#it’s an underrepresented trope

[starmanbyler]

WRONG!!!!

WRONG!!!!!

WHERE IS WILLELMIKE????

[bharv]

I feel like nothing would destroy my brand more than this confession which is I, tumblr user mightymizora, am actually a switch and would fold for a woman like Minthara or Karlach like a fucking deckchair irl

[bolithesenate]

i am mainly fueled by spite which is bad for my writing progress in long fic bc the longer i write the more normal what i write seems to me and then i get hit by the urge to subverse my own tropes and start 7 new wips over it like an idiot

[captainfairygodmother]

Gonna write a book just so I can hit all of you with an "I forgive you" and make it onto the list of "Media where a character confessed their love only to be given an "I Forgive You' trope"

[scarlet--wiccan]

Agatha All Along, the highly anticipated follow-up to WandaVision, begins airing this week on Disney+. Now is the perfect to revisit some important information about both shows and the context in which some of Agatha's new characters are being introduced.

WandaVision primarily followed the character Wanda Maximoff and expanded on her family history by introducing her late parents as well her twin sons, who are born from magic and age rapidly over the course of the series.

In the Marvel comics source material, Wanda is part of a large, multigenerational family of Jewish and Romani characters whose stories frequently reflect the systemic violence and oppression that both communities face-- including Romani Holocaust victims, who are critically underrepresented in both education and media. In the MCU, these identities and histories are completely erased, and the characters are all played by white actors. Alternate versions of these characters also appear in the Fox X-Men films, and are similarly whitewashed.

The Romani people are a racialized minority that originated as a South Asian diaspora, and who face severe systemic oppression in Europe and North America. The modern Romani population is quite diverse, but they are not of white ethnic origin, and despite the fact that Wanda and her family have historically been drawn with white features, they are minority characters and ought to be considered as such.

Depictions of witches and witchcraft are often entwined with antisemitism and anti-Romani racism. In pop culture, witches and fortunetellers are typically portrayed as visual stereotypes of Romani women. In the real world, fortunetelling is a profession born from survival work, one which Romani families are often heavily policed and racially profiled for practicing. While Wanda usually subverts these tropes, they are often played straight elsewhere in the superhero genre, and any story about witches, especially one featuring Romani characters, needs to be critiqued in this context.

Agatha All Along introduces viewers to a new cast of characters, including Lilia Calderu, played by Patti LuPone, and the enigmatic "Teen", played by Joe Locke, who is heavily speculated to be an incarnation of Wanda's son, Billy.

In the comics, Lilia is a member of a prominent Romani family in Wanda's community. Often lauded as the "witch queen of the gypsies," Lilia embodies many racial stereotypes about Romani women. In Agatha All Along, Lilia is depicted as an older Sicilian woman, however, being portrayed as a batty fortuneteller with a tawdry psychic shop, she still embodies an offensive trope. Although Lilia is far from "good" representation, this is not an improvement-- if anything, it's even more exploitative.

Billy was raised in a Jewish American household and places a very strong emphasis on his Jewish identity, in addition to having Romani heritage. His identity as a young gay man is always presented in conjunction with this heritage, not in spite of it. Though there is a significance to Locke being a gay actor playing a gay character, his casting-- if he is indeed playing Billy-- is not authentic. White gay representation should not supersede racial inclusivity, and it is not an excuse for whitewashing or Jewish erasure.

Marvel Studios recently announced that the character Doctor Doom will be played by Robert Downey Jr., who is returning to the franchise after many years in the role of Iron Man. In the source material, Doom is also a Romani character with a very similar background to Wanda's. This identity is central to Doom's character-- although he is written to be both morally and politically challenging, the liberation of his people has always been a primary motive.

Clearly, this type of whitewashing is an ongoing pattern in the MCU franchise. Although "Teen's" identity is still unconfirmed and Lilia may, ultimately, be of little consequence, they are part of a larger problem, and Agatha All Along needs to critiqued in that context.

[cripplecharacters]

Alright, I'm just gonna bite the bullet. Worst that can happen is I make a fool of myself. I've been working on superhero stories, versions of the same universe since I was in 8th grade and what I want more than anything is to modernize superheroes, create a world where they act for all people's social good and take representation to the highest level I can think of. From your position of expertise, what can I do with the creation of disabled characters that would buck the trend, do some good, and show a good side. The non-prosthetic and non-corrected for disability rep in the genre is basically nil, I have no ideas and nothing to draw on. I guess I just wanna know what disabled audiences might like to see for once in their lives.

Hello!

Disabled superheroes are awesome. There's really few of them but the ones that we do have are often really important to us - you can look at the reactions to Sun-Spider being first introduced to the Spiderverse, back then I couldn't open my fridge without seeing that one panel where she explicitly says she has Ehlers-Danlos.

