#i always hated that the star wars movies don't have a lot of female characters

[slobozan-shitposting]

Aurra Sing is... Something. I absolutely love when a woman is immoral, evil and cruel. She doesn't have a sad backstory or moral compass, she only cares about her interests and has fun committing horrible crimes <3

[thefrogdalorian]

The Best of Both Worlds

Din Djarin x Female Reader Modern!AU

Summary: When a new Star Wars TV show called The Mandalorian premiered, you found yourself completely enamoured with the titular character. Enjoyment of watching the lone bounty hunter travel through the galaxy quickly turned to obsession. There was just something about the show that captured your imagination. Now, you spend much of your free time — when you're not working a fast-paced, minimum wage and incredibly stressful job at a prestigious London Museum— speaking to your online friends about your love for the show. There's just one thing... Despite how much you love The Mandalorian, no one knows the identity of the man behind the helmet... either in the show, or in real life. You only know him as Mando. No one has ever seen his face, no one knows his name.  Even after the countless hours of speculation from fans online, which even you have occasionally participated in, no one is any the wiser to the identity of the mysterious man who wears the shiny armour.  Surely, given the depth of your love for the show, you'd recognise if the man who you spend so much time obsessing over online was to ever cross paths with you. Right?

Content Warnings: Reader is AFAB, uses she/her pronouns and in her mid 20s. Age gap between her and Din is noted but not really central to the story. Grogu is human, hints of past trauma/child abuse before Din adopted him are mentioned but not described in detail. Some mature scenes later on in the fic but not explicit smut... because I just cannot write x reader smut! Author's Note: SO very excited to finally share this fic! Thank you to the lovely @suresnips for being my beta. I really appreciate you ♡ This baby was originally my NaNoWriMo 2023 project and was inspired by this post from @toxic-seduction that I saw one evening and couldn't stop thinking about! POVs will alternate chapter to chapter from Din to reader. It was fun to write that way! Set in London for a few reasons: partly because I love the movie Notting Hill and it has some of those vibes (if you squint), also, the village where Din lives is based on Elstree Studios just outside London, where the OT was filmed and ultimately because NO WAY was I writing a modern!AU set in the states, it would've been painfully obvious a Brit wrote it. While there are lots of references to places in London, I don't live there so it might not be truly accurate (Londoners don't come for me). Also, to be political for a sec, reader works at the British Museum and I hate that institution. This was actually the line of work I was interested in when I was at Uni but for many different reasons I did not pursue it. However, it works for the plot of this story and as you'll see, she doesn't exactly love it either and goes on a few rants. Just wanted to make that clear that her job there is not an endorsement of it or anything. I can't stand them or their historical apologist bs and I wish we would give back all the things we stole (including the Parthenon Marbles)! Finally, it was incredibly important to me that the actor behind Mando in this fic clearly be the fictional character of Din Djarin rather than the real person Pedro Pascal, because rpf is not my jam! I hope I did that pretty well but just wanted to warn that if you're expecting me to use Din as some kind of way to write a Pedro fic, this won't be for you! Okay, I'll shut up now! This fic is fully written, just needs editing so hopefully I'll get a couple of chapters up each week, but life happens. I'm very proud of this one and I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Also if you would like to be added to my taglist for this fic, please let me know! Happy reading ♡

❁ My Masterlist ❁ Read on AO3 ❁

Why Does It Always Rain On Me? [Reader POV]: After a dreadful day which saw you drenched by a rainstorm after leaving a hectic day at work, you reflect on your love for Mando and upcoming excitement for the sci-fi convention you will soon be attending with your internet best friend.

He Is My Only Priority [Din's Pov]: The character of The Mandalorian is known and loved by millions. But there is another, much softer side to the man who portrays him that Din Djarin is determined to keep hidden from the world, despite the challenges that presents for him and his beloved son, Grogu.

This Is Why (I Don't Leave The House) [Reader's POV]: Your internet bestie arrives in preparation for the Star Wars convention you will attend together. Everything is set for the greatest weekend of your life! Until you arrive at the con and find yourself overwhelmed by all the crowds and noise. At least you have numerous incredibly realistic Mando cosplays to distract you from how stressed you feel, and there's one in particular which is uncannily accurate...

Curiosity Killed The Cat [Din's POV]: Despite his reservations and against his better instincts, Din heads to a Star Wars convention that he was invited to. Although he fears that his cover will be blown, curiosity gets the best of Din and he can't resist attending a panel. But Din doesn't exactly find the answers he was looking for. Instead, he finds something far more precious. Something that he would never have expected...

He's So Tall (And Handsome As Hell) [Reader's POV]: Being back in the real world and returning to work after an incredible weekend at the convention where you had so many fun experiences is taking its toll on you. The thought of collapsing on your couch in front of The Mandalorian is the only thing keeping you going. However, the universe has other plans for you. News of an out-of-hours tour for a private client that you are asked to lead almost sends you over the edge, but when you finally meet the man, he is the opposite of what you were expecting. Weirdly, he seems familiar...

With A Little Help From My Friends [Din's POV]: Din returns to the set of The Mandalorian to begin filming a new season. Despite his experience and capability, he finds that he struggles to focus as his thoughts remain firmly fixed on a certain someone...

You're The Sunflower [Reader's POV]: Despite feeling certain that you'll never see the ridiculously handsome man you gave a tour of the museum to, a special delivery is about to change everything...

Your Face Hung Up High In The Gallery [Din's POV]: After a difficult few days of filming The Mandalorian, Din is excited to spend time with you as he finally takes you on your first proper date...

Have I Known You Twenty Seconds or Twenty Years? - (Reader's POV):  Despite a messy evening which led to you waking up in an opulent hotel which you have no memory of falling asleep in, memories of kind brown eyes and breathless kisses soon come flooding back to soothe your soul. Your relationship deepens as the two of you spending time together whenever your busy schedules allow. But one night, a turn of events causes you - despite Din's reassurances - to wonder if everything you have been working so hard to build together has just come crashing down around you...

There's A War Inside Of Me - [Din's POV]: The realities of the secret he is keeping from you begin to weigh heavily on Din's mind and he seeks advice from a certain curly haired co-star on what his next move should be. Things don't go exactly according to plan, not least because of the typically awful English weather...

It Could Be Love, We Could Be The Way Forward - [Reader's POV]: With your respective busy jobs keeping you and Din apart, a mystery date after a hectic day at work is exactly what you needed.

The Calm - [Din's POV]: When filming overruns and conspires to keep Din from the fun weekend he planned for you, he agonises over his decision. Fortunately, he manages to salvage the weekend, even after a calamity involving a rowboat...

The Storm - [Reader's POV]: The happiness you feel in response to a question Din posed to you is somewhat clouded by lingering doubts. Yet your affection for each other helps you to push those emotions down, until a weekend spent at his cottage changes everything...

P.S. - I tried to be inclusive for all body types and skin tones in this fic, but if I missed something, I do apologise. If you do spot something that takes you out of the fic, I am more than happy for constructive criticism as I wouldn't want anyone to be excluded on those grounds. I am always trying to do better and would love to know where I went wrong so I can improve and be more aware of these things going forward, so I would appreciate it if you could let me know if you do spot anything. Thank you so much! ♡

[gffa]

Ahsoka's place in SW can be a complicated thing, because I feel both things about her--I too am often frustrated by how Filoni writes her, but I too am also grateful that her character exists and isn't the "default" straight white cis dude character. (Though, I do wish she were played by someone other than RD because of All That.)

Ahsoka got so much flak when she first appeared, people hated her just for existing, for daring to take up any space in the Star Wars story, and then she swung around to being nearly put on a pedestal by a large chunk of the fandom, she was lionized pretty heavily in some corners, and I think we're now going through the further growing pains of backlash against the hype, especially because Ahsoka is in the position of often being used as a bludgeon against the Jedi.

