#this is a very different media genre than a tv or book series. or even a dnd podcast

[trainforanother1000years]

every time people talk about whats ‘canon’ or not its so obvious that little to none of mcyt fans have actually played/done roleplay on a minecraft server(or similar situation) themselves

Like girl the ‘timeline’ is whatever you want it to be for your character. Show up to whatever events you want. Maybe you play every day or maybe you log in once a month. Who gives a shit lol we are here to have fun.

and i very much think fans need to keep in mind this same mentality. Continuity is nice and good but also its whatever the roleplayers want their story to be. And no matter what continuity errors this could cause for the overall story I have genuine faith that these guys can Yes-And their way out of any situation. And for fans making fan content you can make the timeline whatever you want. The world is your oyster. Literally who gives a shit.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

It's wild that the whole global trend of gay-focused happy ending romance shows and movies has only been going on for *looks at calendar* a measly ten years!

Just ten years ago. 2014. That's when you get the discovery of a market for queer romance series and films with happy endings. That year the OG Love Sick in Thailand came out. Brazil puts out The Way He Looks, which deserves so much more credit than it receives for influencing the aeshtetics of the genre. Looking premieres on HBO, and although it had low ratings, it's an important touchstone. And, despite Nickelodeon’s censorship and shifting the program from tv to its website, the Legend of Korra confirms Korrasami in its season finale.

The next year, in 2015, we get Love Sick season 2, and China, pre-censorship laws has a few options: Happy Together (not the Wong Kar Wai one lol), Mr. X and I, and Falling In Love with a Rival. Canada, premieres Schitt's Creek. In the US, Steven Universe reveals Garnet as a romantic fusion between two female characters, and will proceed to just be so sapphic. Norwegian web series Skam premieres and sets up a gay protagonist for its third season, which will drop in 2016 and entirely change the global media landscape.

Then, 2016! This is the MOMENT. That aforementioned Skam season happens. Japan puts out the film version of Ossan's Love and anime series Yuri!!! on Ice. China has the impactful Addicted Heroine, which directly leads to increased censorship. The US has Moonlight come out and take home the Oscar. In Thailand, GMMTV enters the BL game and Thai BL explodes: Puppy Honey, SOTUS, Water Boyy, Make It Right, plus, the Thai Gay OK Bangkok, which, like its influence, Looking, is more in the queer tradition but introduces two dramatically important directors to the Thai BL industry, Aof and Jojo.

By 2017, Taiwan enters the game with its History series. Korea’s BL industry actually kicks off with Method and Long Time No See. Thailand’s got too many BLs to mention. Call Me By Your Name, though not a happy ending, makes a big splash that will send ripples through the whole genre, and God's Own Country offers a gruff counter-argument to problematic age differences and twink obsessions. This is also the year of Netflix reboot of One Day At a Time bringing some wlw to the screen, and the Disney Channel has a main character come out as ‘gay’ on Andi Mack ( I’m am ready to throw fists with anyone who thinks the Disney Channel aesthetic isn’t a part of current queer culture). And I'd be remiss not to mention the influential cult-following of chaotic web-series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo: "Sometimes things that are expensive...are worse."

All this happened, and we hadn’t even gotten to Love, Simon, Elite, or ITSAY, yet.

Prior to all this there are some major precursors some of which signaled and primed a receptive market, others influenced the people who'd go on to create the QLs. Japan has a sputtering start in the 2010s with a few BL films (Takumi-Kun, Boys Love, and Jujoun Pure Heart). Most significantly in the American context, you have Glee, and its ending really makes way for the new era that can center gay young people in a world where queerness, due to easy access to digital information, is less novel to the characters. And the QL book and graphic novel landscape was way ahead of the television and film industries, directly creating many of the stories that the latter industries used.

There's plenty of the traditional queer media content (tragic melodramas and independent camp comedies) going on prior to and alongside QL, and there are some outlying queer romance films with happy endings that precede the era but feel very much akin to QL genre tropes and goals, many with a focus on postcolonial and multicultural perspectives (Saving Face, The Wedding Banquet, Big Eden, Maurice, My Beautiful Launderette, and Weekend). I don't mean to suggest that everything I’ve listed ought to be categorized as QL.

Rather, I want to point out how all of these new-era queer romance works are in a big queer global conversation together, in the creation of a new contemporary genre, a genre that has more capacity and thematic interest to include digital technology and normalize cross-cultural relationships than other genres (there's a reason fansubs and web platforms are so easily accepted and integrated to the proliferation of these series).

You're not too late to be part of the conversation. Imagine being alive in the 1960s and 70s and participating in the blossoming of the sci-fi genre. That flowering is where gay romance sits now. Join the party.

[eruhamster]

Hi....! If you don't mind, can I ask, who are your top 7 favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc (can be canon or non-canon) and your top 10 favorite characters ever from any media? Why do you love them all? Thanks if you want to answer....

THIS WAS REALLY FUN TO WRITE!!! Thank you! I spent like an hour and a half writing. I thknk that these answers would vary from day to day but at least the top couple answers for each have been pretty consistent.

It is skewed from me recently reading tons of BL...

Favorite relationships:

1. Gutsca/Guts and Casca from Berserk: This one has a stranglehold on me I don't think really fades. I think it's the one M/F couple that truly feels equal without it being sidelined. Guts and Casca know each other's pain more than anyone else and accept each other for who they are, fully. They would both do anything for the other even if the other doesn't know it. They hurt each other but it isn't toxic; they are actively trying to get better together, and help the other get better. They fall apart when they're separated, and yet at the same time the narrative refuses to let them be together. It's painful but you can really feel their devotion to each other. And unlike other M/F, there isn't some kind of feeling of a power imbalance. Guts isn't Casca's owner. In fact, he's depicted more of her loyal dog. He has no control over her, and he knows that due to her trauma, there's things he as a man cannot do for her, so he steps aside and allows the women in her life to assist her. She was his first step toward breaking from toxic masculinity and understanding women not as an other species, but as other people. He treats her as an equal. Not a thing he owns, not a child. Even when she is catatonic and acting like a toddler, he treats her the same as anyone deserves to be treated. He has demons just like she does, but even at his worst you can tell he respects her deeply and doesn't ever want to wrong her. It's breathtaking to me. It's so rare in media to see a relationship like theirs. It's why I can't give up on Berserk even with Miura's death. I need to see them succeed.

2. Bongchun and Soongap from Bongchon Bride: I think this is still my all-time favorite romance story. For a million reasons outside the main couple. Read Bongchon Bride if you have time, it's beautiful. But yeah; I like two genres of romance pretty evenly- noncon stuff and romances where people fit together like puzzle pieces. And they're the latter. No matter how Soongap thinks he's not truly married to Bongchun, they are 100% married. They act exactly as a marriage should be. There is no selfishness between them; they always think of what is best for them together, as a team. They lift each other up and fill the others' shortcomings. They heal each other and comfort each other and keep each other safe and out of trouble. A lot of romances will have a sort of one-sided romance where one person is the giver and one person is the receiver; not with sex, but in general. One person has all the wealth, power, emotional stability, etc, and the other is essentially pampered. This manhwa starts out like that but Soongap is not the kind of person to take without giving. He isn't just a trophy or a toy for Bongchun, he fits himself into his life and makes Bongchun's life substancially easier. He helps him come out of his hermit shell, he makes things for him, he takes care of his mother, he handles the finances and bartering, and he lends Bongchun his advice and warnings, which helps Bongchun when he is so naive and lacks Soongap's critical thinking skills. They fit together like puzzle pieces. :)

3. Hee-ryang and Yeonjo from Steel Under Silk: These two are sort of like the anti-Bongchun/Soongap. You can see how perfect they are for each other. They think very, very similarly. They get along so well when things are going good because they're so similar to each other. In a different universe, they would make a conniving power couple that could take on anything. But instead, they're stuck in a situation where they're both miserable and refuse to allow themselves happiness because that would hurt their pride too much, and their pride is all they have. There's this feeling that if they were in opposite scenarios, they'd end up doing exactly the same as the other did. So it feels equally toxic and heartbreaking instead of other noncon stories like it where it's an abuser and an abusee. They can hurt each other so deeply because they're mentally on equal playing fields, and because technically Yeonjo was the initiator of all of this. Hee-ryang was going to buy him out of slavery. Yeonjo at every step of the way has gotten himself into a situation to crush Hee-ryang's heart to pieces, and that's why it ends up spiraling and why Hee-ryang goes for really deep-hitting insults like saying that Yeonjo's body 'betrays' him and loves sex. He says stuff that Yeonjo told him in confidence just to hurt him because he's got nothing else and because he feels the same way about himself; he had to use his body to survive too, but in a way that left him littered in scars. I know if they can turn from each other to a single villain, they can be a strong team because they clearly understand each other so deeply.

