#thasmin in all episodes

[evviejo]

thirteen x yaz in the power of the doctor

i have loved being with you, yaz.

[t0o-m4ny-f4nd0ms]

cheeky little teaser for my thasmin baddies don’t think I’ve forgotten about the lomls (and by that I mean loves of my life but I guess funnily or sadly also the losses of my life)

[kate-apologist]

someone tell me why yaz is so much gayer in 13s books than she is in season 11. maybe it's hindsight but girl is always attached to the doctor's hip. her entire internal monologue is just the doctor's so cool and amazing and clever and she's such a good friend- completely obliviously, definitely not freaking out when 13 hugs her (also 13 gives so many more hugs in the books, we were robbed of a hugging 13 before the gallifrey reveal, ugh)

[mwagneto]

like obviously it's always sad when the doctor regenerates but 13 makes me feel such a specific kind of misery and sorrow at how she was treated (and by extension how we, the handful of fans left standing, were treated) during her era like obviously her casting was always gonna be controversial but the sheer level of vitriol directed at her was so exhausting... and then on the other side the absolutely insane decline in interest even from the fandom itself like i remember how excited the entirety of tumblr was when she was announced it was literally unavoidable even when i wasn't on the dw side of tumblr. and then like everyone just gave up on her which yeah ppl are gonna lose interest if the plot is bad which don't get me wrong it is but when is it not? ppl survived 6 seasons of moffat but gave up after like less than a season of this? and that's the other thing it's just so fucking frustrating how all the horrifically bad writing somehow gets blamed on HER? like somehow casting a woman made the WRITING BAD??? THE WRITING DONE BY A MAN?? not to mention a man who's been writing for this show for decades now😭 and she's literally just a character but somehow the entire responsibility of just how shit her era is falls on her shoulders despite her being a made up woman on a screen which every shitty person still uses as a gotcha as to why the doctor should never have been a woman. and ofc there's the ppl who specifically disliked her personality coz she was too cold or too mean etc all of which are things ppl easily forgive or ignore or outright love abt any doctor played by a man and let's not even get INTO thasmin. like sorry this is so incoherent but im so endlessly sad about how the joy and hype of finally getting a woman doctor turned into everyone abandoning the show, including the people that were initially rly excited and hopeful like yeah i get why ppl hate the plot i hate it too but i have such a deep sense of loyalty to 13 idk I'll always cling to her with all my claws she deserved so much better both writing-wise and fan-reception wise😭 anyway...

[strawburrymeadows]

yaz & thirteen are so alice & alfred coded from the musical alice by heart.

[ivereadthemanual]

There is one thing that really irks me about the episode and I'm just going to say it to get it out of my system:

Why was Yaz not mentioned. The regeneration into Fourteen was how long ago in-universe? Some days? Weeks maybe??

Fifteen mentioning Rose, River Song and how much he loved his companions and no Yaz :(

Thirteen even called her companions fam. It would have been fitting to tie in Thirteens desire to have a family with Fourteen staying with Donna. And honestly, Donna being Donna would have been enough for me to bridge the gap from Thirteen not being able to be with Yaz because she has to keep going and Fourteen deciding to settle down.

I know RTD said he is going to ignore a lot of stuff, but common :(

[khruschevshoe]

Being a true galaxy-brained Doctor Who fan is hitting the epiphany that every showrunner had their strengths and their weaknesses and their own interpretations of the Doctor and you can like or dislike any aspect of any showrunner and acknowledge their genuine mistakes/bad choices/yikes decisions (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, questionable undertones, lack of agency for female characters, etc.) and it is COMPLETELY VALID to have that turn you off of a Doctor/showrunner but also acknowledge that some of the things that people have considered bad writing over the years are often personal preference (valid opinion, not always valid fact) and that just as there are clunkers in every season, there's something to appreciate about every showrunner and every Doctor.

After all, "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant."

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

laura heard "when is a monster not a monster? oh when you love it" and took that a little too literally

[phaedo]

like my url was lesbianacemcshane for weeks i think anyone reblogging posts from me on the regular is. well aware of how i feel.

