#which would take representation away from lesbians

[soft-jihyo]

personally really hate the "devs should just make all characters bi so nobody feels excluded" take.

[l00se-can0n]

to continue talking about why i believe the political commentary of arcane is flawed, i want to discuss how the piltover-zaun conflict not getting a satisfying resolution hurts caitvi’s writing as a couple. i want to talk about them specifically bc they’re the only endgame couple in arcane and the worst takes i see about the show’s political commentary usually comes from caitvi shippers. i will start by saying that i LOVED caitvi in s1, which is why i’m so disappointed by how they were written in s2. while i understood why people were uncomfortable with caitvi due to caitlyn’s position as an enforcer and vi being a victim of police brutality, it didn’t bother me when i first watched s1 because caitlyn fit into the “good cop” trope and i believed that the series would end with her reforming the police force in piltover. my expectations ended up being subverted when i watched act 1 of s2 after seeing the dark turn her character had. i actually liked seeing caitlyn’s descent into darkness in act 1 because it demonstrated that even “good” people in corrupt systems can still abuse their power. i thought that she would eventually be redeemed since caitvi is the endgame pairing and that is the only way i could see the couple working. after watching act 2, i became less confident that caitlyn would get a proper redemption arc since we only see the aftermath of her actions and she gets offscreen development. again, it makes sense that she would grow less skeptical of the crackdown from noxus after 3-6 months, but it would be more impactful we see what led her there when in ep 3 she used the grey against civilians, threatened heenot, and nearly shot a child. i need to emphasize that the grey WAS used against civilians since the mv montage shows regular civilians running away from it and vi says it was used to “clear the streets”. even if the grey was only used against criminals, it is still a war crime because the use of chemical weapons is prohibited under the geneva conventions. the last time vi and caitlyn were together, caitlyn hit vi with her rifle on a place that vi was already deeply wounded from. the fact that their reunion is caitlyn hitting vi multiple times is a good example of how vi’s trauma is rarely explored by the writers, especially since she is so nonchalant about it. during her time in stillwater, vi was regularly beaten by enforcers, she should’ve been a lot more hostile towards caitlyn when they meet again. vi was one of the main characters who confronted piltover about their oppression of zaunites in s1, but in s2 when caitlyn becomes everything vi hates about piltover, it doesn't harm vi's perception of caitlyn at all. another thing i hated was vi having sex with caitlyn in a jail cell knowing that jinx is going to commit suicide. not only is it ooc for vi since she is shown to be very loyal to her family and is a victim of police brutality, but sexual assault by cops is very prevalent in prisons so it's tone deaf to viewers who experienced police violence. i know that the scene is supposed to be vi “reclaiming her trauma”, but is it really reclamation when her trauma is rarely explored? caitlyn is NEVER confronted by anyone for gassing civilians, falsely imprisoning zaunites, torturing zaunites, and raiding their homes; the fact that she never comes to terms with harming zaunites makes it feel like vi is settling. i understand that lesbian representation is important, but that doesn’t mean that we have to excuse bad writing, especially when said pairing is wrapped up in bad political commentary. pinkwashing and homonationalism are real problems and the way caitvi shippers become apologists of fascism and police brutality is reminiscent of how oppressive power structures justify xenophobia, racism, and aporophobia in the name of “protecting” queer people.

[softpine]

rambling about my brainstorming process for frozen pines in novel form, thought maybe someone would be interested in hearing it too :)

i considered having finn be the same age as caroline and co. so that the adults would have a more solid connection to finn's side of the plot later, but that never would have worked because if finn had met them while he was alive he would have gotten along with them like a house on fire... he never would've been lonely enough for the story to work. beth would take him under her wing because you know she loves a violent little spitfire, caroline would murder his parents (okay maybe not but she would definitely help him run away), and finn would start a shitty garage band with danny. the end.

so instead i decided that caroline, beth, and danny would be 5-6 years older than finn, so they were never attending the same school at the same time, but they were close enough in age that they felt the societal effects after his murder. i need asa's story to take place during the early 2000s because smart phones solve too many issues too quickly and i'm sick of it. anyway, the way it works out is that asa is born right after finn dies. so there's a bit of extra cosmic weirdness happening there. that means asa is born in the mid-80s so it makes sense why he and his family are treated so badly by the rest of the town, because like his mom was a biracial pregnant teenager whose boyfriend left her and shacked up with a woman... for simplicity's sake i'm having danny live in LA, so from the outside looking in, it seems like he's not involved in asa's life. danny is not very successful in his career in this iteration so he doesn't have the money to keep traveling back and forth like he does in frozen pines.

also, i'm majorly simplifying the camellia family situation (sadly isa is going to have to be a man because we simply can't have a lesbian couple in the 60s having a baby from IVF...) but stevie is still asa's cousin and she's still trans but this is 2001 so it takes many more years to get there and the journey is just different. i'm still trying to decide if i want asa to be the only POV character (aside from the prologue which is finn, but that's the only time we're getting finn's POV) so things will change depending on whether we're seeing her solely from asa's point of view or not. i'm still very early stages so idk yet. but either way, at the start of the book when they're all 17, she's still going by jett and using he/him etc. i keep messing up and writing stevie and i don't notice for multiple paragraphs 😭 it feels bad but i think it will be worth it because her side of the story will feel more poignant with a slow burn

basically i'm trying to make this as realistic as possible while still not having the queer characters be miserable all the time, but also not having their only plot motivation be 'being queer' because even though i obviously am appreciative of how far we've come with media, i hate how so much queer media boils down to being good representation these days. i find it so boring and limiting and also impossible to achieve that standard because everyone has a different idea of "good" representation.

anyway, it helps that caroline & beth are serving as a beacon of acceptance for the other queer characters - like, of course asa is more likely to come out as gay at a younger age when he knows his parents will accept him, and of course stevie is going to be more likely to find out that transitioning is even an option when she has already has a built in support system (especially because cara & beth lived in big cities where the scene is totally different and they can share that knowledge with her). so there are still going to be feel-good moments, just not in the same unrealistic, wish-fulfillment way that i used to write frozen pines. not that i have any regrets; i needed to see a more accepting world and i had a lot of fun sharing it with you all.

oh, also i scrapped the idea of them living in a small coastal town because stephen king has thoroughly cornered that market lmao and the only reason i wanted to do that anyway was because i loved brindleton bay so much. but now i get to choose whatever i want so i'm sticking with what i know and they're going to live in the midwest. so i can still get some of those small town corn field no grocery store for miles kind of vibes while also being conveniently close to a medium size city.

if anyone remembers me saying i might have to merge elaine and jada into one character to make them both more relevant... i've decided not to do that. but the only way i can make this work is by giving elaine a special ability too, so she's got alisa's power and alisa is no more. i thought about making stevie be the only one without an ability so we could get the "normal outsider" perspective, but ultimately i decided she needs to have one too or the group feels too disconnected. SOOO what we're working with now is: asa can see ghosts, jada can see deaths before they happen, elaine can see thoughts/memories of whoever she touches, and stevie can see the past but only in her dreams. i like that they're all sight-based and related to memories (ghosts are just another type of memory if you think about it). it puts in contrast finn's complete inability to see his own past. plus it gives the friends a reason to stick together and an explanation for their abilities -- they all appeared at the same time, when they witnessed aileen's death.

now that i'm writing this all out, i'm feeling like i need to have rotating POVs..... i just don't think i can accomplish all of this backstory and still have it feel meaningful without getting it from all sides. hm.

