#that part was unintentional

[hansoeii]

It's about who.

[lilacsandlillies]

I was going through the anti Jason Todd tag because I hate myself and want to understand where people who dislike him are coming from and one thing I kept seeing was annoyance at Jason fans who claim that Jason is female coded and realized that the term “female coded” might not be the best term to describe what we mean.

A female coded character in literature and media typically means a character that has no specified gender or otherwise does not have a gender but is obviously meant to be a stand in for a woman or female. Kind of like how Starfire has no specified race (due to being an alien) but is still obviously black coded based on the way she’s drawn and treated by the narrative.

This is slightly different than what we mean when saying that Jason is female coded. It’s not that Jason is literally supposed to be a stand in for a female character, it’s that the way a lot of characters treat him and a lot of the tropes used on him are things that usually saved for female characters, not big buff men like Jason.

To start with, being Robin is narratively (or at least was) very similar to being a woman in a story. Robin is a role made to complement Batman (who we all know is basically the ultimate male power fantasy). Robin’s role is to be an accessory to Batman. Robin can be smart, but not smarter than Batman. Robin can be strong, but not stronger than Batman. Hell, Robin is often kidnapped and used as a literal damsel in distress, a role often regulated for women as a whole.

What sets Jason apart from the other robins (except for Steph) in this regard is that they were allowed to be characters outside of Batman. Dick might not have been the “man” of the story when he’s with Bruce, but when he’s with the teen titans suddenly he’s the smart one who has all the answers. Jason’s Robin was never really allowed this.

Then we get to the most, controversial, part of Jason’s female coding. The fact the he was effectively fridged. Fridging is usually only referred to as frigding if it’s a female character, but Jason’s death checks pretty much all the other boxes needed. An incredibly brutal death that was more about Bruce’s feelings on it than Jason himself.

This is especially apparent when compared to the other Bat characters. For all the female coding, the only other Robin to actually be fridged was Steph (and we all know about the misogyny surrounding her death). Barbara was also kind of fridged during the killing Joke. The only female character to escape this is Cass (to my knowledge). When you look at it through this lens, the fact that the only other characters to be permanently damaged like this for Bruce’s story are female, it’s not hard to see where the idea that Jason is female coded comes from.

You can even find this in Jason’s origin story. Poor little orphan is saved by benevolent billionaire is a role usually saved for little girls, like in Annie.

Despite what you might think, this even continues after Jason’s revival. Jason is still used less as a character and more as a motivation for Bruce. He’s regularly called emotional and hysterical (terms usually used to refer to women).

Jason is first and foremost a victim. A role performed by women in most media. Men are expected to be stoic and “rise above” the things done to them as to not be victims, as continuously shown by the way characters like Nightwing are not allowed to be effected by the horrific things they go through. The fact that Jason is shown the be angry, and sad, and emotional, constantly, and the fact that he’s punished and vilified for it puts him in a place much more similar to a female character.

There’s a reason that so many Jason fans (that like him for a reason past “antihero with guns”) are female. For most characters, when you swap their genders there would be a pretty clear and big difference in the way their story takes place. If you swap Jason’s gender, the story takes place identically.

A lot of this is best shown in men’s reactions to Arkham Knight’s version of Jason. In that game, Jason is similarly angry and emotional, albeit for slightly different reasons. He is also still unmistakably a victim. You’d think the men playing would like him. After all he’s a big cool angsty guy with a lot of guns and muscles. Instead, a lot of men’s thought that he was whiny. That his feelings were annoying.

There’s also something to be said about how his autonomy is regularly undermined by Bruce (specifically in Gotham war) and how his decisions and feeling are constantly treated as if they’re worth less than Bruce’s, but that’s a discussion for another day.

[faygos]

errybody loves dirk

[hinata-boke]

trick or treat

[dimespin]

I envied some of my character's geometric markings and then I remembered I can do whatever I want

[oroontheheels]

I’m reaching and giving this movie credits where they are not due, but Eddie and his other not being able to fully manifest as Venom out of fear of being instantly attacked does unironically feels like metaphor for homophobia.

[the-judicial-assistants-notebook]

not enough discussion about the gavins' complicated relationship with feminine-coded/beauty products, i don't think.

