#but that's a low fucking bar

[tyrannuspitch]

musing on jotunheim again. as much as i like to talk about the thor movies as self-subverting and critical of imperialism from the beginning (which i stand by, on a thematic level!), the way the jotuns are actually portrayed is uhhh Not Great.

like. recap: they wear very little clothing, they are presented as extremely physically strong and menacing, they have very deep voices and express themselves nonverbally more than asgardians (ie they growl :/), they use ~nature magic~ and blend in with their landscape, they have very strongly distinct facial features from asgardians, and their skin is a bright colour not found among asgardians. this is... looking uncomfortable close to a racial caricature. like if you made the small but vital change of making their skin red instead of blue it would be undeniable. as it stands, it's not quite literally there, but it's got Coding for days.

and on top of that, loki, while he is a twist villain, is definitely portrayed as more sympathetic for having more human features. like... yes, he has fantasy-dwarfism or something like it and is therefore in some ways inherently vulnerable... but his vulnerability is still visually represented through less othered features, which kind of frames the other jotuns as INvulnerable - in comparison to the average asgardian, not just loki himself.

(which is also just... not true. asgardians and jotuns seem to be evenly matched on a physical level. and also the idea that physical strength is the be-all and end-all of power and vulnerability to begin with is Bad. i guess the end corrects this a little: we see jotuns screaming and fleeing the bifrost, frightened, powerless, victimised! but we still only see adult men. loki is the only jotun we see as a child, and we never see a jotun woman. where are the jotuns who aren't warriors or kings?)

also. less important. but. the jotuns do not reflect any existing culture. which, on one hand, is like. great thanks for only putting in a vague racial caricature and not a specific one 👍. but on the other hand. what are you meant to Do. with a human AU loki.

like obviously step one is dialling down the formerly-space racism by a factor of about a hundred lmao. but like even if you do somehow manage to handle his whole deal sensitively... if asgard = scandinavia, what is jotunheim. what IS loki's culture. is he sami? is he white-passing mixed inuit? it's pretty damn significant that jotunheim has its own monarchist + imperialist past and was originally a competitor to asgard, so should he just be, like, a different scandinavian nationality from odin? or maybe russian or something? but then there isn't racism to deal with. potentially some level of linguistic/cultural shame, sure, but no accusations of devil worship, no dehumanisation via race science, etc. nothing quite fits.

or even disregarding AUs, what real-world culture can/should you draw on to flesh out jotunheim, if any? is it inappropriate to do so at all when they're treated SO horrifically and they're also, you know, Blue Fantasy Aliens. or is it erasive to act like scandinavian colonialism is pure fantasy with no real-world implications. OR is it inappropriate to draw on real-world indigenous peoples for a fantasy history that doesn't reflect their actual history very well at all (see above: nothing fits.)

a thought i had recently was that the combination of blue skin, gold body jewellery, and warriors wearing very little clothing actually resembles descriptions of ancient celts (with either tattoos or body paint). and i feel like having some historical basis for jotun warriors, even if it's centuries apart from the viking inspiration of asgard, can maybe slightly improve on what's currently there. but equally, that's still a description from an imperialist (roman) perspective and i'm pretty sure its accuracy is... controversial?

yeah. a conundrum! i have no solutions at present i'm just thinking about it all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[thebestestbat]

i do think that writers should be aware of the dark topics they're writing about; to me this means that e.g. if you're writing about an abusive relationship, you should know that it is abusive. i don't mean that you need to have a big and important point to make about abuse (especially not a necessarily moralistic one where e.g. the abuser "gets what's coming to them") in order to write it. just like that you should know what you're writing about. otherwise you get batman comics.

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

so five and lila being a thing is going right next to allison literally sexually assaulting luther in the box of things we are absolutely under no circumstances accepting as part of canon right

[katzish]

genuinely fucking furious about reactions to Mcbride, especially seeing this shit coming from fellow trans ppl…. like have you lost the fucking plot????

