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qqueenofhades · 9 months

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Good Omens Season 2: Some Thoughts (and also Screaming)

First, /screams

Second, obligatory disclaimer that this meta contains MAJOR SPOILERS for all six episodes. If you somehow have managed to remain virginally unspoiled, look away now, scroll past, or add "good omens s2" and "good omens spoilers" to your block list, as those are the tags I have been using for all posts and reblogs.

Third, /screams more

Okay okay okay. Deep breaths.

Anyway, so, uh, how about all that, huh? First, the good thing about the tone of the season overall was that it felt considerably darker and more adult, in a good way. We didn't have the precocious kiddies, the kitsch and literally-comphet Anathema and Newt, the so-clever narration, etc. All that was gone, which makes sense when you consider that a) the end of last season saw them reboot into an entirely new universe, and b) the fact that God has gone silent is, in fact, a major plot point for the season. We don't have Her slyly telling us the story, or indeed anything, and everyone is left to make their own judgments and take their own actions. Which, obviously, gets them into a lot of trouble, especially when Metatron (the Voice of God, aka someone acting in the belief that they're speaking for God and therefore doing terrible harm) swoops in with the ultimate buzzkill at the end of episode 6. But we'll get to that.

The downside was that the main, present-day plot (hiding Gabriel in the bookshop and trying to get Nina and Maggie to fall in love) was fairly thin, felt stretched out and at times weirdly paced, and otherwise existed mostly to get us to That Ending and the setup for season 3. But the ending was so damn good (if obviously, very painful) that I can't be TOO mad, not least because we spent six episodes with them just making absolutely no pretense about the whole thing being as incredibly homosexual as possible. I'll be honest: I did not think they were going to actually, explicitly go there. Neil Gaiman has been so consistent about "your interpretations are valid and you're welcome to read it however you want, but the only canon is what's on screen," which I think is frankly a good thing (not least since the Neil GAYman Cinematic Universe is consistently very, very good to us queers), that I just... didn't quite think they'd pull the trigger. Sir Terry is dead and can't have active input, this is based on a book published 30 years ago, maybe they didn't want to make it LIKE THAT... etc. I certainly hoped, but I didn't really think they would.

Uh. Well.

As I said in my various semi-coherent liveblog posts, I honestly don't think there was a single straight person in the entire season, among both major and background characters. Aziraphale/Crowley and Maggie/Nina are the obvious paralleling couples, but Beelzebub (using "they" pronouns and addressed as "Lord" despite presenting as femme/femme-adjacent) is clearly nonbinary and therefore also queer, and the countless gay/queer side characters were just /chefs kiss. From Job's son making a sassy pass at Aziraphale, to the random Scottish goon with Grindr on his phone (which he then gives to Aziraphale, because what is subtlety), to the interracial couple with the trans spouse at the Pride and Prejudice ball, there was just a lot of casual, unremarked, non-story-critical queer representation visible at every turn. It's like the NGCU saw the bigots wailing about Sandman season 1 being extremely gay and went CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, LET'S MAKE GOOD OMENS 2 EVEN MORE GAY.

God bless.

Obviously, Jon Hamm as Amnesia!Gabriel stole the show (he was SO fucking funny) and it was also incredibly fun to watch Miranda Richardson repurposed as a scheming demon. Nina Sosanya also reappeared as Nina the coffee shop owner, which leads us into the Maggie-and-Nina subplot. They're obviously, wildly, incredibly clearly an analogue for Aziraphale and Crowley themselves, but they're also each, crucially, a mix of both. On the surface, Maggie is Aziraphale: the plump, blonde, earnest, sweet-natured one owning a slightly dated book music shop and somewhat clueless about emotional nuances, while Nina is (also on the surface) Crowley, the hard-edged dark loner who doesn't want to open herself up to people or be spotted caring. But emotionally, Maggie is Crowley: the one openly pining, clearly besotted, only wanting to hang around their crush and do whatever they can to make themselves useful, while Nina is Aziraphale. Interested but reticent, attracted but conflicted, trapped in an abusive relationship with a demanding offscreen "lover" (Lindsay/Heaven) who tries to constantly control and shame them without ever offering much, if anything in return. By the end, they bring themselves around to what Maggie/Crowley are offering, but by then, well. We've got a lot more problems on our hands.

As I also said in my earlier posts, this entire thing has always been a metaphor for religion, queerness, and what religion -- especially abusive, fundamentalist, organized religion -- does to queer people, but they really cranked the FUCK out of that metaphor this season. Aziraphale is guilt-tripped, controlled, and shamed for his attraction to Crowley at every turn. He is torn between his imagined duty to Heaven, in all its ignorant, uncaring, bureaucratic, gratuitously cruel system that he still insists on seeing the best in because he can't bear the alternative, and the chaotic and sometimes grey but genuinely more good morality that Crowley offers him. (Can I just say, we were explicitly shown that the two of them together doing "just a little miracle" are more powerful than Heaven AND Hell combined.) And at the end, he's told that the only way he can be with Crowley -- what Metatron explicitly blackmails him with -- is if they both go back to heaven, submit themselves to the cruel system again and give up everything that has made them who they are: their home in London, their human friends, their reliance on each other, their independence, their own ways of doing things. You can be queer in this (religious) framework, but only the limited, watered-down, controlled, controllable, constantly-under-supervision kind of queer, which relies on both you and your lover "converting" back to the true faith. And if you don't cooperate, they will literally kidnap you, lie to you, manipulate you, take you from your soulmate, and force you right back into doing the one thing (destroying the world) that you never, ever wanted to do in the first place, because in their minds, that is still better than this. It's for your own good.

Ouch.

And the thing is: that's why the ending a) hits so hard and b) is so fucking painful, because of course Aziraphale agrees. He has no conception of being able to defy Heaven on his own; he has always, always needed Crowley for that. In the flashbacks, when Aziraphale is faced with an order from Heaven that he desperately does not want to carry out (such as letting all Job's children get killed), he still relies completely on Crowley to "outsmart the rules" and find a better way. Crowley is A Crafty Demon; that's what he does, and so Aziraphale rationalizes it to himself that therefore that must be fine. Even in season 1, when he really didn't want the Apocalypse to happen but initially thought it was his duty as a good Heaven footsoldier, he relied on Crowley to talk him out of it and allow him to do what he really wants instead. That's their whole dynamic in a nutshell, as exemplified in that scene in episode 2, where Crowley tempts Aziraphale with the "pleasures of the flesh" while sprawled on his back in Ravish Me mode like the giant walking gay disaster that he is. (Sorry, buddy. That beard. Can't do it.) Everything that Aziraphale's existence is, that makes him who he is, that he loves and cherishes the most (in this case, food and wine) comes from Crowley. Everything else is just background noise.

Throughout the season, what we see is Aziraphale increasingly coming around to the fantasy of being with Crowley. He's coy and flirty; he talks about "our car" and expects Crowley will let him (which he does); he wants to have a Jane Austen ball and for them to dance together (oh my heart); he even thinks, at the crucial moment, that the best way for them to be together is to go back to heaven just like they were in the beginning, once more perfect angels, as if those entire six thousand years of struggle and grief and pining and separation and falling didn't happen. And Crowley -- poor, poor, brave, devoted, heartbroken Crowley -- has just heard for the first time in said six thousand years that actually telling the person you love how you feel is an option. Maggie and Nina tell them point-blank that their whole stupid plan failed because people aren't chess pieces who can be moved and automatically achieve the desired result. And of course this gobsmacks the dearest and dumbest Ineffable Husbands, because they can't conceive of anything else. People are chess pieces in the Great War of Heaven and Hell; Aziraphale and Crowley themselves are chess pieces who have been desperately trying to get out of being moved by external forces, but that doesn't change the fact that that's what they are. They don't have volition or agency aside from that which they can sneak for themselves in brief and stolen moments. That's it.

