#steven? i've decided he's trans

[notdamien]

i keep getting tripped up by how strangely woke angel the series is. the connor/steven thing and how the whole crew are dedicated to calling him steven because he asks them to even though they struggle with it.

also using the correct pronouns is such an important thing to these characters compared to buffy where it was barely ever an issue. for example, when steven calls lorne 'it', cordelia very pointedly responds with 'he's a good guy'. there was a demon in a previous episode that used he/it pronouns, and it was called attention to.

just something i find enjoyable as a trans person watching this show. even though these things aren't explicitly about transness there's a parallel that makes me happy.

[addelaidesupreme]

I'm watching a video essay about a game ive been interested in playing. The creator of the video, who has crossdressed multiple times, makes a "women arent funny" joke, and i suddenly realize ive never witnessed him acknowledge a woman in an uplifting way before.

I'm on a dating app for lgbt+ people. I've stated multiple times on my profile that i would rather lose an arm than recieve nudes without consent. I will be sent five dick pics for every 2 people i talk to that night.

I'm talking with my dad, who informs me he's been trying his best to learn about trans issues. He says the same things steven crowder brings up when trying to ridicule trans people. I gently but firmly correct my father and get told that ive been fed propaganda.

I'm on instagram, under the comments of a post ridiculing someone for being a misogynyst. Someone's left a comment saying "it must be hard being a woman on the internet" and i respond "it is." I will have every aspect of my appearance scrutinized as a reminder that no matter how well i pass, it will never be enough for someone with bad intentions.

I'm back on that dating app for lgbt+ people. I'm messaged by an attractive looking person, but i can see their partner prominently displayed in all but their main photo, oftentimes striking what im sure they thought was a very intimidating pose. Their bio says "looking for a third for our anniversary." I know that even if I did feel up to it, the gruff partner wouldnt approve of me because i don't pass.

I'm at a job interview for a clothing store. I tell the gracefully-dressed woman interviewing me that ever since i began my transition, i've discovered an interest in fashion, and that this job would allow me to dip my toes into the industry in a safe way. I'm told that i've reduced womanhood to a stereotype, and i can tell by her tone that i lost any chance at the job the minute she realized i was trans.

I'm at the same hospital i got facial feminization surgery in, trying to figure out what's wrong with my bowels. When the person behind the desk gives me a wristband with my patient info on it, i notice a single, lonely, letter M. I ask a nurse in private why it would say that despite me having changed it nearly a year prior. They say they have no clue, and bring in paperwork for me to fill out and have it re-changed again.

I'm living with my mom at the time. I'm new to transitioning, and decide to try my hand at voice training. It feels a bit off, but otherwise im feeling neutral toward the whole thing. I try speaking in this new voice to my mom and she laughs. Now, when people ask if i intend to voice train, i find speaking at all difficult for minutes after.

I didnt have some sort of grand message to convey by this. I just had a thought and then that thought spiralled into whatever the hell this became. Some, okay most, might call it complaining; they are right to do so.

[lotusthekat]

[ID: A reference sheet of sorts for a fanon version of Stars, Lars and Steven's fusion. Stars is a pinkish young person who wears mainly black, if not for Steven's blue jeans. He owns a spiky, black choker, Lars' jacket except it also includes two bottom pins, one trans and the other bisexual, and Steven's black t-shirt. Lars' dark gray jeans are underneath Steven's, and the fusion also has tall black lace boots. His hair is dark brown with a bright pink middle, from which he can get stuff from Lion's mane dimension. Stars' nails are also polished black, and his hands are filled with cuts from cooking, which belong to Lars. /End ID]

(He/Him for Stars)

Decided to give a sort of redesign to my old Stars! I like to think he'd have a more punk/goth look. Probably not as original as other designs I've seen out there, but I had a lot of fun drawing this.

DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION!

Don't tag as ship. P/roship DNI.

Hate will be blocked.

[abyssal-author-and-artist]

Hello!

Greetings, friends, enemies, and those still under review. My name's Xander or Darren, either or is fine (Alex is also passable just not my preference), and I'm he/it trans man.

I like to draw and write fanfic (my ao3's Abyssal_author_artist if you want to check me out! I've got 50 fics and counting last I checked) but I tend to reblog more than anything else.

More under cut:

My interests change up fairly often but I always generally like the same things, even if they're not what I'm reblogging or creating at the moment.

I like: In Stars and Time (Current favorite) Gravity Falls Undertale/Deltarune Undertale AUs (which I do feel need to be included separately) Steven Universe Pokemon though I haven't kept up with the most recent game OMORI Fire Emblem Three Houses Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss Madoka Magica Legend of Zelda Warrior Cats (I'm not caught up though)

And probably much more that I can't think of right now.

I am a minor as of right now, though I turn 18 fairly soon. I'd rather not have to deal with inappropriate asks even once I do, and I'm not sure my policy on that will change.

In general, I'm open to being mutuals. Pop into my asks or dms, I'm always down for a chat - though I might not always answer right away due to random week-long gaming/writing/drawing stints.

DNI (Do Not Interact) List: MAPs or other pedos Transphobes or homophobes Assholes People who shame other people for just enjoying things. Cringe culture fist fought me behind a Denny's at 3 am and lost. Billdip/Mabill/other pedo shippers

That's all I can think of right now but I will add more as time goes on and I will block at will. No warning, no nothing. Life's hard enough as it is and I'm not putting up with any unwanted bullshit from the website I go on to relax.

General tags I use for any reason #screaming out of the abyss - for talking #abyssal art - for art #ao3 nonsense - exactly what what it says on the tin

Have a great day and enjoy whatever random nonsense I decide to post.

I do writing requests but not super consistently

[euniexenoblade]

Favorite music of 2023 :)

I've found myself dealing with a wave of writer's block, and in my desire to get past it I've decided to write whatever I can. Some people said they'd be interested in me talking about my favorite albums of 2023, so here's a short write up about albums I really liked and I hope everyone will give a try.

I found 2023 to be a pretty spectacular year for weird and interesting music. With artists like Lil Yachty doing a neo-psychedelia album (fantastic, give it a listen) and Avenged Sevenfold doing some progressive avant garde adjacent metal album (I think people are wrongly hating on it, it's spectacular), it shouldn't be too surprising to imagine that the bands the mainstream hasn't really heard of are making wild soundscapes unlike anything you've ever heard.

