#if a character is autistic they’re “minor-coded”

[aholotte]

since the dungeon meshi anime is now out, if ANYONE refers to Chilchuck as “minor-coded”……..(makes a throat slicing gesture)

Chilchuck is actually 29 despite his appearance and height.

[splatoonpolls]

a really long analysis about fanon Marina and the flanderization by fandom she has gotten

fanon marina (the version created by the fans) mainly focuses on two things, her being autistic coded and her being basically confirmed to be a lesbian. And I do think this has to do with her being VERY much like a typical splatoon fan in many people’s eyes. Her being a nerdy queer neurodivergent person. This is also why other parts, especially her relationship with her being an octoling gets often locked away. Subconsciously at least

if Marina was a book, several chapters would focus on her identity as a dome octoling. Her being autistic would probably pop up here and there, but it wouldn’t be a whole chapter. But her very much gay relationship with Pearl would definitely have a few chapters. But with people focusing on those few lines and chapters rather than the whole book. People would slowly ignore the other chapters, get shocked like Adam Sandler learning Pac-Man was the bad guy in the hit movie pixels.

the splatoon fandom’s western side is mainly white Americans and Europeans. Which is one reason why the fanon Marina doesn’t focus on her identity as an octoling, but also on how many details are not really told to the player. Marina barely shows her ears, which can both be read as her having sensory issues (which is a super valid headcanon(, but also her not feeling super comfortable with her body. With her ears being a reminder of her “you are with people who still think you are only going to steal stuff”. Her tentacles may be weird, she may lack the eyeliner an inkling has. But those things can simply be a stylistic choice. Her ears can’t be one. They are too different. I also know the DLCS focuses more on her identity as a dome octoling. However many can understand how her arc as a whole can be paralleled to the real life experiences of people belonging to marginalized ethnic communities. I also want to point, while writing this. I realized (which many people probably already did). Dome octolings you see outside of the domes (splatoon 2 octolings, Marina, Acht, Paul), are all refugees. They are all characters who grew up in a society that had been shunned for decades, even centuries. That society ended up being oppressive both due to external and internal issues. They know the society they’re living in is no longer a good place to live in. So they escape. Hoping to find a place that will take them on. For agent 8, Marina, and Paul. They found a safe place. Acht wasn’t super lucky however. They were told they could find a “promised land” only to be left in even more ruin before. So not only does Marina’s character arc focus on her being a part of an ethnic minority, but a refugee at that. so why does fanon marina usually avoid that part of her? Well as a mentioned before. Marina has three things that makes her very relatable. While the more backstory focused things are less relatable to a way smaller margin of the splatoon fandom. A way smaller part of the fandom are poc in a very white country. And a very small percentage are refugees.

if we removed Marina’s backstory. We would still be left with the fanon version. A nerdy autistic lesbian who deeply loves Pearl. I love how Nintendo got a game that also isn’t afraid to show a society that cares about queer people if not is queer centric itself. Which is probably why many people cling to that part of Marina. But if we removed that part. What would we be left with? Well, we would have an octoling refugee who is a trained soldier and can create weapons of destructions (and she would still be in love with Pearl, it is an important part of her backstory). im not saying the splatoon fandom’s openness to lgbtq and neurodivergent people is a bad thing just because they boil down one of the most plot heavy characters down to those things. It is actually a really great thing to have a fandom that is open to these marginalized groups.

i just want to say, due to this love for Marina being a character you can relate to. It feels like certain parts of Marina’s character (which can also be very relatable to some) is being drifted away to the more lore centric side of the fandom. Which will lead to a sort of fandom flandarization which is very unintentional and just done due to a love of Marina as a character.

If you’ve read this an disagreed, that is fine. Character writing is a very subjective thing

[proship-culture-is]

Proship culture is realizing just how ableist antis are. I don't understand antis who say you can't ship two consenting fictional adults because one of them looks like a child. And then, it’s never even a character that looks like a child, it’s always a character that is short, lmao. I just don’t get it. So, if antis saw two real-life consenting adults in a healthy relationship or marriage with no power imbalance, would they seriously think it’s pedophilic because one of them looks like a child? Like, hello??

There are people with disabilities that make them short. Sometimes people don’t even have disabilities but are simply just short. I don’t understand why, just because a character is short, they’re automatically seen as looking like a child and therefore aren’t allowed to be shipped. So antis, are you saying a short adult isn’t allowed to feel love in their life because they’re short? What are you expecting them to do? Date an actual child their height? What is this, the height of consent?

According to antis' logic, a child who looks like an adult can date and even have sex with adults, because, after all, the child looks like an adult, so it’s totally fine! (Sarcastic)

When I was 12, people thought I was 16 or even 18. And when I was 15, people thought I was 20. So, according to antis, it was totally fine for 12-year-old me to have sex with adults because, after all, I looked like one.

Also, can we talk about antis using the term “minor-coded” for adult characters who even look like adults but act childish, maybe because of autism or something? If an autistic adult character has childish interests or even acts childish, antis would call that “minor-coded” and not allow us to ship them, saying it's the same as shipping an actual child, lmao. Antis are disgusting and ableist.

If I see another anti claiming that relationships and marriages between adults who don’t look or act like adults are “pedophilic,” I will drive them over with my Panzerkampfwagen. I don’t care anymore. I'm so sick of antis and their bullshit.

☆

[the-night-that-feeds-if]

Hey everyone, dunno how long this might be, kind of doing a stream of consciousness style ramble about TNTF and me and stuff :)

alright so, tntf is getting a huge rework, this is my first if game ever, the coding is a little overwhelming, i know it’s fairly simple but it’s A LOT.

the reason i’ve been pretty quiet is mostly due to burnout, as some of you know i have health issues, i have crohns disease, i’m also autistic with adhd—something i love about this community is the understanding and acceptance for people/authors like me who may want to write but are just too stuck to be able to do it.

i know everyone is so jazzed for the next update, and i am too, there’s a few changes i’m making in regards to the technical aspects of the story, i’m removing stats, for the MC and for relationships. part of it is… i’m not a numbers person, trying to balance out the stats going up and down is a pain when this is planned to be a pretty damn long story. i also just don’t like it for my story personally, i don’t want you, as the player to feel like you have to game-ify personality or relationships.

this also opens the option for me to write more player responses to situations without having all of that annoying code in my brain~ MORE FLAVOR!

My writing has also vastly improved when it comes to fiction, a lot because i have been practicing so much while i’ve been sick (i’ve been playing with and writing AI chatbots on Janitor.AI, learning how to create a complex and realistic personality, an engaging character and world.) It’s been useful as a stress reliever and as a tool to help me write better, more descriptive etc.

on that note, smut in my game is also a very yes, i feel much more comfortable writing it now… heh.

i’ve also decided that all of my books are going to remain free, tntf was a planned three book series, it may just be one or two HUGE books, we’re going to have to see what i, and twine are capable of. but the story is going to span four countries and two continents of the world, so yeah.

the new rewrite is also going to slow things down considerably, because now we’ll have MC on a ship for four months as the intro, then meeting maddock and spending <insert amount of time here> with him while traveling to that little inn. it also gives me more room to introduce the characters a lot earlier but in their own POVs and not just while they’re with MC. i want the world to feel alive.

my decision to make and keep tntf free is because i want to.

i would not appreciate minors interacting with my content, but i also grew up with the internet, i know that no matter how much prevention we put in, minors are going to access our content regardless if it’s free or not. i just ask that if you are a minor and reading adult fiction, please don’t comment, dm or whatever, this is for your safety in the community as well as, i don’t want to deal with other people’s children on the internet, it’s nothing against any of ya’ll, you’re awesome, children are great but i’m almost 26, i really don’t want to deal with kids in what’s pretty much an adult space (i haven’t really seen books catered to the younger than 18 crowd, but like i’m saying, i’m more interested in forging connections with the adult community here, considering i am one, lmao *bats children away with pool noodles*)

i think that’s it

i might post more stuff but that’s my general direction

also to the asks in my inbox from last year on my birthday and forward… I READ THEM ALL AND APPRECIATE EVERY WELL WISH AND FEEDBACK, GENUINELY. i’m just bad at social media.

[lieutenant-teach]

After soooo much time of thinking and weighting pros and cons – I at last got my hands on The Bad Batch! Didn’t make myself watch everything – only chosen episodes that seemed interesting from the Wikipedia description.

