#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.

[lucabyte]

i CANNOT stress enough how incompatible the themes of these two pieces of media are. i promise my media literacy ability is actually good im well aware that these character mappings are absolutely nothing. that said. play with me in this space. in this sopping wet miserable space. its bad luck to kill a piou piou

original screenshots (and hypnosis 1904) for reference

[a-delicate-touch]

my number one fantasy of all time will always be someone discovering i'm ticklish, figuring out that i like being tickled, and then tickling me every chance they get because they know it turns me on

[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

[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

[youling-the-ghost]

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

[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 😭)

[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 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[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...

[simptasia]

if julian and garak were to have children (and i imagine they do), i think the kid(s) would have the last name "garak". not only does it continue mila's last name, but it destroys richard bashir's oh so precious legacy

[pinkgrapefloyd]

hello everybody and welcome to yet another round of miscommunication eleganza extravaganza! it's silly! it's vulnerable! it's literary and highly self-indulgent!

your truth or mine?

by pinkgrapefloyd

In which Bashir and Garak both are and aren’t dating – because the truth is rarely ever that simple. As with most things in life, it depends entirely on whom you ask.

relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak

length: multichapter (probably around 10-ish?)

rating: E

additional tags: Accidental Relationship, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Julian Bashir and Elim Garak's Book Club, Cultural Differences, Alien Cultural Differences, Friends to Lovers, Friends With Benefits, Depending on who you ask, Idiots in Love, Pining, Schrödinger‘s Relationship

[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.