[picnokinesis]

flux adjacent fic recs

in media res by wreckageofstars (3k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: “Well,” she said. “Now you know what the mattress is for.” Dan shifted. “And the trampoline?” “Best not ask about the trampoline.” //I think this is probably the first Dan pov fic I ever read, and it’s absolutely brilliant. This author gets the character voices down so perfectly it’s unreal, and the whole thing is just so wonderful to see from Dan’s outsider perspective. It’s set in the immediate aftermath of Once, Upon Time, and it does a fantastic job of exploring the impact of what happened in that episode – both from a whump perspective and an emotional one. Angsty, but also funny in the worst kind of way – someone please go give Yaz a break, she REALLY needs one. Anyway, it’s great, everyone go read it right now.

Hearts of Stone by weirdpug (previously xhonia) (1k, 1 chapter, thoschei) summary: The Doctor loses herself. The Master finds her. //Ohhh this one this one, it’s SO awesome – it’s one of those fics that does really cool things with the formatting? Which works great here, because it’s a weeping angel!13 fic and wow, wow! Extremely awesome indeed, and just beautifully written – the prose is just so full of character, even when the Doctor is losing herself and it’s so well done.

Divination by WalkerLister (6k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: “There was a name for someone similar to me once. They called them the Valeyard. You can call me that, if you like. I quite like it, it’s suitably eerie. Little bit of drama never hurt anyone.” //Right, so we all remember what happened when War of the Sontarans aired…we got that ‘next time’ trailer of Once Upon Time…and all collectively lost our minds over the inverted dark coat. Since then, I feel like everyone has been finding really creative ways to get it into fanfics, and this is a wonderful example. And, well, if the promise of dark coat!13 wasn’t enough, this fic is just an absolutely fascinating look at the concept of the Valeyard in the context of the fobwatch from Flux, but focused on Yaz and her relationship with/perception of the Doctor. It’s such a good concept and so so wonderfully done! (also, if you’re a fan of thasmin, this author has a ton of stuff, so definitely go check it all out! For the less thasmin-inclined folks, I highly recommend Ipesity, which is one of my favourite post-TTC fics)

three points where two lines meet by Ymae (4k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: The Doctor tries to get those memories back, and breaks herself, bit by bit. //Oh man. This fic. I still remember when this one first posted and hoooooo boy, it is a hell of a gut-punch and absolutely wrenched my heart right out of my chest but HHHHHHHHH wow!! WOW. Genuinely, I think this fic rewrote my brain a little bit. It's set in the immediate aftermath of Once, Upon Time where the Doctor makes some very unwise decisions about trying to tug at her timeline and it's absolutely incredible. Very angsty, very whumpy, and full of a HUGE amount of the Doctor messing with timelines and very visceral, tangible descriptions of her timesense. It is such a treat, guys. And if you like this one and want something with similar vibes, I also highly recommend this post-flux fic by the same author!

Sheer Poetry! by Papapaldi (57k, 5 chapters, gen) summary: Trapped within her own mind, the Doctor travels through an impossible house, with everyone she has ever been locked inside. Her body is an unresponsive, useless bag of flesh somewhere far and away in reality. The part of her brain that she knows, where her past resides, sits somewhere else entirely within the old machine. The Ravagers eat, buried memories beckon, and the Doctor's faith is shaken to its core. She will never be the same – but that's what she's all about, right? Incredible change. //oh my days. THIS FIC, guys - look, I see the word count, I know, I know. This fic is a serious undertaking, but like so many things in life it is soooooo so worth it. Bucket loads of absolutely ASTOUNDING imagery, more references to Lungbarrow and Timewyrm Revelation than you can shake a stick at, BUT you don't need to have read those stories at all to enjoy this absolutely fantastic saga (put it like this - I've not read those books, and I had a whale of a time). Incredibly poetic, a little nonsensical in the best kind of way (it IS a mindscape fic) but startlingly funny and so beautifully in character. I laughed, I cried. This fic is just a love letter to everything Doctor Who, weaving all of canon into this beautiful, cohesive tapestry. I highly recommend. (and, if you're hungry for more and want tpotd content, there's an excellent sequel as well)

