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ofmermaidstories · 11 months

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"You always do this, he thinks bleakly. Why do you always do this? Try to laugh at yourself—you’re not even that funny."

Pleaaase I snorted, scoffed and cackled so hard my roommate woke up (I was reading at like 3 am). Who does he think he is‼️‼️‼️‼️he is such a little shit lmfaooo

It is so in line with his character tho😭 He is so understanding most of the time but when irritated he goes straight to where it hurts!!!! Mineta wouldn't have thought that of me😤

Also I love how you subtly added the freak deku in this lol. He is so possessive ( his his his), protective, to the point where he can't think straight when it comes to reader. Like he has to keep the sketchbook, which he views as an unfiltered representation of our mind with him 24/7... So much is happening around him that we kinda look past the fact that he knows our address, the "bridal white", his jealousy spreads to his friends -his friends!- and that his need to both give us everything and have our everything borders on obsession. .. then again was there ever anything he loved that didn't turn into an obsession? It truly is just in his nature.

Lucky for him that's how I like them.

I was suspicious of his arm bc of the constant mention and I was right!! Sadly

Also

"desperate to press into you everything he’s wanted to say: that he wants you. That you’re perfect. That it’s this he wants, something just like this—his lips against your skin, the sharpness of your gasps."

I see the title drop!!!!!

Sorry long ask I just needed to ramble off here for a sec.

Magnificent writing as always. It's the first time I identify so much with a reader lol "vicious, fragile" yeah......

Thank you for the time you took! I know this one was hard on you and your efforts truly shine through this work!!

LMFAO STOP, you know Mineta would say something heinous like, “Baby you’re the funniest person here, and you know what they say about laughing 😏” (no one ever says anything weird about laughing, he’s just opportunistic!!!)

But you’re right though. 😭 All that pinpointed astuteness of Izuku’s means he could be absolutely devastating in his observations, if he cared to be. 😭

My favourite thing about Izuku in fanon though is how quickly his canon personality can be, like, dangerous LOL. The only thing that tempers it is his natural sweetness, his sheer determination to do good!! Like he is absolutely hyperfixating on Scribbles, and maybe if he didn’t have access to like, idk, government power then maybe it’d be more the harmless sort of limerence we can all tend to experience. But he does, so it’s not, LOL. Idk I’m joking but I’ve gone into these fics (and indeed, just canon on the whole) with a certain sort of expectation that not one of the Hero cast (or villain!) would ever do a relationship normally. The stakes would always be high from the get-go; from the moment they realise they care.

You also hit the nail on the head with this, though—was there ever anything he loved that didn’t turn into a obsession? Because how true is it? All Might, Heroics, Kacchan to an extent (probably not as much as we like to make fun of him for, in fandom, but absolutely enough to make him grateful when their relationship starts to get better). I dunno, I resonate with that because I also get obsessive over things I like (heyooo); it’s easy to see it him, too.

RIP Izuku’s arm. 😔🙏🏽 It’ll be fine. Probably. 😌

And LOL, look, I love a good title drop. 🥹 Especially ones that flow nicely; they’re like a lil reward. 😌

But thank-you; please don’t apologise for length or rambling or saying hello!!! I get anxious with big chapters because I’m always like oh no it’s too much, no-one will like it, i’ve missed something stupid in it, etc etc etc so it’s reassuring when people like yourself pop by. 🥺 Thank-you for your kind words. 🥺🌷📖 I hope can do Reader and Izuku and you some justice with the last chapter. 🥹 Fingers crossed 🤞🏽🌾

#ofmermaidstories-asks #something just like this — fic #mer-spoils-everything

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cheryls-blossomed · 4 years

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i know you bring flash1x20 up a lot in your meta. is it your fave episode of the show? why do you like it so much?

I didn’t even know that I bring up 1x20 often. I honestly don’t remember which episodes I talk about frequently, other than 3x01, 3x21, and 4x15, because I know for a fact I talk about those episodes A LOT. I wasn’t under the impression that I talk about 1x20 more than I do other episodes, but maybe I do, lol.

In relation to 1x20, specifically, since you asked, well, objectively I think it’s a very good episode. The story-telling is fast-paced, and it’s one of those episodes where not even a minute is wasted (and there are only a handful of Flash episodes which can claim such a feat), and every character has good moments in that episode. Also the humor in this episode is top-tier (Cisco and the shirt that he thought the dryer ate; Barry bumping straight into Iris after talking with Singh about Singh’s upcoming nuptials (foreshadowing at its finest); Eddie showing Barry the engagement ring, and Barry being all, “I think she’s gonna want to hyphenate,” when Eddie walks away. The humor employed is both charming and seamless, and it doesn’t in any way detract from what is otherwise quite a serious, dramatic episode. Plus, I love episodes which mirror previous episodes. Part of the reason I love 3x21 so much is that it mirrors 3x01, with Iris getting to experience her own mini Flashpoint and having to make a decision to return to the way things were before Barry lost his memories, the same way Barry had his Flashpoint and had to make a decision to reverse Flashpoint. There’s something so poetic about this kind of story-telling, but it’s also very rare in The Flash’s history, and 1x20 is another example of mirroring. In this case, 1x20 mirrors 1x15 stunningly. The stakes and immediate intensity aren’t as high in the short-term in 1x20 as they were in 1x15 (I always say that 1x15 feels it builds to this mighty crescendo that is truly unmatchable, with Iris’s feelings for Barry bubbling more and more to the surface until they tumble out of her in a moment of high emotional intensity, just as the stakes of that episode become explosive, what with Mardon having kidnapped Joe and readying to send a tidal wave upon the city, and Cisco confronting Thawne), but the characters have garnered a lot more knowledge about Thawne, and so the sense of foreboding is particularly heightened in 1x20. It’s also the episode which tells the story of the SPARK; Iris first feeling that jolt of electricity when she goes to see Barry at S.T.A.R. Labs (and we get the first direct mention of home in relation to Westallen), and then the jolt of electricity which later passes between her and the Flash’s fingers, signaling to her that Barry is the Flash. It’s so subtle, but such a beautiful visual representation of Barry and Iris’s love, while also empowering Iris in that moment, as she discovers on her own, through this unique connection with Barry that only she is aware of at the time, that her best friend is the Flash. So yeah, overall a great episode.

#anonymous #replies

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bookofmirth · 5 years

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Hello! I saw the ask about white people cosplaying poc and I don’t quite understand why a white person couldn’t dress as a poc? (For transparency’s sake I am a white person) I don’t mean to start drama and if you feel that posting this will, then please don’t feel obligated to answer. I would just like to understand why it might feel problematic or disrespectful if a white person were to cosplay a non white person. Thanks so much

Oh! I forgot to mention in my last ask about white people cosplaying as poc. I totally get it if it’s like artwork or some media because that’s just straight white washing. It’s just the cosplay that I was wondering about

This ended up getting a bit long-winded, and honestly I’m not willing to die on this hill or anything, I just had a lot of thoughts about it. So basically no one @ me lol bc I care, but also I don’t. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To me, it doesn’t feel that different than doing fan art that whitewashes a character. It’s the same end result - a character of color is not portrayed as such, and so the little rep they had becomes erased. I think something people don’t take into account is that for a POC, their race does change the way they move through the world. For a white person, we never think about it. It seems inconsequential because it doesn’t change anything about our day-to-day lives. But changing a character’s race will change that character because they won’t be able to move about the world in the same way without encountering obstacles that wouldn’t exist if they were white.

To make a comparison, Scarlett Johansson. I literally don’t need to say more, and some of you will know exactly what I mean. She recently said that as an actress, she should be able to play whichever role she wants. Like that’s the point of being an actor. And yeah... true. People play characters they have nothing in common with all the time. But it’s different when it takes opportunity away from actual POC. Or trans actors. Or actors with disabilities, etc.

And yes, cosplay is different because it’s voluntary and some white rando isn’t taking away anyone else’s job by doing it. But ultimately in the sea of fan content and canon content, taking away desperately-needed rep is just... not a good idea. Bottom line. Why do that??? Representation in YA lit is getting so much better, but there’s still work to do. We don’t need to intentionally take steps backwards.

Finally, I have about zero stake in this conversation, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. My grandparents are Mexican but I pretty much live life as a white person, with the occasional off comment about where I’m from or if I speak Spanish. I don’t cosplay, I only ever see it if I go to cons, I totally appreciate how much work people put into what they are doing. But if it rubs people the wrong way, if non-white fans are saying “hey, this makes me uncomfortable” (which, the whole thing that sparked this was on Instagram, and the comments on the post WERE POC saying “hey wtf”), then LISTEN TO THOSE PEOPLE.

#fandom #fandom things #ask #anon

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niafrazier · 5 years

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Making the Case for Beto O’Rourke

Full disclaimer: Beto is one of my top picks amongst the 2020 democratic field as of now. I’m a supporter but am in no way affiliated with his official campaign.