[lgbtpopcult]

What cool WLW projects do we know are coming in 2024?

Drive-Away Dolls

Arguably the most important representation of the year comes from a movie directed by one of the Coen brothers. Ethan Coen directs this wacky comedy that is very much in style for him.

Synopsis:

This comedy caper follows Jamie, an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend, and her demure friend Marian who desperately needs to loosen up. In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage

A game had to be added to this list and here it is, the best one. From the creators who gave us Life is strange. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage tells the story of four friends who experience a transformative summer in 1995. After 27 years of no contact, Nora, Swann, Autumn, and Kat are reunited by fate and forced to confront the long-buried secret that made them agree to never speak again all those years ago. From the teaser alone it is obvious at least two of them dated.

Pluto

A Thai gl from GMMTV, known for its successful Thai dramas. The story is the telenovela cliche we've always wanted. Two girls in love. One gets in an accident and her twin takes her place to find out who was behind her accident, the other girl is blind. The twin has to fake being the real one so has to be in a relationship with the blind girl and of course falls in love with her. Match made in fanfic heaven.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

It was announced so long ago people are getting frustrated. However, with both a writer and a director now attached to the project, and the strikes over, we have every reason to believe we will finally get to see the hit novel, that centers the love story between two closeted Hollywood actresses, come to life. Whether you loved the novel or were indifferent and didn't see what the fuss was about, it is a very successful wlw romance and we want to see it on screen!

The Paying Guests

The director that brought us Carol adapting a book by the author of Fingersmith? Yes please!

Speaking to Indiewire, Haynes revealed he’s developing an adaptation of Sarah Waters’ 2014 novel The Paying Guests. “It’s a three-part limited series that would need to be a British production, but it’s a really great novel.” Set in post-WWI London, the drama is part lesbian love story and part murder mystery following a down-and-out widow and her daughter, the latter taking up a relationship with one of their lodgers. Waters also wrote Fingersmith, which was adapted into The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook.

NCIS Hawaii season 3

One of our favorite pairings of last year, Kate and Lucy are the main couple of their show and they carry it well. They look good together, have progress and evolution in their relationship and have fun working together.

The Secret of Us

Thai channel CH3 is expected to hit us strong with this Thai gl. CH3 is big in Thailand so this one is a big deal. The story is the typical exes meet again trope and it's magnificent. It centers Doctor Fahlada, nicknamed Doctor Angel. She is trying to hide the pain after being abandoned by the woman she loved. But then...by chance that woman comes back into her life.

Whisper Me a Love Song

Our resident anime entry has to be Whisper me a love song. Based on a manga it is the story of Himari Kino. On the first day of entering high school, Himari Kino "falls" for her senior, Yori Asanagi, whom she watched singing with a band at the welcome party for new students. When Himari confesses her admiration to Yori, Yori misinterprets Himari's feelings as romantic love. However, before Yori realizes, she comes to fall for Himari anyway, and promises to win her affections for real.

Bad Sisters season 2

Bad Sisters is one of the best reviewed and hilarious shows on this list. Coming back for a season 2 was inevitable. Bibi, the lesbian sister, will keep entertaining us in 2024.

Station 19 season 7

One of the most enduring shows and wlw couples on TV are coming back for a season 7! That is a lot of seasons but Maya and Carina do still have that spark.

About Galaxy The Series

Part of the gl renaissance that is expected to go full force next year, this series is already hugely popular among Asian romance fans.

Synopsis:

‘About Galaxy’ is based on author Zezeho’s yuri of the same name, with a Thai title of “มูลค่าดาวล้านดวง”. The story revolves around Hong Yok, a designer who has a big scar on her face which led her to hide away from the public due to her inferiority complex. But something changed in her life when she met Note, a woman she was measuring clothes, and realized she is the same person who gave her that huge scar! However, despite the incident, she doesn’t outright despise her, and instead… feels safe. What will happen to the two women?

My Ex-Friend's Wedding

Kay Cannon ("Blockers") will direct from a script co-written by Taylor Jenkins Reid? Staring a group of friends trying to stop their friend from getting married? And one of them is queer? We're all in!

Arcane (Season 2)

It seems like forever since we first watched Arcane but we're definitely looking forward to season 2. Needs no introduction.

Dream the Series

We already have enough Asian dramas in this list but we couldn't leave out one of the most anticipated gl, Dream. The story is that of a woman that sees a girl in her dreams every night only to meet her in real life. While in real life they are friends in her dreams they do much more. She thinks her friend doesn't know about that what she doesn't know is that she also remembers everything they do in their dreams.

Harley Quinn the Animated Series season 5

Another season of our favorite criminal duo Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy? Yes please and thank you. These two, and this particular iteration of them, might be the best representation American television has ever given us.

Chaser Game W

Chaser Game W is the first gl produced by TV Tokyo so it has a historic significance for the advancement of representation for queer women in Japan. First episode airs January 8. Based on manga series "Chaser Game" written by Hiroshi Matsuyama & illustrated by Yukitaro Matsuyama

The story:

synopsis: Itsuki has been working in the "Dynamic Dream" game company for five years and is now appointed as the lead for a big Japanese-Chinese collaboration project, which she is fully motivated to work on. However, it turns out the Chinese company team is led by her ex, Fuyu, whom she one-sidedly broke up with back in university! After breaking up with Fuyu, Itsuki never dated anyone else and chose to focus on her work, all while not coming out to her family and coworkers... But when her ex-girlfriend suddenly appeared in front of her, her feelings immediately started to sway. Meanwhile, Fuyu always resented Itsuki for breaking up with her without saying why. She takes charge of the project and pushes impossible tasks onto Itsuki. While Fuyu plots her revenge, Itsuki is rekindling her unrequited love. What will the outcome be for these two opposites?

Vigil season 2

The first couple of episodes of Vigil season 2 will technically be shown in December 2023 (in the UK only) but we'll basically be able to watch it beginning 2024 and we're looking forward to it!

Several upcoming TV shows and movies have cast actors that make it obvious they'll have lesbian and bi characters but until we know whether the representation will be enough to be worth watching we're holding off on making that other, more elaborate, list.

[thunderstomm]

I was originally not going to make a post about this, but after seeing a few other posts about it, I wanted to make my own. I have a LOT to talk about.

TW: Transphobia, Homophobia, Ableism

If you don’t know what I’m taking about- there was a post made by a user, who’s name I will not disclose or share, who discussed how they would rewrite the new Monster High G3 Cartoon. While some of the points were mundane, or points of preference, others made me very uncomfortable, as they got rid of much of the diversity that G3 has brought into the Monster High Universe. I want to quickly go through three of the points that I felt were erasing these steps in diversity, and my thoughts on each one, and why I think that it’s iffy, to say the least.

