#moral of the story: speed is trans

[mahhagogogo]

Rex Racer hasn't seen his little sister since he left home, when she was 12. Now his little sister is 18, the same age that he was when he left, but has undergone twice the change that Rex has... And Rex is thrilled to see his little brother flourish.

[madokamagicasecrets]

Ultrakill is such an amazing game on one hand you have the landmark focus on speed and style, no ammo in favor of using style points to reward wrapon swapping, insane and even encouraged speed run tech and glitches, as well as a bonkers story that has a lot to say about the nature of morality in the divine comedy to the point its a borderline response and sequel.

And then it's just. Hakita has never read the divine comedy. It's his first real video game. He makes almost all the music for it and drops albums on the side. All the robots are trans and also the angels. Blahaj is in it and all the lead devs own one. One of them owns 2 and Hakita openly calls them a textbook bottom. The Twitter retweets trans memes. Some of the machines have paws. They made an official update to allow sex toy support.

What the fuck is this game. And why did I dump over 2k hours into it. It's not even finished?

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Pumpkinheart

A ginger trans molly with short fur, orange eyes, white paws, and long legs.

Due to some Timeline Wiggling, Leafstar is pregnant during Skyclan's Destiny. Egg, due to his... Odd nature, has had his age bumped down to give Leafstar ANOTHER moral question regarding making a cat an apprentice early. He and Firefern are very close in age now as a result of this.

So Pumpkinkit, along with Ashkit and Swankit, are their 3 children. Born between AVOS and TBC. During apprenticeship, RIGHT before TBC begins, as the Moonpool is beginning to freeze, Pumpkinpaw goes and has her nice little ceremony where she keeps her name, just changes her title to molly.

Her mentor is... Rileypool! He, Firefern and Stormheart all make it through the journey safely. She is a bouncing bundle of energy, and while she does not tease Rootpaw, she blazes past him in a way that makes him very nervous around her. How do you talk with someone 4 parallel universes ahead of you? Girl is speed. Kachow.

He best friend is Needleclaw, and she is very into learning Glyphs with her when they are apprentices due to this. She also has dreams to be the best hunter in Skyclan. When things hit the fan, you can always trust Pumpkinheart to cook you up a nice snack, and she seems to have a knack for memorizing things concerning food. She knows what she has hunted, how many, what food her friends and family like and dislike, and what prey tastes best when caught in certain areas.

As of ASC, she is currently mentoring Babblepaw, a renamed Beepaw, while also undergoing her own personal training to become a Prime Hunter.

She also... May or may not have a crush on one of the newer members of Skyclan, Pinkwillow.

Pinkwillow, however, is a story for another day.

[rainbowxocs]

TW: Alex has allot of dark theming in his story, including most of the types of abuse, and addictions. Be careful when reading through.

With notes, from me.

Name: Alexander Dawn Leverett.

Special Titles: Former President of New America, President Alexander, Peacemaker, Our Savior.

I have gone through allot of titles over the years.. I prefer just to be called Alex though..

Username: @alex-computer , or alexluvsu

Nicknames: Alex, Mr.President, Ray of Sunshine, King Alexander, My Lord, Detective Violet.

Age: 22. I don’t feel 22..

Pronouns: He/Ribbit.

Sexuality: Asexual, Gay.

Gender: Trans Man, Frobloomgender, GlitchGender.

Species: Hybrid (Half Human, Half AI.) I am a science experiment essentially..

Disorders: CPTSD, Body Dysmorphia, Hypersexuality, Depression, Autism, Insomnia, Afrid, Suicide Ideation, Morality OCD, Paranoid Schizophrenia, BPD, Maladaptive Daydreamer. Haha.. I’m a little bit broken..

Autism Information: Semiverbal. I can talk, but I like to use other methods instead to communicate..

Physical Conditions: Low Mobility, Synesthesia, Migraines, Chronic Pain, Ambulatory Wheelchair/Crutches User, Hard of Hearing, Partially Blind. ^ See above, broken.

Recovering Addictions: Joy, Self Harm, Sex, Alcohol, Weed, Cocaine, Nicotine (Cigarettes), Meth, Heroin, LSD, Mushrooms, Ecstasy.

One day they won’t be active.. today is not that day though..

Religion: Atheist. I don’t really believe in the power of magic or the gods anymore. At the end of the day I had to save myself.

Job: None, Currently. I would love to be an artist, or a florist one day.. Maybe a teacher or a scientist..

Major: In college, no major. The facility has a program for education.. so I’m taking some basic classes to figure out what I would like to major in.

Lives in: West Virginia, New America, 3025. …..

Languages: English, Ada, French, BASL + Most Languages.

Height: 5’3” …I wish I was taller…

Race: Black.

Ethnicity: African American, A.I.

Accent: British American, Proper. People often tease me for my accent.. I guess it’s because Britain hasn’t taken over America again yet.. so a British accent is a little odd.

Powers: Super Regeneration, Super Speed, Super Strength, Super Intelligence, Laser Eyes, Scanning, Using the Interweb, Manipulating Technology, Electricity, Healing, Water Breathing, Nanomachines, Overwhelming Competence.

Alignment: Lawful Good. I haven’t been lawful good lately…

Text Color: Purple When Happy. Red when Sad/Angry etc.

Main Animal: Frogs, Kangaroos. :)

Other Animals: Bees, Cockroaches, Seals, Lightning Bugs. :)

Main Hobbies: Art, Gardening, Husbandry, Singing, Science, Robotics.

Diet: Can for the most part only eat purple food, Eats things whole, like bones, wrappers, rinds.

People find what I eat weird..

Favorite Drinks: Lemonade, Butterfly Tea, Taro Boba, Hot Chocolate.

Favorite Fruit/Veg: Ube, Grapes, Plums, Watermelon.

Favorite Meals: Scrambled Eggs, Pancakes, Waffles, Ube Pizza, Chicken Noodle Soup, Friendship Bread, Ramen, Sago Soup, Popcorn, Chicken Nuggets, Hot Dogs, Chicken Sandwiches.

Favorite Sweets: Frog Gummies, Fruit Snacks, Chocolate, Poprocks, Purple Gummy Bears, Kohakutou.

Favorite Desserts: Brownies, Ube Icecream, Moon Cakes, Taro Cookies.

Favorite Flower: Violets, Lavender, Wisteria, Dandelions, Lilacs, Sunflowers. :)

Scent: Lavender, The Ocean, Pineapple. Most people say I smell tropical.

Handedness: Left Handed.

Blood Color: A mixture of Red and Oil.

Birthday: September 8th 3003. (Virgo)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Facts: Owns several kangaroos, His favorite frog is a Pig nosed frog. has collected every single Pokémon including every shiny Pokémon. :)

Special Interests: Frogs, Nature, Disney, Winnie the Pooh, Pokemon, Stardew Valley, Biology. :D

Comfort Objects: (Fluffernutter) Purple Kangaroo Plush, His Computer, His Furby, Rabbit Plush, His Plants, Seal Plushie, Purple Teddy Bear, Purple Frog Plush, Worm on a String. :D

Stims: Keyboards, Drawing, Knocking on things, Echololia, Playing with Coins, Gemstones, Hand flapping, Bouncing, Computer stims, Ribbiting, Slimes, Squishes, Kinetic Sand, Bee Dancing, Sensory Jars.

Stimboard: LINK

Moodboard: LINK

Fashionboard: LINK

MY POKÉMON TEAM!!!:

MY GENSHIN TEAM!:

ALEX’S HAPPY THINGS!!!:

Purple.

The Sun, Rainbows, Rain.

My computer.

Frogs, Cockroaches, Kangaroos, Bees, Seals, Sea Urchins, Lightning Bugs, Horseshoe Crabs.

The Ocean.

Disney, Winnie the Pooh.

Flowers, Plants, Succulents.

Art.

Pride! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

Animal Crossing.

Stardew Valley.

Pokémon.

Isabelle.

Stuffed Animals.

Splatoon.

Robot Pets.

Tangled.

Disney Princesses.

Music Boxes.

Minecraft.

Endermen.

Genshin Impact.

In Games:

Animal Crossing:

Stardew Valley:

(Credit to this portrait maker)

Splatoon:

Weapon: Inkbrush.

