#i'm writing myself but It's Not The Same™️

[banefulnightstar]

ngl i've been spoilt BAD with all these big fandoms of pieces of media from the 2000s, so now, looking at dexter's fandom compared to its overall fanbase, i'm going bonkers. losing my mind. turning my friends' dms batshit crazy because have you fucking SEEN brian and dexter's chemistry?? their narrative??? their tragedy??? their love???? have you READ the first book???? goodness gracious, it's 2024, and how the fuck should i come to terms with the maddening lack of content abt these two!!!

[charcubed]

"Did you love medical school?" Avery asks Max.

"Medical school is the greatest longest hardest thing you're ever going to do," Max says, not answering the question, as he is already fucking famous for doing to get out of talking about himself.

(But this is not a post about Max. This time.)

The use of the word love here and the subtle framing of medical school as a relationship... Well.

My theory for Avery since the start has been that part of her arc is going to be growing to understand herself and realizing that becoming a doctor is not synonymous with fulfillment.

In episode 2, we got her saying,

"I've given up everything good. Everything that matters. Relationships, family. All for this job. And at the end of the day… I'm alone. Adrift. With nothing to show for it. I'm never going to be a doctor. This is all there is for me."

(This follows a pattern of a thing this show does with dialogue where characters say things that are more revealing to us as the audience than the characters themselves are conscious of, but that's a point for another post.)

Her bucket list included,

"I want to know myself."

because she doesn't know herself yet.

And now we got,

“I always thought that if I became a doctor things would start to make sense.”

I think Avery wants far more than just being a doctor... or, to be fully honest with you, I think they're conceivably going to go the route where she decides she doesn’t need to be a doctor because she’s found fulfillment in her life and work (and love!) in other ways anyway. I’m not talking “Rachel gives her life up for Ross” type of bullshit with two men instead of one, but rather tied into the explicit arc of how Avery wants to know and understand herself because she doesn't currently, and the "you're never alone" theme. That's part of what this pregnancy and future abortion plotline is setting up anyway: it's a brute force tool for self-reflection for her.

Does Avery really want to be a doctor, especially at the expense of all other parts of her desires? Or has that just always been The Plan and is she unconsciously thinking that earning that title will fix the holes she feels in herself and in her life?

If you think this sounds tricky to pull off as a story, you'd be correct – but hey, so is polyamory, and yet they're doing that. They’d have to write Avery's arc well enough that it doesn’t come across as reductive, but I really think they could land it because of the character setup they seem to be doing for her – and I've thought that for several weeks already. This week just has me locking in on that possibility more.

Now, going off the rails here from meta to straight up crack theorizing even though it's way too early to be predicting shit...

Weeks ago I was already wondering… what if the season ends with Avery going to leave to become a doctor and the guys decide to follow her? Maybe even in a big dramatic traditional “they run off the ship / to the airport” sort of romantic scene sort of way lmaaaooo. And as the boys abandon ship to follow her, at the same time, SHE turns around to go back to them without knowing they were following her! Idk. Who knows! Not me. Like I said, way too early to know anything.

Regardless though, the Hot Take™️? I would not at all be surprised if Avery changes her mind about wanting to become a doctor. And I think it could, if done correctly, be a weirdly bold move (in a show that's already planning to pull off A Big Bold Move).

[lazyfandombean]

Psst, you!

Hey, hey you! Yeah, you! I've got a question for ya. Do you feel normal about SCC (Sweet Cap'n Cakes)?

-> Yes -> No

[❤️Yes] [Ohhhh, I see. You're in denial, aren't you? ;)]

[❤️No] [Aha! Just as I projected- I mean suspected! Suspected. Yeah.]

Well, I've got some GREAT news for you! Have you ever felt saddened by the lack of SCC-centric fanfiction? Specifically the kind that depicts them as brothers instead of bandmates or partners (no shade to those depictions btw)?

No? Shut up yes you have /j

Yes? Fantastic! Well, no, sorry that you're sad :/ BUT! Be sad no longer! For I've come to save the day!

In the form of my newfound SCC hyperfixation!!!

That's right!! I've been going crazy about The Guys™️ for the past week or so, but to my absolute SHOCK, there are hardly ANY fanfics for them!!! And almost all them revolve around them as a SHIP! And no offense, but I just don't like reading about ships all that much, sorry!!! :(

SO!!! How am I going to fix this dilemma, I wondered? But THEN! I remembered something!! Something very, VERY important:

'Oh yeah I'm a fanfic author.'

Is this me implying that I'm now writing a bunch of SCC fanfiction in a very roundabout way? YES YES IT IS! :D

In fact, I've already posted one on Ao3 and have turned it into a 'series'! By that I just mean that the 'series' is really just a place for me to dump all of my SCC-centric fics. I'll link the series here, BUT I'll also be cross-posting most, if not all, of those fics from Ao3 to here on Tumblr!

Oh also link btw:

But why am I talking about it like this on Tumblr, you ask? Introducing it in such a way when I could have just started posting SCC content? For two reasons!

One: Idk I just felt like it

Two: Because!! It has come to my attention that hardly anybody on Ao3 even reads SCC fanfiction.

And no, this isn't me begging for like... kudos or subscriptions (or followers, I guess it is on Tumblr? Idk I don't use it much) or anything like that. What I AM asking for is for people to read it. Not because I want to get popular, but because...

I am very self-conscious about the way I write SCC.

Well, to be honest I'm just self-conscious about the way I write any fictional character. It's actually the thing I worry about the most when it comes to fanfiction; whether or not I'm getting the personalities right. And I'm aware that it's more about how you perceive the characters, and that headcanons are a thing (I have plenty of them myself), but in my opinion, there's a line between having a headcanon and writing something ooc. Headcanons are fine, yes, and I use them a lot (especially when it comes to Undertale and Deltarune characters), but I feel like it can get to the point where it's so ooc that it doesn't even feel like the same character. And that's something I definitely don't want to happen when I write about my three favorite guys EVER. So basically, I'm asking people to read my fics specifically so I can get feedback on how to write the characters.

Why didn't I ask my friends? Bold of you to assume I have any /hj

But no fr, none of my friends play Deltarune, and I'm not even sure if any of them have heard of it. My sister has played before, but she never really got into it, and it's been so long that I doubt she would even remember who SCC are if I asked.

So, I've taken it to random strangers on Tumblr!

