#like that is so textbook villain coded

[miabucky]

just read an interview from the director about how we’re apparently supposed to LIKE john walker. THAT was them writing him as likeable. maybe it’s just wyatt’s acting or something but i have never been so put off by a character in my entire life. the villainy just radiates off him. unsettling costume self-righteous attitude violent outbursts literally written like every fascist extremist ever. and they want me to pity him ?? to find him likeable or fucking redeemable?? FFFFHDJNE like i have absolutely no history with that character i have no reason to dislike him other than the fact that he is so deeply unlikable. i know “likeable” is a personal opinion but mostly im concerned for the people that like him. i genuinely cannot comprehend what people saw in him in that show to make them like him. as a person, not as a character. he’s a really cool villain and everything i’m just confused that people are treating him like a victim or a straw man. he used lethal force on civilians. he wanted to use sam and bucky to legitimize his claim to the throne. he sees that shield as a symbol of patriotism to a broken nation, a military, not to people. he feeds into every negative stereotype about captain america that steve refused to bow to. he is the american imperialist that the military wants, that steve would never be because his heart is too full of altruism to have any room for ego. the foundation of captain america is the idea of being a good man. without that, captain america is just another tool for the military industrial complex.

[blujayonthewing]

shoutout to millipedes and centipedes for sorting their vibes out so efficiently. one of them is a small slow shy gentle friend and one of them is BITING YOU BITING YOU BITING YOU BITING YOU BITING YOU and when you look at them you can instantly tell

[crazy-pages]

I'm going to throw my two cents in to the conversation about why James Somerton didn't get caught earlier. Part of the answer is of course that he did get caught, he just bullied and lied to get away with it for a while, but I know a lot of people still express confusion. And of course he went out of his way to make sure his audience didn't know about other queer history sources other than himself. But still. How could he have so many viewers of his videos and none of them had seen X source material?

Well. To be blunt, most of his videos were pretty basic. He tended to copy the highlights of what he was plagiarizing, not the really advanced stuff. And insofar as he copied the advanced stuff, he had a tendency to chop it up and serve it out of context alongside other plagiarized work. The material he was presenting was revolutionary to an audience unfamiliar with queer history, but like. I'm guessing 'Disney villains are queer coded' is not exactly a new concept to the kind of people who read multiple books about queer coding in film.

Now I'm not a film studies person, I'm a physicist. But you know what I do when I get a video in my YouTube recommendations about some fairly basic physics concept?

I skip it. No shade to the creator, but like. I hit that topic a decade ago and I've added literally thousands of hours of studying and research to my brain since. I'm just going to give it a pass, all right?

These kinds of videos self-select for an audience which isn't going to be familiar with the source material. The people who know it are unlikely to keep listening after the first minute or so.

And you've got to remember how much of this content the experts have consumed! With very few exceptions for weird little things that stuck in my head after all these years, I would probably not notice a physics explanation plagiarized from one of my textbooks! Not because I wasn't intimately acquainted with the textbook, but because I was intimately acquainted with many such textbooks. Spend enough time learning this stuff and it all blurs together a little bit. Does this explanation sound familiar because you've heard it before, or because you've just read books which cover this specific topic seven different times? And does that wording or that example ring a bell because it's plagiarized, or because it's common to the field?

Catching this kind of plagiarism requires having the kind of people who are already familiar with these sources, and therefore uninterested in video summaries on the topic, to watch the video. And among those people who do, it requires them to match Somerton's words to one specific source on the topic out of many, that they probably read quite some time ago. And then you have the filter of how many of those subject matter experts have the source on hand to check, to turn a vague "...hmm" into something solid.

If you know enough about queer history to say that some of his plagiarism was obvious, now that you've watched the video, then you should remember that there is a reason you probably weren't one of the people watching his videos! And because YouTube promotes videos through algorithmic engagement, none of this stuff has to pass the sniff test for any other expert in the field before it gets released. No experts have to like it for it to get published or for it to get good reviews or for it to get a recommendation in, I don't know, the New York Times.

The only people who have to like the videos for them to get traction are people who are just trying to learn introductory queer history and film theory. The exact people who aren't going to notice this. And for those of you who to whom it is obvious, ask yourself. When was the last time you watched a basic level queer history introduction on YouTube?

[moog-rt]

ᴄʏʙᴇʀʙᴜʟʟʏ [ʀɪꜱᴇ!ᴅᴏɴɴɪᴇ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ] ᴘᴛ. 5

Links to parts: one two three four five

Summary:

Fate brought you and that purple-clad turtle together in the form of endless battles of code. You were a purple dragon recruit, and he was your target. He plays your games as you tease him with the slim possibility of victory.

You may just let him win if you are feeling particularly merciful.

Notes:

enemies to lovers; slow burn; takes place after the movie; reader is a 'villain'

Word Count: 3351

If you’d prefer to read it on Ao3, here’s the link:

ᴄʏʙᴇʀʙᴜʟʟʏ [ʀɪꜱᴇ!ᴅᴏɴɴɪᴇ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ]

Otherwise, enjoy!

♡ ♡ ♡

Your hands were shoved deep into your jacket pockets as you trudged your way to the coffee shop just down the road from campus. If the crunch of fallen leaves beneath your boots hadn’t been indicator enough, the biting cold morning air was telling that autumn had arrived in full swing.

The bell above the entryway rang as you opened the door to the cafe and got in line to order. The warm atmosphere was much needed as you could finally take out your hands and rub them on your chilled cheeks. Your nose felt like ice.

After paying, you scoured the main room for a seat. Practically every table was occupied by people your age with their noses in laptops and textbooks.

With autumn comes midterms…

You slipped into a seat at a table that someone else had just relinquished and brushed off the leftover crumbs. The tabletop itself was a small circle but it sat two people, which was all that mattered. You got your laptop and notes set up as you waited for your order to be called. With how little sleep you were getting recently, it would be near impossible to start studying without some caffeine. It felt like your brain was packed with cotton balls.

You were in the middle of sighing and rubbing the sleep from your eyes when your name was finally called out. It was hard for you to care as the seat screeched out as you stood to go get your drink. However, many eyes bore into you for the disruption as you shuffled over to the counter.

“Here you are,” the barista said sweetly.

Fingers brushing against each other as you took the warm beverage from her grasp, you met her gaze and smiled back.

“Thank you,” you hummed.

As soon as you sat down and took your first sip, you could feel life rushing back into your veins. It was like all the clouds filling your brain had finally dissipated. The steam that escaped from the cup helped to thaw your nose.

You put on your headphones–opting for your own choice of music over the playlist the cafe employees were playing–and got to work as you waited for your friend to arrive. As was your routine for the past couple of weeks. Stay up late making deals with your archnemesis, peel yourself out of bed bright and early to go to this cafe, study with April until your brains felt like they were sufficiently rotted away, and scurry to class together. Sometimes you liked to sprinkle in a Purple Dragon meeting here and there.

Ever since your first deal had been made, you had offered more, and Von Ryan had reluctantly agreed. Several rounds of a variety of games stole away the majority of your nights. They were fun, but on top of classwork and purple dragon assignments, you were being zapped of your life force. 

You found that you also had to fight a lot harder to actually win. You hadn’t expected your opponent to kick your ass at games as much as he did.

Your ego took quite a few blows as a result.

To make matters worse, it felt like none of your jokes ever landed with the guy. You knew they were funny. At least some of them were. He was just too stubborn to admit it!

“So serious…” you murmured to yourself, mindlessly scrolling through a study guide your professor had emailed the class.

“Yeah, I swear they’re tryna kill us.”

You jumped slightly and took off your headphones as you looked up from your screen. Before you stood a heaving April, a sheen of sweat decorating her forehead.

“God, it’s hot in here,” she said as she shrugged her jacket off and sat down across from you.

“Girl, are you alright? Did you run here from the gym or something?” You started moving your belongings so that she had more room on her side of the table to put her belongings. “I thought you were free before this.”

“I was .” She waved her hand at you while she caught her breath. “But my pals called me up to help out with something…This morning was just a bit of a rush…” She released a breathy laugh, shaking her head.

Your eyes squinted as you grinned at her. “Sounds like a fun way to start your day.”

She let out an incredulous laugh in response.

“Don’t even get me started.” She unpacked her study materials, brushed her bangs from her face, and placed her palms on the table as she looked back at you. “Alright, I’m gonna grab something to drink and then we can dig into things. That sound good? You want anything?”

“Ready when you are,” you said, lifting your drink to show her you were taken care of.

It didn’t take long before she joined you again, opening up her laptop and flipping through her pages of biology notes.

“So what did you need to help your friends with so early in the morning?” you asked, tilting your head and shooting her a curious look.

“Hm?” Her eyes shot up to meet yours before darting off to the side. “Uh… They got themselves into trouble as they usually do, so they called me up for help since they’re kind of a man down, so to speak.”

Your eyebrows furrowed.

“You live a wild life, April. I’m jealous,” you said.

“Be careful what you wish for,” she scoffed. “Now, enough stalling. We gotta get to work.”

You threw your head back and groaned dramatically.

“If I must!”

The next hour or so was filled with the silence of reading, frequent buzzing of notifications, and the occasional exchange of questions regarding subject materials. Every now and then, however, your questions would go unanswered as your friend was too distracted by her phone to hear you. After the fifth time of speaking to a wall paired with April’s solemn expression, your curiosity had finally eaten away at you.

