#British ‘people’ are poc now

[velvette-hussle]

VELVETTE’S BLACK-CODING & THE HH FANDOM’S RACISM

A lot of y’all (and especially the ones of you that will cry about how ‘not racist’ you are without having actually unpacked any of your racism, and who are more scared of being called racist than actually being racist) are so viscerally against even the mere headcanon— let alone active canonical race-coding of Velvette being black, and I’m so over that shit.

Y’all will fight tooth and nail when a show has one barely purposefully black character — out of an already predominantly white cast of characters & more non-black poc characters than there are black ones (who have speaking roles, most notably) — to deny (black) fans the ability to celebrate and actively acknowledge that character and their race. Especially if y’all can’t ignore that character, or if before you realized they were black/black-coded you liked them.

⚠︎ I wrote this out of pure utter frustration and anger so I’m going to cuss and I sound fairly mean and angry so do with that what you will. ⚠︎

P.S. — This isn’t necessarily meant to be educational; I’m allowed to be angry without having to teach y’all how racism works while crying over my phone (because, yes, I am an emotional bitch) for free.

Some of you people are truly insidious. We get half of a bone tossed to us (because Velvette’s demon form is still dark grey which gives the audience a lot of plausible deniability when it comes to not accepting that she’s black) and everyone is still trying to snatch that half a bone out of our mouths despite the fact that y’all are eating good. It would be embarrassing if you bitches had any shame about your anti-blackness, but y’all don’t.

Then all the little pussyfooting-ass bench sitters can sit around talking about how they don’t care either way, they just don’t think everything should be focused on race (which is what y’all always say, but if people didn’t care ‘too much’ about rights and how a lack there of for minority groups seeps into everything including our entertainment media most of you wouldn’t have the rights or entertainment you do now - these things are systematic so you have to attack and address the racism everywhere, not just in the areas y’all find it more appropriate/appealing to be hit with that reality in) - but fuck it if real people are actively being exposed to the fandom’s racism though, right? Or how they just prefer Velvette white (while explaining away her afro as her just having been a curly haired ginger in her human life so that’s not actual evidence towards her being black-coded or over-emphasizing that she’s WHITE British as if black British people are some nonexistent group) and they don’t see how that should be labeled as them being racist when it’s “just a preference”; but why does the sheer idea of Velvette being black repulse you in such a way in the first place?

Like everyone will accept Vaggie’s, roughly Valentino’s and even Carmilla’s coding as some form of ethnically Latino because they speak Spanish and because their voice actors are Latino of some sort, but when the same type of evidence gets brought up for Velvette’s black-coding (her VA being a black woman, her hair being in an Afro, the type of British accent she has sounding like it took inspiration from predominantly black British areas - though definitely less so than a character like ATSV!Hobie Brown, and the audition sheet for her character allegedly specifying that she was to be a black woman even) all of a sudden coding doesn’t exist, because y’all said so I guess. It’s the same fans of the show too that will whip out Alastor’s being black biracial to brandish it like a fucking weapon against those who call out Medrano for her racism and misrepresentation/demonization of vodou and voodoo in order to absolve her of any culpability or fault that will then turn around and deny the hell out of Velvette being black, and ain’t that just a bitch? Fandom has a racism problem (and me saying this is NOT new) but despite y’all thinking your radical because of some of the shows you watch and characters you like y’all are so obsessed with keeping the status quo in tact that every time someone points out a fandom’s racism it somehow manages to keep getting swept under the rug every time.

Regardless, Alastor’s alleged page in Medrano’s Pitch Bible says he could be ‘Any Ethnicity’ which was then retroactively changed for poor accountability reasons (but most everyone takes even that retroactive change as gospel and acknowledges that, as he is now, Alastor is biracial), but when Velvette’s alleged page in the Pitch Bible explicitly states that she’s a ‘black woman’ (and that hasn’t been redacted)

now everyone spontaneously doesn’t care about treating Medrano’s words like they’re the word of God and Velvette’s race is in the “eye of the beholder” or some shit. At this point just admit that you guys are racist and can’t stand the idea of having to regularly see, having genuine enjoyment for and interest in, or having an attraction to a black character. Y’all are so transparent in your anti-blackness, but too cowardly to admit it, that it’s almost painful.

Velvette’s coding (especially before you hear her voice, see who her VA is, and see her character’s appearance in s1ep8 where she’s depicted with textured hair) is not great, and I’d be remiss not to acknowledge that. She’s got the same skin tone color-coding problem as the other black - and only supposedly black - characters where she’s somewhere between a medium to dark grey in lieu of just making her brown skinned (which I get is because she’s a demon, but still), and in general there’s just enough not going on to make her black-coding more explicit that all the ‘I don’t really see her as black’ people can have a field day, and that makes arguing her blackness a necessity because you have to provide a whole bunch of evidence before people concede defeat or call you some backhanded insult that’s almost a slur before blocking you. That’s the reality and it sucks, but I am glad that there is at least things we can point to and that (even though not the best established/depicted) Velvette is supposed to be black.

All this to say, VELVETTE IS A BLACK BRITISH WOMAN (just black-coded or otherwise) and you can certainly argue about it, but I will not be responding; I have better shit to do.🫶🏾

The one thing about fandom and fan spaces - and just any media I consume for joy, period - that has always stayed consistent is the racism (and especially the anti-blackness & misogynoir). I can never escape that shit and I hate you people for it, I really do. Y’all’s favorite phrases to hit black people with are either ‘it’s not that deep’ (which it is, because your fandom preferences and reactions likely channel into how you vote, for instance, and how you regard the real life human beings in front of you’s worth at a given moment; I’ve seen it, because the same way that y’all take in misinformation about irrelevant shit like HH & HB is the same way y’all take misinformation and run with it when we’re discussing real life instances of oppression & discrimination) and that ‘be the ones to give black characters attention/make your own black character & predominantly black media’ bullshit. News flash though, a couple of black people in every fandom cannot cure the levels of systemic racism that’s sunk into you all like a fucking disease, but that so many people are just totally fine repping. If you’re “tired” of hearing black people complain about racism don’t you think black people are tired of feeling it? Of never being able to escape the effects of it? Of dealing with it? We hate this shit (at its most extreme it gets us killed and at it’s tamest it ensures we have less enjoyment & feel less welcomed in a given space), but if we can’t enter a physical or digital space without being hit by racism and anti-blackness then neither will you bitches. Also - because I’m looking back at this & can’t help but edit - I fully understand the desire other black people have to go into entertainment/fandom spaces and not have to think about racism, and so we’ll ignore the racism we do see (and sometimes even push back against its existence & downplay its harm), but ignoring the problem doesn’t fix anything. So while I also feel that desire and the majority of my stuff (especially my posts and creative endeavors) that’s aimed at black people is “escapist” or just not “trauma porn” to some extent, there is a point where I have to deviate and bring the shitty side of reality back into focus. So yeah.

P.S. — I kept saying alleged to the Pitch Bible because I didn’t trace the Bible pages all the way down to some official Vivziepop page, but you certainly can if you want to.

And here’s the full Pitch Bible page if you want it:

It also fucks over the people that want to insist Velvette stay Vox and Valentino’s ‘daughter’ figure despite Velvette’s redesign and characterization in season one of HH— and her age.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading (if you actually read the whole thing that as, but if not then whatever)!🩷

#velvette #hazbin hotel #fandom racism #the vees #hazbin hotel velvette #hazbin velvette #race coding #hazbin hotel fandom #fandom #hazbin hotel criticism #vivzipop critical #hazbin hotel critical #i speak bitches *mwah* #me• #🩷 #unrelated but #❤️

[anonymous-dentist]

"It's not that deep"

Yes, yes it is. It is that deep. Buying a Trump flag is that deep. I don't know if most of these Dream fans leftover in their echo chamber of a fanbase remember this, because they were probably kids, but the Trump presidency signaled the end of the world of minorities all across the United States. We're still feeling the repercussions of that today in 2022, almost two full years into Biden's administration. White supremacists are out in louder numbers than they have been in years. Antisemitism is on the rise. Abortion is being threatened in most U.S. states after the conservative-packed Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade this summer, a court packed by Trump and including Christo-fascists, racists, misogynists, homo- and transphobes, and literal alleged rapists and actual cult members. Anti-queer legislation is being pushed in a significant number of U.S. states and in the federal government by members of the legislature who have been emboldened by having a president that agreed with them.

The 2020 presidential election was huge- some of the largest numbers in decades- because people wanted this man out of office. And he's running again in 2024 despite having been impeached twice (the most for any sitting president in the history of the United States) and despite being under investigation for a bajillion federal crimes, including a recent indictment brought against him in response to him instigating, encouraging, and assisting an attempted insurrection and violent takeover of the government in January of last year. (You people might remember it for Doomsday on the smp; many others remember it as one of the most terrifying moments in U.S. political history.) He's running despite the several charges of campaign fraud and election interference brought against him. The Republicans might not be done with him yet, which is a terrifying thought. Even if they are and they're going with DeSantis for 2024, Trump is still planning on running, and he's bankrupt right now. He's broke. His company is broke. He is broke. The only income he gets now are from MAGA supporters buying his merch. Those funny little NFTs from last week? Those support him.