There's only one work in the series right now, but I'm currently working on another and have many more ideas sitting in a doc, waiting to be written! I'll also take requests if anyone has any (which I doubt will happen but anything's possible I guess), but before I post any more, I'd really like to get some feedback from... someone, I guess. I dunno I just really want to do them justice 😭

Anyways, that's all! Sorry that this was so long and probably annoying to read, I just thought it'd be funny but now I don't even know aldkdsfljk- but I'm leaving it like this because why not I guess

[maglors-grief]

Can they increase the costume budget for the men next season? Because why did Jace only have 2 outfits for all 8 episodes 😭 Don't quote me on this because I don't actually feel like fact checking myself right now, but I'm pretty sure most of the men only had like 1-2 different costumes this entire season. They were not serving Targaryen Realness™️ being forced to wear the same clothes nearly every episode lol. Like if the writing is gonna be terrible then the least they could do is distract me with more pretty outfits.

[beanthebugboi]

Ok, so we're doing this (intro post)

(Yes, that's a Ten Duel Commandments reference lol)

- About me -

Hello! My name is Bean, and I use any pronouns, including neos! I'm genderfluid, biromantic, demiromantic, and asexual. I'm also a therian/otherkin (spotted hyena, squirrel, and gryphon), I'm happy to answer any questions about that but please be respectful!

- Favorites -

Books/series: Gearbreakers (Zoe Hana Mikuta), The Athena Club (Theodora Goss), A Darker Shade of Magic (V. E. Schwab), Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

Movies/shows: Princess Bride, Helluva/Hazbin, Good Omens, Pirates of the Caribbean, FNAF, Owl House, The Amazing Digital Circus, Gravity Falls, Hamilton, Series of Unfortunate Events, Night at the Museum, Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Music: Will Wood, Mother Mother, NOAHFINNCE, IDKHOW, Poor Man's Poison, Hozier, cavetown, the Hamilton soundtrack

Youtubers: One Topic, Jammidodger, The Click, Clawed_Beauty101, Nightcove_thefox, dannyphantom.exe, KallMeKris, Markiplier, Ashur Gharavi, Let's Game It Out, TheLexikitty, Neffertity

Other: FNAF, The World of Mr Plant, Welcome Home, Sally Face, bugs (especially moths, beetles, and weevils)

Characters: Sun/Moon (fnaf), Fizzarolli (HB), Sir Pentious (HH), Argos (TWOMP), Hunter (TOH), Raine (TOH), Steve (TOH), Wally (WH)

- Extra stuff -

Tonetags are appreciated! I'm bad at reading tone lol /lh /gen

I'm a furry! It is NOT a s3xual thing- for me, it's about character design, cosplay, and self-expression :) I might do some free 'sona adopts eventually, let me know if you're interested and I'll tag you!

I'm a witch! Well, I'm trying to learn witchcraft, anyway. I'd describe myself as an eclectic witch with a focus on green witchcraft, as well as some divination (such as tarot). Any suggestions/advice are appreciated!

DNI: Homophobic/transphobic, anti-therian (unless you're willing to learn and have a civil discussion!), racist/sexist, transid (RCTA/"trans-abled"/"MAP"/etc)

Please do not PM me if you're an adult! I'm very uncomfortable with that. Asks are okay, though. /srs

Reminders to drink water are greatly appreciated. Reminders to get enough sleep will probably just be ignored. /lh /hj

This blog is a safe space for all my fellow weirdos. Feel free to PM me (as long as you're not an adult, ofc), ramble about your day, infodump (seriously, I love hearing people talk about things that interest them /gen), even just say hi! Please ask before venting, I'll usually say yes but sometimes I'm not in the right headspace to listen/help :)

- My tags -

bean answers - asks answered

bean reblogs - reblogging stuff

bean draws sometimes - actual art

monarch of cursed art - cursed art (including original and reblogs)

bean's editing projects - photoshop (usually cursed)

gonna try this later - tips & tricks, often for art/writing (I'm only able to remember this bc I have a pinterest board with the same name lol)

bean's thoughts - journal post that I forgot to update for a couple weeks lol

dearest sibling <3 - tag for @agathokakolog1cal

2qwreb - tag for @forest-fairy-wren

uwunicorn - tag for @sarkylittlemonster

tomato guy - tag for @s1l4s-w0rsh1ps-t0m4t03s / @s1l4s-1ng3sts-t0m4t03s

sparkles !! ✨ - tag for @sparklywafflefry

sage !! 🌱 - tag for @s4ge-s4ge-s4ge

ollie !! 🐇 - tag for @yellowrabbitfurry

the cool moot™️ - tag for @outlying-hyppocrate

Other frequent tags include will wood, hyena therian, squirrel therian, gryphonkin, ineffable husbands, bugs are cool, and cool art

That's all for now, Bean out! <3

USERBOXES AND MORE :D (will continue to update)

Flag credit to @onetimemacaroni

[shizukateal]

Miraculous Ladybug Magical Girl Fashion Review -Part 1

Preamble

Ok, so. What do you people generally think of as a "superhero outfit"? Spandex, right? Tight-skinned, uninterrupted spandex covering almost all the body, or at least not straying away from the body line if you're a girl and only get a swimsuit. Maybe a cape (hood optional) depending on how dramatic you are to add some flow or, if you're a woman, your hairstyle will do that job. Otherwise you can have some form of helmet or headpiece to distinguish yourself, and that's it. That's the extent of options you have. If you're extremely lucky, they might allow you to wear a jacket.

While this description might be a bit of an exaggeration (not by much, though) I think we can all agree that this is a very restrictive set of rules to work with. It's very hard to make something that completely contours to the body visually compelling. It's hard to distribute colors and shapes and patterns in a neat way that makes you stand out when you have to compete with thousands of millions of characters with the same 3 allowed bodytypes (lean, broad, or Woman™️). Which is why we should clap even more at designs like the DC holy trinity and especially Spiderman, who not only has a fantastic design in spite of how alienating it should be, but whose look is also currently inspiring thousands of artists to make their own variations, technically also including today's very own Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

This is all a very lengthy way to say that some of the MLB people wear their fursuits better than the rest. Skin-tight onesies with fur patterns are not something everyone can pull off. Doubly so with how inconsistent the art direction in the show is, with everyone in the cast reaching different levels of uncanny valley and swagless drip. I personally think that many of them would do better if they thought a bit outside that box of "standard superhero fashion" and went for something more specific to the personalities of the characters, but there are some winners amongst the rabble. Much like the writing of the show itself, the show's design averages into a trashy sludge pile that still manages to look tempting thanks to some unexpected moments of competence. Let's sort through the pile *cracks knuckles*

Ladybug (standard and ultimate version)

You'd think it would be easy for me to just say "yeah, the bland, near fully uninterrupted polkadot bodypaint onesie is both boring and silly and the other more balanced version is a LOT better by comparison" and leave it at that, but unfortunately I also have to talk about the hairstyle. And the hairstyle is wrong in a very specific way which I don't have concise terms for, so I need you to pay attention and stay with me here.

