#idk why I've not been using references earlier

[preattychilll]

"The dream team, featuring ALTheBoi & ALTheGAL!" <3

[teruthecreator]

(tw for racism, pedophilia, transphobia, child impregnation mention)

yeah idk why y'all read this

i was originally going to just post this and have some tags with my reasonings, but i realized that opens me up to too much bullshit from people who may think i'm being unnecessarily mean or whatever. so i'm going to explain exactly why the screenshots above are something i hold issue with.

firstly, and i just want to get this out of the way, this post is not intended to be a hit piece against the creator. i've seen how she reacts to any mild-mannered or slightly joking criticism, so i know this post is probably going to not land well. but it isn't my intention to make her mad or anything--she's writing a piece of content for the internet, which means she is just as open to criticism as any other poster. and what i intend to go into in this post is criticism. i'm allowed to do this, as that is the nature of the internet. people are allowed to critique whatever they please, and if you don't want critique then you shouldn't post. simple as!

i am also making no attempts to posit myself as better than the creator. i'm not doing this for clout or moral superiority or any of that dumb shit. i simply want to discuss something that's been bothering me for a bit, while simultaneously warning people who haven't read this yet (who may be sensitive to the issues above) to steer clear. if things like casual racism or transphobia aren't properly tagged, then readers who are affected by such things run a risk reading this! same goes with people who are triggered by lewd content involving minors. i wanna make sure people are getting a more critical scope of this work than what has been hoisted up by others.

okay, now that i've gotten that out of the way, i'm going to get into my points.

firstly, the subtle and not-so-subtle racism throughout this fic, especially in relation to serizawa. i'm white, so there is only so much i can speak on without trampling over the words of other fans of color, but some of this feels so blatant it's odd it hasn't been noted earlier. it's important to note before i go into it that serizawa is specifically written as half-black half-japanese for this fic, in case the screenshots don't make it abundantly clear. but there are just too many moments of casual racism in this fic. i'm not talking about the plot point of serizawa being bullied as a kid for being mixed; i'm not mixed, so i can't speak on the accuracy there but it is well-known that black people face a lot of racism in japan. i'm talking about how it seems everyone else has these racist moments that aren't acknowledged by serizawa or the narration as being bad.

reigen hypothesizing over serizawa's exact ethnic background is just strange. yes he's a fairly observant guy (he has to be, with his job), but there is no canonical evidence to suggest he would immediately jump to theorizing whether serizawa is american or not. and the way it's posed in that first quote--"he has darker skin and the kind of hair texture that would likely indicate African ancestry"--is not great. that's an extremely inappropriate way to bring up someone's race. i don't think most people would stare at someone and be like "hmmm well your nose shape and hair texture would suggest you're of this race". it's racial essentialization that is only slightly covered up by the excuse of "oh he tweets in english". there are some other smaller moments of questionable wording, like calling serizawa's afro "sloppy" when it isnt (which btw there's another issue with the creator only referring to an afro as a "fro". it's a hairstyle; you're allowed to use the actual name of it). even if reigen cuts his hair in canon, he never states it's because serizawa's afro looks sloppy. (also there's something to be said about the casual racism baked into making your employee cut his natural hairstyle for a job, as that is a very real issue many black people face when wearing their natural hair or even protective styles in the workplace.)

i'm especially bothered by toichiro's very casual racist remarks. toichiro in this fic is a general bother of mine (most of which can be boiled down to "he would not fucking say that"), but the way she chooses to characterize him in relation to serizawa feels gross. calling a black man a slave should be a very obvious red flag, but also saying serizawa (again, as a black man) has a "brutal masculine appeal" is also extremely stereotypical and racist. and really there is just no need for it; toichiro's actions in canon prove how shitty of a guy he is without the need for him to be racist (along with other things i'll get to in a bit). as my girlfriend put it: he doesn't need to be a member of the fucking kkk to show he's a bad guy.

there's also, again, the very casual racist remark of calling serizawa a "dog". i don't care if that isn't the intent; when you are writing a character of color you need to be aware of your wording, even in insults (unless she intended to make tsuchiya racist, which i don't think she did).

secondly, the eugenics/child pregnancy bit. it is surreal to even have to write this, but i seriously do not understand the purpose of either of these bits in the story. they are so minor yet so jarring you can't help but wonder why they're there. once again, i do not think you need to have toichiro doing esper eugenics just to prove he is an evil guy. he has nuance, and by making him casually reference child pregnancy (like that isn't an INSANE thing to say) reduces that nuance to nothing. that's the only reason i could see why that bit was included: to make toichiro look worse. but, even still, the author is running the risk of potentially triggering victims of csa or people who don't want to see that by not properly tagging the mention of it (or, at the very least, warning readers in the intro notes). the only other explanation for it would maybe be shock factor??? but that's a pretty shitty thing to use for shock factor, if i'm honest. also the fact that the esper eugenics was referenced again in a more recent chapter just has me very disturbed and confused. there isn't a canonical explanation for why we see less espers who are women than espers who are men, but that doesn't mean we need to jump to fucking Eugenics. it's weird!

thirdly (and this is probably one of my biggest problems and the main reason i wanted to make this post), the weirdly lewd/sexual language shou uses constantly, along with referring to reigen as a pedo or a creep at several points. frankly, i think it's pretty fucking gross for someone in their near-40's to be writing a 12-year-old talking so casually about sex like that's normal. which, i'm sorry, but it's not. yes, teens know about sex and like to joke about lewd shit. but a 12-year-old is not about to make references to a grown man's virginity. 12-year-olds draw dicks on their desk bc they think it's funny. 12-year-olds say the word "buttfuck" because it has the words "butt" and "fuck" in it, and those are the two funniest words on earth to a kid that age. i literally do not understand the purpose of having shou be so lewd all the time. for one, it doesn't make sense for his character. shou is shown time and time again to be extremely mature for his age, but that maturity extends to shit like assembling a counter-terrorism unit and extending a hand to his father to allow him to try again. and even then he's still just as naive as any other kid his age! the omake where he's telling his guys to go to the "far right corner" based on ritsu’s advice proves that he still has plenty of blindspots that are indicative of his age. leaning into this raunchy, lewd version of shou is just weird. and, again, i think it is made a bit weirder given the author's age!!! not ageshaming or whatever--i'm 23 and i write fanfic, clearly i cannot judge there--but it is just extremely inappropriate in my opinion. also having shou be more versed in sextalk than serizawa is odd too and speaks to a larger issue of serizawa's infantilzation throughout this fic, but that's something i can get into in another post if people want an explanation.

also, the way she constantly calls reigen a creep and even has him being accused of being a pedophile during the twitter cancellation is extremely inappropriate when, again, there is NO CANONICAL BASIS FOR THIS! everyone just calls him a fraud and a scammer during separation arc; there is never a reference to reigen being seen as a pedophile in that arc. and, yes, while there are versions of mob psycho where reigen is very clearly written as a creep (looking very specifically at the netflix adaptation), that doesn't mean it's good. honestly, the creep mentions all just feel like really poor jokes that do not land in the slightest.

finally, the transphobia (aka WHY IS SHIMAZAKI A CHASER). i literally do not know what else to say other than: why? why is this a thing? why is he a chaser? what is the purpose of this? is it a joke? i feel like it's supposed to be, but seeing as the author is cis i don't think that's a joke she should really be making. it not only comes out of left field, but it's just kind of a weird thing to ascribe to a character for no reason. not to mention, it's uncomfortable! trans women deal with enough creepy antics from cis men in real life--why must they be accosted by this guy too? it's just weird and uncomfortable.

i wanna round out this post by saying, once again, that i'm not trying to attack anyone with this post. but i do hope people come away from this with a new perspective on this work, and maybe think twice before recommending it uncritically to someone. to the author specifically, i hope you can read my post without rage or indignance blinding you. i might be a little blunt or rude in parts, but it's only because i'm passionate and i don't mince my words when it comes to things i'm passionate about. to the readers, understand i am not judging you for reading this fic without noticing these things. your own life experiences will give you certain blindspots and there's nothing wrong with that. i have plenty of blindspots of my own! it's what makes us human.

there is more i could say, but this post is long enough. i ask that if you come to me in my inbox or in dms about this that you treat me with respect, as i will do that for you. writing something like this took a lot out of me, as i'm usually not so open about my opinion on shit like this.

have a good day :-)

[moonstruckdraws]

The Red Queen

An alternate version of Vera! @hellishgayliath daughter I've been drawing nonstop (this being no exception)

like always, this is a spiel so- yeah

Ever since looking back at my first sketch of her in this red dress a few days ago, my brain started to trail off to "what ifs" & one of these is what if Vera was bitter & frustrated to the extreme in contrast to her current self is improving from the event.

