#it fits pretty well with his need for toxic masculinity

[psychicwavementality]

Forcing Tsubaki to be transfem is not the progressive, "better", or more "politically correct" reading you think it is

Look.

I'm genuinely tired of people trying to canonically rewrite or force Tsubaki to be a trans female when he's explicitly written to be gender non-conforming, comfortable with what is traditionally seen as feminine, and open with expressing himself without conforming to rigid masculinity in Japan.

Making him a trans female is not the queer activism you think it is. Tsubaki is comfortable being a gender non-conforming man. Erasing his identity by forcing him to be a trans girl defeats his entire message of how men can be comfortable in their own bodies, even if they enjoy things not associated with their societal gender. I don't think making Tsubaki go to an all-boys school if he IDs as a trans female is any good writing either.

Forcing him to be transfem also completely erases the meaning of this scene:

They never say that lipstick is a "girl's thing", that makeup is a "girl's thing", that liking "cute and pretty things" (paraphrasing) is a "girl's thing". Because that's the whole point! Things you like don't need to be gendered! You like what you like, you can be what you are and break gender norms, you are your identity and nobody can take that expression from you. That's the fucking essence of being queer!

"Why do I like this? Normal boys don't like it" / "CUZ YOU'RE A GIRL!!!!" <- this is not the fucking progressivism you think it is!!! You are forcing him into the gender binary of being a female when he sees himself as a queer, gender non-conforming gay man!!!!

He doesn't see himself as a woman. He still accepts that he loves Umemiya. He is comfortable with both his sexuality and gender expression.

Tsubaki literally says he likes "cute and pretty" things, not "girly and feminine" things. He doesn't gender what is traditionally and societally framed as "feminine" because he isn't bound by the hierarchy of gender expectations.

People always say they want more gender non-conforming characters, that they want more men who are comfortable with traditionally feminine attire, but y'all couldn't even respect Tsubaki's identity and the outlying existence of Japan's otokonoko culture as a whole 🥸 Quoting Niisato's interview isn't a cop-out to be openly transphobic. Insisting Tsubaki is transfem does more queer erasure to his character as a gnc and openly gay man.

Like, sure, after you're done reading this and you still insist he's transfem, it means no matter what people say you're not going to change your mind, so go ahead with the queerphobia lol. Speaking as someone who's transneu and genderqueer myself, trans and gnc experience come hand in hand, I understand why people would read him like that even though it blatantly goes against what is established as his character, but I digress. But that doesn't excuse taking away Tsubaki's defiance of labels. That doesn't justify calling Niisato's writing of Tsubaki as a censored version of transness, or a refusal to commit to writing a trans character.

Tsubaki is an intentional and well-written character, he expresses everything he wants to express. He isn't a 'half-assed trans character' that Niisato didn't commit to, he is who he presents as on the tin: gnc, queer, and gay.

"He wants people to call him big sis" -> the whole concept of drag culture is tossed out of the window, I guess. And I suppose genderqueer people don't exist anymore. Anyone can do drag, but plenty of cisgender & queer men also don a drag queen/hyperfeminine identity when dressed up. That doesn't make them any less of a man. That doesn't make them a trans woman. You can also call girl 'dude, bro' and boys 'girlie'... does that change their gender? No lol 🥸

Western fandom has a serious problem of erasing people who present as gender non-conforming by forcing them to fit the binary of male/female. It's like the inverse of toxic masculinity: "this male/female character likes feminine/masculine things, so he/she must be a girl/boy!" <- how is this progressive? How is this better writing for Tsubaki? How is forcing him into another rigid box good for his character?

Let Tsubaki be a gay and genderqueer man, omfg. Gendering the things he likes into 'girly' and by default making him transfem is just an assassination of his character.

There's plenty of transfem anime characters out there that deserve your love. But Tsubaki—and on that note, all the otokonoko characters out there—are men who aren't restricted by the tight binary of gendered items/hobbies.

For the love of media literacy, please accept that men can be men while liking (unnecessarily-gendered) 'feminine' things, and in that vein, it's not that you like "girl's stuff" as a man—you like it because you like it.

Make-up, clothing, sparkly things, and long hair aren't gendered as 'feminine' to Tsubaki, even if he accepts that it is traditionally liked by girls. He likes it and that is it. That is final. He likes it so he wears it, he is honest and true to who he wants to be.

[ariays]

What makes Minho a unique teen romance male lead:

1. He’s the “Mean but Not Malicious” Type

A lot of teen series have the classic bad boy male lead who’s brooding, mysterious, and sometimes outright toxic (cough Nate Jacobs from Euphoria or Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl). But Minho? He’s different.

Yes, he starts off snarky and arrogant, but he’s never cruel. His “mean” moments are more about sass, self-confidence, and playful teasing rather than being manipulative or emotionally unavailable. He’s that guy who thinks he’s all that—but is actually really soft underneath it all.

2. He’s a Himbo, But a Smart One

Minho gives off major himbo energy—he’s rich, ridiculously good-looking, and very aware of it. But unlike a lot of stereotypical “dumb jocks” in teen dramas (think Reggie from Riverdale), Minho actually has depth. He has goals, he cares about his friends, and despite his superficial exterior, he’s pretty emotionally perceptive—especially when it comes to Kitty.

3. His Character Growth Feels Earned

Some male leads in teen series tend to change too quickly once they develop feelings for the female lead. (Looking at you, Hardin from After). But Minho’s growth is gradual and believable. He doesn’t just flip a switch from “annoying rich boy” to “perfect boyfriend material.” Instead, his feelings for Kitty creep up on him, and you can see the shift in how he interacts with her.

He still teases her, but it becomes more affectionate. He still acts cocky, but you start noticing those small, vulnerable moments—like the Chuseok kitchen scene—where he actually lets his guard down.

4. He’s Unapologetically Dramatic

Minho is extra in a way that most teen drama male leads aren’t. He’s not just confident—he’s theatrical. From his grand entrances to his over-the-top reactions, he brings a comedic flair that makes him entertaining without making him a joke.

A lot of teen drama male leads tend to be serious, broody, or deeply angsty. Minho, on the other hand, brings comedic energy while still being emotionally compelling.

5. He’s Stylish & Unapologetically Metrosexual

Unlike the usual rugged, broody, or athletic male leads in teen series (think Nate from Euphoria or Conrad from The Summer I Turned Pretty), Minho embraces fashion, skincare, and self-care in a way that isn’t played off as a joke.

A lot of male leads in Western teen dramas either: ✔ Stick to basic, "masculine" fashion (hoodies, leather jackets, plain tees) ✔ Look effortlessly disheveled (the whole ‘hot but doesn’t care’ aesthetic) ✔ Avoid anything remotely “feminine” to maintain their "tough" image

Minho, on the other hand, is deliberately put together. He’s well-groomed, he cares about his appearance, and he fully owns it. From his tailored fits to his expensive skincare routine, he has a level of self-awareness and confidence that makes him unique. Instead of needing to be macho, he leans into a softer masculinity, which is refreshing.

6. He’s Not the Broody, Emotionally-Closed-Off Male Lead

Most classic teen romance male leads fall into one of these categories:

The dark, brooding, emotionally unavailable love interest (Conrad from TSITP, Hardin from After)

The soft, nerdy best friend who secretly loves the female lead (Ben from Never Have I Ever)

The overprotective, jock-type boyfriend (Noah from The Kissing Booth)

Minho doesn’t fit into any of these boxes. Yes, he starts off as a bit of a snarky, rich-boy, but he’s not emotionally closed-off. He expresses himself, he reacts dramatically, and he’s not afraid to show his feelings, whether it’s through humor, frustration, or genuine care.

His emotional openness, combined with his flair for the dramatic, makes him feel more alive compared to brooding, silent male leads who struggle to express affection.

7. He Exudes Non-Traditional Masculinity

Most male leads in teen dramas stick to a traditionally masculine aesthetic—either super muscular (Noah from The Kissing Booth) or effortlessly scruffy and rebellious (JJ from Outer Banks). Even the ones who are more “soft boy” (like Josh from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) tend to be written in a way that contrasts them against a tougher male lead.

Minho, however, balances both masculine and non-masculine traits in a way that makes him unique: ✔ He’s confident, but not aggressively dominant. ✔ He’s fashionable and expressive, but not reduced to a stereotype. ✔ He’s attractive, but not in the rugged bad boy way—his appeal comes from his charisma, playfulness, and charm.

His character doesn’t need to be hyper-masculine to be desirable, which is a refreshing departure from traditional male leads. He’s proof that a guy can be well-dressed, expressive, and a little flamboyant while still being a compelling love interest.

8. He’s Secure in Himself (Without Trying to Prove Anything)

Minho never tries to “prove” his masculinity. A lot of teen male leads are obsessed with dominance—whether it’s through fighting, being emotionally unavailable, or acting like they don’t care about anything.

But Minho? He doesn’t need to do that. He’s secure in himself. He knows he’s attractive. He knows he’s stylish. And he owns it. He can be extra, dramatic, and funny, but it doesn’t make him any less confident or appealing.

This is what makes him stand out from the usual teen romance male lead—he doesn’t fall into outdated ideas of what it means to be a man. He’s just him, and that’s enough.

