#kai is a butch woman. to me

[calbun]

not set on my kai design yet but check out my things

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Greta Garbo (Camille, Anna Karenina, Queen Christina)—Enigmatic and alluring and made me bisexual. The perfect example of the eroticism in silent films that literally transcends text. Could literally not change anything about her expression but you knew by looking at her eyes what she was thinking. She’s so gorgeous.

Kay Francis (Jewel Robbery, I Loved A Woman, British Agent)— kay francis was an icon of glamor in her time and a top star of the 30s - she was the highest-paid actress at warner bros from 1930 to 1936. she tended to play characters who were charming, sophisticated, and elegantly dressed, and starred in at least one legitimate masterpiece, the sublime 1932 comedy trouble in paradise. her first big role was in the marx brothers movie the cocoanuts in 1929, and she and william powell made seven movies together between 1930 and 1932. even in her sillier movies she always elevates the material with her charm and presence - she never phones it in and there’s a sort of warm, knowing wittiness about her. a really good short promo from a retrospective of her movies that i think really gets her Vibe across

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Kay Francis:

Jewel Robbery clip

"From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warner Bros. lot, and, increasingly, her films were developed as star vehicles. By 1935, Francis was one of the highest-paid actors, earning a yearly salary of $115,000, dwarfing the $18,000 Bette Davis – who would one day occupy Francis's dressing room – made. From 1930 to 1937, Francis appeared on the covers of 38 film magazines, second only to child sensation Shirley Temple's 138." Source: Wikipedia. Kay Francis is like the MOST FAMOUS Actress from the 1930s you've never heard of--and it was her and Norma Shearer who wore and made classic the 1930s tall, slim, bias cut silhouette. She ALSO has a WHOLE PODCAST episode devoted to her life and career in Hollywood--it's fascinating! She is both tough and a total wet cat.

One of the TALLEST Warner Brother stars at 5’9” and known as a “clothes horse” for her glamorous roles wearing the height of 1930s fashion. She fell out of popularity in the 40s, but her 30s work sizzles. The scene with her and Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise where she says she doesn’t care about his reputation (because she’d rather sleep with him?) HAWOOGA

melted my gay heart with her butch look in stolen holiday

"My life? Well, I get up at a quarter to six in the morning if I'm going to wear an evening dress on camera. That sentence sounds a little ga-ga, doesn't it? But never mind, that's my life ... As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I'll sweep the stage. I don't give a damn. I want the money ... When I die, I want to be cremated so that no sign of my existence is left on this earth. I can't wait to be forgotten." —From Kay Francis's private diaries, c. 1938

Garbo:

A cold-ass Swedish WLW Sphinx. Had plans to murder Hitler that she never got around to. "She will remain always a child of vikings, moved about by a snowy dream."

First of all, she's on the money; that's how much of a treasure she is. She's beautiful in such a distinct way you need very few lines to draw her. (Drawing by Einar Nerman) She managed to be mesmerizing in both silent and sound films. She kissed a woman in Queen Christina (and probably several more in real life). She was super dry and really funny in Ninotchka. She got the hell out of Hollywood and stayed out, living for almost 50 years after her retirement.

Garbo is one of the many reasons why I'm gay. If you haven't seen Queen Christina please do, She is so gender in that film. Also her accent makes it sound like she's always talking in cursive and it's so hypnotic (or at least I think so).

She's a gay introvert, like all of us here on Tumblr.

Mysterious and aloof, charismatic and enigmatic, with beautiful androgynous characteristics, Garbo is undoubtedly the most eccentric and unique Hollywood vintage star. Her aversion to fame and stardom makes her even more desirable to the audience, and her insane chemistry with the camera, an actress one of a kind! Her particularity and her oddity is what discerns her strongly from her hollywood co workers at the time, noone was like her and would never be like her. I think, to the utmost extent, that she deserves the title of the hottest vintage star, even though that would be an understatement of what she is!

SO gorgeous, her thick Swedish accent makes will turn your brain into pudding

Probabaly a lesbian, absolutely a mood when she retired

[frolicsomeratscallion]

definitive canon tlc ship ranking

my qualifications: im a goofy goober. im a silly guy. i know the secrets of the universe. im a pretty princess >_< :3

Jacinter - childhood best friends, starcrossed lovers, royal x loyal guard like dAKJLS:DJFH:L im sorry and you expect me NOT to love them?? ok I kinda get that compared to the other couples they spend quite little time together in their book but like. come on. I didnt reread tlc for a couple years but I thought about these two CONSTANTLY. I love them so much I cant even multiship like winlet is very appealing to me but lowkey I feel bad 😭 like theyve wanted each other for so long I cant bring myself to ship either of them with anyone else. But also I kinda wish jacin was a butch lesbian

Kaider - They're so adorable and silly lol. I feel like they were a very good couple to kick off the series with cause I was rooting for them so quickly. They're the funniest canon ship cause theyre both so sassy and done with everything. I wish we couldve gotten more scenes where they talked shit together

Wolflet - To be completely honest I like this ship a lot less than the previous two but thats not to say I dont like them. Like yes I could never take the alpha talk seriously but they were still very cute. Idk why but I like this ship a LOT better when I imagine Wolf as a woman and they were just two lesbians in love <3 If they were they'd probably be above kaider but in canon yea they're number 3 for me.

