#especially when it comes to female characters

[the-blind-assassin-12]

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHKKKKKKKAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!

Okay.

OH. KAY.

Listen. I have had this story on my TBR for a while now, and as soon as I started reading it I became increasingly annoyed with myself for not getting to it sooner. Because it. is. FANTASTIC. Every now and then I read a story that indelibly stamps itself on my heart, and this is definitely one of them. Frankie and Audrey are hereby cordially invited to live in my brain and never pay a single cent of rent, in perpetuity.

Alright, I'm going to try by absolute best to corral my thoughts and emotions into something resembling coherence. But no promises.

There was just so much to love about every aspect of this story. But let's start with the characters. First of all, I love me a strong, capable female OC, and Audrey is all of those things and then some. I would read a whole story just about her because she's so complex and intriguing and funny and flirty and guarded and just fucking cool, like I would love to be her friend. And this Frankie is so fully fleshed out that he feels alive in every single way. He's the same skilled, ice in his veins/fire in his blood Frankie that we saw in TF. The same guy who loves his friends fiercely. But you've breathed so much life into him by expanding on his personality traits and even his flaws and demons. I was already in love with this man but you somehow reached into my heart and cranked that shit up to 11. More on both of these lovelies later, but real quick - the supporting cast here? Pope, Benny, even the elusive Davis and airplane guy and Spencer - were also all so well written. They all felt like their own individual entities with purpose and intent. I loved getting the skinny on how the guys (and Aud) each got their callsigns, too. Especially Mr. Benadryl Miller lol.

Moving on to the plot. HOT DAMN. You snuck a "learning to love without having been shown the proper way to do so" story into a smut the way I sneak my dog's allergy pills into hunks of deli meats. Like!!! Abraca-frickin-dabra! One minute it was all bangin on the hood of the Rover and making Pope feel like a third wheel, and then all of a sudden there were all these FEELINGS that neither character knew what to do with but they just kept on BUILDING and suddenly... uh oh, idiots in love. You did an incredible job of scaling things up as the idiots (I love them with my whole heart and I would protect them until my last breath) danced closer and closer to the fire, but you also did a great job at balancing it all out with lighter moments. It's like when you're weightlifting, right, you can't just plop a whole bunch of weights on at once. You have to build up. It never got too heavy all at once, even when it got the heaviest. Those last three chapters were masterfully done. I mean the whole damn thing was, but the way everything unfolded towards the end there with all of the dark parts finally coming to light? Say it with me. "Masterful."

UM THE SMUT HELLO THE SMUT WAS HOT THE SMUT WAS SPICY THE SMUT WAS SO FRANCISCO MORALES CODED I COULD SCREAM THE SMUT WAS THE FUCKING BEES KNEES.

The writing throughout this entire story was flipping beautiful. I could so easily see every detail, every movement (as a former BJJ practitioner, I lost my mind when Audrey triangle choked Benny in nothing flat. that is, in my experience, exactly how it goes with the Bennys of the world when they challenge a "Small Girl" to a sparring match) every bit of tension had me holding my breath and biting my lip and just FUCK, MAN!

Okay, it happened, I ran out of coherence. Just please know that I loved this story an absolutely abnormal amount. Thank you so incredibly much for sharing it with us!

The Margay (COMPLETE)

Series Summary: Santiago recruits Frankie to contract for a covert government agency that pairs them with danger in more ways than one. Two frayed things toe the line between the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And maybe, just maybe, they make it out alive. A series of one-shot snippets taking place during and around missions. * - Denotes smut.

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Sniper!OFC Audrey 'Moose' Goddard. POC OFC. No age gap.

Rating: Explicit 18+ / Minors DNI

Chapter 1 : There was Bogotá That One Time * Chapter 2 : Not So Much 'Squeezing' as 'Crushing' Chapter 3 : The Laughter of Damned Things * Chapter 4: His Other Nickname * Chapter 5: 'That Your Husband?' * Chapter 6: If You're Both Lying to Me, I Swear * Chapter 7: Apologize to Housekeeping * Chapter 8: Benadryl * Chapter 9: Memorize it. Destroy it. Chapter 10: Read the Last Page Chapter 11: What Happens in the After * *NEW 7/7*

Extras

Art Commissions from the lovely @kenobiwanx : An Embrace and Frankie and Aud in Jamaica Chapter 8 Moodboard Chapter 9 Moodboard Chapter 11 Moodboard Writing Playlist

Margay Universe One-Shots

Down, Boy * - Frankie Morales x OFC Audrey Goddard The boys end up at a dive bar on Frankie’s birthday. Snipers are good at pool. Frankie’s not gonna be able to wait until they make it home. Can be read as a standalone.

