#exclusivity discourse

[styrofauxm]

look. i'm sorry. really sorry for not just letting this die. but it bugs me. so suffer i guess.

If I saw a canonically trans character and said "well I prefer to write them as cis" people would be pissed at me, for good reason.

If I saw a canonical trans woman/man character and wrote them as a demigirl/boy and said "while the show just says she/he's trans, not that she/he's a trans woman/man" people would be pissed at me, also for good reason.

If a character was directly implied to be trans, and the creator confirmed later that they were meant to be trans, and I went "well it wasn't said explicitly in the show so it's not canon," people would be pissed at me, for good reason.

If the majority of a fandom did those things, we could collectively agree that the fandom is really transphobic.

You can sub this out for any queer identity with mainstream representation, and probably non-queer identities too.

So why is it considered acceptable to do these things to aspec characters?

Why are ships contrary to aspec identities the only ships against a character's canon queer identity that get popular?

Why are aspec people the only ones that get consistent ship discourse over our real identities?

Why are aspec people the only ones asked to sit back and take it?

Why is it on aspec people to not ruin allo people's fun in fandom, but allo people are allowed to ruin ours?

(The answer to all of the above is: aspec identities are viewed by other queer people as functionally straight and are treated as such)

[knifearo]

"asexual discourse" is so funny cause dude that's not discourse and it's never been discourse. it's not an argument and it's not a conversation bitches are just yelling at us unprompted and then making up people to get mad at 😭

[indigosfindings]

Why Are We Blogging About Cohost

[benevolenterrancy]

after yesterday's picture i realised that almost every time i draw jgy he looks like he's about 5 seconds away from a breakdown so i figured i should give him a nap for once

[vulpinesaint]

the hate on demisexuality specifically when ace exclusion was all the rage is still so funny to me. bitches going "some teenager on the internet made up that term for a character and then decided to use it herself!!!!" as if that was. a rebuttal? like wowwwww a teenager projected an experience onto a character of theirs. that's never happened before. that's so crazy someone made up a word to describe their experience??? yeah dude you should definitely go bully teenagers on the internet about it that seems like the reasonable thing to do. can't let those teens. uh. [ checks notes ] come to a realization about their sexuality and then talk about it

[samcarter34]

It’s honestly kind of funny that people are using Kieran as an example of why BioWare’s decision is bad when he’s probably the number one example I’d use to argue in favour of it.

There’s a kid who’s the vessel of one of the Draconic Old Gods. A kid who is the human reincarnation of an entity that convinced the Magisters to break into the Fade. A kid powerful enough to override an Eluvian and redirect it to the Fade. And his involvement amounts to nothing because not everyone took that route in a game that came out half a decade prior. Like he should have monumental implications for Thedas, but instead he’s literally so inconsequential that they didn’t even hire a voice actor to portray him; they just let Claudia Black’s son do it.

[carlyraejepsans]

Uh, context?

someone said people calling themselves bi lesbians are the reason lesbians get sexually harassed by straight men in bars and it was so painfully cruelly stupid and victim blaming that i saw red. and then i was like you know what fuck y'all, I'm not staying in this tar pit, because twitter had already been making me miserable for a while

can y'all stop showing me people gossiping about me behind my back. it's rude that they're doing it in public, but it's their business what they think of me & I don't want to see that either.

