#how his plotline and history is done

[kaeyachi]

The fact that Clothar has repeatedly mentioned how taboo it is that he had an illegitimate child with a non-Khaenri'ahn.

How his family had plans for him that misaligned with how he wanted to live his life with the one he truly loved.

In addition, he is still clearly and vehemently against the archons and worshipping them.

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.

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And then we remember Kaeya.

Kaeya, who has implied that he is not a full-blooded Khaenri'ahn.

Kaeya, who may possibly be a child the main Alberich line would have hated or ostracized had the cataclysm not have happened.

Kaeya who is now dubbed by their father as their "Last Hope".

Kaeya, who was left in the city of freedom. The same man who frequently drinks with the very archon his countrymen would have wanted to see dead.

Do you see how it seems like the tables have turned? How the world turned upside-down with just 1 cataclysmic event?

Kaeya is always contradictory to the common definition of the words he is described as on the surface. He is a cryo user who loves the summer season. He is a knight who schemes and plots in the dark. He is a Khaenri'ahn who wants the freedom of Mondstadt.

[autisticrosewilson]

so I’m not a fan of Talia (this is important to my ask) but i see a lot of Talia fans. and i really want to ask, without anyone getting angry, why people are fans of her with her history?

the main things i know about her are how she drugged Bruce to make Damian in Batman and Son, and her relationship with Nyssa in Death and The Maidens.

is there more to it? i don’t want to explore on my own if its just that it’s never explained, is there an arc to reference or anything?

That arc is actually retconned because Grant Morrison admitted that it was racist characterization.

Talia had 30 years of characterization before Damian needed a sad backstory. She WASN'T raised as an assassin, she was studying to be a doctor when her and Bruce met. Because she was invented in the 70's she was modeled more after your typical bond girl, and leaned more towards spy than assassin. She hated killing and felt immense guilt the few times she had to.

Her and Bruce loved each other deeply, but Talia also loved her father. Ra's tends to get sanded down to "insane, cruel, and needlessly violent", but the whole point of the league is preserving the environment and endangered species. Talia agrees with his goal, but not his methods and this conflict is what allows Bruce to come between them.

For a lot of her history her main conflict is between the man she loves and the man who raised her, which changes in Damian's ORIGINAL origin, Son of the Demon. Bruce enthusiastically consents and is excited to have a baby with Talia, but Talia realizes that Bruce will never give up Batman and that whether she raises the child herself or gives him to Bruce he'll never get to have a normal life. So she tells Bruce she lost the baby and gives up Damian for adoption in secret.

The next big change in her character happens in JLA: Tower of Babel, explicitly said to be the FIRST time she's ever helped her father with one of his big schemes and she hates it. This marks her breaking point as she ditches Ra's entirely. This leads into President Luthor Secret Files where she takes over Lex Corp and GUTS it. Naturally Clark is suspicious of her, but she continues to help Bruce.

Then, Death and The Maidens happens. Talia is tortured and brainwashed. Batman, supposedly the world's greatest detective, explicitly said to LOVE Talia, sees this extreme shift in loyalties and behaviour, and leaves. Either not noticing or not caring. There is no resolution to this plotline.

Damian's nonconsensual origin follows this up on the basis that Talia's character after she's been brainwashed is just, who she is and who she's always been. Unfortunately it became her most popular story, and even though it's no longer canon it's done UNTOLD damage to her character.

Talia is so deeply compassionate and she cares so much for everyone and everything. She's endearing and she's insanely competent and her moments with Bruce are some of the most genuinely heart wrenching I've ever read. Batman Chronicles #8 continues to be one of my favorite comics EVER. I highly recommend you read her 70's-90's comics.

[bloomeng]

I feel like something a lot of people miss when discussing DC canon is context.

(Warning: Mentions of canon sexual assault scenes)

So today I saw a discussion about Alfred's fanon perception versus canon reality. I wouldn't say op was criticizing people for thinking of him as a sweet old man, merely just pointing out that he's canonly not so innocent and it goes unaddressed. He was the one who nudged Tim into the Robin mantle and he was the one who stripped it from him and gave it to Damian without asking. There's a whole plotline about how he had a daughter that he abandoned. He was the one who put up the "soldier" plaque memorial. All of these things are true, however, I don't think it was the writers' intentions to paint a lot (not all) of his actions as negative. In fact, the writing often goes out of its way to paint Alfred as a martyr. That doesn't make his actions right, nor does it mean that someone is wrong for being upset with him, but it also means that people aren't stupid or wrong for interpreting his character as this beacon of virtue. It's also notable that most people are probably more acquainted with his animated and film adaptations where he hasn't done any of the things I've listed.

Context is always important when analyzing media, but it is ESPECIALLY important when discussing DC because of the sheer volume of authors writing for a single character.

This is why there are so many arguements about whether or not Bruce is a bad father. When you have so many authors writing a character for close to a century, you're going to have inconsistencies and their takes on the character will contradict. We can go in circles bringing up issues that prove either side, but it's futile. Everyone is entitled to their feelings towards things that happen in canon, but I don't think it's fair to pass ultimate judgement based on something that was often written by one shitty writer.

Now disregarding DC canon is something the fandom is selectively good at, but the curtesy is not extended evenly. Going back to Alfred for a moment. A legit criticism of the writing is that he abandoned his daughter and that isn't really addressed outside of the issue that introduced it. And I think the reality is that DC often recognizes their mistakes after the fact and isn't equipped to handle the conversations they start so they quietly retcon. Which isn't great, but I also think it's a silent mercy. See not addressing something is bad, but putting out offensive media is more detrimental IN MY OPINION.

This is even more evident when it comes to DC's history with depicting sexual assault. They constantly back themselves into corners. I really appreciated that Gail Simone's Batgirl run retconned the Joker's sexual assault against Barbara. SA is something that is important to talk about but it's also something that needs to be treated with care. What happened to Barbara was not a productive conversation. There were so many gross undertones of the Joker specifically sexually assaulting her. Same with Talia sexually assaulting Bruce. There are very real racist undertones. There is a time and place to discuss male victims and the way male rape victims are written off, but the story is not concerned with having that conversation. So now we’re not only not having that conversation but we’re also stereotyping and villainizing POC women which also has real world consequences.

Now this next part might get me boos from the audience but to me this also extends to Dick and Tarantula. I know a lot of people want DC to acknowledge what happened, but to that I'm like why? Devin Grayson is a notably bad writer when it comes to Dick. There are racist undertones to having Tarantula sexually assault Dick. Devin is literally known for making Dick Roma for fetish reasons. Before this Dick Grayson was a white character, who was already written to be flirty and sexual. These are all important things to consider about the context of the writing. I think it would actually be best if DC did what Gail Simone did with Batgirl. I think it’s unfair to not give these WOC characters the same treatment of understanding when their actions are shitty because of shit authors.

Real world context is vital for understanding these fictional stories. Batman can't kill because that would mean they would have had to be constantly introducing new villains and it would be less child friendly. Robin was introduced to the story because they were trying to market to children. Batman continuing to recruit children is about marketing to kids. The hyper-focus on Dick's romantic life was in part an effort to fight gay allegations. These are all important factors to consider if you're discussing DC critically.

Like realistically yeah it sucks so bad that Alfred and Bruce allowed children to fight crime. But it's also notable to mention that Dick forced Bruce's hand, Bruce was really trying to stop this kid from murdering a man. It was a compromise. Alfred and Dick may have pushed Tim to become Robin but he was already one foot out the door. Damian and Cass were trained by assassins. None of these kids are realistic depictions of children, even if they are relatable. When you read a superhero comic you are suspending a certain level of disbelief and I don't think it's the hot take people think it is to criticize Batman for allowing kids to fight.

Like cool, then we don't have a story. Nothing about superheroes are realistic. Why is this the line we draw in the sand?

I didn't know when to bring this up, so I'm going to awkwardly tack it on at the end. So the "Nothing Butt Nightwing" webcomic... Yeah it looks not good, but a lot of people are calling it out for sexualizing Dick, which once again to me fails to understand the outside context. There is a difference between sexualizing and sexualization of an ethnicity. As I mentioned, for most of Dick's run he was a white character who was written to be flirty. Devin was fetishizing him, but allowing Dick to remain a flirty character is not an act of fetish based sexualization. Personally I think it’s more harmful to get rid of core aspects of his character now that he is canonly Romani. Not to mention that if we address the SA with his character we are now back in this place of stereotyping and bad undertones. So until DC is ready to tell a legitimate story about male SA victims I'd rather the Dick Grayson thing be left silently in the past. I'm so hyper aware that I'm in the minority though. I agree it could be really powerful to have one of those stories be told but consider how harmful it would be to continue to imply these things about WOC.

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Initial thoughts on that article - I’m excited! I mean the journalist needs to do a bit more homework (I’m looking at you sentence about Eddie kissing Kim!) and I’m always going to take anything Tim says in an article with a giant handful of salt, but by and large all he said is telling me that the arcs for all our characters seem to be interesting and varied.