Margay-Adjacent One Shots - Written about Frankie x Audrey but flipped to reader perspective. Can be read as stand-alones.

Dominica * He’s like this sometimes. When his demons curl their talon-tipped fingers into the back of his skull. That’s when he replaces them with yours. Barbados * You've been carrying on with whatever this is for months, pushing and pulling, until one night Frankie wants control.

Author Masterlist

Thank you so much for reading.

[finisnihil]

i dont engage with the hsr fandom much outside of fanart/fanfic, so its always fascinating to see you respond to bad takes. i always feel like im in a little boat, seeing the shadow of some terrible beast pass under me. youre fighting battles i never couldve imagined

(this is re: your ruan mei tags in that post about "bad mother" being a female characters defining trait. it literally hadnt occured to me that you could possibly read ruan mei as a bad mother specifically. wild)

You have no idea lmao. My favorite character in Genshin is Il Dottore and my HSR favorite is Luocha. I'm in the trenches over here!

Anyways on a serious note, yeah Ruan Mei has gotten a lot of shit from the fandom for her relationship with motherhood, especially Jade fans*.

I love Jade as a character but a lot of the fans of her i've seen HATE Ruan Mei and love to drag her for being a deadbeat or a bad mother when the whole point of her arc in the 1.6 quest/event is that she doesn't want to be a mother and she's unwilling to sacrifice her career to care for her "children". She isnt heartless; she takes great pains to ensure they are cared for in her absence. Unfortunately, rejecting motherhood allows people to reduce her to just a "bad mother" and it really sucks when her character is diluted for the sake of defining her as that.

Jade is a character who is very maternal, she leans heavily into that role specifically to manipulate those under her, like Topaz. I feel like when people try to prop up Jade against Ruan Mei, they fully miss that neither women actually desire the role of mother. Jade sees people as investments and she uses maternal roles to cultivate the seeds she plants as to reap the rewards later. She's not genuine; it's all a mask. Trying to compare Ruan Mei and Jade is like comparing two oranges and saying one's an apple.

A character who is genuinely a mother and chose motherhood is Yukong. Her quest circulates around her relationship with her daughter and the circumstances that led to her chosing motherhood and her navigation of it. Even her splash art reflects this, being a depiction of a memory from when Tingyun/Fugue was a child and looked to Yukong as a mother figure, which is obviously a reciprocated sentiment since Yukong is the one who soothes Tingyun's soul and flies again to bring Fugue home.

Another female character that can be discussed in regards to motherhood is Jingliu. Jing Yuan claims they weren't close but you can tell Jingliu genuinely does care about him and even if Jing Yuan doesn't feel like they were close, she looked out for him and believed in him. Even when Jing Yuan wasn't naturally gifted with a sword she was willing to teach him and basically called those who looked down on him weak and lazy, saying they just wanted somebody naturally skilled so they could take credit for their student's success. Part of why she takes Jing Yuan on is because he reminded her of her younger self. Just looking at the age he started training under her, she did have a hand in raising him. Does this all make Jingliu a mother? Maybe. If she is a mother, though, she's a wire one.

The idea of the "wire mother" comes from a study and it basically is a mother who can provide for her children but can't offer them comfort or care beyond that. In the study, the cloth mother (can offer comfort but can't provide) was chosen over the wire mother more because the wire mother was cold and unfulfilling of emotional needs. I think that may play into why Jing Yuan felt they weren't close, that Jingliu's way of showing that care was teaching him how to survive and protect himself when people usually see care being the comfort of the cloth mother.

This is all just my thoughts though.

Sorry for the random analysis dump lmao motherhood is a big theme in the game (Mydei and his mother, Ruan Mei and her mother/her rejection of motherhood, Yukong and her daughter, Jade's use of motherhood, etc) and I got on a bit of a tangent. I'm glad you enjoy my responses to bad takes! I really am fighting for my life out here.

*Mandatory disclaimer that I dont look down on Jade fans i'm just noting what i've observed in regards to Ruan Mei discourse. If you're a Jade fan and you dont hate Ruan Mei, this isn't about you.

[acourtofthought]

If Gwyn can't handle kinky sex because of her trauma than Elain shouldn't be able to either. Elain had her body violated too, she was kidnapped and forcibly held against her will on two different occasions, one which resulted in her becoming something she once feared.