To begin with, I didn’t like TBB since their episodes in TCW – specifically them being stereotypical, arrogant and shallow, treating ‘regs’ as shit. I knew exactly what I was getting into, but – watching with my own eyes is different from reading reviews. The first episode almost cost me my love for ‘regs’ – the moment where clones call TBB bad words like ‘sad batch’. Logically speaking – why would they treat TBB like this just because they’re different, especially a kid? Isn’t it against all they narratively stand for – valuing variety and difference of personalities and appearances? A lame attempt to make the audience empathize with them, but I’ve seen how they act in s7 + later episodes. I bet TBB started being asses first (not all ‘regs’ hate on them, whereas TBB hates automatically on almost all ‘regs’ upon seeing).

Moving to the main cast – and I’ll be fair: the supporting characters were miles better as personalities, miles more interesting and relatable.

Tech is fucking annoying – he has unpleasant voice (I usually like guys with clear lofty pronunciation, like C-3PO my beloved) and he’s unlikable as a person. I know about fans reading him as ‘autistic-coded’, and I’ll tell you what – I have autist traits myself, and having these traits/disorder has nothing to do with just being an insensitive uncaring ass.

Wrecker mostly works as a comic relief. The moment I started kinda like TBB (they had their funny cute moments, ok?), he says ‘We don’t like regs, but I like that one [Rex]’. Thanks for reminding why I disliked you all since your 1st appearance. He wasn’t interesting.

Hunter is the least annoying, but a coward. I’d understand his desire to keep his ‘family’ safe, thus taking some unsavory jobs and not engaging into political narrative (like Din Djarin, for example) – if he was just some random guy, like Din, surrounded by mundane people/bounty hunters/criminals without higher calling. But Hunter has his counterparts – other clones, who really show heroism and give everything to the bigger cause. How can I, as a viewer, see Hunter as a hero on par with the Rebels like Hera or Rex or even Howzer (who showed more hero traits in a couple of episodes being a supporting character than Hunter being one of the main ones)? The phrase he said to Echo who’d just returned from helping other clones ‘When will it be enough?’ – and the creatives seriously suppose he’s a heroic character?

Crosshair switches loyalties when it affects him personally. ‘Which side are you on?’ – he asked Ventress, and I snorted aloud – who’s speaking! He’s not really interesting for me and takes too much screentime. Also why is being nice to a kid = a good person? The same stupidity as ‘animals like only good people’.

Rex is better than all of TBB together (except probably Echo, but he doesn’t have much to do). In all, background characters from TCW are more interesting to follow than TBB – then the show starts being actually fun. I really liked Howzer, was happy to see Cody and Wolffe, even Ventress with her new cool hairstyle, actually squealed while Bail Organa cameo.

Speaking about Echo – why does he say ‘If I wasn’t saved by TBB I’d still be on Skako Minor or worse’ – as if his brothers would hate him? According to Filoni and Co, yes, personally I think – no, they were actually quite chill about him in TCW s7. Very happy for him finally leaving these assholes behind and joining Rex and putting on a white trooper armour. He deserves living with his real brothers.

Now to the point I touched upon while talking about Hunter – they’re not the heroes creators want us to see as. Hunter always speaks about keeping his ‘family’ safe, but they could’ve helped the Rebellion + keep Omega safe with other Rebels. The argument is broken easily – the notion of ‘safety’ cannot be applied to anyone in the galaxy at this time, they are endangered anywhere. I don’t know why Rex of all people would be understanding about them refusing to help. It’s clear why TBB never formed brotherhood with other clones – but what was the point of making them clones then? They could’ve been just some random guys, nothing would change, but there’d be no clone-shitting.

Flaunting being defective (read: superior) is annoying. Almost in every episode there’s a least a small allusion on how exclusive they are. ‘We are not like other clones’ said with pride, my ass. No, you’re not like other clones, you’re right. You’re just selfish arrogant douches.

But there were genuinely nice moments! Really liked the episode about Wookies. Clone conspiracy episodes were very good, esp when lacking TBB. Also was immensely pleased when Ventress wiped the floor with TBB – serves them right. Unfairly cool credit melody, I liked it – it deserved a better show.

And some small tidbits I picked up while watching:

Why call clone cadets ‘regs’? Quite derogatory! And a couple of lines later ‘We’re clones, same as you’ – kinda hypocritical, no? It looks like shameless twisting of their clone heritage as they see it fit according to the situation. Doesn’t make them look better, really.

Clone cadets don’t look like Boba. Different faces, different hair colour. Same as Emerie – she isn’t similar to Omega.

Twi’lek senator Orn Free Taa has 4 lekku? Not 2?

Why does the Zillo beast suddenly feed on energy?

Why villains talk with British accent?

Did Rex tell Echo about Fives’ sacrifice? It’d be such a good moment, real connection, emotions the fans expected… Not snotting over Crosshair being ‘uwu poor baby’ over and over.

Why do we need Emerie as another female clone – isn’t Omega supposed to be special because she’s the only female? Which one is older? Why not more female clones?

Hunter look really good as old man – Rex was definitely older-looking in Rebels.

What upset me most – it was Lucas’ idea of special/better-than-usual clones. It was a shitty idea, and of course, it was realized badly.

[soullessjack]

Ok I have question! It's a pretty common take in SPN fandom that Cas and Jack (& sometimes Sam) are autistic or autism-coded. Is that problematic because they are literally nonhuman characters? And I guess side questions - will nonhuman characters always come across as autism coded because of their innate otherness? How could the line be drawn between the two via characterization so that inhumanity and autism aren't mistakenly conflated?

Please feel free to ignore if this ask in no way brings you joy 🫶

hi!! this actually brings me So Much joy thank u for asking :D

it might depend on the person you ask, but for myself and a majority of the autistic community it’s not problematic at all! autistic people very commonly relate to nonhuman characters (aliens, robots, angels in trench coats, etc) in the same way queer people have historically related to horror monsters like Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon (interestingly enough, many horror villains were actually intentionally queer coded due to the Hayes Code not allowing positive/supportive representation of most minorities)

I don’t think the defining characteristic of an autistic coded character is that they’re nonhuman, but that they’re often written with traits autistic people display — lack of social awareness, blunt communication, etc — or even with the same experiences as autistic people. for example, i related a lot to Zane from Ninjago and his struggle with a sense of humor (i do understand some jokes, but sometimes they just aren’t funny to me). after the reveal that he was actually a robot, it turned out that his lacked sense of humor was because of a literal “funny switch” built into him that had been turned off the whole time. of course I didn’t know I was autistic then, but it still l felt like my own brain was being shown to me onscreen.

there’s definitely a conversation to be had about the ableism that goes into some of these characters; after all, if they aren’t being made by autistic people or with autistic representation truly in mind, then they’re just associating autistic traits with robots and aliens and other things not of this world. it follows the same logic of Punching Up vs Punching Down. autistic people and disabled people overall struggle with the idea of being burdens to others, but it’s one thing for a person in that community to create art that expresses their feelings and experiences in possibly being a burden, vs a neurotypical abled person creating art that depicts disabled people as completely burdens.

****

this is a slight detour from the main road but:

from 2020-21 my mental health was at the lowest it had ever been for a Lot of reasons, but namely that I was struggling with school and just figuring out that I potentially had adhd and autism. I used to draw my persona with a lobotomy scar back then, including this as my one and only vent piece:

of course I knew the horror and medical abuse behind lobotomies (it’s been a very in-and-out interest for most of my life), and of course I knew that they were never a solution, and I never once intended to portray them as anything otherwise, but back then I wanted so badly to just be Fixed and Normal instead of being The Way I Was and struggling because of it that the concept of a lobotomy and the symbolism behind it became my way of coping for a short while.

(I doubt it matters but I have somewhat improved since then and my lobotomy scar is now just a zombie face stitch :P)

***

anyways, I don’t think nonhuman characters will always be considered autistic, nor should they be seen that way inherently, because not all of them are written with our traits or experiences in mind. Like: Omni-Man is an alien, but he isn’t autistic [coded]. He doesn’t show any specific traits for mannerisms; his storylines don’t have any similarities to autistic experiences. Nothing about his character could be interpreted as autistic. but if they’re written with the express traits and experiences of an autistic person, like Cas and Jack and Zane, then they’re free game to be considered representation.

There’s also some nuance to the idea that nonhuman autistic characters could make a conflation between actual autistic people and inhuman creatures, but look at queer people and horror monsters again. there’s elements of tragedy and forbidden love, of grappling with a Hidden Side Of Yourself and being a misunderstood monster in classic horror which resonated and continues to resonate highly with queer people. should we dissuade all that since bigots already conflate us with predatory monsters? or can we joke about how they see us, satirize it to hell like Rocky Horror? Is it truly ours to reclaim if we can’t make a few jabs ourselves?

representation doesn’t always have to be perfect or sanitized to be representative of us — especially if it’s being reclaimed by us. in fact, it often serves a better purpose to truly show what our lives and experiences are like, rather than something sanded down to the basic shape of us. it’s really simple; we as Weird, Othered people very often find odd comfort in the Weird and the Other. again, it’s not the general consensus, but I know that I feel the same way about autistic representation

That’s the only line I can see that makes sense to be drawn.

this ended up being longer than I thought it would but I had fun answering it! I hope it’s helpful :3 🫶

[meowmeowriley]

Hi MeowMeow Costume anon here sorry it’s taken a couple days for me to reply life got busy finding one’s honour is harder then I thought!