[actualhumantrashcan]

I can understand a silly workplace comedy about pirates not being everyone’s jam but I really can’t understand the amount of queer people I see hating on ofmd.

like for one thing most of the debates turn into gatekeeping queerness (which I think has a lot more to do with the ages of the main couples than actual concerns about authentic representation but that’s another post) and the rest are just hateful because it doesn’t directly name or label it’s queer characters but like why do we need that at this point?? listen I love heartstopper with all my heart but it is exhausting to watch them explain queer identities sometimes (even though I do think it’s super useful for younger audiences I’m just not the target demographic!) and ofmd is an explicit, violent, adult show that doesn’t NEED to explain it’s character’s identities.

queer people past their 30’s are usually very well aware of their queerness and have had (hopefully) plenty of time to go through the arc of discovering that. so why would we need to see Stede or Lucius or Ed going through turmoil because they’re attracted to men when they have already come to terms with that at this point in their lives?? i for one find it so fucking refreshing to watch a show where the characters being queer is not their main arc, they just ARE queer and life is still happening to and around them. maybe that’s just the millennial gay in me talking, but it gets emotionally exhaustive to watch show after show where the queer character’s arc is overcoming homophobia. yes obviously homophobia still exists and yes obviously if ofmd was trying to be historically accurate these characters would be living in a very dangerous time to be queer but it isn’t trying to be accurate!! it’s trying to be fun and diverse and kind!!

and also, they aren’t pretending homophobia doesn’t exist!! it’s just addressed in a different way. Stede was emotionally abused by his father for his entire life for being “soft” and then was chased down by his homophobic childhood bullies, one of which explicitly told him that he “defiled” the great pirate Blackbeard by simply falling in love with the man behind that name. Meanwhile Ed was forced into the world of piracy at a young age and developed the entire persona of Blackbeard (who fits the toxic, violent masculine stereotype of the time) to hide the fact that he’s actually an incredibly sensitive and deeply queer man! and is told multiple times by male figures in his life that sex with other men is fine but it is absolutely unacceptable to be in love with a man. both of their arcs contain homophobic rhetoric that is still present in society today, but its never presented as a problem that they have to wrestle with. they don’t have to come to terms with what it means to love each other, they just have to overcome some trials that go along with the complicated lives they both lead as a pirate and former aristocrat. the homophobia in ofmd is woven into the backstory of each and every character, it shapes them into the people they are at the beginning of the show when all of their walls are up and they are performing the “pirate” roles they are supposed to play. and then we get to see them grow and realize that they are in a safe space, part of a community not just on the ship itself but in the life of piracy (which in the show is pretty much explicitly an allegory for queer lifestyles.)

anyway, I could rant about this all day but just truly why do we have to tear people down for enjoying something? why do we have to find reasons to hate something so obviously created with sensitivity to it’s queer audience and with so much queer joy? if historically inaccurate gay pirates going on silly adventures and falling in love are not your thing, fine! but perhaps just let people enjoy things and find your own things to enjoy.

[alpaca-clouds]

The Limitations of Masculinity

A couple of days ago I saw this study done on young men, that basically found one thing: A lot of them were looking for role models to provide them with a more healthy outlook on masculinity - but they were not finding it.

And this I absolutely do get.

Because here is the thing: Media sucks in regards of depicting male characters. Like, we are constantly bitching about how women are are basically reduced to love interests and sexy lamps - which is correct and all. But the thing that does not get acknowledged enough is that there is absolutely no diversity in the depicitions of male characters, ESPECIALLY white male characters.

Look, personally I could do well without watching another series featuring a white, abled, cis male character for another 10 years. Mainly because I personally do not need a white character to identify with. However, I do get the issue.

I mean, just look at the Marvel movies. Because frankly, most of the male heroes in the MCU are THE SAME FUCKING CHARACTER. They are narcissistic menchildren, who have a character arc about learning to grow up and be a bit more self-sacrificial - something that will then usually be flipped around, because the characters need to stick around for the sequels after all. Tony, Thor, Peter Quill, Rocket, Steven Strange... They all kinda fit into this one character mold. And while Steve was a bit of a different character, he was also far from a nuanced male character, given that he was pretty much reduced on "being a very strong and virtuous, stoic man". Which is not really a good reference for young men, I am sorry.

Generally speaking, male characters in western media tend to come in one of three flavours:

The manchild (who is a bit of an asshole and has to learn to think of others)

The nerd (who is also a bit of an asshole and has to learn a bit - but not too much - empathy)

The stoic masculine (who idealizes usually the soldier's virtues)

And that really, really is an issue. Especially as this goes double for white, cis male characters.

I can absolutely think about some characters from anime/manga that do break out of this, but as soon as I am thinking of western media? Castlevania has good male characters who are a lot more vulnerable than the average. And I can think of some games. But that's... pretty much it. Oh, yeah, and technically I guess I can also count Peacemaker into this. But that is then the end of it.

Don't get me wrong. I love how much great female characters we are getting in recent times. Like media for girls has really gone somewhere.

But we do need some media for boys too with cis white male characters, that are breaking out of the three stereotypes defined above.

I kinda have the hope that James Gunn will provide a bit more of those characters with his DCU. Because - despite me really not like the worst Chris - I do think that of the man child variety Peter Quill definitely is the best written in the MCU. And James Gunn is one of the few writers who seem to really get the dangers of toxic masculinity. But yeah... Right now? It is a bit dark.

[macchiatosdumptruck]

okay but why do most villains (or exvillains like Johnny) go crazy over/because of Larusso? is it because they tried so hard to destroy him and failed, and have to live with that failure? Like with Silver. He's 100% to blame for everything, why the unhingedness?

I think that's part of it, and that's what they would probably tell others. That he was an annoying little pest who couldn't leave well enough alone and they were only giving him what was coming to him. That they were humiliated by him and angry in a very normal, masculine, heterosexual way.

But looking at how real people treat both Ralph, and the character Daniel, it has to be more than that.

I think he represents a form of masculinity that bothers them. He's too androgynous, too skinny, too pretty, but he's also very secure in himself. He doesn't see the need to puff himself up and act all macho. He's comfortable in his skin.

I think people see that and resent it. Because if they have to play by the rules (rules, being gender conformity) then he should have to as well. But instead he's somehow winning the girls and getting the trophies anyway.

Something about him deeply aggravates a certain type of man. We see it to this day, the oddly targeted and pointed hatred towards him, especially from men. He's treated in ways I've only ever seen female characters treated tbh, lol. He's the bitchy wife. He's the stuck up prick. He's the goody two shoes. He's no fun. He's the stick in the mud. Etc.

He disrupts their power fantasies I think. Which is why a certain type of Guy is so deeply invested in Johnny getting the "better" of him. Because that's the way it was supposed to be in their mind.

They want toxic masculinity to work for them, not to see an example of a guy flourishing despite denying it.

I think it is also other things. Like, with Chozen, it was a humiliation. Daniel was who he was trying to be in a way. A fitting heir. An honorable man. He bested him, and yet, he wouldn't even do Chozen the dignity of properly ending him. A bit of compassion that may have seemed like yet another embarrassment. But of course, over the years he learned otherwise, and then he started looking up to Daniel. Admiring him.

I know a lot of the fandom likes to think that Johnny was so distracted by Daniel because he was secretly running from gay thoughts, and he may well have been. But they weren't kind, I don't think. They were angry. And part of that anger was probably towards himself and kreese's and his dad, and whatever, but also part of it was very much at Daniel for being Other. Like. Right in front him.

It's so funny (not) that at the end of the movie he seems to have at least some emotional intelligence and apologizes. In the beginning of the second movie he realizes that the things he had been holding dear were poisonous.

Then he just forgot all about it because it was easier to blame Daniel, than to blame Kreese or himself. It was Daniel's fault he never had a proper relationship, it was Daniel's fault he peaked in high school. Certainly not the guy who was like low key/high key grooming a small army of child soldiers.

Mike it was just him keeping his word to his boss. It was a business thing. Monetary gain. He is also the most normal of all the people affected by Daniel LaRusso Derangement Syndrome (wow it's been a while since i typed that) but once Daniel (and Terry ) comes back into his life he's back in it again.

Terry, I mean. I have lost count of the number of times I've discussed his specific form of mental illness was tbh and it still makes me think every day. Like, I'd just be repeating things I had said in earlier asks lol.

Kreese, I think is the most upset at Daniel's version of whatever "masculinity" is because for him, he seemingly adopted his stance out of survival. (What happened between the war and the films. He was far too normal in those flashbacks) Daniel represents the sort of weakness that almost took Kreese himself out. (That he still sees sometimes in Terry)

And even still, he is insufferable enough to be so so pretty during all of this. I mean, look at how people treat the pretty boy idols of the time? No matter who they are, there are going to be people very vocally disliking them because girls like him even though [ insert whatever fallacies of masculinity here]

Like. I don't like or dislike Timothy choolamoo but the way some men can't stand him reminds me a lot of those angry men complaining that their girlfriends had a crush on Ralph in highschool.

So i think it's because he's appealing in a way that is confusing in many aspects. He's appealing in the same way cute girls are and that's Not Ok. Because they're Not Gay. But he's also appealing (and detestable) because he gets to be happy and successful in a way that doesn't make sense to them. Because he's not playing by the rules.

