#symbolism for queerness as well as disability

[gummigvts]

🫀Transmogrify

transform in a surprising or magical manner; to change or alter greatly

soft body horror poster design

Inspired by some comfort from Jax <@jimposts> and Billy <@silliest--billiest>

[kirby-the-gorb]

Advanced Boy commission for DxSurprise on twitter! (I don't think they're personally on tumblr anymore but their disability resource archive is still up at @spoonie-living!)

[thydungeongal]

What are some good RPGs that would say are good examples of being queer?

Sorry it took me a while to reply to this!

Anyway, my favorite capital Q Queer RPGs are Monsterhearts and Dungeon Bitches. Monsterhearts is the subtler of the two, being basically a game about playing a CW style teen drama with monsters that is basically a genre mashup of Vampire Diaries, Ginger Snaps, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Jennifer's Body. The queerness is very much textual but it's more so thematic and symbolic. The game's themes are queerness and adolescence and growing up, the vehicle it uses to explore those themes is monsters, because queer teens often get made to feel monstrous for having feelings and desires that fall outside of the norm.

Dungeon Bitches by @cavegirlpoems on the other hand is much more explicit about its queerness, in the sense that the queerness is also explicitly and unambiguously written into the fiction of the game. It is a game that is very much grounded in the dungeon-crawling genre of fantasy but that asks the question of "what kind of people would actually get into the dungeon-crawling life" and answers that with "people who are otherwise marginalized in so-called civilized society, especially queer women." It's very much a game that uses the dungeon crawling lifestyle to present a dialectic between the "safety" offered by the closet and normative society, and the precariousness and danger and the undeniable thrill of living as your true self. It's a game that is resonant to me not only as a fan of dungeon crawl type games but also as a trans woman making her first small steps towards transition. It's a fucked up game for fucked up dolls.

There are plenty of other queer games too, including Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Queerz, Girl by Moonlight, Dream Askew, and many many more. I think Thirsty Sword Lesbians is the most well-known and I do own it and at the end of the day it kind of leaves me cold. It feels like it's trying to play things a bit too safe and at the same time I feel its politics of identity are just messy.

Anyway, this is something I've been thinking of for a while, but since I've been thinking a lot about queer games not only in terms of "does it have the Gay" but also in terms of "does it thematically intersect with questions of queerness," I have to mention Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by @anim-ttrpgs.

So okay having been involved in the community surrounding Eureka for a while there is something about that game that appeals to LGBTQ folks, especially trans women. Now, Eureka has of course been written primarily from the point of view of disability: the main writer is disabled and the game makes it explicit that many of the supernatural elements, including the monster investigator types, are symbolic of the experiences of the disabled. But because the experiences of marginalized groups tend to intersect a lot, many queer folks also end up seeing themselves there. Vampires in Eureka are written very much from a Christian folkloric point of view so that many Christians may see them as inherently anathema even while they may still maintain their faith; something that many queer Christians may resonate with. Similarly, one of the monster types, the Thing from Beyond, is all about being an alien shape shifter trying to navigate a society that is ultimately scary and alien to them. There's also Living Dolls up in that thang!!!

There is more to Eureka that makes it appeal to many queer readers, but the main thing is this: it is written from a point of view that is ultimately empathetic of the "freaks" and outcasts. And while it does approach these topics from the point of view of disability, it is also very open to queer readings.

And this is sort of a source of gentle ribbing within the Eureka community: that the lead writer ends up writing stuff that resonates deeply with his friends and fans of the game, a significant number of whom happen to be trans women, and that this has to be pointed out to him constantly. It's really sweet and funny. (Fun anecdote: when I first came out as a trans woman he approached me in my DMs asking "So you're a chick now?" followed by a 👍 emoji.)

And I think that's a fun contrast. Many games that ultimately do not touch upon queerness in any meaningful way in their themes or gameplay will still get lauded as queer because they will use identity as a coat of paint or a part of their marketing. And at the same time someone writing candidly about their experiences of living with disability via metaphor may end up accidentally writing something that actually resonates with the lived experiences of queer people.

[crowdsourcedgender]

My zine, 'Label Coining as an Artform', is finally done! Transcript/Image ID underneath (warning: it's long). Printed version in a reblog.

[Image ID: A series of pages in a zine. The text is handwritten, and all figures described are simplified stick figures.

Page 1: ‘LABEL COINING as an ARTFORM in large text. Below is the multicolored MOGAI wheel, with three figures taking pieces of the colors and using them for art: sculpting, cutting a piece of paper, and painting. Below is ‘a MOGAI (& LIOM!) zine by Elliot/Hesper aka @ crowdsourcedgender on tumblr. Under the text are five pride flags: aro-spec, veldian, alterhuman, xenoman, and schooldoodlic.

Page 2: ‘Label Coining’ in large pink text. ‘(in this context) is the act of creating a word (and usually flag) for a certain experience!’. Next to this text is a figure filled in with pink with a speech bubble full of pink shapes, talking to someone using a cane holding out a hand and expressing a question mark. Below reads ‘generally a queer experience, but does often include or incorporate disability, neurodivergence etc.’ A figure asks ‘Why?’ and the text reads ‘I would say these are the ‘core tenets’:’. In a cloud next to this text is a blue and purple pride flag with purple text reading: ‘like this cool prosopagnosia flag I made!’.

The bottom half of the page is split into two columns: ‘Understanding’ and ‘Community’. The first column has a purple arm amputee explaining a purple rectangle to another purple person who is thinking ‘that’s me!!’. Next to them another purple person is explaining the same rectangle to a blank person, who has a purple-filled thought bubble with a white exclamation mark. Underneath the drawing is text surrounded by question marks: ‘Labels help people understand what they are experiencing, and communicate this to others. It’s easier to explain something when it’s already been written down!” The second column has a purple person holding a purple umbrella. They are waving to a purple person in a wheelchair. A purple person is leading another one to the group. Underneath the drawing is text surrounded by connected dots: ‘People can unite under a shared label whether this group is big or small! Whether for practical purposes (like advice) or just for fun, having people like you is nice.

