#my buff institute lesbian

[vault81]

I was tagged by @orionlancasterr to do this picrew!! (ty for the tag! srry its a bit late lol)

Eliza Cooke (FO3/FNV)

Marie Howse (FO4)

(if anyone else would like to do this go ahead!!)

[quickdeaths]

I've had this meme sitting in my drafts in various partially-finished capacities for almost a year, since I wanted to write a lot. Shinobu is the character with the most inspirations, both individually and archetype-wise, and some of those inspirations are "what I didn't want to do," so there's a lot to say/explain. I've left them all under the cut, along with the template (I expanded it because I wanted to talk about trends and archetypes in addition to specific characters.)

Stolen from: @more-than-a-princess from like almost a year ago Tagging: A dash meme... you'll steal it! No one will ever know!

Anyway here is the blank template feel free to take it and skip All This Yapping if you want

If you're still here for the yapping, to begin, I wanted to talk about my approach to OCs, especially gender/sexual minority OCs, 'cause that informed a lot of Shinobu's characterization. I try to put a degree of "realism" into things, though I'm definitely not against smoothing things over a bit compared to what is "realistic." At the same time, my characters cover a spectrum of "how much does being queer affect their life," so that there's a diversity of experience, and also a diversity of tone. Some characters are a bit more escapist than others, in terms of "are there themes of homo/transphobia in their stories", and some are more "this character is partially a vehicle to explore those themes and the experiences that come with them". Shinobu is very much the latter, which is why so much of this is gonna be about Gender. Order of boxes will go left to right, top to bottom. 1. "Girl Prince" characters (Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus, Yuu Kashima, Kaoru Seta, Utena Tenjou). I love these characters, and I genuinely love this archetype. You can trace the influence back to Princess Knight and Rose of Versailles, and then back to Takarazuka Revue, and there are a lot of examples in Takarazuka history of female fans getting REALLY into the otokoyaku actresses, including actually having romances with them. That said, I've often felt that it's an archetype that is so "aggressively anime" in how it's portrayed. Masculinity in women, especially teenage girls, is not typically celebrated by society. "All the girls have a crush on the cool lesbian (or lesbian-seeming girl)" is not really something that lines up much with what I have experienced, what I have seen, and what I have heard from others. So, it's hard for me to see this archetype as sort of "honest queer representation" (which is fine, not everything has to clear that bar.) I think Utena is my favorite example, because it is more realistic, at least, in the fact that the anime is consciously engaging with the conversation about gender and dynamics. Utena's more masculine presentation does not endear her to everyone, and some people certainly think she should abandon it. With Shinobu, then, what I wanted to do was present a girl who fits into that general archetype of "handsome lesbian prince," in a way that felt genuinely engaged with the sexualities and genders involved (while still keeping some of the silly anime vibes). By having her as a masculine trans woman whose identity is policed by her family/certain institutions, it felt more honest to me in both presenting her as someone with a large female fanbase, and also showing the internal harm that comes with that kind of treatment. A lot of her fans don't see her as she sees herself, and it's that incongruence that allows her to exist in the trope space of a "handsome prince," with all that comes with it, without pretending that every single teen girl in the world is a closet lesbian, and that being a gay teen is like a massive popularity buff.

2. Still, I wanted to steer clear from the typical characterization of a princely girl as this kind of effortlessly charming, generally positive, somewhat womanizing type, and rather go for a different kind of "prince" romantic archetype. This could also be a catchall placement for a few characters, but I only had so much room. Chevalier from Ikemen Prince is exactly the kind of "cold-hearted, ruthless, beastly" prince that I wanted to model Shinobu's persona on. It's a popular romantic archetype, so it fits with the idea of having a big fanbase, and also it's codified in such a way that it would be something people might put onto Shinobu, as an expectation, rather than something inherent to her personality. Over time, of course, one shifts to embody the expectations of others more and more, especially in Shinobu's case, where her sense of self is weak in a lot of places.

3. I have been writing OCs for a long time, but my girlfriend was only a canon RPer for a long time. Eventually, though, once she'd left tumblr, she started making OCs for Killing Game RPs in discord groups, and those characters migrated out into our personal discord RPs over time. Frankly, my girlfriend is the reason that I have any DR OCs at all (and also is the reason I originally got into DR), so it could be said that all of them are the inspiration, but the clearest one is Rui, The Ultimate Host. She's another version of the "Girl Prince" archetype, and more typically so in her personality. Similarly to the Takarazuka Revue actresses, being a host puts her in a kind of liminal space where breaking those gendered expectations is a little more acceptable, so I think she's also in conversation with the archetype from another angle.

