#could we be any more stereotypically married even if we tried

[toxycodone]

PLEASE! TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT DAISUKE AND A POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. I'm begging and crying, please

ship. daisuke x reader

content. sfw + romantic

an. i have not been reading any other content but I’ve seen the massive complaints of people babying him through the grapevine 💀 so well. hopefully my thoughts are good

We all know this but Daisuke is seriously such a cutie.

Just. He’s so outwardly kind and enthusiastic, so before you two are even dating he’s practically just glued to your hip.

I think before any romance is involved he makes a great friend. He’s inviting you to his house to play video games (his mom makes snacks which is lowkey embarrassing but also pretty cute).

Honestly I think his mom is trying to teach him to be an adult but also like. Cannot stop babying him. Like he’s such a good son could you resist spoiling him?

And it just spirals to you too bc like! You’re the guest! Going to his place is always nice bc it’s like yay! It’s like they practically adopted you. (It wears out tho his mom makes you start doing your own dishes or something and it’s like oh. You’re *really* apart of the family.)

ANYWAYS ENOUGH. but before you two get together. Daisuke’s crush on you is like. So obvious.

He tries so hard to keep it to himself bc he’s afraid to ruin whatever you have right now but. Geez.

He lights up when he sees you and is almost talking a mile a minute—he’s just so excited to be with you and be talking to you!! You’re his favorite person!!!

And he’s always trying to impress you…like, it’s always something so dumb too. Showing off his arcade skills or whatever. He’s silly.

I think he can’t resist blushing when you’re around too. Like. There’s always a nice mauve stain on his cheeks and it’s ADORABLE.

He doodles. He doodles you. The stereotypical initials in hearts. YEAH. When he’s in classes or taking notes he most definitely starts daydreaming and ends up with silly doodles and hearts and crap UGHHH

His sketchbook is where it really gets dumb and crappy and romantic. Which he tries SO HARD TO HIDE FROM YOU ITS CRAZY.

when he musters of the courage to tell you his feelings (there’s a lot of stuttering and crap) he’s fist pumping and going LETS GOOOOOOOOO (when you’re not around but you manage to catch it probably)

He’s such a good boyfriend oh my god. In my mind he really values family and stuff so you are EXTREMELY important to him (and by default his fam)

You have a good relationship w his mom off the bat she ADORES you for how happy you make her son oh my god

He does a lot of stupid romantic shit like…pulls a chair out for you at dates, gives you flowers, tries to write love notes 💞

DUMB THRIFTING DATES WHERE YOU PICK OUT OUTFITS FOR EACH OTHER. UGHHHH DONT TOUCH ME.

But dating you also makes him think more seriously about life. Because he gets waaaaay ahead of himself and is like “oh my goodness,,,I have to prepare and get a job so we can get married and have a giant wedding and buy a nice house and get a pet and” (he’s naming your kids in his mind btw.)

[wishful-thinking64]

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss Rewrite Ideas #02

Hello! Hello! I've come to bring rewrite ideas for both shows once again! People seemed to like the first one and I like coming up with story ideas with and for practically everyone so here are seven more rewrite ideas for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss! ______

#01.) Have Alastor's magic sigils be radio symbols over Vodou symbols as it not only makes way more sense with Alastor being the Radio Demon but to not play into a harmful stereotype about a real life religion.

#02.) On the topic of religion, don't be afraid to add a few more religious figures from the Bible or the Torah! As long as you're being mindful about the material you're pulling from, I really don't see this as much of an issue. People make their own spin on angels, demons, Jesus, and God all the time! But for once, this is where Viv gets cold feet even though she already has Adam & Eve there but not their two main children? Or the reason behind why their parents and everything else exists?? Seriously Viv??? #03.) In any case, if you do add the first two siblings then I suggest having Cain possibly work at the Hotel as some kind of repentance considering he's both the first real Sinner and for the fact that he feels guilt over killing his little brother. #04.) Alright, now for some ideas for Helluva Boss! I feel like we've all grown tired of seeing the, "Two people arranged in a loveless marriage," trope with how often it's been appearing and HB is no stranger to this trope and tries to use it as a way to rectify Stolas' affair with Blitzo.

I mentioned this in my third One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion series but if you want to stick loosely to HB's canon then you'd probably be better off with making Stella a surrogate mother as we still haven't seen her interact with Octavia and there was no real point in having Stolas marry Stella if all he needed to do was secure an heir. Besides I'm pretty sure that's what Paimon did in order to get Stolas as we see no signs that he had a mom growing up with how he was raised by a butler. On the contrary, should you wish to keep Stella as Stolas' wife, I'd recommend going the path not taken. By which I mean, have Stella and Stolas marry because, at one point, they did genuinely love each other but over the years that love dwindled and eventually faded out. Even though they'd be better off parting ways they choose to stay together as Great Horned Owls (the owl that the actual Stolas from the actual Ars Goetia seems to be based off of) and Snow Geese (I refuse to believe she's a swan especially since her brother has ice powers and lives in an ice castle) typically mate for life. From here, I'd have Octavia not be born out of the "necessity" of an heir but rather as a last ditch effort to see if their relationship can be rekindled as many couples in real life think that having a child or children will "fix" their relationship. #05.) Sorry for getting somewhat depressing with that last bit. To make up for it, write a fun chapter about I.M.P. having fun by rewriting Episode #05 of Season #01, The Harvest Moon Festival! A lot of people like The Harvest Moon Festival as it is though the majority agrees that it should've been a Millie centric episode. So have her be the reason they go to the Harvest Moon Festival over Stolas, show her competing in the Pain Games, and have her stand up for her husband due to having enough of her family constantly shit talking him. Overall, have Millie excel at being the bad ass girlboss that HB makes her out to be! #06.) Give Octavia some type of found family or friend group. Have her attend a prestigious private school (I doubt Stella will have her daughter attend a regular public high school) and have her become friends with the school's outcasts. The reason this group could be outcasts is because they actually earned their right to be there by getting good grades while most of the students are probably the offspring of Hell's high ranking officials. But seriously, this girl needs (and deserves) a support system STAT! #07.) Properly explain what it takes to get a soul into Heaven. I don't care if you explain this via The Ten Commandments, trusting that Jesus died for humanity's sins, or by using another set of rules from a different religion that isn't Christianity just be certain that your explanation is clear and concise and makes sense for what you have already pre-established for your rewrite. Don't do what the HH series did by saying, "Yeah, we don't know," because that is genuinely how you lose an audience. You can't have the ENTIRE premise of the show being about wanting Sinners to get into Heaven when HEAVEN doesn't even know what gets a soul there in the first place! ______ Well, those are all of the ideas I've got for now! See ya guys!

[fake-married-my-dead-fiance]

Now that we have come to the end of the drama... Drama vs. Webtoon time!

I'm going to do this one a little differently, head to head, did the drama or the webtoon do it better in Marry My Husband?

Drama did it better! ML's Original Death

So in the webtoon, Ji-hyuk goes to Ji-won's funeral and then just offs himself by walking into the sea. It's not super clear why, like he barely knew Ji-won, and it felt really pathetic. I preferred the car accident.

Webtoon did it better! Su-min killing Min-hwan's mom

This didn't even come close to happening in the drama, but Su-min comes home to find the MIL from Hell having a stroke and then just turns around and leaves her on the floor. When it looks like she might recover, Su-min injects air into her veins and she dies. Su-min goes to prison for this as she doesn't kill her husband. Anyway, the drama showed us MIL very sad after her son's death, but I preferred this ending since she spent so long abusing Ji-won in the original timeline.

Drama did it better! Not So Much Love Triangle

Poor Eun-ho spent a lot more time pining after Ji-won in the webtoon. Happy that he got resolution there. Also, never felt like Eun-ho had a chance in the drama which I preferred.

Webtoon did it better! Eun-ho & Hui-yeon

I couldn't believe how little screen time these cuties got! Give me Hui-yeon proposing (at least she confessed first), give me them being in love! Why was Eun-ho not in the time-jump scene at the end?

Toss-up: Mr. Lee & Mrs. Yang

I liked the character of Mr. Lee better in the drama, but I liked Mrs. Yang's story better in the webtoon. Mr. Lee is way too nice in the webtoon, I liked his supportive and yet kind of rude persona in the drama. However, I wanted more of their story, in the webtoon Mrs. Yang's ex tries to kidnap their daughter as leverage, which is stopped, and then Mr. Lee has a very cute relationship with Mrs. Yang's daughter, who asks her mom if she'll marry Mr. Lee. We didn't really get any confirmation that they would end up together in the drama!

Drama did it better! Min-hwan's ending

Was it so satisfying to see him get the same ending he gave to Ji-won? Yes it was. In the webtoon, he sabotages his own car hoping that Su-min will die and he'll get the inheritance money. But then he drives his car to see his mom (after her stroke) and drives off a bridge. I liked this ending better.

Drama did it better! Mains as Parents

I felt like the webtoon went a little too far in making Ji-hyuk the only providing parent. I'm all for women working, but it just seemed unrealistic to me. I liked seeing both of them exhausted on the couch with their twins.

Toss-up: Plots that I Didn't Love

I really disliked Yu-ra in the drama, who I guess had to be included so she could take Ji-hyuk's fate. I think the webtoon was smart to cut her and I found her really annoying and over the top. However, I also didn't love the plot in the webtoon where Ji-won catfishes both Su-min and Min-hwan so that she can reproduce the betrayed by a friend thing. So I guess they both struggled with the third act.

Webtoon did it better! ML Doesn't Inherit

In the webtoon, Ji-hyuk decides to run his own security company and Ji-won continues at the original company. I guess the drama preferred a super rich power couple, but the webtoon was better in that way for me. I didn't love Ji-won becoming a stereotypical rich wife with a charity...

