#tldr girl is not used to seeing rep

[mrstellmeafuckingsecret]

there's a muslim james post going around and it's making me Feel Things

[vogelmeister]

anyways i am feeling kinda brave today so im gonna share a potentially unpopular taylor swift hot take. when i was talking to my friend yesterday about ttpd i realised that i kinda have a similar problem with the anthology as i do with evermore.

like don't get me wrong, both have absolute gems (willow, tolerate it, long story short, gold rush and NBNC from evermore are great and i love the albatross, so high school, the prophecy black dog, manuscript etc) but i think both collections (bc anthology is not an album) suffer because they came out connected to a much superior more cohesive work, and both almost feel like rejects from the body of work that proceeded it.

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

tldr: the story of how i figured out im gay and why i relate to byler so much. aka why its good rep

this was not supposed to be this long

my best friend doesnt like stranger things bc she thinks the metaphorical texture of the show is gross feeling(valid) but she follows me on here and has had to block the byler tag bc its all i post about these days and shes not into it.

anyways it made me think about why i love byler so much and it definitely has to do with the fact that as a queer person i relate super heavily to their story. being gay is way more acceptable now and i was born in 07 so its not like its was considered a death sentence to be gay in general. however i grew up in the classical church. my mom was part of a religious cult in highschool and i was my parents first kid and they were super protective of me. Im also autistic and i spent most of my childhood very worried about doing and acting the right way to make people accept me. my parents favorite story to tell people about my childhood is that when i finally graduated my crib and got a toddler bed they were worried that i would never let them sleep again. that didnt happen tho, in fact i refused to get out of bed with out express permission and would lay there until they came told me i could get up.

id like to say that i was homophobic growing up but not in the traditional sense. it was more that i was actually afraid of gay people. No one around me ever really said anything blatantly homophobic or had radical ideas about the subject but we were so deep into the church and i was always afraid of everything. when i was in elementary school we would do drills. call and response cult like stuff. theyd ask us to define sin and wed spout off this memorized line about going agaisnt gods will in action or thought or intention. i didnt even know what a gay meant until i got to middle school and the entire idea terrified me. because thats not allowed and when someone brings it up all the adults get that one look on their face and the pastor says that homosexuality is a sin or wtv.

i had this one friend, lets call her jane, at the time. i really liked her but she was kind of a delinquent, she didnt have the best home life and she was kind if an angry kid so when she came out to our friend group as bisexual in i think 7th grade, we (the rest of the group was v religious ) were concerned about it but not really surprised. we werent supportive but we werent angry either. it was more like we werent sure what to do. she had always been a problem child so it didnt seem to out of the blue for someone like her to like girls so we just kind of tried not to talk about it again.

I was a pretty big drama kid at the time( still am) (i swear i have a point to this) and i became friends with this one girl. lets call her belle. anyways i reallllyyyy liked belle i dont think i had a crush on her but i thought she was really cool and fun and liked hanging around her. we werent really close much to my past and present dismay but when i did hang out with her i always had a fun time. a few years later she told me that she was bisexual. this pretty much broke my little brain. because belle was cool and fun and normal and it was the first time when i realized that maybe there was something wrong with the way my church worked. they had to be wrong because there was no way belle was evil and going to hell. i loved being friends with her and i couldn't accept the fact that her liking girls changed anything. she still felt like the same person. still the topic was terrifying to me, i was so afraid that i was wrong or maybe just not smart enough to see the truth. so many people around me that i grew up being told knew what was right, knew what god was telling us said that it was wrong so maybe i just didnt get it. maybe i wasnt close enough to god to understand what made gay people so bad. still something changed from then and the next year i ended up being close to this girl, lets call her beth, (all my other friends had either moved on or were on different sides of our grade and tbh i was terrified of her but i had no one else). Anyways beth also had a crazy homelife she talked a lot about how she hated her family and how she would kill her dad if she could. she also ate highlighters, just drew on her tongue, and sold pictures of her feet on instagram to make money. needless to say as soon as i hit highschool i never spoke to her again, she freaked me out. anyway one day me and beth were walking at recess and she turns to me and tells me that im gay. i knew she was pan at this point and i didnt really care though looking back on it she was definitely flirting with me. I got freaked out and told her there was no way i was gay and assumed that she just wanted me to like her back but id had a crush on a guy before so i couldnt be gay.

speaking of this guy, he sat next to belle in my science class in 6th grade. i sat behind them and they were good friends. we were sort of a trio in that class and i thought he was really nice and funny. he was the first guy id ever been friends with and i assumed that the fact that i enjoyed hanging out with him and having fun meant that i must have a crush on him. because girls and boys cant just be friends. thats what everyone always said at least. one day we were texting and he told me that he liked me and wanted to go out. i csnt describe the feeling i got then. it was this werid mix of anxiety and fear and knowing that i should be excited but instead i was disappointed. and i didnt know why. i told him i wasnt allowed to date til 16 and if he still wanted me then whe could date then. i cried about it for almost a year. which doesnt make any sense because i rejected him not the other way around. but i felt heartbroken. im still not really sure why.

when beth told me i was gay i p much told her to f off in the most good christian way possible but i still thought about it. the idea felt so overwhelming and i couldnt think about it without wanting to have a panic attack so i stopped thinking about it. then i had a gay dream about jane and honestly i should have figured it out then but somehow i completely disregarded.

i changed schools for high school so i was with a lot of new people. i wanted a fresh start. at the time i felt like id been pretending to be someone else for my whole life and i hoped that starting over would help me find myself or something. I always sort of knew i was different from other kids i never felt like we had much in common or something but i could never put a finger of what it was (it was the autism). when i started highschool my main goal was to make friends on my own and conquer my social anxiety when had been crippling throughout middle and elementary. i ended up meeting this girl, lets call her cassie, (so many people ikik) and we became super close. she had a lot of issues as well bc apparently i attract unstable people. she was by far the worst id dealt with though. she was suicidal, ocd, anorexic and hurt her self a lot. it was a very codependent friendship but we were attached at the hip. she was my whole world at the time, nothing else really mattered more than her not killing herself. one day we were texting after midnight and she told me that she thought she might be bisexual and i told her a didnt care. i really didnt care i was more worried about her killing herself. she said she had a crush on someone but wouldnt tell me who and i let the topic die.

then heartstopper came out on netflix and i got DEAD sick. i couldnt even speak. it was very bad. anyways i had a computer at this point and was looking for something to watch. i settled on heartstopper because id heard so many good things about it and i was morbidly( at the time) curious. i watched the entire show in one sitting. i was scared my mom would find out and when she did find out she gave me this hesitant look and said she didnt love the idea of me watching that kind of stuff. i watched it anyways. i was mesmerized dude. the scene of nick nelson in his bedroom, on the verge of tears searching the internet for anwsers was so powerful to me and it was like something clicked in my brain.

what if i am gay??

id never let myself actually ask mysrlf that before. id never dared to even think it was a possibility because of course im straight. id know if i liked girls. but i sat there dead sick and dying slowly and looked over at my book case at all my favorite books. i looked up on youtube how to tell if your bisexual (bc ofc i like guys duh) and it said something about thinking about how you feel about fictional characters and i sat and i thought. it was a very overwhelming week. i thought back to middle school and the strange possessiveness i had over my best friend at the time, the feeling of hurt i always seemed to have when she hung out with someone else. i hated that part of myself. i felt validated in my feelings at the time but i never knew why i felt that way and it felt unfair to her.

at the time i was talking to a guy. he was nice and pretty chill but i sort of knew i didnt like him the way he liked me. i wanted to though. i wanted to like him so freaking badly. so i kept taking to him. id be on the phone with him for 5 hours just talking about nothing and tell myself that this was what its like to like someone. it wasnt a bad experience, he was nice and i liked to talk to him. but i didnt have feelings for him. one night i texted cassie back and told her that maybe i was bi too. she was from a christian household too and we talked for a while one what we should do.

my parents have always had this policy of being honest with each other when sometbing happens in our lives. which i think is pretty normal but my autistic ahh took it very seriously. almost as soon as i started questioning i told them. bad idea, was not ready. i was so scared that somehow theyd look at me and figure out that i was thinking about it, and that theyd be mad that i didnt talk to them about it. i said it at dinner and there was legit forks dropped. my mom took me on a 2 hour long walk to try and explain myself which was HELL because i couldnt even understand what was going on.