But the premise is that Vera would become a mob boss herself! While not as reknown as Big Mama, is still a bigger threat (compared to the smaller mobs like in that one episode in Hueso's restaurant)

I don't know how she'd be pushed over this edge to where she'd stop caring about others (being a therapist & all) & I won't even try lol. But in this version, it starts off with the break up (with my assumption of how she would handle it in my other post; compared to her actual reaction would be) & I'd imagine she'd just tear up the room before going to her own living quarters.

Being one of Big Mama's lovers, & a temporary model for the Grand Nexus's advertising, I'd imagine that their breakup would be talked about & Vera would probably start being bombarded at work; unable to take off from work. Maybe she'd start spiraling then? She'd fall off the face of the earth for a while before rumors of a borzoi mob boss rising up starts to become the talk of the city. Of course, I'm sure this would intrigue Big Mama or something, but Vera wouldn't announce her identity. & Idk, that's all I got lol

Aight lil details & facts this Vera would have

Vera's favorite color is ruby/scarlet, so I think her keeping this dress & making iconic look fits. It'd also tie into it being a constant reminder of when things took a turn for the worse & her trust in someone important to her was shattered. Also a funfact about her, by Helli, is that apparently she doesn't wear purple anymore; only wore the color when with Big Mama, aside for makeup. This version of her despises the color & refuses to have any hues of it near her as it reminders her of that Spider. It's why her make up is now red as well. It's also red because blood blends into it well :] (was gonna name her the Blood Queen, but that sounded a too much for Vera; also Red Queen to reference Helli calling Vera that in the first post I made of her)

I don't know how Vera feels about Big Mama fully (aside for wondering if Big Mama was pretending the whole time or not) in the sense of if she's over her. This version is probably less over her than the original, hating her guts but forever thinking of the past. Unlike the original, this version would probably carry any memories of those days with her (on good days) like the cloaking broach. She also has eye creases because tears & probably being more addicted to coffee.

Her being a therapist means she a smart cookie in psychology (i believe so), so she'd definitely use that to her advantage. Being able to see signs of lying, finding spies in her minions, etc.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, she burns things; burning things like her burning rage

I image this would be her first major appearance, setting a fire. Idk, I just wanted to draw it lol (lil fact that I drew most of this earlier today in my notebook because there was nothing to dooooo)

And yeah, that's it. Very out of character, but hey that's what alternate versions are right? :D Don't mind me, just my brain running on nothing but thoughts.

[nothorses]

SAR is not a kingdom, it is a supergroup, and it is supposed to be all capitals. There is a kingdom of Chromista that was first suggested in 1981 as a taxon and was first included in a seven kingdoms model in 2015, and it includes most of the SAR group, but that is different than SAR being a kingdom. The state of science education is in shambles, please at least check Wikipedia about sensational science posts.

I reblogged that one without checking largely because I've seen @quark-nova talk about biology in the past, and they seem genuinely well-informed, knowledgeable, and diligent when it comes to these kinds of things.

That said, sure, it's always a good idea to double-check!

The first thing I did was look at the notes of that post, to see if this had been brought up and addressed already. And, in fact, it looks like there was already some chatter that might help clear this up:

I am not knowledgeable enough this topic to know exactly how accurate this is, but I can definitely look for some context. I checked Wikipedia next, and found that "Sar" is in fact referred to as "SAR Supergroup" there.

It is also, however, noted near the bottom of the page: "As a formal taxon, "Sar" has only its first letter capitalized, while the earlier abbreviation, SAR, retains all uppercase letters. Both names denote the same group of organisms, unless further taxonomic revisions deem otherwise." It seems the two are pretty interchangeable, so I'm not sure why there'd be any reason to criticize someone's use of "Sar" vs. "SAR", at least in this context.

I also checked the "Supergroup" page to try to better understand the difference between it and a "kingdom" in biology, and found that a supergroup is both fairly arbitrary, and "often considered larger than a phylum or kingdom". Again, I am not not sure why the exact term here would be an issue, in that case.

Your claims around Chromista seem accurate to the "Chromista" Wikipedia page, and I can 100% see how that would imply that Sar itself cannot be a kingdom. And also, like, at this point there is just a lot going on here that I am trying to understand through Wikipedia pages (looking at the "Kingdom" page has only muddied this more for me, lmao) and I'm not sure how much better this is than where I started, at a certain point.

I don't have enough context here to know how many people ascribe to which theories & what's considered outdated in the field, but I do have enough experience with academia to guess that either a Wikipedia page is out of date, a theory is out of date, and/or that someone is operating on information given to them in a class that may also have been out of date, niche, inaccurate, or just incorrectly remembered.

Idk yall, I think perhaps the "sensationalist" accusation might be unwarranted here. I think this is, at worst, an honest and fairly harmless mistake in the context of educating the general public. Or maybe it's just a misunderstanding of terminology & theoretical context between the two of you. 🤷‍♂️

That said, I do think this has been an interesting exercise in "fact-checking" and demonstration of how nuanced that topic actually is, so thanks for that! Turns out not every claim can be neatly fact-checked, especially by people who don't know much about the relevant field to begin with.

[thenugking]

star beast thoughts

Deeply enjoyed it. I've been worried that I only liked original RTD because it was my first Doctor Who, and now that I'm an adult with critical thinking skills, I won't enjoy his stuff half as much. It might just be the return of Ten and Donna, but everything came rushing back.

lots of very funny moments that made me laugh out loud

Not sure how I feel about the opening credits, but I love the theme music

love shirley, p sure she's a recurring character now, very happy for that. Her dynamic with the Doctor was immediately Great.

i like the quiet acknowledgement that sylvia and wilf are fucking Traumatised and have been terrified every time aliens happen for 15 years

Shaun seems very nice! Love the reference to Nerys too, Nerys was great, I love her frenemies thing with Donna.

I gotta apologise for misgendering the Meep for years. Beep the Meep's pronouns are the/Meep, thank u rose.

the scene abt wilf landed Oddly though considering bernard cribbins Is dead now. idk reshooting it might have been difficult but it left a bad taste when they're going "lol he's not dead why would you think that dumbass"

Love Donna's family. Love the scene of Sylvia trying to be Supportive of her trans granddaughter while Struggling bc yeah she's trying but she's not perfect. Love that Sylvia in general is still abrasive but no longer straight up emotionally abusive (which I think was true of The End of Time too, but she's in this one a lot more)

Not sure why they bothered to include Fudge since he didn't do anything?? it felt like fanservice but like…. they aged him down and took out his mum, who was one of the funniest characters in the comic, so what's the point of keeping him?? Would have liked to see him interact with Rose more.

I did like that they went to an effort to make the wrarth warriors actually sympathetic in this one though, pointing out they use painless stun guns, rather than "oh well they're policemen so they're automatically Good" and also not having them plant a bomb in the doctor's stomach. That was fucked up.

The stuff leading up to Donna fully remembering was Very Good. Her mentioning giving away the money feels like something He would do and everyone just being silent because they Can't Bring It Up etc. I liked that a lot.

I liked Rose being explicitly transfemme but I feel they should have actually set up her being non binary earlier???? as it is it feels kind of like it's saying trans automatically equals non binary??? I do love that she saved the world by being trans though.

The metacrisis going into Rose worked really well too, good resolution to All That. I am less sure about "well we can just Let The Power Go, obviously you never thought of that because you're a man"

New TARDIS console is Perfect i love her sm

Also love Donna lampshading "going inside Just To Look means an adventure will accidentally happen"

Love the coffee thing also. Oh No an adventure is accidentally going to happen

doctordonna <3

[minimoefoe]

Rewatch Thoughts: The Legend of Ruby Sunday

(and some finale hopes)

Them being like obviously it says TARDIS wtf do you take us for is pretty funny

That ‘except the obvious’ line is defo about Elon Musk, right?