Rui came first, and Shinobu was at least partially a conscious foil to her of "these characters will have a lot to say to each other," and their relationship has gone, at varying points, from a rivalry, to a one-sided rivalry, to begrudging teammates, to actually being a romantic couple. For example, they both date around, but in very different ways - Rui dates a lot of girls at once, but doesn't like drama or tears, so rather than breaking up, she just sort of slowly ghosts them when she gets bored. In Shinobu's case, she only dates one girl at a time (and usually a short time) but she is very clear and purposefully cruel in how she attempts to break hearts. Defining Rui and Shinobu in opposition to each other in these kinds of ways was a big part in me figuring out the specifics of who Shinobu was and how she acted. Rui's great, and it's a shame that all of you only get to experience my girlfriend's OCs through the cameos they make here.

4. Personality wise, maybe less so, but Quanxi is a big aesthetic inspiration. Big anime lesbian, wears suits, has sex with lots of women, somewhat emotionally reserved, has an affinity for bows and arrows, etc. TalentSwap Shinobu (who is not someone I have formally codified with a page or anything, but she exists, she's out there, I promise) has an eyepatch basically as a direct reference to Quanxi's appearance. She's just a character I think is neat. Shinobu's design was harder for me to pin down, at first, compared to a lot of my OCs. I settled on the glasses, red hair, black clothes, pretty early, but there are multiple "beta shinobu" designs that don't have the same fashion sense or overall aesthetic. Quanxi (and Makima, to be fair) helped me zero in on the specific look.

5. This is kind of a joke, but also kind of not hahaha. I do have a habit of referring to any edgy characters as like, a "little Sasuke" but also it weirdly does line up? It wasn't really intentional, but she's the second child of a famous family, with a genius prodigy older brother who abandoned the family and thus ruined her entire life, and now she wants to murder him. She's pretty Sasuke, not gonna lie. I think a lot of characters, not even just OCs, but canon characters too, sometimes exist in this kind of void space where they don't seem to have much going on outside of the direct canon - no family relationships, no hobbies outside of what they do on-camera, etc. I wanted to have all of my OCs have that surrounding scaffolding, and so for Shinobu, it was this very fractured and messy family situation with an absent mother, a cruel father, and a brother who doesn't actually deserve her hatred, but who is this target/outlet for the rage at her own mistreatment that almost overwrites all her other instincts when he is around.

6. This is another "grouping of characters / trope analysis" thing. I almost see it as a companion piece to the other one. Whereas the prince girls are an archetype of "celebrated masculinity in young girls," I would say these characters (Naoto Shirogane, Ryunosuke Fujinami, Rin Hoshizora, Tomo Aizawa) are an archetype of... "distant aspirational femininity," maybe, in that same demographic. I don't have a problem with these characters (I like most of them!) but aspects of their stories play with this idea that these more masculine girls would be happier or more authentic if they discarded those elements in favor of more conventional femininity.

I think this is maybe a complicated topic, because femininity is policed in a way that's kind of "damned if you do, damned if you don't," in my opinion, and in specific, all of these characters are potentially justified in their feelings on an individual level. There's nothing wrong with presenting in a certain way, and it's not "masculine girl good, feminine girl bad," but I do think it's worth talking about that, firstly, in some cases, these stories frame these desires for feminine presentation as liberatory or radically individualistic in spite of society, which is just not usually accurate - society wants women to be feminine, it is not a radical position or one that is deeply challenging dominant narratives, so it's weird to frame it that way. Secondly, there is almost never the alternative - there are so few female characters who present femininely, and who have character beats that involve accepting and desiring a more masculine presentation.

I think a lot about gender and sexuality, so these things get under my skin a little bit. It's not anime-exclusive, either. The amount of teen movies that involve a female character going from like, unisex clothing to more femme presentation in order to be pretty for the boy, or whatever, is too damn high. Justice for Ally Sheedy, basically. I do think it's fine to present however, and obviously fictional characters are fiction, so go wild. For me, though, it's a trope I find kind of tiresome and frustrating, especially when they're attached to romance options or female characters in majority male-audience works.