Page 3: ‘And these are just as important as ever! But I’ve noticed what I like to call COINING for the sake of CREATION’. This last phrase is in large, dark and light blue text. Two sun symbols are on either side. Below is the text: ‘Vexillology is very clearly an artform, but label coining has become something more (not to mention that not all new labels have flags!). It’s composed of multiple skills has become more than the sum of its parts. Any art captures an experience, but label coining is much more explicit about it. And not just people’s experience of their identity! Part of the art of label coining is incorporating other concepts too, e.g. Schooldoodlic A gender related to doodling on school work papers and/or your homework. By spirits-gender-coining on Tumblr.’ The text about Schooldoodlic is small and light teal. Next to the text is its flag.

Page 4: ‘Elements of Label Coining’. The text on this page is separated into four green boxes.

‘Naming: Coming up with the actual word can be tricky. Generally, labels with lots of elements get more leeway with length. It’s important to check that a label isn’t already a word as well.’ Next to this text is more rough, dark green text reading ‘Premade suffixes + prefixes help! And latin (for some languages) as it’s possible to intuit meaning!’ Around the text is a few examples: ‘-vesil’ ‘-musica’ ‘an-’ ‘quoi-’

‘Flag making: Also known as vexillology, this is a pretty big deal. It’s also the most fun for me! You develop a really good sense of color from spending so much recoloring the same three stripes.’ Next to the text is 6 versions of the same pride flag, each with slightly different colors, with a 7th final version with a symbol.

‘Symbol making: Most flags don’t have symbols, but they’re good for groups of labels under a certain umbrella, or just if you have a really good idea.’ Next to this is rough, dark green text reading: ‘I drew three semirealistic flowers for a flag and ended up only using one’ with sad face. Under it is a drawing of a daisy, a pink coneflower, and lavender, which is circled.

‘Descriptions/formatting: Explanations can be artistic in their own right, and formatting is fun to mess with: many people have their own style. Make sure it’s accessible: add image IDs and plain text where applicable. There are a lot of good resources online!’ In dark green text is the phrase ‘Accessibility over Aesthetics’ with an image of a key on top and sparkles below.

Underneath the boxes in light green text is ‘Note: in the right context, any of these can be optional!’

Page 5: ‘If it wasn’t clear, I think this is AWESOME’. Awesome is in large text with yellow radiating lines. Underneath is ‘I’m a MOGAI coiner myself (generally) with about 65 coins at time of drawing. Using something I made, I wanted to demonstrate what a label coining might look like!’ Underneath is four versions of the same pride flag as well as a description, with ‘flag!’ ‘stripe meanings (I don’t normally do these)’ ‘symbol’ ‘name’ ‘pre-existing format’ and ‘experience’ labelled. The description reads ‘[Image ID was here] Human non-conforming (HNC). Human non-conforming (HNC, similar to gender non-conforming) is an umbrella label encompassing all identities and subcultures that somehow incorporate nonhuman elements in any way.’

Page 6: ‘The thing I love most about the label coining community is just that- the community! The way coiners and users interact, as well as how coiners can work together, is wonderful. There are 5 large words each with an associated doodle.

‘Requesting’: A figure leaning on forearm crutches has a speech bubble with yellow shapes exploding out of it. Another figure is taking shapes down from the bubble and forming it into a ball.

‘Collecting’: A figure is pulling a yellow cart with a large cloth bag labelled ‘LABELS’. They have stars in their eyes, and are looking at another person who is gesturing to a yellow rectangle.

‘Collaborating’: Two figures, one with orange speech and one with yellow speech and an AAC tablet are discussing, with many shapes and lines intermingling to make a fragmented rectangle.

‘Combining’: A figure in a grey hijab pulls down a lever. They are standing next to a large blender mixing orange and yellow liquids. On either side is bright yellow lightning.

‘Redesiging’: A small star with four radial lines coming out of it becomes more and more complex, indicated by black arrows.

Under the words is the text: ‘I’ve never participated, but there’s this amazing event called: COINFIGHT. Hosted by @ kiruliom on Tumblr. It’s inspired by artfight, and it involves coining labels for other people- but competitive-ish!’ Coinfight is in large, text with a crescent moon with stars at the top right corner, and a star at the bottom left.

Page 7: ‘I don’t think there’s anything like finding a label that finally fits you, or hearing that something you made did that for someone else.’ Under is a figure looking at an orange flower with light lines, then forming elements of the flower into a bubble, then showing an orange rectangle to another figure, with orange tendrils reaching towards them, forming the shape of a heart. Below is the text ‘There are a lot of things like pouring out your heart- or just having fun- while making or collecting label. I coin in the same mind I sketch and color and shade.’ On each side is a pen drawing an orange figure with a red shirt, and a tablet with an orange and red flag. Under this is ‘Label coining is an artform both like and unlike any other, and I’m proud to participate in it. I hope that if you want to, you can join me. And if that’s not your thing- thanks for reading!’ There is a drawing of a figure with dark grey wings holding up two fingers. Next is a ‘<2’ heart and ‘elliot’ as a signature. In smaller text next to these is ‘Thank you to the creators whose work is featured in this zine! Credit on the next page. Remember to keep this wonderful community and artform accessible to all!’

Page 8: ‘Credit’: This section has a pride flag next to each label. ‘Aromantic-spectum, @ theflagarchive on Tumblr. Turian, @ kenochoric on Tumblr. Schooldoodlic, @ spirits-gender-coining on Tumblr. Xenoman, @ ryanyflags on Tumblr. MOGAI symbol, Pride-Flags on DeviantArt. Alterhuman, @ vaestra on Tumblr. (the flag on pg. 4 is Wildflowergender). ‘About making this zine’: ‘I really, really regret handwriting this. Drawing over Helvetica Neue for so long might change my actual handwriting, [more rough:] which looks like this! According to Artstudio Pro, I took 14 hours! I barely planned this before starting, the color wheel theme and the people doodles. /End ID]

[autiebiographical]

Hello everyone!

I have made an Autistic themed prompt list for my own version of Inktober that I call AUctober! For every day of October I will be releasing a single panel comic correlated to the prompt of the day and I highly encourage anyone who wants to join to create something as well!

You can write, draw, animate, record, etc, etc and so forth! Even just a simple sketch or a single sentence! All I ask is that it be related to the prompt and it be tagged #auctober or #auctober2024

I hope you join in this October and I hope we all have fun!

