#everyone always targets male characters for this xD

[pixelatedraindrops]

Yuma from MDA: RAINCODE is definitely my biggest whumpee candidate of choice 🌡️💊

I don't think I've ever messed with any other character this much in my life as a closeted illness whump enthusiast before... X'D

Just look at him. It's too easy... 😅 (I made all these edits)

Literally every illness whump lover has that one specific male character that they like to mess around with/torment the most. I see a lot of people focus on Voltron, Yuri on Ice, Merlin, LOTR, Marvel, BSD or even Danganronpa. But for me? I think this small amnesiac detective wins. There is just TOO MUCH bait in this game to NOT see him as physically weak and frail. (aka a perfect specimen)

RAINCODE CHAPTER 0 SPOILERS (kinda)

(the game even refers to him as such in chapter 0, hell that one moment of chapter 0 was bait enough for me along with what they said in the final deduction)

ALL OF THIS WAS BAIT GOOD GOD.

(idcifthecauseofitwassomethingelseiwillnotletthatstopme)

Also HE IS ALWAYS HOLDING HIS HEAD LIKE THIS THROGHOUT THE GAME, HELLO? 👀👀👀

Also also: Rain Code takes place in a city of RAIN.

What's that one glorious bs rule of anime?:

Stay out in the rain too long you get a 100 degree fever the next day or even later in the same day.

GOD IT'S TOO EASY

Bless Rain Code. And Bless Yuma Kokohead.

🙏🙏🙏🙏

I mostly torment him with fevers (bc its my favorite illness category and they look SO GOOD on him 🤒) but I also have sprites of him having a stuffy cold and ones where he's nauseous and post emeto.

The whole illness shebang~

Here's the post. You’re welcome 👌

He's just too much fun I'm sorry 🤷‍♀️

I’m happy I found my prime candidate after all these years…let me have this xD

[yanisdoingstuff]

I saw this reblogged by @uiolot and got inspired. Since I'm not posting much, I decided I'd answer some questions for main characters, C and Joy. WARNING VERY LONG

✨ — For Joy, I wanted it to express his upbeat demeanor, so I just googled synonyms for happiness, went through some, and it popped up in my head. Though I recently found out it's commonly used as a female name lol. It also became his mother's trait to give her children weird names with special meanings. As for C, I scrolled some male names to find one that sounded like him and shortened to one letter for ✨mystery✨.

🌼 — Joy is 16 and C is 17! Could never tell you what happened the day

🌺 — They have each other! Aside from that, C had his first “relationship” a few years ago with a toxic guy (though can you realistically not be toxic as a ~12-13 boy?), a blond cocky bastard. It kinda grew as a reference to me choosing between several looks for C. At first I wanted him to be blond, with curly hair; his ex got the 1st, Joy's human design got the 2nd. Joy also had a few crushes, even including Haru, but it never went anywhere (and thanks god, I never intended to, this man is way too old for him xd).

🍕 — Joy is probably burger with fries typa guy. Anything flavorful and colorful would be to his taste, but he's not too picky since his mom's cooking was always awful. C definitely likes meat and bread of any kind. They share love for sandwiches, soda, hard candy and pastry, especially buns from Snowdin when C tries them.

💼 — They're both high-schoolers, so nothing yet. C used to work in his father's butchery shop before the Underground, but it was less of "making a living" and more of a "one day you'll inherit my business dear son so I'm training you instead of letting you enjoy weekends properly".

🎹 — Joy travels around the Underground and draws a map of it. He sometimes watches Haru's family anime collection, reads adventure novels, listens to pop music, dances, and plays mortal combat-ish games. He also just... likes to yap. A lot. Anything to tire himself out really. C never had any hobbies because of being busy, so he just sticks around. Adventuring and exploring in general is interesting to him. They'd probably like DnD if they knew about it.

🎯 — Joy yaps and dances like a pro, hehe. C has the MC ability to solve any problem on the way. He's mostly collected, sharp, and is able to get out of most situations if time's given.

🥊 — Joy loves chatting, finding time to meet friends, seeing his elder brother a lot! His hobbies name it all. He only hates household chores, especially doing dishes, anything related to water (he can't swim) and being Haru's target during his training sessions. C likes working with people, reading books, but feels uneasy spending time with monsters except Joy. As to why... We'll see. I can't really come up with anything he'd purely hate... Like, cleaning toilets, not that's what everyone hates. Following other's orders and tasks maybe?

❤️ — Joy's best memories before the main story are related to his elder brother, Piper. They barely meet each other these days, which makes it double special. They're close since childhood, talk about everything that bothers them, watch silly movies... They can even just sleep in the same room and be happy. C's happiest memories are probably about the family farm, when he was little, played with piggies (under guidance, we all know how scary pigs can be) and didn't know where meat comes from. Since meeting Joy, the cutest moments they had were definitely added to both's lists.

✂️ — This topic is secret until the episodes come out, but let's just say they're also related to the couple's relationships. Besides, both struggle with parents a lot. Joy has arguments with mom, C hates dad, perfect match.

🧊 — Joy's is, though at first I pictured him wearing glasses on the forehead for more adventurous look, but it doesn't make sense when you're half-blind lol. His jeans were slightly different in fit. C, aside from early choices I mentioned, had changes in boots (before they were just generic boots) and pants (same... I have troubles with pants) and was gifted a lil garter belt cover for his weapons. I also got inspired by Hunter from TOH and Vaggie from HH — strong protective characters with trauma 😊 — and gave him a hooked nose.

🍀 — Joy was at least 70% self-insert. So I can say he's inspired by my own awkwardness? Also my desire to yap and the idea of comforting teen relationship. A tiny bit of any sunshine character I've seen in media (Charlie in HH, Tails in Sonic franchise, Luz in TOH, etc etc...). C is pretty generic, I admit. Insert him in any 1st person/unnamed protagonist game. Frisk heritage right here. But in looks he's heavily inspired by Manlybadasshero 'cause he's the true protagonist of every story.

🌂 — Joy is Disney channel series or teen dramedy. C is rpgmaker yandere game or PS1 horror with a sprinkle of slice of life when he's on the pacifist route.

💚 — They're both cisgender boys and gay! (Probably would be trans-inclusive, but not familiar with the concept enough to identify as such).

🙌🏻 — C is the only child. Joy has seven!

🍎 — As I mentioned, Joy quarrels with his mother a lot. He doesn't feel needed, and in his eyes, mom suddenly stopped loving him when he was little and only needs him for doing dishes from time to time. His dad is simply absent. Still technically in the family, but always stuck in his workplace, also since Joy's childhood, barely seeing his kids a few times a year. No conflict with him, but not much love either, it's neutral. C's in very bad relationship with father due to the amount of work and it's violent nature. And he's just old in general. «These damn kids» guy. As for his mommy, I'm sure they're fine. I imagine a very patient, warm woman he was sorry to leave like that.

🧠 — I love Joy's cheerful, yet awkward personality. He helps me cope, especially with my situations at home, school stuff and sexuality topics. He doesn't know anything, he's a baby!! 🥺 (he's actually a nice smart guy, as mature as an introverted 16 yo can be). As for C, he's just my ancient Undertale protagonist idea I still cherish. Also a secret for later, but... He's the “I fucked up — I fucked up more trying to improve the last fuck up — I learned and did it better from scratch” trope. He has a lot of skeletons in his closet he still thinks about and grieves over. He may turn VERY flawed at some point. And I love bad people who are truly sorry in the end.

✏️ — Not too often, but I like sketching them and writing the detailed script for episodes when I have time. Also the whole project! It will come out eventually, we all say in unison.

💎 — Definitely not Joy, he's staying. C... Who knows. He's also important, probably not. But I swear I wouldn't about every OC I've ever had before one day deciding they're not fit for my grown brain anymore and getting rid of them. So we'll see.

💀 — Not phobias, but fears in general. Joy is very much afraid of death. It's a taboo topic for most people, and in his family it's not spoken about along with many other things. Seeing someone dying or hearing about it (only including fresh cases) might be straight up traumatizing for him. They're both afraid of being left alone, for C it also means losing Joy as the story progresses.

🍩 — Lora! The new queen of the Underground. She's the main antagonist in the whole AU. There are temporary enemies too, especially for C. You'll learn more on the process.

🎓 — For a year and few months. Such a long journey, hehe.

🍥 — I was 16! It always feels weird to outgrow your characters. I'm almost afraid of losing touch, heheh.

Maybe I'll participate again with other characters I have. That's fun to ponder certain things about you children, especially while they're in development.

Ask Game for someone’s OC(s)

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

💼 - What do they do for a living?

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

🎯 -What do they do best?

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?

[seeingteacupsindragons]

hello, marr! i was wondering if you could recc any of those queer-character-shounens that you mentioned in passing? i'm sure i will probably have read some of them myself lol but i am always up for new recommendations

(also have you heard of call of the night, by any chance? that's a really fun shounen i've been enjoying recently where one of the central themes is literally the aroace spectrum [and also vampires XD])

Going to address the last question first, because it's quicker: Nope!