Webtoon did it better! MORE CAT

Pang (mold) the cat has a whole chapter from his POV in the webtoon. It was so cute!

Drama did it better! The Family Dinner

Honestly, I didn't think anything could top the webtoon's family dinner where Ji-won shows up in her revenge get-up, but I just loved Ji-won flipping Min-hwan so much!

Lastly, the drama really made Min-hwan and Su-min great characters. All the awards for Su-min's actress especially. Those two really came alive in a way that the webtoon just didn't do.

(and yes, I know the drama was based on the original webnovel but I'm not reading that, I like webtoons, and both are adaptations so fair comparison).

[clementine-kesh]

when you start digging into tom paris as a character it’s really like, that guy has so much weird shit going on around masculinity. there’s so much material between his father and his relationship with b’elanna that it’s hard not to read him as trying to compensate for something. in threshold he states that he spent most of his teenage years crying alone in his room and that his father thinks of crying as a weakness. which, as an aside, is truly the quintessential queer kid with unaccepting parents experience. tom’s father had standards that he failed to live up to, and that includes standards of what it means to be a man. tough, serious, stoic. a very heteronormative point of view. tom is none of those things and yet what he wants more than anything is to feel normal by living up to those standards. standards which are explicitly about being a heroic starfleet officer, but implicitly are also about fitting a certain image of masculinity.

so, enter b’elanna. for someone like tom who is both one of the more racist characters on the show and desperate to validate his masculinity, a half-klingon who everyone labels as tough and fierce and angry (despite any and all evidence to the contrary) is a perfect target. finally, you can prove you’re a real man by taming this scary angry woman! it doesn’t matter what she’s actually like, she’s just a trophy for you to win. and since she’s just as much of an outcast as you are you barely need to put any effort in to keep her around. it’s notable that the only time we ever see tom express any kind of investment in b’elanna’s interests is when they’re stereotypical klingon things like bat’leth fighting. and even then it’s not really her interests as much as it’s the interests that tom thinks that she, as someone who is part-klingon, should have, no matter if she’s actually interested in them or not. then whenever she tries to get involved with his interests he rebuffs her, as if she’s not actually interesting to him if she’s not being “klingon” enough. even after they’re married, his lines in lineage and prophecy indicate that he still doesn’t get that she could possibly ever be anything BUT a stereotypical klingon.

of course this setup is ideal for tom because it means he’s got everything he could possibly want. he’s locked down a relationship which, in his mind, needs minimal emotional investment, lets him fit into that heteronormative mold, and makes him seem like a big tough manly man without him actually needing to do anything to prove it. let’s see your dad tell his buddies that you’re a bit gay now that you’ve got a kid with your hot klingon wife!

[angelkitty54]

Thoughts I had on Sally Acorn and her role as "Princess".

Look, there's a lot more active and unconscious sexism in mainstream media then we like to admit and let's face it, Princesses are rarely portrayed as possessing any form of power or authority despite their rank. Neither are Queens for that matter; always considered below the King in that regard. The Patriarchy at work.

And Princess Sally Acorn is unfortunately a victim of such misogynistic tropes.

The problem is, the Archie comic writers were determined to make her into another stereotypical powerless princess, but unfortunately for them, she was fundamentally not designed that way! Sally Acorn was created as the sole remaining heir to the throne; one not only fighting, but leading the fight to take back her kingdom! She was meant to rule, her character being designed to do so in fact. Which is a very large part of why she was so inconsistently written: when she was portrayed as a Princess she was meek and subservient, but as a Freedom Fighter she was fierce, decisive and a proactive leader!

When you really look into her character, Sally was not raised a princess, she was raised as the last remaining heir to the throne, meaning she was effectively raised to be King. And it shows! Sally, even as a child was leading the Freedom Fighters, was a regarded as being in a position of authority by those living in Knothole, she lead negotiations and forged alliances! She was already doing all the things a true Ruler is supposed to do!

Yet the moment her father came back she was effectively demoted to being a hapless little girl. To be fair, it does make some sense to an extent. Sally does not know how to be a princess, at least not by her very traditional father's standards. She's been searching for him for all this time and finally has him back, of course she'd want him to be proud of her. So, naturally, she'd try her best to conform to his desires, but she was always meant for greater things.

That whole thing she had with the "Source of All" and Sword of Acorns just further cements Sally's true place in the royal hierarchy. A literal cosmic or god-like force (whatever was going on there) wanted Sally to be Queen, and add an enchanted sword called out to her, wanting her to wield it? Anyone else getting the Sword in the Stone vibes here? Of course the writers forced her to not want it and give it all up, because reasons I guess, despite going out of their way to show us all how in universe Sally was the One True King of the Acorn Kingdom.

At least her brother and her boyfriend recognised pretty much right from the start who she truly was. Sonic had always campaigned for Sally to return to lead the Freedom Fighters. And Elias tried his best to support her, knowing she was a much better leader than him.

Not to say Elias wouldn't make a good King. He had his ups and downs, but the his character really shone in the Secret Freedom Fighter story arcs. You could really see him coming into his own then. With Elias taking on the role of heir, it frees up Sally to go back to leading the Freedom Fighters. Her authority was always recognised there at least; her own little kingdom as it were.

It's very easy to imagine the Freedom Fighters traveling the world as a kind of superhero team, lead by the power couple that is Sally and Sonic. :)

But if she were to take the throne, it definitely would be nothing like how they represented Queen Sally in the 25/30 Years Later arc. Not just because they completely nerfed her character entirely, also because Sonic never would have become King to start with. Marrying a princess does not automatically make you a king!! You have to already be a prince in your own right, or literally everyone else in line for succession, including your spouse, has to die for you to gain that title! Even then you'd have to have had some sort of claim to the throne to start with!

The highest rank Sonic could have feasibly achieved would be "Prince Consort", but logically his title would have been "The Queen's Husband" given he was a commoner. And let's face it, Sonic would happily be Sally's trophy husband.

But anyways, this has gotten long, so in conclusion:

Sally Acorn is the rightful ruler and One True King of Mobius. She would have made a damn great Princess and Queen if not for poor writing coloured by sexist views. But she is also just as much a Queen while leading the Freedom Fighters!

(And she totally should have kept Excalibur the Sword of Acorns! Tho her energy swords are cool too!)

[seriousbrat]

Do you think Lily (or atleast your lily) is “not like other girls-ing” it. Meaning do you think she looks down on the hyper feminine or atleast holds her self as being better (consciously or unconsciously) for not being that?

Given the time period she grew up in it would be a bit of an anomaly for her to not have these deep seated ideas of femininity (which is why I don’t give hermione too hard of a time here), but if you think she didn’t adopt that thinking what caused that? And if she did (to any capacity) what does that look like in her day to day life?

Oooh, honestly a very interesting question! My most honest answer is that.... probably a little bit. The thing is that we've only begun to question the whole "not like other girls" thing very recently, so we have to consider that this was absolutely not a thing during the 70s. I do think Lily would consider herself "not like a lot of other girls" in the sense that maybe intellectual, political, philosophical things are more important to her than stereotypically feminine concerns like makeup, boys, fashion etc. That being said, I think she would in general be what we now call a "girl's girl."

I don't think she can be blamed for this; again the way we now see the whole "not like other girls" thing is very recent. Personally I don't believe that any women or girls who have felt excluded from the roles traditionally ascribed to women are at fault for feeling that way. Especially in the past, I understand why women would have felt like they weren't meeting certain standards that were expected of them and would take that as proof that they weren't like the majority of women-- the truth is that NO women are meeting 100% of the standards expected of them, but all of this is a pretty recent idea.

Lily would have likely compared herself to the model of Petunia, who is in many ways very stereotypically hyperfeminine-- her main life goal was to get married, be a housewife, and have a kid. While Lily did get married and have a kid, I don't see her as being content with just being a housewife, and I don't think that was her only life goal at all. If it weren't for the war (which is already something Lily was dedicating herself to beyond a sterotypically feminine role) she likely would have had aspirations beyond being a mother and a wife. So I do think she compared herself to Petunia in that sense, but you have to consider that in the 70s and 80s women were still fighting for many rights and considerations that today we consider basic.

I imagine that for Lily, Petunia represented something actively anti-feminist-- she married a chauvinist, conservative, middle class man who expected Petunia to cook his meals and clean his house-- and that was all that Petunia aspired to. I think that, in a sense, Lily did look down on Petunia for choosing this lifestyle, simply because she would never be content with that herself. We also have to take into account the fact that, for all the faults that the wizarding world has, gender is not really as big of a factor as it is in the Muggle world---although misogyny definitely exists in canon, a witch could potentially be much more powerful or talented than any given wizard, and it seems as though witches are very capable of reaching the same positions as wizards in the Ministry.

So, basically, I do think Lily would have judged Petunia especially in some sense for making choices that Lily considered to be anti-feminist. Does that make her an "I'm not like other girls" girl? I don't think so, personally I see her as being a stalwart feminist and very supportive of her female friends. Her judgment of Petunia likely came from the disparaging attitude that Petunia and Vernon had towards Lily and James-- I see Lily as being prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, and really making an effort to support her sister and maintain their relationship even if she didn't fully agree with Petunia's choices. But as we know, Petunia didn't let her. Lily tried to understand, and that does show a lot of empathy. I think that in this situation he problem was Petunia.

