis as being a trans man, and all my takes from that piece apply here. I see him as being bisexual and only coming to terms with this during his late-teens. I don't think he reflected much on his sexuality when he was younger, assuming he was heterosexual due to the fact he is attracted to women *and* the fact mainstream masculinity is also tied to straightness, thus making it common for transmasculine people to remain closeted (to themselves and/or to society) so as to avoid "risking" what little access to validated manhood in the eyes of the peers that they had managed to procure. However, I think he always was drawn to depictions of queer masculinity in art -- Oscar Wilde's writing, etc -- even though he didn't fully understand why he was so profoundly emotionally affected by it.

Juliet Butler: I read her as being a lesbian. Her character arc is so deeply tied to her negotiating what is expected of her as opposed to what she loves, and her finally gathering to courage to leave for America to begin living the life she was meant to live was so important to me when I read it the first time. I see her as having a non-traditional romantic relationship with Samsonetta, in that it's a somewhat open relationship and neither of them is interested in settling down and legally marrying. However, they both deeply love one another, and the relationship has been very healing for them both.

Butler: I see him as always having been supportive of the fact Juliet is gay (i.e. I see him reassuring her that she is meant to live her life as Juliet, not just a Butler, as him subtextually saying, "I know you've never told me, but I know you are gay, and I love you"). However, I think that in terms of him being comfortable with his own sexuality, he'd have a lot of internalized stuff to work through :(. Let me explain.

Canonically, one of Butler's favorite movies is Some like it hot (1959) with Marilyn Monroe -- and this movie was (arguably) the death knell of the Hays Code due to scenes like the following in which gayness was alluded to in a very progressive manner for the time:

Here's how Butler talks about something as innocuous as his taste in genre.

So much about what makes his dynamic with Juliet fascinating is that he is so unequivocally supportive of her, that he is adamant that the Blue Diamond life would kill her spirit, and so on -- yet he likewise spends most of the series refusing to allow himself to be emotionally vulnerable with others, just as he struggles to allow himself to be more than just "a Butler".

I could see Juliet finding out from Justin Barre (Butler's friend from Scotland yard) that years in the past, he had sensed a mutual -- though they never discussed this -- romantic frisson between Butler and himself, and that he always wondered whether something could have happened between them had Butler not been called back to Ireland at Artemis' birth. Juliet has a moment where she's like, "Wait. Hold up".

Suddenly, a lot of awkwardness about how Butler has tried to articulate how much he loves and supports Juliet's own sexuality is recontextualized as being part of, "Holy shit, my brother is heavily closeted". To me, I see Butler's love for Juliet as likely one of the few things that would impel him to properly go to therapy so as to work through all the shit he'd internalized from stripping away his personhood during his time in Blue Diamond training. Like, Butler *loves* being a bodyguard, and this is how he talks about it nonetheless.

I do think that over time, he learns how to be more vulnerable around other people, and that although he remains a private person until he dies, he does come to terms with his own queerness in a way that brings him peace.

Something that reminds me of how I write Butler is the following (beautiful and heart-breaking) piece of art by illustrator Kenny Park (@/parkkennypark).

[girlswithambition]

Prince of Song and Sea - Exploring the Bravery in Love

Buy it here: https://bookshop.org/books/prince-of-song-sea/9781368069113

Seriously, I implore you. I'm gonna remind you a few more times.

Tragically, the audiobook is not read by Chris Barnes, but from a cursory listen it tears my heart asunder almost as much.

Prince of Song & Sea surprised me in the best way. It's delightfully-characterized, elevates its source material, and is queer in a way I imagine Howard Ashman would have been proud of.

And oh Gods, it's about trauma: real, violating, human trauma that goes beyond the safe bounds of a typical angstfest. I didn't expect that at all. The audience might read this knowing the courageous tropes fairytale princes carry with them, but Eric's strength comes through his vulnerability.

It comes with the Die Hard-style end that he brings Ursula, too but that kind of goes without saying. This book hits the notes you're looking for from the film and they feel just as satisfying, but I treasure the quieter moments throughout.

I never quite know what I'm getting into when I read licensed lit. 1989's The Little Mermaid has inspired a few YA titles over the last decade or so, and they're mostly enjoyable but relatively hit-or-miss. They're something you read because you're attached to the source material.

Some relatively spoiler-free reasons to enjoy Song & Sea for its own sake:

Linsey Miller did her homework. It shows on every page in loving, but relevant detail. I don't like to get persnickety about what's canon or accurate, as that doesn't a good story make. But the spirit of what made these characters compelling exists in Song&Sea's foundation.

Queerness. My little gay heart swam out to sea and hasn't returned. 21st century lit can get a bit checkboxy as far as queer representation goes, only scratching the surface of how queer humans might exist in literary worlds, but I felt the gay in Song&Sea's bones. And if you can't feel The Gay wafting up from its pages, are you really reading nautical literature?

Sometimes reads like a season finale of Buffy. To tell you why and which season(s) might spoil you, but it's for more than one reason.

Grimsby, my man. I love him.

I'm not going to shut up about it: I can't remember the last time I've read such an authentic portrayal of relational trauma.

Characterizes both Eric and Ariel in the best faith, and raises a discrete proverbial middle finger to criticisms that don't matter, Broadway Musical. The pot shots it takes at the Broadway plot made me giggle okay?