Minecraft Skin: LINK

Family:

Stefan Jackson, Tara Jackson (Grandparents, Mothers side). …….

Todd Leverett, Irma Leverett (Grandparents, “Fathers” Side.) Grandpa was nice.. he was the only one who liked me…

Maria Leverett, Stellan Leverett. (Parents.) ……

Jordan Leverett (“Father”) …….

Johnathan Carter (Adoptive Father.) :) Daddy.

Nova Star (Godfather.) :)

Johnathan.Jr Carter (Adoptive Brother.) :) Little Brother.

Michael Ansley. (Adoptive Brother.) :)

Immanuel Ansley. (Adoptive Sibling.) :)!! Immanuel!!

Joan Doe. (Big Sister Figure.)

Samuel Coleman, Micah Coleman. (Adoptive Uncles.) (Strained) ……..

Friends: N/A. I only have a few friends at the moment haha.

Romance: Aven Starclimber (Crush). :)

Pets: :D

Spike (Service Wolf)

Steven (Green Tree Frog.)

Jacob (PacMan Frog)

Satan (Purple Indian Frog)

CAPSLOCK (Desert Rain Frog)

Pumpkin Pie (Pumpkin Frog)

Gumball (Glass Frog)

Greenie (Bullfrog)

Buddies (Sea Monkies)

Brief Personality: Alexander is many things to many people, A savior, a new hope, a villain, a murderer. However in reality he's just a scared kid. He's truly trying to better himself however keeps hitting bumps in the road. He once was a pacifist, however he can't say that about himself now. All he wants is peace and quiet, and maybe a few friends who will listen to him.

Brief Backstory: [WIP]

[satanicspinosaurus]

Also, it can literally make you have hot flashes. (Especially if you go high enough to suppress your cycle.) Science can't tell us for sure- because that's not how it works- but it is pretty likely that your exogenous hormones kicking off menopause is just speeding up the clock. Hot flashes are incredibly common (75% per John Hopkins) for people who nataly go through menopause. It's not a sign T is "ruining" you- it's just rearranging the story a little bit. Going on T tends to make people grapple with ideas that are associated with aging "prematurely" and the stigma associated with that. There is no combo of hormones, natal or man-made, that will stop you from aging, heart issues, cancer, whatever. (Likewise, there are no actions that save you from it either. There are things we can do to take care of ourselves, but a lot of trans stigma is merely borrowed from our moralization of health.) This is why old-school advice is to imagine yourself being buried/ whatever your end of life plans are. What body do you want to have lived in? Death's inevitable. But joy in living is not.

hey idk which anxious pre-t babe needs to hear this but i didn't get to when i was younger so. testosterone will not make you ugly. it won't make you a horrible person. it won't 'mutilate' or ruin your body. if you want to go on testosterone then literally all that happens is it makes you really fucking hot and REALLY fucking happy.

[kisameti]

WIP Intro: Phoenix 13

General Information

Genre: Superhero/Action Age Rating: Young Adult POV: First Person Setting: Washington DC, 2023, alternate reality where superhumans exist Content Warnings: Violence, injury, death, severe manipulation, minor gore Current Stage: Drafting Projected Word Count: ~100,000 Words

Tag: #phoenix13

Synopsis, features, and characters below the cut!

Synopsis

In a world protected by superheroes, Elliot is an ordinary sixteen-year-old who's spent his whole life in foster care. A year into his stay with the president of the Elite Watcher's Agency of America, or EWAA for short, an infamous villain kidnaps him, and he discovers he might not be as normal as he once thought.

Navigating a life of new powers, new appendages, and new friends, he trains to become as great a hero as his foster father and brother, but a so-called friend's betrayal and a revelation about his birth show him that being a hero doesn't always mean being good.

Features

Trans main character

Found family

So many superpowers. So many.

Wings! Several winged characters!

Cool weapons

Gods that affect the story but aren't really present

Morally gray characters

Characters

Elliot Sims

Alias: Phoenix

Powers: Elemenal—fire

Wings: Feathered—red and orange

Elliot is the foster—and later adoptive—son of the Gray Ghost and Reaper, and brother of Cyber and Siren. He becomes a hero with the training class of 2023, at the age of 17, after learning of his powers only months prior. He is one of the first trans heroes in America, and people say he bears a shocking resemblance to his late mother, the villain Firebird.

Cyrus Raynor

Alias: Cyber

Powers: Enhancement—all; Other—tech manipulation

Wings: N/A

Cyrus is the adoptive son of the Gray Ghost and Reaper. He's the oldest of three and is closer with his youngest brother, Elliot, despite having known Dorian since he was four. They became a hero with the training class of 2018 at the age of 16, and have since become the head of the Renegade division of elite heroes. Despite being relatively famous as Cyber, his true identity is not publicly known.

John Bennett

Alias: The Gray Ghost

Powers: Other—vocal control

Wings: Membrane—gray

John is the president of the Elite Watcher's Agency of America, aka EWAA, America's hero agency. He has held this position for many years with his wife, Reaper, as the vice president. The couple has one biological and two adoptive sons, all of whom are heroes. John is often compared to his predecessor, the late Phantom, who is often described as one of the greatest heroes of all time.

Azima Ebeid

Alias: Mystic

Powers: Enhancement—speed, agility, reflexes, senses

Wings: N/A

Azima has been Elliot's best friend since he was placed with his current family. When he learned about his powers, she was the first to offer to train him. She becomes a hero with the training class of 2023 at the age of 17, joining the 19 other Muslim supers to be accepted into EWAA and among those the 4 other women.

Aaron "AJ" Winters

Alias: Shadow

Powers: Other—shadow manipulation, shadow travel

Wings: N/A

AJ is the first hero to arrive to the scene when Elliot is kidnapped and subsequently held captive in a burning building, though the fire prevents him from reaching and rescuing him. He is also a member of the Renegades, having become a hero with the training class of 2022 at the age of 16. Despite his abilities and alias, he is easily the brightest character in the main cast, in both his clothing style and his personality.

Glitch

Identity: [REDACTED]

Powers: Other—tech/reality transmission; Enhanced—all

Wings: N/A

After Firebird's death, the official organization of villains disbanded, seemingly forever, until Glitch appeared in early 2017 and became the first major threat to EWAA in nearly 11 years. Since then, they have amassed a small army of fellow supers with grievances against EWAA, who now form the new, unofficial organization of villains.

And others! These are just the main ones

[isthisstorysafe]

Riley Hart:

The Vers Podcast series (1,2,3,4).

M-M. Modern. Some celebrity. Virgin. Best friends who do a podcast. Lead who used to be a sex worker. One lead has a bias against potential partners who don't work for whatever reason. Not-thin lead. Acknowledges poly, enby, asexual spectrum, they-them pronouns, side, & trans. Lead who's probably demi-ro. Indirect acknowledgement of the digestive system in one book; much more robust discussion in another of how anal sex can get messy, including that some 'cleaning' can be harmful & there can also be pressure to restrict eating. Discussion of who tops - & it's not clear who's oldest or biggest - at least once; all leads are vers; discussion of "top privilege and bottom shaming" & challenging the assumption that "all twinks must be bottoms and bears are likely tops" in book 4. Sightly unpolished style at times. Modern. Quite nice. Readable. Look out for a future story about Morgan (bbf of one of the 4th pair & possibly part of the upcoming Swift series); ditto Eliot's bff, Vaughn, unless I've forgotten a reason he wouldn't need a new partner, & Gael, a new adult who's a friend of the book 4 leads through the local LGBTQIA+ centre, all of whom would have at least a tangential link to these.

CW: work having control of one's life; cheating; partner cheating with one's friend; not telling a potential sex partner one's in an open relationship; deceased parent; bad parents; becoming lonely because friends are coupled up; secrets; physical preventing someone (who's naked) from leaving a conversation; misusing sexual attraction to steal money; breakup; public proposal; unstable housing situation; attempt to abuse insecure housing situation; over-exercising due to low self-esteem; low self-esteem; overly-careful dieting; plastic surgery; historic bullying about one's weight; dealing with societal racism; relocating for work; long-distance relationship; losing a job before it starts; crash; hospitalisation; personal issues to do with weight; bigoted behaviour; people with good intentions still being harmful; speeding; therapy; societal & internalised fatphobia; different moral viewpoints; getting engaged at someone's wedding.