First is the statement “all of the couples from G1 will stay together”. While this may read to some as a preference for the old couples, in the context of rewriting G3- it comes across as the erasure of both couples involving a neurodivergent character being the subject of a crush, and being seen as desirable and loved (Manny x Twyla), and what probably was the intended couples they wanted to seperate, the canonically queer ships. In particular, this is most likely against Clankie (and POSSIBLY an s2 ship which I won’t say by name because some people want to go in blind. Instead I will refer to it as 🧡💚.). In this rewrite context, wanting to take away queer relationships which many writers and designers for Monster High have fought for in many shapes and forms. G1 never had explicit queer characters, the closest things being a scrapped SDCC diary entry (Valentine x Spelldon), Post-Ending 3rd party statements (Clawdeen is a Lesbian, Rebecca x Venus, etc.) and implied characters (Kiyomi). While these are okay, they are NOT the same as explicit queer couples, which are arguably more important to push forward in the talk and scope of present and future representation.

While it is okay to prefer the G1 ships, in the context of bringing them back for G3, it erases these queer couples, and ignores the lore and universe of G3. In G3, Cleo and Deuce are exes. And if you don’t like that, you can still watch G1!! It’s not magically disappeared, the movies and shows and music is all still out there, and most of it is free! But, erasing Clankie, 🧡💚, and other potential queer ships in G3, for the preservation of a m/f ship isn’t okay.

On the subject of erasure, there is the statement “Frankie is still non-binary, but now uses she/they pronouns”. A character canonically using they/them in cartoons, especially ones made for kids, are uncommon. Honestly, I don’t even know if I could name 10, and that says more about the state of non-binary representation than it does about me. While changing the pronouns of a cisgender character to gender neutral ones is often done in fandom, and often not a point of issue, taking a character who is canonically non-binary and solely uses they/them and giving them typically gendered pronouns erases that under represented group, and allows for transphobes to ignore the “they” in “she/they”, and only use “she” for the character. This is an issue in real life too, for many who use multiple sets of pronouns, including myself (they (preferred) / he) ! We deserve both of their sets of pronouns to be used, and people who only use they/them deserve to be referred to by and as they/them. These changes hurt everyone.

Then, we come to the one I see the most talk about, and the one that made me audibly yell “what the f-?!”- taking away Twyla’s canon autism diagnosis, and symptoms & traits, and replacing it with autism coding, so that she is easier to identify with. First of all- easier for who??? Neurotypicals ?? It is incredibly rare to see a character on kids TV outright say “I am autistic”, and Twyla is wonderful as representation. Twyla will not resonate or be relatable to every person- but that is true for all characters, not just autistic ones. Autistic people are not a monolith, it is a spectrum, with many different ways to present itself. Also… taking away all of her traits and symptoms to make her more relatable? These traits and symptoms are what would have made her “autistic coded”, and without them, you have a character who is NT.

Autism isn’t a quirky word you can use to describe anyone, it is a disability, that myself and many others have, and see misrepresented time and time again. And to say that a good example of it is not good, and would be better off to be erased and replaced with coding is insane. Coding is okay, but that’s all it is. Real spoken representation matters so much to me, and so many other people, even if the characters we see are not identical to us in those symptoms and traits they exhibit. These characters should not be changed, but rather, more autistic characters, with different presenting symptoms and traits, should be introduced !

You can like G1, you can prefer G1, but that does not mean that you have to make a sanitised version of G3, that makes it identical to G1. In terms of representation, there is no arguing that G3 has G1 beat. The poster said on their post that “any new characters would be made more relatable”, but… to who? Because I relate to a lot of the G3 characters more than the G1 ones, and I grew up loving G1! It’s not been wiped, all of the media still exists for you to watch, and make headcanons for ! If you like G1- good for you! But please, stop trying to make G3 exactly like it. Because change is inevitable in these kinds of reboots, and it allows for the representation some want to take away.

Thank-You for those who read all the way!

[the-heart-of-leo]

Nick's so far under the bus that they might as well change the oil while they're under there.

Okay, because I'm a bit of a masochist and I have adblockers...

I'm going to count how many times James throws Nick under the bus:

@2:40 – 'This fell upon Nick as well, as a non-binary person on the ace spectrum, they wanted to include asexuality and non-binary representation to our videos. But because Nick's experience is not universal – There is no universal experience – people felt that we were delegitimizing their own experiences because we focused on Nick's.' (The reason we were acephobic was because we (meaning Nick) didn't think other ace people had problems and when it was pointed out to us by The Ace Couple that ace people did, in fact, face discrimination and conversion therapy, we (meaning James) accused them of homophobia and sicced their followers on them.)

@6:38 – 'The work Nick and I were doing on the channel...' (Because Nick was here too! Not just me!)

@10:46 – 'I was much more interested in the production of the videos than the writing of them, at this point. So after three or four videos, I brought Nick on as a main writer for the channel. The idea is that they would write the vast majority of the scripts. I would film, voice, and edit the videos and we'd split the money that came in.'(Nick was the main writer for the channel! In case you forgot...)

@14:40 – 'And then my mom died... and I became completely useless. I couldn't think straight, at all, so Nick had to completely take over writing duties.'(DID I MENTION NICK WAS THE MAIN WRITER. ALSO MY MOM DIED; FEEL SORRY FOR ME)

@19:44 – 'When Nick got back, he believed the script needed a first page rework. This was also when he told me he was going to be moving back to Ontario permanently soon as he wanted to live closer to family and live in a bigger city with more opportunities. This was a punch to the gut for me. We'd been living together since 2015 and had become quite dependent on each other. I felt like there was no way I could make this movie without him.'(We couldn't make the movie we promised because SOMEONE DECIDED TO MOVE and since I'm co-dependent on him, I moved with him and screwed up everything. Oopsie.)

@26:32 – 'But by accepting as many sponsors as we did, which became very important when Nick and I started living apart and suddenly had two rents to pay, we ended up needing to produce even more videos. Which, along with the work on Telos and making sure everything was okay with my dad while living thousands of kilometers away meant I had even less time for writing – putting more stress on Nick and leading to even more copy and pasting from me.' (See what you did, Nick?! We have to pay TWO rents now and we need to make even MORE videos. I'm not creepily co-dependent on my asexual ex-roommate at all!)

@32:50 – 'I know what misinformation had made its way into our past videos. That was not something we intended; in some cases it was information I was told by people I considered experts. In other cases it was information that we had researched. In other cases it was things that Nick had learned in university.'(Nick told me some of this stuff! ((which is fair because NICK ADMITTED HE DOESN'T DO RESEARCH)) In other cases it was because I assumed I knew what happened because I'm the smartest person I know so of course Lesbians had it easier! I just forgot that Radcliffe Hall's books were banned and destroyed because of that head injury I talked about earlier.)

And here's an honorable mention where the smug “I'm smarter than you” BS comes to visit:

'To those who say I plagiarized the plot from the novel Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix – Read the book. It's nothing like the plot of the movie. And 'The Final Girl' is a trope in horror movies so if using the Final Girl trope is plagiarism then basically everyone who's made a slasher movie since Texas Chainsaw Massacre owes the Toby Hooper estate some money.'

