#especially when it comes to character writing and trans 'representation'

[b4kuch1n]

I'm not gonna screenshot it bc 1/it really doesn't matter that much and 2/the person who made the comment is a kid but: a while ago I made a comic that's supposed to be a genuine study and reinterpretation of someone else's sprite comic (made in the spirit of authenticity too - to recreate the vibes of the sprite comics from that era, iirc very specifically because it's funny) and I got a comment on that comic's post that's like "glow up"

which is a compliment obvs. and the commenter probably didn't mean anything by it, it's a common expression. but I've been trying to find a way to gracefully put that comment away ever since it appeared lol

I just very much don't want my art to be taken as trying to one-up someone else's art when that's not the piece's intention. especially when the piece that inspired my art is perceived as "low effort" or "shitpost" or stuff like that. I did mention in the tags of that post that my considering it a study is entirely genuine, and I can legitimately write pages about the cool stuff I find in it other than and inherent in the haha funneys, but that's not for you guys that's for me. I just think that approaching art competition-first like that is a miserable way to do it, and (tipping into overthinking here if the whole tiny-comment-got-stuck-in-my-brain-for-almost-a-month part hasn't given that away yet lol) I really don't want that to be the takeaway from my own art. at least generally. if I actually think the source material is trash and what I'm doing is genuinely categorically better I'd just come out and say it lmao

#bakuspeech #yeah it's the darkhog sprite comic #honestly I don't love comments that put my art and other artists' art in a hierarchy in general. wherever my art lands on that scale #especially when it comes to character writing and trans 'representation' #which like. idk man I'm writing One character. he's NOT gonna be The Trans Experience. he's gonna be one character. #but yeah I'd guess I'm writing it all out in a post bc it's not really a race that anyone opts in #I don't actively participate but by virtue of how my art is perceived I just end up on the scale anyway #so uh. I'm suggesting that we do not bring the scale into my house at all lmao #there's also the like. Don't Yuck My Yum guideline of looking at art that's like #I like the things I'm aping! most of the times! if I don't say it's shit and I'm drawing stuff from it usually that means I like it lol #and then you kinda come in like wow what you're doing here is better than the thing you like. and it's not like yknow. #really anything. it's extremely trivial comparatively. but you are in fact yucking my yum there #tldr please try not to think abt art u like vs art u don't as ''better'' or ''worse'' and #have grace for the things that don't please u personally. anyways I'm omw to finishing the frog now. just need to fell all the seams down #and put that boy in da spinner for a ride. and then it can live in a gift bag until the day #I really enjoy holding it actually... maybe after this one I'll make something else. tbh slick stretchy fabrics are superior to fuzzy fabri #doesn't pill And cooler to touch. stuffed toys for the subtropical population #I'll get a combilation of pics once the thing's at its new home. but for now. we must finish the job

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

About representation of child abuse in ML

I’m sorry if this isn’t the proper way to send it I chose it because I can actually divide paragraphs here. I am also assuming none of the abuse submissions are reblogged because of the subject.  I was neglected as a child(parents often forgot to feed me, didn’t care about my hygiene and I couldn’t go to the doctor when I should have) and emotionally abused after coming out as trans as a young teen(constantly being pressured to stop being trans, treating me as stupid and melodramatic for being trans at all, showing open disgust if I did something “too manly” etc.). I was a bully for two years in middle school before realizing the weight of what I was doing. I had to put in a lot of effort to improve, especially since guilt was feeding into already-existing self-hatred. When I first saw Miraculous Ladybug on TV I didn’t expect child abuse to come up at all since it’s a hard topic even for adults and Miraculous didn’t seem like the show to tackle a complicated topic. Looking back they shouldn’t have tried because they end up giving incredibly bad messages. As you point out Chloe is treated as irredeemable and sent off with her abusive parent as punishment while Andre is never treated as the neglectful parent he is. While children can be abusive to their parents Andre is the mayor of Paris while Chloe is a kid, he holds a lot of power here that he refuses to use at all. He also doesn’t try to get Chloe psychological help which would be the correct course of action seeing her mother despite the fact it wouldn’t even make a dent in his pocket. It would be better to either have Chloe’s redemption fail while highlighting how her parents affect her behaviour but don’t justify it or have a straightforward redemption arc, maybe one where she doesn’t get forgiven but still improves to show kids there’s a way out. “I will always be like this because of abuse” is an easy thought to fall into and ML accidentally ends up teaching it to kids, Jesus. The other thing that really bugs me is the treatment Gabriel gets, it seems to me that the show tries to use his love for his wife and son as a redeeming quality but I am not sure on how good an idea that is. It’s better than if he were to hate Adrien but loving Adrien doesn’t excuse any of the things he does. In my experience most abusive parents do love their children, they really think they are doing the best for their kids. The kicker comes in when they end up harming their children in some way but refuse to acknowledge it. If your parents always end up doing more harm than good and refuse to stop, then love alone can’t save it. I don’t think that point was there as Gabriel’s love was portrayed as a good thing because this show doesn’t do nuance. Also the plot Gabriel abusing Adrien should mainly be about how Adrien feels. Of course it will affect other characters but Adrien is the one getting abused by Gabriel. Gabriel is also an incredibly controlling parent who takes away Adrien’s agency and the show never really addresses that. Adrien is a bystander in a story-arc about him getting abused. He never learns that Gabriel is Hawk Moth(writers seem to think we forgot Chat Blanc and even then that episode was more about “Ooo hero gets akumatized”), we never learn his thoughts about the whole situation and Gabriel completely gets his way in the end, leading to a happy ending. Adrien’s contribution to the finale is giving up the agency he had left. This really left a sour taste in my mouth. If you’re not going to deal with how abuse affects Adrien, why write it in at all?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, I’d like to thank you for being able to step forward and talk about your history with your parents. I’m very sorry that you had to go through that.

Second of all, you make a good point with how much the show empasizes Gabriel’s love for his family supposedly justifying his terrible actions, with or without the mask. It doesn’t help that, like you said, he doesn’t even get to confront Gabriel about their relationship himself, and ends the season believing all the delusions Gabriel had about him being a good father. 

Hell, even the movie does a better job at pointing out how much Gabriel has hurt his son over the show itself, and I’m pretty sure that’s why so many people prefer that version of Gabriel over this one. 

