#just give us more trans rep and you won't have to give the one you already have some weird plot armor

[undead-potatoes]

Not to be a bitch on main but I don't think we should give Larian all the brownie points for giving us one (1) confirmed trans character whose entire character is "she's trans"

[wizardsix]

bioware either writes a trans man and allows the player to invade his privacy out of nowhere or writes a buff nonbinary character and makes it their whole personality. just stop. I'm fed up with it and I'd rather have a game w no trans rep than butchered trans rep and forced allyship.

there's absolutely no need to use our modern terms in a fantasy setting. its very weird and jarring and shows how little bioware cares. it's not difficult to make up their own words or just talk about it in a more natural way. you'd think for a fantasy world that has made up languages they could easily make up a word to describe genders and sexualities, so what's the issue? why don't we get the same care everything else (supposedly) does? like how come no one uses the words gay or lesbian or even bisexual but it's easily implied through dorian saying "I prefer the company of men" and sera's "we have too much in common bc we both like women"???? how come they can say that in a way that doesn't break immersion but taash has to go crazy about gender and write "trans/non-binary/genderfluid/agender all so so super valid I am affirmed" on the walls??

I get what they were trying to do with taash's story but it's not executed well at all especially with that fucking misgender scene. bioware I can assure you most people won't dissolve when they're misgendered. saying sorry or just correcting yourself and moving on is ok. its preferable actually. we don't need a character to stop the conversation to give a speech about how misgendering is bad and apologizing is also bad and act all white knight for us. it's embarrassing. like if I didn't know any better id say they were making fun of us. that's how fucking bad this writing is.

I'm sorry to the people who just accept the bare minimum, but it IS cringe and annoying to have our existence watered down to "trans" and "valid". why can't we just fucking exist without being turned into freakshows to gawk at. trans people deserve better representation than this caricature. we deserve basic fucking respect. our existence is much more complicated than cis people could ever understand and I'm sick of people pretending to care.

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

ATTENTION PLZ READ: Serious Post & Call To Action

I almost never get serious on here, but this is an emergency that effects ALL of us. This is gonna b a long post, but there's a lot of info so plz bear with me.

If you're not on tiktok, you probably haven't heard abt this cuz I've heard and seen NO ONE outside of tiktok talking about this and that's scary.

We have a major mass internet censorship bill that Facists- I mean "Conservatives" are trying to get through congress that was co-signed by Dove (yes, the soap company) & LIZZO of all people back in April of this year.

This bill is called the "Kids Online Safety Act" or KOSA for short.

Under the guise of "protecting children" it is the worst mass internet censorship bill to date and if it passes, it will give state senators and the government the power to censor and destroy anything they don't like off the face of the internet. And by that I mean in a recent video interview of Senator Marsha Blackburn (one of the senators that introduced the bill) said the quiet part out loud and detailed EXACTLY what we knew they were gonna do.

If they pass it, they're going to use it to wipe any LGBTQIA+ content & info off the face of the internet, but ESPECIALLY anything to do with Transgender people and being Trans. And they intend on targeting Transgender children especially.

Due to the purposefully vague wording of the bill giving the gov. the power to destroy anything they deem "a danger to kids" you know that's what they're gonna use it for instead of censoring anything that's an actual danger to kids. They said it themselves.

But it gets SO MUCH WORSE than that. This bill would also give th4em the power to control EVERYTHING you do and EVERYWHERE yo go on the internet and no. A VPN won't help you.

This goes way beyond just lgbtqia info and fandom content/culture being in danger. This also means our right to free speech, access to accurate and factual information, and ability to communicate & organize with each other is also up on the chopping block. They're trying to make it harder for us to fight back against what they're doing.

And even if you don't live in the US, this will also effect you too. Access to any US based content creators and US based media as well as your ability to communicate with your US friends & Family as well as access to info on what's happening in the US will also be in danger as well.

If you're on tiktok and want more info, I reccomend looking up omarsbigsister who has an entire playlist on the bill as well as info and petition links in her bio and a call script to read off for contacting your senators. but I will also be providing those same links at the end of this post.

So what can we do to stop it?

Sign petitions

COntact your senators and reps. Call them, email them, send physical letters,

but most importantly,

SPREAD THE WORD.

share and repost this because the fact that no one oustide of tiktok is talking about this even though it will effect ALL OF US and could spell the end of the internet as we know it is SCARY

This bill is text book fascism and we need to kill it in its crib.

Here are all the links:

Resources for learning about KOSA

Sign this petition and call your senators! (this one includes a call script for you to read from

Sign the open letter against KOSA

Stop KOSA movement's linktree with even more petitons and resources to help

[punkeropercyjackson]

In my very correct opinion,the versions of Percy Jackson that do the character the most justice are afrolatino!Percy,transfem!Percy and Walker!Percy.My evidence:Percy acts a lot like irl afrolatinos speaking as one who was raised in his homecountry and he's from a part of New York with such a high population of latinos that it's literally called El Barrio and the treatment he got from his bullies and adults other than Sally is even more realistic if it's because he was a black child in addition to being a neurodivergent and poor one,i've yet to meet a single trans woman in the Riordanverse fandom who dosen't think Percy is one too-and they're have been a lot!!-and it's pretty obvious to me at least that Percy wants to be super feminine but won't allow herself to because she's scared of not living up to peoples expectations as The Ideal GuyTM and her as a transfeminine character would've improved a lot of the aspects of the series' writing like giving positive female rep and exploring the womens side of greek myths and fixing her relathionships that weren't used to their full potential(Nico,looking at you in particular,you and Percy deserved to be brother and sister so much)and Walker has proved himself again and again since the second he got casted as perfect to play Percy-He's super weird(complimentary and /pos),he's not afraid to say what's on his mind,he's an incredibly good kid just like Percy was but nobody believed him to be and he loves Percy just like we do so with all that combined he deserves to play him.Thank you and peace and love on Percy Jackson Autism

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Triple Sec by TJ Alexander

4.5/5. Releases 6/4/24.

Vibes: healthy polyamory, front and center genderqueer rep (from a trans nonbinary author), slice of life in the best possible way, BOMB ASS COCKTAILS

Heath Index: 7.5/10.

Ambitious high-end bartender Mel Sorrento has been in a rut since her divorce. Enter the vivacious, brilliant Bebe... who happens to have spouse. Quiet, reserved Kade doesn't have a problem with Mel dating their wife, however--because Kade and Bebe are polyamorous. Mel's never considered the lifestyle, but her instant connection with Bebe makes her willing to give it a shot. But when her dynamic with Kade begins to shift into something entirely new, she must confront what she's actually looking for in a relationship, and how much this new opportunity for love really means to her.

