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the-kestrels-feather · 3 months

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I know I'm SO late to the party, but In light of the hbomberguy video, I wanted to drop a list of some of my favorite video essayists on here who are all great. Some are well known, some of them not, but all deserve a lot of love thrown their way!

Any creators I know are Queer will have a * next to their names if that's what you're looking for! (Note some of them might not have a star that should, that's not me trying to invalidate anybody I just didn't know, please feel free to correct me!)

Dominic Noble- book content! Has a series called Lost in Adaptation that judges how faithful movie adaptations of books were to their original source material, but also does some reviews/summaries as well. Very publicly denounced JKR after she was revealed to be a TERF and stated he will no longer review anything by her on his channel. Also deleted ALL of his HP videos after finding out she was a TERF (which were his most popular videos), so I have a really deep respect for him tbh. Former Channel Awesome member who publicly denounced them on several occasions, and an all around swell guy.

*Overly Sarcastic Productions- channel run by 2 people who go by Red and Blue. History and Mythology/Literature content, as well as analysis of tropes and media! I've been told their History content can be a bit... Iffy, but I'm not a Historian so I don't know, however if they get something wrong they're good about correcting it for what that counts for. Very interesting to listen to, I've watched Red's Videos roughly 100 times each. Also has a podcast.

*Strange Aeons- fandom/Tumblr history mostly, as well as some history, and weird businesses too. Reads a LOT of cursed content for her channel.

*Lindsay Ellis- Media/film analysis. obviously not as unknown as some of the others on here, but I absolutely adore her content and will forever be sad that she isn't on YouTube anymore.

Cruel World Happy Mind- MLM/explanation of controversial figures. I'm not sure how best to explain her content, but she seems genuinely lovely and is interesting to listen to. Also a victim of Illuminaughtii's ire and deserves some love. The video she made on Blair is a bit outdated since she made it at the start of when this all came to light, but imo it's definitely worth a watch. Her talking about her interaction with Blair genuinely broke my heart.

*Night Mind- Analog horror/Unfiction/ARG content! Analyzes and explains various internet horror pieces, and also has a very nice voice to listen to.

*Lola Sebastian- Film/Media Analysis!

Li Speaks- Deep dives into various nostalgia, mainly flash games!

*Princess Weekes- Media/film/literary analysis!

abitfrank- summaries and analysis of various "darker" children's content such as Coraline (book and movie), Nightmare Before Christmas, and various dark fairy tales

Hello Future Me- writing advice and world building information!

Curious Archive- deep dives into the various bestiaries of video games and the animals in real life that they're similar to, I love his Subnautica video!

In Praise of Shadows- Horror media analysis! Will often focus on specific franchises, but also covers things like horror comics and tropes as well.

Wait in the Wings- theatre! Deep dives into the back stories behind the production of various musicals! His video on Rogers the Musical that he did for April Fool's last year is comedy fucking gold

Weird Reads With Emily Louise- conspiracy theory/cult/weird thing analysis! Looks at things from an objective and skeptical view, and is very in depth. Recently served as a consulting producer on an HBO Max documentary on the Love has Won cult.

Ask a Mortician- death content! Covers various historical events and darker stories of death from the view of a Mortician.

*Izzzyzz- deep dives into fandoms, as well as well as different video games and kids' virtual worlds.

Disney Dan- Disney content! Covers the history of different mascot costumes at Disney and Disney-like parks! Has collaborated with Definctland in the past too!

Yesterworld- theme park content! Discusses history behind rides and parks, as well as some Disney movies. I think has also collaborated with Defunctland and Disney Dan?

Legal Eagle- legal content! Breaks down news about ongoing legal cases in a way that feels approachable. I like him because both my parents are paralegals and his videos have helped me understand what they mean when they're talking about work a little bit

Super Eye patch Wolf- media video essays! Mostly about anime/manga and video games, but also covers things like influencer scams and pro wrestling. His "what the internet did to Garfield" video is SO GOOD

*Jessie Gender- Media Analysis, loves Star Trek

*Laura Crone- Media Analysis video essays, her videos on the Swan Princess are fucking great I highly recommend!

*Lady Emily- Media Analysis, did a whole video on Spuder-Man turn off the dark that is SO good. Co writer for Sarah Z

Tale Foundry- covers different forms of fiction, their xenofiction video is great, as is their Angelarium one!

Defunctland- Theme Park ride and Children's TV History channel!

Jenny Nicholson- one of the sort of "big three" commentary channels with Lindsay Ellis and Sarah Z imo, covers all sorts of stuff but her most recent one is a 3 hour video on the theme park Evermore Park!

*Sarah Z- Fandom history and Media analysis! I really enjoy their content, the Johnlock Conspiracy and DashCon videos are my favorites!

Li Speaks- Flash games/virtual world analysis mostly! She has a very soothing voice to listen to, if you played like. Any MMOs or virtual worlds growing up I Highly recommend. I've watched her video on Horseland SO many times.

*Codex Entry- Video game coverage! Her videos on Pathologic are great if you're like me and wanted more after the Hbomberguy video!

Wendigoon- ARG/Spooky content! One of the early proponents of the Mandela Catalog and best known for his conspiracy theory iceberg, but has also covered things like various weird/unsolved crimes, Assassination conspiracies, and other things. His videos on Faith, Blood Meridian, The Mandela Catalog, and his Religion/Cult iceberg are some of my favorites

Dino Diego- Dinosaur fiction, like movies, video games, books, short stories, etc. his 2 videos on West of Eden and Winter in Eden are two of my favorites!

Haley Whipjack- I don't know how to describe her content really? She does a lot of deep dives (her Shrek one is my favorite), currently doing a recap of Once Upon a Time by season that is very fun. She's an elementary school teacher by day (that's not me dozing her she talks about it on her channel), and so she has fun unhinged teacher energy!

Other channels that are a sort of collection of different people talking about different things rather than 1 or 2:

TEDx

PBS

The Exploring Series

#james somerton #hbomberguy #i know this is late #i meant to post this a while ago but i had so many to catalog #video essays #video essayist

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ineadhyn · 1 month

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Writer interview

@vixstarria tagged me and I finally get to do it! Thank you <3

I am tagging @sky-kiss @scuttlingcrab and @thedomesticanthropologist

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

13 and some are multi-chapter. All are BG3 except for a german Inkheart one

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

85.408 -that is a surprising amount of words for being active less than a year

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

His consort, his god - I finally wrote smut for a popular ship XD (bloodweave)

At her mercy - kinky sapphic Karlach x Durge smut

Natures most beloved treasure - Halsin x trans masc Tav smut

Direct from Hell Logistics - ongoing Raphael x Haarlep comedy/angst/smut/plot - this one has it all

A song of snow and embers and Copper Hearts share this place. one is a F/F/F/F foursome and the other my Astarion x male Tav longfic

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I appreciate every single comment and try to show that. There's nothing better than the e-mail that says "comment on your work" and it can make my whole day. Sometimes I don't know what to respond if it's just a word or a keybord smash, but rest assured I see you and I love every one of those, too.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Angsty ending hmmmm. Because some of my stuff is not completed yet I am not gonna spoil anything but Dust and ash about Astarion's backstory was naturally quite angsty

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Not. gonna. spoil XD

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not yet. Maybe I could count Copper hearts because I took Francys from my original work and planted him into Bg3

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, not yet.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do. I am exploring all kinds atm with preferably queer pairings wlw or mlm or nb. I can also write mlw from the men's perspective but not the other way round :D

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Boy I wish.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No and I am not sure if I could commit to a project like that.

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Hmmmmm ... Raphlep probably

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

My german Inkheart fic with a genderbent lesbian Basta. Damn I was invested in creating this character, but gave up after a while because it was a lot of work and it being german and a niche topic in a small fandom was not very rewarding tbh. I know I should not care and maybe I'll come back to it when the Inkheart obsession comes over me again.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I am good at setting the scene. Atmosphere and small mundane details that make the setting feel alive. I have always liked that in reading as in writing, because it makes you feel like you are actually there when you can hear and smell and taste the scene.

Also I am okay at developing coherent plot, but that's mainly practice from writing a lot of og work before I started with fics.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I still struggle with english grammar and punctuation at times so I always have a beta reader. And I am lucky to have great ones.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I am not a fan. It confuses me. Singular phrases and such yes, but not entire dialogue. Especially if it's german in an english fic I get super confused.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

*digs through her files* So, my first works were basically fic for my best friend's story. (I was in my early teens.) But since she was the author the lines between canon and fic are blurry and the "fandom" consisted of three people of which one was the author XD

So if we don't count that the first one would be Hunger Games - It was one chapter and I never published it

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

We'll see what posesses me next I guess, though I think Bg3 will stay with me for a considerable amount of time. And ship wise ... I feel Durgetash creeping up on me.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Definitely Direct from Hell Logistics. I am having so much fun with it. It constantly makes me laugh and sheme and I also feel all the angst. Also it is ongoing and I get to explore the story alongside the readers (though I have a rough plot structure to keep me on track).

#bg3 #raphael fic #astarion fic #ao3 writer #bg3 fanfiction #my writing

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rpgchoices · 11 months

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Happy Pride Month: A queer game a day - 18th June DREAM DADDY

Away from the rpgs, today I bring a classic of queer games! A dating sim and visual novel (with mini games inside) called "Dream Daddy". Does it even need an introduction? This game is pretty popular!

The game allows you to play as a dad (your daughter is also one of the main characters and one of the achievements is about being a good dad!) who just moved in a new house... and is meeting a bunch of other dads! You will have dates with them (3 for each), and two endings for each of them (for the one you will choose as your romance).

The game has more depth than it looks, going from absolutely comedy (it does not take itself too seriously) to really touching moments. Of course all the dads are mlm, but there is also a trans character and a wlw character in the game!

In general there are 7 characters you can romance, each one with a different personality, sometimes a different secret and definitely wildly different endings.

Personally, my favourite will always be Robert, I love how opposite to usual dating sim his route was. I also adore Craig, Damien and Hugo a lot! I did end up playing all the routes because of the snippets of stories you get from the others - it is just a VERY good game. I usually do not play dating sim, but I recommend this all the time!

#dream daddy #robert small #my adored #queer games #visual novel #dating sim #pride month recs

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transmasc-wizard · 1 year

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Hi Nico! Do you have any recs for:

Queer fantasy with good POC rep

fantasy written by an author of color

anything with good autistic rep (sci-fi/fantasy are my faves, but I'll take anything!)

aro/ace rep (one or both) (particularly in fantasy, but I'll take anything)

heist stories

fantasy or sci-fi written by a disabled author

Thank you!! I'm always looking for more books to read.

~Morri🗡 (@memento-morri-writes)

alright i will go in order for this. bc i will be listing many things, i will not give plot summaries, but you can find all of these on goodreads

Queer fantasy with good POC rep: The Gilded Wolves (bi mlm, Haitian, Indian, Filipino, ethnically + religiously Jewish) by Roshani Chokshi, Cemetery Boys (transmasc, gay, Latine) by Aiden Thomas

Fantasy by an author of colour: Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, both books I rec'd in the first point, The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. I am cringe and have not read some of these yet but IM GETTING TO THEM and theyre supposed to be good

Autistic rep: The Gilded Wolves! Again! Chokshi is allistic and the autistic character is a bit stereotypical, but she is loved & supported for who she is. (It's not said on page but that's bc its historical fantasy that takes place like 60 years before the diagnosis existed--its confirmed in interviews.) Even If We Break, which I rec'd to Bat, also has autistic rep (ownvoices). C.G. Drews' contemporary novel The Boy Who Steals Houses is some of the best autistic rep I've ever read.

Aspec rep: Loveless (aroace + alloace) by Alice Oseman, Little Thieves (demisexual MC and demisexual love interest) by Margaret Owen, Raybearer (asexual biromantic) by Jordan Ifueko, The (Un)Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez (aroallo + bi ace), Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez--I think? Apparently Sal is confirmed aromantic in book 2, but I haven't read it yet.

Heist stories: the gilded wolves. you want to read the gilded wolves. also: six of crows, the lies of locke lamora sort of, spellhacker, and aces wild (which also has an all ace cast! didnt rec it in the previous post bc i have not read it, but yeah)

disabled author fantasy or sci fi: the entire grishaverse by leigh bardugo (epic fantasy), one for all by lillie lainoff (historical fantasy), lycanthropy and other chronic illnesses by kristen o'niel (urban fantasy/comedy horror). i really really wish i had more recs for this point but to be honest this is something i'm trying to find more of too :')

#asks #momento morri writes #bookish asks #bookblr #book recs

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mediaevalmusereads · 1 year

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A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Genre: literary criticism

Summary: The romance novel has the strange distinction of being the most popular but least respected of literary genres. While it remains consistently dominant in bookstores and on best-seller lists, it is also widely dismissed by the critical community. Scholars have alleged that romance novels help create subservient readers, who are largely women, by confining heroines to stories that ignore issues other than love and marriage.

Pamela Regis argues that such critical studies fail to take into consideration the personal choice of readers, offer any true definition of the romance novel, or discuss the nature and scope of the genre. Presenting the counterclaim that the romance novel does not enslave women but, on the contrary, is about celebrating freedom and joy, Regis offers a definition that provides critics with an expanded vocabulary for discussing a genre that is both classic and contemporary, sexy and entertaining.

Taking the stance that the popular romance novel is a work of literature with a brilliant pedigree, Regis asserts that it is also a very old, stable form. She traces the literary history of the romance novel from canonical works such as Richardson's Pamela through Austen's Pride and Prejudice, BrontE's Jane Eyre, and E. M. Hull's The Sheik, and then turns to more contemporary works such as the novels of Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Janet Dailey, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Nora Roberts.

***Full review below.***

I picked up this book because my friend and I run a historical romance novel blog, and like a good (former) academic, I like to read lit crit to give me more context when discussing my own hot takes. Regis's book is unique in that it's one of the few foundational monographs that seeks to trace the history of the modern romance novel AND do so without belittling the genre or its writers. The passion with which Regis defends the genre is admirable, and many of her insights are valuable.

Since this book is nonfiction, the structure of my review will be a little different than normal.

For example, I found the discussion on romance being a subset of comedy very enlightening. Comedy goes all the way back to Ancient Greece, and a number of great authors draw on its genre conventions; seeing romance writers as part of this tradition made a lot of sense to me, and pushed the discussion of genre well past a mere tallying of its conventions.

I also liked the in-depth look at works from Jane Austen to Nora Roberts. Having such a wide range of primary sources helped hammer home some of Regis's main points and illustrate that literary "geniuses" such as Austen, Bronte, etc are not writing independent of their influences, nor are contemporary writers creating stories without ties to the past.

However, I do think that because this book was published in 2003, much of its content has become dated. By this I don't mean that I fault it for only looking at romances written through the 1990s; rather, Regis puts forth some observations and arguments that simply do not account for the wide variety of romances that exist. For example, Regis defines the romance novel as primarily concerned with the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines. While helpful for some romances, this definition excludes queer mlm stories as well as romances where betrothal is off the table. I understand that queer romances have grown in popularity over the last decade, as have romances that don't end in marriage (explicit or implied), so I don't know how much I can fault Regis. Still, it's worth acknowledging.

I also think Regis could have done a better job structuring her arguments in the first couple sections of her book. There are numerous times in parts 1 and 2 where Regis will make a claim and rely on general statements as justification. For example, part 1 of this book (rightfully) pushes back against unfair criticism of the genre, but justifies the pushback by making broad claims about fiction in general or by gesturing towards great works such as Pride and Prejudice. Granted, some of the more in-depth work comes later, when Regis does a deep dive into her selected "canon", but personally, I think the first couple sections of this book could have been much stronger.

Also, just as a nitpicky note: I'm not a fan of Regis's writing style. While it is accessible to a general audience and I appreciate that, the sentences are also choppy and somewhat uniform. The language is blunt and straightforward, which is great sometimes and tiring others, and I wish there was more flow to the writing overall.

TL;DR: A Natural History of the Romance Novel is a useful handbook for getting started in the romance genre. It provides a good introduction to the history and structure of the modern romance novel, though serious scholars will want to seek out additional resources to build on the knowledge presented here.

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demadogs · 2 years

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Of course the Duffers knew how everyone would be freaking out. Out of all the battles in Stranger Things, the one in which Stranger Things is sort of an ace under Netflix's sleeve against Disney gotta be the biggest one and Netflix is just trying to keep on top of Disney, making ST a trend topic is just the way to do so, even more because Disney just premiered Obi-Wan. Both series premiered a day apart, that's probably why s4 was cut in two too... and the thing is the feud with Disney is one of the main reasons i believe they might go through with Byler. Disney has been cowarding about having lgbt characters and will erase them from existence if they can (which - spoiler - happened twice just in Dr. Strange 2). On the other hand Netflix gets a bit of backlash about havibg so many queer characters, but they are more open to lgbt characters getting what they want (cue to the success of Heartstopper and how they renewed it for not 1 but 2 more seasons already only a month after its initial release). I know ST is way too mainstream at this point and a lot of people who watch it might not care about the lgbt community, but the fact that Will may be gay was thrown into the story from the very beginning which means people still watching came into season 2 already expecting something could happen on that matter. It only grew stronger as the seasons went by. Not for nothing many are complaining about Mike's cold behavior towards E* this season. It's the little things that make me believe this might still happen.

yeah i guess there is a whole other business side to it that i never considered but i dont agree with all of this. i dont think the duffers had any of netflix’s competitors in mind when deciding to go through with byler. i think if that was true then all the queercoding we’ve seen wouldnt have been there because it would be a random marketing decision, not a progressive character arc. and disney has nothing to do with why they divided it up, they did that because 13 hours of content dropped all at once would be a bit much.

the rest of this ask has nothing to do with byler i just kinda went off about gay media and couldnt stop.

disney is pretty shit when it comes to lgbt characters. when the force awakens came out people loved the idea of finnpoe and even the actors stated multiple times that theyd be so on board with that but when the last jedi came out if i remember correctly i think they barely had any screen time together? i think there was one kinda wholesome moment at the beginning and then nothing the whole rest of the movie. and yet they had two unnamed girls kiss for one second that was edited out in multiple countries and had the nerve to call it “representation”.

that being said, i do have beef with netflix about their lgbt representation too. every single one of my favorite wlw shows on netflix has been canceled. the mlm ones fucking skyrocket but they always cancel the girl ones and it pisses me off. i am not okay with this, everything sucks, one day at a time, trinkets, like fucking COME ON!!!!!

i will never be over them canceling ianowt and everything sucks. both have very appropriate names for how i felt about them being canceled. ianowt had such a cool supernatural plot and i loved the cast so much and everything sucks was just fucking adorable with the super popular girl getting with the nerdy shy girl in the 90s. i loved it and it had so much more potential. they also canceled one day at a time which is such a fucking funny show. it’s a good comedy that casually has a lesbian lead and its just genuinely hilarious. i wrote a paper about this show my freshman year of college.

another thing was in the end of the fucking world. listen i LOVE this show with all my heart. i did a semester long project on it and i have the comic its based on, but in season one there was a whole lesbian cop side plot and they completely threw it out in season two!!! you didnt even see those characters again!! its so fucking annoying thats my only complaint about that show.

i know not EVERY wlw netflix show has been canceled, but too many of them have. i’ll always be pissed about ianowt because that was supernatural and lesbian and theres just not enough shows that have that. give me more superpower lesbians.

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#im not even gonna tag any st tags cuz i really just went off about wlw shows and didnt even mention byler huh #eden answers

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meraki-yao · 7 months

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Heads up this is a little different from what I usually post and it's not RWRB related, i completely wrote this for fun

There's a rom-com danmei web novel (danmei, a genre of queer/mlm literature popular in China) that I wished more people here knew about because it's hilarious, sweet, unhinged, and honestly a really good template for fanfics, in fact over here most of the popular gay ships have a fanfic/ fan edits of it

It's called Mister Dior (it has nothing to do with the luxury brand) and it's set in a world pretty much like ours, with the exception that everyone has a thing called a smartbrain, which is essentially a smartphone directly implanted into a human brain (don't think too much about it)

The main characters of the story I'll simplify to Zhang (top, yes these things are fairly fixed in this genre and contribute to their personality) and Jiao (bottom) who have been married for seven years. They're both CEOs of big companies, but while Jiao has rich parents, Zhang built up his company by himself. At the beginning of the story, their relationship isn't bad per se, but they are having communication issues and drifting apart slightly.

One day Zhang gets into a mild car accident causing a concussion, but also a side effect which is the point of the story: before the collision, he was browsing trashy, tropey romance novels using his smart brain, and the collision hit his head so hard that the novels and his own consciousness got mixed up

The consequence is for a variable period of time, he will think he is the main character of a certain novel, Jiao is his love interest, and everyone around assimilates into some role from the story

Each novel is called a "script" and it's all hilariously tropey, you have ABO, Mafia, Vampire etc, all together 9 AUs, plus he's still in the real world, so it's like 10 stories in one web novel, all of which turn into comedy because the real world is still the real world and Jiao is trying really hard to deal with each script without setting off anyone else's alarms

And at the same time, because he has no filter when in character, Zhang ends up revealing certain things about their relationship that help them learn more about each other, understand each other better and improve their relationship, they come out stronger than ever

So TL DR: you have one half of the couple jumping through 9 AUs and the other half desperately trying to play along while still living their daily lives of prominent CEOs and semi public figures, all while learning more about and improving their relationships

It's sweet, it's kinky, it's fun and it's fucking hilarious.

And more than the novel, there's a completed radio drama and an ongoing comic of the novel. The radio drama, although in Mandarin, is an amazing production, one of the most popular on the radio drama platform, passing one hundred million plays earlier this year. It's how I learned about this novel as well. Me re-listening to the radio drama these days is what prompted me to write this lol

And the thing is because of the structure of the story, it's really easy to change the "script" and put in other ships, I wish more people explored this

Yeah anyway I wish more people knew about this it's just amusing

Plus nearly everyone's name is a pun lmao

#danmei #迪奧先生 #mlm #gay #web novel #romcom #I honestly don't know how to tag this one lmao #Idk it's just I started relistening to the radio drama after like a year #and someone on the firstprince weibo tag wrote an idea for a firstprince this novel au #and then I thought a thought #and this is the thought

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woolieshubris · 2 years

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10 Queer as Fuck webtoons worth your time!

In light of the recent "B*yfriends" related controversy, I decided to compile a list of my favorite LGBT centric comics! The main conflict in all of these comics is related to being queer, and it plays a central role in the story!

Short Disclaimer: Some of these comics are not finished, and some I haven't fully caught up with yet! Please do not hold me accountable for the content of the comics.

1) Idiots don't catch colds. (MLM, bi/adhd protag) It's if haikyuu was actually canonically gay. It's my top read comic on webtoon. I've read it over 600 times. I wish I was joking.

2) Plain boy & Prince. (MLM gay protag(s)) A parody of romance comics that actually is a really cute romance comic in and of itself.

3) Kiss it Goodbye. (WLW lesbian protag(s)) A heartwarming comic about two girls coming to terms with their sexualities (it's complete!)

4) Blades of Furry. (MLM furry comic) It's by Deya Muniz. It's an ice skating comic and it's cute! I'm not a furry but I enjoy this comic nonetheless and you will too!

5) High Class Homos. (WLW + MLM) Most similar to boyfriends. Pretty much every sexuality and identity is represented here.

6) To Be Ordinary! (Trans love interest + Neurodiverse/Disabled protag) It's interesting so far, but it does depict transphobes bullying the trans character so content warning for that.

7) Mage & Demon Queen. (WLW main characters) It's written by a lesbian woman, and while it leans more Yuri and it's a bit more raunchy than your average romance comic, it's still really good and I usually end up throwing my phone at least once per episode lol.

8) I want to be a cute anime girl. (Trans Protag) It's about a trans girl who is slowly coming out to her friends and family and learning how to deal with the awkward conversations. (Honestly it's really cute lol)

9) Not So Shoujo Love Story. (WLW bi protag) A lesbian comedy comic that is a parody of Shoujo stories. When I say comedy, I mean comedy. It's mostly comedy with a little bit of romance thrown in. But when the romance is thrown in, it hits so hard. I almost cried reading this comic.

10) Unwritten Death. (Pan protag, Genderfluid love interest) A boy with the power to see spirits finally meets the god of death and must help them in order to save spirits. (Also just because Death is bored and likes to talk.) It's really just started, so I have no idea where it is going to be honest, but it's cute so far.

I hope you enjoy my reccs and I wish you a wonderful time reading!

#webtoon #reccomendations #reading #comics #tapas #taptastic #long post #resources #sorry for putting this on ur feed again but i thought id include links and fix some grammar #please reblog this version too

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rwbyconversations · 4 years

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The Scarlet Letter: Let’s talk about RWBY’s male LGBT rep

I have been sitting on this post for nearly four weeks waiting until the 15th due to the Before the Dawn spoiler rules.

So let's start with a blunt statement: RWBY's male LGBT representation has not been good. If the series' handling of female LGBT rep is good (which... well there's worse shows) and the general standard for how you write LGBT characters in a show like this, its handling of male rep has been... how not to. And Before the Dawn kinda solidified the idea in my head that the show's handling of its male LGBT cast just isn't good enough, either by the standards of when RWBY began in 2013, or today in 2020 when compatively massive steps have been taken over the past decade to show a more diverse list of characters... or at least a more diverse list of female characters.

I don't wanna make this a pissing match over how over-or-under-represented male or female LGBT characters are, but I feel like it's safe to say that the majority of the trend-setters for modern romances, especially in western animation, have been between women. Korra and Asami from Korra, Chloe and Max from Life is Strange, Marceline and Bubblegum in Adventure Time, (insert the relevant Steven Universe characters here, never watched it), and more recently, Adora and Catra in She-Ra and Luz in Owl House.

Compatively, while studies have shown that in general male LGBT characters get more appearances on a purely numerical level, in general they're more one-off characters there to pad a roster, or played more for comedy (see Josh Gad in the Beauty and the Beast remake or the gay guy in Avengers Endgame that was more notable for how hard China and Russia snapped him out of existance). The only big male-LGBT focused media I can think of from the last decade would be Yuri On Ice, Moonlight, IDW's Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye (Chromedome/Rewind best pairing fuck you Roberts for issue 16) Love Simon, and the anime adaptation of Banana Fish.

So it's no surprise that RWBY basically follows these ideas. It's big romance is (unless the writers are very stupid) going to be between Blake and Yang, their first out character was Ilia, Coco got sent to the Book Dimension where she confirmed "I use my sunglasses to perv on women without their knowledge" which uh... yeah you can definitely tell RWBY is written by men... and Volume 6 had Saph and Terra being a good example of an LGBT couple without any real drama. In the last three years alone, the show has drastically increased its lesbian and bisexual characters, alongside even including its first out trans character in May Marigold (albeit only revealed on Twitter). In general, these depictions of sexuality have been pretty OK. Would have liked it if Ilia wasn't immediately written out of the show after Volume 5 as it made her feel a bit more disposable than intended but whatever, subject for another day.

RWBY's male rep though is a bit spottier. There's the plant bois in Volume 5's premiere, we nearly had Pilot Boi until some last-minute revisions, and... Scarlet.

Why Scarlet's a bad launchpad for male LGBT rep

I don't like Scarlet or how his sexuality has been handled. Scarlet's homosexuality wasn't revealed in the show, or by the writers, or even in anything that's actually canon. He's confirmed gay in his sole of dialogue in a non-canon fan anthology, where the manga's Twitter team had to say that Miles suggested the idea and approved of it.

In short, Scarlet is Dumbledore'd, where his sexuality is revealed in out-of-show material and in a way that doesn't make it supremely obvious (Miles himself never commented to confirm this so this news was limited in how far it could spread. I'm genuinely curious how many people still don't know Scarlet's gay), and Scarlet himself is a nothing character who was written out of the show after Volume 3 and only reappeared in Before The Dawn, half a decade after he vanished. Compared to Ilia, as this came out after Ilia's entire arc in Volume 5, it's not a great starting point for mlm rep. But things would have been forgiven if it had gotten better, if the show did have more male LGBT characters introduced, even just on the Saphron/Terra level of just being around for a few episodes before leaving. Then it would have been a misfire but then we could all say "Things got better."

It... didn't. Which is why when Before the Dawn released in 2020, a full two years after Scarlet was first confirmed gay, while the franchise had more than doubled its wlw rep, Scarlet remained the one male character in the entire franchise who had a name and liked men. I remember vividly a fake leak for After The Fall which claimed Yatsuhashi would come out to Velvet and admit to having a crush on Fox. And I remember as well how many people were disappointed when it was said to be false, because it would have been nice for Yatsuhashi's character, especially after the fleshing out he gets in the CFVY books. If Yatsu had come out as gay in the books I'd like his writing enough to say he's a good case for rep, albeit with the caveat of "This is all in side material." But in reality, the leak was fake and Coco was confirmed gay instead.

Unfortunately, Before the Dawn proceeded to ruin Scarlet and made me at times feel genuinely uncomfortable as a queer man! Let's talk about that.

Before The Dawn is crap and Scarlet's writing is borderline offensive

I hate Before the Dawn. It's... bad. I read it while on a vacation and the only solace I had about the entire thing was that I'd bought an M&M chocolate bar. The bar was finished before the book. That bummed me out. It's not a very well written book, the prose is very Early 2010s YA Writer, none of the characters are memorable and there's various Fun Incidents like "NGDO using children as bait for Grimm," and "Neptune's hydrophpobia being used as a threat to torture him and the scene is played for comedy."

Theo was cool. I can't wait to see him as written by good writers, he should be a highlight of the Vacuo arc.

I had two hopes for Before the Dawn- "Don't be bad," and "Let Scarlet and Sage be well written." I'd liked how After The Fall had handled some of its characters (barring, y'know, Coco perving on women), especially Fox and Yatsu who were surprising in how much I liked them. I was looking forward to seeing Myers give Sage and Scarlet similar treatment- two relatively nothing characters meant he'd have a blank slate to write them however he wanted, he could give them unique personalties and if nothing else it could be cool to see their Semblances.

And then I read the book. (Sage fans I am so sorry for you, you got baited harder than Johnlock fans)

Scarlet's a giant dickhead in the book. It's his sole character trait and his inner monologues go on, and on, and on about how much he hates Sun, how he revels in mocking him. Most of his dialogue is sarcastic put-downs about Sun and how lame he is, and Sun is never properly allowed to defend himself or point out how going with Blake meant he was able to help save Haven Academy.

(hey remember when Sun in Volume 6 expressly says to Blake "I was a bad leader for ditching Neptune and the others, and I need to work on that" only for Before the Dawn to have him staunchly refuse to accept that he let the team down? I don't think Myers did but I do)

Scarlet being a ratty bitch would be one thing if, again, the franchise had done more rep. He'd still be a badly written character, but it wouldn't sting as much. But because Scarlet is still the only expressly confirmed male LGBT character in canon (the book teases that Nolan is gay but there's never confirmation either way beyond him smiling at Scarlet), it means that he has to represent that entire ideal. So when the one gay man in Remnant is being an asshole and a snide loser, that means that by extension, this is how the franchise sees gay men. And that fucking sucks! I wanted to come out of Before The Dawn singing its praises, I wanted to like the book, but it was a massive letdown, especially coming off of the other big 2020 RWBY controversy involving gay characters.

Yeah. We're doing this.

Clover and Fair Game: Technically not queerbaiting. BUT:

Let's pre-empt this: Clover wasn't queerbaiting, and Fair Game, while cool and I dig it, kudos to them for becoming one of the top 5 RWBY pairings on AO3 in one year that's fucking impressive (I say with mild malice as an IronQrow main), never had a chance. The writing never seriously boosted it barring one interaction which was flirty (them talking in the lobby of the Schnee Manor), and everything else was out of show boosting through the social media teams and CRWBY hyping it themselves by saying they liked it. If you wanna blame people, blame the animators who went off-script with stuff like Kim Newman adding the wink as a deliberate nod to the Volume 4 waitress, or the social media team deliberately using the same policies for Fair Game as they do for Renora and Bumblebee.

It wasn't Eddy's fault that things escalated, and he himself has said that in retrospect, he should have warned people that this never had a shot.

But I can't blame the Fair Game fanbase. Because Fair Game took off like wildfire. It came right as the fanbase began seriously asking for more male rep, Qrow's pretty hot, and the Clover wink came right after the Great IronQrow Reawakening of November 9th, 2019. The rocket was primed, and they rode it to the moon. Finally, to these people, after seven years RWBY seemed to be doing something with mlm rep in show. People started getting into RWBY just for Clover and Qrow's interactions. And if heroes were boring, Watts and Tyrian also had a fantastic dynamic that made Nuts and Volts one of the more popular villain ships overnight. Things seemed to be turning around! RWBY was remembering that gay men existed! You could hear the choir sing!

... And for those people, that meant that episode 12 hit like Truck-Kun.

People got pissed. People were horrified. And it didn't help that some members of CRWBY had said in the build-up that episode 12 would have some shots that made them nauseous (probably the Tyrian thumb thing) Out of context, it looked to these fans like CRWBY were basically laughing at their suffering, like they were saying "Lol, you thought you had a chance, get fucked, I hope your vomit burns on the way up."

Yeah, Fair Game was never gonna be canon, and I think some people ran too far with it. But in the wider context of how desperate RWBY's mlm community had gotten for basic crumbs of content? I can see why they'd run with what they had. The writers aren't at fault for what happened, but CRWBY didn't help matters. And that desperate mix of what felt like official backing from the crew, jokes about how cute the ship was, and the hope that finally the show would have onscreen rep? I can see why people ran with it.

So why is the show more lackluster in depicting mlm characters?

Money. Let's be honest, most RWBY fans don't care if the show doesn't have good male rep. I'm willing to bet some of you reading this won't care and just dismiss it as not being that big a problem. I don't think the writers care if the show doesn't have good mlm rep because they're not poaching that market. They're after what they see as a bigger, more lucrative market, which in this case is female LGBT rep. That gets people buying games, watching shows, raising awareness and boosting awareness of your property, which means you make more money. In short: Two women kissing hits more markets and generates more attention than two men.

Am I saying that Miles, Monty and Kerry deliberately sat down seven years ago and said "We're not doing gay men because it won't generate enough ad revenue and traffic to be worth the loss in revenue from homophobes?" No, that's silly. But I'm saying that it's less important for them, and it shows in the things that are small and add up. Things like Miles not verifying Scarlet's sexuality or retweeting the manga account's confirmation to spread the message (compared to how he enthusiastically confirmed Ilia being a lesbian himself during the Reddit AMA). It shows in how Pilot Boi would have been the first mlm character only to die in his second full episode until M&K were told about the Bury Your Gays trope. It shows in how Shannon believes that Ozma is "megaqueer" and Miles jokingly laughs it off instead of confirming it, leaving it to just be Shannon's headcanon. It shows in how actor shipping is compared between the mlm and wlw ships, where Arryn and Barbara's frequent pushes for Bumblebee are seen as "official confirmation that it's endgame" while Michael and Kerry saying they enjoy Seamonkeys is treated as "well it would be cute if they did it, but they're never going to."

I'm not gonna say anything like "CRWBY are gonna have Qrow end up with a woman like Robyn out of spite against the bad apples of the Fair Game crowd." I'm not gonna say that I don't think CRWBY cares about male representation in the series. It is, however, definitely a low priority for them, and because that leads to gaffes like Scarlet's writing in Before The Dawn being offensive in his depiction, it only makes the contrast between the sexes all the more painfully apparent.

I'm kinda tired of waiting for Rooster Teeth to show that they do care about mlm. I'm kinda tired of RWBY's male rep being written like it came from a 1993 time capsule where I have to enhance the screen to see a guy holding a sign of Sun's abs or be content with the only onscreen rep still being the plant bois in Volume 5. I'm tired of how often the crew dances around answering basic questions about sexuality (and age, and birthdays, and heights, and so on) by treating it as a spoiler question, as if just wanting to know what way people swing would ever be a spoiler. I'm just... tired of all this. When the best mlm rep in Rooster Teeth's history remains the two dads in Camp Camp who show up in a few episodes, that should say something really bad about your company and your biases (To say nothing of the recent Red vs Blue seasons and their blatant queerbaiting for Grif and Simmons and the whole can of worms that is Donut).

I'd like to not feel like I'm borderline unwelcome because I'd like to see two men in this show kiss, and that the sole thing that represents people like me in this show is some British twat who complains about sand.

I'd just like to feel like my sexuality isn't a joke to Rooster Teeth (or at the very least, be like Donut and have it be a funny one). But at this point after the last few years? I feel like a very uncomfortable punchline to them. And it just sucks.

#rwby #rwde #fair game #queerbaiting #rwby before the dawn #mlm #lgbt #rwby analysis #Rooster Teeth #clover ebi #scarlet david

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