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krissiefox · 9 months

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Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog - Sonically Ever After (Screenshots & Review)

And here we have what was the show's final episode, even though it originally aired out of order. It's got some unique features and also stands out quite strongly in my childhood memories of the show. That's because in the episode Tails briefly gets "turned into a girl" and this is one of my earliest memories of realizing I was trans without knowing how to articulate what I was feeling. As a kid, my friends and I would often make believe we were Sonic characters, and I was always the role of Tails (that's the reason my fursona is a fox, in fact!). I remember seeing this episode as a kid made me feel "weird and upset", and it would be quite along time for me to realize that this was because I'd already been taught to hate myself for being trans, sadly. Transgender kids need love and support, and creeps like ron desantis needs to fuck all the way off to whatever sewer they crawled out of.

Anyway, enough about childhood trauma - let's dig into this weird and wacky Fairy Tale themed episode!

Poor Tails hurt his...well, tails!

The episode starts with Robotnik and his badniks chasing Sonic and Tails into a park. As they clash and occasionally make racist remarks like "no robots allowed in the park!", an elderly lady is reading fairy tales to some kids nearby (She's been seen in other episodes too, and apparently her name is Miss Saccharine). Among them are some recognizable faces such as the Sloth kids from "slow Going" and that elephant kid with freaky hands who is friends with Robotnik Jr.

Robotnik tells Scratch and Grounder to use a device they brought along that would help them teleport away for a quick escape. Somehow, the two badniks mess up in a way that instead teleports Robotnik, Sonic and Tails right into Miss Saccharine's fairy tale book, instead!

Now in the story book world, Sonic and Tails are dressed in costumes and the backgrounds are noticeably much more detailed. This is one of this episode's unique features - it foreshadows the visual improvement that would occur in the Sonic SatAm cartoon in terms of background art. It's also rather fitting that I just reviewed the pilot too, because some of this episode shows just how nice the background art can be in the actual series! The outfits that Sonic and Tails are wearing are based on a story called "Hansel and Nettle", as it seems every fairy tale in Mobius has a naming parody of ones in our world. After exploring a forest and finding a house with chili dogs glued to the outside walls, Tails finally pulls up his dress and acknowledges that "he's a girl!" - and the fact that he just looked at his own crotch seems to indicate he is incorrectly referring to his sex, rather than gender. Tails looks cute in the dress, but I have to wonder who decided they needed to draw boobs on a little 4 year old kid....*gives DiC the side eye* Robotnik emerges from the hut, and seems to be in the same situation as Tails in which his sex was at-least temporarily changed? He is dressed as a stereotypical witch, because old fairy tales just love their bigoted depictions of religious minorities.

Robotnik invites Sonic & Tails inside only to then reveal his identity and announce that the wants to eat them! The two manage to escape and we go back to seeing what's going on back in the regular Mobius world - Grounder is rather adorably enjoying the story time, while Scratch is trying to convince him to come help fix the machine so they can get Robotnik out of the book world.

Grounder would rather listen to fairy tale stories than rescue his shitty dad.

Meanwhile, back inside said book world, Sonic and Tails have apparently now taken shelter living at the home of "Snow Height and the Seven Squatty Guys" (with Sonic and Tails being two of the squatty guys). This was one of the funnier fairy tale spoofs for me as I found it cute that Snow was just really tall instead of "conventionally attractive" - although that is somewhat marred by the fact that she also seems to be mostly treated as an "ugly woman" joke. Robotnik shows up, trying to sell them chili dogs, and Tails stupidly just grabs and eats one, which poisons him. The only cure is a kiss from Snow Height, who is weirded out by the idea of kissing an anthropomorphic fox child. Sonic promises to introduce her to prince charming if she does so, so she eventually caves and smooches Tails. Does this mean she has magic healing spit like Steven Universe?

These backgrounds are lovely!

Not accepting defeat, Robotnik then uses some sort of wind turbine to attack the household, almost blowing everyone away. Sonic tells Snow that Robotnik is her prince charming, and she somehow believes him even though she just saw him poison a child and attack her and all her friends! She fights the wind current and goes to smooch and hug on Robotnik.

Looks like Snow Height was busy decorating for pride month!

Sonic and Tails manage to escape the house, and pass by Cinderella and her Fairy Godfather, who is a parody of the guy from The Godfather movies. This was another one of the funnier gags in this episode, in my opinion. :) Cinderella and the fairy Godfather both seem like nice folks, but sadly Robotnik runs by and steals Godfathers magic wand, then starts using it to torment Sonic and Tails. Snow Height catches up with the group and Robotnik turns her into a toad, and then threatens to turn Sonic and into a toad and fly as well...

I’ve never seen The Godfather, but cultural osmosis still tells me that Robotnik may regret stealing from him!

As this is happening, Scratch and Grounder finally think they've fixed the portal machine and use it again, but it doesn't go entirely as planned. Instead of extracting just Robotnik, they extract him as well as Sonic and Tails and a whole bunch of other fairy tale characters. Robotnik has a few new minions he brought with him, a dragon and a giant beatnik. Robotnik takes his magic wand and starts running rampant around Mobius, causing lots of trouble.

Sonic brainstorms on what to do to stop him as well as help the fairy tale folks who were pulled into his world. Eventually, Sonic dresses as Rapunzel in a tower in the city, getting Robotnik's attention by offering him lots of gold. Once Robotnik scales the tower, Sonic lifts up Snow so she can kiss Robotnik, which turns her human again. Robotnik falls out of the tower in surprise, and announces "I kissed a toad!". Grounder mentions that he kissed a toad once, and that "it was kind of nice. I think he liked me". Thus, we now know that Grounder is cool with kissing dudes, yay!

Sonic makes his way back to the park, where Robotnik follows him with the dragon. Sonic realizes that the dragon has a thorn in his foot and pulls it out, and the dragon is very grateful, turning out to only be hostile because he was in pain.

Sonic eventually gets the idea to go to the airport with Tails, and use a plane to write "Happily ever after" in the sky. This seems to interact with magic properties of the fairy tale book, allowing Robotnik's stolen magic wand and all the fairy tail characters to get pulled back into their own world again.

As the last episode ends, Sonic addresses the audience. "Every story must end. Even this one. But it's no fairy tale to say, 'see ya soon for more Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog!'"

In the Sonic Says segment, Sonic teaches Tails about how cool libraries are. Good message, no notes - except that it's sad that books are under attack so much in the USA right now...

This episode is quite a send off for the series! It has some very nice background art, and some cute and funny gags. Unfortunately, some of the fairy tales being referenced have some really unhealthy messages which the episode never addresses, so that marrs things a bit. Overall, though, it is still a cute ending for a very fun and lovable slapstick cartoon.

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caestoexist · 4 months

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(excerpt from my film + lit analysis class essay on afab gender nonconformity in film specifically about she's the man 2006 and tomboy 2011)

"She’s The Man is a romantic comedy designed for an adolescent audience, and therefore starts with a high energy montage of the main character, Viola, playing soccer on the beach. It is overlaid with bright, colorful graphics showing the title credits, and set to the song “No Sleep Tonight” by The Faders. Viola, while not stereotypically feminine, is clearly a girl. She is shown to like sports, and is uncomfortable in dresses, but also wears a bikini top and short jean shorts in the opening montage, and has long hair. She only comes to the decision to present as a boy in order to impersonate her brother, Sebastian, so she can play on the boys soccer team, after the girls team is cut.

At the end of the film, she reveals herself to be female, wins the game, and goes back to living as a girl. In fact, the second to last scene shows her onstage, in a dress and makeup, making out with Duke, a fellow soccer player and her former roommate, who first met her as Sebastian.