If Elain could be manipulated by someone evil / turn evil, than so could Gwyn, especially when you consider how much she worries about disappointing others. She might be so anxious at the thought that she easily misses someone trying to take advantage of her.

I've seen it on both sides, for those who aren't fans of a particular female. The outrage that "Sarah would NEVER!" when it comes to a personal favorite while turning around and saying "she totally would" when it comes to the one some hate.

It's either all or none because both females have gone through traumatic experiences, both could be considered "sheltered" through their upbringing, but personally, I think it will be none. Sarah would never limit a female characters ability to have a healthy and kinky sex life regardless of her past and I've never known her female leads to naively fall victim to someone who is a known villain or become a villain themselves.

[scoatneyhall]

Ted Lasso season 4... thoughts...

LOL so it sounds like they're definitely going to have Ted come back to coach the women's team himself as opposed to just being around a bit for whatever reason... while I know plenty of women's teams do have male managers IRL, do they like... have to? Like do they have to make that narrative choice instead of having a female coach?

And they've said the first episode is apparently going to be set and filmed in Kansas, so I assume it will be Rebecca going over there to ask him to come back?

If this is where we are going with it, I now really hope there's a significant time jump, skipping the amount of time we've missed IRL, like 3 football seasons - and that it will be set in the 25/26 football season. He left summer of 2022 and is coming back summer of 2025. I mean, for starters, they can't explain the kids aging any other way if Henry or Phoebe is a part of it. And in terms of the aim of the initial 3 season arc, it would be insane for Ted to just come back a few months after he left. Like. Okay it's fine to leave his son again? I assume in this situation Henry (and possibly Michelle) will move WITH him, because otherwise what was the point??? So we really have to be on top of the kid's age, and it has been 4 years since filming s3!

I used to really dread the idea of a time jump as I didn't want to miss Roy's journey as manager (AND THERAPY), but now it feels like it's the only way it'll work, in particular if the focus is Ted returning to handle the women. A Tedless continuation that focused on Roy should have had no time jump, but this version definitely should.

I have written before about how it is completely and utterly unreal that they don't already have a women's team, even if they were only semi pro, so I feel like if they wanted to explain the whole "starting" the women's team with some level of football realism, you could do it like, okay, they did already have the women's team and they've been playing in lower leagues, way way down, with no funding, Rupert didn't care, Rebecca didn't initially care, and Keeley's plan was about building them up now they had the resources, not starting them from scratch. And after a few seasons of serious investments and promotions they are ready for the WSL, and they need a more high profile manager? I guess???? Like the last few years have been a Welcome to Wrexham situation with 3 seasons of promotion in a row under another coach, and now that coach is leaving and Ted comes in to take them to the highest level? I GUESS.

But also like. Sorry but Ted Lasso in its former form was such a man centric show. Which I wasn't mad at! But what i mean is like Ted as a coach really seems like his most powerful quality is helping boys become non toxic men. Men's support, men accessing their emotions, men's mental health. Ted help guys to Man Good. I just don't think those same vibes will come across well when it's about him mentoring women? I don't want to see him trying to mentor women?? They deserve better?Ted works as a coach when he's helping men be good men. The women don't need his methods.Like yeah he helped Rebecca but I think that was very different. I don't need to see him being Coach Dad to a bunch of lesbians. I just don't.

But honestly I don't really care what Ted does with himself, I need that time jump to happen regarding other characters, to keep their stories something I feel good about. At this point, I really don't think Phil Dunster is doing it - Jamie may show up as a guest in one or two eps... and if it was a direct continuation, I cannot stand the idea that he left Richmond the same reason Roy became manager and Richmond entered the Champions League. I really, really don't think it would be in character for him to do that even though there would have been interest to buy him. But I could believe it if it has been a few seasons and he had a really great offer - especially if it was back to City. I could accept him being transferred after a decent time jump, but I hate the idea of making OOC choices about him to fit their availability or plot ideas. He Would Not Do That.

But if the focus is mainly Ted and the women's team, it's possible that Jamie is still there and we just don't really follow the men's team action? Brett Goldstein IS doing the show but also has many other commitments, so I am kind of assuming we won't be in the men's team dressing room or filming men's matches or doing heavy Roy plot, and Roy will only pop up for Rebecca admin scenes/Keeley personal scenes.