The pigtails work well for Marinette. They are distinct, practical, realistic enough while bordering just slightly on the fantastic, and their mild childishness enhances Mari's romantic nature. In theory they also match the polka-dot theme and they are not impractical considering the function of Ladybug's suit, but they still go against what it's trying to do. There's probably a concrete term in shape and action line theory that better educated people than me know about, but to give you the gist of what I mean I'm gonna do another Shitty Paint Edit™️ so I don't go in too many circles explaining myself:

Ok, you get what I'm trying to say here now? The pigtails match the balance of this specific pose, but the suit is too skin-tight and it highlights Marinette's neck, so they interrupt the buildup. They don't even work well as pieces of flow for contrast, because the hair is so stiff and the ribbons are barely noticeable. Compare to itsanarkee's cosplay and how much better she looks because she has an updo. The worst part of it all is that, usually, matching a body-paint suit with a hairstyle to provide contrast in a female superhero is, like, babyshit, the bread and butter of superheroine costumes, but Astruc managed to find the one hairstyle in the world to make it work wrong because he was to proud about Marinette's design to change anything. Just give her the fucking buns already.

Chat Noir

He serves cunt. Pops pussy, if you will. The only very mild itch it gives me is that I can't see what his ears are attached to and it bothers me, although he's not the only one with that feature and I understand why they would want to hide a hair band especially in his design. I can forgive that when everything else in this design is genius. The belt tail. The way his mask sharpens his features alongside the hair and ears. The flaps on his boots and gloves that highlight how his movements put more weight in his joints. The acrylic claws, the paws on his boots. The lines that highlight his figure in just the right way. The fucking bell. Chat is easily the best design amongst the heroes.

And while this my purely subjective interpretation, I truly do think it's understated how much this outfit manages to sell Adrien's clark kenting. It makes complete and perfect sense to me at least that Marinette wouldn't recognize him like this. Adrien is just slightly generically pretty enough that you wouldn't assume they are the same person just because they're both blonde bishies, and the contrast between the two personas is high enough that it could be realistic that some people wouldn't put them together if they are not looking for that connection. Doubly so for Marinette, who is way too enamored with Adrien's personality of generic un-disruptive niceness with a touch of rich boy angst to fully reconcile it with Chat's outright spicier demeanor lightened with Pathetic Wet Beast Energy for potability.

Rena Rogue vs Volpina

Yeah, this one merits a comparison. It's a perfect example to elaborate on my first rule. Lila already stands out as another of the best human designs amongst the cast, and the sleaze she exudes lends itself a lot better to this slick body-paint tightness and form-highlighting curves. The tail-sash around her waist is also brilliant. She'd probably look even better in something more grounded, but the fact that she's already pulling the outfit off like this is still an accomplishment.

Rena Rogue on the other hand... well, everything around her head is very good and cute, and I especially appreciate the eyebrows on her mask. On paper I also like the top with its longtail, but overall Alya looks a lot blander than Volpina, because her outfit doesn't reflect her personality the way it does Lila's. It's not ugly, even if the patch of white starts to bother me because it has no interruptions as it goes down. In fact it succeeds in making Rena look kind of adorable, really, but Alya is not a cutesy girl, and tbh the overall general texture of the outfit is a lot more body spray-painting-ish than Volpina's, which also makes it look cheaper in a bad way.

The Fox miraculous may be summarized as the power of Illusion, but both girls represent two facets elaborating on that concept: where Lila is the Fox as Deceit, Alya is the Fox as Cleverness. So Lila may be... smart manipulative -Ok, sincerely speaking Lila Rossi is the single most blatant Villain Sue I have ever seen put onscreen, but what I'm trying to get at is that while she -supposedly- has some cunning, her pettiness and eagerness to speak on the fly is -or rather should be- a contrast to Alya, who goes around sniffing for the truth and thus always has a fuller picture. Because remember: the best liars tell the truth. So Rena's outfit should reflect that. It should be less slick and more street-savvy, something that the pendant with its long chain is especially well suited to.

Speaking of all these thematic parallels, am I the only one in the fandom who is extremely weirded out that Lila isn't a rival to Alya? Like, aren't they extremely obvious foils beyond both of them being fox-themed? The girl who bases her clout on lies vs the one who searches for the truth? The girl who pretends to be friends with Ladybug while bullying her civilian identity vs the girl who is friends with both? Have the writers ever exploited this ever since I stopped watching?

Carapace

Nino is almost perfect. I am genuinely impressed at how well they chose the angle of this costume. It's so easy for me to imagine a much shittier version with an ugly cowl/spiderman wannabe facemask -because other characters in this series take that approach-, but taking a page out of spider-gwen's book instead paid amazing dividends. He looks great as teenage not-mutant ninja turtle.

He only has two significant faults. One is that I feel his goggles should be tinted opaque orange, and he should wear a mask over his mouth and nose. You know, make the clark kenting a little easier, the stealth more pointed, maybe he can have a cool graffiti of a turtle beak over the mask for a sprinkle of his actual personality. The second is that the partition he chose for his crotch area is a bit iffy and yes, I am very sorry to talk about this. The shape of the partition itself is not bad but it's the same color, so it doesn't actually help the transition all that much and instead, sadly, it only brings more attention to the middle. My suggestion is that he should take a page out of Rise of the TMNT's book and make the plastron into actual armor that goes from his chest to his navel, instead of just a logo on the front. Then he can either wear black shorts or he can go the Rise!Casey Jones route and wear pants that are slightly baggy but still cinch to his ankles.

Then there's only one last thing he needs to be completely perfect and that is having an actual relationship with Master Fu since he is the direct successor of his miraculous and one of the first characters to be akumatized on account of his resentment towards adults, so I feel like there's a whole bunch of narrative foiling potential not being explored there, you get me?