Until, well. It's not it. They discover that this whole would-be war is actually an elaborate ruse to cover up another angel-demon romance, that of Gabriel and Beelzebub. (I'll be honest, I'm 99% sure they did this storyline because they saw the fans crackshipping them, but I appreciate a fictional narrative that values and incorporates its fans' input, rather than trying to constantly "trick" or "outsmart" them or "do what they don't expect.") And Gabriel and Beelzebub get to be together, but only by leaving their world forever. They have to desert their homes, their structures, even their own identities, and never return. And Crowley and Aziraphale are so rooted in their "precious, perfect, fragile" life in their little corner of Soho, with their bookshop and their Bentley and their dining at the Ritz (which they didn't get to do in the end because METATRON /shakes fist), that that just doesn't work. Neither of them can conceive of doing that. So Aziraphale thinks "go back to heaven and try to make the terrible system do some good and take what we can in terms of being together" and Crowley just... pours out his heart. He's ready to fucking propose. He barely stops himself from saying something to the effect of "I want to spend eternity with you." He begs, he pleads with Aziraphale to go away not in the literal sense, but the emotional/metaphysical: to finally break this toxic dependence on Heaven and tell them once and for all where to stick it. And because he is desperate to make Aziraphale understand, he finally throws all caution to the winds and recklessly, desperately, adoringly kisses him, the one thing he's wanted to do for ages and...

Gets. Shot. Down.

Ugghhhhh. I'm suffering all over again. Aziraphale wants him, hungers for it, for them, and yet he's been so abused and so conditioned by Heaven (he's still blithely repeating to Crowley's face that "Hell are the bad guys!") that he just cannot accept that kind of desperate, blind, limitless, lawless affection. He even forgives Crowley for this "transgression," just to really twist the knife, and Crowley just can't take it, can't face up to how terribly this has all gone up in flames, after he went to heaven trying to find the answer for Gabriel's situation. Gabriel, who he fucking hates. Gabriel, who tried to kill the angelic being he loves (and for which Crowley has transparently never forgiven him). And yet at one pouty puppy-eyed look from Aziraphale and a warning that whoever is harboring Gabriel might be in danger, Crowley leaps headlong into the Bentley again and rushes to the rescue while "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" is blaring. He stoutly protects Gabriel; he does a miracle to disguise him; he lets him have hot chocolate and stay in the bookshop; he guards him from the literal demonic horde outside. All because of Aziraphale. That's it. And then, it still doesn't work. Not only that, Gabriel's absence and decision to forego Armageddon gives Heaven the one tool they finally need to take Aziraphale away from him.

I repeat: Ugghhhhhhhh.

(In a good way. Ngl, I love this angst. This is the kind of angst my brain Thrives on, the Thematic Parallel Romantic Character Arc kind. Nom nom nom. But also: AGONY.)

I also need to talk about Aziraphale driving the Bentley, aside from the obvious metaphor of him being in Crowley's home while Crowley is in his. Last season, we had the "you go too fast for me, Crowley" scene with them sitting in said Bentley, which was Aziraphale saying he's not ready for a relationship. In this season, as noted above, we see Aziraphale increasingly embracing the potential fantasy of being with Crowley. But here's the catch: when he's in the Bentley this time, driving it, setting the pace, acclimating to the idea, he's driving his own idea of what the Bentley/his relationship with Crowley is. It's not the real thing. He plays classical music; he supplies himself sweets; he turns it yellow; he drives too slow. Crowley calls him in another old-married-couple snitfit to complain that Aziraphale's messed it up, but what Aziraphale has actually messed up (or will, by the end of the season) is far more consequential than just a car. He's changed the entire shape of their relationship to the one he thinks can make it work, and it just doesn't. It has to be them -- "we could have been... Us" -- or it's not even close to the truth. It's not worth their time.

I repeat: Ouch.

Speaking of the writers validating fan theories, I know we all picked up and screamed about on Crowley's idea of Peak Romance Guaranteed To Fall In Love being sheltering from rain and gazing into each other's eyes, which confirms that that poor bastard was indeed ass-over-teakettle gone as soon as he met Aziraphale (again) in Eden. I also need to talk about the 1941 redux, because wow. This time, the danger comes from Hell, which we see being its usual self: gleefully, pointlessly cruel, pettily backbiting, dirty, sniping, tedious, endless, determined to mindlessly destroy because They're The Bad Guys and they like it. So they blackmail, spy on, miracle-block, illicitly photograph, and try to prove that Aziraphale and Crowley are secretly a couple, right after Aziraphale himself has just had the Light From Heaven realization that he's in love (which we all also picked up on in s1). They're forcibly outing them (to speak of more Religious Queer Trauma) in order to break them up/get them into trouble with their authorities/families. Aziraphale and Crowley manage to escape it mostly by dumb luck, but Crowley having an altogether freakout, hands shaking, barely able to actually point the gun at Aziraphale even in the knowledge that it's supposed to be fake, is just... wow. He can't even fathom the idea of ever trying to destroy him in earnest, especially when he knows on some level that Aziraphale also finally just realized his own feelings. So I just need to --

/screams

Anyway, Aziraphale's entire arc this season is doing what he thinks is the right thing and then inadvertently causing harm and damage as a result. In the Edinburgh flashbacks (live slug reaction of me: SEAN BIGGERSTAFF???!!) he tries to stop Elspeth from stealing bodies and gets Morag killed and Crowley drinking the laudanum to save him (though that part with David Tennant just riffing left and right, using his natural Scottish accent, and being Tiny Crowley/Huge Crowley was hilarious). He invites his neighbors to a Pride and Prejudice ball and makes them all the target for demonic attack. And of course the Job episode: Aziraphale, horrified at Heaven's callous cruelty, desperate not to get Job's children killed, willing to go along with Crowley's tricks to save them somehow, tempted by Crowley to do the fucknasty with their angel bits eat some food and decide that he likes it. As mentioned, the whole thing about God being silent this season is a major thematic choice. The only time we see/hear God is Her communing with Job from afar. Aziraphale enviously imagines the answers he must be getting (he's not, he's baffled and perplexed), while Crowley longs beyond words to even have the opportunity to ask the question: why? Why do this? Why is this your plan?

And of course, this absence culminates in the Metatron, the Voice of God, the person arrogantly claiming that they're speaking for God and know exactly what Heaven wants, being able to seize Aziraphale by the short hairs and absolutely fuck him over. Gabriel is gone/decommissioned/eloping with Beelzebub, so Heaven needs a Supreme Leader (God apparently is no longer a factor in the equation). And what this Supreme Leader needs to do is finally unleash the Apocalypse that Gabriel decided to pass on (the Second Coming). Aziraphale needs to be punished, taken away from Crowley's influence/love, and put back under Heaven's explicit control, so Metatron spots a great opportunity to do all three at once. It's not an accident that the exact tool he uses to get Aziraphale to agree is "now you can actually be with Crowley!" Aziraphale and Crowley have been trying so hard to hide out from their respective Head Offices, but now all at once, there's this seemingly miraculous opportunity for them not to have to do that anymore! They can be together! They can be sanctioned by Heaven! They can give up all this hiding and sneaking around and lying! Isn't that better?

... As long as, of course, they give up absolutely everything that makes them who they are. No big deal. Minor catch. Probably nothing.

Metatron doesn't let Aziraphale have time to escape, or think it over, or reflect, or anything. He pressures Aziraphale to come with him immediately, or be once more subject to Heaven's implicit wrath/destruction/judgment. Believe me, Aziraphale already KNOWS he's made a huge mistake, as soon as he hears what Metatron really wants: bringing him back to unleash the Apocalypse that Aziraphale and Crowley have given up literally everything to prevent. He doesn't need time to reflect. By the time my man is in that elevator, he's well aware of what a catastrophic misjudgment he's made, and yet --

Aziraphale needs this. He has, as noted, literally always relied on Crowley outsmarting Heaven's cruel orders in order to prevent himself from having to do them. He's relied on Crowley rescuing him ("rescuing me makes him so happy," WELL BUB, IT'S BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS NEED IT). He admits to Crowley's face that "I need you!" He hates Heaven's sadistic meanness, but he has absolutely no framework, in and of himself, to defy it. When the rubber hits the road, he will crumple and try to go along with it, and now he's been put in a position where he's going to have to stand up, defy Heaven, and make the break once and for all BY HIMSELF. He doesn't have Crowley around to do it for him, he has no support, he is going to arrive in Heaven and be shuttled straight off to the Apocalypse 2.0 War Room. The only way he gets out of this is if he actively stands up, if he chooses himself and Crowley and their life, and he has to.

