#it's great when media has canonically nonbinary characters

[annabelle--cane]

hey magheads, just quickly reminding everyone that ink5oul uses they/them pronouns. they have been spoken about in the third-person extensively with only gender neutral language. we're all going to stick to that, right? we aren't going to mysteriously start using gendered language after learning their legal name and hearing them speak for a long period of time, right?

[ingravinoveritas]

Following up on this excellent post from @nightgoodomens, it really is astonishing to see so many people in the GO fandom misunderstanding the characters/personalities of Aziraphale and Crowley. While I by no means am against people having head canons or differing interpretations, it has become frustrating to see people pushing their ideas about Aziraphale and Crowley onto others and declaring them to be official canon, leaving no room for any kind of discussion.

One of the things spoken about in the above linked post is the denigrating of Crowley, which seems to be a near constant in the fandom at this point, particularly in relation to the "apology dance" scene. (Which, to be fair, is chock full of soft!Dom Aziraphale vibes--thank you, Michael Sheen.) What seems to keep getting missed is that the entire apology dance routine is something that Aziraphale and Crowley do to each other. There is just as much of a possibility that Crowley sat there with a similarly smug look on his face and let out a guttural, snakey "Very nice" when Aziraphale did the dance in the years he listed off, because they play this game together.

Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship is one of equals, and I think this is also something people seem to not understand well. It seems as though a lot of fans who project themselves onto Crowley want to be taken care of, and so they want to believe the same of Crowley, and that the reason he wants to be taken care of is because he is broken. But someone doesn't have to be broken to want someone to take care of them. Sometimes the people who are a shambles on the outside can be dominant, just as sometimes the most buttoned up, put together people can also be submissive. And sometimes the people who look in control on the outside can feel not at all that way on the inside.

But this nuanced thinking seems to increasingly be difficult for many GO fans, particularly those who spend a great deal of time on social media, a place where people are either blindly praised or denigrated and torn down, and where such behavior greatly reinforces that binary, black-and-white mindset. We so badly want the world to be clear-cut--good vs. evil, heroes vs. bad guys--but very often that just isn't how things work. And it is exactly what Terry and Neil were trying to speak against in the GO book (and subsequently, the TV show).

The other thing that I think influences a lot of fans' perceptions about Aziraphale and Crowley is their chosen corporations (i.e., Crowley being thin and Aziraphale being plump). There is an automatic assumption that thin somehow equals more vulnerable, and for all of the emphasis that is placed on Aziraphale and Crowley being genderfluid/nonbinary/not subscribing to traditional gender roles, it's Crowley who seems to be viewed as more androgynous/femme, and is therefore looked at as inherently vulnerable. Meanwhile Aziraphale is thicker and viewed as more masculine, and therefore he is somehow inherently not vulnerable. Yet if the body types were reversed, it seems highly likely that fans' attitudes toward them would be much different.

(It also saddens me that this seems to mirror the fans' treatment of Michael and David, where Michael serves as a target for the fans' venom and is seen as less desirable/more threatening because he presents more traditionally masculine, while David is not targeted or attacked and is seen as more desirable/less threatening because he presents much more androgynously. Consequently, many fans find it easy not to sympathize with Michael, and when you can readily disregard someone's feelings, it becomes easier to see them as "less." In the case of Aziraphale and Michael, it leaves no room for either one to be vulnerable and is unfair to both of them.)

What I have always taken away from Good Omens--and from Michael and David's portrayal of Aziraphale and Crowley and how deeply they both understand these characters--is that Crowley doesn't need to be a perfect angel for Aziraphale to like him. He just needs to be a little bit of a good person. And Aziraphale doesn't need to be a perfect demon for Crowley to like him--he just needs to be enough of a bastard to be worth knowing. Neither one has to fully subscribe to the other's outlook or point of view to listen to what they have to say.

Aziraphale and Crowley meet in the middle. In the place that becomes their side, and where they take care of each other, fight with each other, and love each other. And that's more than most of us could ever ask or hope for...

[indiegowrites]

i'm asking between 28-31 in that ask game I WANNA KNOWWW

28.) What is one thing you would like to see explored more in TMNT art/fics?

APRIL O'NEIL.

So often April just gets completely sidelined—or, if she is involved, it's to a much lesser extent than the main four are. I feel like a lot of people forget that April is, for all intents and purposes—outside of 2012—their sister. She has as much a role in their family dynamic as the guys do.

Let's look at Rise, which is the iteration where she has the biggest role as an active family member IMO. In the final episode alone, she's all but verbally confirmed to be a member of the Hamato clan.

For instance, look at the usage of "it's us" here—they are a group. You either take all of them, or you get none of them.

Note the fact that her sequence in the battle against Shredder takes place in the very middle, between Raph and Mikey's sequences. Moreso, think about the way she appears from behind Raph's copy. It's a move that's VERY reminiscent of what Raph just previously did with Leo hardly 15 seconds prior.

She then has an entire battle sequence against him, which is, by the way, SO sick. This little move she and Karai do is topped only by Leo and Raph's teleport segment.

She's with the entire family (plus Casey, my beloved!!!!!!!) when they launch their final attack on him!!!!

Hell, SHE'S the one who holds the spear with Karai! You know, the guys biological great-great-great however many greats grandmother?

I could talk for HOURS about April's connection with Karai, the guys, and the Hamato clan in general, and its usage of cementing her role as their sister in all but blood—but this is only the first question and I've already rambled for too long HAHAHA.

I want more April! Outside of Rise, inside of Rise, wherever, however, I don't care. Give me more April O'Neil. Stop sidelining her. She is a Hamato, just as much as the guys are.

29.) What is one headcanon that you have?

I see a lot of transfem 2012!Leo passed around, and I genuinely do subscribe to that—but my main headcanon is that 2012!Donnie is also genderqueer (whether that be transfem, nonbinary, or whatever else). Their relationship with April and their whole dynamic takes on an entirely different light when you view it through that lense, and becomes a lot more fascinating than...whatever is going on in canon.

(Sidebar, but Rise!Leo is transmasc. That's not even a headcanon, I fully believe that to be a genuine part of his character.)

30.) What is one common headcanon that you reject?

Not really rejecting, per se, as I believe that any headcanon can be true if you do enough mental gymnastics (#transfem12!donnie WOOOO), but my own take on Rise!Leo's sexuality is a lot more ambiguous than I know a lot of people go for. He's a pretty large kin of mine, and my own sexuality is hardly cut and dry (all I know is that I am queer, and that I don't like putting labels on myself beyond that), so I perceive him kind of in the same boat HAHAHA.

I don't know if this really counts, however, as Rise Leo being queer is hardly a headcanon. That's just...canon. Subtext canon, but canon all the same LMAOOO

Also. Again. That is a trans man. Rise!Leo is transmasculine. I will die on this hill. Argue with the wall.

31.) What is one piece of TMNT canon that you dislike/ignore?

I don't know that I really have any canon that I ignore, to be honest. I think that every TMNT canon is enjoyable in its own way, and that includes the more...let's go with controversial media, like the Bayverse, or Next Mutation,

There are some comics that I just couldn't really get into, but that's more of an ADHD thing than an active dislike.

[bluedalahorse]

Complicated queer media feelings beneath the cut…

Is anyone else feeling… I dunno… complicated about the part where we have Heartstopper, Red White and Royal Blue, and likely more YRS3 promo happening all in the same month?

I find a kind of enjoyment in each of these, so on one hand, I’m happy about it! (YR is my dearest fandom love right now about which I have many deep feelings, Heartstopper brings me joy and is what I’d watch with my middle school kids if I had kids, and RWRB is more on the “fun popcorn media” side of things for me but also has a lot of government humor that I laugh at as a person living in DC who gets subjected to motorcades etc.)

