#i should make a new tag for this kind of post

[prettygirl-gabi]

Prologue: A Shattered Beginning

Rating: General Audiences

Warning: none

Paring: Paige Bueckers x !photographer fem reader

Fandom: Women's basketball

Summary: watch out!!

Welcomw to the start of my New full length series called :Through The Lens. I hope you all enjoy and there is more to come...stay tuned my loveies!! 🏀💕📸

The sound of the crowd roared through Gampel Pavilion, the energy so electric it felt like the walls themselves were vibrating. I crouched at the baseline, my camera poised and ready, the lens trained on the action unfolding before me. UConn was up against their biggest rival, and the intensity on the court was palpable.

Paige Bueckers—the heart and soul of the team—was everywhere at once. Her defense was relentless, and her offense was unstoppable. She was everything my professor had talked about when he suggested I use the women’s basketball team as my muse for my final project.

“Find a subject that tells a story,” Professor Gold had said, his voice filled with the kind of passion only an artist could muster. “You’re at UConn—home to some of the best athletes in the country. Capture their grit, their triumphs, their humanity. Tell their story through your lens.”

I’d chosen the women’s basketball team reluctantly at first, unsure if sports could align with my vision. But the moment I stepped into the gym, I understood. These players weren’t just athletes; they were storytellers, their movements and emotions weaving narratives on the court. And no one told a better story than Paige Bueckers.

I focused my lens on her as she positioned herself near the key, her eyes scanning the court like a hawk. A split second later, she leapt into the air, blocking a shot with an elegance that seemed effortless. The ball flew directly toward me, too fast for me to react.

The impact was sudden and jarring. My beloved camera—the one I’d saved for years to buy—shattered in my hands, the lens cracked beyond repair.

The gasp from the crowd felt louder than the actual hit, and I froze, staring at the remnants of my favorite piece of equipment. My heart sank.

After the game, I lingered outside the locker room, debating whether I should try to talk to Paige. It wasn’t her fault, of course—it was just bad luck. Still, I couldn’t deny the pang of frustration as I thought about the cost of a replacement.

But before I could make a decision, I heard her voice during the post-game press conference.

“Paige, great game tonight. That block in the second half was incredible,” a reporter said, chuckling. “But… it seems you also managed to take out a photographer’s camera in the process. Any comments on that?”

The room erupted in laughter, and I felt my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

Paige grinned, leaning into the microphone. “Yeah, that was definitely not my best moment. I think I owe someone an apology—and probably a new camera.”

The sincerity in her voice surprised me. She didn’t brush it off as a joke; she sounded genuinely remorseful.

I didn’t see her after that, but a week later, I found myself back in the gym, this time armed with my backup camera. My professor had encouraged me to keep going, even after the incident.

“Adversity adds depth to your work,” he’d said. “And honestly, there’s no better way to connect with your subject than through a shared moment—good or bad.”

I wasn’t sure if he was right, but I couldn’t deny that something about Paige intrigued me. Maybe it was her effortless confidence or the way she seemed larger than life on the court. Or maybe it was the way she’d taken responsibility in the interview, showing a side of herself that felt real and grounded.

Whatever it was, I was determined to keep going.

And as I set up my camera that day, I had no idea that Paige Bueckers was about to step into my life in a way that would change everything.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

-Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶

-prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️

Tag list: @sayurireidotcom , @astroeliza .... (more to be added)

[ask-con-command]

uh oh.

ok mod here lol. so its been like a year since ive updated this blog. uh oh!

ive had a bunch of shit go down in the past year or so and...well, id like to pick it up again so. im gonna start trying to answer asks again. for real this time. lol. and idk who will even read this but well. thanks for the support here.

ive been too tired to devote myself to a project, even a for fun little ask blog, and that blows. so im gonna try again. thanks for the likes and reblogs and especially the nice tags. it really means a lot.

maybe i should make a whole new post for this lol but...well, i had a bit of a story i was working towards here, and im afraid i just dont remember much of it anymore...HAHAH. ah.

anyway, where this goes now depends on what kind of asks yall wanna send in. i could do some bio posts--honestly i *should* probably do some bio posts huh. mm. maybe this needs a soft reboot too.

anyway. ramble over. keep it cool. ik this probably isnt a big deal or anything. i guess it kind of is for me though HAHAH.