4. HuaLian/Hua Cheng and Xie Lian from Heaven Official's Blessing: This one's hard on the mind since I've been on a kick for this series but it's more of that puzzle piece thing. Hua Cheng is only the rich, powerful man he is because Xie Lian believed in him. He was part of the reason Xie Lian went through 800 years of suffering, but Xie Lian never once thought of it that way. Never in all those books did he ever regret saving that little boy. He only wonders what happened to him. And when he finds out that that little boy was Hua Cheng all along, he isn't upset. Because all Xie Lian ever wanted in his life, the thing he lacked even as the pampered crown prince of that perfect kingdom, was a person who understood him, including his faults, and still believed in and accepted him. His parents didn't understand him, even if they loved him unconditionally. Feng Xin cared for and believed in him but could not accept his faults and ultimately left when Xie Lian told him to. Mu Qing understood his faults but was so petty that he misunderstood and twisted his intentions and fucked off when things got bad. Hua Cheng believes in Xie Lian strongly enough to not budge even when Xie Lian is at his absolute worst. He only leaves Xie Lian through no fault of his own. Because he knows Xie Lian needs someone. Just one person. To be there and believe in him, like Xie Lian was the one person to believe in him.

5. Beefleaf/He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official's Blessing: A more doomed version of Hualian. They get along like two peas in a pod. As much as He Xuan tries to act like he hates SQX, you can tell he doesn't. He keeps him safe and throws joking jabs in ways only a friend does. He Xuan is a good actor but there's no reason for him to act that was as long as he did. And even at the end of the story, when he's trying to appear as Hua Cheng, he treats SQX the same way. Because it wasn't an act. He genuinely cares for SQX, even despite everything. But he is such s resentful ghost who sits atop a mountain of bodies and still has the fucked up mindset of a hungry ghost, so he can't let it all go. He can't. He hurts SQX by killing his brother, who deeply wronged him. He feels he had to. For his family. And yet he still carries SQX back to the capital, where SQX loved to go. And drops him off safely, and without changing his fate. And keeps his distance. But SQX does not seem to hate He Xuan. He knows his brother wronged him deeply. He knows he doesn't deserve godhood, so he doesn't want it. Even before his brother is killed he was dead-set on ditching godhood when he found out the truth. His brother had to tie him to a bed and sedate him to stop him. And even after it all, he makes sure Xie Lian does not wrongly blame He Xuan for things he didn't do. He takes responsibility for the situation he ended up in. And while he's afraid, as the coward he is, when he realizes He Xuan is there again, he doesn't react badly. He wants to ask him something. But he's gone before he can. I'd like to think when the story ends, they do rekindle their friendship, and maybe become more. There's time for it. And SQX is a cultivator, and a good one. He could continue cultivating and live a long, long life, even without godhood. There's time.

6. Sylhan and Gjord from Antidote: This manhwa is still ongoing but so far I've really enjoyed their dynamic and I think they'll end up a favorite. There is a power imbalance here but ot wasn't always this way. You get glimmers of it from talk of the past and Sylhan's occasional dreams. As Lord Khallak he was a genius who was good at what he was, which is why Gjord, a king of a people that hate Khallak, has devoted himself entirely to Sylhan. He accepts Sylhan even at his worst, unconditionally, and is clearly doing his absolute best to work in the shadows to give Sylhan the life he deserves after he was wronged by people who hate them. I'm eager to see more because you can tell they were that puzzle piece kind of relationship with how Gjord tells him how they used to argue all the time over political and governmental things, and how Sylhan used to be very strong-willed. Sylhan is weak and confused now, but you can get glimmers of the past. Reminds me of wedding vows. In sickness and in health.

7. I don't know that I have a very specific 7. This probably fluctuates with time. But I'll point out the one I've liked and am still mad about being sidelined; No Name and Jihwa from Painter of the Night. They're complete opposites but their personalities seem reversed. You would think that twinky, soft-hearted son of a nobleman would be the more gentle one, but it's the nameless criminal. No Name takes all the abuse Jihwa throws at him and just does not care and responds kindly in turn; he pulls his hand away from his face when he's chewing his nails raw, he drapes him with robes when he's cold, he gives him advice, he drops by and warns Jihwa and then saves Jihwa's life. They feel to me like a curly-haired, yippy little pomeranian and a big, tired wolf. To be honest, I would have preferred a story with them as the main couple. They're far more interesting. And they act this way even when they don't actually care for each other yet, by the author's own words. There's some kind of natural pull there.

Favorite characters:

1. Casca - I could go on for ages about her character. Anyone who insults Berserk is a moron. Casca is handled phenomenally. She is a woman with trauma and people who care about her enough to try and help her through it. She is not treated as a fridge, she is a main character as much as Guts is, and her trauma is not magically solved. It's even acknowledged that Guts is centered in her trauma and it's other women that help her the most. But she still cares about that man, and appreciates both what he did for her, and what he didn't do - what he understood he could not do.

2. Sansa - A girl dealt a bad hand who doesn't have to become 'masculine' to fight back like you usually see in fiction(including ASOIAF itself with characters like Arya). I think any girl who was in a bad situation can relate to her.

3. Miquella - God-twink who is not evil no matter what Twitter tries to make you believe. He genuinely wanted to fix his mother's warcrimes and make things better for everyone. He cared too deeply and that was his downfall, as to become a god you have to remove that caring part of you. I like to think the Grace leads you to him to kill him specifically because he is the ultimate threat to the Greater Will, far more than Ranni, and could have legitimately ushered in an age of peace and prosperity.

4. Kaji - The one character who had any sense in Evangelion who is largely ignored. He cared deeply, deeply about Misato even when Misato was too fucked up mentally to accept him, and he fought for what he believed in. He isn't the kind of character to just let things be.

5. Bulma - Obsessed. She's smart but she's also stupid and she is the worst person to exist on the planet. I know she is all kinds of isms and wouls be insufferable IRL. Compells me though

6. Hange - She's been a constant even though I don't like AoT anymore and hate the ending. A genius who cares deeply about things. The anime flanderized her.

7. Shi Qingxuan - Obsessed with how unapologetically flamboyant he is while also just being the most generous and common sense person in the story behind Xie Lian. He was somehow consistently the only one with his brain attached and would call others out on their stupidity - and was always correct.

8. Yamcha - He was hot in the original, before Toriyama made a laughing stock of him. Also, I gotta say I'm obsessed with the sort of long-haired, tan-skinned, silly, muscular guy that's obsessed with love that you see in stories every now and then. Yamcha, Sokka, the main character of Golden Boy, the wolfy boy tertiary character from Inuyasha, Casey from TMNT, etc. That kind of guy.

9. Bada from Dreadful Night - I love green-haired, long-haired boys with no-nonsense personalities.

10. Gwyndolin - Man, I am obsessed with that design.

[muninnhuginn]

Hi again.....If you don't mind me asking, can I ask, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 7 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

Hi! Sorry for taking so long on this. Thought of waaaay too many options here, but think I've mostly narrowed it down now.

If you want me to expand on any/if I've been confusing about any of them, feel free to ask

Fave Media

Nirvana in Fire (cdrama): One terminally ill guy taking the capital by storm as he trolls and schemes his way to the truth of the case that got his family and comrades killed. There are so many moving parts at any one time that you need to have your brain on, but the payoff and the slowburn on some of the plots is beautiful

Stranger/Forest of Secrets (kdrama): Plot that keeps you guessing all the way through with super strong character development in the background. In theory it's a standard kdrama about tackling corruption, but the execution entirely won me over and both of the main characters are so charming to watch. They're coming from such different places but are able to reach across the divide to understand and trust each other

Spy x Family (manganime): It's the genre blending, okay. A family defined by lies and yet still their true selves with each other against the backdrop of a Cold War-esque setup. Most of the time it's fairly light-hearted and comedic, but it does not pull its punches at all when it comes to topics of war and propaganda and how they impact *everyone*.

The Locked Tomb (book): Lowkey surprised myself with putting this one here, but it has so many *layers*. Ridiculous levels of foreshadowing that would take so many rereads to fully untangle. The characters at first glance may not be the most relatable, but once you get further through you realise there's still a lot to unpick about what makes them *tick*

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (anime): Recontexualisation central. I love how first watch gives a different story to second watch and so on. How the themes are still ultimately *hopeful* despite all odds. And the directing/music/designs of witches/labyrinths all come together to tell the best version of the story

Link Click (donghua): This also has some pretty solid recontextualisation (I'm a big fan of that if you can't tell, same with time travel). But my favourite aspects are the individual stories of average people. And the intertwining of that with the time travel aspects to create a story that works both on the client level but also resonates strongly with the main characters. Season two also has some very strong mystery elements and is big on parallels between different characters.

Joy of Life (cdrama): This was lowkey a 'free space' option because I was torn between Arcane (the art/animation alone is so gorgeous even before you get into the intergenerational parallels)/Severance (it's like a workplace psychological horror with shades of religious cultism and some amazing humour)/Skip and Loafer (it's simultaneously so soft and so heartbreaking). So, I went for this instead. And yes, I'm biased because I'm watching JoL s2 rn, but I had missed the comedy so badly. This show is like a cdrama isekai complete with scheming and anime references. Also, Fan Xian's mum fascinates me in a similar way to Rose Quartz. The implications that she was so like him that she also lowkey spawned a harem and modernised ancient China in ridiculous ways? She was *the* og isekai protag. The fact that her death is still an omen over Fan Xian's life about why he needs to be careful who he trusts?

