#let kids have lighthearted queer stories

[tedcruzisthezodiackiller]

something that drives me fucking insaneeeee is when people complain about something and you can tell the only reason they don’t like it is because they’re not the target audience for that thing

“enough respectability politics, I want nasty fucked up toxic gays!!” ok stop watching childrens cartoons then! don’t expect the teen sitcom to have cannibalism and horror! Pick up a book! Watch a film that’s not made by marvel!

#let kids have lighthearted queer stories #the owl house #heartstopper #steven universe #love simon

[multigenderswag]

saw the recent posts about lesbian men and like , to some extent i get how they got there-- if you define "lesbian" as "woman who is NOT attracted to men and IS attracted to women" and then you assume men and women are mutually exclusive because of your internalized phobias, and just kinda let non-binary people (assumed to all be neither men nor women) fall into a murky gray area.... you would go "wait but by claiming a man is a lesbian aren't you also implicitly claiming they're a woman and ~forcing me~ to be attracted to them?"

and it's like. it loops back around to the transmisogyny argument. because literally no one is forcing you to be attracted to or date these people. people have like, personal preferences sometimes. any individual person who is a lesbian and does not want to date men, like, that's fine. that's a personal thing. but it's not a lesbian thing. like.... i think the problem here is people imposing their personal preferences onto a community label just because they don't think they're allowed to..... have preferences in who they date??

like if i never found myself attracted to redheads i wouldn't try to claim that redheads weren't ~real [gender I'm attracted to]~. i would just go "yeah I'm [orientation] and also i never really find myself attracted to [x]". whether that's dicks or vaginas or a hair color or a neurotype (genuinely i don't think i could ever be attracted to a neurotypical. that's ok that's just how it is for me), like..... brains are weird. attraction is weird. you don't have to make it a Big Thing about everyone who is attracted to that gender. you don't have to make it about that gender.

like.... the actual definition of lesbian is so broad and so beautiful and so queer. and I'm sure there are plenty of lesbians that are not attracted to men (regardless of whether or not they are also women) and that's fine, like. there are definitely weirder attraction patterns than that. but it's really not that hard to go "yeah I'm a lesbian and also I've never found myself attracted to men" as if it's an actual personal preference. since it is.

anyway uh sorry to ramble in your inbox?? but yeah like, as someone who is a man + faux woman (like knockoff woman. soy-derived woman) uhh... yeah. lesbians are cool as shit and especially lesbians with male-aligned genders or transmasc/butch presentation. all the respect in the world from me

I'm not sure if I've publicly come out as a redhead on this blog, but I am a redhead, so I just found it extremely funny that you used redheads as your example of people you don't find attractive. Like damn, okay, just target me like that :/ (lighthearted)

Anyway, that aside, yeah! Even if I disagree with the anti male lesbian discourse, I can see how one would get from point A to point B. It's entirely understandable to have a knee-jerk reaction to "lesbians can be attracted to/be men," since a lot of lesbians- including me, way back in the day when I used to identify as a lesbian- really can't be attracted to men. And have had a lot of negative experiences trying to force themselves to be attracted to men, or having other people pressuring them to be attracted to men. So I can see where the discomfort comes from.

However- say it with me, kids- discomfort is not a moral judgement.

Yes, it can feel invalidating. No, that feeling does not give you the right to say "this identity that makes me uncomfortable is bad, end of story."

I think another problem, like you said, is that people conflate "SOME lesbians have a male gender, or SOME lesbians experience some attraction to men," with "ALL lesbians are obligated to date/sleep with men," when that's just not the case. An argument I've seen a lot is that men will use mspec lesbians as an excuse to pressure a non-mspec lesbian into dating them or sleeping with them. Which ignores a very important, very fundamental concept: NO MEANS NO.

If a man is hitting on a lesbian, and the lesbian says no, it doesn't actually matter whether that lesbian was attracted to men, or whether some lesbians can be attracted to men. All that matters is that that person said no. If the man in this scenario disregards that, it's not the fault of mspec lesbians; it's the fault of a man who didn't stop when he was told to stop.

In general, I think it's fairly easy to understand that "some members of x community do y" does not mean "all members of x community do y" or "most members of x community do y" or even "all members of x community should do y." Communities are diverse!

Take this example: "I'm Jewish, and I keep kosher. Some Jews don't keep kosher. Keeping kosher is an important part of my Jewish identity, but it's not part of their Jewish identity, and that's okay. That doesn't make them not Jewish, and that also doesn't mean I have to stop keeping kosher. Just because some Jews don't keep kosher, that doesn't give someone the right to insist I eat a bacon cheeseburger." This is a rational thing to say. I think most people would agree with what is being said here.

However. "I'm a lesbian, and I'm not attracted to men. Some lesbians are attracted to men. Lack of attraction to men is an important part of my lesbian identity, but it's not part of their lesbian identity, and that's okay. That doesn't make them not lesbian, and that also doesn't mean I have to be attracted to men. Just because some lesbians are attracted to men, that doesn't give someone the right to insist I sleep with a man." This follows the same logic, but is somehow a very controversial statement.

Because of the negative experiences so many lesbians have had due to not being attracted to men, it may be harder to reach the "and that's okay" point in the lesbian example than in the kosher example. I understand this. However, like you said, that doesn't mean they can enforce this for all lesbians.

And like you said, preferences are a thing that exist. Lesbians do not have to be attracted to every single other lesbian out there. Not being attracted to someone doesn't mean they're not a lesbian.

Lesbians are a diverse community, which is awesome. None of the ways to be a lesbian are wrong or bad just because they're different from each other.

#asks #male lesbian #multigender lesbian #lesbian

[chromochaotic]

there are 100 little things i should be doing, but instead I feel like doing a write up on the books I’ve read this year... mostly so I remember them better, but also bc it might be fun to read later

The list so far (that I remember) (not including ones in progress... like dracula and gideon lmao) (also not including fanfics but man what if):

**12/27: update! adding 4 more (RIP my nice grid)

I'm gonna try and do a positive-negative-positive sandwich with these "reviews", because apparently I'm very picky, ahahaha.

in actual reading order...

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

Thoughts: Read this with a discord bookclub! Which made it a fun read, kind of throwing around our theories about possible backstories before they got revealed, the "limits" of the magic in the book, what we wanted/didn't want to happen. I actually really enjoy non-chronological stories when they're not too convoluted, haha, so that was a treat. Also enjoyed the way the author conveyed all the different settings and time periods.

(vague spoilers in this paragraph) Every once in a while I got a little miffed at how... French the entire vibe was. Like, this will sound/probably is petty, but I don't click with main characters when they're being just like, dolefully beautiful, and how all these love interests seem to be drawn just to Addie's Unique Mega Gorgeous Face and her vague manic pixie air of mystery. I liked her as a character much more in moments like her interactions with Luc, which focused more on her defiance and cleverness. In a way that I swear is related, I remember being a little exasperated at the underlying feeling that romantic love was like the end-all-be-all of existence itself. I get that that's like the whole point, this being an epic romantic story, and romantic in the way that like wistful poems about the French countryside and Moulin Rouge are capital R Romantic. I also don't love Moulin Rouge, though. So it's probably a me problem, haha.

Still, the storytelling was very rich! I liked how lush the emotional moments felt... I also got a kick out of the characters around Henry, like, his friends and family were a mix of quirky and heartfelt that made something about his story get to me a little more than it would have otherwise. Ohhh, and I loved the little visual art "records" printed throughout the book! It always added to the story for me, seeing how they tied in and captured certain feelings. WOO

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Good things! The story is immediately fun and whimsical—this was another read with the discord bookclub, and during our first chat we were all having a really good time talking about the world and the characters that get introduced. The setting is just ridiculously charming.

(spoilers) I know the book is touted for being like, feel-good and lighthearted, and I usually super-enjoy stories like that. It's just that, I feel like it didn't 100% commit to being Cozy Fun Queer Romance when it dipped into having fantasy racism. It might have been one thing if it was just like one or two narrow-minded characters, but the book doesn't really let you forget that systemic fantasy racism is built into their society... This is ofc 100% subjective, I get how a story like this where everything gets wrapped up with a little bit of "oh, phooey on those bigots! cheerio!" could be exactly what we need to read now and then. It just didn't quite strike the balance for the time and mindset I read it in. Also probably didn't help that bc of the bookclub's schedule, there was a looooooong pause in reading in the middle, though!

But again, tons of charming moments, the characters and especially the kids are delightful. My sweet blob son Chauncey sparks infinite joy.

Myths to Live By

So this was an odd one. Backstory: I was one of those people who read The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and sort of had my world rocked by it, like, went quickly from a cynical atheist to being like "oh shit religion might be good, actually." I had a vague sense while reading that book that like, yeah, sure, the things he was saying were tinged with some sexism and euro-centric vibes etc... But I was still pretty pleased to pick up this Myths to Live By book in a thrift store for like a buck.

Halfway through the book, I'm bopping around on tumblr and finally stumble upon The Discourse (tbh it's not that bad I'm just being dramatic) about Campbell. Like, the way I summed it up to friends was that apparently he's regarded in the academic field of comparative religion the way Freud is in psychology—a big name, probably sparked a lot of people's interest in the subject, but the ideas he spreads are super out of date/inaccurate/oversimplified, especially when it comes to non-western culture. So...

Idk, it was still an interesting read, and probably a good exercise for me in trying to think a little more abstractly. And he still somehow makes me appreciate the significance of rituals and how make-believe stuff can actually hold societies together... I dog-eared a handful of pages (mostly in the first half before my online digging made me kind of disenchanted ahaha), and the last one is on this page putting forward the idea that as humans, "we are a natural product of this earth... If we are intelligent beings, it must be that we are the fruits of an intelligent earth" and this stuff that of course isn't new, but still comforting, like not thinking of man as separate from nature but a distilled-and-connected bit of a big, amazing, living universe.

House of Leaves

Weird!!! Weird book!!!!! Very novel!!!!! Which I liked! okay it's getting a little late which is probably not the best time to type this out, but overall I had a good time with this book. The weird formatting and framing of the story as a movie within an academic analysis within a story and presented as the very book you're holding—nice! The little puzzles to figure out along the way that add extra meaning that you can dig into if you so choose—nice! And ooo the horror, the horror of the house was very fun for me, as someone who enjoys more psychological kinds of horror.

There were parts of the book that were... trying, to read. But I think they were sort of meant to be that way? I don't know, some of Johnny's parts of narration were just so disgusting and off-putting I had to skim/skip them, but I feel like somewhere on a forum someone is arguing that that's a perfectly valid way to read the book. I was also pretty bummed out by like... which characters don't make it out of the story. That's a way I'm not suited for horror stories, but, like these two felt especially personal. Ahhh, well.

But yeah! Very funky, and I absolutely vibe with the final message that the book lands on. I'm also blown away, like everyone else is, by how much research and super-detailed knowledge went into this book to make its sticky spiderweb of complexity really land.

Klaus: The Art of the Movie

heeheeheeheehee okay this was just a fun thing I also picked up at the thrift store, but I love a good art book and the movie is gorgeous all on its own. The way they animated it is super unique—it's 2D made to look 3D, and the art book goes into some good detail about how they accomplished that thanks to new animation tech and stuff. I've always kind of thought 2D animation is more appealing than 3D animation, and this is going off on a tangent, but I will say the book and the commentary in it made me feel Valid.

I don't think there are any downsides to this book?? Unless like, idk, I guess some of the full-page spreads are a little pixelated in print, lmao. and i feel like i have to, as a jew, say it should probably skeeve me out a little more how a story about The Big Christian Holiday is constantly portrayed as "universal". But also it's! gorgeous!! look at this

The book did a great job helping me understand/appreciate how every place and character was designed to be Distinct but also flexible—like, a lot of the locations had to go from Scary to Charming while still looking like the same place, and it was cool seeing the tricks they used to do it.

The Fruitful City

I just finished this tonight! Kind of an odd one, I picked it up at this anarchist bookstore that made me feel like a big poser on a trip to Philly. I feel like I don't have as much to say about it since it's nonfiction, haha. But, yeah, it helped me understand the ins and outs of what growing fruit in the middle of a city looks like. I feel like it makes everything seem a little more possible, like, the author wants people to be less afraid to go out into the world and harvest in a hands on way.

It was a little dry at times for me, but I think my attention span has really suffered since.......... a while ago, haha.

Overall, it was a nice thing to read. There were some really lovely descriptions of people interacting with their communities via shared resources, and small, interesting bits of immigrant history. I have zero cooking skills whatsoever, but it made me think that like, maybe, mayyyyybe, I might attempt to make a jam or something next year.

OKAY i should sleep, this was fun, maybe I'll update it when I finish my next book, who knows! more!!

Gideon the Ninth

Positives: what hasn't already been said! I guess, first off, I love the cast of characters & the whole setting. Like, even though the world of TLT was pretty unusual, the characters feel so grounded and vibrant—they jump off the page through dialogue and things Gideon observes (or fails to observe) about them, and I either love to love them or love to hate 'em, there's no middle sliders! And I loved exploring Canaan House along with the story! The book wouldn't be the same without the haunting presence of its backdrop, this sense of decaying grandeur and old tragedies described so beautifully, all around.

I think I only have a few nitpicks... One would be, as fun as "show, don't tell" was in this book—honestly, I way prefer how this book introduced its history and magic system and everything compared to the one I'm reading rn, which just kind of dumped exposition at me—it was a little overwhelming at the start! I honestly thought I'd accidentally bought the 2nd book in the series when I saw so much odd jargon and strange, offhand details in the first few paragraphs. I was also a little thrown by how suddenly it felt like some of the character dynamics changed, but that might have been a symptom of me binge-reading and then having to take breaks bc of life now and then haha.