As for the other, I'm not going to necessarily going to "rec" them, but I'm going to mention some. Spoilers ahoy!

As for things I'm going to exclude: Any of that "super intense shonen protagonist and their best friend/rival relationship even though one or both has a canon female love interest" because that's extremely common but not what we're talking about. Sorry, Naruto, begone. And I'll also exclude things like GetBackers, because they are canonically interested in women despite being advertised, uh, like this.

I'll probably include some seinen, too, because despite seinen generally getting to cover more series and adult topics because of its older demographic, it's still a male-targeted genre and wowwwww the pin ups in the seinen manga sometimes--people assume it targets a similarly un-queer audience.

And obviously limited to stuff I can think of and know.

Let's get started!

HunterXHunter. Alluka (Killua's younger sister) is a trans girl! Everyone in the family refers to her as a boy or a son or a brother, except...Killua, who is also the only person in the family she gets along with. It's really not subtle. There's also whatever Hisoka is, but. Well. We hate Hisoka on this blog, okay?

Dr. STONE. Look, I just watched this one so I'm thinking of it, but there's basically no way Senku isn't aro ace, and this is actually a really common opinion, given that when someone said they could fall in love with him, his response was, "Please don't." Senku has zero interest in romance or sex or any of it, and just cares intensely for his friends. The aro ace community is claiming him, sorry. I know the anime hasn't covered everything, but I cannot imagine him ever getting a love interest, either. It's been repeated.

Akame ga Kill has a gay man on Night Raid. Spoiler, but everyone on Night Raid dies, so he hardly gets a happy ending, but it's not like that's unique to him.

Nabari no Ou is technically a shonen, having been published in a shonen magazine (that also published things like...well, Black Butler, so annnnnyway), and the detueragonist, Yoite, is intersex and has a...probably homosexual...relationship with the protag. It reads that way, anyway.

Luffy from One Piece is confirmed by the author to be ace, and there's a trans dude introduced lately that everyone's been arguing about, hasn't there? Yamato? (I don't like One Piece)

Soul Eater: Crona is nonbinary

Gurren Lagann: Leeron is gay, and although it's not the most tastefully handled, it's definitely canon. It's seienen or shonen, one of 'em.

Boys Run the Riot is a seinen about a trans boy

The manga adaptation of Tiger & Bunny was actually published in a seinen magazine, and *waves at self-identified okama Nathan Seymour, the most-aggressively-nonbinary-chracter*. Plus I'm not over Kotetsu's joke about how Nathan isn't his type because he's "too tall" and not any...um...gender concerns.

My Brother's Husband is published in a seinen manga, and what do you think it's about, come on here.

So anyway, yeah. There's a list to start, just from my own off-hand knowledge without really looking anything up. I'm sure there's been more scholarly and researched discussions on this.

and the point is really: YuuMori isn't unique in the existence of queer characters, queer themes, an unusually queer or female audience for shonen, or anything. While I love it, it's not the only series that's done it. It's not the first.

I saw someone say it "rewrote the rules" for queer characters in shonen earlier today, which is what that comment earlier was about. No, it didn't. I love it, but it really, truly did not. It's building on a long legacy of characters.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 3

I just love their outfits here, and since I didn’t comment on that in the last episode, I wanted to say it here. I love the whole color palette they used for Lotus Pier. The donghua goes heavy on the purple and black, but I really love how they incorporate lavender and teal and other blues. It’s just very pretty and soft and relaxing. Such a nice place. I keep having a debate with myself about where I’d rather live. I think I’d be more comfortable in the Cloud Recesses, but I’d never be able to deal with all those rules!

Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite peacock. He played this part so perfectly: just this pillar of grace and poise, except when he’s around Jiang Yanli, and he just becomes butter hahaha. I like his son a lot better than him, but he and Wei Wuxian have some great scenes together, and it’s fun to see him grow alongside everyone else. He’s not just a mindless clan member who does everything he’s supposed to. He’ll stand up and fight for justice too.

It’s easy to forget (myself included in this) that Jiang Yanli is the oldest of the three of them, especially in this show. She’s so much smaller, so soft-spoken; she isn’t going to be the next leader, because that’s Jiang Cheng, being the male heir. But this is one of those scenes where she really is the big sister. Wei Wuxian is fighting with her fiancé’s retinue, Jiang Cheng is just trying to stay out of it and be polite, so she has to step in and put an end to it. I love when Jiang Yanli gets some screen time and lines, and isn’t serving soup. Don’t get me wrong—I like seeing her take care of them, but it’s more mothering than being a big sister. I think the moments when she’s standing up for her brothers and for herself are really special. You can’t blame Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian for loving their shijie so much.

Gotta love Wei Wuxian taking every opportunity to throw some shade at Jin Zixuan. I love all of it, and I eat it up—I am the target audience for snarky Wei Wuxian. And at this point, Jin Zixuan just ignores him—good on him. He keeps that up for all of a few days.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU FORGOT THE INVITATION!

Sorry, but the first time I watched this, I wondered why there was this big close-up of something with “Lan Clan of Gusu” written on it. I’m a dummy, okay?

Omg they translated ge-ge as “buddy.”

Okay, but here we go! Shut out of the Cloud Recesses. Also, where did they change? I kept thinking they changed at the tavern, but when they left, they were wearing their same Jiang Clan clothes. So, somewhere along the way, they put on their pretty white robes. I’ve got nothing else to say here, because we’re about to see another great entrance from Lan Wangji.

I love how his entrance is accompanied by the guqin. His presence is so ethereal, so otherworldly, yet he’s so grounded as a character. He turns everyone’s heads, including Wei Wuxian’s. I love that Wang Yibo is in reality shorter than Xiao Zhan, so they gave him platform boots to make them more even. But the height and stature gives the relationship a whole different dynamic.

Anyone who knows me knows I love my yaoi/BL. I could go on and on about my favorites, but I won’t do that here. There’s one thing I don’t like about it, and it’s that you can always tell who the top and bottom is just by how they look (sometimes artists subvert this, which I love!). The donghua for MDZS does this (I haven’t read the manhua, but I have seen some screenshots, and I think it also does)—Lan Wangji is so much bigger than Wei Wuxian. And while it’s aesthetically pleasing, it just bugs me, okay? I like the idea of Wangxian being roughly the same size and height—I don’t really know why, I just do. Also I definitely headcanon them both as switches at this point.

I don’t think Lan Wangji would have given Wei Wuxian the time of day if he hadn’t heard this. He’s already impressed that Wei Wuxian picked up on the weird stuff/wicked sorcery going on—he’s made a mental note of him. I’m sure he’s a little disappointed that Wei Wuxian immediately gets on his nerves, but he still pauses before leaving.

Lan Wangji is never going to be a fast friend—he’s not going to be anyone’s best friend right away. You need to gain his trust and that does not happen overnight. Though the setting is anything but realistic, their relationship and the steps it goes through are incredibly realistic. They grow together—they grow on each other (it’s not as if Wei Wuxian really cares about Lan Wangji at first either—think of how many times he calls him a fuddy-duddy. I think his main goal for quite some time is to get on Lan Wangji’s nerves and tease him. Wei Wuxian is used to charming his way in and out of things, but he can’t do that with Lan Wangji).

Yibo’s piercings! That’s it. That’s why I took this screenshot. But, weirdly, I always look at stuff like that.

He has such a swagger here, going up the steps, but I think it’s really just Xiao Zhan trying to climb the stairs without tripping on his costume. XD

It’s funny how surprised Wei Wuxian is to have the silencing spell used on him, even though he had been put under it earlier that day. Frankly, I don’t blame Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian hit him with a bit of a sucker punch there, implying that the girls only liked him for how he looks and that they’d be disappointed by his demeanor.

It’s such a popular trope (enemies to lovers), but I don’t think that makes it inherently bad or less effective as a storytelling device. On the contrary, when done well, it can make or break a story. As I said earlier, their relationship is very realistic, yet has enough fiction to make it fun. I watch these early scenes with a big old grin on my face, and I’ve seen this one probably around four times now, maybe more (I keep watching the Special Edition for all that wangxian goodness).

Okay, let’s watch as Wei Wuxian digs his hole deeper and deeper. The look on Lan Qiren’s face this entire time is priceless. Like, who is this miscreant who just barged in here, telling me how he is breaking all the rules and expecting me to feel bad for him? Meanwhile, Lan Xichen, with a smile: I won’t blame you for breaking the rules, but let my brother who hates you decided your punishment, okay? Thanks!

Peak comedy before it gets all serious again.

She’s so gorgeous!