Saw someone say that they shoulda been there specifically about Ruby and then the Susan stuff ended up taking over and I think I agree like maybe it woulda been better if they went there with the intention of finding out about Ruby’s mum but then as they were doing Mel returns to UNIT after being with Susan and the Doctors asks about her and they show her face and the Doctor and Ruby are like now hold on a second. And then the Doctor is like okay clearly you’re already on it with the Susan stuff and I wanna be in on that with you but for now back to my pal Ruby

Kate’s ‘I love Davina’ is so strange 

‘It keeps snowing around her’ it actually hasn’t happened in quite a while??? Idk why they didn’t keep that going for the whole season like maybe not EVERY ep but I swear it happened in the first couple and then hasn’t happened since. Woulda been better if it was spread around the series imo

66 metres being 73 yards... does it mean anything? Is it just a fun lil reference?

Rose being like 'they never give me proper work’ that'll be bc you're 15 

‘Sometimes we can hide ourselves away’ ‘I’m always hiding myself away’ .. TELL ME THAT MEANS SOMETHING RUSSELL. MRS FLOOD WHO ARE YOU

The whole ‘I dont have kids yet’ thing is very strange like what are you on about. Does he just mean timeline-wise like, 'we’re 2024 and I don't have kids in this year' or does he mean 'in my lifetime right now I don't have kids yet' bc that second option doesn't make sense bc he obviously does bc the Doctor has spoke about being a parent before.. I think they’ve done stuff like that before, had moments where it’s like 'ohh well I don't have this thing yet technically bc time travel' but the ways it's been phrased this time feels so strange for no fuckin reason like bro just say yeah I've been a parent what the hell is going on

The Doctor laughing at their shitty time window lmao 'you have LASHED this together' I love Ncuti’s laugh

Idk why but I feel like the reason we're gonna get for why Ruby can make it snow is gonna be kinda shit

Then what is a memory of a time machine.. You will be finding out soon I fear

I like that we were all like lol this bitch walks slow only for this ep to be like um she stopped and had a cry bc she just abandoned her daughter and feels like shit 

Is she pointing at the doctor or is she pointing at the TARDIS/Sutekh? Either way, that’s sus behaviour from Ruby’s mum like. There’s surely no way she can just be some random human woman. She has to be an alien of some kind. The odds of Ruby just being some regular human girl get smaller and smaller by the day I fear. tbh if she does turn out to be a human I might be kinda disappointed

It’s the Beast? Carla what are you waffling about

Rose being considered essential staff omg dpmo

Rose also is still not an actual character I fear like what's the point in her other than existing to be a reason why Donna's brain didn't fry in The Star Beast

The last five minutes or so go so hard and I love the CGI dog and I love the skull faces and the vibes are so cool but low-key if I think about it too much I'm like now why would Sutekh, God of whatever tf, care enough to do all this anagram bullshit. I haven't seen his Classic story but with how he's presented now I'm like there's no way that massive angry af demon dog thing has it in him to spend time cooking up a tech company scheme to get the Doctor like what's the point in all of that. I don't see why he would be interested in it or why he would even need any of it?

I also found the Susan Foreman stuff to be like.. let's be fr. There kinda wasn't a single part of me on first watch that thought Susan was gonna be the Doctor's Susan and I think if he hadn't told Ruby about Susan earlier in the season and therefore Ruby didn't say 'hey that's your granddaughter's name' there the Doctor probably wouldn't have even thought for a second that Susan Triad was gonna be his Susan, let alone low-key got his hopes up that it might be her

Overall a good ep I think but the last five mins hype defo made me rate it higher than it is. Gave it 4 stars this time round

Empire of Death Hopes/Predictions

If we don't find out who Ruby's mum is I'm gonna be annoyed. I have hope that we will tho bc yknow, it's supposed to be the series arc

I don't think Ruby's mum is human. Or maybe her dad isn't human. Something about Ruby isn't human

I don't think we're gonna get Mrs Flood answers which like. kinda makes sense bc she hasn't really done anything this series. I imagine maybe she'll have a bigger role/actually do something next series and we'll get answers then. I feel like she's a Time Lord purely based on the connecting 'hiding myself away' lines

I want that CGI dog to actually move around and do something, I don't wanna just see it perched in one place for the entire episode bc that's boring af

[citruscitrushope]

Analyzing trends in each of the prsk units' event titles because why not

Leo/need: Mixed between Japanese and English titles, mainly English. I've also noticed that events with English titles are more focused on the group as a band (Resonate with You, Knock the Future!!, Little Bravers!, etc), while those with Japanese titles are focused on more personal struggles (Stella After the Rain, those two Honami events with the really long names, That Day the Sky was Far Away, etc)

MORE MORE JUMP!: Mainly a mix of Japanese and English in the same titles (Kokokara RE:START!, Todoke! HOPEFUL STAGE♪, Tsunagu Painful Hope), lots of exclamation points, overall shorter, likely to be more akin to idol song lyrics and group names? Though I've noticed that events more focused on the past have longer titles that are fully in Japanese (Dear Me, From Back Then, Beyond the Dream on That Day, At the End of the Unraveled Threads), likely to give them some sort of disconnect? I don't know how to word it-

Vivid BAD SQUAD: They're literally all in English except for Singing in Sync, probably because of how common the language is in street music and group titles and stuff. References to the Vivids and BAD DOGS names are somewhat prevalent, lately there's been a fire motif due to the whole truth of RAD WEEKEND situation.

Wonderlands x Showtime: Like MMJ, mixed Japanese and English titles, though I've noticed that the happier the event, the more English in the title? It's not consistent of course, but compare POP IN MY HEART!! and Wonder Magical Showtime! to Kaaten Kooru ni Sekibetsu o and Yume no Touchuu, Kagayaku Hoshi-tachi e-,

Nightcord at 25:00: Earlier titles were shorter and used more English (Secret Distance, Carnation Recollection, etc), while as the story has gotten more complex they're basically full Japanese sentences (Someday, This Wish Will Transcend the Morning Sky, Saying Goodbye to My Persona, etc). I've also somewhat noticed that a lot of the events focused on Mafuyu's past and relationship with her mother use more English (Imprisoned Marionette, Mirage of lights, Immiscible Discord), that simplicity probably symbolizes something idk-

[thezanyarthropleura]

rewatching the Dinotopia 13-episode miniseries and just wanted to say I concur with a lot of your takes. Hopefully it's ok to infodump about it in your askbox?

26 is adorable and heart-stealing (as is Karl's love for her) and she still looks so lifelike even after 20 years since the show's airing--the combination of lower-tech puppetry and higher-tech animatronics just hits perfectly. I just want to hold her and carry her around and tickle her little head. I feel weird calling her 'lifelike' considering none of us have seen Chasmosaurs(sp?) in the flesh, but the way she blinks and shakes her head and squeals just feels authentic somehow?

'Contact' is one of my favourite episodes as well, as it legitimises this version of Karl who in earlier episodes risked coming across as trivial/annoying/shallow (I love this Karl fwiw, more than the previous 'better' series' take). The connection between Karl & Gracie is so touching and raw, and it seems like the most important thing that happened to Karl at that stage in his life, as well as a turning point in the way he relates to female peers. While I am a fan of Karl's himbo side, I appreciated seeing him finally show expertise and determination in something other than mixing drinks and flirting and wheeler-dealing, as well--after all, he's Frank's favourite son and an adventurer in his own right, why shouldn't he be capable? (we also saw his resourcefulness in 'Lose & Found').

As for Lesage, your thoughts about her past relationship with Rosemary really have me thinking as well. The reference to their fling was so fleeting that I missed it first time around, but it's definitely critical to understanding both their characters imo. Lesage definitely seems the free-spirited fiery rebellious type to run off with a woman to have sapphic adventures in the wild, even if it took said sapphic partner to bring that out of her (and it's SO interesting that Rosemary was *Lesage's* closet key). What would Dinotopia make of lesbians disrupting their natural order and their status quo? (upon which they rely for their coveted peace...) The mind reels. And I agree about the relief and pleasant surprise that this mature dark woman wasn't 'tamed' or domesticated in the storyline's conclusion, it would have been so banal if the series went that route. She clearly isn't the type who wants a traditional family, a secure home or a regular Joe older man with kids.

