#i am rooting for the new girlies to be treated well

[risingshards]

Spring 2024 anime review!

It's time for my annual anime season review! I had a lot more shows to watch this season than last, which at times got a bit hectic! It's not quite done yet but it's done enough that I think I can put this up. Warning: Long post incoming where I ramble about the many anime shows I watched and personal reflection about how Going Through It™ affected my watching.

Laid Back Camp Season 3: My fav of the season, I'm obsessed with these camping girlies and any more time with them is always a treat. The combo of the suspension bridge arc with the wacky over the top arc is a fun jarring one, and the last trip was so sweet. Rin and Nadeshiko felt even gayer this season which is impressive, they're the most girlfriends to me, Chiaki and Aoi too (or maybe I should just ship full camping polycule???) It was only a few second scenes too but I love that they added Aya into the later arcs as well. I've been in a rough place mentally for a while and it kicked into a new gear this summer, so the comfort vibes of the show hit differently. I'm a super anxious person so chill times where everything is OK is such a nice escape from the world. Shout out to the OP/ED for being my favs this season! Also highly recommend both sub and dub, because the dub cast is SOOOO good once more. Celeste Perez is so fantastic as Rin, and Morgan Laure Garrett does an incredible performance as Nadeshiko. The whole cast is so great I could ramble on and on about them.

Whisper Me a Love Song: Not technically done yet as eps 11 and 12 are delayed, but in spite of the production woes this one has my heart this season in that "I love the manga and am happy to see this animated, I am hyperfixated, and warts and all I love watching it and get way way WAYYYY too sensitive about it seriously chiral go touch grass instead of having anxiety attacks about an anime" kind of way. The voice cast is SO perfect and everyone fits their characters so well and it's a treat to see the manga adapted. Himari and Yori's fluffy relationship was so sweet and I teared up a lot at their big moments. My beloved Aki got so many delicious angsty scenes while also showing her as not a bad person, just someone who's caught up in a crush while heartbroken about her true love leaving her (a true love that she didn't even realize was true love). Speaking about that true love, Shiho getting to be a feral cat storming into the proceedings is a treat, and I love that we get to see her earlier in the anime than in the manga.

The downsides ofc are the production that delayed two of the episodes, and now has the last two pushed to a later date, and my big qualm is the festival getting skipped over (well still kinda animated in the visual comic they released with the voice actors doing great on it), that's a bummer. I can see structurally what they were going for, 6 eps for Himari/Yori and 6 eps for the very popular Aki/Shiho storyline, and having the 'lost' ep voice acted helps a bit. But ughghggh even with all that...IDK it's still my babg and they're my babygorls so I'm rooting for 11 and 12 to be really great and for me to not engage with any fandom discussion about it LOL. Like I said this one had my heart this season, and when something latches onto your heart like that, I think it's good to cherish that a bit.

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night: I heard the buzz a few episodes in about this and was hooked pretty quickly. The animation quality was great, I adored the characters, and I loved the queerness in it with the nonbinary talks, trans yakuza ladie, the kiss, and while I wish they went more in on the romance, we still got a lot of queerness that I don't want to count out. It's another case where I really need to disengage with what people think about something when it's special to me (that might be the moral of the season, honestly). My big downside for this is it got a little too stressful for me, the big fight towards the end of the show kept me up at night. I might be going through it pretty bad if watching anime does that to me BUT we stay silly.

Train to the End of the World: I didn't realize until I saw a post about it like yesterday that this had the same director as Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann and in hindsight yeah that tracks. This was such a wild ride, I love a good journey story and this scratched that itch well. A group of girls go on a weird, hilarious, and heartfelt journey via train through a bizarre world? It made me really want to write a journey story. Funniest show of the season by far, crazy visuals, fun action, each episode being a strange little journey on its own helped the vibe.

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio: This was a really cute one, bubbly gyaru x stoic girlie is a fun dynamic. Going by the structure, I assume this was the first 3 light novels adapted, since each arc was 4 eps IIRC. I hope the light novels get translated here because I'd love to see where the story goes next. My downside to this is this one also got STRESSFUL stressful in that like social kind of way as the main duo deals with stalkers, assholes online, shitty voice directors (I hope that voice director that was giving Yasumi a hard time gets super fired in season 2) and that took away from the fluff at times. Still was a definite highlight of the season.

Nijiyon Animation 2: Maybe even weirder than the first season, I was really glad to get more of this one, weekly 3 minute adventures of a wacky gay harem really is good for the soul. I love the vibe of like "yeah we're doing this premise this week let's just go with it" that a lot of the episodes had. Do Season 3 cmon!

Vexations of a Shut in Vampire Princess dub: I am a big stan for Vexations, and this dub has not disappointed so far (I think just one or two episodes to go for it), VERY well cast with Brittney Karbowski (of Railgun fame) putting in a STELLAR performance as Komari, showcasing all the facets of Komari's personality, like her spoiled bratty princess side, her anxious about being plopped into a dire situation side, the theater kid performance that helps her through this, and many other sides, it's really fantastic work by her. Vill, Sakuna, and Millicent are standouts as well (every Millicent scene I needed to pause afterwards because wow 🥵).

I also watched the back half of Dungeon Meshi (which is so big rn that I feel like I don't know what to add? It's great!), the new Spice and Wolf which was nice, Bartender: Glass of God which was VERY chill, and a coworker friend rec'd Condition Called Love, but I did not really enjoy that one.

All in all despite the bumpy road, I was really happy with this season and got SO much yuri. I do still need to watch Girls Band Cry and will rectify that soon, I just had way too many shows to watch at once.

Next season I am mainly looking forward to My Deer Friend Nokotan, and started watching Suicide Squad Isekai mainly for the ED lol. Next season big goal also: Chiral touches grass and her hypersensitive ass stops getting so worried about what other people think of the anime she watches and to just enjoy the anime hyperfixation while it's in full swing like this.

[lupuslikethewolf]

One thing i have noticed in regards to J*R's bigotry and how it is presented in popular media (i.e. news stations, articles and by celebrites) is that the main focus seems to be on the transphobia, and - as a british trans person - i think it is safe to say that a major reason for that is the rampant transphobia already present in this country, but the blatant anti-semitism, racism, misogyny, and right-wing politics tend to just get swept under the rug.

I am brown (desi), trans-masc and gay, but i'm not jewish, so if i am incorrect about anything i say regarding anti-semitism, then please correct me! this is based of research and what i have heard from jewish people, not personal experience.

In order: Misogyny and TERFism, Transphobia and UK Politics, Racism and Xenophobia in Writing, and Anti-Semetism and Caricatures.

Misogyny and TERF-ism

I think the first thing to say is that J*R glamorises the term TERF, or 'Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist' and considers herself the height of Women's Rights Activism.

I think this is truly evident in the fact that she seems unable to include a female protagonist in HP that isn't motherly or a love interest. Hermione Granger, while the most well-rounded and complex of the female characters, is the caretaker of Ron and Harry during their time at Hogwarts as students, and is treated as the 'back-up' girlfriend by Ron and Harry during the Fourth Year Yule Ball. Lavender Brown exists to create a 'Not Like Other Girls' trait in Hermione by distancing her from all the boy obsessed, hyper-feminine 'bad' girly-girls of Gryffindor. She is also, again, nothing more than a love interest. Molly Weasley is a mother figure for Harry, and everything about her eventually links back to that fact. She cooks, cleans, looks after people, knits and sews, etc etc. Nymphadora Tonks was actually an interesting and badass character, but then J*R got mad at her fandom for doing fandom things and turned her into a one-dimensional tragic love interest for her queer-coded character who she has admitted to writing as a fucking AIDs allegory.

I believe this view is rooted in her transphobia, TERF-ism and internalised misogyny, as J*R cannot create a 'good' woman who isn't motherly and feminine, but only in the acceptable way. This is seen in Rita Skeeter, who is also hyper-feminine and yet described in a very masculine way, with 'thick fingers' and a 'heavy-jawed face'.

Transphobia and UK Politics

The transphobia tends to rear its head most often because it is incredibly common and in the public eye, especially with the UK government repeatedly shooting down efforts to make progress, like how they blocked Scotland's law to make self-recognition easier for trans people. It is also evident in her TERF-ism and the fact that she no longer hides her support for anti-trans movements, and instead uses her platform and wealth to fund and promote them.

There is also the fact that she has also been using that same platform and wealth to publicly campaign against Scottish Independence for far longer.

The UK Tory (aka Conservative) Party has routinely held up J*R as a bastion of good-will, 'progress', and the ultimate citizen, even quoting her directly when sprouting anti-trans bullshit. While J*R will claim to be a Feminist and support Labour (the only real left-leaning opposition to the Tories), her views often align more with those she claims not to support.

Politics also show themselves in characters such as Seamus Finnegan, the only Irish character, with the most stereotypically Irish name there is, who is always blowing things up when trying to cast spells, and loves to drink. In the 90s, when HP was set, Northern Ireland was suffering from something known as 'The Troubles', wherein two sides known as 'Protestants' and 'Catholics', whether there was a religious affiliation or not, were bombing, street fighting, sniper attacks and committing other acts of civil warfare all throughout the country. And J*R put those actions onto a child.

That's some Tory shit right there.

Racism and Xenophobia in Writing

If you have seen any criticisms of J*R's writing of diverse characters, you will know that she has a massive, massive problem with using stereotypes, especially in names, to portray her Characters of Colour.

I think the most obvious tends to be Kingsley Shacklebolt, the only major black protagonist in the series. She named her only black character Shacklebolt.

SHACKLE bolt.

Just let that sink in for a minute.

Then there is Cho Chang, who's only personality traits include being sad about her boyfriend, kissing Harry Potter, and being smart. She is also the only main asian protagonist, and her name is just two east asian-sounding surnames put together.

'Cho' is Korean or Burmese, and 'Chang' is a romanised Chinese surname.

Padma and Parvati Patil rely on the same stereotypes. Their culture - especially the clothing - is completely butchered and used as nothing more than fan-service to prove how not-racist she is (yeah right) and are only around to be love interests who get tossed aside and treated horribly by Ron and Harry.

'Padma' is a Persian name while 'Parvati' is a Hindu/Sanskrit name.

If a writer needs to rely on stereotypes and racist views to write her characters of colour, than she is not a good writer and either needs to be held accountable and made to unlearn her biases, or simply not allowed to write anymore.

Anti-Semitism and Caricatures

Reminder to listen to Jewish People and the Jewish Community when it comes to Anti-Semitism in HP, not just some non-jewish 16-year-old with too much time on their hands and unlimited internet access trying to procrastinate revising for their exams!!

(Tumblr crashed when i was writing this part of the post,,,, feels targeted /lh) Also, this is not a definitive list of anti-semetic items in HP, go look at a Jewish person's perspective to fully understand! This is a good post from @/whilommm regarding the new HP game and this post by @/genderkoolaid which talks about a youtuber posting videos on antisemitism and other issues head-on.

Goblins are the most prolific anti-semetic stereotype seen throughout HP, and most other mythology.

The first and most obvious thing, in my opinion, is the description of their noses. Hooked noses are a very distinct trait found most often in Jewish people, and are described very often in the Goblins, and not only that, but Snape and other villains in HP have 'bad' or 'ugly' noses.

Goblins are also greedy money-hoarders who run the banks, which feeds into anti-semetic conspiracy theories about Jewish people running the world's economy, and the N@zi propaganda of Jewish people hoarding wealth and collapsing the German economy.

There are little-to-no female goblins. Which, while also feeding into the misogynistic side of J*R's writing, also presents jewish-coded characters as being inherently misogynistic when that is not the case of any ethnic and/or religious group.