Kicking this off with one of my favorite Korean bands, Parannoul released two albums this year and they were spectacular - both in my top 10 of the year. Parannoul are a wonderful shoegaze band that create these songs that almost feel hypnotic, they create this dream like state for their songs in ways no other band seems to be able to. After the Magic, their third album, is no different in this, but brings a new warmth, brighter instrumentation, and just in general doesn't feel as self loathing and depressed as previous works. The other release, After the Night, is a live recording, which shows that the band can produce the same dreamlike style on a stage, but do it even better. My second favorite album of the year, this live album is so incredible, zoning out to the 46 minute "Into the Endless Night" while high was probably one of my favorite experiences of the year in and of itself. (Also, if you do chose to check them out, please listen to To See the Next Part of the Dream, it's one of my favorite albums ever made.)

Using Parannoul as a sorta link between things, I also found that they worked on a song on the new Turquoisedeath album, Se bueno. I won't claim to be an expert on drum and bass, but I had a killer time listening to Se bueno. When I discovered Se bueno, I also discovered a few other, more abrasive, albums that I kind of group together in my head. Namely Chaser by femtanyl (digital hardcore) and Sisterhood by lostrushi ("digicore" feels like a frantic version of trap). If you like this kind of music, give them a try, all three are on my list.

Everyone's top albums of the years seem to have their one and two spots stolen away by Javelin and Scaring the Hoes. Starting with the latter, Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown is cool as hell. Beats unlike anything I've heard in hip hop before, and the flows of both men really bring it all together. It's a great album (it's my third favorite of the year), but I also think some focus on some other hip hop titles might be cool. Integrated Tech Solutions by Aesop Rock is just as impressive and interesting and deserves your attention. Alongside that Michael by Killer Mike is a fantastic listen, though it doesn't compare to the previously mentioned two, it's still a great album that deserves your time - he won those awards for a reason. The man got arrested at an award show, the least you can do is stream his album once.

Now, as for Javelin by Sufjan Stevens, it's a great album, but it's also such a sad album. His pain is horrible, and he does a great job at making you feel it. However, the music never really hit me like other albums of the year had. The lyrics murder your heart, but I'm a tad past gay pains and want gay joys. Which is why I want you all to listen to Ultra Paradise by Angel Electronics. Half Ada Rook of Black Dresses, half Ash Nerve (I doubt you know him) this is a trans and gay power pop album that's just beautiful and fun. Songs like Return to the Sky and One Thousand and One Nights are fun ear worms, and the rest of the album just has a level of repeatability and a level of joy and fun that most other albums this year didn't have. Is it as technically impressive as Javelin? No. But, shit, it's nice to be happy for once.

Continuing off of this idea, in 2023 we saw transphobia become horrifically rampant, the right wing are really intent to get rid of us. You can't avoid how much this world hates us now and it makes you want to just scream. It creates this feeling of anger, a desire for violence, like we're past being sad and nice and understanding. In 2023 the Hirs Collective put out an album on par with that emotion. We're Still Here is an aggressive grindcore album put together by trans, gay, queer people in general. My favorite release from the band to date, it's fantastic to see Hirs screaming "We're still here!" as the world tries to erase us. This is my favorite album of 2023, please listen to it, please give Hirs your money, they deserve it and you deserve their music.

A few more albums I wanna recommend that I can't really think of anything in depth to say: God Cum Poltergeist by Crisis Sigil (Ada Rook) is a fantastic grindcore album, Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete by Crosses is a fantastic synthpop adjacent album and I got to see it performed live and it's amazing music, Reborn Superstar! by Hanabie. is a great Japanese metalcore album, and go listen to Kikuo Miku 7 for some rad Hatsune Miku bullshit.

My top 50 music releases of 2023:

We're Still Here by Hirs

After the Night by Parannoul

Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown

Dogsbody by Model/Actriz

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

After the Magic by Parannoul

Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. by Crosses

God Cum Poltergeist by Crisis Sigil

uma by betcover!!

Ultra Paradise by Angel Electronics

Reborn Superstar! by Hanabie.

No Joy by Spanish Love Songs

Saved by Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

Live in Japan by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs

93696 by Liturgy

Resistance and the Blessing by World's End Girlfriend

Kikuo Miku 7 by Kikuo

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

Integrated Tech Solutions by Aesop Rock

Poil Ueda by Poil & Junko Ueda

Enola Gay by Asia Menor

Upal by Kostnateni

The Loveliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen

Michael by Killer Mike

Exul by Ne Obliviscaris

Hellmode by Jeff Rosenstock

Hometown to Come by Minhwi Lee

Life is but a Dream... by Avenged Sevenfold

Chaser by Femtanyl

Sadness / Abriction by Sadness / Abriction

O Monolith by Squid

But Here We Are by Foo Fighters

Stone by Baroness

History Books by The Gaslight Anthem

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? by Kara Jackson

Rookie's Bustle by Ada Rook

Futility by Yakui The Maid

Let's Start Here. by Lil Yachty

The Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monae

Bee and the Whales by Galileo Galilei

Zach Bryan self titled

Everything is Alive by Slowdive

Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, and Retire by Alice Longyu Gao

Se bueno by TURQUOISEDEATH

Yoshitsune by Poil & Junko Ueda

Perfect Picture by Hannah Diamond

January Never Dies by Balming Tiger

Jenny From Thebes by The Mountain Goats

Never Falter Hero Girl by Katie Dey

Sisterhood by lostrushi

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian

goodreads

When Allison Banks develops a crush on Dana Stevens, she knows that he will give her what she needs most: attention, gentleness, kindness, passion. Her daughter, Carly, enthusiastically witnesses the change in her mother. But then a few months into their relationship, Dana tells Allison his secret: he has always been certain that he is a woman born into the wrong skin, and soon he will have a sex-change operation. Allison, is overwhelmed by the depth of her passion, and finds herself unable to leave Dana. By deciding to stay, she finds she must confront questions most people never even consider. Not only will her own life and Carly’s be irrevocably changed, she will have to contend with the outrage of a small Vermont community and come to terms with her lover’s new body–hoping against hope that her love will transcend the physical.

Mod opinion: I hadn't heard of this book before but it seems very dated (and written by a cishet male author) so I'm not interested.

[dollarbin]

Shakey Sundays #37:

Trans, Part 2

Every artist worthy of your Dollar Bin buck has at least one wacky identity crisis record.

Joni declared God a boogie man and life one big Pork Pie Hat; a few years later she went full synth on Dog Eat Dog; Cat Stevens decided songs should be 18 minutes long and then dedicated a record to the Pythagorean Theorem; Sandy Denny tried out war-era white jazz under a thatched roof; Lou Reed strove to make an album that was entirely unlistenable; and Paul Simon dedicated years and millions of dollars to a musical about a caped Puerto Rican vampire kid...

