#being somewhat villain coded. we don't if he will be a villain or not in the actual show- I hope he is tho.

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 27 - "I don't know if they will accept this."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: -

A/N: Started writing this yesterday and finished it during lunch break today. So I decided to take a break tomorrow and post this early :D

Danny nervously poked his scrambled eggs as he sunk just a little lower in his chair. His eyes flicked back and forth between all of his new siblings that were currently in a heated discussion not noticing his slow withdrawal from the discussion and acting like he really didn't want to get noticed by them.

"Have you seen Mister Freeze's new sidekick? The white haired one that's probably a Meta with ice powers?"

"You mean Wraith?"

"Wait, I thought the kid was Ivy's sidekick? He helped blow up a facility last week!"

"No, no, no, no! Isn't he with Scarecrow?! I am sure he accidentally screwed up with the Fear Gas ten days ago so no one go harmed! But Scarecrow screamed at him that being new to the job wasn't an excuse."

"Didn't he help Catwoman steal two artifacts a couple days ago? One of them wasn't cat themed though I am pretty sure he was with her that time…"

"Wasn't he also the kid that was with Joker the last time he broke out? You know the white haired kid that was forced to assist him and tripped him right into his own trap and made the whole arrest a lot easier and quicker than usually?"

"It's like the kid switches who's sidekick he is every week…"

"Maybe he is interning with villains before breaking off to do his own thing? We better keep an eye on him."

Danny sank just a little bit lower in his chair and avoided looking at Alfred. Of course Danny knew about his new family's night time jobs, well day time in Duke's case, but when they had asked him if he wanted to take part in it he had declined. They didn't know about his second form, they only thought of him as a Meta with ghost powers that just escaped a horrible situation and now wanted a quiet and somewhat normal life. So they had accepted his decline in going into hero work, especially Alfred and Bruce appeared to be most relieved and happy about that decision at first.

But what Danny hadn't told them was that he might have declined going back into hero work, that didn't mean he would stay completely out of that side of his new family's life. The half ghost hadn't planned on it but it had all started with him accidentally coming across Poison Ivy. She reminded him of Sam in her values, so before his brain was able to catch up Danny asked if she wanted help blowing a facility that was pumping toxic waste into the water. Years of helping Sam with organizing activist protests did that to his brain.

One thing led to another and somehow Danny found himself more often than he liked in his phantom form acting as a sidekick or assistant to the rogues this family was fighting. In a way Danny felt like he was now more of an anti-hero than a hero, still fulfilling his obsession of protecting by finding creative ways to foil the rogues' plans if they get too dangerous or murderous but not really doing the whole righteous hero stick either.

Plus by working with Mister Freeze and Scarecrow at times he also gets to fully live out the mad scientist side of his brain. With them especially he gets to create whatever his weird wired brain could come up with, though, he did 'accidentally' leave behind USBs or papers with his inventions for Tim to find at the crime scenes.

What his new brother did with them was none of his business. If the Bats and Birds suddenly had new equipment in their arsenal that looked eerily similar to his inventions than that was that.

The problem was… his new family probably wouldn't like or accept that kind of turn of events. They were righteous and defenders of justice with moral codes and standards, Danny wasn't sure he could fulfill at the moment. Watching his new siblings arguing back and forth about Wraith, his new anti-hero alias Selina, Harley and Ivy had come up with, made his stomach sink every morning. In fact Danny was getting more and more scared with the passing days that his new family would kick him out the moment they learned about it just like his former parents had done.

He wished he had Jazz's contact to talk this over with her, but because of his situation Bruce found it better to wait a little longer before he could safely reach out to her. Maybe he could ask if Harley could talk with him instead.

A cup of tea was placed before him and Danny's head snapped up (when had he started to look down?) to find Alfred smiling calmly at him. "Master Daniel, I believe a nice cup of tea will help calm down your nerves."

"Thanks." Danny mumbled his hands cupping the cup and letting the warmth of it seep over his hands into his arms to comfort his nerves. He took a sip, eyes going wide for a moment before he looked over to Alfred who was currently taking away Tim's third cup of unfinished coffee while the other was distracted with the ongoing discussion. The old man gave him a knowing smile and Danny couldn't help the small grateful one that formed on its own, though he also couldn't help the slight feeling that Alfred knew what was frazzling Danny's nerves so much.

"Jason, maybe you can get into contact with Wraith?"

"Why the fuck should I?"

"You have a different reputation than us as Red Hood. He might be more willing to talk with you, to figure out his motives and such."

Danny choked on his tea, hurriedly placing the cup back on the table before pounding his own chest in a desperate attempt to get any tea that went down the airpipe out.

"Danny! Are you okay?" Dick was instantly on him, worried older brother vibes and all that.

He wheezed before breathing in relief once he stopped coughing, giving the oldest a barely hearable "I'm fine."

"<tt> Try not to die stupidly like this, Fenton." Damian clicked his tongue and Danny gave him a toothy grin.

"I am already half dead." He heard Jason snort. While the family thought Danny was just a Meta with ghost-like powers. Danny had explained his accident to them and how he died and revived with powers through it when they asked him why he was insisting through jokes that he was half dead. Jason and Dick were the only ones who really enjoyed his death related jokes and puns, the others were more worried about his mental state.

"Leave the death jokes to Todd, Fenton."

"Oh come on, don't ghost me like that! My jokes are just as much to die for then his are!"

"Fenton."

Danny just laughed, while the previous discussion made him fear for the future, he still loved the family he had gotten added into by sheer luck. He had come to quickly love them all and felt like his own weirdness fit perfectly into theirs. It truly made him hope that he could stay with them for a long time and maybe even add Jazz into the picture as well once his whole situation was more secured and Bruce would allow him to contact her and his friends.

Later that day Danny was in the library reading a book on Molecular Structure of the human biology and how it can mutate depending on external influence, as a preparation for his next endeavor as Wraith with Killer Croc, when he felt tapping on his shoulder.

Turning his head slightly Danny startled finding Cassandra in his personal space sitting next to him with a mirthful smile. She gave him a small wave as a greeting before sitting back a little, apparently satisfied with the fact that she sort of scared him there a little.

"Hey Cass." He smiled, putting one of the many bookmarks, Jason had distributed and stored away everywhere in an effort to stop his siblings from creating dog ears in books, on the page he was on before closing the book in his hands.

"You worry too much, relax." She signed with a reassuring smile once Danny had turned his full attention on her. Confused, the half ghost on the other hand tilted his head, puzzled about what Cass was going on about. He did feel rather relaxed right now.

"You being Wraith." Wide eyed Danny hurried to cover Cassandra's hands, like one would cover another's mouth if they blurred out a secret. His eyes hurriedly darted around in their surroundings but aside from the shelves filled with books Danny couldn't see nor sense anyone that might listen in on them.

Cass was shaking in silent laughter as Danny nervously turned back to look at her. "How…"

Slowly she freed her hands from his and patted them comfortingly before beginning to sign again, smiling knowingly. "I saw. Your body language is the same."

"I…" How was he going to explain this? He had gotten found out, was Cass going to tell him to leave now? Was this the end of his new found family life? It came sooner than he anticipated. Blankly he stared at his hands that uselessly lay in his lap on the book cover, one hand slowly moving to nervously trace unseen patterns on the books spine.

Danny did not see how Cass frowned at that action, all mirth gone from her smiles. She did not like her brother was drawing into himself, doubt and fear started to radiate from his body language and Cassander didn't like that even more. She moved a little closer, so that she would have an easier time to reach Danny and poked his cheek mercilessly until her little brother looked back up at her.

"No need to explain." She actually spoke instead of sign just to show Danny how serious she was. "It's fine. Funny even. Like Selina."

"But…" A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed, trying to find the right words. Cass waited patiently for him. "Mom and Dad… my former parents… they didn't accept me as a ghost hero…"

Cassandra nodded but didn't sign nor say anything, seeing that there was more her newest little brother wanted to say but still trying to find the right words for. It was something she could relate to. Unable to find the right words, hadn't she been through that before too. She lay a comforting hand down on Danny's shoulder, once more waiting patiently.

"I… I don't know if they will accept this… this turn of events. Especially in this family. You all are taking the Hero route and I…" Danny swallowed once more. "I can stop, I can change. I just don't… I don't want to lose another family…"

Before Danny knew what was happening he was enveloped in a warm hug, he blinked several times before realizing that Cass was hugging him tightly. He was held like this for a while before she drew back from him, poking him once more to make him look at her once more.

"No need. Don't stop." She spoke her voice, soft and smoothing while smiling at him brightly.

"But…" She shook her head, silencing whatever Danny wanted to say before giving him a mischievous smile, her hands letting go of his shoulder so sign her next words. "You are not hurting anyone, you keep them from killing, from being too dangerous to civilians, not really breaking any big laws. You help us in your own law breaking way. Like Jason does."

"I am not as good as him…" Danny mumbled still unsure but Cass only smiled fondly ruffling her little brother's hair.

"You started to smile more since you became Wraith." She flat out told him, causing Danny to look up at her stunned and she laughed silently. "Keep going. If you go too far, I will be there to pull you back."