Know what else directly supports Donald Trump and his campaign? Flags. Buying flags.

Does this mean that Dream and Sapnap are Trump supporters for buying a Trump flag as a gag gift for their British friend? No, absolutely not, but the joke of 'lol look at this stupid idiot flag we got you' doesn't land when, A, the person giving the gift is a former Trump supporter himself, and, B, the person that the flag was bought from is a literal white supremacist and fascist who is friends with white supremacists and fascists who all want queer people to die, they want women to be silent or to die, they want civil rights overturned, they want to turn this country back into a shell of itself in the name of white male Christian supremacy

Dream's audience is young and vulnerable. Many members are queer. Many are POC. Most are young. They might not remember how fucking terrifying 2016 through 2020 were. People woke up in tears the day after election day in 2016 for a reason. The polls were flooded in 2020 for a reason. These audience members might not remember that because they were so young, or they might not realize the gravity of the situation. What does it say to them when their hero pulls out a Trump flag and says it's a gift? It's something to laugh at, yeah, but is it really? It shows people that it's okay not to take Trump seriously, and he and his followers are still a threat to America today. It's dangerous not to take him and his followers seriously. And since the Democrats don't seem to have anybody they're pushing for for 2024, it's especially important for potential voters (because that's what these fans are, many will be old enough to vote by 2024) to start to research and understand the opposition.

Oh, and this also alienates members of Dream's audience that do remember the Trump administration. Reminder, thanks to Trump and his buddies, being queer is becoming illegal again. POC are constantly under attack because of the racist remarks encouraged by Trump during his administration. Treating Trump as a joke could, and probably has, alienated a portion of viewers. It shows them just how seriously Dream thinks these issues are. It's all worth it for a funny joke that won't appear for longer than a minute on a several hour long stream train, one viewed by tens of thousands of people live and hundreds of thousands more via vods and clips in the 12+ hours that have passed since.

You'd think that Dream would know better with a platform this size and with a fanbase as unique as what his used to be, but I guess not. Critical thinking is vital in this industry, whether you're a fan or a creator. Do I think he meant any harm in this? No, I think he's just a moron. A terrible man, yeah, but not for this. For this, he's just a fucking idiot, and he needs to get a PR guy, and he needs to fucking think before he does things for once in his life. Because it could've been funny to some people, including himself, but there is a responsibility to be, well, responsible with yourself and your audience when you're a content creator. It's very easy to send the wrong message out. There's a certain level of critical thinking that needs to be put into place, and that clearly is not a skill that Dream has.

#dream situation #sorry this is my last post on the topic #i just feel like some people might not understand why that was such a bad thing #because it was a bad thing! #hi i'm a.d. i'm a history student and i've studied the rise of f@scism for coming up on 10 years now #i'm also old enough to remember All Of This Happening #it was bad and it can't happen again #also to be clear i hate him anyway. he's a piece of garbage and he should be deplatformed immediately

[sleepynegress]

On Greta Danesti...

I'm just taking this time to correct a certain anti-Black, (and anti-Romani) sadly typical fandom troll's misogynoir fuckery in the tag and establishing who Greta Danesti is in canon Castlevania animation lore. This is Greta Danesti's official character sheet:

She's the village headwoman of Danesti a few miles away from Alucard's castle. This is what her voice actress, Marsha Thompson looks like:

It's pretty obvious her character design took cues from the actress, who is Afro-British. In show canon, however, her family escaped from the Roman city of Carthage, which today, is located in the African country Tunisia. Alucard correctly speculated where her people are from while conversing with her, here (s4 e5):

Greta then confirms that her people did escape the Romans, but she now fully embraces her "family" in her village who are "from all over" and the responsibility of taking care of them.

This same troll used the g-slur to insist that she is Romani.

She is not. This troll used an early character design here, to make her case.:

And though it does have similarities to Romani clothing... It also looks like it takes cues from Tunisian clothing and likely local and non-local European clothing of the era with "fantasy" elements sprinkled in, as well, which would match the fact of her village's people coming from all over:

There definitely should be more Romani rep in media as it is so often whitewashed, but Greta is not Romani.

FYI, these women actors actually *are* of Romani descent: Fairuza Balk of The Craft, Oona Chaplin who played Robb Stark's wife in GOT (she's also Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter[!]), and Noomi Rapace from the Swedish movie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo says her father may have been of Romani descent, as well.

And because I can predict it, as people like to find ways of discounting blackness in every way...

Yes, there are plenty of non-Black indigenous POC in North Africa, including within Tunisia. Another fun fact... Africa has more indigenous human genetic variation among its peoples than every other people on the planet has with everyone else on the planet[!]. All this to say non-white POC AND Black people are indigenous to Tunisia.

I feel I have to say that because there is a lot of anti-Black anthropological fetishization of North Africa. Egypt is a major example of that (see: Rami Malek, an indigenous Coptic Egyptian who self-identifies as African man of color and has likely had to clarify that *often* because people keep wanting to mislabel him as an Arab, but I digress...) And sadly, there is a decidedly anti-black movement to totally disconnect certain North African countries' identities from a continental African one, and to largely see it as mainly a part of the MENA world (it is both kiddies, BOTH). Here is an informative article (linked in the image) about that struggle:

So, this got heavy...but between the post insisting that Greta is NOT Black and the one saying she's not bisexual because that same troll is purposefully and maliciously being obtuse about how words go together... I figured clearing some things up and educating folks might be helpful. BTW, the fact of those issues in the article makes her blackness all the more resonant as rep in pop culture. And hey, poly folks have disagreements, just like the het folks do... -Still bi. I'm gonna end here with two images from the linked article of anti-racist Tunisian protesters (MENA and Black):

P.S. I also side-eye those keen to make her muscular... I mean yeah she wields a big-ass hammer and shortsword/dagger, but the tendency to masculinize black woman characters deserves a hardy eye-squint. Especially, given that the show has *no problem* making muscular women look like that and they DIDN'T for Miss Greta.

See: Zamfir and the Berserk-style sword-carrying Vampire warrior, Striga. Both of whom had that flex going on.

#tumblr gonna tumblr #misogynoir #greta danesti #greta x alucard #castlevania #I hate when wrong-ass trolling info is spread in the tumblr fandom tags about black women characters #and sadly it happens A LOT purposefully #if you don't like black women just stick to the characters you like instead...you really gotta put in effort to actively HATE as a hobby #same ole same ole #meta #one kinda hate ALWAYS comes with another #which is why solidarity makes sense #troll is anti-black & biphobic #so this is becoming a thing? #doing my best to make sure the black girl character tags have GOOD info about the characters #first uhura and now greta #sunday wip procrastination blah #block that “gretasworld” troll #btw the producers say she's not a spin-off Grant Dynasty so...that's why he's not mentioned

[lgbtqfiction]

hello all!

i made this blog because i often see people pitching media on the basis of representation, or getting very excited about representation in media! personally, i've primarily been reading fiction with queer characters for a year or so— not avoiding stories without that, but simply interested in genres of media that have a ton of queer representation and people often ignore! thus, i wanted to make something organized by both genre and representation, that puts plot first but is an opportunity for people to enjoy queer-positive content!

anyone can submit, using the submissions box of this blog: here's a format, and the rules! also, please use the provided tags in the submissions box, so people using this blog can navigate by tag

q: can i submit something i wrote?

a: yes please, but it should be fairly polished, and either be finished or have a reliable updates schedule!

form is as such—

title

[IMAGE (optional)]

author (if relevant):

format:

premise:

tone & rating:

setting/genre:

representation (optional):

--- keep reading ---

other representation (optional):

disclaimers (if relevant):

more detailed version of the form, with rules, under the cut! please read those rules if it's your first time submitting!

put the title of whatever it is on top

[IMAGE (if you want)]

format: podcast, tv show, anime, manga, etc! include something about country of origin, if relevant (so good omens would be 'british tv show' and heaven official's blessing would be 'chinese novel'; but if it's set in the far future or a fantasy world and fully dubbed/translated in a variety of languages, no need to note it)

occasionally, there will be genres defined by queer representation, like danmei, BL, or yuri! feel free to include them in this section; or not, but in that case, please check the tags that specify those genres so people can sort by them if they want.

premise: keep this spoiler free! a few sentences about what the story is about, & its setting!

tone & rating: dark, gritty, tragic, dark comedy, rom-com, slice-of-life, etc. i've decided to break up 'genre' so that tone and setting words are different. as for rating, only include it if it's notable; for example, if a work has explicit sex scenes, add a note that says 'explicit' or '16+' . (depending on the level of detail).

setting/genre: setting-based genres like sci-fi, contemporary, urban fantasy, etc, with specifics up to the level of; "science fiction (far future)" "science fiction (near future)" or "cultivation fantasy" !