The thing is:

Aziraphale has lived his entire eternal existence Looking Up. Up is the direction of Goodness and Heaven. Up is where Angels go. Up is where Aziraphale comes from and where Demons and Hell are not. But now he's going Up, in a position to take over the whole shebang, and it's the last thing he wants.

So he's going to have to come back Down.

He's going to have to Fall. He's going to have to get back Below at all costs. He's going to have to finally, once and for all, understand what led Crowley to make the choice to leave Heaven and never come back. It's only then that they can possibly be together on any kind of conscious, equal, deliberate footing, claim their own agency, reject Heaven AND Hell, and try to really earn that South Downs cottage and that happy-ever-after, and it's gonna hurt so good.

Now if you will excuse me, /screams

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens s2 #good omens spoilers #ineffable husbands #look this probably could have been twice as long #but i had to stop somewhere #I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS

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artigas · 7 days

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I’m really happy that Black Sails is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, but (predictably) some of the takes I’m seeing online are so busted. It’s wild to me that anyone would complain about the fact that Anne Bonny kisses Jack after she’s developed this life-changing relationship with Max. It’s absolutely wild to see anyone roll their eyes or feel uncomfortable about the fact that Flint has sex with Miranda when he returns to her in season one or that Max is most likely a lesbian but actively has sex with men for pay and knows how to make that pleasurable. It’s crazy to me that some of the very audiences who claim to want queer representation feel so discomforted when they actually see the mess and seeming inconsistencies of queerness that they asked for.

The reality is that there are lesbians who have had (and will have!) meaningful, mutually-gratifying, and deeply sexual relationships with men. There are gay men who’ve enjoyed having sex with women, who are gay as the day is long and nevertheless feel sexually attracted to a woman or two and are nevertheless gay men, full stop. There are gay cis men who are happily married to trans women. There are femme dom tops and butch bottoms and there are mascs afab people who like femme boys. There are non-binary people and trans men who actively identify as lesbians. There are ace and aro people who enjoy thinking about and engaging with sex — sometimes in fiction and sometimes in real life. Queerness, in fiction and in reality, defies neat categorization. That is the beauty, power, and (perceived) unorthodoxy of queerness.

Now, I’ll say this — do I think the straight men behind Black Sails were actively thinking deeply and insightfully about the paradoxes and fuckery of queer identity when they wrote Black Sails? No! By their own admission, Steinberg and Levine have owned up to the fact that some of the writing of the show was really hinged on their own blind spots as people who are not (to my knowledge) members of the queer community. If I want to be generous, I think that the beautiful mess of Black Sails is that, in not feeling like experts enough to designate specific identity labels to any of their characters, the writers stumbled their way into more authentic representation of lived queer experience, which is to say that the notion that James Flint was actively thinking of himself as a gay man was anachronistic. As many lesbian archivists and theories have noted, the notion of a queer identity — as in, queerness is who you are, not what you do — was patently unthinkable for most cultures in the past. In other words, the idea that Anne Bonny operates in the eighteenth century as a lesbian and thus would not willingly engage in relationships with men is not only untrue of the series, but untrue of most recorded lesbian experiences in the real world. The notion that a lesbian would operate her entire life without engaging sexually or romantically with men, for instance, is a very new privilege that some of us are very lucky to enjoy, but it is not true for the vast majority of human history — hell, it’s not even true of our present world.

This is all to say that think that there’s something really funny about how we want queer characters to fit into neatly organized boxes. This isn’t a new problem, either. When the show was still airing, the BS fandom would get itself into tizzies about wether or not Flint is gay or bisexual, wether or not Anne Bonny is a lesbian, wether or not Silver is queer when his only canonical relationship is with Madi, etc etc. We’ve been having these discourses for years and I don’t know. I get that much of it is fueled by how badly some people want to see themselves represented in media, but . . . well. The siloing of queer characters and queer narratives into neat little boxes has never felt very authentic to me and nine times out of ten, it’s also just so damn boring.

#black sails #anyways I gotta stop yapping #its just wild seeing the same arguments play out on twitter and other corners of tumblr when like #lmao I was there for the day when like 2.5 people got very angry that I referred to Max as a queer woman ONCE #and interchangeably with calling her a lesbian lmao #when I tell you … I love this show but those writers were not being that intentional with any of this lmao

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man-down-in-hatchet-town · 3 months

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Hey, you!

Yeah, you!

Do you crave more ✨canon queer stories✨ in your fandom experience? Are you begging for more major character representation that you don’t have to headcanon for yourself?

Then have I got the kickstarter for you!

The Tin Can Bros (a comedy trio and makers of live theatre, digital sketches, webseries, you name it! You might know them from all the work they’ve done with Starkid—founding Tin Can Brothers Joey and Brian played Ron and Quirrell in A Very Potter Musical) are launching a brand new season of projects, most of which contain QUEER MAJOR CHARACTERS AND THEMES. These guys have got gays, they’ve got lesbians, they’ve got trans and gnc characters, they’ve got wholesome first love and Hannigram levels of fucked-up toxicity. It’s a whole cornucopia!! They’re planning to produce work in Los Angeles, NYC, London, Edinburgh, and Adelaide, but there will be digital tickets so you can watch where ever you are!

We’ve got:

-Two Rocky Horror-style concerts of the cult-hit, spy-movie parody musical Spies Are Forever. Gay protagonist who will sear himself into your heart! Seriously, his relationship with fellow spy Owen will emotionally destroy you for at least seven years.

-A concert of the developing musical This Could Be on Broadway, which follows a group of high school kids putting on a production of The Matrix: The Musical (not a show in real life) in their theatre department. A bunch of the central kids are canonically some flavor of queer, and there’s a central, very sweet lesbian romance that includes a trans character. She’s played trans actress Esther Fallick, who also worked with TCB as a consultant to make the character and show as authentic as possible. Seriously, if you want to see a trans teen thriving in their own skin, this is the show for you.

-An Edinburgh Fringe Fest production of The Solve It Squad Returns, a Scooby-Doo parody that follows the parodic versions of the Scooby Gang when they reunite as fucked-up adults to finally confront the almost-twenty-years-past traumatic murder of their dog Cluebert. I promise it’s funnier than it sounds. Esther, the Velma-esque super genius, is gender non-conforming and identifies with they/them pronouns. They also have a girlfriend WITH a boyfriend!

-A workshop reading of the QUEER SCI-FI TELEVISION COMEDY PILOT Intelligent Life. Unlike the other projects I’ve mentioned, this one is new to the TCB fans, but will follow a pair of ex-boyfriends forced to survive together in an extra-terrestrial colony. From the sound of it, there will be plenty of queer supporting characters as well. This frankly sounds like it could be tumblr’s dream show, and it’d be great to support its development.

-The Great Debate—a live comedy game show where comedians debate silly things. While this obviously won’t have narrative gay rep like the other projects, it will showcase gay talent (at the very least, Tin Can Brother Corey will participate in every show) and may include debates involving queer topics.

-Gross Prophets, in which three wannabe gurus/cult leaders lead a seminar on the path to enlightenment. This is a completely new stage musical so I honestly don’t know if it will contain any queer characters or themes. But the TCB queer track record is pretty good!

Guys, I’m so genuinely so excited by this season. But all this awesome queer art won’t happen unless we get their kickstarter funded. And they need our help! So let’s get fundraising!!

TLDR; Comedy group Tin Can Bros are attempting to fund a season positively filled with queer stories and characters, and they need help! If you want to support the creation of queer theatre and the development of queer TV, consider checking them out and giving to the kickstarter!

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bulbagarden · 7 months

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Opinion: Scarlet and Violet are Pokémon's Queerest Games Yet (Bulbanews)

Hi it's Lisia here!! The following is an opinion piece from one of our staff members, Torchic W. Pip!! Blanc and I both loved this and like... we had to share it here LOL.

Pokémon was my queer awakening. I had silly little crushes on male and female characters alike, and I resonated with many of the designs of the series’s more gender nonconforming designs. Pokémon has always had a wink and a nod to queerness: Jessie and James’s genderbending antics, Beauty Nova in X and Y, Blanche from Pokémon GO… the list goes on. But with Scarlet and Violet, queerness shines bright as celestial stars.