[raycatz]

some more LU things that throw me for a loop,,

An artist I follow, wilimia, started a LU dnd AU, and then mentioned wanting to make it it's own thing. Shortly after, they received an ask,

"I'd be down for un lu-ing the dnd boys cause I got lu blocked ad hate how it affects most links meet aus, so yeah. If you do that I'd reach non lu audience. Most loz fandom doesn't follow lu blogs"

and idk, I get it, but it's also hard to read. So much of Wilimia's art is LU. It seems like something they found, and still do, find joy in creating for--and for years, too--longer than I've been in the fandom. "Most loz fandom doesn't follow lu blogs." Most loz fandom wouldn't have any interest in the majority of the art Wilimia's shared? Anon would prefer it to be non-lu? It reads to me a little like putting down or dismissing the art just because it's LU. Wilimia's art is amazing. I admire it so much. Their ideas are wonderful, too. And like many other pieces of LU fanart, there's a lot of exploration of comparing and contrasting the games, or analyzing the games, borrowing the LU cast, without explicit connection to the events of the comic itself. So much incredible creativity missed, because it is LU. LU's not for everyone. To each their own, I guess.

But I feel like so much interesting insight into the games is lost if LU fanwork is disregarded simply for being LU.

I also struggle with feeling like I have to choose an audience. I have ideas for pre-LU comics that would tell stories of fun moments from the games, during an adventure--but I want to use the LU heroes because I care more for those interpretations of Link. I'm blending my own game experience and opinion of that Link with what's been provided by the fandom.

I think the stories are fun and worth sharing! However, what tag do I use? It's the Linked Universe design and character, but it's also me, but it's also not Linksmeet or the LU adventure, really. It's LU, it's not LU, it's gen loz, it's both. And yet you'd get scolded for posting LU in the gen loz tags. I feel as though I must choose a side.

For example: there's a moment in OoS where a woman asks you to help her in exchange for a shovel. I got the shovel and then immediately dug up the entire map chunk surrounding her house. It would make for a good comic! But do I make it LU inspired or gen loz? I'd probably use a slightly more generic design for Link (Legend) anyways because he would be younger. Honestly, I could probably get away with barely changing the design at all, tag it as gen loz, and be praised for it.

There's a huge double standard when it comes to LU and Linksmeets. Both argue that not everyone has played all the games. All the interpretations and designs are unique and, at times, should be read as their own aus without worrying too much about adherence to the game or specific comic canon. Characterization and knowledge varies by writer. At the same time, no one person owns specific design elements or traits. Don't worry too much about being too similar. Let people make what they want. Every new instance adds to the wider understanding of the character and is therefore valuable.

Yet, by the people who dislike LU and its fandom and favor other Linksmeets, in LU fandom it's seen as an excuse, and in Linksmeets and gen loz it's seen as a strength.

The character of my comic could barely be LU Legend, and yet if it is LU even in name only, it is disregarded and unwelcome. The character could draw strong influence from Jojo's designs or LU fandom, and if I change one thing only but claim it as my own, it would be praised and defended.

Analysis and discussion in the LU fandom (especially from around 2020) brought me a better appreciation and understanding of the heroes and game similarities then any other kind of online fan created material had.

So for my mini comic- and going off of the anon's ask- what do I do?

I want my work to be seen. I feel like it is valuable to be seen by anyone who enjoys the games. I want to inspire people who see the comic to think more about the games and to create. I don't particularly care through what lense they connect with my gen loz / nebulously LU work--if they apply the situation to their own game experience, gen loz, or to any Linksmeet--if my work has connected with someone- has broadened someone's understanding of a game or character- then my goal has been met. Obviously use the correct tags and credit where credit it due, but if I am making pre-adventure or gen loz stuff, then I want to inspire. Write fic! Add the headcanon to your own! Just like- if you make something based off an idea of mine, include me! We are all building off of each other's stories. It is all inspiration. It's all the same soup.

There is no Linksmeet element. And yet, in my heart, I know the character will become some personal variation of LU Legend, influenced by a variety of fanwork, because that's the interpretation I favor.

