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genderkoolaid · 8 months

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I'm sorry but you people have demeaned the word lesbian so badly... the LITERAL definition of a lesbian is a NON-MAN who likes NON-MEN. How is that so fucking hard to understand? Not you specifically, but people like you have made it into something it's not; the whole "bi lesbian" and "straight lesbian" shit, saying trans men can date lesbians (which is literally just transphobic), straight up just saying lesbians can date men???? MEN???? DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELVES?

And now the whole butch discourse lmao. Sure, maybe in days long past it was a broader term, but today when someone hears the word butch, I can guarantee their minds will jump to a butch lesbian. If y'all want it to be the GBT community so bad then just say so

Also I can guarantee that you were one of the mfs laughing at lesbians who used he/him or he/they pronouns back in 2020 lmao performative ass bitch

Definitions of words do not descend from Heaven straight from the lips of God. We make them up! So I simply disagree with your definition of lesbian, as do many others. Personally, I enjoy the definition of "queer love/desire for women." For one, it centers lesbianism around women, instead of centering it around the exclusion of men. And two, "non-men loving non-men" is a definition which utterly erases nonbinary people. If an agender person is dating a neutrois person, they are not lesbians- or gay men- simply because y'all cannot get your head out of your binary asses for five seconds. "Non-men loving non-men" is a definition that attempts to be nonbinary-inclusive but only succeeds in making nonbinary & genderqueer identities palatable for radical feminism and political lesbianism. Honestly, I would prefer someone who defines lesbian as "woman loving woman" but understands that many people have complex relationships with womanhood while still feeling attached to the label of lesbian, than someone who uses this "NB-inclusive" definition and goes absolutely feral over genderqueers who are Doing It Wrong.

Anyways, speaking of radical feminism: acknowledging male lesbians and mspec lesbians is not "making lesbianism something its not." It is just recognizing the beautiful complexity that has always existed within lesbianism.

The lesbian community- which I'm using to refer to all kinds of communities organized around queer relationships to women & womanhood- has always been a haven for a lot more people than cis women exclusively into other cis women. The idea of sexuality-as-identity is very recent, and the idea of drawing a hard line between people who only like people of the same gender and people who like the same gender and more is also extremely recent. Beyond that, trans men and nonbinary people have always taken shelter under lesbianism. "Butch" in the context of lesbianism has always been a trans* identity, a way for people with a queer gender to find community and safety.

The reason why we have this idea of lesbianism as a strict category with hard borders is..... you guessed it..... radical feminism! And specifically "political lesbianism," which essentially placed woman-only relationships as the only true feminist relationship you could have. "Lesbian" became a political identity because of its focus on woman-woman relationships. But that meant that, for political lesbianism to be acceptable to radical feminism, it needed to conform to radical feminist beliefs about what makes a good feminist. Which meant:

No trans women or fems (because they are too male and probably predators)

No trans men or mascs (because they are too male and also traitors)

No bisexuals (because they are too male by association and are also traitors)

No penetrative sex, or at least no strap ons (because it imitates men)

No kinky sex (see above but with bonus "kink is evil" flavoring)

No butch/femme roles (because they imitate heterosexuality; everyone has to be neutrally androgynous).

I believe that much of modern lesbian discourse comes from trying to marry lingering radfem beliefs with modern attempts at trans-inclusivity. So you adapt the blatant transphobia: now, trans women are allowed in (as long as they are palatable to cis women), because they're women! And nonbinary people can also be allowed in- at first they were woman-aligned, and then later as long as they weren't man-aligned. Being butch/femme is Back In Style, but we have to soothe the gender anxiety that butches cause by assuring everyone that only True Lesbians can be butch, and butches are always women, even if they kind of aren't, but regardless they're definitely not men, because butch has always been a lesbian term (except it hasn't.) The discourse is haunted by the ideas that lesbianism is constantly under attack, more than anyone else, and that lesbian culture is unique and special and must be guarded from (male/-aligned) invaders who are probably also sexual predators.

To say that this is all just "days long pasts" ignores both that, in physical queer spaces there very much still are male lesbians and bi lesbians who are accepted parts of their local communities, and that you only see those days as "long past" because of the impact of radical feminism on lesbianism. The only reason you see these changes as a good thing is because you've swallowed radical feminist ideas without realizing it.

Also, "if you say butch most people will think of butch lesbians" is an extremely silly argument. Literally who fucking cares. If you say "man" there are still a lot of people who will immediately think of exclusively cis men (see: every feminist who says shit like "if men could get pregnant). Does that mean that trans men should just give up their identities because other people don't understand them? You dork?

Anyways. The funniest part of this ask is how damn confident you are that I was apparently hating on he/him lesbians three years ago. Idk how to tell you this but I'm a boygirl gaylesbianbisexual and have identified this way for years. I have been personally terrorized by shitty lesbian identity politics, the same ones you are repeating now, which told me that if I was even 1% male then identifying as a lesbian made me a disgusting predator. Which caused me years of suffering because no matter how hard I tried, I could not ignore my multigenderedness and how that affected my sexuality. Sowwy but you look silly as hell and your argument is bad and you should feel bad </3

#this made me laugh out loud tho thanks for that !#m.#ask box

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 4 months

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Gay wrongs tournament, semifinals of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Lord Hater and Commander Peepers :

Lord Hater is the self-proclaimed "universe's awesomest evil-doer", an immature, attention-seeking manchild with electric powers and a short temper. He rules the Hater Empire with Commander Peepers as his second-in-command (technically third, after his beloved pet spider-xenomorph, but who's counting), however it soon becomes *very* clear that the cunning, remorseless, hardworking Peepers is the *real* brains behind the empire. Peepers might be frustrated at Hater's incompetence at times and isn't above manipulating him to reach an end goal, but he'd never dream of usurping him because, well, he's really gay and in love with him (as much as he can be in an early-10s Disney cartoon, anyways). Hater might take Peepers for granted a lot of times, but as his oldest friend and closest confidante he's the one who Hater is closest to. Whether it's invading other planets or kicking puppies for fun, these two are *delightfully* terrible jerks and the epitome of gay wrongs.

Commander Peepers is both Lord Hater's right hand man in villainy AND his jilted stay-at-home-wife-guy (Also in villainy. Hater is really good at getting distracted from productive and efficient villaining.) Lord Hater was the greatest villain in the galaxy thanks to how well he and Commander Peepers worked as an evil team to run the Hater Empire!

Lord Hater conquers planets and is such an edgy bastard. Peepers is the actual brains behind the operation. Peepers is often pushed aside by Hater, they are besties and yet Peepers is always pining for this guy who will never notice. Peepers is so horribly gay for him if you watch the show he wants his stupid boss so bad. Peepers is so scared of him season 1 but then starts yelling BACK in season 2 and has to deal with him like a babysitter or something and yet STILL idolizes him and that’s just such a fun dynamic. His password is H8RNP33PRS43VR (Hater and Peepers forever). They are so evil and everyone fears them and they are villains and they are gay and the side of the fandom that draws them as a married couple that needs counseling is absolutely correct. The fanart of Hater openly liking him back is wonderful but I swear you don’t even need that. They are so gay and villain you have to love them they are

Villains that conquer planets and do evil stuff, my favourite characters, not really canon but they are the best :)

For Wu Zetian x Gao Yizhi x Li Shimin: (propaganda from previous poll here)

They are in a poly and are so morally gray and I love em. The triangle really is the strongest shape

They're gay because they're all bi (literally in Shimin and Yizhi's cases, kinda more implied for Zetian). Zetian and Shimin tortured a man for information (and also because he tortured them first) while Yizhi cooked back in their apartment. They made a plan to destroy their government and take over instead. Yizhi killed his dad because he was talking shit about Zetian and trying to sway his trust in her (it didn't work lmao). Instead of a love triangle (it REALLY seemed like that was what it was heading towards) they all love each other and would (and have) committed atrocities for each other. There's a whole thing about how they're stronger together (like, metaphorically and on the battlefield (Shimin and Zetian pilot a giant mecha together and Yizhi balances them))

They're a canon polyship who are all a bit deranged and down to kill for their goals and/or to protect bae. Two have tortured a man to death together and came home to the third making celebratory cookies for them.

What's more gay wrongs than trying to take over your country and torturing a man together

#minor bracket semifinals #iron widow #wander over yonder #gao yizhi #li shimin #wu zetian #commander peepers #lord hater

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changingplumbob · 2 months

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5 and 23 for the storytelling ask please :)

How do you choose your characters’ names? Choose your least favourite character so far.

Strap in because I'm going to happily ramble about my named sims, and gossip about those I despise! Content warning for sim death.

How do you choose your characters’ names? oh my gosh I have wanted to talk about this for ages Amy HOW DID YOU KNOW! It could almost be its own post. So when I started most of my characters had pre existing names because they were premades or from the gallery. I'll talk about the sims I have named.

Devin, Deanna, Silas and Milton were randomised names that I liked. Alexander's cats Hamlet and Gertrude come from the play Hamlet. Clover and Ginger are just dog names I liked.

Joey was actually named after this sea otter at Vancouver Aquarium! During the pandemic he was found orphaned and they livestreamed him in his nursery and meeting the older otters.

Kelly was named before he was born, I wanted a unisex name that could fit a boy or a girl. The boy Kelly I named him after is from Chicago Fire. He is not my favourite character but I do love the complex ones, so him being a jerk and Kelly being evil is one big coincidence.

Fergus and Carson were named with the randomise button, but I know of characters with their names so I kept them.

I wanted all of the Chopra kids to be named after wonderful black characters or persons of renown. The eldest Chopra twin was named after the actress Mercedes Varnardo who plays Koska Reeves on The Mandalorian. I love the spirit of Koska who is dedicated and loyal.

The youngest Chopra twin was named after the character Savannah from Criminal minds who married the main character Derek Morgan. She is an intelligent woman with a big heart.

And the smallest Chopra is of course named after Viola Davis. I wanted an old fashioned sounding name and Viola Davis is amazing.

Pollock Knightstone is named after painter Jackson Pollock. His father Adam is an art critic so I figured he'd name him for an out there artist.

Alfred and Rilian Villareal get their names from the areas of culture their mama and mummy love. Alfred is named for famous director Alfred Hitchcock (that's why he has a thing about birds)

Rilian is named for Prince Rilian from the Narnia books. Specifically Prince Rilian, who is the son of Prince Caspian, is a character in the Silver Chair (a movie I saw several times growing up).

I found Marta's name by looking at a list of popular Latina names. But her surname, Romero, absolutely comes from Romeo and Juliet. If you are attracted to pretty males and haven't seen Douglas Booth playing Romeo you are missing out!

Choose your least favourite character so far

I have several and thankfully they are all dead! It's hard to pick between these two though. Mortimer might beat Ophelia by a smidgeon.

Ophelia Ryan was James Goth's first wife. I hated her on principal because between rotations MCCC married them because James may have had a romance bar with Alexander but they weren't an official couple. Storywise I had her being a snob who only married James for his family status (James had the closeted trait when Alexander started flirting with him). Anyway she refused to believe James was gay, claiming no one actually enjoys woohoo, and was not going to let him divorce her so he could marry his boy toy. Then she had a cardiac explosion and died because she was a COW.