[one-vivid-judgment]

I'm not sure if you have a character request limit but I couldn't help myself with the fluff! Could we get some headcanons on how the following characters would propose?: Yamai, Eiji, Ebina, Tomi, and Sawashiro? Thank you in advance! 💚

Oh brother, I'm sensitive af bc pre-period hormones do be hitting like that and the cuteness of it all actually made me tear up 😭😭

Yutaka Yamai

See, normally that wouldn’t be his thing. Either you propose or he’s most likely not gonna do it himself. Last time he tried to follow his heart and do something for someone he was in love with, he was framed for murder and had to flee to Hawaii, for fuck’s sake! If you proposed though, he would say yes 100%.

In the very odd case that he took the initiative and proposed though, it’s gonna take him so much mental preparation beforehand. It’s gonna be nothing fancy; no out in public, no expensive restaurants, no one but you and him. Probably at home, doing something so mundane as watching a movie while he hugs you from the back so it’s harder for you to make eye contact.

It’s one of the only times that you can think of that he’s had trouble getting the words out. His confession won’t be anything too fancy either; he’s gonna go straight to the point and tell you how it is. He loves you, he wants to be with no one else and wants you in his life forever, so... Would you marry him?

Eiji Mitamura

A fucking wreck of a guy. Cause first of all, in his head, after everything he’s done and after serving his time, there is no way you’d want to marry him, even if he is trying to change. Of all the people in the world, why would you pick the guy who was willing to hurt a child, manipulated and blackmailed a woman, faked a disability to garner sympathy and has endured public humiliation ever since? Sure, you saw something in him (though he doesn’t know what, exactly), but you wouldn’t be willing to go that far, would you?

You know he’s got something eating him up, but he brushes it off whenever you ask him. So, you just let him sort out his thoughts himself and come to you when he feels ready. It’s not easy though, because you know he’s beating himself up over something that probably is fucking ridiculous.

Well, no, it wasn’t fucking ridiculous after all: he wanted to fucking propose, but didn’t know how. It’s super simple, and could barely even qualify as a proper proposal; he didn’t buy a ring, he didn’t get down on one knee, he just totally broke down over dinner one night when you asked if he was okay and he told you everything. He loves you, he wants to be with you forever, but how realistic is that? With all the baggage he has, why would you want to be with him over someone more... less like him? Of course, he would love it if you said yes, but... you don't have to feel forced to accept, or anything! You’d probably have to kiss him to make him shut up and then say your piece.

Masataka Ebina

Pulls out all the stops to the point that you can see him coming a mile away. Not that he cares—only the best of the best for you, obvious as he may make it look. If you outright ask him if he has something planned for tonight though, he’ll just smile it off and say, “Why don’t you mind your own business for now, huh sweetheart?”

Kind of a stereotypical, picture-perfect proposal when you think about it. Fancy restaurant, people around to watch, the ring with the fattest diamond he could find at the jewelry shop. You bet there are also candles and expensive wine, and of course he is going to pay for the meal, so order to your heart’s content.

Probably prepared a whole fancy speech as well. Absolutely no shame to spout all that in public whatsoever either—he can tell you are going to say yes regardless of how he confesses, he’s kind of a cocky son of a bitch in that regard, but he wanted to make it extra special for you anyway. Besides, you gotta give these people a good show, right?

Eric Tomizawa

This guy proposed once, yeah. But seriously, do you think he has any idea whatsoever on how to do it a second time? It’s like his brain short-circuits and suddenly Tomi.exe has stopped working. You ask him how he proposed to Marie? Oh, he remembers it all down to the last detail. But he’s not about to do the same thing for you. He’s not so lame that he will reuse a whole proposal.

You can kinda tell he’s plotting something behind your back. He gets startled and denies it very vehemently when you ask if there is something wrong. So vehemently, in fact, that you can tell he’s lying. He is not a very convincing liar to begin with, but the way he scratches at the back of his neck and his laugh gets all high-pitched is pretty telltale.

All-out, public proposals are not his thing, so no fancy restaurants in his agenda. He will, however, take you out on a date first, then offer to go for some ice cream, then a walk down at Aloha Beach to finish off. Pretty sunset, nice weather, and then he’s down on one knee. Sure, the ring is nothing fancy, but it’s all he could afford with his taxi driver income, and it is pretty regardless. He’s all nervous and stumbles on his words a few times, but that just makes it a more 'Tomi' proposal.

Jo Sawashiro

You thought Yamai was closed off? Try this guy. First off, he thinks he’s too old to be getting married at this point. Then again, he really does love the feeling you bring to him—it’s an inner peace he’s never felt before, and why lie... it makes him feel good. But honestly, how do you propose at this stage of life? He never even proposed to Ikumi, they only lived together, so it’s not like he has previous experience to go off of.

It’s very likely that it won’t be a proposal per se. You’ll just be lying down in bed after making love one night, and when he thinks you are sleeping, he’ll kinda... blurt it out. A simple enough “God, I want to marry you”. He gets soft after making love (not just fucking, but when it’s deliberately softer, more gentle) like that, sentimental even.

As it turns out, you were not asleep. You kinda scare the shit out of him when your eyes pop open right after he says that. It’s late at night, but really, you’re gonna have to talk things through right now or else, he’ll just go back to his closed-off self in the morning and pretend it never happened out of embarrassment. You want to marry him too, no matter what he’s done or how old he thinks he is for it. He can buy you the cheapest ring at the shop, or no ring at all, and you would still want to marry him.

[cowbilover]

lo and queer masc/man rep

or therefore the complete lack there of. which is incredibly insulting considering how common and prominent it was in original myth (although not always perfect but what greek myth is regardless of straight or gay). also i will be using queer in place of LGBT+ as an umbrella term so if you're not comfortable with that then sorry.

now rachel has made attempts at including queer rep through hestia and athena as lesbians and morpheus (and maybe chiron? idk) as trans women. which could be a whole separate post on its own with the problems that arise with them, but seeing as i am not a lesbian or trans woman, i will not be speaking on them in this post nor to the same degree if i do ever mention them.

what i am is a queer man, both bisexual and trans. i am also a big enjoyer of greek myth. i am not a big enjoyer of lore olympus nor of rachel's complete lack of representation when it comes to men like myself despite it being again very prominent within the original myths. now seeing how badly she has handled other forms of representation for other groups, i am partially glad she hasn't tried. but while i am a little happy, i am more so overall upset and annoyed at this. it comes off as nothing more than simple erasure.

the closest we've seen of rep for queer men/mascs is aged up storge who is more feminine then other men in the story, but this has not been explicitly confirmed therefore i will not be including this. besides men can be both feminine and still cishet. finally storge is a minor background character with little importance, so even if rachel did decide to make him canon queer we likely would not see much of that.

his brother eros is another annoying case as he is unarguably coded as a gay best friend stereotype. but without being gay. he is fashionable, witty, intelligent, dramatic, and always serves as a shoulder for his straight friend to cry on. but again he is not even fucking gay. he is married to a woman with a child. while i would like to see better representation then the gbf stereotype it is still insulting that rachel while coding eros to act like that couldn't even do the bare minimum of making him bisexual.

now it has been pointed out to me that names of male lovers to gods have been used and slapped on female nymphs. krokos (one of persephone's dead nympth friends) was a male spartan lover of hermes, and ampleus (the name pysche took as a nymph) was a lover of dionysus. now i am not upset that rachel didn't include the original stories since the story is already messy enough. i am upset that she took the names of two queer men from myth and slapped them on two woman. one of which ends up marrying a man, and the other dying. a quick google search could show that these names belonged to male lovers of gods, and so to me it comes off as at best lazy and at worst erasure.

i won't be discussing much of dionysus since he was only recently introudced. nor of apollo since the erasure of his queer identity is only one of many problems that occur with his character and how rachel wrote it, which could constitution a completely separate post.

i will be discussing hermes though. as both a character that we have seen a lot of, and as one that has not been completely villainized by the plot. he had an incredibly early appearance in the webtoon and had a handful of myths where he had male lovers or expressed homosexual love. but not a single mention or even passing comment has ever been made about this. it would be incredibly easy for rachel to just throw in one allusion to any of his male lovers (besides krokos who has been turned into a nymph for some reason) yet this never happens.

zeus is another character we have seen a lot of, especially in regards to his many affairs. all of which have canonically been with women. despite the many affairs he carried out with men. one of the most famous being ganymede and the foundation for the myth behind aquarius and the cup bearer. again it would not be so incredibly difficult for rachel to add any allusion to his male lovers. yet again though, nothing. (i will come back to this post after some fast passes become public and i can discuss his treatment as a pregnant man)

poseidon also had a couple queer lovers but besides the reference to the fact that he has a polygam "pod" we haven't actually seen any of his partners besides his wife.

the way rachel draws men with all perfect six pack bodies is also something that annoys me, and i'll be discussing it briefly here. people always comment on the lack of body diversity for the women in the comic but for the men it is much more severe. hermes, thanatos and eros who were all shown to be more skinny and not completely jacked in the beginning of the story are now all ripped with washboard abs. the men are all built like brick walls and it is just upsetting to see as a trans man who does not fit into that category. it sends the message that to be attractive a man must be perfectly fit. not scrawny or skinny or god forbid even fat.

also again as i said in the beginning many of the myths for queer men were just as fucked and problematic. it’s greek mythology it’s inevitable. but i’m more upset over the fact that if rachel can modernize and (attempt to) make hetero myths less gross, then where is that effort for homo myths

overall despite the overwhelming amount of queer man/masc rep that exists within the source material, rachel utilizes none of it. there has not been mention or allusion to a single queer god, forget any trans god. to me it comes off as purposefully ignorant and as erasure of queer men/mascs. which is fucking annoying considering how many of us see ourselves for once fucking represented in these myths. she has plenty of opportunity to include rep for people like myself but continuously chooses not to, instead adding another hetero-centric plot line for no reason. it is tiring and annoying to see so many gods that were queer in their myths not be represented as such. i will not make assumptions about why rachel chooses not to include this kind of rep, i will simply say to me it comes off as blatant erasure.

i could go on, and probably will come back to this post but for now i have said what i have wanted to say.