#thing delivered to my ask box because tumblr won't let me say the s-word #immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #child abuse in miraculous ladybug

[voidpacifist]

things I loved about season four of sex ed (spoilers ahead)

the amount of representation present this season. the disability rep, the queer and trans rep, how not shy the writers were confronting different trans and disability rights issues head on.

eric's arc with his religion and his gayness and how he was able to reconcile the two. this one really hit home for me as someone who is both queer and a person of faith. I love getting to see gayness have a place within faith, it just healed something for me, okay?

otis was so classically otis but he finally (FINALLY) acknowledged his own idiosyncrasies without just writing them off as being the fault of wounds in his life. by the end of ep 8 he was dedicated to making things better for himself and for other people and I'm actually so proud of him for that.

aimee's journey with healing from her SA trauma and how she navigated a new relationship with that. also I know it probably wasn't intentional but she's a very autistic coded character to me and watching her flourish as herself with isaac just did something so special to my heart. I would level cities for her.

and adam too!! him finally getting the closure he needed with eric and them communicating !!!! the scene at erin wiley's funeral when eric is able to tell adam how genuinely proud of him he is, just,,,my heart I love it when people get to heal !! also again with the unintentional neurodivergent rep, like come on - sitting undiagnosed by yourself, handsome? he's just like me fr.

I was worried the writers wouldn't do isaac's character justice, even though he was given a good arc in season three I was still anxious about where they would take it now that maeve was overseas and honestly, they didn't give him very much of a story outside of his history and who he was when he was with maeve. similar to aimee with him, I really liked watching more of his artistic traits pop out and I loved seeing him have a healthy friendship with someone. even better, I love it when the feelings he harbored for that person were mutual with no strings attached. I wasn't expecting him and aimee to be endgame but I'm absolutely not disappointed about it (you can tell he's my fav because I've written the longest paragraph about him so far).

cal and aisha and pk. need I say anything more? my only gripe is that I wish we could have had a glimpse of the three of them on a date or even see if there were other people in the polycule but that's okay !! I also just really loved cal's journey with themself and I loved getting to see them supported for their identity it meant so very much to me.

lastly but certainly not the least, I loved that otis and o ended on mutually agreeable terms with each other, it just really added to the whole theme of trying to heal and open new doors and be okay with things not being in control all the time. it was especially touching that he gave his position as therapist to her because he knew and acknowledged he had work to do on himself like !!! very rare otis w but totally welcomed. had the show continued I would have loved to see more development w him.

#otis #eric #aimee #isaac #adam #o #otis milburn #eric effiong #aimee gibbs #isaac goodwin #adam groff #sex education #sex ed netflix #sex ed #sex education s4 #sex education season 4 #sex education spoilers

[whovianderson]

Sex Education season 4 thoughts

The good

Aimee’s journey. As I’ve discussed online no end, I have complex PTSD. While I was never sexually assaulted like Aimee was, her avoidant trauma responses were very relatable to me. To see her taking the power back this season, especially when the burned the jeans she was assaulted in and did the photoshoot with them, made me feel a bit less alone as I try and heal. I cried my eyes out, so much so that I had to take a break from watching to collect myself!

“Even when I’m doing something I love… it feels like I’m still wearing them, like it never goes away”

Cal’s story as a non-binary person is very different to mine (and for the record, that doesn’t make either of us any less valid, because there is no singular way to be non-binary). Nonetheless, hearing someone I love as much as I do Gillian Anderson affirm our shared gender nonconformity meant the world. I’m sick of facing transphobia from society, but especially from people that I once considered idols. So knowing that Gillian embraced a role where her character supports trans youth healed something within me. It’s not the first time she’s showed up for our community though - she always makes a point to include non-binary people, for example in her Dear Gillian announcement video. I don’t mean to undermine the real hero of the story here: Dua Saleh, the actor who played Cal - it’s just that I had already formed such a deep connection with Gillian, so it hit me doubly hard from her.

The funeral scene. Just… the funeral scene. I really lost it when Mr Hendricks played With Or Without You on the piano and everyone else joined in.

Other people have spoken about this better, so I won’t get into it as much, but by god, the representation. One example that really struck me was the sex scene between Abbi and Roman at the end, where she said “I love being inside you”. It wasn’t a big deal, their transness was completely normalised.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I loved the Motis ending! Maeve made the right choice going back to America, and long distance relationships are really hard when you have no plans to reunite, so I get why they called it off. Also, relationships at that age don’t usually last, as much as I hate to say it, and yet via Maeve’s letter, the show managed to honour that they can still shape one’s life and be really important.

The bad

If it wasn’t clear, I’m a Jean Milburn stan first and a human second. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in how they handled her storyline this season. Firstly, I’m tired of every single female character on television having an arc that culminates in motherhood. Not knowing who the father was felt like bad writing for Jean specifically, like very out of character, because she’s a sex therapist, so she’s all about safe sex and communication around those things. By no means am I suggesting that they should’ve kept Jakob as a character (if you don’t already know, his actor sexually assaulted hundreds of women which, by the way, was public knowledge before he was ever cast), but they could’ve come up with a better workaround. Maybe I’m biased because Jean is a comfort character of mine, but I wasn’t very pleased with the fact that they didn’t allow her to be happy for a single second this season either! That being said, I do think it’s important that we don’t gloss over the postpartum depression representation here, which could mean so much to so many. I wish they’d brought Maureen in to help Jean though, because their relationship was so special and yet we didn’t see them interact onscreen once this season.

I haven’t heard anyone else mention this, but I was disappointed with how they handled sapphic relationships this season. Not only were Ola and Lily erased entirely, but the writers fucked up the storyline for the only established sapphic couple remaining (Roz and Sofia Marchetti). Like, why was the Big Plot Twist™️ that there was, in fact, a man intimately involved with their family? Our lives don’t have to revolve around men, you know? The show didn’t explicitly acknowledge the fact that genetics to not make a family in my opinion either, because Roz and Sofia’s conversation with Jackson was just about how his biological father was missing out on raising him.

The… mixed? Idk!

I deserve to be sent to horny jail for this, but Jean breastfeeding initially drove me insane. I quickly changed my tune though, because breasts are not inherently sexual and breastfeeding shouldn’t be sexualised, so it makes me feel a bit icky to see people thirsting over that.

I’m not sure how I felt about the development of Adam and Michael’s relationship. On one hand, I thought it was beautiful to see them both grow and reconnect. On the other hand, I was slightly concerned that it was veering into “you have to forgive your abuser” territory. I don’t have parental trauma, so I don’t have the authority to comment, but I’d be interested to hear other people’s perspectives.

I really appreciate how they tried to explore toxic relationships with the introduction of Beau as Viv’s love interest. However, I don’t feel that it was given the weight it deserved, because there was so much else going on.

In summary

I’m not disappointed with how this season turned out overall. Although it definitely wasn’t perfect, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, and it made me very happy. I do recommend checking trigger warnings before watching it though, because it is a lot darker than previous seasons.

I’d missed this show and these characters more than I’d realised, and I can’t believe I’ll never see them again. It was really hard to say goodbye!