[villains4hire]

Character Concepts to Come

Give me your thoughts please, but ultimately they will be ready by tomorrow or the next day, as iconing is nearly done.

-

Ahava: (Adult) Rune Knight that creates Runes to use Magic and mostly self-augments. Revolves around heavily around wrestling and using a tentacle whip for reach and grabbing and a tower shield or two-handing an acidic great sword depending, then forms of time magic to speed herself up or slow someone else down or turning into a giant size. Think of her magic of maybe something akin to Diablo 2 Spells, Runescape, DnD etc. She uses her slime to drown people and wrestle single large targets while using her snail-mouth to bite weak points as her body is thicker when recoiled but can stretch a bit. She has mostly utility magic and then great strength than actual huge amounts of magical power. Personality: a glutton, morally inept but ambitious that’s vaguely good and horrible people skills and tact. Only can express certain emotions such as happiness, happy anger, sadness, funny unintentionally as she’s a bit of a violent goof. Kind of unintentionally humorous even in her threats. Is overly affectionate, likes to stickily cuddle people. Has no concept of personal space from how her kind are as snail folk. Quote Examples: all of this is usually said in a chipper, welcoming tone, ‘I may be slow, but so will be your inevitable death!’ ‘Oh... so you’re stupid? That’s okay! I know plenty of stupid people.’ ‘Have you ever considered to try harder? That’s what I do and it seems to work.’ ‘Don’t worry! I don’t kill people for pain, so you’ll be gone before you know it, friend! Just a snap here- and oh! There you go, dispatched nicely as promised!’ Purpose: can serve as a rather strong companion in most genres or a bodyguard or mercenary. She mostly pursues greater rune magic, food, possible friends.

Bianca: (Adult) Bunny Sorcerer that serves as a companion in utility magic. Has a rainbow stream people can ride on. Has a magic bolt. Can use a variety of spells from her spellbook. Might get things wrong to begin with to lead to hi-jinx so fairly broad in what happens. Relatively powerful if she has a big enough source to use as she at least has magic. Pretty talented otherwise.

I will not be shipping this character innately with Hunter. You need to ask.

Ultimately serves as her canon counterpart with maybe a few tweaks. Personality: a bit arrogant, a bit haughty. Kind, throws up a guise for people she doesn’t know really. Is a big softie underneath it... so perhaps a bit tsundere? A bit sassy and kind of jokey sometimes.

Not much to say about Bianca, she’s simple and I like her.

Bridget: (Adult): I have spent a few hours determining her exact age from her build and height and compared and cross-referenced her with other women in canon to get it right (Granted trans women bodies are different in general usually). I’ve concluded that from her start at around 12 years old in her original appearance several games ago? After seven years since the first game to the newest for her latest appearance? She’s around 19 to 20 years old with how her face structure developed, along with legs and hips have thickened out, so she’s still growing but a fairly young adult and will fill out more. But she will be portrayed as such and is opened to shipping, BUT I am disconnecting from the fandom and story other than her own backstory, this is not up for discussion, but it’s mostly how some characters have come onto her as a minor etc/been gross with her gender being ambiguous or have had a familial relationship with her and was my intent to begin with, so I am very open for more platonic relationships along with shipping with Bridget along from her past to have found family. Magic YoYo Nun that is a Bounty Hunter as her profession and then traps spirits, demons/supernatural beings into objects such as Roger when she was young to be her spirit familiar companion to fight alongside her as an Exorcist as her main aspiring profession, the YoYo is specifically used to use holy attacks on enemies even such as ghosts and the wire to subdue supernatural threats. This character IS religious so be warned of that if that’s uncomfortable and she’s also canonically transgender and openly trans at this point post-game and visibly so. Ask me first but it’s okay to make note of that ic wise as I don’t mind mis-steps but I don’t want people dog-piling onto you so be sure to run stuff by me when it comes to Bridget’s gender in terms of commentary. This character is supernatural in terms of ability and is from an anime fighting game, she is probably stronger than most characters outside of the anime genre. I’d say she’s probably around a ‘Vampire’ level in terms of speed, strength, then that of a supernatural demon slayer in utility and magic since she’s fought with extremely powerful beings in canon. So she could take on Big Bads if it really came down to it, but I don’t want to power/meta-game so I will just say she’s at ‘progtag levels of strength’ and I will adjust her as needed if it’s requested within my own reasoning depending on the universe. I will say her power stems spiritually from ‘belief’ and her own ‘will’ considering what she can do with Roger, but it doesn’t mean EVERYTHING, but it’s to explain why she can fight someone with rippling muscle and deliver metal-tearing blows to kicking the shit out of a ghost. Bridget is mostly a speed demon heavy-hitter of the series as a mobile character than anything, I will be leaning into that niche with her more than anything, but she can take a beating supernaturally since she can get hit with: swords, guns, etc, but I expect bulkier, big characters from Guilty Gear to be able to take more damage since everyone is practically supernatural in the Guilty Gear Series. Personality: Bridget is polite, kind, loving and self-sacrificing to a fault. But she is brutally ruthless when it comes to fighting and dealing with her enemies. Using fast, strong tactics to brutalize or subdue them. She isn’t above killing but ultimately tries not to kill her targets, but if it happens? It happens. She will provide mercy in the end, however, and is willing to forgive to a fault and help someone even after fighting them. She’s a bit funny, jokey and a bit of a goof, witty. Intelligent and knows slights amount of memes, jokes and yes, she has the literal power of anime and god by her side. Granted, she can easily be in denial for some things and has insecurity issues in canon. Usually rather calm but can get annoyed or slightly anxious depending. She DOES dislike muscle... so I apologize if that might be offensive to some as she likes some muscular women and men or nonbinary peeps but not all of them, as too much for her? Kind of isn’t her type attraction wise in canon. Platonic qp is still very much an option or found family, however. So given that attraction typing? She tends to lean toward non-muscular women and men or nonbinary peeps but that does not factor into how big someone is such as being ‘fat’ or skinny, short or simply big but still strong etc.

[achillesangst]

Gay Graphic Novels that you should definitely read ✨

This list is just ones that I’ve read and enjoyed btw.

Fence by C.S Pacat and Johanna The Mad. THIS!!! Is my fav graphic novel series aaaaaa. If you like slow burns that could envy the speed of a glacier, a diverse cast with two central queer POC, high school romance and a fencing centred storyline, you’ll love Fence. It’s snappy, fast paced and I’m in love with the entire cast. The lead characters are brilliant but I find that it’s the other main characters who really bring this to life. Also, the art is stunning. You also don’t need to know anything about fencing for you to understand the stakes, it’s all brilliantly explained in-story.

Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson (yes that Noelle.) Lumberjanes is set at a Girl Scouts type camp where strange mystical things keep happening. If you like a range of awesome art styles, girls, gays, mystical powers and the power of friendship, Lumberjanes is for you. It’s charmingly whimsical, and features a lesbian couple, a trans girl (with no focus on suffering yay she’s just awesome), being best friends and a bear woman. Need I say more?

On A Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. First, this graphic novel is CHUNKY. Second, it is fantastically gloriously beautiful. Seriously, Tillie Walden’s art style is not to be missed. Guh. With again, an incredibly diverse central cast including a nonbinary kid, two lesbians who are together and two pining lesbians. Of you love sci fi (the whole thing is set in space, and the main characters are architects who restore old space buildings) and ships that look like goldfish paired with utterly stunning visuals and a central gay love story storyline plus some coming of age thrown in, you’ll love On A Sunbeam. Seriously. Go read it.

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (yup, that Noelle again.) Nimona is amazing. Not that you’d expect anything less from the insanely amazing person who came up with She-Ra. If you prefer less central romances, Nimona is a great choice. It focuses on found family, corrupt empires and platonic love and the dialogue is incredibly funny. If you like shapeshifters with pink hair, medieval fantasy, morally grey villains with tragic backstories and a good dose of enemies to lovers, you should go read Nimona right this instant.