[trillscienceofficer]

-Do you have any thoughts on B'Elanna's grandmother (the one who made the banana pancakes) because I swear I think about this woman a disproportionate amount lol, and- -What are some things (broadly speaking) that you'd like to see more of in Trek fandom?

Feel free to choose a question if you don't wanna do both! And I hope your cold gets better soon :)

Thank you so much!! (I also hope that this cold gets better soon, my head feels like a balloon)

I do have some thoughts on B'Elanna's paternal grandmother, but I'd like to stress that these are very partial impressions and I probably should think about her in more depth. There's very little we know about her from canon; the banana pancakes (and the fact that she cared for B'Elanna and made her meals often enough that it's one of B'Elanna's favorite treats from childhood, which I personally interpret as her living on Kessik IV as well, canon doesn't contradict this), that she had two sons, the fact that she liked Miral but knew her John well enough to know that he wouldn't treat her right, and was against their marriage. The last part always stood out to me!! It can be taken in many different ways, and while it could be easily just a stereotype of the protective-mother-of-the-favorite-son, I'd like to put forward the idea that she was simply a woman unafraid to speak the truth as she saw it. I like to think that when John and Miral got married regardless, she did her best to make Miral a part of the family, and I think of B'Elanna's grandma as someone who was very conscious of the ways in which Miral was at a disadvantage in this situation (alone with basically no support network of her own, the only Klingon around). In one fic I wrote her quoting Gloria Anzaldúa because I can't stop imagining her as a feminist who tried her best trying to raise two conscientious sons and... it did not exactly work out the way she intended, but it doesn't mean she's going to leave her daughter-in-law and her granddaughter to fend for themselves. (iirc Miral also never says that John's family was a problem, which can be interpreted as her not feeling particularly left out, beside the obvious fact that nobody else was Klingon.) If we follow my headcanon that she lived on Kessik IV as well, I also like to think that she (and her husband?) moved there because of her job—it would be fun if B'Elanna had taken a liking to engineering because one of her favorite people had a nice workshop where she could hang out even when things between John and Miral got rocky. In general imagine B'Elanna's grandma as a no-nonsense, quick small woman, with curly black (graying) hair and a big smile but that could turn very stern in the span of a second. I imagine she eventually returned to Earth as well, once John separated from Miral, and if B'Elanna was to reunite with her it would be there.

By the way I'd love to hear your thoughts on B'Elanna's grandmother very much, if you feel like it and haven't already written about her!

As for what I'd like to see more of in Trek fandom... I don't know, obviously the fandom can do much better re: appreciating and be respectful of characters of color and women, always something I can improve on as well. I think what I like to see/read the best (women dealing with very gnarly problems! Romance between women that is anything but fluffy!) already exists and there are so many fantastic artists (you absolutely included!!) that develop the themes I like to see with the complexity I think they deserve, it feels like asking for more of that is almost... entitled? But I wouldn't say no on seeing more of these themes both in fanworks and fandom analyses, definitely.

[hxhhasmysoul]

You've frequently said that Yuuji is like a shoujo protagonist. Could you elaborate on that? I don't read shoujo and the last shoujo anime I watched was years ago so I'm not very familiar with it but I'm very fascinated as to why you think Yuuji's like a shoujo heroine. I don't think I've ever heard anyone else describe him as such.

I think I've seen some people talk about him in the context of a shoujo manga, though it might have been more in the context of him being a shoujo love interest which from what I recall of shoujo isn't really apt, Megumi with his aloof personality fits that bill more. but maybe others compared him to a protag too.

As you can see I'm also not some shoujou manga, or any manga category, expert. And I'm sure there's at least one, but more likely several, in-depth academic analyses of shoujo as a category, or what a shoujo protagonist is. And as with any such broad category there are surely exceptions, possibly even very popular ones.

With the above caveats, what I mean when I say "Yuuji is a shoujo manga heroine" is that he kinda fits the bill of what I picture when I think of a shoujo heroine. But also it's a bit of a sad joke, because, le sigh, patriarchy.

So historically, and maybe even today, not an expert, the manga categories were very strongly targeted at very particular demographics. Which any form of media like that, you of course get a lot of stereotypes baked into it. Stereotypes about what these groups may want to see which are based on societal norms and expectations for these groups. And the main manga categories are gendered and divided by age into shoujo - manga for adolescent women, josei - manga for adult women, shounen - manga for young men, seinen - manga for adult men.

From what I've gathered, the adult categories, I think especially the seinen category, are more flexible in what they allow for in terms of topics. Like adults can be interested in whatever they want, especially when it comes to men.

The categories directed at the youth feel more rigid when it comes to what they should depict. In gross simplification, girls should be exposed to relationships while boys should be exposed to action.

It's not like you don't get any action in shoujo, like you can get a lot of it, but it's framed differently than what you get in shounen and I will get to that. But the relationship will be at the forefront, and there's usually romance as an important part of the story.

You also get relationships in shounen, the already cliche power of friendship and so on, though rather no romance. It's a running joke that we get epilogues where we find out the protag who had the most dramatic and kinda romantic moments with his male friend/rival/enemy is happily married to one of the girls that cheered on him from the sidelines. Heteronormativity needs to be maintained. It's also a cliche that any romance that happens in shounen is played for laughs and kinda cringe, or downright laced with some really creepy shit like pedophilia (older women taking interest in young boys usually but it's "just a joke" or even depicted as cool) or incel shit (like male characters harassing and stalking female characters).

Gege doesn't do any of that, and will be very good about it if they stay on course and not make the "and they were all heterosexual" epilogue. I wrote a more detailed post about it, one that also delves into a lot of gender stuff, though it's a bit of a questionable one due to its origins and it's a bit old, etc. etc., proceed with caution if you choose to check it out. (A side note too, Hell's Paradise is quite interesting with it's premise of the protag loving his wife even if it's not executed well. Generally Kaku tries a lot of interesting things, though doesn't always manage to stick the landing).

A shoujo heroine often isn't the brightest when it comes to school stuff, or strongest in terms of physical strength, if there's magic involved her powers usually don't seem to be the most devastating in their effects. What she will usually have is an ability to deliver moments of very high vulnerability. She will also usually have a huge heart and ability to bring people together. These 3 combined is how she usually will win fights. A shounen character often can also have the last two, but usually the vulnerability he delivers is a bit one note, sometimes feels almost performative with the "I'm not strong enough". (also I'm sure that there a plenty of shoujo that also fail these). And the shounen character uses his vulnerability moment to charge the final attack while a shoujo heroine can win just through being vulnerable. (There's obviously shounen which has done this too, like categories this big will have everything, Killua wins with Palm through showing vulnerability, he does that with Illumi too.)

You might already see where I'm going with this.

Yuuji is built around his very strong humanity, his compassion. It's in his name. He is extremely good at delivering moments of devastating vulnerability, moments that are not power ups for him at all. He's also built around his loneliness and desire for connection, for being surrounded by people. He's very people oriented, has a warm personality and brings people together. He's capable of deep compassion and love. He has very high emotional intelligence. And he's capable of winning a fight through that alone, actually.

I started to call him a shoujo heroine after the Junpei battle, because he literally wins that by making himself vulnerable in front of Junpei and talking Junpei down. That's why what happens next is all the more devastating. He makes himself vulnerable in front of Higuruma.

If you apply shounen logic to JJK you get all those fans shitting on Yuuji because he's not the strongest. Because he doesn't have flashy powers like Gojou or Sukuna or Megumi. The cold takes like: "he loses several battles, omg he's not really the protagonist", or "he doesn't get amazing power ups", or "he's not driven to be the strongest, he's not proactive in achieving some lofty goals, climbing to the top of the hierarchy", etc. etc. blah, blah.

However if you apply a more shoujo logic to JJK, Yuuji is the clear and only protagonist. He's the heart of the story, he's the most people-oriented, relationship-oriented, vulnerable character. People are drawn to his warmth, not his power (Toudou's fanfiction about Yuuji is about Yuuji being his emotional support, about Yuuji letting Toudou be vulnerable together!).

All of the themes of the story converge onto him. He's emotionally tied to both major villains, and to their victims. His subtle personal, highly vulnerable goal, screams shoujo manga.

That's why I call him a shoujo heroine.

Why I say this is all a bit of a sad joke. While everything I wrote above, I stand by with my full conviction, the joke is that it all hinges on buying into patriarchy.

The division between shounen and shoujo is based on the societal norms for the gender binary. The idea that girls should like certain things, should behave a certain way... boys should like other things, behave in a different way etc. etc. In a system like that even personality traits are gendered. Men are stoic, calm, collected, decisive, forward, intellectual, high-minded, practical, project strength, they should feel comfortable taking up space blah blah. Women are emotional, fragile, caring, supportive, they don't care about practicality but are interested in the trivial and pretty things, they should be shy and quiet, feel good in the background, blah blah blah.

One of the principal traits of a shoujo and shounen protagonists is their gender. Because girls should read about girls and boys should read about boys.

This is why it's a bit of a sad joke, because calling Yuuji a shoujo heroine feels a bit like calling him a girl. And while I do it with love, and with my highly internally processed views on gender, I do it in public. I do it on this website where so many people perform a lot of feminism or queer activism in ways that are full of internalised misogyny and queerphobia of various stripes. In a patriarchal society calling a boy a girl is an insult, it's a form of devaluing him because girls are seen as less than. It's implying that he's failing at being a man. And Yuuji gets a lot of shit from the fandom for not being strong enough, for failing as a shounen protag. For failing to be that idealised, aspirational version of a boy. One that can overcome anything, one that's always strong, that is always driven.