The goblins are rude to wizards and any other outsider, which is a belief that likely stems from the fact that it is an incredibly hard and long process to convert fully to Judaism, as the beginning involves being turned away from converting three times by the same Rabbi. This does not make Judaism or Jewish People xenophobic or even otherwise cautious of outsiders, it is simply part of their religious conversion process made to deter people who do not genuinely want to be apart of the religion and to make sure those converting are doing so with good and honest intentions.

If the Death Eaters are meant to be Fascist N@zi Allegories, why not make the only jewish-coded characters you have actually well-fucking-written and main fucking characters. Or, better yet, Don't Call It A Fucking A Nazi Allagory!!! Oppression doesn't have to involve Fasicsm/Nazis!!

The New Harry Potter Game Not To Be Named And Only Ever Pirated If Even That is a whole other can of worms of blood libel, romanticising oppression and even more anti-semetic caricatures that deserves its own post.

Final Notes

This is not a definitive list, but simply what I personally am most angry about and can remember the clearest from my last re-read of Harry Potter. Other things to be considered: bad world building that makes no sense, werewolves as an AIDS allegory that then proceed to prey on kids, homophobia regarding dumbledore and wolfstar, and her use of slavery and 'slaves who enjoy being enslaved' because what the fuck was that thought process.

Here is a post @/chaos-in-one with some other links and more brilliant points about why people should hate J*R

[rorichuu]

Hiii!!! If it isn't too much trouble and if there still open may I have (male) baldur's gate matchup please. My pronouns are she/her. I tend to be shy around new people but I can be somewhat loud with people who im close to. My height is 5'0. I would describe my aesthetic as girly/soft/cottegecore, lots of long dresses and skirts.

Im not very athletic and im not a big fan of sports but I love to go roller and ice skating. I also love to read books and to also cook and bake food. I also like to garden. I've been playing the violin for 7-ish years. I love animals. I am currently studying in college. I like to Watch nature/animal documentaries. I also like sweets.

Somethings I dislike are people who bend or ruin my books and people who speak over me when im trying to talk.I love music, I can listen to any genre and like it but my favorites are indie,bedroom pop and classic rock. sorry if i spelt anything wrong. Hope im not bothering you:)

༄ hello armin-ocean-eyes! ∘•˚.⊹

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ㅤ... 𝐈 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 ...

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ㅤ𝗵𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗲!

𝟏 . 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙞𝙣 — 𝟿𝟾% 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢!

you and halsin would be a perfect match!

with your share of love and appreciation with animals and nature... it would be difficult to stray halsin away from you.

halsin would also absolutely love your attire! long dresses, skirts... he loves them!

i feel as though halsin is a pretty comfortable person to talk to... aside from his towering stature, his conversations always seem light and easy.

he would completely understand your shyness. And some part of him would feel a bit bad or worry if his height is intimidating to you. (even if it wouldn't be, he would still think about it)

"You play the violin? I would love to hear you play... if you'll let me, my heart."

adores that you play violin

he truly thinks it's a beautiful instrument and i swear you could see the hearts in his eyes once he hears you play

HALSIN WOULD SOO SPOIL YOU WITH SWEETS ARE YOU KIDDINGGGG

he also has a sweet tooth

y'all be havin' your fair share of sweet treats every now and then

not to mention the fact that you cook/bake? dude he's head over heeeeels

he would def try to help you

and since this man is basically ancient i’m convinced he knows cooking here and there

but he’s cooking with every natural ingredient under the sun (mushrooms, herbs, etc.)

but he’s better at baking

he’s a professional muffin and crepe maker

any pastry, he’s got it DOWN

and he’d love to try your foods as well!!!!

『 • • ✎ • • 』

oh! you ice skate/rollerskate?? that’s great!!!! he’s awful at it 😃

cannot keep his balance for the life of him LMAO he can’t balance his weight and he’d much rather cheer for you on the side lines :,)

DEFINITELY ROOTS FOR YOU BTW

maybe a whittled duck or bear for you afterwards :)

but he’s your BIGGEST supporter fr

𝟐 . 𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙚 — 𝟾𝟸% 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢!

gale was a VERY close second

he completely understands your frustration when people talk over you or bends your books… he’s had his fair share of both.

from being known as the "know-it-all" wizard, he’s been talked over a LOT 😭 so he’s quick to defend you when someone is being rude in that regard

and we all know this man is a bookworm nerd, across all subjects and novels… so you guys definitely have something in common

he also adores your skirt/dress attire! he’d talk about all the shops and stores in Waterdeep and how he’d love to take you sometime

he would definitely be the type to spoil you when the two of you arrive in Waterdeep :)

and hey! you also cook?! him too!

he would love to share his kitchen and cook dinners with you… but heres one thing

the man. cannot bake. it just never works in his favor-💀

he’ll burn it, undercook it… but he’s adamant on never missing a step! he never misses a step!

“I don’t understand, [Name]… I followed the list! I even got the correct brands!”

absolutely transfixed by the fact that you play violin btw

he could listen to you play for hours fr

and you guys would definitely have nights where you sit and read with each other next to his fireplace!!!!

he loved the cozy nights where you snack on your baked goods while reading next to each other

gale is also not a very athletic guy, we all know he was a complete hermit in his tower for months… so he’s definitely more of a stay-at-home person!

gale would definitely go ice skating with you… while using a concentration spell to keep him balanced 😁

would show of a lil

i’m ngl he would

but he’d root for you or watch you skate :) he’s completely mesmerized !!!!

he adores you! :)

.

.

.

rorichuu!

[gayangelcrimes]

Ok so. Before I start. This will be all in portuguese because I'm brazilian and it REALLY shows in my taste in music. You can ask for translations if you want, I will gladly translate them for you <3 with that said,

1. Tempo Perdido by Legião Urbana - this is my most favoritest song ever of all time forever (this is also my favorite band ever). the inevitability of the passage of time. the being tired but not ready to stop yet. the "we have our own time". the "we are so young... so young... so young....." that ends the song. I know every word to this song. absolute favorite forever and ever.

2. O Segundo Sol by Cássia Eller - another all time favorite forever and ever <3 I made a neocities site that I intend to fill with oc stuff (and perhaps also my art in general) and I put a music player in it and all the songs are different versions of this song (linking to the page where I explain the song because I also translated it there)

3. Sem Nome, Mas Com Endereço by Liniker e Os Caramelows - ouhhh the vibes. I love her voice sooo much and she has so many songs with this soft lovey vibe,, Psiu and Amarela Paixão were candidates for third place as well but this one is like. thee first song that made me fall in love with her music. "take me by the hand, I give you my heart, I let you in.. you have flowers in your head and petals in your heart, you have roots in your eyes, excitement, warms my heart..."

4. Aprendendo a Mentir by Selvagens à Procura de Lei - I really really like this band and fun fact they are from the same city as me <3 this one is probably my favorite from their first album which is my favorite of their albums

5. Cuidado by Tuyo - ouhhhhh the vibes. I am a tree and I love you so much I will keep you safe in me forever. <3

Those are like. Eternal favorites. Below are minor favorites. Favorites that may be dethroned.

6. Admirável Chip Novo by Pitty - rock icon!!!! I really really love a lot of her songs but this one is like. An icon. Song that shows up in high school test questions about capitalist alienation. And it fucks hard. And it's so very lobotomy cas as well.

7. Quase Sem Querer by Legião Urbana - one of the happier songs by this band <3 "I don't worry anymore if I don't know why sometimes almost no one else can see what I see, and I know that you know almost accidentally that I see the same as you"

8. Deixa Ser by O Teatro Mágico - this band is sooo fun I love the circus thing they have going on (not just in this video, it's kinda their whole thing) and this song is an eternal favorite of mine <3 it's like a better Let It Be (the title translates to that, and is in fact a reference to the beatles song). "let it be, let it be born, let the wheel turn (be it for love!) in happiness, in sadness, I'll go with you be your pair (be it as it may be!)"

8. Epitáfio by Titãs - this song is also on 8th place because it has similar vibes meaning-wise (enjoy life while you can) and I wanted to include at least one song by this band because I love them. and this song is really really nice. "fate will protect me while I'm distracted"

9. O Gosto do Açúcar by Nimbo - this is. yet another song about enjoying life while you can. but in a more "not enjoying life is the same as death" way, less "you'll regret it later". "They say a tasteless life is a long life, and life is shortened by sweetness. Then I won't prolong myself, because to die is to forget the taste of sugar". Also I love the projections in this one live version

10. Dedicating this to all the transient favorites, especially of this past month <3

Depois das Dez by Plutão Já Foi Planeta - this is a kinda really small band I absolutely love and they recently (read: 2020-2021) changed vocalists and this one might be my favorite of theirs since the new singer

Açaí by Carne Doce - this band is soooo fucking and the vibes on this song. yeag. song for the "good for nothing" girlies who deserve a little treat after any minor inconvenience <3

Hater by Carne Doce - this song is sooooooo. "you are my favorite coward, my pet hater, who loves me in reverse, hates me with adoration"

Back to Bad by Duda Beat - she's not even my usual type but ohhh her songs are just sooooo <3 the way she lets her accent bleed into the bits in english is so charming to me

Meu Pisêro by Duda Beat - I looove the mixing of pop with a more forró style after the first chorus. super vibeful. also the ending. "to me it's all forgiven, no one has to love me like this... I died.. I was in shambles.. but you're not to blame for not loving me like this" wough....

Intervenção by Supercombo - uplifting "life is a mess right now but points for not giving up" type song <3 I love the chorus verse that goes "there's always a direction for the rails that left the train" it's so subtly wrong and silly. also the very last bit. "therapy, air conditioning, a hot shower, owning flippers, doesn't matter as long as it makes you happy, what really matters is never giving up" sooo true

Eu Vim Pela Comida by Tuyo - new years party song for people who hate new years parties <3 "I came for the food, for the countdown, while I wait for you to say some bullshit, sighing for someone to fill my glass of sparkling wine, foaming"

De Música by Tuyo - short and nice and I wish it was longer because it's soooo vibeful <3

11. Bonus: This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads - this is a bonus because it's in english. but ouhhhhh love <3

(12. joke bonus: Brazilian National Anthem - not in a weird nationalist way it just objectively slaps)

(12.1. related joke bonus: this guitar version of the start of O Guarani by Carlos Gomes from the end of a short film about social inequality)

(13. extra joke bonus: Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas - it unironically fucks)

uhmmm.... mutuals should tell me what their top 10 favourite songs are... and then.... i could listen to them....

