#im not putting this in the tags god forbid

[saiintvalentiine]

PLEASE TALK ABOUT YOUR WRITING (in a praising way) AS MUCH AS YOU WANT.

I ESPECIALLY LOVED CHAP 6, I WAS NOT PREPARED TO READ HAT ON A THURSDAY MORNING

ok. so. this is 1.8k words long according to my doc. sorry.

I'd like to say before anyone starts reading this: This is only about my version of Wifies and Parrot. The understanding of them is entirely reliant on the AU I've been writing, the thing with feathers. I do use canon UU stuff, but this is will be inaccurate to the UU characterizations.

Major Spoilers For Among Those In The Know. If you haven't read up to ch6, don't open this! There's also spoilers for widen by one as well. Otherwise, please enjoy my unhinged ramblings abt my own writing and characterization:

The first “touch�� between Parrot and Wifies is when Parrot wrangles Wifies with his fishing rod in chapter 1, though I suppose that’s not a “real” touch. The first real touch is in chapter 2, when Parrot grabs Wifies and Wifies realizes Parrot has talons— the first time he fully realizes Parrot can hurt him without the need for weapons.

Parrot grunts, but that’s when the voices start to filter in. Parrot grabs his hand and drags him close, smashing an invisibility potion between them. He doesn’t let go, and this is the exact moment Wifies realizes Parrot’s nails are more like talons than regular nails. Rough and round, they dig into the back of Wifies’s hand as they skirt around Zam and Wemmbu’s voices, returning to the entrance.

The thing is Wifies doesn’t really. . . acknowledge pain much. He describes the fishing rod hook as a pinch and then stops thinking about it, even though as he explains it, it should have clearly been super painful. So in Parrot’s haste, he’s digging his very sharp talons into Wifies’s hand and Wifies isn’t even bothering to think about the pain of it. The first touch is a protective one, but not without its thorns. The next touch is over clothes; Parrot tugs on Wifies’s sweater. Wifies may not have cared, but Parrot isn’t unobservant.

Chapter 3 is where this turns. Parrot throws a painless arm around Wifies, yet despite this Wifies still notices his talons

Parrot takes it, sharp talon tips holding it in a delicate grip.

Wifies doesn’t realize it yet, but he can’t escape noticing how dangerous Parrot’s hands are. When they’re lying to Zam and Wemmbu, the talons reappear over his clothes— protective this time.

Before Wifies can enter the portal, a talon hooks into the back of his sweater and holds him still.

Then, of course, the first real gentle touch: Parrot feeding Wifies the gapple because his hands are bloody.

“I don’t have any water on me. Here, just—” Parrot nudges a bruised knuckle under Wifies’s chin and carefully holds the apple to his mouth. “Don’t touch it. You’ll get sick if you ingest that shit.”

Parrot keeps his talons away from Wifies. He closes his own hurting hand and only touches with his knuckles, where he knows he can’t hurt him— and may in fact be hurting himself in the process instead. Because he’s worried, worried that Wifies is going to flinch away.

His jaw bumps into Parrot’s knuckle as he speaks, but Parrot keeps it steady, as if Wifies is going to shy away.

He doesn’t understand yet that Wifies won’t ever flinch away. Wifies isn’t afraid of pain or suffering, not at Parrot’s hands at least. And Parrot really, really gets to pretend for a while! In the ocean Parrot holds onto Wifies a few times to keep him close, and it’s all good, until the Drowned follows them. It’s locked onto Wifies, and Parrot is trying to get it to stop, but in the process undoes all the softness in one fell swoop, because Wifies notices again his capacity for violence.

When Wifies turns around, Parrot’s got his talons in the arm of the Drowned from earlier, hovering in the water just outside their air pocket. Its trident is gone, possibly dropped from Parrot attacking it, which means it’s mostly harmless now, but Parrot isn’t letting go of it. Wifies can see his grip tighten, and in a swift move he rips through the Drowned’s arm from the elbow all the way to its wrist. Wifies shivers, the cold spots on his spine blooming.

And yet despite this! At the end of the chapter, when Parrot touches Wifies’s chin, Wifies still lets him. Parrot has just proven that he’s entirely capable of killing Wifies despite everything, and even though Wifies is super deeply uncomfortable with Parrot’s line of questioning, he lets Parrot touch and move his head around.

Parrot’s hand comes up, and he uses his knuckles to press under Wifies’s chin. Wifies lets him move his head around.

To me this is the moment that it puts the idea in Wifies’s head that he’d let Parrot kill him if need be. In chapter 1, he mentions the possibility of Parrot killing him, but he reckons that it’s simply too early for it to happen, too much of a waste for Parrot to go through with it.

He does [trust Parrot]. Parrot asked him to come help, and it would have been a useless endeavor to kill him now or leave him down here. As long as Parrot has a puzzle he wants to solve, Wifies will trust that he won't be left behind. It’s the game that they’re playing.

But at this point, they’re much closer to the secret. Wifies thinks this is an elaborate game Spoke is playing, a board where he’s a pawn and Spoke and Parrot are players.

Wifies understands that he is a small piece of the large board Parrot is playing on, but he wonders if Parrot can even see the board.

And sometimes? You sacrifice a pawn to get to a king. That’s just how you play games. And by chapter 4, it’s setting in that while Parrot cares, he cares about knowing the truth more. Parrot may like Wifies, may joke and sing and play with him, but he’s not above pushing Wifies for answers. Is he above killing Wifies? This is where that sentiment starts to take shape. He also doesn’t think Parrot likes him more than he likes Spoke.

He doubts Parrot will ever get the chance to kill Spoke, but even more than that, he doubts Parrot would take the chance. Parrot doesn’t do a good job of hiding the fond tone he uses when he mentions Spoke.

Parrot may have been kind, been gentle, but Wifies is still an accessory to a game he’s not in the main box of. Wifies is the EyeToy to Spoke and Parrot’s PS2 or whatever. But at this point, Parrot has never deliberately hurt him, and Wifies has never deliberately touched Parrot. In chapter 5 when they argue, Parrot is holding onto Wifies over his clothes. This is the first time Wifies’s internal dialogue calls Parrot’s hands dangerous.

