#trans headcanons are fun and more people should have them

[gb-patch]

Saw an ask about an apparent problem of people drawing Qiu whiter than he is and whitewashing. With that in mind, I think you should hold the same standard for Tamarack for artists that draw her darker than she is to outright black. Tumblr and Twitter in general have an obsession with coloring traditionally white/pale characters the complete opposite race or adding details like kinky/coiled hair and see no issue with it but raise hell the moment a poc is one hue lighter. It erases their identity just as much as everyone says whitewashing does but everyone constantly falls back on the "only whites can be racist so changing their identity in art is okay!!" pipeline

Tamarack comes from a German family and is white, so please take the same level of importance when artists "blackwash" her or any other character in your series.

You know generally, I don’t like to use this blog to as a place to act like I’m the best, most correct person in the world and respond to things where I’m simply telling an anonymous person they’re wrong. I’m just someone who has people following me because they like the stories this company makes.

However, this is something that people should know. If our POC players draw our characters having a darker skin tone than they do in-game and/or give them a different hair texture, that’s alright. I’ve fallen off on reblogging stuff on Tumblr but it’d still be liked or reposted on Twitter.

Whitewashing means far more than the literal act of a single individual making someone look white in a fanart. If a trans player wanted to headcanon a cis character was trans, that’s one thing. If a cis person decided to take the only trans character for miles and insist they are, in fact, cis, well that’s another matter entirely. Your experience with your race and your experience based on sexuality or gender aren’t the same things, it’s not a one-to-one comparison at all. But can people who don’t get it at least start to see how there can be a difference in impact here?

The people who are oppressed in this country aren’t hurting you by trying to enjoy the media that most of the time intentionally excludes them. POC weren’t the ones dehumanizing white people in horrific ways. The overwhelming majority of stories and representations of heritages out there have been and still are white people’s already. Anyone reading this who was thinking along the lines of what’s in this ask need to get comfortable understanding and accepting that. And if you don’t, maybe you should find another game because I’m not going to “protect white identities” from being drawn as people of color. In fact, I think it’s actually really nice if our characters are fun and comforting to people of color so much so that they’d like to imagine those characters being included in their own culture. I think it’s strange that someone would be angry about it.

[skibasyndrome]

why are your kinktober stories all bottom Simon heavy? I trusted we would see more bottom Wille from you /gen

Anon, up front, genuinely sorry if you meant well and are now about to get the brunt of my frustration that I've built up for over a decade of existing in fandoms and fanfic spaces surrounding queer men and their sex.

Ooookay, I try not to engage in this discourse normally because frankly? It's kinda draining, because the way queer men's sex lifes are picked apart in lots of online spaces is not okay and, frankly, hurtful. But, okay:

I have posted 10 of 31 stories

I intentionally don't tag any of my smut as top!/bottom! anything (tho I don't mind other writers doing it - go off) cause frankly? I don't believe that's something that should matter. It doesn't to me when I think of wilmon. Preferences are fine, cool, awesome, both irl and in reading, there are couples who like to do things one way only and there are couples who mix things up and there's lots of stuff in between. People love to bottom! People love to top! People love any- and everything in between and that is great for them. All of that is fun and cool and absolutely awesome if everyone involved is on board. I simply don't have any one way I headcanon wilmon, I literally just go with whatever the vibe is. That also means I don't believe in having to strike a 50/50 balance or whatever. Also because

sex between men (and, since in one of the stories Wille is a trans woman, between all people, for that matter) is about more than anal and/or penetration. I love to read and write about Wille bottoming, love to write and read about Simon bottoming. But that's noooooot all there is. One thing I do try to do with my smut is write about some of the other ways sex can look. Which includes (mutual) masturbation, hand jobs, blow jobs, intercrural, frottage, a myriad of other acts. All of these are fullfilling ways of having sex, all of these don't follow top/bottom "logic" or whatever you'd like to call it. So what do we do about that?

I know some people - not saying you do, this, anon - like to conflate topping and bottoming with power dynamics, be it sub/dom type of stuff, or just... some vague idea of who is superior or whatever. And that very much CAN be the case, I'd argue Wille bottoming in my vampire fic or even Wille during the wax play in the one fic and the intercrural afterwards is definitely bordering sub-y territory. But you know? That also very much doesn't have to be the case. In the fic that includes 69 it's Simon "calling the shots" or whatever you'd like to call it, despite being the one that's being penetrated. I have fics planned out where the opposite is the case, I have plenty of fics where bottoming doesn't have anything to do about being sub or being dom or anything like that. I think there's this idea going around that somehow, (gay) sex acts are linked to power and power exchange and that there needs to be some equilibrium or... justice??? And. No. That's not how consensual sex, be it in relationships or hookups, works in my mind. In consensual sex, there is no disadvantage in bottoming or no need for any of the partners to bottom to fix some sort of hierarchy. Because there is none. Not in the consensual sex of two (or more) partners that want to have sex to have a good time or feel close or relax or any of the other reasons people have sex.

Fair question to ask, just know that I don't write bottom anything for the sake of making a point, I just write whatever feels like the characters would enjoy it in that particular moment in time, whatever suits the POV I wanna go with. I don't keep a tally of times penetrative sex has been part of a story and who did what. If that's a no-go for you, that's fine and I won't hold it against you. I have a bunch more stories coming up with all kinds of dynamics, all kinds of sex acts, all kinds of differently written versions of our two blorbos.

hope this was concise enough and I recognize that I've definitely put all kinds of other, adjacent, points into this, but this gay man right here is kind of fucking sick and tired of seeing stuff assigned to gay sex acts that are just. sex between consenting partners

[hyperfixat]

literally no excuse for why this took so long. i wasn't having fun with this chapter because i want argenti and gallagher to show up arleady. also i remember writing the start of this around when huohuo got released. so erm. shes oldddd

next chapter should be more fun as it will involve my lovely husbandwife (argenti) and i love him. also maybe sampo will be there. i was struiggling with him this chapetr. as usual with these big chapters; formatted on my pc. sorry if she looks funny

< prev .. meme intermission .. next >

** Written PRE 2.1 – Any mentions of new characters is pure speculation and or headcanons. Outline written with the intent (and at the time) of being placed around 1.4’s Topaz introduction.  Written over the course of months, some details may be incorrect.  Also warning there is some “crossdressing” in this chapter.  The person identifies and is a man, dressed in women’s clothing as part of a disguise.  When dressed like this he is referred to using they/them pronouns.  I don’t really know much about “crossdressing” or if I should even call it that, but as a trans person I don’t find this portrayal offensive in any way, but that’s my two cents as the author.  Long story short man dresses as a woman as part of a disguise.  It is not a big deal.  Trans rights!! 

The cold air of the Outlying Snow Plains is starkly different from the warm comfort of the Astral Express.  Mr Yang lent you a spare coat, but you still shiver in the icy air.  Pompom parked the Express near the Bud of Memories Calyx.  You’re fascinated by the golden glow of the… you’re not even sure what to think of it as, but the shine is enthralling.

Dan Heng tugs you along, “we’re not here for that.  Let’s get to the city.”

The Administrative District is more beautiful than you’d expected.  There’s the bustling of city life; shop owners calling out and advertising their wares, there’s people and families walking along and shopping.  The shine of the Geomarrow heaters attract stray citizens, taking breaks from their travels, conversing over the warmth.  March has looped her arm through yours and she, Caelus, and Dan Heng form a little square as you begin your search.

“So, who are we looking for first?” She asks.

“Bronya, and hopefully Gepard.” Dan Heng answers for you, the two of you having formed a loose plan and order.

Your group approaches the large government building where Bronya should be.  The guards let you in, giving you a warning that Lady Bronya has a guest from the IPC.

You hide your frown, having onwen you walk in and see a woman with a short gray bob with red streaks and a warp trotter you know instantly she’s intended to be playable.  You tug March to a stop, making the two behind you still as well.

“She’s a part of this as well.” You say quietly, as to not draw the Supreme Guardian and her guests’ attention. 

“Eh? How can you be so sure?” March glances at you then eyes up the IPC agent.  

That makes you furrow your brows, is her stand-out outfit not as eye-catching as it is to you? Her hair and outfit scream playable character.

“Look at her.” You respond, and Caelus next to you nods, narrowing their eyes.

“She feels different compared to the average person we come across.”

“She is different,” Dan Heng points out.  “That’s an IPC worker, and a pretty high ranking one by the looks of her.”

“Not in that way-,” Caelus is forced to snap his mouth shut as Bronya notices your party.

She looks tired, but smiles at the four of you, waving you over.  “Astral Express Crew, what brings you to Belobog?”

The silver-red haired agent has turned her back on you, using a piece of IPC tech to report her report, or whatever it is IPC workers do.

“Bronya!” March starts off jovially.  “Can you spare the time for a meeting later on? I promise it’s important.” 

The four of you manage to convince the Supreme Guardian to meet you at the Underworld border later on in the day.  You looked for a moment to speak to that IPC worker, but she’d slipped away at some point during your conversation with Bronya. 

On your way to Serval’s workshop you spot her, Gepard, and Lynx.  The three siblings are standing outside of the museum Pela manages, talking over one another all seeming to be discussing the pamphlet in the youngest Landau sibling’s hand.

“If we follow the guided tour–” “We’ve done the guided tour a million times before, Serval!” “They’re constantly adding new Relics!”  Lynx is looking rapidly between the pair, before promptly folding the pamphlet up when they see your group. The sudden action causes Serval and Gepard to look up as well, before their faces brighten at the sight of you.

“Trailblazers! It’s good to see you!” Serval steps away from the group, wrapping an arm around March’s (and your’s by proxy) shoulder in a loose hug.

“Trailblazers!” Gepard nods at your group, a hint of a blush on his face.  Lynx gives your group a wave, a tight (but friendly) smile on their face.