And, of course, you've got your pick of midlife crisis Dylan records: most of his records fit that description. Prior to dedicating the equivalent of 5 albums in a row to Sinatra, he did everything from a cowboy soundtrack to 80's reggae, not to mention the still largely incomprehensible Self Portrait.

But for me, Neil Young's Trans remains, hands down, the very best identity crisis record in the dollar bin. I see I got my copy for 92 cents. And, now that I've dedicated an entire 65,000 word post to both exorcising and exercising my own personal demons associated with Trans, it's time that we settled in and talked about its actual songs.

First of all, Trans would be far better as an Eldorado length EP. Three of the album's songs have no place on the record thematically or musically; rather, Little Thing Called Love, the interminable Like An Inca and Hold On To Your Love belong on a Shakey / Joe Freakin' Lala duo record with the working title of Johnny's Island of Steaming Hot Dog Waste, or something akin to that: it's a perfectly dull set of songs which Young's new boss at that time, David Geffen, labeled as lousy.

(I'm going out on a limb with that conclusion because I have yet to hear all of the newly released tracks from those sessions that appear on Archives 3; my famous brother is probably choking on his microbrewed sourbeer in rage and swearing by Neil's yacht rock phase as we speak.)

Disappointingly, as near as I can tell Archives 3 doesn't offer any new truly Trans songs; Young apparently just recorded five core songs with his wall of machines.

(I don't consider the Mr Soul on this record a core song; Young says he jokingly recorded it as a Buffalo Springfield reunion audition tape. No wonder they never got back together.)

But forget about Mr Soul: I'm here to argue that every single one of Trans' original five songs is a winner.

Let's consider them in order.

Computer Age is a top twenty Neil Young track. If the whole record were this good we'd all talk about Trans in hushed tones and toss around descriptive words like masterpiece and mothercuddler. But Computer Age is the album's high water mark.

First of all, the song freakin' rocks: I totally dig its groove and hooks. Computer Age makes me want to cook up a six course meal made entirely out of recycled semi-conductors, all while dancing. Computer Age! Computer Age!

To my ears, Computer Age is the only piece of music on this record, or, frankly, on any of Neil's records between Re-Ac-Tor and This Notes for You, which sounds 100% finished and successful. Neil has plenty of visions; occasionally he fully nails one of them. The vocoder vocals all make sense to me here. The pacing is both stately and frantic. The bridge swoons.

We R In Control is nearly as good and twice as nuts.

The day I lose my mind entirely and start blogging here about how there was no moon landing and how Hilary Clinton is a Taiwanese super spy android, please know that I have adopted We R In Control as my personal theme song. And while you are at it, please get me some help.

There are more competing hooks in this song than in The Cure's Fascination Street - and I've counted, there are at least seven hooks in that song. Plus every one of Neil's hooks is bonkers. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! He attempts everything in the song: he swings; he stomps; he performs a solo on an 80s-era telephone's digital keypad.

Song three, Transformer Man, should be the other fully successful track on the record. After all, it's a truly beautiful song, a fact Neil admitted 10 years later on MTV Unplugged.

I love how there's one single nerd-club-level Shakey guy in the audience who recognizes this song as it opens - you can hear him let out a shocked Yeah! while everyone else fingers their MTV-issued bowls of mixed nuts and wine coolers and wonders what's up.

The summer that this live version of Transformer Man came out I was at journalism camp (yeah, Journalism Camp). Midweek I derailed an entire class taught by the LA Reader's music critic by complimenting his citing of this song as the only redeemable moment on the live record. He looked at me dumbfounded: a 17 year old existed who enjoyed Trans. The rest of the class sighed and waited for a resumption of normalcy. It took a while.

But the song's original take makes a critical mistake: Neil occasionally shuts off the vocal altering vocoder. Every time we hear snatches of his almost normal singing voice we get distracted.

See what I mean? When Neil's computerized pinprick of a voice quivers this song is shimmies. But when we know it's him singing we're disappointed and want to hear On The Beach.

Happily, there is not a single note on Computer Cowboy that sounds like standard Shakey.

Neil has spilled a lot of ink outlining his thematic intentions with this record; I think a lot of what he was trying to say is actually really valuable, and I'll get into all of that in my eventual post for Trans, Part 3.

But, try as he might to tell his interviewers that Computer Cowboy is a deep think piece centering around a cattle rancher by day who's a hacker by night and the implications of that guy's whole deal on life as we know it, this song has no possible justification, and that's makes it wonderful. Back in 1993, long after the Dylan show I chronicled in Part 1, all 5 or 6 adolescent boys in my bedroom and I definitely fell down laughing hysterically when Neil got to his "yippee-yi-yippee-yi-ay" fade out. He may continue to take this whole project seriously, but Trans is also just ridiculously funny.

Sample and Hold stands alongside Computer Age as the record's other attempt at something vital. There's just a lot of ambition to be heard in the track. Neil thought a lot about, well, something or other while working on this song.

Young issued an extended dance remix of the song in 1982 but left that version off Archives 3. A critical mistake!

I can't think of anything insightful to say about Sample and Hold other than please, go listen to it.

We know you'll be happy.

[shylittleunicorn15]

here is my au of kwazii's family in my story love in the shallow seas you will know about Vincent and Steven

my story for this au changes about who kwazii's real parents are

one day i write about it being he was adopted by the two males after his parents died

then the next he was made in a lab after a experiment trash zone gone wrong and trans calico jack being Steven's father

but now I've decided how the story goes(story starts after introductions to the ocs you know kwazii and calico jack)

Martha: the mother of kwazii, full orange tabby, she is infertile

Zach: the father of kwazii and son of calico jack, half tuxedo cat half calico, also infertile

Steven: the brother of Martha and uncle of kwazii, a mature full tuxedo cat, he is trans

Vincent: a free spirited wolf who wants to have fun, he is bisexual gravitates more towards men tho

ok now onto the story

Martha and Zach really want a kid to carry on their long line of pirates both were saddened when they realized they were both infertile however Martha has a brother Steven works in a lab with his husband Vincent maybe they could help so off they went once they got there they begged for the two to make them a child although they knew how to the scientist had to explain how it worked after explaining the two pirates said they want a child that can have a baby through any way(how tf does that work idk magic?) anyway the two get to work taking hair samples and puts them in a machine that creates kids(again idk magic?) then its turned on and a baby comes out mostly orange tabby with little hints of tuxedo and calico a heart nose and freckles like their mother's however the little kitten had a blind eye his right eye they named him kwazii and took care of him greatly until.....the war of colliding with other pirates calico jack had to watch in horror as his son and daughter-in-law were killed right in front of his eyes until kwazii was shoved into his arms by another crew member telling him to take kwazii and run and so he did he couldn't help but put the blame on himself the next day Vincent and Steven opened the door to kwazii with a note that read "going far away, Zach and Martha dead, i blame myself goodbye -calico jack" this was the first time Vincent has seen Steven cry but still they took kwazii in and took care of him years pass kwazii only speaks in Japanese going out on their own until they tumbling off a hill and landing in a crate that gets brought aboard the octopod thus bringing them a new adventure

[theprismaticvoid]

I've seen a lot of discourse about Gwen in Across the Spider-Verse and whether or not she's trans, and one thing I keep seeing that frustrates me is people calling it "queerbaiting" because they never directly say Gwen is transgender in the film, arguing that it's "drip-feeding representation" and that the creators "should've done better".