I will quote here what I wrote about Yuuji in the post I linked above not to repeat myself:

"Yuuji is written more like a female character than a male one if we take the gender stereotypes into consideration, especially those that pervade the shounen genre. He’s built around compassion, cooperation and orienting himself towards others. These are stereotypically female coded traits. He doesn’t have a self aggrandising goal like so many shounen protagonists. His goal is intimate, it’s about his emotional needs. I forgot to mention that Yuuji is quite passive compared to a typical shounen protag. He rarely takes action on his own and only when the situation really forces him to do it. He’s reactive not proactive. He has this goal of eating all fingers but he waits for instructions, follows them. He doesn’t go out in the world seeking out the fingers. Same goes for his missions to kill curses. The reality had to hurt him real bad for him to become more active and still even now he falls in line, he’s not driven in the way shounen protags usually are. Passivity is associated with the concpet yin, which is also associated with femininity. Why do I mention this concept? Because jujutsu sorceres are kinda the successors of onmyōji, or more literally the yin-and-yang masters. He doesn’t have much of an ego. He knows he’s good at fighting but he’s not arrogant about it like Gojou or Sukuna are. He’s tactile, he has an open body language. His best friend is Nobara. The way they are close is astounding. All their idiot to idiot moments. All their physical contact. The way they complement each other while fighting. The way Nobara can just text Yuuji to come and he does. Nobara being gone really affects Yuuji deeply, to the point where he uncharacteristically lashed out at Hana. And it’s completely not sexual or romantic. Compared to that his friendship with Megumi is pretty shit and not really close. He’s been very clearly socialised as a boy in a pretty misogynist society on shit like shounen manga. He has “a type” when it comes to girls, that he can invoke instantly because that’s how young boys are socialised, it’s expected of them. And yet that type is just an aesthetic preference. It’s not really what he’d even want from a potential girlfriend. He treats women like people. Naturally, instinctively not in the fake “nice guy” way. He’s such a well rounded role model of young masculinity. He is that because Gege doesn’t build him on the stereotypes of what masculinity should be according to the conservative patriarchal viewpoint. Yuuji is a human who’s entitled to emotions, who’s not a total victim of his socialisation, who doesn’t strive to live up to societal expectations. No status quo, the mantra of JJK."

In a world not steeped through with patriarchy this wouldn't matter. In a world without such rigid standards as to what is masculine and what is feminine, calling Yuuji a shoujo manga heroine wouldn't stand out. Because it wouldn't feel like a thing. Yuuji wouldn't draw anyone's disappointment or ire. There wouldn't be a feeling of him crossing gender norms because the norms either wouldn't exist or would've been very very wide and flexible.

_____

tldr: Yuuji is a shoujo manga heroine because he also has pink hair and is capable of extreme cuteness, and have you seen him holding the bunny so adorably? Very Usagi coded.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Hey 🥺 I'm finally coming here 😩 I've read Just friends so many times it marked a before and after in my life LETMME tell you that you're the greatest writer ever ?? This Yandere Konig just will live with me forever and I will cherish him forever😩 I'm literally the lyric ,"my old man is a thief and I'm gonna stay with him till the end" (I'm sorry I'm a Lana del Rey enthusiastic)

Girl I can't STOP stressing the fact that that fanfic is life-changing hell, even now that I'm talking bout it I want to read it again (I wish I could read it for the first time again 😩) like just thank you thank you for making so many incredible written masterpieces caUSE IM READING also the ghost bodyguard and im LIVING for it ok?? My ass was shaking with the las update fucking mind-blowing and PERFECT.

So returning to my man König, you know I'm Hispanic (you didn't know but hey I'm Hispanic) and I would like really want to know how would König react or behave having a darling that is Hispanic (? (This is pure self indulgence, like I want to fucking put myself there) I mean, I don't want to appropriate any stereotypes but when sometimes can be a lot and we donate pretty different from everyone else(? So idk I just like would like to know kajsosib

Thank you again for making so many good content I told you before and I tell you know you're my cult leader 🙏

Hey babe you're too sweet! I can't believe my crazy story and crazy interpretation of König has had such an impact 🩷💕😭 Thank you for telling me, I'm just so glad that we can all buzz about this hot, insane man! And cult leader!? Haha omg this sounds dangerous (I love it, let's gather the whole toxic König crew and go to Austria together and build a shrine for this man, we can share headcanons thrice a day, dinner is served right after the compulsory fanfic writing workshop)

As for your ask, I'm sorry, I don't think I know enough about Hispanic culture to go too deep into detail & I wish to tread very carefully with stereotypes too, I hope this take is ok 🩷😘

The way I see it, there's two ways this thing would go….

An emotional, lively, feminine woman who has strong family values would be a dream come true for König. If you identify with the concept of marianismo at all, if you're loving and loyal and want to support your husband-to-be (König won't settle being just your 'boyfriend'), want to get married too and embrace your femininity while he gets to be The Man, your provider and protector, well, damn. This guy is on his knees! König will worship you, return your support and love tenfold, hundredfold. It will be the love story of a lifetime (and a story of traditional gender roles too but König would only view it as romantic 🩷)

But if you're "a lot", perhaps more outgoing than König thinks is appropriate, if you don't give a shit about his Ordnung muss sein-mentality and laugh at his attempts to cage you…? Sorry but you'll drive the poor man crazy!

He needs to possess protect you, which means your "temper" is a weed in the garden of your love. It needs to be pulled out, and you need to be tamed. König will go out of his mind as he tries to both please your every wish and try to put you on a leash. Lots of arguments ensue as you try to explain to this man that he's overreacting (and König is like Was?? He's not overreacting or hysterical, you're hysterical), lots of passionate reconciliation sex follows as he tries to prove you that you're his and his alone and no other man is allowed to even look at you.

So please don't torture him too much ❤️, he's not used to women's company and has a lot of suppressed energy and emotion, he just wants to take care of you and be the head of the house (and that you two worship each other 24/7 and carry each other's blood in small little vials or something omg)

[glittter-vamp]

3!

Thank you for requesting! 🖤

Based on the song Wasn’t Me By Shaggy.

Warnings: Angst. Cheater!Joe X Reader. Explicit language. Mention of Sex & Alcohol. Sorry for any mistakes, I wrote this up on my lunch break earlier lol

Word count: 1,161

You left the house fuming and in tears. You couldn't believe what you had just walked into. Your Fiance Joe was throwing a party when you were away which he didn't tell you about. You walked into your house filled with people you don’t know, after being out of town for work. You thought it would be a cute idea to surprise Joe but you came home to a crazy house party and seeing something you didn't think you would of ever seen. "Hello?" Your best friend Liz answers the phone groggily. "Hey Liz, I'm sorry if I woke you up but could I crash at your place tonight?" You sniffle. "Y/N? Are you crying? What's going on?" You hear her wake up more. "I just needed to leave, I couldn't look at him." Is all that comes out trying to hold in a sob. "Yeah, yeah...come over but please drive safe. You shouldn't be crying and driving." She says. Of course your best friend would know when you're calling her from your car. "I'll be there in 5." You say before hanging up. 

You make it safely to Liz's house and as you pull into her driveway she opens the front door in her pajamas. You felt like shit for waking her up at 12AM but you just didn't know where to go. "I'm really sorry for coming here like this." You sniffle as Liz hugs you and lets you in. " You don't have to apologize, but what happened?" She asks as you follow her to the kitchen. "I came home early from my work trip. Instead of leaving tomorrow morning, I left tonight so surprise Joe and he had some fucking party going on." You say taking a breath before continuing. "I couldn't find Joe, I asked everyone around the house and they hadn't seen him either. So I went upstairs to our room and heard this noise coming from the bathroom. So I open the door and there he was with the fucking neighbor… fucking on the bathroom sink" You say getting livid all over again and Liz gasps. 

"Wait...the one that you told me about that was always a little too nice with Joe?" Liz asks and you nod. "Oh Y/N...I'm so sorry." Liz says hugging you again which made you cry again. "5 years Liz...we were supposed to get married in a few months." You sniffle. "He's gonna pay, you're going to have the last laugh in the end. I promise you that." Liz says rubbing your back. "I should of listened to my dad about dating a fucking NFL player." You mutter as she goes over to make some tea for you. "Man, I thought he'd be different...guess when you get that type of fame and money you get cut by that shitty cookie cutter. becoming the stereotype" Liz shakes her head as she turns on the stove and puts the kettle on it. "I already bought my dress, that was specially made." You sigh rubbing your face. "Girl, all you gotta do is sell that shit online and tell the story behind it. There's a facebook page of women in your situation and they sell like hot cakes. People love drama and supporting heartbroken women." She says making you chuckle. 

"Did he see you though?" Liz asks. "Yeah after quite sometime. Once he noticed me, I threw my ring in his face and ran downstairs leaving in my car before he could get dressed and even process me there." You scoff. "I'm just saying, when I see him...I might hurt him. Just letting you know." Liz says making you laugh. "I turned my location off, he shouldn't be showing up here." You shake your head. You and Liz enjoy your cup of tea and she tries her best to take your mind off things. Talking about movies, concerts and whatever else but you could feel your phone vibrating in your pocket. "Okay, Y/N...either turn the phone off or I'm calling him and cussing him out myself." Liz says and you sigh. " I'll give you a minute. I gotta go pee anyways. "Liz says living you in her kitchen. 

You unlock your phone and see, a sea of missed texts and calls from Joe. You open the messages up and read the messages. 

J🧡-Please answer the phone Y/N. I'm so sorry, that wasn't me

J🧡-Just let me talk for a few minutes

J🧡-Please pick up

J🧡- That wasn't me, just let me explain.