It doesn't take much work to convince the Landaus to meet you later on, and before you know it Pela, Seele (who you ran into on her way to see Bronya), and Luka (on a trip for some Overworld groceries) all have been rounded up and agreed to meet you later.  It’s a short trip to the underworld where you need to find Natasha, Clara and Svarog, and Hook.  You’re not sure if Sampo is even, like, not imprisoned.  You told the group he’s a part of the group of people you need to gather, but he’s slippery, and you’ll only be able to catch him if he wants to be caught.

Natasha and Hook happen to be together in the clinic, which is another convenience for you. The two of them agree to meet you (Hook had demanded you pay for Pitch Dark Hook the Great’s time, which was easily bought with the promise of snacks at the meeting).

You hardly have the time to admire these characters you adore; the age lines on Natasha’s face, the way her long hair is tied back messily, the smooth texture of her clothes that only comes with that of a clothing iron and time.  Not to mention Hook is adorable, the way her clothes are covered in soot, and her serious pout that makes it hard not to coo at her.

The last destination you need to find is the Robot Settlement, which (with luck) is where Clara and Svarog are.

The security robots recognize March, you aren’t sure how as you see no camera or other sensory detectors on them, but when March approached, they  opened.  Svarog is standing in the exact spot he does in-game, the smack middle of the concrete platform.  His singular red eye lights up and scans over your party.

“Trailblazers,” his scan covers your form, once, then twice.  “Unknown guest.”

You offer an awkward wave.

“Is Clara around?” Caelus asks.

“Negative, Clara is visiting the Outlying Snow Plains.” “Oh? Why is that?  Is she alone?” March worries.

“Pascal requires a specific core that only is found in buried ruins.  She insisted.  She has guards, she is safe.”

“Hm, we’ll have to go find her.” Dan Heng decides.  “March will you accompany me?”

“Huh?” March looks at him.  “What?”

Svarog’s eye lights up and scans over the two of them, observing the situation.  Caelus laughs, trying to clear the air. “I’ll stay here with you and talk to Mr Svarog, okay?”  They squeeze your hand kindly and March is pulled away with Dan Heng to find the little girl.

Snow crunches and eventually the sound fades away before Svarog breaks the ice.

“You wish to speak with me?”

“Yes, we wish to speak with you,” Caelus gives a charming smile.  You attempt to mirror the smile, unsure of if your charming human smiles could work on the robot.

“What do you know of as the truth of this world, Svarog?” You ask, gauging his answer.

“Query received.  Processing answer.” You  exchange a glance with the Trailblazer, who looks about as nervous as you feel. “Answer found, results unsatisfactory.  Unauthorized persons in area.”

“What?” you manage to ask, nerves eating you alive.

“Step inside with me.”  Svarog turns, clunking with every step he takes.  “I must asseverate the Trailblazer remains out of earshot.”

“No problem,” they nod.  “I’ll go check up on some of the robots.  They make good company, you know?”

The inside of the building (is it Svarog and Clara’s house?) is made of steel, but isn’t modern in the way that the space station is.  It’s duller and rougher, like it’s in a constant state of being repaired or renovated. 

It smells like metal, when you take a breath through your mouth a stinging metallic taste lingers. You wonder, if you were closer to Svarog if such a scent would be on him.

“You are an organic being. This world is not so.  You asked for what I know the world to be and I will provide you what I know.

“This world is one many.  All beings of this world exist in a binary, you do not.  We exist in a flat plane that exists as a subsidiary to your own.”  His eye lights up, the red flashes in quick succession.  “Error.  Information restricted.  Extraction unavailable.”  He sits on one of the thick, reinforced metal chairs.  “Sorry.  It seems I lack the authority to provide you with further information.” “It’s okay thank you for what you’ve told me, Mr Svarog.  It helps confirm some things for me.  You were very helpful.”  It’s hard being around him in the same way as it’s easy. He lacks the human judgment you often face, even if unconsciously.  It’s hard because he’s so large and intimidating.  (And you would smash.)

“I appreciate the compliments.  I wish I could help you further.  I believe your companions mentioned needed to talk to Clara.  Do you know what that is about?  I ask out of concern for her safety.”  Svarog stands, joints whirring as he does so.

You nod, looking away from his face, “I do.  Actually we’re having a meeting later on, you’re also invited to come.  Hopefully Clara will be there.” “I see.” Svarog goes quiet for a minute and the air fills with the idle sounds of his machinery. “Then I will be there.  Where did you say this meeting was taking place again?”

The meeting went about as well as it could have gone, save for the lack of Sampo.  You asked around the Express crew and Gepard, who all reported not seeing him.  A shame, you really wanted to get his perspective on this whole situation.

You’re sure he would have something to provide, well mostly sure.  The scene at the end of Belobog’s chapter in the game, the one where Sampo looks directly in the “camera” and at the player, resonated deeply with you. What was it he said…?

“Time to make my curtain call,” before turning to meet your eyes through the screen. “To you, my dear audience, I dedicate my performance... I wonder, did I bring a little more joy into your lives?” He pauses dramatically.  “...You don't have to answer that - but if the answer is no, then you'll break my heart.”  Sampo’s voice breaks in a controlled manner as he finishes his lines, giving you a bow.

That has to mean something.  It just has to!

Gepard mentioned him being gone for over a week now, which isn’t uncommon for the Fool, but it squashes your hopes of contacting him.

You’d be kicking rocks (if there wasn’t a permanent layer of snow over the ground) if it weren't for the Trailblazer insisting upon stopping at a vending machine before heading back to the express.  So now you’re sitting on a bench with March and Dan Heng on either side of you while the lot of you wait for the Trailblazer to get their Mung Bean Soda.

“Don’t look so down!  I’m sure he’ll be here next time we visit.” March pats your back.

You people watch to pass the time before asking to take a moment alone.  Belobog seems like a safe enough place for you to wander without anyone snatching you up, so March and Dan Heng agree to catch you later.

You stroll the wintry streets, watching the citizens talk and enjoy their day-to-day lives, reminiscing about when you were once like them, back in your world.  You get lost in your memories, only being pulled out when you spot a very familiar shade of blue hair.

That’s Sampo Koski, no doubt about it. 

Well, there’s some doubt about it.  Instead of the more masculine version of Sampo portrayed in the game, this Sampo is oddly… busty.  It’s not like you’re trying to look at their breasts, they looked at you first!!!

As if feeling your gaze Sampo, they– she? he? –are they allowed to be transgender or whatever this is?  You don’t question this out of meanness, genuinely wondering if the game would affect such a thing?  What… but you don’t have long to worry about Hoyo possibly forcefully transitioning or detransitioning their characters because the person of the hour walks on over to you, strides long and confident.  

“Why hello there, you must be a member of my dearest audience!”  Before you can so much as greet them back, they continue, a sparkle in their eyes.  “It’s an honor to finally meet you!  Oh, I’m so moved you’ve come all this way for little old me.” You don’t know what this is, and if this is a gender thing you’d hate to deadname them, but you have to ask.  “Sampo?”

An immediate, “SHHHH!”  You flinch away and blush at the suddenness. “Why don’t we talk somewhere a little more private, doll?”

And never let it be said that you’ll decline a beautiful person wanting to drag you to an alleyway, sign you up all day! 

So Sampo, or Madam Poisson as they requested you refer to them as when dressed in such feminine attire, is currently wanted by the Silvermane Guards, though when is Sampo not wanted by them?  They refused to elaborate on that odd greeting they gave you, instead pressing you for a more casual conversation; how’s the express? how are his dear friends doing? how is Belobog treating you?

Madam Poisson eventually sends you back on your way to the Express crew with a big fat red lipstick mark on your cheek and a dumb smile on your face that you can’t hide.

All in all, your trip to Belobog was fun.  Though you found no answers to you being in this world, even raising a few more questions than you began with. Thus as you reboard the Astral Express, a sinking feeling of not belonging strikes you.

Everyone is so kind to you, so ready to assist, but all efforts have been fruitless.  You don’t have long to wallow in your sadness because Pompom shuffles into the center of the train cart and clears their throat.

“Passengers! May I have your attention please?  The Astral Express has received an invitation to The Land of Dreams, Penacony!”

Oh joy.  Uncharted territory for you, as the game’s progression had not at all gotten this far while you still had control.  You might want to call for a group meeting…

taglist 🫶 hmu if you want to be added or if i forgot to tag you! @leafanonsforest @c00kie-cat @andromeda-gay @starsofabundance @help-whatdoimakemyusername @mitsukashi @anonboyhalo @raechu11 @satvrnlr @nightw-izhu @whateverifeellikedoingtoday @sixxui

[terukosnumberonefan]

Why I Headcanon J As A Trans Man: A DRDT Essay

As you know, I’ve made it absolutely no secret that I headcanon J as a trans man, as you can tell from the title alone. I’ve made at least 2 posts where I made reference to this (one being a joke post where I had J say “I want to be the first transmac absent father” and another saying “Someone give my man J some T and a binder”.) so this essay probably isn’t a shock to you especially since I made a post recently enough saying that I wanted to write an essay about this. However, I do want to delve into more detail on why I have this headcanon in the first place so I can show you my viewpoint since honestly as a trans man myself, I found J to be one of the most relatable characters. This isn’t meant to force you into having my headcanons, you can headcanon whatever you want even if it differs from me (Lesbian J Headcanoners I love you all so much, I love all the content you produce and please continue producing it, I hope your day is filled with your favorite hot drinks and treats and you get to play your favorite video game and watch your favorite show. You are doing the lord's work), but to me, that guy is a trans man and in this essay I’ll be explaining why. Note for the essay, for simplicity, I’ll be using they/them pronouns when referring to J. I usually use he/him when talking about my headcanon, and she/her when talking about them in canon, but I don’t want to confuse people. Especially since before then I didn't know exactly which pronouns TO use for J.

First bit of evidence, I guess we’ll start with their name. Okay this is probably an obvious piece of evidence that everyone expected, but even J themselves admit that they hate their birth name. First we see that they completely try to erase it from their door:

Secondly, we have J straight up admitting it at the start of chapter two. 