“But wait!” you might say. “Scarlet and Violet has no canonical gay or trans characters! How can this thesis make sense?” Well, queer representation need not be explicit to be impactful. Sometimes, the stories queer people resonate with most are told through metaphor, from the misfits in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to X-Men to Luca and Gwen Stacy. The roots of this trace back to a history of censorship. LGBTQ+ stories have been historically censored, such as with the Hays Code. Queer people have long been unable to see stories with explicitly queer characters, so they instead turned to metaphors and symbolism. Gender nonconformity is also nothing new to the scene of video games. Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Guilty Gear are just some of the games that play with our expectations of gender. It’s also nothing new to Pokémon. East Asian media tends to depict transness and gender nonconformity differently from the West, but for more on that, I'll direct you to this video.

Even before the release of Scarlet and Violet, gender nonconformity shined through. Take a character like Grusha, for example, who many mistook for a girl when he was first introduced. It goes a little deeper than that, though. “Grusha” is Russian for “pear”, but it’s also a diminutive for the name “Agrafena”... a female Russian name. Whether or not it was intentional, it does add an extra layer of nonconformity to Grusha. Another character with some queercoded elements is Iono: Her color palette evokes the colours of the trans flag, and her Magnemite headpieces evoke an explicitly genderless Pokémon. Baggy clothes are common among many transgender people. Her friend Bellibolt is a frog, and many frogs in real life can change their sex. In Japanese, she speaks with a Bokukko speech pattern (a girl using the masculine “boku”), which is often used for plucky characters, but also nonconforming characters. All of Iono’s names across translations evoke themes of questions. On top of all that… well, the Vtubing scene is, from personal experience, very queer. All of my friends who watch VTubers are queer in some way. More seriously, creating a persona where you can let your true self shine in a way that regular society won't allow you to... that's pretty queer.

With the release of the games, we’ve seen a wide array of characters—Rika, Saguaro, Penny, and all of the leaders of Team Star, among others—showcase a wide range of gender expressions, either in their appearances, their personalities, or their hobbies. And all of these characters are seen as heroes, as role models.

As with games before, there are two characters with queer subtext in their relationship. Hassel and Brassius have been seen by many as being in a gay relationship, bonding over a love of art, supporting each other in dark times, and giving each other pet names. Even if it's not outright stated that they're in a romantic relationship, their care for each other is a beautiful thing. Many gay coded relationships are often of younger men or women, and while these relationships are important, it's also important for older gay couples to receive some of the spotlight. After all, queer people have always existed, and it's important to remember our past and honor those who came before us, who helped paved the path to acceptance.

For the first time in a mainline game, the player character can choose any clothes, hair style, and so on regardless of gender. While the player can still only choose between being referred to by masculine or feminine terms, this is a step in the right direction, and it opens the door for many opportunities never seen before. Boys can be feminine, girls can be masculine, and both can be anywhere in between. The world of gender expression is as big as the open world of Paldea.

But back to Team Star. The whole Team Star path is one big, queer metaphor. Think about it: kids are bullied for how they dress or act, these misfits band together and retaliate against their bullies, finding a sort of family in each other, villains who turn out to be just the opposite… It’s a story that, in some way or form, can resonate with many kids who have, sadly, dealt with homophobia or transphobia in school. The path is a story about righting what’s wrong, about making the world a more accepting place.

Scarlet and Violet is a game about shining bright in the sky with other stars, about being your true self. Its themes are deeply resonant with the queer experience. At the end of the Team Star path, you battle Penny, whose ace Pokémon is trans flag-coloured Sylveon, and as she Terastilizes her partner, she says, “Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!” So shine bright, trainers, and be your true self.

Oh, and of course, Quaquaval is the queer icon of all time.

[Torchic W. Pip is a Bulbanews writer with a focus on music, merchandise, and spin-off games. They're also a fanfiction author and moderator of the Writer's Workshop subforum. Outside of writing, Torchic is studying music theory and linguistics, and his favorite games are X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire.]

#pokemon #bulbagarden #bulbanews #queer #lgbt #pride

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dateamonster · 6 months

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like fr what are we supposed to do? gay and trans rep is always too "obvious and stereotypical" or else its "out of nowhere and forced diversity". the nonbinary character has a side shave and piercings? thats too on the nose. but also they present too feminine. but also theyre in a queer relationship? thats just excessive. and telling people theyre pronouns when they meet them well thats way too in your face. clearly pandering. too obvious. but also if we headcanon another character as trans were making stuff up without any basis in canon.

you can have your personal gripes but like theres no version of queer representation, especially in kids media, that is free of this scrutiny. and i think its worth it to consider like what youre adding to the conversation when you try to evaluate what is Good/Bad Rep by invoking the language and standards of people that do not respect us anyway.

also hey sometimes real nonbinary teens have blue hair and pronouns. set down le epic memes for a sec and live with it.

#ungodly screeching

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celluloidbroomcloset · 14 days

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Hi, first thanks for all the great meta and analysis❤️

So, I recently noticed this an increase of something that really annoys me: whenever the canyon stumbles upon an opinion they don’t agree with they’re acting like Con O’Neill is this helpless baby that needs protection from people criticising a character he played/his acting choices (because that obviously equals a personal attack🙄).

And as if he is this groundbreaking queer actor that has done more for the LGBTQIA+ community then David with OFMD.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely respect Con O’Neill and I do believe him that he is queer (despite there having been some valid doubts in the past) but I honestly don’t see that he played Izzy as gay (again, not on him, he just went with the role of the antagonist that he was given and did that really well, and then the Izzy fans tried to make it something that it was not). And if he did try to play Izzy as gay within the limitations of that script, then ok….an old white cis gay man who also falls into that hurtful trope of queer coded villain…tell me how that is groundbreaking representation again?

The same goes for “all of the other queer roles” he played according to the canyon. There are two of that I think:

1)Cliff Costello, Cucumber (another old white gay men in a show with some very backwards views about how you are only properly gay if you get fucked in the arse or fuck others in the arse. No, I’m serious, the whole premise of the show is how horrible it is that the protagonist dosnt like anal!)

2)Val Pearson, Uncle (a character that fits every horrible stereotype of how trans people look, Con O’Neill stans love to claim that aCtUaLlY Val is gender fluid, but that is purely a head canon and never established in the show! If you know how 2000s media classically portrayed trans women and always made them the butt of the joke, this role is exactly(!) reproducing all of that).

Both of these are just side character btw.

And I’m not blaming Con O’Neill for taking on these very problematic roles, as queer people we often have to take whatever representation we are given. Still -especially as a queer person- we don’t live in the 80s anymore you are allowed to be more critical about the roles you take on.

And I don’t think /he/ was the problem with these roles, I actually watched Uncle and like the way he played that character but that dosnt change the fact that the character itself is written deeply transphobic.

So maybe we shouldn’t pretend that they’re great representation?

And maybe we shouldn’t act as if Con had specifically chosen to play queer characters?

Like two deeply offensive stereotypical LGBTQIA+ characters in 40 years acting career? -that’s not more then your regular straight actor has played.

He is a decent actor but it annoys me that the canyon tries to turn him into this activist or something!

Wow, this got longer then I expected, sry just had to vent a little after seeing some rather outlandish canyon takes in the wild😅

OK, before I answer, I want to remark that this is a very thorny issue. I am not trans, and I know that there are some trans people who saw themselves in Izzy's characterization especially in Season 2 or discovered their own gender identity through that character. That's absolutely valid, and no one should ever say that it isn't.

I have not seen Con O'Neill in anything other than OFMD. From what I've seen, he's a good actor and seems a lovely guy who strongly supports fans and the LGBTQ+ community. But I can't speak to the other roles he has played because I have not seen them.

I read Izzy as queer, yes, though that's less explicit in the first season. He's very much the "queer-coded villain" trope, which is a homophobic trope...but as with everything OFMD does with tropes, it's subverted because—surprise!—almost everyone is queer. Izzy is very much an archetype of toxic masculinity and I think part of the point of the character is to develop how queerness does not always equal liberation.

I think it's very easy to fall into stan culture and arguing that the actor is the role and vice versa (so a criticism of Izzy is somehow a criticism of Con O'Neill). We have an additional layer here that this is a very queer show watched by a lot of queer people who see themselves, some for the first time, on the screen, and so are naturally defensive of the show itself, the specific characters, and the actors who play them. And that can cause a lot of problems too, especially if you're invested in the character who is canonically The Antagonist. To complicate it further, he is representative of a very common trope that for a long time was the major way queer people were represented at all in mainstream media, and we have people reading him as though he is the sole queer character. Which he likely would be, in many other stories...but not here.