UGH. YES. This is how you do a contemporary romance that, at the end of the day, is a slice of life character piece. Triple Sec is not about shocking you with plot twists and over the top dramatics (and that's not a critique--often, I'd say that I prefer plot twists and over the top dramatics). It's just fucking good writing with great character development and romance. It's also one of the more realistic contemporary romances I've read, which is honestly so refreshing. I truly believed that there were grown-ass adults figuring out their shit.

Quick Takes:

--One thing I love about a triad romance (and while this is the most realistic one I've read (I say having never been in a polycule or a triad more specifically), I do generally enjoy reading about the complexities of both figuring out a three-way relationship and developing the different "segments". While I've read some that begin with love triangle elements, that isn't the case here. Though they aren't without expected hiccups, Kade and Bebe have a very healthy approach to Bebe's beginning relationship with Mel (and later Kade starting things with Mel as well).

I feel like in less capable hands, the degree to which Bebe and Kade communicate and deal with jealousy would seem overly sanitized or boring. Like, they begin the relationship with Kade sitting in on Bebe asking Mel out and everything, just to reassure Mel that there isn't any cheating going on. But like... it's NEVER dull. It never feels expected, or like these people are perfect. (I mean, they aren't--Mel has some struggles and stumbles when beginning her journey into polyamory.)

--Part of what makes that work, I think, is the contrast in the relationships. Kade and Bebe have been together for almost a decade--they know what they're doing, and their lived-in love reverberates off the page, even though the book is entirely from Mel's third-person perspective. (Kade calling Bebe "love" constantly, despite seeming kind of frosty? Swoon.) Bebe and Mel have this immediate chemistry, full of fun and fire. And Kade and Mel sort of like... I felt an automatic sexual tension, but I also think that Mel was a bit too "new" to their dynamic to super sense it. This is probably not going to make sense to anyone but me, but I got this kind of like... Darcy and Lizzie vibe? Kade was never as prickly as Darcy, but I definitely felt like Mel was in that "WHAT. BUT THEY DON'T EVEN LIKE ME???" space.

All of it worked to me. I mean--I won't lie. I was a little partial to Mel and Kade's dynamic, because a) I like it to be a little difficult and b) Kade was my favorite but everything is great.

--Let us expand on Kade being my favorite. I really appreciate a "still waters run deep" character. Kade is that. They seem remote, but they have so much feeling and passion rumbling under the surface, and Alexander throws them into this situation with Mel that is sooooo tropey and fabulous and reading as the feelings spilled out of them was just pitch-perfect.

This does happen somewhat later, so you technically spend a lot more time with Bebe and Mel together on the page. However, Kade has a such presence, and they're constantly sort of like... looming in the background. And because of that, the slowly bubbling tension that Mel doesn't even fully register for a while is so HOT. I mean. Kade is also so hot. I was ABOUT them. Again--love Bebe and Mel, together and apart, but WHEW.

--This is completely an aside, but I do think the cocktail competition and the highlighting of the art of making a great cocktail was really cool. It made me both want to learn how to mix drinks (to the extent that I can) and try something new. These types of details make a contemporary romance way richer, and they're appreciated.

--I think it's really important to show books that are both incredibly romantic and sexy and approachable. Again, I've never been in a polyamorous or more generally non-monogamous relationship. I can't attest to have truly realistic this book is. But in general, I loved seeing a romance in which the relationship part started fairly early, showing negotiations, showing boundaries, showing rules. I mean, really, monogamous relationships should also be subject to rules and negotiations and boundaries. We should normalize this in romance. Things change. That HEA does kinda take work in some stories, and that is more reflective of real life.

Speaking of the HEA... I so appreciated that both Kade and Mel had been in very serious, very intense relationships in the past. Kade's openness and honesty about how their past partner did offer them things Bebe couldn't (and Mel can't either) was so refreshing. It's not that they necessarily need someone else to come in and take that space (though the rules do allow room for new partners--we don't see anything happen beyond the triad in this book). It's just a reality. No one person can give you everything, and that doesn't mean that every person needs to be with enough people to comprise "everything". If that's even possible. It's just something to accept, no matter what your relationship preferences.

I also loved that Kade was kind of like--yeah, this could end. How many things are really forever? But we love each other when we love each other and make each other happy and that's good. I mean, I think some people will categorize this book as one with an HFN versus an HEA--personally, I'd kinda disagree with that. But either way, I really loved seeing a romance that validated the idea that like... A relationship ending doesn't mean it wasn't VALUABLE.

The Sex:

HOT HOT HOT. Technically speaking, there are three full sex scenes in this novel. Every single one of those scenes went HARD. We have sex in a public space, we have LICK! IT! UP! (as in cum) the strap is indeed taken out and used to great effect. It's great. I loved it. I also liked and overall agree with Bebe's philosophy regarding sex and how people often tend to switch up their "out of bed" personalities compared to their "in bed" personalities.

(Also. Kade is a dirty talker. What can't they do?)

A super queer, super sexy, super bubbly contemporary romance with a heavy emphasis on character development and love story that really sold me on the "love" part. And on a personal note--I have a trans nonbinary person in my life who is much loved, and I so appreciate them having someone like TJ Alexander to see out there, creating art and leaving a mark.

Would highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

I Intentionally Start Shit in the Loki Tag

If you complain about Sylvie being "harmful queer rep" BUT want "Lady Loki" in the MCU, which was Loki possessing Sif's body just to torment Sif, I need you to sit down and shut up. a. Genderfluid people don't go by "Lady " when they're femme or women. b. If you don't see the transphobic dogwhistles in the comics possession subplot, I don't know what to tell you... But let's say that hag that wrote those crappy books would love it. c. If you weren't aware about this, maybe you should read the wiki at least before giving uninformed opinions.

I definitely agree that they should not have led people on with the promise of genderfluid rep during the promotion of the series. But get mad at Disney/Marvel for that. Not at the writers or Sophia Di Martino that had to cave in to Feige's demands. That's literally what they have to do.

I really don't give a damn about the "autogynephilia" allegations, which again, is ALSO PRESENT IN CIS WOMEN. Like why the fuck should I care about someone finding themselves hot? There's fascists out there. AGP even if it was a trans-specific thing harms no one. The only harm said to come from it is DUE TO FASCISM because it plays into RESPECTABILITY POLITICS.