Prompt list:

01. Autism Plus: this means comorbid or co-occurring conditions that come alongside with autism. (Dyslexia, ADHD, epilepsy, etc.)

02. Infinite: the infinity symbol has become the symbol of neurodiversity

03. AuDHD: autism and ADHD often go hand in hand, so the term AuDHD came into being

04. Music

05. Verbose

06. Individuals

07. Neuroscope: the uncanny ability we autistics have to tell when someone else is autistic

08. Non-speaking

09. Community

10. Self Advocacy

11. Unlearning Ableism

12. Differently Wired

13. Vivid Imaginations

14. Hyperfixations

15. Pebbling: little exchanges between two people to show that you care, like giving little gifts or just sharing memes

16. Autistic Pride

17. Repetition

18. Self Regulating

19. Comfort Items

20. Executive Dysfunction

21. Queer: this is here because there is a very large overlap between the autistic community and the queer community

22. Disabled

23. Synesthesia: when senses cross over, like seeing music or tasting colours. It's more common in autistics than allistics

24. Genetic

25. Pets

26. Fidgeting

27. Stimming

28. Safe Foods

29. Empathy

30. Accommodations

31. Sensory Euphoria

[ipso-faculty]

New intergender flag design

Intergender: an intersex person whose gender feels connected, linked, influenced, or a result of being intersex. This term is used as a descriptor of one's gender (e.g. an intergender trans woman) similar to how neurogender is a descriptor. Intergender is also used as a gender in of itself (e.g. hir gender is intergender). This is a well-established term in the intersex community.

I'm personally a minimalist when it comes to queer flag design. This design takes the Carpenter intersex flag and inverts the colours, to reflect how intergender is a complimentary term to intersex.

I'm also influenced by interpunked's intergender flag design, which I think had some good ideas but is too busy for my personal taste.

The colour fits nicely with how the ipsogender flag already does this (it replaces the ring with the Earth symbol). It also allows us to take flags with a design of intersex flag + <icon of other thing> and turn them into intergender flag + <icon of other thing>, like so:

[intersex + autistic, intersex + disabled, intersex + plural, followed by intergender + autistic, intergender + disabeld, intergender + plural]

I've put up an SVG version of this new intergender flag design on Wikimedia Commons here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Intergender_Flag.svg - it's public domain and free to use! <3

[it-couldbe-worse]

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️♿

Edit: someone requested an image id, I have never done one so 100% let me know if I need to alter this

[Image ID: progress+ pride flag, a rainbow pride flag with intersex, transgender, poc and disability inclusion symbolism as well as AIDS awareness [Caption top] MAKE ROOM FOR DISABLED QUEER FOLK [Caption bottom] ACCESSIBILITY AT PRIDE/End ID]

[thethiefandtheairbender]

once again i am asking everyone who was disappointed with natla and wants more good original animated storytelling to watch The Dragon Prince on netflix, particularly if you want complex, flawed, and fleshed out female characters and worldbuilding! Also for consistent motifs/symbols, foreshadowing, and a truly stunning amount of lore.

Unreliable narrators! Tragic siblings! Characters who are allowed to be hypocritical and sympathetic! Neutral and malevolent magic systems! Exploring not only how to break cycles of harm, abuse, and violence, but also why they're perpetuated! Dragons with personalities! Varied queer (lesbian, gay, transgender) and disabled rep (deaf, blind, amputees)! Majority of cast and key players are also all characters of colour, particularly in s4 onwards

It's been 5 out of 7 seasons and we're still unravelling things from the first 4 episodes alone, never mind the foreshadowing.

Tropes:

If you didn't want to be assimilated into my found family, you should've killed me when you had the chance

Someone who believes they are hard to love and someone who loves them like it's breathing

The needs of the many (interrogated) x Deal with the devil

Just... constant recontextualization, god bless

Child kings and queens

A metaphorically cannibalistic magic system that might not be so metaphorical after all

and so much more! I think about "You let him live, but you killed us all" every damn day, and that's just from ep1. Some of the ATLA voice actors (Sokka and Koh the Face Stealer) feature here as well as some of the creative team (most notably Aaron Ehasz, ATLA's head writer)

[number1villainstan]

I just saw Dune Part 2 (2024) with some friends so here are some Thoughts i guess

I feel like on the whole these movies are trying to either downplay or cut out a lot of the misogyny/sexism in the book, although Herbert's view of gender roles is so pervasive in the book that it's hard to change without completely changing the worldbuilding (the Bene Gesserit especially) and/or certain characters and getting second-order effects that weaken or change the main plot. But they did a good job at least making it much less in-your-face and offensive than in the book. One of Chani's lines is about how "men and women are equal" in the Fremen, and while I don't really think that's supported by how the movie depicts Fremen I can see and respect where they're coming from

It's still a very male-dominated movie, but it's honestly pretty faithful to the book, and like--what are you gonna do? It's Dune. You can't exactly just genderbend Paul and get the same story, at least not when the Bene Gesserit are still what they are

wait now i'm thinking about an AU where the Kwisatz Haderach turns out to be a trans man. ideally you'd get both the canon critiques of white savior mythos/the Messiah trope and a deconstruction of the sexism and strict gender roles of the society of the Dune universe. also ideally you'd get a whole bunch of other queer characters in the same AU. you could also do an AU where the Kwisatz Haderach/a potential Kwisatz Haderach turns out to be a trans woman, or even nonbinary, but i feel like those would make for very different stories cuz AGAB/ASAB seems to matter like A Lot in the Dune universe

the movies did manage to completely get rid of the homophobic parts of the Harkonnens' characterization though. i did like that

although it was still using disability/deformity as shorthand for Ugly Evil Guy which :/

but enough about the Problematic Elements(TM) let's talk about the actual story

Chani was a lot more politically and generally assertive in the movie than I remember her being in the book, although it's been A While and she was also very much a Main Character who had thoughts and opinions and importance outside of the male characters she was affiliated with (as much as anyone can escape the political black hole that is Muad'dib but) AND! she actively advocated for Fremen self-governance in the beginning! although she didn't keep it up cuz she got sucked into the Paul black hole. this may have happened in the book it has been like two years since i read the first book and it was very disjointed reading cuz College(TM). I also liked the ending part, where it was implied that Chani was leaving, on her own, because she was angry with Paul, which implies More Character Development. (Also they didn't seem to do the Fremen polygamy/concubines thing in the movie, which was a good call, i feel like that part of the book was maybe informed by anti-Arab racism)