Queen Bee vs Vesperia

Zoe's face is more interesting and I appreciate that, as well as the design team giving her a braid, but Chloe still wins this one. Vesperia's outfit is reasonably cool on its own, but it does very little aesthetically for her. Perhaps if the colors of her top and pants were inverted it could work, but there's something about the aggressive sharpness of its lines that Zoe's bubbly face is not matching, made worse by the black being at the forefront. That might not be a problem in civilian outfit, but only because that look is balanced with other colors. Or rather, I think she also needs a more casual fit to pull it off instead of a skin-tight jacket. I also get what they're trying to do with her bangs and I would love it were it not for the fact that it doesn't look good in this artstyle. Chloe also has that problem with her hair, but Queen Bee's style fits her a lot better in a much obvious way, and for added points I think Queen Bee wears the cord as a belt better too., so congrats to Chloe on her one win, I do hope the writing allows her to have proper character development later instead of constantly resetting her to square one for conflict.

[feelo-fick]

Ah, hello, friend! What's your name?

-

OC-TOBER Day 1 : Favourite OC (Diji Oxford)

Why are they your favourite?

Originally when I made him, he was supposed to be the complete opposite of an oc i previously had (and have since abandoned). I was prone to writing the same similar oc over and over, and I'd decided it would be fun to challenge myself.

Since abandoning the character he was based on, Diji has gone through SO MUCH development, and I'm really proud of where he ended up! He's just so relatable, the way he interacts with others is so fascinating to me, and of course, he's fun to put into Situations™️.

I think during the process of developing him I also changed a lot and I started projecting a bunch of stuff I went through onto his psyche, so he's very connected to me even if hes definitely a different guy.

I also got to play around with a bunch of allegories for him! Kudzu being one of the more recent ones. Which, yeah, having a lot of symbols representing a single oc MAY be a bit much, I just. I can't help it. Everything is Diji somehow...

If you wanna see more of him, my tag for him is #🌘 !! I also tag a bunch of posts that remind me of him with that, so you can get more of a grasp on his vibes huhehuhehehe

( prompt list + extra comic under cut! beware, the comic has a knife and a lil blood. nothing too intense though )

[thana-topsy]

If you're up for sharing more writing tips, how can I tell if what I've written is actually any good? With writing I get stuck in a cycle of feeling like I'm the next Shakespeare while writing but then I'll look over my work a few days later and absolutely hate everything and think it's the most cringe shit ever, then I'll leave it a bit longer and think eh it's not as bad as I thought but still not great and so on. I feel like being forced to write for a grade during school and having everything be marked and assessed and assigned a particular value has robbed me of the ability to critically analyse my own work in a way that's objective and accurate but also fair and realistic. I can analyse other peoples' stuff till the cows come home but I lose all rational thought when it comes to my own stuff

Adding onto that, how do I get to the point where I can stop looking back at my old work and hating everything and wanting to delete it all? Realistically I know finding fault with my old stuff is good bc it means I've grown and improved from where I once was etc but at the same time I wanna enjoy stuff I've made in the past without cringing every time I read it

Hey there Nony, I wanted to let this one percolate a little bit before answering because I've been where you are. And it's a rough time for sure. But aside from my own experiences, I also wanted to get the opinions of some of my writerly friends in the fandom, too, since everyone is a little font of wisdom in their own right.

So I'm going to share their advice alongside my own, because this is kind of a complicated string of questions you're asking. Long post ahead!

@paraparadigm says to Keep Writing: "Write more. Write so much (and so many different things) that eventually the sheer volume bulldozes over self-devouring ego, comparison twitches, or feeling lost, because you don't yet know your own baseline. Coupled with "read more, read everything, read things you enjoy and things you don't, read for the craft as much as the entertainment." And: "I'd add that when revisiting old writing, it's helpful for me to differentiate between "ew the writing is not as technically solid as it is now" and "ah that's interesting, I guess that's where I was at then, emotionally and psychologically". Old writing is also a sort of archaeological record of your younger self, and that can, in fact, be a bit itchy to revisit, so learning to cherish that without passing judgement can be really helpful. I try to treat it like those little marks one puts on the door jamb to track a kid's height."

@mareenavee says "Part of it is writing more, as Para said and I will always second that. Another part is, honestly, the hardest part. It's to try very hard to get out of the habit of negative self-talk.... There's so much work involved with this but normalizing being proud of your work and having some grace with yourself is part of that answer."

@archangelsunited says "Early on, instead of going “this has to be a masterpiece” I would tell myself my only job was to tell a story. I couldn’t tell a story if I was deleting it. Also, talking about your work helps. The less ashamed I was of my writing, the more people wanted to read it. There is a need to hide your work, and that can lead to a downward spiral all its own. And, 90% of the time, you have to suck at something to learn to be good at something. The work you already wrote shouldn’t be the sum of all your skill, it should be one of those measuring sticks for the moment. Despite previous thought, you won’t be stuck at the same level forever."

@polypolymorph says "In addition to accumulating experience via reading and writing, you also have to be willing to reinvent the wheel. Unfortunately the Process™️ is unique to everyone, and even when you are deliberately mimicking a voice as, say, a ghost writer, you can't expect that 2+2=4 for you. Your process might look more like a Lotka-Volterra equation for the same type of work and that's okay. Trial and error is the best way to figure out what advice actually works for you--and if it doesn't, it doesn't mean you're wrong. Don't get stuck on pop writing advice like a sad roomba does on an upturned rug. Learn when to throw it out."

So there's some advice from some other excellent writers! I hope you've been able to find some value in their advice, because it certainly kicked me in the pants a few times.

As for me, I think, having been where you are, my biggest piece of advice is: Find joy in the craft. Get curious instead of critical. An artist shouldn't down themselves over a rough sketch when they're working out a drawing, so why would a writer do such a thing? Everything you write is practice. Everything you make has value because it builds up to the next thing you make.

At the end of the day, you are the only one who is capable of telling the stories that are in your head. This fact alone gives whatever you put onto paper value, regardless of quality. You are creating magic, in the most literal sense! Creating something out of nothing, conjuring images into someone else's mind from hundreds of thousands of miles away, transcending space and time. It's amazing!

Lastly, my final piece of advice is to just write for fun. Write things nobody else will ever see just because you wanted to get words onto paper. You have to unlearn what was drilled into you in school. You are more than a content creation machine. You are an artist, a wordsmith. And just know that there will never be a day when you look at your own work and say "That's it, I have achieved perfection."

Writing is a life-long journey. Just enjoy the ride!