[michyeosseo]

欢乐颂 ode to joy 3 first impressions

the reboot makes me feel old-old but at least we still have the balloons?

yes, we all miss the quintet that were shengmei, andy, xiaoxiao, yingying & guanguan but first, here’s a brief intro before my thoughts on the new tenants of the 22nd floor:

2201 again with the aloof mystery lady with an english name - lucy fang zhiheng

2202 has the three flatmates setup (a jiejie and two ducklings) as before - zhu zhe, nickname jiji; he minhong; and yu chuhui, nickname a'chu

2203 still houses the fuerdai of the bunch - ye zhenzhen

(watched the five fully subbed episodes on viki and as of last night, 18 out of 33 have already aired so halfway mark now)

jiji is as sensible as hotel managers go. she may not leave you with a strong sense of who she is at the start but she's been working the longest among these ladies and her breadwinner energy shows. the smol ones ought to let jiejie enjoy her drama fix before bed in peace.

naïve + nosy is how i'd describe minhong... guess that comes with her being a green writer. initially shown as someone who wants to impart her morals (chided by her supervisor right away for aspiring such) in the magazine column, she's bound to learn from conflicts she'll cause.

a'chu has the signature turbulent family woes. that said, grew up well and is striving to strike balance between escaping poverty and being true to herself – developing engineer patents even though neither her nor her peers get credit while teaching kids ballet on the side.

zhenzhen acted as the welcome wagon to the trio. yes, she's a scientist-to-be (biochemistry field if we're being exact) living one good deed a day. outside the lab's spent bonding with the other ladies of 22nd floor - treating them to expensive ice cream and just chilling around.

she and zhenzhen moved in the same time but rarely do we glimpse the two beauties mingling. by design since lucy's miss i-got-my-hands-full: keeping up her luxury appearances and keeping a semblance of normal when she should probably get therapy. she longs for their warm friendship from afar.

chemistry between the five is still wanting in organic interactions department, which is given. much has changed in the shanghai residential complex since the original series was on. years passed. 22nd floor corridor itself is laid different. our original 22nd floor jiejies may have moved on to hopefully better lives yet women in the workforce continue to struggle, maybe even more so with how reductive society has turned into. this otj reboot feels dated, though. at least, daylight entertainment's approach in these early episodes i have seen. the mansplainer of a narrator is gone, lemme just say that's a relief personally.

but y'know what bugs me? how they've opted to tackle sexual harassment.

raising the discussion via media in itself is fine. such abuse of power imbalance shouldn't be swept under the rug, considering countless women on a daily basis are coerced into silence because of the indifference. too few real-life jiji/a'chu/zhenzhen who believes immediately. but one of the guys in the main cast, lucy's suitor, is very attached to this so-called theme exploration. spoiler alert: he's the son of the company superior who assaulted lucy. gonna spare y'all the grim details but, of course, she alone knows of the connection. left to process such trauma by herself while fending off his dogged pursuits - at the office, at the mma gym and later on, even at her hls apartment. what kind of plot?! from the closing credits, he's not bound to leave anytime soon.

my main worry is the narrative will prove her reluctance wrong, that he's a Good Guy, tied neat bow and all that jazz when that does absolutely NOTHING to address the shitty lot that would have been avoided if he wasn't related to this godforsaken dog bloodedness to begin with. if it's only an afterthought to the writer, i just wanna voice that when you've penned a franchise jumpstarting the trend of female-centric modern set cdramas and then you want to continue that brand today? maybe you should update your sensibilities first.

we embrace women's wrongs in this house, not when women are wronged. 

quips won't make the cut with the audiences that easily anymore.

[nonclassyparty]

firstly, tell me why i had that wooyoung shit figured OUT LMAOOO. I literally called it HAHAHA. the way i knew this fool was part of the fruit community

i love the idea that like this story and your writing in general continues to make me go, men ain’t shit fr. but then my tiktok has san getting scared while playing video games and mingi being called pink princess like 🧌.

reading this story with the prologue in mind is insane bc i get that technically no one has really done anything wrong yet ? per se. but san rlly is or ig…is going to be? a grade a asshole.

atp i can understand that sans not at fault (YET apparently) bc like, let’s be real LMAO the agreement was set in place and even y/n herself UNDERSTANDS it, she just continues to play into it bc of her feelings. i cant imagine how san ACTUALLY ends up fucking up (ig putting aside the fact that he couldn’t even be a friend or at the very least an acquaintance and help her w her assignment). like ik y/n probably WILL get mad but she doesn’t rlly hav the right to get mad at him for kissing that girl watever her name is cus she and san aren’t exclusive. but like regardless of the fact, i’m stil obv rooting for y/n bc she’s going through it and she’s being treated terribly by so many ppl for stupid reasons, esp w the knowledge that they all think so shallowly of her and don’t take into account any of her actual interests or experiences like damn.

AND THEN there’s like the fact that (entirely from context and my assumptions alone) y/n didn’t even outright SAY any of this or tell san how she felt until she wrote that letter AFTER THE FACT like ??? that’s INSANE like my brain is scrambling to finish the puzzle before i even hav all the pieces. like ik u said ur not sure about the ending but does san get the letter ? do we even see how he reacts to it ???? (i’m assuming she’ll tell wooyoung or hongjoong tbh)

ALSO i can’t get over the description of why yunho doesn’t like y/n like…damn, homie’s giving incel energy. giving nate jacobs wanting maddy to be a virgin energy (but not nate jacobs wanting maddy cus yunho apparently can’t handle high maintenance bad bitches). idk he’s giving very small peepee, in the closet, daddy issues energy and yeosangs got his own issues that we don’t even know about yet like don’t let me find out i’ll probably lose it.

i’m LITERALLY rambling nonsense and i’m at work rn. anyways amazing work ONCE AGAIN. i cant get over how you write and how you flesh out the characters. cant wait for my boy mingi to be properly introduced. let’s see how my emotions handle that.

-🧃

there is so much to discuss in this message hold on;

first of all, wooyoung being part of the skittles squad well idk how you got that right i'll be honest with you

this is exactly why when i write i have to stay away from atz content bc i went and watched the new wanteez eps today and i just cant write afterwards bc san is so fawking soft and precious how am i supposed to write him as a fuckboy that breaks hearts??? at one point i was like 'damn i shouldve picked someone else as the fuckboy for starring role' and not HIM😭😭

about san fucking up, it will happen in act 8 and i cant say anything else without giving away spoilers but yes! san never promised her anything, yn is aware of it and she knows where the two of them stand deep down but she just doesnt want to accept it (spoiler: that will basically be what the next chapter is about). also keep in mind that the story doesnt end with the letter, there are a couple more chapters afterwards 😭

YUNHO. WAIT NOT TOO MUCH ON HIM?? thats still my man but i wasnt really going for that sort of energy but now re-reading the part about him, i could see why it might've came off like that 😭. basically, with yunho i was going for the type of guy that doesnt like spoilt girly girls who care about makeup, clothes and are shallow, that only dates girls who, by his standards, have some depth to them and are sorta not-like-other-girls but in a pinterest cottage core aesthetic way (kjsghdjfhkfdj??? idk if that makes sense but he likes sweet girls who he can bring back home to his parents basically. its pretty much what svoh yn was) and yet he would still sleep with starring role yn without a doubt 😭. he was inspired by many guys ive meet in college

yeosang's storyline...im kind of nervous about revealing it tbh, also mingi will be properly introduced in the next chapter! as something much more than just boyoung's friend.

thank you so much for this message, i always look forward to yours in particular and theyre so fun to read. i really appreciate them. i hope you have a good day 💝

[andrewminyartd]

ACOSF SPOILERS

DO NOT CONTINUE TO READ !!

ALSO KINDA LONG

-

I haven’t posted on tumblr in ages but this is the only place I know to rant.

I feel like there were three storylines mushed into one book here. Nesta, nesta & cassian, and the others.

NESTA - 5/5

Singling out Nestas part includes her growth, her friendships, her training, the stairs and the blood rite.

I LOVED this. I feel like so many people have serious trauma that causes us to change for the worst. we become harsh, we lash out at the people we love, we lash out at ourselves, question our worth, etc.

( did I love to see that the crew voted for this? no but that’s for another section. )

I honestly don’t have much to say besides it was wonderful to see nesta find herself. using the training to hone her mind and body, making amazing bonds with other women of trauma, to form that sisterhood, to finally master the stairs but to use them as a time to understand herself, and to ( unofficially ) complete the blood rite. chefs kiss, I’m so happy for her.

I completely understand what it’s like to be so comfortable in your sorrow ( or anger ) and not want to leave, it’s all you know.

The sleepover scene really tore at my heart I’m the good way, as someone who has three sisters, I loved it. No matter how cheesy it sounds sisterhood is a gift. I’ve found myself at odds with my sisters on so many occasions, wishing I could never see or speak to them again, but it always reverts to the i breakable bond of having a growing partner.

plus gwyn and emerie amazing women love to see it. Great supporting characters.

the blood rite, trope-y but still great to see her flourish.

NESTA + CASSIAN 4/5

Again, very cliche. I still liked it. The sex was filthy which wow i was a bit blown away. I have no qualms reading scenes like that but i felt so sad it had to be just sex in the beginning.

I looooved that he stood by her side. What an amazing man. Yeah I know they said I knew you were my mate etc etc but I mean elain and lucien are mates and so obviously not together so,,,,, point being he stayed not knowing what would happen.

I loved the hike, what a great connection. And a great message, if you need your time take it but I’ll always be here and waiting.

I do have to say I agree with some people that why can’t there ever just be an emotional scene followed by I love you and just yk comfort and etc. I do that with my husband all the time, no sex needed to portray the emotions.

Granted they are new mates but still.

THE OTHERS - 1/5

Am I not the only person who was really taken aback by the crew in this book? What is this voting on people’s life and feysand being wonky as fuck????

I was pleasantly surprised about the pregnancy but I felt like this was not the book for that. I don’t even know how to properly explain it I just am really surprised? I just didn’t like the general tone and vibe of everyone.

Mor? okay girl was barely here and uh is she hiding something? what is eris hinting at? ( dONT come at me if we are supposed to know I only reread the ending of acowar ). Feysand? Um just straight up annoying and rude. their bonus scene pissed me off. and yeah she’s pregnant I don’t give a shit I do not like how they treated everyone in this. Amren? No complaints shes chillin. I would expect her to vote on ppls lives but not everyone else. Elain? girly strong but practically not even in the book. Cassian? king Az? Pretty normal imo.

I feel like this book should’ve focused on Nesta more and she could’ve focused more on the enemy rather then throwing feysands pregnancy problems around. the plot was sloppy and loose.

BONUS - ERIEL

I love azriel, I always have he is one of my favourite characters. I hate people bashing on him, bc listen the fuck up. we do not know ANYTHING that has gone on between elain and him in an entire YEAR. for people to come for his life bc he’s having fantasies, how is it any different then cassian? he’s an illyrian male like??? oh because they aren’t mates? yeah well for 3/4th of the book it wasn’t confirmed nes and cas were mates either and everyone still rooted for them meanwhile their mates could’ve been somewhere else. mates does not always mean romantic, rejecting the bond exists for a reason. give elain a break, she finds no comfort in lucien. period. dont act like if luciens girl hadn’t been killed he wouldnt be cozied up with her rn bc he already found love. And would’ve accepted the platonic bond. I didn’t bother to read the part where he’s “ flirting” with gwyn. like bro got yelled at for trying to pursue someone he loves and someone who loves him back you assholes. he’s a man, they aren’t perfect, not even rhys or cas. he doesn’t even know gwyn and for yall to be like omg his shadows come alive blah blah, brUh he doesn’t even know her. If he chooses to persue that so be it but imo it’s squat compared to his relationship/friendship with elain. and I think you’re all taking the three sisters statement wrong, hes not saying he’s entitled bro he’s just saying like does it not make sense seeing as they are in love/attracted to each other.

CONCLUSION

Loved the Nesta story line, liked the nesta cassian story line, did not like anything else.

NOTE: if you agree or have anything to add feel free to comment or repost! If you don’t please just scroll.

[oceanmonsters]

(creating a new post because the original one was being passed around radfems circles and the notes were absolutely toxic - link to original even though it seems to have been deleted by op)

I wasn’t initially gonna reblog this because I was like well, I don’t think traditions like these should be completely beyond reproach / criticism and although I did have my ears pierced as a baby and am personally glad of it, it isn’t something that I would do to my own daughters if I had them. But then I checked the notes:

and I take that back because the people replying to this post prove exactly why it’s fucking needed. Because white women (especially white radfems, whom most of these are) really don’t know how to behave themselves when talking about woc / other cultures. “It makes girls into objects to decorate and look pretty” “A sense of control over their environment which heterosexual and het partnered women seldom get to have” “not owning her body that began with her mother piercing her skin against her will” these people are acting as if woc are literal child abusers for doing something that yes, although it may be a gendered ritual and not one I personally agree with, does very little harm to their child in the long run.

