#penny you are SO trans gener

[azuremist]

Oh come on now. The only way it could be MORE obvious is if she were literally dressed in trans pride colo-

[archangeldyke-all]

can you write something about amab ceo sev and her trans identity and story, i love ceo sev sm she has my whole heart

yeah lets do it!

quick disclaimer! i'm cis, so if there's any mistakes/missteps lmk and i will fix it asap!

men and minors dni

i imagine sevika as one of those people who's just always known who they are. not just in terms of queerness, but like, just opinions and taste and personality in general.

so i think when she was a kid, she likely knew she was trans, just like she knew she liked women. she might not have had the vocabulary to name it, or known that other people feel it, but she never questioned it about herself specifically.

i dont think she would've told anyone, though.

sevika's incredibly perceptive-- she would have known, even as a kid, how talking about the different feelings she was having could upset people, or get her in trouble.

she found the words for what she'd always known to be true about herself when she was an early teenager. sevika's a big reader, and she was one of those kids who wants to know how everything works: from machines to nature to politics to society-- she'd stumble across the complexities of gender identity earlier than most kids do.

but again, she didn't tell anyone. sevika's no stranger to how horrible people can be-- she didn't want to give anybody an extra reason to fuck with her. instead, she just kept to herself, finding comfort in reading as many books and articles on queerness and transness that she could get her hands on.

she understood early on what she was up against, being a trans, gay, brown/black woman in this society. but she never let it deter her.

the second she turned fifteen she got a job as a busser at a restaurant in her town. she saved every penny-- and she worked all the time. besides the occasional pack of gum and pair of socks, the only thing sevika ever bought in was a junker of a car from her neighbor-- only $500.

she repaired it on her own during her free time. (of which, there was hardly any.)

the second she turned eighteen, sevika packed up her belongings in the backseat of her car and left her hometown never to return. it was now that she could finally start living her truth.

with her saving she managed to get an apartment to lease for a few months while she scrambled for a job. for a while, she was bouncing from security job to security job, but then she managed to snag a stable position as a saleswoman.

with her new job she got benefits. a 401k and healthcare.

she started going to therapy at, like, 20. again-- sevika's incredibly self aware. she was laying in bed staring at the ceiling once night, and she just thought to herself 'huh, you know, i've kinda been through a lot. i'm kinda going through a lot. i should... probably go to therapy.' and then she just did.

it took her a few tries to find a good therapist, but then she met a four foot tall little old lady who looked like mrs. clause but cursed like a sailor. sevika fell in love the moment they met.

mrs. clause-- or dr. walsh-- was a no-nonsense, no-bullshit kind of lady. each time sevika would try to downplay her achievements or doubt herself, dr. walsh would throw a crumbled postit at her face and rant-encourage-remind sevika about her strength and bravery.

with dr. walsh's help, sevika started to see her future as something that could be... positive. she'd been so focused on escaping the past, she forgot she could look forward. but once she did-- she was exhilarated.

it was definetly an, 'oh, shit, i can do anything i fucking want' moment for her.

she knew that she had it in her to do it-- she'd proven it to herself time and time again-- now she just had to decide what she wanted to do.

it took her a while, a lot of research and soul searching, but by the time she was 22 she started to socially transition.

her hair'd always been long, but she finally treated herself to a visit to a salon-- getting it styled in the perfect slightly slanted bob she'd always wanted. she made a promise to herself in the parking lot that she'd never cut her own hair again, she was so fucking thrilled with the experience and the outcome. (her stylist was a huge gossip-- spent the entire time telling sevika about her sister's sex life. sevika had a blast)

she started treating herself to more clothes. custom tailored suits for the office-- blouses and button ups and fun silky ties for underneath.

(all the while, she was effortlessly climbing the ranks at work. despite the horrible office culture in a competitive environment like sales-- money talks. and sevika was outselling all her co-workers.)

she found the name 'sevika' one day completely randomly. she hadn't really given changing her name any thought until her eyes glanced over the name in contact screen of a stranger's phone-- but she couldn't get the sound of it out of her head.

at 25, sevika started to medically transition. with a lot of research, both on her and dr. walsh's end-- she started estrogen.

she was thrilled. she knew changes couldn't be seen on a day to day basis-- but she swore every day she woke up looking and feeling more and more like her.

always a gym rat-- sevika's muscular frame started to carry a little more curve.

she smiled for a full six hours the first time she noticed her ass jiggling in the full length mirrors at the gym as she did burpies.

sevika was no stranger to eyeliner having gone through a bit of an emo phase as a kid-- but beyond that she found the sensory feeling of makeup unbearable.

but when she found out that there was such a thing as tattoo-able makeup-- you bet your ass she made an appointment. it hurt like a bitch but it was worth it when she could have perfectly defined dark lips all throughout the day no matter how many coffee cups she sipped from or chicken burritos she sank her teeth into.

at work, sevika had worked her way up so high the ranks that nobody dared to give her shit anymore. and when they did-- she just fired them.

she spent her late 20s dating around. she had a few girlfriends and a lot of flings, but nothing ever really worked for her. it did give her a shit-ton of confidence though.

the more herself she became-- both in her body and in her job and in her bed-- the bigger and brighter her future seemed.

this isn't to say she never had shitty days. she had plenty. some she journaled about, some she cried about, some she boxed about, some she called dr. walsh about. the worst ones she drank about-- though as she was growing up the hangovers were making this one less tolerable.

people are assholes. dysphoria is a fucking asshole. sevika's boss was an asshole. but when she felt close to drowning-- when she felt the grief and sadness and the self-destructive urges creep up-- she just closed her eyes and thought of herself at fourteen-- cooking up a plan to get as far away from home as she could. she imagines herself meeting teenage-sev, telling her all the things she'd come to do, (and all the girls she'd come to do, if you know what i mean, wink wink, nudge nudge) and she imagines how fuckin' proud little emo-acne-riddled-brace-face sevika would be of her.

it works every time.