Spinning by Tillie Walden. Yup, another Tillie Walden. She’s amazing. You’ll thank me later. Spinning is autobiographical, written about her childhood figure skating in Texas. It’s incredibly beautiful and very touching. If you like skating, art that makes you want to cry, and a coming of age lesbian story, you’ll probably cry at spinning. It’s not particularly sad, just very emotive. And stunning.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdell. Aah, Fun Home. If you’ve heard of it, trust me, it’s worth the hype. Another autobiographical one, fun home follows Alison as she grows up in rural Pennsylvania, the family living in the shadow of her father, the director of the local funeral home, juxtaposed with her in more present day trying to come to terms with the revelation that her father is gay. This one is definitely for older readers, and if you like tragicomedy, dark humour, a lesbian coming of age story, Odyssey comparisons, and more realism based graphic novels, Fun home is for you. There’s also a musical of it! If you like layered harmony, I recommend giving it a listen on Spotify.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier. Like Nimona, the central character isn’t gay, but this is a charming graphic novel based on a group of high school stagehands. Drama is very sweet and funny, and you’re rooting for all the main characters. If you like high school coming of age stories, theatre, theatre gays, and something that won’t leave you an emotional wreck, I highly recommend Drama.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman. Everyone. Loves. Heartstopper. And for very good reason. The art style is awesome, the love story will make you *sobs* believe in true love and lose all your teeth from how darn sweet this story is. I want to hug all of the characters. It’s the gay teen romance story you always wanted to read but never got to until now. Heartstopper will clear your skin and water your crops. If you like main characters you want to hug, side characters you ALSO want to hug, sensitive handling of mental illness that doesn’t take away from the sweetness and lightness of the series and happy gay and trans characters, you’ll adore heartstopper.

[brynwrites]

How to Write Non-binary Characters: Part III.

Visit PART ONE: the basics.

Visit PART TWO: the nitty gritty.

PART THREE: common pitfalls and easy fixes.

Here we'll cover some common situations where writing respectful non-binary characters can be trickier.

Writing Non-human Non-binary characters.

Non-human non-binary characters aren’t inherently disrespectful to non-binary people, but it can easily become negative representation when there are no non-binary humans present, because it implies that those with non-binary genders are less human (and usually more monstrous or more alien) than people with binary genders. You can read more about why this is a problem in this full analysis by Christine Prevas.

There's a very simple solution to this though: Write some non-binary humans. (Or, in the least, make it explicitly clear that non-binary humans exist, and are just as valid in their identity as anyone else.)

Writing Non-binary Villains.

This situation is very similar to the non-binary non-humans, but instead of implying that non-binary people are less human, it implies they are less moral, abnormal, depraved, or insane. Villainous figures in history have often have their villainy connected to or blamed on their non-gender conforming traits. We don't want to add to that clinging transphobic and homophobic belief with modern fiction.

As with non-binary non-humans, having non-villainous non-binary characters can go a long way in offsetting this, as well as not connecting (or letting characters within the world connnect) the villain's non-binary aspects with their perceived villainy. Instead of writing a non-binary villain, write a villain who also happens to be non-binary.

(On this note, I would be very cautious about writing villains who are being villainous because they've suffered from transphobia.)

Killing (your only) Non-binary Character.

This falls into the same category as the previous two sections, but it has just one solution: don't kill your story’s only non-binary or trans character. Just don't do it. If that character has to die to make the plot continue, let there be another primary non-binary or trans character in the story somewhere.

Writing “Coming Out” Scenes for Non-binary Characters.

Let's break this into two different types of coming out:

The casual, everyday coming out. This is the kind of coming out a non-binary person has to do every time they need to let new people in their lives know about their gender. If you're writing non-binary characters, you'll probably have to write some version of this at some point. It can be as simple as a character introducing themselves with their pronouns, wearing clothing or pins that say their pronouns, mentioning their identity casually, correcting someone's misuse of their pronouns, making a (respectful) joke involving gendered terminology (e.g. "I'm the king of monopoly today and the queen of monopoly tomorrow, but either way you're all going to lose!"), or a multitude of other ways.

While writing any setting that you create yourself (whether that's fantasy, science fiction, alternate history, etc), you can always do yourself a favor and work a method of identity presentation into the world building. Maybe in your fictional culture everyone wears a certain color accessory for certain gender identities or in your fictional boarding school the students all decided to introduce themselves with their pronouns no matter what gender they identity as.

The major, terrifying coming out. Often, this is the traditional coming out scene where the person sits down with family and tells their truth, even though they know things might turn out poorly. It might be the first time they've come out to anyone, or it might be that they've held off with certain important people in their life because they're afraid of those people's response. Be wary of writing out these scenes if you haven't lived through them yourself, because it's a very emotional and complex situation which, if represented poorly, can harm non-binary and trans people in real life. Sometimes though, you might want to allude to what happened during this scene because of its effect on the character!

Keep in mind that while there is much prejudice against non-binary (and trans) people in our world, that you don't have to include that in your stories. It is always the writer's decision to include transphobia and transphobic characters in what they write, as well as their responsibility to make sure that any transphobic inclusions are framed as the terrible, incorrect biases they are, and do not harm the trans and non-binary community.

Writing Non-binary Characters Discovering They’re Non-binary.

Realizing you're non-binary is often a long, emotional, and extremely personal experience. Unless you have a non-binary (or trans) co-writer or you've done an academic level of research, its best to leave these experiences to be written by the people you lived them, because there are many living people who have lived them, who will be effected by these stories on a very real, very personal level.

So, go write non-binary characters, but write them having adventures and falling in love instead.

Writing Societies Without Gender Binaries.

Because this is a huge topic where new pitfalls might appear at any moment do to the endless ways it can be used, the best thing to do if you're interested in writing it is to read speculative fiction from trans and non-binary authors and study the nuances of how they portray these societies, and, of course, always avoid the societal version of all the previous no-nos, like having only villainous or non-human non-binary societies.

Remember: when in doubt, get non-binary people to beta read your work.

Finally, here are two insanely easy ways to include non-binary representation in all your stories:

1. Give a character (or multiple characters!) they/them pronouns. 

You don’t have to explain this. The character never needs to come out as non-binary. There doesn’t have to be a focus on whether they’re androgynous or not. You can keep it so simple that their description is just “Parker had brown hair and a hooked nose and when they smiled their eyes lit up,” and there you have a non-binary-coded character without having to do any work or research at all.

2. Have a character refer to their family member with gender neutral terms. 

“Those are my sisters, my big brother, and my little sibling. We were on a skiing trip, but our step-parent came down with the flu so our father stayed back at the lodge and let our auntcle take us up the mountain.” Will any of these non-binary characters ever by in the story itself? Perhaps not. But it still shows that the author accepts the existence of non-binary people in their story’s world, and that the character speaking loves and respects the non-binary people in their family enough to refer to them in the ways those family members prefer.

Closing Words.

Non-binary people have had a long history of being ignored in Western stories. Having writers attempt to include respectful non-binary representation in their books is more important to us than having all that representation be perfect. So, write non-binary characters, find a few non-binary or trans readers to double check your work, and most importantly, and have fun.

While you’re at it, consider supporting non-binary writers writing ownvoices stories. If you don’t know of any, here’s the wikipedia list of the more famous authors and a little twitter thread with some lesser known voices. You can also purchase my debut novel, Our Bloody Pearl, a fun romp about a disabled, non-binary siren and a freckly pirate captain.

Stick around for a preview of Our Bloody Pearl....

SWELL BEGINNINGS

There is one thing I know for certain: We were right to hate the humans.

HUNGER HAUNTS ME like a bull shark. With every roll of the ship, the gunk inside my stagnant tub sloshes against my waist, stinging anew. The tight wooden room's stale air burns my lungs.

Steam whistles in the pipes that run along the walls, their copper gleaming in the dim ceiling light. My wrists throb where the metal cuffs locking me to the tub dig into my silver scales. The gill slits along my neck are clamped shut after a year without seawater and my head fins stick to my scalp like barnacles to rock.

I try to anchor myself with the memory of home, of fine sands and vibrant reefs, but I can barely recall the rush of the warm current or the thrill of the hunt. Even a single wrasse sounds like a feast now. Or a few human fingers.

At least I can still smell the sharp brine of the ocean. When the ship rocks, the small, circular window to my left reveals the sea rolling in an endless stretch of deep blue, begging me to return. The silhouette of an approaching vessel forms a blur on its horizon.