Fave Characters

Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries): I don't think I can explain this any better than I do here

Shen Wei (Guardian cdrama): See above, but also, he's just generally hilarious in how he goes for blatant lies. At one point, I was just watching the series for him and Zhao Yunlan alone ngl

Yan Wei (Couple of Mirrors): She's an assassin with war trauma who has decided she has imprinted on Xu Youyi and will protect her by... committing more crimes? She comes off aloof and she's not big on words, but her actions speak for themselves and they are loud. Also, she uses a helmet as a shower head which gives her many points in my book.

Cheating here but Pearl and/or Steven (Steven Universe/Future) (Also Rose entirely fascinates me from what we do know about her): Pearl in the main series and Steven in Future. So, Pearl in the main series starts as this grief-ridden wreck who's trying to keep it together and barely succeeding, projecting her issues onto Steven and Connie, etc. But over time, she's able to work through a lot of it. Not everything, of course, but by the time of Future she's doing well enough to consider dating again which for her is such a huge step. Meanwhile Steven is the chronic helper type, so over the course of the main series, he's the one who acts as therapist to try to solve everyone else's problems. And by the time Future rolls around, that's lowkey how he defines himself. His whole identity is what purpose he holds to others. So when he ends up in the situation where there's no one left *to* help, he crashes and burns in the most spectacular way

Li Lianhua (Mysterious Lotus Casebook cdrama): One of my favourite lying liars who lie and cough up blood (alongside Shen Wei and Mei Changsu). At the same time, his whole conflict between who he "was" and who he "is" is so juicy and the way he tries to avoid attachment and yet cannot help himself? He's constantly running after and chasing his past in different ways and for the most part he is both hilarious and heartbreaking in the process

Himemiya Anthy (Revolutionary Girl Utena): It's really hard for me to explain what I like best about Anthy, but her writing is impeccable. She's a character who has been stuck in stasis for the longest time with no escape in sight. And within the box she's stuck in, she acts out in the ways she's able, bitterness and pettiness and everything else. She thinks she's past the point of caring, but it turns out that that's not the case. She's also a character that a lot of people in and out of universe try to limit to an archetype, but there's no single box she *can* be contained in. Also! She's a great troll. Very entertaining to watch her pranks

Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney): He has such a great character arc across the main trilogy and investigations games. Even though he largely settles down by the later games, it's still so fun seeing his interactions with Wright. He's got this history with him that colours everything. Also, he's got this whole thing where he comes off as though he's glaring at everyone in the world whilst clearly just being socially uncomfortable half the time. He *is* genuinely rude at times (rip Gumshoe especially) but he's such a well-rounded character, from his traumas to his later fond bickering with Wright that the end result is just charming. I think the games themselves trained me to miss him too by drawing out the times between his appearances

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: Supernatural (2005 - 2020)

Oh dear. Here we go. Happy (belated) November 5th everyone!

(The infamous love confession that has become a meme used to talk about important news by having Dean reply with what happened. Put on a white background to avoid jumpscaring people.)

Supernatural is an US American TV show that aired on the network CW from 2005 to 2020. The story, originally spanning five seasons, tells the story of two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, whose single father specialized in hunting supernatural beings after their mother was killed in a mysterious incident. After the disappearance of their father, Sam and Dean take over the “family business”, and get quickly dragged into the beginnings of the Apocalypse.

Things… Got somewhat out of hand after this.

The first thing worth mentioning: Supernatural has always been rather meta. During those early seasons, there were episodes between the ones very important to the plot where the show just would poke fun of different aspects of the horror genre. In season 4, they revealed that the story of the show exists in-universe as a book series, with its own fandom. In the last few seasons, they leaned even more into the meta, by having the characters fight the author of said books, who turned out to be also God, for their right of self-determination.

Fandoms being fandoms, and Supernatural, due to its focus being on two brothers traveling from place to place lacking female characters, the main ship for the first few seasons was the one where people were shipping Sam and Dean together, a thing the show itself comments on with the in-universe book fandom. This changed when season 4 introduced a new character, the angel Castiel (nicknamed “Cas”), who quickly became an ally of the brothers and formed an especially deep connection with Dean. The Dean/Castiel ship, or “Destiel” quickly became very popular with the fans.

In the late 2000’s and the early 2010’s, queer representation was still rather rare, and much of it was happening in subtext. Many people latched on to Supernatural, as the shipping aspect was compelling and it actually did feature some queer side characters in more or less important roles. The Supernatural fandom became very prominent on, among other early social media platforms, Tumblr, where people for a while enjoyed themselves imagining a crossover AU between Supernatural, Doctor Who and BBC’s Sherlock - the infamous SuperWhoLock that said people remember with a very vivid mix of emotions.

Due to its popularity, Supernatural kept getting renewed. The writers therefore had to keep coming up with new plots, and so they expanded the Heaven and Hell aspect of their world with, among others, Purgatory, power struggles within both Heaven and Hell, a special place where angels go after their death named “The Empty”, and finally having everyone fight God. While the core of the story remained the same - two brothers travelling through the US and fighting demons - other side characters were added from time to time, and usually killed off eventually. Many of them were, in one way or another, queer. But what really kept the fans engaged was the dynamic between Dean and Cas. It didn’t really go anywhere, making Supernatural in the eyes of many a posterchild of queerbaiting (pretending to include queer content for the sake of attracting audiences, with no intention of following through).

The show ended in 2020 after 15 seasons. The third-to-last episode ends with Castiel confessing his love for Dean and being taken to the Empty as a direct consequence. He is not seen and barely mentioned after that, and Dean is so shocked that he doesn’t get to properly react.

This resulted in mass hysteria among fans, former fans, and people who had been exposed to Supernatural and Destiel by proxy. Tumblr crashed. The episode got mixed together with the other trending topic of the ongoing US elections. Supernatural trended higher than the elections. People were making memes about it, and started to call the Empty “gay super hell”. The emotion of it is difficult to describe to those who haven’t witnessed it with the context of many years of Dean and Cas being firmly kept subtext. This event in fandom history has become known simply as “Nov 5th”. We still celebrate its anniversary on Tumblr. Destiel became firmly linked to current events, and people started to edit the love confession in a way that Cas says “I love you” and Dean replies with the current news. 

An imperfect rendition, but YouTuber ColeyDoesThings’ video might give you an idea what the emotional turmoil was like after the love confession. If you want more about the mess around the finale and the things that came after, please go ask somebody else. It is a VERY long and complex story, and I’m neither able nor willing to try and sum it up coherently. If you want to know about the various spin-off series of Supernatural, this article will give you a place to start. I would also like to recommend Tumblr user @whyissupernaturaltrending who, every time that Supernatural trends, explains what TF happened this time.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[the-monkey-ruler]

On Ao Lie's page of the LMK wiki, it says that Ao Lie's name is from a TV drama called Journey to the West Epilogue, but the link to a supposed wikipedia page for it takes users to page saying there isn't an article with that name. Do you have any information about it?

Sure! Bailong's name is a creation that is very recent, only being about 20 years in use and there are other media has given him other names other than Ao Lie, such as Ao Xue from the Westward comic from 2015.

The name Ao Lie comes from the 2000 tv series 西游记后传 or Journey to the West Sequel.

I actually covered the tv series here as well!

But this series did have Bailong with a far more prominent role as it was right after the journey and the gang has to get back together to save the world and such with Bailong allowed to be in his human form rather than being the steed.

I haven't seen the series myself but from what I can tell it is very fast pace and has a lot of different elements while still trying to keep the core cast the same loveable dynamics that draw people in the first place.

I'm sure that more media could have different names for him but I have seen a lot of media references often using the name Ao Lie as well like Fei Ren Zai from 2015, Little White Dragon Struggles from 2021, White Dragon Horse Love Story from 2022, White Dragon Horse from 2020, and so on!

Ao Lie...

Ao Xue...

All Bailong Ma!!

I'm sure there is other media that have Bailong Ma but I'm not sure if they gave him a name as a lot of Xiyouji just call him what he is called in the book. His older brother and sister are given names, even some of his cousins but Bailong Ma has not been given a name of his own within the novel, just this title as the Dragon Prince.

[suspicious-pools-of-blood]

Tag Game

I was tagged by @i-can-even-burn-salad.

Favorite video game: I really like Oblivion and Assassin's Creed; I'll go with AC: Revelations, the third game in the Ezio trilogy. Broadly speaking I think the Ezio games are the best in the series (though I haven't yet played past AC3), but Revelations is set in İstanbul so it's way more fun for me because I can check out all the places I've been irl, and sometimes random characters yell at you in Turkish which is really funny to me now that I can understand them.