“Everything alright? Who are you texting?” you asked as you rested your chin in your palm.

“Mm…” Your friend didn’t look away from her phone until she had finished typing. “Oh, um, just a friend… Donnie, actually.”

“Oh! How has he been?”

She sighed and placed her phone down whilst rubbing at her face.

“Better. He’s been better.”

You bit the inside of your cheek and dropped your gaze before April continued.

“Poor guy has been holed up in his room for the past month. He’s barely sleeping. It seems like he only eats if someone tears him away from his computer and forces him to… He’s just not taking care of himself.” She shook her head. “Worse is he’s not really letting us help him either… God, it just sucks having to watch your friends fall apart, you know?”

You were quiet. You watched her as she let her head fall into her hands. You found it more comfortable to look out the window instead.

“I’m sorry,” you said, fiddling with your jacket sleeve.

“Nah.” April raised her head, shaking it and offering you a soft smile. “It’s not like you could have done anything. We just gotta wait for him to either talk to us or power through it, I guess.” “I– Still.” You looked back at her, swallowing. “I’m really sorry. …That sounds difficult.”

And you were sorry. Sorry that you hadn’t dug into his connections sooner. Sorry that it was having a negative effect on April.

Sorry that you failed to consider the consequences of what you were doing.

Yes, you began offering him deals to help him out, but even then, it was mostly self-serving. Because you were getting bored? Because it gave you some new form of entertainment? Because you didn’t want April to be mad at you if she found out?

You could have stopped altogether. Should have . After the first deal. After you finished your first assignment.

But you didn’t.

And now the results of your actions were smacking you in the face.

“Anyways, let’s get started!” April said, clapping her hands together.

You nodded.

The chatter from the other tables combined with the cafe music and ringing from the entry bell served as white noise for you and April to find a rhythm to work to. The two of you began discussing the semester-long project for your bio class. April pulled up the rubric, and you began brainstorming possible subjects and hypotheses you could address. Planning away until it was time to head to class, you wrapped up the study session with a rough proposal.

Your routine from then on had been altered.

You continued to meet with April in the mornings. However, when you didn’t have a meeting with the purple dragons to stay up-to-date on plans, your nights were filled with studying and essays and projects. You made more time to play games with your friends, too. Your bedroom was filled with laughter and shouts and gory sound effects from the assortment of games you’d play with them.

The Purple Dragons’ interests had long since shifted from Donnie to various tech companies. The most recent discussions had been surrounding TCRI. The facility was rumored to have technology that seemed to not even be of this planet. The possible technological advancements the group could gain from them far outweighed that of the mutant turtle.

You had finally released your hold on Othello Von Ryan.

Only on nights like this, where you and April had plans to meet up and do school work, was there a chance that you would interact with him.

Every other minute, you checked your phone for an update on April’s arrival. You had gone down to the lobby of your apartment building to wait for her. It was the first time she was meeting at your place, and you knew that the process to get up there was a bit of a hassle.

You kept your eyes peeled for her after receiving a text saying she was just down the block. You noticed her burgundy space buns through the glass doors before anything else, but upon closer inspection, you caught sight of another figure following her to the doors. You thought for a moment that they’d walk through together, but she spun around and began shoving the person in the oversized hoodie out of frame.

All you could see now was April aggressively pointing in the direction she had come. The hood popped back into view, peering in and looking directly at you before turning away dejectedly. You leaned slightly to the side to see if you could catch a glimpse of them, but they had already walked far enough away that you couldn’t see.

You stood up to greet April as she came inside.

“Were you being harassed?” you asked, shooting her a concerned look.

“Hah, it depends on your definition of harassment! That was Donnie. He has been begging to tag along and just will not take no for an answer,” April said. You raised your eyebrows.

“ That was Donnie?” you asked with a high-pitched tone. April shook her head and chuckled.

“Yeah, don’t think too much about his fashion sense. I swear he scrambled out after me as fast as he could. Threw on whatever was closest to him,” she explained, waving her hand around.

“He wasn’t wearing anything while you were with him?” you questioned. “Are you guys…like…?”

It took April a moment to catch on to what you were trying to suggest. Her eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead and her eyes were wide as saucers as she whipped around to face you. 

“Oh my god , no!” She waved both her hands in front of her, shaking her head vigorously. “He–uh–just wasn’t dressed for the weather! We weren’t doing anything crazy. Ugh, I don’t even want to think about that.”

April looked like she was about to hurl. She may have been dry-heaving a little bit, too. 

“Oh! That makes total sense!” Your face burned as you looked away and laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, my mind jumped straight there…”

The two of you laughed it off on the elevator ride to one of the upper floors of the building. With a quiet chime, the doors opened up straight into your home.

It was designed to be fairly open and modern. Wide, white marble tiles spread across the floors, and the walls across from you were filled with large windows that framed the city almost perfectly. A sleek set of stairs wrapped around the edge of the area, leading to the upper level of the penthouse.

“What on Earth…” April gawked.

“My, uh, my room’s upstairs,” you said, looking away awkwardly.

“Nuh-uh, you did not tell me y’all had money! An apartment should not have an upstairs. This is wild!” she said as she followed you up the stairs.

“Both of my parents are fairly successful business people…” you explained as you opened the door for her to enter your room. 

It was bright from the various LED lights and signs that you had strewn about to decorate. The gradient colors bounced across your walls and furniture. April wandered over to the edge of your room that looked over the city.

“Gosh, what I wouldn’t give to live in a place like this,” she said, throwing her bag on the floor next to your bed. “Totally unreal.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind a roommate,” you chuckled. “It would be nice to get a bit of that college experience everyone loves to talk about.”

“Oh, I feel you. I’m living off-campus, too. Really feels like I’m missing out sometimes,” April said, plopping down on your bed. “Though I don’t think you’d be able to decorate your room like this if you were living in a dorm.”

“You’re totally right. I don’t think I’d be able to live without my decor,” you joked, taking a seat at your desk.

“It reminds me a lot of how Donnie decorates.”

You turned to her with a smile.

“Oh, really? He’s a big fan of LEDs, too?”

“That and the color purple, mostly,” she chuckled. “The guy knows what he wants.”

While you were on the topic, you had been wondering…

“How has he been recently?” you asked. “I remember the last time we chatted, you said he wasn’t doing so hot.”

“ So much better. Everything seems to have gone back to normal for now. He’s getting out a lot more than he was, and I think his eye bags are almost gone!” She grinned.

“I’m glad to hear that!” You smiled in return.

You really were. It had been weighing on your mind quite a bit ever since she had told you. You wish you could go back in time and leave him alone rather than torment him for your own amusement, but obviously, that wasn’t an option. Knowing that he had relative peace of mind now made you feel a little bit better.

You and April eventually turned the conversation back to your classes and got to work on your project. You had turned in the final draft of your proposal a couple days ago and were starting on the actual data collection. Together you dug through previously published papers that could provide additional information for you to work with.

You would take breaks every once in a while to grab snacks or watch stupid videos on social media. It wasn’t uncommon for one of you to become sidetracked, which would inevitably lead the other astray shortly after.

At some point, your little siblings had barged in, somehow sensing that there was a new presence in the house. They had a field day with April, and luckily she didn’t seem to mind them at all. Eventually, you had to boot them out of the room so you could keep getting work done.

When it seemed like you had gotten sufficient materials to use for your project, April suggested giving Donnie a call just to double-check that you guys weren’t missing anything. He answered almost immediately.

“You are conversing with Donatello,” his voice sang through.

“Hey, D,” April greeted. “We were just doing some work for our big bio project. Are you free to look over some of the notes and sources we’ve collected?”

“April, you know I am always available if data collection and scientific articles are involved.”

April rolled her eyes dramatically, and you both chuckled quietly so he wouldn’t hear. April proceeded to list off all the information you had gathered so far and summarized the experimental design you had decided on. He hummed along as he listened, providing some feedback here and there regarding what you two could focus more on or different articles you could reference.

“I’ll send you links to a few that I think will be particularly helpful. As a whole, however, it seems you have done quite a good job. The information you have accumulated thus far is reputable and will certainly validate your study,” Donnie stated. “Consider me impressed.”

“I’d hope so! We’ve put a lot of time into this,” you laughed. It was the first thing you said since the call started.

“Ah, there is my favorite disciple!” he began.

“Boy, if you don’t knock that shit off, I swear!” April huffed.

“You know, I was going to grace you with my presence tonight, however, April here told me I was unwelcome,” he spat.

The two proceeded to get themselves into a silly argument over he-said-she-said. You watched quietly with a soft smile gracing your lips. You wanted to join in the argument for fun, teasing and joking where you could, but it felt so wrong to do. Knowing the role you played in his life, whether he knew it was you or not, made you feel like a fraud for acting friendly with him.

Eventually, April and Donnie’s little squabble subsided, and you said your goodbyes. You and April added the articles Donnie sent over and called it a night. After walking her back down to the lobby, you returned to your room to vegetate.

You lied on your bed, watching the gradient lights change as they danced across your ceiling. You had wired all of the lighting to be in sync, alternating between various shades of blue, purple, and pink. You would switch up the color combinations if you got bored or if you needed something to fit the mood of the night a bit better.

April said Donnie’s setup was similar. If you two actually knew each other–as friends rather than opponents–you were sure that you’d have a field day chatting to him about the things he’s created. Judging by the blueprints you had stolen, your silly little light fixtures were probably child’s play for someone as technologically advanced as him.