"why do you think you like girls??"

"idk"

they eventually dropped the subject.

soon after that me and cassies relationship started to get werid. after being so codependent for so long we had thsi strange sort of toxic need for each other to be sane or something. she confessed that she had a crush on me and i really wasnt sure how to feel about it. she was so important to me and the trauma and confusion and drama of our friendship got all jumbled in my head and we fell into some sort of homo romantic something. we never did anything besides holding hands a few times, but we did that before either of us came out anyways. we went to summer camp summer after freshmen year and shit really hit the fan and we ended up having a friendship breakup. she told me afterwards that she was a devoted christian now, that god had saved her from herself and that now she was straight. i was really lost the rest of that summer. i wasnt sure what to do at all, who i was or what i was supposed to do now that i left the person i had dedicated the past year of my life and my mental health too. i was really suicidal for a few months after that but slowly i got better.

second semester of sophomore year i had my first real crush on one of my close friends at the time. she was straight which sucked but those 6 months of my life were some of the most terrible exhilarating experiences of my life. thats how i knew i wasnt wrong. bc theres no heterosexual option for wanting to make out with a girl in a dirty school bathroom stall.

it was hard though, being in love with someone you know will never feel that way about you. even if at the time i had mostly gotten over the majority of my internalized homophobia theres still that feeling of guilt. you feel so gross and creepy and unwanted. this person doesnt want you, they dont even want your gender but you cant let it go. its a very lonely feeling.

it was around the same time that i figured out that i was a lesbian. after i felt what it was like to like someone, really like someone. to be able to identify that feeling as romantic feelings, it was pretty obvious that i didnt like guys. i felt really bad about the guy i was talking too. he had no idea and id just heen leading him on for almost a year. i felt super shitty about it.

idk if that was coherent but i guess thats why i love byler so much. it feels so raw and real to me. i watch the van scene and i see myself. i see how hard it was and how much i hated myself and wanted so badly to be normal and to be able to talk about boys with my friends without feeling uncomfortable. i see the way mike is with el and i see myself with that boy from middle school. so desperate for affection and so so confused. this feeling of guilt and regret, the heartbreak of loosing someone that you couldve had but you dont want. i want to want it but i dont and its so heartbreaking.

i almost think its a worse feeling that being broken up with. i fell in love with a girl recently and she ended up ending things. i was super upset about it cried for a long time. but still. its not the same hurt. it hurts but its not the same deep primal hurt. sitting on my bathroom floor at 13 years old sobbing my eyes out because im not with a boy that i rejected. wishing that things were different but not wanting to actually change. i broke my own heart and i didnt even mean too

[t4taletyler]

Noah(TDI) and Queer characters in media.

In 2007 Teletoon premiered Total Drama Island, Apart from that cast was Noah. Noah quickly became a fan favorite along with Cody in the episode 'The Big Sleep' where Noah is shown to be kissing Cody's ear in his sleep, The two wake up and freak out. They quickly run away from each other.

This becomes a running gag of sorts, As in the episode 'Haute camp-ture' We see all the characters who got voted off this far in the show at the resort Playa Des Losers.

We see Noah featured in some of these scenes in the episode, As Noah is describing his experience on Total Drama Island he says he's gotten nothing out of it and that it was completely uneventful to him. We see Izzy pop in and say, "He kissed a guy!" The two bicker back and forth about whether it happened or not, Trent rebuttals Noah's no's with "He totally did" and then shows a flashback to Noah and Cody kissing with Noah saying he has no comment. We see this gag again in Total Drama Action in the Aftermath show, We are introduced to the people who didn't end up making it on TDA. In Noah's introduction, we are shown a clip of him kissing Cody AGAIN. They are also shown sitting with each other in a lot of the TDA aftermath segments.

One question I have is why is this gag shown over and over again? In the episode where it came from it didn't move the plot along, it was just a few-second gag. I feel as if this was hinting at Noah being gay, Freshtv who was producing the series has made gay characters before in their other show 6teen. I firmly believe that Noah is queer-coded at the very least. When Justin is introduced to us in episode one of Total Drama Island we see Noah, Owen and Trent all swoon over him much like the girls

In the Total Drama flash game 'Oh No U Di'n't' we see Noah say this about Cody

Though this saying can be said by any of the characters in the Flash game about Cody it sounds the most like Noah, especially with his sarcastic voice. Noah's personality is also a gay stereotype, at least in the first three seasons. In the 2000s typically gay men were depicted as feminine, sassy, and sarcastic. We can see this in TV shows such as Sex in the City and the movie The Devil Wears Prada. Noah emulates a lot of these traits with his sarcastic personality and how sassy he is. He is also depicted as skinny and having a 'girly' scream, shown in the special Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island.

A lot of these scenes are played as a joke as LGBTQ+ representation was very hard to find that wasn't played as a "haha funny" moment.

In Celebrity Manhunt we see Cody and Noah parallel two straight pairings in this scene. We don't see Noah actually smile a lot but the times he does we see him with men such as Cody,Alejandro and Owen

(aftermath show)

(Newf kids on the Rock)

(I see London..)

On FreshTV's now-deactivated Tumblr blog, they said in response to an ask about Noah

This along with the existence of Nemma (Noah x Emma from rr) has always confused me, Why would Fresh TV go back on their character and suddenly change him to be less sarcastic and sassy? I think if they addressed Noah's queerness they would get backlash because he is A stereotype of a gay man BUT! I think the way they did it was actually more harmful to the queer TDI community. It made a lot of Noco,Alenoah and Nowen shippers face backlash till this day. Now with the TDI reboot we finally have two canon queer characters that are dating which is exciting and I'm glad they fought so hard to keep them but i think this was a way to pay their respects to characters they couldn't make queer like Noah and Owen.

Final Notes/TLDR;

Noah is a queercoded character that wasn't allowed to be queer which still hasn't been answered to this day. I hope with future seasons of total drama we will get more queer rep!

[syre-stane16]

DO THE GEO VISION HOLDERS DESERVE THEIR ELEMENT?

First thing first...

GEO SYMBOLISM

Crystallise is similar to swirl, in that it's an almost universal reaction. Collecting the elemental crystal gives you a shield.

Contracts are an interesting association, however I believe it's due to how contracts are in theory rigid and sturdy, protecting the agreeing parties.

This is another element I can see with the concept of knowledge due to fossils, preserving history in a way.

I can also see loyalty and stubbornness, with rocks remains unmoving for years.

