#every time I get an excuse to analyze media or characters or ships I go insane sorry

[snellyfish]

if you haven’t yet you should totally check out Dungeon Meshi! probably my 3rd favorite anime under Houseki no Kuni in 2nd and Blue Submarine No.6 in 1st (which you should also check out)

Also, what are your opinions on kirukiyo? ik you’re not super into DR anymore I was just curious

Oh YEAH it's been impossible to escape any mention of Dungeon Meshi lately especially on Xitter, I haven't got super far into it but I plan on reading the manga at some point, as I'm a huge fan of its themes and what all I've secondhand gathered from the character writing. The character designs themselves are incredibly compelling as well, despite having seen very little Kabru in episodes and nothing at all of Mithrun, I'm still like a little enamored with both of them as characters and their tropes<3 I really do hope the fandom isn't hyping up aspects that don't exist for more than a panel, tho, I've been duped before but I really do have high hopes for Dunmeshi 🤞 As it stands from what I've ACTUALLY personally consumed of the media, Chilchuck and Laios might be my favorites.... Killfuck......... Incredibly readable personalities from designs alone, something I absolutely strive for in character design, so it's awesome to see it actually done well in anime; lord knows there's too much bland same face syndrome in most animes. The first episodes were a little annoying but I often feel this way with introductory episodes, (Soul Eater flashbacks) it picked up pretty quick with its darker tones, the Red Dragon 2 parter was insane ♥️♥️♥️

Maybe one day I'll get into Houseki no Kuni, I tried back when it first came out and I was like 14-ish and didn't vibe with it, but my media literacy was absolutely ass until like. last week. /j. I also have not heard of Submarine No.6 But I shall look into it!! :D

ALSO HI :-) Despite being the world's biggest unconditional multi-shipper ever, I do genuinely think if it hadn't been for Angie I would be a much bigger Kirukiyo shipper ... They're kinda like perfect together when I think about it sometimes. HAUNTING. I wish I got more into them because their aesthetics match so well and they always seemed like the most proper, modest, and mature members of the group; quiet and analytical overseers minding their own business for the most part. I thhhink I recall Korekiyo recognizing some fun cultural stuff from her talent room before the others figured out who it belonged to, but I might be tweaking. However, Kirumi as a character I tend to see pretty concretely aroace, or at least somewhere on the ace spectrum, so I don't tend to feel too strongly about romantic ships with her-- Regardless, their potential dynamic and dialogs with each other are interesting enough that if they just spent the rest of their lives chilling drinking tea and doing chores with each other all day I think love truly could win.

[musical-chick-13]

What the hell is up with the female character discourse?

I DON'T KNOW!!!!!

The thing is. Yeah, there are some male characters who are genuinely reprehensible (or even, I would argue, not that complicated or not written with a whole lot of nuance), who do have a sizable hatedom. But I can go into any general fandom space, and I can guarantee there will be at LEAST a few people who like them and think well of them.

I do NOT have that guarantee with female characters.

I'm not going to say, "It's never been this bad!" because. It's always been bad. People have been throwing around accusations of "Mary Sue" or "1-dimensional bitch" or "Irredeemable monster" for any female character with half a flaw since before I've been alive. My first fandom experiences, even before any of us really knew what fandom was, were riddled with a vitriolic hatred of the women in the media we talked about. Genuinely sometimes it feels like there is no sin more unforgivable in fandom than liking a female character who doesn't fit into a box. (And there are, despite what people love to claim, plenty of those. Also, people love to claim depth in male characters where it isn't meant to exist, so AGAIN, don't give me the "The women just aren't well-written enough for me to care about them" excuse.)

People go out of their way to Not Be Normal about women sometimes. Or, at the very least, to not view them as worthy of caring about or paying attention to. "Girlboss (positive)" with no elaboration. "Oh, sure, I care about this character but only because she's likable and palatable and 'normal' (whatever the fuck that word actually means)." "I like her a lot!" <-will never talk about or analyze her despite doing that 5 million times for a comparable male character. Treating actresses (actual!! real life!!!! people!!!!!!!!) like shit because their characters "get in the way" of a popular ship (either a m/m one or a m/f one). Derailing every earnest conversation you try to have about a fictional construct who doesn't exist with all the uncomfortable, violent ways they personally would like to murder her, and just had to tell everyone about it. Toxic yaoi is fine and beautiful and narratively deep, but as soon as any complex or unhealthy ship with a woman is involved, we need to clutch our proverbial pearls and talk about how people are illiterate and brainpoisoned and going to ruin society. It's not even the fact that people are weird about female characters, it's the fact that it's this egregious, all the time. It is a fight to simply discuss a fictional character in peace, all. the. time. And I KNOW I'm not saying anything I haven't said before, I am just SO TIRED.

The answer to "what the hell is up with this discourse" is "misogyny," but. I think we all knew that.

[anongalactic]

As I've been getting back into Black Butler after all these years, I have noticed something among the wider fan base (and among modern fan culture as a whole).

Warning, im talking about yee old anime fujoshis and sebaciel. Both these things are very bad and I will be talking about that.

The anime and the early manga (cannot speak for the manga as a whole as I have not read it all), is rife with weird fujoshi-bait fanservice moments. This is an UNDENIABLE fact. Yet I have seen so many people deny its existence outright; particularly in comments on youtube videos, tiktoks, instagram posts, etc., where people will outright say that there's nothing to have ever given people the idea to ship characters like Sebastian and Ciel together. Which is just,, flat out wrong?? Admitting it exists because you have eyes and can see does not mean you condone it or are some weirdo. Scenes like that and every other eyebrow raise kinda moment we're included for a reason, that reason being appealing to fans of that kinda content. It's a definite flaw of, at the very least, early Black Butler. Denying the existence of these scenes does not mean people who are skeeved out by it/want to address it are somehow the bad guys here.

There's a similar issue among villain characters in media as well. Just because a character, written as a villain and clearly shown to be in the wrong, does something morally fucked up, does NOT mean the writer nor the fans condone that behavior. There's a difference between romanticizing or trying to act like a characters actions are okay vs. when its clearly a villain doing villainous things. On the fandom end, there's a difference between analyzing a characters actions and condoning them. My favorite character of all time is Dio from jjba, that doesn't mean I condone all the bad shit he's done, in fact I love to discuss his motivations and actions because he has a lot of depth. Does that mean I think any of what he's done is okay? Absolutely fucking not, obviously.