Here are a few suggestions of what I'd like to see in the superhero genre:

Superheroes with facial differences. Comics love to use us for their ugly disfigured evil villains but not much else unfortunately. I'd kill for a superman type hero who saves people with a smile and a facial difference on his face. Especially for superhero stories that are geared towards kids and teens, we just desperately need something to help with shifting the public perception of people with facial differences from "evil and ugly" to "people that can be awesome". A hero with burn scars, with Treacher Collins syndrome, Bell's palsy, neurofibromatosis... anything.

Superheroes who use disability aids (and still need them when doing their job!). Sun-Spider is an awesome example, she swings from her crutches and has a spider wheelchair. That's cool as hell. But even a less in-your-face aid would be great. A superhero flying above the city with her ankle-foot orthoses visible would go really hard. Also, superheroes who are concerned on how much these things cost and try their best to make sure they're still functional while they save the city.

Heroes with different causes of their disabilities! The vast majority of morally good disabled characters were involved in An Accident or some sort of Attack that disabled them. That's not bad or wrong at all, but I think in media is kind of oversaturated with this specific portrayal when a lot of people have progressive or congenital conditions. We need more stories that show those who were born disabled as heroes equal to those who were born abled and spent most of their lives abled. Superheroes with cerebral palsy, chromosomal disorders, congenital rubella, achondroplasia, all the disabilities that tend to get ignored despite so many people having them. Same for really common chronic illnesses, diabetes or COPD are criminally underrepresented.

Disabled superheroes that aren't saints because of their disability. This is the whole "disabled person can do no wrong" trope that appears sometimes. I'm mentioning it since superheroes are more "perfect" than most characters in other genres, so try to not make it so the disabled ones can do no wrong. Disabled people can still make mistakes that are their fault, make poor decisions, or just simply be angry sometimes.

When there's no active superhero action going on, show the normal human parts of the disabled experience. Depending on the demographic you're writing for it would be different things, but there are some fairly universal concepts like inaccessibility, microaggressions, or just boring things like the prosthetic leg no longer fitting well after the character gained some weight. If your characters are from the US, don't be afraid to mention that their insulin costs are barely affordable with their superhero pay. Show how the common everyday kind of ableism affect them when they're in civilian mode. This will make it much more authentic to disabled readers.

These are my suggestions, and I hope they are helpful. My last advice is to have multiple disabled characters, and in different roles. Maybe a character with late ALS can no longer do superhero fighting, but he can still be a wonderful parent. Maybe the character with Usher syndrome is more interested in the hero than being a hero themselves (disabled heroes in relationships!). Maybe the character with phocomelia can't be a hero yet because she's six, but she can train hard to be one when she's older. Keep it varied, have them come from different life situations and have different goals just like abled characters do.

I hope this helps!

mod Sasza

[tevanbuckley]

so ftr I normally detest the “but why can’t straight men just be friends???” line, 9/10 times it’s just no homo wearing a progressive wig, and frankly the idea that close hetero male friendships are underrepresented in fiction is a little ludicrous especially compared to explicitly queer male relationships.

at the same time though, insisting that every interaction between the newly out bi man and his canonically straight friend is proof of their impending love affair just hits a little different. by 7.05 buck and eddie couldn’t so much as express an emotion in the vicinity of one another without someone screaming that it was proof bvddie canon was only around the corner. all whilst a lot of the same ppl were deliberately reading the “opposing” canon queer relationship not only in bad faith but in ways that more often than not played into homophobic tropes.

[theexhaustedqueer]

Hey aro community, I’m a writer and I’m looking for some advice if you’ve got any. I’m aroace and I’m working on a story of mine where the main character is aroallo. I’m basing a lot of this character’s aro experiences off of my own, but obviously the experiences of aroallo folks are going differ from an aroace person, at least in some respects. I know y’all are already underrepresented as is, but are there any tropes/stereotypes to avoid, any unique experiences you wish were represented, or overall any dos/don’ts you have for writing an aroallo character? I want to do you guys justice and I don’t want to step on the toes of an already very erased community. Thank you so much for your time, and I’d appreciate any advice you’d be willing to give me <3

[lovemadethemdoit]

the accidental baby acquisition trope is severely underrepresented in hangster fandom. rectify this immediately