I had planned to go point-for-point with a bit more eloquence, but I think that's going to be relegated to drip-feeding tagged spoilers under some readmores for the next few weeks/months. I've been holding these feels in or ages and they've fermented. Unfortunately, I have the alcohol tolerance of a small child.

Please drop me a DM or an ask if you want to discuss it further - I have a ton more to say and would love to scream about it like an excited goat.

[idreamtofmanderleyagain]

Hot takes about Severus Snape are a wierdly decent glimpse into how a person with progressive values analyses things. Literally every time someone talks about Snape, it’s like this tiny window into how one-dimentionally people actually think.

Recently saw a twitter post that was a fantastic example. Here’s how it goes (paraphrasing):

Person A:“Snape is POC and Queer coded, that’s why you guy’s hate him uwu lol.”

Person B: “Actually I hate him because he was mean and abusive to children under his care uwu but go off I guess lol”

Both of these takes are designed to be dramatic and/or reactionary. They each use partial truths to paint very broad strokes. These are get-em-in-one-hit quips. This is virtue signalling, if you’ll excuse that loaded phrase. Nobody had a substantial conversation, but now everyone who sees their statement knows the high ground they took.

At least a hundred other people chimed in to add their own little quippy hot takes into play, none of which add anything significant, but clearly made everyone feel very highly of themselves.

So many layers of nuance and complex analysis is completely lost in this kind of discussion. On tumblr, you get more of this kind of bullshit, but you don’t have a word count limit, so you guys just spew endless mountains of weak overblown evidence backing up your bullshit arguments, none of which was really about engaging in a real conversation anyway.

Here’s the thing about Snape.

He is a childhood domestic abuse victim. His abuser is a muggle.

He becomes a student at a magical school that takes him away from his abuser and immediately instills in him the idea that being a part of this magical world is a badge of self-worth, empowerment, and provides safety and security - provided that he keeps in line.

There is a war is being waged in that world over his right to exist (he is a half blood).

He is a marginalized person within the context of the narrative, forced to constantly be in the same living space as the children of his own oppressors who are being groomed and recruited into a hate group militia (the pureblood slytherins). They are in turn trying to do the same to him.

He is marginalized person bullied by children who are also part of his oppressor group, but who have “more liberal” leanings and aren’t direct about why he’s being targeted (the mauraders are all purebloods, Sirius, who was the worst offender, was raised in a bigoted household, the same one that produced Bellatrix.).

He had a crush on a girl who is a muggleborn, and therefore she is considered even lesser than him and carries a stigma to those who associate with her. That girl was his only real friend. In his entire life.

For both Snape and Lily, allying themselves to a pureblood clique within their own houses would be a great way of shielding themselves from a measure of the bigotry they were probably facing. There would have been obvious pressure from those cliques to disconnect with one and other.

Every other person who associates with Snape in his adulthood carries some sort of sociopolitical or workplace (or hate cult) baggage with their association. Some of them will physically harm and/or kill him if he steps out of line. He hasn’t at any point had the right environment to heal and adjust from these childhood experiences. Even his relationship with Dumbledore is charged with constant baggage, including the purebloods who almost killed him during their bullying getting a slap on the wrist, the werewolf that almost killed him as a child being placed in an authority position over new children, etc. Dumbledore is canonically manipulative no matter his good qualities, and he has literally been manipulating Snape for years in order to cultivate a necessary asset in the war.

He is a person who is not in the stable mental state necessary to be teaching children, whom has been forced to teach children. While also playing the role of double agent against the hate group militia, the one that will literally torture you for mistakes or backtalk or just for fun. The one that will torture and kill him if he makes one wrong move.

Is the math clicking yet? From all of this, it’s not difficult to see how everything shitty about Snape was cultivated for him by his environment. Snape was not given great options. Snape made amazingly awful choices, and also some amazingly difficult, courageous ones. Snape was ultimately a human who had an extremely bad life, in which his options were incredibly grim and limited.

In fact, pretty much every point people make about how shitty Snape is as a person makes 100% logical sense as something that would emerge from how he was treated. Some if it he’s kind of right about, some of it is the inevitable reality of suffering, and some of it is part of the cycle of abuse and harm.

Even Snape’s emotional obsession with Lily makes logical sense when you have the perspective that he literally has no substantial positive experiences with other human beings that we know of, and he has an extreme, soul destroying guilt complex over her death. Calling him an Incel mysoginist nice guy projects a real-world political ideology and behavior that does not really apply to the context of what happened to him and her.

Even Snape’s specific little acts of cruelty to certain students is a reflection of his own life experiences. He identifies with Neville; more specifically, he identifies his own percieved emotional weaknesses in his childhood in Neville. There’s a very sad reason there why he feels the urge to be so harsh.

Snape very clearly hates himself, in a world where everyone else hates him, too. Imagine that, for a second. Imagine total internal and external hatred, an yearning for just a little bit of true connection. For years. Imagine then also trying to save that world, even if it’s motivated by guilt. Even if nobody ever knows you did it and you expect to die a miserable death alone.

There are more elements here to consider, including the way Rowling described his looks (there may be something in there re: ugliness and swarthy stereotyping). These are just the things that stand out the most prominently to me.

J.K. Rowling is clearly also not reliable as an imparter of moral or sociopolitical philosophies. I don’t feel that her grasp of minority experiences is a solid one, considering how she picks and chooses who is acceptable and who is a threat.