It really annoys me to see people talk like this bc it shows that they very blatantly do not know how the entertainment industry works, how censorship boards and studio mandates handle these things.

A few years ago, Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch posted a video showing some of the emails he got from Disney Channel's Standards and Practices board, and some of the completely wild shit they took issue with. They legit demanded that a reference to "spin the bottle" be removed because they thought it implied that the teenagers were having orgies, or that Mabel not call someone a "poopy face" because it came across as a reference to "getting shitfaced" (a slang term for getting drunk, for anyone where that term isn't used). Even a character wearing an animal mascot suit was a point of contention because they thought it was a reference to furries and a character dressing up like a cartoon animal was going to corrupt the kiddies. Things that absolutely no reasonable person would care about were treated with the same level of gravity as if they'd had the kids saying the fuck word and giving the middle finger.

(And that's not even mentioning how Alex wanted to include gay characters in the show but the best he got to manage is the two cops vaguely saying they're "in love" in a way that could easily be read as just them being friends, in one of the last scenes of the final episode, after he'd already decided he was done working with Disney and was jumping ship to a different company after GF was over; at that point, it was just a matter of "What are you gonna do? Fire me?")

Steven Universe had to fight for years to get the Garnet wedding they so desperately wanted... and basically as soon as they did it, they were cancelled and given five episodes to conclude a story arc that was meant to go for at least another season, if not longer. The Movie and Future basically only happened due to the Crewniverse fighting for enough of a continuation to give the series a proper ending + strong fan reception to Season 5; Ian has made it clear on Twitter several times that the crew wants to make more Steven Universe, but the show that got famous for including queer themes being EXPLICITLY queer is too extreme for CN and they refuse to let it keep going.

Am I saying that Spider-Verse is the paragon of representation and that it couldn't possibly be done better? No, of course not. Am I saying people shouldn't want more than little easter-eggs that hint at representation? No, no way, that'd be ridiculous.

But even getting what was in the movie represents the team struggling against censorship and regulations to try and get across what they wanted. Even getting a pride flag in the background with "PROTECT TRANS KIDS" written on it is an absolutely massive thing, and there's not a doubt in my mind that this required hours of email back-and-forths with censorship boards who demanded it be removed.

It just really annoys me to see people say that they somehow should've done more, as if it was just as simple as a script writer writing a line where Gwen says "By the way Miles, I'm transgender." and that being it. It shows a complete lack of understanding for just how difficult it is to get any subject that they think is "taboo" or "controversial" into media meant for children.

And because I know people will bring this up: The stuff about Gwen is nothing even remotely close to Disney's fifteen different "first gay characters". Nobody related to Spider-Verse tried to hype up how Gwen was totally trans and this was a huge step forward for representation. Sony didn't try to use it to get brownie points with the LGBT community only for it to turn out to be a minor thing.

Spider-Verse including trans pride flags in the background and including an arc about her "coming out" as being Spider-Man to her parents is absolutely not comparable to Disney making a big hullabaloo about how Endgame and Rise of Skywalker were going to include gay characters, only for that just turning out to be one character mentioning a husband in a way that could be dubbed over and a three-second kiss between two nameless lesbian Rebels at the end that could be cut out for foreign releases.

[myucornerorg]

Thanks @real-life-senshi for the tag!

The Rules: Tag (9) people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the following:

Four Ships:

Oh boy. TBH I'm not that into shipping really. I guess I have a few though.

Brainy x Nia (CW Supergirl): Definitely the beta couple of the last couple seasons of the show. I do kinda wonder how their relationship would've developed had Season 5 played out as planned (the ending of the season got kinda messed up due to COVID lockdowns, which is why the "beat Leviathan" plot got carried over to the beginning of Season 6). They got a fair amount of focus in Season 6, as they dealt with how Brainy's actions in Season 5 affected them (also they had to write Kara out for most of the season because her actress was on maternity leave, forcing them to instead focus episodes on the rest of Supergirl's team). I felt it was a strong ship, with two goofy, geeky people - one an alien genius who's not very used to having emotions period and the other a half-human, half-alien girl with dream-related powers - who both clearly like each other but don't know how to spit it out. The "Prom!" two-parter, where they go back in time to get DNA to help track down Kara, had them try to fit in in late-90s small town America, which was hilarious. Also, in general, even with all the hype over Nia being the first transgender superhero ever (she's also played by a real-life trans rights hero, Nicole Maines), aside from a little focus when she was first introduced, they haven't made it her sole defining trait, and have developed her beyond that, which I appreciate. I'm not sure their relationship had its full time to develop - towards the end it seemed doomed to fail since at some point Brainy was going to have to go back to the future time he came from. But in the finale he decided to "screw destiny" and came back for her, so they still have a chance!

Pokéshipping (Ash x Misty): From Pokémon, obviously. This is Pokémon's oldest ship and I have stood by it for years (to be fair, I haven't seen enough of the anime to justify the other Ash ships anyway). But then I'm biased, since Misty has long been a favorite character of mine from Pokémon. It's been cool seeing her come back in more recent seasons and still have a dynamic with Ash. It started with him accidentally frying her bike with Pikachu, and her tagging along to make him pay her back, but they ultimately developed a strong friendship, which I think is only rivaled by his friendship with Dawn probably. Of course, since I ship them, I wish there could be more - and there are songs showing Misty has feelings for him ("Misty's Song," "He Drives Me Crazy," "I've Got a Secret" from Pokémon Live). The second movie also teased the idea, though Misty strongly denied it. As for Ash, we have no idea how he feels. But let's be fair, he barely acknowledged Serena's feelings, and hers as far as I can tell were WAY more obvious than Misty's (Serena pretty much started traveling with Ash cause she had a crush on him). So I'm guessing he's just completely oblivious. He'd have to grow up a lot to realize how Misty feels. And now Ash's time in the anime is basically over. Though, they did leave things pretty open-ended with him, so...