So, for Shinobu, I had the thinking of like, maybe being able to thread some (nonexistent) needle with her presentation. On the one hand, asserting her gender as a woman despite her androgynous appearance and more masculine presentation, and not treating that as somehow disqualifying of womanhood. On the other hand, allowing for the possibility of increased femininity over time in a way that feels a little bit more genuine in that kind of "radically self-affirming kind of way." Unlike a cis woman character, who society wants to be feminine, as a trans woman, society's "desire" for someone like Shinobu is not, in fact, feminine, but rather than she not be any kind of woman. To me that felt like a way to engage with that trope in a way that felt more interesting to me.

[actualsunflower]

I saw your bi Nick art! I headcanon Nick bi as well! Do you have other companion headcanons?

Aw thanks! I haven't posted it fr yet I should though. Yeah I really like bi Nick, he's bi-romantic and asexual :) he's very flirty and forward with male and female sosu so it's very fitting

Head canons for their sexualities? To be fair I haven't thought too much about most of them. I feel like Piper is definitely a lesbian though, idc that the male sosu can romance her, it just... Doesn't feel right gjsfjsfj and I think Cait is probably a lesbian too idk buff strong women just say lesbian to me... All the ships I liked with her were always lesbian ships too so idk her with a man seems weird

And Mac is def pan. I think Preston is bi with a strong leaning toward whatever Sturges has going on specifically. I feel like Hancock is canon pan already

Danse screams hetero with internal homophobia, I'm sorry (I'm also not sorry.. my brotherhood oc is gay dating him so I guess I'm a hypocrite but still... He just seems so... Y'know?)

I like aro/ace Curie, not just to poke at the ppl who over sexualize the poor girl lol

Gage is def pan, too. But probably with a strong leaning toward men. I think X6 is also bi romantic and asexual, but in game canon? I'd def say aro/ace but I think if he just like.... Was able and wanting to have a life outside the Institute, he'd probably realize he's bi

[ecocore]

ECOCORE The Queer Issue

cover 1: Exene Karros @donaldtrompeloeil

cover 2: Andrej Dubravsky @andrej_dubravsky

cover 3: Caspar Jade Heinemann @angstravaganza 

ECOCORE is proud to announce issue 6, an online only issue dedicated to queer strategies in nature. Following the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement it is urgent to find new approaches to ecology and environmentalism. Starting today @ blog.ecocore.co