[novakiart]

hey! first of all, recently discovered your account and. almost binged it in one sitting. amazing quality stuff, i'm in awe! also, while i'm RAPIDLY making my way through the old content, any new recommendations on fanfiction/comics/anything at all? atp i trust you more than i trust myself. no pressure, feel free to ignore this message! tnx, byee

thank you so so much!!! also ohh wow it's like you're putting your life in my hands... a potentially catastrophic misjudgement

since you've consumed my tumblr I'm assuming you've already seen my fic recs tag, which is filled with kind strangers on the internet recommending all the good stuff, including some recs of my own! if you missed it, I also have some comic recs here

as for some recent stuff I've liked, they've all been pretty lighthearted:

another one bites by seateainthemountains is chaotic and goofy in a very comic book-y kind of way

ryanoid on the brain by firefly_ika is another goofy one but also short and sweet. peter versus bug spray

it had to be you by fancastical in which wade recognises peter every time - except when it counts. I'm just a wimp for identity fics, sorry

cross the highways of fantasy is another one by fancastical and is a special shout out because I adore the concept of peter and weasel having history (and peter and wade using that to be insufferable)

five times peter says I hate you, and one time he (finally) doesn't by bestie has a brief scene with wade wreaking havoc with photographer-on-the-job peter and that's a woefully underrepresented trope I adore

I hope you find something you like here!

[shesnake]

tbh I don't think it's fair 90% of the time to call originality into question when criticising lgbt stories, especially those centering on further underrepresented lgbt people of colour. like so what if a movie about a south korean trans woman visiting her hometown is similar to a movie about a black butch lesbian filmmaker in america that's similar to a movie about two school boys in japan that's similar to a show about a divorced persian bisexual woman in england that's similar to a show about a non-binary pakistani electrician in canada that's similar to a movie about a gay half-egyptian man living in the same city that's similar to however many movies about white gays who were lucky/privileged enough to be given chances earlier????

just because a lot of these stories follow similar plot beats doesn't mean they aren't worth telling, or watching. their "predictability" is not something that you can always chalk up to tired tropes and lazy writing. there is so much truth in the consistency, and I think it's so important for us to keep diversifying our art and putting as many variations of our shared experiences onto the screen/page. of course, I'd love to see more genre movies about lgbt people doing shit like running scams, escaping time loops, fighting zombies, solving murders at hairdressing contests etc, but I will always love a 'simple' story about another lgbt person somewhere else in the world that makes me feel like I'm not alone.

[rielzero]

Can ya'll fanfiction writers give me ascended astarion x male reader that isn't just another weird yaoi trope disaster.

I either find stuff unmarked genderwise and end up disappointed having to mentally replace words with masculine ones.

I would write some myself, but I have zero patience for writing fanfiction.

Just a bit exhausted of the "oh no I'm a slave now pls dont hurt me" rather than evil couple who flirts like they're always alone in the room. But they're not, and everyone has to deal with the fact they're extremely affectionate. All the time.

Can a gay man have some peace of mind with the queer vampire, please? I've been begging for this kind of stuff for years as underrepresented as I feel. So difficult to find this stuff. This video game was very freeing for me. To have a character straight up flirt with me when we're both men. Hahdhfkajfhdkfk

I don't even need smut. Gimme affection, I want to read about my tav being adored and tease him back lmfao. Silly vampire husbands being cute.

Ps. The vampire / groom / bride lore is very interesting and is a huge part of my headcanons.

I have so many ideas for fics if you need any.

Anyways I'm going back to working on my fancomic. My askbox is open if u have questions for me :o

Edit: when I mean unmarked genderwise, i don't mean gender neutral. I mean when a fic is intended for a female reader and this is not mentioned in the tags or at the top of the fic. Only a few paragrahps in, suddenly female gendered words are mentioned. That's the disappointment :/ cuz a lot of fics read real nicely until you have to replace words consciously.

[lurafita]

Raphael is a little shit (and wow, that's an underrepresented trope in this fandom if you ask me). He especially likes to mess with shadowhunters.

Raphael to Alec: "So, what did you get Magnus for tomorrow?" Alec: "Why, what's special about tomorrow?" Raphael: "It's the anniversary of the day he became High Warlock of Brooklyn. He might not say as much, but it's really important to him." Alec, panicked: "I need to go shopping. Underhill, you are in charge!" runs out of the institute Raphael whispers to Izzy: "There is no such anniversary." -

Raphael to Jace: "You know, since Luke is basically Clary's father, and the alpha of the biggest wolf pack around, it wouldn't hurt if you paid tribute to him." Jace: "Tribute? What are you talking about?" Raphael: "You are dating someone he claimed as his child. For werewolves, that makes you pack-adjacent. It's tradition that you offer a gift to both the alpha and the next of kin to your lover. Since Luke is both, you only have to appeal to him in that case." Jace: "Isn't that a little old fashioned? Sounds like a practice from one of those regency novels Izzy denies reading." Raphael: "Oh, because shadowhunter traditions are all up to date according to the times we live in?" Jace: "Point. What kind of gift do I even have to get?" Raphael: "I'm sure you will think of something. It doesn't need to be expensive. Just remember that it has to appeal to his wolf side more than his human side. A pack of bacon, or a raw chewing bone would do." Luke is very confused when Jace invites him to a steak dinner the following evening

[okiedoketm]

:0000 you like welcome to the demon school Iruma kun? That is such a W trait

Yes!!! I just watched it for the first time recently and I adore it so much! Every time Iruma is on screen I feel like Sullivan because I’m just yelling “THAT’S MY PRECIOUS GRANDSON HES SO CUTE!!”