This got so very long so it’s going below the cut - but if you only want to read the buddie stuff then start reading where I’ve changed the text colour (so you can find it easily - because I’m nice like that!) 🐝🐝🐝

I love that Tim described madney and henren as being a family unit outside of the firehouse and I’m really excited to see that built upon - I loved that we got more hen and Maddie interactions last season and I want more of it. So I’m looking forward to seeing that dynamic develop as part of the Mara arc.

Ortiz hs so much potential to be a truly great villain - with a more sustained arc - something the show hasn’t ever really done and I’d like them to. Ortiz v Hen as a half season or more plotline would be so good and exploring corruption in politics and how it corrupts other public systems and services would be such a great thing to explore (and Aisha would knock it out of the park)

I’m going to say here that season 8 is very much screaming season 3 redux at me - all of the things we know thus far all seem to parallel season 3 events, even down to the bee-nado - which is starting to sound more and more like a mirror of the tsunami - in that the tsunami wave itself was only a brief thing, but the aftermath was where the major incidents and action was for all the various characters and the set up of their arcs. And Tim saying the bees set up I’m super excited for that as a concept.

Since we first saw them filming on a plane I’ve been wondering if we were going to be seen if another 70’s disaster movie homage and it seems I was right - my money is on Airport 77 being the movie in question

And I’m really interested in who it’s going to showcase and what part of her history were exploring. I would really love to see them exploring the Jeffery arc and her trauma from that, but I’m not sure that’s what we’ll be getting (Jeffery being dead doesn’t negate this exploring that part of her story I just don’t think it’s where we’re going)

My feeling is it’s connected into Emmett in some way. It was ‘resolved’ in Athena begins and then never really spoken of again, so maybe we’ll be seeing Dennis Jenkins (the guy who shot Emmett) as one of the prisoners on the plane and Athena will have to confront her remaining trauma there and possibly the damage arresting DJ has had after all that time he passed.

On to Bobby - what can I say technical consultant bobby is going to be perfection. Bobby has had some heavy arcs over the past couple of seasons so it’s pretty obvious he’s got the comic relief arc for at least 8a. I’m really looking forward to seeing Bobby being done with Hollywood etc. And I’m really excited to see how they get him back to the 118 where he belongs.

Onto the bit I know most of you are reading this for!!

The Buck arc is screaming lawsuit redux at me and that ties in nicely to Bobbys arc. Instead of Buck being stopped from returning to the 118, this time it’s Bobby. Gerrard is the Chase Matthew’s of this situation and so I remain convinced of my assertion that buck (having learnt from the lawsuit arc) is going to initially fail against Gerrard before he figures out getting close to him and therefore being able to figure out his weaknesses is the best way to get rid of him and get Bobby back.

The Buck T*mmy section in the article of it all has me laughing so very hard I nearly fell off my chair.

Look, this ‘relationship’ is still fairly new and they are still in the ‘getting to know each other’ phase, so I wouldn’t be expecting Tim to start waxing lyrical about them as a couple, but saying this;

To describe the first queer relationship of one of your mains, whose entire storyline last season was his bi awakening, when it’s at the point when everything should still be new and exciting isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of said relationship.

It’s entirely possible to gush about a relationship - especially one that is essentially groundbreaking on your show - without giving any plot away or making it seem like they’re endgame.

More comfortable together is the only thing you could come up with to describe them as a couple? - what does that really mean? Comfortable is how you describe a pair of slippers or an old hoodie that’s all worn in and soft. If you’re using more comfortable as one descriptor in a longer sentence with other descriptors that shows the development of said relationship then that’s totally acceptable. But to use it as the only one (aside from saying they’re a couple), well that screams of a relationship that is a plot device.

And you know what else backs that up as a concept - Tim proceeds to use the rest of his answer to the question about Buck and T*mmy’s relationship to talk about Eddie and Eddie and Buck and their relationship. So what I’m getting is that Eddie is still at the centre of things within that relationship - just as he has been throughout the entirety of s7 - where Buck and Tommy managed to have a grand total of 3 scenes out of nearly 20 together where Eddie wasn’t either present or spoken about at length (and one of those was literally just a scene of them kissing!)

Even using the word comfortable again to describe Buck, Tommy and Eddie hanging out together (anticipating some sort of scene that echoes the karaoke bar scene - where we get petty jealous Eddie and I can’t wait!). Which means comfortable is a very intentional word choice - not one that bodes well for the longevity of the reltionship.

So what I’m getting from that. Is that ‘more comfortable together’ means boring and that Tim is using the relationship to create the same distance we saw between Buck and Eddie in season 3 during the lawsuit arc - the distance that ultimately brought them even closer together and led to Eddie changing his will.

Season 3 was when the show really established buddie as a thing - they lay the foundations in s2, but s3 was when they tested and then built the walls of that dynamic ready for the pieces to be put into place over seasons 4 & 5 so they could make buddie canon.

This BT relationship is literally being used to put Eddie in the same space he was in in s3 - isolated (thank you Ryan for that word choice!) because Buck is not available to him as much (or at all in the case of s3) so he spiralled out in his grief over Shannon’s death and joined a fight club.

All this to say that the chess pieces are being manoeuvred in a really positive direction on the buddie front and I expect to see 8a following a somewhat similar pattern as 3a did - big opening disaster which sets up the various arcs, which includes being shown buck and Eddie’s closeness initially, only to separate them off for a bit so Eddie can have his gay awakening (fight club minus the fight club) and Buck can do some more figuring out about what he actually wants of his own (lawsuit without the law suit) and then bring them back together in time for Christmas - which they will spend together with a newly returned Christopher (mirroring s3 Christmas perfectly) and the rest of the firefam.

Even the Eddie question backs up this as a theory;

I’m fully expecting to get Eddie having conversations with his parents - via call and FaceTime - but not with Chris because he still won’t talk to his dad. The choice to say everything has been stripped away from him except his job is also giving some echoes of s5 - juxtaposing when Eddie essentially had everything else except his job which lead to his breakdown. Tim is a master of deploying subterfuge whilst also using very intentional words - so this comment is making me excited. It’s (to me at least) saying that Eddie is secure in his job and there is not really going to be any drama on the job front. That in the past eddie connected his worth to whatever job he was doing (army, his three jobs in El Paso firefighter) so when the job was taken away he had no worth and that therefore meant he was a failure as a father and a husband - so he spiralled out. Now he has his job and he’s in a good place with that and knowing how his worth as a person isn’t tied into that job. Now instead he has nothing else - all the things he’d tied his worth onto away from his job are suddenly gone so he has to go back to the drawing board and this time look at himself and who he actually is and why he wants.

The choice of the word ‘hell’ is also a choice - ‘who the hell he is’ - season 7 laid the groundwork for edddies reckoning with the catholic faith (former nun Marisol, Eddie talking about being a lapsed catholic and catholic guilt and bobby giving Eddie the bible etc) and we know they’ve been filming in a church. Hell as a word choice is just backing that up and hinting at the idea that Eddie figuring out who he is and choosing living his life as his true self would damn him to hell in the eyes of his religion. So gay Eddie here we go!!

This was supposed to be a quick ‘ooh I’m excited everything is being perfectly set up’ post and then I did my usual thing and write a mammoth essay 🤣 so if you’ve read all of this - thank you and I love you and I hope you enjoyed it - can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

[janaknandini-singh999]

~ What Heeramandi Could Have Been ~

I loved the aesthetics ngl but ig I don't even need to get started on the plotline. By the end it was a rushed chaos of jealousy turned patriotism with the tawaifs going for each other's throats but suddenly coming together and cornering the Britishers. SLB thought he has a series in his hands now so he can mix everything together but what ended up was kinda a mess. I feel like they could've made two seasons instead, focusing s1 on the feud between Mallikajaan and Fareedan with its finale episode of Fareedan realizing what extent she had pushed Mallikajaan over and the grave sin she had made her suffer (the assault by Cartwright and the british police) and then S2 for the nationalist awakening and unity of Heeramandi

Here are some plot changes/additions they could've had according to me:

• Lajjo: Honestly I feel her character was wasted when it was so intriguing. Heeramandi especially Shahi Mahal revolved around matriarchy and how women were not tied down by men but Lajjo's character was an exception where she was controlled by her one sided love for Zorawar. She suffered from erotomania delusional disorder and used alchohol to cope. I found myself calling her female Devdas and felt bad that she didn't have much role in the plot, killing her off too soon without showing much depths and repercussions adding to the story. How her decisions and addiction spiralled her down to her own doom but with a last salute

They could've maybe shown Lajjo being reckless and impulsive without Zorawar so rushing to the frontline during the nationalist movement to sacrifice herself first out of everyone because she had no other hope to look forward for in her life anyway

"Zorawar ne kabhi saath nahi diya iss tawaif ka but iss mitti ne toh hamesha diya"

A queen of darkness and heartbreak in her own right

• Alamzeb & Tajdar: They could've been soo much better. Alam had understood that Tajdar's duties were towards his country as well. She could've teamed up with him in his missions, being a strength not an obstacle in his responsibilities. Alam, Taj and Bibbo working together in the rebellion

And Tajdar didn't deserve to be beaten to death like a dog by the britishers in jail after being sent there by his own father, but an honourable one after accomplishing a mission and being remembered like Shaheed Bhagat Singh

"Inquilaab aur ishq mein koi farq nahi hain"

A pair of patriotic tragic lovers in their own right

• Qudsia: She could've had such a major role to play in the entire series. Being married into the influential nawab lineage of Baloch and being a woman of her own mind, she could've proved to have substantial value too. By her interactions with Mallikajaan, it was evident that they had known each other since long and shared some history, probably going back to the time Mallikajaan had dethroned Rehaana and began her climb on the ladder of power in Heeramandi. They could've shown flashbacks of young Qudsia and Mallikajaan meeting for the first time as well, both women from different backgrounds respecting each other since then and Qudsia reminiscing how things take a full circle now that her own grandson was in love with her friend's daughter.