Rocks are hard and reliable, and protects us from weather. Which is why we normally house ourselves in structures made from rocks.

Precious ores and gems being products of the earth allows for an association in elegance, beauty and wealth. Already you can associate geo with a certain rich mommy.

The earth is also old AF. But that doesn't apply to any of our playable vision holders. :/

NINGGUANG

She's the leader of Liyue, and she's rich.

Born into poverty, she has a rags-to-riches element to her story.

Interestingly, she's not as controversial of a character that I thought she would be, but that's not what you're here for so :p

NOELLE

MY DAUGHTER THAT CAN DO NO WRONG!

If she fails her knight exam again, forget Albedo, forget whatever plans the Fatui or the Abyss Order is hatching, I WILL DESTROY MONDSTADT MYSELF.

Noelle's a hardworking, strong ,reliable, dense sweetheart of a shielder. I ship her with The Traveller so hard.

These traits makes her feel perfect for the element.

I am giggling as I write this, she's so cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

ALBEDO

It's heavily implied Albedo is made from Chalk.... which is a mineral.... earth

That and like Sucrose, he's also an Alchemist.... so the universal crytalise reaction... yeah...

GOROU

He's a reliable character, and he's loyal. Rock

ITTO

Itto and Paimon have similar characterisations now that I come to think of it.... anyways.

hard headed

dense

stubborn

strong

protects his found family

YUN JIN

An argument can be made for elegance, but I feel I should give a Doylist reasoning for her specifically.

You see... Genshin kinda gets away with a lot of China's censorship laws [we still get femboys] because the CCP see's it as an opportunity to showcase China's rich artistic culture to the rest of the world.

Which is why 'Devine Damsel of Devastation' slaps so hard and why we're getting another vision holder that showcases another one of China's art forms.

While dance may work with flowing elements such as hydro and anemo, maybe even pyro for dances like flamenco, peking opera may seems to align with geo more aesthetically compared to the other elements.

So yeah.

Anyone else planning to pull for Gaming?

NAVIA

She's such a sunshine lab FFS she makes me so happy!!!!!!

A reliable character, who's pretty strong. This girl summons canons in her burst, heavenly principles protect this woman from any more sadness, gods bless.

She has the desire to help and protect people.

She once again feels like she could be associated with gemstones, like, if you take a gem in sunlight and see the colourful refractions in the light, that feeling, you know. She feels like that feeling, you get me?

I don't know how to explain just how happy she makes me feel.

my words can't word how the feeling me feel.

CHIORI

I feel obligated to pull for her since we're in the same field... ALSO TLDR at the end of hers if you're not that interested in fashion.

Fashion is a large umbrella term that gets a lot of bad rep in media, specifically Haute Couture, Avant Garde sets or the artisanal fashion sub branches , you know, the ones that are not meant for regular wear and is meant to be new and never seen before or to make a statement.

But you're not here for the essays I have to write on fashion , you're here for Chiori and here's my analysis on a character we know about from just one quest.

She's shown to be reliable, and is well-connected which is necessary if you wish to thrive in creative fields.

I was gonna talk about how she has to be commissioned for an outfit and how this makes her brand closer to that of a luxury brand, until I realised that Teyvat doesn't seem to have fast fashion brands... and then I realised that she owns a boutique and not a tailor shop, which DOES make her a luxury brand owner. so...

She made Kirara's outfit, she states that she used her as a walking advertisement for her brand, so its probably not quite luxury, something closer to Gucci where you can see and recognise the logo. but at the same time, it could just be that she expects Kirara to say her name if anyone asks about the outfit, since there is no major design element that's repeated in Kirara's and Navia's outfit.

[I finished typing the above and realised that all that matters is whether she has a luxury brand or not, and not which type but im not deleting all that brainpower I put into that.]

she also designed the costumes Lyney and Lynette wear for their shows.

So, her works are specifically decorative pieces, she does put enough thought into her designs, however, making the front of Navia's dress open to allow for more freedom in movement.

SO TLDR FOR CHIORI:

reliable

rich [luxury]

gemstone association [decoration]

CONCLUSION

Compared to Anemo, Geo seems actually have noticeable standards in who worthy of wielding it.

Which may mean that anemo is the Hermes Cabin for vision holders that don't fit the ideals of the other elements, which feels about right.

As long as you do what you love to do, then you get the anemo vision because YOU give yourself the freedom you need to what you love, and no-one should take that away from you, you can't be defined by the other elements but what makes you different fits with what freedom is about.

so... electro next... see ya!

[raggstorice]

who's your favorite twisted wonderland character, and why?

How do I even choose?

I have different reasons for liking all of my favs

(I will expand on all of these if asked. Please ask. Please. Id analyze any character in twst if asked I love them all)

Ace: I love how blunt he is. He doesn't sugarcoat his feelings as he speaks up for himself, others, and what he thinks is right. He can be an idiot, but I love him nonetheless! Although I feel like canon doesn't do much with his character and he's just used as a way to make other characters have development. (Ex: Riddle in ch.1 deuce in ch.5 the fairy gala remix in his card story) But all in all I think I love him because he's the opposite of me. (I can't speak up for myself...)

Trey: Like Ace, canon doesn't do much with his character and fandom doesn't really do anything with him besides using him as a way for cater angst? (No hate to Cater stans of course) so a lot of his character is my speculation. (He is not a normal guy he is lying to himself.) I love how I can pick apart his character without canon coming in and crushing my dreams. (I project onto him frequently.)

Leona: Oh boy. Here we go. God I love Leona so much. Obviously, he's a depressed bitch and neither canon nor fandom properly recognizes it he also has some serious trauma. (knowing you could be better but, why try? Your goal is impossible anyways.) Also, (as far as I know) he's the only Overblot victim who didn't properly redeem himself. (Ripping up Azul's contracts out of selfish desires is not redemption.) So that's canon mischaracterizing their own character and the fandom, is the fandom. Overall Leona is mischaracterized way too much and I kin him. (That's the reason I love him. I kin him.)

Azul: Azul is literally my baby. I love him because I just wanna give him a hug. The way his ED is implied a few times and then never brought up again is really annoying to me like- if you're gonna give ED rep at least mention in more than his chapter! It's a key part of his character and it's barely there. Oh also he was bullied and I relate to that.

Jamil: The vibes. Gender Envy. The pyromania. The way he hates Kalim even though it's not his fault because he needs someone to be angry at and it's so easy to hate the person directly causing your problems rather than blaming the system behind them. Oh also he's brown and I'm brown so it's like-

Vil: VILLL MY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN. Gender. Envy. The things I could do if I was him- she's so- can you imagine if I was amab? I could be feminine and still not be seen as a girl. Anyways the way he's always second place but doesn't blame the person who's above him but rather blames himself is so sad but so me.

Idia: his gamer talk is so funny sometimes. Oh also I wish I had an older brother like him. Oh also I haven't finished ch.6 but I'm really excited. Oh also technological characters always have a special place in my heart. oh also he's depressed and I find that relatable.

Sebek: I love him. He's so loud and so rude (humans) but I love him he's such a dork. He's trying his best okay? Id really love to see his character when it's not revolving around Malleus though.

Authors Note: tldr: angst, badassery, gender envy, character studys and more not necessarily in that order.

[gay-pirate-anime]

On the subject of the Girl!Law episode, I actually find Toeis changes to be really... interesting.