So, yes, overall, really enjoyed it! I think the book was very hyped-up for me and it mostly lived up to expectations... More than anything, love Gideon!! Love this beautiful herbo who, by virtue of being a gold-hearted meme-ing brick house, flexes her way into all sorts of secrets and everyone's hearts. (also love Cam and Pal, would die for them. also magnus. maybe ianthe, for sure corona. yep.)

Dracula

lmao guess who did Dracula Daily... This review might be more of that whole experience, which was pretty fun! I definitely fell behind for a while, but I had a chance to catch up, and at that point things were getting wet and wild. I think what I enjoyed most of all was, as some post somewhere on this site points out, the story is pretty touching when you view it as a community of people trying to look out for each other vs. the parasite of self-interest.

Again, like everyone pointed out, there's all the dated things about the book... The asylum-related parts were no fun, and god the way working class people and roma are portrayed vs. the honorable, constantly-bribing-people main cast is just, nah!

But still, for a book this old, it had its surprises! I loved some of the more romantic descriptions of little seaside villages and eerie mountain roads... And the high stakes (haha) of the story were really uniquely explored—reading it along with The Internet helped me get way more destroyed by Jonathan's promise to follow wherever Mina goes, even if it damns him. And the line about Mina's mark at the very end, as the sun rose? No spoilers but I got teary.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

I listened to this as an audiobook, since I'd never read it and I've seen posts about a new show coming out. The series has always seemed interesting! And it was a fun listen, very whimsical, plus I have a soft spot for summer camp settings.

I felt a little old to be getting into it now, haha—I kept wanting more nuance in certain characters and themes, which isn't a fault of the book considering the intended audience!

Overall, I think the writing did a great job capturing a relatable, exciting story for young teens, plus it's very cool how the author worked to make diversity a sticking point both when he first wrote it and, from what I hear, to this day. There's a lot of joy packed into this adventure, and I'll probably get around to listening to the rest of the series next year.

Harrow the Ninth

First off, I just finished this one, and... I liked it more than book 1! I enjoyed them both, but this one feels like the storytelling kicked into overdrive. Once again, the characters leapt off the page—the number of times I wheezed over lines from Ianthe or John, or got gut-punched by [redacted] and [redacted] and [super redacted]. More than anything, I feel like the mystery(/ies?) unfolding in this story were more engaging than before, where instead of just clinging to the story without a chance of prediction, the reader has more of a chance to puzzle things out along the way (and then still be surprised).

The rollercoaster ending was a page-turner, but there was one point that I think really toed the line of being just plain convoluted, haha. I also remember reading things and thinking "I know if I reread this series one day, this line would probably make me lose my mind, but right now it's just absolute nonsense." Which... I just felt like documenting! I don't know if it's a bad thing, like, I get that part of the fun is squeezing as many clues out of the context as you can, but there certainly is a lot of context-squeezing going on.

Anyway, this was definitely one of my favorite reads of the year! The way the writing plays around with framing—the PAYOFF!!! The payoff of the 2nd person voice!!!!! There's one scene, you'll know what I'm talking about, where the perspective does something and suddenly all these lenses shift into focus and I went wild. I need to draw something for it. My god. I can't rehash all the great things about the series, I guess, but I love it! It's so much fun! There's a stussy! There's a makeout with god! what more can you want!

#hi my name is chromo #uh #book review #? #also a fun fact with HoL is that #it was very specifically mentioned in a fanfic i was reading at the same time #which felt a little spooky but mostly very funny #now with an update!

[ixcaliber]

At Least A Single Sentence On Every Game I Played In June 2022

A star (*) next to a game’s title indicates this game is available in the Queer Games Bundle on itch.io

1. Don’t Toy With Me *

What if Toy Story but every character was one slight away from losing their minds. It’s a short visual novel and it has a pretty neat conception of a world of sentient toys and the potential consequences thereof. It’s neat in that your interactions with the world are fairly hands off (choosing to tap on a dollhouse or not, deciding you like one toy or another) but these minor interactions have a major impact on the psyches of the toys. This is a horror/thriller narrative though, no happy endings to be found here.

Rating: Neat concept, not my genre.

2. Someone Stole My LUNCH *

Very lighthearted comedic visual novel about your efforts to eat your own damn lunch.

Rating: An hour’s worth of silly fun.

3. Full Service Shop *

NSFW visual novel about sapphic & kinky transhumanism. Nice variety of characters with their own quirks and preferences. Comes with a text file of content warnings so you can avoid anything you don’t like and every encounter has a safeword option to hit if you become uncomfortable. It's trans inclusive, letting you set your pronouns independantly from any genitalia. And the writing is pretty damn good.

Rating: Great.

4. WitchWay

(not on the Queer Bundle, but was included in the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality, if you have access to that)

A fun little puzzle platformer where you’re a witch girl and you have the ability to move and control certain objects in the world. It’s a very focused game, a tightly connected series of rooms at the bottom of a well, where you can explore andeventually find your way out. Exploring is more rewarding than you’d expect with an optional objective hidden in every room and seven or eight cute bunnies to rescue.

Rating: Pretty damn good.

5. Parsnip

(was available in the Bundle For Racial Justice and Equality)

A little point and click adventure that’s trying to nail the unsettling line between cute and creepy. It’s one of those where the protagonist is cutesy and well meaning and the rest of the world is normal with some dark undertones and the protagonist is incapable of seeing that anything is wrong. It is a little rough. I play a couple more games in this shared world from the Queer Bundle which is why I sought this one out, but if this sounds like it won’t be your kind of thing then it probably won’t be. It’s not integral to understanding any of the following games anyway.

Rating: Rough but charming.

 6. The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith *

Set in the same world as Parsnip, this game has a much more approachable tone and gameplay structure. It follows trans disaster Trixie Glimmer Smith as she, at the behest of her extremely highly strung friend, attempts to get ahold of The King In Yellow and then attempts to deal with the consequences of these actions. You also have the option of spending time with a couple of different characters and becoming embroiled in their eldritch subplots. A neat little game that continues and improves on its use of eldritch horror from Parsnip, but brings it more into the spotlight and makes it the focus of the game as it deserves to be.

Rating: Pretty damn good.

7. Co-Open *

A game in which you are a kid, going shopping at the local store on your own for the first time. Explore the store, talk to people, find secrets and feed the incredible physics defying kitties. There’s a surprising amount of things to do and people to talk to in this one and it’s very gay.

Rating: Great.

8. Yuki’s Palpitating, Passionate, Phenomenal, and quite frankly Proficient quest for a (hot) girlfriend!!!

Short and silly lesbian romance visual novel. Yuki, a shy new girl at school, finds herself propositioned by three girls and must date all of them to decide who she wants to go out with. The girls are good, the art is cute, the tone is extremely lighthearted. The conclusion of the short story is pretty much spoiled by the title of its sequel.

Rating: An hour’s worth of silly lesbian fun.

9. Spica, Chinatsu and Haruka’s Enchanting, Marvelous and quite frankly Elaborate quest to save their (cute) girlfriend!!! *

The followup to Y4P; Yuki’s been kidnapped and its up to her girlfriends to rescue her. But don’t worry, despite the kidnapping it’s still as lighthearted if not more so than previously. This game develops the interactions between the rest of the polycule and, through the framing device of Yuki talking about her relationships to her kidnapper, discusses in simple terms the nature of a polycule.

Rating: An hour’s worth of silly lesbian fun.

10. TetrEscape *

(Has a publicly accessible in browser version)

A simple little puzzle game; push the tetris blocks and try to make rows or columns in order to clear your path to the exit. There’s about fifteen levels or so, and though there is some escalation of difficulty it never gets too tough.

Rating: A neat little thing.

11. Three Lesbians In A Barrow *

Another game in the Parsnip/Trixie Glimmer Smith series. This one stars Tabitha Knight as she and her friends Nikita and Trixie visit a mysterious barrow for an archeological studies project. When they get trapped inside it seems as though something else may be trapped in there with them. This is much more shortform than ttotgs, quickly setting up its conflict and then giving you a variety of actions each of which pass time. After a certain point events will have escalated and will unfold based on your decisions. This one is more regular horror than eldritch horror, though as much time is given to these girls trying to understand one another better.

Rating: Pretty good.

12. Symbiosis *

(Has a publicly accessible in browser version)

An RPGMaker horror game, where you are a witch protecting your son after a break-in to your house. This game has a nice little art style and an intriguing atmosphere.

Rating: Neat concept, not my genre.

13. A Normal Lost Phone *

In this game you find a stranger’s phone, and slowly learn about their lives. There is something of a level of discomfort playing a game like this, intentionally violating the privacy of this fictional character. If you can put that to one side there is something very compelling about this kind of game; the intertwining of puzzle and narrative as you work to find the clues that lead you to find the next peice of information that serves as a password to access the next section of the phone. It’s diagetic puzzle solving in a very satisfying way. It is in fact the diagetic...ness of the game that really makes it uncomfortable to look through their text conversations and emails etc. Especially if you’re already familiar with the game and it’s reveal.

Rating: Pretty good but with unintentional and difficult to remove unpleasantness.

14. Some Sword / Some Play *

(Has a publicly accessible in browser version)

A short piece of NSFW interactive fiction. This one has more plot and less kink than I was anticipating. It still has some nice moments and is very trans inclusive; all characters pronouns can be set as desired and genitalia is once again seperated from pronouns. There’s a little kink but it’s wholesome kink, softer than I was anticipating. You’ll probably enjoy this if you want a swashbuckling steampunk adventure with some interesting worldbuilding and a dash of lewdness.

Rating: Pretty good.

15. Another Lost Phone: Laura’s Story

(was available in the bundle for Palestinian Aid)

My feelings on this one are pretty much identical to my feelings on A Normal Lost Phone. Though the premise runs a little thinner here at least in terms of puzzles. I did feel myself losing patience, especially when the diagetic nature of them means that they have minimal guidance. There was one I looked up tips for just because I wasn’t confident I was even looking for the right thing. In A Normal Lost Phone there was a point towards the beginning where I felt kind of bogged down with information, names of contacts and events that Sam had been to, learned long before I could provide context to any of it. There’s a little of that here but less front loaded. The game, in the end has a good positive message, but once again there’s that feeling of actively intruding on someone else’s personal information thats just sort of inescapable given the format.

Rating: Pretty good but with unintentional and difficult to remove unpleasantness.

16. Umurangi Generation

This is a pretty cool photography game with a neat artstyle and an unfolding narrative told through environmental detail as you explore and photograph the levels. Unfortunately I’m an incapabale of parsing a story unless it is explicitly told to me so if there’s anything deeper than ‘an alien war is happening’ it didn’t really manage to reach me. It is a pretty neat game to play though, it has sort of a Tony Hawk’s Pro War Photographer vibe to it, where you’re running around short little hub zones trying to check off tasks before the deadline (not actually enforced, you just can’t get the second unlockable object for a level if you don’t do everything in time). I had a good time with it.

Rating: Pretty damn good.

17. Disc Room

Explore a space station full of spinning blades. Survive as long as you can. Die quite a lot. Every room is like a little time trial to simply survive as long as you can, though with some interesting variables thrown in in the later stages of the game. It reminded me a lot of HyperDot but with HyperDot there was a very small number of different kind of projectiles that could come after you, allowing you to recognize them on sight and develop more of a familiarity with them. Almost every room in Disc Room has a new kind of disc that behaves in a new kind of way, more novelty less mastery. There are hidden rooms to find, secrets to uncover and a bestiary to fill in. It has more replayability than I was sort of expecting.

Rating: Pretty good.

18. Limbo Line *

This one comes upfront with a semi-diagetic warning about references to self-harm and suicide that i kind of feels undersells the severity of the scenes in question. The game is about being recruited to a sort of interdimensional crisis support line and taking calls from people. I don’t think that these scenes, which does not make up the main bulk of the game’s content, are tastelessly handled and i do feel that they have a point and purpose, but I’d have appreciated a stronger warning.

Most of the interactions you have in this game are fairly lighthearted and there are fun scenes with your extremely varied call centre colleagues. There’s probably a lot of content I didn’t see here based on who you decide to spend your breaktime with, but personally I don’t think I could replay the game and go through the more intense scenes in order to see this other stuff.

Rating: Fun in places, intense and emotional in other places. Be strongly warned if you have issues with suicidal thoughts or emotional manipulation.

19. Purrgatory *

(Has a publicly accessible in browser version)

This is a little point and click adventure with an extremely simple art style and a very silly sense of humour. You explore Purrgatory, make friends with its residents and maybe find a way out. The characters are great, it’s very fun to see them slowly open up to you and each other. Purrgatory, as in the afterlife in which you find yourself, despite its simple aesthetic, has such a unique chaotic vibe. From the name of the game I assumed that this was about a game where I was a cat going to the afterlife, in practice it feels more like a bunch of humans have been misfiled into an afterlife that was designed only for cats. It’s really neat.

In terms of gameplay it’s a point and click adventure but simplified. If you have an item you need for a puzzle you will use it when you interact with where its supposed to go, which cuts out the whole ‘use everything on everything’ mindset. It is semi-open world, sort of. You can progress individual storylines with each of Purrgatory’s residents in more or less whatever order you like. Sometimes they will move around after you have completed one part of their storyline. There is a guide with hints and solutions that I found invaluable for the spots where I got stuck. One of which was just realizing that a cupboard existed.

