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i-like-turkey · 2 years

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Question: Do you think Kate Whistler is a Vincent Price fan???

Going through the various movies I own and trying to imagine a young Kate Whistler is more difficult than I thought... I can't picture her ever being a Rom-Com fan. But I don't know what other kind of movies she might like? I'm thinking of a discussion between Lucy and Kate trying to get to know each other over basic topics maybe over coffee...

Short answer: Sure. I can see Kate liking Vincent Price. And maybe some sci-fi stuff.

Long answer: When I headcanon stuff like this I work from the premise that one’s childhood environment heavily impacts their pop culture tastes. So that means we need to define Kate’s background and let that lead us to her movie/book/music tastes. In my mind she grew up in a suburb of DC. Her parents were both part of the defense/security/military/law enforcement industry that is sprawled throughout the DMV. They were very strict with her and Noah; restricting what they could watch on tv and the listen to on the radio. They both worked long hours, so they forced the kids into a thousand extracurriculars ‘for their benefit’, but really because they needed someone to watch them after school and on weekends. Consequently, they didn’t have too much tv time growing up. I don’t think she had many close friends because she was always too busy doing stuff to hang out.

The other important factor for Kate growing up was recognition of her queerness and her parent’s homophobia. I think she understood from an early age that she was gay and that her parents would hate her for it. There are kinda three big options for kids when they get faced with this situation: (1) Rebel—whether by coming out and facing the consequences or staying closeted but doing things your parents would hate (drinking, drugs, fighting, sex, etc); (2) Conform—suppress your gayness and try to be straight; or (3) Endure—Don’t do anything that could rouse suspicion; bide your time until you can get out of the house and safely exist. (This is a very high-level view; one that’s not meant to cover all the nuances of the situation, so don’t come into the comments to start discourse, because this is just a quick and dirty mental framework for developing a character’s backstory).

I see Kate as taking the ‘Endure’ approach. Parents want her to do a billion activities? Fine. She’ll do them and commit 100% even if she hates them. Parents say no MTV or R rated movies? Fine. She’ll watch Discovery Channel, TCM, Food Network, and Fox News (Sorry!). Parents want straight A’s? Fine. She’ll graduate at the top of her class. Because in her mind the tiniest little fuck up could lead them to discover that she is gay and she’s not prepared the handle the fallout.

So she did everything that was asked of her, got into a good school, and once she was hundreds of miles away she could finally relax a little. Of course a lifetime of suppressing her identity and always striving to be the best and do a billion things was hard to turn off, so a lot of it continued at college. I see her as pursing a more business oriented future. Maybe thinking about McKinsey after graduation (Sorry!) instead of following in her parents footsteps like they wanted her to. Noah’s death absolutely devastated her. I think she had maybe 6 months to a year where she didn’t give a fuck about anything, drank a lot, and just lost herself in her grief. When she got a handle on it, she decided to go the defense/security/military/law enforcement route.

So what does this mean for Kate’s pop culture interests? She likes old movies and science/cooking shows. The science interest makes me think she'd enjoy sci-fi movies. She's probably into Jaws. She rarely went to the movies as a kid/teenager because she had no time and her parents weren’t around to take her. So she’s mostly ignorant about 90s-2010s era movies/tv. She’s maybe a little more knowledgeable about stuff that came out once she was in college and in her adult years, but only because the proliferation of screens during that time made it easier for her to end up in a space where people were watching something. But I don’t see her as someone who subscribes to every single streaming service and eagerly awaits new offerings. If she sees something these days it's because someone in her life shares it with her.

I think she reads A LOT. Books were probably her only connection to her queerness in her early days. Her parents never rifled through her reading material, so that was safe. Unlike her computer where they constantly monitored her browsing history.

Her taste in music probably sucks.

#asks #kate whistler #ncis hawai'i #this is how I view her when writing her #I can't wait to be proven wrong on all counts by the NCIS writers lol

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ma-lark-ey · 3 years

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DnDads fandom, here’s some food for thought for you.

You keep telling Anthony you want representation, that you want more diversity, you want characters confirmed as fandom wide headcanons, whatever. You tell him you want more.

But, these same blogs that say these things reblog posts on the “men writing women” memes and rant on cis people writing trans characters and white people writing POC and whatever else, so let me off you this.

If you were a content creator, and your fans were asking you for representation, while on the same note saying how people who aren’t [people group] can never get [people group] right, what would possess you to take that step to provide that? I want you to genuinely think about that, because as a content creator who prides themself on putting in the kinds of characters I’ve heard people cry for in my stories, seeing those kinds of things is very discouraging. Because, I, as a white person know my portrayal of a POC is never going to be as good as POC want it to be, but all I can do is try my very best and listen to them on their critiques and turn around what I did wrong.

I’m not saying Anthony is justified in the lack of diversity in NPCs, but you guys need to understand that when you tell him to provide diversity then also complain that [majority group] never portray [minority group] right is not helping your case. All you’re gonna do is discourage him from providing that.

If you need evidence, here’s an actual Talking Dads quote form Anthony on Trans Nick and other fandom wide headcanons ( I did not transcribe this scene, i thank my Discord friend for sending me this. I don’t know your Tumblr but if you see this just drop a say so in the notes)

“Anthony: Oh wow. There are a lot of ones I like that are almost exclusively about gender and orientations and stuff like that. Of like, oh yeah maybe Nick is trans or or or any of those kinds of things. Cause those, it’s always like, not not that I would ever take those because uh, uh, and, make them part of the main canon just because I feel like that might- I don’t trust myself to not make that appropriative and weird. But I love that people from marginalized communities are taking those characters and being like “he’s ours now!”

Beth: Yeah.

Anthony: ‘Nick, he’s- he’s black and he’s a trans man and Glenn loves him and it’s not a big deal.’ And like, all that kind of stuff.”

I’m sympathetic to sentiments like this, because this was my writing until this very year. My thought process was “I won’t write POC because I, as a white person, might fuck it up” and that thought process is only made so much stronger when if you do fuck up, no matter how minor or how severe, you’re met with nothing but inbox spam and threats and hostility. If you want response; use your words politely. When you attack them, nothing will change. Attacking does nothing but make them fear their own fans, and that’s genuinely not what we want. I know that’s not what we want. This callout/cancel culture people have created in this little fandom is so toxic, to both us and the dads.

If you’re gonna ask something of the dads, do it nicely. Don’t come for their throats. If you, YOU personally, have sent them the same message multiple times and have no response after a couple weeks; then you get rights to get more aggressive. Not when you’re posting one call out on their Twitter.com and do nothing but yell and accuse. That’s not accomplishing anything.

If I, a fifteen year old, find myself using more tact in these posts than grown ass adults, there’s definitely a problem here. And it’s not the dads.

You wanna know that dads aren’t giving representation? Because they’re scared of fucking it up, they’re scared you ADULTS are going to come for their throats at the smallest mistake and continue to turn their fanbase into a warzone. Don’t make it a warzone.

You know how you fix that? Approach them. Message them on some platform. Just say; Hey, I know your fans want [character] to be [minority group] and if you wanted help in learning how to confirm that, I am [minority group] and I’d be willing to help you.

It’s that easy! Wow!

Because, honestly, even a sensitivity director can’t be perfectly knowledgeable on every single minority group.

If you want your kind of minority group represented in DnDads, god dammit reach out to the cast and offer your input. Not you may not be an authority on your minority group, or some kind of genius on it, but one of those people reaching out and offering advice based on their own experiences is often much better than nothing.

Like, the other day on twitter someone said, “Hey, Jenna and Anthony! I noticed you called Ratticus Finch ‘agendered’ and that’s not a perfect term for all nonbinary people, so I would suggest putting in some more research on terms before the next episode.” And THAT’S how you approach topics at first, not screaming and yelling. That’s how you put in advice. That’s how you provide criticism.

I said when I first started talking about discourse that the adults are the problem, and i still stand by that. Because I am yet to see anyone under the age of 25 acting like this. Anyone younger I’ve seen on this has been tactful, and polite. Which really shows the difference in generations. It’s sad.

I hold hope in the hosts, because they’ve made steps to change in the past. And they’re only gonna take the issues one hurdle at a time, you can’t expect everything to be managed all at once, they have to pace themselves or else they’re going to get burned out and that’s worse.

And if this podcast at the moment is not up to your standards? That’s fine. Walk. Away Come check back in in a few months if you still hold interest and see if it’s what you want to associate yourself with. Just stop attacking the hosts, criticize and construct them instead.

You get nothing out of tearing others down, only more destruction.

#dndads #dndads discourse

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gascon-en-exil · 3 years

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It's still somewhat astounding to me that a single offhand comment about trans headcanons for a Three Houses character got me a torrent of verbose anon hate, all presumably from one very loudly opinionated person. I'm not going to bother responding to those directly or any of the many that will assuredly follow - although I am old enough to be amused by the thought that the same whining the troll makes about trans headcanons contributing nothing to fandom could have been ripped right out of 2000s-era discourse, except back then it was about gay headcanons/fic - but a combination of candor and spite has nonetheless prompted me to put my current project on hold for a moment and talk a little about why I would have trans headcanons at all, and more specifically the kind that I do.

I have in the past suggested that, while I generally identify as cis, my gender has become more fluid in certain circumstances over the past half decade or so. Sexual circumstances, to be precise, to the point that I do now describe myself as "genderfluid in bed" for men who display an interest in such things. The common term for that is feminization kink, and for the men who are into that it usually manifests in little more than a desire to see me in lingerie and/or the use of associated wordplay during sex (ex. calling my hole a pussy/cunt, expressing a desire to impregnate me). I can understand why that might be appealing for some men; gay men collectively have a bunch of hangups with regard to straight men, and while that more often manifests through lewd fantasies of celebrities or watching porn where allegedly straight guys jack off for the camera I can also see in encounters with those men a desire to in essence RP as straight men fucking women. I get that from some bi men too, men who have explicitly enjoyed my natural androgyny and in some cases have even used their sexual experiences with cis women to add some extra flavor to our time together. Obviously this isn't a thing for all or even most gay/bi men - and guys who are looking for more masc partners are unlikely to start talking to me in the first place - but anecdotally speaking there are men of varying self-identified orientations who are into feminized AMAB sexual partners.

Now of course this comes to what is probably a more salient question: am I into that, or is it just one of several types of kink I'm willing to engage in because it broadens my appeal? There's no shortage of that in my sexual CV; I've let men suck on my toes, piss on me, tie me up, flog me, on occasion done all of the above to them, and more - but I'm sufficiently aware of my own interests to know that none of those things really turn me on. Feminization however I do like, so much so that I've noticed that I'm more genuinely attracted to men who treat me in what I perceive to be a feminine way, who take the lead in social situations and in intimacy and who enjoy the contrast in our bodies (these men almost always being bigger, hairier, and hopefully more well-endowed). The concept of treating me as feminine alone carries a ton of culturally specific baggage. The French are traditionally perceived as a more feminine/effete culture in the English-speaking world. Créole women like my female relatives and ancestors are notorious for the way they control their husbands, lovers, children, and (back when we had them) domestics while still constrained by the bounds of patriarchal society. It is through them that I learned most of how I conduct myself around men both in and out of bed, that the easiest way to control a man is to appear to be controlled by him while simultaneously enslaving him to his passions - passions that I intimately understand because I too have a dick. Most of my sexual partners come from backgrounds very different from that, so they have trouble understanding how I approach sex even if I'm trying to form an actual relationship with them. Still, some of them try, and I enjoy it when they do.