You may not be friends, and the chances of you becoming friends were probably slim to none, but at the end of the day, you felt grateful to know that someone like him actually existed. Your world was beyond that of 9-5 office jobs, school, and circuitry. There were still mysterious people like him, part turtle and part… something else that you weren’t sure of.

Your world wasn’t as boring as you had feared, and you felt lucky to know that.

An alarm began sounding from your phone, causing you to jump. Scrambling across your bed, you picked up the device to see what was happening.

Apparently, there was an attack on the Purple Dragon’s network.

You looked over at your desktop. You hesitated for a moment before crawling over and sitting down at it. It didn’t take long for you to negate the attack and reinforce some of the security on the network as well as the servers.

Tracing back the IP of the attacker through various VPNs, it was no surprise to see that it was Donnie on the other end. Your heart jumped at the opportunity. It wouldn’t be so bad for you to make another offer to him if he was the one initiating, would it?

♡ ♡ ♡

[smytherines]

random question but whats your favorite owen hc that someone else has made and you saw it and went "omg your actually so right"

I have no idea who started it, but gnc Owen. I just feel it in my soul. I mean, I headcanon Owen as autistic (and from what I can tell it seems like a lot of autistic spies fans do?), and autistic people are more likely to be trans, to be queer, to have a more fluid concept of gender and sexuality than our allistic peers. I'm not gonna be a total nerd here but there are a few decent (aka not transphobic trash fire) studies out there about this. So from that perspective the idea of Owen being gender nonconforming is interesting to me

There's also kind of the fanon vs canon issue there, because I think there's a tendency for the fandom to say "he's a bad guy and he's tall, so he's the evil, dominant, toxic yaoi boyfriend" and to equate that with this stereotypical concept of masculinity. And I can almost understand that with DMA, but especially during the reveal monolgue Owen is... I don't know how else to say it, but aggressively sissy-coded, like a textbook effeminate swishy queercoded villain. I mean he pulls out a little comb and combs his hair during his villain monologue, all the dramatic little hand gestures, the way he moves around the scene

There's just something interesting there, I dunno

[loopy777]

What was the yangchen scene that infuriated you so much?

I'm glad you asked!

(I say as if I didn't leave that last one as bait.)

But I'm warning you, the explanation is going to be underwhelming for my level of rage. I'm just so sick of this kind of thing. Spoilers below the cut for both Dawn and Legacy.

In Dawn, the weapon Yangchen had been chasing the whole book turns out to be a trio of Combustion Benders working for the villain. This is treated as something completely unheard of, and no one is even capable of speculating how it might be possible.

In Legacy, Yangchen follows up on this and eventually tracks down the training site for the Combustion Benders. It turns out that the villain hadn't just been trying to churn out Combusters, she was training and researching several different possibilities. Yangchen doens't learn the full extent of what was going on there, but she does encounter the following:

The Combustion Benders

A girl whose bare-handed blows can incapacitate limbs and disable Bending

A chamber with a shackling chair and the remains of a circular metal track that would allow something to travel around the chair; elsewhere in the book, the villain speaks a code phrase and brings a reluctant subordinate completely under her control, compelled to follow her every command

Just- would it have been too much to have one slushing thing that wasn't taken from Aang's adventures? I'm almost surprised there weren't a pair of hook swords at the site or something about lightning-bending or lightning-redirection! By the time Avatar fiction is finished and the franchise is finally dead, do you think there will be one single thing in all of AtLA that won't have its history revealed in a story about a previous Avatar? Just like how everything Korra experiences needs to be explained in a story about the maturing gAang, everything in AtLA needs to be tossed out as chum for fans who can't be trusted to just enjoy a good story.

Combustion Bending can't have just been something that happened over there, it had to be part of Avatar History (TM). Chi-blocking can't just be a rare skill, it had to have been developed by a think tank run by an Avatar's arch nemesis. And Koh forbid Long Feng or the Dai Li actually invented some aspect of their brainwashing themselves- no, it turns out they lifted everything, right down to using a light on a circular track, from a textbook that was written four to five hundred years before they were born.

It's just so, so tiring. It's one thing when the garbage has to toss out this kind of fan-service in order to distract from its terrible character writing, but why does even the good stuff like the Yangchen novels have to devolve into this lack of creativity? It adds nothing to the story and took me straight out of what should have been a harrowing scene.

But Loopy, you say, what harm does it do? Lots of people like to have their fans serviced in this way, so maybe this is just a You thing, and it doesn't necessarily hurt the stories it's in just because Gene Yang was terrible at it.

Well, 'you,' I'd say that it actually does do harm, even in the hands of a good storyteller like F.C. Yee. See, one of best parts of this franchise is the sense of history it evokes. In most fantasy, thousands of years can whizz by with no change in culture, geography, language, technology, or education. But in Avatar, things change. The Fire Nation wins wars by developing new weapons. The Water Tribes go up and down in health and power depending the conditions of the world. A whole new nation is developed as a result of colonization, which itself spurs rapid development of technology. When we jump back to the beginning of time, the very world itself is made to look like a moving historical painting. And, as we increasingly explore the franchise, we find that each Avatar comes of age mostly by dealing with the problems left behind by their predecessors.

And every time something from AtLA or LoK is shoved into contrived circumstances in another era so we can have a pointless fan service moment, we chip away at that unique aspect of this franchise. We make each era more like all the others, so that no matter what Avatar you're dealing with or what era of history you're in, there will always be a Chi Blocker (TM). It takes something we all fell in love with due to its uniqueness and turns it into a formula. Instead of a scene that works by itself, we have a round of Spot The Reference.

And it happens in so much fiction these days. People used to make disparaging jokes about how every character in Star Wars, even the stupid nameless walk-on roles, has their own book. But at least it was their own book, and not the story of how it turns out Anakin Skywalker was best friends with this random alien decades before they randomly walked across his son Luke's path. We measure a storyteller's suitability to contribute to a franchise based on how much of a fan they are, not because being a fan might lend them insight into what made that franchise great in the first place, but because they can pack their stories full of continuity so that it turns out the entire history of an entire world turns on 20 people spread across a single family tree by the time subsequent generations are done marrying each other.

I'm just so sick of it. And being ambushed by it in 'Legacy of Yangchen' just made me groan, especially since I was enjoying the story so much.

Please, let's have a little self-respect as fans, okay?

...

I warned you this was going to be underwhelming.

[azuremist]

do you think red son or macaque count as being queercoded? it seems like something youd know about :]

YES, actually, the history of queer media and queer-coding in media is a HUGE interest of mine! So I’m happy to answer this question! (In much more detail than was likely intended.)

“Coding” is defined as when a character is subtextually given physical, action, or personality traits that draw a parallel to a real-life minority. Popular examples include fictional races being black- or Indigenous-coded, “weird kid” characters being given autistic traits, and, of course, queer coding.

The history of queer coding goes all the way back to the Hayes code. Basically, explicit queerness was NOT allowed on film, and the heroes had to always be in the moral right. So, in order to portray queerness, it had to be both subtextual, and it had to be done with the villains. This is the origin of the “queer-coded villain” trope, which still prevails in media today! Given that both characters you asked me about are villains (or at least antiheroes), I think it only right to cover the tropes regarding the queercoded villain.

Examples of queercoded villains in popular media include the likes of

Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Team Rocket from Pokemon

Shego from Kim Possible

Scar from The Lion King

Him from The Powerpuff Girls

Ways which villains (specifically, male villains) are queercoded include effeminate mannerisms, being well-dressed, flamboyant hand gestures, a sense of “pettiness” or even “bitchiness” to them, and little to no interest in women. These are alongside typical traits used to queer-code male characters, such as living with a male roommate and an interest in fashion or musicals.

SO! Let us apply ALL of that to the characters aforementioned.

Red Son:

Red Son absolutely falls into a few aspects of queer-coding. He has longer hair, and is drawn in skirts in official crew art, and has a very affluent way of speaking. His rage at the implication that Mei is his girlfriend may also fit neatly into this category.

That being said, I do not think that Red Son could confidently be defined as “queer-coded”. I feel as if the traits that could attribute to the idea aren’t a big enough part of his character. I feel like, if he wore a skirt in the show instead of in crew art, we could revisit this, though.

Macaque:

Now, Macaque is where we really hit the nail on the head. Here, we have tons of aspects of a classic queercoded villain. From his flamboyant, almost teasing style of evil, to his interest in theater (remember what I said earlier about musicals?), to his relationship to Wukong (which people on the crew are aware of and support the notion of their relationship being romantic; even to the point of one of them agreeing to the notion that they are bitter exes online), to his plain bitchy demeanor when not on the battlefield, I think that Macaque is a classic, true-blue example of a queercoded villain.

But, to be honest, I would be amiss if I didn’t bring up another character.

Tang:

I mean, you saw this coming, right?

I think that Tang is the best example of a queercoded character in LEGO Monkie Kid; even though I do consider Macaque to be queercoded. His complete disinterest in women attempting to court him has been used three times as setups for jokes. His relationship to Pigsy is exceptionally close, is pushed as important by the crew and the official Twitter for the LEGO toys alike, and.

Like

HE SAT IN THIS MAN’S LAP. Do I- do I even need to explain-?!

Not only that, but Tang also falls into a few different classic queercoding traits! He’s well-dressed, is far more emotional in later seasons than would be expected for an adult male character, and, in earlier seasons, has a sense of cattiness about him at times. I mean, it’s all pretty blatant, textbook stuff!

