#its less about the dick itself and more the logistics of taking care of it

[tellmetoleave96]

Sorry! Got a bit too honest with my feelings on that one. Seriously though, I know myself and I know the more I try to be cis, the more I am reminded I am trans. Sorry for calling it a fake cock- should've made it more obvious that I meant more it would feel fake to me from my perspective as something on my body, and that it would feel "fake" in the sense that it would feel like I'm trying way too hard to make my body into something it can never be. If that makes sense. I know it's something deeply personal for every trans guy, and the fact that I view it this way could still be seen as offensive or transphobic, but I want to make it clear I'm talking about myself and no one else. I'm not going to go to a trans guy who's had bottom surgery and insist it's not real. Still, sorry for any offense I caused.

The "poor results" is just in reference to what I've seen on the ftm bottom surgery subreddit, in which I've seen cases where guys literally had leaky dicks full of holes in spots where the surgeon messed up. Just made me think "yikes!" and essentially turned me away from phallo forever. And I know it's purely subjective to view phallo scars this way, but I'm never going to want an enormous scar on my forearm or thigh or wherever the skin gets pulled from. Honestly it's all personal fears and issues and icks and I could've made that more clear, so sorry about that.

if you hate nonop trans people celebrating themselves so much go find some truscum to hang out with. nonop trans people who've been viciously harassed, misgendered and excluded by other trans people for decades don't owe you shit. create your own content or die mad about it

[dreadnought-dear-captain]

‘Til the End of the Line (or Not) OR: See? We TOLD You “No Homo.” Love, Markus and McFeely

*****WARNING: 99.9% SALT!! Contains spoilers for Avengers Endgame!!****

I guess this is part two of my personal processing of Endgame. @pitchforkcentral86 was not satisfied by my timey-wimey Endgame post, which centered on Steve’s choice to go back in time to be with Peggy and the implications of that choice. She remarked that yeah, it’s great that Steve might not be a total piece of crap, Pym particles, yada yada, whatever, but it still didn’t make her feel any less despair over this ending.

The source of her agony: Steve and Bucky’s relationship and its utter lack of satisfying resolution. So I shall address that now, because I think I feel worse about that than anything, and I can’t explain it away with Pym particles.

Anyone who has any investment at all in the relationship between Bucky and Steve — whether you are a Stucky person or whether you view them as platonic but deeply connected best friends — has probably had to spend the last two movies scraping around the floor, searching for crumbs, signs, any hints that these two people care about each other. We have been begging the Russos, the screenwriters Markus and McFeely, anyone who would listen, for anything to suggest that they are even on the barest of speaking terms, let alone that they have the intensity of relationship that the MCU spent 3+ movies explicitly convincing us that they have. I’ll even come out and say that although I ship Stucky in fandom and fic hardcore, I am not an MCU canon Stucky person per se. I’m 100% fine if the MCU wants to treat this as a deep, fraternal friendship. In fact, I see some benefits to this interpretation. How wonderful if men could love each other so deeply and have it NOT be sexual or romantic. But I’m also 100% fine with people interpreting this as romantic love, and there were times throughout this franchise where the actors, various parties in production, and Marvel itself has been agnostic on the subject, if not encouraging of gay interpretations of their relationship. Let it be what you want, fans have been told. Or just flat out post a pic of Steve and Bucky on #National Boyfriend Day like Civil War comic writer Mark Millar. Sure. At times, it almost felt safe to ship them. As soon as Civil War drew to a close, however, it started becoming... inconvenient for Bucky and Steve to be together. Steve needs to go to the Raft. Bucky needs to go into cryo. Steve needs to become Nomad and go secret avenging. Bucky needs to do his Vibranium Brain Magic (TM)/goat herding complex PTSD recovery program. Side note: Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) is my provisional diagnosis based on virtually nothing, because Bucky’s character has gotten so little substantive screen time that we can only guess at his psychological state, save what can be conveyed through glistening eyes and woobieface and “... but I did it.” Wow. Bowl me over, you really got me right in the McFeelys. Though +1000 to SebStan for working what he got to work with to the max. That motherfucker can act. We know for certain approximately jack shit about Bucky’s internal experience post-Winter Soldier. And so, like pretty much everything with Bucky and this friendship/ship arc, I will just guess at what is actually wrong with him. But after 70 years as a POW being tortured and possibly gaslit and definitely brainwashed, that is almost the textbook recipe for complex PTSD, so imma go with that. Returning to this distance. Now, it first appears to be largely logistical in nature. Steve is over here, Bucky is over there. Golly, just too busy to hang these days. All this secret avenging without you. And when we pine — pine — for the meaningful reunion of these two in IW, instead we got a “Hey brah, how's it hanging?” “You know, old and traumatized lol” exchange and a “let’s make sure our dicks don’t touch” back-slappy hug that lasted two seconds. This is without any hint as to whether these two have seen each other yet after Bucky’s de-thawing, leaving us to wonder whether this is really the big reunion we have been waiting for. 

(If we had audio, the sound would be 70% slapping.)

I’m going to pause here, because for many of us, this was devastating. After all, we were left with this shot of Steve as Bucky made the choice to go into cryo, a choice that seemed only somewhat justifiable on the vague grounds of “I can’t trust my own mind.” (Me either, pal.)

Ugh.

Perhaps this was also an avoidance strategy — easier to go back on ice than deal with the emotional fallout of what just happened. And who could blame him? He is probably still relearning how to cope effectively with things after his entire coping system was destroyed by his time with Hydra. But Steve was clearly disappointed or, at the very least, saddened by this. He gets something back just to lose it again. Enter distance. He leaves and goes avenging. Emotionally, perhaps this move to cryo created distance as well. Their relationship was on such fragile ground at this point, mostly an artifact from the ‘40s, and their chance to deepen it was taken away by the writers because Bucky wanted to go on ice for reasons and Steve needed to do Steve things. And so when IW rolled around, oh, did we want them to have a substantive reunion. But alas, we did not get that. We saw equally substantive exchanges between Bucky and Sam or Rocket and far more substantive exchanges between Steve and pretty much anyone else. And then we got the ultimate separation — (fake) death. Again. A traumatic, unplanned loss that costs another five years from their timeline, all before they even got the chance to properly re-establish a friendship. Again, I’m going off of what we actually see portrayed, not off of what we assume or would like to see. We have absolutely no idea how much Steve and Bucky interacted in Wakanda. But Steve busted Sam out of the Raft quite early, early enough that he still had a messed up face from the time Tony went in (unless he was getting beatings on the reg, which is possible). So if he was hanging with Sam since before Bucky went on ice, and Sam just visited Wakanda for the first time in IW, either Steve was borrowing the Quinjet to secretly visit Wakanda on his own to hang with Bucky, or he hadn’t been back to Wakanda since he left the first time. 

