#this also reminded me that it is quite funny that

[syabm]

Radfems aren't exactly leftists. They're pretty roundly shunned by leftists because of their transphobia.

BZZT! Wrong!

TERFs are hated, because they hate trans ladies, who out-minority regular ladies. Non-TERF radfems have mostly been ignored as an embarrassment, like Rochester's wife in the attic.

Frankly, I think it's quite telling that the only type of feminists it's okay for mainstream progressives to openly hate are two degrees from regular feminism.

And even then, a lot of people ignore how the hatred of trans women is from hating men, and misuse "TERF" as a shorthand for "anyone considered transphobic".

Including me. And I'm a man.

Also, they don't stop being leftists just because other leftists hate them. By that logic, all the times communists and socialists have tussled means neither of those groups were leftist.

Please note that I have seen quite a few explicitly leftist radfems.

Most of my friends are leftist women. If they hate me for being a man, they hide it well. Even the lesbians.

Your experiences are not universal.

Such as, somehow, missing the Man vs Bear In The Woods meme. Or the M&Ms meme. Or Schrodinger's Rapist. Or Russian Roulette.

In fact, feminists have spent a lot of time and effort on ways to say it's perfectly fine for women to assume a man is a bad person by default.

To say any group dominated by men will be misogynist, but not being worried about the converse, ever.

I think that qualifies as "hate".

"funny how women dont turn to fascism and rightwing politics in masses because of the hatred and discrimination we are and have been faced with for centuries 🤨" Don't take things out of context.

See, I interpreted that part as the cause.

Saying women aren't becoming right wing "in masses", and it is because they have been discriminated against for centuries.

You could argue that the radfems I mentioned are an exception to the rule I pointed out of how right-wing women downplay misogyny to spite feminism, but radfems don't neatly fall on either side of the left/right divide. They're too feminist for the right and too transphobic for the left.

Here's a clue. The name.

Feminists are progressives. Radical feminists, as the name would indicate, are extremists, so they're just further along that line.

Which leaves them progressive-to-leftist, IME.

Also, Trans-Inclusionary radfems are a thing.

I'm not sure why you're devoting so much effort to addressing this one tangent, instead of my much more important and relevant points.

But I can guess.

I just want to remind you that I consider you someone who is always wrong and acts out of left-wing partisanship, so I have literally no reason to believe a word you say without very, very good evidence.

Also, my hands are cramping now, and this is already off topic, so I'm gonna stop. Night!

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[dseerie]

My Thoughts On Why Astarion Acts The Way He Does

While I'm waiting for Baldur's Gate 3's cloud status to upload, I've been thinking. I've seen a lot on social media about people questioning why Astarion disapproves when your character wants to save the gnomes (since they are also under an abusive master) or assisting the refugees and how he is always wanting a reward instead of just doing something nice for the sake of it. And I've talked with people who have helped me put this into better words. At least I hope. So I wanted to explain my perspective as someone who was abused when a kid/teen/even early adult.

I fought my abusers whenever I could, figuring if it was going to happen, I'd piss them off, which was satisfying. But if someone started issues with a different authority figure, it annoyed me quite a bit because then I have another problem. And what if my abusers found out I was involved when I wasn't because someone I was with was upsetting the authority figure? It would become just one more issue I had to deal with. Too many details and nuances to keep track of when my mind needed to focus on the first problem. It made sense to stay on the good side of authority figures to keep myself safe and avoid trouble.

For me, something had to be worth doing or my mind just went back to worrying about sh*t, back to the fight or flight survival response. I needed that reward dopamine. Getting praises wasn't doing it for me, since I would forget the good because of the bad. Trauma brain is funny like that. I needed something physical and worthwhile to make me happy.

It's the reason why Astarion is my favorite character that I connected with the most. Not because of his beauty (not that he isn't an elegant elven man. Just that it wasn't what got me to like him. I'd lean more toward Gale or Wyll if it was by appearance for the male companions, though seeing Astarion half-naked with abs was a real shocker. I seriously thought he was a skinny elf 😳), but because he reminds me so much of how I was and how my thought-process worked. How I kept people away by being rude just enough without them wondering if they should say something to my abusers. Because no matter how many times I told people outright I was being abused early on, no one helped, only tattle-told on me.

And I haven't even completed a playthrough yet. I only just got to the Elfsong before starting a Durge playthrough. First playthrough was an asexual Tav to get to know the characters and storyline (I kid you not, I made my Tav a Charlatan rogue then discovered Astarion was also a Charlatan rogue when I was in the forge 😂). As I got to know them a bit more, Astarion intrigued me the most and when Patch 7 came out, I decided to play a Durge Romance. The first Durge both traumatized me up to Act 2 and made me adore and respect Astarion even more. So yeah, I'm romancing him on this Modded Durge Romance playthrough despite Gale having an interest in me, who is the male companion I would connect with if Astarion wasn't a companion (I'm literally just starting the Underdark area and Gale is already at 100 approval while Astarion is at 79 approval. I wish I had a library, I do have a cat, and I love me some white or pink wine 😋).

This is what my perspective of why Astarion acts the way he does. He's not bad, per say. What happened to him for 200 years has made him what he is. Nobody can fix someone else, but they can be guided to help fix themselves. I've been working to fix myself since I got out of the situation. And I want to be the one to guide Astarion toward fixing himself.

