#no really though i think you're onto something with the misogyny

[michaelmilligan]

Looking back on the time I felt so guilty because the female characters of any show were never my unchallenged favourites, and I didn't identify myself with them.

Like, I still loved them! Samantha Carter from Stargate, my beloved. Teyla kicks ass. Leia Organa, girl, your hairstlye is either the next big trend or a fashion disaster. Also you kick ass AND get a love interest that doesn't reduce you to being the girl™.

But yeah, I never identified with them, and I thought for the longest time that I was doing feminism wrong. As a girl, I must have wanted to be like those women, right???

However, turns out I was just doing 'being a girl' wrong. Because I wasn't a girl. And I projected onto the guys because I wanted to be a guy.

[perseruna]

heyyyy do you have any details/sources for the ca*ill being a jackass thing? ngl i watch twn for yen and jaskier so i was already planning on continuing to season 4 but i'd love some reasons to be actively excited for the actor switch. but i haven't kept up on the behind-the-scenes stuff so i'm kinda lost on that front if you're up for sharing any of what you know!

okay guys buckle up this is THE anti henry cavill megathread xoxo

First of all him dating a teenager as a 33 year old fully grown man literally gross and disgusting.

Also as this quote implies they started dating a year prior and only went public when she was 19 so they supposedly started dating when she was 18.

His entire dating history is a MESS. Sure the women he dated are not him, but he chose to date them, I wouldn't even associate myself with people like these let alone be in a relationship with them. He dated the infamous transphobic TERF Gina Carano, albeit before her loud controversy, but I doubt her harmful views were any different back then. His current gf has a history of doing black face.

His "Me Too" comments.

His comments on the Me Too movement are literally so vile. If you don’t want to be called a rapist, just don’t rape women, it’s literally as simple as that. They’re even more foul because they’re promoting the idea that women lie about their abusive for fame, promoting that harmful rhetoric especially in our times is incredibly dangerous.

Now onto his on set behavior.

We can't talk about his set behavior without mentioning the deuxmoi set leak. Here's the transcript of it:

[Transcript:

There’s something I really really wanted to read to you guys--it has to do with why Henry Cavill left The Witcher. I know that was something that you guys were super interested in when it happened, and I just recently got this message. Somebody was like “Hey, do you want to know what really went down?” And I was like “Sure!” So let me just read it. It says:

“At the beginning of the show, Henry was good to work with. A lot of difficult demands that made people feel like he wasn’t a team player, but that’s not unusual for a really big star. Though in TV it truly usually doesn’t happen until the second season. But in season two and three something shifted and he became really impossible for women to work with, which is always a big problem, but even worse here because the showrunner is a woman. He would try to overrule her and try to get changes made last minute across the board without her knowledge, which, if you know anything about showrunning, is completely fucked. The showrunner has to sign off on every miniscule detail down to the buttons on a costume. Female writers and directors were suddenly being completely ignored on set, unable to do their jobs. Every department head was complaining. He started making comments—it wasn’t a sexual thing, he wasn’t grabbing anyone or being lewd, but it was disrespectful and toxic all the same.

“He is deeply addicted to video games, to the point where it was like working with any other addict. He was distracted, he was late, he was obsessive, and a lot of people think the misogyny came from gamer world. Video game bro language is not how you talk to coworkers, and he wouldn’t stop. Someone on the show compared it to watching someone get brainwashed by QAnon, like his whole personality shifted. Eventually his disrespect escalated. He would rewrite scenes without even alerting the other actors in the scenes until it was time to shoot. He decided that he didn’t want any romantic scenes at all—no kissing scenes, no shirtless scenes, et cetera. He wanted complete control of storylines but really had no idea of the limitations of TV, structure, budget, et cetera. He formed a weird alliance with one writer who was also a gamer, who eventually got fired after multiple HR complaints were made and after that writer left, Henry did anything he could to hold up production and cause problems.

“Eventually top brass at Netflix was tired of him costing them money with delays and HR investigations and the showrunner was asked to construct a potential exit for him. Netflix reached out to him personally and he was given one final warning, and violated that warning with an email he sent to the entire writing staff right after that meeting. That was it. It’s very disappointing.”

End transcript.]

Now believe me or not, but I know from a really good source that the leak was indeed real.

There's a lot of patterned behavior that tracks with what we know of him and his past controversies.

After that leak came out, there was a lot of people from different places coming to comment that ‘yes’ they’ve heard a very similar story adding a little bit more details of their own.

this quickly deleted tweet from one of the writers/producers:

there were rumors about him being an asshole to Anya specifically.

He went on record that he doesn't "understand" sex scenes. Which I know the sex discourse is rampant nowadays and each to their own, but he specifically signed up for a role that requires those scenes and then refused to do them and was allegedly nasty to Anya about it and with the way he talks about women...

Also it’s important to touch upon the “writer he had a weird alliance with” that man in question is Beau DeMayo of the recent fame of getting fired by Marvel from X-Men ‘97. He was previously allegedly fired from The Witcher for being emotionally and physically abusive. And he allegedly got fired from X-Men for being abusive as well. One of The Witcher writers tweeted this after Beau smeared them for “disliking the books” Beau was literally the first person to start that narrative.

The fact that it was HIS idea not to say lines of his dialogue in S1 and instead grunt. To the point that Joey had to take Henry’s lines and make it his own, so the plot would make sense, he talks about it in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Oyh0t117t0U&, and then once S2 press arrived Henry was talking about how he was trying to fight the big bad writers to give him more lines. Ridiculous.

Everyone is already pointing out that the cast looks so much happier without him, and it’s very true. Henry was never present on close to any BTS pics from filming the previous seasons, or on any cast dinners or birthdays. He wouldn't even do any shared interviews with the other three mains but only had solo interviews which to me was giving disrespectful like you're an ensemble you’re not the only lead here. It felt like he was above them to sit down and answer questions with them. When they were doing press junkets in Brazil and Poland Anya, Joey and Freya would always arrive together and leave together with that man leaving all the events early and by himself. And like people who post quotes from the cast about him being perfect from press junkets as “proof” are insane to me like Obviously they’re going to say nice things about him, not only they're newcomers, and he's an established industry name, but they’re doing PRESS for a show that he’s a STAR of (well, was lmao)

The fact that he never defended Anya from the racist trolls, even though most of them were HIS fans. Like she had to go through so much and that man couldn’t make a single comment about it as a leading man BUT he could make a whole IG post because people were being mean to his gf and calling her out for doing blackface.

And sure people might say that a lot of these are unverified sources, and I’d get it if it was a singular case, but there are a ton of these accounts that all match each other. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

[genericpuff]

I really enjoyed seeing your last post!!! It reminded me of something else that I noticed when I was younger and not really seeing LO through the eyes I am now- even when I lived LO, I noticed that Minthe’s bust size.. Might’ve changed? (I could be remembering wrong, and I’m sorry if I am!) I didn’t think on it too much back then, but it felt a lot like the “she could never measure up to Persephone”, or the “she’s nothing to worry about when it comes to Persephone”!!

But then, when Minthe was supposed to be more of a “problem,” I noticed she’d get drawn with a larger bust- or at least larger than it had been back in the earliest episodes!

This could all make absolutely no sense, (and I apologize for just rambling in your askbox!), but I watching a character’s “worthiness” be portrayed through something as simple and neutral as their chest size stuck out to me then, and sticks out to me now!! 😓)

Oh don't apologize, you're literally pointing out exactly the things we've even talked about in the ULO community !

Literally here she is in S1:

And we even get a scene of her smooshing her boobs together in Episode 35 in an effort to make them seem bigger because she legit feels like Hades is pursuing the "new hotness" in the office based around their physical appearances:

But then she conveniently goes up like 3 cup sizes when it's time for her to be cemented as the villain and suffer her fate by getting turned into a plant?