Wifies feels those dangerous talons cinch tighter on his arm.

And this is, in fact, the only time the word dangerous comes up in the whole draft including in future chapters. Wifies feels the danger of Parrot’s anger, and to him it comes from the fact he’s questioning Parrot. The heat of the Mesa rises, and Wifies for the first time acknowledges that a part of him is. . . afraid of Parrot.

The escape room flow state followed by arguing has put him in a strange headspace. In chapter 6, there is never a moment where Wifies sees Parrot’s hands and doesn’t think of their ability for violence. He’s not afraid that Parrot is going to lash out, specifically, but more that he realizes he’s got. . . nothing. He’s back to being helpless in the face of someone else who can strike him down. He’s back to being on thin ice; if he can’t figure this out, he’s scrapped. If he can’t get Parrot out of this room, it’d be his right to get rid of Wifies.

“Y’know, you could probably leave without me,” Wifies points out. “Without rockets it might be hard, but with enough prep I’m sure you could eventually fly up and over the wall.”

I’m here to help you get out. Parrot doesn’t accept it, but that’s the frame of Wifies’s actions. And yet, he’s having. . . fun? Wifies has the most fun when he’s in danger. In widen by one, he is thrilled by the danger of the world he’s in, of being put in place in a way.

He knows as something pushes him full force into the pit. He knows as he tries to get a look at what hit him, only to be met with a world that is darker than black peering back at him. And he knows, most of all, when he hits the ground and dies before the mobs even realize he's there. He respawns laughing, near the simple tower from before. Laughing, laughing, his own hands touching his chest and arms and back where the pains of his death sprouted from. He knows who he was made to be, the knowledge an unavoidable, radiant quasar in the canvas of his mind, the one unignorable constant that he tries to shy away from. A pawn can never escape the game, no matter how wide the board becomes.

If he can solve this for Parrot, if he can just do the thing he’s supposed to be good at doing, then it’ll be fine. And the danger of it, the threat of being scrapped— it is so horrible a weight, but it makes it sweeter. It shouldn't send a thrill up his spine, the prospect of playing an untoward game with something that may just be worse than his creator, but isn't that how he was made? To figure trouble out with little regard for the self?

And so the very first time Wifies reaches out to touch Parrot, it’s to bait Parrot into killing him. If he’s going to be forced to play, if he’s going to live as a pawn on Spoke’s incomprehensible board, he wants to play a good game. Wifies likes untoward games. And this time, instead of an entity pushing him, or one of Zam’s goons, he’s going to let someone he trusts to get it right kill him. He’s seen what Parrot can do. Parrot can be gentle, but he is so, so good at being violent. If it’s got to be anyone, I’d want it to be you. It will never not be scary, being killed, but he wants it to be Parrot.

Parrot hates it so much. He’s trying. He’s trying to be gentle. He wants to touch Wifies softly, he wants to be someone who can hold others without crushing them. But Wifies never asks for anything. And Wifies is asking him, now, to do this for him. To make it easy for him. To do what he’s known for. To choose the mission over him. And Parrot makes that choice, because Wifies knows him now. Parrot was always going to choose the mission over Wifies.

And so this is where the gentle touches end. Parrot tried, but this isn’t a world where he’s allowed to be gentle as long as he’s choosing the world over Wifies. And Wifies knows that Parrot will choose the world over him. So he puts Parrot’s sharp, awe-inspiring talons onto his throat, and all he has to do is wait.

I’m so normal. I can’t believe I wrote all this shit. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[chaoticlandworlder]

What is with the practically psychotic hate for Lance Stroll? I'm not even his fan- more indifferent- but the hate he gets is sickening. Like just see the recent 'Never have I ever' vid- so many top comments on youtube, instagram etc. are just spouting shit about him (attacking his looks, calling him window licker wtf etc.) based off the 'Never have I ever stood up someone question' (and of course they conveniently ignore all the other drivers that also said they have because it's trendy to hate on Stroll).

Of course, standing up someone sucks but first of all we have no context at all, and more importantly, it's clear the commenters don't actl give a shit about that because they're only hating on Stroll. This is literally just one instance of the way these F1 'fans' are so quick to seize any opportunity to put down Lance. Honestly, it's so off-putting, pathetic and sad.

[muchmossymess]

give me your headcanons for a minecraft server with the fmab kids

[lightbulb-warning]

so has anyone figured out WHY there is the Need To Share our Artworks™ or is it just the vibes and our Soul apparently

[istherewifiinhell]

IS FLYING GENDERED?

On the masculine default, typifying gender in genre, and women as the other in the transformers cartoons.

question for the ages

once again i said back in the halcyon days of watching g1 (aka 5 months ago) i was like. Nooooo, decepticon is NOT a gender that's Silly. It's funny, but as a Read Of The Text, I thought it largely unneeded. (The concept came about, as a joke, involving dismissing the bad guys using the same language you would abt women (sexistly) that they're emotional [heh, flighty], vain, and shrill) after all. If in the 80s era there are 5 whole named/speaking woman tfs, its only ever gonna get better from here right? (<- booboo the fool)

anyway

Let's consider the axiom that the assumed default gender is male, that maleness is often seen as LACK of gender, and femaleness and gender variance are the PRESENCE of gender. In certain reasoning and worldviews, of course (See Androcentrism). Then add that, for transformers, the assumed default thing a transformer turns into, is car. (Autocentrism, if you will)

(The most general term for what a tf turns into is "Alt mode" as some of them are not vehicles at all. The other mode is "Robot Mode", whether its humanoid or not)

So I will be laying out why I believe the cartoon iterations support: non standard alt modes = non standard genders. This is in spite of the fact that FIRST lady tfs were all cars. Sleek cyber cars, but still. For whatever reason, (possibly, the reason for everything in tf, toys) they might as well not exist for how woman tf characters presence in the cartoons progressed over time.

And, to be clear, this is a reading of how these works of fiction are created, not a new unified bioessentialism but for robots aliens I'm proposing for like. In universe lore reasons. I hate that idea.

