#idk i know many cases like this irl and i think that their dynamics would also be like this

[evignonita]

uhghhg buzz grunt..... 😢..

[cokoweee]

OH wow! Two updates in 24 hours! Okay I really wanted to dig into this, because there were so many things on just the writing and dialogue and I LOVE it!

These two panels were fun, because there is something soft in Kendra’s face. Nostalgia, affection…also the wet beads of water coming off her hair, since she climbed out of the bath….but I’ll continue this rant later…

This is interesting….We have seen Donnie borderline catatonic so this could be Draxum’s latent parental instincts not wanting to push Donnie just yet. (Or worried that Kendra might be a trigger?)

Though funny that this was what pushed Casey to reach out….I included a snippet from Replica…but…lol both you and Kat having Casey very particular about her male family members helping her out, is understandable

Heh…that’s rich, considering you are gonna have your own lizard children Kendra…not that you know that, I guess… Still this feels like a “tempting fate” line/foreshadowing. Mostly, because Casey insisted that the father is human. (I think?) But likely a jab at how Kendra calls her “Beast” all the time.

Ohhh…what is this trinket?! <_<

This is the face of someone who is either gonna pretend to be a toy or a child if Kendra gets pulled over XD

Okay this brings me back to my thoughts after the first image…Kendra likely had been thinking about stuff since her initial talk while fixing Yuichi’s arm the first time. However the “event” and Raph’s chat with her possibly had her start really mulling over it. We know Kendra has been struggling with her identity in the way of not belonging. She accepted she was an outcast…and possibly still considers herself an outcast. However with everything she has been doing: the training, modifying the jetpack, upgrading Yuichi’s arm…it certainly is setting this precedence. If Kendra doesn’t fit in this group’s mold by default, she is gonna make some changes so she does.

The past Kendra would never adjust to accommodate others. She is unapologetically herself. So why is she going through the trouble to make little changes…why does she want to properly ask Donnie if she can stay with him? Because when you love someone, you accommodate them. And not in the way, that you should change yourself for someone. However if there are traits that are holding you back, and it benefits you both in the long run, sometimes little changes are necessary. Kendra is changing, because she wants this. She may not know how her dynamic will change, but she wants it to get better.

And…I forget how I planned to wrap this up, but…. It is an organic way to bring happily ever after that much closer, and in a way that doesn’t compromise Kendra’s identity. Again, your writing and dialogue are amazing, and the way you pair it with your drawings makes some great storytelling.

Oof writing is such a struggle but considering I do hours of acting out dialogue both irl and in my head certainly do help. NOW TO ANSWER SOME OF THESE LIL SNIPPETS U SEPERATED but under a cut cause this is a bit long lol

Draxum is a weird dude to write for me but for me he’s another that lost almost his whole fam. He doesn’t wanna risk losing the last one that’s there even if they aren’t how they once were.

CASEY NOT WANTING DRAXUM ALL UP IN HER 🍰 IS A REAL! ITS LIKE UR GRANDPA/DAD/UNCLE SAYING THEYLL DO IT FOR YOU

That lil TrInkEt will be helpful later :D (I think. Please I haven’t fully thought this plan through)

You point out that she never would accommodate for someone else and yuh you’re right. Bitch would make others accommodate to her. This tho

“Because when you love someone, you accommodate them”

Idk how to word this, it’s pretty difficult to conjure up in my head words for this. For her it’s. She can’t see those feelings. Define them. It’s a case of extra caring without knowing why and it’s irritating. Like a fly u can’t kill. Or a butterfly. Pretty and you don’t want it to leave but also don’t want that big bitch flying all up in your face

[doberbutts]

I think the terms TMA/TME work best when they're used as rules of thumb, rather than expected to function as strict categories. They're often helpful, but occasionally they can become obfuscatory, and there are edge cases where they can't be neatly applied. In those cases, they should be set aside, but with an understanding that they will be brought back into conversations when helpful.

To give a personal perspective - I'm a trans masc individual who has, upon occasion, experienced misdirected transmisogyny. I was on T for 5 years, then came off it (partly due to health problems, partly due to starting to identify as nonbinary rather than as a man) and began presenting in a more feminine manner, and people would regularly mistake me for a trans woman.

When people thought I was a trans woman, I did notice an increase in hostility, harassment and unwelcome advances from strangers. Groups of men would shout at me in the street, mothers would glare at me and physically pull their children further away from me if I came near. I also started getting catcalled and couldn't enjoy a night out in a club without being groped. I'd experienced some of these things as a trans man and as a girl, but probably never at such a high frequency or so intensely.

I definitely think I got a taste of transmisogyny and people do still assume I'm trans fem from time to time. But I still wouldn't describe myself as TMA. I don't shout it from the rooftops, but if it feels relevant in the context of a conversation, I will say I'm TME. Because I think the terms are about overarching dynamics, rather than whether or not an individual has ever faced a single instance of transmisogyny.

For me, there was always a sense of distance between myself and any negative experience, that came from knowing they'd misread my AGAB - "that lad just called me a chick with a dick! How funny! I'd be so lucky!" / "You're harassing me for using the female showers at the gym when I am literally menstruating. Are you going to stop being a creep, or do I have to show you my bloody tampon?" There's a degree to which I can sidestep or disavow their idea of me in a manner trans women can't.

I also don't know what it's like to deal with many other elements of transmisogyny, or deal with it as an overarching narrative in one's life rather than a freak episode.

I think it's fair to say I have at times been a grey area and I could use my experiences to argue against the validity of TME/TMA, but I don't want to do that. I don't like it when the terms are just used as a way to say AFAB/AMAB while being perceived as less problematic. But I think it is helpful to have little shorthand reminders about specific power dynamics that do have an impact in our communities. I have absolutely seen transmisogyny play out in queer spaces, both online and IRL, and I think it's worth having vocabulary that emphatically reminds people to check themselves and to not assume they don't have internalised bias against trans women just because they're trans masc.

Trans women are a boogeyman in popular culture and the collective unconscious in a way trans men never have been (at least, not to anything like the same extent). Trans women face an intensity of monstering that I think most people won't understand unless they spend a lot of time sharing space with and listening to trans women. The rapid adoption of TMA/TME feels like an attempt to fast-track that understanding en masse. Maybe it's a bit clumsy, but I do think it's having an impact and important conversations are happening. I don't know if the terms will stick or fall out of use. Having been in the trans community for over a decade and seeing how our vocabularies evolve, I'm inclined to think they'll stick around for a few years and then largely disappear. But I feel that while trans women are finding them useful, we need to be respectful of that fact.

Idk sorry to rant in your askbox, I wanted to give my two cents. Feel free to ignore lol

I'm going to be a bit blunt here: in the span of time I've been off tumblr to, you know, sleep... I've gotten 20 different asks trying to convince me to like the usage of tma/tme and also several transphobic asks about my top surgery. The transphobic ones I blocked and deleted because I'm literally 3 weeks out and will not be dissuaded. But I'm simply not willing to continue arguing a point I've made very clear that I don't love the usage of this particular theory the way it's currently being used.

You can like it for yourself. I have said this over and over again. I do not like it for me, and do not think it is accurate for my life or my experiences or the reality that is what I have to go through on a regular basis. True to everything else that I've posted, I don't really care what you call yourself. If you want to call yourself TME and you believe that framework works for your experience, more power to you. Just don't label me that, because I don't think it works for mine.

Trans women are absolutely a boogeyman in a way that trans men often aren't. That is, unfortunately, one of the ways that hypervisibility is such a curse. Everyone knows what a trans woman is, and a good majority of those people also think the only good one's a dead one. That's bad. That's transmisogyny, and we should ally with trans women to help fix this problem.