If you use AI to create a "proper" Lady Loki or love interest for Loki, you can't complain about the blatant product placement in S2. I am not a fan of product placement either and won't defend it, but those are the rules. Show some integrity. And before you ask, I have not given a cent to Disney since they pissed me off with attempts to trademark Dia de los Muertos for Coco.

If you complain about how being a "Loki" is not a role (unlike Spiderman) and how it should have been all 100% Tom Hiddleston, you don't get to call it selfcest as a gotcha, because you're already differentiating between the variants with different DNA. Like do y'all hate selfcest or not? Make up your mind. The series treats a Loki as an archetype of sorts, so it can be a role. Also, having the same name does not make you related because we don't know what Sylvie's parents are? And we don't even know if Sylvie is also a Jotun, a prop claims she isn't.

If you say you want Sylvie dead but claim to not be misogynistic, because you'd love if a specific love interest from the comics or mythology replaced her, STFU. You only like those because you can project whatever the fuck you want onto them.

If you claim Sylvie is a misogynistic depiction of women but salivate over characters written by cishet white men in the 1960s-1980s that made wanting to fuck Thor or being in a monogamous marriage with Loki their entire personality (there's so MANY OF THESE), STFU. Do you hear yourself? And no, it's not misogynistic of me, a woman, to criticize offensive depictions of women by cishet white men. They're not real.

Our MCU!Loki is not the young adult Ikol reincarnation currently. Of course 20-something Verity is not going to be there! The Loki show should be praise for having multiple female cast members around the same age as the protagonist and pragmatic clothing choices that allowed SdM to nurse her baby.

Selfcest isn't real and I cry tears of boredom whenever someone clutches their pearls over it.

The comics aren't perfect. As much as I loved the recent Dan Watters run (and German Peralta's art), the comics art has some very questionable tendencies, especially regarding Loki's nose when she's femme. It's associated with how some kinds of facial features are considered masculine or feminine (and racialized). Noses have no gender, ffs! Women with nose bumps exist! For some reason Loki always has a tiny button nose when she's a woman or femme. There's also the BLATANT physiognomy that has ALWAYS PLAGUED Thor comics since their inception, and Loki's facial features as they've become more "grey" and less evil is an interesting study. Peralta's far from being the only artist with this problem, and is far from being the most problematic. For comparison from Loki (2023) run:

Loki from ye olden days:

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Representation in MoaH (& GoS)

I don't like to tag my works with a lot of the rep tags they normally would/could have. Personally, from publishing the first book in Word Walkers, my experience is that those tags are more often used to blacklist works and I don't think people should get the opportunity to pretend that queer people, BIPOC people, disabled people don't exist by flagging that. Also like. As a white person, I feel a little weird being like "Look at all my BIPOC characters!" It feels a little virtue signally to me. Telling good stories should just include diverse casts because the world is diverse. You know?

Further, in my experience, particular with Wattpad at the moment, I have a platform to give people the 101 to a lot of these concepts (in particular queer and disability rep, which are my communities) and change their minds that they would have otherwise missed if they'd stayed in their bubble. It does mean you probably won't see things like neopronouns in my works, but if I can change someone's mind about they/them being singular, that's a start. I have a lot of ESL readers according to my stats on Wattpad and translating that can be difficult. But if my work can be a gateway for them learning what that means, that's more good done.

Also, my fics attract a lot of eggs so like. Y'all are finding me anyway, I don't need the tags.

Anyway, here's some of the confirmed rep in book 1 of MoaH and in GoS if y'all need a reference though for what is blatantly in the works so far.

Queer Rep

Marela is a lesbian and in a relationship with Saddiqah by the end of book 1

Link & Saddiqah are both bi-icons (confirmed in the Din's Temple arc) with femme preferences

The fortuneteller in Lake Town (Hart) uses she/they pronouns

The tour guide (unnamed) in Lake Town uses they/them pronouns

Zelda's middle sibling is transmasc, though he is not reintroduced as such until book 2 for plot reasons. His identity and the story around it is given a serious storybeat and is one of the reasons why MoaH Link is my only Link I firmly will say is a cis man, because I'm making a point of in having Link as an example of healthy masculinity (as a cis man) for a trans kid trying to find a role model on it. The series does not use his deadname again though after Link finds out in book 1

They show up later in book 1, but there's a gay couple in the Marksmen, Sorol and Kutt

That's just book 1. I've got an enby knight and an enby Goron in book 2. I've also gone over how some of the Gerudo naming conventions work in my worldbuilding posts to include enby rep like the Gerudo word for nonbinary, vyu, though Dirjaani Gerudo culture doesn't come up in the books until book 3.

Over in GoS, Endeavor is actually a huge part of my coming to terms with my own gender. Originally published with she/her pronouns, the current edits are giving Endeavor they/them pronouns to accurately reflect what I didn't have the language for in high school when I started writing GoS. Endeavor is agendered.

Endeavor has two moms

Two of the Earth Sages, Insen and Hira, are in a relationship, they are both men.

Disability Rep

Lance, Link's dad, uses mobility aids due to an injury that forced him to retire from the Marksmen.

Link has ADHD with anxiety symptoms, chiefly social. This is an intentional conversation on courage and how we define it.

Zelda is autistic. MoaH Zelda is also plus-sized.

Floan is auADHD, she has a special interest in bugs

Kaju, the son of Lake Town's steward, has a prosthetic leg

Ambrose has severe motion sickness (horseback riding is about the most he can handle, but he will not fight on horseback)

Not strictly a disability, but it's a point of worldbuilding that most Hyrulean lineage Zora don't do well in the cold, so there are accessibility enchantments made to allow for traveling extensively in colder regions.

Also not strictly a disability, but sign language is much more widely taught in Hyrule. It's a mandatory lesson for the Marksmen for tactics reasons, so Ambrose, Saddiqah, and Link all have at least a conversational level of fluency in it if not better.

Back in GoS, Link's granddad Lynard uses mobility aids.

Parijan, Guardian of the Spirit Sage, is blind.

Saruo, Priestess of Courage, has anxiety. Again, I like messing with the definition of courage.