And I also think it’s awesome that queer rep has come a long way since when I was in high school, and there was only kinda Will and Grace and Willow on Buffy and you barely heard about some kids watching Queer as Folk if they were lucky enough to have HBO and parents who weren’t weird about it.

And and at the same time I know I’m going to be looking at my dash like, huh, that is a lot of mlm romance kissing between photogenic cis men.

Which. Again. Is progress? But also I’m a not-skinny aroace homosocial queer who is very interested in the stories of women and nonbinary people as well, and stories about friendship as well as relationships that reject traditional definitions. I want sweet romantic moments in my stories and decent makeout scenes but I also want stories about how queerness can challenge capitalism and hegemony and how we can create new families of choice and so on.

And for some of the texts I’m talking about, the canon definitely delivers? Things feel balanced? YR explores the class system with so much skill, and makes me ask powerful questions about justice and identity and such. It also has incredible female characters, including Sara as B Plot Protagonist driving a significant part of the story. (I wish I could find more fanfic from female characters’ POVs. I wish there were just as many “can’t wait until they get their happy endgame” posts about the Sara-Felice friendship as there were about the Wilmon romance, and I adore the Wilmon romance. I just love everything else about the show alongside it, and sometimes I find myself desperately craving discussion about the other aspects of the show while not knowing how to find ways of engaging about it.)

Heartstopper—I love how a multiqueer friends group is so centered in the story. Nick and Charlie are the main characters but Charlie’s friendship with Tao matters as much in the first season as his romance with Nick. I love how the show chose to have Elle carry a significant subplot in season 1 (although they could do better with that) and I am hopeful that we’ll get an ace discovery story for Isaac in season 2 and I’m looking forward to seeing more Imogen and we get a new disabled character and we’ll also get Tara and Darcy being Tara and Darcy! I don’t really follow people for Heartstopper necessarily, because it’s not really something I analyze or write fic for, but, you know, there’s a lot of it that goes around and I have generally positive feelings about it. I’m curious about what parts of the show and what characters people will choose to focus on.

RWRB… well, it’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, but I’m sort of holding off on comments until I see what’s different between the book and the movie.

Long story short I think I’m going to feel great about these various mlm pairings individually, because they’re all distinct personalities with stories and such, but I’m going to be feeling kind of weird and overwhelmed about the attention and gif visibility and squeeing that mlm romances between photogenic cis men get in aggregate.

But also also. Maybe that’s on me for not being into something like Yellowjackets fandom or not spending more time browsing the tag for XO Kitty. So the problem could also be me. I mean who knowsss?????

[kinghijinx22]

Top 5 Canonical Pansexual Characters

So I recently made a post about why one of my all time favourite characters Mae Borowski from Night in the Woods is amazing pansexual representation and how the way her feelings are portrayed felt very accurate to my own. In that post I also said that there isn't enough pan rep, which is true and to prove my point I made a list of the only 5 undeniably canon pansexual characters I know of also 2 of them are from Steven Universe which is almost cheating to pull examples from. This is my ranking of all 5 of those characters based on how good they are as rep because I thought this would be a fun list to make and it's still Pride Month so yeah.

5. Willow Park (the Owl House)

So the Owl House is my favourite thing out of all the things mentioned on this list and Willow is my second favourite character here overall, but the way her being pan is handled is non existent in the show. There is nothing that even hints at it and Dana Terrace only announcing after the show seems disingenuous. I'm not too mad because the show already has plenty of queer rep that is fleshed out and sincere, but in the case of Willow it feels like Dana trying to retroactively cover all her basis. Besides this Willow is still a great character though, very likable, plant magic is cool and she has a great arc of finding her confidence and following her passion for sports.

4. Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

An incredibly complex character that people with no media literacy love to hate. The idea that you witness her redemption character arc in reverse and how you only have word of mouth and flashbacks to go off of because she's actually dead throughout the whole show is kind of genius. As pan rep though, her orientation is left pretty vague. Like we know that she loved Greg and that Pearl loved her but whether Rose reciprocated Pearl's feelings is never answered. It's implied that she might have been polyamorous with a bunch of people and that it included Pearl but then Rose decided that she want a monogamous relationship with Greg and that's why Pearly became jealous of him. But again this is never explored beyond very vague hints.

3. Sadie Miller (Steven Universe)

Most likeable human character from Steven Universe and easily one of the best side characters. I like her arc of really finding herself throughout the show like when she quits her excruciating job at the Big Doughnut and discovers her passion for singing. She also discovers who she likes throughout the show when she is shown crushing on guys, gals and nonbinary pals throughout the show, eventually settling down with her enby partner Shep. While Shep is only in one episode near the end of the show they are pretty cool and they are really cute with Sadie as a couple.

2. Finn McNamara (Life is Strange 2)

This one is kind of weird to me because while I do like Finn overall and can sympathise with his backstory, the fact that they lock his romance with Sean behind making some morally bad decisions does have some pretty messed up implications behind it. Because there are 2 romance options in Life is Strange 2 between a girl named Cassidy and a guy name Finn and they make the Cassidy romance the one that's easier to get because it just shows up when you choose not to rob the weed farm guys, meanwhile you have to choose to go with Finn to use Daniel's powers to help them with the heist. Now the weed farm guys are assholes and you do need the money and Finn does have some good motivations, but he's also thinking selfishly and putting Sean's brother Daniel in danger and teaching him to use his telekinesis powers to get what he wants. By locking the same sex romance option behind the morally bad decision you are tying queerness to inherent deviance which sucks. Having said that, Finn does have a sympathetic backstory of being homeless after being used and betrayed by his father in his own drug business and I do believe he does want to make life better for his friends. Also the way that him being pansexual specifically is explained in the game is a very accurate portrayal. When Sean asks him who he likes Finn replies with "I don't see gender, I see people", which shows that Finn is genderblind when it comes to his orientation which has always been a pretty good way of explaining what being pan is like. I appreciate Finn for being overt Pansexual rep, the only dude pansexual rep as well and he is a likeable character overall even if his romance path carries some problematic implications when you compare it to the same sex option with Cassidy.

1. Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

One of the best protagonists from one of my favourite games. I love how nonconforming Mae is in every sense of the word. She's openly queer and refuses to conform to societies gender expectations. She's a cool cat person who plays bass in a band with her friends. Always speaks her mind, does what she wants and is unapologetically herself. Also an incredibly nice person at heart even if her bluntness and inability to read the room sometimes leads to some not great situations. A heavily flawed but still amazing character. She also happens to be pan which is very accurately portrayed throughout the story which I wrote a post about. To summarize, she explicitly states in one scene that she doesn't care about the gender of a person but she just wants to date someone that is tough and cool and "GRRR." There's a bunch of other stuff that she says throughout the game but it's also revealed that she has an ex who is a guy named Cole and she develops intimate feelings for a girl she meets at a party known as "Bombshell." Mae is an amazing character who I deeply relate to on a lot of levels and also admire for her ability to be herself and not care what other people think.