Like... in the Manga Law seemed to be the least affected by the transformation. There's enough wiggle-room to claim he only wasted energy on curing it because it was throwing his crew off. Meanwhile, in the anime, he shirks his duties to pout at the wall for five minutes.

Also: big difference between Shachi and Penguin squeeing over Law before vs after they're transformed. Being distrected from an enemy attack by your captain being so cute, is different from being distracted from ogling your friend because that same thing making you ogle him is actually distressing when it happens to you. One lightens the mood, the other turns it into body horror.

At least we get background ikkaku to give us Sapphic vibes, but it's just... not as fun?

It would've been great if Law had to track down Chopper for a cure though. Especially if *Sanji* had the cure from the HRT recipes.

Oda shoulda' just left em like that imo. Or just Law. I think it would have been a great narrative choice. It's a controversial subject having any character have their sex changed against their will, especially when you begin to question what that change says about gender and trans rep in media, but I've always felt like most of Law's major character ark was resolved already in Dressrosa, and then capstoned later in Wano with the Luffy/Kid/Law alliance against Kaido. Having him instead explore his gender, now that he's had his resolution re: Corazon's death, would have been a super interesting direction to take. For example: Seeing how other character's regard for him would have changed now that he's in a 'female' body, how Law's own toxic masculinity has affected his ability to have relationships/friendships, among other possible ideas.

That's not even to bring up the mad props I'd give to Oda, who's usually on my shitlist for not drinking his respect women juice, even though he sometimes accidentally writes great women and trans characters. Making a fan favourite character who is that strong permanently 'female' yet harbour exactly the same strength as before would just be a power move. idk. That throw-away line they had in the anime where he said his body was weaker was utter bs. The whole scene just came off as distasteful fanservice.

TLDR: it was already a cheap gag, the anime made it worse, but that gag had potential to be so much more. not just for law's character but for oda's rep with writing non cis-men.

Not surprised but still disappointed.

[randomnameless]

Do you agree that anyone that uses death of the author as argument shouldn't be arguing about a text? Because according to them all interpretations are valid so why argue against other people's interpretations?

Mmh...

I guess it's part of the duality of fandom life - people want to talk about the game are very involved in it, but they also create fun headcanons to explore said game's lore/setting/characters.

So in way, participating in fandom and even writing fanfiction, or saying stupid things like "hc : Nabateans attach a great importance to golden trinkets" is, in a way, pushing your own interpretation over the game's.

But at one point, it depends on what you want to argue about.

Argue about headcanon? Uh... it's like arguing about what topping you prefer on your ice cream. It's your ice cream, your tastes, so you can prefer chocolate cookies or peanuts and it's, you know, not open to discussion as in "talking with you made me realise peanuts are was tastier than chocolate chip cookies".

I like to talk and discuss and see other people's headcanons because it's fun and when some of ours match we can nerd about pointless things like warm rocks or nabatean laying eggs, but you won't see me being an ass and tell them "uh your headcanon sucks, you should put blue cheese on your ice cream".

Now, arguing about canon?

FE16 (and Fe Fodlan in general) is a game where the devs forgot to hire a continuity game and thought letting the world "vague" would make it look "deeper and richer" than it is. 10k years of lore, after all. And we have at least 2 unreliable narrators, that are Lords so who are protagonists and usually should be believed... expect that the game shows us they're full of nonsense regarding various topics.

But, unlike headcanon, canon isn't subjective, it's the same game (well... depending on the audio, it's not) everyone played, some people were kind enough to create a website where every line (+ dub!) is available, so it's not a question of interpretation as much as going to read and check the datamine website and the hundreds of YT videos, were people recorded their PT.

Was Burnie surrounded by flames, effectively preventing her escape from her pyre, or not?

Does Cyril mention to Mercedes how he only ate every couple of days before coming to the monastery (so under House Goneril's good care and in the Almyran army) or not?

Those things can be easily checked, and there's no interpretation.

If you don't like canon, you can churn out headcanon and have fun developing them, maybe finding people who like them and expend them themselves!

But for various reasons (is it because fanfiction has a bad rep since the 2000s for being something, idk, teenage girls write? or because it's not seen as very serious (tm) as a redshit post?) some people in the Fodlan fandom don't really want to confess they don't like the canon, and prefer the headcanon/fanfiction version of the game portrayed through a certain fic that, in turn, influenced how canon is perceived by some devoted fans.

(and let's not forget the lolcalisation that, too, didn't like the base game and edited it for ~ reasons ~)

And imo, Death of the author, in those fandom circles, is a roundabout way to say "the canon is not conclusive so i interpret the situation as this, but it's totes not my headcanon nor a fanfiction bcs i'm no gross fangirl, it's still canon, but my interpretation of the canon"

Tldr : Arguing about headcanon is as pointless and fruitless as starting a shipwar, and in the 2020s apparently it's too shameful to confess liking/writing fanfictions, so instead you like and write "your own interpretations of canon or how it should be" instead, using various theories like "Death of the Author" to validate your creative process, bcs fanfics gross'n'bad'n'only for lonely teenager girls, i guess.

[real-total-drama-takes]

Damn emmater actually changed to sierrater. Time to follow through with my promise

Reminder before I begin that I don’t condone sierras actions and think the coderra plotline should have just been an obsessive crush with no physical violations of boundaries and consent

The first thing I adore about sierra is her personality. From the moment she’s introduced in the celebrity manhunt special we get to see her intense passion for total drama- she’s gone the extra mile to learn everything she can about total drama and it’s contestants. She’s just so enthusiastic about getting to meet everyone and I quite admire how excited she was to finally pursue her dream of being on the show. She’s a hilarious goofball every time she’s on screen and will always go the extra mile to fight for what she believes is right. Sierra is a MASTER at challenges and can very easily kick the asses (or save the lives of, remember Niagara brawls) of multiple people if that’s what it takes to achieve her goals.

I see a lot of myself in sierra. I’m autistic and headcanon that sierra is the same. She’s not the best with picking up social cues- Cody aside there’s several moments where she doesn’t seem to understand the hidden meaning behind some people’s actions; the “I think I sat in gum” scene being a good example. Theres a *lot* of instances of her stimming in front of the other contestants and she’s shown to be sensitive to loud noises and bright lights too. Idk, there’s just something about sierra that makes me feel so seen when I watch her in the show. I hate how a lot of autism rep is just white men with special interests in trains or some shit; we need more rep of the negative sides of autism where the failure to pick up social cues can cost us important relationships and make us come off as weirdos to other people and I feel like sierra is that rep.

I completely understand why some people are completely turned off by coderra and that’s 100% valid, but to me coderra remains the best ship of the show’s original run. I do not condone Sierra’s actions, but there were multiple coderra moments that I just couldn’t help but laugh really fucking hard at. Coderra has an amazing end to their story as well- there’s just something really sweet about Cody finally coming around and appreciating sierra as being more than just a stalker when she went the extra mile to celebrate his birthday after not even his parents remembered it. Not to mention Cody would literally be *dead* if it weren’t for sierra. She’s not only taken bullets for him both physically and metaphorically, but the girl straight up went underwater while wheelchair bound, pulled a shark up to land and then beat it up until it spit Cody back out (funny how both of my favorite td ships involve one partner saving the other from a shark I’m just now realizing this lmao) anyways, if not for sierra, Cody would have been shark food. Say what you want about sierra Cody fans but your fav would be dead without her.