"You're like Jazz…" Danny mumbled, finally with a little smile on his face and Cass returned it with a satisfying one of her own before pulling him in for another hug, he returned this time.

That night, Orphan watched happily how her little brother laughed carefree and freer than he had in a month sitting on Killer Croc shoulders, testing out his newest invention while the rogue was trying to get him off, unsuccessfully so far. Her other brothers surrounded the two and tried to figure out what was going on since Wraith was supposed to be their rogues gallery sidekick and not challenge them like that.

She laughed even when suddenly out of nowhere a USB-Stick hit Red Robin in the face. Obviously she had caught Wraith flinging it in his direction, but she was not about to tell them that. Orphan would let them figure that out on their own, meanwhile she was going to enjoy watching her newest little brother smile and laugh while being the chaos gremlin she had seen in him from day one as he was messing with the rogues as well as vigilantes / heroes of Gotham.

#fictober23 #danny fenton #dp x dc #danny phantom #dpxdc #crossover #dcxdp #jason todd #tim drake #cassandra cain #batfam #mad scientist Danny #anti-hero Danny #villain sidekick Danny #chaos gremlin Danny #Danny got adopted by the Waynes #he's not working in the hero buisness tho #his is still sort of helping them #kinda #He is worried he will lose his second family with his new found passion #Cass and Alfred know already tho #So do Selina Harley and Ivy #they don't mind it as long as Danny is safe and happy #Cass will pull him back if he goes to far though #She finds it funny how he messes with their siblings that way #Tim is not amused getting USB-Sticks with Dannys inventions thrown at him #Danny's gremlin ways keep the rogues from killing or hurting civilians

[total-drama-brainrot]

out of the three (four? if you wanna include ridonculous race) noah appeared in, which one do you think noah could have won if he cared about the competition

hot take; none of them.

he did care about the competition (at least somewhat) in the first season and it was objectively his worst. in island, he was too blinded by his own hubris to consider the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, isolating himself in a socially driven competition. he was standoffish and rude, which would've been fine if he hadn't outright directed negative attention to himself with his comments AND refusal to participate in the dodgeball challenge, and he offered little in terms of both teamwork and team utility anyway. so being voted out early was a given, and a much needed wake-up call for him.

he didn't compete in season 2, but if he did i doubt he'd make it to the finale. i'd like to say he'd make it pretty far into action- both because action has a lot more technology and media references, which noah could play to his advantage as both an established nerd and a canonical hacker (though these aspects of him are mostly delegated to his biographies/interviews outsode of the show itself), and because we know he does learn from his mistakes in season 1 so he'd try to be a better teammate (like he does in season 3). but i truly and honestly don't think he'd stand a chance against powerhouses like courtney and duncan, or have even a smidge of beth and owen's in-competiton social game/likability, so he'd eventually be voted out.

and in season 3, as much as i disagree with the amazons winning the challenge, getting rid of noah there and then was the right play from a narrative standpoint. because, at the end of the day, he's a filler character. he doesn't have any engaging plotlines of his own to warrant keeping him around, and his only real use from a writing standpoint is to make snide comments and witty one-liners; when the remaining cast all have at least one subplot going for them, and you need to 'thin the herd', you get rid of the deadweight characters first.

by world tour, i believe he's only competing for the sake of it, and he doesn't really care about winning or losing; if anything i'd say he only went along with the celebrity manhunt bus chase because he was supposed to stay with chris/the total drama crew, and since he was fired from being chris' assistant he didn't have anything better to do (he's always been a passive character, so going along with the crowd for curiosities sake is very much something he would do).

but if he did care?

i think he'd make it to early merge. a noah who cares about the competition would try to take down alejandro for the sake of his own survivability (after all, how long is it going to be until team victory is gone and alejandro turns on his own teammates as his next targets?) thus making himself plot relevant enough to keep around- maybe even allying himself with heather to do so. but alejandro, whilst not as smart as noah, is far more savvy and capable than him, and their 'rivalry' would end in noah being voted out.

or maybe he'd embrace his villain-coding (watch island again and tell me he isn't villain-coded. he does a "mwu-ha-ha" laugh and says "excellent." he's so campy bond antagonist coded in island) and ally himself with alejandro to garuntee his survivability, helping him weed out the competition as a right-hand man. eventually, alejandro would discard noah- either because noah would refuse to help him eliminate owen, or because they'd make their way far enough into the competition that noah becomes less of an ally and more of a threat and have him eliminated accordingly. because noah might be the villain, but alejandro's the archvillain.

that, and i think the finalists of each season are already the best picks from their rosters. i wouldn't change any of them to give one sarcastic twink the chance of winning.

(i haven't seen ridonculous race but i'm fairly certain caring about the competition is part of his character arc in it? he comes in guns blasing and then gets sidetracked by being smitten with emma, at least that's my understanding of it. so nothing would change there.)

#listen i love noah but he doesn't deserve a win #this loser only takes Ls sorry i don't make the rules (yes i do) #total drama #td noah #ophe's hot takes #character analysis #replies #typed this on my phone so sorry for any grammar/spelling errors 😥

[tomyo]

Nimona and a Decade of the Queer Experience

To me one of the most anticipated aspects of the Nimona adaptation was to see how they changed the a lot of the queer themes from the original comic. Nimona was created in a time where it was still taboo to represent same sex relationships in anything trying to be marketable into an era where it is so commonplace that Nimona would have seemed regressive if it stayed true to the material.

Naturally the way Blackheart and Goldenloin are portrayed has greatly changed but also has a lot of the message from the original. Nimona is now about the trans experience.

This isn't to say transness was never at the core of Nimona but I don't think even baby nonbinary me would have been able to connect it directly to that.

Nimona the comic, to me, deals with similar but different issues from Nimona the movie. The comic was a story of trying to upheave an untrustworthy militarized state through the initially goofy lens of a budding father daughter relationship that ultimately fails.

Blackheart at the start of the comic already is trying to defy the government and Nimona seeks him out because he's actually playing the role of the villain already. She herself felt like this mix of female and queer rage. It made believe somewhat in the idea that the little girl by the end of the story was truly her who had once tried to do better for her home and was rejected for becoming something *different*. Overall you can feel more presently that deafening dread that Blackheart and Goldenloin love each other and acknowledging that would ruin both of their lives. This is moreso due to that whole conflict of their ideologies and sides they are on interfering but the metaphor is there. We could read this easily as Blackheart being out of the closet and at odds with society where Goldenloin on in the closet and working on the name of oppression. By showing Blackheart looking visibly like a villain it harkens back to the queer coding of Disney villains and a feeling a lot of queer people had to experience at that time, being an enemy to the public simply for existing. Coming back to Nimona, she's the perfect example of a trans masc egg experience; punk in a way that isn't fully certain in embracing or trashing anything feminine. Not fully androgynous but butchy and an unfocused anger at everything around them. I can never speak for the entirety of the trans experience but I know the feeling being born in an afab body and violently hating the society that I want badly to accept me, the way we insist that we intend to fully express our being while also creating this weird mix of unconvincing conformity. Again I laugh so much at her design elements; shaved head, tomboyish in chainmail but with curves, and short dresses, and impractical belts. Her actions also read as someone who's greatest sore point is loss of her bodily autonomy which ultimately she's subjected to during the climax. The monster/power of Nimona to me tends to ultimately mirror more of an emotional state rather than transness itself. Both version of Nimona have people see it as something Nimona is inflicted with rather than a part of her existence as she reveals at the end. Even Blackheart believe he can cure her of it with the equivalence of a procedure or medication but it's because he only perceives Nimona as the little girl and not the little girl as a part of the whole that is the dragon. I think there is a lot of things we can read into the dragon being and even at the idea that queerness is something people seek to cure that doesn't need one in the first place. And ultimately that's why the story ends on the somber tone it does, the biggest focus of the story was how Blackheart became the parent to Nimona and misguidedly tried to 'fix' her. And like a lot of people, especially for the time period, Nimona had to leave behind the family and society that couldn't accept her as her.

And so we move forward through the years.

Media is not made in a vacuum, Nimona the comic is a critique of early 2010s ideologies and maybe doesn't even worry about them as serious in a pre 2016 world. Nimona 2023 however exists on the other side of that threshold. Like I said, I don't think the original comic was consciously trans mostly because the zeitgeist wasn't conscious of transness. 2012-2014 (the comic's creation period) encapsulated me personally going from no aware knowledge of gender to confusion at learning my friend's pronouns to fully identifying as nonbinary in a world few people knew what that meant. But not long after that we had Korra's ending, the reveal of Ruby and Sapphire, Kaitlynn Jenner, Menanists, and then the nightmare of the 2016 election and all that came with it. The truth is a contradiction occurred; queerness became a part of the in group so long as it followed the rules of heteronormativity. I think it is fair to say a lot of queer people became more eeeh conservative for lack of better terms. For once we finally had a chance to be out and so long as we followed the conditions set out, exist well. We can live comfortably, why rock the boat? In other words, respectability politics. We are then at odds with those who believe we should keep complacent for fear of being rejected.

That brings us to Nimona the movie.