To be honest, I don't see nearly as much criticism of Ahsoka's character as I do for other popular characters, I see far more of Obi-Wan and Anakin and Yoda, but maybe that's just the sphere of experience I have, but I see that criticism balanced out with a ton of fic, art, and positive commentary about her. And it makes me wonder if she's in that awkward spot of not quite as central to the story as the movie characters, but more important than almost any other SW character (in the sense of any one character ever being able to be more "important" than another, you know what I mean) where we haven't quite settled into a stable balance of how to approach her character.

So, she's high level enough now that she can take some people being critical of her character or even just flat-out not being kind to her, because she has so much support from the story itself and from all across the fandom, even as honestly I haven't seen much that's been notably mean to her character. Sure, I see a few posts talking about how Ahsoka is Filoni's Blorbo, but are they truly more common than the posts that are celebrating her character? Genuinely wondering, because that hasn't been my experience. (Honestly, I would say Qui-Gon fans have it worse, given that he's another of Filoni's Blorbos, just without the added bonus of actually having anything fun to counter balance it, where even the people who say he was a True Jedi don't really care about Qui-Gon, you know? There's no skits, no commentary, etc. Just a handful of fic authors who are quietly doing their own thing and being the good in the world they want to see.)

At the same time, I get what you're feeling, that it feels uncomfortable to be critical of a female character, especially one who is played by a WOC, especially in a fandom that is pretty fucking vicious towards female characters having anything to actually do in the story. That the criticism of Ahsoka's character/status as Filoni's Blorbo isn't always fair or considerate, because people are frustrated and SW fandom wears all our nerves down to the last.

I'm not really sure where I land with all of this, because I get both sides, the frustration and the affection both, and I think there needs to be space for both in fandom just because we can't police other people's reactions to stuff. It's hard to continue liking her when she's being pitted against your faves, it's hard to be kind to Jedi fans when they're frustrated because she's being used as a bludgeon against their faves, it's hard to just walk away from people ignoring that Ahsoka is really meaningful to a lot of people because she's a non-romance-focused female character coded as/played by a woman of color, it's hard not to feel like Ahsoka's such a popular character that she can take a few people on tumblr not liking her.

My best advice is to just keep loving Ahsoka in the way that you think will attract the other friends you want to have around you--like, for me, when I talk about Anakin, I often try to do so in a way that's affectionate towards him and the Jedi, how much they loved him and how much I think he loved them in returned, because that's who I want to gravitate towards in fandom, those who like both. I try to do the same with Qui-Gon now and again, when I start getting frustrated by how he's used to bludgeon the Jedi, I start going HEY GUESS WHAT I'M EMOTIONS ABOUT HOW MUCH QUI-GON LOVED HIS JEDI FAMILY and it makes me feel better! I would love to see more people do the same with Ahsoka! Prop her up by appealing to how much she loves other characters, too! Like, every time I get frustrated at the way some of fandom treats her, I remember SHE WANTED TO GO BACK TO THE JEDI, SHE LOVED THEM, and I'm like THAT IS MY GIRL I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE IS SO BRAVE TO STRUGGLE THROUGH ALL THIS AND STILL FIND THE LOVE IN HER HEART.

Or sometimes, like with Bo-Katan, I like to lean into them being a hot mess because yessssssss I love a hot mess of a lady because I am a hot mess of a lady and Felt That. I hope Ahsoka gets to be all kinds of deliciously fucked up in her series and making mistakes and learning and being interesting and working her way back to the surface from her own depths because she is SUCH a strong character and deserves to be crunchy as hell/have bite as a character, like HOW MANY YEARS did she stew in her guilt about Anakin, refusing to let it go? How long did she hold onto that fear, so much that even the Force had to smack her in the face to try to make her let it go on Lothal? GIRL, I AM CRYING FOR YOU, YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH, LET ME GET YOU SOME SOUP AND I HOPE THE FORCE-GHOSTS ALL COME BOTHER YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE EATING ENOUGH, because I love a character that has bite.

This kind of got away from me, but that's usually where I end up when trying to wrap my head around the frustration of a character's place in fandom. I get why people are frustrated with the way Filoni writes her, but also the frustration of feeling like the important representation of her character sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, that both sides have validity, and my best way out of this is to double down on loving everyone in this bar.

[kalinara]

I'm so baffled by the way this whole thing has blown way out of proportion. People sending hateful messages to each other AND to the actors?? Totally unnecessary! It makes no damn sense.

Not to be an anti on main, but I genuinely believe that shipping changed somewhere along the way, into something that's a little disturbing.

I'm of course not going to say the old days were perfect. Racism, sexism and homophobia have always been issues and fandom has always been notoriously resistant to dealing with such things. And it's not like Shipwars are new. I remember the Ray Wars in Due South and fans older than me can tell fascinating stories of fanzine wars between Han/Leia and Luke/Leia fans before the Internet was even a thing for most of us.

But I still feel like a change happened somewhere along the way. There's this bizarre sense of entitlement now. There's this idea that a ship HAS to happen or it doesn't count somehow, and that we as fans can harangue the creators and MAKE it happen. (Voltron being the most extreme reaction I can think of).

And I mean, I get wanting representation, but it seems to go beyond that. Look at any 911 discussion thread about Buddie. Despite the fact that the show has multiple important queer pairings, they don't count because it's not the pairing the fans want.

I think this also plays into why we have so many puritan shippers. I don't agree that someone's ships reflect their real world morality. But I do get where a lot of younger fans are coming from, when so much of fandom seems to involve going "no, see, it will happen on screen and it will be AWESOME!". Not every show is Game of Thrones, after all. And nowadays, I do think a shipper probably does need to specify "no, I don't really want Thor and Loki to fuck in the movies directly aimed for kids", because of the rabid behavior of OTHER shippers. It's not fair, but we seem to have created this mess.

We used to joke about a "fannish hivemind" but nowadays, that seems less and less funny. I love shippy meta as much as the next person, but there's a difference between making an essay detailing all the moments that could be used to support a ship and making an essay detailing all the reasons why these moments ABSOLUTELY MUST MEAN MY SHIP WILL HAPPEN AND HOW COULD ANYONE POSSIBLY THINK OTHERWISE. And that attitude seems more and more prevalent nowadays.

We need to get a grip. We need to keep in mind that the creators of the show may not see it the way we do. We need to keep in mind that someone else makes the decisions about the story, and we might like or dislike it. We might want to consider, for example, that an actor who was once on Saturday Night Live, who repeatedly referred to a female co-star at that time as a "platonic soulmate" might actually not be setting up a romance between these two very tightly paralleled characters. That doesn't mean the characters WON'T get together, of course. I'm no mind-reader or oracle. But I point that out because nothing is a guarantee.

But seriously, there's nothing funnier than someone going on and on about their literary credentials when they write their long passionate analysis, because no one stops to wonder, do the creators share those literary credentials? What if all of these patterns really are accidents? Or they mean something else entirely?

And leave the actors alone, for heavens sake. They're just the face of the character. They've got nothing to do with any of this! If THEY want to engage, they're more than able to do that. Hell, the internet is anonymous, maybe they're here right now. But let that be their call. You wouldn't want someone coming up to you saying "I love imagining you and your co-worker having sex!" would you?

[pudding-parade]

Unpopular movie opinions!

Just for a bit of fun. Because I'm a contrarian, you see.

1) The first Star Wars movie is meh.

2) I liked the recent Cats movie.

Elaboration behind the cut, if anyone cares.

1) Star Wars: I saw the first Star Wars on opening day with my dad, a fellow sci-fi nerd. I had just turned 13 a couple of weeks before. Our mutual conclusion: The special effects were amazing, but everything else left much to be desired. It's a tired and predictable story, and most of the acting is mediocre. For both of us, the only bright spot was Princess Leia. (And I loved R2D2, though my dad wasn't a fan.) At the time, it was unusual in sci-fi movies to have a lead female character who wasn't just a damsel-in-distress and/or nothing but a love interest. But, other than the effects and Leia: Eh. Granted we were both huge Star Trek fans, so there's some bias there. LOL

All that said, I will say two things for Star Wars.

