#I think???? is that what this is???? its recurring and disabling but like. I don't want to infringe on a minority I'm not a part of | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

livehorses · 11 months

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The Spot and Disability

It's very interesting to me how ATSV told Spot's story. At a start he's handled as a joke in the movie. Even Miles and the audience with him laughed at the new villain in his introduction. I was personally disgusted when the bread goes across him. Also, the guy isn't good at being bad and stealing an ATM, so he can be considered as a joke.

But it's hard to admit that we as an audience, and Miles did wrong laughing at his face about his new condition. We often mock him when it comes to the bagel joke, but he clearly suffered a lot, and lost it all after the accident. He was being mocked, rejected by everyone, even by his own friends and relatives. He evidently couldn't do anything without any of his holes getting in the way (which is the thing that makes him disabled), he lost his job and was forced to do illegal stuff in order to survive. That left an irreparable emotional damage that shaped him permanently. These are actual motivations for a person to take the wrong path, and even more when you discover you have a power that could give you some advantage over the others.

All of his story is clearly similar to what many disabled people live on a daily basis. "Unfortunately for me and you, this is skin." Sounds familiar? Reminds me of people that have vitiligo, which isn't exactly an illness and it isn't contagious, but common people think it is, and they fear, avoid and reject anyone who has it. Even in these modern days, where society supposedly is for everyone and everyone matters, disabled people are still rejected and disrespected, victims of bullying, mockery and exclusion. They don't get a chance to adapt to this world, not meant for them, and they miss so many opportunities of having a job, to form a family and go places adapted to their unique conditions. This world still needs to educate its people on respecting the disabled. That doesn't mean that disabled people are doomed to become villains, no! That would expand more the prejudices towards them. But what most of Marvel villains, and more, Spider-Man villains, have in common is having an accident that left them disabled: Flint falling on a sand dispenser, Max on a pool of eels, affecting their entire lives. (Not to mention that Doctor Connors was already disabled when he recurred to a not so ethic way to recover his arm, turning him into a lizard-like humanoid)

And yeah, every Spider-Man has a similar (canon) event, they're bitten by a radioactive spider. But rather to turn them onto something horrible, they hit the jackpot instead isn't it? They get attractively buffed, they get cool super powers, they become popular and loved by most people. But the others are treated as villains, and it's true, Spider-Man has to combat crime, and in the end, he shows mercy towards them. But in the end, most of the time their condition is treated as menacing and villanious. That's why No Way Home, brings a fresh vision on helping the villains to get cured or at least treated. (Although, that's not always realistically possible for disabled people, and most of them don't need to be cured or treated like their condition is bad for them)

But the movie leaves it clear it was a mistake to not take Spot's situation seriously. The man might've taken it chill at a start, but the more he was mistreated, the more he got resentful especially with Miles, wrongly considering him the source of all his disgraces, and more when the Super-Hero laughed at him. His power grew at the same time as his anger, and by the end of the movie, Miles admits it, he's his nemesis, they're mutual enemies now, and he's dangerous. If Spot was treated better from the start, with dignity and if he was given a second opportunity, support and optimum laboral conditions, maybe Spot would be now an ally.

How wrong we were, by taking him for granted...

#SpiderVerse #CW: Flasing #Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse #The Spot #SpiderVerse The Spot #Miles Morales #No Way Home #Disability #Jonathan Ohnn

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oluka · 8 months

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Tony and transhumanism

Tony Stark mentions in Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest (2023) #3.

Setting aside the “even HE knows what hands-off means”, it's interesting to me that when faced with a humanoid-machine blend, Carol's mind goes to Tony. She says that Tony was the original transhuman, and well, he maybe wasn't the first in the marvel universe, but he got his first synthetic heart in Iron Man #19 (back in 1969!), and transhumanism has been a part of his story arc for a long time. Some examples on the top of my mind (I know there are more, this is not an exhaustive list):

-When Tony had an implant in his mind to remotely control the armour while he was paralyzed in volume 1.

-His fight with the sentient armour in volume 3, and the end of it, when it gave him its heart (Iron Man vol.3 #30). And fully replaced Tony's heart with its own "mechanical bio-physiology". An artificial heart that was still implanting itself into Tony and fixing his broken ribs in issue 31 (body horror much??).