(note: for this blog, 'magical realism' is a genre popular in latin america, in which magical elements are made present in a realistic world usually to make an allegorical point or with a sense of hyper-real surrealism; 'urban fantasy' is a genre where magical creatures such as werewolves and vampires or people with magical powers casually exist in realistic cities. you can have something that's both, but i'm distinguishing them as terms for now!)

representation (optional): this section is optional because it may be made clear by the synopsis! for example, if the synopsis is something like "Sakura and Rie fall in love, but their families aren't in support of two women being together", you don't need to clarify that there are lesbians in the synopsis. however, if the mc sakura later feels conflicted because she's also attracted to men and wonders if it's worth losing everything for rie, you might want to note that it has a bisexual mc in this section! (and of course, if queerness isn't a major focus in the plot, here's where you put all the information on it!)

----- Keep reading ---- (include one here, please!)

other representation (optional): here's where you note poc rep if it's relevant/notable (no need to say 'the characters are all asian' in an anime); disabled representation; how the female characters are handled; and anything else you liked seeing! (or any disclaimers, if for example the story sidelines its women). no need to be comprehensive, but consider what different people might be happy to learn about, or want to be warned for!

disclaimers: this blog accepts any and all lgbtq+ fiction. this means that i'd like people to be pretty comprehensive in their disclaimers! please add one for:

incest

in-universe homophobia

out-of-story homophobia ('doylist homophobia') and the context;

age gaps if one or both of the characters is a minor and the gap is 3 years or more;

rape

copganda/a major character being a cop (feel free to note any nuance present!)

police brutality

"bury your gays" (no need if characters die but the story is clearly queer-positive/unrelatedly tragic)

#lgbtqia #lgbtq fiction #queer fiction #queer representation #chitra.txt

[callsign-bunnie]

Do you have some unhinged HC to share?

also I hope you're doing well

Yeah, sure! I'm adding more of the other operators because actually playing the game has caused deep emotional attachment to them

--

Shepherd is actually Graves' father, through some fuckery. (Sidenote, this was my headcanon first, I just don't do Graves-centered content to have used it first)

Rodolfo is MEAN when overstimulated. He will have whoever he's talking to in tears for just the simple mistake of breathing in his direction when he's overstimulated. (Alejandro and Gaz are the exceptions, but the "breathe wrong in their direction" applies to them. Soap got snapped at for looking at Gaz in a "mean way")

Rodolfo gets upset when Alejandro isn't jealous and possessive over him because it makes him feel wanted, but it's cool because Alejandro is fairly jealous and possessive naturally

This does mean that if Alejandro has any slightly less dramatic reaction to anyone flirting with Rudy, Rudy gets pretty upset

Soap locked another authority figure in a trunk and everyone lost their minds when Price just goes "AGAIN, MACTAVISH?!"

Soap is "Mactavish" when Price is irritated at him

I know everyone jokes that Gaz is the one trying to be Price's son, but they're wrong. Price regularly tries to pass adoption papers off as other things and Gaz has had to start reading fine print before just blindly signing anything

"Can I call you my son?" "You can for ONE event, though I uh... have some concerns that no one will believe I'm your son." "What ever could you mean by that??? We have the same jawline!"

Speaking of, Gaz is BRITISH! I see headcanons a lot that he and Farah bully Alex by making him eat spicy food, but most headcanon Alex from Texas, and I'm not going to pretend Texas's food is to the same level of spice as a lot of real POC food, but it's more spicy than fucking British food. (I lived in Texas and there is not a damn thing you could call fucking "mild")

So, anyway, Gaz is the one who can't eat spicy food. Alex has no spice meter, he just knows what's really spicy, so Gaz has to warily eat anything Alex considers "mild"

Farah tries to joke around about Alejandro and Rudy in Arabic, but Rudy and Ale had to learn because of the cartel's involvement with AQ and their expansion to Al Mazrah, so she was very shocked when they just started responding back

Alex and Gaz get EVEN MORE shit for their Arabic sucking

MILA MY DARLING

She and Roze stayed in touch long after Roze left, and they regularly meet up with Oz and Velikan and gossip about the bullshit Graves is doing now. Arthur occasionally shows up but they can't tell Graves about it

Graves is not invited, he's very deeply upset about it

My Canadian friend joked that Alberta is just the Texas of Canada, so Reyes and Alex are friends now, I have decided

They compare workout routines and talk about neither actually having any sort of facial hair routine, Price hates them both

"Oh joy, there's another fuckin one of you-" Price to Alex

Reyes flirted with Gaz before knowing he and Alex were together and Gaz went dark red, but only because he realised he has a type.

Kortac has their own discord, which now includes the Shadow Company members

Alex and Ghost have dog playdates for Riley and Syd, Gaz and Soap (the cat people) stay inside.

Price pretends not to like Riley and Syd, but many times has everyone came back to both dogs asleep on him

Graves was allowed to stay in the other discord, purely because they make fun of him, but as soon as Kortac was discovered to have their own, he was kicked

Both servers regularly raid the other

Valeria was taunting Ghost and Alejandro with "you wouldn't hit a girl, would you?" and Alejandro said "no. But she will" and gestured to Farah who proceeded to rock her shit

Chuy hates Valeria, but he also hates Alejandro for letting her escape to Al Mazrah and making her his problem again

--

Not doing taglists for this one since it's more silly

#Johnny Soap Mactavish #Simon Ghost Riley #Rodolfo Parra #Alejandro Vargas #John Price #Kyle Gaz Garrick #Phillip Graves #Valeria Garza #Farah Karim #Malika COD #Alex Keller #Kate Laswell #Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II #Call of Duty #Gary Roach Sanderson #headcanons #queue for dinner again hunny? #mila cod #roze cod #oz cod #velikan cod #chuy cod #aledolfo #gazalex

[heesulovebot]

ik there's the contentious topic about categorizing things as bl and making the distinction between bl and queer media, and i do think there have been valid points in the discourse about how bl is changing and its going through a sort of r/evolution now that bl is getting pretty big (and i'm talking exclusively about asian bl here btw, so in this context it would be the globalization of asian bls). but i also think that it's important to not disregard history and bl's roots.

bl was created by women for women in the 1970s in japan. although from a feminist perspective, bl challenges gender and sexual norms, bring capitalism into the equation, and we're getting the fetishization of gay relationships for (predominantly) straight female consumption.

idt it's a "right or wrong" situation. i believe two truths can exist: bl is a capitalist venture that oftentimes perpetuates harmful stereotypes, but bl can also be liberation for a lot of people. especially asian bl—as a bisexual woc, seeing nonwhite queer media is so so important to me. and i am not asian, but i know it's especially been revolutionary for my fellow queer asian brothers, sisters, & enby siblings.

i read somewhere that the directors instructed juntaek to not watch (korean) bl when studying for his role in the eighth sense. i found this reeeeally interesting, since i've also seen people mention that the eighth sense is not a bl, but queer media. i also think it's important to point out that one of the directors/writers is a white european man, and i'm pretty sure he was the one who told juntaek to watch things like skam or call me by your name instead of kbls—i haven't seen skam but cmbyn is white queer cinema (also problematic, but i digress). in the past, there was also that british bl heartstopper (sorry besties i still haven't seen it i probably should), in which the author expressed that they did not want to label it as bl, but there was backlash as, at least the show, clearly drew inspiration from asian bl.

as a historically asian genre, how does this distinction (bl vs. queer) perpetuate the western hegemony of queer thought? usually when people make this distinction, i don't think they take into account that race plays as much as a part as queerness (intersectionality is so important). but on the other hand, i also understand that bl has clear tropes and narrative structures that make it a bl. we wouldn't call moonlight a bl, or the handmaiden a gl. but also, films are a different medium with less restrictions (if you've seen a korean film vs. a kdrama, you get me lol).

i definitely don't have an answer or anything. the eighth sense is filmed through such a queer lens and it touches on the nuances of the queer experiences in a way i haven't really seen in bl, but i still i find myself wary of proclaiming that it's not bl, ja feel? is the eighth sense (along with bls such as bad buddy, old fashion cupcake, to my star, etc.) a marker of the r/evolution of bl? i guess i just wanted to open up the conversation to hear people's thoughts, especially from my fellow queer pocs.

at the end of the day we're all here to be entertained, but i'm glad to see discourse and think it's fruitful in the long process of decolonizing our mindsets.

#the eighth sense #let me know ur thoughts!!! perspectives!!! feelings!!! #also pls correct me if i said something ill informed i'm here to learn!

[badass-at-fandoming]

Is Beckett meant to be a poc (in vtmb)? I think so based on his facial features and his skin being a light shade of brown. But he was born in Britain during the 1700s-1600s which makes being non-white a lot less likely (though there were poc even back then).

This is an interesting question, @chinesegal! Thank you for your patience with me answering it. I was traveling, but now I'm back!

When I look at Beckett in Bloodlines, I interpret him as a white British man. But a lot can change depending on what mods one uses to make the game work. For example, this Beckett...

...looks much less pale than this Beckett:

One must also factor in Bloodlines' poor lighting. As any visual artist trying to figure out Sebastian LaCroix's hair color will tell you, the lighting in VTMB is a terrible, mercurial beast. The dingy lighting certainly aides the grimy, uncertain atmosphere, but poor fan artists struggle.