She’s The Man has something I call ‘The Mulan Effect,’ where a film represents a character pretending to be the opposite gender without actually tackling transgender topics. In these types of films, the character has external motivation, usually hiding from, or impersonating someone, or trying to gain access to something. A key feature of films that demonstrate ‘The Mulan Effect’ is the crossdressing character returning to their original gender presentation after achieving their goal."

i think it's an interesting phenomenon because on the surface a film with the mulan effect seems to be trans or trans adjacent in nature, but when you think harder about it, it's usually not as related as it would seem. of course it's somewhat related just due to the feature of a character acting and dressing as the opposite sex, and often has loosely feminist undertones (woman just as good at fighting war as man!! gender win!) but it's about a mostly gender conforming, usually straight character (in fact, if the character isn't straight, it kinda falls into a different category than the mulan effect imo) simply putting on a disguise.

it doesn't touch on actual gender nonconformity or transgenderism beyond very superficial features of it, such as being considered strange, ugly, or wimpy by those around you. its much safer than a film actually about trans or gender nonconforming topics, because it can almost fully avoid homosexuality or transgenderism other than a sort of parody/joke on those things (this straight woman falls in love with a boy, but he's secretly a girl! must be awkward for her!). it's kinda like the bury your gays trope in that it depicts the undepictable but in a way that doesn't justify being gay or trans.

it's also like the bury your gays trope becsuse people will still identify with it when that's the only representation they're given. like if all the gay stuff you can read ends with the characters dead, you're still gonna read it just for the gay shit. if the media showing gender nonconformity and transness only shows it as either temporary (the mulan effect, the trope of a tomboy growing out of it as they get older, usually influenced by meeting a man they're attracted to and realizing they're a Woman and gotta Act Like It) or evil (all the trans serial killers, who are mostly trans women, sometimes trans men who are gangsters, mob bosses, or criminals) you're still gonna identify with the characters just because you don't have anything else showing someone who does what you do.

in a lot of media trans women are represented as evil and perverted and trans men are often not represented, or represented as a temporary issue, something done as a result of external pressures, or something that you grow out of. trans women are often ugly, strange, aggressive adults and trans men are children, also perceived as ugly and strange but overall more sympathetic. i think it's interesting and wonder how much this broad societal representation affects the way we perceive those groups even without realizing it.

it's also interesting how the way we see women vs men plays into this, as trans women are "too manly" making them adult, large, aggressive, etc. trans men are sometimes also seen as too manly, because nobody takes them seriously as a boy to begin with, so they're judged as a girl. if they are seen as a boy, they're wimpy, small, childish, and more likely to have pity taken on them. trans women embody "man traits" like thinking for themselves and making decisions, like an adult, whereas trans men embody "woman traits" by just not even being taken seriously on the same level as trans women (who are more likely to be portrayed as actually trans women, as opposed to trans masculinity, often portrayed as confused or traumatized little girls) and also being shown more often as children. they are then able to be saved by a man, and only then are able to be happy as a woman. the transphobia is just the first layer of these types of bad rep, the deeper you dig the more it seems to be misogyny. like "trans women are men so they're powerful and aggressive by nature, trans men are women and therefore they don't know what the fuck is going on, even with themselves. they need a man to come set them straight, it's not their fault". it starts to seem really fucked when you think about it.

i'm saying this after having gone thru every pre-2012 representation of trans characters in television and film (according to wikipedia) and finding Some Patterns.

i don't really know what the conclusion of this post is, but basically. trans women and trans men are both affected by misogyny. misogyny is at the root of so many things. if you're against misogyny you should be against homophobia and transphobia too. period.

#texts i sent to my mom #who is gender critical #she was unsure how to respond #trans #media literacy #misogny

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stampstamp · 1 year

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Finished re-reading F*shigi Y*gi part 1 and the first and final arcs still spark joy so I'll keep my collection but volumes 9-11 were so frustrating that I'm gonna roast them a little under the cut (and be a bit critical of other aspects that don't hold up 30 years on)

Major spoilers and references to SA in the series under the cut! (And it's a super long rant!)

The dip in quality from 9 onwards was such a shame! The plot just turns into various enemies trying to rape the 15-year-old protagonist for three volumes! Not to be a pearl clutcher but Watase says the target demographic is middle school - junior high students and there's just a whole arc where:

It's implied that Nakago raped Miaka. It's later revealed he didn't manage to penetrate her and everyone is like 'oh phew! 😄' and her traumatic nightmares about her memories of him stripping her and pinning her down before she fainted just stop. 🤦

Also, in the author note alongside that part Watase comments that things are getting dark but points out that we've just learned that Yui didn't actually get raped by strangers so it's not all bad. Mate, your protagonist is being assaulted?? We can't take much solace in that revelation right now!

Then there's a bit where Amiboshi climbs on top of her while she's sleeping naked and kisses her without her consent (his parents had drugged her).

Meanwhile, Soi disguises herself as Miaka and tries to seduce Tamahome. I know it's a product of it's time but ughh the way Tamahome almost getting raped is handled so differently to scenes where Miaka is assaulted - it's awful. And there's also a 'gag' parody page where it replicates the scene where Tamahome found Miaka after she's been assaulted by Nakago but makes it look like one of the gay characters had raped Tamahome.

After his comrades have failed to take her virginity and stop her from summoning Suzaku, Tomo, who Watase confirms is gay, also tries to rape Miaka. 😑

In the last volume, Watase shares the ideas that there wasn't space for and they were so good 🥲 maybe you could have removed one of the SA scenes or one of the twenty times Miaka or Tamahome breaks it off and runs away to protect the other?

I used to like the author notes but this time they kept rubbing me the wrong way. Watase would say things like 'too bad we HAVE to spank our tiny terrier puppy to discipline it 🫤' or share racist travelogues about trips to China.

But it's kind of funny that in the author notes, Watase hinted at shipping Tamahome and Nakago 😂 never really gushed about how much she loved Tamahome/Miaka as a ship though. I quite like Keisuke/Tamahome as a ship - they got on well.

I was thinking about ranting about how Nuriko is handled but that's hard because 1. 90s 2. Another culture 3. Watase later came out as X gender so the offensive character notes were probably well intentioned and might be regretted now? 4. The translators had to do the usual thing of deciding which pronouns the character that's almost certainly trans would use, while also translating jokes that implied Nuriko is simply crossdressing for funsies and deciphering whatever the hell happened in vol 8 where Nuriko decided to be cis and in love with Miaka for a chapter or two.

I started shipping Tasuki and Nuriko this time and I was delighted to see 20 whole fics on AO3 but almost all of them misgender Nuriko. Maybe the anime subbers used different pronouns or Nuriko's backstory was different in the anime? Watase said someone did a Tasuki/Nuriko doujin and they wanted to read it. Same!

I used to think I wasn't attached to most of the Suzaku warriors beyond Tasuki because I'd re-read the first few volumes way more times than the rest but Watase really didn't give the others much to say or do! 😬 I feel sorry for the fans of Mitsukake(?) Apparently there were lots of Hotohori fans but I always found him creepy; despite his gentle actions, he never seemed to listen to Miaka's wishes. Yandere behaviour. Lucky for me he wasn't in it much (I also feel sorry for his fans lmao)

Forgot how much character death there was towards the end. It's impressive that Watase included characters from the Genbu and Byakko arcs decades before they were written IRL. I don't think I'll read those since FY suggests they ended badly? I wonder if much was retconned.

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modernwizard · 1 year

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Reasons I love the Spymaster #62: He likes dolls!

Find my full series under the HELP I WUVS HIM tag or at the why I love Dhawan Master tag.

#62: He likes dolls!