-Extremis, of course, which to me is the height of Tony's path to transhumanism. It's one of the two logical conclusions to his search to always perfect Iron Man and himself. Either make his body machine, or forgo the body entirely (looking at the three different Tony Stark AIs Tony has made). Extremis is especially good to me because of how he made himself the perfect blend of man and machine. Tony had until then always had recurring problems with his heart and other physical disabilities, and with Extremis he was finally past that "flaw". He was stronger, could heal, but more importantly, his mind was faster and better. I think he never came closer to erasing the line between Tony Stark and Iron Man than he did then. There was so much potential for this story beat, but Civil War and Dark Reign kind of ruined it. I really wish we could have had Extremis for longer, and really explore the classic "what makes one human" "man vs machine" and other transhumanist questions with Tony. Oh well. As an aside, it's interesting to me that Superior Iron Man decided to bring Extremis back. Clearly to him that was the next step of evolution, or in his words, what made him a god. If we push the analysis further, does this mean that regular Tony has developed an aversion to Extremis and what it entails? Maybe some left-over trauma from the Civil War and brain deletion?

-The repulsor node in Tony's chest after he was brought back. That controlled his brain. And also the bleeding edge armour that Tony casually put into his bone marrow. You know. Like one does.

-The fact that Tony apparently was experimenting on his biology and body and that that was the only reason Carol didn't kill him at the end of Civil War II. And then the fact that he managed to bring himself back to life and synthetize a new body.

-The Tony Stark AI that ran around during Secret Empire. Who made himself drunk, and also remembered Civil War somehow, and had all of Tony's character traits and regrets (see Secret Empire (2017) #6). I know it's probably an error on the writer's part, but I choose to believe that somehow this artificial version of Tony really remembers the Civil War. On top of AI Tony acting and thinking like the flesh and blood one, everyone around him really treated him like the "real" Tony. Hydra Steve even said that Tony downloaded his consciousness into the AI. Making it essentially Tony. I don't know where I'm going with this but I have Feelings about AI Tony.

-The whole mess of Tony Stark: Iron Man and Iron Man 2020 where Tony was wondering if he was just a soulless copy of the original dead Tony Stark (Which, weird that he now starts to worry about this after all his deaths and comas and whatnots), decided he was just an AI in an artificial body, and then with the help of his friends remade his body. Again. Also, he spoke with AI Tony for like five minutes and then AI Tony sacrificed himself. I am still mad about that.

Transhumanism is one of the most important beats in Tony's character, right alongside his quest to make the future better and his alcoholism. It's a facinating subject that I will never get enough of, especially not in relation to Tony, who for a very long time has dealt with physical disability, and whose mind and genius is maybe the one thing he can rely on and one of the rare things about himself that he is proud of.

Right now, Tony's just a regular man in a can again, but I really hope that we'll see more of his journey into transhumanism, because to me it's an essential part of his character. And done well, it's an excellent source for angst, too.

#wednesday spoilers #tony stark #transhumanism #tony stark meta #(kind of?? what should I tag my comic ramblings?)#this post is a mess but the carol issue really made me remember how many transhumanism feelings I have about tony #as always feel free to reblog with your own thoughts and/or additions #I love talking comics #shoutout to the iron man subreddit for bringing up the tony mention in the carol issue

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aeor-is-for-reccing · 5 months

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Shadowgast WIPS!

This week, we have a recurring theme: current works in progress! Check out seven updating fics - some romantic, some kinky, some a little bit of a mix. Check them out under the cut, and don't forget to comment or kudos if you like them!

Ages Past, Ages Hence Cinematic Universe by AthenaVine (26606, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Three evenings Caleb and Essek spent together in the tower, and then evenings after. Pages turned carefully in a Shadowgast love story.

Reccer says: A really sweet growth of affection & comfort with each other, immersive scenes & a fairy-tale of a first time. Originally a trilogy, now with an in-progress hurt/comfort addition & room for more.

coping skills by eldritchmochi (251061, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek is happy just doing platonic kink with his guides, until Caleb catches his eye at a munch.

Reccer says: I love the inclusion of less commonly represented kinks, as well as platonic kink! The way Esseks disability interweaves with his kink life is so interesting aswell

I would sing along but I only remember the screams by Luckyowlsfoot (23056, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence

The Umavi of Den Thelyss approaches the Mighty Nein with a request. Her sons are missing. She wants The Nein to find them.

Reccer says: Its got some world building to go with the tension

Soak me in your sin by witches_chant (12712, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent

When Essek and Caleb confess that they have had secret, slightly exotifying fantasies about each other, they decide to test it out in role-play. The indulgent weekend brings them closer together, and reveals new layers of both their sexuality and darkness.

Reccer says: A wonderful take on hot and mindful kink

Loose Translation by owlaholic68 (47484, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Caleb and Essek think they are simply agreeing to an alliance between their nations, not realising the alliance is actually marriage

Reccer says: The post canon fake-dating and political shenanigans are so fun!

Mouthful of Sanguine Stars by Interrobang (Unfinished, currently at 36,997, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent, Blood Drinking, minor mind control in early scenes.

Vampire Essek and blood donor/sugar baby Caleb, and a classic Idiots To Lovers premise.

Reccer says: Super hot, but also makes you scream because of the thousand layers of denials the boys live in.

