#the other paper i wrote that i really loved was about the queerbaiting in the first three seasons in supernatural

[brattybottombunny]

...i am interested in the thesis of that movie in particular...

👀👀👀

ahh oh my god!! okay So. i was an english major in college and im a huge Shakespeare nerd! my senior year i took a class called Shakespeare on Film and we read different plays and watched their movie versions. loved this class, loved the professor (she was also my advisor) and a paper we had to write for that class was taking another play that we hadn’t read in the class and the appropriate movie. I decided to go with She’s the Man because it’s based off Twelfth Night! the main thesis of the paper was gender and the different presentations in both the play and the movie.

then, i took that paper and expanded it to include comparisons from The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You (i used to have major conversations with my professor about the actual “taming” in both the play and the movie adaptations bc i will still argue to this day that Katarina in the actual play is not actually tamed by the end, she just knows how to play the game) and still talked about more gender stuff in the thesis. it was an incredible paper and i had a lot of fun writing it!!

[spookyboogie3]

The trope Last Minute Hookup shouldn’t be used for LGBTQ+ relationships.

AND DEFENDING MY LAST POST ABOUT THIS.

I DO NOT hate any of these pairings. A good many of them could have been handled differently by the creators, writers, and networks. But this isnt me hating the relationships or characters or shows. Just going off about how they shouldnt have been tacked on at the end of their respective series. 

As of writing this all of these shows have ended their original runs. Except for Supernatural which is on its last few episodes. And Supergirl, which announced its coming to end with season 6.

LGBTQ characters and relationships aren’t as common in the media as straight-cis characters and relationships. Sure things are improving but a lot of networks and writers still don’t fully understand why representation is important why they can’t keep using the same throwaway tropes they’ve been using for the straight-cis relationships.

You could name any piece of media and find and name one character that isn’t LGBTQ+, but you can’t do this with LGBTQ+ characters. We haven’t gotten to the point where they are as common as non-LGBTQ characters.

I have a whole paper I wrote on why asexual representation is important to have in the media and the same logic applies to any part of the LGBTQ+ or anything that falls under minority.

Back to the topic on hand. The trope of “Last Minute Hookup.”

Its exactly what it sounds like. Characters get to together at the very end of the story. These characters could have a on and off again relationship, lots of ship teasing, the classic “Will They or Wont They?” trope. What makes it different for non-LGBT characters in relationships to do this, we know what these relationships look like. Not to say the that both Non and LGBT relationship cant have similar struggles, however members of the LGBTQ+ community know how hard it is to feel like your identity and self matters and is normal.

I know that the whole “will they, wont they” thing is done for drama and networks and showrunners think if they give the fans what they want that they’ll start losing viewers and they have nothing to look forward to. Which is true to some degree. But most of this comes from the writers not knowing how to fucking write relationships.

Let’s just focus on whats it like to be in a non-straight relationship.

Heres an example: you have an action series, with 2 male leads and halfway through the show, they get together. Cool. Now you have a Battle Couple.

By making LGBTQ relationships happen at the end of a series that’s already had plenty of other non-LGBTQ relationships happen before it, it makes it look like the people in charge don’t care for it or were afraid of backlash. But it’s the end of the series so its not like they can get the show cancelled or anything. (The only people who are going to lash out at LGBT couple or characters are homophobic people, we don’t want them around any way so just make stuff super gay, so they’ll leave)

This is especially a problem when the writer and network have spent the whole series queerbaiting the audience with these characters.

 Side note for anyone is doesn’t actually know what queerbaiting is:

It’s a marketing technique used in entertainment, which the writer or creators hint at but then don’t actually depict sex-same romance or LGBTQ representation. They do this to attract (bait) the LGBT/queer or straight ally audience into the show with the suggestion of representation but at the same time avoiding this as not alienate other audience members *cough* (homophobes) *cough*

Definition is from Wikipedia, not a reliable source says my highschool teachers and college professors but fuck em

The Legend of Korra is a great example of Last-Minute Hookup. Korra and Asami had VERY little ship teasing, and that was in the last 2 books/seasons. Any thing that was perceived as romantic came from the fans wearing shipping goggles. So to a lot of people just casually watching, yes this looked like it came out of nowhere. Nickelodeon had some serious balls to say how brave they were for putting 2 girls into a romantic relationship.

Theres a few problems with this.

A. It never actually aired on TV (to my knowledge). The last 2 seasons of Korra were put on Nicks website.

B. The confirmation that this Korrasami was canon had to come from the creators on twitter because of how unclear it was.

C. The show did the bare minimum when it came to hooking them up in the series. They walk off holding hands (very cute btw). They didn’t even get a kiss. Aang and Katara had a Last Minute Hookup at the end of ATLA after 3 seasons of ship tease and THEY GOT A KISS. Hell the original end of LoK*, has Korra and Mako kissing. *(the first season, they didn’t know they were getting more seasons at the time, no matter what you hear the writers say, they’re full of shit)

D. Anything continuation of Korra has come in the form of comics, which her and Asami are in a fairly well written relationship. Yes, they do kiss. Yes it would’ve been great to see this stuff happen in series.

A show that handles this a little bit better is Adventure Time. Not by much though. It implied several times that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline have history together and its shown more and more in its last few seasons that there is some ship tease happening. However its not until the finale where they kiss, and they are shown in the last minute of the show cuddling together in Marcy’s house. HBO has picked up Adventure Time and has a miniseries called Adventure Time: Distant Lands, where Bubblegum and Marceline’s past relationship is shown.  

I had brought up in my original post about being upset with networks making LGBTQ+ relationships canon in the last season/episode. I originally had Catradora tagged. While Catra and Adora have history together, they did not become official couple until the end of the series.

Yes, I was wrong about the network making things canon in the last episode as they’ve always had ship tease with each other, and it probably was the writers’ intent to put them together by the end. They do technically fall under the Last-Minute Hookup, however.

I wanna talk about Once Upon a Time really quick. Fans of the show were hoping and wishing for an LGBTQ couple for the show as a lot of characters, especially Regina and Emma, have alot Ho Yay moments. The showrunners weren’t going to put those two together, for whatever reasons they may have for that (im indifferent on all the shipping going on with this show). The showrunners thought to put two characters together, and hoo boy did it not make people happy. The characters they put together are Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Ruby the red riding hood, which would be fine if they had properly been developed.

The entire episode they did this in was a mess. They stopped the current arc during the season 5 episode ‘Ruby Slippers,’ to go over the characters that haven’t been seen in years, Dorothy was introduced and last seen in season 3, and Ruby was introduced in season 1 and was last seen in season 5 before ‘Ruby Slippers’. The characters get together in the same episode the meet in and are never seen again. The characters barely interacted, barely got along, and showed little to no ship tease or interest in each other and BOOM they are in love and together aaaaaannnnndd they’re gone. Other than having One Million Moms, a Christian fundamentalist organization, protest against the show and want it taken off the air (yes this really happened). The fans weren’t please with this development of the characters either.  

(also Mulan was right there and already knew Ruby from a previous episode, and Mulan already is established to like girls as shown by her being in love with Aurora. Don’t know why the writers didn’t just put these 2 together but whatever I guess)

So they tried again in season 7 with MadArcher. The characters of Alice, a version of Alice in Wonderland from another realm (its complicated) and Robin, the daughter of Robin Hood and the Wicked Witch (it’s also complicated). And the writers did a lot better here. Both characters were allowed to have time together and have a history together too and it was done over the whole season. Not just one episode.

Now even though the writers decided to do something different with the last season and it could be detached from the previous 6 seasons, MadArcher is not really a Last Minute Hookup per say but still falls under my thing about it being the last season so who gives a fuck if One Million Moms gets mad us and tries to get us cancelled again.

 I would like to say I have never watched a single episode of Supernatural in my life. I may one day. But as of right now my knowledge of it is coming primary from what ive seen on tumblr. You know a great source for doing research and looking for reliable information among the piles of shitposting.

From what I know from fans, the writers of Supernatural have been queer baiting for years. I mean it’s the CW, I’m not that surprised. What also wouldn’t surprise me, that by the end of the series Castiel is back and he and Dean actually start and relationship or strongly hint at starting one. I actually fear for the writer lives if they threw out a confession scene after years of queerbaiting and potential ship tease (debatable) and they don’t put them together. Fans are going to be angrier than they probably ever have been with this show and the showrunners and writers really would be known for queer baiting.

From what I know about how previous shows have done and if anyone that has ever worked on this show wants to continue living, Castiel will be back from Super Hell (is that what yall are calling it?) and he will get together with Dean. And they will fall under the Last-Minute Hookup trope and my networks make LGBTQ relationships canon last season.

 One last show I want to talk about is Supergirl, which in has been recently announced that the 6th season will be the last. The show started on CBS but moved to the CW after the end of season 1. So more CW bullshit. There is no confirmation about whether the CW or any of the Supergirl writers are planning to do this, its all speculation. Supergirl is more LGBTQ friendly than some other shows on the Network. One of the main characters came out a few years ago and had a girlfriend a season and has had plenty of hookups with other ladies around the Arrowverse. They even introduced a trans-woman superhero in the form of Dreamer.

Let’s talk SuperCorp. Lena Luthor was introduced in the 2nd season and has been a major character in Kara’s life ever since her introduction. Even if she isn’t involved in the plot, Kara always goes to her to talk and check in on her and worry about her. They are best friends. Since the 2 have met, there has been plenty of Les Yay going on. The writers seem to be aware of the fans wanting SuperCorp to be canon and they keep throwing in moments like Kara and Lena struggling together or Kara carrying Lena bridal style.