I've literally seen fans grasp at straws to explain that maybe she got a boob job but then they don't realize that the story at this point has only been going on for like, 3-4 weeks at most. At best you shouldn't have to make those massive leaps to explain the inconsistent character body types. If Minthe really did get a boob job, don't you think that's something that should have been explained in the comic?

And let's be real, we all know what it's really about because it's just more of Rachel pitting women against women:

What's wild though is that Rachel is vastly misinterpreting a classic image here:

A lot of people look at that image of Jayne Mansfield and Sophia Loren and just immediately assume that Sophia is giving Jayne the stink eye over her outfit. And of course, we see this misinterpretation in Rachel's drawing that swaps Sophia and Jayne with Minthe and Persephone.

When in FACT what was actually going on was that Sophia spotted Jayne getting dangerously close to a wardrobe malfunction / nip slip and the camera just happened to catch her making a face that could be misinterpreted as slut-shaming.

"Yes, Paramount had organized a party for me. All of cinema was there, it was incredible. And then comes in Jayne Mansfield, the last one to come. For me, that was when it got amazing. She came right for my table. She knew everyone was watching. She sat down. And now, she was barely… Listen. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? I'm staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face you can see the fear. I'm so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow—BOOM!—and spill all over the table."

Ans Sophia has actually stated that she doesn't like those misinterpretations and is trying to actively distance herself from it.

"Actually, many, many times I am given this photo to autograph it. And I never do. I don't want to have anything to do with that. And also out of respect for Jayne Mansfield because she's not with us anymore."

Jayne died in 1967, only living for about 30 years, and Sophia herself is actually still around. I can imagine how disheartening it is to see people still misinterpreting a photo of two friends and colleagues especially when it's through the lens of slut-shaming an accomplished actress who is unfortunately no longer with us.

Sooo yeah all that said, I'm less inclined to believe it was Minthe getting a boob job and more inclined to believe it was more of Rachel's weird internalized misogyny picking and choosing which women are "sluts" and which ones are "victims" for dressing or being built a certain way. It's really gross when you start to notice it.

People have also pointed out how odd it is that every single character who gets into a relationship or is in a relationship by S3 seemingly morphs into copies of Hades and Persephone, which is really just more of a testament to how lazy Rachel is in her character designs. In her head she's just trying Hades and Persephone all the time but different colors, I imagine at this point the H x P relationship is the only thing that she's interested in writing/drawing about (and even that's arguably hanging on by a thread because she couldn't even let their long-awaited wedding scene have real room to breathe) so it's almost like she's defaulting to just zoning out and drawing nothing but H x P and then having her assistants color them differently based on who it's actually supposed to be.

But I digress. The body shaming and slut shaming is definitely hard-baked into LO and how it portrays its characters. Despite Rachel having written an actual comic portraying sexism in the past, she still can't seem to express her ideas around sexism, to the point of, again, saying she "didn't know sexism was that bad" until she worked on LO. Like, girl... you drew a comic about sexism before LO, what are you talking about? Is this more of you not wanting to acknowledge ANY of the work you did prior to LO, or are you telling me you didn't intend for those older works to be interpreted as sexism???

"I feel like female characters in general, people will be a little harsher on them and sometimes way harsher on them, and I used to be like.. before I started writing the story and like making a story I was like yeah, sexism is not that bad, and [now] I was like oh it's bad. It's quite bad [laughs], so like, I don't know, I feel like the female characters in the story don't get so much of a pass. But this isn't consistent across the board, it's not all the time." - Rachel Smythe, Girl Wonder Podcast circa 2022

[erosmutt]

/ thinkin' bout﹒☆

﹒renovation w/ han and ani﹒⌅

𖦹 dubcon, spitroasting, infidelity, face fucking, face slapping, misogyny

"look at you, little miss housewife, up in the kitchen. makin' sumn for us, doll?" Han asks, taking off his gloves and smacking them down onto the counter. he runs a hand through his sweaty hair, shaking his head, droplets of sweat falling onto the floor. Anakin, who was standing next to Han, rolls his eyes. "she's married."

you turn and look at them, a smile on your face as you gently suckle lemon juice off your fingers. "lemonade, boys. done already?"

it was a nice break - the sound of drilling and banging and hammering and yelling ceased momentarily. a reprieve from Han going 'dammit Skywalker!' every two minutes was very welcome.

"yeah, done already." Anakin confirms. He lifts his shirt, showing off his toned body, and wipes the sweat from his brow. "got the bathroom cabinets up good and sturdy."

you smile as you pour them both a glass of fresh lemonade. "here you go boys," you slide them across the counter. both took their glasses. Han knocked his back like a fucking shot, and Anakin gulped his down with a bit of pacing. they were both parched, having worked all day, especially since it was summertime. Han interjects with a satisfied 'ahh', and Anakin just licks his lips and sets the cup back onto the counter. "so," Han begins. "when's that no-good man a'yours comin' home? been on business for an awful long while, ain't he?"

Anakin rolls his eyes again. "fucking hell," he mutters under his breath. it was no secret that Han had a thing for you. when the men were working, Han would often tell Anakin his fantasies about you.

'god, that fuckin' dress. whorin' 'erself out, ain't she? might as well be wearin paint the way that thing holds onto 'er.' 'i think the dress is pretty.' 'it'd look even better on the fuckin' floor while i bend 'er over.' 'you're so... vulgar, man.' 'stays in the kitchen like a good woman too. got it in check, mhm. can cook and clean. my typa woman.'

this conversation happened only just before they were called to the kitchen for refreshments.

"how 'bout this, dollface," Han starts. "whip us up somethin' for dinner, eh? all that work," he reaches over and pats Anakin's stomach, making the shorter man grumble. "gots us all hungry." as if on cue, Anakin's tummy growls, making you giggle.

"i suppose i can. what d'you have a taste for, hm?" you ask, rinsing out their recently emptied glasses. Anakin can't help but smile. but as opposed to Han, who was waiting to see you as the cute dishwasher you were, Anakin thought you were really sweet for offering them a meal.

𔓘

"how was it?" you ask softly as you wash the dishes, house dress swishing as you suds up a plate. the smell in the house was a mix of carbonara and sawdust. Anakin sighs softly, fingers absentmindedly fiddling with his curls. "good." he gives you a smile. but it immediately falls as he sees his partner walk up to you. "Han," he says in a warning tone. it was too late. Han's hands were already on your hips, pulling you back into him as if you were his wife. Anakin groans. "here we go,"

you gasp, dropping the sponge into the sink and gripping the edge of the basin. "look at 'er Ani," Han reaches up and grips your face, forcing you to face Anakin, who gives you a look of sympathy. but you did look good with that innocent confused expression on your face... so he gets up and walks around the counter, watching your eyes widen with what was more than likely fear. it didn't matter, though, that look would be replaced with something else real soon.

soon, not knowing how, you were squatted down on your kitchen floor, hands on either man's cock. Anakin's cock was slimmer, while Han's was fatter. you look back and forth between them - Anakin had his eyes closed and lip being bitten into while Han had a shit-eating grin on his face. "open up sweetheart," Han tells you, stepping in front of you. Anakin follows his lead, and the two men smack their cocks on your face. "shit," Anakin hisses quietly as he rubs his pretty pink tip onto your lips.

Han pushes your hair out of your face and watches as you open your mouth. "tongue out like a good girl," he praises as his partner slides his cock into your warm, wet mouth. Anakin shudders and puts his hands on the back of your head, tangling his fingers into your hair.