Yowzah (Doctor x River Song): This is basically my main ship from Doctor Who (though I do also support Tenrose). For this ship, I usually define it as Eleven x River specifically, since they interact the most. Though their relationship is crazy complicated, their banter is always fun to see when they do meet. Because I didn't watch Doctor Who quite in order when catching up on old seasons, I actually saw their romance in basically chronological order - starting with Series 5-7 and ending with 4, where Ten meets her but she ends up dying - which somehow made it even more poignant. I did appreciate that before Steven Moffat left, he resolved their whole thing by having Twelve finally take River to Darillium (the last place River saw "her" Doctor before traveling to the Library and meeting Ten), and having Twelve come to terms with her being gone. While there are still Big Finish audios coming out to flesh out River's personal canon, I consider her timeline with The Doctor finished, and I don't expect her to show up again (although, they brought back Jack Harkness, so I guess no one's safe). I don't feel like there's any sort of future they could give them - "The Name of the Doctor" already showed River post-death. I suppose they could delve into their past still, especially if they keep the Timeless Child plotline when Russell T. Davies takes over again. I'd kinda love for River to meet the Fugitive Doctor. I feel like they would be BFFs in a heartbeat. At any rate, River is a fun character, and for now I've been indulging my interest in this ship via the Eleventh Doctor fanfic I've been working on for years (I have an idea for a ship fic with them too).

Mamoru x Hina (PGSM): So not sure this is even a ship but decided to add it anyway. When it comes to Sailor Moon, I'm typically in the Usagi x Mamoru camp pretty strongly. Especially in the manga, where their relationship really gets some deep development (it gets development in the anime too, but not in the same way I feel like). But the live-action series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon just didn't do their relationship justice. I get that they had limited episodes to work with, but they could've done better. They also tried to make things more dramatic by revealing Mamoru was engaged, right at the point of the show when Usagi was starting to think maybe he wasn't so bad after all. And then try to twist the knife even more by making Usagi realize that "OMG this guy's girlfriend is actually NICE." Hina, meanwhile, didn't get much development beyond being the "other woman" who clearly loved Mamoru more than he did her. That she was the "childhood friend" in this scenario probably didn't help either (anyone who's watched/read enough shoujo knows that the "childhood friend" rarely wins in a love triangle). She did at least respect that Mamoru had a lost past he was trying to find clues to, and tried to be supportive as much as she could. And when Mamoru got cut off from a call with her when Kunzite attacked him, she seemed genuinely upset. (She also got upset when she found Usagi's handkerchief in Mamoru's dresser, but that's more like a "OMG are you cheating on me?" kind of upset). Ultimately she saw the writing on the wall and broke up with Mamoru. I mean, sure, if the show was going to follow the original Sailor Moon plot, Mamoru and Usagi were going to have to end up together somehow. But instead of trying to create a genuine love triangle with actual drama attached, they had Mamoru in a relationship he didn't really care about and Usagi, as much as it pained her, willing to honor that relationship. Thus they started to kinda reluctantly become just friends instead. But while it can be argued they did develop some feelings for each other eventually, their whole romance seems to be based on the fact that they loved each other in their past lives, and fate is doing its darnedest to bring them together again. Except that in the past that caused the destruction of the Earth, a fact that initially no one remembers except Sailor Venus, Zoisite, and Kunzite, which is why those three are pretty strongly against Usagi and Mamoru getting together (Beryl also tries to split them up later, either personally or through her "shadow" Mio, since the Beryl/Serenity/Endymion love triangle is also still a thing). Then they get separated since Mamoru goes to study abroad in England, and then later lets Beryl capture him to save the Shitennou, causing all this angst where Usagi tries really hard not to make the Silver Crystal activate, as this would not only make her hardcore "I don't care about anything but my prince" Princess Sailor Moon side come out, but it also inadvertently powers Queen Metallia, neither of which is good for the safety of the Earth. Even once Beryl is defeated and Usagi and Mamoru are *finally* set to get married, it's clear Mamoru is not that enthusiastic about it, which is what leads to Usagi breaking things off and Mio showing up and being like "I'M BAAACK" and kidnapping Mamoru to be her groom in her circus-inspired base. So...anyway, it's just hard for me to ship Usagi x Mamoru in PGSM for these reasons, so I lean more toward shipping Hina with Mamoru. After all, the short "Hina Afterward" made it clear that she still thought about him after they broke up.

Last Song: Not a song per se, but...the Suzume soundtrack on Spotify. It's actually quite a good soundtrack. Sadly, they didn't include the songs Serizawa plays in his car during the road trip part of the movie (probably for copyright reasons), but I found a couple Spotify playlists people made of the songs he plays: this one and this one. One of them is "Rouge no Dengon," the opening song to Kiki's Delivery Service, which I recognized immediately when I first heard it as that's my favorite Ghibli film.

Currently Reading: This translation of Virgil's The Aeneid, translated by David Ferry. It was the one recommended by Blue of the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions in his Virgil video, so I figured it had to be good. Now, being a mythology buff, I knew something about the Aeneid going into this (I also watched OSP's video covering it), but I'd never read it in verse before now. And it is actually quite good. Sure there are boring lists of people at times, and Virgil spends like 10 stanzas describing the decorations on Aeneas's shield in great detail, which I could care less about. While I definitely had to consult the list of names in the back a few times to know what stuff was, the text was otherwise quite understandable as is, which isn't easy with old texts like this as far as I can tell. Ferry does a good job making it readable but not TOO modern. Would recommend.

Last Movie: The anime movie Suzume, directed by Makoto Shinkai, who did Your Name and Weathering With You. As I mentioned in this post, it's REALLY GOOD.

Craving: I'm looking forward to the game Hogwarts Legacy. The Switch version got delayed till July and it bugs me a lot. Also, this game called Sea of Stars is finally coming out soon that I backed on Kickstarter. I've never backed a video game on there before, so that's exciting! Besides that...I bought a TON of 3DS and DS games in my pursuit to get the games I wanted before the 3DS eShop shut down a couple months ago, so looking forward to those. In the process, I found out my DS Lite can still read GBA cartridges, allowing me to replay old favorites like Kim Possible 2: Draaken's Demise and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well as games I missed (like all of the Gen 3 Pokémon games - if I can track them down - and Tales of Phantasia, which I just recently found out even HAD a GBA version).