BIPOC Rep

Ok, admittedly. MoaH is a little light here. But! In my defense, it's because I want the worldbuilding of MoaH to code countries and cultures with certain ethnicities and not races/species (i.e. the Gerudo aren't just automatically Middle Eastern, there are several cultures where Gerudo are prominent members with multiple influences). So in Hyrule, where the primary culture is Hyrulean coded European generic, there aren't as many opportunities for coded characters ethnically because that's not how I'm handling it. There are characters who are BIPOC, but it feels like a bit of a cop out to include them because then I just list off all the Gerudo who show up because their POC and that feels a little cheap. I am including them too, but I want to preface that other regions of this series are going to be better at this particular beat (I circle back to the enby knight, who is also BIPOC of Faronan-Dirjaani heritage, but that's book 2).

Basic ones, there are three major Gerudo characters in book 1: Saddiqah El Amin, Dragmire Al Iber, and Ayad Al I'Tidal. They are all of the more standard Hyrulean-Dirjaani lineages closest to canon expectation. Dirjaani cultures are influenced by Middle Eastern and North African cultures, so they are all women of color.

Saddiqah in particular, and this gets into spoilers so I'll be brief, is specifically coded to be a biracial woman. For reasons that come up in book 3. It's why her horse, Ajan, has a Creole name which is outside of the typical naming conventions I'm grabbing for the Hyrulean-Dirjaani names.

The Sheikah are coded as Japanese in the games, so Impa is coded as Japanese along with the Hyrulean Sheikah. Sorol is also a Hyrulean Sheikah, so this applies for him too.

The Dreeka in Hyrule are generally coded to be an indigenous group. Because of their relationship with the Sheikah, primary influence there is the Ainu. This includes all of the Dreeka characters introduced in MoaH (Constant, Temperance, Clarity, etc.) as well as the Drex in GoS (Endeavor, Justice, Zeal, etc.)

Over in GoS, Parijan and Dabir are both Middle Eastern coded, we are aiming to be more specific in the edits.

Sayyida and Daniel are both black.

This is loose canon, but I think there's a real read to GoS about making Link black because of the nameless and the felons' rights allegory that that is meant to be. I will not confirm it because Link is meant to be a stand in for the reader and how they see him, but I do like the interpretation.

And again, this is just book 1. There are nine books planned, there will be more.

[antirealityreviews]

Friends vs Friends Review

Friends vs Friends is a PvP first person shooter mixed with a deck-builder. You fight against one or two other players, depending on the mode you picked, using cards to gain an advantage. This game is my first review on the blog, so this might be messy and not as well written as some of the later reviews I will release down the line.

The game has two modes, 1v1 and 2v2. The game is very fast paced and skill based (hey, that rhymes!), but still manages to be somewhat casual friendly with the cards. There are a lot of characters to choose from, all with their own passive abilities. I personally like Duck Anderson, the stoner duck whose passive ability gives him weed in his hand every round that heals him. You can see the friends scattered around the hub doing their thing, where you can approach and switch with them, or you can switch to whoever you want in the bathroom. The hub has 2-3 main locations depending on your gender. The hub’s main area is a shopping square that houses a “PalPrize Machine”, which takes what I’ll call “Pig Coins”, and it dispenses card backs, keychains, and friend avatars. The Diner is a place where you can pick up quests (once you hit level 8) and build decks/open booster packs. It has a nice little ambient jukebox where you can change the background music, and the walls are full of different souvenirs, some mildly graffitied. The bathroom of the Diner allows you to change characters, as I brought up before, and houses the entrance to the shop, Cash’s Corner. There you can practice your aim with the shooting range or buy booster packs to add new cards to your deck, or duplicates which you can use to level up your current cards. In matches, you’ll get 5 seconds to scroll through your cards and pick one you want to use once the match starts. Then from there on out it's just you and your opponent having a shooting match to see who the best player is. After you use the cards in one round, they won't be available for the next round, so it’s recommended to not use too many cards all at once. There are around 4 or so maps in the game, with more sure to be added later.

Now, I implore you not to click off this article until the end, because I’m bringing up my criticisms first. I like to get the cons out of the way so we can end the article on a positive note. Some issues I do have is that the game doesn’t run flawlessly. I personally had to turn down some settings, and a big one was having to turn off bloom, and there were still some frame drops in matches, however it didn’t happen too often, and I occasionally rubber banded during a match. I feel like the frame drops differ from map to map, with the biggest culprits being the Trucks map and the Subway. A problem I do have is with booster packs being luck-based, it could be hard to get a card you really want or a new card, especially with the fact there ARE dupes. As well with the pig coins, it's a pain in the ass since you have to finish 3 daily quests to get one.

Now onto the much, much longer list of things I like. First of all, the art style. The art style is a mix of pixel art with 3D models, and it looks great, though of course it depends on your preferences. Just the intro alone is so charming. The card art is also great, able to convey what card it is with just a look at the art, along with it just looking good in general. While the game does feature cartoonish blood and bones, there’s an option to turn it off, making it even more accessible to people who may be more squeamish. The hub oozes with charm and personality, with the calming guitar playing in the lobby it really gives you the idea that the friends made a lot of memories here and it feels lived in. It's great, it makes my soul happy. There’s also a lot of LGBT rep, with there being the progress flag and the trans flag available as keychains from the get-go, and DJ Newton's original design even had a trans rights shirt. The cards feel fun and creative and combine quite well with each other. The music sounds great and the voice acting is amazing for all of the characters, being very charming and filled with personality. The matchmaking is also level-based, so you wont be matched against someone who has better cards or a better character, and you can still turn it off if you like. The best part of all of this? The game is 10 dollars. It honestly feels like a robbery that they’re selling it that cheap and with the sale I got it even cheaper for 6. If you want to support the developers even more though, they have a deluxe edition which pays forward to get access to the first two premium expansions they’ll be releasing later this year. All the premium content is purely cosmetic, however, and it's decently priced, at least compared to most other games, with the DLC costing around 8 dollars, which is around 4 dollars for both expansions. Even then, you can still unlock a multitude of cosmetics just from playing. With how low the price is and how much accessibility they put into it, if this game piques your interest in any form I urge you to pick it up. It’s a great time, and you’ll definitely enjoy it. If I had to give it a score out of 10, it’s definitely a solid 8/10. Might not be for everyone, but if you like shooters you’ll love this.