I've had trouble opening up about this before on my blog, not because of any trolls (although pissing off trolls is always fun) but because I've never been quite certain of how welcome talking about this would be. Most of the content and resources by, for, and about trans women online I've come across has concerned lesbian trans women, or otherwise centered around trans women's relationships (sexual or otherwise) with other women. As someone who still conceptualizes my gender identity first and foremost in relation to my sexual availability to men, those resources are unsurprisingly not going to speak to me very well. General trans content on Tumblr and other fandom spaces is similarly of little personal appeal, with the users skewing heavily AFAB and therefore more likely to feature trans men. I fully understand why that is, and on occasion I've been known to enjoy M/M porn where one character has a vagina with no explanation. God knows I've fantasized before about having an orifice that lubricates itself, doesn't need to be flushed out before sex, and is naturally built to take a cock. The philosophy behind most trans headcanons does elude me a bit though, as it seems to me like it'd be easier to keep a character's canon AGAB and change their gender identity rather than the reverse. Apparently that approach is much less common, but I can safely say that all of the handful of trans headcanons I've had involve canonically cis male characters imagined as trans female and sexually involved with cis male characters - big surprise there, right?

I get the impression that my perspective could easily be considered antiquated in several ways: that I emphasize sexual activity over the more nebulous sexual attraction when it comes to discussing orientation; that I prioritize my sexual activity over my gender identity; that I believe there exists a liminal space between fem cis gay men and straight trans women, and that there is historical precedence for such a space in pre-modern/early modern queer communities; and that to the extent that I've internalized a feminine gender identity I do so in the context of my relationships with men. Again, a lot of that comes down to culture, to the myriad ways in which queerness in New Orleans has retained its own history and character independent of other queer cultures in the English-speaking world. Maybe some of it sounds outdated, or misogynistic (I've seen that criticism lobbied at drag queens, and it would probably apply here too), or most bizarrely of all transphobic...but it's all nonetheless a part of who I am, and at the end of the day the only people whose opinions on this subject really matter to me are the men who want to take me to bed. To quote a particularly fitting verse from "Sugar Daddy" of Hedwig and the Angry Itch:

So you think only a woman Can truly love a man? Well, you buy me the dress, I'll be more woman Than a man like you can stand

Indeed.

#Pointless rambling #My sexcapades

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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Height discourse confuses me so much, because I, a 4'9 21-year-old Asian perceives anyone taller as tall. But reading international posts saying 5'6 is small makes me double-take, like, "Wut?"

LOL, ahh yes, the infamous “How Tall IS Dick Grayson Actually” discourse. I feel you. And I can definitely see how it would be bemusing as hell given your perspective, lmao.

And I mean, its definitely up there on the list of “Things I Can’t Believe There’s Actually Discourse About” buuuuuut I’m not really judging because I know damn well there’s a fuckton of shit I’ve Discoursed about on pretty much everyone else’s “Things I Can’t Believe There’s Actually Discourse About” list.

*Shrugs* But I also do get why it exists, if you scratch beneath the surface - as is often true of a lot of seemingly inane discourses. Its not really about height so much as it is about the why’s of writers specifying certain heights for him, and stereotypes associated with height.

On the one hand, you’ve got the fans who look at writers who make a point of writing Dick as particularly short, or the shortest of the Batfam once all of them are adults, and think: this is because of fandom’s fixation with writing Dick as effeminate or the least ‘manly’ of the Batfam, and thus I dislike it and do not trust this writer’s take on him.

Then on the other hand, you have the fans who look at objections like this and think: this is because of bullshit fostered by the toxic masculinity and sexism that’s so present in society, even women can be guilty of perpetuating the idea that there’s anything TO object about there, that a man being effeminate or less ‘manly’ than his brothers is some kind of insult or slight against him in the first place.

But then go back to the first hand.....

And on the one hand, of those fans, you’ve got the fans that don’t actually think there’s anything insulting about a man being effeminate or less manly themselves, but given that the bullshit fostered by the toxic masculinity and sexism in society is so everpresent, even women can be guilty of perpetuating the idea that ‘shorter = weaker’ etc, etc.......its not him being written as short that’s objectionable to them, its what they believe the writer is implying by making that distinction that they’re objecting to, like that it reads to them as though its being used as a smokescreen to create associations in readers’ minds, with the idea of him being weaker or softer or whatever the fuck compared to his brothers, without those writers actually having to SAY what they’re getting at there and spell it out. Plausible deniability kinda thing.

And then on the other hand, you have those fans who object to writing Dick as short because they actually DO buy into that bullshit and they ARE simply objecting to the idea itself because of toxic masculinity and sexism and etc etc.

But then go back to the original second hand.....

And on the one hand THERE, you have the fans whose responses to people objecting about writing Dick as short are based on exactly what they say they are......pointing out that its only objectionable if its viewed as insulting and the only reasons its viewed as insulting are toxic masculinity and sexism which they’re calling out as being perpetuated here.

And on the other hand there, you have those fans who DO buy into the associations between ‘shorter = weaker’ and actually ARE writing things that way with the intent of hoping to form that association in the minds of any readers who similarly buy into those lines of thought or are susceptible to it......and are simply using ‘arent you the REAL misogynist here for thinking shorter equals more feminine which equals weaker or frail or whatever’ arguments that are simply typical flipping the script tactics and hiding behind buzzwords they don’t actually believe in themselves but know are effective in getting people to back down, etc, etc. The plausible deniability thing.

And I’ve been out of hands here for awhile now, obviously, but you get what I mean. Round and round and round it goes, with the true point always hidden juuuuuuust beneath the surface, and more than a little tedious to have all unpacked and catalogued like here, which is a major factor in why so many people rarely dig beneath the surface of a seemingly inane discourse to get at what people are REALLY arguing about but nobody wants to ‘lose ground on’ by being the first to admit to.

As for me, again, this really isn’t a dicourse that I spend much time on because I’d rather cut straight to the point of an argument in general, and this isn’t an discourse that’s particularly amenable to people doing that, obviously.

And also, I honestly just don’t care that much. LOL. Yeah, I often read works where Dick is singled out as being distinctively shorter and feel an author is trying to ‘imply’ something and its the implications of that which are the source of any ‘Not Good, Scoob’ feelings rather than because I agree with what’s trying to be implied. But y’know......when an author IS playing that game and they actually do buy into toxic and sexist stereotypes.....I mean, there’s literally always other indications of this in their work, giving them away all over the place. So there’s honestly never really a time when his height itself is actually what that hinges upon, y’know?

So my big takeaway from all of this is: headcanon and write Dick as whatever damn height you feel like and if you want to imply something about him just fucking say it directly and if you want to accuse someone of something just fucking call it out directly.

*points to the above unpacking of this particular discourse and how fucking tedious and unnecessary so much of it is and all just because people won’t just say what they actually came to say or lay claim to what they actually said*

ANYWAY.

Personally, regardless of how Dick is written in a fic, I will always headcanon him as somewhere between 5′10″ and 6′1″ for reasons that are entirely irrelevant and meaningless to anyone but me, pretty much. LOL.

In my head, Dick obviously has to be that height because he’s walked a runway as a model before. That’s it. That’s the whole reason my mind automatically goes to that span when picturing him or reading something about him.

(As most people who have followed me for a bit know, I spent a number of years working in the TV industry. There were a couple years there where I did a little bit of print modeling too, nothing major at all, but enough to know that the fashion industry has a Very Definitive Thing about male runway models and height: If you are a male runway model, you are between 5′10″ and 6′1″. If you are not between 5′10″ and 6′1″, you are not a male runway model and you never will be. Its a Thing. And not one the industry is shy about.

Because of the fact that the fashion industry is mostly centered around women models with name recognition, and very few men who model have star power specifically in terms of modeling, rather than because of crossover/overlap with acting, there’s a major difference in how designers tend to approach designing for models. Most designers designing runway looks for women do so with specific models already in mind. Most designers designing runway looks for men do so without specific models in mind because there simply aren’t enough male models with the kind of branding/name recognition that does a designer any good.

So designers literally JUST design runway looks for men in that height range, and anyone outside that range would require tailoring that could feasibly throw off an entire runway look. So they just don’t do it, to the point that an agent or manager sending them someone outside that height range to consider for a job means that agent’s not getting called back, because they just gave themselves away as a clear amateur by not knowing better.

Of course, keep in mind that my experiences with modeling are based on the industry re: ten years ago, so it could be that things have changed in this regard since. But that was the status quo then.)

So yeah. Dick Grayson walked a runway for Cheyenne Freemont, thus in my mind he’s obviously between 5′10″ and 6′1″ lolol, because any up and coming designer trying to make a name for herself would absolutely know better than to send out someone shorter than that and still think anyone in the industry would take her seriously.

LOL. I told you it was inane. But in my defense, plenty of people headcanon that Dick HAS to be small because he’s a gymnast, and uh.....that is not how that works. Anyone can be an amazing gymnast, its just that smaller body types lend themselves to gymnastics better than bigger, bulkier bodies. And thus the competition oriented gymnastics SPORT heavily favors cultivating and training gymnasts on the smaller side, because coaches and endorsers are looking for literally any advantage possible.

(Being shorter means you have a lower center of gravity which is a help when balancing, or stabilizing yourself. Its easier for a shorter gymnast to keep their balance or to stick a landing. But it doesn’t become impossible just because someone’s hit six feet tall. It HELPS to be shorter. It doesn’t determine whether or not you can do a trick at all, much like being short and having a lower center of gravity by no means GUARANTEES you have good balance.)

And of course, though Dick excels at a ton of gymnastics, he is not and never has been a gymnast per se....he’s an acrobat. From a family of acrobats. Who have been doing this as a family business generationally, thus.....why would they have future height requirements when training their son in the family business? And being from a family of acrobats doesn’t ensure you’re going to be short, if your family members are not already short to begin with. Evolution does not give a fuck about future employment opportunities when selecting which gene sequences to flip on while in utero.

The correlation is ‘most gymnasts who excel at gymnastics feats are small,’ not ‘to excel at gymastic feats, you must be small.’

I am absolutely and completely just rambling now and have been for awhile so I’m gonna go beat up my insomnia until it caves and lets me go the fuck to sleep.