It's basic critical thinking skills and media literacy that seem to be lacking amongst some fandom spaces today, and I've been seeing it more and more. But don't use this as an excuse to bully newer people in fandom, stfu we've all been there before. Just as I was a preteen kid watching Black Butler in 280p on Youtube, there are also new kids on the block when it comes to anime. The issue arises when it's people who HAVE been around the block, or are grown ass adults, trying to act like every interaction Sebastian and Ciel have had ever is completely innocent and lacked any kind of ulterior motive. Try to show someone the corset scene and tell them that there's absolutely nothing weird going on there. Yes it was a joke scene, but what was the intent?? fujobait. fanservice. THATS the joke, the joke is FOR those audiences. And yet there is so many people just flat out saying that interpreting these scenes for what it was intended to be, fujoshi bait, and pointing out how weird it is, are wrong. They're saying that only weirdos would be able to see it at all, like its a reach to say that the gross fanservice scenes are, in fact, gross fanservice.

Before I conclude this rant I'd also like to point out that there are some series that I believe are indefensible with its questionable-at-best content, and i don't think Black Butler is one of those. Black Butler actually has a plot outside of the fanservice moments, and from what I've heard about the rest of the manga, those moments are now few and far between. It's when a series has little to no plot, or a lack thereof, aside from the gross stuff that being a fan of it is inexcusable.

This is getting long but i assume you get the gist at this point. Acknowledging that something problematic is present in a series does not mean you condone it, nor is it bad for people to recognise the issues in the first place. You can address a series' flaws, it doesn't mean that you are weird for seeing those flaws in the first place. Rant over.

[tamelee]

Out of curiosity, because I truly think that SasuNaru makes the most sense, but like I don't usually think about ships too much (UNLESS ITS HASHIMADA THAT IS MY OTP)... But NGL, With the moon movie, I thought it was kind of cute. Was it reaching tho try and make the ending of them two together to make sense? Yeah, but I still think it's cute.

So what I was going to ask was, how you feel about poly relationship of Sasu-Naru-Hina? I mean Sasuke is gone most of the time anyways and Naruto and Hinata have cute moments once in a while in Boruto. Of course they still also write Naruto and Sasuke having intimate moments too. Idk I think Naruto deserves the extra love (not saying you don't).

This is just a pure curious question, you have every right to ship what you want to ship but I just wondered if this is an angle you've ever thought about?

Hi @supervaca !! 💕💕

HashiMada I can get behind :3♡

Ooohh Sasu-Naru-Hina? 

You catch me off-guard with that one, in a good way!

No, never considered it and I would’ve never done that myself, because.. well.. Hinata, but if I would put aside my dislike for her (I’m trying) and truly, honestly give it some thought.. let me see. 

‘The Last’ is genuinely a big mess jammed with excuses to make Naruto seem like less of a character than he has become for the sole purpose of making him look like a giant idiot that didn’t understand his entire development. His own development. 

Only so that the characters around him, including Hinata can say “you don’t understand, Naruto, you big dumb idiot, but now we have to tell you verbally or through a plot-hole Genjutsu- so what are you gonna do about it? Hurt sweet little Hinata’s feelings? You would never, right?”

Only for him, a character that was always emotionally driven, look miserable as hell and give in. To tell Hinata he loves her in the most emotion-less way I’ve ever seen in media. 

To be more happy about having a bowl of noodles or Sasuke in front of him than supposedly the girl people tell him he loves after an entire story.

I… don’t think any of it is ‘cute’ tbh. 

Yesterday I rewatched his fight with Gaara.. I mean just look at little Naruto expressing how he feels and analyzing Gaara on an emotional level just by observing him!!

"Naruto didn't know/realize-" is just a poor excuse.

Most of what we see in ‘Boruto’ is filler. Trying to compensate for the lack of true character development, or worse, the character destruction that occurred previously I can’t find cute either. I can’t look past it. For me, it’s already ruined. 

Sakura loves the idea of Sasuke, but she can’t force the true Sasuke to love her back.

Hinata loves a version of Naruto seen from a distance, but she can’t force the true Naruto, the Naruto she didn’t only believe in for his surface-level goals, to love her back.

They don’t even really know the man they supposedly love so much. They never truly emotionally bonded before they all of a sudden were in a rel- oh oop- and there are babies. 

Compared to Naruto and Sasuke.. that love is just not the same. 

I don’t think it has much to do with Naruto "deserving" love. They all do, but when Sasuke acknowledged Naruto he made it known to Naruto. It had an impact on Naruto’s life. Sasuke and Hinata both knew Naruto’s pain of living in solitude. Naruto ignored Hinata’s heartfelt words, but was willing to die together with Sasuke knowing his heart. Aware that Sasuke knew his. Sasuke made Naruto feel happy, it drove him forward.. seeing Sasuke bear his burdens, seeing the person that truly accepted him as “Naruto”- made him feel ‘pain’ too.

Who the hell is Hinata?

‘The Last’ is a joke. 

And now Naruto avoids her, but would take any chance he can get to meet up with Sasuke?

Hinata seems like a woman who has everything handled at home which fits the ‘waifu’-image she has.. that’s about it. 

Sasuke absolutely wants nothing to do with her on even a friendly basis. It's a hello-I'm-being-polite-to-you-basis.

Sasuke and Naruto don’t even talk about their families on their restaurant dates. Naruto didn’t know Sarada hadn’t seen her father once and Sasuke met Boruto for the first time before the Chunin Exam and asked for his name.. 

Sasuke and Hinata is a big no. I’m even surprised he knows her name.

Naruto and Hinata is very one-sided. 

I don’t like Hinata at all and that is me expressing that very lightly, but doesn’t she “deserve” love too? 

Does Naruto even know Hinata as a person truly? That’s another question to me. We never get answers for that either. 

Does her brain only consist of “Naruto-kun”? Is that what Naruto “deserves”? Such shallow “love”?