on her thirtieth birthday, she bought herself a breast augmentation. she loved her tits-- but she just wanted a little more. she wanted to have to wear a bra under her silky button ups, instead of it being optional. but once she got them done she was so fucking thrilled she didn't want to wear a bra under her button ups. (she did, of course, because wasn't trying to cause an hr nightmare at work.)

when dr. walsh died-- sevika was devastated. there were a few months there where she was in complete depression. she made no attempt to find a new therapist-- she took as much paid time off from work as she could, just to sit around her house alone.

but then one night-- sevika swears on her life-- dr. walsh visited her in a dream with a message

'you better get your shit together girl! don't let all my hard work go to waste!'

sevika woke up the next morning laughing and crying, and she was back at work the next day.

she found a new therapist, and she forced herself to make new friends, suddenly aware that the only person in the world who knew her had died.

she started hanging out with some of her more tolerable co-workers, and she was shocked to realize that most of them were... actually pretty cool.

she started taking herself out to dinner-- just her and a book-- just so she could spend more time with herself.

she made it a point to take a vacation once every six months.

and when the ceo of her company stepped down, she was riding on a high. she was feeling good about life, so she decided: fuck it.

and she applied for the open position.

and then she got the job.

and at thirty five, sevika finally felt like she was in her bright future-- not just working towards it.

the night before her first night on the job-- sevika's mind was racing.

there were so many changes she needed to make, so many ideas she had to implement in the company. not to mention the fact that she had to buy furniture for her new office, and find an assistant-- and a good assistant is really fucking hard to come by-- and was she sure she could really do this job in the first place? what if she made a mistake accepting it-- what if she can't handle it--

sevika cut her racing thoughts off, scrubbing her face. she took a second to breathe, then she conjured up little-sev in her mind to give her an update and get a pep talk.

who the fuck are you? little teenage sevika asked, huffing as she had to shove her headphones off her ears.

'i'm you, jackass.'

...woah. we look... hot...

'duh.'

how did that happen?

'moved away, worked hard, got lucky, got rich.' sevika says, watching her younger self's eyebrows rise.

shit... look at our tits!

'i know-- they're great, right?'

fuck yeah. well... whaddya want?

'wanted to tell you we just got promoted to ceo.'

...really?

'yeah. we start tomorrow.'

...us?

'yeah. we're like... kind of a big deal now.'

...woah.

'yeah woah.'

then, just as she's about to drift off to sleep, sevika's mind speaks again.

...soooo... have we met our wife yet?

taglist!

@fyeahnix @sapphicsgirl @half-of-a-gay @ellabslut @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner @shimtarofstupidity @love-sugarr @chuucanchuucan @222danielaa @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther @gr0ssz0mbi3 @ellsss @sevikaspillowprincess @leomatsuzaki @emiliabby

[valtsv]

lmao people in your inbox acting like all Britain is a homogenous place where all white people are rich and happy is so weird. this is a pretty fucked up country where xenophobia is rampant and classism is so deeply ingrained in the political structure that even the labour party is fiscally conservative. like they hate Britain but also think it’s a really good place to be somehow. ffs it’s one of the last european monarchy it’s Not a good place to live without generational wealth.

it’s so much more complex than white people vs everyone else when britain is notorioue for colonizing other whites they deem inferior like uhhh the rest of the UK. like @anon I assure you the crown and the politicians coming from outrageous generation wealth don’t give a fuck about the poor people living in uninsulated government housing near charcoal burning plants. you’re delusional if you genuinely believe such a system doesn’t replicate extreme inequalities at home too. the working class never saw a penny for the colonization of other countries. yeah the country as a whole now benefits from ex-colonies being poorer and less stable cause capitalism, but let’s not pretend every white in britain actually benefits from capitalism.

white brits can be aware of the privilege of being white in a western country and also know that the system doesn’t give a fuck about them. white immigrants in britain know they’re white and also that tories would rather they be locked in company towns while the posh billionaires reap the benefits.

it’s not about defending white people it’s about how useless and counterproductive it is to target the people who are in no way responsible for your oppression when the real culprits are right there. jokes about tasteless pub food doesn’t do shit for the rich sons of white women dressed in blood diamonds. they also think it’s funny to degrade working class food.

yep! and those jokes affect EVERYONE who they apply to regardless of whether they're white or nonwhite, cisgender or trans, born in the country or an immigrant, etc. so it's completely pointless trying to justify your mockery by saying you're "only" targeting the "bad people" because that's just not how it works. it's so exhausting trying to explain that and being told you're just "making excuses for white/ablebodied/cis/etc. people".

[samwisethewitch]

I know this isn't the theme of my blog but as 1.) a genderqueer person, who 2.) has a media studies degree, I want to talk real quick about JK Rowling, the idea of separating art from the artist, and why you literally cannot consume media created by JKR without contributing to real harm against real people.

First let's talk about Death of the Author, because I see a lot of people misusing it online. Death of the Author is a theory from postmodern literary criticism that basically says that an author's intentions and personal beliefs shouldn't impact how readers interpret their work. Basically, this means that the author's own interpretation of the work is just as valid as any reader's interpretation, and vice versa.

Critics who subscribe to Death of the Author believe a work should only be judged by what actually appears in the text, not by what the author later claims it "really meant." So if, for example, an author becomes radicalized after publishing her books and later claims that her racist, pseudo-fascist villains were secretly a metaphor for trans people, Death of the Author would tell you that interpretation is utter bullshit and doesn't magically become canon just because the author said it.

I see a lot of people online equate Death of the Author with the concept of "separating art from the artist," but these are separate concepts. Death of the Author just means that the author's own interpretation of their work isn't any more valid than the audience's. Separating art from artist means we as an audience can appreciate a person's artistic achievements without condoning all of their actions and beliefs. So, for example, I can appreciate that HP Lovecraft revolutionized horror fiction while also acknowledging that he was horrifically racist -- and me condemning his racism doesn't change how influential his work was.