Rating: Great

20. What’s Your Gender *

This is a very short little experimental game that uses the shape of Antichamber to explore themes of gender. It didn’t super click with me, but I could see this being a good tool for introducing gender concepts to someone unfamiliar with them.

Rating: Neat little thing.

21. Stillwater *

Very short visual novel about a private investigator, his assistant and his dog looking into a seemingly supernatural mystery. It has a very nice presentation, a tense atmosphere and good chemistry between its characters.

Rating: Pretty good.

22. A Nightmare’s Trip *

In this game you play Adrien, a child’s nightmare made manifest as its own disconnected being, as they take a vacation to a bustling city and meet a wide cast of fun characters. This game is wildly inventive in ways I wasn’t expecting. A small detail alluded to but never really elaborated upon is how the world in which it is set seems to be some kind of merging of multiple realities. It allows it to do one of my favourite things which is to just have all kinds of weird entities from other worlds just coexisting and its not even a big deal. A flight attendant you speak to on the flight is just a venus fly trap lady and that’s perfectly normal. I love that kind of thing. This game has a great cast of characters and a tone that is sometimes chaotic, sometimes contemplatative.

Rating: Pretty damn good.

23. Freshly Frosted

A chill factory puzzle game. Place conveyers to move doughnuts through levels, add toppings and take them to the appropriate serving hatches. It’s a game that starts off simple and adds complexity over time, each batch of 12 levels adding some new element to contend with, though you are never given the ability to do more than place conveyers. It makes sense though in the way the game is designed, each new element added is more often more an obstacle to be worked around rather than a tool to be utilized.

It’s extremely chill. There’s something of a loose narrative. A narrator who tells you that they spend a lot of time imagining doughnut factories in the sky and each set of levels representing a season. Though maybe narrative isn’t exactly the right word. It’s more a slowly building feeling of companionship and familiarity, and in my experience it does succeed building this bond.

Rating: Nice chill time.

24. Null Event *

(Has a publicly accessible in browser version) 

An NSFW smutgame where you are tasked with solving the mystery of disappearing drones in a cyberpunk world. Content is heavily focused around kinks of drones and identity loss. My experience of this game is a little tainted because I didn’t anticipate just how far the Supernaturalist storyline was going to go and it blew past my level of interest. But on subsequent playthroughs I stuck more closely to my areas of interest and had a much better time.

The only things I would really complain about is that, everyone has very cyberpunk names and with the blank character portraits that about 50% of the cast have it took me a couple of playthroughs to really parse each character as a seperate individual. Also, at the end of the first day you get invited to have a lewd time with your friend Em and get the opportunity to select from a small number of different scenes, and I sort of expected that this framework might be applied to other characters or other lewd situations, but it isn’t used again in the game, but from what I can tell the game is still being worked on and this may be implemented at some point.

Rating: Pretty good.

25. We Should Talk *

This is a game about being at a bar, talking with some of the people there and having a conversation with your girlfriend via text. It has a pretty neat conversational system where your response is split into three sections and you choose each of these from a selection independently, leading to some nuanced responses that you can say. I can’t say how robustly these different responses are recognized and responded to, as I only played through once.

But that said there was only one point in the game where it didn’t seem to parse correctly the statement that I was making. In response to Sam wondering whether something going wrong at her job was her fault, I tried to communicate that she seems to always blame herself and she responded as though I’d said a complete non-sequiteur.

There’s like nine different endings, but I was satisfied with my experience with a single ending. It certainly felt as though the ending I got was ‘you did a good job listening to and communicating with your girlfriend’ and it felt as though other endings would just be points on an axis of failure to success.

Rating: Neat little thing.

26. Making Friends *

A cute little visual novel where you guide a pair of witches, not through their actions but by picking their emotional responses. Its a cute little story of a friendship that can be neglected or could blossom into something more. I may have teared up a little on this one.

Rating: An hour’s worth of cute lesbian fun.

27. 2064: Read Only Memories *

(I talk some pretty big spoilers in this one, feel free to skip ahead if you don’t want to hear them)

I’ve been trying to play this game for years, but for one reason or another my attention span has never lasted long enough for me to get through it until now. It’s a cyberpunk point and click style adventure where your friend Hayden has been kidnapped and with the assistance of Turing, the world’s first truly sentient AI you must track him down. It’s got some really good characters that I love, and also Jess is in the game.

Jess is complicated. She’s a hybrid (undergone gene therapy that essentially means she’s part cat now) in a world that is bigoted against hybrids, and she doesn’t like you the player character. I can imagine all the discourse about the game is about this character and how awful she is for not liking you. I don’t dislike her for that, she’s valid and has valid reasons I just wish I could leave her alone like she wants. At one point you have to ask her for a favour and you get two conversation options. One is a cat pun (essentially a bigoted joke she’s going to hate) and the other is overfamiliarity (which she’s obviously going to hate). Either option will get her to angrily divulge her entire backstory at you, and I’d rather allow her the privacy. This game gives me social anxiety. It doesn’t help that if I pick the conversation options that feel most natural to me she insists I’m being a suck up and trying to be manipulative, and if I pick the more neutral conversational options that she’s fine with I feel like I’m actually being manipulative. 

There’s also parts like where the obvious villain of the game shows up, looking obviously like a villain, being a fucking CEO, being extremely super coincidentally in the same hospital room as you but with a connection to your missing friend and while you do get to say that you don’t trust him, I felt like I was being chided by the game for noping out of that conversation as fast as possible. And another part where you’re preparing for the endgame you’re having a conversation with this guy and he invites himself along and there’s so many options you can click on like ‘i don’t trust this guy’ ‘this seems like a bad idea’ but Turing and the plot itself just keep saying ‘but you gotta’ ‘we need information this guy can provide’. And not to be nitpicky but he doesn’t actually provide any information we didn’t already have. All he does is fiddle with your zapper and then betray you. Granted that the villainous monologue he gets at the end is pretty interesting and a good moment but it’s so frustrating when it feels so contrived that he’s there. Like what if you turned him down but he followed you into the facility, ambushing you at the exact same point.

It’s a game that has some really good characters, humour (i especially like the game long running joke that is the spoiled milk), and some really great moments, but the bits that don’t click for me really rub me the wrong way.

Rating: High highs and major irritations. Pretty damn good with some big caveats.

28. Peyton’s Post-Op Visits *

A very short and cute visual novel that is very reminiscent of npckc’s A Year of Springs series. This game follows a pair of trans men as they rekindle their friendship. It talks about some trans masculine experiences in a very approachable way and is generally light in tone.

Rating: A nice little experience.

29. Touch Theory *

A short visual novel about a mad scientist and his new lab assistant, maybe, and the slow development of their relationship as they get to know one another and reassess their relationship. 

Rating: An hour’s worth of fun.

30. One Just Night *

A short but sweet visual novel set in a world where everyone recieves a prophecy to guide them from a very young age. Our Lady of Possibility (Billie for short) resents her incredibly vague prophecy and is forced to spend time with the one person who might be able to provide her guidance; her arch rival Seeker of a Just Night. She has just one day to convince Just Night to help her and maybe build something new between them.

I love this one. Excellent worldbuilding, excellent character design. A short but engaging story that I got emotionally invested in.

Rating: Excellent, probably my favourite game of the month.

31. Please Touch The Artwork

Please, Touch The Artwork is a little puzzle game based on interacting with abstract artwork based on different art styles, or um maybe just different paintings by Piet Mondrian. Each of the styles has a different gameplay mechanic, and tells a different narrative with varying degrees of success.

Der Stijl (the style as depicted above) is the most effective in both narrative and mechanics. The narrative tells a seven days of creation story illustrated by adding new colours, new mechanics for you to play with. The puzzles are about trying to replicate the painting by adding colour and lines in the sequence they are given to you. As the elements increase it gets pretty challenging.

This is also the only style where, if you go to the gallery (i.e. the level select screen) you’ll be given information about the style. It’s kind of a shame the other galleries don’t have anything like that. It’s in trying to write the little synopsis about this game that I realized that I don’t know if the other galleries are based on art styles or individual paintings. I feel like there was a missed opportunity here to be a little bit more educational.

Boogie Woogie (based on the paintings Broadway Boogie Woogie and Victory Boogie Woogie (maybe more? idk)) are still engaging puzzles but the narrative of this one lost me. It’s about two beings which fit perfectly together, Boogie and Woogie, and you guide them to each other. As the stages go by this becomes more and more difficult to do. The problems I have with this narrative, well one of them that I had was why the blue square that bounces you backwards was called Broadway and why the diamond shape that Boogie has an affair with was called Victory. I guess I now have the answer to that now at least.

The other thing was that by the end it seems as though the narrative was metaphorical and about racism, and I really struggle to make sense of it. It’s likely a problem on my end but I feel like someone just pointed at a beachball and said ‘thats a metaphor for pollution’ and they may be right but i don’t feel like I’ve been given enough context to parse this metaphor correctly. This game is already interpreting very abstract paintings, to then try to build an extra layer of metaphor on top of itself is a difficulty.

The last style is New York (based on the painting New York City (and maybe more?) and it’s a series of very slow mazes with a narrative about leaving a loved one behind and being lost in a big city. It was pretty rough.

Rating: Neat little thing, some good puzzles, skip the New York City gallery.

32. Hourglass

This is one of those puzzle games where you can make a time clone of yourself. That’s essentially an entire genre. The puzzles in this one are pretty good though. They are mostly logisitical puzzles, rather than explicitly timing puzzles. It has a nice slow ramp up of difficulty, and by the end some of the puzzles have become quite complex, or require some serious consideration as to how to the sequence of events you need to pull off. The story is that you play Aywa, who has come to these undiscovered ruins looking for her father who went missing, and as you go through you find environmental detail that tells you of the history of this place.

33. Destiny Fails Us: A New Life *

I wanted to date this girl, but the only dateable options were boys with names like Greg or Brian or Dave or something.

A couple of downsides upfront: this game is abusive parent apologia, and exclusively heteroromantic.

But there are some aspects I liked. It’s pretty neat that the protagonist is canonically ace and that’s just a fact of the story. And I liked the simple artstyle, though it doesn’t always work, most notably when your dog is levitating at waist height next to someone. And I liked the relationship the protagonist has with her friends. It’s also pretty nice that, should you end up not going to the big valentine’s day dance with anyone (like i did) it’s not treated as a failure, instead you get a pretty nice scene where a bunch of your friends all spend time with you and it’s good.

Rating: Has some good aspects, but not for me.

34. Pebble Witch *

A nice little game where you play as a witch, explore a little coastline and lend a listening ear to the rocks and stones, and have a crush on your teacher. A nice little chill experience. I really like the writing for the rocks, it does a really good job of communicating this strange other perspective. It’s a very simple game but it is all it needs to be.

Rating: A nice chill experience.

35. Saving You From Yourself *

(publically accessible in browser)

A very short interactive narrative about gatekeeping trans medicine. It’s a short snapshot of the hopelessness of waiting to transition. It is simple in aesthetic and writing, but that just aids it to feel more emotionally vulnerable.

Rating: Beautiful in its vulnerability, but deeply bleak.

36. A Potion For Chamomile *

A nice little visual novel with a playful tone. Chamomile has a special potion recipe that will permanently turn her into a girl, and she needs the help of Lavender, a reclusive witch, in order to make it. Together they go on an adventure, and maybe make friends along the way. It’s a cute little story with themes of trans identity and disability.

Rating: Half an hour’s worth of cute silly fun.

37. Passpartout: The Starving Artist

This is a neat little game about painting, and trying to support yourself in art. It’s actually kind of an interesting experience playing it as I went from painting whatever silly thing sprung into my mind to trying to discern the desires of the different potential buyers, to the point where I did start feeling like a sellout. The second painting I drew was of this big red abstract angel and everyone hated it so much that drawing representations of this angel became my most pervasive thematic motif. That, eggs and kermits.

Rating: Really neat little experience.

38. When Aster Falls *

A burnt out succubus is surprised to find her latest assigned target is asexual. This is the lesbian ace romance I wanted from Destiny Fails Us. The characters are really cute and their chemistry is great. Just a really good time.

Rating: Fun and sweet.

39. HONEYPOT *

(publicly accessible in browser version available)

Short erotic game about being stranded on a very horny alien planet. Transformation and erotic mind control themes. It can be a little difficult to discern the exact consequences of any given decision, but at the end you are given the option to select and see any of the other endings you wish.

Rating: Half an hour’s worth of kinky fun.

40. Good Morning Hon *

An extremely short and ambiguous narrative about a lesbian couple, pleasant domesticity and a feeling of something being wrong. There are horror implications but everything is very open to interpretation.

Rating: Neat but not really my genre.

41. The Looker

A free to play parody of The Witness (2016). I was a little hesitant with this one, primarily because it describes itself as “full of puzzles that will frustrate and annoy you” and i immediately got the vibe that this going to be a particularly snide game. I liked The Witness a lot. It is beautiful, it has interesting puzzles that teach you the core set of rules which the puzzles operate without ever telling you those rules outright. And it does a thing that i love where once you have learned the language of the puzzles you start seeing them everywhere. The whole world suddenly is constructed of puzzles you couldn’t see until you know how to look for them. It’s really cool.