So, much like how James doesn't understand why people aren't upset at him because of citation issues, he doesn't understand that it's not the fact that he's using the 'Final Girl' trope... it's the fact that he stated the book as a favorite of his and then... suddenly he's writing a movie about the aftermath of the Final Girl. And given the plagiarism, it can not be taken in good faith.

First off, if you just google 'First Final Girl', it just says Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the earliest examples. Another possibility for the 'First Final Girl' was actually Black Christmas which was released the same day in Canada so it is literally tied.

Secondly; the final girl trope is not required for slasher movies. One of the first 'proto-slasher' movies was actually Psycho so there were a few good decades between that and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (I could try and make a case that Lila Crane should count as a Final Girl; maybe even Mrs. Bates/Norman as a subversion... but I'm not that invested or interested.)

So... James was true to form, he just wanted to be a smug asshat and try and seem smart over something easily googled.

[sawxz]

⠀⠀MY AMANDA YOUNG HEADCANONS

these are all based on my own thoughts, or to bring representation and awareness to things i and other people experience, are, or identify as. if you don't like these headcanons, don't interact with this post.

⠀⠀·⠀⠀thought that she had a crush on hoffman for the longest time, leading her to be bisexual–now she realizes it was more of a sibling dynamic between the two and is questioning being lesbian

⠀⠀·⠀⠀she was born intersex and currently identifies as a female using she/her pronouns

⠀⠀·⠀⠀born and raised in germany with both parents being german, leading her to have german as her native language. she lived in germany until she was ten, her family relocated to canada, which made her learn english and pick up on canadian french, though she still speaks german around her parents since they never cared to learn english or canadian french

⠀⠀·⠀⠀went through severe trauma that caused her to have bpd and ends up getting attached to people quite quickly

⠀⠀　　　⠀⠀　got attached to lynn because of how sweet she was towards her, despite the fact that she was constantly angry due to fear of losing john. when lynns collar went off, she looked at the body in terror, feeling remorse for what she did towards lynn before jeff shot her

⠀⠀·⠀⠀giant fear of being in cars or learning how to drive due to being in a horrific car accident at the age of twelve, she prefers to walk everywhere unless it's a days walk away, if it is, she'll only take public transport since buses have more impact endurance

⠀⠀·⠀⠀listens to a lot of music to pass free time and distract her from auditory hallucinations she has, music is the only way she knows to make them stop

⠀⠀·⠀⠀needs constant background noise no matter what she's doing because of an intense fear of being alone, the noise tricks her brain into thinking someone else is there with her

⠀⠀·⠀⠀giant fear of death, no matter how suicidal she felt, she never did it due to being scared of what would come after. when jeff shot her, her last few moments of consciousness were spent panicking about what would happen now. reincarnation? spirit? pure darkness? what will happen to her

⠀⠀·⠀⠀at some point, her self h@rm addiction got bad again, so bad she would be at a constant point of hitting the fat layer. lawrence always had to stitch her up whenever this happened

——————————————————————

there may be more added to this at later dates, but for now this is everything. thank you for reading.

[noodle-shenaniganery]

I wish we had more schizo-spec representation that was just, y’know. A Guy. A Chill Dude, if you will. A Man In A Situation.

So often, schizo-spec characters are either The Crazy One In The Corner or The Insane Killer, and I think those are just really ridiculous ways of portraying such mental illnesses, y’know? Can’t we have more characters where their mental illness isn’t all there is to them? Like, “Meet Hannah. She’s a lesbian with two cats, a barista girlfriend, and she was diagnosed with schizoaffecfive disorder two years ago. She really likes chocolate muffins.”

To be clear, I don’t want to take away from the fact that some of these conditions can be life-ruining and truly devastating in some cases. These are serious mental illnesses, after all. I’d just like more representation of those who aren’t fully encompassed by that one, singular aspect of their identity.

One idea I had in specific was a sitcom (situational comedy) about a schizophrenic man in his late twenties who moves into a new house. It’s small, but surprisingly cheap, so he decides to take the deal. However, the twist would be that the house is haunted by several spirits which do not want people living in the residence. They try to scare him with all the classic horror movie tricks—but none of them work. He assumes that they’re simply hallucinations, and, honestly, he’s seen far worse. He just jots them down in his mental list of “I should talk to my friends (or therapist) about this” things and moves on. And his friends, most of whom also have stigmatized mental illnesses like BPD, DID, HPD, BIID, etc., are a big help in his life and would be the main side characters. I know that such an idea would have to be handled exceedingly carefully, but, I dunno… I’d like to see it.

Would anyone else? I’d honestly love to know.

[overheard-at-camp-half-blood]

(Unpopular? ) pj opinion, the possibility to join the Hunters of Artemis should have been open to not girls and older people too. Lesbian relationships are forbidden, too, so why would she care if there are other genders? And, if the goal was aroace rappresentation, why limit it to young girls, risking to reinforce the stereotype that only young and immature people can be aroace and taking away rappresentation from aroace males, whom already don't have a lot of it?

What do you think?

Somewhat disagree, but I do think there are many flaws with the writing of the Hunters, but I also don’t think it’s “taking away representation away from aroace men” because aroace people can exist outside of the Hunters.

My issue is that Rick only wrote aroace people in the Hunters, or if a character became aroace, they immediately got shoved in the Hunters.

Full disclosure, the Hunters of Artemis did not exist in the myths, at least not as they exist in PJO, but she did have people who followed her around, and while there were some men, most, I believe were women.

That being said, one thing about Artemis in the myths is that she is a protector of women, especially unmarried girls, which in Ancient Greece, was a big thing, because there weren’t many Gods that protected unmarried women and girls specifically.

So in a way, yeah, it does make sense that Artemis would have a group of young girls that she would protect, and would choose to protect women specifically, especially from men.

I just hate how Artemis was framed as a man-hater rather than someone who protected young girls.

[alexissara]

The Very Best Characters Of 2024

I’m a character focused writer always aiming to make the best characters I can to tell the best stories I can so I love to look back at all the media I took in and think of which characters really blew me away that year, who am I taking with me as I go on making new characters and new art in the world. I will not be counting any of my own characters this year despite the fact you can in fact go to Patreon.com/alexissara right now and read the rough draft of Love Beyond The Holy Light volume 1. Being 100% honest, this list would be mostly Love Beyond The Light characters if I did that and the stories not officially published yet so here we go, my favorite characters that weren’t by me.  I did have a 2023 list you can check out here if you like since there will be no repeats from last year's list. 

10. Harleen and Harley [The Stage Case Of Harley and Harleen]

While Harley is at the bottom of this list it’s not that she is at least place but that my love for Harleen in this book can’t be detached from my love of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy more generally so I think it’s fair to put her at the bottom here even if this version of Harley may just be my favorite character on this list. In this book Harleen and Harley are both fantastic characters and their work as a plural system together makes for a fantastic set of interactions between the characters giving different dynamics that are fun and in general their unity is just great. I love these two and I couldn’t ask for more from my iconic bisexual clown girls. This might be the best version of the character which even with a ton of awful Harley’s out there is extremely high praise for all the fantastic ones out there. This Harley still feels really real but she also feels like she could grow into any of the great independent Harlies who end up with an Ivy [in this case they would be together from childhood but that would be the only major difference]. 