"i got an idea, Skywalker." Han says. he taps Anakin's hip and the younger man pulls out of your mouth. Han pulls you up off the ground so you're standing. once you're on your feet, he picks you up. both you and Anakin watch with curiosity, until Han impales you on his cock, forcing himself in until he's buried to the hilt inside you. "ohh," he manhandles you with ease, leans you back, his large hands (and your legs around his waist) the only thing suspending you in midair. "now," he looks up at Anakin. "put it back in 'er mouth."

obeying, Anakin steps up to you, putting his hands underneath your shoulder blades for added support. "oh, god," he whines, voice breathy as he slides into your waiting mouth.

"good girl," Han praises. "takin' 'im good." him and Anakin look up at each other, Han flashes him a knowing smile, as if saying 'good job'. they were most definitely going to do this again the next day they came to fix up your house - and maybe, just maybe, Han would let Anakin fuck you too.

[hamliet]

I was talking to a friend about how in recent years it has become so common to have anti-heroes and villains as protagonists. I think this trend started with Tony Soprano back in 2000 and it was definitely something that changed series and movies in a good way, gave us alot of great and interesting characters to explore (Tony Soprano himself was an incredible and complex character that captivated the audience, even though he sometimes did things that we found horrible and hated him for it. But seeing the success and popularity, it's no wonder that after the Sopranos show people started to explore the idea of ​​anti-hero/villain protagonists way more). I can't say when this trend started in anime, if it was before or after The Sopranos, but it also became something quite common (Light Yagami, Eren Yeager, Lelouch Lamperouge and the list goes on). I confess that sometimes I miss seeing a character with a good alignment as the protagonist, I wanted to know your opinion on these things.

So... I think there are a few layers here.

I don't actually agree that morally gray protagonists are very common at all, sorry Anon!, but--

I do think there is a general lack of well-written protagonists of all moralities, and--

All writing is a product of its time to an extent, and in a world where people at least pay lipservice to the idea that we are all culpable for the horrid state of the world, stories are at least going to pay lipservice to that.

On the line of lipservice.... Antihero protagonists do exist, but I think if anything protagonists have become very, very sanitized. Even the ones who are considered antiheroes aren't really doing anything bad. They're just vessels for the authors to preach... which, to be fair to authors, is also partially because I do think there's a lack of critical thinking among the populace and no one wants to be accused of supporting something truly terrible especially in an age where cyberbullying is an expected part of the job. But writing about it isn't inherently an endorsement.

Even in stories like House of the Dragon, which literally is based on a book that is all about gray morality, has sanitized the characters (especially the Blacks and even more so the women) so much that they are barely characters anymore. They're not the ambitious, human people who love and lust and hurt and do the unforgivable yet are still so human. Again, I think the reasoning is pretty clearly to appeal to the audience by not doing the misogyny GoT Season 8 was... except they ironically actually are but bending over so far backwards they're making the characters caricatures instead of people.

I mean, I don't know which movies nowadays besides nugu artsy ones don't have a "good" protagonist. It's far more common. Look at Pixar, at Marvel, at Disney's stranglehold on the industry. Look at BNHA. Part of this is genre-dependent too, but. Good guy wins. Bad guy loses.

In fact, it's so common for people to assume that protagonist status is an endorsement of everything the protagonist does that a sizable portion of AoT fans refuse to accept that Eren Jaeger wasn't intended to be a hero and created ANR, and other fans wrote for big-name publications directly calling Isayama a fascist for portraying a hero who sank into fascism. Overall, I do think the majority got the message, but I also think that while there are certainly some things that could have been done better, the main issue isn't the messaging of the story. I don't think AoT is muddy thematically. I do think the majority of people can't think critically if their life depended on it these days.

That said, I do think what you're onto is that a lot of characters and protagonists just are not well-written. Heroic or not, they're not well done. They're vessels to be used to prop up the author's moral views, rather than explore the difficult questions about what it means to navigate that morality in a bleak world. And I can't even blame them, because the way audiences respond gives them no choice.

Yet, antihero characters are often the more popular characters over MCs. Why? Because they're usually the ones who have a touch of humanity left, and also because tragic stories have appeal when the world is, well, tragic. Until the Mouse beats that humanity out of them anyways. However--

A good "good" protagonist is Luffy from One Piece, honestly. He's complex and interesting while maintaining his fundamental desire for kindness and compassion in the world. Or Tenma from Monster. Jim and Aja from Tales of Arcadia and Adora from She-Ra, too! And Xie Lian from TGCF (okay he considered genocide but--). And, of course, Ruby from RWBY!

[maslows-pyramid-scheme]

I don't really get the discourse about radical feminism ending with separatism? Sorry I'm a lurker, but I read Female Chuavanist Pigs recently and one idea that really stuck out to me is that we should be looking at helping women have a true "sexual revolution" where they are no longer groomed by the media and men to think that their sexuality is defined by the male sexuality. Shouldn't we be trying to tackle the imbalance between men and women when it comes to sex and pleasure? I just feel like there is a difference between separatist feminism and radical feminism. I thought separatist feminism was a sub-branch of radical feminism? I don't mean to bring the discourse onto your blog I am just new to this and trying to learn and saw how well read you are. Please ignore if you don't want to get involved. Have a nice day!

Separatism technically comes from 'lesbian' feminism, a branch of feminism that split from the broader movement because they thought radical feminists weren't doing enough to combat the 'actual' source of misogyny: heterosexual relationships. In summary, though I'd always recommend people do their own research, 'lesbian' feminists claimed that heterosexual relationships reinforce misogyny, and that an actual feminist movement required women to re-route the effort they put into romantic relationships with men into 'prioritising women' (sounds like radblr, no?).

(It's technically called 'lesbian' feminism, but it doesn't use 'lesbian' in the way we'd use it today - when they used 'lesbian,' they meant 'a woman who prioritised other women,' so the 'lesbian' feminists were a collection of actual lesbians, bisexuals, and straight women.)

Radical feminism has its origins in bringing women together and the discussing the various ways that misogyny manifested, and the various options available to women to counteract that misogyny. I think the most productive direction that radical feminism could take would be to re-engage with consciousness-raising and discuss the various options available to women - the pleasure disparity (and how to advocate for their own pleasure - and I do love that you're bringing that up, it's such an important thing, because how many women would remain in their current relationships if they looked at whether their sex lives are satisfying), the housework disparity (and how to advocate for their time), separatism, healthy self-esteem, and so on. Because the moment you have to argue a group into doing something is the moment you've lost touched with the beneficiaries of that group

How did you find Female Chuavanist Pigs and would you recommend it? It's been on my reading list for a while but I've been distracted with other things.

[synnthamonsugar]

Sending an ask instead of commenting because I prefer to keep discourse away from my blog. but, I have to get some of this off my chest. it's bound to be lengthy, so don't feel like you have to read/respond. you just seem like maybe you'll get my point. Read this as one big I statement because of course it's my opinion and I'm not out here reading everyone's minds.

On that last post. I think a lot of people have gone and manic-pixie-dream-girl'd Eris beyond recognition, and that some of shippers (not all, ofc) have spent so much time with their own headcanons & fanfic that they've forgotten how their real dynamic is. It's easy to project a relationship onto them if you're already looking for one. People see them bicker and go "aw, they're arguing like an old married couple!" when, no. They're just arguing.

Drifter definitely flirts with her, but she doesn't reciprocate and I don't even think that it's necessarily serious. That man would flirt with a wall if he thought it would be funny. He seems like the type to tease people that way regardless of gender or attraction to them.