The Looker is I think an affectionate parody. It is certainly a very well informed parody. It does very specific nods, from the yellow box that projects a beam of light to the live action cinematic ending that show that it gets its source material. It pokes fun at the pretension of the game, opting to be a much sillier even in its puzzle design. It too has some rules to learn, one primary rule and one rule that is taught in one set of puzzles and is used to unlock the final puzzle of the game. It’s a game that’s absolutely happy to just throw away the rules if it thinks it would make a puzzle funnier though and that’s consistent with its tone overall. 

Rating: A good natured and enjoyable parody, with some interesting puzzle concepts of its own. Worth playing if you enjoyed The Witness.

42. Baise Lesbienne! *

A short game where you must explore your room and find the strapon harness and dildo for your Madame. Unfortunately it’s only available in french and I’m going to pretend I understand enough French naturally and didn’t painstaking type every sentence in this game into google translate. It’s very cute, with nice flirting and teasing between the characters.

Rating: Cute. Probably even better if you speak the language the game is in.

#itchio queer bundle #long post

[richincolor]

Title: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School Author: Sonora Reyes Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQIA, Romance Pages: 400 Publisher: Balzer & Bray Review Copy: Received an electronic copy from the publisher Availability: 17 May 2022

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers drawing attention for her killer eyeliner, not for being the new kid at a mostly white, very rich, Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend, she could use the fresh start.

At Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: make her mom proud, keep her brother out of trouble, and most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that’s a problem for Future Yami.

The thing is, it’s hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. Either way, Yami isn’t going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she’ll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?

Told in a captivating voice that is by turns hilarious, vulnerable, and searingly honest, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School explores the joys and heartaches of living your full truth out loud.

Review: [THE LESBIANA’S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL deals with racism, homophobia, immigration, suicidal ideation, and the hospitalization of a suicidal character.]

I knew I would love THE LESBIANA’S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL from the moment I saw the table of contents, which features hilarious, faux “commandment”-style chapter titles. Author Sonora Reyes does a fantastic job of establishing Yamilet’s many facets right from the start. Yami is a funny and insightful narrator, and it is heart wrenching watching her navigate the conflicts between who she feels she has to pretend to be and who she actually is.

One of the things Reyes did exceptionally well was capturing just how much everything can be when you’re a teenager and what it’s like as you become increasingly aware of the weight of your current and future responsibilities. Yami has so much on her plate, from keeping an eye on her brother at their new school to finding a part-time job.

On the more lighthearted side of how much, it was a delight to follow Yami on her rollercoaster adventure of falling for Bo. There were so many great moments between them, both while Yami was in denial and after she finally admitted her feelings to herself. I loved how they opened up to each other, bit by bit—one of my favorite scenes was when Bo talked to Yami about her parents’ décor. I spent the entire book rooting for them to get together.

I also enjoyed the focus on Yami’s dynamics with the various members of her family, especially as everything changed over the course of the book. Many of the major subplots center on Yami’s family, so I don’t want to spoil too much, but I will say that Yami’s relationship with her younger brother, Cesar, was particularly great. I liked how they played off each other, from their banter to their fights to the times they had each other's backs. The Flores family felt real, in their conflicts, celebrations, and disappointments.

Recommendation: Buy it now, especially if you like contemporary romance! THE LESBIANA’S GUIDE TO CATHOLIC SCHOOL is a delightful young adult book that sensitively tackles what it’s like to be a lesbian first-generation Mexican American teen trying to fly under the radar at a largely white Catholic high school. Yami’s relationships with her family and the girl she has a crush on create a solid emotional foundation for a compelling novel.

Extras:

¡Vamos a hablar! | Let's Talk! — Interview with Sonora Reyes

The Chills at Will Podcast – Episode 122 with Sonora Reyes, Keen Observer and Chronicler of Young Adult Stories, Creator and Host of the Twitter Chat #QPOCChat, and Author of The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

#the lesbiana's guide to catholic school #sonora reyes #weneeddiversebooks #LGBTQIA #romance #contemporary

[biceratops7]

Sam and Max fic recs

I’ve literally never done a fic recs thing so let’s see how this goes

• “Paperwork” by gigawatts

- Basically a classic accidental confession story. So fucking fluffy but also in character. Max being a needy little shit in the beginning is hilarious. It’s one of those tooth rotting things where it’s hard to stop smiling.

• “Remember to Always Kiss your Homies” by Freelance_Magic

- Wonderfully lighthearted, clearly doesn’t take itself too seriously but never to the point of being crack. If your a big fan of the tv series like me you’ll love this, it captures the vibe of it perfectly and that’s honestly a feat.

• “I Don’t Even Like Girls” by Kettle_Fish

- Just a really good kid fic. The author clearly understands how 12 year olds really act/ talk, and what level of relationship stuff is actually appropriate for characters that young. Max has that moment every queer kid experiences where he’s like “wait, this is an option?” and it’s done so perfectly and in character. Sam is also causally portrayed with sensory issues, which I really like.

• “Sam and Max’s First Wedding” by Horrid_Thingz_323

- Another good kid fic, again does a good job at having a “crush” vibe instead of an overtly romantic one. The descriptions are awesome, so much detail immersing you in the scene and really making it feel like these characters have a life outside of the story

• “The Best Mistake I Ever Made” by H_Works

- Sam and Max get together as a couple in the car ride BACK from their wedding, which is an interesting and funny concept. Just a sweet acknowledgment of feelings without much hallabaloo (well, for Sam and Max that is)

• “Don’t Tell Sam” by The_Heart_Breaker

- Drunken confession. Need I say more? Max is hilarious and oddly sweet, and Sam is so in character, clearly excited about what’s happening but keeping reserved and waiting for the right moment.

• “Sam and Max in the Tunnel of Love” by Kosei

- Not particularly fluffy but feels more in character. Basically just them in the tunnel of love casually talking about the idea of relationships. These feel like the reactions they actually would have in this situation

• “Max’s Complicated Relationship with Love” by ben_plantt

- So with a title like that it’s basically a character study, and the ideas explored are so sweet and/or genuinely interesting. Granny Ruth is involved so what’s not to love? One of my favorite endings to a fic ever, I couldn’t stop smiling, it was simple but so perfect

• “No Animals Allowed” by Bunny_Bombastic

- This one starts off with Sam and Max’s pregnant moms discussing what they’ll name their new children. You quickly realize they are not very good moms. The rest follows the two from a distance as they grow up, told from the point of view of grandpa Stinky in his diner. This is such a unique and wonderful fic! It’s so good at feeling like an accurate snap shot of each of these characters and doesn’t hold your hand with information, but let’s you figure things out organically. (My favorite example of this is the “beet can scene” in particular.) Definitely one of my new favorites.

#Sam and max #freelance husbands #fic #fic rec #fanfiction #biceratops

[mischievouswritingblog]

Meta Essay: Medivh The Bisexual Icon

As of the time of this post, there’s going to be an update coming to World of Warcraft where the once all female ghosts in Karazhan will be changed to include male varieties as well.

Full details on the update can be found here: https://www.wowhead.com/news/female-only-ghosts-in-karazhan-updated-to-include-male-versions-324371

This has caused a lot of fun posts and people to take this as an ‘accidental confirmation’ by Blizzard that the character Medivh is bisexual. Pair this along with how some of his portrayal in Hearthstone was made into Warcraft canon, and in my opinion, it’s an excellent update to his character.

It’s no secret that Blizzard’s had a massive lack in LBGTQ+ representation for the longest time. Often when such subject matter did show up it was treated more as a punchline in some quests or was kept conveniently to the sidelines, with nonconsequential, blink and you miss it text, side characters, moments. It’s insulting, to say the least, and is the source of a growing frustration from the LBGTQ+ members of the audience. What’s more, whenever this frustration gets voiced it’s always talked down to. We are told that to ‘keep politics out of gaming’ and that we are too sensitive, when these are the same people that get bent out of shape when even a single thing changes or is called out in their game. It’s bullshit. LBGTQ+ people exist and the act of existing isn’t a political issue.

But of course, with people even making lighthearted jokes or posts of Medivh being a ‘Bisexual Icon’, there’s folks crawling out of the woodwork with reasons from “But the loooooooore!” (as if the lore isn’t constantly changing and being retconned from one expansion to the next) to “Well A-C-T-U-A-L-L-Y, those male guests were just for the female nobles that visited and attended his parties, Medivh was very straight”. To that, I’m going to say: “Nah, Medivh is a bisexual icon, deal with it”.

In my personal opinion, Medivh is an excellent character to explore queerness  with. He’s a character that’s been around since Warcraft 1 and the effects and ties from his story are still felt throughout World of Warcraft in various ways. Medivh is also a character that’s gone through a large amount of evolution and various portrayals. My personal favorite being the One Night in Karazhan take on him because it’s so different from the usual ‘brooding, grand powerful hermit-mage’ that his type of character usually is. Medivh in One Night in Karazhan is instead, vibrant and is a thriving social butterfly that loves to have and treat people to a good time. His reasonings for being this way make a lot more sense when you really think about what Medivh’s situation was.

Now, I have to mention that I do a much deeper dive and deconstruction of Medivh’s circumstances and just how messed up they were in this self indulgent essay/headcanon dump: ‘My Completely Self-indulgent Medivh Essay’. Feel free to give it a read but here is the basic gist for this essay:

Yes, Medivh was the Guardian, one of the most powerful mages to exist at the time. He was also possessed by Sargeras and was the one that created and opened the Dark Portal that brought the Orcs to Azaroth and changed Azeroth forever. But here’s the thing, Medivh had no choice in any of it.

To be the Guardian means you have to put your life on the line for Azeroth’s sake. This is a role that had to be kept to secrecy, people had to make a lot of sacrifices to be the Guardian. You gain phenomenal powers and it is a great honor but none of this was anything that Medivh ever asked for. He was literally born to become the Guardian, there was no other choice for his own future. 

Then you have Sargeras, he had his plans in play long before Medivh was even a thought. A sliver of Sargeras had entered Aegwynn (Med’s mother and the Guardian before him) from a battle between Aegwynn and his avatar. This influence hid within her and made its move when she decided that she wasn’t going to allow the Council of Tirisfal to choose her heir for her title and powers for her. Ignoring Chronicle’s softening of her, she used Medivh’s father, Neilas Aran, the court magician of Stormwind to sire a child. In TLG she let him know she flat out used him and felt nothing for him then came back later and tossed baby Medivh to him for free childcare. What neither of them knew at the time was that Medivh was possessed by Sargeras while he was in the womb. Sargeras would then screw him over even further by causing his powers to lash out when he was fourteen, causing him to accidentally kill his father and fall into a near 10 year coma, and wake up mentally and emotionally fourteen in a twenty-three-year-old’s body. So from the very beginning Medivh was always set up for failure.

So with this summary out of the way, the point of the matter is that Medivh is a character that had little autonomy for most of his life. His career and his fate were chosen for him from the start. Sargeras was in his head messing with him throughout his life, in TLG Medivh even tells Khadgar that he tried to fight it as much as he could. His story is a tragic one but with his reappearance in Legion there’s potentially a ray of hope.

I think there’s a lot of aspects in Medivh’s story that can tie well with the feelings and experiences of queerness. Not so much the being possessed by discount space Satan, but more so the struggle of trying to have autonomy and hanging onto who you are as a person. Being queer myself and looking at it through that lens, I see Medivh being vibrant and throwing parties as an attempt for him to seize what autonomy he could for himself. To exist, to be seen, and to have an identity of his own that had nothing to do with being the Guardian of Tirisfal. I think that it’s also something that separates Medivh from Sargeras. There were likely times where Sargeras may have forced the lines between them to blur as he gradually poisoned Medivh’s thoughts and twisted his soul throughout the years. Medivh likely had to struggle a lot with separating who he truly was from Sargeras. This being inside him, who wasn’t him but would at times take over his body suppressing Medivh’s true self. It’s a horror story where some elements can really hit close to home.

Medivh I believe surrounded himself with like minded, free spirited people like Barnes and the theater troupe (while there’s the joke Medivh’s only seen three plays, I choose to headcanon he’s a theater kid, given how he has a theater to begin with and his own love for theatrics). Whether you picture Medivh as aro, ace, gay, bi, pan, or trans, with the upcoming changes he clearly accepts many kinds of people into his home.

This also has the interesting effect of changing some of the tones for some events in his lore. One example being the titans sending down the Maiden of Virtue to punish Medivh and make him live a more ‘pure’ life. The Titans are Azeroth’s closest thing to a pantheon of gods. They are beings of order, having taken Azeroth in her rawest form and molding her into something they saw fit. Apparently, Medivh’s parties and behavior was seen as something that required ‘correcting’.

On one hand, it’s really easy to read it simply as Medivh being a selfish, spoiled brat. But with looking at it through a queer lens one can put a more positive spin on the situation. The Maiden of Virtue was sent to shame and punish him into conforming into something the Titans believe someone like Medivh should behave. It clearly didn’t work. Looking at this situation, one can read it as Medivh refusing to relinquish his identity because a ‘higher power’ wanted him to. In the real world there are so many that have to hide their orientation and gender thanks to people using religion and belief as a cudgel. So having a character like Medivh as queer, with the power and willfulness to flat out refuse and shut it down is a refreshing power move.

Medivh’s story and the way he is in general has elements that I believe many people of the LBGTQ+ can relate with. He’s a complicated character that has dealt with abuse and being forced into roles without his consent, he made identity for himself and it was stripped away by an oppressor (Sargeras), and, depending on if Blizzard decides he’s actually resurrected/alive instead of being a ghost, is a survivor.