All of that said, this is a logically consistent character arc. Within the context of his narrative, Snape is a marginalized person with severe PTSD and emotional instability issues who has absolutely no room available to him for self-improvement or healing, and never really has. And yes, he’s also mean, and caustic, and verbally abusive to the students. He’s also a completey miserable, lonely person.

There are elements in his character arc that mirror real world experiences quite well. If nothing else, Rowling is enough of an emotional adult to recognise these kinds of things and portray something that feels authentic.

In my opinion, it’s not appropriate to whittle all this down by comparing him directly to the real world experiences of marginalized groups - at least if you are not a part of the group you are comparing him to. There have been many individuals who have compared his arc to their own personal experiences of marginalization, and that is valid. But generally speaking, comparing a white straight dude to people who are not that can often be pretty offensive. This is not a valuable way to discuss either subject.

Also, I believe that while it’s perfectly okay to not like Snape as a character, many of the people who act like Person B are carrying Harry’s childhood POV about Snape in their hearts well into their own adulthood. And if nothing else, Rowling was attempting to say something here about how our perspectives (should) grow and change as we emotionally mature.  She doesn’t have to be a good person herself to have expressed something true about the world in this instance, and since this story is a part of our popular culture, people have a right to feel whatever way they do about this story and it’s characters.

The complexity of this particular snapshot of fictionalized marginalization, and what it reveals about the human experience, cannot be reduced down to “he’s an abuser so he’s not worth anyone’s time/you are bad for liking him.”

And to be honest, I think that it reveals a lot about many of us in progressive spaces, particularly those of us who less marginalized but very loud about our values, that we refuse to engage with these complexities in leu of totally condemning him. Particularly because a lot of the elements I listed above are indeed reflected in real world examples of people who have experienced marginalization and thus had to deal with the resulting emotional damage, an mental illness, and behavior troubles, and bad decisions. Our inability to address the full scope of this may be a good reflection of how we are handling the complexity of real world examples.

Real people are not perfect angels in their victimhood. They are just humans who are victims, and we all have the capacity to be cruel and abusive in a world where we have been given cruelty and abuse. This is just a part of existing. If you cannot sympathise with that, or at least grasp it and aknowledge it and respect the people who are emotionally drawn to a character who refects that, then you may be telling on yourself to be honest.

To be honest, this is especially true if you hate Snape but just really, really love the Mauraduers. You have a right to those feelings, but if you are moralizing this and judging others for liking Snape, you’ve confessed to something about how you’ve mentally constructed your personal values in a way I don’t think you’ve fully grasped yet.

I have a hard time imagining a mindset where a story like Snape’s does not move one to empathy and vicarious grief, if I’m honest. I feel like some people really just cannot be bothered to imagine themselves in other people’s shoes, feeling what they feel and living like they live. I struggle to trust the social politics of people who show these kinds of colors, tbh.

But maybe that’s just me.

[cyndavilachase]

I’m Looking Forward Now 💖Thank you and good bye

So, it’s been a little over a week since Steven Universe Future ended… 

I’ve been hesitant to write this, honestly, but I’m tired of holding myself back from properly expressing myself in fear of appearing overly invested in the media I consume, even in private. Writing helps me organize my thoughts and feelings, and I feel like these thoughts in particular may resonate with many, so I want to share them. I want to talk about what Steven Universe has done for me personally, both as an artist, and as a person.

I’ve been around since the day the first episode of the original series aired. I actually remember when Steven Universe was just a logo on Wikipedia’s “List of Upcoming Cartoon Network Shows” list, back when I was a freshman in high school. It piqued my interest, but when commercials finally dropped for it, I thought it was going to be bad because of the way marketing handled introducing Steven as a likeable character. There was still something about it that made me want to give it a chance though, so I went online and watched the pilot before the first episode's release. I was hooked immediately. I knew I was going to love it, and I did. I fell so absolutely in love with Steven as a character, and the world that he and the gems lived in. I became obsessed. I was always so excited for new episodes to come out. Little did I know what else it would do for me as I went through my adolescence alongside it.

As the show progressed, it was evident that what I wanted out of a western animated childrens’ cartoon was finally coming into fruition: this show was becoming serialized. There was continuity, there was plot, there was character development-- it was getting deep. It was pushing the groundwork that Adventure Time laid out even further (thank you, Adventure Time).  

I will give credit where credit is due: earlier western childrens’ cartoons I grew up with like Hey Arnold, and Rugrats, among others, also touched on heavy topics, but Steven Universe was able to take similar ideas (and even more complex ones, concerning mental health and relationships) and expand on them outside of contained episodes and/or short arcs. These themes, which were a part of the show’s overarching story, spanned across its entirety. Continuity was rampant. 

What did this mean? It meant kids cartoons didn’t have to be silly and fun all the time and characters weren’t just actors playing a part in 11-minute skits. Steven and the gems would remember things that happened to them, and it affected them and how they would function and play a part in their story. This was a huge deal to me as a teenager. I always wanted the cartoons I grew up with featuring kid characters to feel more. In my own work, I often felt discouraged when combining a fun, cutesy western art style with themes as dark or layered as anime would cover. I always thought it had to be one or the other because an audience wouldn’t take a combination of the two seriously enough, based on discussions I had with classmates, friends, and online analysis I read at the time. Steven Universe proved to me otherwise. This show was opening the door for future cartoons exploring in-depth, adult concepts. I felt so seen as a kid, and was inspired to stick with what I love doing.