If it's tagged gen loz it reaches the broader loz and Linksmeets audiences. If it's tagged LU then it stays within the sub fandom I know and care for. The thing is--it's a pre-adventure story, so it's not solidly one or the other. I don't want to tag it gen loz and have LU fans feel they aren't allowed to think of it as LU Legend. I don't want to tag it as LU and have it be missed by so many people, or have gen loz / linksmeet fans feel they aren't allowed to think to think of it as their own characters either. However, also, why should I be creating for an audience who would disregard so much of my and other's works?

Mina of Mina's Linkverse's recent posts have thrown me for a loop again. She's shared a headcanon post about Twilight Princess Link that delves into how Link, given his background in Ordon, might feel about turning into a wolf. What struggles, but also acceptance and joy, can be found in it. It's beautiful. I'd love to add it as another perspective into my understanding of TP Link--both solely within the game context and also more broadly across a variety of Linksmeets. It's one more way to further appreciate things I already enjoy. However, Mina opened the post with "Dont tag as L/U". Okay, don't tag, but am I allowed to borrow this and apply it to LU Twilight? I relate to it most strongly through that lense. It's a general loz post, and LU is loz. What if I were to apply it to Mina's Fangs, or Em's Wolf, or Frulle's Twilight? If I were to write a LU fic or draw a comic and tagged Mina as inspiration would she take offense? Would it be less of an offense if it was anything but?

Am I as a LU fan allowed to take inspiration from this and put it into LU fanwork? What about LU fanwork that goes more strongly into exploring these themes or situations from the games instead of the comic itself?

It just feels kind of feels like a whole perspective or group is being excluded. I feel like I am being excluded and that I am unwelcome. But, maybe that's just me being an entitled LU fan who thinks everything belongs to them and needs to learn to stay in their lane.

I've considered making multiple versions of the same comic. One that uses the LU design and tag, and one that does not, so that I'm able to reach and be appreciated by both audiences. But, I don't want to have to choose. There would be no difference in the comic but character design and name. And yet, that's all the means necessary to be completely disregarded.

[twig-tea]

Thank you for the tag in your post, @doublel27! This is a great example of why tagging is polite and vagueposting is rude (I'm going to use this as a teachable moment so bear with me): You've made reference to several stances that I don't hold and linked back to my post as evidence I do, but because you've tagged me, I can now clear the record. I might choose to ignore a tag sometimes, and tumblr can't be relied on to actually alert the person who was tagged reliably, but the point is the tag generally gives me the visibility and the choice; and the link lets people see for themselves what I said, so they can make the determination themselves even if I didn't bother to clarify. If you'd made this post without linking or tagging me, your readers would have to take your word for what my point was and I'd have no way to know you were misrepresenting my position. Whether or not I'd said on main to tag me, using my (or anyone's) words in a post critiquing them without attributing them or tagging the source is rude, and it feels awful to experience. I appreciate you taking the feedback in the original thread and tagging me directly so that I could see this.

You invoked my We Are post specifically as an example of criticism of We Are and Perfect 10 Liners (which, for the record, I haven't written anything about the latter, but I'm glad my post has you thinking about them both in conversation with each other and hopefully trends at large) that informed the perspectives of @lurkingshan and @waitmyturtles which you've represented as being: shows which don't meet their metric of good should not be engaged with or are ruining the genre. In fact, in my own post (which you've stated has informed their opinion), I started that post with the opposite statement:

I don’t begrudge anyone who enjoyed this show and I’m genuinely glad it brought comfort to people.

I went on to say:

...Shows are fully allowed to not be for me, I usually can differentiate between when a show is doing something I don’t like well, or when it’s failing at its own goals. And I don’t begrudge people with different taste getting catered to sometimes; my refrain is that most problems of representation are not solved by calling for less of something, and rather than wanting something not to be made, I’d rather champion for more and a greater variety of content.

I also am certain that both Shan and Jay know New Siwaj is a queer creator because I laid out in full New Siwaj's history creating shows as a gay creator (which you mentioned as a kind of 'gotcha' in your post) to get to the crux of my concern, which was this explicitly:

I wanted to lay out how I've watched New Siwaj’s career go from finding a way to tell incredibly poignant and healing queer narratives (by creating his own company, and fitting these moments into the GMMTV series he did work on) to stripping out queerness from the shows he’s creating in the last year or so.