You want my autistic head canons for Zuko? Strap in for some unhinged rambling because I have ✨thoughts✨ this will be long

(CW: implied child abuse (Fuck Ozai))

Zuko likes music (Iroh mentiones he’s talented with the Tsungi horn) and his swords I also think he would have picked up dancing at some point with how he moved during dance of the dragons.

When he’s around people he trusts he emotes more with his face and masks less in general and I’d say if he felt safe enough he’d do more overt (for him) stimms like humming, minor rocking or tugging on his hair Iroh would be one of his safe people and eventually the gaang would be too

*I don’t think he’d have very obvious stimms in general being raised royal he’d be expected to act a certain way and hand flaps are not it. Also flaming 💩lord Ozai would have seen any aberrations as weakness and stamped that shit out fast

*I honestly think it could be one of the reasons the flaming 💩lord despises Zuko being inherently different would be a weakness in his eyes and reflect badly on him

I think he and May get along well because they’re both autistic and are a safe space for each other. she has trouble processing her emotions he has trouble controlling his they make good emotional counter balances

He cares so much about the people and animals around him even his enemies a strong sense of justice is a common sign of autism and speaking out of turn was the initial reason for his banishment.

He’s so socially awkward he doesn’t know how to talk with people instead of at them his entire pep talk to himself and subsequent introduction to the gaang when he tries to join them is peak “how do you do fellow kids” and his “that’s rough buddy” is as iconic as it is socially inept.

The guy totally hyper fixated on hunting the Avatar and when he could no longer find his purpose in it and realised he was wrong he did not cope

He has no tackt. none. and he takes things at face value and he hates lying his humour is also a little left leaning and he tries to relate to others and their experiences as a way of bonding.

While he’s not a prodigy fire bender like his sister he found ways around his limitations that helped accentuate his natural talents like his sword fighting (dancing would help with sword work) being incorporated into his bending (I don’t remember any other character bending with weapons).

He’d know a lot about tea from Iroh and I think he enjoyed working in the tea shop

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk!

I hope these make sense it’s kinda late now but this was fun to write thanks for reading my insane rambles :D

Also in response to the (non gendered) Prince! line you gave me so much surprise gender euphoria I cried 😭🫠🥹 sincerely thank you. I’m going with he/him pronouns atm but he/they is something I want to look into.

if you don’t mind me asking what are your pronouns?

I’ll probably send another ask in the next couple of days to annoy you with lol but in the meantime have a great day!

Sorry I took so long to get back to this, but damn I needed it today so I guess it's good I kept this in reserve. ❤

Holy shit, I can't unsee Zuko as autistic now. Like it's impossible. He's so perfectly coded to be on the spectrum. He's generally monotone, until he's not, and that's always when he's dealing with big emotions. He'd be a lip biter for sure.

Zuko doing dance as a stim 😍 the first time the Gaang sees him dancing when he thinks he's alone, they'd be so supportive, and have no idea what that would mean to him.

Fire lord Zuko infodumping about tea to some random person who tried to ask if he'd like them to make him some, as he heats the tea himself with his bending, and damn if that isn't the best tea that servant has ever had in their life.

Until next time my non gendered Prince Zuko! (Which will be in like, a few minutes, when I get to your other ask. Again sorry for the wait 😭 I'm bad at this)

[shitpostingkats]

Yu-Gi-Oh Review Roundup: Zexal!

Favorite main character: Astral

Yeah, I like the funny little autism alien. Everyone contain your shock.

But aside from the fact that there is a main character who is a glowing floating non-human, Astral is such a well written character. He starts with some of the barest foundations of a personality, being literally an amnesiac with no idea what is going on. Over the course of the show, you watch him slowly learn about the world around him and his place in it. Same with his relationship with his co-protagonist, Yuma! They start off very combative, but then learn to rely on each other, then a blossoming friendship, until they grow into fully loving and protective best friends. And we get to see that! All the little moments of their friendship is onscreen from day one. 

And aside from Yuma, Astral is just???? Hilarious??? He has this very dry sense of humor that is so anachronistic to the rest of his general naivety and it makes me smile EVERY TIME. He’s FUNNY. 

A personal pet peeve of mine is the assumption that autistic coded characters don’t understand jokes, and the only way to make them work in a comedy setting is to have the audience laugh at them. No!!! Astral’s just got his own wacky sense of personal humor! Even as he grows closer to Yuma, he still has his witty jabs, but this time they’re affectionate. This really is the way he talks, not just some consequence of amnesia and social bluntness. I love him. He’s clever and funny and caring and learning to love and awkward and awesome.

Also, he glows and floats. 

Favorite antagonist: Vector

Vector may not be the most consistently written character, but GOD IS HE FUN.

About 80% of my love of Vector is just in the visual appeal of his design and animation. The black and grey, almost like a gargoyle, with pink accents, plus his chrysalis/butterfly/alien duel disk? Mwah. Because barians don’t have mouths or eyebrows, their facial animation has to be really exaggerated to convey expressions. Vector’s face is made entirely of squash and stretch.

Add on top of that the dub’s pitch perfect and very fun vocal performance, and I just grin every time he comes onscreen. The actor manages to sell how this guy is a wildcard and just evil for the FUN of it. The giddiness in his voice whenever tormenting someone with evil cardgames. Every one of the barian emperors is like “And then there’s this guy. What a weirdo. We’re not 100% sure why we keep him around, but he is OUR little office chaos gremlin and he is a VALUED MEMBER OF THIS TEAM.” 

 When Shark is introducing all the emperors after reclaiming his title, his literal words when he gets to Vector are just: 

“Vector! Need I say more?” 

And even after trying to kill Nash like three times, he’s still in the final Friendship Lineup for the duel of three worlds, his monster used with complete honor and seriousness, complete with a special summoning chant and battle cry. 

THEY GIVE HIM A SPACE IN THE FRIENDGROUP AFTER HE TRIES TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Favorite side character: Nistro

Check it off the Spk Himbo Bingo, everyone. 

Dextra and Nistro are honestly some of the highlights of the show for me. I love it when yugioh side characters are allowed to recur and get minor character arcs that don’t subtract from the plot but still have an overarching development. The two of them show up in the duel carnival, first working security, then resigning and entering the carnival as competitors. While Dextra, professional, focused, does not make any major changes to her appearance, Nistro seems to revel in the chance to finally wear his full length flame/fur coat. It’s a subtle characterization, but it makes his ultimate turn to WWE wrestler completely believable. 

He’s excitable, hot-headed, and values his relationship with Dextra; the two play off each other very well, somewhat paralleling the dynamic between Yuma and Astral. And, I cannot stress enough how much I loved having a male and female relationship that was just. Good. Dextra is an equal and he cares for her completely, and they work well together, both in chemistry and in their literal jobs. It’s just. Nice. To have this background duo with no drama or yugioh-female-character weirdness.

Nistro just happens to be my personal favorite because he decided the best way to confront an alien hostile was to hit a baseball at them, then casually lean on the bat and smirk. 

Favorite duel: Yuma vs. Eliphas

Basically the entire show, Astral World is this big question mark in the lore. So when we finally got to see and go there, I was excited. Like, kicking my feet and flapping my hands excited. (This is yugioh, after all. It wouldn’t be completely out of the question to just never explore this cool alien world that holds a ton of answers to questions in the plot.) Also, because at this point we had been missing Astral for several episodes, and I was ready for Yuma to have his funny alien bestfriend back. 

But first he’s got to duel for it.

And boy is it a good duel.

Eliphas is a great antagonist, his archetype being based around not only being powerful, but on being levels of power far above his opponent. In one duel, we get the whole deal of Astral world: toxic superiority. His monsters are all wonderfully creatchury, tapping back into some DM era egyptian aesthetics, and just delightfully weird. Etheric Amon is also a highlight. I especially love how it calls to mind the silhouette of Monster Reborn, and the pillar fading near the base gives it a trippy optical illusion effect. 

Being the first person besides Yuma and Astral we see use Shining Draw, it’s an excellent and immediate threat that instantly ratchets up the tension. Same with the New Order numbers using exactly the same summonings and sound cues as regular numbers. The magical powers our protagonists have been slowly mastering through the entire course of the series? Child’s play. Not even anything special.