I don't deny that there's something between them. knowing the lore as I do I think it's safe to say that they're somewhat close, whatever that can even mean for either of them, but for fucks sake close isn't always romantic. Are they friends? Maybe. Can either of them have friends at their level of stability? I genuinely don't know. I don't think that we've been given enough to go off of, honestly. I don't like the idea that they're going to magically have their trauma cured by dating each other. She doesn't need him to "file down her teeth", and I don't think that he would. He definitely seems to benefit from her input, though. I don't feel like their relationship is very balanced in that. There's plenty of lore to back up him getting and using advice from her, and it being helpful to him, but I haven't seen much the other way around. He's immature in a way that she isn't, and people seem to think she's going to settle for that.

I don't care who people ship or what their headcanons are, that's all their own business. If I don't like it, it's not like I'm going off on their blogs in the space they've made themselves about why I don't agree with them. I prefer to just back off a bit, let them have their space and I'll have mine. But I don't always see that respect going both ways, and it starts to really bother me when people try to project their headcanons onto other blogs and onto the developers. Almost anything I see of them independently, it seems someone has to show up with "but where's [the other one]", and I've seen shippers go after multiple people for asking that their fanart of the two isn't tagged as ship art. It's just overstepping at that point.

Of course, I don't like lumping a bunch of people under the single label of drifteris shippers and calling them all a problem, I'm well aware that it's probably a loud minority silent majority type situation and I'm not going to assume someone's like that just because that's their content. But a lot (that I've seen) are.

On the misogyny part, I've definitely seen it in some. I'm a guy, so I'm probably not going to have the world's best explanation of why, but what gets to me is mostly the over-romanticism of Eris as his quirky goth gf. It's dumb and often comes off as objectifying. Sometimes it's like people think she's some edgy egirl twitch streamer. I find it strange how much fanart of her changes her appearance too, given we can barely actually see her. And sometimes it winds up painting Drifter as this douchy dudebro that he just isn't. One of the best things about his character to me is that he has his attitude without the shit treatment of women that comes along with it with most similar characters in games. I don't understand the need to turn around and twist him into someone that pushes her boundaries, which is pretty necessary to read their arguments as flirting.

I don't know what else to say, it's late and I'm tired and I'll probably feel stupid for letting myself get wrapped up in fandom discourse but I might as well say it while the conversation is happening.

(adding in case you do post this) v

No shade to shippers that don't fit the description I've put here. If you're reading this and go "Hey! I don't do that!" then obviously I don't mean you. You're all just doing what makes you happy and, hey, go for it. Tumblr is a great place for that. It's only an issue (imo) when that crosses the line into expecting everyone else to have the same headcanons or ignore what is canon. Go make art and fanfic and whatever you want, there's plenty of people who will appreciate it. I'm glad the positive side of the ship fanbase helps boost both of their stories, I hope it winds up driving Bungie to put more content in of them, together or apart.

Thank you for the thoughtful message Anon. Honestly I cosign all of this and wish I could respond to each of your points, but will at least try to cover a few of the ones that hit most with me.

Replies under the cut, since this is a long one ...

I think a lot of people have gone and manic-pixie-dream-girl’d Eris beyond recognition

I've thought about this for awhile. Eris is frequently written as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl insofar as being the offbeat catalyst for a jaded man's journey to a better version of himself.

He seems like the type to tease people that way regardless of gender or attraction to them.

Whether you ship them or not, it's odd seeing Drifter's canon characterization as a recklessly charismatic flirt lost in fanon. That special significance is placed on his flirtation with Eris, and not with the Guardian, Orin, Efrideet, or Rahool, or the others I'm probably forgetting.

Of course, the Guardian is a blank slate the player can project motives onto, and the others are characters whose interactions with Drifter are limited to lore. His & Eris' interactions stand out. That still doesn't mean it's inherently romantic; I've platonically flirted, held hands, snuggled, danced, bed-shared, and other things fans would dedicate thousands of words of shipfic to were I a fictional character.

Though reading it as such is fine (and I'll concede, probably lines up with the authors' intent, since we know some of them are shippers), nothing in the lore is explicitly romantic. Note, authorial intent, word-of-god and canon are all separate things, as much as fandom conflates them.

An aside, it's interesting how fanon surrounding Drifter paints him as socially anxious, touch starved, romantically awkward ... until he meets Eris. While I understand the utility in shipping — to emphasize the One True Love aspect since serial monogamy, much less polyamory, is unknown to most, especially F/M, shippers — it also comes off as "did not read the lore" at best, and "perpetuating negative stereotypes about Asian men" at worst.

Can either of them have friends at their level of stability? I genuinely don’t know.

This is why Eris' and Drifter's dynamic peaked in Arrivals & Beyond Light. The tenuousness of their alliance, the acceptance and rejection of each other's flaws, the trust between them that wasn't earned but necessary to survive. It was fun, tense and compelling and I wish more of the fandom focused on this era of their relationship.

I don’t like the idea that they’re going to magically have their trauma cured by dating each other.

Cosigned. The idea that love can mend any wound, heal any trauma, or fix any flaw is textbook amatonormativity, and has unfortunate implications when applied to Eris' story. I shouldn't have to detail why "woman overcomes trauma with the affection of a man" leaves a bad taste in my and many other fans' mouths, especially when it's favored over her longer-standing relationships with other characters. Why is her bond with Ikora ignored? Zavala? Asher? Mara? Why is so much of her growth pinned on one man, when there are other, deeper relationships that have existed since practically the beginning of Destiny's narrative? Why is there so little shipping surrounding Eris and these other characters?

Almost anything I see of them independently, it seems someone has to show up with “but where’s [the other one]”, and I’ve seen shippers go after multiple people for asking that their fanart of the two isn’t tagged as ship art.

I don't typically engage with popular Destiny ships, but I draw Mara Sov frequently. By herself, and, frequently, in non-Marasjur pairings. Not once have I gotten a "Where's Sjur?" comment, or even a "Where's Shaxx?" for that matter, as pushy as the "helmet stayed on" bros are. Meanwhile, I expect these comments when posting Eris art, particularly Eris F/F. I've had this happen in art I've drawn of her and Drifter with a disclaimer that the art is platonic/not to tag as ship! At that point it's not misunderstanding, it's entitlement.

I don’t like lumping a bunch of people under the single label of drifteris shippers and calling them all a problem

Agreed. I'm technically an Eris/Drifter shipper in the sense of consuming and producing art & fic for them, though I've pulled back from interacting with that part of the fandom because [waves hands generally]. I have no issues with drifteris as a ship, nor enmity drifteris shippers as a whole, but the individuals who engage in rude behavior.

what gets to me is mostly the over-romanticism of Eris as his quirky goth gf.

I'm going to repost what @/unsaelig said, since it's a salient point:

"I have no actual way of proving this, but given how much it’s been a staple, for the past 9 years, to speak of Eris as an unpleasant, unstable, worrying, suspicious individual, and given how much people like to fixate on how Eris & Drifter’s dynamic “softens” her and makes her more palatable and conventional, I do strongly feel Drifter is probably brought up with her as a “package deal” so often because in their eyes he “defangs” her & makes her much easier to take."

I do think there's a popular fandom read on Drifter as a funny, quirky guy who's a little out-of-pocket, an edgier fandomified-and-flanderized Cayde-6, if you will, and that Eris has to naturally follow by being an inoffensively gothy dommy mommy. It's perplexing, it's objectifying, and it makes me wonder what people are actually shipping them for if they sand down their characterization so much.

I don’t understand the need to turn around and twist him into someone that pushes her boundaries, which is pretty necessary to read their arguments as flirting.

The misogyny - amatonormativity combo again. Before anyone comes for me because I like enemies-to-lovers: sword-fighting your beloved to the death over a pit of lava isn't normalized, but saying that boys who bully girls are "just flirting" is. "I hate my wife", "I wish my husband was dead" and "ol' ball and chain" 'jokes' are. The patriarchy instructs men to disrespect women, and tells women to be flattered by the disrespect of men because at least you're receiving a man's attention. It's neither cute nor funny, and I equally dislike it when empoweringly reversed so that the man is the target of the insult.