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brightlotusmoon · 4 years

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Dear TMNT Fandom,

I am a panromantic demisexual demigirl in my forties who 1) didn't even know those terms until recently, calling myself a bisexual who didn't want casual sex for a decade, and 2) found some memories from the late 90s of conversations with folks with ties to Mirage Studios, and I need to say this:

I cannot believe we as a fandom have to explain that the Ninja Turtles, fantasy creatures, can be headcanoned as Asexual not just because it is a real thing and not weird like some are saying, but because specifically the original Mirage Turtles were asexual, not attracted to humans, and as the series went on and they grew up, more concerned with their own unique bond as the only members of their kind over romantic relationships.

For example: Mike's fling with the Styracodon princess Seri was a manipulation, and Future Leonardo being with Raven Shadowheart was a choice. They're still asexual, even maybe gray or demi. We never got to know if Seri's eggs were Mikey's but we know he didn't have feelings for her.

In all the cartoon versions, we see various relationships happen which reflect some of the era and audience. Great example is 2012.

Actually, since Peter hated romance and Kevin was the one to sign off on the Next Mutation which was the straw that broke the camel's back for their split, we know Kevin is supportive of a lot of headcanons, even the actually weird ones, and thanks to my brain suddenly yelping "holy shell I remember that" I know how a lot of TMNT franchise crew members support inclusive headcanons even if they might not be canon. So someone saying "why are fan writers and artists making the turtles ace [or trans or NB], I think it's so weird" is absolutely one of the more bizarre things to come from the fandom. Because... they're turtles. They're mutants. Hell, to get super technical they're essentially genetically aliens, since the mutagen was created by aliens and fused with their DNA. They have more turtle in them than human. They're not human, the actual entire point of the characters, so the other entire point is how they learn to become psychologically and socially human, which rules to follow, which morals to have that don't need to be human. Thus, it extends to fans who create Alternate Universes and Canon Divergent worlds. And asexuality, the ace spectrum, is a real world thing that has always existed even if we didn't always know the words. To try to insist that these not-real fantasy creatures - ones that don't exist, have no bearing on real life except our imaginations, and should't be so restricted - cannot represent orientations and identities for fans who share with fans is, at the very least, disingenuous, controlling, upsetting, and exasperating.

I didn't spend nearly thirty years fighting oppression as both LGBTQIA and disabled to see my my favorite fandom pushed against by aphobia, transphobia, and bullying in general.

Although, really, I am a fool, I should have seen all this. I know Tumblr is completely different than other platforms, completely different from my Olde Fann favorites like Livejournal and the old Geocities forums, and online social communities are now faster than, say, my ADHD thoughts in a hyperfocus, but I still want to be Old Man Yells At Cloud and Get Off My Lawn You Kids when it comes to this very specific fandom thing and I totally see how weird that is on its face. I've been studying neuropsychology a lot, I usually notice my own weirds and faults more than usual.

Anyway. Aaanyway. Uh. So. *exhales*

Haa, panic attacks are the worst, aren't they? Also, I gotta stop believing the depression and anxiety monsters in my head, they take up too much real estate and I'm tired and getting too old for this weird AAAAAA-ness.

(One of my inner voices is like, "Woman, you are talking about ninja mutant turtle creatures that were created as a parody of gritty superheroes, who are you calling weird and AAAA?" and all I can do is shrug with a "you got me smile" and a long sigh. But I try, oh my god do I try, all the time, in this institution - *pause to break into song I said hey hey hey* - and I keep learning from my fictional sunshine child as I go so I can keep up with all the So Which Of My Identities Is Being Threatened In Society This Time discourse and especially the memes. All the memes.

I am a cautious optimist, after all. Nihilistic Optimist maybe? All I know is my entire life is multiple piles of junk cluttering a small room and everything is shiny even when it's hidden in shadows. Just smile until it feels better.

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dio-theshitpost-brando · 4 years

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This will be a massive list that’s basically, in order: DNI/DNF, About, Rules, Main AU description, Muse List.

Sorry it’s so long. I’ll be editing the pages again, but it is kind of important to have a pinned post since pages aren’t viewable on mobile.

(I will likely edit things off and on and I may make temporary posts referencing to here when I do that; particularly with the muse list. Aka, working on adding George even tho he’s baby...)

Do NOT interact/follow me if you:

Fit the general criteria (Anti-LGBT+ (including excluding any part of the community), Racist, Sexist, Etc. If your shit can be seen as hate speech Don’t Follow.)

If your blog is mostly NSFW/Kink. If I can skim your blog and not know, I don’t really care.

If you mostly rb discourse/drama. Like the above. Doesn’t matter if I can’t immediately tell, but once it’s a majority of your blog content it makes me anxious.

If you ship incest (J0/na/D10 ESPECIALLY COUNTS WITH THIS), because that shit is a huge trigger. Yes. Legitimate trigger. Don’t argue this with me.

If you ship underaged and adult characters, too. Please don’t. There’s people out there who like these things or don’t care, follow them instead, not me.

About:

First off, this is kind of a mashup shitpost/ask/roleplay blog, though... I do usually tend to roleplay with very specific people (and my format is weird, but has an on blog reason to be), and tend to still use images in those. I’d rather not have a bunch of blogs so I kind of push it all into a couple, so feel free to come at me with anything! I try to be as inclusive as I can be. Though there are a few rules that weren’t covered in DNI.

Also, all blog “canon” overlaps with my Jotaro blog! (jotaro-hoards-belts) They both stem from the same AUs.

Rules:

Obviously, no asks about ships that would be included in the above list.

While heavier content asks aren’t forbidden, I’d say to handle them with care. (Please consider the muse in question when considering how to bring up trauma. Aka I’d rather a “good” Dio not be taunted with his mother’s death; I’ve some headcanons that make that especially bad.)

Know that any triggering content in my stuff will be tagged and even if it’s of a certain variety I will not romanticize it. But I have some heavy headcanons and AU developments.

While muses can have a bit more freedom in reacting to muses on assumption, I’d rather muns and anons be openminded. For example, muses can be shitty about traumatic experiences, muns and anons cannot do that; however, anything that would relate to muses’ gender/orientation/race, I’d rather not deal with from muses OR muns.

AU Explanation:

With the rules out of the way, time to explain the AU situation. First thing’s first, is that actually all of this is kind of a multiverse situation. Think like Spiderverse or something like that, yeah.

I ALWAYS tag my AUs, now. I don’t have a list of which tags are for which AUs, but just clicking them and skimming them SHOULD clear some things up; if that doesn’t help just ask! I’m aware I do kind of a lot and it’s not always chronological, so I’m always A-Okay explaining things!

Fateswap:

Fateswap is basically a Jonathan-Dio roleswap. Though, slap it with a heavy dose of butterfly effect and it basically means “oops everything’s different!” Granted, there are kind of 2 timelines, but I use completely different tags for those muses, so it should be easy to tell which is which. The one I usually use is also referred to as “Fateswap-B”, and it’s essentially the “main” timeline, now.

The general gist of the AU is Vampire Jonathan and Hamon User Dio. There’s other changes too, since I refer to it as “Fate” swap, not “Role” swap. Dio has George in the AU, for instance. There’s lots of changes, but instead of making this longer, I will just say that there’s always sending asks to muses. (Or to me, but it’s a character ask blog for a reason, yeah?)

This blog will stay more focused on Part 1 of the AU, outside of events. If you’d like to ask about other parts, my ‘Jotaro’ blog is at part 6 in the AU!

Muse List:

Name: Dio Joestar Display name: Ham!Dio Age/DOB: 25 // April 20 Height: ~5'10"/178cm AU: Fateswap-B ;; fateswapSCRATCH.exe AU Overview: Dio turns Jonathan into a vampire, learns hamon, then- wait. Oops Time traveled, learned life (more like death) spoilers and decided to apologize instead of go for the kill. Extra info: By the power of unexpected time travel and universe hopping he was set on a path that basically can be summed up as “Fateswap but mostly everyone lives.” Has since bettered himself and, to split all associations with a certain man, has just taken his adoptive family’s last name. He avoids fighting as best as he can. He lives with Erina who helps him take care of his son, George. He also has been adopted by or adopted various JoJos. Give him the chance and he’ll adopt more. Also, did I mention? Dude fucking hates moose.

Name: Erina Pendleton Display name: FS!Erina Age/DOB: 23 // March 18 Height: ~5'10"/178cm AU: Fateswap-B ;; fateswapSCRATCH.exe AU Overview: [See Dio’s entry.] Extra info: Lives with Dio to help raise George; only slightly regrets it. With her around you can’t roast Dio in any way that matters, she’s got it covered. She takes no shit and is always prepared to fight, and isn’t scared of much; regularly tussles a hungry vampire. Loves moose only because Dio hates them. Despite that, and other ways in which she harasses Dio she’d consider him her best friend at this point. If you care for your life don’t imply they are anything more in front of her. She helps Vampjo hunt for food; or rather, does it for him. Definitely considers Jonathan to be another dear friend, and truthfully nothing more.

Name: Jonathan Joestar Display name: Vampjo Age/DOB: 24 // April 4 Height: ~6'5"/195cm AU: Fateswap-B ;; fateswapSCRATCH.exe AU Overview: [See Dio’s entry.] Extra Info: Despite needing to eat people to survive, he’s quite hesitant to kill. With Erina’s help he eats anyway, to stop from attacking innocent people, or the few people he cares about. He definitely has a lot bottled up, though doesn’t like to speak much until he warms up. He also tends to try to stay to himself, though is slowly becoming more comfortable around people since completely isolating himself proves to just be self destructive. As such he goes from staying at Windknight’s Lot, to staying in the manor, moving between the two depending on how he feels. He is far from completely trusting Dio again, but does his best to be at least moderately friendly. Mostly for Erina and George’s sakes.

Name: Dio Pendleton Display name: ??? Age/DOB: 23 before death. // April 20 Height: ~5'10"/178cm AU: Previously Fateswap-A ;; fateswapDisk1.exe Currently lives in between universes ;; withinTheFurthestRing.exe AU Overview: Turned JoJo into a vampire, tried to kill him but only destroyed his body, married Erina, had George, then got killed and body snatched. Basically Hamon Dio without the cross universe stuff. Also is now a dullahan, of sorts. Nice. Extra info: His head will come off if his ribbon is removed. Also, since he’s a really busted ass ghost who is NEVER invisible he drains the energy of the surrounding area like a bitch, making places he goes cold. Used to use Joestar-Brando as last names but after finding the rest of his family he took Erina’s last name like mostly everyone else did. They just chill in between universes, now. Also the best way to describe how he acts is Hamon Dio but if the only thing he felt bad about was disrespecting Erina and not All Of The Bullshit He Did. Has been recently given a bit of a gift...

#ooc #figure seeing blogs i'd like to interact with and gettng more traffic is a good time to make this all a lil more clear #i need to work on thos requests then i can get to a few more content related asks!

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jotaro-hoards-belts · 4 years

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This will be a massive list that’s basically, in order: DNI/DNF, About, Rules, Main AU description.