Because possibly the football action won't follow the men at all, as in, they won't even rebuild that old set and stuff, and mainly be in Ted's new office in the girls changing room (sigh, how many jokes about him not looking will there be) so it is possible Jamie is still very much at Richmond, and we see him a couple of times in a social capacity with Roy or Keeley, but if there is no more scenes in the men's team dressing room etc, and the plot won't in any way focus on the results of the men's season, he won't be in the background of basically every office or training scene like he was before.

The more I think about it, the more I actually think this "no men's team scenes" is probably likely regardless of who is still on the men's team - because they want to do all the work they need to do for filming matches and training and stuff, which is big and expensive, I think they'll do just the women's games - they would actually probably get roasted if they focused too much on the men after all this talk about promoting the women's game. Like we had 3 seasons of just men - even splitting season 4 into 50% men's team focus and 50% women feels kind of bad in terms of their aims about platforming women's football. So I am now betting men's team will be almost invisible, with some players popping up in incidental/social scenes.

So. It is possible that Roy pops up in a club admin way/Keeley relationship way - though I do NOT want them to get back together - and that Jamie still is there and around those characters socially but we don't do everyday team scenes. It is also possible Jamie will no longer play for Richmond.

Either way I really need that time jump. I cannot stand the idea of Ted regretting his choice and moving back immediately after all that. I cannot stand the idea of Jamie moving clubs in the same transfer window Roy is hired. I cannot stand the idea of pretending the Henry actor hasn't aged 4 years or the idea of recasting Phoebe. I am furious that they feel JSuds was integral to the show as an actor and that it still needs to focus on him cominh back and coaching. He could have just written it and popped up as a Diamond Dogs Zoom friend a couple of times.

But if this is the way it is, they NEED a time jump. Furious to miss Roy's managerial/therapy journey, it will be insane for all the growth to happen off screen and will probably sit very weird with viewers if he comes back on screen acting significantly different, but you'd HOPE he has changed in that time and at least it would leave us a really good fanfic gap to play with, between the summer of 2022 and whenever this will be set - particularly if Jamie is gone.

All in all I feel like I'd rather they just ended with season 3 and did not do this extension of the show, especially as they seem to have lost a lot of goodwill with the audience since season 3. I personally am very wary of what kind of football realism they're going to destroy in order to "start" the women's team and am going to be on edge until it comes out in terms of "how bad they've fucked it up." That wariness also extends to off screen character choices they will make in order to explain who's no longer around. Cool sentiment to be anticipating about a show I'm meant to like!

[joelmillerpascal]

Last Photo And Last Song

NO CHEATING: You’re starring in a movie with the last person saved in your camera roll and the last song you listened to is the title. Who/what is it?

Line from the song would be the plot for the movie: A thin line between insanity and true love. 🖤

Tagged by @jazzy96scorpio

Lay All You Love On Me

Pairing: singer/actors Pedro x female reader (AU)

Summary: You and Pedro are asked to do a specific scene for a movie you are in. Days before your characters are married...

Light, soft warnings: age gap (35/ 49), praise kink, daddy kink, soft pedro, flirting, soft fluff, use of names (sweetheart, mi amor).

Idk anything about how movies are shot (this is my first tag challenge, but I'm gonna try my best).

wc: 968

(This is from the movie Mamma Mia. It's one of my favourites, especially the beach scene to this song). I hope you enjoy this and let me know in the comments below

*Director*

"Okay we are probably 20 minutes of daylight left, we need this scene filmed" he says. He faces you "So you will come up from around the rocks shouting for Pedro and so on" he shows where to come up from

"Pedro, when you hear her shout you, that's when you come up. You both will say your pieces, and then we will cut before we begin Pedro part with the sound of music. Sound good?" he says. You both nod

"Places people"

"ACTION! "

"Pedro!" You shout, stepping from around the rocks

"Where have you been?" Pedro says, walking towards you. "People have been arriving all afternoon, no one's seen you," he says as he stops in front of you

You stop in front of Pedro soft gasps. "I know. I'm sorry, I was around the island I just -" you let a breath go, "I just lost track of time," you pause for a moment, look down at his hands carrying a pair of boots and a some bag. "Where are you going?" You ask him

"It's my bach boys," Pedro says. He begins to take steps backwards while saying, "My last night of freedom",

you let out a soft laugh as he continues

"Which is how some people might see it" he comes walking back to you with a cigar, "but for me"

Pedro comes close to you, both hands on either side of your face, "the last night before the greatest adventure of my life" you laugh

"You know how I said I wanted to find my father -" You say before Pedro cuts you off

The beginning of the sound track starts, "So we've been through this a million times, you don’t need a father, you have a family," Pedro says, sounding annoyed.

