#i love that so much of the cast is disabled and in such a variety of ways

[autistic-sidestep]

someone remind me to write up my fh disability theory reading meta at some point

[missyblogs]

Because I am On a Ball and it is Rolling, I want to make an additional love offering bc there are like 3 things in the x reader tags and my fellow Sportaskissers deserve more ( I see you, I love you, you are not weird or alone <;;3 ). I present to you:

Sportacus with a chronically suffering and/or disabled significant other

based on my reading of the character from just four episodes from season one, some offhanded comments from the cast, and a little projection on my part so shhhh -Sportacus will never think less of you for not having the strength/ not feeling well enough to exercise. Some days are just a no bones day and he totally gets it ( even if he rarely if ever experiences them himself, thanks elf genes > . > ) He will gently stretch you out if you've been lying in the same spot for too long though ( you wouldn't BELIEVE how quickly legs can cramp... but he does! ) or help you move to avoid bedsores if you need that. Part of what he loves about you is your perseverance in spite of the hand you've been dealt and helping the body he loves so much stay as healthy as possible is as good as any pilates session. You don't need to kill yourself with cardio to make him love you. -Tea, tea and more tea ( and maybe some soup ). Can't keep down your Sportscandy? Catch him boiling all kinds of herbs to settle your gut, keep you hydrated, and get *some* semblance of nutrition in there. Because it's gonna be unsweetened you'll be drinking a lot of white/decaf. Also the man will hunt down your favorite variety at all cost <3 -Do you take an inhaler? do you need to do it upside down to get the meds where they need to go? ( looking at you Sumatriptan nasal spray ), the man will personally lift you and hold you up on the ceiling hook so you can angle your head right for the delivery if you don't have the body strength to hold yourself there

-If you need to lie down somewhere dark and cold to make your pain go away, he'll make sure there's a room just for you. He will check in on you every so often to make sure you're doing all right though, just cause the crystal isn't beeping doesn't mean his favorite person doesn't need some kinda help and he wants to be the first to know when he can! -No standing? no problem! in at least one draft of the official backstory Sportacus built that bad boy himself so if your wheelchair using s/i lives with him or makes regular visits to the airship, he will build a lift in just for you. After all it's your home too!

- If you are having a bad mental health night, it genuinely does not matter whether it's 8:08 or 3 am. Though he may like his sleep, Sportacus will be THERE for you because he wants you to be safe and there is no other person he'd rather stay up for. He knows he can't make you stable or take your trauma away but if his company makes you feel even the slightest bit better it is all worthwhile to him. You two can nap together later <3 - Need a hand? If you need help remembering or administering your medication, your very own hero is to the rescue! No more pricking fingers or navigating stubborn syringes if you don't have the dexterity for it. Sportacus understands the importance of giving your body the tools it needs to help you be your best you. He'll help you keep track of meds, set reminders to take them, and help you with whatever you need to get them into your body!

Above all, regardless of what you feel like or what your body does or doesn't do Sportacus chose you for you, you are not a runner up, you're not a consolation prize, and there is not an ounce of pity in his body when he thinks of you. You are beautiful to him just the way you are, remember that.

[gwydionmisha]

In which I go on at length about problems with politics and representation in Disaster/Apocalypse/Epidemic type movies and a thing I noticed tonight about certain pre-disaster montages and what they say about the American Imagination

If you know me, you know I watch a lot of movie and TV with end of current civilization/end of the world/etc. type stuff in them. I also just generally watch a lot of epidemic/outbreak movies and documentaries. My dad and I loved watching science fiction/horror together. I grew up reading things like this, both fact and fiction. I was a plague watcher from before I heard of the disease that would eventually get called HIV. I was a 14th century specialist as an adult.

I don't much care for certain types of apocalypse/post-apocalypse/disaster stories. I have been avoiding nuclear ones since the '80's because of the way they got used in propaganda in the Reagan era, though I make exceptions for the right piece of media. also atomic horror genre things going all the way back to the '40's tend to be super ableist. Again, there are exceptions. I remember a book from my tweens where the main character had physical differences and was trying to survive an ableist genocide by the able bodied. No idea what the name was, but boy has it lived rent free in my head for 40 years, because this was so humanizing in a genre that actively dehumanizes anyone with a more diverse body. (A lot of this subgenre is thin able bodied white straight cis people doing terrible things while framed as the "good guys.")

I don't much care for most straight up disaster movies either. Again, there are exceptions. Most of them are the same handful of dull stock characters doing the same types of things over and over with the movie or show relying on the special effects to make up for the lack of interesting main characters or world building if there are aliens or the like, and often lots of right wing propaganda for everyone for themselves and only a certain type of man can save us.

There are really good alien invasion or horror/science fiction or straight up disaster stuff that IS good. Generally those are the ones with well written intersting characters, more diverse main cast, interesting world building, and/or sometimes with characters with disabilities or more unusual backgrounds.

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of crap out there. You watch a lot of zombie media and you run across some stunningly overlty racist and misogynistic examples and a whole lot of erasure again of diverse bodies. On the other hand, there's good ones out there too. Romero centering black leads and talking about racism from the jump and all the other movies and shows made in a variety of countries and times that use the oppurtinity to talk about racism and/or misogyny and/or classism and/or domestic violence and/or fucked up things in their government or culture. It's still rare to see disabled characters having adventures, but boy do I love it when they do. Some of it is right wing propaganda, some of it is about mutual aid, some of it is how people can get away with criticising the government in a more authoritarian leaning country.

It's a mixed bag with more room for me in it, if that makes sense.

Plague stories are like that too.

I've watched so many documentaries on disease outbreaks and epidemics over the years, read books about real ones over the centuries. I really fucking care about public health infrastructure for a reason. Being from the eighties, I think a lot about how biases in those in power shape response to disease and public health funding and infrastructure. Whether it's classist or racist or queerphobic or ableist bias it kills. I was furious about hospitals turning sick people away or admitting them and not only failing to provide medical care but letting them die of thirst because they didn't "want to waste resources on people like that," but I wasn't even a little bit surprised.

There are quality based on a real series event ones from a bunch of countries that do a decent job on characterization, talking about what was good and bad about the public health response, and do a reasonable job of frepresenting both science and how people can respond in a bunch of ways in crises.

There are really good fictional ones I love and rewatch periodically because they are so compelling for one reason or another. The range of more or less likely varies wildly. So do the underlying politics. I loved the sean Bean Black Death from the second I set eyes on it. Same with Contagion which I saw in a theater when it was new. Also a Korean one made before COVID and also clearly based on current (correct as it turned out) thinking about how the next really bad one would happen. I winced when the guy put his mask back on dirty side in early on.

(There's one I watched as a kid a bunch of times, but forgot the name of that I search for forlornly every few years, because I'd love to see if it was as good as I remember. It's disease transmission sequence has been in my head since I first saw it: A kid in a (I think) snowy playground picks up a dead bird. Mom comes over, collects kid. Mom holding unwashed hand, buying something in a store with cash touched by unwashed hands, which the cashier handles, etc.. It was made likely in the early '80's, after Romero's Crazies and you could tell. I'm not sure if it was a remake or an inspired by looking for a more realistic feel. Anyway, wish i could rewatch it).

Reguardless of whatever crashed the old world, I am a sucker for the ultra rare soft apocolypse (where they spend most of whatever it is rebuilding, usually with a diverse group of people cooperating to make things better) or post-post-apocolyse (ex: Mira Grant's newsflesh), but I'm sucker for it whether it's zombies or a more realistic disease type. This types less likely to be ageist. More likely to have living people with disabilities. More likely to be anti-fascist and or anti-authoritarian. Again, more likely not to have one boring white man automatically in charge, more likely to be ensemble cast and diverse on a bunch of axises. There's lots of room for more of these stories. Just saying.