At a certain point, Beto O’Rourke was hailed by the media as basically the second coming of Obama, RFK, JFK, [insert any popular democratic figure from this past century… oh and Abe Lincoln]. After he unsuccessfully attempted to unseat Ted Cruz in the senate race, many people across the country were calling him to run for the presidency. He even surged in polling being just behind Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, both who virtually have 100% name recognition. His senate race garnered national attention and even caught Oprah’s attention (she practically begged him to run on her show FFS). Many (including me) grew to admire his authentic, organic, and down-to-earth approach to politics, which is especially refreshing to see given the fact that everything seems so contrived nowadays. So, he wrestled with his decision thoughtfully and eventually came around to the idea, officially tossing his hat into the ring on March 14th, 2019. But now? Right out the gate, the narrative has shifted, and to the mainstream media pundits and Twittersphere, he is seen as an empty-suited, entitled, misogynistic, arrogant dude dripping with white male privilege. What changed? How is it that the media, the very one that contributed to the rise of “Betomania,” subsequently went into a frenzy and poo-pooed all over his rollout? The faux outrage, double standards, and cynicism directed at Beto by opinion writers, pundits, etc. have basically motivated me to give my own takes on the most common criticisms I’ve seen thus far. So, here we go:

“ ‘Man, I’m just born to be in it?’ ”

I’m not gonna lie, taking a look at the Vanity Fair cover and seeing that quote was a facepalm moment. As predicted, this quote sparked outrage fairly quickly… given the optics of a privileged straight white man joining a race of several qualified women and POC… Understandably so. However, upon reading through the whole article, I was able to grasp the essence of Beto’s words. Here’s what he says leading up to his declaration, expressing urgency:

“This is the fight of our lives…not the fight-of-my-political-life kind of crap. But, like, this is the fight of our lives as Americans, and as humans, I’d argue.”

And now here’s the full quote: “Man, I’m just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment.”

He’s not so much saying that he was born to be in a position of power, rather, he’s expressing that during such dire times, especially in U.S. democracy, he could not in good conscience be complacent and not take action. Just as he was drawn to serve his district in El Paso as a 6 year city council member and a 3-term congressman, he believes that at this moment, he has a purpose to serve the whole nation by being as actively involved in the national discussion as possible—to stand up to bigotry and divisiveness displayed by the current administration of the White House. Beto basically confirmed what I had thought after further inspection when he clarified his statement later (Google it. I’m having trouble with my hyperlinks right now). Could he have worded it better? Sure. I just reject the notion that this one gaffe is supposed to sum him up as an egotistical maniac… please.

“He adds absolutely no value to the race”

This is arbitrary depending on what your key issues are, but I’m gonna give my take on why I think he’s an excellent addition to the race. So, I’ve been intrigued about the possibility of an O’Rourke presidential run since he’s hinted at it back in November. I really didn’t know much about him until toward the end of Midterm season, but the more I learned, the more impressed I became. (Side note: it was this clip that first caught my full attention.) What really fueled my interest in Beto though, was his stance on immigration. As a first generation Nigerian American, this topic is pretty personal to me. My parents were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to immigrate to America and raise me and my three other siblings. However, I’ve also seen firsthand the difficulty of not only getting through with the ridiculous process but also assimilating into this country. For so long, the Democrats haven’t really made immigration a central issue, until the Trump administration hijacked it and pushed the Overton window all the way to the right. With heightened xenophobia running rampant in this country as a result of this abhorrent presidency, it is pertinent that the Democrats not merely pay lip service to this issue any longer and take serious action. Beto has an advantage here: He’s grown up in and served as a U.S House Rep. in the border district of El Paso, also home to the largest binational community in the Northern hemisphere. He can add a lot to the national discussion and debate on the matter. When Trump came to El Paso, the local community organized a counter rally where Beto gave an impassioned speech about the border wall and immigration. It’s pretty long, but I highly recommend the watch. Furthermore, Beto has outlined a 10 point proposal on how best to approach the immigration issue, along with some facts about the border’s history, which you can read here. Immigration hasn’t really been a winning issue, and I honestly don’t see it being one in 2020. With that being said, I respect the fact that despite this, Beto has shown that this is an issue that he deeply cares about. If I’m being honest, even though comprehensive immigration reform is universally called for amongst Democrats, I doubt that anyone in the field will truly make immigration a main priority in their prospective presidencies. To me, Beto has shown that he will. Even if he doesn’t clinch the nomination, it still means a ton to me that we can have the potential to change the narrative of immigration in this country with serious discussion. With the way Beto is able to convey his message, I am hopeful for what’s to come.

So, let’s talk about Texas. With the way Beto was able to energize the Democratic base in Texas, Democrats have the opportunity to put the Republican bastion state into play. With 38 electoral votes at stake, Texas is extremely crucial for the GOP. To put things in perspective, if Texas turned blue in 2016, President Hillary Clinton would have been a thing.

*Bonus: “He Lost to Ted Cruz lol… already a nonstarter”

Yes. But you know who else lost to Ted in Texas? Donald Trump. Cruz obliterated him in the Texas Republican primaries. I’m not saying Texas is guaranteed to turn blue with Beto on the ballot, but if we learned anything in 2016, it’s not to underestimate the possibility of seemingly blue or red states to flip at any given moment. The GOP has taken note of this. We’ve seen that Beto has a ton of appeal in Texas amongst not only Democrats but Never-Trump-Republicans and independents as well! If Beto is on that ballot, the GOP will most likely exhaust a ton of resources and money into Texas to keep it from going blue. This will only make other states that Trump won with the slimmest of margins vulnerable. Also… I find it disingenuous to make comparisons between Beto and other senators that hail from deeply blue states regarding electability. If Beto lost to Ted in California, then yeah… we could have a conversation about that.

“A woman running mate is his preference? Who does he think he is?”

The backlash on this surprised me, to be honest… Even Whoopi Goldberg blasted his ass for the statement on The View. If I had to go on a whim here, I feel like it was the Vanity Fair article that sort of set the mood for Beto’s campaign thus far… because otherwise, I believe that this really wouldn’t have been a story. In fact, Beto is not the only male candidate to call for a woman VP. Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders have strongly hinted at choosing a woman running mate. Interestingly enough, I didn’t recall there being any backlash. Here are Beto’s full remarks on choosing a woman as his running mate:

"It would be very difficult not to select a woman with so many extraordinary women who are running right now, but first I would have to win and there's-- you know, this is as open as it has ever been."

This is very much the response I expected from Beto. Time and time again, he has openly acknowledged his privilege, even before getting hammered about it on social media. In the Vanity Fair article, he states his stance on lack of representation in Washington:

“The government at all levels is overly represented by white men,” he says. “That’s part of the problem, and I’m a white man. So if I were to run, I think it’s just so important that those who would comprise my team looked like this country. If I were to run, if I were to win, that my administration looks like this country. It’s the only way I know to meet that challenge.”

Furthermore, he is understanding and considerate of the fact that people are craving for diversity. Here’s what he says:

“But I totally understand people who will make a decision [cast a vote in the primaries] based on the fact that almost every single one of our presidents has been a white man, and they want something different for this country. And I think that’s a very legitimate basis upon which to make a decision. Especially in the fact that there are some really great candidates out there right now.”

I know I don’t speak for all POC or women, but as a WOC myself, I took no issue to his statements. In fact, I appreciate his sensitivity to the issue and the fact that he doesn’t shy away from addressing uncomfortable topics in politics, such as race and representation.

Let’s just be glad he didn’t pull a Hickenlooper…. Jesus.

“Light on policy… but he stands on counters amirite?”

To discuss this point, it’s important to understand Beto’s campaign style. Beto is more like a blank canvass. What he does is first listen to people and their concerns, and then from there, he shapes his policies around that. He feels that this is the best way to serve the people. The point of his road trips and tours was not to lecture people on full fleshed policy proposals. There is debate on whether or not this is an effective strategy, and I do understand that people do like to know exactly what they’re signing up for before casting a vote. That’s why some people will more likely gravitate toward candidates like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who have been consistent in their messaging. However, I also think people underestimate the power of simply listening. Take these comments that a potential voter made concerning Beto’s ability to listen during his stop in South Carolina for example:

"I think if he keeps talking to the people and being able to listen, and not talk at the African-American voters. Talk to us. Listen to what we have to say… As long as you listen and then actually put forward ideas that are legitimate ideas to do things, then he will be fine.”

While policy specifics are important, this is still the early stages of Beto’s campaign. Specifics, of course, will have to come at some point, especially when debates come around. Another critique I hear is Beto not having any policy proposals on his website yet. He’s not alone though. Several candidates who have been running longer than he has don’t either. It’s also important to note that while people in the race most likely have been mulling a presidential run for several months or years, this has been something that came around to Beto as recent as November 2018. Stuff like this takes time. I think he has potential, however, in this area. For instance, as I mentioned earlier, he has put out a 10-point proposal on immigration. He also has a brief 5-point plan regarding criminal justice reform and legalization of marijuana. (Fun fact, he even coauthored a book concerning the legalization of weed.) And it’s not like he hasn’t taken stances on issues ever either… I mean, he has a whole congressional record, and his townhalls give you an idea of where he stands on key issues.

