#there are fucking assholes out there who say you can't be a real lesbian if you've ever been with a man

[blog-sliverofjade]

Hell, I have visceral flashbacks to "lesbo," "homo," "faggot," and "dyke."

Any term we use to define ourselves will be used against us, especially if it's one of solidarity that makes it harder to try and attack us as individuals.

Labeling myself as queer saves me from dealing with infighting about who's valid and who isn’t, usually, because guess what? PEOPLE DON'T FIT INTO NEAT LITTLE BOXES! And I'm not going to break out the flowchart of who I am, especially when it comes to people who want to police how I refer to myself, in which case it becomes "queer as in fuck you."

Kill the inner cop.

Do you genuinely not understand that there are LGBT people who have been traumatized by terms like 'queer' because they have attached them to acts of unspeakable violence and threats to their lives from their own personal experiences, or do you just enjoy being terrible? Is this historical illiteracy at work or just complete lack of empathy?

Not historical illiteracy or a complete lack of empathy but a secret third thing (you have invented a guy to be mad at and I'm not her)

[respectthepetty]

Pride Petty Watch (The Untamed) 2/?

The crowd picked two blacklisted shows for me to watch during Pride, so even though the first series took me only three days to get through, the second one is taking some time since I went out this past week and touched some grass for Pride. However, I did watch an episode a day AND spotted something on sale while out and about.

Fun Fact: These are 200 pages EACH, and they only cover what has been shown up until episode five. I teach English, not math, but doing some simple addition, dividing over A, carrying the Y, and solving for X, I have guessed that this series is going to be 20 books long! TWENTY! AT LEAST! Basically, it's going to be as long as this long-ass series.

*presses play on episode six*

These idiots are drunk, loud, and fighting. They are breaking rule #36, #265, and #1. Even I know that!

When you realize you're in love with a virgin who is a light-weight and can't even drive after talking about intimacy while touching his headband. I take back everything I said about this show. It's gay. Like real gay. Gay gay.

Fuddy Duddy is better than me because I would not have taken that beating, but that's probably why he is an elite Cloud Cunt or whatever, and also why he has now been blessed with Wei Wuxian trying to cuddle in this freezing water while talking about his "extremities" shivering. Note: In the comics, we see that Fuddy Duddy is BRANDED (like as in marked by burning the flesh) and has A SHIT TON OF SLASHES ON HIS BACK (like as in whipped . . . BY A FUCKING WHIP). Basically, this Cloud Cult is batshit crazy.

These two are fighting literal demons. But also the demons are homosexuality.

THEY TIED THEMSELVES TOGETHER WITH THE INTIMACY BAND! If it was red, it'd be game over for China!

Y'all cute but your kid is still an asshole, and there is a queer plot brewing. GET OUT OF MY FACE!

They were lesbian lovers, and I will not be entertaining any other reason for all of this because only a lesbian would tie her soul for eternity to a musical instrument just so she doesn't have to admit she was wrong to her wife, while her wife goes on to train the most elite squad of wizards just to one day help her wife because she already predicated her wife would fuck up. This is love.

Correction since my boy asked AGAIN if he could harness evil power for good - One of them is fighting demons, the literal and homosexual kind, and one is embracing them both, openly, with no fucks given.

And she knows! Not about the homosexual part, but about the "finding the stone hidden in the rock" part (but probably the homo part too)

Wei Wuxian lied for you when you got out of the rock. He touched your headband. And now he has touched your soul. Stop fighting it. Embrace this. It's Pride Month.

Wei Wuxian drinks, parties, talks shits, and backs it up. I'm getting flashbacks to Spring Break in South Padre. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. But the hands were always ready to hit their mark.

My boy is Catholic. Fuddy Duddy took 300 hits earlier to uphold the integrity of his Cloud Cult or whatever, but my boy was told his punishment and is merely going through the motions since he doesn't regret laying hands on his future in-law. He said "tell me how many Hail Marias I need to say, so I can go play with the ants and get a tan." Same.

First, your best friend brought the bird into the class and now you took the bunnies to remind Fuddy Duddy of "those four amazing hours you spent in the hot tub together after Winter Formal." Y'all are schemers, and this will cause problems later. I've taught too many freshmen. Y'all need to be separated before you plot the end of the world and animals have to be sacrificed. I see the signs.

Who is going to kill this man? WHO?! Let it be a woman because he needs to be reminded he is insignificant and useless.

Oh my God, they found each other! I knew my boy would go after his boy, but for his Bird Bestie to spot them too?! These two idiots are going to cause havoc and hijinks.

Y'all are so Romeo and Juliet coded, it hurts my feelings. Girl, you're going to die and he is going to be sad about it. But can you kill that red asshole first? Please.

Sir, now you and I both know some shit is about to go down because that florist's house was crispy fried burnt, that woman outside was creepy as hell, and these two are over there chatting about soul snatchers. GET OUT OF THERE, FD, AND TAKE THE ANIMAL BROS WITH YOU!

FD might have the brains and the silencing charm, but my boy got the moves. He has that Spider Man magic string thing, he has the Shrek gingerbread men, and he keeps making spells out of thin air. Maury, who is his daddy? God?! THE DEVIL?!

SHE CAN PLAY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TOO! Hold up. HOLD UP! Fuddy Duddy's brother played it to calm everyone down. FD played his to subdue the zombies. And now she did too, but my boy's flute playing skills not only calmed the zombie, but controlled him. Did he learn it from her?!

Girl, what are you doing at the devil's sacrament?

Wen Qing has been holding off this fucking bird and these zombies all night, and these boys have been doing what at their slumber party? Braiding each other's hair? She better be the one to kill that red asshole. She deserves the body count. *wink, Jiang Cheng*

The bird needed to go, but this is what I'm talking about with him and his bird bestie. Homie closed his eyes and felt his feelings because FD told him to, then pretended to be dead just so he could kill that bird. It's smart as well as scary because how much power does he really possess? A shit ton. That's how much. But also, why didn't they take the dead bird with them? Don't leave behind magical creatures to be brought back to life!

Smart to have the others chase after a chicken, so the color-coded boys in love could get more details, but these two are a hetero version of the mains. She is not bad. She is trying to do good with what she has, which is a pile of shit, and he wants to do right by her but his principles are going to get in the way. I anticipate no happy endings for anyone. Not Romeo and Juliet or Romeo and Julio.

Bird Bestie was smart to stay behind because it was obvious there would be dead bodies, but WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE TWO?! This show is color-coded within an inch of its life, and everyone is a pair because they both have the other's color in their robes, so the fact that the white one showed up first and claimed evil guy was his enemy makes me think they have history (exes), but the new black guy replaced him. Black dude, I'd watch my back because Evil Dude is coming for you.

It also worries me that these two have a similar . . . something. Wei Wuxian, buddy, homie, ho-migo. You're getting darker. You were dark blue, but now, you're black. Why is no one else concerned that the call is about to come from within the house?

So much shit is going down on this mountain! White No Name dude just said he knows and was trained by the OG lesbian, so we know she is still alive and well waiting for her wife, and my boy is sad since his mama was trained by her therefore he was trained by her, which makes her his grandma or something (I DON'T KNOW!). And now the illegitimate brother I want to be with FD's brother is in charge of watching the evil dude, but he is wearing white/blue and evil dude is wearing black/gold, and if they become an item, I'm gonna be pissed!

Y'all, he is gonna fuck up. He is going to let the bad guy go isn't he? I don't understand why they couldn't kill the bad guy, but my illegitimate son has been disrespected in this house too many times in the past ten minutes to let this shit slide. He is going to make a deal with the devil. I feel it.

"I'll sleep on your roof" - That was a declaration of love because y'all fought on a roof over liquor, and now he wants to just chill on your roof while drinking even though you are leaving. He is sprung and does not care who knows.

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?! THIS IS A FUCKING SHIT SHOW! The oldest kids are being called away which means Fuddy Duddy's cult is probably losing it and branding everyone. They are being attacked by the Evil Reds even though their evil dude admitted to killing that whole damn family! My illegitimate son DEFINITELY killed that guy and let the evil dude go. He did that. I know he did. And my boy's outfit looks so similar to that evil red swordsmen who is fighting on behalf of that weak ass red bitch because he can't fight himself, it's ridiculous (Someone needs to slash that evil red dude's face and his tires).

Everyone is going to die, and there is no hope.

*eats some naan*

Okay, maybe there is some hope in the other FORTY EPISODES! FD's brother could take in the illegitimate son, and they could live happily ever after. Right? RIGHT?!

[anhed-nia]

I was delighted to learn that there was a crazy-girl Black Swan movie from before BLACK SWAN, and disappointed that it's exactly as mysogynistic, just in a much dumber way. We're all familiar with the John Hughes model of romance, in which girls who reject you just want you to be increasingly persistent and controlling--but there's a sort of kid brother to this framework, that says that when women reject you it's actually because they're literally fucking insane, and they need your help with that. In the movie ETOILE aka BALLET, Jennifer Connelly aka the most beautiful woman in the universe plays a ballerina whose psychotic obsession with Swan Lake interferes with her non-relationship with some little dweeb who decides he's entitled to her. The guy looks and kind of acts like the wormy new wave guy Chuck in RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (fig. 1), but in ROTLD that used car salesman suit is a joke so I don't know what the makers of ETOILE think I'm supposed to feel when I look at this asshole (fig. 2). Something positive, apparently. It's funny, in my life I live firmly in the Ugly Girl camp and I have all the usual neuroses about it, but certain situations unlock this protectiveness about beautiful women--case in point, watching this jerk kiss Jennifer Connelly. I mean if he were like Bud Cort or someone with that Funny Valentine quality, who is warm and charming, then it would be fine, but with this low-end cretin it's really like...sir, please back away from Jennifer Connelly. This is not for you.