So I was a watching a plague show I hadn't seen and it had a tiny "before the end of life as we know it" montage that so many of these things have. Sometimes these montages are done well (Quiet Place: day One's opener with the facts about decible levels over the city is my new gold standard. For a lot of other things too, obviously. All three Quiet Place movies are on my favorite alien invasion short list). This was one of the lazier openers I've seen.

Look, I get why people doing the montages show a busy city at rush hour full of cars and a generic people walking on crowded city street shots. It short hands existing state of civilization. It gives contrast to when we are later following a survivor or small band of survivors around in a few minutes. It's a gtrope for a reason. You can do it well or you can do it lazy. You can throw in iconic landmarks from some cities around the world to make it clear it's a global disaster even if you are going to be only showing or referencing a limited area. You can just show a few shots of just one recognizable city were some or most of your action is taking place to orient your audience. you can use the things you include to make particular points (like the decibles in day one already mentioned). I'm not angry at the trope itself; I'm angry at the lazy.

This particular pre-apocolypse montage had one generic cars in city shot, generic people walking in a crowd shot, and one incredibly cliche New york stock exchange shot. I was literally wondering if this was all stock footage to save money. They then cut to the forest. This did not look like, say, upstate new york or Jersey Pine Barrens woods. This sure looked West Coast to me: The mix of tree species and rocky scrub, the rattle snake. You follow. There is a really long bridge I associate with the west coast in general and looked suspeciously like the one between san franscisco and Oakland, which I have been on. A little later things sure look like Nevada, but I've never been to Nevada, so I don't know whatthe non-los vegas towns look like exactly, but I assume that's where this was shot. (Note by later me: I went back and looked it up a few paragraphs after I wrote the above, and the bridge was indeed that bridge. The actual city was Vancouver B.C. and most of the other locations were B.C.. the bit that sure looked like Nevada was a town I'd never heard of in Nevada and environs. I was like, I supose they could be shooting on the west Coast for cheap, but maybe are pretending New York and New Jersey? It was haunting me, so I looked it up. Location matters for what I'm about to say).

I kept forgetting to watch the screen because I got hung up on the way so many of these things use a brief shot of the New York stock exchange to short hand civilization. Do they even think about the messaging there? They don't represent civilization with people packed into a theater (play or movie) or a stadium (music or sports), or a landmark (art and architecture and/or advanced engeneering) or a school (education) or a factory/restaurant/retail/other job (work) unless those things part of the apocolypse or where a character will be when the disaster hits. They represent it with capitalism and not just any capitalism. It's capitalism that represents inherited rather than earned wealth, that tends to benefit the already rich and screw over everyone else. It's not just capitalism, but specifically American Capitalism. Not even just New york Capitalism, but Manhattan Wall Street Capitalism. It's super specific. Apocolypse things from other countries will occationally use their country's stock exchange mixed in with a bunch of other stuff, but not that often. American ones toss it in casually all the time. Not always, but I'd bet a majority that do the montage instead of in media res openers.

It stuck out like a sore thumb here, because it was a three shot montage that cut directly to a west coast rural setting. I couldn't let go of it because every shot I saw until I came over here to write this was obviously and specifically shot on the other side of the country and I don't expect stock exchanges or high finance to come into it at any point. I haven't read the thing this was based on in decades, but from what I vaguely remember, I don't expect this to be commentary on the shittiness of the rich, like, say, Land of the Dead. (The title was vaguely familiar and the first half hour or so's plot range a bell, but I wasn't completely sure I'd read it until just now when I looked it up just now because the locations issue was still bugging me). The story it's based on was San Francisco area to start with so… yeah. They deliberately or lazily chose the New York stock exchange to shorthand civilization for a story starting in California and Nevada.

I feel like there's some kind of unintended indictment of the United States embedded in this incredibly lazy choice. One the people making this bit of media never thought about at all. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks there.

[torc87]

OFMD - body types season 2

Hey, so I know right now talk is all about the finale. But I was thinking a bit on why I wasn't that thrilled w the influx of female characters.

And...Idk, am I just not seeing things here?

I feel like w a few exceptions the female characters added have much less physical diversity than we are used to from the male cast.

In season one there were two. Mary and Spanish Jackie. Great, Spanish Jackie was larger than most women, talk, broad, wooden hand, not tiny thin, while Mary was more traditionally pretty. Variety.

But season two.

Annie, Mary, Archie, Zheng, Hellcat Maggie. All tall and thin and around the same age.

All have dark hair - not a grey hair in sight.

No disabilities, despite Annie and Mary apparently stabbing and poisoning each other for fun.

Maggie has the weird teeth that I Loved. But that's a deliberate change to her appearance to look scarier. Like earrings almost.

But she too is tall and very thin.

As are the majority of Zheng's sailors. Not as tall - Chinese after all, but all very in shape.

The only one in season two that breaks that mold is Auntie. Who is a bit of a stereotype of an Asian mother almost. I was pleased to see her actually fight, and fight competently in the finale. She hasn't until then I think.

But we have five out of six main new characters that are similar ages, similar body types. Annie, Mary, Archie, and Maggie are all white ( I think?). Brunettes.

Instead of Fang and Wee John and Ivan. Instead of Ed's gray hair and brace, Izzys grey hair and ( supposed) height. Instead of Lucius not too tall and thin and clean cut, vs Roach taller and thin, and swede blonde, and buttons old loosing hair, and...

There was such a lot of praise for the variety and acceptance of all body types in season one. That the show wasn't doing the traditional male actor style.

Am I seeing things to think that this aspect was totally missing w the women on the cast?

[tailsbeth-writes]

Thanks for tagging me @duchessdepolignaca03! So this is my first one of these actually, thanks to timezones it wasn't Wednesday when I got tagged but nonetheless here we go.

So I don't have WIP excerpts right now, I'm a 'gonna write a fic to post straight after' kind of gal (this will change with a long project next year though) so instead I thought I'd post some bits from my fanfic idea dump plus some og fiction WIPs.

-The Prince & He (Working Title - coming 2024)

The Prince & Me AU for Red White & Royal Blue. Alex is at UT and Henry decides to study in America, he tells his family it's to find himself but really it's so he can get away from his overbearing royal responsibilities. (Looking for betas for this btw!)

Potential RWRB fic ideas:

-it's Alex & Bea who have cakegate and after damage control, the queen thinks they should start a courtship... Alex & Henry have other ideas though (want to explore gendered differences, the damage control would be so different with Bea and I think I'd like to make her asexual & explore that within a structure of tradition)

-5+1: times that Alex was clearly being hit on by a dude but was completely oblivious & Henry is obviously the one (🥹)

- Potential song fic - Wasia Project: U Deserve - Nothing But Thieves: Do You Love Me Yet? - Liz Lawrence: I'd Rather

Original Fiction: Decompose

Near future London has been segregated by means of a new medical test, each sector representing a level of productivity. After going through the kitted out MRI machine, twin Harry Thorpe is wrongly moved from his comfortable life in the highly skilled sector where technology rules and excellence is expected, to the unskilled sector which seems stuck in the past but with much more variety.

Between alien customs and new romances with classmates, he discovers his own power hungry mum is trying to bring in the One Child Policy and that is only the beginning of her plans. Harry and a group of rebel social workers and civil servants might be the only thing that can stop her.