#yes I binged all of season 4 in one day but I was too lazy to post about it until now. love that for me #miscellaneous thoughts: #gillian anderson is a phenomenal actor jsyk #this season is confirmation that ncuti is gonna be an amazing doctor #I may be becoming a hannah waddingham stan what of it #also this is personal so feel free to skip #but I’m so so proud of myself #because this season would have been too triggering for me to watch not long ago #but I’m ✨healing✨ now #sex ed season 4 #sex ed s4 #sex education season 4 #sex education s4 #sex ed spoilers #sex education spoilers #sex education netflix #sex ed netflix

[jamiefeelsdandy]

I understand people's dissatisfaction with the lightfall campaign as a whole,with it essentially just being 60% strand tutorial and 40% actual story, but I don't understand why people hate nimbus. Ppl say they're "cringe" and have "bad writing" when 1. what people call cringe are lines that are very obviously intended to be cheesy jokes that Nimbus themselves knows are cheesy because they're just trying to cheer everyone up and 2. their writing around grief and dealing with the weight of being the protector and beacon of hope for the entirety of Neomuna was really good and it feels like people either didn't pay attention or are intentionally misrepresenting their character. I have a feeling most of the hate comes from Nimbus being non binary tbh, which makes me really sad and really angry cause they're genuinely a great character that a good chunk of the community wrote off as cringe without even properly giving them a chance due to bigotry or just it being popular to hate on anything related to lightfall. And especially as a nonbinary individual who loves that d2 is so unapologetic with its representation I really hope that the reception to Nimbus doesn't sway Bungie from further expansion of their character and more trans rep in the future. I have faith that the writers will stick to doing what they have been as they've been doing a great job so far though.

#destiny 2 #nonbinary

[uncriticalbunny]

me whenever I see people desperate for the writers to make sydney asexual and/or a lesbian.

long post ahead.

as a black woman who is ace, I don’t think sydney being asexual would be revolutionary or interesting. it would actually be so incredibly, hugely, profoundly... boringggggg. and people who insist on sydney being asexual get a massive side eye from me. especially white asexuals, because fuck your representation, and cishet people because who the fuck are y’all? 

so rarely are black women in tv and film treated with respect and nuance, much less when it comes to romance. so rarely are we treated as a person to be desired. to be loved. openly. warmly. carnally. even less so when it’s a darkskin black woman. writers pick from one of two things when it comes to black female characters: hypersexualized vs desexualized. superficially, for all outward appearances, there are lots of asexual black women in media. that is to say, they are certainly almost treated that way. unintentionally. intentionally. maliciously. void of sexuality or sensuality. no romance because she’s a Strong Black Woman who doesn’t need a man. or a relationship so pathetic that it can hardly be called a romance. would it be nice to have an asexual black female character who has a storyline that treats asexuality with respect? yes, yes it would. but that’s not really the point of this increasingly wordy essay. if the creators/writers are to be taken at their word that sydcarmy is strictly platonic, and they had her reject marcus because he misread their interactions, then it just shows they’ve developed nothing for sydney romantically. all the shots of carmy looking at her like she hung the moon and the stars are simply because she's his #bro. marcus really only liked her for her personality and simply confused that for romantic longing. platonic connections and a one-sided pursuit with zero heat. how groundbreaking. 

every fucking white character can have all of the romance-related things though. they can kiss each other, be shown as desirable, etc. etc. nat can be cuddled and cherished by pete. richie can go on dates in a nice suit with dirt caked under his nails, be loving with his then-wife, and ostensibly be wanted by jess. tiffany can still be yearned for by her ex-husband as she prepares to marry a new one. carmy can skip around like he’s in a romcom while neglecting his responsibilities to make out with claire and call her beautiful. claire can be shot in soft, dreamy sequences with closeups of her face and have a convo with her ass out for no reason other than to say she’s desirable and fucked carmy. claire and carmy can have screentime set aside for their relationship and a tender lovemaking scene. it’s expected for white people. it’s the norm. no romantic love for sydney though. because she’s driven. because she deserves better. because romance is unimportant. because she wants that star. because she can have no distractions. because asexual. because representation. [audience cheering]

sydney being a lesbian would also bore me immensely. too often are black female characters treated by writers as russian dolls with every diversity point they can think of. books, comics, tv, film, etc. she’s black, she's lesbian, she’s trans, she’s disabled, she’s poor, she’s this, she’s that. the diversity and representation everyone wants. why is every other character surrounding this ~pinnacle of diversity~ straight, or white, or a man? yes, because that’s who’s mainly writing and casting and greenlighting these things and maybe it’s silly to expect otherwise, but still, what the fuck? congrats on being represented by this fictional character. but it doesn’t feel genuine; it feels spiteful and lazy and self-congratulatory. like where's the other black women and diverse characters lmao. to be clear, I do want to see all the black lesbians in media because there's still not very many. and black women with one, or two, or all of those “diversity points” do exist in real life. we are lesbians, we are bi, we are disabled, we are trans. we're all of those and more. and we are loved and adored. on screen? maybe with a nonexistent or poor romantic storyline. or perhaps a decent and maybe even good storyline that eventually crashes and burns. there's a popular twitter thread right now about the disposable black gf trope and the examples that keep pouring in are bleak af.

the black lesbian character headcanon/canon increasingly feels like just another way to fridge us romantically. #notalllesbiantruthers but too many tbh. a black female character will simply exist without uttering a word and a slew of white women will be there to loudly proclaim her as the lesbian representation they want, need, crave, and adore. especially if there’s zero indication of the character being a lesbian. just stereotypes and vibes. hollow, insincere proclamations. bi black women don't even exist in their world. all these things I’ve observed with sydney. she's a bro, she's butch, she's a top, she's so husband-coded. babygirl is only reserved for the most woeful, pitiful white male characters. it's hilariously #coded. and no one will push back because after all, any gay representation is a good thing.

you’ll see hit tweets about how they know deep down sydney's a lesbian or how it will be so funny when the writers make her one. really, why is that? she can't be bi lest she actually gets with carmy. carmy can't be gay because they want to fuck him too badly. yeah I’m not so convinced all the lesbian sydney truthers earnestly want to see her loved, adored, cuddled, kissed, or fucked by another woman. because would that really be the writers’ objective or finished product? or will they just make her a lesbian and pat themselves on the back for doing only that. a throwaway line? maybe give her a cute romance built largely off-screen? lesbian sydney is a win for diversity and that’s enough. and who really wants to see sydney loved on loudly or be sexual anyway? that's not who she really is! she wears minimal makeup and oversized shirts and sweaters. let’s just focus on her working herself to the bone and getting that star. and I think deep down a lot of these truthers know her storyline possibly wouldn't be done justice. that's why it's going to be so funny to them when they make her one.

it all feels so shallow. fanfiction of sydney x fem!reader or original female character or nayia (the gorgiana black chef from s02ep03) is quite literally nonexistent [!!!]. sorry, y'all are not progressive or galaxy-brained. we get a black female character who’s multifaceted and fascinating, a deuteragonist even, in a show with a fandom that barely considers her as a person, and you’ve set your grubby paws upon her to be shelved romantically. bffr, the writers are already flailing romance-wise when it comes to sydney; they would not do an asexual/lesbian storyline justice. and even if they somehow make a halfway decent attempt, maybe they should have made it clear from the very beginning. not in season 3 or 4 or 5 or wheneverthefuck after they’ve given all the white characters romantic angles and developed her strongest and most important relationship with carmy, the main white guy or possibly because they hate the fact that people ship her with the main white guy. because then it just feels reactionary. and spiteful. and lazy. anyway, this ended up being way longer than I wanted. thanks for reading. fin.

