#going on. who is the most like. invested in his masculinity of the guys in the group

[the--days]

idk even how to articulate this but something about beau's friendship with The Boys is so. gender. when it's her & fjord or her & caleb & fjord together. its something its there. she asks to be disguised as a man she's One Of The Guys shes the first mate she should have been a son. lesbian gender moments.

[urinarythreatinfection]

Shoutout to tomboys, you’re great and valid. Someone asked me for this in a comment section but I can't @ them but here you go!

One piece men x tomboy reader. Shanks, Sanji, Zoro.

Shanks

Shanks first met you at a bar.

It might be cliche but he gets fawned over by women (and men) often, you were different.

When you came up to him he already noticed you weren’t the most feminine, but you seemed cool so he didn’t mind.

Before he could lay on some charm, though, you had challenged him to a drinking contest with ridiculous rules.

If you won, you got to join his crew.

Immediately it was like the alcohol in his hand didn’t matter, your boldness was too amusing.

“What’s in it for me? Surely a pretty woman like you has something to offer?”

He didn’t mean what he alluded to, just a test to see what you were like.

When you said you had information on something he would definitely like, well, what kind of a pirate wouldn’t be tempted?

What he didn’t expect is how good of a drinker you were.

Shanks gets drunk, but his mind will stay sober, but you were drinking more than he could handle.

It was a tie, the bar ran out of alcohol.

The both of you were on the verge of passing out when he gave you a thumbs up and said you were in, you gave one back and said you’d give him the info too.

It was the worst hangover since the first time he got blackout drunk when young but man was it an amazing investment.

Turned out you knew info on a rival of his causing trouble around his territories, and you were an amazing fighter.

Shanks couldn’t help himself, he might’ve exploded if he tried not to flirt with you.

Flirts turn to touching and touching leads to the bed, you’re good.

Perfect, really, he fell hard for you.

A capable woman who’s fun to be around, gets along with his crewmates, and is great in bed?

He doesn’t care that you aren't feminine, you’re the most attractive woman he could ask for.

Shanks asked you out and you accepted, now he’s your #1 supporter.

Playing a drinking game? His bets are on you.

Threw a guy who touched you across the bar? Way to go!

You think you can beat him in a fight? Sure, just don’t mind if he gets a little handsy during it~

Overall there is no clear calm and smart one in the relationship, both of you are dumb and Beckman couldn’t be any more unhappy.

Sanji

Sanji is completely put off.

When you first met he was absolutely ready to fawn over you but the moment you, instead of getting mad or flirting back, patted him on the shoulder with a “Thanks, man!” he just stood there.

He almost looked around as if someone else said it.

The way you speak, act, the way you are, it’s like everything in him is rejecting it.

Women are supposed to be sacred, beautiful creatures to be worshiped, yet why are you working out with the mosshead and yelling as loud as Franky?

He still treats you kindly, of course, but there is a bit of a gap between what he’s known all his life and what’s being taught to him.

It changed one day though, you two were running from marines and he tripped.

Embarrassment had flooded through him at tripping in front of a lady(?), but when you had picked him up and kept running his heart started racing.

Here he was, the gentleman, being carried like a princess by a woman.

He couldn’t even protest, it wasn’t long after that that he caught feelings and you two started dating.

Now he worships you in other ways. Always calling you strong and beautiful.

Sometimes he’s still embarrassed, but lord knows he's in way too deep now.

Please be understanding if he pretends that something is too hot for him to touch or if he acts like a damsel.

Getting taken care of by a strong girlfriend just feels way better for him than he could’ve ever imagined.

Zoro

He dislikes you at first, not because you’re a woman that’s masculine, but because he sees you like a challenger.

You drink like him, work out with him, even sleep in random places sometimes. He’s supposed to do that!

You even took the spot he likes to nap in!

Not to mention he can’t even pick a fight with you without the cook immediately butting in because you’re a “lady”.

Lady his ass! You’re hardly a woman!

This sort of thing stopped one day when you two were bickering a bit, and once again Sanji stepped in.

Usually the argument switches over to him and Sanji but this time you weren’t having it and grabbed Sanji by the leg, flinging him away like a ball before looking back at Zoro.

He couldn’t help it, seeing the curly brow about to defend you like a knight only to be flung away was too funny and he ended up cracking a smile.

Like that, he stopped seeing you less as competition and more as someone to do things with.

One day Nami made a joke while dragging you two back to the ship “Ugh you two are always together, are you dating or something?”

That seemed to open something up.

Zoro didn’t really think of you as a woman, not that that was much different than other women, but if he were ever to have a lover in his life he would like someone to do the things he loves with.

He asked you out and you said yes, then you two started dating.

Seems loveless at first, but he ends up using the time to get to know you, and really appreciates you.

He treats you like a person, not like some unruly woman (even if he says that sometimes to mess with you).

You’re the type of couple where people can’t tell if you’re dating or not, but behind closed doors he’ll rest his head on your lap and let you play with his hair.

You’re the only one he’ll tolerate making any sort of grass jokes about his hair, girlfriend privilege.

[nayatarot777]

Messages From Your Spirit Guides

Hi 👋🏾

Long time no see. I know. I’ve been focusing on my YouTube channel, Patreon, and personal readings so I’ve decided to do a quick little reading for you guys. Thank you to everyone who has supported by going over to my other platforms and booking personals. I appreciate you! 💓

YouTube

Patreon

Personal Readings

Pile One

There’s either a masculine fire sign (Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius) or just a masculine with the energy of these signs - someone who’s very confident (seemingly), impulsive, and more ego-based. You’ve experienced an ending with this person. This ending is permanent. There’s no chance of resurrection and renewal for anything to happen with this person because the cycle with this person is completely done. You’ll find that the energy within your life will do a complete overhaul into something much more positive and abundant if you decide to move on and focus on the future. This heavily feels like a romantic situation for most of you but it doesn’t have to be. Either way, you may not know much about the future, meaning that you’re unsure about whether or not there’s going to be someone else but there is. Trust me. This person that you don’t know of yet is being represented by the King of Cups - a masculine water sign (Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces) or he’s just someone who’s very in touch (in a balanced way) with his emotions. He’s nurturing, compassionate, empathetic and sympathetic - everything that this masculine fire sign (who’s represented by the King of Wands) wasn’t. This fire sign is for someone else who’s compatible with him. But clearly he’s not what you need. Leave him for someone else. The energy of this old person isn’t what you need nor what you would truly want, even if there was a possibility of him coming back around (again, there isn’t). You’re finding much better in the future although you can’t see it. Don’t hold onto someone who’s clearly incompatible with you just because you’re unsure of future possibilities. How are you supposed to meet someone who’s much better suited to you when you’re keeping yourself in the same exact place and not moving forward? Blocking blessings and not making yourself available to the person who you can actually have an abundant connection with?