Regarding Steve visiting Wakanda between CW and IW — I found this bullshit from Markus and McFeely on the subject of whether Steve and Bucky met or talked prior to IW. The writers could not even agree about their own characters, with one saying that Steve and his crew probably visited Wakanda and hung out with Bucky and the other saying, eh, the two of them “maybe Skyped.” As to the former, this is not at all supported by the narrative or by logic. Infinity War is clearly Sam’s first time in Wakanda, with all that drama about “zomg you’re gonna hit those trees, bro!” as they are flying into the city. And why would Steve  leave his team alone and vulnerable, probably taking the Quinjet, their only form of reliable and safe transportation, so he could go visit Bucky alone? He’s not there for a booty call, y’all, because these guys have barely even rekindled their friendship. Moreover, the other secret avengers know how important Bucky is to Steve. This isn’t a secret. There would be no reason to go alone and no reason for T’Challa to forbid Nat, Sam, and Wanda from coming to Wakanda. So it makes no sense that Steve has visited Wakanda prior to IW, and thus, that would make IW their first meeting, which is… utter and heartbreaking garbage. But at least they had motherfucking SKYPE. MAYBE. Fuck. You. Very. Much. 

So, in the face of this shit reunion and Bucky’s subsequent dusting, some of us kindled hope for the upcoming Endgame. Perhaps we would get flashbacks. We knew there would be flashbacks or time travel because we saw stuff in the trailers and sneak peeks from the set. So maybe there would be something there to account for the utter lack of attention to their relationship in Infinity War. Again, this was the mere request that Markus and McFeely and the directors acknowledge wholeheartedly what they have been building for these characters since the beginning of their time in the MCU. This was not even strictly about Stucky. This was about doing justice for these characters as humans. But there were no flashbacks. Who knows what happened in Wakanda. We will have to fill in the blanks on our own. Not a single comment could be spared to even signal whether the IW Wakanda scene was their first time seeing each other since cryo.  “How’s that new arm treating you?” or “God, it’s been so long”/deep emotion would be all it would have taken to not keep us wondering one way or the other. This suggests a lack of consideration to the fans of these characters and this relationship — which, again, Markus and McFeely slaved to get us to pour our hearts into. So… Endgame. What was that? Bucky and Steve didn’t stand next to each other at Tony’s funeral. Okay. Bucky is not an A-list Avenger. He did kill Tony’s parents. Awkward. Bucky was comforted by Sam, his… guy he sat behind in the Volkswagen in Civil War and fought next to in IW, and he needed comfort apparently (?) because he… killed Martha and Howard Stark (??), which was sweet, and much more spontaneous affection than we’ve seen from Steve in an age, but what the actual fuck??? Was that Mickey Mouse standing behind the Iron Man 3 kid wearing a “Falcon and Winter Soldier” miniseries t-shirt?

And that ending. This was maybe the one implied nugget of friendship between them visible with an electron microscope. They obviously had at least one deep conversation about Steve deviating from the plan to go have a life, and they obviously had a discussion about who would succeed him as Cap. My dreams of Bucky Cap were dashed into dust, but as @pitchforkcentral86 said, it would have been cruel to give it to Bucky. Bucky would possibly have taken it if Steve kicked the bucket in EG, but it makes the most sense to be passed along in a planned way to Sam. So maybe they had at least one good conversation. Way, way off camera. Bucky said he would miss him. Recycled TFA line. Thank God it was not involving the words “jerk” and “punk.” Glistening woobie eyes. Steve leaving to go be with the one person who can make him feel like a whole human being, apparently, because there is nothing and nobody tethering him to this time in history anymore.

Whoa— wait— WHAT??? These are the moments where I literally double check the credits for the Cap movies to make sure that it says “Markus and McFeely.” Then I check the latest Avengers movies to make sure they also say “Markus and McFeely.” And they ALL DO!! The same two men painstakingly crafted the story of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, two men who — let’s be literal in the narrative here, for the sake of making a conservative argument — are best friends from childhood. They hammered on this story HARD, making sure that their relationship was so strong that by the time 2016 rolled around, the depth and intensity of their friendship and Steve’s commitment to it would tear the Avengers apart. And along the way, something else happened.

When you put two people in relationship like this, you have to know that there will be consequences. People will grow very emotionally invested in their relationship, because that is exactly what the writers were asking the audience to do. These dudes did their job, all right! And then something else happened, quite easily, even though these things will also happen under much harsher conditions: Stucky. Winter Soldier alone probably launched a hundred thousand ships for these two — gay, gay ships, so very gay, the glitteriest, gayest of cruise liners — from a hundred thousand ports around the globe. This ship has permeated pop culture even outside the fandom (some dumb gross man jokes from Screen Junkies within, but the Stucky shenanigans start at around 3:15).

And perhaps that’s when Markus and McFeely realized what a monster they created, one that would clash in ugly ways with their forthcoming (heterosexual) narrative, — their endgame for Steve. And so what did they do? Overcorrect. Wildly. Pull the plug. Bucky and Steve can’t fall out as friends completely, but what’s the next best thing? Give them almost zero screen time together, lest anyone be tempted to think they have a serious relationship — and again, I’m just talking friendship at this point, let alone anything else. Make their lines devoid of substance. Keep us wondering about the nature of their dynamic. Did the distance grow too great? Is Bucky not able to reconnect with anyone? Is Steve too busy? Too salty?? Who knows! These are possibilities, but none are explained. Then just poof Bucky off the face of the earth for 5 years to create existential distance. And in the meantime, ensure that Bucky is shown as not even a passing thought for Steve Rogers. Ensure that his name is never once uttered by Steve until he is about to leave him to go be with Peggy — oh except when, in a real dick move, when he emotionally whumps his past self with the news that Bucky is alive for the sole purpose of getting out of a stranglehold. At the same time, ensure that Steve is seen becoming single-mindedly fixated on Peggy Carter, and make sure the audience — including all those pesky Stucky shippers — knows that he considers her the “love of his life.” Ensure we see the compass with increasing frequency and with maximum longing. Insert Steve finding the absurd photograph of himself on the Director of SHIELD’s desk, facing the door for any junior colleague to see her pining over him like a schoolgirl long after he died, which is just about the least Peggy Carter thing I can ever imagine (and these people created and wrote for the Agent Carter TV series!!!).