Sorry it’s so long. I’ll be editing the pages again, but it is kind of important to have a pinned post since pages aren’t viewable on mobile.

(I will likely edit things off and on and I may make temporary posts referencing to here when I do that; due to size of AU cast, muse list may or may not be added. If there is there’ll be a priority in who is listed at first. But if you ever need to draw any of them but don’t know how just shoot me a Message and I’ll doodle up an outfit ref; colours included if you need!)

Do NOT interact/follow me if you:

Fit the general criteria (Anti-LGBT+ (including excluding any part of the community), Racist, Sexist, Etc. If your shit can be seen as hate speech Don’t Follow.)

If your blog is mostly NSFW/Kink. If I can skim your blog and not know, I don’t really care.

If you mostly rb discourse/drama. Like the above. Doesn’t matter if I can’t immediately tell, but once it’s a majority of your blog content it makes me anxious.

If you ship incest (J0/na/D10 ESPECIALLY COUNTS WITH THIS), because that shit is a huge trigger. Yes. Legitimate trigger. Don’t argue this with me.

If you ship underaged and adult characters, too. Please don’t. There’s people out there who like these things or don’t care, follow them instead, not me.

About:

Also, all blog “canon” overlaps with my Dio blog! (dio-theshitpost-brando) They both stem from the same AUs.

Rules:

Obviously, no asks about ships that would be included in the above list.

Know that any triggering content in my stuff will be tagged and even if it’s of a certain variety I will not romanticize it. But I have some heavy headcanons and AU developments.

AU Explanation:

Fateswap:

The general gist of the AU is Vampire Jonathan and Hamon User Dio. But Oooooh Boy are things different by Part 6. See the thing that happens when you have a Vampire Jonathan who learns to stabilize his eating, a Dio that tries to be a good person, and they all have access to future information to change things is well... they change a lot- though they also learn to make connections in ways outside of the usual stuff.

That said, I can’t explain all the differences here, so again, feel free to ask whatever you’d like to the characters! It may be a ‘Jotaro’ blog, but it’s more multimuse at this point, so ask anyone you see on blog anything, I’ll do my best with it anyway!

This blog will stay more focused on Part 6 of the AU, outside of events. If you would like to see more of Part 1, my Dio blog is focused on that part of the AU!

#ooc #i actually have an ask abt the au on here so i'll get to that when i'm done the requests on my other blog but!!#i figure i may as well make this esp since i think i've been getting a bit more traffic lately

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mx-ishikawa · 4 years

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F/O February Day 1: Reverse Self Ship

welcome to F/O February y’all!! :D for this prompt, I decided to do a little drabble! because I felt it would be easier to explain that way XD” honestly the reverse selfship AU is so good??? so here’s my contribution for today! XD (warning for brief mentions of self-harm and other injuries, other than that this should be a perfectly safe read!)

“Rex Rex Rex! It’s on!! Quick, we gotta catch it!!!”

“Okay Emmet, I’m coming, jeez!”

Rex hoisted himself off his bed with a low grunt as Emmet scurried to the living room couch. He knew how excited his brother got over his favorite show. Four years ago, popular sitcom Where Are My Pants? had been his all-time favorite television series, but then his heart was stolen by a quirky cartoon called Light in the Darkness that he stumbled upon by chance. The show followed an adventurous, tomboyish young woman dubbed Light and her interactions in the secret world of monsters of all kinds, fighting the evil ones and befriending the good ones. There was quite an uproar within the fandom when the titular lead came out as agender a year before, and quite a bit of discourse since she still considered herself female in a vaguer sense. But none of that mattered to Emmet. He loved the character for her personality, and couldn’t care less about her gender or lack thereof.

Oh, he loved her alright… his Tumblr was filled with screenshots and fanart of Light, he had all the merch of her he could afford, he even had a plush of her, which he was currently holding in his arms. He was immediately attached to her as soon as he got into the series; at first he thought she was just a comfort character, but before long, he realized he was actually flat-out in love with her. He had always gushed about her, and occasionally other characters, to Rex, and constantly pushed him to watch it. Rex always listened to Emmet’s gushing and supported his love for the character, but for the longest time, he didn’t get around to watching it. He was in a terrible mental place at the time; he engaged in risky and destructive habits, he drank, he smoked, he self-harmed, he got in trouble with the law, and developed other unhealthy coping mechanisms for his insecurities and mental issues. He was a troubled soul who was paranoid that their mutual circle of friends hated him and that he’d never be good enough for anyone. He distanced himself from everyone he loved—even his dear brother Emmet, with whom he had always been joined at the hip before. It was only when he got involved in a reckless motorcycle accident after an argument with Emmet that Rex realized just how much danger he was putting himself in, and how much he was worrying his brother. After that, he vowed to better himself and get some help. He also moved in with Emmet as his insistence, saying he wouldn’t worry as much and that he could help Rex get on track. That turned out to work like a charm, and he was happier than he’d been in a long time ever since.

It was only then that he was finally able to watch an episode of his brother’s favorite show with him. He didn’t know exactly what he was expecting from the cartoon, but it certainly surpassed whatever those expectations were. Rex was surprised that Light in the Darkness contained more adult-oriented humor, as Emmet typically didn’t watch those kinds of shows. And he also understood why Emmet loved Light so much—she was a goofy, funny, charming, kind, and humble hero who knew what it was like to feel like a nobody or that you’d never be good enough. It also happened to be an episode in which Light tried to talk to and reform one of the main villains, and she gave a clumsy but convincing speech about how she could relate to the villains struggles, but wished he would handle them in a way that benefited both parties. Rex didn’t want to admit it, but that damn speech pulled at his heartstrings. And by the end of the episode, Rex found himself smitten with Light as well. At first he tried to hide his feelings from Emmet, thinking he would be angry with him for encroaching on his selfship. But Emmet did find out eventually—and he was ecstatic. He was beyond happy to share her with his brother, as that meant they could gush about her to each other more often, and soon the brothers agreed that Light had enough room in her heart for the both of them. After coming to that conclusion, they created their own self-shipping sideblog that they co-modded together.

Now Emmet wasn’t exactly the creative type, and sometimes he was jealous of all the great artists and writers within the community, but he did enjoy remaking the three of them in Picrews and other character customization games. He also gushed about Light a lot, using lots of capitals, exclamation points, and heart emojis in said gushes. Rex, on the other hand, was beginning to dabble in photo editing, so he took a screenshot of Light and Photoshopped her into a picture of him and Emmet, among other such edits. He gushed about her too, of course, but his were more straightforward and consistent to whatever specific quality of hers he was talking about, with less weird emojis.

Neither of them told anybody in their respective workplaces about their love. Emmet tried way too hard to fit in and was already seen as weird despite that; he didn’t want to add onto that as a grown man who was hopelessly in love with a cartoon character. Meanwhile Rex didn’t give a damn about fitting in or what his coworkers thought of him, he just wasn’t the type to open up to people he didn’t know well enough. However, their mutual circle of friends knew very well about their selfships with Light, and they all shipped them. Their best friend Lucy had even created a few artworks of the three of them, which they both proudly displayed on their blog (with proper credit, of course). They had been doing this for almost a year, and at this point they were perfectly content opting out dating real people in favor of shipping themselves with a fictional character.

“It’s a new episode!!” Emmet squealed, plopping onto the couch and kicking his feet excitedly. “I can’t wait to see what she does today!”

“You think she’s finally gonna give Lord Beelzebub what’s coming to him?” Rex asked.

“I hope so! Now that guy is a real jerk.” Emmet puffed his cheeks out. This particular villain was beyond hope of reformation—Light tried, multiple times, but it was clear that he wouldn’t be happy until his evil deeds were done. Emmet pouted very briefly over this fact before perking up to sing and shimmy in his seat to the theme song. Rex chuckled at how excitable his brother could be. He kept his mouth shut after that, as Emmet hated when people tried to talk over his show.

The episode started out with Light hanging out with some of her monster friends and being her usual dorky self, but that only lasted a couple minutes before she was alerted of some other villain’s plan. The scene then transitioned to a dramatic montage of Light putting on cool-looking armor, then panning from her toes to her head as she heroically posed in the armor.

“Wow…” Emmet swooned. Rex gave a low whistle.

She only stood like that for a few brief seconds before random pieces of the armor suddenly fell off and clattered to the ground, much to Light’s dismay. “Aw damnit, no! Get back here!” Light complained as she crouched to pick up the fallen pieces. This elicited a giggle from Emmet and a chuckle from Rex. “Dork…” Rex lovingly muttered.

By the next scene, she has duct tape all over her armor, making the brothers laugh again. She and her monster friends were devising a plan of attack when Emmet’s phone buzzed. “Shush,” he said, keeping his eyes glued to the screen. He was mesmerized as Light led her friends into battle, but before they could see just who they were up against…

“Gahh, commercials,” Rex groaned, muting the TV. “This is why watching things online is so much better.”

“Yeah, but this is a new episode, we gotta catch it as it airs and support the creators!” Emmet argued.

“Yeah okay. Aren’t you gonna answer that text message?”

“I suppose I could since it’s a commercial break.” Emmet reached into his jeans pocket. “But whoever it was should no better than to bother me during my show!” He pouted as he checked his phone. “Oh, it’s Lucy…” He opened the message, and a mere second went by before Emmet cracked up laughing.

“Must’ve been a good one,” Rex chuckled.

“Oh my gosh, Rex, look at this!” Emmet laughed, shoving the phone in Rex’s face. It turned out Lucy sent a meme that read “when you storm a dragon’s cave and discover it’s hoarding mac and cheese” with a redraw of Light in the “it’s free real estate” meme. People who weren’t fans of the show wouldn’t understand the meme, but it made Rex burst into raucous laughter.

“Oh my god!” he roared. “She would totally say that!”

“She would!” Emmet giggled. “That’s amazing.”

“Our datefriend is high-key a dork,” Rex laughed. That statement sent Emmet into another fit of giggles.

“She’s our dork though.”

“Hell yeah.”

“I just wish I knew her real name in full.”

Rex sat up, surprised. “What do you mean, ‘in full’?”

“Well, remember in Clash of the Chimeras when she was signing the form thing for that order? She could only write the letter K before she got interrupted by the gremlin breaking things in the other room. So that means her real name must start with a K, and we don’t know anything else about it.”

Rex nodded. “And you would rather call her that because…?”

“Because it would help me feel closer to her.” Emmet held his plush a little tighter.

“Well, you could always give her a headcanon name. or just call her K until her real name is fully revealed, if that ever happens.”

Emmet pondered this for a moment. “I suppose that could work.” Suddenly, he perked up. “Oh! It’s back on!” He hurriedly un-muted the TV and his eyes were glued to the screen once more.

Soon enough, Light and her friends were battling the villain, and at some point, her left gauntlet fell off. Emmet gasped as the villain used this opportunity to slash his claw across her arm.