"And you'll never leave me, right?" You say locking eyes

Pedro leans forward to say "are you kidding, you have turned my world upside" he ends walking backwards as the director cuts for his musical scene

"CUT!"

The director gets him on a medium-sized rock to begin his first verse. You begin your stare of love as you watch him sing

🎶Pedro's🎶 beginning

*he brings the cigar to his lips*

I wasn't jealous before we met

Now every man that I see is a potential threat

*he throws punching fists*

*jumps off the rock*

And I'm possessive, it isn't nice

*he looks at you and then tilts his head to the side*

You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice

*he raises his cigar towards you*

*you run around him*

"Hey!"

*he stares deeply while walking slowly towards you. Continue his next verse*

But now it isn't true

Now everything is new

*he slowly walks around you as you follow his stride*

And all I've learned

Has overturned

*you lean in as you bring your left hand to stroke his chest. Faces inch's away nearly kiss*

I beg of you

🎶Y/N🎶middle verse

*you push him back as you sing your verse*

Don't go wasting your emotion

*you are walking towards him, backing him against the medium-sized rocks*

Lay all your love on me

*you lean in almost kissing him again*

*And then you turn the other way, backing yourself again the rocks, to continue your next verse*

It was like shooting a sitting duck

*Pedro pretends to shoot you with an arrow. You pretend to be hit as you lean your head back, your body arched*

A little small talk, a smile, and baby, I was stuck

*You slowly slide your body down the rock. Pedro drops down to his knees in the sand*

*you begin to crawl to Pedro as he stands up straight on while on his knees*

I still don't know what you've done with me

A grown-up woman should never fall so easily

*you lean into him as he's leans back a little bit*

I feel a kind of fear

*he strides his fingers down your loose lock of hair*

When I don't have you near

Unsatisfied

*you continue to lean him backwards, emotion in your verse*

I skip my pride

I beg you dear

*Pedro brings his hands to your chest, passing through to flick your hair outwards*

🎶Pedro🎶 ending verse

*he slowly leans you down*

Don't go wasting your emotion

*his body hovers over you*

*you were feeling all love and desperation as you bring your hands above your head*

Lay all your love on me

*he starts to kiss you, hoping for a deep kiss when he is lifted away from you*

*you continue to watch from the rocks as Pedro and the bach boys, jump along the pier singing their verse's*

*they all fall in the water*

As the sun was close to setting, the director told Pedro to do one last scene riding around on the jet ski finishing off into the night.

You and Pedro relax at your little beach house after filming scenes at the beach.

When you first heard Pedro singing his verse's, it made you fall for him so much more, deeper and deeper. You still couldn't believe he could sing like that. You loved it so much.

"You did an amazing job today, babe. I loved the way you sing" you said, stroking his jaw while your head rests on his chest

"Thank you, sweetheart. I loved the way you sang too, " Pedro says, stroking your hair

You lean up to lock eyes with him. You both lean in to kiss, Pedro deepens the kiss like he wanted to earlier that day

"I love you so much, y/n. More then my life mi amor, " he says, breaking the kiss

"I love you too papi" you both fell sleep after the exhaustion from that day

[braskide]

How come there’s no rikku blogs. YP are covered but where’s R….. Do people not want to use the Al Bhed translator. I understand. You can just like. Put it in <these> and say ‘in Al Bhed’ after I wouldn’t judge.

Anyway to not make this a lame complaint. Fave ff10 summon and fave Yuna dressphere.

going to take this chance to shoutout @starvingtongue for their unique work on paine ( as well as my personal favorites dona, leblanc, tromell & wakka honestly! ) and how consistently they have worked on developping paine throughout all these years i've had to pleasure of being around the ff rpc. honestly, being here wouldn't be the same without their paine.

on the matter of rikku: i agree! we need rikku's! if you ask me, we need the entire x & x-2 lineup!!!!!! generally speaking, back when i started my blog, the rpc all around used to be more lively, but i understand we were all in our teens and late and whatnot, so obviously our free time ranged as time passed, and now it feels way quieter, which is a shame because all in all this is still my favorite hobby, especially coming online and seeing my mutuals post their hc's, their replies, their wishlists of plots, crossovers! i miss it all. i miss the times where there were so many crossover interactions, where there were so many fun crossover ships too, all built on plotted dynamics between the writers! it was a fun time — but circling back to your point: we do need a rikku!!!!!!!! multiple rikku's!!!!! !! hell. we even need multiple yuna's, paine's, multiple girlies from all the titles, all and everything.