The last sticky point I can think of is how all the Kindred characters are supposed to have a "deathly pallor," especially if they have lower Humanity. Deathly pallor can muck up skin tone wonderfully. I think Strauss would be the best example. He's an older Kindred (LA by Night states he was at the Convention of Thorns in 1493) and made a gargoyle (which involves torture), so he's definitely on the lower end of the Humanity scale. According to VtM's lore, Strauss has trouble maintaining a lively, human appearance. Some fans interpret him as white and often point to his white voice actor, Jim Ward. Others remark on Strauss' resemblance to Morpheus from The Matrix Trilogy, cite the deathly pallor lore, and interpret him as a Black man with graying skin. As in, Strauss looks closer to what a Black man's corpse would look like. The deathly pallor factor allows for this interpretation, and in the gap can nicely fit Cuthbert Beckett. He's an Elder Kindred and has had periods of low Humanity. Maybe he's brown and has been through the wringer.

VtM has a tenuous relationship with history, but if you want to check in with it, real life history doesn't obstruct an interpretation of Beckett as Black or brown. British people have had black or brown skin since forever, as you referenced. The oldest Englishman, Mesolithic era Cheddar man's skin is possibly darker than the reconstruction suggests. Ya gotta remember that white skin came to be because people weren't getting enough Vitamin D. If Beckett is descended from the indigenous Celtic Britons (unlikely but possible), his ancestors might not have been malnourished and lived somewhere the sun could penetrate the mists of Avalon.

So like, given all the above, you can definitely argue that Beckett's a Black or brown British guy. Whatever floats your boat.

That wasn't exactly your question, however. You asked if Beckett's meant to be a person of color or white. This implies you want to know the devs' original intention with the game, which I guess at being Beckett as a white man.

Beckett has been described as white in past White Wolf publications. Or rather, not described, because white is default skin tone in so many works, very unfortunately. In the Victorian Trilogy, much is made of Halim Bey, Theo Bell, and Hesha Ruhadze's black skin, but Beckett's skin tone gets no comment. He's "a long-haired man" with a "wolfish grin one might imagine on a privateer from a past age," (The Wounded King, pg 123-125). Someone describes him as "a pauper's version of Buffalo Bill Cody," (197). When his lover Emma disrobes him, the text notes "his feline pupil slits [and] amber irises," (pg 204). Special attention is paid to Beckett's hands: "dark hair, slick like sable covered the back of his hand, fading to a more human-seeming growth on his forearms" and "His fingers were longer than a man's should be, and the nails were hard and thick like a dog's," (ibid). In Year of the Scarab Trilogy's Land of the Dead, he describes himself with "lean, muscular physique [with] round smoked glasses [hinting] at a pretty boy slumming," (pg 101). By the absence of skin tone description, by the unfortunate reality that white skin is seen as default and therefore unworthy of comment, we can infer that Beckett is white. That's to say nothing of the Vampire: the Masquerade - Beckett comic, which depicts him as white. I wouldn't give the VTMB developers the grace or credit to suddenly deter from this character history.

After all, these are the same devs that failed to come up with a story with Chinese people that wasn't Yellow Peril drivel, created a white PC with "locs," declined to brown Nines' skin, and made Skelter imply that Black Americans make up their own oppression. Just like, all of Chinatown is hard for Chinese and Japanese players to get through. Even by 2004 standards, it's real shitty. With these other missteps, it's hard to imagine they'd have the creativity to re-design Beckett as brown or Black. I think they meant him to be interpreted as white.

But you don't have to! Death to the authors! In your fan art, fan casts, picrew, fanfic, chronicles etc, he can be brown, Black, indigenous, or whatever ethnicity bees your knees. You create the Beckett reality in your Beckett-loving head.

Thank you again for the ask, and I hope the essay made the wait worth it!

#ask #text post #chinesegal #cuthbert beckett #beckett #vtm #gangrel #my vtm nonsense #vampire the masquerade bloodlines #vtmb #wod #world of darkness #clan gangrel

[ae-neon]

the Viper Queen and the Meat Market

I wanna mention all the problems I picked up (so far) mind you these are just mental connections I have made from my own knowledge, I am not an expert nor have I gotten the chance to do any serious research

This is not in depth mostly because it would be a hassle getting all sources, texts and pictures together with my current setup (so please look up it up for yourself if you want to understand/know more)

This is not that long I just put a cut for scrolling convenience

First and foremost is the racist Dragon Lady stereotype. Sjm has already used this stereotype for three of her east Asian characters: Amren, Manon and now this Viper Queen

Second is the idea of the Meat Market itself, being this cramped, lawless place. This plays into stereotypes about spaces of certain ethnicities as lawless zones outside of the order and normalcy of the rest of the surrounding area. In particular this reminds me of Chinatowns - places that were intentionally set up and segregated by white people so that they would not have to live and work beside Asian populations. Sjm makes the mention that "even Micah and the angels had no jurisdiction there" 🙄 like please 😒 the racism is actually detrimental to her world building cause now I know all the human rebels have to do to scare the angels is be "foreign"

Second is the introduction to the Meat Market. It's first mentioned early on as a sort of red light district. Harkoning back to real life sex tourism popular among western men and targeted at poc, but especially Asian women. Things like this have its roots in colonialism and the vulnerability of women and children in wartime.

The first glimpse we have of the Meat Market Bryce stops to observe food being delivered and remarks on strange food and feeling sympathy for the seemingly sad crustaceans who are to be eaten. Rich coming from someone who owns a sentient pet she cannot communicate with despite knowing it does speak. This again plays into some orientalism and the discrimination some western people have towards traditional food from other cultures. Eg the stigma against eating things like dogs because they find it cruel but are okay with intelligent animals like pigs and octopi getting eaten. I'm not saying eat dogs but did you stop to learn that the practice started after colonial forces starved the native population? Would it really matter even if it didn't? Why should food be understood by the west to be deemed acceptable?

The general state of the Meat Market being a place of vice also leans into the history of opium dens. Long story short the British wanted to take advantage of the Chinese so they got them addicted to drugs and it was horrible. Please look more into this. No doubt it was a bit of the inspiration for how white America introduced crack into African American communities to tear them apart from the inside.

This is all for now as I basically stopped in the beginning of chapter 18.

#anti crescent city #anti sjm #ccity hoeab

[starleska]

as i'm posting a lot about the Toymaker it's only fair to address the elephant in room regarding his racist history and characterisation. i feel this is important, especially as i will be writing fanfiction and creating similar fanworks for him. discussion of racism re: the Toymaker below:

i tend to veer far away from fandom discourse, and don't believe enjoying a bad character = glorifying their bad traits. however, i'm a white person who has privilege in not being personally, directly affected by racism, and i think it's important to have this discussion about the Toymaker, a character whose history is inextricably tied with racism and whose recent depiction is canonically racist, whether we agree with this portrayal or not (or how well it was handled). the following are things we can't, and shouldn't, ignore:

in his original portrayal in the 60s, the Toymaker was played by a white actor (Michael Gough) who wore a Chinese mandarin outfit. this outfit was apparently sourced from the set of Marco Polo due to the BBC's tight budget. even though Michael Gough (the Toymaker's actor) was not putting on an accent nor was he in yellowface (the latter incorrectly sourced from a poorly-tinted print advertising the serial), this choice is unquestionably offensive today.

the word 'Celestial' as in 'The Celestial Toymaker' (alternately the name of the serial and sometimes applied to the Toymaker himself) was used as a slur for Chinese people at some point in history. i can't verify, but i believe it was sometime between the 19th and 20th century. although it appears that the term was supposed to refer to the Toymaker in its astronomical context, as a godlike, transient being, in combination with his outfit it is obviously offensive.

in the original broadcast 'The Celestial Toymaker', the King of Hearts (one of the Toymaker's pawns) outright says the N word. this is while reciting the 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' rhyme, and appears to have been an ad-lib by the actor. this is revoltingly racist, and is rightly cut from most audio re-airs or animations.

the Toymaker as depicted in 'The Giggle' is a racist; he freely makes racist microaggressions and uses stereotypical accents in order to torment other people. the most overt example of this is his 'you must be used to sunnier climes' comment to Charles Bannerjee, a brown-skinned British man of Indian descent (his parents being from Kerala is sourced from 'The Giggle' novelisation). in the BTS for this episode, RTD has said this portrayal is a conscious effort to address the character's racist history: canonising his original outfit as a purposeful, offensive choice.

responses to this modern canonisation of the Toymaker as an actual racist have been mixed:

some feel it's a clever way of boiling the character's history down and making a truly despicable villain.

others feel it's a heavy-handed attempt to 'get ahead of the curve' of being criticised for the character's legacy, particularly as there was nothing to indicate the character was racist himself in the original portrayal. these are roughly my feelings about this choice.

for some, it makes sense that the Toymaker is racist because he views everything as a game, including playing with character's race and culture: it's all a performance to him, and as a nonhuman, godlike being, why would he have our cultural sensitivities except to weaponise them and hurt us?