I then brought in other examples. The point I make in this post is that there has been a pattern of shows from ~the last year adapting novels but not including specific aspects around queer conflict from the source material in the adaptation. I am judging these adaptations against the Thai novels they are based on, and looking at the active choices the adapters are making in the context of the markets in which they operate--which, for the record, is the opposite of ignoring their agency. I would say the same statement for Shan's and Turtles' posts (linked for convenience). And to assume Shan and Turtles only took away the critical aspect of my post or that they aren't making their own judgments of the BL scene at large seems like a disingenuous interpretation.

The part of your response and the original post by @maybe-boys-do-love that bothers me is that it implies that I think (I'm now assuming MBDL was responding to me among apparently several others, since you've invoked me in this response and suggested you've been speaking to him about it, but without having been referenced in the original post I have no way of knowing--just to again underscore my frustrations with vagueposting) that only my way of seeing shows is correct or valuable; that I conflate sex scenes with queerness; that I think BL romcoms are less valuable, less queer, or less good than more serious toned takes; or that these shows should not exist or be made in future. I would hope it's clear from my own writing that I don't think any of that, and that anyone reading @lurkingshan and @waitmyturtles's posts would understand they also do not think any of this. I'm not sure who either of you are actually mad at, but the ideas you're fighting are not written in any of the things I've said or anything I've reblogged from Shan or Turtles. And the insinuation that the criticism of the writing of these shows holds some kind of power to prevent others from enjoying or making series like this is frankly giving any of us too much credit.

Looks like while I was writing @wen-kexing-apologist wrote a great summary of the points made in the original posts by Shan and Turtles in the comments section of their post, so anyone reading can feel free to go there to read a 2-comment summary if you don't want to go back and read the full set of threads for yourselves.

It's not a good use of energy to argue about how someone chose to interpret my words or the words of others, so I'll stop there. I'm happy to discuss the points that I've made in my writing, but defending against bad faith interpretations of my or other people's posts is not what I want to spend any more time doing.

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

2025 Megaman Secret Valentine Event Signups Open!

^*Art drawn by Soul Rokkuman

While I wait for the last couple Secret Santa gifts to arrive, going to move on to opening the next yearly event. Even though last year I went back to Valentine's Day being in contest format, I feel like it's worth swapping back to a gift art event this year, to mix it up again. Truth be told, just hard to brainstorm much new for categories right now. And my contest prize plans are better off for summer, when more people are able to participate. (I do have a few nice prizes I plan to give away for that ;D ). So rather than rushing those plans, just going to keep this event more relaxed once more. For those who didn't participate 2 years ago, the Secret Valentine Event works much like Robot Rumpus/Megaman Secret Santa. Sign up with the intent to draw, by providing a list of your favorite characters and couples, that you would like as a Valentine gift. After signups close you will receive a target, with the goal of drawing something from their list for them, to send them as a Valentine.

Sign Up Instructions: 1.) When you are ready, either post a reply in this thread or send me a DM via tumblr or Bluesky or sign up through my Discord server: (https://discord.gg/EjHZJ7D3Xm), stating that you intend to sign up to draw for someone. 2.) In your reply/message, please include a wish list with a minimum of 3 prompts, either individual fave characters or couples from the Megaman franchise, that you would be happy to have drawn for you as Valentine’s gift art. Megaman-related OCs are OK, but please include at least one canon character. 3.) Let me know if you can be a backup artist or not, if someone has to drop out/can't complete their gift

Artwork does not necessarily have to be romance themed, but it is preferred to fit with the holiday. But some singles are happy by themselves on the day of love, so you can certainly find a way to make single characters feel appreciated/loved in your art, too.

Any kind of artstyle and medium are welcome, with the exception of AI slop. Has to be your own work only.

Signups will run from today until Tuesday, Jan. 14th, 2025.

That gives you one week to sign up.

On Wed. the 15th, Cupid Wily and I will message everyone back with their assignment, and their assignment’s wish list. Then you will have one month to create your gift art for your Secret Valentine. 

Secret Valentine’s art will be due Friday Feb. 14th, 2025, by the global end of the day. 