[atalana]

though i think my favourite reveal from the book of bill has been that at no point in his relationship with ford did bill ever stop being bill

he's always been loud and weird and fucked up and creepy, it's just that prior to the portal reveal ford would look at the fucked up shit he did and go "ah, hmm, he's from another dimension, he clearly doesn't realise that that would be read by humans as 'gross' and 'unacceptable', honest mistake, i'll be sure to tell him that next time!"

like honey no when he possesses a bunch of dead rats for your birthday present or tells you you should have eaten your twin in the womb for power (and when you explain that's not how that works go "you'd be surprised what you can eat!"), he's doing that on purpose

[violent138]

He lies to them. So they don't worry. 🥺

Batman/Nightwing: Bloodborne #1

[thatskindarough]

Landed myself an interview at Starbucks about to fulfill my duty as a they/them and make the best coffee (guys I don’t even like coffee 😭)

[youling-the-ghost]

Luke, the bar is in hell with with the Devil and his half-demon daughter.

[fkitwebhaal]

In contrast to Ulder Ravenguard, I think Gale could bring any of the Origins home as his fiancee and Morena Dekarios would be fine with it.

I am saying this not as a jab against Ulder or even claiming Morena is a better parent than him (we don't know anything about her except her and Gale seem to get along).

I say this solely because if your son gets dumped by a Goddess, has a magical orb that is stuck in his chest, spends a year in a tower refusing to leave, vanishes without a word, and then shows up months later minus said orb AND in a happy relationship? And that person talked him out of blowing himself up for said Goddess and helped him save the world? IDGAF who he brought home as long as they genuinely love him and treat him well.

Women my son is going to Hell for to fix her heart. Not an ideal place for him to be but fuck it, he's getting out of the house, as long as they send post cards.

Former warlock who was cursed by patron and is now either a duke (heck yes) or going to Hell for his bestie and my son is going with. Same as above, sounds great, did you know my son's fiancee can dance.

Warrior from the astral plane going to fight a lich queen? I cannot stress how exciting it is to see him to get out of the house and she can and will carry him to safety, zero objections.

Vampire spawn? A little blood loss is WAY BETTER than the orb situation, just make sure to watch your iron intake son. Eat more spinach.

Former cultist to an evil God? Let bygones be bygones, key word here is former.

Former leader of a cult of an evil god. KEY WORD HERE IS FORMER IT'S FINE.

[bakedbakermom]

saw this display at the bookstore today and one selection really surprised me

babe if you think fucking TWILIGHT is sexually explicit i have some websites to show you

[07043012]

Oh now everything comes clear to me why Goo is acting like THAT everytime he is around Gun. All these years Ptj has been giving us all the hints and we somehow underestimate it???

He is SO IN LOVE WITH HIM. The act of service, the clothes stealing, the cheek poking (skin ship).

Omg bro even gets salty because bro is jealousy as fuck Im telling you 😭😭😭✋

Btw Goo is such a dumb ass golden retriever bf. He is so stupid, he wants to impress Gun but he can't remember what his crush favorite cigarette brand is. Fucking loser. I would kms if I were him 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[labyrynth]

shoutout to mianmian and her nameless husband for being the only canon mxtx couple where neither of them died

[mamawasatesttube]

i do firmly believe tbh that kesel & co intended kon to be a fully kryptonian clone of superman from the start, and only brought the "metahuman clone of paul westfield with a metagene to mimic superman's powers" thing in because of editorial and the last son mandate. kon introduces himself as a clone of superman, is recharged later in his solo by exposure to concentrated sunlight, and, crucially, in superboy/robin: world's finest three, is vulnerable to kryptonite. also, notably, during "the harvest" arc in superman comics a little later, he's vulnerable to red sun energy. this is before anything remotely to do with geoff's stupidass luthor retcon - kon's pretty much just written as fully kryptonian as soon as editorial isn't scrutinizing him after his debut. it's interesting to ponder...

[sophsun1]

the characterization of buck regarding his love for research in the last two episodes is fascinating. so he will research all day to find the identity of a dead cowboy who cursed him, but he will not even do a single online quiz about his sexuality during the first 6 months of his first relationship with a man. evan buckley truly is an astrology bitch that does not believe in queerness apparently lol

hey anon!

this has been me at buck's characterization this week

I mean not only did they expect us to believe Evan 'funfacts' Buckley wouldn't do an iota of research into his own sexuality for SIX MONTHS but he also forgot his own boyfriend was gay lmao. If I don't laugh I'll cry you know.

Because remember the story was always about Buck's sexuality and what it means for him outside of Tommy or anyone else as it should be. Yet we never actually see any of this or hear him say the word bisexual.