That said, I must confess to wanting Lesage coupled with David, as I've noticed that from their very first meeting there is deliberate tension and foreshadowing included to put them in a shippy light, and their personalities/chemistry really spark and pop off the screen more than any other pairing (probably why the actors/character got a 2-hander episode to themselves?). Also, in-keeping with 'Lesage does what she wants and breaks the mold', I think Lesage would LIVE for scandalising Dinotopia by taking their Skybax Squadron Commander/favourite Offworlder and seducing him. David for his part would go willingly I think, as he seems captivated and chagrined by Lesage, more than he is by Marion (who imo he *wants* to want and thinks he should want romantically/sexually, but deep down doesn't). David for his part clearly needs a challenge and a foil to get the most out of his life, and Lesage offers that in spades. Where are the fics is what I wanna know

Am still combing over a few of the episodes in more detail, but overall I enjoy it so much despite all the inaccuracies and how off-model and off-book it is, and for the time you can see how it broke some new ground. It's pacey, it's a good time, it's got a little bit of everything from drama to adventure to fantasy to anarchohistory/steampunk. The story and characters remind me of Xena in the way you can read them in a campy/fun way or a serious way, and it works either way. Idk why it isn't on streaming and remastered, though the selfish gatekeeping part of me is kind of glad it's not exposed like that..

Always ok!

I do wish we got more of 26 in The Cure Part 2 that wasn't plot-mandated immobility, because that small bit at the end of Part 1 where she's doing her little scamper around on modern sidewalks is such a cute and defining moment for the series and I would've loved to see her run around through crowds or make an escape through the museum. I'd say even her CGI is some of the best-looking now, probably because of working with an easier scale (although I feel like dated CGI is always going to look like dated CGI, and so try to judge it more on whether or not it emotionally connects, and 26 definitely does).

They say it like "Chasmiosaur" in the show but the dinosaur is spelled Chasmosaur/Chasmosaurus. It's real interesting that both the live-action and book versions of Dinotopia used lesser-known ceratopsians instead of the obvious triceratops.

Agreed on Karl, sketchy/sleazy relationship drama is SO not my thing and I'd say I was only tolerating it for the dinosaurs, but the way this show does it is just so over-the-top that I can't help but be at least a little entertained. Night of the Wartosa is fun to watch in an uncomfortable train wreck sense, because we see Karl at his worst and it's so agonizing, but at the end of the day it's self-aware, it's intended as a wake-up call, and we're meant to be rooting for him to become a better person and laughing at him along the way. And by Contact, we're shown he can be serious when it counts, and his story takes a deeper turn into the heartfelt that solidifies his arc.

Since it's Hallmark, I'm sure they'd find a way to make even the dinosaurs scandalized by anything non-straight. "Why yes, our ancient society founded primarily by non-humans, with its own code of conduct distinct from other world philosophies, has the same puritan sensibilities as early 2000s daytime television." I guess there's a small chance the show actually did mean they only considered themselves sisters, and that very obvious pause didn't mean anything at all, I guess we'll never know *shrug* (but since it was a show cancelled after one season, I'm gonna say that from the 2020s we can go ahead and retroactively assume it must've had lesbians).

Freely admit that if I didn't pick up on anything hinting LeSage/David, it's probably because I only really have shipping goggles for f/f relationships, and also carry around the associated 'just friends' goggles for what are often clearly intended het pairings. To each their own, I suppose, and to both of us, the tragedy of liking a piece of media that very few people have ever seen, and even fewer have seen in any way that made them think of it positively. Highly doubt the internet 20 years after the fact would have much appreciation for my 'LeSage x pachycephalosaurus chariot driver OC' daydream musings but you can bet that's probably what I'm thinking about every time I hear "Fast Car."

Oh, if this show was on streaming, people would expect WAY too much from it. It's in the backwoods of Youtube and on cheap DVDs, and I feel like that's it's natural habitat. I can only really imagine people truly liking this if it's a formative memory, they found it in some obscure corner on a rainy day and gave it a chance only half-seriously, or the rare case where they wanted to watch a dinosaur show enough to turn it on but were secretly looking for... this. It's such a fun time, but I feel like for most, you'd need to know what you're in for or it just won't click.

[minijenn]

Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Bee Movie

According to all known laws of aviation... eh, forget it. You know the rest.

So uh... Bee Movie is surprisingly pretty good? Yeah, I know, I'm surprised too. I mean of course, Bee Movie is an Iconic Staple of Meme Culture and for good reason, its humor is just... probably some of the most insane shit out of Dreakworks ever (more on that in a bit). But it's also a pretty compelling roller coaster ride of a movie that held my rapt interest the whole way through???

So what's the story here? Barry B Benson is a bee who ventures outside the hive and meets a florist named Vanessa, whom he of course falls in love with (and she falls for him too, its fuckin weird man). Eventually, Barry discovers that humans make a profit off the backs of bees by selling their honey, so he decides to sue the entire human race. Yeah that's really the fuckin plot they came up with. It's fucking wild, man, from start to end.

Our characters here are just as wild to match that crazy ass plot. Barry is a snarky lil fella, but you can tell he cares about his... people? Bees? Idk man this movie has short circuited my brain. Anyway, Barry is a fun character to follow as our main. Vanessa is a little less developed and kind of all over the place personality wise, and well... she falls for a bee. Enough said. Barry's best friend Adam is cool, almost dies from stinging a guy, so that's fun. We also have Ken, Vanessa's ex-boyfriend who literally gets cuckolded by a bee this movie is actually insane.

The comedy here is just... ridiculous. Again, there's a reason why this movie has produced so many iconic memes. I cackled out loud at some of these jokes and references, many of which I imagine would probably go over a kid's head (the Sting and Ray Liotta jokes especially like... c'mon those are some deep cuts). It's kind of breaking the recent trend I've been noticing from Dreamworks where they're aiming down for a younger audience. Instead, Bee Movie harkens back to their earlier movies, aimed more at adults with blink and you miss them naughty jokes that are actually really funny here?

The animation is also like... insanely impressive for the time this came out? Some of the camera angles and movement on these bees is just... amazing? The flying scenes really make you feel like you're flying along with Barry, taking you through densely colorful and sometimes actually beautiful setpieces. I also enjoyed the worldbuilding inside of the hive and all of the little devices they use to produce honey. I feel like this movie is doing what Antz was trying to do, but accomplishing it so much better, with way less Rancid vibes than Antz had.

The music is also fairly solid, not as many pop songs as you'd expect from a memey movie like this, but the ones that are very are pretty good and backed by a competent score. I think my biggest gripe with this film is... well, it's a little all over the place and out of focus? Like one minute it's about Barry struggling to figure out what he wants to do with his relatively short life, then its about him falling for Vanessa, then its about suing the humans, then its about restarting pollenation so the entire planet won't shrivel up and die? (yeah did I mention this film has an environmental message?) Really, this movie is kind of just... a jack of all trades and a master of none? All of its various plots are ok, but none of them are standout fantastic. It's just... a little messy??

But really, I did enjoy myself watching this movie. I didn't think I was going to, because its been years since I've seen it and well, the internet rags on it all the time, but it's surprisingly well-made! It really is Dreamworks at their most Dreamworks (warts and all) and I think that's a testament to why its so memorable (in both good and bad ways lol). Anyway I just got one last thing to say before wrapping up this review:

Ya like jazz?

Overall Rating: 7/10

Verdict: Watch the Entire Bee Movie but every time they say literally anything the movie starts over until you die

Previous Review (Shrek the Third)

Next Review (Kung Fu Panda)

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks so much to @honeybewrites for the tag!

WIP Questionnaire tag

Ya know what? Let's do this for 11 Past Midnight.

What's the first part of your WIP you created?

Actually the setting itself. 11 Past Midnight takes place in the same universe as Children of the Stars, just several centuries earlier (before humanity got its collective shit together). Originally the 'Fall of Earth' as this period is referred to was just meant to be a fun little worldbuilding thing, but then I realised the story potential it holds.

And boy, 11 Past Midnight is shaping up to tell the story of a very important part of the lore.

If your story was a TV show, what would the intro be?

'Wherever I may roam' by Metallica would both have some symbolic value to it, and would fit the whole 'Heavy Metal Apocalypse' vibe of the setting.

Alternatively: 'Odyssey' by The Flight could also work quite nicely given that it's a song Kat actually plays in the story from time to time and that holds some significance to her.

What are your favourite characters you have made and why?

Yekatarina 'Kat' Mezhova has definitely been the most fun to write purely because she's (and excuse my wording) FUCKING UNHINGED.

I've never really written a protagonist like this before so I'm definitely having a lot of fun just writing the crazy things she gets up to by being herself.

What other pieces of media do you think your fanbase would share?

I think any fans of Mad Max and the first two Metro games would probably like 11 Past Midnight.

Actually some Star Trek and Star Trek: NG fans might be drawn to the whole 'show up, find x, help, and leave' setup of the series as Kat and Artur find holdouts of humanity in the wasteland and try to help them for whatever reason.