Cresswell - The age difference isn't really a factor for me, yes its weird but lowkey I forgot thorne was 20 and cress was 16 while I was reading cress. I like the headcanon that thorne had a fake id to sneak into bars and is actually 18 but forgot and just told everyone he was 20. Even so... they're odd for me. I don't know I guess I just dont like the naive inexperienced girl x experienced guy trope? I liked them a lot more in winter than I did in cress. I think its because the pining was more mutual then. I don't hate them, and I did enjoy some of their moments but out of all the canon ships theyre the weakest for me. I like them better when theyre interacting with other people, like wolf or jacin for cress and cinder or kai for thorne.

[jesjokes]

My agent head canons :3

☆☆☆

Brimstone: he’s such a supportive dad but also I could see him being a bear

Phoenix: Bisexual trans man

Sage: probably bisexual definitely a woman liker and trans fem

Sova: Trans man and mlm (hes so in love with harbor t4t)

Viper: Lesbian. No other way around that

Cypher: demiboy and 100% pan he doesn’t care and maybe poly

Rayna: bi and Demi girl

Killjoy: in lesbians with Raze 😻/ref also agender

Breach: trans bear 🙏 bi

Omen: aroace and agender, even pre accident he doesn’t seem like he’d be into anyone that and prefer platonic relationships and doesn’t fuck with gender

Jett: she likes women there’s no way (also trans fem)

Raze: lesbian

Skye: definitely Bi

Yoru: trans masc nb and mlm

Astra: non binary and pan

Kay/O: robot :3 (hes supportive and maybe a little fruity)

Chamber: token straight/J (hes the gayest of them all 🇫🇷) no but Fr he’s probably bi and a trans man

Neon: pan and non binary

Fade: butch lesbian (please save me 🙏)

Harbor: bi and leans towards men also trans man

Gekko: 100% trans masc nb and gay (hes so nb4nb with Iso)

Deadlock: Butch agender lesbian (again PLEASE save meee 🙏🙏🙏😋😋)

Iso: trans masc non-binary aroaceflux

Clove: amab Non binary and pan

[yourturntofnaf]

can you list the top ten most lesbian yttd characters

oh I certainly can. starting from number 10...

10. mai tsurugi

for 10, we have mai. she's certainly wlw to some extent. although I generally lean towards her being pan, I can also absolutely see her being a femme lesbian. I definitely see the vision.

9. anzu kinashi

once again, I see her as generally sapphic of sorts instead of strictly a lesbian, but there's also a part of me that sees myself in her. I want you to hear me out with this one: nonbinary lesbian for lesbian ranzu. this came to me in a dream and I think the people need to hear this.

8. maple

certainly, this is the most debatable lesbian take in terms of canon considering her plot revolving around midori. although that is pretty hard to argue against, consider this: she's out of his league anyways and she deserves better, specifically the love of a woman.

7. strawberry girl

yeah I know she has no canon content yet beyond one picture but like...

she just has the vibe. when I see her, I know she's one of us.

6. nao egokoro

everyone's favorite fat femme lesbian representation. is she canonically fat or a lesbian? nope. however, I am a fat femme lesbian so my stamp of approval outweighs canon. thank you for understanding.

5. megumi sasahara

no straight woman could rock that uniform quite Ike she does. once again, she's just got that vibe. plus, maigumi is pretty based.

4. touko rikuno

arguably the most girlboss character to come out of this series. the first time I saw her I thought "one of us, one of us". her and jin are totally mlm/wlw solidarity.

3. reko yabusame

I feel like the fandom generally agrees on this one. it just makes sense. I will never get over that "I love fat ladies" post with reko. this is canon content to me.

plus, the way she hangs her hand? lesbian as fuck

2. kugie kizuchi

kugie is canonically wlw so that's pretty cool! I absolutely headcanon her as the coolest butch you've ever met.

now, you might be thinking: "kai this is literally canon, why is she only second place?!" and to that I would say...

1. emiri harai

the epitome of the lesbian vibe. I mean come on

ok, this was really fun. I will spread lesbianism to the masses. please don't take this too seriously! happy pride, support your local queer

[dead6ite]

valorant agent sexuality and gender hcs, from a bigender pansexual who is always right

astra:

cis, doesn’t rlly do labels! she thinks ladies are so pretty but is EVERYONES hype woman

breach:

cis, gay gay homosexual gay… uncle who tells u stories about his hoe years

brim:

cishet supportive dad, however, “you should’ve seen me and my buddies back in my military days”

chamber:

god. fucking europeans it’s literally the gay or european thing till i DIE…. anyways he’s bisexual and his gender identity is “i can be whatever u want bbg”

cypher:

he has a wife and kids? ok… he also has crushes on men (cisbi)

deadlock:

i saw her and immediately thought she they. that is the most she they ever. also she becomes physically ill any time a man approaches her (reluctant bisexual)

fade:

MY BEAUTIFUL TRANSGENDER WEED SMOKING GF!!! anyway she is transfem, she/they/night pronouns + bi w a femme lean, and i won’t her… also i can absolutely see her on the ace spectrum, if not aroace

gekko:

NO WAY ITS A HE/THEY OUT IN THE WILD !!! enby identifying, bi with a masc lean bc yea

harbor:

cis gay. astra thought he was into her until he said something like “THATS MY GIRL !! (insert gay slang)

jett:

cis and bi. very masculine in any relationship, even if she’s with a guy. has been mistaken for a guy before and doesn’t mind it. she likes her expression and loves being masculine! she’s like those super androgynous cis people that make you oh so jealous

KAY/O:

110010110101100010100… beep boop he doesn’t do allat. neon told him about neo pronouns though and he likes he/bot

killjoy:

cis bi… she loves her wifey but she’s dated men before, many of which assumed she was a lesbian

neon:

she/they HEAVY femme lean bisexual. thought she was a lesbian for a time

omen:

??? and gay. gender isn’t real and neither is this guy. they/he/it/void kinda fella… also very interested in neos, i’m thinking fade told him about it and they spent an afternoon picking some

phoenix:

cis bi. the most bisexual disaster that ever graced the face of this earth. he’s scared of talking to women, and all his romantic male relationships have been built from fucking with each other and then realizing he has a crunch.

raze:

cis, BUTCH LESBIANS RULE THE WORLD!!! she loves her pretty gf. end of story

reyna:

she’s above trivial things like “romance”. she probably feels sexual attraction, but not much more than that. aro pansexual

sage:

cis lesbian, i definitely can get behind the trans femme agenda w her tho

skye:

cis pansexual femme preference!! she likes everyone, but a preference for ladies…

sova:

he/they gay!!! he’s just a guy who likes guys

viper:

cis, straight, bi-curious. she’s had some feelings in her young life that have been deeply repressed.

yoru:

trans gay. you CANNOT tell me he’s cis. the transness radiates from him, and he has so much gay tension with phoenix it’s thick enough to cut.

[docholligay]

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

THIS IS ALL SPOILERY AND ALL OF IT IS JUST GUSHING AND RAMBLING AND VIBES. NO ACTUAL REVIEW WE DIE LIKE MEN.

I love this book. We all know I love this book. I have read this book at least a dozen time sand we all know I'm going to read it again. I'm never sure whether I like this or Tipping the Velvet more, but I think as a piece of literature, this is the better book. (But Tipping the Velvet is the one I often recommend to people. Sarah Waters can be hard for some people to hang with and Tipping is her fluffiest.)

Kay Langrish, what a fucking piece of work this bitch is. She's so pathetic, and I do sort of resent her for it, but also I love her. I want to beat the shit out of her. She's Poor Little Rich Butch who literally shuts herself the fuck away and gazes out the window all day. She's one of those people for whom the war was the best thing that ever happened to her, and people like this do exist! Some people are great in a crisis, and some people are ONLY good in a crisis. Is it about her being butch and that being easier in wartime? Sure, but Mickey has it even worse and seems to manage being a member of society. (Mickey is the best person in this novel and perhaps of all time. I love her so much, she takes it all in so much stride in her shitty little houseboat, and then she offers it to Kay. Mickey will be played by Lena Oxton in the blorbo adpatation in my head and Kay will be played by Haruka Tenoh) I think Kay is just a fucking rich loser, and I love that for her.

Viv! What a moron. My wife read this book and her takeaway was the the book was about "Gay losers and a token sad straight woman" and she is not wrong. I love how much Viv hates her life in the present day and how pathetic she feels it all is, but she can't get away from it, because! Yes!! I always privately hope that the book will be different this time and there's an afterword where Viv goes and finds Kay and they get together, because I think Viv could be perfectly happy being Kay's wife and being doted on. She wants that! And Reggie will never ever give it to her (blah blah not being into women whatever it's my fantasy afterword and I can do what I want with it)

Speaking of morons let's talk about Helen. I hate Helen and I LOVE her storyline. I love her absolute dedication to ruining her own life. I'm not saying she has to love Kay, I would love to be doted on by Kay but it's not for everyone, and I'm not entirely convinced they didn't get together for any reason other than Helen felt grateful to her. BUT, what about with Julia? What about her insane reactions, the way she barely allows Julia to have friends, the way every time they go a party Helen acts like everyone is trying to fuck Julia? She basically manifests an affair into happening by her constant assumption that it is. IF Julia is sleeping around, of course that's her bad behavior, but let's not pretend like Helen's ridiculous suspicion and quarreling over nothing, her low-key resentment of Julia's success, isn't doing anything.

And Duncan, man, talk about your easily led, whatever's happening is what may as well happen, type. His thing with the junk that he considers 'antique' is so sad. He lives in a little boy's room and is kept like a little boy as a sexual pet and it would be disturbing if it wasn't so much just what Duncan had decided was the logical next step just like killing himself along with Alec. He was happier in fucking prison, it almost seems because there at least everything was just...decided for him.

I wonder if Waters isn't making a commentary about the idea that London and the UK more broadly was "never better than in the Blitz" and all that Blitz spirit stuff which i confess I can be real prone to as well, but I don't live there and am allowed to engage in a bit of romance over a situation that in no way involves me. Is Waters saying, "If we think that we, as a country, city, community, were never better than when we were actively being firebombed, it might just be that we have decided that, and have decided not to make ourselves better than that moment. Anytime, we could decide to be a better London & UK, but we aren't doing that. We're staring at the rubble and wishing we were there." I don't know! I have literally never thought this before it just came to me while writing this, it might be bullshit.

Basically the summary of this novel could be "Four people ruin their own lives because they aren't sure they deserve anything better" and I wouldn't argue with that. I love this book so fucking much.