I really, really like dolls, and I really, really like the Spymaster [and I really, really do have a Spymaster doll!], so this reason makes me especially happy!

Anyway, we know from Spyfall that the Spymaster likes using his TCE on people to reduce them to tiny figurines and then keeping them. He remarks to the Doctor that he has kept the original O in miniature "close to his hearts": in a matchbox in his shirt pocket.

In The Timeless Children, the Spymaster also TCEs Ashad, whose miniaturized corpse becomes a plot point and source of his revivification in The Power of the Doctor.

The Power of the Doctor expands on the Spymaster's interest in miniatures. Besides keeping them as tiny mementos of past kills, he also plays with them. Check out the careful arrangement of the TCE'd seismologists:

Obviously the Spymaster has been lecturing them for a while, as this scene begins in medias res. His play makes him the brilliant cynosure and the seismologists his silent, approving audience giving him their full attention. Part of his play occurs because he's not sure when in this elaborate setup the Doctor will show up. Part of it also probably occurs because it represents what he wants: to be the smartest person in the room and revered for it.

Not only does he play with his miniatures, but the Spymaster also explicitly refers to them as a collection. "Do you like my seismologists?" he asks Thirteen. "I think I've got the whole set now!"

The Spymaster himself calls this interest in miniaturized corpses an interest in dolls. "That ain't just any Cyberman," he explains to Tegan and Ace when miniaturized Ashad unminiaturizes and revivifies before them. "It's a Russian doll!"

I know he's referring to Ashad as a Russian doll because a) there are other Cyber people hiding within Ashad and b) he's impersonating Rasputin in 1916, so he's keen on Russian references.

But I also think that the Spymaster just really likes dolls. Of course he likes the miniatures that he makes because they serve as tangible reminders of occasions when he overpowered people with his superior weaponry. Additionally, I think dolls also appeal to him because, unlike people, he can make them do exactly what he wants them to. He can't control much, but he can control his collection of miniature corpses.

To finish off this discussion, here is a picture of my own mini Spymaster. I promise I did not TCE him!!! I heavily resculpted and repainted a Disney Store Naveen head and put him on an action figure body.

Hey...stop making rude gestures!!

P.S. Do you need MORE of the Spymaster in your life?

My most recent charity anthology, Gender Who?,features loads of Thirteen/Dhawan being their feral bastard selves and being happy!

If Masters in general are more your thing, you’re looking for Master Works, my first multimedia charity anthology about Master[s] + companion{s].

All proceeds from these two charity anthologies will go to Migrant Justice, a US-based nonprofit that aids migrant farm workers in political organizing.

And if, after all that, you still want more Spymaster…well, then you need help. And help is here!

Look who’s on the cover! How can you go wrong?! [This is a creative work of fiction intended solely for entertainment and parody. If you’re looking for self-help, it’s definitely not here.]

A humorous, sarcastic overview of the many personalities and faces of the universe’s most notorious supervillain, Your Villain & You invites you on a journey of wicked self-discovery. Choose the characters that you identify with the most, and then be amazed at what that reveals about your personality, childhood, style, gender, kinks, and more.

the master doctor who dw meta sacha dhawan the spymaster spymaster why I love Dhawan Master HELP I WUVS HIM

@natalunasans @queen-of-meows

#doll collection #the master #doctor who #dw meta #sacha dhawan #the spymaster #spymaster #why I love Dhawan Master #HELP I WUVS HIM #and his dorky love of miniatures #and his #and his dweeby insistence on RUSSIAN dolls

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cielospeaks · 2 months

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game stuff

compiled bc im tired lol

f-h:

archanea banner is actually not bad imo. yumina is cool and i actually kinda like the character development she has from being separated from her twin. i think her being somewhat younger than like. miranda/etc/ other young-ish royalty kept as prisoners of war is compelling, like shes trying to be responsible and act mature despite being a kid and also has the advantage of no love story angle like the others

castor/kashim is cool too, ive seen him around recently and im glad he got in. something abt somewhat pathetic/cowardly yet extremely understandable/relatable ghb archanea bois i am totally digging, w matthis last yr too. caeda and merric are by no means bad choices for the special variants, and im partial to those two + marth as a trio (main lord + soft mage boi + pegasus princess is so peak f e trio content honestly. my original f e parody thingy has that same dynamic as well), esp since the other banner characters are related to them (castor -> caeda and arlen -> merric). and arlennnn elreannnn im screaming in the club congrats on getting in!!! and thank u for coming home to me too. since yumina also came home and castor is ghb ive gotten everyone i remotely want from this banner lol. time to save for the next one

as far as the story chapter i want hresvelger and nidhoggr to prosper and thrive. esp loving nidhoggr for calling out the main characters on their bs. i know were supposed to side w them but honestly im siding w nidhoggr. this fucking child got away with torturing and killing people for years, and just bc she decides she wants to be buddies with her much-older crush from the country she invaded and slaughtered for years means thats all in the past if she believes or whatever. idk they just do not make these protagonists likeable in my opinion. like idk i think theres three basic tiers to protagonists. 1. i love them i want them to succeed. 2. i dont love them but i realize that they should morally overcome whatever they need to, or rather its the better outcome if they do. and 3. i hate them and the story would be better off if these shitheads were just defeated or whatever. and honestly a lot of gacha games are the third category.

for actual plot not to be that guy but i feel like it could be the first step in kasumiverse. for the first few real time months kasumiverse lays low, but in the wake of elanor's resignment from writing publicity for the royal family, in order to fill that void and assert askr/embla dominance for the masses, kasumi and a small squad are sent to embla. they accidentally meet nidhoggr, and kasumi realizes abt the healing power of yggdrassilians.

possibly it starts when the squad first run into eadgyth, a young askran whose parents were emblians, and is being treated like a figurepiece by the order of heroes' supporters. but shes just such a one track absolutely beethovinian classicaloid mind that she doesnt care, for she wants to solve every mystery and uncover the true secret of the worldtree.

kasumi and the others are sent, along with the still figurehead-treated eadgyth, to embla for the ceremony or whatever- eadgyth for publicity and kasumisquad as bodyguards for the order. the chapter 5/6? events happen and they run into nidhoggr? kasumi also learns abt hresvelger and the rest of the worldtree, which like. eadgyth pumps her fist like "i knew it!!!" kasumisquad book 5/6/8 be like "we picked up a weird child" whereas 7 is like "my sexy femme fatale friend got killed offscreen and im having a breakdown"

-dv:

like considering her backstory is not completely revealed im still not 100 percent sure but honestly ivy is cementing herself really early as a contender for at least like a geisha/wuwu level "yea they cool" character. i like that (so far) her family in her backstory are actually loving and caring, and doesnt have a gender bias pitting one gender parent as evil and the other as a saint like other characters. i also like her past/present/future time theme too (tho after b7 i am wary. like it could be cool but it could be incredibly disappointing :/ ) but more to the point she brought the return of the king b skin antonio with her!!! b skin antonio + cn anni shop package ricky!!!!!! we eatin good bois. looks like music bois are back on the (metaphorical) menu. and with ricky finally getting non coa/mary related content in that like. postcard goods im rlly happy. also ricky seems like he could be a ghost too, considering his skin seems to be called ghost sail. posthumous anniv ricky is the dream honestly.

-go:

cyrano please come home. that is all also the event was baller thank you for saving fictional magus cinema cyrano from real history

g-f:

gacha is not good to me but i really want studra so pls come home. i dont rlly think i care abt anything else lol

#gameblogging

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rosemarydisaster · 3 years

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Oooh, we're airing our Campaign 1 and 2 Hot Takes™???? Because I have a few:

-Whenever Sam's character reveals to not be a two dimensional parody everyone acts like they never saw them as such...but their posts complaining about them being just jokes the week prior are still there. Same for Jester, you just have zero faith in the cast sometimes.