No shade to shippers that don't fit the description I've put here. If you're reading this and go "Hey! I don't do that!" then obviously I don't mean you.

Cosigned completely. I know I have reputation as an arch-hater, but I have nothing but respect for people who are shipping them in ways that don't play into tired stereotypes of M/F relationships. (Or misogyny, or racism, or...)

Sometimes I wonder if I should try to put more good Eris/Drifter out there, but most of the time I fear I would only be stemming the tide; I am just one person with limited resources, and there is so much out there that my work will go unnoticed and my time is better spent boosting small ships that need the help.

Mostly I wish there was more focus on Eris and Drifter as individuals, in the game and in the fandom, further exploration of their bonds with other characters, and an environment where a wider range of gen and ship fic/art could flourish.

[roblogging]

hii im asking your thoughts on something because i agree w a lot of what you say - i see a lot about the inherent misogyny in the fandom but not as much as the transphobia side of it. could you talk about it a bit?

below the cut for anyone who wants to skip 🫶🏻 (this is really long i'm sorry)

HI OKAY:

first of all, i dislike the use of the word inherent in these discussions - i don't think it applies. a fandom (made up of individual people) cannot be inherently anything in my opinion. and that includes misogynistic. if it were built ON misogyny/transphobia and everything and everyone followed those ideals then yes, we'd use the word. but it wasn't built on those and the presence of such things does not make them inherent. it's an individual basis.

it's a very typical view - one that i've discussed a lot before - that simply engaging with this fandom is transphobic. i (a trans man) have been called transphobic for engaging with jkrs world in non-profitable ways. so, if part of the argument is that it's inherently transphobic to be in the fandom when jkr produced the world, i refute that entirely. her views on many things may bleed into the original works and are the forefront of her "public image" but fandom does its best to alleviate the harm that causes. it's not separating art from artist, it's acknowledging that she's awful and creating a space where people from these harmed communities can still engage with something they love.

that being said,,,, yes. lots of transphobia in the fandom. BUT i think it's worthwhile to note that as a trans person with a platform, of course i see more of it. and though that might make me a better person to talk about it, it does mean i'm obviously subjected to it and see it more. i truly don't know how prevalent it is naturally, it just so happens that i see a lot of it.

not that i'm excusing it. because some of the things that have happened to me are fucking vile. but i think it the vast majority of it comes down to the eroding of fandom etiquette (and the rise of fandom on social media).

i posted a video about peter being friends with the marauders for example, and people disliked it. i got a lot of comments about my appearance because people disagreed with me, and i ended up being posted onto reddit truscum. which, if you aren't aware, essentially means they posted screenshots of me in makeup and debated how trans i am (see also: cis "feminine" sirius discourse). i had a notion page of fic recs that i made and put up because i thought it would be a fun and cute thing to do and i thought people would enjoy it. some disagreed with jegulus being on there and my irls had countless dms demanding to know what my deadname is. i've had to block it from my comment sections. if there are disagreements in my comment sections, slurs are thrown easily. i've been posted onto transmed pages because i posted a video talking about my experience on testosterone and i pointed out some of the negative things, which had led to me "not being actually trans because trans people wouldn't complain" (sorry that i don't particularly like shaving my tits ig. diy top surgery isn't particularly my goal). if i post about a ship people don't like, slurs are thrown.

or, my fav, i got multiple dms telling me that they feel as though trans people are "taking over the fandom" when i hit 10k. like??? god fucking forbid people who enjoyed these books as kids now feel comfortable engaging with them again??? god forbid we've made trans people feel welcome. and no, they aren't taking over. you're just paying too much attention to their identity. i truly don't think about the numbers on my account at all because traction means fucking nothing to me when i just want to yap and meet friends (like obviously, ofc so fucking grateful but it's not my goal or priority) but i fear i didn't get 10k for being trans, i got 10k because i'm generally a nice person who people like.

if i do *anything* that people disagree with, i'm subjected to transphobia.

because fandom etiquette is gone, because i'm confident in my identity, because i don't adhere to traditional masculine gender norms that cis men get praised for subverting, but i must just be a confused woman if i wear makeup, right?

i've definitely had my fair share of just,,, transphobia. like just people who dislike *me*, but 99% of the time it's just that people dislike my ships/hcs and instead of being a normal person and scrolling or engaging in something they enjoy, they know an easy way to get back at me. to get back at me for,,, having fun i guess.

and i could go on for ages about certain discourses, but i've said it all before on my tiktok (see again: sirius in makeup).

i think,,, there's a lot of transphobia in the fandom, from my experience. i think a lot of it stems from the fact that these spaces have become more prevalent on social media which is generally an awful place and horrible to trans people, and people can leave a comment and scroll without connecting the fact that it's an actual person.

but on the flip side, there's less transphobia than there is acceptance. i can post a yap and receive transphobic comments for the things that i've said, and i will delete those comments and watch as other people say that my voice sounds so different. or i can open up comments and see "you look so masc here", or i can reply to dms from people starting their own gender identity and be happy about the fact they thought of me to come to.

again, fandom has become more prevalent on social media. social media relies on traction, hate gets more traction than positivity, boom. we see the hate more.

i'm not gonna sit here and say it doesn't hurt. i'm not gonna sit here and say that there definitely isn't a transphobia problem in this fandom. because there is. but i'm also not gonna say that it's inherent, when every single person that i've connected with on a meaningful level, alongside a good 80% of the interactions i've had generally, has been nothing but overwhelmingly accepting.

the transphobia is there, but i won't be there to listen to it or entertain it. those clearly aren't the people i want in my bubble.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

A lot of you are just so amazing at writing these people stories about giving people second chances, of giving them hope and writing angst with a happy ending. You guys are so creative with making things up. . .all this beautiful, wonderful fiction of mermaids and magic, adding onto an already great story. You write their trauma really well. You create all this drama, and no matter what these characters do to these other characters, they're forgiven. You guys clearly believe in second chances. God, you come up with some incredibly rare ships that never even interacted, and it's amazing. It's wonderful. . .all these great things that you do. . .there's just one thing that you can't let go of. You can't give a ship another chance. It's a ship that's been deserving of another chance since s2. You can't forgive Nancy for being so utterly traumatized that she didn't know which way was up. You make up bullshit about Steve forcing himself on Nancy, despite the fact that it Jonathan was the one who took non-consensual pictures of Nancy. You can forgive Jonathan for something he did do, but not Steve for something he DIDN'T do. He was able to walk away from Nancy when he realized that she didn't need him, but Jonathan couldn't find it in him to do the same thing when Nancy was clearly too vulnerable to jump into another relationship. You have Jonathan literally telling Nancy who he THINKS she is, but Steve never did that. If I can forgive Jonathan and you can forgive Jonathan, then clearly, you have the ability to be open-minded about Stancy. You have that within you. You just choose not to. You write all these characters being shitty to one another and forgiving each other and it's amazing stories, they're amazingly well written and you're open to so many ships but just not the one who's been made to feel ashamed and feel guilty over something that was out of their control. You can find it in yourselves to forgive a child abusing racist and to put Steve with him? But not the ship whose only problem has been that the first time they had sex was that Nancy's best friend was killed by a monster? You can believe in interdimensional beings and other worlds, but you can't find it in yourself to be open-minded about this ship? All because of some made-up misogyny that you pulled out of your asses, that literally came from nowhere. You guys create some wonderfully well thought out fanfictions, beautiful fanart, and I can believe that you can do the same with Stancy if you just give it a try. I have seen you guys have multiple ships, except for this one. It quite frankly baffles me. I don't get it. I have seen you guys come up with some well thought out theories, so I know that you guys are smart. It also baffles me that you believe that Nancy Wheeler is capable of doing so many things, of letting nothing hold her back except when it comes to Steve Harrington, you have this belief that he's going to hold her back even though Nancy has proven several times that nothing will hold her back and she's proven in season 2, that she didn't let Steve's fear stop her from getting justice for Barb. That was just in her vulnerable state. Why would she let Steve do that when she's grown and matured? You guys are incredibly clever except when it comes to Stancy. All rational thought flies out the window, and you've got this belief that it's going to stop you from shipping other ships. It's not. Nancy's already shown you her nightmare, and it's not Steve Harrington. The worst thing thing for Nancy isn't to lose her career, it's loosing everyone she cares about.