Setting aside that there's a huge debate over whether it's even possible to separate art from artist, the main difference between HP Lovecraft and JKR is that Lovecraft is dead and has in fact been dead for so long that his work is in the public domain. That means no matter how many times I read his work, watch films based on his stories, or talk about his role in the history of modern horror fiction, he doesn't make a penny. Whether I engage with his work or not does not change the fact that Lovecraft is dead and is not getting any money from me.

JKR very much is making money off people engaging with her work, and she's openly using that money to hurt people. (See here, here, here) As long as she's raking in Harry Potter dollars, she is going to keep turning around and funneling them into hate.

I don't want this post to get too long, so here's a quick rundown of some of the defenses I've seen and why they don't work:

"I only watch the movies on streaming services! I've already paid for the subscription, so it doesn't matter what I watch with it." That's not how streaming services work. Streaming services track views to determine what content is worth throwing more money at. This is why "hate watching" makes no sense. Streaming services don't care if you like what you watch. They only care about how many viewers it brings in, and if something gets a lot of watchers, they're going to renew contracts, greenlight sequels and spinoffs, and give more royalties to the creator.

"I only watch the movies when they run on cable." Again, not how this works. Like streaming services, cable networks track views to determine what programs are bringing in the most viewers. The reason these networks run the HP movies so often is because they know people will tune in to watch, which makes them more money. They're going to keep paying for rights to run these movies until they stop bringing in viewers.

"I checked out the books from my library! I thought we were supposed to support our local libraries!" In general, yes, libraries are great, but they also operate on supply and demand. That means if books are consistently checked out and have a long wait list, the library is much more likely to order new copies to meet the demand.

"I grew up on Harry Potter."/"It's my favorite book series."/Other appeals to nostalgia. Thankfully, the HP books genuinely don't actually do anything that hadn't already been done well, if not better, by other authors. If you're craving fictional wizard schools, allow me to recommend Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett and A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Last but not least, I want to remind everyone that JKR also publishes adult fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. Don't buy, rent, or borrow Galbraith books either.

[cookinguptales]

Finally putting down some political thoughts, and put under a cut because I am not going viral for a political post, not again.

I suppose something that I've been grappling with is... how do you deal with reactionary politics?

I do not believe, for the record, that there is something innate in men that makes them more dangerous or self-centered. But there is very much a problem with men right now. We are seeing misogyny of a virulence and magnitude that I have never seen in my life. Like... "your body, my choice?" That sounds like something an editor would have axed for being too on-the-nose twenty years ago.

And I understand that many of us have been socialized to take responsibility onto ourselves. Some of this is the way that women are generally expected to do heavy emotional labor for those around them, and some of this is... well, I'm going to be kind and say it's control issues. (That I see in myself, as well.)

If we made this happen, if it was our actions that made men hate us so much that they've done all this, then we can also fix it... right? We're supposed to be loving, nurturing, understanding, and patient, so if all of this was a failure of those "intrinsic" traits, then... we can fix it by being those things, right? We can love them into not hating us anymore, right?

I think what's more likely is that what we're seeing is a radical pendulum swing. It's happened so, so many times through history. There's a period of intense social change, often with a greater sense of freedom for marginalized groups, and then there is a severe backlash to that. This doesn't just apply to women; it's happened to people of color, queer people, ethnic/religious minorities, etc.

Hell, I'm even seeing people getting angry at disabled people (like me) for being too "rude" and "demanding" and "entitled" when asking for our legally mandated accommodations.

It's scary because... okay, so this is a backlash to us getting rights. It's a backlash to the ADA. To Obergefell. To trans rights. To Obama. To #MeToo. It's a backlash to women getting bank accounts and no-fault divorce and Roe and workplace protections -- to women not needing men in order to have a financially secure life anymore.

It's a backlash that's been building for decades now, but which really seemed to hit a fever pitch during the Obama administration. Not only did we have a non-white president, but that president enacted a lot of protections for marginalized people.

It's a backlash born of people who had lots of power now worrying that they will have less. It's men worried that they can no longer control women. It's white people worried that POC and/or immigrants will "supplant" them. It's straight people worried about some kind of widespread queer conversion. It's people who are financially unstable blaming these problems on social change. It's people who are billionaires worrying that they might have a single penny less.

It's a backlash that's happened more times than I'd care to count; you just have to watch pre-code movies to realize that progress is not always linear, and that we have had short-lived periods of freedom in the past.

It's a backlash. Okay. But so what? What do we fucking do about that?

I understand that every time one group gets more rights, the groups that previously had a monopoly on those rights are going to fucking lose their minds about it. But how do we assuage that? We can't just stop trying to progress. We can't just stop fighting for our rights. Even knowing that they're going to come down on us even harder in the future, we can't just give up and let them destroy us.

Like... when there is no pleasing a group except by surrendering all power to them, there is no compromise, not really. But then how do we prevent these backlashes? These periods of horrifying, cruel conservatism that are a direct response to periods of progressive liberalism?

Obviously strength of numbers in the voting booth didn't work. Nor did protests. Threats didn't work -- nor did kindness, for that matter. Fight, flight, fawn. None of them worked.

It's something that I keep coming back to. Like... you simply cannot depend on appealing to the humanity of oppressors. It does not work. Yes, of course I believe they have humanity. But so many people leave that behind the second they feel threatened.

The best I can think of, maybe, is coalition-building. Not with the people trying to kill us. I'm sorry, tumblr, but that's fucking stupid. But... god, I've noticed a shift in the past decade. There's been a lot of very purposeful division sown between the groups that will suffer most under the rule of Republicans. Women and POC and queer people and disabled people and immigrants and the impoverished... They've been training us to turn on each other, and then they've reaped the rewards.

It's one of the reasons why I finally deleted Twitter this week. I just could no longer take the amount of finger-pointing and in-fighting amongst the downtrodden while Republicans trotted around like fucking show ponies. Oh, this is the Latinos' fault. This is the white women's fault. This is the black men's fault. This is those damn self-hating women and queers. Boomer-ass cripples, etc.