In this movie Jennifer Connelly is frankly way too good for this guy, and if this were real life, it would make perfect sense that she's polite to him and then gives him the brush-off when he pushes his luck; but of course, in the fantasy world of this movie, the reason she rejects him is that she's fucking possessed or something and she's just waiting for him to rescue her from her feminine irrationality. This is extra funny because the script itself directly references the myth of Apollo and Daphne which is like the original version of this: Daphne just wants to be left alone, but Apollo assumes his advances are desirable no matter what she has to say about it; to get away from him she transforms into a tree, and he's so sad about it that he desecrates her corpse weaves a wreath from her leaves. This is really the ultimate reflection of a man refusing to believe that a particular hot chick really, genuinely doesn't want him, but ETOILE isn't capable of figuring out that subtext, so the guy just forces himself on Jennifer Connelly until she isn't "crazy" anymore. Bonus points for the scene where he repeatedly screams at her to stop dancing, because there's really no bigger threat to romance than a woman's career and personal interests.

I wish I could think of more examples of this trope, I know they're out there, and I did just see another one called FEMME FATALE where Lisa Zane marries Colin Firth and then "mysteriously" leaves him, so he has to go on this whole odyssey to retrieve her. This is a particularly funny example because Firth is mopey and boring and untalented and a bad listener and out of shape and a drag, and Zane is this turbulent sexpot who is making it really obvious that she's not satisfied with him right up to the point that she "strangely" vanishes. Spoilers ahead I guess but the first thing Firth finds out is that she was in some psychotic art film by a militant lesbian who she used to date...and still the spurned husband thinks, nah, it CAN'T be that I'm boring and sappy and self-centered and I ignore her needs, and it ALSO CAN'T be that maybe she secretly prefers girls or is, at the very least, way more sexually exotic than I am. There has to be some OTHER reason I got dumped, something that involves me pursuing this uninterested woman to the ends of the earth and forcing her to admit that she loves only me, forever. And the movie totally agrees with him: There's no moment where Colin Firth realizes that he misread all the evidence, or even that she's EVIL or just not who he thought she was or whatever. Instead what he finds out is that she's literally insane! She's a paranoid schizophrenic whose only valid choices of companion are her dad or, you guessed it, Colin Firth. When I saw this I thought wow, this movie has gone impossibly far out of its way to explain that when a woman rejects you, it's not because you're a dullard and a jerk, it's because she's dangerously crazy. Only an actual lunatic would turn down a catch like YOU.

Anyway I know I was just talking about not being pointlessly mean about movies in public, but all bets are off if the movie manages to say something this insulting. I am now done talking about this and I will leave you with this hilarious thumbnail from a YouTube clip of FEMME FATALE, which pretty well sums up the whole movie.

[charmixpower]

Other queer headcanons:

Icy -> Asexual Lesbian

She just has ace vibes to me. Darcy's whole manipulation thing by attraction is so useful but also she does not understand how it works even a little bit

Darcy -> Bisexual

She has a preference for men but it's not super strong. Shes always knew she was bisexual, baby Darcy was always aware. Smart girl hours

Stormy -> Aromatic Het

Stormy is so aromantic to me!!!! She has that aroallo energy of being hot, idk what to tell you. I literally could never see Stormy in a romantic relationship, like she'd have a platonic life partner but dating isn't real.

Sky -> Questioning (Bi pref women)

Brandon has once 100% offered to kiss Sky to see if he's bi, bc he had a crush on him and Sky still didn't realize he was bi. Like Eraklyon palace is not the place to try and question your sexuality and being attracted to people who could turn out to be spy's or he had a fuck ton of explicit power over was scary so he never figured out his sexuality until like s2~3

Brandon -> Gender Neutral, Pan, Poly

Brandon doesn't have a gender. He's completely gender neutral. Like he doesn't experience gender. He doesn't get gender euphoria or dysphoria. If he suddenly turned into a girl literally nothing would happen. He just doesn't experience gender, no gender here, godbless. He'd probably say Gender Neutral but there's other words for that

He's pan bc when he goes into the smooch competition with Stella, no one is off limits. Like I said with Stella, if they met someone they both wanted to date asking them out is a done deal

Timmy -> Gay Ace

This is just 100% vibes. Tecna is busy not dating him and Timmy needs something nice for himself. He just has the ace "I'm tired of you allos acting stupid as shit" energy in my thing, and he's gay bc he deserves nice things

Riven -> Bisexual

He's bi with a preference for women, and he would of known sooner but he was so far into the fucking closet that he had become one with the clothes. Musa helps him come out of the closet and they talk about hot people together I love them

Helia -> Alterous Transman

Alterous attraction is basically just attraction that isn't platonic or romantic vs aesthetic or sexual. It can be between them or be a secret third thing (like it is for me). Helia's alterous attraction is between platonic and romantic, and between aesthetic and sexual, everything is really fuzzy for him. He doesn't get strong anything but he still gets the feelings and impulse, it's just weak and most of the time he can't tell if it's actually platonic or aesthetic

He's also trans, this is just true. As soon as he learned what a boy and girl was he was telling his parents he was a boy. Like he knew very very early on, and he socially transitioned at a young age. Gender win for Helia

Nabu -> Gay

THIS MAN IS A HOMOSEXUAL!!!!! He and Sky make up the "raised rich and wears shiny ass earrings once they realized being GNC is an option" club, and good for him

Daphne -> Queer (Lesbian)

Daphne was WAY too busy fighting the ancestral witches to ever figure out her sexuality but she was aware of the fact that she wasn't cishet, so she just grabbed a macro label and kept it moving

Mirta -> GenderFluid Lesbian

It came to me in a dream. If she can use fairy and witch magic fluidly in canon what if her gender was fluid in my thing??? I am a fucking genius. Her hair is so non-binary. Haven't decided on pronouns yet, and Mirta just is a lesbian.

Diaspro -> Questioning (Pan)

Diaspro absolutely didn't have a single crush growing up in Eraklyon bc everyone there was a asshole and hatred her and she hated them back more. She was kinda punched in the face by her attraction to Bloom. She figures it out as soon as she leaves and talks to some normal people for like a month or something in s2 or s3

Roxy -> Agender AroAce

Roxy reminds me of my bestie who is agender, so they're agender, and I think it's funny if Roxy was watching the Winx do their relationship nonsense abt to throw up bc ew allo people. They are very repulsed, and I love them. They are literally a teenager trying to be cool and not understanding why everyone is dating or doing this gender shit. Triple A battery

Selina -> Trans Lesbian

Look at Selina's fucking ugly green hair and outfit, that is a trans lesbian if I've ever seen one

Krystal -> Bisexual

She just is, I can't explain. It's the Flora

[yallemagne]

Queer.

Every so often, the same fucking post roles up on my dash. And since it's Pride Month? You know what it's about.

Now, I will be frank, any time I see someone crying "you can't use queer for yourself because I don't want to be called a slur!!!" I do roll my eyes, though that doesn't mean I don't understand the concept.

When I didn't even know who I was, I had plenty of terms thrown at me that didn't fit. People didn't know what to call me so usually they just called me gay. I didn't like being called gay because it wasn't who I was. Gay implied something about both my gender and my sexuality that wasn't true... but I didn't know the truth yet. I could hardly correct people.

Eventually, I figured out that my ambivalence to either gender didn't mean I was bi without a preference but that I was asexual. I explained this to people who would try to categorize me as gay, "No, actually, I'm asexual.", and I would then explain the concept of asexuality. This led to sexual harassment. Getting dressed in the locker room and being told what sexual positions people imagined me in and with whom. Being made to feel like I was the pervert in those situations.

And now saying I'm ace still gets a similar response just from what I hope is a more well-meaning crowd.

"Well, ace people can have sex/want to have sex. Are you sure you're not demi/greyace? You've never even tried sex, so you don't know." Congrats for vaguely understanding the concept of a spectrum. I personally use the dictionary definition of asexual, so I do not partake in sex nor desire to.

"Well, ace people can date/want to date. You have to say ace/aro or I'll just assume you're heteroromantic." No, because for me, unless explicitly stated otherwise, asexual and aromantic are a package deal. You wouldn't demand this same clarification from someone of any other sexuality.

It's a frustrating situation where even when I am clear and using a community-approved label for myself, I am still sexualized and pressured into seeking a relationship, and it puts me back into the mind of the kid who was bullied in the locker room. That doesn't mean that ace people on the opposite side of the spectrum or with different romantic attractions are my enemy. It just means we're different, and it's lovely that we're different, and the people who attempt to weaponize the speculative chance that an ace person might be down to fuck in order to pressure that person into sex are the real assholes.