[smartass-hoot]

watching these new one piece fans trash talk Vivi by saying she did nothing and that she's worthless/useless is hella annoying. like, even besides the obvious misogyny,, bruh did we even watch the same anime???

vivi is the only reason why the straw hats were allowed onto drum island. even assuming the straw hats fought their way onto the island, there would have been zero chance of them finding out about the doctor since it was the villagers who told them about her in the first place. without that, nami would have died, and we all know how essential she is to finding the one piece. also chopper wouldn't have joined the crew

yes, vivi asked luffy's help to save alabasta, but so did nami with Coco village and so did literally so many other people. i don't see y'all trash talking them??? and who TF said asking for help is a sign of weakness/uselessness? putting aside your ego and acknowledging your shortcomings is a sign of a strong character, tf

the people of alabasta have FAITH in vivi. they listen to her and they love her, which isn't something that is easy to do. the leader of the rebel gangs is her childhood best friend. she has connections (not gonna spoil anything) and those connections are her strength because she can call upon her allies and they will. fucking. answer. that's not something your average Joe could pull off, bitch

vivi is painfully weak and she sucks at being an agent. even in baroque works she was the lowest rank,,, but take a step back to see the bigger picture: vivi is self aware that she can't do shit, and yet she was willing to risk her life to save her country. she was willing to throw away her morals, work for the enemy, risk dying a horrible death or worse, even though there was little to no chance of success. THAT is called determination. THAT takes guts. THAT is a quality that would make her a strawhat

literally EVERYTHING about vivi's past interaction with that celestial dragon shows how mature she is, how much responsibility she bears on her shoulders as a princess (mind you she's even younger than Luffy) and how she can stay brave even when she's terrified. we praise usopp for that, and I won't stand for these double standards

one thing that's slightly more subtle is the drum island scene where vivi shows Luffy that fighting isn't the only way to solve your problems. i feel like this impacted Luffy at least to a certain extent because he actually considers alternatives before fighting now. of course patience was taught to Luffy because of shanks (first chapter of the manga) but it really felt like vivi reinforced that to Luffy

and I'm not even gonna bother with the post wano stuff cause those are heavy spoilers but the point is she's fucking badass and awesome and important and y'all are only embarassing yourselves and making it obvious that you're new 'cause the real ones know and appreciate our desert princess

also wtf is y'all's problem with vivi when Luffy and the rest of the strawhats have already acknowledged her??? they fucking love her so much to the point where they'd dunk on zoro for showing her 'tough love'. I can't help but think it's the Sakura treatment and I will not let another kind girlie be judged to hell and back for her femininity and for "being weak/useless" when canon proves otherwise

[komohine]

What do you think of James being trans? (Obviously a headcanon haha) I might just be projecting I'm definitely projecting, but I think it makes sense.

I hc him has having an inferiority complex when he was younger, which is something me and a lot of fellow transmascs can relate to! The feel of having to aggressively outdo your AMAB peers because you're constantly being fed the idea they're somehow inherently better.

I also think it would be very silly if he hated Keith as a kid for this reason, reasoning he's a "real boy", only to learn Keith is trans too. T4T jaith or smthn idk lol

Also James is gender.

(also I really adore your art! Thank you for taking the time to read my silly headcanon)

I think hell yea 🫡 Even though it’s not my personal headcanon (in my personal headcanon their cis and transness is ambiguous). Withij my headcanons, both canon compliant and college au, there is never really a situation that arises where the distinction of their cis/transness becomes necessary or significant so i really just never mention it and leave it up to the interpretation of the reader

Its probably bcs my prior fandom space has traumatized me so if im gonna be honest i dont really think about characters genders beyond what they express themselves as 😭 you are boy? Ok! Sorry transfetishization haunts me hetalia and genshin were horrific spaces to be in… i have nightmares about people making one character from an mlm ship trans just for “realistic mpreg”. Oh my god mpreg keith is genuinely so disturbing i get distraught when i think about it. Also this may just be a precaution because of the voltron fandom? Because I came into this fandom like a month ago with the prior knowledge that this place is a literal minefield of fetishizers and weird people. Like do you get it… if i, for example, mention explicitly that my keith is trans theres gonna be people fetishizing that. If i mention he’s cis there’s gonna be people fetishizing that. So my defence is to just not mention it! Schrodinger’s gender!! 30 year old women stop writing crazy p0rn of highschoolers challenge.

Its the same with freaky headcanons like i will occasionally try to think of some for writing and metaphor purposes but i will get flashbacks to when a 13 year old asked me “whos the top and whos the bottom” about my ocs on discord and then my train of thought just stops there. Its like a kill switch. “Freaky jaith? Uhh well-” “whos the top and whos the bottom” “ok nvm 😇” like i personally love artsy and tastefully done innuendo art pieces but i do not trust the fandom to have a great enough level of critical thinking to see past the freaky to see the angsty metaphors i pack my art with.

But i think T4T jaith is fire james can now have internalized homophobia AND internalized misogyny or something!! Yay!! Adding more shit onto his need for perfection and to be a “real man” or something whereas keith dont gaf! And keith can teach james to not gaf!!! Yay!!!

[gacha-incels]

genuinely what frustrates me the most is having to not just tell people that if want to make any change with their friend groups or the people they hang out with to put their fucking foot down. if your friends are apathetically holding onto pm or nexon or whatever call them out, say theyre horrible people and cut them off or SOMETHING. stop prioritizing misogynists. seeing people who actively speak out against this still interact with people who just dont care is the craziest part of all of this.

I think I understand you’re talking about other people and their friend groups, but since this is the kind of thing people personally grapple with I’ll put my thoughts on dealing with it individually.

I would say if these are your close friends in real life that you care about it's worth it to try and walk them through some of this on an individual, non-condescending friendly level. for some people it can take longer to sort out their thoughts and personal convictions regarding things like this and honestly that's just how it works out sometimes. Skills like this can't be rushed through and cannot be based in fear if you want to learn. If you have the luxury and privilege to attend college a good teacher or mentor can often help with this. You can see sometimes even on this blog when presented with a different approach to the subject people will change their minds. This of course is only possible if they're amenable to it, which not everyone will be. I'm not talking about someone who is an unapologetic misogynist for example, it's not your job to rehabilitate someone like this. I have more I guess "extreme" ideas on politics and art, and over the years I've been able to share these freely with my close friends and have them understand, but they had never been bigoted people in the first place and we already agree on important fundamentals. We can disagree on some of the more niche art theories sometimes which won't cause a huge dramatic rift even though we're all artists, but that's nothing like disagreeing fundamentally on something that affects your rights as a person or belittling someone’s entire artistic practice. What I'm trying to say here is this approach is dependant on the type of friend you're speaking with, but regardless I am sympathetic with the frustration regarding people being apathetic about this kind of thing. However you can’t let people’s apathetic friends bother you so much it supersedes attention towards the actual parties engaging in this misogyny. I know you probably didn’t mean these people are literally the most frustrating part of this entire situation but sometimes it’s good to take a step back and reevaluate your focus. Online it's probably a bit more complicated, especially if your friendship is based on a particular "fandom". I don't really use social media that much or participate in anything fandom, so I haven't had people I consider "online friends" since I was like 13 on deviantart lol they're all offline friendships from school, hobbies, work or artistic practices. So I'm not sure how much this approach would differ if you're speaking with someone or a friend group that you only know online, but if you consider yourself pretty close with these people it can be worth it to try and have a serious, ongoing conversation. If not then you can’t get so caught up in what these people are doing that your entire focus has shifted onto their personal apathy of the situation instead of the actual ongoing situation. This isn't me chastising you or anything, I think it's good to be concerned about these kinds of things and I appreciate your message. This is just general advice.