I’m of the minority that actually enjoyed sierra during all stars. Yes, the cam-Cody arc was stupid but it did give us a few good jokes (“your ears are wrong and so is your face” gets me every time) but most importantly it proved something. Sierra never once stole Cameron’s stuff, forced herself upon him or went into spaces like his cabin without asking. While yes this is the bare minimum it proves that at the very least she’s made an improvement to her behaviors overtime and might actually be getting the help she needs. Character development is always nice to see!

If any of y’all are interested I actually made a slideshow for her appreciation day on the subreddit last year, it’s mostly the same points that I just gave but this is something I’m genuinely proud of https://www.reddit.com/r/Totaldrama/s/o5KCQJ0ltT

TLDR sierra is an amazing character who I feel strongly deserves more love for her positive qualities

-Sierrover (🐈)

[alarrytale]

No, i think the whole emrata thing was to stop O from pushing the pining articles, 'he hurt me' articles and the 'they will get back together' articles and exploit the pr relationships further. He was showing the world (and O) that he'd moved on.

This made no sense. how would harry kissing his exes “friend” stop tabloids from saying he hurt her? if anything that further pushed tabloids to repeat their bs. if he didn’t want ppl connecting the two of them then he shouldn’t have showed off that horrendous tattoo which further pushed tabloids to connect the two. i wish you all would just accept that harry is a shit person that likes attention. he could’ve easily took that little break off in Japan to spend time away from the media but no he loves getting tabloids to write about his “personal” life 24/7

Hi, anon!

It makes perfect sense:

This makes him sound like a douche and a womaniser. She was pushing the victim angle hard, she took control of the narrative and kept getting press long after the break up. They'd probably agreed on an amicable break up with no one at fault. The reason being distance and him being busy on tour. She veered from that narrative, to her advantage (probably bc she hadn't accounted for the bad image she got during the relationship). She also made it seem like it was just a break, and not a break up. She clung to that connection and his good rep to fix her own tarnished image.

H needed to take the control back and stop her from getting the gp's pity and stop her from pretending they were getting back together. H needed to show the gp he's cut all ties to shut her up and stop her from dragging his image. What better way to do that then choosing emrata (a friend of hers) to show the world he'd moved on. Now O can't pretend they're getting back together anymore, because then she'd have to forgive him for making out with a good friend of hers. And she's a girl boss and a feminist and her forgiving h for that isn't in accordance with her image. Get it?

The O tattoo wasn't revealed before after H had taken back control of the narrative. And it might have been a way to show he isn't a douche and a womaniser. Look how committed he is! He's got a tattoo for her. And we can see the same narrative being used in hussell. He went to her show twice, what a devoted bf! He picked her up at the train station and got a ticket for it, what a considerate bf!

Tldr; it's about taking back control of the narrative and curating your image.

[icharchivist]

Hello! I am trying to find new stuff and i see you're a big fan of GBF. By any chance, is there any Plural rep in this game? (i.e. characters who are more than one character. D.I.D./multipersnality/possessed people/one dude split into multiple dudes, that sort of thing)

hey!

Yeah, there are!! quite a few actually on the possessed front and also in term of alter.

That being said i wouldn't really know if those representation are really positive or not? GBF is a fantasy RPG that includes a lot of violence, and while some of those violence are genre-typical, i feel there might be concerns about seeing those on characters with alters.

That being said, all the characters i'll mention in this post are for the most part, friends of MC/The crew, and out of the ones who are not, 2 of them have been stuck in villain jail but has been treated as mostly sympathetic, and two others have been on the path of redemption/considering eventually revalue MC and become their friend. GBF really redeem their villains so much that anyone can become a friend down the line, so take that as you will.

Out of the actual characters i can think of:

One of the most notable one to me would be Ayer

He's a normal kid who's always been driven by battle and fighting, and we learn eventually that he has an alter called Bowman that is basically encouraging him to fight for himself and all that jazz. Bowman is also a playable character.

Though i'm not very familiar with Ayer, so i don't know how well it's handled, i just know that Ayer and Bowman are both really popular so people seem to like how it's dealt with?

Else we have more the general fantasy possessed people with different voices/alter/influence on each other.

Another one that applies to multiple people inside one body, who's unambiguously a good character, is Tikoh:

Her/Their? story is really fucked up though, and it's probably one of the story that justify the most GBF's high age rating, so if you have some triggers you need to check out before going in, do ask me about it.

But for her, tldr, Tikoh is a healer with a weapon gifted by the stars itself, that only a few selected people can control, who gives her healing abilities outside of the norm. She had for best friend a kid named Shannon. But following a horrifying tragedy, Shannon was "killed" in front of Tikoh by a guy who wanted to test out Tikoh's abilities. Unable to heal Shannon, Tikoh did the next best thing and tied Shannon's soul to her own.

The two of them now lives in harmony in her body, described often as not knowing "when one ends and the other start". While Tikoh is in control most of the time, she often ends up using Shannon's unique language gimmick which could imply that it's Shannon talking, but since both girls are on the same wavelength, it's not something either of them really bring up. They care for each other a whole lot and are now on a path of revenge against the man who started it all. Tikoh does hope eventually down the line to restore Shannon into her own body, while they also mentioned how it would feel lonely if they ever split at this point.

Not playable but another one of the most notable one on that would be Geo:

Geo is a primal beast. if you're new to gbf don't let the "beast" part make you feel like it's bad or anything, they're basically godlike creatures who were created as weapons originally but were abandoned centuries ago and developed free will and a will to live for themselves. There's a lot of Primal Beasts characters in game and we love them all so much, and reclaiming their place as people is one of the huge theme of the story.

Geo is particular in the sense of, he saw the suffering Primals are going through as immortal beings forced to see people they love die, that he took it upon himself to give those primals a place to be at home and at peace, never alone... inside of him. It reflects also on him as Geo would have the various primals inside of him talk through him at random.

Originally an antagonist, and while currently still one, his "twin sister" for lack of a better word, Zooey, has been doing everything to have Geo consider joining us instead. (the thing about antagonists in gbf is that most of them gets redeemed in some way, especially when they have sympathetic motives. I believe Geo will eventually join us, down the line).

(when i say her twin, it applies to split people. There was a primal beast named Cosmos who couldn't move from the place she was tied to, so, she sent some parts of herself to see the world for her. Eventually, those parts all became individual people: Zooey, Geo and Yuni. Cosmos died, but the three other parts, who are driven by the same starting soul and Cosmos's desire to protect the people living in the Skies, still live on.)

(There are quite a few characters who are split or copies of one another. Most noticeably are the ones we call the Lucifaces, with Lucio being the original, who had a clone named Lucilius, who then made his own clone with Lucifer. I don't know if it applies to how you see it per se but i bring them up still. Lucilius is described by being plagued by visions of Lucio's life, which had made him unable to really determine his own reality. Lucifer also had Sandalphon who inherited his powers when shit hit the fan, and Sandalphon also inherited Lucifer's memories, often having him zone out and live out one of Lucifer's memory.

There's also Shalem and her clone, Beelzebub, but while we know that, neither of them really explored what it'd mean for them to be clones.

Another notable one on that is the Orchis/Orchid/Zwei situation. Orchis was the original, until an accident basically blasted her soul outside of her body. Her body was left an empty shell with magical powers due to the incident... But as she was exploited by people, this "empty shell" developed her own personality and her own sense to live. She decided to show herself as different to Orchis by becoming Orchid. When later on they manage to bring Orchis back into her body, Orchid's homemade soul was transferred into another body and now Orchis treats Orchid like her little sister.