I didn't know I was trans for the longest time because gender-nonconforming trans people were paraded around as freaks and the gender-conforming ones were just barely safe from scrutiny so long as they weren't associating with those people. But I eventually figured out that I'm genderqueer. I tend to say trans-masc nonbinary, but a more encompassing label might be genderqueer, and I drop the "gender" part and say queer because it embodies my gender identity and sexuality paired together, not separated into neat little boxes.

From my own queer perspective, the frustration with being told not to use the word queer is that we either have to pick from the four most recognizable labels (lesbian, gay, bi, and trans), dip into the bargain bin of obscure and often unaccepted labels, or make up something new. We're often told that we don't fit into the big four categories, that we are a disgrace to those. Obscure labels constantly have to be explained, and people turn their noses up upon hearing them. And making up a new label always has the risk of it being swept from under us and us being told by our more "acceptable" counterparts: "Your identity offends. Change it."

People saw my gender presentation and lack of interest in dating and picked words they already knew to describe me, and since those words didn't fit me, I felt even more isolated in a time when I needed support. I got my hair cut in middle school, and it was like I was finally moving in the right direction. My friend saw and the first thing she did was laugh at me, calling me a dyke. That does not give me the right to tell dykes "Hey! That word hurt me! You have to use the softer word "lesbian" instead." Besides, it wasn't the word, it was the intent of the person who threw it at me.

No one reclaiming the word queer is using it as a slur, but we are villified and told "That word hurt me! Use a softer word!" And I have to ask: is it really any one of you non-queer-identifying individuals' business? You see someone in the process of loving themselves and finding themselves in a diverse community, and you want to shatter that because you were hurt before? That's villain origin story shit. You want to poison the well because if people are allowed to call themselves queer more people will know the word queer and think it's okay to say and randos will think that you are queer and use queer to describe you when you're actually lesbian, gay, bi, trans, whatever label you prefer. But just because someone might misidentify you doesn't mean other identities need to be pushed back into the closet.

And of course, some are upset because people say Queer Community and it's called Queer History rather than being separated out into Gay History, Lesbian History, Bisexual History, Trans History--- but dude? You can still say LGBT or LGBTQ or LGBTQIA+ (though, if you hate the word queer, I guess you'd only accept the first acronym?) when referring to the community, and people will NEVER stop using the acronym. You aren't being run out by us scary queer people with our nasty labels, YOURS STILL EXIST AND YOU ARE STILL FREE TO LABEL YOURSELF AS YOU PLEASE. Does that mean no one will ever unknowingly group you in as queer when you're not comfortable with it? No. But... I'm sorry... but fucking suck it up.

You aren't queer? Okay, yeah, I accept that. I am queer. That doesn't make you a good person and me a bad person or vice versa.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

I can't in any capacity say that I'm an ally to anyone. That's not me being an asshole. That's not me being a bigot. I'm an ally to no group. I'm a friend to people. And I care about people. Someone asked me about one of my asks where I got called a transphobe and a homophobe and it reminded me about the topic in general.

Fact is I don't care what color you are. What religion you belong to. What sexuality you are. What Identity you assume. If you are not a dick to me or to people that I care about, I won't take issue with you. What's weird though is to be called homophobic when a lot of my friends are lgbt. And this is not one of those, "Well I have a black friend" moments. I legit have friends from varying walks of life. One of my best friends from college was a gay black furry. And one of my favorite past times was picking on him in playful ways. Why? Because if was always fun to see him flustered and he actually thought it was funny. Am I gay? No. I'm comfortable in the fact I'm straight. And my friend knew that.

There are going to be a lot of things that people say that I don't agree with. Does that make me hateful? No. It just means that I have my own views on things. I however understand that if I WAS hateful towards certain groups, I'd have to be bigoted against a huge number of my friends. Like my college buddy from Sri Lanka, his friend and our roommate who's have Korean half Black. Several of my ex GF's who've been bisexual. Even friends of mine who are lesbians whom I've defended in public after they have been accused of being transphobes for, and I'm not kidding, "No being willing to suck the dicks of trans women". That's not a fucking joke. And it's sick.

I've made posts about how I'm not an extremist because I'm not. Fact is, and I mean this, I should not be considered an bigot because I don't worship a movement. No one else should either. And on my blog I will cover a lot of topics. Like:

-Groomers -Gun Laws -Radical Feminism -Black Representation in TV and Movies -Race Swapping -Capitalism -Communism -Socialism -Anarchy -State and Federal Powers -Etc.

And there will always be more. I'm not transphobic. I just want kids left alone. I'm also not homophobic, but again leave kids alone. If you are an adult you can love another consenting adult. I take ZERO issue with it. And I never will take issues with it. My only focus on any of that stuff is quite literally "Let kids be kids. Let them figure out who they are without pushing them. Don't sexualize them ever." Simple rules to live by. Anything else? I'm willing to have a discussion about. Hell I've been on record losing my shit at least in one of my reblogs borderline making promises to deal with anyone who would threaten any of my friends/family irl because they are LGBT.

What many don't understand about me is that I'm an angry ginger who is actually pretty moderate on most issues. And it's only in cases where people belong to cult like mentalities that anyone can even REMOTELY consider me hateful or radical. More so when we consider that the only people I actively hate are those that actively seek to harm others. And not just in a weird way that won't do anything. I'm talking people that WILL or would enact actual violence onto people I care about. Like the FBI. Or Antifa. Or real extremist white supremacist's. Or segregationists leftists who have called some of my non white friends "house N-". I typically don't give that word any power myself and most of my friends don't, but believe me when I tell you, I'll make you look like a punk and I won't even have to touch you.

So even the notion, that I'm X type of bigot is hilarious to me. And no amount of this, "Bow to me and my ideology or you are a bigot" will make me change who I am to my friends, my family, and the people I care about. I worship no one. And I will never bow to your cult like ideals. And maybe one day, someone like the person who sent that ask will find it justifiable to kill me. Who knows. I certainly don't. All I do know is that I'm a very caring person. And a lot of the time the stuff I mean get's lost in translation. What I say might be interpreted one way by one person and another by someone else.

That's just reality. But if you can't even come to me and ask for clarification, or you just expect me to placate someone because of the group they belong to, then you are barking up the wrong tree. You are not my friend. You are not my family. And a number of you are people that would actively endorse having me end my own life, or wishing someone would end my life for you.

Why? Because you are tyrants. You believe yourselves gods and that your "moral rights" are and should be everyone's "Moral rights". You will not rule me. You will not control me. You will not make me worship you as if you were gods. I am me, and only me. And I will live me best life not just for myself, but for the people I hold dear.

[nny11writes]

Nunny! I'm sending you asks for your game.

I'm tempted to send you the entire post and just see the Nunny Rant. You might not even do She-ra. I'm thinking of She-ra sending these but go off about star wars or something else if you think it applies better to the question :D

the character everyone gets wrong (ahahhahahaaaaaaaaa)

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about (im sure there is a long list)

9 and 10 - Worst part of fanon and worst part of canon (imo there is some overlap)

13. worst blorboficiation

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

lakhglkajfas, I think my rant would mostly just be keyboard smashes and crying emojis so this is the better way to go lol!

the character everyone gets wrong God, like, fucking- ALL of them. :) Buuuuuut the one that's bugging me the most recently is Mermista.

I am SO sick of post canon Mermista in c/a fics specifically. Mermista would not hold a grudge that hard that long and that violently!!! Stop having her hate Catra and actively be out to do harm to her. Mermista's response to losing her kingdom was like a bad breakup where she just cried in a tub eating ice cream. Her response to seeing HORDAK at the end of the series was just a, "So are we good with him now?" implying that she's chill to be chill.

Mermista and Catra 100% would sit at a table calling one another a bitch (begrudgingly fond and pretend to not be) back and forth. Mermista would not be out to skin Catra alive! Mermista wants to talk to Catra about her murder novels because Perfuma reads too slowly and doesn't like spoilers but she NEEDS to talk to someone about the butler who has a brain cell because Sea Hawk seemed to miss the whole first half of the book AND FURTHER MORE-

9. and 10. - Worst part of fanon and worst part of canon

Worst part of fanon is the fucking shippers. This went from one of the more open and accepting fandoms for all ships that I'd ever been in to one of the worst.

Like, straight up, one of the fics that lives rent free in my head is an explicit fic where Catra and Hordak enthusiastically consent to having sex. Like Hordak is trying to be kinda standoffish but can't stop looking at boob window tits, he was Entrapta trained I'm afraid. The number of times I think of his awkward proposing they do it more frequently followed shortly by Catra dressing and winking saying, "Seriously, great cock!" is a lot lol. It's such a porn movie style fic and there is something fantastic to be said about it.

But you even hint that Catra could be headcanonned as anything besides a lesbian and your body will be found in a few months time in several different bags. Suggesting Catra and Hordak having any romantic or sexual relationship probably gets you reported to the fucking government or something. So there's a reason it's never made a rec list from me but fuck it I'm mentioning it now.

They aren't real. If I want to occasionally have a giggle about them and make my little dolls bump uglies everyone else should politely not look while my fellow weirdly sane people who get that this is all make believe but sure we're the freaks here come poke and enjoy!

Fucking shipping wars and discourse man. I'm sick of it.