Blackheart no longer is the guerilla activist he once was, we now are introduced to him as a part of the system; specifically the model minority. Movies only have so much time for you to build understanding of it's world themes and ideas and so it tends to need to be more punchy with getting the point across otherwise become less coherent. So rather on the nose "Knighting a non noble is against god" as very flatly stated in the begging. Since the time of the comic, being gay has been normalized and we now see Blackheart and Goldenloin start out as a couple (to be frank I couldn't fully tell if they were official or not but they were all but in writing together) and by in universe logic, Goldenloin is the golden child pastor's son with divisively accepted boyfriend. Blackheart is an inspiration for his common men while his noble classmates are disgusted at the idea of him being allowed the same rights as them, essentially being allowed to be an policeman. It's his role as the model minority that he still believes the system is right when he is framed for murder; it is the one bad actor who's at fault despite a whole society shunning him with little reasoning needed.

Nimona in the other hand is a bit more in control of the relationship. Nimona of the comic latched onto a spurned man who was more methodical than she was in her work but Nimona of the movie is pretty much what pushes Blackheart into the image of a villain. Movie Nimona's goal is more or less to find community and for reasons we will get to only believes she can find it with other cast aside from society. She is jaded enough to know that Blackheart will continue to be labeled as the way they do to her. This time the shape shifting is explicitly trans; Nimona now is no longer worried about experimentation or trying to be cured but of being called a monster, the fear of her, and eradication; words I feel like I've heard too much in lgbt spaces lately. She talks about wanting her own demise with her heard turned down and eyes somber in moments that hit too close to home. She is a worn down warrior for her own existence. On safer grounds with Blackheart she more wittingly challenges his transphobia. Blackheart cannot perceive her out of the binary that she is default a girl and her transformations are something else, he asks if her transitions hurt, and he tries to convince her to blend in with others for his own comfort. As he spends more time with her, he's able to view the world he was taught differently and doesn't view the less pretty sides of Nimona as scary. However, programming is hard to free yourself out of.

The Director is by definition, conservative. She believes is a religious like text that society should not change unless it all falls a part. Her belief in this runs so deep that she easily is willing to kill pseudo religious figures as her personal code of morals override any actual logic in faith(anyone remember how magas talk about Trump as being sent by God while also disavowing him for encouraging vaccinations?). Her rhetoric that non nobles with be a societal slip eminates classism and racism (commoner is somewhat of a race allegory). She denies her own words to hold power, criticizes Nimona of whispering deceipt into blackhearts ear while actually being the one doing so to Goldenloin, and justifies her actions through holy scripts. She holds a stern belief in cleansing the society of it's demons down to intending to kill a large part of her society to rid it of the tran metaphor Nimona is. She is the quintessential conservative power so bent on it staying that way that she will destroy everything in spite of any logic to why it's right. Goldenloin, as the champion of the institution, a head cop if you will, looks upon the chaos learning the director's intent to kill thousands and says "what are we doing here?" A lot of institutions (aah there's the naming for you) in our country are like this. I think to some like, there are people who entered religion or became a police officer because they wanted to do good. But the rhetoric in these spaces can skew that perspective exponentially. Some with better access out may find that point of "What are we doing her" The moment the logic of the system no longer makes sense. I would love to talk more a lot this an the comic institution at a later point.

Back to Nimona and the queer identity.

Nimona was searching for a group to accept her, changing her appearance to fit in. She thinks she has it with Gloreth until Gloreth is taught that Nimona's existence was monstrous and rejects her as well. The scene of the villagers attacking her is poinient as well; they endanger and threaten her with violence (which would likely have been more explicit if not for kids) and she first turns to something weaker to escape but they refuse and so she is forced to turn to something bigger ane vicious in order to live but it only sets up the narrative that there is a reason to fear her when she didnt attack first, she simply had to protect herself. Nimona in the present is ready for her death, the narrative so out of control that it breaks her.

Blackheart is able to bring her back from the brink by doing the important thing of truly apologizing, have humility for his mistrust and bigotry, and offer her support on equal terms. Nimona this time does not flee her friend that failed her but sacrifice herself for the hope of a better future beyond the walls.

The final part to mention; the walls. The walls are mad out as a big deal in this. No one leaves beyond them and the one small town of Gloreth fills to a big capitalist tech dystopia that markets dragons as both cute mascots and something to eradicate to as young as children. Society is a small shoebox not allowed to even see beyond the walls; see a new potential of this world. Simply put, the beyond is the beyond of heteronormative society. Even as society has become more accepting of LGBT identities, it has only liked to consume it in an easily interpreted manor. There are a lot of even just fringe identities that used to get lambasted for being weird simply for existing, trying to apply those same rules within their spaces as they've become socially acceptable. For every push forward we make, there is still presentation and identity that will get ostracized for being out of the box. We create these walls and only build them out further every so often rather than knocking them down. If there is anything to take from Nimona it's to embrace the beyond.

Morning edit; Hiii thank you for reading all of this. I kinda furiously typed this after watching the movie last night and there are certainly some flaws for it. Towards the end you can see a lot of typos because I was literally falling asleep and there are definitely some concepts I would've liked to flesh out better but kinda glossed over to focus on what the stories were saying about Nimona specifically. I think if anything, I'd want to reexamine Blackheart in both stories because I honestly forgot a lot of his actions in the comic, same with the institution because it took a while to even remember about the Director being a character from the comic. To be real, there's some really specific events on where Nimona was made that tend to hit me pretty hard so I rushed through the comic when I read it last year. I might try to take me time now because Nimona is so meaningful. I even want to talk about how it made sense Disney tried to shut it down (I'm certain there's a lot of business reasons but I don't think it was compatible with the Disney brand). For all the ways we have queer stories, I don't think we see a lot of trans stories yet. I'm hoping the series like Dead End Paranormal Park and Nimona are the start of a new era that focally represent that.

#nimona

[rawliverandgoronspice]

hey! do you have any thoughts on demise as a looser/more fluid/symbolic/metaphorical figure in the context of the story of the series- like thoughts on what he represents, and stuff like what his curse could mean thematically rather than the more essentialistic absolutistic "literal satan" interpretation that most of the (at least western) audience seems to take?

i know he may be somewhat contentious as a choice introduced by the writers especially considering from an outside perspective what he kind of did to the majority of fandom analysis and discourse, but i've been thinking about how it's quite possible the writers had a more paganistic approach to what it means to be a deity and how demise doesn't even really have a NAME so much as he is supposed to be some sort of manifestation/personification of the concept of demise, and maybe also of hatred, and also i don't know, like, what the point of that hatred is or why there has to be demise/what implications there could be of this worldbuilding

hope that was coherent enough to make sense of anything i just said but yeah i was just curious if you do!

Heyy sorry never replied, replying now!! Thanks for the ask!

Yeah it's exactly how I'm taking Demise, and I think what you mention connects more to what little I know and understand of shintoism.

In French, Demise has an absurdly long name and is basically called "The Avatar of the Void", which I think is... interesting? It makes me extremely curious as to how Demise is called in original japanese --because to me, "Void" is about the absence of things more than their destruction. It's about the absence, not the inevitability of things crumbling down that comes with Demise. I don't know which of these concepts are the closest to the original vision (if it's Void rather than Demise I think it recontextualizes everything we thought we know about this world and characters, but in my opinion it feels too incoherent with the rest of the world, so my guess is that it was a poorly thought-out translation --but I might be wrong!), but to me it's all in the title: Demise. The curse is that every golden era must end with a reckoning.

I think the curse is extremely compelling in that mythological sense, the way Demeter and Persephone's tale is about the joy and pain of passing seasons; it's the given cause for this world's fate as it is condemned to rise and die continuously; and that their eternal, bright future will always be opposed. To be honest, I'm not even sure it's a *bad* thing. Conflict is not only inevitable, it needs to rise to the surface instead of being suppressed to ensure things do not remain stagnant and shortcomings are being acknowledged and addressed --which is also partially why the suggestion of TotK's golden forever after really doesn't sit right with me, especially since nothing was learned and nothing truly changed in the course of its runtime.

I think the curse sucks when people think it means that Ganondorf is a generic evil demon man without motive of his own. It especially grinds my nerves since I somehow never hear this argument being made for *any* other villain in the franchise. I know they look alike the most (and TotK didn't help matters here), but I never *ever* saw people arguing that Vaati doesn't have motive, for example. Or Majora. Or Zant. Or even literal nothing characters like Bellum, who by all means looks more like a primal demonic evil acting on instinct than anyone else. Somehow, we get to assume they have internal motives that, while obviously wicked and self-serving, are their own! But somehow, Ganondorf, the actual main antagonist of his series with the most amount of games hinting at his backstory and internal moral code, gets flattened as an evil puppet with no internal life whatsoever. It's genuinely bizarre.

Anyway sorry sorry! Thanks again for the ask!