Oh... and about the countertops. Ugh. The fact that this really sparked outrage is comical. I’ve seen all sorts of takes on this from asserting his male dominance to throwing his youth in Bernie and Biden’s faces (lmao). At a campaign stop, the owner of the coffee shop that he was at asked him to stand on the countertop because people complained that they weren’t able to see Beto amongst the crowds and camera equipment (despite him being 6’4’’, ha). So then it just became a thing since. And he’s respectful about it in case anyone was wondering, lol. But there’s one thing I think both the Beto detractors and I can agree on: why tf is this getting media coverage? I do agree that there should be more coverage for other candidates concerning the real issues. However, the response shouldn’t be to go after Beto or chastise him for doing harmless acts during his campaign stops… Talk that up with the media. The ironic thing about this is that some of the media pundits complain about giving Beto so much coverage… all while giving Beto more coverage about the coverage he’s receiving… 🙄

So if you made it to the end of this extremely long effortpost, thank you. I actually had tons more to discuss but I’m not trying to make this into a novel. Anyways, I’ll say one last thing:

Before going along with groupthink or engaging in the toxic political echo chamber that is Twitter, I implore you all to take a step back and actually get to know these candidates. Seek after local news outlets when candidates visit to get a feel of the vibes from locals. Go to Beto’s Facebook page and watch a town hall or two. You may come home with a different impression than what is portrayed in mainstream media. I can tell you that when I did this, the difference was night and day. We have such an amazing field of contenders to choose from, and I’d hate for misinformation or bad-faith arguments to warp perceptions.

#beto o'rourke #2020 #democratic primary #2020 election #politics

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bigskydreaming · 6 years

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All over the place thoughts about both Voltron (Yes, That Thing That Happened) and Bobby/Pyro in the comics:

I am curious to see what they do with comicbook Pyro and Bobby, even though it wouldn’t be my first choice of pairing for him (Bobby/Johnny Storm) or even my second, third, fourth or fifth choices, but it’s better than nothing and there’s just enough of a push to make this new Pyro catch on that like, a pairing with him has a decent chance of going somewhere. Which is the real issue these days with LGBTQ+ comic book representation.

Like, this is something I’ve been thinking about since VLD’s new season came out yesterday. I do still watch that show casually, even though I’ve stayed far away from the fandom and the discourse from the start, because, like...survival and self-preservation, yo. But tbh, I haven’t been invested in it for several seasons now, ever since the utter shitshow which was the season of ‘let’s make our only black character the perpetrator of vile slavery metaphors because racism allegories with zero self awareness FTW amirite Dreamworks’? So, the latest evidence of its shitshow-ness didn’t hit me as hard as it did others, because I am Cynicism, hear me roar, but it still sparked some thoughts, which tie into my thoughts on representation in other media.

Basically....I’m super not impressed by content creators who think saying oh he’s gay and then like....NEVER FUCKING DOING ANYTHING WITH THAT is in any way, shape or form representation.

I mean, I can headcanon any damn character I want as gay myself. I don’t need you all in order to do that. If you’re going to make a character gay in order to call it LGBTQ+ representation, then fucking REPRESENT me. DO something with that. And no, that doesn’t mean every single facet of that character’s being needs to be about them being gay. It means that character needs to be treated like any other character, in every facet of their being. Or else you’re not actually representing anything other than how little this is a priority for you.

'Gay people exist in this universe’ with an arrow pointing at the single gay character you’ve established as such, with no other evidence outside of a single scene to indicate that they are in fact gay outside of audience headcanons - that is not representation. No viewer needs to see that the content creator acknowledges that yes, people like them do in fact exist, to feel validated on like....an existential level. We all KNOW we fucking exist. We don’t need you to fucking confirm that, thanks. We get annoyed as hell when you go out of your way NOT to acknowledge we exist, but like....just acknowledging we exist isn’t representing us, its literally DOING THE BARE MINIMUM TO DEMONSTRATE YOU ARE AWARE YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE OTHER THAN YOURSELF EXIST.

So, despite what my online persona might suggest, in my real life outside the internet, I’m what most gay and bi guys would call ‘masc’. I frequently get told I don’t ‘come across as into guys’ by both gay and straight people, as though this is some kind of compliment. It actually just depresses me, because for myself, I’m painfully aware of how much my adult personality and mannerisms are a result of repressing anything that might ‘give me away’ as gay or bi when I was a closeted teenager. I WORKED at that. I cultivated this adult persona I have now, back when I thought it was a matter of survival and that being who I really was wasn’t either a good thing or something I wanted. And now, as a grown adult who’s been out for over a decade, I do regret never getting a chance to know who or what I might have become, what I might have looked like, acted like, if I’d never had to teach myself to conform to external ideas of what it meant to be masculine.

My point is, I, like many other gay and bi men, each with their own reasons and circumstances, do not visibly come across as gay or bi in casual encounters. Most people meeting me once, outside of me directly referencing my orientation, would not walk away thinking ‘oh he’s bi’. So I’m very aware that yes, characters can be gay or bi without otherwise ‘seeming any different’ from any straight characters. They don’t need to ‘be obviously gay’ in order to actually be gay.

But we’re talking casual, one time encounters here. Anyone who’s known me for longer than that, knows that I’m bisexual. Whether friends, coworkers, even casual but regular acquaintances.....it comes up. Because its not some minute, tiny part of me. It’s as big a part of me as any straight person’s heterosexuality, and you need to THINK about how often that comes up. Because it does.

Our orientations are not just evident in who we take out on dates or go home with at the end of the night. People who know me well know of my orientation because of the jokes I tell, and reflect this back in the kinds of jokes they tell to me. People who know me know of my orientation because of the way I reference past relationships and the way I talk about what I look for in future relationships, and they reflect this back in how and when and in what ways they share details with me about their own relationships or what they look for and value in them. People who know me know of my orientation because I am the result of all my experiences, and those experiences include my romantic ones. They shaped who I am. To know me, to know who I am, means to know where my life has taken me, and that includes the various times a romantic or sexual encounter has played a large role in shaping who I became.

On Voltron, Shiro has been one of the main protagonists for seven seasons. The audience has interacted with his story, shadowed his story as this main protagonist, for seven seasons. That is not a casual, one time encounter on the street. It does not work to claim ‘oh you wouldn’t know he was gay if you met him casually, people aren’t always obviously gay’ as though audiences haven’t been exposed to Shiro in his most private, vulnerable moments, the same as all the other main characters. It does not WORK that in seven seasons, there was ZERO opportunity for Shiro’s orientation, the role being gay has played in his life and how it’s shaped him, the fact that he had a freaking fiancee at one point, one that Keith at least KNEW, given that he was spying on them at one point.....it does not WORK that no matter how ‘not gay seeming’ Shiro normally comes across as, in this seven season long story about these six individuals who come together as a family, who know each other better than they know their own families, this story where according to the creators, they planned on Shiro being gay from the start, or at least from season two.....it does not work that there are NO places where Shiro’s orientation should have organically come up before now, been a matter of reference for him or other characters, anything like that......if he were ACTUALLY being treated as representation, rather than tokenism.

We didn’t know Shiro was gay before now, not because some peoples’ gayness is just so inherently invisible and damn hard to see, but because his creators didn’t WANT us to see it before now. Because it wasn’t a priority. Because people want to include marginalized groups in their media and call it representation, to appease those viewers who are DESPERATE for representation, to see lives like theirs played out in these larger than life tales, to see themselves in the heroes who get to save the day....but without actually DOING anything with this so-called representation.

Because how do you see yourself in a character whose creators have gone out of their way to KEEP you from seeing him fully, until now? When the only way they decide to show it to you now is by giving him a fairly watered down scene with an ex who we’re told but not shown mattered a great deal to him, and then killing off that same ex five episodes later, thus ensuring we’ll never actually SEE not just how this character matters to Shiro, but what Shiro’s like when you’re NOT hiding or obscuring that part of him that’s literally the part that represents us?

The problem with Adam’s death on Voltron wasn’t even his actual death. It was the end of the final episode. When all of Team Voltron gets to tearfully reunite with their loved ones after everything they’ve been through, in celebration of their victory and acknowledgment of all they’ve lost. We see Hunk with his parents, Lance with his family, Pidge with hers. Allura and Coren and Romelle. Even Keith has his mom and his surrogate father figure. And perhaps we didn’t see Shiro have a scene like that because he isn’t an actual Paladin like those other five anymore. But also....Shiro COULDN’T have a scene like that, even if they wanted to give him one. Because Shiro, unlike all those other characters, has no one outside of them. And this is by design. Because his creators CHOSE to have him have no one. Oh, I know what the writers are saying online. That Adam was killed off to show the stakes of Earth’s invasion. LOL bullshit. In a show that prides itself on creating realistic stakes around a team who pilots flying robot lions to form a giant robot that fights evil aliens, you can not possibly believe that killing ONE tertiary character we’ve only seen ONCE and who we only know even matters to one of our protagonists because of that one mention....is what makes or breaks the ‘stakes’ of this storyline.

