#iron widow meta

[haru-kuneko]

@xiranjayzhao Yes, it makes me feel better! To me, I never saw it as discouraging when you shared your experiences about getting your book published. In fact, it was quite informative! I even tried playing it countless times to see what was wrong but there was nothing!

As an amateur writer myself, I'd consider heeding your advice knowing fully well you're a well-seasoned writer with much more experience than I. Whoever those authors are remind me of those young writers who'd get mad upset at you for speaking the truth. It is surprising to see these supposedly professional authors are missing the point of the video.

How is informing people about how difficult the publishing scene is considered preventing competition? Do they expect to hear something like "Oh, actually it's super easy for everyone to get published and become an overnight success! Just believe in yourself!"? Because a lot of authors would also tell you the same thing.

I decided to reblog this as, while I'm not trying to take away from the conversation, it reminded me of the time I once told my readers about the same thing and almost lost half of my audience in the process.

By the way, congrats on the movie deal! I can’t wait to see it on the big screen. Wishing you more success in the future ★彡

Got accused by other authors of trying to deliberately discourage aspiring writers to "thin [my] competition" by being too honest about my bad experiences with publishing and how it's a business first and foremost that does not hold book quality as its #1 priority so here's a generic "CHASE YOUR DREAMS!!" video I guess

[gold-talks-alot]

Qin Zheng's biggest red flag is that he doesn't have friends

Okay that sounds like a joke but really, after finishing Heavenly Tyrant, I noticed that all of the characters have deep genuine friendships, except for Qin Zheng.

Zetian has her girl squad, of course with the GOAT Qieluo who she connects to as both born of lower class and deeply powerful, but have surprisingly tender romances. Wan'er who helps teacher her about political theory while being kind and brings her a new perspective to the world. Taiping who helps with the plan to defy gravity and brings an edge as well as a new perspective to the group.

BUT, she also has the new iron widows, and her eunuch, Di Renjie who is her friend! Like yes, the iron widows are technically under her, but she CARES about them. She mourns them. She loves them. She has so many people who she cares about, and who care about her. It's amazing.

And Yizhi has friends as well. He loves Zetian yes, but they were friends first! He loves his sister and (some) of his siblings, he even has Helan as an ally. But he has friends, relationships, people who he works with. It's not as deep as Zetian's relationships but 1. we aren't in his pov and 2. He's a freaky guy who is playing 5d chess while everyone else is playing normal chess.

But Qin Zheng, where are his friends? Where are his allies? Yes he was trapped in a box for a while, but he was never truly alone. He could have made friends, genuine allies, but he didn't. Yes he's the mythical emperor, but he never even tried to humanize himself to people he's supposed to be allies with, like Sima Yi, or Yizhi, literally anyone.

He never connected with people, and its honestly sad. Is it because he's displaced in time and he's still mourning what he lost? Maybe, but he's so hostile to everyone. Is it because he gives into his own hype so much? Yeah he does, he sees himself as a god, as better than everyone, but even a god can get lonely, so why does he act like *that*?

Because he doesn't want a relationship, he wants worship.

He wants to be above everyone and friendship is an equal relationship. No one can be equal to the emperor. And romantic relationships are supposed to be equal, but he cannot have a relationship, any relationship, without dominating the other. He only sees relationships and one over the other, and he cannot have equality, (ironic for a communist).

And if he cannot handle equality in a casual relationship, of course he could never handle it in any other aspect of life.

[britcision]

Thinking again about how the concubine pilots are never told or trained to expect anything inside a chrysalis except a mind realm

The very possibility that they might reach the yin-yang realm of a balanced match is just never addressed

And on the one hand… why would it be? They know they’re probably going in to die

On the other hand, its absence is such a glaring, sinister underline to the truth that their chances of becoming a balanced match are slimmer than none

It’s so unlikely it’s not worth addressing in any serious way, other than as a platitude

“Remember, you could be his Iron Princess.” But if you are, neither of you will know what to expect and he’ll have to teach you to pilot a chrysalis from scratch, mid battle

That definitely sounds like a risk they’d happily take with all their strongest male pilots

Do any concubines learn? If you enlist under the weakest male pilots, do they bother preparing you? Because I really doubt it

[necrotic-nephilim]

-debby ryans at you- how are you feeling about that thunderbolts* trailer, snookums. your old blog is trying to crawl from its grave.

you are an unhinged rat for sending me this ask i hope you know <3 you already knew that but i'm telling you anyway bc you're a rat bc now i have to explain myself-

this is from @eebuckley my partner <3 i've alluded to it in the tags of this blog but i used to be a semi-popular MCU blogger from like 2018 to 2020. (semi-popular for the ship i wrote, anyway) and since like, probably Infinity War/Endgame i have been slowly more and more disillusioned by the MCU ranging from only passively being interested in projects to outright despising them if i saw them. which sort of sucks, given how much i loved the MCU at it's height. i was like. aggressively into it. like a "i had asthma attacks watching trailers bc i got so excited" level of into it. maybe cringey in hindsight, honestly but yk. whatever brings you joy, ig.

and anyway- my partner witnessed my very real and normal reaction to the Thunderbolts* trailer and now i'm *mad* bc i'm actually excited about it. it made me feel about the MCU a way i haven't felt in years, especially after a lot of announcements that rlly pissed me off.

cannot believe it looks like we might actually get a comics-accurate Yelena and a comics-accurate Bucky. i'm such a sucker for Bucky Barnes, he's one of the only Marvel characters i actually read Marve comics for and i'm forever bitter how badly he got screwed over. if that movie is good i'm going to end up writing fanfiction. probably crossover fanfiction bc over my dead body will i write just plain MCU fanfic. and i'm a Jason Todd/Bucky shipper anyway so i could make it work, i think-

anyway TLDR is i'm excited and i'm mad about it and how dare yo expose me for being an MCU fan on THIS blog. you coulda send this ask to my MCU blog that still exists and i have occasionally used. but instead you *exposed* my ass on my refined DC blog as a filthy Marvel fan. i will be divorcing you again. ty gn ily

[xiranjayzhao]

WHAT are these tags 😭😭 I'm pretty sure even the historical Wu Zetian has never been referred to as "Empress Tianhou of Zhou". Like that's just not a title that makes sense.