if i had to pinpoint some reason as to why someone might be more hesitant to pick up on her again, it's less about the albhed translator ( which is so fun honestly! ) and more about ( in my opinion, as a consistent heroine writer djsd;dfj ) the fact that female muses are usually not as popular as other counterparts. it's been like this in every fandom i've tipped my toes in honestly, and i understand that many are openly trying to fight the stigma, but it still comes down to how much people wish to interact with you to keep your muse alive, you know? personally — my yuna muse has been with me for as long as i can remember, with or without interest from other writers just because she is very representative of me as a person growing with her ( and i've been lucky enough to have amazing writers by my side who helped me develop her further to the point where i feel she's my oc even ). but i've definitely tried my hand at other female presenting characters that seemed to die down for lack of interest for interaction, which it's obviously not entirely no one specific's fault! but it's still something the rpc's deals with, right? so pin it down in a generic way: our ff rpc is way more quiet than it used to be, it also doesn't help that some titles are waaaaaay older than others who are getting revived ( x being 25+ & x-2 being 22 today : skull : ) so not as well known to other videogames fandoms, but also the additional stigma around female presenting/aligned muses not helping!

taking this other chance to shoutout some of my favorites heroines from the ffrpc who i've had the pleasure to have on my dashboard for the past years & that i highly rec! @magitekelite's terra is such a pleasure to see everytime they make an appearance, i love love love love them. @blkmahgik , my returning lulu who i adore to see come back to her and breathe life into her character & their multi where they have an incredible ff roaster @lifebinds. @lockedfighter has put so much effort into loving tifa that i just am in awe everytime i get the chance to see them post. @asterites moon princess to my moon princess, they love love love stella, and you will too. @onegil's aerith study is just worth everything in the world. and i also want to shoutout some others that i've become mutuals with that i've not yet had the chance to interact with yet: @kuloba , @ashereign , @corderis ! i've definitely missed many mores, but please keep amazing me with all your work.

very much sorry for hijacking your post about rikku nonies fjs;asjd but i need to make it my life mission to make sure female aligned muses from ff are told that they're worth everything!! !!!!! and if someone ever was feeling inspired enough to take upon rikku again, i will fight for them to post daily because we seriouslyyyyyyy need a sunshine around here. i love rikku, she's just such an amazing all around character and her themes are so important, too. starting from al bhed's home to how it feels to also be her very individual self growing up in a world everchanging such as spira. i love and adore everything about her & her relationship with y & p. their trio is everything to me and especially to the little kid that grew up playing with them the fantastic game that is x-2.

ANYWAYSmDFJS;DJKS — my favorite x summon has to be shiva. i'm so basic : sob : but i remember how in awe i was when my brother summoned her for the first time. and the fact her stats are connected to lulu made her one of my strongest aeons too! i loved power buffing lulu djs;fjdkdsa UNTILLL YUNA TOOK OVER WITH HER BASE MAGIC STATS. : sob : my second favorite is definitely bahamut & magus sisters coming close after! dressphere for yuna definitely has to be lady luck. i love everything about the concept : the giant ass dices spawning as she does the attacks, the random factor of the attack / magic slots. ugh. x-2 dresspheres is just peak gameplay design. so fun and interactive. ten out of ten and anyone can fight me on this.

[sdv-confessions]

One thing that irritates me when people say that the female characters in the game are less developed or less interesting, is that if they were male people wouldn’t say that.

Consider the following tropes:

-Lonely artist running away to the woods from an ex trying to pave their way

-A fashionable photographer learning to be a better person

-A towns sole teacher who comes from a broken household

-Tech engineer who has a strong passion for space and works part-time as a medical professional

-Bartender who has always had a connection to the magical and “weird” aspects of life

-A rebellious gamer who just wants to break free of what their parents expect of them, and to explore the world

Just looking at them vaguely (yes I know those are incredibly dull descriptions for each) you may be able to think of a male characters in another fandom who is similar and popular. If you hadn’t known these were woman you might assume they weren’t, but as soon as you bring a name/face to each they suddenly become “underdeveloped” and “uninteresting”.