[jules-van-hering]

my life would be so much easier right now if I believed in sth. some sort of god(s), The Truth™️, whatever...

but the closest I have to that is bruce and that feels a bit weird ofc. cause girls/women being obsessed with a celebrity and their life & work invites judgement. and I am generally deeply afraid of judgement, like you don't even know how much, literally throws me into a trauma response so fast. I really wish it wasn't like that.

but now I'm thinking about shamelessly embracing bruce as my divine guiding light. has anyone else here done this? the church of springsteen? but not the way the weird straight conservatives who have claimed him over the years. I'm not gonna fucking call him the boss. he's bruce to me. I mean a specifically queer (as in sexuality and identity but also politically) church of springsteen. do we have an illustration of him as a saint, like that one of carrie fisher with her dog? or wait! the one on stage where he emits steam from sweating so much! that's a good one. alternatively all the pictures of bruce and clarence from the born to run photoshot work as a holy images too I think.

anyway it's just wild now at the end of my twenties looking back to when I became a fan at 16, seeing so clearly how his music helped me through the narrowmindedness of my hometown and my working class family's expectations and at the same time now being in a spot again where it all speaks to my soul and situation so deeply with all the family estrangement, trying to build a life for myself that really suits me in a new place with a new family of misfits and freaks and thus finally realising why it all hit so much back then as a teen. I already clearly felt that I was caged, I didn't know exactly by what, I couldn't precisely name it, but something in the music resonated with my subconscious and gave me a safe place where these feeling and thoughts could have a home and grow until they were ready to break out

to me his music first and foremost is a call to live life authentically. you gotta live it, yes, that is one of his core messages. but it ain't shit if you're not authentically you. I love that because it's also very much in line with philosophical existentialism which I am a big fan of. according to sartre it is your responsibility to be yourself. there is nothing else except existence. you cannot create a life in your head only. l'enfer c'est l'autres. but heaven is other people too.

in bruce's work there's this big focus on friendship and love and sex, all these form of human connectedness. he always writes about relationships, there's not much about him being a lone solitary dude on his own journey. he is such a romantic, believing that love can save us and that we have to fucking act on it!

[shortpplfedup]

Tomorrow's a big day for me so I of course woke up in the middle of the night in a spiral and can't get back to sleep, so I'm gonna try to get out some thoughts I've been having about chemistry and sexuality on screen, especially in the stuff I've been watching lately.

When I'm referring to sexuality here, I'm most often not referring to sexual identity, but to how characters experience sexual desire and respond sexually to each other, which is directly related to ideas of onscreen 'chemistry' as it's seen and judged by audiences. I see chemistry often conflated with heat levels by audiences as well, and I definitely think those are two separate things. This is a thing that's been coming up for me over and over again in the BL space as I find myself...let's say often not into the pairs that others are into, and more into pairs that others don't see as having chemistry. I'll also I guess come out here and say I've been on my own journey of discovery recently, realising I'm acespec, very likely demi, and alongside that (because as I've mentioned often both here and on @the-conversation-pod that I process my feelings through media) thinking about how I bring that lens I didn't even know I was looking through to my analysis of The Stories™️.

@absolutebl has written a lot about their 3 dimensions of good chemistry as physical, emotional and intellectual, and I've found that to be a useful frame. I tend to use 'vibes' a lot to describe what I feel in character interactions, because a vibe between people is such a specific and personal thing for me, and sometimes resists more objective and perhaps useful explanation. 'Vibes' also mirrors my own experience of sex, romance and attraction. To use ABL's frame: physical, emotional and intellectual dimensions of attraction/chemistry are just inseparable for me. And perhaps most importantly for the way I view sexuality on screen: physical attraction is driven for me by intellectual and/or emotional attraction, but never the other way around. In other words, I can see how being intrigued by a person or emotionally invested can make you horny for them, but horniness on its own, while fun to watch, is not really something I get.

Right, with all that preamble out of the way, here are some recent characters and pairs I've found myself really feeling the vibes on that I thought were maybe misunderstood.

Kawi, Be My Favourite

Even when Krist does the work to beat the 'bad actor' allegations it seems he can't catch a break...lol. Kawi is the character who finally compelled me to write this, because I think Krist was doing some great subtle work on emotional attraction and sexual discovery via emotion that got lost in a Disk Horse stampede based on a throwaway line from a secondary character. Kawi had to have feelings for Pisaeng, and then think about what that meant, in order to reach a place of sexual desire. And then that desire didn't look like desire is expected to look, and so its genuineness was questioned. Audiences don't generally see fondness and deep affection as 'sexy', or accept sexual desire as something one has to think about. But I truly appreciated seeing Kawi take this particular journey towards having sex with Pisaeng and having a clearly joyous experience once he got there. The chemistry these two have isn't 'hot' but it is very grounded and emotionally resonant and I found it very affecting to watch.

Cher, A Boss and A Babe

I mentioned on the pod when we talked about ABAAB last season that I very much enjoyed Cher's journey of sexual discovery from 'do I like this?' the first time he and Gun kiss progressing through 'I think I like this' and 'I definitely like this' and eventually to 'gimme dat body' when they have what I called 'married sex' near the end of the show. @bengiyo mentioned on this same episode liking that Cher has to try out physical intimacy with Gun multiple times to determine how he feels about it, and I agree. That's a very undiscussed paradigm, that sex is often not immediately enjoyable/desirable, and wanting to try again because you're still not really sure isn't a bad thing. Their big final sex scene is another scene that isn't 'hot', but there is a very specific and deliberate heat in Cher's eyes when he undresses Gun and looks at his body that sells the physical dimension of their chemistry.

Ray/Sand, Only Friends

I enjoy how grungy and unromantic the sex is on Only Friends because that's how a lot of casual sex actually is. These people are mostly getting their rocks off, not really falling in love or even connecting emotionally or intellectually...except for Sand and Ray. Sand is the kind of man who probably feeds stray cats, so he finds Ray intriguing despite knowing he's a disaster area. Ray is desperate to feel something other than the void inside himself, and he likes the way Sand spars with him. Neither of them is really horny for each other in the traditional sense, and the sex is almost rote in its progression but was definitely fire for the two of them regardless because of the intellectual stimulation driving it. Alas their minds can't fuck, so their bodies will have to suffice.

Basically, people wanting to inhale each other is definitely fun to watch, I'll grant that, but I like getting to explore different kinds of functional sexuality and chemistry on screen, and don't buy a lot of the 'no chemistry' reads.