If Hinata pushes Naruto away (which would never happen), Naruto wouldn’t even notice, but when Sasuke did, Naruto only fought his hardest, against all odds/law/world to get closer to his heart. 

Sasu-Naru-Hina.

That’s not for me 😅, but! I like thinking about new things, this is a first O.o! Do you ever think about Sasu-Naru-Saku as well? Not that I do..

[mariaiscrafting]

no, you know what, I’m going to stop vague’ing on the dash. my anger is about to get extremely direct and enraged, so fair warning, but I don’t care about anyone’s comfort right now. I’m going to get fucking mad, and you all will fucking deal.

not a single one of us has the right, or should even have the option, to guess about ccs’ sexualities. I’ve kept my mouth shut when it comes to people analyzing george/dream and guessing they’re some kind of queer, but I’m fucking done. I’m going to go into every single reason “truthing” about ccs’ sexualities is just so beyond fucked.

first of all, this is in response specifically to ranboo and tubbo truthing. being a kid and getting thrown into such a massive spotlight, where you will undoubtedly be subject to some fuck shit eventually because the internet is full of thousands upon thousands of people, is already terrifying and anxiety-inducing and damaging enough. but for their own audiencemembers - their own supposed fucking “fans” - to take it one step further and speculate about their sexualities? oh, for the love of god. I can barely believe I even have to explain how fucked that is. it is one thing to be friends with or close to someone in real life and recognize your own queer struggle in them, to approach them with sympathy and support in case they are questioning. it is another thing entirely to speculate about the sexuality of someone you don’t even know, and to then take it a step further and “truth” about your fucking theories. you are not an expert, you are not their friend, and you are not a fucking oracle. you can guess all you want about a cc’s sexuality, you can comment on how their actions or behaviors or words resonate with you when you were questioning or closeted, but to go ahead and take your own speculation as truth is arrogant, presumptous, and damaging as all hell. 

I can just imagine what it would’ve been like if I’d grown an online platform that ripped me of my privacy when I was a teenager and trying to figure out my own sexuality. if I had a section of my audience analyzing my every social media post, the inflection in my voice and the nature of my laughs, my every interaction with my best friend, you know what I would’ve done? retreated so far into the closet that I would probably have tricked myself into thinking I was heterosexual. I would’ve been so fucking terrified and felt so stripped of any privacy or control I had over my own goddamn thoughts; do you understand how fucking vile that is? have none of you ever been terrified of giving away your own sexuality through your mannerisms and facial expressions and words, while you were closeted? have none of you ever experienced that utter fucking terror when you notice someone start to question your sexuality, the immediate urge to retreat and back up and act and believe the complete opposite just to prove them wrong and go back to the safety and security of them believing you were straight? for fuck’s sake, now imagine that feeling amplified a hundred fold, applied not just to one instance or one person in your life, but to thousands. do y’all not understand just how a) morally fucked it is to inflict this same kind of practice onto someone you supposedly care about and support, and b) potentially psychologically damaging this could be to ccs who are closeted, especially the fucking minors? oh my fucking god.

that isn’t even to point out why people do this shit - which is to project and find solace and derive some kind of enjoyment out of cc’s. that’s what cc’s are there for; they are entertainers, first and foremost, which continues outside of streams and bleeds into fandom culture and the kind of enjoyment fans can make out of interacting with other fans and creating their own fan content. the problem with this fact is that fans take it too far, like 85% of the time. cc’s aren’t just there for our own enjoyment. they are fucking people, oh my lord. they are real people that we will never know, and while we may have our fun with our little theories and talking to other fans and making and watching cute compilations and writing fanfiction and making fanart, we are just deriving entertainment from the parts of themselves they choose to show us. that persona they put on for the stream, that is not 100% them. they are real, rounded, 3-d, full people who we only ever get the privilege of witnessing a small sliver of. and we need to fucking remember that, because we can’t just keep running with the ideas of ccs that we have in our heads and treating them like they’re malleable characters for our own entertainment. 

anyways, specifically about truthing (and mind you, this is the point in the rant where a little of my anger starts to seep out because I’m tired and it’s 1:40 AM and I have class tomorrow): there’s so many things that can be said about gaydar. I’m not here to argue whether or not it exists, or the details of the morality of straight versus non-straight people engaging in the practice of truthing. I’m just here to say that, even if you believe gaydar exists and can be accurate when employed by non-straight people, that still only applies to people you fucking know. what you see of a cc is not “getting to know” them. what you are seeing is one face of a multi-faceted jewel, cut in far more ways that you can ever hope to one day perceive. your theories are just those - theories. whatever you might think of the giggles you heard or the pickup lines you saw uttered or the softness you imagine between x and y, human interaction is far too complex and laced with meaning for some rando on the internet who watches youtube videos and twitch streams to fully grasp from two entertainers working from behind a screen. your gaydar is not going to fucking work through a screen, fuck off with that shit.

another thing that’s fucking bothering me so much is this assumption that comes with being at all open about queerness when you yourself are not queer. ik this is just one of the many factors “truthers” use to justify the findings of their totally infallible, prophetic gaydar, but it’s a factor nonetheless, and it bothers the fuck outta me. someone being willing to express support for lgbt people or donate to lgbt chairities or open to conversations with other lgbt people about lgbt endeavors is not evidence of queerness. to say that it is contributes to the harmful belief that cishets still have that they cannot be any of those things - that is, exceedingly open about and to queerness - without being perceived as queer themselves. 

anyways, and now we are at the bottom line, which is that, this entire conversation wouldn’t even have to be had if people just fucking listened to cc boundaries. ranboo and tubbo do not like being shipped. it is that fucking simple. i know that it is tempting to ship two people you think are cute together. i know it is tempting to indulge in a dynamic you find comforting. but idgaf. temptation is not an excuse. find some fictional characters to ship, and kindly fuck off.

[whendidyou-leaveheaven]

on the idea of exploiting your own sexuality...

I feel the the terrible need to unpack the whole Anthony Mackie comment and the way I see people treating it.