First, it opened the door for the Star Trek movies, given that its success proved to the film studios that there was a market for big-budget sci-fi movies. In that sense, it changed Hollywood forever because big-budget, effects-heavy sci-fi became a whole genre unto itself, for better or worse. And, since I was involved with all of the Star Trek movies from Star Trek VI onward, including the JJ Abrams ones (as a musician and occasional arranger)…Hey, ultimately Star Wars gave me jobs, so I should be grateful for that. LOL

Second, one of my favorite TV shows as a young (and hormonal) teen was the original Battlestar Galactica, which was also made possible by the success of Star Wars. It's still a show that I re-watch from time to time, though mostly nowadays because the fact that it's "Mormons in Space" amuses the hell out of me. (Its creator, Glen Larson, was a devout Mormon and a lot of Mormon theology is included in the show; it's especially noticeable in the pilot.) Plus, its late-70s camp is just awesome to behold. LOL

2) Cats: OK, so there's bias here, too. I am a huge fan of the Broadway show. I lived in NYC when it opened there, and I lost count of the number of times I saw it, but I know it's a number larger than 30. I first went to see it because I love the book of poetry by T.S Eliot that it's based on. I had some of those poems memorized before I could read because I was always having people read them to me. (Especially Of the Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles, which was my favorite.) I couldn't imagine how they'd turn the book into a show and, really...they didn't. They just set the poems to music and created dance numbers as well as a flimsy reason why it was all happening. And yet, I loved it. I loved the choreography, the set, the costumes, the music, the audience interaction, everything. The show became my "comfort food," so to speak. When I was particularly down -- which was often, at the time -- I'd go see the show and it would help a little bit.

Now, the movie isn't really the show at all, and there are things about it that I definitely don't like. BUT! I still like it overall. I suspect that if there is a Cats fandom, then most of them hate it. But I like it. Maybe it's just nostalgia, like seeing an old friend you haven't seen in years and noting how much they've changed and not always for the better, but you still love them anyway because they're still your old friend. Yeah. That's how I feel about the Cats movie.

[boltwrites]

Not the anon from before but i would like to hear the red flags for star wars men👀

sure thing!

disclaimers: these are "red flags" not dealbreakers. that means they're just things you need to look into more. plenty of people can have these opinions (and i share some myself!) but the important thing is the reasoning behind them. i'm just sharing a few things i've come across in fandom that can be indicative of other biased/nasty behavior in combination with other factors. they're separated by what kind of nasty these people can be below the cut.

general ick

as with any fandom, fan-checking (asking questions to see if you're a "real fan") in a serious, non-joking manner, is always indicative of an asshole

people who will roll their eyes or otherwise berate you for having only watched the movies

especially men who berate women who have only seen the mandalorian, or call them "basic"

anyone who insults the actors and their portrayals, especially those who insult the actors from the prequels, and especially those who insult child actors

in a non-joking way, correcting people who call grogu baby yoda

if they hate the sequel trilogy (this could be misogyny, racism, or just general pick-me energy)

insisting that they call rey "rey palpatine" (not respectful of autonomy and chosen family)

don't like the chanel boots luke skywalker meme (homophobic, lmao)

if they generally dislike lgbt+ headcanons or other diverse portrayals, especially when regarding new, original characters

in general they disregard forms of fan media like fanfiction. maybe i'm biased, but that's a little... weird lmao

misogyny

hates at least 2-3 female characters, especially if they are underdeveloped, not shown often, or particularly girly (for example: satine, padme, shaak ti, mon mothma)

dislikes rey

dislikes leia in the sequels

dislikes the kenobi series (could also be racism, could also be just an annoying fanboy who wanted his vader/kenobi matchup in episode 1 and doesn't understand how storytelling works)

they are a man whose favorite character is boba fett (+1 if they hate the boba fett show. +2 if they read the comics. this can be indicative of many things, but mostly misogyny)

if they are a man whose favorite female character is ahsoka. (this can be indicative of misogyny if their favorite male characters are relatively underdeveloped/have less screen time than ahsoka. this can be indicative of predatory behavior if by "female character" they mean "character i want to fuck" because in 90% of ahsoka's screen time she is a child)

fascist/alt right/racist

let's start with the obvious: they heavily align with the empire or first order - not the sith, the empire/first order

their favorite character is hux or tarkin

they hate finn (or lando, honestly)

they are unusually interested in the fashion/clothing the empire wears, especially in the original trilogy (their clothing is basically copy-pasted from a certain time period in german history)

this is the big one: if they refused to watch andor, or if they watched andor and hated it. andor is one of the most blatantly antifascist pieces of media in the star wars universe. if they don't have a good reason for disliking it, this can honestly be a big red flag

basically just watch out. the empire is an allegory for wwii germany in the original trilogy, and the first order is an allegory for the alt right (although much more loosely). if they seem particularly weird or make "the empire was right" jokes a lot, give them a huge side-eye

i definitely missed some. please feel free to ask for clarification on any of these!

[xoteajays]

The easiest way for me. Besides celebrities.. If we're only mentioning characters. That depends on the fandom. Shows, movies, games and anything else you can think of. So if you're curious about characters I like, just ask me based on fandoms I enjoy. So types varies for me.

Really? You don't like Peaky Blinders? You're probably the only person I know who doesn't like the show.. I know everyone has their opinions, though part if me is slightly judging you for this. Slightly. So hopefully the Peaky movie comes out soon. I'm being impatient about that.

Oh! If you do end up enjoying Vincenzo. There is a a queer character, and a himbo character. Both canonically their respective characters.

~

Like I said.. If I ever watch war shows or movies, then it's because one of my favorite celebrities is starring in it. And only because of them. If it wasn't for that celebrity, then I probably wouldn't watch war genres.

Sci-fi depends for me. I've always hated Star Wars, Star Trek, and any other scifi genre like those franchises. I think the only scifi show that I have ever truly enjoyed was Orphan Black, interesting plot starring so many strong female characters (another show I can see Rocky maybe enjoying with his girlfriend). So I'm only sometimes in the scifi genre.

That doesn't surprise me. Anything title with, "Once Upon A..." Would usually be retelling fairytale stories in some way or another, or even a whole new fairytale. But that's usually what I have noticed though.

For the shows I can't find on the app channels, I'll try sites before I do try paying for more. If you really do have to pay for the hiTV channel.

~

Well.. Nikaido's actor is apart of the Exile Tribe musicians. So if you've never seen him in a show or movies (besides High&Low), then there's a chance that you have seen him in of their some music videos then.

Like the One Time One Life music video, he's dancing besides Keiji in that video. Same with Higher Grounds video. And other videos too.

~

Oshiage would be more mature about it, Junko will never be mature a lot of the time. Because this is Junko. This is why I never liked Junko.

Obviously. Not every relationship has to be romantic, some ships just might also be platonic. There are at least two romantic ships in H&L... I'm not sure what the other ships are yet though. I am still undecided.

Sakura should have given that away. Because, in Japan, sakura is the cherry blossom flowers. And also a common name for many girls too.

Exactly! We know everything about Cobra, yet know absolutely not a single thing him at the same time. So how does that happen. Since I'll can say that this annoys me more than it should. Like what the fuck...

Same here. I'm curious about his sexual preferences.. Because we did figure out Rocky, Hyuga and Murayama really easily. Possibly Smoky, maybe Takeshi and whoever else. Except for Cobra. He's the only one. I could imagine him as a switch? Even if he's dominant, I can ever see him as overly dominant. But no submissive either. More equal. So I'm saying he's a switch (like Rocky) who treats his partner equally in sex. But that's all I got for him so far. Why is he so difficult to figure out?!

I've already sent some pictures. That face claim's from the same band that my other face claims are a part of, in case you were wondering it.

Like I said.. I'm not completely sure if I'll create yet another character, at least for the High&Low franchise. Since I have a lot of characters in general for other fandoms. But that's besides the point I'm right now.

She would be the fifth character. And based on some pictures that I'd already sent.. If she's a color coded character too, it's either the White Rascals and Rude Boys. Unless I have her be apart of other gangs.