Adam died, because the show wanted to demonstrate that yes, look, see, we have a gay character.....without having to actually SHOW it. Or do anything with it. Without having to show us Shiro and Adam tearfully reuniting just like all his teammates got to do with those most important to them, to show them being a couple, to show them, to show Shiro not just being gay, but being VISIBLY gay, in an actionable way that REPRESENTS gay viewers, that says, hey, this is what a gay man looks like when he’s reuniting with someone he loves or at least once loved. Without having to move forward into the next season, where the other characters will no doubt be shown at least once interacting more with their own loved ones, without having to show Shiro work out what his return to Earth and Adam’s presence in his life again means for him, and whether they’re back together or interacting as exes, either way necessitating Shiro’s orientation, this facet of his life as a gay man, being front and center ON SCREEN just like everyone else’s relationships....all without once ‘requiring’ Shiro be in any way romantically or sexually explicit with another man, like kissing or being shirtless in bed together are the only ways to visibly show a gay man’s orientation in the story you’re telling.

All of which brings me back to Bobby/Pyro in the comics, and how even though it wouldn’t be my first choice of pairing, now that they’ve established a basis for it in their one night stand, I want them to actually do something more with it.

Because Bobby is gay whether or not he’s in a relationship, same as Shiro is gay whether or not Adam lived or died. You don’t need to be in a relationship to be gay, obviously. But like I said earlier.....we don’t need gay characters to EXIST in order to feel represented. Our existence has never been in question or up for debate. Representation, what that means....is if you give us these gay characters, we need to feel they MATTER. That WE matter. That they and their stories are a priority. That they get happy endings as much as they get to suffer. That their being gay is not a footnote to them saving the world, but their being gay and all the struggles they’ve had to overcome because of it is part of what gives them the STRENGTH to save the world.

I love that Bobby, one of my favorite characters, is an out gay man in the comics now. I love that Sina Grace’s solo series wrote him unapologetically as a gay man, where his orientation was clear and visible through every issue of his series even though only three or four of those eleven issues had him actually in romantic encounters. I love that he is very clearly, very definitively demonstrated as having the same characterization, being the same character, being the same BOBBY that I’ve followed since I was a kid, because as an out gay man now and a closeted and repressed man before that, he’s still the same character. Now we just get to see different angles, see him in different lights, get new contexts for old behaviors.

But I need to see him in an actual relationship, because Bobby has always, always, ALWAYS been characterized as someone who WANTS to be in a relationship. Who hates being alone, who fears being alone. And because I’m not represented by a character that Marvel finally makes an out and proud gay man, saying in the process that the reason his prior relationships never worked out was because they weren’t true to who he is.....but then going on to refuse to give him a relationship that’s even just slightly more functional than his previous ones.

I don’t expect him to get married and live happily ever after because yes, it is superhero comics, and drama is part of the package. ALL the X-Men have severely dysfunctional relationships. But they still HAVE them. For all the drama and dysfunction that comes with iconic X-couples, that doesn’t change the fact that Rogue and Gambit ARE iconic. Scott and Jean and even Scott and Emma ARE iconic. These pairings are established. They are long-lasting. They MATTER.

And that’s what it comes down to. If you make a character to represent marginalized readers or viewers.....it can’t stop there. These characters simply existing will never be enough, because that isn’t the point. The point is....they have to MATTER. Every bit as much as their straight or white counterparts. Their stories have to matter, be as much of a priority, be just as impactful.

Or you will always, ALWAYS be sending the message to your marginalized audiences: you are still second class citizens in our eyes. You may exist, but you matter less than these other characters who have ALWAYS mattered.

I do not have to scream my orientation from rooftops in order to be an out and proud bisexual man. I do not need characters to scream their orientation from rooftops in order to be out and proud gay or bisexual characters.

But my orientation matters. My experiences derived from that orientation matter. And if you can’t make the orientation of your characters, the experiences that shape them, matter just as much in how you choose to tell your stories, how you choose to prioritize these characters and their experiences and their stories?

Then do not try and tell me these characters represent me.

Because they most certainly do not.

#long post

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lightsandlostbells · 6 years

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Skam Austin episode 4 reaction

part of me is laughing at the number of people in the Facebook comments asking, “Is this on Netflix?”

Episode 4

Clip 1 - Sad couch crew

I felt Tyler and Shay were being friendly to Megan here, not snide, at least on a superficial level. Though I guess you can take their excitement about the concert as passive-aggressiveness.

Tyler mentioning the Illuminati - how very Isak. TBH I really hope Julie is making both Shay and Tyler gay, since they’re dividing up the Isak moments between the two. I’m fine if Tyler doesn’t get the big season-long arc and it goes to Shay instead, I’d love to see her get it. But it’s just going to leave such a bad taste if they’ve made Isak into a wlw with no equivalent to the gay male representation that already existed, when there are many supposedly straight female characters who could be have been made into wlw. Especially the Vilde equivalent, who you could easily give a story about discovering and accepting her sexuality, or the Chris character, who didn’t have her own season and really didn’t have any substantial character issues suggested on the level of Vilde’s home life, and would benefit from a meaty arc.

I love Shay, she’s definitely one of the highlights of the show, I’m just tired of all the fighting over whether it’s better for S3 to focus on a gay boy or a lesbian and seeing a lot of gross shit in the discussions that’s either minimizing the importance of an f/f storyline because homophobia is worse for men in Texas/lesbians don’t have it that bad/lesbians are already represented on TV because they’re accepted by straight men who find them sexy/someone doesn’t care about lesbians and will only accept Evak 2.0, or minimizing the importance of Evak/another m/m storyline because Skam and the other remakes already have gay ships so don’t get greedy/gay men are already accepted because look at all the m/m on Tumblr and AO3/people only want another Evak because they’re disgusting fetishizers. It’s fucked up how most of these talk relies on the assumption that there can be only one LGBT story on Skam at a time and not pushing back on why it goes without question that S1 and a hypothetical S2 about Grace/Daniel can both be about heterosexual relationships.

Not to be one of those obnoxious people referencing YA novels in response to real life situations, but it makes me think of Katniss at the climax of Catching Fire when her group of Tributes is fighting the Career Tributes and she fires at the force field instead. Remember who the real enemy is.

That’s a joke, don’t take that too seriously.

Anyway I’m tired.

Considering how shitty he’s been acting previously, Tyler not laughing at Marlon’s comments and just deliberately eating a potato chip is a step up for him.

Speaking of the chips, they disappear in between shots and I guess Tyler could be putting the bag on the floor between takes or something but it looks like a regular old continuity error.

Marlon is a mega dick and I dislike him but I kinda can’t believe that I agreed with him about the team’s social standings vs. their practice time. But it was Marlon who said it so it sounded like a dick move.

See, he’s been such a dick that it’s hard to feel sorry for him! But also he’s in the right to feel hurt about the concert.

I don't have much to say except he is the least convincing person to be talking about how he’s not upset and he doesn’t care. He’s so obviously pissed.

There’s just not a shred of chemistry between these two. I don’t get why they’re together, I don’t get what they like about each other, they barely seem to have much fun together. There isn’t much of a rapport.

Pointless personal anecdote #1: When this clip came out, I watched it on my phone at a graduation party, and I'm not kidding, in the few minutes while I was watching some middle-aged parents started talking about wanting to move to Texas when they retire, and they named cities and singled out Austin as a bad choice because “it’s been overtaken by liberals,” lmao. There was no way they could have realized I was watching a show set in Austin. The stars just aligned.

Clip 2 - Kelsey, no

Grace is really concerned about Kelsey sleeping with Daniel so soon, probably because what happened in her own past messed her up.

“Ever since I was a little girl watching the Super Bowl, I knew I was going to lose my virginity to a football player.” .... when I was a little girl watching the Super Bowl I only cared about seeing the commercials with the pretty horses.

“It was like he was going down on me, but in my mouth” … oh my God … someone SAVE this child.

Kelsey, you don’t even know what anyone going down on you in the “correct” place feels like, and this just makes you sound like inexperienced and Not Ready . And I’m glad Meg and Grace are suitably horrified.

Oh, they actually mentioned the issue of insurance, that’s good. But she looked a little uncomfortable with the topic of insurance, so if she has a similar financial situation to Vilde, insurance might be an issue? Or, as was hinted later via texts, she might have a super religious or conservative mom who would not take her to the doctor. She might be able to go to Planned Parenthood for birth control except I’m not sure if minors can get prescriptions for the pill without parental consent because well, Texas.

I checked out of curiosity and it looks like the only type of birth control you can get at PP without parental consent are condoms and lol, Grace already had that covered.

“You know you should use a condom, right?” “What if he doesn’t want to use a condom?” “Then you know you shouldn’t have sex with him.” YES. JESUS. Thank you Grace.