I think everyone's lives would be easier and these fics would stop interfering with Chinese historical RPF if the characters were simply tagged "Wu Zetian (Iron Widow)" "Li Shimin (Iron Widow)" and so on

Could an AO3 volunteer fix this?

LETS TALK ABOUT THE AO3 TAGS

Note: this post contains a small spoiler, without context or detail, from Heavenly Tyrant.

So, it came to my attention (and I know many of you have already noticed too), that Iron Widow has several incorrect tags on AO3. I will leave some of the main examples in a print below for those who haven't seen it yet, but in short, the tags in the drop-down menu and those suggested as "official" when you are going to post a new fic appear giving titles to the characters or relating their names in the books to the real names of Chinese historical figures.

@xiranjayzhao, more than once (and even in the Heavenly Tyrant acknowledgments), talked about how the characters, despite having similar names, are not made as a historical reinterpretation, their characters do not seek to be a new, realistic or faithful version of their historical names. Rather, they are inspired by that historical essence, being completely original to the books in which they appear. In other words, it is not right to give them historical titles or relate them to real historical names (as happens with the tags for Qin Zheng and Sima Yi) as if they were new faithful versions of those people.

I opened a ticket with AO3 support to explain the situation. Because, despite knowing that the tags are written by the fandom, just the fact that they are in the drop-down menu and are suggested when posting a new work already makes people feel influenced to use them (it shows that they have more views/are commonly searched/used). I am not sure how long it will take or if they can solve the situation (in fact, please, if there is any volunteer who works with AO3 I would be extremely grateful to hear from you about how we can solve the issue and what the site can do), but I know that avoiding the continued use of these tags can help.

And, that is why I am writing this long post, to talk to you; creators in our fandom!

To ensure that your work has the correct tags and so that our creations do not reinforce a misconception about the books, which the author has said many times was not their intention when writing the characters, we need to change (and start to not use) the tags in the drop-down menu and in the suggestions when the characters have titles and names that were never presented in the books. In other words, for the Iron Triangle tag that reads "Gao Yizhi/Emperor Taizong of Tang | Li Shimin/Empress Tianhou of Zhou | Wu Zetian" change it to "Gao Yizhi/Zhang Yizhi | Li Shimin | Wu Zetian", for the tag that reads "Empress Tianhou of Zhou | Wu Zetian/First Emperor of Qin | Qin Shihuang | Ying Zheng" change it to "Wu Zetian | Qin Zheng", and so on. The same goes for individual tags with character names, choose to write only the name of the character that appears in the book or, if you feel it needs more context, add "(Iron Widow)" after the name (like write "Sima Yi (Iron Widow)" if Sima Yi is a character at your work).

With time and use, I believe this may even influence the correct tags to be suggested and appear in the drop-down menu, making it easier to search for works from our fandom on AO3.

Anyway, if you have any questions about the issue or how to correctly tag your work, don't hesitate to ask, I'm here to help. And, if you want to add more to this discussion, please feel free to use the comments or reblogs!

That's it for now, I can't wait to see all the future content you'll create for Iron Widow/Heavenly Tyrant (especially with our little Valentine's event starting tomorrow)… <3

[spider-man-sass]

Marvel's Avengers (2020)

No offense meant to Kamala but how did she end up on the Avengers before Spider-Man?

[astrid-goes-for-a-spin]

Procrastinating work thinking about how much I wish Natasha had been there to steal Starktech in Iron Man 2 instead of protect him 

SO many benefits 

It’s a callback to her comic intro and makes the sexy undercover stuff a bit more fun because it’s nefarious 

Ties into the main themes of the movie, which is the arms race of replicating Iron Man 

Gives her a tiny bit of a character arc, since she’ll have to disobey orders to help him

It gives Tony an actual reason to be paranoid enough he’d prefer dying of heavy metal poisoning over having the arc and shrapnel surgically removed, and then makes sense for him to be resentful and untrusting when he next encounters her in Avengers 

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

JON SNOW DAY 7: FOILS AND ADVERSARIES ⚔️🦹‍♂️ JON SNOW - YOUNG GRIFF

On ADWD, we find out during Tyrion’s pov chapters that the long dead prince Aegon Targaryen (son of Rhaegar) has supposedly survived the sack of Kings Landing - which caused his mother and sister’s lives- and is secretly living in Essos all these years. It could make an interesting Anastasia-vibes story if Aegon was who he says he was, however introduced so late in the story, the boy is probably a fraud - even if he has no clue about it. This meta is treating the theory of Aegon not being the actual child of Rhaegar and Elia as canon and similarly considers Jon being Rhaegar and Lyanna’s actual secret child.

So we have one prince who isn’t who he claims and believes to be and another one who doesn’t even know he’s a Targaryen. It’s quite the symmetry with both boys around the same age ignoring the truth so far.

Let’s start comparing them from their appearance. I find it ironic - and also fitting- that Martin made the “fake” Targaryen having the family’s traditional looks with silver hair and purple eyes. Meanwhile, the boy who is actually a Targaryen is favoring his mother’s Stark look:

"Your father's lands are beautiful," he said. His silvery hair was blowing in the wind, and his eyes were a deep purple, darker than this boy's.  

ADWD - THE GRIFFIN REBORN

The boy absorbed that all in silence. He had the Stark face if not the name: long, solemn, guarded, a face that gave nothing away.  