First of all, there are actual cultural / religious roots to the ear piercing of children (x) and yes, it was done to both female AND male children, although it has become more of an aesthetic thing nowadays and boys being pierced is much rarer. I don’t have any concrete sources on this but I’d be willing to bet it’s to do with the influx of western culture starting with colonialism that brought the idea that earrings / jewellery are unmanly and therefore unattractive. In fact, jewellery in general and especially gold jewellery does play a significant part in Indian culture and I know Indian boys who have gold chains that they wear around their necks and have since they were a child, although I don’t know the specific significances of these. My point is, if you actually bothered to research the culture for even two minutes, you’d see that this was about more than just “omg girls being decorated for men to look at!!!”. And even if you don’t agree with the culture of piercing children’s ears, which, as I said, I don’t particularly personally, it’s really not the massive deal that some people in the notes wanna make it. I’ve had my ears pierced since I was a baby and trust me, they have never ever held me back in life. I never even considered them much. You know what probably did affect me more? The general messages I was being fed to me by society that I had to look feminine and pretty, and have “girly” interests. Makeup culture. Beauty culture. My earrings are really very very low down on the list of things that had a big impact on my life. “Why don’t you wait until they’re at least 15” “Because it’s about establishing from a young age that they’re possessions / for male decoration / that exist to be looked at!!!!” etc. etc. No, a lot of the time it’s literally so that it’s done early on and then they don’t have to go through it later. Piercings can be traumatic at any age. My friend decided to have hers done as a young teenager and it left her so scared of them closing up and having to pierce them again that she literally wouldn’t even sleep one night without earrings on. Meanwhile, I had it done as a baby and didn’t even remember. Again, is this something I would choose to do to my daughter? No, but at the end of the day I don’t know a single person who got their ears pierced as a baby who is genuinely upset and resentful about having it done, because it’s really not that much of a big deal. “It sends a clear message that your body doesn’t belong to you” “it’s our culture to train infant girls that they exist to be looked at”! My parents, contrary to apparent popular belief about desi parents, have never encouraged me to exist for male consumption. If there is one thing my mum and dad have tried to impress on my my whole life it’s that education is the most important thing and it comes before boys or relationships or anything like that. My dad has told me on no uncertain terms that my education, my life, should always come before relationships and marriage. And yes, my mum also decided to have my ears pierced when I was a baby because that is the norm and she wanted to get it over with when I wouldn’t even remember it so I wouldn’t have to get it done later if I wanted them pierced. Even recently she’s told me she’s felt guilty about it when she hears people saying things like this and that makes me so angry because my mother is not perfect, but she deserves a fucking lot more respect than these people are treating her and women like her with.

These are the three that pissed me off the most:

White feminists really do not know how to talk about woc without projecting their own narrow ideas of cultural misogyny onto everything they do. Like they’re literally taking the actions of women from cultures they know nothing about and trying to analyse them and pile patriarchal reasoning onto them - and basically assuming that all woc who aren’t from western / “developed” countries are a monolith who all share a hive mind designed around upholding the patriarchy and can’t think for themselves, unlike the enlightened western feminists who have the critical thinking necessary to see through everything.

Radfems will use the violence and misogyny faced by women of colour in countries like India etc. to prove their points and then will turn around and show their faces with posts like this where they demonstrate that they don’t really care about them except to prove a point, and that any compassion and sympathy that they have for them ends when they don’t act in ways that aligns completely with their beliefs. You’ll talk about how misogynistic and terrible things are for women in countries like India but as soon as they don’t completely conform to how you think they should behave (mostly because of the societal pressures they face) they’re suddenly agents for the patriarchy who are seeking “a sense of control over their environment which heterosexual women seldom get to have”. “It’s not clear to me what it has to do with being white or not” what it has to do with being white is that white radfems absolutely refuse to treat women of colour with respect and acknowledge that we have different experiences to them except when it’s to shit on our culture for treating us badly without actually caring about us as human beings!

Do I think desi culture is absolutely beyond reproach or criticism in the way it treats women? No, there are certain aspects of it that absolutely disgust me (as do aspects of almost every single culture in the world). However, if you really cared about the misogyny and violence faced by women in these countries, you’d use your voices to uplift them and listen to their problems and support the causes they think are important and will improve their lives instead of just using them as a stage to soapbox about your own opinions. But of course, you couldn’t do that! Because they might think the wrong things are important! Because they don’t see the world through your special enlightened western feminist eyes who can see that earrings are the real root of the problem!!!!!

Again, I don’t personally agree with this tradition and I don’t think it should be above criticism, but it certainly isn’t awful or horrible enough to justify the sheer amount of vitriol directed at women of colour who do it - as op was trying to say from the beginning, it’s really not that deep. And in addition, what this post has done is reminded me why even if I do think a cultural practice should be criticised, I absolutely don’t trust white feminists to be the ones doing it. This isn’t me saying “my culture is perfect and beyond any reproach or criticism”, this is about white women not knowing how to behave when talking about women of colour of other cultures and being unable to talk about them without acting as if they know everything and projecting their own preconceived ideas about why the people of that culture behave the way they do in order to get their own points across about the society they themselves live in while simultaneously throwing the women of that culture under the bus by treating them as if they are completely helpless naive victims or agents for the patriarchy who are complicit in their own oppression, and either way are not enlightened enough to see through their culture in the way that only western feminists can.

[eadanga]

Let There Be Love Part 2

Summary: 4 years after winning the custody battle MC and Thomas decide to get married but what happens when a jealous ex and a ex husband get in they way?

Paring: ThomasxMC

MC sat in the bed reading and smiled as she looked down at her ring This is beautiful. The bathroom door opened and Thomas walked out smiling “Hey there” He got into bed and wrapped his arms around her.

“Hey tell me how long did you have this planned?”

He chuckles “A while been trying to find the right time I was so nervous”

MC giggles “You’re cute” She kisses his cheek “But you knew I’ll say yes right?”

“Of course I mean I love you and you love me and it’s been a long time since I’ve been in love with such a wonderful woman”

MC smiles “I love you so much Thomas”

“I love you too” He kisses her deeply then he pulls back “Promise me something MC”

“Sure Thomas”

“Promise you won’t ever leave me”

MC smiles “I promise as long as you promise the same”

“Me leave this sexy ass woman who drives me crazy?” MC giggles as he pulls her closer “Never in a million years”

“Good you better not”

“I won’t now I wanna make love to my fiancé” He climbs on top of her and pins her arms down as he growls “I wanna hear you screaming”

“You know we’re not alone in this house”

“Yes we live with two girls who are on the other side of the house”

MC giggles as he kisses her deeply wrapping his arms tightly around her.

****

Vanessa sat at her kitchen table with a drink in her hand Can’t believe her proposed to her in front of everyone is Thomas trying to make a mockery. Getting married to such a low class girl She scoffed Ugh disgusting if Thomas and I hadn’t broken up that could have been me marrying him instead of me marrying that piece of… She stopped herself No use dwelling on him he’s gone and out of the picture. She thinks to herself then smirks Thomas just needs a reminder on what he’s missing out on and MC she needs to learn her place she may have won that custody battle but the war is far from over and I know just the person to help me out She pulls out her phone “It’s me”

****

MC got ready to start her day she looked at herself in the mirror Yes this looks great She smiled and headed downstairs where Thomas was cooking “Hey there chef”

He turns and smiles “Hey what does my beautiful fiancé want for breakfast this morning?”

“Whatever is the special of the day”

“Today’s special is kisses” He wraps an arm and pulls her closer kissing her down her neck as she sighs “With a side of wetness” His hand goes under her skirt as he strokes her gently as she moans

“Oh Thomas…”

He leans in and whispers “Are you allowed to be this sexy? Now I don’t even want to go to work I wanna fuck you all day long”

MC giggles “The feeling is mutual Mr. Mendez”

“Soon you’ll be Mrs. Mendez and then we’ll start a family together”

“I can’t wait maybe add some boys to the mix”

He smiles “I would love that but whether we have a boy or girl I would love them regardless they’re a perfect mixture of me and you” He kisses her deeply

“You guys are gross” They startle apart and see Luz and Hope standing behind them. They both laugh as they take their seats at the table.

MC smiles “You know Luz one day you’ll get married and have kids of your own”

“And be all lovey dovey like you two? No thanks”

Thomas chuckles then smiles “We’re having dinner here tonight with all our friends so we can share the news with them”

MC smiles “I can’t wait to tell them”

Hope smiles “Am I going to be in the wedding?”

“Of course you two are going to be in it”

Luz makes a face “But we have to wear dresses”

MC laughs “I’ll try to find something that’s not too girly”

Luz smiles “As long as it’s nothing frilly or poofy I’ll wear it”

After the ate they headed down to school. As the girls went to their classes MC got all her stuff and headed to her classroom.

“Well hello there MC”

MC sighed and turned around “Hello Vanessa”

“Off to your class?”

“Yeah”

“How nice” Vanessa walks closer “Bet you’re feeling pretty smug”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean you just got that ring and now that you’re marrying a rich guy you finally feel like you belong and you’re on top”

MC rolls her eyes “No that’s not how I’m feeling at all”

“Well even though you’re marrying him it doesn’t change where you came from you’re still a broke struggling mom trying to pay the bills”

“Thank you Vanessa did you just wake up and decide that you wanna annoy me today? Cause I really don’t wanna hear the garbage that’s spewing out your mouth right now”

Vanessa scoffs “I’m just saying the truth besides if me and Thomas didn’t work out what makes you think the same won’t happen to you?”

“I don’t know maybe because I’m not a slut”

“How dare you?! I’m just waiting for your little relationship to crash and burn and then Thomas will get a taste of a real woman”

“Yeah that’s great when you find her let me know goodbye” MC walks away and enters her classroom she grumbles Stupid bitch who the hell does she think she is?

****

After school MC and the girls headed home. Luz and Hope went upstairs as MC began making dinner. The front door opened and Thomas came in “Hey there” He kissed her on the cheek

“Hey baby”

Thomas studied her face “Uh oh I know that look what happened?”

“It’s nothing Thomas just Vanessa”

Thomas sighs “What did she say to you?”

“Said our relationship will crash and burn”

“Sweetheart don’t listen to her she’s just jealous that she’s all single and lonely while I’ve got the most amazing woman in my arms” He kisses her forehead

MC smiles “You’re right I can’t let her get under my skin”

“Good now let’s prepare for this party our friends will be here any moment”

After the finish cooking their friends arrived at the house as soon as they ate Thomas tapped a glass and stood up “Everyone I have an announcement it’s the reason why we invited you all here”

Alma giggles “You mean you didn’t invite us cause you’re not sick of us”

Thomas rolls his eyes and tries not to laugh “No Alma and why would we ever get sick of any of you?”

Levi smirks “I know you invited us over for the free food”

Thomas chuckles “Can I get on with my announcement please?”

Levi sits back “The floors all your man”

“Thank you ok so yesterday I asked MC to marry me and she said yes”

Eiko claps “I’ve been rooting for you two”

Alma grins “Congratulations” Then she narrows her eyes “Make sure you treat her right”

“Oh trust me I plan to”

“I propose a toast to the happy couple” They raise and clink their glasses

****

Vanessa paces around then her phone rings “Glad you called me back”

“Meetings”

“So are you in?”