Why I bring this up after the announcement of Supergirl’s final season to start next year. We may get SuperCorp. Kara has a relationship with William in the show and not a single person likes this relationship. The writers may scrap it and get put Kara and Lena together for the final season. This is a big maybe though. The Supergirl writers and crew get called out a lot for queerbaiting.

   Let me know if you guys have any other examples of last season/last episode LGBTQ+ hookup.

And please let me know if you see any mistakes. This was all done in one sitting so I may have some things wrong.

Also check out the video by @aretheygayvideos on this topic too.

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[avenger-hawk]

Hey hawk, did you observe a pattern among people who participate in Woke-ism culture, they seem to have similar "traits" and "personality"? Dislike the "straight" orientation (usually identify themselves as gay/lesbian/bi and brags they are LGBT every second), they seem to think gender identity is a personality trait etc therefore "I'm holier than thou because I list myself as she/he/they/it". I bet they are gonna scream at me for being whatever "phobic" just because of this post lol

*clears throat* yeah they gonna scream at you but they can’t scream at me because it’s been a year that I am in an lgbt relationship soooo xD

Ofc I noticed this kind of behavior, these woke ppl really like be ‘different’ and tbh the thing I find more irritating is when they define themselves ‘autistic’ or ‘asperger’ or ‘adhd’ whathever other mental illness/condition, because these are serious things that should be diagnosed by a specialist and not an online tests, and usually ppl who have a real problem are not so incredibly vocal about it. Sure they don’t brag with it....”but I don’t have money to take a test and my parents don’t let me!” they say? yeah. could be. but it also could be that you just wanna look special and since you’re socially anxious or shy or just a b*tch, you like to play rude and then justify yourself with those labels, and if someone dares tell you you’re a piece of shit you can call them ableist lol

Same for race or country. Not taking anything away from populations/countries/cultures/religions that have been oppressed, but sometimes I cringe cause some ppl try so hard to fit in this. Like, at some point 99% of populations were invaded by others and oppressed, and I’m sorry for welsh ppl, to just name one (no offense it’s the first that came to my mind cause I read a post recently lol) but if this continues we’re gonna have to seek justice for the victims of the vikings’ raids lolol

Anyway, back to what you were saying. I partly get that lgbt ppl are vocal about what they are bc maybe they can’t tell their families or friends, and they use social media as outlets. but like you said, your personality is not defined by who you f*ck and/or love (It’s not even defined by the fiction you like, actually, but they think so). So while I understand ppl describe themselves in their profile and specify their gender identity and sexuality, for me it’s cringey when they take it too far. Like when they start with all the labels ever, or they make combinations...demisexual panromantic/asexual demiromantic/trans nonbinary aroace spectrum...sounds like a competition of who’s less ordinary. Bonus points if they also add race and illness. Bonus points if they pretend they’re experts and activist and they shit on ppl who ship something or speak of top/bottom bc they’re fetishizing gay mlm/wlw and how dare they, dirty cishets (cause Anon, straight is a too banal word lol).

(also...not to offend ‘aroace’ ppl out there but...when someone is like 12...couldn’t it be that they’re just...too young for caring about sex/love? asking for a friend lolol)

I mean, tumblr has a lot of lgbt ppl and it’s cool, and I know it’s hard to live as an lgbt person cause you can’t do what het ppl do normally, like kissing in public or holding hands or writing cute posts on fb bc someone might bitch or be even worse, so this creates a bitterness and aggressiveness on social media I guess, especially here where minorities are the majority lol. And I too, on my personal blog, occasionally ranted about things like internalized homophobia and queerbaiting, but only very rarely lol and no one paid attention to me, guess I am not lgbt enough hahahah

But, it’s stupid to use sexuality labels as a shield to shit on ppl and then call them --phobic when they react. It actually happened to me a couple of years ago, I wrote something about bottom Sasuke and this self defined aromantic+asexual+autistic+gay american dude attacked me for fetishizing gays. Back then I was in a relationship with a guy so for him I was only a boring straight person I guess, a gross fujoshi who dared like mlm haha. fuck him. If I were the same type of person as him I would have pulled the oppressed card, I could have attacked him reminding him that his country treated italian immigrants like animals, and that they had this veeeery big problem of being unsure about our ‘race’ so in their papers they often wrote ? cause they couldn’t understand if we were poc or not...but it would have been kinda off topic and I cartainly don’t waste time talking about me to ppl I don’t even trust to be what they say.

Also because I was raised by parents who were very politically involved, so I remember them doing activism, like, getting out of the house, going to protests, doing volunteering, even taking me along when I was little. So even tho now everything happens online first, and even tho posts can spread awareness and change ppl’s minds, I still don’t trust when I see those blogs full of angry woke activism, because they seem fake and even those ppl seem fake. It’s easy to scream for justice from a keyboard, in a comfortable house. It’s less easy to protest in the cold, risking to have problems with the police, the government, the pandemic, whatever else.

It’s irritating that wokies want to take the right to like smth in the right way or whatever, telling everyone else who don’t fit in the minority group that they can’t like the thing. Idk, I just wish ppl were like in Eastern Asian fandoms, not making everything about themselves, being open minded enough for whatever ‘different’ thing whether they are into it or not, and if they’re not ignoring it only.

And I do get wanting to fit the minority, as a teenager I was veery punk/gothic, depending on the moment, and I never fit in the majority opinions or habits anyway. And I was kind of fluid with my identity and sexuality, but silly me, I kept it for myself, even tho I discussed with those who insulted lgbt ppl and I wrote stuff where everyone is bisexual by default, thinking that it was how people were born before society conditioned them...I could have bragged but I had no idea about ‘fluid’ or ‘pan’, silly me.

I am so irritated at everything, like the words they use, even the english language that is not mine, is getting on my nerves because it’s the vehicle for their crap, but these periodically trending words are disgusting like these ppl to me.

I migth have gone out of topic again lol.

[jenetica]

A Brief Note from Our Sponsors: Us.

Greetings! If you’re here, it’s likely that you have questions or complaints about our decisions regarding the Calendar Girls series. An ominous start to this discussion, but truly, we welcome you! If you’re here, it means you have been emotionally impacted by our work and, even though this context isn’t the cheeriest, we are so, so grateful you (1) enjoyed our work enough to care about it, and (2) want to develop a better understanding of our process so that you can engage with Calendar Girl more.

First of all, we understand why you’d be upset with us! The cliffhanger at the end of AotM was a DOOZY and leaves a LOT of important questions unanswered, and we left you readers hanging for a LONG time. This post will, hopefully, assuage the worst of your fears without giving away too many plot points.

That being said, please note that there WILL be spoilers ahead. If you want to see the story unfold as we intended, do NOT read this post further. We will tell you now that the post addresses the Deadpool’s identity, our decisions regarding the construction of AotM and the final cliffhanger, our decisions regarding developing the sequel as a prequel, and our plans for future installments. And, naturally, the accusations of “queerbaiting.”

Let’s get started.

QUEERBAITING

It makes sense to open with the most serious issue, so let’s talk about queerbaiting. For anyone here who doesn’t know, queerbaiting is defined as the purposeful insinuation of a homosexual/queer relationship, only to backtrack/subvert that insinuation to avoid the queer relationship. For an example, see: Supernatural from Season 4 and on. 

We have received accusations of queerbaiting for about four years, based exclusively on the reveal at the end of the final chapter. Similarly, we have received complaints that we duped readers into reading hetfic. So, to get things out of the way, yes, Deadpool is Gwen. No, it’s not a trick of the light, or a mistake, or some odd resemblance. They are one and the same. HOWEVER, that does NOT mean that we have queerbaited anyone.

First of all, the tags of the story are honest, and they always have been. AotM is tagged as a “Multi” fic, meaning that there are relationships of multiple orientations involved, and it is tagged with Peter/Gwen as well as Peter/Wade. Careless Whisper is tagged as F/M. We have never suggested or implied that the story would exclusively be slash fiction. We actually left multiple hints that Wade enjoyed femininity, at least as a practice, if not an identity. iFlail and I discussed this issue at length as we wrote/edited AotM and carefully crafted the story with queerbaiting in mind. 

Peter is an unreliable narrator, he always has been, and he always will be. In AotM, Peter assumes Wade is a man and thus, for the purposes of the narrative, Wade is one. The truth, however, is less clean than that. We won’t get into the details here, but safe to say, gender is not binary, it is not permanent, and it is not inexorably linked to one’s biology. Wade has a complicated history and a complicated/unique sense of identity. We have always intended for him to be that way, just as we always intended for him to be notably, pointedly smaller than Peter. 

The accusations of queerbaiting and/or conning readers into reading “het” fic are exclusionary of the greater conversation of gender identity. It was, frankly, disheartening to see so many people assume heterosexuality based exclusively on the last word of AotM. We hope that our work will challenge readers to be more mindful of the expansive world of gender, and to avoid assuming that a specific kind of pairing might involve specific kinds of body parts.

If you have any questions or reservations about our queerbaiting at this point, you are either welcome to keep reading future installments of this work to learn more, or you are welcome to stop altogether. The choice is yours. 

CONSTRUCTING THE STORY ARC - PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE

With that hot-button topic out of the way, let’s talk about the greater concept of ending a story of a cliffhanger, our thoughts behind building this series, and our goals for future installments. 

The second part of the Calendar Girl series, Careless Whisper, was written first, and it comes first chronologically. I (Jenetica) initially worked on the story by myself, as an exploration into the concept of “Gwen becoming Deadpool” to see how it might play out. I ended up writing a story I loved, so I moved onto the next part of the story, set four years later. This ended up becoming Angel of the Morning. 