Jessica was incredible, of course. Love me a good ruthless woman. Her main character trait/motivation was definitely Paul's Mother but her main personality trait seems to be incredible ruthlessness. there is no madonna/whore complex to be found here no sir

(i may be wrong about that part but eh)

And of course the Harkonnen Blood reveal. the story definitely sets up Atreides as The Good Guys (fair, just, merciful, looking out for and caring about the people under their rule) and the Harkonnens as The Bad Guys (cruel, unjust, power-hungry and traitorous), which makes the reveal that Jessica and Paul have Harkonnen blood an incredible symbol of Paul's corruption arc. He goes from "I must do anything possible to avoid the holy war" (the Atreides way) to "CONQUER ARRAKIS AND ELIMINATE ANYONE WHO STANDS IN MY WAY" (the Harkonnen way) over the course of...technically years, in the book, although that wasn't super well communicated in the movie I feel--in the movie it was only months, cuz Alia hadn't been born yet by the end. And right before we see the worst of it we end up learning that Jessica, his mother, was a daughter of Baron Harkonnen. Jesus fuck.

there's definitely some Not Great elements about using ancestors/blood to determine morality but still

princess irulan was introduced! as an independent character and actor in her own right oh my god! although she still falls prey to the sexism infusing the original material

the dune books (at least the first two) are in this weird state where there are very strict and specific roles/walks of life that female characters are allowed in (domestic/family life and religion) and men dominate Everything Else and nobody every questions that, not to mention the whole thing about how apparently even the very female religion/psychic field is supposed to be dominated eventually by This One Man who can do it better than all the women, and yet all of the female characters are well-developed and feel like people. ykno aside from the complete lack of protest in being shoved into a sexist role

anyways irulan got more development than i remember from the books, i loved that, and that we got her POV too. these movies are really working to uplift and spotlight the female perspectives that were often somewhat sidelined in the books and i love that

also stilgar's (blind?) faith REALLY came through which i liked

overall, yeah, the movie was great. it's very faithful to the spirit of Dune while addressing some of its flaws/datedness--it understands what its message is and what it's saying, and the way it's constructed really hammers home the critiques of imperialism and racism the original was built on

I think this is gonna end up a trilogy, based on only the first book, and it very much seems like the third (and final?) movie is going to specifically focus on the war against the Great Houses after the Emperor falls, which iirc was kinda glossed over in the book/between Dune and Dune: Messiah. I can't wait to see what they do with it

[girl4music]

I love the contrasting colours and tones and textures in Arcane for Zaun’s Undercity and Piltover’s Topside.

Zaun is Cyberpunk. It’s all technicolour and neon.

(Cold colours and tones and textures)

Piltover is Steampunk. It’s all pastel and metallic.

(Warm colours and tones and textures)

It demonstrates visually very effectively the colossal stark and striking differences between the twin cities. The political ideologies and economical environments its people live in and by and the laws they all adhere to.

Topside is posh and prestigious but it all feels fake. No one says what they mean and means what they say and the population would sell each other out in a heartbeat.

Undercity is violent and dirty but there’s solidarity here and the people stand by each other as if they’re family because they know how hard it is to survive in the pits.

Undercity is constantly ravaged by terrorism, plague and addiction due to the poor financial climate and Topside have so much of everything they could ever want but they’re just throwing it away as if it means nothing. It’s a really honest depiction of segregation.

And don’t think I missed the fact that most Zaunites are minorities like Black/POC, queer or disabled. That must be intentional because it’s something I realized quickly because even though our protagonist Zaunites that are human are white (Jinx and Silco’s grey coloured skin tones notwithstanding) most of the ones you see really struggling are not. And the rest of them aren’t human.

And then on Topside, you do see some Black/POC, queer and disabled characters but they’re not native to Piltover. They’re either a Zaunite too who got a lucky break or they’re from some other city in the Universe.

It REALLY stands out what they were trying to do here and yet this show is popular with both conservative watchers and liberal ones. That’s a really good thing because it means both sides of the coin are privy to the intentional division and corruption of political and economical warfare that’s so boldly painted in Arcane from what you see in the visuals alone, never mind plot.

And it’s really clever because there’s no labelling on it.

There’s no contextualization of what’s Right or Left, Blue or Red, Republican or Democrat. There sides but there’s no relation contextually to real life terms and definitions other than the subjective experiences and observations that are the symbolism for those things.

And why would there be? It’s supernatural/fantasy.

None of it is the reality. Yet it is resonant, is it not?

Well done animators! I picked this up quickly but I’m not the intended audience that really needs to see it because I already know and understand this shit well. But you can see that it is intentional that they did this.

They showed you the poverty and they showed you the wealth and they let you decide on which you want to root for. But if you’ve really took the show in visually and thematically, you naturally would root for both cities. You’d naturally want both to prosper and be at peace because you can clearly see that both have severe problems and are very unhappy with the civil unrest regardless of who has it better or who has it worst.

Bringing magic and the supernatural in general into the mix all the more just proves that this is a piece of TV art/entertainment that knows how to use metaphor and symbolism to great effect because it resonates well. Art will always resemble real life and real life will always resemble art because all we’re doing is just telling OUR stories but leaving out the lexicon of language that only ever distorts, distracts and deceives from experience.

It doesn’t matter what you call it or how you define it - you see it, you hear it and you feel it. You experience it.

Arcane is exceptional storytelling and representation because it resonates enough with us to make us move the obstacles that get in the way of being only human.

TV art/entertainment of the supernatural/fantasy kind always has a reach that no non-supernatual/fantasy art/entertainment ever can and it’s because we use it for escapism from our reality. We use it as our hideaway. Only to find that all it’s doing is recontextualizing it, subverting it or even outright parodying it. We’re not escaping reality. We’re just learning to tolerate what frustrates or even torments us because it’s more fun when it’s not us - not our world - not our people that has to face the drama. But at the end of the day, the only reason why we love it so much is because we self-insert it. We subconsciously look for characters, themes and narratives that relate to and resonate with us. That represent us as expressions of who and what we are - what and who we most care about, what we aspire to - what drives us as a human being on Earth right now.