That said, alt modes in order of most to least gender: Spider, motorcycle, flying (in general, with rotors, jets), tank, and then FINALLY, car. (water and space crafts are already too marginal to rank, but they too can be assumed in relation to default maleness, AND that in making one a woman, would still qualify as othering her).

The NUMBER one reason for this is the bizarre need to have an ESTABLISHED woman tf character before making new ones. AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE. With a g1 gender ratio something like.... (counting even the most marginal cases for the ladies) 9:120? (That's a rough count from a quick scanning of the tf wiki g1 char list) Shits dire out here.

The second is, ofc, character design based. cis people [stand in phrase for the hegemonic world view] are not okay, and their opinions about how tf gender must need be depicted visually is. uh? Im not a fan. Size and shape dimorphism in general is a given, and specifically having women tfs as far more humanoid and curvy in specific. Also general cartoon lady face syndrome but, whatever. I think there's exactly one character here who doesn't have "lips" or "lipstick" as a distinguishing factor. I'm so tired.

Third is generally, the idea of The Girl Of the Team. When there's The Girl, she often isn't JUST a normal character, who happens to be a girl. See, of course, the Smurtfette Principle. But in my view there's also a trend to give The Girl "special traits" on top of "Girl", maybe even to directly combat the idea that the Girl Character has no other traits? To stop this from being a General Primer on Woman in Media, my explanatory focus is things specific to the tf franchise.

(A phrase I use for thinking about normative modes [in general, not just the Alt ones] in within the tf universe is "unique transformerdom" or, even more clunkily, "A transformer of unique transformerdom". The excessive verbosity is amusing to me personally. All I mean by it is to have an umbrella term for any of the ways tfs can be made unique from their peers in the non allegorical realities of the fiction).

I could, and do, and greatly want to, speak about this AT LENGTH. But it keeps spiraling away from me. So I'll say for now were looking at ways a character is being depicted different from her peers, not because she is the only woman (which she likely is), but cause she's a different kind of transformer, AND if she's othered for it.

(IN SOME forms of the lore. Being a transformer woman, IS A UNIQUE KIND of transformer unto itself. Let's just say I hate it and move on)

Fourth, is the gender of villainy. There is much to be said about gender presentation of villains, the ways they are allowed to be aberrant. We will get to it. There is also all the tropes specific TO evil women, and the modes of villainy open TO female characters. But a general thing I think impacting the gender ratios of the factions is the how "Good" and "Evil" female characters are written. I'll generalize and call this the "Damsel vs Temptress" dichotomy. (See concepts like the Madonna-whore complex). Transformers, is by and large, an action franchise. Unless special reasons are made, characters who can impact the action– have more screen time, and likely more memorable, and iconic presences. A villainous woman can be unchaste, violent, aggressive. While a heroic woman, even if not a literal damsel are more likely to be in a support role. The secretaries of the action genre: medics and techs.

(Another factor is that tfs are giant robots, and the good guys are often friends with tiny squishy little humans. These make very good damsel fodder, and can be taking up the spots on the roster that might, in a different franchise, go to women. Additionally, while woman characters in transformers overall is an interesting topic. When I say tf women, I'm referring to ones that are in fictionally, transformers.)

SO, now understanding our points of attack/obstacles for getting woman into transformers. (Getting established, gendering the designed, uniqueness of existence, and general villainy). Lets go over those alt modes, and the characters that have em, in more detail.

Spiders

The "Beast Era" (1996) intro-ed the spider ofc. And what don't we have with this one. She's a villain, but shes also misunderstood, the era and design style let to these more organic shapes. And they used them to make sure she was very sexy. She's genre aware, she's quippy, she's an absolute icon. So naturally. She gets ported to other later shows. Which means we just have sexy spider ladies running around when everyone else is a fucking truck and shit.

Her own origin is, well think of her as a "Bride of Frankenstein" to the resident evil scientist, also a spider. She was designed for, and manipulated by him in multiple ways. Her protoform (A blank robot base), was supposed to be one of the good guys (a Maximal), but was reprogrammed into a bad guy (Predacon). Even then, she eventually joins them, for her own reasons. She's not even the first predacon to do so, the difference? Well the characters are a lot more NORMAL about his autonomy. Both of these characters stress that being a predacon is an identity they still see as important. But only the woman is told that really, she is was was always MEANT to be a maximal. And while that's true in a sense. There's also a plot were she's forced (by plot contrivance, not the other maximals) to get corrective robot surgery for it. And when they think she died from, everyone's more sad for her boyfriend than for her. Ouch.

The second spider, in the 2007 show, is now one in a world where she is the only "techno-organic" transformer, hence, she is spider, everyone else is a vehicle. Similar to the first, her narrative is very gendered, but less in the way were, like, I do literally think the first was was experiencing in universe sexism from other characters. Here, they really focus on the "techno vs organic" narrative, and the tragic circumstances on how that happened. In this case its just real world sexist writing.

THIRD SPIDER, (2010), instead of misunderstood and tragic evil, this ones just super mega likes to cause pain evil. She also occupies a strange place between the typic vehicular tfs, and the insecticons. This is because she has a helicopter alt mode, and her robot mode is just, a lady with spider characteristics. And, more than just a passing bug like similarity, she has the power to control the insecticons (you know, cause evil woman mind control). However, she doesn't fit in with them either, as the insecticons are at the most insect like they've ever been, in look, living in hives and that most don't even speak.

They may vary in exact character, relationship to the story's moral conflict, and design. But they stay comfortably established, dimorphised, flirty and flirting with villainy. And bonus points, always, for black widow spider trope.