Mortimer Goth became a self obsessed mean man. First off he started blaming Bella for all their troubles, and called her a gold digger repeatedly. He was far more interested in writing his precious bestsellers than caring about his kids or wife. He only saw Cassandra and Alexander as their achievements, and let Milton lie in a diaper blowout for hours because he was writing. Oh and then he slept with their maid. Then he hired Dina to be a live in maid and slept with her before Bella disappeared. Then he was CRUSHED by a meteor made of karma.

#dag dag or tag tag #My sims have name origins #I do actually think about it most of the time #I need to go watch Romeo Douglas Booth again

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loveregrown · 1 month

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Baaah. Yes on a surface level Asuka is the epitome of Shinji, loud, determined, bossy, associated with red while Shinji is associated with colours like white and blue. But most of Asuka’s hatred of Shinji comes from an inner self hatred (much like Asuka’s rivalry with Rei comes from the fact Rei is what Asuka fears becoming the most. A doll, lifeless, hanging like the one her mother hung believing it was her who she was bringing with her to the afterlife. It’s a mix of that, and envy over what she perceives to be being served praise on a silver platter, when really, she had no choice in the matter.) the fact that inside they are all too similar. They are both vulnerable and alone and small, but they deal with it in completely different ways, the dichotomy between expressing one’s emotions with a mix of (feigned) pridefulness & anger vs conflict avoidance & sadness. But what they both want the most is for someone to hold them, love them. They aren’t complete opposites. I suppose the yin & yang take is accurate though considering they have parts of each other in them & just express it differently. And then there’s the Kaworu is an idealized version of Shinji take. Which actually works depending on how you elaborate on it, until you say that “Kaworu is too perfect.” Are you insane? Even in the anime I’d say you can tell someeeeething is a little wrong with him, but then there’s all the other side media that further elaborates on how messsed up he is & how he dooms himself with his self-sacrificial nature & how he didn’t realize he was thinking more about what would make himself happy than what would make Shinji happy despite thinking he was right, trying to seek happiness by making him happy too, which I don’t think is necessarily evil but definitely unhealthy. There’s also the fact that they really do make each other better even if they also make each other worse without trying to, it’s a sort of twisted cycle for both of them that only one is even aware of. Kaworu has many flaws. Altruism like his can lead to selfishness despite being so selfless in nature with how willing he is to self destruct. He is left with far too many painful memories from every prior attempt & yet tries desperately to save him anyway. & all the crazy shit he pulled in the manga that boy is not normal. He is displayed as too good to be true, yes, but to claim he’s perfect is a falsehood. Only Shinji really sees him that way and hence it sort of affects their dynamic, because how could he not compared to himself? And yet he’s still willing to work through Kaworu’s feelings in NGE2 and it’s crazy. Kaworu isn’t God even if his unconditional love is similar to his. He is a child like them even if something else, and capable of mistakes and things that hurt others, the latter being often without realizing it. He has interests of his own, and feelings, and painful memories he’s left to deal with, even if not in the same way as Shinji. I’m not so mad about them parting ways at the end 3.0 + 1.0 since I didn’t expect them to get gay married or anything even if I didn’t like the angle they took since that movie was absolute shit but like even in that movie I don’t see All of the kwsn from it as awful. But then there was also all the strange Gendo shit & it was like what the fuck. I don’t care for the actual question though just the points made in the answer. Also “I don’t think any relationship should be seen as inherently romantic/sexual” is an okay take but the sickening deep connection between Kawoshin has such obvious romantic implications from the very first two drafts and it doesn’t inherently take value away from it & you can view it in multiple different angles… without having to remove that factor.

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inc0rrectmyths · 10 months

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HELLO HI I literally had a crisis while trying to decide weather to send you an ask or not 😭😭

I wanted to say YOUR WIPS SOUND SO INTERESTING!! Like tell me more about them plisss 🥺

AAJKAKWIWW YOU CAN SEND ME ASKS ANYTIME YOU WANT DW <33

anyways! soo.. my wips are... complicated..

But here are some smol and BAD summaries..

WIP ONE: (FHCC)

this is the one I'm currently writing. And also posting about here and there. Its a story about an evil manipulative professor who runs a cult in the name of Caesar and wants to gaslight ppl into killing innocents in the name of Caesar. And he gets a job in a prestigious uni where he teaches the history department. The fourth year students consisting of all foreigners, he finds the perfect opportunity to corrupt them. a lot of murders happen in the campus and then they stop. But on the day of Graduation, when the whole campus was celebrating, the professor is also mysteriously found dead. Typical dark academia murder thriller hehe.

WIP TWO: (SAA:1987)

Its about five friends who live in the same tiny neighborhood. One girl and four boys. One of the boys Kunal is in love with the girl Chitra. And she loves him back. While their little sweet love continues to bloom, the other three boys, Shreyas, Aniruddh and Ronit are stuck in a painful and restricting poly relation. And one unfortunate day, Shreyas' very homophobic family hears the trio doing... stuff... And immediately lock Shreyas up in his room. Now keep in mind, he's a VERY sensitive boy who gets scared and nervous easily. This might seem like nothing to others, but this was a big deal to poor Shreyas, who committed suicide after a few days of being locked and unable to see his two lovers. The story ends in a tragically happy way. Where Kunal and Chitra are married, Ronit and Aniruddh are still dating but they both still mourn Shreyas. But all four of them have learnt to let go of him. Yet, he continues to be a missing piece. Typical tragic love story but make it gay and poly :D

WIP THREE: (TBM)

Back to murders! But now we kill criminals instead of innocents. Lord Byron Beckwith, a big British official built an institute in 18th cen Britain and the then colonial India. Two elite institutes for students around the globe. But as decades went by, the two campuses got corrupted. And became hotspots for drug dealings, sex slavery and human trafficking. And the victims were the poor students who were threatened to keep their mouths shut. A bunch of them also killed themselves for this reason. But cuz of the reputation the campuses held, the governments of both countries covered these sinister things with sorry excuses. And that's when a secret society gets revived by six Indian and five British students of Beckwith Institutes. And both the Deans aka the ones who allowed these crimes to take place, of Indian and British Beckwith are found dead. Another typical dark academia murder thriller.

WIP FOUR: (TPAHB)

The prince of one of the last remaining royal families of Spain was turning 20. And to gift his son, King invited a well known bard and artist to their palace. The bard was asked to paint a portrait of the prince who was gone for a few days. During these days, the king got so impressed by the bard, he asked him to permanently stay in the palace and entertain his peers. When prince arrived and met the new bard, he found him absolutely repulsive. And decided to avoid the man. But on the other hand, the bard is blown away by the beauty possessed by the prince. And the bard secretly makes prince his own muse. Composing songs for him, painting him or reciting poems in his name. No one knew about it. Until prince, who was weirdly fascinated the bard (he denied it) decided to sneak in his room. And found paintings of him and poems comprising of his name hanging from walls. The prince and the bard form an even stranger relationship where one hates the other but is also fascinated by him and the other one is surely in love but will never confess. This an enemies to lovers stuff with a lot of comedy lmao. Also gay <3

WIP FIVE (TGPW) [probably a duology]

The kingdom of Devhagar and Theoisia are rivals and have centuries long history of war, bloodshed and destruction. They both are constantly trying to win over the Northern and Southern regions which are inhabited by strong mythical beings, clever elves, notorious pirate clans and magicians, and most importantly loads of treasures. The never ending hatred of these two kingdoms was prophesied to stop. It was said that five heroes will rise, who will be from both Devhagar and Theoisia and they will team up together to defeat the two evil kings of the two kingdoms and end the reign of tyranny, black magic, hatred and violence. The Magician, a mysterious traveller with no name, said to be immortal finds two small girls while he was travelling thru Theoisia. Thr girls are named Diana and Minerva and immediately feels an aura around them. He decides to take them with him and protect them but mysterious forces constantly attack them, and The Magician realizes he can't fight all of them alone. He calls Kenneth, the captain of one of the strongest pirate ships. Kenneth and his crew take Diana and Minerva with them to a journey that is to find three boys in the kingdom of Devhagar. And they do find the boys after defeating multiple monsters. Shiva, Vishnu and Indra are the three boys described by The Magician. Now the five children are brought back to the magician. Who enlightens them. They have a task to do, they were born to end evil.

#wip stuff #wip summary #writeblr

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snorkling-in-sodasea · 8 months

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A Thought That Came To Me

You know, I think I came up with two concepts for myself when it comes to character portrayal. The Pink Diamond Effect and the Stolas Geotia Effect. And I'll be more than happy to explain more into that. (Warning, though, if I rant here and there. Kinda of spontaneous as I write down opinions and all that) (Another warning, Stolas lovers should stay out of this one)

So I felt like watching Helluva Boss videos on youtube. I would come across Steven Universe ones, too. And I noticed something kinda peculiar about Steven's mom, especially when I compared her to Stolas. Both the gem woman and the demon owl man are exact opposites in character protrayal.

Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond was initially this big force of goodness, who couldn't do anything wrong and was thoroughly, absolutely perfect. The most to mistakes we would hear about is from Greg and, even then, it made Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond more, well, human. (And now that I think about it, did Greg ever find out that he had a child with a diamond? Like, before Steven was born or was it at the same time as everyone else?)

But then the series would go on to reveal how awful Steven's mother was, over and over again. Like I heard from Sarcastic Chorus, was there anyone Pink didn't traumatize when she met them? And really, the main series was already enough to pound in how demonized Pink Diamond is. I'm not sure if much people can keep in mind the good that she did do before being, well, gone for good.

Yeah, Pink Diamond foolishly thought that her family would be discouraged by her death and then be happy that she's gone, had left behind Spinel, and we're not touching all the shit between her and Pearl. But she was the only one to see value in organic life and fought to defend Earth. And the thing is, Earth was her first planet so she likely never saw any planets up close that would still have life on it. So I would like to believe that she's the kind of person who would instantly love whatever her planet is as it is and would fight to defend it. She did it in a way that wasn't rocking the boat too much, up until she did it in a way that ended up overturning the boat. But she at least never realized that and, compared to the other diamonds who just get a weirdly-constructed turn from evil to good, Pink Diamond had a more natural turn from evil to good.

Then there's Stolas. At the start of the series, Stolas was just a closeted gay who discovered a new source of elation and wanted it. Badly. He wanted it so badly that he chose when Blitz was currently being shot at so that Stolas could talk to him. So that Blitz couldn't exactly say 'no' the arrangement presented. Then Stolas gets the bright idea to distract his daughter from the troubles at home by inviting the most painfully physical reminder of the troubles at home as bodyguards and spend a good chunk of the day graphically flirting with Blitz right where Octavia can see and hear it. Even after they made up, Stolas kept focused on sleeping with Blitz (Just because Stolas promised to never leave Octavia for Blitz doesn't mean it can't leave a bad taste in one's mouth if Stolas continues to screw around with Blitz even after his daughter exploding with built-up frustration at Loo Loo Land). And Stolas kept up the baby talk and demeaning names to Blitz until the second to last episode decided that he loves loves the imp for some reason.