-Logan Laws

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb: The heir to an arcane bloodline must outwit their ambitious rival to stop a ruthless magical adversary in Lee Paige O’Brien’s A Hundred Vicious Turns, a YA fantasy debut—first in The Broken Tower series—perfect for fans of A Lesson in Vengeance and Hell Followed With Us.   Rat Evans, nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines in New York, doesn’t cast spells anymore. For as long as Rat can remember, they’ve been surrounded by doorways no one else sees and corridors that aren’t on any map. Then one day, they opened a passage and found a broken tower in a field of weeds—and something followed them back.   When Rat is accepted into Bellamy Arts, all they want is a place to hide and to make sure they never open another passageway again. But when the only other person who knows what really happened last year—Harker Blakely, the dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat’s closest friend—turns up on campus, Rat begins to realize that Bellamy Arts might not be as safe as they’d thought. And the tower might not be through with them yet.   Soon, Rat finds themself caught in a web of secrets and long-buried magic, with their friend-turned-enemy at their throat. But the closer they come to uncovering the truth about the tower, the further they’re drawn toward the unsettling powers that threaten to swallow them whole.

Review:

A nonbinary heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines finds themselves enrolling in magic college, facing their ex-best friend turned nemesis, and trying to hunt down a magical map all the while running from a mysterious entity that wants to capture them. Rat Evans is the heir to one of the oldest magical bloodlines and has refused to cast spells anymore. Their magical talent allows them to find doorways and paths that no one else has ever seen.... but when they open up a passage to a broken tower and face a mysterious entity... they know they are in danger. Rat is now going to attend Bellamy Arts, a magical school that promises to offer protection for Rat and make sure that Rat doesn't encounter anymore passageways. There's only one problem with going to this school, Harker Blakely, a dangerously gifted trans boy who used to be Rat's closest friend and was the only person who knew what happened to Rat when they encountered the dangerous entity, but now absolutely hates Rat. Rat realizes that the entity is closing in on them and now they have to solve dangerous secrets and figure out what Harker is truly up to if they want to survive.

For a book titled A Hundred Vicious Turns, the only vicious turn this book had was how boring it got. This book features a gorgeous cover, has great representation, and offers a magical school, which should be the formula to a great book I would love right? Wrong. I found this book so boring and I honestly slogged through it, and the worst part is that it's not even that long but it felt like forever. Rat is suppose to be an interesting and complex main character but I found everyone other than Rat to be an interesting character. Heck, even Harker was a more complex and interesting character, I was more invested in the side characters than I was ever invested in Rat, and that's just devastating. I really wanted to like it, but it just fell flat. For a book featuring a magical school, it sure didn't feel magical at all, they were barely even doing school work or school things half the time. Seriously this was such a let down and I won't be continuing with the series after this. The premise was promising and the cover was stunning, but beyond that, this really doesn't have much to going for it.

In the end, if you are looking for a magical school mystery featuring lots of rep, give this one a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it then I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and ABRAMS Kids, Amulet Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[kassil]

Temtem!

So there's the monster tamer semi-MMO that most people are gonna look at and either dismiss it as a Pokemon knockoff (like most) or look at the cosmetics store and blow it off (since you buy the game and then there's a shop for cosmetics on top of it).

But.

But.

Temtem is a worthwhile game, because it does a bunch of things way better than Pokemon, because the shop is literally just cosmetics and literally them paying for the game servers, and because the queer rep in it is nothing short of astounding for a game that's able to pitch itself as a sort-of-MMO.

Mechanically, every battle is a double battle on your end, with a lot of moves designed to take type synergies between different 'tems into account. They use stamina, which starts at full every battle, refills a bit each turn, and whose total amount is based on the stamina stat of each 'tem, instead of PP, meaning you have an energy pool for your moves. The pathfinding is nothing short of astounding - select a spot on the map that's six screen-lengths of running and two levels below you, in the world or the minimap, and off you'll go, hands-free. You can select and swap the order of your squad freely from the main screen drag-and-drop style. The game's aesthetic and design, while your character is still a teen/young adult, acknowledges that you, the player, are not going to be a ten-year-old. The mechanics feel improved in so many ways over the Pokemon baseline, even with the annoyances of some of the design choices, that I'm legitimately just scratching the surface.

The cash shop is there, and organized weirdly with a little bit of FOMO on it since the battle pass segment goes out of circulation for a year before being added to the rotation, by their own declaration, and it only offers seven items at a time - three for a week, three for a day for the cahs currency, and one for a day for an in-game special currency. I can't be too mad about this, since the battlepass, even the free side, does give the cash currency in moderate amounts, and the cash is going to pay wages and keeps the servers running.

As for the queer rep? It's there from character creation. You can choose your body type and choose your pronouns (which includes they/them as an option) separately and all the cosmetics can be worn by anyone; you can have a masculine body type, they/them pronouns, and have a pretty sundress or miniskirt and cold shoulder top or whatever else suits your fancy. You meet a squabbling lesbian couple and can help them make up in the first area after your starting town. The obnoxious rival character is nonbinary. Every island has at least one gay or lesbian couple casually existing; the airship navigator is a flirty gay man with a lad in every port and the airship engineer is a happily married lesbian. One of the Dojo leaders is a trans woman who is very definitely feminine while being big and strong, firmly slamming the door on performative feminity and transphobic bullshit at the same time, and we meet her mom and she's happy to see her daughter doing so well and she's proud of her. There's a trans man in a government building going through the process of updating his identity and his father is there to support him. One the battle side, there are no forced-attraction moves like Pokemon's attract; the sex of a 'tem legit only matters for breeding purposes, aside from a single species where it determines what the evolution stage will be.

It has flaws, typos, glitches, and bugs, but they're slowly working on those. You can play it on a host of platforms (Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch), full crossplay. They make it very clear that people are people, and there are people who are more inclined to make bad choices in life. Some will see the error of their ways, some won't, and they very firmly come down on the side that bigotry and fascism and colonialism are bad, and that humanity is, despite our differences (which are real, and to be celebrated) we are still all in this together.

[connyscomics]

A brief guide to Conny's Comics

Hello, I just wanted to give a brief description of my rating system :3

There are two different metrics I use for rating a comic, a score of 10 in either metric earns a🐱.

Trans representation is the first metric, rated on a 0-10 scale. This one can be a bit tricky because a low score can either mean that the trans rep is just not very significant or that it is actively harmful. Generally speaking, the ratings look like this:

0-1 is no representation at all (probably wouldn't even post it, so you'll most likely never see this)

2-5 is a case of a problematic or harmful depiction of trans/gnc people

6-7 is for comics with a positive portrayal of trans/gnc people that don't go into depth or aren't explicitly trans

8-9 is for incredible depictions of trans people, some of the best comics out there!