Then give us our first openly gay person in the MCU. And drop him in the same scene that you confirm once and for all that Peggy Carter is the love of Steve Rogers’ life. Have Steve be so fucking cool with it that he makes us proud and relieved that he’s not a homophobe. Whew! Only… it makes us feel kind of gross, and maybe we can’t quite figure out why at first. But maybe it’s because it feels  personal, like a concession, like the writers and director knew exactly what they were doing to a lot of people who feel a very specific way about Steve’s sexuality and about his relationship with Bucky Barnes. It feels like a tone deaf nod to the fandom. Sorry, guys. No homo. We really did try to warn you with the whole Sharon Carter thing. (Sharon Carter, in an act of gross and misogynistic misuse, remains one of the most criminally mistreated characters in the entire MCU, arguably serving almost entirely as a “no homo” device before being completely discarded, never to be heard from again.)

Which got me thinking — was this move to distance Steve and Bucky so abruptly a reactive move? The divide between Steve and Bucky that happens in IW and EG feels so cold and inorganic. It does not feel at all driven by the natural arc of the characters as established by the creators themselves. It feels rushed and confusing, like it just needed to happen for plot convenience (though not even clearly that), and once again, we are left trying to figure out what the fuck is actually going on.

Part of that is probably needing to lay the groundwork for Steve’s feelings of alienation, which lead him to his ultimate choice to go back in time. He can’t feel too connected to Bucky or he won’t want to go back to be with Peggy. But could part of this also possibly be a reaction to how strongly Stucky was adopted by the public? Did Markus and McFeely realize how much more strongly we love the idea of Steve and Bucky — as friends or lovers, who cares? — rather than Steve and Peggy, which was probably their ending for Steve all along? Did they realize their terrible mistake of bringing them so close, endearing them to us so much, and then realize “OH SHIT,” and then slam on the brakes? Is that why IW and EG felt like absolute shit for their relationship, even for those who are not total endgame Stucky people?

Okay, but what if their friendship just ran its course? Friendships do that, even really deep ones. These two have had a huge chronological and experiential rift that never was really healed (thanks to our dear writers). Steve saved Bucky’s life thrice but they never really reconnected. Presumably. As far as we know in the narrative we are given by the writers. Okay. Let’s say you need to get Steve back with Peggy and for Bucky to become pals with Sam instead because contracts and actors. Whatever. Fine. But if you are going to play the “our friendship has come and gone” card, you need to fully PLAY IT. You can’t make it some vague option that might be true because we can’t figure out what the hell is going on. They need to have an actual conversation. For fuck’s sake, if we have time to fuck around with Korg and Miek on the couch and time to have Banner take selfies with kids and do stupid time gags and a bunch of other little shit, there is enough time to have a brief conversation somewhere to imply that “things have changed” or “people change” or something to imply that the writers were even thinking about the course of Bucky and Steve’s relationship as more than just a platform to launch Steve back to Peggy and launch Bucky toward Sam for their spinoff series.

There was just no depth. How can they give us three movies composed almost entirely of Mariana Trench levels of depth between these two men and then give us virtually nothing in IW and then next to nothing in EG to “round out” their entire storyline? The shape of the emotional momentum in this relationship is so wonky and dissatisfying, and the lack of comment on the dissolution of their friendship in the narrative, the fact that it isn’t even being acknowledged, is one of the worst parts. This relationship died without being honored or even attended to at the most basic level, after being told that it is perhaps the most important relationship in Steve and Bucky’s lifetimes and being shown evidence of that fact.

Moreover, let’s get real — calling Peggy the love of Steve’s life should do nothing to diminish his friendship with Bucky Barnes. That’s not how love works. You don’t just get one person. You can have a best friend — hell, you can have two best friends — and a woman you love. (And even moreover, you don’t have to leap back through time to find closeness just because you can. But that’s another matter with Steve’s character that I will address in a future speculative character analysis on Steve in an effort to explain how he got to this point, because I have a super depressing head canon about it involving traumatic grief and loss.) 

But just like comic book science, perhaps there are comic book rules about love and affinity. You only get one person, and Steve gets Peggy. And apparently Bucky gets Sam. Because contracts. But as I said before, I would have been okay if they had a dissolution of their friendship because that was the course of their friendship. Just tell us what is happening. Have the decency to respect your characters by giving their relationship a true arc, whatever it is. You can’t just recycle a TFA line and call it an arc. That is not an arc. Markus and McFeely goddamn know better and we know they know better, because we just saw a beautiful relationship arc closing with Tony and Pepper and, on a smaller scale, with Tony and Peter fucking Parker.

By the way, the small in-person and symbolic interactions between Tony and Peter in EG? Those are what high quality, emotionally salient, brief interactions between people who care about each other look like.

1. Tony’s picture of Peter in his kitchen: He can see from where he does his dishes. He looks at it meaningfully and thoughtfully before making a major plot-essential decision that risks his way of life.

2. Tony and Peter’s reunion hug: It starts off with some humor and classic Peter rambling. Becomes a full-ass, real hug. Nobody slaps the other’s back. Peter remarks, very sincerely, “oh, this is nice.”  <3

3. Tony’s death scene: Peter is visibly and truly wrecked. Tony looks at him in a heartfelt way. Words are unnecessary. It is perfect.

Bonus IW moment, because it is one of the most moving images I have seen in the MCU: Tony has Peter’s ashes in his goddamn mouth, eyes closed. Defeated.