Yuma v. Eliphas also kicks off the longest chain of duels that I unilaterally love that I have so far seen in yugioh. From this to the duel on the moon, it’s just all bangers.

Favorite arc: Mythyrian Numbers War

Zexal is the first show I’ve really agreed with the general consensus on the quality curve: It gets better as it goes on. Part 2 is just exponentially stronger, and with every episode grows more into its potential. That said, I kinda like the funky monster of the week format the pre-duel carnival had.

So the search for the mythyrian numbers feels like the best blend of those two flavors. It’s basically an arc of cleverly delivered build-up for the main villains, introducing each barian emperor’s backstory one at a time. Plus, some broader worldbuilding about Astral and Barian, which after over a hundred episodes of no answers, was sorely needed. 

It gives the villainous coterie some personality. Dumon’s quiet honor and chivalry, Alito’s brash competitive streak, Girag’s raccoon-based military career. The emperors are a highlight of Zexal, and it’s in large part to this time spent fleshing out each one’s personality and past. And we still get to bounce around to wacky locations and weekly boss monsters. Then, with the mini arcs of Astral World and the three barian mercs, it just encapsulates all of my favorite parts of this series. 

Greatest strength of the series:

*points at Yuma and Astral on the cover art*

It’s them.

My controversial yugioh opinion is I didn’t really love DM. I found the pacing boring, the duels awkward, and that it never delivered on some of its strongest ideas. The basic premise, two souls in one body, one foreign and confused, contrasted by the plucky average joe? Awesome idea. How do they interact? How does that partnership develop, literally sharing a headspace? What sort of adventures do the two of them get up to, racing around the world to uncover the secrets to the amnesiac’s past?

What does this have to do with Zexal?

Yuma and Astral is everything I wanted from Yami and Yugi, and more.

While I found the number of Yami & Yugi interactions in DM frustratingly few, I liked the idea of dual protagonists, and was curious what a well written version of that dynamic would look like. Zexal makes having two protagonist really work. They’re just a delight. From the stumbled irritation of first meetings, then the unsteady alliance of companionship, to straight up would-die-for-each-other partners. They both share the spotlight, learning from each other as the show goes on, and compliment in all the right ways. Their banter feels organic and refreshing, you truly believe these two are the best of friends. When they lose each other it’s painful, when they reunite, it’s cathartic. Their bond is literally the foundation of the show, in a way that I didn’t really see in Yami and Yugi, or the criminally little time we got with Jaden and Yubel. The first time we see Astral smile is when Yuma calls him a friend. There’s a billion little moments like that. The two of them speaking in tandem the first time they work in sync. Astral’s pure delight at getting to experience food for the first time as Zexal. Yuma’s desperation when he thinks he’s misplaced the emperor's key. A massive chunk of the show goes to building up these two, and, by the end, it’s far and away the biggest success of Zexal.

Weakest Points:

A good chunk of the writing effort apparently went into perfecting Yuma and Astral’s dynamic, because other characters suffer from a distinct lack of consistency. 

Shark, love him though I might, spends 2/3rds of the plot having no real reason to be there, then hard pivots into a heelturn that’s really cool, but breaks down the more you think about it. His entire motivation for the duel carnival arc was getting back at the person who hospitalized his sister, then he helps out with the fight against the barians for supposedly the same reason? Despite them having kind of next to nothing with Rio’s injuries. You could make the argument that his hatred of the barians is motivated by suppressed memories of Vector being responsible for his sister’s death when they were humans, except the second he recovers those memories, he turns around and goes back to leading them without so much as an unkind word to Vector. 

He’s not the only villain of the series to suffer from some questionable motives. Vetrix is also a mess, wanting to avenge Kazuma and himself by *checks notes* Opposing Kazuma’s son and abusing his children. Dr. Faker is equally comically antithetical, committing warcrimes for the sake of his sons yet treating both horribly.

Yes, there’s explanations given, but nothing that feels real to the character, just last minute plot twists. Vector’s appealing because he’s a loose cannon, yes, but he has the strength of performance and writing where that’s a believable aspect. His consistency is he’s inconsistent, and takes great delight in being so. Every other main villain feels like they’re just being jerked around into the shape the plot requires of them.

Also, for how exciting it feels to get answers in the latter half of Zexal II, it’s a bit much, even for yugioh, to hold the basic worldbuilding in such a stranglehold until then. Heck, no one even asks why the barians and astrals are fighting until like, episode one hundred. Even characters where it feels in-character to ask, to investigate, they simply. Don’t. For a series this long, I’d love to see that aspect worked into a more reasonable drip-feed of information.

Most yugioh moment: 

“Pack your bags, galaxy-eyes. We’re headed to the moon.”

He says this so seriously. Does he really mean for galaxy-eyes to get its little dragon suitcase and get ready for their trip? Is this a little joke, between an eighteen year old and his emotional support piece of cardboard? HE’S SO CASUAL ABOUT JUST. HEADING TO THE MOON. They need to have a card game on the moon for the sake of the world that is the single most yugioh plot beat of all time.

[invisiblefoxfire]

Wait. Stop. Listen. I need to talk about Willy’s Wonderland.

Most of you haven’t seen this film. If you’ve heard of it at all, you probably caught wind of “Nicolas Cage Plays Five Nights At Freddy’s” as the basic premise. And that is correct. But.

BUT. What you might NOT have heard.

Is that Nic Cage’s character in this film is 100% autistic coded, to a degree that it cannot possibly be an accident, and every single one of his autistic traits is portrayed as badass. I swear whoever came up with this character must have made it to show to someone autistic in their life to prove that the traits they get made fun of are actually very good and cool.

The film is a goofy horror thing and there is blood and gore and violence, and that is for sure not for everyone. Unfortunately there are also a few scenes with flashing lights (especially near the end), and some of the fighting scenes get pretty screen-shaky, which is a real shame. I recommend checking doesthedogdie.com for details if you have things you need to avoid. But if you are cool with those things (or have someone to watch with who can tell you when to turn away and look back) you MUST see this film.

Not sold yet? Minor spoilers lie ahead, but Nic Cage’s (unnamed) character:

Is 100% non-verbal. He communicates solely through slow nods/head-shakes and slow, deliberate actions. This is played as him being a quiet badass. It is also hilarious because when he doesn’t speak and just dead-eyed stares at all the other characters who talk to him, they get uncomfortable and just keep talking and spilling all the film’s backstory in big infodumps which actually make sense under the circumstances, instead of feeling shoehorned in.

Has apparent sensory issues. Wears sunglasses outdoors at all times even though it’s cloudy or dark out the whole time. At one point he seems to get sensory overload, which only slows him down briefly before he returns to being a badass again, except now a very pissed off one.

On the other hand, appears to be hyposensitive to some things. He has no apparent startle reflex despite many things that would jump-scare a normal person out of their skin. Also does not react much to pain.

Seems very concerned about keeping clean. Washes his hands before each break and changes his shirt whenever it gets dirty (like when it gets drenched in blood and animatronic fluids for example). Sands down his fingernails to keep grit out of them. He is meticulous about the cleaning job he’s been given, down to every spot of graffiti and drop of blood and the tiniest bit of grit.

Has a flat affect and blank facial expression pretty much at all times. Again, this is played as him being a stone cold badass (which he is).

Follows instructions very precisely, almost obsessively. No matter what tries to get in his way. He has a Job To Do at this place and he Does It and if that involves fighting off a horde of murderous animatronics then I guess he has to do that too.

Follows a very precise schedule. One of his instructions is to take breaks, so he sets an alarm that goes off at regular intervals and stops working to play pinball for a few minutes before returning to work. Even if that means walking away from a big fight to do so.

Seems to have a special interest in pinball which involves a number of stims. When he finds the pinball machine he looks like he has fallen in love.

Has one single brand of beverage that he drinks. He has a can of this beverage, same brand, same flavor, at every single break. His car has a case of it in the trunk. The beverage is called “Punch” and there is a picture of a fist on the can, and he crushes each can before throwing it away, so it is, again, badass as hell.

On top of all of this, the neurotypical characters in the film are portrayed as being overly chatty idiots. They never stop talking. They constantly make bad decisions based on emotions (and their sex drives) instead of logic and reason. They know about the danger they’re in yet they make every cliche horror film mistake. They’re all so obsessed with “saving” this guy that they don’t seem to notice that he doesn’t need any help.

In conclusion, Nic Cage’s character in Willy’s Wonderland is the autistic hero we’ve always needed and I need everyone to go watch it and tell their friends to watch it and spread the word.