J🧡- Why did you turn off your location? Are you somewhere safe?? At least tell me that

J🧡-Please come back home, I'll leave if you need space

You scoff at the dozens and dozens of messages like those and decide to call him. You take a deep breath and made the call. Almost immediately he answers. "Hello!? Y/N, Jesus are you okay?" Joe frantically asks. "How could I be okay, I just walked into my Fiance fucking our neighbor." You scoff. “I’m so sorry baby, that wasn’t me. I never meant for that to happen.” Joe says sounding broken himself but it really didn’t do anything for you. “You keep saying it wasn’t me, do you have some type of clone I didn’t know about? What excuse is that?!” You roll your eyes. “I was out of character, I had way too much to drink and I wasn’t thinking right- Joe, you are not blaming this on alcohol. I’ve gone out with my friends multiple times getting shit faced and I never even looked at another guy while I was with you!” You snap back.

“Just tell me what I need to do to regain your trust again, you can’t just throw 5 years away of us away. We can go to therapy,Move houses, whatever you want.” Joe practically begs over the phone. “Joe, the only person who threw this all away was you. Don’t worry about the house, I’ll be getting my stuff out this week. I’m Liz can help with finding me a place in such short notice.” You tell him holding back tears.

“Don’t do this Y/N, please.” Joe says his voice breaking at the end. “I’ll be over to get my stuff while you’re at practice, I’ll leave the keys in the garage and whatever else you’ve given me in the house.” You sniffle before you hang up knowing he was going to put up a fight and you just didn’t want to hear it right now.

“Are you okay?” Liz asks peeking into the kitchen where you were crying. “Nope but I can’t allow him to disrespect me like this and take him back.” You shake your head. “I’m proud of you, and of course I’ll help you find a place. I’m only the best realtor in Cincinnati.” She jokes making you smile. Here’s to starting all over again.

[chemicalarospec]

my dad invited me and my brother to watch Firefly with him and it's actually really good??? (idk why I expected it not to be-- probably because the last time I tried one of his old Spaceship Shows (the one with the puppets) it was too sexist and too slow to get through.) First of all it should have been ILLEGAL for them to not have a single Chinese character in this show, but as a Chinese person I do like the aesthetics of the show and how they mashed up traditional Western and Chinese styles. The pronunciation is hilariously bad (IF ONLY THEY HAD A CHINESE ACTOR, HUH), but I like it because it's funny. (Me and my brother do laugh out loud every time.)

But the characters are actually so good?? First of all we got THREE FOUR (I didn't count right lmao) female main characters, no smurfette principal here! One of them doesn't even have any implied romance so far okay technically River doesn't but I was thinking of Kaylee and she has a crush on Simon lol. Kaylee, my favorite -- I LOVE how her appreciation of girly feminine stuff is portrayed as something that should NOT be mocked and does not negate her more "masculine" role as the mechanic and that she can nerd out WHILE being feminine. There's also how Mal, the main character, and Zoe, his first mate, have a longstanding and deep connection that's entirely platonic! Men and women CAN just be friends! Do note, Zoe (who is awesome btw) is married to another man, the pilot who is honestly so far the most boring character, and Mal is interested in Inara. Who, speaking of, I also love how so far Inara's profession as a (unionized it seems!) sex worker is treated with respect. River is the most ~okay~ in terms of sexist writing as a weak and mysterious and mentally unwell but sexy woman, but since she's not the only woman it doesn't feel like a big deal. (I feel like she's going to become more grounded, at least I hope so because I want to see more of her personality!) Misogynistic comments are challenged when made! Of course the writing isn't perfect but it's a LOT better than what I expected (and if a modern show didn't do the things I'm praising here I would be offended btw).

Also River's brother Simon is a complete dandy (I think it would be stereotyping for me to call him gay lmao), I love that for him. Episode one he bleeds from his mouth like a dying c-drama boy-- I just had a Vision of the resemblance and now I can't get it out of my head, all he needs to do his open his eyes super wide and then he'd be a dying c-drama boy. He cares for his sister so much, it's super sweet even though he REALLY sucks at dealing with psychosis(? would that be the term to describe her episodes?). Book is an instant icon of course, he's just there forcibly being the moral compass lol. Christianity in space smh. Despite being mr sexism I also love Jayne's character - he's funny (love a guy who's always trying to kill) and the question of his loyalty is intriguing. Mal is a kind of a Generic Protagonist Man but his backstory is solid enough that means his brooding attitude actually makes sense. The "Badger" side character is funny/interesting too, and my bro says he looks like Captian Sparklez haha. (Wash (Zoe's husband) is there. Sometimes he's funny.)

Going back to the design, I am partial to Victorian or whatever aesthetics, so I love how they threw that in along with the cowboy thing, and there's a lot of individual pieces merging Chinese aesthetics with that that I think do a great job. It speaks to my mixed heart <3. The costuming is actually so fun (mostly speaking to crowd scenes), so many characters get to wear distinctive outfits . Also kind of Killjoys vibes because they say "shiny" haha. I respect how space shots have no environment noise, only cowboy music lollll. Visual effects are interesting; you can always Tell but it does seem to me the best they could do at the time.

Wow this post turned out longer than I expected. So a recommendation for Firefly I guess! Forewarning, the parts with the "Reavers" are pretty dark/grotesque -- actually, there's significant violence throughout the show, the Reavers are just the worst.

[asa-writes]

Dichotomy 04

“Anguish”

Aemond x F! OC / Jacaerys x F! OC - 18+ MINORS DNI

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: period accurate gender stereotypes

It had been around two weeks since Maellys's and Maena's arrival at King's Landing. They had spent most of their time embroidering and reading - exactly what had been expected of them. Dinners had been a relatively boring affair. They had conversed with Princess Helaena and danced a bit, closely supervised by their guards, who followed them around.

The Queen - their patron and benefactor - had been busy with courtly duties, leaving them alone for the most part. Maellys had found herself spending more and more time praying in the sept, seeking comfort in her faith. Maena had tried to keep up her spirits, but she too was beginning to feel the weight of their situation, quietly watching the weather changing from a comfortable warmth that came from spring to the searing heat of summer.

One day, as they sat in the Great Hall at dinner, they overheard a group of young nobles talking amongst themselves. "Did you hear about Prince Aemond's betrothal?" one exclaimed. "He's going to be wed to Lady Maena Rivers!"

Maellys felt a flicker of panic in her chest, but she kept her expression neutral. She looked over at Maena, who was staring ahead with a blank expression on her face, her pale lips twitching slightly.

"I thought it was supposed to be Maellys," another noble said. "Although I wouldn't mind taking any of them. I mean, have you seen their hips and their breasts? Each could provide me with at least ten heirs." The group broke out in rowdy laughter.

"Well, it seems that Queen Alicent changed her mind," the first noble replied with a shrug. "I heard that Maena has been spending a lot of time with Aemond lately."

Maellys felt sick to her stomach as she listened to their gossiping. It was clear that they knew more about their fates than they did themselves. She could feel her sister's hand trembling slightly and placed her own comfortingly on top of it.

As soon as the nobles had left, Maena let out a shaky breath. "I don't want to marry him," she whispered. Tears had formed in her black eyes as she looked up at Maellys. "And you know that what they said isn't true, I just saw him a few times while practicing archery or in the library, I promise you, I'm not a whore... He hasn't even shown an ounce of interest in me...", she rambled, trying her best to keep her voice steady, quickly dabbing away the tears which flowed down her face.

Maellys squeezed her hand gently. "I know, calm down," she said softly. "But we have no choice."

Maena turned to look at her, tears glistening in her eyes. "But how can I accept this? To be married to a man just because our Queen decided it?" she asked, her voice breaking with emotion.

Maellys swallowed hard, feeling a lump form in her throat. "I couldn't accept it," she said firmly. "But what choice do we have? We are not powerful enough to defy the Queen or her son. And we cannot stay here forever."

Maena looked down at her lap, her tears still falling, creating miserable spots on her simple gown. "I don't want to stay," she whispered. "And more importantly, I don't want you to go."

Maellys reached over and took her sister's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I know," she said softly. "But we must be strong. We have each other and our faith to keep us going. The Seven shall guide us wisely."

Maena nodded slowly, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. "You're right," she said quietly. "We must be strong."

Maellys gave her a small smile, feeling a sense of determination settle in her chest. She knew that she couldn't abandon Maena at a time like this. She gave her a reassuring smile. "Listen, Maena, all will be well. I shall try to arrange something. Do you want to take a bath to calm your nerves?"

Maena nodded gratefully, her eyes still red from tears. "Yes, that sounds wonderful."

Maellys stood up and offered her hand to Maena, helping her up. They walked towards their chambers, Maena leaning heavily on her sister for support.

As soon as they entered their chambers, Maellys instructed their handmaidens to prepare a bath for Maena. She helped Maena undress and stepped out of the room to give her sister some privacy.

Once she was alone, Maellys sat on the edge of her bed with her head in her hands. The weight of their situation felt crushing, suffocating. She hated feeling so helpless, so powerless. But she knew that she had to keep a level head and find a way out of this mess.

After a few moments, she stood up and told her guard that she would want to take some fresh air on the castle's ramparts. He nodded, grabbed a torch and guided her up. The air was warm and she could see a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. She sat down, looking up into the sky.

Her Guard cleared his throat. "Milady, Prince Aemond is coming." She glanced over at him, seeing his long silver hair swaying in the wind. She gave him a pained smile. "Maena?", he asked quietly, looking at the guard.

Maellys slowly shook her head and wrapped her shawl tighter over her dress. "No, your Highness, I'm Maellys." Prince Aemond approached her, his expression unreadable. "My apologies, Lady Maellys," he said, inclining his head. "I assumed you were Lady Maena."