“Oh no…” Emmet whimpered. Rex lightly traced his own scar on his shoulder from his motorcycle accident. The two were at the edge of their seats until the end of the fight scene—the villain was defeated, but Light was still bleeding. Her worried friends crowded around her, but she still seemed in high spirits.

“Guys, I’m fine!” she insisted.

“You’re bleeding,” a friend argued.

“Just out of my arm. I’ve bled from far worse places.”

Emmet made a choked-out noise in surprise.

“Oh my god,” Rex laughed.

Still, Light let her monster friends bandage her up. Luckily, there were plenty more laughs to be had by the end of the episode. As the credits rolled, Emmet kicked his feet excitedly again.

“Ahh, that was so awesome!”

“As it always is.”

“Poor Light though. She doesn’t deserve any nasty scars.”

“No, she doesn’t,” Rex agreed. “But it won’t get her down. Knowing her, she’ll probably be proudly toting it and bragging about her battle by the next episode.”

“Yeah, probably,” Emmet chuckled. “But if she was real, or if I lived in her world, I’d take care of every single injury she got and kiss it better!” His loving smile gradually morphed into a longing frown. “I’d give anything for that.”

Rex patted Emmet’s back. “Me too, kid. Me too.”

#my writing #self ship #self shipping #self shipping community #au #reverse self ship #selfship au #self ship fic #reverse self ship au #f/o february #fictional other february #f/o: Emmet #f/o: Rex #we're not so different #poly self ship

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aroacehogwarts · 4 years

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On our 5th anniversary...

As I reflect on five years of aroacehogwarts I can’t help but think how time flies! It seems like I’ve been a part of this blog as long as I’ve been on tumblr. (And that’s almost true. I’d been here less than six months before aroacehogwarts.)

It has been a privilege and a blessing to be your Ravenclaw Mod all these years. When I’ve been in good spirits I’ve reveled in writing for this blog. When I’ve struggled with depression and self-doubt I’ve found solace in writing for this blog. Aroacehogwarts has been my constant through grad school, relationship ups and downs, the start of my career, and the continued evolution of my orientation and identity. I’ve made wonderful friends (esp. Hufflepuff Mod) and learned so much working with all of my fantastic co-mods and from every person who has ever sent in a headcanon. I’ve been here during times of incredible creativity, and I’m still here when our voice has grown softer (but not silent).

I’m forever thankful to our Slytherin Mod, Alice-Luke, for creating this blog that has allowed our community to come together and flourish beautifully. We’ve weathered everything from (fandom and aroace) discourse to disappointment and betrayal from the very creator of our wizarding world. Regardless, we have found our place here, and we will never let anyone tell us that we don’t belong.

I don’t know what the future holds for this blog. I can’t say if we’ll ever be as prolific as we once were, or if we’ll simply become an archive of a fantastic time in aspec fandom history. However, I do know this simple truth.

Aroacehogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.

- Ravenclaw Mod

#wishing you all peace and happiness during this holiday season and in the new year #the mod team #aroacehp #aroacehogwarts #ravenclaw mod #not headcanon #jkr critical

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normal-thoughts-official · 5 years

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T for the fandom ask thing?

send me fandom asks!!

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

i mean….. so many, mostly related to magnus and alec’s characterisation in this fandom, but since that’s been talked about to death and is pretty much uninteresting at this point….

i think my hugest hill to die on that is actually a headcanon instead of just like, fandom discourse shit, is that magnus’ mom didn’t kill herself because of him. as always, i will elaborate in length, because i have no self control

it just makes no sense!!!!!! magnus says “i was 9 years old when my mom figured out what my cat eyes meant”. what they meant, not that they existed. this implies that she already knew about the cat eyes, probably for a long time. idk if in book canon this is explored or what so again let me just make it clear one more time that i completely disconsider book canon for my show headcanons because it’s!!! a completely!! different!!! plot and characterisation!!! so whatever. but anyway magic is said to be a part of warlocks so it would make no sense for it to only manifest when they’re older. ALSO when alec was at Iris’ (is that her name? anyway you know who i’m talking about, madzie’s granny) house he saw a woman with a baby who was still in like the breastfeeding stage and the baby had a warlock mark!!!! so everything points in the direction of magnus always having had his warlock mark, including the way he phrases the story.

so i’m sorry, but this woman just saw his otherwise-human son had actual literal fucking CAT EYES, which were GOLDEN, and that he knew MAGIC (otherwise he wouldn’t be able to glamour them and we’ve seen that his eyes are glamoured in his memories) and just, what, never connected the dots? was all like “this is normal actually, definitely not at all related to that literal demon i fucked once”? like i guess asmodeus could have lied to her that he was human but STILL. and then one day she was just chilling at home, reading a book or something, and then she was like “wait…. my son’s a warlock. killing myself time!” like dude what the fuck kind of explanation is that

and historically speaking, the idea that magnus being a warlock would be so horrible to her makes no sense. first of all, let me remind everyone that the whole “demons r bad” thing is a very christian thing; not to mention that the javanese believed in magic, like most people, including europeans, did. so it’s not like the idea of him being a warlock would be completely crazy or something. even if magic was generally not looked up on by javanese people, that is mostly because magic was perceived to bring unbalance to the natural world, which was supposed to be always in harmony, and it was mainly perceived as the society’s job to keep this harmony (same source). even then, they would have sorcerers, people who were kind of the links between the natural and the supernatural world (same source). so using magic to fuck up the harmony was seen as bad and it was generally believed that humans and supernatural entities were part of separate worlds, but even then, there were people who were in the “in-between” of both worlds and they were very well respected, usually healers. meaning; magic could have bad consequences but it was mostly a matter of how you used it, and the importance of having harmony and balance in mind while dealing with the supernatural, which was just a part of the world and everyday life to the javanese. even considering the muslim tradition (which synchretized deeply with indigenous javanese religions) that was already well-established in javanese ports by the 17th century, the worst-case scenario would be that she would be worried and think that it would be best if he learnt how to use his magic properly, to bring harmony instead of unbalance, and to keep him from becoming too ambitious. so she would educate him on that, possibly ask a dukun (medicewoman or man) to help him with his magic. education, not violence or denial or horror. that’s the WORST case scenario considering all i’ve seen about javanese culture and sorcery. it’s also the most likely one.

her killing herself because of it???? is quite frankly not even in the picture for me. it doesn’t click with her worldviews, culture, religion (no matter which of them she followed), societal organization. it fits a christian worldview. at worst, it could be something his stepfather convinced her of - demons are bad, magic is bad, ur culture is bad, ur demonic, blah blah blah, all that colonizer horseshit. and in that case, i think it can’t really be said that the fact that he was a warlock was the reason, it’s way more likely that the fact that she was bound to a colonizer asshole who constantly belittled her, her culture and lifestyle, and her son, and who was probably abusive. like for you to convince somebody that the culture they’ve been living by for their entire lives (remember, she was already an adult) is demonic and inherently bad, you need to do some pretty heavy brainwashing - and i would know, because my grandfather is native and he went through that shit. and in his case he was taken from his land and family. in magnus’ mom’s case, she was still living in a place where her people were the majority!! and in the beginning of javanese colonization the dutch didn’t really have enough political power to influence javanese political relations and religious beliefs. so the idea that he would have succeeded in convincing her that she was a horrible sinner or whatever because of magnus is just, uh, unlikely. and listen, i know firsthand what abuse does to you, it fucks you up, it can have u stray so far from what you believe, i know all of that. but still. its possible he could convince her, but i think its unlikely that that happened, or at least that she started to believe that so strongly she would kill herself just because of magnus and nothing else.

the idea that she killed herself because she was in a highly abusive environment at home? and her husband was just a horrible person who was basically in a constant war with her entire being, trying to completely change her and probably using violence (physical or emotional, doesn’t matter) to do that? now that makes sense to me, finally some fucking sanity. we can’t forget that, canonically, magnus thinks he’s the reason she killed herself because his stepfather immediately blamed him for her death, like a child abuser would. he just started yelling at him that it was his fault and that she killed herself because she couldn’t stand him or whatever the fuck he was even saying, in dutch no less (most mixed families spoke malay at home during that time. i know it’s likely that the reason he speaks dutch is because the writers’ research was absolute shit, but if we’re only considering the in-canon universe, well, the fact that he spoke dutch is very telling). everything just points in the direction of his stepfather just saying what he had always thought, and probably said many times before if we are being honest, so like, call this a hot take, but i don’t think we should just take whatever he said as truth. and we know magnus was only a child who was confused as shit and who then had to endure yet more abuse when he met asmodeus, and who constantly blames himself for everything and thinks he should be responsible for everyone’s wellbeing, so i don’t think we should take his version of the facts as truth. his stepfather just immediately lashed out at magnus because that’s what he had always done, and honestly killing him was so valid.

so yeah i’m 100% sure magnus’ mom didn’t kill herself because of magnus, and like 90% sure her stepfather was the actual reason, if she killed herself at all, which i also question because i mean, watch that scene. first of all, who the fuck kills themself by stabbing their own heart? that’s such a hard way to commit suicide, not to mention a painful and long death. second of all, there’s not a single drop of blood in the mattress or the sheets. not a single fucking one. only her, uh, shirt? is covered in blood. are you telling me she stabbed her own heart and the blood just didn’t spill at all? there are arteries there, it’s one of the places with the highest blood pressure. and what, did she stab her own heart, carefully position herself so the sheets wouldn’t be dirtied, and then covered herself with a sheet so magnus could walk in and dramatically uncover her body? WHY IS SHE COVERED IN A SHEET. it makes no sense for a suicide!! and then the stepfather wasn’t even fazed by the fact that she was dead, like, at all, he just immediately started screaming at magnus, didn’t even look shocked or upset by being feet away from a literal corpse. what the fuck? this suicide is so weird and makes no sense. it looks to me like her body was moved to the bed and then hastily covered in the sheets to hide her in a really dumb way while the culprit figure out what to do next, and then magnus ended up finding her before that, and the stepfather panicked, and i’m not saying he did it, but like he did it tbh. this is not a hill i will die on or anything, like maybe she stabbed her own heart because ?????? and then they moved the body while they figured out what to do and that’s why it’s location and the stepfather’s reaction were so, uh, odd. or you can argue that memories are never completely reliable and this is just a dramatic recreation of how it felt. but i still think it’s at the very least questionable and that his version of the facts just doesn’t add up and we should definitely not be taking it as truth without question. and even if it was a suicide, magnus wasn’t the reason and his stepfather sucks, thank you for coming to my TED talk

#ask #cosmicnovia #luxxmagnus #sh #shadowhunters #magnus bane #overflowing trashcan

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honeylikewords · 5 years

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I would love to hear your hcs about eddie!!❤

Oh, yay!

So, I personally headcanon Eddie as being pansexual, and I think he prefers the pan label, generally, to other labels that might be used to umbrella his orientation. I know there’s a lot of discourse about the differences between bi and pan and other terms, so I won’t get into that, but instead just leave it at my headcanoning Eddie as being pansexual.