“Whatever I can do”

“Good” She smirks “I can’t wait to see that pathetic wrench crash and burn”

Tags: @mfackenthal​​ @annekebbphotography​​ @indiacater​​ @the-soot-sprite​​ ​ @hopefulmoonobject​ @liam-rhys​

[daily-dose-of-imagines]

Match-up✨💗

hi! :) i was wondering if i could please have a matchup for haikyuu!! please? and a little nsfw maybe only if ur comfy with it?🥺👉👈I’m a bisexual female, whose a mix of british and italian. my zodiac sign is a pisces and i’m type ENFP-T. i’m about 5’1 and i have long brown hair with red and blonde highlights. my eyes are hazel and i need glasses, i have a curvy yet still skinny body type with big breasts. As for my personality, i tend to be more on the extroverted side but i do like having my space sometimes. i’m super outgoing and loud but i know when i need to calm down and i can be really chill. most of the time guys think of me as ‘one of the boys’ because i tend to do stupid shit with my guy friends💀. but i tend to dress either very girly or very laid back. i have a vintage/preppy style or sweats and a t-shirt. i have very gen z and dark humor and i really like to joke about things that shouldn’t be joked about but i do know where i need to stop. i can handle teasing and i’ll usually shoot it right back and i tend to be really sassy and sarcastic without realizing it. i like making people happy and tend to put everyone before myself due to my insecurities and lack of self esteem. most people think i’m super confident because of how high i hold myself, but i’m not because i actually have extremely bad anxiety and it is the root of my depression. i usually get really bad panic attacks when my bottled up feeling burst out because i never really talk out my feelings because i don’t want to bother anyone and i’m scared people will think i’m annoying. (i’m so sorry, that was sad! back to the happy stuff🥺💗) i also have bad ADD😔🤚 Some things i like are baking, playing instruments, makeup, and art! i like to paint a lot and i always have and music has always been a hobby since i was kid because i’m a musical prodigy! baking is a whole different story though. it’s my favorite thing to do and i want to open up my own bakery eventually! makeup i enjoy doing special effects makeup or fun eccentric ones! i don’t natural makeup for outside the house though. i also like video games, marvel movies, and books! My favorite subject is science! any form of science, i like biology, chem, astronomy, etc. (fun fact: i had the periodic table memorized since 7th grade). as for my dislikes, i HATE hospitals. i pass out every time i enter one. i also hate spiders. I also forgot to mention that i have an undiagnosed medical condition that causes me to continuously pass out. i pass out for about 30 seconds about every 2 weeks and i have to take medication for that 3 times a day. As for what i’m attracted to? i cant really say much because i kinda varies, but i like trust and humor in a relationship. i kinda feel like i need someone that i can open up to because i have a hard time expressing my real feelings but i also want to be able to laugh with them because making other people happy makes me SO happy!

anyways, this was really long and i’m so sorry for that💀 please take your time and do this at your own pace! make sure to drink water and rest up well! i hope you have a FANTABULOUS day!🥺💗

»»————-　♡　————-««

Hello Anon~! (I noticed the way you sent it in and am assuming you’d like to be anonymous~) Of course you can have a match-up~! I hope you enjoy who I’ve paired you with~! Thank you so much for your support and your request~! ;;

» » Admin Ko

𝕀 𝕊𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙…

ʟᴇᴠ ʜᴀɪʙᴀ

First things first, this boy will always comment on how short you are. Though he means it in an affectionate way. He thinks you’re absolutely adorable and pocket sized that he’ll try to take you everywhere with him! He vibes well with your extroverted personality and honestly it becomes too chaotic at times where he might end up at the end of some light hearted scolding from the team mom. Initially, he doesn’t even realize he has a crush on you until he takes note of how other guys try to befriend or get close to you.

It sorta makes him become a big pouty jealous baby— despite it initially being cute he can be a bit possessive and literally will swoop in and pick you up before making a statement of, “SHE’S MINE. YOU ALL KEEP HOGGING HER!” Though in reality it’s Lev hogging you to himself. Kuroo makes fun of him for it and definitely snitches to Yaku whenever he tries to get out of extra practice to go on a fun date with you. He will literally provide you with a bountiful amount of his clothes if you want to borrow them to wear. The first time he saw you wearing his shirt he literally fainted on the spot. It took a lot of coaxing from him to let you know he would most definitely not faint a second time if you wore his shirt again. 

He loves your dark humor and honestly relates to it pretty well. He is 10000% supportive of you and will do anything to help you get through an episode of emotional recourse or if you need someone to vent to. Though don’t go to him for advice, his poor volleyball smacked head might not be the best for it. He does however have connections to helpful senpais’ who’ll definitely help you in case you need advice or perspective to get through and to work through your depression.

Now, your hobbies bring a whole new light to Lev that he’ll definitely be the one to hype you up and show you off to the entire team whenever he can. He’s also a slut for your sweets. Absolutely loves them and will literally brag that he has the best bakery at home. 

Onto a bit of spice and zest~ along with the PDA portion~!

Let’s be honest here, first things first Lev is the most awkwardest baby at Nekoma to try and do anything relatively zesty. But give him some time to research and do some learning and honey– oof you best be prepared for yourself. 

Despite what most may think, I definitely see Lev as a switch. He definitely won’t be afraid to take control in the bedroom, but secretly loves it when you decide to take full reign and treat him like the little brat he is. He loves to be praised and will definitely do anything to your little heart’s desire when it comes to pleasuring you. (Within consent of course~.) 

Surprisingly though, out of the bedroom he’s much more confident in his actions. He’ll hold your hand, literally carry you around, kiss your cheek, the whole 9 yards. He’s a lot more confident in giving you affection after he does his research project. That’s for sure~. 

[shyficwriter]

Don’t Call me Sweetheart

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Yondu x Reader, guest starring Peter

Summary: You hate that Yondu wont stop calling you nicknames that only seem to fuel the crew’s teasing. Well, two can play at this game.

Author’s Note: Based off this prompt from Anon that was inspired by this post from @giulscomix.

Word Count: 4,110

“Ok, sweetheart.” 

You hear Yondu call to you from the entrance of the Central Area, noticing irritation in his voice as you hear his footsteps approach closer. You turn from the window to face him. 

“Where’d ya put ‘em?” Yondu looked at you crossly as he closed the gap between you. 

“Don’t call me sweetheart.” you reply in annoyance. You hated when he called you that in front of the crew. It always earned you a lot of teasing, the crew calling you ‘Daddy’s little girl!’ or ‘Captain’s pet!’ while they laughed at your expense. “And where did I put what?” 

“I’ll call ya whatever I like, pipsqueak,” this started a round of muffled laughter from the crew playing cards on the far side of the room and you glared at the blue man. “and ya know what I’m talkin’ about, don’t even pretend!”

“I have no idea what you lost, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.” you respond crossly, turning back to the window.

“Oh-ho, girly! Ya don’t even wanna go there with that attitude or I’ll make you scrub all the catwalks in the Dockin’ Bay!” Yondu scolded, turning you back around to face him. “Now where’d ya hide the little figures I line up on my control console?”

You roll your eyes. “I don’t know where they are, why don’t you ask Peter?”

“Peter ain’t even here, little missy.” Yondu started. “He left three hours ago on a supply run to Xandar, an’ they were all still there after he left. Try again, pumpkin.”

This new nickname started another round of stifled snickers from the crew, who were trying to pretend like they weren’t listening in. You shot them a glare before turning back to Yondu and saying “Why do you think it was me? How to you know it wasn’t one of them?” you pointed to the table of card-playing Ravagers, who jolted and immediately tried to look very concerned with their card game.

“They all know better than to disrespect their captain, sweetheart.” Yondu chuckled, looking at his crew. “Inn’t that right, boys?” 

The crew piped up with “Yes, sir!”’s while nodding and looking down at their cards. They were still stifling laughter at how Yondu was treating you like a kid.

You sighed. You were guilty, of course. You had taken his dash toys while no one was looking and hid them all around the Eclector, trying to spread them as far apart as you could in retaliation of Yondu constantly treating you like a kid. But of course you weren’t about to admit it. “Look, I don’t know where you lost them, but it’s not my problem.” You said, throwing your hands in a gesture that said ‘I don’t care’ and starting to walk away, taking notice of how his features went from momentary surprise at your insolence to anger. You made it about 8 feet before you heard Yondu speak again.

“They better be back on my console in the next hour or yer grounded.”

You immediately halted, your boots making a slight screech on the metal floor at your sudden stop. The crew was now openly laughing, pounding their fists on the table in sheer delight at what their captain just said to you. You rarely ever got punished with anything more than minor chores added to your day, hardly receiving anything more substantial than a warning or an extra dish duty, so anytime it looked like the captain might follow through with some actual discipline towards you, the crew ate it up. This time was especially hilarious to them because he basically just dressed you down like a misbehaving child. Your face got red before twisting into a scowl. You spun back around to face him. “What?!” you said angrily. 

“Ya heard me, sweetie.” his expression was now slightly smug and he laughed. “If they aren’t back on my console in an hour, yer grounded. No leavin’ the ship for anythin’, not even for missions, an’ ya’ll be scrubbin’ all the catwalks in the Dockin' Bay as well as givin’ all the toilets a good shining.”

“You can’t ground me! I’m not a kid!” you cried in frustration, your hands balled into fists.

“I’m the captain, sweetheart, I can do what I like.” he smirked. The crew still hadn’t stopped laughing.

“Stop calling me those nicknames! I’m not a child!” you seethed as Yondu started to walk past you. 

Yondu patted you on the shoulder saying, “One hour. Your choice, sweetheart.” and continued walking out of the Central Area.

You growled in frustration and noticed the crew still howling in laughter, only now that the captain was gone they had started jeering “Oh, daddy’s little girl got in trouble?” and “Looks like Cap’s finally gonna put his pet in a cage! HAHAHA!” 

“Shut it!” you growled before storming off to re-collect his dash toys. ‘He may have won this time, but two can play his game!’ you thought, already planning your next retaliation. 

***

You didn’t see Yondu again until the next morning as you mainly stayed in your quarters the rest of the night, both in irritation at Yondu and to avoid the teasing from the crew. No doubt word would have spread quickly about the captain threatening to ground you like a child.

You passed him in the hall on your way to the front deck and before he could tease you about how his dash toys “magically re-appeared” on his control console within the time limit he set, you spoke up and greeted him. “What’s up, grandpa?” you said with a grin and a clap on his shoulder as you passed.

Yondu’s expression quickly changed from that of one who was about to have a laugh at another’s expense to that of surprise before quickly switching into one of mild irritation. “What'd ya say, brat?” his eyes narrowed.

“What?” you say innocently, working to keep a straight face.

“Ya know wh-” Yondu started, but was interrupted by Kraglin’s voice over the intercom informing that there was a message incoming for the captain, and asking that he please come take it in the control room. “I’ll deal with ya later.” Yondu says, waving you off and walking away. 

“Alright, see ya later, papa bear!” You call after him, just as Oblo and Scrote came around the corner. You can tell they heard the nickname as they went quiet and then started snickering. Noticing this, Yondu turns back momentarily to tell you to cut it out before continuing on his way to the control room. ‘This is going to be fun.’ you thought with a smirk.

***

The next time you saw Yondu was in the mess hall, sitting with Kraglin and a few other crew members. "How’s it going, old man?” you say, nudging him as you sat down next to him with a yaro root. 

Yondu glares at you while the crew members try not to grin, suddenly becoming preoccupied with either their food or the wall. “What did I tell you about that, little girl?” he scolds.

“Not sure what you mean, padre.” you smirk, taking a bite of your fruit. You hear one of the crew members let out a snort and see Yondu shoot him a glare.