This is your fault. No, this is your fault.

This is my fault, this is my fault, this is my fault.

Like damn, at a certain point they won't even have to destroy us if we do it for them.

But at the same time, I'm not going to feed you some Pollyanna shit about how we all just need to join hands and work together. There are internal prejudices and power structures that are impeding us here, and I don't think it's right to pretend those don't exist so we have the outward appearance of solidarity. To some degree, that's probably part of what got us into this mess.

If we can't at least unite against such a horrifying threat to our very existence, though... like... we will be destroyed.

After the debacle that was COVID... I don't know. It is harder to believe that people will work together to protect the most vulnerable of us, or even their own interests. But I also just do not see any other way forward. We're not going to just convince them to give us our rights back. These shitty alt-right fuckheads see kindness as subservience, not as bridge-building. That's why they take all of our concessions, absorb them, become more powerful, and then give us absolutely nothing in return.

Things are about to get a lot worse before they get better. And the only thing that might save us is numbers and solidarity, even when we have problems between us.

I feel pretty despondent about the odds of all that right now, though, so like... I don't really know what to do. :(

At the very fucking least, though, stop making posts about how their abhorrent actions are our fault for being angry and afraid. I've seen it on tumblr, I've seen it on twitter, I've seen it on reddit... The past few days I've seen more thinkpieces about how women made men this way than I can count, and it's unbelievably frustrating. Like... when women felt threatened by men, they didn't enact sweeping reforms taking away their bodily autonomy. They just wanted to be left alone. These two reactions are not the fucking same.

Sorry that you ran into some traumatized women who didn't want to keep trying their odds! Weird that you decided to become a Nazi about it! Seems like maybe this is less about a woman who's been repeatedly sexually assaulted posting "I hate men" on twitter and more about systemic social messaging that you are being deprived of your ~god-given power~ by those who should be beneath you, like women, immigrants, POC, disabled people, queer people, etc.!

I swear to god, this is just the same "oh but the shooter was bullied at school and ignored by girls" rhetoric in a new coat of paint. Maybe if you really want to talk about how men aren't intrinsically bad, you should stop assuming that they have no choice but to become comically evil at the slightest provocation.

"Your body, my choice." Come the fuck on.

[yamchaisawesome]

PENNY IS TRANS AS FUCK: An Essay.

WARNING, SPOILERS FOR POKÉMON SCARLET ABD VIOLET

So I saw some TERFs getting mad at someone headcanoning Penny from the new Pokémon games as trans saying they’re intolerant because they, and I paraphrase “headcanon every vaguely gnc person as trans.”

Anyway I, a cis man, am out here like: Did we play the same fucking game? So I’m going to compile every bit of evidence that I can find in support of this gal being trans.

Let’s start with what I like to call Trans Evidence Lightning Round. These are things I can’t write ridiculous amounts about but still feel important to include. These include but are not limited to: 1.Her wearing a large hoodie (possibly a dysphoria hoodie)

2. Her terrifying proficiency with coding and hacking. (Note, this is in no way dismissing cis women in coding or stem as a whole. The trans girl coder stereotype is just really common and Pokémon loves its shorthand)

3. She has a FUCKING SYLVEON (literally has the trans flag colours as the colour scheme) as her ace when you battle her.

4. She says “Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!” When terrastalising said Sylveon, which can be taken in a number of ways.

5. The fact that none of the team star bosses knew her name before she left, only referring to her as “The Big Boss”

I’ll probably add more later. Now, onto the juicy stuff. Some of this doesn’t fit together but they all seem to imply the same thing and they’re all there.

It is revealed later on that, like the rest of the team star members, Penny was bullied relentlessly. It got so bad that she eventually just shut herself inside and never left the house. This isolation was so intense that up until the end of the Starfall Street story, none of her closest friends (the team star bosses) ever saw her real face. This isn’t the strongest bit of evidence but we’re never given a particular reason like we did with Eri or Atticus, so it’s in no way out of the question that the bullying could’ve been transphobic in nature.

Ortega’s Tutor (the director of the academy before Clavell took over) refers to the “Big Boss” (AKA Penny) as a he before sending her back to Galar as “punishment” for 1.5 years. Now this could just be a mistake on the devs’ part, but that seems like it gives us a rough timeline of eggcrackery, intentional misgendering (which seems out of character for the guy), or it could simply be that he had never met Penny due to the aforementioned social isolation and based it off of the student database which in my experience rarely updates this kind of stuff.

Nemona doesn’t recognise her. I repeat, NEMONA doesn’t recognise her. The most extroverted of extroverts, the super popular girl who’s on the student council and could probably look at the student database if she wanted to, the girl who has been at the school for AT LEAST two years for the simple reason that the events of the main story is not her first treasure hunt does not know this girl despite her being there before. There are many ways someone could write this off, including the aforementioned social isolation and her not knowing too much about team star in general but that is still really weird considering that this is NEMONA that we’re talking about. This could easily be supporting evidence for her transition over the 1.5 years in Galar.

And let’s say you’re still not convinced and you think she’s cis. That’s fucking fine. Nobody is going to judge you for that. But don’t be a piece of garbage and get mad at someone for headcanoning her as trans. To me and many others, she’s a genuinely cool trans character that doesn’t shove that fact in your face. Seriously, anyone who does this (btw if any of you TERFs stayed up to here, thank you but why?). Y’all get mad that “The media shoves trans shit in my face” then when there’s a character who either isn’t trans but resonates with trans audiences or is more subtle about their identity you get angry when anyone calls them trans. It’s very contradictory and I dare say hypocritical.

[a-tale-of-legends]

who are your favorite from scarlet & violet and what are your personal head cannons about them by the way?? thanks for listening to my thoughts

Hmmmm. My favorite characters? Hard to say bc I like a lot of em! But I have to say it's the kiddos ( Paldea gang + kitakami siblings). Despite it being....almost a year? I think???? Probably more??? God I can't keep track of time for shit- it's been a while since SV came out is what I'm saying. And despite that hcs still....flimsy for me right now. Though this is a thing in general I am very indecisive with how I want to characterize a character lol. But I think I have a few solid ones!