I figure he knew since he was relatively young that he was attracted to men, women, and people who didn’t fit into either category. For him, it just made sense: he found both boys and girls cute when he was a kid, and always grew up feeling very comfortable about it (though he didn’t bring it up to his dad for obvious reasons; he told his mom about it and she was very supportive). He’s not ashamed of who he is, and he encourages others to feel the same about themselves, especially the young people he works with.

I also don’t really headcanon Eddie as having a particular gender preference; he’s equally attracted to men, women, and people who present as neither or a combination or however they personally choose to present. He’s genuinely just attracted to a broad gamut of kinds of people, so in the same way that he doesn’t have a physical ‘type’, he also doesn’t have a ‘type’ of gender he’s attracted to.

In college, I feel like he dated men, women, and those outside the boxes, and is very happy with his dating experience because it introduced him to many wonderful people (most of whom he’s still friends with to some extent or another, being the bright, personable individual he is) and to many different walks of life or ways of presenting as one’s self. He loves to learn, so, for him, dating was not only just a chance to be around someone he very much liked, but also a chance to learn more about other people and how they live their lives!

He’s also still very much an activist, even as he gets older, and a constant advocate for LGBTQIA+ people, especially within his sphere of influence at the school. He’s very active in the LGBTQ+ groups on campus and is a great resource for kids to talk to about their own experiences, whether in the groups or in private in his office.

He also makes a point to include LGBTQ+ history in his classes, not just with events like Stonewall, but also with things like Harvey Milk’s election (and assassination), the indigenous American cultures surrounding bi, gay, and gender non-conforming people, the significance of the HIV and AIDS crisis in the U.S., and authors like Walt Whitman or artists like Frida Kahlo. He feels that it’s very important, not just for LGBTQ+ kids, but for Americans in general to have a better understanding of their history, a more complete picture of it, and he feels that an integral part of having that complete picture is talking about LGBTQ+ history.

I also like to think of him going to Pride events around town during Pride month (and, hell, even outside of Pride month) and being very social with other members of the LGBTQIA+ community; he’s so friendly and jovial that people always feel at ease talking to him, even when he starts rambling about the history of Pride and Pride marches and the like. He’s like a breath of fresh air and makes people feel right at home. Plus, he seems to always know where the best restaurants are, so he can direct people to nearby eateries if they’re getting hungry during the festivities.

He probably also has an LGBTQ+ book club that he’s the founder of (and active participant in), in my humble opinion.

Anyway, that’s all to say that I’ve always headcanoned Eddie as being pan, and I’m so happy he’s such a popular and loved character for me to write for! I know his orientation doesn’t come up much in what I write, usually just because it wouldn’t be contextually relevant, but I just thought it’d be important for me to mention at some point or another, because it does influence how I write him!

I hope this has added a little more depth to the Eddie canon!

#long post #messages #mr. mccarthy #Will I Ever Learn To Write A Short Response? No

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isroselalondebisexual · 6 years

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Alright one final post to wrap up the day and hopefully get all my feelings out where people can see them

While I hate the method that was used entirely, I AM glad Hussie confirmed that Rose is (or at the very least was, at one point) attracted to boys. I have decided that since incest is yucky and bad and the death of the author is in full swing, that is the Only Thing I am going to pay attention to. La la la Rose never dated her brother she’s just bi that’s all that happened la la la!!!!

Of course lesbian Rose headcanons are still good, just as they’ve always been. They’re not mine, but they’re good. My intent is not, and will never be, to put down others’ hc’s, only to celebrate my own. If me celebrating my hc ever feels like putting down someone else’s, please let me know, since that’s the last thing I want to do!

I don’t think incest is good bi rep or any such nonsense. But I do think Rose is. Rose is someone who was critical to understanding my own orientation and self, and I love finding ways that she’s like me. Her attraction to boys and girls alike is something that makes me very happy, while accidentally dating her brother in a doomed timeline when neither of them knew they were related most certainly does not.

I am not celebrating DaveRose, I am ignoring the shit out of it and celebrating the one GOOD thing that DID come out of this whole mess, since my methods of dealing with uncomfortable shit like this is to simply find the good in things and focus on that instead, since I can neither change Hussie’s work nor influence it.

Hopefully we’ll all get some sleep and be over this tomorrow, but this was the most active I’ve seen the Rose tag lately so wow! If Hussie decided to start some discourse just to keep Homestuck relevant, it most certainly worked :/

As always, I hope you all have a lovely day and if you’re reading this, may the next fortune cookie you get have a very nice and uncomfortably accurate fortune in store for you 💖💜💙

#Rose Lalonde #rosecourse #and that is all i have to say on the matter #hopefully. i really do hope im being clear #homestuck

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rp-bnha · 6 years

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So because we’ve been told that the links are difficult to access on mobile, I put an entire masterpost of all the information in the links. It’ll be a bit long so I’ll put it under the cut!

General Information

Hey there! This is a roleplay group for the manga Boku no Hero Academia, in case you haven’t noticed already.

Here’s some information about us:

We only accept canon characters. Characters from AU’s (villain Deku, fantasy Bakugou, etc) and original characters do not have a place here. Sorry!

We also only accept characters with some “significance.” This means that minor characters who have appeared once or twice without much canon interaction won’t be accepted because…we don’t know much of anything about their personality.

Mineta doesn’t exist in this AU and he’s replaced by Shinsou!

If you fill out the application and you are accepted, we have a discord server that you’ll be invited to! After we all get to meet each other OOC, you will get to make your own rp-bnha affiliated blog for the character you write for and we will all follow each other. We want to congregate on Discord before officially coming to Tumblr because we would like to keep things organized and talk on more casual terms. It’s nice to brainstorm and make friends!

I believe our writing standard qualifies as “semi descriptive.” Basically a paragraph or more is required when you roleplay with us (unless the thread is super casual and your partner is okay with you writing less). If you are used to writing a couple short sentences for your responses, this may not be the roleplay group for you.

If you’re thinking about applying, please read the rules before you do!

Rules

There are some rules if you plan to join us, by the way. We operate under a three strike system as well so please read this page carefully if you do not want to be warned (or even banned)!

General

Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, etc is not tolerated.

Do not bring discourse into the group. We’re here to roleplay and have fun!

No harassment is tolerated. If someone says they’re uncomfortable with something, listen to them. Don’t try to change their mind.

This group accepts headcanons of all kinds as long as they are not harmful or OOC.

This is also a ship positive space because most of the roleplayers are multishippers (bakudeku, kacchako, todobaku, todomomo, etc). Even if we don’t necessarily roleplay these specific ships (besides todomomo), we do love and appreciate them! If you have a problem with this, you’re going to have a bad time.

Life happens, we totally understand that you’ll get busy sometimes. But once you pick a character to roleplay, it is unacceptable to drop them within the first month just because you couldn’t adequately estimate your time management. We obviously can’t stop you from dropping characters, but if you drop them within a month of having them, you will not be able to apply for another character until another month has passed. We expect dedication so please stick with it!

If you must take a break, please let the mods know. If you are a more dedicated roleplayer we will be very understanding (for example, if you have been rping for a few months and you need a couple weeks off to study for finals, we will absolutely allow you to stay). But if you have just applied for a character, you’ve been roleplaying as them for a week and you need to take a long break, we will be…skeptical. Unless it is an emergency please refrain from this, and if the latter situation occurs, we may free up your spot so someone with more time on their hands can roleplay.

Blog Rules

You are allowed to interact with other blogs outside of rp-bnha (such as OCs and canon characters from other fandoms) but if you’re going to roleplay with BNHA characters, try to interact with the canon ones we have at rp-bnha. If you feel like you absolutely have to interact with an indie Uraraka blog or something, then talk to the mods and we’ll figure something out.

Set up a rules/info page on your blog! Talk about the subjects you won’t rp, plots you prefer to rp, maybe some headcanons you have (for example, if you’re roleplaying Dabi, you could say that you operate under the Dabi Todoroki Theory), etc. This is to keep people from asking you to rp things that you’re not comfortable with.

Try to make your blog at least a little pretty. Default icons and banners can easily be changed to reflect you and your character!

Roleplay Etiquette

Read the rules on the roleplayer’s blog before interacting in character! This is so you know what subjects they are down for rping and which ones they’re uncomfortable with.

This is a drama-free zone. If you have a problem with someone OOC, do not be rude to them IC. Drama between characters is okay though! Just not between roleplayers.

Always ask someone if you can roleplay with them before leaping into their plot, arc, or thread. If someone writes a starter where anyone can join in, that is definitely an exception!

If your plot is going to include triggering topics or nsfw, use trigger warnings!

Keep OOC to a minimum. If the mods see that you’re getting too out of control, then we will message you privately about it before giving you a strike.

If someone says they don’t want to roleplay with you (or they reject your plot idea), learn to take no for an answer. Also, the reverse is a rule as well: if someone presents a plot to you and you truly do not want to roleplay it, please politely turn it down and maybe suggest another plot, or just say that you don’t feel like having your character interact with theirs right now.

If your roleplay is going to have sensitive topics, talk to the mods beforehand. We will tell you if we can let it slide with a trigger warning or if it’s better that you don’t rp it at all. There’s a difference between a rape recovery arc and writing an explicit scene. The first one is accepted with a trigger warning, the other is an absolute no.

If you have no problem with these rules, move onto the masterlist to see which characters are available for you!

Masterlist

If there is a character that is not listed here but you would like to rp as them, please talk to the mods. We removed most characters who we thought were relatively minor in the series.

If you find a character on this list who you would like to roleplay, proceed to the application process. You are allowed to apply for three characters at most but you’ll only get two, so choose wisely! Be sure to rank them on the form so we know which ones are your first choices.

Bold means the character is taken, if it’s not bold then you are free to apply for that character.

Class 1-A

Izuku Midoriya

Katsuki Bakugou

Shouto Todoroki

Tenya Iida

Hitoshi Shinsou

Eijirou Kirishima

Denki Kaminari

Aoyama Yuuga

Sero Hanta

Mezou Shouji

Fumikage Tokoyami

Ojirou Mashirao

Kouji Kouda

Rikido Satou

Momo Yaoyorozu

Ochako Uraraka

Kyouka Jirou

Mina Ashido

Tsuyu Asui

Tooru Hagakure

Other Classes

Monoma Neito

Itsuka Kendou

Ibara Shiozaki

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Mei Hatsume

Mirio Togata

Nejire Hadou

Tamaki Amajiki

Pro Heroes and Teachers

All Might

Endeavor

Hawks

Miruko

Aizawa

Present Mic

Midnight

Villains

All For One

Shigaraki

Kurogiri

Dabi

Mr. Compress

Toga

Magne

Twice

Overhaul

Application Process

Hello, and thank you for taking interest in the roleplay group! If you have read the information page, the rules, and the masterlist, please continue on.