I was actually very worried about the show’s survival. It was in fact immensely underrated and the fandom was miniscule. Then in 2014, JailBreak dropped, and it’s popularity exploded. Part of it was because of the complex plot and the themes it was covering like I mentioned, but also because of its representation. 

I remember when fandom theorized that Garnet was a fusion due to grand, tragic reasons. Turns out, she’s simply a metaphor for a very loving w|w relationship. This was huge. I cannot stress how important it is that we continue to normalize healthy canon queer relationships in childens’ media, and Steven Universe finally was the first to do that proper. Introducing these themes offers the chance for a kid to sit there and ask themselves, “Why is this demonized by so many people?” I asked myself exactly that. Ruby and Sapphire were my cartoon LGBT rep. They were the first LGBT couple I ever ecstatically drew fanart of. I was dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia at the time, and they showed me that I was allowed to love women and feel normal about it. The process of overcoming this was a long one, but they played a part in my very first steps into becoming comfortable with my sexuality. I could go on and on about it’s representation in general-- how it breaks the mold when it comes to showcasing a diverse set of characters in design, in casting, and in breaking gender roles. It’s focus on love and empathy. Steven himself is a big boy, but he's the protagonist, and the show never once makes fun of his weight, or any other bigger characters for that matter. It wasn’t hard to see why the fandom had grown so large.

Fandom was always a joy for me. It was a hobby I picked up when I was in middle school, like many of us here did. I would always cater my experience to fun, and fun only. I only started getting more deeply involved in SU’s fandom when I had just turned into an adult. During the summer of 2016, between my first and second year of college, I drew for the show almost every day non-stop when the Summer of Steven event was going on and posted them online. This was a form of practice for me in order to become not just more comfortable with experimenting with my art, but also to meet new artists, make new friends, and learn to interact with strangers without fear. I dealt with a ton of anxiety when I was in high school. When I was a senior applying to art school for animation, I decided I was going to overcome that anxiety. I made plans to take baby steps to improve myself over the course of my 4 years of college. Joining the fandom, while unforeseen, was definitely a part of that process. I started feeling more confident in sharing my ideas, even if they were fan-made. I fell in love with storyboarding after that summer, when I took my first storyboarding class, and genuinely felt like I was actually getting somewhere with all of this. I remember finally coming to a point in my classes where I could pitch and not feel hopelessly insecure about it. I was opening up more to my friends and peers. 

But this process, unfortunately, came to a screeching halt. 

My life completely, utterly crumbled under me in the Fall of 2017 due to a series of blows in my personal life that happened in the span of just a couple weeks. My mental health and sense of identity were completely destroyed. All of that confidence I had worked for-- completely ruined. I was alone. I nearly died. My stay at college was extended to 4 and half years, instead of the 4 I had intended. I lost my love for animation-- making it, and watching it. I could no longer watch Steven Universe with the same love I had for it beforehand. It’s a terrible thing, trying to give your attention to something you don’t love anymore, and wanting so desperately to love again. I dropped so many things I loved in my life, including the fandom.

Healing was a long and complicated road. I continued to watch the show all the way up until Change Your Mind aired in the beginning of 2019, and while I still felt empty, that was definitely a turning point for me with it’s encapsulation of self-love. I was hoping James Baxter would get to work on Steven Universe since he guest-animated on Adventure Time, and it was incredible seeing that wish actually come true. The movie came out and while I enjoyed it and thought highly of it, I was still having issues letting myself genuinely love things again, old and new. It was especially difficult because cartoons were my solace as a kid, when things got rough at home. I remember feeling sad because the show ended, and not getting the chance to love it again like I used to while it was still going.

By the time Steven Universe Future was announced, I was finally coming around. I was genuinely starting to feel excitement for art and animation again. I wasn’t expecting there to be a whole new epilogue series, but happily ever after, there we were! Prickly Pear aired, and the implications it left in terms of where the story was going did it. I was finally ready to let myself take the dive back into fandom in January of this year. My art blew up, something I wasn’t expecting considering my 2-year hiatus. Following this, I was invited into a discord server containing some of the biggest writers, artists, editors, and analysts in the fandom. I had no idea there were so many talented people in the fandom, some already with degrees, some getting their degrees-- creating stuff for it on the side just for fun. The amount of passion and productivity level here is insane, and so is the amount of discussion that has come out of it.

I didn’t realize it at first, but it was actually helping me gain back the courage to share ideas. I lost my confidence in pitching while I was taking the time to heal, and graduating meant there would no longer be a classroom setting I could practice in. This group helped immensely. 

I have made so many friends through this wonderful series, and I have so many fond memories talking to like-minded creatives, getting feedback and a myriad of sources for inspiration, as well as all of the memes and jokes and weekly theorizations that came about as we all waited on the edges of our seats for episodes to air. I needed this so badly, I needed to get back in touch with my roots, when I would go absolutely hog-wild over a cartoon I loved with people who loved it as much I did. Future has been a blessing for me in this way. I graduated feeling like I was back at square-one, but now I feel like I’m on my way again.