Worst part of canon for me is the censorship and uncertainty that caused various issues with the plot and prevented the show from being even stronger. You can see it in real time while watching, but man it was wild in December 2018 to see how professional media talked about the show and Catra and Adora being adoptive sisters, to AJ (I think?) getting dumped on for repeating that idea and having to apologize, to the open gayness at the end. I love SPOP, but the rocky terrain the crew-ra had to navigate really did impact the quality and created weird gaps that asshole fans hunkered down into. Like, we cannot pry some of those fuckers out.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

I need you to understand that my immediate response when I started writing this answer out was a very strained and painful sigh through my nose as my brain returned a static white noise sound.

I am really tired of forcing this jock!Adora and slacker!Catra thing. Like, it started in modern AUs but it's gone and infected people's idea of canon as well. It falls into a bit of the "dumb adora" trope, which people just don't seem to actually understand what that means or is about. It also falls into Shadow Weaver's narrative of who Catra is which is wild. Like. Really wild.

You are telling me Catra, a cat person who grew up in a military, is actively against exercise? Yes, she would 100% sleep in a sunbeam for a nap, and then she wakes up and craves some low key chaos and violence.

You are telling me Adora, forced into a golden child and leadership position, is bad at reading and math and science because all she cares about is training? Adora 100% enjoys physical fitness and using her body, but she's got a sharp mind on her and there's no way in hell she doesn't like to work it too.

I am just exhausted with it in modern AUs, and now it has gone to infect canon interpretations. It flattens their characters out, ignores/denies parts of their abuse, and nukes their abilities from orbit. I hate it so so much.

Also if I have to see one more fic or art piece where Catra is willingly and happily wearing dresses, skirts, and heels I swear to fucking god I will KILL. :)

13. worst blorboficiation

Again, this is all of them. Everyone suffers from being blorbo'd to an insane degree, but it just shifts depending on which character is the favorite of that part of the fandom. You have talked several times about the insanity of Catra fans vs. Hordak fans, the blorboification is insane there. Same with Catra fans vs. Glimmer fans.

Like. God damn. I'm so glad the Adora vs. Catra fan fights died out real quick because this fandom is exhausting enough.

With Catra being my favorite it's extra exhausting because there is CONSTANTLY people attacking her and then total asshats trying to defend her who I do not want to be associated with. I love her. She's a fucking idiot and a bastard and a baby. Somehow, every take on her is both the worst and factually correct and then the fandom fights.

Tipsy, I. Am. Tired.

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

OKAY

Let's fucking talk about how GLIMMER IS NOT AN EVIL BITCH. Can we talk about that? STOP TRYING TO LEAVE THIS POST AND SIT YOUR ASS DOWN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS AGAIN because someone needs to hear it louder in the back.

Glimmer is the character who is probably be done the dirtiest by the fandom but for wildly different reasons throughout the whole show. Hands down.

After S1 fandom took Glimmer and made her into an entitled dumbass whiner who threw money and her titles at her problems. They made her act like a child without any complexity. And it 100% took me from not really liking her character much to detesting her which is outrageous every time I remember that I kinda hated her at that point.

This did not improve post S2. :)

Post S3 probably was the most sympathetic and understanding the fandom was to Glimmer but it came at the cost of trying to bulldoze Catra for the Portal and people making callout posts like these characters were real people. I feel like the rise of some of the G/A shippers that I really can't stand was around this time. It was catra vs. glimmer fans going bat shit and drawing lines for ships.

If they couldn't assassinate Glimmer's character, by god the fandom would assassinate both Catra and Adora's in wildly different ways instead!

Do I need to talk about post S4? The idea of dark Glimmer and Glimmer going off the rails should have been a fun thing to play with in the sandbox and instead just writing it down made me cringe. Now Glimmer has to be an evil bitch because she had a trauma response and made bad decisions, now she is irredeemable because I made up a situation where she did something she didn't in canon for reasons so OOC someone probably slapped Donut Steel on it somewhere.

There was a little lift post series, but man people are holding onto Glimmer being a spoiled brat to play off of for Catra or a cruel bitch for Catra and, again, as a Catra fan, I want to bite bite kill kill bite kill kill kill!!!

Glimmer is allowed to grow up from being a spoiled kid who had good intentions and was naive. She is allowed to be over eager, bratty, petty, silly, funny, caring, and smart too. She's allowed to make bad choices and struggle with how to recover from it.

STOP MAKING ME THE LEAVE BRITTNEY ALONE MEME FOR GLIMMER

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs, shut up about redemption arcs-

[jerzwriter]

I have trouble understanding how you are bi yet you stubbornly insist Ethan and Tobias aren't bi. I saw you say you played as an f!mc so you didn't know it was an option, but why not change it once you did know. I can't understand your choice.

Babydoll... here's the beauty of it all... YOU DO NOT HAVE TO - AND I DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND YOURS. YET WE CAN & SHOULD RESPECT ONE ANOTHER. Unfortunately, that seems to be a one-way street, and you are the one driving in the wrong direction; you should consider making a U-turn.

I've always tried to be polite and respectful when replying to these asks - even as I get screenshots of people in the fandom - people from the queer community of which I'm a part - saying fucked up shit about me because they seem to think tolerance and acceptance only apply when you agree with them. I know immaturity has a lot to do with it, but I'm over it. So I'm answering this, but I'm done being polite.

Here's what you got right. I played as an F!MC for a long time before I was ever involved in this crazy ass fandom (I may refer to that time as the good ol' days going forward). My HC was already created, and I was happy with it. So let me understand. I needed to change it to satisfy... you? Will you change your HC for me? If so, please, stop hiding behind anon like a little coward. Let me know who you are, and I'll submit my requests for what I'd like you to change in your HC. OK? I'm sure you'll rush to do it, right? Yeah, I didn't think so.

As a bisexual woman, who has been in relationships with bisexual and straight men, and bi and lesbian women within my life, I find there are different personality types within each group. Truth be told, when it comes to men, I prefer dating those who are bi, but I had a different vision for MY FUCKING INTERPRETATION OF THESE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.

Why is this so upsetting to you? Do you know how unsettling that is? As a queer person living in the real fucking world, are you REALLY telling me this is what keeps you up at night? Because if so, you must have a charmed fucking existence that neither I nor any other queer person I know has had the luxury of living.

And another thing - I DON'T HAVE TO HAND IN MY QUEER CARD because I have a straight Tobias in my HC. I know what I do for our community in real life - what I've done for our community since most people here were still sperm. STOP IT! Go do something PRODUCTIVE to help... our community's rights are going backward worldwide, and this is the shit motherfuckers are triggered over. Really? Do you do anything outside of performative bullshit on Tumblr? Because I'm going to give you a clue if you don't have one - this helps no one!!!! I volunteer with young adults who were thrown out by their families for being queer - and not one is impacted by Tobias Fucking Carrick or Ethan Fucking Ramsey NOT being bi in my fucking headcanon. I'm cracking up as I type this because it is SO ridiculous. Like you should be ashamed of yourself! DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE!

Someone asked me why I haven't addressed my MCs bisexuality more. Why? Because of fuckers in OUR COMMUNITY who behave like immature assholes. Who sit perched, waiting for the one thing they don't agree with and attack. Because of assholes who say, "Bi isn't queer enough," or "Your character isn't bi because she's in a relationship with a man." Because of assholes who are offensive as fuck on the daily, yet poor babies are offended by everything. Bruh, at least the straight people here who don't want to read about my MC's bisexuality simply skip those fics and move on with their day - I'm not getting screenshots of them saying fucked up shit about me because they don't like my HC. Do you know how unhinged this is?

This is the very last anon I will ever answer about this topic. I'm happy to discuss it if you want to send me a DM - but this is the end here.

I'm also done with self-censoring what I choose to write FOR MY CHARACTERS. Is my MC not queer enough for the queer crowd? I don't give a fuck. Is she too queer for the straight crowd? I don't give a fuck. I sat pride out in the fandom last year precisely to avoid this shit. This year I said, no, I'm joining in - I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO - and sadly, this is the result. But you know what? I'm not letting it stop me from doing what I want to do.

Babydoll... if this is triggering you this much - get help.

[unoisveimved-un-proffesional]

This whole situation going on with how tumblr treats trans women has me fuckin' fuming. Rant under cut.

It's not just me who sees tumblr's continued issues with trans women existing on here as a continuation of moral panic around sexual deviancy that just lumped all non-cishet dating and sex for non-reproductive reasons under the same Deviant umbrella and criminalized them? Like it's the same tactics, it's the same justification, it's the same shit if not literally then obviously in spirit. It's the same. Fucking. Laws. Being used to criminalize trans people existing in public! Especially trans women. It's not just tumblr staff being stupid or bigoted, it's them taking part in an ongoing attack against trans women with very trackable ancestry that goes back to puritanism and moral panic of the 20th century, from early forms of Nazism to the relatively more modern Lavender Scare.

Trans women in particular are probably especially targeted because they're the ones even some queer people are more likely to throw to the wolves. I'm pretty sure the reason predstrogen was just banned at the time she was is because there started forming a mob of assholes who wouldn't care or would've liked it if she was banned, who came out of the woodworks to defend the ban. She is a more controversial figure whose friends and defenders will immediately be met with enemies and counterattackers. And this isn't just a tumblr thing, if anything it's worse offline.