What has been the biggest struggle with you WIP?

Research. The majority of the story takes place across Siberia, and figuring out what life is like there and what their cultures are so I can extrapolate for a setting that's both post nuclear and post total ecological collapse has been... interesting, to put it lightly.

Also actually having to put my knowledge of geographic systems to use to figure out the climate of this brave and hellish new world.

Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

Actually that's a major part of the setting: humanity's mistakes killed off everything. In many places you can't even breathe the air unless you've found a little pocket where plants have somehow survived the collapse, and the only things left in the wasteland are the hardiest things: Humans, Roaches, and Tartigrades.

In about ten years, the Empire will be formed, and in a century a madwoman by the name of Doctor Kalmyk Balkhyr will create the Eden project to clean up Earth and will resurrect about 80% of the species that went extinct during the Fall, but for the time being: Earth is dead.

I mean by some metrics, Artur can be considered an animal (given that he gets mistaken for a mutant) but that's a bit iffy of a statement to make.

How do your characters travel/get around?

Kat is a driver for an old Supply Rig that saw action in the Ruso-Siberian war just before the world ended. Although she's not nearly old enough to have fought in that conflict, her grandfather did, and she inherited the Rig from her mother who inherited it from him.

The Rig can best be described as a truck designed to slog it through snow, mud, and those weird sub-terranean ice-sheets of northern Siberia and provide a living space for two or three people for months at a time, as well being decently defendable if attacked.

Most of the story takes place either in the rig while on the road, or trying to get the rig back on the road, so it's the most common source of transport by far for our protagonists

What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

'Episode' one (idk if it's still called that in a written medium), basically just establishing why Kat and Artur are travelling across the Siberian wasteland and why they're sticking together.

What aspects/tropes do you think will draw your audience in?

Probably the trope of an Odyssey, maybe even a stranger in a strange place.

What are your hopes for your WIP?

Mostly just that people will read it. I'll probably just post the parts on Tumblr because it's not really set up to be written as a publishable book

Open tag for anyone that wants it!

[katrafiy]

do you reckon it's acceptable for people not assigned male at birth to use the terms transfem/trans girl/trans woman to describe their experiences? Like especially in situations with intersex/bigender/multigender/genderfluid/ folks who's transition includes multiple "conflicting" procedures? Or vice versa, amab people using transmas /trans boy/trans man? Not something you have to answer!!! It's just kind of a theory question I've been toying with because I find the conflation of trans id and agab to often be fairly useless and i wonder if transmasc/transfem would benefit from no longer being synonimized with agab. I'm a trans fella (mostly kind of? gender is silly) and I'd personally take no issue with rhe transmasc community welcoming amab people who find their transition to be transmasculine in nature but I wanted to ask a trans girl before fully forming my opinion on it. I realize there's concern about people claiming an axis of oppression they don't fall into but I also feel like we benefit more from inclusion and transmasc and transfemme don't actually tend to denote a trans person's presentation. (like plenty of transfems transition to be stone butches and plenty of trans men transition to be high femme) Still on the fence though auwgsbdv happy 2 hear ur thoughts because I reckon you know more than I do

My position on this, and I'm saying this as an intersex femminiello (neapolitan third gender) trans woman, is that people should use whatever label best enables them to communicate their identity to others and have their identity be understood.

Idk if you have seen my pinned post anon, but I'd suggest reading it if you haven't already done so. There's a part that is particularly relevant to the question you've asked, which is:

Essentially my position is that the specific identity labels we use are much less important than the communities of practice we share with one another. When you say "I am X" you are communicating not only an idea of who and what you are to other people, but you are also saying "I am the same as/a similar thing to/in the same group as other people who are also X".

If transfem is the label that best enables someone to do that, then by all means have at it. I might raise my eyebrow at someone who calls themself a transfem but then goes to great lengths to distance and differentiate themself from other transfems, because at that point why use that label? I can't stop someone from doing that, but they might want to consider how effectively they are communicating who they are to other people.

The way I see it, anyone who calls themself a transfem is my sister, and I would hope that anyone else using that label sees me the same way. I have certainly seen some "afab transfems" who definitely don't see themselves as being in any kind of sisterhood with "amab transfems" and those are definitely the kind that I talked about raising my eyebrow at earlier. It's like, why refer to yourself with a label that communicates to others that you are like me, and then balk at the idea that people might see us as being the same ya know?

I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you have any others. 💛

[happysadyoyo]

Hey I think you were a person I've seen dissect Serano's work pointing out the negative things said about trans mascs. I came across this post and while this quote seems positive toward trans mascs, stuff earlier in the article don't seem great but I'm worried I'm just hanging onto biases from her earlier work. Do you have thoughts?

https://at.tumblr.com/asterosian/704465315608870913/k1dj12qys9u7

Oof okay I have to admit I'm very biased against her, so reading this will be a challenge (also thanks, I think this is the kick I need to get back to reading Whipping Girl, knowing she's got another book out that may pertain to trans masculinity).

I'm gonna pull out some quotes from her article I feel pertinent to touch on, whether in agreement or not. This is gonna be long.

tl;dr She's still minimizing trans masculine issues, throwing AFAB folks under the bus, utilizing POC for her own end when she can, and is a hypocrite within the same page. And nonbinary folk don't exist.

So yeah, the coat of paint is new, but it doesn't really feel like her attitude towards nonbinary and masculine people have changed. And she tries to relabel rad fems as cultural fems. Which... no. Cultural feminism afaik has a totally different connotation now with lib fem than whatever it was in the 80's.

 Some of the insights that I uncover in Sexed Up are pertinent to the aforementioned “perpetually male privileged” claims levied against trans women. In addition, they also shed light onto why bisexual women are analogously dismissed as “perpetually heterosexual privileged” in some of these same settings.

But men aren't also dismissed as heterosexually privileged if they're bi/pan/aro/ace? This is speculative, but I do thing that there are probably a lot more bisexual men out there who don't know because they've been taught to reject their attraction towards men their entire lives... not unlike how women are taught the same but women are also more encouraged to be in touch with their emotions. Men aren't.

This is a nitpick admittedly. Of course she's gonna focus on women, like how I focus on men. But idk, if I was actually writing for a general audience, I'd want to be as even-handed as possible.

 I will also consider how said purity politics underlie recent debates between trans female/feminine and trans male/masculine communities.

Color me unexcited.

In Sexed Up, I discuss all these various forms of sexualization in depth and detail how they play out with regards to specific marginalized groups (e.g., people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people, amongst others).

I'm highlighting this mostly because of my experience with Whipping Girl is ringing eerily similar to this article. Mainly in that Serano likes to reference work I don't have access to and just assumes she is right.

I'm thinking specifically on her assertations on Navajo gender identities and saying they are trans feminine actually (or something similar) and her source was like... another college educated white person who just so happened to be a dude. It's why I want to eventually go through my notes and read all her sources and do an annotated version of her book.

I just really don't trust her with identities outside of her own is what I'm saying. Maybe she's changed, but I don't have access to her new book atm, just this article (sorry I might read her other article she linked at the top later but not right now).

As an example, falsely smearing a marginalized individual as a “slut,” or “pervert,” or “faggot,” or “predator,” or “groomer” typically has little to do with finding them attractive and/or wanting to use them sexually, but has everything to do with invoking sexual stigma in order to defame, humiliate, or ostracize them.

I don't disagree with this bit. Though I'd throw off the word little because we can't know what's going on in someone's mind. It can be a complex mixture of it all in a gross, confusing slurry of unexpressed emotion.

This imagined “sexual corruption” is especially acute for minority women: If a billboard ad featured a white, cisgender, thin, able-bodied woman wearing a sexy outfit, many passersby wouldn’t even notice it, but if the model were Black, or transgender, or fat, or disabled, or some combination thereof, it might strike them as “sexually inappropriate.”

A really more straightforward example would've been porn stars. Actresses (esp white actresses) who have fucked black men tend to have lower prices attached to their work afterwards. I wish I remembered where I read that so I could link to it, but it's been awhile. And for me I think it makes sense logically. She's "corrupted" herself with another race or w/e. Stupid blatant racism but a very obvious example.

Even more obvious: the amount of women who get devalued for having an only fans and how their SO's are treated.

And if a person intentionally hurts or humiliates another person, we often call them a “dick.”

What does this have to do with penises being imbued with metaphysical powers in society?