Obviously hating your name doesn’t automatically mean you’re trans, hell not even every trans person hates their dead name (for example, I like mine), but you have to admit, it’s not inherently uncommon for a trans person TO hate their dead name as they feel like it doesn’t fit them. We see that J gave themselves a gender neutral nickname too instead of going by Julia (that is even mistaken as a guy's name by Xander in the prologue when he thinks their name is “Jay” as in the bird).

For my next bit of evidence: We also know J changed a lot about themselves to be happy, to the point where they became unrecognizable from “Julia Rosales”.

And what sort of appearance does J decide to take up? When left to their own devices, what appearance does J decide to take?

(Fun fact, this comment is the thing that makes J snap at Arturo, tells him that her mom sucks, and that she hates the name Julia).

Yes, I am aware just because you’re a tomboy doesn’t mean you’re a trans man. I should make that very clear, I do NOT headcanon J as trans just because they’re a tomboy in canon. We know they hate feminine things and femininity because of their mother, and how they were forced into the role of a perfect daughter. But we know even as a KID they hated girly things. If you want some proof, here’s some Kid Art that the creator themselves made.

See how J is angry in that picture? How they were forced to look the way that they never wanted to look? That they were forced to be something they weren’t? That’s an experience that a lot of trans people have as well. We’re forced into the gender roles that we never wanted. People (usually our parents) have expectations for us that we can’t fill because we want to be ourselves and be happy for once. Even J themselves admitted they were forced into femininity their entire life by their overbearing mother.

As we can tell from these screenshots, basically their entire life J was forced into femininity by their mother. We can tell J resents her for it (well, they say it themself they hate their mom) and they resent the femininity that is forced upon them that it results in them hating feminine things in general (and girly girls). It gives her a “I’m Not Like Other Girls” attitude to the point where she straight up REFUSES TO BAKE because of her internalized misogyny. I'm not kidding by the way, for those who forgot: In chapter 1 Eden and Min mention that J refused to join them for baking just because she considered it too girly.

First of all J, what the fuck? It’s BAKING, that’s nowhere near the girliest thing you could do. It’s not like Eden’s gonna grab your hand and give you a manicure and pedicure when you’re WEIGHING INGREDIENTS OUT OR MIXING STUFF TOGETHER. Secondly, no, hating to bake does not mean you’re trans (Evidence: I am a trans man who bakes all the time. Hell it would probably be my DR Ultimate). I am simply using this to show just how bad J’s internalized misogyny got. He hates anything that looks “girly” even if it’s something as simple as baking. We also see throughout their bio that their least favourite colour is pink for "obvious reasons" and that they hate wearing dresses and anything "girly" and that they don't think any girly stuff is "cool".

Honestly, I hate to admit this, but J reminds me a lot of my younger self (I also got kinda pressured into femininity by society, albeit surprisingly my own mom was cool with me being a tomboy (I have my own mommy issues like J but at least I can give my mom that) but you’d be surprised how much the world can affect a kid). I am not generalizing all trans men like this, I’m well aware there are plenty who didn’t have a “Not Like Other Girls” phase, but you’d be surprised (or not) that most girls who did have that phase either end up being queer, neurodivergent or, in some cases, trans men (I ended up being all three). Believe me, I acted a lot like J back when I was 12-13 years old, constantly calling girly girls “bimbos”, thinking I was so much cooler for having guy friends and liking video games instead of makeup, and honestly I was just a huge dick back then, I would have also rejected anything SLIGHTLY “girly” like J did with baking. (Seriously when I first watched DRDT and saw that scene along with the Arei and J Free Time Event, my first thoughts were “Okay who let 12 year old me in here?”)

Luckily I’ve grown out of that mindset (Jenny, if you are somehow reading this I am so sorry I called you a bimbo about a billion times), though it started to tone down when I started exploring my own identity and then officially disappeared when I did realize I was a trans dude and I had all these thoughts because of how all this stuff was forced onto me (ironically after I realized I was trans, I became a lot more feminine). I’m not saying transitioning would help J, or that they’re trans just because they have a lot of internalized misogyny, but I don’t think it’s entirely wrong to say those two can be connected as well.

But yeah, someone let 12 year old me in here. Arei summed us both up in the Arei and J free time event:

SPEAKING OF THE J AND AREI FREE TIME EVENT, OH BOY!

Evidence number three, THE J AND AREI FREE TIME EVENT.

I’ve got at least two scenes that I saw and went “Oh my God you are trans J.” so here they are:

I like how J doesn’t question the boy bit. Honestly I’d be the same if someone called me a “Cool and suave wannabe boy”. Or I’d get dysphoric and anxious if they meant “wannabe boy” as in “You’re a fake boy”. Although Arei does later clarify the “wannabe” bit is for the cool and suave.

But speaking of Arei calling them a boy:

I know you may be thinking “Does that even prove anything?”. But honestly… yes. In my own experiences, I still get very flustered whenever I’m called a boy or when anyone uses male terms for me. And unlike J, quite a few people know I’m trans.

As an example of me getting flustered: Recently I was hanging out with my QPP and she said I was my moms son. You have no idea how flustered I got at that. It’s something I’m not used to. But I liked it. J’s reaction was honestly similar to my (internal) reaction. Also, they seem to be more denying at being flustered than being called a boy.

I know this isn't the universal experience for everyone, but when I saw J's reaction, I saw my reaction. How I felt when I was acknowledged as someone's son for the very first time.

Plus, as we’ve seen from previous screenshots, here we find out that J was forced into femininity by their mother and how they were raised before chapter 2 came along. Which I think a lot of trans men could relate too (not all of course).

There’s one more thing I want to point out, since I think I went over the main evidence on why I think J is trans, but this is something that honestly confirmed it for me and made me want to write this essay: Their hidden message.

As we know, all the characters have a hidden message on their profile pages. A lot of them have something to do with the characters (Example: Levi’s one is “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.”, Min’s is “I wanted to save you.” and Charles’ is “If you forgot it, then it probably wasn’t important to begin with. None of those memories should ever be kept, anyway.” All of these hidden messages have something to do with the characters and what we learn about them in the story). And what could J’s hidden message possibly be?

“Please don’t call me your daughter ever again.”

Now I’ll be honest, this could mean anything. For all we know, this could mean that J doesn’t want to be associated with Mariabella at all, be her kid, anything. But from the way it’s worded, I honestly believe the daughter bit is the important bit.

There were so many ways to phrase that sentence, “I don’t want to be related to you”, “I’m not your kid”, or something. But the way they picked this particular sentence and worded it… Could J just not want to be her kid… or maybe they just don’t want to be her DAUGHTER?

Maybe instead, they want to be seen as her son? If they choose to be associated with her at all (Which if they don’t I don’t blame them).

Honestly this is just my own interpretation of everything, and it’s okay if you disagree or have a different headcanon from me. But as a trans man myself, I found J to be one of the most relatable characters in the cast with both my younger self (dealing with internalized misogyny, being pressured into femininity at a young age, mommy issues, etc) and my current self (being flustered at being called a boy, not wanting to be called a daughter, going by a name that isn’t a birth name, mommy issues, etc).

That was my essay on J, and I hope you enjoyed reading it and seeing my perspective! Have a good day 🙂

[mrabubu]

Heya! Ignore this if this is rude, sorry to just dump my opinions in your ask box like this!

About the Leosagi thing, it has a bit of a history in the tmnt fandom, that’s why it’s so popular now with the rise one. I’m not as knowledgeable as some older fans, but the Usagi comic book series and tmnt have been intertwined for a pretty long time. Crossovers and things have been happening almost every iteration, aside from rise. Each crossover tended to focus heavily on the friendship between Usagi and Leo, leading to a big chunk of the fandom shipping them in a bunch of the iterations.

The Usagi chronicles is widely regarded as a middle of the road show. It’s not amazing but it’s great to see the Usagi comic books get a show of their own! (in a, weird, several generations down the line way) The fact that it was released around the same time as rise, and that rise never got to have a Usagi crossover like most of the iterations before it, lead fans into taking the crossover into their own hands. It was tradition at that point, and those leading the charge happened to be the same ones who shipped Leosagi before rise, in 2003 and the like.

Leo being gay or trans has been a popular headcannon for a long time, probably because of the extremely queer fandom. Either way Leo in rise being more flamboyant than any Leo before him reinforced this I suppose. As someone who doesn’t mind the Leosagi ship (and is queer themself), I don’t think just because a guy is flamboyant or confident they’re gay. That’s a pretty small minded take and assuming that a guy can’t be flamboyant in any way without being “outside the norm” is a tale as old as time. But knowing this you can still have fun with flamboyant gay characters. I think some people can find comfort in head-cannoning a character as a confident, charismatic gay man!

But, aside from all of this, everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want with characters forever. People should not feel offended if anyone portrays a character as straight or gay, canon is fandoms personal playground and it doesn’t matter at the end of the day. I think your Y/N stuff is awesome and you should keep doing whatever you find joy in, because that’s what fandom is about. Try not to get too offended at the Leosagi shippers, tmnt has had this tradition long before rise, and it’s just the fandoms history moving forward with the newest iterations. Let the gay people go wild, doesn’t matter who they ship who with, if people are having fun and making art together.

I hope you don’t have to receive any kind of hate for the ship you prefer, you aren’t morally obligated to like anything, and this is your blog, you choose what happens here.

YOU are NOT being rude, anon, don't worry xd

Just in case, yeah, I know about history between TMNT and Usagi, and I know they had crossovers many times.

Again, I have no problems with people who enjoy their headcanons by themselves and don't touch anyone with it. You don't touch me, I don't touch you, simple as that. I'm not a fan of both these headcanons, so I just either keep scrolling or filter/hide them. I don't try to make people stop enjoying something they like because I have no right to do so.

About Leo, there was already a comment that I agree with, and I hope they don't mind if I quote them here:

"There's a difference between being flamboyant and being gay. Being flamboyant does not make you or someone gay. This is a common stereotype that can be harmful to the LGBTQ+ community. Being flamboyant is a way some people express themselves and their identity and trust me, it does not determine their sexual orientation or gender identity."

I have a little personal history with thing that is different, but has the same core, because I'm half-blood. One of my parents was from another country, and because of that some of my actions and personality have been judged based on my ethnicity.