This is my first novel, it's young adult sci-fi, focuses on equality, chronic illness & disabilities, diversity, government corruption, found family, rebellion. It's got a diverse cast led by Harry, who is a soft pansexual bookworm with a sweet tooth. I'm currently editing & looking for beta readers for the next draft.

When You Get The Chance

My next book project is still very early days but it's a very queer holiday romance.

Coral 'Corey' Henderson is on holiday in Majorca for 2 weeks, her sister missed the start of the holiday leaving her alone. Enter Alice Ortiz, a member of an Abba tribute act performing at the hotel.

All of Abba Nice Day are queer, Corey is a ginger plus size Scottish lesbian event planner, Alice is a bisexual Geordie (half Spanish) who loves singing but also wants to go to uni to study politics. This book will explore family dynamics, dementia, biphobia, body image, protesting & finding your purpose. I'll do a call out for betas when we get to it!

Congrats if you made it through all this! I'm tagging @cl4r3m0nt @heybuddy-drabbles @candyspandemonium @firenati0n @nontoxic-writes & whoever else wants to do this! Tag me, I'm always looking for writer pals 🥰

(20/12/2023)

[iamamythologicalcreature]

Shuffle your On Repeat playlist and list the first 10 songs that play, then tag 10 people.

Love these! I get to listen to my fave music, and see what other people are listening to. We have such a variety of music in this fandom <3. Thanks for the tags @youarenevertooold, @thewholelemon, @best--dress, @bookish-bogwitch, @imagineacoolusername, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, and @prettygoododds! I feel so loved and tbh it's made me smile so much this week!

I actually drafted one of these earlier, but my list was overtaken by items from various release radars (all collected in a single playlist because I'm woefully behind) and weren't very indicative of what I actually listen to.

So going to try this again, and this time I'm just gonna skip any songs I don't actually LIKE lol. Here we go. (And yes, I'm incapable of doing a list like this without adding commentary.)

"Dead of Night" - Ruelle (this is absolutely the fault of my fic the Haunting of Simon Snow)

"World Burn" - Renee Rap, Cast of Mean Girls (this is 100% new music fodder, because it just kept coming up on successive release radar weeks. But that said… it's a damn good song that totally captures Regina's personality, and it has been stuck in my head all damn week. So I'll leave it in here. It's very angry girl. XD Spoilers for Mean Girls, of course.)

"You & Me Makes Us" - League of Legends, Tori Kelly, DEEGAN (okay we're obviously still in new-music-land, but I do like it! Has Snowbaz applications, in a sugar sweet way XD I need to watch the film it's from...)

"You Matter to Me" - Sara Bareilles & Jason Mraz (Okay now we're talking. This song is very important to me and 1000% is inspirational in my fic writing.)

"Never Enough - Loren's Version" - Loren Allred (I'm obsessed with this song in all forms, and her voice is WHAT amazing. OBSESSED.)

"No Strings" - X Ambassadors (New music! But I generally like X Ambassadors, and I like the general vibe of this one)

"I'm With You" - Avril Lavigne (Goodie from the dark days. And another Haunting Simon Snow song. I'll just always love this song, full stop. It's a mood.)

"Keep Your Head Up" - Fireflight (Look this just... ugh. Makes me feel feelings. And have thoughts. Like. Lucy's POV watching Simon. And. Similar.)

"Ghost" - Parachute (YES. This is the most romantic stalking song ever LOL But also, totally on my Haunting Snow playlist. Ahem. Reasons. Pining. Pining is the reason.)

"What Was I Made For" - Billie Eilish (ya'll don't need my notes on this one lol)

Okay, that's a bit better. With a bit more of my fanfic listens represented, which is nice LOL (I AM working on it, I swear!)

I've been using my eyeballs for things other than browsing tumblr lately, so I only know those who tagged me and like... two others... so gonna toss some names out here, low pressure though! @alexalexinii, @bubble-gumhead, @facewithoutheart, @hushed-chorus @ic3-que3n, @messofthejess, @nightimedreamersworld, @palimpsessed, @rimeswithpurple, @that-disabled-princess

Cheers!

[vividbaddogs]

ive never really gotten involved with cosplay discourse bc most of it is stupid but apparently sone people have been talking abt bought cosplays vs homemade cosplays and as a maker my head is full of thoughts. keep in mind that ive heard everything secondhand from my roommate (who also cosplays) bc i dont really use other social media (we have a joint cosplay insta i post on sometimes but they do everything else there).

ive been making my own cosplays since i was like 11 or 12, and im lucky enough to have had a mom who knows how to sew and could teach and help me those first few years. my dad is a nerd who was excited when i started cosplaying and going to cons with him and he's always has helped me with props. again, i know im lucky for this, and i had a pretty easy in to the hobby. this is all really just for context for my side here.

cosplay had a bit of a popularity boom over lockdown, because it was a way people could have fun at home, and that's great!! i love seeing people getting into things i love!! especially after being made fun of for it as a teen. but since then, ive noticed that the vast majority of new cosplayers are buying their costumes — and before i go further, i want to emphasize that i do not judge on an individual level whether or not youve made your cosplay, and nobody should. everybody's situation is different and it's important to remember the play part of cosplay. its supposed to be fun — and honestly that's really sad to me. what's even sadder is the amount of people saying things like 'everyone who makes their cosplays are rich' (i am absolutely fucking not, im currently unemployed bc im disabled) or 'if you make your cosplay youre not a cosplayer, youre a cosmaker' (this one doesnt even make sense. why are you alienating the creators of the entire hobby).

i get completely that its an intimidating thing to get into. making cosplays isnt just sewing. its also hair/wig styling, makeup artistry, foamwork, propmaking, etc... the list can really goes on bc it truly can be anything. resin casting, embroidery, beading... it all depends on what youre doing and how you want to do it. and im not saying it isnt a money- and timesink, because obviously you have to invest both of these things into it. but it doesnt have to be all fancy sewing machines and expensive fabrics!

did you know you can sometimes rent sewing machines from libraries? if theres a makerspace near you, thats a fantastic resource (they usually have things like sewing machines and 3d printers, and they usually host classes where you can learn to use their equipment)! youre even likely to find sewing machines at thrift stores! and speaking of thrift stores, bedsheets and curtains make great fabric sources, and if youre lucky you can find a piece you can alter or even just wear as part of the costume! and theres tons of tutorials and resources online for just about everything, even for specific costumes. there are also some good online fabric stores with much more variety and better prices than joanns, and you can look into if theres a place near you that sells recycled and donated remnants/unused fabrics, etc!

and like. idk. maybe thats all common knowledge among the specific group of cosplayers im talking about. theres nothing wrong with still choosing to buy a cosplay. i just ask: do you know how the people who made it are treated at the source you buy from? are they paid fairly? is it made out of cheap polyester and how comfortable is that for you?

i put — very literally, usually — blood sweat and tears into my costumes. im not saying everyone has to do this. im just. the making aspect is the heart of cosplay to me. its clearly not for everyone and thats fine. it just makes me sad to see so many people acting like its some elitist or inaccessible thing when its not

[bookwyrminspiration]

what’s kotlc and is it better than the great library? i read the latter and it was fun, perhaps not the height of literature but fun

OKAY! Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger is a long, ongoing middle-grade fantasy series following Sophie Foster, a 12-year-old high school senior who can read thoughts following a bump to the head at age 5--or so she thinks, until she's approached by a cute stranger who reveals she's really an elf who's been hidden away.