Jesus Christ. Don’t tell me Markus and McFeely don’t know how to write characters and brief, powerful interactions, even when the characters are not together. They most certainly are very, very capable of this.

So why did we get the lifeless, quippy drivel and lame physical contact they gave Bucky and Steve in IW and EG? Which, regarding their last convo, was Bucky spilling his guts and Steve being like “Yeah brah, you’ll be fine, don’t be a fucking idiot while I’m off being happy with the only person in the universe who can make me complete #surprisesoulmates.” Bucky offers his quippy mandatory TFA callback retort so that the audience remembers that these two once gave an actual fuck about each other at one point in the narrative.  Cue slappy-back-no-dick-touch hug. And please don’t tell me that this is just how men from the ‘40s hug. I would buy that for TFA, but after everything they’ve been through in Winter Soldier and Civil War? I am not buying it.

**Slap-slap**

So we get a Steve Rogers who exits the MCU permanently by making a contentious, questionable final choice with questionable implications that take a graduate degree and/or a hive mind to questionably figure out (or else I’m just a fucking idiot and I’m the only one who needed those things). And we also get the profoundly dissatisfying demise of a relationship that we invested a tremendous amount of emotional energy in because that is what the screenwriters and directors asked us to do. 

I am not writing this as a diehard Stucky shipper. I love Stucky, don’t get me wrong. It’s all I read and write in fandom. And I can certainly buy a world (at least, in Caps 1-3) where canon Steve’s love for Bucky is the gay kind and vice versa. Sure. But I am writing this as a person who loves good characters and good story, and this is such a hard fail that even if I had no emotional investment in these two characters, I would wonder what Markus and McFeely had against Steve and Bucky that they let their garden succumb to drought while they tended so considerately to Tony and Peter and Tony and Pepper and Steve and Natasha and Steve and a dead woman and Thor and Bruce and Thor and fucking Rocket, pretty much all of whom (with the exception of Tony and Pepper) have had so much less at stake, so much less time invested, and so much less of a reason for the audience to give a fuck.

But more importantly, I am writing this as a lover of Steve and Bucky, two people who have a well-established, rock-solid, indisputable human relationship that deserves so much more than what it got, especially given all of the unspeakable suffering these men have experienced separately and as a byproduct of their separation. Canonically. This is not made up fandom shippery superimposed upon Markus and McFeely’s precious creation. This is the truth of these two men as determined by the hands of the creators who also neglected them into nothingness, which is arguably a fate far worse than one or both of them dying an actual, final death.

I am left feeling disappointed and betrayed as a fan, wishing, as others have confided in me, that I was more of a Tony person and had been all along. Because then I would be walking away from this still grief-stricken, but at least it would be for the right reasons.

--

--

I will leave you with this, arguably one of the last in-character moments for Bucky and Steve in the MCU. 

[olboypacman]

Pin Me

State wrestling champion, Garfield Logan is training with a new work out partner in preparation for an upcoming season. The thing is this new partner of his outshines him in every way. Oh, and she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. She also happens to be the crown princess of Tamaran and multi-time international wrestling champion, Kori Anders. College AU. One Shot. BBStar.

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A/N: I claim no ownership of Teen Titans nor any mentioned Characters. For the action scenes I think I might’ve gone too deep with the wrestling and grappling terminology, so I tried to be as descriptive as possible for those of you not familiar with it. Looking forward to any feedback!

****

It was just supposed to be a light training session.

Emphasis on light.

A tie-up here, an ankle-pick there.

Maybe they’d get a little sweat going.

I skipped my daily workout, maybe this can be it. Can you help me out?

You know this bodacious bod isn’t going to maintain itself.

Come on, a few light matches won’t hurt.

Those and other prevailing thoughts were what ultimately brought Garfield Logan here today.

Right now, they were recovering from 2 pretty hard-fought periods.

Well… he thought, as ran his hand through his blonde hair as he sat on the mats.

Garfield fought hard. It appears as if his opponent isn’t even breathing with the slightest bit of labor. In fact, were this an official match, Garfield would’ve lost. And by not a whole lot of effort by his opponent.

At least it seemed that way to him.

Had it been another person on this planet of earth he’d be absolutely livid at the fact he hadn’t even been able to snag a single takedown or a pin.

Him!

On the high school circuit, he amassed an impressive record of 114-6 with 2 California state championships to his credit. With a pace and ferocity of a doggedly relentless animal, he was nicknamed ‘Beast Boy’ by teammates, opponents and coaches alike. He was highly sought after by colleges around the country. They were practically lining up to throw scholarships at the young man. Luckily for him, any choice of college would’ve been a free ride. Being the adoptive son of the founder and C.E.O of Dayton Industries, Steve Dayton and biological son of the late, world renowned zoologist Mark Logan had its benefits. He ultimately decided to go with his fathers’ (both of them) alma Marta, Jump City University. What attracted him wasn’t just its wrestling program (though one had to admit it was among the very best in the nation, if not the state of California), it was the zoology and veterinary programs funded by the estate of his late parents. It also didn’t hurt that his friends and teammates Vic ‘The Cyborg’ Stone and Richard ‘The Boy Wonder’ Grayson happened to attend.

He’d fully immersed himself into the culture at Jump-U. His first year was an absolute breeze. A national title in wrestling, being named an all-American in the sport and a 4.0 G.P.A. Life was pretty good and simple for Garfield. Though he did hit a hiccup in a relationship with pretty blonde exchange student, Tara Markov, that ended pretty badly for the young man.

The weeks leading up to his second year was packed with excitement. He was moving up a weight class in order to further challenge himself in his college wrestling career, his studies in zoology was progressing incredibly and there was a buzz on the campus that the staff and students of Jump City University was getting two new high-profile students.

The campus was teeming with rumors surrounding who it could possibly be. Garfield had asked Richard, who had no small amount of fame himself being Bruce Wayne’s son and all, if any of his siblings would be attending the upcoming semester. Those rumors were busted by Dick himself.

The first day of classes came and went with little fanfare, and the two new mystery students had yet to show up. Gar decided to spend that evening in the library going over the syllabi of his classes before he headed to the campus weight-room for a work-out.