Pile Two

It seems like you’ve been through some type of emotional loss, Pile Two, and this has left you feeling very emotionally messy and a feeling of being lost and overwhelmed in general. Whether this is a friend, a family member, a lover, or a pet that you’ve lost, you need to put yourself into Hermit energy. Complete isolation to do some deep soul searching to shine a light and expose something about yourself - to yourself. This internal exposure that you need to come across is about something to do with some work that you’ve already invested a lot of time, effort, and energy into that you stopped investing into for some reason. You put a manifestation on pause, and when you revisit this, focus on it. Pick up from where you left off and FOCUS on this. This will bring you out of this emotional overwhelm or this feeling of being lost and confused. The reason why you feel this way is because you have no sense of direction after losing whoever this was that left your life. So you need to find your own direction. This paused manifestation is where you can find this. And when you focus on this, you’re going to revitalise yourself. You’re going to be feeding your soul again which in turn will make you feel genuine joy and happiness. You’ll actually have energy and a zest for life again.

Pile Three

There is opportunity for new friendships here. New connections to build with a new support system. What you have to do in order to accept these new opportunities for connections is focus on meeting new people. Focus on getting out of those house and going out more. It doesn’t matter where you go, just go to a place where you know that you’ll be around people who you can spark up conversations with. So it’ll probably be easier to do this if you go to some type of club or venue that brings you together with other people who you have a common, shared interest with. I’m hearing your guides say that you need to learn to have fun. Practice socialising with people more and relaxing into fun times with others. It seems like you’ve been focusing on some type of higher education (whether that’s academic or spiritual), but you need a break from this. You need to view this higher education from a very different perspective by taking a break from it where possible. You’ve been working so hard and you need a break. Life isn’t all about the academic or the spiritual/metaphysical. The mundane aspects of life are also extremely important for the sake of balance within your life. Don’t fall for the trap that anything other than this higher education is less important. It’s not. Balance is what’s most important in life. And you can’t have a good balance in life if you’re disregarding one half of it.

[callmebrycelee]

Advice from a Queer Almost-40 BuckTommy Shipper

Over the last several months, there's been a one-sided war brewing between Buddie shippers and BuckTommy shippers. As we get ready for Season 8, I want to give all of you fellow BuckTommy/Tevan/Kinley shippers some advice:

Do NOT let them ruin something truly groundbreaking and special.

I repeat:

Do NOT let them ruin something truly groundbreaking and special.

Let me take you way back to the early-2010s. Glee was quite popular in the cultural zeitgeist. The show spawned a plethora of ships including Finchel, Brittana, Samcedes, and Fabrey. However, there was one ship that reigned supreme on Beyoncé and Al Gore's internet. If you were on Tumblr during this time you definitely remember the chokehold Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson aka Klaine had on the Glee fandom.

Now I'll admit, at first, I was into the two glee club gays being together but then episode 2x06 aired. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, episode 2x06 titled "Never Been Kissed" is episode where closeted football jock Dave Karofsky cornered Kurt in the boys' lockerroom and kissed him. What followed was some of the best storytelling in the history of the show.

Over the next few seasons, we watched Dave Karofsky come to terms with his sexuality, apologize to Kurt for his relentless bullying, finally embrace his sexuality, get outed, and attempt to un-alive himself. Those of us who initially hated Dave and his initial treatment of Kurt became fans of him due to how realistic he was. If you went to high school in the early-2000s, chances are you either knew someone like Karofsky or you were him. That's why he resonated with so many of us in the queer community.

However, the showrunners weren't invested in Dave and Kurt becoming an item. You have to remember, this was the era of listening to the fandom and giving them exactly what they wanted. The fandom wanted Rachel and Finn to be together so that's what we got. The fandom wanted Brittany and Santana to be together so that's what we got. And what the fandom wanted was Kurt and Blaine.

Till this day, I still resent the fact that the showrunners and writers went the safe route when it came to couples on Glee. For the most part, all of their main pairings were expected and boring. Over a decade removed from the show, a lot of folks have come around to the idea that maybe Kurt and Blaine aren't the #couplegoals they initially thought. A lot of us will forever wonder just how different (and possibly better) the show would have been if they took a chance on Kurt and Dave.

Fast-forward to the year 2024. We have, on another Ryan Murphy show, Klaine and Kurtofsky 2.0. The moment Eddie came on the scene back in Season 2, folks on the internet started shipping him with Buck. Nevermind that these two were coded as platonic friends, here we had, once again, two good-looking guys played by two actors who have impeccable chemistry.

Much like Klaine, a lot of us see Buddie as boring. The ship smacks of cis straight women overlly fascinated by two good-looking, masculine guys. It reminds me of the overabundance of m/m romance written by straight women which have little interest in showcasing real queer male relationships and instead serve as fantasy fulfillment for straight women using two queer men as avatars to satisfy what they feel is lacking in their own heterosexual relationships. I don't necessary have a problem with those books existing but I do take issue with that kind of storytelling overshadowing queer male content written by queer male writers.

Whew! Now that I got that out of my system, let me tell you what I loved most about the latest season of 9-1-1. It seems the showrunners and writers of this show took note of what happened with Glee and they decided to go a different route. Instead of listening to the relentless noise on the internet, they have decided to not go the safe route.

Enter: Tommy Kinard.

The romance between Buck and Tommy is truly revolutionary. As someone who grew up consuming the queer media of the 90s and early-2000s, it is quite refreshing to have a couple like Evan Buckley and Tommy Kinard on primetime television. I love that many of the scenes between these two is just slice of life. Very similar to the scenes we get between Athena and Bobby and Chimney and Maddie. I've always said that true equality is when queer people can be just as mundane as straight people. Mission accomplished. Finally, we have two queer characters just existing and being happy. No AIDS. No gay-bashing. No Don't Ask Don't Tell. No epic coming out scene. Buck and Tommy are a shining example of what queer couples can and should look like in the 2020s.

So, back to my original point. When it comes to the great ship war, please do NOT let them ruin something so groundbreaking and special. If the showrunners wanted , they could have made Buck and Eddie a thing years ago. However, that's not the direction they wanted to venture. Thank you Tim Minear for not going the safe route. I look forward to all of the rich storytelling we will get in Season 8 and I have decided that whatever happens, I'm going to enjoy this era of 9-1-1. Oliver Stark and Lou Ferrigno Jr. are amazing actors but so are Angela Bassett and Peter Krause and Aisha Hinds and Kenneth Choi. All of the actors on this show, whether main or guest or supporting, are putting their whole self into crafting the characters we know and love. Regardless of what ship you champion, keep in mind that behind these beloved characters are real, human actors who do not deserve to be bullied and harrassed and threatened due to them simply doing their job. At the end of the day, everything we see on the screen is fiction.

Okay, this has gotten really long. Stepping off of my soapbox. Remember ladies and gentlemen, it's just a show. And although it makes us feel real emotions, 9-1-1 nor Glee is real life.