SO. SPIDERS. Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ (Extremely!) Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ Villainy: ✅️

Motorcycles

Tooooo my knowledge the first bike lady was in 2004, and fairly minor, in the actual plot, but rest assured, they did go the previously established woman route, by being pink, though, which one shes named after varies by language. But neither were previously motorcycles. (And yes, there is also this problem of mixing together or swapping out one woman tf for another. As if we have the ladies to spare). Even though motorcycle men also exist, this one just stuck for a bit. Maybe something to do with Those Movies. I think the Gendered Existence of a motorcycle is pretty evident though, general sex appeal, being smaller, the mode of riding a motorcycle is different, more physical and intimate. Mainly this ranks so high for the level of grossness they can pack in. Just how objectifying it can be, particularly with two instances where the human rider is an annoying teen boy. Naturally, I've also never seen a male and female motorcycle in the same room, but the approach to design tends to be different. And yeah most of em are Arcee, who's first alt mode was cyber car, but it's not just her.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: Depends on iteration, I do NOT like the way one gets called "tough, for a two wheeler". Villainy: ❌(they wouldn't need to be motorcycles if they weren't making them the Special Girl Autobot, after all)

Flying

General: It just tends to stick out when your one girl is only flyer in the group, even she's otherwise tactfully done. Only flyer of the Maximals, a falcon, only flyer of the dinobots, a Pteranodon.

Rotors

I can barely even figure this one. Maybe it's just a general, aesthetics and use case of the actually vehicles, the associations? None of these ladies (and special case) are very connected otherwise. As previously mentioned, the spider helicopter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A big one for this is the preschool demo shows, which are rescue team focused. In the first one the only woman on the human response worker team pairs with the helicopter, they mention she does medical at times. The helicopter is male, like the other tfs. But also he's afraid of flying, and while not the first case of a flyer with a fear of heights, their personalities are, pretty different. As he's both fearful AND effeminate, fine as character traits go but, with the tone of humour used, marks him as Other.

In the second, Whirl (pointing to icon) becomes a girl for the first time, now with standard humanized face. I assume as move to keep with the previous show of having a girl one, as there's no human team mates. She's also the only one who really likes rescue school. Aaaand that's all know of her. What more do you want from me.

Helicopters: Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (milder than some)

But why'd I call this section rotors instead of helicopters? That would be because one of the latest Sole Female TF we just put in everything™ is a VTOL jet with rotors. She'll tend to be the only jet of her type, which is also smaller than the type of jet used for the villains.

And, of course, aside from alt mode, the thing that makes her stand out most in the cartoons? That she's very clearly a comics character. (I find the emphasize that she's "fan created" over done, as it only controlled minor aspects, and irrelevant cause tfs get completely overhauled in new versions all the time). From her design, which is a bit busier than most characters she stars with. And also uses Japanese aesthetic signifiers in ways that I think are a bit misappropriated and untactful. (VERY USamerican comics). Also, when she stars next to a guy, also from comics employing Japanese aesthetic, you can tell its not deployed in the same manner. (E.I she has hair and makeup, he has armor). Either way, her depictions have her either as badass sword lady on mission from god who's constantly getting hit on by an annoying guy. Or have her be from a different planet and has special telepathy.

Do we see how both her gender AND the cultural signifiers are having affects here? That the main woman tf in a series can be a literal alien even among our alien robots, with cultural signifiers they don't have?

Ratings Established: ✅️ (made the comics to cartoon jump) Gendered designs: ✅️ Unique: ✅️ Othered: ✅️ (SO SO EXTREMELY, using methods in fiction and real life)

Jets

I think my association of jets with tf gender is stronger, than some of the above examples, even if there's less reason to it. And why is that? Well, lets get socratic. Here's another question.

Is This All Starscream's Fault?

No. He's not real, he can't do things. But. His legacy as THE main stay transformers character that gets to subvert gender? Yeah. (Sure, the G1 autobots have their own effete, but he's not in every single cartoon they ever made now is he? Plus now that I think about it, he is a FLYING car...)

From the get, he's not a Man's man. He's shrill, he's manipulative and duplicitous, petty and emotional, cowardly and wheedling. He is, of course, the Perfect character. Now naturally, the 80s cartoon was not concerned with your paltry logics. Starscream and his ilk are the jets, but every decepticon can fly. The gun, the cassette player, the camera, the cassettes.

And each to a last, more masculine than he is. Vocally or behaviorally, physically. Every one of them fit the gender expectations more than he does. Even being a small time grunt, is a masculine trait, after all, more so than unchecked ambition. So its not femininity from flying, from jets. But direct relationship, reference, and descendancy from Starscream that makes it. I've yet to see female versions of Jet fire and or the aerialbots, for example.

So what to do when an effeminate male villain was less maltese falcon and more that man has effeminate hips? Well. We had to start getting his ass for being effeminate, explicitly. They made the female clone of him, which yeah, is an offensive joke stemming from the various The Gender Anxieties. (Transmisogyny, homophobia and sexism. General relation toxic masculinity. A heady mix of all and more).

But I mean. It's free girl tf... Once given a name in extra canon materials, she start's showing up in other things. Once you're in books, video games, comics, and most importantly, toys, you're real. And then eventually, her first non clone appearance in a cartoon, and how her presence shaped it.

That being, Cyberverse. Which is a cgi show, you need to know this for reasons of production. Making new models is expensive. This has always been the reason you just make recolours of Starscream and name them different things. Chicken or egg on this one, I don't know, But because CV has Slipstream, and the only difference between her and the generic "male" decepticon jet, is a more feminine face; Suddenly, any random decepticon goon can be a woman.

An absolutely revolutionary take for striving to populate a fictional world with gender parity. By at large it also means they're way more lady villains, and specifically flying model of villain. The show has other woman, but none who get the same androgynous body mold treatment.

Established: ✅️ Gendered designs: Mildly to NO. Unique: By design, no. Othered: Yes for the clone, and Screamer himself, I suppose. No, otherwise. Villainy: ✅️(That's, the whole idea)

Tanks

It needs to be said. Sometimes, when doing things that transgress a norm, anteing up is less subversive. This is another reason why gender variance, female agency and overt sexuality are more common traits of villains. When already defying strictures of society. What's one more.

That's Right. TANKS ARE THE BUTCH WOMAN OF TRANSFORMERS.

Alright. Let me back up. Strika is the stone cold knock out undefeated champ of lady tf designs that, actually has a reoccurring cartoon presence. She is, admittedly, only a reoccurring to minor character.