every step i choose to take (begins to set the world aflame) by SleepyMaddy (12k, 1 chapter, thoschei) summary: In a spaceport lost in a remote quadrant of interstellar space, a Doctor who doesn’t know herself anymore runs into a Master who doesn’t know himself yet // Ok so the sheer concept of this one ALONE is absolutely brilliant – the Doctor, escaping from the Division and half out of her head, bumps into the Master, who’s not long regenerated from Missy. And, guys. It’s fascinating. Seeing the Master right at the start, before he finds out everything that comes to define him in this era, and then having him meet a version of the Doctor who is quite a lot further along than him and just completely out of it? It’s like catnip to me, guys. And, of course, it’s all helped by the fact that the writing is absolutely brilliant – the characters are just absolutely spot on, which is quite an incredible feat seeing as they are both in very different places to where we see them in the show, yet they still manage to ring true throughout the whole thing. And also the mindscape imagery? The psychic whump? The emotional gut-punch that is the entire fic? Absolutely unparalleled. (also, if you’re a spydoc fan? Just help yourself out and read this author’s entire set of works, because it’s all fantastic)

see me bare my teeth for you by picnokinesis (16k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: “Do you know your mission?” //This is a bit of a cheeky self-rec, but, in my defence, if you're looking for flux fics, then I think you'll enjoy this one. I wrote it in the week after Village of the Angels aired, and it's basically all my thoughts and theories about what was going to happen in Survivors of the Flux thrown into a 16k oneshot. I was...mostly wrong HAHA but I’m still really proud of it. If you like division!doctor, then this one is for you

we're only dreaming (tell me who i am) by SpaceBetweenGalaxies (2k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: more the-memory-house-is-Lungbarrow clowning //ok, so if you were like me when flux was airing and absolutely lost your MIND over the illogical house which was a bit too on the nose regarding Lungbarrow related things, then THIS FIC IS FOR YOU. Absolutely brilliantly done, with some gorgeous imagery that I'm still thinking about to this day, and just a wonderfully unsettling exploration of the Doctor and how she picks at those cut off memories in the aftermath of the Flux

the stars are bound to change by emptypockets (9k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: Being trisected across the universe has unexpected consequences for the Doctor, and Yaz is tasked with the responsibility of keeping her awake. //ohhhhhh this fic is so wonderful!! It's that weird sweet spot of 'soft angst', where it hits where it hurts but at the same time the whole thing feels like it's wrapping you in a warm blanket. Augh!! Such a lovely portrayal of the Doctor and Yaz's dynamic - I adore how this author writes these two so much. An absolutely lovely (but angsty!) character exploration, with a healthy dose of whump and sleepiness on the side. What more could you want?

Everything by rowanthestrange (24k, 13 chapters, thasmin) summary: In which Yaz wants to know everything, and the Doctor finally wants that too. //Ok, so full disclosure, I don't read that much thasmin, but this fic, guys. It's just gorgeous. A beautifully written exploration of Yaz and her relationship with the Doctor in the aftermath of Flux, which explores the years Yaz spent in the past and how that changed her; the Doctor grappling with her identity issues and how that's changed her; as well as all sorts of other wonderful things besides. Another fic that had tears streaming down my face (the TARDIS chapter got me...). It's such a poignant, emotional fic, and it's very focused on character in a way that I really adore. If you like thasmin, this is an absolute must-read. If you're not a fan of thasmin, I recommend it anyway (- signed: a thoschei shipper) because it's just such a brilliant portrayal of these two.

[dandelionjack]

i know this is like. minus fourth world problems + autism, and maybe other fandoms have similar issues — i’ve never gone too deep into fandom spaces before and regret doing so — but. why are doctor who fans such incurable haters. i started watching in november after the specials aired and although i’ve been severely critical of certain unfortunate writing choices (as is my right. episodes that suck are… bad) i couldn’t fathom hating an entire series, an entire doctor’s/companion’s run let alone an entire showrunner’s tenure. you mean you can’t stand any of it??

it almost feels like… whenever i come across a person that loves to talk about nine and ten and donna and how much they loved wild blue yonder or w/e, they end up being a shallow moffat hater harping on about misogyny and one-dimensional women as if later series didn’t exist. whenever i find a fellow twelveclara understander who posts about missy and defends hell bent etc. suddenly i come across a post about how they hate rose? what could possibly compel you to dislike the character of rose tyler? i say this as somebody that isn’t a huge fan of tentoo. for more batshit examples saw a post along the lines of “don’t say you think tenmartha is interesting and then post about timepetals” like these are Characters bro. they’re not going to get sad. they are vehicles for the story they’re not people. tenrose was the carrier of the narrative in s2 and tenmartha in s3 and saying i enjoy the complexity of both of these relationships as they progress isn’t contradictory because that’s… the direction that the story takes????????