#sydney adamu #the bear #no one has to justify their headcanons or whatever cuz who gives a fuck #but when I see your blog is filled with incestuous and other crazyyyyy romantic pairings #and you're desperate for sydney to be single #kill bill sirens fr #ok but the fanfiction thing gagged me so bad bc the sydcarmy sistren are going to work meanwhile #all their naysayers and supporters of other sydney ships/headcanons have vanished when it comes to ff #nobody wants to work these days #text

[falling-skyzz]

hey, i have some concerns regarding your sapphic glorybringer post, particularly about the representation behind it.

deathbringer in general is not a great character, and his dynamic with glory doesn't help his case. it can't be forgotten that deathbringer was originally supposed to kill glory and her friends, and making him fall in love with his target is just an abhorrent decision on tui's end, not to mention that he's twice her age when they first met (regardless if his age was a mistake or not). he's just a creep; he made many unwanted advances that were shut down multiple times and ignored it. making him queer doesn't really change any of that.

having deathbringer be transfem in particular makes it worse, perpetuating the harmful stereotypes imposed on trans women. I have a friend who is transfem herself and has a great issue with headcanoning characters associated with violence as transfem, which is wildly common in this fandom. even then, sapphic glorybringer has these implications that queer relationships are dangerous because of their dynamic. making them queer also doesn't erase their already existing issues. the label isn't some saving grace that masks the problems in their characters. this applies to deathbringer especially, and, as a queer person myself, having the queer and transfem label being associated with his predatory character is the worst form of representation that we can get.

you may have not considered these implications, and while I don't have any particular issue with making queer hcs just for fun, it becomes a problem when the characters in question don't serve as good queer representation because of how they are written.

before i say anything, id like to state that i am a cis female lesbian, and i had this checked over by a friend who is trans male.

first off, as you said, the glorybringer age difference was a complete mistake by tui. completely fine if you dont like the ship anyways, but glorybringer was never intended to be an age gap ship.

what im getting from your ask, though, is that because deathbringer was originally sent to kill glory and company, even though he grew and changed from his assassin mindset, youre saying that trans people cant be written in the enemies-to-lovers trope, and that they should be always written in a simple and positive light. deathbringer does do things that can be considered predatory, but his character is overall complex, nuanced, and up to the reader to decide whether they like him or not, but saying that a character like this cannot be trans is saying that all trans characters cant be complicated. this would be a different story if glorybringer had a clear power imbalance, but that is absolutely not the case.

i can see where your concerns are coming from, but by avoiding writing people of a certain gender or sexuality into tropes that arent perfectly healthy, youre also invalidating a whole bunch of shows with imperfect queer characters. its so important to portray trans people through multifaceted lenses.

#ask #answered #ava askbox

[teeth-cable]

You everr realize that Vivziepop is completely bullshitting when it comes to ethnic casting because of Millie?

Like we are definitely getting imp human disguises for merch reasons so its definitely going to come up.

But like if Millie is black then her family should be played by black VAs but all of them are white VAs. Like I don't think Millie is adopted since she looks like a younger version of her mother.

The best course would then be making Millie white and no we can't use Erica being the original VA as evidence because that was always meant to be a temp casting.

But then this creates an issue in Helluva Boss having no fucking diversity like Vivziepop doesn't have to answer to corporate demands to make the ENTIRE CAST white. She can choose to add diversity.

If she makes Millie black that's also showcasing a huge issue in Helluva's lack of diversity in its main group of characters and Millie could come off as a token. Then you have the fact Morgana and Ed would come under fire for taking POC roles as well as Spindle allowing it unless Vivziepop retcons Millie as adopted or half siblings with Sallie.

Like Into The Spiderverse had half its human cast be POC and it answered to corporate demands. Then Across The Spiderverse without spoiling anything has a MAJORITY of the cast be POC.

Now you can argue Spiderverse is based off existing material unlike Helluva but those existing materials had put effort into adding POC in the first place. And guess what Spiderverse had consulted actual minorities when it came to development of the project.

Vivziepop is latina but she's white passing so she needs to consult people who don't pass to get a better understanding overall on things. Like I'm disconnected from my own culture but just because I'm part of it doesn't mean I have a full picture of it.

Vivziepop also isn't black, asian or indigenous so if she's telling stories that features them she needs to do research and consult people.

She actually consulted Morgana about Sallie May being trans thankfully but... I never hear any talk about other people she talks to which shows poor ass attempts. Like Morgana's insight is valid but she does not speak for all trans people and yes you aren't going to please everybody with representation but just consulting a SINGLE PERSON is insane. We also know Viv according to leaked screenshots has or had some form of transphobia so she absolutely needs to consult more people if she's trying to change and do better especially if she's writing about a trans character.

Like Morgana being a white transwoman will not have the same experience as a black transwoman for example. Like I know that from actively trying to learn about trans people.

Like there's a youtuber UnicornofWar who made a video about how the show RWBY is terrible at handling its racism allegory. Now Unicorn is white but actively went out of their way to consult multiple POC for the video and did a shit ton of research. Now I will say Unicorn in the past has said ignorant things about stuff like white washing (thinking its ok because of art style color pallets back then) in earlier videos but currently denounces that viewpoint (note: Unicorn as far as Im aware has never said anything with vile. I have to clarify so I don't misrepresent their person and people don't assume Unicorn like said a slur) and actually apologizes for their ignorance.

Has Vivziepop ever denounced her old views or behavior? Has she apologized for being ignorant in certain things? Is making a serious effort to change? Has Vivziepop researched throughly and listened to POC insights or concerns?

As far as I'm aware she hasn't.

I have noticed Viv's weird choices for Millie as a black character. I hate to say this but Millie is supposed to be token rep which to me is weird because nobody was pressuring Viv to add rep to her shows. I will say this even in a universe where Viv hired black VAs to voice Millie's family and did do properly research and consulted black people, Millie would still be considered token rep because she is the only the only main character in the show to not have an self-centered EP and has the least amount of screentime.