#asks #thoughts #demise #skyward sword #ganondorf #zant #vaati #majora #tloz #zelda fandom critical #totk critical #thanks for the ask!! #I don't get how you play wind waker and still go “yeah he's just an evil spawn of satan and that's all there is to him” #you don't have to like him or sympathize with him! but there's obviously something more than raw evil there #it's so weird to see what's basically a popular fan theory bulldozing past actual canon content #and making its way into the way nintendo itself is starting to perceive their own character #anywayyyy

[roxxeatzgravel]

I don't know why I made this

Why Romeo + Juliet 1996 lowkey implied that gay people (Tybalt) exist

A unorganized essay by Roxx

I firmly believe there is no way Tybalt, Capulet's nephew and Juliet’s cousin, was heterosexual in any way, shape, or form. He is, at least to me, extremely queer coded, whether it was intentional or not. The way Tybalt interacts with the cast screams Internalized Homophobia, from his aggressive and somewhat jealous nature towards Romeo to the banter he and Mercutio shared during their fight, he is just a very queer character and the gays love a enemies to lovers story (I’m the gays)

We don’t see Tybalt interact with Juliet, but I personally would guess they are close, at least as close as cousins are, given they most likely lived a majority of their lives together. If you really look into Romeo’s attempt to calm Tybalt in the play (and most versions) it can read in a homoerotic nature

Tybalt:  “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford, No better term: Thou art a Villain”

Romeo: Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not.” Quote; Act 3 scene 1, they basically just broke up

 and the 1996 version of the film doesn’t help this notion of Tybalt having a raging homo crush on Romeo (haha mean girls reference) either, given how close they are standing next to each other and Romeo’s expression, in that film he looks absolutely heartbroken that Tybalt would resort to such violent action and refuses to strike him. that angers Tybalt and he beats Romeo up, talk about romance am I right? (That was sarcasm, don’t beat your partners it’s fucked up),  and before this, Tybalt looked at Romeo in a way that made him look almost obsessed with him. 

Mercutio and Tybalt are obviously interconnected, they’re not opposites though instead they’re two sides of the same coin, They could even be read as a metaphor for how the hyper-masculinization of Queer men of colour, especially black and dark skinned Queer men, can be harmful and imply the stereotype that men of colour are violent and “uncivilized.” 

So Tybalt’s aggressive nature could be read a reflection of his own internalized homophobia and self hatred that has been pushed onto him by society and probably even his own family, While Mercutio’s aggression could be read as a form of self perseverance to keep himself out of harm's way. They both know that if they are openly queer, they are inherently in danger just by existing.

Tybalt, within this context, hates Romeo because he’s in love with him and he can’t fathom the idea of being in love with a man and a Montague no less.

Also he literally calls Romeo “My man”, I know in various contexts that could mean a platonic bond but c’mon, that's pretty damn gay.

So you might be asking, “Why do you think Romeo and Juliet would be better if Romeo and Tybalt were in love instead? And why not Mercutio and Tybalt?” Firstly, no one would’ve died; The entire reason R & J is R & J is because Tybalt was there, what truly sets off the chain reaction of some of the most memorable parts of R & J is Tybalt. If he wasn’t in the room when Romeo and Juliet were talking, R & J wouldn’t exist, and if he was Romeo’s romantic interest instead no one would be dead, Secondly, JULIET IS TOO YOUNG, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL, and Third, Romeo and Tybalt would have a more interesting dynamic; the idea of Tybalt having to learn how to be vulnerable with a romantic partner is pretty interesting, I don’t think Tybalt could really ever learn to be vulnerable with Mercutio given both of their short tempers (and Mercutio is lowkey a dick but he’s still cool either way) and lack of respect for the others house. Romeo, obviously, is a bleeding heart romantic who is very very dramatic, while Tybalt is a ruthless, blood-thirsty, and closed off jackass who has some form of daddy and/or mommy issues, and that sort of opposites attract dynamic is the most interesting part of the entire idea of Romeo & Tybalt being an item.

it's giving "She likes a boy, She likes a boy, She likes a boy, She likes a boy, and I'm not a boy, I'm not a boy, I'm not a boy, I'm not a boy"

#ramble :3 #romeo + juliet 1996 #romeo x tybalt #its not done but yknow

[onestepbackwards]

(not a request) I remember the idea of "self aware pokemon masters ex" being thrown here a few months back, and using my 3 awesome brain cells i thought about how some of the villains in the game would react after gaining self awareness and all that hooba dooba:

Ghetsis: boy, if you wanted to see an AI go full rebel mode, look no further than this guy. despite being an old evil geezer, he was fast enough to catch on about the environment; or rather the GAME he's in. he orders kyurem to attack, but he can't even feel himself move when doing so. he quickly attempts to fight for control against the invisible force (aka YOU) that puppeteers him to do whatever it pleases. of course, after you win on whatever mission you were doing, Ghetsis would attempt to communicate with you to figure out just who or WHAT are you. oh, and he's not too happy with you, either. and despite that, he's.. strangely fond of your battling strategy. he will never say it to you out loud, but he's somewhat accepting of the situation he's in, and knows he can trust you to lead him to whatever his stinky bottom wants (he would also convince you to join team plasma but you don't have the heart to tell him that team plasma is, in fact, not real)

Giovanni: same reaction as Old Man Gee-cis, but he's more quick to accept the situation that he's in. after gaining sentience, he was, quote-unquote "unsure of who he is". all he knows is that HE is supposed to order people around, not the other way around. after you explain to him what he is, what his role is and anything that the internet provides you with, he is left rather.. curious. sure, being painted as the Big Bad Who Only Wants To Do Bad bummed him a bit, but he promises to fulfill that role for you. you're real to him just as he is to you, and he depends on you more than you can imagine.

Maxie & Archie: took the whole situation to a more funny extent, believe it or not. you'd find them in the lobby seemingly discussing back and forth, and once you'll tap in to talk with em', they're actually.. way more chill than you imagined. of course, they're completely clueless as to what they are, and you help them with the internet. at first, they're not too fond of being, yknow, ecoterrorists, but the idea of having groudon and kyogre as their sync partners was enough to apparently lift their spirits. they're also way more fond of you mainly for all the hours you put on them to make them hard as tooth and nail. what can they say, your dedication is admirable!

Cyrus: took the whole scenario as calm and lax as possible. "oh so my entire life was merely a lie, and my entire being is just code and numbers? oh well lol. wanna grind for pair scouts?". he's not very fond of the backstory that was chosen for him, but he didn't let it stop him from living life to the fullest. tried to smile once but it was unsuccessful. he wouldn't tell you that, but he trusts you more than any of the others you pair him with.

Oohh self aware Team Leaders 👀👀👀

I feel Ghetsis would also be in an odd position. He’s programmed to feel somewhat fond of the player character, hinting he wants them to be his organization’s new King/Queen or whatever.

Of course, we all know its for manipulation purposes, but he probably sees potential in you all the same. Sees your battle strategy and prowess. Which definitely carries over once he starts realizing that in game model of you is no more than a soulless puppet.

He hates his situation, and is probably one of the ones that actually takes a lot of convincing just how different your worlds are.

Worst case scenario, he sees you as an actual god, and tries to get close to you so he can ascend to godhood as well. Who wouldn’t want a god under their thumb?

But… it doesn’t work that way, and he refuses to listen. He knows you have some sort of power. How else are you able to control him and others?

Giovanni is another interesting one 👀 he’d not take kindly to finding out you were controlling him to a certain degree…

But he does admit, you don’t seem to be doing any harm, just using him for your battles. He doesn’t show it, but his ego is through the roof when you choose him, and make him stronger. Of course he’s the right choice.

He acts a lot calmer about it, trying to grasp what kind of a person you are, and is pleased when he sees you don’t see the world in black and white. You think a bit more openly than the children running around the island.

He’ll see if he can’t get close to you, and figure things out. You aren’t a god, he can tell. You act too human. But being close to you will surely yield some benefits…

Archie and Maxie are definitely the more laid back of the group. Especially if they are together. They have their differences, but they were working together before with your player character, they can surely behave and continue to do so.

They still argue though every so often.

Both of them also look out for you a bit more than the others. They can see how… unhinged Ghetsis is, and Giovanni’s laid back attitude has them on edge since they know what he’s capable of. At least one will usually be at your side, just in case.

Meanwhile, Cyrus would probably be the most genuinely curious about you and your world. What is it like? How does a world function without pokemon?

Even if he doesn’t like the past and role he was given as a means of entertainment, he doesn’t fault you for that. From just a few conversations from you, he can gleam you mean no harm.

He also enjoys the conversations you have. You have an interesting view on humanity and the universe as a whole.

You even question his ideals, with a real means of backing up your own hypothesis on how his ideal world wouldn’t work, instead if just saying it was wrong, like every else who opposed him.

He can tell you genuinely care for him at least, despite knowing his goals. You make sure he’s strong, one of the strongest.

Cyrus at least internally decides to have you as an ally.

#self aware au #self aware pokemon #self aware giovanni #self aware cyrus #self aware archie #self aware maxie #self aware ghetsis #pokemon masters #pokemon masters ex #pokemas #pokemon giovanni #pokemon archie #pokemon maxie #pokemon cyrus #pokemon ghetsis #pokemon #long post #zed.talks #ask #anon

[tklpilled]

people tend to talk about scaramouche being trans coded and a reason they use is that he was created as a puppet for ei. however, he was NOT made to look like her, as far as we know — he was simply created as an experiment to see if she could make a puppet, and his original purpose was to hold her gnosis.