The online world is supposed to be a goddamn safe space for the marginalized and fringe, you won't see me taking part in that because I have too much built in shame of myself, but I damn well notice how the supposed safe and queer friendly spaces of the internet are being taken away from people, the most vulnerable and controversial of identities first. I mean if bigender bi lesbians can't go a day online without having to confront some kind of personal attack in the supposed "queerest place on earth" or whatever, how the hell are we going to make the offline world any fucking safer for even straight trans women, or cis lesbians? Hell you could say just cis women, or just the idea of a woman is under attack online, especially if you look somewhere like Reddit or Youtube or Twitter, they're not even done with old misogyny, let alone transmisogyny!

The fucking Real World is shittier than ever too, between Capitalism, Colonialism, and Imperialism reigning supreme with the halo of Fascism behind it across the world, cis white women in the US of A still face misogyny everywhere every fucking day, and if you're a black woman good luck, greater luck be unto you if you're trans or even just a combination of any two marginalized identities because at that point the whole world really is against you on a fundamental level and you'll need the luck to stay breathing. The situation on this site currently is such a fucking setback that other queers are clapping for and have been for every unfair ban on here. It's not just internet discourse, it's the shadow of the real world and its prejudice right here fucking with peoples online presence. Just as corporatization has crawled from reality to the internet to fuck it up, so has bigotry, and soon there really will be nowhere you can go without spending money and having to be the few correct ways there are to be a person.

[boqvistsbabe]

Ok so fun gossip I heard

- 2 of the hockey boys had been secretly (nothing is actually a secret to me) dating for like 2 years but one is a science god who weightlifts competitively and plays 2/3 other sports very well and the other dropped out to smoke weed so they don't talk anymore and that is almost definitely the stoners fault and the nice really smart one is now stuck with a bunch of assholes because that was his only friend and he doesn't know that the queer femmes would adopt him to carry our bags

- there's a really popular girl who reads like Harry potter and colleen hoover (this is irrelevant I just like slander) exclusively who wants to be a radical politician but has never read any theory and don't follow politics

- the self appointed queen bee who cheated on her decent blonde bf by hooking up with her ex bffs abusive ex and then she left him for blondie and now has an on and off throuple with blondie and his besties, both of them are proclaimed straight and all of the are friends with shithead

- same queen bee and blondie, she posted on her til tok her rice purity score and it said that she had never come during sex, they were together for like 5 years and she has caught him watching porn while they fuck

- the annoying ass conservative dude who is like 6'6 and is the bad bitch lesbians man servant (he says friend but idk) started a fight with a known tiny 14 year old gang member and when a knife got pulled his mom, who works at the school, called the cops, same day a kid got stabbed in the head with a pencil during math but that was unrelated

- the grade 11 gymrat that my friends and I are fairy gay parenting into leftism at the start of the year believed that drug dealers deserve the death sentence (we are canadian???) and his ex gf's brother is in prison for petty drug crimes and his new gf is a scary bisexual weed dealer but I influenced him to be way better and they are a power couple

- all of the boys bathrooms are missing the soap dispenser and the mirrors, sinks and toilet seats are regularly stolen also once a custodian quit after having just walked into the main one

- we had a 3 hour secure school because a girl punched the librarian and the librarian passed out and then the girl hid somewhere in the school

- at a beach party during the summer my favourite random school person (you know what I mean, right?) was super drunk and shot a firework at the police, put his Crocs in sport mode and then ran away, successfully as well

- same dude had a job at an arcade and would break in during the night to just vibe with the lasers and run around drinking and smoking I guess, he also once hid from the cops in a tree, he postef all of this on his snap

I can't think of other big ones but this should do for now

Omg it’s been forever and a day since you sent this but I’m still gonna react to this lol

- okay first of all what a story second of all I feel bad for the one guy 😢

- okay but like that checks out based on the books soooo

- wild absolutely wild. First of all cheating is so bad but somehow who she cheated with made it even worse? Also throuple?!

- NOTHING IN FIVE YEARS?! WHAT IS BRO DOING WRONG (obvi everything but like omg) also while they fuck? 🫢

- man servant I love 💀💀 also hang member? ! And a pencil stabbing? That’s a lot on one day

- death sentence?! Omg?! Literally what? Also ur so slay for that tho

- it’s giving devious licks 💀😭 also that’s so real

- why did she punch the librarian 😭 like what

- (ik what u mean, i love my random people) AT?! Also putting the crocs in sport mode then running is such a funny picture

- this guy sounds like such a vibe tbh

[tdicksupreme]

Thank you and, like, it seems more accurate to me to say the misogyny invoked against clocky "masculine" trans people is a proxy to effecting any actual influence over men. There's a reason why the ways online radfems "get back at men" are never actually men in the ways they mean, and this sleight of hand is why it works. Transmisogyny is the extreme violent far end of it, but I consider it on the same spectrum as butchphobia & the belief that butches have "male privilege" or are bringing "the oppressive masculine" into lesbian spaces.

The fear of masculinity in queer spaces is absolutely a result of how much space men take up everywhere else, AND also the "men" these people successfully target almost always are not actually men, hence why the smear campaigns are successful at all. I am more friendly with radical feminism than a lot of queer people who have been burned by it. But so many of the "men taking over my space" accusation I've witnessed among queer people are aimed at butch cis women, butch trans women, transmasculine people, nonbinary people, genderfluid people, even gay men.

My biggest problem is that over & over, every form of it I've seen relies on closing the ranks of womanhood into a neatly defined, protect-able sphere. This is always going to leave other people who experience sexism outside that boundary, vulnerable to abuse. Closing the ranks of what a Woman is has always, in every form, been I think an effective way of vaulting your social status & legitimacy as a woman above the degraded masses of people doing femininity, effeminacy, or femaleness in "bad," "regressive," and "wrong" ways.

I could yell all day about how being a nonbinary transsexual man means I experience wild amounts of sexism all the time, but no one cares. I'm "just another man taking women's space," I'm "trying to take words out of women's mouths," i'm "taking something that isn't mine," i'm "just another man who can't stand proud women taking up space." I shouldn't have to spell out why this is ridiculous. But in my opinion, closing the ranks & vaulting womanhood is how women historically build social power at all.

I think there is a degree of sexism you can experience that would make nearly anyone go "Actually, fuck it, there is a hard line between men and women, because I'm experiencing this thing and you're not." This is the point that makes people close the ranks, cis or trans, and go "Actually being female is this very specific thing and you're not it, and I am." If we don't recognize this pattern as being misdirected bigotry resulting from what the stress of sexist abuse does to people, I think we risk repeating that pattern.

And we do this when we treat the nature of this clique-ing up as being just "assholes being shitty." I think it's really important to see the behavior of transmed women, tradwife conservatives, TERFs, etc., and see how similar the patterns between them as groups of people are. These are all people who have woken up to the distinctly impossible place they're in in the world, and the fact that the only way of shoring up dignity is to cultivate a queen persona that separates you from the embarrassing masses. It's important to note that this is a pattern IMO even & especially among straight cisgender women, and that you can be considered a normative "traditional" woman in every way and still be demoted as a traitor, not a "real" woman, by someone who is very happy to play that role & reap the benefits.

I'll point to Tara Mooknee's Not Like Other Girls video as an example of this, how these trends occur, & why even a critique of sexist women inevitably turns into wildly overt casual sexism. Females by Andrea Long Chu also addresses this well in the early sections, and how radfem edgy icons like Solanas very much did think they were different from and above women, and this legacy is part of feminist action too. Unlikable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya is a book I'm enjoying, I'm not finished with it, it's media-focused but it's a good introduction for types of women that get most often dehumanized, and humanizing them. I liked Jia Tolentino's "The Cult of the Difficult Woman" in Trick Mirror, which also talks about how in its most overly-online forms, feminist discourse can itself become at its root a way of being allowed to judge the value of other women and dehumanize them.

Anyway, sorry for writing an entire essay in your mentions, but that inspired me and there's a lot I've been afraid to say about my experiences as a guy and a girl. No matter how nicely I describe my experience, there is just bout every type of human being telling me I'm taking something from someone, morally wrong in the implications, bad in some way, and need to shut up. You know you really hit a nerve on society when women think you're a hardcore MRA and the men think you're the most extreme commie feminazi. If I weren't still experiencing wild sexism I think I'd probably be a little more permitted to like ... speak in public at all. Lol

Transradfems accuse transandrophobia believers of also believing in concepts like AMAB supremacy, and radfems try to recruit them on that basis, but one of the things I've always found so relatable about the transandrophobia crowd is that I feel they tend to have a very keen understanding of how and why AMAB trans people are treated so badly. I've seen, on occasion, transandrophobia discussion that gets across what trans women go through much better than transmisogyny discussion that supposes transphobes see us as women in their heart of hearts and all transphobia flows from that unconscious correct gendering, which I just find completely ridiculous.

But it doesn't feel gender validating to accept that people hate you because they perceive you as a man so it's better to clasp your hands over your ears and insist no one hates any men for any reason in any context and masculinity is only ever rewarded, never mind how this attitude affects butch trans women even in trans spaces.