So, I think it all combines, and they get angry boners over it.

[littelestvic]

About Bluza and The Destruction of the Femenine Fantasy

Hello! I haven't talked about Joker Out in a hot moment. Today, after the release of Bluza and the reading of some dissapointed critiques on the nature of the MV, I wanted to talk about how I think Bluza has presented us with the most clever and interesting MV since A Sem Ti Povedal.

On purpose or not. (Probably the later)

So, let's talk about Bluza (The Song) for a second. A beautiful ballad about yearning for a woman, it's beautiful, it's romantic, it's idylic, it's perfect.

"Tonight you're my muse" that's beautiful! It's almost like you want that muse. You want to pretend it's you who Bojan is talking about. You want to be her.

So I was kinda in awe when Zoran broke a bottle on Bojan's head while the woman he was so enthusiastically singing about just protects herself in a bit of horror.

I found it fascinating how the beautiful instrumental notes just kept drifting away almost in a hypnotic matter while the rest of the men in the room broke into a violent fight.

During my stance on the Joker Out fandom I've come to realize how we have constructed what I can only describe as a Fantasy. And it makes sense: this is a mostly femenine-driven fan base (and as a transmasc person I will include myself here too) yearning to think they're the epitome of a Perfect Man. And how wouldn't Joker Out be perfect, when they're so beautiful and talented and write and perform the most beautiful and romantic ballads? We have unequivocally constructed the "Perfect men" fantasy around a bunch of people that, in the end of the day, are nothing more than your average men.

This is something that will forever happen in boybands, of course and I do not say it's Bad and you Suck because you idealize a bunch of guys (I do too). But Souvenir Pop feels like it wants to be a record about the new experiences after the last year, and you kinda need to understand how shocking it might be for a bunch of 20-year-olds from Slovenia to be nothing one day, and the personalization of perfection for millions of girls around the world on the next one.

And Bluza (the song) plays perfectly into this Fantasy. It's beautiful and perfect and romantic like how any other Joker Out ballad needs to be because that's what we want from them and that's what we demand from them: Idealized perfection.

So you could imagine the reactions to some fans when they found out that Bluza (the MV) plays into toxic masculinity, objectification of women, and violence. They weren't very happy about that.

Because yes! I DO think this song plays into the idea of objectifying women. I think they portray this random woman as nothing but an object of desire while Bojan has the absolute guts to sing into this lady he has never seen before in his whole life and knows absolutely nothing about (but she's pretty, at least) that Tonight, she is his muse.

And I think it's amazing, how I've read statements like "Bluza MV objectifies women" and "I do not care much about what happened in Bluza MV as long and the guys just stand there and look pretty" all coexist in the same environment. Because I think it's actually very interesting how they objectify a woman almost in the same way as the fandom objectifies them. Because at the end of the day they're nothing more than objects of attraction for many of us.

And I find it kinda fitting how they spend most of the MV just Standing there, almost awkwardly and clumsily, not even caring enough to pretend effectively that they're playing whatever instrument they were given, while Bojan sings beautiful lyrics of yearn and love to the nothingless.

So yes, I do believe Bluza MV is fitting. Is fitting in the sense I find very clever how they subverted the theme of the song to talk about the expectation the fandom has towards them to follow their fantasies of the perfect man.

Now, do I think this was all made on purpose? Well, no. Not at all. I think this reading is nothing more than a coincidence. I do believe they did try their best to make a MV just about being in love or whatever but it came out tacky, and I do not care at all about that reading.

But a meta-reading about the MV is not really that out of place when you take other things they've done. Take for example how A Sem Ti Povedal, how the song is also a very typical love song but then the MV also plays with themes of idealization and fantasy.

[yukishirostar]

So people are talking about a post in the Zolu tag by a certain tumblr user in regards to their issues with Zolu as a ship. They shall be unnamed because i dont wish to bring attention to them and instead just want to focus on their arguments because they're not the first people to make some of these points and so this is also an opportunity for me to talk about these things (a tweet is going around on Twitter containing these screenshots with the username so you can find it there if you need to anyway).

The way this person dismisses the relationship between Zoro and Luffy as a result of needing to pair gay Zoro with someone is too laughable, they must be very fit in order to be able to do these mental gymnastics. I believe that many people who are going on about the Zolu scenes in the OPLA were already Zolu shippers who were familiar with the original story and are enjoying the moments because they were well, really good Zolu moments? And there is actually, shockingly, many good Zolu moments in the original story too which is why many people ship them. Wild, I know.

Then there's 'straight-washed Sanji'. Equally if not more of a bizarre thing to believe. I might make some people mad especially the Sanji stans out there who constantly insist on the 'repressed queer' narrative with his character, but Sanji is written pretty explicitly to be seen as a cisgender and heterosexual character. The way you say with your whole chest that Luffy is 'canonically' aroace but don't acknowledge that Sanji is 'canonically' cishet is beyond hypocritical. If you believe Sanji looking like a 'misogynistic straight man' is different from the way he is written in canon then maybe you should go back and reread/rewatch series with your eyes open this time. If you wish to headcanon him with the frankly offensive repressed bisexual/transgender cliché then go ahead, but that is clearly not the intention Oda has with his character.

There's also the fact that aroace people can uh. Be in relationships. Get married. Have children. Did it occur to you that many people who ship Zolu ship them as an ace couple or-

First thing I want to say here, as a trans man who is 'mlm', can other dudes stop with this idea that women or fem-aligned individuals enjoying homosexual relationships between two men is inherently fetishising or that as a masc-aligned individual your enjoyment of a ship is morally superior in some way. Stop pulling out your 'mlm/ transmasc / cis gay' card in order to justify why your ship is superior. Its cringe af.

But if we are to insist that 'cishet female gaze fetishising mlm' is going on then ironically Zosan fits that the better than any ship in the fandom. It being by far the most popular mlm ship means there is likely a higher proportion of people who identify as cishet women who ship it. Its also the classic 'two men who dislike/hate eachother and have a toxic relationship but hot sexual tension' slash/yaoi stereotype. Majority of Zosan I've come across is depicting Zoro as the masculine male man in the relationship while Sanji the effeminate twink that Sanji stans project themselves onto and they go crazy for the bickering that is apparently reminiscent to them of a toxic heterosexual marriage. Meanwhile every Zolu/Luzo shipper I've interacted with has been some flavour of queer and Zolu is closest to the 'falling in love with your same sex bestie' narrative that the majority if not every non-heterosexual person has experienced at least once in their lifetime. This is just my personal view of course, but I think noting a difference in perspective on this topic is interesting and reveals that at the end of the day this is totally subjective and based purely on anecdotes.

Also it's just a very weird point here that apparently OP has 'plenty of varied queer rep' (it actually doesn't have that many canonical queer characters in relation to its cast size but anyway) and other media doesn't so shipping aroace characters in gay relationships is valid in those but not in One Piece … HUH???? So you're saying if One Piece had 'less' queer rep, then Zolu would be fine to ship? Idek my brain hurts.

"I have black friends so I'll speak for the black community and get offended for them" (btw this person then proceeded to block aroace people who had issues with their depiction of aroace people).

Also if we're talking canonical depictions, the only thing Zoro has been canonically depicted as is also aroace, equally if not moreso than Luffy. So by your own rules, you can't ship a cishet (sanji) with an aroace (zoro), therefore Zosan is now invalid. Stop erasing Zoro's aroace identity bigot.

'Categorically wrong' makes me laugh. I don't ship Zoro and Nami but like, people can ship what they want to??

'The general public is aware enough of gay people and how to spot them these days' uh... firstly this sounds very homophobic. Secondly the general public (cishet ppl) are famously bad at recognising queerness even when its in flashing lights before them. Thirdly you make it sound like Zoro was going around on roller skates and booty shorts listening to YMCA and Madonna in the show. I do agree he was gay-coded but it was mostly because he had sexual tension with every man he interacted with, not for the strange reasons you pointed out...

Its kinda the elephant in the room too but like. These are just headcanons. You can have multiple headcanons and interpretations of a character's sexuality. I can see Zoro as aroace virgin one day and a gay h*e the next. I'm actually allowed, legally, to do that.

The way they think shipping Zolu is harmful to aroace representation when BOTH characters are closest to being canonically aroace than anything yet ship Zosan, label being anti-Zolu as some kind of pro-ace activism, and then proceeded to block aroace people for criticising their incorrect depiction of what being aroace is...

This was a lot of words to say that you don't like a ship. Just say you don't like it, and it gets in the way of the ship you like, instead of writing a virtue signalling essay to justify your reasoning. Please.

They had some more to say on future posts I'll just pick my favourite bits

They really have this narrative that Zolu is only popular because of OPLA and can't fathom that its just a popular ship in general and always has been huh. And they couldn't make it more obvious that they're totally salty about it ranking in the top 100 most popular tumblr ships, lmao.

Your classic case of 'self-identifying ally who speaks over the people they are supposed allies of'. Its a general rule that you feel the need to declare yourself an ally you're probably not an ally, actual allies know they need to just shut up and do the work. Saying 'this character's aroace' and 'I have aroace friends' actually isn't what allyship is, thats just accepting that ace people exist which is like... the baseline.