(an argument could be made that his story is an allegory for being trans, but it's a bit too much of a stretch for me to make an actual post about it.)

however, his clothing is very telling; specifically, the outfit we see him wearing in his backstory.

(there isn't a proper turnaround of him, please bear with me)

now, if we take a look at the raiden shogun's clothes:

they are quite similar!

"oh, but kaz, of course his clothes are similar to hers! she made him!"

if we look at sara and ayaka's clothes:

they're pretty similar in overall style.

"oh, but all inazuma characters have similar styles!"

correct! however, if we look at itto and ayato:

while they're following some of the same guidelines, you can see there's a difference between the masculine and feminine styles. and, referring back to scaramouche's outfit, it's closer to the feminine style — or, at the very least, androgynous.

most of these outfits don't look super close to traditional japanese clothing, the exceptions being kazuha, raiden, kokomi, miko, scaramouche, and probably someone else i skipped but that's not the point. scaramouche's outfit looks very similar to a kariginu, a type of hunting outfit worn by nobles in feudal japan.

scaramouche's second outfit looks much closer to other inazuman men's clothes. again, not much of a turnaround, but:

now, onto names. kunikuzushi means "destroyer of nations" and refers to a villainous character in kabuki theatre. it's not typically used as a name, so there are no genders associated with it.

kabukimono also comes from kabuki theatre, referring to someone who is oddly dressed (usually samurai). again, not exactly a name.

every harbinger is named after a character in commedia dell'arte, an early form of theatre. the character of scaramouche tends to brag a lot and is somewhat manipulative. he's sometimes portrayed as smart and sometimes as stupid, depending on the actor's interpretation. the name is based on the italian word scaramuccia, meaning a small fight.

it's important to note that all of these names were chosen by him. the name ei gave him is still unknown — the description of "the husk of opulent dreams" confirms that kunikuzushi was his choice. in the same description, however, it does state that ei did name him, he just doesn't remember it anymore.

this required a lot of research but PLEASE correct me if i'm wrong about anything!!

#tldr everything about scara is very androgynous #tldr trans scara canon (im hyv) #kaz speaks #genshin

[total-feminism-takes]

Lesbian Courtney anon, oh I am sorry about Blaineley x Courtney ship. I didn't mean to say they get to together but more of sisterhood on set of movie plot then they get their own romances like Blanineley with her own oc or another character of her age. And Courtney maybe realizing romance is wonderful, you know what is better? Being herself and having friends/mentors that actually care about her,

I just get upset sometimes that we- some- or even me sometimes make Courtney suffer a lot for the plot or so called the one! For the name of romance but the truth is we forget her agency, her Courtney self from TDI to ALL-Stars, and I think is troubling for a little girl growing up watching that since I watched as a child.

Courtney deserves better with along the other characters.

I wish you all the best and well.

I love Courtney but I really wished she in canon or lesbian fandom Courtney been treated more better not so seen like villain without arc of growth or just disrespect so often for angst instead we shove Duncan, Gwen, Heather, Scott, and whoever to 'save her' or 'fix her and show who to care/love in general'. I like to think we or Courtney is old enough to just realize I don't need to be pity and saved. I need to grow, heal on my own as well as get comforted by someone who cares and loves me doesn't need to marry me somehow end of the day.

Courtney has a lot of range as a character but hitting Duncan and yelling like him is a no go because it not safe type of love or system to treat people, yet the writers did it as be joke. The joke which is a problem more in society standards of trauma bonding relationships or two teenagers clearly love each other but need more mental health and their parents to put more nurture into them. It shouldn't be funny but sadly this kids' cartoon were farts, throwing up, hitting, and other things are supposed to be silly haha hehe no brain thoughts but come on? Really making Courtney the villain and it states in the Duncan wiki that he is on the creators' favorites like Duncan get arc of grow and oh it's okay he can be loved but nor the crazy ex trope. I think and believe both Duncan and Courtney didn't deserve that as a couple as well as their own characters.

Heck Duncan even loved Courtney being like that with him until they chose to rewrite their characters once more just for the Duncan and Gwen situation to happen which didn't need to happen in my opinion. Because it could be better for plot if Alejandro and Tyler be rivals somehow like Tyler struggling warn the others aa well as help Heather with Alejandro trying use the girls in the plane. Then Alejandro someone blaming all on Tyler as Heather lost her other ally and somewhat male healthy friendship a long the way.

Then Courtney vs. Heather vs. Alejandro for the 3rd season, get my vision? Heather sure wants Alejandro but puts it side with Courtney who was used by Alejandro then they work together to defend him against winning!

Bam it's Heather vs. Courtney but Courtney feels hollow not really in the game in it anymore her relationship with Duncan is more stable or they couldn't save it depends on the fan I guess, her growing friendship with Gwen is rocky since she left and took Gwen out the game, and now she might win! She has that AH moment maybe money not that worth it if the game made her power hungry.

Anyway, that's my code of choice saying Courtney I love you and sorry for being a shitty write on your character at times, and all girls of total drama deserve why better that being connected to a man/boy to make them better.

Shout to lesbians and those who write lesbian Courtney I l0ve you too. But please be better to my girl Courtney... stop dragging Scott and Duncan into it?!

Maybe make Courtney barely out the closet lesbian and her gay roommates who are dating and happened to be her supportive ex boyfriends Scott/Duncan? They can be good friends over time not oh scary evil Exes!

If I make no sense I didn't sleep well and I lost my glasses if misspellings

I love you hehe

Fight me fandom who dare make Courtney out to be so unlovable and abusive too. We can say the same thing about Duncan guess what!

THEY WERE TEENS, UNDER SO MUCH STRESS, AND PROBABLY HEAD INJURINGS, ETC.

If you in a abusive relationship it's never you fault either and don't stay with them please no matter what, you don't need be the toxic couple like kids' cartoon made your favorite ship to be!

Hello hello Lesbian Courtney anon, this is mod emma and I will say I do understand but I wish your ask was more specific about it as Blaineley and Courtney making a movie together and falling in love apart as without any context or anything makes it sound more of a romantic thing. I do hope that in the near future it’s more clear. 😇

- 🧡

#total feminism takes #total drama #mod emma #td courtney #lesbian Courtney anon #td gwen #td heather #td duncan #td scott #td alejandro #td tyler

[vesperaink]

FINALLY @onawhimsicot 's awesome Life Series Team Rancher Superhero AU fic, Tangotek Evil Incorporated is posted and I get to share my initial concept art for Dr. Blaze and Canary respectively!

if anyone makes fanart of TTEI, you're welcome to use my designs with credit or make your own!! There's nothing more superhero comic than every artist doing their own take <3

I've loved seeing Cadence's event artists takes on their outfits they're SO GOOD. I love seeing all the different designs!!! PLEASE @ me and Cadence I promise you, we'd love to see it <333 Also my ask box is always open if you want to chat!

I'm definitely going to be making more polished designs and drawing for this universe in the future (superhero aus my beloved I had SO much fun designing them)!

but for now, if you also love character design, have way too many thoughts about Ranchers and hero/villain costumes like me, and 3 pages wasn't enough, buckle up and enjoy my extra ramble under the cut:

EXTRA:

When Cadence asked me to help design their outfits, the request boiled down to "i just need ideas, you don't have to like draw a whole Thing" but I'm so Normal about my blorbos so uh naturally it became A Whole Thing and when I got to Canary I had to frantically hit the brakes on my character design brain from making him too cool

Tango's design came easy, Canary's outfit less so. Surprisingly it's kinda hard to make a somewhat on theme but also basic hero outfit jsakfhajskfh

criteria for Canary at the time was a mix of on bird theme but also NOT on theme since he needed to be a bit basic for context of the fic so he WILL be getting a glow up later

We debated giving Canary a gas mask vs a beak-like mask for a long time, the bandana is my compromise while also hitting that Basic vibe. Its also a nod towards my Sheriff!Jimmy design & Ranchers

We have a long history of working on a OC superhero universe (lovingly dubbed soupverse) together, and while I also just think plague doctor vibes are Neat the concept of the beak being a hero/villain mask is partially pulled from my main villain, Crow who is also bird themed (shocking i know)

Canary having a silly jumpsuit was also loosely inspired by Zedaph's high dive Zedvancement skin from his S9 Ep 1!

Tinted lenses to hide your identity my beloved, what if we both had colored tinted lenses and were red and blue coded and were nemeses...haha jk...unless?

Just the other day, Cadence said to me what if Canary wore Uggs and lowkey he might asjkfhaksjf

Parrot, while not depicted eventually got summed up to Aviator vibes and obviously Canary had to match

A lot of this reference sheet was originally scrawled in my notes app and generally in my head. I cleaned it up for the event so while I'm sorry it's so messy, it was worse originally LOL

#TTEI #tangotek #solidaritygaming #team rancher #character design #vesperinks #my art #white background #long post

[cosmic-kinglet]

Placing bets right now: Who thinks the associate the creator was speaking with was Trashcan Man before the trashcan? My bet is that it was.