When the nawabs boycotted the tawaifs of Heeramandi in the end by the orders of the British, Qudsia could've used her son, who was full of guilt and remorse anyway after indirectly killing his own son so would've finally given up and given in, to get his connections and influence to get hold on the other nawabs and then she could've given their crucial information to Mallikajaan and the tawaif freedom fighters. She could've done this to avenge her grandson, as a tribute to his bravery for their country. She could've raised Alamzeb and Tajdar's baby together with Alamzeb in the end

A queen of grief and sacrifice for the country and her grandson in her own right

• Ustaadji: He was such an impressionable character despite being in just a supporting role. The nath scene was especially pivotal where the actor playing Ustaadji reveals that during that part when Fareedan gifts him the nath, he started crying even after the scene was done and SLB was so moved by his performance that he gave him a special token. The nath is a symbol of dignity and Ustaadji being a queer character was touched by the gesture of recieving the nath especially during those times when hijras, eunuchs were prejudiced against by invaders and colonizers but not by tawaifs who knew what it was like to face disgrace in society. Ustaadji had also joked about doing a nath utrayi (official debut of a courtesan) of his own. He could've actually done that and the britishers and nawabs would've been bewildered. Ustaadji being a popular messenger and figure in the series also had had an intimate encounter with Cartwright so had the insider knowledge to breach in so in the end instead of telling Alamzeb to kill him, he could've himself delivered the final blow, as the Indian flag would've swayed in the background through the window of the mahal, asserting that his identity may have been queer but he was a part of this country too

A king of popularity and scheming in his own right

• Bibbojaan: Ik SLB has a knack for tragedy and ik tragedy was written all over Bibbojaan since she was introduced but. she. deserved. sm. more. simply because everyone needed her. And especially when hers was the role that contributed the most in the freedom struggle too. She was there for her mother, her sister, the other tawaifs, and finally her country. In the dazzling, venomous world of Heeramandi, she was a north star for everyone

After Hamid Sahab's death, she should've been the leader of the group, devising plans and executing them. And post independence during the chaos of partition, she could've been the one to unite the people of Heeramandi and Lahore, helping them all like she did

A queen of freedom and unity in her own right

• Mallikajaan: The main character of Heeramandi had so many nuances and shades within that it was so engaging to watch her. First of all it was confusing why she'd bridle her own daughter's happiness and passion but then lay her own honour on line to protect her. She knew the pain of being separated from the child when Imaad was taken away from her because of Rehaana so why did she do the same to Rehaana's daughter? Jealousy and revenge have their own ways I guess but by the end of it all Mallikajaan was in shreds and abruptly attempted on taking the side of patriotism to cleanse whatever evil deeds she had done all her life. Even after all this one could feel for her so her ending should've been better served as well

The tawaifs could've trapped the british army in Shahi Mahal after luring them in and then blown the place up. Mallikajaan would've no doubt not leave the Mahal even during the destruction, as a result sacrificing herself too but there's a deeper meaning here. The Shahi Mahal stands for power for which Mallikajaan fought, even killed and did what not, not even sparing her own people throughout the story. She did it to consume others but in the end was consumed by the all consuming power itself.

"Maine Shahi Mahal ke liye sabko tabaah kar diya. Ab yahi mera guroor hain, junoon hain, fitoor hain. Aur main bhi issi ke saath tabah hungi"

But the dignity that was stripped away from her by the british police is back in her eyes now as she stares at them all as she presses down the button of the bomb, whispering "Inquilab zindabaad"

This incident and Shahi Mahal instead would be known as "Mallikajaan's Majestic Massacre Mahal" and the biggest act of rebellion by tawaifs, sending chills down the britishers as she'd have power over them even after her death

A queen of power and twisted fate in her own right

• Waheeda: A fascinating character indeed, someone you'd have a love-hate relationship with. She was an isolated, intimidating tawaif who I can picture siding with the britishers and enemies to take down Mallikajaan, only for them all to realize she was using them for her gain

After Shahi Mahal blown up, she could've gone somewhere else in Heeramandi to establish her own mahal from scratch, finally becoming a huzoor

A queen of scars and quiet rage in her own right

• Shama: Fareedan could've given the keys of Khwabgah to her and made her that place's huzoor. She would've given a tough competition to her mother and fought for herself. Mallikajaan had once pointed out that only she had the deceit and tact rather than all her own daughters to be a true tawaif and yes she had the charm of a tawaif at such a young age so she could've manipulated the nawabs to boycott the britishers instead

A queen of a promising heroine of seduction in her own right

• Fareedan: When she realized what she had done to Mallikajaan, she could've been gradual about it because she was still close to Cartwright at that point. She could've used that advantage to extract more information and get close to other British officials, still pretending she's against Mallikajaan. That would've been a fatal attack planned with the tawaifs and freedom fighters after getting to know their weaknesses.

After the partition and realizing the futility of it all, she could've gone across the borders, already used to travelling the land when she was tricking and running away from husband to husband when she was a child, and could've built an orphanage so the children wouldn't go through what she went through as a child when she was sold off in Heeramandi

A queen of challenges rising above injustice in her own right

• Satto & Phatto: After Mallikajaan who they were loyal to, and after Fareedan, Alamzeb, everyone gone, they could've shifted out and opened a dhaba or something in Heeramandi, with Iqbal working for them now. The dhaba would've become famous and so would they and they'd look back on how every tawaif including them would dream of becoming the queens of Heeramandi and they were actually that now after so much of their trustworthy hard work that was unpaid before but is recognized now

The queens of loyalty and dreams in their own right

[cancerian-woman]

one thing about Tyler that always cracked me up was how he was obviously not white but his parents are. in my head his mom was played by someone else that was Latina bc then it would make sense that he could come out brown. coming from a latin family genes can be really funny like that. a white passing Latina non-triggered werewolf mom would have been neat.

I love your headcanon!💕 I have similar headcanons about this! That Carol isn’t Tyler’s birth mother and that his actual mother was paid off by the Lockwoods specifically Richard’s dad. A child out of wedlock with a Latina woman wouldn’t look good on their family assuming that Richard’s dad was the mayor before him. So, Carol went out of town with Tyler’s mother and came back with Tyler.

I love asks and headcanons like these since the Lockwoods were done so dirty in canon. We don’t get any further details on their history until TO which was just used to further Hayley/Klaus’s plotline. I hated that the Lockwoods specifically Tyler would’ve had the Hallow’s bones that was needed to protect Hope. Yes, she was an innocent child unlike her family that I understand but after everything Tyler went through seeing a real apology from probably Hayley cause Klaus is an asshole would’ve been great cause Tyler deserved that.

Anyway please feel free to share more thoughts on this! I’d love to hear them!

[acourtofthought]

Do you have any theories about who will be High King/Queen? If SJM does go with that story

Rhys seems like an obvious option but I wonder if that's too obvious. The fact that Sarah wrote Cassian thinking "No other male who would be a fairer ruler than Rhys" and Amren saying, "But know that the Cauldron's benevolence will be extended to you only for so long before it's offered to another" has me thinking she's just begging the reader to say, "I know someone!!!!"

I think Lucien is a possible option because of that. He is 100% a male who would be a fairer ruler than Rhys, maybe even more so. Rhys has a complete bias towards the NC, especially Velaris. I'm not saying I don't understand why, he's been the one responsible for the safety of his people for centuries however, he's already made a negative name for himself in other courts because of things he's done, he's not trusted. Lucien, on the other hand, seems to be more concerned about doing the right thing for many courts. Spring, the NC, he shows remorse for letting down the people of Autumn in regards to Jesminda's death, he spent his youth making friends with the sons of other HL (who at this point might even be HLs themselves), he went out of his way to help the humans after the war, etc. Because Lucien doesn't have sole loyalty to any one place, I think he'd be the least biased ruler.