10 my personal favorites :3

The second metric I use is general enjoyment, which is similarly rated out of 10. General enjoyment is incredibly subjective to my own taste in comics, but it can hopefully give you some idea of how "enjoyable" a comic is to actually read. Some comics have good trans representation but are incredibly boring or poorly written, which can often greatly detract from the experience of reading it. My rating scale looks kind of like this:

0-5 you shouldn't bother reading this, its really quite awful

6-7 this is fine, but a bit lacking

8-9 I love and recommend this comic!!!

10 my personal favorites :3

The final thing I must note is my inclusion of age ratings. This is not supposed to be a highly restrictive number but instead a general indicator of the kinds of content in a comic.

all ages - very child-friendly, limited discussions of transphobia, bullying, self-hate/dysphoria, depression, trauma, etc. No sex and doesn't focus on romance

10+ - mostly child friendly. A bit more emotionally involved, may include more intense romance, but still explicitly no sex (though maybe some fanservice-y stuff from manga).

16+ - may include sexual content (I won't post comics intended as porn, but some may have sex or intense intimacy). May also reference more mature content, both in relation to transphobia and bullying as well as dysphoria and depression. I will try to make it clear in the post if there is any prolonged discussion of suicide.

Hope you enjoy :3

Btw my memes/reposting blog is @anziewouldliketodriveatank so uh yeah thats a thing lol

[allthelovelydeadthings]

Disappointment

From Merriam-Webster's Dictionary: Disappoint. Verb. To fail to meet the expectation or hope of.

In some ways, I am very different than my mother. In others, though, I can be just like her. One such way is our shared farmer's cynism.

"The dogs need to be fed, and walked. The sheep need to be let out to pasture. They don't care about the weather, how your day is, whether you're sick or not. The chores need to be done."

Replace the specifics with any farm chore, anything a custodian of nature would do, and there you have it.

I didn't want to be sad with others. I didn't even want to talk about the election. To be honest, I was a bit numb. I don't feel any big emotions, because those emotions have already been felt. The government has never really cared for me; rural, queer, humanities scholar, woman- they care about the money they can scrounge from me, and that's it. It doesn't matter who's in office- that's how it's felt since I was cognisant enough to understand that bi-partisan politics will never truly aid the people.

I don't know, man. I just don't know. I'm not surprised, honestly, I'm not even angry. How can I be? There's been a genocide happening in Palestine for over a year now, reproductive rights have been cut down again and again, school budgets have been being sliced and diced, and everyone in the queer- especially trans folks- community has been demonized regardless of who is rotting in the White House.

But I'm not saying anything new right now. That's what actually makes me angry. We will write pages and pages of woe and empty promises, but what are we doing to actually build hope?

Disappointment is not new for me. Cynism isn't either. I'm 24, watching the world go by, stuck in an office job that makes me feel unfulfilled, and kept from creating because I can't stop comparing myself to my friends who have found more success than me.

But as I write this, as I face and contemplate my doom and gloom and anxiety, I think back to one of the worst fights I have ever had with my mother, after the 2020 election. She told me that my future was ruined, and she couldn't understand why I didn't understand her fear. I told her that if I lived my life in fear, making every decision based off of what the worst outcome would be, there'd be no point to my living. That I would rather die than live miserable all of the time because that wasn't living.

The same holds true now. You have to hold onto hope, because without it, you won't do anything to make a difference. We see it all the time; "the world's going to shit anyway, who cares if I get Starbucks or McDonalds, cross picket lines, overconsume, litter, etc." "nothing I do will change, so why bother?" "Neither outcome will be good for us, so what's the point of voting?"

You've got to get up. You've got to do your chores. You've got to take care of yourself, so you can care for those you love. And most importantly, you have to find joy and purpose in what you can reasonably create and control.

Don't want to join a protest or call your reps to make changes? Make posters to deliver to those who will, flood reps' inboxes with emails. Feel too small to do something worthwhile? Go outside. Take a walk, bring a trash bag, and pick up every piece of litter you can find. Start small. Donate to local food banks, give and support where you can. Stop supporting big companies where you can. Reuse, repair, recycle.

Take inventory of yourself. Do you want to do your actions for you, or for something or someone else? What does that mean to you in the context of your decision? For me, writing this was to help myself put my thoughts in order, and get them out so I can maybe sleep better. Posting it is freeing myself of the burden of my thoughts, which, yes, is selfish. Especially when I am white, cis, and privileged. I'm lucky, even with a lot of my rights being threatened every day, that I can go to sleep in a bed that is safe, afford to feed myself, my cat, my dog, curl up on the couch and listen to the mixtape my partner made me for our anniversary.

I don't know, man. That feels like all I can say with absolute certainty. I can't make this beautiful prose. Nothing I'm saying here is groundbreaking. But I'm saying it, and sharing it with all of you, because I want you to know that I believe in your potential to care. I believe in your ability to do good for yourself and others. I believe in your ability to believe in the world. Because for every bigot, every window smashed, slur said, and ugly winners uplifted, there is a mother who jumps into puddles with her child, people who will carve out safe spaces and fight for minority voices. People who will be kind, despite, despite, despite.

I believe in you in the way I believe in myself. Take time to heal, however that looks for you, and then get out there and do the chores.

I don't know man. But I do know that the best we can do is try.

[kittythelitter]

Thinking about an imaginary Ted Lasso season three scene. I want queer rep. And this kind of popped into my head.

Everyone's kinda loitering in the clubhouse before/after training. The players are changing and trickling in/out of the locker room while the coaches and Will Kitman are chatting (Will very clearly got distracted mid-chore and is holding towels or shoes or something).

Ted is talking about his mother coming to town.

TED: I'll definitely take her around to the ole C and A for a pint and some fish and chips, but since she's coming all the way out here on her birthday and everything I wanna take her somewhere fancy for dinner day of.

BEARD: of course.

TED: I was thinking that Italian place Jane took us to, what's it called, Vinny-something?

WILL: Oh, Vincenzo's! I love that place. Me and my boyfriend went there for our two year anniversary!

[about half the people look up. WILL pales and drops what he's holding and scrambles to gather it up as he continues speaking.]

WILL: girlfriend! Whoops meant to say girlfriend! My girlfriend.

....

TED: Well, Will, if you meant to say girlfriend you meant to say girlfriend. But. If you did ever mean to say boyfriend, nobody here would give you a hard time about it. I know that for sure.