Queerness is not yet here. Queerness is an ideality. Put another way, we are not yet queer. We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality. We have never been queer, yet queerness exists for us as an ideality that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future.   -José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity Ecocore’s sixth issue, The Queer Issue, guest edited by The Institute of Queer Ecology (IQECO), operates at the intersection of queer and environmental discourse, with a mission to improve both fields. Each movement, perpetually evolving though not fast enough, benefits from being in conversation with the other. Yesterday I found myself at one of the last shows of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in Providence, Rhode Island. I had just left a meeting with two other members of IQECO, where we discussed the types of invisible labor being done by plankton (plus other microbial Foundation Species) and queer (human) communities. When I arrived at the circus, then, I found myself still burdened with criticality. When the lights went out and spotlights hit a cage in the center of the arena, 12 tigers were sitting on stools and I braced myself for an unnerving show. A large man with dueling whips lashed the tigers, ordering the cats to jump, roar, stand, and move about. I sank lower into my chair, feeling rather microbial as a crowd of thousands clapped and screamed in excitement at the spectacle of human supremacy. Earlier, as the National Anthem had boomed, a lesbian couple sat down next to me and I let out a sigh of relief. The three of us would form an instant unspoken alliance for the next 3 hours, silently critiquing the The Greatest Show on Earth. So when the 12 tigers began leaping in fear of a man who commanded them and the audience into a frenzy, I looked towards my newfound queer sisters. I was disappointed to see that they too were cheering, hand in hand. I lay out this anecdote to highlight the dangerous rift still standing between queer and environmental justice. I expected the couple next to me to naturally align themselves with the subjugated tigers, rather than with oppressive man. But as critical conversations about ecology and queerness are still far from the mainstream, this way of thinking takes time and dedication. Eventually, I believe it will prove incredibly helpful for both the lgbt+ community and the natural world. This new alignment allows queer individuals to find kin with any oppressed species, many of which are queerer than we imagined. While tigers have not yet been observed to engage in homosexual behavior, at least another 1,500 species have, including lions, where homosexual and trans individuals have been recorded. Our simplified collective understanding of human gender and sexuality collapses on itself when we are confronted by a fungus with 28,000 sexes. Catriona Sandilands states (while discussing the works of Elizabeth Wilson and Myra Hird) that “nonhuman sexual and gender diversity both calls into question human exceptionalism and destabilizes notions of identity, authenticity, and technology on which modern categories of human sexual orientation rest.” The research is overwhelming and powerful, as exemplified by the enduring influence of Bruce Bagemihl’s seminal text, Biological Exuberance. Bagemihl’s book about animals with homosexual tendencies was used as evidence by the American Psychiatric Association before the US Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, a case that ultimately struck down sodomy laws in 14 states. The Queer Issue presents IQECO’s inaugural attempt to present a sliver of this growing body of research, as well as works by artists that consider this hybridized way of thinking. The Queer Issue is assembled eclectically, with republished texts by Bruce Bagemihl that have heavily influenced the field, as well as original commissions for the occasion of this issue. Liby Hays will present a collection of four poems from the perspective of a Trans Termite Queen. Briohny Walker will contribute a new paper on an ethics of failure and futurelessness. Greta Skagerlind invites you to contribute to their ever-growing in-flux definition of Queer Design Principles via a collaborative google doc. Ryan Hammond will talk about their ongoing work, Open Source Gender Codes, which attempts to queer current regimes of pharmaceutical production and systems of ownership by producing open source hormone production protocols. Ecocore and IQECO welcome you to The Queer Issue. Edited by Lee Pivnik for the Institute of Queer Ecology Bruce Bagemihl Urban Barnyard Alessandro Bava Andrej Dubravsky Ryan Hammond Liby Hays Caspar Heinemann Alex Ju Exene Karros Les U. Knight / VHEMT Lee Pivnik Isabella Rossellini Jack Schneider Greta Skagerlind Briohny Walker Additionally, we would like to out our non-human contributors. The following is a list of animals that have been recorded exhibiting either homosexual or transgender behavior, assembled by Bagemihl in his 1999 publishing of Biological Exuberance.  