The image of her with blonde hair, black and white clothes. That does make me think of the Rascals. Especially Rocky and Aizawa since the both of the have platinum blond hair all the time. If she is a Rascals, it would be obvious that Rocky would never allow her to be a fighter like the other Rascals (excluding Kizzy). But I do not think I could imagine her as a fighter though. If she was associated with Rascals, either she might be working at one of Rocky's businesses - like Club Heaven. So she could either be a dancer, bartender, waitress, or something like it. I don't know yet. But she is only involved with the Rascals platonically though, no romantic ships with any of them. At least not with Rocky.

If she's a part of the Rude Boys. I'm not sure about that yet. Because I just can't think of her being abandoned but I don't know what I might do for her family yet. Obviously I thought Rude because of the earthly toned clothes which is usually Rude's signature colors. I don't know.

But, regardless of the group, I imagine her involved with food. Maybe not as a foodie like Blue and Orange. But someone who's involved in a culinary arts way. Someone who enjoys cooking and baking. With any baking she does, her specialty is bread and desserts. I have thought... Maybe she works at Itokan with Naomi. Or even a bakery. Something. Because I originally thought if she was associated to Rude in any way, I imagined her living near Nameless City but not in it. And that she's a charitable person always helping looking after whoever she can in the city. I don't know how Rude Boys like it since they always take strong pride in being mostly self reliant. But since she can cook and bake so much food, I would imagine her occasionally being the Nameless and Rude people proper homecooked meals that could feed a lot of them. Especially the children. And sometimes, I would imagine her buying a lot of things for them. Especially the children. Like the clothes, health and hygiene products, sometimes books and toys. I don't know. So I'll say she isn't the typical Rude Boy. But that's what I originally thought.

Blue, Orange and Yamato are foodies. Orange, Cobra and Rocky have been known to enjoy sweet foods - Rocky's snack is mainly the candy though. But still. I imagined her being skilled with culinary food work.

So various shades of pinks and purples. Which is fine if you use any of the pink colors, just avoid the strawberry pinks for Strawberry Girls in my opinion. But yeah. Oya's primary color is dark blue mixed in with a medium and lighter blues too. Like cobalt blue, navy blue, indigo blue and even shades of azure blues from what I've noticed as their colors.

I know how that is. People judge me based on my appearance so I will understand how that is for Yui.. Because as a grown woman, I'm really a short woman with baby faced features since I am chubby. Like chibi characters. So people assume I'm younger than my actual age even if I'm usually older than them. People never take me seriously either. So I know the feeling all too well by now. Though if the person who really does harass me is a guy, just him in the groin until they stop anything they're doing. Them being in pain makes me feel so much better then it actually should though. So I might be a sadist in those situations.

So I can get automatically defensive because I always assume that all these people can't take me seriously because of my appearance even if that's not always the case though. Because I'm always coddled by a lot of people all the time, since the day I was born. And I really hate it.

So I know the feeling.

Yes! Orange and Yui are the dualistic traits to the fire element. Orange is the positive aspects of fire, Yui's the negative aspects of fire in a lot of ways. Orange's the warmth of fire, Yui's the destruction of fire. And everything else like that. But Orange is definitely that type of person.. The only time you would ever see a completely different side to her is if you have done something to push her in that direction. Like Kuryu. So it usually takes a while to ever get her angry about anything is how I see it. She's rarely ever pushed in that direction though. So it's fine.

Fire sustains and consumes. Warmth or destruction. Enough fire may keep you warm on a cold day, but too much fire would just burn you.

Apparently Cobra has an attraction to fire type women then.

Obviously. I think there isn't an original character who I could see ever hating Naomi in any way. She's the only tolerable female character, at least besides Kizzy (sometimes). Kizzy's a completely different story.

Naomi always knows that Orange cheers up Cobra whenever they are together, romantically or platonically. They just don't seem to admit a lot of their feelings to each other (if they're not dating yet) in this very situation as Yamato and Naomi. But a lot less bickering than them.

But here's the question. Which one of those boys, Yamato or Noboru, is willing to be attacked by a girl they are trying to carrying away from Cobra and Murayama. Well.. Murayama. Because this is Murayama.

"yui’s a lil argumentative with rocky and the rascals because their whole deal leans on her personal sensitivity about people assuming she’s weak. shizuka sees it for what it is though: protecting the people you care about because you care about them, not because you think they’re weak." That is my complete dualistic mindset of the White Rascals, especially when they were first introduced as being so protective of the women and girls (along with any weaker people too).

I've known my fair share of superstitious person who hated the more supernatural horror and thriller genres because they were afraid that those creatures would be brought into their lives. It's so funny to me. Maybe because I'm not some superstitious person at all, I have never been a superstitious about anything in my life before. That's just me.

Yui and Shizuka are basically Mikey and Draken. Kinda.

it’s not that i don’t like peaky blinders, i’ve just never been interested in watching it. i’ve seen bits and pieces, and i can see why people like it, it’s just not my style. i haven’t watched a lot of popular stuff actually.

hell yeaaa queers and himbos!

~

oh gee, orphan black is sci-fi isn’t it? i loved orphan black. we’ll count that as the only exception. everything else though, not really my taste. don’t care for star wars or it’s thousand spin-offs, never watched star trek. even doctor who falls into this category for me; i can’t be tempted just because they’re doing history stuff.

i watched the first episode of informa last night - i know i said i’d watch bloodhounds or vincenzo but the informa episodes are only 30 minutes at most! - and i’m very interested in seeing where it goes. the guy who plays seki is in it as well, which i was surprised by. he’s got hair …..

afaik, you don’t have to pay for hitv unless you want premium and it doesn’t even force you to create an account.

~

i thought that too, but i hadn’t watched any exile videos until this year. idk, maybe he just looks a lot like someone else, but i’m not sure who.

ive been watching a lot of the second music videos (in addition to a lot of jsb, generations, and the rampage).

~

i don’t think oshiage’s crush was as serious as junko’s. i think she liked murayama, but it was probably very aesthetic, since she couldn’t even get him a gift he would like. (still so mad about the weapons). so i think she would move on, respect murayama choosing someone else. but junko’s going to be a bitch about it. judge the girl’s clothes and looks, and criticise them, and probably try to drag the other strawberries into it. the other girls aren’t as serious about it, but junko is their leader. naomi’s gonna whap her on the head with a newspaper for all the shit-talking.

i was originally planning on naming yui ‘sakura’, but then decided against it. so it became her surname instead.

i also can’t see cobra as overly dominant, but still kind of. more guiding, as opposed to bossy. where murayama is high energy, i could see cobra as more lax, slower but still passionate. idk, i’m still trying to figure him out too.

that first image with the blonde hair and the black and white clothing was definitely giving rascals vibes. and i think her as the bartender would be an interesting twist. and would give more insight to the going’s on in club heaven that we didn’t really get to see. like when miho was staying there, rocky vs jesse, club heaven’s destruction. plus, more koo and kizzykaito. she could be another sister figure to rocky, or one of the other rascals.

her 3rd and last pics definitely fit the rude boys aesthetic. the grunginess is very nameless city chic. i think it’d be cool for her to be situated in sannoh more, but favourable to nameless and the rude boys. if she runs a bakery in sannoh, i could maybe see her being close with other shop owners and asking for the food stuff they’d usually throw out (even though it’s still good), so she could give it to the nameless citizens.

funnily enough, i’ve found pictures of yui and hinami’s faceclaims repping the strawberries colours. i’ll have to message them to you.

orange is the hearth, yui is the housefire; the warmth and the destruction. cobra helping yui out with her defensive issues is like taming a bonfire into a candle flame, still has the risk of getting burned or starting a bigger fire, but for now a warm light. also small.

i’m curious to how the all the sannoh guys would react to seeing orange finally snap, because they’re so used to her warm personality, so the whitehot anger is … very different.

cobra likes em hot, in both the warmth way and the very attractive way.

you can’t hate naomi! she’s great! yui and kizzy is something i want to put some thought into. because kizzy is a rascal and upholds their ideals, but she’s also a girl. and girls protecting girls is different than when guys do it (in yui’s mind at least). i do think they’d have an interesting dynamic. meanwhile shizuka and kaito would just be chilling out.

they’re playing rock-paper-scissors. or noboru is jumping in first like ‘i’ll get murayama’ and yamato’s like ‘gdi!’ because grabbing a pissed off yui is like grabbing a feral cat. but also yamato has like a full foot of height difference on yui. just scoop her.

cobra (and shizuka) eventually gets through to yui that when he steps in to protect her, it’s because he cares about her, not that he thinks she can’t handle herself. it just takes a while because she’s got her walls all built up.

shizuka is very superstitious. she’s like ‘you can’t think or talk about semons because then they’ll show up and mess with your life’ and yui is like ‘… that’s so stupid’. shizuka absolutely knows all the scary urban legends so she can avoid any scary situations.

yui and shizuka are very mikey and draken coded. yui’s not as extreme as mikey though, albeit she would probably easily fit into the sano family. short, fiery, strong-willed, into blondes (i see u emma). shizuka is probably more chill than draken.