Season 2 starts and the show pretends so damn hard that Stolas was never an asshole who just wanted imp dick. Now Stolas is all of a sudden a sensitive, lonely woobie boy who was forced to marry a horrible, abusive girl against his will and has always loved Blitz since first seeing him. And now, whenever anyone tries holding him accountable for anything anymore, it's either by Stella or Striker - antagonists and/or villains who are meant to not be in the right anyways - or by Octavia or Blitz, who are made out to be tragic cases that will resolve itself in an episode's time anyways. In Blitz's case, he'll likely ignore the problem just like how Stolas does, even if it's the opposite way from how Stolas likes to ignore problems. (Although the show itself seems to be doing that. And ironically enough, I would have just been fine with the show if Blitz and Stolas just remained what they were before: mutual assholes to each other, especially if the series was supposed to be episodic)

Long story short, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond started as an undeniably good person who was beloved by all but then got demonized more and more and more as the show went on. (And seriously, the movie and the sequel series didn't relent on that, either. At fucking ALL). But with Stolas, he started out as an asshole only for the show to eventually start pretending that he never was. And I'm certain the show will keep pounding it in that idea of Stolas being a poor woobie as it goes on

So I'm calling the whole thing, respectively, the Pink Diamond Effect and the Stolas Geotia effect but if anyone has any other ideas, go ahead and tell me. It'll be fun seeing your ideas on what to call it

#helluva boss #stolas #steven universe #pink diamond

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moonreadingjournal · 2 years

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As promised, I want to show the books that I recently pre-ordered at the indigo website.

I absolutely love the cover. I am an absolute sucker for covers. I can’t wait for what the story holds. Do I want the main character to end up with the crown prince? I would love it but it’s not my story.

The story about the daughter of the moon goddess who was a secret from the immortal empire for years, had to flea her home, leaving her mom trapped in the moon. She meets with the crown prince of the empire and becomes his study partner. She learns a lot about the empire but more importantly she learns to use the bow and arrow. She then embarks in a supposed impossible mission to free her mom. It’s such a good book.

The second book I preordered is

I love this story. I had seen it around either Tiktok or tumblr and I thought it was cute and then I read the book….wow. The story is cute and so good. I love it. I can’t wait for this book to come out later this year.

Luc is the son of two rockstars, mom that got just one album hit and the douche dad that abandoned them both. Well in his mid twenties (I believe I don’t remember) after a scandal breaks his job is in jeopardy so the only way he finds out of this one is to get a respectable guy to pretend to be his boyfriend. And so he enters, Oliver Blackwood. A perfect man (i believe). Thought they both carry a lot of baggage (though not as much as luc) they manage to get through it as they both catch feelings for each other.

This is the other book I got

I talked about it in another post. I can’t wait to read it. But it will be after the book so this is ever after.

It’s about arranged marriage. A man that was betrothed to this girl for political reasons, he finds out that he has a pretence for men. However, before the whole union is “ruined” the family of the girl decide to betrothed him to the brother of the girl. The guy he’s supposed to marry was certainly thrown to a loop, however I think he will become to care for his husband (and vice versa). It sounds real intriguing that’s why I decided to get it.

The one I keep constantly mentioning is So this is ever after by FT Lukens.

This is the cover. It’s so cute. I love queer books (though I do read more gay books, don’t know why).

This book reminds me to Carry on by rainbow rowell and The extraordinaries by tj Klune. This is about a boy, Arek, who was chosen to free his country from the tyranny of an evil guy. He and his 5 friends (including his best friend, Matt, who he has a crush on) go and succeed in the mission. Though Arek ends up succeeding in the mission he is crowned king in the meantime they go and find the legitimate heir to the throne, who ends up being dead, thus he is made king for real. And now that he has an entire nation to think about he really only wants to confess his feelings. (I found that extremely cute). When he becomes king he has to get married by his eighteenth birthday or wither into nothing. He then tried to woo his friends (that’s what the dust jacket says but I’m confused since he has a crush on his best friend). Anyways, I expect a lot from this book.

The very last book I will like to talk about (the last one I swear) is An arrow to the moon by Emily X.R. Pan.

So yeah, once again gorgeous cover (please let me be, though I know I need help, it’s a disease). This book is about two characters Hunter Lee and Luna Chang. I will admit I don’t know much about the book, but with what I was reading these two characters have strict parents (that’s the assumption I have). But I may be wrong, in the dust jacket it says that it’s a retelling of a Chinese myth and Romeo and Juliet (though it better not end like Romeo and Juliet), though I don’t know much of the Chinese mythology considering their names, hunter and Luna (moon in Spanish) it might have something to do with the moon goddess. I will admit that the thing about the Chinese mythology and their names reminded me to the book Daughter of the moon goddess, and that’s why I bought it but details schmetails.

Anyways. I don’t know in what order I will read the last two books mentioned, probably the one so this is ever after. But we’ll see.

#bookworm #moonreadingjournal #bookblr #daughter of the moon goddess #heart of the sun warrior #Sue Lynn Tan #boyfriend material #husband material #Alexis hall #so this is ever after #ft lukens #an arrow to the moon #emily xr pan

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hxneylavendxr · 1 year

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for the sending character thing: Izumi sena bc im basic

[evil smile]

sexuality hc - gay gay homosexual gayass mother fucker but, and this is important to me, not in ye old gay misogynist anime boy doesn't even look at women way but in a straight man's written caricature straight woman's gay best friend plaything way you know. which i think is HILARIOUS especially for a gacha anime boy what the fuck man

gender hc - he could absolutely be a trans guy he fucking could. you know the izumi sena unsafe binding official art im talking about

i don't think he's cisgender at all, but calling him effeminate just feels too damn right- he's in the gray space the gender not soup but void

ships - um. give me a ship as full of gut pulling history and reprehensible turmoil but beautiful reconciliation and resolve as izuleo and i cannot for the life of me be expected not to eat that shit up come on now they literally got married in florence what can i say

however ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS izukao chiaizu and all three as a polycule is <333 being in that class must have been like a fever dream i've always longed for what they had there

and ritsuizu urgh!!!!! they are (very very very very often) portrayed in fanfictions(tm) as a side pick me up/friends w benefits situation and You Know What? i agree it's always just whatever anyway with those two isn't it

brotp - 3a trio AGAIN because i contain multitudes. and Oh she's about to say something weird again izushu platonic kismesis that makes sense okay i think they're very silly. lastly izunaru!!!! arashi can be like the straight girl to his gay best friend

notp - don't think i have one for him (as i dont for most characters hsfg)

random hc - well besides the fact that izuleo getting married in florence was not a canonically explicitly stated event but it totally happened in my head, ahh we have the classic 3a trio being the only three who actually showed up to class 3a and kaoru, almost skipping himself initially, is able to convince them to all go down to the beach before their teacher shows up So he spent days in the sand with those two a lot during his school days

general opinion - he's such a textbook capital b Bitch and im really glad he didn't get all that much development in that area by the time we arrived in !! .like he got better but all i can say is that's the difference between Being a High Schooler and not being a high schooler aghhfhj he is so fucking funny what's he all bitter over 24/7 he has self inflicted asshole brain disease which is just like me fr... he is also very pretty :3

#i babble a lot huh #i dont like speaking unprompted (she's mentioned that..) so when i do get prompted. eheh #i have a lot to say! it's all been marinating #shav in my ask box #ask game

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terminallydepraved · 3 years

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stanxeno dr stone ramblings

yog made me read dr stone and now we both have brainrot over stanxeno and ive spent the better part of two days obsessing over stanleys military service and its a toss up between the mangaka just straight up assuming american military service members all just get cross-trained as snipers, commandos, and fighter pilots (absolutely not the case in reality) or that stanley eschewed the marines/air force in favor of joining the special service (or potentially started out in one of the other branches and was scouted/requested a transfer after his aptitude was noticed), received standardized general training in both sniping and survival commando training as a green beret and was familiar enough with aircraft handling to then train himself post-petrification into being a fighter pilot. i find it hard to believe that those planes they’re flying are on the same level as pre-petrification aircraft technology, so while stanley may have the technical theory down i think its safer to assume (and much more realistic by far) that the bulk of his applied knowledge and skill came from test piloting xeno’s initial aircraft creations over the course of the 4 yrs they’ve been operating in america.

ive also been trying to figure out approximate ages and while its more or less impossible to figure out xeno’s age (i know people assume hes “considerably older” than senku since he was working at nasa when senku was 10, but i dont buy that argument outright as its entirely possible he skipped several grades and attended college as a minor and thus entered the work force kid genius style thus throwing off average life-plan trajectories), stanley gives us many more avenues to explore, ones with outright rules and age restrictions. you can only sign onto the military when you are at LEAST 17 years old. it takes roughly 4-5 years no matter what branch of service you enter to make the rank of captain, which is the only title we’ve seen stanley referred to as having, which puts him at a minimum age pre-petrification of 21-22, post-petrification (+4 yrs via senku’s 15->19 age progression) 25-26. given he and xeno were “childhood friends” its safe to assume they’re close enough to the same age to make that age range work for xeno as well.

i have no idea what to do with this knowledge given it just gives me a minimum age range for them, but the puzzle of sussing it all out has been mildly entertaining. i think my best guess on their actual ages would be that they’re both under 30 but not by much, 26-29 being the safer assumption with a few years of padding in case their life courses weren’t quite that smooth. byakuya was xeno’s “peer” but he looks older than xeno does, so i’m really leaning towards the idea of “kid genius graduating college at 16“ xeno. anyway, this was all too much to spit out on twitter so tumblr is unfortunately going to bear witness to my brainworms instead.

#stanxeno #xenostan #dr stone #meta #its like those story problems in math where you had to look at all the fragments of forumlas to see if you have enough info #to answer the question properly #xeno doesnt give me jack shit but stanley #oh stanley u gotta obey at least some mortal laws and the military has its rules and career paths written out very clearly #anyway these two are evil and gay and absolutely married #its wonderful

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sazandorable · 4 years

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About moderating and banning content on AO3!

Okay so! I haven’t had the spoons to do this for a while but I cracked and ranted about it on twitter which is... not... conducive to long rants, so!

This is a h u g e discussion part of the l o n g history that led to the creation of AO3, which older, more informed, and more articulate people have talked about at length and can be found around if you look (I reblog some of it in my AO3 and fandom history tags for the curious). So I won’t go into that here, nor into the practical reasons why it’s not even possible to put that system in place anyway.

Arbitrarily, or the purpose of this post, because it’s the biggest topic I’ve seen brought up lately, I’ll be talking about fic depicting underage characters in se*ual situations, but honestly I could hold the exact same conversation on literally any controversial content.

This is about why you, specifically, if you are a content creator and especially if you are marginalised and especially if you are queer and especially especially if you are sensitive to fiction depicting certain things... do not, actually, want a banning system on AO3.

What? Of course we do. There’s a lot of p*do shit on AO3 and p*do shit is gross. No one should condone that, wtf? It would be easy to do — just periodically delete the entire Underage tag!