This is why I wish people would stop asking actors about fandom’s response. I don’t care what the actors think of gay people shipping them, and the actors shouldn’t really have to be presented with loaded questions about that anyway, because they are always going to be damned if they agree and damned if they don’t. And it’s different when you have someone who is creating the content they put out directly like say, Neil Gaiman, who is great about open conversation with fans, he makes a thing and someone messages him and asks what he thinks about the sexuality of a character in said thing and he can fully, with authority, tell people his take on it or tell them it is up to them to see it however they want.

Actors don’t write their characters. They interpret them and play them the way they are usually directed to, and yes sometimes they have more say in the development of characters than other times. Do I think Castiel would have dropped that “I love you” if not for Misha Collins? Absolutely not. Do I think the directors would have let Jensen say it back if he wanted to? Absolutely not.

Anthony Mackie is what I sort of consider old school good natured, like he means well and obviously isn’t trying to tear down queer people but he also hasn’t analyzed things a million times over like everyone online in fandom has.

He has a point which I have considered myself, about the juxtaposition of two things: erasing toxic masculinity and allowing men to have feelings, and providing gay representation...

Can the two coexist? In some ways it does seem like a potentially bad thing when people try very hard to make a ship happen, because supposedly that would reinforce the toxic masculine idea that any sensitivity or vulnerability between men is GAY. And gay is weak and bad. And therefor when we call every male friendship gay we are propping up toxic masculinity and the idea that men cannot be too close or else.

Wow. What a fucked up dynamic right? How can you be gay and reinforce toxic masculinity at the same time?

So here’s why I don’t fully agree with this perspective though. Because,

So what!! So what if your friendship is gay? It’s actually toxic masculinity that is telling you it can’t be! And if it were fine, then it wouldn't matter. Because over half the world still believes these characters are straight and will always be straight. Hell, even I think they are straight (kinda) I just like shipping some people because it’s satisfying to me but I would never in hell go and ask uh, say Henry Cavill what he thinks of this fanfic I wrote. You know?

Male friendship has always been portrayed in media forever and even though it hasn’t been as soft and open as it is now, it exists. Whereas women in media are always pitted against one another as jealous rivals, we are moving away from that idea but historically it has been a thing that women cannot be friends because then they might challenge the status quo together basically, and then start fighting for themselves instead of over a man.

We have some gay representation now in the media but so far I don’t think that any of the canon gay rep involves characters that are all that interesting (ironically that’s not the case with f/f ships, we have a few really good ones right now) or vibe with us on the level that these other characters we love do. So of course those are the ones we end up shipping.

I’m already getting long winded so to wrap this up, my point is: yes Anthony is correct, and yes he is also wrong. He’s a good captain america and I don’t think this is some excuse to say “steve is the real one cuz anthony said we shouldn’t ship it.”

Is projecting gay iconology onto too many close male friendships actually hurting gay people and keeping them from having their own representation?

Eeeeehhh,

we have been doing that since Achilles and Patroclus existed and even then you had people on both sides of the story still saying there was no way they could be lovers when it was explicitly stated. If it were female characters we were discussing would we say the same thing- oh wait, we can’t because we have already sexualized women together in literally any scenario (just look at any fashion magazine before 2010, why are these women in a perfume ad naked together??). The world is changing, we do have more diverse representation than ever before, and toxic masculinity (I am referring specifically to the Hollywood-centric production part of the world, not necessarily on a global scale) is dissolving at it’s root, however slowly. It is no more homophobic to say two male friends might love each other in a gay way than it is to say two male friends love each other in a platonic way. The two are not mutually exclusive.They are gay and they aren’t gay are actually two concepts that can exist at once without hurting anyone.

[apriceonemotion]

Larries Are a Problem: An Essay by a Former Larrie

I spent about seven years of my life believing in theories with vague proofs, not only referring to Larry Stylinson, but plenty of other ships of real life people. Even though I was only a child and young teenager for the majority of that time, that doesn’t excuse that me and plenty of other people, some older than me, were blindly believing and creating different theories about two men that didn’t know we existed. It’s fair to believe in whatever you believe in with the information that we are given in the public and I honestly do not have any hate for anyone in those years that fully believed in those theories that were created, however, there was a line being crossed that even I was blind to notice.

Before you start furiously typing at your keyboard to call me an “anti” or a “het” or even a “solo harrie” and that I’m the problem, read this in its completion. This is coming from someone that was once like you, but grew out of it and realized that things had gone a bit too far.

I think a line needs to be set into place when it comes to shipping real life people. There is a huge difference in believing that two people would look cute together and fetishizing them, analyzing every move they make, and turning every song lyric into a theory. You have to realize that these people have real lives and are real human beings, not characters from a television show that doesn’t exist in our world. The two of them have lives outside of the ones that they show publicly and it’s pretty obvious that they keep a lot of the information about their private lives, well, private. But when you skew that into hiding information from the public because they are being forced, that’s when things get out of hand. I have watched in the years that I had been a fan of this group: larries publicly harassing online (and even offline) the family members and friends of all those involved. Even now, as the Watermelon Sugar video had been released, larries bombarded livestreams of the models in the video asking if Louis had been on set, if Larry was real, and things of that nature. Not only questions, but telling family members and friends of the two horrible things, threatening some, and even making a few of them make their account private or just deleted all together (ahem, Xander). They even make them say “Larry” in livestreams in order to get a sliver of proof, which is a desperate attempt to be honest.

But worst of all is the girlfriends of both of them. I have watched Eleanor Calder grow from the moment she started dating Louis in the way beginning of One Direction being formed, but I have also sadly seen her every move, every facial feature, every body part being picked apart by larries on every platform she’s ever been on. To this day, she will innocently post a selfie of herself and I will see tweets and comments floating around saying that she doesn’t look like herself, she’s ugly, or she just simply doesn’t look good. Or that she’s trying too hard and everything she does is to cover something up, even if there is no proof of something going on. There was even a whole theory about her having a twin because she apparently looked too different in her pictures. The girl that Louis had a baby with, Brianna, is still shamed and made fun of daily, even if she is just simply posting pictures of the child they had together. They have no shame in telling women that they are ugly, that they are doing things for attention, all because they are linked to a man they think is in a secret gay relationship. 