@iflailfic, a good IRL friend of mine from college, came onboard (after I wooed her with several stories worth of porn, as you can see through a jaunt through my posted works) to help me edit. She fell in love with AotM and, as we worked on first draft edits, she floated the idea of AotM coming before Careless Whisper. Honestly, I rejected the idea at first (not sure if she actually knows/remembers that part, lol), because I couldn’t fathom how we would be able to link the parts of the story together. But, eventually, I began to realize her point: AotM introduces our protagonists, develops the “current” world for the series, and has a more dynamic/engaging plot. 

The cliffhanger was a joke at first. My idea. I think my exact words were something like, “LOLOL what if we just ended on ‘GWEN?’ OMG IMAGINE hahahahaha.” But, as we continued to edit… it became the perfect way to end things. Anything that came after that point felt like trash. If we’d expanded any further, we ran the risk of falling headfirst into Part 3 and doubling the size of AotM. Let’s be real, the ending is, all waiting aside, an absolute nuclear bomb on the rest of the story. 

We talked about the likelihood of enraged readers. But we rationalized it by telling each other/ourselves that we had Careless Whisper written, so the wait wouldn’t be too killer.

Best laid plans.

I (Jenetica) take full responsibility for the time it took to start posting again. Over the last four years, I have gone through a number of experiences that challenged my sense of self and pushed me to become a different person, including moving halfway across the country, attending a relatively prestigious law school where I was no longer “the smart kid in the room,” and losing the relationship that I later learned was toxic and abusive. I lost my confidence in a number of ways, including my confidence as a writer. I became terrified that I would never produce anything that lived up to AotM, and that I would disappoint the many (many!) readers demanding answers. Luckily for me, through that adversity I found rewarding friendships, a beautiful partner who treats me the way I’d always fantasized/written about people like me getting treated, and an engaging career that leaves me with enough energy to write. My experiences are mirrored by iFlail, who went through a different, but similarly life-changing, series of events. But through this all, we never lost hope in this story, and we always planned to complete the series. We are wiser, stronger people now, and we both believe that the story will be richer for it. 

Which brings us to now, and our plans for the future. We do NOT intend to wait another four years to post X Gon’ Give It To Ya, the third and final installment of the series. We have spent countless hours brainstorming the plot, and all that’s really left to do is put it to paper. But, for people who are afraid of being burned twice, we will warn you now that Careless Whisper is JUST a prequel. If you want to know what happens after the “Gwen?” reveal, you will not get any answers until XGGITY (which I have, as of just now, decided to pronounce as “Ziggity”). We hope you stick around to watch Careless Whisper unfold, but we will understand if you want to wait until XGGITY to start reading again.

IN CONCLUSION - FINAL THOUGHTS

The Calendar Girl series has received more attention than we’d ever dreamed, and regardless of whether you liked or disliked our work, we want to thank you for taking the time to read it. If you made it to the end of AotM, we did something right, and again, we are so grateful that so many people have stuck with us this far.

We encourage everyone, moving forward, to keep a close eye on the tags that we use for our stories. We may not tag everything relevant, for the sake of preserving mystery about the plot, but we will be sure to tag everything that may be triggering or concerning, like self-harm, violence, or expected brand of romantic/sexual interactions. We will be adding this warning to the beginning of each story in the series.

Additionally, we want to acknowledge that there is a stark difference between legitimate concerns about the story and unfounded attacks on our character. Our decision to make this post is our attempt to dissuade the latter: We are not queerbaiting, and we have no interest in “forcing” people to read content that is not to their taste. However, that doesn’t mean that our execution of AotM, Careless Whisper, and/or XGGITY will be beyond reproach. The conversation on gender politics has evolved tremendously over the years that we’ve been working on this series, and it will undoubtedly continue to evolve as we progress into the future. We encourage constructive (!!!) criticism and open conversation on ways that we can improve our story, even if it involves tweaking published work to avoid mishandling deeply personal issues.

That said, if, after reading this post, you are still upset and/or unconvinced about our intentions for this series, we encourage you to stop reading it. We are not compensated for this work, and we have spent hundreds (probably thousands, by now) of hours striving to make the Calendar Girl series the best that it can be, for our own benefit. We believe that it may be the best fanfiction we will ever produce, and our satisfaction with our work is our priority. We will continue to post with that priority at the forefront, and with the demands of our reader base playing second fiddle. Similarly, we expect our readers to prioritize their needs above all others. We ask for your patience and your kindness moving forward and, if you cannot give us that, you are welcome to close the tab and move on with your life to other ventures that suit your interests better.

For those of you that choose to stay: You are in for a hell of a ride. We are both anxious to get through Careless Whisper, because we are both SO excited to share XGGITY with you. We believe it’s going to knock your socks off. We hope to see you there. 

Thanks, everyone, and happy reading!

[xxpinkgalaxykidxx]

My thoughts on Destiel Canon

I wrote this on insta, but putting it here cause I thought maybe others would relate.

CW: queerbaiting, mentions of suicide attempts

Ok I am making this half shitpost half rant for my own sanity cause I feel like I’m losing mine

So Destiel canon. Wtf??? In like the most homophobic way possible. Ok one hand I’m just like fuck spn and never think about it again but I can’t?!? It was a huge part of me freshman year. A year where I felt lonely, spn was there for me. Something comforting.  I really thought destiel would happen and it’d be good queer rep. At first. But as time went on, I realized it was a queerbait. But for some reason I didn’t stop liking it?!? I even wrote my paper for my gender studies class on queerbaiting, specifically in supernatural. But after the school year was over, I started to get into other things and not care so much about supernatural. I haven’t thought about the show much in a while, until last night.

I can’t help but associate spn with some shitty things that have happened to me. The guy who introduced me to the show is shitty to women and blamed his suicide attempt on my existence. The teacher I wrote my paper on Destiel and queerbaiting for used to tell me I was responsible for all the evils in the world and would give me panic attacks. So for me, Destiel is tied to these toxic people, so I always will tie Destiel to feeling worthless.

In some ways I know I shouldn’t rely on a CW show from 2005 for my queer rep and emotional stability, yet I did because it gave me something to care about, at a time where I didn’t have a lot of that. I made friends in that fandom and consumed good fan content. I know there are PLENTY of unsavory parts of that fandom, but a lot of it is queer young people, who came to the show looking for rep, and got hooked and didn’t want to leave. I do feel bad for the destiel stans still out there. I hope you all can find a way to move on and find a piece of media that treats you better and respects you.

Isn’t this duality weird? This one fictional couple gave me so much joy and pain? In the end, fuck spn for burying your gays and queerbaiting. It’s a bad show. And fuck the people who used the show to hurt me. But I can’t condemn it all. While shit went down for me, I had more fun than pain in the spn fandom. I wrote text posts that blew up on tumblr, I read fic, I loved the art, and watched the shit posts. I’m not sorry I had fun. I just wish I had that fun in the name of people and a show who cared about me, just as much as I cared about it.

[nathanfoadstanaccount]

So, I’m absolutely overwhelmed right now. One year ago, I started writing academically about fan culture. Over nine months ago I began to write a thesis, hoping to discuss queerbaiting in Sherlock, and painting fans of Johnlock in a fairer and more positive light than the media portrays, and fans often see themselves, too.

In writing this, I was astonished by the level of support, encouragement, kindness, care, and love I recieved by this fandom. I really couldn’t have done it without you all, and I mean that. I wrote something I was proud of, and I never thought I could be capable of writing. I handed that in a book which had changed and inspired me to explore academic research and writing further, and found myself with many new friends on the other side, too. I was proud to put many of your names on my work.

Today, I recieved feedback for my thesis, and I can’t believe it, I got the top grade for both the written content and the design! I’m now so excited to share it with you all! After several hours of crying, this feedback is now finally starting to sink in...

“A thorough and forensic study which contributes to the subject debate by assimilating knowledge into a personal hypothesis”

“the paper is a swaggering clip at the authorial assumptions of those you target”

I just can’t wait to hear what all you have to say, after all, it’s really you guys who I wrote it for. Thank you so much for your help and support. Let me know if you want to be tagged when the text is available in a month or two, once I’m graduated and have made a few further edits to the text. 💕

[you-are-crazy-beautiful]

Killing Eve

I'm making this one post because I'm just absolutely sick of this mess.

The major problem we have is that there is a large part of the lgbt+ community that see themselves as some sort of police that shout out about things they are ignorant about. Take my favourite show of all time Person of Interest. This show had two amazing female characters, whose chemistry worked so well that the writer's organically wrote them as canon. A lot of y'all didn't watch the show, yet felt the need to shout and film reactions where you stated that you felt 'baited' when it turned out Shaw was in a simulation. For those of us that watched the show, that was a huge emotional moment because it showed how much Shaw cared for Root. It wasn't a 'it was all juat a dream' scenario which you would have known if you had watched previous episodes of the show. Then the ending of Root's storyline had twitter tweeting @the writers and cast that they were terrible. Do you understand how upsetting it is to be a fan of something and be so happy with the amazing job the cast and crew did, but the majority of reactions they see are negative from people who are not in the fandom and have no clue what's going on? I have no idea why there is a need to express your opinion on something that you are ignorant of. I would never start talking or making statements about something I didn't watch because how can I have a true opinion of it? The same is happening with Killing Eve. This show is literally everything we could want, a show that shows how far we have come. It's the hottest show right now that happens to have the relationship of the two main female characters as it's core. This has been said repeatedly by every member of cast and crew. It's not even subtext. They're straight up saying 'these two are attracted to each other'.