[blushcoloreddreams]

5 ways to evaluate if you should date a guy

It’s a man that you can look at and think: I’d be proud to introduce them to my family

While talking he demonstrated to be a studious, hardworking man and having goals

He showed interest in you in a respectful manner

He showed to be willing to do his masculine role for this date

He’s not married

Do you know what’s the issue?

Sometimes you go out with someone just to fill a hole, some emotional need, to have "something going on in your life"... but then you end up stuck in a situation that is often completely uncomfortable:

At the same time as you want to leave, you feel like you should be more participative.

You are jot enjoying the conversation, and you can't find a way to leave.

You don’t even want to kiss the boy, but you drink too much and loses your judgment, "since he's already there"!

You doesn't want to go any further on dating him ... but you are afraid of his reaction.

Have you ever been through something like this?

So you know how you get home... once again feeling like crap.

Regretful for the time lost, for what she did and even feeling disgusted with herself.

Do you know why this happens?

Because you don't establish MINIMUM criteria to decide whether or not you're going to invest your time in a person you're meeting.

You don't know what you're looking for - and then anything will do.

If you have an intense desire, a fire... you run after a guy who is exactly everything you tell yourself you should avoid.

Women are naturally attracted to looks and good conversation - but you know that's not enough. This is not what you want for your life. So understand something simple: you need rules. Self-established rules that protect you from your own base motivations. I brought here 5 simple rules. If you follow them, I guarantee that you will get rid of most of the problems you experience when searching for a man in your life, and I will go further: I guarantee that the chances of you entering into a completely disordered relationship with the same problems as always drop by around 80%. Does it make sense to you? Tell me if you have ANY other rules that I forgot Or how have things been for you who live without these rules...

[macchiatosdumptruck]

okay but why do most villains (or exvillains like Johnny) go crazy over/because of Larusso? is it because they tried so hard to destroy him and failed, and have to live with that failure? Like with Silver. He's 100% to blame for everything, why the unhingedness?

I think that's part of it, and that's what they would probably tell others. That he was an annoying little pest who couldn't leave well enough alone and they were only giving him what was coming to him. That they were humiliated by him and angry in a very normal, masculine, heterosexual way.

But looking at how real people treat both Ralph, and the character Daniel, it has to be more than that.

I think he represents a form of masculinity that bothers them. He's too androgynous, too skinny, too pretty, but he's also very secure in himself. He doesn't see the need to puff himself up and act all macho. He's comfortable in his skin.

I think people see that and resent it. Because if they have to play by the rules (rules, being gender conformity) then he should have to as well. But instead he's somehow winning the girls and getting the trophies anyway.

Something about him deeply aggravates a certain type of man. We see it to this day, the oddly targeted and pointed hatred towards him, especially from men. He's treated in ways I've only ever seen female characters treated tbh, lol. He's the bitchy wife. He's the stuck up prick. He's the goody two shoes. He's no fun. He's the stick in the mud. Etc.

He disrupts their power fantasies I think. Which is why a certain type of Guy is so deeply invested in Johnny getting the "better" of him. Because that's the way it was supposed to be in their mind.

They want toxic masculinity to work for them, not to see an example of a guy flourishing despite denying it.

I think it is also other things. Like, with Chozen, it was a humiliation. Daniel was who he was trying to be in a way. A fitting heir. An honorable man. He bested him, and yet, he wouldn't even do Chozen the dignity of properly ending him. A bit of compassion that may have seemed like yet another embarrassment. But of course, over the years he learned otherwise, and then he started looking up to Daniel. Admiring him.

I know a lot of the fandom likes to think that Johnny was so distracted by Daniel because he was secretly running from gay thoughts, and he may well have been. But they weren't kind, I don't think. They were angry. And part of that anger was probably towards himself and kreese's and his dad, and whatever, but also part of it was very much at Daniel for being Other. Like. Right in front him.

It's so funny (not) that at the end of the movie he seems to have at least some emotional intelligence and apologizes. In the beginning of the second movie he realizes that the things he had been holding dear were poisonous.

Then he just forgot all about it because it was easier to blame Daniel, than to blame Kreese or himself. It was Daniel's fault he never had a proper relationship, it was Daniel's fault he peaked in high school. Certainly not the guy who was like low key/high key grooming a small army of child soldiers.

Mike it was just him keeping his word to his boss. It was a business thing. Monetary gain. He is also the most normal of all the people affected by Daniel LaRusso Derangement Syndrome (wow it's been a while since i typed that) but once Daniel (and Terry ) comes back into his life he's back in it again.

Terry, I mean. I have lost count of the number of times I've discussed his specific form of mental illness was tbh and it still makes me think every day. Like, I'd just be repeating things I had said in earlier asks lol.

Kreese, I think is the most upset at Daniel's version of whatever "masculinity" is because for him, he seemingly adopted his stance out of survival. (What happened between the war and the films. He was far too normal in those flashbacks) Daniel represents the sort of weakness that almost took Kreese himself out. (That he still sees sometimes in Terry)

And even still, he is insufferable enough to be so so pretty during all of this. I mean, look at how people treat the pretty boy idols of the time? No matter who they are, there are going to be people very vocally disliking them because girls like him even though [ insert whatever fallacies of masculinity here]

Like. I don't like or dislike Timothy choolamoo but the way some men can't stand him reminds me a lot of those angry men complaining that their girlfriends had a crush on Ralph in highschool.

So i think it's because he's appealing in a way that is confusing in many aspects. He's appealing in the same way cute girls are and that's Not Ok. Because they're Not Gay. But he's also appealing (and detestable) because he gets to be happy and successful in a way that doesn't make sense to them. Because he's not playing by the rules.

So, I think it all combines, and they get angry boners over it.

[juniperdugong]

Hi again!! Thank you for the choso headcanons on finding his little sister, I hope it continues! I was wondering if you could do a multiple headcanons for teen gojo, geto, Shoko and nanami getting an American transfer student to Jujutsu high.

A/N: Yep yep yep, I can do this for sure! +bonus Haibara bc he's my baby

When an American student transfers to Jujutsu High!

incl: Teen Gojo, Geto, Shoko, Nanami, and Haibara

GOJO - Nonchalant but curious - The only questions he asks the first couple of weeks are about why they're soooo special that they had to come all the way from America to Japan - Lowkey...jealous, seriously doesn't understand how someone from outside of Japanese Jujutsu Society can be inducted into the school - "Must have some really special technique or some serious skills to be able to make it here...let's test that, huh?" - Get's told off for picking on you, Yaga basically smacking him to get him to stop - Once he finds out they have a few similar interests (*cough cough* Digimon *cough cough*) he's all over them! - Woah when did y'all become so buddy buddy?? - Teaches them Japanese through anime for suresiessss

GETO - Mildly curious but very friendly! - Doesn't poke or prod too much into their life but asks the basic questions - "What's America like? I've never been." - Finds it very interesting that curses don't appear often over there (In this AU I'd like to think this is how he found out about Tengen) - Gets annoyed when Gojo starts hanging around them more...not out of jealousy but because he's extra annoying due to their shared interests now - Spars with them often to give himself a challenge that isn't Gojo's powerful ass - Asks really philosophical questions about their opinion on the Jujutsu World - "Curses are really powerful here, how were they over in America? Wouldn't it be strange if the whole world were filled with sorcerers?" - Get's super invested if they divulge any sort of information about American Jujutsu - "Do you know any other American sorcerers?"