Favorite video game character: Yusuf from Revelations because he looks kind of like my brother lmao

Favorite movie or TV series: Shocking absolutely nobody who has ever looked at my main blog, Xena: Warrior Princess.

Favorite movie or TV series character: Xena herself, no question

Hobbies: leatherworking, writing, sketching, rock climbing

Obsessions: Have I mentioned Xena yet? Because whenever I'm not thinking about my OCs, I'm thinking about Xena.

Favorite genre/type of background music for whump daydreams: Usually I listen to specific songs/playlists for my OCs, since my whump daydreams tend to be about specific characters. Genre is kind of all over the place, but tends to be the type of music I would describe as "vibes" (which I'm aware does not narrow it down at all, especially given I probably have a different definition of vibing music than most).

Favorite whump trope: Ough I'm supposed to just pick one?! OK not necessarily my favorite, but one I like a lot, is whumpees whose trauma turns them into whumpers. Cycles of abuse and whatnot.

Favorite whump pairing: Edit: whoops forgot to answer this one. Uhhh can I put my own OCs? Because if so, Elvan and Asenath; more broadly though any pairing where one person gets hurt and the other person goes feral in response, be it out of defense or revenge.

First time you experienced whumperflies: That scene in Disney's Aladdin where Alaadin is in a prison cell with his wrists shackled to the wall above his head. I haven't seen that movie since I was a very little kid but that's the one scene that stuck in my mind haha

Favorite whump scene from a piece of media: A couple scenes jump to mind from Xena. The first is actually from the show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, of which Xena: Warrior Princess is a spin-off. The episode is called "The Gauntlet" and is one of the episodes that introduces Xena as a character. As the title implies, the climax of the episode is when Xena's general overthrows her and takes her army, and her own soldiers make her run the gauntlet. Joseph LoDuca has my entire heart and soul for the soundtrack in that scene, and the direction is fuckin impeccable. The other scene is from season 6 of Xena's own show, an episode titled "Who's Gurkhan?" in which (for various plot reasons I won't get into here) Xena and Gabrielle both separately sell themselves into slavery to a sultan; Gabrielle tries to assassinate the sultan but Xena sees her about to go for him and knocks her out cold, stealing the knife, so that they would think it was her instead of Gabrielle; she also plays it off as if she was attacking Gabrielle out of jealousy, rather than there being any threat to the sultan. Anyway the relevant bit is that Xena gets taken to the dungeons and tortured at length, mostly just getting the absolute shit beat out of her, including while being hung upside down by shackles on her ankles. 10/10 incredible whump tbh, while there she also hallucinates Gabrielle bellydancing in front of her because that show is gay as all fuck.

A book you would recommend, whump or not: I would highly recommend the historical fiction Lady Slayers series by Lana Popović! There are two books (so far); Blood Countess, about Erzsébet Báthory, and Poison Priestess, about Catherine Monvoisin. They're overtly queer and very very well written (and decently whumpy tbh).

Add your own question: Favorite whump scene from a book?

I'm leaving this as an open tag as usual; if you want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

[nekrotiize]

crimson, ruby, and scarlet for the shades of red asks? :)

[For The Shades of Red Ask Game]

Crimson: If you could have only one photo or poster on your wall, what would it be?

This is something I'd imagine would change a lot for me, but currently I'd make it either a poster of the Pikmin 2 box art, Perfect Blue, or that one Saw (2004) promo image with Mandy in the RBT.

So, respectively:

There's some very different tones happening here, but, you know. I contain multitudes.

Ruby: Favorite pre-2000s song?

Answered Here!

Scarlet: Think of your favorite genre. What kind of media in that genre do you prefer- Books, Films, or TV Series?

This question is Video Game Erasure, lmao.

Everyone who has even breathed in my general direction knows my favorite genre is Horror. I find myself watching way more Horror Movies than anything else, but I'm definitely not averse to other mediums. I've got a pretty sizable collection of Horror Video Games, a nice handful of Horror Novels, read a fuck ton of Horror Web Stories, and I've definitely watched a good amount of Horror TV Shows. I just tend to be drawn to the movies above all else. I think I've watched more horror films than... anything in my life, lol!

[solitaryandwandering]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hiya! Of course I don't mind, thank you so much for asking!! This question is... EVERYTHING. I've subsisted almost solely on different forms of narrative art my entire life, this list could seriously span MILLENNIA (and would not account for quality lol). I'll do 7, just because I tend to spend FOREVER making these lists, haha. I'm not generally into manga or anime so those will be excluded, sorry! I also try to pick something different for every list I do, so here's hoping I don't repeat anything I've talked about before!

A Series of Unfortunate Events (my favorite is book #4, The Miserable Mill) by Lemony Snicket (pub. 1999-2006; United States) - 4/5

Other than just being a fantastically written children's book series, the answer to why I love this so much is pretty personal and would take up an entire essay's worth of unpacking. So I'll try to keep it short (ha!). When I said above that I basically subsisted on media as a kid, I was not joking. Books were my first love precisely because they allowed me an escape. I was ostracized by many of my peers in school and had nowhere else to turn except books - mostly fiction, mostly fantasy, but I read a LOT of classics, Greek mythology, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Shakespeare, etc. One of the genres I gravitated to most was gothic fiction/poetry - something I consider foundational to my current taste and sense of humor - and no book nor series was more accessible than ASOUE. I still vividly remember discovering the series in my elementary school library; while everyone else was doing something or other with the group I snuck off into the shelves and boredly perused until I came across what was probably The Grim Grotto. The texture of the hardcover, its design, the ART immediately captivated me. It stood so widely apart from the other children's books on those shelves. Then I hunched over on the floor and began reading. And... I don't even know what about it grabbed me. It might have been that these intelligent kids were also lonely, also struggling to survive, surrounded by ignorant and neglectful adults. It might have been Snicket's style, absurdist and full of big words my slightly pretentious kid brain gobbled up. Maybe it was its mystery, the thrill of an anonymous author who very well may have actually published these books! from a secret bunker or shack on an island!, commiserating, asking me for help. Maybe it was how dark it was, paired with delightful humor which PERMEATED every page, probably my first real introduction to dark humor. I wandered away with that book (and The Carnivorous Carnival) before I was ushered back by the librarian or a teacher once we realized I had not read the first books in the series yet. My eyes must have been as big as dinner plates. The rest is history; The End may very well have been one of my first "anticipated events" in the world of narrative media. I own the entire series now, including that hardcover copy of the last book I picked up at Borders in the first couple of weeks after its release.

2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890; United Kingdom) - 3/5

This is a book I read on my iPod Touch in high school. Only book I ever did that with haha. I think at the time I had just signed up for Goodreads and they had a free version of the book on their website? Anyway, that didn't stop me from absolutely loving it. I had never stopped reading things in the vein of gothic fiction, but it wasn't until high school that I started to read (some) more explicitly horror-oriented stuff. Horror books have never really been my cup of tea, simply because I tend to either get TOO immersed or bored very quickly. I'm pretty confident in crediting this book for giving me one of my first satisfying tastes of horror in a literary form. That ending still STICKS with me, man!! The psychological horror of it all! I don't think I really picked up on the queer (sub?)text all that much besides in the character of Basil Hallward which is more an indication of how much I was struggling with compulsory heterosexuality than of the CLEAR intent of Wilde in... everything he put in TPODG. I'm pretty sure I had only relatively recently come out to myself (and was still closeted). But regardless, this book also launched an utter fascination with Wilde himself; when I visited Paris with my mom and aunt in my senior year I insisted on visiting Wilde's tomb in Père Lachaise Cemetery (the entire place is AWESOME btw). Standing in front of the tomb, reading the epitaph, reflecting on his life and art and how it influenced the lives of queer people in the UK, meditating on my own future as a queer person and my context in queer history, was a pretty significant moment in my queer journey.

3. Avatar: The Last Airbender created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko (ran 2005-2008; United States) - 10/10

I mean, what more is there to say about this amazing show? How gorgeously animated, written and acted it is? How compassionately each character was written? How it made concepts like genocide and warmongering not only accessible but legible for children? How it's literally a children's cartoon but is one of the most moving portraits of micro- and macro-level geopolitical grief? How abuse and efforts to reclaim a life mottled by it is a PRESENT and CLEAR theme? How much the theme song SLAPS?? Fuck, I need to rewatch this. On a more personal note, Toph was the first example I saw in media of a legitimately blind character - not just one "playing at" blindness. Her being a MAIN character and so completely in charge of her shit was fucking incredible to me. Then! The impossible! She was COMPLEX, allowed to be realistically limited by her blindness and youth. Though I wasn't able to completely relate to her as someone who was only a "low vision" blind person her character existing at all gave me a lot of strength. And yes, I would be an Earth bender.