Also unfortunately, as trans men become more and more visible to the world, instead of facing mass erasure and dying in silence or escaping to live in stealth, trans men are also beginning to become a boogeyman as well. Now we are a social contagion, a craze, with rapid onset gender dysphoria, mutilating ourselves and ruining our precious bodies, carving out our wombs, simultaneously debasing ourselves and also becoming predators lurking to snatch daughters up and forcefeed them our ideology, betraying women by becoming a mockery of men. What's worse, we tend to politically close ranks with trans women and cis women alike so it's harder for transphobic lawmakers to divide and conquer as they're used to with cis men, so instead they have to demonize us to prevent any further allyship.

That's the conversation trans mascs are trying to have.

Genuinely, I do agree that trans women face an othering that most people do not grasp without understanding transmisogyny theory, which is why I think everyone should have at least a basic understanding of it. But I also think that's true of many other demographics, and that if we want to get out of the pit that bigoted society put us in, we've got to work together to do so. It was, after all, the combined efforts of Marsha P Johnson AND Storme de Laverie that brought us out in the open. And among me friend group, we have people from all different races and backgrounds and genders and more locking arms to ensure the safety of each other, wanting to understand and know each other, lifting each other up.

[hyewka]

There really has been no dom beomgyu smuts lately as a switch myself I’m a little sad haha but I also find it really funny but I don’t think there’s a lot of sub beomgyu smuts just because people think beomgyu is submissive because honestly I just think the whole of txt are switches and I think dynamics also really depend on what kind of partner you have as well so I wouldn’t say someone is dominant or someone is submissive. I think reading femdom smuts is just a lot more fun to read and probably to write because I feel like normal ones can get quite repetitive and it feels more exhilarating and powerful even if you aren’t actually a dom irl it’s nice to see women being more dominant with men because in real a lot of guys have quite a fragile masculinity with it. Also txt tumblr is quite small compared to other kpop writing communities I’ve seen, there isn’t actually that many consistent blogs on here and so actual smuts on any txt members have actually been quite sparse. I’d say sub beomgyu became a thing because of the blueprint blogs that kickstarted it such as wildernessuntothemselves I had never really seen submissive beomgyu until they came around and other blogs such as you and fairyofshampgyu inspired others to write sub beomgyu because those blogs were the only really ones consistent and kickstarting this. Haha I don’t know why this is so long but hopefully it is somewhat coherent!

Definitely agree with the femdom writing being fun-- like, you don't need to be a dom in real life to enjoy writing it and that is the case for me 😅 This is a little bit of a contradiction to your earlier statement but I genuinely do not believe I have one percentage of dominant energy, completely submissive over the years with my relationships (but I'm starting to doubt it just a little bit after getting into femdom content so....idk 😂). Yes, yes about the women being more powerful kind of serving as an exhilarating experience even when just writing it-- is it a little embarrassing to admit that most of my smut are incredibly self indulgent? Lol I seriously just cannot with meeting so many men who have fragile masculinity, working with them, talking with them-- it just bleeds through every interaction it's aggravating! Writing it as a fantasy of putting someone "in their place", definitely like a reliever after having to put up with it practically every day of my life.

Point made with TXT tumblr being small! Did a quick comparison to other 4th gen boy groups and it's a little odd how significant the difference is at times? 😂 Yet the smut tag has more people posting under (maybe that changed over the past few months and fluff is what people are leaning more towards?) even though there's definitely a sparse number of consistent blogs (which would naturally equate to less variety in content).

Ha! I was on here earlier than I started posting like most people are on tumblr, and I'd have to say that your observation skills are so good because lol yes, @wildernessuntothemselves (heh sorry for tagging you mort but i just might want you to see this 😂) was definitely a blog I first got introduced to with sub!beomgyu like, just hardcore, straight up whiny boy and a powerful woman (lover = loser fic...ah, very delicious).

There were definitely some fics here and there, but kick starting it, I'd want to give that credit to her! After a bit, @fairyofshampgyu came out with their fuck you series, and I'd say both are sort of the blueprint of the recent rising in seeing beomgyu as a very strong sub. Before this, you'd see one of those MTL posts and almost always Beomgyu is categorized as a hardcore dom, and now I almost get shocked seeing Beomgyu being considered more of a sub than Hueningkai and Soobin (who were often seen as softer doms or just sub men in general).

I wasn't even meaning to turn this blog into a sort of sub!beomgyu cult of fics, like...at all so I find it funny that I'm jumbled together with a more experienced writer like Nia 😂 But yeah, some really good points. It's just funny how a few months ago I was desperately looking for anything sub!beomgyu related (to the point i created this blog in hopes of receiving sub beomgyu requests), just a tinge because everything under the smut tag was hardcore dom, I wouldn't have imagined the tables would turn so quickly especially considering male subs aren't particularly that popular comparative to their counterparts.

I do feel for people who are sub leaning, content is sparse with txt in general-- and for people to get even simply blocked for requesting a dominant beomgyu? A... little insane 😅? I even remember this sort of thing being brought up around three months ago, someone talking about how they see Beomgyu as a complete dom and do not understand that appeal of the recent surge of sub Beomgyu-- perception is different, and I do wish for you and others to get more dominant Beomgyu fics, everyone deserves a little treat 😭

[dcjokerhs]

8 shows to get to know you

i was tagged by @arrysa-clair so... thank u huney /p ^w^

Katekyo Hitman Reborn: 🎵HELLO MY LUVELY HELLO MY HUNEY, HELLO MY RAGTIME GALLLL!!🎵 This wasn't the first fandom I wrote fanfic for, but I just,,,, YES!! 100%!! YES!! Because this shounen I Binged because of 1 CardFight! Vanguard/KHR crossover and THEN I WAS INVESTED, and now I am The Biggest Simp... It was also the fandom where I had to admit that I'm a filthy filthy multishipper so... OOPS, GUESS I CAN NEVER UNDO THAT!!!

Bagpuss: 🎵Bagpuss, oh Bagpuss, soggy-old-cat puss, wake up and see this thing that I bring, wake up, be bright! Be golden and light! Bagpuss, oh hear what I sing.🎵 THIS SHOW!!! THIS SHOW IS MY LOVE, MY BLOOD, AND NOW ONE OF THE LEAST-KNOWN SHOWS, EVEN THOUGH IT'S BLIMMIN GREAT (apart from one episode that suddenly comes to mind because HHHH IT WAS MADE IN THE SIXTIES AND THE OBJECT WAS A PAIR OF BOWING MEN) But think, like, Toys coming to life to check out this neat little thing their owner's brought, using songs, stories and poems to tell what the thing *really* is, working together to fix or clean the object, then moving it into the window "So anyone who had lost [the object] Would see it, and know it was found" AND THAT ENTIRE SHOW!! I LIVE FOR!!! If I need to sew, or if I'm sick, or even if I just don't want to watch much and snk into a pile of plushies, I can pop this show on, and listen to a soggy old pink and white cat, a raggedy old bookend, a toad with a banjo, a music box of mice and a well-loved doll explain why a small cushion is really the seat of the boney king of nowhere's throne. I Am Soft.