Arven - Decent to high spice tolerance! Adding with the knowledge that the guy just loves outdoors and camping, I think he started eating tamato berries as a means to keep his body warm, which developed into a decent spider tolerance. No where as extreme as Crispin I think.

Nemona - This is somewhat canon, but I think she's just really good with kids lol. She's super encouraging and despite her Nemona-isms, she's actually a pretty good listener! Though her optimism and her general hard time reading the room can often make it difficult with people around her age, but with younger kids, sometimes it's exactly what they need to pick themselves up again! If I didn't already think of Nemona as the next top champion, I think she would actually be a really good teacher.

Penny- Honestly making a hc for Penny now is a bit harder, bc most of the stuff that was hc'd are kinda canon now lmao. Peony's kid? Canon. Sweet tooth? Canon. Girl liker? Pretty much canon yeah. Like this girl has it all. I guess the only thing that hasn't been explicitly said was that she's trans? So. Yeah there's that. Outside of that I think she's actually really into magical girl anime. Really liked madoka magika. Yes I am saying this bc my sibling is a big fan and reminds me of Penny sometimes so. Yeah 👍

Kieran- Goth Kieran Goth Kieran Goth Kieran, do you Understand. Do you see my Vision. Despite chilling out by the end of indigo disk, I think he still has a slight competitive streak. He isn't a pushover anymore, and he still likes to, you know. Win. So. He had Competitive for his ability lol. Also I think he takes up mask crafting :)

Carmine- Listen to me. Scientist Carmine. Battle Scientist Carmine. Do you understand. She literally studied under Briar about the terrastilazation phenomenon, and has gone to a bunch of places as is. What's stopping her from researching mega evolution? Z-moves? Other battle stuff? I am a firm believer that Carmine is a fucking NERD, and she WILL study battle science,I swear it to you. Ahem. Yeah, I think she'll like studying it lol.

And that's all I have for now! Thanks for the ask anon and thank YOU for sharing your thoughts ! They were very cool to see :D

[aro-aizawa]

stardew valley mods i'd make if my brain didn't melt when i try to understand basic game modding:

krobus dialog overhaul - mostly just his roommate dialog, smth abt it gives me the ick. vaguely feeling aphobic, but likely unintenional.

villager interactions - a lot of the villagers have routines/interactions with other villagers like the sebastian, sam and abigail friend group or penny and maru's bookclub. but we don't really get to see them interact outside of player focused cutscenes, or just vibing together. like if the player gets 4 hearts w penny and maru, they join their bookclub. or a group cutscene on the tuesday yoga classes. also a great opportunity to do smth w the wizard/caroline/abigail thing. abigail being taught magic would be cool as fuck but also make her the most interesting marriage candidate tbh.

related to the top two options: the ability to integrate krobus and the dwarf to the rest of pelican town - the fact that though krobus and the dwarf appear in the relationships tab, they're so static, literally staying in the exact same place unless invited to a movie or become a roommate. fleshing them both out as villagers would be nice, even if its just on the small scale. i feel like abigail would be great friends w krobus or the dwarf.

plausible housing for the unnamed npcs that are employed by joja/movie theatre. what, they just.... live in the building? not even an unenterable house near where the bookseller is stationed? i feel like there should be more npcs that need housing but idk

linus moving his tent regularly - this is just,,,, a minor thing that bugs me but i always make linus my bff in every run, but since he's so attuned to nature i always like the idea of linus moving his tent occasionally to a new area. around the woods in places, near the tide pools, if the player has opened up the secret woods, then in there too, tucked away from slimes.

more sandy content!!!!!! - where does my girl sleep? right behind her counter??? because i see absolutely no door leading to a bedroom. also friendship cutscenes would be cute as fuck, or emily visiting the desert more often than just on her birthday. also trans sandy i will die on this hill.

the ability to order things from robin when she's not at her counter - like if she's off on her tuesday gym get together or w/e you could leave a note at her place w the materials. maybe it might take an extra day or two but i am so tired of remembering on mondays or tuesdays i need to order a building, then having to spend ten minutes in the house waiting for the exact moment she passes her counter. rip.

more remixed community bundles - like the generic mod config menu has been doing amazing work, the ability to use that to set up a custom configuration of bundles would be great. or even an option to have only the remixed bundles, like the seasonal foraging ones are boring, give me more like the medicinal bundle or the sticky bundle. make me have more variety in how i set up my farm and what crops i grow.

more platonic cutscenes!!!! - i wanna be like unofficially adopted by evelyn and george as their grandkid, them tell the player things about their grandpa, and alex is just like :/ guess my grandparents have another grandkid. helping out w gus or smth and together him and the player make a new recipe, fishing w willy and one of you reels in a massive fish. getting lewis to stop needlessly hiding his relationship w marnie bc literally no one would care if they were dating why is this scandalous, you're both unmarried and its not like he exempts her from business tax.

[vincent-marie]

Hot Take: "Equal Fights" Predicted Online Faketivism

In some ways "Equal Fights" hasn't aged well in its effort to teach about feminism, that the execution wasn't handled as well as it could have been & that it wound up painting the feminists as straw men stereotypes. Rumor has it that even Lauren Faust, who did storyboards on the episode, isn't a fan of it in hindsight.

However this episode feels a lot more relevant to me now in our current age of online purity culture.

We live in an age of social media where young people, who had little to no power before, now have a tool at their fingertips to signal boost for those who need help the most. Teenagers can be everyday heroes in their own right. Frankly I respect you kids for being motivated in your sense of kindness & nobility.

However the problem is that unfortunately what good that can actually be done gets drowned out by a lot of harassment & bullying in the name of social justice. Especially if these young people's sources are very dubious & self-serving.