-The fandom baits itself with some queer couples. Like, sure, Shadowgast and Vaxmore had a base. In fact they're both canon (one as an epilogue the other as exs). But the way the fandom took Gilmore (and Essek) and obsessed over them week after week when they weren't even in the shower and then act surprised when Vax moved on is absurd. Sure, to you it was only this morning the last time you read a long meta on Essek's feelings for Caleb, but in game it's been months since they last talked. Stop building your expectations so much and then be mad that the canon differs.

-Tary is underappreciated as fuck. He had a banger of an arc, great story and was super cool LGBTQ rep (a little bit basic, but still great). In fact people always forget him when talking about Critical role's LGBTQ+ characters

-Also, people misgdendering Molly and Kingsley...just why. This fandom likes to be all preachy but at the same time they do this kinda shit. And sure, I'm not going to cancel anyone for a honest mistake. But don't attack the cast for things of the same caliber while denying you've ever done something like that. We all screw up at some point, and if you refuse to admit it, I don't trust you.

-People give Fjord a lot of shit for sleeping with Avantika when he only did it to get some information. While we're at it, I don't like the treatment of that moment in general. Caleb pressuring Fjord into sex with someone his scared of could have been a very interesting conversation on consent, but since Fjord's a dude no one questions that he liked it and done.

-The guests are super lovely and I feel really bad whenever the fandom shits on them for not playing at the same level that the other profesional players at the table. Specially the way people treated Aimee in Exu was wild. She didn't knew the game but still managed to be an excellent roleplayer, not afraid of playing a deeply flawed character as her first (in front of such a massive audience). And people still get mad at her for mechanical details I-

-Fuck all of you being biphobic towards Vax. Not only was he attracted to various NPCs (most notably Gilmore) but he also joked about it in different occasions (most notably, the love potion bit). While we're at it, Scanlan being bi (while part of a joke) was collectively ignored by a big chunk of the fandom, and so was Vex's bisexuality too. Sure, they came out because of jokes, but like so did most of my irl friend group????

-Just, in general the way the fandom treats discourse in general. people act as if every character has to say "hi, I'm Molly, I'm nonbinary and bisexual" for it to be canon. I swear, I will see a post shitting on Vax's bisexuality with thousands of likes and the next one is someone telling a non binary critter to std for saying that it pronouns for J'mon Sa Ord were not the best option. Sometimes you manage to simultaneously speak over LGBTQ+ and POC critters so you can "defend them", while also shutting down their valid constructive criticism.

-While we're at it, criticism. I've seen really cool posts about race, sexuality, gender and feminism from the critter community. This are posts that point out micro aggressions or stereotypes so that the cast can be better. If no one points out something, how the he will you fix it?? They have sensitivity consultants (at least now), but things can always be better.

And then there's that part of the fandom that assumes bad faith from the cast in every single mistake (or perceived mistake). People telling them how they should roleplay their characters and play their game. Bitch, and I mean this disrespectfully, find your own game if you want to play it so bad.

-THE MISOGYNY. Just, wtf. Why do people treat the female cast and the female characters like that?????? The infantilization, the demonization, just the whole deal of judging them differently. I know it is hard to admit that we have this double standard imbedded deep inside us because *society*, but come on. It's just ridiculous and it makes me too upset to even speak about it. I want to make a long post on this someday but, just not today.

-People interpreting things their way (totally valid) and getting mad when the cast had different intentions all along (fuck off). Jesus Christ, just for the love of God and everything Holy, admit you want to play your own game and leave the rest of us alone. Some of you have not played D&D and it shows. It's a roleplaying game in which people do whatever the hell they want. The rest of the annoying crowd is D&D people I would rather die than play with. I don't want to be in a table were people are going to get mad at me when I have different ideas than what they intended.

-Critical Role getting big is not some sort of betrayal. We made them big, now they are big. Easy. If you want to support only the most indie games, go support them and leave us alone.

-Also, stop acting like "being big" means that you can just send hate to the cast. When they answer you always act like they are being super mean because your just a teeny tiny Twitter account and they are famous. Look, if thousands of you keep saying "Keyleth is shit" it's normal that one of you is getting QRT with a "stf" from the cast. They are still people, and you're the one's at Goulet for them not interacting as much ,(which apparently you hate)

-Having said all this, I don't get mad about this shit on a daily basis because I curate my TL to only have people I like and that don't engage on toxic fandom bullshit. If fandom is hindering your enjoyment of the show, use the block button.

#critical role #critical role rant #meta #fandom politics #critical role campaign 1 #critical role campaign 2

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feelinglikecleopatra · 2 years

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The Prestige

More of Jesper and their wobbly gender.

(CW// dysphoria, pronoun negotiation, communication, “coming out”.)

It’s not so much that Jesper has been pretending to be a man their whole life. A better word would be playing. It’s a performance, a bit of theatre.

After observing how men perform their so-called manhood, Jesper walks in their footsteps. They’re very good at it too. Imitating voice and mannerisms, until their performance is indistinguishable from that of others.

In reality their identity is fluid, mobile, changing and changeable. Sometimes they don’t mind at all being perceived as a man. On those days, they live in concert with society—as if society were in fact right about them. Other times, manhood chafes. The act of being narrowed to the particularities of their anatomy is nauseating, suffocating. Not a performance but a violation. On these days, Jesper finds their flounciest dresses, their most outrageous accessories, mismatched combat boots and knuckle dusters and shoulder holsters, and makes of themself a parody of gender. They cannot be defined, they refuse.

On these days, they stay away from the mansion on Geldstraat, from Wylan—the love of their life.

It is with Wylan, under his careful and loving eye, that Jesper learnt the freedom to be themself. Wylan taught them to stop and breath and pay attention, to listen to their heart and speak their mind. They owe their life to him and are willing and ready to spend that life with him—if he will have them.

It takes Jesper four days after telling Kaz they aren’t a man, to tell Wylan. Four days of formulating and reformulating the words that might end their relationship.

Because Wylan is a gay man. Jesper has known it since the beginning. He fell in love with Jesper the Man, Jesper the drag performer. Would it be fair, would it be right for Jesper to now pull the rug out from under him? To reveal themself for the con-artist they are, have always been.

Telling him Jesper isn’t a man, has never been a man, feels like the prestige of a magic trick. You thought one thing, well here’s the truth.

For four days, Jesper contemplates the possibility of continuing the performance. Living on as a man, only a man. It wouldn’t be so hard, they’ve been doing it for twenty four years. They would continue for another twenty four if it would make Wylan happy.

The trouble is, Wylan wants them to be happy. He’s said so over and over and over again. Wylan leaves little room for doubt on this score. And really, Wylan knows them too. Even if he doesn’t know this, he knows them. Everything that matters, from their favourite food to their desperate homesickness.

For four days Jesper tries to anticipate Wylan’s response. Until, on day five, Wylan beats them to it.

“Jesper, are you going to tell me what’s wrong or just keep doing this charade for the next week?”

They’re sitting on the sofa, a twisted pretzel of limbs, and Jesper has been flicking through TV channels for ten minutes. They’re indecisive on a good day. This is a bad day.

“What?” Jesper blinks up at Wylan from where their head is resting on his chest. “Sorry, seems like there’s only garbage on tonight. I really thought that new home renovation program—”

“Jes,” Wylan’s voice is warning. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t—”

With a huff, Wylan snatches the remote out of Jesper’s hand and puts it down on the coffee table. “Talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to say.” They swallow. “I promise, love.”