Thunderbirds/Thunderbirds Are Go: THIS SHOW, THIS SHOW I WROTE FANFICTION FOR BEFORE I EVEN KNEW WHAT FANFIC WAS!! I still even have the cute li'l notebook it was written in, now sans cover, IT IS UPSTAIRS IN A BOX AND I WAS SO YOUNG my handwriting was a full 2cm/0.8inch TALL, SO EACH PAGE WAS BASICALLY 5-7 LINES OF WIGGLY TEXT, because of course the paper doesn't have lines, and MY WRITING WAS SO CUTE AND SIMPLISTIC I WANT TO SQUEEZE YOUNGER-ME'S CHEEKS!! And then younger me made it have a crossover with Lazytown, because I was a sucker... AND NOW WE HAVE T.B.A.G, AND CHCGHCG I WAS ECSTATIC, my dad and brother less so, BUT I LOVE IT, and now I am back on my thunderbirds bs. /lol

Tantei Gakuen Q/Detective Class Q: I adore both the anime and the live action for this one. They may have slightly different stories, but they're still both quite powerful, and very fun, but also able to talk about some topics in ways that make me tilt my head a little, like the idea of an area cut off from the outside world, finding peace within the smaller things, or, from the live action, how far one person can go in search of freedom, and how that can then be framed by others during the uncovery of that story. Also! The cases!!! They can seem so complex, yet, then the answer will turn out so simple, and I absolutely adore that! ^w^

Gravity Falls: IDK what it is, but the idea of some kids just having fun, finding something, then having fun solving the issue, or going hrough an experience, and then supporting each other on the other side, getting the support of their chaotic family.... HHHHHHHH /pos. I am Very Soft. Also, fxghxfcghcfgh, Bill and Dipper's Entire Dynamic brings me life. Jesu Maria.... AND THEN I REMEMBER THEY'RE 12!! THEY CAN'T EVEN OWN A BANK ACCOUNT YET, SOMEONE GET THESE KIDS THERAPY OH MY GOODNESS!! bUT!!! SOOS!! YEEEEEE!! idk ok NEXT ONE!

School Babysitters: I may not be able to handle children irl, but the stories between the kids, the way the students handle caring for the kids, THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CENTRAL DUO!!! HAS MADE ME CRY!! SO MANY TIMES!!! ARARARARARARARARA!!! I LOVE THEM!!! HHHHH!!

SCOOBY DOO! WHERE ARE YOU?/SCOOBY DOO, MYSTERY INCORPERATED!: My first crush was Daphne. I didn't realise it was a crush, I was just like "yeah, the others are pretty cool... But Daphneee..." And Nowadays I go "oh dearheart, Oh Sweetie" BECAUSE, HAHA, SHE IS STILL A FICTIONAL CRUSH, THIS WOMAN IS A COMPETENT QUEEN, tho some shows they make her a little mean, AND THAT'S WHY SB:WAY AND SB:MI ARE MY FAVOURITES, because Daphne is Adorable-- OMG I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THE baby version of scoobydoo, oh my goodness that was adorable, though THE FACT THEY DECIDED THAT THE YOUNG VERSIONS WERE JUST WHO THE CHARACTERS ARE FROM BIRTH WHEN CGJHCHJCGJCGHJ YOU CAN'T TELL ME VELMA WASN'T THE CHEEKIEST BABY! YUHUXFH\OEW7SZDUFIYFWZPS9OUFZHRXDC8ZOSEYRHFNRICKUJFZBXED!!!!!

And last, but ne'er least: CUTE HIGH EARTH DEFENSE CLUB LOVE/BINAN KOUKOU CHIKYUU BOUEI-BU LOVE! That Show!!!!! THIS SHOW!!!! AAAA!!! Think, like, Genderbent Magigirl anime, but, again, Genderbent, and it's so cute, and funny, and yet it SOMEHOW, SOMEHOW, DESPITE BEING THE LIGHTEST THING SINCE FREE!, I AM a total mess mum plz come and pick me up i will cry from CUTENESS ISTG!!!

Gods, picking out stuff was so hard, but so fun, because I had to say "No" to Dream SMP, I had to turn down shows like the Katrielle Layton Anme because I ONLY GOT TO WATCH THAT ONCE, AND I AM SO SALTY 'CAUSE THAT WAS SO CUTE!! But then, hhhhh!!! /vpos /lovinglyfrustrated. Other shows skipped are Ouran High School Host Club, Free!, How to Keep a Mummy, Merlin, Dr Who, M.I.High, Good Omens (Good God do I love Good Omens), Love Stage!! aaand Marginal Prince.

Anyway!! Tagging!! I have no clue!! UUUUUUUUUHHHHH

@captaindragonsgold @snailraffle @slytherinroyaltyblogs @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars @silverdrip

^w^ Have Fun! ^w^

[johnmalevolent]

heyyyyy, gintama for the fandom asks?

iris did you know that i love you

The first character I first fell in love with: Gintoki. i've loved him even before i watched gintama (that blorbo in law situation) it was of course partly sharing a friend's enthusiasm but also his design. now that i know his whole character it just makes me fall even more... and these are why:

his dead fish eye. his lack of energy. his sweet tooth. the one arm sticking out of his yukata bcs he thinks it's cool (he insists its just so he could grab his wooden sword faster). the way he rarely refuses to help people even if he acts annoyed about it.

he's kind of like reigen in many ways (28 year old freelancer - albeit questionable job - and bad older brother figures for some middle schoolers)

he's a gag character but sometimes he also acts as a straight man. i think he believes himself to be the sanest person when compared to his childhood friends (which. honestly doesn't say much). also im weak for characters voiced by mr Sugita

oh yeah have i mentioned his design. of course his main outfit is really cool but i love the ones we sometimes see him in. like his winter clothes, the ryokan uniform, shiroyasha, white blood king, that one time he switched job to a truck driver, his host suit, enmi... so many. he also crossdressed several times and slayed the look. despite wanting to have him in my bed someday im actually not that crazy over shirtless gintoki (except for his pink strawberry boxer shorts). the rule is the more layers of fabric he puts on, the more in love i am

and of course his *checks notes* wonderful personality

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: tbh Takasugi.. he's Gintoki's childhood friend but after what happened 10 years ago their relationship seems mostly hateful on the outside, but they actually treasure the other very much as a friend. when he first appeared he was introduced as an antagonist, probably the main one for the whole series, and it was kinda meh because at that point i was watching gintama for the comedy. but after watching the flashback of their time together it hurts just thinking about them. I've rewatched this one scene of them from the Gintama final movie and i cried every single time. if you're okay w major spoilers the clip should be in my "#jiwa perak" tag under a read more

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: see this is hard cos im not really deep in the fandom buuuut if i have to choose its shinpachi... its not that i dont like him, I just care for him the least...... he's good when paired with other characters (with gintoki & kagura or with his sister) but when he's by himself he's not that interesting. and i get it he's supposed to not be interesting. it's a whole joke that shinpachi is the most boring character. idk sorry shinpachi i hope they give you some new trait in the ginpachi spin-off

The character I love that everyone else hates: sorry idk who is the hated character in the fandom 😭

The character I used to love but don’t any longer: Kintoki, maybe? he was a robot created per Shinpachi & Kagura's request because their current boss (Gintoki), who was nowhere to be found (probably drinking), is very irresponsible. so Kintoki is the polar opposite of Gintoki, created to be perfect in the ways gintoki couldn't. i used to really love him because of his charisma (took a bunch of screenshots & collected fanart of him) but after his arc ended i kinda forgot about him lmao. im chill about him now

The character I would totally smooch: gintoki. in case that wasn't clear

The character I’d want to be like: i want that katsura non-binary look and then my life would be complete. i dont want his brain tho

The character I’d slap: sakamoto. i love him but he's so annoying <3 i wld kill him irl

A pairing that I love: hijikata/gintoki!! i think they have a nice dynamic. unlike gintoki, hijikata is a very strict person. everytime they meet they always fight, but they understand each other and do well when fighting together. both of them insists they're not friends but when gintoki left town hijikata said "I'm gonna look for him." how do you expect me to not go insane.

ginsachi is also up there, and tbh if gintoki said he'd marry me after our first meeting I'd react like sacchan did. sacchan is a creep but i support girls wrong etc. it's a shame they dont really have many episodes together after that except when it's another harem episode :/

A pairing that I despise: GINTOKI/KYUUBEI. im glad there isnt actually many fancontent of them but my god do i despise it. i hate that kyuubei has sooo much potential as a non-binary character but became a part of gintoki's harem. like. i cannot see in kyuubei the same character that appeared in their debut arc. i know them starting to embrace their feminine side is an important trait but at this point it feels like they're turned into a girl just because. i know it sounds like im just talking about kyuubei im just really pissed lmao. it also doesnt make any sense to me how they would even have feelings for gintoki :(