What will happen if that is done is that people will re-upload and continue to write it, they’ll just stop tagging and you will run into it with zero warning nor ability to filter it out. Again, this is not a theoretical — we know this is what happens. When I was a teen, adult content (all adult content) was not allowed on FF.NET; it was everywhere regardless, and without tags. The exact same thing happened on tumblr when adult content was banned as well. It’s not a matter of “staff not handling it well” — it just doesn’t work.

To keep safe the people who need to be able to exclude that tag, that tag needs to exist and be used.

Well, shucks. A reporting system then?

A reporting system would operate in one of two ways:

-an algorithm, which would delete a lot of stuff we wouldn’t want it to delete.

-humans, which is... the bigger problem.

An algorithm sounds great. We do want it to delete everything.

Okay. What about the daddy k*nk fics between consenting adult characters? What about the fics featuring characters that are children in the canon but are adults in the fic? What about the fics about teenagers exploring their se*uality together, written by adults about the experiences they remember having or wish they could have had? What about the thousands of SasuNaru and Drarry and other shounen and YA fics that will get written, by teens or by people who remember being teens? What about the se*ually explicit fic written by teens who are se*ually active in real life? What about the fics about CSA as trauma, about healing from it? What about the fics written by survivors of CSA to cope about their trauma? What about the fics that clearly show that it’s evil and traumatic? What about the super dark, harrowing, but beautiful and artistic that I’m glad I read even though it fucked me up for days? What about the ones that were really shitty but also horribly hot?

Well, some of these are still not okay, but maybe some might be. It depends on how it’s written. We’ll have humans moderating content and deciding, then.

Okay.

The thing is, I don’t know which of the things I just listed were okay for you to be depicted in fiction and which were too much. Odds are I don’t agree with you. Odds are if I asked 10 people randomly picked off the street, not everyone would agree.

Odds are, even if AO3 arbitrarily decided on which of those are allowed and which are not, you would not agree with their choice, and you would still be unhappy with the decision. (Or you would be happy, but your friends wouldn’t.)

Odds are, different AO3 content moderators might not agree on whether a given fic qualifies or not — is it artistic enough? Does it show enough that these actions are evil and wrong? Can the author prove they’re a teenager? Can the author prove they are a CSA victim? Can the author prove that this is to help them cope with their trauma? The author seem to be functioning alright, they mustn’t really be traumatised!

You know what I mean! There’s absolute, objectively gross shit out there that is not artistic and should not be published.

I agree that there’s vile stuff out there that makes me sick and that I think is very clearly just ped*philic trash. But there is no way to, 1) stop those from getting published anyway, 2) take those down and preserve the safety of everything else.

If we start forbidding some things, there’s two ways to go about it.

One single, clear, arbitrary rule — for instance, absolutely no adult content featuring characters under 18 (leaving aside the fact that this would not even work for the reason cited above). So we lose all the stuff from teenagers, all the coming of age stories about adolescence, all the stuff from CSA survivors; people who need to write it can’t publish it anymore, and people who need to read it can’t anymore either (and as a cool bonus, they’re told it’s wrong and made to feel bad about it). Depending on whether the rules applies to characters that are under 18 in the canon, we lose entire fandoms.

Or, subjective moderation by humans, according to what they estimate to be gross.

Let’s assume all moderators can agree on what’s gross or not.

If there is a system in place to ban some underage works because “gross shit”, then that means other gross stuff can be taken down on account of being gross and harmful.

Yeah! Gross stuff should be taken down! Come on, surely everyone agrees on what’s gross and harmful.

Ah.

But the problem is.

Here is a list of things I have seen — with my eyes seen — called harmful to be depicted in fiction:

Murder

Non-con

Inc*st

Cannibalism

Torture

Self-harm

Mental illness

Drugs

Racism

K*nk

Non-negotiated k*nk, but healthy k*nk is ok

Spanking k*nk

BDSM where the woman is a bottom, but woman top is ok

Healthy depictions of BDSM

Unhealthy depictions of BDSM

Queer people doing bad things

Abusive relationships

Rival/Enemies to lovers

Redemption stories

A happy relationship between a 17 yo and an 18 yo

A happy relationship between a 20 yo and a 60 yo

A happy relationship between a boss and their employee, or a college teacher and a student

A happy relationship between a 14 yo boy and an older teenage boy, because that’s reminiscent of older men preying on younger gay boys IRL

Se*ual content featuring a character whose age is unclear in canon and some people headcanon them as being underage, some as being a young adult

Loving, consensual fluff between characters that are evil villains, because it romanticises them and their actions

Dark content shipping female characters

Fluffy content shipping female characters, because it’s misogynistic to act like lesbians are only soft all the time

Consensual s*x featuring a canonically asexual character, because it implies that all aces can and should still have se*

Fics about the same canonically asexual character hating s*x, because that erases the experience of s*x-positive aces

Shipping a character who is perceived by some fans as queer-coded with a character of a different s*x

The tendency to ship a black character with white characters

Fluffy drunk s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Sleep s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Trans characters not experiencing dysphoria, because that idealises the trans experience

Consensual s*x between adults that are not married

LGBT+ content, because kids shouldn’t see that.

I guarantee you: you, I, and 10 random people plucked from the street will not agree on what, in that list, is and isn’t okay to publish and consume fiction of.

So why should your taste be the one followed? Why should it be the taste of mods you don’t know? Why should anyone get to dictate? What if the mods think your OTP is gross and your NOTP is fine?

This is the slippery slope argument.

Yes, it is the slippery slope argument. Because we know it happens. Because we’ve been there, because I’ve seen it happen myself twice already and I’m not even thirty. Because we know people do complain loudly about all of these things.

And because the second there is a banning system in place, assholes will use the system to abuse it and get stuff they just don’t like taken down using the “it is gross” argument, and one day you’ll wake up and the beautiful fic that helped you come to terms with your abuse/trauma/identity/orientation/k*nk for feet will be taken down and wonderful vulnerable creative people will have been harassed out of fandom because they argued with 1 person who didn’t like their foot k*nk fic that happened to also feature, for instance, a CSA trauma backstory.

Again: not exaggerating. Not theoretical. It happens, we know it happens, AO3 was created literally because it happens.

I still fucking hate that stuff.

That is completely fine and normal. No one likes everything. Me too! Most of the dark stuff is niche and the creators know only few people will like it the same way they do.

(For the record, I get grossed out and triggered by fics about an asexual character who does not like s*x having s*x with their partner to make them happy. Deep in my gut everything screams that that’s fucked up, terrifying and harmful, how can people write that. But I recognise that there are people who love and need that, and I leave those people and their content alone.

OTOH, I read a lot of otherwise dark shit and I enjoy it in the same way I enjoyed, say, Hannibal, in the same way some people enjoy true crime documentaries, horror movies or r*pe fantasy k*nk. It helps me explore stuff that I like to see in fiction, in a safe, controlled way. I’m also asexual, 90% s*x-repulsed IRL, and, obviously, I would never abuse a child. For that matter, I wouldn’t kill and eat people, either, nor would I do 90% of the tamer k*nky stuff I read.

Of course, Hannibal was fucked up and lots of people probably think Hannibal was gross and should not have been aired — but as exemplified by the fact that it was created, aired and watched, lots of people thought it was fine, interesting and even fun to watch.)

You can and should curate your experience and protect yourself. The AO3 website now allows you to exclude certain tags, and people have developed tools to help with that such as plugins that save your filters or hide fics that contain certain words.

But no, it isn’t going to, and it shouldn’t, get banned.

#ao3 #fandom history #aaaaand that's all im going to tag

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 5 months

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Gay wrongs tournament, round 2 of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Lord Hater and Commander Peepers :

Villains that conquer planets and do evil stuff, my favourite characters, not really canon but they are the best :)

For El Mariana x Slimecicle:

They are married and on their first day together they accidentally killed their neighbor's kid. When Slimecicle was trying to murder people and failed it because he didn't have Mariana by his side to back him up.

Well Slimecicle's canonically murdered a child/egg in order to give his and Mariana's daughter a gun. He also accidentally murdered his niece but that wasn't really his fault. Mariana has killed their daughter twice - the first time they were able to bring her back via a court trial and Slimecicle planted tnt under the court in case he lost. Mostly it's Slimecicle committing astrocities (like when he tried to kill more kids after his daughter died the first time, or when he constantly breaks windows in order to get into people's houses, or when he disguised himself as a child/egg in order to burgle his neighbours and proceeded to run for president as this child) but Mariana doesn't exactly have a clear conscience. Also they both love and hate each other. They're simultaneously married and divorced. They've had live minecraft sex at least twice.

#minor bracket round 2 #qsmp #wander over yonder #lord hater #commander peepers #el mariana #slimecicle

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haitanirindo · 3 years

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zukka fics that live in my head rent free!

1. what did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth (what were you digging) by draco_sollicitus status: complete (18k words) rating: mature pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka is immortal; it's been tested, he knows that he can't die. He's immortal, but he's not quite a god like his sister, Katara. He's immortal, but he's not quite powerful like his friends Aang and Toph. He's just sort of Sokka: good at fixing things, good at playing pranks, good at helping people. When a bet against Toph goes horribly wrong, and an attempt to save him goes even worse, Sokka finds himself the unwilling guest of the Lord of the Underworld. And, strangely enough, every story Sokka's heard about Lord Zuko seems to be ... completely wrong. (Also, he's really handsome. Why does he have to be handsome?)

mythology nerds come get y’all juice. a very good fic. 10/10

2. Where I Want to Be by through-the-stars-to-the-pavement status: WIP (83k words) rating: explicit pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: "'The fog was where I wanted to be.'" Everything is different. The pitch of his voice, his posture. The auditorium goes silent. No one can take their eyes off of him.… He's amazing. Zuko had to perfect the art of acting as a child to survive the horrors of his homelife. When he got older, it was only natural to take his talent to the stage for entertainment and escape. Enter Sokka, a craftsman and set designer with a giant heart who is haunted by plenty of ghosts of his own. A tale of trauma, disability, family, creativity, and love.

this is one of my all time favorite fics. it’s seriously so good and i think about it often

3. Teaching a Heart by @i-write-shakespeare-not-disney status: WIP (114k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka is asked to go to the Fire Nation to teach the crown prince how to sword fight. When he arrives, he's surprised to learn he has to pose as a companion before he can teach the stubborn prince because he rejects every teacher. Far from home and among new customs, Sokka struggles to gain the prince's trust and friendship despite the uncertainties of the customs and dynamics he sees. As he slowly finds answers to his questions, his bond with the prince grows until it becomes something far more ardent than friendship. Doomed as it may be with the prince's approaching wedding ceremony and coronation, Sokka and Zuko find themselves consumed by what they find in each other.

i have no words, i just love this fic and it makes me weep.

4. The Road Between Action and Inaction by @donvex status: complete (17k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Sokka does a shitty k turn in the parking lot across from the bus station, pulls up to the curb where the boy is looking determinedly at his phone, and rolls down the passenger window. “Hey! Which way were you going?” He may die, but at least his conscience will be clear. The guy blinks at him. “Don’t.” Oh, he’s prickly. Or: the hitchhiker au, featuring Sokka and Zuko falling in love without even realizing it.

a classic. roadtrip fics own my ass.