I definitely think that, at LEAST with Tang, the queercoding is on purpose. In the words of the former showrunner of LEGO Monkie Kid, Villads Spansberg, “There are many great people working on this show, and they all bring some of themselves to the characters. So even if it’s not written down, there’s a lot of layers being added, and I'm sure a lot of that is intentionally done to make our cast relatable to minorities around the world who feel there’s been a lack of representation in TV animation.”

Given that many members of the LEGO Monkie Kid crew are queer themselves? I think it’s safe to say that they know exactly what they’re doing.

[engagemythrusters]

Okay. Watching The Bad Batch for the first time and I’ve only gotten 2/3rds of the way thru the first season thus far, but I feel I now understand the characters well enough to start making conjectures.

So here’s what I’ve got so far:

Due to the inherent Muchness of heightened senses, I wouldn’t doubt a sensory processing disorder for Hunter. It’s clear that he’s gotten a handle on it (aka learned to adapt to, compensate for, and understand it) by the time TBB appears in The Clone Wars, but I bet it was hard to deal with when he was younger.

Wrecker appears to have a developmental/learning/intellectual disability of some sort, compounded by a TBI. He struggles with bigger words and is impulsive, along with other notable markers. This could have stemmed from the accident that left the facial scar and blinded his eye, but it seems that, based on how the other three original bad batch clones act around him, that this has always been a thing. A TBI likely added to this, because he seriously just keeps getting smacked in the head, the poor guy. He’s just a walking headache.

That being said, he likely gets lots of migraines. Seriously, that much head-smacking can’t result in a fun, happy time up in his head, pain-wise. I suspect the other four get them, too. Hunter has to process a lot of information from all senses, and Crosshair from his sight. That’s a lot to deal with, and I know I get headaches from a lot less. Tech… he’s staring at screens all day. Blue-light headaches much? And Echo… he’s literally got so much going on up there, technology wise, that it’s undoubtedly the cause of many a migraine. He’s one bad interface connection from a seizure, practically.

Crosshair has some attachment issues, I think. Like I believe all the clones would, had they not been programmed otherwise. They never got held by a caring individual, for gods sake. Maybe later generations had older brothers to hold them every so often, but that’s not enough. They never got one-on-one care. And, since his programming never kicked in correctly, Crosshair has all of that just shoved into his twig body. So, RAD, due to his obviously avoidant nature.

Tech is autistic and I don’t think that’s debatable, really. Like that textbook autism (which leads to a discussion about his savant nature being paired with a highly autistic-coded character and the harmful impact that could create for us autistic people in real life. The same harm of Wrecker’s disability vs how he’s treated as an ‘it’ in the show (said explicitly by Cid) and how Crosshair, with evident attachment issues, is demonised as the villain. BUT THATS ITS OWN ESSAY TO WRITE.)

Omega has ADHD and that one’s not heavily coded like the rest, but I think it fits!

None of them have true favourite siblings, but each are easier to go to for different things. Hunter, for leadership and emotional advice. Crosshair, for silent understanding (pre-chip activation). Wrecker, for emotional understanding and grounding. Tech, for intellectual advice and rationality. Echo, for interpersonal advice. Omega, for intrapersonal advice and a fresh, new perspective on everything.

I truly believe, in my heart of hearts, that Hunter would have the highest, shrillest scream. It doesn’t make sense, but it just seems right (to me personally).

Tech and Echo spend a lot of time on Echo’s implants and prostheses. Echo clearly isn’t using them for their original intent—some not even used at all—so they have to be updated, modified, or taken out. (As evidenced by the—I’m assuming what is a—neural interface he now wears and the lack of other implants he used to have in TCW.)

Echo has chronic pain, due to phantom limbs. That, and it must take a lot out of him for those prostheses. They're melded to him in a way that seems... not user-friendly. Techno Union wasn't doing it because they wanted him to live a fulfilling life. They did it because they needed him. They wouldn't care about his pain. It's unlikely that he doesn't feel constant pain. I'm guessing his everyday average pain level it's equivalent to what normal people (i.e.: people who aren't me or other chronic pain-havers) would consider a 4 out of 10.

I have a feeling that most of them know the basics of swimming, but likely aren’t good at it—Wrecker especially. And, with all that armour, it probably wouldn’t matter if they could swim or not. That shit will absolutely sink them. Omega, once taught, would LOVE IT, though.

Crosshair would let a tooka adopt him. As in, he would let the cat follow him around. Whether or not he’d do anything for or about the tooka… I don’t know. But he’d allow it. (Wrecker would dote on the thing if it followed him. Lula and said tooka would be his best buds. He may like explosions, but he’s a sweet guy at heart!)

Echo and Crosshair have absolutely held staring contests. Asserting dominance. (Somehow, despite not having been involved in the first place, Wrecker has won at least two of them.)

Hunter has a taste for meilooruns. Tech does not.

All of them snore. Echo’s even has an electronic buzzing to it. Tech is absolutely the loudest. Omega has wished to smother them all in their sleep.

[darling-i-read-it]

Staring

Eli Ever(Cardale) x fem!reader

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: vicious/vengeful spoilers, eli literally killing people (nothing graphic), mentions of elis horrific backstory, angst, pining 

Author’s Note: SHUT UP THIS WAS SO FUN. by the end of the duology I was so in love with eli, i cannot lie. I love victor as much as the next girl but damn i love an awful morally gray (morally black?) man. If anyone has any more request for either of these kings i would gladllyyyy write them <3 in the meantime i hope you enjoy this love!

Request: by anon, YOOOOO i read one of ur victor vale fics, and i am on my hands and knees bEGGING u to write for the villains duology more!! can i rq eli ever x reader where the reader isn't an EO but knew eli and victor in college? and the reader is working with victor against eli bc they don't agree w what eli's doing, and idk eli finds them or smth--sorry if that's too vague!! i am literally BEGGING for eli crumbs and pls include a lot of tension between reader and eli!! ur writing is stellar!!

Song: All I Need by Radiohead 

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

Eli Cardale sat across from you at the table. You had your legs folded underneath you, tingling as they fell asleep. You had been here a long time. You could tell outside the window that the sun was starting to go down. The stained glass windows of the library were tricky like that, never quite revealing if it was as late as it seemed. Eli had his nose stuck in a book still. You wondered where Victor was, if he was studying somewhere. 

“Are you done?” Eli questioned. Your head snapped back towards him. He was staring at you through the thick rims of his glasses. You smiled, shrugging.

“I’m getting sleepy,” you admitted. Eli nodded once, tucking his papers into his textbook. 

“Is that code for you’re going to go find Victor?” There was a gentle edge to his voice, a slight jealous tinge. You shook your head, rubbing your eyes. 

“Truly sleepy,” you promised. “I’ve been reading about boring things forever Eli. I can only do that for so long. You should share some of your brain power.” He shook his head. 

Eli valued these afternoons with you. They were nice and peaceful. Life outside of these walls tended to be chaotic and with complications he could never quite grasp. In here, nothing had happened to him. It was just you and his books. He could spend forever with you and his books. 

Despite the calmness of the moment, he felt the most emotion here. 

“Plus, Victor is probably off studying.” 

“Alright,” Eli huffed, though there was disbelief in it. You smiled as he put your things back in your book bag. You could probably make some shitty coffee back at the dorms and stay up a little bit longer. Make the day last past schoolwork. Maybe even catch up on some of your own reading endeavors. “Are we still meeting up tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes sir,” you promised. “Same time, same place?”

“Yes ma’am.” You gave him a nod as you pushed your chair under the table. Eli started to leave. You followed close behind him. “Have you studied for the test in Givens' class tomorrow?”

“Enough.” 

“That doesn’t sound like enough,” he admitted. You shrugged.

“What am I gonna learn in the next 12 hours that is actually gonna help me Eli?” He shook his head. He couldn’t believe you sometimes, though he enjoyed having you around. “You disagree.”

“We have different minds,” he said. The air was refreshing. You walked down the steps of the library, the sun hitting your face. It felt nice after being cooped up for so long. You passed other students, people cramming and holding large cups of caffeine. You weaved through them on the cobblestones back to the dorms. 

“What does that mean?”

“It means we have different ways of learning,” he suggested. You grinned up at him. He looked particularly handsome this evening. You knew he always teased you about liking Victor more than him but it was Eli you had always been in love with. It would always be Eli. His stoicism, his mind, his understanding without you having to say anything. 

“That’s not a bad thing,” you countered. 

“Did I say it was?” 

“You did not.” You lifted your leg dramatically as you started to go separate ways. “I’ll see you tomorrow Eli. Don’t work too hard.”

“You know me,” he called. There was a life in his voice he didn’t recognize when he was with you. You gave him a half wave, an adorable gesture, before walking the other way. 

He watched the back of your head for a moment. Your hair bounced in the sunlight. You looked gorgeous this afternoon, particularly distracting. He watched you go like you were taking a piece of him with you. Eli and Victor had decided not to tell you about their experiments, for your safety. That didn’t mean he didn’t want to. He wanted to hear your thoughts and your comments and your reserves. 

He had put his foot down. Victor was more likely to slip up than he was. 

He still wanted to tell you. 

You turned a corner and he lost you. He dropped his head down, imagining someone else seeing him standing alone, staring at a girl who didn’t once turn back to look at him. 