She's whisked away to a secret, supposedly perfect world of elves, goblins, ogres, and more. Sophie wants nothing more than to be normal, and tries to fit in--go to school, play with friends, etc.--but all her abnormalities have followed her from the human world. She's still weird, and it turns out it might be the result of bigger forces working behind the scenes. Forces she needs to uncover to learn who and what she truly is--but there's no taking it back, and plunging into the underbelly of her supposedly "perfect" new world opens a seemingly never-ending rabbit hole to try and understand and save it from itself. Full of rebellions, corruption, mysterious notes, stuffed animals, a large cast of characters, and so. many. sparkles. there's a lot going on for Sophie to discover

I think tgl and kotlc are hard to directly compare. tgl has a lot of explicit found family, fast-paced action, and is, like you said, just genuinely fun to read. it's quick, speaks to booklovers, and embraces a variety of different moral stances in a way that distinctly characterizes everyone. but it does falter in terms of consistency, and there are several contradicting details throughout it. kotlc is more structurally sound, but it is meant for a younger audience--which is not to say it's bad, but that it does impact reading. There are some cliches, such as experiment children, excessively powerful ocs, a love triangle, etc. It also has a fairly developed and explored world on several fronts, though there are some gaps. It does, however, want for diversity and representation. There are few non-white characters, few disabled characters, and no acknowledgement of queerness so far--though given recent releases it's possible that last part will change.

While kotlc is a special interest of mine and I'm quite attached to it, I don't necessarily recommend it to people outside the middle-grade age range. It's a solid series despite its flaws, but that doesn't mean you'll be head over heels; if you read it, I think it would be similar to how tgl was fun but not the height of literature. It's enjoyable and there are a wealth of characters to get attached to, compelling plotlines/character pasts, but unless you really click it'll just be a solid, time-filling read.

The series has also had a rough few years recently; the author has a lot going on in her personal life--which is totally fine, it just means there are long waiting periods currently. And not everyone thinks its worth it, because the story is going an unexpected direction and there are some creative choices made not everyone likes (too much focus on the love triangle, deposing the main character, butchering character arcs last minute, etc.).

All this to say kotlc has radically altered the course of my life and is an incredibly dear series to me, and I will be keeping up with it and blogging about it until the end of time with anyone who wants to join, but it's also not my favorite series I've ever read, if that distinction makes sense. If you do want some simple, if long, reading--go for it! We're always excited to have new people around and would love to have you. There's actually a pretty consistent, if small, fandom and a lot of art, fic, and other things to explore. But we'd also all understand without any pushing if it's not for you.

That was longer than I meant it to be, but if you have any further questions please do ask :)--and again, this is my view on it! Just my opinions and assessments

[gemwolfz]

the thing i miss most from my trip to japan has got to be the convenience store food/snack selection. onigiri is so easy to eat (not just in terms of convenience, but as in its rice and i love rice) and there was always such a variety of pastries. and there was that cantaloupe flavored frozen dessert (shaped like soft serve ice cream but definitely wasnt ice cream but idk what it was exactly) that i got on a walk that was sooo so stinkin good

i love being middle class enough to go on big trips ive loved every country ive ever been to. peru was so good it was my senior trip so we had a whole local guide and all our meals were paid for and were very high end (and i was forced to try new things because there were only like 2 options per meal) and although it was a very tiring "we are doing so much every day" trip it too was great fun 10/10 everyone i encountered there was lovely (the only negative interaction being with people from one of the other schools in our tour group, which im still fuming about to this day but i digress) and i would love to go again and especially to spend more time in lima.

just to finish flexing all the countries ive been to my first time out of the country was a trip to england and france. both were pretty. my brother got injured and had to get a cast so we got disability priority for a lot of things which i feel scummy for appreciating so much but also god the lines for things were horrible im so glad we got to skip so many. anyway london was quite lovely, paris as well but i think the main reason i would ever return is because we never got to go to the louvre

anyway enough sleepy rambling i need to actually sleep goodbye

[adelle-ein]

lace's xenoblade 3 review/thoughts

So I finished Xenoblade 3's main story. I'm far from done with the game, but I did all the main character side stories and a lot of side quests, and I do have all the heroes. Most of them aren't ascended yet, and I have many other misc sidequests and places to explore on my list, but I'm going to be doing that here on out while enjoying the post game perks.

Overall it was really good despite some glaring issues. Spoilers, obviously!

Just to make thing clear: I have only played Xenoblade 1. 2's character designs, weird-ass grooming love triangle, treatment of women, fanservice, and obsession with sex and dirty jokes are such massive turn-offs that I refuse to pay money for it. If someone would like to give me a copy of 2 as well as the money for its allegedly amazing DLC then I'll play it, but that's literally the only circumstances I can see that happening in. Also, to be totally honest, the fandom tendency to bully and harass people who don't like 2 has ruined any interest I might have otherwise had. I am generally familiar with 2's lore and how it connects to 1, though, having read up on it while deciding whether to play 2 and in advance of playing 3 -  no expert, but I do know stuff.

My biggest issues with Xenoblade 1 were that a) it didn't seem to like its main cast very much and b) it absolutely hated women to a frankly comedic extent. 1 literally is just The Shulk Game, periodically featuring Melia and Dunban. Every significant scene, major moment, iconic line, act of bravery comes from Shulk. Every characters' thoughts, feelings, and motivations revolve entirely around Shulk. Every woman revolves around her love interest (who, uh, is generally Shulk.) Reyn effectively vanishes by midgame, Sharla really served no purpose in the plot whatsoever and was largely there to be a love triangle point, Dunban is pretty much just a mentor, and while Melia gets a lot of plot focus and characterization, it ultimately amounts to a lot of suffering and minimal payoff (slightly rectified in Future Connected.) But it could be worse - Fiora, despite all her setup as Shulk's foil, despite her arc setup about disability and mortality and a literal god in her chest, is nothing more than a love interest, who has no motivation beyond being at his side, who at the pivotal motivation-stating moment has nothing more to say than "Shulk!" And of course there's also Riki, who is literally just a comic relief character and is unceremoniously written out of the game every time a cutscene gets emotional or plot-significant (only to reappear shortly after asking for food at inappropriate moments.) If it weren't for the Heart-to-Heart unvoiced text convos — which take for-fucking-ever to unlock — that would literally be all there is to these characters, and even within the Heart-to-Hearts, there isn't that much to go on. Ultimately, I enjoyed 1 a lot more for its gameplay and potential than anything else. To me, a story that doesn't care about its characters is pretty much never an enjoyable one.

Long story short, Xenoblade and I have a tenuous relationship. I pretty much exclusively play turn-based games due to a variety of disabilities. Xenoblade's combat, however, is forgiving enough on easy mode that I can get by thanks to auto-attacks and not relying on button mashing, so it's pretty much the only one of its kind that I've ever played. I'm including all this context to make it clear going in that I do not consider myself a Xenoblade fan, or hardcore player, by any stretch of the imagination.

My point here is that 3 absolutely blew me out of the water. 3 loves its characters. It adores its characters. It wants the absolute best for its characters. Which, uh…is sometimes an impediment, but most of the time it's great. Every cast member actually plays a role, gets an arc, gets backstory and development, and most importantly of all, they maintain a consistent web of friendships that have nothing to do with Noah. Every duo of characters gets some kind of cute interaction once in awhile, even combos like Eunie and Mio that don't hang out much, and it not only makes things feel organic, it prevents both love-interest-trap and the Shulk Obsession effects that 1 suffered from. Everyone gets a side story, everyone gets big boss fights, everyone gets a big piece of the screentime pie even though Noah is the main focus, and it's the high point of the game. The characters are all, genuinely, really good — Eunie and Taion are far and away my favorites (duh…) but they all overall feel well fleshed out and well loved. Noah definitely gets preachy towards the end, but he doesn't get every single good one-liner the way Shulk did.