It makes me wonder if the reason why the IMPs don't have a canon human form yet is because Viv doesn't want to draw POC characters. She has shown she knows the importance of these disguises and they sell well on merch but the only characters who have canon human forms are Stolas and Loona, two white characters who arguably don't even need them. Blitzo is voiced by Brandon Roger who is a mixed Filipino (It's also canon Blitzo looks like Brandon Roger and Blitzo and Brandon Roger are intertwined together so it doesn't make sense for Blitzo to be white), Millie being a black woman, and Moxxie, despite what you might believe is a mixed Latino.

The POC rep we already have isn't good either. In Spring Broken, Verosika and her gang, who the majority are POCs, gets arrested and Verosika makes a joke about sucking police dicks to get out of jail. Having a POC character make a rape joke about police corruption unironically is not funny. Moxxie's mom is obviously supposed to be Latina, falls into the trope of nice POC women who get brutally abused and killed by their white husbands. This actually could have work and wouldn't be as tokenizing if 1. we got to learn about Moxxie's mom as a person and 2. her death wasn't solely use to be angst bait for a male character.

The Spiderverse crew actively puts effort and consulted with POC about characters from their culture. During the early stage of writing for Pavitr Prabhakar, the writing team struggled writing his character and called his VA, Karan Soni to help them write and consult on the character. Thanks to Karan Soni's contribution for Pavitr Prabhakar, he is beloved by desi people alike. Viv doesn't do that and probably will never. She has shown time and time again, she doesn't respect religions, using their symbols as an aesthetic and for monetary gain. Viv's designs for black and other POC characters are terrible, them alway never having POC features and looking racial ambiguous as hell and she ignored the criticism from black and POC people for these POC characters.

#꧁rambles꧂ #helluva boss criticism #helluva critical #helluva boss critical #➥asks

[arromantica-lucha]

i got a lot of thoughts about loveless by alice oseman and if this post seems very one sided well thats just how it read to me. my opinion isnt the end-all and i value how everyone interpreted and was affected by this book. this isnt a closed topic lets talk about it

gripes with loveless by alice oseman

took a while to actually explain that ace and aro are two separate identities and still not that well. it makes aro seem like a subset of ace which is entirely false. its cool there was an aroallo character involved but still

the book title 'loveless' is a real term and identity and the entirety of the book kinda shits on it by enforcing the ideal that its still okay to be aspec cause platonic love can be experienced and any type of love is required or at least better than "not feeling anything and being alone forever"

it was weird for her friends to forgive her over gestures that had nothing to do with apologizing before georgia actually apologized and explained but that may just be more of a personal thing that i didnt like. likewise the story being about platonic love it kinda sucks her deepest connection is with her roommate and not the people shes known for years and wronged

kinda sex negative. i mean rooney says she doesnt dislike casual sex but then that whole thing becomes the reason she hates herself and a reason to cope with being "unloveable" and its kinda lame. you can tell that story without making it seem like casual sex is just a means of devaluing yourself. and you can be sex repulsed and still not do that. it just feels unfair to aroallo people especially who are told they are monsters for enjoying and only wanting casual sex when this book is supposed to be about aromanticism too

(can we also be done with harry potter references??? lets stop hurting trans and jewish people thanks)

basically particular identities' stories shouldnt come at the expense of others and other ways of life. its great and important to write different experiences because no one is gonna relate to them all but no one has to replace romantic love with ANY type of love to feel good about themselves and be human. loveless and aplatonic people shouldnt have to read something that uses rhetoric against their identities within a book about aspec people

things i like about loveless

i didnt relate to it personally but the experiences felt very genuine. internalized aphobia, being hounded by aphobic comments, finding it hard to portray love even in a fictional or artistic sense, etc.

I appreciate the references to race and intersectionality that come with being queer even if they were minimal. so few times is it actually acknowledged that there is privilege when it comes to being understood, coming out, being accepted, etc. the references to that were nice to see because too often intersectionality being brought up is brushed off and blatantly ignored or people pretend like they understand

it was written by someone who is aroace even if there are some things that can be less isolating within the aspec community with the language being used. someone being open about their identities and how they choose to define them in the mainstream world is how we get more peoples voices in there

it has helped people discover their own identity though id still recommend further research on the actual identities being named and ones not named. these stories are the first introduction of aspec identities in mainstream and that hopefully means itll start to expand to other identities within that community that have not yet had representation

this should be the start of developing more rep. the first takes are not gonna represent everyone and its a good thing it exists to tell a few peoples story. but that doesnt mean it should be free from any criticism because thats how we make them continuously better. i hope to see an aroallo character soon. i want the term loveless to be properly used in media and expressed for what it is. i want to stop pretending like ace is the umbrella term for all aspec identities. i want amatonormativity explained as the sociological term it is that harms all life not just aromantic and polyamorous people. i want a polyam aspec character and polyam characters in general. i want disabled and ethnic aspec characters where the intersectionality is just as important to the narrative. i want a whole lot more and to stop prentending like any of that should be unreasonable

#loveless #alice oseman #osemanverse #aromantic #arospec #aspec #aroace #aroallo #loveless aromantic #loveless aro #queer #lgbtqia #made this sideblog specifically for this post

[420technoblazeit]

Yeah I just thought it was funny how they acted like that was enough for gender fluid loki, like I tend to be more forgiving when it comes to stuff being shown or not for bi/pan rep especially for a show that only has 1 season sometimes a character mentioning it is all you can probably fit sometimes.

But the fact that they tried to claim loko is genderfluid while 'that' is the only reference to it is hilarious

the mcu will literally do ANYTHING to fence sit on representation it's so predictable. they show a file for 0.5 seconds that labels loki's sex as fluid and dont talk about it in the show just so ppl can go oh but it's just because he's a shapeshifter obviously!

which is weird bc being genderfluid is a big part of comic loki's identity and ties into his arc of reinventing himself and proving everyone wrong when they say he can't change as a person. i dont usually read comics but i follow loki's current line pretty closely bc i really like how well they write his gender fluidity and grey morality.

at this point just dont address the genderfluid thing if you're going to promise he'll be trans in this iteration and then refuse to work it into the writing. it's really frustrating to have this incredibly transparent pandering with no actual substance in the show

#the pig squeals #loki #mcu critical #mcu crit

[galahadenough]

I admittedly went into the series not expecting much. It’s a superhero show. It’ll be fun! But somehow fucking DC’s Legends of Tomorrow is hitting almost every itch I have for queer representation that I don’t see enough, or any, of elsewhere.

First off, it’s a fun show. It’s hilarious. It doesn’t take itself too seriously in a way that lets it be fun, but clearly the writers take the the show seriously because of the inside jokes that don’t break the mood if you don’t get it and because of how well they treat their characters.

But I’m here to talk about the queer rep. BTW, spoilers ahead (I say while having one more season to go…)

I suppose that I’ve been taught to not expect much, especially from action or superhero genres where every hint of a gay character is treated like an amazing first that people are suppose to be grateful for. But I really wasn’t expecting this.