While penises, and those who are attached to them, are not stigmatized themselves, they do seem to possess the ability to impart sexual stigma upon others. [Sexed Up, p. 164]

Once again, Serano cuts her own nose to spite her face. She tries to be even-handed while focusing on women, but as soon as she quotes her own work (hence the italics) we can see her laying down the blanket statement again.

Men are stigmatized for having sex. It's just not in the same way women are. And it's different depending on the specific sub-culture you're in. Sub-culture specifically because Serano, despite her claims otherwise, I will not believe is capable of looking past the US. That's my bias.

While a significant number of women commit acts of sexual violence, people tend to view these incidents as less serious and less harmful than similar acts committed by men — this is likely due to the imagined “lack of penis” required to initiate sex and to bestow sexual stigma upon the victim.

Oh good, I was worried she wouldn't talk about women committing acts of sexual violence.

For starters, gender and sexual minorities are often viewed as “sexually deviant” or “sexually deceptive” for our failure to comply with Predator/Prey’s roles and rules. As a result, people may view us as “marked by sex” — imbued with sexual stigma that others may fear they might “catch” from us, potentially being “turned queer” themselves in the process. 

I don't disagree again. It's a bit thing, and I think part of that fear in some people is actually repressed sexual or romantic or gender specific identities. It's scary to be confronted with something you thought was a fact but might not be... and for a lot of those people, if they soul searched they'd find themselves happy with their identity as it is.

Anyway a good recent example of what Serano is talking about here is ROGD --- rapid onset gender dysphoria. The thing that people claim is turning all the girls trans.

It also explains why so-called “lesbian porn” made by and for straight men is not considered threatening. This genre typically portrays two women kissing and fondling one another, but the “real sex” doesn’t start until the male protagonist shows up (with his penis) to pronounce “can I join you ladies?”

What the fuck porn are you watching Serano? When I look up lesbian porn, the only dicks involved are strap ons. And this isn't like. Specialty stuff. It's fucking free on pornhub and xnxx.

I realize I'm outing where I watch porn here but whatever. One day I can afford to pay decently.

Okay then there's some talk about how for bi men they're seen as gay and bi women as straight (nb/agender people not invited), some gold star lesbianism and how penises are seen as corrupting. Glad she's pointing out the penis hatred in lesbian circles (rad fems called out? nice).

Hm then something about how bi women in relationships with other women are uniquely targeted with heterosexual privilege which just doesn't smell right to me but I can't put my finger on why.

when people start wielding terms like “privilege” (or “socialization”) in non-nuanced ways — and especially when they frame these as perpetual statuses that are impervious to change — the concern they are raising has little (if anything) to do with actual oppression or marginalization.

Really Serano? Where's the "doubt" meme because

Go read the full thing here; it's infuriating. Basically, she's saying the rise in the use of TME/TMA as rigid labels is because trans male and masculine folks are upset that they're so overlooked and are pushing back on the fact trans women actually get highlight even in issues that uniquely affect us (the amount of times I heard people complaining trans women don't need ObGyn visits so why are we trying to bring up trans people...)

Also the bs that AFAB trans people highlighting the F in their AGAB means that trans women must also highlight the M in their AGAB... like Serano if that was true and we need to coin flip this bitch all the time, well, why do your adherents hate the term transandrophobia so much?*

*this is actually a lot more nuanced and if prompted, I'll go into a deeper dive on why one group trying to emphasize their marginalized status a certain way doesn't mean the coin flip group has to mimic their behavior in any way but not right now. But if you want to hear my thoughts, I beg you, send me an ask. I'll Go Off.

And in my experience, lesbians who are suspicious of trans women are usually suspicious of bi+ women as well, and vice versa. 

Name. Them. They're rad fems Serano. It won't hurt you to admit it.

Okay, she goes on a thing about cultural feminism. I'll bookmark that to read later I think. It's already 1:30. I've spent 30 minutes reading and responding after spending an hour trying to dethaw my lock to get inside after work.

Most radical feminists were careful to identify the male role rather than maleness as the problem. 

This is a quote pulled from the article Serano links about cultural feminism. I hate to tell Serano this (I don't) but this... things have fucking changed since the 1980's. Radical feminists now very much blame men for the problem, not just their maleness. That's why there's so much overlap with TERFS! They're literally rad ems!!!

Serano then goes on to talk about how they call themselves radical feminists and thus TERFs and it's like... what distinction are you trying to make here? This is worthless except to make me angry!

Cultural feminists sometimes collaborate with social conservatives and the far-right on certain issues — most notably, their anti-trans, anti-pornography, and anti-sex-work positions.

I don't understand her resistance to calling them radfems. They are radical feminists. Even if in the 1980's it was something different, it's been 40 fucking years. We didn't have smartphones or accessible cellphones back in the 80's. Get with the fucking program.

Blah blah stuff we already recognize about how radfems see trans women as inherently predatory and dangerous because they got penises. Nobody I know argues against that.

Okay yes, here we are talking about trans men.

Cultural feminist views of trans male/masculine people are more complex and varied. 

Yep, this is why we should have our own word, to better discuss these complexities separate from mere misogyny or transmisogyny. There's an inherent overlap with being once seen as a woman/girl and "choosing" to become more masculine, whether you're actually nonbinary or fully male.

Gender traitors, lesbians escaping the patriarchy, groomed by TRAs. Check, check, check. Irreversible Damage, oh that's an easy ---

And who is supposedly doing this “seducing”? Trans female/feminine people, of course. 

Do you here the tires of my brain screeching? I'm shocked my ears aren't bleeding. They actually popped. Just. Holy shit, the presumption.

What about ROGD Serano? The thing Irreversible Damage is about? The thing that "spreads" across "girl" groups? "AFAB" groups? Where are the trans women in this Serano? Do you want my ears to pop?

Okay, okay, five minutes and I've calmed down. I'll let Serano finish.

Another “gender critical” author, Kathleen Stock, has remarked that, “The autogynephilia tail is wagging the puberty-blocking dog,” adding that, “many of the loudest (partly because male) voices policing critical discussion of the treatment of ‘trans’ kids barely disguise their autogynephilia.”

Oh, so one other TERF author blamed it on the trans women. So because of that, you ignored other sources talking about it spreading across "girl" groups. As in AFAB. As in not trans women. Okay. My jaw does not hurt from clenching right now.

In their imaginations, “transgender” is a “sexually deviant and predatory man,” and “children” are conceptualized as safe, pure, and vulnerable “girls” who are in danger of being “corrupted” by a “male-borne” sexual “contagion.” It’s Predator/Prey thinking writ large.

Yeah, I wonder why the general public only think trans women exist (general public, not the public with young trans people coming out as their sons or daughters). It doesn't have anything to do with your hyper-visibility that trans men were complaining about and you defended those trying to shut them up with TME labels despite it going against what you wrote in this very article???

Here’s another way of framing this “gender critical”/cultural feminist perspective: Trans female/feminine people are viewed as inherently “contaminating” (we “corrupt” those we come into contact with), whereas trans male/masculine people are viewed as merely “contaminated” (i.e., they’ve been “corrupted” by someone else). As a result, the latter may be “redeemable,” at least to some extent or in certain cases. 

The emphasis (bold) is mine.

And here's the crux of my issue with Serano. She absolutely refuses to let go of the idea that trans women are not the most oppressed actually and there's a lot of give and take where sometimes trans women as a group might come out on top. Not that it matters in the long run because it all washes out compared to the cis world around us but she won't even entertain the idea. She has to make sure that we know that trans men and masculine people (in her view, AFAB people) aren't as oppressed as trans women/feminine people (in her view, AMAB people). And her putting masculine/male doesn't erase her total lack of a nonbinary perspective.

Cultural feminists also tend to view trans male/masculine people as relatively “safe” given that they are supposedly “innately female” and “lacking” the organ that imparts sexual stigma (and perpetrates sexual violence) upon other people.

This went with the above quote. I'm just pulling it out to show how she treats transandrophobia like its a good thing/privilege (but god forbid trans men act like trans women's visibility is a privilege because there's so many drawbacks---yeah like there is for being seen as "safe").

On the trans male/masculine spectrum, there can be a similar temptation to appease cultural feminists’ notions of “purity” and “safeness.” 

She also looks down on trans women who emphasize their post op status btw. She just really does not like hyper feminine trans women (see my videos where she complains about movies with hyper femme trans women), and she does not like trans men not entirely divorcing themselves from their AGAB. How dare we I guess?