[k8lynjoy]

Currently on Mockingjay in my Hunger Games reread, and I am at the part where Katniss walks in on Gale and Beetee making the two-tiered bombs that later end up killing Prim. I immediately started thinking about this post I saw forever ago about how Gale had no idea what those bombs were going to be used for, so it doesn't make sense to blame him for what happened to Prim, and I would just like to say: that is a load of horse shit. Not only did Gale help to build those bombs with their full use in mind, but they are based off of his snares and traps. Gale isn't just some lackey passing Beetee parts with no idea what's happening. He is actively giving Beetee ideas on how to target and kill as many people as possible. Just so no one can start arguing with me in the comments, here's the direct quote from the book:

"This is what they've been doing. Taking the fundamental ideas behind Gale's traps and adapting them into weapons against humans. Bombs mostly. It's less about the mechanics of the traps than the psychology behind them. Booby-trapping an area that provides something essential to survival. A water or food supply. Frightening prey so that a large number flee into a greater destruction. Endangering offspring in order to draw in the actual desired target, the parent. Luring the victim into what appears to be a safe haven- where death awaits it. At some point, Gale and Beetee left the wilderness behind and focused on more human impulses. Like compassion. A bomb explodes. Time is allowed for people to rush to the aid of the wounded. Then a second, more powerful bomb kills them as well" (Mockingjay, 216).

To say that Gale can fully help Beetee design bombs meant to kill children, parents, and aid workers, but then also say he had no idea what Coin was going to use them for is disingenuous. Gale might not have meant to target Prim specifically with that bomb, but he absolutely knew what they were going to be used for. He designed them with the intent to kill people rushing to aid those hurt in the initial blast- such as medics, which Prim is- so is it really a surprise when a bomb that has that specific function in mind kills Prim? This wasn't just some last-ditch effort on Suzanne Collins' part to eliminate Gale as a love interest (because she has been sowing the seeds of Gale's character arc since book one- you know when he says that killing people can't be that much different from killing animals). Katniss had every right to hold Gale accountable for Prim's death because she knew who designed those bombs and why he did it. Prim's death was an accident, but not because that bomb wasn't meant to target people like her, but because Gale didn't mean to kill Prim specifically. He knew what those bombs would do, he wanted them to do it, he just didn't intend for Prim to be there.

[sirenium]

'Safequeer' mfers when people are queer in a way they don't like:

[GIF ID: a toy decor skeleton getting absolutely eviscerated in a blue shredder with silver blades. Said skeleton looks like it's thrashing and flailing about as it slowly gets consumed. End ID]

[quadrantadvisor]

I feel like these days we get so much criticism of the dynamics in 2012 that the characters get kind of flattened by the fandom, so I wanna say that 2012 Raph is not just a one-dimensional bully character, he's got a lot more caring and emotional intelligence than he gets credit for. Yeah, he has an obvious protective streak, but even beyond that, he's always his brother's number one supporter, even when he disagrees with them.

He's highly critical of Mikey's desire to make human friends, but when Mikey goes out to do it anyways and it blows up in his face with Bradford, Raph is the one to comfort him and tell him he deserves better.

He thinks Donnie's crush on April is delusional, but helps him out at every chance he gets, removing Donnie from embarrassing situations of talking him up in front of April. When Casey comes into the picture, Raph tells him point blank that it doesn't matter that they're best friends, and it doesn't matter how bad Donnie's chances are, Raph's on Donnie's side in this.

And when Leo starts sneaking out to see Karai, Raph is the one who notices, tells him off, and tries to get him to stop. He doesn't tell anyone else, though. He wants Leo to make good choices, but he respects him enough to let him make bad ones without getting the rest of the family involved. They'd all be on Raph's side, but he doesn't need them to all gang up on Leo like that, even if he's not listening.

Basically, Raph cares about his brothers, including their emotional well-being, even when it's not obvious. And yeah we should criticize the writing and how harsh it gets and how there's no resolution to the ways certain characters are treated, but I get tired of seeing complex characters be villainized and sometimes I just wanna read fanfiction that is nice?????? So that's my thesis I guess lol

[junglejim4322]

It’s true you should make the effort to interact with queer people irl who are not hyper turbo online if you can but that’s not always accessible HOWEVER reading and looking up on the history of queers in the past and in different countries and communities from you is highly accessible and I recommend you do that and gain some perspective on varied experience. Right this instant

[kuroananosanji]

Thriller bark discourse is funny coz people act like Zoro can’t be devoted to Luffy’s dream AND want to protect the crew. It’s clear that Sanji wanted to sacrifice himself for Zoro’s dream, Zoro refused to let his friend die, so he sacrificed himself for both Luffy and Sanji in the very end? Do people really think Zoro knocked Sanji out because Sanji was “getting in the way of him sacrificing for Luffy”? It always feels weird when some people frame Zoro and Sanji as two harem waifus competing for Luffy’s attention when they just love their crew very much and would do anything for them.