Again, you headcanon Leo as gay? Okay, just please, don't try to make people believe it's canon. Because I've seen cases like this, and there's a whole video where a person basically says that Leo is gay and if you don't agree, "heck, you're wrong! And the fact that you don't agree only proves that it's canon" and a bunch of other "proves" that mostly made out of thin air. Like, wth...? Who gave you right to say something like that? You're not the creator of the show. And because of people like this there are a bunch of those who actually believe this headcanon to be canon.

For me it turns into a problem when people are crossing the line and start shoving their headcanons into your face, trying to prove/make you believe that it's canon, and simply being rude if you don't agree or just say that you don't like it. If a person didn't do anything to you personally, who said you have the right to being rude to them or even harass them?

If this behavior crosses the line of my interests, why do they have the right to be offended by my disagreement, but I have to ignore them if it hurts me?

Not to mention how bad I feel for RIse creators who are still being constantly pressured by people with all this which is NOT okay and shouldn't be okay.

Just in case, all this isn't directed personally to you, anon. I'm sorry for so much text again xd

[nekropsii]

hello oh great provider of art and analysis, do you have any tips on how to correctly analyse a character?

Funnily, I don't think there's a correct way to analyze media, but there are incorrect ways to do it. But my advice for sound analysis is as follows...

Look at Canon. Reference it as heavily as physically possible. Take into consideration who the author is, and what their intentions would be. Extradiegetic Analysis is extremely important. Commit to it. Do not pussyfoot around Extradiegetic Analysis. Take into consideration the story, its tone, who it's made for, who it is marketed towards, what messages it's trying to convey, how, and why. Use Occam's Razor heavily. Ground yourself, turn off "Fandom Brain", and your own personal headcanons. Remember that Characters are Plot Devices, not People- they are put in the story for a reason, and they serve a particular function within the narrative. Ask yourself what that reason is, and what that function is. It's important to get a firm grasp of the story and the characters in it before extrapolating. Ponder their relationships with themself, others, the world around them, their task at hand. Try to take into account framing, themes, motifs, and symbolism.

Grab anything that really stands out to you, see what you can do with it. Analyze why it stands out to you. Does it match your own personal experience in some way? Does it remind you of something else? Does it seem to be setting something up within the context of a story? Are the curtains blue for a reason? If not, should they be? What if they did? What function would that serve?

Analysis is largely asking questions and trying to answer them. Sometimes those questions are posed by the thing you're analyzing itself. Sometimes the question comes from your heart. Sometimes it emerges from something you've latched onto that isn't quite there - a blind spot in the narrative, missed potential, et cetera.

Again, Occam's Razor is your friend. Get very familiar with it. And... Do not consult Freud on anything. If you feel the impulse to consult Freudian analytical concepts without prompting from the narrative itself, that's the devil talking to you. Beat it to death immediately. We do not need Freudian analysis of children's cartoons. We literally do not need that. It will be wrong.

This is one I'm seeing more and more disregard for lately, especially with regards to minority headcanons... Consider the real-world implications of your analysis. I do not think it is very "woke" to headcanon unrepentant sexually abusive assholes as trans women, or characters who are known for their loudness, aggression, and abusive natures as Black. Consider optics for maybe, like, five seconds. Analysis is just as much an act of introspection as it is an act of dissecting a piece of fiction. You need to be able to ask yourself why you're seeing characters the way that you're seeing them. Sometimes that answer is latent bigotry. Unpack that. Work on it. Sometimes the answer is that the author is a bigot and trying to tell you something about the group of people a character is supposedly representative of. Acknowledge it. Unpack that. Work with it. And I mean that seriously- you cannot just skirt around bigotry without perpetuating the bigotry yourself. Analysis will, by way of the vulnerability of the practice, get uncomfortable at times. Be ready for that.

Think critically and think for yourself. A lot of people shoot themselves in the foot by being reactionary, and/or letting other people do the thinking for them. Again, analysis will get uncomfortable at times. It is vulnerable, introspective, and an act of challenging yourself and your worst habits. Commit to that.

Oh, and have fun. Yes, I just spent several paragraphs talking about how analysis is challenging and uncomfortable, but don't make yourself have a genuinely bad time on purpose. You truly do not need to give yourself an attack or episode for the sake of an internet post or something. Horror movie rules - know your limits and respect them.

That's all for now, I think. There's infinite nuance to this subject, but I believe this is a decent 101 post.

[silvers-not-home]

my lame fucking autistic rambling

here's my massive stupid autistic rant about life series characters and my head canons for them

literally everything i'm thinking about is going on here im not even processing it im just typing sorry for any typos there will be many😭

this is also for my two (2) mutuals who i care for very deeply kiss kiss hug hug <3 /p /gen

okay it's the morning so i'm gonna continue this thumbs up emoji

starting off strong with mr grian minecraft himself (oh wow what a surprise /s)

he tried piercing his own nose in highschool. like. he was THE teenage dirtbag. sneaking out, drinking, smoking, shitty garage band that got nowhere (yes the bad boys was a garage band you c ant change my mind), mcr, pierce the veil, paramore, sexuality and gender crisis, "i know a guy", shoplifting, skipping class, you name it be probably did it with jimmy and joel during freshmen-sophomore year

pearl is his sister, jimmy and lizzie are his cousins (older cousins i should specify. him and pearl are twins but she's the older twin) and they went to the same high school. he met joel through lizzie and jimmy and joel and grian all clicked instantly

joel would stay at jimmy and grians place so much to the point it was like a second home to him and they would all hang out in the basement. joel stayed with his grandparents and helped them out a lot but they passed while he was in his bad boys phase and so he just stayed at grians place a whole lot during his depression (don't worry he's fine now just a little fucked up but they all are)

grian and pearls parents were kinda really shitty (yes i'm also counting yhs lore fuck uou) his whole life and so they got taken by cps and they lived with jimmy and lizzie's parents. and they were much better until he went to japan and all that shit happened (iykyk)

sam made him really realize that like. "oh my fucking god i'm gay. and it's for a damn sociopath. fuck." (that's like half canon)

he and taurtis DID hook up every tuesday thumbs up emoji

his wings didn't start growing in until AFTER senior year (so post japan/yhs incident)

the yhs holds a ceremony thingy for all the people that passed during all that shit and he goes every year and still has rowens glasses and ran into taurtis one year and it was awkward as HELLL but like. it wasn't an awful experience neither of them knew what to say. especially taurtks is bc by then grians wings had already fully grown in and his ass DID NOT recognize him💀

oh yeah also the four of the cousins are all winged animals so grians a parrot, pearl is a moth but like she's one of the super fluffy one (i forgot what they're called), jimmy is a canary (for obvious reasons), and lizzie is a flamingo because. fuck it (also half canary too it's from their mom) but she doesn't have as many features as the others

they all grow feathers (except for pearl) when they're stressed or feel a heightened emotion and have the little winged ears. they still do have actual ears but they grew in behind they're human ears and pearl has the little antennae things on top of her head. lizzie's kind of blends into her hair since yk. pink on pink and they're more folded then fanned out(?) if that makes sense?😭

jimmy was an early bloomer while grian was a late bloomer (i'm talking about wing/feather wise)

also some little sexuality/gender headcanons those are always fun :3

grians definitely trans masc and mlm (he/him anything else gives him dysphoria)

jimmy is THE bisexual demiboy icon (he/they)

lizzie is also bisexual (she/they)

pearl is a NONBINARY LESBIANNNN SHOUT OHT YO ALL MY NONBINARY LESBIANS WOOOO (she also uses any pronouns that would be considered feminine/androgynous or basically just. anything other then he/him/anything masculine)

mumbo is ace and omni (they/he)

scar is pan and a demiboy (all pronouns. like seriously he's collecting them like pokémon cards)

tango is bi and TRANSMASC WOOOO SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY TRANSMASC PEOPLE OUT THERE (he/they/flame)

martyn is transmasc and unlabeled. he doesn't want one/or thinks any is fit for him but is on the aspec (he/him)

scott is just. gay. goddamn fa- (he/him)

also just thought abt something grian jimmy and joel all had matching (infected and now faded) stick and poke tattoos that read "bad boys, today, tomorrow and yesterday" but that last part is faded completely since they ran out of pen ink halfway through and jimmys mom came home and they didn't wanna get in trouble (also yes their tattoos are in the same spot as each others it's on the right side of their chest) and let me TELL YOU. lizzie makes fun of joel TO THIS DAY about that tattoo and she likes to trace the words with her finger sometimes when they're cuddling, humming their old songs (he hates it but she still thinks it's absolutely adorable)

grian and mumbo are middle school best friends and he knows everything that happened to grian when he was in japan

grian, scar and mumbo all went to the same high school and mumbo and scar tried making a baking club called (you're never gonna believe this) the buttercups but grian was supposedly "too cool for that fairy shit" but would hang out during lunch with them and go to the meetings and help buy the ingredients and also help bake with them for extra credit and so would jimmy and joel. for extra credit of course

tango, mumbo and impulse were all in the computer club and coding club in highschool. doc was their teacher and cub was the senior teachers assistant trying to get early college credit

jimmy had the FATTEST crush on tango while they were in high school (yes they all went to the same highschool shut up) and tried impressing him by "making" a robot (mumbo made it and gave him the remote and told him to push two single buttons) and he pushed them in the wrong order and it short circuited and it almost exploded. he got suspended for a month and the only reason he didn't get expelled was because tango said it was his and it was a project. he complemented "jimmys" robot and said it had nice coding and a bunch of other nerd /aff terms that didn't make ANY sense to jimmy (that was his way of confessing but jimmys too stupid /aff to understand it at the moment so tango thought he didn't like him back) and when jimmy was talking to grian and joel about it they were yelling at him about how "JIMMY YOU IDIOT HE LIKES YOU BACK" and "WHAT'D YOU SAY? YOU SAID YOU LIKED HIM TOO RIGHT?" to which he (of course) responded with

"NO?? I DONT SPEAK NERD JOEL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW??"