But I’ll be frank with you all, I don’t like that they expanded Wen Qing’s role in this way. She was one of my favorites in the book, but shoehorning her and Wen Ning into the Cloud Recesses kind of drives me nuts. And then the stuff with Jiang Cheng, while kind of cute, just doesn’t really hit right with me, and I don’t think it was executed well at all after a certain point—but I’ll babble about that when the time comes. So, while I appreciate expanding female roles, I didn’t really care for this bit in the Cloud Recesses. I would have been fine with them adding scenes of what she was up to with the Wen Clan—that would have been really cool, actually, because we don’t get to see much of anything other than the Nightless City. And maybe I’m biased because I quite enjoyed the archery contest stuff in the book that they kind of piecemealed in the show.

It sounds like I’m just whining about this show, but I actually really enjoy it.

I like this moment between the twin jades. We don’t get a ton of these and this one is particularly quiet and peaceful. The contrast between them and Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian is so stark—the twin jades are so formal and a little stiff, while the twin prides are off the wall, hitting and teasing each other—but this doesn’t make either one less caring than the other. What’s obvious from this scene is how much both of them care about each other: Lan Wangji wants to do what he can to help, because he knows how much pressure is on Xichen, and Xichen is just worried about his younger brother. Even though you don’t find this out until later, you can tell that the two boys had to grow up very fast. Neither one had much of a childhood, and I think Lan Xichen does take on a bit of a father role to Lan Wangji as well.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 |

[novelmonger]

FFVI - This is the pixel-era Final Fantasy everyone always points to as being the classic, but oddly enough I've never particularly liked it. I recognize that it was super influential and appreciate the groundbreaking things it did in terms of story and so forth. I'm also super impressed that Nobuo Uematsu basically did an opera in 16-bit. I think my main issue is that I never connected with any of the characters (of which there are many), so the conflict never really gripped me. The final boss battle is super epic and crazy, though!

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones - Actually my first Fire Emblem game! I'm not sure why, but I really really like the way Fire Emblem does turn-based tactics games even though I don't like FF Tactics. Maybe it's the incredible art and beautiful music. Maybe I just like the support conversations, even though the individual characters are often not particularly unique. The plot of Sacred Stones is also not anything new, what with a king who suddenly starts acting strangely and then oh my you don't think it might be because he's being possessed by a demon, do you??? But I really liked a lot of the characters, and especially appreciated that the two main characters were brother and sister. Sure, you can pursue romances for both of them if you want, but I liked that the male and female leads of the story were supportive and affectionate with each other without any hint of romance between them. Also Franz totally looks like Alphonse Elric.

Five Nights at Freddy's - Honestly, I'm surprised this one didn't win ^^' It's far from my favorite horror game, but I can't deny it's groundbreaking and quite effective. The horror doesn't stick with me the way some games do, probably because I don't personally have much fear of animatronics and that kind of thing. So playing this game is kind of like going on a roller coaster for me - I get a huge adrenaline rush while playing, the jumpscares do get me, but as soon as I turn it off I don't really think about it anymore. I definitely think this is one of the better games in the franchise, though. It capitalizes on the analog horror, what with the grainy video footage and flickering lights and vaguely ominous poses of the animatronics as they slowly (or quickly) make their way to you. And nothing can compare to that creeping feeling of dread when the power dies and you hear the slow plinking of that one song from Carmen as Freddy lurks outside your door, waiting to eat your face D:

Goetia - And I'm surprised anybody voted for this one at all! This is a side-scrolling adventure horror game where you play as a ghost trying to figure out why you died and what happened to your house and the village where you lived. It was an interesting challenge, but I didn't really realize what I was getting into at first. The whole thing has to do with summoning demons and then having to deal with them, so I probably wouldn't have bothered with this game if I'd known that ahead of time. I did play the whole thing, but felt a bit weird about it.

Grim Fandango - Classic adventure game! Which is funny, because it's also very different from any other adventure game I've played; you'd think there'd be more imitators. I like the humor and the Dia de los Muertos influences, as well as the noir-esque storytelling. I kept thinking back to this game the first time I saw Coco XD That being said, I liked this game but don't particularly care to play it again. It was kind of a one-and-done deal for me.

Math Blaster Ages 6-9 - Would you believe me if I told you this game gave me nightmares when I was the target age for it? XD I have to laugh at myself, looking back, because it's just a simple educational game where you have to solve math problems to chase after your robot Spot, who was taken by the evil Gelator, a slime monster who kidnaps Spot to...make himself smarter??? I forget. All I know is that this game was what taught me the formula E = mc², though I had no idea what it meant at the time :P But yes, I was terrified of Gelator, and at the age of 7 was convinced that unless I lay on my back and kept my eyes open at night, he was going to ooze through the ceiling and come get me. I would lie there, back aching and eyes stinging, longing to roll over onto my side and close my eyes, but I was too scared to :C Thankfully, we moved before my eighth birthday, and the change of location cured me of that.

Night in the Woods - Whoa, this one almost won! I'm amazed so many people even know this game exists! I was kind of disappointed in it, to be perfectly honest. It's mostly a whimsical (but dealing with deep topics) little adventure game set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, where a college dropout is trying to figure out what to do with her life and then gets embroiled in some sinister goings-on in her town. I think I just wanted it to be a different sort of story. What with how worked up Mae is getting over the mysterious happenings, I think I was expecting it to be something much less dramatic than it turned out to be, because I thought it was going to be more about how Mae would learn to appreciate her small town and the everyday pursuits of normal life, rather than seeking out adventures and giving up when she discovers "this is all there is." And like...that sort of was the point, but they also nearly died several times, so she still got her adventure. Also, I kept on getting distracted by the worldbuilding (they're anthropomorphic animals and yet there are dogs and cats and squirrels running around that act like normal animals), and was very annoyed by the wishy-washy pastor and the general anti-God sentiment with only a token rebuttal from the other side that simply made it clear the writers of the game don't actually know that much about Christianity. Ultimately, I found myself more interested in the Demontower minigame than the actual game itself (I played Demontower twice to get both endings, so clearly I have my priorities straight).

Okami - I can definitely see why this one won! What a beautiful game. I kind of wish I'd waited to get the Wii version (I played it on PS2), because the motion controls would have been super fun for all the brush strokes. But even so, it was really cool to play through a world of Japanese folklore, as a gorgeous white wolf. I often felt like it was way more wordy than it needed to be, like people would literally just say the same thing three different ways one after another, but overall it was very fun. When I took care of a white rat for a psychology class in college, I named her Ammy after Amaterasu :3

Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, Round 1.6

Welcome to the Arbitrarily-Chosen Video Game Tournament, where we will find out which of the games I've played is the best game of all time!

Why? Don't ask. Just vote and reblog!

[darklightsworld]

Hello, I remember you saying some time ago you didn't like how female characters are portrayed in (current) anime because of how annoying and, maybe, misogynistic their archetypes are. Could you maybe elaborate on this point? I feel similar but can't articulate well and always end up feeling like I'm the one being misogynistic whenever this type of subject comes up in conversation x.x Sorry if this comes up as too personal.

Sorry about the late reply, I have been busy with a conference. Also sorry, because my answer is a bit long and all over the place ^^;

This is a difficult question, especially because nowadays people like to think in black and white, and everything is so extreme, like if they don’t like something, then it must be wrong and eliminated, not to mention the policing of every content based to this – which kills diversity and dismisses personal (and gendered) preferences. What I think is really a personal preference and not exactly a general critique of female characters in anime, especially because there are many factors to consider (genre, age and gender or the target audience, cultural background, etc.), and there’s also the audience with its multiple readings.

Personally I dislike most female character types manga and anime has to give, because I’m not really a person for overly feminine and girly things. The Japanese ideal is very cutesy and it’s the standard in both media for men, women and also real life. Not just looks, there is also the behavior side of things, the cutesy, childish, girly ideal, the passivity, helplessness, pretending to be stupid, etc, and I outright hate it when female characters are treated as stupid, clumsy messes. The question is, though, is this ideal really conservative and an embodiment of the toxic patriarchal system? Actually not necessarily. They definitely originate from the oppressive system, but over the decades girls made these ideals their own, and turned them into a weapon to get what they want. Even in real life, fashion is very feminine for me, always with frills, ribbons, flitters, tons of dresses and skirts, and it’s difficult to find plain clothes without any decoration, not to mention all the cuteness in goods and stuff, but as for the behavior of girls and women, the cutesy ideal seems more like a role to be played at a certain age or for certain purposes, like getting things they want and eventually the man. A woman, who didn’t like this ideal herself defined it as “they had to play the wounded deer”. Actually women, who use this role too much and even among women, are usually hated – this is the infamous burikko.

But no matter how they were in their younger years, married women don’t use this role anymore, and they seamlessly slip into a different identity, one that rules the family and the finances with iron fist (I’m stereotyping) – nothing cutesy, helpless or stupid about that. The Japanese themselves are aware of this cutesy role, both men and women, it’s their version of cunning flirtatiousness, it’s just a very different type of flirtatiousness than in the West. For example, there is currently even a tv show enacting certain situations where this cutesy behavior is used to get the man, and the hosts rate how effective the cutesy behavior was. But while I understand intellectually that these are not necessarily misogynistic stereotypes, I have some kind of a visceral hatred for them. The above tv show makes me outright nauseous. It’s a personal preference, and I don’t think I have to like these character types. But I also don’t think they should be erased from Japanese media, and it would be a mistake trying to push my very independent Western values onto such a different culture, so I rather avoid these characters – which is not easy.