And two for this last fic!

The Kitchen Sink by mousecookie (4357, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Modern AU in which Essek is a supermodel and Caleb is a jack-of-all-trades, and they keep running into each other under ridiculous circumstances

Reccer 1 says: It's funny and cute! Reccer 2 says: This is just amazingly funny. I look forward to seeing them in more comedic situations™

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with Epistolary Fic!

#critical role #shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #cr fic recs #fan fiction rec list #works in progress

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luthwhore · 11 months

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Lena was a prominent figure in the comic, Superwoman. I think Lana was Superwoman in it. I was wondering if you’ve read it and what was your thoughts on it? Specifically the character, Lena

The few things I know about her is she’s a wheelchair user and one of the few people Lex Luther calls his equal, True Equal (not really sure about this one fact). It would also be appreciated if u could refer to a post talking about her in the lens of a disabled person, I’m (kinda?) sure there was one and i didn’t reblog it

Sure! So, I referenced by dislike for the Superwoman (2016) comic in my Lex comic rec list, but I haven't really gone into it on its own before, mostly because at the time I was reading it I was still getting into comics and hadn't really started doing a lot of liveblogging or commentary at the time.

I also want to preface my feelings on the ableism around Lena, both in this comic and in general, by saying that I am not physically disabled myself. I have several close friends who are, including a roommate who is an ambulatory wheelchair user, so disability representation is something that I try to be very aware of, but I am not of any kind an authority on disability issues.

Also, I'm talking about this arc mostly from a Doyleist perspective -- i.e., focusing less on the culpability of the individual characters and whether I think their choices are understandable or justified and more on the choices made by the real people writing the arcs. This is not a condemnation of Lena's actions; this is a criticism of the writing choices made around her.

Putting this under a cut because I realized this is getting very long.

For a bit of backstory, Lena had been ill as a child -- with what, it's never specified, but the implication is that it was something chronic -- and that in an effort to "cure" her when he was a teenager, Lex had inadvertently paralyzed her.

This is actually something that was introduced by Geoff Johns' during Forever Evil, and other than the kind of dehumanizing language of calling her an "invalid" (which will be a recurring thing), I don't hate it. Lex does clearly see his inability to cure her as a failure, but it presents him coming to terms with it and realizing that he wants to rekindle his relationship with Lena, presumably for the first time in many, many years.

I don't have a major issue with this writing choice, because prior to Forever Evil, n52 hadn't really broken much with the unambiguously evil version of Lex that had been presented since Crisis on Infinite Earths, so the idea that he had neglected Lena out of shame that he couldn't "cure" her doesn't seem terribly out of place, and it presents a nice moment of character growth for him.

Justice League (2012), also written by Geoff Johns, is the first time we actually see Lena. When we see her here, she's shown in a wheelchair, and sees to be working for Lexcorp.

You get the sense that in spite of genuinely loving Lena, Lex has a tendency to be far too over-protective of her, often keeping her in the dark about things, which is a dimension to their relationship I really like! Geoff Johns is known for taking inspiration from Smallville in a lot of his Superman comics -- there are a LOT of nods to the show when he writes Kon -- and this, to me, feels very much like Smallville-inspired characterization.

One thing that DC does, that tracks across Geoff Johns, Dan Jurgens, and Phil Jimenez's writing of Lex and Lena, is really, really focus on "curing" Lena. In spite of what he says to her at the end of Forever Evil, he still ultimately sees her disability as his fault, and therefore, sees her as something to be fixed.

You can definitely put this off as a character flaw of Lex's, and I'm definitely not arguing that it's not in character for Lex to want to do so -- but it IS worth noting that this arc was happening at the same time that DC was leaning hard into erasing Barbara Gordon's disability as well, so this not an isolated incident of DC treating disabled characters like they need to be "cured".

For context: Barbara Gordon was the first Batgirl, and after being paralyzed by the Joker, then took on the identity of Oracle and ran The Birds of Prey. However, after around two decades of her acting as Oracle and being established as a hero completely separate from Batman, DC aged her down, erased her disability, and relaunched her as Batgirl with the start of the n52. (Recent years have tried to walk this back a little, but there was almost a decade of her being written as having miraculously healed from her disability.)

(It also does make me think a little of the "Lexmas" episode of Smallville, where Lionel is willing to put Lex through a surgical with a very low survival rate rather than accept the prospect of his losing the use of his legs. This isn't relevant per se, but I do think it's an interesting similarity.)

Toward the end of Justice League (2012), there is a scene in which Lena, while in possession of a Motherbox, pulls a gun on Lex and tries to kill him, and it's left unclear whether she was being influenced by the Motherbox or acting of her own accord. This is technically the start of the arc that gets picked up in Superwoman (2016).