also tango wears a feather jimmy gave to him as an earring and has kept that earring since they started going out which was like sophomore year or smth like that

they also had an exact conversation to joel before lizzie asked him out (and she also proposed too fight me)

i can go on for HOURS about those three but i'm gonna a do stuff about martyn now because. omg. he drives me CRAZY

also just realizing how most of these are just high school head canons. sorry (no i'm not)

everyone in school always thought that the bad boys were the mean bullies bc they wore leather jackets and studs and cuffs and blah blah blah but in reality they were just the dorky, socially anxious losers that were loud in class because they all adhd. not because they were asshole

martyn and scott were the ones you had to worry about (mostly scott actually but martyn would be a passive aggressive bully)

those little twits had an actual burn book. martyn. the almost loser that pierced his own ears, causing them to get infected but refused to take them out because he wanted to match with his fellow mean gill and wore anime shirts to sleep and doc martins (only because they had his name in it dont praise him he was a loser /aff) wrote "annoying dorks" in the burn book page dedicated to the bad boys. he had NO ROOM to talk and i find that hilarious bc him and jimmy were actually really close and he ate the page. yes. he ate the page in front of scott's face after an argument to prove a point and scott has never respected another person more in his life

i also felt like it was important that martyn and scott got voted prom king and queen

martyn LOVES necklaces, rings, bracelets. he has a matching necklace and/or bracelet with all his four (4) friends that consisted of scott and the bad boys. he still has them as an adult and holds onto the charm when he misses them which is all the time (i love martyn angst evil laugh)

ykw fuck it he still wears the necklaces and tucks them under his shirt, he asked everyone else if they still had theirs and it either broke or they lost it

EVERYOEN EXCEPT FOR JIMMY BC THEY WERE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS AND HE WEARS IT UNDER HIS SHIRT TOO FUCK YOU I LOVE THEM

and for anyone curious it was a dog bone that is split in half and it like one of those magnetic necklaces that you have to get uncomfortably close to eachother for it to work

okay that's enough for tonight bc i have things i need to do tomorrow and thumbs hurt and it threw in the morning and i've been typing for over an hour straight good night cleveland *proceeds to stay online for another hour*

[futurequibblerjournalist]

What are your thoughts on ftm reg and mtf sirius?

I'm a big fan of ftm Regulus which I don't think I've ever really hidden. I think it fits his character well, it adds a lot of additional depth to the Black family which I'm always a sucker for and also I just think it's fun! I've made multiple fics featuring trans Regulus and generally speaking my Regulus is trans.

As for mtf Sirius, I just don't see it. I probably lean more toward the masculine Sirius side on that spectrum anyway lol so yeah, I'm not a fan. I don't know how to phrase this in a way where I don't sound like a dickhead, so I'm just going to say it and hope for the best. I kinda think making Sirius a woman takes away from the rest of the female cast in this fandom. If you want a female character then there's plenty to choose from and you can quite literally make them whatever you want. There's also a small part of me that could see this playing into the whole turning wolfstar heteronormative and I don't fuck with that. Also the few times I've seen mtf Sirius (which admittedly isn't a lot because I don't like it and thus don't seek it out) it seems to kinda erase his entire personality in favour of making him some cutesy helpless girl for Remus and I just,,, I don't like it. If Sirius gets to keep his entire personality while being trans then perhaps I could see it, but I don't like it when it seems to play into these weird ideas of what trans women should be (soft, feminine, helpless, palatable in a way Sirius isn't normally). This is not me saying that trans women can't be any of those things btw, since people like to twist my words when I talk about trans characters cough cough trans Evan cough cough but this is specifically in regards to Sirius.

That being said, I'm sure I could like it if it was written properly. If Sirius got to keep his entire personality and it didn't seem so forced, then sure. I just personally prefer throwing some love at the female cast we already have. I love seeing trans headcanons for those, I personally have a soft spot for trans Dorcas < 3

[yandere-kokeshi]

Gwen Stacy has a “protect trans kids” flag in her room. Imagine if she has that because she has a trans little brother (male reader)?

I’d like to request platonic yandere Gwen Stacy with a younger brother who is ftm. :] It would also be really cool if you could add some headcanons with the others, because sometimes Gwen wants M/n to be safe, but can’t watch him herself. So she allows the ones she trusts the MOST (Hobie, Pavitr, Miles, whoever else) to watch and be with him for her!

(details that you can choose if you wanna include or not: dealing with transphobia, missing Gwen when she’s on missions, potentially cuddles because sometimes he just wants to be held and it doesn’t really matter who does it)

Warnings: yandere behavior, platonic Gwen, talks about harassment and transphobia,

A/N: this was really fun to write! Ty for requesting. Please enjoy this :]

The fact is, she’s like your biggest supporter ever. Ever since you decided to come out, she makes sure to protect you, taking care of you by often pulling harmless pranks on you and adoring you. She probably shows way more love to you than she's shown to anyone.

If and when people misgender you, Gwen will go do things two ways. One, she will correct the pronouns and make sure the rest of the week is horrible for them (ex. Moving their keys to make them late for work, randomly tripping throughout their day, getting paper objects thrown at the head, etc.) Or two, which is also her favorite, she’ll play dumb and make sure the person is extremely annoyed by the fact ‘you’ don’t exist.

“Who are you talking about? We don’t know anyone by that name. You must be losing it, a bit coo-coo much?”

The two of you often stay up late, her asking questions about school and that one person you’ve never mentioned before. Of course, she laughs it off and says it’s a coincidence. You both have nights where you eat junk food, watching funny sitcoms as she cracks up jokes now and again.

Whenever she’s on missions, it’s an unpredictable trip that you never have a point-on time of when she’ll get back. However, in the meantime, it’s often you’ll find a hoodie of hers, a piece of her stuck with you until the real her comes back. At some point, she’ll come home and see you huddled on the couch, wearing her hoodie. It makes her heartbreak as you miss her. But don’t worry, she makes it up in the morning by making you breakfast and buying your favorite snacks.

Hugs and kisses on the cheeks everywhere. While Gwen doesn’t show a lot of affection, especially with physical touch, more with words and gifts, sometimes things get out of hand and she gets upset; causing her to bust into your room with a sour face, tears threatening to fall as her arms wrap around you, saying nothing as the two of you hug.

With learning, just to hold her as tight. Please. She needs it. Especially from you, sometimes she has nightmares of losing you and while she does sneak in to check up on you, it scares her of what the future might hold. Just being able to hold you close, and feel you laugh as she smiles, it reminds her how good of a life she has.

Whenever she’s gone for a long period, whether that’s a mission or doing some type of spider-woman hero stuff, Gwen will make sure to grab some items she sees that she thinks you’ll like; more often it’s street food and expensive figurines of shows you adore to heart.

Sometimes, she’ll come home heaving out of breath, holding way more things than she should, and throwing them all with you, ignoring George’s protest about leaving a mess by the door. All she cares about is watching you open them with excitement.

Sadly, transphobia is quite popular these days. With this said, Gwen (and her friends, especially Hobie!) will yell at the person, cursing them off and possibly threatening them. While Gwen is more on the relaxed side and tends to ignore it the flipping the bird.

If any of her closest friends are with her, you can bet it’ll be a mess; yelling ensues around you, and having to hold back Miles or Pavitr from approaching them with mean insults.

To be honest, the whole crew thinks you’re so cool, especially Hobie and Pavitr. While Miles has known you longer and makes sure to check up on you as much as he can, the other two guys love to ask you questions and annoy you when you’re supposed to be doing something else.

They’re all just as protective of you as Gwen, her worried words of ‘please take care of him when I’m gone��. Hobie is most often around, practically dragging you to his chaos and helping you with school when you need it (he’s the ‘uncle’ who brings alcohol to your 18th birthday because you’re an adult now).

Pavitr is a huge sweetheart, always checking up on you and offering Chai to you when he senses you’re stressed. In all honesty, he's the best person to help with homework - he's incredibly focused and rewards you with candy.

—

Masterlist || Please consider reblogging and commenting instead of liking, it helps me as a creator!! Stay well!!

© yandere-kokeshi 2023 — Do not copy, modify, edit, repost, or use my works for ASMR readings, tiktoks, or other content.

[twilightprince101]

IN BUGS AND SNAX

I've recently been seeing more Bugsnax friendos get into In Stars and Time. Like, five different people I met via Bugsnax are now doing fanart and fanfics for it (if you know you know).

And I think it's a shame. Because that number should be SO MUCH HIGHER

So Bugsnax fans who are unaware of this lovely RPG, here's my pitch to you as to why I think you'd like In Stars and Time and would really enjoy it.

For ISAT fans who never heard of Bugsnax, read along if you wanna. This post is primarily for the opposite, but you may find something else to dip your toes into as well 0w0

Extremely cute / lovable cast that holds so much depth and complexity than meets the eye

Look at these goobers. Look at all of them having fun. They all seem like the kind of squishy chibi type OCs you would find on tumblr, right? Wholesome uwu babies?

Hahahaha

WRONG

Well, kind of yes but still WRONG

These characters have so much emotional complexity that it can be genuinely hard sometimes to pick a favorite character between them all. Odile isn't just the "mom of the group," she has her own reasons for being on this grand quest that stem all the way back to her family lineage, her relationship with her parents. And it all gets explored for every last character, just enough where you can fill in the gaps yourself, but you can still feel that there's so much more under the surface.

You know that bit at the end of Beffica's sidequests where she reveals that, despite her bitchiness, her reason for being like that is because she has a MOUNTAIN of trust issues? And that she never tells lies, but wants to unearth truths before she gets hurt? Remember how you felt when realizing that fact? That's there with ALL of the main cast here. Hope you've got your snorkel because there's so much for you to dive into.

2. Gameplay that adds to the narrative and puts you within that world/the player's shoes

This is my personal headcanon and I don't know if it's intentional on Young Horses' part, but I always felt that running around and catching all of the Bugsnax for the grumps in Snaxburg was intentionally designed to make you feel like Lizbert. You replace her role as town "therapist," you solve everyone's problems in a kind of regressive way that ends up hurting a lot of people. Despite the gameplay being fairly simple, it still added a lot to the plot, to give you that sense in the endgame of "oh. oh god, i really fucked up." You are forced into the shoes of that world/character through the gameplay and it hits much harder as a result.