[space-blue]

No spoilers review of Rings of Power's first 2 episodes

TL;DR : It's great so far overall. Pirate it if you will, but haters beat the hate drum for nothing, in regards to quality.

The detailed version:

I'd like to open by saying I've read the trilogy multiple times, and the hobbit too, but never finished the Silmarillion. I've seen the OG films a million times, and their extended bonuses. I've seen the Hobbit films once or twice (worked in a cinema in NZ at the time the second came out…) but generally dislike them. I've never engaged with fandom much and basically know precious little of what's supposed to go down in the series.

The costumes are good. Some better than others.

The characters are all engaging. I've seen reviews that didn't care much for the harfoots, but I found them adorable and was often grinning during their scenes. There is definitely a sense of slow pace, with the characters building slowly and giving no indication of where the series might take them. I don't mind actually. I don't want tropes thrown in my face 2h in if there will be time to build.

The CGI is perfectly fine. Some scenes are more obvious than others, but I never really broke immersion except for a couple of scenes where I thought "maybe this would be nicer if practical". I have no idea what the workload was like for CG artists. It's usually shit, and I can't imagine Amazon treats their workers well in any domain. But they did a fantastic job. This is NOT TV show quality CG. This isn't Marvel or even Star Wars. This is very careful, very well executed, and I felt like watching two movies, not two tv episodes.

The plot... Is very slow to build. I honestly don't mind, because there's a satisfying sense of mystery throughout. I'm invested in all the storylines so far, to my own surprise.

The music is good too. It's not often noticeably "insane" the way it could be in the films, with tracks like for the Nazgul attack at Bree that just rips you from your seat. but overall I never thought the music was lacking, and noticed a few great tracks, notably at Khazad-Dûm! There are some very interesting sounds here and there and I think I'll get the OST as it's the sort of stuff I'll do some great writing to.

The one massive drawback so far for me is EDITING. OMG the editing. I don't know what they think they are doing, but I suspect they believe audiences need some sort of constant back and forth between PoVs to keep our interest? It this the TikTok editing trend? lol I joke but I genuinely wondered if this was edited for the tik tok crowd.

I'm really looking forward to the whole show being out and some pro editor reclipping this nicely. Some scenes, you will have very low interest walking, some talking... there's a mystery afoot... ok... And then oof, they discover something suspicious! A creepy tunnel! Character drops down into it and finally, we're talking. Something interesting. CUT!! And yeah, that happens a lot. They cut away from scenes that finally become good, or that have been built up to.

For me it did nothing but frustrate me.

Otherwise, nope, I like it. MILD SPOILERS FOR CHARACTERS:

I think Galadriel is great as a Trauma Queen. She has that one line, telling a human who's asking her to "let it lie" that "It would take longer than your lifetime even to speak the names of those they have taken from me. So letting it lie is not an option."

And I was both like "yasss queen!" but also "do elves have therapy? Because please, try and get some of that, you need it."

There was a lot of misogyny dressed in white knighting for "strong female characters" online in the last months, and I wish a happy fuck off to all people who will be hating on "strong female uwu Galadriel". I think there's some interesting acting choices going on, and the more we see of her, the more apparent it is that she GAINED her composure, but wasn't always so. I feel it's a great exchange for knowing she isn't at risk in this show. Instead of wondering if she'll "make it", I can wonder how she became the Galadriel I know. I hope they do her justice!

Elrond is fine! He's got depth!

There also was a fuss around the black elf, Arondir... AND YOU CAN ALL FUCK OFF TOO, HE'S MY PRECIOUS!!! Dude is a fucking gardener turned soldier in this war, he's relatable in his fears and bravery... And his name means "to round up" in French. He's sweet and I'm invested in his story. Some of the more chilling scenes came from his side actually.

And OMG DURIN!!! During and Elrond have this fantastic energy to them, I loved their scenes. And yeah, no beard on the Dwarven ladies. But I didn't mind. I found Disa super charming.

Also, a lot of scenes had fantastic fandom energy. I was watching, enjoying myself, and a little monkey at the back of my mind was like "ooohohohohohoho the tumblrinas are gonna be posting about this, I know it." But not in a bad way at all. More in like... there is space for tropes and retellings, and fix its and missing scenes... and I can already tell what's gonna be excellent at a glance. The visit at Khazad-Dûm is one of those settings imo.

Anyway, if the quality remains the same, it will be a fantastic show and a great addition to my personal canon of the Lord of the Rings. I think my final edition will be taken from fandom spaces when someone fixing the woeful editing... But I'm going to keep watching religiously until further notice!!

[fireheart118]

‼️𝙂𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙎𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙨‼️

I really need to talk about this and I don't want to ruin if for any but I need to get this out before it drives me insane. When I get super passionate about something this is what happens. Now, I don't think I've ever written a review or anything like it before but here I am giving it a go. It's really just my thoughts and opinions on Ghostbusters Afterlife.

𝗛𝗲���𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗼

For starters, is raised on Ghostbusters and a few other franchises. My dad is a movie lover and has been taking me to see movies since I was small. Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, James Bond and Ghostbusters. To name a few of the franchises he raised me on. So I was watching the first Ghostbusters in diapers basically, he'd sing the song to me sometimes to put me to bed. No joke. So the Ghostbusters franchise means alot to me. When you're raised on a film or series i think that love for it sticks with you forever and carries over into your adulthood. It certainly did for me when it comes to all the franchises I listed above. But I'm getting off topic here. Point is Ghostbusters is important to me.

When I first heard they were making another one, after the one with the female cast I was concerned. Considering I hates every single second of that one, it didn't feel right to me. It honestly felt like they were making a mockery of such a beloved classic that it just enraged me. No offense to the cast, because they're all great actresses but that movie an atrocity and should've 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 happened. Like I said it moreso felt like they were poking fun at the original and that just made me mad. So yeah, I was concerned. But when I heard Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace were going to be in this one I got excited. They are two actors that I have a lot of love and respect for. They're two very powerful young actors in Hollywood who never cease to amaze me with what they can do. The range they both have is even better than their adult costars most of the time. They're very talented for their ages. Knowing they were going to be apart of this put me at ease a little, over time I got excited but in the back of my mind lingered that sliver of doubt. Because we all know how bad sequels can be.

I waited forever to see this movie, tried not to let anything spoil it. Only watched one of the trailers. I wanted to go into this fresh. I didn't want to know too much about it. I wanted to see it opening night, but I couldn't. So I saw it the next night after work. My friend and her nephew accompanied me. I'll say it now if you want to take young kids to this it's definitely family friendly. Her nephew is eight and he loved it.

To say I was on the edge of my seat through it would've been an understatement. I laughed alot, I got alot of nostalgia and of course there were tears. I don't want to spoil too much but when Egon Spengler is mentioned I get teary eyes. As a kid, my favorites were always Spengler and Venkman. I'd argue they're two of the best characters in the franchise along with Dana. Because Sigourney Weaver is a boss. Shes phenomenonal in anything she's casted in to be honest.

Spengler meant alot to me because he's always reminded me of my dad. They act alot alike and they're both SUEPR intelligent, they try to be funny and it doesn't always work. But they try. He just always made me think of my dad, who is my best friend. So you can imagine the passing of Harold really effected me. I was young when it happened but I know it upset me. He was an absolute legend, honestly this crummy world didn't deserve him but we were blessed with his presence anyway.