Calling a wholesome loving ship like Zolu an icky ship is a severe consequence of online brain (this person is 26 years old btw)

[guiltycorp]

Okay finished the Haruspex route of Pathologic Classic! I need to play Clara's route to see the whole picture but I'm already fascinated by the differences between P1 and P2 in terms of characterization. I think I like Pathologic 2 even more now considering how they improved on Artemy's route, I am sorry to say I didn't like it at all in classic... This is all just my personal impression after first playthrough ofc. Ramblings about both Artemy and Daniil ↓ I think what bothered me about Haruspex was mostly just his attitude and his messiah plot. Once the first day is out of the way it's all smooth sailing for him, a bit too much so?? The only personal conflict he has is figuring out his father's exact wishes for him and choosing a sacrifice. Killing anyone is treated as fair or something that needed to happen and the Haruspex is always shrugging it off... And either option, Aglaya & the Town or Polyhedron... It just doesn't seem like he is that attached to either? So it doesn't feel like he is sacrificing much personally? Like sure he wants to save the Town because of his messianic qualities, but that's again more about fulfilling his 'role' rather than genuinely wanting to save lives, or at least it read that way to me. I'm sure it's meant to be both and P2 makes this far more apparent, but in P1 it elicited a rather squinty reaction from me. Plus well yeah, getting rid of Polyhedron is pretty much just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, like yep he sure didn't care about that thing lmao so getting rid of it isn't such a difficult choice at all. The suggestion that the Polyhedron could be his Udurgh is kind of useless because the Town and Earth are far better candidates and fit with Kin beliefs better, which in this game Artemy pretty much doesn't doubt at all.  Maybe this is why the Bachelor is so present in his route? Daniil did say he'd commit suicide if he lost, maybe we'd want to think twice about pushing him towards it... But again! Does it seem like this guy cares ahhh haha... The dialogue option that is actually engaging with what Daniil said is pretty much there to make it clear to the player what the Utopian ending is and what it would be like.

Ngl at first I thought he was meant to be the 'sacrifice' until they said it's a woman. Every time Artemy learned something about the Bachelor's motivations he'd write down in his diary like '...if it matters' since the player can always choose what ending to go with I guess. I also find it curious that he can say that they are friends but still always writing only 'the Bachelor' in his diaries while Daniil switched to 'Artemy' and 'Burakh' during the final stretch. The one-sided yaoi................ 🤔 At least Artemy doesn't get mad at him for ordering to set the mythic bull on fire, I guess their friendship did mean something to him after all at that point. Also when Capella tells him that he should ask the Bachelor for help with getting into the Polyhedron since the Bachelor 'fawns upon you a lot anyway' the Haruspex just goes 'oh yeah! ok' fjdghdjg... Now that I think about it I DID like the Haruspex route for what it did with the Bachelor hahah, his dialogues and letters are just so good sometimes. Like wow, I felt this.

Very cool, if i was Artemy I'd totally abandon my weird murderous calling for this. Tangentially related... P2 had one moment that I remember from my last replay when Rubin, if kept alive, falls into a deep deserved sleep in his home, and Artemy just starts emotionally monologuing at him.

Like, P1 Artemy would never, but also it goes to show that he's still very much a repressed man here too, buying into toxic masculinity ideals who can't just talk to his friends about his feelings directly... The same character, but more complex. I want to make it clear that I DO like him and his motivations in P2 actually, and his personal conflict being more about the future of the Kin makes that game much more powerful to me than what his classic route was. I heard that initially he was planned to be far more violent and dark, so maybe he could have been sort of a villain protagonist and this was changed later and this is why it feels a bit bland? Hmm... Idk this is fun to me because meanwhile the Bachelor didn't feel that different to me in both games lmao. A highly stressed educated guy who is just trying to prevent the spread of epidemic the 'right' way and then clinging to the only chance he has left to preserve both his ideals and his life. He is a bit less polite in P2 at first (while still very much helping by warding off Rubin) but then rather quickly becomes more cordial to Artemy and vice versa (and wow it sure is nice when Artemy can actually be polite and friendly..). And the moment when he explains some of his personal deal to Artemy feels rather similar in both iterations mood-wise.

I liked his route in P1 a lot, surprisingly so, and I now understand why so many people liked him before P2 came out and afterwards too... There's just something very real about how he is the intelligent Capital doctor but with an extraordinary dream to combat death itself, possibly given to him by the Powers That Be due to these children trying to cope with people dying around them. And instead of favoring him for it they hate him! They leave him with nothing but this final chance to fix things, even if that means destroying everything and rebuilding anew. Daniil's desperation feels very real and thus more compelling, plus like... I mean it's pretty much confirmed that it's not just the Polyhedron and that the soil itself is 'rotten' (literally in the meta real world and through blood beneath the earth in the Town itself) and the decease could return again, sooo his ending doesn't look that bad comparatively. I also appreciated how Maria (or uhh was it Nina talking through her here as well?) explained how their Utopia doesn't actually mean a 'perfect' place, more so just an impossible dream.

The Bachelor doesn't mind this at all, a detail I loved.

...Hmm that said maybe P1 makes it a little too easy for him to kinda ignore the Kin issue, he is only mad about their circumstances when it comes to Vlad choosing to doom thousands of the Kin workers inside the Termitary (which is just his doctor ethics). I mean it is realistic for him to ignore the implications of representing the imperialist side, he does mention his father was a military man too at some point I think... Still, he is very quick to accept the Kin's unique beliefs as something that has obvious merit, trusting the Haruspex with that side of things in both of their routes, and he doesn't make much of a distinction between them and regular Town people when it comes to patient treatment. If anything it's probably a sign of how the writers weren't thinking that hard about this worldbuilding aspect at the time... even if I appreciated them showing the downsides of the Kin's society, I think those were done better than in P2 purely because it was a bit more realistic (I am talking about sexism mostly, such as selling their own daughters and not respecting their autonomy, plus the mention of Kin politics and different ruling clans rather than the hive mind situation implied in P2). Like, it is more obvious in P1 that wholeheartedly embracing the Kin's return to tradition isn't such a good solution for them either, but one that will likely happen anyway with Artemy and Taya as their new leaders. And it could get trickier in Pathologic 3 I think, especially since most of us really appreciated the portrayal of colonization in P2 and would expect it getting addressed again in future games of other character routes, but we'll see I guess! Either way I look forward to that game a lot now.

[karlachismylife]

character ask thingy for konig, thank you sm I hope your day is going great! <3

Oooh, König! I'm not talking about him much on here, am I? Might have something to do with the betrayal of my friend whom I dragged into the COD fandom for my Karlach x Soap team or at least Ghoap only to lose her to the Ghost x König gang... (I'm joking, we're still having fun, ship whomever you want). Thanks for asking!! And also thank you, my days are pretty okay lately, hope yours are too <3

If anyone else is interested, I'll be glad to talk about someone else from COD and BG3. The game itself is here if someone wants to reblog!

So, König, the big Austrian that has literally a couple parapgraphs of bio on the wiki but a ton of fans to make up for it, eh?

favorite thing about them

I'll do two, because one is mostly canon based and the other mostly headcanon, but not fully. The canon favourite thing is that he's imperfect at his job. It's not just his size that prevented him from becoming a sniper, it also says he is "unable to stay still". I think it would be easy to make him a total machine and just slap the social anxiety on top as the only "imperfection" he has, especially since he is a minor character in a fucking pew pew ka-boom game. But they literally said he's actually not that good at his job (like, if he's unable to stay still, this won't impact just his sniper abilities, you know?). So that's neat, I love when people are allowed to be not that perfect at their job. And the favourite headcanon thing is that he's a gentle giant, I just love the type. Yeah, he's huge and kills people, but he'll also cradle a little bunny like it's the most precious creature on Earth.

least favorite thing about them

Uhh apart from the fact that people for some reason (ahem, racism) replace Gaz with him instead of just adding him?.. I think he either compensates for his anxiety or just feels much more confident at work and it makes him a little too cocky without needed (for me at least) charisma/unseriousness towards himself. Judging mostly from his body language. I know he has a sense of humour, but yeah... maybe calm down a little big guy.

favorite line

Any of the few lines in German he has. Or the "pick your guts off the floor", lol. I just like German and König is a funny fella, especially when he sounds angy.

brOTP

König x Gaz! There have been a couple arts on the theme and I absolutely adore them. Stop pretending they can't coexist! Also, Kyle would definitely find a way with words to make König feel more at ease off duty or would handle the way König is in the field easily.

OTP

I don't actually have any preferences at all, I like everything I see with him simply because people explore different dynamics and it's the most fun part for me. BUT I'll say like what I saw from Ghoap x König less because everything I saw puts Soap into a position/dynamic I don't really enjoy that much. Doesn't mean there isn't something I'll like a lot tho!

nOTP

As always, nOTPs are not my thing, but toxic stuff upsets me.

random headcanon

Also giving you two: he loves wearing lingerie but is a little bit ashamed of it and definitely hides it and he's generally a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate, so a slice (several) of good Sachertorte will make him really happy.

unpopular opinion

Uhh... he doesn't have a huge dick?.. No one in my universe does cuz I don't see the appeal (we have huge straps in my universe tho. but toys are separate). I don't know what's popular opinion lmao, sorry.

song i associate with them

Oooh, I actually have one this time! It's from my favourite German band Oomph! - "Kleinstadtboy". I like the whole album it's from because they experimented with their sound and quite successfully in my opinon, and this one has both the lyrics (yeah it's about gayyyys but also toxic masculinity in general. fits him well I think) and the according sound. The overblown dry electronics crackling/rasping just suits him, I think. I think he smells of static electricity too.

favorite picture of them

I don't really have one? But I like him doing different finishers. Looks impressive thanks to his size.