To comment on the three articles that has stirred up all this mess. Firstly, I would suggest watching Sandra's Enews interview and you will see exactly how she has answered whatever unknown question the journalist asked. She states how she doesn't want to confine the relationship and feelings into a box. Which I love because you can't! Eve and Villanelle are not 'normal' folks. Their feelings are all a contradiction. Sandra said that it's everything and nothing. They both want who the other person is, but at the same time this thing that attracts them to each other also keeps them apart and repulses them. Sandra also said how Eve is exploring her sexuality with Villanelle. The author of the gaytimes article put ellipsis in after she said 'you want it to be something...' this is used to show an author has paraphrased and taken words out. The key word will have been after 'something'. He has used it to fit his narrative. Also, if y'all think Sandra has said 'no homo' why do you think she continues the article by saying sexuality is one of the themes of the show and spending the rest of the article talking about this, or did y'all just read that one quote that someone twisted on twitter?

The use of twisted narratives being put on twitter as facts is seriously damaging. I was on twitter looking at what the reaction was to 2x01 here in the UK and one of the top tweets was Jodie Comer homophobic. I swear to god! These people going after Jodie, a young woman, who is nothing but down to Earth and lovely, who constantly talks about the support of the community, and how one of her favourite things about Villanelle is her freedom with her sexuality, because of some idiot reading the radio times article where she was explaining how her and Sandra didn't want Eve/V to be too intimate because it wasn't right yet for the characters or story (which they are 100% right about) stated on twitter that jodie didn't want to be intimate with Sandra because she felt uncomfortable with another woman.

Then the latest article with the consultant. This guy also made this statement before s2. I don't know who he is talking about when he says 'all' because Sandra and Jodie have both showed their disgust at the idea of a mother/daughter dynamic. Phoebe the head of the show how openly talked about it being a sexual attraction as well as Emerald, Sandra and Jodie. Also think to yourself 'has there been any parental vibes in the show? No. Then you've answered the worry. I'm pretty sure this guy was only for s1 and he even tweeted saying the article had made his role seem more important than it was. This is like when these celeb mags have the insider info from a 'friend'. Also remember the show is a hit and the papers want info, but are probably unable to get the true stars, and this guy has been offered money to talk about his views.

My main point is why do people continue to talk about stuff they know nothing about? I even saw one of the big 'influencers' and campaigners of 'byg' ask has anyone looked into the history of the 'bury your gay trope' in a tone that suggested it was a novel idea. Then was shocked that there is actual history. That blew my mind. You have been part of a campaign for 3 years and have not researched the history and origin of it? This sums up the problem!

The statement about queerbaiting also shows that those making this article have no idea what the definition of the word is. Villanelle is shown as gay (I'm using this as an umbrella term) in the show. Eve is shown to be into V, with every character in the show stating this. They had phone sex and Villanelle told Eve she loved her. It is literally impossible for it to be queerbaiting. It's straight up queer! I seen some people saying 'well it might not be queerbaiting but it's baiting and the marketing is aimed at the lgbt+ community'. If it was a man and woman you would not think this. It's a 'will they won't they' relationship. If they don't that's a legitimate outcome. It doesn't erase the feelings. I hate to tell you guys as well but I don't think they're targeting the community at all. The show is so big, it's not like these other shows that are crap so their only audience is the community (Wynonna Earp). If they lost the lgbt+ viewers, they would still have loads more. They're literally just advertising the show for what it is.

Another thing that I don't understand is the bashing and disinterest in amazing wlw ships, yet the hailing of poorly written ones like wayhaught. Made by a creator that has repeatedly shown that she does not care at all about the community, but she knows it's the only thing keeping her in a job! Why is the community actively stalling our own forward movement?

Remember when Floriana quit and people were saying she should have stayed to support the community? This woman is really meant to sabotage her career over fans who don't even respect her? Wow. I actually wonder about some of your social and personal lives because you are so out of touch with reality.

I wish that people would think 'do I know about this topic to have a comment' and please use a little common sense when reading articles and interviews.

[keagan-ashleigh]

So I'm catching up on the last Supernatural seasons, [there'll be spoilers] and the 13th season starting and ending on Nothing Else Matters by Metallica is beautiful not only because that's one of my favourite song ever, but also because the season starts with Castiel being dead (which I cried a lot about) and because of the meaning of this song, if you know it you watch the episode with a grin, I tell you.

The song is about Hetfield longing for his girlfriend while being on tour away from her. He wrote it while he was on the phone with her.

That's a song from a man who misses the woman he loves. That's beautiful. And Hetfield didn't meant to let this song out, at first he wanted to keep it to himself because it was intimate, I suppose it wasn't easy to give the world a piece of his heart you know. But eventually he agreed on making this song about their fans, so turning a "I love you" into a "I love you all", you see. Hetfield also said that the song was about being away from home and missing someone back at home. 

The meaning of this song is about - you’re gonna love it - expressing your feelings even though it makes you vulnerable, because it can be too late in a blink of an eye. The first part of the song states literally that they are close to each other, they are bonded, “no matter how far”. In fact, Hetfield here is saying that the physical distance he’s been putting between them because of his job is not enough to pull them apart and to make him forget how much he loves her. He’s saying that the bond they have - a strong and sort of innocent and pure connexion - is all that matters. It also says that Hetfield is not good with open-hardheartedly expressing himself. The story doesn’t tell if he actually talked about his feelings with his girlfriend on the phone or not, or if he just expressed himself quietly on the piece of paper on which he wrote the song. Truth is, he needed the support of music and song writing to let it all out. The words didn’t come easily, even though the message was honestly simple. He tells that in the second verse “all these word I don’t just say” - it implies the words in themselves aren’t that complicated (at the end of the day what he meant is “i love you and i miss you”, but still are hard to tell because they’re meaningful and especially heavy for someone who’s not used to tell them.  He also says that they have their own way to tell those words and to live those feelings, and that’s ok, no one should expect more from them because they understand each other and that’s all that matters. The outside world doesn’t have a say in how they love each other. He says, “I’m not good with turning my feelings into words, so what?”, doesn’t mean the feelings aren’t there, doesn’t mean she doesn’t get it. I believe he truly means it but that also sounds like a tiny bit delusional - because he acknowledges that talking to each other is important - otherwise he wouldn’t be writing a song about it, see what I mean? He’s aware that it’s important. There is a paradox here, because on one hand he says “I should tell her how I feel” and on the other hand he says “I trust her to understand, I trust our relationship to be strong enough not for us to need putting feelings into words”. In conclusion, what this song is really about: their bond is strong and what matters in the end is the faith they put in their relationship, and it doesn’t matter what is going on out in the world and it doesn’t matter what people think about their relationship and how they live it - the singer wants his girlfriend to understand that he loves her and misses her like he misses home, even though he doesn’t talk about it. 

Now, in relation to the show, it rings some huge bells and I really believe they didn’t put it in there to illustrate Castiel’s death and Dean’s mourning without knowing that this is a love song. If they weren’t aware about shipping and destiel I would give it a second thought but they did acknowledged it several times. I believe they do play with it, being on the edge of "outing it”. I don’t think they’ll make it canon at all, they had too many perfect occasions for it, but they give us just enough, playing the “you can see it how you want to see it” card, and isn’t that song perfect for that. Yes they love each other in their own way, and the rest doesn’t matter, be free to ship them if you want to, but it doesn’t need to be canon - to be said out loud - to be meaningful. I don’t say I agree, because that is cowardice and queerbaiting to me, but that may be the correct way to understand their choices, even this song. This is on the edge of outing it as a romantic relationship while keeping it subtext.

I feel like the song is beautifully saying Dean loves and misses Castiel, but also that it will never be put into words because they don’t need it (doesn’t matter if we need it or not). And to be honest I’m on the verge of being mad about it. Like ok you put innuendos in fun and/or clever ways but at the end of the day it’s still queerbaiting man, and it has been going on for eleven years, and it’s not clever to play the “you read it how you want” card, when 99% of other shows also play that card and don’t actually SAY things. I love that show, and at times the subtext makes me laugh, but it’s also not cool. If we can understand something from Nothing Else Matters is that in the end Hetfield needed to express what he was feeling because deep down he knew his girlfriend needed to hear it and that there was nothing wrong with being open-hearted. Anyway still, I heard this song in this show, very explicitly being about Dean mourning Castiel, and I thought it was beautiful, beautifully chosen, and gosh did I cried, but also it was maddening knowing it’ll never be more explicit than that.

[deadsince1973]

OMG, thank you for asking! I’ve been hinting about this in my tags for a while now and nobody’s ever asked, so I’ve been really debating about whether I should post this or not! (Although, to be fair, it was also because I knew this was going to be long, and I felt too lazy to type it all up.)

I just want to start by saying I cannot emphasize enough that I don’t want to take away from anyone’s love for the Captain! If you find him positive representation and relatable, then I support your happiness in this!

But, that being said, I think Them There/Six Idiots’s representation of gay and trans characters is not very good. I could bring in examples from their other works (i.e. Yonderland and Bill), but I’ll try to limit myself to the Captain.

I’ve seen people say things like, “It’s so great to see a gay man where his sexuality isn’t the joke!” But, it is the joke. It’s the whole joke! Okay, to be fair, it’s only half the joke, because the other half is how militaristic he is. But when the joke is about him being attracted to someone, the whole joke is that he’s gay! Take for example when he first sees Mike. Humor exists in the subversion of expectations. Thomas says, “Let me pluck out my eyes, for I shall never see such beauty again,” as the camera shows Alison. Then the Captain says, “Yes.” There’s a pause, where the audience assumes he’s also talking about Alison. But then he adds, “He’d make a very fine soldier,” and we laugh because our heteronormative expectations have been subverted. The Captain is gay. That’s what’s funny! The Captain then clears his throat. We understand that he’s not out and proud. He’s not unashamed of his lust, the way Thomas and Kitty are. The facade of a straight man is maintained, allowing the show to continue to exploit the gap between the behavior expected of a straight man and the Captain’s behavior for laughs. If the joke goes beyond his being gay, it’s that he’s gay and closeted.