5. purrfect for eachother by lesmiserablol status: complete (3k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: “Let me teach you how to be a cat person,” Zuko says. “Learning from the master himself,” Sokka grins. “Alright, this can’t be too hard. Show me what you got.” (because sometimes, it takes going to a cat café four times to realize you're in love with your best friend)

this whole series is adorable, reading it is self care

6. Ashes Inside When You Finish Your Song by @muncaster status: complete (47k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko, aang/katara, mai/ty lee summary: Sokka writes lyrics for his sister’s band. Zuko plays piano and is unnecessarily nice. Fellas, is it gay to write love songs about your friend and his golden eyes? (AKA, a modern band AU featuring The Gaang, crappy software equipment, homoerotic lyrics, and the realization that maybe, if you think about a guy every night before you sleep, you just might be in love with him.)

i think this is the longest one-shot i’ve ever read and it’s so worth it

7. a study in matchmaking by @verdanthoney status: complete (12k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko, aang/katara, bato/hakoda summary: Zuko and Sokka try to play matchmaker, but things don't go exactly as planned.

this fic makes me want to scream, in the best way. it’s so cute

8. A Predictable Story by mindbending status: complete (7k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: "On this night, you shall share a kiss with a great love of your life!” That lying, scummy Aunt Wu predicts a grand romance for Sokka. To disprove her "fortunetelling" once and for all, Sokka decides to spend the night with least romantic person he knows. Zuko.

again, i have no words. this fic is cute as hell

9. that’s murder, buddy by @bisexual-atla status: WIP (14k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: Throughout the streets, on quiet nights, it was rumored the screams of those missing could be heard. Some say the sounds were coming from underground. Where were the young girls? And what was happening to them? Was an evil spirit haunting Gaoling, or something more human? More sinister? My name is Zuko, and you’re tuning into another episode of ‘That’s Murder, Buddy’. Or: Sokka has no idea that his crush is the host of his favorite podcast. (But everyone else knows.)

i love the entire concept of this one, we love oblivious sokka

10. We’ll play hide and seek (to turn this around) by @crosspin status: complete (5k words) rating: general audiences pairing(s): sokka/zuko, bato/hakoda summary: Sokka gave him a sheepish smile. “It’s…well, you see, there’s this boy…” Hakoda sighed and set down the sports section. This was going to take a while. “He works at Barnes & Noble. At the big information desk in the middle. Every Saturday. And I really want to ask him for his number, but it’s super awkward because there’s always this other guy working the information desk at the same time. He’s old, like you. But I have a plan." Sokka’s eyes lit up deviously. “You come with me to Barnes & Noble today when they’re working and distract the old man. And while you have him distracted, I’ll swoop in and get the goods!” Sokka has a plan to ask out the cute boy at the bookstore. Hakoda is a begrudging participant until he meets the boy's beautiful older coworker.

this fic!! this fic! adorable, incredible, magnificent

11. feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe status: WIP (88k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: [Time passes oddly. Between one second and the next, Sokka has the Fire Lord pinned to the wall with his hands around the bastard’s throat. Golden eyes (one gold eye, his mind whispers) widen in shock. “Sokka?” he chokes out. And then he smiles. What the fuck? “Sokka, I—” Sokka slams his head against the wall, once, twice, and the smile wipes off his face. Good. “What,” Sokka bites out, “have you done to my sister?”] Or: An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends. Yeah, nah.

if you’ve been following me for a while you know this fic fucks me up beyond belief

12. breakable heaven by @fruitysokka status: WIP (43k words) rating: teen and up pairing(s): sokka/zuko summary: With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

this just in: sokka and zuko being oblivious makes me want to yell

this turned out a bit longer than i expected but it also doesn’t even cover all my favorites. i had to stop somewhere, or i’d be here forever. maybe i’ll make a part two someday.

anyway, enjoy!

#cas recs things #fic rec #atla #zukka #cas speaks #text #zukka fics #zukka nation

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land-of-brains-and-chocolate · 3 years

Note

Rec list for Eddie and Symby being vaguely to very gay?

I'm sorry for coming to you with my monsterfucker agenda 😔👊 (no I'm not)

i mean, i probably could’ve seen this coming.

venom is dominated by two opposing narratives. let’s call this the “relationship narrative” and the “control narrative”. they’re not perfectly separated, like, you’ll definitely get elements of one in the other, but generally one of them describes what the story, at its core, is using the symbiote for.

now comics are an endless tug-of-war at the best of times, much less the gayest and slimiest of times. there’s a neverending backlash and backbacklash going on between these two takes. what you want is the relationship narrative.

everything very much started out with that take. eddie and the symbiote are two characters who forge an evil alliance because it lets them do what they wanna do (kill spider-man, more or less) and they have the same kinds of neuroses and complexes and syndromes. lots of early comics are also very fun about the merged consciousness, merged identity deal. that’s kind of the textbook relationship stuff.

personally i absolutely think the original stories (venom was created by david michelinie) have romantic undertones, even starting in the villainy days. eddie describes their first meeting as “a shadow moved, caressed me.” he takes the rejection of the symbiote still being “in love with” spider-man really hard. he sobs his eyes out when he thinks it’s dead and promises to avenge it bare-handed. they totally expect to live happily ever after on a deserted island together.

then there’s venom: lethal protector, which is cute on its own, but if you’re reading for slime romance, i very specifically recommend the novelisation. i won’t even spoil it. and then, planet of the symbiotes is the first comic that i would say has outright queer themes, intentional or not.

so all those recs until now are collected in this post.

we're trucking along through the 90s, we explore elements of one take and then the other and sometimes we ignore the symbiote completely, but not too much changes, overall. the next BIG stop in Gay Venom is, of course, the hunger.

miniseries by len kaminski, just venom: the hunger. plenty of people have written their essays on it, but what’s always important to me is that it DID NOT come out of nowhere. as said above, it expanded on themes that were there, it references michelinie venom very explicitly, like you get your SECOND “tenderly touching the green glass tube” scene.

but yes this one is specifically about, like, stigmatisation, otherness, mental illness, meeting all those things with care and empathy and optimism, tentacle sex. again, many essays. a venom comic that can go “look at the twisted deviance of this relationship” and then turn it around into “but how are you looking at it” is good. god how good would it be if they also did that to eddie more. anyway.

a few years later you get the first MAJOR fucking backlash, culminating in the SECOND story titled the hunger. spectacular spider-man: the hunger, from 2003. completely reboots venom and retcons their motivations and backstories, makes very spiteful references to planet of the symbiotes and the hunger, like it is not also called that by sheer coincidence. literally starts out, in a comic that wants to tackle and redefine venom, with the line “the PROBLEM is that you guys are like an old married couple”. so the new status quo is that the symbiote only ever used eddie to be with spider-man, and eddie only ever used the symbiote to not die of cancer.

the “control narrative” that really kicks in here uses the symbiote as, you know, a thing to control, eddie’s demons personified or even a completely foreign force to torment him. if eddie is evil, it’s not because of what he thinks and believes and wants, it’s because he couldn’t control the symbiote and gave in to its inexplicable bloodlust.

this is an unambiguous downgrade in terms of complexity, in my humble opinion, completely fucks up eddie’s responsibility themes, and is also a pretty clearly petty reaction to venom’s absolute oversaturation in the nineties. the bitch was everywhere and most of it wasn’t good. so there was LOTS of “look at this creepy loser” content by writers cringing themselves into self-awareness at the time. the 00s were going to be GRITTY and MATURE.

this of course means that we get to see eddie slit his wrists and bleed to death on panel after selling the symbiote to supervillains as an attempted act of redemption???

wild fucking times! it’s not exactly worth recommending as ~shippy~, but the first real backbacklash to this first round of retcons comes from dan slott, who just kind of ignores it all in new ways to die. drags eddie back to the land of the living and relevant, makes the symbiote refuse to let its new host kill him, telling that host, and reestablishing, that it loves eddie. and then, to keep him living and relevant, slott makes eddie anti-venom.

don’t even worry about it. anti-venom is essentially eddie seeking redemption with symbiote powers, but without the symbiote, except he pretty much acts no fucking different at all, just keeps on being a murderous vigilante with cracked ideas about innocence and guilt. people still act like he’s better now because, in its metatextual ways, the hunger was right.

then fucking uuuuuuhhhhhhh. agent venom. symbiote goes to flash thompson and the us military, and the writer, rick remender, goes really, really, really hard on the control narrative. the symbiote becomes a substance flash is addicted to, gives a voice to his past abuse, it’s dark times all the times.

people very much do like that narrative for flash, like at least from that perspective it was worth it. i don’t like it much for the symbiote. for the symbiote, representing everything fucked up with flash and forcing him to murder kill bite all the time is resolved via the good guy avengers literally lobotomising it so flash can wear it without further resistance or input. imagine doing that to a human person. you’re uncooperative so we’re gonna turn off your higher cognitive functions and wear you like a meat suit. happy ending for everybody! truly we’ve conquered our demons this day.

then! at the same time, there’s a cartoon coming out, it’s called ultimate spider-man. THAT one does the control narrative take with harry osborn, but then does the relationship take with flash, making it the only cartoon to outright redeem the symbiote and let it find friendship and be valued as a person.

and people loved it! so brian michael bendis gets it in his head that he’s going to redeem the symbiote and make it partner up with flash. and he does redeem it by the highly fucking questionable means of having it be “cleansed”, aka brainwashed and relieved of its memories and personality. not that it matters for long. nothing fucking matters in comics. take this with you if it’s the only thing.

so then for fun friendship times you get venom: space knight, flash and the symbiote’s adventures in space! and then that gets cancelled. eddie is off somewhere being toxin and hunting carnage (2016). many good comics but you did not ask for them.

and THEN.

it is time for the next MOTHER of backlashes.

flash gets literally discarded at fucking roadside to put the symbiote back on eddie and turn back time on their relationship to RIGHT before the FIRST backlash happened. you know, all those 2003 retcons. gone. ignored. no more. venom’s themes are now those circa 1996 again. full fucking on relationship narrative. ROMANTIC relationship narrative, and that after the symbiote was turned into eddie’s evil shadow, after he hated it and spent a LONG time seeking to eradicate all symbiotes (and not even for the first time).

the COSTA run. venom (2016). reviled and beloved.

like this comic is fucking ANGRY about symbiote treatment. i HAD to tell you all of that so you’d understand ANYTHING it’s doing. the first thing it does is flip it completely around, puts the symbiote on a military guy who’s making IT do bad things, makes his ability to control it horrifying and abusive instead of heroic and admirable. one of the later things it does (in the follow-up venom: first host) is outright feature a villain who lobotomises symbiotes, ending on a symbiote serving him swift and sweet payback by doing the same thing TO HIM. it’s exactly as unsubtle as the hunger (2003) was about its hang-ups.

comics... are a conversation.