Zwei meanwhile was a clone of Orchid, made to try to replace her. Zwei developed herself as her own person still, and while i haven't advanced into this storyline much i know Orchid and Orchis both are working together for Zwei to accept herself as herself rather than a copy of them. Idk if it counts with what you want but yeah)

In term of "characters who merged and sometimes take turn with one another", there's Azrael and Israfel. Again, though, two chara who gives you food for the gbf's age rating:

Az&Iz are twin primals, who were always together, until they huhhh got locked into a horrifying torture prison by an antagonists and experimented on until the two of them fused completely. They now have only one body, that is horrifically disformed, and as such they use cute mascot outfit to walk into the world.

Azrael is the one who's the most in control, as Israfel is often tired and asleep, so Az goes through life like this and Iz often ends up advising her later on.

Az recently joined a theater troupe and made friends there and Iz is cheering for her!

Other than that: there are a couple characters who are possessed by primal beasts. Noteworthy are Vira and Yurius for example. It means they always have the primal talk to them inside their head. They both started out as antagonists because this influence was driving them over the edge though, but as it is, nowadays, they both made peace with the primal inside of them and consider them a friend.

Vira especially often gets her primal talk to her to give her love advice lmao

I haven't read any of her story so i don't know where she falls on that, but there's also the case of Jeanne D'arc. While on one hand she has a lot of units showing her as chosen by God to fight the darkness crawling into the world, there's units of her where she has been consumed by the darkness and had her personality changed due to that.

Those are the most noteworthy people with very clear alter/people influencing them/possessing them i can think of.

There characters who could be taken into this category if you stretch a bit, because of things like. amnesia and such.

One that comes to mind is Aoidos, a musician who has amnesia, and we learnt later that he used to go by Benjamin and was part of a Snuff band (... again, high rating game for a reason). Benjamin also has his own unit ever since, and Aoidos learnt to embrace this part of himself.

Other than that we have characters like Lunalu who is a writer and who often makes up story about self insert characters in stories. One of her unit is said self insert character, when, during an event, she was talking about a story she loved and couldn't help slipping into characters for this OC she loved so much.

There's probably a lot of people i'm missing, especially in NPC and also unfortunately into one-event villains.

I would love to say those stories are well handled but between my own lack of experience on that regard and the heavy themes of gbf to start with, i cannot garentee those are stories you would look for.

out of all of them, the one i think is the best handled and is unambiguously positive is definitely Tikoh, but like i said, Tikoh is part of one of the most mature and gore-y storyline the game has yet, so it might be a lot to have to stomach for an otherwise really good "two people in one body" storyline.

If you need clarification about anything, don't hesitate to ask. I just hope it works out for you!

Take care!

[starrywangxian]

media companies and fruity fandoms

fandoms have always been very fruity and in almost every fandom you'll probably find fanon or canon lgbt+ ships/headcanons (sometimes even involving people who are already in canon relationships or characters who are canonically straight and cis etc. and they can even be more popular than the cis het canon ships) and i think media companies are starting to pick up on this. we're seeing so much more queer media and characters appear and online fandoms adopt them instantly.

media would be nothing without fandoms and i think that's why lgbt+ media and characters are so popular and why media companies seem to be adding a lot more queer characters and storylines into their works. (there are other factors too that i won't really go into but should mention such as: changing attitudes to lgbt+ people, raising awareness about homophobia/transphobia and the awesome people who work on this media pushing and fighting the companies for better rep)

the companies see that there is M/M fanfiction on ao3 about their canon straightest characters who are both married with kids and think maybe they should invest in that more. because obviously media companies are businesses at the end of the day so they're only going to invest in things they think will do well. this also explains why netflix periodically bait people into believing that their characters are lgbt+ (for example: tweeting about the girls from wednesday - idk i didn't watch the show ksjdsjds) and even broader when official prime video or netflix accounts post like their fan accounts - they're trying to engage and cater to the fandoms.

media companies are still faced with backlash when they introduce lgbt+ storylines (especially in children's media) but they obviously think it's worth it if they go ahead with it. and obviously more can be done because the same media companies often underfund, cancel or ruin their lgbt+ shows and characters and mistreat their employees who push for lgbt+ rep so we've still got a long way to go. i think at that stage media companies think the backlash they receive is not worth the popularity of the media so they decide to ruin it. idk but i certainty don't believe companies when they say the viewings were too low (because first kill, warrior nun etc. did insanely well and still got cancelled/mistreated) or that they couldn't afford it (companies earn so much money and even if they are short for cash, it's funny how queer media is always the first to go when they make these cuts).

for this reason, i also think that's probably why MLM media is better treated than WLW media by companies because largely the most popular fics on ao3 will be M/M etc. companies want to cater to fandoms so they have more MLM characters than WLW characters. (there are also bonus reasons such as: misogyny and lesbiphobia - as most CEOs of these media companies are misogynistic greasy old cis het white men)

so tldr, media companies are probably making more queer media and characters because they know fruity fandoms will like it as fandoms have been making queer fanon ships and headcanons for decades. they're finally catering to us and giving us what we want (despite how awful they still treat the plots, characters and crew who work on them)

[strangertheories]

Hi! First of all: Love your theories and analysis of ST! :) So, I have something I wanted to see your take on. Ever since volume 2, I've been wondering about the probability of Byler being canon or not, but most of all, I've been thinking about Mike's character and how he has been written in s4 especially. First I need to say that I didn't come from any particular biased (or too heavily invested) point before watching volume 2 'cause I don't ship Byler or Mileven, but as a regular fan of the show I always felt that Will was gay (that point has been clear since s3 for me), and after paying closer attention to Mike's character in volume 1, I felt for sure that he was being written as queer coded/ struggling with his sexuality. There are plenty of analysis about this online (some of which I think are reaching a little bit, while others I definitely agree with), but seeing as the show went with the whole I love you declaration / motivational coach speech from Mike to El (which to me kinda cements that Mileven will probably be the endgame tbh); what are your thoughts on the queer coding of Mike and his weirdness towards Will and just his weirdness in general? I'm so conflicted right now, 'cause to me it just doesn't make sense to build this up and not offer it any pay-off. Could you maybe help rationalize this? 'Cause something feels off with the way he was written when comparing vol1 to vol2. TLDR: Is Mike a closeted gay or is he just a lousy friend? What do you think were the Duffers' intentions with his character...?

First of all, I'm glad you like my posts! (: Second of all, it really depends on the direction they take Byler in during S5. I think a lot more people thought Mike was queer after Volume 1 and that can be seen by the influx of followers in the Byler tag. His inability to say that he loves Eleven despite the fact he was able to say it before combined with the way he was acting about Will led a lot of people to think he's actually interested in Will. It seriously makes so much sense for his character for him to be gay and if it turns out he is, that'll be some amazing writing and foreshadowing and some of the best initially subtle queer rep ever.

But I'm really conflicted on canon Byler. I don't want to be a party pooper, but I also don't want to give false hope and I'm going to say I'm skeptical of it, but I really hope to be proven wrong. Volume 2 felt like the perfect opportunity to start making Byler canon but they didn't go down that route and I feel like there's only so much milkvan that I can wave away as platonic. If it happened now, it would feel a bit rushed and fan service-y to me. I will continue to make Byler theories and try to bring some hope to people because I believe it can happen, but I'm also not going to lie about how I feel. I have the disappointed but not surprised outlook on Byler, as in it's a missed opportunity if they don't do it and a shame for the show, but it's not shocking.