It’s 2020 and while I’m doing great right now, I am honestly still recovering from the total exhaustion that followed after graduating a few months ago, and finally leaving the campus where my life fell apart behind. Needless to say, watching Future was like looking into a mirror. Watching one of my favorite characters of all time-- one that grew up with me-- go through so many of the same things I went through not too long ago was absolutely insane to watch unfold. It’s such an important thing too, to show a character go through the process of breaking down over trauma and all the nasty things that come with it, and to have them go on the road to healing. Steven got that therapy. He wasn’t blamed. The gems were called out. The finale was everything I could have ever hoped for. The catharsis I experienced watching it was out of this world.

As I continue my own healing journey, I will always look up to the storyboard artists, revisionists, and designers that I have been following over these past 7 years, as well as the new ones introduced in Future. It's been such a joy watching these artists release their promo art for episodes, talk about their experiences working on the show, and post the work they've done for it alongside episodes airing.

Thank you Rebecca Sugar, the Crewniverse, and the fans, for making this such a truly wonderful and unique experience. Thank you for reminding me that I am, and always will be, an artist, a cartoonist, and a fan. Thank you, my followers, for the overwhelmingly positive response to my artwork. I have had so much fun interacting and discussing the show with you all again over these past few months. Steven Universe and it’s fandom will always have a special place in my heart, and it will always be a classic that I will return to for comfort and inspiration for decades to come. I am sad that the cartoon renaissance is over, but so many doors have been opened thanks to this show. I am so, so excited to see what this show will inspire in the future, and I hope one day I get the opportunity to be a part of that. 

Goodbye Steven, thank you for everything. I wish you healing, and I wish Rebecca and the team a well-deserved rest. ♥️

-Cynthia D.

[scraregenrecs]

Rare & Gen Rec Roundup – September 2021

Hey, rare gang! Sorry for the delay here – it's been a busy October, but we're very excited about all the fics we're sharing below. As always, there's something for everyone. Check out the works and make sure to leave a kudos and a comment if you like what you read!

(And if you missed it, check out all the works posted for Sapphic September last month!)

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all kinds of magic all around us by @hullomoon, Stevie/Ruth, rated G, 1373 words

Summary: Ruth always was excited when Stevie came into her potions shop

Rec [written by yourbuttervoicedbeau]: Magic AU? Delightful. The way this builds in such a sweet, realistic way? Had me fizzing from start to end.

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Cherry Haze by @treepyful, Stevie/Ruth, rated E, 4740 words

Summary: Stevie gets “special” brownies for her birthday.

Rec [written by yourbuttervoicedbeau]: This is hot, visceral, hot, charming, hot, sweet, and did I mention really effing hot? I love fics (especially for non-canon pairings) that just feel so incredibly lived in, and this fic delivers that feeling in spades.

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heat waves been freakin' me out by @turningtimeinthetardis, Stevie/Alexis/Twyla, rated T, 1612 words

Summary: Ninety degree August days and nights don’t slip away like bottles of wine, but maybe that’s alright.

Rec [written by doingthemost]: This is such an excellent character study of Stevie, Alexis, and Twyla alike, told from a Stevie POV that allows us to really dive into what makes her tick. It's as much about the three of them and what they're looking for as it is about building into a promise of them becoming more.

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i knew from the beginning (it was you from the beginning) by @anniemurphys, Alexis/Twyla, rated T, 1483 words

Summary: Twyla smiles softly, lips pressed together, as she watches Alexis take off her earrings. She finds businesslike-Alexis impressive and hot but most of all endearing – she always ends up thinking back to when this was a person Alexis was only just becoming, staring down at textbooks in Café Tropical with a furrow between her brows, organizing Singles Week with a clipboard clutched in her hands.

Twyla and Alexis celebrate, at a distance.

Rec [written by doingthemost]: I melt every time I read this fic (which is, admittedly, a lot). Not only is it such a tender look at these two soft girlfriends –sorry, two soft wives – as they celebrate anniversary, but it's also a wonderful exploration of one possible, wonderful future for two of our favorite characters. This is the world I want to live in.

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i took an arrow to the heart by @sarahlevys and @landofsonlali, Alexis/Twyla, rated G, 3494 words

Summary: Twyla calls Alexis in celebration of the fourth anniversary of their friendship, and the conversation shifts to their feelings for each other. Together, they start to explore the intricacies of love and relationships.

Rec [written by doingthemost]: Full disclosure – I had the honor of being able to co-write this fic with sonlali. However, I wanted to include it here because we still have a long way to go in terms of fics featuring aspec main characters and queerplatonic relationships, and the way that sonlali writes aroace Twy in this fic is so delicate and fully-realized.

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I’m powerful with a little bit of tender by @roseapothecary, Stevie & David, Stevie/Ruth, rated G, 2416 words

Summary: David isn't the only one who has a thing for his business partner, apparently. Stevie processes some new feelings and gathers the courage to take a leap.

Rec [written by samwhambam]: I really enjoyed this fic! It has a lot of queer feelings and talk about queer feelings that’s light in a way that you can only really get in a David and Stevie chat lol oh! And this fic has Stevie being brave and making the first move!! WHICH I LOVE. It’s so good.

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In The Meantime by @weathereyehorizon, Stevie & Patrick, rated T, 1231 words

Summary: Stevie gets dropped off at Patrick's apartment after the Hospies.