Wylan’s eyes scan their face, brows bunched. “You’re lying.”

Immediately, Jesper feels their heart in their throat, their belly full of wriggling insects. From the look on his face, Wylan isn’t mad, not yet. But he will be.

“I—” Jesper doesn’t know how to begin. “It’s nothing. I mouthed off at my boss at work and I think she might file a report on it, that’s all.”

This isn’t a lie. This did happen. And still, Wylan narrows his eyes, scenting the falsehood.

“That’s not it. You’ve been weird for days.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You do,” Wylan insists.

Jesper’s mind crowds full of the million ways this relationship might end now, on this random Tuesday night. Many of them involve telling the truth, too many. Why can’t Wylan ask them for something easier?

“I—there’s something,” Jesper can barely form the words, has to sit up and move away just to think them, bracing themself for rejection, “I should have told you a long time ago.”

“What is it?” Wylan’s eyes have gone wide, brows knit at the way Jesper pulled away. “Are you okay?”

“I’m—I am, I can be—” Across the room the TV continues playing the random game show they landed on. In the end, the words come out over the sound of several gongs and buzzers alerting the audience to a major prize win. “I’m not a man.”

Wylan’s long lashes flutter for a moment, then, “What?”

“I—I’m not a man.” Jesper has to close their eyes, has to play with the hook through their lower lip to say it in the quiet after Wylan mutes the TV. “Not always, not necessarily.”

“I don’t understand.”

There is only a quiet sort of confusion on Wylan’s face but the words hurt anyway.

“That’s okay, you don’t have to understand. It’s confusing,” Jesper laughs. “I don’t really understand to be honest.”

“Jes,” Wylan reaches out to them but stops halfway, hand hovering in the air between them. “This is upsetting you.”

It isn’t a question because Wylan does know them.

“It’s fine, I’m fine. I just—I don’t want this to change anything between us. I don’t want you to think—to think I—”

“You what?”

“I tricked you.”

“Tricked me?” Now, Wylan looks truly baffled. “What’re you talking about?”

“You love men, you’re attracted to men. I know that, I’ve known that but I’m not—that. You shouldn’t love me.”

At this, Wylan frowns openly. He looks almost angry now.

“Don’t say that,” he says, quietly. “Don’t ever say that.”

“I’m sorry—” Jesper realises their shaking and fold their hands in their lap. “I didn’t mean—”

“Jes, love, can I touch you?”

Wylan is looking at Jesper the way he does first thing in the morning and last thing at night, adoring.

“Please.” Jesper barely finishes the word before Wylan has both arms wrapped around his shoulders and a hand in his hair. “Please, please, please.”

“Jesper, my love, my darling. You don’t have to explain yourself. I love you. I love you. I love men and I love you.”

It feels as if their insides are shaking apart with how much dread spills forth. All the fear and anxiety they’ve been keeping sealed and closed up in the pit of their stomach rattles their bones on the way out.

“I’m sorry I’m not—”

Wylan doesn’t let them finish. “Don’t you dare. Don’t finish that sentence. You are who you are. I fell in love with Jesper Fahey, the gambler and sharpshooter and incorrigible flirt.

“I am surprised,” he concedes, pulling away slightly. “Maybe I shouldn’t be but I am. I—I do think of myself as gay. I have never been attracted to or wanted to pursue a relationship with a woman, this is true. But what is also true is that I love you.”

Saying this, Wylan flattens a hand on Jesper’s chest, feels the thundering echo of their heart.

“What if you don’t know me?” Jesper’s voice is very small. “What if discovering this changes something?”

“I have never been so sure of anything as I am of the fact that it cannot change that.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I do know you and above and beyond the fact I think you’re hot as fuck—” Jesper can feel Wylan’s little laugh against their brow “—I spend every day waiting to talk to you, to laugh at your stupid jokes and hear you say my name. Are you going to stop making stupid jokes?”

“I don’t know if I can,” Jesper murmurs.

“Then I will not stop waiting to hear them.”

“What if—what if some days I want to be introduced as your girlfriend?”

Wylan hesitates, and for the fraction of a second he does, Jesper feels the panic edge back in. Then, he says, “Can I have some time? To think about what this means for me?”

“Of course,” Jesper nods, hands grasping at the fabric of Wylan’s jumper. “Whatever you need. However long.”

It doesn’t take long.

Wylan takes one night and three hours to think.

When he calls Jesper the next day, it’s while they’re having lunch. Sat at a long cafeteria table surrounded by surly men and surlier women, Jesper answers the phone after the first ring.

“I’m coming to the ‘reef.”

“What?” Jesper says around a mouthful of potatoes.

“I’m coming to pick you up.” Wylan sounds like he’s walking. “Be ready in fifteen.”

They’re ready in twenty.

Wylan leads them to the water, striking a measured pace around the edge of the harbour. This part of the city is greyer than the rest, industrial and smoggy. But here, by the water, it almost feels fresh. The sea air blows in and ruffles Wylan’s curls, puts a flush on his cheeks.

“I’ve thought about it.”

“Yeah?” Jesper can’t help the wariness in their tone. “And what did you decide?”

“I’ve decided we can do this.” He stops then and turns to face Jesper. “Whatever this is, however long it takes. I am a gay man in a relationship with a non-binary angel?”

There’s a question in his voice and Jesper realises they never told him what they are, only what they aren’t.

“I like the sound of angel…” They muse, smiling for the first time in what feels like weeks. “And non-binary too.”

“Day by day, okay?” Wylan takes their hand. “Every morning, I want to know how you feel. Which pronouns and how you’d like to be referred to, okay?”

Jesper bites their lip, tempted to cry. “I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. Call me whatever.”

“It does matter and I will call you what you want me to call you. Introduce yourself to me every morning if you have to,” Wylan grins, squeezing their hand. “It would make me the luckiest man in the world because I’d get to meet you again, every day.”

“I’m crying because of the wind,” Jesper laughs, wiping their face with the back of their hand. “Really, it’s a hazard, how windy it gets out here.”

Wylan doesn’t laugh but he does smile, one of those dimples and teeth smiles Jesper fell in love with, and says, “I love you, Jesper Fahey.”

Now when he says it, Jesper feels it in their whole being, feels it spread like warm syrup from the top of their head to the tips of their toes.

He knows. He knows.

Wylan knows and he loves them still.

tags: @juxtaposie @autistic-kaz @genuineformality

A/N: I am in my feelings about Jesper. What can I say?

#jesper fahey #wylan van eck #wesper #polycrows au #enby jesper fahey #sexuality #gender #six of crows #my writing

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zoobus · 2 years

Note

"tell me why episode 8 of Ouran High School was vile even by shoujo romance standards" I haven't read or watched Ouran but do tell...

I would need to rewatch Ouran High School to give a fair dissertation of it. My memory of it is just fuzzy enough that I am maybe giving it too much credit for overall progressiveness and maybe too little credit for the actual episode. So take this essaypost a bucket of salt.

Ouran High School Summary - a scholarship student accidentally breaks an expensive vase and has to join a school host club to pay it back. Genderbending ensues.

How I remember Ouran

Funny!

Unromantic, blunt, intelligent (actually intelligent not just the narrator lying to you), and distinct female protagonist. Do you know how rare these traits are?

Playing around with gender roles/expectations in a familiar, loving manner. Parodies and ribbing from people who have affection for or ties to queer culture

Probably a lot of non-japanese introduction to Takarazuka Theater, the all female theater troupe

Haruhi's likeable gay drag queen father

If it came out today you'd definitely see agenders and nonbinaries claiming Haruhi. her indifference and sometimes bafflement to gender is a significant part of her charm

Weirdo boundary overstepping fangirl representation!