SHOKO - I'm gonna be so real - her reaction depends on if they're more masculine or feminine - If they're more masc leaning she's SO OVER IT! Get her out of this hell hole of testosterone. - 100% wouldn't be bothered in that case either - she has Utahime but other than her, nada - If they're more fem, THANK GOODNESS! - Finally, she has someone else to help her pick out clothes and go shopping with, y'know someone who WON'T drag her to KFC or the nearest game store - "What's trending over in the States right now?" - Would be so intrigued by the American experience but always voices her shock at how different the cultures are - "It's so weird that people don't take off their shoes in the house, how do you guys live like that?"

NANAMI - Not at all interested - Doesn't ask questions and honestly is slightly irritated because the others start asking him questions about if his family is from America - Treats you just as he would anyone else, trains with you, and goes on missions with you occasionally but other than that doesn't try and create any meaningful friendships there - When they start getting close to Gojo he distances himself even more - While on a mission together he asks, "You actually like that guy? Isn't he a bit annoying?" - When they respond with, "He is, but at least he brings a bit of normalcy when I'm far away from home. Nice to find someone who shares a hobby with me" - From then on he would soften a lot toward them, making the smallest effort to connect - "Here, I got these for you. They're from America." (It's Hot Cheetos)

HAIBARA - The most curious and most intrigued - Never runs out of questions to ask and tbh they can get a bit invasive - "Where'd you live? Oh! Why are you here? Oh! Are you on the run or something? Oh oh! Is your technique super crazy good?" - Always tries to drag them into his plans because he doesn't want them to feel left out - Sends encouraging texts every morning - "Good morning! It's Haibara! You did great yesterday! You're Japanese is really improving!" - Would take them out to all his favorite restaurants and introduce them to Japanese snacks and childhood games - If they're ever feeling homesick he's the one to immediately start researching to make them feel better - Makes chicken noodle soup to try and help but doesn't really know how :/ Ends up putting ramen noodles in it

A/N: Got to this a bit later than I wanted to because I was writing perfection but thank you for the request @broad-strokes87!! This is so funny, I feel like this is how they would react if I was transferring to Jujutsu High frfr Please Reblog and Comment if you enjoyed ! (They act as power-ups for me)

Taglist (OPEN): @iluvmattyb

[tobiasdrake]

Ranma 1/2 01x08 - Darling Charlotte

Charlotte? Wait... Hang on... Isn't that... Is she supposed to be here this early?

Oh, no, it's THIS girl. My mistake.

Okay. Yeah. I completely forgot she even existed. My memory was conflating her with the... with that one.... You know who I'm talking about....

...

*google google*

Akari. I was thinking of Akari. For some reason I thought Akari was the "CHARLOTTE!!!" girl, and I remember Akari is like endgame late introduction. But she's not the Charlotte girl.

Apparently these guys are named Shingo and Kiichi according to their photos.

The stuff in brackets isn't anything interesting. It's just quoting the dialogue they deliver here.

The two Ranma photos are Saotome Ranma, but an interesting note is that the pair have different names. They're both Ranma, yes. Both of them are 早乙女 Saotome. Which, fun fact, means "young maiden responsible for planting rice". Have fun with that, Transfem Ranma headcanon team.

But the girl Ranma is named らんま Ranma in Hiragana while the boy Ranma is named 乱馬 Ranma in Kanji. Ranma's name, incidentally, means "chaos".

When P-chan hears Akane call out to him, the kanji in his eyes flip from 気絶 kizetsu meaning "faint" to 起床 kisho which means "getting out of bed".

Wait, that's who the Charlotte girl is? I remember this guy. This is the ice skater bro who Ranma and Akane have to do a doubles match against, with him and some girl.

I completely forgot that the Charlotte girl was that girl. ...and thought she was Akari instead. Wow, my memory of this series leaves a lot to be desired.

"...they're what now?" ~Junko Enoshima, intrigued.

Look at that happy smile. Azusa really wants to bean him with that table. This is her second time reaching for it.

FACT CHECK. Let's check out the replay. Aaaaaaaaand:

Oh yeah. Without a doubt. Ignore Akane's squealing gal pals and the romantic flowers in the background and just look at that face. Akane is half a second from splitting him crotch to throat with a fucking ice skate.

Ranma's challenge fish cake saved Mikado's life.

You know what's fucking hilarious about this?

1 - It would actually make more sense for Ryoga to be Akane's partner than Ranma. Like Akane, Ryoga is very invested in Akane winning the contest and getting to keep P-chan. He doesn't want P-chan going with Azusa any more than Akane does, while Ranma's kinda rooting for the enemy team.

2 - However, despite having a compelling reason for replacing Ranma in this contest, Ryoga can't actually present that argument. The only reason to let him replace Ranma is because he is P-chan. Without that context, this is a wild-ass out-of-left-field demand for him to suddenly burst out of their bathroom and issue.

3 - But if he did explain that context to Akane... he still wouldn't get to replace Ranma, because the entire purpose of even competing in this match would be instantly voided. P-chan wouldn't be welcome in her room anymore.

So he's just. Fucked. He's just fucked. His tangled web of deceptions has left him powerless to participate in something that really matters to him.

Try not to live your life like Ryoga.

So begins the era of Ranma weaponizing his curse in order to escape the pressures of his own interpretation of masculinity. He turned himself into a girl because men shouldn't be bad at ice skating. I like that Akane's a little bit offended when she finds out why he switched.

Akane: I'm not impressed! I can do that too!

The 100-man spar is a cool demonstration of how talented these two are at ice skating as a martial art. But also, this is just a typical weekday morning for Akane.

In fact, Akane's actually more impressive because this is choreographed as shit. These guys are wearing jerseys with the number of their engagement on them. They attack in sequence so Mikado and Azusa can take down 01 then 02 then 03 then 04 and on and on until they hit 100.

This is a performance, not a brawl. Most generously, it's a training exercise to help them work on specific maneuvers. A very complex and multi-person version of practicing your kata. But it's not a real fight, where Akane's version always is.

YOU PICK THAT UP RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

I mean, the collar is actually adorable and I'm kinda with Azusa on that. It's way better than P-chan's shitty neck-rag that probably smells like three months of unwashed wandering.