[Everyone agrees very seriously.]

COLIN: I know if I was ever lucky enough to have a boyfriend I'd be telling everyone here all about him.

WILL: [looks around anxiously] It's just. He's not out. I can't out him. I love him.

TED: Well i know nobody here will say a word.

[BEARD taps his nose]

TED: You do what you need to do. We can all just pretend like you said girlfriend if that's what we need to do. But if you wanted to be out here no one would have a problem with that.

ROY: I might. [Everyone looks at him shocked] Don't fucking look at me like that. I can't believe I'm the one to say this. I hate getting fucking involved. But what about Alex. We've met her. If you and your- whatever have been together for two years are you fucking cheating on her? Or does she know that she's your- what's the word.

TED: Beard.

[Everyone looks to BEARD for the word.]

BEARD: that's the word. Beard.

[Everyone looks back to WILL]

WILL: no! I'd never cheat and Alex isn't a beard.

JAMIE: Oh! So are you like in one of those bi-sex-ual relationships?

WILL: Well I am bisexual but the word I think you're looking for is polyamorus.

JAMIE: Right. Well then what's bisexual mean?

BEARD: Bisexual: Sexual attraction to people of more than one gender.

(Random Player): there's more than one gender?

(Other Random Player): [overlapping previous] you can like more than one?

[minor confused chaos about gender and sexuality]

ROY: Oi! [Everyone falls quiet. He gestures to WILL who is looking at something on his phone] I'm done talking about it after this, but whatever's going on Alex knows and you're not fucking hurting her, yeah?

[Everyone stares at ROY]

ROY: What? She's a good fucking kid. Gave me a great Moussaka recipe. And no one deserves to be cheated on. It fucking sucks.

WILL: [Looks up nervously] This won't leave this room right?

ROY: As long as no one's getting hurt I don't give a shit.

[everyone agrees]

TED: As the man said.

WILL: He said i could tell you. But you can't spread it around. [Pause] Alex is my boyfriend. He's just. Not out. Um. As a man.

[pause]

TED: Well. We certainly won't out him. But if he ever wants to be reintroduced to the team, as your boyfriend. I reckon we can welcome him on the down low if that's what he needs.

WILL: Thanks, coach.

[pause]

(some player): okay but can someone explain to me bisexual again. You're allowed to like more than one?

[Fade to black or credits or whatever as the team devolves into chaos again]

So yeah that's my idea for Will Kitman to have a trans boyfriend and for Richmond to learn about and acknowledge queer people in a way that's more than just references to Keeley sleeping with women and Colin knowing what Grindr is.

[transmalewife]

It's a bit disapointing how often disability is excluded from online leftism, how it's seen as a separate issue from other causes, how often i see this vibe of 'um im gonna talk about what affects me/is popular rn, but lets just let the cripples deal with their problems alone'. So often i see "cishet white man" as the rough outline of the non-opressed, which ignores how many cishet white men are disenfranchised because of their disabilities. and yeah, sure, many of those men are sexist or homophobic or racist, but then again, there are plenty of racist queer ppl and queerphobic poc, and yet we include them in mainstream activism, acknowledging that there is value in their lives nonetheless.

I think it's both unconscious ableism and an internalised capitalist mindset. Like this vague disgust and discomfort abled (or even disabled in a different way) people feel for visbly disabled bodies is acknowledged as harmful, but instead of unlearning it people will just ignore disabled people entirely to avoid having to do the work and make themselves uncomfortable looking or thinking about certain conditions.

Theres an issue of rep here, because sure, in every group pretty and palatable people will get the most visibility, like there's a reason you see more skinny femmes than fat butches in media, colorism is also a whole thing. But because disability is such a broad term, when the only conversations we allow to surface are led by depressed/anxious people, quirky autistic people and the occasional manic pixie dream girl in a bedazzled wheelchair, there are certain types of discrimination that just fly entirely under peoples radar.

Like ok. A trans person who doesn't pass will face a lot of shit from society, but they have the same problems with medical gatekeeping as one who does pass, and both their issues stem from the way society treats gender. But a blind person, a deaf person, a wheelchair user, and someone with a facial disfigurement will all have drastically different experiences and often contradicting needs. You can put a ramp in every museum and it won't help blind people experience the art. You can diagnose every child with adhd and give them access to therapy and medication, but it won't help someone with a chronic illness who's failing because they can't attend classes in the same school. And all of these stem from different sources. There's the fear of the unknown, disgust with anything out of the ordinary, but there's also this idea that disabled people are useless and not worth accomodating. it's not worth it to add aids in museums because who cares if a blind person gets to experience this art. but by that logic there's no point in having museums at all, unless you admit you think of disabled people as less deserving. it's not worth it to make education accessible for people who can't keep perfect attendance, if they fail out they weren't worth teaching anyway, it's not like they'll ever be productive citizens. and besides, they're probably just faking it, if we make things worse for them surely their symptoms will magically disappear.

and this same mentality permeates leftist spaces, only exacerbated by the fact that as a group, disabled people are more likely to have trouble communicating, or finding time or energy to speak up or produce content or participate in irl organizing. so we're already fighting against our own bodies to make ourselves heard, and on top of that few people bother to amplify our voices. this coalition that makes up the modern understanding of leftism, formed of queer people and poc happy to speak up for all different types of people within their own and each others communities just lets us fall through the cracks, only using us as tools when a statistic of a marginalized group facing higher rates of mental or physical illness nicely pads out their point.

if you're abled, next time you type out a list of opressed groups, think if disabled people don't also fit the point you're trying to make. next time you talk about intersectionality, think about how different disabilities might affect whatever you're talking about. and if your ideal world doesn't have a space in it for people who can't work, can't speak, can't move even, then you have already decided there's a certain group that inherently doesn't deserve a good life

[thatfeyboy]

I think it's because there is a strong undercurrent in feminism that all men are worse than women. It's not all of it, and I'm not saying to be anti-feminist/women's rights; but being a man is definitely viewed as an objective negative for a person to be in this context.

What trans men/mascs seem to be experiencing is a cross section of viewing men as the Bad Privileged Gender and seeing trans men's manhood as abandoning or shirking the responsibility of womanhood. They expect trans men to suffer as women because supposedly all women hate being women. This is obviously not true of course, but a key part of womanhood in feminism is often the suffering womanhood supposedly inflicts(in context to society/patriarchy/etc).