As for non-gaming things...I haven't been to Disneyland in years, despite living less than 2 hours away from it. Sure, as an autistic person, theme parks can be kind of a nightmare, but I really love Disney movies. Also, I haven't been there since before the Star Wars land was completed, so I really want to go there and see that, as I'm also a big Star Wars fan.

Also I do miss doing covers on my YouTube channel, I'll admit. I'd also like to do more collabs, but the SeraMyu cover community seems kinda dead now, especially since our sort of Fearless Leader (and the one who encouraged me to join in the first place) @sailorzakuro seems to have moved on.

Tagging: @ainomessage, @fyeahsailormoon, @glitzyglee, @galaxia-gorgeous, @gracemyhearto, @kosmosinusa, @katieban-kaiteiban, @love-boat, @sailormoonsub

[love-little-lotte]

Thoughts on West Side Story (2021)

I've just finished watching the new film adaptation West Side Story for the fourth time. Yes, I know, I have a problem. But what can I say? It's that good. While rewatching it today, I decided to write down my thoughts and comments about the film. If you haven't watched it yet, fair warning: I will be discussing a lot of spoilers, and I'd hate to ruin the film for you.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on West Side Story (2021):

David Alvarez deserves more attention for his portrayal of Bernardo. I love his entrance in the film, and I appreciate he got a backstory now. Since Alvarez played Billy Elliot in the Broadway musical (and also won a Tony for it!), it makes me laugh that he's into boxing in WSS. Now, he dances and boxes!

I love how the film emphasized Tony and Riff's friendship. "Womb to tomb; sperm to worm." It gave more meaning to their relationship, making it more believable and realistic.

The portrayal of Anybodys is much improved now. There's plenty of discussion regarding gender in the movie, and I love how it highlighted Anybodys' identity. He's not a tomboy, as the previous film implied — he's a trans man.

Yes, Ans*l Elg*rt is a piece of shit, but I admit he wasn't a bad Tony. Or, at the very least, he gave a better performance than the lackluster Richard Beymer in the 1961 film. Still, compared to the rest of his co-stars, Elg*rt is the weakest actor (and singer) in the film. I like that Tony has a whole backstory now, though, but it wasn't enough to make Tony an interesting character. When will we ever get a good Tony representation in a WSS film? Maybe in the 2081 remake or something.

Chino and Bernado's relationship in this film is sooo sweet. You can definitely tell how Bernardo cares for Chino and how proud he is that Chino is building a good life for himself by going to school. You can compare it to Tony and Riff's friendship. Where Riff wants Tony to go back to the Jets, Bernardo doesn't want Chino anywhere near the Sharks — you can see it in his expression when Chino appeared in the Rumble.

The Anita and Bernardo dancing scenes are so compelling to watch. Alvarez and Ariana DeBose are such a power couple, and I totally love their relationship.

Maria and Tony having their "meet cute" moment during the dance is a complete technical marvel. I remember watching the 1961 film and rolling my eyes at how the movie blurred out the rest of the people when Maria and Tony first saw each other. In this version, however, they weren't blurred out. Instead, everyone else was in motion and dancing, while Maria and Tony were still, unaware of the commotion around them and entranced by each other. And when they went under the bleachers? And the colors were red and romantic? Amazing.

The entire "Maria" sequence is so beautiful. As someone whose first name is Maria, I've always loved that song. It's a shame we have to see that guy there, though.

"Tonight" will always be THAT romantic duet song. I got chills the moment Rachel Zegler sings "Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever." I also love the direction in this scene.

I love that scene when Maria wakes up the next morning. Zegler has the most screentime in the movie, but I really want to see more carefree scenes of Maria!

Rita Moreno's version of America in the 1961 film will always be iconic, so I understand how Steven Spielberg wanted something new for this film. Instead of singing it on the rooftop at night, DeBose performed America all over the streets of New York in broad daylight - and the choreography is sooo amazing. I also love how we can hear the ruffles of their dresses when they are dancing.

The scene where Tony learns Spanish for Maria was actually pretty sweet and thoughtful.

Maria and Tony's date to the Cloisters was a nice touch. It makes their romance feel authentic, instead of just having them "fall in love at first sight."

"One Hand, One Heart," which was sung live, was beautifully performed. I love how the colors of the stained glass reflected Maria and Tony.

The "Gee, Officer Krupke" sequence is so entertaining. It makes me laugh how all the cops chased Anybodys and left the juvenile gangsters alone in the precinct. Like, nobody thought of leaving one cop to check on them? Okay, cool. Patrick Higgins as Baby John is a standout. It's also nice to see Ben Cook who I recognize from Newsies!

The Jets playing with the gun really showed how they were just kids. Tony singing "Cool" to Riff also made sense — with Riff finishing the song — and oh, the choreography during that scene was just insane.

No matter how many times I've watched the Rumble, it still breaks my heart, even though I already know what's going to happen. Alvarez and most especially Mike Faist were superb. I love that in the middle of their fight, both actually looked terrified as if they never expected things to escalate that fast. I mean, just look at Faist's scared, nervous expression in this:

Again, I just want to reiterate my love for Chino and Bernardo's friendship. When Chino tried to stop Bernardo from continuing the fight... When Chino held Bernardo after he got stabbed... Hold up, I'm crying again.

I LOVED they placed "I Feel Pretty" after the Rumble, just like in the stage musical. It's a breather after the intense fight, but also sad because Maria is blissfully unaware of how her life has changed at that moment.

That scene where Anita identified Bernardo's body has forever scarred me. Please give DeBose the Oscar for that scene alone.

Okay, now we get to the change that irked me a lot. In the stage musical, "Somewhere" is sung by somebody else, while Maria and Tony enter a dream sequence. In the 1961 film, "Somewhere" is sung as a duet by Maria and Tony, which is probably the best way to handle that song. The song encapsulates their "star-crossed lovers" relationship perfectly. It shows how they want to live in a place where they can love freely ("We'll find a new way of living") and how Maria forgives Tony ("We'll find there's a way of forgiving.") In the 2021 version, "Somewhere" is sung by Doc's widow, Valentina, as portrayed by Moreno. To me, it does not make sense for her to sing that song. I understand that Valentina finds her relationship with Doc in Maria and Tony, but I think the song in her point of view lost its impact on the story. I also think that "Somewhere" serves as the justification for Maria sleeping with Tony. In the 2021 film, however, Maria sleeping with Tony was a confusing transition; it simply came out of nowhere.

Anyway, to my favorite part: "A Boy Like That / I Have A Love." Everything about this scene was incredible - plus DeBose and Zegler had to sing this live!!! I love that they did so, especially because it's such an emotional song, and it wouldn't be as effective if they had to lip-sync it. I made a different post about this but Zegler's "Oh no Anita no! You should have known better" is perfectly executed. And the way they finished the song in Anita and Bernardo's bedroom? And Anita breaking down when she realized Maria loves Tony the same way she does with Bernardo? Beautiful and heartbreaking.