[mandy4ever69420]

realistically giving kev and v a guatemalan foster kid and having them be more or less good to him and walk away with him saying they're not "the bad ones" was probably an attempt to walk back the fact that "being extremely anti-immigrant" was a character trait unintentionally conferred onto both of these characters, particularly with how the throuple plot ended. plus the fact that shameless seemed to decide kev and v should be "nice" at some point (the idea v "should" be genuinely progressive -insofar as the writers can express what being progressive is, the idea that kevin should be too socially inept to notice racism?) but it's indirectly a very effective way to frame them as like. exactly the sort of principled in theory bigoted in practice behavior you get from american liberals

because it's so easy to support a nice soft spoken (though i mean, limited english can make anybody seem soft spoken.*) teenager - particularly who sings the fucking american national anthem, which im sure to nationalists who like to play at opposing oppression seems super uplifting** & in fact, i think kev and v's attitude towards trying to find santiago's family was pretty good.

when contrasted with how kevin treats mexican laborers in s4 (hearing mickey complain about the exploitation of immigrant labor, going "that's a fucking fantastic idea" and offering these men not even PPE to remove asbestos), and how quickly kevin and veronica are willing to turn to immigration enforcement (s8 aired in 2017, when liberals felt allowed to critique american border policy because trump was president, so we all knew damn well about how rampant abuse of migrants is) to resolve or avenge a personal problem - the same thing that sammi is rightfully hated for at the end of s5 - we get this picture that advocating for a nice victim - who plays sportball, and is just a kid, and hasn't "done" anything - is more about feeding kev and v's egos as nice people, moreso than actually having principles when it comes to separating families at (any) border

i'll say i think v's plotline about being somewhat politically aware is slightly better than kevin's - if for nothing else than that i think it's a supported read that people were by and large being assholes to her for being in an interracial relationship, and to some extent you could claim the narrative is more sympathetic to her than to people who give her a hard time

kevin, though, also has a glaring homophobia problem. it's never made sense to me how much of a reputation people seem willing to confer onto him for being a super-ally or something. i joke that ellen degeneres being brought up when you come out is worst case scenario, but tbh! the fact that mickey felt relief at being mocked at instead of physically assaulted is more of a reflection on how much fear he had, rather than of how good kevin was at supporting him - though i mean, had kevin tried some peace and love bullshit, for sure, mickey would've reacted poorly. still, "haha everyone could tell, and being gay is just about sex anyway" is a homophobic response

kevin still has this attitude where he does THINK he's super pro-gay. and for sure, comparatively, he does a lot better than other characters. it was a relief as a viewer, feeling sort of mad and conflicted that gentrifiers, who i hate, were being homophobically harrassed, which i hate, had kevin come up to say "can we do this without the gay-bashing" but that's still kevin taking the opportunity to be supportive when there are no very personal conflicts or influences on his life.

kevin's homophobia seems magnified, also, by misogyny. he has no problem fetishizing svetlana and v's relationship when they seem shallow, or he can't wrap his head around v being seriously interested in svetlana outside of sex - he thinks it's cool and hot to have "lesbians" [sic] at home. his tone changes, IMO, when he starts to realize that v has real feelings for svetlana. because he can't treat svetlana, and her relationship to v, as a sexy commodity anymore. suddenly he, who doesn't actually understand polyamory, is forced to see svetlana as a threat*** and no longer happily accepts that his wife has a wife.

as a side note, i think every concern about mickey's treatment of svetlana/her coworkers in s4 could more accurately be expressed about kevin, who really didn't take these people seriously outside of a source of cashflow. as much as mickey was motivated by money, he really was grossed out by how they were treated, and has actual (usually hostile, because he's an abrasive jackass, but on-the-level) interactions with these women. tbf, at points kevin's attitude almost includes mickey - see his approval of mickey's "if they complain we beat the shit out of them" not leading him to hesitate when it comes to robbing mickey later. not entirely, but you could claim mickey was valued as a source of ideas, and a body to perform violence. kevin's sort of soft and emotional nature (+misogyny) cause him to see mickey also as a peer through being around him a lot, though, and he never spends time with any of mickey and svetlana's "kelly girls"

v's role in kevin's throuple homophobia/misogyny/xenophobia is a little weird - the point could be made about internalized misogyny influencing whose personhood and feelings she values more? or, more forgivingly, she just knew kevin longer. v has also been sort of weird about kevin before - being depressed makes random shit devastating, but the "that was my hair" comment is still a very presumptuous way to talk about someone else's body

*a point here is about how more nominally accepting people are of those who can't express their own position clearly - WRT: language proficiency, when someone speaks english very well like svetlana, you can no longer project onto her the idea of someone being "nice" or even just a misunderstanding if she's dismissive or calls you a dumb fuck. nobody likes it when someone they're advocating for has criticisms for them, and taking issue with tone is a favorite dodge. it's all fun and games until you have to listen to the perspective of who you're advocating for. this is why "the unborn" are a favorite cause of feel-good conservatives. they'll never contradict you!

**btw, i've read quite a bit of history on immigrant groups playing up US patriotism in response to facing bigotry (particularly 2nd+ gen mexican/central americans in the 1940s - & latinos still make a huge proportion of the US military) in the idea that if you look patriotic/"real" american that'll save you from the specific xenophobia of being treated as enemy by virtue of foreignness. this is largely a lie, racism and xenophobia don't operate on logic, but does create a population that's willing to work US imperialism's dirtier and more painful jobs for the faint promise of being respected. there IS an extent to which veteran status does confer some idea of "americanism" that promotes people internally - god, how fucking many politicians promote themselves as veterans?

***there's a lot to be said here about how even very very feminine gay/bi women are treated as "like men" or predatory for stepping into a man's "territory" - being interested in women, fulfilling the emotional needs of other women. svetlana's assertiveness is again demonized in a new context. this time her as a gay woman taking a "man's role" (loving a woman) rather than as a closeted "homophobic" woman terrorizing mickey (for her own reasons, but still). secondary aside, "like men" is not actually Like Men - gay women accused of being a dangerous man-like presence never receive any actual privilege for it. it's similar to how transmisogyny frames trans women as dangerous for being "like men" in situations where no one actually seen as a man would be socially punished

[goddamnwebcomics]

5 Unsolved Webcomic Mysteries

Webcomics and unanswered questions go as well together as webcomics and lesbians, webcomics and furries, webcomics and dragons, webcomics and extreme lack of nuance, you get the idea. Most of the time it's because of bad mystery mongering, other times it's because the creator makes such a baffling choice, you question what is the reason behind it all, a hidden Modus Operandi. We here at GW love to speculate so I compiled some old webcomic mysteries into one article. This both includes mysteries in-universe as well as more meta mysteries.

5. Was Colonel Glass really Marilyn's father?

Spinnerette doesn't have that many unanswered questions, aside from "What happened to Mecha Maid's ALS?", mainly because that would imply that there is a linear narrative, when at this point it's just Kraw making bunch of oneshots meant to satisfy his ego, his bank account and his penis. There however was a time there was some semblance of continuity, there was a world, there was fucking conflict, and that was Colonel Glass arc. I've told time and time again how this arc was sort of the end of old Spinnerette, and while it wasn't treated as a major mystery, there was one intriguing question that really only came up once during the whole trilogy, Mecha Maid at one point speculates that Colonel Glass was her biological father. This is because Glass has been around since Marilyn was just a baby. Later when the two koreans meet again, Glass shows remorse and agreement when Mecha Maid expresses her hatred of war. This bizarre moment could be a clue that Glass knows that he is in fact Mecha Maid's father but this is just a theory because quite frankly that moment came out of nowhere and was just contradictory for the sake of MYSTERY OOOO BETCHA DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING VIEWERS. Now, Colonel Glass is pretty much persona non grata in the main comic. Of course, there is the White Heron sidecomic, but I doubt that comic will bother to answer this question.

My personal theory is that Colonel Glass isn't Mecha Maid's father because that would be stupid. Mecha Maid doesn't have any special powers of her own, she got her ALS because she got bumped on her head as a baby, and Marilyn's adoptive dad was a tech guru so he probably helped Marilyn to learn how to build her suit of armor. Considering that Kraw has forgotten all about Marilyn's ALS, I don't think he remembers this plot point either.

4. Was Randall supposed to be gay?

Soulkat is probably the only webcomic writer in this blog whose brainlessness and lack of any talent gives Kraw serious competition. Now with Las Lindas having too many cooks in the kitchen, it's certain that there are a lot of contrasting visions regarding the comic. Characters often debut real quickly and become part of the unlikable cast in a matter of minutes. Randall was like this, he just appeared during the harvest festival and kinda stuck around, only later we got the whole ordeal with him being childhood friend of Mora and the rushed love interest for Taffy. Randall had potential to be one decent character in a cast of assholes, but then he was rushed into a relationship with Taffy and that's it. The reason for this rush was because Soulkat was pissed when people assumed that Randall might be GAY! GASP! EVERYBODY KNOWS LESBIANS ARE MORE HOT I MEAN PROFITABLE I MEAN RELATABLE.

So yeah, if Randall wasn't supposed to be gay, then why was he so, I hate to use this word but everyone uses it nowadays so I have to use it too and I can't think of a better word, gay-coded? I mean he was a good-looking dude who had affinity for shopping, dancing and fishing. Not saying every gay person is into that, but back in those days, "gay-coding" was known as "stereotyping", wait, I should've used that word instead. Either way, Randall was a really well-written character but once again, he was pretty much molded into yet another Mora asskisser with no personality as soon as he and Taffy locked eyes. So, was he meant to be gay but Soulkat's homophobia eventually won out so he was quickly rushed into a relationship because godforbid NOBODY in this comic is allowed to be single???