Anyway, apparently Sun and Moon were nothing but a test of something. Though, clearly his interest was more focused on Moon since, based on how they were programmed, he would be the more violent one. He's had some bigger plan long before the events that we know about from this show. Maybe it was somewhat of a prototype idea for what would be the Ruin virus in that other dimension. Even if his plan wasn't the virus itself, maybe he planned to program hidden kill codes into animatronics and robots that would be created by him in the future. He did say that he needed to be fired in a way that Fazbear would still want to purchase his creations.

With that in mind, I don't know why I'm even surprised that he would have legally changed his name to Creator. That god complex is something he just barely tries to hide. Despite him having a canon name now, I still refuse to dignify him with using it. He's still "the creator", no capital letters, no extra flare. (Seriously, I love a good villain, but this guy just sucks.)

I now just wonder how long it was from the point we saw here to the time when he made Earth. Fid he still have his surprisingly-limber-yet-also-withering human body when he made her, or was he already a giant floating brain? We know he was a brain when Earth first gained awareness, but it's still not clear if he built her while still in a human body. Either way, the fact that he was a brain when she was first activated leaves me wondering how Earth helped him in his day-to-day life. She described some of the ways she helped him, but those things just don't make sense with him being a brain. (I know, I know, there's literally no reason to still hold any suspicion of her. I think that part of me that's suspicious is just too stubborn to let it go. For those of you familiar, think of that scene in Death Note where L admits that he wants Light to end up being Kira because, if Light ISN'T Kira, then he has no other leads or suspects. That's kind of how my suspicion of Earth is: I kind of just don't want that gut feeling to have been wrong.)

Overall, while I was kiiiiind of hoping we would go back to what Ruin's doing (not entirely because I really want to see Bloodmoon again), but this still had some interesting information for us.

#the sun and moon show #i'm also very tempted to draw the creator being like 'could an insane man do this?!' and then doing a backflip #or 'you make a decent argument. unfortunately for you-' and then doing a backflip as a counterpoint #the creator being able to do backflips is just way too easy to meme on

[gayredmage]

Genesis makes no f---ing sense as a character.

I know, shocking coming from the guy whose comfort character is the redheaded asshole from Banora, but I can fully acknowledge bad and stereotyped writing. So I'm going to say it:

Genesis is an inconsistent and poorly written villain.

Fandom really has to work overdrive to get him to make sense. But hey, at least he cute. It's funny though because HCs of him tend to be more consistent than in game.

As a child of adoptive parents myself, his whole adoption arc is a harmful stereotype + doesn't make sense. Why would he kill his parents and then the game tell us he loved them and they loved him? It reeks of the stupid belief that blood relations are the only ones worth having.

And then you have the very weird friendship/rivalry which doesn't get explained in any way so people just assume he's a narcissistic jealous prick, but I wouldn't be surprised if actually it's because he's set up to always be in Sephiroth's shadow no matter what he accomplishes. So we're left with this weird friendship that doesn't make sense and why on Earth would Genesis and Sephiroth even consider each other friends when we don't have anything to demonstrate that?

There could have been a really good political story there about the popularity contest that SOLDIER is (which is mentioned in game), but no it's just classic Disney-style queer coded villain who acts in ways that don't make sense and that's why he's a 'bad guy'.

But then we get turned around again because people in SOLDIER did actually respect him and like him. We get told he's actually a really great guy and everyone is confused by his actions, and we the audience are too because SURPRISE the motive is thin at best

Then they say that Genesis comes back as a good guy after Dirge? And what were we meant to take with the whole G-Files nonsense? Are we lead to believe that Genesis is meant to lead the WRO? What the fuck is going on with this character? How? I thought he was a murderous asshat?

The only way I can make sense of it all is to have several HCs that are somewhat able to glue this all together. And the biggest one is that CC is told through Zack's eyes - an unreliable narrator.

We don't ever see Genesis murder his family or Banora, we are told that he did so. We don't see that he is jealous, we are told that his desire to be seen as Sephiroth's equal is 'petty' so we just assumed he hasn't got what it takes - that somehow he is inferior (although Apocalypse is the most OP limit break) and again, we aren't shown why. We're made to assume a lot about his character and the poor writing just gets poorer to try to reinforce something that doesn't make sense.

Huge missed opportunity to have any discourse on the corruption of the Shinra corporation and how they saw them as pawns in some game (lol), and instead we get this very weird lone-wolf villain who actually turned out to be right about wanting to destroy Shinra. It's weird.

Also Genesis' new VA isn't a great fit and reduces him down to being an arrogant Disney villain. The original VA gave him a lot more nuance, softness and humanity, now he's just a bit of a um, grating caricature? I don't know, it was a CHOICE that really contributed to his incongruent character.

So the headcanons I need to maintain in order to make sense of him (and so it doesn't just sound like people in a room just threw crap on the drawing board to make him sound villainy when they realised he didn't come across as 'evil' enough which contradicts the whole- you get my point by now I think):

Zack is an unreliable narrator who doesn't know Genesis at all, and because of that we have someone who can only utilise propaganda and very limited info that he has learned of him. He has no first-hand experience of Genesis at all, and when he does, Genesis doesn't feel the need to show any side of him except what Zack wants to see.

Genesis is not considered popular by Shinra standards (perhaps a scandal?) or potentially threatens the image they created of Sephiroth, so they attribute many of his achievements to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth is tired of Genesis being mad at him for not getting recognition for his work, and Sephiroth doesn't help much by poking the fire here and there.

If Angeal is considered to be somewhat Lawful Good, he wouldn't join Genesis if the guy was the maniac we were led to believe.

Genesis did not murder his parents. I know someone will say that some murderers do show love towards their victims, but nothing about Genesis suggests he would behave in such a way. This is the weirdest outlier in his behaviour.

The people who joined him did so willingly, and not out of a sense of duty to SOLDIER, but a sense of duty to him.

And the most important headcanon of all:

7. He's gay and has a daddy kink.

#genesis rhapsodos #crisis core #headcanons #vent post

[aveline-amelia]

Jim Moriarty and bi erasure in The Sherlock Fandom

So I saw someone making fun of Moriarty/Eurus by claiming Moriarty is the gayest character in the show and that Jim even asked Mycroft how he wanted him in TFP, all, of course, in obligatory OUTRAGE CAPS LOCK.

Which is why I feel the need to make the distinction between saying "he's gay" in a "he's so into men" vs "he's so not into women" way. That requires acknowledging both asexual and bisexual erasure. No matter how flamboyant Moriarty is and how many sex references to men he makes, none of that is proof of homosexuality until:

Moriarty makes a definitive statement on his sexuality we are supposed to believe. (I'm gay)

Someone else makes a definitive statement on Moriarty's sexuality that we are supposed to take at face value and believe. (He's gay)

The Powers That Be make a definitive statement on Moriarty's sexuality and the way he was written and portrayed (Moriarty is gay and was written and portrayed as such).

Not all statements on sexuality are clear and definitive, such as Irene saying she's gay but admitting to attraction to a man in the exact same statement and having bisexual coding (both parties separately, male and female clients).

Or John saying that he's not gay but then never clarifying he's straight or not attracted to men.

And we all bring our assumptions when observing potential clues or statements regarding someone's sexual identity.

For example, Harry Watson could be bi but we assume she is a lesbian and we are mostly likely meant to assume that and at that she is probably a butch lesbian or somewhat GNC due to a usage of a masculine version of a name (Harriet -> Harry).

This could be wrong. She could be a feminine bisexual woman who prefers to be called Harry and just happened to fall for and marry a woman.

We don't know the sexuality of the innkeepers in THoB but we assume they are gay men. We assume Raul and Kenny Prince are gay men.

Moriarty refers to his role as Jim from IT as "playing gay" yet he gets flirty with Sherlock in the next sentence. This could all be part of an act, but I do believe reading Moriarty as a straight guy who just likes to mess with people is inherently heteronormative.

Some see Moriarty as a queercoded villain, and some see him as a genuine example of LGBT representation. Maybe not necessarily good representation, but that is subjective. But I do wish people would consider all options before they claim such regressive and potentially harmful opinions as fact.

Headcanons are fine! Claiming something is canon when it is not is different. I am still not over the "confirmed heterosexuality" comments regarding Mycroft and the whole bunch of "straight/het Mycroft" jokes.

And that is coming from someone who believes the Lady Smallwood scene was indeed heteronormative, albeit for different reasons than most people, I believe. But that's a topic for another day. No, seriously, I'll get there.

It's one thing to claim you do not believe a character is bisexual if you don't. It's another to deny bisexuality as an option when it is oftentimes the only option that takes all the evidence into account and does not require stretching the truth or ignoring tells.

Also Moriarty could have had Mycroft on that desk right there until he begged for mercy twice and that still wouldn't have been proof of either of them being homosexual men.

#i apologize for that last reference #i needed to inject some me into this serious post #sexuality in sherlock #sexuality headcanons #headcanons #jim moriarty #mycroft holmes #eurus holmes #euriarty #i guess... #heteronormativity #tw biphobia #tw bisexual erasure #tw homophobia #bisexual #bisexuality #bbc sherlock fandom #bbc sherlock fandom critical

[oxythedigiguy]

One thing about Appmon I find myself constantly admiring is how interpersonal relationships are depicted, especially when it comes to the main trio. Eri and Astra are both very carefree and somewhat childish in how the interact, so their friendship can seem a bit rough, but it's very obvious they enjoy their bickering. They actually remind me a lot of Daisuke and Miyako in 02, although maybe just a bit more put together than them.