“You know exactly what I mean.” he replies crossly. “Now cut it out.” he turns to take another bit of his food.

“Cut what out, grandpa?” 

That last one resulted in the other crew members at the table now having a hard time holding back their laughter. A couple who couldn’t hold it in quickly pretended like they suddenly had an urgent need to talk to other crew members across the room and left the table so they wouldn’t be punished for laughing at their captain. Even Kraglin is trying his damndest not to snicker, looking down at his drink and pressing a knuckle to his teeth. Yondu turned to look at you, eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring in aggravation, when suddenly you can hear Peter calling for you. You look over to see him near the entrance. He jogs over.

“Hey, I need to borrow her for a sec!” He says to Yondu, motioning for you to get up and follow him. “I... need her help with a thing.” He grabs your arm and quickly ushers you out of the mess hall. “Are you trying to die?” he says once you’re in the hall and out of ear shot.

“What? He deserves it. He keeps treating me like a little kid!” you retort. “Calling me “little girl” and “sweetheart.” Did you hear what he did yesterday? He threatened to ground me! What am I? Ten??”

“Yeah, I did hear about that,” he said, snickering, before seeing the look you were giving him and quickly clearing his throat and continuing. “But, you did hide his dash toys. Not really sure what you expected to happen.”

You rolled your eyes.

“I’m just saying, you keep this up and it’s bound to backfire.” Peter warns, before nudging you and saying in a quiet tone: “But, hey, ...how mad was he when he realized they were gone?”

“So mad!” you giggled. “It was totally worth it until he threatened to ground me to the ship, cleaning the catwalks and the toilets.”

“The toilets too? Harsh!” Peter laughed. “You better quit whatever you were doing to make his eyes go all murder-y back there then, unless you want him to tack on cleaning out the grease traps in the kitchen too.” 

You lightly punch him in the shoulder and roll your eyes .

“What?” He laughed. “He made me do it once when I was 13 and went joy riding in one of his M-ships. Trust me. After the smell of having to clean those things out, you never want to do it again.”

“Well then don’t give him any ideas!” you laugh, lightly punching him in the shoulder again.

“I take it that means you have no intentions of stopping?”

“Nope.” you say matter of factly. “Not til he stops calling me kiddy names, at least.”

“Well,” he laughs, stopping in the hallway and pulling you in to ruffle your hair, resulting in you pushing him way and sticking out your tongue. “don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

***

Later that day you ran into Yondu again at the front deck where he was drinking with a bunch of the crew. ‘Perfect.’ you thought with a grin. You plop next to him on the couch. “Hey, dadio! What’s crackin?” you say with a mischievous smile. 

Yondu merely groans and looks at you. “What do you want?” 

“Nothing, just seeing what you’re up to, old man.” you lean back and shoot a grin at Kraglin sitting on the other couch, who tried not to engage lest he be repremanded. Oblo, on the other hand, was elbowing Gef in the ribs, who happened to be at the table in the mess hall when you were tormenting Yondu earlier. They, and a couple others, had gathered what you were doing by now and were getting a kick out of seeing their captain be tormented by his “little girl.”

“Cut it out.” Yondu growled in a low tone. You shifted on the couch to face him more as the crew tried to hide their grins, now pretending to be engaged in conversation with each other.

“What do you mean, papa bear?” you say sweetly. You may not have had a lot of different nicknames you could tease him with, but you could keep this up all day with just the few that you had as they clearly had the desired effect.

“For the last time y’know what I mean, now knock it off.” the captain said sternly.

“What’s the matter?” you ask, mock hurt. “You don’t like my nicknames, grandpa?” As expected, that one broke the crew as it did the first time. You look over to see Retch openly laughing, holding his sides. Even Kragin, sitting next to him, couldn’t keep it together any longer and you watched as he bit his fist in an attempt to quell his laughter. Then you notice his expression quickly change to something akin to fright. You recognized the expression as one that just screamed “Run!” and you look back over to see Yondu starting to stand up, his expression seething. ‘Oh shit.’ you thought, bolting up from your seat on the couch and high tailing it out of there, only to hear the angry boots of the Ravager captain pounding on the metal floor as they pursued you. ‘Shit! Shit!’ your mind screams as you run, dodging surprised crew members left and right and you ran from your pursuer. You turn down a hallway and run into Peter. 

“Whoa! What’s going on?” Peter laughed, helping you keep your balance.

“Yon-... Yondu!” You manage to get out between breaths, backing up to further yourself down the hallway. You look up when you hear the screech of his boots skidding as he stopped to turn the corner into the hallway he saw you flee into. 

“Ya get back here right now, little missy!” Yondu angrily called out to you, starting back up the chase.

“Shit!” you cry out and take off again. You can hear Peter laughing behind you as you take flight.

“I warned you, didn’t I?”

“Now’s not the time, Peter!” you holler back as you make a right turn into another hallway, nearly running down Scrote in the process. You can hear Yondu gaining on you and shouting at you to “Get back here, ya lil shit!” as you turn to run through the mess hall. 

There weren’t as many crew members inside now as before so fortunately you didn’t need to dodge as many. However, those that were inside wore shocked expressions as you came bursting in through one door and ran through to the other exit. As the exit doors close behind you, you try to take a moment to catch your breath when you hear Yondu shout “Where is she!?” from inside. You knew the crew weren’t about to lie to their captain for you and would just point out where you had run to, so you knew you needed to take off again and try to find somewhere to hide.

You tried to think quickly where you could hide that he might not think to look for awhile. Docking bay? No, too open. Double back and hide in the kitchen? Maybe the bar? No, you knew the crew wouldn’t help you hide. Your quarters? No, too obvious.

You racked your brain for a place to hide. You briefly thought to hide in the Captain’s Quarters, because maybe it would be just stupid enough to work? He surely wouldn’t think you’d be dumb enough to hide there, right? However, you scrapped this idea when you realized even if he never thought to look there, he would obviously retire back there eventually. You were running out of ideas and settled on ducking into the engine room and hiding in there for the time being, checking behind you beforehand to make sure Yondu wasn’t within eyesight to watch to enter. 

The dimly lit room was massive with multiple engines and several large pipes for exhaust coming out of each one.  There were also multiple generators, tanks, pumps, and much more machinery you couldn’t completely identify. That didn’t matter, however, as it just meant several places to hide. You walked further into the room until you found a tank that appeared safe to lean on and caught your breath, listening to the rumble of the engines and hissing of the boilers.

You remained like this for a few moments before you heard the metal door of the engine room open and a set of booted feet step into the room, closing the door behind them. You jumped at the sudden noise and your heart leapt to your throat when you heard Yondu’s voice call out.

”Sweetheart, I know yer in here.” you heard his footsteps walk further into the room, sounding like the were headed towards the other side of the main engine. “Come on out.” he called in a sing-song voice.

‘Crap! How did he know?!’ you thought, kicking yourself once you realized that you didn’t make sure there was no one else in the hall either that might’ve pointed him in your direction. You quickly slip in between two tanks against the wall in the back of the engine room, trying to steady your breathing as you hid, leaning against the tank and taking advantage of the shadows.

“Come out, sweetie.” you can hear him chuckle as he continues walking around the main engine, approaching closer to the back. 

You let out a sharp gasp when you hear him begin to whistle. ‘No! No! Shit!’ your mind screams as you cover your mouth. You don’t believe he’d actually kill you with his arrow, at least not for this, but you knew he was trying to scare you out of hiding, and you could only hope he hadn’t heard you over the sound of the engines. You close your eyes and try to focus on being quiet, hoping the shadows would be enough to hide you and he would give up, believing you to not be in there after all. However, after a few moments you realize not only has he stopped whistling, but you no longer hear his footsteps either. You begin to ponder if he had stopped walking, probably thinking you’d come out of hiding to check if he had left, when you feel a hand grab your arm and rip you out of your hiding space with a triumphant yell.

“Gotcha!” he laughs as you let out a startled scream. “I ought to beat yer little ass for making me chase ya down, missy!” he scolds as you try to pull away.

You do manage to free yourself for a moment but he lunges at you, missing your arm and instead grabbing your waist, causing you to cripple into the touch. “Oh-ho! Or maybe I could just do that.” he says with a sly grin, grabbing your wrist before you could run for it.

Your eyes go wide, silently pleading that he doesn’t dare as you try to jerk away from him once more, but to no avail as he grabs at your waist again making you jerk and erupt in giggles. “No! Stop!” you shriek, grabbing at his wrists as he begins spidering them up and down your ribs.

“Nah, I don’t think I will.” the blue man grins evilly as you squeal and squirm. “Not until ya learn to respect yer captain!” he laughs.

Your knees give way from the onslaught and you find yourself lying on the surprisingly cool metal floor with Yondu straddling on top, still tickling with a vengeance, making you scream with laughter.

“Nohoho! Please! AHAHAhaha!” you beg, shrieking and kicking when he moves to tickle under your arms.

“I told ya to stop with the nicknames, didn’t I?” he laughed, moving to your stomach, never letting you get too used to one sensation before moving on to another.

“You didn’t!” you cry, trying to turn over to escape the ticklish sensations, but with no success as Yondu had you pinned fairly well.

“I didn’t tell ya?” he teased, moving to tickle your neck. “Do ya want more for lying, pipsqueak?” 

“No!” you squeal. “Y-aHAHA You d-didn’t stop!” you manage to get out through giggles, scrunching your shoulders and reaching up for his hands, leaving yourself open for him to attack under your arms again. Which, of course, he did, making you let out a high pitched shriek and kick your legs out behind him.

“Yer my lil’ girl, I’ll call ya whatever I feels like.” he laughed.

“Mm n-not ahaha kid!” you cry out. It was getting harder to form coherent sentences. 

“Well ya act enough like one, why shouldn’t I call ya as such?” “C-crehoho tea-tehehehese mehehehe!” you squeaked out, forming noises that were barely words.

“What was that?” he moved back to tickling your sides. It was becoming apparent that under your arms was perhaps your worst spot and he realized you had a hard time answering if he was attacking that particular area.

“Thehaha crew teases mehehe!” you whine. 

“Oh, do they now?”

“Yes! HAHAHA Please stop IT!” 

“Stop their teasin’, or what I’m doin’ now?” he joked.

“BOTH!” you whine.

“Hmm... Well that depends. Have ya learned some manners, young lady?” he asked, to which you vehemently nodded your head ‘yes,’ desperate for the tickling to cease. “Hm, well there’s only one way to be sure...” he said evilly before lifting up your shirt a little and blowing raspberry after raspberry into your tummy, resulting in you immediately begging and shrieking in laughter.

“NO! No pleahehese! Not the beard! Oh GAHAHAHAD! STOPPIT! AHAHAHA It tickles sO BAD! AHHHH! Please! PleASE! PLEAHEHEHESE!” you push on his shoulders desperately trying to get the blue asshole off of you, but he’s stronger than you even when you’re not weakened by tickling.

After another moment or two of your screaming laughter he finally relented, satisfied you had learned your lesson. You lay there, panting for breath with tears from your laughter staining your face. 

“You suck.” you say as Yondu stands up.

“Now what did I just teach you about manners, young lady.” He playfully growled.

“Ok! Point taken!” you squeak, raising your hands in defense and moving to stand. 

Yondu looks contemplative for a moment. “So, ya say the crew’s been pickin’ on ya for those nicknames, huh?”

“Yeah,” you admit, still catching your breath. “They call me ‘Captains Pet.’” 

“Hmmm...” is all he responds with. He makes a mental note of making an example of the first man he hears teasing you about the nicknames. Threatening them with being on the wrong side of his yaka arrow if they “disrespect the names their captain chooses to call another person on his ship!” should do it.