So, what does this mean for anime and manga? Both are largely determined by genres (manga more than anime), genres work with clean-cut character types, tropes, traditions and reader expectation, so there is a reason why female (and male) characters are the way they are in different genres. Male-oriented works will obviously have female characters that appeal to men even if the work doesn’t have in your face fanservice shots (though let’s face it, if it’s anime, most of them do). I don’t like these female character types, I don’t think I have to like them, they are clearly not geared toward me, but I also don’t think they shouldn’t be there in a clearly male-oriented media. Sure, there can be discussions about removing overly exploitive situations, harassment and rape or things like that, but I’m not really against letting men have their fun – because I expect to have that same freedom in media geared toward women. There are occasionally unisex anime, but usually they still serve one or the other demographic in a way, and I don’t think it’s possible to create truly unisex anime that everybody will be satisfied with – fanservice for women will always bother men, and fanservice for men will always bother women.

Shōjo manga is a more difficult question, because somewhere in the 70s romance started to focus on imperfect heroines who still got the best guy, because he loved them regardless of their imperfections (“I love you the way you are”), and since then the genre is full of the stupid, clumsy, indecisive, housewife material archetype without any dreams beyond getting the boy (or very old-school women job dreams), which does not appeal to me either, so I usually avoid most romance shōjo manga, especially the high school variant, and even most josei manga, because I don’t care for the adult version of the same with marriage as the end goal *shrug* Actually it’s not even about these things only, like, I disliked Arte too (though not shōjo manga), despite it trying (and failing) to pose as a feminist social commentary, just because the mc way annoying. Fortunately there are a lot of other types of shōjo manga as well, even with more appealing female characters or the best, without female characters (plus the whole BL scene), so it’s not all that bad, at least in manga, not so much in anime. Interestingly, I’m much more compatible with shōjo manga by fujoshi artists. If I like a shōjo manga, usually the artist ends up coming out as a fujoshi after a while by posting BL fanart on her twitter or drawing outright BL manga – it’s been a pattern XD

Anime is more difficult, but I also admit, that my tastes might be extreme. In Japan there are many female fans who love the cute female characters of male-oriented media. Many women like Love Live, for example, because the girls are, I quote, “so cuuuuuute” – while I am fighting nausea… Yeah, Japan is imbued with cute. It’s especially difficult, because I’m usually not willing to watch a series even if there are such female characters in supporting roles or as a second protagonist with male characters I would love to see (Cop Craft was a recent-ish example). And while I avoid female only casts on principle, sometimes there are surprises. For example, the Yashahime anime has terrible writing, but I don’t hate the three main female characters (even if occasionally the anime has some iffy things to say about femininity).

I also mentioned multiple readings. It is important to note that the audience does not necessarily interpret everything the same, especially if there are cultural differences. One of the most famous examples for this is Sailor Moon, which was the incarnation of girl power and emancipation in the West in the 90s, but it has the same “dumb heroine gets the dream guy” trope, and the same conservative message of getting married and giving birth to children as any average shōjo manga, and the same “so cuuuuute” packaging. It really depends on the audience what they get away with.

All in all there are preferences, genre conventions, cultural differences, so the whole thing is quite difficult. But I don’t think you need to be worried about not liking or being uncomfortable with certain character types. And it would be a stretch to consider tastes like mine, for example, misogynistic. Sure, even in real life I make a wide berth around overly girly or feminine women (among others), but it can’t be helped, you can’t like and be friends with everyone, and I guess they wouldn’t like me or wanting to be my friend either. And that’s fine, and I don’t think it’s misogynistic for me to reject certain types of femininity for myself and to interact with, as long as I don’t want to erase or invalidate them, or deem them as inferior – and I don't. Of course, this is the attitude I expect towards myself as well. Live and let live 🖖

[readerinsertfanfiction]

can i request minato x fem uzumaki reader soulmate au? both of them never meet each other for long

wait, i accidentally send that. my keyboard was error. so minato and reader never meet can

never meet each other everywhere and they give up to find

to find each other, but suddenly they meet after long time waiting and give up to finding each other. sorry if my request was cut between 3 parts, my keyboard was made me frustrated 😭😭. i’ll wait ur response xD

I got your request in four parts??? Hahahah, I will C/P them here to make it one (or try to???). I think Tumblr is acting up for you, love. I’m not sure if you wanted fluff or angst, or if I even interpreted your request correctly, but this is my attempt!

I changed reader without a specified surname. I feel that having reader be an Uzumaki female would just be a Minato x Kushina, which I’m a fan of, but not the focus of this blog. 

Fandom: Naruto

Character: Minato Namikaze

Prompt: Another soulmate AU

A soulmate is hard to discern and harder to wait for at times. With so many options and variants it was so very likely that one's soulmate wasn’t in this lifetime, or a part of their generation, or even in the world. Sometimes, the soulmate was at your side all this time, but with none ever the wiser, not even the soulmate themselves. The signs of a soulmate were hard to recognise at times, for not everyone had the obvious markers.

Minato always figured that his soulmate would come. After all, he had the most obvious marker on his finger, a little red string that went into the distance. He figured that, when time allowed it, they would find each other eventually.

Though, brilliant and patient as the man was, there was no sign of his soulmate. The string remained, invisible to anyone else, always loose, waiting for that tug. When the war started you didn’t seem to come any closer, the string still heading so far away. Beyond his own camps, beyond that of the enemies, passing by the burning villages that were sacrificed in the fight.

He grew up and he grew disillusioned with the thought of meeting you. War passed, another fight started, friends came, were lost and betrayed. Minato’s life was too uncertain to keep on waiting for you. His life was too short, too turbulent for him to really tell when the end would come and he would die alone.

And despite all his patience the man was terrified. Terrified that he wouldn’t experience life as a normal man as he waited for you, agonising that he might never have a home to call his own if he didn’t act fast. And though he covered all of that up under layers of sweet smiles and patience Minato thought of all that and decided that, perhaps patience didn’t mean forever and waiting didn’t mean stopping himself from experiencing.

Kushina’s hair was as vibrant as the red string attached to his finger. A colour he had come to deeply care for, for it symbolised the figure that was you, the person he didn’t know, the one he never met.

How cruel fate was for both you and him. Just as Minato had found his happiness, the beginnings of a family sprouting up, just like he had always wanted, there you were.

It started with a tug, the man realising that the red string had suddenly gone taut, as if you were near. Feeling his heart leap, but also horrified, the male branded himself, his weapon at the ready as he leapt over to another tree.

It was the clang of metal clashing and eyes filled with contempt that met their target. A moment of stillness, a realisation, the plunge of a high and hearts dropping down into stomachs, devoured by the acid there along with whatever feelings there may be.

Fate had no message for the tides of the world. It did not care for the conflict between two and the stage of many. Soulmates could be born ages apart, be parent and child, and they could be enemies set out to kill one another.

There was no love reserved within that reservation in one’s heart. Just acceptance of a cruel fate.

Flashing out of your way the yellow flash vanished, sparing the both of you the pain of ending a life too soon and taking the life of a supposed mate.

[teecupangel]

From @thedragonqueen1998

It would be cool if it's Altaïr seeing him and just goes 'He's besutiful... and this is a perfect chance to on his good side, but i also need his number for future contact'.

"Give me you number or else" .... 'Real smooth Altaïr, real smooth'....

Okay, but just think that this is during a very grueling mission that ends with Altaïr chasing his target to the less fortunate parts of a city so his outfit is marred by grime and he had to improvise his tactics because his target was nearing a very crowded area so there’s blood everywhere, including his clothes.

So when Desmond got there, Altaïr was still there because he has no other choice and Desmond finally realized what the additional instruction of “prepare a set of clothes for an adult male around the size of…” meant. So while Altaïr changes his clothes (and gives his previous clothes to Desmond for disposable), he observes who quick and efficient Desmond is at his work (and appreciate the eye candy even in this dimly light alley).

He decides then and there to cut off the middleman and just have Desmond be his cleaner because that would make it faster and more efficient for him.

But it’s been a long day and he still haven’t truly recovered from his jet lag so he just blurts out, “Give me your number or else.”

Desmond just stares at him and thinks…

Ah.

‘He truly is the bane of my existence.’

From @zero-saito

Omg yes to group chat!! Altair will have 3 code names, ‘the light of my life’, ‘the bane of my existence’, and ‘creepy coworker’? Lol background would be that he’s new to the job and keeps bothering/asking out desmond.

Desmond has to use ‘creepy coworker’ because he’s too embarrassed to tell the groupchat that he gave the bane of his existence his number because… well… he gave it sooooo easily. He wants to emphasize it was because Altaïr was scary. Yup, definitely because of that.