Picture sources

Mae Borowski - yorunowaltz on Tumblr

Finn McNamara - all ya faves are gay, matey on Tumblr

Sadie Miller - editsteven on Tumblr

Rose Quartz - Your Fave Loves And Supports LGBT+ People on Tumblr

Willow Park - (1) Daily LGBTQ+ Characters on Tumblr

[dreamsoflennox]

a little piece on barbie's representation

i really liked the way that queer representation was done in barbie because it was subtle. i also like it when media goes over-the-top with its representation and being absolutely unapologetic about it, but the way that barbie had its representation there for those who needed it without making it feel so bombastic was really great for me.

as an asexual person, seeing that barbie herself was lightly aroace-coded was incredibly nice to see, especially because barbie has come to be the basis for heteronormativity in women throughout the years. they did also make some jokes about how not only barbie herself but the other barbies and kens dont have genetalia, which feels like a bit of trans representation as well. though not as strong as some of the other bits and pieces in the movie, it was really cool to see a joke about how the characters are all dolls become a genuine character device. i have also seen some lesbian shipping of barbie herself online, and while i think it would be a bad thing for them to be canonized i must admit that they are quite cute lol

heres where the sentiments about barbie's representation start to become a little more opinionated: allan and doctor barbie. ive seen a lot of people say allan is gay-coded, nonbinary-coded, etc. and that those associated with those labels see a lot in him. and i totally agree, allan ABSOLUTELY gives off those vibes. but ive also heard a lot of complaints about how he wasnt *confirmed* to be one or multiple of those things, or at least suggestions for future media about him having a boyfriend and things like that. i dont know about anyone else, but i really like how allan's identity wasnt confirmed throughout the movie. it seems like a part of his character to just exist, do his thing, and be himself. he doesnt have to be "non-binary" or "gay" or even in a relationship at all. he can just be allan.

doctor barbie is a bit more of an interesting story to me because she brings in a lot more discourse from the outside world. for those uninformed, the actor who plays doctor barbie is Hari Neff, a trans woman. obviously cool in its own right, because trans people dont often get cast in roles of big-budget movies. but what i think is really cool is that it has absolutely NOTHING to do with her character or the plot of the movie itself. she is not "trans barbie." shes a doctor. shes a barbie. shes a woman. there is no large statement to be had about it, no active push to say that trans women are women. because they already said it, just by her being there. and that is all the representation i need.

having character's identities worn on their sleeves can be awesome, and i love seeing media where those characters are actively proud about their queerness. but i specifically really liked the way barbie's representation just... existed. i could see myself in these characters *because* they are so complex, so individual, and yet they dont make it obvious every facet of their existence. which is a part of what the movie stands for i think. it isnt "blonde aroace woman" "gay nonbinary person" and "trans doctor." its barbie. its allan. these characters are people WITH identities, not identities with characters built around them. and exactly that is why i love barbie so much.

[a-lo-is]

{ ooc info + abt

BASICS

🦋 indie rp blog with the muse alois from kuroshitsuji

🦋 currently mobile locked so my blog doesnt have a fancy theme or anything , sorry . this also means that i wont be able to cut responses with xkit or anything . this ALSO also means i have to put all my info here instead of making lil bio pages lol , sorry for the long read ówò;;

🦋 im not very experienced with tumblr rp if im being honest . i used to be a part of a directory ( it wasnt kuroshit related / alois wasnt my muse ) but that closed a while ago and now im trying to make it on my own as an indie rp blog lol . if i do anything thats considered poor etiquette for indie rp blogs on tumblr , please forgive me + let me know

🦋 mun's info : 25 , latine , bi , nonbinary ( any pronouns r fine ) , neurodivergent , mentholly iww ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ . i have memory issues but i don't intentionally ghost

🦋 muse's info : alois is canonically 14 but could be aged up to fit things like a college au or something . i love AUs and am more than willing to deviate from canon

RULES

♟️ i would prefer to only rp with partners that are 21+ , and i absolutely will not rp with anyone who isnt at least 18 years old

♟️ each thread is its own universe unless otherwise specified / discussed , this blog does not operate under an overarching / blanket canon

♟️ no godmodding ( i.e dont make my character do something in ur response , not without consulting me first )

♟️ i am primarily looking to interact with canon characters ( even if we haven't interacted in canon ) , but i am willing to rp with OCs ( or even characters from other media / crossover stuff ) , if they approach me . i cant guarantee the threads will last very long / i will respond to every one , though . also , this being said . . . ⬇️⬇️⬇️

♟️ do not force relationships without consulting me , even platonic ones ( ex : dont pop in like " hey alois its me ur best friend for five years i love how we go bowling on fridays , last weeks party at ur house was great cant wait for next week's " when i dont even know ur character or have had a chance to decide if alois would vibe w them or not )

♟️ alois is , canonically , a right brat . that isnt to say he cant be sweet or friendly , but he is not guaranteed to get along or play nice with all muses . please do not expect him to act out of character so that he never has any conflict with your muse

♟️ alois is 14 . he might flirt or make a dirty joke or whatever, if it would be in character for him to do so at the moment . i get it , i was also hypersexual at a young age due to trauma . this does not mean i will rp smut scenes with him at any age younger than 18 . and even then im not saying i will necessarily rp that lol , if anything comes up in an aged up AU i think i would rather just fade to black

♟️ i dont use those little reaction images / face claims in my responses . its fine if you do , but please don't expect that of me

♟️ i do not agree to rp with anyone who is a zionist , LGBT-phobe , abelist , racist , cop lover / bootlicker , or any other sort of bigot

CHARACTER INTERACTIONS

🎀 i am open to the idea of doing other ships / dynamics , but these are the character interactions i am seeking primarily . could be romantic or platonic :

cielois ( alois +/× ciel )

alolizzie ( alois +/× elizabeth )

🎀 i am willing to explore the relationship between alois and calude , or even alois and sebastian or the other demons . but to be clear , their relationship will not be shippy ( ?? idk how else to put it ) . if any romance is involved , they could have sweet moments or nice internal monologues about eachother , but it wouldn't be healthy or all the way happy , and would be something alois would struggle with rather than being anything ~shippy~ / endgame . it could also be something completely one sided . i would be exploring their relationship , not rooting for them to get together . i like to rp things with angst and drama and dark themes just as much as i like to rp lighthearted silly stuff

🎀 ⬆️ in scenarios / universes where claude or any of the other servants is not who i am playing against , i typically play alois's household as NPCs , as needed . in this case claude and alois typically have something or other going on , which is pretty heavily implied in canon but i thought i would make that clear here . it doesnt have to come up , i suppose it wouldn't unless we get into something angsty , but it is there in the background , so you're aware

🎀 suggestions for AUs : college / roommates , summer camp , convenience store , celebrities / influencers ( which they kind of already are lol ) , tutoring , fake relationship , group therapy , house party , coworkers , etc etc etc

[ikemen-trifecta]

Okay hear me out.... MC coming out to the obey me! Brothers or dateables as Nonbinary or gender queer. It would def mean a lot!! 😋🥺���

Obey Me! MC Coming Out as Genderqueer

I love this! Especially since MC’s canonically gender-neutral and goes by they/them! I can’t believe I never thought of this before; my enby friends would be so disappointed. – Edi

Shwee! ～ Mod Astraea

　　　　　　　　　　　　💛🤍💜🖤

Belphegor

You were snuggled up with him in a fluffy blanket, just relaxing, when you felt the urge to tell him.

“Belphie?”

“Yeah?” he answered languidly.

“I’m not a boy or a girl.”

He’s too sleepy to give a proper response. “That’s why you remind me of a lamb. They’re comforting either way.”

“I’m serious! I’m nonbinary.”

“Mmkay… Good for you…”

You told him again later in case he was too sleepy to remember.

“I meant what I said,” he affirmed.

Beelzebub

You used marshmallow colours as a way to explain to him, which he was very interested in.

“Seeー if you have a strawberry one and a blueberry one, I would be either a mixture of both or neither.”

Not gonna lie; he didn’t really understand at first, but he figured you were you no matter what flavour you happened to be.

Asmodeus

You told him while he was doing your nails.

“Hon, by any chance, would your choice of colours be related to the nonbinary flag?”

You’d been hinting for a while, and he’d decided to look up what your choices meant, since it's not a typical colour combination for nail polish in the Devildom.

He’s sure to listen with great intrigue, as he loves the idea of being simultaneously feminine-yet-masculine.

He decided on the spot that you were his favourite enby.

Satan

You told him in the lounge by the fireplace as he was playing detective.

“The Great Satan has discovered…!”