AGOT, TYRION II

Aegon has lived a sheltered life with the adults surrounding him, pampering him. That has lead him to remain immature as a teenage boy (which isn't a bad thing itself, just doesn't make him the ideal leader)

"There is a gift for the boy in one of the chests. Some candled ginger. He was always fond of it"

ADWD, TYRION III

The lad did not seemed pleased. The perfect prince but still half a boy for all that, with little and less experience of the world and all its woes.

ADWD, TYRION VI

Meanwhile, Jon grew up aware of his bastard status. Compared to his siblings, he was less privileged and less pampered. All the experiences of his life, both as a neglected kid and as a teen black brother  made him observant of others and also mature for his age:

"I will turn fifteen on my next name day, and Maester Luwin says that bastards grow up faster than other children".

AGOT, JON I

They know nothing, Ygritte. And worse, they will not learn.

ADWD, JON XIII

Aegon grew up thinking that he was the rightful heir of the Seven Kingdom. Naturally, this has led him to feel entitled of things he hasn’t earned himself. For example; he believes that his aunt, Daenerys, will be willing to marry him and offer him her large army only because he’s her nephew:

It does make for a splendid story, and the singers will make much of your escape once you take the Iron Throne … assuming that our fair Daenerys takes you for her consort.“

"She will. She must.”

“Must?” Tyrion made a tsking sound. “That is not a word queens like to hear. You are her perfect prince, agreed, bright and bold and comely as any maid could wish. Daenerys Targaryen is no maid, however. She is the widow of a Dothraki khal, a mother of dragons and sacker of cities, Aegon the Conqueror with teats. She may not prove as willing as you wish.”

“She’ll be willing.” Prince Aegon sounded shocked. It was plain that he had never before considered the possibility that his bride-to-be might refuse him. “You don’t know her.”

ADWD, TYRION VI

On the above passage, Aegon was so certain that Daenerys would be willing to become his bride that even the possibility of her refusing him shocked him.

Compare that to Jon, who his whole life was entitled to nothing. He was aware that unlike his siblings he wouldn’t be handled things because of the family name - something he didn’t have- and that instead he would have to work his way to earn his place in the world:

“I want to serve in the Night's Watch, Uncle."

He had thought on it long and hard, lying abed at night while his brothers slept around him. Robb would someday inherit Winterfell, would command great armies as the Warden of the North. Bran and Rickon would be Robb's bannermen and rule holdfasts in his name. His sisters Arya and Sansa would marry the heirs of other great houses and go south as mistress of castles of their own. But what place could a bastard hope to earn?  

AGOT, JON I

When Jon went to the Wall, nothing was handled freely to him. Jeor Mormont only paid attention to him after he became the unofficial swords teacher for his fellow new recruits and after he persuaded Maester Aemon to include Sam among those who would be promoted to Black Brothers. It was his own skills and accomplishments that made him Commander’s steward and it was his brave fight against the wight that earned him Mormont’s sword.

He doesn’t expect people to freely give him things, he understands that every gift comes with a price. Just like when Stannis told him that he would make him Lord of Winterfell, but only if he converted to the Red God.

On ADWD, Varys gives a speech  on why Aegon is the ideal leader:

“No.” The eunuch’s voice seemed deeper. “He is here. Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them.”

This impressive list of traits that Aegon has aquired in order to rule one day, is missing the most important one: actual personal experience. Aegon might have been working and interacting with the common folk but he was always sheltered and was surrounded by adults loyal to him and his case. It’s not the same to do some kind of work because you want to learn the experience with doing something for living. He doesn’t really know what is like to be hungry- even if Varys tells us otherwise- because his caretakers would never let him actually be starving. When Aegon was afraid, he was always surrounded by people loyal to him  who could offer  him reassurance or simply their sympathy.  Finally, he doesn’t have any experience in ruling. Many people speculate that Varys and Illyrio are shaping him to become their puppet king but even if that isn’t the case fact remains that Aegon never ruled anywhere.

Unlike him, his supposed half brother had a little guidance when he became Lord Commander.  Maester Aemon, his best advisor, left the Wall not long after Jon was elected as the new Lord Commander. Jon had to navigate ruleship on his own without the help of a wiser adult. Unlike Aegon, Jon had the experience of truly serving before he was in a position of power - as he was a steward and later on he lived among free folk. He was also experienced in being truly afraid and terrified even when people who can comfort you are miles away and you are all alone.

We don’t know whether Aegon will put his people first because he has yet to rule. But we do know that Jon constantly prioritizes humanity’s well being. That’s why he made dealing with the Others his number one priority and that’s also the reason why he let the free folk on the south side of the Wall.

While Aegon is another candidate fighting for the Iron Throne because he feels entitled to it, Jon is fighting against the Others to save humanity.  

Bonus! their views on women.

Aegon’s:

"That's so," the boy said, "and who is there left in Westeros to oppose us? A woman."  

ADWD, THE LOST LORD

Jon’s

The women are the strong ones.

ADWD, JON III

[armenianwriterman]

BEHOLD: DEATH BATTLE FIGHTING GAME ROSTER!

This is a roster consisting of every Death Battle combatant (minus the ones based on real people)

And an additional roster of the Kaiju

Specific characters listed under the read more if you can't see them all.