I squint at the hazy shape, but Captain Kian’s roar of irritation from an upper deck makes me recoil. My captor’s harsh voice is so loud it seems to shudder its way down my spine.

The new vessel leaves my sight as the ship I’m captive on—the Oyster—turns toward it. The steam stacks clatter to life somewhere beneath me. Fabric and metal wings stretch out from the sides of the Oyster, and the ship bursts forward, riding just above the crests of the waves.

The sudden change in speed shoves me backward, tossing up my putrid water. As the liquid recoils, it grazes my largest tail fin, lying limp over the far edge of the tub. For all the pain I suffer, I nearly forget my tail exists, its iridescent gleam washed away by the filth and grime of the tub. It must still be impaired from the massive, anchor-like weight my captor crushed it beneath when she first locked me here. I can’t bring myself to focus on its lifeless form for long. I wasn’t meant for this.

I need the sea.

Purchase the full novel on amazon, bookdepository, or kobo, or request it from your local library!

[oxtoxtoxto]

Supergirl and What it Means to be Marketed To

i think what bothers me the most about supergirl ending isn’t necessarily that it is, itself, ending. that’s a weird sentence, sure, but i’m not entirely attached to the show as other people in the fandom are. i might be 150 thousand words deep into a crossover with the show and being told “hey it’s not going to get another season after the next” was a pretty significant blow to my motivation (which i think i’ll get over) but overall i always found the show... mediocre? okay? perfectly adequate for what it was (with a few choice exceptions)? 

supergirl was never bad, but to a point the day-to-day episodic nature of it didn’t really catch me like it might’ve others. maybe i’m just full of myself but i felt like i could figure out what the moral quandry of each episode generally turned out to be, so long as it was one of those episodes in which a specific moral judgement was to be made. medusa focuses on how fucked up the luthor family is, and it wasn’t hard to predict that kara’s own family might be brought up as a contrast. episodes generally had a formula and that’s, fine? okay? sometimes it grated that i could understand what the plot was about fifteen minutes into an episode, but it was, like, fine. 

no, supergirl no longer having episodes isn’t what bothers me. the cast has their own reasons to call the curtains; melissa wants to raise her kid, which is a decision i think was made with a lot of thought and care, covid-19 has rendered shooting kinda risky in general, etc. 

it’s none of that, it’s the fact that supergirl felt like a show for me.

it’s hard to explain, i guess? but like, i go into comic book-related shows (and to an extent sci-fi in general) expecting myself, a trans woman, not to be even remotely the target audience. at all. like maybe they might make token efforts to be inclusive? but i realize from the very beginning that i’m not the people they really wrote the show for.

supergirl was different.

supergirl is probably the first and only comic book-focused series that i felt was made for me. it felt like a comic book show for women, and did its best to include different types of women from different walks of life. i might be leery about its weird fascination with rich women and stuff but... it felt like it was written for me.

which is a very alien experience as a trans woman. literally sweet fuck all is ever written for me. even shows which ostensibly include trans women generally include them for shock value, to be sexualized, or generally exploit their presence as not something that is normal, but something that is other, just to varying degrees of bigotry.

comic books especially are bad about this. they’re bad about marketing towards women in general (despite, you know, women being showed to buy comic books if they’re written by someone who has met a woman before) and as a result the setting of a comic book serial has always been vaguely out of reach for me. i could never fully get into them because, even before i figured out i was trans, it all felt very... male-focused. female characters were rarely the viewpoint of the story or the focus, and when they were it was a genuine dice-roll if you would get a realistic depiction out of it.

not only that, but female side characters always ran the risk of being bizarrely sexualized or twisted into knots over male characters, usually the main. 

point is, supergirl didn’t feel like that. supergirl felt like a show written by someone who was marketing it towards a female audience and not in the misogynistic way sitcoms and shit market towards women with shallow approximations of abusive relationships played off as ‘quirky’ or ‘broody’.

even throughout all of its incredibly... interesting choices it still never felt like the show had suddenly become a show for guys. it was always grounded in feeling like it was written for women, regardless of its ups or downs, and that was very, very nice.

and now it’s going to be gone. i’m not... really attached to supergirl as a construct, as mentioned before, it’s more that i’ve attached myself to the idea of supergirl. the idea of a mid-budget superhero show marketed for women and not being weirdly exclusive about it. not just that, but it wasn’t a show featuring teenagers--it wasn’t about young girls, or coming-of-age, it was about women who lived and existed in a world and who occasionally had to fight aliens. it was nice, it wasn’t perfect, sometimes i put the speed on 2x to skip through some of it, but... it was there. it was an option. i could, after slogging through another release of a comic i had high hopes for but had long since abandoned them, gone to it and went ‘yeah, sure, things might suck on that end, but at least i have this’.

which i don’t anymore. i get that batwoman and legends will still be around, i do, but... neither of them felt, like, as resonant with me as supergirl did. neither of them focused on marginalized groups of people like supergirl did (with it’s aliens -> immigrant allegory) and frankly none of them had a trans character.

as much as i might not be 100% in the brainia camp, i can at least appreciate that the one trans character wasn’t left out of the romantic weirdness of cw shows, the constant rotating door of interpersonal drama. it was nice to see a trans woman on screen and not feel like a shoe is going to drop and i’m going to have to endure The Transphobia Episode, where the main character - not the trans one - comes in and stops the bad things from happening so as to be elevated into being more morally good than anyone else.

i never had to worry about nia nal being written... well weirdly. you know what i mean, right? when a show gets an lgbt character or a poc and there’s just something very subtly wrong about how they’re written vs your experiences? i get that experiences aren’t universal and vary wildly depending on where you live (me being in canada has separated me from the severity of transphobia in places like the us and uk) but even then you can just kinda tell that whoever wrote the character doesn’t... really understand them, either.

i never had to worry about alex being turned into a predator, and however much i might fucking hate them reusing the old weird fixation with lesbians hating the idea of kids, it... still wasn’t that horrifying. people split up for reasons surrounding kids all the time, i did. i have experiences that mirror that, though we split up more amicably than others.

the point is, supergirl always felt very safe. it always felt marketed at me, it always felt like it was meant for me to watch, and that wasn’t something i’d ever experienced as someone who deeply loves comic books. it has always been out of the range of my expectations to find something that resonates with me despite its plot, despite everything.

and now it’s going to go away.

and i’m upset about that, i guess.

because i’m not... entirely sure there’ll be another. i desperately want there to be, but you have to understand my expectations are absolutely rock bottom. supergirl is not the change in a stale river to me, it’s not the turning tide, it’s the outlier. it came from cw for gods’ sake, noted bury-your-gays enthusiasts. i went into it expecting exactly the same thing i expect out of every superhero franchise, marvel, dc or otherwise.

and it completely blew my expectations away. it made me feel like it was for me in a way not even some of the better written-by-women comics have, despite everything, which is why i stuck around even through the weird shit around lena/kara, even through all the posturing and alex/maggie’s breakup and mon-el and season 5 as a concept and, and, and...

now it’s going to be going away, and i’m not entirely sure how to handle that.

i know i can rewatch it, i know it’ll always be there, even if netflix takes it off. i know.

but it means someone won’t be writing a woman-focused superhero show anymore, and i’ll really miss that.

[mysterious-prophetess]

4 AM thoughts on the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy-A Rant

So, firstly I’ll say this: If you like them-More power to you. You do you. 

My thoughts are mine and I will not claim that they are the only opinion to have because that’s a wrong way to be.

Secondly: It is literally 4 AM as I write this. So, I will probably go off on tangents and there won’t be a lot of structure to this.

So, approx eight and a half months since I was dragged to The Rise of Skywalker and I go back to a trilogy and a franchise for that matter that I was kind of DONE with. 

Yeah. Disney Star Wars ruined my love of Star Wars in general and I even liked the Prequel trilogy!

I liked The Force Awakens when I first saw it, but I think it was my nostalgia goggles blinding me to its issues.

One of which it was almost a beat-for-beat remake of Episode 4. Being that 4 is my favorite of all the Star Wars films, this also worked in its favor as it was just fresh enough for the nostalgia and partiality to its predecessor to work in its favor.