[yesmiladywrites]

Excerpt from Hell Hath No Fury (The Walking Dead, Rosita + Negan) AU Season 7 This is part of my ongoing TWD/SPN crossover series Armageddon Again but this excerpt can technically be read as a Walking Dead standalone.

Trigger warnings apply: sexual coercion, racism, misogyny. Feedback welcome. Enjoy!

“You know,” Negan says as he leans back in his armchair, gesturing with his drink, “I bet my wives are out there right now, ears pressed up against the door, just dying to hear what ol' Negan’s up to. I bet you’re wondering that too.”

“Is that why you brought me here?” she asks, revulsion coiling in her guts, her voice tight and controlled, “To be one of your wives?”

Negan begins to snicker. “Fuck no!” he exclaims. His voice holds a breathless edge to it, like he genuinely finds the whole thing hilarious. “Is that what Dwight’s been telling you? No wonder you knocked him on his dumb ass.”

Rosita's mouth thins. Her gaze flicks to the baseball bat.

He continues, “Don’t get me wrong – I am SUPER into you. I mean, shit, who wouldn't be? You are smoking hot. And not just that. Look at you – strong, fierce, drop-dead gorgeous, and you swagger in, show up on my doorstep, dragging your titanium-core lady-balls through my gate? What? Are you kidding me?”

His grin is wide and unapologetic, reveling in his own audacity. “You see, I’m what the kids might call a Boomer” – he gives a little helpless shrug – “so excuse me for being a culturally insensitive prick when I say you’ve got that whole Spicy Latina thing working for you. It’s the goddamn honest truth. You own that shit.”

He pauses for a breath. “Still, gotta pass. Thing is, I like my dick. I’m highly attached to my dick. I am deeply, emotionally, some-might-even-say homoerotically invested in my own penis. And you - you clearly can’t stand the sight of me." He shrugs. "I gotta look out for the Big Guy. So, even though you really are stupidly hot, we'll have to put a raincheck on this whole hatesex thing until you're less inclined to stabbing me in the balls." He finishes his tirade with a sip of his whiskey.

She doesn’t respond right away, letting the silence hang heavy between them. “Don’t hold your breath,” she says, unable to keep the sting from her voice.

He chuckles good-naturally. “Let’s hear it from you, then. What made you come all this way?”

“I want to be a Savior,” Rosita says boldly.

He rolls his eyes. “Nope.”

“You need people who can get shit done, I can do that for you.” The lie sounds convincing to her ears.

Negan doesn’t think so. He slams his glass onto the table and leans forward, no longer grinning. “One more time,” he challenges.

Rosita’s nostrils flare. “There’s nothing left for me back there.” Her voice cracks, unsteady. It’s the truth.

Negan leans back with a satisfied hum. “Getting somewhere.” He studies her for a long moment. “You served? You look like a woman who could fill out a military uniform.”

Rosita gives a small nod.

Negan smirks. “Yeah, I can tell. You got that look about you. That big ginger fella? He had that look too.” He leans in, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. “Can I be honest with you? That whole eeny-meeny bullshit? Yeah, I rigged that. It was always gonna be Red. Know why? Because he was down for it. And I respected that. A soldier – a real soldier – knows when it’s time to take one for the team. Somebody’s got to jump on that grenade. You don’t do it for Uncle Sam, you do it for your brothers out in the shit with you. That’s valor.”

He sits back, relaxed. “Of course, you’ve got Daryl to thank for the Asian kid.” Holding up his glass, he toasts: “For Carrot Top!”

Rosita surges forward, hissing, “His name was Abraham.”

“Ah shit,” he sighs. “So you two were…?”

Rosita scowls. To her horror, her eyes begin to sting.

“No?” He leans in, studying her face closely. “You were something, though, am I right?” He finds something in her expression, for he then exhales in surprise. “No, come on. Don’t tell me he dumped you? You? Are you shitting me?”

He looks utterly scandalized. “I take it all back – what a fucking moron. I swear, he must’ve been the dumbest man on earth. You know what, I’m glad I knocked his dome in. Honey, you deserve better.”

Rosita takes her chance. She grabs for Lucille.

Her hand barely grazes the handle when Negan slams his fist into her wrist. He’s fast – so fast that he doesn’t even spill his drink. Rosita gasps in pain, recoiling.

“There she is,” he chuckles, pleased. “Gotta admit my head’s still reeling, though. You did it. You blew my mind.” Lifting a hand to his temple, he flings his fingers in a sharp motion, mouthing a silent boom. He looks at her then with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. “You’d seriously throw your life away for some ginger pubes asshole who didn’t want you?”

“Go fuck yourself,” she hisses, clutching her wrist to her chest.

Negan rises from his seat. Circling around her, he leans on the arm rest and whispers in Rosita’s ear. “What if I make you a better offer?”

His breath smells like whiskey and toothpaste. It makes her skin crawl.

The sting of her failure ebbs in her chest and threatens to spill from her eyes. “What?” she says hoarsely. 

He reaches past her shoulder and grabs Lucille. Rosita tracks his movement by sound alone as he begins to swing the awful thing around. She stares at the drape-covered windows, refusing to turn her head. She knows what men like him want. He likes to be watched, likes an audience. She won’t give him that satisfaction.

“I don’t normally let this sort of shit fly,” he grunts, flinging his baseball bat through the air. “But you’ve got a real go-getter attitude about you. I like that. So I’m gonna make you a one-time offer: stick around.” He continues to swing the bat. “Try us on for size. No tricks, no strings attached. What’d you say, slick?”

Rosita laughs, sharp and bitter. She can’t help herself. “You’re a monster.”

Negan stops mid-swing. “Monster?” He moves closer, bringing Lucille under her chin and slowly lifting, forcing her head up.

“Sweetheart, you have no idea what a monster is,” he murmurs, the barbed wire biting into her skin just enough to sting. His voice takes on a strict, dangerous undertone. 

Rosita inhales sharply. She stares straight ahead, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cower. “Do your worst, asshole,” she says through gritted teeth.

“And waste all this potential?”

She closes her eyes. “What do you want?”

He lowers the bat, his gaze never leaving her face. “I want you to get to know me.” He chuckles knowingly. “You may think I'm a monster, but there are things that would make your worst nightmares look like bedtime stories. You think those dead pricks out there are something to worry about? No, you don't know shit from shit. Stick with me, maybe you get a chance to learn." 

“And if I say no?”

“Why the fuck would you say no?” Negan retorts, incredulous.

Her mouth wobbles. She knows what Negan is – a psychopath, a manipulator – but he’s also a man. And men can be outwitted.

Rosita says yes. It’s not a surrender; it’s strategy.

(Hell Hath No Fury (4732 words) by yesmilady)

[nelyos-right-hand]

Hey there so I think your post is wonderful and has only good intentions and you seem like a great person!

However…here’s the thing. I was recently bullied out of the fandom because I made a single post where I said that I liked both elwing and maedhros. This person hates elwing, luthien, aeredhel, and andreth, and they actually came onto your fandom peace post and proceeded to vague blog me while tearing down my personal character. At a certain point it becomes hard not to take the context clues. If you dislike every woman in the book, it’s really hard not to think something about that.