Any time he was mentioned or even shown in Afterlife I was crying and I mean really crying. I love the little tributes they did to him throughout the film it really got to me. They definitely knew what they were doing.

𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Then at the end when we got to see his ghost. Now, that really got me. I was sobbing like a baby as were most of the people in the theater. Did I mention it was sold out?? Seeing Harold as Spengler one last time was the best gift in the world and I was so happy and yet so sad at the same time. Because I knew it truly would be the end. I'll probably never see him as Spengler again and that hurt more than I can express.

So, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who loves Ghostbusters as much as I do. Even if you've never gotten to see the classic itself, which is suggested before seeing this one..you can honestly watch this one without it. It's great for the whole family and im so happy it exists.

I definitely give it a 10/10. Best movie I've seen all year.

[eliotheeangelis]

1, 5 and 23! 👾

Thank you darling and sorry for the delay!

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Currently I am working on my genderswapped f1 au and my god do I love it so much! It came from humble origins (making stupid faceswaps of 80s drivers in FaceApp) but then I couldn't get those babes out of my head. The premise is that several of our favourite f1 drivers from the history of the sport (clark lauda cevert villeneuve mansell de angelis senna) are female, and all the baggage that comes with that (sexism and misogyny and big 80s hair i guess). It's nigelio focused of course, but in a 'harold they're lesbians' way. Progress-wise, I have a whopping 25 chapters planned out, and chapter 6 (drivers' strike!!) was published just before Christmas.

It started out really as a vehicle for fem!nigelio but I actually love exploring the sexism aspects of that era - eg one character hates the suggestion that she only has her drive because she's a woman and it's just because of sponsorship, whereas other girls on the grid embrace it and accept that's how f1 works. It's also really nice to talk about women winning races and wdcs in the 60s, 70s etc and it being accepted as normal in that universe (although sexism taints everything of course - eg niki is a woman, she wins her titles only for the media to wish it could have been a prettier woman...)

I'm working on chapter 7 at the moment, watch this space...

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

It is definitely a trend for me that I always find it easier to relate to one person in my ships more than the other. For nigelio, cringe it may be but I will admit I relate to nigel quite a lot (midlands babes stick together mwah), his voice always comes to me really easily. Read into that what you want (but I don't think I'm as dramatic as him thankfully). With prosenna I definitely can get into Alain's character a lot more easily than Ayrton. I don't know why, but maybe it's because despite them being very different personalities, both nigel and alain aren't the most beloved drivers in fandom and I always relate to an oddball underdog much more than 'popular' drivers.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Speaking generally in my fic career, this would actually be a very old Star Wars au about Boba Fett that I originally came up with when I was 14! Every so often I go back to it and keep chipping away new chapters, but with the new Star Wars movies, Mandalorian and now Book of Boba Fett it's too different from canon and I don't think I'm motivated any more to keep writing it. Hopefully I will get back to it at some point.

In terms of F1, it would definitely be my drivers' strike story, which is currently on hiatus. I have quite a lot written and planned for it but the motivation is just not there at the moment. I will definitely get back to it eventually because it's a fun premise.

Thank you for the ask again and sorry for the wall of text...

Writing Ask Game if you want your very own wall of text!

[theflikchic]

Obscure Pop Culture I Love That Nobody Talks About

Consider this entire post a series of recommendations, especially if you're bored in quarantine.

1. Quantum Leap

Starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, "Quantum Leap" is a sci-fi show from the 80s and it's one of the most progressive shows I've ever seen. The plot's a bit complicated so I'll be quick: A scientist named Sam- in an attempt to travel back in time- accidentally gets trapped in the bodies of different people throughout time. He can only leap from body to body when he changes a point in history (most often, he has to stop a death).

The reason this show is so amazing is because of fact that no matter what body he leaps into, we always see him as him. My favourite episode (called "What Price, Gloria?") is about how Sam gets stuck in the body of a beautiful female secretary. We watch him undergo the sexual harassment of the workplace and see how ridiculous it really is as every guy thinks he's a girl. It's terrific seeing him in women's clothing because it's very normalized in the show and is used to further explain sexism in gender constructs of clothing.

There's about five seasons and sadly, it never got a proper ending. It's quite sad and can be difficult to watch but it's beautiful and I love it.

2. The RED Movies (RED and RED 2)

I love these movies. And sadly, there's only two of them. A lot of people dislike the second one and whild it isn't as good as the first one, I still think it's a lot of fun. They're funny, they're action-packed, and they've got an incredible cast and yet no one's seen any of them.

The movies follow ex-CIA agent Frank Moses and his adrenaline-hyped girlfriend Sarah Ross as they travel the globe with other retired agents and contract killers to stop bad guys and it's AMAZING. I originally watched them because of Anthony Hopkins being in the sequel but then it turned out that I loved them both so much.

They're also very well-written and require a lot of attention. And the jokes make that really rewarding. Both of these films are on Amazon Prime and they're so much fun. If you need more convincing, there's a scene when Helen Mirren tasers Anthony Hopkins and then several scenes after, they kidnap a pizza guy-

3. Dinotopia

The books by James Gurney reign supreme but I love the five episode (or six??? I dunno, there weren't a lot) TV series. It's very mediocre and super low budget but I enjoy the characters and the overall world (even if the books are better).

I'd like to mention that there's also a three hour-long miniseries featuring the same characters but with different actors. While there's more dinosaurs and David Thewlis, the acting is really bad and that's where I prefer the TV show.

I'd also like to mention that the TV show has the character of LeSage, a morally grey antagonist who hates dinosaurs and will occasionally team up with the mains when the rules suit her. She's an excellent character and the highlight of the show.

4. V (1984)

Hey, so, you know Freddy Krueger? Yeah, of course you do. Well, this was the show that made him famous.

Two miniseries (a two-parter and a three-parter) and a fourteen-episode TV series. This show was HUGE in the 80s and yet, for some reason, everyone seems to have forgotten it (but we did get Funko Pops so...victory!).

The show is about an alien invasion of earth but it's not just an alien invasion: it's an invasion from evil alien lizards that serve as an allegory for Nazis. It's got amazing characters, especially amazing female characters. It deals with moral decisions and the horrors of war. While it does get more campy as it progresses and doesn't have a proper ending, 90% of it is low-budget but compelling sci-fi with great characters (and the found family trope, especially once they bring Robert Englund aboard).

Be aware: there are some elements of body horror regarding a pregnancy and an ab*rtion attempt in the second miniseries so if that stuff bothers you like it does me, I promise that it has a happy ending and everything turns out okay. I love love LOVE this show and I wish more people watched it.

If you're curious, it's located all on archive.org.

5. Monk

One of the only three cop shows I actually watch, "Monk" is an incredible show starring Tony Shaloub as an ex-homicide detective who suffers from OCD. As someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder, I just feel so...seen with this show. Tony Shaloub does an excellent job at portraying someone with anxiety and he's written so wonderfully that I often find myself saying out loud- "Me too, man. Me too."

Don't let the fact that it's a comedy throw you off. They take Monk's illness pretty seriously and most of the laughing comes from the sadness that comes with the way he reacts to the world. Often when something goes wrong because of his anxiety, it funny but also doesn't shy away from the character trying to deal with the way his mind is wired. No characters really laugh at him in the show and those who do are portrayed as jerks (because they are). And Monk is incredibly courageous and it's inspiring to see him triumph.

It has 8 seasons and it's on Amazon Prime. It's brilliant and fun and sad all at once. It's also set in the same universe of "Psych" (another amazing show) but this wasn't established until years later once both shows were over.

The bonus to watching this show is for the character of Monk's friend Captain Stottlemeyer played by severely underrated actor Ted Levine. And if that name sounds familiar, it's because he made a mark back in 1991 as a serial killer who owned a pet poodle and went by the name of Buffalo Bill. He's so funny in this show and his friendship with Monk is one of my favourite parts.

So that's the post! I hope you found something that you're interested in and that your quarantine remains filled with fun, fictitious content! Stay safe!