So to me, I love the idea of Medivh being a queer icon in Warcraft. It hasn’t been officially stated by Blizzard at the time this essay was posted but it has started a fun conversation. There are and will be the haters who will scream and tantrum about the LBGTQ+ touching their precious (when convenient) lore with their filthy paws and tarnishing ‘their game’. But in the meantime, I’m going to continue having a blast with the idea and enjoy working the story potential it gives into fanfics, speculations, and essays.

If you enjoyed this essay, I did a few other bits of meta, headcanons, and speculation for fun: My Completely Self-indulgent Medivh Essay

A Bit About Wizards and Sorcerers

Headcanons: Medivh is Alive and Currently Uses ‘The Guardian’s Study’ as his Home

#World of Warcraft #Medivh #warcraft headcanons

[interact-if]

Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!

1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?

2. Do you have a niche interest right now?

3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?

4. Any fave movies/tv shows?

5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?

You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤

We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!

 We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!!  😌

1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!

2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!

3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.

4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).

5. Heh. Okay.

In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.

In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.

Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!

Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.

When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.

Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!

1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3

2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)

3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot

4. The Good Place <3

5. My WIPs:

Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.

Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3

Others’ WIPs

I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌

1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]

2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤

3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty  

4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well! 

5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3

Alright, let’s go!  I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm... 

The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe. 

Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical  zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell. 

Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so... 

Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10? 

When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10) 

Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late. 

god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof

Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...

1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!

2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3

3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.

4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3

5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333

The Goodfellows: 7/10

Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3

Greater than Gods: 7/10

I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.

Vardir: 10/10

Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!

Creatures' Cradle: 8/10

Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.

When it Hungers: 8/10

That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3

Orthall Bay: 6/10

Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao

Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3

1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!

2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3

3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.

4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.

5.

The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf

Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.

Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD

Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10

When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!

Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.

#mod talk #long post #interact if: asks

[hecksupremechips]

Lgbt movies, musicals and shows

Hey y'all so Christmas is coming up and we're bored so I thought I'd compile a list of all the LGBT stuff that I've seen! This list definitely doesn't include everything there is to see, just what I've seen. Hopefully you can look at this and find something you like!

Note: some of these movies/shows I really love, some... not so much. I put how many stars (in my opinion) they get at the end of each title. If you like a movie I don't, good for you. Vise versa. If you want me to go more into depth about a particular movie or show and my opinion on it or possible content warnings, please leave a comment or an ask. I love talking about this stuff so I'd be more than happy to answer questions (as long as they're not weird or inappropriate).

Okay let's go

The following movies are on Netflix

The Half of It- a smart girl befriends a kind jock when he asks her to write love letters for his crush-also her crush. Asian Lesbian protagonist. Five stars

Handsome Devil- a socially awkward boy at an all-boys boarding school that worships rugby is horrified to find that his roommate is a talented rugby player. Gay protagonists. Four stars

Alex Strangelove- a teenage boy and his girlfriend plan to have sex for the first time, but he questions his sexuality when he befriends a gay guy. Gay protagonist. One star

A New York Christmas Wedding- a woman gets to see a version of her life where she gets to marry her childhood best friend. Also it's Christmas. Lesbian/bi protagonist. Four stars

Moonlight- shows the three stages of the protagonist's life: his childhood and his relationship with his father figure, his teens and his relationship with his childhood friend, and his adult life. Gay Black protagonist. Five stars

Saturday Church- a teen questioning their gender forms a familial relationship with trans women after the death of his father. Queer, implied trans Black protagonist

Yes or No- a traditional girl starting college is horrified to find out her roommate is a butch lesbian. Asian lesbian protagonists, background bi girl character. Three stars

Disclosure- a documentary discussing the history of trans representation and its impact on trans people and society. Many trans actors are in it. Five stars

Other People- a man moves back in with his family to help his mother with cancer. Gay protagonist. One star

Freak Show- a new boy at school makes a reputation for himself by dressing in outlandish costumes. Gay protagonist. One star

Straight Up- a man with OCD who identified as gay begins to question his sexuality and forms a complex relationship with a woman. Queer Asian protagonist

These movies are not on Netflix. They might be found elsewhere, but I am unsure

Booksmart- two best friends who spent all of high school making good grades decide to spend the night before graduation partying. Lesbian protagonist. Five stars

But I'm a Cheerleader- a girl is sent to a conversion camp when her friends and family fear she's a lesbian. Note: the camp is treated very jokingly so it's not a terrifying/completely accurate portrayal. Lesbian protagonist, background gay men and lesbian characters. Four stars

Love, Simon- we all know it I assume. A closeted teenage boy befriends another closeted kid at his school and he is threatened to be outed to the whole school. Gay protagonist. Three stars

The Way He Looks- a blind teenage boy dreams to study abroad to prove himself and he begins to catch feelings for the new kid at school. Queer male protagonist. Four stars.

Boy Erased- a memoir telling the story of the time a gay teen spent at conversion therapy. CW: this movie is very dark and definitely do not watch it if you are triggered by sexual assault, suicide, and aggressive homophobia. Gay protagonist. Three stars

The Miseducation of Cameron Post- a lesbian is sent to a conversion camp where she befriends two outcasts who rebel against the Christian ideologies of the camp. CW: this movie does make fun of conversion therapy and has many lighter moments, but it still has dark content like aggressive homophobia and self harm. Lesbian protagonist, background queer and trans characters. Three stars

Hidden Kisses- a new kid faces bullying when a picture of him kissing another guy gets posted online at a party. CW: this movie doesn't seem to be for LGBT people at all. It's a lot of oppression porn. That's the movie. Gay protagonist. One star

GBF- a gay kid gets outed and becomes the "GBF" of the popular girls at school. Gay protagonist. One star

Musicals

Falsettos- a man name Marvin goes through a terrible divorce after being discovered as gay, but he tries to keep his ex, child, and boyfriend all in one family. Gay protagonist, background lesbian characters. Five stars

Fun Home- a musical based on Alison Bechdel's coming out memoir following her life as a college student coming out and her relationship with her secretly gay father. CW: while this musical is very fun and lighthearted, there is suicide, implied pedophilia, and verbal abuse. Lesbian protagonist. Five stars

Spies are Forever- an American spy in the 50-60s struggles to work again after the death of his lover. Gay protagonist. Four stars

Shows

I'll give a description of the show and then of the representation in it

Trinkets- a girl at a new school forms an unlikely friendship with two other girls at a shoplifters anonymous meeting. The main character is a lesbian and forms a relationship with another girl. Lesbian protagonist. Two stars

Special- a man with cerebral palsy lies about his condition to his new coworkers, saying he was in a car accident. Gay protagonist. One star

She-Ra- we know this one mate. A girl from an evil group discovers a sword that can turn her into a powerful princess. There's a large amount of LGBT characters so you won't be disappointed. Five stars

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts- a girl named Kipo finds herself on the surface surrounded by strange creatures called mutes. One of the characters is a gay black boy and he actually has a coming out scene where he says the word gay. All the main (human) characters are black or mixed as well. Five stars

Pose- a woman named Blanca takes in a homeless gay boy, a trans sex worker, and a former drug dealer to form a family and walk in balls. This show has great representation of trans women of color as well as queer men of color. Five stars

Twelve Forever- a young girl travels to the fictional land known as Endless to escape her fears of growing up. She is shown having crushes on girls and you can possibly also hc her as trans. Four stars

Steven Universe- we also know this one y'all. A half- human half-gem boy named Steven defends his town and the universe with the help of the crystal gems. Many LGBT characters, primarily wlw. Four stars

Never Have I Ever- a teenage girl tries to fix her reputation after the death of her father by becoming more aquatinted with the most popular guy in school. One of her friends has a coming out arc where she realizes she's a lesbian. It also has a very diverse cast and age appropriate actors. Five stars

One Day at a Time- a sitcom about a single Cuban mother and former veteran trying to juggle her family, job, and love life. Her daughter Elena has a coming out arc in the first season and dates a nonbinary character later in the show. Five stars

Queer Eye- a reality TV show about five gay men helping people get their shit together. We know this one. Five stars

That's about all I can think of. If anyone has any additional movies/shows they like, feel free to add! I am always desperate for more representation, specifically trans representation and some bi male rep. Have a gay ass Christmas you funky lil shits 🤡🤡🤡🌈

#this is a ~long post~ #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #lesbian #bisexual #pansexual #trans #asexual #nonbinary

[tuiyla]

She-Ra’s like, really good, people

It’s been over a week since She-Ra season 5 came out and I binged it and this is not going to be coherent but I just want to rant about it a bit before writing some more structured metas. I deffo wanna write about Catradora and how I think SPoP is the true spiritual successor to the Avatar.

But first, let me just scream about how good this show is. I already started rewatching it, pretty much straight after finishing it, and I don’t rewatch tv shows often. The exception is Avatar (seen it like 15 times) and sitcoms. But She-Ra is so layered that I felt like I needed to watch it again just to appreciate the dynamics even more.

I already enjoyed the first season but it kept getting better and better. I’m not in love with the art style and it’s definitely for a younger demographic overall than my other favourite animated shows, but like any good kids’ show it balances tone well. It doesn’t talk down to its target demographic but also includes more traditionally mature themes in a digestible and entertaining way. Not all the jokes landed for me but as the series went on I learned to appreciate the tone and the type of humour She-Ra goes for.

It’s funny to me because this is definitely the type of show I would have rejected as a kid, with all the princesses I would have deemed it “too girly” and therefore not for me because screw gender roles. There’s a degree of internalized sexism to that, for sure, a rejection of the feminine because it’s always been seen as less somehow. But there’s also a truth that, at least in my childhood of the late 90s and early 00s, children’s media targeted at girls often had a poor quality to it, at least when compared to “boys’ stuff”.

She-Ra is not only a clever, heartfelt, complex story, it also transcends that binary of having to be either for girls or boys. I know most of modern animation rejects that as well, but She-Ra embraces so many traditionally feminine qualities while also going beyond gender roles and even the gender binary. This show is so queer, man, and I love it. It’s especially impressive when you consider the source material that was literally just the girly version of He-Man. I have no beef with 80s She-Ra, haven’t seen much of it, but this is such an upgrade.

That being said, I would have loved to watch She-Ra as a kid. I’m so incredibly envious of kids, aged around 10, who get to watch this show as they’re growing up. But I am so, so, so happy for them and for the future of animation that shows like She-Ra can be made now, that they’re being made. I’m going to go into spoilers soon, but just before that: She-Ra’s a perfectly enjoyable show in many aspects. I think the worldbuilding’s pretty cool, the story feels coherent and planned out, it’s lighthearted and so genuine. That’s the word that I ultimately choose to describe the series: genuine.

I feel like so much of TV aims to be dark and gritty nowadays, animation included, and though that’s slowly turning to dark comedy or a balance between fun and serious, it’s still the norm. At some point in the last decade, creators became terrified of being judged as cheesy. Even something like the MCU bathes in bathos to avoid being cheesy. But She-Ra proves that creators shouldn’t be afraid of being genuine, of basing characters and storylines on the simple power of love. Like, it’s such a cliché trope but I think that’s mostly because it has become stale.

Noelle Stevenson has talked about the importance of love in her story and I’m so grateful for that. Through, She-Ra, she’s truly proven how powerful love can be in a story and how it doesn’t have to be cheesy. It’s just so unabashedly genuine. The power of love and friendship literally saves the day several times but it’s always so genuine and more importantly it always makes sense that it doesn’t get boring. If the foundation wasn’t there, then I’d say “well this is just super cheesy”. But the show makes a point of building relationships and making them the focal point of the story.

Alright, so, spoilers because I need to talk about character arcs and THAT KISS and just everything. I really need to write more in depth about Adora and Catra and their relationship but for now I feel like it’s so important to appreciate how they’re developed. Everything from their shared childhood to their trauma with Shadow Weaver and the finding their way back to each other, it’s just *chef’s kiss*. It’s so well-written and believable. Ngl, I do have some minor issues with Catra’s redemption arc. Let’s just say that on a scale from Kylo Ren to Zuko, she’s definitely closer to Zuko. I also appreciate Shadow Weaver’s death scene and how it allows them to move on. I didn’t see that one as Death as Redemption and it shouldn’t be. Again and again the show made it clear that she was abuse towards both girls and nothing will negate that.

From what I can tell, the fandom really latched onto Catra, even when it wasn’t clear whether she’d get a redemption arc. I think that’s important, because unlike some characters in animation, Catra’s actions were almost always framed appropriately. There was always an understanding as to where she’s coming from, how she’s acting from a place of hurt, and yet her actions weren’t justified. They weren’t suddenly all okay just because she’s hurt, too. I especially loved in the season 3 finale when Adora was allowed to finally say no, to say that Catra’s actions were not her fault. That season as a whole was beautiful, like, episode three when Adora’s struggling so much and Catra has the opportunity for a better life but she still fails to choose her own happiness because she’s too bitter over SW and Adora? It’s poetic cinema. I love that angst, so well done.

It would be so easy to misfire in Catra’s storyline and either a) write off all the awful things she does because she’s just “misunderstood” or b) irredeemably stuck in her abusive environment with no hope of escape. They balanced quite well there and managed to handle such a complex character with delicacy. I’m quite happy with how Catra was portrayed because on the one hand, she’s painfully relatable to me and I assume to many others. The audience can see their own mistakes reflected in her character because we’ve all been too stubborn, done things out of spite, refused to acknowledge that we were wrong because we were hurting so much. At the same time, I always felt like the show gave me enough space to judge Catra’s actions and acknowledge that she was in the wrong. I honestly think I would have been a better adjusted teenager is if saw this show just before my angsty years, lol.