Sena, unfortunately, is the only real exception to this rule. The poor girl starts and ends the game as Mio's cute accessory that she sometimes lends to Lanz. While she still gets way more character work than, say, Sharla, and isn't reduced to a love interest, her ascension quest has absolutely nothing to do with her and her "development" makes  no impact on her behavior for the rest of the game. Taion changes visibly as a person after the events at Colony Lambda, but while Sena says a few things about being true to herself, every subsequent story scene still has her using her perky, happy-go-lucky persona and being Mio's hype girl. The writers clearly had an idea in mind for her, but really fell down in executing it. This shines in Mio's side story — apparently Miyabi also saved Sena before her death, and yet Sena has never really seemed affected by this the way Mio is. It's never even mentioned before this side story that Sena had any involvement in Colony Omega. I have no idea what went wrong with writing Sena, but it's pretty sad, honestly. All that being said, it's really not THAT bad — it just sticks out compared to how the other five are treated. More of a "five great, one mediocre" type situation, you know?

Honestly, gameplay is great. The combat is insanely confusing and overcomplicated and everyone is yelling constantly but like. That's a given. Xenoblade. If I hadn't played 1 I probably would have just had no idea what to do, but I was able to fumble through despite getting bombarded with "tips" such as "Celestial Arts are special Arts triggered by filling up the Star Gauge and properly timing your Moon Attacks. By triggering a Punch -> Fly -> Burst -> Shine combo, you can turn off the enemy's Rage Meter and Shatter them, thereby executing a Shattershimmer attack. Try it for yourself! Also half those moves don't actually work on most bosses, but we won't tell you that." That gives you an idea of how every single "helpful tip" that pops up in Xenoblade feels to me. Again, though — a lot of this is on me. I don't have the processing skills or memory to be Good At Xenoblade, and easy mode negates the need to know most of this anyway, but man is it silly sometimes. I have some nitpicks about smaller stuff, like how the class unlock system works (luckily the postgame options render this effectively obsolete, whee!) and steering the boats (sound of me getting stuck on a stray monster and crashing sideways into an island.) But the exploration is so much fun and the sidequests are a lot more engaging than 1, and that's what really matters to me in Xenoblade gameplay.

Plotwise, things really do just drop off after the chapter 6 opening. Everyone said so and I was skeptical. I am no longer skeptical. Not sure the writers had any idea what they were doing beyond that point. It's not as bad as some (TEAM ASANO) but it sort of feels like they might have run out of time a little — the last dungeon really just feels like padding, X and Y don't even get death cutscenes, and Z feels unfinished. The basic concept of Z being the personification of everyone's fear and inertia works really well, but — and I can't believe I'm saying this — it wasn't as well executed as the similar final boss in Persona 5. Just not enough time spent on Origin and what its whole deal is, and things stayed a bit too Noah-centric at the end for my tastes. Also that final boss needed to have skip options in the cutscenes, if I hadn't cleared it my first try I would have cried from sheer fatigue lol. I also think the "side stories" are pretty meh, with only Taion's and Lanz's really working for me — I actually quite liked Sena's, but it isn't remotely about Sena and really should have been just a Ghondor quest. Eunie's felt purposeless, Mio's just absolutely destroyed the very concept of death in the entire game, and Noah's was…terrible.

And this brings me to my biggest plot complaint: death has become absolutely meaningless. The rebirth thing, I could get behind. The execution of Taion's side story, for example — while Nimue is drawn to and admires Taion for the same qualities that led to her past self mentoring him, she never regains her memories, and things will never actually be the same again. But that's okay, because she gets to live her own new life now. That can work for me. I can get behind that. Similarly, Eunie found her old husk and remembered her previous death, but she doesn't gain all the life experience and memories of that version or anything, just lives with the burden of a trauma she didn't experience. Moebius recruits gain memories of all their past lives, but they also become evil and warped under the weight of repeated bitterness and loss. All of these approaches worked. Not perfectly, but they worked for me. And then Miyabi shows up and just ruins everything. She's the age she was when she died, she retains all of her memories, she's exactly as she was. She might as well have never died at all. So…what's the point? That sacrifice that shaped Mio's life and outlook — it was pointless, in the end. Miyabi gave nothing up to save Mio (and Sena.) So it wasn't even a sacrifice. These aren't as bad but: Why is goddamn MWAMBA back, that's the silliest thing in the world, he's the Tutorial Party Member and those should never come back (unless you do something cool a la Fiora, and that sure wasn't the case with him.) His Agnus equivalent from Mio's squad whose name I don't even know is back. Cammuravi is back, and while he seems to be retaining his amnesia, he acts exactly the same, he's back to his previous age, and he's ~naturally drawn~ to Ethel (which…their relationship wasn't explicitly romantic or anything but I do feel a little weird about him hanging out with her as a child in this life when they were equals and the same age with some romantic subtext in the past one…) I do know however that some future quest will age Ethel back up, but that was all very weird. I don't think anyone should be coming back at the age they were previously, but even if we're doing that, they DEFINITELY shouldn't be regaining their memories.

In a game that's literally supposed to be about life and death, the value of each cycle, of each life no matter how temporary, where the characters repeatedly insist that each of their lives have value no matter how many times they're reborn — "death" becomes less than a slap on the wrist. I also don't know why Nia revived — probably just a 2 reference, as I understand from the wiki, and if so that's totally fine, but the timing of that after Mio's side story just blew the concept of death off a cliff was really not ideal. Would have been better to have her not awaken until after D was killed, as it just adds to all the resurrection in Mio's story and makes things feel very silly and death extremely cheap. The one good thing is that so far Miyabi seems to be the only cartoonishly bad no-consequences-at-all example, but that could change in other side quests, and frankly, once is bad enough when the game's themes so heavily revolve around the value of life and death.

Moebius is insanely hammy. It got old really fast, and then got funny again when I realized that literally every single one of them is like that. There's a certain refuge in audacity there, imo. They're just all complete weirdos who won't stop chewing the scenery, I can respect that. Although D's "true identity" being treated as a big reveal ("wow! You're a serial killer that has literally never been mentioned in this game before!!") was pretty ridiculous. Also kinda disappointed that we didn't get E, T, L, and S alongside N and M…while it makes sense, and the implication is that this is the first life in which these six got together, I wanted evil Eunie :( N is kinda hilariously pathetic, which may not have been the intention. I got off so many daze->bursts on him during his last battle and he was just bouncing around like a fucked up plinko horse it was goddamn hilarious. Also his armor has a booty window. I can't take this guy seriously. The big M/Mio reveal is really well handled and great, though, and the absolute peak of the plot. I just laughed at N a little during it. Can you really blame me.

I will also say that M/N's story did, personally for me, ruin the idea of Noah/Mio as a romantic couple — seeing a version of them that reached the peak of codependency to the point of genocide taints every version of them. Even though the versions we play as can reach acceptance and part for the greater good, it's hard not to think of N and M and their arc. Again, that's for me — not judging people who do love the couple or anything, I'm just a little repulsed by them together now :') I will also say that while some of the "life cycle"/"yay babies" stuff feels a bit hamfisted, it's really not too bad, especially with the focus being more on babies and life than "everyone's purpose is to make babies." And the language seemed surprisingly non-heterosexual (I'm so glad that Lanz/Sena stayed platonic.) The game sort of glosses over N and M (or some other version of them, but I got the impression that was them)'s teen pregnancy as well as Monica's (Ghondor is 18 while Monica is 33 — easy to miss but Monica was a teen mom) and I do feel weird about that. Not the end of the world but the material sometimes teeters on the edge of…not so great?