Wiz

Boomstick

Samus Aran

Boba Fett

Akuma

Shang Tsung

Rogue/Anne Marie LeBeau

Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira

Goomba

Koopa Troopa

Mike Haggar

Zangief

Leonardo

Donatello

Raphael

Michelangelo

Zitz/Morgan Ziegler

Yoshi

Riptor

Felicia

Taokaka

Kratos

Spawn/Al Simmons

White Bomberman

Dig Dug/Taizo Hori

Vegeta

Shadow the Hedgehog

Mario

Sonic the Hedgehog

Luke Skywalker

Harry Potter (Unfortunately)

Chun-Li

Mai Shiranui

Starscream

Rainbow Dash

Master Chief/John-117

Doomguy

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik

Dr. Albert Wily

Metal Sonic

Bass

Princess Zelda

Princess Peach

Thor Odinson

Lord Raiden

Link

Cloud Strife

Batman/Bruce Wayne

Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Pikachu

Blanka

Son Goku

Superman/Clark Kent

He-Man/Prince Adam

Lion-O

Shao Kahn

M. Bison

Ryu Hayabusa

Strider Hiryu

Ivy Valentine

Black Orchid

Fox McCloud

Bucky O'Hare

The Terminator/T-800 Model 101

Robocop/Alex Murphy

Luigi

Miles "Tails" Prower

Venusaur

Blastoise

Charizard

Fulgore

Sektor

Captain America/Steve Rogers

Ryu

Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi

Deadpool/Wade Wilson

Deathstroke/Slade Wilson

Kirby

Majin Buu

Ragna the Bloodedge

Sol Badguy

Gaara

Toph Beifong

Guts

Nightmare

Iron Man/Tony Stark

Lex Luthor

Beast/Hank McCoy

Goliath

Solid Snake/David

Sam Fisher

Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker

Dr. Victor von Doom

Donkey Kong

Knuckles the Echidna

Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett

Raiden/Jack

Hercule Satan/Mark

Dan Hibiki

Yang Xiao Long

Tifa Lockhart

Mega Man/Rock

Astro Boy

Green Arrow/Oliver Queen

Hawkeye/Clint Barton

Agumon

Dante Sparda

Bayonetta

Trish

Jeanne

Bowser

Ganondorf

Ratchet & Clank

Jak & Daxter

The Flash II/Barry Allen

Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff

The Joker

Sweet Tooth/Marcus "Needles" Kane

Mewtwo

The Meta/Agent Maine

Agent Carolina

Cammy White

Sonya Blade

Tracer/Lena Oxton

The Scout/Jeremy Willis

Ken Masters

Terry Bogard

Amy Rose

Ramona Flowers

Hulk/Bruce Banner

Doomsday

Roronoa Zoro

Erza Scarlet

Pinkie Pie

Lara Croft

Nathan Drake

Scrooge McDuck

Shovel Knight

Venom/Eddie Brock

Bane

Natsu Dragneel

Portgas D. Ace

Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang

Glacius

Android 18

Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers

Zero

Lucario

Renamon

Balrog

TJ Combo/Tyler-Johnson Garrett

Shredder/Oroku Saki

Silver Samurai/Kenuichio Harada

Smokey the Bear

McGruff the Crime Dog

Naruto Uzumaki

Ichigo Kurosaki

Batman Beyond/Terry McGinnis

Spider-Man 2099/Miguel O'Hara

Sephiroth

Vergil Sparda

Black Panther/T'Challa

Raven/Rachel Roth

Twilight Sparkle

Jotaro Kujo

Kenshiro

Crash Bandicoot

Spyro the Dragon

Pit

Sora

Leon S. Kennedy

Frank West

Dr. Stephen Strange

Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson and Nabu

Jin Kazama

Samurai Jack

Afro Samurai

Carnage/Cletus Kasady

Lucy/Kaede

Optimus Prime

Nightwing/Dick Grayson

Daredevil/Matt Murdock

Ultron

Sigma

Master Roshi

Jiraiya

Thanos

Darkseid

Aquaman/Arthur Curry

Namor the Sub-Mariner

X

Mega Man Volnutt

MegaMan.EXE

Mega Man Star Force/Geo Stelar

Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff

Widowmaker/Amelie Lacroix

Shazam/Billy Batson

Wario

King Dedede

Ben Tennyson

Green Lantern/Hal Jordan

Weiss Schnee

Mitsuru Kirijo

Johnny Cage/John Carlton

Captain Falcon

Avatar Aang

Edward Elric

Ghost Rider/Johnny Blaze

Lobo

Sasuke Uchiha

Hiei

Count Dracula Vlad Ţepeş

Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama

Tatsumaki

The Mask/Stanley Ipkiss

All Might/Toshinori Yagi

Might Guy

Spider-Man II/Miles Morales

Static/Vergil Hawkins

Black Canary/Diana Laurel Lance

Sindel

Red Ranger/Jason Lee Scott

Genos

War Machine/James "Rhodey" Rhodes

Gray Fullbuster

General Esdeath

Goro

Machamp

Cable/Nathan Summers

Booster Gold/Michael Jon Carter

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Kakashi Hatake

Danny Phantom/Daniel Fenton

Jake Long

She-Ra/Princess Adora

Beerus

Sailor Galaxia

Prince Zuko

Shoto Todoroki

The Flash III/Wally West

Archie Sonic the Hedgehog

Winter Soldier/James "Bucky" Barnes

Red Hood/Jason Todd

Billy Butcher

A-Train/Reggie Franklin

Queen Maeve/Maggie Shaw

Starlight/Annie January

Konrad von Sabrewulf

Jon Talbain

Red Team (Sarge, Dick Simmons, Dexter Grif, Franklin Delano Donut, Lopez the Heavy)

Blue Team (Leonard Church, Lavernius Tucker, Michael Caboose, Agent Tex/Allison, Sheila)