My personal theory is that, I hate to say it, Randall was always meant to be straight. Randall is not the only character who was decent at first but then got ruined almost immediately as soon as he stepped on that fucking farm. There were many characters who started out as likable, Miles, Rachel, Alejandra and so forth, only to get ruined overtime. The entire reason Randall was rushed into relationship was definitely because of Soulkat being afraid that people thought he was gay. Maybe if he is gay, maybe make him gay, or even bisexual. That being said even if he was gay he definitely would have been ruined anyway. He certainly wasn't gonna be Burke.

3. Did Tiffany change her mind about Chel killing Trasik?

While far from being a talentless hack, Tiffany has sometimes made some very questionable decisions. And sadly, she did two massive plot twists that permanently damaged Alien Dice within a short timespan. We'll talk about the second one today, the one I consider to be the worst plot twist I've encountered on this blog. It's a real shame too because it ruined probably the best scene in the entire comic. After seeing Trasik get away with her bullshit for too long, Chel grabs a spear and impales Trasik just when she is about to stab Lexx. However, we get our first sign that something isn't right when suddenly she loses her pupils and injects Lexx with lethal poison as her final move before passing away. Then few pages later we learn Trasik was a mimic ALL ALONG until this point, and the real Trasik disappeared at some point before Chel was kidnapped. We will not talk about real Trasik's whereabouts as I feel this comic will provide an unsatisfying answer to that, but instead let's talk about what drove Tiffany to do this plot twist. I've reread this arc, and there is virtually zero foreshadowing unless it's extremely subtle. Literally any hints of Trasik being a mimic only pick up AFTER Chel stabs her. That leads to only one conclusion, Tiffany might have wanted Chel to originally kill Trasik here but changed her mind at the last minute, likely she was afraid that Chel killing someone would make readers hate Chel. I can safely say that anyone with a brain would see that Chel didn't kill a person, she killed a monster.

Yet Tiffany, afraid of a backlash, went ahead and did the "she was a mimic all along" plot twist anyway, giving us another pointless mystery and not even bothering to address the other questions like what happened to the kids Trasik trafficked? How has Trasik not found out about Lexx's family living next to her for all these years? Why didn't Riley tell Lexx and Chel ANYTHING about Trasik being a mimic despite knowing it all along? Whatever, all of those questions are irrelevant, the only question that matters is, did Tiffany come to a last second decision to change the scene?

My personal theory is, abso-fucking-lutely she did. While I can see her wanting to not foreshadow Lexx's mom being alive all along just for the sake of a shock, there is NO reason for this twist to happen without any hints of Trasik's true identity. Writing webcomics is a careful job. It's a real shame that even after she worked so hard to make Trasik so goddamn hateable, she still regretted having Chel kill someone so she pulled that bullshit twist to avoid imaginary backlash. It's not too late to pull a doubletwist that Riley only claimed Trasik was a mimic to not get ADC on Chel's ass for murder or something, but that would only cover half the damage.' ass for murder or something, but that would only cover half the damage.

2. What was the original plan for Siegfried?

Whether it's Siggy having more fangirls than Deegan or people wanting Luna dead over him, the decision of making Siegfried Derek Chauvin of Dominion will always be one of the biggest Character Assassinations in this blog's history. I've talked about Siegfried's sudden racism buff so many times, let's just talk about something that DIDN'T happen. Let's say that Dominic Deegan's fans don't piss Mookie off, what was originally going to happen to Siegfried during War In Hell arc? Was he still going to be the one that was supposed to die? Were his noble acts in Battle of Barthis genuine instead of motivated by Jayden's pussy? And most importantly, was he going to still be racist against orcs?

My personal theory is, I want to believe Siggy wasn't going to die because it would be unnecessary. I don't think Deegan would've vomited if someone who was a racist piece of shit was going to die. Remember this was the arc when Klo Tark inexplicably returned with his angel brother form? I think him vomiting was about his second death all along, because he and Deegan were really close. Maybe too close.

As for what happens to Siggy, I think he would've had some bias against orcs but it would be established his racism is because of his father, but eventually learns about his father's atrocities, which horrifes him. it's not an instant redemption, and the other orcs don't want to talk to him because of his daddy's lynchings, but he might actually go as far as leave his position as a knight in protest of his position. I believe he was going to play the role of Rembrandt in March Across Maltak. He ends up falling in love with an orc, and completes his redemption arc as he learns how the suffering of orcs is his father's fault, and ends up staying in Maltak as the guardian of the Crone.

While not exactly a perfect redemption arc I still think it's way better than what Mookie did in the actual comic.

1. How was Gene Catlow going to end?

This will be a mystery that will never get an answer, due to the tragic passing of Albert Temple. We do know that Gene Catlow was likely going to conclude very soon after the current arc, with one last arc. The only major events that would've happened before the end are Mason's stupid redemption, Michelle's birth, Forzoi's punishment of Matt, Gene and Catwhis's son's birth, battle against CGI Cats and possibly everyone answering the call of Friendship Island. But other than that, even when you read 16 years of his comic, Albert continues to be unpredictable. Nobody can just connect the dots and claim this is what Albert would've wanted. For example, I have no idea if Forzoi would've actually redeemed Matt or just punished him, and what would've become of Cydnee. And that's not even getting into the rest of the cast, and if Family Too Stupid to Live was gonna go global. It's a real shame honestly.

My personal theory is, I have none. I can hypothesize but I can never truly figure out how was Albert Temple going to conclude his life project, and just how many more years was it gonna go on. Not to mention Albert was still going to write one-offs focusing on other characters after the end of main comic. Hell, it's possible World of Friends wouldn't have happened at all, but instead was implied to be a thing that would happen eventually. If someone were to take over Albert's site and write the ending themselves, I would be against it and not consider it the official ending. Some questions are better off left unanswered.

[shattered-catalyst]

I was just reading this and let's break it down

First of all we have the pit fall and struggle of all real long term relationships. TS doesn't give us bullshit reasoning for a break up. It's a realistic push and pull between someone and their own identity as they struggle to settle down in their mid to late twenties.

Hes not getting what he needs and he doesn't seem to know what he wants: it's natural and human to be confused in relationships. I think a lot of the hate towards this arc comes from the desire to see the ship together rather than to see the characters grow as individuals. Star is still growing in his confidence of his wants and needs and he's allowed to do that. This backwards step is allowed and permissible in character growth. In fact we usually see this right before someone has major changes and makes positive growth in their life.

Characters aren't static tbh I'd rather have a dynamic relationship being portrayed.

And boy is this dynamic because get me a large popcorn Ric is dragging him.

He acknowledges seeing Star earlier when Star stopped by signaling he needed Ric. But he put up a boundary and said no and continued his life.

I could write pages on how great Rictor is at boundaries like he's the king of boundaries when he wants to be (and then sucks when he doesn't tbh but shhh strengths focus here)

I always read that line from rictor about the posters in a teeth grinding annoyed voice. In a: ' can't you see I have a life and you aren't the center of it you asshole.'

It's a push back. Its healthy. It's maintaining the boundary of ' if you say I can't give you what you need then don't come to me when you need things.'

I also love the indication that the power release wasn't intentional because it relates back to the headcanon of ric having a tic disorder and that's dear to my heart. But I also feel it lends some emotional weight to the piece that shows just how deeply he cares and wants to be there for Star- who he is begrudgingly calling Ben and respecting Stars choice to have a new identity BTW like how fucking nice is that?

He isn't making fun of stars new identity or name he's supporting him. Like gdi ricstar is so great. He obviously doesn't like it and has some feelings there but he isn't forcing Star to be Star he's addressing him as 'Ben' with the quotations . Indicating there's a difference in how they've been handling the switch between Star and Ben.

Trying out different names and identities is very positive and common and I don't think this is a bad thing. I think inherently Star needed to explore life as Ben and that it's beautiful Ric was supporting him even if he personally accepted Star for who he was no matter what name he called himself.

Ric was willing to go with Star with whatever name he wanted to try or use until he was comfortable with himself. He was there to support him. It was Star that iced him out through a trauma response- normal for a real world relationship and great writing for a comic one.

Honestly the nuanced character development here is fantastic for both Ric and Star and pets them shine brilliantly. I only wish we had a Rictor solo series for this timeline to compliment it.

Yeah gasp I would want a Rictor solo series around this timeline or maybe post krakoa or maybe even M day time line.

TS saw Rictors character and gave him the boost up that he deserves and let him shine. He gave him so much development and it's a damn shame it's being overcast by people who are more interested in counting active couples than they are about the personhood of actual Queer characters and their life stories.

I sometimes wonder what would happen if we began to acknowledge the fetishization of two Queer men for being what it is: problematic even if we are LGBTQIA qnd doing the action I ourselves. Gay and Bisexual relationships are not a product to be consumed and the majority of Rictor fans are lesbians (not all but that's the running joke). I think it's important to reflect on how yaoi and Boys love influence how we in the LGBTQIA population view other same sex relationship and view them as a product to consume and fall into the same traps and toxic behaviors.