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOO per your post abt tiktok I had no idea that was a thing but I’ve never seen any acc that would be you come up as a suggested account (I rarely get them anyways but when I do it’s usually like some acquaintance of sorts) so from my end youre safe o7

PLEASSEEEE “is it home wrecking if the homes already wrecked” GOODBYE

Niko having to put up with aikus shenanigans is so funny he’s taking one for the team

REAL miraverse reo>>> peregrine getting revamped into “reo is friendless” LOL

UAHAHAHA NO DW YOURE GOOD!! I have not once seen an acc that resembles anything close to what I would imagine to be you (??) no Miras or any accounts with names similar to Mira either I just see the original tiktok and whoever posted it like usual YOURE SAFE but AWEESJHS IM HONORED LMAO but there’s definitely nothing immediate that shows indicating you sent it or anything so I think you should be all good!! Even after looking through all the links you’ve shown in our convo too I’ve never had anything pop up and I doom scroll there soooo Also lowk I can’t remember how many you’ve linked outside of our convo but tbh idk how many people are reading through like the 100k words worth of convo we have so for the TikTok’s you’ve shown me you’re also probably fine

LMAOO I think I need to go recalibrate my fyp and get some yona on there omg

OAEU TIME LETS GOOOO but FR im sure inspo will strike for the req soon! Maybe you’ll get ideas while you’re writing oaeu LOL

LMAOOOO FRR THEYRE SO FUNNY I think its esp funny to think abt bc bllk is canonically live-streamed so imagine in their free time egos like “ok so bc that money grabbing tanuki needs more money yall gotta be streamers and gamers now get on YouTube”

NO FRRR I LAUGHED SO HARD I was trying to figure out wtf that was in zantetsus aura the fucking bullet train has me crying Nagi looking gorgeous and I always appreciate those villainous Karasu panels!!

- Karasu anon

OKAY YAYYY it’s only happened a couple of times for me with people on tumblr like once an anon sent a vid to me and i got the “___ shared a video with you” so i guess they might have seen me?? and just earlier i sent a video to one of my mutuals in an ask and i got a notification saying “___ viewed the video you sent” so they also might have seen my acct which ugh but at least it’s only two people 😰

LMAOO karasu is just helping natural processes along he’s not actually doing anything problematic 😩 the relationship already sucked it’s not like he’s being a bad person (not that aiku cares he’s just excited to pass along his wisdom because nobody but niko even listens to him and niko has 0 interest in getting girls so he’s alone on that front until karasu comes up to him) okay i think the aiku and niko dynamic in the oaeu might kind of be like miraverse tabiori?? like goofy siblings/slight father son vibes…i think it’s what makes the most sense for them HAHAH

half of the high school era in peregrine is just reo being like pleaseee be my friend pleaseeee like in the next chapter which i haven’t finished yet it’s revealed that reo is straight up trying to buy reader’s friendship LMAOAOA he does eventually win her over obviously but it’s not via monetary means 😭 but fr ironically (considering how she doesn’t want to be close to reo because her parents want her to marry him) reo is like the longest consistent relationship reader has in her entire life FJSKDJSH they’re like lowkey also soulmates…the funniest thing is if reader’s parents hadn’t pushed her to marry him to the point that she despised the idea they actually might’ve gotten together 😓 self sabotage on the l/n parents’ part at its finest

HELP OKAY GOOD my irl name is not actually mira but it’s uncommon enough that i wanted to come up w a pseudonym for online in case anyone i know irl found this acct…it’s pretty similar to mira so if it had come up you def would’ve been like “oh yeah this is her” JDFJSJ so that’s good 🙂‍↕️ and OFCCC i’ve become insta friends w a couple of my mutuals from tumblr once i’ve known them for a while 🤩 my rule is if we’ve been talking for enough that i feel like we would be friends irl you can get the irl socials HAHA…also very true…i think outside of our convos i posted that snuffy edit once?? and then the aforementioned tt that i sent to my mutual but otherwise yeah i don’t link too many if it’s not just between us

HAHA if you ever need shinah edits let me know i probably have every single one saved i will happily send my favs (i also have some of the other characters but shinah def has the most because…well it’s SHINAH)

i’ve been like lying on my couch all day doing nothing so no writing done unfortunately but trust i will be back at it and something should be out reasonably soon!! whether it’s a req or oaeu i cannot say but something for sure 🤩

LMAOO the bllkers (except reo because he’s rich 🤑) have to pick up side gigs in order to fund the project…barou starts a cleaning service…yuki and chigiri get into modeling…nagi becomes a streamer but people only follow because he’s hot so he has to do insane fan service in every stream…hiori starts a reaction video youtube channel and gets rin to guest star and they go mega viral because rin consistently says out of pocket bs plus they’re both pretty (rin accidentally gets sae cancelled for a week by saying smth crazy before revealing he’s related to sae)…otoya convinces karasu to become a scammer/find sugar mommies with him…it would be insane LMAOAOAO

I WAS SO CONFUSED AT FIRST AND THEN I WAS LIKE OMFG IT’S A TRAIN!! ig it fits w his backstory where he learned he was fast because he always missed the train???? LMAOAO honestly he’s such an unreal character i love him 😭 and yesss epinagi nagi is always STUNNING but they rlly put the focus on karasu and kiyora this time around like kiyora looked ADORABLE this chapter and karasu looks like a genuine villain but in a fine way 🤩 i can’t help but admit that idgaf abt himizu though like i kinda find him weird (the whole tongue thing is just. uh??? interesting??) and i’m worried abt what he’s foreshadowing w chigiri 😰

[vermillioncrown]

I think there’s so many different ways to have self inserts/reincarnation done - like you said/implied reincarnating after a life as an adult doesn’t mean you necessarily retain your full mental age, maturity, etc even if you do have memories of it. There’s soemthing to be said about life stage too - a lot of the issue I find in age gap relationships irl is when ppl are in completely diff stages in life. In my opinion it’s totally fine to have 20+ yr age gaps as long as the people in them don’t have weird power dynamics going on and are in the same stage in life ie working adults).

But I do and have had issues with high school aged people (ie grade 10/9) dating grade 7/ or wools in elementary school. The age gaps smaller yeah but it’s at least where I live a completely different stage and general maturity level if that makes any sense

Also I think in fics this is honestly an overblown issue in a lot of cases… the vast majority of ppl who read a fic know that the 100+ yr age gap between edgy not-teen vampire and average 16 year old would be horrifically creepy irl but I don’t think it’s morally wrong to enjoy content like that. There should be a bigger acknowledgment in my opinion the differences between fiction and reality, and I don’t think we need to be so invested in applying what we think is right in real life to fiction, at least in the cases of age gaps. As long as the power dynamics + similar enough life stage are healthy i personally don’t see too much of an issue?