The trend of larries bombarding the comments and replies of these girls must have a very bad effect on them. Eleanor Calder especially since she’s been with Louis for about ten years now (on and off but the harassment has definitely been consistent). (Some examples: here, here, here) They have picked apart the way that she smiles (or if she doesn’t), the way that she acts, what she wears, how she talks, and who she hangs out with. Not to mention she got literally jumped once. It’s almost borderline misogynistic the way that larries think that it’s okay to shame and make fun of women just to support their theories. Of course, not all larries, but a majority is too many. 

I have been called homophobic by larries online for the past few months whenever I speak up about me disagreeing with what they believe in, but why have they never turned the camera around and looked at themselves? A majority of larries are straight - I didn’t conduct an experiment to figure this out, it’s just that a lot that I see end up being straight - and use them being allies and their gay mutuals that also believe in Larry as their defense of them enjoying a gay ship. They’re just supporting gay people, right? Wrong. Louis has countlessly said that he is straight, no sense of homosexuality in his bones. It’s been argued that he has stereotypical characteristics of a gay man but that is legitimately just stereotyping to think that way. 

The only proof that I’ve ever been given is that he sits “like a gay man” or moves his body “like a gay man”, and that in itself is basically homophobic to think that a man doing anything feminine has to be gay. We live in a time that it’s becoming more acceptable to blur the lines of what is feminine and masculine and who can wear what - it doesn’t matter what a person defines themselves as, they can dress and do whatever they want without it being deemed feminine or masculine. So, when the only reasoning for placing a straight man as gay is the way that he walks, talks, and acts is forcing a sexuality just because of the stereotype that gay men are more feminine in those ways. 

There is no way that me not believing in two people being together is homophobic. Just because I say “Larry isn’t real”, that doesn’t mean I hate gay men? I don’t understand the logic. 

Let’s discuss the Watermelon Sugar video. This is the main thing that got me into making this post (and entire blog). The video is very sex positive - the themes of the 60s and 70s being implemented are very symbolic as that was a time of embracing sexuality. Harry’s video was very colorful, showed women in a non-fetishizing way, and was a huge thing for a lot of sapphics that watched the video. But, it was also a very attractive video, and people are allowed to believe that Harry is an attractive person and want to be with him (even if we know that it won’t happen). And because of that, a large amount of larries got angry that people even dared to thirst over Harry on Twitter. Not enjoying ‘thirst tweets’ is fine in retrospect, but many, and I mean many, larries were wishing death on anyone that did them, even calling them ‘sick in the head’, which can be incredibly offensive to people with any mental problems. They filled people’s replies with angry tweets, throwing TPWK at the end of them (as if that helps), and trying to make them feel disgusting for tweeting what they did.

 A tweet came out after the announcement video released joking about how even his walk is hot, and larries came in heavy accusing the OP of sexualizing everything he does.

These incidents don’t stop at just the video being released, it’s been going on for years. Think pieces saying “Harry has always been deemed as a womanizer his entire time of being in the spotlight, so don’t sexualize him every chance you get” come out whenever someone makes a joke about how sexy he is. They bring out the quote from Harry saying he doesn’t like being called a ‘sex symbol’ and use that against anyone that makes these ‘thirst tweets’ about him, claiming that he wouldn’t want to come back to social media because of people that do that. 

There is an entire series on Buzzfeed where celebrity men read ‘thirst tweets’ and laugh about the ones that are descriptive and strange. Every celebrity gets tweets about them being attractive and/or sexy, it’s a very normal thing for this to happen since no one expects the celebrity to ever see it. It’s basically word vomit that they post in no hopes for the person to see. 

Let’s turn the camera back to you guys now. The smutty fics, fan-art, and tweets about what you wish Larry would do together. Those are okay? It’s a double standard. Save the energy that is put on attacking harries for ‘thirst tweeting’ if you aren’t going to feel the same way when larries do the same thing. It’s even stranger when you go back to how I’ve said a lot of larries are straight. Finding it hot when gay men kiss and have sex when you’re a straight woman is fetishizing the idea of gay men and what they do in their personal and private sex lives. If you believe that men shouldn’t fetishize lesbians’ sex lives, then why do that to two men? 

When larries stop harassing other fans, family members and friends of both of them, and sending death threats to anyone that gives them a differing opinion, I’ll stop believing that they are one of the worst people on social media platforms. Harry and Louis could do anything, and there will be theories, comments, and arguments. Have you ever wondered why none of them even play with any of your ideas anymore? It has been ten years. Something should’ve happened by now, don’t you think? 

Their family members and friends shouldn’t be so sick of all of this that they get upset about it on lives, that they turn off their comments, that they don’t always feel comfortable being online. 

Again, I used to be one of them (I sincerely apologize), but I do not see how any of this behavior is okay. It’s been plaguing Twitter and Instagram for years now and I just want this to be a smack in the face that it isn’t okay to be this way. 

[mavrustheunskooled]

Why is Bare: A Pop Opera not as super popular as Dear Evan Hansen or Be More Chill? The fandom loves LGBT rep (which Bare has) and the songs are amazing and I think B:APO is actually superior to both of those. Thoughts? I mean the musical fandom tends to try to find LGBT characters even when they aren't stated, so why do you think Bare is not as popular?

this is a very interesting question and I am hopefully going to do it justice by analyzing Fandom, Musical Writing, and Many Other Things I’m Super Passionate About

the short: many factors and a lot of luck

the unnecessarily long: 

(opening disclaimer: I love dear evan hansen and be more chill, and I’m not upset that they’re popular musicals because I feel that they’re popular for a reason. anything that sounds like an insult in the following response isn’t such because I truly enjoy both of those musicals a lot) 

(another disclaimer: spoilers for bare, DEH, and BMC, also mentions of homophobia) 

on paper, bare seems like the exact sort of musical that would be popular. bare the musical (cursed as it is) has a cast of super popular actors like Barrett Wilbert Weed, Gerard Canonico, Taylor Trensch, Alice Lee, Alex Wyse, a high quality bootleg exists of the 2013 LA cast, it’s got LGBT+ rep, complex women characters… and yet it’s got a tiny fan base. Why? 