As he left, he was greeted by three women he’d never seen on campus before.

(Flashback)

“Excuse me, can you tell us where the student advisory office is?”

Garfield turned, and before him were three of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen.

The first stood in front of the other two almost protectively. The young woman was short and curvy, her wide child baring hips wrapped in a knee length black pencil skirt. She had black, almost purple neck length hair styled into a bob cut. She wore a no-nonsense air about her, and it belied itself on her face as she was waiting for his answer. Her skin was just a hair less pale than what one would call a normal skin tone. She wore glasses that sat at just the tip of nose, as her lilac eyes bored into him coldly. She was dressed in a purple dress shirt that was tucked into the aforementioned skirt and a pair of comfortable black flats. She held what appeared to be a tablet to her chest.

The second woman had hair just as dark as the other woman’s but was much longer, about the length to the small of her back. She was tall, about a whole head taller than the professionally dressed woman. She had stood behind the left shoulder of the shorter woman, again, almost as if she was shielded by her. Her face was framed by two long side bangs, which was aglow, along with her emerald green eyes by the screen of her phone. She was popping a piece of bubble gum nonchalantly, seeming oblivious to all around her. The young woman’s skin color was tan, seeming almost orange under the light of the setting sun. She was dressed in a midriff baring black t-shirt that had the word QUEEN in white bold lettering on the chest. She wore a pair of blue jean shorts that stopped about halfway down her thighs. Her outfit was completed with black and white Converses with long striped black and white socks. She had a relatively thin frame but didn’t seem frail. She had cuts of muscle definition on her arms, and a very toned abdomen revealed by the short length of the shirt. Her waist tapered down to decently wide hips.

The final young lady of this triplicate of gorgeous women was, in Garfield’s eyes, the most radiant of the bunch. Like the last young woman (sisters, Garfield presumed based on the resemblance), she appeared to be shielded by the professionally dressed woman behind her right shoulder. She was dressed in a white sundress, decorated with sunflowers of varying size all about the garment. She had red hair that practically glowed in the evening sunlight. It was shorter than the other young woman’s, though that was likely because it styled to be incredibly curly. Her smile, slight as it was, radiated a cheerfulness that most college students would’ve lacked at the advent of a freshly started semester. Garfield presumed it would’ve lit up an entire room had she been flashing a full smile. She brushed a strand of her curled hair out of her green eyes as she waited for Garfield to answer.

Garfield stood there; slack jawed for just a moment.

The taller dark-haired young woman removed her phone from her face and droned in a sarcastic tone with a slight accent Garfield couldn’t quite place: “Are you just going to gawk at us, or are you going to answer our dear Raven’s question?”

“Komi, please.” Responded the professionally dressed woman.

“Sister, friend Raven, is it not rude that we didn’t introduce ourselves to our new friend here before requesting something of him?” Said the redhead.

“Fine,” said the professionally dressed woman, Garfield presumed to be Raven. “I’m Raven Roth, and I’m,” she pauses for a moment, as if thinking of what to say, “I guess the best way to explain this is that I’m an attendant to these two.” She says, gesturing to the two taller women. As if she read his mind, she continued, “’Now why would these two young women need someone to be their attendant?’ I bet you’re thinking to yourself, well they’re…”

“We’re both crown princesses of The Kingdom of Tamaran!” Interrupted the exuberant redhead as she stepped from behind Raven.

“Now who’s being rude.” Laughed Komi as she joined her sister, stepping from behind the shorter woman. “As Raven was saying before she was interrupted, this is my sister Kori Anders, and I am Komi Anders. Though I am but a princess now, I soon will be the queen of Tamaran.” She finished proudly.

At Komi’s prideful declaration, Kori appeared to deflate just a little, somehow seeming less bright than she appeared before. While Raven simply glares at Komi for unnecessarily going for a soft spot of her sister’s.

“Don’t count those chickens before they hatch Komi, it’s not like Tamaran is an absolute monarchy these days. The royal titles are more ceremonial these days, though they do carry more responsibly than that would imply. Hence the reason I’m here. Plus, your mother and father mandate you find a husband before they vacate the throne, which that time is pretty far off.” Said Raven.

At Raven’s response Kori’s brightness returns, like it was never gone. She meets Garfield’s eyes and moves into his personal space as she brought her hands together and said, “What is your name, new friend?”

He steps back, more out surprise than anything else and answered, “I’m Garfield, Garfield Logan. But my friends call me Gar.”

“Garfield? Like the cat from those comics?” Said Komi sarcastically.

“Yeah,” he responded, “I’ve heard every joke.”

(Flashback End)

That day Gar had befriended Anders sisters, frigging royalty (plus their attendant)! Komi and Kori’s father had wanted them to get their education abroad as he did. He’d insisted it would broaden their horizons and prepare them, or more Komi, for their futures as Tamaranean diplomats. Raven was there to take care of logistics, housing, body guarding and anything else the princesses may have needed (on top of being a student herself).

One of the student advisors had agreed to help them get everything in order before they officially started classes. They’d said that their absence for most of the day had been expected as they had been getting properly moved into the city. Kori and Raven insisted they’d be staying on campus, and Komi would be staying in a luxury condo off campus. Which Komi thought was better for her, as she wouldn’t have to share her space with them.

As the semester got into full swing, Raven, Komi and Kori fell in and got on well with his circle of friends.

He particularly got close to Kori.

He’d come to learn and perhaps love (though he’s reluctant to admit that aloud) about her many things about the princess.

Example, her love of mustard. Not as just a condiment (though she does put it on everything), but as a full-blown beverage. It wasn’t uncommon to her enjoying a mustard milkshake from the café inside the university’s bookstore.

Her friendly nature. Should anyone ever have the fortune to cross her path they will be considered her friend. On sight. Victor had once joked she’s like The Terminator in that respect.

He’d also been lucky enough for to show him her more introspective side. Word spread pretty fast that royalty had arrived and would be attending Jump City University.

Those counselors could be as mouthy as the students.

Komi, prideful as she is, would pretty much tells everyone who’d listen that she’s next in line for the throne of Tamaran. This had been a very sore spot for Kori. Kori had confided in Gar what it meant to her to be passed over for the throne.