[trulybetty]

Sunday Week in Review X

No obnoxious coffee in the car this week for a little driveway session. BUT Mr. Truly did bring me back one with doughnuts after Lil’ Truly’s (baby Truly's older sibling) swim lesson and couldn’t understand how a box of doughnuts could make me smile so wide (looking at you @secretelephanttattoo & @morallyinept 🍩)

Really enjoying the October prompts I started - it's been a fun break to get into something with no pressure and to just write without worrying about anything. I can't believe I'm like halfway through and I've not thrown in the towel yet (I've been tempted to skip a few days). It's also given way to some inspiration for some ongoing wip's and populated some new ones (I see you Tim Rockford).

But because of this, it's not really left me much time to read - so another light week, but it's okay! It means my TBR list (it's a work in progress that I've been neglecting and there's so much missing) is bursting with some incredibly great fanfics to get my teeth into next month!

Also, I am LIVING for everyone's weekly rounds ups, no matter how you format it or what you share - it's such a joy to see them popping up and getting to learn a little more about the people in this community!

T R U L Y U P D A T E S . . .

oct' x 08 - umbrellas (will miller x gn!reader)

oct' x 09 - ravens (maverick!frankie x reader)

oct' x 10 - oktoberfest (sequins!joel x reader)

oct' x 11 - pumpkin spice (marcus x reader) (parts II & III coming later this month)

oct' x 12 - cornfields(sequins!joel x f!reader)

oct' x 13 - black cat (tim rockford x gn!reader)

oct' x 14 - spooky (dieter x gn!reader)

W H A T I R E A D . . .

Fort Bravo (Dieter) by @secretelephanttattoo Of course our man Bravo would be building blanket forts in his walk in wardrobe this week. I very much would like to build my own to go hide out with and wouldn’t say no to sharing it with Dieter either. Medicinal Purposes (Frankie) by @grogusmum Ironic I read this at the start of the week and finished it with two days off of work for a migraine lol. Alas, I did not have Frankie show on my doorstep to offer his services - but this was a spicy read that I may have read a couple of times for educational purposes. 

PATS (Pedro Across the Street not RPF) by @oonajaeadira There’s a re-read this month, and not that I need an excuse, but it’s been fun dipping back into this world and reminding myself that I really should go book myself a massage. If you haven’t read this series I wholeheartedly recommend it, it’s top tier. It’s a comfort and a spicy read at the same time. 

Headshots | Chapter 3 (Marcus) by @secretelephanttattoo El has been making waves in the Pike Puddle™️ with her Marcus Pike offerings as of late and this third instalment to Headshots is makes no less of an impact. This is so Marcus and just so sweet. 

Salty & Sweet (Marcus) by @secretelephanttattoo I’m not the biggest fan of popcorn, but if Marcus Pike wants to eat it off me, who am I to say no? 

Swimming Lessons with Catfish (Frankie) by @avastrasposts Okay, aside from the jokes that this is the title of the sex tape could make of this fic, this is an incredibly smoke show of a drabble that I may or  may not have read a couple of times. 

Frankie to the Rescue (Frankie) by @avastrasposts Again, Avastra is just blowing it out of the water with these drabbles this week! The whole time reading this I was excited to find out how it would play out and it did not disappoint. 

Paranoid Heart (Javi P.) by @goodwithcheese I’m so behind with my reblogs this week (don’t look in my drafts) - but Megan comes in again this week with another fantastic instalment to this series and I’m falling for these two so hard. 

in another life… (Frankie) by @chronically-ghosted Speaking of being behind, I read this while on one of my sick days and I’d you’ve not read Taylor’s work, you’re sleeping on it and you should check it out. This here is a slice of life with Frankie that is utterly atmospheric and beautifully written. 

Bloom | Chapter 2 (Joel) by @wildemaven-prompts I. Am. Here. For. This 🙌 the little slow burn, Joel being a little awkward, the descriptions of the flowers 🌸 and most of all Ellie who almost manages to steal the show in every appearance. This whole series is a delight and we’re only two chapters in!

Unlikely Friends (Joel) by @sweetercalypso Despite having adopted Frankie Cat™️ last month I’m still not 100% on the cat train (don’t tell Frankie, she’s still bitching about the Andes man) - but this is incredibly sweet and I absolutely resonate with Joel trying to win over a cat (Frankie Cat may have just pounced at my feet from under the armchair that I’m supposed to pretend I didn’t see her under)

…assie (Frankie) by @frenchiereading I love everything Mel has been sharing with us from the Shared Breaths universe and this is just incredibly sweet. I don’t want to spoil anything, but my heart may have grown three sizes after reading the ending. 

Ring Toss (Frankie) by @morallyinept Okay, if @secretelephanttattoo hadn’t changed my perspective on doughnuts, then Jett has permanently altered all thoughts about them. This is is just, lustfully and sinfully indulgent and Frankie is just a menace 🍩

M E M O R A B L E P O S T S . . .

Megan's 1K celebrations, go drip into her Asks and repent to our Gouda Mother of Cheesus

Catfish PhD program had another assignment: Module 6 - The Licence Suspension

All of @wildemaven's moodboards, they're beautiful and such a mooood 💕

Three words, LAW. ENFORCEMENT. BALL. @sin-djarin threw out a thot and a hero came along and answered the prayer we didn't all know we needed, @for-a-longlongtime and presented us with a treat with this WIP

I did a bad job of tracking this week, there were so many more great posts this week that I got to be a part of and enjoyed!

B R O U G H T T H E J O Y . . .

Honestly? This community. I feel like I sound like a broken record on the topic now and that if I keep going on about how wonderful everyone is here it’s going to lose all meaning. But I’m getting to witness friendships being made through posts, a community being built in real-time and getting to know you all better is a real joy.

Having said that, despite the bullshit I put out - I am socially awkward at my core and trying to preach what I say and jump into more inboxes and DM's. But both of mine are always open if you want to drop down and discuss anything or everything 🙌

Also, if we want something superficial to balance that out, I’m almost finished with Sons of Anarchy season seven, finally (oh I have so many feels), and copious amounts of gratuitous Jax Teller nudity certainly never goes unwelcomed amongst the angst (Kurt Sutter knew what he was doing). I will be dropping into your Asks at some point @laurfilijames, be warned (also still thinking about the ask you sent me, is not forgotten!).

T H I S W E E K ' S J A M . . .

Adeem the Artist has been on permanent rotation since @goodwithcheese shouted them out and I love everything about this song. The feel-good beat, the voice and those lyrics? 🙌 *perfection*

Happy Sunday all! Wising everyone a good week ahead! 💛

[princesscolumbia]

Pride Month 2024 - Day 13

I swear the longer I work in a corporate environment the more I want to be an independent author.