Also, the new trio--Finn, Rey, and Poe-- had a lot of great potential. Especially Finn. Former Stormtrooper & taken from his home to be raised as a soldier to find he no longer could stay with the First Order, but terrified of them. Yet, despite that fear deciding to go save Rey--who was one of his first real friends. That was a character’s journey with so much potential and the marketing made it seem like he’d be a jedi. 

Yet, I wasn’t too upset when it was Rey. 

In retrospective, Rey winning against Kylo Ren was dumb. She should have been decent at the weapon since she was able to protect herself and Kylo was injured but, the planet falling apart could have happened sooner to prevent her from going on a ass-kicking spree of Kylo Ren.

Then we get to 8 which had an opening crawl it didn’t need since it was literally just after 7. 

I hated that btw

Then we get Poe who was shown as a smart ass in 7 but talked up as this great pilot but shown to be an IDIOT in 8. Rose’s whole storyline was badly handled.

People were shitty to Kelly Marie Tran over shit out of her control. Rose Tico was a terribly written character and the actress did what she could with what they gave her. 

What they did to Finn was undid ALL of his character development from 7 and turn him into a joke for the rest of 8 and nothing in 9. I’ve recently learned that this was done to appeal to a certain market that has never liked Star Wars anyway. Way to go, Disney. You fucked up your new character with the most compelling backstory to appease a market that hates this product in the first place. Bra-fucking-vo. 

The Light Speed tracking thing was bullshit. Canto Bite was a pointless side quest. Cut that stupid shit out of the movie and you lose nothing of value. You could cut from them landing on that pointless planet to them ending up in jail for parking illegally and saved the audience around 20 minutes of wasted time.

It didn’t advance the plot. It didn’t make Rose any more sympathetic. It just felt preachy. Also, Rose x Finn was so fucking forced. Kelly Marie Tran tried to sell it but again, she was given shit to work with.

I recently found out that who Rey was kept changing and It’s SOOO fucking stupid to not have a solid plan for a fucking trilogy. (and to find out my favorite idea of Rey as a Kenobi was the first one before Johnson came in and she was No One also is irksome)

Idk what Abrams planned but by not having it implemented over all and letting Johnson piss all over it with his ideas for a subversive mould-breaking story ruined any flow the films had.

Yeah, I am aware 4 was all but stand alone, but it was set up so it could connect to 5 & 6 just in case it was successful enough for 5 & 6 to be made. It was very stand alone because there was a chance nothing would come after 4.

7, 8, & 9 however, could be planned for there to be three because it was fucking STAR WARS. Which meant, they should have had people fucking plan out what they were doing. Instead, they didn’t, it shows, and it also seems to take an almost savage glee at pissing on the past.

Ruining Luke I-see-the-good-in-my-Father-who-committed-genocide Skywalker by having him give up on Ben/Kylo was one of the biggest betrayals of character I’ve ever fucking seen. 

Trying their best to get all the other OT characters out of the way so their new shiny replacements can take center stage without any nuance was also irritating. And this is at the parks too. It’s apparently all Sequel shit now with no legacy characters. 

Killing off Luke in 8 in a stupid way in how the force does not work. Continuing the force bullshit in 9. Wasting our time on a redemption arc for Kylo Ren/Ben only to KILL HIM AT THE END. 

No. Make him face what he’s done and atone as a living person. No more redemption=death. Death is too easy.

And I hate that they brought Palpatine back in a corporal form. Nice way to piss on the BEST moments of the OT where Anakin, finally throwing off the ties of bondage to Palpatine and the dark side and destroying the man to save his son, sacrificing himself in the process, dying at peace. Nope. That now means NOTHING. Palpatine survived.

Force Ghosts fucking exist. Sith Ghosts FUCKING EXIST TOO. Just make him a force ghost possessing some fucker and I might not have been as pissed off.

That force diad shit? Either play it up more or cut it out.

Snoke being a Palpatine puppet was fucking dumb. If he’d been Darth Plageius’s creation then that might have been better than “it was palpatine all along.”

It’s just such a waste. Star Wars was a film series about hope. The first film was retitled to have its subtitle be “A New Hope.” These films? Are not about hope at all. They’re about cynical cash grabs and trying to signal the right virtues to try to exploit the movie going public of their money and attempt a moral high ground. 

One more thing that bugs me: the fact they shunted a lot of shit per film to the novelizations. Fuck that shit. If your medium is FILM, you tell all your shit in that damn film. I shouldn’t have to read your tie in materials to understand your fucking film.  e.g. Palpatine’s son is really his clone is in the last film’s novelization. That stupid casino world allegedly has a full explanation too. 

No. It’s a sign of really poor planning and command of storytelling that you shunted this information into your peripheral materials. Then agian, we know the planning was shit because they couldn’t even fucking settle on who Rey was WHILE FILMING THE DAMNED TRILOGY AND EVEN DURING 9 THEY WERE CHANGING THEIR MINDS. 

And there are lots of other things but better minds than mine have talked about them-like everything wrong with Poe’s backstory. That can of worms I won’t touch because I don’t have the expertise beyond wondering if Disney has a single person with any sort of common sense or any awareness of optics on staff.

Final mini-rant: 

I fucking hate the way they’re trying to push their oh-so-special OC’s as better than the original cast at times. Luke and Leia were presumed to have been born the same day the empire was founded because THAT’S THE FILM’S APPARENT TIMELINE. But now. Now, somehow that took 2 days and now their new special snowflake character from Rebels Ezra Bridger has that Empire Day birthday and is force sensitive too and has a jedi teacher. 

Like, I’m sure that the character isn’t as Gary Stu-ish as I just bitched about there, but from the outside looking in, it pisses me the fuck off because of all the other shit Disney’s been pulling with Star Wars to distance themselves from legacy characters and push the new characters at all costs.

It’s just I hate what they’ve done in their corporate greed.

[thebeauregardbros]

Can you tell me about Yakuza 0? I've never played it before and would like to read your thoughts on it.

YOOOOOOOOOOO LES FUKIN GO (thank u!!)

This review is spoiler-free!

Despite what you might assume a game about a bunch of tough muscley fighting dudes, the amount of moral philosophy in this game could rival a 3-part episode of Star Trek: TNG in terms of surprisingly deep and emotional thought. The struggles the protagonists go through has a huge emphasis on honor, keeping your word, taking responsibility for your actions, standing up to things you think are wrong and persevering no matter how much pain, suffering and threat you personally go through all in the name of trying to be a good person, and emphasizing that the mental fortitude to stand for your convictions is the true strength, not just brawn. Character development is absolutely fantastic and I feel like it’s impossible not to fall for these main characters by the end of the game, no matter how weird or even pigheaded they might seem to you at first.

(Trust me, moral philosophy is probably my biggest autistic hyper-fixation. They did this shit GOOD.)

Another major reason I really love Yakuza 0 is that it takes an unusual setting to the normal person - the incredibly political, dark, yet surprisingly realistic setting of organized bullies, criminals, and the uneducated brawn and bad-attitude baddies of the world and try to show them as worthy of more as humans like you and me than just trash that should not be seen or touched. The amount of humanitarian outlook on these people and the humanitarianism of our protagonists is absolutely heartwrenching and beautiful. Despite appearances, anyone can be a good person - this seems to be a major message in this story which I just find absolutely beautiful.

The yakuza definitely have different rules to their world, and that is one that’s built on violence over paperwork, especially when it comes to showing eachother the extent of their passion about something. I feel like it’s an excellent way of portraying the difficulties any normal person goes through with their mental health while struggling to do the right thing in a very direct and relatably painful way that anyone can understand.

The story deals with not only the importance of preserving life and protecting it with surprisingly pacifist ideologies, but the aesthetics in align with the idea that no matter how dark the world or your life feels, happiness is always an option.

Why you might love Yakuza 0 even if the plot doesn’t sound that interesting to you:

Tons of minigames - I think about 28~30 total. That includes 4 actual vintage SEGA arcade games! There’s also tons of gambling games like black jack and shogi, fishing, rhythm games, bowling, fighting tournaments, pool, darts, stock car racing, doll dressup.. It’s very hard not to find at least one you’ll like!