Their vibrant and diverse existence reminds us with force that we are not alone in our queerness, but should our species continue to encroach on their habitats, we may find ourselves increasingly lonesome. Acorn Woodpecker Addax Antelope Adelie Penguin African Buffalo African Elephant African jacana African swallowtail butterfly Agile Wallaby akepa Allen hummingbird Amazon Molly Amazon River Dolphin see Boto American Bison American kestrel angelfish Anna’s Hummingbird ant Aoudad Aperea arctic tern Asiatic Elephant Asiatic Mouflon Atlantic Spotted Dolphin Australian noisy miner Australian raven Australian Sea Lion Australian Shelduck avocet Aztec Parakeet badger Bank Swallow Barasingha Barbary Sheep Barn Owl barn swallow bat bearded seal beaver Beluga Bengalese Finch (Domestic) bewick’s swan Bezoar Bharal Bicolored Antbird Bighorn Sheep bird of paradise black-and-white warbler Black Bear Black-billed Magpie Blackbuck black-capped chickadee black-capped lorikeet Black-crowned Night Heron Black-footed Rock Wallaby black-headed grosbeak Black-headed Gull Black-rumped Flameback Black Stilt Black Swan Black-tailed Deer black-tailed gull black-tailed prairie dog Black-winged Stilt Blue-backed Manakin Blue-bellied Roller blue-billed duck bluebird bluejay Blue Sheep see Bharal bluethroat Blue Tit Blue-winged Teal boat-tailed grackle Bonnet Macaque Bonobo Boto Bottlenose Dolphin bowerbird Bowhead Whale Bridled Dolphin Brown Bear see Grizzly Bear brown booby Brown Capuchin Brown-headed Cowbird Brown Long-eared Bat brown noddy Brown Rat Budgerigar (Domestic) Buff-breasted Sandpiper bufflehead duck burro Bush Dog butterfly Calfbird California Gull California sea lion Canada Goose canary Canary-winged Parakeet Caribou Caspian Tern cassowary Cat (Domestic) Cattle (Domestic) Cattle Egret centipede Chaffinch Cheetah Chicken (Domestic) Chiloe Wigeon chimney swift Chinese water deer clapper rail Cliff Swallow Collared Peccary Commerson’s Dolphin Common Brushtail Possum Common Chimpanzee Common Dolphin Common Garter Snake Common Gull Common Marmoset Common Murre Common Pipistrelle Common Raccoon Common Shelduck Common Tree Shrew coral goby cormorant Costa’s hummingbird cottontail rabbit Cotton-top Tamarin coyote coypu Crab-eating Macaque crane crane fly Crane spp. Crested Black Macaque crow Cui curlew cutworm Dall’s Sheep see Thinhorn Sheep Damaraland mole-rat Daubenton’s Bat Dayak fruit bat Desert Tortoise dipper Dog (Domestic) Doria’s Tree Kangaroo dragonfly Dragonfly spp. Dugong Dusky Moorhen Dwarf Cavy Dwarf Mongoose eagle earthworm Eastern Bluebird Eastern Cottontail Rabbit Eastern Gray Kangaroo echidna Egyptian Goose eider duck Eleanora’s falcon Elegant Parrot Elk see Wapiti emperor penguin Emu Euro European Bison see Wisent European jay European Shag falcon Fallow Deer False Killer Whale Fat-tailed Dunnart finch Fin Whale firefly fisher Flamingo fox fox squirrel frog, poisonous fruit bat Fruit Fly spp. fulmar Galah garter snake gecko Gelada Baboon Gentoo Penguin giant cowbird giant river otter Giraffe glaucous-winged gull Goat (Domestic) Golden Bishop Bird golden eagle golden lion tamarin Golden Monkey Golden Plover Gorilla Grant’s Gazelle Gray-breasted Jay Gray-capped Social Weaver gray-cheeked mangabey Gray-headed Flying Fox Gray Heron Gray Seal Gray Squirrel Gray Whale great bustard Great Cormorant great crested flycatcher great egret Greater Bird of Paradise greater painted-snipe Greater Rhea great tit Green Sandpiper Greenshank Greylag Goose Griffon Vulture Grizzly Bear grouper grouse Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock Guillemot see Common Murre Guinea Pig (Domestic) Hamadryas Baboon hamlet Hammerhead Hamster (Domestic) Hanuman Langur Harbor Porpoise Harbor Seal hare Harris’s hawk Harris’s sparrow hawk hawkmoth hedgehog heron Herring Gull Himalayan Tahr Hoary-headed Grebe Hoary Marmot honeybee hooded pitohui Hooded Warbler Horse (Domestic) house martin House Sparrow Humboldt Penguin humbug damselfish humpback whale hyena Indian Fruit Bat Indian Muntjac Indian Rhinoceros Ivory Gull jabiru stork jacana Jackdaw jackrabbit Japanese Macaque Japanese sea raven Javan wart snake Javelina see Collared Peccary jellyfish kalanga parrot Kangaroo Rat kentish plover Kestrel Killer Whale king bird of paradise King Penguin kit (blue) fox Kittiwake kiwi Koala Kob lantern bass lantern fish Lapland longspur lapwing Larga Seal see Spotted Seal Laughing Gull Laysan Albatross Least Chipmunk Lechwe lemming lesser black-backed gull Lesser Bushbaby Lesser Flamingo lesser kestrel Lesser Scaup Duck lesser yellowlegs Lion Lion-tailed Macaque Lion Tamarin Little Blue Heron Little Brown Bat Little Egret Livingstone’s Fruit Bat Long-eared Hedgehog Long-footed Tree Shrew Long-legged Fly spp. long-tailed duck Long-tailed Hermit Hummingbird long-tailed manakin loon lorikeet lucifer hummingbird lunulated antbird magnificent hummingbird Mallard Duck marabou stork marbled murrelet Markhor marmoset marsupial mouse Marten sp. Masked Lovebird Matschie’s Tree Kangaroo Mazarine Blue Mealy Amazon Parrot Mew Gull see Common Gull Mexican Jay see Gray— breasted Jay mink Mocó Mohol Galago see Lesser Bushbaby mole mole-rat mole-vole Monarch Butterfly monitor lizard Montagu’s harrier Moor Macaque Moose moth Mountain Goat mountain lion Mountain Tree Shrew Mountain Zebra Mule Deer murre Mustached Tamarin mustached warbler Musk Duck Musk-ox Mute Swan naked mole-rat natal robin Natterer’s Bat New Zealand fur seal New Zealand Sea Lion nightjar Nilgiri Langur Noctule North American Porcupine Northern Elephant Seal Northern Fur Seal northern jacana northern lapwing Northern Quoll northern rough-winged swallow Ocellated Antbird Ocher-bellied Flycatcher Olympic Marmot one-wattled cassowary opossum Orange Bishop Bird Orange-fronted Parakeet Orang-utan Orca see Killer Whale oriole Ornate Lorikeet osprey Ostrich owl oyster