flash remains a symbiote friend but still got fucked over big time by it all, symbiote-focused writers slott and costa also kind of use him to literally, in case anybody hadn’t caught on, literally spell out the REAL story that’s been going on in the writer's room for the past THIRTY YEARS:

you’ll notice i didn’t actually list any of the Gay Shit for you, you’ve probably already seen it or you’ll get to see it for yourself. yes, they are deeply in love, yes, it’s fucked up and flawed, yes, it is real and taken seriously and has ultimately redeeming potential. yes the concept of that nearly knocked me off my feet and in front of the subway at one point. yes there’s mpreg

it’s also fucking riddled with events, which spin off into other comics, so either ignore those and rely on the recaps OR click yourself forward through the “next issue (story)” button on marvel wikia to know what to read.

and after that must of course come the backbackbacklash, as certain as death or taxes. in the next run, we retcon everything once more, eddie just needs to control his darkness, the symbiote was an evil abuser all along, nothing on earth is ever new.

i’m not gonna go through it, i’m just gonna point you to the backbackbackbacklash issue that came out during this time: venom annual volume 2 number 1 - it’s confusingly named, it’s the one that has a blue-skinned space lady on it. this one ignores the backbackbacklash going on very pointedly and goes “it’s not ABOUT control” again, it’s pretty explicitly romantic.

and then there’s also marvel comics presents (2019) #5, which, oddly enough, does not particularly feature the characterisation you’d typically see in the relationship narrative? but it does feature eddie and the symbiote literally fucking, so you’d want to know about it.

that’s the overall, like, frame of eddie and the symbiote being in a relationship (nuh uh) (yeah they are) (NUH UH) (YEAH THEY ARE)

some stuff that’s smaller but still notable, uh.

nova (1999) 6 - 7, that’s the “we’re space married”

venom: dark origin, that’s an ALTERNATE (!!!) take on the character, don’t expect a likeable eddie but it’s very darkly funny and gay so what can i say.

venom: the end, which i would absolutely fucking hate to be canon, i think its characterisation is quite regressive, but the symbiote sure is in love, i guess.

venom: separation anxiety, the dawn of the control narrative but eddie’s characterisation did not have to go so wrong from here, like if they’d just figured out AT THIS STAGE that he's STILL acting like venom without it... i digress. it has the symbiote going eddie eddie eddieee

venom: sinner takes all, this is the first she-venom comic so that’s. hm. interesting. healing symbiote blanket

don’t read venom: license to kill just look at this panel with me

if i think of more comics worth adding i’ll add them.

the subtext slash text is heavy enough to be present to some degree in literally every cartoon adaptation of eddie brock. spider-man: the animated series goes FULL control narrative, in fact it started the “the symbiote corrupted peter” take that we to this day cannot escape, but the first few venom episodes are VERY playful about their relationship.

in spectacular spider-man it’s canon, but horrible. eddie’s in love with it, but eddie's a good boy and the symbiote is played very, very, very abusively. i think this is an evil symbiote adaptation that works well enough, at least it’s an actual meaningful character instead of just a malevolent force to resist.

in marvel’s spider-man, the only venom episode worth watching is venom returns.

i’ve actually got every symbiote-relevant episode listed right here from when we did our communal watch-through.

also watch truth in journalism. idk if it’s exactly shippy just do it

#venom #symbrock #tl;dr i wish i could tl;dr this #no off-site links to please the gods of tagging

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adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction · 3 years

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The Leverage/Stargate fic I’ll probably never write

I have an idea for a Leverage/Stargate crossover fic but no drive to actually write it. So I’m going to lay down the plot summary of the story that exists in my head. If anyone wants to take some or all of this idea and flesh it out into a full story, you’re welcome to it.

AU!Eliot Spencer went to work for Stargate Command early on in its existence and has been there ever since. He's extremely good at his job but in a ruthless way that has everyone at best wary of him and at worst terrified. He's the guy you send on the most dangerous missions, but he's also the guy you send when you want something awful doing without any questions asked.

The Goa'uld have put a bomb in a child and killing the child is the only way to stop it going off and killing thousands? Eliot Spencer is your guy. The megadeathray gun is surrounded by slaves as human shields? Eliot Spencer is the guy who will blow it up while everyone else is busy arguing about whether there's a better way. Need someone to headshot a Goa'uld and not care about the innocent host? He's the guy who will pull the lever on your trolley problem while everyone else is still arguing the ethical ramifications.

They keep him around because he is really good at his job but also because everything he does is technically for the greater good and you can see the logic in shooting the guy with the alien virus before he can spread it and cause a plague but still, you'd think the guy would show a little remorse about shooting an innocent person in the head. So he doesn't really have friends in the SGC just reluctant allies, but he's doing good and saving the world in his own, violent way.

But then one of the science teams discover something that's giving off the same sort of energy readings as the quantum mirror and Eliot is there to act as bodyguard/escort to the scientists. They bring the shiny, aliens toys back through the Gate but then something gets activated by accident, zapping Eliot, and then suddenly canon!Eliot is there in the base, with an apron and a wooden spoon because he was in the middle of cooking dinner.

Naturally, he's immediately on the offensive because he's apparently been kidnapped and these people are all in military uniform, so he starts fighting and takes down six marines with a wooden spoon but then AU!Eliot is there fighting him and they're evenly matched. Neither can get an upper hand and they only stop when someone shoots them both with a zat while they're locked in combat and knocks them out.

Eliot wakes up heavily restrained and they try to explain that they think he's been pulled from a parallel universe and of course Eliot doesn't believe a word of it because it sounds like something from one of Hardison's weird TV shows, and the guy who looked like him was clearly a trick. He's scared that the other Eliot is part of some plot to get to his team and so of course he's not going to give them any sort of cooperation. Everyone else is scared of him because they know how scary their Eliot Spencer is and they don't want to get on the wrong side of him, but they need to get one of the techs to try and undo what was done, so they get one of the team to bring in the alien gizmo - and it's Hardison.

The Hardison of this world was still a computer genius and got recruited to get alien and human tech to work together. He doesn't really know Eliot because the techs tend to spend most of their time with other techs generally, but also that guy's scary. He really doesn't want to be in the same room as two of them, glaring at each other, because if their Eliot Spencer is the good version, he really doesn't want to know what the evil mirror universe Eliot Spencer is like. But he drew the short straw so he's got to come in and try to get some tech they barely understand to zap this guy back to where he came from.

Canon!Eliot recognises Hardison at once but thinks that he's here as part of a con as a rescue mission, so he pretends to have no idea who he is, but plays along. When Hardison starts explaining about parallel universes and alternate timelines and quantum mirrors, Eliot listens and pretends he might start to believe this technobabble and asks questions like he's starting to be convinced. The first test to send Eliot back to his universe doesn't work but he agrees to cooperate if Hardison keeps working to send him home, because he needs to get out of these restraints anyway if Hardison's rescue plan is to have any chance of succeeding. And the other people who are around standing guard or watching the events unfold are surprised that Eliot would believe Hardison over an alternate universe version of himself.

"Of course I don't trust me. I know me!"

But AU!Eliot knows him too and thinks that he's been convinced too easily and that this is a trick. He knows he would never be so quick to believe a total stranger and thinks that Eliot is just lying to get out of the restraints and then he'll start fighting everyone again, probably taking that tech as a hostage.

But while all this is going on, people are referring to Hardison by his real name and talking to him like he's been here for years, and canon!Eliot starts getting weirded out because Hardison would never use his real name in a con and he has a very distinctive tell when he's playing a part and he's not showing that tell now.

AU!Eliot wouldn't just announce that he doesn't think this guy is telling the truth so he beckons whatever senior officer is present over to the far corner so that they can talk quietly but he can still keep an eye on canon!Eliot and warns him about what he thinks the guy is planning. Meanwhile, Hardison is still running tests on canon!Eliot with the alien tech and now no one is close enough to overhear, so Eliot lets his hair hang in front of his face to shield his mouth from the security cameras and whispers, "Is Parker okay?"

Hardison just goes, "Who's Parker?" in a voice loud enough that everyone in the room can hear it.

"Damn it, Hardison!"

The senior office asks Hardison what happened and he repeats back exactly what Eliot said to him. That's what convinces Eliot that this is real because he knows that Hardison would never do anything to expose Parker and he wouldn't blurt something like that out in the middle of a con after all the years they've been doing this.

"You're not my Hardison, are you?"

"Your Hardison?!"

And Eliot tries to then convince them that he now believes them, even though they're more suspicious than ever because he was pretending to believe them before. Eliot just looks at Hardison and says, "I swear on your Nana's chicken, chilli caserole recipe that I won't hurt you if you let me out of these restraints."

Everyone else is really confused but Hardison is astonished because Nana's chicken chilli caserole recipe is sacred. It's a family secret, but she will only give the recipe to family members she deems worthy, meaning that only one of her foster kids has ever been told it and Hardison (who consists off gummy frogs and orange soda in every universe) has never so much glimpsed the page it's written on. It's a meal that is served on the specialest of special occasions and Nana would guard that recipe with her life.

"You know Nana's recipe?"

"I proved myself worthy at your engagement party. She gave me the recipe for the wedding."

"I'm married in your universe?!"

"Not legally." Because three-way unions aren't legal and besides, the guy they had officiate their wedding dropped out of priest school to become an insurance agent con artist, so it's not exactly official, but that's never stopped them. Hardison is still confused but thinks that maybe it wasn't legal because of gay marriage rules and this means he had an unofficial commitment ceremony to Eliot Spencer. He has to sit down while he processes this.

After some discussion, they let Eliot out of the restraints and he spends a little bit of time in the SGC while Hardison works on the tech. He talks to the alternate version of himself and suggests he take a cooking class and tells him he should get to know Hardison better because, "Once you get past the annoying surface part that makes you want to murder him, he's one of the smartest, bravest, and best people you could ever hope to meet, and half the irritating stuff he does is just to make you smile."

"And the other half?"

"He's just being irritating," but Eliot says this with a soft, caring smile that AU!Eliot hasn't seen in his reflection in a very long time and that makes him think it's worth giving it a shot.

And Eliot talks to Hardison too, telling him that he has absolute trust in his ability to work out all this alien tech stuff and get him home safely because he has people there who need him because he doesn't trust Hardison to feed himself any with more nutritional value than gummy frogs without him there to take care of him. And he convinces Hardison to take a chance on this universe's Eliot because if anyone can get past his defences, it's him. Or Parker, but she doesn't seem to be around in this universe.

And that seems like the perfect moment for Parker to appear out of a vent because she wanted to give herself a challenge breaking into a facility with more security than any museum and she's been listening in on all of this stuff as it unfolds.

So this universe's Hardison and Eliot convince the SGC guards not to shoot Parker because she has a really useful skillset, and canon!Eliot wishes them luck as he gets sent bak to his own world, where his Parker and Hardison are in the middle of tearing the criminal underworld into a million pieces to find out what happened to him.

#fic idea #fanfic prompt #not!fic #Leverage #Stargate SG-1 #fanfic

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trutrustories · 3 years

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Okay, this will be probably long and with many errors (my english isn´t very good) But I saw several posts here on Lokius tag, talking about this ship as result of gay fetish, and about non existing chemistry and how this ship doesn´t make sense etc… And from what I understood there is tagged Lokius because of genuine interest to understand others point of view, so here is mine: I wil try to explain where my frustration comes from, and how I feel about Lokius, Sylkie, AND representation + some other things which I saw here somewhere. But first of all: I like Sylvie, I don´t hate sylkie shipers, and after so many years reading fan fictions, I don´t mind selfcest – I read weirder things. I have some issues with this ship (the mainlythe fact that it isn´t Lokius), but this is not one of them. Also, I am not about to tell anyone, they shouldn´t ship sylkie.Ship whatever. And I LOVED the show as a whole.