It's a complicated issue. I wish that we could all step back a bit from our emotional investment in these characters and actors and recognize that they are part of a TV show that wears its tropes on its sleeve, and that just because an actor is a lovely person in real life, he is not his character.

#ofmd #our flag means death #reply #izzy hands #con o'neill

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starrylayle · 2 years

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Soman’s failed POC and Queer rep in the SGE saga — And why criticism is essential to the movie (franchise)

[repost]

Before I start though, I’d like to say that if you have any argument about forced representation, dni. I don’t give a shit that ur faves aren’t white anymore — and please stop fucking harassing Soman and the cast about this non-issue.

Now onto the racial criticism of Soman’s work, which I don’t see talked enough about.

Being a person of colour does not mean you are exempt from racial criticism. I’m sure this is known by now, but in the books, literally everyone is white. Like EVERYONE. And not only that, the beauty standards he portrays and tries to critique (but then fails miserably at unfortunately) are so Eurocentric it’s quite disheartening actually - pale skin, small noses, coloured eyes, etc. The themes are also quite Eurocentric as well — if you had told me that the books were written by a white author, I would believe you.

Now, I’ve always given him the benefit of the doubt here, considering he was writing a middle grade series as a marginalised author, which was a lot more difficult at the time, and because he does genuinely try to improve his POC rep in the later books (even if that does include retconning character’s previous descriptions lol). In that same vein, the cast is also noticeably more diverse, and I truly applaud Soman for that. However, he has not said anything in regards to the racism the cast have been getting, which considering his influence on the fandom, would have been much appreciated. (The only casting choice he actually spent some time defending was brunette Tedros 💀💀 — like mate, get your priorities together!). Also, since whiteness is quite intrinsic to the core themes of the story (I’ll make a separate post on that later), I worry that the movie will unintentionally be pushing it. And if that’s the case, people should be allowed to critique this (hypothetical) poor depiction of race, without it being considered racist. (As previously mentioned — this excludes those fucking weirdos who just hate on the cast coz their faves aren’t white anymore 🙄🙄)

Ok so, in regards to the queer-coding/queer-baiting:

Just like being a POC doesn’t mean u can’t have internalised racism, being queer doesn’t mean u can’t have internalised homophobia, especially to other members of the community. I don’t know why exactly Soman struggles with writing queer rep so much (I mean I can understand in 2013 — but now plenty of middle grade books include queer characters), but he barely has any canon gay rep.

Tristan/Yara, who is not even specified whether they are gay or trans, is one of the first characters to die, with absolutely no resolution to their arc whatsoever - and their queerness is never mentioned again. The next confirmed queer couple are two backgrounder guys who barely have any significance to the story. The couple after that are two evil white boys, who are only confirmed to be queer after they both die. They are are the only relevant gay characters at this point — yet ofc they’re dead, white and evil. This wouldn’t be a problem if there were other (good) queer characters, but since that is not the case, it just comes off as rather… icky.

Now notice how all these couples, as poorly written as they are, are all (white) gay men? There are hints that Hester and anadil might be in a relationship, but it’s never explicitly confirmed.

In addition, sophie and Agatha are explicitly queer coded — (I made a post about it on my acc for anyone’s interested) — they even kiss!! Of course people are going to be mad that they were baited into a relationship that ended up being incesteous! Especially, ESP, considering that Agatha is now a Black girl in this adaptation. We barely see any white canon wlw couples in media — Black sapphics are almost unheard of in the mainstream, especially as leads. first kill, one show that featured a Lesbian Black girl lead (a Dark-skinned one at that!)— got cancelled. And this happens all the time. Lesbians/sapphics, esp sapphics of colour, ESP Balck sapphics are barely given any time of day in our media in favour of centring gay white men in queer narratives, and thus they have every right to be upset at the queer baiting.

I’m not Black, but as a queer woman of colour, Agatha’s character has always been very special to me. I’ve always thought she should be a POC considering how different her and her mum are from the rest of her cookie-cutter village, and queer because she did not fit into conventional notions of femininity. It would be so awesome to see Agatha, a queer woman of colour, as the lead in a high-budget fantasy series. But alas, that is too many marginalised identities for the general audience.

Not only that, the twin reveal was just plain bad writing. It had absolutely no bearing at the story whatsoever and is never mentioned again. It was just done purely for shock value, and for that, I will absolutely critique Soman.

I know that this discourse is tired and worn out — and understandably so, it’s been years. However, now that this movie is approaching mainstream — At worst, this queer baiting can already add to the whole ‘lesbian relationships aren’t serious’ and other terrible stereotypes. At best, it deprives sapphics of much needed representation in mainstream fantasy films.

Remember, unlike with the books, we as fans have the power to influence the story. If the creators see how unpopular the twist is with the public, they can probably change it. We can make a difference! Btw, this doesn’t mean sophie and Agatha should be endgame — I’d like for them to be in a short term relationship and be confirmed as canonically queer — Tagatha can still be the end couple! (Not hophie tho, coz sophie is a lesbian and I despise Hort lol).

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jaskierx · 3 months

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seriously praying that other queer shows like iwtv and heartstopper don’t get cancelled after their next seasons, but if they do then maybe it’ll at least knock some sense into the people who were like “just go watch another queer show” to ofmd fans.

seriously. ofmd's cancellation is a symptom of a wider problem. even if you hated the show, even if you thought it was shit and the fandom is annoying and you'd be happier with it off the air, the facts are that the numbers were great, the show was popular and widely loved and generating loads of engagement, the s3 scripts were written and pre-production had started - and then someone pulled the plug.

why? greed? homophobia? a secret third thing? idk but it happened to us and it can happen to you. and it's not just about the fans who are left without their favourite show. it's about the cast and crew - most of whom are not well paid anyway - who earn a living from creating television and have been left in the lurch. it's about the concerning trend of shows and movies being shelved for tax purposes so some wealth-hoarding millionaire can get even richer. it's about the influence of capitalism over art. it's about how there are already so few shows with good queer representation, with opportunities for nb and trans actors, with opportunities for actors of colour, and now we've lost another one.

and saying shit like 'there are other queer shows' is part of the problem. queer isn't a genre. acting like people only enjoy the show because it's got queer characters is ignorant and contributes to the idea that queer IS a genre. like it or not, ofmd is groundbreaking in the way that it handles queerness and the way in which queerness is the norm. it's absolutely fine if it's not your cup of tea, but you have to recognise that for so many people, it's the first time they've ever seen themselves represented in a show that was about love and romance and the canon couple getting to live happily ever after. as opposed to seeing shows that are 'representation-adjacent' (where there is queer rep but only e.g. in the form of white cis gay men), or shows where queer characters are only ever given storylines about homophobia or coming out or self-acceptance or being disowned or getting hiv.

it's fine to hate ofmd, but it's disingenuous to pretend that it's just one of many identical 'queer shows' that can be easily substituted for one another.

#asks #anon #ofmd #save ofmd #rndl

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kajaono · 1 year

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Diverse Sherlock Holmes adaptations

for you to watch on major streaming services to make Racists, sexists and homophobes mad

SPOILERS are always marked as such! Read on own risk!

1. The irregulars - Available on Netflix - cancelled after one season

John Watson is a black gay man (canon, confirmed in the show) in this supernatural adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

The main character is Bea, played by Thaddea Graham a Chinese-Irish (queer?) actress

2. Miss Sherlock - closed in one season, available on HBO Asia, HBO max (?) Hulu and Amazon prime America and DVD

This adaptation plays in Japan. Both Sherlock and John are Japanese woman. Wato (John) is traumatized war doctor for Red Cross. Her trauma is important for the story. Sherlock is autistic coded and has a chocolate addiction. SPOILER SPOILERS SPOILERS Spoilers Moriarty is a female in this adaptation. While Mary is male.