Side note: Now that I think about it, why are Nopon entirely outside the cycle and just living their merry lives completely consequence free in whatever parts of the world they want. Why was there no Moebius nopon i am so disappointed. Not to mention they keep inventing shit that just completely shatters all of Z's plans. Nopon are canonically more powerful than Moebius this is a very funny concept to me

All of this being said, the ending itself actually works okay for me. I always have mixed feelings about "but then it never happened!" type endings, I always prefer "let's rebuild the world with the tools we have." I don't like it when "bad/flawed/noncanon" timelines get erased without a trace and become meaningless. This is why my favorite time travel game is Radiant Historia. Have I mentioned I fucking loathe act 3 of Dragon Quest XI, to this day have refused to play it, and actually regret buying it at all solely thanks to act 3's existence? It's a MASSIVE pet peeve. Anyway, the ending narrowly subverted pissing me off — it manages to stay bittersweet by treating the Agnus/Keves separation as a consequence of restarting the world. You could argue that the ongoing "oh, they'll meet again somehow" reassurances ruin this, but to me it just barely manages to work. It might, admittedly, undermine some of the messages about moving on and forward and avoiding the endless now — but I think it's okay, in the end. Even if baby Noah runs into that alley and immediately trips over baby Mio and they get every single memory back, I think the ending as a whole is well-constructed enough that it can work. It wasn't a huge, universal retcon — either the effects of what happened will linger (they'll regain their memories and have to live with that knowledge) or the consequences of their choice will (they'll never meet again, or they'll meet but not remember) and that ultimately works for me. Subjective, though, and I get why some are disappointed with it in one way or another -- I would also have personally preferred a "rebuilding the world together without any Flame Clocks" ending. It's better than "Fiora's just all better and a Homs again with no lingering effects at all" or "Pyra and Mythra just are alive and have separate bodies bc Reasons now" though. *JKR voice* You solved it, Ginny was perfectly happy again!

The characters are what really carry this game's writing as opposed to the plot, and that's generally okay with me. Really, my big outstanding complaints are the death thing, mostly as it applies to Miyabi, and that things are a real slog in the final fetch quest and then dungeon, with that classic "padding an already too long JRPG" vibe. Seriously, I finished at 62 hours as a fast reader with a whole ton of side content left to do — that dungeon could have been ¼ of the length and equally effective, guys. Why.

Miscellaneous commentary — the VA work is great/terrible in exactly the ways I wanted it to be, Nia and Melia's new designs are great (and Melia's really suits how her VA's voice has changed, which is a strong improvement over Future Connected - not anyone's fault, just a weird side effect of things being recorded a decade apart. Getting to properly see and hear adult Melia really feels like it fixes up those issues though.) The Nopon are way cuter than they've ever been, fluffy and big-eyed, and their speech is definitely my favorite from the three games (toning down the mehmehmeh was a very good call, especially since this world is supposed to be a mix of 1 and 2.) Giving Riku that extremely deep voice in the English dub is a hilarious choice and I have endless respect for them for that. The main cast all sounds great, Sena being an American stereotype is so funny, Noah's VA handled his multiple roles really well, and Eunie was just hilarious at all times. Seriously I adore her. Music sounded great, but I was mostly listening through switch speakers so that obviously affected the quality a lot — it sounds way better when I listened on the PC through headphones though so I'm slowly making my way through. Should have won at the game awards but we all knew it wouldn't lbr :') The character models are great and this is definitely my favorite artstyle from any of the Xenoblades — everyone is a LOT more expressive than 1 but not, well, ugly like in 2. Much more facial feature diversity too which is sorely appreciated. Jiggle physics were kind of ridiculous (Mio should not have those!! She's like a b cup!!! why) but at least the outfits and angles weren't too wild, and Monica is the only one who looks outright cartoonish proportions-wise imo. I really enjoy the class system and getting to do wild/fun stuff with it, but I also like that significant cutscenes have everyone using their "traditional" weapons — it strikes a nice balance between gameplay and character fun for me. In general all the fight cutscenes were really well choreographed and lively, with lots of cool touches that made them actually worth watching -- stuff like Lanz blocking a huge long hit while Eunie and Taion use an ongoing sustained heal to keep him alive longer, it's neat.

Also That Photo is so dumb and so poorly timed but hey that's why i'm not playing 2

Anyway, yeah, I have my gripes but it's overall a really good and heartfelt game that feels like a lot of love was put into it! Really good! I…will still be avoiding the larger xenoblade fandom bc What The Hell Is Going On In There. eunie's the boss. why is this so long i just wanted to write a few paragraphs not the fucking iliad sobs

[plaguewarlock]

Thank you for the feedback I did get! I have some ideas kicking around, but I need to find the time and material to test them. I'm seeing some ppl echo that there should be some more alt stylings and variety for insulin pumps, meters, etc (110% agree). I'm also seeing ppl mention covers for canes and wheelchairs, and wrist straps! I'll be sketching up some ideas but below the cut I'll provide a list of what I've come up with. I'd love if people could.jeep the suggestions coming!

:readmore:

I have a non-exhaustive list of disability aids that could be made more unique and personable which includes: insulin pen holders(could probably double as a general needle holder), insulin pumps, any medical or skin grade tape, coverings/bags for your bags (stomach/stoma bag/covering, fluid bag for IV/eating tubes, etc), wheelchair covers/wheelchair cushion covers, Cane covers, braces possibly, no-push spikes (non-damaging spikes for wheelchair handle sort of thing - think the spikes that go on spiked chokers), wrist straps, Limb, hand and feet warmers, shoe covers (so that if you have bland shoes that have a needed disability aid you can make them cooler) , cast covers.

I'd like.to be able to provide as much accessibility as possible on these things so closures can be zippers, velcro, snaps,etc. Zipper parts would be larger and easier to pull, ideally. Wrist straps and crossbody straps will ideally be an option with a lot of these things. Also, I want to make sure the bags can stand flat on their own, incase something needs to be grabbed quickly.

Hey, I have a few ideas bonking around in my head but I need some feedback, specifically from disabled people who have some sort of pyshical aid device (canes, insulin pumps, mobility aids, anything that you have to psychically have for your disability).

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they would appreciate aesthetic choices for their aids. Like for example, for insulin pens, aesthetic and cool insulin pen holders. I've been thinking of making those for a while, at least for myself, but I'm wondering what else I could try and make for other disabled folks. Maybe cane grips that look cool? Neat pillows for wheelchairs and walkers? I'm not sure, but I'd love to hear what other people want and think.

I'm just tired of everything relating to my disability never matching my style. I'm goth, I want something vampire-y to hold my needles, not professional, or one color, or bright, or pastels.

[1863-project]

Hey, I just wanted to say that I appreciate that you’re willing to call out potential ableist stereotypes in relation to pokemon. I personally believe N was intentionally autistic-coded, and seeing headcanons about him secretly being a zoroark or whatever always bothered me. I’m glad that pokemon fans have generally moved on from that type of thing, and it’s thanks to people like you that we have.

Hi, anon! Thank you, I'm glad to know people are appreciating it! I do a lot of advocacy for neurodiversity in real life (I'm autistic with OCD, so those are my specialties, but in the case of other things I don't have personal experience with I can uplift other voices), so I'm happy people are taking it seriously!