[rui-drawsbox]

guy giving himself too much credit vs girl too blunt for her own good/s

my girl was upset not bc baxter leaves her. but bc she wanted to date again and the ghost of her charming-first-boyfriend didnt leaved her alone

[gl1tchr]

Just posted abt this on twt but obviously y'all are getting the Longer Version I LOVE. That the other Rogues in Reevesverse have miniseries, but Eddie has a *comic*. How beautiful is that narratively? And so unintentional too, all because Matt really loved how Paul was exploring the character. He can't be seen and understood the way others can, he's so much more complex

In a way, the only medium his story works in is a visual novel style. His hallucinations are so visceral and real to us because they follow the style of everything else, I don't know if they'd hit the same if they were weird, jumpscare-style special effects with scary music stings behind them. Instead, we're seeing them the same way Ed sees them. Everywhere. In his most panicked moments. Big and LOUD and scary. Not to be insane and demented but I love that

Edit: and don't even get me STARTED. On how it also expresses how often forgotten he is. So many people won't read or hear about Year One because it's a comic and not a tv show. Once again, Edward is only heard by a few who really resonate with his message. He needs you to *choose* him.

[saturnniidae]

I love the idea of Berk being the closest inhabited island to Helheim's Gate/Dragon Island. Like while other islands in the archipelago certainly had their issues with dragon attacks, Berk got the absolute worst of it. Idk I was just thinking about when Hiccup says to Ryker in rtte: "if you leave now, you and your men won't have to learn what burning flesh smells like." And while I'm sure he does know, you couldn't really work in dragon hunting without witnessing casualties, he didn't grow up surrounded by the kind of constant violence the kids on Berk did.

The way it's implied they get such frequent raids I'm sure they've seen so many people they know die and had to wake up everyday knowing that it could be their last if there was even one slip up in their routines during the raids

Like the raids were so consistent and eventually predictable they must have some kind of routine for handling them but of course, human error, especially when it comes to literal kids being involved.

[blowingoffsteam2]

“All paths are connected somewhere. When I arrive at where you are, we may not appear to be as we were. But we’ll make another promise to keep.”

Yozora fulfilling Riku’s role in this poem and thinking Sora must be the person he made this “promise”, progressed to an oath, to because of the memories of Riku from the broken pieces of Sora’s heart eclipsing and entangling with his own real memories of his promise to protect/oath to save Nameless Star, because he’s in the middle of his own Chain of Memories arc in this essay I will

[turtleblogatlast]

Don’t think I ever quite said what my LGBTQ+ headcanons are for the boys, so these are my current thoughts! Always changing of course but this is what I feel most strongly right now.

[sc0rpain]

guys. i know we love cunty ice king and gumlee but. are we just gonna ignore THIS

[sieglinde-freud]

chrom and inigo as father and son are so very dear to me and i understand that parent supports in awakening are all generic so any patterns that i see are unintentional and just coincidence and blah blah blah but i dont care, they are so fascinating to me. because if you compare how they interact in inigo’s parent support versus lucina and chrom’s support theres a clear difference in attitude chrom has towards inigo and its not something that i would call malice or dislike but its something more like… a lack of faith? he essentially acts as if hes waiting for inigo’s misstep, as opposed to lucina who he whole heartedly trusts and supports. i think thats so interesting because when you go into the future past conversations (WHICH ARE NOT GENERIC. and also happen after the C-A supports), chrom tells inigo that he sees so much of himself in inigo, and they’re more alike than they think beyond just the surface level hair and face and. everything. and i think thats so fun because its true!! everything inigo faces in regards to his position as a prince—chrom does too! the older sister whos way better at the job than you, feeling anxiety over whether or not your personality/worldview makes you fit to lead, their brash attitudes, the mistakes that they make while figuring it out, its all there! and i think its that similarity that ticks chrom off in the initial support because wheras lucina represents everything he sees as successful, inigo carries with him the opposite: everything chrom doesnt like about himself. his uncertainties! and thats fucked up to take out on your kid, obviously, but like. to be fair chrom was suddenly handed an adult son from thin air at the age of like 25. but then he goes and he learns about him and realizes that where they share their flaws, they share strengths as well, giving chrom the wisdom to have that much more productive conversation in the dlc, encouraging inigo instead of pushing him down, because its everything that maybe chrom needed to hear at some point too. isnt it fucked up how none of this is canon like what the hell

[ink-the-artist]

Dude some of those popular so-bad-its-good movies are unironically outsider art and I don’t think they get enough appreciation for that

[deadbaguette]

Unfortunately thinking about this guy again,, this design is not during the war so I’m thinking many thoughts abt giving him a trojanwar!design