To her, this meant she was a failure in more respects than one. As a daughter to her parents. A daughter of her country. As a servant to her people. She’d nearly come to tears during that discussion. But Garfield had asked if anyone back home had treated her with any less respect since it was decided she wouldn’t inherit the throne. Through tear-soaked eyes, she smiled and said no one had treated her any different. They’d fell asleep in each other’s arms that night, much to their embarrassment.

There was something else about Princess Kori Anders that Garfield admired.

She was also a talented wrestler.

Like an insanely talented wrestler.

Like a savant.

To the point she had been competing internationally since her early teens.

She brought in the sport as her parents were also wrestlers, and wrestling is considered the national sport in her home country.

She had a bevy of titles, medals and tournament victories before she graduated high school.

Pretty much the only accolade she didn’t pick up was an Olympic medal (gold or otherwise), which she only fell short of representing her country due to an injury.

She’d decided to enter the world of submission grappling in order to challenge herself further, since her Olympic aspirations had to be put on hold at the time.

“Garfield,” said Kori, interrupting his reverie, “ready for another round?”

“Sure Kor, why not? I think I’m catching a second wind. Maybe I’ll take you down this time.” He finished with a wink.

“OK, friend Gar, just let me finish this bottle of water and I’ll reset the time.”

Kori flicked her hair behind her shoulders and starts to polish off her water.

She was dressed in just a purple sports bra and incredibly short, incredibly tight gym shorts similarly colored as her top. Her wrists were lightly taped with white wrapping and she wore solid white wrestling shoes. She had a sheen of sweat clinging to her skin, her left hand on her hip. The right one holding a quarter empty water bottle to her mouth, its contents rapidly decreasing.

Jesus Christ did she look amazing.

And she always does. Thought Garfield.

Not just in sundresses, or those expensive looking evening wear she likes with hair curled to perfection and her makeup done just right. Even in oversized shirts, sweatpants and her hair being a self-described rat’s nest, she's still a picture of perfection. "Oh, please Garfield, I'm very much the mess right now." She'd say with a wave of her hand dismissively, whenever she complemented her in such a state.

A small drop of water finds it way around her lip as she’s polishing off the bottle.

It falls down her chin. It then drips down neck as she tilts her head back.

Then to her chest.

Then it disappears into her-

“Ah,” says Kori, “that was most excellent. Shall I restart the timer to begin the next round, friend Garfield?” She asks, tossing the bottle to the nearest recycling bin.

The young man gets up from his seated position, shaking himself loose to prepare for round of wrestling.

Kori takes in the form of her blonde-haired, blue-eyed, forest green singlet clad friend, a contemplative look in her eyes.

“Something up Kori?” He asked.

“I was thinking, maybe we can do a little submission grappling?”

“Eh, I don’t know. You know my experience with it isn’t much. Plus, I’ve got a post season tournament coming up in a few weeks and I don’t want to risk injuring myself.” He said scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, please, please, please Gar?” She said, instantaneously closing the distance between them with hands clasped together, batting her eyes at him.

Said eyes are alight with that genuine enthusiasm he’d come to admire greatly.

An enthusiasm it’s incredibly difficult to say no to.

“What the hell,” says Garfield, “maybe I can get you down this time, huh?” He finished with a smile.

“Great!” She said, clapping her hands together once more. “No periods, no time limits. The first to get their opponent to submit will be the winner. Are you agreeable to this, friend Garfield?” She finished, as a predatory look began to adorn her face.

He nods preparing himself.

They circle each to start.

Kori takes the initiative, faking a shot, but retaining back her stance, right foot forward, after completing the feint.

She’s trying to bait me to go for a single leg takedown. Thinks Gar.

He decides to take her bait and does shoot for a single leg takedown, though half-heartedly. As he anticipated, she pulls her leg from in front her in an attempt to sprawl. Garfield follows through with his takedown attempt, going for a far side single on her left leg, now that the right is no longer an option. He turns it into a high crotch takedown, placing his left hand between her legs and locking it behind her leg with his right hand. Using the connection provided by locking his hands together as a point of contact, he lifts the Tamaranean up with the connection his hands created between her legs. Reacting quickly, Kori pummels her hands underneath Garfield’s, underhooking him. Kori then pulls the former California state champion tight to her by wrapping her arms around his back utilizing the underhook, locking her hands together behind the young man’s back. Realizing his hopes for a takedown is lost, he releases the high crotch attempt. He then looks to pummel his own underhooks on Kori, though it isn’t easy considering he’s the shorter of the two.

Kori lazily attempts a trip while Gar continues to fight for underhooks. It succeeds, causing the blonde to temporarily lose his balance. Garfield regains his balance immediately and recognizes that Kori failed to control his body in her trip attempt. This has created much needed space between the two grapplers and has broken her grip behind his back. Living up to his reputation as relentless, Garfield pulls Kori’s left elbow forward, away from her body, lowers his head on that same side, ducking and driving himself behind the princess. He wraps his arms around her front, securing a body lock from behind. She attempts to break his grip, sliding his locked arms down her body. It happens rather easily considering the lack of friction due to the results of their activity, sweat.

Christ she’s slippery, thinks Garfield, no wonder she’s practically wearing nothing. The fact that she’s still sweaty from our other 2 rounds makes harder to get a good grip on her.

She manages to break his grip and attempted to cause a scramble, but she failed to create the necessary space between her back and his front. As a result of that he snatches that rear body lock once more.

Knowing he has to make something happen, otherwise risking another scramble or losing the position entirely. He tries to trip the Tamaranean, hooking his right leg in front of her own and then tosses her down once her balance is compromised.

Kori manages to avoid being taken down, catching herself on her hands and feet and makes it back up to her a more vertical position. Once her base is re-established, she keeps her weight forward to avoid being taken for a ride. Anticipating another trip attempt, she repositions herself, making sure Garfield’s left leg is between her legs. Kori bends forward, reaches for the leg and rolls for a knee bar.

Shit thinks Gar.

He panics, but notes that her attempt was a little sloppy, loose and she didn’t retain any control of his leg with her own. His panic is enough to cause another scramble and in the end they’re both back to their feet, circling each once more.

“Most excellent, friend Garfield.” Says Kori.