Sorry that I was born and raised a girl and I still see my younger self as a girl. I'm not you Serano. I'm not going to act like my growth as a trans person is a model for everyone else and thus invalidate all nonbinary identities.

Whether intentional or not, these sorts of appeals tend to reinforce the idea that AMAB people (such as trans women and trans femmes) are indeed “dangerous” and should be excluded. 

Talking about trans men "playing up the F in AFAB" to access women spaces. Please someone send me an ask about this specifically so I have an excuse to go off tomorrow after work.

At the start of this essay, I brought up “recent debates between trans female/feminine and trans male/masculine communities.”

Okay awesome I'm ready. I'm not reading the linked article tonight, maybe I will if asked, but for now it's 2 AM.

So suffice it to say that some of the disagreements I’ve seen seem to stem from this imagined AFAB “vulnerability” and “safeness,” and imagined AMAB “contamination” and “dangerousness.”

Emphasis (bold) mine.

Imagined vulnerability.

Serano making me throw up in my mouth at 2 AM.

And as usual, it’s the supposedly “contaminated” group (in this case, trans female/feminine people) who gets accused of being “oppressive” in some way or other. 

Sure am glad that she chose not to go into specifics! Give us concrete examples please!

On more than one occasion, I have seen trans male/masculine people of color point out that this notion of “inherent AFAB safeness” is not generally extended to them.

But, notably, not the vulnerability. Just want to point that out. Trans MOC are just as vulnerable if not more so by fact of being men of color. White women hold so much power over them in public spaces.

It should be clear by this point that we must purge these cultural radical feminist frameworks from our minds. 

Fixed that for you. Stop trying to label them something new.

When you embrace the fact that the world sees you as “dirty” and “contaminated,” you make different art, and you gravitate toward different forms of activism.

I'm still not following links outside the article, but I don't disagree with this statement. You'll be seeing some of my own work related to this later next year.

'Being a freak] made me suspicious of appeals to “purity” and “safety” (after all, what feels “safe” to some people may in fact be “dangerous” to others). 

Would it surprise you Serano I have trouble feeling safe around women?

She also stops on the different art after talking about how in your face her poetry used to be. This is something else I really want someone to send me an ask about. I'm begging you.

[weepingpussywillowtree]

Below the read more is a long long rant about people being judgemental about my choice to be sober and also on how judgemental people can be about what is fun to different people. References to family alcoholism/drug addiction contained herein.

Drives me nuts when people pretend like people who don't drink are the judgemental ones when there is a massive stigma around being sober and I literally constantly get called boring for it. Yes, I have tried drinking. Yes, I have tried partying. Yes, I've tried the flashing lights and loud music. I may have not tried all of these things exactly in conjunction, but I have tried parts of them together.

But people just assume I'm a prude or boring or that I'm the one judging them. Like, it's just not for me. That's all. Then they ask a bunch of invasive questions about why you're sober, and it's like no... I don't want to talk about my family trauma and the fact that like many autistic people, when I have access to alcohol I use it to cope with working full time and constantly masking. It reminds me of this friend I had in college who would have people straight up yell at him when he was offered chocolate and he'd politely decline saying that he's not fond of chocolate. People always took it so personally, like it said something about their taste that he just didn't like chocolate. I'm not against alcohol and drugs, almost all of my friends drink and do one kind of drug or another, but when people find out that I made a choice that's the best for me specifically they always act like I'm personally taking a shit on their bed. I'm not against drugs, my cousin is literally moving across the country to a state where she can start legally practicing psychotherapy with psychedelics and I think that's cool and should be legal everywhere! I'm literally addicted to caffeine! I do not care! I'm not sheltered either, I literally grew up with a bunch of alcoholics and opiate addicts, and I still don't think drugs and alcohol are evil.

It hit me the other day how much people tie up being fun with alcohol and drugs when I went to the city for a weekend with my partner. We went to trendy restaurants, went to the aquarium, went to the fine arts museum, travelled all around the city looking at shit, did an escape room, and then stayed up late playing board games and eating snacks at a board game cafe.

We were staying with my aunt, who is a recovering alcoholic, like most of my family. On the second day, after hearing our schedule for the day, she was like "wow you guys are really packing in the fun, huh?". And I realized that's the first time in my entire life I've been called fun. The next day, she talked about how liberating it is to be over 50 now, because she's part of an over 50 social group, and they literally never ask questions about her not drinking. She orders a seltzer water and no one even questions it, whereas when she was younger, it was just constant peer pressure and judgement. I'm just so sick of this idea in general that there's a life script you should follow, that people should do this or that when they're young and this or that when they're old. My aunt is an extroverted person. Imagine how her life might have been better if she'd been able to find other outgoing, non-judgemental friends earlier in life. How revolutionary that might have been for her.

Idk, everyone just needs to be nicer and stop assuming that they know what fun means for everyone and that they're more liberated because they do a substance you've chosen not to. Also, while there is value in trying things that you might not like, I see no need to bang my head against the wall trying every party-like experience when I've never liked one before just so I can justify myself to pedantic assholes who are like 'well, have you tried this specifically??'.

[many-gay-magpies]

i have a lot of feelings about merlin and arthur and magic reveals that i've struggled to put into words in the past, but im currently searching for excuses not to sleep so i figure, why not now?

i said something similar to this in a comment on a brilliant ao3 fic today (this is the fic btw), but there's something that just... rubs me SO wrong about so many magic reveal fics (or, more particularly, merlin revealing his magic TO ARTHUR fics), and its the fact that, in a great deal of them, arthur ultimately changes his views on magic BECAUSE OF or FOR merlin. like, yeah, sure, he ends up realizing in time that the "goodness" of magic overall depends only on how you wield it, but it never feels wholly genuine or meaningful to me.

a line i see used a lot in fics, by arthur in reference to merlin, is "if someone as GOOD as merlin can have magic, how can it be evil?". it may seem sweet on the surface, and in some respects maybe it IS, but it also seems to me like it just... devalues the whole lesson of it? or something? idk im tired. like,, if arthur saw a person he wasnt particularly close to doing magic he wouldnt be having the whole "hm maybe magic ISNT inherently bad or corrupt" epiphany (he actually DID think like this in the earlier seasons, which makes me even angrier with how the later seasons lowkey washed all that away and just made him parrot all uther's ideologies all over again). it takes someone who he believes is unfailingly good and kind-hearted using magic for him to start to maybe, sort of, tentatively changing his views on it-- which leaves the door open for that change to reverse were merlin to do something (or were merlin to reveal something he'd previously done) that tarnished his "good" image in arthur's eyes, thereby tarnishing his fragile perception of magic. "goodness" is a subjective, flexible, and unreliable metric of judgement, and as such probably isn't a solid foundation to build one's drastically-altered worldviews on.

im gonna go ahead and pull in a line that's used in canon: "i use my magic for you, arthur, and only for you" so... what? merlin's magic is ONLY good because he uses it in service to arthur? what does that mean, then, for the other magic-users, the ones who don't use their magic for any big purpose or in service to any particularly noble cause? it allows for the person who uses spells to, like, de-tangle their hair and clean their house to be perceived as evil or corrupt for just existing-- same as it always was. in the end, it's just merlin showing arthur that he's the exception to what arthur has been taught his whole life is the rule-- not that the rule itself is flawed in any way. i recognize that in this scene merlin was trying to protect himself and soften the blow of whatever rejection arthur might give, but a lot of fics (or at least a few i've read recently) borrow the line and use it in THEIR magic reveal scenes, and it just... bothers me a lot.

to me, none of this undoes or reveals the evils uther wrought during his reign-- it just paints over that. in order to do that, arthur needs to confront the full weight of his father's lies and all the grave wrongs he's commited, then work through and accept them so he can change things for the better (which is something i think the fic i linked at the start of this post did brilliantly). my preferred "reveal" would happen in a hopefully safer environment for merlin, where arthur might feel a bit hurt and betrayed for being lied to for so long, but ultimately understands that merlin needed to do it to protect himself, and so doesn't fault him for it.

and thus concludes my sleep-deprived ted talk/meta post/incessant opinionated rambling session of the day! with that, i hope to konk out and not see the light of day for at least nine hours.