Idk I’m open to hearing other opinions and changing my mind on this but these are my current thoughts

yep i totally agree. it's being in different life arenas - ie. we're facing different things in our lives. that's why a small age gap in hs is skeevier than a 20+ year age gap if you both pay taxes and know how to hold down a job

^that's in general

clear cut delineation of maturity is a bit chicken-and-egg. no magical switch flips when you turn 18, but you do go through common milestones that might standardize your mental maturity in that way

also also yes, it's a story and we're here to see how these characters interact (also i'm of the opinion that edward cullen is stunted at 17, just legit brain frozen at undercookedness forever lmao but that's neither here nor there)

idk guess i'll designate this post as the post for ppl to put their replies. i have nothing to argue or convince you of, anon

[sems-diarie]

something ab the way marsha likes cassie but hates maddy feels racially motivated 😑 also the way nate views maddy and cassie differently feels racially motivated as well. like he sees cas as this amazing dream girl but sees maddy who is a woc as the problem and that she’s crazy as if he hasn’t pushed her to that point. i feel like they made maddy the whole “spicy latina” stereotype whereas in nates dream cas is the all american, traditional housewife. now idk whether this was done purposely bc i honestly don’t think sam levinson is that smart to make the storyline out to be that way w how much he’s fucked up some of the characters this season💀 (*cough* kat *cough*) . and how he treats the black characters like mckay and rue at times feels tone deaf so i’m not really sure he understands how these dynamics can come into play as a white man. but this definitely does happen irl where white men see and use woc as like an adventure or escapade but will ultimately settle down w a white woman in the end. and their families, in this case marsha, encourage them to be w the white woman as well .

when i tell you i felt this bar for bar. it has to be intentional but i truly don’t know if sam levinson is… not experienced enough—but i don’t know if he has the expertise it would take to draw those parallels between maddy and cassie. especially considering what happened with mckay’s trauma, and how they made that all about cassie, as well (then just fucking removing him off the whole fucking show) but if it’s not intentional then that would be too fucking ironic because the narrative surrounding women of color—

actually, no. it might not be sam, but the writers of euphoria are definitely doing this intentionally. cassie isn’t just trying to take nathan away from maddy—look at cassie’s new look in the episode preview. she’s trying to become maddy. how many white girls do we know that imitate woc to seem more excitable or appealing to the white man 😭

like hello? ofc marsha doesn’t like maddy. marsha is a white woman from the suburbs who probably felt in competition with girls like maddy because woc are treated as fetishes rather than actual human beings 😭 either that or she was the kind of white girl who’s never been exposed to minorities (because she’s never had to be) and is uncomfortable with that.

someone also brought it to my attention that she could just be a closeted racist. which actually makes me sick 2 think ab 😭 she had me giggling in this last episode ☹️ now i gotta take my laughs back

[torchickentacos]

Battle Frontier Arc Episode 3: A Real Cleffa-Hanger!

So, we have our first filler it seems. We're headed to the battle factory, and Misty is along this time! I somehow missed this episode as a kid.

Quick Daisy cameo, love her. She's so fun-especially in Chronicles, which I recently watched an episode of with friends!

So, we're at the base of Mt. Moon. Max makes sone snide remark to his sister about how EvErYbOdY knows cleffa never reveal themselves to humans. So a cleffa, fueled by spite if I were to assume, reveals itself .5 seconds later. This looks like a classic 'help lost pokemon get home' episode so far. Not bad, but we've seen it many times over. Cleffa comes over and immediately starts playing with the other pokemon (bless corphish, he looks so concerned lmao).

Turns out, Cleffa loves the pokemon but is scared of humans, or at least May who immediately approaches the wild animal. But this is pokemon, where that's a normal and usually safe thing to do, so I'll let it slide. Max makes yet another snide remark about how Cleffa is running from May's scary face and then 'hides' behind Misty. I LOVE THE MISTY AND MAX FRIENDSHIP. SO MUCH. I assume it's youngest sibling solidarity, but I'm the oldest so I wouldn't know. Either way, SUPER fun dynamic I wish we saw more of. Also, cleffa's voice is very noticeably just Misty but whatever.

Team rocket shows up with one of their sucky machines (which. by the way. What's the power of those? Because in this episode it only gets Azurill and Cleffa. but in Who What When Where Wynaut, which yes, I do have entirely memorized thank you for asking, it manages to get all pokemon, all party members plus drew who did not ask to be included in any of this, and it's magikarp shaped, as if that makes it LESS conspicuous. Do they not standardize the sucking power of their machines??? Is it just random every time???? What do you even call units of suckage??? Moving on from this before I make an inevitable suck/blow power joke here.) ANYWAYS. Swellow gets them back, and oh-nevermind, THERE'S the powerful sucking that picks up all of them but not the humans this time. Again, no standardization. Moving on. A single poison tail from Seviper does a lot of damage to pikachu, nonexistent power scaling, hello my old friend, you guys know how this goes. Also, this.

All pokemon get blown out when Jessie accidentally puts it in reverse, this seems to be an incredible waste of time honestly, but we have 20 minutes to fill. AG is so funny with this because some episodes, it's just FULL of crazy/entertaining shit happening (not a moment of spontaneous combusken is dull, for better or worse) and other times they have to call in team rocket to waste time.

TR explodes their own machine, which somehow only blows Max and Misty away???, and there's our plot, I guess. Similar to Who What When Where Wynaut, I assume this episode is going to be 'team members get split up, let's find them'. Except in this case, the split-up team members are actually both somewhat functional human beings who I imagine will NOT fall off of a cliff into a river with an oncoming waterfall, but we'll see.

Oh. nevermind. No waterfall this time, though. Not joking, I pause and write these as I watch the episodes, and I had no idea this would be the very next frame after I unpaused.

Shoutout to Misty's bag, which I would pay a lot of money for to own irl.

We see a clefairy and clefable looking for Cleffa. These two run into Ash, May, and Brock.

Max is such a little shit tbh. He rags on May and Ash for not being the best like no one ever was. I KNOWWWWW he's the annoying little brother but it feels needlessly rude in this episode, honestly. Though, I think it could be that with Misty, he has a place to actually get it all out? Idk, maybe this is just venting but in an eight year old asshole kinda way.

Oh. here we are again. May and Drew have been beat in the 'falling off of a cliff' category, 2 to 1.

We get a sweet little sibling moment with Misty and Max. (Though. Max says may is practically helpless without him, which...whatever helps him sleep at night).

Everybody runs into eachother again, cleffa family included, team rocket shwos up, does their thing, Misty uses bubble and it looks like the cgi from the celebi movie, TR goes away, end of episode. Cleffa and friends use emtronome and somehow all get the same move instead of a tail whip, tackle, draco meteor, stun spore, et cetera. Munchlax also joins, which is fun. I do like that they remembered Munchlax here. Cute, better filler than we get other times but we've also had filler better than this. MIsty and Max are the main draw here, though Max could have been written better.

Pros: Misty and max bonding, and the clefairy guy from gen 1 didn't show up. This guy. Glad to not see him tbh, he irks me.

Cons: ag filler, could have had fun moon stone for skitty????

[cowboyjen68]

"A history of sleeping with or dating men does not mean someone is straight or bi." - i really have to disagree with this ESPECIALLY now in 2020. There's a case to be made for previous generations I suppose but imo anyone born after idk like 1985 (and in a western country) I really don't think this explanation holds up in an era of tolerance, acceptance, and laws changing in our favour.

I think you are wrong. Laws don’t change religion, family dynamics, cultural traditions, or attitudes. Lesbians are still very much raised surrounded by straight being the “healthy default”. What is celebrated as normal is to find a  “nice man” and get married and have kids. This is still very much the societal expectation. It is not really the fault of society, statistically, most people will be straight. The whole “find a nice man” crap is bullshit for any sexual orientation but yet, it is still held up as the ideal.  

You can’t just pick a random year “idk like 1985″ as the year that “TADA. it is great to be gay!”. It does not work that way.  Young gay men are still called “f%^gots” by their peers. Young lesbians are still sexualized and demeaned for liking women. Butches are told they are predators or “manly”. Young femmes are told they are “too pretty to be lesbians”.   I raised many kids and still have one in school. She takes crap every day for “dressing like a boy” or “wanting to be a man”.. she is not trans nor sees herself as GNC.. she just likes boys clothes and short hair. (guilty by default I guess).  

I am active with an LGBT youth and adult support center and in lesbian mentor circles and on line, and trust me, what you think about “things changing in our favour” is wrong. Dead wrong. If you are lucky enough to have zero backlash for your orientation or presentation or maybe you are just THAT strong to avoid that bullshit seeping into your brain, kudos to you and congratulations on privileges few of us have.  