So he only said… “so… I have this coworker…” and he talks about him because he needs advice but he tries to be vague about this.

This ends up backfiring because the groupchat starts to believe that this coworker (who they know from Desmond’s hints is an operator and not a cleaner) was being… quite forward with his intentions… and the while trying to make Desmond his ‘partner’.

Of course, they can’t just say that out loud so it turns into this chat that sounds more like Desmond is being ‘courted’ by someone and a lot of them has to remind Desmond about his actual ‘partner’ (the Light of My Life) and to not be seduced by this creepy coworker (who they only call creepy because he is, in this ‘fake’ scenario, trying to seduce an already taken man).

(It would be soooo funny if Altaïr get invited into the chat for some reason, reads this and mistakes this to mean that Desmond does have a partner and… well… he was certainly trying to court Desmond. Cue “character doesn’t realize he’s being jealous of himself” setup)

From @witchofthecoffee

The group chat xD OMG that chat is great xD I think the operator after Desmond stand would put more care about how much mess he's doing to not get into Desmond's bad side :D

The operators have their own groupchat and he talks about their ‘coworker from another division’ who kicked his ass in ‘tetris’ (why do they use tetris as their codeword for their real job? Because it’s about ‘clearing blocks’… maybe XD) and everyone starts to be on a lookout for a cleaner with a scar on his lips.

Then someone goes “Are you sure it wasn’t Altaïr? Maybe he got punished and was sent to the other division for a bit? That jerk’s been annoying the higher ups for months now, after all.” since none of them have seen Altaïr clearly because he always wore hoods that conceal most of his face in shadows, just that his lips has a scar.

And Altaïr has no way to defend himself because he was not part of the cleaner groupchat (whether by choice or because they didn’t invite him is up to you) and now…

We have the perfect setup for Altaïr realizing they’re talking about Desmond and pretending that it’s him so he can get an ‘upper hand’ on gaining Desmond’s trust… or gratitude… Altaïr isn’t picky at the moment.

I've been replaying Nobodies and in the middle of the second game I thought "Hey this guy talks like Desmond!" then I thought it would be pretty funny if Desmond became a murder cleaner lol

Nobodies: Murder Cleaner is available for Android, PC (via Steam) and Apple if you want to try it. It’s a point and click game where you play as a member of a secret government organization and your job is to clean up after other members have killed the target.

So we have two option for this idea.

Option 1: Canon ‘Verse where Desmond becomes a Cleaner instead of a Bartender

In this one, the only thing we have to tweak is what Desmond’s history becomes when he left the Farm. Maybe he saw one of the Cleaners doing their job in Rapid City and the Cleaner didn’t want to kill a kid to cover his tracks so he makes Desmond his accomplice, helping him clean it up, all the while teaching him the ‘craft’. After that, Desmond tags along because the Cleaner says that’s the only way he’ll survive and maybe Desmond’s upbringing mess him up enough that he thinks this is okay. That this kind of life is actually better than the life he had back on the Farm. The Cleaner keeps a close eye on him and notices how ‘unique’ Desmond’s upbringing is. He even thinks Desmond has what it takes to actually be one of the ‘messy ones’ but Desmond preferred to clean. It feels… more distant to his life before.

We get our timeskip and Desmond is one of the best cleaners out there. His identity is ironclad because his Cleaner mentor gave him a new one and their organization made it official since they do have a bit of leeway with the government. In exchange, Desmond will be in their service which he doesn’t mind because the organization pays for everything he needs (other than the equipment and items he might actually need when it was time to clean up because having such equipment with him when he gets to the scene would be security guard bait).

At this point, the organization has an idea that Abstergo is very sus and there’s a shadowy organization that does questionable things against Abstergo most of the time. They don’t know the full story though but Desmond believes that his parents’ cult is actually an ecoterrorist group. He keeps it to himself though since he doesn’t want to be anywhere close to them.

With the backing of the organization and his more honed skills and espionage, Desmond is actually more or less a ghost even to Abstergo. They know Desmond Miles exist but they also know that he disappeared nine years ago. Desmond’s government records are all fake data but authenticated by the government itself. Hell, he even has an SSN and tax records. (Your call if he keeps his Desmond Miles name or he changes to like Desmond Miller or full on fake name like Derek Milton or something XD)

If you still want Desmond to be part of the Animus Project or to kickstart the main plot, Desmond gets caught because the organization has traitors and one of them took him while he was cleaning a scene that turned out to be a trap. However, Desmond knows how to play the game and his childhood training only help him become better at his job.

If Vidic kept the same ‘security’ in AC1 (cameras only, no visible guards), Desmond would find a way to kill Vidic and (maybe) Lucy before the guards even get there. Once he gets access to the computer (thanks, Lucy), tampering with the security feed would be easy because he’s done it before as a Cleaner. He’s also used to using items and devices he sees on the ‘scene’ so yeah…

Before the even finishes Altaïr’s memories, he’d most probably already made his escape after cleaning the scene.

And that’s when…

The Bleeding Effect starts…

Option 2: Full Spy AU where every Assassin is messy and Desmond has to clean after them

Okay, this one plays loose with the lore.

In this one, the Brotherhood is a secret organization that has the capital and the influence that a usual Hollywood super spy organization has.

And Desmond is the poor son of a high ranking member of the organization. He was being trained to be an operative but he didn’t want to be an operative like his father.

So… he became a cleaner instead.

In this one, I think it would be fun if Desmond is just some poor cleaner who has to clean up for the messiest of the operatives because he’s one of the best cleaners.

So the setup could be Desmond appearing on the scene and deducing which of his messy ‘regulars’ did this one and he all have nicknames for each of them.

One of them is super good at his job that Desmond just have to take care of the body most of the time. That one he calls “the light of my life” because it means a quick easy job then Desmond can just chill somewhere and see the sights until he’s called again.

Another one is someone who always has to chase their target and dear god, Desmond wants to strangle this operative so badly because Desmond has to clean up multiple places and that includes CCTVs used by the local government for the roads and such. That one he calls ‘the bane of my existence’.

The funny thing?

Both operative are the same person: Altaïr who seesaw between absolutely the best or having a bad day that can only be summed up as “the universe is conspiring against him to get some cardio today”.

Of course, there’s a lot more operatives that Desmond cleans after.

There’s one that liked to actually steal shit and Desmond just usually make that a burglary gone wrong most of the time.

There’s another operative who may or may not have a dog that he uses to rip apart his target and Desmond always prays the scene is somewhere outside so he can just make it look like a wild animal attack and always hate it whenever it happens in an office building or anywhere indoors to be completely honest.

There’s another one that tries to be sneaky but that only makes Desmond’s life harder because he has to make sure to look everywhere just to be sure that the sneaky operative didn’t miss or fuck up somewhere.

In other words, Desmond has a lot of complaints for his regular operatives XD

[comicteaparty]

September 21st-September 27th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from September 21st, 2019 to September 27th, 2019.  The chat focused on the following question:

How would you describe the target audience for your comic?  Did you intend to aim at that audience, or did it just happen?

Deo101 (Millennium)

My target audience for millennium http://millennium.spiderforest.com/ was and is LGBT youth. Specifically teens. I know when I was a kid reading a story where gay people are just kind of... There? No jokes, no stereotypes, more than one... That would have helped me a lot. So I'm trying to make that for other kids! I think the story has reached a much wider/older audience then I intended, but I know it has helped at least some LGBT youth/young adults and that's all I could ever ask for.(edited)

spacerocketbunny

The target audience for Ghost Junk Sickness is definitely queer youth and young adults! Much like what @Deo101 (Millennium) is saying, basically we wanted something like the cool action scifi comics we read when we were younger with good queer rep that's integrated and normalized in the universe! As it turned out though, the audience we reached has been all over the place ranging from older women to big biker dudes?? Every time we go to cons we can never guess who'll purchase a book because the range is so varied! I'm sure we still reach the original target to an extent but the rest is all over the map it seems! I don't think it's a bad thing, it's just been pretty unexpected

Deo101 (Millennium)

Not bad at all ^^ more like a pleasant surprise!

spacerocketbunny

Exactly!

Deo101 (Millennium)

I think those other, older people are also looking for a story to reach their inner child... And I think that's great

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Lol, I feel the similarly way about my own story. My goal was definitely to make something me as a kiddo would have loved, which essentially would have been shonen stories but with a female majority cast. I think I already figured my target audience would be similar to me, but I've been consistently surprised by how many male identifying folks like it. I guess I do like that they can hang though X) Anyway, these are my floppy, post work out thoughts. Hopefully they make sense.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The target audience for Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) was never super clear from the beginning - I just wanted to make something I'd like as a teen. Luckily (or unluckily! in terms of describing it to people ) the story is a mishmash of a bunch of different genres. It's not quite a ghost story, not quite a pirate adventure, not quite a fantasy epic, but it has elements of them all. And it does seem to have attracted people who like those different genres. It may not be easy if I ever want to publish it properly (it's a little difficult to describe my 'brand' ) but as it is, it's got everything I would have liked when I was between 14 and 18.