Afterward, she ends up in a coma from her use of the Motherbox, with Lex once again swearing to find a way to heal her.

We also get a really touching scene of Lex talking to Lena at her bedside and admitting that part of the reason he has decided to be a hero now is that he wants to make her proud, and he knows she wouldn't approve of his past actions. This feels in line with the characterization established in Forever Evil; Lena is Lex's only family, and she's the only person in his life he can earnestly say he loves.

So, this is where we are at the start of Superwoman (2016). Lex and Lena have recently reconnected, and Lex is trying to be a better person in large part because of his love for Lena. Lena tried to kill him, which Lex believes was due to the influence of the Motherbox, and Lena is put into a coma.

It does seem like Geoff Johns was setting up Lena to become a villain during Justice League, or at least the potential for it, which I have... kind of mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I do think there is an interesting tension there, because Lex kind of expects to just pick up his relationship with Lena where they left off, and I think using her as an antagonist for him could have been interesting. On the other hand, with how the previous several arcs had set up Lena as the entire reason for Lex's redemption arc, it seems like an odd choice?

However... that's not quite what they do. While getting revenge on her brother is clearly a priority for her in Superwoman, she also... just kind of wants to take over/destroy Metropolis? For reasons?

In Superwoman (2016), we find out that Lex had tried to heal her by experimenting on her, and that when the experiment didn't immediately work, Lex abandoned her. (I personally find that really out of character, given what we were shown about their relationship prior.)

And we are once again treated to a character in a wheelchair being cured of her disability. This time, specifically as part of a villain arc. Which is... a choice, I guess. If they were going to use her as an antagonist, I really wish they would have done so without erasing her disability, but that's DC for you.

I also feel like a lot of her emotional complexity is stripped out in favor of making her like... a #girlboss villain, which is pretty par for the course for something that came out in 2016. The characterization here just... doesn't feel congruous with the Lena we were shown before.

I personally think, whether they wanted to use Lena as a hero or an antagonist, it would have made for a much more empowering arc not to heal her of her physical disability and instead have her seek to prove to Lex that her disability isn't something that needs to be "fixed" and that she's still fully capable of operating on his level with or without the use of her legs.

I also think the choice to use her as a villain who just wants to take over Metropolis (ig as a way to prove that she's better than Lex? by succeeding at something he failed at?) was a mistake, because one of the core conflicts with Lex and Lena in Justice League (2012) was that... Lena disapproved of a lot of Lex's actions?

The message in the comic re: Lena's disability also just feels. Really muddled? Like. It almost says something important here -- the "I knew my body meant nothing to you if it wasn't a perfect reflection of your fantasies of what it should be, but it was mine" line is good!

I think in better hands, it could have been a really powerful story about Lena's bodily autonomy, and how no matter Lex's intentions, he was still ultimately making choices that should have been hers, to make, but it just got buried in the mess of her being a generic scenery chewing supervillain, and I think that message would have hit a lot harder if they hadn't "healed" her, and if they had focused more on giving Lex and Lena and emotional arc instead of just... having her do a bunch of villain monologuing before having Lex defeat her.

Anyway I hope the "Ultrawoman" arc gets retconned out at some point because this really felt like a waste of potential for Lena and I think she deserved better than just getting turned into a supervillain before being written out of the canon.

#briar answers #lex luthor #lena luthor #comics meta #lex meta #anon i spent like four hours rereading bits and pieces of these comics and trying to organize my feelings #thank you for letting me ramble 🙏#this is so long and i suspect VERY few people will care enough to read it #my meta

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crookedkryptonitebeliever · 1 year

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Tbh i didnt get the vibe that translator was into mc at all lol, they seemed like mutually beneficial business partners at most, w some dependency from mc ofc who is severely disabled in that world and translator trying to not get on 2718s shit list. I don't completely trust translator, unreliable narrator kinda vibes, but like in a self preserving way? Shes v self motivated to me. Idk i just feel like it would be the end of the world and there are 2 seconds until everything bursts into hot gas and translator goes oopsie btw i had the answer for this all along but i wanted to go out in a blaze of glory so here we are. Its translators world and we're all just forcibly living in it bc there are no other major means of communication :///. Also i wanna make theories but ur brain literally throws me a new one every time like ion even know where to begin so i wont lmao. And random but does the number 2718 have any personal significance to u? - 🐰

Damn thank u so much for ur interpretation on translator man u really gave her the read of her life, it was a really enjoyable read 4 me n im sure other readers would appreciate seeing yr opinon too 💯

Naa i actually googled up "FAMOUS NUMBERS USED IN MATHS" and intially i wanted to use 3141 (pi π, 3.14) but i was like naaa too cliche lets find a lesser known constant

And the second on the list is literallly Euler's number (e, 2.7182) i just said fuck it we ball and went with it, i just remoged the decimal point