Her introduction is in another show with techno-organics, this one involved in the struggle between well, the techno and the organic. Strika as we see her, and as the design that will go on to be iterated, is not in her normal transformer body. She has been transferred into a 'vehicon' body. Without a preexisting essence contained in one, vehicons are not considered alive, in the way a transformer is. Visually, they lack the more human body plan, a standard face, feet and hand like appendages.

To further contrast Strika against the two techno-organic woman. Both of them are tall, and slender. Their softer organic shapes designed towards elegance or beauty, whatever your subjective opinion of that result might be. They both have romance subplots too. By the way. Or honestly one subplot and one main plot. Strika. In contrast. Is built like a brick shit house. Her face is. Minimal. And her goal: protecting her planet... by terminating the heroes.

Now, existing as a character that can be referenced for other media, and given the detail that she was a "Famous general", it's off to the races. She makes a wonderful big tank menace that can fill out a background shot, too.

Without her I hardly think we could have Clobber, also from CV. Who is. The true goat. The finest thing, the achievements of all we could ever hope for. A big fuck off woman, gender swapped from a previous male design with minimal faff, with now even more personality and show presence. Friends, wants, desires. Emotions. Thank God for Clobber, Thank Clobber for Clobber. Thank Randolph Heard and Mae Catt for Clobber.

Established: Depends if you want to count that Strika had so much swag they kept drawing/modeling her Gendered designs: FUCK NO Unique: ✅️ Othered: only originally Villainy: ✅️

Cars

So now you have the final piece of the puzzle. In transformers, Autobots are Cars. Yes, there are plenty of autobots that are NOT cars, and there are cars that are not Autobots. But they're exceptions, they're aberrances. They're unique. And Autobots are the norm. They oppose the Decepticons. Decepticons are Villains. And Decepticons can fly. Modal simplified binaries and false dichotomy abound!

And the thing about those original Autobot woman, the one's who largely did not influence all of this? They were cars, it's true, but not like how the men where cars. They've not been designed from transforming car toys, with a shellac of humanoid gender over top. Their designed in the way of human gender. With the car on top.

When the preexisting clause leads to the original designs to be revisited, which, has largely only happened in more recent years. They aren't car woman robots. The cars are literally not part of their bodies, they are additional. Instead of a unifying identity of a robot who is a car, its Arcee and her backpack. Parts of cars get grafted onto their petite lady bodies, and placed anywhere out of the way.

In order to make a transformer a woman, they have to give her a gender, not understanding that that's always been the case. And to give her a woman's gender, she's got to LOOK like a woman, not a transformer. And to look like a woman, she's got to act like a woman. She must be heroic but reactive instead of active, or else, villainous, conniving and or self centered. To be a woman, we must have some other previous woman to explain her presence, or else explain it anew with her unique, strange, or exotic origin. How could she ever be a woman if she simply, existed, looked average, talked average. How could she be a woman if her body is hunks of ungendered car. How can she be a woman if she's everything we expect a transformer to be.

A woman is transgressive, a woman is not normal. Autobots are normal. Autobots are heros. Autobots are men. And Autobots do not fly.

[plasma-packin-mama]

HELLO MY COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN

I'm officially offering two things right now, but if you'd like me to draw something else please free to message me about it and we can chat!! :]

Sketch Headshots: a shoulders-up drawing of whoever you want, with loose marker-style coloring. 10 dollars!

Toony Style: a full-body drawing of whoever you want in my silly toony style that I use for doodles and comics. 10 dollars for one character, +5 for each additional character in the drawing. (I may add a limit to how many characters can be in one drawing) They will be standing in a blank void/simple abstract background unless requested otherwise. I can do simple short comics and stuff in this style, so if that's something you'd be interested in let me know and we can talk about prices!

I take payment upfront thru PayPal or Venmo!

Please have reference images ready. This can be your art, photo collages, video game screenshots, whatever! As long as I have something to work from.

Turnaround won't be more than a few weeks. I'll let you know if and how many people are ahead of you in line when you message me.

(thank u to my besties @luvlorne and @thebigolbee for letting me use their OCs as examples hehe)

[cicada-circuitry]

#God tho this does make me want to pull back up that notebook fic snippet i had#of Margo confronting Molly about this too but like with science.#Margo would know. Just saying. She knows. ⃪ does this mean you have Molly/Margo fic?

Hi anon! sorry this is now several days late but boy do I. ( watched FAMK for the first time in February, wound up with Pages and pages of fic snippets (for a couple ships, margo x molly included) in chicken scratch on physical paper which is always a great sign that im being normal about a show, thought I'd cure myself if I just watched the whole thing a second time and absolutely only made it worse. )

I meant to answer this ask by just typing up the quick excerpt of the fic I was talking to myself in the tags about but...... started typing and did not stop. It lives over here now! Was not the one of the notebook fics I thought would see the light of day but you know? why not.

(I assume if you're here you, like me, have already read all the fics to be found but if you have Not read everything in that tag already, highly recommend. this fandom may be small but boy did it have good food on offer when I rolled in four years late fresh off a few episodes and absolutely screaming.)

Since I went ahead and dropped that one on ao3 at like 4am i'll throw in something a little more typical of the the notebook archives - how about this thing that exists entirely bc i noticed that used bookstore you can see beside the Outpost in season 1 and it gave me Ideas

Sometime post crossword-quiz / pre- run-in at the Jazz club.  

Margo walks fast past the Outpost on her way over to Bargain Books. When she can, she prefers to park down at the other end of the street and not have to go by that eyesore of a bar in the first place, but when you double the size of the astronaut program with twenty female ascans, you turn street parking into a blood sport. On her salary, no way is she playing chicken with the corvettes, not even to avoid mustering a polite smile for a coworker at his inebriated worst. 

Most days, that’s only an issue if she swings by after dark, the hour when everybody’s trickling out and stumbling home for the evening. Otherwise, the dingy whitewashed plywood keeps a nice impenetrable wall between book-seeking passers-by and drunken test pilots. Today, however, a spell of perfect weather is conspiring against her. Someone has the door propped open with a rusty paint can, letting the sound of laughter of clinking glass spill through it onto the sidewalk. 