You’ve nearly caught your breath when suddenly you realized that anyone outside the engine room probably heard your screams. “Oh no.” you say sullenly, putting your face in your hands.

“What?” Yondu asks, prompted by your actions.

“The whole crew probably just heard me screaming from you tickling me to death! This will be just another thing they can use to torment me. Thanks a lot!” you say bitterly.

“Oh I don’t think ya gotta worry too much ‘bout that, little girl. As far as they know you just had a date with the broad side of my belt.” he chuckles, lifting your chin. “Don’t worry, ya already look like ya’ve been bawlin’ anyway.” He teased. “I’ll just make the rest look good.” With that he motioned for you to follow him. When you reached the door he grabbed you by the elbow. “Remember, make it look good.” he said before loudly throwing open the door of the engine room to reveal a crowd of startled crew members who quickly dispersed and tried to act like they were just casually working or talking amongst themselves.

He pulled you by your arm and roughly tossed you out of the engine room. “Now take yer little Terran ass back to yer quarters an' make sure I don’ hear from ya the rest of the night!” He shouted loudly. “Unless you want another date with my belt!”

With shock in your eyes from the sudden change you quickly played along and merely nodded your head hastily in response before making your way in the direction of your quarters, taking notice of the surprised glances of the crew as you made your way past. You thought you were able to hear someone murmur “I can’t believe it, Cap finally whooped her for somethin’!” before you heard Yondu yell: “Well what'r ya’ll jus’ standin’ around for! Get back to work!”

Before you turned the corner to head down another hallway you took a moment to glance at Yondu. He was barking orders at the scrambling crew members and momentarily caught your gaze, giving you a quick wink. You flashed a quick grin and headed down the hallway before he turned away to shout something at Oblo.

When you finally reached your quarters you flopped down on your bed and laid there staring up at the ceiling, a small smile painting your features. You knew he probably wasn’t going to stop with the nicknames, but you supposed you could get over it. 

At least you knew he had your back.

[the-qalankhais-sweetheart]

Yup. My mother was derided by *her* hyper-feminine mother for preferring to play in the dirt, tussling with boys, and generally being, well, a "tomboy". My late grandmother used to use a derisive term/slur for her, "machet0na" (which, in Spanish, is more or less equivalent to "d*ke" - I'm trying to censor both terms as I am unsure if in our cultural climate today the Mexican Spanish term has been reclaimed or not and I'm not sapphic, so I don't feel it's my place to use it uncensored). She isn't gay nor is she trans, and while there's nothing wrong with either one, it was equivalent to being called an anti-gay slur. My late grandmother also cruelly bullied my mom for her weight (which actually wasn't even high!) and for her build (for the love of all that is good in this world, we're part Basque and our bodies are built for the mountains! We couldn't be little dainty will-o'-the-wisps!).

In short, no, being a tomboy was *not* looked upon kindly. And that was just in the *Mexican* culture, in which we have curves and deeper voices and are just built differently than white women.

Imagine 1950's-1960's White America.

Uh-uh. Get on out of here with this horseshit.

Oh, and I was born in the 90's. My parents made sure I could dress and be as I liked, but the surrounding cultural pressure to be girly was STILL a problem, especially having been homeschooled and all the stupid fundie catalogs thrust upon new homeschoolers were bent upon putting my rough and tumble ass in dresses, teaching me to speak softly and gently, and reading Elsie Dinsmore books where she married a dude old enough to be her dad. I used to feel uncomfortable with my development (I'm chill with my body now). And this is with me having and loving my long hair, which I continue to keep as an "eff you" to the false gender dichotomy. I hated dresses, still mostly do, and my grandparents definitely had commentary on that as well. Got crap for not wanting holiday dresses and constantly got weird, hyper-girly things and when I disclosed I wanted a Daisy Red Ryder and a mini chopper toy ride on bike as a kid, I got the third degree about "do you know if it's safe? Is it legal? Blah blah". When I turned 16, I was told "Sweet sixteen, never been kissed by a cute boy, only been kissed by a bunch of ugly ones." My identity for these people was bound up into my hypothetical connection to men while hypergendering me, and even while being misandrist assholes who treated my father as a second-class citizen. (Prime example of misogyny being the root of misandry.)

People were bitching about Target no longer separating so-called "boys' toys" and "girls' toys" as of 2013, y'all.

This is bullshit and we all need to keep calling them out on this.

And I, too, embrace the term tomboy.

I want to boost everything this person has said and add on.

The reason I call myself a tomboy now, despite it being seen as a childish word and having had someone swear at me over it because ‘tHeRe’S nO suCh thInG as BoY thInGs anD giRL thIngS sHut uP’ is because I couldn’t call myself that or be like that when I was a kid. It was seen as a negative thing and I was already bullied enough. “Looking like a boy” was the worst thing that could happen to a girl.

And I’m not even 26 yet. We aren’t talking 30+ years ago, we are talking 2000s and even 2010s. It’s only since trans people have become more accepted in the past few years that gender nonconformity has too.

And the people who helped me accept my gender nonconformity more than anyone else? Were trans people. They taught me, “there’s nothing wrong with how you feel. You’re still a valid woman no matter what you wear, how you have your hair or what you’re into ❤️”

And don’t even get me started on how people treat gender nonconforming men. JK Rowling has a lot of nerve to be like “uwu boys can wear dresses and only us gendercrits accept that!” when she has, even in recent works, made femininity in men a negative trait, as well as making masculinity in women a negative trait also.

A lot of people still don’t accept gnc people even now. Just last year I had someone tell me they’d never let their daughter “dress like a boy”, and I’m always terrified to walk into a bathroom in case the next JK Rowling is in there, sees my gender expression and pepper sprays me or worse.

“There’s no such thing as boy things and girl things.” I don’t need to be told that and I’m sure 99% of trans people also don’t need to be told that. Tell that to the society that hates us both instead of actively encouraging that hate.

[takaraphoenix]

I’m currently watching The Legend of Tarzan. The cartoon tie-in to the Disney movie. Because my math-skills have shown me that between 2000 and 2010 I was being an idiot and not watching cartoons. I’ve been working on getting caught up for a little while now - Avatar, Danny Phantom, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch, Ben 10.

Anyway.

The reason I’m bringing it up is that I actually want to praise it. I’m more of a casual watcher of the Tarzan movie. It was never that much my cup of tea, I always find myself less drawn into the Disney movies where they don’t sing and to me, Tarzan just felt like the nth version of “two worlds clash and love happens” spiel.

But I’m genuinely enjoying the cartoon tie-in. Definitely not because of the animation quality, because good lords it looks so so so cheap.

But, see, my biggest problem with the modern movie tie-in cartoons - How to Train Your Dragon and that Tangled one - is that they neglect the romance.

I mean, seriously, Dragons took until its last season when the ship that was set up at the end of the first movie actually properly sailed. They barely invested time in developing their relationship.

And Tangled is even worse. Flynn and Rapunzel barely have screentime together. They spend more plotpoints with their new show-exclusive OC best friends than with each other and when they do, I’m pretty sure you can count the times they have kissed or been otherwise romantic with each other in the first season on one hand and would still have fingers left. Flynn is mainly a goofy comic relief who gets treated like shit by Rapunzel’s new bff (which, I am intensely not okay with and think that it’s time Rapunzel puts her foot down because seriously Cassandra shitting all over Flynn stopped being funny after like two episodes...).

It’s this problem that movies have. They portray the chase and then conclude in the epic kiss and the allusion to a happily ever after, but when you do a TV show, you inevitably have to show the happily ever after... And they shy away from it. Like they’re a bit in over their head portraying a healthy relationship.

And now back to where we started.

I am genuinely enjoying The Legend of Tarzan, because it doesn’t do what the two just mentioned ones do. It doesn’t shy away from the romance. It doubles down on it. Its main focus are the friendships and (platonic) relationships as shown and introduced in the movie, as well as the romantic relationship between Tarzan and Jane.

You get to see them go on dates, have romantic evenings together, call each other husband/wife repeatedly and with pride, kiss and hold hands.

But that’s not all. They’re portrayed in an impressively healthy way. They learn from each other, it never borders into Jane somehow coming off as superior and having to teach Tarzan everything because she is from a “civilized culture”. They make decisions together, communicate with each other, learn from each other and accept each other as they are.

And they don’t need to prove their relationship. There is an episode where a film crew comes in and Tarzan stars in a movie about himself, with a gorgeous blonde lead and the two have a kiss scene. It’s not the focus of the episode, there is no raging jealousy or insecurity on Jane’s end, she is one hundred percent supportive of Tarzan doing this movie. In another episode, we meet a gorgeous woman who has been raised by jaguars and has a lot in common with Tarzan and while there are moments of doubt for Jane, they are solemnly rooted in seeing this woman and not in anything Tarzan does - and the moments are brief and overcome far before the episode ends. A rich English man moves to the jungle to open a trading post and he repeatedly hits on Jane, but Tarzan doesn’t go jealous, possessive caveman on him, because he is completely secure in his relationship with Jane.

I’m just really enjoying this right now. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m watching too many TV shows these days that think that miscommunication and unhealthy relationships are enjoyable plot-devices, which seems to be such a theme in modern TV shows, but this is really refreshing to watch.

Also the fact that both Tantor and Terk get one-epsiode romantic-sub-plots that both boiled down to “Don’t change who you are for someone else” - with Tantor’s love-interest wanting him to drop Terk as a friend and Terk growing insecure in her being not girly enough to be liked by the guy but her love-interest then telling her that he likes her exactly how she is.

It’s a really love-positive cartoon and I wish more cartoons - and TV shows - were less awkward about romantic sub-plots. While a relationship that always sails smoothly can get boring with time, that does not mean that writers have to overuse miscommunication, distrust, lies and jealousy to make their relationships “more interesting”, because generally, those tools do not make the relationship more interesting, they just make it more unhealthy and less enjoyable when being overused.

[netunleashed-blog]

Love Island 2018 transformations post villa revealed as Dani Dyer, Megan Barton Hanson and Kazimir Crossley enjoy makeover