Rec [written by yourbuttervoicedbeau]: Stevie and Patrick friendship fics are so deeply, deeply important to me, and this fic really nails and fleshes out what we see of their friendship in canon. I also think the balance of Stevie’s allergy to sincerity and how deeply she feels her feelings is a really hard balance to get right, and this fic absolutely sticks that landing.

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like we're made of starlight by @lilythesilly, Rachel/Heather, rated T, 1000 words

Summary: “It’s like someone curated you at some kind of Sapphic Build-A-Bear.” Heather snorts and Rachel drops her head onto her shoulder, and when she looks up doesn’t even try to hide the look of disbelief on her face. “Like how are you even real?”

“Oh, trust me, I’m very real.” Heather hands her the glass of wine and leans forward to brush their lips together gently. “I even yell at the oven sometimes when it’s not working.”

Rachel pulls away and raises an eyebrow. “But can you fix it?”

Heather leans in to kiss her again. “That’s not the point.”

Rec [written by yourbuttervoicedbeau]: The way this author writes this pairing is forever astounding to me. This is one of those fics that you won’t even realise how big a grin you get from reading it until you’re done.

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Looking Good and Feeling Fine by @weathereyehorizon, Stevie & Patrick, rated T, 486 words

Summary: Stevie and Patrick return to the motel after a couple of drinks.

Rec [written by samwhambam]: This fic made me lol. Literally out loud. I love Stevie and Patrick friendship fics, and i LOVE the idea of them raiding the love room/david’s closet to try on clothes together. This fic is a quick and enjoyable read that makes you smile so wide.

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Singles Week: A Presentation by Roland Schitt Jr. Grade 12 History Capstone by @doublel27, read by Amanita_Fierce, @sarahlevys, @flannelsaurus, @noahreids, @hullomoon, @kindofspecificstore, little_black_bow, @neelyo67, @petrodobreva, @reginahalliwell, @rhetoricalk, @schittposting, @landofsonlali, @sunlightsymphony, @wi22iou, gen, rated G, 2043 words

Summary: Contained in this file are the remaining digital records of the most important week ever: AKA my birth and Alexis Rose's first major media relations success that would catapult her into the media relations mogul that she is.

Rec [written by doingthemost]: Stop what you're doing and watch the amazing podvid that was created for this project! It's truly a work of multimedia art and makes the story of Singles Week come alive in a whole new way. This work is guaranteed to give you lots of fuzzy feelings about that little town we love so much.

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Happy reading, friends!

[the-dragongirl]

Hello tumblr. I have returned from a long period of inactivity, because I must bring the good word to the corner of the Star Wars fandom that used to be my main fannish home: there is a new era of Star Wars canon that was made just for our taste. It is called the High Republic.

WHAT IS THE HIGH REPUBLIC?

The High Republic is an giant multi-media project being carried out by the Lucasfilm story group to create a brand new era of Star Wars canon. It is set a few hundred years before the prequel era (so, a long time after the Old Republic era), in a period of peace and stability within the Republic. It currently includes several English language adult novels, a YA novel, two serialized comics, a manga, some short stories, and some short video blurbs published on facebook and youtube. A TV show for Disney+ has also been announced, but is a few years off. This project is unique in Star Wars, in that all of the different parts are being written together by one writing team, and are coordinated to tell a cohesive story. Also, what has been announced is just the beginning – they have stated that there will be three different sections of the High Republic, and everything we have had announced so far is just part one. As a note: this is an era for which there was NO pre-existing canon in Legends, so it is totally new territory.

OKAY, THAT’S NICE, BUT WHY SHOULD I BOTHER TO CHECK IT OUT?

There are SO many reasons why the High Republic is worth your time to explore. I will try to outline some of them here below the cut (without any significant spoilers).

IT IS A LOVE LETTER TO THE JEDI

This is the era for everyone who loves the Jedi and wants to understand how they got to the point they did in the prequel era. It shows Jedi at their best: saving people, working together, being completely in tune with the Force (in so many beautiful and original ways), demonstrating creativity and flexibility and being rewarded for it, actually thinking through the ethics of things like the mind trick, and DEALING with their emotions rather than repressing them. It shows us how the rigid Jedi culture was saw in the prequels was a corruption of something that was originally healthy and uplifting. Jedi in this era are allowed to be flawed, and to grow, and have a community that supports them in doing so. This is the Jedi culture so many of us created as fix it fic for the prequel era, but made canon.

IT IS AN ERA OF HOPE

There are some serious problems in the High Republic Era. Without spoilers, the era opens with a terrible humanitarian crisis, laid over the Republic equivalent of the New Deal from US history.  We see a lot of examples of people doing their best to be good to each other, and working for a more just and kind galaxy. They acknowledge that things are not perfect, but people from many different backgrounds (Jedi, politicians, farmers, pilots, business people) work together to try and make things better. I don’t know about you all, but with the darkness we see in the world today, I NEED some of that optimism in my escapist media. The High Republic provides that.

IT WILL GIVE YOU FEELINGS

The existing material so far is structured to really let you emotionally invest in the characters and their struggles. Unlike with many eras of Star Wars canon, characterization is not sacrificed for the sake of plot (though never fear, there is PLENTY of plot). That means there is huge scope for empathy. I’m not going to lie; I cried within the first three chapters of Light of the Jedi, as did several other people I know. It is POIGNANT in a way that feels truly genuine.