“Hey, I’m wasn’t highly recruited for nothing Kori.”

“That I can see.”

Garfield then lazily shoots for another takedown attempt.

“I see you Gar,” says Kori, as puts her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to keep him off her.

In response, Garfield ties her up, his right hand behind her head and left hand on her right bicep as she responds by tying him up in the familiar hold. He drops low, pulling her head down. Going for an ankle pick, he drives forward while simultaneously pulling her right leg up from under her completing the takedown, his first one of the day.

Not wasting any time, Kori immediately wraps her legs around Garfield, retaining a closed guard. It’s pretty tight.

Garfield isn’t going anywhere.

In a regular wrestling match this would be considered a fall, a victory, if he managed to keep her in this position for several seconds, but this isn’t a regular wrestling match. Letting his in experience with submission grappling show, he goes for her wrists pinning them above her head.

"Oh no," drones Kori, in a tone very reminiscent of her sister, "you've got me by my wrists. My one weakness. I'm completely at your mercy. Whatever will you do with me?"

Not missing a beat, she wrestles her wrists free from his control.

Going for a high guard sweep, she gains control of Garfield’s arms. She then readjusts her legs, breaking her closed guard to a high guard, her feet locked together on the higher part of his back. This secures Garfield’s forearms to Kori’s body. She further secures the position by grabbing her right shin. She then underhooks his right leg with her left hand and once more adjusts her legs, capturing his tricep and rolls him on to his back. The roll finished, she grabs her opposite shin with her right hand, pushing on the mat with her left hand and drives her hip downward, completing the reversal.

With him now mounted, she spreads out her base making sure she can’t be bucked off of him. She then gets control of his wrists, pining them of his head for a complete reversal of the roles they were in just moments ago.

Garfield knows he’s at the redhead’s mercy.

She’s looking down at him with an incredibly playful expression.

"Say Kori." She lightly commanded.

Gar responds, "Wait, don't you mean, 'say uncle.'?"

"It's is not he who has under his mercy," she says smiling over him, "it is I, now say it."

He begins to utter the name of the princess in a sign of submission, but not before the breath is stolen from his words by the lips of Kori Anders. Her hands going from his wrists, to lightly cradling his face. His instinctively go to her hips.

Eventually they break their lip-lock, taking in much needed oxygen.

The realization of her action hits him like a tone of bricks, over the moon that the woman that currently has him mounted returns his affections.

“All this time, I thought you were just being nice to me. Like you are to everyone. I suspected you liked me back, but I wasn’t sure, and I was terrified I’d ruin our friendship if tried to make a move.” Said Gar.

"In my culture it's very common that one goes after who they desire, regardless of their gender. Victor advised me that a guy in this country might've been scared off if I came off as the strong, that should I be the subtle. I've dropped as many hints as I could, I held you tighter and longer whenever I embraced you, I took interest in American comedy so that I may better understand your jokes as I very much enjoy laughing with you, I even invited you to study with me when I looked less than my best to see how you’d react but you remained very much oblivious to my subtle approach. So, I disregarded everything Victor said and here we are. Like you I feared ruining our friendship if made my true feelings known. But I couldn’t bare thinking what could’ve been if I just stayed silent.” She says. Her smile brightens even further as she continued, “It was by complete coincidence that you happened to approach me today to do the wrestling with me. I had what I wanted to do in mind, but I wracked my mind trying to find a way to make happen. But you saved me the trouble, my dear Garfield.”

Garfield laughs heartily and says, “So the people in Tamaran wrestle their crush into submission?”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said as she met his laughter with her own, “I meant my people don’t hesitate to declare their hearts to those they care for. Although that’s not to say many a romance in my country hasn’t been consummated on the wrestling mats. It’s actually how my mother won the heart of my father. She managed to break his arm in the process and even then, he still fought bravely as well as he could. You can probably guess how that story ended.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t see fit to break a limb, Kori. But this is a bit sudden and informal, I,”

“Fret not my dear Garfield. I know what it is you wish for. A formal declaration of my feelings for you.” She stands up and proudly exclaims, “I, Princess Kori Anders, daughter of King and Queen of the great country of Tamaran declare my desire to date you, Garfield Logan! Do you wish to do the dating of me?”

From his seated position, he reaches his hand out beckoning her to help him up, “Nothing would make me happier Kori.”

****

Read this and more @https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6330123/

[keijogirl]

A Realistic Discussion about Recast BJDs and their Impact on The Hobby.

I completely get that this post is old, but it’s shown up like 3 days in a row on my dash so I felt a little compelled to respond.

This is really long you can tl;dr with just the bold segments its still long though lol.  I will attempt at being funny by adding more pics to keep this entertaining. I am sorry in advance.

Let me start by saying Good Job!

I think it’s awesome that you’re spending the time to make such a well thought out post for your reasons. It works. Its great that you make your own dolls through recast for experiments and gifts. Its awesome. I’m so glad you don’t sell them though lol.

I actually don’t collect resin dolls anymore, but do want to point out about the real problem with recasts. You’re right, it isn’t about the artists personally. No one really actually cares about if the artist ate last week or not as long as there are dolls for us to enjoy. Save for the few golden souls among us. The back end logistics don’t matter as long as we get what we want, right? Shit-tastic but true.

No one gives two fucks about who has what doll sculpt or how much they actually paid for it.  No one. Not even OOP. “Pros” conveniently miss that point every time.

I will laugh til I die at any petty bitch that really does care about that. That’s #PettyLaBelle and #PettyPaige levels of Petty.  #Renegade4life, #Fuckdapolice if that was the actual problem with recasts. I’d defend everyone’s reason to own one to the death if it was about people being classist or gatekeepers about only allowing certain people to own certain sculpts. But it’s not. That’s not why people argue about this so much, though it is often misconstrued as such.

The real problem with recasts is their quality.  Not that they are shit, but because they are almost flawless. Recasts are like counterfeit currency and they lock up the legit second hand market because of it and destroy the hobby’s economy unintentionally by devaluing the originals.  Yes, we have an economy *gasp* and this post is explaining those economics. We’re talking about MONEY!