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=31241 Love Island 2018 transformations post villa revealed as Dani Dyer, Megan Barton Hanson and Kazimir Crossley enjoy makeover - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=31241 Love Island finalists Dani Dyer, Megan Barton Hanson and Kazimir Crossley enjoy makeover together post villa [Kazimir Crossley/ Instagram]   Love Island 2018 has sadly come to an end after Jack Fincham and Dani Dyer were crowned the winners of season four.  Since leaving the villa, finalists Megan Barton Hanson, Kazimir Crossley and EastEnders actor Danny Dyer's daughter reunited for a girly day pampering themselves and underwent a makeover.  But who else has treated themselves and undergone a transformation following their departure from the ITV2 show?  Here are all the details; from Dani and Ellie's new hair do to Dr. Alex George's former flame Grace Wardle's plan for a drastic change.  Dani Dyer sported long brown hair after leaving Love Island villa [Dani Dyer/ Instagram ] Dani Dyer showcased her new look on date with Jack Fincham  [Dani Dyer/Instagram] Dani Dyer  Dani had fans speculating she had a hair makeover during her time in the Spanish villa, as she sported slightly darker locks close to the Love Island final.  But since leaving Spain for good, the former Survival Of The Fittest contestant has undergone another makeover.  A young Georgia Steele takes a selfie as she pouts for the camera  [Instagram ] Georgia Steele's transformation: Love Island star looks adorable in unearthed photos from social media accounts from before she was famous The champion has opted for slightly longer hair extensions, and darker brown hair.  Dani has proudly shown off her new look on Instagram. One post read: "Finally I got my girl @jaimehunt_london back for a well needed transformation after my @loveisland experience." Ellie Brown's hair extensions were a big topic of discussion in the outside world [ITV2 Love Island ] Ellie Brown visited the hair salon after her Love Island departure [Ellie Brown/ Instagram] Ellie Brown  Charlie Brake's girlfriend Ellie Brown divided viewers during her time on Love Island for her noticeable hair extensions, which Hayley Hughes also suffered.  Once Adam Collard's friend left the villa she made sure to get her hair done too.  One Instagram post read: "Also... my hair extensions I am SO bad at my own hair and makeup never mind having pie and ice cream etc in it. I usually get a blow dry once a week because I’m so bad, it’s getting sorted ASAP I promise." Ellie visited Ivory Hairdressing where her hair was dyed blonde, roots touched up and hair extensions fitted. She wrote: "Thank you so much to Jodie at @ivoryhairdressing for my colour and extensions using @zenluxuryextensions these girls have saved me!!"  Grace Wardle visited a cosmetic dentist post Love Island [Grace Wardle/ Instagram] Grace Wardle Grace was a late arrival to Casa Amor, but was welcomed into the main villa after sparking up a romance with Dr. Alex.  Sadly their romance did not blossom as some ITV2 viewers hoped and she was dumped from the villa.  But on returning home Grace has visited a cosmetics dentist in Kent named The Sandford. She shared a string of images of herself with staff on her Instagram account, which read: "Thank you to all the lovely team at the @the.sandford So professional and welcoming, can’t wait for my next visit." However, it is unknown exactly what treatment grace has had, or is planning to have in the future. Darylle Sargeant was among the Islanders to get her hair done after leaving the show [Darylle Sargeant/ Instagram] Darylle Sargeant  Darylle Sargeant turned heads when she entered the secret villa Casa Amor, and again when Adam chose to couple up with her and return to the main villa. Similar to Samira Mighty, Ellie, Hayley Hughes and Dani, Darylle made sure to get a hair makeover on her return to the UK.  The tattooed beauty – who boasts impressive artwork over her body – sported long brunette tresses on the show with golden highlights running throughout, but she soon changed this following her departure as she opted for slightly darker brown locks. Darylle's hair stylist, who goes under the name of Laurenahair23 on Instagram, shared a photograph of the tattoo artist and model's new do detailing exactly what she had done. The post read: "I had the lovely @daryllleeein for a freshen up last week. All over colour scattered foils cut and style." Some Love Island 2018 cast reunited at Eyal Booker's birthday party and will rejoin again at Love Island: The Reunion on August 5 [Doctor Alex George/ Instagram ] Islanders will reunite again for Love Island: The Reunion.  Love Island: The Reunion airs on ITV2 at 9pm on Sunday August 5.  window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({ appId: '543301995758445', xfbml: true, version: 'v2.8' }); }; (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); Source link

[princestreetco]

What Do Women in Other Markets Really See When They Watch a Nike Ad? We Asked Them

In a recent Nike ad about equality, created by Wieden + Kennedy, a conviction-laden voice says, “Opportunity does not discriminate.” In the background, Alicia Keys croons, “Change is gonna come.”

With that gorgeous piece of work, Nike touted its commitment to inspire people to take local action to advance the values of sportsmanship, self-empowerment and acceptance off the field. Perhaps in keeping with that, the Nike Women account on YouTube—mainly used to promote Nike Training Club—has, since January, released four different regional ads that seize upon these ideas.

In other words, Nike appears to be doubling down on ads that speak directly to women, with calls to activate locally and change social norms.

So, we decided to talk to women from each market to get a better sense of what they’re saying. Find those conversations below, along with the ads.

Nike Middle East: “What Will They Say About You?”

This piece, created by Wieden + Kennedy, swept the ‘net following Nike’s “Equality” ad. It features Jordanian boxing pro Arifa Bseiso; Emirati parkour coach Amal Murad; Inès Boubakri, the Tunisian Olympic champion for fencing; singer Balqees Fathi; and Emirati ice skater Zahra Lari. Its tagline: “Just do it.”

The ad plays on the sense that people might be talking about you behind your back. “What will they say about you? Maybe they’ll say you exceeded all expectations,” it says at one point.

Parkourist Murad said that the question “What will they say about you?” is “every little girl’s nightmare growing up. We hear this every time we do something that might be met with criticism. There’s a fear to stand out and do something that’s not part of the norm. But I’ve learned that, if you genuinely want to do something amazing, you can’t be afraid of hearing this phrase. Don’t be afraid of your own greatness.”

For this spot, we talked to Cairo, Egypt, local Malaka Refai. And while she didn’t recognize any of the athletes, she felt it positively features a diversity of both veiled and unveiled Arab women.

But, Refai adds, it’s critical to keep in mind who this ad is talking to: “athletic women, who are already engaged in sports, of high socio-economic status,” she says. “The runner is [relatable] to all women because running is accessible and cheap—but few alleys in the Arab world would be as empty as the one in the ad.”

Otherwise, “the ad [assumes privilege] because all the women who are able to participate in those sports are of a high socio-economic status, so it is only speaking to women who already don’t face huge challenges in terms of societal restrictions.”

In terms of whether it has something to say beyond the local market, Refai adds, “It’s important for men to see this, to help change perceptions and stereotypes [of women] amongst men in society.”

Nike Russia: “What Are Our Girls Made Of?”

Nike leaned hard into the Russian market in 2015, when it launched “Real Girls of Moscow.” But the roots of this musical ad are far older, and will be familiar to anyone who’s heard that girls are made of “sugar and spice and everything nice.” (Its response to that question is in the tagline: “You’re made of what you do.”)

We talked to Irina Guseva, Adobe’s group manager product marketing, about how she perceives the piece.

“It’s a spin on a very famous Russian kids’ song about what kids are made of … flowers and candy versus batteries and springs, for example,” says Guseva. Basically, “girls are made of girly stuff and boys are made of masculine stuff.”

“Nike, being an innovative brand, changes the paradigm and puts a different spin on this traditional take on male/female hierarchy in Russia,” Guseva goes on. “It adds non-girly attributes to the [recipe of girls], such as bravery, independence, achievement, self-worth, bruises—and this is what the famous athletes are illustrating.”

The ad kicks off with a girl alone onstage, singing the song with its original words: “What are our little girls made of? They’re made of flowers and bells, of glances and jellies.”

But when an athlete suddenly appears in the concert hall and gives her a knowing look, she begins to change the lyrics: “Our girls are made of iron, of aspirations, of dedication and battles; of persistence and grace, which the whole nation is proud of…”

Athletes continue to appear as the girl’s voice builds in strength, ending with a ball literally bouncing into her court. Featured athletes include figure skater Adelina Sotnikova, MMA fighter Anastasia Yankova, ballet dancer Olga Kuraeva, actress Irina Gorbacheva, skateboarder Katya Shengelia, track-and-field athlete Kristina Sivkova, Nike + Training Club coach Anastasia Kotelnikova, and footballer Ksenia Lazareva.

“In my interpretation, the ad speaks to newer female generations in Russia, telling them to stand up for themselves, be brave, ‘kick it like a girl’,” Guseva goes on. “The tagline, ‘You’re made of what you do’, is very powerful. Given the latest developments in the Duma in terms of law changes in how females and children are treated in the country, it is especially interesting that Nike chose to launch this campaign recently.”

Guseva is skeptical that the ad will resonate outside Russia.

“The message is tailored to the Russian market, as this song is not widely known beyond Russia. Even in Russia, and based on the amount of dislikes this video had gotten on YouTube, I am seeing that patriarchal cultures may not have high acceptance rates for messaging that is outside the norm of traditional,” she observes.

“Progressive-thinking Russian people, however, will appreciate the new spin on this old song from the Soviet-era days. But that would mainly apply to megapolis-type cities, which are the minority in Russia. On the same note, when localized to other markets, the main message should be able to translate well.”

She concludes, “I am not even sure if it’s a product ad, or a public service campaign.”

Nike Turkey: “This Is Us”

Created by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, this ad features women breaking out of gender-prescribed molds and revealing their true, athletic and empowered selves. It features basketball player Işıl Alben, tennis player İpek Soylu, triathlete Esra Gökçek, kickboxer Funda Diken, Dance Factory dancers led by Çisil Sıkı, and actors Dilan Çiçek Deniz and Elvin Levinler.

For this ad, we were lucky enough to score two interviewees: Turkey-born, Alabama-raised Sila Soyer, executive producer at Arcade Edit; and Gizem Salcigil White, best known as Turkish Coffee Lady.

“The narration is made up of commonly used phrases and sayings about how girls should behave, how they should present themselves and what’s expected of them,” says Soyer. “It’s kind making fun of that with the juxtaposed visuals.”

White sees many local references, “though I find the Turkish women portrayal in some scenes a little confused,” she adds. “It is not exactly accurate, especially for the target audience of women, living in big cities, who would be interested in buying a Western product like Nike.”

White explains: “The tagline is ‘This is us.’ The target audience might view these commercials and appreciate the message, but they wouldn’t agree that the caricature of Turkish women is ‘us’.”

For her, the modern Nike customer probably already feels different from the demure, traditional woman depicted in the ad. But it’s also possible that Nike’s talking to more conservative, wealthy Turkish women who may still match the stereotype, playing demure while hiding their true colors. Either way, “This is us” rings a bit disingenuous.

“Ultimately, I think it is an interesting commercial that has a positive message. I’m just confused by who their target audience is meant to be,” says White.

“I think [this ad speaks] to those who hold certain stereotypes about how girls/women should behave, and what their place is in society or the world, says Soyer. “It’s also speaking to girls/women who are brought up with those stereotypes, and illustrating that it doesn’t and shouldn’t have to be that way.”

She punctuates this observation with a memory struck by a line in the ad, “Girls don’t guffaw”: “I remember taking the bus into town to get ice cream with my best friend when I was 12, and how we were glared at if we laughed too loud.”

By and large, though, both feel the message is positive. White calls it “inspiring and refreshing,” while Soyer adds, “My mom loved it.”

Lastly, we asked whether “This Is Us” has something bigger to say beyond Turkey. In White’s view, the content would be hard to push elsewhere, simply because of how local it is. For Soyer, the answer is more complicated.

“I think the whole ‘This is how nice girls behave’ and ‘A woman’s place is…’ is a universal obstacle, whether it’s here in Trumpland or Turkey,” she says. “My 7-year-old daughter cried the morning after the election, asking if girls were no longer going to be able to do the things they currently get to do. And she was born and raised here in Brooklyn.”

Nike US + Western Europe: “Do You Believe in More?”

British artist FKA twigs creative directed this mesmerizing piece of work to promote the brand’s Spring Zonal Strength Tights. Shot in Mexico, it features 12 athletes (all chosen by the artist), including krump dancer Saskia Horton and Olympic fencer Miles Chamley-Watson.

We covered this piece previously (it was produced by A+/Academy in London direct with Nike), but for good measure we talked to Emilie Darabasz, a vice principal for a London-based girls school.

“It shows a multicultural group of people with different looks and different abilities,” Darabasz observes. “Despite all their difference, they are all together and they are putting on each others’ shoes—for example, one girl is fencing and jumping.”

She also senses the influence of films like Kill Bill and The Fifth Element in it.

For her, it’s addressing young people generally, “telling them to be who they want to be and embrace their differences, to be strong even though they feel vulnerable, and embrace each other’s differences.”

And that message is one that’s universal.

“It has a lot to say regarding trusting each other, embracing differences and celebrating multiculturalism in a global climate where there is a current fear of what is different,” she says.

(Source: © 2016 ABN | All Rights Reserved)