But I'll work in a week or so grace period if people need an extension. It would be nice if gifts were given on Valentine's Day, but since this won't be a competition, I'll be a little flexible if people need a little more time than a month to draw. While the gift should go to your recipient first and foremost, please also either send them my way when you are finished or tag me in a public post so that I can save the art. I will then compile all the art into a homemade Valentine’s Day shoebox gallery/thread like I usually do for contests. That way everyone can view them together in one place just as easily.

Please do not post your art before Feb. 14th!

Ideally, send your secret valentine their gift at any point on Valentine's Day itself. Either through DM or publicly tagging them in a post on your social media of choice. Posts can also be made in the valentine's day channel in the Fanart Contests and Events section of my Discord.

Any other questions, or something you felt I forgot to address? Feel free to ask. 

I’ll edit a confirmed participant list in this thread as I receive them.  (Just like I need to edit the year to 2025, because I really screwed that up initially! LOL)

*Confirmed participant list* (W/backup status)

Lunna Cupcake N LadyStormtail1985 N SunnyJustice Y RockmanGurl Y @axlthemaverickhunter Y Jay Sky Y

[strifesodosweek]

Let's do the time warp Strifesodos Week again!

I'm putting this up HELLA EARLY because of the very different way I'm going to do prompts!

First off - for anybody new here:

What the heck is Strifesodos Week??

A whole week to celebrate the relationship between Cloud Strife & Genesis Rhapsodos - From the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. Stories set in any part of the timeline are welcome, as well as totally out there AUs and Crossovers of any kind. 

Are there any rules?

Only a few! 

Keep your story focused on the relationship between Cloud and Genesis. Background relationships between them and other characters, like AGSZC or anything else should stay that way, in the background. There are a lot of stories of all the guys together but not as many with just these two so this fan week is important for adding to the ecosystem (and, frankly, enriching our enclosure okay??)

NSFW is totally acceptable, just make sure you tag everything appropriately wherever you choose to post it

When you make a post here on Tumblr put a little @strifesodosweek so that I can make sure you’re shared here for everyone to see! If you post on AO3 please add it to the collection so that everyone can find it there as well!

You must write the fic specifically for the event, using the prompts you get!

Please share this so other people can know its happening to participate!

So where are the prompts??

Well, we’re going to do things a little bit differently this year! Instead of having one specific list of prompts that everyone is assigned each day, we're going to work together to create a whole wheel of prompts! Some I came up with myself, most I'll be choosing from submissions, and I will smash them all together so that everyone has a much broader range of things to choose from.

I only have a few guidelines I’d like people to adhere to for this, and they are as follows:

Spin the wheel seven times + one do-over if you get one that you really hated or have no idea for

You’re free to do the prompts in the order you were randomly assigned or whichever order you want, I’m not a cop

Since I’m not a cop, I can’t stop you from just choosing what you like from the list instead of spinning, but it would be a lot more fun for everyone involved if you played along the way the system is set up :) 

How about we come up with a prompt list together, just like last year but a little bit to the left. Click here to submit up to five prompt ideas for the list. I'll choose at least one from each person or more if I really really love it.

[magicwhiskers29]

I've had some great new bookmarks recently, so...

Match with Her. Match with Him. - preordereddepression - G - 5.0k

Maria, due to her disability, found good use in all kinds of mobility aids. Amongst them, was a wheelchair.

Shadow grew used to it, therefore, he found no shame when he found need in using a wheelchair of his own.

Unfortunately, when the time came to choose the colour of what went on the wheelchair, Shadow found himself embarrassed with his want of blue. A blue that resembled a certain hedgehog he was enamoured with.

It's a very sweet fic that really made me smile.

Silly Hats and Party Favors - Nebrasska - T - 49.7k, unfinished

The deal with Rouge was simple. All Shadow had to do was go with her to five parties, and she would purchase him a brand-new motorcycle to replace the one he had wrecked on a mission.

Somehow finding himself trapped alone with Sonic at all five of these parties, however, was never a part of the plan.

[Aka, five times Shadow wound up alone with Sonic at a party, and the one time they wound up alone with no party.]

Not quiiittteee finished just yet, but there's only one chapter left, that is coming soon! I absolutely adore the way Sonic is written around Shadow here, and it is probably the best fic of its concept that I've seen!

jumper - redpenship - T - 5.7k

In the shadow of eternity, Sonic and Shadow promise to find each other again.