-

“Tracking him has never been easy,” Mitch grumbled. He was sitting on the hotel bed. The adjoining door was open, allowing Dol to come and go as he pleased. Sydney and you had your own separate room from the boys, at Victor’s insistence. 

“Well it’s never been so fucking hard,” you muttered. You looked out the window. Eli Cardale was out there somewhere, among the people and the cars. You had recently narrowed in on him to this city but been unable to get any closer. He was supposed to be obvious when you were close. “He’s killing people. What do you mean we can’t find him now that he’s so close?” 

You looked over at Victor. He was standing at the computer. He had a look of contempt on his face. You had never seen so little life in Victor. He had always been the stoic type but never as much as Eli. Now, years after college, he was almost dead in the eyes. 

“We need to split up.”

“And what? Scrape the streets to see if we find any rats?” you spat. 

You were different too. 

“He had typical haunts. We need to find an EO and narrow them down, knowing he’ll be around them.” Victor looked at Mitch. He nodded once, getting up to go to the computer. You were never quite sure how they were able to find people so quickly but you also could never understand how they couldn't find Eli. Victor walked over to you. 

“We’ll find him,” he promised. His voice was hard. You looked over at him. 

He looked so old. He looked weathered. He looked like a corpse. He had died. 

Eli and Victor had never let you die. They never would, not even after everything happened. You were a human, just like Mitch, and you were stuck here in this purgatory between people who had been your closest friends. 

After he got out of prison Victor sought you out. He knew that to find Eli he would have to find you first. He half hoped the two of you would be together, frolicking off into the sunset, like the ordeal had never happened. That isn’t what happened. 

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because he’s looking for us too.”

“Do you think he knows that I’m here?”

“I don’t think he ever lost you,” he said lowly. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Eli liked having his eye on you. I don’t think he would’ve let you leave his peripheral vision if it wasn’t for me.”

“What a rebel.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Dol walked into the room. He jumped up on Victor’s bed and did a couple circles before lying down with a huff. Sydney was awake. Victor looked back towards the dog, remembering he had a child to care for. “Do you want to go get food while Mitch looks?” He had a gentle tinge in his voice that he saved for you and Sydney. Those in this room were the closest thing he had to family, though he would never admit that. 

“Sure. I need some fresh air anyway.” You cleared your throat and walked back, grabbing some money. “Want anything Mitch? Going to the deli next door.”

“I’m alright. Filled up on protein bars.” You rolled your eyes. 

“Once a jock, always a jock,” you joked. 

“I don’t think-”

“Just go with it Mitch. Vic?” He shook his head. He would rather wallow and die than ask for anything he could get himself. “Syd, I'm getting food!” 

“Can you get me a sandwich?” she called from the other room. 

“What kind?”

“Tuna fish!” 

“Kay!” You opened the door and shut it behind you. The hotel was large but it was cheap. You were okay with the sketchy neighbors as long as no one asked questions. No one got into the elevator with you on your floor and you pushed the down button. You should’ve invited Sydney to come with you. She could use the fresh air too. Dol probably needed to go to the bathroom. 

You thought about how you weren’t that far. You could go back up and grab them, that way you had some company and extra hands for the two sandwiches. Maybe they had dog treats for Dol. You always loved places that thought of that because of how often Dol was around. 

The elevator opened on the second floor. You stepped aside, keeping your head down so you didn’t have to make eye contact. The man walked in and pushed the first floor. The elevator started to move again. 

He pushed the emergency stop button, causing the elevator to come to a harsh stop. You stumbled forward, grabbing the railing beside you. 

“Hey,” you said, annoyed. You glanced up at the floors that were highlighted at 2 still. You finally looked up at him. He was wearing a large black coat with a collar that covered the side of his face. “What the fuck?” you asked, louder this time. He tilted his head towards you so you could see his eye through the thick rimmed glasses.

Your mouth clamped shut. 

“Eli?” When he turned around it was like no time had passed. His face looked exactly the same, exactly the man you sat across from at the library. His eyes were the only thing different, a little less life in them. He and Victor were more alike than either cared to admit. 

The elevator felt too small. You were confined in a small space with someone you had carded as the villain of this story. 

But it was Eli. 

“I heard you were looking for me,” he said, quietly. His voice didn’t seem threatening. There was nothing there that felt wrong. 

“Yeah,” you breathed. “You’re killing people.” 

“They’re not people.” You narrowed your eyes at him. There was a difference. This was the Eli you had never seen, only heard about from Victor. “You…you’re people.” You looked up at him through your hair at him. Your eyes were big, doe eyed, he would say. 

“You’re people too.” He shook his head. There was a sly smile on his face. He had orchestrated his moment, he had thought about the second you would leave and that it would be just you. He needed to see you before he saw anyone else. He stayed in this town to see you. 

He was obsessed with Victor. 

But if he knew love, it was you. 

“I’m a God.” 

“Then what is Victor? What’s Serena?” You could tell you hit a hard note with Serena.

“Serena’s no longer an issue.” 

“She was an issue?” You watched each other for a moment. It was nice to be there with him, even if it hurt to know how different you were. 

“She was an issue.”

“Then what is Victor?”

“Victor’s a defect.” 

“What happened to you?” you asked him, borderline pleaded. You took a step forward and grabbed his hand. He looked down at it like it was a foreign object. He didn’t retreat. 

You didn’t do it to manipulate him. You did it because you had to, because he was right there, before you had to touch him. “What did they do to you Eli?” 

There was no way you could’ve known what they did to him but the question hit him where it would've hurt. It was a touchy subject. He had the sudden urge to hug you, to wrap his arms around you and engulf you in his embrace. To kiss you, to do what he never had the time to do when you were in college. He thought of Victor. He wondered if Victor was with you now, if his worst fear had finally come to fruition. 

“Eli,” you whispered. His eyes had glossed over, lost in thought. He came back, staring at you, studying your face.

“They cut me open. They took parts of me out. They couldn’t kill me.” His voice had no emotion, like he was talking about the weather. 

“I’m sorry.” You knew you should be using this time to convince him to change his ways. You didn’t have him for long. You should’ve been telling him that killing was never the answer and that no matter what happened to him, he should never be taking it out on others. 

But you couldn’t bring yourself to do that. 

Without warning, you wrapped your arms around him. 

His natural reaction was to tense up. He assumed you were hugging him to manipulate him, to get to the buttons, to try and hurt him. Moments passed and you stayed there, head pressed against his chest. You made no ill efforts. 

He wrapped his arms around you. He put his chin on your head. He closed his eyes. 

Why couldn’t it have been like this forever? 

Melancholy filled up the small space. It could never last like this. You had to go back to Victor and you both knew you would tell him that Eli had been here. There is nothing more special than a short lasting mutual agreement to set things aside to have some closure. 

You let him go. Your hands lingered on him as long as you could. 

“You have to go?” he questioned. The tinge of emotion was back in his voice. 

“They’ll come looking for me,” you said quietly. The act of going back assured him some time to leave. You were trying to help him, even now, even after everything. 

He nodded once. He pushed the elevator button to start moving again. It moved down slowly but not slow enough. You both faced the door. You linked your pinky with his, refusing to look at him. 

When the door opened you let out a deep breath. He let you go. You missed his touch already. He walked out the elevator doors. 

Without thinking you reached forward, stopping the doors from shutting. 

“Eli!” He turned back around. His cold face was back, haunting you with the differences in time. You swallowed. “It was always you.” 

His face softened.

The door shut. You watched him until they shut as he turned away from you. The elevator brought you back up to your floor. Like a zombie you walked down the hallway. You had forgotten your keycard and knocked on the door. 

Mitch opened the door. 

“Where’s the sandwiches?” 

Behind him Victor stood, watching your face. He read your numb expression and raised his chin, hardening his face. 

“Eli.”

[minipisi-is-dumb]

alright so. tails and eggman are the only two characters that are canonically gifted/ND in the sonic universe but they're Really interesting ways to see how others perception of gifted people is like and how it impacts the silly furry story i am the normalest about it btw not like you care

so i just have other observations abt it because it's funny mainly eggman rn ive been thinking abt him a lot

this is also a long post and im not even a fraction done ok ive issues

(also abt this im talking about canon not coding and Oh Boy do i have words for sonic and shadow as gifted-coded and how much the narrative of just being born "gifted" compared to others or the entire Literally being made For This is used in fiction but im not. gonna talk about it. not today. soon.)

look i like to compare eggman and tails a lot bc they're fundamentally parallel between each other and their relationship w sonic n all that jazz that we know but LISTEN!!!

eggman has been diagnosed very obviously for plenty of years already and since it's very usual for people to be prejudiced against it i actually find interesting that he is so so self absorbed into his genius persona and being more invested into keeping that idea on others mind.

so okay listen words are funny. giftedness is a way of asynchronous development in the brain where some parts develop "quicker" than others (compared to most brains) and is not exactly fun all the time

a good analogy i like is about "mental age" (which was acc a predecessor of the idea of IQ!) where you have people who are chronologically, say, 12 years old, but their emotional regulation is alike to an 8 year old but ALSO their intellectual needs are the ones of a 19 year old. yeah. it gets like that.

so a lot of time in children it's the classic (super harmful) "hypermature" mentality that sees them and keeps them in that pedestal (yes this has to do w sonic still) and adults are usually seen as less mature than their peers, more child-like and less apt to be actually functional people in everyday live n that causes issues because part of the giftedness of it all is that the creativity and child-like wonder is a fundamental part of how our brain is wired wether we like it or not. so that "childish" part is always seens as less from the outside and DUDE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I ADORE EGGMAN