I also think people forget that Sarah has slowly but surely been setting Lucien up for something big. "He was barely in SF! Sarah forgot about him!" Lucien has been one of a handful of characters around since book 1. Even Az / Cassian / Amren / Mor weren't in Sarah's mind when she wrote book 1 and Sarah didn't think the sisters would be more than cardboard cutouts of wicked sisters in book 1. That means Lucien, even before the IC and the sisters, was a fully fleshed out character for her, someone she tells us has always one of her favorite characters. And Lucien has been the only male character since book 1 outside of Rhys who remained a good guy versus Tamlin who Sarah sent in a downward spiral. While Tamlin was left behind in Spring, Sarah had Lucien travel with Feyre to the NC. Sarah had Lucien as the one who met Papa Archeron and Koschei (since she retconned him meeting up with Vassa/ Papa A at a later point and instead had him at the lake with their father). Sarah changed his father so that instead of a tragic backstory that connected him to the Autumn Court, he now has a tragic backstory in the Autumn Court AND a secret Day Court heritage, setting him up to be a possible future HL where he not only has strong powers from his mothers line but that of Helion powers as well. Since I can't imagine Sarah writing Helion off, Lucien is going to need a purpose. In the same book she wrote Helion and Rhys as BFF's, she connected Helion to the Pegasus and Trove items (which are connected to the history of Theia and the Starborn fae) and introduced the High King plotline. And through all of that, she has continued writing Lucien as literal perfection. I'm not even saying that with bias, I'm saying it based on how all other authors / screenwriters write many heroes. He is snarky and sassy while also respectful and humble. He's genuinely good and decent, apologizes and feels remorse. He's intelligent and brave and tries to help out wherever he ends up but is never overly cocky. He's "I want to help however I can because it's the right thing to do" not, "you clearly need me because I'm the best". We as the reader know he's got all sorts of hidden powers that he isn't aware of though he constantly feels like he's not good enough, not strong enough to stop the people he badly wishes he could stop.

The reason Lucien was in the background in SF is because he's not meant to be a major part of the NC. He's not meant to be best friends with Nesta or Cassian. He's not there to serve Nesta's healing arc. It's not difficult to understand that Sarah is setting Lucien up for his own path. There are so many characters connected to the NC but that leaves Lucien as having alllllllll the connections to alllllll the places outside of that. While he is an ally to the NC, he's also the contact for Spring, for the Human Lands, he's going to have strong connections to Autumn because of his brother and mother, he's going to have connections to Day because of his father. Rhys and Feyre will be family to him because I strongly feel Elain and Lucien are endgame but Sarah doesn't need to write Lucien as relying on the NC for anything because they already rely on him for a lot of information. Therefore, we didn't need Lucien having major page time in a Nessian book, Nesta did not serve Lucien's future arc in any way. Cassian did not serve Lucien's arc in any way. And he did not serve their arcs (Valkyrie / Illyrian related stuff) in any way. But that doesn't take away how Sarah when is ready to write about all the other places on their world map (outside of the NC), she already laid the groundwork for Lucien to be the most connected to it all and because of that, I can't imagine anyone who would more easily slide into the role of High King, someone who has already shown he cares about more than just one court and someone who has the experience of being in charge since he kind of ran Spring for Tamlin half the time.

Or maybe Sarah will go a completely different route and put Mor in place as High Queen rather than High King. We know she's of a royal lineage as her bloodline was of the ruling family of the NC before Rhys, we know she was an ally to the humans long ago, we know that she's not 100% committed to the NC and NC alone (since Rhys tells us in ACOFAS that he could see the noose tightening around her neck in the NC, that he could sense her need to roam beyond the borders of the NC.

[apatheticrater]

i think you posted or reblogged a picture of mike faist that was giving professor! art and mentioned how he kinda looked like spencer reid and that reminded me of something lol (if this wasn’t you, i’m so sorry. my memory has been shit lately 😭)

when my best friend was in high school, there was a teacher who started in the middle of the year who also looked like spencer reid (how i remembered this lol) and he and this other teacher were CONSTANTLY flirting with each other. got so bad that because her and other students knew they were both single, they started telling each of them to ask each other out. they did. and now they’ve been engaged for sometime

so it got me thinking of being a teacher at a school and teacher!art randomly coming in the middle of the year. you’re the only two teachers around your age and constantly flirting with each other in that subtle way teachers do, except everyone knows and just thinks you should get together already…

You were correct!! I was referring to this gorgeous photo of him <3

I also made this into headcanons because it's what felt the most right to me when trying to write it. I left reader's gender and what type of school they teach at somewhat vague as well <3

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Teacher Art x Teacher Reader headcanons

Art was a newer teacher, having come in the middle of the year after the usual history teacher went on maternity leave

It was his first year as a full-time teacher, having only done substitute work previously

You were an English teacher whose classroom shared a wall with Art’s, and you were his first friend on the staff

You had already been working at the school for two years at this point, so you knew your way around and the students pretty well by now, making you the perfect candidate to give Art advice and show him around

You were both on the younger side of the spectrum in terms of the teachers around the school, and you were closer to your students, making you the perfect victims of their jokes and sass (when appropriate)

You guys quickly became good friends and after two months of Art working at the school you guys started to flirt with each other heavily

Whether it was started as jokes between close friends or due to genuine attraction to each other, no one knew, but either way, your students had a field day with it

Every time either of you would enter each other's class, whether to ask a question or grab something you needed/left behind earlier in the day your students would start be little shits making jokes or ‘ooooo’ing at you two, gossiping about things like “did you see how Mr. Donaldson looked at them?” and “Have you noticed that they smile at Mr. Donaldson in a completely different way than they do everyone else?” and so on

It becomes such a running joke around the school that it’s something every student talks about at least once in class, which leads to your boss having to ask you guys to, ‘please tell the students to stop talking about your relationship’

Despite not being able to talk about you guys in class anymore, they still try to set you guys up, especially when they get the confirmation that you’re both still single

It’s almost like that one plotline from ‘Clueless,’ when Cher and Dionne try to set up their two teachers by tricking them into situations together and making them think they both like the other

They keep coming up with excuses that force you guys into the same room; Friends texting each other while one of them is in your class and the other is in Arts, coincidentally both of them need something printed and their computers just ‘won’t work’

They tell you that Art said your hair looked nice today, they give Art a small gift and say it was from you (even though it’s so obvious those things aren’t true because you could’ve walked to each other's class instead of having the students do it for you)

They keep telling you guys to ‘just ask each other out already!’ saying ‘you already flirt constantly’ among other things

What they don’t know is that you and Art already are dating and have been since months before he started, you just found it too funny to not mess with the students and let them try to matchmake you two, plus it showed they cared about you guys

They were shocked the first time one of them saw you leave the school in the same car, you kissing Art's cheek before the car pulled out of the lot

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[coupleoffanfics]

Gotham Isekaied Reader

I have an idea. It's nothing new. I wrote nearly 5 pages of this idea, but I'm too scared to post it since it's filler and I even drew a cover. So I will ramble about this idea through headcanon. Some Jerome x Reader, I’m sorry. I can’t help myself. CW: One mention of suicide.

y/n wakes up to find that her life has gotten a major upgrade. Any flaws that her family has is erased. Did mom drink away stress? Now she doesn’t even touch alcohol. Dad isn’t smoking away his life. Her older brother is a law-abiding citizen who is studying to become a lawyer. Her younger brother is more positive about life and growing up in a home that they wished they had.

Not to mention that they’re rich. She no longer lives in a bad neighborhood and sleeps in a snazzy mansion.

Life is looking up until y/n turns on the TV with a news story about a man killing corrupt people with weather balloons.

She sits there thinking, ‘This was nice, but I should be getting back home.’

Maybe y/n’s close friends with Bruce beforehand. That’s when she realizes that she has to learn about the other y/n’s life. She can’t risk telling anyone about “we’re in a shitty TV show” without everyone considering throwing her into a mental institution. Tough luck because she ends up in Arkham regardless.

She writes down plotlines that she remembers. Making files on the character that she has met. Her files are hidden away in her room and aren't brought up later down the line when a certain person finds them.

How y/n ends up in Arkham is complicated. I want y/n to be completely sane through our POV, so she’s not going to be “I’m so insane and quirky”. Maybe she’s framed or killed someone in self-defense. Well, okay, I have thought out what gets her thrown into Arkham, but I don’t think anyone would find it interesting.

During her trial, the prosecutor will use her history of depression and suicide attempts to paint her as a homicidal. The whole trial is fishy, yet ends with her being locked up.

Bruce believes y/n when she says she hasn't done anything and promises to get her out of there. Legally of course.

Alfred probably tries to keep Bruce from visiting because Arkham has a reputation and doesn’t want him to be anywhere near there. The poor boy is going through too much in a short amount of time. 

So Bruce will send Selina to deliver anything. Or they both run away to visit y/n. When they come back to the manor and Alfred is questioning them, they both lie by saying that they’re somewhere else.

Bruce just wants to make sure his bestie is alright. Selina is just along for the ride but might visit y/n even when she doesn’t need to.

While in Arkham y/n is vibing in her little corner when Jerome starts bugging her. Might tell him about some plotlines just to see if anyone would believe her.

Jerome just laughs it off and starts orbiting y/n because she’s interesting. She tends to ramble and mumble to herself, for some reason he finds it so cute.

“You’re kind of funny, but I wouldn’t call you a joker.” She says before thinking, ‘Because legally you aren’t him. Thanks a lot, higher-ups.’

He writes about her in his diary and uses any stickers that she gives him. ‘Yeah, she's weird. Calling people characters and saying that we aren’t real, but she’s my little weirdo. I also got another pack of Hello Kitty stickers from her.’ Then he proceeds to doodle her with crayons.