i don’t even hate chibnall era. even s11 has some redeemable bangers. what i mean is i fell in love with the show as a WHOLE . which means EVERY part of it is important to me and i don’t discount it. every next development builds on the previous. the timeless child ruined a lot of things but opened up many new avenues for exploration! i like the flux i like thasmin i like dhawan master i like the fugitive doctor i love dan and karvanista

you are all allergic to fun. sorry for getting mad about people getting mad it will (not) happen again. im going to go touch grass now

[t0o-m4ny-f4nd0ms]

Not to be annoying but all the people saying doctor who is queer now after the new episode are making my eye twitch… tell me you didn’t watch thirteen’s era without telling me you didn’t watch thirteen’s era.

Are we forgetting legend of the sea devils? Just because thasmin didn’t kiss doesn’t mean they weren’t canon? Like hello?

[leikeliscomet]

A lot's been said about romance in Doctor Who but what gets me is even if we were to entertain the idea of romance being the height of love and human experience, the demographics of who actually gets to explore this are very interesting. Minus Thasmin and Jack lipsing Nine, most Doctor's are men with women as love interests. Rose, Clara, River Song, Madame de Pompadour, Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Christina, Joan Redfern... if love is so enriching and powerful and lovely and human... why couldn't the Doctor's male incarnations be enriched by men or people that aren't women? Where were the Doomsday episodes of him crying for the man he loves but could never see again? We get throwaway lines and jokes about the Doctor liking men in male incarnations but actual TenRose or DoctorRiver moments, swelling music as he kisses the man of his dreams? They're lacking. Which is peak for "the gay blue box show". Same can be said for the women of Who. We sat through Tennant lipsing women across the galaxy but one hypothetical Thasmin kiss has articles and essays and video essays... All this hotion and commotion about the *idea* of sapphic love. Obviously the show would wanna avoid sexualisation (as it should) but the immediate hush hush around representing romance (and sex too tbh) from a woman's POV and pearl clutching of a kiss between two women shows the scales aren't even.

And it extends to race too. How many Black couples and couples of colour actually got their universe defying love on screen? How many times is Black love, Black people in love and love of POC actually celebrated? Martha's parents split so Clive could date a young blonde. TenMartha couldn't thrive platonically or romantically because she "wasn't Rose" enough for Ten. Umbreen and Prem were doomed from the start. Graham lost Grace. Ryan lost Bella. Ryasmin never went anywhere and never can because Thasmin got picked instead. We got Bill and Heather at the expense of Bill losing her human body forever and the dark skin girl she dated never being mentioned ever again (Remember Penny? The show doesn't!). We all know what happened to RoseMickey and ClaraDanny so they're automatically ruled out. So who've we got left? Bell and Vinder (not too shabby)? That West Indian couple from Planet of the Dead? Its not looking good bruv.

Look I get why people see the magic and wonder of romance but it doesn't feel so magical if we only see it reserved for certain demographics. The false equating of romance making us human is one thing (as if single/unpartnered people are "less human") but when we only see that "humanity" through white non-aspec cishet couples... what is the show saying about people who's romance is different? For people who don't have romance at all? What are YOU saying about those people?

Romance in Doctor Who isn't the problem but amatonormativity definitely is.

[13thdoctorposts]

You know what's funny about people still claiming Thasmin isn't real or that the Doctor never liked Yaz... they literally won Best Media Moment from Diva Magazine, a 'magazine for LGBTQIA women and non-binary people' for Thasmin.... how do you win an award for something that isn't real?

Because if the Doctor not having 2 whole speeches about her feelings, one when taking on the Sea Devils and one on the Beach along with flirting with Yaz the whole episode, if all that wasn't enough you would think it being visible enough they won an award for it would prove it was real.

"...with Doctor Who picking up the award for Media Moment for its portrayal of WLW (women-loving-women) love between the Thirteenth Doctor and Yasmin Khan, portrayed by Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill." Source

Thasmin is literally award winning 😍

They are so cute, love them, how could they not be award winning.

[ssaalexblake]

on behalf of all the people who didn't realise they weren't straight until their early 20's (even despite how obvious it may be in hindsight) i wish a very happy Fuck You to all the self absorbed assholes saying Yaz's arc is bad or lacks agency or sucks as gay rep Because she didn't know this till she was 20ish and didn't admit it to herself until EOTD, like honestly, at this point go take a long walk off a short pier.