however, by the same stroke, some wonder why would the Toymaker be racist at all if he likely exists beyond our human notions of race, as well as other qualities like gender, sex, age, etc.?

wherever you fall on this spectrum of feelings towards the Toymaker's character, ignoring this history and these facts can be harmful. i've seen a lot of POC upset and alienated alternately by the choice to canonise the Toymaker's racism, as well as the choice to bring back the Toymaker at all given the character's history. now, i'm a fan of the Toymaker. i love camp, theatrical villains; showy reality-benders with little regard for personal space; awful bastards who murder and abuse and don't care one jot about who they hurt. he's a fantastic concept with awesome powers and undeniable style, and the moment the Toymaker was announced, i knew i was going to fixate on him. this is a common feeling for lots of people: many of us simp for gorgeous bad guys, and that's fine! however, i'm conscious of doing real harm by either replicating the Toymaker's racism, or choosing to ignore it entirely. even if i disagree with this recent characterisation, i would hate for anyone to feel disrespected, excluded, or harmed by my fandom activities, particularly of the gushing 'oh he's so cool/handsome/etc.' variety, or creating ship, x Reader, x OC fanworks. so here's what i'm thinking of doing:

in my fanworks for the Toymaker, i will not be recreating his overtly racist characterisation. although i may be replicating, for instance, his pseudo-German accent (a Bavarian stereotype), i will not be writing him using microaggressions, nor will i be expanding on this trait by writing him using slurs or similar racist behaviour. this is because i feel doing so would be more harmful to my friends who are POC, as well as strangers who may stumble across the fanworks. this is also because i do not feel i could handle such a subject in a nuanced, meaningful way, and don't want to inadvertently upset people just trying to have fun in fandom.

to prevent the former being an erasure of the character's racism, i will link to this disclaimer if the Toymaker's racism is relevant to a fanwork/discussion. the aspects of the Toymaker that i enjoy are centred around his being a ridiculous, playful character, and i have no interest in exploring his bigotry. likewise, i do not want to continually remind POC fans about his racist characterisation, as i do personally feel that the way RTD handled the topic was clumsy and ill-informed. however, i recognise that i have privilege in being able to make that choice, and do not wish to glorify racism as an attractive, desirable trait.

i understand that there will be folks on both sides of the aisle who will feel strongly about the choice to enjoy the Toymaker as a character at all. some may feel strongly that fandom is not activism, and that posts like this aren't necessary when simping for a bad guy played by an attractive actor. others may be actively harassing people for finding the Toymaker attractive, or as a character worthy of exploration. i feel strongly that no one should be harassed for enjoying things in fiction, and i will not tolerate hateful or abusive language/tactics being used in any facet of this or other discussions. i hope that we are able to have open, honest, and informed conversations about the Toymaker's racism, both historically and in the present. we shouldn't shy away from the topic because it makes us uncomfortable, and people do have a right to choose whether or not to engage with triggering content. let's do our best to be mindful and respectful of each other's boundaries, educate one another where possible, and continue to have fun in fandom without harming others.

thank you kindly for reading this! this was written as well as i know how, but please do let me know if this approach seems like a good idea, or if there are other things i should be considering. take care, and have a lovely day 💖🙏

#forgive me for the delay on this post; i wanted to take time to think it all over and address everything properly #i am not interested in getting involved with fandom discourse - but i understand the necessity of discussing the Toymaker's history #tw: racism #the toymaker #charles bannerjee #doctor who #the giggle #doctor who spoilers #the giggle spoilers #dw #dw spoilers #doctor who 60th anniversary #doctor who 60th anniversary spoilers #starleskatalks #long post

[revengeismygender]

Cannot stop thinking about one certain parallel between episode one and episode five that I think says so much about the show.

In episode one when the British board the ship, someone, most likely Stede since he’s in charge, decides the way to justify the fact that there are people of color on board (so the British don’t catch on to the fact that they’re pirates and kill them all) is to have the POC act as servants during the tea party. This is obviously shown as not great during the scene, as the British treat them with incredible racism (calling them savages, etc) and the members of the crew of the Revenge are shown as extremely uncomfortable. This culminates in one of the British yelling at Frenchie, calling him “slave” and promptly being stabbed through the hand by Jim who refuses to take one more second of racist bullshit (iconic). So obviously while the show depicts this whole situation as not great and only happening to save Stede and the crew from the wrath of the British, it still reflects what happens when colonial attitudes of rich white assholes are imposed on POC in this world (and the real world) by rich white people.

(To clarify I’m not saying Stede is racist. We obviously see him treating his crew equitably and having many respectful and loving interactions with the POC on his crew. I’m saying that he’s coming from a colonial background and especially early in the show he still views the world from a colonial framework. Though he was just trying to keep everyone alive in episode one, I’m just saying that his first instinct was to cast the POC as servants).

Contrast this with episode five. We are now back in the world of the white colonial aristocracy on board the French party boat. Oluwande and Frenchie are there and must once again justify why they are in attendance as Black men. But this time, it’s not Stede or any other white person who decides what their cover will be, but Frenchie himself. And he doesn’t cast them as Stede’s servants, but as an Egyptian Prince and his viceroy. As such they are essentially elevated in rank above most of the guests and spend the evening doing, as Frenchie puts it, “whatever the fuck he wants, babe.” Though they still endure some racist remarks, they not only scam the fuck out of the racist party attendees, they also give all the money to the servants of color on board (who we see being treated like shit all night) who promptly escape in a lifeboat while all the colonizers burn.

Absolutely iconic reversal. And though I often have “am I reading too much into this” moments when writing meta, I have a hard time imagining this wasn’t intentional.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd meta

[themarysuep]

Ms Marvel Episode 2 : Spoiler-y Ramble

First of all...that was perfect. Marvel outdid themselves. This show has a beautiful blend of culture and religion and I see the Muslim and South Asian creators touch.

KAMRAN has arrived.

Absolutely thrilled that Kamala falls for the Muslim brown boy. I won't stop talking about that. Also I love that Kamran isn't stereotyped in any way. He's just...MashaAllah. Rish is a great Kamran and he and Iman have incredible chemistry. I need to see a lot of him.

Swetshop Boys was also chosen personally by Iman and Rish during their first car scene and it was a win that they convinced Marvel! I am a bit sad Kamran and Kamala aren't family friends because we didn't get Kamran calling Aamir 'Aamir bhai' and Kamran pretending to be the desi golden boy...we all know he's not. But his scene with Aamir was hilarious and I died at Kamala insisting she and Kamran are cousins.

Ok.. So first I thought Kamala was having hallucinations about Aisha and she was trapped in the bangle. I would have found that disturbing and... not ok. But it seems Najma is using her powers to appear to Kamala??? That seems much better. I like that Kamran is being upfront with Kamala. I think we can already make assumptions about what Najma is trying to do. So the US govt/ N.I.C.E... I absolutely loved how they mentioned they are willing to search mosques and target Poc's. This is a huge step in highlighting what Muslim people go through. Sadie seems to be an outright villain so I'm certain Kamala will take her down by the finale. I have a lot of thoughts about the partition discussion and again, I hope people understand how personal it is to South Asians. Especially the discussion of the British and their role.

Nakia was amazing this episode. I love her and Kamala running to pray. I also love that she wants to make changes in her mosque. Women prayer facilities not being created or maintained is a global issue that Muslim women face. I hope people acknowledge this. I also love Kamala mistakenly drinking alcohol! Her discussion with Nakia about hijab. The beautiful 'Eid Mubaraks'. Tyesha and Aamir beautifully greeting each other!!!

I'd vote for Nakia Bahadir any day!!

Now that we have confirmation that Kamala's DNA is activating the powers of the bangle... I want to know MORE.

Also Travina is a perfect Tyesha. Ain't no one like Kamala's bhabi.

Also all the Natasha references!!! We need more!!! Women getting the attention they deserve on this show gives me life. I need Kamala casually doing her moves more

#kamala khan #ms marvel #marvel mcu #kamran #najma #kamala x kamran #nakia bahadir #disney plus

[futureheartswithbooks]

Lockwood & Co. and Food

So, another thing stuck out to me on my latest rewatch of Lockwood & Co. and that was the relationship to food in the show. Obviously, there is the quintessential cups of tea that always seem to be on everyone's mind, but the part that I thought was the most important was that it is George who cooks and he doesn't just cook 'British food'.

In episode 1, we first see that George is the head chef, and although Lockwood mentions cheese on toast, it is clear that it is George who usually decides what they eat. I will come back to the cheese on toast thing in a bit.

In episode 2, Lockwood specifically requests that George make ghormeh sabzi, a herb stew which is considered the national dish of Iran with over 5000 years of history in the region and states that he'd love George forever if he did this. This inclusion not only shows that Lockwood appreciates George's cooking but is more than happy to eat more traditional food that probably has a lot of significance to George. From my limited research it seems that ghormeh sabzi would have been a staple of George's home life prior to moving in with Lockwood, and I love how he is able to make something key to his culture. In most other shows I have seen, poc characters who cook often don't get to cook food important to their culture or background and I love how the show allows him to not just be confined to more typically British cooking.