When it comes to my ocs its like,, a product of halfassery, i coulr have taken the time to name them sensible names but i was like naah fuck dat i got the excuse of using numbers as an alien thing/alternate universe thing and i can literally name all the other characters in numbers-- provided that they're not too similar to each other cause i myself am bad at numbers

Plus if u notice i try to keep recurring characters to a minimum, so far theres only 4 known, but one of them got killed early on- reason being is nothing other than pure laziness to build the proper foundations and distinct traits for each character </3

So from this tidbit of info i think u guys can guess what the other yandere's name is gonna be <3

Thanks for reading my crap and analyzing it <333

#bunny emoji anon #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere oc #yandere male

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ruvviks · 5 months

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idk what emojis have or havent been sent anymore so if there are any you REEAAALLLYY wanna answer for either of your guys here is your opportunity hehe [:

oc asks!

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

heavenly likes keeping a journal! he writes in it a lot and also keeps several notebooks full of vampire encounters and any new information he can gather on them. he enjoys making list and gathering data and this is a very nice and organized way of keeping his brain busy in quieter moments. he also likes to code in his free time, building websites and online games and stuff! also enjoys drawing a lot but he sucks ass at it but he doesn't care, he's still having fun with it

🩸 DROP OF BLOOD — what is your oc's blood type?

heavenly's blood type is AB- :^) it's a rare blood type in the united states which makes his blood very attractive to a lot of vamps which is kind of a bummer for them since heavenly is one of the best vampire hunters in the united states. but also he likes getting his blood sucked so if the vampires would just ask him nicely instead of attacking him they would have a much better shot at getting a taste of that

💤 SLEEPING SIGN — is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits?

heavenly is a pretty light sleeper but can very easily fall right back asleep when he's been woken up by something. he tends to sleep throughout most of the morning, wakes up for some lunch/dinner type meal, goes back to bed to take a nap and then spends most of the night up and moving either on a job or running errands and such. sometimes a job will take him into the early morning hours and then he tends to stay up to get some breakfast, and then he will sleep from late morning to early evening instead

🚫 PROHIBITED — does your oc drink/smoke? do they do it regularly, or is it more on occasion or for special events?

heavenly drinks a lot more than he probably should but doesn't smoke because it makes him nauseous. he doesn't like beer or wine so he never touches any of that but he likes cocktails a lot :^) or a good old cola and rum or some other mixed drink. he rarely drinks strong liquors straight from the bottle but if he had to pick something it would be vodka to give his brain a reset

🍝 SPAGHETTI — what is/are your oc's favorite food(s)?

heavenly loves a good stir fry or some really good pasta. adds entirely too much cheese and garlic on almost everything he eats. absolutely addicted to garlic bread. would probably put hot sauce on most things as well and also loves tossing pineapple through meals. he's got interesting eating habits but it's essentially all his comfort foods mixed into one and it fucks severely every single time

🤒 FACE WITH THERMOMETER — does your oc get sick easily?

heavenly gets sick pretty regularly but usually nothing more than a common cold and he gets over it pretty fast as well. it's mostly due to him being outside a lot especially at night and he's not always properly dressed for the occasion because he never checks the weather forecast

💍 RING — does your oc have any piercings? do they want any (more) piercings?

isaac has an earring in his left ear! he rarely wears it anymore but will occasionally put it in again for special occasions :^) he hasn't actively thought about getting more piercings but if he would think about it he would spin around the idea of getting his nipples pierced for entirely too long. baby girl you are a priest

🩹 ADHESIVE BANDAGE — does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?

isaac has asthma, recurring sciatica in his right leg, and autism. he had hoped being a vampire would fix the first two problems but it has not :/ he's got medication for his asthma but never sees a doctor for the sciatica because it goes away on its own most of the time anyway. the autism is undiagnosed and i don't think he would be aware of it himself either but it's there alright trust me

🐶 DOG FACE — does your oc have any pets?

isaac does not have a pet right now but i'm planning on giving him a cat during the story events :^) cats usually don't mix well with vampires but this is a very brave little kitty who will not leave isaac alone so he has no choice but to adopt it

💙 BLUE HEART — does your oc have any cool/special powers and/or abilities? how are they with magic, if it exists in their world?

i still don't have a name for isaac's bloodline but his bloodline has a couple of traits that make it unique. for starters, they're the most dangerous bloodline when feral because of their speed and how many victims they leave behind. their eyes go white entirely when they're feral which has something to do with their eyes adjusting to their surroundings so they can target victims easier. while they cannot transform into a bat or any other animal for that matter, they ARE capable of flight and also possess slight telekinetic powers :^)

#asks #reaperkiller #ask:heavenly #ask:isaac #oc asks #THANK U i think i answered most of the emojis at this point. this was fun they both have complete personalities now

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alastgoodnight · 6 months

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Once again, the mysterious children's program Lullaby Lane Library has stirred controversy among parent groups, this time by broaching the topic of mental illness.

Children's show host "Miss Naomi" has always been slightly atypical in her presentation. While her tame yet whimsical attire and recurring props are familiar fare for kids' programming, her calm manner and eccentric mannerisms have caused certain groups of parents worry in the past.

All of that came to a head this week, when one of these eccentricities became the focus point of an episode. Miss Naomi is never seen outside without her signature umbrella overhead. In this week's episode, during mail time, she answered a viewer's question about why she does it with surprising candor.

Speaking in the simple, gentle terms she is known for, Miss Naomi explained that she had agoraphobia, "a fear of big open spaces that makes me dizzy and shaky", as she put it. She went on to explain how she felt safer indoors, and even if she knows outside is safe, that doesn't make the fear go away.

"Sometimes, the part of my head that's afraid gets so scared that it tries to run away. But there's nowhere for it to go, so it gets confused, and I get dizzy. If I'm not careful, I might even fall down. It's very scary."

She then explained how the umbrella acted as a disability aid.

"The umbrella is kind of like a roof over my head. The part of my head that's afraid of outside sees it and goes oh, I'm inside, I'm safe. Because it doesn't get scared, I don't get shaky and dizzy, because it doesn't try to make me want to go inside. Since it thinks I'm already there, I can be out with everyone."

"What's important," she went on to explain, "is that my friends understand this, and always make sure I remember to bring my umbrella outside. Good friends look out for each other, and help meet each other's needs. I might never be able to go outside without my umbrella, so I'm very lucky to have friends that understand and want to help me."

While many parents have complained that this discussion might enable "unnecessary coddling", others have praised the show for its non-judgemental portrayal of mental illness and disability aides. Some parents report that their children have tried to become more attentive towards their peers as a result of this episode.

As always, Miss Naomi herself could not be reached for comment.

#ableism tw #I mean I guess #I just... think about those parents that hated Mr Rogers' Neighborhood #and wonder if they'd hate Lullaby Lane Library too

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lonelier-version-of-you · 3 years

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Any unpopular Holby opinions?

Sorry for answering this like an hour after you sent it, I only just realised it was in my inbox because Tumblr didn't bother giving me a notification for some reason...

Okay, here we go. Here's a controversial opinion: Holby is TERRIBLE at representation, and the idea that the show shouldn't have been cancelled because it's "so diverse and progressive" is legitimately laughable.

This is a show that, just this very year, had an entire storyline depicting Middle Eastern men as paedophiles who shouldn't be allowed around children because they'd just end up abusing them. That is literally, LITERALLY alt-right propaganda rhetoric - one of the most basic tricks in their playbook, actually - what the fuck is progressive about that?

In general, the treatment of characters of colour on the show is rubbish. They get side-lined or compared unfavourably to white characters (e.g. Donna and Fletch's respective reactions to the abuse their daughters had suffered - Fletch was supposed to be reacting perfectly and to be this paragon of good parenting, and Donna was almost demonised. oh, and don't even get me started on the treatment of Max vs. the treatment of Henrik, both in regard to their competence as CEOs and the fact that the show felt the need to "punish" Max for her early transphobic remarks by making her kid trans - which, by the way, is queerphobic storytelling, queer kids do not exist as punishments! - whereas Henrik has never been punished for his long history of misogyny). When they're killed off, they tend to get more brutal, graphic deaths than the white characters do (compare the way Zav or Kian died to Essie's peaceful, bittersweet death).

Like I'm not going to go too deep into this because it's not really my area, but the racist writing on Holby is pretty blatant to anyone with common sense.

And let's not get started on the treatment of disability, shall we? This year we've had two storylines involving characters acquiring disabilities solely so the show could use them for shock drama (Dom and Lucky). We have a whole recurring autistic character (Jason) who literally only exists either to be mocked or to be portrayed as a burden, depending on the episode. One of the writers, Martin Jameson, openly harassed and bullied autistic people on Twitter and kept his job on the show afterwards (admittedly he hasn't written any episodes in a while now - but the fact that his last episode was December 2019, when this Twitter bullying was ten months earlier (February 2019), indicates he didn't lose his job over it...), all while the producer who was letting him stay on claimed that disabled representation was "important" to her.

The LGBTQ+ representation... people only think Holby's LGBTQ+ rep is good because Casualty, admittedly, has set the bar right on the floor with things like Lev's storyline. But when you look at Holby's rep on its own, all sorts of issues jump out.

Bi characters have repeatedly been portrayed as cheaters - Lofty and Serena both cheated on their partners, Lofty even cheating on his husband with a woman just to really drive home the "bi people are so greedy, they can't be satisfied with just one gender!" stereotype. Additionally, the show has a problem with not actually acknowledging that bi characters are bi - Serena was referred to as a lesbian (and not in a way that seemed to indicate the writers had put actual thought into it and decided she'd been a closeted lesbian all these years, just in a way that seemed to imply their thought process was "well, she's fallen in love with a woman, she must be a lesbian now!"), and despite the fact that Lofty was blatantly portrayed as bi (and even explicitly referred to as such at one point, albeit by Dom rather than by Lofty himself), the writers and producers always claimed he was gay.

Donna's bisexuality has been totally forgotten about and erased. The show has been endlessly queerbaiting with Jac for years. Gay and bi men of colour on the show are often portrayed as antagonistic and bad partners at best, or downright villains at worst. Then there's Bernie suffering a Bury Your Gays - I know they brought her back (and while I guess it's good that it happened, that was Holby's biggest shark-jumping moment ever lol) but they shouldn't have BYG'd her in the first place. I could go on.

Then there's Louis. Okay, he's better now than he was when he was introduced, but he still tends to come across as a token. Most of his storylines have just revolved around being trans. And his introductory episodes were terrible. As I said, he was literally brought in to "punish" Max for being transphobic in her first episodes. The idea of queer people existing as punishments for their parents... I don't think I need to explain why that's gross and harmful representation. The show literally had Ric tell Louis that he needed to be more sympathetic to Max's transphobia because it was "so hard for her to adjust" to him being trans, and I'm pretty sure we were supposed to think this was kind or mentorly somehow? Yikes.

Also, remember how the only trans woman recurring character the show has ever had AFAIK (that old friend of Louis's from earlier this year) was portrayed as antagonistic and violent? The transmisogyny of that storyline wasn't subtle.

I'm sure there's more I could go into, but I think I might drive myself mad if I think about how much Holby loves to be faux-progressive while putting no actual effort into representation.

Some more unpopular opinions, for good measure...

- Not unpopular on here, but unpopular on most other social media sites, it seems: Henrik's CSA storyline was a disgusting, offensive mess. It didn't "raise awareness" or whatever, it was just triggering and exploitative. Same for the Jeni storyline really but the Henrik one was just, like, a whole other level of offensive nonsense.

In general, Holby handles abuse storylines awfully. Like, I'm not saying Casualty always gets it right either (*cough*Faith has faced no consequences for her treatment of Lev and in fact we're still supposed to sympathise with her*cough*), but at least they get it right sometimes (the Jacob/Tina SL was excellent). I can't remember the last time an abuse storyline on Holby was handled well.

- Holby's treatment of mental health is Bad, actually. I guess Josh's storyline is pretty good so far (although the things they've been showing, it could really do with trigger warnings - it's not as graphic as it could be, as we haven't really seen anything yet, but it's still enough to deserve a warning IMO), but that's the first respectful mental health storyline since Sacha's depression SL in 2018.

And even Sacha's storyline was dragged down by the fact that it coincided with the Gaskell storyline. Gaskell was very clearly, very obviously mentally ill, we literally saw him hallucinating for Pete's sake, and we were supposed to think those traits made him scary and evil (seriously, an awful lot of "scary Gaskell" scenes are actually just him being mentally ill, only a relative few of them are him actually doing bad things). The only explanation we got for why he did the things he did was "well, he was abused and it made him crazy, so he murders people now!". How did so many people not seem to see how ableist that was?

I can't weigh in on Jac's breakdown storyline because I couldn't bring myself to watch it knowing the damage it did to Rosie Marcel's mental health, but I hear that was sensationalised to hell and back too.

Chloe's and Henrik's respective self-harm storylines were just offensive disasters that treated SH as something you can just "get over". Henrik's OCD is portrayed as a quirk 99% of the time instead of as a serious disorder. I could go on.

- Jac and Fletch had no chemistry. Henrik and Roxanna also had no chemistry. That's it, that's the opinion. I thought I'd better end this with something silly based on a matter of preference, given how serious I've been for the whole post, lol.

#asks #anons #long post #like really long post i'm sorry i got carried away #tw;abuse #tw;csa #tw;self harm mention #tw;eating disorders mention #tw;bulimia mention #(just tagging because like. i'm implicitly mentioning them by referencing the josh storyline and all that)

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astraltrickster · 2 years

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I posted 2,203 times in 2021

154 posts created (7%)

2049 posts reblogged (93%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 13.3 posts.

I added 1,940 tags in 2021

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#sieg: ''....hey wait a second don't cold temperatures actually not have anything to do with catching a cold??? isn't this a coincidence???''

My Top Posts in 2021

Reasons to read the Apocrypha novels #673:

Sieg has canonically been kicked out of bed by both of his teased love interests while they slept.

As in, physically, knocked out of the bed.

This is implied to be a recurring problem.

88 notes • Posted 2021-12-03 09:46:57 GMT

"Villain is largely right BUT they went way too far": bad. Stop. Get rid of it.

"Villain went way too far BUT we can't keep pretending what drove them there is wrong": GOOD SHIT

92 notes • Posted 2021-07-30 22:35:22 GMT

Before Dragonspine:

After Dragonspine:

92 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 03:53:28 GMT

214 notes • Posted 2021-11-05 05:34:55 GMT

So when I made the big post about the disability themes in Fate/Apocrypha I expected a few people to be surprised by realizing that, for all its fantasy elements, Sieg's condition does parallel some that can exist in reality - but what caught me off guard is that I've seen a couple of people surprised by me calling Astolfo neurodivergent. Not objecting to it, but being like "oh I'm not the only one who thought that??"

And I just

guys

that is not subtext

THAT IS PLAIN TEXT!!

Like - I can't give you a real-world equivalent diagnosis for Evaporation of Reason, but it certainly falls under the neurodivergency umbrella and, as you see, even has a name in its own universe.

We are shown and outright told, again and again and again, in dialogue, in narration, in illustrative actions, that this means Astolfo does not think like most people on a fundamental level. He has his own internal sense of...I guess you could call it logic, though I don't think it's the best word in this case because when applied to human decision-making it kind of implies that he thinks about his actions, when a lot of the point is that he doesn't, in fact he hates doing that, but more on that later - but that sense of logic is pretty incomprehensible to most people (illustrated on a meta level by the fact that a lot of the fandom and even some of the FGO writing team still treats him as a shallow meme despite us actually getting a pretty good look at how his internal logic works throughout Apoc). He has very nearly no impulse control - which is a very common trait of a lot of forms of neurodivergency in reality, and oh, let's not forget, it's that extremely realistic trait that set the entire plot in motion! He's not book-smart, but he's absurdly people-smart, even when he's not. His memory is...weird and selective - he managed to forget the name of his own Noble Phantasm (THAT SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE) but remembered what he threw up the first time he regained his reason. His emotions are amplified and he shows them freely - and usually he is overwhelmingly happy.

Also, let's not forget that while it may be less of a trait of Evaporation of Reason in its own right and more just a result of his effectively nonexistent inhibitions (or it could be its own trait, we don't know, this one isn't really shown as being one way or the other!), he's super tactile with (nearly) anyone who doesn't show discomfort with it. Oh, and if you know how much so in the anime? That was downplayed! For just one example -

Novel, emphasis mine:

Rider tilted his head in doubt. In this situation, what should he do to express the fact that he is a friend? After puzzling over it for a while, he decided to wrap his arms around him and, while resting the boy's head on his own chest, said.

"You know what I mean, don't you? Nobody here is going to hurt you. I'm here, right now, to help you get your wish."

Anime:

"idk, that sounds kinda gay - i mean hard to animate" - the director, probably

So, yes. Astolfo is, plain text, neurodivergent. That's not a headcanon, that's just There.

So with that established let's talk about how it's presented, since I haven't before: it's...surprisingly good! Really good, in fact! Because for all it's played for laughs, the bottom line of the story is that it is unquestionably a good thing. It has its drawbacks (see: the selective memory issue), people by large do not understand it, some even look down on it, but at the end of the day it is a major part of the core of Astolfo's being - the person who is both shown and stated to be the ideal paladin, the truest hero of the story. It is what sets the entire plot in motion. His life is, undeniably, better this way than if he were neurotypical. Everyone around him knows it - and he knows it.

Remember, he had the chance to change it permanently. Some say he had a lingering moment and forgot his wits on the moon, ha ha, so silly after he went all that way to find them - but he didn't forget. He regained them; he started thinking about his adventures on a rational level - about all the danger and absurd odds he'd faced, about his own weakness, about the idea that he could be putting his loved ones at risk by rushing into danger while being so weak, he began to question everything about his life, and he was so terrorized by it that it made him physically sick, which he remembers in excruciating, disgusting detail to this day - and he said "no, I don't want this, I want to keep living the way I have been, it has worked out fine and I trust it to continue to" and threw them away. That was his conscious choice: to refuse to conform, to refuse to change, despite the drawbacks, because the benefits outweighed them - and because this was just who he was.

Oh, and there is no implied strict link between this and his fashion sense. He does not change to a more masculine look on the new moon, nor does he show any sort of embarrassment at what he's wearing. If anything, maybe it's what let him understand that he was, in fact, allowed to wear whatever he found cute and wasn't obligated to be 100% a man 100% of the time - which...is something a lot of neurodivergent trans and nonbinary people feel happened to us, how about that!

In conclusion:

284 notes • Posted 2021-07-19 10:40:59 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #long post

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