So that leaves us with two possibilities. One and the one I prefer: Mike is gay and repressing his feelings for Will by projecting them onto Eleven like Will pretending Eleven asked for stuff but he is starting to work this out so he pushes Will away with the comments like it's not my fault you don't like girls. Two: after S2 without the will they won't they aspect to Mike and Eleven's relationship, the writers didn't know what to do with them so they created random conflicts and breakups so we could have an emotional moment at the end of each season with them. They wanted Mike's friendship with Will to be challenged by the relationship to show Mike is growing up and moving on but Will can't because of his sexuality and because of the loss of his childhood.

I don't think the second option is inherently bad but they've not written it like that. It makes Mike seem like he doesn't love Eleven and that he's an awful friend to Will and a lot of the Mike hate is a response to this poor writing. The actions are very realistic for a teenage boy so I get they don't have to justify it but if you see Mike in the earlier seasons and just how loyal he is, I'm not sure that's something that goes away with puberty. So either they're working towards the goal of Mike being gay and having a big realization coming out arc in S5 or they tried to write conflict into his relationships and it didn't click with a lot of the audience.

But don't lose hope because of that! It does make a ton of sense for Mike to be gay and he's clearly very queer coded. There's a reason so many people cling on to that aspect of him. So if the writers make Byler requited, it does explain a lot of stuff and a lot of analyses are super convincing so who knows. But it could also be weird relationship writing, I'm not going to lie.

Hopefully this post is ok! I'm not trying to be controversial but this is my account created for sharing my opinions on a show I love so I'm not going to pretend that there is a possibility Byler won't be canon although equally there is a possibility that it will be. Thanks for the ask and the compliment :D

[butchbarbieagainstterfs]

we've had more than enough mlm rep now. more than enough CIS AND WHITE mlm rep. i wouldn't even be mad if it was two cis boys of colour but no. 13 girls only like white boys who they can baby and write disgusting fanfic about or daydream about being with or "realise theyre gay trans boys too" because of. and the next "groundbreaking piece of media with great lgbtq representation" is gonna be exactly the same. two white cis boys falling in love.

as a black lesbian im so fucking done with not even being seen as equal in the community thats meant to welcome diversity! im basically inhuman just by existing.

tldr if youre not a cis white gay man in the lgbtq+ community youre not good enough for anything more than token talk pieces on twitter about how we need to listen to (insert marginalised group here) more. its fucking pathetic

See, this right here? This has exposed why people were right to warn me about that logic that was used in that previous ask that I mistakenly skimmed over this morning.

You are quite literally using terf rhetoric by mocking the trans guys who fanfic helped realise they were gay trans guys.

Either you are a full blown terf hiding on anon trying to recruit me with your logic - and failing, your subtlety is horrendous - or you aren’t quite but are drinking too much terf water and are slipping into their echo chamber.

[chocopvffz]

My Problems with Fandom

It’s been a while since I’ve kinda just let out my thoughts and feelings on this stale hell site. It’s just now more than ever I’m having the weirdest realizations while I’m participating in any Fanbase. This topic may piss ppl off. But to that, I say fuck it, I’m gonna do it.

Around 2 years ago I took a backseat to actively participating in fandom. So I’d be more of an onlooker rather than someone who contributed. Just reblogging stuff rather than making my own content. Usually in fandom, things are said in the heat of the moment, with little thought and more emotions. Taking a step back I started to realize that while that’s fine in and of itself, You’re entitled to what you like and what’s interesting to you, but I’ve realized that people kinda settle for the bare minimum. Especially now that representation for marginalized groups is becoming the norm. Which is great, but there are still problems that plague us as a community.

I just finished watching Unicorn of War’s video on RWBY, and they delved into the absolutely garbage writing that surrounded The White Fang subplot. I highly recommend you watch the video, it’s about the bad representation of minority oppression and how it relates to RWBY as a whole. While this post doesn’t stem from that in particular. what did was though is how UoW confessed that they were guilty of completely ignoring how harmful the writing was for pocs, as well as downright silencing and downplaying poc that had a problem with the writing. Unicorn of War is not racist, the fact that they realized the type of systemic racism they’ve been inadvertently spreading is so harmful is a a step in the right direction. Here is where the problem lies. UoW said that they were a perpetrator of this because they were to focused on the representation the show did give the fans. They said that they lumped all of the genuine criticism of the problems with homophobes and bigots because they didn’t want to hear any of the criticism at all. RWBY has some pretty shit representation in ever field. UoW said that they were settling for the stuff they did get because they get so little, and their whiteness blinded them to listening and trying to understand why so man poc had an issue with the show.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that, a lot of the time In Fandom, ppl would rather settle for what they do have and what caters to them, rather than criticize a product of its faults and ask for more.

I’ve been scared to talk about She-Ra because the fandom is pretty scary. I liked the show. To me it wasn’t anything special. But it was a fine show, and I can’t wait for what the crew does next. But here’s where a lot of the issues come from for me. There are some problems both w/ the show, and the representation. Catra and Adora have been queercoded up until the very end where it does get revealed that they are in fact lesbians. Which is great and all but at the end of the day. They kiss at the very end of the last episode, nothing was explicit before then. But the thing is that Catra is an abusive manipulative person, that kinda just gets a pat on the back, and all is forgiven when she realizes she’s alone(both in the fandom and the show). I mean glimmer got more hate than Catra. The point I’m trying to make is that I’ve seen way to many ppl ignore the fact that they side stepped the development of Catra and Adora, and kinda get mad at the ppl that criticize that we could have gotten better rep. For a lot of the fans, at least from what I’ve seen, yall are okay with the problems the show has as long as you get some form of rep. Which is valid, but when that complacency spills over into silencing ppl with criticisms. This usually happens when someone has had another experience with the show where the thing that represents them isnt done as well. it rubs me the wrong way. Someone could see Catra’s behavior, liken her to a toxic person they knew, criticize how the show kinda ignores that. I can bet that some ppl would tell this person that they’re wrong, because she ended up where she did at the end.

This brings me to my last example, during my watch of Infinity Train, I started getting a little bit more involved in the fandom; reblogging, commenting. During the show I noticed a small amount (larger than I would have liked) making passive aggressive remarks toward Grace (the only black girl and protagonist of the season). They were all in regard to her having a redmeption arc. At first I was kinda in denial. Like most ppl are immediately after suffering an injustice, cuz despite her being an awful person at first. She gets better. And there are so little black women that are protagonists. I felt represented. But then I’d see ppl demeaning her in order to make her friend Simon (basically the antagonist) more sympathetic. Mind you he’s white. And after the show ended I had a weird encounter. There were many posts about how enthralling it was that Grace, a black women, telling Simon, a white man, that his problems were his own, and she doesn’t have to be the one to fix them. Most of the ppl that made these posts were woc. The show isn’t about race, but the fact that the character is black resonated with a lot of ppl.

Under ever single one of these posts, I saw multiple people, getting weirdly angry at them. Like “this has nothing to do with race, why are you bringing it up here.” Which I guess is fair, but no one says it as much to ppl when the post is about sexuality. So getting fed up, I responded to one of these ppl explaining how odd it is that the characters that get really popular are always of the same archetype. White Sad Boys, it’s the same with ships. Instead of critiquing the show or anything I wanted to call attention to subconscious biases in fandom. The person accuses me of calling them racist, tells me that race isn’t an issue in fandom, and tried to gaslight me into thinking that what I was talking about doesnt apply to how ppl choose who their favorite character is.