First remarkable thing is the sheer quantity. You want a queer character? How about 7? How about they be main characters? How about they be emphatically queer while being queer has nothing to do with that character’s plot??

But the best thing for me is how they show queerness.

I have always felt that, as much progress as we have made, the goal for media should be that Indiana Jones (or Bond, or anyone) can be queer in an unquestionable way. It shouldn’t need a big explanation or be a shock. My personal goal would be that any generic action hero can unexpectedly turn out to be queer because it could easily go any direction. And Indiana Jones casually gets the guy. Or whatever. And that’s what Sara Lance does.

Sara Lance is ~arguably~ the main character. Hard to have a main character with that big of a cast, but she counts enough to make my point. The main character is bi. Visibly and emphatically and gleefully bi. And the show makes damn sure this fact never gets forgotten, but it is not a part of her backstory. It just is, without reasons or explanations.

She spends a lot of the show Casanova-ing her way across history, seducing women right and left in such a traditional male-adventure-hero type role that had me so happy. She took on such a traditional role that women have never had and did it is such a matter of fact way. Her confidence was never questioned. Her competence was never questioned. Her sexuality was never questioned. She didn’t even need to “come out”, she just existed like it was normal.

And this same character is the one who has had the longest, healthiest, most stable relationship in the show. I don’t know what happens in the last season, but it honestly wouldn’t even feel like “burying the gays” if Ava died at this point. It wouldn’t feel like a punishment for being queer because it was so openly celebrated for so much of the show.

Now that I’ve got Sara out of the way (because I love her too much to write this without her), it’s time to get to Mick Rory. Because Mick is fucking fantastic.

Mick is even more shocking than Sara when it comes to queer rep because he represents so much of the less visible representation. He is so visibly male and tough and abrasive. He comes across as questionably literate and is known for being the brawn and pyromaniac of the group.

This isn’t the sort of character that is known for getting any queer representation, then he stops drinking just long enough to pop off one of the best, most impassioned speeches about being “othered” that I’ve ever heard, and probably the only time I’ve every heard the phrase used outside of niche online communities.

He turns out to be a writer… of space opera sci-fi romance novels. A prolific, published author who adores his army of female fans, which is more respect towards a female audience than most shows seem to have. An author who, when he finally revealed who he was, preferred that his fans continue to call him Rebecca when talking to him. This isn’t quite trans representation, but it is incredibly satisfying and normalizing. Someone who looks and acts like him being comfortable being called Rebecca combined with the fact that he didn’t even get a strange look over the choice.

He has been referred to as a “skirt chaser” but rarely shows interest in anyone. Honestly feels like decent rep for aromantic and/or monsterfucker (which is one of those categories that I feel belongs under the queer umbrella).

And I just love how queerness permeates the show. There is never a shocked “wait.. you’re gay!!”. There are no token gays that are quickly forgotten and there are also no queer characters whose plot point is being gay. It just exists naturally and normally and it feels fucking fantastic.

I could probably polish this up a bit, but it’s really gotten away from me. I really love this show, and I just needed to get this out!

#legends of tomorrow #sara lance #mick rory #queer #lgbtq #dc #review #analysis

[sickknotdoom]

Someone should tell Eve that squeak doesn't get to decide how we feel about squeak's characters.

REAL. this is definitely gonna set some people off, but the whole "cuddles is the only real villain in the entire story and all the other staff are actually innocent" narrative is bullshit. nearly everyone that works at that hospital tortures and permanently detriments innocent lives if not ending them entirely in brutal ways, and were supposed to just forgive every single one just because "theyre being forced to do so"?

also, the "one true villain" being the only cishet and likely only neurotypical in the comic really rubs me the wrong way. apparently the reason sparklecare even got rebooted was because kneeby thought having evil characters also be queer was "bad representation". i am not a fan of the "queer people can do no wrong" approach. as someone whos gay and under the trans umbrella, id like to point you towards dahmer and chris chan.

jeffrey dahmer was a gay man who cannibalized other gay men. christine chandler is a transgender woman who committed incest. those traits are not mutually exclusive in the real world. they are taken simultaneously, unrelated to eachother unless you go out of your way to relate them. and i think its safe to say that nobody would try and link dahmers sexuality with his actions unless theyre homophobic.

just because one figure within a minority is fucked up, does not mean the rest of the minority is fucked up by association. if that was the case, then id be associated with edp445 and h/tler due to the fact im black and suffer from autism. but thats not the case at all, so why are the clowns so afraid of letting queer characters be antagonists, or vice versa?

all the nurses are treated like theyre completely innocent just because of their identities and/or them being possibly coded as neurodivergent. it seriously comes across as infantilizing queer and/or autistic people, which as someone whos both, i do not like. especially nurse puppy. i do not like the way puppy is written.

puppy is, in my opinion, the most explicitly autistic coded character in the comic (not including characters that are confirmed to be). lo is also the most babied by both the clowns and the fandom. loves whole premise is that cuddles brainwashed lov into seeing loves job (murdering and torturing innocent civilians) as a fun game. lo is canonically 30 years old, by the way.

speaking from experience, us autists are relatively easy to take advantage of when were younger, due to our difficulty grasping social cues. ive been taken advantage of by so many people in just fourteen years of being on this earth. ive been groomed, sextorted by someone who i saught out comfort from after said grooming, painted as a predator by the very person who sextorted me, and then propped by my only remaining "friend" group who would bring all that shit up just to milk my reaction and use it to further damage my reputation.

almost all these people were also queer and autistic, and coincidentally also liked sparklecare, my sextorter being the one who initially got me into it, since he had a uni pfp one time. theyre also victims of similar shit themselves. does that mean all queers/autists/sparklecare fans/abuse victims are like them? no. but does being any of those things excuse the torment they put me through? no the fuck it does not. you cannot give me the excuse of them "not knowing" or being "brainwashed", theyre all at least two years older than me, some being legal adults as im writing. you cannot convince me they didnt intend to fuck me up.

so it reasonably infuriates me to see a Grown Ass 30 Year Old Adult That Murders People For Fun And Listens To Them Scream In Misery With A Smile On Loves Face given the excuse of "lo doesnt know!!!! blame cuddles not lov!!!!" and the fandom just not questioning that at all. imagine watching your lover or best friend get murdered by someone breaking into their house and chucking a toaster into their bath while theyre taking a shower, and the cops* tell you to sue the manufacturers of the toaster. see how fucked that logic is? thats basically sparklecare.

*not like you should trust american cops but i needed an example ok

one of these people i described earlier happens to kin puppy, what a surprise. maybe im just projecting, but the most explicitly autistic coded character (also the only character so far that uses neopronouns/identifies as a xenogender) being treated this way is revolting to say the least, and i feel like lo is made immune to criticism by the clowns because lo just so happens to be those things. if this character werent queer, they would give no chances.* i will gladly allow puppy to exist as is, same personality, everything, i dont mind. its the constant infantilization and justification of loves abhorrent actions that upsets me.