He already had a hunch, since you never bothered to correct them on their usage of pronouns.

“To be honest, we didn’t know what to refer to you as, so we just went with neutral indicators, but this works out.”

Leviathan

It was actually he who’d broached the subject. You two were watching Ruri-chan when he commented that one of the characters reminded him of your gender nonconformity.

You asked him how he knew, to which he shrugged. “There are a lot of those characters in anime and manga, so I figured it must be the case for you.”

You told him not everything in media is real but that what he said made you feel really validated.

Mammon

You were playing cardsー betting on poker, to be preciseー in his room. Since neither of you had actual cash, the penalty would be to share a secret.

When you’d run out of secrets except your deepest one, you quietly said, “I’m…nonbinary.”

…

“That’s it?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno; I thought you’d have something juicier.”

You were puzzled. You explained how people in the human world would often bully you for your identity, to which Mammon exclaimed, “How dare they! That’s worse than my brothers calling me a scumbag!”

Needless to say, you two felt a kinship over this event.

Lucifer

You’d decided to tell him in the privacy of his office after one of the mini demons kept pestering you about “revealing your gender.”

He didn’t know what this was about, but he saw red when you told him.

“The nerve of that…” he hissed, about to storm out of the room to confront your annoying follower.

You grabbed his jacket sleeve and calmly told him you could handle it.

You owed no one that information, but Lucifer felt honored you trusted him enough to share it with him.

Diavolo

“Diavolo?” You caught him on his way to the Home Ec. room to get some of Barbatos’s baked treats. You asked to speak with him privately in one of the empty classrooms.

After you were done explaining, you inquired which bathroom you should use, as you didn’t want to cause any trouble for the headmaster.

“You can use eitherー Actually, I’ll have a gender-neutral one installed. How does that sound?”

You were glad he was on your side and was someone you could confide in. :)

Barbatos

He wasn’t your first choice as someone to come out to due to his scary demeanor, but you had a gut feeling that it was going to be okay. You decided to tell him casually during the cooking lesson he was giving you.

He smiled and stared at you. “I see. Thank you for confiding in me; I know it’s very hard to say something like this.”

His response was more underwhelming than you’d anticipated, which he saw and offered you a cupcake to quell your worries.

“If you are ever in need of reassurance, do not hesitate to seek me out.”

Solomon

He knew from the second you stepped into the Devildom. You had no idea how, but he “just did.”

He likes using you to play pranks (with your consent) on unsuspecting demons. Things like using a myriad of different pronouns in the same conversation when referring to you and watching people’s confused faces is his favourite.

Simeon

You were in the process of debating whether you were gender-conforming or not. He knew everything, as you felt safe speculating when he was around.

When you did determine that you were genderqueer, he was wholly supportive and would continue to be for the rest of your life.

Luke

You two were just hanging out and talking about various subjects when you decided to tell him.

“It doesn’t matter what gender you are! You’ll always be an angel in my eyes!”

’Nough said. He’s a sweetheart.

[lighthousegod]

Hello and welcome to my rant from my time on Stranger Things Steddie and Friends Twitter for the past few months.

K I'm really pissed but its fine I wrote this all before the poll thing. Now I just. Can't get rid of it. (Me at tumblr headquarters right fucking now)

Anyway. Sorry for the interruption.

The fact that I've seen several ST fans claim most people who like steddie are fetishizing them is already shitty, but what makes it even more shitty is that they focus on them being two white cis guys fetishized by "white girls".

To reference the two white cis guys first, yeah, you got me there. That really is all those two are in the show. And if you wanna talk representation, well shit! Let's do it! Out of the main cast, we have 3 people of color: Lucas, Erica, and Argyle. Lucas is much too young to be in a relationship with either of them and already has one of his own, and Erica is ten years old. Now, I love Argyle, but he was written to be a comic relief character that had no arc and never met either of them. I think that's a wasted opportunity, Eduardo is great and would've done well as a fully fleshed out character, and there is a conversation to be had about whether that character would've been received the same way Eddie was being a white guy. But the thing is, he was never even CAST as a character who could be compared with Eddie- again, his whole character was "funny stoner." THAT is fucked, and people have definitely decided to ignore that fanon. In fact, Jargyle has become a pretty well known ship! Weirdly enough, the content I've seen of them has majorly been from people who also ship steddie! It isn't as popular as Steddie, though, and I don't think that's ONLY bc of half of the ship has less lore than eddie. There definitely is at least some internal bias us white queer folks should take into account when considering what ships we focus on in media.

However, I don't think that's why it's being brought up. I don't think I read tweets from lesbians with she/her in their bios condemning all us steddie ppl who just ship it because "they're two white guys we can fetishize for being in an mlm relationship" bc they're trying to be good allies. That COMPLETELY disregards that transmasc and nonbinary people (ESPECIALLY transmasc people of color) make a BIG chunk of the steddie fandom. Crazy, it's almost like Eddie was written to represent an outcast and literally GOT TARGETED BY CHRISTIANS and a bunch of people in marginalized communities related to his struggles! Except oh, yeah, that'd exactly what happened. And yeah, okay, he's a white guy and it IS pretty shitty that they cast a white dude to represent outcasts in general, but the people talking shit are watching the SAME DAMN SHOW that has a huge fucking cast and still has minimal representation. Fuck, man, Caleb McLaughlin has faced SO MUCH hate from assholes "fans" as the only black main character. Why the hell are people using that very real issue to back their shitty arguments against a gay ship on twitter?

Again, I wanna preface that 90% of these kinds of comments come from lesbians and bisexual people with she/her or she/they in the bio. I thought yall were COOL with the gay and trans people. Yall ARE queer people. Some of them were even big Ronance or Rovickie fans! YALL. WHY IS FRIENDLY FIRE ON??

A lot of this argument is backed by claims that steddie fans ignore canon queer rep, too, and I just don't understand that.

I know. Robin is representation. I am SO HAPPY to have her, and I'm so happy that Maya pushed for it, and as a transmasc person who was not out at the time and likes girls, I felt very seen when watching her coming out scene with Steve. However, I know I don't fully understand the lesbian experience as someone who likes guys too. I know Robin means a lot to wlw fans, especially lesbians. There have been instances where steddies have co-opted that scene to make it about steddie, and that is not okay. (I've never SEEN this happen, but I've seen people talk about it. All the steddie guys on Twitter that I follow were making it pretty clear that that was not cool and pretty fuckin lesbiphobic. I agree, whoever did that, fuck them. Wlw and specifically lesbian wlw relationships have very little rep and Netflix canceled all their shows and it's super fucked.) But besides this, I actually see a LOT of steddie fans who very much love Robin's character. Most of the steddie artists and fic writers I know are also ronance, rovickie, and/or Buckingham creators. A lot of them are wlw themselves!

//I should also note that Will is canonically gay now and I'm super excited, but truly, I just don't see as much appeal in byler because they're so much younger than me now. I totally love Will as a character, and I was around the kids' ages when the first season came out, but I'm in college now. I relate a lot more to the older kids! I'm real happy to have will as mlm rep and I hope he gets his moment in s5. I just didn't latch onto him and Mike the way I did Steve and Eddie! We all got preferences and that's fine.//

All this to say, I'm just so tired of Twitter, man. I just saw a post about how many cis women who claiming its "ableism" to say they have to be around anyone who identifies as masculine, including queer men, queer mascs, cis men of color, butch lesbians, etc. And I've seen a lot of that lately too. It's just so weird to see someone who identifies as a queer woman talk shit abt a steddie fan with a hellcheer shipper.