[tendoujo]

HC 01 : A "short" analysis of Akane being a parallel to Ranma fighting gender norms.

Are we, in 2024, ready to accept that Akane Tendo is Ranma's perfect parallel when it comes to the symbolism of fighting against the gender norms of their time and the acceptance of one's true self ?

Ranma is a character that suffers from the consequences and expectations of a normalized TOXIC MASCULINITY IN THE LATE 80s - mid 90s. His transformation is one clever tool to show the viewer the change of treatment his male form gets from the female one, both having their own pros and cons according to the situation and beliefs the character gets into. This series heavily emphasizes the gained value Ranma obtains when he's a man, almost as if showing how people consider him less or weak when he's a woman. After all, Ranma 1/2 makes a constant MOCKERY of the injustices caused by sexism in a Japan of such era.

Ranma takes it from the point of view of a man trying to fulfill the expectations of a toxic masculinity laid upon him, a mere teenager that, when forced to be a woman, loses a supposed "value" and "strength". He NEEDS to break the curse not because he WANTS TO to but rather to keep the WORTH people see on him, a worth only relevant when he's a man.

And here's where Akane enters the picture. While Ranma's female form shows you a pinch of the unfair treatment women go through everyday ( the effect of sexism ), it is Akane's character the one taking it fully from the perspective of a woman. One that's not only dealing with the sexism of society but also one where her demeanor and appearance does NOT fit the traditional concept of FEMININITY.

Akane's described as a TOMBOY, or at least what people considered to be a tomboy in the 80s - 90s. For our current times, she's pretty feminine having a closet full of colorful outfits with skirts and dresses, plus an emotion-driven personality. Yet we are seeing it from the current values and agenda. Back then Akane was the perfect example of a TOMBOYISH CHARACTER, aka : a girl that had short hair, took roles mostly associated with men, "acted just as violent as a man", got into constant physical fights, and had the strength mostly seen in male characters.

She disregarded the usual "main female character" tropes, especially the one of the "main love interest" that we see of women acting all feminine, delicate, dependant, with the house wife attributes of cooking and taking care of others.

Throughout the story Akane is pint pointed as a girl less cuter than the others for acting like a "boy" or rather, not taking part of the girl stereotypes of those years. She's not good with cooking or sewing, her skills fall better in fields mostly dominated AND expected in men like martial arts and the display of one's strength. She has to constantly deal with others demeaning her as "weak", "uncute", "macho", "ugly", etc, during the story only for 1. being a girl, and 2. not matching the expectations ( both physically and mentally ) set on women.

Although Shampoo does know martial arts as well, it seems that the story "forgives her" for acting AND looking more traditionally feminine and knowing basic "housewives attributes" ( example cooking ). The fandom and manga calls Akane the "tomboyish" one for being so violent when in reality, Shampoo is just as violent or even more than her. But it's important to mention that Shampoo IS A VICTIM OF THE SEXISM throughout the story as well. Perhaps she doesn't have it as rough as Akane or rather, her problems set root in another topic compared to Akane's battle with her FEMININITY.

Physically, though having banger outfits in the manga, she doesn't match the "pretty feminine girl" concept. First, her body. It's taken as a JOKE in most instances with Ranma and other characters making fun of her body lacking certain. . . aspects. Later on in the manga, Akane finds herself being insecure of it to the point of starting to consider herself "not enough" or the fear of getting confused with a BOY.

Second, HER HAIR, a key element in her story. Some old folks still see short hair in women as something "masculine" and this alone shows another effect of TOXIC TRADITIONAL FEMININITY and how it impacted Akane's character. We see at the beginning of the series that her long hair represented her FEMININITY and how letting it grow was her solution to be seen AND accepted by others as a girl.

If she couldn't change her demeanor as a fighter then PHYSICALLY she tried to make it up for it in what she could control : her hair. So when it was taken away, it was as if she had been stripped of something that made her BE ACCEPTED. Like the title of the chapter says : A girl's hair is her life.

Akane losing her hair meant that she had to deal with a sudden supposed lack of femininity and it is exactly this what makes her confront herself and eventually, accept her own person regardless of what others think of her.

She's dealing with toxic masculinity, as well as toxic femininity. Akane is seen as weak by men because of her gender, most not considering her an eligible rival. But they also see her as girl that "lacks" for not matching the traditional standards ( aka. stereotypes ) of a girl. It's truly sad to think that not only do the men judge her but so do women, even her own sisters feed onto such expectations.

Akane is a character that HAD TO TAKE THE ROLE OF THE "SON" of the Tendo family cause no one else would. Mostly so her father could be at peace knowing that someone capable was in charge of the family business and it seems that it wasn't enough with Soun WANTING a man in charge despite Akane's best efforts. Akane is STRIPPED AWAY from the family business, her future, just for being a girl. Unless she gets married, of course. . .

The STRUGGLES OF A WOMAN having to deal with that era's sexism, the imposed traditional femininity and toxic masculinity is translated better through Akane's perspective and her story than female Ranma's. She IS his parallel from another point of view and challenges when it comes to fighting gender norms and the eventual acceptance of one's true self because, despite being mocked every chapter, she CONTINUES BEING GENUINE TO HERSELF. She can doubt herself, change her opinion or try something new but at the end of the day, she always decides to BE TRUE TO WHO SHE REALLY IS AND CONTINUE DOING WHAT SHE LIKES DESPITE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF HER. Credit is due where credit is deserved and Akane does need to be recognized more as an actual character that broke barriers. Actually, it's ironic to think that Ranma is widely recognized as THE character that broke gender norms in the 80s while people poorly mention or even consider Akane one as well. Almost as if HER being exactly a GIRL gave her less of a value in her OWN FIGHTS against the gender norms and sexism. The joke writes itself.

[aleeyenn]

Hi i just wanted to say I love your works and profile sm, I love how you represent fireafy and coinpin and each of their respective characters, and I especially love how you represent Coiny. I feel like from what I've seen people don't see how Coiny really is, they usually just reduce him to a jerk or a firey slapper. But he's so much more and so different from that lke in canon he's so driven and serious but then fun and chill when needed, and how he can be fun and silly but then empathetic and sweet when given. and I feel like the way you represent him is so accurate and takes evey aspect of him in canon as well as headcanons that just FIT HIM SO WELL and idk it just makes me so happy. I also LOVE your headcanon of him being able to pull both masculinity and femininity, I love it so much it emulates the essence of him so well so be so comfortable in himself and not have a shred of toxic masculinity or anything like that. And I love how you make him adore pin like YES HE ADORE AND LOVES and does whatever pin wants it just makes me so happy esp with how gorgeous she is and as someone who is also plus sized and having issues with self image seeing coiny adore pin like that makes me believe in myself more idk how to explain it but YEA hahah just really like how you depict his charcater as a whole

I also love all your designs for every character

But ye I just want to say that hahah

i saw this when it was sent yesterday and i was in school and i was SOOO HAPPY i was telling all my friends with tears in my eyes and squealing over how sweet of a message i received LIKE I HAD TO FORCE MYSELF NOT TO CRY AND I KEPT GETTING UP AND PACING AAHH😭😭😭 i have waited for when i have free time where i’m not super tired to respond better than i would tired But! THANK YOU SOSOSOSO MUCH!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS MEANS TO ME!!! YOU REALLY DONT!!! thank you thank you so much!!! i’ve been struggling with forming my thoughts and feelings into words recently so forgive me if this is a messy reply but AHH!!!

coiny is one of my favorite characters he’s sooOOO FUNNY AND CHARMING! i love expressing his silly side and how dumb he is sometimes so i do it in most of my work (because it’s lighthearted almost every time) and it makes me so happy to see him being so.. coiny! he is genuinely such an amazing character and the perfect balance of cool, kind, and idiotic(affectionately) he’s so nice and so compassionate and i appreciate that about him so much and I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU CAN ENJOY MY PORTRAYAL OF HIM BECAUSE HE IS SO AWESOME! I LOVE EVERY PART OF HIM!!! and you like my headcanons!!! i forget what kind of coiny headcanons i have represented on this account but YESSS!!! COINY PULLING OFF FEMININE CLOTHES IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS TO THINK ABOUT! he is SO proud of it. he will put on a pink frilly dress and walk with confidence and feel as pretty as can be! i’ve been meaning to draw him in a dress for months actually (i have so much i want to draw all the time but i’m either really busy or i have zero motivation But this message gave me the motivation to actually try soon KEEP AN EYE OUT! maybe ill draw pin and coiny with their outfits swapped 🤫) he is one of the most positive and caring contestants on bfdi and he makes me so happy!!! he can wear both girly clothes and masculine clothes HE CAN WEAR WHATEVER HE WANTS and he will look TOTALLY AWESOME IN IT! and OMFGGG DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW MUCH HE LOVES PINNN SHE IS HIS WHOLE WORLD AND COINY IS HERS AS WELL! coiny will do anything for her he loves her so bad… AND!!! AHHHH!!!! I AM SO SO SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY MY PIN HUMANIZATION MAKES YOU FEEL THAT WAY!!! BRINGING PEOPLE SELF-CONFIDENCE AND EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MY DESIGNS AND REPRESENTATION IS MY ABSOLUTE GOAL WITH WHAT I DO!!! it seriously means everything to me that i’ve Actually been able to achieve that and help people with how they feel about themselves indirectly. my eyes are watering while typing this ARGHH i really just want everyone to know how beautiful they are no matter what their size or weight or height or color or LITERALLY ANYTHING is. and as someone who also struggles with their self-image/esteem it means even More to me because i know how it feels!!! seeing yourself in a design of your favorite character or a character you enjoy in general feels SO GOOD so i strive to do that as much as i can. body diversity and diversity in all aspects is incredibly important to me and i want to sprinkle it everywhere in whatever i do!!! everyone is so beautiful and different and i think that is a blessing!!! whoever is reading this is beautiful and whoever in the WORLD is too just how they are now!!! EVERYONE IS GORGEOUS!!! it may take a while to feel it and that’s okay but just know that you are!!!