Because we are just starting out, we have a lot of spots open (lucky you!). We call this a “free for all” period. This means you can apply for three characters on the masterlist page, but keep in mind that you will only get a maximum of two! This means you also have the option of applying for three characters and only roleplaying as one if you request it. There is also the chance that you will apply for three but only get one even if you wanted two, because it’s unfair if four people each have two characters instead of eight, qualified people getting one character each!

Getting two characters is a big responsibility, and because of our dropping rules, we highly suggest that you only request two if you know you will have the time to roleplay them with equal passion and quality. Please do not drop them because your time management was off!

EDIT :: There have been a few minor changes to the application process. Please read about them here.

After the free for all period, the mods will spend three to four days going through the remaining applications and picking out which applicants get which spots. If there are still some characters who were not applied for (or if the applicants did not fulfill the requirements), roleplayers who are already members get priority! This means if you requested two characters and you only got Tokoyami, you can pick one of the other untaken characters from the list if you think you have the time to rp two characters!

Thank you for reading, and good luck!

Application Form (if you are on mobile and somehow cannot use this link, message us and we will provide you with a direct link)

#long post //#rules & info #mobile access #mod stef #i hope we made this more accessible for you all!

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bigskydreaming · 6 years

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because they most certainly do not.

#long post

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spiftynifty · 6 years

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LGBT representation in Voltron

UPDATED: I realized I wasn’t coming off as neutrally as I’d like and there were hints of shipping peeking through. I also didn’t feel I had expanded properly on certain aspects. I’d like this particular post to be as neutral as possible so that it’s accessible to people from all ships and headcanons.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion lately about LGBT representation in Voltron. From shipping wars to insistent demands that headcanons be fulfilled, it’s all getting a little bonkers. I wanted to step back, encourage everyone to take a breather, and discuss the potential of any LGBT on the show, including and excluding popular expectations. So here we go, a post on LGBT representation in Voltron and in cartoons, and why it's not as simple as we'd like it to be. It’s a little long but don’t worry, there are pictures! AND A COMIC!

DISCLAIMER: I do not work on Voltron, nor do I work for Dreamworks or any of its properties. I'm just an animator who's worked on dozens of cartoons for a number of studios and the following is based on my experience in this industry. This post is NOT meant to indict any of the parties involved in the creation of Voltron or other cartoons. Making cartoons is a complicated, collaborative process and no one is a villain.

Here we go:

Before we can talk about LGBT rep & Voltron, we should probably talk about LGBT representation in cartoons in general. In case it isn't clear, I'm speaking specifically about Western cartoons that primarily air in Canada/US. Anime is a whole other category and one that Voltron does not fall under. I'm also removing cartoons that were made explicitly for adults.

LGBT in cartoons is a really recent development. If we include adult cartoons it can date back as far as 20 years (South Park showcasing some SUPER GREAT gay stereotypes :|) but if we're including cartoons geared towards kids (age 5-17)... we're talking this being a thing in the last FOUR years. And the number of times it's been done is so minimal, it can be summed up in these few images:

(left to right, top to bottom) 6Teen, 2010 CANADA ONLY - An incidental female character revealed she liked women. I don’t think this show ever aired in the States but it ran on Teletoon for years. The show also had an episode with an incidental gay character in 2008. Gravity Falls, 2013 - The sheriff and deputy are repeatedly hinted at being in a relationship. I believe in the series finale their relationship is more clearly identified. It was later confirmed by the show’s creator.

Legend of Korra, 2014 - The two female leads, after having previously dated the same male character, are strongly implied to now be dating each other as they hold hands and walk into the Spirit World together. This was as explicit as they were allowed to get with their relationship. The comics continue their relationship romantically and also highlight other characters from both series who are (or were) LGBT). Steven Universe, 2013 - The show doesn’t shy away from its LGBT romances, in particular Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl and Rose. Star vs The Forces of Evil, 2017 - in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it panning shot, two background male characters are seen kissing. Clarence, 2013 - The main character has two moms. In one episode, a handsome male background character is shown greeting another man for a date by kissing him on the cheek. Initially they were supposed to peck on the lips until other countries’ censors demanded the change. Loud House, 2016 - The main character’s best friend, Clyde, has two dads.

I’m also going to toss out an Honourable Mention to Adventure Time for Princess Bubblegum & Marceline, whose past romantic relationship was sort of hinted at in the show but only confirmed outside of it.

If we take that list and cut it down to just (broadcast TV) primary or recurring characters, we're left with this: Korra, Steven Universe, Clarence

I should also mention that while I repeatedly use the term LGBT, what I’m really referring to is more LGB. I would love to see a trans character in a broadcast cartoon. I’ve heard Amazon’s Danger & Eggs has a trans character, which is AMAZING and a solid start. However progressively speaking, broadcast cartoons tend to lag a little behind live action TV and movies aimed at older teens and adults, and those genres are still struggling to feature trans characters.

So why is this?

Firstly, and more importantly, a lot of these shows air in countries that aren't nearly as open about LGBT as USA/Canada are. To say "screw those guys! They should keep up with the times!!" is to cut out a major consumer base and most companies are unwilling or unable to take that financial hit. This doesn't make them evil. Animation, just like filmmaking, may be an artform but it is first and foremost a BUSINESS. Major companies like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network won’t lose money, but the production studios they hire to do their shows will suffer the brunt of it and could lose the business of these powerful corporations. It’s happened time and time again that a show initially animated in the US or Canada has been taken away from that studio in favor of a cheaper, overseas option. In some cases they’ve closed.

Second, even in 2018 there is still a lot of pushback from homophobic or “family-oriented” groups with decent clout and numbers. Also, there is a strange pervasive idea that LGBT is something that is Not For Children, likely because too many foolish people still associate heteronormativity with love and everything outside of that with sex.

Additionally, you may have noticed that on the list of the three shows showcasing LGBT relationships in a primary or recurring character way... ALL of them feature women. The social discussion about why that is honestly merits an entire other post (or 5) so to put it plainly, broadly speaking, people tend to be more comfortable with female queerness over male queerness. We have yet to see a m/m relationship that has any iota of history or character development behind it, or a recurring queer male character.

With this in mind, Voltron, which features a primarily male cast, and thus has more chances of featuring a male LGBT character, has its work cut out for it.

___________________________________________________

Fresh off the heels of Korra, a series that in the 11th hour featured the two female leads ending up with each other, it's no surprise that showrunners Lauren Montgomery and Joaquin Dos Santos( along with other cast and crew) have fielded a barrage of questions about their intention to depict LGBT on the show. At NYCC when asked about it, this was JDS & LM's response: "It's very important to us... we’re fighting to create as open and as broad a spectrum of characters as we can."

Which is a pretty interesting way of putting it, and a pretty understandably CAREFUL way of putting it. Again, I want to reiterate, I don’t work for any studio involved in the production of Voltron so this is largely conjecture.

So here's how the hierarchy works, as far as I can tell.

I'm not sure who approached who to get a new Voltron made, but primary creative decisions would fall to JDS and LM, who are in charge of things like major plot points, characters, and arcs. When they've figured this stuff out, they pitch it in a multitude of sessions with Dreamworks People... and that's when the battle begins. Pitching a show is always a tug-of-war. Let's be clear: No creator has ever gone in with a show and walked away with every single aspect that they wanted. Compromises and concessions are made because while the Creatives are focused on their story and character, their client is concerning themselves with budget, timelines, audience targets and $$marketing$$. Before they even got to the matter of LGBT, JDS/LM had lost and won battles over some plot and character decisions. You can actually feel it sometimes when you watch the show; key emotional moments that never happen, or character stuff that gets shaved in favor of action or the reuse animation of the lions forming Voltron.

This show is still aimed at a young, male, market Dreamworks wants to believe is going to buy their incredibly limited line of related toys, and that is a market that is difficult for executives to see as being interested in romance, let alone a queer one.

The point is, as much as JDS/LM seem to want LGBT in their show, it is a negotiation that I'm sure has been on the table since Day 1 and probably one that is ongoing. Here's a vague idea of what MAY have gone down:

Dreamworks: We will consider the idea of two of them in a relationship, but the third has got to go. JDS/LM: .....we appreciate you considering the relationship aspect. Dreamworks: In addition, we feel that to balance the scales so to speak, at least one character needs to be overtly heterosexual. You know, hit on a lot of female characters, maybe even fall for one of them.

(sorry would have finished the comic but I sprained my wrist and I’m not supposed to draw rn but I cheated a little, also can you tell I love Saga)

This is very probably not what happened, but it is an example of what could have. I know there is a lot of support for a certain character in Voltron being bi, not least of all because of something LM drew.

I think the placement of the characters holding the signs were less about associating the character with the header and more about making sure neither of the two warring ships were represented; it would have incited a new level on the shipping wars and the message and intent behind this art would have been lost.

There is a weird association with relationships and how they define a show if they aren’t hetero. Have only one relationship on a show about space battles and if it’s LGBT, people will start associating Voltron with being “the gay space battle show”. I don’t want to get into Discourse about This Thing because debate gets lost quickly in favor of toxic insults, but I think it’s important to touch on Bi!Lance. To be entirely neutral about it, it is possible that Lance was originally intended to be bi. But if there was the potential for other characters to be LGBT, the showrunners might have been asked to “strike a balance” so to speak, so that Voltron wouldn’t just be “the gay space battle” show since its hetero relationships would outnumber the queer ones. I don’t think Lance’s character has changed at all since his inception; the show needs a funnyman for levity and ridiculousness, and he is absolutely the charmer of the Paladins. He may have been intended to hit on just about any attractive being in his orbit (there are shades of what one might call a “man-crush” in regards to his Shiro hero-worship). While it would have been awesome to have a bi male character in a cartoon, changing his attraction dial from “all” to “female” doesn’t really affect his storyline, especially since it’s hard to contest that the show has been angling in potential for endgame Allurance in seasons 3&4. I realize that sounds dismissive of the bi experience, that’s really not what I’m trying to get at. I’m saying that in the grand scheme of things, it may have been easier to sacrifice an LGBT Lance in order to win another LGBT representation battle. Like I said, making cartoons that maintain the creative, storyline, and character goals you walk in with is a tug-of-war, and you’re going to lose something along the way.

But it’s not all about Lance, and again, that’s all theoretical. It’s also possible that Pidge was at one point NB or even trans. There are hints of Coran having a close friendship with Alfor. The original blue paladin is hinted at flirting with a fellow male character in a “did he just--” moment that most people missed. Lotor surrounds himself with female generals but never seems particularly attracted to them. Keith’s undying devotion to Shiro could be interpreted as romantic. There are a dozen main characters whose orientations are nebulous at best and thus have potential to be queer.

So what does this mean for the future of LGBT on Voltron?

The short version is: I'm actually, really, really hopeful. For a number of reasons.

1) JDS/LM as they've said, are fighting really hard for this to be a thing. Jeremy Shada has said "You'll be really happy" when asked about LGBT on the show. People may feel he’s referring to his character Lance, but I think he’s just hoping that people will be happy with any character who could be explicitly stated to be LGBT.