Batgirl/Barbara Gordon

Spider-Gwen/Gwen Stacy-65

Sanji

Rock Lee

Broly

Yoda

King Mickey

Ryūko Matoi

Heihachi Mishima

Geese Howard

Blake Belladonna

Misaka Ackerman

Iron Fist/Danny Rand

Po Ping

Steven Universe

Star Butterfly

Goku Black/Zamasu

Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne

Macho Man Randy Savage

Kool-Aid Man

Dio Brando

Alucard/Vlad III Dracula

Avatar Korra

Storm/Ororo Munroe

Madara Uchiha

Sōsuke Aizen

Saitama

Popeye

Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel

Jinx/Powder

Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff

Zatanna Zatara

Tanjiro Kamado

Jonathan Joestar

Omni-Man/Nolan Grayson

Homelander/John Gillman

Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr

Tetsuo Shima

Hercules

Sun Wukong

The Predator/Yautja

Excalibur

James Bond

John Wick

Black Adam/Teth-Adam

Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur

Xeno Trunks

Archie Silver the Hedgehog

Spongebob Squarepants

Superfriends Aquaman

Jason Voorhees

Michael Myers

Sauron

The Lich King/King Arthas Menethil

Deku/Izuku Midoriya

Asta

Gogeta

Vegito

Ant-Man/Hank Pym

Atom/Ray Palmer

Chosen Undead

Dragonborn

Killua Zoldyck

Mikoto Misaka

Stitch/Experiment 626

Rocket Raccoon

Obito Uchiha

Phoenix/Jean Grey

King Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onzz

Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd

Bill Cipher

Discord

Cole MacGrath

Alex Mercer

Frieza

Megatron

Satoru Gojo

Makima

Scooby-Doo

Courage the Cowardly Dog

Rick Sanchez

The Doctor

Bardock

Joker/Ren Amamiya

Giorno Giovanna

Bowser Jr.

Sage

Kamek

Infinite

King Boo

The Imposter

The Fall Guy

Norse Kratos

Asura

Wile E. Coyote

Tom Cat

Doomslayer

Mahito

Tomura Shigaraki

Traveler

Yugi Muto

Simon the Digger

White Lantern/Kyle Rayner

Ruby Rose

Maka Albarn

Felonious Gru

Megamind

Random

And the Kaiju Roster

Godzilla

Gamera

White Tigerzord

Gundam Epyon

Gundam RX-78-2

Dragonzord

Mechagodzilla III/Kiryu

Megazord

Voltron

Unicron

Galactus

[xiranjayzhao]

I'm here to clear up some confusion about YA books. When some people hear that label, they think "meant for children." Why is it, then, that some books classified as YA have tons of explicit content that doesn't seem "appropriate"? There are actually complex and messy industry reasons behind this, mainly to do with female, qu33r, and POC authors getting pushed into the category and then pigeonholed there. (Also, totally not a coincidence that such authors get funneled toward a lower-paying category.)

I go over the main 3 reasons in this video, but basically, everyone's lives would be better if a clear distinction existed between Teen Lit and New Adult Lit, but this did not work out and forced the YA category to house more than it's nominally supposed to. Pearl-clutching at individual authors (or worse, calling for book bans "in the name of the children") is not the way to resolve this. The industry itself needs to commit to recognizing the necessity of New Adult, or it'll always be forced to room with YA and scandalize people.

[es46]

Airplane and pals play Marvel Rivals

- Associates were bantering over which characters their favourite Pokemon chaps would play if they were on Marvel Rivals. Since it's six vs six format, here's my take featuring the Airplane duo and their pals. Skyla focuses on Iron-Man and Storm, occasionally trying out Star Lord and Spider-Man, really anyone who flies or otherwise is highly mobile. She excels at Duelist and is the most aggressive of her team, though has a bad habit of not wanting to switch even when she's getting countered. If she HAS to play another role, it's either Venom (can swing) or Rocket Racoon (jetpacks). The second most tryhard of the bunch, to the point her grandfather sometimes calls to tell her to calm down. Elesa predominantly plays Luna Snow and Mantis, occasionally shifting to Cloak and Dagger, Scarlet Witch, Psylocke - really, any character who is, and I quote, 'a dazzlingly cute girl' has her interest. She's the most open to switching depending on what the team needs and is the only one who can convince Skyla to switch. You can bet she'll be meeting with her fellow models and manager to arrange a Marvel cosplay event at the runway. Iris is THE tryhard of the team and as such gravitates towards characters of any roles so long as they're considered the most meta. While her personal favourites are Peni Parker, Spider-Man and Cloak and Dagger, Iris trains hard to be at least respectable with any character and is the most insistent that the others play to her preferred team comps- she and Skyla clash a lot. Once than more the once the group has to reach out to another pal because Drayden dragged her off the console. Emmet generally plays Vanguard like Thor and Hulk, intending to cause as much disruption in the enemy team as he can. He doesn't usually apply his typical serious battle attitude to video games, but sometimes Skyla and Iris goad him into tryhard mode. He's also respectable with more mobile Duelists like Magik and Spider-Man and is a good follow-up to aggressive plays. He's good at inspiring curious players like Shauntal to get into the game, mentoring them when he isn't busy with his own team. Ingo excels at more defensive Vanguards like Groot and Magneto. The most analytical of the group, he's usually behind Iris in strategising, offering a more patient take to her meta insistence. He's also good at Duelists who reward good aim like Punisher and Black Widow, and is comfortable alternating between a solid front or a reliable backline. He's the most open to advice and other teammates, and has been helping friends like Darach and Tate + Liza get into the game. Burgh is a dedicated Strategist player, usually focussed on Loki and Adam Warlock but overall solid with any of them - wherever aesthetic and precise mechanical gameplay are, he follows. As chill as Ingo, he's a good backbone to the rest of the group, occasionally dipping to Vanguards like Groot or Duelists like Namor that offer reward to good placement. Burgh's been making good money off of art pieces depicting his gaming adventures, and is thinking on starting a new Castelia club that encourages mingling games and art. Occasionally the group mixes things up with aforementioned pals or chaps like Roxie, the Triplets, whoever's open to gaming. Iris is confident she can get her main crew into a professional competitive format - if she can get past Drayton's squad first.