first let’s look at why dear evan hansen and be more chill are popular. I’m more well versed in bmc, so let’s look at its history (disclaimer: I’m estimating dates but this is roughly the timeline) 

the original bmc run was in 2015 I believe. they recorded a soundtrack, everything was fine, and they closed. in 2017, people began discovering the soundtrack in hoards. specifically, they were discovering one song: Michael in the bathroom. that’s even how I learned about the show- I heard that song and had to look up the rest of the soundtrack. and in February of 2019, they’ll start previews on broadway because the fandom was revived 

why this song? I think a ton of fame comes from talent, yes, but also from luck. I think bmc was lucky that Michael in the bathroom, a great song, was discovered as the great song that it is. I also think the fame came because that song is super relatable. as someone with pretty bad anxiety, that song really touched me because I’ve definitely spent parties hiding in the bathroom and avoiding everyone and wishing I was dead because I’m so overwhelmed with anxiety. it’s relatable, so people flocked to it. 

this made me pause to think “what is bare’s hook song” my first thought was a quiet night at home if we want a song in the same vein as MITB, but that song isn’t as hype as MITB (and fandoms don’t care about fem characters as much as it cares about masc characters). my next thought was are you there because I think it’s a bop and a relatable “pls someone help” kind of song, but I don’t know which song everyone could relate to as much as everyone could relate to MITB 

and speaking of relatable content- that’s where the DEH connection comes in. dear evan hansen is similarly relatable, although it takes that to an extreme given what Evan does as a result of his anxiety. Michael and Evan are relatable characters, even if you don’t condone everything they do (and if you condone everything Evan does, we have much to talk about)

but doesn’t bare have relatable characters?? absolutely !! there’s Peter, a closeted gay kid who wants to come out, and Jason, someone who acts tough but is secretly very insecure, and Nadia, with her body image issues, and Ivy, who people won’t take seriously because they’ve decided they already know her, and so many other complex characters. so why are they left behind? 

let’s look at bare’s history: 

bare was originally written in the 90s (I want to say 1999, but I could be wrong) the performance most people consider the quintessential bare performance was in 2004 with Michael Arden, John Hill, Jenna Leigh Green, etc. 

if you compare this to DEH and BMC, the first issue is clear. DEH was hugely popular around 2016. BMC began to grow in popularity in 2017. these are very, very new shows. 20 years doesn’t sound like a lot, but in our current age where time seems to pass so quickly which each new fad, bare seems like an older musical, and a lot of people aren’t the biggest fan of older musicals. and they don’t have to be !! but it’s a personal preference of some people that could affect how they view bare as a potential musical to be a fan of 

in terms of the music of bare, it’s definitely catchy, but it’s not like a pop song. (again, no shade at DEH and BMC because those aren’t jukebox musicals or anything). bare is simply not as easy to listen to as DEH and BMC are in my opinion (and it’s not the most complicated thing ever either, but holy cow its lyrics are smart and I have to throw that in here) 

now let’s look at reasons why people may not want to watch bare. while it is great that it has canon gay characters, compelling women characters, and is very cleverly written it also has issues that can be turn-offs to people. this includes: 

-bury your gays

-gay-guy-cheats-on-boyfriend-with-girl trope 

-gay-guy-gets-outed trope 

-and potentially other homophobic tropes

I’m not shaming bare for perpetuating these tropes because it was written 20 years ago, and lgbt+ people are allowed to enjoy media in spite of its perpetuation of negative tropes, but for some people these things are enough to turn them away. and I don’t blame them! I watched bare the musical before I watched bare a pop opera, and when Jason I died I closed out of YouTube without finishing the show because I was so Sick of bury your gays. 

I am aware that there are reasons Jason died at the end of bare (they’re making a statement about how homophobia kills, particularly how homophobic religious people can have an awful affect on young religious gay people), but there comes a time when “reasons for a gay character to die” is just too much. sometimes, you just want the gay character to live, and I completely respect that notion because I felt the exact same way when I watched bare the musical. I remember when I first watched bare the musical I wrote a thread about how as a Romeo and Juliet adaptation, bare follows some things closely (like death at the end) while avoiding other extremes (Romeo running off to another country) and I thus felt the death was unnecessary. if someone else feels similarly about being sick of gay characters dying, they have every right to not want to watch bare 

that’s enough on why someone might not want to watch bare. let’s get back to bare vs DEH and BMC 

I also think a big aspect of fandoms is shipping. the fetishization of MLM (and consequently ignoring fem characters completely, along with focusing solely on white men for their shipping and ignoring men of color) is a huge problem in fandoms that I could talk about forever, but for the sake of this response, I’ll keep it a bit shorter 

DEH and BMC profit heavily off of shipping in terms of gaining popularity. people love Evan x Connor (and other ships but that’s the main one I see), and people love Jeremy x Michael (and others). so why then do people not care about bare, a show with a canon relationship between 2 basic white men, which is their ultimate goal? 

I think people like the idea of these mlm ships more than canon content. if there’s canon, it’s harder for them to make a variety of ships because it feels like everything else has to rotate around the canon without touching it (which is where the bare fandom gets Matt x Lucas because they’re the closest they have to 2 basic men- I can write my criticism of them another time though) 

I’ve also seen posts saying that things with canon lgbt+ characters sometimes have smaller fandoms because there is no need for lgbt+ theorizing- it’s right there, and if you want lgbt+ content, watch the thing. I don’t necessarily agree with this for myself (I’ll reblog every pilgrim’s hands gifset I see) but I can definitely see how other people might think this way 

failing to hype up stuff with lgbt+ characters can have a negative impact. BMC is the prime example of how a show can be revived by its passionate fan base. if people aren’t talking about bare, it’s not going to spread like other shows do 

this is kind of all over the place but anyway- I want to talk about characters more. one thing DEH and BMC have are great, complex characters that are very easy to boil down to a fandom’s favorite stereotypes. I am absolutely not saying DEH and BMC have simple characters because I think all of them have layers; however, fandoms do love to go “this is precious cinnamon roll who can do no wrong and this is evil awful terrible irredeemable person” and it’s a bit difficult to do that with bare. 