[septembersghost]

it’s crazy because i always liked haylor but as time passes by and more songs come out i’m starting to realize that they were or potentially could have been soulmates because the way they write about each other is insane, i know theyre both in a relationship though and are happy (at least taylor is) but idk theyre always on my mind.. that “what if” really kills you😭

you don’t have to answer this but what songs do you think are haylor?! in terms of harry and taylor (including unrelated hs1 songs)

i just wrote you a long response to this and tumblr ate it 😭😫 but i'll try to say it again lol

they both have said they're the happiest they've ever been now, so i am willing to trust and take their word on that, and i truly want and hope that for them!

a friend of mine and i were just talking about this, and how fate isn't a strictly determined thing, that because we have agency, we have the ability to make decisions that alter outcome. no one is "meant" to be something or have specific things happen, there are different paths along the way, and things we can control, and things we can't at all. it's more like fate is lightly playing strings in the background, and you follow a melody. so because of that, there's not only "one" soulmate, but potential for love that people find. it's like that quote from the good place, "if soulmates do exist, they're not found, they're made."

taylor found and made hers with joe, and has sustained it for six years, it's the beauty of why invisible string and mastermind can both exist in tandem. they were drawn together by breathless happenstance, and then she made a plan. it's clear from what she's written that that was right for her life. he quiets the noise for her, gives her a place to be safely held, compliments her mind, loves her for who she is as a real person. we know this from what she's written (and now what they've written together). she deserves that.

that doesn't mean that you never wonder about other situations - it's human nature to ask what-if. it doesn't undermine the devotion of what you have at all. it's why she said one of the things that has kept her up at night in the past is wondering what might have been, that was a theme for the album. obviously, if she's sharing that with us, then she shares far more with her partner, what we have is a tiny little cracked window, where they have an entire life and world (and that's how it should be). doubtless they've talked all these things through, and she knows what's okay to share, what's comfortable for both of them. i've seen people act like, "omg he must be upset that she's still thinking about ____," and it's missing the point. he respects and loves her enough to know she does that through her art as a form of processing and healing, he knows it all! he understands. she wouldn't be able to be this raw and vulnerable had she not worked really hard, singularly and with him and with those close to her in her life, to get here, and that's admirable.

so, phew!, to get me thus to question...? she's looking back on that situation and realizing she never got the answers she fully needed, and she still had some things to express and get off her chest, and it turns out, there was some upset and annoyance there (my friend wrote about this too). she just had to ask the questions, and send them out - like a message in a bottle - into the universe.

this is already long so i'm putting the song list under a cut for you <3

songs!!! anything i say is conjecture and fitting little puzzle pieces together in the way i hear them and the picture they paint, full disclosure i could always be wrong.

taylor: from red, we have message in a bottle and come back, be here. there's also the question of the very first night, and i know most people have decided it's about jg and from an earlier point in time, but hear me out - i have trouble believing she'd refer to that relationship as "children running," when the crux of the whole thing was that she was trying so hard to seem grown up and capable, and was feeling adrift and confused and belittled and hurt because of their age difference and the way that caused him to treat her. "i'd pick you up" seems ill-fitting for him too, there's an innocence to it. there's also, well, the mention of the night at the hotel and the polaroid picture, and i'm not saying that means anything, but if i hear a little bit of harry in it instead, well...i know i'm wrong on this one, okay, let me pretend. this song is so sweet that scarf stealer doesn't deserve it shhhh

as i mentioned on 1989: style, out of the woods, all you had to do was stay, i wish you would, how you get the girl, this love, i know places, wonderland. she gave us context and stories for some (i love that quote about style, "we should've just called it, 'i'm not even sorry'," the grammy museum performance of ootw talking about her anxiety, the story about how he drove past her house at night wanting to go in, the green eyes, the sinking ships, the cheshire cat smile...).

i'm going to link you to another post of zoe's too

i have a couple of stray thoughts about other songs but i feel like i should keep them to myself aksfdkljghkl

from midnights, question...?, of course. i know i mentioned this somewhere else, but there's also the fact that question...? borrows a little cadence from keep driving.

harry...there are so many 1D songs that i'll probably forget, but from my memory - perfect, if i could fly, olivia, stockholm syndrome, where do broken hearts go, happily, there's debate about something great because harry wrote it with jacknife lee and gary lightbody not long after taylor wrote the last time with them, and taylor and harry wrote songs (that have never seen the light of day, it's mentioned here) together at that point.

unreleased, there's half the world away, don't let me go, hunger, already home, without you, lay down...that whole spate of demo songs that leaked back in april.

he gave just a little bit of your heart, i love you, and someday to other artists (ariana, alex & sierra, michael buble)

from HS1: meet me in the hallway, two ghosts, only angel, woman, from the dining table

unreleased from HS1: him (which, question...? directly speaks to this situation), baby honey, complicated freak

(a reviewer of fine line said golden was about taylor because of, "i know you were way too bright for me," and i don't think that was his intent, but it permanently stuck in my mind, thank u rolling stone or whoever u were)

when taylor starts with, "good girl, sad boy," it's no joke. when you listen to all those songs, it was a lot of sad boy season.

like i said, this is only glimpses of the story and guessing in putting them together, but it does give us a lot.

[afflatusmiqo]

hgggh

I finished Assassin's Fate last night and I really wish I had someone to talk it over with.

I wish I could remember everything from the last 15 books that might be relevant for interpreting everything.

The circumstances were really horrific. I wonder if the author had to put the Traitor's Death in there just so we would know that it was really, truly, actually the end this time. (At least, the end for Fitz as we knew him.) When the Fool said his death would not be fast, I had a glimmer of hope that he would have more years with Bee.

tbh it was as happy an ending as I could have expected -- everyone who loved Fitz coming to be with him; he and Nighteyes and the Fool becoming complete. (I just wish it could have happened later!)

Like many people, I've been trying to figure out what Bee's last lie was that so impressed the Wolf (who I'm assuming is mostly Nighteyes, but idk there), and which father he is comparing her to.

If the father that the Wolf refers to is Fitz: well, Fitz is best at lying to himself, particularly about whether people really love him. So perhaps she was lying about not wanting the Fool to stay with her as a father figure, or about not wanting Nettle and Riddle to adopt her. Neither of these seem very consistent to me.

(I don't think she's telling the truth when she says that she's fine on her own, though.)

I see several people online saying that they think the lie was that Fitz loved Beloved over everyone else, implying that Beloved needed to be loved "the most" to give himself up for Fitz. I don't think that's something the Wolf would find amusing anyway - it's not a very clever lie.

Yes, I do think Fitz wants the Fool to be with him and Nighteyes forever in the Stone Wolf and the Skill Stream, as one being, which is, a pretty enormous kind of love. I do think he truly wants to be with Bee, too, but he definitely does not want Bee to lose her mortal life or to stop being her own person. As a reader, I think it's a bit mean for that to be a "true" ordering over people Fitz loved, although I totally understand why Bee (and Nettle) would feel that way especially at the time.

(OTOH, there really is no one else Fitz thinks about the way he thinks about the Fool.. honestly, it's just too sad for me to think about Fitz having truly failed Bee.)

Perhaps the lie is that she ever *did* lie about one of the things she said to hurt Beloved. I think she may have lied that she *didn't* have a dream about the black and white rat leaping away from the "thing that used to be a man." The details seem too accurate for her to not have dreamed them. Perhaps she did write down a true dream in the first place, but realized that she could avert that outcome by lying that she dreamed it. Or, maybe the rat didn't jump away, and that's the part she lied about.

Earlier in the book, just before she tells Beloved about her father's letter excoriating him, the narration says "An omission is as good as a lie". I'm not sure if the omission is hers (something about the letter) or Beloved's. As in: if he won't reveal anything to her about himself, she'll give him a lie in exchange, because she's a very hurt child. I do think it's entirely possible that Fitz wrote a letter somewhat like the one she describes. We saw a few examples of heartbroken love letters from Fitz to Fool back in Fool's Assassin. In particular, I'm remembering one where he says he's not going to give up on his daughter to go off on a wild goose chase for the Fool's son (oops). Bee's lie may have been (1) to omit all of the *other* letters he wrote (his love letters), (2) that he didn't burn it (there's a chapter intro near the end of AF referring to a burned letter), (3) something else in the letter.

Tangentially, I've also been wondering about how related the White Prophets are to dragons. When trying to explain to Bee how he could be her father, Beloved drew an analogy with Heeby and Rapskal. Beloved's haughtiness really does resemble the dragons that we've met in some ways, but his love is more like a human love, I think. (iirc he was the one who said that the Liveships would be a new kind of dragon because they also had the memories of humans)