(In addition to the "A Boy Like That" scene, I'm reminded that DeBose starred in A Bronx Tale musical, where she fell in love with a white boy, despite racial tensions. Please listen to "Out Of Your Head" - it's one of my favorites!)

Anita's scene in the drugstore was just as terrifying as the 1961 film. When Valentina stopped the Jets from assaulting her, I just can't imagine what Moreno felt going back to that traumatizing scene.

I can't get over how Maria was smiling when she was going to Tony just mere seconds before Chino shoots him. Also, I was thinking that they would finally let Maria sing "Somewhere" to Tony, like in the 1961 film and the stage musical, but they went with "Tonight." It's okay, but again, "Somewhere" is the better song for this scene.

Well, that's it. Sorry for the long post, I just had a lot of thoughts about the movie. There's actually more of these, but eh, these are the ones that are worth mentioning. Despite its flaws and the actor in the male lead, West Side Story (2021) is a great film. You can't tell this is Spielberg's first movie musical - it's as if he's been doing it for years. I really enjoyed watching this one, and will surely watch it again.

[male-reader]

hiii could i request a marc spector x ftm reader x steven grant please. the reader could be fully medically transitioned and has been dating marc and steven for a while but only steven knows that he’s trans and the reader decides to come out to marc but is worried about not being accepted.

First of all, thank you so much for the request, I think it’s a really wholesome idea and It was a delight to write. This is also my first Moon Knight fic so I hope I did it justice and that I get more motivation or requests for more from here on :)

-

Marc x FtM Reader x Steven

[Coming out ]

"Y/n?" Steven's tone was timid and concerned. You had been pushing the food around your plate without taking a single bite for a while now. It was hard to eat with all the thoughts running through your head.

"You know…Marc doesn't know about me…that I was…born different…" You finally looked up at Steven, the realization changing his features. But he didn't say anything and let you continue.

"I was just thinking," you said. "That I might be ready to tell him. Well…he deserves to know, after all this time. But even if I do know him, I still can't help being nervous, you know?"

Steven smiled softly and nodded. You knew he understood.

"I'm just tired of hiding. I'm done turning around when I change so he wouldn't see my scars, done showering alone and probably making him feel unwanted in the process when it's just me being insecure…" You sighed out in relief, shoulders sagging.

"You have no idea how good it feels to finally say it…"

You looked into Steven's eyes again. It almost made you cry- all the openness, understanding, support. You didn't deserve him. You didn't deserve them.

"Come here," he said and opened his arms. You stood up and climbed in his lap without hesitation, wrapping your arms around his neck and burying your face against his jaw.

"Do you want me to get him?" Steven whispered while running a hand through your hair and you just nodded, taking a grounding breath.

With a last kiss to your temple you felt a halt in his movement and after a few moments you felt the body shift when Marc was brought to the front.

"Y/n? What's wrong? Stevie said you needed me."

The concern in his voice made you sniffle slightly and you tried your best to not cry too much. How could you have ever thought Marc wouldn't love you no matter what?

Your stupidity made you chuckle wetly, which only brought on more concern in Marc.

"Hey, what's all this about? It's alright, I can wait till you're ready." Marc pressed a kiss of his own to your hairline. It felt different than Steven's.

"There's something I need to tell you. I should have sooner, but I was…I wasn't ready yet and I was worried about your reaction."

Marc only nodded and let you speak. If you couldn't distinguish the two by the look in their eyes it could have been either of them.

With one last moment of grounding you finally let the truth out.

"There is a reason I've always avoided taking showers together, or turning around whenever I take my shirt off…"

There was a small knot of confusion between Marc's eyebrows while you took his hand and led it under your shirt, pressed against your skin until his fingertips brushed against one of the scars. It took some more courage, but you pulled off your shirt completely, revealing a set of twin scars one on either side of your chest.

"I'm trans. I wasn't born in the kind of body I was supposed to. And I hope it won't change anything between us. Steven found out, but I was still too nervous to let you know."

The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable. You closed your eyes and focused on the way Marc's fingers traced along each scar. It made you shiver, and before you opened your eyes you felt soft lips press against your chest.

"I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to finally tell me. Of course it doesn't change anything. I still love you more than anything in the world."

You saw Marc pause with a far away look in his eyes and then chuckle. "Alright, alright. I still love you and Stevie both more than anything in the world."

You both laughed and the relief you felt was overwhelming. You pressed close to them, lips against lips, hands tight around each other. And there is nowhere else you would have rather been.

-

I hope you enjoyed! I can't tell you how much I love these guys, and I'll be adding Jake to my request list from now on also, so there will be even more love to go around. Again, thank you for the request :)

[rmoonstoner]

Trying to decide on a sub plot for Lovely Little Sky.

Should I make the reader help Jake clean up his messes? You know, since I already established she used to be a crime scene clean up person.

The next question excites me.

Should I introduce the reader's best friend? If so, what should I do with her? Should the bestie be a lesbian and end up with Layla? I could totally make that into a Reader x Layla one shot fic. I could try something different with that one. Maybe amab, but is now a trans woman. I dunno. I've never written a trans character before, and I would probably be asking for help and suggestions to be as accurate as possible.

Also concerning the bestie. The bestie will be very concerned with the reader of Lovely Little Sky, because every time she sees her friend, the reader is always covered in bruises, hickies, scratches, and bites. Eventually the reader would admit she's been seeing a guy and they like to get rough with each other, but when the bestie meets him ((them)Our lovely moon boys) she does not see any bruises or marks on their body. Again, she is concerned, but will give the reader the benefit of a doubt.

On how the reader introduces them to her bestie:

Should they be at the museum where Steven works, and he pops out and sees them, then shows obvious affection for the reader? It would be making the bestie very confused on how such a sweet and gentle man could possibly mark the reader up so badly. Then Layla would show right after, and pull Steven aside to ask why the hell the reader is all battered up, making him gush and blush and stammer about why.

Should they be at a bar, and Jake shows up? He would be watching from the background, seeing if the reader flirts with anyone. Layla shows up and flirts with the reader, gets turned down, (much to Jake's utter shock and surprise) then flirts with her bestie. They party for a bit, with Layla smoothly wooing the bestie. (Again Jake is flabbergasted at this.) Cue some very large and imposing jock type that will come up and harass the reader, her bestie, and Layla, and he will be relentless. Jake will make his appearance and beat the guy up. Suggestions on how he beats this guy up would be nice.