Maellys forced a smile. "No need to apologize, Your Highness. I understand that we may look similar." She couldn't help but laugh. 'Indeed you cannot even seperate your betrothed from her sister', she thought bitterly.

"May I join you?" Aemond asked, gesturing towards the wall.

"Of course, Your Highness," Maellys replied, standing up and stepping away to make room for him.

They stood in silence for a few moments, looking out at the night sky, listening to the rumbling thunder. Finally, Aemond spoke. "I heard about the rumors circulating about me and your sister," he said quietly, pursing his lips.

Maellys felt her heart race in her chest, but she kept her expression neutral. "Yes, I overheard some nobles discussing it at dinner," she replied curtly.

Aemond sighed. "I had hoped to spare Lady Maena from this kind of speculation, but I suppose there is no avoiding it."

Maellys looked at him curiously, frowning. "Your Highness, if I may ask... why did you choose Lady Maena as your betrothed?"

Aemond shifted uncomfortably. "It was not entirely my choice," he admitted. "But I must admit that I have come to admire her spirit and her intelligence."

Maellys nodded thoughtfully. "Lady Maena is a remarkable person," she said softly. "I just hope that you will treat her with the respect that she deserves."

Aemond turned to look at her, his violet eye piercing. "Lady Maellys, I assure you that I will do my utmost to be a good husband to her," he said earnestly. "I know that the circumstances of our betrothal are less than ideal, but I hope that we can make the best of it."

Maellys nodded, not quite believing him. She knew that her sister deserved better than this situation. "I hope so too, Your Highness," she said coldly.

They stood in silence for a few moments before Aemond spoke again. "Lady Maellys, I know that this must be a difficult time for you and your sister," he said kindly. "If there is anything I can do to make things easier on you both, please do not hesitate to ask."

Maellys couldn't help but be surprised by his courteousness. He seemed genuine in his desire to help them. Perhaps he wasn't as bad as she had initially thought.

"Thank you, Your Highness," she said gratefully. "Your offer is much appreciated."

Aemond gave her a small smile before turning to leave. "Goodnight, Lady Maellys."

"Goodnight, Your Highness," she replied softly as he walked away.

Maellys watched him go with mixed emotions. On one hand, she still despised the idea of her sister being forced into marriage with him. But on the other hand, perhaps he wasn't the monster she had initially thought he was.

She sighed and wrapped her shawl closer around herself before heading back towards her chambers, falling into her bed exhausted and sinking into a deep sleep.

-

Maena had been woken up by Maellys the next morning. "Good morning!", she chirped. Maena rubbed her eyes sleepily, sitting up in bed. "Good morning," she yawned. "Did you manage to get any rest last night?"

Maellys forced a smile. "A little bit," she lied. "I was thinking, Maena... Maybe you could try to wait with your despair. I honestly do not think that he wishes you to suffer. Mabe you would wish to speak to the Queen? Maybe she has planned something fun for our nameday?"

Maena looked at her sister skeptically. "Do you really think that the Queen will care about our nameday?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Maellys shrugged. "It's worth a try, isn't it? And who knows, maybe we can distract ourselves from all this stress for a little while."

Maena nodded slowly. "I suppose you're right. We can't dwell on this forever."

Maellys smiled and pulled her sister into a hug. "Exactly. Now let's get ready for breakfast and then we'll speak to the Queen."

As they got dressed for the day, both sisters couldn't help but feel a sense of unease in the pit of their stomachs. They knew that their situation was far from ideal, but they also knew that they had to make the best of it.

After breakfast, they made their way to the Queen's chambers, hoping to find some solace in her company.

When they arrived, they were greeted by one of the handmaidens who told them that the Queen was currently in a meeting with some of her advisors and wouldn't be available for a few hours. Disappointed but not deterred, they decided to take a walk around the castle grounds to pass the time.

As they walked through the gardens, Maena suddenly stopped in her tracks and gasped, pointing towards a small cluster of flowers near a nearby fountain.

"Maellys, look! Those are my favorite flowers!" she exclaimed, running towards them with glee. Maellys couldn't help but smile at her sister's excitement. "Well then let's pick some for your room," she said. "Or even better, some for the Queen. It would be charming, wouldn't it?"

Maena nodded eagerly and they began to carefully pick a bouquet of the vibrant flowers, discussing what they should say to the Queen when they presented it to her.

As they returned to the castle, they heard the sounds of horses approaching. They quickly moved out of the way as a group of knights rode past them, led by Prince Aemond himself. The sisters froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. Aemond noticed them and reined in his horse, dismounting gracefully.

"Ladies," he said with a nod. "What brings you out here?"

"We were just taking a walk," Maellys replied politely.

Aemond glanced down at the bouquet in their hands. "And what do you have there?" he asked curiously.

Maena stepped forward, holding out the flowers. "We picked these for the Queen," she said. "We thought she might like them."

Aemond smiled, taking the bouquet from her to inspect it closer before handing it back. "How thoughtful of you both," he said. "I'm sure she will appreciate them."

They chatted for a few more moments before Aemond bid them farewell and rode off with his knights.

The sisters continued on their way towards the Queen's chambers, feeling a little lighter after their encounter with Aemond. Perhaps things weren't as hopeless as they had initially thought. When they finally arrived at the Queen's chambers, they were pleased to find that she was free to see them. They presented her with the bouquet and explained that they had picked it just for her.

The Queen smiled warmly at them, clearly touched by their gesture. "How lovely," she said. "Now, what has brought you to me? Both of you have been awfully quiet and I have never seen anyone that visited the sept as much as you had done."

Maellys and Maena exchanged a quick look before Maellys stepped forward, taking a deep breath. "Your Grace, we wanted to speak with you about my sister's impending marriage to Prince Aemond."

The Queen's expression softened slightly, knowing that the situation was a difficult one for the sisters. "Of course. I understand that this is not an easy situation for either of you. Is there something specific you wanted to discuss?"

"Well, we were just wondering if there was anything that could be done to make the transition easier for Maena," Maellys said tentatively. "Perhaps some sort of arrangement or agreement could be made between our two families."

The Queen sighed, her face taking on a more serious expression. "I'm afraid there isn't much that can be done at this point," she said gently. "The betrothal has already been arranged and agreed upon by both of our families. However, I promise you both that I will do everything in my power to ensure that Maena is safe and happy in her new life."

Maena bit her lip nervously, feeling as though she was being spoken about as though she were not there. She wanted to speak up and voice her own feelings but found herself unable to. Maellys noticed her sister's discomfort and spoke up again. "Your Grace, if I may... Maena is going to be marrying a prince. Surely there must be ways to make it more enjoyable for her?"

The Queen smiled softly at the girls' eagerness to help their sister. "Well, I suppose there are a few things that could be done," she said thoughtfully.

"Our name day is coming up, Your Grace.", Maena said, trying her best to calm down again and show the Queen that she was just as strong as when she had arrived.

The Queen raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it is," she said slowly. "What do you propose?"

Maellys took a deep breath before speaking. "Well, we were hoping that perhaps there could be some sort of celebration or feast held in honor of Maena's and Prince Aemond's wedding," she said. "Something to make her feel special on her nameday and to celebrate the coming union between our families."

The Queen considered this for a moment before nodding. "I think that's a wonderful idea," she said. "I will speak with the kitchen staff and arrange for a feast to be held in Maena's honor on her nameday. And Maena, I promise you that we will do everything in our power to make your transition into Prince Aemond's household a smooth one."

Maena felt her heart lift at the Queen's words. It was comforting to know that someone was looking out for her, even if she didn't feel entirely ready for what was to come.

As they made their way back to their chambers, Maellys couldn't help but feel proud of her sister for speaking up and advocating for herself.

"Maena, I'm so proud of you," she said, hugging her sister tightly. "You were so brave just now." Maena smiled weakly, still feeling a little overwhelmed by everything. "I don't know if I was all that brave," she said. "But thank you."

Back in her own chambers, she nervously looked down into the courtyard. She saw Prince Aemond standing there, talking with some of his knights. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched him, feeling a strange mixture of fear and excitement.

She had always known that she would marry someone important, but she had never expected it to be the prince himself. It was all so overwhelming and unfamiliar.

As she watched him, he suddenly looked up and caught her eye. Maena's instincts told her to look away but instead, she held his dark gaze for a moment before quickly turning back to her chambers.

[vaguely-concerned]

I binged through all of Dragon Age: Absolution today and honestly I really really liked it! I was allowing myself only some very cautious optimism after watching the twitch premiere of the first episode, but freed from the need for infodumps and setting up the characters the rest of the show actually rapidly gets better from there (some pacing issues here and there excepted but hey they were given 6 episodes, I think they did pretty well considering those constraints)! If like me you HUNGER for, you YEARN for, you CRAVE more Dragon Age right the fuck now, this is not at all a bad thing to help keep some of that hunger down while we wait for the next game, and has a few loveable new characters to get into and some great action animation to boot.