9. Neve Gallus [Dragon Age: The Veilguard]

While Veilguard’s characters are mostly just kinda saying their gimmicks and traits, I still loved Neve a whole lot. Neve just has a kind of body you simply don’t get to see in games and has the hard boiled detective persona which is still very rare to see in women, she is so many flavors of refreshing to see and engage with and I love her for it. 

8. Magilou [Tales Of Berseria]

She’s just so goofy, I love my silly goofy girl. I love her so much she is always up to some trouble, she’s causing problems on purpose and she is just overall a blast. Her subtle arc over the game is really nice too it’s great seeing her develop while maintaining her persona she developed for himself. A lot about Magilou is spoilers but she really is just a delight and certainly among the very best characters the Tales of Series has ever produced and perhaps among the top characters in action RPGs. 

7. Saffron [Potionomics] 

Potonomics is a game jam packed with great characters but I only wanted to pick one to show up on this list and well Saffron is my favorite of the bunch. Saffron's past is really great and while the rest of the game sadly fails to follow up on the questions her storyline provides she actually makes The world way more interesting along with being sexy.  She's also really fun romantically and dating her is just a blast, I love her so much.

6. Yako [She Loves to Cook and She Loves To Eat]

An extremely rare case of explicitly canon asexual lesbian existing in media. Representation is nice but then add to that that she’s fucking funny, a great friend, allowed to have depth and trauma too and seems to be in the starts of a background romance while the main couple is finally getting together and well you have a recipe for a really perfect character. She Loves to Cook and She Loves To Eat is a masterpiece and Yako is an important piece of that puzzle. 

5. Olive [My Dragon Girlfriend]

Trans Lesbian Vampire, let’s go!  Olive is one of the characters who basically every year could be on these lists. Olive gets a ton of love in My Dragon Girlfriend which means we are graced with more of this anxious ball of lesbian energy from bonus smut comics on Patreon to little scenes in the comic to full focus. She is just great, you cannot underestimate the power of a cute transbian. 

4. Sylvia [Mice Tea]

Trans Rich, demisexual, sapphic sometimes snake girl, I love you.   I haven't even finished all her endings yet in the game so I actually have more Sylvia to engage but I figured I had to he honest without even seeing everything of her on offer. She was just top rated. I really think she's basically only likely to go higher. Who knows maybe in the 2025 list she'll be number one. 

3. Valentine [Sunset Phoenix]

Lesbian Mob Boss!  Valentine is a fucking mess, she wants to die so bad and she punishes herself. While her self harm is over the top anime styles played with some comedy it is a woman who ultimately is self harming as a weapon to fight because the guilt in her tells her she had to fight, that she has to keep moving forward.  She’s intense, sexy and a whole lot of fucking fun, she is among the coolest characters ever made. 

2. Tama [Sword Of The Necromancer]

A plucky bandit girl who ends up finding the one thing worth giving up herself, treasure and anything else for, the woman she loves. Tama is brash, She's hot headed, she's passionate and she's really just perfect. I was so captivated by her right away. Her voice performance in the game is great and while the little bits of art in game are limited they are used well to captivate her emotion at different times really making a spectacular character who I can’t help but want to see more and more of. 

1. Claire François [I’m in Love With The Villainess]

I am already weak to Clair’s type of character but in Volume 2 Clair goes from a trope I like to a character I love and Volume 3 further Highlights Clair as a standout fictional character. This bisexual legend gets to genuinely grow as a person, realize her class position and the corruption of her class then try to do things about it and struggle with it ultimately leaving her life of wealth to live as a commoner with her girlfriend and raise 2 adopted kids. She has such a great arc, one of the best character arcs around in the ways she grows but keeps core attributes and she is flawed still the whole way through doing awfully dumb shit. 

[analviel]

You know that one post shitting on Joker? Like 'Superman gives pity laugh' because his jokes are so lame? So in the community, every city has that hero mascot right? Like the main man, usually Justice League adjacent, so if there are hero representatives, a city probably got a villain mascot. The Batkids get a lot of shit for having a lameass villain.

Dick regularly cries to Bruce about this: "Do something about this B! Don't you see your children are suffering?! Jason is being bullied by the Flashes just because they have cool villains!"

(That was very much intended pun.)

Jason, holding Barry in a head lock while shaking down Wally -with a Bat stamped glove that's glowing and producing weird staticky sounds while Barbara and Tim watch from the sidelines taking notes- as Bart cackles at them: Do you not care for us at all!

Duke, screeching at the top of his lungs: He is not the Gotham villain!

Steph: We've got the Riddler, people!

Cass: Poison Ivy.

Steph: What? No, she's got her moments but Riddler actually represents the aspects of the standard Gotham insanity. We gotta think representation Cass!

Cass: Lesbian.

Damian: If we are talking about Gotham insanity, I believe Dr. Quinzel is a much better candidate.

Tim: You only say that because she recently called herself your nemesis.

Damian: Clearly, not even insanity can blind one so much they lose all sense, as despite appearing in your time, she has seen me as the superior Robin, I have recognition in the streets, whereas what did you have other than their pity.

Tim, who has an entire Rouge's gallery who's thoughts almost immediately went to Anarky 'want to do good despite struggling in his methods', General 'generally unpleasant boy who is inclined to animals and had usurped Anarky's position by rendering him paralyzed', and Ra's Al Ghul 'Ra's Al Ghul enough said if he trips on the goddamn stairs and his Pits spontaneously combusted Tim would happily hand Jason a get Tim to do whatever you want coupon', muttering: ..... I know who my Rouge's gallery mascot is.

Barbara: What about Harvey? Literally the duality of Gotham crazies, and he was district attorney so how's that for representative.

Jason: What? Ew, no, he's white.

Dick: Was he?

Duke: Uh, you're all sleeping on Catwoman? I mean, someone says Catwoman and they think Gotham.

Cass: Someone says Riddler they have to think if it was Gotham or Keystone.

Dick: Someone says Catwoman and everyone thinks of rooftops, Batman, and a Robin shooed away to the other end of the city.

Steph: What about Zsaz?

Everyone:......

Duke: Who?

Steph: Yeah, fair.

Everyone talking over each other on which hero is really the best representative:

Damian: Should bring honor-

Tim: -monologues are at least-

Steph: The design you know, we don't want a fashion disaster-

Cass: -should compliment our mission-

Babs: -makes at least a bit of sense-

Jason: -someone I don't want to put a bullet in-

(My vote is actually on Scarecrow.)