(man I can't even get into that rn. Chrissy and Eddie shippers in ST fandom are a whole other bout of drama. I've seen steddies be pretty nasty on the issue toward bi women who ship that bc of age difference, which I never really understood because eddie has no confirmed age?? Like idk how he can be a super senior AND 17 on his missing poster but whatever, I'm not stressing abt that as long as you dont make them have a weird age gap on purpose. Hell, I even thought they were love interests at first, too. But DAMN I've seen some hellcheer people that hate steddie. None of this justification type shit either, they just say "it doesn't make sense" and "I'm scared of steddie" and "they ruined the fandom and eddies character" like bro that's literally homophobia. like oogily boogily gay people jumpscare homophobia. So I just don't talk to those guys usually.)

Whatever abt the straight ppl tho they're never gonna get my weird gay stuff. But what SUCKS is when it's other gay people saying this stuff. Like what about mlm wlw solidarity man? Why do I gotta see a rovickie stan and a hellcheer girl talking abt how steddie shippers are all misogynistic and hate women?? Esp when so many are transmasc?? It's getting weird and TERF-y and I just. I wish we were cool again. ST is abt outcasts at the end of the day, it's why we root for them and relate to them. There aren't even a lot of queer people from the 80s around because of the kinda hatred people like us face. Not to mention racism, ableism, misogyny, all of it. For centuries. The people up top all hate us. We gotta have each other's backs and twitter is making us INSANE instead. God.

Anyway I'm gonna go watch the mandalorian now later losers.

[souvenirsofsurgery]

Fiction Podcast Recommendations

Because this is the only media I consume anymore. Let’s get the big ones out of the way first!

1. Welcome to Night Vale

The OG. This was the first podcast I really got into and I am very sentimental about it. It’s the funniest and most uplifting piece of horror media I’ve ever found, and I love it for that. And I’m obsessed with the weird worldbuilding, the atmosphere is absolutely perfect. Also, gay main character, which I pretty much require at this point. 

It can take a minute to get into if you really want some plot, but I promise some plot is coming.

2. The Magnus Archives

This is a great horror anthology that also ends up having a really interesting overarching plot. I’m warning you right off that bat that it is a tragedy, though, and we’re all anticipating being absolutely crushed when it ends. But! Canonically biromantic asexual main character, which we love.

Similar to Welcome to Night Vale, you’re going to have to be a little patient if you really wanna get to that plot, but it’ll get there. 

3. The Adventure Zone

One of my absolute favorites. It’s a D&D podcast, but no D&D knowledge is required to enjoy it (I didn’t play D&D when I first started listening). It’s funny and endearing, and also has made me sob so hard that my family thought something was wrong with me. I still think about the ending of the Balance arc, because I’ve never found an ending in any other piece of media that is so emotional and satisfying. 

And as far as representation goes, the first arc has a gay main character, second arc has a bi woman main character, and third arc has a main character who is technically asexual, although that hasn’t been confirmed in canon at this point. Also plenty of LGBTQ+ side characters, including a trans woman (Lup I have a crush on you <3) in the first arc and a nonbinary person in the second. 

4. The Penumbra Podcast

Welcome to the queerest thing I have ever seen in my life. Just straight up no cishets around, it’s beautiful. 

This one actually has two separate storylines. The Juno Steel one is about a private eye on Mars, and the Second Citadel is sort of an ensemble story in a fantasy setting, and I would highly recommend both of them. Like would you like to hear a noir inspired story set in space with a nonbinary bisexual detective protagonist and a homme fatale criminal love interest? You absolutely would. Or would you like to hear about a knight who is sworn to hunt monsters having an existential crisis because he’s having some feelings about a monster he just had a homoerotic sword fight with? Obviously you would. Listen to this podcast.

Anyway! Let’s get into some of the smaller podcasts! 

5. Death by Dying

This one is so much fun. Love the weird vibes of this creepy little town. We’ve got an obituary writer who just doesn’t even seem to realize how bizarre all the deaths he’s writing about are, I’m obsessed with it. As soon as he started reading out the condolences and they were just in-universe ads I lost it, that’s so funny to me and I immediately knew I was going to love this podcast. 

6. Kaleidotrope 

Fanfiction gays, this one is for you. Here is a college that is said to be magic, where everyone will find their romantic trope and fall in love. The main characters are running a college radio show together, with one of them believing in this magic absolutely and the other being very skeptical. Will they fall in love? :)))))))

This one is so cheesy, and it’s very small so the audio is pretty scuffed, but it’s so sweet and I love it. Both of the main characters are queer and one of them is nonbinary.

7. Brimstone Valley Mall

I’m obsessed with this podcast! Nobody is talking about it and I’m obsessed with it! It’s demons working in a mall in the 90s, who also have a band together. Wtf I love that. One of the main characters is gay, and another one is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. Please listen to this podcast, I want it to get more popular so badly. 

8. The Strange Case of Starship Iris

This one is so sweet and I love it so much. Gay space criminals? That’s everything I love. It also just has so much heart, I want to cry. There’s a bisexual woman main character, another WLW main character, a trans man main character, and a nonbinary main character (who, yes, is an alien, but I will let it slide because there is also a nonbinary human side character). 

9. Alice Isn’t Dead

The vibes are impeccable. I listened to a lot of this one while I was on a road trip by myself in rural America, and that is the ideal experience. This is about a woman trucking across America looking for her missing wife. It’s so quietly creepy, and I’ve got a thing for weird Americana. And there are lesbians too, so. 

Also, the main character dealing with her anxiety was something that was actually really important to me. I really liked hearing about someone who didn’t “cure” her mental health problems, but grew and learned to manage them better. It was just a very important story to me, and I still think about her all the time.

10. CARAVAN

Every single person involved with making this needs to go to horny jail. I am so serious. You will hear an extended conversation about how, like all of these characters are monster fuckers, and also very audibly hear two characters have sex. So, you know, you’ve been warned.

But, all that aside, this one is about a man who accidentally ends up in this weird hell world, and has to try to figure out how to get back home. It’s really fun, but also gets pretty heavy towards the end. Definitely read the content warnings ahead of time. 

This one’s also queer, obviously, with a bisexual man as the main character and some queer side characters (Including Virgil who I do have a crush on. The morally dubious enbies just get me.)

[frigidfries]

how about chara for the ask game!!

chara. chara chara chara

favorite thing about them:

so. you see one of my FAVORITE tropes in media is that the narrator was a character all along. partially because- especially when i was younger- i would pay super close attention to narration and choices and diction in a game to glean anything like a canon personality to a silent protagonist. and the narrator being a person in the story itself was basically a 'you were right to pay attention! it is that deep!' to me. and my fondness for this predates undertale!

i know narrachara isnt canon-canon, but... man! if it is, then chara is easily one of the most complex characters in undertale by the fact they have the most "screentime"(?) to work with!

it means they're funny and bitingly sarcastic when they want to be, it means they have opinions on anime debates, that they like plants and fun facts, they're impatient, they have a deep sense of right and wrong, they think a heroine who can save the underground is the coolest thing ever, they know some DEEP CUT old video game references, they like obscure japanese novels about tea and kitchens and loss...

its just so cool to me that a character that barely exists in the narrative- only known through second hand stories and footage, even less than we know about asriel- is revealed to be the narrative. and so many emotional beats get to hit so much harder. its just... a nice idea, you know? that we get to meet something like the real them at all.

least favorite thing about them:

ah hmmm. hm. i have reached the point of "they obviously have some pretty severe issues i don't think were helped by the unknowing, well-intentioned pressure of their loved ones and the entire underground as one of the two only 'hopes' of an entire group of people, and they did and can do some really jacked up things, but also think about them as a catholic 12 year old and everything makes sense."

tldr; i love chara discussions but i think we can all move past totally black or white reads of them because that doesn't fit in at all with the themes and style of toby's writing. utdr simply doesn't have pure evil or perfect good

favorite line:

brotp:

sighs. sighs. i talked about them and asriel in his post but. augh. they were so important to each other. making edgy ocs- chara remembered the name of every single attack. they gagged over their parents PDA together. they... man. man. objectively not great for each other, but i think they desperately needed each other in their lives.