That's basically what Femme Fatale is as a character. She's a grifter who uses a progressive movement, feminism in this case, as her means for her own gain. Namely, robbing banks.

It's understandable that every super villain has a gimmick. Two-Face has the Number 2 & duality, FF could've just been a devious collector of currency with women imprinted on them. (I myself wish they would discontinue the bulky, useless penny & bring back the Sacagawea dollar.) But beyond that, she uses it as an excuse to get out of getting arrested, to claim that what she's doing is good for society at large, & above all to manipulate & influence the young & impressionable Powerpuff Girls.

The girls, being literal children, take her words to heart & implement them in ways that do more harm than good. From bullying boys in the schoolyard to letting Femme Fatale get away with her crimes.

Reminds me an awful lot of kids & young people on Tumblr & Twitter who get riled up by the words of self-proclaimed progressives who turn out to be TERFs, grifters, or members of the Leopards Eating My Face Party. Namely, the people who use progressivism & online activism to their own end.

And it's not just the Youtubers with the large subscriber base. It's also the individuals who reblog, retweet & bully even on a small scale to make themselves look good or feel like they're making a difference. Not to mention the burner & bot accounts being used to fan the flames of discord within progressive circles.

But what I find the most telling is that FF claims to be a feminist, she collects Susan B. Anthony coins, but she doesn't even know who Susan B. even was & why she was so important to American history.

Reminds me an awful lot of certain gay or trans Youtubers who would try to have you believe that "queer" is a slur, when in reality we not only reclaimed it as an umbrella term to include bisexual, trans, intersex, asexual, etc. people, but is an important part of our very history.

The slogan chanted demanding our basic human rights:

"We're here, we're queer

Get used to it."

It makes me sick that there are multiple generations of people who don't understand our own history. That there are people within our community who would promote & capitalize on that ignorance.

That's who Femme Fatale is. Willingly ignorant herself, selfish, manipulative, & would promote such lack of values to the next generation for her own gain.

And that's why she deserves to serve time in prison, while online faketivist grifters deserve to lose followers, go broke, & disappear into obscurity so they can't do any more damage.

[nyaagolor]

Pride Month Headcanons

It's about time I organized these. Under the readmore bc I have a lot to say

- Salvatore and his wife are bi4bi. More accurately, his wife is bi and Salvatore isn’t putting a label on it because while he thinks he’s bisexual his only real world experiences with men are a single makeout session in a Lumiose club during a language immersion trip and lingering too long on some Instagram models’ posts about their abs. If you ask him about it he will not say he’s bisexual bc doesn't need anyone other than his wife, but he’s pretty sure he’s bi in his heart

- Hassel and Brassius have been together for almost 30 years but aren’t officially married. For a variety of reasons, mostly centering around Hassel’s family being a possible threat to Brassius’ safety, they decided to just keep it on the DL. They live together and are for all intents and purposes married, but never actually signed the paperwork. When people ask, especially strangers, they refer to each other as artistic partners or close friends, but anyone who knows them well is well aware they’re husbands. Most people assume they got officially married, and when the school finds out they beg the two to have a ceremony, even if they don’t sign the paperwork. Tbh I could prolly make a whole post on just them (and prolly will)

- Dendra is a lesbian, she‘s had a crush on Tulip for YEARS. Despite her usual extroverted and confident attitude she never confessed and has no idea if Tulip likes women, nevermind if she reciprocates Dendra's feelings. Tulip figured out Dendra is a lesbian but never realized her crush. Somehow.

- Eri and Carmen are girlfriends. The rest of Team Star admins took a LONG time to come around to this, since they think Eri forgave Carmen too fast and were worried Carmen was trying to take advantage of Eri again. They got over it though, and she’s been invited to their hangouts ever since

- Penny is trans I’ve talked about this like 26 times and have zero intention of stopping. She transitioned a lot over her suspension in Galar and has the most supportive family and friend group imaginable. Her body image is extremely fragile but that’s honestly just anxiety from general past bullying, and her new friends have helped immensely in that regard

- Sada and Turo are bi4bi this is a hill I will die on

- Iono is super tight lipped about her sexuality because of idol streaming stuff. Unlike most, she actually likes to keep people guessing, it’s like a game to her

- Every pride, Larry wears a rainbow tie. No one has ever been able to figure out if he’s LGBT or an ally or what. Rika’s running theory is that his Staraptor is gay and he’s trying to be supportive

- Geeta is a career focused person and never took the time to think about her sexuality. If you ask her about it, she won’t have a good answer and you might just make her short-circuit. I think kissing her would make her explode

- Ryme is aroace. I have nothing to say abt that specifically other than aroace people are the coolest and so is she

- Rika is Butch. She got top surgery and everyone is gay for her, myself included. However she has negative game. Pickup game pathetic. Cringefail, even

- Raifort is a lesbian but is only into really toxic women specifically. Genuinely just the worst taste imaginable. She is always complaining about how much she dislikes men as romantic partners and then is actively running towards red flags like she’s playing flag football

- Jacq is non-binary but is a little worried to ask if he can get his pronouns updated on the academy registrar. He’s sure it’ll be fine, but he’s perpetually stressed out and a liiiiil scared of Clavell. He/they enby king with enough anxiety to put anyone else in the hospital

- The academy is the most accepting place in the world. The GSA (which Hassel runs) is one of the most popular clubs, and cishet students and teachers will often sit in just to learn or support their peers. They go HARD in June, and are the official runners of the Mezagoza Pride Parade ever year

- A big part of the reason people feel so safe in the academy is bc there’s a ton of GNC people, both LGBT and not. Saguaro comes to mind, and is someone that a ton of students look up to. He’s cishet but could prolly crumble the gender binary in one hand. He would too

- [gestures vaguely at Clavell] he got smth going on. Idk what I haven’t thought abt it but something

[vaspider]

Hi there! I hope you're doing alright.