Haru, in contrast, is someone who wouldn't enjoy that kind of playful banter. While their strength lies in being more assertive when it comes to expressing opinions and surface-level feelings, Haru isn't great at this at first. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have his own strengths: he's really in touch with his nuanced and intimate emotions. And this is probably because he lives those feelings more intensely. He's self-conscious and understands his own insecurities in a way Eri and Astra don't (mainly because they're a bit more confident than him). What's really cool of them is that they see this from the very start, which is why they're more gentle when they approach him than when they interact with each other. It also means they trust him a lot and they'd never doubt him: since Haru has those insecurities, it means that he understands his own limits. In other words, he isn't one to be overconfident or reckless, so when he's sure something will work it's because he's actually thought about it, which makes him very dependable.

Eri actually points this out in her confrontation with YJ-14 in episode 51: "Once Haru sets out to do something, he'll definitely do it!" (sorry I don't have the screenshots). And this whole scene is really well written, because we can see that Eri and Astra are hurt by "Yuujin's" betrayal, but they're mostly hurt for Haru. Astra starts the interaction with "You were always lying to Haru, right?" and Eri not only says "He did something horrible to Haru", she even gets into a physical fight with YJ-14. Obviously, this is partially because Yuujin was Haru's best friend (and, let's be honest here, he was at least coded to be his crush) and thus Haru would be the most hurt by the situation, but there's another layer to this. And that layer is that they understand what kind of person Haru is. They empathize with his feelings so much that they're able to immediately antagonize "Yuujin", who'd been a friend up to this point. They don't confront him for being a villain or for being associated with Leviathan, they do it because he betrayed Haru. They immediately turn on "Yuujin" because that's how much they love and trust Haru.

It's easy to misunderstand this scene and think that they're being protective of Haru, that they essentially see him as needing that emotional support because he's to weak to confront "Yuujin" by himself. That's why I wanted to stress how much they actually trust him and that's why the writters had Eri point out Haru's determination. Neither Eri nor Astra believe Haru is weak. They know him better than anyone and, while they understand he can be more sensitive than them, they don't see that as a weakness, because they know he can do things they can't and because he's way stronger than they are in certain areas. And if you pay attention, you can see this multiple times through the show, because the trio's dynamics are amazingly written.

#digimon #appmon #eri karan #astra #haru shinkai #appli monsters

[princess-of-the-corner]

I forgot Ben was Genderfluid. Now before I begin this semi-rant I want to state, I support genderfluid people and they deserve more repersentation in media and love Ben in your AU. However I don't like the prevelance of shapeshifters are always genderfluid even if I'm somewhat guilty of also doing that with my charecter of Bubblegum. With being that aren't human if they even have a human gender split I feel like while Genderfluidity would be the norm there would be some that would like sticking with a single gender. We have a not very fluid form but there are genderfluid people. The main reason I'm having this is because I somehow got like 6 different Tiktoks talking about this without me not activlwy searching for them so it got me a bit peeved. Apologizes if this is rude.

Honestly it's mostly me projecting my feelings on the 'gender is ???????' thing. Though I have as of late had more shapeshifters who pick a gender and stick to it(like Vee!)

It's kind of a mixed bag that every lgbtq identity ends up getting. Are gay coded villains bad? Does it suck that ace characters are robots/things that don't have junk? Yeah, but it also slaps!

So yeah it's. I get people's frustration/annoyance with the concept.

But to be fair, I do also have gender????? people who aren't shapeshifters!

And like. A lot of time it's less the fact that being a shapeshifter = gender going ????? and more the fact that they are a shapeshifter makes it easier for them to explore their identity.

Take the Ben thing for example! His gender is still ???? before the Omnitrix. His gender is still ???? in the Timeline where he doesn't get the Omnitrix. It's just that, by nature of what the Omnitrix does, his subconscious feelings are picked up on and will alter gender presentation accordingly, which forces him to confront those feelings.

Take another example with Himiko! If she didn't have her Quirk, she might not have thought to question her gender at all. However, her being able to transform into other people makes her realize that the body's gender means nothing to her. Or at least it means as much as everything else when becoming someone. Which makes her realize she never really felt much toward her own gender past liking traditionally 'girly' things.

And for a third example! Mlp and the Changelings! Though their biological gender is ???? I have them in all sorts of gender identities! Some stick to a binary gender, some switch depending on the day, some switch depending on their partner if you know what I mean!

So yeah it's a mixed thing and fun to project/explore but I get the frustration.

[transmascwillbyers]

This could be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but do you know what I actually love about Mike's character? He's a queer character who's just... allowed to be an absolute f**king jerk sometimes. And I know that probably sounds like a weird take when you boil it down like that, but let me explain.

So often when we get queer representation, the characters are very black and white morality-wise- either they're these perfect angels who can do nothing wrong, or they're literally the queer-coded villains of the story. While the former is definitely better than the latter here, it has the unfortunate effect of minimizing some characters' impact and complexity, since they have to be 100% perfect people all the time or else it's "bad rep". To be clear, I do think that having queer characters on screen being good, functional people is still great representation, and it shouldn't be taken for granted, but I also feel like the experiences of queer characters can often get sanitized onscreen for the sake of straight audiences "understanding" us, or not having cisallohet people take a look at a queer person doing bad things and think "oh this queer person is doing bad so I'll go use that as an excuse to be homophobic now yay!"

Plus, while bad rep does exist and absolutely should be criticized, I think that sometimes we can be so nervous about something being queerbaiting or bad representation that even minor flaws or problematic things in a story feel like they're attacks on us, creating this very binary and unuanced idea of what good representation is (rep exists on a spectrum of good and bad! there's good and bad aspects of most rep!) Of course, I don't fault anyone for feeling disappointed with some stories, and I know that different people can feel represented in different things more than others. If you really like a work, shout it from the rooftops, and if you want to criticize it, you are fully within your right to do that as a queer person! We just need more nuance in the way we think about queer rep, and we need audiences to be MUCH less homophobic, because otherwise there's this effect where queer characters can't really do bad things and behave badly without backlash from both sides (but mostly homophobes). Remember everyone calling Will a homewrecker after s4 for... having an unrequited crush on his friend? Yeah. That happened.

Well, enter Mike Wheeler. As much as we all love Mike, you have to admit, he makes a lot of bad decisions on a fairly regular basis. He blows up at his friends because of his own internalized homophobia (iT'S nOt My fAUlT yoU DoN'T lIkE gIRlS), he has his parents constantly nagging him about how he's acting out and doing badly in school, and his entire season four plotline basically consists of him... treating his girlfriend badly and then going off and having an emotional affair with someone else once she gets arrested. Okay, obviously that's kind of an unfavorable look at it, but this is what I mean! He makes bad decisions, he does bad things sometimes, but the narrative actually manages to strike a balance between making us feel sympathy for him without completely justifying all his actions. If Mike does something bad, he (usually) faces consequences and does something good about it later, to furthur his arc. He's a queer character who's allowed to screw up and be somewhat morally grey sometimes, and you know what? I love that. I love that because it feels real, and authentic, and because the Duffers aren't sugarcoating the struggles of being queer and how internalized homophobia can make you act out and be a jerk sometimes.

More importantly, Mike's actions do get called out in the narrative, but we as an audience aren't supposed to find him irredeemable or morally bankrupt just because he makes bad decisions. He's a classic anti-hero (it's me, hi, i'm the problem, it's me) in the sense that the characters in the text make him face consequences, but the writers themselves don't treat Mike like he's a bad person in the greater context of the story. It's a complicated nuance, mainly about how the characters view another character vs. how that character is treated within the story, tonally and archetypally. We as an audience can make our own decisions about Mike- is he a good person? A bad person? Likeable? Unlikeable? No one f**king knows! And the fact that we get to have a queer character who people don't unanimously like is actually really cool when you think about it!

Ugh. This was so rambly, and I'm so sorry, but istg I have so many creative writer thoughts about Mike it's not even funny. TL;DR, I personally really love Mike as a queer character, because in ST it doesn't feel like his experience is sanitized or sugarcoated for the sake of making him seem "likeable" to an audience that doesn't understand the experience of being queer. He's allowed to make mistakes, he's allowed to be somewhat morally grey sometimes, and the fact that we can have a queer character who isn't perfect for the sake of seeming appealing is just... ugh. I don't know why but I just find it so f**king cool as an english nerd. His character is so interesting, and asdfghklj- I'll stop now.

I'll finish off with this- Equality for queer people and queer representation in media WILL NOT be achieved once we have a character who's perfect, unproblematic representation. However, it will be achieved when we can have a character who makes mistakes, does bad things, even royally screws up sometimes, and no one bats an eye- because people won't be homophobic enough to use them as an example of "why queer people are bad", and queer people will be secure enough in the world so that they won't have to worry whether representation is good, bad, or somewhere in between.