It’s not even just the bachelorettes, taking a look at a few other people in town:

-A beloved animal caretaker with a heart of gold

-A pirates lover who was abandoned on an island and now lives surrounded by the wild

-A parent whose partner is away, taking care of the house and their children

-A store owner that wishes to reconnect with an old friend

Again, you can think of other popular character who may fit these roles. Seeing people dismiss the female characters in the fandom is a thing that happens in most spheres, yeah, but that also leads to wild mischaracterizations for characters in game (I’m looking at you “making the ‘complementary��� bachelorette a bitter love rival” and “this woman has been evil the whole time let me save you pookie”).

It doesn’t help when you look at the vague descriptions for the male bachelors, and imagine that they were women in the game:

-Lonely writer who moved away to find their inspiration again

-Town doctor whose a sweetheart but also incredibly nervous

-Lovable goof skater with a passion for music

Some would assume the same, that there are boring women with not much development.

Could the game treat their female characters better? Yes of course it can, especially since there are so few that’s story don’t revolve around men or caretaking. That is something we should acknowledge and understand. That doesn’t mean you can dismiss them :/

.

[wildm00re]

haven’t watched the flash in like 100 years but got jumpscared by someone posting westallens “we’re the flash scene” and complaining about it. the post had like thousands of likes and i just sit there for a moment confused (not really, everyone knows why they’re really mad) about what was so outrageous about that scene to begin with???

all iris is literally telling barry is that he doesn’t have to face things alone, that they will always find a way to face whatever problem/enemy that may come. she is comforting and being there for her soulmate and husband-to-be???

but no, you’ll have dumbass #1 and #2 commenting things like “ok iris you go fight the reverse flash then”, completely missing the point of the scene because their own hatred for iris is apparently much stronger than their media literacy ig

[bumblingbabooshka]

Thinking about marriage/women's rights on Vulcan Some may think that T'Pring not being allowed to divorce Spock was because he was going through the pon farr but if she were allowed to divorce him at all she probably would have done that a long time ago, confirmed by T'Pol when she's speaking with Koss, who isn't suffering from the pon farr. She says that he can choose another mate (without invoking a fight it seems: note the difference between a 'mate' and a 'challenger') and after he makes it clear that nothing she says will change his mind about marrying her, she finally threatens to declare a kal-if-fee. It's clear that Vulcan women cannot divorce/refuse to marry a man they've been betrothed to under any circumstances if A) He himself doesn't consent to ending their marriage or B) She doesn't have someone else waiting in the wings to be given to in his stead. Though, if the challenger she selects fails to win the fight, she'll have to marry her betrothed anyway unless (again) he decides he doesn't want her after the challenge. That seems like an incredibly unfair system, heavily biased towards men. SNW is an alternate universe in many obvious respects but most egregiously in that T'Pring has a lot of non-canonical agency over her relationship with Spock. It's interesting to me that Vulcan society has women in many positions of power and treats women as equal to men from what I've seen despite these laws. We don't really see Vulcans exhibiting a misogynistic attitude towards women in general but in TOS (perhaps because of its general writing style but it's still interesting to note) both Sarek and Spock take on patriarchal attitudes specifically regarding wives. Amanda says that 'of course' Sarek commands her because "he is a Vulcan and I am his wife." It's worthwhile in my eyes to note that she specifies 'wife' instead of attributing this attitude to women as a whole. Again, with TOS' writing style it wouldn't be out of place for her to say "he is a man and I am a woman." Spock, while in a pon farr induced irritation, states that it's "undignified for a woman to play servant to a man that isn't hers" - again implying that there's something specific about being a Wife in Vulcan society which is different from being a woman in general and demands subservience to a husband. This could perhaps stem from the extreme sense of ownership that Vulcan law has permitted men to have over women. A woman legally cannot point blank refuse marriage. There is no option which guarantees she won't have to marry her betrothed other than death. When T'Pau speaks of T'Pring she refers to her as being 'property' and Stonn, before being interrupted, states he's made 'the ancient claim' - we don't know what this is because he gets cut off but it's obvious they're both using the language of Vulcan law. Men are permitted true freedom to choose. If a woman wants to choose someone else to be with there is no option available to her other than the kal-if-fee which might result in the death of the one she wants to be with. And, if her lover fails, her husband can still just decide he wants to marry her and she'll be forced to. T'Pring gives two scenarios: One where Spock 'frees' her and one where he doesn't - it's still ultimately his decision which is clear when he ends the conversation with "Stonn, she is yours." This again isn't just because of the pon farr as T'Pol also goes through this. Koss can choose another mate and when the option is talked about there's no implication that this would result in any sort of fight (both by the casualness of its mention and by the fact that there's no formal word for it unlike the kal-if-fee.) Also, the fact that Koss does eventually grant T'Pol a divorce and it's all fine means that T'Pol isn't lawfully required to have another man waiting if her HUSBAND doesn't want her. It's ONLY required if SHE doesn't want her husband. Tradition must take precedence over individual desire UNLESS!!! You're a man. Then it's fine. Like, your parents might not be happy but legally you're golden.