Something I found the other day wading through the tag, and it's fascinating. A non-linear piece about Sonic showing up in a future where he's not supposed to be keep seeing Shadow, who has to remain. Maybe a little bitter sweet, but it's brilliant.

I'm going to put a cut here for Movie 3 spoilers, but I do have some recs for that hehe

right back where you came - caqos - T - 3.9k

There are pictures too, polaroids of various faces, some Shadow recognizes and some he doesn’t. Sonic is a staple in all of them, a blue tint over one side of each, showing how every picture was taken simultaneously by him and with him.

What his eyes really catch on though, is none of these things.

“You have a guitar.”

Someone finally took Maria playing Live and Learn on guitar and RAN with it. It's very sweet.

titrated, as fury - divisionbell - T - 2.5k

Shadow's gaze is a yawning eclipse, his wrath singular and livid. The consuming force of the black hole that tore through his home, void-like and relentless and hungry. Sonic sees it, feels it, that hunger, that heaving-flanked want of a weapon starved of its use. And Sonic just smiles in the face of it, eyes hooded and teeth bloodied, waiting, goading.

"Or should I make you beg for it?" he asks, voice pitching low, pitching dangerous. "Like the way you begged me to finish it."

Go ahead—finish it!

After it all, the weapon still fits in his hand.

A FASCINATING study on sonadow post-movie. It works with some absolutely beautiful prose to explore the leftover anger between the two of them after everything. (It's also got a first part in the same style exploring some of the movie's scenes!)

recommend me good sonadow fics PLEASE

[twistcmyk]

Several months ago I was watching old YouTube videos that I'm nostalgic for. One of these was Lindsey Stirling's "Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize (Dubstep Violin Original Song)" released in 2012. In it, Lindsey Stirling's dubstep violin original song plays as she navigates a frozen landscape, equipped with only her violin and her funky little dance moves. As she traverses, she performs sweeping, exaggerated (and to me, fucking hilarious) gestures of awe and wonder at the world.

While watching, I gave her a silly phrase in a silly voice to match her expressions.

"Beautiful Strange World...!"

I said it with a really specific inflection. It carries the same cadence as when Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood goes "Full, Metal, Alchemist." but with a lot more whimsy, wonder, and curiosity. Either way, sounding like a corny anime dub is important.

"Full, Metal, Alchemist...!"

This was (and still is) some of the funniest shit in the world to me. But as I kept repeating it, the phrase accumulated power.

Full, Metal, Alchemist.

Beautiful Strange World.

Let's break this down:

Her world of snow and ice is beautiful and strange, but so is our world. Everything about it. Everything is so weird!

Giraffes? Why do they look like that? There's generally evolutionary explanations for stuff like this, but evolution is bizarre.

Spiders? They know how to make webs. They just do that.

Grocery stores? There's a bunch of food in a big box with unimaginably complex supply chains, and people depend on this big box to provide them with ingredients for meals.

Those little sponge capsules that soak up water to become little dinosaur sponges? What the fuck?

Beautiful Strange World.

I've gotten into the habit of saying it whenever something amazes me, whenever I take a step back and take the time to appreciate something that we take for granted, or if I'm interacting with a piece of media that does, in fact, take place in a world that is strange, and beautiful because of it.

It makes me feel like the move she does about three minutes and sixteen seconds into the video.

Beautiful Strange World has legitimately affected the way I perceive the world, due to Lindsey Stirling's "Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize (Dubstep Violin Original Song)".

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

real talk having the 2nd worst new years eve yet 🤢🤢🤢 (throat infection, twisted neck, banged-about-foot, ego AND the rest o' me all bruised like misjuggled peaches 🍑🍑🍑)

im bent outa shape and suspectin the universe owes me 8 buck if anyone wannsa chip in

[divorcedfiddleford]

and you may say to yourself: "my god! what have i done?" and you may tell yourself: "this is not my beautiful wife!" and you may tell yourself: "this is not my beautiful house!" and you may ask yourself: "well, how did i get here?"

time isn't holding up, time isn't after us, time is a pony ride! (images described in alt text)

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

So, I broke down and made a meme version of this post.