My happiest surprise is hearing about the younger kids who have read it, understood it, and really enjoyed it. Knowing that 10-12 year olds can appreciate my work is really awesome. I try to keep the language and scary/questionable content at Harry Potter levels, but I like having some of the depth/maturity of stories like The Golden Compass. If they like Phantomarine now, I really hope they find extra enjoyment with it as they grow up. It's going to be a ride!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Gosh, I get that feel of being multi-genre and not knowing quite how to describe your Brand X') I feel like I've gotten better at defining it over time but it's still a struggle to briefly describe what my thing even is some days. Also Golden Compass I'm always excited to find other comic folks who were also influenced by that series.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

It's my gold standard for the right blend of fantasy, reality, and maturity. It's just the best

keii4ii

The target audience for Heart of Keol (https://heartofkeol.com/) is extremely tiny, but it does have appeal for people outside of that niche. I make it for myself, and the relevant aspects of "myself" here are: a) Grew up in Korea, is living (or has lived for an extended period of time) in a predominantly English-speaking part of the world b) Bonus points if they spent some time living in rural Korea c) Is into slow burn drama about characters who could be described as being "genuine" and probably "lawful" as well d) Likes the aesthetics of fantasy settings, but is more into the mundane, almost slice of life, side of drama e) Is very much into reading between the lines for more emotional stuff. Reads a lot of heart from sceneries, possibly more than from faces. (I have face blindness and this affects how I experience comics both as a reader and as a creator)

Obviously people who meet both a) and b) are gonna be harder to find! But if one can meet c), d) and e), that's enough to enjoy the comic the way it's meant to be enjoyed, or so I hope.

The reason a) and b) matter is because it affects how the setting/aesthetics come across. To someone like me, the old Korea setting feels homey, warm, nostalgic. It's like a shorthand for "sit down and enjoy this heartfelt slow burn tale." But to others, Magical Asia might feel exciting and exotic, which isn't really what the story is meant to be, so there may be some dissonance.

seetherabbit

I haven't given much thought about the target audience for Vulperra. (https://vulperra.com/) other than then it's probably for people who like adventure, fantasy and cartoony-ish animals

Cronaj

My target audience is kind of all of the place. Initially when I began scripting my comic, Whispers of the Past, I was really into anime and manga, especially ones like Attack on Titan that were a gritty fantasy. However, since then, my style and story have changed tremendously. My target audience now tends to be young women, aged 15-25, who enjoy detailed world building in high fantasy and are definitely into family drama in story telling. Initially, I wrote the story to fit certain perameters that I myself enjoyed. For example, I am particularly obsessed with the idea of the mundane meeting the fantastical and amazing. The quiet lull of ordinary life juxtaposed by the rigor of magical entities. I specifically focus a lot on drawing beautiful artwork for the panels, because I myself am a picky-pants when it comes to selecting comics I want to read. Another one of my obsessions is a fantasy setting so detailed that you feel like if the story ended, the world would still live on. (One of my inspirations was the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, in which the author essentially wrote several languages, similar to Tolkien.) In reality, my readers tend to be women aged 30+ (probably who watch k-dramas like I do), and a lot of D&D players. It's fun really, discovering how much of my own hobbies bleed into my stories.

AntiBunny

Early on with AntiBunny http://antibunny.net/ I was hoping for fans of scifi and film noir. What I got were fans of classic cartoons and furries. Which is fine by me really. Furries are nice people who are passionate about their hobbies (and spend money).

Jonny Aleksey

A superhero audience was always the intention for J-Man (http://jonnyalekseydrawscomics.com/the-undefeatable-j-man/), but specifically, right now, I'm aiming for something all ages. Slightly teen drama, cartoony but grounded. My inspirations were Spectacular Spider-Man and the DCAU so anyone who likes that is the readership I expect. Hopefully I can reach people who are on the fence about superheroes. The all ages aspect is something newish relatively speaking. When I started my webcomic I wanted to stay away from the "deep real edgy" tone I made when I was in high school (shiver). It took me a bit to really get that tone down. I don't use curse words and only mild blood, but occasionally stuff that borders on teen+ go through. (there's one instance in #5 where J-Man's face gets burnt by the villain that might've been a bit much) I don't think the all ages banner is going to restrict me from telling certain storylines/character development. Just means it won't be excessively grim.

Erin/Leif & Thorn on Kickstarter

The target audience for my webcomics is LGBT nerds who want stories that give them strong feelings, and who like SF/F, anime, competent characters that don't have to take turns with the Idiot Ball to keep the plot moving, and cats. Admittedly that last bit might be redundant, since everyone on the internet likes cats.

Ash🦀

I’ll be honest with you, I’m the target audience of my comic. (http://www.fwmgofficial.com/) it’s not out yet (it’ll be out October 31st) but as the writer I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Mostly, it’s just targeted to young adults and autistic people. I never got to see people like me in comics, so I wrote a comic where an autistic person can be the hero too, even in his own way. For me, I figure whoever likes it likes it and that’s good enough for me. (also furries. Definitely targeted furries)

Kay Rose

@Ash🦀 cant wait to read it!

Ash🦀

QwQ thank you!!

MJ Massey

So far Black Ball is pulling in a mix of people who like the vintage aesthetic (1920s and art deco with some old-school macabre for some reason?) and people who like shonen manga, which is great. Even if Black Ball isn't specifically macabre or strictly shounen (though I myself have made shounen battle manga-esque comics in the past)

DaemonDan (The Demon Archives)

Audience of my comic... Per Google it's 18-35 year old men from the US and Russia XD Which makes sense given it's a pretty hard sci-fi with a lot of military action from dudes in power armor and etc. Though I try not to go too "high octane action!1!" and explore more psychological elements too.

[nirah10]

So I got a couple of messages about the “straight ships” post and I feel the need to clarify that I don’t have any issue with people who don’t ship m/f pairings. I wholeheartedly believe in letting people enjoy whatever ships they enjoy, but I have come across some people who berate those for enjoying straight ships. I’ve come across some people who have some kind of superiority complex over the fact that they don’t ship straight ships. I’ve come across people who have acted like shipping a straight ship somehow makes you less accepting of non-straight ships. I’ve come across people who agree certain characters would make a good pairing but still argue against people shipping them simply because they’re straight (which is what I think the OP meant by the first sentence about people who “refuse” to ship m/f pairings), like there’s some kind of rule about it. I’ve even come across people who do like certain m/f pairings but have said that they feel like they shouldn’t because they’re straight and they’ve been pressured by other people.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people who don’t ship straight ships (I ship very few myself) but I do think there’s something wrong with acting like people who do are somehow homophobic or ignorant.

As I said, the wording in that post was much stronger than I would use for expressing that idea, but I still agree with the idea. Shipping is supposed to be fun so, if people ship straight couples, just let them enjoy their ships.

Anyway, I’m going to add the messages I received regarding this here (don’t worry, everyone one was perfectly polite--I just got the feeling that the post had been misunderstood as me saying you should ship straight ships, when it wasn’t).

From Anon,

http://www.ilovetelevisionzines.com/another-boring-straight-couple-why-i-hate-your-canon/

This article has some points. Ross and Rachel are often deemed one of the best and romantic Canon ships on a show of all time. But I always thought even this so called most romantic sitcom trip was very unbalanced.

Tiny extract but the whole entire is worth a read.

’On Friends, Ross loves Rachel. And heshows that love through a jealousy and obsession that should send any flesh and blood woman running for the hills. Ross can’t stand it when Rachel has a male co-worker or - God forbid - friend. His acts possessive of Rachel and marks his territory. He treats Rachel like an object to be fought for. His jealousy causes bitter fights and leads to the first of their many, many break-ups. In real life, a man trying to separate a woman from her friends is the redest of flags. Here, it is a sign of the depth of Ross’s passion. In reality, people are autonomous beings, not objects to be fought over. But on Friends, Ross fights to win Rachel because he loves her.’

I think this article has quite a few good points. I don’t prefer f/f or m/m because I’m hetrophobic, but because m/f have made me numb with it being pushed on me since I was four with romance being added into every kid movie ever. Most 12 years old I know don’t care less about romance. But so many 12 year Olds in films and TV end up invested in a realtionship or whatever. I was like ‘why are they targeting this stuff at is so early?’ and a lot of it just seems unhealthy.

http://www.ilovetelevisionzines.com/another-boring-straight-couple-why-i-hate-your-canon/

Dear Anon,

I actually agree with this quite a lot. There are so many problematic “love” stories out there and Ross and Rachel is one in particular that I always disliked (even though I love the show). Everything about their relationship, mostly due to Ross’s behaviour, was very unhealthy and I don’t think they would work. They only “work” because the writers wanted Ross to get the girl in the end. There is a lot of harmful sexism still present in the writing of TV and movies (mostly involving women being a prize whose own feelings are unimportant) and the traditional boy-likes-girl therefore guy-gets-girl story is lazy and boring, so I totally get the points this article is making. At the same time, Friends created Monica and Chandler, a straight couple who I feel did have a really good story and did have a very healthy relationship. So, while I despise Ross and Rachel, I ship Monica and Chandler to hell and back.