[garaks-huge-naturals]

the frustrating aromantic representation of chuck tingle's "bury your gays"

i feel like i should preface this by saying that i'm a huge chuck tingle fan and, representation aside, i greatly enjoyed his book. so this is not like, a hate take down. this will contain spoilers for bury your gays, you are warned.

the parts i have issues with will be more towards the end and are marked.

a quick synopsis: misha is a queer horror writer who is told to either kill off his gay characters after getting them together, or let them live and be straight (for the algorithm, ratings, etc). while he is reeling from this he begins being stalked by the monsters/villains of his past works. plot happens and these monsters are really nanobot contractions from his studio's fx company. misha survives these attempts on his life (and his boyfriend's and best friend's), eventually giving a heartfelt award speech about the need for a shift towards queer joy. when he comes back to work the entire studio is like decked out in pride flags and the now stereotypically gay management tells him that queer is IN! even better, it's profitable (according to the algorithm). but these nanobots are still out there. so they go to the fx studio to insert a virus that takes them down, the best friend, tara, being an unprecedented aroace that the algorithm has no information on due to a lack of content, is able to circumvent the nanobots and take them down!! happy ending!! yippee!!

i'll be going in order of the book, touching on the times where tara's identity is relevant

tara's aspecness is established almost immediately when she says "you know i don't swing that way...i don't swing any way, baby." classic aspec joke, i have no issue with this.

its first explicit mention is on page 42, "tara is aromantic and asexual, which has always made me appreciate her take on relationship advice." ok this part is so real. we are so good at that.

ok now we get into the main stuff. Tara says, "do you realize how hard it is to tell your parents you're asexual?" this part is true, and in comparison to misha coming out as gay. and i really appreciate it highlights the strange societal position aspecs are in!! it's hard to affirm an identity defined by a lack. and even harder for baby wanting parents to accept an identity that is largely incompatible with the nuclear family model. as this is in reference to like sex -> having a child, mentioning just the asexuality makes sense. but it is still weird to not mention how hard explaining aromanticism would be considering aces can more easily have straight passing relationships. let's begin a tally: ace mentions: 2, aro mentions: 1.

(!) time skip we are now towards the end. misha is giving his heartfelt speech, "i call on all of you to usher in a new era of stories where the gay, or bi, or lesbian, or asexual, or pansexual, or trans character lives happily ever after. buy those stories. make those stories profitable." we are now entering the territory here i begin to get a little angry. fandoms and drama in shows are so closely tied with romance. they are profitable. they are like, the lifeblood of ao3, etc. people also have this notion that you need a partner to be happy, and that this is a universal goal. so characters and story arcs that stray away from this tend to be, y'know, less profitable. and since this is extremely relevant to aromanticism as an identity and important to debunk, the lack of a mention of aromanticism is frankly stunning. our stories are not wanted, we have no characters to live happily ever after. because we are not profitable. we don't get that joy. so where are we? this is a nitpick but i find it strange that misha would forget to mention like, entirely half of his friend's identity. ace mentions: 3, aro mentions: 1

(!!!) this is the most egregious part to me. when i read this part i was genuinely so stunned that i started crying. ok so i've established that aros have very little representation. it is a fact that there is less aro representation than ace representation. especially in regards to non-ace aros. "there's a hero clad in pink, purple, and blue, the bi one...this continues on and on until every aspect of the community has been covered...tara steps up next to me, her eyes locked on the poster. "there' no asexual hero...they've got everyone up there besides an ace character...every fucking time." ok. so. a lack of representation for aspecs is like a Thing That We All Know. as also established, aros are not algorithm friendly, so i just see no plausible way that there is aro representation but not ace representation. and there's just this like, poetic irony to this. that aros are so forgotten, so uncared for, that the author of the fucking book forgot to even mention them. because there are three ways this shakes out here. either there is an aro in the line up and dr. tingle deprived us of the validation we need to justify our anger for a lack of representation (which effects us all but aros more). or he just straight up forgot to include us. or he's grossly conflating the two identities. there's no good option. anyway. ace mentions: 5, aro mentions: 1

here we have yet another mention of tara being ace, yet not aro, "my name's tara. i'm the asexual in the corner everyone's been ignoring." would be funny if aromanticism hadn't been grossly ignored once again. ace mentions: 6, aro mentions: 1

(!!!) time for tara to save the day (girlboss). "just pull up all the information you have on asexual and aromantic heroes...oh wait, that's gonna be pretty fucking difficult because there are almost no human asexual heroes represented in popular media, are there." like actually like the fuck. what the fuck. there are so little aro heroes that the author forgot about the one he had!! there are so little aro heroes that the author fucking forgot to mention how few there are. incredible. ace mentions: 10, aro mentions: 2 (ace mentions not quoted here but part of the rant)

so. thats the end of the book. it seems to me that dr. tingle might be a little confused. he's been a great supporter in the past of the aspec community. but there is a pattern of aro erasure in this book that frankly, pisses me off! but wait, there is more!

dr. tingle. babygirl. bestie. what the fuck is this? op explicitly said aroace character. and what do you do? you reblog with only an ace flag. do you not remember your character's own identity? or do you not acknowledge aros outside or aces? let's look at some more quotes from this post.

wow thanks for the solidarity dr. tingle (like, actually)!

what is this? whoopty fucking doo! aros totally dropped after their initial mention? again! but there is simply no precedent for this!!

i'd like to end this with a quote by dr. tingle.

glad you remembered the aces. maybe next time, remember the marginalized people you leave behind.

[omgthatdress]

Apparently, Molly is low-key a major gay icon, and honestly, I get it. After all, Molly did *really* like her pretty teacher, Miss Campbell. If you think about it, it makes sense that lot of future lesbians would absolutely love Molly. Most dolls in the 90s were hyper-feminine princess dolls, and Molly was... not. I’d imagine the market for girls who want to play with dolls that aren’t pretty pink princesses is pretty large and the supply is pretty small. Just like there’s plenty of boys out there who want to play with something other than GI Joes. Molly (and AG in general) fits neatly into that market, which I’m sure is why she was so successful.

Last year, with its re-launch of the classic dolls, AG put a post on it’s instagram, “To all the Molly girls in the world, we see you and celebrate you,” which a lot of folks on Twitter took to see as confirmation that Molly was gay. When asked if they just outed Molly, AG gave a very non-committal reply. AG has always had a distinctly feminist slant, but it’s only ever toed the line of actually being LGBT inclusive. So far the only actual inclusion we’ve seen from them is a Girl of the Year with a pair of gay aunts. Even that tiny whiff of queerness was enough to set off a frothing horde of angry conservative moms screaming for a boycott. Since Mattell is only motivated by profit, I doubt we’ll get more representation any time soon, but we can dream.

Anyway, World War II was pretty gay to begin with.

A lot of historians point to WW2 as the starting point of the modern gay rights movement because before it, you had very many people living on isolated farms and never going very far from home in their lifetimes. With mass recruitment of men into the military, gay servicemen were able to find other men like themselves and build a community. It was much the same way for women who went to work in factories, joined the WAC or WAVES, and joined women’s baseball leagues. That’s right, the league of their own was gay as FUCK.

As far as Molly’s fashion goes, I love her lack of pink. I’m glad there’s a doll out there that isn’t hyper-gendered, and I wish there were more dolls like her out there.

With sweaters coming into fashion in the 1920s and 30s, the sweaters of the 40s started to see more complex and colorful knits coming into style.

Much of the fashion of this era was dominated by frugality. Europe’s couture houses were shut down, and fabric was rationed. Hems were shortened and baggy cuts and useless frills were done away with. Britain introduced the “Utility Scheme” which hired designers to make chic ensembles using as few resources as possible. Because of this, separates and outfits that could be made with scraps of fabric were very popular, and at-home knitting and sewing continued to be highly popular.