[an-american-whovian]

• The Story Thus Far:

This is the one that started it all fer me! The reason I bleed all things Doctor Who -- like my anus bleeds beer shits of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

My Series 2 review of NuWho (just rolls off the tongue).

• Goodbye, My Liveeer -- Goodbye, My Friend:

In all honesty, I don't know how it happened -- one day I came across a fan made Doctor Who video to James Blunt's 'Goodbye My Lover' on YouTube. More specifically, the episodes 'Army of Ghosts'/'Doomsday'.

It had that bit in which he asks, "How long are you going to stay with me?" To which she replies, "Forever." Then to see the whole conclusion with her getting sucked into a parallel universe/the stuff on Badwolf Bay all to that terrible song.

I was sold. (Mostly 'cause I was fresh off a break up, myself.)

• But I'm Getting Ahead of Myself:

As I watched all four minutes and twenty six seconds of that corny ass shit, I recalled Classic Who and asked myself, "Wasn't Doctor Who some big nosed dude with a long scarf and really bad special effects? Who's this hot bitch -- and the blonde!?"

Well, according to the nerds at Brainstorm Comics in Wicker Park, Chicago, it was this long running sci-fi series that had finally made a comeback after a long hiatus.

Then I remembered the TV Movie on Fox. That came and went like another one of their illfated shows, 'M.A.N.T.I.S.' (NO ONE ever remembers that one.) Then I remember as kid watching a different dude play the Doctor. This guy wore beige clothing and hung out with teens.

Total pedo' vibes.

Well, luckily fer me, those nerds at Brainstorm had a rental section and I proceeded to rent series two of NuWho -- 'cause i wanted to see how we got to that conclusion. (Then I proceeded to copy it onto VHS -- as was the fashion at the time.)

It was all downhill from there.

• Controversial Statement Up Ahead:

If a US network ever had the AUDACITY to do Who -- it would pro'ly look like this series (one could kinda say the same about series five, too). Handsome lead; hot companion. Easily to digest science fiction stories and culminating in a two part epic in which the hero fights off giant metallic salt shakers with plungers as they wage war against the British equivalent to the Borg. (Yea, I know -- Cybermen came first. I said it fer comparisons sake, ya nerd.)

Also, anyone remember that episode of 'Community' in which they do an American version of 'Inspector Spacetime'? They're TOTALLY supposed to be Tennant and Piper-esque. (The show would then go ahead and predict that the first female Doctor would go onto suck -- "but not because she's a woman".)

• Onto the Good Shit:

'The Christmas Invasion' is a fun festive romp -- that has the Doctor in it fer about ten minutes. Extra points fer 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' reference. It's, also, where I learned that out there they call baby oranges "satsumas". (Y'all are funny.)

'New Earth' brings back Cassandra from the series one story 'The End of the World' -- along with that giant head with dreads that lead into testicles known as The Face of Boe (love the enigmatic shit with him). The body switching stuff is fun; but how the Doctor saves the day is just plain lame. "Lemme dump all these cures into one giant concoction and bukkake this whole hospital!" *high fives all around!*

'School Reunion' brings back Sara Jane -- and till this day I use her "Everything has its time and everything ends" speech (almost to a fault). It's got Giles from 'Buffy' in it -- so that's dope. Be that as it may, I don't like how the kid takes credit fer blowing up the school at the end. Like, dude, eveyone's gonna think yer a prepubescent psycho.

'Girl in the Fireplace', The Cybermen two parter and 'The Impossible Planet'/The Satan Pit' are all time classics in my book. (Fun Fact: TO THIS DAY I refer to my basement as "The Satan Pit".)

• Controversial Statement Part Deux:

I don't hate 'Love & Monsters'. 😳 Like, I think Elton insinuating at the end that he skull fucks a slab of cement with his girlfriend's face is pretty fucked up and the Abzobaloff looks like it was designed by a child (oh, wait, it was) -- it's still a lot of fun and a different take on a Doctor Who story. (DW is ALWAYS at its best when it takes chances!)

Like, ELO is prominently featured in the episode. How can anyone hate that!?

• All Filler and No Thriller:

'Tooth & Claw' is just too boring to even talk about. I can't even remeber a characters name or which Queen was ruling at the time.

'Fear Her' HAS TO BE one of the worst episodes -- EVER. The less said about it the better.

• Let's Cut This Short -- Like the Doctor Gets Cut Off on Rose:

Series two isn't as great as series one; but it's not too far off. Yea, jokes are gonna be dated like bad CGI werewolves. Deal with it. Have you ever seen 'Warriors of the Deep'!?

It's all worth while fer a balls to the wall finale.

"You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?", asks a Cyberman.

"We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek! You are superior in only one respect."

"What is that?"

"YOU ARE BETTER AT DYIIIIIING.", adds the Dalek. *DROPS MIC!*

Finally, don't tell me you dont get all chocked up when Ten tells Rose, "I'm inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close; and it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova.

I'm burning up a sun just to say good bye." 😭

ALL THE STARS AND FRESHLY ROTTEN TOMATOES.

• Epilogue; i.e. Controversial Statement No. 3:

Are Timelords low key pedos!? Like, the Doctor is over 900 years old at this point and Rose is, like, 19 or 20.

Talk about a midlife crisis, bruh.

[thesharondefenseleague]

Fun fact the long asks are a new feature ! (Thank fuck)

But oh that last ask reminded me. I wish people would talk about fandom Racism and Black Panther. I remember both Star Wars and Captain America and Ironman franchise having discussions about how certain types of ships get popular. Like enemies/rivals, best friends etc. But then those ship trends exclude black characters.

Like for example Kylo and Finn after the first movie ( and before 2 and 3) were from the same side originally but then ended up on different sides, Kylo recognizes Finn without the helmet and zeroes in on him with the helmet. Finn understands the toxicity of the environment he in. Its the kind of thing that makes for really popular ships. And the one time it doesn't one guy happens to be black.

Same goes for say Rhodey and Tony bickering best friends so often are shipping fuel but not for these two.

But no one brings up Black Panther. Like M'Baku had a fierce rivalry with T'Challa and seemed to hate him but then saves his ass after Kilmonger and joins T'Challa in the fight to retake his kingdom.

The shipping potential here is crazy and its absolutely the kinda thing fandom on tumblr simps for. But despite everyone loving the movie and both these characters there was so little content. Same goes for T'Challa and Nakia it was one of the few MCU canon ships fandom was on board with as a concept but people didn't really do shit with it.

But when discussing fandom racism and how black people are left out of shipping these ships don't come up ever. And I do think a part of it is neither of these ships have non black characters. But I think a bigger aspect is there was no shipping drama.

I mean let's be fair even if fandom bigotry exists the only time its really discussed at all is in fandoms and about characters and ships with shipping drama. Ironman Captain America and Star Wars as fandoms all had shipping drama.

And using things like misogyny, homophobia, abuse and racism as concepts to tie to ships you don't like is what shipping drama often is now. And BP didn't have huge shipping drama. Because at the end of the day these people don't care about bigoted bias in fandom. They only care that their ship gets more content and ships they don't like get less. So they make you try to feel bad for liking things they don't.

Its unfortunate because I do things acknowledging bias in fandom and exploring this bigotry in fandom is necessary. But any time I see these things brought up in fandom I know its because of shipping.

Fandom misogyny was always a thing. But it wasn't brought up with strong female characters being damseled constantly or the sexualized objectified depiction of female characters fandom often has especially in art ( no those things are only brought up for m/m coincidentally the most popular type of fic in the fandom because there are so few relevant women in canon to begin with). No it only begun being discussed alot when the main canon ship wasn't acknowledged and fandom embraced a different ship that happened to be m/m. The gender thing is only relevant because the other ship is m/m.

Rinse and repeat for homophobia and racism. The actual homophobic and racist rhetoric and interpretation in fandom is ignored. It only matters as a way to make people feel bad for not making more things with your favorite ship.

You know who I saw shipped with T’Challa the most after BP was released? Motherfucking Darcy and Tony. Third was Natasha, fourth was Bucky. I saw zero posts about shipping him with any non-white character. Not even Storm, his canon wife. An absolute mess. This should have been looked down on, and yet it wasn’t. It was barely even called out.