2) Netflix isn't a TV broadcaster, which means they can operate under somewhat different rules. Sort of. They certainly don't shy away from LGBT content but they may be regulated under rules of "what is appropriate for children in certain age groups" which frustratingly, for kids 12 and under, does not often include LGBT content. Netflix notoriously doesn't release their viewership data so this is just speculation; but I wonder if the biggest audience taking in this show is actually people, primarily women, aged 14+. Taking this into account won't influence the plot, but the bumped up age could show an increased likelihood of LGBT rep as it pushes the show outside of the "content too sensitive for young children" zone.

3) It would be really nice to see explicit, unambiguous affection between two same-sex characters. However there can still be canonical queer romance without it, shades enough of “just friendship” that they can get past the censors and bigots while those who are more aware of what’s going on can recognize the relationship for what it is. Remember, some people still refuse to believe that Victor and Yuuri kissed in Yuuri on Ice, all thanks to the clever placement of an arm. Furthermore, LGBT doesn’t have to be portrayed through relationships but just the character itself. A character could make a passing comment that alludes to their sexuality. It’s not quite as satisfying as having it out in the open, but DW’s hands may be tied by the stipulations of the contract outlined by Netflix.

4) Despite what certain world events would have you believe, people are becoming more progressive and supportive of LGBT rights and content. We've seen it happen in movies and live-action television. More and more cartoons are going to be including LGBT content, in broader and more overt ways. There will be other cartoons who feature main characters who identify as LGBT, recurring characters in LGBT relationships who are allowed to be affectionate and cutesy with their partners, who are represented no differently or reverently than hetero cartoon romances. Voltron will likely end within the next two years, and within those next two years more and more cartoons will be taking "risks" and more and more broadcasters will feel emboldened to allow them to do so. If Dreamworks keeps its content steadfastly heterosexual while fellow producers embrace LGBT, it's going to reflect badly on them.

People are desperate for representation in this show and it’s not hard to see why. It is not only one of the few serial cartoons out there, but one that deals with surprisingly adult themes considering it’s aimed at elementary schoolers. I think it’s really neat that people have so many headcanons about the LGBT rep in this show, and I think it’s great that it’s an element that has sparked a lot of passion in people. However, everything is still conjecture, the series is but half over, and putting all your LGBT demands onto one character or one relationship is unhealthy. It’s also pretty insidious to attack or harass crew, cast, or fellow fans whose views on how the LGBT should happen don’t align with your own. The show’s arcs and plot points have been written, the characters decided, but the internal fight over LGBT rep could still be going on. The creators aren’t going to cave to pressure from people who really want their ship or their character to be the sacred cow. Ship what you want to ship but recognize that while LGBT on the show may not happen the way you’d like it to, it’s still important to support its existence no matter what form it comes in.

In the next part I’m going to cover one relationship in particular as neutrally as possible and whether or not it has potential to become canonically romantic.

#anim vld #meta #voltron #vld #voltron meta #voltron legendary defender #klance #sheith #sorta #lgbt

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fadewalking · 6 years

Text

Solas and Relationships (AKA: Why He Wouldn’t Have Sex With Spirits, And Who He Would Have Sex With)

So I’ve been getting a lot of asks about Solas having sex with spirits, and if he’s ever done it. A lot of people assume that it’s canon that he has had sexual relations with spirits because of this in-game banter (this is gonna be a ridiculously long post so buckle up):

Many people understandably take his lack of a straightforward answer as an admission, which I don’t entirely disagree with but, like Solas says, I do not think it’s so simple. Since this is a rp blog, a lot of the following will be my own personal headcanons for him, which may divert from canon, but I do have reasons for everything I believe about him and I will make a case for them.

Firstly, I do not think Solas has ever had a sexual or romantic relationship with a spirit ever at any point. I feel particularly strongly about this as I would argue spirits cannot give true consent, and as I feel that Solas is a very consent-centric character, he would respect this. Spirits are often single minded, they care about the trait that they reflect and embody and little more beyond that (think of the spirit of Command you run into in Old Crestwood). Spirits lack true and total autonomy, as they are willed by dreamers and the waking world to reflect back whatever they are given. Solas never debates this, what he does say about this is in response to the Herald saying “Spirits are bound by their nature. You said it yourself. They’re shaped by contact with real people.” To which he replies “Just as Leliana was shaped by contact with Divine Justinia, as those who serve the Inquisition are shaped by you. If I change your mind in this conversation, does that mean you’re no more real than a spirit?”

A good argument, and I agree with him, but the fact remains that spirits are so much bound to their nature that it affects their ability to act with 100% autonomy and free will, and thus it affects their ability to consent in either a romantic or sexual relationship. Of course even so, I agree with Solas that spirits are people too, even bound as they are to their nature. The ability to consent does not a person make.

Consent matters, as I’m sure we can all agree, even in nonsexual, romantic relationships. So, why do I say that I still think the above banter is some kind of admission? My personal headcanon is that he once fell in love with a Spirit of Purpose. Nothing ever came of it, because he never expressed it, because of the above rationale. But this would explain why spirits and relationships are such a complicated matter, as Solas claims they are (why a spirit of Purpose? Idk, just sounds good).

Now, who would he have sex with? Would he have sex at all? How does he identify in terms of sexual orientation?

Let me start off by saying that I headcanon him as bisexual (or perhaps biromantic/demiromantic). I know what you’re thinking “but it’s canon that he’s not!” Yes. True, but consider the following: Not only will I always jump at the chance to create more LGBTQA+ representation whenever possible, but I disagree with Bioware’s reason for not making him bisexual in the first place. Which they claim was in order to avoid making their “Villain” part of the LGBTQA+ community. Which, while understandable, I feel is misguided at best. As someone who identifies as both pansexual and transgender, I could write an essay over why I feel Bioware dropped the ball on this, but that would take too long and if you want to discuss that with me, let’s do it somewhere else, for the sake of not making this post any longer than it has to be. Suffice it to say, I feel Bioware made the wrong choice when they decided not to make Solas bisexual. With this is mind, my personal interpretation of his character is that he is bisexual. If you are of the mind that this is heterosexual erasure, and just as offensive as the notion of making Sera or Dorian straight, then kindly never speak to me because quite frankly I cannot believe we are still debating this, as a fandom.

Anyway…

I also appreciate headcanons that he is asexual biromatic. He does not have a sex scene in canon, and for the most part it is thought that it was intentionally left vague so that we can imagine whatever we’d like. Thus I choose to believe that while he is interested in sex (perhaps very interested) it is highly unlikely to happen during the Inquisition timeline since he’s very concerned about his idea of consensual sex. There’s dialogue in Trespasser that goes as follows:

Solas: What is the old Dalish curse? May the Dread Wolf Take you ..

Lavellan: And so he did…

Solas: I did not, I would not lay with you under false pretenses.

Of course, we can argue, as Lavellan does, that this rationale is complete and utter bullshit. One does not need to have sex to be taken, so to speak. It is not more right to pursue a deeply intimately romantic relationship under false pretenses than it is a sexual one. It is not worse, but it’s not right.

He very well could be asexual, or maybe grey-asexual and biromantic/demiromantic. There are a of different ways we could label him, I don’t wanna get too caught up in that. But inline with my personal interpretation, he either doesn’t have sex with Lavellan or it’s highly unlikely that he would, but that does not necessarily mean he isn’t interested.

Now we gotta talk about race gates.

Solas is racist and prejudice. There’s no getting around that. He’s prejudice toward Humans, and toward even other Elves, and bizarrely racist against Qunari and Dwarves. He calls Qunari savage beasts, kept in check only by the rigor of the Qun. He accuses Dwarves of being too practical, too logical, perhaps even unfeeling or uncreative in their disconnection from the Fade and magic. He calls Humans shortsighted, brutish, blind to beauty and trapped in a duality of black and white, with no room for grey areas. And of course he thinks the Dalish are narrow minded, and proud to the point of arrogance. There is dialogue on each of these during the Balcony Scenes with the various races, and to every race except the Elves, when you try to argue that Solas is wrong in his preconception of the people, he simply says something to the effect of “No. I am not.” but for and Elven inquisitor, if you argue that what he thought of the Dalish was wrong, he only says “That is it then, I suppose it must be.” He concedes that he may have been wrong.

Given his unwillingness to believe that any besides an Elf is capable of change from what he perceives in his racial stereotypes, and simply the intensity of his racism and prejudice, I would argue it highly unlikely, that Solas would ever be in a relationship with anyone that was not Elvhen. In particular, a human. I think his biggest problem, racially and culturally is with the Qun, but a tal vashoth who hated the Qun would likely have a better chance at getting with Solas than any human. And my reasoning for that is simple: Humans are the majority oppressors of Elves in current-day Thedas. Tevinter enslaves them, Orlais and Ferelden keep them as servants, and force them in alienage slums or to be nomadic and out of touch. Humans ordered the exalted march, and refused to allow Elves even the promised land Andraste gave to them. And while Solas claims not to see modern day Elves as his people (though he seems fickle about this and does call them his people, when it suits his conversation) he certainly shows empathy to their plight and blatant disapproval of how Humans treat them. We all know if there’s one thing Solas hates more than anything else, it’s slavery, and I think you would be hard pressed to get around his feelings toward Humans all being the same brutish oppressors.

If he did have sex or a romantic relationship it would be with a female, male, or nonbinary Elf, and I do not think it would particularly matter if they were a City Elf or Dalish. He has his prejudices against both groups, and just so happens to be more vocals about it with the Dalish.

Now for something a bit more personal to me: the topic of transgender Elves. How would Solas feel about a trans elf? Would knowing someone is trans effect his willingness to be in a romantic or sexual relationship?

The short answers are: He doesn’t really care what someone identifies as, and no, respectively. This is not a new concept. While he may be a cis man himself (or he may not be, quite frankly we do not, and cannot know) he is no stranger to nonbinary or transgender people. This is because being nonbinary or transgender is not a modern phenomenon. Surely they existed numerously enough in his time, and he has been alive long enough (and has had enough sex via my own headcanons) that he is most definitely both familiar and unperturbed by trans or nonbinary people. I believe despite his enormous racism, that prejudice does not carry to gender or sexual orientation. He would therefore always use whatever pronouns were asked of him, and speak with his usual amount of grace and sensitivity and delicacy about his partner’s gender. And I like to imagine, if it became sexual, he would be very doting about making sure they were comfortable with whatever he was doing.

As I stated at the beginning of this post, these are entirely my headcanons and personal interpretations of his character. You may feel free to disagree, but do not be rude about it. If you’d like to discuss or dispute anything I’ve said here, I would encourage you to come to my askbox and do so politely, off anon, so that we may converse privately and I will not have to flood everyone’s dash with discourse. Thanks for reading, and sorry this was so long.

#i wrote this a while ago and im just reposting here since i remade #headcanons #i forgot i needed it #oops

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