The most successful TV art/entertainment does this intentionally but they do not let on as to why they do.

Your job as the observer is to find out the why as you watch it, report - and the cycle repeats all over again.

That is how art/entertainment is and always should be. If it isn’t, then give up on it. They’re not doing it for you.

But you’ll add to their sales week revenue regardless.

It is EXTREMELY RARE nowadays to get both great storytelling and great representation in one creative product or project. Don’t take Arcane for granted and do what you can to make sure it continues to provide and deliver the quality that it has done for 2 seasons because Netflix are fucking ruthless. They’re the type of network/streaming service company that believe if they don’t see insane immediate numbers - then they’ll axe it and pretend as if it never even existed in the first place. But Arcane is worth the effort. If both its creators and viewers are adamant enough, we will succeed at keeping it going for at least 1 more season. We need it.

[khruschevshoe]

OFMD Critique: Mermen, the Gravy Basket, and Cognitive Dissonance

Warning: this is going to be a bit rambly.

So, I can't stop thinking about the end of "The Innkeeper." (OFMD 2x3, if you need the reminder.) About how I have completely different reactions to the final scene of the episode depending on who's POV/plot I'm considering it a part of.

As part of the Stede/Ed plot, and as part of Ed's personal character arc, it's masterful. The cinematography, the swelling music (and music choice, god is "This Woman's Work" a fantastic pick), the acting, the lighting, everything about it is so well done. It's a story about a man who has hit the absolute bottom of a depressive episode because he believes that love is only meant to hurt, that no love can exist without it dying, and who is pulled from the absolute Darkest Night of the Soul by the man who loves him- in the form of a merman. (I'm not going to harp on the symbolism and the perfection of choosing a mermaid, a rainbow, beautiful, queer-as-hell mermaid, as Stede's form here because others have done it so much better than I ever could.)

This final scene is PERFECT for the Stede/Ed plotline. I will give it all the props in the world for its gorgeous portrayal of the healing, divinely-coded power of queer love.

But from the crew's POV? From the end of a plot that was literally about a man spiralling and taking everyone down with him? From the POV of people who were just forced to shoot themselves, to fight to the death, to amputate limbs, who finally got to stand up to their monster after months of fear, of sobbing when Blackbeard couldn't see, of living on a knife's edge because if they put one toe out of line they'll get shot in the leg or pushed off the ship or worse?

I'm not looking at a man's rebirth; I'm looking at a villain's resurrection.

All I can feel is dread on behalf of a crew that literally just admitted to having been "living second to second" for months now. A crew that was ready to die at Zheng Yi Sao's behest because that's what they had been expecting from the man they just had to kill to survive a storm.

I can't ever fully immerse myself in the scene as I did the first time around, because I know how the crew's subplot is going to go. I know that they are going to vote Ed off the ship, finally gaining some agency, and then Stede is going let Ed back on the ship within a day with a slap on the wrist. Ed is going to give an "influencer apology" and that'll be that, because as Archie says, "they just kinda get away with these things." The crew will get no more agency in their own trauma recovery or their reactions to Blackbeard beyond Lucius' (very questionably handled) trauma recovery arc. This season is going to end with a character dying from a random gunshot wound to the side after Ed survived a CANNONBALL TO THE HEAD. (A character who, by the way, Ed put a gun in the hand of and told him to shoot himself. A man who, by the way, Ed shot in the leg, permanently disabling him. A man who, by the way, dies by apologizing to Ed for Ed tormenting him and the rest of the crew for months on end and driving them to the point that they would kill him.)

I try so hard to remain in the emotions I felt watching the merman scene the first time around, the hope I had for the Ed/Stede storyline, the hope I had for all of these characters. What I thought I was looking at was a sign of hope for all of them, the idea that they could all heal from their trauma, that everyone could experience some version of this love (whether romantic, platonic, or otherwise) for themselves.

But instead, the only other character to get a song died by the end of the season without ever getting a chance at a Gravy Basket of their own. And thus, I cannot ever feel what every possible Cinematic Cue in his scene is trying to get me to feel, because it will always, always be tainted by knowing that every one of those beautiful choices have been denied to Izzy, Jim, Archie, and Frenchie when it comes to their recovery arcs strangled before they could ever be completed.

[19burstraat]

queering futurity in crooked kingdom

if I had any real time for this (I do not) I'd be tempted to write a real essay about it, but I have a dissertation and two other real essays for my actual degree, so let's do a bad tunglr bullet point analysis. I'm... largely generalising and paraphrasing here, and I suspect this has a billion things to iron out or that I forgot about, but I hope this might be a bit interesting regardless of how much you may or may not know abt queer literary theory lmao.

in extreme short, there is a subset of queer theory around what is, in essence, queer time. there is a heteronormative future/'futurity', and it is marriage, children, a good job, a nice house, and dying at a good age after a fulfilling life. queer* and trans people both reject and often cannot access this: plenty couldn't/cannot get married or have children, or had to surpass lots of obstacles to do so, many queer and trans people were or are killed young, or died prematurely in the aids crisis. and so we get queer temporality; a resistance to the heteronormative future that is refused or inaccessible, and to reproductive futurism; the concept that people value the future over the present... and this manifests in kicking back against things like the symbolic 'child' as a representative of futurity. not real children, but empty platitudes like think of the children! think of the future for your children! there can also be a development of a death drive, which is sometimes literal and sometimes metaphorical, which is, again, basically a rejection of 'the future'.

while the grishaverse doesn't have homophobia as such, you can still do queer readings, bc it is ofc influenced by our world, by virtue of being Written By A Person From Our World. and especially in kerch, there's still stuff like patrilineal inheritance... buuuut reproductive futurity & friends are very deliberately destroyed by the end of crooked kingdom. mostly by the usual culprit (taps sign that says IT'S KAZ AGAIN LOL) but by the narrative and the other characters as well. walk w me! I don't think this is a real analysis more just a lot of Thoughts but... nvm