in short i am happy i was able to touch your heart and make you smile and give you at least a little bit more confidence in yourself. you are amazing and so kind for sharing this all with me!!! i think you can tell now how much this did for me by how much i wrote (SORRY ITS HUGE BLOCKS OF TEXT) and i can’t thank you enough for liking my work from characterization to design. every time i get a message like this i will not stop thinking about it and i hold it close to me every time i draw Like those other messages about my pin gijinka from months back I STILL GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER. i’m really glad i can make you feel that way and i hope i have made many others feel the same way too. THANK YOU!!!💖💖💖🫶🫶🫶

[trauma-express]

I feel Simon doesn’t have toxic masculinity, but he has toxic vibes in his extreme black and white thinking.🧐

Well on one hand I agree that his problem is more black and white, 'us vs them' mentality rather than any issues specifically w seeing womanliness/femininity being weak or anything. But I do think he does have aspects associated with toxic masculinity, though it's more a angry internet nerd guy way than in some alpha male dudebro way.

For one, we can see from his writings and models that he's very interested in war and soldiers and 'Rise of the True King' can be seen using the 'guy getting power and he respect that naturally belongs to him' (listen, we can't all do it like Tolkien). Apart from these showing Simon's need for a world he can understand and be in control of, they could also be seen as typical male power fantasies.

He also prefers to present himself as being logical, and people against him as being unreasonable or weak when he's just as driven by his emotion, which is a pretty typical trait of this type of guy.

I really don't think the subtext of his arc being an angry cishet white guy who refuses to change his damaging and bigoted beliefs, mainly conflicts with women, and ends up attacking his semi-official romantic partner, a black girl, over it was unintentional. His relationships with Grace and Samantha are fascinating to explore because they are complicated, but while I understand they had a lot to fit in 10 11 min episodes I would love to have met his mother. That is a missing puzzle piece i would love to fit in to place, but we just have to theorize (And I have).

(also I have been writing up another meta abt Grace and Simon's relationship, specifically in regards to [though I hate how pop-pysch the term is but i can't think of anything more to describe it] emotional labor if anyone is interested)

[tuesdayx]

Sam Hill

I'm honestly still amazed with myself that this song ever saw the light of day. I started working on it at the same time that I was writing "432111", which makes these two sister songs as far as I'm concerned. The goal was to make a song that captured the essence of 90's hip-hop.

There's likely several Sam Hills in any part of the United States and other parts of the world. I've never been to a single one. I'm not sure why I gravitated towards that name, but usually when I'm writing songs from scratch I'll give it a working title based on whatever comes into my head first and change it if I need to later. "Sam Hill" itself is a traditional literary representation of Satan or the Devil. This ended up fitting perfectly for the tone of the song as it lyrically centered around themes of hedonism and controlling forces in our lives.

A good majority of my time was spent tightening the rhythm section that carries the song from beginning to end. At the time I was trying to avoid using my typical setup of either guitar or some kind of keyboard, so how should I fill the rest out? How about a horn section? Not just a horn section; a horn section with a flute solo! Throw in some haunting xylophone and some sitar and that did the trick. This was the first album I made where I purposely quantized everything in the event that someone else would end up collaborating on the album with me (which didn't happen.) Despite that, on tracks like this I still opted to record entire sections in one take rather than doing small bits for every part and looping them.

The album carries a theme overall where I utilize different vocal modulations to represent different aspects of myself based on the subject matter of the song. My "main voice" I refer to as Tuesday, who typically represents a more laid back yet fatigued energy. The "low voice" I called Rex, representing introspection and wisdom as well as a voice trying to consolidate my masculine self from the toxic masculinity I was raised within. The "high voice" is Tiny T, representing the youthful spirit I refuse to let die as well as exploring my insecurities and doubts as a struggling human being with many flaws and mistakes under my belt.

Lyrically this song dances around the primary themes of hedonism, resentment, and a lack of control in one's life. Each voice gets a roughly equal chance at telling different stories that all led to my decision to abandon my former life and pursue my dreams as an artist.

Starting with Tuesday, I'm straight up explaining my current living situation. I've been homeless for a year now and traveling when funds and opportunity have been available, sleeping in the back of my car or couch surfing with whatever friends I happen to have in these areas. My life up until this point, I feel, has been wasted working for other people and inserting myself into relationships I was unprepared for. My struggles with substance use and infidelity never helped my case either. As I've said before, Hip-Hop and Rap generally are more lyrically arrogant genres, so I wanted to flip the script and shit on myself a bit to show that I recognize where I've failed before, I can laugh about it, and I'm actively working on preventing myself from making those mistakes again.

Next we have Rex. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this entire verse is pretty much me ranting about how my father. Specifically, his controlling nature and constant need to always be in the right. I idolized him growing up, despite only seeing him maybe 4 months a year, and looking back on it I realized he not only negatively influenced me as a raging misogynist-sexist-racist, but he also made me insecure over my intelligence as a child and my confidence to perform most manual labor related tasks.

Finally, Tiny T wraps things up by alluding to my sketchy behavior in relationships. For the record, I never did "fuck hoes or pop pills" with my friends. If anything we'd smoke some weed, talk about South Park, and eventually my guitar would come out and it would turn into a game of JukeBox. Despite this, I tried to justify wanting to do things without my then-partner, as she was doing the same thing without me. I'm sure we both made each other insecure by doing this, and we were both guilty of coming home late at night reeking of smoke and booze before flopping next to the other in bed. The end of that relationship tested my sanity, and situations like that led me to suspect other things were going on, but I recognize I was simply looking for reasons to be upset when I directly pushed away from me with my behavior.

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty fun song and catchy song I hope people would want to sing along to the same way they sing along to their favorite classic hip-hop anthems. Don't cheat on your partners, and don't stay in relationships you're unhappy in that can't be fixed by communicating.

Favorite line: "I'm going up to Sam Hill. My friends are coming, they're chill. Hey babe, what's the big deal? I ain't fucking hoes or poppin no pills."

[courtney-deserved-better]

okay ive got fantasy high on the brain so here's a little fantasy high td au that i will never write. spoilers for like. all of it that's been released so far.

the bad kids:

right off the bat, sammy and amy as adaine and aelwyn. don't have much to say on this besides i think they fit pretty well. amy would have to be a bit smarter for aelwyn's place in the story but other than that i think they fit pretty well. sammy as a wizard with anxiety but who also desperately wants to fuck up the ppl who wrong her once she gets treatment for that anxiety. also i like to think in this au that amy would have a redemption arc and she and sammy could learn how to be somewhat functional sisters.

lightning as fabian. they are both egotistical athletes with a ridiculous amount of pressure from their shitty parents and i would love lightning to have an arc where he makes friends and learns to overcome toxic masculinity

dj as gorgug! he has the capacity to rage but he doesn't want to unless its necessary which disappoints people who expect someone as big as him to be a fighter. but he just wants to give tin flowers to his friends! maybe his love for cooking turns into a love for creating and that's how he becomes an artificer. he would definitely make little mechanical animal friends. also that makes his moms wilma and digby

hear me out. priya as kristen. big worshipper of helio thanks to her parents/being his chosen one but as she goes through the world without that strong of an influence she realizes how wrong they are and breaks away from that mentality. a bit of a chaotic being as she goes through life trying to find structure again but dedicated to her friends and whatever deity she's worshiping at the time

kitty as fig. she loves her friends so so much. she wants to try so many different things. she has issues with an authoritative female figure in her life (emma/sandra lynn). i think she could rock the punk/devil aesthetic while still being so friendly and silly.