[ps1snake]

my gendy bendies. if you even care. close ups + notes under the cut

doc: no longer an insane med school dropout and lying about it, doc is now an insane nursing school graduate and still lying about it (both are saying they're doctors)

carolina: frankly carolina is way less interesting as a dude, goes from being a woman who has to be masc but not too masc but also masc enough to be Good Enough for the army/her farher/ her own neurosis shes now just just bog standard army brat type man. although without all the internalized misogyny to wrok through first hes a lot more concerned with the latent honosexual tendencies now.

tex: same issue as carolina to be honest, goes from being butch becuase she likes it (and to my mind, to be different from allison), is just like. a dude because she is a dude. differentiates himself from allison by being trans. he just chooses to do that. but its like. adding 0+0. a process has occurred hut you cant tell. (to me regular tex does this too but i digress)

church: shut-in IT department manager becomes shut-in fujoshi forum warrior

caboose: he doesnt think that hard anout any of this, i think he just wears whatever his mom dressed him in when he was little and calls it a day, as long as it's comfortable. swapped the goetee for glasses because the goetee reminds me of shaggy scooby doo and the glasses remind me of velma :)

tucker: tucker goes from IM A MAN IM MASC IM A MAN IM MASC to 'im not like those OTHER girls im one of the BOYS like YOU. but im also NOT A BOY im A GIRL im FEMININE and never insinute otherwise. puts effort into her appearance but doesn't want you to know it - she wants to appear effortless, asopposed to regular tucker who doesn't want you to know it because it's girly to carw how you look.

wash: girl wash purchases pain killers. thats it

kai: her main gendy stuff is modtly just "how hot and slutty and DTF as many genders as possible can i look at any given time" so she's easy peasy. she wants you to see her bulge so bad.

grif: trades stubble for a rack, he doesn't put effort into his appearance and his taste wouldn't change, so it's very little difference.

simmons: a boy child bullied for being a nerd and who mostly hangs out with girls until he gets scared of them and a girl child bullied for being a nerd and who mostly hangs out with boys until they get embarrassed by her is the same child basically. so very small detail changes and not much else.

sarge: sarge is not a gender presenter sarge is a bit presenter and baby am i dedicated to it. girl sarge is still saying shit like "ive never hit a girl in my life" and not thinking twice about it

donut: donut is a silly little man whos going out of his way (intentionally or not) to look and act like a homo gay fag scream it from the rafters. the first insticnt is to make him be a hyper feminine bimbo type, but i think they were right when that one gender bend ep of s14 said hes a butch now. i agree even if they did it wrong. hes now a free-the-tit type butch with farm muscles (girl edition). enjoy.

lopez: in the spirit of all the great photoshop gags of early rvb, she just gets a bow to show that shes a girl. he likes it but will never admit that.

sheila: she is a tank and caboose can't tie a tie so that's right out.

[sol-consort]

God to be a male Quarian getting hit on by femshep, should’ve been me, anyway looked him up and apparently he was based on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, specifically a combo of the two, and considering they both die at the end his ending probably wouldn’t have been too happy. He was also described as a boisterous ladies man, so I guess that’s why he gets excited when someone actually likes him. You wouldn’t have been able to romance him if you were too renegade for him and his goal was to prove that the Geth are now less of a threat. His introduction seems to have been given to Garrus considering they’re similar (shootout with criminals on Omega) maybe Garrus wasn’t gonna return before they cut him?

Also random fact I came across Garrus is 2-4 years younger than Shepard

By the way how is Miranda in your ME3 playthrough?

Glad to know we all collectively are down bad for femshep in here. Oh, to be a barracks bunny for the femdom lieutenant commander, a person could only dream.

Like it doesn't even have to he a full romance or anything, just being Shepard's squeeze toy whenever she's too fed up with this demandinh world outside, and instead would rather spend time with you in this soft bed inside. She'd be absolutely relentless and insatiable, I don't think her libido is ever sated tbh, a lot of times it is the other person insisting that she waits to sleep with them rather than the other way around.

Hell Shepard seems down for it 24/7. You'd get some bullshit job on the Normandy but will spend 90% of your time on her personal deck. The second she boards the ship after a mission, she's requesting your presence upstairs in her qaurters to...debrief you on the aftermisison report, nothing else. Mhm.

I'm just saying I am a simple person and I would put out on the first ever conversation femshep has with me, no renegade or paragon pointchecks. No required time to romance me, and not even locked by a certian level or plot checkpoint. If a woman like her tells me to shut up and bend over after five minutes of meeting me then you know that's exactly what I'd be doing.

Anyway, so back to the main topic.

Miranda is doing well! I saved her sister in ME2 but didn't let her shoot her bestfriend, then I encouraged her to speak to her sister. I took her to the final mission in facing the human reaper and she told the illusive man that she quits after he threw a hissy fit over me destroying the reaper.

In ME3, she asked for some documents from the alliance and I gave it to her. Then I met her again during the Kai Leng chase and she killed her father and saved her sister. Miranda is dandy as far as I'm aware.

-

And I can't stop thinking about the male Quarian. Ugh. Imagine someone who knows he can't have sex with people but still is a relentless flirt with the ladies, like the clear cardboard faux playboy badge he wears is so pathetic and adorable.

It's like he is using the Johnny Bravo method of hitting on every woman he sees, and eventually, one of them has gotta bite, right?

So for someone like him not to only have his "incel mimicking a chad" strategy work but also hit the jackpot and get the commander Shepard? Hallelujah! Ring the bells! Call your mom and tell her you've fucking made it Ma!!

Because Shepard too can be a bit of a playboy at times, except with the game protagonist logic, we get to be the successful one with the smoothest flirting lines. Now you have two people interested in each other, with one that's an embarrassingly terrible flirt and another who people would pay to sleep with them.

Personally, I really like that he is on the side of the Geth because Tali starts off being hostile to them, and it would've made a perfect chance to view both sides.