“I talked to Jo this weekend and I prayed about it last night” Oh come on, they’re going to have her mention praying about Zoya’s participation on the team and then not even address the sex-religion topic? Okay. Kelsey doesn’t even have to be abstinent or opposed to premarital sex, not all Christians are, I feel like it just makes sense for someone to be like, “Isn’t having sex before marriage against your religion?” And if Kelsey objected to the question on the grounds that they’re making assumptions about her religion, they could always come back at her with “Well, you assumed Muslims couldn’t dance.”

Kudos to Grace for talking sense about the Zoya situation and being very calm and careful about the Daniel thing.

Clip 3 - Backseat

The editing at the start of the clip made me think the mom might be talking to Megan at first but no, the mom is on her phone. Mom’s communication skills weren’t so great in this clip.

The dialogue is pretty on the nose and super specific to the theeeeeeme, with the mom putting all this implied pressure on Megan, but the passive aggressiveness about Megan’s dad is sadly accurate to how certain married-with-kids dynamics are, with the parents always at each other’s throats and dismissive of each other and not caring about how the kids react to these constant fighting.

I saw some people wondering why Megan was sitting in the backseat and honestly, that didn’t seem too weird to me. It’s not typical but I’ve ridden in the backseat even when I was the only passenger before (usually because sometimes riding in the front seat makes me sick) but I could see like, a moody teenager wanting to text her boyfriend and not wanting her mom to glance over at her phone. Although the simplest explanation is that Julie wants to hide the parents’ faces.

I didn’t even notice the giant concert posters at first, I was focused on the homeless man. I am assuming he was there to remind us of the stakes to succeed in this world if you’re much of a “dreamer” as Meg’s mom puts it, where if you don’t get a good job that can be you living on the streets, and to get a good job you need to get a degree from a good school, and to get a degree from a good school you need to perform well in high school, and if you make one mistake you are ruined, RUINED forever.

Meg trying to ask her mom for relationship advice and instead getting reminded that her parents have a shit relationship, lovely.

The difference in the tone between the coworker call and the dad call is very telling. Right off the bat, when the dad calls, the mom has a pissed-off attitude. They’re at the stage where they fight just to fight.

Also, note the guilt trip caused by the mom yelling at the dad for not remembering she was going to her friend’s (and like, who cares, I mean this might be part of a larger problem but this sounds like the pettiest shit to argue about) and saying people show they appreciate and support each other by listening and taking interest in their loves, when that’s exactly what Megan didn’t do (skipping Marlon’s show that he was so hyped for) and that’s how she feels she can make it up to him (by buying tickets to the concert he had mentioned).

And the mom says people show they care by listening when she doesn’t even listen to her own daughter and interrupts her when she’s trying to ask a question, and she’s definitely not paying attention to Megan’s life. Like, how is it that they can miss that she’s not on the dance team? Surely the team has some performances or competitions that they’d attend? Fundraisers? I can see them not attending all of Megan’s dance performances, but any of them?

Megan’s mom is a piece of work, though I’m sure the dad plays his part in the dysfunction too, I don’t want to put it all on the mother.

Clip 4 - Straw

Franz Ferdinand???

Not that this is the point but I’m intrigued by this locker setup. But I am from a place with cold cold winters so the idea of having one of these lockers in January seems terrible.

I was curious if Kendrick Lamar was actually supposed to perform in Austin on Friday, so I checked it out, and lo and behold, it was a real concert. Good job, Skam Austin.

It kinda just makes me sad that THIS is how Meg gets Marlon’s attention again, by buying (probably) expensive concert tickets.

“you two are smashing in that bathroom by the nurse’s office” at least you’re nearby if you need offbeat advice and some condoms? Oh wait, this is Texas. Never mind the last one.

This is my chance to talk about how gross I find the word “smash” in any sexual context. It just sounds uncomfortable and makes me think of potatoes.

Shoutout to Tyler’s Prince shirt, certainly a unique wardrobe choice.

Man, Kelsey is just such an easy target. Especially with the way she talks, like-like-like … blood in the water. Tyler and Shay are not here for Kelsey and Jo right off the bat and once Kelsey opens her mouth, it’s doom.

At least Kelsey had the sense to keep Zoya on the team list even if it was for self-serving reasons.

I applaud these actresses for effort, but every version of the iconic spoon scene has felt forced compared to the original. Josefina, my darling, if you’re going to be seductive with your straw, you might wanna purse your lips instead of letting it roll around in and out of your mouth.

I think it’s great that Jo and Tyler spoke Spanish to each other, and that they didn’t have subtitles, but lol at the brazenness of asking that question right in front of Shay when Shay could possibly speak Spanish herself. Or lmao, anyone who has taken Spanish I could understand what she was saying. (Like what if Shay was his girlfriend? Kinda think Jo isn’t concerned with technicalities.)

Calling him jefe, lmao, wow.

Tyler referring to Kelsey as Drew Barrymore made me laugh. Do kids these days have a firm grasp on Drew Barrymore’s legacy? What has she been in recently other than Santa Clarita Diet?

Maybe instead of references to Romeo + Juliet, we can get allusions to Ever After, The Wedding Singer, or Never Been Kissed. (Maybe not that last one.)

Also, I’m glad Meg spoke up for Kelsey so they weren’t just bashing her new friends.

Clip 5 - Internet quizzes should not be used to make major life decisions

Zoya is just looking through a book while Kelsey is talking.

Some of Kelsey’s rules:

“Always act classy”

“No cursing, fighting, messy hair or appearance” while wearing the uniform

“Positive vibes ONLY”

But yeah, here’s another example of why the dance team wasn’t the best way to adapt russ because like … of course Kelsey is being rude and ridiculous, and I can’t say I’m on her side against Zoya, but … if the team founder calls a meeting to discuss rules, it’s expected that you will be there to discuss the rules and not blow it off?

With Vilde’s bus, first of all, russ was several years away and they had time to pull it all together. A dance team is going to require some results in the near future, especially if the team is school-approved and getting them out of P.E. Someone is probably going to be checking up on the girls and making sure they’re not getting P.E. credit for sitting around and doing nothing. Second, pretty sure a bus group is not going to require as much day to day practice, training, and energy as a dance team.

I don’t know, however silly Kelsey’s motivations might be, if you sign up for someone’s dance team … you should expect to dance, dude. That goes for all the girls.

When prompted to give her opinion of Zoya, Jo cleverly deflects with the quiz, as her opinion of Zoya is clearly ❤️❤️❤️

I do love and appreciate Grace trying to persuade Kelsey to rethink the whole sleeping with Daniel thing. Not being too harsh, but being firm and not hesitating to point out all the ways it’s not a good choice.

Also being like “keep in mind he’s not your boyfriend” thank youuuu.

Kelsey sure doesn’t like that part about people judging her for having premarital sex. At least they might bring it up in the aftermath of hooking up with Daniel?

“That definitely didn’t happen.” “It did happen and she can’t eat Sweet Tarts anymore.” Jo continues to be the shining star of this show, I laughed out loud at her delivery of that line.

Whenever one of the Chrises is like “I was totally wasted” about their first time, I’m just like 😧

Kelsey saying option A on the quiz, for her “boyfriend” and her being closer once they sleep together, is the most depressing thing. Stop this train before it goes off the rails.

Oh God. Kelsey does not need to be anywhere near a penis at this juncture. The way she starts giggling and laughing when Grace suggests to think about what turns her on about Daniel … you are not ready to have sex. You are barely ready to talk about sex. None of the Vildes has seemed so young and not ready to go through with this.

Kelsey did not talk about not wanting to be involved in lesbianism, hmmmMMMM. Foreshadowing? Or maybe Julie just realized that people didn’t like the casual lesbophobia if you don’t have a lesbian character?

I haven’t been all that complimentary to the actors on this show, but I do want to give Kelsey’s actress some props for reciting that whole monologue, which is just a detailed Teen Vogue photoshoot.

It’s amusing that Kelsey integrated the Kittens uniform into her erotic fantasy but sad that Kelsey still wants to be a Kitten so much. She’s not wearing a uniform for her own group, whatever she might want it to be, she’s wearing a Kitten uniform in her ideal scenario.

You know Jo is listening to this fantasy and getting inspiration for her next Kelsey makeup experiment.Also, it makes me laugh that they’re having this discussion in a library.

Overheard in Bouldin - TMI Girl in Library: “People get turned on my different things all the time. My cousin’s thing is dirty socks. She keeps a pair of her ex-boyfriend’s in a Ziploc bag under her bed.”

May we one day meet this intriguing cousin of yours, Jo.

But don’t encourage this Daniel nonsense.

It’s too bad we didn’t get the classic doctor visit but lol, a school doctor in Texas might not be able to be so blatant with the sex ed tips, so I get it. And ultimately I would prefer if Julie tried out new scenes instead of trying to recreate old ones.

At first I thought Kelsey maybe didn’t know who Kendrick Lamar was. Which is perfectly plausible, let’s be real.

“When I have ever asked you for anything?” In the short time Meg has known you, Kelsey ... find Jo, join the dance team, get closer to Penetrator Jo, give you her birth control pills.

Clip 6 - Bowling

Kelsey’s outfit is almost exactly what she described in her fantasy! No access to a Kittens dance uniform, but otherwise very close. Follow your dreams, kids.