I just want to defend my standpoint, that Lokius does make sense, people shipping it does make sense and whether it will happen or not, (I don´t have my hopes very high, and I learned to be very skeptical in this regard ) it is more than just about crack ship, or fetish. I´m honestly blown away that people are still surprised that this ship became a thing :D First of all, let´s look at some romantic story telling and tropes: I mean the way they introduced them in the first two episodes set the tone for all series and how the heck this isn´t romantic? Somehow there are all these romantic tropes existing in a show. They´re just there. Just chilling between Loki and Mobius and large portion of audience can´t even see them. (and some of those tropes were used for Sylki as well, so you could actually see them side by side)

For example: 1) traveling to the apocalypsis 2) breaking law/rules for the other 3) literally changing for the better thanks to the other 4) arguing like old married couple 5) saying secrets, personal things to the other 6) sharing glances, touches, visibly being happy around each other - in case of Loki happier then we´ve ever seen him before 7) being completely themselfs around each other 8) One knowing everything (even the worst) about other and still accepting him completely 9) teasing, being comfortable and domestic around each other 10) one being literally enthusiastic FAN of the other 11) Mobius defending Loki whenever he has a chance 12) Freaking amnesia trope that they pulled of in the end??? (It could be different Mobius, but point is he suddenly doesn´t know him - and Loki knows more, in contrast with the beggining) 13) the jealousy in ep4 14) Misunderstanding - when Mobius thought Loki betrayed him and Loki (thanks to Ravonna) thought Mobius betrayed him... 15) witnessing death of the other and being absolutely broken afterwards 16) The goodbye hug with romantic music in the backround 17) Saving life of the one (even when it means problems for the other ) - like Mobius saved Loki´s ass at least three times when he was trying to stop others from pruning him. 18) sharing deep conversations about meanings of life, freedom and how it would be fun to make some chaos and ride that fucking jet ski!!! 19) Inspiring the other 20) looking for each other (Mobius didn´t believe for a second, that Loki would die in the Void and the way how in the last minutes of the series Loki run through all places they were together when he was looking for Mobius... and I could go on. Point is, even if they are not planning to make Lokius canon, all these things are used on a daily basis to describe romance in media and they are used here. On top of that it´s just very poetic and cute, that this drama queen and powerful god of Asgard who looked down on people would find his match in someone, who is so quiet, ordinary on the first sight, and basically is just human from 90s, who loves jet skis. Mobius can´t even fight. But is highly inteligent and he also happen to be as good manipulator, such as Loki himself. - That´s why they work together so well. Mobius sees right through him and once Loki understands that, he drops his evil persona. Almost nobody expected to ship it for real. But story itself and chemistry between them just made it probably the most exciting duo in the whole MCU. And I mean it genuinely. Third episode, even though it was beautiful and Sophie was great in it (and is literally dipped in bisexual colors), is the least favorite for a reason. And that reason being, there is no interaction between Loki and Mobius whatsoever. Lot´s of people though that series slowed down a bit. Even when in fact there was more action, then when we watched Loki and Mobius working at the TVA.

(and let´s just talk about evil!Mobius narative for a bit and how some people say he is manipulative and toxic for Loki: show itself explore heavy themes and one of them is in Loki´s line: no one bad is ever truly bad and no one good is ever truly good. And as a theme in a fictional world, it is working as it should, for the story. When Loki and Mobius meet, one of them just killed lots of innocent people and destroyed almost whole city. The other one is a part of fascist organization – and in the beginning of the series they both believe what they´re doing is right. They´re both bad, they´re both good, they´re both broken. And they are changing with the help of the other.) From all reactions I watched - and there was many of them, lots of people actually didn´t see dynamic between Loki and Sylvie as romantic in the third episode. So it´s not like Sylvie and Loki had unequivocally love story right from the start.

The only difference is that lots of people won´t see romantic tropes, when it comes to two men in a mainstream show – show that isn´t primarily about relationships and problems that queer people has to face. Because in super hero story and science fiction we have to warn audience, that they´re about to watch two man in love, right? At this point It´s just frustrating really. There were many M/M dynamics that used similar story line, as for example Lucifer, or X-files, or Bone collectors. - But unlike those M/M pairings, no one was making fun of people for shipping main characters in these shows. But when it comes to two men suddenly you´ll see from all corners of the internet: “why can´t it be just platonic?” “There is not enough platonic relationships” “why can´t two man just be friends?” (They can and they almost ALWAYS are) and “if you think there something romantic between them, you´re delusional” “fetishist“ “And for god´s sake just let them be friends, Loki needs a friend more then....” oh wait, but Sylvie is allowed to kiss him. Sylvie doesn´t have to be just friend. (And I must say, that I love Sylvie, I liked most of the interactions between her and Loki and I think she is a great character ((I hope we learn more about her in the future)) it just doesn´t work for me as well as Loki´s dynamic with Mobius. Maybe partly because of chemistry between actors, partly because combination of characters and they´re personality and also because I had two whole episodes to fall in love with the pair before Sylvie was even introduced.)

First of all: people can be friends and then evolve into lovers. Not only it is common romantic trope, but it is also the most realistic one. And those relationships are usually strongest. second: If people want to see Loki in a platonic friendship so desperately, why can´t it be a woman for a change? They were acting like chaotic siblings for most of the episode three anyway. The age gap aspect is also very funny. Owen is only about 12 years older (That is not that much. But I imagine, some people would get uncomfortable. But If it was man and woman, most of them wouldn´t even blinked. But two men, that has to be somehow automatically son and father figure dynamic) And If you want to dive into age of an actual characters, then good luck with that in a series about gods, variants and time travel. Almost nobody cares about age gap between Lucifer and detective Decker, or Bella and Edward. On top of that, it was heavily implied, that Loki slept with older, silver haired guy in Ragnarok, so it´s not like he would have problem with that.

Different standards are projected in a way how we see romantic dynamics between fictional characters depends on what we are used to, how are we perceiving world around us, what we are expecting to see and ALSO, what we would like to see, that much is true. When people are used to make no differences between heterosexual and homosexual pairing, then everything what happens to the characters is measured with the same meter. (Even though I experienced queerbaiting many times (( Once upon a time, Sherlock, Supernatural, Good Omens – the last one hopefully is not the case, but I guess we´ll see)) I also saw lots of lgbt shows like Queer as folks and Sense8.) And when we are not used to see it the same way, well… then it looks basically like that one comment under Castiel´s “I love you” scene on youtube, that said “what a beautiful friendship”.

If we forget about all that chaotic mess behind the scenes (all those articles and contrary messages) What is happening in a show between Loki and Mobius can be objectively considered romantic and what is happening between Loki and Sylvie in a series can be objectively considered platonic (until the kiss) and vice versa. And then to see comments about how absurd it is to even think they have chemistry, and about gay fetish - it´s hard to swallow. I read posts about absurdity of a ship and how there is absolutely nothing that would suggests romance. Well there is, actually. But whether creators are going to work with it or not, that´s something we can only speculate. They already made Loki officially bisexual. So why should it be so absurd to assume, that there is an actual possibility of romantic subplot between Loki and Mobius? Oh right… it´s Disney and Marvel we are talking about.

So on a subject of bisexuality: Bi people can date whoever they want. But It is a little frustrating, when there is so many heterosexual pairings in the mcu and disney but when there is a promise of lgbt character (speaking of endgame) we get one line about date from a man we´ll never see again. And when there is a promise of lgbt representation you can´t even blink during movie, or you´ll miss it (Star wars, Beauty and the beast). And then Loki said “A bit of both, I suspect the same as you”. And I won´t lie, I was happy. And I think creators made biggest step yet with this one line (which is honestly terrible, that “a bit of both” coming from Loki of all people, is the biggest step forward.) But they played it VERY safe. Obviously, both Loki, and Sylvie are bisexuals, and in three episodes, we had Loki flirting with female flight attendant, Sylvie talking about her relationship with POSTMAN and then they fall for each other. So the only thing that suggests they are really as bi as Lamentis 1 is that little sentence, that can be edited out, or easily overheard. It´s the bare minimum. And I think that frustration with how freaking slowly we´re moving into some progress is understandable. From all those great M/M dynamics I talked about, those, that could make great love story, nothing happened, because too many people “don´t mind gays but don´t need to look at them” or are scared for their children. In 2021.

It is not a fetish to wish for a gay love story in superhero movies/series. (But anyway, I don´t think there is anything bad about it. Some men like to watch lesbian porn, some woman like to read gay porn. AO3 wouldn´t be were it is today, without people reading and writing slash :D – but that has little to do with what we actually see on tv)

I´m not delusional. As much, as I love these two characters together, I know how little chance it has. I´m not delusional. I´m just in the future, old and tired, waiting hundreds of years for at least one of my OTP to finaly become a fucking canon.

#Lokius #loki series #LOKI AND MOBIUS #mobius m mobius #loki

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pluckyredhead · 2 years

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Character Profile: Al Rothstein (Nuklon/Atom-Smasher)

My first character profile was about Grant Emerson, a.k.a. Damage, son of the Golden Age Atom. Today I’m going to tell you about his sort-of brother, Al Rothstein, godson of the Golden Age Atom, who I love so, so much even if no one knows who he is. (But you will soon, because Noah Centineo is playing him in the Black Adam movie next year, and I have NO IDEA what that is going to look like, because in the comics it’s absolutely a tragic romance. You’ll see.)

Al technically debuted in All-Star Squadron #25 in 1983, but his real introduction came in the Infinity, Inc. comic that launched the next year. Infinity, Inc. was a team made up of the children and proteges of the original Justice Society of America, and Al fit in perfectly: Al Pratt, the Atom, was godfather to first Al’s mom Terri and then to Al himself. (I’m assuming this is more of an honorary title than a formal relationship, since the Rothsteins are Jewish and Jews don’t have godparents. We also don’t name our kids after living loved ones because it’s considered bad luck, so there’s no way Terri would have named her son after Al Pratt. This is why we get sensitivity readers, folks, even if that term didn’t exist in 1983.)

Al's grandfather was a supervillain and the details bore me to tears but radiation was involved somehow, which is why Al has powers: he’s 7′6″ at his normal height and can grow...basically indefinitely enormous? He’s also super strong, and his strength and durability grow with his size. For a while he could also phase through walls but that was weird so they just sort of forgot about it.

BIG BOY. LORGE.

Anyway, Al celebrates joining Infinity, Inc. by shaving his hair into a mohawk! Bless his sweet, awkward heart.

...Honestly, though, he doesn’t do a whole lot on Infinity, Inc. - he’s the muscle, but he doesn’t have a lot of plot to call his own. He has a hopeless crush on his teammate Lyta, who is engaged to fellow teammate Hector, and when Hec gets Lyta pregnant, goes evil, and dies, Al offers to marry her because I guess he thinks it’s 1883 and not 1983. Like, it’s a kind gesture, but very old-fashioned (and of course Hec isn’t actually dead...it’s a whole thing). He also has a relationship that goes nowhere with another teammate, Yolanda, mostly because of all the pining after Lyta. Al. Darling. This is sad.