His dynamic with Tali would've been very interesting, two people with similar backgrounds and experiences who came to two totally different conclusions on how to handle to the Geth.

Because it is so easy for paragon Shepard to side with the Geth. Like of course you feel sympathy for them, you're human. It wasn't earth they stole from you.

Imagine it. Imagine the outrage if some random species you made steals earth from us and we are forced to move onto fleets. I would've fucking gone full renegade and demanded my planet back immediately.

But because we are just outsiders on the geth problem, we can't relate or have a clear perspective on how the qaurians must feel. We only get to see the most hostile of them and the hate towards the geth. That other admiral was the cloeest thing to a pro-geth quarian but even he was an annoying character who antagonises you and Tali as his introduction in the ME2 loyality mission.

So the male quarian love interest being sympathetic towards the geth would've filled a perfectly empty spot we were missing for the full picture of the geth quarian relationship.

Samara has a similar thing in ME2, where if you're too renegade, she doesn't indulge you in the romance attempt and immediately shuts it off. But if you have very little renegade points then she says your heart is pure and indulges you more, let's you try and convince her and it's so clear she is struggling not to give into the temptation before leaving the room.

The Quarian kink is so real, now I understand why you like Tali so much oh god. Someone willing to experience sickness just to fuck you? Damn that is some determination.

[pronounmelon]

What were your inspirations for the names of all the GAP characters? I'm really interested in learning about name origins!

hmmmm let’s see

Ginger’s surname Saab means “difficult” in Arabic, meant to show Ginger as a struggling character. Getting the brunt of the assault at Younique, having to hide parts of herself from people, and having the toughest relationship with her family out of the main 3. It’s also a common Maronite surname, which works because I envision Ginger’s parents to be Christian.

Cherish and Kaia?? Cherish just kinda sounded nice… I originally wanted to name her Cherry or Cerise, Cherish felt like it could have more of a story behind it. Kaia though was one I found on a transfem names list lol. Happy coincidence that Kaia is also a Hawaiian name!! I changed their names because I didn’t realize they had canon ones when I originally redesigned them.

I’m gonna be changing Cherish’s surname after advice from an Indian Leasecord member, but the Khatri surname, like quite a few I give my characters in general, was taken from a celebrity 😭😭 after the advice I was given, I am planning to change her surname to Shikandhi. Typically not a surname, but it was already canon that Cher’s grandmother Indira chose her surname after a divorce… so whatever!! Shikandhi is a character from a Hindu epic, Mahabharata. The original epic shows them as a trans man, though modern retelling often show them as a trans woman. During a past life, they were screwed over by a guy called Bhishma who abducted them. In their next life, they were able to brutally defeat him in a war. It both had a pretty good connotation for Indira to choose it (I mean… what divorced woman wouldn’t find it badass to name themselves after a character who got vengeance on a shitty man) and also serves as foreshadowing for Cher’s arc… let’s just say standing up to asshole significant others runs in her family.

Theodosia was originally stolen from Fluffy’s Babygirl redesign before I started leaning more towards the name Trinity as Trinity became more butch in my iterations of her. Her surname, Harper-Cohen, was my work around for her original surname being Hecox 💔 I couldn’t find any surnames that had H and C in them at once that didn’t sound transphobic to give a trans character, so I just hyphenated an H and a C surname LOL… Cohen was stolen from Cora Cohen (abstract artist), and I liked how Harper also sounded like a unisex first name. I like to think Trinity went by Harper in highschool for egg purposes.

I named Brick’s bio mom Tasnim, so the addition of Tasnim to their surname is meant to be their connection to their bio family!! They have a close relationship with their bio mom :3

Ennui was just vaguely meant to sound goth I didn’t think about his at ALL. I just didn’t like that his name was stereotypical. Stereotypical trans names are stereotypical for a reason but yk, the intention in Leasebound wasn’t good and I wanted to change it

I legitimately mistook Jasper’s name to be Jupiter when redesigning him so I didn’t think I was changing it until I read over their bio again and kept it anyway. Galilee was meant to evoke Galileo. Space vibes

Darren is a fun one!! His name is a shoutout to my history teacher that was nice to me. The surname Riverside was meant to allude to him being a chill guy, peaceful like water.

Kai felt too stereotypical a transmasc name so I stole a name from the class of 09 character Kylar.

I wanted Noaline to have a “vintage” sounding name, and Noaline came up a few times on vintage name lists and it sounded nice. And the surname Burkins sounded a lot like a surname a female fish out of water protagonist would have, which is fitting since while she’s obviously not the protagonist (duh), tidbit about her character for the future is, as a young new hire, she’s obviously trying to figure out her way around things… very fish out of water, I felt like a basic protagonist ass surname fit her.

OHOHOHOHO NOW THE TERFS. THE TERFS WERE FUN.