IT IS FUN

The writing team understands that, in the end, Star Wars is space fantasy. If your space fantasy is nothing but serious, gritty grimdark, it becomes pretentious and unbearable. So, for all that there is some heavy content in the High Republic (VERY heavy content – the Nihil should really have their own content warning), it has many moments of levity that keep it from taking itself too seriously. For example, the High Republic made Jedi bodice rippers canon. Also, characters like Geode exist (yes, that rock there is a CHARACTER). The result is something which honors the spirit of Star Wars, and keeps you engaged without being tedious or ridiculously depressing.

THE WRITING TEAM HAS DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES

The main writing team consists of five people: Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older, and Cavan Scott. You will note that includes two people of color, two women, and one out Queer person (in fact, one of the writers is all three of those things). This is a far cry from the white-cis-straight-man-dominated writing teams we have seen in the past. And when they bring in other people to the project, they make a point of looking for perspectives that aren’t represented on their team – for example, the manga is being co-written between Justina Ireland and Japanese writer Shima Shinya, and Ireland has stated in interviews that Shinya is taking the lead on the writing.

IT VALUES MEANINGFUL REPRESENTATION

That diverse writing team means a cast that looks WAY more like the real world than any other era of Star Wars we’ve seen, in terms of representation. There are multiple characters of color, who are both heroes and central to the story. There are at least five canonical queer characters to date (a MLM couple, an Ace character, and two NB character).  [EDIT: Thank you @legok9​ for letting me know about the NB characters]. Among binary gendered characters, there is a very even balance of men and women. The writing team has also stated that they will be incorporating more representation of disability in the works to come. And the story is so much better for it – representation is included here BECAUSE it makes for more creative, believable, and original storytelling.

IT IS ACCESSIBLE

Because of the multiple formats, and the fact that it doesn’t rely on you knowing any prior lore, the High Republic offers many avenues to engage for people with all kinds of needs. Know nothing about Star Wars canon and feel intimidated about catching up? The canon is all new in this era anyway, so you’re fine. Can’t handle flashing lights? No problem – the little bit of video content that exists is totally free from the strobing effects that caused seizure and sensory issues. Need purely audio content? You can still have a full experience of the High Republic with the gorgeously sound-scaped audiobooks. Don’t have the attention span for books or long movies? Then the comics are your friend.

THERE IS SOMETHING FOR ALL

Between the books aimed towards adults and teens (and their respective audiobooks), the kids books, the comics, the manga, the short stories, AND the eventual TV show on Disney+, there is going to be content in the High Republic that suits most audiences. And that is just what has been announced so far – there is still more to come for phases II and III. This isn’t Star Wars written towards one group or demographic – it is Star Wars for everyone.

DID I MENTION THE FANCY JEDI UNIFORMS?

Because cosplayers and fanartists? This is the era for you. We are getting Jedi in silks with elaborate gold embroidery. Jedi with jewelry other decorative elements. Even the practical field uniforms have tooled and embossed leather. If you want to draw or make Jedi that have some of that that sweet LoTR-esque high fantasy aesthetic, the High Republic has your back. (Not going to lie – I am ALREADY imagining the time travel AUs. Put Obi-Wan in fancy clothes!)

OKAY, YOU’VE SOLD ME. WHERE SHOULD I START?

I strongly recommend everyone looking to get into the High Republic (who is old enough to be on Tumblr) start with Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule. I alternated between the physical book and the audio book, and found it delightful in both formats. After that, you have a lot of options. You can read or listen to the audio book of the YA novel A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland. You can check out the currently running Star Wars: The High Republic comic from Marvel, or the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures comic from IDW. Or you can skip straight to Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. Honestly, there is no wrong order to try out most of the High Republic.

IN CONLUSION

The High Republic is Star Wars written for people who DON’T want Star Wars to be a good ‘ol boys club for salty white dudes who don’t want to see anything but more of Luke Skywalker. It offers broad representation, and optimistic narrative, and whole bunch of awesome Jedi content. If you are someone who fell in love with Jedi in the prequel era, the High Republic will give you more of what you loved. And if you are totally new to Star Wars? The High Republic is here for you too.

So, go check it. And then go write fic for it (please, there are only, like, 14 fics on AO3, I am dying).

[brydeswhale]

The thing about sterek is that even tho, as I said, the show ITSELF didn’t lean on the ship, enough ppl inside and outside of fandom did use it for attention that the perception of teen wolf often was sterek.

From the idea of sterek as an actual ship on the show(more than one person in my circle expressed surprise when they started watching at how LITTLE Stiles and Derek actually interacted) to the idea that sterek would be canon if only Davis and co would stop being so cowardly.

(Denial runs deep in these ppl bc even in the godless tens and on cable, no one was going to actually make a pairing between an obnoxious teen and the man who, I will repeat this, assaulted him on more than one occasion, canon. It was never going to happen.)

It took Tyler Hoechlin leaving the show IIRC for the sterek fervour to die down.

And even then, the sterek contingency just shoved the supposed chemistry onto other white characters in Stiles’ vicinity, eg Peter(yikes), the villain of the month, or Lydia(I mean, at least they’re the same age, even if Stiles repeatedly fuckzoned her.).

Which honestly just proved what a lot of non/anti-sterek ppl had already been saying, which was that it wasn’t really about sterek. In fact it wasn’t even about Derek.