(Alt/cleaner ver under the cut)

[sainz100]

2024 Hungarian GP | x (edited)

[ijustwannamakeemojis]

[ID: A single pixel heart of the Palestinian flag. End ID]

>Link to a guide on how to help<

[natsmagi]

sorry for making yet another textpost but i came across that post saying they dislike transfem natsume because he "canonically hates being perceived as a girl and tries to erase all sorts of memories related to that" and also went on to shame genderbends of him aswell. So, as someone who not only draws genderbends of natsume but is myself someone who is nonbinary and hates being perceived as a woman, i thought id offer my two cents

first of all; i think its important to note that natsume does NOT hate his childhood. in fact, hes quite happy that he had such an unusual upbringing!

what natsume hates is being perceived as weak. thats why he was raised as a girl after all, it was his mother trying to protect him from evil spirits. he doesnt hate the whole "-chan" or "wearing dresses" thing because he has a hatred for womanhood, its because due to his upbringing hes now come to associate those things as being weak. he begs tsumugi to forget about it because that means tsumugi remembers natsume being weak, and natsume thinks tsumugi still referring to him as "natsume-chan" means he still sees natsume as weak. (iirc natsume did however once say that he is a little sad that he doesnt really know how to relate to young boys due to this in poltergeist, but i couldnt find the exact quote. either way that just adds to the complexity of natsumes relationship with his childhood, because while he is happy to be "abnormal" in that sense, it has left him lacking in some areas)

i have to ask though, should this conflict of his not be something we hope he overcomes? should we not want him to develop a healthy relationship with various gender expressions? should we not want natsume to overcome his belief that feminine things = weakness? i want natsume to reach a point where he can wear feminine clothing and not feel like some damsel in distress because of it. i want natsumes character to grow. i want him to develop a positive relationship with his gender because natsume DOES enjoy some more typically feminine things, like baking! he used to bake with his mom when he was little! and i want him to feel like he can indulge in that side of him without feeling insecure.....

i LOVE transmasc natsume, my primary hc for him is transmasc nonbinary after all, but with all these things considered, shouldnt people be allowed to headcanon him however they want? if they hear his story and negative relationship with femininity and how that resonates with them and they themselves are transfem, should they not be allowed to hc him as such too?

which brings me to my next point; my own personal relationship with gender and femininity. i was raised as a girl and i fucking DESPISED womanhood. i hated everything about it. i hated how i felt forced into a box i didnt want to be stuck in, and i hated how it felt like my whole life had already been planned out for me due to societal expectations, aswell as me needing to present a certain way. i was peak "tomboy" growing up, constantly wearing super baggy clothes and wouldnt even brush my hair alot of the time. but despite that i remained miserable. i frankly hated how i looked and would constantly dye my hair vibrant colors in an attempt to make me like myself a little more. it wasnt until i realized "wow, im actually not a girl at all" that i finally let go of believing i needed to look a certain way (and thus, defying it) and started to dress for myself. i started to dress in clothes that made me happy and feel pretty! alot of which leans feminine, but clothes doesnt have a gender, and how you dress doesnt define your gender either, but it can still be a bit scary yknow? especially since i dont want people to think of me as a girl, and drawing a bunch of femstars has really made me learn to love myself more in a funny way. i can put these characters in clothes i think are beautiful, i can explore the more feminine parts of me that i adore but dont want to express in public due to how i want others to perceive me, but it has also warmed me up to femininity even more. because femstars to me feels detached from the expectations of society because its not a real thing!! there are no canon femstars designs!!! i can do literally whatever the hell i want with it and its been so liberating to me!!

all this to say; i think it really sucks seeing the way this fandom treats transfem hcs and explicit genderbends, because like ive said before; they can truly be something so personal. you dont know why that person is drawing what theyre drawing, so its a little unwise to make assumptions based on ........ Well, whatever it may be. i know very well that women dressing the way society expects them to SUCKS, esp if you have personal ties to it, but you have to realize the issue isnt femininity, but misogyny.

[chaoticprussia]

did i not put my age anywhere?? shit. uh. dont dm me unless youre at least like 15 or 16ish or something. im literally 19 and an adult. so its weird if im talking to middle schoolers. you guys should NOT be dming adults. thats my bad. sorry chat. im gonna go update my bio now. (god this headache is killing me i JUST woke up owwww)

[adriles]

im sorry to say, that by ignoring the plague of apollo, you have doomed the danaans to further misery. Farewell my bitch