If I think of more, I'll see about adding. For now, thank you for reading. I hope you have a great day. 😊

[desktopmermaid]

I’m not a lesbian but I wanted to say that your art is some of the most awesome and beautiful and cool ever. It’s been so cool seeing you flip the bird to gender norms and create characters that feel so genuinely truthfully human. Keep up the amazing work 💖

Awwwww, this is such a warm thoughtful message, I’ve been rereading it a lot this morning. 🥺 thank you so much!! 😭 I’m so glad they come across that way! I rly hope for my ocs to come across as very genuinely themselves and just ppl living their lives, so I’m glad you can feel that!! Thank you sm and I hope U have a lovely day!

[rubykgrant]

alternate time-travel Tucker scenario thanks to @leonardalphachurch -

Tucker gets sent back to some point BEFORE Project Freelancer got started. He manages to fake his way around whatever military group he's suddenly in the middle of. He starts chatting with this one scientist guy, who is pretty stoic and quiet, and that's fine, Tucker can fill the void with his own voice. Tucker manages to figure out they're using code-names here, not surnames or the assigned names from Freelancer, but he makes up one for himself that fits, and keeps talking to this scientist guy

Eventually, it seems like he has finally ticked this guy off, because the dude drops his note-books and goes- "Alright, that's it, I've been trying to ignore you, but!" and science guy just. starts laughing really hard. He thinks Tucker is BEYOND annoying, but also very funny, and science guy isn't used to talking/having friends, his own snippy comments usually make people want to leave

So, they actually start being kinda-sorta friends. now that he's not trying so hard to be a serious stick in the mud, science guy actually really likes Tucker... the weird thing is, Tucker can't quite put his finger on WHAT, but something about science guy is familiar. Tucker even jokes- "You remind me of this one friend I have, haha, maybe you're his dad!" (meaning Simmons; socially inept nerd). Science guy laughs too, says that would be pretty surprising, he's fairly certain he only has ONE kid. science guy shows Tucker a picture of a little baby girl, and Tucker has to hold back so HARD not to show his picture of Junior... but they share dad-stories, and it's fun

One day, science guy is all excited because his wife is getting back from a mission! Tucker gets to meet her (she seems familiar too, but he's not sure if it's her voice or her face), and it still doesn't totally click all the way until he hears them call each other Leonard and Allison

Au where tucker gets sent back into to freelancer era but manages to know just enough and bs some stuff that no-one on the MoI even realises he's not supposed to be there

[puppyeared]

i like him

[saturnniidae]

Astrid showing Hiccup a drawing she came up with for some weapon idea and he likes it but then proceeds to keep tweaking it (so it's physically possible) until it ends up looking nothing like Astrids initial draft so she gets mad and leaves (they both have autism)

[froschli96]

Literally Malik in AC Rebellion:

[clegfly]

I. I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without posting about my IROMO au. Jesus Christ

TL,DR- this au is also called OPPORI because it’s an au where, shocker, the chatacters’ personalities (and other details) are the inverse of what they are in canon. It is my pride and joy and I’ve been developing it since like late 2021

It’s probably my favourite au to experiment with because a. There’s so many things I can explore and make for it (I have SO many ideas in my head it’s not funny) and b. It’s very challenging in a way? Like. It’s kind of the ultimate test to see how well I really know these characters and also how I write in general. Can I know this cast well enough to recognise and twist every detail about them and still make them good/likeable characters?

I don’t know. This is my first post about it

Expect a line up soon!! (what above image is from)

[sysig]

Gosh, it's almost october already? Time flies! For a Vargas request: its quite a fluffy one for the spooky times (and the source material haha), but I've always found the idea of Edgar from And Also With You sleeping on his wings quite endearing. They're built in blankets! Great for some rest (which this man desperately needs lmao).

Day 5 - Heavenly rest

[coach-ukai-keishin]

soooo uhmmm I just think more people should give The White Vault a try because 👉👈 well. some people would love Graham Casner merch okay. And there isn't any. NONE!!!!! please.

[nullians]

It’s actually insane how fandom in general has become so scared of making weird and dark and ugly works. Like I look at myself and see how I have also subconsciously adapted this instinct to self censor and make things “marketable” and it’s making me want to crawl out of my skin. I need to get weirder and worse and more off-putting hello

[zarnzarn]

Also I hope that wasn’t rude 😭

absolutely not!!!!! crack and hurt/comfort- that's pretty much how my fics have been defined day one lmao. in fact:

( @notsolonedesert @sunnecat thanks as well btw!! glad y'all liked it <3)

but yeah I believe in people crying and people being funny and situational humour, which is why it's Like That. my greatest joy is when I write something so insane but still good enough I get dozens of people coming up to me and going hey what the actual shit was all of that and why am I down here in the trenches with you

[kikuism]

finished my first romcom....

[butterflieswhisper]

hhelp wait this is so funny. didnt you follow me forever ago after a scott themed october song analysis . sorry if you dont remember that and this ask doesnt make sense but this is still funny to me

hi!!!! yeah. it was the cherri crane lives art i think and also where you made your flower husbands tag! I have never really interacted with fh outside of you (and like, seeing pretty fanart) but i am nonetheless deeply invested in your interpretation specifically!!! I honestly haven't watched jimmy outside of rats and the beginning of empires2 either i genuinely have no clue what they get up to you just seem to have a lot of fun with it

[airenyah]

so the camp leaders group chat was talking about recognizing houses today:

i'd recognize other houses. you know. like one of the only 5-ish houses that they shoot all of thai bl in 🤭🤭🤭

[bpdamandayoung]

what's worse drinking or cutting