3. Elementary - closed in seven seasons - available on prime, CBS and many more as well as DVDs

In this adaptation John is a female Chinese American. Her Sherlock is both queer as well as neurodivergent coded, but it was never confirmed inside the show, only outside, so this is why he is not pictured her

Johns close colleague and best friend is Markus bell, an American black man

Mrs Hudson is a trans woman

Sherlocks girlfriend is autistic

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER:

Moriarty is a woman in this one

We also have multiple other queer, disabled and people of color-side characters

4. Enola Holmes - two movies so far - available on Netflix

Watson is an Indian man in this one. Apart from that this adaptation is a not a shining light of representation but we will see where the road will lead us. This was already enough to make people mad…

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Moriarty is a black woman in this one and if we will get a third movie we will see more her soon!

5. Sherlock daughter - in production - Netflix

We honestly do not know anything about the adaptation so far, apart from that Sherlock will be played be a trans woman

#enola holmes #johnlock #the irregulars #miss sherlock #cbs elementary #Sherlocks daughter #Sherlock Holmes adaptations

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theriverbeyond · 5 months

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just finished blue eye samurai, my extensive thoughts below the cut but tl;dr IM OBSESSED, it was really good, I highly recommend this show. it is gory and beautiful and so fucking good.

spoiler free thoughts first, then will label where I start discussing spoilers.

Ok so first off my thoughts about the title & character design:

i saw a fair amount of discourse before it even dropped about how it was Bad for giving an asian character blue eyes, which like, on a surface level fair! I get it!! it does Shit to the body image for all the Cool Asian People to have light colored eyes. i get being a persom of color and wishing badly for white features instead of my very much nonwhite ones

But the actual story smacked me in the face with like. Mizu is a mixed race person with physical traits that clock them immedietly as mixed race, in a context where they must hide those traits to "pass" or else face discrimination or death. this is revealed in... the first 5 minutes maybe??? and the fact that it is their white features that mark them as "other" "demon" "monster" is because the story takes place IN JAPAN where the ethnic majority is JAPANESE. and that's. like. that's a STORY!!! that's WAY DIFFERENT from "asian character has light eyes bc it looks cool". and Mizu does look cool, that is undeniable. but it's part of the story. idk!!! i just feel those critiques were pushed out way too fast with no understanding of what the show is about and while i think in a vacum we should have more positive, "looks cool" representation of nonwhite features, a story about a mixed race person is maybe not the one to criticize about this specific topic. to me.

NOT SPOILERS REALLY IF YOU READ THE EPISODE SUMMARIES BUT IT WAS A JUMPSCARE TO ME AS SOMEONE WHO WENT IN BLIND re: mizu's gender:

I went in blind and due to the way the story is structured and how it addresses Mizu's gender, I read it as an intentionally transmasc story and was absolutely jumpscared the first time I opened the episode menu and saw it refering to Mizu with she/her pronouns. and then after watching I went on ao3 (as one does) and people also seem to use she/her on there??

and obviously. this is fine. canon, really, considering the netflix episode descriptions. and probably it was way too optimistic of me to even ASSUME that someone would be able to create an intentionally transgender samurai action animation series on Netflix. but i just REALLY see them as either a gay trans man or he/they nonbinary and am just having an Experience reconciling what i got from the show directly vs how I am seeing other people talk about the character/the show.

I would write fic to fix this but my knowledge of edo peripd japan is so slim I feel I would make unforgivable and offensive mistakes... idk... like obviously the show itself refers to Mizu with she/her so I have no leg to stand on wrt feeling upset about seeing it but I sure was surprised.

THEMES OF THE SHOW specifically about race (some spoilers maybe, but not specific late show ones): cw for discussions of historical and canon sexual violence

I am deeply, deeply intrigued and invested in the story, and am specifically fascinated with how it is dealing with like, white imperial violence. Mizu is hated because they are mixed race, specifically mixed Japanese and white. It is shown in the show that white people and whiteness is hated because of the violence that white men have brought to japan; opium, human trafficking, slaughter, and multiple other abuses. Mizu, as well as other theoretical mixed race children exist almost solely due to the rape of Japanese women by white men. They are hated and hunted by both their white fathers and everyone else in Japan (because of their proximity to white imperial violence, even when the children themselves are a product of that violence).

Mizu is on a revenge quest against their white father specifically, who is presumably one of the four known white men in Japan. Mizu faced discrimination and abuse from everyone, but it is their *father*, who they have never met (vs the multiple abuses they faced from Japanese kids, their mother, etc etc etc), that they are hunting. not anyone else. because their father must have raped and abused their mother. their mother who to their knowledge betrayed!!!! them. This is just such an INTERESTING and COMPLICATED and FASCINATING dynamic like. I'm eating it with a fucking spoon my brain is on fire (positive). Probably more to say and I hope/wish I am saying it in a reasonable enough way but. im eating this. I really love this.

MORE THOUGHTS likely spoilers ahead. you have been warned

im chewing the bars of my cage... taigen and mizu need to kiss sloppy style. WHEN MIZU SAW THE TWO MEN KISSING IN THE BROTHEN AND THOUGHT ABT FIGHTING TAIGEN???? this too can be yaoi

when they cut together Mizu GETTING NAKED TO FORGE STEEL and akemi having sex??? CINEMA

there are cocks in this show. i had to DM multiple friends about the cock jumpscare. also there was sex which was frankly awesome. fuck yeah for adult animation that is serious storytelling with beautiful art. the nudity in this show was like less explicit than many HBO shows but it was a similar vibe/energy in a way that felt really cool and normal. it didn't feel gratuitous it felt like "this show is for adults and features sex and ful frontal". more of this in adult animation please

too many occasions of Mizu being wildly hot hot for me to count... they are SO whumpable and also when they fought in the makeup that ran so it looked like they were crying blood??? when they killed all those guys? when they killed all those OTHER guys????? Mizu are you free tuesday. are you free tonight.

THEYRE GOING TO LONDON??? I'm going to die if this doesn't get a season 2 but I'm also so scared like it is so good... what if they RUIN it in season 2. what if all the complicated interesting bits get sanitized. what if they stop letting Mizu kill people. what if they make Mizu have a girl power woman moment. anyway i need this to be renewed SO BAD I need to know what happens. I need Mizu to get bloody revenge on the 4 white men who have brought such pain to the country. MIZU IS GOING ON THIS QUEST FOR REVENGE AND DIGGING 4 GRAVES‼️‼️‼️‼️

Fucking loved the tropes like. Yes they are going to face off 200 armed warriors and kill them all. of course they are.

Akemi was there. ok ok ok actually I really liked her coming into her own and trying to make her own power.... was really sad when that immedietly got fucked up for her. Really interested in her developing in future season(s) into her own person, I hope she doesnt go back to taigan bc i think she can do better and also her story is more interesting when she is trying to Make It And Be Someone vs running after him.

I feel like this show is Saying a lot of things but in a way where it is up to the reader to pick them up and think about them vs sending a soecific message. Which rocks honestly.

Animation, gorgeous. It was 3D it looks like and some tiny bits are less than stellar but OVERALL. fucking beautiful. hot. etc.

Really liked the story. this was really good and I already want to rewatch it. clawing my walls. i could go on but will stop for now

#trb.txt #media blogging #blue eye samurai #i wanna write fic but i don't know enough about edo japan..... this is so tragic.....

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lilyginnyblackv2 · 1 year

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List of Anime Produced by NitroPlus:

This information is from MAL and is only looking at TV anime.

Steins;Gate, Psycho-Pass, Fate/Zero, Madoka, Fate/Zero 2nd Season, Psycho-Pass 2, Aldnoah.Zero, Gakkougurashi!

Suisei no Gargantia, Aldnoah.Zero Part 2, Psycho-Pass 3, Robotics;Notes, DRAMAtical Murder, Azur Lane, Buddy Daddies, Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu

Togainu no Chi, SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation, Blassreiter, Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru, Gunslinger Stratos The Animation, Tokyo 24-ku, Revenger, Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic

Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru and Warau Arsnotoria Sun!

----

I haven’t watched all of these anime myself, but for the ones that I do know, a good chunk of them tend to have some queer aspect about them.

Steins;Gate: has Ruka/Luka, a character that is gender-conforming (I know that there tends to be heavy debate on whether or not Ruka is a trans character or an otokonoko character, which is a bit different and more like a Femboy identity). Regardless, Ruka is shown to struggle with gender identity and also has a canon crush on Okabe, the MC and a man.