Idk the twins profiting off twincest loving fujos was funny

Everyone in this school is a weirdo in some fashion, including the girls, and they're all great.

How I remember Episode 8

Beach ep

Typical beach creeps start creeping on the girls

Haruhi steps in and tries to protect the girls

Haruhi gets thrown off a cliff

Haruhi is saved and the REAL plot reveals itself: Haruhi is a WOMAN and must recognize her place as a WOMAN

Act 1 is Haruhi getting lectured by her harem for an excruciating length of time. She should not have tried to protect anyone because she is a girl. She absolutely should not have tried to argue with those men because she is a girl. There is a small point where she's asked "do you have secret martial arts powers? No? Then don't fight men who are stronger" but with all the "because you are a girl" pontificating, you can't help but question if a weakling guy attempting the same would receive this same lecture. The act ends with a furious Haruhi, a justice driven character, giving the silent treatment because literally no one cares whether her actions were just. That her friends think morality is dependent on gender.

Act 2: One of her friends feigns a rape attempt. To teach Haruhi men are stronger than women. Haruhi recognizes this is fake and thanks him for helping her understand the difference between men and women. Do I even need to say anything here.

Act 3: yeah it's not over, the writers punish Haruhi for being a largely strong, non-submissive female character by revealing she's afraid of thunder so we can see her curl into a ball, shiver, and cry for her mom. Luckily her strong male love interest is there to comfort her in her moment of weak, pathetic vulnerability. The end♥️

Problematic vs Vile

This episode features a lot of tropes they I don't personally like but normally give a pass because there is an audience who truly likes them. But normally these tropes are brief. Normally you don't linger on them. Normally they are not plot drivers. And normally they're not in shows with recurring themes that say man, fuck gender expectations

The heroine attempting to rescue someone on an impulse, only to fail and be protected herself? Then lectured by her love interest for being stupid and dangerous? This is a popular trope. People like it. They like the idea of doing the right thing, of being saved, of a stronger person disciplining them a little while implying they'll always protect them. But that lecture is usually quick! The love interest doesn't spend time trying to convince her she was stupid, to convince her she needs protecting, to convince her she is genetically incapable of helping others!

Attempted rape, like it or not, is a popular trope. Maybe it's because women have been brainwashed into thinking it's bad to show sexual interest, maybe it's the allure of driving someone mad with lust, maybe people just find dub/noncon hot. None of these justifications apply here. Like there is problematic because you're into a kink and there's "this character is pretending to sexually assault their friend solely because she does not fear men enough and he hopes this will curb her sense of justice enough so she never tries to stand up to men again. And she thanks him for it." He is not overpowered by lust. He did not plan to go through with it. Our heroine is weak from food poisoning. It's...unique.

A heroine having a phobia (especially of thunder in manga? Not sure what that's about) is both a trope and also just a normal character thing. A strong, seemingly fearless character revealing a somewhat embarrassing vulnerability in front of the person they trust the most? This is a huge fantasy that I'm fairly certain is equally popular with men. who doesn't crave someone they can safely expose all their weaknesses to? Who will love the parts you despise about yourself?

It's just that these scenes are normally not the book end of a campaign to your inherent patheticness. Your embarrassing fears are not usually meant to underline that this is what you are, know your place. Haruhi was too stupid to hold the gender appropriate amount of fear for men, so she is punished and put back into the correct role of a quivering female Who Must Be Protected. Her character arc is fairly fearless person who sometimes gets into fights she can't handle to...i don't even know. I don't think her character was significantly different after this.

That is why episode eight is bad even by problematic shojo standards and vile in context of the actual anime.

#long post #mine #ouran high school host club #rape mention #misogyny

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tungstenb · 3 years

Photo

OC Profile

I wasn’t tagged, but I saw @pigeontheoneandonly’s post and it looked fun. Tagging anyone who wants to do this---for real! Tag me! Talk to me about your peeps!

I’m going to answer these as of ME3’s end so I don’t spoil too much that hasn’t been revealed in SAtS.

General

Full Name: Petra Maral Shepard

Alias(es): Born: Petra Maral Nazari, though she’s also gone by Petra Nazarian (reclaiming the truncated -ian suffix)

Gender: Female

Age: 32

Birthdate: April 11, 2154

Place of birth: Arcturus Station

Hometown: None, though she often daydreamed in childhood/adolescence that she had family back on Earth who would take her in (having grown attached to the idea that her parents had family they didn’t talk about). Her mother is from the Pacific Northwest, and her father is Persian-Armenian; from this information, Petra took a special interest in researching what living on Earth would be like---the natural wonder to explore, all the imaginary cousins and friends she’d meet. It was a way to cope with the isolation of being a spacer kid. (Funfact: this is the origin of Liara’s hallucinations in SAtS 15; note the mentions of Douglas firs and the Ararat Plain.)

Spoken language(s): English... and whatever else was required. Learning languages was a sort of backburner hobby for her, so she never got around to making much progress---not for lacking of trying. Liara roasts her endlessly for how awful her Arlees is, but to be fair, Arlees is difficult as hell (as are all asari languages).

Sexual orientation: Lesbian

Occupation: Retired after the end of ME3; she’s permanently disabled given limited resources post-war. Being a lifelong patient and surgical guinea pig to Miranda isn’t something she wants, especially if it only results in marginal QoL improvements.

Appearance

Eye color: Gray/hazel

Hair color: Brown

Height: 5′2″ (and proud of it)

Scars: Gash through left eyebrow (from Akuze); large warp burn spanning from left collarbone/shoulder-ish area to waist (from her encounter with Benezia on Noveria); assorted others that I don’t bother drawing because drawing scars consistently is hard.

Favorite

Color: Dark blue

Hair color: ?? On herself? Just natural. On others I don’t think she has a preference.

Song: She has a high tolerance for annoyingly repetitive music and generally loves pop (from any culture) that’s easy to dance and sing along to. Aside from that, her tastes also probably trend fairly bizarre at times, e.g. she unironically loves meme music and parodies, etc.

Food: Anything that’s hot and filling. She appreciates food that’s self-contained, like dumplings and burritos.

Drink: Coffee, coffee, and then more coffee. She had some bad experiences drinking while younger---and suspects her father struggled with alcoholism---so she’s a teetotaler until she finds herself working with Cerberus (and leans into some very unhealthy coping mechanisms).

Have They

Passed university: Yes

Had sex: Yes

Had sex in public: ...technically yes.

Gotten pregnant: No

Kissed a boy: I want to say no, but... see “bad experiences with alcohol” above; this wasn’t consensual.

Kissed a girl: Yes

Gotten tattoos: Yes. I’m not averse to the idea that she has several smaller tats I just haven’t planned yet, but her most treasured one is her wristband/forearm Armali-style bonding bracelet tattoo.

Gotten piercings: No

Been in love: Yes. This is a touchy subject for her, since she tends to be all or nothing with her interpersonal emotions. It’s easier to feel nothing; Liara just caught her off guard.

Stayed up for more than 24 hours: Yes

Are They

A virgin: No

A cuddler: Yes. Peesh is what my bff refers to as a “spouse barnacle”; i.e., her love languages are “physical touch” and “quality time.” Liara doesn’t mind... usually.

A kisser: Bahahaha, I’d say making out is one of her favorite pastimes.

Scared easily: Nah

Jealous easily: Probably not

Dominant: If we’re talking in bed then not... particularly...