you can say Peter is your perfect son, but he does try to force Jason out before he’s ready. you can say Ivy is the evil seductress trying to tear apart your gay babies, but I will physically fight you. there aren’t any black-and-white good or bad bare characters (except Father Flynn- hate him), which doesn’t fit in line with the way fandoms function. sweeping generalizations about the current state of society based on the internet are exhausting and bad, but we do live in an age where everything must either be perfect or evil, and you can’t do that with bare. no one “did nothing wrong uwu” and that’s what fandoms Want 

(note: they will excuse wrong actions, such as everything wrong Connor Murphy has ever done, if the character is played by a mildly attractive guy they want to ship with another mildly attractive guy) 

another point that I don’t have fully fleshed out thoughts on enough to devote too much time to is the integration of parents into the shows. in both DEH and BMC, the parents get redemption arcs. in bare, Claire does say she love Peter at the end, but she’s much less of a sympathetic character than Mr. Heere or Heidi (that’s her name right- Evan’s mom) or the Murphys. when I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to watch anything that painted parents, or adults in general, in a negative light, but maybe that’s not a universal experience 

this is getting way too long and it probably has more thought put into it than what was necessary, so I’ll try to close this quickly 

I think, first off, that DEH and BMC completely deserve the hype that they have received. they’ve got compelling stories, interesting characters, and fantastic soundtracks. I also think that luck factors heavily into them getting what they deserve. there are plenty of great shows, like bare and the boy who danced on air and spies are forever and probably more that I’m not thinking of, that have great music and characters and story that, out of sheer chance, don’t get the chance they should have been given. there is no bulleted list someone can follow and at the end they’ll be on broadway with an armful of tonys; is the luck of the draw, and bare has not been afforded that chance 

I’ll end with some reasons why anyone who happened to read this but might not be a bare fan should listen to or watch bare: 

- it is an amazingly clever show; every time I watch it or listen to it, I realize another moment of foreshadowing or a line I originally brushed off was actually very significant or there’s another recurring motif/theme in the music 

- it’s full of bops (go listen to you and I or are you there or portrait of a girl) 

- canon gay characters in a canon gay relationship 

- 3 dimensional fem characters that actively criticize stereotypes 

- it’s about a religious gay boy who grapples with his religion and his sexuality and how those two things can coexist 

- it is Very Very Good

in conclusion: bare is very good and deserves attention xx

[noxstrix]

ABOUT THE MUN.

hello. i am coyote. my pronouns are she / her and they / them. i am over 21 years old, and a full time college student. i’m a practicing pagan in the real world. i have adhd and anxiety, so i really prefer to reply to drafts selectively and with mutuals only. my classes are mon - thurs  and i tend not to reply very much on those days. because of this i’d call this blog medium activity. as of right now nisa is my only character. i believe everyone has the freedom to say whatever they want on their blogs, within reason, please do not follow me if you are someone who is easily offended.

i know my rules are long, but they are to keep everyone on the same page and to prevent any future discourse from happening on my blog or between us as writers. thank you so much for taking the time to read everything, i sincerely appreciate it !!

TRIGGERING CONTENT / TRIGGER TAGGING.

please exit the page and unfollow right now, if you are under the age of eighteen.

this blog is extremely triggering. i cannot stress this enough. blasphemy is a reoccurring theme. a lot of the content i write here explores  conspiracy theories about the biblical apocalypse, the vatican and its links to illuminati, free masonry, and the ninth circle. if you have ever been curious enough to research on these cults, then you would likely know they are linked to subject matter such as human sacrifices, sex trafficking, murder, pedophilia, etc etc. while i do not promote or condone any of this, there will be frequent mentions in my writing of these topics and i won’t be tagging them. blasphemy will also never be tagged on my blog.

images posted / reposted on this blog are sometimes graphic and contain blood, gore, or melancholy. i will not be trigger tagging anything that does not make me personally uncomfortable. this blog is mine and i can do or post whatever i want on it. however, sometimes i do feel like there’s a line that might be crossed in regards to my followers.

i will be tagging any triggering imagery as  /  horror.  if you wish to add that to your blacklist. additionally if you have any really specific, and legitimate phobias you require me to tag, don’t hesitate to message me privately. all phobias brought to my attention ( ie. spiders, eye gore ) will likely wind up under the blacklist tag   /  trigger.  i will not be tagging anything such as food, or body image.

THE CHARACTER / THEFT.

my character takes basis from biblical, luciferian, satanic, gnostic and jewish mythology. she is lilith’s reincarnation. i however, do change up some of the lore and give it my own ideas and flavors. everything about nisa and lilith, i headcanoned myself. same goes for her partner blog lucian / lucifer ( @antichrstis ). i wrote both of biographies. please do not steal any aspects of either character, or any of my lore regarding their universe, as i worked very hard on their background stories. i will post a call out, if i catch you imitating, copying, or stealing anything. this is your one and only warning.

AGE LIMITS.

because this blog is full of mature, adult content, please do not follow me if you are under the age of eighteen or you cannot maturely handle in character content like profanity, sex, horror, violence, torture, mental or physical abuse. if  either of the words sex or smut bothers you and makes you feel even a little queezy or you have an aversion to it, i definitely  do not suggest following. while i don’t smut often on this blog, it does happen, and when it does, it’s with characters whose writers are over the age of 20. sorry, i personally do not feel comfortable writing smut with muns younger than 20 years of age, i don’t care of 18 is the legal age, this is my personal preference.

additionally, i do not ship my oc against characters whose face claims are under the age of 25. i will not ship her with characters under the age of 23 ( divided by 2 + 7 rule )  that’s creepy to me. not only is nisa thirty one years old, but lilith is older than the earth’s creation. don’t even try to come up with excuses or convince me otherwise because it’s gonna get you hard blocked, you feel me?

MUN =/= MUSE.

nisa’s personal beliefs and actions, are not my own ! please keep ooc and ic separate in this regard. these are works of fiction and this is roleplay. the mun’s personality is not the muses. she’s a bit of a binch sometimes and narcissistic, but just because she is rude and mean to some characters, does not mean i, the mun, feel that way towards you ooc, or towards your character!