frisk and chara are also. just! man!!!! they get impatient over repeated checking but its impossible for me to not read so much of it as... painfully fond. it's you! you won! hey, you're not made of money. that's called a 'water sausage'. ...there's a lot there, i think.

otp/notp:

same digs with asriel i dont ship them with anyone, really!

random headcanon:

they knew dr. gaster when they were both alive/whole and they liked that he treated them as a Peer. An Intellectual Equal. (read: dr. gaster did actually treat them like a child he just did it in a way that made chara feel respected lol)

golden flowers are weeds. they choke out any garden they're in and are incredibly tenacious. chara likes them so much because have spent hours wistfully relating to them while looking out of their original city's library windows

fell in 2012 and has all the baggage and trappings of being a 11-12 y/o closeted nonbinary kid who was too online in 2012

songs i associate with them:

some excerpts from the playlist i made for them when i was 16

The Scary Jokes - Catabolic Seed

My Chemical Romance - The End

Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things

..... Panic! At the Disco - The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is The Press Coverage

favorite image:

of course, offical and my own LMAO

[kinghijinx22]

Top 5 Canonical Pansexual Characters

So I recently made a post about why one of my all time favourite characters Mae Borowski from Night in the Woods is amazing pansexual representation and how the way her feelings are portrayed felt very accurate to my own. In that post I also said that there isn't enough pan rep, which is true and to prove my point I made a list of the only 5 undeniably canon pansexual characters I know of also 2 of them are from Steven Universe which is almost cheating to pull examples from. This is my ranking of all 5 of those characters based on how good they are as rep because I thought this would be a fun list to make and it's still Pride Month so yeah.

5. Willow Park (the Owl House)

So the Owl House is my favourite thing out of all the things mentioned on this list and Willow is my second favourite character here overall, but the way her being pan is handled is non existent in the show. There is nothing that even hints at it and Dana Terrace only announcing after the show seems disingenuous. I'm not too mad because the show already has plenty of queer rep that is fleshed out and sincere, but in the case of Willow it feels like Dana trying to retroactively cover all her basis. Besides this Willow is still a great character though, very likable, plant magic is cool and she has a great arc of finding her confidence and following her passion for sports.

4. Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

An incredibly complex character that people with no media literacy love to hate. The idea that you witness her redemption character arc in reverse and how you only have word of mouth and flashbacks to go off of because she's actually dead throughout the whole show is kind of genius. As pan rep though, her orientation is left pretty vague. Like we know that she loved Greg and that Pearl loved her but whether Rose reciprocated Pearl's feelings is never answered. It's implied that she might have been polyamorous with a bunch of people and that it included Pearl but then Rose decided that she want a monogamous relationship with Greg and that's why Pearly became jealous of him. But again this is never explored beyond very vague hints.

3. Sadie Miller (Steven Universe)

Most likeable human character from Steven Universe and easily one of the best side characters. I like her arc of really finding herself throughout the show like when she quits her excruciating job at the Big Doughnut and discovers her passion for singing. She also discovers who she likes throughout the show when she is shown crushing on guys, gals and nonbinary pals throughout the show, eventually settling down with her enby partner Shep. While Shep is only in one episode near the end of the show they are pretty cool and they are really cute with Sadie as a couple.

2. Finn McNamara (Life is Strange 2)

This one is kind of weird to me because while I do like Finn overall and can sympathise with his backstory, the fact that they lock his romance with Sean behind making some morally bad decisions does have some pretty messed up implications behind it. Because there are 2 romance options in Life is Strange 2 between a girl named Cassidy and a guy name Finn and they make the Cassidy romance the one that's easier to get because it just shows up when you choose not to rob the weed farm guys, meanwhile you have to choose to go with Finn to use Daniel's powers to help them with the heist. Now the weed farm guys are assholes and you do need the money and Finn does have some good motivations, but he's also thinking selfishly and putting Sean's brother Daniel in danger and teaching him to use his telekinesis powers to get what he wants. By locking the same sex romance option behind the morally bad decision you are tying queerness to inherent deviance which sucks. Having said that, Finn does have a sympathetic backstory of being homeless after being used and betrayed by his father in his own drug business and I do believe he does want to make life better for his friends. Also the way that him being pansexual specifically is explained in the game is a very accurate portrayal. When Sean asks him who he likes Finn replies with "I don't see gender, I see people", which shows that Finn is genderblind when it comes to his orientation which has always been a pretty good way of explaining what being pan is like. I appreciate Finn for being overt Pansexual rep, the only dude pansexual rep as well and he is a likeable character overall even if his romance path carries some problematic implications when you compare it to the same sex option with Cassidy.

Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

One of the best protagonists from one of my favourite games. I love how nonconforming Mae is in every sense of the word. She's openly queer and refuses to conform to societies gender expectations. She's a cool cat person who plays bass in a band with her friends. Always speaks her mind, does what she wants and is unapologetically herself. Also an incredibly nice person at heart even if her bluntness and inability to read the room sometimes leads to some not great situations. A heavily flawed but still amazing character. She also happens to be pan which is very accurately portrayed throughout the story which I wrote a post about. To summarize, she explicitly states in one scene that she doesn't care about the gender of a person but she just wants to date someone that is tough and cool and "GRRR." There's a bunch of other stuff that she says throughout the game but it's also revealed that she has an ex who is a guy named Cole and she develops intimate feelings for a girl she meets at a party known as "Bombshell." Mae is an amazing character who I deeply relate to on a lot of levels and also admire for her ability to be herself and not care what other people think.

Reposting this to fight back against Tumblr's homophobic attack on my account that got my last post labelled as "mature." You are not going to outlaw my existence. Pansexual people exist, we derserve to exist just as much as the straights and we will fight back against your fascist regime. I will repost this as many times as I need to show them that their genocide tactics will not succeed.

21/07/2023 edit: Tumblr finally did the right thing and removed the Mature label from the original post but I'm still keeping this up as a reminder that they did it in the first place and that even this site has issues with trying to erase the existence of queer people. We don't deserve to be hidden and labelled as not safe for public eyes.

Picture sources

Mae Borowski - yorunowaltz on Tumblr

Finn McNamara - all ya faves are gay, matey on Tumblr

Sadie Miller - editsteven on Tumblr

Rose Quartz - Your Fave Loves And Supports LGBT+ People on Tumblr

Willow Park - (1) Daily LGBTQ+ Characters on Tumblr

[peanutbutterex]

tag 9 people you want to know better!

I didn't realize tumbr did this kind of thing too! I haven't done one of these since I was more active on DeviantArt!

Thanks to @givefangapuppy for the tag!

3 ships of all time:

I have so many ships, but I guess the ones that have been most significant and long lasting to me have been...

Zuko/Katara: I remember when Zuko became my favorite character alongside Katara, and I found fan art of them paired together. I thought it was such a great ship that I started liking it more than Kataang, and now that I am older and understand the nuances of it more, I am even more of a fan of them

Usagi/Rei (Sailor Moon/Sailor Mars): Now I have on occasion found the two of them to be pretty annoying, and my first actual ship in Sailor Moon was Makoto/Ami, or Sailor Jupiter/Sailor Mercury. However, after a while there was just something very compelling about Usagi/Rei and the drama of it, how they are at each other's throats like a married couple but still deeply care about each other. Also, Tuxedo Mask never did anything for me as a character, and while I like Seiya, I will always think the true one for Usagi is Rei.