Changing Ruth to be Ruth’s middle name and not her first name was just a tiny dig at Rusty for giving all the Yonique workers with more femme names short unisex nicknames and then proceeding to still deadname trans characters. I removed the extra e from her surname to make it just Green because Greene sounds fucking pretentious. Why do you need the extra e?? Fuck you

This is gonna be a pattern for the Younique workers, Dana’s surname Bloomerson was meant to be an immature and unfortunate surname (bloomers, like old people underwear LOL). Dana and Reese were just a combination of 2 older unisex names

Rebekah…. Okay so I have beef with Riley’s name. Her congregation is supposed to be like. A representation of a hella conservative JW congregation. Do y’all know how STRANGE it was back in the day at JW congregations to find a kid with a non-Christian name?? Like you’d find them but those kids got eyebrow raises. Also by the time Riley is born Riley had JUUUUST become an acceptable name to give a girl. That’s a conservative religious family, that’s not gonna fly. RUSTY WAS EVEN ORIGINALLY PLANNING TO NAME HER BRODY OR DALE. BRODY OR DALE. IT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE HER BACKSTORY WAS PLANNED VERY AHEAD. Anyway yeah I went with Rebekah cause it’s a biblical name + it’s the spelling douchey doomsday christian school people usually go with. Personal experience, I knew a Rebekah at catholic school

Morowa is just a lovely name. It means queen. When looking for names for Jaden, I wanted to give her a really pretty name that the Younique ladies completely butcher, being classist American (mostly) white women who have never had to say anything in their lives. I did not like how “Morowa Anderson” sounded so I just went with a just as basic surname lol. Government assigned butch nickname is Maury. Poor lady.

I do not think I have to explain Ivory Gwenyth White. You have eyes. Haha funny white woman joke. Also since Ivory is also the closest in appearance to Rusty…. iykyk

Prudence something something unfortunate name that sounds like virgin. The surname Showman was meant to evoke what an overdramatic performative douche she is. Government assigned butch nickname is Prudie. Even worse.

Regina Knipple something something Vagina Nipple. Her government assigned butch nickname is Reggie.

Alexandra was just a nice name, idk. Pedowitz… again you have eyes. Government assigned nickname is Alex.

I liked the sound alliteration with Hana Pohan. Her government assigned nickname is Han-Han.

Vivian is a totally original character who’s name is not at all derivative of the character Violet.

Francis is a totally original character who’s name is not at all derivative of the character Faith.

I decided to give Tori a name that starts with the same letter as Kylar’s deadname (it’s not Tiffany… even if he no longer goes by it Rusty is fucking weird) to show that she kind of projects onto her kid, like a lot of unsupportive transphobic parents.

[number1villainstan]

okay i REALLY need to be going to bed but i am having some Thoughts and i want to at kinda put them out there. so many of my blorbos and favorite characters have a complicated or weird relationship to masculinity, which is definitely projection but. for bnha:

for chisaki kai, masculinity is a mask or an act--i hc him as someone who would prefer to be androgynous or neutral gender-wise (NOT feminine), but that's not an option in the hypermasculine yakuza. he was also assigned female at birth, so he lived as a girl for a while, which only exacerbates the feeling of masking or acting or performing masculinity that he doesn't feel.

for kurono hari, masculinity is both an intrinsic characteristic and an important goal--i hc him as highly, specifically, and solely masculine. his is a case study into what happens when the only model of masculinity presented to you is toxic, and he often struggles with feeling like he's 'man enough' (which is not helped by being trans in the yakuza and having a Quirk that means he can't cut his hair). (this might be why some dominant interpretations of kurono that i've seen rub me the wrong way, they seem to assign him enby or Submissive Bottom Trans Boy(TM) status just because of his appearance. possibly also because of his loyalty to kai but still. and it goes against my own perception of him) (this part isn't meant to start discourse or anything)

for lady nagant/tsutsumi kaina, masculinity is something to reclaim. i hc her as a cis woman but also genderqueer and both butch and femme, but with her history of the hero commission controlling her appearance and gender presentation so thoroughly she struggles to understand her feelings on the matter and to know what's most fitting for her, rather than just the old fantasies that were fed to her by pop culture.

for dabi, masculinity is something to be reconciled with femininity. i hc him as a bigender manwoman, or boygirl, and much like nagant he struggles to understand and express this part of himself.

and for pops? i mentioned in another post that i like the idea of him being a masc enby and not realizing it, so for pops (yakuza) masculinity would be a tradition, a custom, something practiced not for self-expression but just because it is what is done.

anyways those are all of my thoughts for now so i'm going to bed

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Kay Francis (Jewel Robbery, I Loved A Woman, British Agent)— kay francis was an icon of glamor in her time and a top star of the 30s - she was the highest-paid actress at warner bros from 1930 to 1936. she tended to play characters who were charming, sophisticated, and elegantly dressed, and starred in at least one legitimate masterpiece, the sublime 1932 comedy trouble in paradise. her first big role was in the marx brothers movie the cocoanuts in 1929, and she and william powell made seven movies together between 1930 and 1932. even in her sillier movies she always elevates the material with her charm and presence - she never phones it in and there’s a sort of warm, knowing wittiness about her. a really good short promo from a retrospective of her movies that i think really gets her Vibe across

Elisabeth Welch (Song of Freedom, Big Fella, Dead of Night)— Starry-eyed, honey-voiced, magnetic. A Broadway star in the 1920s, she SHOULD have become a torch-singing Hollywood star when talking pictures came in. Instead she was faced with Hollywood racism, so she moved to Europe and juggled British movie roles and a top-class cabaret career. (Heard the classic songs "Stormy Weather" or "Love For Sale" or "As Time Goes By"? She introduced them all.) You need to hear her croon, so here she is co-starring with certified hot vintage man Paul Robeson [video below the cut]

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Kay Francis:

Jewel Robbery clip

"From 1932 through 1936, Francis was the queen of the Warner Bros. lot, and, increasingly, her films were developed as star vehicles. By 1935, Francis was one of the highest-paid actors, earning a yearly salary of $115,000, dwarfing the $18,000 Bette Davis – who would one day occupy Francis's dressing room – made. From 1930 to 1937, Francis appeared on the covers of 38 film magazines, second only to child sensation Shirley Temple's 138." Source: Wikipedia. Kay Francis is like the MOST FAMOUS Actress from the 1930s you've never heard of--and it was her and Norma Shearer who wore and made classic the 1930s tall, slim, bias cut silhouette. She ALSO has a WHOLE PODCAST episode devoted to her life and career in Hollywood--it's fascinating! She is both tough and a total wet cat.