More idle thoughts/reactions under the cut!

first and foremost I love Roland and Lacklon so much haha, a surprisingly well paced romance considering it mainly happens in quick background-ish moments! I'm especially interested in Roland's backstory, since he's very chill and openminded for what seems to be a decently well-trained/educated Orlesian? Lacklon being like 'I want to hold his hand and suck his dick 😔 fml' every time Roland did something cool in battle was just *chef's kiss* too, it was kind of smart to have their fight scenes double as foreplay as well on a writing level since they're arguably the least plot-important characters overall (though they and Qwydion are definitely the heart of the story as far as I'm concerned)

I understand why Miriam clung to Hira so much since she just lost literally everything in her life, good or bad, moments before and that relationship was the only time she had tasted anything like real love since her brother died, but girl... girl when people show you who they are, believe them. marry Qwydion instead you deserve so much better (Hira gave me the Bad Vibes right away from how she didn't respect anything Miriam said or expressed and kept pushing in ways that made me really uncomfortable, so I won't say I was shocked or anything lol.) There is the (??deliberate??) mirror of Hira hugging Miriam from behind in the blood magic dream and Qwydion coming up behind her in very much the same way to rest her hand on her shoulder in the real world afterwards, so I have hope maybe?

can you imagine Dorian watching shitshows like this go down every other week all around Tevinter and tearing at his perfectly sculpted hair because Andraste's tits if you motherfuckers would stop acting stereotypically for FIVE MINUTES! could any of you go take a PISS without resorting to blood magic! Dorian's job is a shit job and he's probably been doing it for a while by the time of Dreadwolf so y'know. get my son a drink

speaking of Qwydion, I am so glad for further support for my theory that vashoth born away from the Qun are actually some of the most well-adjusted people in all of Thedas. they've dodged the Qun from birth by definition, they don't seem terribly interested in the Chantry or grand politics of any kind, they don't have a caste system hanging over them, they can step on anyone who tries to mess with them even if they don't have magic... truly the only sane people running around out here

so you're telling me the Inquisition screws Fairbanks over no matter what you do, b/c either he dies or he's forced into Orlesian politics. Oh buddy I'm sorry we should've just let you frolic around in the Emerald Graves on your own you didn't deserve this

Poor Tessa. she is probably better off without him in the long run but that's a rough week

I was so excited to see Kirkwall again, I saw the horrific chain statues and went 'OH HELLHOLE MORE LIKE HELLHOME'. it's so grim and awful I miss it so much lol

meredith, huh. so uh. hawke really has failed at everything, pretty much, then. even the few people they did manage to kill to protect everyone didn't stay dead. I'm just waiting for the dragon they killed in the Bone Pit to come back and ravage the city as well now, just to top it off. celestial punching bag of thedas hawke. babyyyyyyyyy if it helps I still love you the most and so does your collection of bi weirdos found family

rezaren wasn't even that good a mage, as far as we can tell, so you have to wonder what the FUCK dorian's ancestor was pulling to have created this thing that he could barely control with half a dragon's worth of blood (and what someone like Dorian, who helped crack time like an egg in his student days sort of just to see if he could, it seems, could do with it if they didn't have like scruples or other pesky things like that. everything we see about tevinter magisters makes me more impressed with how comparatively not fundamentally shitty Dorian has managed to turn out (no wonder Bull is kind of impressed with him for having actual integrity, if this is the competition he's up against). can you tell I miss him lol)

I found it genuniely interesting how much rezaren and hira are thematic mirrors to each other and mutually cannot see it, right down to treating miriam ultimately as an object. same self-centered idiot, different hairstyles. what a scathing indictment of Tevinter high society that even Hira, who's family was notoriously progressive and trying to enact change, still treats people exactly the same way as the other magisters when push comes to shove.

thank u to Lacklon for pessimistic cynical bastard representation, he is right that that dragon is going to ravage the countryside and someone on the crew has to keep clear eyes for that sort of thing even when it's a downer

[fancyfade]

hi, i'm the NTT marriage arc anon, thank you so much for such an in-depth response! i see what you mean, it's weird that the narrative doesn't really engage with what it means for kory to never say no to her parents or even how her siblings feel about kory's situation - for instance, i would've liked to see ryand'r react to the position his big sis has been put in. other than her pain over losing nightwing, she doesn't get a lot of perspective at all. i think since the romance angle was the only focus, i was a lot more sympathetic to nightwing viewing this as cheating - though this might be because of my background too, since in recent years we've had a lot of activist/revolutionary movements advocating for staying with your partner of choice instead of the partner that your parents arranged for you and that's where my mind automatically jumps to. so my reaction was basically "yeah nightwing's right, why doesn't kory fight to be with the person she loves instead!!" because wolfman never even shows her trying, yet her anguish over nightwing breaking up with her is the only focus of her inner monologues.

and it's not like any other aspect of this conflict actually gets addressed later during the resolution - dick just eventually just ~accepts~ the fact that kory had to get married and they remain together. so it's like, what was even the point of the entire last arc if it was just gonna end with dick getting over himself or whatever and dating kory anyway, we didn't need all this drama lol. i think what irritates me is that i can't actually blame nightwing for thinking of kory and tamaran as a so-called backwards culture, because the narrative generally shows them as such. real-world xenophobia tends to be based on baseless assumptions, stereotypes, and misinterpretations of another culture, but wolfman literally shows tamaran as an aberrant, war-torn place to be imo. it's frustrating when a work of fiction half-heartedly tries to depict prejudice or bigotry but then inadvertently justifies it.

but anyway, i think what i liked about the cartoon on the other hand, was that 1) galfore, starfire's guardian who she views as family, also seemed opposed to the marriage but there was nothing he could do since he's not king. plus in the cartoon he didn't sell starfire into slavery like kory's family did in the comics, rather she was kidnapped - so it doesn't come across as kory being manipulated by a selfish family member who did her dirty in the past, but instead like she's nobly sacrificing herself for the greater good. imo that gives her agency and emphasizes her tendency toward heroism and self-sacrifice, whereas in the comics she's purely a victim of circumstance and doesn't even get to stand up for herself or what she really wants outside of everyone else's pressures in the end 2) the entire marriage is all orchestrated by blackfire for her own selfish purposes and once the ruse is up, everyone is unambiguously on starfire's side, which was nice to see. i think that relates to what you said about wanting to see someone other than joey react to this whole situation - it was just sweet to see the other teen titans fight for starfire and her planet against blackfire 3) imo robin + starfire's argument in the cartoon is way more balanced than in the comic because starfire actually strongly believes in doing this even if it means losing robin, who she obviously likes. in the comic she says she has to get married no matter what, but at the same time literally begs and screams nightwing not to go when he also takes a stand and says he can't continue dating her when she's literally going to be married to another man. like i know it's heightened 80s melodrama and even the readers at the time were bored by this based on the letters to the editor columns, but it came across as so pathetic to me. in the cartoon, starfire actually pushes robin back with her powers when he tries to persist, and, because they weren't actually dating at the time, i felt like starfire was justified in telling robin to shove off - in the comics, kory is in a serious relationship with nightwing and i didn't understand how she could ever expect him to be cool with this arrangement lol

also personally i didn't take the episode to be equating beauty to virtue, because the alien looks nothing like anything remotely resembling a human being or what an "ugly" person might look like - so i figured desirability politics wouldn't really apply here, but i get what you mean. again i wonder if they had to be so heavy-handed with showing that the marriage is unwanted, because if it were a conventionally attractive guy instead, ppl would try to justify the marriage somehow :/ i also wasn't trying to imply that you were defending arranged marriages somehow, if that's how it came across lol

re: the comparison with the man who tried to kill his wife for cheating - it's disgusting how normalized that kind of view (I.e. "abuse is just a conflict that can always be resolved with twwue wwove!!") was in not just 80s comics, but even comics that came after. i was reading the 2006 moon knight series and something very similar happens and is justified, that culminates with marc physically abusing his love interest marlene. also during 80s avengers, captain marvel is literally assaulted and yet she falls in love with her abuser later because apparently he hurt her out of his love for her or whatever. and more generally i think the 80s were when the "brucie always sleeps with a dozen air-headed models" thing really took off in batman comics whereas before the playboy thing was entirely a ruse, which really goes to show how shallowly writers viewed women.

This answer will hopefully be shorter because I'm on mobile not laptop :p

Yeah, the way korys general arcs are framed in ntt is pretty unsatisfying and Marv clearly does view her as dicks gf before he views her as a person. I think it might be hypothetically possible to dip a satisfying twist on the Tamaran arc, giving kory more support and making it clear how unfair her situation is (and would be even if she wasn't in a long term relationship). And with your asks and perspective I'm also thinking that someone from a culture where arranged marriages exist would probably be a lot more capable to treating the topic with the necessary gravitas.

I think ntt kory has a fascinating dichotomy where she's like. Very clear about what she wants... BUT she has such an abandonment complex (probably from her parents literally trading her into slavery) that she'll put up with way more in relationships than she would otherwise, and she'll put up with so much of her parents (and komandr becomes a convenient hateable avatar such that kory just puts all the issues on kom and does not acknowledge to herself her parents fault in this)

But anyway that's like a whole nother post I'd need to make when not super tired.

Not sure what more to say wrt Tamaran. I feel uncomfortable saying the narrative justifies bigotry. Like, there are abusive practices that hurt Kory, but that doesn't justify Dick being awful to her.

They definitely aren't a real culture, in that Marv made them up for the story, so all we see is what's on page. There's not like a secret "how tamaranean society actually is" guide out there. I think they are mostly portrayed as war like defensively, in that the whole system is invaded by citadel. Kory does clarify that peace is always preferable to war. I think it's portrayed flatly, but not entirely as negatively as you do. That said... it still is portrayed flatly. I'm honestly not sure if Wolfman was even trying to portrayed dick as prejudiced or what, the writing around there was so messy. (And also clarification: I think that at least some of dicks actions here are ooc, or at least not what I put in my interpretation of his character. My interpretation of dick would not leave a woman with her violent husband just bc they agreed they loved each other)

I sadly agree with you that if they made cartoon korys arranged husband physically attractive there would be some people justifying it... fandom is unreal ;_; I don't think u were really trying to pull in desirability politics I'm just terrified of being misinterpreted lol (hence the clarifying "I don't think arranged marriage is a good thing" last post). That said I still do think that it'd be more clear/a stronger moral if the guy looked human.

Anyway I hope I responded to most of your ask! Ty for sharing your thoughts