Now, you could argue that that wasn’t the joke, that the joke was that he was so invested in his military lifestyle that he conflated it with his sexuality. In other words, the joke was that he was attracted to soldiers, not all men. But that’s not the case at all, because no other case of him combining his fascination with war with attraction to anybody is ever shown. Additionally, because of the heteronormative bias we’re all immersed in every day (not to mention the very real behavior of military recruiters and real-life soldiers), we just more firmly expect a person with an unspecified sexuality to be straight than we do for an army captain to not look at the world and every person in it through a military lens. In other words, there’s more of a gap between our expectations of his sexuality and its subversion than there is between our expectations of appropriate behavior for an army captain and its subversion to exploit. Therefore, even though both his being attracted to a man and the reason why/the way he chooses to express that attraction are humorous, the bulk of our laugh comes from the realization of his sexuality. In order to exploit his expression of his lust in the form of military recruitment for laughs, the writers would have needed to remove the question of his sexuality from the joke altogether. To do this, they would have had to establish his sexuality explicitly and unambiguously before this scene. They did not do that.

You could then argue that that was the first joke, and it established his sexuality, and none of the jokes about his attraction afterwards exploited that expectation. But, as I said above, they still did not make his sexuality explicit. He pretends to be straight, and so we expect him to act straight. That’s as good as actually expecting him to be straight before the first joke for the purposes of laughs. Either way, we expect him to act straight, and so when he acts gay, he subverts our expectations and makes us laugh. Again, the whole joke is that he’s gay.

I’d like to turn now to the way his sexuality is treated in the serious parts, how it’s treated outside of the jokes. I do want to add the caveat here that I don’t find this show emotionally compelling at all, the way a lot of people do. So I am coming at it from that point of view.

After the first season, I said I would be more okay with them exploiting the Captain’s being closeted for laughs if they actually seriously addressed what it’s like to be a closeted gay man. For the record, I know Ben Willbond said in at least one interview that he didn’t want to “ge[t] too deep about it because it is just a comedy.” Personally, I don’t agree with that point of view. I believe that if you’re going to deal with a socially sensitive issue in a comedy, you should give the weight it deserves. I don’t believe everything in a comedy has to be for laughs. Perhaps if you find the Captain emotionally compelling, you would disagree with me that his experience with his sexuality needs to be treated earnestly (and you probably agree with me that not everything in a comedy has to be for laughs). I can respect that opinion, but I’m afraid I do not share it. I would have liked to have seen an explicit depiction of his experience and struggles with his sexuality.

Which brings me, of course, to Redding Weddy. Frankly, I think the Captain throughout the entire show is barely one step away from queerbaiting. Yes, at least there’s never any hint of his actually being heterosexual. That’s a slight improvement from most queerbaiting. But they still never make his sexuality explicit. To my knowledge, none of Them There have even said the words “gay” or “homosexual” in an interview in relation to the Captain. It’s an unspoken understanding between the show and the audience, and that leaves the character open to interpretation. There are allegedly fans out there who still do not believe the Captain is gay. And to my mind, Redding Weddy just gives those fans ammunition.

Redding Weddy is ambiguous. The Captain is clearly as horny as a goat for his lieutenant. But at the same time, even then, even in a flashback, even when the Captain is alone with the audience, we get no explicit confirmation of his sexuality. The Captain’s explanation of Operation William is unclear. It could be taken at face value. In that case, the Captain never wrote a letter to Havers, he really did just bury blueprints with the mine, and all the hinting that he was in love with Havers was just misdirection. At best, we can believe that both were true: that the Captain was in love with Havers, and the misdirection was in the story’s focus on his feelings to distract the audience from the fact that he was really buying secret blueprints. At worst, the whole thing was a misdirection, and he was never in love with Havers at all. I don’t believe that, but it is a perfectly reasonable interpretation. It could also be that the Captain was lying about the blueprints. In that case, he really did write a love letter to Havers and hide it with the mine, only concocting the story about the blueprints and the whole operation being called “Operation William” at the last minute when he needed to explain the mine to Alison. That makes less sense to me, because why would he need to mention the paper and the name William at all, now that it had been blown up? However, you could still explain that away by him being afraid that the letter survived and trying to pre-empt any questions, should the letter ever be found. That’s a bit too much of a stretch in my opinion, but still not a totally unreasonable explanation. I think it’s significant that none of the other ghosts weighed in on the story, even though at least one or two of them must have seen or heard something. I think the story was kept deliberately ambiguous in order to keep the Captain’s very obvious sexuality as vague as was still possible. I don’t like that.

What I would have liked to have seen, more than anything else in regards to the Captain, is for them to have treated his sexuality the same way they treated Kitty’s race: as completely inconsequential. I’m not good enough with history to know exactly when Kitty lived and died, but she’s supposed to be a noble, or at least rich, Georgian woman, right? Google tells me that slavery was not abolished in the British Empire until 1833, under the reign of William IV (who, as I know we all remember from The Monarchs Song, came after George IV). Would a black woman have been granted dignity and respect in the heart of an empire built by the labor of people enslaved with no justification other than the color of their skin? If I’m wrong, please correct me, but I don’t expect so.

I do understand the need for both types of stories. I understand that there’s value in stories about a person of color, or a woman, or a member of any other minority or disadvantaged group fighting for equality and gaining ground. It’s good to have stories that explicitly support equality. But it is my opinion that there’s also value in simply presenting that equality, as unrealistic as it might now seem. It normalizes that equality, and it lets people who identify with one of the disadvantaged groups feel included. That’s why I love seeing a black woman being a Georgian noblewoman, because why shouldn't black people be able to dream of belonging to any period of British history that they want to? None of us can time travel, so it’s no more unrealistic for a black person to dream that than a white person. And that’s why I would have liked to have seen the same thing with the Captain. No, of course homosexuality was not accepted in the 40′s. But why shouldn’t we be able to pretend that it was? Why can’t we just see a gay man being treated completely equally to everyone else, irrespective of his sexuality? Why can’t we let gay men and maybe even others who identify as anything other than cis and straight dream of being able to be themselves in any historical era that they want to? That’s why I would very much have preferred if the Captain was just out, that they used a word like “gay” or “homosexual” on the show in reference to him, and if the whole joke of his character was just his military ways. Possibly mixed with how horny he is, just like Thomas or Kitty. But, in that case, as with Kitty and Thomas, the joke would not have been that he was gay, it would have just been that he wanted carnal satisfaction when he had no physical form. That would have been much better representation in my opinion.

This has all be in answer to the question above, posed on my post about how the Captain dancing with a gay couple at the end of season 2 was magical. I stand by that. I want the Captain to be out and happy, and him indulging himself and being comfortable with his sexuality makes me happy. But the fact that his sexual orientation is so often the butt of jokes, that they never address his struggles about getting comfortable with himself, and that they never dignify him by saying his sexuality out loud makes me feel frustrated and disappointed.

[writsgrimmyblog]

To Celebrities Opining on Fanfic: Please Stop

Okay. I will probably always stan Nick. I have written hundreds and thousands of words of fanfic featuring him, his radio show gives me an enormous amount of happiness and I think he’s great. At the same time, I don’t have to unequivocally love my fave and accept sometimes they will do things that jar with me. Louis certainly has. Harry has. Nobody’s perfect and sometimes we hold people up to unrealistic standards. This post is NOT an excuse to bash Nick. Garbage about Nick is not something I welcome or support. I’m not here for any of that. What I do want to do is open up a discussion about celebrities opining on fanfiction.

In my post on RPF and Fandom’s Fourth Wall (or why breaking the fourth wall in the interests of shipping pursuits is nobody’s friend) I wrote about how frustrated I get when fans themselves deliberately break the fourth wall, tagging and linking celebrities to things which bring them into our private spaces. Rarely, if ever, has this resulted in celebrities developing a positive, well-reasoned view of fandom. Instead it gives them a skewed view of fandom spaces as controlled people who have no concept of personal, private boundaries when it comes to celebrities. Celebrities then (perhaps rightly) feel at liberty to opine on areas they know very little about in ways that can make fandom participants who are respectful about the celebrities they love, keeping under the radar and just enjoying creating transformative works for the fandom community feel small.

Listening to Nick talk about fanfic on the radio this morning - something he’s done before - actually gives me hives and it’s very difficult not to have a personal, visceral reaction to it. When Nick decides fanfic is weird all I hear is “Nick thinks I’m a weirdo.” Nick doesn’t know me, it’s illogical and ridiculous, but it’s what I hear all the same. When he seems fascinated (in a negative way) by the length of the stories and the time investment put into creating transformative works, it makes me feel like I’m personally wasting my time. It has the impact of making me question a private space which gives me so much pleasure. It feels like a punch in the gut, like being called out by someone you admire. It’s not the first time it’s happened and it won’t be the last. I’ve heard Benedict Cumberbatch give his completely misinformed views on fanfiction and fandom demographics. I’ve had to eye-roll at some of the opinions on shipping coming from the SPN actors at fan conventions. I’ve gritted my teeth through countless moments of talk show related ‘hilarity’ where everyone from Tom Felton (a rare celebrity who respectfully engages and interacts with his fan communities, shipping and transformative works) to Tom Hiddleston get shown fanart or conduct readings of fanfic which people never intended to be ridiculed on such a wide, public level. Let’s be honest, it’s usually just another case of dudes mocking women, and we get plenty of that already, thanks.