i had such a hard time figuring out who would be riz but i'm gonna say shawn. they're both conspiracy theorists who probably drink way too much coffee and get way too little sleep. i can see shawn's obsession to surviving the zombie apocalypse be turned into an obsession with solving mysteries in this world. i think it'd be funny if that made sanders sklonda because she already sorta has tired single mom trying her best energy and is (unfortunately) a cop

others:

chris as aguefort. truly a facilitator, manifester, and being of chaos. alternatively i could see him being the jace to chef's porter

millie as ayda!! she would sooo be a librarian who doesn't understand friendship and the chaos that comes with it but wants to be loved so bad but doesn't understand how to get that love and is generally insecure while coming off as knowledgeable and somewhat aloof

if kitty is fig then i can see emma as sandra lynn in an "older sister who's been raising her younger sister and who knows who her real dad is but won't say" i think there's some delicious sister angst there especially with kitty pulling away once she realizes they're actually half sisters and emma knows who kitty's dad is because she's older but won't tell her. not sure how gilear factors into the situation

dave as biz. has his nice guy thing with sammy instead of sky.

zee as zaphriel/the hangvan. just chill vibes dude.

scary girl as baron!! she's already lowkey got the aesthetic in different colors all she needs is the puppet/mask/mirrors stuff. she would haunt the shit out of shawn

raj as ragh!! starts out as a bit of a bully jock but once he gets over his toxic crush, is rescued by the bad kids, and comes out he's so much happier and nicer while still being a total jock. not sure how wayne would fit into the equation but maybe he could just be raj's friend on the bloodrush team

duncan as jawbone is really funny to me because yeah he has this crazy past as a drug dealer but now he's a high school guidance counselor who's super dedicated to helping kids and has embraced the domestic life?? kinda have a hard time seeing it for duncan but i do think it would be really funny

alejandro as garthy. don't have much to say on this just the vibes if alejandro wasn't evil and wanted to chill on a pirate ship he would be garthy.

leonard as sprak they're both so silly

i think putting trent as gilear would be so funny. local normal guy is just cursed to have the worst day every day. make that man the lunch lad

ennui as zayn purely bc of the tall goth aesthetic

beth as cathilda. i like to think she's generally small and helpful but could kick so much ass if needed

the rat grinders:

courtney as kipperlilly there's truly no other choice.

scarlett as oisin bc she seems like the nicest, most reasonable rat grinder and then bam she's been scheming with their most evil plot

crimson as mary ann bc she is so expressionless 24/7 but can fuck you up without blinking

julia as ivy. mean girl time!!

mal as ruben. he thinks he's so edgy and cool when he's just a high schooler who sings in an emo band. kitty would enjoy psychologically tormenting his as wanda chillda

bridgette as lucy!! she and courtney were once best friends until she was the one rat grinder who chose to die rather than be overtaken by rage and courtney is left alive and grieving and betrayed by her best friend

emma (td) as buddy, actually a pretty nice person who is being influenced by a toxic mindset and suffers greatly at the hands of people using her as a pawn

gotta go be a functioning human being in society so that's all i got for now

[deconstructthesoup]

Holy shit, you guys liked my Hatchetfield/Fantasy High idea... still coming up with a good name for it. Just using "High School is Killin' Me" would be good, but that might get confusing in the tags.

That being said, oh boy do I have more, so... let's dive in.

Ragh: He's essentially Max Jagerman if he'd actually had the chance to get that redemption arc (instead of, y'know, dying and becoming a vengeful ghost). Back in his freshman year, he was that jerk, and when he met Fabian, it could've easily resulted in two equally hardheaded guys becoming each other's absolute nightmare, but after Fabian initially got rejected from the team despite being the best at tryouts---and after Fabian slipped Ragh the answers to a test in order to get into his good graces---Ragh stuck up for him and got him on the team. It took a while for them to really become friends, mostly due to the fact that they both needed to grow past the toxic masculinity, but they got there eventually, with Fabian being the first person that Ragh came out to. And, yeah, their relationship was initially "friends with benefits" until they got their shit together. (I don't know what Lydia's deal is yet---she might just have a chronic illness, but it could also have LiB connections.)

Tracker: Her story's fairly similar to in canon---religious family who kicked her out once she started questioning everything, moved in with her cool uncle as a result---only instead of dropping out of high school, she transferred from Sycamore to Hatchetfield High. This worked out pretty well, seeing as Jawbone had just started his guidance counselor position after getting clean and putting that psychology degree to good use. Tracker's adjusting all right to her new life---she goes to concerts at the Slaughtered Pig, she's getting really into witchy stuff, and she's bonded with the principal's daughter over having to go to the school your parent works at... and she's also somehow developed a gigantic crush on the local church girl, which she initially tells herself is completely hopeless. But at night, she dreams of a haunted forest, a full moon, and a woman with white hair whose face she can never quite make out. And one day, she and Kristen find a book in Jawbone's study...

Jawbone: He's kind of the Miss Holloway equivalent, because honestly? There's really no other character who fits the vibe. Instead of being an immortal 80's singer who became a witch, however, he's a seemingly normal guy who grew up in Hatchetfield and has left quite a bit off times, but always finds his way back, and he's staying this time. Part of the reason he always leaves is, of course, the pressure of being queer in a small town, but he also has always had unusual abilities that he can't explain, and he used to either ignore his powers through the use of drugs or show them off as party tricks that would eventually get out of hand. But after years of misspent youth, he decided to get his life together, kind of like Emma did... and when he came back to Hatchetfield, he found a copy of the Black Book and learned the truth. Jawbone's now a protector of the town, helping people in his own way---and sometimes, that means having to let people in on the truth about Hatchetfield.

Ayda: She's well known for being the principal's daughter, a total nerd, and a bit of a recluse through no fault of her own, but there is much more to Ayda than meets the eye. See, Arthur Aguefort, way back in the 1900s, made a deal with Tinky after he lost his wife---that if he never lost Ayda in that same way, he'd serve the Lord in Black for eternity. Tinky agreed, Arthur managed to find a loophole and get outta there with an indefinite lifespan and a seemingly immortal daughter, but Tinky wasn't too happy about losing a future resident of the Bastard Box, so he turned the gift he'd given Ayda on his head. Instead of living forever, Ayda is capable of dying, but every time she dies, she is born again, with no memory of who she was or the powers she has---the original Ayda could control flame, and so can every version of her. So Arthur has to watch his daughter die again and again, find herself again and again, struggle again and again... yeah, there's a reason he became principal of Hatchetfield High instead of the mayor. By this point, he's decided that if he can't help Ayda, the best thing he can do is get to know her well while he can. (She's gonna have a happy ending, don't worry---I'm not that cruel)

Aelwyn: On the surface, she and Adaine have the same relationship as they initially did in canon---constantly bickering, constantly competing, you know the drill---but underneath all that, Aelwyn cares deeply for her sister, and has tried very hard over the years help keep Adaine's powers hidden from their parents. It's really due to not wanting to upset their parents that Aelwyn doesn't try as hard as she should, and why she's fairly distant from her sister most of the time. Their relationship is sorta a Lex-and-Hannah situation... if Lex was a straight-A popular party girl instead of a grungy, rebellious high school dropout. Aelwyn does eventually find herself and grow closer to Adaine, but it takes a while for that to happen.

Zelda: She's still a super-shy and awkward dork who loves pretty much every alt-music genre known to man and has some mild anger issues. In all honesty, not a lot changes about her, aside from her being human and not a satyr---she has a crazy family, she's got a crush on Gorgug that eventually turns into a very sweet relationship, and she eventually becomes friends with The Seven... though, I'm gonna need to finish that season before I can give you guys any more information on the rest of them. However, I will say that the Penelope and Sam situation is gonna tie into the Honey Festival.

Other miscellaneous ideas/characters: Sandra Lynn is a park ranger in Witchwood Forest, Garthy O'Brien runs one of the only queer nightclubs in Hatchetfield, Basrar still runs his ice cream parlor, Gilear is still a mess

And... yep, that's it for now. I'll talk about some of the antagonists later, and then maybe I'll get around to The Seven.

[eruhamster]

Hi....! If you don't mind, can I ask, who are your top 7 favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc (can be canon or non-canon) and your top 10 favorite characters ever from any media? Why do you love them all? Thanks if you want to answer....

THIS WAS REALLY FUN TO WRITE!!! Thank you! I spent like an hour and a half writing. I thknk that these answers would vary from day to day but at least the top couple answers for each have been pretty consistent.

It is skewed from me recently reading tons of BL...

Favorite relationships:

1. Gutsca/Guts and Casca from Berserk: This one has a stranglehold on me I don't think really fades. I think it's the one M/F couple that truly feels equal without it being sidelined. Guts and Casca know each other's pain more than anyone else and accept each other for who they are, fully. They would both do anything for the other even if the other doesn't know it. They hurt each other but it isn't toxic; they are actively trying to get better together, and help the other get better. They fall apart when they're separated, and yet at the same time the narrative refuses to let them be together. It's painful but you can really feel their devotion to each other. And unlike other M/F, there isn't some kind of feeling of a power imbalance. Guts isn't Casca's owner. In fact, he's depicted more of her loyal dog. He has no control over her, and he knows that due to her trauma, there's things he as a man cannot do for her, so he steps aside and allows the women in her life to assist her. She was his first step toward breaking from toxic masculinity and understanding women not as an other species, but as other people. He treats her as an equal. Not a thing he owns, not a child. Even when she is catatonic and acting like a toddler, he treats her the same as anyone deserves to be treated. He has demons just like she does, but even at his worst you can tell he respects her deeply and doesn't ever want to wrong her. It's breathtaking to me. It's so rare in media to see a relationship like theirs. It's why I can't give up on Berserk even with Miura's death. I need to see them succeed.