The people who didn't ~see~ thasmin before it was verbally recognised are merely irritating and exhibiting heterosexual blindness, You lot are out there insulting the experiences of many very Real people because it's not good enough for you.

Literally. What you're peddling is SO awful and said with the assumed moral high ground, and all i have to offer you is one huge 'ew' at that terrible behaviour.

Look, this is not actually about Yaz, but lol, Yaz was a bullied teenager on the verge of or actively suicidal, she is not shown to have One friend and her family are actively shocked she's taken friends home in arachnids because Yaz doesn't Have friends. That Yaz did not immediately clock she was into Thirteen and thought they were just good mates actually makes perfect sense bc she doesn't know what #besties feels like to differentiate the two things. Is that depressing? yeah, but the point is yaz built herself up into the person she is in tpotd in a coming of age type story, she Does have support and friends at the end, she Does know her sexuality better by the end, she Has achieved what she wanted in being able to help people. She grew and learnt! Good for her.

It's also like, personally think that it's a more valid interpretation of the show to say that Yaz was troubled and didn't want to admit this to herself before eotd because of 13's avoidance and behaviour, rather than anything else going on. Yaz is never shown to be repressing this because of the gayness, she's worried because 13 is squirrely and they fight so much and 13 Still doesn't open up to her.

Mostly, in the end, idgaf what you think of Yaz's arc but if it's related to one type of person's discovery of their sexuality being Better than another then honestly, you need to not subject other people to your 'takes', because all you're being is cruel and you don't even have the self awareness to realise.

Watch your damn words. I don't care if somebody realised they're not straight/not cis/not whatever when they're 99 years old. To use an internet cliche, that is Perfectly Valid and a story worth telling in any kind of media out there. If you want to watch the story of a queer character in dw very secure abt their sexuality and Not on a voyage of self discovery/coming of age narrative that happens to include that Discovery, go and watch Bill's episodes and stop saying shitty things about real people not being good enough for you.

[bloodstained-ballgowns]

hmm. okay. well. i'm about to say a lot of things about 'the timeless children' that have already been said by greater minds, the only difference being that it's me saying them this time and i've never said them before.

sure. overhaul the history of gallifrey. make the 'home' the doctor already has such complicated grief for be based on a lie. make them question their own nature even further when faced with the corrupt, violent genesis of the people from which they came. one of the trademark motifs of thirteen's era is power structures and the ways that they fail the people who rely on them - discovering that time lord existence was predicated on the extended experimentation on/imprisonment of a child fits into that. you can even keep the memory wipes. make them 'the beast below'-style, keep up the systemic conspiracy.

but. head in my hands. at the risk of sounding like a melodramatic traditionalist: you get that having the doctor be the timeless child negates the show's core-most values, right. you get that 'the doctor' is a moniker to live up to and active choice rather than predisposition is a key part of that. you get that having the master say "all i am is somehow because of you and believe me when i say i cannot bear that", a wonderful entry into the "i wonder what i'd be without you" "she's the only person i've ever met who is even remotely like me" annals, and then tying that to genetics basically spits in the face of their entire history and relationship as we've seen it develop. ...right?

and sure, you could point to the moffat era and argue that the doctor hasn't been 'just some guy' in a long time. pandoricas don't get erected to imprison pete from down the road. intergalactic theocratic orders don't arise out of fear of the friendly neighbourhood time traveller. all of which would be true, i think the key difference being that moffat's doctor is deified because of the things he has done, the people he has saved, the enemies he has amassed, *not* due to any genetic component. the doctor is 'chosen' because they choose, over and over, to be selfless, to do good, even (especially) when it goes against their nature. *that agency* is what makes the mad man in a box 'special', and taking that away kind of kills me tbh.

it's not all bad, however. jodie and sacha are an incandescent pairing and it's always a joy to watch them go nose to nose. segun akinola's cybermen theme is appropriately terrifying and/or exhilirating. she's so mean here, i love when she gets to be mean. these episodes said thasmin rights, we're going to have yaz be the most tenacious, the most resourceful, the most devoted to the doctor you have ever seen as of yet. and a lovely graham-yaz scene: “you said to the doc you thought she was the best person you’d ever met. you know what, yaz? i think you are. you ain’t got a time machine or a sonic, but you’re never beaten.” (there's something in my eye)