“After the United States entered World War II in 1941, companies began to experiment with various materials in anticipation of rationing and shortages. This example is a prototype from Nina-Fay Foundations, which uses plastic for closures and stays instead of the usual metal. Although metal was not ultimately rationed, the company was experimenting with alternatives to metal zippers and hooks in the event that it was needed for the war effort.”

(The Met Museum)

Women were taking men’s jobs and taking on masculine roles

But they were still expected to maintain a certain level of femininity, “To give our boys something to fight for.”

Because of all of this, the gender politics of the 1940s are really complicated and interesting.

[annimator]

AIGHT SO CARNIVAL OF CHAOS IS ONLY NINE DAYS AWAY, I’M GETTING IMPATIENT, AND ALL THE AUDITIONS AND CHARACTER INTROS ARE NOT HELPING OMG IM SO EXCITED FR FR.

(Spoilers below or smth idk)

• Tristan & Hannah were already 2 of the characters I was most excited about when the Carnival of Chaos cast photo was released, BUT THEN AS IT TURNS OUT, HANNAH’S A BISEXUAL FILIPINO-CANADIAN, AND TRISTAN’S NON-BINARY. THIS TYPE OF REPRESENTATION MAKES ME SO HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYY

• I SHIP THOSE TWO SO MUCH BTW, THEY’RE MY OTP FOR THIS SEASON

• Isabel’s gonna be an interesting character considering her whole influencer nun thing. Last I checked, James has more followers than her lmao

• Natalia’s audition is the best audition, argue with the wall. We appreciate Riya slander in this household and her talking about how the show needs her with all the twinks they nearly killed made me laugh my ass off (I DON’T DISLIKE RIYA BTW, I’M JUST VERY CONFLICTED ABOUT HER BECAUSE SHE’S AN INTERESTING BITCH OF A CHARACTER BECAUSE OF HER ARC THROUGHOUT S2 & ALL STARS)

• I saw a post on twt predicting that Benji’s gonna become a twist villain because of his perfectionist nature & the fact that he needs college funds or smth, and I’m honestly on that train that would be so interesting for his character.

• ALSO HE’S SUCH A FUCKING DORK, I LOVE HIM

• Literally all the VAs sound like they enjoy voicing their characters and that makes me rlly happy :D

• I was immediately intrigued by Alessio’s character as an artist myself. His design’s fucking awesome too, and him saying that he doesn’t have the best time connecting to others was so relatable HE’S JUST LIKE ME FR

• AWWW JADE HAS TWO MOMS :D Love how she made peace with her vitiligo and to use the winning money to give back to sea life and pursue marine biology

• Zaid’s gonna be an interesting character considering the fact that he’s a chef. Also he wants to give the money to his mom, that’s so fucking wholesome bro wtf-

• I’m mainly rooting for everyone that I just listed, but I genuinely like (or love in Hannah, Tristan, & Isabel’s case) every single character from this cast, until the actual season proves otherwise

• I wasn’t really rooting for Ted or Logan until the auditions dropped, but they seem pretty intriguing! Also Ted’s probably gonna be the villain of the season because of the whole poker player thing he has goin on

• Spencer’s gonna crush on Diego so hard lmao. Him saying that there isn’t gonna be a twist in the game that’ll throw him off course sealed his fate

• SPEAKING OF WHICH, Diego being so excited about meeting new friends and saying that Disventure Camp is gonna be the next journey of his life was so wholesome

• I’m also a lesbian Anastasia truther lol. Her and Marissa would be a great couple >:D

• I love women with abs and Marissa is no different

• I mean what who said that

• Richard’s canonically gay, happily married to his husband, and has a daughter, good for him

• Lynda has the same VA as best girl Lucia, I’m sold

• IVY’S SO SILLY AND AWKWARD. I LOVE HER

• Amelie’s intriguing ig :p

• Trevek better be gay & happy during this season btw, it’s what they deserve. The staff plot for this season’s gonna be interesting considering that Emily’s an intern, and will probably be third-wheeling them lmao.

• Also saw some people on twt complaining about all the gay pairings, and I just wanna say THIS IS DISVENTURE CAMP BITCH. WE LOVE GAY SHIPS IN THIS MOTHERFUCKER. TAKE YOUR HETERO ASS BACK TO TOTAL DRAMA- (/j btw. I saw the reboot seasons, mkulia and rajbow are adorable together)

• So yeah, I’m totally normal about the upcoming season :)

[im-me-he-says]

(Okay I wasnt going to post this but im actually pissed off.)

((TW INFERTILITY))

Dear Bridgerton fans who are unreasonably angry at Michael being Micheala in the new season,

You still have the book.

Let me bring up points that I've seen in arguments online:

1- "But her story is about infertility! Putting her with a woman changes everything!"

Queer women struggle with infertility too, in fact it can be very difficult for lesbians who wish to start families of their own as not everyone is able to adopt or find a sperm donor, and even if a sperm donor is found THEY CAN STILL HAVE INFERTILITY ISSUES.

Let me list off romance books that deal with cishet women and their infertility issues below-

Untamed Rose, Scandalous Mistress by Bronwyn Scott

The Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Thief of Shadows by Elizabeth Hoyt

What's Left of Me by Kristen Granata

Lord and Lady Spy by Shana Galen (this one is regency too)

A Secret Sorrow by Karen Van Der Zees

And many more if you google I just dont have all day.

(Extra point, in many of these books the women do not stay infertile and have a miracle baby...not only do many cishet women never get their miracle baby but lesbian couples literally cannot concieve)

And now let me list of books that deal with Lesbian women and their fertility issues-

.....

OH WAIT I COULDNT FIND A SINGLE ONE!!

This leads me to my next point.

2- Bridgerton is a love letter to minorities in romance.

As someone who is south asian myself, I have seen how western beauty standards and racism has treated women in our culture, literally go online and search up "which race would you not date" its disgusting.

I grew up only seeing white women be the desirable one in romances as did many others, you know what changed this for me?

Kate Sharma.

The international audience for Bridgerton especially with brown women of South Asian descent grew TREMENDOUSLY. We had a woman like us portrayed positively and seen as desirable, you guys genuinely do not understand how many brown women watch this show because of season 2.

If we had Kate, WHY should Lesbians struggling with infertility and Black Lesbians not have Francesca and Micheala.

3- "It should have been Eloise and Cressida!"

Why? Because Eloise is a loud mouthed feminist and Cressida is a mean blonde and they shared an understanding? Because theyre both white?

While I do want Eloise to be queer as well just think about that for a moment, while lesbian representation is scarce these days it is even scarcer for Lesbians who do not fit the norm...the mostly white, neurotypical, skinny, cis norm.

Genuinely think about how many times ypu have seen these tropes in wlw fiction, like sit and think about it.

Such as Black lesbians for example, you all are aware they exist right?

I want to reccomend this video by a sunny book nook which talks about how lesbians in a VAST MAJORITY of lesbian romance novels arent really...allowed to be complex characters and it would be some FANTASTIC insight for some of yall

In conclusion, you are allowed to miss Michael, but don't you dare say this takes away from her story, as it ties into the very aim of the show.