It is true that fictional taste does not translate to a moral stance… to an extent. I minored in feminist theory in grad school and wrote my thesis on it. And misogynists (cis men usually but not always) do like to push women out of fandom spaces by either sexualizing, demonizing or otherwise demeaning both the fictional and very real women who are a part of it .

Maybe I’m way off here. Maybe it’s my fault I got bullied out of this space (certainly I knew better than to mention elwing). It’s hard to say because you’re right, you can’t assume anything about someone through a screen. But the extent of vitriol that people get if they so much as mention elwing… I don’t know, it doesn’t seem like an equal battle ground to me and while you can’t call someone pro murder for liking a fictional murderer, you can question someone’s stance on women if they hate every woman in a book.

Once again, you seem wonderful and this is not a critique of you

(This is not the anon from earlier btw)

Hi Anon!

First of all: Thanks for staying kind!

I understand your argument, and it adds an interesting angle I didn't think about before. I also wish that there were less arguments surrounding Elwing and M&M, especially since fandom exists so fans can enjoy the things they agree on together, not fight over the things they disagree on.

On the topic of misogyny and feminist theory and all of that: I'm honestly gonna say that I'm not an expert on this topic, and that it's not an easy topic either, and that I feel kind of unqualified to answer such difficult questions, because, even though my blog is not a very big one, you always have a certain responsibility on the internet, so I would feel more comfortable leaving such complicated and important questions to people who are more informed on this and actually know what they are talking about (to specify: I'm not saying you don't know what you're talking about, but that I wouldn't know what I was talking about).

I'm sorry that I couldn't really answer this ask, I just feel slightly out of my depths, and since it is a really important topic I feel like I should rather be careful and say nothing at all, than accidentally say something wrong or offending. I'm still glad you shared your point of view, though, and hope you understand! Have a great day!

[mtmlabrys]

Plagiarism and You(Tube) and the Transphobic Little Fuckin' Thing That Hbomberguy Missed

Hi friends. I watched the video hbomberguy did on plagiarism. It's really rather good, I wrote a short comment about what I'm about to talk about, but I just can't get over this. I want to reiterate, the video is good. I don't think that this mistake should be taken as an attack on Harris or his video. But I noticed something.

At 2:54:41, he says, "but remember how he sometimes find-and-replaces words like 'gay' or 'trans' to 'queer' or 'LGBT' to hide it? He accidentally did that to the quote!"

He then shows the video of Somerton misquoting, "[These fans] insist that feminism and trans people don't exist in japan and [...]" Where Somerton changes "trans people" to "LGBTQ people." and the next: "[...] something that could often use improvement, or the inclusion of trans characters period." Where he again, changes "trans" to "LGBTQ" {Not including full quotes for ease of reading}

Harris then goes onto say about this, "This is the most amateur shit I've ever seen. This is sub high school level plagiarism hiding." Buddy. No it's not. Watching this part of the video was sickening, because I just watched a (presumably cis) bisexual man excuse BLATANT transphobia because of tunnel visioning on the idea that Somerton is just trying to get away with things, without realizing that he has a very blatant agenda. He even mentioned it earlier with misogyny, so the fact that he missed this just makes me feel strange, even though it's so small.

And I don't blame Harris for missing this, like I'm not saying he's transphobic or an asshole or honestly, even that he's sloppy for missing this- and I do choose to believe that he missed it or that he surmised that it wasn't actually specifically transphobia since obviously he probably knows more about this guy than me, instead of recognizing it and just deciding it wasn't important enough to comment on.

But it did make me feel so shitty. It made me feel so horrible, that I just saw the whole of internet culture spearheaded by this well respected video essayist on a wonderful video miss something that to me seemed so blatant. I felt so forgotten.

So I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone: please remember that you cannot always know when something is an attack on someone. You will not always catch the racist things or the homophobic things or the ableist things even if you're a part of the minorities targeted, and especially if you're not! Do not settle to blame evil on incompetence, do not settle to wash away slights under the fuzz of greater ones. Please please always make these posts. Please always say "and it's even worse if you think about x", please talk about how it's all connected.

A gay man lies to make money for himself, and builds his empire off of the hatred of woman and the exclusion of those he sees as more degenerate than himself, or even not degenerate enough. Don't ever forget that evil begets evil. Exclusion begets exclusion.

[burr-ell]

🔥🔥🔥

I am here to start a war.

1, 10, and 13 for CR and FE3H

choose violence ask game

That's a lot and I'm here 👏 for 👏 it 👏 I'm gonna split the posts for CR and FE3H so they don't get in each other's tags; this post will be for CR.

1. the character everyone gets wrong

Vex. I've talked about it elsewhere, including here on twitter for those interested, but it's really irritating to me that so many self-proclaimed fans of hers keep flattening her into a Joss Whedon woman (while simultaneously decrying those very tropes). I've seen it a lot of times among Vex/Keyleth shippers who tend to project themselves onto Keyleth and thinks Keyleth "deserves" to have the character they think is the hottest, but I've also seen it among Percy/Vex shippers who are hardcore Vex stans who also think she's being oppressed at pretty much every turn (except by Percy who worships the ground she walks on and is therefore perfect for her). It also happens among the old C1 commentariat, though they use it to bash Vex and Laura for [bleep blorp misogyny].

Vex is complicated. She's resilient, clever, resourceful, beautiful and confident about it, compassionate, pragmatic, frosty to those who haven't earned her trust, desperate for approval, and frugal to the point of obsession. She's a survivor of abuse and racism. Her most defining relationships are with three male characters. She stole a broom for no reason other than that she wanted it. She spent 15,000 gold to free two slaves. She has the most explicitly political career out of everyone in Vox Machina, including the tribal leader and the scion of a noble house. If Syldor and Syngorn hadn't been so horrible to her she'd have become a diplomat like her father, something Laura explicitly said. She and Syldor try to repair their relationship post-canon. She has no problem topping Percy. She gets flustered by Percy.

In short? She acts like a real person. If you're watering her down to "greedy bitch", "step on me queen", or "most victimized character ever", then honestly, I think your tastes are unspeakably boring.

10. worst part of fanon

There have been too many posts to count about my main frustration—that fanon is seen as sacrosanct compared to canon simply because fans came up with it, and that fans get so wrapped up in fanons and headcanons (that are, if I'm gonna get really violent, rather adolescent in scope and tone) that they're genuinely righteously outraged when canon contradicts it or other fans dislike it.

So since we're choosing violence, I'll just say glasses!Imogen. Round cute sweet little uwu baby bean glasses!Imogen. It's symptomatic of that larger problem, it largely exists purely in the context of a ship (which is symptomatic of another larger problem), and it's not an interesting enough concept to justify its existence after everyone and their mom has done it and demanded that everyone else validate it.

13. worst blorbofication

Honestly? I gotta go with Percy, and I say this as someone whose blorbo is Percy. There are two strains of this:

1. The old guard C1 fans who have spent years coming up with ways that Percy, as Vex's simp, will absolutely adore everything she says and does and do whatever she tells him to and never challenge her or consider himself in any way, and

2. The more traditional Uwu Baby Boy types who really seem to like making him as soft and romantic as possible. The character tag is uninhabitable if you don't block characterxreader blogs on sight.

Honestly though, I'll take type 2 over type 1, because I don't remember the type 2 folks throwing a hissy fit over Matt's portrayal of Percy and comparing him to Syldor. If you're genuinely trying to argue that Matt portrayed Vex's husband similarly to her abuser and that either Laura or Taliesin would be okay with that, I would cordially suggest removing your head from your colon.