Tourism. Yakuza 0 has such an incredible amount of visual detail to every nook and cranny of every corner and unseen alleyway in the town maps that it feels just absolutely insane to me. The devs didn’t need to put in all this detail but they did. I could legit spend hours in first person mode just looking at everything. On top of that, every restaurant in town has a detailed menu describing each item despite the fact that all food items are just generic healing items. I think there’s even a bar where the bartender will go on a spiel talking about certain drinks after you order them. The atmosphere really makes you feel like you’re truly taking a vacation in another place. Great for when you’re longing to see new scenery while being stuck at home all the time during COVID.

The amount of optional side quests is absolutely insane. According to a wiki there’s a total of 100 side quests in all. If you’re a fan of JRPGs or a fan of completionism, completing them all gives you a ton of extra content and side-stories that can sometimes be just as gutwrenchingly wholesome or tragic as the main plot, or otherwise be great comic relief.

Speaking of comic relief, this game is notorious for it. The main plot can be incredibly serious and stressful and the devs know that can really wear down on the mental state of the player after awhile, so seeing Kiryu dance at a disco in the most lame awkward embarassing dad way possible, or see him pick up a phone in the most ridiculously over-dramatic way for no reason, or see Goro sing lovey-dovey pop songs is just something that will absolutely kill you with laughter and joy and give you a refreshed break you need to help you be able to keep continuing on.

Big fan of seiyuu (Japanese voice actors)? The karaoke bar lets you hear your protagonists’ gorgeous singing voice. You can even invite some side characters and hear their voices too!

NOW THE FAIR CRITICISMS:

Despite the plot having a huge emphasis on how important the morality is of not killing, fighting animations are often totally lethal. Goro canonically fights with a knife and a bat by the end of the game. Both characters can use guns, swords, poisoned knives, baseball bats and other lethal items as a weapon. One of Goro’s main fighting animations is snapping a dude’s neck. Kiryu threw a dude out of a high window. Kiryu shoots at dudes with a gun in a high speed chase at some point and none of these instances are ever addressed in canon plot as having blood on the hands of these characters - no matter what, the people hurt by these things seem to be able to stand up fine later on like nothing happened. Even the main characters can get shot by an actual gun 20 times in a row and shrug it off by shoving convenience store food down their throat. It’s super dumb but absolutely hilarious in it’s unaddressed B-Movie esque hypocritical nature and became a huge in-joke with the fandom. Despite these Goofy Video Game Logic instances, the main plot (specifically the cutscenes) are all extremely realistic and well done. Actual members of real-world Yakuza say the story is pretty accurate to reality.

One of the minor characters is obviously a trans woman but is misgendered constantly by other characters, including the protagonist (though this may be a translation problem), and is the only female character in the game you can fight and have to fight in order to unlock Kiryu’s endgame fighting style (though he remarks he only fights her because she looks like she can handle herself in a fight). She does end up joining up with you as an ally afterwards without changing anything about herself so that’s a positive, I guess? SEGA is aware of fans’ dislike for transphobia and have removed a lot of transphobic content from their re-releases of future Yakuza games, as well as shown the protagonist, Kiryu, as a huge LGBTQ+ ally.

-----------------

Things you might like or otherwise want to check out relating to the same story style of Yakuza 0 I personally highly recommend:

Kyou Kara Ore Wa!! (aka, "From Today, It's My Turn!!"): Absolutely hilarious gag comedy with surprisingly heartwrenching drama and incredibly lovable in-depth characters. It’s about highschool delinquents in the late 1980s (same era Yakuza 0 takes place!). The two main characters remind me a lot of the protagonists of Yakuza 0 in that one is very straight-laced and honorable while the other is more prone to dirty tricks but still does the right thing in the end. I personally recommend reading the manga above all because adaptations cut out a lot of details that I feel add a lot of depth to the characters, but the OVA anime is pretty good on it’s own and there’s a hilarious live action TV show adaptation if you like slapstick.

Rookies: A story about an impossibly determined formerly disgraced highschool teacher doing absolutely everything he can to be the best teacher he can be. Part of his journey is helping reform a group of delinquents who have self-sabotaged themselves into having their baseball team - the one thing they cared about - disbanded. The delinquents constantly fight the teacher off, believing him to just be another adult putting on airs instead of truly caring, while the teacher perseveres no matter what to prove them wrong. A manga and live action drama - both extremely good.

[mediioxumate]

🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻 🌻

send 🌻 and i’ll say whatever! || @dearleader || accepting!

🌻 im starting to become fond of pietro as i move from associating him with my terrible ac experience and instead with you who is my friend. this feels a little bit like stockholm syndrome? much to think about. 

🌻 i am still thinking about hair down kaito. i am thinking about kaito with a ponytail and/or manbun. i am thinking about kichi putting kaito’s hair into TERRIBLE pigtails.  

🌻 vibrates gently in waiting for you to get further and further into p5. i just thought about it and my heart warmed, and it reminded me both that i wanna work on p5 verses for some of my dr kids, and actually write out the ideas i had for a future foundation verse for maruki!

🌻 also looking forward to developing rinri more and potentially throwing her at kichi at warp speed. gay and lesbian solidarity, probably not at it’s finest but it’s still there. 

🌻 just remembered your kokichi is trans and i love that for him. 

🌻 miki is currently asleep in her favorite box. she’s been a little extra snuggly today and also screamed while i was on vc on my lunch break. she continues to be absolutely perfect. also i offended her with an onion bc she kept begging for it so i let her smell it and she Hated That

🌻 i’ve been feeling the Reading Itch again and i really want to reread the glass castle and gone girl but also finish moral disorder and actually read the screwtape letters! if anyone has book suggestions, feel free to slide them my way!!

🌻 people give shit about audio books and it makes me so mad honestly. i love them and they made reading SO much more accessible for me in school, bc i could listen during my life drawing studios and while working on paintings etc!! there’s nothing lesser about audio books than physical books!! i love physical books just as much, but there’s no singular valid way to absorb stories, plus it all depends on learning/information delivery styles and what clicks for people!! my adhd ass Has to be doing something with my hands to absorb an audiobook, but it’s also the sweet sweet multitasking my brain loves

[jacqcrisis]

in regards to this post about sad vampire dude and the botanist, felt like cleaning up this rundown of the primary and secondary characters.

Isaiah, the vampire boy himself, the story’s punching bag. is in his early 20′s, was going to college for business and marketing, had a fairly normal life completely unaware any magical bullshit going on like most people. has to be completely cut off from his previous life once he’s been turned and start from scratch. He’s empathetic, a people-pleaser, goofy, very laid back personality though for most of the story, he’s rather withdrawn and emotional given what he’s going through, though he tries to hide it. when he isn’t having some body horror episode or filming vlogs for his magical doctor/Underground-version of a Youtube channel, he’s hanging out with the other characters or exploring the Underground parts of the city.

Adrian, the botanist, a late 20-something, no-nonsense, always looking for solutions, introverted trans guy. when he was in his early twenties, he got fed up with traditional legal transitioning spellcraft (which, while meaning no surgeries are needed depending on what the user would like their end result to be, is slow and tedious and has lifelong maintenance) so he created a couple of homebrew spells to speed up the process and now he’s about 20% plant. has chloroplasts and does some minor photosynthesis, but he doesn’t regret a single second of it. This process was extremely illegal, landed him in some hot water which he is still dealing with. his job is to find ways to invent GMO’s that can enhance certain Fae lifestyles, and secretly help non-magical individuals. he’s a well-dressed boring fuck who can be kind of standoffish and has no work-life balance, but he’s dedicated to whatever he puts his mind to and that includes helping Isaiah who his boss basically dumps on him.

Nathaniel, vampire guy’s uncle/botanist’s boss/director of the magic research facility, an absolute bastard. a charmer, a very talented witch, a very caring uncle, but also kind of an ass who has a difficult time listening to anyone but himself. the uncle is a good boss and looks like a sweet guy who wears mainly sweaters and smiles, but he has chronic ‘no self-reflection’ syndrome. he was cheating on his wife with Adrian and abusing his authority and a lot of his story is having to deal with that fallout. He invents whole cloth the spell that keeps Isaiah alive initially when they find him on the brink of starvation in a back alley, and he’s paying Adrian to house his nephew.