There's a lot to say on this and I'm not sure where I'm heading. but this one page holds so many little tidbits that show great writing and character building.

It's okay if people don't like the story. There's stuff wrong with it just like there is any other piece of media. But if they don't like it just because the guys aren't together then there needs to be a reflection on how you consume LGBTQIA media. This whole solo series was a love letter for them and a testament to Star building a life for himself and Ric.

[yardsards]

being trans makes you lgbt. But being aspec doesn’t. If you were cis, straight, and not dating someone who’s trans or otherwise lgbt, you wouldn’t be part of lgbt. It’s more of a descriptor like calling yourself a girl or a boy, not that you would. Being ace and trans or ace and bi or ace and gay would keep you in lgbt. But being just ace or aro isn’t quite as qualifying as a lot of aspec think it is. Unfortunately We’ve seen a lot of aspec people say things against trans and gay from perspective that cannot truly give them say. Unfortunately we’ve seen aspec admit to believing in “drop the t” while screaming acecourse and wanting to stop feeling oppression. A lot of the problems with acecourse are that aspec still receive worlds more respect and validity from outside communities because from those outside perspectives at least they aren’t gay or trans degenerates and perverts. We believe this is the true reason acecourse garnered a cringe history, because it was playing with the fact that straight people were identifying themselves as ace to put themselves within the community because it was in fact trendy and all of a sudden they could reap the benefits of attention coming with being seen as valid by a large part of the tumblr community, while also spreading hate and opression and preaching drop the t or claiming transmed arguments against a community that actually deserves support. Read or don’t it’s all good, but have a nice day regardless

i'm probably wasting my time replying to this but i'm gonna go over some of your points in case you're actually willing to learn. i may come across as angry at times, but i am just so tired of this kind of thing and i struggle to express myself with complete calmness and patience in regard to this kind of thing:

"being trans makes you lgbt. But being aspec doesn’t."

you don't get to tell me which parts of my identity are queer and which ones aren't. i have the lived experience of being trans. i have the lived experience of being aroace. using that knowledge and those experiences, i can wholeheartedly tell you that they are equally queer identities. i identified as aroace before i identified as trans, and i was just as queer in that period as i was after i realized i was also trans.

"If you were cis, straight, and not dating someone who’s trans or otherwise lgbt, you wouldn’t be part of lgbt."

okay this is gonna veer off topic from the ace thing but I just gotta say: WHAT??? you think dating a trans person makes you part of the lgbt community??? if a completely straight man dated a trans woman, that would not inherently make him lgbt: to say otherwise is to imply that his girlfriend is not a real woman and that is, y'know, pretty transphobic. jesus christ.

"But being just ace or aro isn’t quite as qualifying as a lot of aspec think it is."

who are you to come up to me and say you know our experiences better than we do??? who made you the expert on what it's like to live as an aspec person???

it's very ironic that you are talking about what you think our experiences are without actually having the perspective of what it's like to be us, immediately before claiming that we do that to the rest of the queer community.

"Unfortunately We’ve seen a lot of aspec people say things against trans and gay from perspective that cannot truly give them say."

this is not unique to aspecs; unless you are somehow every single lgbtq+ identity all at once, there are gonna be some experiences you don't understand and can't speak on. like, cis gays say shit about trans people despite not knowing what it's like to be trans all the fucking time. and some of them are, in fact, extremely fucking transphobic! you would (hopefully!!!) not say that all lesbians should be kicked out of the queer community just because some individual lesbians are terfs; after all, why should an entire orientation be kicked out the community just because a few assholes happen to also use that label?

"Unfortunately we’ve seen aspec admit to believing in “drop the t” while screaming acecourse and wanting to stop feeling oppression."

again, a few shitty individuals does not mean an entire orientation is bad. and honestly i saw A LOT less transphobia from the ace and aro community than i did from cis gay men and lesbians. and many of those shitty "ace people" were very obvious troll blogs but yinz were too blinded by your search for reasons to hate us that you missed it. this is not to say there weren't ANY shitty ace people, because every label with more than a few dozen people using it is gonna have some horrible people, but this problem was not uniquely bad in the aspec community.

"preaching drop the t or claiming transmed arguments against a community that actually deserves support."

(lumping this one in with the previous two) again, in my anecdotal experience, the aspec community actually tended to be more accepting about that kind of shit than a lot of the general lgbt community was. a lot of cis gay people were transphobic and a lot of binary trans people were transmeds/hated nonbinaries (and again! this does not mean that gay ppl and binary trans people are bad! a few assholes does not make an identity bad!). asexuals, aromantics, nonbinaries, (and sometimes bi/pan/etc. people) were often all lumped together as cringy trendy tumblr identities and spat on by the rest of the community. i, in my anecdotal experience, saw very few ace inclusionists (let alone actual asexuals) be shitty about nonbinary people. almost all of the transmedicalists i have come across have also been exclusionsists.

"A lot of the problems with acecourse are that aspec still receive worlds more respect and validity from outside communities because from those outside perspectives at least they aren’t gay or trans degenerates and perverts."

show me where the fuck that respect and validity is. cuz i sure as hell haven't received it. i've been told i was going to hell for "ignoring gods plan" because i didn't plan to get straight married and produce children (and this was before i realized i was trans!). i tend to hide my sexuality from bigots just like i hide my gender, but sometimes i bare myself to the wrong people and i get backlash for BOTH of those things, treated like i'm broken or a freak or degenerate. and you might say "but doesn't the bible encourage celibacy?" but the thing is, most bigots don't actually care about what their holy text says and really just use it as an excuse to persecute minorities that they already find repulsive.

"because it was playing with the fact that straight people were identifying themselves as ace to put themselves within the community because it was in fact trendy and all of a sudden they could reap the benefits of attention coming with being seen as valid by a large part of the tumblr community, while also spreading hate and opression"

straight people can also just straightup lie. like, a cishet girl could log on here and pretend to be a bisexual trans woman and no one could prove that wrong. it's the internet. lying like that to spread hate would actually be A LOT easier than claiming to be an identity that was already facing scrutiny. like, asexuality is not the only orientation a cishet person could call themself online.

not to mention how similar a lot of your sentence sounds to the shit people have said about nonbinaries. i lived through the "nonbinaries are just cis girls lying for attention" era on here. this is a recycled argument.

-----

read this and take it to heart. then read some of the notes of that post and listen to the aspecs there talk about the bigotry they have faced, both offline and online, from lgbt+ people and from cishets. don't act like you know our experiences better than we do.

[tuiyla]

I'm a men hating lesbian lol but even I feel a twinge of sadness when I think of bram and what great friends they could've been. I hadn't paid any attention to sam until s4 started and I was glad to see a friend for brittany since she was so sad without santana. They have somewhat similar personalities and I thought seeing them get into all kinds of funny shenanigans would have been a lot of fun but I guess we can't have platonic friendships on glee and no one can ever stay single. Imo sam isn't a bad friend but he's a terrible boyfriend. He would've been a better character if he were never made to date anyone lmao btw how funny or ludicrous is it that bram never talked after they broke up, although now that I'm thinking about that's the case with most relationships on glee, they end and then the people in question never exchange two words again

Oh absolutely agree, I've long maintained that Bram could have been great if only they didn't feel the need to make it another pointless romantic ship. Like you say, most of them never even talk after a breakup. My forever sadness about Glee is that they wasted so much time on these midgame ships instead of developing friendships and real bonds between the characters. You expect me to believe Bram was real while it lasted when they literally never ever talk again? Okay.

I was glad to see the two bond in Britney 2.0 though I was already dreading the inevitable. Idk man it just takes away from Sam's character to have him go after Brittany a) so soon after her breakup when she's clearly vulnerable, makes him look like an asshole really and b) ignore his past relationships and have him claim he's "always had a thing for her." Literally What. Ridiculous. Everything about Bram could be fixed if it was kept platonic. Imagine a version where he's there for Brittany as a friend, not as someone who wants to get into her pants. It turns something sweet into something gross. Obviously their sexual attraction is not inherently gross, obviously for all the bad faith peeps out there; it's that the story they present makes it feel like that's all that mattered.

But had Bram stayed platonic, we could have them bond over feeling left behind by graduate exes. Bond over insecurities and even body image, bond over the silliness that they get dismissed for otherwise. Except, Brittany genuinely thought Sam was funny and unique and smart and he automatically assumed the lowest SAT score was hers. Funny that. But hey isn't a version where someone other than Santana appreciated Britt's intelligence and is there as a friend great. But you know the season already had the Blam friendship to hype up and the writers didn't give two fucks about developing Bram's dynamic beyond using it to stomp on Brittana/occasionally Samcedes. Sam spends so much more time with Blaine that season and honestly I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Britt spends more time with the newbies than her boyfriend. The newbies! Famously a different species altogether.

That's my main problem with Bram and all lazy Glee midgame ships. They get together and the writers call it a day because obviously people who are dating don't also need to be friends and, idk, talk. Well that's far from my only problem with Bram lol, in fact what we had of them was more than enough thank you very much. But I would have welcomed more of them had it been a friendship not a lame attempt at a midgame ship.

Side note but my pet peeve is when people "blame" Sam's decline in intelligence and common sense compared to season 2 on Brittany. Common argument is, they dumbed him down for her. To that I say, Sam wishes he was on Brittany's level.