*and this applies to all the other nurses in the comic, except maybe nurse snare since shes practically nonexistant after volume one. but in volume one we are shown barry being tortured and injured by, as far as i can tell, every nurse thats been introduced so far. barry, one of the fandoms most beloved characters, is put through excruciating pain and trauma on screen (with a million trigger warnings before each page, in typical clowns fashion) and nobody gives a fuck once its over, just because everyones queer except cuddles, and cuddles is the Only One To Blame For Anything At All Times.

the cycle of abuse is extremely common. an abuser being a victim does not cancel out them being an abuser, and if theyre not actively seeking help theyre a bad person, regardless of what minorities they belong to. but that does not mean everybody within that minority is a bad person. sparklecares creators and fandom cant seem to grasp that. kneeby cannot erase my opinions on the way the staff is portrayed.

#WARNING #I START TALKING ABOUT TRAUMA LIKE HALFWAY THROUGH THE POST #tw grooming #sparklecriticism #sparklecare criticism #.png.svg

[total-drama-takes-takes-2]

lgbt thoughts

like the ethnicity post i really only have ideas about certain characters and the rest are up to whatever people think they are ^_^ i mean these are too, speculate whatever you want, but heres my interpretation of a few characters

joner: aroace. romance-neutral. this is all self projection on my part, i think joner as a character just prefers friendships to relationships and romance would make him uncomfortable but hes very supportive of others. he/him (impartial to she/her though)

scary: aromantic and unlabeled otherwise. romance-repulsed AND she's a hater about it. she/he/they

kelly: always been transfem somehow to me. transhet. they/them and VERY occasionally they/she, really depends on the mood

michela: bigender boygirl but doesn't really talk about it, especially in those words. would date whoever but high preference for dudes. would label her preference for guys as either straight or gay depending on the context. she/her

courtney: calls themselves non-binary for binary people but it's more complicated than that. sapphic with an itty bitty tiny like for guys they they're still sorting out (is it platonic? romantic? they don't know) . they/them

ass: doesn't care. doesn't know. definitely not cis but a part of it is just not wanting to be like other girls. has a lot of self-doubt over their identity and actually tends to move through labels quite quickly, so they use they/them as a catch-all neutral

max: i had a hard time with this one in terms of good rep and stuff like that, but i think it's safe for me to say max is a pretty binary trans guy. more or less transhet but hes more flexible when it comes to michela's identity. he/him

scruffy: transmasc lesbian and that was always the intention tee bee ach ^_^ they/them but sometimes they/he if they feel like it

fren: gay and definitely not cis but he's very mysterious about it. he/him

bonnie: like courtney also tells binary people that they're non-binary out of convenience, but they definitely don't feel like the term really fits them. not fem not masc not androgynous but something new entirely (goth). on a more serious note i do think the gender fuckery in the goth subculture made them realize a lot of things about themself when they first got into it. also a frequent label-changer when it comes to sexuality. they/them

patrick: unironically too obsessed with himself to be into anyone else in a romantic way /j. hes bad aro representation. hed slay in a QPR tho. he/him

julia: lesbian but she hasnt come to terms with it yet lol. i agree w the headcanons that shes aspec in some regard but havent put much thought into it. she/her

kitty: pan but adverse to romantic relationships. some kind of gender. also a furry i dont think ive mentioned it yet but they have a fursona and made patrick make one too. therres a canon patrick fursona in my notes. no set pronouns, tells people to use whatever

peter: bi and trans guy. tends to prefer girls and feminine presenting people for the most part! he/him

I don't know what sha-mod and mclovin are but they're definitely something. same with caesar, idk what's going on there but he's definitely not cishet.

I definitely need to write albert, phillip, and noco more to get a good feel for them. and everyone else i dont have any strong feelings on

[northern-passage]

i feel that i get a lot of these very specific nitpicks about my characters, always about their sexuality or identity that honestly are.. upsetting. i don't know how to tell you that there are people that have different experiences than you, and just because you don’t personally relate to how this character expresses their identity doesn’t automatically make it “bad.” particularly with the trans identity, it is so varied and unique and different for everyone. this is not a bad thing, nor is it a bad thing when our experiences overlap - we should rejoice in our similarities and differences and enjoy the diverse community we all share.

obviously, i am always open to genuine discussion about things i can do better, but lately it always just boils down to “i don’t like this/i don’t relate to this/i don’t personally do this” and to be frank: the world does not revolve around you. there are millions of trans people, millions of gay people, that all experience this identity differently than you, and that does not make them “wrong.” overall, there are people that really like the way i’ve handled my characters, that really connect with them, and there are people that don’t. that’s just how it is, i’m not here to argue that you have to like my work, and i want to make it clear that there are always going to be people that dislike the content you make, and if you’re a writer you shouldn’t worry about trying to please everyone - it’s impossible, and it’s silly to even want that. however, i do want to say that i think it’s unfair to expect authors to limit our scope to make some people more comfortable, and i think it’s unfair to avoid certain depictions simply because some people don’t like it - because they think it’s “wrong.”

there are harmful stereotypes, yes, and there are a lot of stereotypes about gay people - but does that mean i should just never write about fat butches? i should never write about feminine gay men? i should never write about flirty bisexuals? i should never acknowledge, in my stories about trans people, that there are many trans people that stop taking hormones? should i avoid the topic of alcoholism completely, just because my characters are gay and trans? these are real people that exist in real life and they deserve to have their stories told beyond the shitty depictions made in mainstream media. there’s nuance, there’s precautions that need to be taken, but we should not shun entire groups of people from our stories because people think they are “problematic.”

especially when the “problem” comes down to something as silly as semantics, or something as stupid as making cishet people uncomfortable.

and i understand that i am the author, and that these are fictional characters - i am making these decisions, and choosing to write these characters this way. i have always said this and made that clear, and i understand the concern that can arise regarding these topics - why did i choose to write this trans character this way? what secret motive could i have? why would i call a bisexual person gay instead of bi if i wasn’t trying to imply something? - and i completely get this wariness, trust me, especially in the IF community. but at this point it’s just detrimental. people would rather project onto blank slates than have actual fully realized characters with personalities, with complex identities and sexualities - because obviously if they aren’t perfect, then it’s bad representation and problematic; apparently only cishet characters are given this permission and allowed to be complex and interesting... representation isn’t even the point - i just want to write about people that i never get to see, particularly in fantasy settings, people that i can relate to. im just a trans person writing about trans people, experiences that i’ve had or that have been shared with me. it’s just a bonus that other people feel represented by that. i’m not writing Merry with the expectation that every trans woman will relate to her, same with Lea, same with Noel and Clementine - there is absolutely no way for every single trans person to relate to these characters, and it’s extremely frustrating that this is the expectation. is this how you approach cishet characters? is that fair?