This anime is criminally underrepresented on AO3 and I will likely be fixing that once I catch up on the manga ;)

Any followers out there looking for a good anime, check out Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun! The characters are amazing, the world is fun, and I can’t recommend it enough. The whole thing is like if Harry Potter was better and more interesting in terms of lore, worldbuilding, characters, and even plot. It has a lot of the same tropes but executed 300% better. Please please please watch it and then come join me in reading/writing fic for it lol.

And fellow Iruma enjoyers, feel free to reply to this post with fanfic prompts/suggestions— I want to write in this universe so bad haha.

[scarlet--wiccan]

I have a friend that is half Roma and she explained to me that Romanis are a very diverse population with different ethnics groups having completly diferent traits. How do you think is the best way to tackle that in the comics without being stereotypical ? For example we have Wanda who is dark-skin but we have Nightwing who is probably 1/4 Romanichal (which is considered "white passing" ?) But is portrayed as a dark-skin Roma is many fan arts because this is the steryotype that people associate the Roma's with.

So, I just want to clear up some of the vocabulary here-- first, Wanda and Pietro are not "dark-skinned," by an measure. In current Marvel comics, their skin color usually ranges from an olive tone to like a medium brown, at most. Second, being brown is not a "stereotype." We usually use that word to describe images or pre-conceived notions which are harmful, reductive, or simply not factual. Racial caricatures, which may include skin tone, are offensive, but there is nothing inherently wrong or harmful about drawing people of color with brown skin.

Brown-- and Black-- Romani people are actually underrepresented in American media, and have been for a very long time. This is exclusionary, and it contributes to the manufactured ignorance that American audiences have towards Romani people. The push to depict more Romani characters as visible people of color is about inclusion and authenticity. It is a net positive.

There are a lot of Romani characters in Marvel and DC comics, and most of them are not from the same countries or vitsi. So, ideally, there should be a lot of diversity in how these characters look, sound, and identify. Currently, there is almost none-- the majority of them are white-presenting, which is limiting and harmful, and most references to their heritage and upbringing conform to recognizable tropes. That's the real stereotype here. Should some of these characters have lighter skin or be white-presenting? Yes, but they have to exist alongside a variety of characters who are not.

You are correct that the Romani diaspora is very diverse. It is comprised of distinct groups with distinct histories, which each hold their own identities, speak their own dialects, etc. A lot of people don't realize this, but the Romani communities in Europe did not all arrive at the same time, or by the same route, and of course we've been settled in different parts of the continent for centuries, and in fact live all over the world. So you can imagine that there is a lot of variety when it comes to racial admixture. It's also important to understand that, within the culture, Romani identity is not determined by one's racial makeup. We exist in every part of the world and intersect with every race, and we are Rom because we are Rom, not because of what we look like. We can look like anything.

[cripplecharacters]

hi! i'm in process with my book, and i really wanna give one of the antagonists a rollator as his main aid. i'm disabled, i use a cane, but i daydream about rollator so. that's why.

the question is. what conditions in your mind lack representation? i have no problem with researching, but i lowkey don't want to just give him my experience. thank you!

anon MM

Thank you for your ask! Personally I believe every disability lacks representation, as disability shows up extremely infrequently in media and even when it does it’s often shallow and poorly represented.

One thing I’ve noticed in media is that when someone uses a mobility aid it’s often due to an old injury, amputation or muscle weakness. There’s nothing wrong with giving a character one of these, I just think it would be cool to see someone using an aid due to a limb difference, a heart or lung issue, a brain condition, or to help with fatigue or dizziness. There are a lot of reasons for someone to use an aid and I’d like to see them represented!

Here’s a short list of disabilities I’ve never seen represented that could cause someone to use a rollater:

camurati-engelmann’s disease

congenital genu recurvatum calcaneovalgus

bilateral peroneal neuropath

nail-patella syndrome

tetralogy of fallot

arthrogryposis multiplex congenita

cardiomyopathy

You don’t have to use them, but since your question can also be read as asking for specific underrepresented conditions we decided to include them :) (smiley face)

Before I finish, I noticed you said that the aid was for an antagonist. Please make sure that you aren’t falling into the disabled villain trope by giving some of the protagonist characters disabilities as well. Keep in mind your antagonist also shouldn’t be the only character with an aid or visible difference (if you choose a condition that causes visible differences).

Have a nice day!

Mod Rot