BUT THAT THING IS MADE OF STABBING AND THERE'S LIKE A DOZEN OF THEM FOLDED INTO ONE

DO NOT LEAVE THAT LYING ON THE RINK FOR ANYONE TO FALL ON.

The way Ranma reacts to Mikado's advances is... honestly fascinating.

We saw Akane earlier. She was a moment away from breaking this sex pest in half. We talk a lot about Flight or Fight response, and Akane has a well-honed Fight response to sexual harassment. It's. Kind of. Been a thing for her for a very long time, both the harassment and the Fight response.

But an oft-overlooked response is the Freeze response. Both times, when Mikado moves in on Ranma, his response is to Freeze. Freeze is an involuntary stress reaction that temporarily suspends both Fight and Flight.

Once the deed is done and Ranma's able to form conscious thoughts again, then we see Flight.

Until he can reassert his masculinity, and only then does he react with Fight.

Which is itself very interesting. Not just for how it speaks to Ranma's internalization of gender norms; That he reacts with Flight when female and Fight when male. But there's more than just that going on here.

Ranma doesn't just flee from the rink. He flees to the public bathhouse and throws himself into the hot bath. He's not fleeing Mikado. He's not fleeing Akane or the situation.

Being violated in this way makes Ranma flee from femininity. His immediate kneejerk reaction when his brain retains the ability to make conscious decisions is, very emotionally and very powerfully, that he desperately wants to stop being a girl now.

A tragic choice that many women don't get to make.

Not only was Akane the only person on the rink that was able to keep up with the action here - with possible exception of Mikado but explicitly not Azusa - but she was even able to count how many hits Ranma landed.

This fight establishes that Akane and Ranma are actually more formidable than Azusa and Mikado. Like, if this were a street fight, they'd trash these suckers, no problem. Pound for pound, they're tougher.

It's only because they have to compete in Azusa and Mikado's arena that this is going to be difficult. Azusa and Mikado have the home field advantage, in a contest where mobility is intensely challenging and must be mastered and controlled in addition to the fighting.

He says while wearing the fucking collar. XD

This family needs a TV. XD

[clementine-kesh]

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

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

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

[verdantwyrm]

YOU SAID TO GIVE U HEADCANNONS SO HERE IT GOES!!

Curly is a youngest sibling, and a bit of a Mama's boy. He also seems like the kind of freak to prefer diet soda BECAUSE of the weird aftertaste (he canonically doesn't like sweets very much so this is not too much of a stretch). I've also seen others headcannon him as Australian and i feel like it fits although tbf I'm definitely not Australian and i don't have any Australian friends so idk if I'm the one to judge how accurate it is lol.

Daisuke is a gyaruo (this one seems pretty popular actually but i keep seeing people say gyaru instead and it bugs me so much because gyaru is specifically referring to girls like it literally translates to "gal" in English, and gyaruo is a modified version with a masculine suffix added to include guys into the subculture. I've been a gyaru for around two years now, so I'm not like an expert but like come on it takes ten seconds of googling. Ok gyaru rant over.) he also loves stupid sitcoms and has the most random music taste. His playlist will go straight from like Britney Spears to MCR to Lana Del Rey. It doesn't bug him at all though he loves the genre whiplash.

Anya is from Minnesota (YES GIRL REPRESENT!!) and she loves Culver's. She canonically loves junk food, and Culver's is like the signature Midwest fast food restaurant so yeah. She also cuts her own hair.

swansea and his wife love the Great British Baking Show, and lots of other baking shows too. He says he only watches them because she likes him, but is secretly WAY more invested than she is.

Jimmy both kins AND has a crush on bojack horseman. He also was definitely that one person at your school who was always like "nobody wants to be my friend I'm so lonely 😔" and then when you get to know them you're like "WOW I FUCKING WONDER WHY" (the initial sympathy is what caused curly to become his friend, but since he's curly, he didn't have the heart to ditch him once he figured out why jimmy was so unpopular. Even though he definitely should have.)

Ok uhh i think that's it. Ur awesome btw. I hope this doesn't sound weird but i want to platonically shower you in delicate flowers and fine lace and chiffon and silks because you have a gorgeous mind. Sorry if that's weird. You're so cool.

Haha yes! Send the headcanons!! All of them!

Curly being the younger one in a family is honestly so cute, he reeks of perfect little mama's boy who gets his cheeks pinched by all the older ladies for being such a gentleman and so kind and so sweet. The diet soda thing is so true and as an Australian I absolutely give you permission and acknowledge your headcanon because he absolutely is.

Daisuke is definitely gyaruo! And I love love love all the art I see of him!! The playlist I have for him here is very much like that, he has alot of songs that varies in genre! And hes very much like me fr

Anya absolutely cuts her own hair and doesn't care if its slightly lopsided. To me she loves any kind of fast food especially cheeseburgers.

Swansea is also just like me, I feel like he has a guilty pleasure of watching nature documentaries too, he finds them relaxing and informative, a break fron machinery and electronics and just relax in the calmness of nature.

I also headcanon Jimmy to actually sound like bojack horseman too! They're so similar its kind of scary.... I feel like he and Curly absolutely became friends because one of them felt bad and was doing it partially because he's just to sweet for his own good.

Also thank you so much!! I've never recieved such positive responses before over something like my dumb little analyses. Your love and kind words are very much appreciated!! It's not weird at all and it makes me very happy ⊂(´･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°

[supercalime]

all those interviews are fun even with hardcore stans speculation but god i wish they kinda stopped.

like, stop having stans interviewing actors in the first place, what do you mean they talk about couch theory? are we even serious right now? it’s obvious people are going to create even weirder hc after all these interviews.

I understand the interviewers (to a degree) bringing up b*ddie and baiting Oliver and Ryan to “leak” information or address how they are defenders of the ship, as it obviously makes dramatic headlines, which causes engagement, which advertises the show and by extent the website/reporter that did the interview.

Just a bit off topic but it has to be said: most of the interviews are borderline unprofessional. Not just with the aspect of bringing up b*ddie when the recent storyline has nothing to do with eddie but also relying their questions on stereotypes about the queer community (someone unironically asked Oliver who’s buck’s favorite pop diva now that he’s queer. Like wtf).

Anyway, going back to the mess haha. I’m not surprised the stans are acting this way (I’m very new to this fandom but not to fandoms and their discourses). I’m sometimes very invested in media and there are times I do extrapolate and need to touch grass. Sometimes I feel like people who are this invested in a fictional relationship that’s not even canon just need to find a different outlet for intense feelings, and not rely on things that are out of their control.

Of course fan reaction can influence a story being told, however fans have to also know how to approach it while being respectful. In all honesty, if I were writing a show and I finally went with a storyline I wasn’t allowed to write before because the network previously denied, and that was how the fans of a ship reacted, I would be pissed. I think I would not have b*ddie be a thing out of spite.