I’m going to write more about Adora at some other point but I love how vulnerable she’s allowed to be. Protagonists never used to be my favourite characters because they all seemed the same, with two major categories: the stereotypical male hero who can do no wrong or the angsty boi who can be shitty and the text still frames him as awesome. It’s only recently with series like The Legend of Korra and She-Ra that I go “damn, protagonists can be like that, huh.” Adora is a dumb jock who tries so hard and she deserves all the hugs in the world.

Also, Catradora? Breathtaking, amazing, groundbreaking. No doubt She-Ra needed shows like Adventure Time, LoK, Steven Universe and the likes to pave the way but still, it went there. I saw people be anxious about whether they were gonna be queerbaited, but I always, idk, knew? Trusted? That She-Ra would follow through. I didn’t wait six years for Bubbline to happen for Catradora to not get their big damn kiss. The series has been so effortlessly queer from the get-go that it just made sense that they were always heading there. I did see a gif of the kiss before watching s5 and ngl, that spoiler kind of bummed me out in a way that I wanted to be surprised. But even before I saw that I wasn’t worried. And the context of their journey in season 5? That cannot be spoiled by a simple gif. You have to experience that to fully appreciate it and that is the marker of good storytelling.

I understand that, though this should be the norm by now, Noelle Stevenson still had to be smart about how she approached the execs and she wasn’t sure this could happen. I cannot tell you how happy I am about what she said regarding how Catradora was so integral to the story that the execs couldn’t not allow it. That’s so brilliant, and it feels so natural in the story. Queer love saves the day and it’s not ambiguous, it cannot be censored because you lose a part of the story without it. You did it, Noelle, you funky little lesbian, what an icon. I can’t wait to see more stuff from her.

In other news, I appreciated other characters as well, like how all the princesses got to be different and awesome in their own unique way. Season 5 was great for so many characters, Mermista got so much to work with and Spinnerella and Netossa got so much more characterization than in previous seasons. Glimmer continued to be the third most important character in the story and I’m happy about all the relationships that also got to be canon. Good characters and dynamics all around, no wonder since the show is built on that.

Such a satisfying conclusion and one that makes you feel like this is just part one of a much bigger story. Such genuine, heartfelt moments, well-developed characters, complex themes explored in a respectful and digestible way, and such an unapologetically fun show. Melissa Fumero as a side character? Yes please. Catra’s new haircut? Heck yeah! She-Ra’s new design? Oh my.

I’m not even like, super into She-Ra, and I usually don’t write so much about things I only watch casually. But this show is so good and important that I had to rant. And I will write more about it eventually, but for now I needed to get all of this out. I’d give it a better structure but if I really get into I might never end up posting it so for now here, have this ramble of love. She-Ra, of all shows, deserves that.

#she-ra #spop #she-ra and the princesses of power #catradora #spop spoilers #my thoughts #that's pretty much it for now

[cricketnationrise]

Books I read in quarantine: Part 1

So on Friday, March 13, 2020 something not that chill happened. We all know what that was. Anyway for me the silver lining was that I got a lot of my TBR knocked out by not being at work. I read over 150 books from mid-march to mid-october.

1. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: yes, it had been on my list for a while, yes it was awesome, yes, its still worth the read

2. Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey: eh. listen. she’s one of the most prominent women in fantasy/sci-fi writing and that’s great. and maybe some the later books aren’t quite such a product of their time. but there are some aspects to the dragon “bonding” that feel especially uncomfortable and there’s a lot of violence toward women. so.

3. Briar’s Book by Tamora Pierce: I was in the midst of a Circle of Magic reread. Unfortunately for me, this one is about a plague. It’s still one of the best CoM books and I enjoy it immensely. Its definitely going to be harder to read from now on

4. The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera: loved this. empress and ruler of the steppes as lesbians that also battle demons? i needed a family tree, but that’s normal for me. still need to get to the next one in this series.

5. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull:  middle grade fantasy novel. i hesitate to say lighthearted because there are definitely some heavy themes, but all the fantasy creatures you encounter are cool AF and this one at least doesn’t end on a cliffhanger.

6. Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce: less strong than some of the others in the Emelan series, but has some cool worldbuilding that got better fleshed out in the Beka Cooper Tortall books. featuring UNMAGIC. v dark. also dance magic. and romance between two older characters

7. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan: delightful romance, not super explicit, very wish fulfillment if your wish is to run away from your life in london and live off the proceeds of a mobile bookstore in a tiny town. which. is not unappealing.

8. Street Magic by Tamora Pierce: features 9 cats, street urchins, and a VERY TERRIFYING wealthy widow straight up murdering kids for fun and games, stone magic

9. Scythe by Neal Shusterman: okay so take our world and then solve all physical ailments and have everything run by the cloud. except that death is still a thing but only if you are picked by a Scythe. first book in a trilogy. fast paced, amazing, violent (someone gets their head cut off), standard dystopia stuff. you’ll want to have the next two books ON YOUR SHELF

10. Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke: there is definitely someone out there who will like this more than me. one of them is my roommate. it was just too dark of a friendship/enemyship for me. lots of unreliable narrators. and like, they were just kind of horrible to each other? the actual plot was kinda cool and i definitely would have liked it more if it ended lighter

11. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin: a giant of fantasy and science fiction. this was my first of her sci-fi stuff and the first of the hainish cycle that i’ve read. quick read. definitely makes you think.

12. The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark: number two in a series, but i didn’t know that going in. absolutely going to read the others. a cairo where all sorts of spirits and demons exist and actively interact with the “normal” world.

13. The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury: i’ve never been to france but this feels VERY french. magical realism about bringing the right book to the perfect reader. super cute.

14. Fire Starter by P. Anastasia: first of a series. i wanted to like this better based on the magic system. romance felt forced. also it turned out to be aliens. which like, not a problem, but don’t spend 100 pages telling me its magic and then boom alien virus. maybe the others are better, but i’m not going to find out.

15. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros: i had to read this in middle school and definitely didn’t appreciate it enough. highly recommended.

16. A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow: a fantastic short story about reading, libraries, magic and supporting teenagers who need it. you can read it online or as part of Apex Magazine Issue 105 from Feb 2018.

17. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden: really long graphic novel about a found family in space trying to do a good job repairing various buildings and stuff. enough queer content for anybody really. gorgeous art.

18. Doughnut by Tom Holt: book 1 in the YouSpace series. very discworld-esq except that its our own world plus a pocket dimension that’s only accessible with a lot of math and a prayer. hilarious at times, but a decidedly darker tone than discworld so just be aware if that’s not what youre looking for

19. The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind by Jackson Ford: teenage girl in california has powers that let her move things with her mind. works as part of a government program with a whole band of misfits. she thought she was the only one and then someone else starts doing crime (TM) and murder with telekinesis and she has to stop them. found family toward the end. graphic violence toward the end. wildfires.

20. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein: what it says on the tin, basically. NONFICTION. this dude in europe had way too many day jobs that were actually crime and his story is WILD. last update i saw was that he was still alive, paroled from jail, and making pottery??

21. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: 800+ pages of epic eastern fantasy. some dragons. a witchy big bad. betrayal. queer romance as a main plotline. magic. seriously good.

22. Transcription by Kate Atkinson: flashback within a flashback within a flashback and reversing that path as you move through the book. woman just wants a secretary job during the war. somehow ends up as a spy??? i liked it, i keep meaning to get more of her books

23. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire: first in the wayward children series. under 200 pages if you’re looking for a quick read. what happens to kids that have gone through a door, had an adventure, and then forced back into our world? they don’t quite fit. and when that happens they go to Eleanor West’s School. fantastic series that is still being added to (number 7 comes out next year). can be very dark/sinister at times. but theres a lot of queer representation and found family stuff to balance out.

24. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire: book 2 in the wayward children series. focuses on Jack and Jill’s backstory of their time before book 1. they are from The Moors where a Vampire Lord and a Mad Scientist are battling against each other to keep the balance of the world with a village of innocents between them

25. Go Fish by Ian Rogers: short story published on Tor.com about a group of paranormal investigators. there’s a fish factory that no one will go in because it’s haunted and/or cursed and people have been dying from going in there

#we should all be feminists #dragonquest #briar's book #the tiger's daughter #fablehaven #magic steps #the bookshop on the corner #street magic #scythe #wink poppy midnight #the word for world is forest #the haunting of tram car 015 #the girl who reads on the metro #fire starter #the house on mango street #a witch's guide to escape: a practical compendium of portal fantasies #alix e harrow #apex magazine #on a sunbeam #doughnut #tom holt #youspace #the girl who could move shit with her mind #ballad of the whiskey robber #the priory of the orange tree #transcription #kate atkinson #every heart a doorway #down among the sticks and bones #wayward children

[descendantofthesparrow]

Daughter of the honorable thief - part 9 - Harry Hook x Hood!Reader - part p3

HOLY SHIT ITS BEEN 5 MONTHS SINCE I UPDATED THIS STORY?!?! 

IM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!!!!

no clothes previews this time guys sorry

=

Harry chucked a baseball at the final target, the red and white circle collapsing and the ding of the bell sounded.

“and we have a winner! Take your pick of any prize on the wall!” the worker cheered, gesturing to the wall of prizes, Harry hummed, tapping the counter.

“ill get tha’ shirt” harry pointed to a red T-shirt, the worker raised its brow, grabbing a shirt from a box.

“you sure, that’s one of our low prizes?” Harry shrugged, taking the shirt and stuffing it in his bag.

“eh, not really big on stuff animals or anything else” the worker nodded, waving harry goodbye as he started to help another customer.

Harry walked off, making his way to Johnny rockets, where you, Erza, Gil, Uma, and Harriet sat out front waiting for him, a chocolate shake in his spot.

Harry plopped down next to you, humming as he started to gulp down his shake. “you have fun?” Uma asked, tossing a fry in her mouth.

“aye” he nodded, detaching from his straw and digging into his burger “the dude was surprised that I won so easily”

“I bet, a lot of these games are rigged against the older people (a/n: this is not a fact, im just saying stuff)” Erza spoke up, letting Uma steal a bacon strip from her plate.

you shrugged, swallowing the last of your sandwich, “not really, some people are just really bad at those games”

“alright but!” Erza poked your nose “you gotta admit the damn claw machines are rigged”

“oh definitely, so rigged I hate those fucking things” you huffed, rolling your eyes and tossing a fry in your mouth and drinking your salted caramel shake.

Gil dug the Knotts map from his bag, flopping it back open on the table and asking “what are we doing next?”

you and Erza leaned over the map, Erza pointing to Hangtime, while you pointed at pony express.

Harry and Gil shook their heads “no, hangtime no that didn’t feel good/ I ain't going on tha’ death trap”

The six of you stood, throwing away your trash and making your way to pony express.

“hey, guys!”

Harriet turned, seeing Ben, Mal, Jay, Evie, Carlos, and Jane waving over to them, Evie and jay trotting over.

Evie and Uma hugged, Erza glaring at the girl slightly, softening up when you nudged her, and Jay and Gil did a little handshake.

“so what are you guys doing next?” Ben asked, arm around Mals shoulder as she and Uma exchanged nods.

“pony express, Erza wanted to go on hangtime again but fuck that” Harriet grumbled, crossing her arms and walking toward ghost town.

“oh, can we go with?” Carlos perked up, you all looked at each other and shrugged, you waving for them to follow you.

“yeah, more the merrier!”

 =

Dude perked up, wriggling around in Carlos’ arms, yelling to be let down. “hey Carlos, put me down I smell something?!”

Carlos huffed “I know, you smell the hotdogs, im not letting you down”

“no-no!” dude yelped, hopping out of Carlos’ arms and sniffing the air “it smells like….toxic stuff!”

Mal gasped, her eyes turning green and staring at the air around them.

“Guys there's a weird magic mist in the air, its not good!”

You looked up, seeing nothing but you believed mal, grabbing Harry's wrist and started to run, yelling for the group to follow you out.

“let's go, now! Follow me!”

The vks scrambled to follow you, Erza easily catching up to you. You nodded at each other and Erza bolted off, looking for a security officer.

“We have to leave, this might be an attack on the vks” you yelled out, watching as people around you started to cough heavily, panic ensuing around you.

“Attention all personnel and park-goers, there has been a toxic substance released into the air, please immediately exit the park.”

The people around you started to panic, running off in different directions.

“oh my god?!” you looked up, the clear skies disappearing as the invisible toxin appeared, the dark green smoke surrounding you.

“RUN!” you screamed, motioning for everyone to cover their mouth and nose and bolting towards the exits for the park.

“THIS WAY, QUICKLY!” you looked to the right, there was an old entrance opened for all to get out quickly, workers guiding people out, gas masks protecting them.

You grabbed Harry's wrist, dragging him with you and out the park, you turned around, eyes widening as the smoke formed a dome.

Whoever was doing this, it was a direct attack against the vks, or the smoke would have been everywhere, not just in Knotts.

=

The bus was quiet, not a word from any of the kids on the bus, the driver staring blankly at the road as he drove back to Auradon.

It had been five hours since the attack at Knotts, all who had been in the main park had been tested and cleansed by fairy godmother and medical professionals for any effects from the smoke.

You stared out the window, a million theories going through your head. Harry was next to Harriet, whos arm was tight around his shoulders, fingers twitching and picking at her pants.