“Martin had a dream … Martin had a dream …” look, I like that Skam uses a variety of music and not just white indie rock, but can we like … quit syncing music by black artists talking about black cultural topics to scenes of this white dude being a big deal.

Look at that dipshit taking up two parking spaces. Fuck offffffffffffff

Kelsey looks so happy and Daniel looks like he’s already 75% checked out.

How long is this Kendrick bowling montage going to go on?

Ha, Kelsey easily had the worst bowling score of the four of them.

“Daniel just touched my ass.” The way Kelsey was thrilled about this was kind of cute and alarming.

Kelsey wanting Meg to stay with them as long as she can makes me think she really just doesn’t want to go through with the impending loss of virginity.

“Then how’d you know my name at Talent Night?” I mean ... you do go to school together, and Jo is on the football team with a high social profile. I could name a lot of my high school classmates by name even if I’ve never spoken to them.

Is Julie going to go full Chris/Eva with this version to give the shippers their day in the sun? I love original Eva/Jonas but Meg/Marlon is an unpleasant trainwreck so I can’t say I’m disappointed. I mean I can’t say I love Meg/Penetrator Jo either,, but I’m not sad about this version of Eva/Jonas not being endgame.

Penetrator Jo is still sleazy in at least a few respects (don’t be a cocktease) and we have still have to meet his girlfriend but his memory of her seems legit so maybe he does really like her. Unless, I don’t know, he stalked her IG and remembered some relevant details and embellished this whole story?

Lmao, I can get why people might think the “No Signal” scenario would be a contrivance but that exact thing has happened to me, so I buy it.

I will give Julie this credit, she’s good at setting up Fredag/Friday scenarios where we think one thing will happen, and instead something else occurs that’s completely different from the fan theories. I figured it would be as simple as Meg or Marlon missing the concert, not that we’d spot Marlon (or “Marlon”) with Abby

I don’t think it’s Marlon, though. That seems a lot like Tyler’s walk, and the person doesn’t seem to be wearing Marlon’s ugly shoes.

General Comments:

It’s kind of depressing to see people in the FB group and in the comments be like, “I haven’t seen the original show but could Grace be a lesbian? 😃” and the replies be like “No, Noorhelm is coming 😃”

Another “fun” aspect of having this show on Facebook: the MAGA edgelord assholes who leave comments on the episodes about “cucks” and “libtards.”

My opinion of Grace rose so much in this episode just by how doggedly she is trying to bring Kelsey back to earth. and telling her she can back out of this choice.

In the texts, Grace said she would buy condoms for Kelsey - good job - and later, when Kelsey asked the girls what she should wear for losing her virginity, said, “I know what Daniel will be wearing” and said that she put condoms in Kelsey’s purse - excellent job.

I feel like Grace would roll the condom on Daniel’s dick herself if it meant Kelsey had safe sex.

Abby was stressing over finals on IG so I’d bet that was a hint she needed something to help her out, hence meeting up with Marlon/Tyler for Adderall.

I was wondering what kind of music would be on Skam Austin since original Skam had all sorts of high-profile artists, and that would not be cheap, but so far, it seems like Facebook spared no expense with the soundtrack.

Grace and Shay had IG posts reacting to the Santa Fe High School Shooting. IDK how much Skam Austin would address gun violence in the episodes itself in the future, and I can think of ways it could go very badly, but sadly, as one of the biggest concerns of American teenagers today, it would be very relevant, and that’s what Skam’s supposed to be, after all.

#skam austin reactions #skamus reactions

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rqs902 · 4 years

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wow im like 2 mins into the first round and they’re introducing fruit planet and im already convinced tencent did a better job at making this finale ep than youku did for snzm LOL

oof these questions hit home right away. wow xiao zhi changed a lot to become the leader he is today, someone who wants to see his band grow together. you can tell youzi has done some serious reflecting too, to call himself too unrestrained before. ughhh you can just see how much they love runze and how much he loves them. i love parents. xiao zhi really gave runze the confidence he needed and they all gave qiang ge the encouragement he needed. im surprised the suo na worked as well as it did with the disco song and im so happy to see how happy they were on stage.

LOL muji is the real one to rein in szb and is harsh on him bc he needs it. the way muji says hes not afraid to get on people’s bad side and be the bad guy kinda reminds me of huang enyu

hope hyt and xiao xiong have really learned through their growing pains (same to ljt and szb) does that mean fruit planet is the only group where the main duo’s main fight wasn’t against each other but tencent? lol i cant imagine xiao zhi fighting any of his kids? wow i still find it amazing that zhao ke can so proudly say that 熱帶低壓 was his happiest times in front of the rest of 氣運. like thats legit love he feels for 熱帶低壓 and they respect that. wowowowow hyt’s “i can be strict towards myself, but i gotta let go for them” is like the ultimate lesson for micromanagers and he’s learned to believe in and respect his teammates and not feel like he needs to control everything. good for him.

maybe im just biased but the pitchy-ness of 氣運’s singing (xiao xiong and ma zhe /cough) just bugs me so much ugh it makes me sad bc the song is nice and id like to add it to my playlist otherwise, but i cant listen to this without frowning at the vocals. to be totally transparent, I didnt like the 午睡 song much at all (sorry ljt TT) and disco is not my style (sorry fruit planet) but at least the fruit planet perf was fun. im just kinda disappointed by these perfs in general :\

tencent putting the order as fruit planet first and 午睡 second and 氣運 last is a sign they already know 氣運 is gonna win... bc fruit planet was first place last week but if they go first that puts them at a disadvantage aka no one will be a match for 氣運 lol

lol wat is this intro video.... the plushie fruits hanging from their suits LOL im gonna have to go look up footage of their busking!! watching this second perf... this is a song i will add to my playlist :) i just love seeing xiao zhi jamming out like hes enjoying it from the beginning to end, and i esp like the contrast when wsh switched to his drum set and the part where youzi sang! his vocal tone is such nice contrast to yrz’s. and i love how theyve figured out how to incorporate qiang ge’s suo na into their music. i will say it was kinda messy in terms of runze’s rhythm and they messed up some of the lyrics but for the amount of time they had to prepare im happy with this last perf :’)

aw idk how i feel about ljt voicing that he’d rather do a band than be a soloist... but LOL MUJI a gentle but cruel real talker lol okay. who came up with these intro videos wtf????

OMG I CANT BELIEVE THEYRE DOING “I WILL MISS YOU” ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THIS SONG??? omg omg thats such a attack in the feels tho wtf this is such a throwback ugh i still remember this song from when zyx and ljt performed it on the first mrzz and now ljt’s bringing it back? omg but it has so many memories from the first mrzz kids and wow idk how i feel about this. i mean i know its HIS song so he’s perfectly entitled to perform it but its wild bc this song is so mrzz1 its kinda strange to bring it back for mrzz4. like does it feel like the mrzz1 kids are being replaced? or maybe i should take it like ljt is singing it in their honor and bringing it back to where he began. lol like zzn and mby know the lyrics bc theyve performed this song themselves before :’) okay so the beginning was a tiny bit pitchy but ljt is the best singer compared to everyone else!! the way he sings 揮揮手 with such power is so oof and i still just love his vocal timbre. one thing i like about 午睡 in particular is that none of them are trying to fight ljt to be a vocalist, which is unlike the other two group, and i think its nice that he can just be trusted to handle the vocals and it keeps it cleaner bc hes a capable vocalist on his own. im happy to see muji on bass too bc its cool he can be so versatile. LOL LJT introducing everyone in the middle of the song i love him hes so funnn. i will say, the arrangement of the song felt a little frame-heavy? idk if that phrase is the correct way to describe it, but i felt like there wasn’t enough sound filling the song, but jym is really jamming out in the background (im so happy whenever i see a glimpse of his drumming smile) and ljt is carrying with the vocals in the foreground. maybe its just bc im not used to this arrangement so it sounds strange to me. AW ljt going to zzn and mby to get them to singggg and AWWWWW muji running to yingge, sam, tyler, ruiyang they look soooo happy to hug him aawwwwwwww i love roommateesssss and also i still see them as this crowd of misfits who dont really fit in but can find solace in each other. can you imagine what wouldve happened if 太空餐廳 had stayed in this race? wild, i feel like they couldve made it to the end too. LOL ljt really treating this like a finale on a concert, such a pro LOL. OMG IM SO HAPPY TO SEE MAOMAO TALKING AND LJT TALKING BACK, i looove their friendshippppp awwww

wait i just had a random thought, but are the clothes they’re wearing like their own clothes? bc some of these 氣運 kids have a flashy wardrobe if so LOL

omg xiao li’s written 78 songs for 氣運????? LOL CAN WE TALK ABOUT THESE INTRO VIDEOS BC 氣運 ‘S WAS SO NICE WTF HAHAHAHHA its so biased???? like wtf were the first 2 intro videos nonsense, and then you get to 氣運 ‘s and theirs is all artistic and pretty and dramatic and nice???? what???? hahahhahaha oh my goodness they even shipped hyt a drum set in the middle of a freaking grassy field wtf

okay i honestly think xiao li is the best singer in 氣運, maybe im biased but even he started a tiny bit pitchy but he adjusted quickly and his voice is just so nice and he puts a lot of care into his vocals even while playing piano!

unrelated to the music, but honestly i thought i liked xiao li with short hair better but i do like the bangs he has framing his face here. i just prefer the back of it to not be so long LOL

WOW i said all that about xiao li’s voice before xiao xiong started singing (and i immediately wished xiao li would sing again.. oops sorry to xiao xiong, but he gets off key easily when singing soft and low contrast pitches) and then xiao li SANG THE CHORUS AND WOW his voice is so nice i like it so much!!! i really hope he feels satisfied with this perf, as its their last perf and hes said before that he couldnt face their songs straight-on yet. wow i just have to go back and listen to him sing the chorus again wow the way his voice sounded on "傷心" OOF.

what is zhao ke looking at when he raps? lol i feel like hes always looking off in a random direction but maybe im just not remembering correctly. but also the vocal effects they put on his mic make it hard to understand what he’s saying? but he also sounds like he has an accent. I dont know much about zhao ke like where he’s from or anything, but im curious if thats just bc of the vocal effects or he actually has an accent.