Should Marc ask the reader out to breakfast at a cafe? When they sit down, Layla and the bestie notice from their respective tables and quietly watch for a bit? Maybe they both get up to come say hi at the same time, both curious as to who their friends are with. Both of them notice the bruises on the reader's body, and both sit down to find out if the reader is okay.

Help me decide. I'm leaning on Jake or Steven being the one in control at the time. Mostly the Jake one. Haha.

[iphyslitterator]

Movie Thoughts: West Side Story

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story_(2021_film)

I listened to the 1961 film soundtrack a bunch after Sondheim's death, but I only saw the film once in middle school, and I've never seen a production. I was shocked to learn how faithful this movie was to the stage script. I...might not like the musical. I fought a whole culture war in my head over the content, which was exhausting, so I'm just going to leave it aside.

As for the film itself: It was fine. I expected to love it but was a little bored for much of it. This seems to be the play's fault rather than any adaptational failure, but unfortunately you're still responsible for whether your movie is interesting. My reaction was the inverse of my reaction to Cyrano: I kept thinking, "Ugh, why aren't they singing, get back to the music." By God the music holds up. I don't understand or enjoy long dance sequences, however, which is unfortunate for me.

Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler have nice voices, though I didn't always agree with their musical choices. Apparently a few of the songs were sung live and still sounded good, so I clearly need to learn more about that technique. Shoutout to Mike Faist's performance, Riff had a lot going on behind his eyes -- you can always count on a Mercutio to be interesting.

Queer content: Anybodys is a trans guy, and this is where I was really startled to learn it's barely an extrapolation from the original text. Sorry for thinking you were trying too hard to be woke, 2021 movie, you handled this well.

A note: I appreciate the decision not to subtitle the Spanish; I do not appreciate HBO's failure to caption it. As an English-speaker with the volume on low, I wanted a fighting chance to understand it -- more importantly, a bilingual speaker with impaired hearing is largely locked out of the Spanish parts, and that's infuriating.

The Nominations

Best Picture: Sure, whatever. I don't want it to win.

Director (Steven Spielberg): Having recently been vividly reminded that one can direct a movie musical badly, I appreciate that Spielberg is, you know, a phenomenal director. Everything looked great and exactly captured the vibe he wanted. I also recognize that I can't understand the technical mastery required for certain scenes, like the dance in the gym.

Cinematography: Some really gorgeous stuff with lights and shadows, and that puddle shot!

Sound: I imagine the sound guys are especially important in a musical.

Costumes: They were good and chosen with care, and I love that yellow dress! Paul Tazewell is the first black man nominated for costume design, so that's cool.

Production Design: Yeah, it was good. The salt shed was pretty cool.

Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose): HOLY HELL. I thought I understood the hype early on, but after Bernardo's death, I realized I had NOT understood the hype. Her portrayal of heartbroken and barely holding it together was gut-wrenching, and she sold the moment where she decided to help Maria and Tony. That's really hard to do! She was the only singer where I actively enjoyed the ways she sounded different from the soundtrack I know well -- the phrasing she brought to the beginning of "America" and her verse in "Tonight Quintet" were a pleasure. She deserves to be the frontrunner, and on top of that, she set records as the first black queer actor and the first Afro-Latina nominated for an acting Oscar.

[sophie-the-diamond-fusion-hybrid]

Sophie Meets Connor

Sophie started heading for one of the coolers to get something to drink. Then they bumped into someone by accident.

"Sorry," said Sophie.

"It's no problem, Connie," said the person.

They had to do a double-take as they recognized who they bumped into, except the person looked different.

"Connie?" questioned Sophie.

"Yeah?" said the person.

The person in front of them was Connie, except her long hair was now a boy's haircut, and she was also wearing boy's clothes.

"You look different," they said.

Connie was confused until she realized what Sophie was saying. "Oh. I guess no one has told you, but, I'm trans now," they said. "During the time you were in the hospital, I thought about what you said about genders. Eventually, I started thinking about my own gender for a while and did some research."

Sophie nodded. "Okay," they said.

"I decided to then try out being a boy and non-binary. After a few days, I realized that I felt more comfortable being a boy than being a girl," continued Connie. "I then told my parents, who after much convincing, were cool with it. I changed my look and I even changed my name to 'Connor'."

Sophie was impressed. "Wow. That's amazing, Connor," they said. "I'm proud of your decision to decide your own gender."

Connor smiled. "Thanks, Sophie," he said.

Sophie then remembered something. They got out their cell phone. "Speaking of you, I have a blog that's a part of this app and website called 'Tumblr'. It seems that there are blogs that belongs to people from other universes within our Multiverse," explained Sophie. "I've been in contact with the Steven from another universe. Not only that, but..."

They then bring up @ask-gd-steven-au-connie's blog and showed it to Connor, who then looked surprised.

"I just came into contact with a counterpart of yours from the same universe as that Steven too," continued Sophie. They looked at him. "Want to send some asks to them?"

He thought about for a while. Then, Connor nodded, excited. "Contact with other universe me sounds amazing and exciting," he said.

Sophie smiled. "Then let's send her an ask," they said.

Sophie then started typing in an ask to send to Connie.

[greywindys]

While I can understand why some would be upset and I get it, but yet I've seen those on this website dig up some older art of Jamie saying it was racist or regarding Steven Universe creator Rebecca sugar old art she did when she was younger dealing with exotic Eddy x Edd drawings. With Jamie am not excusing what he did was okay but Tank Girl come out during the 90s era and unlike now with pc culture or trans rights, back then things with that stuff was pretty behind on lgbt things.

I don’t watch Steven Universe nor do I know anything about the people who work on it so I can’t comment on that but I understand where you’re coming from, anon. However, in this specific case, he basically did the digging, not the fans. The artbook was published in 2017 and he was the one who decided to include the images.

That being said, I’ll say again that I don’t think that one action defines who a person is and no one should feel like they can’t like him anymore because other people don’t (ftr, I like Jamie! If I had to choose I’d say I like what he contributes to Gorillaz more than what Damon does lmao). You decide your own limits. For some people it’s not going to be enough (and that’s okay!), for others it will be too much (that’s also okay!), but others will be on your same wavlength. That’s just the nature of these sorts of topics, and often, no one is entirely wrong.

But I’m also not going to tell people how to feel, and I’m not going to try and shut down dialogue from people who, imo, have very valid reasons to be upset. I learned a lot from these sorts of discussions when I was younger and starting to use the internet. Having a variety of perspectives out there can be valuable and productive provided it remains respectful.