Take any one of his traits and tweak it slightly and you have something that autistic people have been made fun of for all their lives. Needing to eat/drink the same things all the time. Needing a precise schedule. Following instructions to the letter. Beating possessed animatronics to death with our fists. Not speaking, or speaking very little or very strangely. Wanting things to be clean and feeling uncomfortable when they’re dirty. Obviously not every autistic person has all of these traits, but they are all common, and they are all used as examples of why we are broken, or inferior, or tragic.

Well fuck that noise. Next time someone shames you for that shit, put on Willy’s Wonderland and ask them if they’d say the same thing to our good buddy Mr. Cage.

[solitaireships]

✍️🙈💞 + 🤪 for minala plsss :)))

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

So since Minala’s my Rook, she’s the protagonist. I think especially since people largely like Rook, she would be pretty well likes, but idk if you’ve seen it, but some people have also been insisting Rook is actually the worst ever and the real villain instead of that bald man so. It’d really depend lmao

I do think at the very least if she were made a companion instead of the PC, people would like her for her goth autistic vibes tho! She’d probably be slotted into the “brain empty goofy” thing everyone likes to slot Rooks in general into which is 100% inaccurate for her but it is what it is

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

I do fear her being autistic, wasian, and anxious may get her slotted into the delicate flower uwu baby thing despite her being a grown ass woman lol

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

I think Davrin mainly just bcs they’re best friends lol. My joking bonus answer would also be Anders bcs that’s my husband, but outside of that, idk. Maybe Myrna and/or Vorgoth bcs of the Mourn Watch associations?

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

For the most part, I think people would like it! Especially with the Minala and Bellara relationship, I think that people would really like it bcs of the degree of connection and similarity they have with each other, that’s then balanced out with some opposites attract kind of stuff (ex Minala being raised by humans and Bellara being Dalish, Minala being quiet while Bellara is more outgoing and energetic)

I also know people just from telling me on here would like Emmrich x Minala bcs goth x goth- they’re lowkey Gomez and Morticia Addams coded when it comes to romance. Them coparenting Manfred would be so sweet, and especially since Emmrich’s been wanting to be in love for so long and hasn’t really found that one true love. I think it’s very sweet

Then Minala and Neve. I know I don’t talk about them a ton, and that’s bcs they get together post canon so it’s hard to talk about without spoilers. If you can guess by the fact that Minala romanced Bellara in the game itself, you can probably figure out a major thing that happens with Neve that then effects the relationship. So there’s a bit of angst there but I think that makes them getting together all the sweeter bcs it means they still have this very strong mutual trust. Minala makes it easier for Neve to see the bright side of things, and I think they bring out other sides of each other

However there is the elephant in the room and why I always get a little scared even on here talking about the polyam part of Gothic Sunshine, which is the age gap between Emmrich, Minala, and Bellara. All of them are fully grown adults- Bellara is 32 and Minala is 34- but Emmrich being 56 (unconfirmed but my specific hc based on the range we got) would be what would make people hesitate around it. And I know most people don’t tend to care about Rook x Emmrich, but I think that Bellara in the relationship specifically would be what would make people say it could be problematic. Especially with Bellara calling Emmrich professor at first (which she does bcs she first started talking to him over letters about academic things and she wants to be respectful), I think people would get weird about that

And that leads me into another related thing bcs again. Bellara is a grown, 32 year old woman. She is an expert in her field. She fixed an eluvian in minutes when people have studied how to do that their whole lifetime. Yet both the fandom and to some degree the game tends to infantilize her. You have no idea how much it annoys me that they just kind of treat her like a fan for Neve and Emmrich when she’s an equal to them, and yes I do think this treatment of her is bcs she’s an Asian woman with ADHD. Her relationship with both of them does shift in the game, and Emmrich calls out the imposter syndrome she has that’s part of why she acts that way, but then the game immediately goes to characterizing her in her dynamic with Neve as being sisterly bcs god forbid an Asian woman be treated like an adult and viable romantic interest. Rant over but yeah I do think that would also make people try to say the ship since it includes all three mages is problematic

[i-love-harryosborn-dotcom]

❤️⭐️Get To Know Me⭐️💙

a brief introduction to your friendly neighborhood Parker Kinnie

more below the cut!

⭐️ General To Know Jazz ⭐️

Names/Nicknames: Parker, Heebles

Age: 22

Pronouns: He/They/It

Primary Hobbies/Interests: Art, Gaming, Movie Watching, Food

⭐️ Interests, Info & Hobbies Elaborated! ⭐️

My Parker Kinnie Sources: Raimi Spiderman, TASM Movies, Insomniac Spiderman, Some Spiderverse Movie stuff (i just generally pull a lot of kinnieism from a lot of parker’s core narrative themes/struggles lol)

Special Interests: Pokemon, Animals

Current Interests +: HTML Coding, Pixel Art, Art RPGs, Pokemon, Dinosaurs, “Bugs”, Hazbin/Helluva (im critical as fuck of these), Character Design, Mood boards/stimboards, 4*Town, Diorama creation, food/cooking

Current Disinterests: talking abt politics here??, im actually not sure what to put here rn ngl 🫡

Hobbies +: Watching Movies (Horror Especially), Playing Games, Watchin Video Essays & Restoration or Tiny Cooking Videos

Games I Enjoy RN: Planet Zoo, Subnautica, Pokemon, Lioden, Slime Rancher 1 & 2, webbed

Cool Queer Labels I’ve Collected: Aro/Ace Spec, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Nonbinary, Transgender, Xenogender

—

⭐️ Trivia :]!

- favorite color is purple

- my main fursona is a wild boar monster!

- im a big parksborn shipper but im also a huge multishipper 🍕🫶

- i actually dont eat pepperoni, my pizza order is a medium pan w/ extra sauce n light cheese 🍕🍕 but thats ok!

- im a southern parker kinnie 🫡 image pete w/ a slight texan twang ig

- im hella into red heads Harry Osbo :3

—

⭐️ Interaction Notes ⭐️

I block liberally to protect my peace & curate my experience online. If you interact in a way im not cool with or post about my personal icks, i may block you! And thats okay :]! What i do doesn’t determine you, please don’t block evade

Note 2 Minors: This acc is sfw so i dont mind you interacting w/ my personal posts or chatting back n forth via reblogs, but know that im not interested in interacting a ton personally in DMs or anything 👍

DNI/Fast Blocks: proship, racists/queerphobes, TERFs, anti-xenogender girlies, generally assholeish ppl lol

God Please Interact: Parksborn Shippers, Queer/Autistic Artists, Furry Artists/Furries, Other Spiderman fans :]! (Especially insomniac), pokemon fans

Inbox/Requests: See Bio for up to date status but normally they’re very open! Im good w/ random questions, rambling, info dumping etc. And im normally cool w/ art requests :]!

—

⭐️ Account Tags 2 Note ⭐️

#Parkers Pizza = Anything 2 do w/ my weird food aesthetic interest

#Poppin Parker = My Autistic Rants/Rambling

#Parker Playtime = My Game Rambling/Screenshots

#Parky Parker = My AUs

#Paintin Parker = My Art Posted Here

#Herping Parker = Posts w/ Bugs & Other Small Critters

#Planty Parker = Posts w/ Mushrooms/Fungi & Plant-central posts

#Paleo Parker = Posts w/ Dinos/Prehistoric Life

#Parker Blinkies = Blinkie reblogs 4 me to look back on/harvest from

More are sure 2 come

—

⭐️ Relevant Links 2 Me ⭐️

Nothin Rn 🍕 There will probably be an art masterlist or AU masterlist one day

Definitely gonna be a blinkie masterlist lol

—

Fun Blinkies!

(You’ll see a lot of these on my acc) Credit

[notwantedonthemoon]

Noyes family designs: part four

It's the one! The only!

Mr. Ham 'Missed-Potential' Noyes.

I think he’s funny.

Please feel free to ask me about this guy so I can seethe about the character we should have gotten out of him (though I do like him as is; I'm glad we got a Disney princess/manic pixie dream girl/scientist character all bundled up into one. He's also the most autistic-coded character I've read since the days of *checks notes* every single L. M. Montgomery book).

He had an absolutely stellar introduction in my English class. The teacher said that he’s probably ace and I’ll raise one better; he can be ace AND aro.

I need to start writing analyses on these things.

Character design notes:

• In the top right corner I had to draw Mrs Noyes (and a younger version of her) as a point of reference. Although Ham’s personality is a pretty even mix between both his parents, I think he looks a lot like his mom; throughout the story, he kind of acts like a lowercase Mrs Noyes.

• I never pictured him with glasses but a bunch of my classmates did and I slowly absorbed that idea into my brain. I imagine that he doesn’t actually need glasses (which irritates everyone endlessly- “what do you mean you don’t need glasses? You read thirty hours a day”), he just thinks they look neat.