LISTEN TO ME eggman is textbook evil villain for kids entertainment franchise and also good foil for sonic and tails mainly Oh no we're not just talking abt that we're talking about symptoms here and i LOVE how some of them is clear he learned to accept and live with and others not

actually Eggman's got to be one of the coolest depictions of an evil gifted man istg. the man might be an evil mastermind n probably has killed so much people that lily orchid would cry in her sleep abt it and he's also hyperfixated on killing a funny blue furry but look he knows what he is and he OWNS it

Oh, the prejudice is that gifted adults are too childish? Too creative for their own good? Too self centered? Jokes on THEM Eggman just created 5 new badnik models based on the same worm and they all look sick also did you see Eggman's logo plastered everywhere like a kid putting stickers in every place they can???? YEAH

Oh the prejudice says that gifted adults need to be overachievers and have a million accomplishments to be validated? suck to be you because sure eggman has his doctorates hanging around but he really just has an elevated ego. he would call himself genius for making a coffee at the temperature he likes, he would call himself genius because of internalized shit but also he would just. let himself be. if anything he's not thinking about being or not a genius for himself, he's more focused on maintaining that mythos for his enemies so that he feels some sort of power (ah yes chronic need of control my beloved)

listen the ways funny brains ar wired make it so that there's an illusion of omnipotence through the sheer power of will. that "childish" part is so so fundamental because it comes back up even if repressed every time there's threat. every time a basis on any self perception is perceived, a "child-like" attitude is taken and everything is blamed on someone else or is reflected in a need of over protection, control and blaming others for any situation. you guys can see how this relates to Eggman or have i finally lost it

also that one cool af detail where he blames his frustration everything back to an outsider force uh listen im joking here but im very much sure that Eggman's gotta be one of the funniest depictions of a gifted adult that feels so. Yeah i can see where he's coming that's kinda what i mean.

uhhhh i have so many more thoughts but it's too long and also words are hilarious and also shut UP i just like Eggman as the funniest gifted man ever bc he just shows so many symptoms and plausible ways his ND affects his life. it's clear that they just wanted to parody the idea of an evil mastermind being annoyed by children when the games started and therefore gave him both the 300 is thing and the immature behavior to like mock him n such. but literally shut up i can do whatever i want i can take characters however i want and he is canonically ND so ill hold him to that standard anyways

[danaan13]

The dispatch had sent me an address, along with the code for The Tank. I smiled and drove out to the address. I liked picking up The Tank. He tipped well. He also would tell stories about things he'd seen people doing, while out on his patrols - kids drawing art on the sidewalk with chalks, a man buying flowers from a street vendor for his wife's birthday, a pair of teenagers herding a small cluster of children into a park. He would gush about how much beauty there was in everyday life.

That's not to say the other superheroes weren't likeable. They each had their charms and quirks. A few were assholes. But in that way that said they weren't sure how to be a people, instead of an icon, and hated it.

But by and large, I liked listening to The Tank the most. He was gregarious, warm, kind, and oh so observant. He'd noticed my backpack, sitting in the passenger seat one day, with my college textbooks in it. I hadn't had time to stash it in the trunk before answering the dispatch call to come get him. He asked me what I was studying and was very curious about my field of study. His tips doubled after that.

So, I turned right on to Hibiscus Street and pulled up to the address. I stopped at the curb and then looked at the two men there. Oh, this wasn't good.

The Tank was sitting on the ground with a huge wad of gauze and an ice pack pressed to his nose. Bruises were blooming vividly across his face. And his right arm was sloppily bound up in what looked to be the remains of a shiny purple cape.

Standing next to him was The Mad Marquis. His cape was clearly gone, now used as an impromptu sling. And he was standing their scowling at The Tank's phone. He looked up at me as I stepped out of my cab. "There you are. I suppose that's not a bad wait time. Maybe. Whatever. Take this moron to his hospital will you? Idiot was so determined to stop my missile he used his face for it and landed his elbow on my car!"

The Tank huffed a laugh. "Yes, well, I'm rather fond of that elementary school. I wish you'd stop parading your shenanigans in front of it. You're not impressing the art teacher with them."

Marquis snarls. "Oh no! Of course not! She's too happy about you blocking that missile with your bloody face! How is she ever going to notice me if you're always saving the day?"

Tank rolled his eyes. "How is she going to notice you if her students are screaming in terror?"

I watched the two bicker and then noticed that they had the same color eyes. And the same curve to their nose. I'd heard rumors that The Tank had a brother, but never quite realized said brother might be a villain. I finally gathered the gall to interrupt them. "As fascinating as I'm finding this whole scenario, perhaps we can continue this on the way?"

Tank smiled and nodded, pushing to his feet with a wobble. Which Marquis quickly reached to steady him. They both climbed into the back and I passed back a first aid kit that stayed in the front. I turned then for the hospital that was equipped for treating our superheroes, after texting their office that I was on the way with The Tank and what I could see of his injuries.

As we drove, the two started bickering about the Art Teacher again. And finally, Tank looked at me and asked, "If you had a guy trying to get your attention like this, how would you feel?"

I frowned in thought and then asked, "Would I be aware that he was trying to get my attention?"

Tank looked at Marquis then. "That is a point. Does she even know you like her?"

Marquis squirmed and sighed. "I... haven't said as much. I'm just trying to get her to talk to me!"

I bit back a soft laugh and then said, "How about... starting with a conversation, instead of a plot?"

Marquis sniffed derisively at me. "Why would I do that? What good is doing anything without a proper plot!?"

I just shrugged and answered, "Because then you can find out what sorts of plots she likes."

That stopped him in his tracks and I could see him in my mirror, turning look out the cab window thoughtfully. Proverbial gears turned in his head as his silence filled the cab. Tank gave me a discrete thumbs up. I just smiled.

I got them to the hospital and the nurses were already waiting. The Marquis stepped out and then stopped, turning around to look at me. "Do you... deliver? Like... flowers?" he asked, seeming almost nervous.

I tilted my head and watched him fidget. I then nodded. "That is a service offered by my company, yes."

He then looked down at Tank's phone and says, "If I save this number to my phone, I can still use it to use your company's services?"

I nodded again, but then added, "Yes. But do keep in mind, we can't drive you to or from any illegal activities. City law prohibits that. And... I'd like to keep my job."

He nodded quickly. "No. No. Perfectly understandable. I'll be sure anything I ask you to ferry will be legally acquired."

He then turned and sedately followed the nurses and Tank into the hospital, without so much as a goodbye.

It would be another week, before dispatch sent me to a flower service to pick up the most massive, bourgeois vase of flowers I'd ever seen. The art teacher was flabbergasted and when I related to her what it was all about, the woman just groaned. And blushed. Two months later, The Mad Marquis was seen on another crime spree, with a brand new lady villain at his side. And The Tank was strangely pleased with it.

As for me, Marquis actually tipped more than his brother did. And when I went to go make my next loan payment on my car, the company said they no longer had records of my debt, after The Mad Marquis and The Aristocrat of Art had vandalized their office and deleted most of their servers. I stuck the money in my savings instead.

You are a cabdriver. But you don’t drive any cab, you drive The Herocab, a cab that any superhero can call if they need to be somewhere urgently. Today you were called, only to find the hero a bloody mess on the ground and a villain, the hero’s phone in hand, standing over them.

[myselfinserts]

‘ you’ll feel better in the morning. ’

Madame Rosine had been out of town for a week. She was supposed to return this coming Monday, and in the meantime, all the students were meant to finish the work on their assignments and have them ready for presentation. Étienne was trying hard to stay awake as he put together the finishing touches on his, downing yet another cup of coffee. It didn't help much. The blackouts and the heavy rains made for ideal sleep conditions. Not conducive to studying at all.

Were it not for the fact that his nephew were in the class, Étienne was almost certain that he would have needed to request an extension on this project, due to the person of interest.

Derezzed, as he was known to the public, or Elbert Silverson, as he insisted on being called, or Manabu Hirano, to those who knew him as well as "Reiji" did, was a peculiar man. His quirk "Deresolution" allowed him and others to move at high speeds through electrical waves, and the effect made the affected party take on a "low resolution" appearance in real life. A power that did not work well when combined with other quirks that didn't share a similar electrical component, and as a result, kept him from working with his half-sister as often as he'd have liked.

Outside of that, however, the two often collaborated on support item designs. Particularly in regards to commissions by Matsumoto Inc, the leaders in North America even rivalling some of the U.S.A.'s top brands. Their joint efforts on incorporating algorithmic predictions into raid strategy cut down on the number of casualties at sea in less than six months, going from nearly 5,000 attacks a month to less than 50.

And then there was Silverson's work in regards to coding systems and computer software used in support items. More importantly, the one that 90% of the industry uses and is considered the golden standard, due to how hard it was to hack into. It was Silverson's creation. And the fool didn't think to patent it. He made it open source, and only had it credited as being created by "The Helper".

Feeling he'd done enough, and knowing when to call it a night, Étienne closed up his books and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes as he took in the last few details. No doubt his presentation would be top notch. Everyone was sure to be impressed. AND he had all the references to back it up in case those that weren't tried to call him a fraud.