When Theo Galavan surprise adopts them, Jerome starts taking y/n’s words more seriously. Still doesn’t believe her when she says he and everyone aren’t real. Like how is that possible? He feels real, oh whatever he has no time for that.

At the manor, Bruce is freaking out and dialing Jim begging him to save his bestie from that homicidal ginner. Theo has to make it seem like y/n is a hostage since she refuses to do any killing and Jerome has scary dog privilege.

‘They aren’t real. They aren’t people.’ She’d try to tell herself, but she just can’t bring herself to try to hurt someone. y/n is one of those freaks who try to drive safely in GTA without running over anyone or anything.

She doesn’t think that her words mean anything and that everything will follow the script. Until she tells Jerome to take an extra lighter with him. She’s chilling by herself when the news shows footage of a burnt bus and the news anchor talking about the cheerleaders who lost their lives.

That’s when y/n starts thinking over everything she’s said. She debates whether or not she should tell Jerome about Theo’s betrayal.

‘The show does start declining in ratings when he’s killed off. I could be doing the writers a favor, but what about the people? No, characters. They’re just characters! They aren’t real!’

In the end, Jerome is killed off and she’s put back into Arkham. Everyone is surprised by how calm she is after Jerome’s death. Not upset or anything. Like weren’t they close? Maybe their relationship was more one-sided.

Jim will question y/n and she might let a few things slip. Most brush her words off as they believe that she has some sort of Stockholm syndrome and is angry at Theo for killing her captor.

Back at Arkham, y/n yells, “FUCK!” When seeing Hugo Strange.

When Theo is dealt with, Jim will visit her or send her a thank you card for pointing him in the right direction regarding the investigation.

I’m getting tired and I might continue writing about this.

But I was going to have y/n be free from Arkham when some evidence regarding her case comes out. y/n will be outwardly passive throughout the story.

In the end, I was going to have y/n be the one who becomes Joker. Maybe she falls into a tub of chemicals. Don’t worry darling you aren’t going to be deformed like Jeremiah at the end. You’ll look different, but still smoking hot. 😘

Anyway seeing the physical change, her dwindling hope of getting back home, and her mental state being worn out. She decides to step up and take the name of Joker.

Bruce angst all the way. Maybe angst for other characters, but I could see this tearing him apart. He’s forced to watch his closest friend be replaced by a cackling monster. To then eventually start fighting against her.

She doesn’t react to being called y/n anymore, but she’ll give Batman/Bruce a melancholy look if he calls her by that. He doesn’t call her y/n often because that wasn’t y/n. y/n l/n was dead and there was no way she was coming back.

The theory of Joker being sane will ring true to y/n. She knows this isn’t real. It’s just fiction and any good piece of fiction needs a good villain. Since she’s not making it back home, she’ll make things fun.

Or multiple endings because those are always fun.

“Jerome? Jeremiah? Never heard of them.”

[strangestcase]

For the people that are going to do Dracula Daily this year:

One of the subplots that Dracula covers, and arguably the most important subplot, is one centered around a psychiatric patient confined to an asylum- it touches upon the way he sees the world, his relationship with his doctor, and how he relates to and perceives the villain VS the heroes, since for most of the plot he believes the villain to be good and strives to serve him.

Both the patient and the doctor characters (who are part of the main cast and very important to moving the plot foward in their own ways!) are portrayed as sympathetic victims to the main villain and mostly on the side of good, but in different ways, and, of course, the way they are written is informed by the beliefs of the time.

I won't spoil anything too important about it, just warn you that this subplot depicts Victorian Era ableism, which is... pretty extreme, and forms of medical abuse (specifically, psychiatric abuse) that still exist today!

This plotline involves:

-depictions of hallucinations, delusions, and irrational thinking

-medical malpractice: delusions being encouraged, patients being dehumanized, prolonged use of dangerous restraints

-unsanitary behavior (eating live animals)

-ableist attitudes from most of the hero characters

(other Dracula fans pls tell me if I've missed something)

What do I make of this? you ask. Well...

Do not excuse medical abuse, even if it's fictional. The doctor character is, for all his medical malpractice, depicted as a complex person that has some likeable traits and he undergoes a pretty sad arc relating to loss and trauma, like most of the heroes of this novel. This doesn't make him any less of an abuser, nor makes his patient any less of a victim!

Refrain from using ableist language or rethoric. The patient character, being written for a very old horror book, is often depicted as "unsettling" and his strange behavior is sometimes played for horror. This 1) doesn't make his situation any less deplorable 2) doesn't make him any less sympethetic and most importantly 3) doesnt give you a free pass to treat him as a scary horror monster. He's a victim of both the real monster of this story and the system he lives in.

Listen to psychotic fans. Research the history of Victorian asylums. Understand the historical context. Look at this subplot from a holistic perspective instead of treating it as a horror story within a horror story (although, it is a horror story, but not for the reasons some think it is!). Just don't be a dick to disabled people.

If any part of this subplot triggers or squicks you, you are not obligated to read it, just be aware that it exists and that it is important to avoid perpetuating ableist stereotypes, be they present in the original text or not. (Hell, you are not obligated to read any part of the book if you don't want to do so. Dracula Daily is supposed to be fun. Analyzing literature is supposed to be fun. Enjoying literature is supposed to be fun!)

For the love of God, don't get angry if some fans dislike the doctor character for what he's done and take the patients' side. This was an issue during the last Dracula Daily run. He's literally the victim in this relationship. I'm not saying you can't like or dislike either character but I have to reiterate: do not erase either character's contribution to the plot, do not demonize the patient character for being mentally ill in an "ugly" way and beliveing the villain is good, and don't woobiefy the doctor character because he said a funny thing once. Both are complex adult human beings so don't expect them to be caricatures.

Do not be afraid to call out ableist behavior from other fans, but also be careful to not overstep or talk over disabled fans, especially psychotic fans.

During the Dracula Daily run, some blogs will warn about the entries in which this subplot takes place, and what triggers apply for each one of them. If you need those warnings, don't be afraid to reach out for them!

Happy reading!

[evilwickedme]

I just. Ugh. Oh my God. The fucking PARALLELS this season of Good Omens. Y'all know I'm an absolute fool for a good parallel, so to get so many? I'm so well fed today

Crowley and Azira are like, the definition of soulmates of the kind that are made, you know? Like there is no one single other being in the whole of Creation that shares even a fraction of the same experiences. Six thousand years in the making, this ship is - even more according to this season !!! And YET, they are absolutely brand new. They've never been in a romantic relationship - not with each other, not with anyone - and as Crowley pointed out, they've essentially just gotten out of toxic relationships with Heaven and Hell. Except like, not really? Because we see Crowley really got out Heaven so heavily traumatized he never really put all that much stock into Hell. Yeah, Hell might've still been abusive, but Crowley was halfway out the door the whole time. Azira, tho... He still buys into all of it. He's technically out the door, but he hasn't done any of the deprogramming you need to do in order to move on (I feel like I'm mixing my metaphors a little by using cult-related languages, but also abusive relationships are essentially two person cults, so)

And this season sets this dynamic up so perfectly with Nina and Maggie!!!!! And we're supposed to think that Nina is Crowley because she's dark and broody and Maggie is Azira cause she's frankly precious but really it's the other way around and it's Nina who finishes the season being like "I can't be in a relationship right now because I still need to work on myself having just ended an incredibly toxic relationship" and it's just. Nina and Maggie don't end the season together because that's not what they need right now and bc of that they might still be able to be together later, but Crowley and Azira hold onto each other SO DAMN HARD that they end up losing each other SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE AZIRA CAN'T DO THAT SAME THING OF UNPACKING HIS BASE ASSUMPTIONS it's like leaving a cult cause they were mean to you once but still buying into the new agey stuff they used to love bomb you into joining the cult in the first place

And so that's the relationship part of things but also we've got like soo many parallels showing how broken the system is in the first place and obviously ineffable bureaucracy is what stands out here because of the literal lines coming out of various characters' mouths during this plotline but can we talk about how heavily brainwashed Muriel is and how clearly they're supposed to be exactly like a young Aziraphale, one who doesn't "have" Crowley yet!!! Like tell me that if you gave Muriel a fiery sword and told them to watch over the first ever pregnant couple in history they wouldn't give them that Goddamn sword. Nobody on either side is capable of questioning their position in life without exposure to Something Else, but it doesn't have to be like, the being you're going to run off to alpha centauri with. It could very much be a copy of The Crow Road

(sidenote, has anybody read this book? It seems like an incredibly deliberate choice but I've never heard of it! I think I might send in an ask to Neil Gaiman himself if I don't see any meta soon)

Anyway yeah um. I don't know how to end this. Parallels and shadow selves fuck (double entendre)

[cripplecharacters]

Hello! Want to double check that I've done a decent job of avoiding disfiguremisia, and try to turn it into great counter to hatred instead of just an okay one.

Preface: I have a form of memory loss and likely brain damage so I cannot always phrase things clearly although I will try my best.

Personally I do not feel happy reading escapist stories as that happy ending is not achievable for real people. We don't get to live in a place that's completely safe and free from judgement. I'd like to write people in a hostile world who find love and safety and community, however this does necessite writing hostility. I want to make sure I'm doing so with care.