• The braid is inspired by Claudia from the Dragon Prince. They’re very different characters who probably wouldn’t get along in any way but something about these two strikes me as similar.

• One thing that always baffles me about his design is why he just randomly grows his hair out some time in the middle of the book and how that is… never elaborated on. I will never get an in-universe explanation about this very minor detail but it will haunt me forever. (I think it’s so that Emma can practice hairstyles on him).

• I do think that in a movie or TV show having a character grow their hair out is a pretty nifty way to remind the audience about the passage of time- which was actually the inspiration for the scars in his design (along with his general tendency to wander around in woods and stick his nose into anything that interests him). In a TV show adaptation of Not Wanted on the Voyage (god I wish), I want this guy to be the designated calendar character. You can tell which episode you’re on just by looking at a picture of him.

• NO inspiration from the musical designs for Ham OR Lucy. Musical Lucy looks unfortunately like Edward Cullen and although the decision to have Musical Ham channel the energy of a Disney Channel nerd who gets shoved into lockers is one I can respect, it is not one I can agree with. They should have made him channel the energy of, like, Princess Aurora instead.

• If I’m remembering correctly, those two share some resemblances, like a love for nature and a concerning willingness to marry a tall dashing stranger they met in the woods after knowing said tall dashing stranger for, like, two hours…

• There WILL be a return of those ridiculously coloured sleeves for other characters. Lucy has a whole trousseau chest of fancy silks and fabric. There is no way the Lower Deck squad didn’t cut some of them up for clothing repair purposes.

• Those colours are entirely intentional. By the way. If you’re drawing and struggling with picking colours to use for clothing, just search up various pride flags. Works like a charm.

[moonlarked]

So I just wanted to talk a little bit about the Songs post I made and the responses!

First of all: thank you @soryasongsaa @cogaytes @dizzythegreat @thebestbookshelf for responding! It means a lot to me that people are being so nice and willing to explain stuff!! ❤️❤️

My personal thoughts reading: I think it’s pretty messy. There’s no excuse for the stereotyping; it just seems lazy and unresearched. As someone who wants to get into writing myself, I would research for hours before even considering writing about a culture that isn’t my own. And, yeah, they’re elves, they don’t have human ethnicities, so it would be kinda weird to specify them as a specific nationality while not doing the same for the white coded characters, but Shannon should’ve put more into their characters.

Anyway, I still love the Songs. I feel like they’ve been fleshed our more, but it’s been pretty rocky. And now I’m gonna stop bc I don’t want to say more about a subject that I don’t really have a say in.

Thanks for giving me your perspective!

(below the cut is more of a personal vent, so you can stop here if you want. ❤️)

I’m gonna talk about my OCD now and how it connects to this situation.

It’s hard to explain, but basically I’ve discovered that I need my special interest (I’m autistic) to be perfect. If I find something that’s problematic about it - like a social media post - I’m gonna take the whole day to ruminate to try to get rid of that awful panic. Which sucks, because I have a life beyond fandom.

This started with Wanda Maximoff. The movie version. Basically the first character I ever really connected with due to her mental struggles and anxiety and coping mechanisms. I saw a lot of myself in WandaVision.

Now, this is Tumblr, and a lot of this discourse is on Tumblr, but in case you aren’t caught up: basically: Wanda Maximoff is a Jewish-Romani woman. The comic version, that is. The movie version is a white woman from a made up country called Sokovia. And many posts have called out the way that the mcu translation has been… less than accurate. They’ve added stereotyping and outdated tropes while not even letting her be her original ethnicity. And the actress playing her hasn’t exactly been well researched on the situation - she’s pretty ignorant and has said some problematic stuff.

“Whiteness” is a controversial subject and many people have argued over the race of Romani and Jewish people. Not to mention her representation in the comics is less than progressive in some areas. But having Wanda being played by a white woman takes away meaningful rep from historically persecuted minority groups.

Is any of this my fault? No. Did I still have a mental breakdown frequently about this? Yes.

You have to understand - I ADORED this character. In many ways I still do. This doesn’t excuse the problematic parts, but it caused me to be in constant self-loathing. I convinced myself I was horrible because I related to to this character. This caused me to look up posts about this subject in hopes of something that would fix this, something to prove all these people wrong.

It was a cycle. I wanted to die frequently. It may seem like I was overreacting, but my mind was in constant panic mode and to me this seemed incredibly important.

You know what saved me? Well, talking to my parents of course, and learning about ocd, and getting counseling.

But also: Keeper.

Returning to a series that genuinely gave me joy. Letting myself escape.

That’s where the Song twin controversy comes in.

You’ll probably guess I was pretty panicked when I found out about this controversy. It felt like Wanda all over again. I feel like I’m falling into this cycle again.

But I’m deciding I’m not gonna let myself do that.

I’m gonna accept the bad. I’m gonna like what I like. And I’m gonna talk about my feelings instead of bottling them up.

The Song twins are problematic. People have a right to call them out.

And I still love Kotlc. I will continue to love it and talk to others who love it.

I’m not going to fall into that misery again. I’m going to tell my ocd to fuck off. I’m going to go to therapy. I’m going to get better.

❤️❤️❤️

[hattrickeryreviews]

Breakaway (Scoring Chances #1) - Avon Gale

"Drafted to play for the Jacksonville Sea Storm, an NHL affiliate, twenty-year-old Lane Courtnall’s future looks bright, apart from the awkwardness he feels as a gay man playing on a minor league hockey team. He's put his foot in his mouth a few times and alienated his teammates. Then, during a rivalry game, Lane throws off his gloves against Jared Shore, enforcer for the Savannah Renegades. It’s a strange way to begin a relationship.

Jared’s been playing minor league hockey for most of his career. He’s bisexual and doesn’t care if anyone knows. But he’s determined to avoid another love affair after the last one left him devastated. Out of nowhere a one-nighter with rookie Lane Courtnall gives him second thoughts. Lane reminds Jared why he loves the game and why love might be worth the risk. In turn, Jared hopes to show Lane how to be comfortable with himself on and off the ice. But they’re at different points in their careers, and both men will have to decide what they value most."

Did I reread it? Yes

POV: 3rd person limited, alternating between Lane Courtnall and Jared Shore

Tropes: Rivals, Age Gap, Emotional Scars

My thoughts:

Characters/Character Development: 3/5

Lane: Lane is a 20-year-old character that I imagine you either love or hate; I happen to love him. He is absurdly charming, with about no people skills and the charisma to make up for it. He is autistic-coded, and the best part about him is that no one ever asks him or wants him to change. His own character arc is unrelated to any shortcomings of his own, instead following the tense relationship between himself and his parents.

Jared: Jared is a hardened 32-year-old who has seen the ugly side of hockey and is learning to live with it. He’s slightly grouchy and generally rough around the edges, except when it comes to Lane. His character arc revolves around self-acceptance and a difficult family.

Overall, the character development is… okay. We see some changes in the characters, but not much. Lane’s own arc is mostly glossed over and left to the background, and it doesn’t really involve any personal growth as opposed to the growth of the people around him. Jared’s own changes are so incredibly internal that at times it is hard to believe anything is actually influencing them. However, the characters themselves (both main and side) all have very solidly fleshed out personalities that are easy to distinguish and charming. At times, they can be a bit of caricatures, but they are still decently developed.

Believability (Hockey): 5/5

This book specifically follows the ECHL, with accurate depictions of what that means for the characters. The team names themselves are fake, but the structure of the games and league is very real. I can’t exactly say what an ECHL locker room really looks like, nor can I speak on the true personalities on and off the ice of players, but I imagine it could be pretty close to this. Is it a little idealized? Sure. But this is fiction, and I think it’s okay to make things a little better than they probably would be, so long as it’s near the realm of believability.

Believability (Plot): 2/5

This plot is enjoyable, but I didn’t quite believe it. We basically follow two rival teams, yet I’ve been to high school football games with more animosity. I adore happy endings in my romance books, as I’m sure we all do, but I think that anywhere in a book it is important for characters to struggle, and you don’t see much of that here. Additionally, we’ve got a story where everything all works out without really any work done from the characters. Couple in with that an immigration that is way too quick and easy, and you’ve got a book that’s just on the wrong side of realistic.

Uniqueness: 4/5

Every hockey book is going to be at least a little bit similar, so it’s important to look for details you don’t see in other stories. Here, we’ve got our focus on the ECHL, which goes against the common “top in their sport” theme of sports books. The characters have personalities that you don’t come by in many books, especially Lane. Some of the plot points are pretty common in other books, but there’s only so many ways you can write a romance book.