One of the TALLEST Warner Brother stars at 5’9” and known as a “clothes horse” for her glamorous roles wearing the height of 1930s fashion. She fell out of popularity in the 40s, but her 30s work sizzles. The scene with her and Herbert Marshall in Trouble in Paradise where she says she doesn’t care about his reputation (because she’d rather sleep with him?) HAWOOGA

melted my gay heart with her butch look in stolen holiday

"My life? Well, I get up at a quarter to six in the morning if I'm going to wear an evening dress on camera. That sentence sounds a little ga-ga, doesn't it? But never mind, that's my life ... As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I'll sweep the stage. I don't give a damn. I want the money ... When I die, I want to be cremated so that no sign of my existence is left on this earth. I can't wait to be forgotten." —From Kay Francis's private diaries, c. 1938

Elisabeth Welch:

[read-alert]

At the start of last year, I made a "24 books I want to read in 2024" list, and I figured I'd look back at it and see how I did! I got 17/24. I still want to read the ones I didn't to though- in fact, two of them are on my January TBR!

Akata Woman by Nnedi Okorafor ✅️

The World We Make by NK Jemisin ❌️

A Chorus Rises by Bethany C Morrow ✅️

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deon ✅️

King of the Rising by Kacen Callender ✅️

The God of Lost Words by AJ Hackwith ✅️

All the Dead Things by Bear Lee ❌️

Don't Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre by Viola Ford Fletcher ✅️

Teacher of the Year by MA Wardell ❌️

Godly Heathens by HE Edgmon ✅️

Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong ❌️

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H ✅️

A Masc for Purim by Roz Alexander ✅️

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose ❌️

Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom ✅️

Drag Me Up by RM Virtues- DNFed

Self Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by AM McLemore ✅️

Tentacle by Rita Indiana trans by Achy Obejas ✅️

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor ❌️

Accessing the Future ed by Kathryn Allan and Djibril Al-Ayad ✅️

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett ✅️

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse ✅️

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie ✅️

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White ✅️

[albertserra]

my trans/faggot reading list

The Queer Art of Failure by Jack Halbertsam

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Going Stealth: Transgender Politics and U.S. Surveillance Practices by Toby Beauchamp

Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano

gay masculinities by peter nardi

Homosexuality in Cold War America : Resistance and the Crisis of Masculinity by Robert J Corber

Out of the Shadows: Reimagining Gay Men's Lives by Walt Odets

nevada by imogen binnie

gender nihilism by alyson escalante + addendum

Trans-in-Asia, Asia-in-Trans: An Introduction 

Trans Exploits: Trans of Color Cultures and Technologies in Movement by  Jian Neo Chen

The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity (various)

Acceptable femininity? Gay male misogyny and the policing of queer femininities Sadie E Hale and Tomás Ojeda

Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis by grace e lavery

delusions of gender by cordelia fine

a failed man by michael v smith (part of persistence: all ways butch and femme)

time is the thing a body moves through by T. Fleischmann

kai cheng thom’s writing

we want it all: an anthology of trans radical poetics

second skins: the body narratives of transsexuality by jay prossner

transgender warriors by leslie feinberg

the faggots and their friends between revolutions by larry mitchell

translating the queer: body politics and transnational conversations by hector dominguez ruvalcaba

captive genders: trans embodiment and the prison industrial complex

we both laughed in pleasure: the selected diaries of lou sullivan

how we get free: black feminism and the combahee river collective

trans girl suicide museum by hannah baer

dagger: on butch women by lily burana

black queer studies: a critical anthology by e patrick johnson and mae g Henderson

queer sex by juno roche

black on both sides: a racial history of trans identities by C. Riley Snorton

transgender liberation by leslie feinberg

female masculinity by jack halberstam

transecology by douglas a vakoch

street transvestite action revolutionaries : survival, revolt, and queer antagonistic struggle (Sylvia Rivera , Marsha P. Johnson)

a body that is ultra body: in conversation with fred moten and elysia crampton

building an abolitionist trans and queer movement with everything we’ve got (morgan bassichis, alexander lee and dean spade, 2011)

feminism and the (trans)gender entrapment of gender nonconforming prisoners (julia oparah, 2012)

normal life: administrative violence, critical trans politics, and the limits of law (dean spade, 2015)

Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera by Việt Lê

detransition, baby by torrey peters

paul takes the form of a mortal girl by andrea lawlor

a failed man by michael v. smith (part of persistence: all ways butch and femme)

my new vagina wont make me happy by andrea long chu

sexing the body by Anne Fausto-Sterling

something that may shock and discredit you by danny lavery

the argonauts by maggie nelson

gender outlaws by kate bornstein

special mentions for articles ive read that were already very formative for me

Masquerading As the American Male in the Fifties: Picnic, William Holden and the Spectacle of Masculinity in Hollywood Film by Steven Cohan

The Production and Display of the Closet: Making Minnelli's "Tea and Sympathy” by David Gerstner

huge thanks to @mypocketsnug who sent #20-40

this is not at all intended to be some kind of definitive resource as ive literally read none of these yet save for the two i mention at the bottom and im compiling this for my personal use, im only publishing this bc an anon asked me to! feel free to reblog and also recommend me more but keep this disclaimer in mind

[yvesdot]

While we're at it, a comparison list between the Locked Tomb series and KAY RAINIER.