2. Bongchun and Soongap from Bongchon Bride: I think this is still my all-time favorite romance story. For a million reasons outside the main couple. Read Bongchon Bride if you have time, it's beautiful. But yeah; I like two genres of romance pretty evenly- noncon stuff and romances where people fit together like puzzle pieces. And they're the latter. No matter how Soongap thinks he's not truly married to Bongchun, they are 100% married. They act exactly as a marriage should be. There is no selfishness between them; they always think of what is best for them together, as a team. They lift each other up and fill the others' shortcomings. They heal each other and comfort each other and keep each other safe and out of trouble. A lot of romances will have a sort of one-sided romance where one person is the giver and one person is the receiver; not with sex, but in general. One person has all the wealth, power, emotional stability, etc, and the other is essentially pampered. This manhwa starts out like that but Soongap is not the kind of person to take without giving. He isn't just a trophy or a toy for Bongchun, he fits himself into his life and makes Bongchun's life substancially easier. He helps him come out of his hermit shell, he makes things for him, he takes care of his mother, he handles the finances and bartering, and he lends Bongchun his advice and warnings, which helps Bongchun when he is so naive and lacks Soongap's critical thinking skills. They fit together like puzzle pieces. :)

3. Hee-ryang and Yeonjo from Steel Under Silk: These two are sort of like the anti-Bongchun/Soongap. You can see how perfect they are for each other. They think very, very similarly. They get along so well when things are going good because they're so similar to each other. In a different universe, they would make a conniving power couple that could take on anything. But instead, they're stuck in a situation where they're both miserable and refuse to allow themselves happiness because that would hurt their pride too much, and their pride is all they have. There's this feeling that if they were in opposite scenarios, they'd end up doing exactly the same as the other did. So it feels equally toxic and heartbreaking instead of other noncon stories like it where it's an abuser and an abusee. They can hurt each other so deeply because they're mentally on equal playing fields, and because technically Yeonjo was the initiator of all of this. Hee-ryang was going to buy him out of slavery. Yeonjo at every step of the way has gotten himself into a situation to crush Hee-ryang's heart to pieces, and that's why it ends up spiraling and why Hee-ryang goes for really deep-hitting insults like saying that Yeonjo's body 'betrays' him and loves sex. He says stuff that Yeonjo told him in confidence just to hurt him because he's got nothing else and because he feels the same way about himself; he had to use his body to survive too, but in a way that left him littered in scars. I know if they can turn from each other to a single villain, they can be a strong team because they clearly understand each other so deeply.

4. HuaLian/Hua Cheng and Xie Lian from Heaven Official's Blessing: This one's hard on the mind since I've been on a kick for this series but it's more of that puzzle piece thing. Hua Cheng is only the rich, powerful man he is because Xie Lian believed in him. He was part of the reason Xie Lian went through 800 years of suffering, but Xie Lian never once thought of it that way. Never in all those books did he ever regret saving that little boy. He only wonders what happened to him. And when he finds out that that little boy was Hua Cheng all along, he isn't upset. Because all Xie Lian ever wanted in his life, the thing he lacked even as the pampered crown prince of that perfect kingdom, was a person who understood him, including his faults, and still believed in and accepted him. His parents didn't understand him, even if they loved him unconditionally. Feng Xin cared for and believed in him but could not accept his faults and ultimately left when Xie Lian told him to. Mu Qing understood his faults but was so petty that he misunderstood and twisted his intentions and fucked off when things got bad. Hua Cheng believes in Xie Lian strongly enough to not budge even when Xie Lian is at his absolute worst. He only leaves Xie Lian through no fault of his own. Because he knows Xie Lian needs someone. Just one person. To be there and believe in him, like Xie Lian was the one person to believe in him.

5. Beefleaf/He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official's Blessing: A more doomed version of Hualian. They get along like two peas in a pod. As much as He Xuan tries to act like he hates SQX, you can tell he doesn't. He keeps him safe and throws joking jabs in ways only a friend does. He Xuan is a good actor but there's no reason for him to act that was as long as he did. And even at the end of the story, when he's trying to appear as Hua Cheng, he treats SQX the same way. Because it wasn't an act. He genuinely cares for SQX, even despite everything. But he is such s resentful ghost who sits atop a mountain of bodies and still has the fucked up mindset of a hungry ghost, so he can't let it all go. He can't. He hurts SQX by killing his brother, who deeply wronged him. He feels he had to. For his family. And yet he still carries SQX back to the capital, where SQX loved to go. And drops him off safely, and without changing his fate. And keeps his distance. But SQX does not seem to hate He Xuan. He knows his brother wronged him deeply. He knows he doesn't deserve godhood, so he doesn't want it. Even before his brother is killed he was dead-set on ditching godhood when he found out the truth. His brother had to tie him to a bed and sedate him to stop him. And even after it all, he makes sure Xie Lian does not wrongly blame He Xuan for things he didn't do. He takes responsibility for the situation he ended up in. And while he's afraid, as the coward he is, when he realizes He Xuan is there again, he doesn't react badly. He wants to ask him something. But he's gone before he can. I'd like to think when the story ends, they do rekindle their friendship, and maybe become more. There's time for it. And SQX is a cultivator, and a good one. He could continue cultivating and live a long, long life, even without godhood. There's time.

6. Sylhan and Gjord from Antidote: This manhwa is still ongoing but so far I've really enjoyed their dynamic and I think they'll end up a favorite. There is a power imbalance here but ot wasn't always this way. You get glimmers of it from talk of the past and Sylhan's occasional dreams. As Lord Khallak he was a genius who was good at what he was, which is why Gjord, a king of a people that hate Khallak, has devoted himself entirely to Sylhan. He accepts Sylhan even at his worst, unconditionally, and is clearly doing his absolute best to work in the shadows to give Sylhan the life he deserves after he was wronged by people who hate them. I'm eager to see more because you can tell they were that puzzle piece kind of relationship with how Gjord tells him how they used to argue all the time over political and governmental things, and how Sylhan used to be very strong-willed. Sylhan is weak and confused now, but you can get glimmers of the past. Reminds me of wedding vows. In sickness and in health.

7. I don't know that I have a very specific 7. This probably fluctuates with time. But I'll point out the one I've liked and am still mad about being sidelined; No Name and Jihwa from Painter of the Night. They're complete opposites but their personalities seem reversed. You would think that twinky, soft-hearted son of a nobleman would be the more gentle one, but it's the nameless criminal. No Name takes all the abuse Jihwa throws at him and just does not care and responds kindly in turn; he pulls his hand away from his face when he's chewing his nails raw, he drapes him with robes when he's cold, he gives him advice, he drops by and warns Jihwa and then saves Jihwa's life. They feel to me like a curly-haired, yippy little pomeranian and a big, tired wolf. To be honest, I would have preferred a story with them as the main couple. They're far more interesting. And they act this way even when they don't actually care for each other yet, by the author's own words. There's some kind of natural pull there.

Favorite characters:

1. Casca - I could go on for ages about her character. Anyone who insults Berserk is a moron. Casca is handled phenomenally. She is a woman with trauma and people who care about her enough to try and help her through it. She is not treated as a fridge, she is a main character as much as Guts is, and her trauma is not magically solved. It's even acknowledged that Guts is centered in her trauma and it's other women that help her the most. But she still cares about that man, and appreciates both what he did for her, and what he didn't do - what he understood he could not do.

2. Sansa - A girl dealt a bad hand who doesn't have to become 'masculine' to fight back like you usually see in fiction(including ASOIAF itself with characters like Arya). I think any girl who was in a bad situation can relate to her.

3. Miquella - God-twink who is not evil no matter what Twitter tries to make you believe. He genuinely wanted to fix his mother's warcrimes and make things better for everyone. He cared too deeply and that was his downfall, as to become a god you have to remove that caring part of you. I like to think the Grace leads you to him to kill him specifically because he is the ultimate threat to the Greater Will, far more than Ranni, and could have legitimately ushered in an age of peace and prosperity.

4. Kaji - The one character who had any sense in Evangelion who is largely ignored. He cared deeply, deeply about Misato even when Misato was too fucked up mentally to accept him, and he fought for what he believed in. He isn't the kind of character to just let things be.

5. Bulma - Obsessed. She's smart but she's also stupid and she is the worst person to exist on the planet. I know she is all kinds of isms and wouls be insufferable IRL. Compells me though

6. Hange - She's been a constant even though I don't like AoT anymore and hate the ending. A genius who cares deeply about things. The anime flanderized her.

7. Shi Qingxuan - Obsessed with how unapologetically flamboyant he is while also just being the most generous and common sense person in the story behind Xie Lian. He was somehow consistently the only one with his brain attached and would call others out on their stupidity - and was always correct.

8. Yamcha - He was hot in the original, before Toriyama made a laughing stock of him. Also, I gotta say I'm obsessed with the sort of long-haired, tan-skinned, silly, muscular guy that's obsessed with love that you see in stories every now and then. Yamcha, Sokka, the main character of Golden Boy, the wolfy boy tertiary character from Inuyasha, Casey from TMNT, etc. That kind of guy.

9. Bada from Dreadful Night - I love green-haired, long-haired boys with no-nonsense personalities.

10. Gwyndolin - Man, I am obsessed with that design.