A few days ago I was doing some Poking About on the internet and I stumbled upon a blog post titled "I Hate 'A is not for Ally'". It was written by a fellow asexual person, so intrigued, I went to read it. Reading that post lead to reading a few other posts, all about the history of the A in the LGBTQIA acronym. These posts were made by queer people who were born sometime between the 80's and 90's; they said that back before the internet helped a-spec activists fight for aroace/agender visibility, most people understood the A to stand for Ally, as a way for closeted people to have plausible deniability when they attended queer events without having to announce to everyone that they were "queer" or "questioning".

I couldn't find a lot of information about this online so I made a poll hoping to see if any of the Tumblr ""Olds"" TM (aka: queer people over the age of 25-30) on here would be willing to volunteer their input. Would it be alright if I asked you to boost the poll? (it's the pinned post on my page).

If you'd rather stick to answering with your own experience or tossing my question to your followers, that's all good too.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

I've written a fair bit about this - it was Ally then for the reasons that you state.

I've seen a lot of people say "well, that's what it meant then but whatever it has to change." And I wonder how fucking heartless they have to be to insist that it's more important to pull the fig leaf that people still use to protect themselves away from them than it is to just hush and leave that there for those that need it. It doesn't hurt you to continue to include others the way you fought to be included.

Usually, I'm a lot more relaxed about that kind of thing and say things more patiently and gently, but I've rather run out of patience for a lot of this penny-ante intracommunity shit. We are at the Hirschfeld book-burning stage of trans genocide ramping up. Oklahoma just passed a bill through its House of Representatives that would make HRT, GCS and all other gender affirming care illegal for adults and impossible to cover via any OK health insurance, regardless of where performed. Montana just passed a bill out of committee that would make it impossible to change the sex marker on your driver's license or birth certificate, ever. Iowa Republicans want to add a trigger clause to the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage, because they are coming for Obergefell. I'm pretty sure I can never move home, because I can't count on PA being safe for my family.

I don't actually fucking care anymore what random people on the internet think "A" stands for in the acronym. "What the acronym is" is a problem from 2015, not now. If generic-you think it can never stand for Ally and must only ever stand for Ace/Aro/Agender, and fuck those people who are still in the closet, fine.

You're an asshole, but I'm not arguing with you anymore. I've got real fucking problems to worry about, and so do you. Next question.

[hostilemuppet]

Maybe I didn't really get it but you said that trolls gender or sex depends on their genitalia but what about they/them trolls? Are they intersex? What the fuck is Penny? Or are they just decided to use they/them pronouns? Because that's what Val did

you misunderstand me. i didnt say troll gender depended on genitals, just that trolls are assigned their gender when theyre hatched based on genitals. the same way it works irl, where a doctor generally assigns you amab or afab. there are trans trolls, who decided "fuck that" and became what they wanted, just like in real life. in the context of the tdau, bruce and guy are trans men, i really want delta to be a trans woman, and who could possibly forget creeks theyfab exes. i havent thought about how intersex trolls would be handled but i imagine again the same in real life, which is fucked up, so we will not linger on it

for penny i just thought them immediately "telling" (they still dont talk. maybe they wrote it down) their "parents" that they are not [REDACTED] they are a they/them was funny. but that would probably be very rare for a troll to know that early on in life

[lorekeeper-backset]

I do love a lot of the "coding" headcanons but I also think people overestimate the writers behind Pokemon when they say things like "there's no way this wasn't intentional." Like, I headcanon Nemona as Autistic too but I don't think that was intentional coding I think they just wanted to give her quirky traits so she could be a memorable character.

This is especially true with gym leaders. They don't get much screentime so in order to make sure they're memorable the writers' give them exaggerated character traits. Pokemon is an exaggerated world with exaggerated characters. This generally makes them come off as neurodivergent but its more of a symptom than an intentional decision.

I will give you Penny being trans coded, though, the programmer socks and dysphoria hoodie can't be a coincidence.

[aceoflilies]

do you have any interesting pokemon hcs or theories? love your writing btw :]

Hi????? Oh my god, I had to stop and check that this wasn't one of my other blogs getting this ask. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the compliment!!

As for my headcanons/theories... most of them are generally character-based, but i have a few I'd be happy to share! (readmore because this gets long ^^")

General headcanons:

All of the Pokémon Leagues in the world vary on strength and community investment. Near the bottom are leagues like Alola's (brand new, little support), Paldea's (made for multiple Champions, one of their leaders double-dips as Elite 4), Kanto's (prolonged, unresolved absence of one Gym Leader, lack of a Champion until your rival), and Unova's (consistent turnover in leaders, champions, and gym locations; only league to canonically be defeated by a Team). From there, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos are all relatively similar in "solid league" territory, with Galar's being the most heavily invested-in and supported league in the series.

Humans with psychic powers, medium abilities, special type affinities (think Iris's "understanding the hearts of Dragons", rather than typical gym leaders), or otherwise inexplicable abilities (whatever the Shadow Triad is doing?) tend to have slightly Pokémon-influenced genetics, as ties back to the infamous Japanese Canalave City library entry. This tends to go many generations back, rather than direct. (No, N is not a Zoroark. Could he be distantly related to one? Maybe.)

The average age for gym challenges varies by region. (Our protags do not necessarily hit that average.) Kanto through Sinnoh skew younger, from 10-12 (since they're all geographically in similar areas). Alola is solidly at 11. Unova and Kalos tend to be somewhere from 13-15. Paldea is literally any age, hence the adults in uniforms. Galar trends older, more towards an average of 16. Yes, this makes Leon's refusal to involve you in any situation ever look sillier. (Leon is considered exceptionally young for the challenge at 10, and all of your potential challengers in the Champion Cup look generally in their older teens. Also, I refuse to believe Marnie's wearing a crop top for her League uniform before she's 16.)

"Official" starter Pokémon are endangered species. Professors generally hope that by giving them to young trainers, they'll encourage species awareness and growth.