The bi!buck/bucktommy storyline is a huge step forward for a tv show in this scale. In fact, I can’t remember other procedurals that have as many queer main characters as 911/911 lone star. It’s been said, but a story about this very masculine man that has been known as a womanizer figuring out he’s bisexual well into his thirties and in the seventh season of a very popular show that is not part of a specific niche is important and should be celebrated on its own, regardless of ships or whatever the fans have to say about the partner choice.

But let’s be real for a second as I end my little essay here. If you know a single thing about writing, you know you can’t just throw a love story without buildup and as hard as it is to accept, the interactions between buck and eddie seemed to have always been ambiguous on purpose, and buck being maybe into guys was more played off as a joke. I know the fans want the ship to happen, but if they want this love story to happen, they gotta be patient. Just commenting “we don’t like this. We want buddie!” on an ig post about tevan won’t make the story suddenly turn into that direction.

What I’m saying won’t change anyone’s mind but whoever reads until the end, I want yall to know that unfortunately every fandom is like this and we gotta try our best to stay out of the discourse cause in all seriousness: none of this matters. It’s a show and arguing about it, bothering the actors, commenting annoying things on ig won’t change anything.

[pynkhues]

I feel like this show is too smart for most of it's audience. The fact that people take Claudia's remark meant to hurt and manipulate Louis as a fact of his personality when the show has been playing out Louis's struggle with his internalised homophobia, misogyny and toxic masculinity all this time. I swear to God, I stumble upon gender essebtialist, homophobic posts in this fandom every day, especially when it comes to Louis's relationships. The reductive discussions about who is top/bottom or dom/sub in his sexual relationships are truly disgusting to me. Because they are clearly "who is the man, who is the woman" discussions cloaked into sex talk. Sorry for the rant, I am triggered today too. I actually want opinion from you about the reasons for Loumand's dom/sub dynamic, everyone always talks about how it's because of Armand's trauma but I actually think it happened because of Louis's internalised homophobia, misogyny and toxic masculinity combined with trauma. I think he's not a person that actually needs or wants to be dom permanently. I think he convinced himself that this is who he is because it allows him to tell himself he's a real man even if he's gay. I'm rambling too much, I'm sorry!🙈

Ah, anon! Please don't apologise, and I'm sorry it's taken me a couple of days to reply after my own annoyed rambling, haha. It's just been a busy week, and it's often quicker and easier to send a reply to asks that, well, ask a bit less (and please, that's not a criticism, I love longer, more provocative asks, and I have a lot more in my inbox I want to get to!).

I don't know if I think the show is too smart for people. I think everyone and anyone can and does have the capacity to engage in a show like this - it's not that clever or pretentious - but I do think the current state of fandom and social media means that a concept gets floated and people get swept up in it.

We're living in an increaingly disconnected society and people seek community through things like fandom and so it becomes natural to lean in, to not question, to consume media as a part of something as opposed to as an individual. I think it's too easy to become a BNF in that sense (I know, I've been one previously, and while I love having chill convos with you guys and writing fic, I don't want to be like - - a known entity in this fandom, haha), especially if you know how to write an argument, and that the result of that is a blog / user becomes a meeting point for fans who are just hungry for engagement and the more-more-more pipeline that's a byproduct of the era we live in.

It's the same across the board, right? Whether you're arguing Louis' 'woman-coded' on tumblr, or being dogmatic about an interpretation of - - I don't know, a TSwift song, i think it all comes from the same place, and I don't think intelligence plays as much of a role as perhaps social skills and personal investment in the actual source material. Is it the art that matters to you, or the community/fandom? Because that's going to motivate your engagement in very different ways.

In regards to your actual question though:

I talked about it a bit in this post, but I think Louis stepping into that role with Armand was hugely about his own issues of identity at that point in the story. Claudia asking him who he was without her or Lestat was basically the set-up for Louis' arc across the season, and Louis tried and failed to do something on his own which left him searching for something familiar - "running things".

I think the d/s dynamic with Armand though worked two-fold - it positioned Louis closer to power, made him feel he had a purpose in guiding Armand through the theatre drama, but I also think it probably helped him to regain a sense of romantic control. We tend to focus a lot on Lestat's abuse of Louis as being what wrenched Louis' grip on himself away, but the reality is that was just a part of that. The point is that Louis and Lestat never feel clear-headed when they're around each other, they're never rational, even when they're at their most loving, which Louis knows because he's hearing and feeling it through Dreamstat.

That dynamic in the relationship with Armand is, to me, about a lot of things, but a huge part of that is just about Louis feeling like he's in control of both the romantic dynamic and, I'd argue, himself again. And I agree, I don't think Louis wants to be a dom permanently by any stretch of the imagination, but I think he understood Armand, at least that part of him, and saw a way they could be symbiotic. Which they were for a chapter! They just lasted probably 70 years longer than they should have, haha.

[mmmmalo]

Do you have any thoughts on what's up with hussie obsession with combining established characters in the latter half of the comic? Davepeta, Jasprose, Lord English, all the rest of the alpha kid sprites? If that goes towards a discussion of Ultimate Selves, why is the most complete version of yourself someone who isnt even solely you anymore? Love your analysis!

Hello, welcome! Here's a couple approaches:

Sprites, like other alt-selves, can serve the elaboration of self-loathing: Characters want to be happy and are very scared that they are incapable of being happy. Seeing a version of themselves that achieved happiness by integrating another person can be a nightmare, seemingly confirming that misery is a defining feature of their existence. AR mocks Dirk in these terms, leveraging both his alleged supercomputer brain and his integration of Equius to make Dirk feel inferior, intrinsically lacking. Though in Vriska's case, the lack of modification on (Vriska) was also infuriating: their sameness meant that Vriska was not, as she likes to claim, the way she is entirely out of necessity. Alternate selves have a way of making people question themselves, mingled or no.

Sprites provoke an audience response: fans get angry when characters are diluted, be that through prototyping sprites or through "mischaracterization", flanderization, or other unpopular modes of personality change. Rose might call this protecting the brand. So you could allege, as the guys on HMTW occasionally do, that this gesture of defying brand integrity is calculated to raise reader engagement by corrupting a quality of the narrative that readers are invested in. It's a method of trolling.