(The image below is of Ruka stating “I want to be a girl!”).

I’m not super well versed in Steins;Gate though (I watched it when it aired, but never got super invested in the series, games, and etc), so if anyone has anymore info on this character and series (in regards to queer aspects), feel free to share.

Psycho-Pass: I have only seen Season 1 (the other seasons are on my “To-Watch” list), but there is a canon lesbian couple in the series: Shion and Yayoi.

They are shown post-coital and everything (like, in the bed, putting underwear back on, etc.). Shion, the one in the white lab coat in the image above is also stated as being bisexual over the LGBTQIA+ Wikia. They are more minor characters, but they aren’t just background characters either.

Madoka: I watched the show when it was airing back in the day. I haven’t seen any of the movies or spinoff stuff, but I do remember there being very heavy queer subtext (specifically yuri).

Madoka and Homura are a huge yuri pairing in the anime community for a reason, lol.

DRAMAtical Murder & Togainu no Chi: Both of these anime were adaptations of Nitro+ video games. Those games were very GAY and very sexually graphic and kinky. It’s been a while since I watched either anime, but I do know that they had to tone down these series down a bit.

DRAMAtical Murder (I think the above image is from the game though).

Togainu no Chi

Interestingly, MAL has Togainu no Chi labeled as a BL, but not DRAMAtical Murder.

Anyway, both of those shows are very gay.

Finally, Revenger: this is a currently airing anime. I haven’t watched it myself (I got too caught up in Buddy Daddies, which also caused me to fall behind on watching The Fire Hunter too, my brain can only do one anime at a time, lol). But, I do check out the discussion posts on this series over on MAL and r/anime from time to time to get an idea of how they are handling characters and themes.

And apparently one episode contains a gay brothel. Okay. I was also aware of the character: Nio.

I checked out the official site before it aired, and I wanted to wait and see/hear how they handled Nio’s character. The official website describes Nio as 両性具, which is a word that is generally translated into English as hermaphrodite or androgenous, but not as intersex. Japanese also seems to deferentiate these words: 両性具有 vs. インターセックス (intaasekkusu). So, I’ve been a little uncertain of how this particular representation would play out, but regardless if it is well handled or not, the fact of the matter is that Nio’s character exists outside of the gender binary as well and is a queer character in this way.

Basically, what I’m getting at here, is that NitroPlus is an anime producer that has series which explore queer themes and has queer characters in them. Not everything they produce has queer elements to them. From what I remember of Suisei no Gargantia, for example, was pretty heternormative and straight, and one of the script writers for Buddy Daddies, Vio Shimokura, wrote for one other series: Tokyo 24-ku, which seems to lean more into “close childhood friends” category of writing with its male characters. But, I haven’t actually watched the show, so I can’t really say (this is just going off of the synopsis).

The other Buddy Daddies script writer, Yuuko Kakihara, has worked on a bunch of different series, but nothing that really stands out as being specifically queer in the sense of having same-sex relationships and whatnot. But, the company of NitroPlus itself hasn’t shied away from queer characters or themes before, either.

NitroPlus is producing Buddy Daddies along with PA Works, so I think it is important to think about what other series and kinds of content the production companies have made before too. It can add better context and layers when figuring out how to read the themes being presented in a series.

#NitroPlus #Winter 2023 anime #queer anime #Buddy Daddies #anime #long post #image heavy post #just some food for thought #also #feel free to add to this!

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jamesunderwater · 11 months

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Why Short Sirius Black Mattered to Me

So I'm having some feelings about the whole "sirius black is tall" discussion that's circling my dash right now, and I don't want to comment on anyone else's posts with my *feelings* because it really doesn't relate to the actual factual information they're sharing, but I did want to put them out there.

At first I felt pretty defensive about how angry people seem over people headcanoning Sirius as shorter than Remus, and I am still taken aback by the level of anger/frustration being felt about this whole thing by some. But I am also a very logical person so I read the posts and I mean, the "sirius black is tall" people are not wrong. It is canon that Sirius is tall, I just read @pommedeplume's post about it that really laid it all out well and with the canon sources (thank you for doing that, btw), and yeah, it's just true. Sirius Black is canonically tall.

But I'm still finding that I feel hurt by the discourse around it (namely, the animosity toward the "short sirius black" idea), and I wanted to flesh that out a bit -- not because I'm trying to tell someone to change their thoughts/opinions/feelings, but just because, maybe this will offer some insight into why short Sirius Black is fanon and means something to some people.

I didn't always imagine Sirius as shorter than Remus, but personally, since returning to the fandom after transitioning to a trans man, I started imagining him as 5'10" (~178cm) or so and Remus as 6'1 (~185cm) or so, mainly because I started reading fics about Trans Sirius Black and they were just so...validating. Trans men try to make ourselves feel better about being shorter and not having dicks by calling ourselves "short king" or "tiny dick solidarity" or whatever, but frankly, it's incredibly dysphoric, especially as a gay trans man. It's intimidating and sucks to know that most of the guys I am attracted to and want to be with will be 5-7 inches (13-18cm) taller than me.

So there was something about picturing Sirius Black, who I already relate to as a person, being able to contain all of his big personality, all of his attractiveness, all of the things about him that make him so Sirius Black in a body that was simply an average height for a man. Not even my height! Just a height that didn't make him feel cosmically out of reach from me. And, really, that's often the driving force behind something that becomes fanon -- a thing that makes the character more relatable to the readers. Because 6'2" (188cm) Sirius Black is not a trans man (I mean, obviously some trans men are that tall, but...clearly that is VERY rare), and doesn't feel like he could be a trans man. And as someone who is a minority and doesn't get that representation ever, it's nice to feel like there are small things about the characters you love that mean that maybe they could be like you, too.

What I'm trying to say is - I think that short Sirius Black came from the queering of the marauder fandom, which as an older queer person who only recently came out, is really cool to see. I definitely don't agree with all of the fandom interpretations of characters that have come from this queering (i.e. femme sirius), but I'm also just...not gonna tell people how to view this character who might be helping them feel more safe and proud about their own identity. Short Sirius Black makes me feel less shitty about being a short guy. And seeing everyone be really pissed at the idea that Sirius Black is imagined by some people as short...hurts. At the end of the day, I know it's about just wanting to stick to canon, and I get that. I am that way about a lot of things. I just wonder if we can be more understanding of why people might be clinging onto what they want to believe is canon. Because I'll be honest, I'm disappointed to have read that it really is canon that he's a tall guy. I'm gonna change how I picture him and Remus (flip their heights basically), and I'll live. But I wonder, at what point can we say that sticking to canon is less important than letting people feel represented by their interpretation of a character?

#this isn't all of my thoughts but it was getting long and i'm hoping i got my point across #also pretty sure no one is on here right now so i'll probably just rb this later or st idk #tall sirius black #short sirius black #sirius black #queer marauders #the marauders #trans sirius black #wolfstar #sirius black meta #hp meta #marauders headcanon #charlie chats

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itsclydebitches · 10 months

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On the topic of the Curious Cat: As an enby, I don't know how to feel about the fact that the first major characters in RWBY who were canonically enby were a) animals from a whole different world b) killed off in the same volume that introduced them.

Actually, no, I do know how I feel about that.

Little: A mouse who has, by their own admission, no purpose in life and thus swears to help the group on their quest... except they don't. No time is spent developing Little or demonstrating how they're beneficial as an ally. They're squashed to death by the villain during a pseudo-suicide scene and then magically reappear as a totally different person, which is presented as a good thing. They're left behind by the story, presumably never to be seen again.

Curious: A cat who is first presented as an annoyance that the group doesn't want to deal with, then as an outright villain who has been manipulating them this whole time. The story refuses to engage with the ways in which their situation is both relatable and sympathetic, instead having them suddenly gain the power of possession/physical transformation for a lackluster fight scene. They're torn apart by the illusion of another villain that only existed for one episode and, for obvious reasons, will likely never be seen again.

Yeah. I wonder why fans, particularly enby fans, would be unhappy with this representation...