*used here as an umbrella term since the theory I'm pulling from is the field of queer theory

the two men (van eck and rollins) who are most concerned with reproductive futurism (having heirs and a legacy, 'building something that will outlast them'), are promptly buried under the rubble of their building efforts by our usual culprit. kaz uses the mentality of legacy and lineage against them both; he kidnaps van eck's pregnant wife to use as a bargaining chip, and he uses rollins's son and heir against him, because he knows what's most important to these men is their line, their work being handed down. he deduces that rollins has a son through rollins' vanity around building something to 'last', and his naming of the kaelish prince. rollins is literally themed around monarchy and descent; the king of the barrel, the kaelish prince, the emerald palace. kaz, for his part, is the bastard of the barrel. the illegitimate son, not produced by any conventional family structure, ketterdam his mother and profit his father... and therefore he is the perfect person to blow up this imagined monarchy

wylan is rejected by van eck for his disability, for being supposedly incapable of continuing his father's legacy; and so we gather that the actual child doesn't matter to van eck, it's what The Child represented to him, which was the future of the van eck company. the illegitimate kaz restores van eck's disowned son to the succession through sheer trickery, and jan van eck's trading empire is succeeded by his son he attempted to reject, and his farm-boy barrel-tough boyfriend. they bring home the first wife that van eck had committed, for failing to produce the 'perfect' heir. no perfect heteronormative future here!

(also by virtue of wylan and jesper being a mlm couple, there is now way less emphasis that can be put on the idea of biological children 'continuing' the line, and it somewhat stops the expectation that ruined wylan's life from being passed down)

the two m/f couples are also very distant from this idealised reproductive futurity. matthias dies, ruining any idea of a 'conventional' future he could have had with nina, and while his death is generally more about the extremist brainwashing stuff explored w the drüskelle, it does blow to shreds that futurity even more, and nina's power is also a very literal HEY GUYS. LET'S THINK ABOUT DEATH... plus she leaves ketterdam to take matthias to be buried at the end of the book.

kaz and inej both do very dangerous jobs and separate for long periods of time. they may marry or they may not, they may have children or they may not, they may be physical with one another or they may not. it doesn't really matter; they'll try, but we don't get to find out how far they may or may not get, which honestly I kinda like. their future is open, the river running carrying inej to the sea. also, inej makes an explicit rejection of this kind of 'normal' future:

So he wasn’t fit for a normal life. Was she meant to find a kindhearted husband, have his children, then sharpen her knives after they’d gone to sleep? How would she explain the nightmares she still had from the Menagerie? Or the blood on her hands?

we don't really know whether or not kaz as a character is queer (I do not think kaz knows either lol) but it doesn't really matter, you can still read him as a queer figure both a) just if you want to! and b) in this sense of queer temporality, bc he's the crux of a lot of it. we already covered the bastard thing and his happy habit of kicking reproductive futurism when it's down, and as Edelman says: 'If the fate of the queer is to figure the fate that cuts the thread of futurity...' well, kaz 'build something new. watch it burn' 'he knew exactly what he was going to leave behind: damage' brekker is our man!

he does not give a single flying fuck about the future. he destroyed van eck and rollins' legacies, and he'll do that shit again. he doesn't have enough of an ego to consider a 'legacy' for himself besides destruction, which is a rejection of a legacy in itself. his plans for the future amount to fucking shit up and making a bunch of money to use to do more damage, until he gets shot/stabbed/hanged/drowned/whatever, which he constantly anticipates.

kaz also has a massive distrust and disdain for traditional family structures, because he's seen them crumble twice; his actual family are all dead, and the hertzoon con was built on creating a convincing family mode to lure them in. "my mother is ketterdam, she birthed me in the harbour; my father is profit, I honour him daily" is a sneer at paterfamilias type families where the mother is there to just give birth and the father is the head of the family, to be honoured and served, rather than loved. he also has zero sympathy for the 'think of the children!' thing, bc he knows it's disingenuous; who thought of him? no one. rollins was happy to con kids with the false promise of family and safety, and all the people he paid off were happy to turn the other way. was there no one to look after you? no, there wasn't. his mother is ketterdam: filthy, feral ketterdam. no nurturing mother has he!

So he threatens Alby and Hanna with no qualms, because while he doesn't actually ever intend to hurt children (...not physically anyway, apparently upsetting them is fair game FJJFJD), he knows the power of the threat— the idea of the child— is often more impactful than the actual act itself. ("Inej, I could only kill Pekka’s son once. He can imagine his death a thousand times.") it certainly works on rollins and van eck! he'll make you think of the damn children alright!

inej takes direct action to defend actual children, not just the idea of them, and then we hear in rule of wolves she's hated by the kerch government for it because she's fucking with their profits. (look also to how they flapped about searching for wylan, one rich man's kid, and are completely useless about hundreds of forced indentures. what a surprise...)

she reunites with her parents, but she worries persistently about whether or not they will accept her for who she has become, and we are never quite told whether or not they do. we like to think so, but we don't actually know. and although she gets to see her parents again, her future is on the wraith, not with them.

most people have dead or splintered families, actually. only inej has both parents, and for three - four years, they didn't have a daughter.

The general proximity to death in general is very potent; nina's power, kaz's whole backstory, the camping out in a graveyard. jesper's recklessness and love for fights, inej being ready to die rather than be a captiver again and kaz's response to that being 'not just yet', rather than not at all...

all following into the whole no mourners, no funerals thing!!! the fact that they know they won't be remembered or cared about if they die!!!

Edelman: 'Choosing to stand, as many of us do, outside the cycles of reproduction, choosing to stand, as we also do, by the side of those living and dying each day with the complications of AIDS, we know the deception of the societal lie that endlessly looks toward a future whose promise is always a day away.'

SOC:

Inej's mother and father might still shed tears for the daughter they'd lost, but if Inej died tonight, there would be no one to grieve for the girl she was now. 