4. Teen Titans created by Sam Register and Glen Murakami (ran 2003-2006; United States) - 9/10

I don't really know what to say about this, it's honestly here based off a lot of nostalgia as I haven't re-watched more than the first couple of episodes after I graduated kid-dom. But this is yet another example of great characters navigating abusive or toxic relationships, all the while kicking butt as super-cool superheroes. I've always been a huge sucker for superheroes (I haven't bought into the current superhero craze for quite some time though); these teens took the cake and so did that THEME SONG!! Still occasionally plays on a loop in my head! Looking back I absolutely had a crush on Starfire though I REPRESSED THAT SHIT and instead focused on how absolutely cool and badass Raven was (also probably had a crush on her tbh). Of course, her story of overcoming her overwhelming emotions and mental illness (such as they were, in a kid's superhero cartoon) resonated with me quite a bit. Outwardly, though, I was absolutely obsessed with Cyborg. I had this running joke as a kid where I would tell people I was a cyborg because I had a cochlear implant. Cyborg gave me a cultural reference to relate to and I LOVED HIM for it. Even if Beast Boy was my favorite.

5. My School President dir. Au Kornprom Niyomsil (ran 2022-2023; Thailand) - 9/10

I blame my sappy, sentimental heart and preteen obsession with High School Musical for this one. But let's be real, this show is SO CUTE. It came along at the perfect time, too, as I was struggling pretty badly with depression and PTSD flashbacks in the beginning of 2023. MSP was the first time in a while I really felt like I had "something to look forward to" in terms of appointment television. I enjoy watching TV as it airs but it's very rare for me to latch on to a show so much that I get EXCITED when it airs, let alone for it to genuinely keep me buoyant and, for lack of a better word, going. The last time that happened was in high school for the brief period of time we had BBC America and I could watch Doctor Who. MSP is just so... joyful. It made me happy. Sweet, consistent, well-acted, with love seeping out of every pore... so easy to love. It has just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek cheesiness while still taking itself and it's characters' troubles seriously. Though the music wasn't always my thing (those boys are not stellar singers... yet), all the songs fit with the story and were very fun and touching - I'd be lying if I said I didn't still JAM OUT whenever a MSP song plays on Spotify. Despite some small misses here and there, it still managed to be incredibly smartly-written. I was not expecting this show to be so good or to make me so emotionally invested. Right up my alley.

6. Hereditary dir. Ari Aster (2018; USA) - 5/5

Though it may be a surprise to those of who I've come to know in my exploration of (mostly televised) BL, I consider movies to be what I'm most passionate about, if we had to pick a medium of narrative storytelling. I've loved films since I was very little but my love for film was revitalized with a PASSION in college. 2018 was a big year for movies, Hereditary being one of its many shining lights. Seeing this still remains one of my best theater experiences. My best friend and I spontaneously decided to see this when we were bored and in desperate need to put off the realities of school. I had been laboriously begging them to see Hereditary with me and was THRILLED to go, armed with trivia and opinions of film critics to unload as soon as we walked out (I am so thankful they put up with me). We were one of around maybe 20 other theatergoers, so we could hear every single gasp and comment made under the breath of anyone around us. It was GREAT. Not only the movie, of course, which is a phenomenally directed and acted (#OscarForToni) horror/family drama; the audience reacted perfectly. It felt like a truly communal experience, laughing and exhilarating together at our collective fear and awe. When the lights went up we all grinned at each other and trembled our way out to the parking lot. Especially great considering I've heard horror stories (lol) of people laughing during some screenings??? And yes, of course, the movie itself is very very good. I can't watch much horror because of the aforementioned issues with TOO MUCH immersion but regardless, on a purely academic front horror is one of my favorite genres to study. All that to say, I've grafted a tougher skin when it comes to watching certain kinds of horror films and know what to avoid. Films like this one, with so much artistic integrity (get back to me on the disability rep, I have thoughts), keep me coming back for more. Nothing prepared me for Annie sawing her fucking head off with a piano wire though, no thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7. Eighth Grade dir. Bo Burnham (2018; USA) - 5/5

Guess the theme of this answer became "let me tell you about incredibly personal pieces of media and force you to listen" but hey. Favorites are favorites. Holy fuck, this movie hit me. I'm sure it's not a surprise to anyone who's followed me for any length of time that coming of age narratives are some of my favorites; this doubly holds true for film. Though the girl in this movie is very much of Gen Z there are so many elements of her middle school experience that resonate with my teen years, including the absolutely horrific decision to put unbearable YouTube videos up of yourself for EVERYONE TO SEE. God, for most of this I was cringing in absolute embarrassment. How did Bo crawl into my past?? Why did he put it on screen, AGAIN? Genuinely, though, I was completely blown away. Most people recognize Bo's talent as a filmmaker at this point but this was his first try at making a feature film. I came into this knowing of his previous work, having watched (and loved) his comedy specials and purchased his poetry book. I also knew of many of his Vines, of course. But nothing prepared me for how GOOD this is. To choose this subject is wonderful in the first place but to then, in his FIRST FEATURE FILM, completely compassionately excavate and examine the anxieties and small (but so insurmountable!) problems of an entirely normal eighth grade girl is POWERFUL. Nearly impossible to do, let alone with this much skill and insight. Every choice he makes as a director with his camera and actor directions entirely SUPPORT the story instead of being flashy additions. An excruciating watch for any AFAB person who struggles with social anxiety (mine reared its ugly head in ninth grade), especially if you're sitting in a very small independent movie theater in the middle of nowhere, Maine (not my home state). Still, absolutely beautiful and emotive, one of the most true-to-life films I've ever seen. This, I should absolutely rewatch. Maybe when I feel like being tortured.

[svartalfhild]

What’s your favorite High Fantasy Story?

Oh boy. What a big question. Buckle in; this is going to take a minute.

Okay, so as you might expect, it's very hard for me to say one particular story is my absolute favourite, especially considering how I engage with the genre across many different types of media, so let me talk about a few different stories arranged by medium.

Books

Obviously the works of Tolkien are high on my list of favourites. LOTR is the ur-story of Western high fantasy.

I've mentioned it many times before, but the Starlight & Shadows trilogy by Elaine Cunningham has always been a big favourite of mine and a very formative read for me when I was a preteen. If you like DnD, elves (esp. dark elves), and/or morally complicated female protagonists, this one is for you. It also has a romance between a wizard and a barbarian and incorporates lots of aspects of Forgotten Realms lore that take inspiration from Norse and Slavic mythology.

Film and TV

LOTR defs makes this list again. I am the Spiders Georg for Times Watched LOTR Movies.

The Witcher. "But Svar, why did you list this here and not under books?" Because the books are full of misogyny. Don't get me wrong, the books have good stuff, but the Netflix series got rid of a lot of the misogyny that I greatly dislike about the books (and games). I also just really enjoy the show in its own right. The Blood Origin miniseries spinoff is super good too and I'm sad it got no attention. Are there flaws? Yes. But I really like the story they're trying to tell and Slavic folklore doesn't get nearly enough interest in Western media.

The Mythica Films. This is a series of five indie fantasy films that are clearly inspired by DnD and they are the best indie fantasy movies I've ever seen. They tell the story of a young disabled woman talented with magic who finds out she's got dark powers and has to run for her life. Matt Mercer plays the main villain and weirdly enough, these movies were the first time I ever saw him, and I was actually wary of Critical Role at first because those movies gave me the odd impression that he's an edgelord, even though he's a very sweet person irl lol.

Honor Among Thieves is brand new, but it instantly won my heart as a favourite. How can it not? It's set in DnD's Forgotten Realms and is about platonic friends raising a child together while also being about whacky heist shit. A story after my silly aspec heart.

Games

Okay, I'mma have to restrain myself and give you top five here, because otherwise we're gonna be here all day.

The Baldur's Gate Saga. Fucking old but truly great. The OG. The 90's graphics might turn a lot of people off these days, which is unfortunate, because they are amazing games, especially with the Enhanced Editions and the new Siege of Dragonspear expansions. It's the story of an unwitting child of the God of Murder, and you can either embrace what you are, struggle against it, or try to ride the line. I personally find the struggle against one's blood and supernatural urges a much more compelling story. It's the struggle to become something other than what you were made to be while also being pulled towards your destiny and have to choose what to do with the power that is given to you. It is the struggle for your soul and the souls of those you love. It is a journey to the Hells and a rise from its ashes, and you have to choose what the phoenix looks like. Also there's a man who carries a miniature giant space hamster everywhere with him and a gnome obsessed with turnips, to name just a few of the incredibly silly aspects of the story.

The Elder Scrolls series. The worldbuilding in TES is amazing for the specific reason that it's such a fucking mess. The folks at Bethesda and Zenimax have taken the unique approach of building the lore like historians collecting a bunch of conflicting primary sources. That's fucking fascinating because it makes the world feel more realistic. The real world is full of conflicting information, especially regarding history, and we all have to decide what we think is true based on the information given to us. Also TES III: Morrowind in particular is the most game of all time. You can tell it was made by a bunch of freaks and it's creatively braver than many of the major RPGs that have come out since. Bethesda just went "what if we did a game about the land of the dark elves, and that land is full of mushroom trees and all the fauna is either some sort of unique reptile, insect, or jellyfish- no it's not underground- anyway, here's an epic story about destiny, revenge, cultural conflict, and the gods being deeply flawed- also there's a bit where you have to kill a giant jellyfish with a fork you got from a lizard man called Big Head".