A long time ago, I got a recast Soom tiny body on the 2nd hand really cheap for a floating head that I had. After I got it, I ended up leaving the hobby for a bit, and coming back I truly understand now why recasts are not good and why I won’t be buying more of them. The little recast body is flawless and perfect for my girl. Despite my new anti-recast stance, I can’t bring myself to throw it away because I legitimately feel like I am throwing away money. I might as well be tossing away the real thing. It is a perfect replica for a fraction of the original’s price and it serves the purpose of the real thing, there is no need for me to buy another legit body to replace it. I couldn’t justify it if I tried.

This is why recasts are so hazardous to the hobby. When I first got into dolls the doll hobby economy was strong. Dolls for sale at good prices got snapped up, especially in good condition and even poor condition or unpopular dolls were re-homed in a respectable amount of time.  Over priced ones just sat until either someone gave in or the seller dropped the price to a good one.

Before recasts became so popular, there was a flow of money throughout the hobby and people could buy First hand and if they didn’t like it or broke it they could sell it Second hand and then buy another. This allowed companies to thrive, allowing them to produce new sculpts, sets, concepts, etc.

Recast dolls block up that system worse than consuming 2 lbs of mild cheddar in one sitting.

Recasts give consumers an alternative that makes it impossible for the economy to work properly. Hobbiests are now having to be more selective about what dolls they bring home first hand. This is because, if it doesn’t work they’ll be bumping threads for years for that artist doll they bought on a whim. Broken dolls, less expensive companies and unpopular sculpts don’t stand a chance at getting re-homed because what someone would have paid for that broken or unpopular doll could instead buy a fresh, perfect replica or 2 of a more sought after fad sculpt, new resin smell included.

Not to mention the distrust in the community spawned from the asshats that try to pass off the recast dolls as legits. For old dolls that don’t have CoA or a way to prove that you got it legit anymore you’re screwed. I’ll probably never be able to get rid of some of mine. I actually tossed their CoAs with their boxes when I moved and they are original 2008 series Soom MDs. lol.

Fairyland, for example, is the most recast company out there, and now has QC issues where they never had them before and longer waits than historically.

For every legit MNF Chloe there are probably 10 recasts of her.  Admittedly, I’m pulling this stat out of my ass for example’s sake but it’s possible lol. That isn’t a good thing, not because of the Chloe flood, but the money spent on those 10 recast dolls would have stimulated the hobby’s economy. That money could have purchased a new Chloe, homed a 2nd hand one, or a different sculpt all together that wouldn’t have been homed otherwise.  Smaller companies or less popular ones without fairyland’s consumer base have shut down behind it, because the cashflow on the legit side is stopped up. More legit dolls from unpopular companies are sitting on wishlists rather than coming home.

Why? Because only fad or “in demand” dolls get recast. Less popular sculpts stay at their regular price and thus stay “expensive” with unattractive price tags compared to recast prices.  Its why “Pros” don’t listen when “Antis” offer up low cost legit companies.

I mean-- Why buy BBB or Mirodoll when you can get a new  “Fairyland” (which is what they actually want)  for the same price?  &B4 -- “It isn’t really FL...” The quality issue comes up where the replicas are just as good as the real ones. Morality isn’t always enough to pull someone back from crossing this line.

There is no doubt in my mind that the doll economy is why we no longer have Dream of Doll.  They were one of the oldest companies out there besides Volks, Iplehouse, Doll-Zone, BBB and Luts, with a small but steady fan base usually over shadowed by the bigger companies in popularity but always drooled after in the gallery. As the popularity of recasts grew, their waiting rooms trickled to a halt and a lot of their sculpts ended up on Wish lists rather than Saving for and Waiting. The companies don’t get paid and can’t create new content without taking a loss. Even re-branding attempts are a loss if it doesn’t fix the problem and increase sales.

It’s the same reason Patreon exists for media content creators, so they can create more, without having to worry about a day job to keep a roof over their head. Like it or not, this is undeniable and the effect of recasts on the hobby economy and the real reason why “Antis” are so up in arms about the prevalence of recast dolls, ready to fight.

Yes, some “Antis” can be zealots and out right fucking mean. I don’t support actual bullying.  Read that again, please. I don’t support ACTUAL bullying. Telling someone to burn their doll or kill themselves is stupid and really crappy just because they bought a recast or legit doll. Shame on anyone that does. Stating your stance that you don’t support recasts and do not wish to be affiliated with anyone that does is not bullying, but telling someone that they are “trash” for owning recasts IS bullying. Not wanting to be affiliated with those that do, is not bullying that is a preference. Encouraging others to shun that person is being a dick bully.

The hobby isn’t worth that kind of shit. People have real anxieties, not everyone has the “thick skin” or “spine” to stand up to the battering ram of people’s hate. If the internet is your only reprieve from flame thrower of real life and you’re getting fire from the internet; comments like that can make one feel trapped and make those issues worse. This hobby isn’t worth that and never will be.  I love our hobby even though I’m not actively purchasing resin dolls anymore, but it’s not worth that. That’s shitty and just makes the “Anti” side look terrible and pushes people to the recast side either because it looks safer or due to some petty sense of rebellion.  Yes, it’s still petty just admit it. “I’m going to buy only recast because people who buy legit dolls are mean.” Yes, it is petty and that’s ok, really funny to me, but ok. lol

Recasts are as beautiful as the originals, and it’s okay to admit that. However, they do damage the hobby we all love so much on a grand scale, and that is why people beg and plead with “Pros” to go legit.

Again, it’s not okay for someone to be bullied for their choice to buy a recast. Whether they care about the impact of it or not. What’s done is done. Its okay to try to dissuade someone from doing so, but after the fact, the doll isn’t going to unmake itself and it will not change anything. You’re not going to get someone to throw away their money that they chose to spend on a doll legit or not. It’s just not going to happen, let’s be clear on that.

At the end of the day,  I support education and dissuasion. I will try to sway you and help you understand the “why” before you make the decision, but after it’s done, it’s done.  I can still be friends after that if you’re not being an asshat on either side, or overly petty, see above.  

My stance is that I am Anti-Recast, and that’s ok. I want us all to be in the hobby, but I want us to do it the right way.

Cheers, Bitches. [cue most overused gif ever]