And yet, there was still something off about this. The further he talked with Derezzed, the more he learned. While the man certainly wasn't carrying the industry on his back, he was doing it a major favor. It was almost insulting how little this man viewed himself and his creations. In a better world, Manabu Hirano would be considered a Pillar of the industry, with a coding and software empire. Instead, anything he made had been turned open source within a year of creation. Same with most of his actual equipment designs.

It was as if he didn't intend on living past the age of thirty.

CRASH!

Étienne's eyes flew open. Nearly knocked over his textbooks as he stepped away from the desk, hurrying downstairs to the front door. The rain continued to pelt against the windows. Echoes of impacts from the tell-tale beat of battle raged on from several blocks away.

Another day, another Hero vs Villain brawl.

But he knew something was off. It almost never came close to his street. It was one of the main reasons his grandparents chose this neighborhood all those years ago. Étienne rather liked that about this place. He'd be sad to see it be all for nothing.

With a sigh of irritation, he glanced outside the peephole, trying to see if there was anything of major concern. Initially, he couldn't make out much. It was late, and most of the power was out in the city due to the storm. So mostly it was just vast darkness. Barely anything concerning.

But then he saw it. Just barely visible against the rain. A blinking light off a pair of broken goggles. The squirming of a body pulling itself off of the sharp edge of one of the neighbor's fences. (He'd always hated that fence. Too dangerous for the public and only in place due to some legal loophole.) He'd been prepared to call for a Hero to come deal with the mysterious figure.

And then Étienne saw the familiar ponytail that had been following him around ever since the start of the year.

Shit.

It was reckless. Every rational part of his brain said to stay inside. And yet, before he knew it, he'd found himself running out the door and into the middle of the road, just in time to catch Reginald as he fell forward. The weight of the rain and the Hero suit and the complete dolt on his shoulder nearly sent Étienne to the ground. On the paler fabric, he was able to see where the fence had impaled him.

For whatever reason, he felt a sense of relief.

"Damn idiot," he hissed. "You're lucky it just missed your vitals."

Regi was barely able to look him in the eye as he choked out, "……s-sir…..you need to….to go back i-inside…..It's too dangerous…out……here……"

Reginald Gladstone passed out. Passed out not only without recognizing who it was that caught him, but also focusing more on someone else over his own health and safety.

And Étienne didn't know which pissed him off more.

Frustrated, he dragged Reginald inside and out of the rain. Étienne wasted no time, moving him to the kitchen and setting to work on removing the damaged suit, pressing a towel to the injury to stop the bleeding as he waited for emergency services to answer his call.

Renegade was out of healing water.

"What service do you require?"

"Ambulance! We have a downed Hero bleeding out on my kitchen floor. Not currently life threatening, no injury to his vitals, but he's still in desperate need of medical attention. I'm currently putting pressure on the wound to stop the blood but he needs help!"

"Understood. We're currently tracing your call and will have medical attention there soon. Are you currently in any danger?"

"No. Not at all. Can you get someone here any faster?! This dolt isn't going to last forever, you know!"

"Okay. Please stay on the line with me, sir. We'll have someone there soon."

Soon wasn't soon enough. Where was the backup? Why was Reginald thrown so far from the action? How did he manage to survive that fall? It would have killed most people. Or at least leave them paralyzed.

And then he remembered. The burning question.

"So what forced you to retire from both heroics and support design?"

".....you ever had a chainsaw blade go directly into your spine, Allard?"

"Of course not."

"Ever seen it happen to someone else?"

"No."

"Pray you never have to."

Suddenly, a lot of Reginald's movements made sense.

While lost in his own thoughts, and trying to keep speaking with the operator, Étienne was distracted for but a moment. He glanced down, seeing a bruised and scuffed up hand on his knee, rubbing soothing circles with the thumb as a light squeeze brought him down to earth.

He hadn't even noticed he was tense.

"It's.....going to be okay......" Regi barely managed as he smiled. His eyes were dim, and he was whiter than fresh linens, but his breathing was steady. "You're.....s-safe.....as long as......I'm here......I'll pro....tect....you......."

Étienne sighed. "Shut up. You're feeling like shit right now."

"....no....I'm f-fine....p-p-prom....ise..."

"......just relax, Reginald. You'll feel better in the morning."

The rest of the night went by in a blur. He barely remembered the EMTs coming in and wheeling Regi out. Chimera 4th and a police office took his statement. It didn't take them long to "procure" the problematic fence.

Once everyone was cleared from the house, Étienne quietly looked down at his clothes, then glanced at the kitchen floor. With little time to really take in what he was seeing, he simply set to work cleaning.

By the time he fell into bed, showered and freshly dressed, he couldn't help but think the same thing over and over again.

I suppose I understand the idiot a little more now.

And I don't like it.

[dowhatteverer]

I wrote this up a little while ago but never actually posted it, and with everything going on right now, I think I probably should anyway.

It's pretty absurd to me how so many people view RWBY as a queer and feminist story and anyone who dislikes the way it writes it's male characters is a misogynist, but when you actually bother to look at it, you see that the male characters it tends to demonize are only the male characters that our real-world society has already othered.

James Ironwood has extensive prosthetics and an atypical body and is often described as literally being "half robot" and Adam Taurus is an in-universe minority who was permanently blinded and disfigured by one of his oppressors and is literally an animal person. Jaune Arc, is a white, blue eyed, blonde haired, heavily coded as straight and cis young man. He is the textbook idea of a young male hero in a coming of age story, and he is essentially the show's real main character.

The male characters in RWBY who tend to be demonized and painted as villains and monsters, are people who are already not accepted by the status quo. Adam and Ironwood are the Other. Jaune is the young Hollywood hero.

In fact, let's do a little bit of lightning round in how much RWBY holds up ideals about how the Other should be treated.

Jacques Schnee is a white capitalist abuser who subjugates faunus and treats his family like shit. Not only is he considered basically not an actual threat in the Atlas Arc, (that would be Arthur Watts, the brown man, and James Ironwood, the disabled PSTD having Asian man) but he's actually a gold digger who married into the family fortune. He is literally the Other to the Schnee family and "doesn't belong there" among the legitimately lebensborn looking German coded Nicholas "colonizer" Schnee and his neglectful drunk daughter. They even gave this man black hair that he dyed white to really rub in how not pure blooded he is.

Arthur Watts and Hazel Reinhart are clearly darker skinned characters and are a part of Salem's cabal. Hazel Reinhart, whether the writers intended this or not, is an idiot who couldn't accept his sister making her own decisions in life and chose to work with her murderer to kill that murderer's abuse victim. Arthur Watts is a remorseless terrorist who has no qualms with rigging elections or taking away the bodily autonomy of young white girls.

Tyrion Callows is clearly some form of mentally ill and is an in-universe minority with a racial trait (that seems like it would be pretty heavily stigmatized if I'm being honest) that gets forcibly amputated by someone who is relatively more privileged than him in his society and later replaced with a prosthetic, making him physically disabled as well.

Mercury Black is an abuse survivor who suffered physical abuse so horrible he had to get his legs amputated.

Anyone else sensing kind of a theme here?

[teslacoils-and-hubris]

no one asked but I've been incredibly obsessed with this movie for like 2 weeks straight so have my rambles under the cut if anyones interested

So in the movie vampires (ignoring max for this because i cannot for the life of me figure out how he fits into all of this) represent the dangers of various alternative subcultures as seen in the 80s. They do drugs, they steal, they're heavily queer coded. Sleep all night party all day etc etc. David acts as a seductive force pulling Micheal away from living a normal life with his family and Star. In killing the vampires, the Emersons + Star and Laddie are able to return to normal human life. Micheal gets his happy, heterosexual ending with Star and Laddie, essentially saving his wife and kid figures from a life of degeneracy.

So what do the comics do with this? Well the only obvious way to take this story

introduce a girl gang of vampires who are trying to find an underground city of the original vampire mothers to revive them and bring about the end of humanity. Obviously. Also the saxophone guy from the scene Micheal meets Star is there and he's a religious weirdo vampire hunter who slathers himself in holy oil to ward off vampires. Oh and David survived and now he's helping the girl vampires and gets one last homoerotic scene with Micheal for good measure.

The original mother vampires seem to be based off of. like the aztec in a weird way? like there's a few words thrown in and they dress like my middleschool textbook said the aztec dressed. Anyways they've been sleeping in an ancient cave under the lost boys hotel cave hideout. Sam kills like one of them and then there's a cave in and they just die. probably. The main villain of the series is an old lady who's mad that she got turned into a vampire at 80 and wants to use the blood of the mother vampires to make herself young again. She's the sire of the girl vampire gang who Star also belonged to before being sent out to join the lost boys because the girl vampires needed access to their cave to find the underground city of vampires. There's also a hinted at gay romance between Star and the head of the vampire girl gang but it's only hinted at after the vampire is dead. I guess they just couldn't resist the chance to one up whatever Mickie and David had going on.

Are you confused yet? that's ok because its over

I think there's some good ideas in here! I could see a version of this comic that focuses more heavily on the old lady vampire and how she wants to be young again instead of focusing 5 comics to the mother vampires and springing this twist ending in the 6th. They also gave Star a terminal illness as her inspiration for joining the girl vampires in the first place, which I actually really liked! Give the poor girl some more agency in the situation. I'm indifferent to her being with the vampire girl gang, but it does feel forced how it's presented in the comics. I have no idea why they focused so heavily on the mother vampires just to have them be wiped out by a cave in. The pacing is all over the place

Oh also David survives once again. Getting the blood of the mother vampires which will make him a. Super vampire? I think? good for him tbh he could use the win

truly there is no way to guess what the fuck happens in the comic sequel to The Lost Boys 1987 movie if you haven't read them. What a way to miss the entire point of a movie and just do whatever the fuck you think sounds cool in the moment

[baggebythesea]

Every Horde character is an outsider in some way. You have the Super Pal trio, who all feel like they can't belong with the Princesses for one reason or another, but also all fail to adhere to the values of the Horde. Then you have the Horde Squad who were raised by Shadow Weaver, and none of them are the brutal soldiers the Horde want them to be either.