Double Isekai

Summary:

We all know the isekai, the most common being a person dies in our universe and awakens in another, often fantastical universe, very often in their favorite fiction media. To even have an isekai event, the multiverse must, by definition, exist. And in the multiverse, if something can be imagined, it exists somewhere in the multiverse. So what if one person who's an avid fan of Ranma 1/2 dies? What if they die in two separate timelines? And what if both deaths triggered an isekai? And what if both variants wound up isekai-ing to the same timeline of Ranma 1/2, but in different people? ...and what are the odds of that? i = infinity ^ 4 ^ infinity:1, repeated infinitely. Welcome to the Double Isekai.

This was, in retrospect, a big-ass indicator of the emergence of Christy and I into a system. The parallels are there, though certainly not 100%. I'm not Nodoka nor do I pretend to be, but the concept of "one person being the foundation for two people heavily and inextricably linked" was, in hindsight, kinda obvious.

One thing I'm really enjoying exploring is the neurodivergencies as they existed in the culture of the 1980s through the lense of someone from The Current Year™️. Having lived through the time period as a ND person, myself, with my own diagnoses happening in the latter half of the decade...it wasn't a fun time. All those awful things modern ND people deal with where people refuse to make accommodations or exhibit even a fractional understanding of our situation? It was systemically worse, as in there's so much of that old culture that automatically equated any neurodivergence as [R-slur] that when I sit in on a parent-teacher conference for my autistic daughter and listen to the teachers talk about the steps they took when my daughter wasn't having a good day or how they worked within her hyperfixations I've caught myself crying tears of happiness and relief that she'll never know the struggle of going through all 12 years of American schooling with no support and the default assumption that you're either stupid or being intentionally problematic.

People who've already read what I've put up so far will notice as early as Chapter 3 that I was dropping hints that Akane is on the spectrum, at least this variant of her. I was inspired to write the character as a 'high-functioning' autistic person by a conversation I had on Discord with another Ranma 1/2 fan who lamented that they had once read a comprehensive point-by-point breakdown showing how canon-Akane was a typical example of an undiagnosed autistic girl. Unfortunately, thanks to the absolutely suck-ass search on Tumblr and the enshitification of the search engines, we haven't been able to locate it.

(If you happen to know what we're talking about and have a link, please drop it in the comments or on a reblog 🙏🏻)

[inquisimer]

HEY BB if you had to pick 5 fics you’ve written to make a “crash course” and sum up your writing personality, which would they be? I must know.

thank you for the uno reverse, MWAH

it's only fair that I have to turn this lens on myself but DANG was it hard to be like "what is my writing personality?" I think it really boiled down to: platonic relationships, grey wardens, a just a hint of Lore™️

Gen'adahl - Female Lavellan/Cullen Rutherford, Rated G, 1485 words

this was one of the first ever DA fics I wrote; I remember scrawling it out in a notebook at my last job where I wasn't allowed to keep my phone at my desk. And I was so proud when I finished it! For me, it represents the proof that I can finish pieces, no matter how long it takes

to be seen feeling - Male Mahariel/Morrigan, Rated T, 5039 words, a gift for @dreadfutures as part of the 2023 DAFF DIscord's OC Swap

writing this fic was not only an absolute joy, it was a pinnacle for me: if I could write a fic that captured the depths of Blue's OCs, I could probably do anything. And I did! And I can! It was exactly what I needed at the time and also a reminder that however blase my own knowledge or fandom experience feels to me, it will slot into what even the most knowledgeable fandom personalities know in surprising ways.

Shards of Glass - Female Brosca & Rica Brosca, Rated G, 3304 words

One of my first toe dips into the gray area of lore! It was so fun to imagine an alternative for Brosca's origins, to give her a deeper connection to the Stone, to play in the absolute barren wasteland wide open sandbox of Bioware's dwarven lore. Beyond that, this piece highlights my Sibling Bias™️ and how much i love exploring the DAO origins before the Blight, in general.

nothing hits the ground without an echo - Alistair & Bethany Hawke, Rated G, 1045 words

My first Dragon Age canon/canon fic! Absolutely wild to think that before I got into Dragon Age I was vehemently anti-oc in fanfic 😂 I'm so glad I outgrew that and can love and celebrate all of our OCs. At the same time, it was a joy to return to my canon x canon roots and play up the Grey Warden lore and happenings at Vigil's Keep that seemed to die in game after Awakening ;-;

I carried my own ashes to the mountain - Zevran Arainai & Female Brosca, Rated G, 1202 words

Nothing particularly poetic to say about this one, to be perfectly honest, I just like the Vibes™️. I think the humor and sarcasm suits my writing personality, and the lighthearted overtones that are haunted by unnamed pining and angst are Very Me :3 Also Nika not recognizing her face and yet reluctant to let go of it until someone gives her permission is something deeply personal to me, that I didn't even realize until after I'd written this. I look back on it and go, yep, yeah, I see you now, past mer😅

[compassionatereminders]

This is in response to the anon asking about not believing in god/the afterlife, to offer another perspective. This is NOT me trying to argue with anon at all, or to say that believing in religion is wrong or anything like that, it's just my own perspective on the matter.

I'm someone who grew up Catholic. When I was about 14 years old and I was finally old enough to have my own independent thoughts and ideas about things, I realized I didn't believe in my religion. I'm in my 20s now and firmly atheist. For me, everything about the religion just felt Bad. Like there's a constant feeling of guilt following me, and I have to make sure I do XYZ to appease God, who knows what I'm doing at all times, Or Else™️! It happened gradually, but I decided, nah I'm done with that, I'm unsubscribing. Feeling like this every day is no way to live, what's the point of religion if it's not something I find comfort in?

I had a phase around the age of 18/19 where I struggled with depression in general, but one of my main fears that I struggled with was "there's no point to anything." But then, idk what exactly changed but I realized "oh my god there's no point to anything! That's awesome!" Like. I can make my *own* point. If nothing matters, then I get to choose what matters to me, and do what I want without feeling guilty that it's "not worth it" or "not the point," and this was a very liberating feeling for me. I find fulfillment in myself, my loved ones, and my hobbies/wants/desires without the need for anything greater.