UGH im sorry but then xiao xiong starts singing again and hes still off key and im still cringing..... i mean id noticed he was pitchy in previous episodes but this episode seems particularly noticeable?? im not sure if its bc they did any autotuning in the past but idk xiao xiong’s kinda not doing so great today :\ also the transition from zhao ke’s rap to xiao xiong’s singing was weird??? okay xiao xiong is fine once he starts projecting and puts more strength behind his voice, and then his vocal color is pretty nice! but prior to that....

lol am i think only one who thought it was weird that they recorded the guitar solo instead of having someone play it live? was it xiao li that played it on the recording? also zhao ke outside of rapping is basically a accompanying bass vocalist at this point lol

im happy to see hyt being so happy jamming out back there, but his drum set is legit WILD.

i know xiao li isn’t super popular but i wish people could acknowledge that 氣運 would be nothing without him. ugh he does so much for their music and sound, look at how much he was involved with in the credits for this song gosh.

thank you to nana for voting for fruit planet, even tho we could kinda guess she would. but honestly not voting /cough/ is basically voting for 氣運, because everyone knows theyre gonna win the popular vote sooooo

XIAO ZHI IS A TOTAL DAD NAMING HIS KIDS, staking his claim to xiao xiong, runze and tyler L O L its cute that he told them they dont need to grow up

also can we talk about how xiao zhi said fruit planet wouldnt be here without youzi.... yooo their friendship is so real

LOL xiao li yelling at hyt REPEATEDLY that hes a flamingo LOL

im really torn about his hair length, still thinking about whether i actually like it.....

these are the superficial side thoughts that are going on in my head as i watch this show, yes.

OOF qianye saying qiang ge is 優秀, not just his suo na aww i love seeing qiang ge laughing at pengpeng’s yelling at him and getting all this love and encouragement bc it feels like its taken him a while to open up but im glad he really seems to have

i like this yelling segment, will have to go look for more clips of it

wow this last performance really giving a visual demonstration of the group splitting is kinda sad for 銀河 bc they dont get to show up until the very end and theyre not even one of the last groups standing oof but also gives you a visual representation of how it’s been especially difficult for qiang ge, muji, and zhao ke, and also the others who had to go through group splitting.

muji and sam smiling at each other at the end is all i need to see to smile.

LOL ZZN’S WELCOME TO WJJW IM CRYINNGGGG rip

aw im kinda surprised (but not) that fruit planet came in third loll what can i expect from tencent. but also its nice but also sad to see them cheering for themselves. i think they knew they wouldnt win but i think they deserved better

lol the fact that they had a banner for 氣運, and 氣運 won by like a HUGE margin, lol everyone already knew who would win

lol can we just talk about how all the kids and teachers are just like in their own world talking and hugging behind the kids giving their winning speeches LOL they give no effs to this live broadcast LOL

LOL IS THERE ANOTHER EPISODE NEXT WEEK BASICALLY?

LOL THE THIRD ANNOUNCEMENT IS LITERALLY A PLUG FOR MAOMAO’S CONCERT HAHAHHAHAHHA THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH 氣運, BUT OKAY HAHAHAH

well its over. now i can go watch the recording of yingge’s livestream from sunday without fear of spoilers LOL

honestly looking back, this was a good show. i started it not really thinking id get invested bc i was also simultaneously watching snzm and since snzm is an idol show i knew id naturally get more invested in that. BUT these mrzz kids have really grown on me. theyre good kids and theres lots of talented kids among them. im curious how wjjw will deal with having 3(?) bands to promote now, but who knows, im just hoping to see more of fruit planet, ljt, and xiao li’s music in the future. i went into this show for ljt, and i came out of it with more music on my playlist (which is always great) and a high appreciation for xiao zhi and xiao li. hoping to see more of them in the future!

#rants #i appreciate how much this show focused on their bonds and friendships as groups #cant help but wonder whats next for these kids but im looking out for xiao zhi and xiao li and of course liao juntao :)#FRUIT PLANET BEST GROUP

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undertale-imagine-that-the-2nd · 7 years

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Anon Asked: UT UF Bros react to their SO being a vampire