Ed/Stede: My god this one was pretty groundbreaking. My one friend asked our friend group one day in the middle of finals week to watch ofmd with her, calling it the gay pirate show. I thought that she called it that because pirates are often pretty fruity, and I thought it was just going to have a gay aesthetic. Like many others, I thought once Lucius got his kiss from Black Pete and Jim was out as nonbinary that would be it. I had never seen some of the famous queerbait media, but I had been friends with people who had, so I was not expecting Ed/Stede to become canon even though I shipped it. When they kissed I screamed and after I finished the show I went straight to reading fanfiction. Never has a ship caused my mind to be as overtaken as it was from Ed/Stede becoming canon. So yeah, probably one of the most significant ships I've ever shipped

First Ever Ship:

Gonna be honest, it is probably Zutara. My first ships were either Zutara or Torklenz (Peter Tork/Micky Dolenz of the Monkees), but given that I was into ATLA before The Monkees it is probably Zutara.

Last Song:

Given that it was the last song I played in Project Sekai, probably Becoming Potatoes by Neru (the vocaloid version, of course. I am a vocaloid fan first and a project sekai fan second)

Last Film:

I can't remember, but it might have been Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter? I did not finish it because it was a family event to watch this so bad it's good movie, and we have to all finish it together.

Currently Reading:

here is the thing, I don't read books for fun much anymore, especially since I am a college student, but I started reading a witchy book that I am not sure where I put it rn.

Currently Watching:

well, if by watching you mean a list of the shows I want to finish but have not had the energy to, I will give a short but incomplete list:

Harley Quinn

Reservation Dogs

Tokyo Mew Mew

Revolutionary Girl Utena (though that is because I want to finish the manga before I finish the anime).

Currently Consuming:

Water. Hydrate don't diedrate

Currently Craving:

Sleep, which I will get after posting this, and for my major to not require a thesis, which will not happen.

Tagging:

only if you all want to! @midnightwings-pirates @marquise-de-clarabas @blakbonnet @dolenz-harrison-girl @plaudiusplants @bisghetti-o @missbananarose (yes you are like one of my closest friends but I am curious about your answers) @d0-n0t-p3rc3iv3-m3 @gaypir8bois69 @mycroftpedvia

[rantrambles]

Ever get so upset you make a Tumblr account to vent?

I haven’t even listened to The Penumbra Podcast yet but it’s on my list because it’s insanely popular and the cosplays I’ve seen are hot as hell (A+ to all the cosplayers I’ve seen you’ve done great work). Now, with the recent news surrounding the podcast, I’ll wait till it’s done if I ever do get into it. I’m Asian and part of the LGBT community but I’m not nonbinary so I can’t say much about the trans represention in the art but I wanted to add my two cents on the matter as a person of color and someone examining the situation from the outside. Also, before I get deeply into it, I’m not the only person of color with opinions on this matter so if people have their own frustrations and criticism with the racism in The Penumbra Podcast and/or the new artist they hired, definitely listen to them too. These are my own personal opinions, and I’m sure other people will disagree and that’s fine. We’re all going to have different views on this so bear that in mind. Also, feel free to correct me or add anything if I’ve missed some information. Here’s a great breakdown of the whole situation for those that don’t know what happened. Finally, I was very hesitant to post this, but I felt it was important because I make a statement at the end on how race should be presented in a podcast format so if you are interested in making a podcast and want to have a diverse range of characters, please skip to the end to read those thoughts.

I’ll start off by saying, I’m not even that upset with the new artist that The Penumbra Podcast hired. I know that statement alone is controversial but I don't personally know them, and I’m not going to judge who they are as a person by a few pieces of art they’ve made. They are the least of the problems that I have here. Since the announcement and the backlash, I’ve been scrolling through the artist’s Instagram account and I can tell why people find the designs offensive, but I’m also comparing the designs to the artist’s other work, and I honestly believe that’s just their style. They’ve exaggerated the features of just about every character they’ve made, regardless of race or gender. From what I’ve seen the sharp angles and overly round curves in the anatomy that make some of the character’s features more jarring are how they prefer to draw. I’m sure they’re capable of drawing more realistic proportions but for the most part they’re art aims to call attention, be bold, and create distinguished features. Not inherently a bad thing on its own.

And yeah I’d understand the issue if this were a scenario where the artist heard how these characters acted in the podcast and thought “hey, obviously this character is a black woman because they are super strong and therefore must have big muscles, no other woman could look like that” or “hey, this character has to be Asian because they act super seductive sometimes better draw them as such.” But from my understanding the race was already decided by previous official artists and a general description of the characters were already generated by the audience, similar to how The Magnus Archives leaned towards drawing scrawny Jon with black, greying hair and dark skin. The new artists couldn’t really change those features even if those features aren’t described in canon because a depiction that strayed too far from popular fandom interpretation would make the character’s unrecognizable to the fanbase. 

I think the reason this became such a big issue for most people is because the new Penumbra artist used their exaggerated art style when making these characters and people of color and nonbinary folks already see themselves drawn as these exaggerated caricatures all the time (with those images being used to further discriminate against them). I’m sure the artist didn’t mean for their art to be offensive, but that of course doesn’t change how it was received. 

According to some, the poses and expressions the artists chose did not fully represent the characters entirely and only served to further perpetuate harmful stereotypes, and I’ll have to take their word for it because I still haven’t listened to the podcast so I have no idea how the characters act. But again much of the criticism is based on the one line-up and doing a deeper dive into the artist’s work I managed to find artwork that was much less offensive. Here some art where Vespa is depicted in a non-violent pose and one where Vespa is in a threatening pose but not an overly violent one. Here is Peter drawn in a non-seductive pose. Hopefully, the artist truly does keep the criticisms in mind as they work on the new official art. I’m just not the type of person that wants to get the pitchforks out and cause this particular person to lose a job they seemed really excited about over their old character line-up, especially when that person is also part of a marginalized group.

Again, that’s just my opinion on that particular artist. Those who are offended by their art are still valid in how they feel, and the artist should absolutely take their criticism to heart to better how they represent the characters.

What I’m more upset about is that I think The Penumbra Podcast should never have released official art for their characters in the first place and that’s their mistake that they refuse to own up about. They have made it clear that the story was never meant to portray characters of colors, a fact emphasized by the fact they hired mostly white actors from the start. They only started releasing art of the characters to get a profit. And the thing is they know what they did was wrong. All I had to do was search Penumbra Podcast racism and there is a note on their website saying that they archived some old official art.

“We have discontinued all Penumbra merchandise that uses the original character designs, and in the meantime, any profits on the sales of that merchandise will go to the For The Gworls project. We also realize that the depiction of these characters as POC, while not appropriate for us to use in our marketing and merchandise, has nonetheless become personally meaningful to many POC listeners. For that reason, and because we do not wish to distance ourselves from our mistake, we are keeping these images on our website for archival purposes. Though we do want to make it clear that many of the main/featured voice actors are white and that we did not write the characters to represent any specific POC experience, you are, as always, free to imagine these characters in any way that you like.”

I went to their shop and they still sell posters and pins with the character’s faces on them, but they are donating it to a good cause so hopefully that stays the same. However, I still find it a little uncomfortable that they are still selling character merch and have plans to continue selling character merch. They have no right to dissuade the fans that already found representation in the characters, but they also have no right to profit off the representation that was built, regardless if they made the story. 

Let’s compare this to another piece of popular media. I love Avatar the Last Airbender and, I liked the ATLA voice actors just fine but there should have been more people of color doing voice acting behind the screen too. The voice actors for that show were mainly white too, however, the creators knew that they would be making poc characters. That’s what makes the difference. Did they still choose to go with mostly white voice actors? Yes. Could they have done better and pay more people of color? Also yes. But I’m not as furious at them because they did their research on the cultures they were basing the ATLA world off of and intentionally gave us a show where Asians could see characters that looked like them represented on the screen. The Penumbra Podcast did not do any of that. Again, they openly admitted that it was never their intention to make the character’s people of color when they made the podcast so that goes to show no research was made to properly represent specific cultures. The color of the character’s skin in their official designs therefore became more of aesthetic choice rather than representation, and it wasn’t even their aesthetic choice to begin with!