Erza sat next to you, messing with the bracelet on your wrist, her leg bouncing nervously on the floor.

Gil and Uma sat in the back, Uma tucked into his side and playing with his phone.

You looked around, seeing Jane and Audrey at the front of the bus, the two girls holding onto each other tightly, Audrey looking back at the vks with a worried gaze.

Her gaze turned to you, mouthing ‘are they okay?’

You shrugged, turning back to the window.

What a sour end to an amazing weekend.

=

Later that night, after you all had gotten back to Auradon, you sat in a large pillow fort in your room, as yours was the biggest out of the group.

You, Uma, Harry, Gil, Erza, and Harriet all sat on bean bags, staring sleepily at the tv, a lighthearted movie playing on the screen.

You sighed, sipping your (fav soda/drink) and slouching in your chair bag thing.

“well, today sucked” you muttered, the vks and Erza groaning back at you.

“you can say that agai’n hood” Erza huffed, stuffing Cheetos in her mouth “started out awesome and then that shit happens”

“at least we get the rest of the week off to cope n stuff” Uma mumbled, stealing a Cheeto from Erza.

“yeah that was nice of FG” Gil perked up “and we’re getting free food delivery to our rooms!”

“that’s because” Harry spoke up, pointing a fry at Gil “we’re on quarantine for the rest of the week”

“yeah and if it goes on longer well probably switch to online classes till FG knows for sure no one is sick from the smoke” Harriet poked Erza, making grabby hands as a coke can.

Erza handed it over as she nodded “yeah hopefully it doesn’t come to that”

“well,” you sighed, eyes turning back to the movie “let's hope they find out who did it”

“yeah”

===

“it didn’t work! How did it not work! Those vks are still alive and (y/n) is still hanging out with that hooked freak!”

“practice, you're time will come and soon (y/n) will be all yours”

“she better be”

---end of part 9---

permtaglist

@sephiralorange​

@daughter-of-pan12​

@marichat4lyf​

@random-thoughts-003​

@queer-cosette​

#descendants #Descendents #disney descendants #harry hook #harry hook descendants #harry hook x reader #harry hook imagine #daughter of robin hood #daughter of the honorable thief

[seaweedsawyou]

Podcasts in review

Simple and nice list of all the podcasts I discovered in 2020. I had to go to the office alone during quarantine, don’t @ me. So, let’s start with fiction.

- numbers in brackets the number of episodes listened and existing, not rating - * indicate currently ongoing productions - cursive is for the cool kids

Friends at the table (a lot/a lot) 

Hands down, the best actual play podcast out there. It rarely happens that an improvised TTRPG would end up creating a world that is as rich and engaging as the Divine universe. Also Austin Walker is my second philosophy teacher (first was Detective Pony). 

Tomorrow the void (8/8) Quantum entanglement runs in the family. Moody. Sad mad old men. Includes a robot ball. 

This planet needs a name (5/5) * The most heartwarming post-apocalyptic tale, a rare sci-fi with a soul. Instills the desire to grab coffee with all the 7 characters after the prologue. Hopeful, mindful, soothingly slow paced. The new world will be better if we try.

Lighthearts (4/4) * A new queer community space is learning to cope with ghosts and new ways to connect people. Just all around warm and nice. From the same people who do This Planet Needs a Name. 

Murmurs (10/10) A very well produced (from BBC, duh) loose anthology (separate stories loosely connected to each other). An art house movie in audio form. Episode second includes an extremely touching love story and an instance of fucking a ghost.

The tower (7/7) It's Celeste. Climbing the tower to face the challenge and free yourself from the human condition for a while. It's not literally Celeste, but you know.

Middle below (10/10) A nervous ghost whisperer has one friend. The tag line of the show is "bad things will happen", and which has been an anxiety reliever and a call to action. 

Folxlore (3/3) Short horror stories from, by, about and for queer people from Scotland. The last one about pregnancy really hurted. 

Dungeon economic model (10/10) Less than 5 minute vignettes about why you should invest in dungeons. Some nice background worldbuilding. 

London necropolis railway (7/7) Ghouls and humans learn the true value of friendship and acceptance and defiance. 

The vanishing act (2/?) The promise of urban fantasy set in the 1930s Berlin underground culture, despite its magnificent appeal, is dwarfed by how annoying the MC is. He's the not funny type of an asshole - dumb, mean to his friends, hates women, utterly insufferable (and I can tolerate a lot of mediocre audio fiction). The production quality is top notch though. 

Station Arcadia (3/?) They are trying, and it's admirable. Would really benefit from a link to the map.

Midst (19/19) Fantasy story set in the world where the accounting is worshipped as a religion, following three protagonists, and told by three narrators - simultaneously, which had proven to be an incredibly fun technique. Worth a listen to at least check it out.

Null/void (9/?) * Anti-capitalist digital goddess preventing the marketing stunts of a malicious company. Way less cool than it sounds. 

Circles (4/4) Beth Eyre is great. The rest of the story (even though it has demons) - eh.

Forgive me (4/4) * Sitcom in the form of confessional testimonies of people revealing their sins to a pastor, who himself is running from something. Yes. Surprisingly well made. 

Next stop (10/10) Sitcom about three wacky millennials. More energetic than endearing. 

Less is Morgue (5/?) * Sitcom about a ghoul and a ghost with an annoying voice. 

Me & AU (11/11) * Turns out, love can blossom on the battlefield of fandom shipping. 

Old gods of Appalachia (12.5/12.5) * Good spooky stories with impeccable atmosphere that are hard to follow for me, for some reason. 

Temujin (5/5) A small, tidy and inscrutable audio drama depicting Genghis Khan's origin story. I have not read The Secret History of Mongols, but I doubt it's that accurate to the text. 

Godshead Incidental (4/4) * There is a girl who tries to live in the world after her sister's disappearance. There are gods. There is an endearing fixer/private consultant with some family drama. Looks to be a very promising show about getting to terms with your trauma set in a fun world with fun characters. Updating slowly, but surely.

Left Right Game (10/10) Audio adaptation of a serialized story on r/nosleep. High production values, alluring mysterious world, characters that exist only to be killed off every episode. 

Valence (12/12) MC with a special depression inner voice learns to meet new people, overcome trauma, find love, fight capitalism. Would not call the world or the characters particularly interesting, despite most of them being magic users. 

Unseen (5/?) A new anthology about magic from Wolf 359 people. One can listen to them say "are you watching closely" only so many times. 

Whirlwind for hire (4/?) Musicals are very ambitious undertakings, by default. This one has immortals, gods, nature spirits? Good for them.

Fall of the house of sunshine (8/a lot) Podcast musical about a murder on a children’s tv show, accordingly fast-paced. A ton of tiny wacky details about the world of teeth and its pearly truth (and more!). The only even remotely sympathetic story was left to the antagonist. 

Mockery Manor (6/?) * An old amusement park, twins, family secrets. Even features a tiger! Not as cool as its premises promises.

Brimstone Valley Mall (10/10) A band of lovable misfit demons trying to survive the reckoning from their dead end jobs. 

In Strange Woods (3/?) A musical that is unfortunately structured as a true crime. Features Patrick Page from Hadestown, so any and all faults are immediately forgiven.

The Cipher (2/8) Textbook YA about a 16 girl that revels a bit too much in the pain it causes her. At first you think “oh, poc representation”, but it’s just so she can be an orphan chosen one.

Non fiction

Into the Zone (8/8) An actually thought provoking and well crafted podcast. By pitting “opposites” against each other, valuable philosophical and sociological ideas reveal themselves in the space in between.

HiPhi nation Real life alarming and amazing stories used to broach philosophical subjects. Sometimes veers into “we need more female drone pilots”, but for the most part interesting.

How to save a planet Literally, how people survive catastrophes individually and communally - and how should you.

Reset 

First contact 

Rabbit hole

Things that go boom

#my blog i get to choose the music #the music is people talking into my ears #like ghosts #pod heaven #c:

[raavenb2619]

How can I not feel awful as an aroace when romance and sex are everywhere?

I won’t lie, it’s hard. It’s usually harder when a hypercommercialized holiday is near. And Valentine’s day is definitely the worst. 

But it’s possible. 

For me, a big part of it was memes. (Yes, really.) Memes are quick, they’re lighthearted, they make you smile, and when they’re about a relatable thing, especially when it’s an inside joke about being ace or aro, they give you a small burst of positivity that’s connected to your identity. They’re some small bit of happiness or validation that you get because of your identity. That’s a big part of why I make memes, actually. For myself and others that need that a reminder that it’s okay to be queer, that it’s okay to be yourself. 

But it’s more than that. It’s also fighting internalized amatonormativity and allonormativity. Romance and sex are everywhere, but you don’t need them. No one needs them. If the dehumanizing is bad, you might find it helpful to engage in some voidpunk; personally, I have a habit of adopting an air of aloof elitism, but your mileage may vary. Regardless, the presence or absence of romance or sex doesn’t give or take away your humanity. They are completely optional experiences. You, anon, are enough without them. You are valid without them. 

But it’s more than that. It’s also fighting externalized amatonormativity and allonormativity. I mostly avoid ‘mature’/‘adult’ media that often, be it TV, movies, books, etc. The emphasis placed on sex and romance is often too much for me, and if it isn’t, the heteronormativity and total aspec erasure (and usually queer erasure at a broader level) keeps me away. So I engage more with media that’s made ‘for kids’ because it’s usually more welcoming and comfortable for me. And best of all, it can be of equal or even better quality, because kids being part of the target demographic doesn’t automatically make it cringe or simple or bad. Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite TV shows (although it does have some romance in it) and it has some of the best written character arcs I’ve ever seen in anything, ever. 

But it’s more than that. It’s also finding characters and media you can actively see yourself in. Find stories written about aspec characters. One of my favorites, with a canonical aroace character, is The Ladies Guide To Petticoats and Piracy. It’s a sequel to The Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (which I recommend because it also has wonderful queer rep), but you can read it without the first book. Claudie Arseneault has a great database of asexual and aromantic characters that you can look through as well. In addition to canonical rep, you can also get a lot out of fanfictions and headcanons. I personally have some headcanons that are very near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons, including letting me see my aroace self in media I enjoy. 

But it’s more than that. A lot of these things just take time. It took me a long time to deal with my internalized aphobia, to get to the point where I felt comfortable being casually out with friends, to get to the point where I felt comfortable explaining aspec theory and identities to people, to get to the point where I am now. And considering how much I’ve grown since even just a year ago, I don’t think I’m done yet. 

But at the end of the day, the thing I would recommend more than anything else is community. If you have aspec friends in real life, talk to them about how you feel. They’re likely going through similar things or have gone through them in the past and they can help you, too. See if there are aspec meetups happening near you that you could go to. If real life community doesn’t work out, you can always find the aspec community online. If you have irl friends who know your Tumblr, make a new one, and then start engaging with the community. Give yourself permission to like and reblog as much as you want. Start following people. Become involved in conversations. You’re not alone. We’ve gone through this too. It’ll be okay. 

As always, you are welcome to ask for clarification, follow up questions, and the like, via ask (both anon and public) and dm. 

#ask #anon #original #aroace #aromantic asexual #aspec #aro #ace #aromantic #asexual #aphobia #arophobia #acephobia #queer #lgbtq #Anonymous #long #long post

[legionnairelass]

A Guide To The Legion of Super-Heroes For CW Fans

(@shadowofcroft​ @peskydoodles @denofgeek @karamelshakes @nerdyfancupcake @querlsdoxs @lenakluthor I haven’t spoken to nearly any of you, but could y’all somehow get this out to the people who’d read it?)

WHAT is the Legion of Super-Heroes? A bunch of futuristic losers who nerd out so hard about 21st/20th century heroes they decided to be heroes too.

WHEN is the Legion of Super-Heroes? Either the 30th or the 31st century- take the publication date of whatever comic you’re reading, add 1,000 years, and there you go!

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS of the Legion of Super-Heroes? Please don’t make me answer this. There are a lot. There was once a membership-cap of 25, but that got thrown away because more Legionnaires.

WHO INSPIRED the Legion of Super-Heroes? In the comics, it’s Clark Kent, Superboy at the time. Back when he lived in Smallville with Ma and Pa Kent, the Legion’s founders went back and time to prank him and take him to the 30th/31st where he got really good at the hero thing and  eventually evolved into (wait for it) SUPERMAN.

WHO FOUNDED the Legion of Super-Heroes? (This is gonna come as a huge shock, I know, but) Not Mon-El! The original founders of the Legion, sometimes known as the Legionnaires Three, were actually Imra Ardeen (aka Saturn Girl), Garth Ranzz (aka Lightning Lad), and Rokk Krinn (aka Cosmic Boy). The three of them sorta accidentally saved a rich, old, fun dude named R.J. Brande and he was like “huh, superheroes are cool”. Thus, the Legion was formed.

HOW DOES the Legion of Super-Heroes WORK? The Legion is a democracy, with a whole ton of rules called the Legion Constitution. Every year or so, the Legion holds elections for their leader, and whenever it is convenient they hold try-outs for new members.

WHAT is the Legion of Super-Heroes ABOUT? The Legionnaires come from all over the galaxy in order to defend peace, democracy, and freedom. They are optimistic, sometimes to a fault, and believe in Superman’s virtues above (almost) all else.

WHAT IS THE APPEAL of the Legion of Super-Heroes? Well, the Legion is normally really optimistic, really diverse, and really teenage. Characterization and inter-personal relationships are always a heavy focus, not just superhero, bam, pow, fisticuffs.