The Dragon Age series. All things considered, DA is a pretty conventional high dark fantasy story, but it has enough of its own unique twists and interesting writing/worldbuilding to be special to me. Each game has a different protagonist and a different type of story, but there's some themes that are consistent across the series. I would say the central theme of DA is finding the strength to do what must be done, even though you never asked for the responsibility and by rights shouldn't even be here. I think that's really compelling if you're the kind of person who has dealt with a lot of imposter syndrome in your life.

The Pillars of Eternity games. I don't think PoE gets nearly enough love. It has rich, carefully crafted lore that gets into things that other series tend to half-ass, like the linguistic aspects of the worldbuilding. Across the two games, Obsidian really delves deep into difficult discussions about mental illness, the relationship between gods and mortals, the cycle of life and death, ethics in magic, the effects of imperialism, and trying to make huge decisions when the right answer isn't clear. Also the visual style of these games is impeccable, as is the music.

Neverwinter Nights. This is where my love of DnD began. I watched my uncle play this game when I was a kid and I instantly fell in love with its whole vibe. The main campaign might hit different these days, because the story involves a deadly plague and the protag has to recover the pieces of a potential cure while also uncovering cult shit. There's a whole betrayal/scapegoat thing going on that's super tragic. Anyway, pile this one on the list of reasons I grew up to be a DnD obsessed goth.

Other

If you follow me, you're probably familiar with how much I love the DnD actual play show Critical Role. I've been watching since 2016 and I'm forever amazed at the compelling stories the cast and the dice rolls have built across three campaigns now.

Black Dice Society is my other favourite DnD actual play show. It's Ravenloft, so it's a gothic horror/high fantasy fushion. It has two seasons and tells such a beautiful story about the struggle for love and power.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

What is media like in the Rhine City verse? What are some recurring shows within a show?

We haven’t super got into it, and there’s quite a bit of media that’s fairly different too! A lot of in-universe series are based on scrapped story concepts, some of which long-time viewers of my blog might remember. Here’s a few things I came up with:

The Handy & Ydnah Show: The bastard child of Oobi and ATHF. It’s a PG show beloved by adults and stoners for it’s weird and surreal plots. The production of it is extremely mysterious; no one knows much about it even though it debuted in the 80s.

Tales of Aethra: Based on one of my oldest story ideas. It’s essentially a long-running multimedia fantasy franchise, though its popularity is comparable more to something like He-Man or Xanth than something like LotR. It has gotten a well-regarded animated series, several books, and a crossover set with MTG.

Mercenaries: Based on the story Eric originated from. Basically an over-the-top stunt-heavy action franchise a la John Wick, featuring a sendup of Snake Plissken as its lead (his name is Max Viper). Venus Crowley’s character Scarlet Love became a huge breakout and shot her to stardom.

Genesis: Based on the story David Paine originated from. A TV series about a future where some of the population have superpowers. It’s like Akira or Heroes back when the latter was good.

SafeWord: 90s cult classic comic about a queer S&M themed superhero. Was adapted into an equally cult classic film by Troma. Based on an old OC idea I had.

Virgin Killer: A more recent movie, an action-comedy about a young man who dresses in a Virgin killer and enacts vigilante justice on incel type guys. Based on a joke someone sent into my blog once.

Dick Kicker: Private Eye - A film noir parody series in the vein of Naked Gun. Very deadpan, very respectful of the genre.

Bottom Line: A blaxploitation series from the 70s about the eponymous martial arts hero who protected his community from various threats.

Arya Mournblade series: Long-running sword-and-sorcery fantasy series notable for consistently keeping the same actress from the original 80s film all the way to the 2017 finale. One of the films is infamous for featuring aliens as the antagonists.

Prudence Clay, Student Witch: A young adult fantasy book series by author Frida Spinney, which was hailed as the next Harry Potter by critics. The books have come under constant scrutiny for some extremely problematic elements, not helped at all by questionable comments she made online which inspired others to make similarly questionable comments (she’s friends with JKR if that tells you anything).

The Will of the Old Ones: A book by an author going by “Charlotte Webber.” It is a cosmic horror story whose content was overshadowed by a plagiarism lawsuit alleging the text was cobbled together from several unpublished manuscripts. The author making the claims of plagiarism was eventually found dead of an apparent suicide and the case ended up dropped. Hardly any discussion of the content of the book is made anymore, only the insanity around it.

Salty Steve’s Pirate Pizza Palace: A Charles Entertainment Cheese competitor founded in 1987. The discordant mashup of pirate and dinosaur theming has given it an odd charm that has helped it stay afloat, also helped by it getting a surprisingly good SNES game based around it.

Rubber Octopus: Popular mid 2000s indie rock band.

Six Shots: Based on an old scrapped superhero story idea. It’s not made yet, but it’s the next script James Gunn has for a movie, and Venus is gonna star in it.

[insanitysilver]

Not only are male leads more common across the board, but, theory: the genres fandom tends to pool around are particularly gender biased.

To test this, I took @destinationtoast's Top Ao3 Fandoms in 2023, went down the line, and wrote down their genres based off imdb pages, Wikipedia, publisher’s profile, & amazon listings. To avoid letting one IP skew the results, I removed offshoot fandoms (kept MCU, removed Iron Man) and different adaptations (kept good omens (tv), removed good omens (book)).

Other “unclassifiable” fandoms removed: Video Blogging RPF, Original Work, Minecraft (Video Game), Sanders Sides (Web Series), Virtual Streamer Animated Character

From here, I had an even 100 fandoms, and this was how often the genre tags appeared:

Gender disparity studies in movies don’t usually account for Fantasy/Sci-Fi (idk why), so let’s hop over to the second most popular genre, Action, which we do have data for.  Now, Women and Hollywood keeps track of some useful statistics. Let’s look at some of their most recent genre data. Of the top 100 grossing films in 2021:

“41% featured a female lead/co lead driving the plot” but “85% of films featured more male than female characters.”

“Female protagonists were most likely to appear in dramas (36%), followed by horror features (21%), animated features (18%), action features (14%), comedies (7%), and documentaries (4%)”

So, in 2021, women were action movie protagonists 14% of the time. (And still not likely to be surrounded by other women.) This is actually, historically, a pretty high percentage.

See, UsDirect’s study of gender disparity in the top 50 grossing movies from each decade stretching back to 1950. Taking history into account, only 9% of action movies have a female lead.

tldr; people at large favor the action genre, fandom included; action is genre that really prefers male characters.

I’d be very curious to see data regarding gender disparity in fantasy/sci-fi, esp controlling by media (books vs movies vs video games).

Another interesting think to investigate, re: fandom bias, would be: how often is a series’ female protagonist not the most tagged character. If not most tagged, has she been supplanted by a male character? How does this compare to the rates male protagonists are less popular than another male character? Ex: Aang is the protagonist of ATLA, but Zuko is the most tagged character. Does the percentage of outshined female characters change if you control for the gender of the author (for series that even have a primary author)?

It just kills me when writers create franchises where like 95% of the speaking roles are male, then get morally offended that all of the popular ships are gay. It’s like, what did they expect?

[star-anise]

Ok, I'll bite. What *is* the difference between Bridgerton and Jane Austen in relationship to their skirts?

Oh! Not in their costuming, just in their general *waves hands* everything. It's a comment I see a lot about Bridgerton: "Well, it's not much like Austen, is it?"

That's because there are 200 years of literary history between the two, and they have not been empty!

This ended up being 1.5k words, but when I put stuff under a readmore, people don't actually read it and then just yell at me because of a misread of the 1/10th of the post they did read. Press j to skip or get ready to do a lot of scrolling (It takes four generous flicks to get past on my iPhone).

First I'll say my perspective on this is hugely shaped by Sherwood Smith, who has done a lot of research on silver fork novels and the way the Regency has been remembered in the romance genre.

The Regency and Napoleonic eras stretch from basically the 1790s to 1820, and after that, it was hard to ignore the amount of social change happening in Britain and Europe. The real watershed moment is the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, where 60,000 working-class people protesting for political change were attacked by a militia. The issues of poverty, class, industrialization, and social change are inescapable, and we end up with things like the 1832 Reform Act and 1834 Poor Law.

This is why later novelists, like Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell, are so concerned with the experiences of the urban poor. Gaskell's North and South has been accurately described as "Pride and Prejudice for socialists."

So almost as soon as it ended, people started to look back and mythologize the Regency as a halcyon era, back when rich people could just live their rich lives and fret about "only" having three hundred pounds a year to live on. Back when London society was the domain of hereditary landowners, when you weren't constantly meeting with jumped-up industrialists and colonials.