[dreamingofthewild]

Once again, I feel the need to point out that Gale did not know the orb was the Karsite Weave, capable of destroying Mystra, until she told him in Act 3. And that was after she had already ordered him to kill himself—only revealing the truth once he had set his sights on the Crown, which she wanted for herself.

Gale genuinely believed he was returning a lost piece of the Weave to her. He wasn’t trying to surpass her. He did it because he wanted to please her. He never felt worthy. Yes, he hoped that one day she would see him as her equal, allowing him access to the knowledge the gods kept hidden. His ambition, while misguided and reckless, was never malicious—he was not seeking to overthrow her or destroy her.

As a Chosen, Gale was already an incredibly powerful wizard, and it wasn’t his fault that he reached for something he didn’t even know existed. Mystra never warned him—she simply told him to be content. And when Gale takes the Crown (provided you’ve read the Book of Karsus), we learn that he is powerful enough to ascend to godhood. Yet, unless you pursue the Origin Evil ending, he doesn’t attempt to claim her domain—he creates his own. That is ambition, not hubris.

Gale’s ambition is not the equivalent of a man thinking he’s better than a woman, nor is it the act of someone trying to surpass a figure they have no skill in. His heartbreak is clear. He is devastated, and he is ready to obey Mystra’s order to sacrifice himself. You don’t think that if she had told him the truth from the start, he wouldn’t have begged her, pleaded with her in horror, to remove the orb and forgive him? But she only told him when he sought something she wanted. And even then, I have no doubt that had she simply asked him to give her the Crown in exchange for forgiveness, he would have done so. Instead she ordered him to die for it, and if you know what happens if he uses the orb in Act 2, you know that his death achieves nothing at that moment apart from her getting the crown.

The only reason he goes after the Crown at all is because it’s his only alternative to dying at Moonrise, and it's his chance to prove himself worthy. He is desperate at this point, but his indignation remains at the God's themselves and the way they treat mortals, not just Mystra. Gale is essentially going through a crisis of faith. I think many either forget or downplay this element of Gale's relationship with Mystra. She's an Omniscient, Omnipotent being, and Gale is a mere mortal. She had/ has all the power.

There have been so many others who have portrayed this more eloquently than I, and with screenshots.

[epickiya722]

"I like yuri."

Do you? You do actually have a ship of two female characters that you like? Or you have a ship of two male characters that you yuri-fy and use them to say you like yuri ships and female characters?

[ragsandrascals]

Ann in the stage musical is not the “mom friend”

Okay no she’s the fifteen-year-old babysitter who’s been left with eight toddlers and thinks she's the mom friend-

And she is Not.

[hnnny]

Man, this Kotor fandom stuff is so easy man. Just draw Juhani and Visas literally once and you get hundreds, sometimes thousands of notes.

[varpusvaras]

God I have so many thoughts about Jade but it's 2 am and I can't put any of them into words (watch me ramble in the tags)

[sonknuxadow]

I don't understand why Sega doesn't want female Sonic villains. They either get redeemed like Merlina and Sage or are just background villains like Zeena. The closest we've had was Fiona the Fox, who was really starting to strike out on her own as a bad guy and even alluded to preparing to plot against Scourge should things go south. I don't know if we can count Surge anymore since she's kinda fallen into a grey area, but we'll see in the future.

hmm i personally wouldnt say that sage or merlina were redeemed. sage did help sonic save the world but she also made it very clear that all of her actions, good or bad, were done out of loyalty to eggman and her goal to protect him, and in both possible endings she's still with eggman after everything is over. and with merlina she was just kinda defeated and that was it. sonic didnt seem to hold any of it against her but she also didnt apologize or really do much of anything in that final scene. at least not from what i remember, correct me if im wrong.

it is true though that the few girl villains who exist in the games and idw sonic tend to be more sympathetic or morally gray while the guys are often just evil for the sake of being evil. there are exceptions to this on both sides but theres still a pattern there. and i agree we need more girl villains in general

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 6!!!