Submissive: More so than you’d expect, but I don’t think I’d specifically label her this way. I’d describe her as attentive. ¬‿¬

In love: Yes

Single: No

Random Questions (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

Have they harmed themselves: Yes. This is a plot point in LWLS Book 2 (for the ME2-era flashbacks), and something Liara references in SAtS Chapter 19: “She carved all her old scars back into new skin.” Petra doesn’t take her Cerberus resurrection very well, let’s just say; it’s unnerving being a palimpsest.

Thought of suicide: Yes

Attempted suicide: Not... yet.

Wanted to kill someone: lmao, she tries not to, but... sometimes it’s just gotta be that way amirite fellas?

Have / had a job: Yep. If we’re talking pre-canon though, then she just took up odd menial jobs around the ships her parent(s) served on. Her father especially was the type to be controlling just for the sake of being controlling, so she didn’t have many opportunities to follow her academic passions; if her parents caught her enjoying something, they usually took it away. Before her enlistment, she also had to devote an excessive amount of time to PT/healing and (failed) training after her botched L3 surgery---one she only consented to under duress.

Have any fears: She has problems with vulnerability, which is why she usually handles situations either with stoicism or inappropriate and unnecessary humor. Relationship-wise, it’s hard for her to reconcile how she fears being alone while also feeling deeply uncomfortable with being Known™.

Family

Sibling(s): None

Parent(s): Hannah Shepard, Artur Nazari

Children: None

Significant other: Liara T’Soni

Pet(s): Fish (dearly departed, RIP). I see Peesh as a dog person, though. Big slobbery dogs.

#petra shepard #pshiara #SAtS #LWLS

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prismatales · 3 years

Text

Word Count: 2.8k

Pairings: Ushijima Wakatoshi x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Category: Fluff, Comedy.

Warnings: Mentions of dicks in a comical manner.

Beta Readers: @strawberryakaashi @cassroler @dadchis-girl

Summary: There’s always a first time for everything. For you and Ushijima, this was the beginning of your unique holiday traditions.

Here’s my contribution to the Haikyuu Headquarters SFW Secret Santa! This is my gift for the lovely @kandyshoppe. Happy holidays, love! You’re such an amazing friend and a great artist. Every time I see your art on discord my tummy does a flip. Hope you enjoy my little gift for you, baby!

As far as Ushijima can remember, his family wasn’t used to celebrating holidays such as Christmas while most people tend to enjoy said festivities alongside their whole families or closest friends. Growing up, the closest thing Ushijima experienced was a small dinner with his parents, the dinner usually accompanied by a simple gift every now and then.

Ushijima’s family never got the experience of setting up a christmas tree, or decorating their home with things like those red stockings people used to hang over the fireplace. There was no need to prepare a feast for Christmas night since there is no need for letting children to make a mess in the living room as they ripped through layers of brightly colored gift paper to look for the presents Santa got them.

Speaking of the old man in a sleigh, that was a tale nobody could manage to convince a young Ushi to believe in, no matter how many times his teachers and classmates tried so hard to make him believe in. As a result, he made the other children cry more than once when he revealed that Santa didn’t exist…

For him, Christmas was just another day of the year, nothing he had to worry about...That is until you came into his life, and slowly began influencing his perspectives after getting together and eventually moving in together into this small, cozy place of your own.

That summer day when you moved into that small house was one of the happiest moments of your lives. Ushi’s stoic expression hid an excited spark in his eyes at the idea of having a place of his own, accompanied by one of the persons he cherished the most. And despite the many ups and downs that every couple goes through, he’s never come to regret your relationship in the slightest.

Every moment becomes another memory that’s swept away just like the seasons over the passage of time. Before he realized, all the trees had lost their lively appearance and the air became cold and crisp with the arrival of winter.

And when winter finally arrived, so did the same holiday he never bothered paying attention to, that is until you came along.

Ushijima noticed the way your eyes would always fixate their attention on the houses and stores covered in beautiful assortments of lights, spheres and wreaths, admiring their beauty with the same wonder as that of a small child. It was the same way you always paid attention to the surroundings during a trip to the mall, deeply enthralled by the soft tunes of the carols while cradling a warm drink with a smile, enjoying the soothing warmth against your hands with a serene expression.

And yet, despite the utter ADORATION for the holidays, you never suggested decorating the house, no matter how many times you both passed by the rows of lights or the trees they sold at the market.

“You see...my family never bothered celebrating Chritstmas before.” You shrugged casually, stirring the simmering pot of soup over the heat of the stove. “My parents were never that passionate about the holidays, and frankly we barely bothered celebrating birthdays as well.”

With a smaller spoon you took a spoonful of the savory meal, blowing gently on the food before pushing it towards Ushi, who carefully grabbed the spoon from your hands and gave it a taste.

“Is it good?”

“Mhm.”

Satisfied with his reply, you beamed softly at him and turned back towards the pot to turn off the heat so you both could finally enjoy some well-deserved lunch together. Said meals were always accompanied by some light chatter. He always had a new story to share about his teammates, and you always had something to say about work.

“Since this is our first year together...Would you like to celebrate Christmas together?” His question however, made the conversation differ from its typical subject.

“Well….it would be nice, I guess. Where did all this come from?”

“I see the way you look at all the decorations at the mall and how much you enjoy the songs.” He noticed you got awfully quiet, staring at the plate in front of you for a brief moment before turning back to look at him with eyes filled with hope.

“I’d love to do something with you for the holidays, but only if you’re okay with it!”

“Of course.”

Ushi's answer was short, but his tone of voice told you everything you needed to know. Needless to say, lunch was quickly taken care of before you were both out of the house and headed towards the car.

It was quite a sight for many people, watching you two go through the store almost like a pair of children with free reign over a credit card. Some people who recognized Ushi didn’t hesitate to take pictures when you placed an elf’s hat over his head (he had to crouch down so you could reach him.)

A couple hours later, you came out carrying a christmas tree, decorations and even some ingredients for cookies. Ushi had also brought something else but you didn’t get the chance to see it, since he put it along with the groceries.

Almost like a couple of kids, everything was quickly taken inside. And as soon as the groceries had been left back in the kitchen, the next thing on the list was decorating the living room.

Starting with the Christmas tree...

“ I...think we messed up.” You mutter, looking up at the mess before your eyes. Both you and Ushi are just standing there next to each other, witnessing the monstrosity also known as the “Christmas Tree”.

The tree itself has such a beautiful shade of green and looks so beautiful that it can easily be confused for a real one. The decorations however, were on a whole different level…and not in a good way.

“It looks good enough to me.” Ushi’s remark is filled with such confidence that you had the urge to ask if he was faking it. Because the thing in front of you two was anything but “cute”....

It’s covered from head to toe in such differently colored spheres, lights and strings that it hurt to look at it. The lights were also the wrong color, rather than that warm shade of yellow, Ushi accidently grabbed the ones that had multiple colors, which were also accompanied by an array of different colored strings….Needless to say, it was gaudy. The tree looked like it came out of a bad parody of the retro era...

That thing couldn’t be considered a christmas tree, but on the other hand, it’s not that bad for your first time decorating by yourselves...right?

“We’ll...worry about that later.” Your attention diverted from the shining atrocity, and instead it went towards the next thing to do on the Christmas list. Strolling once again into the kitchen with Ushi trailing after you like a lost puppy, you picked up the tablet at the countertop and began looking through some tabs, scanning the screen until you found exactly what you were looking for.

“Let’s try this one out!” The tablet is quickly shoved towards Ushi’s face, who blinked twice before grabbing the tablet away from your smaller hand and looked at the reason behind your excitement.

“Christmas Cookies?” There are different varieties of cookies displayed on the long tray. From Santa Clause's face, little snowmen, gingerbread men, candy canes to even little bells, all of them were decorated in beautiful shades of red and green glaze that looked absolutely delicious. The ingredients and instructions are relatively simple, easy enough for someone who’s never baked cookies in their lives.