N is absolutely a character that can be read as autistic-coded - I wrote a big post on my more serious autism advocacy blog on the subject over a year ago. I think a lot of people don't realize the ableist undertones the Zoroark theory actually has, but it feeds into the narrative that neurodiverse people are somehow "non-human." A theory regarding changeling myths is that this explained neurodiverse, particularly autistic, children, especially since some autistic traits don't show up until the baby is older. Again, these myths cast the neurodiverse child as non-human, and the parents reject it as "not their child," much like "Autism Parents" do when they mourn the "normal" child they never had. (Spoiler alert: those parents are being extremely ableist, and a lot of them will get really mad when an autistic adult points this out to them, so be careful!)

Before we had canonical representation, autistic people in particular often had to find ourselves in non-human places, with characters being similar to us often being robots and aliens (a plight we shared with asexual and aromantic people). A famous early example a lot of autistic people cite is Spock from Star Trek, who was half-human and half-Vulcan and made many autistic people feel seen for the first time. Now we're getting characters who canonically are autistic, or ADHD, or have OCD, or have Tourette's, or...I could go on forever here. But because of this, we also have the responsibility to portray neurodiversity with the nuance it deserves, and that means pointing out ableism, both of the intentional and unintentional varieties.

I play Pokemon Masters EX, and in N's event, he has a conversation with Alder. One of his lines struck me especially:

Ghetsis demeaned N by using this phrase, essentially dehumanizing him. In reality, N has animal empathy and due to his early upbringing can understand Pokemon speech. If anything, N's love and compassion for Pokemon make him immensely human; he cares deeply and wants to improve the world and protect his friends. But he had to grow up in an abusive situation where he was repeatedly dehumanized by his adoptive father. Making N a Zoroark actually does a massive disservice to his character and plays into ableist stereotypes of autistic-coded characters being "non-human" somehow.

Anyway, seeing the Zoroark stuff being brought back with Emmet, one of the most blatantly autistic characters I've ever seen in my 33 years on this planet, feels like a massive slap in the face. My roommate, who is also neurodivergent, wrote a comprehensive post that I reviewed before publication regarding the way some Submas portrayals and content can dip quite easily into ableism, and I recommend it.

If anyone is looking to get into disability and neurodiversity advocacy, I'm happy to help you get started! Thanks again, anon, and I hope you have a lovely day!

[celerrie]

Okay I'm gonna say this once before disability pride month ends and then it's gonna be out of my system: Doctor Strange is a disabled icon, and the way he's handled (in the MCU, at least) provides so much that I, as a person who grew up with a physical disability, have wanted for a very, very long time in disability representation. The short version is:

His disability, which is acquired during Doctor Strange (2016), stays a part of him; he never becomes not disabled, and his narrative arc moves away from healing his disability and focuses on other things, including personal growth

In the time loop with Dormammu, he saves the world through his intellect and his familiarity with chronic pain. His chronic pain is portrayed as an asset

Magic becomes his accessibility aid, but it never completely heals him; he is still, fundamentally, disabled and seemingly cannot physically do all tasks with his hands even with the aid of magic

Magic (the accessibility aid) empowers him. Literally, he gets superpowers from the thing he sought as his aid. How cool is that, and how subversive is that narrative compared to the mainstream belief that aids are some kind of "burden" on disabled people?

He fulfills a variety of roles to his supporting cast, who never infantilize him, and is as complex and multifaceted as he was before his disability

The writers never infantilize him either; he's given a love life, is poised as a father figure, and is forced to face the consequences of his (sometimes reckless) actions

In the MCU, he's a prime example of media shifting away from tired tropes about disability, and as a flagship character for a highly visible, multi-billion-dollar franchise, he paves the way for many other characters to continue to shift media towards more positive and complex portrayals of disability

Full thoughts are below the cut!

It's common knowledge that Doctor Strange's hands are mangled in a car accident, with permanent nerve damage resulting from his injuries and the countless fruitless surgeries to repair them. The first movie almost seems to be setting his narrative up to fulfill the tired old trope of "character with a disability embarks on a journey to heal said disability, and does so successfully, often through miraculous/supernatural means". This is the lowest and lamest form of representation, of course, because it treats disability as a narrative crutch, an identity that can be donned to start the Hero's Journey and doffed once said journey has been completed. These narratives in media contribute to the toxic idea of "if you just try hard enough, you'll overcome it!" and the other equally toxic idea of "disabled people who 'overcome their disability' are the best kinds of disabled people!". Moreover, they just feel like an inordinate slap in the face to those of us who are stuck with our conditions lifelong and were so excited to see a character who was like us and had an interesting story where the end result wasn't, surprise, becoming not like us any longer.

But then Doctor Strange takes a hard turn and no longer just wants to use his magic to heal his hands. In fact, his hands become the secondary narrative, and his fight against the Zealots becomes the primary narrative...and I love it. This primary narrative finishes with Doctor Strange trapping Dormammu by sacrificing himself in an endless time loop; this is an intellectual power-play that utilizes his best attributes (his cleverness, his intellect, his stubbornness and iron will, his deep underlying need to help people, and, surprise!, his familiarity with chronic pain!!) to literally save the world. Let me say that again: his familiarity with chronic pain is one of the things that lets him save the world.

In subsequent movies, magic becomes his accessibility aid. He's able to use his magic to help his hands be better at some things, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he can do everything with his hands now (see that one scene early in DS:MoM where he chooses to tie his tie with magic instead of with his hands physically on his tie). At the same time, his accessibility aid--magic--is also fucking awesome. He has incredible superpowers because of it; portals, spells, shields, blasts of energy, whips--it's literally the coolest accessibility aid possible. He's still a disabled person; he can't heal himself, and he still can't physically do everything with his hands, even with the aid of magic. But he's an empowered disabled person. He's one of the strongest superheroes; the odds of orchestrating Thanos' defeat would have been astronomically miniscule without him, and he's shown to be capable time and time again in battle.

His hands and his disability never again become the narrative, either. His story doesn't need to focus on that, and so it doesn't. Instead, we get to see Doctor Strange, a disabled man, being snarky and sassy with Tony Stark. We get to see Doctor Strange doing his best to help out Peter Parker--and, importantly, suffering the real-world consequences of his well-intentioned, but reckless, actions. We get to see Doctor Strange dealing with heartbreak with Christine, fulfilling the role of found father figure to America Chavez, and seeking solace and understanding in Wong. He's written as a whole person, and he's never infantalized by his supporting cast. Neither is he infantilized by the writers and shielded from the consequences of his own actions.

I genuinely, honestly hope that the Marvel writers never give Doctor Strange an out from his disability. I pray that they continue to treat him as the full and complex character he's been fleshed out to be. In the comics, they returned his non-disabled hands to him, and I think you can imagine why I disliked that so intensely. He doesn't need his hands to be healed to do great things, but plenty of irl disabled people need to see the media's narrative around disability start to move away from tired old tropes and toxic positivity. Doctor Strange does that for us, and, as a flagship character in a highly visible, multi-billion-dollar franchise, he paves the way for many more characters to begin doing that, too.

[marshmallowprotection]

tbh I'm not too much of an otome game player. But mystic messenger was just different for me, ig it's bc I played it when I was very lonely in 10th grade (which is when it came out). I didn't have any friends and my family was very distant, so the RFA felt like home and family if that makes sense?

I have friends now and I've grown closer to my family members now that I'm 20 so I'm not as lonely as I was at 15 but I still play a lot bc it's familiar. And tbh all the characters are so funny in their own way even if the concept isn't exactly unique (rich CEO, college student, mentally tortured character(s) etc.) I find all the characters so unique to talk to still.