This issue here isn’t about the race, or the actual content in the show. It was about the person telling me that the empowerment I and other woc experienced while watching infinity train s3, doesn’t exist and we shouldn’t criticize ppl putting her down in order to uplift the antagonist.

Which leads back to the point I’m trying to make. So many ppl in fandom settle for whats there instead of trying to make things more representative of everyone. Representation can always get better, we just have to stop fighting ppl that give constructive criticism to the things we like.

And I’m completely guilty of this too, that’s why I took a step back. I don’t like silencing ppl when they try to criticize something that resonates with me. So I try to sit back and let them tell me what can be done better based on their experiences. I’m still struggling. I’m pretty sure I was ultra defensive with the person telling me that race doesn’t matter.

This happens a lot more with white ppl than it does with people of color. And this isn’t a dig on any white person at all. It’s just that white have a vastly different experience than a poc. A white LGBT person is going to have a completely different experience than a black lgbt person. Just like a cishet white person is going to have from a poc cishet person. And since we have different experiences, there are aspects of my life you won’t understand and vice versa. An abuse survivor is going to be more equip to tell us what works better than other things in a story that tackles those subjects. You see what I mean.

I just want everyone to take a step back and consider the criticism that is being made. And try to understand why this person may see it that way.

TLDR; We need to stop silencing marginalized ppl just because they criticize things we relate to, especially when it pertains to their experiences. It’s settling for the bare minimum when we deserve better. Just because we’ve got a gay character doesnt mean the show is perfect. It happens way more than we think. Especially now more than ever.

Sorry this is so long, and full of typos. I just needed to rant.

[janiedean]

Wait they fucked the SPN ending for Walker? How? And now the show is more conservative than the original, which was headlined by known conservative dumbass Chuck Norris? Ugh

tldr (I can attest in the sense that I did watch the very last episode and with everything I've seen until now...... it holds up)

basically from what it seems like they pushed so that the finale ep was sam focused so it would make ppl idk stick with jared and they didn't give dean time to shine or a basic excuse of a storyline at all before the dumbest death he could have had and jensen's obviously pissed

like... can imagine why he would be

also like nothing happened in that ep is2g I watched it live while it was happening and it was all..... filler? like I swear even the fillerest filler episode for any show I've watched had more stuff happening in it than the spn series finale which... was... bad

and like I remember walker promos airing every ten seconds when the ep was airing sssoooo

anyway apparently the cw got heavy on walker promoting and shit and got both jensen & misha shafted which like... I mean misha was def in vancouver for the finale but he wasn't in the ep and jensen spends 15 years playing dean for that?

and like now idk if the background rumors re jared not opposing any of that and basically screwing them over because it was convenient for his new show are true or not but if he is like... ofc jensen is pissed off

anyway like as stated I'm catching up on the whole thing now and with that in mind the finale looked like 'okay we wanted to do a thing but you execs told us that we couldn't and we had to do this this and that so we're going to do it in a way that sucks ass on purpose but that delivers what you wanted' even moreso than it did in the beginning like... it's not bad in the way any other bad finale I watched is bc AT LEAST SOMETHING HAPPENED IN THE OTHERS LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENED IN THIS ONE I'm still trying to wrap my head around it tbh

NOW with this in mind I'mma gonna say what I told @emilysnora when the first walker casting stuff came out but basically

the remake has jared being walker blah blah and honestly I'm not even pronouncing myself on the whole 'I got the idea when reading the interview with the ICE policeman who felt conflicted abt putting kids in cages' because it's not my place to but honestly as your resident white european person it's... really... I mean the nicest I can say it's that it's a very privileged way of looking at it and he probably didn't mean it to be a racist thing buuuuuttt thaaat kind of iiiiisssss so there's that and on top of that we have that it's him plus: - hispanic partner in the force - gay brother who's like AN ATTORNEY FOR THE STATE so like... right wing gay dude? okay - his wife was dead before the entire shebang began so hello fridging before the plot even starts - I gave a quick look at the main cast and like there's one biracial dude plus lindsey morgan and they're the only two nonwhite ppl in the entire main cast (idk about the recurring but I'm talking about the MAINS) add to that the... background premise it's really not as progressive as it looks like honestly

now not to be like your resident person who's like BUT THE REP but like if y'all gonna do a show in 2021 about ppl in texas doing that job having to deal with keeping children in cages or latin american immigrants having all white ppl in the main cast except two of them is like.... kind of... not exactly what I'd do in this time and age

now with the premise that as stated I hate chuck norris's politics and I don't thing great of him as a person or anything else so like pls don't take this as chuck norris endorsement or anything

my grandfather used to be obsessed with it same as like apparently 90% of italian grandfathers bc everyone I know had at least one who loved that show so like I've seen my fair share of it back in the day and to my best recollection - basically no one was presuming it was like.... there to make a political statement it was basically chuck norris roundhouse kicking bad dudes coming from whichever background and saving the day the end but - walker himself had native american ancestry bc he was raised after his parents' death by his uncle who was played by floyd westerman who was like a prominent NA actor so like technically you had the lead who had NA ancestry himself plus there was like actual NA actors having a relevant role which like... bros not to be that asshole but last time I saw that in pseudo mainstream tv in the last ten years it was on a netflix show that lasted one season so make of that what you will, also there were at least two other NA supportive chars from the reservation they all came from like one was the sheriff and the other was a spiritual leader or smth but anyway it had three NA chars played by NA actors - walker's police partner/bff was black - he had the ongoing willtheywon'tthey romance with the district attorney or smth but she didn't get fridged actually she lasted the entire show but anyway like... there was no 'ah he had a wife who DIED BEFORE THE SHOW EVEN STARTED' plotline - in the last two seasons they had rookie rangers showing up and like I went to check on wikipedia to be sure but the girl is half filipina which again not a category that gets exactly much rep on american tv - there was a recurring dude who helped them out in cases but was from another police branch who was def latino (don't remember the background sorry but he def was) also like walker was a vietnam vet which imvho would be an improvement over 'I was undercover for eleven months and my wife died :((((' when it comes to give your main like.... a srs background but anyway the point was that new walker in between the mains has like two nonwhite ppl and if I look at the recurrings it looks like there's four ppl who are latin* but three of them are undocumented immigrants so like... bro there's some typecasting going on I see, old walker had NA/black/hispanic/filipino people in the main/supporting cast and none of them was like... typecast in the sense that they were all cops except two of the NA ones so it's not like they went out of their way to typecast and like obv og walker wasn't making the whole thing a political statement but looking at it...... it's still way more progressive than whatever the new one wants to be

yes even if chuck norris was headlining it

and I mean... again when you manage to reboot a show starring chuck norris of all ppl and you manage to make it less progressive than the og while thinking you're being progressive while rebooting it I mean as we say here ask yourself a few questions and give yourself a few answers, also like the entire point of og walker was crack where he kicks ppl and says doing drugs is bad, I honestly don't get why the fuck they had to reboot it instead of like having the guts to say we wanna do an original thing, bc like in order to say hey I wanna do a show about a conflicted cop on the texas border you really can just make it an original thing and own it not go like I'M REBOOTING WALKER TEXAS RANGER ROUNDHOUSE KICK CENTRAL EXTRAORDINAIRE but that's my two cents make of that what you will