It's a race-mixing joke: The word "miscegenation" (which replaced the earlier “amalgamation”) was originally coined in an ostensibly abolitionist pamphlet by pro-slavery agents. Their goal was to weaken the Lincoln election campaign by provoking a fear that gene-mixing was the explicit goal of the abolitionists, claiming in the pamphlet that race-mixing created a superior class of being. Insofar as Homestuck is a parody of racist rhetoric, the claim that the Ultimate Self (and the Ultimate Frog) is the product of the endless recombination of divergent selves seems downstream of this sort of sexualized racial fear-mongering -- Rose's ascension (ie her dilution) in the Epilogues plays into this by casting Kanaya as the impotent white cuck against Dirk's black stud: "Hes Going To Take Good Care Of Rose; Probably Much Better Than Id Ever Be Able To" is euphemism for sexual potency. (Cuck jokes have followed Kanaya since her early chatlogs: recall the phrase "Watching Oblong Meat Products Tumble Into Places They Dont Belong") Saturating the narrative with distraught reactions to more abstracted amalgamation serves the story's racial subtext

This isn't by any means exhaustive -- abstract fears of mixing and merging can also be applied to coitus, pregnancy, the blurring of masculine and feminine, etc. The narrative achieves its density and sense of abstraction by applying itself to multiple motifs at once, I tend to think. The different approaches can euphemize one another

[savage-rhi]

Reverse Uno: now you do Karl and Ardyn >:3

I'VE WAITED ALL DAY TO COME HOME FROM A 10 HR SHIFT TO DO THIS SO DON'T MIND IF I FUCKING DO @seradyn

Karl Heisenberg

First impression: I thought he was going to play a significant role in RE8, perhaps even fall into the trope where he's truly the Big Bad (TM) versus Mother Miranda. I think I got that impression because Karl always came across as smarter than he lets on. Either way, I knew I was gonna fucking love this dude. Does he look like trash? Yep. Does he hold a grudge? Yep. Sign me up! 

Impression now: CAPCOM YOU FUCKED UP. WHY DIDN'T YOU UTILIZE THIS GUY FURTHER IN THE DAMN PLOT?! WHY DIDN'T HE AND ETHAN PARTNER UP?!

That's seriously my biggest gripe when it comes to Karl, he's a great character that didn't get used to his full potential. I mean, sure that gives fanfic writers such as myself a lot to play with and makeup, but he deserved better. Karl's character was fucking fun. I could tell his motion capture and VO artist had a great time playing hobo metal man (Neil Newbon you sold it, mother fucker).

Seriously, Karl is hot trash but he's my hot trash. I'll defend him all the way.

Favorite Moment: In every scene Karl is in, he just steals the damn show. I always enjoy the scene where he confronts Ethan with partnering up (Ethan, you should've taken the hobo's hand) and goes on a verbal rampage about the other lords and how much he despises Miranda. You can feel his passion and hate for what's become of his life, and even sense how desperate he is to get out of it by any means necessary.

Idea for a story: I've been working on a story with Karl called The Sacrifice that takes place years before the events of RE8. Karl falls in love with a gal named Sonja Ainsley, and this pushes him to wanting to break free from the village and Miranda's clutches.

The story is on hiatus, but I intend to finish it when I get the motivation again. I love him and Sonja very much.

Unpopular Opinion: For all his bravado, Karl is sensitive and cautious deep down. I’ve read many stories where is unyielding and very sexual (ngl I indulge in that cause I’m nasty like everyone else on here lol) but given the abuses he has endured, I think he would be quite reluctant to indulge himself with someone until several layers were peeled back and his partner gained his trust. 

Favorite Relationship: I ship Karl with happiness. I don’t care if it’s an OC, Reader, Canon, etc. etc. etc. I just want this fucking hob goblin to feel like he’s on top of the world and has support. I love reading material where he gets to just fucking live and be happy. 

Favorite headcanon: Karl is quite good at making jewelry pieces. 

Karl is artistically inclined and enjoys sketching, and doodling. He keeps most of his pieces to himself since he considers having a hobby like that could lead him to being taken advantage of (he’s kind of a victim of toxic masculinity there in that regard, where “men can’t like things like the arts without being seen as less than”). 

Karl struggled with reading well into his early 20s, but he taught himself and is quite fond of novels (Sonja helps him there in The Sacrifice, and he likes Pride and Predjudice). 

Moreau and he watch TV together, and they get invested and I do mean invested to the point where they both yell and scream at the characters on TV for fucking up. 

Ardyn Izunia/Lucis Caelum

First Impression: I want to preface by saying that my late grandmother bestowed upon me the knowledge to protect myself from peculiar people. She told me to never trust a man who has shaved off his eyebrows and never trust a man that wears a tunic. All her wisdom couldn’t prepare me for what the fuck to do about a man who wears over 5 layers of clothing, and looks like a homeless guy who walked into a thrift shop and picked out every item that screamed, “Hi there, I’m Johnny Depp.” I’m frightened, but I gotta follow my principles: does he look like trash? Check. Does he hold a grudge? Check. Okay everyone…let’s pray….

Impression now: Your honor, I love him. I love his quirkiness. I love his humor. I love his mannerisms. I love his darkness. I love his imperfections. I love his humanity and lack thereof. I love his daemon form. I love his charisma. I love how he carries himself. I love his ambition. I love how unsettling he can be. I love his wild hair. I love his piercing eyes. I love how he used to love and care for others. I love how he tried to hold onto himself despite failing. I love how he’s unapologetic. I love his faults. I love his flaws. I love that I see bits of myself in him. I love his bloodlust. I love his taunts. I love his sarcasm. I love how tragic his story is. I love how unyielding he can be. I love him. Break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar.

Favorite Moment: Pretty much everything he is in. However I adore his entire appearance in the Lestallum chapter. You can tell he’s clearly up to shit, but can’t necessarily prove it. Hell, I even felt bad for judging him after he goes through the trouble of saving everyone’s ass in a later part of that section. I even had a moment of second guessing. 

Idea for a story: I already wrote an Ardyn x OC (Caelan) story called Immortal Shield. I wanted to give Ardyn a happier ending, and explore his character if he were resurrected years after the final battle with Noctis (went with the Dawn of the Future ending). I think it turned out okay.

Cause I am not over him by any means, I’m working on a Ardyn x Reader story. It takes place two years before the events of the game. I’m 10 chapters in thus far. 

Unpopular Opinion: Ardyn is one of the best FF villains in the franchise. I’ve seen people complain about him being lackluster as a character (from his quirks/backstory, to the final battle cause he didn’t have a ‘final form’). Then there’s the camp that sees the adoration fans have for him and go, “tragic guy does tragic and terrible things and people make excuses for him”. I mean…yeah, to a degree? But what makes me still stand by my statement is the fact that unlike most FF villains: the guy actually fucking wins. We are talking about a man who spent YEARS and I mean fucking YEARS plotting, wearing various masks, and lining up pieces to ensure he would FINALLY get to rest in peace after all the shit he had been forced to endure. That is dedication and shows how he’s so damn dangerous and intelligent. A man that can bide his time for thousands of years isn’t someone to fuck around with. 

Favorite Relationship: Ardyn x Aera. Those two deserved happiness and peace. I also ship him with OCs, other canon characters, and readers/inserts. I love stories where no matter who it’s with, he is appreciated and cherished. 