Battles follow anime rules more than game rules. Terrain advantages, move combinations to create effects, etc. are all a part of battles. The only exception, for the sake of my sanity when creating content, is that fish Pokémon float. And even I'm aware that's not realistic, even if it's funny.

Character headcanons:

The "main" protags in my mind are Red, Ethan, May, Lucas, Hilda, Rosa, Calem, Selene, Gloria, "Akari", and Florian.

In order of public perception from "weird kid" to "popular kid" for protags: Red, Gloria, Lucas, Selene, May, Hilda, Ethan, "Akari", Calem, Rosa, Florian.

None of the members of either the Galar Gang or the Paldea Gang are normal.

Hop is trans. While his being trans is in no way related to Leon, his attempts at proving himself and trying to live up to his brother's example of masculinity are at least a little related.

Bede's time in the orphanage is a result of parental neglect rather than money or being orphaned by definition.

Nemona is not a stalker, JFC. She's just excited to have a friend equally interested in battling as her for once in her goddamn life. She is very touchy, huggy, clingy without realizing it, though.

Penny is very heavily involved in whatever the Pokémon equivalent of Tumblr and AO3 are. She convinces Arven, Nemona, and Florian to watch anime with her on the regular.

[bridgyrose]

Wasn't expecting you to make Nickle a trans Penny, but that works. But what about the gang meeting him?

(Sure, lets have him meet the gang.)

Nickel flew through the air above Mantle, looking for grimm that managed to make their way through the streets while the walls surrounding the city were being repaired. His eyes scanned the city, nearly pausing as he detected several grimm sirens going off in different sectors of the city. For a moment, he closed his eyes to start to plot a course on the best way to make it to each grimm attack. Once that course was found, he rushed forward, taking care of each grimm in his path. 

Green lasers shot from his swords as he flew above each grimm pack in the streets. Though, the longer he took care of them, the more annoyed he became that the grimm almost seemed endless. Sure, it was usually only a pack of ten or so in each section of the city, but after months of protecting the city, it almost seemed like the walls were never getting repaired. Stuck in the role of tired hero. 

Nickel stopped as he finished defeating the last pack of sabyrs, catching a few familiar faces down on the street below him. Every instinct told him that he needed to go, to leave before any of them saw him, though, as he saw Ruby down below him, he couldnt help but make his way down to see why Penny held these memories so dear. Memories of team RWBY that never seemed to go away, a haunting memory of his past life. Though, he put his swords away as he landed, looking over his old friends. 

“Penny? Is… is that you?” Ruby asked as she slowly stepped forward. 

“It is Nickel now.” Nickel took a few steps forward to meet Ruby, scanning her to find out just how much he actually remembered. Memories flooded through his mind in the blink of an eye, watching the girl that had become his past life’s first and only friend for the first few weeks Penny was in Vale. His voice nearly broke as he spoke again, sadness running through him as he spoke again, saying the one sentence he had practiced over and over in case he ever ran into these old friends. “Penny was… unrecoverable.” 

Ruby nodded and looked away, holding her arm to her chest. “O-oh.” 

Nickel paused as he heard how heartbroken Ruby sounded, confused about why he cared so much about what she thought. Penny had cared deeply for Ruby, and those same feelings had stayed with him. A small sigh left his lips as he took Ruby’s hand, giving a small smile to her. “She would be glad that you are okay.” 

Ruby nodded and wiped a few tears away from her eyes. “You look just like her.” 

“I… I guess I am her, just a boy now.” No, that wasnt right, he was supposed to be different from her, a brother, right? He wasnt supposed to be her, but… the more he thought about it, the more he found himself being unable to deny it. “What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in Vale.” 

“We need to speak to General Ironwood,” Weiss answered in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“What for?” Nickel asked. 

“Its… complicated.” Ruby moved the lamp on her hip behind her cloak. “Though, we’re not entirely sure how far we can trust him.” 

Nickel nodded and looked around at his old friends, seeing there was something they were all hiding. “I think I can get you to him.” 

Ruby smiled a bit. “Thank you.” 

“I’ll need you to stay here though.” 

“Why cant we go with you?” Yang asked. “We need to get to him-” 

“Because there is a curfew and travel between Mantle and Atlas is a bit restricted,” Nickel answered, already starting to take off. “I will go talk to him and get you clearance, but I need you to stay with my father.” 

“We cant just sit here!” Nora exclaimed, getting her weapon ready. 

“Let Nickel go alone for right now, and we can find out a bit more about what’s going on here,” Qrow said. “Storming in to see Ironwood right now may just cause us problems.” 

Ruby nodded and smiled up at Nickel. “You will be back, right?” 

“I will,” Nickel said as he took off, flying off to Atlas Academy once more. He mentally cursed at himself as he thought about Ruby, already feeling old feelings starting to come back up. He wanted to be him, not Penny, and yet, Penny seemed to be trying to resurface at every turn. Even now, all he could think about was Ruby and how it made him feel. But for now, all he wanted to do was get them an audience with General Ironwood, and then he’d talk to his father to find out how to get rid of these feelings to keep Penny from being recovered. 

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[jennycalendar]

Penny for your Jenny and Giles + gender thoughts? Could you see either of them as trans (in either a binary or non-binary way)? Or do either of them have gender vibes to you? :)

HMM well whenever we run into questions like this i always get distracted re: the concept of transness in the 90s and how giles especially would definitely not be able to work within an oppressive patriarchal council/how it is very likely that neither of them would be able to work at a high school if there was anything notably Not Cisgender/Heterosexual about them, but placing that aside for a second and moving towards a closer-to-now context!

i can defs see jenny as being generally ambivalent towards the concept of gender in general, especially with her thing about being free-float-y and testing/questioning established boundaries, so she could very much be an any/all pronouns nonbinary kinda person. i think giles in canon is so so so repressed about anything that isn't Council-Approved that if he has any gender feelings whatsoever he has shoved them down to a place where even i as a writer struggle to reach them, but he DEFINITELY fucked around with drag as ripper and he would do it again if his brain stopped being terrible to him for one (1) solitary second.