Jane Austen is kind of perfect for this because she comes at the very end of the long eighteenth century, and her novels show hints of the tremors that are about to completely reshape England, but still comfortably sit in the old world. ("The Musgroves, like their houses, were in a state of alteration, perhaps of improvement. The father and mother were in the old English style, and the young people in the new. Mr and Mrs Musgrove were a very good sort of people; friendly and hospitable, not much educated, and not at all elegant. Their children had more modern minds and manners.")

Sherwood Smith covers the writers who birthed the Silver Fork genre in detail, but there's one name that stands out in its history more than any other: Georgette Heyer.

Georgette Heyer basically single-handedly established the Regency Romance as we know it today. Between 1935 and 1972, she published 26 novels set in a meticulously researched version of London of the late 18th and early 19th century. She took Silver Fork settings and characters and turned them into a highly recognizable set of tropes, conventions, and types. (As Sherwood points out, her fictional Regency England isn't actually very similar to the period as it really happened; it's like Arthurian Camelot, a mythical confection with a dash of truth for zest.)

Regency Romance is an escapist genre in which a happy, prosperous married life is an attainable prize that will solve everything for you. Georgette Heyer's novels are bright, sparkling, delightful romps through a beautiful and exotic world. Her female characters have spirit and vivacity, and are allowed to have flaws and make mistakes without being puritanically punished for them. Her romances have real unique sparks to them. She's able to write a formula over and over without it becoming dull.

And.... well. The essay that introduced me to Heyer still, in my opinion, says it best:

Here's the thing about Georgette Heyer: she hates you. Or, okay, she doesn't hate you, exactly. It's just that unless you are white, English, and upper class (and hale, and hearty, and straight, and and and), she thinks you are a lesser being. [...W]ith Heyer, I knew where I stood: somewhere way below the bottom rung of humanity. Along with everyone else in the world except Prince William and four of his friends from Eton, which really took away the sting. But my point is: if you are not that white British upper-class person of good stock and hearty bluffness and a large country estate, the only question for you is which book will contain a grimly bigoted caricature of you featuring every single stereotyped trait ever associated with your particular group. (You have to decide for yourself if really wonderful female characters and great writing are worth the rest of it.)

So Heyer created the genre, but she exacerbated the flaw that was always at the heart of fiction about the Regency, was that its appeal was not having to deal with the inherent rot of the British aristocracy. I think part of why it's such a popular genre in North America specifically is that we often don't know much British history, so we can focus more on the perfume and less on the dank odor it's hiding.

And like, escapism is not a bad thing. Romance writers as a community have sat down and said: We are an escapist genre. The Romance Writers of America, one of the biggest author associations out there, back when they were good, have foundationally said: "Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." A strong part of the community argue that publishing in the genre is a "contract" between author and reader: If it's marketed as a romance book, there's a Happily Ever After. If there's no Happily Ever After, it's not romance.

It's important for people to be able to take a break from the stresses of their lives and do things that are enjoyable. But the big question the romance genre in particular has to deal with is, who should be allowed to escape? Is it really "escapist" if only white, straight, upper class, able-bodied thin cis people get to escape into it? In historical romance, this is especially an issue for POC and LGBTQ+ people. It's taken a lot of work, in a genre dominated by the Georgette Heyers of the world, to try to hew out the space for optimistic romances for people of colour or LGBTQ+ people. These are minority groups that deal with a literally damaging amount of stress in real lives; they are in especial need of sources of comfort, refuge, community, and encouragement. For brief introductions to the issue, I can give you Talia Hibbert on race, and KJ Charles on LGBTQ+ issues.

Up until the 1990s, the romance genre evolved slowly. It did evolve; Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan's Beyond Heaving Bosoms charts the demise of the "bodice-ripper" genre as it became more acceptable for women to have and enjoy sex. The historical romance genre became more accommodating to non-aristocratic heroines, or ones that weren't thin or conventionally pretty. The first Bridgerton book, The Duke and I, was published in 2000, and has that kind of vibe: Its characters are all white but not all of them are aristocrats, its heroines are frequently not conventionally beautiful and occasionally plump, and its cultivation to modern sensibility is reflected in its titles, which reference popular media of today.

This is just my impression, but I think that while traditional mainstream publishing was beginning to diversify in the 1990s, the Internet was what really made diverse romance take off. Readers, reviewers, and authors could talk more freely on the internet, which allowed books to become unlikely successes even if their publishers didn't promote them very much. Then e-publishing meant that authors could market directly to their readers without the filter of a publishing house, and things exploded. Indie ebooks proved that there was a huge untapped market.

One of my favourite books, Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown, is an example of what historical romance is like today; it's a direct callback and reclamation of Georgette Heyer, with a dash of "Fuck you and all your prejudices" on top of it. It fearlessly weaves magic into a classic Heyer plot, maintaining the essential structure while putting power into the hands of people of colour and non-Western cultures, enjoying the delights of London society while pointing out and dodging around the rot. It doesn't erase the ugliness, but imagines a Britain that is made better because its poor, its immigrants, its people of colour, and the foreign countries it interacts with have more power to make their voices heard and to enforce their wills. Another book I've loved that does the same thing is Courtney Milan's The Duke Who Didn't.

So then... Bridgerton the TV show is trying to take a book series with a very middle-of-the-road approach to diversity, differing from Heyer but not really critiquing her, and giving it a facelift to bring it up to date.

So to be honest, although it's set in the same time period as Austen, it's not in the least her literary successor. It's infinitely more "about" the past 30 years of conversation and art in the romance genre than it is about books written 200 years ago.

[sapphia]

With the Witcher and Wheel of Time and LOTR getting tv shows, HOW have Brandon Sanderson’s books not been picked up as the next big money card for all these tv networks?

Watching the Wheel of Time and the Witcher made me realise a) how good fantasy tv shows are when they’ve got a budget behind them b) how much people like them even when they’re full of faults and c) that these shows are really trying to market themselves as “something different” while struggling to find their own identity and playing on existing popular tropes.

Wheel of Time is trying to be Lord of the Rings (which it’s very similar to and heavily based on) while throwing in themes stolen directly from Game of Thrones - the court politics, the complex characters with differing motivations, the violence and gore). Sure it does some fun thing with fantasy film tropes. I love the care and attention it pays to details of the lives of regular folk, I think the music was evocative and they did some amazing thing with set pieces and cgi backgrounds, even if the cgi wasn’t always perfect. I get what they were going for and I dig it. But it feels like a mishmash of existing fantasy media (which the books honestly sort of were, and what fantasy as a genre sort of is).

The Witcher leaned heavily into grim-dark production design. And it does do things that are more unique to it’s ip, but also, it’s an adaption of an adaption. It’s based on content from an already visual medium. Adapting it to long form is exciting, but they had less to play with, and the genre they made it fit into was… well, itself. That said, I think it used a lot of devices of older fantasy tv series adaptions, like Legend of the Seeker, while at the same time doing a good job of modernising it.

But it’s still pretty traditional and nothing outstanding. The biggest and best things of all these series by far is their budget. To be the next game of thrones or stranger things, you need more than that. You need to be the right idea at the right time, but you also need to forge an identity. Witcher already had one. Wheel of Time will ride the coattails of former beloved franchises.

But Mistborn and Stormlight Archive have so much potential. They have a huge, almost mainstream fanbase. They are capable of creating very strong visual elements - landscapes and settings, magic vfx design, character and creature design. The mystery-box style narrative is great for hooking an audience. It needs a huge budget to pull it off, but that’s the one guarantee for these series - the network is throwing massive amounts of money at it for it to pull in viewers.

They’re not even that difficult to adapt to film, scriptwise. Certainly easier than wheel of time with its meandering plots and heavy internal narration (look at how much they had to change Perrin because of it!)

Idk maybe it’s just because I want more fantasy tv series, especially series like Mistborn. But it seems like a no-brainer.

[ophiuchus-interactive]

Originality, Criticism, and Entitlement

After joining the IF community, I've come to see (and experience) the accusation that there are IF writers who steal, copy, or even plagiarize another author's work. I'm going to explain why throwing such accusations around is harmful not only to the accused, but the community as a whole.

This is also an explanation as to why they're incredibly stupid criticisms, and unless there is actual, direct evidence that the work is being copied or stolen, it is not, as such "critics" want to call it, "ripping off" anybody.

(Long read)

Star Wars (1977) is considered by many to be the world's first real blockbuster, with such sensation and hype that even over thirty years since its original release date, it reminds a key figure in our pop culture and media today. In every form or fashion, Star Wars was groundbreaking in terms of cinematic storytelling and movie-going experience.

But Star Wars is nothing new.

George Lucas, the creator, has discussed many times over the years just how precisely the world of Star Wars came to be, and its origins go back much, much farther than you think.

George Lucas claimed that the idea of Star Wars was inspired by Flash Gordon serials, a comic book series that was turned into a TV show in the 1930s. The famous title crawl that appears at the beginning of every Star Wars movie?

Look familiar?