That intentional and thoughtful game design is present from the moment you start up the game, all the way to the end. In Stars and Time has the best "ludonarrative harmony" I have ever seen. Ever.

The way that the game and story is paced makes you fully understand what Siffrin is going through, the constant slog through the castle (without it ever feeling grindy by the way!), zoning out through the same bits of dialogue. At any given point, no matter how dramatically Siffrin acts, you understand emotionally why he is at that point. You feel his exhaustion, his surprise, his desperate hope, his "i'm going to try fucking anything at this point" attitude. The entire way from start to finish, you feel it.

I refuse to say any more because doing so would spoil the game. But trust me when I say, if you noticed what Bugsnax was doing there with player/Lizbert parallels? You'd love this game.

3. "What is Straight?"

So you know how we all collectively agreed that Gramble is trans? and that Wambus/Triffany are the most bisexual straight couple?

How would you like those types of characters.... but have those conversations out loud?

Listen, I love this fandom as much as the next person, and I am a Transble believer at heart. But it's easy to forget that those are all just talked about in fanon, you know? (Despite gramble literally being trans flag colors listen i KNOW). We get certain bits of characters being introspective about their genders and gender roles, like Wambus being really stubborn with his farm and wanting to maintain a sustainable way of living, being "the breadwinner," for him and his wife. And Floofty feeling like an outcast for behaving in a way that is not "socially acceptable" while being nonbinary. But we never talk about those specific subjects directly, about sexuality, gender identity and the like. Not that Bugsnax NEEDS that, it's just something the writers never really thought to include.

But In Stars and Time... it scratched an itch I never knew needed scratched. Take the thirteen different pieces of character complexity and condense it into five. The discussions that the main party have in relation to their identities, both sexual and gender, are some of the most phenomenal pieces of writing I've ever seen. I've talked with asexual people who played this game who were like "finally, FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT." Finally getting some characters that resonated with them so, so well. And there is a discussion about halfway through the game with a transgender character that absolutely floored me, because so many post-transition character arcs that I see are related to dealing with transphobes and accepting your slay self queen/king/my liege. And that's good. It's cool. But I feel I've seen that so many times now I know the basic plot beats. And ISAT throws in a unique twist to it that I rarely see and the influence that their past combined with cultural pressure it's just, it's SO GOOD. You gotta see it to believe it man, I'm leaving out so much shit here you need to check it out yourself.

4. It will reach into your chest and strangle your heart with its claws

Despite how cute both games can be, they can bash the back of your head with a steel chair of emotion.

You know that feeling you get when you complete a lot of bugsnax sidequests? When you realize Triffany will never get the closure she wanted; when you've helped Wiggle chase this dream of a muse that doesn't exist, and that it was (at least partially) your fault? Well how about if that was the entire game?

This game has some of the highest highs and lowest lows, emotionally speaking. A lot of ISAT also has that same sort of emotional ambiguity Bugsnax has; certain plot points will never be resolved, because that's just life. And you're forced to sit with it, sit in that guilt and resentment because this isn't a problem that can be solved so quickly but you still tried and that arguably made things worse.

Yes, an argument could be made that because Siffrin is not a self insert like The Journalist, then there's a layer of disconnect. But remember what I said in point two: you understand every step Siffrin takes the whole way through because you play it. You sit in it. And no matter how dramatically Siffrin acts, it will be hard to deny that you wouldn't do the same in their place.

5. A big mysterious twist that will emotionally gut you and leave you to dry

Obviously I can't put much here. It'd spoil Bugsnax for ISAT fans and spoil ISAT for Bugsnax fans, more than I already have. But for the fans of each respective games, you KNOW what I'm talking about. And there is an equivalent in the other as well.

If the image of Siffrin making that face intrigues you in any way, especially compared to what I've already shown you. Then go in the game blind. The scene this is from blindsides so many people and once you hit That Face, you know the true game has begun.

----------

That's about the best pitch I can give for Bugsnax fans to play ISAT. I really do feel there's a lot of emotional overlap between these two, even if they're completely different games by nature. There's a lot to love and sink your teeth into.

If this is your first time hearing about either of these games and any of this sounds intriguing to you? Trust me. GO IN BLIND. The gameplay/story blend may not click for everyone right away, but if you let yourself sink into this game, if you let yourself connect with it, boy oh boy does it connect. There is truly nothing like In Stars and Time and/or Bugsnax, and the more people experience this game, the better. Trust the process, slink into it.

I promise you won't regret it.

Thanks for making it to the end have some silly little guys

[total-drama-wlw]

total drama wlw week: some event details and rules!

drawings, fanfics, animations, edits, posts of headcanons, pinterest boards, socmed AUs, etc. are all allowed!

you can make as many posts as you want!!

you don't have to post every day!

tag #tdWLWweek24 on any social media posts

this is a tumblr based event, so post your works on tumblr, but feel free to participate/spread the word on twitter, tiktok or whichever social media you prefer to promote your work as well.

the prompts are guidelines more than rules, but do try to follow them (especially for art & fanfic)

you can choose one of the prompts given on each day, or if you’re feeling creative, try to combine them both!

no crossovers, just to keep things simple

it doesn’t need to be ship content! you can write an analysis of your favourite girl character through a queer lens, you can draw her wearing the colours of the lesbian flag, etc.

for ship content, wlw ships should be the MAIN FOCUS, not sidelined or briefly mentioned alongside straight or mlm pairings. fics/art that centre non-sapphic pairings will not be reposted.

celebrating other queer identities in this event is of course fine (trans, non binary, aspec, etc) but the centre of the event is wlw/sapphic identities so be sure to make that the highlight.

you do not have to be wlw yourself to participate, but of course always listen and make room for wlw creators & do your best to represent wlw stories with guidance from your wlw mutuals & friends <3

the rules listed are not to limit people in their creativity but just to ensure this remains a wlw/sapphic centred event, in order to highlight & celebrate wlw specifically. most importantly, have fun!

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Personal canons are the canon everyone has created based on the canon and fanon content they've consumed.

Expansion not necessary. I just wanted to add my thoughts.

1. Examples range from wanting to wrap his drinks in a web before drinking them to wanting to fall asleep curled up in the back corner of his closet. No, it doesn't matter which Spider-Man.

2. This one is just my perception of the two. There's nothing I can actually tell you about this other than the vibes seem to match.

3. The headcanon of Poison Ivy eating mostly meat is fun. (Not fully carnivore because I think she'd also eat plants because it's necessary to eat both to be a healthy human and can be healthy for the environment if done in moderation). I decided to combine it with Danny Phantom for this because I haven't seen anyone do it before. So, Ivy being mostly carnivorous and Sam being ultra-recyclo-vegetarian would be appalled at each others diets.

4. Cyborg's connected to a supercomputer created by a more scientifically advanced society, while Barbara is a human (I specified her because she's the best Bat at hacking.) Her being the best hacker in the universe is a stretch at best. There's gotta be computer languages she's unable to decipher because it's so different to any on earth. (I don't think anyone from earth should be able to hack cyborg or the mother/father boxes.) If your supercomputer can be hacked by the equivalent of a preteen with a 2010 samsung who doesn't even recognise the coding language you used, then you didn't create a supercomputer. (Mother/father boxes are sentient, autonomous computers btw.)

5. Young Justice was good. Great. It just seemed to stop caring as much about having the new audience learn about the characters after season 2. I wouldn't know who Razer is if I didn't watch Green Lantern: The Animated Series. I stopped having emotional connections with the characters by season 4 and they stopped wrapping up storylines in an emotionally fulfilling manor after season 2. As someone who never read any comic books except for Spider-man/Deadpool and a few green lantern ones and one batman and spider-man crossover, I don't care about the characters they shove into the show and expect everyone to care about.

6. I get it. The "he won't stop if he does it once" was only in one comic (apparently) and the comic was written by someone that (apparently) most of the fandom doesn't like. I don't care. Every reason he has for not killing is valid and coexists. He collects reasons to not kill like it's gold and he's a dragon. The only reason that is invalid and can't coexist is that he doesn't care enough about the people that could get hurt or killed to permanently stop people like Joker, Bane, or Scarecrow.

7. It makes sense if they were the two to get touch starved easily. Dick grew up in a circus where everyone was presumably pretty tight knit and Tim grew up in a home where appearance mattered more than feelings. But also they happen to be the characters I like to torture.

8. Strange is petty and I 100% believe that Tony started it. (Stephen is finishing it though.)

9. Freddy Freeman can't walk without crutches and flies in the comics. (I haven't read them, tho) I feel like it's erasing disabled peoples' struggles when they just give him the ability to walk in his hero form. Let him be a little flying guy who never touches the ground.

10. It's a comic thing again. I just think it's more interesting. (I found pages of captain marvel comics in google images and tumblr.)

[alteredsilicone]

Attempt at putting my feelings about Jade Shadows in a Long Post

I was never a big Stalker fangirl so I did not have any expectations or desires for this quest, I fully saw it as filler to distract me before Tennocon and the wait for Warframe 1999.

I was worried about some things, thinking DE might add/retcon lore about the Rebellion and Night of the Naga Drums, but that didn't happen haha

The quest itself did not elicit an emotional response from me, at some points it even seemed weird and absurd. They really went there, huh?

I see now that there is a LOT of tension and opinion flinging and accusations and such and such and I also fell victim to getting maybe a little bit too angry and incensed.

To me, the hype didn't live up to the payoff, this is basically Angels of the Zariman 2.0 for me. Where I expected one thing (Tenno Rebellion, Stalker lore) but got something else (Warframe Baby). I feel this is the kind of quest that expected me to have one specific emotional reaction ("aww!") so it didn't try to... elicit that reaction. Sympathy-bait. Like showing a little kitten to make you "aww" and stop thinking. If you don't "aww" then you won't like it but the people who "aww"-ed will think you are a heartless weirdo.