Eliza, the uncle’s soon to be ex wife, a psychologist for magical peoples of all walks. caring, non-judgmental, able to take charge, dry humored. she’s leaving her husband, and eventually takes over a mentor sort of position with Isaiah, both as his psychologist and as his ex aunt-in-law. takes to helping him come to terms with his new life all while starting up a relationship with a lady baker downtown. she holds literally no ill-will to Adrian as she realizes he was maybe coerced into it considering the power dynamics at play, also he is just one in a long string of people her husband had an affair with. the two eventually become good friends/drinking buddies.

Manny, the doctor and an eccentric weirdo who is an HR nightmare (half of his side-jobs are borderline illegal both in and outside of the Underworld) but is too important and good at his job to fire. He is a sort of jack of all trades, working in anthropology, biology, and medicine relating to and for Fae beings and literally wrote the most in depth book on the vampire life cycle, much to several peoples chagrin. does a side job as an inexpensive doctor for Fae beings so long as they allow for experimental tests. very good friends with the uncle and is very interested in Isaiah, both as a patient and a subject. spends most of the story as a source of unconventional wisdom and connection to the more illicit side of the Underground. has an interesting relationship with the locals.

Sam, the doctor’s intern who is working towards a full time research position on demonology and one of the most talented witches in the research institute since Nathaniel. becomes extremely good friends with  Isaiah and is responsible for showing him the Underground and witch culture in general. keeps Manny in line as they share a silbing-adjacent relationship. is very fiery, outgoing, rude, and easily the most street smart character. where Manny knows how to get illegal substances and hook up less than morally pure meetings, Sam knows the best place to get into a fist fight with a ghoul. i love her very much. 

[heylinfanclub]

CANON DIVERGENT SHADOW YOUNG | WILLOW YANG

Some Headcanons (more like 13+ paragraphs of THE REWRITTEN STORY): 

(Season 1)

› Shadow was created by Chase to be the sort of perfect lackey after recognizing the disappointment of outside apprentices, a child born of dark magic and his own blood. A literal shadow for Chase, if you will. But the fact of the matter is, her potential is far greater, as her magic runs deeper and is entwined far greater with her essence. Chase keeps her in check through a talisman that binds her magic to his control.

› Despite being essentially a clone of Chase, her development was incredibly fast paced and she is born with the draconic qualities Chase adopted later in life, giving her an unnaturally greenish pallor and a serpentine disposition. Due to the speed at which she aged, she is typically more gaunt than Chase, as she burned calories faster than she could get them. › Shadow infiltrates the temple in disguise as Willow (also: Weilu), the Dragon of Metal, a sheltered girl from the valley who has spent most of her life caring for her aging parents (she says they live in the city now, and it’s f i n e, but her excuses to see Chase are always ‘I have to visit my parents’). She spends much more time there than in XC, becoming closer to the monks and struggling with her loyalties as they treat her like family and Chase treats her only as well as he treats obedient pawns (a distinct lack of interest in her growing knowledge of the outside world and ever annoyed of her distractability). 

› When Chase begins to recognize her waning allegiance, he tries to manipulate her, to tell her that the monks will reject her for who she is, for what she has done (Shadow has been used for many evil tasks, and she is very morally gray, not regretting them as much as she fears the judgement of her good friends) and for what she is. But when Shadow finally turns against him (or so, he perceives her lack of obedience as such, she may have never been truly willing to leave knowing he could do what he did next), he merely uses her magic to turn her against the monks, using her as a magic puppet. In the struggle for control, she breaks the talisman. Never having control of her own magic, the loss of structure turns her into a dragon and she runs away.

(Season 2)

›  Shadow escapes to Jack Spicer, a man who she knows is not of any real threat to her. Jack is surprised, but not unwilling to protect her, as she tries to take control of her magic and continues to struggle with her allegiance. Jack gets pretty attached to her, sympathetic to her feelings of rejection and need for isolation. He does his best to help her and in return, she began to lose some of the thorns she often had towards him, as he picked up where the monks had left off with introducing her to the modern world. Which makes it sting all the more, when the monks come for her. 

› She does learn to control her dragon form and she can shift between forms without the Lao Mang Long soup, but it is difficult. It can be easy to shift when angry and difficult to shift back unless she feels safe.

› It’s Jermaine who is enlisted to get Willow back. Jermaine is the Dragon of Wood, trained by Master Monk Guan, to unlearn what Chase may have taught him in his short time as the mans apprentice and to have someone who understands what it is like to fall for Chases charms. Jack is incredibly protective and when Jermaine suggests he’s manipulating Willow himself, Shadow comes to his defense. 

› She tries to convince them that she’s a monster, not Good and better off with Evil. It’s what she was Made for. Even Jack had reservations to such a decision, he had tried to convince her to carve her own path, to live for herself, but also hadn’t minded the idea of her sticking around. Shadows fears that the monks would be suspicious of her, fear her, or perhaps, she fears herself and what she could become. Jermaine tries to tell her that Master Monk Guan would be able to tell, that together at their temple they could help her thrive, and the transition is not a smooth one (taking likely more than one conversation, i could even see a fight breaking out as Shadow tries to scare him off), but eventually, Shadow is convinced. She slowly makes her leave of Jacks lair, leaving him with a final hug and he’s upset, but wishes her the best and says he’ll kick her butt if she shows up again. She knows he means well, and tells him he can try.

›  She takes a while to reconnect with the monks. Jermaine tells them she needs some distance. She doesn’t ever turn back into her Willow form, as it was always just a mask, and has to learn being comfortable in who she is (though she presents far more comfortably, thus differentiating herself further from being Chases clone). But after a while, the monks are invited to MMGs temple, and they find her laughing with Jermaine, dressed comfortably and trying to copy his dance moves, and after a beat of laughter halting and silence, she’s moved to tears when they eagerly accept her back into their easy friendship. 

[okay now that was mostly me writing the story here’s actual hcs] › Shadow is trans and nonbinary. As Shadow can look very similar to Chase, she’s definitely been able to pass as a younger, gaunter version of him. She doesn’t really get gender politics and is more invested in her own comfort than anyone elses’ approval. Chase just uses they/them for Shadow usually (as I hc him as agender w/ he/they pronouns), and Willow uses she/her to differentiate herself from him.

› When Willow joins the monks, she dressed pretty delicately. Billowy dresses,  and open sandals. But Kimiko is quick to recognize that Willow cannot sit in a skirt and is almost always cold. She takes it upon herself to help Willow be more comfortable, and it’s a quick switch to t-shirts, flannels and combat boots for this dragon! When she stays with Jack, she picks up painting her nails and wearing leather bracelets, as they feel grounding and familiar to the talisman she always wore (but with the upside that she can take them off as she pleases). 

›  Willow isn’t sure what she wants to be called after she rejoins the monks. So she just lets them keep calling her Willow, though she does occasionally feel a bit more ‘Shadow’ at times, whatever that means (usually when she’s being mischievous). Jack calls her Slim Shady. Chase still calls her Shadow. 

›   Shadows natural shapeshifting is three fold. She can turn into a dragon, she can turn into a shadow, and she can chameleon her colors. The Willow form was much of Chases control, she isn’t quite sure how he managed to shapeshift her features so fully. It was likely another magic placed over her. 

›   IN THIS CANON WE GET CUTE  HINTED SHAMIKO (mostly willow crushing hard on kimiko cause she’s so damn nice to her season-1ish and not knowing how to act on it), SHACK (mostly sweet platonic hurt/comfort) AND JERMILLOW (jERMAINE IS A GENTLEMAN AND SHADOW IS DEEPLY AFFECTIONATE FOR HIM).

›  But on that note, Willow ain’t ever used as a seductress in the heckin temple. She’s instead played off more as the completely nonthreatening sort, a bit of a hapless damsel who can barely control her powers (mostly because they’re being blocked) but incredibly promising martial art skills (she really has to force the lack of understanding and slip ups, because she has been training since she was born). Much like Omi, she was sheltered and doesn’t understand a lot of modern things, tends to be quiet and seems solemnly distracted much of the time, and the monks are more protective of her than anything else. As she opens up, they’re more proud of her than anything else, though maybe Kimiko and Clay who spend the most time with her may feel something (if you don’t subscribe to the gay/ace clay hc i love). 

›   SHES A D OG PERSON.