From Anon,

https://www.google.com.au/amp/www.afterellen.com/tv/475459-im-boycotting-straight-white-television/amp

Although I do think this article has a point. I mean, it it is a little blunter than I would say, but I don’t think people are boring for not personally shipping m/f. Even in m/f today there are so many unhealthy gender dymanics that get passed over for being cute. And there is still a crazy huge amount of m/f compared to E everything else.

A study was just published by USC demonstrating how exclusive film and television can really be. Out of the 414 films and television shows they examined, and the 11,194 speaking roles, only 2% were LGB. Out of that number, 72.1% were male. That leaves only 49 lesbian speaking roles and seven transgender roles. And seeing about fiften percent of people identity as none straight, 2 percent of characters (normally side charctersc, not even main characters) is not a lot.

Dear Anon,

I don’t think people are boring for having their own preferences either. I think I interpreted the first sentence of that post differently than others did. My mind focused on the word “refused”, which I took to mean they were talking about people who would ship an m/f pairings because they do think their personalities match up well but, despite how they actually feel, will refuse to ship them just because they’re straight. I have met a few people who are like that and it’s just bizarre to me. Why put a weird set of rules on what things you’re allowed to like and not like? That’s strange enough as it is, but I’ve met a lot of people who also try to impose those same rules on other people (which I think the rest of the post was about) and I’m really not okay with it when people do that.

I understand not shipping m/f pairings just because they aren’t interesting to you anymore because you see them everywhere. I ship very few m/f pairings myself for that exact same reason but, once in a while, I see an m/f pairing that just clicks so well that I ship them anyway despite my usual preferences.

From Anon,

My brother is a straight dude who only dates women but will only read f/f or m/m novels. I get the f/f but I asked him about the m/m and he told me it was because he felt these novels had more room to explore a different dymanic with gender politics thrown out the window in these relationships. He said he grew up on f/m Disney films, movies, books, tv and that he was just wanted a change. So while Tumblr heavily leans towards same sex couples, most of the world of fiction is still the opposite.

Dear Anon,

My response to this post would basically have been the same as the one above so I likely would have posted the two submissions together and responded to them together. The formatting for this is just kind of weird so I thought I should clarify that lol But, yeah, please read above ^_^

From Anon,

So this blog needs for straight ships them. Hmmmmmmm. Rose annoys me so she's out. I like Kevin/Annie. Hmmmmmmm. That is only one though. I shall ship Doug/Celeste to even the numbers out a bit then.

Dear Anon,

lol You don’t have to ship straight ships or invent some just for the sake of balancing out, but I appreciate the effort XD

[popgoesthewiener]

Play Ball - Filmore Anderson/Firkle - SFW

Title: Play Ball Author: Daisy  Fandom: South Park Setting: Filmore Anderson’s Backyard Pairing: Filmore Anderson/Firkle Characters: Filmore Anderson, Firkle, Quaid, Michael Genre: Romance/Humor Rating: T Chapters: 1/1 Word Count: 1927 Type of Work: One-shot, Part of the Play With Me Series Status: Complete Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, Established Relationship, Innuendo, Headcanons Employed, Unbeta’d Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. Summary: Filmore just wanted to share everything with Firkle, including his football years. AN: Hey, everyone! It’s my birthday, today, so this is probably all that’s going to be written. xD I don’t think I have much more personal time. Anyway, this fic is for @filmoreandersonx, my good friend. ; u; I promised I’d have it done yesterday but some stuff happened. X.x Hope you enjoy!

Play With Me Series Masterlist Play Ball ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Come on, babe, it’s not that hard. I can do it.” Filmore chuckled to himself, tossing the football from one hand to the other, standing about ten feet from his loving boyfriend. The goth didn’t look very impressed with his explanation, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting his weight to one leg. Standing there in his black turtleneck, black jeans and too-large boots, he looked like a small stormcloud against the backdrop of the bright, sunny summer day.

“Yes, but you and I both know that you have no fear of balls raining from the sky. The only kind of balls I like are the ones I can fit in my mouth.” They both knew what he meant, and Filmore’s red cheeks showed it. Still, he readied himself to throw, form perfect, one leg back and arm poised, and Firkle’s first instinct was to flinch. “I’m not going to hit you.” The jock cooed sweetly. “You’re going to hit me because I can’t catch.” The goth replied with a cautious frown. “Just try for me? Please?” The pout that got Filmore out of more trouble than he knew slipped onto his face and that was the end of it. “Okay, fine, but if you hit me in the face, I’m going to make you sleep by yourself.” Firkle responded finally, sighing with defeat. Trying to get into a position to catch the football, he couldn’t deny he was embarrassed when his lover barked a genuine, enthusiastic laugh.  “I am definitely going to hit you in the face if you hunker down like that. Here,” Jogging over and showing off his muscles beneath the barely-there t-shirt he’d cut most of the side out of, the jock set the ball at their feet. Gently moving his hands over the other’s body, he turned his light caresses into easy angling, until he had Firkle positioned just right. “There. Now, I’m going to throw it, and you’re going to catch it perfectly because you don’t do anything in any way that isn’t totally flawless.” He winked, and Firkle’s eyes shone with adoration and acceptance. “Alright. Like I said, don’t hit me in the face.” “I won’t.” He promised, patting the ball Firkle hardly remembered watching him pick up again before getting into his best throwing stance. With that, he let it rip and the goth found himself trying his best not to flinch. Years of gym class where he’d been the target of rogue balls of all types left him fearful, even if he trusted his lover thoroughly. Sure, they had had their differences, there was that Month Of Swirlies bullshit from middle school… But Filmore had really grown since they had started this thing they had. He’d even told Quaid to fuck off when he’d been less than enthused to hear of their relationship. Still, a few months of trust did nothing to keep the goth from ducking and giving the world’s most Un-Goth Yelp ever as it finally hit the downward spiral that would lead it to his waiting arms. Instead, it bounced off of his ass as he cowered in the elder teen’s backyard. Filmore’s laugh was soft, this time, and he jogged right back over, picking Firkle up with his arms around his waist. Holding the slighter male against his chest in an almost crushing hug, he nuzzled his back gently.  “I told you I wouldn’t hit you in the face, didn’t I?” He chuckled, kissing the other’s spine. “You hit me in the ass, though!” But there was a laugh on Firkle’s lips, regardless. “I wouldn’t have if you would have tried to catch it.” He offered, grinning as the little goth began to wiggle in his arms. “Put me down, you meathead.” There was no bite to his words, and he yelped as the other fell back onto his ass, taking him down with him. Pinning Firkle down to the grass on his back, he nestled his face in the other’s neck. “Look, babe. I know you’ve had a lot of people that hurt you. Especially in gym, with footballs and--” “Quaid threw a medicine ball at my face once. It’s why my nose is a little off kilter.” Filmore made sure to press a gentle kiss into the bridge of it. “Your nose is beautiful. You’re beautiful.” And he’d say it a thousand times, in a million languages, until Firkle believed it just as much as he did. As much as all of his Instagram followers did. They had been pushing for Firkle to join in on videos and photos and things, and the goth just didn’t think he had a good side for the camera. It didn’t stop Filmore from making his favorite picture of them, the first one they took together, all snuggled up on his bed, as his lock screen on his phone.  “And you are known for false complements to get something you want out of someone.” Firkle’s smile didn’t falter, and he leaned in to nuzzle their noses together. Kissing him softly, the goth sighed, rather happy when his lipstick stuck and they both were smeared purple. “So, what do you want?” “All of your love is enough for me,” Answered the jock, before tapping his lip for a second like he was thinking, “Though if you didn’t chicken out when I threw a football for you, that would be a close second.” “I didn’t chicken out!” Though he knew he had, the goth wasn’t ready to admit to it. The look he earned was enough to have him looking away, decently shamed, “Okay, okay. I totally pussed out. If I try and catch it, now, will you stop pouting at me? Seriously, that look could make a tiger leave you alone.” “I always thought of myself as the tiger, not the prey.” Baring down and wiggling his ass playfully like a cat would, Filmore pretended to pounce on his lover, biting his bare shoulder gently and making him moan. Oh, he knew exactly what he was doing. And it was working, too. “So you’re going to eat me?” Squeaked the goth, writhing after those teeth only tightened on his flesh and his entire body seized after the grip grew vice-like. The choked moan that left him was enough to have Filmore giving an answering groan, and he knew suddenly that this was going in a bad direction to be so public. “I could.” He whispered, kissing the other’s ear, then the teeth marks he’d left behind, “But you have a ball to catch. I’ll tackle you and protect the sack once you’ve caught it. ‘Kay?” “Uh… Y-yeah, okay. You should have scrambled my brains after I caught the damn thing.” While he tried to sound grumpy, Firkle sounded more like he was pouting.  “Maybe with your brains scrambled, you won’t be so afraid.” Getting into a pushup position and then lifting off to a standing position, Filmore winked and ran to the ball, picking it up. “Come on, babe, I promise you I’ll toss it gently.”  Pushing up onto his hands, he brought his feet in slowly before finally getting them under him, he jumped a couple times and shook his head out. Trying to remember how Filmore had positioned him the first time, Firkle closed his eyes for a second, imagining the other’s hands on him, opening his eyes again when he was ready. “Throw it.” This time, instead of his All Star Throw, Filmore gave the football a gentle pass that landed against Firkle’s chest. He gasped as his arms instinctively shot up to grab it, and with wide-eyed wonder, he stared at the ball in his embrace. Excited, he looked up at the other with a blooming smile on his face, leaping for joy and throwing the ball down, watching it bounce off down the slight slope of the yard they were in. “And there he is, Firkle Ablah, number one, winning it for the Cows! And the crowd goes wild!” Filmore laughed, jogging over and picking the smaller male up around his waist again, facing him this time. Spinning them, he made loud hissing noises to imitate the crowd, .kissing the other’s stomach and up his chest a little bit. “Oh my Gods, Filmore Fucking Anderson put me down!” If Filmore made him laugh one more time today, Firkle was going to kill him. Maybe with love, however, before he cupped the other’s cheeks and leaned down, kissing him a la The Notebook’s DVD cover, minus the rain.  “I’m starting to think you actually believe my middle name is ‘Fucking’.” Filmore mumbled against the other’s lips, kissing him back softly and nuzzling their noses together slowly.  “Maybe it is. I sure call you it enough.” Firkle muttered, kissing the other’s cheek and rocking forward, pushing the other over towards the grass again. “Hey!” But that was all he got out before Firkle continued to kiss him. Tongues slipped wet and hot against one another, and the pair stayed like that for far too long. Possessively biting at Filmore’s lips, the goth made sure that his mouth would be very obviously claimed, much like his shoulder. Soon, their kisses turned to soft chuckles and giggles, hands wandering beneath the shade of the large tree in the back yard. Firkle eventually rolled off of his lover, snuggling up against him. “I’m never doing this sports thing again. You should have taken a video.” He informed, only half-joking. “Who says I didn’t? I’ve been streaming this whole thing, even if the angle might have messed up. My phone fell over.” “You what?” Shooting up, Firkle glared immediately at the other’s phone, frowning, “You ass, you didn’t even--”  Another kiss distracted him, and Filmore brought him into his lap, petting over his sides. “Shh, it’s okay, babe. Everyone wanted to see you. See us. I just wanted to prove that I’m with you, not Quaid. Since I only take pictures with him, they started to wonder.” “You are so lucky that your lips taste good and I love you.” That hadn’t been what he’d thought he was going to say. He had yet to say that out loud, and here he was, saying it for the internet to enjoy. “I mean-- I--” “You already said it, babycakes.” Filmore cooed, kissing his cheek gently, nuzzling him, “I love you, too.” He added, quickly, seeing the distress in the slightly younger male’s eyes. This didn’t, admittedly, help his fear, at least, not visually. “Quaid’s going to kill me, and Michael’s going to kill you.” He whispered softly into the other’s ear, pressing their cheeks together. “Let me think about them. You just relax in the knowledge that you’re mine, and I’ll protect you.” It was a comforting thought, but Michael wasn’t going to be an easy, open-and-shut case. “Alright.” He mumbled, kissing at Filmore’s cheek. “So, can we go back inside? I’m going to be on fire if I stay in all this sunshine much longer.” “I guess so.” Filmore pouted again, and Firkle wasn’t having it, leaning in and kissing him on the mouth.  “You mean ‘yes, Firkle, let’s go inside before you turn into a permanent tomato’, don’t you?” “Of course, babe.” Picking the smaller male up, he swung him over his shoulder and made sure to grab his phone and turn off the stream before carting the other up to his room to reward him for all he’d done this morning.  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ AN: This was supposed to be a lot shorter. xD But who cares? I’m rather proud of this! I hope you guys like it. Happy Birthday to me!