i am not trying to argue that what i have written is perfect, nor do i necessarily think i have the skills (or the right) to even write about some of these other experiences i mentioned. like i said, you don’t have to like my work, and i know i am not above having any personal biases - i have made mistakes, and i am sure i will make more mistakes in the future, and i hope that people will correct me when that happens. i’m also not trying to say that you shouldn’t criticize lgbt content - of course you should! some of it is really bad! some of it is harmful! but at the end of the day, and beyond my work, i am just begging for some of you to understand that reading about different perspectives is a good thing, actually, even if you don’t directly relate to them, and especially if they challenge your personal experience. that is not bad or harmful.

you should not be writing off every single unrelatable depiction as “problematic.” likewise, writers should not ignore criticisms just because they don’t agree with the other perspective. this should be an open conversation, among members of our own community, and we should hear each other out - and we should all be realistic and understand that either way not everyone is going to like or agree with you, and that just because we have different perspectives, different experiences, and different opinions doesn’t automatically make one person wrong, or worse than the other - sometimes we’re just different, and that’s a good thing.

#this is specifically about the lgbt community and gay and trans identities #and about that aspect of my characters #also im turning anon off #personal

[vamxpi]

Something that pisses me off SO MUCH. Is that fact when Im like scrolling through some fanfiction and I see a trans!(Character)(Ftm) Tag... IT'S ALWAYS FUCKING TWINKS. NEVER BIG BUFF MEN. ALWAYS THE FEMININE GUYS. Like??? I don't particularly enjoy reading trans au's anyway, (I'm trans don't come at me.) BUT STILL. NONE OF THE BUFF ASS MEN ARE EVER TRANS. Or when I happen to stumble upon something spicy involving a trans! (character). They are always the submissive one. NEVER the dominant. Like??? Hello. If they don't have a pp THERE'S STRAPS?? Or BOTTOM SURGERY???

AND. It's crazy how little MtF trans!(Character)'s I see?? Like??

And it's kinda weird when a non trans person is making a character trans.. like what? I just find it weird cause they don't know what it's LIKE being trans so it's written based on their idea of what they go through and what trans people are. (more like im cringing..) Especially if it's spicy. .

BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW IF THEY ARE SEXUALIZING OR NOT

It's really laughable seeing some works and like the trans character is wearing a BINDER while like fighting crime or something.. i wish it was like that fr 💔💔

AND HEAD CANNONING REAL PEOPLE AS TRANS. Like wh.

😨 Guys what are we doing. What the FUCK. It's so weird

I just don't want bad/inaccurate representation within the community (pretty sure everyone wants that.)

BUT THAT'S JUST ME. All of this is MY. Opinion You can cry about it idgaf

BUT. i do see some fic where the trans character is written perfectly! Most likely because the person did minimal research.. (it really isn't hard to find shit.) So i do appreciate those people :) thank you for doing god's work fr.

I mean this all in a lighthearted manner, no hate to the people who ARE writing trans characters. Thank you for trying. Anyway I strayed from my original topic.. thank you for reading and i hope you have a nice day.

#transgender #transfem #transmasc #trans headcanon #my opinion

[opinated-user]

this is a lie. LO wasn't invested in "making alie work" or else she'd have listened to the bunch of people criticizing her nonsensical backstory, how her power made no sense or how she, as an author, failed to portray a black character with any of the care it actually deserves. alaina was just another rewriting of her fascist genocidal colonizer fantasies, another lord ryder in a different font, but all the same. she was always wish fulfillment, not an actual character, and we could see that because alaina was literally always whatever LO wanted at any given moment with no thought about how that affected the rest of her characterization. again, just to remind everyone, the people who started talking about how LO talking about black characters or black skin tone (not just alaina) came off as fetishistic were black people. her comments about how hunter, a character she despises in TOH, could have been "interesting" if only his skin tone was changed was the one who prompted that. then we also noticed that she made her version of rey feel instantly attracted only to black women. then we saw that all other POC, including women, through the entire SW universe got discarded for the sake of the black women she put in charge.

then we saw that on the very, very rare ocassions she talked about books, it was non fiction books wrote by black women (that she never talked about again ever since, so if she actually read them or she just googled the titles is anyone's guess). then we realise that despite trying to write a black woman, LO was completely unaware and uninterested into actually researching into common tropes to avoid and played straight into them. other people had to come to tell her she was doing that, but not before she was already using the race of her fictional character as a shield against any critique. then we noticed that while doing all of the above, she was still ignoring an actual afrolatina's opinions regarding afrolatina representation in TOH and instead hating on a fictional afrolatina character for failing to be the violent vengeful stereotype she wanted her to me. then she wrote her HR rewrite (where slavery of an entire species was still a thing) and she did it again, making another black woman to use torture curses with the same ease someone uses to flip a switch. showing that she didn't listen to any of the people criticizing it and wasn't actually interested in making it work. she just wanted another wish fulfillment fantasy through another character. look at the kind of art that LO shares on her blog that doesn't come from her friends or is directly related to SW. the majority are drawing of black women. a lot of this could have been nothing at all (someone can enjoy writing by black women or art depicting them with nothing but sincere appreciation), just a mistake to own up ("i misspoke, i didn't meant to say that black skin tone was inherently interesting") or fixed pretty easily (give alaina a consistent characterization, do actual research in tropes to avoid when writing black women, etc), but all of combined still wasn't painting a pretty picture. so instead of listening to anyone, especially the black people speaking out, LO doubled down, cried in stream and performatively yelled about how awful everyone is to her. effectively painting black people as her agressors, vultures and stalker. she, the light skinned person who never suffered any kind of racism in her life, was getting bullied by black people telling her that her fetishim made them uncomfortable. but the breaking point for LO finally letting alaina go? was when she started talking about how her sith empire was going to be, especially how the sith order was going to work, and everyone called it out for the terf utopia fantasy that it was. according to LO, on her sith empire everyone with any real authority was going to be sith lady. cis and trans women were most welcomed, which would have been good enough... until LO had to add about how a "sith lady" was allowed to stay if they stop identifying as a woman while in work. effectively erasing transmasc/non binary identities and forcing them to either be misgendered constantly or lost their jobs... without any recognition at all as to how bad this is. rather than recognizing the inherent gender essentialism/transphobia of this, that is when LO started making a show about how much she regrets making alaina. never adressing the transphobia and instead, as usual, making herself into the helpless victim of everyone else. i guess what i'm trying to say here... do not feel bad for LO. she had plenty of opportunities to make something worthwhile, something better than what she originally wrote, and she wasted it every time. nobody forced her to do anything. there's nothing to feel sorry about.

if anything, this only tell us that LO prefers to scrap a project entirely rather than listening to anyone about how to improve it.

#lily orchard