HOW DOES the Legion of Super-Heroes CONNECT WITH SUPERGIRL? The Legion has, historically, always been very involved with the Super Family. Supergirl became a member (alongside Clark Kent) way back in the Silver Age (those are the really old comics with story lines that read like crappy old fanfics off of Fanfiction.net and pages that reek of LSD which all the writers were on at the time). She’d come from the past to the future to join in with the lighthearted shenanigans, and help save the day. In fact, the Legionnaire Brainiac 5 was her most consistent love interest throughout the decades of Supergirl comics.

WHAT DOES MON-EL HAVE TO DO with the Legion of Super-Heroes? Remember how Mon got stuck in the Phantom Zone because of lead-poisoning? Yeah, so a thousand years in the future, Brainiac 5 developed a cure and saved him. With nothing better to do, Mon joined the Legion. It was pretty cool. He even had the most badass girlfriend- Tasmia Mallor aka Shadow Lass.

WHO IS THIS BRAINIAC 5 DUDE in the Legion of Super-Heroes? Brainiac 5, aka Querl Dox is a native of Colu, and a descendant of Superman’s villain Brainiac. He’s basically the smartest person ever to exist, and he knows it. Although he’s a sarcastic, antagonistic bitch most of the time, he’s one of the Legion’s greatest assets. Plus, he’s had a ton of love interests, most notably Supergirl, but also Laurel Gand (aka Andromeda), Lyle Norg (aka Invisible Kid), Nura Nal (aka Dream Girl), and (if we’re sorta counting the cartoon) Clark Kent (aka Superman).

HOW IS SATURN GIRL INVOLVED in the Legion of Super-Heroes? Well, let’s start off by saying SHE”S NOT MON-EL’S WIFE. With that out of the way, Saturn Girl, aka Imra Ardeen is one of the founding members of the Legion. She’s a ridiculously strong telepath. Sometimes she’s called ‘Ironass Ardeen’ because she’s so tough. She’s married to Garth Ranzz aka Lightning Lad and they had twin sons. Also, did I mention that in 1964 she became the first female leader of a superhero team??? Imra’s so cool, everyone should love her.

IS THE NIA NAL/DREAMER CHICK PART OF the Legion of Super-Heroes? ....No? Yes, maybe? Nia has been revealed to be the grandmother of Nura Nal (aka Dream Girl, or Dreamer), who’s a Legionnaire from Naltor with the ability to see the future and also kick a lot of ass and save the day because Brainy is pretty useless in combat scenarios. 

HOW GAY is the Legion of Super-Heroes? (Let’s face it. I’m on tumblr. I understand tumblr. This question is pertinent.) The Legion hasn’t had a on-going comic in recent years, so a lot of the gay shit is queer coding but... Shrinking Violet and Light Lass are wonderful farm girlfriends, Invisible Kid and Chemical King have been generally accepted as a gay couple since the 60′s, Shvaughn Erin can be read as a (poorly written) trans character, her love interest Element Lad more or less comes out as bisexual, Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid came really close to being a canon couple before the series was rebooted, and Chameleon was canonically nonbinary in the reboot known as the threeboot. I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting, but there are a lot of Legionnaires. Also, they all had a crush on a snake person at one point, which was, y’know, awesome.

WHERE DO I START READING the Legion of Super-Heroes? 1. You know that thought you just had about reading from the beginning? Take it, smash it on the ground, jump on it a few times, throw it in a trash can, set the trash can on fire, and then throw the whole thing into the abyss. The whole concept of ‘reading from the beginning’ will cause more suffering than it’s worth. Trust me. 2. Get your hands on the graphic novels Legionnaires Volumes 1 and 2 (here and here). This is the beginning of the rebooted Legion. I won’t confuse you (or myself, honestly) with those details, but the reboot reintroduces all the characters, and retells some of the popular original stories before moving into brand new territory. 3. Get some pens and paper handy. Be prepared to take little notes about who’s who as you go. Don’t worry- you won’t need these for very long. Just at the beginning. 4. read, Read, READ! And most importantly- enjoy!

#legion of super heroes #CW Supergirl #ouch my hands #brainiac 5 #clark kent #kara danvers #Mon-El #karamel #Imra Ardeen #nia nal #info for legion applicants

[missytearex]

It’s that time again! I’ve had a lot of free time to read this month, so I think this is gonna be a good one. Here are my favourites!

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Larry

~ you came into my life by disgruntledkittenface | @disgruntledkittenface (57k)

Summary: They stand around talking for a minute and then Jonathan starts to ramble, “Has there ever been, like, an unrequited gay love story in here? Like a Brokeback Mountain moment where, like, someone just fell in love and they didn’t mean to?”

Louis feels bile rise in his throat as Jonathan’s eyes sparkle, pleading for a yes. He manages to look around and see thoughtful looks on his coworkers’ faces before their heads shake no.

“Not here,” Liam says finally.

When the Queer Eye cast and crew sweep into Louis’ small town and fire station to make over his best friend and coworker Liam, Louis’ carefully constructed walls start to fall down and he has to face his fears – and the only guy he’s ever been able to see a future with.

My comment: This one is making it as one of my ALL TIME favourite fics. I completely fell in love with every single character! You can clearly see how Louis gets something different from each of his relationships with the different characters and it is absolutely stunning. Louis’ internal struggle is really well written and I just wanted to give him a hug! Also, I started watching Queer Eye after reading this.

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Lilo

~ Which One Of Us Is Caving by wasp | @apayneinthearse (18k)

Summary: Liam doesn't regret hiring Louis, it's the furthest thing from it. He's clever and quick-witted and he's good with people in a way Liam never was. It's amazing, he's amazing and Liam doesn't understand how he survived so long without him. In the professional sense.

My comment: I reeeeeeeeaaaally love slow burn fics! And I mean Louis as Liam’s cheeky assistant? Perfect.

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Lirry

~ fishing in the dark by countthestars | @moondoggiestyle (12k)

Summary: Liam is the night janitor at a clandestine research facility, and Harry is its best kept secret.

My comment: This story is probably as realistic as you can get with mermaid fic. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. It’s so beautifully written and emotional - I actually wanted to cry at some point. This fic is a gift and you should read it.

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Narry

~ by your side by littlervoice | @littlervoice (8k)

Summary: “What does Niall look like?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Zayn counters. Harry can feel him shifting on the bed next to him, moving to sit cross legged as he always does when Harry gets serious. “Because people always talk themselves down,” Harry says. “Like when you told me you’re nothing special even though I have it on good authority that you’re a walking talking god.”

Harry is blind and Niall gets partnered up with him for a project.

My comment: Ok, I have a weakness for disabled characters. And fluff. And Narry. So this was just perfect! Such a fun read!

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Niam

~ These Little Things That Bind Us (orphan_account) (76k)

Summary: All of a sudden, there’s a voice at his ear. “How’re you doin’, mate?” Liam jumps about a foot, but somehow manages to stay balanced on his barstool without spilling a drop of his drink. He needs to calm down if he wants to avoid attracting any attention from Malik and his cronies. Steeling himself, he squares his shoulders and turns to face the voice. And then he actually does spill his drink. All over the shirt of one Niall Horan. Liam lives a comfortable life; he works as a policeman, and his lovely girlfriend has just moved into his flat. However, everything changes when he's assigned to go under cover and gather information about a rising star of London’s criminal under world, Zayn Malik, and his ragtag band of criminals. This band just happens include a cheery, fair haired Irishman who quite literally charms the pants off of Liam and, before he knows it, Liam finds himself facing a choice between love and duty.

My comment: Where do I even begin with this one? I kept getting immersed and forgetting that Liam was actually undercover but then I would remember and the ANGST! Certainly an emotional roller coaster. Stayed with me long after I finished reading it. 

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Nouis

~ heart out on my sleeve by temerity (forsanethaec) | @1dgaf (29k)

Summary: After Zayn drops out of Hogwarts just before their last year in Slytherin, Louis is left adrift. In a high-level Charms class tasked with finishing the rebuilding of the castle, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Niall Horan of Hufflepuff, and learns more than he expected along the way. (A Harry Potter AU set eight years after the Battle of Hogwarts.)

My comment: I absolutely love reading about post-battle Hogwarts. Everything has a different kind of feel to it. Slytherin!Louis and Huffelpuff!Niall complement each other so well and the descriptions of the spells are incredible. Loved everything about this fic!

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Zarry

~ In Pursuit of the Extraordinary by blainedarling | @zaynbastian (31k)

Summary: Zayn is eight years old when he realises that he’s different. Contortion comes as naturally to him as walking does to most people—what doesn’t come naturally is acceptance from people around him. His family find it odd and the children at school think he’s a freak. The closest he comes to acceptance in his time at high school is through his gym teacher, Dave, who teaches him how to train his body and respect his gift; and Harry, a beautifully wild boy he meets by chance at a party who, too, has a secret talent. It's years before he'll see Harry again and find a place where he can excel at his talents.

A Zayn-centric story about the struggles of being different or unusual, and finding family in unexpected places.

My comment: This story was absolutely AMAZING! Reading about Zayn’s struggles was HEARTBREAKING and it made me so HAPPY and RELIEVED when he finally found his home.

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Ziall

~ Maybe It's A Hangover, Maybe I'm In Love by lucy_and_ramona (28k)

Summary: summer fling!au. Niall and Zayn meet at one of Harry's parties, where everyone is excited to move on to the next chapter of their lives. Everyone except them. Drunk and out of their depth, they hook up. They keep hooking up, and attempt to start a casual relationship, only Zayn's definitely falling, and Niall's trying to ignore the fact that he is, too.

My comment: I loved how the relationship progressed in this. How Niall kept wanting to hold back but kind of being unable to help himself. It was just so easy to read. 

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Ziam

~ it keeps my veins hot (the fire's found a home in me) by loveontherocks (51k)

Summary: "You think anyone said thanks?" Zayn asks, his voice wrecked and shredded, half whisper, half reminiscent of pubescent teenaged years.

Harry looks at him like he's lost his mind. "Thanks to who?"

Zayn shrugs, finally bringing the cigarette up to his lips, igniting the flame of his lighter. "The firefighters. They're the ones who got us out, right? They're why you and I are here on this couch right now. Right?"

Harry purses his lips. "Dunno. Wasn't a priority of mine, I guess."

It should be, Zayn thinks.

or; the one where zayn survives a fire and falls in love with the firefighter that saved him.

My comment: Firefighter Liam is one of my favourite things! Zayn struggling with his anxiety over what happened seemed so real. And all the pining!! The PINING! Just read it.

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Zouis

~ swing my heart across the line by jarpadsalecki (21k)

Summary: "Louis was trying to come up with all the ways Liam could have died--car crash, he was figuring, but Liam was the safest driver he knew--and ringing up a particularly large order for a thirty-something year old woman and her three kids when a figure appeared out of the corner of his eye. Well, fucking finally he had a bagger. He glanced to his left, hopefully, to see if it was Liam.

It wasn’t."

The one where Louis is the star cashier, Harry is the cafe boy, Niall works in the deli, and when Liam is promoted from bagging to dairy, Zayn from produce is his replacement. Louis is not happy about that.

My comment: This was such a fun lighthearted read! And guys, the scene with the body shots...omg. LOVED these two characters together.

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Gryles

~ The Seaweed Is Always Greener by goseaward (25k)

Summary: The fairytales are pretty clear: Don't go near land. Don't go near humans. Definitely don't fall in love. And whatever you do, don't ask the Sea Witch for help.

A modern-day Little Mermaid AU.

My comment: This was a fun one! Harry’s character is so quirky and Nick just kinda goes along with everything. 

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Tomlinshaw

~ Butter With You by driveinbingo | @joekavaliers (26k)

Summary: ”You’ve got egg on your face”, says Louis.

Nick isn’t quite following. ”What?”

Louis rolls his eyes. ”You’ve got egg on your cheek. Looks stupid.”

Nick could be inside with a cup of tea and a scone right now. Nick had thought – perhaps naively - that they were past all this now. That they could go back to behaving like adults.

”Right, I’m not gonna do th –”, is all he gets out before Louis practically launches himself at Nick, mouth first.

Or, the Tomlinshaw GBBO AU nobody asked for.

My comment: I actually want to cry from how good this is. Enemies to lovers, baking angst, BAKING! asdfghjkl READ IT!

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OT5

~ Let It Be Lightning by alexenglish | @queerlyalex (41k)

Summary: Niall Horan made a choice when he enlisted with the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. Leave his family and try to make a difference. He started out as a Jaeger Tech, elbow-deep in the greasy guts of the machines that were supposed to save the world, but here he is, five years later, fresh out of the Ranger Academy with another choice to make:

Assemble a team of Rangers able to pilot two or more Jaegers at any given moment. Interchangeable partnerships, all Drift Compatible with each other. The implications of pulling off this project are astronomical, but at the end of the day, Niall's just worried about how many people are going to end up inside his head.

My comment: Science fiction! Polyamory! Queer themes! What more could you possibly want? I didn’t want it to end. Just amazing.

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And that’s it for this month! I’m starting a course next month so I won’t have as much time to read. We’ll see how it goes!

You can join me on my reading adventure at @niccihoranson, where I bookmark all my 1D fic recommendations!

#monthly favourites #larry #lilo #lirry #narry #niam #nouis #zarry #ziam #ziall #zouis #gryles #tomlinshaw #ot5 #fic rec #my recs #one direction #1d #my lists