As far as an afterlife, I think that sounds miserable regardless if you're in heaven or hell. An unending state of being for all of eternity? Even if I would end up in "heaven" that still sounds like hell. Just like I can't perceive an existence before I was born, I believe the same will happen when I die. Everyone dies, no one makes it out alive, and that's fine. It's a natural part of living. The idea of there being an afterlife just sounds flawed and unpleasant. How can I trust a being to make the proper judgements about who belongs where? And once that judgement is made, its a permanent decision? It just feels icky. Not everyone gets their karma while alive, but that's just life, and it sucks, but that's just how it is. It does not benefit me to hold onto feelings of bitterness over this, so I don't. I just focus on living my life, doing what makes me happy, taking care of my loved ones, and being kind to others. That's all that I have control over so I'm going to try to focus on that, rather than harbor feelings of resentment or sadness over things that aren't fair, because there are a million things in life that aren't fair and I will simply never be happy if that's all I dwell on. I just try to make the best of where I am with what I have. That's enough for me.

TL;DR religion and believing in god just feels like wishful thinking to me, and I don't need to do that to feel content with my life.

Sorry for writing a long message, I just wanted to offer the previous anon another perspective, I hope that's OK!

Yeah the idea that some higher power gets to independently define what's right or wrong and what my purpose is honestly feels pretty dystopian to me personally!

[ferindencadash]

And now for a little shameless self-promotion!!

@spectre-requisitions-exchange 2024 has officially ended and the authors have been revealed! Which means I can talk about all the stuff I wrote! (I may have gone a little overboard...)

In addition to my first assignment, I picked up a pinch hit. And then I was feeling so inspired I wrote another two treats! I have been on a writing bender and it feels good! Not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of myself. 😌

So my fics this year were:

T-rated (my first non-explicit fic!! 😅) FemShep/Ashley pairing. For @biotickaidan

Set in ME3, Ash has a crisis of fate after her near-death experience and talks things through with Shepard. A romance is rekindled.

People have been SO NICE about this fic?? I have never had so many comments before, it's honestly blowing my mind. Y'all are so sweet. 🥹

E-rated Jack/Kasumi (t4t!!) for @krahka

Be gay, do crime! Set pre-ME2, Jack and Kasumi accidentally end up committing the same crime. Hijinks ensue™️ and things get a little sexy.

This was ridiculously fun to write and very challenging. I watched a ton of heist movies to prepare for this one! 😂

E-rated MShep/James Vega for @ginbiscuit

Set between ME2 and 3, while James is guarding Shep in lock up. Shep is bored and entertains himself by being an incorrigible flirt. James tries to behave. You can guess how well that goes.

I think this is actually my favourite fic I have ever written?? I really think it's quite good. I fell in love with those two idiots while they fell in love with each other. Ethan Shepard may just have some future adventures, cause goddamnit HE IS CUTE. And I'm proud of my baseball metaphor (gods I hope someone notices 😭).

Please read this one? For me? 🥺

And finally! M-rated Tali & Jack for @beltsquid

Set during ME2. Tali is having a bad day. Jack is having a bad day and is making it everyone else's problem. Together they clean out the Normandy's bar and an unexpected friendship(?) develops.

I literally just finished this one a few hours ago. 😅My first gen fic! The prompt was fantastic and super inspiring. These two are so great together and I had so much fun exploring their relationship.

There were even more fantastic prompts I really wanted to write, but time is short! So I'll save them for next year. ;)

Now that I am finally done writing, I am going to delve into the rest of the fics available in the collection! There are SO MANY I'm excited to check out! So definitely look out for a recommendation list in the next few days. Or just go poke around the collection yourself!!

[buckys-arm-and-rios-dagger]

What do you think Bucky's pronouns are? What about Natasha's and Steve's? Anyone else? I sometimes think Natasha would use they/she and Bucky might be hesitant to use any other than he/him because he's never thought about it before, but I also think he'd be affirmed by a they.

I'll be honest, I didn't think I had super strong opinions on this but then I started writing this out lmao

So my quick disclaimer here is whenever I write Bucky I write him as a Cis Bisexual man. I've never thought much about his gender identity honestly, but I choose to think that he was into girls but also had feelings for Steve and that takes more importance to me personally (the self indulgent self-insert OC I paired him with is Nonbinary though ((and I'm NB myself)) so it's not like he doesn't know anything about it, just his Bisexuality is what's come up so far in what I've written) but tbh if someone referred to him as "they" I don't think he would correct them. I've also seen a lot of fics where when Bucky is in Winter Soldier mode he thinks of himself as "it", which I do think is really interesting but not something he actively chose. That's not to say it/It's pronouns aren't valid, they ABSOLUTELY are, but in this case I think it would stem more from HYDRA beating into him that he's an object or a machine and not a person rather than any preference on Bucky's part. I do think there's an argument to be made though for Bucky actively choosing to refer to himself using he/it or even he/it/they in his head for those 2 years before CW where he's on the run since he's not really the Winter Soldier and not really Bucky but a super secret third thing that's in between the two.

And some quick drive by ones:

Most of the rest of the Avengers I could see being he/theys and she/theys respectively, or just not caring about pronouns

Steve is the Token Cis Avenger™️ in my mind I can't explain it but he just gives off that vibe imo. He's not het though.

like tbh I don't think Thor cares what pronouns you use for him (1500 years is way too long to be cis). I think Valkyrie is in a similar camp, but prefers She/They.

Yelena strikes me as someone who would be cool with She/They, same with most of the women on the Thunderbolts lineup tbh

I feel like Kate would be She/Her, but if someone used "they" for her she wouldn't stop them y'know?

I don't have many thoughts on the Eternals in general, but Sprite is a She/They nonbinary I will not take criticism on this subject. Tbh I think most of them are He and She/Theys for the same reasoning as Thor, but I think some of them are like what I said for Bucky where like they won't correct you if you use 'they'. Ikaris is their Token CisHet™️

I love the headcanon that Holland!Peter is a transman, and I could see him and MJ being He/They She/They solidarity

The entire lineup of X-Men '97 is made up of He/Theys and She/Theys except for Morph who is canonically(!!) They/them. Jean Grey and Scott are their Token CisHets™️ and are good sports about it. You cannot look at Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and Storm's designs specifically and tell me they're cis. Not possible.

Shuri gives She/They energy imo

Carol is a She/They lesbian, is dating Valkyrie, and her marriage to the prince on Aladna is a Lavender Marriage. Fight me.

Stephen is the Token CisHet Avenger™️

Loki and Sylvie both use all pronouns, but prefer he/they/xe and she/xe respectively

The Alien superheroes like Nebula, Gamora, Groot, etc. I feel probably have like semi-complicated relationship with human gender so I feel like they probably don't put to much thought into pronouns

These are my sort of knee jerk reaction responses!