This issue extends far beyond a throwaway conversation between Nick and Niall this morning. It runs much deeper because it happens, all the time. Fan communities are consistently utilised on the one hand for the commercial power they wield and denigrated on the other for their ‘strange and unusual’ pursuits. You see it everywhere from the rise in terms like slash-wink, ship tease, fan service and queerbaiting to the misogynistic and ageist stereotyping of fandom participants. I remain desperate for celebrities to actually educate themselves on fandom communities to the extent they plan to talk about them, even just a little. Fandom demographics are consistently misunderstood, together with fannish pursuits. I long for someone in the public spotlight to be able to engage with the broad and rich history of fanfic, to speak back to fandom in its own terms, to understand the creative importance of these largely female populated spaces, the positive impact of accessible, queer narratives, when the mainstream lag behind, on the one hand queerbaiting and on the other providing representation couched in stereoptypes and tokenism (with one or two exceptions). I have a whole paper on the meta-textual fangirl in Supernatural, but that’s another discussion.

I rationally understand that for the celebrity stumbling across fic, it must be very strange to find stories people have written about you with explicit content. But let’s be abundantly clear. These stories may be written about you but they are certainly not written for you. They are works of fiction which have been inspired by aspects of your public persona but they are fiction. Please also understand most fans do not write from the perspective of hoping you’ll find their stories and fall in love with the person you’re paired with. Most writers would really prefer it if you didn’t find their stories at all. They would definitely prefer not to be mocked for writing them. While we’re at it, as you’re already online, you’re just a google search away from actually figuring out a bit more about this ‘crazy, odd, fanfic’ thing.  If it’s so fascinating and hilarious you think it’s worthy of a mention, actually do some bloody research about it and understand there’s an increasingly growing field of scholarship on this stuff, a whole history of suppressing women’s writing which ties into discourse on fanfic and some pretty good stuff out there.

To celebrities engaging with the alien worlds of your RPF fandoms (all celebrities, not just Nick, Niall or whoever else wants to speak about fanfic in public spaces). Please, please, stop using fanfiction to get a cheap laugh. Please stop making fun of these spaces unless you understand them and are prepared to engage with their complexities and nuances. Please understand the people who are creating these works are your fans. If you’ve got time to find stuff to make jokes about, take five minutes to find an article - any article - written by an actual fan and understand the history and importance of transformative works before dismissing them so easily. Think about the people who put hours into creating something and respect their privacy as they (hopefully for the most part) respect yours.

Now I’m going to stop feeling annoyed, put on my ‘I’m an adult’ hat and remind myself. I do not need or want a male celebrity I love to validate how I engage with fandom. I go back to articles like Elizabeth Minkel’s excellent Why It Doesn’t Matter What Benedict Cumberbatch Thinks of Fanfiction and revisit similarly fan-positive discourse from writers such as the always excellent Aja Romano. I go back to my books, like Rhiannon Bury’s ‘Cyberspaces of Their Own’ and Anne Jamieson’s ‘Fic: Why Fanfic is Taking Over the World.’ 

In RPF fandoms in particular there is an enormous fourth wall issue and it’s becoming ever harder to maintain, but I’m still keen to try. The fans who are respectful about the celebrities they love do not need anyone to validate what they do creatively within these fandom spaces. I just sometimes need to take a breath and remind myself of that.

[magnetic-force-of-a-may]

Now I See Daylight: Lover is Taylor Swift’s Brightest Glow-Up

I wrote a ~2,000 word review of Lover. I’m so proud of you @taylorswift buddy, and as someone who majored in literature, I always like to close-read and write about the art I appreciate. and I love love lover, and I hope you’ll like my review (skip to the last paragraph if it’s too long hehe). <3 @taylornation   The musical event of my year transpired last night when Taylor Swift released her hotly anticipated 7th studio album, Lover. It’s Taylor’s 13th year in the game, my 11th year as a Swiftie, and we’ve both never been better. After dancing/crying/listening to Lover since last night, I’m finally ready to write my review of this triumphant, exuberant pop masterpiece.

It’s been a whirlwind past few months, from five holes in the fence to the star-studded, not-without-controversy YNTCD to the gorgeous title track that is “Lover.” As always, Taylor and her team have orchestrated a business-savvy album roll-out, complete with an elaborate, year-long, Easter Egg hunt. There is always much speculation about a Taylor Swift album, and a marketing campaign structured around clues is a smart way of creating the speculation, shifting listeners’ attention somewhere productive; in this case, re-watching the “ME!” music video over and over to catch all the eggs and amp up the video’s views. But to hear Lover in its entirety at the end of an Easter Egg journey is ultimately rewarding and intimate. “I am an architect, I’m drawing up the plans,” sings Taylor in “I Think He Knows.” The Lover era confirms her skills as a powerful architect; she builds speculation, constructs masterful bridges (she really went to “bridge city” with many songs on this album), and shows no signs of stopping.

The opening track, “I Forgot You Existed,” is an understated earworm that essentially bids the reputation era (and the Kimye drama of 2016) adieu. “It isn’t love, it isn’t hate, it’s just indifference,” Taylor shrugs. Vocally, the song has a colloquial quality; throughout, Taylor speaks, laughs, even trails off. It’s the equivalent of the throat-clearing that launched Track 1 of reputation, “Ready For It.” The first and essentially last song about “drama” on Lover, “I Forgot You Existed” clears the path for the 17 raw, emotional tracks to come.

The immediate next track, “Cruel Summer,” is an absolute pop-bop that immediately takes us to the higher register (Taylor in soprano-mode is sublime). It’s likely the next single (Tay teased the title in the YNTCD video and in a recent Amazon ad). This is the first song on the album that takes us to BRIDGE CITY—Tay practically screams “he looks up, grinning like a devil” in the bridge, and it’s amazing. We get to hear several New Taylor Sounds in this album, and it’s a lovely surprise each time. The trumpet(?) tease that opens “False God” and the way Tay sings “lo-o-o-o-ve” in the chorus prove that it’s all in the details. Structurally, the song staggers the lyrics in the chorus, such that each bleeds into the next (“Religion’s in your lips / Even if it’s a false god.” The religious imagery in Taylor’s past two albums is fascinating). Something similar happens, with even more syncopation (and brass!), in “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” which is the grown-up, dreamier version of “Mary’s Song.” Speaking of the debut album, the way Taylor sings the bridge of “Cornelia Street” (“Barefoot in the kitchen…”) sounds just like the chorus of “Invisible.” Are these callbacks to her debut album coincidental? Knowing Taylor, likely not.

Indeed, many moments in Lover remind us that the old Taylor is far from dead, as she previously proclaimed in LWYMMD. "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” makes a direct reference to Tay’s song from the Hannah Montana movie (I looove “Crazier”), and in “Daylight” she sings that she used to think of love as being “burning red,” a lyric from “Red.” And Track 12 of Lover, “Soon You’ll Get Better,” is like Track 12 of Fearless, “The Best Day” (one of my all-time favs)—both are songs about Taylor’s mom, Andrea Swift, who is currently battling cancer. “Soon You’ll Get Better” is the album’s #1 tear-jerker, and features Andrea’s favorite band, The Dixie Chicks. It’s the closest thing to country on the album.  

But on Lover, we are undeniably listening to a new Taylor who brings the storytelling traditions of country into the energetic world of pop. This Taylor writes about love from a stronger place of growth and self-confidence. You know that meme that goes, “I’m you but stronger”? That’s Lover to Taylor’s early discography. Tay’s confidence jumps out clearly in ME!, which was the first single Taylor released on 4.26 and honestly still one of my favorite tracks from the album (catch me yelling “HEY, KIDS! SPELLING IS FUN! on tour). I truly love Brendon Urie’s part in that song. Although “ME!”might have a reputation for being a “kids’ bop,” it channels a form of self-awareness that we also get on “Afterglow,” which is about a lover who understands her own flaws: “It’s all me, in my head.” Both “Afterglow” and “ME!” speak to the beauty and possibility of experiencing a storm with someone and recovering together afterwards, be it in the rain or in the light. It’s not just self-awareness that Taylor demonstrates on Lover, but also social awareness—this is the year she finally became vocally political, after all. “YNTCD” was her first LGBTQ anthem. Although some have accused Tay of “queerbaiting” (there’s always some flaw to pick out, isn’t there), the song is truly Taylor’s love letter as an ally to the LGBTQ community. Then there’s “The Man,” which slams the patriarchy by imagining a world in which Taylor is not a woman, but a man. “If I was out flashing my dollars I’d be a bitch, not a baller,” she sings. She also gives Leo Dicaprio a well-deserved roast; while Taylor’s dating life has received extensive scrutiny, tabloids don’t hate on “Leo in Saint-Tropez” the way they lambast Taylor for ‘serial-dating.’ “The Man” also sounds very much like HAIM’s “Forever” (“Dress” on reputation gave me HAIM vibes too). And I’ll forever stan Taylor x HAIM.