I have raised foster kids who were kicked from middle class homes for being gay or being to “girly for a boy”. It is disgusting but reality. 

I lived in a time when it was dangerous to be out. (or could be) and many of my friends lived when it was down right illegal to be same sex attracted.  I can tell you.. laws do not change attitudes nor stop families (and random strangers) from letting us know they think our natural attraction is wrong or perverted. Many kids, internet access or no, are isolated from real life Lesbian role models. I get Facebook and Tumblr messages, and now some on Tiktok, telling me they know no older butches IRL or any lesbians of any age.  I can tell you, as someone that looked my entire childhood to see older women like me, that missing piece can cause us to mistrust our own feelings and act in opposition to what we really need to be happy. 

So call it Comp Het or call it societal influences or call it “trying to fit it” or call it internalized homophobia, but dating, having sex with, marrying men is something many young lesbians do because they mistrust the feelings they have since they have no life model to go by. Or possibly, they are well aware of their same sex attraction but have been told it is “not real” or a “Phase” or “girl crushes are normal.. it will go away” or perhaps they fear loss of safety, home, family and security and they hope ( or try to believe) that if they try hard enough, they can learn to be happy in a heterosexual role. 

I would urge you to have some sympathy, to look at the lives of others not in your bubble or echo chamber and see that not everyone has an easy path to discover or live their true passionate best lesbian life. I wish they did, and I am doing my part to  be visible and out to help those who need to see their future in a real life lesbian. 

[thetrashywritingwitch]

💮💮Heyyy, I have a really annoying pet peeve in romance fanfiction and wanted to know your opinion.

So I really hate it when the author goes like "x characher was in love with y character" despite them not even being friends?!?

And then they continue on to say that how x character was jealous and insecure about z character (who is presumably a hot person).

Although I don't see it as impossible, I dislike it when the pacing is too fast like, how can you be in love with someone who your not even friends with. You don't even know the person on a surface level basis, like how???

And from my understanding of love, it stems from feelings of trust, deep understanding and such, it seems like the author is describing a crush but framing it as love just cause they were too lazy to go in depth about how they were strangers to friend to pining idiots to lovers u know?

And I'm not saying all fics should go into every little detail about x and ys relationship, but at least make them friend (so the reader does the imagining) or just take the easy route and go x just had a crush. Idk am I just too sensitive abt these thing?

Alo remember to drink water and eat, our favourite author needs to stay healthy

_ stay safe, flower anon💮💮

YOOOO WE ARE ON THE SAME BIG BRAIN WAVELENGTH WHEN IT COMES TO PET PEEVES

i think this, in part, stems from romanticizing... romance, if that makes sense. as in, being enamored with the tropes of love/romance/falling in love/heavily cliched "love at first sight" premises, etc. when most of what we see in popular media just... isn't realistic or even relatable to the average person who has been in love

you can have a CRUSH on someone if you don't know them well. you can have immediate sexual or physical attraction to a complete stranger (i mean, that's what porn is, right?), you might even feel jealousy over this person being around others (this one is a toxic trait linked heavily with insecurity and immaturity, in general), etc.

but no, i don't believe in any kind of "love at first sight" mantra that many fics and headcanons unfortunately fall into because it's bullshit and not real lol. it's one thing i guess to... write about 😍😍😍 this fairytale-esque idea of just KNOWING you're in love with this person you barely know. maybe the "mysterious stranger" appeal is in there somewhere, or the "they're so cool/unapproachable/popular that i'd never have a chance, so i'll just fantasize an imaginary version of them in my head that seems like my perfect match in every way and then project that onto the REAL character/person who might not really act like that at all, destroying the fantasy"

y'know, like that!

the horrible pacing is also annoying. i mean... there's a reason my fic is fucking 500k words at this point and uhhh for 3/4 of that, "love" was not in the mix. this is kiiiiinda why scenarios where they start off as just barely knowing each other or friends-of-friends or polite coworkers or something tosses me for a loop when all of a sudden things go from 3 to 99 really fucking quickly with like, zero buildup or anticipation.

but its also people writing what they want for free on the internet that's, in most cases, completely self indulgent and less for us as content consumers and more as "i wanna write this thing" where real scenarios have little say (i have a *thing* against yandere/abuse/really imbalanced power dynamics/age gaps being romanticized and easily publicly accessible because it can and does give the wrong impression about certain situations that put irl people in danger. there's def those ppl out there who will see a stalking/obsession/controlling dynamic in a fic and think it would be awesome to have someone obsessed with them, some kind of dream come true... and like yes! those types of kinks do exist! and can happen SAFELY with CONSENTING ADULTS who are into that! but not everyone (esp minors, no offense, sorry) who stumble on this kind of thing might be able to distinguish between consenting kink and romanticizing abuse)

.... that got OFF TOPIC but its still important lkajsl;kfjaf ANYWAY-

yeah. basically, i agree and it's annoying lol but it's best to just don't read/block if you run into it and move onto things you DO enjoy reading

i did drink a lot of wooder today and i made a yummy creamy tuscan chicken recipe for dinner 😤

thanks flower anon 💮

[sparrowmoth]

I’m back in case nobody ever asked about your boy, so…. Carlos de Vil for the ask meme :)

@hoodpane Aww, thank you, sweetheart, I appreciate that! 🥰♥️♥️

1. Sexuality Headcanon

I headcanon (and write) him variously as gay OR bisexual since I can see it either way with him, for reasons akin to my thoughts on Evie in this post. Sometimes, I headcanon him as aspec, too, and that's been at the back of my mind with certain fics, but I haven't yet decided if I feel strongly about him fitting a particular label or if I'm just trying to figure out things for myself by projecting different labels at him idk.

Anyway, related (gender) headcanon that I can never shut up about: whatever sexuality I'm writing him as, he's always he/they nonbinary in my mind, my writing, my memes, just everything jdkaljgklsg. <3

2. OTP

Jaylos, my beloved! For me, there's no universe in which these two don't end up together, which is why they come out on top as my OTP, deeply fond as I am of the Rotten OT4 ship. Marlos and Carvie can be romantic or platonic, it's fine either way, but if Jaylos isn't happening, I probably won't bother. I just don't enjoy reading them in other ships.

3. BROTP

I think Jane and Carlos are really cute as friends. It makes me really happy to think about Jay and Carlos going on double dates with Jane and Lonnie (who are in lesbians together, change my mind you can't).

I'm also here for Chad being the bestie Carlos literally never wanted. Their dynamic is just so fucking funny. It makes no sense! Compels me though. And Mal, Jay, and Evie absolutely tease Carlos about it.

4. NOTP

No hate, but I'm not here for Benlos. I think it's cute that Ben clearly has a crush on Carlos, but I mean, it's Ben. Show me a VK he doesn't have a crush on lmao. I don't know, this ship just leaves me bored, so I'll usually take a hard pass on anything that features them together.

Less common nopes I've encountered: Gilos and Chadlos. Just nope.

5. First headcanon that pops into my head

In telling Carlos all those horrifying (and untrue) tales of dogs being vicious, rabid pack animals as he was growing up, Cruella liked to up the drama by growling, baring her teeth, even biting him sometimes.

This instilled such terror in Carlos that he thought to weaponize it, so, for years, he'd growl at his bullies and try to bite and claw instead of punching and kicking. The other kids found this strange at best and hilarious at worst—none more so than Harry Hook in the latter case.

Oh, he never let Carlos live that down, even long after he'd realized it wasn't having the desired effect. Harry would bark and growl at him in the street, laughing gleefully when he managed to startle Carlos.

Meanwhile, with Jay, Mal, and Evie, the nickname "pup" emerged as a soft, teasing reminder of the first impression he'd made on them as kids. Much to his exasperation, he's simply stuck with the nickname.