[sambart93]

2017.03.17 Chuugoku no Fushigi na Yakunin [Review]

This is another one of my ‘going because I wanna support JP’ plays. And I had no idea what to expect and I don’t know anything about the production company and I only knew JP in the cast BUT I went in really excited.

Official Site here.

Purely for mine and people’s interests, I’m not going to list the cast; I feel that me and the people who read my blog wouldn’t gain anything from the cast list because it’s literally full of people who aren’t relevant to our stage watching interests. Sounds harsh but I hope you understand what I mean? I will mention individual actors hen I talk about them but that’s all. 

So I enter the theatre and straight away the music is very eerie and mysterious but also very horror-esque and rather scary and chilling and I always go to the theatre when the doors open so I spent the 30 minutes between doors opening and the show starting to feeling more and more terrified inside and I started to believe ‘holy moly I’m gunna be watching a horror stage... I can’t do that! Oh no! I’m gunna have to walk out half way through if it is a horror!’ and so yeah I very prety tense when the story finally begun,

BUT

While this was pretty dark, it had a lot of sexy moments, and a lot of colorful moments and the story was interesting and mysterious, AND was not a horror so thank god!

The title translates to ‘China’s Strange Government Official’ but I don’t think that helps with understanding the lot anymore xD. Wikipedia seems to label it as 'The Miraculous Mandarin' which I kind of understand too but definitely sounded dated. << did you notice I just made TWO fruit puns xD

The main story is about a brother (Yasukawa ‘JP’ Junpei) and a sister (Tachibabna Karin) who go to like a market place but during their travel they get separated and his sister ends up in a brothel so he has to go to the Japanese army to find a way to get his sister back. While she’s there she falls for one of the customers and feels protected by him. While the Japanese see this man as a supernatural being who can never been killed and so plot the ultimate way to kill him.

The ending? They fail to kill the man who claims he is a master puppet and tells the brother that everything he saw wasn’t real and that his sister was actually dead ages ago and everyone else that he met these past few days were also dead and that the brother was just trapped (and still is?) in the puppet’s making the entire time, causing the brother to go mad.

Or at least that’s the main jist of what I could understand.

I mentioned this is sexy and first you can kind tell fro the fact most o this is set in a brothel and we watch the girls practising dances and movements that will turn their customers on or get the customers to become theirs. Another is that the two Japanese generals (one female and one male) have some private meetings that are par serious talk about their plot and part her spanking and whipping him (thank god they didn’t actually do this on stage, they smacked the whips close to the ground and the actor would react as if he’d really been hit). Also because it’s in a brothel, the girls were wearing.... well, not much. But the costumes themselves were very colourful and beautiful patterns and designs and glittery and sparkly so they were nice to look at and the girls looked pretty in them too. And then we have JP who, when he’s first brought in by the Japanese, he’s brought in a wooden box and is completely tired up, not just the simple legs and arms tied, but proper BDSM type of tying which made me giggle so much. JP!! xD

This stage is set in the early 1920s (I think) so there’s a lot of world war type aspects going around and obvious the Japanese being in China makes it obvious that this was during a time the Japanese were being imperialistic and taking over China.

Also we have live music and singing. There’s one girl in the back of the room who played either the Erhu, Jinghu or Banhu which are all Chinese string instruments but I'm no expert to definitely say which one it was she played. The music she played was beautiful anyway <3 And Ikeda Yukiko sang an old Edo era Japanese song called Touryanse, which is actually a song that has appeared in my stages I've seen and grown to love the song quite a lot (more info here). Myousei Mayumi also sang and her voice was great too! But unfortunately I don’t remember what it was.

The ending was rather horrifying though; after JP manages to saw their target into many pieces, the body goes limp, but very soon the parts start throwing themselves at him and finally, the man comes back to life and is like ‘all these people... they’re ghosts, and I control them. And you’re stuck here (forever?)’ kind of way causing JP to scream and cry and freak out and them BAM black out. It’s a very powerful ending and a little grotesque and very chilling.

Unfortunately JP wasn’t in it quite as much as I had hoped because we spent a lot of time with the sister and we also got to see a lot of the other character’s backstories and we saw a lot of interaction between the two Japanese militants, BUT his performance was good as usual and especially at the end when he started to break down and freak out was very good!

As you can clearly tell: This was so weird... BUT it was enjoyable and the mystery and the colours and everything were interesting enough and I just wish my understanding of Japanese literature and/or Chinese fairytales or old stories was good because I strongly feel this is based off a fairytale or something.... SO apparently this is based off a book by Terayama Shuji who is none other than the SAME guy that wrote ‘Sho wo Suteyo, Machi ni Deyo’ which I saw December 2015 on stage! So... there may be hope there’s abook out there that I can read and understand more fully! Thinking about it now, they both did have that odd-beat mystery to them...

Some gorgeous flowers JP received ^^ <3