Trope Integration: 2/5

I love the tropes that we see in this book; however, they are criminally under-utilized. We’ve got a sizable age gap, where one character is in his 30s and another can’t even legally drink, but besides a couple ‘old man’ jokes, it doesn’t really play into the plot at all. They’re both on rival teams, but even the rivalry itself isn’t a factor in the romance. We’ve got traumatized pasts and potentially homophobic parents that don’t impact the relationship and are hardly visible in the characters. They are used as talking points more than anything else, but at least they exist in the story at all.

General enjoyment: 4/5

This book isn’t going to change the world, and that’s okay. I love some of the one-liners, especially the ones we get out of Lane. This book is upfront about what it is and unapologetic. At some points I found the humor to be a bit repetitive, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. I have read this book one time before, and I definitely don’t regret reading it again.

Overall Score: 20/30 or 3.3/5

[weirdratblogs]

The issue with the word ‘coding’, in reference to a character being ‘black-coded’ or ‘autistic-coded’ or ‘queer-coded’, is that it’s one of those concepts that people don’t actually look into and so develop a definition for it based off of vibes.

Coding is the use of the semiotics of concepts to influence an audience’s perceptions in situations where actually presenting said concept is impossible, such as due to societal expectations, legal reasons, or in-universe logic.

The Hay’s Codes made it impossible to legally represent the queer community in a healthy and happy way, so queer-coded characters were used in place of actual queer characters. This is also why so many confirmed bachelor characters and pansy characters were used in television from the 50′s to the 90′s. You could make a character as gay as you wanted, so long as it was never actually confirmed and used as a joke.

Characters like piccolo, garnet, sapphire, and ruby are inhuman aliens, and thus can’t actually be black, so they are coded as black. Characters like Twilight, Peridot, and Donatello are all likewise inhuman, and so can’t be autistic, so they are autistic-coded.

You’ll likewise note that plenty of autistic-coded characters were not initially confirmed as autistics. This is because they were merely meant to be seen as quirky or socially awkward, and that it was only the fandom surrounding these series commenting on how much they relate to [insert character] that saw them being recognized as such. While characters that were initially meant to be autistic and confirmed to be so from the start tend to be a mishmash of stereotypes, thus making their place as representation questionable at best.

This is why the use of terms like ‘minor-coded’ are not only incorrect, but also offensive and insulting. People can be short. People can be naive and childish. People can be interested in things that aren’t ‘adult’. 

Saying that sexualizing a character or entangling them in romance because they’re ‘minor-coded’ is insulting to people who are actually like these characters in real life. Hijacking the concept of coding for the sake of being offended by pointless bullshit takes away its power as a tool. Looking at real life people and saying that they aren’t allowed to date, or that someone pursuing them romantically is tantamount to pedophilia is controlling and completely ignorant.

Not to mention the harm it brings to little people, by earmarking anyone who might be interested in them as a creep just because they’re a little person. Not dissimilar to the amount of people who see an asian person with a white person and immediately jump to fetishization... 

Edit to Add: It should go without saying that you likewise can’t minor-code by dint of minors being fucking everywhere and in damn-near every genre. Like, clearly porn is an exception, and fucking hell is it fucked up that there are minor-coded roles in porn, but generally, a series can and will just... add a child if they want a child-coded character... Except for fucking Chappy, but I feel that Chappy’s more the exception that validates the rule.

[autisticempathydaemon]

I had good intentions (and the highest hopes)

aka “I saw a bastard character named Alexis and projected onto her for 2.8k words.”

cw: canon-typical violence, canon-typical car accident, Darlin calls themselves Tank, minor Sam/Darlin, autistic-coded character, Southern Alexis

Hands behind her back, eyes on the ceiling, balanced in a stiff, nervous teeter on the sides of her feet, Alexis looks like a child waiting to be scolded, not the scourge of their revenge fantasies. Tank is glad they’re sitting, because the cognitive dissonance is a bitch.

Also available on AO3

Tank thinks it’s really cute how they’re the one that can turn into a wolf but Sam is the partner who perks up to sounds only he can hear like a vigilant puppy.

“Sorry, Darlin,” Sam whispers, reluctantly pulling away from their kiss, just far enough they can still feel his eyelashes against their skin. “William is calling for me, probably wants to check in on the progeny before I leave. I shouldn’t be long, and then I’ll take you out like I promised.” He presses another kiss, light as a feather, against their forehead and speeds out the door with a sweet grin.

A sweet, loving, foolishly trusting grin, because how often does a shifter get the opportunity to explore the labyrinthian splendor of the Solaire palace?

It’s not actually a palace- it’s not a castle or anything- but it is a mansion with god knows how many rooms. William can’t just give his progeny and theirs houses, no, the great Solaire King also has individual bedrooms and sitting rooms for each member of his clan. Exploring new places this far got them a mate, same for Vincent’s electric friend. Surely no one would begrudge them a little more…

…is what Tank thought before they got lost.

William Solaire has an astonishing amount of richly decorated studies with bookshelves full of tomes that all look the same. Like, a ridiculous amount. So when Tank opens a door and it’s just a normal, average sitting room, they step in and breathe in a scent that’s not leather and old paper but subtle smoke and honey.

Unlike the deep browns and burgundy reds that the King seems to prefer, this space is painted a pleasant periwinkle blue, calming and light. The windowless walls are lined with shelves of vinyls, and where William placed a hilariously ostentatious marble bust, there sits a record player. Tank takes a second to browse the shelves and wonder whose space this is- Bright Eye’s maybe?- when they hear a creaking door and a faint, feminine, Southern lilt.

“Vin, I’m not really- You’re not Vincent.”

Alexis doesn’t look like her reputation. Though, in retrospect, Tank is not quite sure what they expected. Tall, maybe? A marble-skinned, crimson-eyed Cullen? An Elvira-esque seductress sheathed in blood and scorn?

They didn’t expect her to be so… small. They didn’t expect wide, doe eyes fixating on the carpet in front of their feet or long, unruly hair curtaining her face or slender fingers fidgeting anxiously with the doorknob.

“Did you-“ She starts, ruby-studded silver eyes flicking up by their head and back to the ground, feeding that familiar rage in Tank’s gut. This is the leech that turned Sam against his will, and she doesn’t have the guts to face them? “You know what, never mind, I’ll go.” To stand her ground even?

“You’re her,” Tank says, the words dripping cold and heavy from their tongue like leaden venom. The infamous Solaire princess slowly turns back, having begun to close the door, and nods.

“Yes, I’m Alexis.” A small, tight rictus spreads across her face, making them imperceptibly stiffen at the show of fangs. “Pleasure to meet you. If you’ll excuse me-“

“What, afraid of the big bad wolf, leech? Afraid of someone who can bite back?” Alexis tightens her fists so hard her knuckles pop, and Tank revels in the loss of composure.

“I’m not afraid, I’m-“ Her voice hitches, high-pitched and angry, and the wolf in them readies to spring when Alexis tilts her head back, closes her eyes, and breathes. “Where you go, I’m sure Sam ain’t far behind, and I know when to make myself scarce.” She waves a hand through the air in a dismissive gesture that only irritates them further. “Creature of the night and all that jazz. I know better now to stay away from where I’m not wanted.” She starts to turn again, and something about Alexis showing her back so carelessly ignites Tank’s blood like gasoline.

“If that’s so, why are you even here?” they snarl, spitting the words with hopes they’ll hurt. “I doubt the Solaires have any need for useless bloodsuckers who bring nothing but trouble and aren’t even sorry-“

“Of course, I’m fuckin’ sorry-“ Silver flashes, hardens to steel, and hones sharp onto Tank’s face. They are fighting the instinct to visibly flinch when Alexis sucks in a deep breath and screws her eyes shut. When she opens them again, her hands are twisting knots in her long, black skirt, but her face is calm.

“Of course, I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t mean shit, I know it doesn’t change what I did, I know no one wants to hear it, but I acknowledge what I did was wrong and disrespectful.” The shifter grits their teeth at the practiced, even-keeled delivery of their speech, at the lackluster, blasé farce of sincerity.

“I cannot change the past, I cannot change what I did, I cannot change how anyone feels about me as a result; I can only change my behavior, and I’m working on that.” Alexis’s gaze travels from the floor to Tank’s squared shoulders, and her own curl inwards. “Can I go now?”

“Gee, not even going to take a bow after that little performance? Can’t blame you, seemed a bit scripted to me.”

“It’s not-“ Tank had been ready for anger, wrath, any reaction that wasn’t this meek pretense at remorse; they had been ready for a fight. They hadn’t been ready for Alexis’ face to fall into clear, abject dejection or for her to hide behind her hands.

“I have to say it a lot in therapy, okay? If it sounds rehearsed, it’s because I use it as a mantra and because I was told to calm down and think about my “I” statements before I act.”