[morphestic]

this is everyone's reminder that under no circumstances is it okay to tell someone to kill and/or harm themselves.

[c1trvswurld]

seeing aroace infighting online will never not be funny so i have to green text it

>make a post appreciating aroaces whose attraction can be complex and have varying levels of sexual and romantic attraction that isnt inherently sex or romantically repulsed

>why are you pushing sexual and romantic attraction on aroaces, stop doing " and also the ones who do have sex/experiencing emotion under every post tagged for aroace" >make a post bigging up aroaces who are completely sex and romance repulsed

cycle repeats/profit

[alchemicaladarna]

I was rewatching the fight between Sunny and Leo from yesterday and god, I just noticed so many more details.

First, Sunny lost to Leo- ok, that's fair. But she was trying to exit immediately after. Leo blocked the door and started hitting Sunny. Sunny was shocked at first, but eventually she started hitting Leo back until she backed Leo into the corner and popped her totem. Ramon went inside and placed himself in between Leo and Sunny to stop their fighting (god bless his soul)

But then, and this is the part that kinda made me go 😬 Tallulah placed a sign that said "CHEATER" in response to Sunny hitting Leo after the fight. After that, Pepito and Tallulah ran to Leo to congratulate her.

Here's my personal take: don't get me wrong, I love Leo and Tallulah, but Sunny wasn't even cheating- she was defending herself. I know it's not that deep because they're kids and sometimes kids act this way. Also Tallulah and Leo have their own reasons for disliking/not trusting Sunny. And it's a block game lmao.

But like. Does anyone ever get the feeling that sometimes this egg beef kinda extends past the "goofy haha babies fighting" and more into bullying territory? Because sometimes Leo and Tallulah are just really unecessarily mean towards Sunny. I know Tallulah has been less hostile and she explained why she was more apprehensive to approach Sunny, and that's understandable on some level. But Leo vandalizing Sunny's statue, though funny at the time, looking back at it, yea that literal shit was unwarranted.

Like I said this is block game and it's really not that deep, but still. Ouch.

God, I just want to reach through the screen and give Sunny lots of hugs. She deserves so much more love and happiness than what she's getting.

[neu-apostolisch]

i am definitely of the mind that the interview given by larian discussing the epilogues and character outcomes reflects a lot of bias and favoritism towards some arcs rather than others.

however, i think an overlooked part of this analysis is how they view some characters as independent characters with agency (let's say astarion, for example) and other characters as parts of the plot (i think gale and lae'zel fall into this quite strongly). Shadowheart is an interesting example of both--her narrative plays heavily into the plot of Act 2, but in Act 3 she moves into the more independent category.

this intertwining of character stories with the main story arc is i think what results in writer comments like "a good ending for gale is him blowing himself up." it's NOT a good ending for GALE the character, but with this detached (and dehumanizing) view of him, i see exactly why they would say something like that about the STORY. it's viewing him as a plot device, not a fully written person with ideas, goals and motives. it's a complete failure to understand characters because they're not conceptualizing of them that way.

another person mentioned that "it feels like the character who wrote gale put a lot of thought and care into him, and the other writers didn't really care." and i think that's spot on. it truly does feel like there's a strong disconnect between "gale the plot device" and "gale the beloved character" that you broadly don't see with characters who have more independent storylines. this is likely also why he gets noticeably inconsistent treatment in narrative quality throughout the game.