Similarities first.

butch unwilling bodyguard figure to a mysterious repressed carefully-put-together futch

belligerent sexual tension

belligerent implications of race, class, power, and gender

unexpected POV decisions in the second book reveal that the futch has actually not been keeping anything together and is, at best, insane

somebody's father did a very bad job

somebody's father did a very bad job, and is dead

author clearly influenced by experiences with fanfiction and specifically the fanfiction approach to character, dialogue, and relationships; continues to interpolate various favorite texts throughout

dressing peculiarly as an expression of (lesbian) gender

goths

general morbidity of the futch (<- would like this on a t-shirt)

cast is mostly women, but don't worry, there is a white guy to make repeated fun of as he suffers

women who died before the narrative began are constantly affecting it nonetheless

also being dead is not necessarily the permanent condition you thought it was? no not in that way. not in that way either. you're going to have to think outside the box for this one.

female characters whose very identities are spoilers

newflash, asshole! author was talking about their personal culture and heritage the entire goddamn time!

due to unforeseen circumstances, character from main pairing in first book ends up tongueing a completely different character in the second, but don't worry, it was all thanks to their devotion to their original partner

sorry to the innocent people who died because the protagonist was not doing their job. there was a woman with breasts nearby

serious injury to side character's right arm

blade (phallic)

And some differences.

Locked Tomb is complex, eloquent, and often intentionally confusing; KAY is about as straightforward as it gets

KAY has numerous explicit lesbian sex scenes

Locked Tomb gives worldbuilding big sloppy kisses; KAY spits on worldbuilding and punches it several times before stabbing it and throwing it off a cliff

gender in the Locked Tomb is weird in a "not sure whose body that is or what gender the soul inside it was" way; gender in KAY is weird in a "he/him butch will not be clarifying gender further" way

Hope this clears things up. Thanks to Locked Tomb people following me only to see my own blorbos! Thanks to regular followers confused at the Locked Tomb fannage! Have this commission of Kay/Atlas gay sex allegations as a treat.

...and consider joining me to talk KAY RAINIER as I outline both books at 9:00 PM PST this Saturday, 9/24/22!

[pronounmelon]

fuck it I WILL show my work minimal since like I dont wanna spoil my entire fucking webcomic </3

INT. Kaia’s street (Coccinelle CT), 5:00pm. The first panel is the street sign. Pans around to all the houses on the cul de sac. Kaia is strolling around the neighborhood, in nothing but a sports bra and ripped jeans. In her hands, a cherry pop and 2 5 dollar bills. 2 nice gay dudes at one house wave to her while doing garden work, while the curtains very noticeably close on her at another house. Kaia giggles at this, flipping off the next house’s republican political signs. She then comes across where she was headed; the nice, big brick house with white accents. A progress pride flag flies proudly from it, alongside a Kānaka Maoli flag. Kaia knowingly runs to the door, enthusiastically knocking.

KAIA: ALAINAAAA!! ALAINA MALIA NAKAMURA!!!

ALAINA, a bearded, chubby woman, answers the door with a frantic expression, also in nothing but a bra and bottoms. Kaia raises her eyebrow, seeing her sister’s obviously hiding wife, Avery.

KAIA: hm??

ALAINA: We were. Busy, Kai-Kai.

KAIA: *smug, teasing* Busy?? Lie of omission.

ALAINA: WE WERE BUSY. What do you need??

KAIA: soooo, I'm going clubbing tonight, and I don't have any good dresses….

Alaina: . you came to *me* for a dress?? 

KAIA: ….oh, yeah, stupid, huh. You’re butch—

ALAINA: Well, THANK GOD, sis, today is your LUCKY day!!

ALAINA basically from nowhere, throws a box towards KAIA, labeled in sharpie as “impulse buys from AVERY”. Kaia looks inside, a fuckton of dresses and skirts. Like a comical amount

ALAINA: Ave’s closet is WAY TOO FULL right now, and it's causing a lot of issues. Pick your favorite!! Or five!! Hell, just take it all!!

KAIA: u-uh…. Thanks, Lainie???? I’m sorry for the trouble, aha.

Alaina: No trouble at all!! In fact, this is the most relief I’ve ever felt in my life. You’re gonna take the whole thing, right?? RIGHT?? KAIA: Jesus, okay!! Uh, thanks?? Do you think any of these will work for clubbing??

ALAINA: Oh, for sure!! And I know you and Aves have similar styles, so no conflict there.

KAIA: Cool!! I’ll look through them… *KAIA feels ALAINA’s desperate glare* And, uh, also keep the rest!! of course!! ALAINA: Perfect!! Thank you so much!! I owe you one, kiddo.

KAIA: Ha. Promise??

ALAINA: I’m gonna regret saying that, aren’t I.

KAIA: *skipping off* You won’t know until I come up with a favor!!! Byeeeee, Lainie!!

Now uh, I'm not in the fandom no more and I'm looking from afar.

lawd have mercy we have another ragebaiter- and shes literally a recent account similar to puppiesforfem. Let's just hope she isn't the type to do rape and death threats hm? *sips redbull* Anyway I do have a project but I'm just doing the script and all. Dm if y'all wanna read over the script so far.

@kaleido-write @codabound @pronounmelon be careful with this one.