Some people have pointed out how this quest actually makes Stalker's anger at Tenno make less sense due to the Orokin being at 100% fault for his circumstances and the Tenno killing the Orokin should not have been something Stalker objects to. Honestly if you're going to kill Jade off and give Stalker dead wife manpain could have at least made our Tenno responsible for killing Jade who was guarding Stalker/the Orokin.

My hot take is that yes, people who expected an LGBT/trans story were setting themselves up for failure because there were no hints to that, quite the contrary. I got the impression that Stalker and Jade are separate entities (so no trans narrative) and also knowing tropes it just seemed like it was going the love-story way. Opposites attract and all that, plus Warframe's queer themes are more... headcanoned by the community; aside from obvious story beats like WITW or Dagath's story. Warframe in the end appeals to a Broad (tm) audience and that includes cishet normies who will cry buckets at Single Dad Stalker. Which is happening right now and making me feel like a heartless weirdo.

Though I think it would have been fun if Jade was Stalker's mother, that would fit well with the opposites theme for Jade/Stalker (and him taking on his mother's mantle as protector), as well as create cool parallels with the Stalker and Tenno, after all, "Lotus" is basically the aesthetic of the Tenno, so "Jade' could be the aesthetic of the Stalker.

Oh well.

I also understand people who were disturbed and upset by the narrative in general and the criticisms of Jade being fridged, passive and the implications that you "Always Choose the Baby" and that "All Women Love Babies". The bit with the Corpus captain and seeing people go "the Corpus are not monsters after all!" made me cringe because... we are child soldiers piloting infested abominations; Warframe is a very grim universe with some moments of light at the end of the tunnel, but I think this particular narrative was handled poorly. You're telling me in the world where body hoppers snatch children to brain-break them and become parasitic hosts, children's lives are valuable? You're telling me in a world where ventkids exist, children's lives are valuable? Nelīmējas kopā.

You COULD make this a story of light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel in terms of a child's life being precious - we should have fought the Corpus, maybe the Tenno jump in as help to protect Stalker. Putting a newborn into danger? Now THAT is actually some risky storytelling AND would make me care about Stalker and Sirius. You want that kid? Fight for it, because the world hates you and hates your kid. LOVE MUST TRIUMPH HATE, isn't that what Hunhow tried to tell you?

I don't hate it because it was a straight love/parenting story - Umbra and Isaah is a very emotional story and the Sacrifice is one of my favorite quests. All I needed was more backstory/flashbacks on Jade and Sorren. Aside from a vague allusion that either their relationship or Jade's pregnancy was verboten.

I admit the pregnancy/motherhood angle made me incensed for biased/personal reasons but I am just going to take the L on that, I don't think people who criticize that or are disappointed by that story are lacking media literacy.

Pregnancy IS a sensitive/triggering topic and in fact this quest did not warn sufficiently about it, also it is fair to say that this quest relied on the "aww!" factor and it's fine if people find it cheap. Some people find "aww!" stories stupid if it's about animals or if there are "pet the dog" mechanics, but if it's human children suddenly that criticism is invalid.

Oh well. That is all.

tl;dr

Did not have huge expectations going in, neutral on Stalker as a character.

Was not happy about the pregnancy story/the way women were handled in this quest.

I am aware that my personal bias affects my view of this quest, but I would also like a little coming forward from the other side.

Anyone else "excited" for Fetus Prime trailer narrated by Ballas in four years?

[boydykedevo]

anyway my trans Devo headcanons:

He got a tonewheel for his birthday when he was 16, and that's where he learned what being queer was from Seldom's broadcasts. He identified as a lesbian pretty strongly for a while, but he always kinda knew that wasn't quite it. He was 17ish when he finally admitted to himself he was trans. (and once he started perceiving himself as a man more often, he realized he was bi -- he just hated the idea of being with a guy as a girl)

He's not a binary/monogender trans guy. BUT he is in heavy denial about it. He'll get there eventually...

Seldom gave him guy's clothes when he came to his school, but they're all very basic and colorless and boring. He was never a big fan of them. He didn't really come into his own with masculine presentation until Nermal's Pile; she lets him try out whatever he wants. He's still kinda feeling things out, but he's way happier and has a lot more fun with it now.

Hair length isn't strongly gendered in Founders' Wake, it’s more tied to practicality. Guidance always kept his at shoulder-length and never let him change it at all. He was growing it out after leaving, but after confronting Orlean in the infinite clam he had a breakdown and chopped it all off. Amber helped him tidy it up and he's kept it short ever since.

There's some sort of magic HRT in Founders Wake, but since magic is rationed he hasn't gotten on it yet. Seldom was helping him with it; he's on a waiting list.

His chest dysphoria used to be a lot worse, he did a lot of unsafe homemade binding back at the parish, which gave him chronic back pain. Seldom convinced him to stop and got him a proper binder. Even that he can't wear too often cuz of his pain. It sucked a lot at first, but he's started to make peace with his chest and his dysphoria isn't quite as bad. He still binds more than he probably should though.

He has a decent amount of bottom dysphoria, he packs pretty much constantly.

The name Damian is the one he first picked out when he was accepting himself, as a replacement for his birth name (not Devotion, the Cern one). But he started to really hate being called Devotion, and Devo was something he could spin as a nickname without raising suspicion. Guidance hated it and told people not to use it, but at least a few people did, so when it came time to pick a new name, he was attached enough to it he went with that instead of Damian Cern (also cuz his relationship with the Cerns is. complicated.)

(The Cerns do call him Damian, but Tolliver had no idea, he isn't exactly a part of family dinner. Last he heard he had some little sister who he’d never met. So when Devo was like "my real name is... Damian Cern" Tolliver's response was a cover for him internally going "what the fuck what the fuck since when do i have a relative named Damian hold on????? did i forget a cousin or something????????? oh my god this is humiliating" Devo does not clarify and Tolliver is too proud to admit to not knowing so it's a good couple weeks after that when he finally learns how exactly theyre related)

[tearwolfe]

Can you ramble about your headcanons? I like headcanons :3

these are mostly going to be ruikasa because i'll be honest. they're the ones i think about the most. if you couldn't tell...

tsukasa: -transkasa real.. -he's bisexual. makes it 2x funnier when i draw him saying he's not gay (it's true to me). -he's really strong, but he doesn't build muscle very visibly, so he looks slim/limber. not really a headcanon as of whenever the mr showtime live was, but he's stupidly flexible. -he has a mullet to Me. (i am projecting) -sharp canines... -his eyes are more red than orange. -he actually has a really good poker face. -adhd -he has a hard time falling asleep, but once he's out, he is OUT.

rui: -doesn't really confine himself with gender labels. or sexuality labels. but he'll call himself gay because it's funny. -you guys know but. chubby rui real. -i always slap that blue gradient on his hair so he's less ugly (thank you to my friend kade for drawing him like that first). -he can sleep pretty much anywhere if you let him. -paints his nails (i usually draw them black). -his hair is long enough to put in a short ponytail. -autistic -he gets along with saki very well. -he smiles when nervous.

ruikasa (together..): -rui likes to poke fun at tsukasa's quirks, but if he knows it's something he's genuinely self-conscious about, he won't say anything. -tsukasa will steal rui's clothes but then complain about his fashion choices. -they're both annoyingly clingy (tsukasa denies this). -tsukasa's the type of guy to go "hey rui we should practice kissing. for shows. in case we need to kiss for a role. not related to anything else." -tsukasa fell first, rui fell harder. -tsukasa starts to put a lot more effort into his lunches when he realizes that rui is always mooching off of him (true love).

ok here's some other, misc prsk headcanons. i don't think about the other characters As Much as these guys, but they still plague my brain.

gender/sexuality hc: -genderqueer ichika (haven't decided What so i'll leave it at that) -butch shiho -all of ln is lesbian -genderqueer or bigender haruka (i don't have a reason for this it just makes sense) -lesbian minori (pretty much canon) -all of vbs is gay -trans kohane -transmasc mafuyu -transfemme mizuki (this is pretty much canon, but some people prefer nb mizuki so i'll specify my interpretation) -bigender nene other headcanons: -shizuku is taller than tsukasa. i cannot stand the fact that she is canonically shorter than him i will not allow it. -chubby emu, honami, kohane. there might be more that i am forgetting. but that's my propaganda <3

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

more self-indulgence!!

one part headcanons one part this is just how they are in my AU probably—uh... watching a parade? idk actually. i just. drew them.

because... i felt like it.... there are still missing characters because spider-man has five million supporting characters which is truly both a blessing and a curse (also like, i didn't include any foes or villains lmao but rest assured at least two of peter's rogues are queer...)

i decided this is like 2019 or something for?? no real reason other than i guess a lot of the adults finally being out or whatever... idk... that would make peter and his friends around 30-32 on average (well no felicia would be like 34) so still youngish but also definitely Adults™...

the kids are meant to be late teens early 20s but drawing that very specific age group is like, way difficult... also all the youths are short compared to peter's friend group of exclusively 5'9" to 6' people XD (well gwen and harry are shorter so i guess it's fine XD)

some of these are more firm than others. like. should randy be straight? i dunno. is aunt may straight or are all the alive parkers bisexual lmao? idk. what about literally all of the teenagers except andi? i have no clue and a lot of the stuff with them is waaaay later and I am not anywhere close to, so i just put them all in rainbows cause why not! but i do think janine is a token heterosexual in this instance lmao—see, not ALL of my AU versions of characters are queer, just most of them

also i'm going to put a few close-ups/crops below the cut just because it's hard to see them in the lineup without zooming in or w/e

obviously felicia and peter are bisexual and flash is... probably also bi? but i'm really still not sure... but she is trans :) and they're probably poly together but even after writing man-spider i'm genuinely... not actually sure if felicia is peter and flash's girlfriend or not 😂 they've got SOMETHING going on with the three of them but what it is, idk... i think peter is definitely polyamorous regardless, it's just a question of whether their relationship is or not.