6. One way in which I relate to this character

Look at him, he's got anxiety. No, but seriously, that's definitely a big thing for me. The way his anxiety makes people underestimate him, both in canon and fanon, because it's easy to see just a scared little boy where, in fact, there are so many sharp edges, so much steel in him that's helped him survive.

I relate to that a lot, because IRL I find most people make the mistake of assuming anxiety is my personality ("omg you're so shy uwu," "you should talk more," "smile for me"), and well, they're wrong, but I didn't always realize that. I see something similar with Carlos on the Isle, in that he grows up being told that he's weak for so long, he internalizes that as a truth about himself when, in actuality, if he was weak? He'd have never survived. Not the Isle, not his mother, not his entire life.

7. Thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

chocolate-all-over-his-face.jpg jkdlajlkgsjlkg

Like, it warms my heart how excited he is about chocolate, but also I kind of want to be a mom for just TWO SECONDS and wipe his face before he gets out of the limo looking a mess like that jdkasljkgdlsjk

8. Cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

You know, he can be a cinnamon roll, but it would be a mistake to see that as the extent of his character. I'd say more than half the time it's just an act to get what he wants, which is valid of him. Jay and Evie flirt, Mal intimidates, and Carlos? He gives the puppy eyes so you don't notice the knife slip out from his sleeve before it's too late.

One of my favourite things about him is that he could have gone the route of problematic fave. He's capable of it. He just... chooses to be better than that, like in this scene from Return to the Isle of the Lost (Book 2), which is one of my favourite scenes in the whole franchise:

Cruella cackled with glee. “Go ahead, then, use it on me. Destroy me. With that ring you can obliterate me forever. Tell me to throw myself off this roof and I’ll do it. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what you have always wanted?”

Carlos felt the ring throb in his hands. He could destroy his mother, rid the world of another villain, and stop having nightmares once and for all.

“Do it!” Cruella cackled. “Do it, boy!”

He raised his hand, pointing the ring right at her. Then he dropped his arm down with a sigh. “No, I can’t. I’m better than that,” Carlos said, turning on his heel and heading for the elevator. I’m better than you, Mother. No matter what you’ve always told me.

That's my baby and I'm proud.

Character Headcanons

[lizzybeth1986]

Hi! I was reading your Hana essay and in one section you implied that you disliked that people considered some Choices LIs to be player-sexual; can you elaborate on why you dislike that term? I myself thought that LIs in gender-choice books and gender customizable LIs were player-sexual unless explicitly bi (like Emma) because of the way that PB tends to write romances as straight and avoid discussing queerness, but hey, maybe I could be wrong or I'm missing some important nuances. Enlighten me?

(To learn more about the term "mechanical bisexuality", I highly recommend this fantastic video essay by verilybitchie. In the context of this post, the anon's ask stemmed from an essay on Hana I wrote titled "Protagonist Centered Sexuality")

That's an interesting question, and perhaps if someone is new to the fandom itself (not necessarily you anon - since idk how long you've been around - but newcomers who use "playersexual" to indicate the dynamics of a game that often uses the "mechanical bisexuality" model) the pushback to the term itself might sound baffling. While "playersexual" itself may be considered harmless as a term (esp since the mechanical bisexuality model itself places the burden of generating any discussion on sexuality in-game, on the player), the history of how it's been used in fandom is a thorny, bitter one.

Your framing of it in the ask acknowledges that the root of it all is PB wanting "to avoid discussions of queerness", and I think that's as good a start as any. There is a distinct discomfort in discussing queerness and a strong leaning towards straightness in the way PB plans and writes these characters, especially their favourite ones. They do seem to make more of an effort sometimes for an audience that is uncomfortable with queer relationships or expressions of love, while still making a song and dance out of their "inclusiveness and diversity". What does that result in? LGBTQ+ players often letting go of the game in frustration. Who may get attracted to such content? Players who may feel emboldened to put their discomfort with gay/bi/pan/ace/queer characters and relationships on blast. And there have been plenty of the latter in this fandom's history.

This was especially obvious with very popular male LIs. For instance, even the suggestion that someone considered Jake or Damien bisexual would elicit a strong reaction, and the term "playersexual" was often a front for taking offense at the character being called bi at all.

We would also see this term bandied about even before you could find canonical evidence of their bisexuality. For instance, try to remember when Emma was established as bi? More than halfway through the third book of HSS. Even Damien, whose ex mentioned partners rather than girlfriend/boyfriend and who fanboy-ed over Matt Rodriguez every bit as much as his sisters did ("who do you think suggested the tent?") got these indications much later on, and until then players who were aware that the story was still ongoing and that they didn't know much about the characters yet, would still insist on using "playersexual" to describe the character's sexuality, and continue to do so even after these hints of their sexuality (as in the case of Damien) were given. We may agree or disagree on this, but a lot of the "playersexual" takes I did read at the time reeked of biphobia and a distinct discomfort at the possibility of a favourite LI being bi.

Allow me to briefly pivot to irl for a bit. Bisexual life experiences can come in many ways and forms. Some have an open history of relationships with both/all sexes, some have a history relationships with just one but are aware of their attraction to other sexes - and their bisexuality is just as valid. Unfortunately, if someone of the latter category has more of a history of relationships with the opposite sex and identifies as bi, they tend to face bi erasure as well - they are often disbelieved, scoffed at, accused of lying - their identity constantly questioned. I am a bisexual woman who often faced that kind of erasure, from straight and gay people alike, and it is quite an alienating experience. So of course that history, too, is going to colour the way I view these discourses - and a lot of the playersexual discourse in the past has read as desparate attempts to erase even the possibility of a character being bi, to me.

PB also has strengthened it's leanings towards mechanical bisexuality in recent years. For instance, coding the gender of an LI's ex/other partners to the gender customizable MC (the person Dallas loved in BSC, or Sora and the person Ethan and Tobias fought over in OH) wasn't this intense earlier, and it leads to a situation where the characters involved can only be viewed as queer IF the player makes those choices. And while we can never be sure whether this is directly related to the playersexual discourse, we cannot deny that PB often pays silent attention to arguments here and elsewhere, and they often make decisions based on what they think will make their core audience comfortable.

Sadly, it really is a case of PB pandering to the audience that's not comfortable with discussions of queerness while still trying to get money and clout from queer players, and that can lead to an environment where "playersexual" can become shorthand for "I'm biphobic".

[lisbonsteresa]

HEY! ND anon again just dropping into say YOU ARE TOO KIND and curious to know NOT ONLY your hopes/wishes/theories for season 4 are?? How do you want Ace to find out about the curse?? Will we actually have a real life confession/kiss (bc they’ve done a dreamscape, an alternate reality, another line life, a whisper box idk what else they could do to not make Nace happen in real time) what do you think will be the main plot this season? Drew Crew future thoughts? Road back? Those bodies? (1/)

ND anon! hello!! (and omg thank you 🥰)

oh god, i've just been sitting here trying to formulate all my s4 thoughts...there's so many possibilities (so let me add a read more in case this gets long)

Regarding the curse, I think the best thing is we're going into s4 already knowing that Ace knows something's up. He knows Nancy too well to take her 'rejection' at face value, and he cares too much about her to not try and figure out what's going on himself. Now how exactly he gets from 'something's wrong' to 'oh a curse'...I'm not sure. (mainly because I don't know if anyone would actually get to curse without nancy telling them, and with the terms of the curse being so vague I'm willing to bet that Nancy will be playing things as close to the vest as possible at least until she potentially reaches her breaking point and just can't keep it in anymore, which like....poor girl is long overdue for a breakdown)

All of that being said, I can very easily see Ace working on finding a solution to the curse at the same time Nancy is, but both of their investigations faltering because Ace has help but no information and Nancy has information but can't risk asking for help. In my head, Bess is the one who bridges the gap - she's ideally suited with her new job at the historical society to be the person they could both go to for help, and being 1. someone who loves her friends dearly and 2. a meddler at heart, I can see her doing something to bring everything (and everyone) together. and again in my head this something involves the truth serum because like why else have that be such a big part of her ending sting but i digress

In terms of a confession/kiss, I mean....they have to give us something real this time. (they just have to) Like you said, they've literally done every other kind of fake out I can think of (unless they want to pull some kind of memory loss/time loop kind of thing, which they have done before but not with nace specifically but also let's not give them ideas) and they know how popular nace is as a ship - as much as they seem to enjoy yanking our chain with them, I'm all but convinced that next season will at least end with them happy/de-cursed/having at least one irl kiss.