I would like to make sure that the hostility written as tension does not tar how I write how one of the main characters. He should be written with dignity and respect even when he is not being treated well by those around him.

One of my characters is blind and develops severe burn scars. He wears a blindfold to help with photophobia and sensory overwhelm, but takes it off when its dim. (CVI plus autism.)

While he does wear a cloth coverings in public due to ugly laws, he views it as a ridiculous requirement and happily removes this mask when with friends. He also enjoys that being visibly strange or somewhat unnerving to most people means that shallow people who judge by appearances avoid him.

Question: what other things might I be able to employ to counter disfiguremisia? I have him being content with his face as it tells a story of his life and he's a blunt, forward person, not covering his face for most of the story despite laws necessitating that he do so, and a few other things too (and many side characters with facial differences and deformities also).

Also none of the central plotlines centre around facial difference. He's joining a servant rebellion, befriending a bitter exile intent on status at all costs, and discovering the truth of history. (Also a mind controlling octopus being is involved and a semi sentient moon amalgam thing but don't worry about it everything's fine.)

I think later books will be a more effective counter due to lack of ugly laws and him finding a lovely interest. I will also do my best to make the counters feel real and feasible - I want it to feel like an achievable option for those who deal with prejudice in the real world. I want his happy ending to feel real.

I respect the hell out of escapist fantasies it's just that they do nothing for me personally. I really want to write someone dealing with a lot - more than I ever have - and coming out the other end happy. Yes this world is hostile and will judge me but I can find joy despite it all. Some say the world is universally cruel but I have not found this to be the case. It is wise to be wary but myself and friends can create small sections of time and space where no precautions are necessary. Am I not part of the world? Are not they? The world is not universally cruel as long as I and those I treasure live in and we are not extraordinary, simply uncommon, and what is uncommon is still a great bounty. (Something to that effect.)

I'm set on what I want to write but the specifics I'm more than happy to change in order to bring joy. Do you have ideas on how I can do this full idea full justice?

Hello,

before getting to your actual ask, I have a "few" questions about the premise of the story itself.

You mention that you don't like escapist fantasies - that's fair. Taste differs; you can write whatever and that's great. But I do find the insistence to write a story about a specific type of discrimination as an outsider rather strange. If you want to have facial difference representation, I assume you want to have readers with facial differences, correct? I mean, I don't think that many able-bodied people would be too interested in it specifically considering most don't know what it is. So okay, this is supposed to be a story of characters with facial differences overcoming centuries worth of hatred and all that. Arguably more, considering that disfiguremisia and ableism go all the way back to Biblical times.

Why are you the person who needs to tell this story?

Just as people with facial differences are readers, we can be authors as well. We tell our stories. I will take an #OwnVoices book over a one that isn't that any day, and this fact will influence the rest of this answer. I'm a firm believer in #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs and all when it comes to this stuff.

Have you talked to people with facial differences who would be interested in the kind of story you want to tell? Do you know what they want to see from an author that's not taking it from their own experience? I don't count here, because as I made clear before, I'm not and won't be interested in it. I also don't know anyone in the community who has ever said "I wish more people without our experiences wrote about how hard it is to be us!". You need to make sure there are people who want this.

So, have, or will you, reach out to those that could like it? Sensitivity readers, random people online who like to read about disfiguremisia in their free time, advocates who work on media-centric problems? Anyone who would enjoy it is automatically a better candidate to help than me. I'm too jaded, I suppose.

If you want to talk about people with facial differences in such detail and setting, you need to get to know us. One guy with a specific set of opinions from a blog on Tumblr isn't that (thank god), but I guess I can serve as a reminder that not everyone will be excited to read a book that represents them in some way. We still have preferences.

To write it, you need to involve yourself in the community, start actually spreading activism about our issues. Preach about Face Equality and celebrate when our once-a-year week happens in May. See what disfiguremisia causes. Share our efforts to get all the problematic garbage off the big screen. Read our stories. Understand us as people who are incredibly diverse, and that not all of us like to be described as strange or unnerving.

If you only want to talk about our suffering as some quota to fill on a "types of discrimination" list, it will always be flat and inauthentic, and if you don't put in the effort it's pointless. We don't want tragedy porn, and we don't need to be included in every story about struggles that just wants some brand-new type of bigotry in it. We want authors who care about us, the living and breathing people. And sometimes it might mean respecting our opinions on writing disfiguremisia.

Here is a great post by @writingwithcolor explaining the effects of tragedy exploitation. Not everything there applies, but I would consider it a very valuable read.

If you think about all this, and decide that you are ready to write such a heavy, community-based story, go ahead to...

Actual Answers! Hooray

what other things might I be able to employ to counter disfiguremisia?

Sympathize with him. Disfiguremisia is a tragedy, it's brutal and it hurts. It's traumatic and impossible to forget, even if it wasn't happening constantly just to remind us that it's still there. On this note, I would recommend you research writing characters with PTSD.

Have him think about it. Sometimes I get home after getting stared down on the street and just want to yell. You don't forget a microaggression or a hate crime after five minutes. Let him vent and let him be upset. He can have flashbacks or recall similar situations that happened in the past.

I'm glad that he's aware of disfiguremisia unlike a ton of characters who are somehow always unable to figure out that it's a problem. If the ableism he's facing is so systemic and severe, individual people will be even more extreme. You can have him remember that the shop owner was a slur-spitting bigot, or that his neighbors avoid even talking to him. I want him to call them out - in retrospective, at the moment, in his head, whatever - on what they're doing. Throw a "not this fucking thing again" or something in there.

The minimum is to make him feel like a human with an internal thought process, who is able to actually experience what's happening to him, and for it to have long-term effects.

Also, outside of the whole disfiguremisia thing and me being overdramatic, check out our #blindness tag, and research burn scar care. If you don't show the boring and mundane, it will only feel closer to tragedy porn; just a sad thing one after another.

I will also do my best to make the counters feel real and feasible - I want it to feel like an achievable option for those who deal with prejudice in the real world.

This I think is the part of the ask that made me the saddest, and not because of what you wrote. I tried to think of achievable ways; ways that we did it, tried to do it, and are doing it, and one-by-one I crossed them out as "didn't work", "no one cared enough" or "kinda worked but honestly, it didn't". Face Equality is basically non-existent, not matter how much it hurts me to admit it! We are trying our best, and it doesn't work. It's just plain hard for me to come up with suggestions for this.

In fiction, I suppose that personal resistance is the way when it comes to this. I don't think there are feasible systemic changes that could happen that don't border on magical thinking or get into the "singular glorious revolution that somehow fixes everything and everyone lived happy ever after. We fixed racism, yay!". This just sucks.He could try to educate the people who are willing to listen - that's somewhat what I'm trying to pull off here on this blog, I guess. Sometimes it works, often it doesn't, but in his situation it wouldn't hurt to try.

The fundamental part here will be whether your character is able to find a way to make the ordinary person care in the end. To me, society who still hates us just as much, with a small group that thinks we're okay isn't a happy ending. The opposite, rather. It's cold and isolating to know only your friends could value you as a human being, and downright sad to imply that we should be happy for that. I don't mean that everyone should love us in every story, but there's a difference between The Ableism being represented by an antagonist or two versus the entire world except for the main characters.

If you decide to go forward with this story, I do hope your other readers with facial differences enjoy it!

mod Sasza

[This ask was submitted before my announcement of not taking questions regarding this subject matter. As of publishing this, it still applies.]

[khaleesiofalicante]

RWRB Movie Review

Since some of y'all asked for my thoughts, here you go:

What I Liked about This Movie:

The casting - They absolutely fucking nailed it. From the main cast to even smaller characters like Ellen and Zahra and Amy and everyone else. Even the King. They all understood the assignment.

The POC nuances - There is a big difference between being queer and being poc and queer. I think the movie captured it better than the book did. Obviously, a lot of that had to do with Matthew. The little conversations about being a person of colour in the US and Alex and Henry constantly bantering (and educating each other) about their cultures and differences between them added so much value to their dynamic.

Subtle Creativity - I really liked how they translated the texts from the books into the movie. The symbolism of the water during the Lake House scene and all the queer historical references spread out throughout the movie. Important. Well done.

The music - I always pay close attention to the soundtrack in a movie and I think they killed it. Starting off with Joan Jett's Bad Reputation was such a good idea. I know everyone is soft about 'Can't Help Falling in Love' playing during the V&A scene, but personally I loved that they included 'If I Loved You' - it's such a classic and it's such a Henry song.

Alex and Henry - I'm going o be brutally honest here. If they had cast anyone other than Taylor and Nick, this movie would've flopped hard. Nick and Taylor carried this movie on their backs and they did SUCH a great job with it. I need to write a whole other post about how much I liked their acting and what I enjoyed the most.

What Could've Been Done Better

The storytelling - I didn't mind the changes we already knew (as much as I thought I would) - such as cutting out June and Alex's parents not being divorced. But I did find the overall pace and storytelling to be a little bit off. Some scenes felt disconnected and others felt rushed. Like, Henry saying 'I need to show you something' and taking Alec to the V&A felt very random to me considering the pace of that scene. I'm very curious about how all of this looked like to someone who hasn't read the books.