In Red, Taylor sings “Stay Stay Stay” to someone who later likely breaks her heart. Interestingly, the song on Lover that sounds like a musical echo to that track is “Paper Rings,” an adrenaline rush of a song about getting married. The song is another perfect 60s bop, and I love all the counting that happens in the song; it lyrically and spiritually channels the “you’re the only one I want” energy from Grease. “I like shiny things,” sings Taylor (we know) “but I’d marry you with paper rings.” And theother elephant-in-the-room song about marriage is of course “Lover,” which has literal wedding vows in its beautiful bridge. Of the three marriage-related songs on this album, “Lover” wins my heart (and it’s Taylor’s favorite song that she’s ever written, I hear). It’s a beautiful ballad that comes straight from the heart. Like the best Taylor Swift songs, it’s personal. We get straight to the time and place, like in “Cornelia Street,” the street on which Taylor used to live. In fact, the song’s melody seems to share the same musical pattern as “Delicate,” and some fans even speculate that the “third floor on the West side” from “Delicate” is on Cornelia Street. Another song is that is very location-specific is “London Boy,” which is a personal favorite for its allusion-heavy lyrics and catchy beat. I know that some Londoners are shaking their heads at the lyrics, but oh well—it’s a cute nod to Taylor’s current boyfriend of three years, Joe Alwyn, who (if you haven’t figured it out by now) is the inspiration behind many of the songs on this album.  Another standout, should-be-a-single track is the aforementioned “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince,” which demonstrates Tay’s exquisite, imaginative storytelling style and mastery of metaphor (“Getaway Car” was the masterful-metaphor song on reputation). I could really write a paper on these lyrics. The Guardian seems to think it’s about living in Trump’s America? It’s a song that, along with “The Archer,” is reminiscent of Lana Del Rey’s dreamy pop (although the latter, while lyrically lovely, has yet to totally grow on me). Taylor has long been outspoken about her love for Lana’s music (they also share a producer: the amazing Jack Antonoff). If this means that Taylor’s music is beginning to take on a slightly indie-rock quality, I’m not complaining. For instance, “Death by a Thousand Cuts” has a slightly Vampire Weekend-quality to it, especially with the freestyle piano tinkling that emerges towards the chorus. But it would be remiss for me to compare Taylor to other artists (although maybe this at least proves that I listen to other music hahahahahah). As she sings in “ME!”, she’s the only one of her(!), and Lover proves this to a T (see what I did there?). From the records it broke even before release day to the pop perfection we’re getting on every track, Lover is bold and brassy, and Taylor knows it.

A few months ago, Taylor wrote in an Elle listicle that she has learned to “step into the daylight and let it go.” That line has indeed revealed itself to be a lyric from the final track of Lover, “Daylight,” a 5-minute long song that beautifully closes the album. “I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you,” sings Taylor to her lover. But she also ends with a monologue: “You are what you love.” For Taylor, to love someone is to also love yourself. And that message of self-love radiates throughout Lover.

Earlier this year, I read an article with the headline, “Sad Taylor Swift is the Best Taylor Swift.” While it’s true that artistic production does often come from places of suffering and heartbreak, Lover steps into the daylight and delivers songs on an album that is wonderfully bright. The album cover, shot by the talented Valheria Rocha, captures the softness and loveliness of this glow. In Lover, Taylor is not our heartbreak princess. And we don’t want her to be, either. She’s braver than “Fearless,” and she’s more than simply “Clean.” I’d like to argue that Taylor is at her best at her brightest, which is to say at her clearest and cleverest. She’s someone who shines, inside and out, in her music and in her life. The illuminating, skin-clearing grace that she delivers on Lover lights up my room. This review is glowing, and so is Lover.

[69reggaetongirl]

Dead TV Lesbian Characters Anonymous

Crackfic based on Sally's comment about this article on Autostraddle : http://www.autostraddle.com/100-storylines-we-brainstormed-in-5-minutes-that-dont-involve-dead-lesbians-330245/ She wrote : "Currently trying to process by making up a story where all the dead TV lesbians sit around at a Dead Lesbians Anonymous support group, trying to process what the fuck is going on with this world".

Sally, whoever you are, wherever you are, thank you and I love you. This is the best idea ever ;) ! Multi-fandom fic. SPOILER ALERT if you're not up to date in the following TV shows : Xena warrior princess, Orphan Black, The 100, Defiance, True Blood, Pretty Little Liars, The L Word, Skins, Buffy the vampire slayer, Chicago fire, Lip Service, Marvel's Agent of Shield, Spartacus : Gods of the Arena, Los Hombres de Paco and Lost Girl.

Chapter 1 : "The Newbie"

In an abandoned studio, located somewhere in the darkest corner of Vancouver, Canada.

-"Ladies, please, take your sits quickly. We have a new member today who I'm sure, is dying to meet us. Pun not intended".

-"Not intended ? Please, Xena, you make this one every time we welcome a new member".

-"Maya ? Don't start".

-"I hope she's cute"

-"Seriously, Sophie Anne ?"

-"What ?"

Queen Sophie Anne didn't have the time to respond when a light knock echoed in the room.

-"Shhhs ! She's here !" Dana Fairbanks whispered loudly.

-"Come in !" Xena said while motioning frantically to the other women to sit.

-"Hi. My name is Lexa. When I died on my TV show last week, they told me to make a stop here but I admit that I don't really know where I am".

"Welcome Lexa," Xena spoke calmly. "Please, take a sit, I'll explain everything."

Lexa hesitated. There were two chairs available in the circle. The first one was just two sits from her right but the blonde woman that would be sitting on her left was looking at her with predatory eyes and a devil smirk. Oh my God, are those fangs ? she thought fast and took the second chair in the opposite direction.

-"Lexa, let me introduce you to the Dead TV Lesbian Characters support group. Here, we meet every Wednesday afternoon to help each other process our death in the TV show we were starring".

-"I still think we should rename the group Dead TV Queer Characters. Not everyone here is a lesbian" Jenny Schecter interrupted angrily.

-"Kenya, we talked about this numerous times. We can't replace "lesbian" with "queer" because then men will be part of the group too and we already have barely enough room as it is !" Xena answered exasperated. "We welcome all sexual identities whereas you wouldn't be there and Cece neither.

-"It's Jenny !"

"Stop yelling" said Sophie Anne smoothly. "You're going to frighten our cute little newbie here," she added with a devious smirk and a wink in Lexa's direction.

-"Yeah, not our fault that your actress enjoy to be killed on a regular basis..."

-"Maya ! What did I said earlier ?" Xena said in a firm tone.

-"Yeah, don't start, sorry," Maya St Germain mumbled.

-"So, if we all have been killed in our respective TV shows, why are we still alive ?" Lexa suddenly spoke, making all the group look at her again.

"That's because once you're created, you enter what is called the collective imagination." Xena answered. "No matter what happens to you, you still live in all the humans mind. In their memories. They still can remember you, talk about you. They can even reborn you by writing you a prequel of your adventures before your death or fanfictions that ignore your canon death.

At that, Victoria Hand stood up abruptly.

-"No, no, no, no. Enough with the fanfictions ! If I see another high school alternative universe I swear I'm going to kill the author myself !" she all but shouted in the stunned room. "I know that I age well, thank you very much, but I don't need to be reminded of the worst period of my life every damn sentence !"

-"Victoria," Xena went on, unfazed. "You will have plenty of time to share your struggles with the group later. Now, it's all about welcoming our new member appropriately. So, Lexa. What can you tell us about yourself ?"

-"I'm from the TV show The 100 which tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world" Lexa begun. "The survivors fled from the catastrophe and lived in space for almost hundred years. But then, the spaceship starts to running out of oxygen so they send a group of young delinquents to test if Earth is habitable again. When the group of teenagers land on Earth, they learn the hard way that they're not alone".

-"Great, another sci-fi TV show which, instead of detach itself from reality by creating brand new worlds just perpetuate the worst clichés and failures of our own" a very annoyed Naomi Campbell intervened. "Seriously, can't they do parallel worlds where the slaves are white or the lesbian make it through the third season ?"

-"Let's talk about something less depressing" Dana Fairbanks said suddenly. "Did you have a pretty girlfriend on your show ?"

-"Yes. Her name is Clarke" Lexa answered, a ghost of a smile at the corner of her lips.

-"What she looks like ?" Dana asked with fascinated eyes and a broad smile.

-"She's blonde. Has beautiful blue eyes..." Lexa stopped talking, lost in her thoughts of Clarke.

-"Aww, don't worry kitten" said Sophie Anne looking at Lexa with her head tilted to the side. "She will join you sooner than later," she went on, taking a sip of her blood colored cocktail.

-"Sophie Anne ! That's totally insensitive to say !" Dana shouted. "Even for you," she then mumbled with a disapproving glare to the Queen.

-"So ?" the vampire replied nonchalantly. "It's the truth. We will all end up here. It's just a matter of time, c'est la vie".

-"I admit it wouldn't be so bad to have a girlfriend here," Kenya said, smirking at Gaia who reminded Kenya pleasantly of her ex lover, Stahma Tarr.

-"And with the way some show runners treat us, it sometimes better to be dead," her twin sister Jenny, added, sighting.

-"Amen" Shana agreed solemnly.

The dead silence that followed Jenny's statement was brutally interrupted when the door busted open in a loud bang.

-"Okay guys, you really have to take me in. I just can't stand it anymore !" a very desperate Emma Swan said loudly before letting herself drop on the first chair available.

-"Emma, we discussed this numerous times already" Xena said wearily. "A character assassination doesn't count as a real death." She straightened herself on her chair and added more firmly, looking directly at Emma : "You should return to your group now."

-"No please !" Emma shouted at the verge of crying. I don't belong there. Everybody keeps complaining, wondering who they are, what are they making those horrible choices..." she explained exasperated. "I know who I am ! I'm bisexual and in love with Regina Mills !" She said more confidently this time. "Why the writers of my show can't see that ?" she then whined.