In episode 5, Flo compliments George on his shirini morabaii which is a Persian pistachio and apricot jam biscuit. She doesn't even know George and yet instead of seeing his food as something strange or foreign, which a lot of characters in other shows or other media or real life might because its not considered the norm or typically British, she tells him she enjoyed it and she is eating them in front of him, embracing his culture. I think this inclusion is such a beautiful thing, not only for their own arc, but because so often in British culture, we seem to shoot down or disregard other cultures ideals, foods and history as strange and it is so rare to see them be uplifted. It's so simple, just not treating what George makes as anything other than something to be enjoyed and yet so often for some people this is apparently so difficult.

Honestly, all the dishes he makes, including his speciality noon khamei, a Persian pastry dish which translates to whipped cream bread (from what I've read), sound so delicious and most of the time we wouldn't hear about them on mainstream media. I think by giving George this role and not trying to white-wash his cooking adds so much to his character because I can see him and his parents and brothers making this food together and how cooking it while at Portland Row would make him feel at home and remind him of his childhood. This is reinforced by the other characters who gladly eat anything he makes (and who can blame him) and never make him feel bad for cooking food from his own culture.

As much as I think this is great inclusion, I hate that it stuck out so much to me because we don't see this often enough. Other cultures deserve to be celebrated and I am so glad that Lockwood & Co went into this because it not only adds to George's background but normalises it and I think that was wonderful.

Now, as for the cheese on toast, I have a headcanon that George and Lockwood can both make really good cheese on toast (it is most likely the only thing Lockwood can cook well judging by Flo's reaction about Lockwood expanding his repertoire). They once had a cook off concerning it with Lucy as the judge and she chose George's, which didn't have mustard in it (because that's a common ingredient in cheese on toast but not essential) which led to the whole 'mustard is the fools condiment' on the thinking cloth.

#lockwood and co #george karim #can we please just appreciate how wonderful george karim is #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #lockwood and co netflix

[e350tb]

On one hand, only having the Tuskagee Airman in Episode 8 makes sense - the 99th Fighter Squadron, which I think is the one they're portraying, was in Italy until summer 1944. On the other hand, I absolutely understand people being disappointed that they only appear now. On that note, I've been thinking of possible subjects for a POC-focused WWII miniseries. I've got a few ideas - wondering what you think.

This is largely combat unit focused too, so if anyone has other suggestions I'd love to hear them. I am looking forward to that film on the 6888th, hope that's good.

The big one is probably the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which consisted of Japanese-Americans and was the most decorated combat unit of the war for the United States.

Either the 92nd or 93rd Infantry Regiments, both African-American - the former faced particularly severe racism from their commander, a white supremacist, piece-of-shit and all-round incompetent by the name of Ned Almond.

The 99th Fighter Squadron - they're appearing in Masters of the Air but they deserve their own series.

Any of the African-American tank units at the close of the war.

Literally anything, ever, on the British Indian Army or the Gurkhas. You could complicate this by having some of the characters end up in Bose's INA and others remain with the British.

A miniseries based on the life of Reg Saunders, one of the first indigenous Australian army officers.

And while it's WWI, the Harlem Hellfighters are overdue for onscreen rep.

#masters of the air

[all-alone-he-turns-to-stone]

Trapped

Soldier Boy Masterlist

Summary: Soldier Boy is tired of getting slowed down by The Boys. Luckily, he has something he can use to his advantage to get left alone… M.M tried to hide her from everyone, but nothing can be hidden forever. Especially not from Soldier Boy.

Pairing: Soldier Boy x F!Poc!Reader

Word Count: 3987

Warning: Violence, brief description of a deadly injury, blood, angst, Soldier Boy being his manipulative self, vulnerable reader, manipulation, kidnapping, drug, needles, anger, guns

Rating: Mature

A/n: Hello people! So this was requested by @duhitzdae​ thank you for the request! I worked weeks on this fic, so I really hope it’s good! Feedbacks are really appreciated!

The Boys were seriously starting to annoy him.

First, they free him from his longtime prison in Russia, and for that, of course he’s grateful. No one from his team came for him, no one looked for him, they fucking put him there in the first place. So when a weird group of losers were the one to break open that door, he was surprised, but not for long. 

The explosion left him enough time to run away.

But now, they were there again, offering him the Countess on a plate to show him they could help him. And of course, Soldier Boy didn’t need help to do anything, especially not killing. He was created to kill, after all. But a little help wouldn’t hurt, or so he thought.

Their little squad broke up in two, the ones that wanted to kill Homelander with his help and the other trying to put nails on their road to stop them. But all it did was slow them down. Because Soldier Boy wanted to take revenge on his old team, and he would get what he wanted. No matter what.

So, while the British bearded one and the skinny scared asshole were looking for the twins, he prepared a backup plan, just in case those annoying bastards showed up again to stop him. 

There weren't only computers and the internet he could use to learn more about people.

First, Soldier Boy asked The Legend, after all, that guy was so scared of him he wouldn’t hesitate to throw someone under the bus if it was to save his ass. But it turned out, he was very fond of the one named M.M. and refused to give him anything. Perfect, The Legend didn’t want to give information on his dearest friend? He would target that one.

While the other two useless twats were out, there was only him and The Legend. And one little magic pill in his drink was enough to knock him out for the next couple of hours, leaving enough time for Soldier Boy to check through his office. Files, evidence, anything he could learn about M.M and then use against him.

It didn’t take long to find the drawer labeled “The Boys Initiative”. It was locked, but nothing is very locked for long for Soldier Boy. The drawer broke when he pulled it hard, and finally, he had access to what he needed. 

A smile crept on Ben’s face as he read everything about Marvin’s life. God, he had plenty of choices to make his life miserable, even more than he already did. According to what he had in his hands, he killed members of his family in the past, not that he remembered it or cared.

M.M hated him. He was about to hate him even more and regret trying to stop him. As Soldier Boy turned a page, his eyes fell on something even more interesting.

“This is fucking perfect.”

The superhero closed the file and walked back to his room to put on his suit. There was someone he had to meet.

-

Four hours by car, that was how far she lived from her family. On a farm, isolated from everyone. It wasn’t such a bad life, actually. Spending her days with the animals filled her days with joy, and filled her head with good thoughts so she didn’t think about…

The cows were waiting for her this morning. She couldn’t hear what they were thinking, but she was starting to understand the meaning behind the colors and the forms she could see in their heads. Animals were closer to humans than most people could ever think. But because they were different… No one cared.

“Good morning Lilly.” A hand on her muzzle to caress it, the other was carrying some grass she offered to the animal. The cow made a happy moo before eating slowly from her hand. Pink and round forms filled her head. Lilly appreciated being seen first and getting the first pat on her head.

“Can you hear them think too?” 

The voice was coming out of nowhere. No warning signs, no sounds alerted her of someone behind her.

And especially… No thoughts. There was barely anything, she could hear mumbling and see static, but that was it.

She turned around quickly, already stepping back. “Who are you?” She asked immediately.

“I always wondered if animals had thoughts as well.”

The man she had in front of her was wearing a weird outfit, all green, with stars all over. The only reason she recognized him was because of the shield he was holding in one hand, a shield she saw one time in a newspaper her dad forgot to hide.

“I think you know who I am, Y/n… And I sure do know who you are. Your dad says hi, by the way. Wait, no he doesn’t. He never talks about you, it’s easier to forget you exist.”

"How do you know my father?" Y/n asked, still backing away. The stable wasn’t very wide, she would soon be wedged against the back wall, but she had to save time until she knew what to do.

"Old friends," the hero muttered, walking cautiously towards her. He cocked his head to the side.“Trying to read my thoughts now? Why don’t you just ask me what you want? Use that power of yours. Show me what you can do.”

Y/n stopped moving. She hated doing this, especially against someone who knew what she was capable of. 

Her pupils dilated as her mouth opened. “What do you want?”

Uncomfortable tingles invaded Ben's body. His whole being stopped working, a cloud of static flooded in his brain, confusing and blocking the path from his brain to his body. So that was the feeling of having your consciousness invaded and your free will stolen. A smile crept onto his face as the answer was snatched from his lips.

“I want you. For your power. To be sure daddy won’t cause me any more trouble as I kill Homelander.”

At this confession, Y/n frowned. It had been a while since she was forced to leave home and her father, so her memories of him were rather hazy, but she did remember one thing. He had that mind wrecking obsession of bringing down superheroes. It was to protect her that he sent her this far, because families of all those involved were in danger. 

So, losing the opportunity to kill Homelander… It wasn’t like him.

But no one could lie under the influence of her power.

“He wants to stop me, Y/n. Just like he didn’t want you around anymore and sent you here, because you were in his path. It wasn’t to protect you, he was disgusted by you.”

Y/n shook her head. No, it was impossible. Her father was a good man, the desire for revenge messed up his head, yeah, but he was good, he would never do that, he loved her, that’s why he sent her here! “Stop lying!”