It is also a pretty well known fact that the Galactic Empire and Rebels, along with the battle scenes within the movies, also take heavy inspiration from WWII. Stormtroopers are German Gestapo, the X-Wings and TIE Fighters are inspired by WWII aerial combat: https://youtu.be/msb8OdvBBjU

There is a clear right and wrong that is written into the Star Wars universe, and that most assuredly comes from the material and real world events that George Lucas was inspired by; serial comics and shows of the 30s, 40s, and 50s, leaned heavily into black and white morality. This is why superheroes from that era like Superman or Batman were originally written as static characters. "Superman is invincible, that's not as interesting as the X-Men struggling with their place in society!" Well, yeah, that's because Superman was meant to be nothing more than a comic book character that allows children to act out their power fantasy- "you can't make me go to bed, mom! Superman doesn't go to bed!" etc. etc.

But Star Wars has inspiration that goes back even further than the 1930s. It goes back to ancient Mesopotamia.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world's oldest and most notable form of literature that we know of. It is an epic that describes the heroic journey of one Gilgamesh, told in five parts. This is the earliest known example of what is known as "The Hero's Journey" in literature.

If you have any knowledge of the first movie of Star Wars, you're well aware of the story beats that you can read out in this diagram, as well be able to distinguish the similarities it has with The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Does this mean that Star Wars ripped off The Epic of Gilgamesh?

No. It doesn't. Because even though the story shares similar story beats, and features a black-and-white morality, a sci-fi space opera is a far cry from ancient Mesopotamian gods battling with each other. George Lucas didn't read the epic in school and decide "ah ha! I know how I'm going to make money!"

He was inspired, and he took that inspiration and created a multi-billion dollar franchise that millions love across the globe. He wrote that story and directed that movie, he put in the blood, sweat (lots of sweat- they filmed in Tunisia) and tears to make something WHOLLY NEW, and yet in some ways...similar.

Humans are very complex creatures, and our brain loves nothing more than finding patterns in things. Why is there such a thing as the Rule of Three in literature, a rule that dictates the satisfaction the reader gets when a story has a plot that occurs in three parts? Why is there traditionally only three acts? It is, simply put, satisfying. This traditional three-part structure often times creates stories that may look or feel similar simply because of how it is structured. This is not copying. This is a literature technique that humans have been using since the beginning of language itself.

And this is why I have such a problem with the people suggesting that authors are "copying" popular works- no one solely invented story beats, no one invented the supernatural fiction, no one, singular person, solely created the concepts that we are using today. No one. Not a single thing written is wholly original.

Originality is overrated. We are products of our environment, our culture, our media we consume- if an IF writer has a story with vampires and other supernatural creatures, and the MC is a detective attempting to solve crimes, was that invented by the very popular Wayhaven Chronicles by Mishka Jenkins? No. Vampires in media are nothing new, detectives in media are nothing new, and if they so happen to exist in other stories, what of it? Did Mishka invent vampires? No. They're a cultural phenomenon that has existed in multiple civilizations at once. Did she invent detectives? Obviously not.

Mishka was inspired and so were countless of other IF writers to write a story that involved the supernatural. These IF writers may have similar story beats, they may have similar themes, but that does not make it copying.

You know what makes Star Wars or The Wayhaven Chronicles or any other form of entertaining media great? Innovation.

It is how the authors tell the story, and why it is being written that creates such vast differences in genres. Star Wars isn't The Epic of Gilgamesh because its just "in space", it is the magnificent, innovative storytelling behind Star Wars that makes it so unique in our minds. The cinematography, the storytelling, the dialogue, the acting- all of that hard work into making something worthwhile and good is what makes it so unique when comparing it to other media that feature the literary use of "The Hero's Journey".

We all have something to bring to the table, to tell our stories that have a piece of us inside them. They are influenced by our laughter, our tears, our horror, our love, our rage or terrible indifference. They are influenced by our passions, our delusions, and they are written because we wish it to be so.

Are all impressionists copying Monet because he popularized impressionism? Are all artists who paint in similar styles copying off of the one who created the style in the first place? No. They're not.

To accuse IF authors, particularly the INNOCENT ones of copying others is an unbelievably insulting and ignorant statement that disregards the author's creativity and free will to write whatever the hell they want. If all you have to see out of a story is the basic, bare bones elements to it, then allow me to speak for all IF authors out there and say:

You're missing the fucking point!

We've all put our hard work into not only LEARNING a coding language (which, surprise, not ALL of us know and have to spend HOURS figuring out) but we've learned a coding language to create a game for other people to enjoy, and we'll be damn fucking lucky if we're able to get any money off of our work that we have put in it.

This criticism becomes a form of entitlement real fast, as if a reader has any say as to the pace or way an IF story (or any art for that matter) is written.

Most of us are doing this because we love the idea of putting our work out there as an IF fiction for fun. Some of us have to work jobs, some of us have complicated lives that demand constant attention, some of us wish to do this as a living, but all of us?

All of us deserve the courtesy of being a creator that is sharing their work with the world.

The next time you decide to accuse an IF writer of copying another person, ask yourself if it's legitimate plagiarism or you're just someone who doesn't have the capacity to consider that literary themes, tropes, cliches, and genres, are not the same thing as "copying".

[shihalyfie]

Just a few notes about Ghost Game in regards to some discussion about its ghost/potential youkai theme:

I know a lot of people are bringing up Yo-kai Watch, which I think is a completely understandable and fair comparison because it’s a popular monster-collecting franchise that deals with this kind of topic, but...if you’ve actually seen the Yo-kai Watch anime, it doesn’t resemble this much in tone at all. Ghost Game’s promotion has constantly been leaning on it having a proper horror/scary atmosphere, which Yo-kai Watch prominently does not; in fact, one of its most notable traits is that it’s more about using youkai to explain extremely mundane phenomena like “people forgetting things they need to be remembering” and silly hijinks that often involve things like fart jokes. For that reason, it’s also extremely episodic and doesn’t have much of a dramatic plot; the games are more toned down about this aspect and have more drama, but that’s also partially due to the difference in format (and, moreover, it tells you something that the second game's plot was adapted into a movie instead of being part of the TV series). That’s one of the reasons it was considered a Pokémon rival, because it had the same “accessible to everyone” appeal and was intended to be an indefinitely continuing extendable franchise. If we’re just strictly speaking in terms of tone, you’d even make a better case for the early episodes of Appmon (which shares a writer with its anime, while we’re at it). Not even the whole series of Appmon.

You can also see this in terms of target audience too; with the exception of the reboot (which presumably had to use the same age levels as the original Adventure for obvious reasons), every Digimon TV series since Savers has focused on middle school children, and the primary target audience for Digimon has traditionally been preteens, whereas the original incarnation of Yo-kai Watch was very much aimed at a significantly younger wider-appeal demographic (same as Pokémon’s).

If you do want to make an accurate Yo-kai Watch comparison, there’s the Shadowside iteration of the franchise (which did have darker and more dramatic story-based elements), but I think it’s pretty unlikely Digimon would be taking anything more than a few minor cues; it probably wouldn’t be a good thing to be using Shadowside as a major reference of success, given that, uh, it didn’t do nearly as well financially (I’m saying this as someone who enjoys this, so I don’t mean this as a dig). It’s like saying that something’s trying to ride off of Digimon’s hype, but then the example cited is Frontier or Appmon.

The “ghost story” genre with going out and solving mysteries regarding them is not an uncommon one in Japanese media (see Natsume’s Book of Friends, Mononoke, Mob Psycho 100), and people paying close attention to Ghost Game’s production and staff are actually suspecting that this is more taking cues from GeGeGe no Kitaro -- which is basically known as the franchise about solving spiritual mysteries in Japan. And, incidentally, also produced by Toei! To the point it shares staff! Including Sawashiro Miyuki, voice of Gammamon, voicing Kitaro in the most recent version of the anime. Kitaro very much does have the horror atmosphere Ghost Game is advertising itself as having, to the point Sawashiro (presumably very self-aware about her position in this) outright namedropped it, and on top of that, it was the show that used to hold the timeslot that Ghost Game now has. So if a kid was watching Kitaro on that timeslot in 2018, it’s presumable that they might like something with a similar atmosphere, and it makes sense that Toei and Bandai would want to keep in mind what they could do to attract kids to the show when they’re about to lose the card of “Adventure-loving parents convince their kids to watch it”.

Moreover, horror stories mixed with Digimon aren’t new to the franchise; this is its first incarnation in kids’ anime in particular, but Cyber Sleuth/Hacker’s Memory indulged in a lot of that atmosphere, even for things that technically had nothing to do with ghosts or spirits (“doll quest”, anyone?). So while it’s possible it’s taking some cues from Yo-kai Watch because of its popularity boom a handful of years ago, I don’t think that’s the primary franchise it would be wanting to take after given the differences, and because Yo-kai Watch itself takes cues from Kitaro (the aforementioned Shadowside branch had a crossover with it, too), it kind of feels like saying any magical girl series released after Sailor Moon must be ripping it off -- a magical girl series may take cues from it due to its popularity, but it’s hardly the first magical girl series to ever exist.