Racist shippers are so fucked up. And there’s so many! I remember when Sam/Sharon became a thing, and we were promoting it, and those obnoxious anti blogs made racists posts in response. Like what the fuck? This fandom jumps the gun to be racist just as fast as they are misogynistic, but they’re less likely to be called out for it, and it’s fucked.

Misogyny in fandom on here hides well, but it’s easiest to find in fanfiction. The horrific tropes the women in fanfiction are given literally stopped me from shipping certain characters because the writers wouldn’t stop making shitty abusive versions of these female characters that were far from canon. Here, it’s easier to hide. In fanfiction, they’re impossible to ignore.

Homophobia doubly so too. It’s easy to identify in f/f ships, but m/m not so much. Yes, we know for a lot of you it’s a fetish, like straight men watching lesbian porn. But the line separating isn’t as clear as I’d like to think it is. Sometimes it’s obvious, but most of the time it isn’t. Hell, years ago, when I posted about a m/m ship and their sex life because the show they were on had them openly discussing it, someone tried calling me out as offensive. (Spoiler: it wasn’t.) That’s how thin the line is. But the racism in these ever-so-popular m/m ships are so easy to identify, that we can all see it for miles. Again, the bi Steve movement pushing out Sam as an option for a boyfriend was one major racist moment in this fandom.

This fandom should be more open about tackling the issues of racism, misogyny, and homophobia in it. The reason it keeps going as strong as it does is that a lot of young/impressionable people on here see what’s popular and emulate it, so it becomes cyclical. We need to find a way to cut it off here, because I’m not ready for the next round of shit we’re gonna have to deal with when F+WS comes out, and y’all do Sharon and Sam dirty and push shipping Bucky with Zemo onto us.

~Mod R

(PS love the new long ask layout, it makes answering these so much easier.)

[onlycosmere]

Brandon Sanderson on Misogyny in Fantasy Novels

Anushia Kandasivam: We have a lot of different characters in your books. There are, of course, misogynistic characters in your books, and there are storylines that feature violence against women. But generally, the male/female relationships between the main characters are quite equitable. The heroes are respectful of women in their plots and decisions. But oftentimes, the line between consent and coercion in fantasy isn't always clear. Whether it's epic fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance. Do you think this is an issue that writers in the genre have started tackling successfully in recent years?

Brandon Sanderson: Yes. I do think...this is an issue, at least in my culture, American media culture, that stretches back pretty far. We showed my kids the original Star Wars movies, which I still love. But Empire Strikes Back, you talk about a line between consent and non-consent, and there's a scene where Han Solo backs Leia into a corner and tells her that she wants him, when she says she doesn't. And it's really uncomfortable to watch in the current climate and realization that our entire society has emphasized a certain sense of masculinity through our media for many, many years. And it's not something that I would have ever noticed if people hadn't started pointing out, "Hey, there's a problem here."

And I do think people are doing a better job with it. I think we, as a culture, though, bear quite a burden for the way that we have glorified this kind of behavior, even in some of our best and most beloved media properties. And this goes back to my philosophy, though, that we try to do better. We don't... Pointing backward and vilifying the creators of Empire Strikes Back because they were part of it is not my goal. My goal is for us to say, "Hey, we can do better than this. We should do better than this.

And I guess one of my pet peeves, as a side topic to this, is that showing good relationships between people in committed relationships is just not a thing that media is good at, because media wants to have conflict. And conflict is story. But because of that, what we end up with is a whole lot of really dysfunctional relationships being held, and it's hard. Like, when I sat down to write Stormlight Archive, I wanted to write a misogynistic and racist culture that you didn't hate, but that at the same time, you're like, "Yeah, you know... it is." And how do you do that without setting it as a standard? You want to approach it and say, "Look, this is... through a lot of history and a lot of cultures, cultures that human beings have created have been pretty misogynistic."

So, how do you write a fantasy book that doesn't glorify this, but still says, "This is how cultures often are"? And there's a really fine line to walk there. And one of the things I think we, as a culture, need to do is, we need to get better about distinguishing between, "Hey, this is how this character is, and this is how people should be." And I'm not sure if I have the answers on that, at all. But one of the things I do like to do is to show, people can be in relationships that have some conflict, but still who genuinely love each other, and genuinely do work their problems out like rational human beings do in the real world. And you can still have conflict and a great fantasy story with people whose relationships are functional.

[padawanlost]

Sometimes I don't think people give Luminara Unduli the credit she deserves and is so unappreciated. What are your thoughts on this?

Before weget into whether or not she is underappreciated, I feel it’s important toremember that “I disagree with this character’s choices” doesn’t always mean “Ihate this character” and “I hate character” doesn’t always mean “the franchisewould’ve been better without the character”. as someone who is always around “discourse”I can’t help but notice how a lot of people have trouble separating criticism from “antibehavior”. Pointing out character’s flaw is not the same as lack of appreciation.Take my relationship with Yoda as an example: I drag him every chance I get butI absolutely appreciate him as character and the role he plays. Yoda needs toexist for Star Wars (especially the Prequels) to work. I assume it works thesame for most fans.

I can’tspeak for everyone but my impression (from what I’ve seen around this corner ofthe fandom) is that fans don’t agree with some of her choices, not that they opposeher existence. I take people’s readiness to talk about Luminara’s flaws and herrelationship with Barriss as proof of their interest.

That beingsaid, yeah, I agree she doesn’t get all the attention she deserves. I know she’sas flawed as the most popular characters but she only get a fraction of the love.Like 99.99% of every SW female character, Luminara never got properdevelopment. It’s 2018 and we still don’t know exactly what was going on withher and Barriss before and after the Temple bombing. I mean, characters whowere never even mentioned in the movies have more backstory than most female characters:/

Luminara isso important because her relationship with Barriss parallels Anakin and Ahsoka’s.It shows us why Ahsoka survived and Barriss didn’t.  and that’s a topic I know a lot of people liketo discuss. When they complain about Luminara, what they really criticizing isthe Jedi Order and their teaching methods. IMO, the fans who really don’t careabout Luminara don’t even bother talking about her.So when I see people talking her, i take it as a good thing because at these fans, whether they approve of her or not, at least they care enough to talk about it. I know it’s an incredibly low bar to set but it is a realistic one considering she is supporting character whose story never got the proper attention from the writers and the fans.

[enormous-moose]

Here's some things I absolutely hate that everyone else loves... Just because I feel like it

Will Smith: I don't think he's a good actor... He plays the same roles and makes the movie about him. Tell me who else could turn a movie about two fucking spectacular female athletes into a movie about their father? I'd have preferred to see it about the female athletes tbh. I also didn't think he did a good job in suicide squad. He played will Smith as Deadshot. That's his thing though he plays will Smith and everyone goes nuts. You can't tell me he's a good actor when I present this argument and the same answer comes back Everytime "what about seven pounds and pursuit of happiness?" Okay... Two movies he's made how many others and he's just will Smith!

Star Wars: I honestly don't like George Lucas. And this series is one of the few that everything is cannon when that's impossible there's no answer. So whatever it's just gotten so out of control and while it started out interesting it's just spiraled into a weird fan service out of proportion mess.

Tim Burton: I just don't like the style of his movies. Nightmare before christmas was weird and uncomfortable art. It's not my style.

Johnny Depp: just like will Smith. He plays himself and makes the movie about himself. He can't be a supporting character. He was better younger as he got older and people started to worship the films he's in it's just gotten to be too much.

Chris Pratt: hes a special kind of weird. Like how you know with your overly Christian family sometimes you just have to smile and allow them to do their thing? When did we all decide to do that with him? He plays one type and let's face it he's not always the right farm boy choice. You know it says something when your own child doesnt pick you to be their favorite super hero.

Have I made enough people mad at me today? If not I have other opinions... Lots of other opinions. Haven't even talked about how terrible Tobey meguire was and still is as Spiderman and a person or which batman was my favorite. Yeah what about the things I like that no one else likes! Oh well maybe some other time