[morethanaloveinterest]

Projects Masterlist

If you are interested in costume meta or video essays on Disney Princesses, the Man from U.N.C.L.E., Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars Ladies, or Natasha Romanoff, check out what I've been working on under the cut:

For Your Reconsideration

Why Streaming Television is Exhausting

Catwoman

Lee Merwether: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Julie Newmar: Video Essay

Eartha Kitt: Video Essay

Michelle Pfeiffer: Video Essay

Mad Max Saga

Fury Road: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Lisa Frankenstein

Lisa Swallows: Video Essay

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Gaby Teller: Costume Analysis

Victoria Vinciguerra: Costume Analysis

Disney Princesses

Snow White: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Cinderella: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Aurora: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Ariel: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Belle: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Jasmine: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Pocahontas: Video Essay

Mulan: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Tiana: Video Essay

Rapunzel: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Merida: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Moana: Video Essay

Pirates of the Caribbean

Elizabeth Swann Part I: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Elizabeth Swann Part II: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Elizabeth Swann Part III: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Tia Dalma/Calypso: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

V for Vendetta

Evey Hammond: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Black Widow

Iron Man 2: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Avengers: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Winter Soldier: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Age of Ultron: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Civil War: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Infinity War/ Endgame: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Black Widow movie: Video Essay

Black Widow Reframes the MCU

Black Widow Retrospective | Costume Analysis

Star Wars

Redemption Arcs

Leia's Legacy and Women in Star Wars

Jyn Erso: Costume Analysis

Leia Organa Part I: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Leia Organa Part II: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Leia Organa Part III: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Leia Organa Part IV: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Padme Amidala Part I: Video Essay I Video Essay II | Costume Analysis I Costume Analysis II

Padme Amidala Part II: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Padme Amidala Part III: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Rey Part I: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Rey Part II: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Rey Part III: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Rose Tico Part I: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Rose Tico Part II: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Jannah: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Lord of the Rings

Arwen: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Eowyn: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 2017: Video Essay | Costume Analysis

[ultimate-blorbo-bracket]

Here will be all of the returning characters from the previous tournaments!

Here's the link to the character submissions if you'd like to add more!

The First Tournament

Vash the Stampede - Trigun

Miles “Tails” Prower - Sonic the Hedgehog

Percy Jackson - Percy Jackson series

Oz - Monster Prom

Max - Sam and Max

Happy Chaos - Guilty Gear

Wheatly - Portal 2

Amity Blight - The Owl House

Agent 3 - Splatoon

Riku - Kingdom Hearts

Will Graham - Hannibal

Jigglypuff - Pokemon

Rosencrantz - Rosencrantz And Gildenstern Are Dead

Terra - Kingdom Hearts

Diamond - Pokemon Diamond & Pearl

Kairi - Kingdom Hearts

Wise Elder Vex - Yonderland

MK - Lego Monkie Kid

Vector the Crocodile - Sonic the Hedgehog

Link - Legend of Zelda

Nicelander Gene - Wreck-It Ralph

Gretchen Wieners - Mean Girls

Wes - One Last Stop

N - Pokemon Black & White

Big Man - Splatoon

(the rest are under the cut!)

Aziraphale - Good Omens

Spock - Star Trek

Hawkeye Pierce - MASH

Isabelle - Animal Crossing

Plagg - Miraculous Ladybug

Glory - Wings of Fire

Darcy - Pride and Prejudice

Snatch - A Hat In Time

Virgil - Sanders Sides

Makoto Yuki - Persona 3

Aled Last - Radio Silence

Sho Minamimoto - The World Ends With You

Rose Quartz - Steven Universe

Pico - Pico’s School

Bandana Waddle Dee - Kirby series

Sora - Kingdom Hearts

Alfred - Fire Emblem Engage

Kagami Tsurugi - Miraculous Ladybug

Morpheus - The Sandman

Odo - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Alfur Aldric - Hilda

Tintin - Adventures of Tintin

Humphrey Bone - Ghosts

Unikitty - The Lego Movie

Wu Zetian - Iron Widow

Adrien Agreste - Miraculous Ladybug

Razputin Aquato - Psychonauts

Callie - Splatoon

Volo - Pokemon: Legends Arceus

Shadow the Hedgehog- Sonic the Hedgehog

Riolu - Pokemon

Data - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Albedo - Genshin Impact

Celeste - Animal Crossing

Gyro Gearloose - Ducktales

Elfilin - Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Raichu - Pokemon

Carden Greenbrier - The Cruel Prince

Yu Narukami - Persona 4

Van Fanel - Escaflowne

Fenton Cabrera - Ducktales

Horatio - Hamlet

Meta Knight - Kirby series

Pit - Kid Icarus

Peridot - Steven Universe

Anne - Anne With An E

Yusuke Kitagawa - Persona 5

Edric Blight - The Owl House

Zenitsu Agatsuma - Demon Slayer

Josuke Higashikata - Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Graystripe - Warrior Cats

Cheng Xiaoshi - Link Click

Hilda - Hilda

Roxas - Kingdom Hearts

Luz Noceda - The Owl House

Koraidon - Pokemon

Leiland - Dimension 20

The Second Tournament

Arven - Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

Revali - Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Tinkaton - Pokemon

Ravio - Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds

K_K - Deltarune

Bambi - Disney’s Bambi 

Luxu - Kingdom Hearts

Umbreon - Pokemon 

Aqua - Kingdom Hearts

Asriel Dreemur - Undertale

Launchpad McQuack - Ducktales

Midna - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Nikol - Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Sprig Plantar - Amphibia 

Blaze the Cat - Sonic the Hedgehog

Ballister Boldhearts - Nimona

Peppermint Vandelay - Hi-Fi RUSH

Oshawott - Pokemon 

Luke Sullivan - Street Fighter 5

Killua Zoldyck - Hunter X Hunter

Axel - Kingdom Hearts

Bede - Pokemon Sword & Shield 

Chandelure - Pokemon

Scaramouche - Genshin Impact

Simon Snow - Carry On 

Canti - FLCL

Anya Forger - Spy X Family 

Cloud Strife - Final Fantasy 7

Azymondias - The Dragon Prince

Swellow - Pokemon

Jibanyan - Yo-kai Watch

Marluxia - Kingdom Hearts

Iruma Suzuki - Welcome To Demon School Iruma-kun

Basil - Omori

Sypha Belnades - Castlevania

Surge the Tenrec - IDW Sonic

Ai - Puyo Puyo

Dillon - Dillon’s Rolling Western

Mew - Pokemon

Yoshi - Super Mario Bros

Rasmus - Omega Strikers

Daroach - Kirby series

Silvally - Pokemon

Silver - Pokemon Gold & Silver

Undyne - Undertale

Aerith Gainsborough - Final Fantasy 7

Bowser Jr - Super Mario Bros

The Professor - Puppet History

[iqxys]