-"Your show got renewed for another season, right ?" Xena asked Emma who nodded yes. "So give them time, they will see it soon" Xena finished, sighting.

-"But meanwhile I'm bored to death in my group !" Emma whined again. "Hey, does that count as a fictional death ?" She then added smiling broadly, proud of her pun.

-"Emma, get out !" Xena shouted exasperated this time.

-"Okay, okay, I'm on my way" Emma said, finally giving up.

After Emma Swan exited the room, Xena looked at the clock and stood up abruptly.

-"Girls" she said, "we have to clean the room for the queerbaiting group and we're running late". Everyone started gathering their stuff and cleaning the two tables at the back of the room where the members lay some food and drinks. Xena then walked toward Lexa.

-"Our next session will be next Wednesday at 15pm" Xena said to Lexa. "If you come, we will start with your story, okay ?" At Lexa's furrowed brow, Xena specified : "I mean that you could tell the group how you died on your TV show, what got you happy or upset about it... You can write everything on a paper if it helps you".

-"Oh, no problem. I'll be there" Lexa answered.

Read the following chapters here : https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11847732/1/Dead-TV-Lesbian-Characters-Anonymous

[tumblunni]

also wtf who designed rune factory 4 this way THIS IS MY ONLY COMPLAINT IN AN AMAZING GAME why are all the romance routes entirely random?? even after youve reached the relationship milestones its COMPLETELY RANDOM whether the event will start every day same for every friendship event and town event and even some plot events you just have to sit there at your bed constantly skipping days for multiple years til the random number god gives you the marriage scene you did EVERYTHING to earn this marriage scene and you have nothing left to do but wait and youll never see any new events with that character until it happens, and you have a very limited amount of dates to go on while youre waiting, and they all do NOTHING except raise the relationship bar over maximum which does nothing. doesnt even increase the chance of the random event?? why even LET me increase it over maximum if it does nothing? thats just tricking me into thinking i havent unlocked the marriage event yet! when I HAVE and i just need to WAIT A BAZILLION YEARS OF RANDOM

anyway i finally got Leon’s random marriage quest and it was Awesome and So Many Tears and now im even more conflicted on who to marry gahhhhh its such a shame you cant resolve everyone’s plot unless you date them, i feel so bad dating all these people when im not able to marry them all, just cos i wanna fix their lives and make them happy but then theyre gon be sad that we didnt get married aaaa

and Leon is especially saddddd

now cos his whole plot is that he had a depressing scenario with a friend as a kid. She loved him but he saw her as just a little sister, and he jokingly promised to marry her once when they were too young to understand. And he didnt know she took it seriously until after he DIED and reincarnated as a fox monster person centuries later too late to do anything about it. And he’s crushed full of guilt that he somehow led her on, and he was never able to apologise, and he’s scared she spent her whole life waiting for him to come back. and then you get this very cool series of sidequests thatre a realistic look at translating languages, and its really motivational how leon is able to help bring knowledge of a dead language back to life and preserve the ancient culture that people thought was lost BUT THEN ENDLESS FUCKIN TRAGEDY kiel accidentally finds an old diary of leon’s friend (WHAT ARE THE ODDS) and he has frickin detailed anxiety attacks unable to even hold the damn paper cos he’s shaking so much and you go on a big treasure hunt to find all the pages and he’s just CRYING SO MUCH mr playboy man! mr flirty asshole! mr stoic! he’s fuckin crying and he cant hold a book without your help and aaaa and his whole story is about how he isnt really the negative stereotypes of a flirty character, he really REALLY values love and he feels depressed he cant love everyone who loves him, so he tries to fake it. And he tries to push people away whenever it seems genuine, but also like... entertain them enough that they dont feel he doesnt love them, i guess? and no matter how promiscuous a person is, they still cant love EVERYONE, you cant just force a relationship on them and say they must be asking for it cos they date other people and enjoy sex. its so depressing that he considers his biggest flaw that he wasnt able to force himself to love someone he didnt, especially when he did care about her, just as a best friend instead! if theyd just talked about it, it would have saved all this heartache for both of them! so then we start piecing together this book and it looks like his worst fears are confirmed, she spent her whole life waiting for him and hating him and its really fucking EXPLODINGLY SAD and then the quest is a bit confusing so i spent several days stuck on this point not knowing who to talk to next, going through random dungeons in case that somehow helped. turned out i did find the right spot but the quest just doesnt progress until you talk to the right person first GAH! stuck for five days on crying leon scene!! NOOOOOO but I finally got past it and CLIMACTIC HAPPY END or bittersweet end more like we find out we mistranslated one bit which was actually PAGE NUMBERS, and we were missing a page all along! and then the final page reveals that she actually moved on and found a new love and had a happy family and grew old together, and her only frustration with leon was imagining that he couldnt find the same thing, worrying that she’d betrayed him. So this wasnt a diary, it was actually a letter she wrote for him to find, having confidence he’d wake up someday and have another chance at happiness! She just wanted him to know that she kept his memory alive and she’s sorry and she was happy and AAAAAAUUUGH im tearing up again the bit that really got me was that we find out that leon’s favourite romance novel was actually written by her. It was so popular it survived into the modern day as a literature classic, and it convinces him that she really was happy with her new boyfriend if she could write something as beautiful as this. And he wants to embody the spirit of the book with you, and keep his new promise to her to have a happy family of his own :) ... AGHHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHH why cant i marry everyone why do so many of them have plots where it seems like they wont be happy unless i love them... even now i dont really think the leon pairing is my favourite, i wish i could have had this plot as a friendship route! i think it would have resonated just as much since the whole backstory is about him being friends with someone who had unrequited love for him. i wanna be leon’s bestie and ultimate wingman! I like him a lot but I dont really think i wanna marry him! IM SO SORRY LEON AAAA he’s such a soulful beefcake dammit I’m sure he’d find a bazillion better lovers! I’m sure a lot of players did marry him! WHY DO I FEEL SO GUILTY AAAAA its not fair, aaaa arthur was the first one i dated and i also really care about him but in his case his way of acting in the romance isnt very different to when youre just friends so i dont think i wanna commit to that relationship maybe? it might change when i see his final random event but i dont get much ‘he’ll be happy with you’ vibes, its just strengthening their powerful brotp that they had from the start of the game. he feels like someone protagonist would indeed date, but theyd part again on friendly terms after it didnt work out, and then be amicable exes who still care a lot about each other. and I just feel like I wanna marry dylas even though he’s had the least tragic events so far. gahhhh! he just seems SO HAPPY dating you, and has loads of character development since it started, unlike the other two ive seen the dates for. he feels like he’s actually getting something out of this that he wouldnt if we were just friends? its so hard trying to weigh up the pros and cons of romance options in games when im inacapble of actually being attracted to anyone, its just ‘i care about you all and i wanna give you the best possible ending’. I haaaaate when games have it so that romance is always the best possible ending for every single character and they all suffer forever if you dont pick them :P and I havent even seen the romances with the other three dudes yet! GAHHHHH!! Theyre all the ones I wasnt immediately interested in dating, but that opinion could totally change, i could end up with a six way tie :P ... ALSO RANDOM BUT is anyone else really uncomfortable with the queerbaiting in this game? there is a LOt, a LOT of ‘lol maybe gay’, sometimes so clear that it seems the game is outright canonically stating this character is gay or bisexual yet you have no option to marry them unless youre the opposite sex. It gets REALLY uncomfortable with Dylas, he just,,, does not express any interest in women at all unless the player pursues him. And his mutual crush with doug is CONSTANTLY REFERENCED, and called out very clearly for what it is. IOf the game didnt keep pointing it out i would have been able to shrug it off as just accidental chemistry from a failed rivalry plotline or something, but we have EVERYONE saying ‘oh a lover’s quarrel’ and ‘be honest about your feelings’ and ‘i bet you wanna see doug in a swimsuit’ and ‘gee i really wanna see doug in a swimsuit’ and IT CANT BE ANY MORE CANON THAN THIS. And.. like.. Dylas even says he DOESNT wanna see women in swimsuits, he’s just here at the beach cos Doug might come along. He does not express any interest in women at all except the protagonist! It makes me feel SO uncomfortable! it feels like he’s actually gay, when with most other characters they seem bisexual?? I dunno how to explain it, thats just how it comes off to me. Why is there no option for him and doug to date, why cant i date him as the male protagonist?? His romance route is so totally gender neutral, i did the postgame protagonist swap cheat and it just feels more in-character for him this way. if im gonna steal him away from Doug i dont want it to be a weird gay conversion therapy type thing, it just feels so WEIRD. The one and ONLY stated crush he has on another character, and its gay, and theres NO OPTION FOR IT TO HAPPEN and then he suddenly becomes 100% straight and never talks about doug again if a fem protagonist dates him. SO WEEEEEIRD... I’m just gonna sit here on the non-canon bonus feature dylas x male protag train and never leave. If you cant have doug you shall have the transitioned me! Its funny cos he’s like the only batchelor i very vehemently cannot ship with fem protag, yet do with male protag :P but GAHHH leon deserves a family and i could give him a child and aaaaa SO HARD TO CHOOSE also i am sad that the postgame cheatmode lets you switch to any character but if its not one of the two protags its only your overworld model and not your face portraits. Its weird because every batchelor and batchelorette has the exact same full set of emotions and costumes, so why cant i access that?? its also a shame cos it means i cant roleplay my doug and dylas marriage properly :P CMON MAN WHY U EVEN TELL ME THEY IN LOVE IF THEY CANT BE IN LOVE :P they have the best portmanteau ship name too! douglas! :P