#byler #mike wheeler #mike wheeler is gay #mike wheeler is bi #mike wheeler is queer #stranger things #ugh i'm so sorry this was so long and rambly and i probably didn't get every point i made across in a totally coherent way #but i just- ugh! i love him! and this is why! BECAUSE he makes mistakes and screws up and does bad things sometimes #and he's ALLOWED to do that as a queer character! #ok now i'm really done i'll shut up now #mike wheeler i know what you are

[popculturegenealogy]

Family history, records, and Carmen's journey of self-discovery

From the last episode of season 2 of Carmen Sandiego.

This post, a bit like the bast one, which focused on Futurama, looks at the second season of the new animated show, Carmen Sandiego. [1] As a warning, for those that have not watched the episodes of the new season, or perhaps even the first season, this post discusses spoilers from the show itself, just to give you a heads up. The show is set, clearly, in our existing world, not in some magical world. Without further ado, let's dive in and discuss the interwoven threads of records and family history.

Reprinted from my Genealogy in Popular Culture WordPress blog. Originally published on July 28, 2020.

In the show's first season, we were introduced to Carmen Sandiego, the code-name of a 20-some Latina woman, an international master thief who stole from thieves, especially in that season's first two episodes. Despite the fact that we as the audience knew that she had previously been a part of V.I.L.E. (Villains International League of Evil), her background was relatively obscure. She had been born in Argentina presumably and only had a set of "matryoshka dolls" as her possessions, with the story that she was found by the roadside near Buenos Aires. Perhaps purposely, what is revealed about her past is piecemeal, contrasting from shows like Futurama where family trees, although non-traditional, end up being somewhat central. Carmen, who also goes by the names of "Red," "Black Sheep," "The Lady in Red," "Fedora the Explorer," "The World's Greatest Thief," "The Miss of Misdemeanor," "La Femme Rouge," and "The Crimson Shadow," among others, has no memory of her parents and grew up on V.I.L.E. Island, which is somewhere in the Canary Islands.

While her narrative in this show differs from those in previous iterations, you may think that perhaps she had Russian ancestry. As it turns out, some Russian Argentines immigrated in a sizable number from 1901-1920 if my translation (via Google Translate) of this publication is right. There were also specific colonies of Russian-German immigrants who settled in Argentina starting in the 1890s in agricultural areas. There's also 10,000 inhabitants in Choele Choel, including Russian Orthodox immigrants, sometimes called the "White Russians," who came from Russia itself. Others have noted that there were five immigration waves from Russia to Argentina since the end of the 19th century. Presently, hundreds of thousands with some people of Russian descent living in Argentina. On the other hand, the dolls themselves are deceiving as they may not indicate ancestry at all!

The latter brings us to the most recent season. Like the first season, there isn't much focus on her family roots at first. Carmen is at a bit a dead end. Shadowsan, who rescued her from Argentina, whom has Japanese heritage, says he doesn't know much about the mission, with little he can tell her. She accepts this for the time being and makes an interesting remark at the end of the third episode of the season, "The Daisho Caper":

Of course, discovering herself and her identity are important themes of the season. Even stronger is the continual use of records. Carmen's hacker friend, "Player," breaks into V.I.L.E. hard drives from his home computer to figure out what capers the evil organization is plotting and how Carmen can stop them. Apart from that, in the last episode of the season, "The Deep Water Caper," which ends the show not only on a cliffhanger but with a big bang, Carmen specifically references records and finding out the truth about her family. This is NOT the way to manage your records, people, seriously. Blowing up your headquarters and having it sink into the water is not a way to erase records. I mean, they didn't even do a good job, because she still found the files.

And because of that, this episode is perhaps my favorite of the whole season. Unfortunately, we don't see the server room since the V.I.L.E. faculty literally destroyed the whole academy, but she swims through the water and retrieves the necessary records. From this, she is able to learn more about her past and finds the case files. It shows that her nemesis, Coach Brunt was right when she taunted Carmen in the previous episode about Shadowsan: he was on a mission to Argentina to kill a man named "Dexter Wolff," obviously a code name. But other than the fact that Wolff was V.I.L.E. faculty, it doesn't say much more. She then decides to confront Shadowsan, presumably in their new headquarters in San Diego at the former "Carmen Outer Wear" company building. Telling him that she won't let him escape, he says he is not going to run and will tell her everything. So much for following Carmen's instructions when she, during the "Daisho Caper" (and in some of the prior episodes) to have no more secrets. He claims he didn't tell her the truth for his own protection.

The fact that Shadowsan, the creator of the record Carmen found, did NOT tell the full truth in the record itself, relates to a lot of archival themes. For instance, you could say that Shadowsan's report is a primary source, but since he left out certain content is almost an archival silence or "gaps or missing pieces in the historical record" to quote from the Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy. As such, he is engaging in a form of bias, as he is engaging in a "prejudice in favor of one thing or person over another," specifically in favor of Carmen. Furthermore, records themselves can "easily become lost, distorted, or orphaned" as archivist Samantha Thompson points out. There have often been distortions and omissions in records, like those in Early Modern Europe, records left by the so-called "Founding Fathers" of the U.S., or within family archives, meaning that in this sense, Shadowsan's action not unique. Due to the omissions from the report, Carmen was right to challenge its accuracy, as the latter means, in an archival context, "the degree to which data, information, documents or records are precise, correct, truthful, free of error or distortion, or pertinent to the matter." It actually reminds me of those 1990s Hollywood films I reviewed a while back which often had themes about records erasure.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Shadowsan says he went to Argentina to track down Wolff and followed him to a villa outside Buenos Aires where he found Carmen, complicating his plan to kill him. As he was about to carry out his dirty deed, another group of law enforcement, presumably INTERPOL (explaining how she can connect with Devineaux and Julia so easily) approached, ready to take him down. As he tried to escape, a young Black female agent named Tamara Fraser shot him down (maybe she thought he was pulling out a gun?). She later used this leverage to form a special investigative unit, A.C.M.E., implied to be part of INTERPOL. This means that the 'Chief' killed her father. No wonder she feels no compunction in hacking A.C.M.E., tricking the Chief by giving her a phony V.I.L.E. hard drive. Within, Player finds the file which gives the real name of the Chief (Tamara Fraser) and shows her taking responsibility for the act. Interestingly, the presence of Shadowsan and Carmen there is not recorded, so A.C.M.E. has no idea she is the son of a person their Chief killed! The episode goes on for Carmen to unearth the casket of the person who owned the house, a woman "Vera Cruz," which turns out to be a decoy, allowing her to vanish "without a trace." As such, Carmen doesn't know the name of her mother, although she holds out hope, as the episode closes, that she is out there and she will find her someday, saying: "everyone leaves a trace. Somewhere out there I have a mother who may or may not know I am alive" with Shadowsan with her until the "end of the line," declaring "then let's find her." On a related note, as viewers, we learn, through deduction, from the fake coffin that the coffin was planted in 1999, and this show having been set in the present day, that Carmen is at least 20 years old, if not older.

In the meantime, A.C.M.E., due to the hack, re-activates pompous fool and chauvinist Chase Devineaux. Of course, they had been trying to track Carmen and catch her in order to learn more about V.I.L.E., but it had been pushed by Julia, the former partner of Chase at INTERPOL, that they try to recruit Carmen. All goes well except in the process Carmen is hurt badly after escaping A.C.M.E.'s clutches in the Stockholm Caper episode. After learning this horrible truth about the Chief, it seems abundantly clear Carmen isn't going to trust them again. Why would you trust a person who killed your own father? So, I expect some sort of showdown between Carmen and A.C.M.E. or just Carmen and the Chief in the next season, if I may make a prediction.

With all being said, what can we say about the show and its themes of records and family history? Clearly, this season was much stronger in the latter theme, as the former has been a staple throughout the show itself, along with a continued focus on the use of records to halt the actions of evildoers. There is also a strong emphasis on discovering who you are, which is also present in shows like Steven Universe and Revolutionary Girl Utena, both of which I have reviewed on this blog in one way or another. It also makes me think of the 1990s show, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? where some parts of her family life are revealed at the end of the show's run. While I hold out hope that Carmen will go to a library or archives in the future, even if she does not, the show still has staying power and shows that you should pursue a focus on your family roots. That seems evident in the upcoming season.

© 2020-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] When I originally posted this in October 2019, it fulfilled a promise I made back in June to write about the show. I also talked about it back when I had my DNAChat, you know the Twitter discussion I did back in late June. If you need a refresher, I recommend you check out "Last two days of #DNAChat," "DNAChat Questions," "#DNAChat Day 5," "#DNAChat Day 4," "#DNAChat Day 3," "#DNAChat Day 2," "#DNAChat Day 1," and "Tweets introducing #DNAChat." As I pondered what to do next, although I'm not completely convinced I want to do a chat on Carmen Sandiego, DNA, "Resistance Genealogy," racial justice, or archives/libraries topics, although I may change my mind in the future. During the chat, I even asked a question on one of the days, although getting her age wrong, saying that Carmen knows little about her past, and asked participants if DNA test would help her and what they would recommend she do.

#carmen sandiego #case files #family history #genealogy #popular culture #reviews #futurama #latina #latinas #argentina #russian descent #immigration #hackers #databases #where on earth is carmen sandiego #revolutionary girl utena #steven universe