HEARTSTEEL members as my Top 5 in Overwatch

side note: I played league ONCE way back and haven’t really interacted with the fandom/lore since then so these are either extremely accurate or extremely inaccurate

Mercy: Yone, Aphelios

Aphelios is a DEMON at Mercy parkour and risky rezzes. Minimum 3 endorsements every match. Duos with Sett and ironically has cringy matching names with him. Loves pulling out the blaster to assert dominance. Actually a flex main but gets forced onto support almost every game. (he just like me fr) Mid GM peak.

Yone plays safer than Aphelios. Max 3 deaths every game. Blue beam king, never under 75%. Dodges Rein shatters and Genji blades like his life depends on it. Also a demon at Mercy parkour. T500 peak. (Highest was 417)

D.VA: Sett, K’Sante, Ezreal

Sett is an ult eater. Enemy threw out a projectile ult? Don’t worry, he ate it. Every single time. Gives his supports aneurysms because of how deep into the enemy backline he is. LOVES dive meta. Mid masters peak.

K’Sante knows every ult spot for D.VA. Either gets one person with self destruct or all five, no inbetween. Always goes back for his Kiriko/Mercy when they’re in spawn. The only ult he consistently eats is Grav and is known by Zarya players because of it. Mid diamond peak.

Ezreal rarely plays but when he does he only plays with Kayn. He tends to play safe and constantly has defense matrix up. Terrorizes Widows with Kayn. Hasn’t played comp but he’d be low platinum.

Widowmaker: Kayn/Rhaast

Rhaast is the one that mains widow. He enjoyed the entire ‘widow shouldn’t one shot’ discourse and defended her HARD. Gets accused of cheating almost every game and has a ‘fan base’ of people who defend him. ‘Skill issue’ in chat after someone complains about him or his character. T500 peak. (Highest was 125)

Sombra: Kayn/Rhaast

Kayn mains her and Rhaast always tells him to spawn camp the supports/widow. Quick play warrior. One of the silly/fun Sombra’s that spams voicelines in the backline to mess with the supports. Huge emps and always combos with Ezreal. Hasn’t played comp since season 6 of Overwatch 1. Low platinum peak, slipped into gold and hasn’t recovered. Could be high diamond if he actually tried.

Ana: Yone, K’Sante

Yone loves playing Ana but he’ll never admit it. Sometimes gets a bit silly and nanos Aphelios as Mercy. Huge anti-nades and sleeps. Could be mistaken for a T500 Ana. Low GM peak. (Has a seperate account)

K’Sante is definitely an Ana player of all time. Misses more than he hits but has great nades. Always nanos Sett as baby D.VA and yells at him if he re-mechs while nano is still active. Tbags slept targets and uses the pillow spray religiously. Spams ‘good kitty’ and ‘You need to learn to relax’ too. Low gold peak.

—

LMFAOO??? I’m in a match rn and we’re losing 😔

[ere-the-sun-rises]

I've had to read "pretentious" literature for my studies and I've read plenty of regular and YA novels in my time. Here's the truth of it.

"The classics" of literature can be boring because they invented concepts we use all the time. It invents things that are basic to us now and revolutionary at the time. The Odyssey by Homer? The oldest example we have of a lot of common literary devices and tropes - flashbacks, in medias res, unreliable narrator (depending on your interpretation), deus ex machina, non-linear storytelling and meta-narrative just to list a few.

But "the classics" can also be amazing. I adore The Odyssey. Odysseus is a complex character who's heroic (in the Greek sense), clever and often quite kind. His wife and son are equally clever and thoughtful and his relationship with Athena is very compelling. It's a fun story with a lot of twists and turns, if you sit back enough to enjoy it for its own sake. (I highly recommend the Fagles translation on audiobook - it's narrated by Ian McKellen! And just reading the poem can be a bit unpleasant the first time.)

But YA can also be both boring and compelling. For example, I respect the Hunger Games books because they contain a nuanced and valuable perspective on fascism and regime change. I cannot stand reading them. I find Katniss and Peeta particularly hard to bear which is a shame because they're the main characters. I found the Divergent series to be absolutely worthless, like someone was asked to spit out drivel halfway between Hunger Games and Harry Potter but failed to take anything that made either of them appealing. On the opposite end if the spectrum, I found Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao so enthralling I could not put it down. I related to Zetian more than I ever have for an MC and I tasted her rage and revenge vividly.

All three of those books are in first person. They're all YA and they're all dystopian. And I only *wanted* to read one of them.

There's a lot to learn from books you don't *want* to read but *should*. A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a fucking harrowing read, so viscerally uncomfortable, upsetting and disheartening that it's overwhelming at some points. It took me months to finish it because the trepidation of what new horror awaited me was so strong. I could not recommend it more highly and one day, when I can muster the courage, I'll read it again simply because it's worth reading twice.

As for first or third person, that's purely a matter of taste and perception. I usually hate 1st person - I don't read to become the main character, I read to look at the life and world of someone else. I much prefer 3rd person in every respect.

But Iron Widow and A Handmaid's Tale would not work in 3rd. They are deeply personal stories written about the individual experience of oppression. You *must* live this alongside them or else it's not as poignant. Similarly, The Odyssey would not be improved by Odysseus' thoughts - it's much more meaningful to show us what he does and his clever and resourceful he is as opposed to having him tell us so.