A flash of green catches Margo’s eye before she can make it past. Despite herself, she recognizes that shade in an instant. It’s the flannel shirt she had to reprimand earlier that afternoon for bringing a lit cigarette into the sim. Molly Cobb, bent over a pool table, chin twisted up towards Patty Doyle, grinning like a woman about to win.  

Just Margo’s luck that this is the perfect time of day—indoor light matching outdoor light—for Molly to catch her eye straight through the open door as she makes her shot. 8-ball, dead in the pocket. 

For no reason she can think of, Margo feels heat rushing up into her cheeks. 

She stalks into Bargain Books in a hurry. 

The sweater-vested owner behind the front desk gives her the polite nod reserved for a good customer (and disinterested conversationalist) as she beelines for Paperback Fiction. She finished Matheson’s Ride the Nightmare last night— should have picked up two when she noticed how short it was in the first place, but nothing else tickled her fancy when she was in here a week ago, so here she is again, browsing spines. Maybe it's time to cave and finally grab a 10¢ copy of Rosemary's Baby from the stack on the end, seeing as it’s the one highly recommended title in her genre-of-choice the entire country seems to have read in the last couple years, but she already knows the ending (and the entire premise of demonic pregnancy does not appeal for tuning out after the work day). 

She’s dubiously eying the back-cover blurb on a Chandler detective thriller instead when a voice over her shoulder says, “Oh, Patty loves this shit.” 

To her great chagrin, Margo jumps, gasps, and drops her book. “Jesus, Molly.” 

“My bad.” 

Molly squats down to pick it up, slouchy brown corduroy flexing over her thighs. She fixes a bend in the cover before offering it back to her, but when Margo tries to take it away, Molly doesn’t let go. Instead, she adopts a playfully quirked brow and tugs it back towards herself inch-by-inch, bringing Margo, frowning, a step closer than she was before. “Came here to see if I could talk you into a drink.” 

Margo’s voice comes out approximately four steps too high as she looks around for some explanatory audience and says incredulously, “In there?” with a jerk of her thumb towards the Outpost’s adjoining wall. 

“Yeah. NASA central, shithole though it may be, but I never see you around.” 

“Well, I’m not an astronaut.” 

“Neither are the five white-shirts who monopolize the best booth in the back six nights a week. They don’t check for a pin at the door, Madison. That’d be no way to run a business. It’s a bar. Come have a drink with me.” 

“With�� you.” She asks because she expects there to be an and. Me and the other ascans. Me and the rest of you white-shirt types in the back. Me and Patty Doyle. 

But Molly just raps the cover of The Lady in the Lake with her knuckles and says again, “With me.”

[dangoulains-devotion]

yuffie has many interesting elements to her but people refuse to move past "i find energetic kids annoying" and it makes me sad

[gammagoop]

usually the mcyt designs that fans most often depict as fat or chubby are the ones that are based on ccs who are larger in real life. this is a good and normal thing. i am just wondering why fanon zedaph is usually excluded from that

[jonahmagnus]

I'll be honest. Taako would hate you for saying this

[hexcia]

all im saying is that its a bit weird that some of you have AUs where the dreamtale brothers are parents to each other [like that dadmare au] and then turn around and ship dreammare.

[scalproie]

ok i finished holding achilles 👍

[phagodyke]

I still can't believe they're charging THAT much for the shadow of the erdtree dlc... for like 2/3 of the base game price there fucking better be 100+ hours of content in there 🤨

[moonlight-records]

slip (stream) into my heart | CL16 (sm au pt. 2)

pairing: charles leclerc x streamer!reader

summary: a certain ferrari driver has taken a liking to a certain streamer and sees his chance to finally start chatting with them (pt. 2)

warnings: fluff, swearing (positive)

fc: none!

a/n: the parts will be labeled as past and current streams!

past stream | current stream

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris, carlossainz55, and 6,084 more

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view all 605 comments

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yourusername that's me! 😇 user69 honestly you're representing all of us in your sweatshirt and leggings ngl 😮‍💨 also sweatshirt from where?! yourusername thank you! here to rep the rest of us fans 😤 also nembroideries!

landonorris not my favorite streamer being here 🫣 come to mclaren i think papaya would look better 😉

charles_leclerc lando! landonorris WHAT?

carlossainz55 @/landonorris muppet! stop trying to steal charles' guest landonorris GOD FORBID I FANBOY AND TRY TO CONVERT THEM

yourusername brb throwing up that you acknowledged me actually. also i don't know i've always been a red kinda person landonorris we cna fix that 😇 charles_leclerc banning you from ferrari this weekend istg yourusername liked this comment

yourusername posted a story

↳ landonorris still think you’d have more fun in mclaren 🥱

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↳ charles_leclerc lunch already?

yourusername more like brunch, forgot to eat breakfast this morning… 😬 charles_leclerc y/n! yourusername it’s fiiiine i’m getting food now charles_leclerc well, that’s good. making new friends? yourusername nope, just at my own table editing charles_leclerc well that’s a bit…you know what, i’ll have lunch with you yourusername oh it’s fine! i don’t mind sitting by myself charles_leclerc you’re my guest, i insist. and where are my manners! xx-xx-xx-xx, signal can be bad at times so just text me yourusername okay! see you soon 🥰

tag list: @emryb

[kitsuga]

Rainy Day Friends. {Sebastian x Reader/Farmer}

Description: 

A fic in which Sebastian notices there’s at least something to look forward to in Pelican Town. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── 

Tags: fluff, do frogs count as a warning tag?? is that needed?? who knows, reader is referred to as "Farmer"!, not beta'd, not edited, gender neutral reader, stardew valley/sdv x reader/farmer, sebastian x reader/farmer, stardew valley/sdv, sebastian

Word Count: 1,871

A/N: Written on: September 2, 2022 

To be fair im afraid of frogs but like, in a normal way. I am not terrified of them but god forbid if one TOUCHES me, you know? they can be so cute but. do not touch me LKJSDF

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── 

If there was one thing Sebastian appreciated about Pelican Town, it was the quiet pitter patter of the rain; once it started down, Sebastian could feel the weight of the world wash off his shoulders. Well, there was another reason this little town was alright—he looked down to find a small amphibian friend hop over his boot. He smiled softly to himself. 