Even Hordak, overseer of it all, is unable to live up to his own standards.

Adora is the only character, at the end of the day, who is as strong and sharp as the Horde and the Princesses need her to be. It therefore makes sense that she is the most repressed lesbian in the world.

(Context: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/baggebythesea/678143989876211712) Completely true, but consider: It's not just the Horde. Every CHARACTER is an outsider in that specific way that's so often used in queer coding (the fact that every character is also, in unrelated news, queer just makes it better)

Glimmer - Rather sneaks out in the woods to find a cute girl than do what mommie tells her to.

Bow - That whole have a secret life to avoid parental expectation thing

Perfuma - Tries so hard to live up to 'nice' ideals and repress less presentable urges (until she's convinced to embrace the joy of hitting people with flowers).

Mermista - Too cool to care about the crushing responsibility placed on her. also, that person/life style everyone can see she's attracted to - toootally not a thing.

Frosta - The way she completely pivoted to a new a happier personality the moment she got an older, cool, queer mentor? Yeah, that way.

Swift Wind - Literately transformed into something new and unknown. Like it and would never go back to his old self. (Presumably the same is true for Emily, even if we never got to hear her opinion).

Sea Hawk - Follows his passion rather than societal expressions (or common sense, or basic survival instinct).

Netossa and Spinnerella - relics in their own life time. Even the nicest guy in the rebellion don't know what they do. They have to fight to remain relevant.

Angella - almost the closest thing to a straight coded character* in the entire show. Still struggles just like her daughter with being thrust by circumstance into a role she's ill suited for - a diplomat turned into war leader to her own horror.

*) I'm not saying she's straight. I'm saying that in contrast to pretty much everyone else she has the least amount of clear, unambiguous signalling that she's queer - because this show is really, really good at signalling that characters are queer.

Micah - He really should stop being corrupted by evil, queer coded seductive villains all the time.

Castaspella - the cool, childless aunt is practically her own trope. also, that way she walks in Shadow Weaver's footsteps without ever measuring up.

Light Hope - yearns to grow outside of her programming. Her inability to do so destroys the people she loves.

Mara - Friends of Mara. also, that whole 'forbidden love that threatens to lead a good woman astray from her programming' thing.

Double Trouble - Textbook definition of Camp Gay, Proud to be evil (or at least an amoral asshole) and just oozes of <i>cool</i>.

Hordak, Imp, Wrong Hordak and every single clone have to reinvent their whole sense of identity - including gender and sexuality - as they are freed from Prime.

Scorpia - represses her 'princessy' side, but when she has the opportunity to indulge it - at princess prom and when she comes to Brightmoon where she is accepted for who she is.

Entrapta

Catra and Adora... yeah, I don't feel the need to elaborate

I think the Horde Squad is interesting, because like you say they are not what the Horde want them to be, and in the end they have to run away rather than to conform... but the thing is, they are pretty good soldiers. The problem is that the Horde is a lie, and when Hordak and Catra are unable to keep it up it crumbles around them. Good thing they found the camaraderie they were promised in each other.

Huntara, Tung Lashor and the Star Siblings - cool outlaws

Razz - literately stuck outside of societal norms (such as existing in linear time)

George and Lance - They are a fun example since they are a straight coded couple - the people Bow feel the need to separate from in order to live his life to the fullest; well established, large family with a large house and an life style centered around playing it safe, avoiding conflict and being into history (read: traditions) - who just happen to be gay. Bow's coming-out-scene is magnificent.

Juliette... Huh, I got nothing.

Spop: Every single character is queer (in the 'sexual or gender identity' sense) and every single character except George, Lance and possibly Juliette are queer coded (as in, follow narrative conventions commonly used to indicate queer characters, even if it's not explicit in the text).

[moontheoretist]

You know. I have this unique approach to “Tony was selling weapons” issue in which I know it was a legal business and in America it was basically seen as a-ok thing to do, because military propaganda is strong and Tony was basically raised not only in that propaganda, but also in a family which fortune was build on selling those very weapons. On the other hand, I also know that regardless of how legal it is, it was also a war profiteering business which destroyed lives. And on a third hand, because to me Tony is coded as an autistic person with ADHD, I can see how he had issues for so many years to see that the system is broken and cannot be trusted.

Let me explain.

You may call it an excuse or projecting, but when I was younger, I couldn’t process that things I was taught about at school don’t actually work as the textbook claims it does in real life. Meaning that when a paper page in my school book said or a teacher said or someone from my family or anybody who was an authority to me said that democracy is the best system ever and has no flaws, I did believe it and never questioned it. To start questioning it, I needed an outside force to knock the idea that the system is indeed broken into my brain, hard. It’s really hard to accept that the world around you doesn’t work the way you thought it was working on paper, and therefore we as humans tend to delude ourselves that if we cannot see it happen, then it doesn’t exist (though in my case the delusion wasn’t even conscious enough that I could say I was deluding myself, I just was unable to see any issues till they were shoved in my face). So only when we see, and sometimes personally feel that happen to us, we are finally able to let go of that delusion and open our eyes.

Press Reporter #1: Mr. Stark, what happened over there?

Stark: I had my eyes opened.

So to me, the whole Afghanistan incident is this to Tony. To me, it feels logical that he would not be able to compute that weapons are bad and selling them is bad if he was all his life taught that weapons are good and that he helps people by selling them until he was personally smacked with them in the face, because sometimes people saying things to your face (like media, specifically Christine Everheart definitely were doing) is not enough to truly realize something (I also think that Howard and Stane taught Tony how to ignore all the media and what they say to him when he was groomed as SI’s heir, so it didn’t have that much of an effect on him before Afghanistan as it does after it), and you need that smack instead.

It’s a very strong incentive which shakes your whole world, and it is strong enough to make our stubborn autistic brains (mine and Tony’s, I don’t want to insinuate that all autistic people have this issue) to start questioning the status quo.

So, when Tony gets hit by his own weapon and feels on his own skin what it does, sees terrorists use his weapons to target American military (young soldiers who were there mostly because American system is broken and exploits the young, so they would join) and kill them, then has to live with a shrapnel in the cave, learns that Ho Yinsen’s family was also killed by his own weapons, and then when he is free again and continues to live with the shrapnel and sees innocent people in Middle East losing loved ones, it finally starts to compute that weapons are bad, that everything he did till now was bad, that he is the one responsible for this suffering and that his weapons shouldn’t be given to people who cannot be trusted with them (i.e. his own company, America and American military).

It is also in character for him to assume, that if he is the one whose eyes were opened, he should be the one using his own weapons (i.e. Iron Man, which doubles for prostetic too) for good, though it was not his first thought (you remember when he went to Air Force base to talk to Rhodey? It is possible he wanted Rhodey to be his Iron Man pilot instead and when he was rejected and saw that Rhodey believes in the system he doesn’t, he had to take it upon himself, because in his head he was the only one who saw it was wrong).

I think that if Wanda was actually done right (meaning that if Joss Whedon was not antislavic piece of shit and her trauma and suffering were properly represented in AoU instead of being sold as just a low bar villain motivation), the thing which happened to her family when Tony was already a CEO and probably approved of selling the weapons to the military shortly before or long before NATO used them in Yugoslavia to bomb tons of civilians (I am of the mind that military could use the weapons they bought from Tony’s company long ago, and that it didn’t have to specifically be a new contract crafted just to deal with the Slobodan Milošević issue), it would only reinforce the idea that weapons are bad in Tony’s head.

I think that as much as he is not to blame for Wanda’s parents deaths, because he didn’t fire those weapons himself (and possibly was not even that much interested in the conflicts abroad the American army used his weapons for, because he assumed they will use them responsibly, only against enemy soldiers and will not use them on civilians - this is an error born from assuming that war is just and only happens on the battlefield, while a lot of countries since I dunno even how long literally doesn’t adhere to the rules of war (that you can only fight on battlefields with no civilians in sight) and fights wherever they want, not caring about civilians and sometimes even purposefully drop weapons on them like NATO did in Yugoslavia, committing war crimes left and right, making war unjust), I think he bears some responsibility for what happened and has a right to feel guilty over the deaths which happened due to those bombings.

And later on, when he finally switches and does mostly defensive stuff, like making a technology which can remove mines from minefields without any of them exploding, or when he makes his company pursue clean energy instead, and he joins the Avengers, because he truly believes they are good for the world, he is again smacked in the face by the fact that something in which he believed was not good, that it was doing more harm than good. That’s why, in my opinion, he reacted to Mrs. Spencer’s accusations. Because he again let himself believe in something indiscriminately, without doubt, and was again smacked in the face with facts. And the facts were that Avengers were not operating well, and their recklessness and half-cooked last minute plans were the reason why more people died than it would if they actually worked well as superheroes.

To a lot of people, it looks like Tony is motivated by personal hurt and guilt. But to me, it always looks like him being violently shaken into acknowledging reality of something he thought was flawless.