I’m both kinda excited and worried for cheritz’s new game lol MM was my first and only otome game. No other one really stuck to me for some reason or was able to grasp my attention long enough. I’m also worried cheritz might leave MM behind though it’s probably unlikely since this game was their biggest success and still is (especially everytime summer vacation rolls around lol)

Are you gonna play their new game? Are you someone that plays a lot of otome games?

Cheritz isn't going to leave Mystic Messenger behind quickly or readily. It's amassed them critical success and they still earn a ton of cash to this day on merch. We've been getting CGs for characters that are new every other month, and they haven't reused old themes for birthdays. Even though they've rolled back some features, they're well aware that MM makes them money and they're not going to stop paying attention to something that gives them a huge influx of revenue. So, there's nothing to worry about with that. Companies do what makes them money.

Mystic Messenger isn't my first Otome, and I play a lot of Otome and Gatcha style games! I think there's a lot of variety and exploration in these games that you can't find anywhere else. The Otome market is huge and you can find so many of them out there. Mystic Messenger does mean the most to me, however. It's a game that has shaped my life in so many ways. Mystic Messenger has been there for me since I became disabled in 2016 and these characters have helped me find the will to smile every day and believe in myself. I don't know where I would be right now if I hadn't had a friend tell me in August of 2016 to pick up this game.

It's saved my life in so many ways and given me friendships and a community that truly helps me to this day. Memories and things I will always and forever. I mean, look at me, it's 2022 and I'm still here on this blog writing and working on Mystic Messenger projects! I'm not stopping! I'm in full swing! My love for these characters is endless by all accounts. The RFA helped me and inspired me, and now I'm able to help others smile. I'm here for Mystic Messenger and I always will be.

Saeran Choi is... well, we all know how much he means to me otherwise I wouldn't have written over a million words for him. That's roughly estimated from my Ao3 and Tumblr word counts combined. LOL. The RFA means just as much to me. They really feel like my real family and I can't imagine a world with Yoosung, Zen, Jaehee, Jumin, Saeyoung, Saeran, V, Rika, Vanderwood. You know, everyone.

Now, as far as the Ssum goes. I'm not sure. If I have the phone space for it, I'll give it a shot. I wasn't super interested when Beta was being tested because I like games with a decent number in the cast. I didn't have a hook that drew me in with the concept. Maybe that'll change when I see the actual gameplay? I'm willing to give it a shot because I have enjoyed all of Cheritz's games, but I don't know if it'll pull me in the way MM did. I have to try it and see.

There's a lot of thought and content put into it! So, I'm curious. The idea of 200 days of gameplay in a row before you see a shift in the content really makes it hard to imagine, though. See, that's where my head isn't wrapping around it. You have to be super committed if the game requires that much to make you learn about it. So, remains to be seen! We'll see! Let's all give the Ssum a shot!

[ursie]

Okay so first I have images for the founders

On the left is Adam Hemmings and on the right is Robert Atkinson.

These two met in high school and became friends due to being outcasts in the school. They continued this friendship even into adulthood when they decide to create something fun for their children since they’ve gone through so much bad recently. Adam and Robert tend to butt heads when building the place as Robert wants it to be a big deal and Adam is content with it being a locally owned place. There’s a lot of tension between them which leads to them breaking off their business relationship and their friendship. After their fallout Robert decides that he wants to make Adam pay for kicking him off his passion project and decides to use it against him turning their attraction into a death trap.

Also important to the founders are their wives

Daphne on the right and Rachel on the left. These two are honestly badasses for what they go through. Daphne endures being married to Robert and adores all three of her children unlike her husband who hates Mason solely because he’s the reason he’s stuck being married. Daphne doesn’t take his shit and divorces him taking the kids with her. She was already planning to move back home to her family in Oklahoma, but after what happened on the ship, she knew that she had to go with Mason.

Rachel meanwhile is in a very loving relationship with Adam and loves her family even if it grew unexpectedly from adopting her nieces. She does her best for her family and will protect them from any threat. She’s the first adult to figure out something’s wrong with Robert and will talk with Adam.

Also important detail, Rachel is blind and Adam was a cane user, now full time wheel chair user.

(I am noticing much of my cast is disabled in a variety of ways, but I don’t mind. I think it’s realistic)

No it’s so sexy of you!! Disabled characters fuck!!

[mermaidsirennikita]

What do you think about Florence's upcoming projects? I've noticed film twitter complaining about her being in everything and....well yeah? That's what happens when you're one of the most in demand actresses at the moment. Anyaway DWD and The Wonder sound the most interesting to me. I'm dreading whatever Zach cooked up. And I want her in another horror movie.

I'm really over Film Twitter acting as if acting is this thing that's done specifically for them, and everyone should take turns so that they get a fair rotation. That's just now how it works, and it's not how it should work. The best actor for the role should get the role. I don't care if we've seen a lot of them lately. If a newbie is the best actor for a role, then the newbie should get the role.

Of course, we know this isn't how it works... Nepotism and the financial benefits of certain actors over others, along with nasty shit like racism, homophobia, etc play into these selections. Along with simple things like availability.

But I don't think it's reasonable to expect a production to choose someone new simply because it would be nice to have when there's someone just as good or better for the role who is also more established and bankable and proven to give good performances. I think the recent piece in either Vanity Fair or Variety interviewing Euphoria's casting director made this a bigger conversation piece--imo, she just shouldn't have mentioned it to avoid controversy, but she mentioned them nearly casting a true unknown who'd had life experiences similar to Rue's, but for multiple reasons including the fact that they were concerned that the stress of the role and attention may be bad for the actress in her recently-recovered life stage, Zendaya got the role. Cue everyone acting as if Zendaya is this princess who only got the role because she's famous, and how nice it would've been for an unknown to get the part.

In this specific case, the role of Rue and the subsequent media pressure would've very possibly been extremely detrimental to the unknown's recovery, so that takes first priority. But also--harsh truth? The role of Rue is a very mentally taxing role for an actor, this is a TV show, meaning that it has a fairly arduous shooting schedule that will go on over the course of years. You need reliability, you need professionalism, you need talent--that's Zendaya. And furthermore, Zendaya was on the brink of a major come up when she was cast, and the show would and did benefit from the controversy of it being her first major adult role in a big way. How is it reasonable to expect them to cast an unknown over Zendaya giving the best performance of her career thus far? These people do have to make money, sorry to say, and they actually... did still cast an unknown in a big role (Angus Cloud as Fez).

Florence is in a similar space to Zendaya, in that she's extremely talented, a lot of people like her, she's versatile, and she's reliable with minimal personal drama. To expect people to just dismiss her for an unknown because it would be nice... is ridiculous. This is not new. We are not suddenly seeing a cluster of actors be repeatedly cast. This is something Hollywood has always done, and eventually these actors will entire fallow periods either due to their own decisions to step back for a minute or due to career mistakes, and younger people will file up and take those spots. These actors will age out of playing 20-somethings and move into older roles.

Do I want more diversity in Hollywood? For sure. But that's a different issue, imo, because casting talented, bankable people is not the issue... It's that actors who are people of color or queer people or fat or disabled, etc, are often not given the opportunity to be bankable, whereas any young cis white actor on the streets with a decent face and reasonable connections has a much better chance.

I'd love to see her in more horror--I don't know that Ari Aster is productive enough to catch her in the near future, but I'd kill for them to reunite. The Wonder sounds super interesting--I love period piece thrillers. I think Zach Braff is super into navel gazing so even if I didn't find their relationship meh for her I wouldn't be excited about that. I'm extremely excited for Don't Worry Darling. I will probably be seeing that in theaters. It looks fun as hell.