Favorite headcanon: Ardyn’s love language is gift-giving. If he sees something that reminds him of someone, he’ll get it for them or even try his hand at making the thing himself if he wants to go the extra mile. Getting a gift from him says A LOT, and the people around him know it’s kind of a big fucking deal. 

Being a former healer, he’s very much in tune with people’s emotions that it’s almost like a 6th sense. Even being corrupted by the star scourge, he can never truly tune that part of himself out. He uses this natural gift to manipulate others to get ahead. 

Since sweets like chocolate and other delicacies were rare and quite expensive 2,000 years ago, Ardyn takes full advantage of modern decadence. The man’s got candy everywhere. 

[mossy-thing]

@outofangband @main-to-outofangband is the recreation of the post you were asking me about. I tried to keep it as close to the original as I could, so I hope what you wanted to comment on is still there

Something I really admire about Tolkiens writing is that he manages to write m/f relationships that don't bore me but actually make me interested and invested in their story.

I am sure that many of you can relate to this, but I would like to say it regardless: Growing up queer with basically no media representation makes me want to throw up whenever I see a generic female lead start fluttering her eyes at a generic male lead who is ten years older than her and just tried to kill her.

So why am I so excited about, for example, Beren and Lúthien?

Let me explain. What Tolkien does is simple yet genius: he switches up the powerdynamics. He takes a guy, drags him through the most traumatic shit possible so he is permanently covered in blood and tears, makes it seem like he has grown unapprochable and dangerous because of it (Think Beren fighting armies of orcs completely on his own), and lets him run wild for a bit.

Then he takes a woman, who is one of the most etheral and powerful beings in general and who also seems unapprochable and dangerous, not because of what she has gone through, but because of who she is.

Now he takes both of them, drops them in a 10 mile radius of one another like a chemist would drop sulfur and salpeter acid into grape juice, and lets them react. And then the magic happens.

The man immediately turns into a himbo ("Can you teach me how to dance?") and the woman into a girlboss who WILL tear apart the world if anyone dares to hurt her man. They fall in love, and it feels so real.

They are so passionate and honest about each other, so much so that the narrative eventually grows bored of it and throws an AND THEN CAME CELEGORM WITH THE SPEAR at the two (which set off the funniest fight scene I ever read).

And throughout it all, while the main plot is going on, Beren is just kind of... there. He tries to go off on his own two times and Lúthien just shows up and makes it clear that "Yes Beren, I understand you want to keep me safe, but I am half angel and you are a himbo, if I don't come with you, you will die with a 100% certainty, and I would rather be tortured by Morgoth than let that happen. I'm coming with you, you fool."

And after the second time, he is fine with it. He doesn't feel threatened in his masculinity or whatever any Tom Cruise character would do, but he respects her wishes and is just thankful that she is with him on this journey.

She has to save him multiple times and he is nothing but thankful. He falls asleep while she fights Morgoth (and I know why, but it feels like Tolkien saying: Alright, Lúthien is being epic, fuck I forgot to write what Beren is doing, errrrr, he's under her spell too. Yup.) But the best part is that, while the powerdynamics are switched up, there is no moment where he is afraid of her in a "Fuck you could literally tear me apart", kind of way.

He simply loves her and she simply loves him. That is a given fact.

We need more pathetic man/powerful girlboss relationships guys, if a white english guy could do this in the 20s then so can we!

[hologramcowboy]

I’m going to a con in the next few months and I want so badly to write Jared and Jensen short letters of my appreciation for the show and the comfort they have given fans through their panels. I also, so want to express to Jensen, in particular, that he deserves to be happy in his personal life without sounding condescending, or like an over-invested weirdo. It’s not like I think about these guys 24/7 or think I know them. I could never tell either J I love them like so many fans do, because I don’t truly know them and the world means too much for me to throw it around. But, I do care about both guys, and the public pictures I see of Jensen and the stories he tells make me ache for him. Some of his discontent is definitely his own doing, but Jensen looks like a man who is hurting, his eyes look empty and not in a vapid posing way, but a deeply sad way. I have felt that look in my own eyes when I was at my lowest. I wish I could pick the right thing to say to resonate and help him see that his married/cool guy image isn’t as important as his mental health and life. Maybe if enough fans showed they cared about him, and weren’t just drooling over his looks and perceived "perfection," it might strike a chord. He’s certainly not hearing that he deserves to be happy at home if he is walking around like a zombie.

Jared, I would mostly just thank for the kindness he shows to the world, and the way he’s given people support or a lifeline just by sharing his own struggles. I think he looks better than he has in years, though I even notice his eyes look a vpbit sad at times. It’s stressful times in the industry right now, though, so that could be it. I think he seems pretty fulfilled with his life and family.

The problem is, I’m not sure either guy would truly stop and read a letter, or if it could even be received as intended, as something beyond a "delusional fan" fawning. I honestly doubt they read everything they are given, and I don’t even blame them, but that’s what I’d like to do if I thought it might matter to them.

Heartwarming post, Anon. If you feel inspired to do something go for it! Actors feel very rewarded when fans genuinely connect with them. It's why they become actors in the first place, the need to be loved.

Please never put yourself down, nothing you wrote is even remotely delusional, you are coming from a caring place and that in itself is healing to the person on the receiving end even if you might not know the details of what is hurting Jensen right now.

On Jensen being unfulfilled with his life and family, he has given us plenty of signals and made plenty of choices that strongly hint he is unsatisfied on a personal level. Danneel neglects him emotionally, we saw this with the Rust incident and all the stories he tells are about her violating his boundaries, preferences and dignity and most especially his masculinity. A man that cannot step into the leader he was born to be because he is constantly undermined by a deceitful wife cannot be fulfilled. He keeps saying he does not want to stop working and keeps making choices that keep him away from his family despite being away for soooo long with SPN. That proves his family is not his highest value because if it was, he would make choices like what Jared did (moving his show to his hometown so he could always be present for his kids). Jensen could choose to only work in his home market, he aims to be away from his family instead and I suspect it is because he knows that is the only way his marriage can survive. He is like a visitor in his own home and that's because he's learned that Danneel is unlivable with for long periods of time. Not necessarily cause there's something with her, he definitely didn't marry her for love and so it's natural that being truly present and involved is difficult since she is clearly not the one. Their marriage is all staged moments and embellished stories (still curious which pr nut is advising them so badly) that do not resonate with authentic people because people can feel the energy of something. I don't even consider them a couple, they are forced, staged and completely lack chemistry which is endlessly sad as they are actors and actors know how to create chemistry. They can't even bring themselves to do that, why are they even together? They should consider how that blatant lack of love will translate to their children and affect them negatively.

Sorry, got a little off topic. If you feel you have something empowering and loving in your heart to share it's worth making the attempt to do so. You never know how it might impact someone.

{EDIT} changed a phrase in my response after I read this again since I had misread what the anon wrote, sorry my brain is fried today.