The writing just comes off as them needing the characters to say whatever they need them to, to move the plot along past characterization and canon be damned.

Case in point with Madney who fought for their love after being apart and working through it listening to Buck saying he wants to call Tommy. And instead of giving their opinion even if it is to move on, I don't believe Maddie wouldn't tell Buck to follow his heart and do what he wants to do instead of the cheesy the universe will decide nonsense.

The episode hasn't aired yet so maybe I'll eat my words and they'll give Buck some agency back but call me a pessimist I'm not holding out much hope.

[alagaesia-headcanons]

I have a ride or die headcanon that little Murtagh was obsessed with Morzan’s dragon. He absolutely loved him.

Murtagh sees him often enough from a young enough age that he’s never scared of him. So naturally, he’s absolutely enamored with the huge, beautiful, glittery, fire breathing monster that hangs out outside the house. He’s kept at a distance, but he’s still the dragon’s biggest fan. Murtagh’s very upset to learn that he doesn’t have a name which feels very unfair to him, so he musters up all his creativity and dubs him “Red”.

Morzan doesn’t always travel with his dragon when he leaves the estate, depending on what he needs to do. So sometimes the dragon stays and rests while Morzan is gone. During one such time, when Selena is also away on a mission, a freshly 3 year old Murtagh escapes his nurses and goes to Red. He’s careful at first, testing the waters gently, then getting increasingly close and comfortable with him when Red seems utterly unbothered. He’s no more than an ant next to the dragon’s enormous size. Murtagh is immediately in love, clambering all over him and constantly babbling to him, undeterred by the lack of response.

The servants do eventually find him after a frantic search. Morzan’s dragon doesn’t like any of the staff, so despite letting Murtagh nestle into the crook of his foreleg, he snarls and snaps at anyone who tries to get close enough to retrieve him. The servants are stuck in a grim dilemma, because no one’s willing to test the limits of a gargantuan, irascible dragon, and they don’t have anything to bribe Murtagh with that’s cooler than said dragon, so he refuses to budge. They’re absolutely terrified the dragon will kill him, either inadvertently or not.

After three full days of Murtagh glued to Red’s side, remaining miraculously unsquished, Morzan returns. The servants are in a cold sweat, stuttering and shaking like leaves in a storm as they try to explain that his son is fine, there’s no need for alarm, but there may be just a small issue. He goes to his partner and does with insulting ease what the staff have fruitlessly tried for three days, he steps right in and scoops Murtagh up. He looks completely unkempt and ignoble, dirty and scraped from being outside the whole time, giggling unrepentantly and singing Red’s praises.

To the servants great luck, Morzan finds this all quite amusing. Carrying Murtagh back to the house, he accuses, “Trying to replace me as the dragon Rider, are you?” and Murtagh cries, “Yes! Take me flying!” Morzan says that he will, but it never happens.

Selena is less thrilled when she learns of this, also afraid that the dragon might kill Murtagh in a moment of annoyance. But Murtagh adores him and she can’t reliably keep him away, so she tries to accept the incongruous match. Red doesn’t show any perceptible warmth to him, and yet he makes the effort to keep tabs on him and stops him from doing anything too dangerous. Of course, since the banishing of the names stunted his mind, the dragon doesn’t have any nuanced opinion of Murtagh, but he can recognize that his little ant feels incapable of malice and he comes to like Murtagh in the way he can. Learning of Red’s death on top of the loss of both his parents utterly devastates Murtagh.

After a little while in Uru’baen, Tornac asks Murtagh which parent he was closer to, and Murtagh tells him Morzan’s dragon. Tornac takes a very long, very strained breath, thinking Oh dear gods help me I have so much fucking work to do.

[songforten]

it's insane to me that the chibnall era of dr who gets treated, both by people who love it and by people who hate it, as like. radically progressive. when it is arguably the most conservative the show has ever been (relative to the political climate in which it was airing)

what was that writers room even like. i'm imagining something like

"now how should we handle this scene between our two characters of color that we've sent to 1950s georgia"

"let's have one character look another in the eyes and say to his face "oi not this cop" after he says he as a black man gets stopped by cops more than his white friends"

"jerry you fucking genius. here are my keys. go to my house and fuck my wife."