“I would never lie to you,” Soldier Boy started to approach again, and it was only then that Y/n saw that he was holding something in his other hand. The closer he got, the more she could see what it was, a brown folder. “Everything is in there. He was disgusted that his first child had powers, just like your mom.”

There was nowhere to go, Y/n's back was against the wall already. Soldier Boy made no attempt to attack her, he stood in front of her, his hand outstretched, waiting for her to grab the folder. “My dad sent me here to protect me, because he was fighting you fucking supes… He did that to protect his family…”

“Very respectable,” Soldier Boy nodded. “But then, why is his ex-wife and second daughter still out there, where he can visit them? Sweet little Janine… He must love her less if he doesn’t want to send her away to protect her, right?”

Y/n’s eyes were filled with tears as she reached for the file. She didn't want to believe it, she couldn't believe it. Her father had rebuilt his life, had another child that he saw often, while she... If she saw him once a year, she considered herself lucky. Her hand trembled as she grabbed the papers, the need to know stronger than the crushing pain she was feeling.

Troubled by Soldier Boy's words and the folder, she didn't focus on the fact that it was impossible for her to hear his thoughts. That was the first red flag. Or how he had found her. Her own thoughts were jumbled up in her head, preventing her from concentrating properly.

It was so fast that she didn't realize what was happening at first. It was only when her body was limp in his arms that she realized the pinch she felt in her neck was actually a needle and not a bug. Soldier Boy took advantage of her confusion to get closer, take the syringe he hid in the inside of his shield and stabbed her with the drug. Before she succumbed to the darkness, Y/n tried to operate her mouth, give an order to the superhero, but her tongue was too heavy, thick, like her mouth was filled with paste.

“I’m sorry. But we have a long way to go before we get there. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, sweetheart, and like I said, I won’t lie to you.”

Her body and consciousness may have been paralyzed, but she was still conscious enough to see Soldier Boy above her and feel his hand on his forehead. Brushing. Barely touching her. It was a soft gesture, but her stomach turned with betrayal. She was so fucking naive.

“You matter too much, sweetheart… Daddy abandoned you because for him, you’re a burden… But all I see is a young woman with so much potential. You are perfect. And you’ll never be alone anymore…”

That was the last thing she heard before darkness drowned her.

-

“M.M, mate, please calm the fuck down, we’ll find her.”

“How can I fucking stay calm? I told you trusting him was a bad idea, look at her!! Fucking look at her!”

The two men were at The Legend’s house. The latter had called them immediately when he woke up and expressed his concerns when he noticed a missing document and a locked drawer that had been forced open. The missing document was M.M’s file, so he rushed to the house, only to find Butcher was already there. 

Butcher asked him to stay calm, that it was nothing and that they would find her, but M.M didn’t even hesitate to send his fist in Butcher's face.

That bastard found her, he had Y/n. Soldier Boy had his daughter and he sent a video of her to them. As a warning, a threat, simply. 

The video started blurry, but then the focus was made on a person sitting on a chair. Y/n was bound and gagged, she couldn’t speak or move, but a newspaper was held on her thighs showing today's date. She didn't look hurt, but her eyes said it all, it was a cry for help. Then, the perfect face of the hero they had freed from Russia flooded the screen.

“I found your little secret, Marvin. You sent her far, but not far enough… Now, if you don’t leave me alone while I kill all of my team… I’ll have to damage her pretty face.”

Soldier Boy stepped back to stand behind Y/n. A knife pressed to her throat and he leaned down so his face was level with hers. Tears rolled down his daughter's cheeks.

“One little slice, and goodbye to her voice… For now, I only gagged her, you know how she can be dangerous, that’s why you sent her away and never talked about her to anyone, am I right?” The smile that stretched Soldier Boy's face made M.M.'s hands itch. The urge to repaint him, to butcher him until his pretty face was a pile of blood and flesh was getting unbearable. Taking his family was not enough, now he had his first daughter.

“Stay out of my way. Oh and Butcher, I want the TNT Twins. I think you can speed up the research. Cut!”

Butcher's nose had just stopped bleeding when M.M finished watching the video for the sixth time. He was about to play it again, maybe a detail had escaped him, a sound that would indicate where he was holding her prisoner, anything, but the phone disappeared from his hands as Butcher took it back.

“It's your fault!” M.M rose quickly to enter Butcher's bubble, ready to hand him another one.

"Relax!" Butcher stepped back. At the same time, Hughie entered the room, breathing fast, showing he ran his way over there. The young man was made aware of the situation and immediately began looking for Soldier Boy. It took a couple of hours, some phone calls and favors from people who owned him for Hughie to find a strong lead.

“I think I found them,” Hughie interrupted what was about to become a battle no one wanted to see. M.M let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and turned to the newcomer.

"Where," he growled, ripping the piece of paper Hughie was holding out of his hands. He read quickly what was written there, and already, walked towards the door. "I'm going alone," he specified as he heard the other two following him.

"Hell no," Hughie shook his head. “We’re coming. It’s kind of our fault after all…”

Butcher rolled his eyes. Of course, sentimental Hughie was going to have some regrets. "What I don't understand," Butcher muttered as the trio walked towards the car parked on the street. “Why did I never hear of that gal? You never, ever mentioned her.”

“If you plan on asking me about my past, then you can fuck off,” M.M paused to turn to Butcher, his fists clenched.

Butcher raised his hands in defense. “Just asking, yeh? Soldier Boy kidnaps your daughter we never heard of before, talkin' about how dangerous she can be. Isn't there something we should know?”

The tension got impossibly stronger as the three men were gathered near the car. The air was getting harder to breathe, even the birds seemed to know what was happening, because it was dead silent. 

It got too much for Hughie. "We won't find her if we keep fighting," the young man sighed, rubbing his eyes. “The longer we stay here, the more time she’s with him.”

At that, M.M relaxed his fist, groaned, and took the driver's seat. The other two men got into the vehicle, and then, with a shrill screech of tires, they were gone.

-

Soldier Boy really got softer and careless because the place he was holding Y/n captive was really easy to find. No traps were waiting for them to fall in, the door of the small house wasn’t even locked. Besides, it had been far too easy for Hughie to locate the phone that had been used to take the video. It was Y/n's, and it couldn’t be a coincidence... Location had been turned on a few hours prior.

It was far too easy.

The three men had just entered the house, searching in silence for the room where Y/n was in, when Hughie realized another detail that didn’t make sense. A strong feeling of uneasiness crept up through his back as he stopped moving. “Wait a minute, Soldier Boy doesn’t even know what’s internet, how did he recorded and-”

Hughie couldn't finish his sentence as he was thrown around the room, his back absorbing all the shock as he crashed into the wall. He fell to the ground, knocked out on the spot.

M.M already had his gun in hand and was advancing in the room. The sun was about to set, so it was still bright enough to see inside, yet he saw no one. Butcher had rushed to Hughie's side to make sure he was okay, and when he had the confirmation that the young boy was only unconscious, he joined M.M, his gun ready to use. Bullets wouldn't do anything against Soldier Boy, this was a suicide mission and more than once on the way here, Butcher thought about leaving M.M's daughter with Soldier Boy. He wouldn’t hurt her, she wasn’t on the list of people he wanted to eliminate.

“You found me, and fast, good!”

Like the whole thing was only a set up, a light turned on in the room, finally illuminating the surroundings. It didn’t make sense, they should have been able to see perfectly, but yet, that light showed them stuff that was left in the dark.

In front of them, sitting on the chair, Y/n had her head hanging limply to one side. The gag over her mouth was undone, but she didn't need it with all the blood covering the front of her body, her formerly white shirt now stained with dark red...

Soldier Boy stood beside her and shook his head, a disappointed look on his face. “Not fast enough, I'm afraid.”

“Nooooo!” M.M screamed, emptying his magazine on the hero who didn't even flinch from the impacts. “You motherfucker, she did nothing wrong!!”

“You're right,” Soldier Boy walked towards them, a grin on his face. “She did nothing wrong, and yet, you sent her away. All those years she spent alone in her little farm cause daddy was scared of her, disgusted by the powers she inherited from her mother…”

"What?" Butcher lowered his gun, his head slowly turning towards M.M, but the man didn't even acknowledge his presence. His whole being was focused on the hero in front of him. The murderer who killed his daughter.

“It was to protect her,” M.M spat, his jaw so tight the words hissed between his teeth. “I always wanted to protect her-”

“Then why did you keep Janine so close to you? And Monique? Hm? Why did you never mention Y/n to anyone, not even her own little sister? Sounds like excuses to me,” Soldier Boy crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head.

"This is none of your business," M.M threw his now empty gun to the ground to raise his fists. They were shaking. His whole body was shaking. With rage, pain, it hurt so bad it was unbearable to live in his own skin. His whole body was hurting, inside and out. If he had to, he would fight with his fists, avenge his daughter's death. Even if it would be the last thing he did.