They hadn’t been ready for that either.

“You… go to therapy” Tank repeats, the words tasting odd and unfamiliar in their mouth. Of all the things they had expected Alexis to do in her spare time (skulking, plotting, ruining more lives), that had not been one of them.

“Yes, I go to therapy,” she says bluntly, casually upending a little bit of Tank’s world. “I had to.”

“Did Daddy have to force you to get help? Was invoking the only way to make that happen?” The barb comes out so naturally, they’re shocked that that’s the one that makes Alexis growl, eyes narrowed at their feet, fingers curling into violent claws.

“I wasn’t invoked into counseling; William would never. I had a choice, because the king practices what he preaches, and he gave two options: get help or get out.” Alexis’s hands curl and unfurl in her skirt, and Tank relishes, just a little bit, that the girl was given an ultimatum. “William knew I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he took me to the department, got me someone to talk to. That’s where I just was.” She exhales slowly, all vestige of fight draining out of her shoulders, and gestures a tired hand down the hall. “He has me check in with him after every session, you can confirm with him.”

“Did it help?” Silver eyes rise, peeking out from behind dark hair in surprise, and they imagine their face must mirror hers. Tank is also surprised at their question. “The therapy and the welfare checks with your vampire Dad.” Whether that was a dig or legitimate question, neither of them could really say.

“They did,” Alexis responds plainly, clasping her hands together in front of her with a perfunctory nod. “Thank you for asking.” Tank can see the tells of her trying to leave again and asks what really has been weighing on their mind.

“Why did you do it?” For the first time, Alexis looks Tank in the eyes, silver surprise coming face-to-face with rage still, yes, but also an expectant need to know.

“…does it matter what my reasons were?” She asks in a tone that could only be described as suspicious, casting her eyes down to the floor again. “I assume Sam told you what he thinks they were, and I’ve been told it’s important I let him tell his story and respect it.” Tank, in response, turns to the plush armchair behind them and sits down with the finality and resolve of a determined werewolf. The look they send her way has cowed many a lesser creature, and the Solaire heir is no exception, nodding again and finally closing the door behind her, leaning against it.

Hands behind her back, eyes on the ceiling, balanced in a stiff, nervous teeter on the sides of her feet, Alexis looks like a child waiting to be scolded, not the scourge of their revenge fantasies. Tank is glad they’re sitting, because the cognitive dissonance is a bitch.

“I turned Sam because I thought it was the right thing to do, because I didn’t want to repeat my mistakes.” Alexis meets their gaze, and Tank leans in, not because of a trance, but because of the expression there that could only be described as sincere regret and sorrow. They watch as she flinches and looks away, focusing on the passive face of the wall clock instead of the waiting werewolf in front of her.

“When Wonderworld happened, I was there… and I could have saved someone’s life. Will was taking care of Vincent, you know that story, but the person next to him was alive too. I could have done it, I could have saved them.” Alexis’ voice dips and breaks ever so slightly, and for a topsy-turvy, twisted second, Tank cannot help but think of how similar her drawl is to Sam’s. It’s the way the guilt sounds on their tongues; cloying, heady, and bittersweet, like sorrow is an aged liquor and they’re drowning in it.

“But I’d never turned anyone before,” she continues, biting at worried lips. “I didn’t think I was ready. And so many people were screaming and Will was rushing me and there was so much smoke and so much blood and so much noise and- And they died. Right in front of me while I was trying to get my bearings straight.” Alexis’ words tumble out with voracious speed, and it looks like she’s almost going to pitch forward with the way they rip out of her throat. Tank is worried for a singular moment that they might have to catch her, but Alexis maintains her rigid posture, arms caged around her torso.

“You would think, being immortal and all, that memories would fade. The brain holds onto the important things, lets go of the things that hurt you, protects you. That’s not the case when you’re a vampire, a powerful one half a century old.” Alexis shakes her head, and the gesture shades half her face with drapes of hair but can’t hide her shaking arms. “I remember so clearly, so vividly every sensation that I’ve experienced since I turned. I’ve never forgotten what that feels like, an innocent person dying because of my meltdown.”

“So when the accident happened, I was experiencing it all over again, the blood, the crashing, the screaming.” Alexis stops to breathe a moment. Tank takes that moment to consider the haunted look in her eyes and the foreign concept that Alexis may have suffered that night too.

“Sam doesn’t know it, but he was screaming, and he was dying. He said he could do it, he said he could heal himself, but I could feel his death coming.” Alexis’ hands rub up and down the sleeves of her blazer in a self-soothing gesture, and Tank wonders if she ever stopped feeling it. “I was losing him.”

“He was losing blood and magic and life with every second, and those were seconds that I was hesitating. There was someone in my arms again, bleeding out and in pain, so much pain, and he was going to die because I got overwhelmed except this time, it was going to be someone I l-“

The vampire clasps a tight, punishing hand over her lips, but the werewolf already heard the panicked whines rising up in her throat, saw the fanged grimace at the phantom memory of blood. They already felt the love she was trying to swallow back.

When Alexis speaks again, her voice is quiet, thoughtful, and composed. When she tucks her hands behind her back, Tank notices the dull bite marks gouged into the palm.

“I wonder everyday if he could have done it, if he could have pulled the threads to save his life… but at the time, that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take. I saw a selfish opportunity to do what I thought was right, to fix my mistake, and I took it.”

A rueful facsimile of a smile cracks on her face, an attempt at levity made of teeth, grit, and self-deprecation. Tank knows it well, sees that same, practiced expression in Shaw Pack pictures and the bathroom mirror.

“People say stupidity is making the same mistake twice and expecting a different result- Well, I say it takes a special kind of touched to fix your mistake and fuck it up even worse. My therapist tells me not to speak with that kind of language, so I just think it instead.”

Alexis searches for their eyes a third time, the silver shining brighter, like something behind has been lifted, like light is being reflected. When Tank looks back, she laughs. It’s awkward, clumsy, unrehearsed, and oddly beautiful, an astonishingly human gesture.

“I apologize for making you sit through all of that. I never know when to stop,” she rambles self-consciously. “Obviously it doesn’t change anything, an explanation is not a justification. I had no right, even if I thought I was doing right, and…” She pauses, breathes, takes a moment.

Then the proud, cruel Alexis, rumored hellion princess of the Solaire clan, squares her shoulders, neatly folds her hands in front of her, and offers them an apologetic bow.

“I hurt Sam and you and all the people who care about him. I feel that hurt and pain and hatred every day through the bond. I know there’s nothing I can do to make those things go away or get better, but I try to not make it worse.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tank accuses, making the vampire straighten. They spring out of the chair to their feet and marvel when Alexis doesn’t even flinch at their hands twisting in their blouse. “All this time, over a decade, and you never thought to say this to Sam, to the person who deserves it? To the person you hurt?” Even being the same height, it takes little effort for Tank to lift the small woman off the ground, and Alexis doesn’t try to stop her, just clasps onto their arms with a timid, dithering grip.

“The last thing he ever asked of me, before the bloodlust took hold, was to never speak to him again,” Alexis says, voice choked either by the chokehold or emotion. “Disregarding his wishes to apologize for doing that exact thing wouldn’t have made a difference, would have been a step backward, would have just proved I didn’t learn my lesson.” Tank sets her back down on the ground and lets go, but Alexis holds on a touch longer, gently squeezing their wrists with trembling hands, a sinner pleading for a saint’s absolution.

“I made Sam a victim that night, subjected him to me and to this life that I chose for him. I hurt him, and my penance is feeling that hurt and knowing I caused it. It’s not enough, but nothing ever will be.” She lets go, and this time, they let her reach for the door and hold it open for them to leave. “Speaking of, I hear the man himself finishing up in the ballroom, and I’d best not add the sin of keeping you to my rap sheet.”

Tank steps out into the hallway oddly reminded of Mama Greer, childhood story times, and little heroes that had gone on an adventure through a wardrobe; they had gone exploring, found a wicked witch, and returned exactly the same but inexplicably different. The feeling of dreamy unreality only grows as the vampire tentatively brushes her fingertips against hers.

Tank had watched so many emotions play on the other’s features that night: fear, agony, sadness, and rage. They had seen how she wears regret and shyness and reticence and contrition. What will really stick with them in the days to come is the glowing, sweet look of Alexis’s gratitude as she points in Sam’s direction.

“It really was a pleasure to meet you, hon; you make him feel so much joy. Thank you.”

Thank you for reading 💖 I wrote all Alexis’s dialogue first, intending to record it like a script, and filled in everything around it while I recover from the flu. Hopefully it doesn’t read too awkwardly as a result.

Taglist: @gingerbreadmonsters thank you for reading the excerpt and anticipating it 💜