I think the main plot (at least based on what we know so far) is probably going to come down to the bodies and the crew. The curse is obviously a big thing for nace, and that will almost definitely snowball to include/impact everyone else too, but if that becomes a main focus I think it'd be during the latter part of the season. (actually i could see the bodies being the focus for the first half and then the curse, or vice versa, and whichever is the focus for the back half of the season being revealed to be part of something bigger because the writers do have a very good track record for that kind of thing). I'm excited to see where things go with the bodies because as much as I enjoyed a lot about s3, I am very excited at the thought of a more 'back to basics' season, where the main focus is on the mystery of it all and the supernatural elements add to that mystery. That, and/or finding out how much they impact the mystery as the season goes on (a la Lucy in s1). And I would love to see the crew and their dynamic be a major focus this season. They've always been such a tight group and they've always been so...around each other (murder suspects together, cursed together, all working in the same place) but where s3 left off they're all fairly split off from each other. I'm honestly really grateful that it wasn't a result of a big fight/breakup - although obviously that's a factor - even with how fanson and nace ended up in s3, it's clear that the crew and their friendships still matter to them all. But even putting aside romantic turmoil, they're growing up and finding their way in the world and Horseshoe Bay. They've set up the crew to, for lack of better wording, be tentpoles for the town and with that and their new positions/pursuits there's new responsibilities and things to worry about. Things next season won't be as simple as 'close the Claw for inventory while we chase down a ghost' - there's a lot more moving parts, and once you add the romantic dynamics back in things get even more complicated. We have word-of-god confirmation that the crew definitely will be coming back together - and as they're the people in HB most uniquely qualified to deal with the supernatural threats that won't leave their town alone thank goodness for that - but I'm so so interested to see how they come back together, and how they each develop as individuals. I love these characters and I'm very excited to see them continue to grow, together and apart.

[hklnvgl]

Hi! I have a totally random question lol. I've seen a few people compare Pynch to Wolfstar (and Adam and Ronan to Lupin and Sirius as people too). What I don't get it folks saying that Wolfstar was a 'better' (stronger? more interesting? idk) ship than Pynch. I mean..? I don't see it, personally. What am I missing here?

👋 hi! i’m gonna begin this (i’m guessing it’s gonna get long—i’ve actually filled two pages of handwritten notes to try and make sense of my many opinions about this) with a disclaimer: my approach to shipping is very different when it comes to pynch and other fandoms. normally, i’m not actually a very active shipper—when i read fics for other fandoms i normally look for plot and feelings and, because most of the time there’s shipping involved, i usually don’t mind if a ship is there and might actually enjoy it but it’s not something i tend to go out of my way to search for. i just don’t usually ship fictional couples romantically! it’s all the same for me if they’re canon or not (though if they’re canon they will have more canon scenes together so that might help me to eventually ship them? idk i’m just the least romantic person you can find out there 🤣)

so that’s why i haven’t read a lot of wolfstar fics (i think maybe 2 or 3 where the focus was on their relationship? i remember a quite lovely texting au) and even less meta—when i read hp fics i will look for explorations of harry’s abuse, which is what gives me feelings, and in those wolfstar is usually there bc they adopt harry or something like that.

that said, and having therefore canon!wolfstar in mind (perhaps the similarities are stronger in fanon, i just don’t know enough to say!), i really don’t see why people would compare them either (apart from the fact that they’re popular mlm ships?) and i do have to agree with you that pynch is a more interesting ship (for me!)

and, yes, i can see there are a few traits remus and adam might share if you squint, but imo once you start really thinking about it they’re two very different characters! they’re both said to be poor on text, but in adam’s case that comes from the family he was born into and if i remember correctly remus’ dad was middle class (i can’t remember exactly but i think he worked for the ministry?) and remus was poor only because he couldn’t hold a job due to him being a werewolf. idk if people’s comparisons go further and they see cabeswater as a parallel to the werewolf thing? but if that’s the case adam made that choice himself and he embraced it eventually and it’s actually crucial for the resoultion of the series’ plot! remus being a werewolf was great for book 3′s plot twists and for shunning him out of society and little else. personality-wise i guess they’re both smart? i do think remus is more the type to give up after a while but 🤷‍♀️ (oh is it bc if wolfstar were canon it’d be implied that remus is bisexual bc of tonks??)

now when people compare ronan and sirius they only look at the surface which makes me super mad! they say they’re the same just bc they’re brash? and wear leather? and were born in rich families?? but sirius was abused as a child and left his family bc he was the odd one out (which in the lynch family would actually be more accurate to say declan is??) and ronan’s trauma comes from a wildly different place! arguably niall (and aurora? apparently from that little snippet of mister impossible i haven’t read yet) were also abusive to him but definitely not in sirius’ way? (that’s actually closer to adam’s family’s brand of abuse!)

i’ve also seen people say the gangsey’s dynamic is the same as the marauders’! and i’m sorry but i really think that’s not true! for starters we only see the marauders as a whole in flashbacks! and not even then bc lily was not part of the group yet (i guess people compare her to blue bc they’re the only girls??) imo the marauders (or what we see of them) do not inspire healthy friendship feelings! james is the leader and a big asshole and only sees sirius as his equal—he is very happy with peter’s (apparent) worship and i guess they all were super happy to believe remus was the traitor bc they didn’t trust him enough (a werewolf will always be a werewolf) and everyone completely oversaw peter (which i guess is why he did what he did but he’s too plain of a character to have had believable motivations when he turned to voldemort) and he was considered second-class among the group. also that scene with snape in book 5, where we see them all together, is not the gangsey’s dynamic at all??

anyway. back to wolfstar/pynch. the only canon moments in which they give me similar vibes are, for wolfstar, in book 5 when harry firecalls grimauld place from umbridge’s office (i think it was that moment) and we kind of can guess sirius and remus are spending time together at the house and have this caramaderie going (that i guess could be interpreted as shippy) and, for pynch, back in trb when ronan is driving adam to the trailer park for the last time and he says: “man, you don’t have to go back in there” (and i remember thinking in my first read something long the lines of “aw, they are friends after all!).

so. because adam and ronan are part of the main cast of their series they are more flashed out as character (i’ll always think sirius and remus did have potential but everything was too tangled in the plot and, besides, hp is harry’s story!) and i actually do care more about what happens to them as individual characters! but i also ship them! their relationship and their dynamic simply appeals more to my personal tastes! i believe they are perfect for each other and i could read a thousand alternative first meetings and soulmate aus with them as protagonists and i’d never get bored.

as of wolfstar, well, as i said i don’t mind if i go into a fic and they’re a couple in there (they’re cute, sure!), and they’re great friends and obviously care for each other, but we do see too little of them together and how they would counter their respective differences for me to say they’re a perfect couple (they might have been in a different universe and i’m sure there are plenty of fics out there that explore that, which i personally have not read simply bc i lack the motivation to do so).

tl;dr: i like adam and ronan more as separate characters and i just love the dynamic they have in canon, which is why i enjoy reading/writing about them as a ship. imo, wolfstar had potential but hp was not about them and if people say they ship them i nod as i do when a friend tells me irl they’re seeing someone new and i hope they make each other happy.

perhaps someone who’s more deeply in the wolfstar fandom can add a different view to this?