“No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.”

pick up what I'm putting down guys please please I don't have time to tease this out properly but like. I think kaz and wylan are the linchpins here. (again)

[nausikaaa]

Six Sentence Sunday

happy solstice, last day of saturnalia, and not-quite-almost christmas! i hope you're all having a nice holiday season. i'm at work pretty much every day until January, because pubs do well at christmas, which is why i've fallen so behind on reading other people's wip shares.

plus i've been keeping a close eye on my goats, since the girls, Juno, Lucy and Mina, are in with the billy, Hadrian. so far he has gotten lucky plenty, but the girls have come back round in season all the same. i know he can do the job because he did it last year, so it's just bad luck and i've got to keep my fingers crossed it will hold the second or third time.

anyhoo. thanks for the tags today and on wednesday @forabeatofadrum @that-disabled-princess @bookish-bogwitch and @artsyunderstudy!

today i have some more of my post-trojan war wip, with a preamble:

so basically, part of my story follows Briseis, Achilles' war bride, after the events of the Iliad, but there are no sources as far as i can find that say what happens to her. so, i had to plot out what reasonably could have happened, and i eventually figured that if she was legally considered his wife (which is complicated in and of itself- Achilles was already married, but bigamy was sometimes practised by Greek kings, and Patroclus promises Briseis in the Iliad to make Achilles marry her. my Briseis is pregnant, which makes these things simultaneously more and less complicated) she would travel with Neoptolemus, Achilles' son by that aforementioned other wife, and Phoenix, Achilles' old mentor, either of whom would likely have become her male guardian upon his death, to Phthia, Achilles' homeland, where she would become a ward of Peleus, Achilles' father and the patriarch of the child(ren) she is carrying.

so with that sorted: it's mentioned in some sources that after the war, Neoptolemus walked his army from Troy back to Greece, which was honestly a good call because the moment the Greeks set sail, they hit a storm, which sank Ajax's ship and killed him as punishment for him raping Cassandra in a temple, blew Helen and Menelaus off course to Egypt, and blew Odysseus off course too, and we all know that didn't go well for him. we know Phoenix took this journey too because it's noted he died and was buried along the way.

so, walking an entire army from Turkey to Greece. it's doable, it won't even take you that long, but you'll need to stop for supplies such as food. and that got me wondering, what the hell would an army have to buy food with? sure, they would probably be willing to part with some stolen booty, but it was a status symbol, they would want to hold onto the best stuff.

the answer is obvious, but unfortunate.

To some it was a relief to reach a town, but those of us who knew how the world worked were not so sure.

If the people were amenable, there would be trade for food and wine. And what did the Achaeans have in surplus to offer in exchange for such things?

If they were not so welcoming, the soldiers would simply attack, taking what they wanted, and the numbers of their one export would grow.

Women, always women, trading hands, pulled this way and that. Even the war that started it all was over a woman; who could own her, who could bed her.

tags/hellos/holiday well wishes: @cutestkilla @run-for-chamo-miles @roomwithanopenfire @prettygoododds @ic3-que3n @blackberrysummerblog @j-nipper-95 @youarenevertooold @larkral @orange-peony @aristocratic-otter @thewholelemon @alexalexinii @confused-bi-queer @shrekgogurt @comesitintheclover @raenestee @hushed-chorus @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @noblecorgi @shemakesmeforget @ileadacharmedlife @supercutedinosaurs @otherpeoplesheartachept-2 @ninemagicks @otherworldsivelivedin @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists @carryonmylovelies and @meanjeansjeans!

and for reading all this, here's Olive in her christmas outfit and the dogs in theirs!

[brandytusk]

The following thoughts, or maybe confession, contain Arcane spoilers. Please keep that in mind should you continue. It's a long story, I apologize in advance.

Now I will say, I am no LoL player, thus unfamiliar with its lore with the exception of what I search for, or what education I get from others. I had a passing interest in Arcane due to my best friend's insistence, rambling on about its beautiful art style, symbolism, and compelling writing. It was one of those things I did in fact, try and make a habit of to sit and watch at dinner, see what all the rising hubbub was about. I'll admit, I don't know where I stopped in season one, but I didn't finish it. As I recall, the plot felt too grim. To me, it felt like it was a show getting praise for being artistically depressing. When season one's ending was spoiled for me, I was glad I hadn't got as invested as other people I knew. To have developed characters so sincerely in a season's time, just to end it the way it was done…I disapproved, and I shook my head. Forgot it all at the time.

I'm a millennial who has lived through recession, through pandemic, and I am not middle class. I'm anxious, and there are days that feel hopeless and painfully long. I want to escape into the media I consume, let characters take me on a journey with them, far away from the oppressive, hanging air of everyday life in late stage capitalism. I don't want a tragic story, no matter how much it is praised for its art direction. Moving forward every morning can be bleak enough. Maybe others like these kinds of harsh stories for its relatability, and that's fine! I am happy for those that can appreciate it in that way, but I cannot. I'm tired, and perhaps not just as a struggling individual, but as an LGBT+ person with a husband.

Mainstream, popular shows (that get shown to American audiences, at least) don't often get obvious queer representation, or when it does, the show is often cut short. I felt baited in what I did see of season one, and rolled my eyes that fanfiction writers were fed enough to work their magic and fill the holes, as per usual.

Then, the next season of Arcane releases, and my social media feeds became flooded with screenshots and spoilers. I didn't block said spoilers and told myself I was no longer invested in Arcane -- only to see the most alarming screen captures I'd ever seen.

I especially liked what I'd seen of Viktor and Jayce in the past. I enjoyed seeing two intelligent, determined male creatives share screentime and share their story of a growing, deepening friendship. As far as I was aware, Jayce and Viktor were well bonded colleagues, if not each other's 'ride or die', once mutually and deeply invested in a greater outcome to benefit the whole. Compared to the rest of what I'd seen of Arcane's first season, it still hadn't gripped me enough to stick around as I wanted to save myself from heartache. Long story short, season two's spoilers revealed to me Jayce making a frantic, truly desperate effort to revive his fallen, disabled partner Viktor after the explosion. While he's successful, this fuses Viktor with tech Jayce once swore to destroy. Jayce draws close and is just relieved Viktor, in his birthday suit at this moment mind you, is alive, while Viktor is disappointed Jayce didn't keep his promise. They go separate ways, and the scene felt like an intimate argument, a break up. Well, at this point with that much revealed to me, I was relieved to see the two of them alive after the first season's ending. I was curious again, so I continued to look at screen captures and gifsets.

Viktor develops magic skills to heal others, and in his new body things, seem to fall into place for him. He is appreciated, and maybe it's suggested he gets a following. While its unclear how 'good' the arcane is, what he's doing with it seems right for the character. It looks like a victory…until Jayce comes along and puts a hole in Viktor's chest, keeping his promise. Viktor only meant to talk to him. Jayce, who had fought so hard to revive this man, kills him, as far as I'd seen it. It felt like petty shock value. Not knowing there was more episodes to come, I thought that was it. More tragedy, more pain.