You know, I've brought this up before but I think it's really important to keep in mind that RWBY is an ongoing series. Any representation that's introduced to the canon is, for a significant length of time, the only representation we have and that severely colors our feelings towards the show as a whole. Lately there have been some angry posts about people calling Blake/Yang queerbaiting and they're right, by definition it can't possibly be queerbaiting because they were made canon... but we thought it might be for several years. That's the criticism. The later you're introduced to RWBY and the more you have to binge watch, the less likely you are to understand the issue with these portrayals—especially with a fandom that will talk up what you have to look forward to if you just keep watching to X Volume. Why would I be upset with a stalker, villain lesbian when Saphron and Terra are so cute and just around the corner? Why would I think trans rep is an issue when Mae is arriving in Volume 7? How can anyone possibly claim that the queer rep is bad when the flagship, main character couple kissed on screen and I've already seen the beautiful, romantic GIFs of the moment? Putting aside other issues here (how long queer characters last, the lack of rep for men, etc.) fans ignore the staggeringly long time we were not only waiting for rep, but then waiting for what many would consider positive rep. For years all we had was a lesbian who wanted to kill the parents of the woman who didn't return her affections (notably with the implication that Blake was might be straight...) and a super duper minor character who isn't actually gay because they wanted to kill him off. For years all we had was Coco leering at women behind her sunglasses in the novels, or the hint of gay side-characters in other teams, while Blake and Yang continued a multi-Volume will-they-won't-they dance. For years we've had queer character appear for a few episodes only—the cute couple, the trans activist—before disappearing from the story because they're not important enough to make a core part of the tale. The fact that we have Blake/Yang now doesn't erase those feelings leading up to their canonization.

Now here we are again. "How can you be unhappy with the nonbinary rep?" someone might ask in a few years time, if RWBY continues and we've gotten another cute, minor, short-lived character who uses they/them pronouns. Well, it's because in 2023 everyone was waiting to see if the show would even return and in that uncertainty all we had for rep were two literal animals who were horrifically killed by the story and then left behind, one a full-fledged villain whose death we're meant to celebrate. I'm all for a diversity of representation—I'm by no means saying all your queer characters have to be heroes, or even decent people. I love me a queer villain—but when that's all you've currently got in a show that's struggled both with its rep on screen and its treatment of queer employees... it doesn't feel great.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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rjalker · 8 months

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Allos in this year, 2023, still don't see aspec orientations as genuine orientations. they see it as an empty space where the orientation is inexplicably missing, so they see a character who is cannonically aroace and viscerally repulsed by all forms of relationships and touch, and think that, because this is a "lack of orientation" rather than an orientation directed at, explicitly, no one, they think it's perfectly fine and not bigoted at all for them to shove their orientations onto the explicitly Queer character, erasing the aroace representation in favor of turning it into another Cis Gay Man who uses he/him...even though the character is literally nonbinary, and uses it/its pronouns.

Because they also see being nonbinary as a "fill in the missing parts" puzzle. They think the character describing its gender as "not applicable" and "indeterminate" means that, really, it's a guy! it's a man! Because it's funny and relatable and only Men™ are relatable! Only Male Characters™ can be funny and well-written!

In 2023!

Fully grown adults are fucking pulling this shit in 2023 and think they're the perfect Queer Allies™

Because they don't see aroace or nonbinary people as actually existing, and actually having meaningful identities. They think we're walking fucking ad-libs and they can fill in the "blanks" with whatever's most palatable to their tastes.

And that means misgendering the canonnically nonbinary character who uses it/its pronouns, erasing literally every single aspect of its identity that gets in the way of shipping it (removing its aceness, its aroness, or just straight up pretending it's not aroace to begin with, and erasing its solitaremit touch averseion), and then pretending their actions are completely harmless when they're called out for it.

Because according to them, it's not bigotry if the canon Queer identities they're erasing are the ones they think don't exist in the first place. Being aroace isn't an orientation for them, it just means you're broken and need to be fixed. Being nonbinary and using it/its with them isn't a real gender identity and presentation, it means they're something wrong with you and you need to be fixed. Being touch averse isn't a real disability, it just means there's something wrong with you, and you need to be fixed.

They don't fucking see Murderbot as representation for real Queer disabled trans people. They see it as something broken that needs to be fixed, by taking away everything that makes it who it is, so that they can fill in all the now gaping wounds with their own much less stigmatized identities instead.

Even though the literal entire theme of The Murderbot Diaries is that you should treat people with respect even if you don't understand their experiences.

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one-squash-one-end · 1 month

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once again rambling about Adam Parrish

Hi! This still belongs to my big Raven Cycle analysis, click here for the masterpost.

For most of the characters I obviously read a lot into subtext and speculate about how they're absolutely not straight, but lucky for us, we do get canon queer characters!

So let this be me talking about Adam as bi representation and also throwing in (other people's) gender headcanons. As always, please tell me your thoughts in the notes <3

c) Adam Parrish

Sadly, I cannot speculate too much about Adam’s sexuality, as he is canonically the mean, witchy (and bitchy) bisexual.

There isn’t much I can say, really. Throughout the book series he displays interest in both Blue and Ronan. And also Greenmantle, but I would like all of us to ignore that because I want to believe Adam has good taste. Blue and Ronan as his love interests are essentially seen as equal. While I would say he had already had some repressed attraction for Ronan (see: him calling the swearing melodic, black-painted poetry- you normally wouldn’t feel like that for someone who just called you a motherfucker) in book one while dating Blue. Yet it becomes very much clear that he did have romantic feelings for Blue. Yes, the two of them were doomed from the start (but still pretty cute I’d say! Until things went to shit, that is), however, Blue is not treated by the narrative as some mistake before Adam figures out he’s actually gay (looking at you judgingly here, Rainbow Rowell). Neither was Ronan a quick, silly thing to see how it would feel to kiss the same gender. That is, like, very much very obvious, through the last five books. They are boyfriends, your honor.

At this point I would also like to give a shout-out to Adam Parrish and the Crying Club (which would make for a fire band name, just saying). This little group of queer people Adam collects at uni (in Call Down The Hawk) has my whole heart and I so wish we would have seen more of them, I am forever mourning their potential of silly, reoccurring side characters. What I’m trying to say though is this: The fact that Adam builds a group of queer people around himself (another one apart from the Gangsey) proves his sexuality even more, because we all know queer people flock towards each other.

Either way, canon bisexual, we love that. Moving on.

Honorary mention to the transmasc Adam headcanon that Tumblr user @barbaricpoetic compiles especially well in a post. I personally do not follow that headcanon, like of course I do not think Blue is supposed to be written as genderfluid in the books, but somehow I believe even less in trans Adam, but either way I do agree there is a lot of strong source material to support that headcanon. Check out the original post for a lot more detail, I don’t want to plagiarize all of that here either way, but here’s two especially solid hints: First of all, he does everything to appear more masculine, like working in typically male-dominated fields and dressing accordingly to that, while orientating his behavior on Ronan and Gansey, who, ironically, do not try as hard as him. Secondly, there’s physical descriptions, Adam being a lot more “elegant” and delicate than the other (Raven) boys Blue knows, with unusual features, and “blue eyes pretty enough for a girl”. Yeah, might be a coincidence, might be solid, queer truth.

This would all make so much sense, even within the books and all, there is just one, considerably big thing, that would not add up with this in canon. Adam’s rural-conservative shitbag of a father would never use the correct name and pronouns for his ftm child.

Either way, there might still be something fun going on with his gender that defies the binaries. Why do I think so? Well, Gansey says a very interesting thing. “Henry was a boy. Adam was a─ Gansey didn’t know.” I wish he would have told us what makes them different. What is it that Adam was? A man? A demiboy? A nonbinary person? A dinosaur in disguise? Please do enlighten us, Gansey. I’m assuming it’s got something to do with Adam being more mature than Henry (he definitely is), but like with Blue and the 300 Fox Way Women, it might be a gender thing, at least you can very easily lay it out to be that way.

To conclude as I will conclude every character part, I think Adam might possibly wear a crop top (might take him a while to accept masculinity is everything you want it to be and not just a certain aesthetic standard though), but absolutely not regularly and not around strangers or his parents.

#so what we learn is that Gansey headcanons all his friends as trans #trc #the raven cycle #the raven boys #the dream thieves #blue lily lily blue #the raven king #the dreamer trilogy #call down the hawk #adam parrish #ronan lynch #pynch

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