Thank you for reading.

[1moreff-creator]

Thank you DRDT crew!

Even though I’ve only been a fan for a short time compared to others, the amount of love I have for this series is hard to put into words. It has slowly grown to be my favorite DR-related media of all time, for a multitude of reasons. Everything about it is remarkably impressive, and I just wanted to say thank you for bringing us such an amazing experience.

I got into DRDT through Weeby Newz’ streams. I had just finished binge watching her SDRA2 streams, but this “Danganronpa Despair Time” one looked interesting. Especially because I kept seeing a video by Ocean Unknown popping up in my recommended, which said something about “David’s reveal”. So I decided to watch those vods too.

Fast-forward a binge watch, and… I was in love. It didn’t even register how attached I’d gotten to every single character, and how intrigued I was to see how everything would play out.

I absolutely wouldn’t have started a Tumblr blog without DRDT. But now I have, and it’s been one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in fandom. So, from the bottom of my heart:

Thank You!

Thank you for the dedication to do such a long and arduous project!

Thank you for the beautiful art! I’ve always been a fan of DRDT’s unique style, and those animations always take my breath away, no matter how many times I see them.

Thank you for all the amazing characters you’ve brought to life! I love them all so much, I could thank you for each one individually.

… So I will.

•Thank you for Teruko! Because she’s one of my favorite protagonists from anything ever, as her intriguing and complex personality is always a joy to analyze.

Also, uh, thank you for the prosopagnosia rep. I probably have that too, but I would have never found out without DRDT. It really explained a lot about my life, so it can be said this series has changed me forever :D

•Thank you for Xander! It’s refreshing to see a character like him being so important to the story, with so many mysteries still surrounding him!

•Thank you for Charles! Because this nerd is one of the most likable and enjoyable characters I’ve seen in any fangan.

•Thank you for Ace! Because he manages to be both very funny and very interesting and complex whenever needed.

•Thank you for Arei! It’s always nice to see a ‘mean’ character with such well thought out motivations and such drive to change.

•Thank you for Rose! Her attitude always makes me feel calm when I think about her, and I’m really interested in seeing where her character and themes are going to go.

•Thank you for Hu! Another one I’m really intrigued by, I can’t wait to know more about her!

•Thank you for Eden! For showing that even “the nice one” characters can have depth and complexity. Also representation win, the nicest girl ever is a lesbian!

•Thank you for Nico! They are so, so interesting. I feel like I’m overusing the word “intriguing”, but they really are so fun to think about. Also representation win for the enbies! Love to see it.

•Thank you for Whit! Because he’s funny, and interesting, and there’s definitely something wrong with him it’s nice to have a character that doesn’t have any big issues :D

Just kidding! The reason I love DRDT so much is that everyone gets to be a little fucked up, as a treat!

And representation win! The coolest guy ever is bisexual!

•Thank you for J! She’s funny and cool and- you guessed it, intriguing. I am running that word to the ground, but it’s true for everyone!

•Thank you thank you thank you for Veronika!!! She’s so great. She’s fantastic. She always brings a smile to my face, she’s so perfect in every way shape and form. God I love her so much, I want her to go as insane as her crazy little heart desires. And more representation! Sorta jealous of the pansexuals who got this freak (affectionate).

•Thank you for David! How can a character be so complex, that you look at Literature Girl Insane and decide it needs more literary references to properly convey them? Well, David’s the answer, and geez. He’s just so fantastically written, it’s incredible. Another big win for the bisexual community imo.

•Thank you for Levi! He’s really cool, and everything about him is interesting.

•Thank you for Arturo! Because as much of a weirdo as he can be, his entire character is just really, really interesting.

•Thank you for MonoTV! Because it’s funny and its personality has to be one of the most unique I’ve ever seen for mascot characters.

•Thank you for Mai! I mean, who?

•Thank you for Unnamed Classmate! Because they’re really nice and I can’t wait to see where they go.

And of course…

•Thank you, so much, for Min! She may very well be my favorite character from anything ever. Everything about how she’s written is phenomenal, her personality and struggles are so well developed, I could gush about her for hours! She means so much to me, I can’t properly describe how in love I am with her.

Thank you for the laughs! From the arm wrestling scene, Charles getting obliterated by MonoCredits, “milk tastes good”, Teruko tripping over Nico… Not to mention the greatest joke ever conceived: the bathroom investigation. I laughed for a solid minute or two when I first watched it, just replaying the funniest thing ever on loop.

The Q&As were also really funny, and I never really had an issue with the way the were written. I fully understand and support if you decide not to do them ever again, but they were fun while they lasted. From Nico’s favorite ice cream flavor being “the flavor”, to us forgetting people can have friends aside from Mai I mean who, all the way to that time you directed us to inform ourselves on what a pant pocket is.

Thank you for the tears! Because I still can’t watch Min’s final hug without my chest hurting, a lot. Even some of the frames from the Sleepy MV, that beautiful piece of art, get me to tear up just looking at them.

Thank you for the mysteries! From the murders which are really fun to theorize about, to everything related to Mai Akasaki and the multiple source code secrets. And don’t even get me started on the LGI MV, that insanity (affectionate) has been eating at my brain ever since it released. Everything about it is fantastic, even the things we still haven���t solved.

Where’s footnote 8, dev?! Did you put it in your pant pockets?! (/j)

Also, tangentially, thanks for introducing me to the LGI album. It’s a really good album ^^

Thank you for the research you’ve put into everything! Things like Ace’s talent causing his eating disorder are really appreciated, they show a genuine care and love for the project.

Thank you for all the little details you might think no one notices, but that we love to see! Things like the first Nonstop Debate ending in perjury, Teruko listing Xander as one of the people whose secret was unrevealed, David’s eyes being different in his genuine breakdowns to his little thing in Ep 11, strychnine not being listed with the other custom weapons because Charles made the list, the note Xander received having a proper full message which has been obscured (I can only make out “it is” at the bottom, but it’s clear the message is there), the charm on Teruko’s thing-that’s-probably-a-MonoPad-but-may-be-something-else being the same as Unnamed Classmate’s phone charm, all the interesting details in the character profiles, among so many other things.

This also includes details revealed on Q&As. Arei being ambidextrous, Teruko liking “girly” clothing, Xander having a weak sense of taste, Ace having 9 siblings, Veronika’s earring being related to a friend, all the favorite and least favorite colors and ice cream flavors. As well as the few things we know about people like Felicity and Elliot that made the community fall in love with them for no apparent reason. It just makes them all seem so human!

Thank you to the voice actors, as well! They’ve all done such an amazing job, no exceptions! In particular, Veronika’s unhinged laughter, the dialogue after Ace’s almost murder, Min’s last words, David’s speech post the “guilty as charged” incident… but it’s all fantastic, all the characters are voiced really well.

And thank you for so much more! If I kept going, this post would never end. DRDT just means more to me than any finite number of words could ever convey. Without your work, the days pass by tastelessly /ref. So, one last time for the road:

Thank you for everything!

(God I love the Sleepy MV so much. It’s so pretty!!!)