CHARACTERIZATION + METAGAMING.

please, please, please, read nisa/lilith’s about pages in full. like every detail, okay? because i am so, so very tired of people approaching her as the stereotypical lilith. or approaching her automatically like she’s a bitch. if you’re a bitch to her first or give her an attitude, you better believe you’re going to get a reply according to that ten fold.

nisa is in essence, a fallen angel / demon, and the creator of witches and supernatural monstrosities, reincarnated. lilith is sometimes interpreted in biblical prophecy as the anti-christ’s partner in crime, which means only god can kill her. you can throw holy water at her, you can torture her, decapitate her, but your character can’t get rid of her.

she is true immortal. if you are going to pick a fight with her, pick your battle wisely, because she will not hesitate to use her magic or destroy your character to make a point. i do not hold her characterization back for any reason, so when you find yours flying across the room or pinned on a ceiling, don’t be surprised.

also bear in mind she has the ability to see people’s pasts and future, to pick up on their emotions, insecurities, and decipher personal things about them. i always read character’s backgrounds first to get an idea, and sometimes dig through headcanons pages for some juice. unless your character is a witch or supernatural being who has taken precautions spiritually or magically to block anyone from doing so at any given time,  don’t be surprised if this happens. i analyze your subtext as well, so anything your character is feeling or any vibes they’re giving off may or may not additionally not be picked up on.

if you read this and you’re thinking “lol overpowered, mary sue,” don’t follow me. it’s that simple. all of the powerful / evil characters you hate to love on television are mary sues when you strip away the lime light media.  i suggest taking a look in the mirror and getting off your high horse when it comes to your attitude towards original characters, kay? awesome.

GOD MODDING.

ah yes, god modding. please don’t do it to my character unless discussed first, or unless you are sending me a starter! starters are the only situation i let people gently god mod in, because i know it can be difficult writing threads out of thin air.

do not undermine evil or magically powerful characters. i think most of us have been around the rpc long enough to have seen the psa going around on tumblr about this. it’s truly frustrating, when you have someone’s human character or any being capable of dying, repetitively poking a villain with a sharp stick, and then getting all butt-hurt when the other person replies accordingly with negative consequences for their muse.

because my character is an immortal, with nearly all magical abilities, i am going to be honest with you. if your character does anything threatening towards nisa/lilith, or anything which might provoke her to harm yours, i will god mode in my reply. again, pick your battles wisely. this only happens if your character does something to deserve it. there will be no ’ attempts made ’ because  if they are human, she can literally begin choking them from across the room, melting their brain, breaking their bones, setting them on fire, or instantly kill them with a tap on their shoulder, if she chooses.

if your character is supernaturally based and has magical powers, etc, i will message you first and give you a heads up so we can discuss how we want their fight to end and which direction to go in. every attack on your supernatural character will be attempted. in counter, if your character wants to engage in a magical battle or some sort of violent fight with mine, i hope you will respect me the same way and message me before hand.

ENGAGING / INTERACTING WITH MY CHARACTER.

this blog is mutuals only! if i don’t follow you please do not send me random memes, or anything unprompted. also please do not like any of my starter calls or reply to my open starters. if i don’t follow you back, please don’t feel bad! it is most likely because i don’t see her interacting with your character, you post too much ooc, or i already follow too many of a certain muse. i am ocd about what is on my dash. i have adhd so a fast and clustered or disorganized dash does give me anxiety!

with that out of the way, any mutuals, whether we have or haven’t interacted, are always welcome to send nisa/lilith random starters, dialogue one liners, crack, memes, headcanon questions, etc. there is no limit as to how you can interact with me or how you want to. if you feel like interacting with nisa, feel confident that you can just do it and don’t hesitate !!!!! none of you will or could ever annoy me tbh.

SOFT / HARD BLOCKING / UNFOLLOWING.

this blog practices both soft blocking and hard blocking. if i soft block you and you try re-following, i hard block. i do this to protect myself, and to protect my creative freedom on my blog. i don’t owe anyone an explanation. if i see frequent call outs, callout reblogs, vague posts, or negativity on your blog, i will not hesitate to block you as i see fit. please keep your ooc political views off my dash. i really don’t give a shit, since i’m here to roleplay.  

if you think i might have unfollowed you on accident  ( bc lets be real the mobile app is really trash and my thumbs are clumsy ) please unfollow and then refollow me to alert me of my mistake. my tumblr msgs are currently for mutuals only, so that’s the easiest way to get my attention.

SHIPPING / SMUT.

as far as shipping is concerned, this blog only engages in pre-plotted ships. all  pre-plotted ships will get their own verse.

nisa is a complicated character and she is demiromantic. she isn’t really a flings kind of person and i bet you’re thinking ’ lol but it’s lilith ’ and yeah, that’s true, but just because the bible  called her a whore, doesn’t mean she is one. i’d really like to point out that they gave her that image because she disobeyed adam and god, whom are both men. did i also mention that the bible and rabbinical story of lilith, was written by men?

okay, great. now, we’re on the same page. many pagan practices and religions believe that periods of celibacy are a good thing, and actually makes witches more powerful, because sexual energy is powerful. before nisa accepts her fate of being lilith’s reincarnation, she does this frequently, as well as fasts, so that her various uses of magic, or that her visions, have an amplified effect.

in contrast, sometimes celibacy gets to be too much and she needs to actually release that tension and craves companionship, so one night stands, and flings are more likely to happen over romantic ships. she is flirty by nature and sometimes touchy-feely, this does not mean, however, that she wants to engage in sexual relations with your character.

i will only write with / ship with one lucifer, and that is @antichrstis in her main verse.

if your character is feeling nisa, or you view her character as someone yours might want to romantically ship with, and you would like it to happen, please feel free to message me andwe can discuss verse arcs and details ! don’t let what was previously mentioned above deter you.

i briefly mentioned smut earlier in my rules, but this is a reminder that i will not smut with anyone under age 20 or any muses whose fcs are under age 25.

DISCORD / TUMBLR MSGS.

if we’re mutuals, message me at your leisure! if you would like my discord, it is available upon request. i am open to ooc chit - chatting and plotting. i like making friends and getting to know people, so don’t be shy!