My husband knows me well. I very rarely get affected by the shows I watch, and when I do, I am reserved about it. Instead, I sobbed, the kind where you can't see passed the tears and the snot. I felt so betrayed by my curiosity, by my hopeful feelings. I spent days ranting to my friends and my husband, offended and angry. How dare these writers throw around this disabled character and give him no relief, and what was more, develop two men in such a way as to suggest one simply cannot exist without the other only to shoot down one of them, by the hand of their partner? I had let myself be baited again, and I was feeling it. It burned, it hurt, I raged. I gave up.

A day or two ago, my best friend chimed in again: I should check in on Arcane. There had been more episodes, the season had finished. Trusting they knew how sensitive I was about all of it, I did. Again, I was moved to tears, but for different, much better reasons.

What was this?

Fortiche and its writing team had bothered to weave together and tell a story of two men ultimately destined for each other through every timeline, the kind of trope reserved for romantic movies and literature? They held hands, kept each other close, were honest with each other in the starry nothing. Hand to nape, forehead to forehead, and colorfully blinked out of that current existence, together? Such intimacy didn't need a kiss or a sex scene to feel real, there was love there. Their fated, interwoven existence, their deep and complex relationship, saved the world. In the end, there was hope.

You can tell yourself that it wasn't romantic if it makes you feel better, but in all its passionate details it very much was. To this stressed, exhausted LGBT+ person in these real uncertain times, I needed to see it. I felt deep relief, satisfaction, and most of all a need to pursue the Arcane fandom, a desire to enter. To at the very least, gush about my impression of it all, and what it means to me to see two men tenderly portrayed in ways they typically aren't. Fortiche, well done. You did give the Caitvi shippers something to blatantly feast upon, you also gave lesbian characters depth and variation, but this isn't about that.

You let two male characters show dedication, affection, and softness. Thank you. Jayvik folks, I am with you. Arcane, let's start over at the first episode, I can't wait to watch all of you now.

[smoov-criminal]

spent a while over the last few days doing the red embroidery around the patches and also tried my hand at doing words on the collar, i think it turned out well!

[ID: two pictures of a black vest with many patches and buttons. the first picture shows the front of the vest. the words "im a fag" and "im a dyke" are embroidered on either side of the collar in red thread. there's a genderqueer flag patch obscured by the collar on the right side, and a black poppy patch obscured on the left. there's two breast pockets that both have spikes on them, and in the center they both have small buttons, the one on the left reads "black anger is valid" and the right reads "disarm defund dismantle police". there's a red "t4t" patch and a white "xe/xem" patch, both with red thread around them. there's 3 other buttons, one with the nirvana smiley face, one with the mcr logo, and one that says "queers live here too" with a rainbow map of the south east US. there are spikes around the side pockets as well. there is red embroidery thread around the arm holes.

the second picture shows the back of the vest. there's a big back patch that reads "thank you" in large red font repeating down, and the bottom says "for the venom" in smaller red font. there's a patch at the top that says "queercrip" in purple text, with a trans disability symbol next to it. there's 3 patches at the bottom, from left to right they read "limp wrist raised fist" "keep abortion legal" and "cripple punk" every patch on the back has red thread around it. /end ID]

[sodaslug]

hii there ! you can call me ruru or toffuu, i am plural however generally no other will post on here apart from me, ruru. please read this through for more information about me 🤍

⭐ . about disabilities & disorders of mine

im a high-complex support needs autistic / level 3 autistic with an intelectual disability (low iq). this means i heavily struggle with expressing what i mean correctly and process language differently. also have continued late regression of skills.

i have many disabilities and disorders. please be mindful, respectful and patient with me. Moderate ADHD Combined type, Mild visual impairment, learning disabilities, on the shizophrenic spectrum and mentally ill.

hypermobile enhlers danlers syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic joint pain, unexplained momentary paralysis of the legs, medically suspected arthritis.

semiverbal with speech impairment, late met speech milestone. generally part time aac device user.

mildly hard of hearing and future wheelchair user.

⭐ . about my identity & who i am

im an intersex nonbinary transgirl, im also transfemneu and transxenofem and cistrans. i use a lot of xenogenders and am a pansexual lesbian.

i use shi/hir, kid/kidself, pie/pieself, mew/mewself pronouns for the most part, if you struggle with abstract pronouns, you may just use my name or it/itself.

⭐ . what will be on this account?

me rambling and silly posting, talking about my interests as well as my disabilities and my day.

continue below for further information on my beliefs and interests as well as tags.

⭐ . what are my stances / beliefs on things?

i support all types of queer folk and their identities and what they are, no matter if contradictory or not.

i support all plural folk no matter of origin or what labels they use, i wont exclude anyone or try to go at them because of how they believe their brain is wired.

i support educated and informed self diagnosis, however, intelectual disability is not self diagnosable.

lastly dont involve me in any discourse, may that be queer discourse, system discourse or ship discourse, i dont care and it's odd.

the misinformation and ignorance a lot of folk put onto the topic of the puzzle piece symbolism on autism is often ableist and should be worked on in the lower needs autism community.

⭐ . what i like, interests and so on!

special interests of mine

my little pony, specifically generation four or generation three merchandise. its been my special interest for about ten years now.

i have also had a special interest in autism for about seven years now.

and a game called adopt me on roblox has been a special interest of mine for five years now!

hyperfixations of mine which i have or which come back

breaking bad, shameless us, the amazing world of gumball, tokio hotel, cookie run kingdom, heartbreak high, isopods, snails, future man, avatar the last airbender and way more.

hobbies which i have right now

watching cartoons or east asian dramas

collecting toys, rocks, notebooks, stickers, manga, sensory items, stuffed animals and more

⭐ . the tags i might use in my posts

#rurusharing : just a general type of tag of mine, might use this when im just sharing about my day or something which happened.

#rururant : not particularly venting, but could be, it'll be sharing of some sort related to negativity.

#ruruspinterest : this is me talking about my special interests in any way!

rurufixates : mentioning of hyperfixations