(Which had already BEEN evidenced by how sterek and stiles fans had taken Derek’s character development(he became less of an asshole) and canon love interests. They were particularly vitriolic towards Braeden, his second love interest, who happened to also be Black. Predictably.)

It was about what Stiles represented. The white lead they never got.

You might hear that TW was an ensemble show, or that it had an “unreliable narrator”(this was from one of the most racist anti-Scott ppl in fandom), but the reality was that the titular Teen Wolf of the show, Scott McCall, was the lead.

And the majority of the Stiles’ fandom couldn’t and can’t STAND this.

They absolutely writhed in agonies of racism over it, and spread their misery everywhere they could.

From harassment over anon, to fic after fic bashing Scott, to poorly researched, bad faith meta, gifs, and fan art, a highly vocal section of fandom(still active to this day) set out to do battle against the very show it claimed to be a fan of.

And this harassment didn’t stop at other fans. The actors were also targeted, to the point where Crystal Reed cited her treatment by fans as part of her incentive to exit the show.

Tyler Posey, who played Scott, was done much worse, as continues to this day. This has included ppl accusing him, a queer dude, of queer baiting, and someone who basically urged him to commit suicide when he opened up about his mental health issues post his mom’s death.

Of course, you’ll see many sterek/stiles’ fans talking about how these egregious occurrences are the work of a few “bad apples”, and “real” fans don’t do that.

Which would be easier to believe if they actually spoke out against these actions, against the racist tropes so often used in their fic and art, if they pointed out how the supposed “meta” produced by their number contains both bad takes and outright falsehoods, but, well.

They don’t.

In fact, they usually go out of their way to DENY that these ppl even exist. They say that Scott and Tyler Posey fans are the ones committing the harassment, that the call is coming from inside the house, and then they actually straight up lie about the rest of fandom.

So honestly, if any of them did speak up, we all know that the rest of them would turn on that person like the pack of starving hamsters they are.

Basically, sterek and stiles fans were not fans of the show. They were Ppl who put their fetishistic adoration of white male centred slash above the actual media they were supposedly consuming. I’m not saying that Teen Wolf was perfect. It sure as hell wasn’t. I’ve commented before on the bigoted tropes the show used and the cultural appropriation that basically made NO SENSE.

But at its heart, as explored thru Scott, it was a show about essentially rejecting the toxic masculinity pervasive in the urban fantasy/horror genre it took its inspiration from. Scott grows over the course of the show from a frightened teenager to a courageous leader, from someone willing to kill if that’s what it takes, to someone who kills as a last resort only, who relies on intelligence and diplomacy to get the job done.

He becomes someone who rejects the violence in the world he’s brutally forced to enter in favour of kindness and hope, even when things seem at their worst. A strong Latino(and yes, despite sterek denials, Scott is Latino) lead embodying the best his world had to offer, a new way forward that even the old guard and his worst enemies admired.

But when there are two white guys who exist within the same square mile on a tv show, who cares about that, amiright?

Bonus

https://twitter.com/cetotherium/status/1418570345007755267?s=21

And that was a big draw for a lot of ppl. When most urban fantasy was about EMBRACING toxic masculinity, Teen Wolf asked the Uber macho, might makes right, violently abusive Hunter/supernatural communities, “What the heck, man, are you alright?”

And Sterek fans HATED that, 😂. Their idea of a good urban fantasy horror show is one where the vicious but oh so cute white protagonist is over powered by the commanding, controlling, abusive alpha werewolf.

It would not surprise me at all if most of them were Anita Blake fans. Between the racism and the outright rejection of the core message of the show, they seem to have been saturated in LKH’s weird, bigoted nonsense.

[zukkaoru]

Zuko. He's the first character that came to mind.

hello kit!! ty for the ask <3

How I feel about this character MY BELOVED!! he is my son my uncle my significant other my father my nephew my beloved my everything the only man i would give it all for,,,,, okay no but literally i love zuko so much. as someone who watched atla and saw his character arc as a metaphor for being queer, and who also has unsupportive parents, his story hits really close to home and i just. hhhnghhgghgnh it's about realizing that nothing you do will ever be enough to make your parents proud so you might as well just do what makes you happy and what you feel is right rather than fruitlessly trying to impress them,, and it's about coming into healing and redemption even after most would consider you too far gone to save and it's about finally finding the courage to stand up to the people who have done you wrong and it's about realizing everything you were taught growing up was a lie and working to unlearn it and it's about, despite everything, finding happiness and friends and family after being told those were things you would never get and didn't deserve to have

All the people I ship romantically with this character sokka. zukka is my one and only and my everything. (but also like i put for jet: the two of them absolutely had a thing going on during the ferry ride to ba sing se and you can't convince me otherwise)

My non-romantic OTP for this character mai👏and👏zuko👏 they are gay/lesbian solidarity!! they are besties!! they are everything and more!! let them realize they don't work as a couple bc they were meant to be friends!! they were meant to help each other grow and heal but in the context of a friendship rather than a romantic relationship

My unpopular opinion about this character idk how unpopular this is but. i did not like his voice actor in tlok. he sounds too white. especially bc they didn't have a white voice actor for zuko in the original series, it sounded bad with a white actor voicing him in tlok also we need more poc and less white people voicing animated characters of color in general but that's not exactly relevant to this post

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. we deserved to see long haired zuko in the comics. it's been less than a week since i saw that concept art for it but now that i know that we were robbed i will not get over it

character ask game