In the end though, this mentality seems to come from a view that men owe women, as individuals and as a class, some kind of compensation or apology. That men currently hold some kind of invisible blade that slices bigotry and protects them from all harm, that they are obligated to use for everyone supposedly poorer off. Not using it is of course seen as a form of bigotry in itself, and this assumption that men are usually praised for their maleness only adds to the disgust that they wouldn't use just a tiny bit of that power for someone who has none.

This is only compounded by the desire people have for personal representation and self satisfying narratives. A woman who has suffered for being a woman but is still happy with/proud of their womanhood is not going to feel good about a similar character or person ending up as Not A Woman. It's not their solution to the problem they are facing, and many due to the reasons above feel like a trans masculine narrative is "giving to the enemy(men)" something that they need or deserve.

What is being completely ignored however is the fact that manhood is not universally praised, and is not a universal privilege for all those society labels as men. There does happen to be a good amount of female rep, especially dealing with misogyny, in the west. Doesn't mean they don't deserve more but we definitely have a decent amount. There are basically no stories dealing with the arguably more marginalized group of trans men and mascs by comparison.

Sure you might get some(not enough though) stories of trans women and fems because it's still about a woman and womanhood facing against men, manhood, and patriarchy. You won't really ever find dfab people actually challenging their gender on anything more than a "girls can do it too" level though when it comes to anything widely consumed.

Basically, as long as men are viewed as a class that is universally better off than women and universally oppresses women, we will never get more nuanced stories about gender that involve men, especially trans men. No one can get comfy about trans men if being a man is viewed as a gross, abusive, net negative thing to be.

To be clear, you are not lesser for not ending up a girl. There is nothing inherently less important or less progressive about not being a girl. Being yourself is not taking from anyone, and having stories about men discovering themselves in the wake of sexism/transphobia does not take away or cheapen stories about girls challenging sexism. They are not antagonistic to each other as concepts and no story about trans men is saying you should be a boy to escape sexism(unless perhaps if it written by a conservative that is making transphobic propaganda).

If someone in your life turns out as not a girl and you make them feel like they are taking rep from you/you are loosing an ally/etc, you are an asshole and are either using sexist or transphobic rhetoric. Saying a trans man would be better for the world as a woman/lesbian is transandrophobic. No there are not exceptions.

ultimately a lot of feminists will look down on or outright condemn transmasculinity and transmanhood simply because it is not narratively satisfying. because transmasculine identity and joy does not mesh with their feminism-as-defined-by-cis-women. they see trans men&mascs and, immediately or deep down, feel disappointed. by the womanhood dropouts. feel that transmasculine people will always be less feminist, or that they relinquished their place when they "quit" or "betrayed" their "sisters." they may not even hate trans men, they may not even be cisgender, it's just that they think it would be such a better look for the movement if you didn't... you know.

anyways. without acknowledging this feminist discomfort with transmasculinity and transmanhood, how it's caused by the friction between trans m&ms and cissexist feminism, we'll keep being failed over and over and over again by our own communities. we need to change the narratives we prize instead of treating trans men's identity as a problem to be solved.

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Lilly made a chart about TSL character's sexuality and relationships, and for some reason added Mara Jade (as Gay/Aro/Trans), a character who hasn't been in the story outside of a meta joke alluding to how her and Luke's EU relationship being stupid and cringe (the prompt being Rey and Alaina are so much better than the hypothetical relationship). Seems like more of her overcompensation where she pays lip service to famous fandom elements while having no knowledge about said element.

You mean this chart?

Honestly, Mara Jade being retconned to no longer be Luke's age, or a cool assassin that use to work for Palpatine, isn't a big issue in of itself. I tend to give fanfics a bit more leeway on character alienation, especially if the fanfic is focused more on the new movies, where Mara just... doesn't exist. (Unfortunately.)

But I actually have a lot of issues with this chart that stem outside of the original Star Wars fandom (though, I can see why this would annoy people who kept up with the original timeline.)

First of all, like you said, Mara doesn't show up in the fic at all, yet according to this chart, not only is she in a Friends with Benefit relationship with Rey and Aliana, (and that's her only relationship with the cast, being f*ck buddies with two married woman, according to this chart.) but she also gets the privilege of being a gay Transwoman whose also Aromantic, so she won't threaten their marriage, she's just there for the two of them to have fun.

Yes, I know I'm being uncharitable here.

But because Mara doesn't exist in the original work, I have to look at her inclusion on this chart through a meta lens. I have to ask why she's the only Aromantic character, who's also in a sexual relationship with the two most important characters in the fanfic. It's also clear just by looking at it that Mara being trans is just added to diverse the cast, because outside of her, there is only one other non cisgender person.

Aliana and Ray are both pure lesbians who are cis, which is...fine. But then look at Finn and Poe, with Finn being Bi and Poe is Pan. Why isn't one of them purely gay? To be honest, when you look at the chart, you quickly realize that EVERYONE is ether Pan or Bi, except for the people who are banging Aliana.

And I'm also giving this the side eye because not a single character is ace. Now, some people might want to argue that Mara is ace, but no. She isn't. She's Aromantic.

Acesexuality is about sexual attraction, not romantic attraction. Mara is a lesbian, who doesn't feel romantic attraction.

And that's totally fine and valid, but then, Mara's character exists solely to be the token rep person. If we already have one, why can't we have two? Where is the ace? We have a sea of Bi and Pan's, even a handful of lesbians, but there isn't room for one ace character?

You know who I feel did this kind of thing right?

Rain.

Rain has a big cast of trans characters, Cis characters, an Ace demiromantic who's dating a lesbian, a bisexual aunt, a token straight cis guy and the main character even starts dating a pansexual girl. (Their very wholesome.)

You know what else?

Rain would definitely need a relationship chart, because it has an incredibly large cast of characters, all with intricate relationships to one another, to the point that a chart would be welcomed.

Looking at Lily's chart, she has nine characters, only two of which are important, and she leaves out the other characters, like Leai, Luke, Chewy, Han's, Kylo and Hux out, when their inclusion could have bulked the chart out a little more, and make it look less sad.

Again, from what I remember, Rose barely factors, I don't think Jannah does ether, Finn is shoved out of the story as soon possible, Poe gets the same treatment, Tahraya I have no idea, Mara is just mentioned and never seen and who on earth is Darth Talon? What chapter does she show up?

This chart feels like a way to have rep, without having rep, as well as to showcase all of the relationships that never get to actually exist in the story proper.