Infinity, Inc. disbanded by the end of the decade, and in 1994, Al and his fellow Infinitor Todd Rice (Obsidian) joined the Justice League. They were sort of just teammates in the Infinity, Inc. days, but now they are delightfully codependent unlikely best friends, with Al as the sweet golden retriever to Todd’s furiously standoffish cat. Also, Al has a ponytail now. SOMEONE HELP THIS BOY.

I love these two so much. Like, this is it, this is the friendship:

It’s also made basically as explicit as humanly possible without saying it out loud that Todd is in love with Al, who is oblivious. My theory is that the series writer couldn’t get away with more than one gay character on the team in 1995, and there’s already an out lesbian. (Al asks her out. Al has absolutely zero gaydar.)

When someone points out to Al that he and Todd are...close, he asks Todd if he’s in love with him, at which point Todd angrily declares that he doesn’t like labels, and even if the only two people he loves in the whole world are his sister and Al, that doesn’t mean anything, okay??? Al plays some basketball about it and then they hug it out:

This is genuinely pretty progressive for the mid-90s! (For context, Marvel at the time had a policy that any books with gay characters had to be labeled as Adults Only. So.) Todd would eventually come out as gay in 2006, but that is a story for another character profile.

This version of the Justice League disbanded soon after, but that worked out well for Al, because he got picked up by the Justice Society instead, in the 1999 JSA series. He celebrates by changing his codename to Atom Smasher and switching to a costume closer to that of Al Pratt’s, who was killed in 1994:

Al is absolutely thrilled to be on the JSA, since he’s idolized them since childhood. I find this super charming, because the League is definitely the top tier team and he’s already been a Leaguer, but no, he wants to be a JSAer. Bless.

I mean. This is a glow-up.

Al is less thrilled that one of his teammates is Black Adam, the Captain Marvel villain. (Captain Marvel the DC character, who is now called Shazam. It’s complicated.) Black Adam is basically an immortal beefcake with all the powers of Captain Marvel/Shazam, who spent a few millennia being a villain and now wants to make up for it. Al, who is extremely Lawful Good, is not on board.

Then Al’s mom is killed in a plane crash orchestrated by the terrorist Kobra. Al is understandably livid and wants to kill Kobra, but the rest of the JSA talks him into taking Kobra alive and handing him over to the authorities.

Meanwhile, an incredibly powerful time traveling villain called Extant has been messing around with the timeline and threatening all of reality. (Extant also just so happens to be the person who killed Al Pratt back in 1994, so Al has pre-existing beef with him.) After a battle with the JSA, Extant flees into the timestream to create more havoc, pursued by Al and Metron, a godlike being who’s been hanging around spouting portentous warnings. Al comes up with a way to stop Extant from fucking up the timeline again: switch him with Terri Rothstein, right before the plane crash. Metron agrees, largely just to see what’ll happen, and suddenly Terri Rothstein is right there, alive and well, and Extant is sitting on a plane which immediately crashes, killing him.

(Al’s like 25, so I don’t know why they’re drawing Terri to look 103. Call it Aunt May Syndrome. Also that narration is from Courtney Whitmore, Stargirl, because this story implies that they’ll eventually get married, which...we’ll get there.)

This is the start of Al’s moral downfall, and while we can debate whether or not he truly killed Extant - after all, Metron made the switch and Kobra crashed the plane, but Extant wouldn’t have been on that plane if Al hadn’t suggested it - he 100% considers himself to have committed murder. But he’s also like, “Well, I love my mom, so I feel bad about it, but not that bad.” Also, he saved all of reality. I think we can argue that there are some extenuating circumstances here, is what I’m saying.

Soon after that, he and Black Adam are kidnapped and forced to fight to the death. Instead, they become best friends.

Those adoring looks in the second panel are a lot, you guys.

Then Kobra’s trial happens. He’s gotten his followers to become suicide bombers, basically, and threatens to have them all trigger the bombs if he doesn’t go free, giving the judge no real choice. Al is livid, and Adam has had enough with being hamstrung by the JSA’s black and white morality. Adam puts together a small team, Al included; they track down Kobra and Adam murders him while Al holds him in place.

Their next stop is Kahndaq, Adam’s home country, which is now under the rule of an oppressive dictator who the international community is basically completely ignoring. Adam stages a coup, but it’s Al who takes out the dictator:

Adam becomes the new ruler of Kahndaq by military fiat, but the people love him and welcome him as their leader. This does not stop the JSA from flying in to...kidnap him back to America and destabilize the country I guess??? Look, I’m not saying stepping on dictators is a solution (unless...?), but probably a team of mostly old white men called the Justice Society of America shouldn’t barge into a Middle Eastern nation with absolutely zero authority from the US government or the UN to just...go absolutely apeshit with violence? Which is what they do. Like, Hawkman mutilates his own godson. But they’re the good guys, because killing is wrong but mutilation is fine, I guess!

Meanwhile, Al is torn between his loyalty to Adam and the little voice in his head telling him that this is wrong, which turns out to be not his conscience, but the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer, who has been running around all tiny on his shoulder and gaslighting him. (I know that term gets misused a lot on the internet, but Ray - who like the JSA is positioned as the good guy here - is straight-up trying to make Al think he’s crazy, which is what gaslighting actually is.)

To put an end to the violence, Al and Captain Marvel come to an agreement: the JSA leaves Black Adam to rule Kahndaq since it’s the will of the people, but on the condition that Adam never sets foot outside of his borders. Everyone agrees, and Al choses to stay in Kahndaq, by Adam’s side. BECAUSE THEY’RE IN LOVE.

Some time later, a time traveling villain called Per Degaton screws up the timeline by causing the original JSA to disband permanently in 1951. A time traveling hero named Rip Hunter (Booster Gold’s son, <3 u Rippy) recruits a bunch of JSA successors to go back in time and convince their predecessors not to quit - including Al. Seeing his mentor again and fighting alongside the JSA makes Al realize he wants to rejoin the team, but while they’re deliberating, Adam shows up and asks Al to “come home.”

UGH THESE TWO.

Kahndaq is actually under attack by the Spectre, who has gone evil, so Al agrees to go back with Adam and help.

Adam: What about our wedding vows, Albert???

The Spectre is basically destroying Kahndaq, so Al grows the most gigantic he’s ever grown to fight him, which is not going to work because the Spectre is the embodiment of God’s vengeance and Al is just a very big boy. He offers himself up to the Spectre to be judged in place of the Kahndaqi people. The Spectre grabs him by the heart and tells him “The moment you killed Extant, your heart died.” Al falls, and the Spectre leaves.

Al asks a crying Courtney if the JSA voted him back in, and when she says yes, he asks her to tell his mom he died a member of the Justice Society. Then he dies. Black Adam FREAKS THE HELL OUT (there’s a classic screaming NO at the sky moment, it’s great) and uses his Shazam lightning to defibrillate Al back to life:

THIS HAD BETTER BE IN THE MOVIE.

The JSA takes Al back to the States, and when he recovers, he voluntarily hands himself over to the authorities and has a really unclear trial (federal? international? WHO KNOWS) where he pleads guilty to war crimes and is sent to Belle Reve, where he’s promptly recruited onto the Suicide Squad. He's sent into Kahndaq to take down Adam, who by this point has married a woman named (well, superhero named) Isis, which I guess means he and Al are broken up. It all goes very poorly.

Then Isis is killed. In revenge, Adam...uh, commits genocide upon the nearby nation of Bialya. Al at first refuses to believe he would do such a thing, but eventually teams up with the JSA to help take him down. However, during the climactic battle, he saves Adam’s life instead and secretly lets him go. What a sap.

Adam goes on a quest to bring Isis back to life, which suuuuper doesn’t work, in part because the corpse he’s working with is missing a finger. Al finds the finger (don’t ask) and brings it to him, which is very in character for the guy who was best man at Hector and Lyta’s wedding like the day after proposing to Lyta. They could not sound more like ex-lovers if they tried.

Al helps the JSA when they have to fight Adam and a properly resurrected Isis yet again, and does in fact manage to talk Adam down and save the day (though Adam and Isis are turned into statues by the Wizard for their sins...it’s a whole thing).

Al is formally readmitted to the JSA, although some members still don’t trust him. Somewhere in there he has the big fight with Grant that I talked about in the Damage profile, though after that they get along fine and even have their own little teamup move:

I love any and all fastball specials.

And then there’s the Courtney stuff. SIGH. So Courtney (Stargirl) has had an obvious crush on Al since they both joined the team in 1999. He never really seemed to reciprocate, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s suggested at one point that they will eventually get married. After Al’s fall from grace, it’s very clear that her profound disappointment in him is particularly painful to him, and once he rejoins the JSA, it’s...let’s say less clear whether or not he reciprocates, to the point that multiple characters comment on the fact that something is going on between them.

The problem is, Al is, like I said, somewhere in his mid-20s, and Courtney is barely 17. Finally, the JSA old guard is like “Al, you gotta shut this down,” which he does:

I truly do not know why these narrative choices were made. Especially since this is the second time a romance is set up between Courtney and an older man (Billy Batson, who is actually her age but the rest of the team didn’t know that at the time) that is shut down by the old men of the JSA. It’s not that I want Al to date a teenager, but why keep telling this story about how this teenage girl’s innocence must be protected by all the old men in her life? That’s gross!

And then a new writer comes on board and is like “You know what’s hot? This weirdness” and so we get a very strange plotline where Al is kidnapped (Grant’s the only one who notices), followed by Courtney. They find themselves in a hellish dimension called the Subtle Realms and have to fight their way through together, which leads to them falling in love:

...except that wasn’t actually Al, it was a supervillain disguised as Al, preying on Courtney’s love for him to break a curse. Courtney and the real Al are rescued by the JSA, but things are incredibly awkward between them after that. Again, strange and creepy choices from the writer that make neither character look good.

Sadly, that’s sort of it for Al - he sticks around on the JSA’s spinoff team for a little bit longer, but then the New 52 happened and he was retconned out of existence. (Interestingly, Al Pratt was brought back to life in the New 52 as basically a combination of Al and Grant, i.e. he can grow very big and has explody hands.)

But! As mentioned in the Damage post, Al was recently brought back into continuity with Infinite Frontier, as big as ever!

I think we should call them TEAM BLASTSMASH from now on. Also, I love them.

Al’s best comic appearances are in the 1999 JSA series, no question, although I have a soft spot for the extremely 90s Justice League America run. There is very little fic about him on AO3, since he hasn’t existed for a decade, but I wrote about his relationship with Grant in That’s How the Light Gets In. I am also in love with A Working Definition by Neotoma, which delves into his sexuality and his relationship with Todd.

In conclusion, I love Al Rothstein very very much and I am extremely excited to see the biggest boy on screen next year. Don’t screw this up, Centineo!

#al rothstein #atom smasher #nuklon #infinity inc #jsa #justice society of america #character profiles

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