Crouching down, he hugged his knees to his chest, watching closely as another small frog friend hopped along after the other. A third hopped up to him, sitting calmly and staring up at Sebastian without so much as a little thought behind its eyes. He chuckled under his breath and reached out, petting its head carefully with his index finger. Opening his palm, Sebastian stood back up straight once his new travel buddy hopped aboard; the both of them travelled slow, soaking up all the rain had to offer—no destination in mind, simply two storm-bound souls heading through the light fog of the unknown. Sebastian cringed to himself when he thought about it. A bit too edgy even for him. 

Making it down the mountain, he stood around the town’s center for a bit, just simply looking around. Where was he going to go now? The beach? Head back up the mountain? Both options made sure he enjoyed the weather longer, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t feeling a bit of unwelcomed loneliness.  

“Where do you wanna go, little guy?” Sebastian brought the frog to his eye level, making sure the little creature knew he was addressing him. 

Well, he hoped it knew he was addressing him. He brought him back down level to his chest. He looked around again, holding his hand out towards where he was suggesting. 

“Wanna head to the beach?” He spun around and held him out again towards the path back home, “Or do you wanna head back home?” 

After an embarrassingly long pause as he was, after all, talking to a frog—the small amphibian jumped from his hand and down a third, unspoken choice pathway. Sebastian couldn’t stop the smile that broke out across his face, accompanied by a warm blush. He took a few large steps to catch up before snatching his friend back up, heading down the path.  

“A nice choice, I guess.” He put up a front, though his words were weak against his smile. “Wouldn’t have been my first choice. I’m not lying, don’t look at me like that.” 

The frog in his hand sat staring up at him, croaking softly as though it were speaking with him. Maybe Sebastian had been alone a bit too long, or maybe the rain was making him sick and he was delusional. Maybe it was both—he didn’t know. He shook his head and put his hand back down to his side, letting his friend continue hanging out the rest of the way. 

So, Sebastian had lied. There may have been at least one more, third reason why Pelican Town wasn’t so bad—but it was only a fairly recent reason, so it didn’t count. He also wouldn’t say it out loud, so it didn’t count. Things only count if you speak them to the world, right? The collar of his hoodie started to feel a bit too tight the more he thought about it; he cleared his throat. 

The farm was looking great—a much better sight than the overgrown, abandoned lot that it had been before. He was in awe of just how well it was doing, and how hard the farmer had been working day in and day out; he didn’t think he had what it took, if he were honest. His eyes scanned the lot—dozens and dozens of rows of vegetables, a few fruits, some flowers sprinkled here and there. The drenched scarecrows stood tall, protecting their respective crops with pride; the crows hiding from the rain in the nearby trees cawed distastefully at them. Small lanterns had a soft glow piercing the fog to line the walkways the farmer had made to navigate. In the short distance, he could hear the soft moo’s from inside a barn and soft clucks from another. Something about it was very… comforting. Everything was so organized yet so unique that it spoke to the farmer’s personality; his chest started to swell with pride—because he was friends with this new farmer, of course—no other reason. Or, well, it’s what he told himself. He shook off the goofy grin he had and replaced it with his usual disinterested scowl and knocked on the door. 

“Oh—yes? Who is it?” A voice called from behind the door. “Sorry, my hands are a little full to open the door.” 

“It’s… Sebastian,” he hesitated. “Do you need… help?” 

“Sebastian!” Sebastian’s heart skipped a small beat at the excitement in their voice. “You can go ahead and come in! Careful though, it’s a bit messy!” 

He opened the front door and stood in the doorway; they weren’t kidding when they said it was a mess—or that their hands were full. A few broken jars of jam splattered across the floor looking like a horror movie scene—the front of them including their arms were just as messy. If the sweet smell of strawberries hadn’t hit him immediately, Sebastian might have thought differently. 

“Are you alright?” He started to worry with the amount of glass surrounding them. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”  

“Oh no, I’m fine! Just an annoying mess to clean up. What brings you out this way?” 

“Oh…” Sebastian looked around for a moment, avoiding their gaze. 

Why was he here again? Following a frog’s advice? He couldn’t say that. Should he just tell them he was missing them? No, that was a little too straightforward at the moment. ‘I wanted to see you’—too strong. ‘I was bored’—it works, sounds kind of rude though. Through his thoughts, he felt the farmer’s stare linger on him a bit too long; a shiver made its way down his spine, but it wasn’t from the rain. The tips of his ears burned a bit. 

“I…” he thought quickly, covering his amphibian friend with his other hand and held it out. “I found something to show you!” 

“Is… it a frog?” They tilted their head with a slight frown. 

Sebastian read their body language—it was clear they weren’t the biggest fans of his favourite little creature, but they were certainly trying to be nice. Was there a slight fear in their eyes? They stared hard at his hands, it almost felt like they were burning a hole into them. He quickly hid his hands behind his back and stepped out of the doorway onto the front porch. 

“I no longer have something to show you.” 

“Ah!” They threw their hands out in front of them, concern and regret evident on all of their features. “I’m so sorry Seb! You can go ahead and show me!” 

“No no, it’s fine.” He took another step backwards. “Don’t worry about it. There isn’t anything to show.”  

“Seb! Please show me your frog!” 

They quickly navigated through the broken glass, which Sebastian watched with bated breath. They continued making their way towards him before he realized; his eyes widened and he just as quickly jumped from the steps of the porch, making his way towards the nearest bush. 

“It’s nothing! I don’t have one! It wasn’t important, anyway.” He called over his shoulder. “Don’t come over here.” 

“It is important!” The closeness of their voice startled him, though not as much as them jumping onto his back had done. “It’s important to you—you like them! Please show me!”  

Sebastian stood still for a moment, hunched over and holding his hands far out in front of him to keep the frog out of the farmer’s reach. He wasn’t sure what to do—his heartbeat was in his ears and he looked like a deer in the headlights at this point. It was, however, pretty cute to watch them from the corner of his eye, so determined to reach his hands this way rather than trying to get down and around him; he smiled up at them and opened his hands to reveal the small frog—not a care in the world, not a thought in its eyes. It stared up at them both. 