The gaps - I'm personally glad June wasn't in this movie because I feel like it would've made no sense. Honestly, a lot of her storyline is connected to Alec's struggle with understanding his sexuality and trauma from the divorce and both those plotlines were not part of the movie, so yeah. No June made a lot of sense. But some other edits didn't make sense to me. For instance, I really wish they had placed more emphasis on the emails and showed the intimate nature of those (they did a good job with the texts, but not with the emails). I honestly didn't understand why Richards was there. Phillip felt like another dead end. Nora was barely there too.

Alex's Bisexuality - There is this line in the books where Alex (in his list to Henry) says 'all the things I now understand about myself because of you'. I always felt that was important. I'm not saying that line should've been in the movie, but it should be a theme. Because in his speech when Alex was talking about the queer rights movements and queer history, I was like 'where is this all coming from??'. It would've been nice to see Alec's interest in these things (whether because of Henry or not) displayed more in the movie.

The lack of friendships - This honestly was my main disappointment. Because the lack of emphasis on Pez was a little shocking. Considering the movie had Henry pov, I really thought we'd see more of him. The same went for Nora (and the lack of June) who were barely there. I loved that the movie focused more on Alex and Henry, but I will always stress the importance of friendships for queer people - because we often feel safer with our friends than with anyone else. So, I wish they had done a better job. I personally feel much better choices could've been made about the secondary characters, such as removing Pez entirely and fleshing out Bea and Henry's relationship instead of giving Pez half a minute of screen time.

The women - this is a bit of a personal qualm and I'm still navigating this writing issue myself, but often in stories with mlm relationships, women are seen as these tiny side characters who are simply there to drive the plot. Sometimes women are barely there at all (I've noticed this in some BL dramas). This is not a rwrb issue, but a broader issue. But the thing is, in the books, Casey did a fantastic job in weaving in women and how just having them around makes a lot of difference (Alex and June are the primary examples of this). It's very interesting to see how depending on the identity of the creator, which themes get prioritized and which themes don't. For instance, we noticed Alex's race (or him being biracial) was more prominent in the movie than in the books, but Alec's relationship with the women in his life was more prominent in the books than in the movie. It's just interesting, I think. Very interesting.

RWRB in (my) essence: I read some say that the above issues could've been simply fixed if the movie was a mini-series. I personally don't think it should've been a mini-series though. Rwrb was always meant to be a movie.

But I do think, a larger conversation needs to be had about queer book-to-screen adaptations - where the budgets are smaller and restrictions are higher and there is bullshit like giving an R rating for a movie with barely any nudity and sex.

It wasn't perfect. It's a rom-com. A rom-com, in its essence, is flawed and talks about finding love in 90 minutes. It's supposed to feel rushed - like a whirlwind. I think rwrb movie did what it was supposed to do. It gave us a good rom-com.

BUT. I think we need more than that. We need cheesy romcoms like this. We need poignant queer movies with bigger budgets that will win Oscars. We need mini-series that have more time to explore broader themes. And we need TV shows that run for 14 seasons and have no plot but we want still want to watch anyway because it's gay people doing gay stuff.

Queer people need all of these options. We deserve the same diversity in content as straight people have. We, as Alex said, have the right to choose.

So, here is to more queer content, each wonderful and each flawed in its own way.

RWRB movie was not what I expected. But I loved it anyway. I watched it twice already and I will watch it again. Because, to put it simply, it made me so happy to have a queer rom-com that I can watch.

But we should and can and must have more of this.

So, I really hope every month will be gay as August 2023 is/was :)

[bengiyo]

Last Twilight Ep 3 Stray Thoughts

Last time, Mhok began working and was pleased with his salary. He may be rough around the edges, but he was doing his "easy" job. He had some initial friction with Day around moving his things and taking care of the fish, but things came to a head when Day tried to run from strangers seeing his condition. Mhok got triggered, thinking Day might hurt himself, and broke into his room. Mhok got fired, but Porjai came to talk to Day about Mhok putting himself through an exercise to understand Day's disability more and the two have reconciled for now.

I like the two of them straightening Day's room together and understanding the system to help him find things. It's a relief to see Day having fun with it.

The inflatable dino costumes are so silly. This is fun.

Now, Mhok, you know better than to swipe through someone else's pictures.

They saw Day making progress around the house and made him instantly clam back up by suggesting he go back to school.

Mhok's relationship with Porjai is used very well here. I love that she has moved on from Mhok and is happy, so I don't feel bad about her giving perspective and wondering about some jealousy plotline.

I like the pace of the relationship between Mhok and Day so far. Day is already asking Mhok for help on his own.

I will always love teachers who refuse to let students give up on themselves.

Mhok is a good listener and supporter. I like that he doesn't involve himself in the conversations between the family or the teacher, and that he aids Day's attempt to avoid notice.

Said the name of the show. Finish your drinks.

Thank you for keeping the lights on, Oishii.

I like how Mhok plays with the preconceptions that he doesn't know much to encourage Day to figure out some things. It's a very gentle approach that uses Day's own ego to move him forward.

WE HAVE FINALLY USED THE BANGKOK METRO SYSTEM IN A BL. 🎉 IPYTM came close, but we never went inside.

I love that Mhok tried to prank Day with the pink shirt. Later, in the dressing room, we know he's watching out for Day because he confirmed that he knew what was on the shirt he picked.

I like the way the physical tension between them around Day's exposed body is building.

And Day made Mhok get the pink shirt! I love this.

Mhok being sure to include Day in the conversation with the bookstore owner is a great touch. I like that he didn't let Day give up and insisted they find the book today.

Even if it's a bit artificial, I like Mhok slipping the book where Day would find it to help him have a sense of accomplishment since Day had been also sifting through books.

The last page is missing? How will we know the ending? Okay, Aof. I see you.

Increasing the price because he's Mhok's friend was so fun. It's the kind of detail that makes the world feel like it has a history. It was clearly a joke and let Day have fun.

Oh, we were having such a good day, and now Mhok feels like he has to defend Porjai and in a fight against Porjai's two-timing boyfriend. Now Day is lost.

Oh my goodness, did Mhok switch to the pink shirt to make himself more visible? I am going to melt.

Mhok is so ready for people to look down on him that he immediately owned his own history rather than let the mom hold it over him.

Oh shit that was great eye shine from Jimmy when Day started saying how much he appreciates Mhok.

Not sure what all is going on with Night and Day yet, but I like that he came to Mhok's defense after they left the room.

That was a really well done wind down for this episode.

More of Film next week!!

So, I'm really loving this show and so glad that a GMMTV show is back to sound episodic structure. Jimmy and Sea both feel much more attuned to their characters and their chemistry feels a lot easier than their last outing. This is a solid watch

[hiraethwa]

hULLO dropping by for daily tobio!nation thoughts PHEW consider chinese period drama kageyama, where he's the 2nd son to the emperor, and a genius war tactician, and yes, even though he's got an older brother, everyone knows that the emperor's got his sights set on tobio to be his next in line -- and then there's you, the only daughter to a beloved warlord, who's father raised you like a son, taught you how to read, raise you on politics and war strategems and always told you that woman should know how to fight just as well as a man. so you grow up with tobio, never thinking twice about sparring with him, about getting the hems of your silks dirty when you both sneak off to the river to catch frogs, but you're older now, and the emperor is pressuring tobio to look for a wife, and a good, demure one who knows the 4 great arts -- 琴棋书画 -- and it's not till he gets frustrated with the parade of pretty, bejeweled princesses before him that he complains to you and blurts out "what if i marry you instead?"

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS. i live and thrive on historical cdramas so, my bread and butter! i have many thoughts floating around right now UGHHH why did you do this to me!! combining two of my roman empires...

first consider the idea of the imperial harem 后宫 there's something so poetic in the doomed love that blooms between someone who is fated to be the emperor and his consort, the heartbreak that slowly sets in soul crushingly because no matter how much you love him, he is the 天子 , the emperor, and he will never be yours alone, historically speaking of course. not to mention that even if he does fall in love with you, it is so easy for a man to just fall for another woman, especially a man with such resources at his disposal as an emperor, the ruler of kingdoms. (again, historically speaking) for context for other people, in ancient china, emperors normally have around 3000 concubines, even though only one holds the title of his official wife 正妻, the queen. out of around 600 emperors and kings in chinese history, only ONE is monogamous.

i am obsessed with this au ughhhhhh it has crossed my thoughts before, but i wasn't sure if people would be interested in reading a fic set in ancient china <//3

BACK TO YOUR POINT. OH MY GOD SECOND PRINCE TOBIO WHO IS SMART AND AN AMAZING WAR TACTICIAN (once again, i LOVE men who are smart smart UGHHGHGHGHGHGHG) something about intellect is just *on my knees* (uhm, is tooru his elder brother *cough, CHOKE)

now to entertain your thoughts. there's so many ways this could go. like PPHEW should we go historically common drama where you get married to him, learning the 'proper' ways of a wife but he ends up having other consorts down the line because men be men and heartbreAK, understanding that you may be his, but he will never be yours?