red and blue hearts on peter's cheek technically poly but double as spider-man LMAO—plus earplugs cause pride is loud…

obviously felicia's also into leather and bdsm and stuff (and so is peter...) so i included some little hints of that... but didn't bother including any of the kink flags cause there's only so much i can fit tbh a collar works well enough.

i made his tie teal satin because of the teal ribbon for sexual assault awareness. but just a hint, cause i don't think he would be comfortable being public about that. he's out and proud as a bi jewish dude with a trans wife but he's really not out about being a survivor to anyone except a few very close and trusted friends/family. similar for kaine. so a teal necktie is just something for him. he's been through a lot in his life but he's happy 🙂

anyway i think i made flash's hair shorter than it's supposed to be here but it's fine, maybe she got a trim or something

supportive aunts!! i already established like 3 years ago or something in some offhand line that MJ's aunt is an Eccentric Lesbian (huh wonder where she got that from—) so i'm sticking with the lesbian spinster aunt there. I don't know about Aunt May though. I always kind of waffled there on whether she's like straight, or bi... cause I like the thought of old ladies in love. I think maybe they have some kind of queerplatonic thing going on or something... either way she is proud of her boy :>

MJ I never know so I just go with the umbrella—she's Queer. What kind? Gender? Sexuality? Yes, (relatable)

What matters is that she is always Glamorous.

i don't have any deep reason for making Glory bi, i just thought it would be fun, and also cause I like Glory/MJ... they are so fun... they compliment each other so much... I know that can be a just straight gal pals thing but listen, i like it

Gwen is the lesbian who's a teeny tiny bit bisexual but mostly into women. Also: not dead. lmao.

Harry is 100% gay (and divorced) but I still don't know when/if he ever comes out. Liz will def be out as a lesbian by the late 20-teens though cause I think she starts exploring her sexuality w/in 3-4 years after she and harry get divorced... also cause i thought it would be funny if liz and lily (who i did not draw) hooked up LOL

i didn't draw the babies because i ran out of steam for that but they would be... what... i think normie might actually be in like 5th grade or something at this point now that i think about it... stanley would be like... 5 though

Hobie is bisexual almost entirely because when I read the newspaper strip and the prowler showed up, he and Peter were giving me Flirtation Vibes so he is bi, and also punk because I enjoy the aesthetic Spider-Punk has going on, so even though that's not going to be a thing in this universe, I still like to make some little nods to it. also it just feels like a fun combo. he's a kind of alt guy, he's not very straight, he's not very normal, he's had issues in his life trying to figure out who he wants to be... it feels like it just fits well... i like it

he gets MORE punk AFTER college and shaves half his head etc. (instead of having his twist-out), which is funny to me but you know, it takes time to figure shit out sometimes... i didn't draw his girlfriend Mindy (wife? idk if/when they get married in this AU...) cause like i said, omg, so many people to draw... also idk if she's like, straight or what. probably? there's gotta be SOME straight people XD how does she feel about hobie's fro-hawk...? hmm

ah, cain and abel ben (and janine)

Ben is bisexual... like Peter. They both prefer women to some extent, but they have slightly different tastes (...well maybe not SO different) and Ben is more uh, subby? LOL—at least with Janine. Switchy. Unlike Peter, Ben has/had? a crush on Robbie LMAO but that's more of a like, mentor/mentee admiration kind of thing... not like a "i wanna make out with you" situation. Robbie is far too old for him. and also happily married.

In my notes I have that Ben was ofc also abused by Warren but a lot of his was medical and psychological (some physical as well), but... i would think there is an undercurrent of medical sexual abuse there nonetheless esp as much of this w/ warren hinges on sexual power dynamics and control, but i won't get into that here as it's partly still being developed and I don't want to get TOO heavy on this post lol

Kaine is, like I mentioned, a little complex and i'm not 100% sure about (also aracely painted his nails) I think that he's ~bi/pan in general? but maybe not? could be only into men? or not into anyone at all. but the thing about Kaine in this universe is that he's got a difficult relationship with sex and sexuality because of what he was put through by Warren, so while I don't necessarily think he's asexual I do think in this universe he's a little bit sex-averse or sex-repulsed and has a difficult time dealing with that stuff. He also just really desperately wants to be loved and he doesn't care who as long as it's someone, which is toxic in a lot of ways i think... being around Aracely would imo help him a lot in coming to terms with having like, normal, platonic, non-sexual, non-romantic, healthy (or at least healthier) interpersonal relationships, and understanding things like that... idk where he's at by 2019 though, mental health-wise... but yeah i wasn't really sure what colors or patterns to put on his clothes so i went with the dark purple and gray tones since they are the kind of common recurring colors on a lot of ace-spec flags including repulsion and related stuff.

as a sidenote as someone who has a kind of aro and ??? relationship w/ my own bisexuality etc. (idk if i consider myself ace necessarily but it's not totally irrelevant) i also don't want to like, Just Make Him Ace because trauma (but obv betty is aro at least) cause it's not that simple etc etc etc but also there absolutely are people who consider themselves asexual from trauma or for whom it's informed by trauma (though trauma would inform any aspect of interpersonal relationships, of course, and for kaine it does)... idk idk kaine is always like, much to think about for me. He's def not like... "normal" in the eyes of cishet patriarchal culturally christian society. I mean he's disabled for one thing,

ofc peter has many similar traumas esp after meeting kaine and HE'S def not asexual (though peter is also disabled)

idk idk i am always thinking about it and never quite sure. kaine has a very complex and largely negative relationship with his body.

i was also considering genetic mosaicism (46,XY/47,XXY) but i did not include any intersex colors etc. because a lot of this wasn't fully hammered out yet when i drew this. I think Kaine is probably intersex though. It's not necessarily obvious to anyone who looks at him, but it's also not something that comes as a huge surprise to him.

obvs the tiny hint of a teal ribbon is the same as for Peter, sexual assault/abuse awareness, and it's small and easily hidden. probably was given to him by someone trying to be supportive (ben and janine maybe? idk)—i mean ALL of it is from other people really. the sticker on the noise cancelling headphones? def from Aracely or someone else. his presence in the first place? dragged out of the house by a 19 year old girl. he didn't even have time to do his hair and he would rather be drinking coffee in a dark room alone :/

Anyway, Janine. Less complicated.

I decided at some point Janine is straight (but not narrow, as they say) so she gets an ally shirt lol. Like Peter and Kaine, I put her in some teal including a little ribbon bow on some satin ballet flats—obviously her history as a sexual abuse survivor etc. is very, very public in contrast to peter and kaine (and arguably ben, though i don't think he necessarily conceptualizes his abuse by warren in the same way, in part because it was very medicalized) but... it's not like she would want to draw a lot of attention to that. but i also do just like teal so i think it looks nice.

like those are just genuinely cute shoes 😂 but also it's to tie it all together.

the kids, the teens, the youths,

i really don't... feel like i know enough about them to figure out sexualities or if any genders are involved, and I'm a million years away from including them in any fics so a lot of that stuff simply has not been built out right now cause finer details aren't relevant to me yet (like. i'm in 2007 rn? miles is like... 8. lmao), so I just put them in some fun rainbow-y stuff. teens like going to pride and wearing rainbows right??? i mean i did.

i'm SURE miles and ganke have got something going on i just don't know What Exactly. nerdy friends...? nerdy boyfriends?? something else??? miles is wearing a tracksuit to hide his spider-man costume lol.

aracely is an enigma, i don't think anyone knows what's going on with her tbh. she is there to have candy thrown at her. she seems to like boys at least a little though.

i actually do know what's up with Andi cause she's actually supposed to first appear in 200...8? when she's like. 10. she is trans, and she is also why Flash was able to accept herself more and also why Flash transitioned. Flash wanted to be a good role model to help Andi feel good about herself and to not make her feel like there was something wrong with her, and then later re: transitioning, Flash saw how happy Andi was and wanted to also... be happy like that even though she was scared. and Andi herself really was (will be, idk i never know what tense to use for this stuff) helped a lot by Flash trying to self-improve, by having a supportive babysitter, and a dad who loves her, and so on and so forth... makes a big difference!

Andi and Flash are kind of intentional contrasts here in that, where Flash took until her late 20s to really fully be able to accept herself, Andi is the kid who goes on puberty blockers in high school and knew right away she wasn't what everyone said she was. (Flash had like, hints of that, but really didn't even realize until around ~19 years old and wasn't able to act on it for like... 9 years whereas Andi just really got motoring lol)

also Andi is a lesbian 💖

As far as Betty! I wasn't sure about her at first but I was chatting with Kita and I was like, thinking about her relationships and stuff and thinking, you know, she seems kinda aro... and then i was like... I can just do that. If I want. So I did. so now Betty is aromantic (at least, in my little alternate universe) and ALSO bisexual 😂 Peter's social circle is just a bunch of quirky bisexuals. bi4bi4bi

also dolled the fuck up. Betty said "overdressed? i don't know her. a pearl necklace goes with everything." (...😜)

I also am not sure about Randy (he also just has not come up yet i guess...) but I was thinking, you know, IDK, maybe he's straight as well. two whole straight people. i know he's dated a couple of girls in 616 (...i mean... so have most of the male characters lol) including like, Norah... but I'm not 100% sure what I would do there. I did end up making him a little bit of a hipster 😂 he's probably like... heteroflexible or smth... 🤔

Maybe Randy is ALSO bisexual??? or queer of some flavor.............. at least seems to KNOW about community stuff

idek what the hell is going on with these four but Robbie and JJJ sure do run a bisexual-ass newspaper (...well now that i think about it peter doesn't technically work for them anymore by 2019 but i'm sure he drops the occasional photo) (still a lot of bisexuals)

jk jk there are plenty of other employees of presumably various sexualities including straight ones AND gay ones (probably?) but like, betty, glory, ben and peter are all bi here which struck me as amusing. Two 60-something year old men supportive by way of having a bunch of homos working at their newspaper. Also because it's funny to me to have Jameson be actually very chill about The Queers. something something "you don't tell me what to do in my private life, and i don't tell you what to do in yours!"

anyway that's it. have a gay day 🌈