Okay there's so many different styles of vampires. Classic 'Dracula' type, the hyper sexualized 'True Blood' type, the red drinkers (actual color red not just blood) from Adventure Time, the 'snowflake' type from Twilight, and many others. So to keep everything to a standard I'll stick with having this s/o as being a kind of vampire from the True Blood universe. Meaning they burn in sunlight, are harmed by silver, can die from a stake to the chest, and drink human blood. They also have super speed, super strength, need blood, and have retractable fangs. Pretty standard I guess. UT!Sans: -Shock.png -He thinks you're joking at first, but then he sees you're 100% serious. Now he's concerned for your mental health. But then he nervously jokes that he's gonna need some proof. So you try to give him some quick proof. You let your fangs out and he jumps almost off the couch. please don't do that again. -His eye lights go out and he gets kinda quiet for a few minutes after that as he tries to mentally process the bomb you just dropped on him. He has so many questions! How did you become a vampire? How long have you been a vampire? How old are you?? Do vampires really drink blood? What abut garlic and crosses!? Do vampires really need permission to enter someone's home?? -You answer everything you asks you. You tell him who your maker was/is, how long you've been a 'creature of the night~', how old you were, and how you did have to drink blood. He seemed unsettled by that. But took solace in knowing you didn't kill for the blood. -Also you talked about how garlic didn't hurt you but it did make your eyes water (from how strong it is to your heightened sense of smell), and that crosses (crucifix or just regular kinds) don't hurt you at all. But the stake thing...that was real. Sans looked a little ill knowing that a stake to the heart would make you explode into a pile of blood and gore. -And thankfully he's too curious to be mad at the moment, but late when his science side is sated he'll get a little pissy that you waited so long to tell him something so important. But his anger won't be too hot. He can kinda see why you were scared to let anyone (even him) find out. Vampire lore isn't exactly glittering with positive representation. -Honestly he's actually fine with it. You're still you. You just have a weird diet and some extra abilities. Just don't starting raising your LV and he'll be fine. UT!Pap: -He's excited! But then he admits that he doesn't really...know what vampires are? Papyrus hasn't watched too many vampire tv shows or movies. He's more interested in comedy and drama than any type of horror. Meaning he's not very familiar with the lore. So you have to explain to him what vampires are, and what they can do. What you can do. You explain your enhanced speed, your super strength, your thirst for blood, everything. You don't lie to him. That wouldn't do either of you any good, and plus it would make him sad to know you kept things from him. But... -He's excited again! But now because he understands. He really doesn't see a problem with you not technically being human. If he, as a monster, were fine with dating a human then he'd also be fine dating a vampire. He's not even mad you waited so long to tell him! He knows you were just nervous. And that's alright. He's just glad you finally felt comfortable enough to tell him. If anything this will make your relationship stronger! -That being said...he is a tad concerned about your diet. The idea that in theory you have to hurt someone just to feed makes him uncomfortable. So when he finds out you've never hurt anyone he's beyond relieved. You tell him that you pay some people and in return they give you a few pints of their blood every week. It's all a very business like and totally legal. (if this is true is up to you. you could just be saying it to ease his mind. ignorance is bliss after all~) -Once all that is out of the way HE IS SUPER EXCITED TO TRAIN WITH YOU! He wants to see just what you can do! Just how strong and fast are you?? You've got to come with him next time he trains with Undyne! She'll be thrilled to know that someone else will be able to handle her rigorous training regimen! You better tell him to keep the vampire bit to himself for now. Don't want too many folks in your business after all. UF!Sans: -Truthfully, he's not even mad. He knows some personal secrets take time to share and expecting your new datemate to spill everything about themselves during the first week together isn't just unrealistic, it's kind of entitled in a dickish way. Like who the fuck are you to demand to know every secret of another living being? Nobody gets to force this kinda shit. So yeah, Red isn't mad. If anything he thinks it's cool as fuck. And he's also secretly happy you trust him enough to let him in on the secret. <3 -But like holy shit you're so fast it LOOKS like you can teleport. And you can straight up throw a CAR almost the length of a football field! (don't ask how you were able to demonstrate these things for him.) He's pretty sure even Undyne isn't strong enough to pull that shit off. Also knowing you're badass enough to not need him hawking over you all day is a weight off his shoulders. He'll never tell but he was so worried that some bullheaded monster would see you as an easy LV boost and try to kill you. -Also, the blood drinking thing is metal as fuck, like you've become at least 79% cooler to this edge boy. He even wants to see you drink some time. This boy has a biting kink lol and maybe a blood kink from hell and he'd looooove to watch you bite someone and drink them like they were nothing more than a glass of wine. He's getting turned on just thinking about it. And he likes your fangs. You two match now. And all he can think of asking you is "if you're a vampire does that mean you can hold your breath forever?" but he thinks it might be too soon to dive into askin that. Maybe he'll bring it up on his birthday. -But he is worried about the whole 'vampire weaknesses' shit. He's not too bummed about not getting to go out during the day with you. He's kind of a night owl anyway, so at least if he can't sleep he'll have you to talk or chill with. Hell, he might even switch around his sleeping schedule to make more time at night with you. But he's not thrilled with how apparently silver burns you?? He'd be more concerned that you'd get burnt at his and Boss's house but thankfully Boss has always been a fan of gold and not silver. So yay for the little shit. He didn't like how you said vampires apparently pop like a damn gore filled balloon if stabbed in the chest???? He'd totally think that was cool if it wasn't you he was worried was gonna pop. He at least can be relieved that you're fast enough to dodge just about anything. Again, yay for the little shit. UF!Pap: -He swells with pride. Of course HIS mate is even better and cooler than he'd originally thought! So cool he's both proud and vaguely threatened. He's still the scariest though, make no mistake. Just because you drink blood and can move faster than a cobra doesn't mean you're suddenly the cooler than THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS! So don't get any funny ideas. -And as for your speed, agility, strength; he's both relieved and upset. On the one hand he's comforted by the fact that you're tough enough to look after yourself. He was worried he'd have to watch you at all hours of the day to prevent some fool from attacking you for easy LV. But on the other hand...he's bummed that he can't be your protector. He liked the idea of being the one to keep you safe and secure and out of harms way. He liked feeling needed. Just let him continue to pretend you need his protection, to keep him happy~ -But it seems that while his fear that you'd be easy to kill have fled, a whole new set of worries have cropped up in its place. Before he was scared that you'd be 'dusted' with ease since you were a human. But now he's worried you'll get stuck outside during sunrise! Or somehow you'll have silver forced on you just to cause you pain. Or worse yet you'll get attacked unaware and a stake will get driven through your heart! The Edge King is very worried but hides it well. And he's pleased he doesn't have to replace any key metals in the house. His love for gold and indifference to silver really was lucky. -As for your diet, it actually makes a lot of sense now that he looks back. You'd never seemed too thrilled to go out to eat for your dates together. You'd preferred to go take midnight trips to the abandoned beach, or concoct trap ideas together. Things that never involved consuming food. But now that he knows you're a vampire he supposes sitting and eating food wouldn't equal fun to you. And he has no problem with you drinking blood. He won't ask to watch you feed, and he refuses to let you bring any 'food' home with you. He knows how hard it is to get blood out of material and doesn't want stains anywhere. Also secretly he knows seeing you bury your face into someone else's neck in even a vaguely sensual way will make him so fucking jealous but shhhh it's a secret lmao -But if you pull any of that 'hungry creature of the night' stuff on him he will lock up. Like he will totally freeze and turn as red as a tomato he was not prepared to find you stalking towards him like YOU were the predator so fucking HOT WTF STOP. Why does he find this all so alluring he's getting too flustered! Also, pro tip: if you want to really make this edgy skellie weak in the knees then gently scrape your fangs against his bones. Any bones. Arm bones, neck bones, ribs! But heads up, he will go hard as fuck and raw you into the bed like a man possessed if you do it to his pelvic bone. ;o)

#Undertale Imagines #UT!Sans #UT!Papyrus #UF!Sans #UF!Papyrus

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dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition · 7 years

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what would you do to fix lost? (like any specifics bc i agree w where ur coming from)

ohhh boy this is by no means a complete list and it’s long as hell, but

also, like, before someone comes after me, this is coming from a place of love for the show.

i’d scrap certain plots (that i won’t mention the specifics of on here in fear of losing friends) entirely

actually. i’ll spill. y’know. what the hell. i’d scrap 90% of the jacob plot. across the sea was a waste of an episode and a waste of my mother ms. janney. i liked the jacob plot as it stood in s3, but s5/s6 made it ridiculous imo.

y’all. let it be aliens. let it be ghosts. don’t let it be mark pelliwhatever and his sad goth moping. that’s boring.

i’d either keep walt around longer (which, considering that children have this terrible inconvenience called puberty, isn’t super plausible), or scrap his plot. taller ghost walt’s a good goof, but it’s not a good thing to keep looming around yr plot, never truly elaborated on.

just. a lot of s5 & s6 would be different. okay. god.

i have more to say on this i’m just so fucking tired

while i’m a big sci-fi/worldbuilding fan, lost’s strength was in its characters, which is something that the creative team, i guess, completely forgot about in those last few seasons, just because people were more vocal about wanting answers, so i feel like i’d personally focus more on one of my favorite (types of stories? tropes? themes? idk the word here lol), which is a character-driven story on a weirdass backdrop. again, my favorite lost b-plot is Make Sawyer Be Nice To People 2k04, or, like, fucking tricia tanaka is dead. tricia tanaka is dead and the constant both have this strength imo!

now, you might say, but bee, those episodes are completely tonally different and the constant is objectively art whereas ttid is a filler comedic episode, but, like. they succeed in that, despite being based around Weird Shit Going Down, they’re focused on, like, hurley, charlie, jin, and sawyer’s friendship, or desmond and penny’s love. they’re better episodes than, say, fucking lighthouse, because lighthouse is all about the mystery, and jack’s character development is in the background. which sucks.

speaking of jack’s character development, fuck jack. make him a more interesting character. fuck you.

the show’s handling of race issues is fucking terrible, especially when it comes to how it villainizes and eventually kills off michael, ana, and sayid. i’ve talked about this a lot on here but. yeah. but, yeah, remember when literally 3 main characters of color died in one scene, with, and some of y’all might argue with me here, very little emotional payoff? fuck that!

lost, admittedly, broke thru a lot of barriers re: representation on tv–sayid’s iraqi, he’s muslim, and, for the first few seasons, at least, he’s a good guy, a smart guy, who people trust! michael’s a sensitive artist who loves his son. hurley is a mentally ill fat latino man who is universally beloved! sun’s (usually) got her own agency, her own arc, and her own personality! and miles is perfect and can do no wrong and i would die for him.

but, still, their characterization often revolves around shitty, shitty stereotypes, and most characters of color are ultimately turned into antiheroes, or, in extreme cases, straight up villains.

and, oh boy, the fridged ladies. nadia. shannon. juliet. charlotte. libby. ana. god, y’all.

if yr gonna tell me “juliet wasn’t fridged she had 3 seasons of development and it created emotional stakes for s6!!!!” her arc wasn’t done and her death was written to make sawyer Sad Again. fuck that.

just. it’s not that i wouldn’t kill off characters if i were writing for lost. because the cycle of life & death is a really interesting theme it explores, and it handles grief fairly well, but. maybe consider why you’re killing a character off. is it for the development of another character? try again! you can develop a character without destroying another! think harder!

and of course a main aspect of the plot is a Magic Disability Cure! as a disabled person, this trope pisses me off, but, whatever, whatever.

i’m not sure exactly how to resolve this issue, esp. bc the magic disability cure is so pivotal to john’s arc. ugh.

i would make the writing good because, like, a lot of it isn’t. but. y’know.

cut a BUNCH of romances, that, yeah, not naming names.

KEEP EKO ON LONGER I KNOW ADEWALE QUIT BUT. KEEP EKO ON FOR LONGER HE WAS MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN FUCKING JACOB!!! GOD

uh, desmond’s a lesbian, so jot that down

btw: more development of penny/the widmores, like, i, unfortunately, became very invested in penny, as is my wont with sidelined wives of rough boyz who accidentally get time-sick in fiction.

this is more than just 2 characters. please save me. from this hell i’ve built for myself.

this is my own personal taste, but tbs wrecked has reminded me that i’d probably personally like lost more if it Had More Jokes, but, like, again, that’s just me.

Let My Gays Exist and let the only gay character not be a fucking villain who kidnaps children and shoots people with a gun. y’all.

there’s a lot more to say but. whatever. this isn’t coherent.

exposé is, no joke, one of my favorite episodes of lost though so none of you should take me seriously

#Anonymous #lost

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