In my opinion, 1st is much harder to pull off because you have to like the MC enough to want to get in their head. You can put up with a shit MC in 3rd because you're not living with them, you're watching them, and the focus can go other places. But in 1st, you're stuck. Even with multiple 1st person MCs, if the writer can't pull off one, the second likely isn't going to fare much better.

So it comes down to subjective character likability and writer talent - neither of which is exclusive to YA or any genre.

[proseandpeony]

My TBR for Pride

The month of rainbows. The month we show unabashed pride for being who we are. While more accepted now, it’s still no less bold. With state lawmakers questioning the need for trans healthcare, criminalizing parents for providing such care for their children, and acts of violence claiming the lives of trans kids like Nex Benedict, the fight for basic human rights for those of us who claim an LGBT+ identity still goes strong. Being queer myself as a non-binary, bisexual, polyamorous person, I am no less fearful for my existence to be criminalized and violence against me and my peers to be normalized than I was before the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision that determined that same sex marriage is a constitutional right.

There is no one right way to stand strong and boldly fight against these actions and mindsets and to celebrate the shared humanity we all have. One of those ways that I enjoy most is supporting people in my community with their projects and endeavors and mutual aid when they need it. Interacting with LGBT+ media is one of the easiest ways to normalize LGBT+ people openly existing. As such, I will, of course, be reading gay, sapphic, and polyamorous romance novels, trans experience novels, LGBT representative fiction, and some LGBT+ non-fiction essay anthologies and memoirs.

Fiction

LGBT+ fiction is much more accessible than it once was, but many times something is marketed as LGBT+ fiction when all it contains is a gay character that is single. So I’m on a mission to find some books that seem more promising, but we’ll see if their marketing is accurate.

First up, I’ll be finishing Iron Widow that I started in May. The debut novel from Xiran Jay Zhao was one I had anticipated before it came out in 2021 as I was already a fan of Zhao’s video essays. Unfortunately, life took its turn for me then, and I never got around to it until this year, in time for the second entry in the series to come out. Iron Widow is a reimagining of the story of China’s first and only female emperor, Wu Zetian. A Sci-fi novel that contains a bisexual, polyamorous relationship with giant mechs. I’ll be writing about my thoughts about this book later in the month after I finish listening to it.

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki seems promising based on the first page. Opening with a trans girl running away from home, it instantly dives into some of the hardships of trans identity. It is marketed as a Sci-Fi novel with lesbian relationships and, of course, trans identity. This book is available on Kindle Unlimited so I’ll be diving right into that.

I love books about books. The meta culture involved with telling stories like this are typically steeped in whimsy, magic, and immersion. Emma Torzs' Ink Blood Sister Scribe is a book about many books based on the descriptions. It is consistently tagged as LGBT+ but marketing and blurbs have not talked about this at all. I’m looking forward to finding out what is LGBT about it and hoping I won’t be disappointed by it.

We can all be nurtured into monsters and Gerardo Samano Cordova aims to explore that in Monstrilio. From the descriptions of this book, this is a potentially disturbing, dark horror that has a lot to say about grief, love, interpersonal relationships, and how that shapes people and the actions they take. This sounds like the kind of book that I typically adore and spend a lot of time thinking about. Magical Realism and Horror are extremely provocative genres for me that I tend to gravitate towards. I would say this is my most anticipated book of the month and I’ll be getting into it right away because I already have it from my library.

I am in the middle of a lot of series, so I’ve put The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick on the back burner just in case I need another book on theme to read this month. There was a wait to read this from my library so I put it on the list of borrowed books, but it’s not a priority. That being said, the premise of this book is pretty interesting. A girl seeking to secure a fortune for the future of her and her sister and she’s at the center of a web of lies and deceit. Again, it’s not immediately recognizable why this book is tagged LGBT, so we’ll see how that fairs, but I am looking forward to picking this up when I get around to it.

ARC Reviews

I have two ARC books that I’m going to read for review this month. One of them will be posted this month and the other will be posted early next year. 

A demon hunter and a girl with amnesia meet in the woods. I wonder what could happen. I’ve been reading Sacred Ground by Missouri Vaun for about a week now and I have some thoughts but I’ll be posting about it later. What I can say now, this is a light sapphic romance novel that’s a pretty easy read.

Witches, local legends, Appalachian mountains, everything I love about where I live. I am very excited to read Motheater by Linda H. Codega, set to come out in January 2025. I will be reading this book as an ARC this month to go with Pride month.

Non-fiction

It’s extremely important to have nuanced conversations about lived experience when celebrating Pride. This month is not only about celebrating our lives, the beautiful rainbow of people and identities we hold, and the fact that we are here, it’s also to have a conversation about how we got here, where we are, and where we should go next. While fiction is a great way to add representation and characterize an existence that is fair and even paint a picture of the hardships we go through, the value of non-fiction to pulling those fictional stories into real world examples is immeasurable. I have chosen a few non-fiction essays and memoirs for this very reason.

Feminist Audre Lorde is known for balancing the nuance of the intersections of race, gender, and queerness with finesse. I’m going to be reading her anthology of essays, Sister Outsider in an effort to sit and listen to the stories and thoughts of a lesbian black woman. I will not be writing anything about this as I refuse to talk over her. I intend to sit, take in, and contemplate on my own.

To touch nearly all aspects of queer identity politics, Trans Like Me promises to be thought provoking. Seeking authenticity is the burden of LGBT+ people of all kinds, and this memoir by C.N. Lester explores their journey through their identity in the context of the politics and events of the mid 2010s.

Punch Me Up to the Gods is a memoir by Brian Broome that chronicles his experience as a Black boy that grows up in Ohio with crushes on boys, a dysfunctional family, and leads a life into sex and drugs to ease his struggles. Again, I will not be writing anything about this as I refuse to talk over their lived experiences. I encourage all people to seek out these kinds of books and sit with them and listen to the conversations they may not be directly a part of.