“All she wanted was her dad,” Ben sang with a soft voice, mocking the tone of a child. “To hold her when she was scared. To tell her she wasn’t a monster. That she deserved love. But instead, all that love, you gave it to Janine.”

“Shut up!” M.M yelled, taking a step towards Soldier Boy. The hero took a step back raising his hands, now grinning with all his teeth.

“That’s why you never told us about her? Your daughter’s a supe?” Butcher asked. M.M completely forgot he was there.

“Yeah, why did you never talk about me?”

M.M's heart skipped a beat upon hearing her voice. That voice he never thought he'd hear again. The tears that had so far failed to fall finally rolled down his cheeks.

Animated like a puppet, Y/n rose from the chair. Her head repositioned itself correctly on her shoulders and she stepped into the light, stopping beside Soldier Boy. Her eyes once so full of life were now extinguished. Heavy. Empty and dark.

Filled with an anger that scared M.M.

“Y/n, please, I can explain, please, step away from him, come here…” M.M held up his hand, prompting his daughter to get to his side. But she didn't move. She kept staring.

“No need to explain,” Y/n shook her head. She ran a finger down her throat to scoop up some of the red liquid and raised her hand to eye level. “I read the file… and Soldier Boy told me everything. He couldn’t lie, I made sure of that.” Y/n's finger disappeared into her mouth as she cleaned it. “Ketchup,” she smiled. “I thought if you saw me dead, the truth would come out easier.”

“Please,” M.M kept begging her. Everything was messed up. He had to tell her… He could explain himself. He could fix things. “Please, just, you can hear my thoughts... If you don't believe me, force me to say it! Use your power on me, I don’t care! Please… I always loved you, Y/n…”

“Not enough, apparently,” Y/n shrugged. “Not as much as Janine. You thought I was a burden, a monster, you were scared of me… you are scared of me. But Ben made me realize I could be so much more…” Y/n's gaze quickly shifted to the right, and before M.M could even intervene, Butcher was already firing into the room towards his daughter.

Bullets hit metal and bounced off the ground as Soldier Boy placed his shield protectively in front of Y/n.

“Stop fucking shooting!” M.M screamed as he pushed Butcher to the ground, both men falling and fighting for the gun. Butcher struggled a bit but eventually, the gun slipped out of his hands. “Are you fucking crazy!”

"She's a bloody supe! And she's with him!” Butcher shouted, trying to get back his gun.

The two men were about to fight again when a voice echoed in the room. Uncomfortable shivers ran through their bodies, like a mist numbing their minds and freezing their limbs as soon as the words reached their ears.

It was impossible to move.

“Stop. Listen to me carefully.”

Frozen in the last position he was in, M.M didn't have the best view of Y/n, but she fixed the situation by crouching down next to them. “Leave us alone. Or next time, I won't only freeze you.”

Tears continued to roll down M.M.'s cheeks. “Please… Y/n, he’s manipulating you…”

To that, the young girl tilted her head to the side, her gaze now filled with sadness. All the years spent apart, alone, were reflected in her big, sad eyes… The loneliness. All those years she grew up alone, without a father or a mother.

“So were you. Take care of your daughter, Marvin. Be lucky he didn’t kidnap her too. Don’t try to find us.”

Those were the last words she uttered to M.M. The last thing he heard from his daughter were threats and the last thing he saw was all of the darkness that was now living in her beautiful eyes.

And it was all his fault.

To this day, Y/n wasn’t his daughter anymore. Even if M.M would forever love her as such, and would always try to get her back. 

Now, she was their enemy. And when Soldier Boy’s vengeance would be done, who knew what they would do. And the chaos they would spread on the world. The hero was already dangerous on his own, but with her by his side, he would be unstoppable.

Butcher didn’t really care about her, it was their fault, yeah okay, he messed up pretty bad. But for him, she was just another supe he had to eliminate. Still, a thought kept hunting his mind forever after this incident: what if… they decided to join Homelander?

The end of the world, that was for sure.

Forever taglist: @nitnat6245 @b3autyfuldisast3r @eevvvaa @fictional-affairs @wickedinspirations @awkward-and-indecisive

Soldier Boy Taglist: @akshi8278

#soldier boy #soldier boy x reader #x f!reader #the boys soldier boy #the boys soldier boy x you #the boys soldier boy x reader #the boys soldier boy oneshot #the boys soldier boy fanfiction #soldier boy x you #soldier boy x y/n #soldier boy x reader angst #soldier boy x female reader #the boys soldier boy x f!reader #soldier boy x f!reader #poc!reader #the boys m.m #reader is m.m's daughter #angst #the boys f!reader #the boys poc!reader

[twopoppies]

Harry didn’t change his band until it was The Required Moment to do so either though, and I don’t think he would have, had it not been (I genuinely mean no shade to him there, we all learn something new every day). I love love love seeing people who look like me on stage with him and I’m so happy he is giving these opportunities to POCs, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think either one of them spends a long time considering diversity issues. It’s possible Louis too will mix it up when it comes time to add new musicians, he hasn’t had any changes since putting them together initially, has he? I think people get super defensive about their lack of diversity because they want to be a fan of the best person, but like, the moment you realize they really are just our favorite beloved super British super white super rich dumbasses life as a fan will be so much better lmao. I think both has their hearts in the right place, I just think issues that concern me doesn’t necessarily concern them in the same way because we lead very different lives in very different bodies with very different skin colors and also very different wallet sizes. Sometimes they try, sometimes they fail. At the end of the day, I still enjoy being a fan of them and I think they are good people who tries their best, even in the moments where it becomes clear that their world view is probably a bit stuck in 2010. Glad whenever one of them catches up just a bit haha.

Hi, sugar. Yeah, I very much agree with you. And I get what you mean about "the required moment", but I also think there were a few things going on at the same time the change happened. IIRC, he added Pauli as the musical director as he was preparing to tour Fine Line in 2021. He also had been working on Harry's House at the time, which had a different sound.

I'd guess he and Pauli would have discussed the direction he wanted the show to go in, and a decision was made at that time to shake things up. So I think some of the changes to the band's makeup happened organically. However, the fact that it was a positive thing, optically, was probably not lost on Harry or his team.

Harry had said that the BLM protests in 2020 pushed him to look a bit deeper into things he may not have considered previously (likely due to his privilege). Not that this means he is suddenly the epitome of anti-racism, and I'm not trying to negate anything you said above; just adding in some additional context.

As for Louis, he had various musicians when he first started doing Walls promo (and there was at least one POC that I recall), but it was very much like hiring day players, although I think a few of the guys stayed the same. Once he really got going with his first tour, he solidified that band to who he's got now.

#harry's band #louis' band

[boiboiperson]

Some random ass gorillaz headcannons (I am slightly sick rn these might be phrased weirdlyer than useual)

- Noodle has a foot fetish. I dont think I nee d to explain that one /hj

- Sebastian was the type of racist who exoticises and fetishisez other races. So even tho hes the one who knocked up a Latina he ridicules Murdocs darker skin and hair (before he greened). Its the 60s/70s england as well so yknow it's kinda worse. He also felt worse about it since his bro hannibals mum was white so hes the darkest guy. Saying this because when I first got into gorillaz I didnt even register Murdoc was poc since he kinda acted like a brown guy raised by white people (even if one of them was a scottish goblin btw I hc seb was half goblin half scottie). Like yknow so aggressively british. It was kinda a survival tactic he learnt, as well as his abrasive attitude. Maybe I'm just projecting but I think it would be interesting to explore because man goes from brown to green that's so interesting. I'm making no sense I think I'm shivering so much.

- Russel was raised by a wealthy family and went to a wealthy school and was known for his "eloquent speech" and is muslim but doesnt have a muslim name and when he was kicked out of the wealthy school and comad he befriends a bunch of hip hop and rap lovers like c'mon guys that's so interesting. Like I imagine he still knows the "eloquent speech" but will only ever use it if they need to call 999 or something. Also his family have a muslim name for him, Rasheed, but they put Russel hobbs on his birth certificate for less racism in job opportunities and stuff.

- Maybe Murdocs dark skin got associated with evil and demons (the 60s/70s in england were wild for brownos) so uhhh that was one of the things that maybe influenced him hes like nooo imma reclaim that you bitch

- russel's got two sisters. Hes also gay and asexual. He drinks respect woman juice daily.

-russel's the kinda of muslim who will celebrate eid and stuff, fast for one day and give up, maybe pray during eid, and drinks and smokes but does not eat pork.

- 2D is not innocent and cute he was just high af and more brain damaged in the earlier phases. Even tho source kinda treats him all bebe in phase 7 (bleurgh) he has a shot lead of dad jokes and pick up lines up his sleeve and is not afraid to use them.

- Growing up Noodle got a lot of weird questions and still does. That's not even a hc at that point.

- 2D grew up christian but then aesthiestised. After the second car crash he became Buddhist.

Ok that all for now I'm still shaking and coughing but I hope these make sense I just thought they would be interesting

#gorillaz #gorillaz headcanons #noodle gorillaz #murdoc gorillaz #2d gorillaz #gorillaz russel #edited in the tone tags