“Oh.” They wheezed. “It’s… certainly… a frog.”  

“Isn’t it kinda cute?” 

“It’s…. certainly… a frog,” they repeated.  

Sebastian laughed this time, their indifference now seeming like a cute quirk rather than something dismissive in his eyes. They slid off his back and he crouched down near the bush, placing his hand close enough to the ground to encourage his little friend to hop off. It disappeared into the shadows of the greenery, and Sebastian stared and smiled after it for a while before he heard the farmer speak behind him again. 

“Thanks for coming to show me your frog,” they started, a smile beaming up at him once he stood again. “I like learning about what interests you.”  

He wasn’t sure what to say to something as sweet as that, so Sebastian stared at them a moment, mumbling out a thanks as he switched between playing with the collar of his hoodie and scratching the back of his neck. It was silent for a beat—the only sound the pitter patter of rain once again, the distance moo’s and clucks of animals sheltering from the weather. 

“Sorry,” the farmer broke the silence, “I forgot about the jam. It’s all over the back of your hoodie now.”  

They sheepishly gestured to their clothes—cleaner, but certainly not clean—and laughed a bit embarrassed. They gestured back to their open front door. 

“I might have an extra one—want to borrow it? I could wash that one for you.” 

“It’s fine,” Sebastian shrugged. “It’ll wash off in the rain.” 

“Oh yeah, the rain’s one of your favourites too—right? You gonna keep roaming around in it?” 

“Until I clean off now, yeah.”  

“Hmm…” they hummed. 

Wordlessly, they ran back to close their front door and return to him.  

“I’ll join you! An easier way to clean this off? I’ll take it.” 

Sebastian bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing, but raised his eyebrow at them. 

“And your floor? What about that—” 

“It’s a problem for a different time. A different me.” They cut him off, holding a hand up as though they jokingly dismissed him. “What would you like to go do?” 

“Normally I just sit on the pier. Take in the atmosphere.”  

“Lead the way!” They grabbed his sleeve and tugged a bit, pulling him down the pathway.  

He sighed in disdain—though it were fake. His smile spoke differently for him, happy in their presence as they started to recount their day and mishap very dramatically. The two of them bumped into each other a few times on accident before they started to do it purposefully—playfully, flirty. After a short pause for breath, the farmer spoke out again. 

“Show me all the good frog hunting spots. I’ll bring you one sometime.” 

[kawaiiwritingcomputer]

Hey hey idk if you're doing requests at the moment but can I have yandere poly (if you're comfy doing poly) scooby gang with a gentle giant female s/o? Like she towers over the whole gang but doesn't like violence unless necessary.

She's like that one meme

"Normaly I'm the healer but... not today" *pulls out a gun*

Thanks if you do this!!

🍄: i don’t write poly,,, but i cannot not write this. i love poly scooby gang in general! thank YOU for this request :3 im writing this as reader is willing as well 😭 i cannot imagine gentle giant resisting nor can i imagine the gang being tooo dubious

Poly!yandere!Scoobygang x giant!Reader:

let’s start with all of them are enamored with how tall you are !!!

you’re always sitting in the back with shaggy and scooby, sometimes making freddy jealous

they all argue over how they’re going to split up and find clues with you

You sit there chilling like ☺️ guys we take turns

sometimes Shaggy wins bc if the particular mystery is super scary, Scooby refuses to go without you

sometimes Velma will come with you and shaggy and scooby to tag along

Normally daphne and fred would be like :( without velma or you but they sometimes don’t mind the alone time either

and vice versa as well when its just shaggy and velma (and scooby ofc but yk dog)

shaggy gets shy around your tall nature and will sometimes pretend to be brave with scooby to protect you but he always ends up jumping in your arms

speaking of jumping into your arms lol 😭 the cut scenes of when you guys are running around trying to run away from the ghoul you guys are trying to debunk: at some point you do end up carrying all five of them in your arms

they all swoon

you help Fred make his traps when he needs to reach certain places.

you and daphne listen to his ramblings while helping him with it

Daphne is your personal stylist ofc

She cannot have one of her cuties being raggedy! Shaggy has the shaggy look down and it’s cute in him, but anyone else? puh-lease!

ofc her daddy’s and mommy’s money pays for your customized clothes bc of your height. sometimes it’s hard to shop lol

Velma is the shyest around you

whether you’re lanky like shaggy or muscular johnny bravo

girl swoons over you literally. she loves going to libraries with you and watching you grab her books for her

Shaggy can too tbh but he likes eating more than reading so you’re taken to the library instead

Shaggy cooks for everyone (canon, sometimes fred joins) but he makes your food portions just like his 😭

big sandwiches and ridiculous toppings and all! unless you have preferences, then scooby will be like “ruh-uh (Y/N) doesn’t like that!”

Scooby stays near you and shaggy as a given

love the personal headcanon that he’ll give you and shaggy warnings if you guys don’t see something that can hurt you guys

so quite literally the look out dog for you

kinda funny how you’re seen as the intimidating one bc your height but it’s literally the whole gang everyone has to worry about 😭

god forbid anyone makes you tear up

the whole gang is pulling up with their personal weapon of choice

Daphne doesn’t even need a weapon 🙏🏽 she just karate kicks them in the throat and then hands you her handkerchief (she keeps it)

sometimes with daphne or velma being taken as hostage, that’s when you put on the brave face to find them by yourself

much to the boys dismay when they realize you disappear too leaving it to shaggy to find the ghoul with you chasing you

“Found them Freddy!”

“Where’d you put Daphne/Velma monster!” is your shout as you continue to chase

“I’ll build trap!”

You hear Freddy and shaggy and set trap up

sometimes it changes but it goes something like that every now and then

with how willing you with the gang and the adventures, you almost forget they’re yandere for you

until it’s time to split up again or it’s time to figure out who gets to sleep next to you (they’re all jealous of scooby for being a dog and being able to sleep on your legs)