Race isn’t a color you can just throw onto the character because you feel like it. So I want this to be a lesson to anyone that wants to make a podcast: if you want to include poc characters please do some research into the cultures you plan to represent the way you would with any other form of media. Just because the audience can’t see the characters and just because it’s harder to smoothly introduce the character’s appearance doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be lazy on how you present the characters. Do research before you start writing the first episode and take the time to hire poc actors. Hiring poc actors is actually the least that can be done to show representation. Also, since the audience cannot visually see the race of the characters on a podcast and it can’t typically be described the way you would in a book, you’ll have to be creative. It’s not my job to say how, but my suggestions would be, before the fans come up with their own image of the character, you need to establish race in the first few episodes or release character profiles on a website so that the fans know you canonically intended the characters to be of a certain race even if you aren’t able to mention it in the actual podcast. If you are unwilling to do any of these then the best route is to avoid stating race at all and allow the audience to build their own representation into your form of media. However, once this happens, you are not allowed to profit off popular fan interpretations. You lose all rights to create official art or images of the characters. You cannot use “we have a diverse cast of characters” when you market your story. It doesn’t matter whether you created the content or not, you did not create the representation for those minority groups.

It’s one thing for fans to build their own inclusivity into a form of art like a podcast, but it’s another thing for the creators who never worked to make the representation happen to take advantage of the representation that the listeners built for themselves. Thank you for attending my TedTalk.

[angeloncewas]

Stuff I love about the Dream SMP

(I wanted to spread some fluff <3 feel free to add on!)

The writing! It's just so damn good. I don't even like Minecraft, but they managed to hook me with their skills. Yeah, there's flubs and missteps and all, but we're still going back and noticing subtle details and foreshadowing from past arcs. For all the jokes about poor planning and stuff, they've really put a lot of time and effort into this storyline thing. And there's something for everyone. Don't like Tommy's disc saga? Go back and watch L'manberg get built, or check out the supernatural and ominous egg, or watch c!Jack Manifold struggle with being on the sidelines. There is no real main character and so there's plenty to love no matter what

Representation! Say what you will about this or that, gaming is notoriously a cishet, homophobic space. Not only does the SMP have actual people who are LGBT on it (Ant, Niki, Puffy, Eret, Karl) but there are plenty of canon relationships that exist outside of the "girl loves guy haha" of it all. The creators are also willing to learn more about the community, like Jack Manifold asking chat about what it means to be nonbinary (I didn't see what happened, but I heard good things)

The content creators! I know it's a bit of a hot topic right now, but I like Dream a lot. The guy is super passionate about everything he does and he has the sort of confidence that I've always admired in people. Tommy is incredibly charismatic and self-aware, Ranboo is a riot and also so beyond caring (he raised thousands upon thousands for the Trevor Project, c'mon), and there's so many more people who I just feel deserve their success so much

The relationships! The Dream Team are long-time online friends who managed to rise to success together and live out their dreams. Tommy and Wilbur met through something Tommy scammed his way onto and now they're "like brothers" or at least best friends. Ranboo was just a fan and now he's such close friends with Tubbo that he plans to fly across the ocean to meet him as soon as possible. We love them, but they also love each other and it's so cool to see

The way it helps people grow! Tubbo was streaming for a long time before he garnered the level of success he has now, and the dsmp has become a place that can do that for all sorts of people. Hannah and Foolish are both super fun and talented and I probably never would've found them if not for their addition. Heck even Wilbur - he's one of my favorite artists, but I never would've found his music if not for his writing during the first season and its subsequent success

The community! This is one of the most respectful fanbases I've been in - not only do people make an effort to keep track of cc's boundaries, but we by and large abide by their wishes, even when unorthodox. I've met such kind people here and it's amazing how much content comes out of our side of things too, from fic to fanart to music. It feels really feels like being a part of something

Obviously criticisms of the dsmp are welcome and warranted - you can enjoy media and still point out its flaws, you can love a person and still see when they've done something wrong - but I think it's also okay to step back and look at the thing we're all here for and talk about what's great about it. Because it is great. It's so damn cool to be seeing an entire story unfold live and sometimes even have a part in it, big or small.

[alivehouse]

just wondering why you dislike Neil gaiman so much?? not trying to criticize or defend him, just curious

gghhhhh

(this is all just going to be based on good omens related stuff bc i havent really willingly interacted with any other work of his since i was like 12 he is not a great writer imo)

ok before i get into why specifically the way he uses his socials annoys me so much i just want to mention that good omens (tv show) has a serious problem with treating its characters of color poorly/as disposable (which this post goes into) and as far as i know neil has never so much as acknowledged this let alone apologize for it so theres that

but as for why i hate his social media presence specifically so much i just think the way he interacts with his fanbase is annoying & i dont want to use the term 'gaslighting' for something this stupid but i dont even know how else to describe his habit of like. pretending he wrote aziraphale and crowley in a relationship for the sake of clout?

^ he used to regularly regularly say condescending no homo shit like this but then when he realized he could get attention for pretending he wrote queer characters he pulled a 180 and started going 'ohhhh i DID write them in a relationship actually and also trans and also nonbinary i cant believe you didnt GET it just because its SUBTLE im sorry half assed vaguely subtextual scene #5 was not enough for you stupid fa- i mean people'

and he does this shit constantlyyyy and gets no flack for it. in fact a lot of his fanbase encourages it even bc were still stuck on begging for word of god scraps from rich straight men instead of engaging with work made by actual queer people i guess. (ALSO THIS TWEET SPECIFICALLY IS REALLY FUNNY bc like a month later he lied about there being a secret handholding scene in the show to send people on a wild goose chase zooming in on shit trying to find anything just to give him more streams i guess i dont know i think it was a stupid thing to even fall for honestly but it still strikes me as kind of cruel)

i mentioned this in tags before & idk if he still does this but he used to go look up his own name on here to find people talking negatively about him so he could reblog it and get them dogpiled which is why you see people talking negatively about him calling him 'neilman' so much instead of his actual searchable name. literal full grown man picking fights with random people on here bc he knows hell win since hes a famous author and will get backed up no matter what

and ok this is edging into fandom circlejerking (i think hes only said this one a few times but his fanbase brings it up constantly to shield him from any criticisms) so i wont go into this as much as i could but theres this Thing hell do where he says they cant be gay bc they technically arent men bc they arent humans (based on a bit in the book where they feel the need to specify that aziraphale is NOT ACTUALLY GAY after continuously subjecting him to homophobic language/aggression) and people will bend over backwards trying to interpret this as meaning they are canon nonbinary and Epic Trans Rep and hell vaguely encourage this instead of like acknowledging the extended man-in-a-dress evil nanny bit in the show and pointing out that it was fucked up? & honestly the whole undertone of that is like 'this character might go out of their way to look like and dress like and act like and refer to himself as a man but he cant REALLY be a man because he wasnt Created That Way' like how the fuck am i supposed to be treating this as a trans positive read of the situation lmao. not to mention the 'inhuman = nonbinary,' 'nonbinary = CANT be gay!!! there are no gay nonbinary people i guess' legwork going on here going on here i dont know its a whole mess

PLUS i just think its funny that hes said making characters gay would be disrespectful to his deceased cowriter but pulling an entire second out of his ass for that sweet amazon money apparently isnt lmao

and to finish this off just for fun heres him at the start of the pandemic when there was a crazy high rising death toll making it about his fucking book, + him answering another ask in response to that AFTER he had deleted the original post, to make the person asking him look like they were attacking him for no reason: