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canonicallyanxious · 2 years

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[Spoilers for Fire Island (2022)]

Some of my favorite pride and prejudice adaptation choices from the movie Fire Island:

I mean the Bennets as queer found family is everything to me. it’s absolutely everything to me i think every iconic family from the literary classics should be adapted to the modern era as queer found family actually

Mrs. Bennet as an ostentatious and over-the-top but ultimately well-meaning and loving lesbian mother figure is so fucking inspired and Margaret Cho as this version of Mrs. Bennet??? they had their third eye wide fucking open with that casting choice [E: OH also how the Bennets’ struggle with wealth/social standing turned into Margaret Cho’s character having to sell their house on Fire Island! I thought that was such a fun and smart decision especially in the evolution of that storyline and how it impacted the character arcs in particular!]

The choice to adapt the Bennets publically embarrassing themselves at various dances as getting overly drunk and puking on everything was hilarious and tonally on point (and also as someone who had to act as the sober and sane one at a party of too-drunk people just last week way too timely lol)

i think when doing a modern-day adaptation of a jane austen novel it’s really easy to flatten or oversimplify the nuances of the social and class commentary built into those stories but mapping the complexity of p&p’s social hierarchy onto the gay subculture of the Fire Island’s Pines party and exploring the intersection of gayness with class, race, and body dysmorphia ended up fitting the spirit of the book so well, it was such a brilliant choice your MIND mr. joel kim booster!!!

Moreover those already existing themes of social/class commentary being integrated so seamlessly into Noah and Howie’s (Lizzie and Jane’s) experiences as queer Asian Americans, how that strengthens their relationship with each other and how that experience has impacted the way they interact with the world and protect themselves from societal pressures in such different ways (Noah being more outspoken to mask his own set of insecurities, Howie being more withdrawn but still having his own brand of quiet strength, etc.) and how that is deconstructed through their parallel character arcs - and the layers of Will (Darcy) being a queer Asian American (specifically of mixed heritage amidst a social circle of mostly white affluent men - the way in which Noah assumes he fits into that world but the subtle ways the movie challenges and breaks down that assumption to show that Will feels out of place in that world too) as well!!! If I had the braincells to scream about this for another ten thousand words i absolutely would

The way they kept Will writing Noah the letter for plot reasons that made sense - he remembered that Noah’s phone wasn’t working from one throwaway comment about how he’s the only one in the group who doesn’t have a phone! Will is exactly the kind of socially awkward but thoughtful nerd who feels more comfortable expressing himself through the written word! - made me SWOON i cannot believe they kept that in a way that worked SO WELL in such a ROMANTIC WAY!!!

Also just. Everything about Conrad Ricamora as Will/Mr. Darcy. can i say that’s a favorite adaptation choice of mine bc it absolutely is. Matthew Mcfayden and Colin Firth whomst i only know Will “saw his crush and immediately threw his ice cream cone into a bush and bolted away” lastname

#sarah.txt #fire island #i had so much fun watching this movie!!!!#the themes were so smartly adapted i'm so impressed!!!#story meta

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stationintern · 7 months

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Well, hello there! September has flown by, and I have to say, it was a month. Not the worst, but certainly not the best. In the end, I was not able to read as much as I would have liked, but I managed to scrape together a few delicious fics for you, my beloved mutuals and anyone who happens to come across this reclist (you're my beloved, too!)

Enjoy these fics I've gathered for your October gobbling.

Enterrement de vie de garçon by @wolfpants E, 2.7k

Am I starting a Drarry reclist with a Ron/Viktor fic? Yeah, I am. There's still a solid dose of Drarry in here. There's a solid dose of everyone, actually, and it's amazing. I will forever have the phrase "the gay circle of life" imprinted on my brain. Sexy, hilarious, and incredibly fun.

Scenes from a life by @aideomai E, 33.3k

This is a sequel to Such Great Heights, which is a fantastic fic in and of itself. But, this extended epilogue is just so lovely I decided to rec it on its own. There are a few moments in here that I go back and reread when I need something quick that I know will instantly lift me up. Getting to see the characters aideomai created in the initial fic continue developing and settling into various stages of life brings such comfort and warmth, and I just can't get over how beautiful this entire epilogue is. Some of the funniest moments I've ever seen in fic lie in here, and every time I reread I find something new to love.

Two Weeks by @shiftylinguini E, 21.9k

I've been turned to jelly. A fuck or discomfort fic, if you will. I really, truly, don't think I've ever met a hornier Harry. An adorable Harry & Ron dynamic. Draco is very, very sexy. The parallels between the Magical medical world and the real life one are hilarious, and give you a good chuckle if you've ever been given a pile of pamphlets by your therapist.

Semiplume by @tackytigerfic T, 923

I'm furthering my tackytiger agenda. Very cute and domestic, with beautiful descriptions of everything going on inside Draco's head. Dispels the rumors that Scorpius came from an egg. Though, I did enjoy the debates surrounding that. Harry eats crisps.

Terrible People by @wolfpants, @getawayfox E, 52.8k

Once again, I am reccing two wolfpants fics in one list. I loved getting to follow along as this fic came out, and plan to read it again (and again.) Gay cruises, healer Draco, and stunning art. What else could you want?

Five Weddings and a Potions Accident by @lauren3210

Five weddings, a potions accident, and a scrumptious twist.

Alas, we have reached the end. I sincerely hope you found something new, or that I have reminded you of a past favorite that you can revisit. Until November 1st, friends.

xx, Moon.

#drarry #drarry fic rec #drarry rec list #draco x harry

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cosmorom · 11 months

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there's a possibility that mike will come out to karen in st5

i mean, it would be a possibility. but why karen? well i'll try to explain what i think about it, but this could also be a wrong consideration, so take everything with a grain of salt.

we already know karen will accept mike, no matter what; in s1 we have a scene where karen talks to mike and it's a such queercoded scene. she talks to him like he's going to come out to her, and she also mentioned will (a canonical gay character). she told him that he can talk with her and he dosen't have to feel like he has something to hide from her. she told him she's there for him, because she loves him, not matter what. a little queercoded huh? in these scene mike didn't tell her the truth. it would be good to close the circle with him telling karen the truth this time, and this would be so important to both mike and karen. now i'll explain why in the following points.

this would be an important part for karen's journey... ; karen's arc revolves around the love she has for her children and the gap between them. we see this clearly already in s1, with both mike and nancy. karen knows she's not the best mother, but she just wants to feel loved by her children. she tries to talk to them because she knows how heavy it's feeling like you can't be yourself or you don't have your place in the world. she dosen't want their children make the same mistakes she did. in s1 both mike and nancy lied to her. in s3 we have nancy opening herslef with karen, and honestly it's one of my favorites scenes of entire s3. for the first time we see a vulnerable karen, who opens up fully for the first time to both her daughter and the audience. plus, if she and mike will have one "heart to heart" scene in s5, her arc will be almost completed, because she will finally feel loved by her children.

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...and mike's ; most of us already know what mike is going through, and we figured out pretty clearly that this boy has to cry, to scream and throw it all out. plus, karen would be the perfect one to make him understand that he's perfect in the way he is, that he dosen't need to pretend to be someone else to be loved by people, because he's already loved. this boy is loved more than he can imagine, and the love in which he is engulfed is beautiful. also he needs to be hugged. and i wanna see another hug from mike and karen. i pretend it.

it is implied that both search a connection with each other; multiple hugs, when both are about to burst into tears/are crying. but they never talk. and they need to talk. i'm talking specifically 'bout this scene

karen has been getting closer and closer to the supernatural plot and in the next season she'll reach the pinnacle; we saw gradually how during the seasons her suspicions grew (this is because mike or nancy never revealed the truth to her, they hide it) and now she sees with her own eyes what's going on. she always had more space and focus than the others. maybe she'll also be important in the events that will come. this mean: more interactions with other characters, more focus, more screentime.

mike's coming out would be a heartbreaking, beautiful and very sweet moment and he needs a scene like this, and it would be a beautiful parallel to the will's veiled coming out to jonathan.

#mike wheeler #karen wheeler #st5 theory #byler

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dont-mind-if-i-slytherin · 6 months

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Hot take on final episode

Spolier warning!!! Last chance!

I'm not even mad about Izzy. It was sad, and I'm upset that he's died. It does make sense storytelling wise, and if I was the writer, I probably would have made the same choice, I did see it coming, but thought they might not do it because of the whole subverting gay tropes and this does seem a little 'bury the gay'... Izzy had finally accepted himself, could move on and be happy and he dies... but I get it. I understand why they did it.

However, I will say i wish they did it differently. It was a random ass bullet shot, it wasn't even aiming at him properly, it was chance, total bad luck. I guess it was for the shock factor, and how sudden things can happen during battle, and for a comedy/drama, it is still a pirate show, so people will get hurt and they will die, but I would have loved to see something more meaningful for Izzy's character development. We spent an entire season working through his trauma and acceptance journey, and it just feels a little.. anti climatic.

I would have loved for there to be a parallel from season 1, a show down with the British, Ricky shoots the gun at Stede, Ed is to far away this time, and Izzy jumps in front of him. It would bring his arc full circle, accepting Stede as family, approving of his relationship with Ed, and understanding that Stede makes Ed better, and while last season he gave him up to the British, here he is saving him, because he knows that without Stede, Ed may fall back into that dark path he was on and he wants to save Ed (and the crew) from that. It would have been a nice contrast of him helping break them up, and nearly dying from it, to dying to ensure they can be happy together.

I would have also accepted him maybe sacrificing himself for Lucius, the one he had a lot of tension with, because of his own self hatred reflected in seeing Lucius as everything he felt like he could not be, open, caring and gay without no fucks to give. Him then saving Lucius would have been a nod to him coming to terms with that in himself, that he doesn't have to be this angry hateful person, and also saving him now when last season his words and actions had a domino effect which led to lucius being pushed of the ship and a lot of trauma, so being a nice little parallel.

I wish we had more episodes, but they did amazing with what they had. There were pacing issues but that wasn't the fault of the writers, it was getting a rubbish budget and 8 half an hour episodes. I hope for a season 3, and I really really hope Con is still in it, even if he is Ed, Stede's or Lucius' ghost just making snarky comments behind them for the entire season.

Anyway, thank you for reading my Ted Talk!

#ofmd spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd izzy #izzy hands #stede bonnet #edward teach #lucius spriggs #ofmd season 2 #blackbonnet #con o'neill

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craycraybluejay · 3 months

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I notice this trend where there's just "the 'leftist' version of old conservative rhetoric"

Like.

It's racist to find specific race-related traits (like common stuff for a given ethnicity or race or whatever) attractive and it's also racist to date someone of a different race because What About The Power Imbalance. Which sounds (to me) really similar to "interracial marriage is bad." And ikik I'm speaking from a place of white privelege and I'm open to criticism ab not personally knowing how certain shit works but like. I'm pretty sure the concept of segregating love and marriage is pretty racist. My main question there is why is it ok to find common features from your own race attractive but not another one. And in general I find this weirdly prevalent thing among young leftists where it's immoral *in general* to have a type in dating and sex and whatnot. If you like skinny girls you're feeding into bad beauty standards. If you like fat girls you're a gross evil fetishizer. If you like long hair on a woman you're too traditionalist and if you like short hair you're some strain of chaser and blah blah blah (and vice versa with men).

Or like. Old conservatives think it's bad to marry someone in a different socioeconomic class because muh status purity. But leftists do the exact same shit with talk of power imbalance. Y'all WAY too comfortable imposing strict rules on random people's relationships. Tankies gonna tank I guess.

Or self-proclaimed "leftists" same as conservative evangelicals talking about how sexual or violent (or sexually violent) acts depicted in film, videogames, books, etc. will make you act them out in real life and/or are immoral simply because the depiction is gross or tasteless in their opinion.

Or how any woman is always oppressed by any man, ignoring any intersectional analysis whatsoever about factors other than sex or gender. Conservatives think this should be the case and leftists (usually) claim they think otherwise but both sides seem to forget that sex and gender aren't the end-all-be-all of the oppressive hierarchies in society.

Or the whole "I got mine" rhetoric where, even with the supposedly more tolerant and open-minded left, that leftism and seeking of progress stops as far as it doesn't personally affect you or your circles. You know, like conservatives. "What's the point in defending psych survivors or paraphiles or youth or other people who it's socially accepted to hate and/or harm?" Do you hear yourself. Do you hear how lazy you sound and how quick you are to jump on the bus to throw other groups under. Leftists fought and still fight for your right to exist as a queer person and your right to be of an ethnicity that isn't the majority in politics or in your country and your right to being treated fairly in the workplace and you won't fight? You think the tide of progress is done? You jump on the bandwagon now to scream at people you hate for being too weird and too different and bad but believe you me; progress has Already Lost the moment vulnerable groups are allowed to be acceptable targets to wipe out, imprison, assault, abuse, etc. It's not a slippery slope fallacy; it's written in ink and blood- the blood on EVERYONE'S hands for letting it happen. They're writing in official documents who they're going to come for one by one. You let them take an inch, they'll take a mile. They'll come for you and yours too, you can fucking count on it. "Left" nowadays is synonymous with moderate. Nothing too crazy, of course the gays are fine but god forbid someone identifies as catgender or some shit; they should definitely be treated badly lol. This definitely won't come back to bite me in the ass.

There are so many parallels you can draw between political ideologies once you realize all people have some serious history to read up on and reflection to do. And it's hard to blame the ignorant ones who DO want to do the right thing but we have to stay alert, stay angry, stay willing to change ideas and reimagine movements. Sometimes some blame needs to be placed. But the reason it's hard to blame is because we are all so busy trying to survive in such an unfair and brutal world that most people don't have the time and privelege to spend doing the research and inner work to stay on top, to really understand politics and how important they are to how we live our lives. They say we have a CHOICE in how the machine runs but we are the ones made to run it, and are any of us actually given the ability to make those choices fully informed? There is no break from it; from work, from war, from death and chaos and division. And even if there was, we're so heavily propagandized and all cogs in machines.

But even if you don't get it yet, if you don't have time to actively pursue the research and all that, you have to TRY to be the best you can be. You can't take time off work to flesh out your life, let alone your political knowledge. That's ok. I know. No blame there, and if there is it's on your boss, it's on the way things are. But when someone comes to you you gotta use those critical thinking skills and try to do good by people. Don't turn the other cheek. Don't accept certain forms of oppression believing that if this is allowed they won't come for you instead. Don't be coming after easy targets. Just take a breath, think how you'd feel if you were that person, and be kind. Choose to be different, to extend your sympathy even to those you don't like. There is no such thing as a world without people you don't like. Look past yourself and always be willing to learn and change. Even if you don't have the ability to facilitate that on your own; life will give you many situations where you can choose how you act. Choose wisely, because what you do matters.

#rambles #this isn't that well put together #i'm not talking here as a professional just a super tired and fed up leftist #just drawing parallels and finding general annoyance in people #as disco elysium said the most important part of the leftist experience is arguing with other leftists #or something like that #i don't like any of y'alls ideologies but that comes with the territory lol

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toffeelemon · 9 days

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GET TO KNOW ME🤩

thank u for tagging me @skibasyndrome 🫶🏼

do you make your bed?

not ever since i read somewhere that leaving your sheets uncovered is actually good for airing it out and reducing lice risk sksk (excuses). i would if i’m a guest / at my parents’ though

what's your favourite number?

0 is pretty neat

what is your job?

an architect - in training sksksk (for the past SEVEN years but any day now guys) would very rarely self describe as a MuLtiDisCiPLinArY artist/writer/researcher if i’m feeling like a wanker or trying to impress wankers

if you could go back to school, would you?

constantly entertaining the idea of a useless phd sksks - mostly for the gender neutral title and the most distance from capitalism to be honest

can you parallel park?

no. i can only shuffle in if it’s a space for 2 cars sksk i literally used to circle the block endlessly when waiting for family to grocery shop instead of parking if there’s no 2 spaces for me to pull into

a job you had that would surprise people?

i’m not sure i have anything surprising. i sold car magazines at a book fair and i will not elaborate.

do you think aliens are real?

yes. and they’re purposefully not making themselves known to humans because they don’t wanna touch this clusterfuck with a ten feet pole

can you drive a manual car?

never ❤️ city gay refusing to drive forever😗✌🏼

what's your guilty pleasure?

pimple popping videos or in general mildly gross “satisfying” videos sksksk. i would binge until i get sick and delete them from my history so i don’t have to see any more suggested once i got my fill

tattoos?

2! 🦈🪼

favorite color?

pink and blue. i like most pinks, like them less the more purple they get, i like pastel blues and navy blues but the bright saturated ones in between not as much

favorite type of music?

i’m a pop girlie through and through - almost exclusively listen to queer and/or poc artists now. i like hyperpop, pop punk, indie pop

do you like puzzles?

i used to do so much with my mum and got pretty insane over it (like 1000 pieces sets) but not as much now

any phobias?

hmm i don’t have much Irrational fear - one would be i Hate the idea of having my back exposed i always have to sleep with my back to the wall

favorite childhood sport?

Loathe sports. i loved ice skating and it’s one of the few things i quit against my will and in another life i would’ve been a figure skater

do you talk to yourself?

ever since i’m not living with any family i need to check whether i still speak my mother tongue every now and then sksk

what movies do you adore?

i keep going back to ghibli films. my absolute favourite is howl’s moving castle

coffee or tea?

i don’t drink coffee.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

studio ghibli animator🥹 also wanted to write full time. play orchestral percussion full time

tagging @prince-simon @cloudywilmon @ungaroyals @aro-of-artemis @angelbabysimon @tooindecisivetopickaurl

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00queasy00 · 1 month

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9 Fandom Folks To Get To Know Better

Thanks for the tag @cealesti!! :3c

Three ships you like:

oh god this is hard okay okay uuhh the ones on my mind rn 1. tomarrymort / soulseeker (hp) - i find them so iconic, you know? their ideals, their parallels, their similarities, there seems to be new things to discover about them at every turn, just keep putting them in situations and watch them wreck havoc. the soulseeker fandom is filled with so much amazing amazing people so kind and creative, i feel like i have accidently stumbled upon the holy grail, the paradise that never ends <3 2. radiodust (hazbin hotel) - i ship them as literally the queer-coded villains that have nothing in common, yet they bond over being the meanest hottest couple in the hotel together and know the ideal make-up brands to go into territory battles in. theyre like two drama queens on different ends of the spectrums. i like them toxic, i like them dramatic af, i like them in pink and red hahaha XD 3. lawlight (death note) - tbh im fairly new into the ship, despite being a longterm death note fan :0 i was more into mellodramattic before lawlight era hit me recently lol. i love how people, pretty much, turn them into their personal anime yaoi dolls and force them to kiss lol.

First ship ever:

uuummmmm im thinking hetalia ??? XD uh England and America <3 i can never get over the angst. the sunshine gay and the grumpy gay dynamic.

Last song you heard:

La Vie en rose (alastor cover) by Paranoid DJ Please check out PARANOiD DJ's fan songs for hazbin / helluva, theyre so good!!! The Lucifer, Alastor, Stiker, and Verosika songs are my faves!

Currently reading:

Vicious Circle by Bakuko, cyberslut404, estnedo I barely started chapter 1, so no thoughts yet besides I am excited to check this story out !! The Emporer and The Star by wynnebat I am rereading this story <3 I enjoy it so much and the confusing and deadly feeling Harry is having with his Seer abilities.

Currently watching:

I am actually watching a few things rn, I jump around a lot depending what I am watching with who: -Gurren Lagann - my lovely partner never seen it! i had to change that! one of my fave fave core animes. -Toilet-bound Hanako-kun - a comfort show with gorgeous. gorgeous designs and a fun twist of traditional ghost folklore. -Heartstopper Season 2 - my wife loves the comic, so here we are. -Trolls Dreamworks Movies - watching with friends <3 the designs are so adorable and are very fun! i am always so blown away with how creative the team uses different craft textiles throughout the movies! the second and third movie are my fave <3 theyre like an hour and half long each! fairly short, but i HIGHLY RECOMMEND for a good time!! -Harry Potter Movies - watching with friends on saturdays <3

Currently consuming:

Water!! Stay hydrated folks!! <3

Currently craving:

to listen to magnus archive from the beginning again -- but rather wait for the whole story to be revealed first before restarting it again x_x

Tagging (no pressure!!): @raehb336, @i-dream-of-libraries, @liquidluckandstuff, @laserswordtraining, @chaos-bear, @theonceandfuturequeenoftarts, @tommarvoloriddlesdiary, @isalisewrites, @cloverwoodss, @kagariasuha @duplicitywrites @crowcrowcrowthing and whoever wants to join! if you havent been tagged and see this, I TAG YOU! come join its fun :3

#tag game

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wundrousarts · 9 months

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Various Wundersmith thoughts and things I've noticed after rereading the book for yet another time:

This one is significantly longer and a little bit more random than my recent Nevermoor reread, but who cares 🤷 the more the merrier!

There are things both serious (theories, thematic parallels, etc.) and silly (jokes, personal reactions). This time around I discovered the annotations feature in Apple Books and had a lot of fun with that, so I'll try to include the bits I highlighted when necessary. Enjoy!

— I don't mean to have a shippingbrain, but it feels impossible to view Jupiter and Israfel as anything but exes/folks that had a Thing in the beginning, omg.

—— Israfel throwing the "old friend" back at Jove..... my note for this one was "#gay"

— I like the interest Mog has in Bohemia, and I'm interested based on that one Silverborn snippet for her to return (and eventually explore other parts of the city as well)

— Jupiter referring to the junkies as "they're not patrons of the fine arts" feels like a nice little set up for the Museum later on. Thought of and admired as an art piece, but the rich folks at the auction don't actually care about the work put into it.

— Do you think the folks at Wunsoc that organize the little show that welcomes 919 are a little peeved that the Fireblossom's being reignited means that they can't perch creepily in them anymore lol.

— I wonder if the Wunsoc Oath has a pre- or post- Massacre origin

“The nature of Miss Crow’s unusual –" she paused, seeming to catch herself before calling it a ‘knack’ – "situation.” (Ch2)

—— Elder Quinn hesitates to refer to Mog's power as a knack, so I wonder if that's just a general thing of Wundersmithery being different, or if knacks are a post-Massacre categorization

— I love how this book really starts to solidify the theme of family in Nevermoor... Wunsoc, her Unit, the Deucalion, Wundersmiths, the Crows, her mother..... AAAHHHH!!! I can't wait to see where it all goes.

— A "note sealed with silver wax" from "the Celes-" ..... YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!! 😁😁😁

—— Likely about Cassiel but even that and beyond could tie into a lot of other Silverborn Theories..... Noelle..... The Silver District....... I will keep this all in mind

—— Also, updating my SIlverborn Masterpost posthaste ✍️✍️✍️

— It likely doesn't matter and will never be explained, but I wonder if the room between student's houses and their hometrain station is part of the Gossamer, and like a thin place between worlds

— Miss Cheery's first outfit is so y2k I need to draw her. It makes sense because she's like 20 in this book.

— The Wunsoc circle diagram has always interested me since I first read it. I wonder if the size of the circles ever means anything??

—— Could it relate to the probability (?) of the knacks? Mundane is the most common to occur, Arcane more specialized, and then Wundersmiths are very, very rare

—— Something I often forget is that folks in Wunsoc that weren't Wundersmiths have always existed. Were there more than 9 of them in each year? Were there always 9 non-Wundersmiths? Did the trials always exist? What was the relationship between non-Wundersmiths and Wundersmiths like?

—— On that note, did C&D only become the Wunsoc motto / purpose post-Massacre? Or did they do that before as well? If the motives of Wunsoc have changed over the years, has what they look for in students changed as well?

“Everybody at Wunsoc has a job to get on with – every junior and senior scholar, every graduate, every teacher, every patron, every Elder and every Master.” (Ch5)

— I am still forever curious about what Masters are, and why they are on the same level or possibly even slightly higher than Elders

—— Are they previous Elders? Are they people who excel in their craft? I'd like to say there could be a connection to Wundrous Apprenticeships but 1. those seemed like a natural given, 2. likely aren't really around anymore, and 3. I'm not really sure why they would have so much authority if so.

—— I like to headcanon that senior scholars do internships/apprenticeships

— Something that makes me laugh is that I will famously agonize over something, in this case the Wunsoc academic school year, only to discover upon a reread that it is explicitly stated how it works. lol.

— Brilliance Amadeo and her predecessors are referred to as "First-Line Wundersmiths." This likely relates to the chambers in the Liminal Hall in Sub-Nine that we see in Hollowpox.

—— Knowing Jess, I bet that either Mog or Squall are part of the Ninth Line

“Your kind are … all … dead," continued Professor Onstald. "And if they’re … not –" he blinked his watery eyes at her and took a long, rasping breath – "they should be.” (Ch6)

“My duty is not … to save you … from yourself. It is to show you … that you are … beyond saving. All of your … kind … are beyond …” (Ch6)

“If you were half the Wundersmith you ought to be by now, it wouldn’t be possible for me to tap into your power like this. (Ch24)

— I've had a theory post on the progression of Wundersmiths in society towards the Massacre in the works for awhile that I've postponed until after my Hollowpox reread, but:

—— What if it was a group effort?

——— There's a part in one of the books that's like, "Squall led his fellow Wundersmiths in a coup, and then turned on them" and as much as Wunsoc likes to spin and fabricate things, I think that this could also be true. What caused Squall to turn? That's a mystery we'll have to unravel later...

———— This book is heavy on Squall controlling and manipulating folks, both literally with Wunder but also mentally with words, so could be interesting if that played a part in the revolt

— Regardless, something spooked Onstald enough to turn from admiring and studying Wundersmiths and their ways to hating them, and I'll forever be interested in what happened.

—— I think there could be some slight truth in him viewing all Wundersmiths as bad, because some stuff, like Mathilde's Morbid Museum (lol), could indicate some darker inclinations by folks other than Squall

— Maybe I'm an idiot for not realizing this before, but I don't think it was Jupiter that got Mog/919 into the Maps class.

“I have dedicated my life to taming this monstrous city, and I love her with every fiber of my being.” (Ch8)

“Goodness. You’ve only been here a year? And yet you and Nevermoor seem to go hand in glove. It’s almost like this place was made just for you.” (Ch8)

—— So Squallish. I wonder if anything he said was coached.

—— Do you think this is how he got him on his side? Did they bond over both being obsessed with Nevermoor?

— I think a lot of Mildmay's problems would have been fixed if he had simply been more proactive about networking instead of turning to a life of crime. I mean, he's only 19, just out of school! Way to quit early, dude.

One bite brought on the specific sensation of bittersweet late-summer nostalgia … which sent Francis straight back to the test kitchen, as he’d actually been aiming for the carefree abandon of a mid-summer music festival. (Ch9)

— I wonder how much of Francis's knack/what he cooks/cooks with has a Wundrous origin. I'm also often reminded of the Smoking Parlor.

—— I like to relate it to my Communication "Art" but alternatively... does remind me of Israfel's voice. Curious about how Celestials and Wunder interact.

—— Alice Frankenreiter of 915 is mentioned as a shapeshifter..... how Masquerade-esque. Another point for the "knacks being related to Arts" theory?

——— I also have to point out how funny to me the "Franken-" is with the knack. lol. (makes me think about Frankenstein)

— There is a "noise like a thousand tinkling bells" when the Ghastly Market is revealed. This noise also shows up in the other two books during the Christmas Eve battle. In a world where magic by Wundersmiths heavily involves singing in order to use Wunder, I like the further comparisons of magic and sound. Will keep an eye out for more during Hollowpox.

—— We see this as well with this line:

Her fear and revulsion and rage swelled inside her like a symphony (Ch16)

which I just annotated as "music/art comparison. slay."

——— On that note, I feel like the connection between Wundersmiths/Divinities and the Celestials being explored more could be interesting, as both of their powers involve singing. I'm curious how/if their magic overlaps.

— The fact that the Loyalty Trial was from the Elders and thus they were the ones who asked Cadence to humiliate Baz will never not be funny

— Chapter 18 mentions a "Polaris Hill." Named after Griselda Polaris?

— Have to say: Between being excited about a killer flytrap and teaching 919 swears, an underrated Mahir trait is that he is actually very silly.

— If you've ever seen me call the Gossamer-Spun Garden the "Wundergarden", please know that the Murdergarden is 100% why lol

— I hope hope HOPE!!! we get some proper definitions someday for the Wundrous Act Classifications. Like Spectacle, Phenomenon, Singularity, etc... I hope we get to learn what they each are someday!!!

“To do just what a Wundersmith does," One corner of Squall’s mouth twisted into a quarter-smile.” ... "To grant your fondest wish. To give you the thing you want more than anything else.” (Ch19)

— I feel like this line is often overlooked and is an underrated hint at what a Wundersmith's role in society was like

— I'm a bit of a pessimist (SORRY) about the movie adaptation, and once thing about this book is that I'm mourning that it'll probably never get adapted.

—— I think that the idea of Nevermoor as a movie musical works so much better with Wundersmith because there's so much more magic and music and singing in this one, with both Israfel and the first Nocturne lessons. I could see it the integration of the non-diegetic (?) songs that the characters sing and the themes of the movie/books work better with this book than the first one just because of that.

—— Also the theatricality of characters such as Squall and Mildmay is off the charts in this book! I'd even throw Dearborn and Murgatroyd in there as well. I think they could make for more interesting characters in a movie musical than the general supporting cast of the first book.

—— I'd say that perhaps they could mix and mash stuff from both books 1 and 2 into a single movie, but I don't know if they have rights past the first book.

Squall cocked his head to one side, a deep frown etched into his forehead. ... Squall took a step towards her. He looked like he was remembering something. (Ch19)

— I wonder why he recognizes the song!

—— Curious if anyone else has their own theories on this they want to share. I brought this up in the discord a few months ago and have yet to make a proper post but here's my idea:

——— Squall's song and Mog's song are very similar in a few ways, so perhaps one of the songs was influenced by / is “descended from” so to say from the other, or they have a common ancestor.

——— Could explain why Little Crowling is familiar to Mog and Morningtide’s Child is familiar to Squall

... into the cold embrace of a capricious and unknowable city. (Ch19)

— This is like, baby's first comparison, but I do enjoy how this refers not only to Nevermoor but also Squall just a moment earlier. They are sooooo linked. I wonder if there's other moments like this in the book that I've missed.

— The Jemmity Park stuff is interesting to think about because I think Odbuoy is the youngest Wundersmith present at the time of the Massacre.

—— The idea of him being the youngest I feel then fits with him making the park only work for children, as that seems appropriately mischievous.

——— Because of my (outdated tbh) Eventide theories, I had a silly theory he was 7 when he made the park, but when you think about that more, it falls apart. A little funny to think about though, ngl.

— Anyone else think that the Elders should have told Jupiter about Sub-Nine in case he wanted a part in that? I feel like as a patron and adoptive father figure of a Wundersmith, he might want some access to Wundersmith history and culture. His excursions to the park and Cascade Falls really prove an interest and he could be helpful to the group.

— Morrigan compares Squall's Séance Synchronicity to Coven 13 in the Fright Trial... are these magics connected at all, or will we learn more about the different magics in the world at some point?

Squall held his hands out – palms downward, twisted into claws – and made his fingers dance like a puppeteer twitching strings. (Ch24)

— I find it so funny how the Puppeteering (also known as Marionette) parallels– the statue in the Elder's hall, the stunt with the Charlton Five on the platform, and this scene– were so obvious, and yet it took a solid 2 years after Wundersmith's release (right before Hollowpox was out!) for somebody to bring it up for the first time. And now everyone accepts it as basically canon lol!

— Wonder if the Wundrous Arts sign got changed to Wretched Arts before or after Squall's exile, in order for him to know about it. I have some theories on the timeline of all that that I'll share at a later date.

— I often forget and I think it's often overlooked that the Magnificub growing was Squall's doing, not just Mog's.

—— Wonder if he was stalking her that night as normal OR detected her intention and swooped in OR was there already due to the auction

— The way that Squall bows dramatically to tease Mog and then Mildmay does the same a chapter later is so funny.

“There are far greater monsters –" his eyes flashed – "and far greater dangers. Miss Crow, we have a shared enemy you could never imagine. If the Wundrous Society doesn’t take you off the leash, if you aren’t given the freedom to grow, to become the Wundersmith I need you to be … then terrible things are coming down the line. For both of us.” (Ch24)

— War in Arc 3 pleaseeee

—— It's interesting because it seems that Nevermoor/Free State has been relatively peaceful ever since restructuring… but the Wintersea Republic has had the same amount of time to build up! And now they’re looking to take the last slice of the pie…..

“There. That feeling. That fire in your heart, that spark of anger and fear. Focus on it. Feel it. The flickering, burning anger inside – THAT is Inferno.” (Ch24)

— What if each of the Arts are bolstered by an emotion? Doesn't seem so but 🤷 could be a fun AU idea perhaps

— A lot of the description of Inferno in this book– a flame or firework in Morrigan's chest– reminds me so much of Howls Moving Castle (2004) that it's on my eternal to-do list to draw.

— Between Mog's lessons in this book and Goldberry's circular breathing, I think it's interesting how much of Inferno relates to breath

—— "Breath of life" ?

—— Could relate back to music/singing, which is needed to summon Wunder

—— Do any of the other Arts (excluding Nocturne and Inferno) have any connections to breath that we know of? Or even are just aligned with a specific part of the body? If anyone has any thoughts on this, please do share!

— Anyone else like to think about the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow and the way the Hollowpox hunted? No? Just me? Okay

—— I think that Wundersmiths definitely probably have specialties– and these are based on natural affinities, NOT lineage– and Mog's is likely Inferno whereas Squall's is likely Veil

He took a deep bow, still laughing. (Ch25)

— My note for this line and the whole scene was simply, "🖕 WORST 19 YEAR OLD EVER" lol

“You saved my life tonight. I find myself in your debt." He watched her for a moment, pressing his mouth into a line. Morrigan could tell he wanted to say something more, but wasn’t sure if he should … or perhaps he couldn’t quite find the right words. Israfel breathed a deep sigh. "You’d do well not to mention that to the folks at Wunsoc. I shouldn’t be in your debt.” (Ch27)

— What does this all meannnnn

— Interesting how Jupiter mentions that he thinks Cassiel's disappearance is unconnected to all the Ghastly Market stuff

—— I've mentioned before (maybe not on here, sorry) that the timing could perhaps line up in order for Cassiel to be the Celestial that Noelle's knack is stolen from, if we want to go with that theory

— Mog saying that Squall said something funny, as in weird, yet Jupiter's first response is to ask if he said something "funny haha" is so funny to me. Why is that his first response.

— Folks have mentioned it before, but I'd love some more bonding between Mog and Lam based on the fact that they're both from the Republic

— Elder Quinn refers to Mog as "our Wundersmith" as in like, just another brother and sister in Wunsoc, but it could be interesting if that wording is ever brought up again to try to use Mog, or make her do something no one else can because of her powers, like in the days of old

And finally (about 3k words later):

— Lam is referred to as "the smallest of all of them" in terms of 919. Not to me! While I wholeheartedly believe she is certainly short, she's not the shortest for me. #ShortMogSupremacy.

#nevermoor #nevermoor reread #nevermoor theory #wundersmith #this is 3k words including the quotes so ummmm sorry lol. buckle in I guess!#if anyone has any thoughts after reading this or any theories of their own that they want to discuss: my inbox is always open!#I am insane about this series and you should be too <3 #incapable of ever writing anything that isn't exceedingly long and rambling though. and for that I am sorry.#I also feel like my reading(s) of the book(s) is often prob unintentionally biased bc it's filtered thru my own theories and headcanons #so I always love hearing what other folks have to say. esp bc sometimes folks will say stuff that have me realize that I'm wrong lol!

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orchidbark · 2 months

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Tumblr has been such a formative site throughout my adulthood. Yes I'm a tumblr old, I'm sorry. But when I was a kid there wasn't anything like this. We all made geocities or angelfire websites and shared our cringy writing and art that way and we loved it.

But tumblr took me out of my tiny comfort zone many times. I learned a lot of stuff about myself and about other people that I might have learned about eventually anyway, but idk... my mind was open then, and maybe it would have been more closed off later. Who can say. But I can safely say that without it, I would not have come to understand my identity as it is, when I did.

Tumblr feels as close to the old internet as any site could nowadays. It was never perfect, not ever, but it always sort of felt like the lesser of many evils. We're all aware it's been circling the drain for a while. What's happening now, sadly, isn't anything new, but it seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back for many people.

I made a Bluski a little while back, I just made a cohost today, I've had a furaffinity page for a bit now, and I don't know, maybe there'll be more too. I encourage you to follow me on these places, and mutual please let me know if you have an account on these sites too!

But that sucks doesn't it? We're already all here now, and if tumblr dies tomorrow, everyone's going to choose the places they go to, and they're not all going to be the same. Twitter was never a big deal to me, but when twitter started falling apart that was a huge loss for so many people who had staked their following there. The parallels are obvious. Tumblr was already pretty small to begin with and that means the people that make up "the queerest site on the internet" will subdivide again, creating smaller and smaller communities.

There's no possible way we can coordinate a complete move to another site, and even if we could, there's no way to tell if that site will be around longer than a year, or if a userbase ever manifests. Discord servers are a great idea to keep in touch with folks, but I'm not a fan of those as a replacement (though obviously it's perfect for folks who just want to keep in touch but do not want to attract attention).

I like tumblr, insofar as you can like a social media website. But tumblr as a site is nothing without the gay little weirdos. And if my fellow gay little weirdos aren't here then what's the point of being here? It feels like Cohost might be the way forward, but we can never know for sure.

I plan to stay here as long as there is a here to stay, but I guess, idk I'm gearing up to leave at a moment's notice. That's just how it looks like it might be from now on, unless something changes to correct course. If a move never comes then great, but I'd rather be prepared.

#text #sheeposting #i don't want this to come off as dramatic #as i would hate for this to read as oh man im totally leaving this time but still be here for like 10 more years or something #but this is the vibe right now #and i've lost a lot of folllowings and accounts over the years for dumb reasons and my own attempts to subdivide my life #im really happy with the folks I've met through this account and it would just be a shame to lose that

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nekropsii · 2 years

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When it comes to "Fanon Stereotypes", which characters(aside from the Alphas because they're already criminally underexplored) do you think have it the worst? Alternatively; One misunderstanding or lie per character you see shown around as some weird truth?

As far as “Fanon Stereotypes,” as you’ve put it, goes… The first examples that come to mind that aren’t Alpha Trolls are Dave, Karkat, Kanaya, Dirk and Jake in tandem, and specifically how a lot of people portray June. John’s fine, people get weird with June specifically half the time, and I’m not talking about the discourse surrounding her…

For the “Misunderstanding Passed Off as Truth” part of your inquiry… Here’s a small and random assortment:

John has literally never used :B during the entire run of Homestuck. This is a Jane thing. That is a Jane emoticon.

Rose is not good at therapy. She’s never been good at therapy. She’s a 13 year old girl armchair diagnosing her brother as gay using Freudian psychoanalysis. If you take Freudian psychology seriously… I don’t know what to tell you.

Dave’s character arc is literally not about “overcoming toxic masculinity.” Yes, this is a trait he picks up from Bro, that is undeniable, but that’s genuinely not what the focus of his arc is. His arc circles around overcoming childhood neglect and abuse. It just so happens that being a little more forthcoming with his thoughts and feelings fell in line with that. Toxic masculinity, and the head-on tackling of it, was never the crux of his development.

Please for the love of god Jade is not stupid, and she doesn’t mean nothing to the plot. She’s just forgetful and also doesn’t want to be fucking miserable. She also doesn’t “get in the way of DaveKat,” because Dave and Jade legitimately had a thing going on way before Meteorstuck even happened.

Karkat’s arc isn’t about overcoming toxic masculinity either. What. His arc is about how he was born a Mutantblood and raised in a society that hates him. He’s the fucking Second Coming of Troll Christ. There’s so much pressure on him, and none of that pressure is focused in any way on his personal expression of/experience with his own masculinity.

Dave and Karkat do not have arcs that parallel each other at all. They aren’t narratively fated to be together, they aren’t masterfully foils, or star-crossed lovers or anything. The only ways they truly parallel each other in writing is due to the fact that they’re both Knights, and therefore are both interacting with what’s most important to them in generally the same or similar ways. That’s how Classes work. Revolutionary.

Kanaya isn’t stuffy, or boring, or overly-wordy. She isn’t a “mom friend” either. She’s just an extremely awkward girl who cares a lot about her friends and is very bad at social situations. She also isn’t fashionable or cool. I implore you to look back on her dialogue and on the outfits she wears. She is a mess.

Terezi is not a manic pixie dream girl. I’m in pain. This is still going on…

Jake’s character actually does extend past him being Dirk’s arm candy, actually! Jake isn’t just a “Sexy Lamp”! He’s very, very interesting, and he can exist outside of the concept of shipping- in fact, he canonically really, really wants to exist outside of the concept of being people’s object of romantic affections!

Tavros did not reciprocate Gamzee’s feelings. I’m not knocking on people who ship them, because I genuinely could not fucking care less, but I have seen people say that Tavros reciprocated those feelings, which… No, he didn’t.

Nothing to do with a character, but Moiraillegience is a romantic quadrant. It’s inherently romantic, just in a platonic way. It is not just “best friendship”- it’s more comparable to a Queerplatonic Relationship than anything. It is, in fact, weird to Paleship two siblings.

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olderthannetfic · 1 year

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From https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/714916122109100032/

a-beautiful-wasteland said: I very sincerely hope that being ‘straight lite’ is the most aphobic experience you and the other anon ever have. Because quite a lot of people online and off see us rather differently. I don’t have the spoons for a post going over how deeply wrong you are, so I’m going to leave it at that. Peace and joy.

It took me a couple of revisions to get over my deep irritation at this reply and understand that it was not coming from a bad place, so here goes.

Nowhere in my message did I hint at the idea that being considered "straight lite" is the worst aphobia that can exist. Nowhere did I even hint at the idea that it's a majority view. "A lot of straight people think this way" is not a quantitative statement, and these blog anons aren't exactly Letters to the Royal Sociological Society. (Not that it would matter - something can be a common position in some circles but still a fringe position in global terms, and still worthy of discussion.)

Of course I've seen some virulent aphobia. But it's also disturbing to encounter people who are homophobic but make an exception for asexuality because they know juuust enough about it to think of it as celibacy. (Thank you to the people who pointed out the Christian and Mormon parallels, that hadn't occurred to me.) Or they assign it moral values (again, like religious celibacy). Quite often these are people who think of themselves as liberals, intellectuals, the tolerant left. (Most of my family is like that...) Hell, recently I had a conversation online with someone who was complaining about queer porn on AO3 but called being ace "as pure as can be". No, it wasn't the "the worst aphobia I've ever encountered", but it was still super uncomfortable, thank you. In conclusion, there are absolutely people who are capable of being homophobic but can recontextualize certain identities into something that makes sense to them, and this can result in not treating queer people of various identities the same. (Nobody said this kind of recontextualization would be doing those people a favor, mind you.) Compare this to the double standards of how gay men and lesbian women are treated by the mainstream. Both are obviously still subject to homophobia, but media is a lot more gun-shy about one than the other and while there are a lot of complicated reasons for that, I do think "wlw as a concept are somehow less threatening" is in there somewhere.

Please consider reading messages more carefully in the future before lecturing people about how "deeply wrong" they are. Especially if you don't know their experiences.

Peace and love and spoons and such. Bye.

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rincewitch · 1 year

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as is usually the case whenever i watch or read or play... well, basically anything, really-- i've found myself fixated on an f/f rarepair in goncharov, because of course i have. that's the brand.

anyway, i think people are really sleeping on katya/mariella. the f/f fandom in goncharov is already pretty small (as is usually the case with these things), and most of the people making f/f content for it focuses on katya/sofia. which is a really good ship, don't get me wrong, but i really think there's something to katya/mariella. sure, they only have one scene where they actually meet, but there's a lot of chemistry in that scene. and both before and after that scene, there's a lot of clear parallels between them, both in terms of the visual language of the movie (they're both frequently shown in desolate, snowy cityscapes-- the scenes where mariella is wandering through a deserted red square and the one where katya is up on that apartment block's roof with her sniper rifle especially spring to mind)-- and, more subtly, thematically. both of them face a struggle to hold onto their true selves, their real identities, even as they're pulled deeper and deeper into the intrigues circling around goncharov and andrey-- mariella by her desire to protect her family from gonacharov's organization, and katya by her failing marriage to goncharov himself.

and then, in the end, a tragic parting: mariella stays true to herself until the bitter end, dying in the process; katya lives, but embarks on the path of a cold-blooded killer.

so it's not a pairing for everyone, but it is a pairing for me, who loves to be sad and gay on the internet

#goncharov

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pinkarachnia · 9 months

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Lesbian Anime Review #11 - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

This is the first time I’ve watched a Gundam series and now I’m going to talk about my opinions about it on the internet. This will be fine.

- 9 July 2023 -

This is a weird one to review for me. I usually review anime where the lesbian themes are one of the most prominent elements of the show, but Gwitch is a Gundam anime first and foremost, which happens to feature some girls who like girls.

It’s made me stop and consider what my qualifiers are for a “lesbian anime”, because I think this is one. If I boil it down to a few key factors, those would be:

1. It’s about lesbians.

2. Gay themes are addressed in the text.

3. It’s FOR lesbians, or at least, lesbians could enjoy this.

And yeah, in that respect, Gwitch makes the cut. Even if they only acknowledge the second point once at the end of episode 1 (not the prologue) when Miorine looks straight into the camera and says “gay rights”. I loved this part at the time, but in hindsight, I think it set me up to expect that the gay romance between the two main characters would feature more prominently in the show than it ultimately did. I know I’m not alone in that either; when I finished the last episode I immediately looked at the comments on Crunchyroll and it seemed like a few people felt let down by the lack of on-screen romantic moments, but I think that’s a given when the show kicks off with a very Gundam prologue episode (more on the war crimes later) followed by an episode 1 that screams, “we made it just like Utena”, complete with girls rotating around each other in the opening.

Fuck, do I need to finish watching Utena before I can write the rest of this? I was saving it for later in my yuri quest but if there’s anything I’ve learned from Gwitch it’s that anime people won’t hesitate to bite your head off if you try to have a take without doing the mandatory research.

- 17 July 2023 -

I’m 25 episodes into Utena.

Fucking hell this anime is good. I mean that’s not news to anyone but like, I was putting it off until later in my lesbian anime schedule because I was treating it like it would be my reward for persevering through worse content and it hasn’t disappointed. It deserves the pedestal it’s put on. Kiss and love and true your heart.

- 23 July 2023 -

I have finished Revolutionary Girl Utena and the movie. Now I feel like I can speak with some more authority on the comparisons between Gwitch and Utena. However, today I’m seeing Barbie so you might have to wait a bit longer for my Gundam review.

- 27 July 2023 -

So Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury absolutely wants you to think it’s like Utena. Here are some reasons why!

It’s set in a high school with institutionalised duelling.

The champion of duelling wins the right to marry a certain woman.

There’s a council of students (I guess? If not formally then they fit the niche) and they’re all kind of fucked up and they’re the main participants in the duels.

The trophy girl has a garden where she predominantly grows a certain type of plant.

The main character gets to wear a different uniform to everyone else.

It’s lesbian.

One of the main characters is bold and in pursuit of revolutionary goals while the other is timid and subservient to a powerful family member.

Ichirou Ookouchi, credited for script and series composition, wrote the light novel adaption of Revolutionary Girl Utena.

So yeah, I think there’s plenty of reasons to suggest that this was intentional. I think that’s important because for me, it set me up with certain expectations for the series. From the beginning, it seems like Gwitch makes a point of the fact that it features a gay romance and the Utena parallels only serve to strengthen this impression.

I’ll circle back to this when I get into spoilers but to keep it brief, I don’t think it’s queerbait and I do think they were genuine in wanting to depict that relationship. However, I can also understand why there were people who were outspoken about wanting to see more on screen romantic scenes, particularly concerning the ending. I don’t necessarily agree that it needed more, but I understand that perspective. When I consider how Gwitch initially presented itself, with a self-aware juxtaposition of its characters, themes and setting to one of the most renowned and acclaimed anime series about a gay romance between women, I can’t dismiss that take like they should have known better or had different expectations. Their expectations were set by the show and how it invited those comparisons up front.

It’s going to be really hard to write my Utena review.

Spoilers commence below the gifs

It’s several weeks later but I’m not timestamping this any more.

I’ll cut to the chase regarding the Gundam ending: the main leads get married off screen and you don’t see them kiss or anything so overtly romantic. I think that’s fine though. They didn’t need to do that to satisfy me. Like I said earlier up, I think this was a genuine attempt at portraying a gay relationship. The fact that they end up together at the end demonstrates to me that the portrayal of the romance between the two up until the ending was earnest, so it’s a win in my books.

By this point the big evil company has come out and made some comment like “it’s up for interpretation” or whatever but if you look at it for half a second you can see how you’re meant to interpret it.

But that’s enough about all that; who really gives a shit? This is a lesbian anime review so I’m going to finish this review in the most lesbian way I can.

Here’s my

Top 5 robots from Gwitch

5 - ChuChu’s Demi Trainer

The meme answer slot goes to this unremarkable machine because I heard from one of my girlies who works at a hobby store that it’s the least popular model kit they sell.

It’s just a plain looking robot with a gun but the feet look kind of like Shadow the Hedgehog’s shoes. I just noticed that now. Anyway.

4 - Gundam Lfrith Ur

It’s Sophie’s Gundam! It has a large gun. I like this robot because I like Sophie, so it gets to earn my love vicariously.

I don’t find anything about the design particularly outstanding, but this one earns a spot on my list due to having a Beam Gatling Gun. Brrrrrr.

It also has another gun on its back called a Phased Array Cannon. No idea what that’s about but cool robot.

Man if I was a Gundam fan I would hate this top 5.

3 - Gundam Schwarzette

BIiiiiiig swoooooooord.

But there’s actually a smaller sword surrounded by other parts called Bit Staves that form a sheath and it can do cool shit like this:

That’s a dope robot! Kind of wish it was just a giant fuck off sword but I can’t have it all.

No other notes. I’m going to finish this goddamn review.

2 - Gundam Calibarn

Cool gun strikes again only cooler.

This one has a rocket on the back of the gun. It opens up like this:

It’s got some rainbow shit going on too and that’s cute. Not a lot of screen time for this guy but it was put into the opening theme and that’s cool.

Oh fuck I haven’t talked about the songs.

Gwitch had one of my favourite anime openings of 2022. There have been a few great YOASOBI anime songs lately and this one went hard, true to form. I think all the songs they got for this show were great though. I never skipped an OP/ED. Whenever I see a show with a Supercell song it somehow feels special. Maybe I’ve just imagined that there’s any prestige there but I like it so whatever.

Back to robot.

1 - Darilbalde

Beetle looking fucker. Not the only one but I like this one the most because it’s red.

Guel gets to pilot all the coolest suits in this show. Dude gets all the beetle guys.

Look at this bastard:

Sick. Check out the polearm.

This isn't even the guy I've given the number 1 slot to, I just think it's cool. Fuck it, Dilanza can also be number 1.

As you can probably tell by now, I'm not great at articulating why I think any of these are good, but I don't really think that matters. I've spent so much time dwelling on "war is bad" that I've neglected "cool robot", and sometimes I think it's just fine to be the guy who wants to look at the cool robot. I also think it's fine to be the guy who just wants to look at girls kissing. Sometimes you can be both.

Anyway, Witch of Mercury was alright. More named characters should have died probably. I prefer the robots from Code Geass.

I'm giving this one a 7 out of 10.

#lesbian anime review #g witch #gundam #witch from mercury

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runninguplenorahills · 1 year

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You just love stealing peoples posts and ideas and not crediting them don't you??

I’ve been here for half a year and so it happens that I might repeat things that have already been said before by other people, without being aware of it. I’ve never stolen someone’s post before!! I’ve simply made the same observation! Just because there’s a time delay doesn’t mean I actually know about the other post!

I’m pretty sure this is about the El/Nancy ring parallel and I just wann say that as far as I know, I’ve been the first one to point out that El’s s4 ring and Nancy’s s1 ring look near identical!

That post of mine is from January and I’ve just today became aware of the fact that @bookfansworld has made a post about this already in November, though they’re actually talking about a different one of Nancy’s rings (one from s4). So while we came to the same conclusion, we did not even make the same observation!

In their post they also pointed out that El’s ring is a heart while I personally thought it was a circle, and now that I looked it up (literally about two hours ago) I observed that it’s neither. This is something I found out for myself today, so if that was already a widely known information in the byler tag due to someone else pointing it out way before me, I simply did not know that!

This is as if I would make people credit me for using the inverted buff dragon poster in their posts because as far as I now I’m the one who pointed out that it looks like the gay flag first! But just because I pointed it out first doesn’t mean everyone saw my post and it also doesn’t mean that no one can make that observation by themselves anymore! If someone were to post that exact inverted buff dragon poster today, who am I to tell them that they stole my post?? They probably don’t even know my post exists!!!

So, my dear anon, it is very rude to immediately assume that someone stole someone else’s post just because it includes the same observation (or the same conclusion). Stranger Things is a tv show and there are millions of people watching it! People are bound to make the same observations over and over again!

And I guarantee everyone, whenever I am aware of another blog pointing out something that I’m about to discuss, I always tag them or their post! For example @there-was-a-hole-here-itsgonenow once made an amazing post about the Japanese fan in Suzie’s room which inspired me to do my own and I of course tagged their post!! Or @aemiron-main has the most genius analyses and whenever I’m picking up on one of his posts I tag him as well! But this is only possible when I’m aware of someone’s post!! If I’m not aware of another post that points out the same thing that I’m about to point out with my own post, I naturally cannot tag it or the blog!

So if I should ever post something and you guys know a post that says the same thing/shows the same observation, tell me! Just leave a quick: “Hey Lenora, I just wanted to let you know that there’s this post by @/ and your post is very similar to theirs so you might wanna tag them.” because I will, guys! I will tag them once I’m aware their post exists!!

#sorry for dragging some of you into this #byler #<-obviously not byler but i thought you might wanna know that i’m not a post thief #lmao #mail to lenora hills #not happy about this past midnight mail 💀

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lisztful · 9 months

Text

GO Season 2 and fandom history ramblings

Spoilers for Good Omens season 2 to follow:

I've watched the second season of Good Omens twice by now, and several days later I am still thinking about it. I know many people are delighted, pained, moved, and excited by the storyline, but that's not the only thing that I keep coming back to. For me, it's the novel experience of seeing the subtext become text, after countless years of existing in fandom without any possibility of that occurring.

For context, I've been in fandom for about 15 years, which is certainly not as long as many other folks I know. There are friends in my circle who collected Kirk/Spock zines back in the old days of fandom, who watched Starsky and Hutch as it was airing and read in it the love that dared not speak its name. Personally, I was one of many people of my generation who entered slash fandom via Harry Potter and LiveJournal, and began writing in the Merlin fandom.

From the beginning of my time in fandom, it was exceedingly clear to me that slash pairings for these shows were never, ever going to be canon. Articles about the Merlin tv series touted the parallels between magic and gay identity as early as the first season, but the show included straight romances for just about every main character. I tend to characterize fandom from around this era in the following buckets:

Deny, create straight pairings.

Token queer rep.

Cultivate queer subtext

Queer story arcs

Good Omens season two, apparently a category of its own

***often one show can be in more than one bucket at once, or moves between them as discourse evolves.

(More below the cut)

Deny the subtext, create straight canon pairings to dispel slash undertones, express discomfort with the very idea of slash pairings, and sometimes downright mock the idea:

The paired actors from Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural, LOTR, and Sherlock did this, repeatedly denying, expressing discomfort, and sometimes even mocking slash at conventions and in interviews. So too Merlin, the Harry Potter films, etc. Hugh Dancy of Hannibal expressed this discomfort in a number of interviews, though notably Misha Collins and Mads Mikkelson, speaking about Supernatural and Hannibal respectively, were more open to the possibility of homoeroticism. All of these pairings were given heterosexual romance arcs.

In many examples, as the writers became aware of the subtext, the characters were actually separated to try to prevent any potential subtext from being read into their interactions. In Teen Wolf, Hannibal, Supernatural, Captain America, and the Witcher, character arcs separated pairings who previously spent a lot of screen-time together, physically distancing them to reduce any opportunity for subtext.

2. In the next category, there are the creators who write in minor gay characters in the hopes of appeasing fandom or shifting their focus from the main slash pairing. See JK Rowling making Dumbledore gay, Felicia Day's character in Supernatural, Jaskier in the Witcher, etc. This kind of redirection is often an attempt to say, see, we're not homophobic, but also we have no interest in alienating middle-America cable viewers by asserting that a traditionally masculine lead could in fact be queer. See Watson's queer sister in Sherlock, even while the writers denied any queer subtext between the leads.

A more contemporary subcategory of this category involves giving a character a backstory that hints at or includes queerness, but doesn't show it on screen or allow it for the character's present day arc. I think the Loki tv show is an example of this, as is Valkyrie in the Thor films, although I haven't seen Loki and I think there was a cut scene with Valkyrie that made her bisexuality canon for the film verse. WWDITS does this a little as well, though I think it's much more self aware and also, is an unfinished story arc. The main characters are revealed to be queer but the pairing is not thus far canonical, though both Nandor and Guillermo are shown having on-screen queer relationships with other (or in fact the same) people.

3. The next category, which I believe begins to push the boundaries of fandom, are those shows that purposefully wrote in or allowed subtext to flourish, likely for financial reasons. Again, there was no chance the writing teams were going to make a slash pairing canon, but they would certainly wink and nod at it to appease fandom. And, largely, this worked. Fans noticed it, we liked it, we worked it into fic. Did we also feel mocked and disrespected by it? Certainly. But those liminal spaces were where our identities were allowed to live, and so we took those seeds and turned them into the vibrant culture of fandom.

One particularly egregious example of this comes from the Teen Wolf television show, which produced a viral video featuring the members of the slash pairing. The video showed the actors cuddled close on a boat, and opened with one of the actors saying, "We're on a ship, pun intended." The ad was intended to garner votes for an award for the show, and purposefully capitalized upon slash fandom to that end. However, the show also simultaneously wrote out the possibility of these characters having a romantic arc.

Some subtler examples have surfaced often during unscripted Q&A sessions with actors, for example Hannibal's Mads Mikkelson reacting humorously during a panel discussion in which Hugh Dancy describes Hannibal and Will's love as platonic, indicating that he disagrees. See also Misha Collins saying, "Also, Cas is gay" in an instagram post, after a canonical declaration of unrequited love from Castiel to Dean in Supernatural (or requited if you believe the Spanish subtitles, though there's still plausible deniability for this to be platonic love).

Hannibal I think begins to push the boundaries here, and some fans will say that the Hannibal/Will slash pairing is canon. While there is a ton of space to read that in the show, especially in season three and in creator Brian Fuller's statements since the end of the show, the show utilizes ambiguity both for artistic effect and (in my opinion) to avoid ever making the subtext into text. See for example this much quoted line from the second last episode of season 3:

Will Graham : "Is Hannibal in love with me?" Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier : "Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for you and find nourishment at the very sight of you? Yes. But do you... ache for him?"

We quote this scene all the time and say, it's canon! Hannibal loves Will! I am personally a gigantic Hannibal fan and I love the room for subtext in this writing, but note that while it certainly SEEMS like Bedelia is saying Hannibal is in love with Will, she does not explicitly say that it is romantic love. Also, Will doesn't reply! We can read many emotions into his facial expression, but we don't have explicit canonical confirmation.

Similarly, the show's climactic ending is often touted as a romantic embrace, but I would say it is not undeniably, explicitly romantic. I feel it has strong romantic undertones, but the writers chose not to make the subtext into explicit text. It's important to mention that this show aired on cable, and as such was beholden to network censorship and the need to target cable audience for ratings. The next category of shows is different.

4. As television production has moved into the realm of streaming services, there has of course been a rise of well-received queer television and film, Orange is the New Black being one of the early examples. There is of course a financial market for this stuff, and it's easier to tailor content to sympathetic audiences. I do think this stuff is also just becoming vastly more visible in general (in politics, on tiktok, etc.) and as such we've seen more and more representation from TV shows. These shows were all, from their inception, intended as queer stories. This category includes Heartstopper (a show much beloved by me), Gentleman Jack, and notably OFMD. I think Our Flag Means Death stands out because it took pains to dispel many of the characteristic elements of fandom queerbaiting, which while evidently unintentional on the part of creator and writer David Jenkins, was almost certainly an intentional choice from the overwhelmingly queer writer's room for the show. But again, though many fans were surprised to see the pairing made canon, it was intended from the original arc of the show. I think the remake of Interview with the Vampire also falls into this category of more fandom-aware, intentional queer stories.

5. And then there's Good Omens. In season one, I think the show fit into categories 2 and 3, containing queer and nonbinary representation and allowing a lot of space for subtext. Michael Sheen stated in interviews that he was playing Aziraphale as a person who was trying not to show someone that he loved them, but never explicitly stated this to be a romantic love. I know fandom read it that way, including myself, but technically it was never explicitly stated as romantic love. It seemed reasonably clear in the landscape of season one, and the other shows that were being made at the same time, that slash pairings do not become canon. Much was made of a line from the Good Omens book, reiterated by Neil Gaiman on tumblr that angels are agender. Several of the characters are in show canon only referred to by gender neutral pronouns, though not Aziraphale or Crowley. Much more still was made of Gaiman's references to conversations in which he and Terry Pratchett joked? discussed? the pairing living in a cottage in the South Downs together after the events of the book. There was a great deal of room left by Sheen and Gaiman's comments, and by the subtext of the show, in which to imagine a queer romance.

As I prepared to watch season two, I remarked to a friend that I was curious to see what, if any, impact fandoms like Hannibal and OFMD might have had on the series. Hannibal fandom seems to have largely convinced Brian Fuller of the viability of a queer romance, though he has been cagey about if it would happen in a hypothetical season 4 of Hannibal (I've seen several interviews in which Fuller states that it might not happen in season 4 because "Hannibal would want Will to be able to consent, and he would not be able to in the planned storyline for season 4").

OFMD's success seems to have paved the way for story-lines containing queer representation and romance that are not in fact centered around the experience of being queer. OFMD, in addition to showcasing many different kinds of queer relationships, worked hard to write a story that was not a Heartstopper style coming out story. So too, Hannibal and Good Omens season one are compelling as stories that happen to contain possible queer pairings, not as stories framed around the experience of being queer.

Additionally, through each of his recent television series but most notably with Sandman, Neil Gaiman made an explicit statement about including substantial queer representation in his work. He did not seem to be overly burdened with the requirements from the Terry Pratchett estate, or with any personal fear of writing queer narratives. If ever there was a moment to make a slash pairing canon, it seemed to be now.

As I watched season two, I felt much as I had watching OFMD - filled with a sense of disbelief that after countless fandoms in which there was no eventual queer arc, the subtext seemed suspiciously close to becoming text. I kept reminding myself not to get my hopes up, because that has basically never paid off in the past! I assumed the show would hint heavily but leave some room for ambiguity.

But it didn't! And not only did it deliberately and explicitly state that the arc was a romantic one, it also referenced and validated subtext from season one, which I suspect was before anyone had a serious intention of making this pairing explicitly canonical. I cannot think of any other example of a fandom that began a story without an intended queer romantic arc for its main characters, and ended up writing one in. If there are any other shows out there I would love to know, but for now Good Omens stands alone as the first fandom I know of in history to do this. What a time to be alive, and part of fandom! I can't wait to see what happens next!

#meta #ramblings #GOSeason2Spoilers #Good omens meta #Hannigram #OFMD #this is exceedingly long

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