TWO, OOOOH with a modern twist, getting into this arrangement with him and thinking it is just a marriage of convenience (once again, mutual PINING, i will DIE ON THIS HILL) and learning to be fine with the way things are (he just wants a wife in name because he wants to get his father off his back about it, thinking that you do not feel the way he does either, OR he realizes his own feelings AFTER the marriage (OH HOW I LOVE HISTORICAL DRAMA PLOTLINES ), never touches you in the way he should as a husband on your wedding night 洞房 because he doesn't wish to tarnish your purity in the case that you find someone you wish to remarry somewhere down the line, he can assure your future husband that your virtue is intact. SLOW BURN ENSUES BETWEEN TWO IDIOTS BLAH BLAH the only monogamous emperor in history kageyama tobio????

fuck i want to write this now, what have you done rain!!

[eddiediazismyhusband]

One Fan’s Thoughts on 9-1-1 Season 7

(fair warning this is about to be a long ass rant post so buckle up; if you, like me, get anxiety over speculation and discussion of the show, this may not be the post for you to read… but i need to get my thoughts out there because i have kept them bottled up for so long that it is taking a mental toll on me.)

there’s something so gutwrenching about laying awake in bed thinking about how you have been the closest you’ve ever been to actually seeing a queer ship you’ve stuck with for six years actually going canon just to be hit with an immensely overwhelming sense of doubt because every time the story presents a natural path to develop in that direction, the writers completely veer off in an insanely different direction despite constantly trying to push this narrative of “if it goes there naturally” while ignoring the plethora of times it already has gone there naturally but has been passed over for some insanely far-fetched plotline that contradicts points that have been set up in the past…

i’m not trying to put a dampner on things or worry anyone, and like i mentioned in my previous post i am NOT closing on buddie, but i still can’t help but feel cinical and pessimistic about it when it feels like Tim is just blatantly baiting us at this point. Like at times it doesn’t even feel like he’s actually open to exploring buddie when he is constantly retconning his own storylines from previous seasons, and making excuses every time he deliberately chooses to ignore the countless number of chances that crop up in the story, instead deciding that because he wants to redo hitchcock he’s going to rewrite the history he created in order to fit a convoluted plotline that borders on farse just to a) not give fans what they have been begging for for years, b) shoehorn in his vertigo fanfiction, c) stir up drama rather than actually giving us something pointing in a positive direction to combat the 5000 other depressing plotlines he’s trying to cram into a 10 episode season.

i really thought tim was going to bring back the old vibe we had before KR took over and messed things up, but so far this season has felt like a jam-packed rushed mess that resembles a middle schooler’s first forray into a wattpad angst fic, and it’s disheartening to have sat with the show since the first season just to see it fall off so hard w s6 b, only to rebuild hope that things might go back to normal w s7, just for it to spiral even further into jump-the-shark territory.

And this is not just about buddie. There have been numerous times this season that have just been recycled plot points from previous seasons rather than something new and fresh, simply for the sake of melodrama. Old plotlines that had been seemingly finished are being rehashed and recontextualized out of nowhere, characters are getting entire traits and development completely rewritten and replaced with something almost unrecognizable to newer fans, there has been very little positivity within the narrative to allow us to breathe between traumatic moments, and the few positive moments we have received have been lukewarm at best, and have done nothing but cause derision and hate to be spread throughout the fandom.

PR for this season has been a mess. At times it feels like Oliver Stark is the only actor who exists on the show, and that Buck is somehow the titular character— not that Buck’s coming out storyline is not important, it absolutely is, but the entire season should not be focused solely on him just because of a two episode arc that honestly didn’t tell us anything new about him besides canonically confirming what we’ve known to be true since the second season.

We have cast members stirring up drama by indulging fans through paid video responses, and cast members on live getting asked to weigh in on fandom drama that they honestly have no reason to be involved in. We have news outlets constantly being approved by the PR team to ask questions about a popular ship to bait viewers into watching the show when there has not been any concrete evidence either way of whether or not they actually plan to go there, dragging things out for another season when they have no confirmation yet in whether or not they will get a 9th season (and if they do, probably coming up with some other bullshit reason to drag things out), confirming that certain plot points were planned to happen in the past but for some reason now they are like “but that’s not what we’re doing anymore so you have to live with present and be happy with what you get.”

There is no reason why 6 years can’t be a long enough time for a slow burn. There is no reason for characters to be given increasingly convoluted arcs that callback to plotlines that have been otherwise nonexistent for years at this point. There is no reason to drag fans of a ship along just because you’re too scared to lose they’re viewership rather than just flat out saying “no we aren’t ever going to do it” or actually committing to it one of the hundreds of times the story opens a path to it.

No, the choices made this season were not “the only way” we could have been given the same dramatic beats. The choices made have not been some sort of end all be all to the story with no other possible outcome. Tim did not need to send the show off the rails the way he has just because he wants drama. Yes it’s a drama show, but there also need to be moments to breathe. Yes it’s a drama show, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let characters be happy. Yes it’s a drama show, but that doesnt mean you have to fuck up the narrative every time it starts going in the direction of something the fans have begged for for years just because you don’t want to give it to them.

It’s disappointing to see how careless they are being with things this season when previous seasons the actors and writers have been so cautious about what was said about buddie. now we have every interview mentioning buddie in some way, yet we only get told “idk 🤷” and see nothing concrete in the story to firmly hint one way or the other. It’s disappointing when you start feeling like you are being dragged along because a corporation knows that ship baiting won’t ever actually backfire/have a negative affect on them, so it ends up being a lose-lose situation for the fandom.

Maybe it’s because I have been burned too msny times by TV shows in the past, but nothing about this season or the PR surrounding it has given me faith that Tim or the writers actually care about anything other than viewership. Otherwise we would be seeing clear signs of the growing seeds of buddie, but so far all we’ve seen is the same framing choices that we’ve seen in every other season that are being made to deliberately keep buddie fans drawn in and theorizing when the writers have most likely already thrown out any plans that there might have ever been for buddie to go canon.

Mostly, I am disappointed in the fact that Oliver has been so heavily involved in pushing buddie speculation after being so careful to not lead people on in the past- i know that some believe that this was a sign that buddie is coming and he knows it is, but as the season draws to a close it feels more like he is just showing where his loyalty lies even though he knows the show isn’t going to take it there. I am not blaming oliver for buddie not going canon or trying to insinuate that he is queerbaiting in any way, but i can’t help but feel like i wouldn’t be so dejected about the way this season is going if he hadn’t started interacting with and sharing buddie content before any sort of confirmation was given.

now do not get me wrong i absolutely ADORE oliver and i am not in any way trying to attack him or speak against him in any way, I am simply saying that his sudden vocal support and campaigning for buddie is only going to add on to my disappointment in heaps if they don’t make buddie canon, especially after JLH said Tim made Madney happen bc she asked for it, but he still hasn’t made any sort of definitive move towards buddie after the same amount of time.

and lastly my disappointment also lies with the fact that ryan’s acting ability has been wasted on this crackfic plot… ryan is one of the most underutilized dramatic actors on the show, and the fact that the only serious arc he has gottne this season isn’t even that serious because of how out of character and preposterous it is is really disappointing. ryan deserves better, and eddie deserves better, and it is disappointing seeing him acting his entire heart and sole out in a plotline that makes his character out to be the bad guy in the situation when this is something eddie would never do under normal circumstances. Ryan’s talent has once again only been used to show trauma and this time it wasn’t even trauma that feels natural within the story, and especially after his recent interview it disappoints me that we are once again reiterating that eddie is somehow mentally unstable enough to have an emotional affair with a woman he knows nothing about just because she looks like shannon. Eddie has simultaneously had so much yet so little development, and seeing some of the theories of where his character is going in the context of ryan saying s8 will be a “reset” for eddie doesn’t fill me with excitement over where his story is going and actually makes me worried that we are going to see regression rather than progress for the sake of drama… i just don’t want to see eddie’s character revamped to a point where he has lost all of his development from the past 6 seasons just because Tim wanted to turn eddie’s plotline into a melodramatic telenovela.

Anyway, sorry for the rant— maybe it’s the stuff that’s going on in my personal life combined with the fear of getting played by yet another network tv show ship baiting that’s making me feel this way, but this season has left me feeling so pessimistic and cynical about the show as a whole, but mostly about buddie and it hurts. I love both of these characters dearly, and i want them to finally understand that everything they’ve ever needed in life they have in each other, but it feels like ever time we are on the verge, another wild card is played and it’s getting old atp.

i don’t say any of this to cause an argument. i don’t say any of this to poke and prod at people. i say this as someone who has loved this show and given it 7 years of my life who feels like my experience as a fan is being shat on in favor of melodrama rather than thoughtful storytelling… not to say there haven’t been really good moments this season, but overall, it has really soured things for me the way Tim has handled/taken the narrative in many ways, and I don’t know if I will be able to watch season 8 until i see concrete evidence that things will be better. i am not kidding when i say this takes the spot as my least favorite season after season 6, regardless of if we get any hope or not next ep… and that is what upsets me.