The kitchen quickly resembled the white aesthetic landscape outside. There’s layers of flour everywhere you look at, the counter, the sink, your clothes and even your faces. It’s all accompanied with the comforting warmth from the heated oven and the lighthearted atmosphere as you both work in a comfortable silence, kneading the dough and rolling it into a fine layer, just perfect for the cookie cutters to do their one job. As you cut row after row of dough into different shapes, Ushi cut up some squares of parchment paper, laying them over a baking tray and shortly after, the raw pieces of dough were quickly placed down and shoved inside the oven.

With the timer set for thirty minutes, you turned to look at Ushi with excitement. He brushed the flour smeared on your cheek with a thumb, smiling softly before the two of you began cleaning the kitchen together along the rhythm of some christmas classics, waiting patiently for the oven to finish baking the sweet treats…

“....They don’t look like christmas cookies...at all.” The way you looked at these cookies was almost comical. As if life itself had been drained out every time you looked at them. If your cousins happened to look at these treats, they would think they were halloween cookies and your aunts would probably make fun of you for all eternity if they looked at the so called “bells” and “candy canes”...

��They actually taste pretty good.” You can hear Ushi munching on some of the baked goods. There’s a slight change in his tone as he enjoys biting into one of the treats without a care. When you turned to give him an unimpressed look, you had to fight back a snort. Was he really that oblivious about their not so innocent shape?

Watching him eat that baked failure had to be one of the funniest things you’ve ever seen since you began dating, you quickly pulled out your phone to take a couple of pictures as well as a video. Ushi swallowed the mouthful of sugary pastry and turned to look at you in utter confusion.

“What’s so funny?”

“You really don’t see it, babe?”

You tried so hard to fight back tears. And the phone kept shaking uncontrollably between your hands as it recorded a confused Ushi that kept looking directly at the camera. “Look at the candy canes.”

His eyes went back to the tray, raising an eyebrow in confusion at the deformed, yet tasty cookies. With the same expression full of confusion he turned to look at your giggling self “They don’t look like candy canes but that’s it.”

“Turn it upside down.” You’re trying so hard to contain your laughter at this point. It becomes downright painful to hold it in when he takes hold of one of the treats, all of his focus is on the treat’s shapes as he tries to find the reason you’re acting so strange. Until he finally turns the cookie the way you told him to. “....oh.”

You don’t know what’s funnier, the fact he’s holding a cookie shaped like a limp dick...or the fact he just kept staring at it before shrugging, taking a huge bite so nonchalantly, but by this point you’ve already forgotten how to breathe and nearly end up dropping your phone into the bowl of frosting. He may not get the joke concerning the treats, but watching you nearly slip off the counter in a fit of hysterics pulled a soft chuckle from Ushi. A barely audible one that you completely miss while you send Tendou a pic of your boyfriend eating those cursed Christmas treats.

“Alright, alright…” You wipe a small tear that slipped out before grabbing the outstretched hand before you. Taking a deep breath you look back at the baking tray on the counter. “I think we baked too many cookies. But we can still decorate and give some to our friends, it would be a waste to throw them away.”

“We can always make another batch if you feel like it.”

“Nah, doesn’t matter. Let’s just decorate these and take a break.”

After the little baking fiasco and everything was cleaned and put in its proper place, you decided to just lay down on the couch and take a break. You would be lying if you said it wasn’t disappointing that neither the decorations nor the baking turned out well.

At the same time you have to admit that spending time with Ushi like this was better than you could have ever imagined. So what if some of the cookies looked like penises and the christmas tree looked like someone had thrown everything representing the retro era, threw it into a blender and poured it all over a poor tree? You could still see a faint glint of excitement in Ushi’s eyes when the lights were turned on. The same glint that appeared again when he was biting on those delicious treats covered in powdery sugar.

You could say it was like an adrenaline rush that you were now coming down from, because slowly your eyelids began getting heavier with exhaustion. The soft fabric of the couch felt like a warm hug enveloping your body, welcoming it to the land of dreams with each passing second.

When Ushi walked into the living room, he was greeted with the adorable sight of your hands tucked underneath a cushion, holding it closer to your sleeping face while you laid face down on the sofa. The fluffy blanket that was always in the living room during winter covered your body up to the waist, except for the fuzzy socks you would always wear at home.

But the prettiest sight of them all was that smile adorning your face even in the middle of a deep slumber. A smile that he’s always cherished ever since that time he first realized he had a crush on you.

Perhaps you would enjoy waking up to a small surprise. With that in mind he went back into the kitchen and began looking for the stuff he bought along with the groceries, ready to prepare something Tendou had shown him during one of their meetings. Something he enjoyed so much and would love to share with you…

A delicious smell flowed into the living room, slowly stirring you awake from the nap. The mouth watering scent of spices coming from the kitchen was impossible to ignore, its alluring presence pulled you in like a moth enamoured by a flame. As you found the source of the smell, the one thing you didn’t expect was seeing Ushi in front of the stove.

“What are you doing, babe?” Even in a drowsy state, that didn’t stop you from embracing his waist from behind, nuzzling into the welcoming heat radiating from him. “And what are you cooking? It smells incredible.”

“It’s called mulled wine. Tendou showed me how to make it.” You took a peek at the simmering pot, which was filled with a bottle’s worth of red wine and spices such as cinnamon sticks, clove, orange slices and anise. He swiftly removed from the heat before it could start boiling and pulled a pair of cups from the cabinets.

And just like that, you found yourselves enjoying a delicious cup of mulled wine as you sat in front of the fireplace, cuddling together under the same blanket from before. The warm and toasty atmosphere, along with the soft music in the background, was one of the most comfortable moments you’d spent together.

“Did you like the wine?” He kissed the side of your head.

“Mhmm, It’s delicious.” You nuzzled closer to him with a smile, before taking another sip of the mug, sighing in happiness by the comforting flavor of the delicious drink. “I didn’t know you liked this kind of stuff.”

“Tendou taught me how to make it.”

“We should send him something as a thanks….as long as it’s not cookies.”

The room filled with a contagious laughter. You felt Ushi shaking as he chuckled at the reminder of the deformed treats before kissing the side of your face for a second time.

After his laughter died down, Ushi turned to face you. “I’m sorry our first Christmas together wasn’t perfect.”

“...Huh?”

The two mugs, now empty of their contents, were carefully placed to the side as you turned around in his lap to face his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“We were supposed to have the perfect Christmas together, but it feels like everything came out wrong.”

“Toshi, listen carefully…”

Your hands cradled his cheeks tenderly, thumbs skimming over his face and tracing circles across his cheekbones with a delicate sweetness he became addicted to.

“Things may not have turned out perfect but we still had fun, didn’t we? Besides, look at it this way, it could be our own way to spend the holidays! Decorating the ugliest tree ever, making cursed christmas cookies, having some mulled wine near the fireplace. I’m more than happy celebrating like this.”

It felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders with your answer. His arms made their way around your waist, embracing you tightly as he captured your lips in a brief and delicate kiss.

“You’re all I want for Christmas.”

Taglist: @godtieruwu @hanniejji @savagetrickster @shoobirino @sugacookiies @unbreakableeiji @pixxiesdust @xmyshya @sugassetter @jayeray

#Haikyuu #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu x reader #ushijima x reader #haikyuu imagines #ushijima and reader #haikyuu fluff

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all-seeing-ifer · 3 years

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apparently the big ol’ roulette wheel in my brain that decides which scene from little women 2019 i’m going to fixate on each day has landed on “the scene where Jo negotiates the ending for her book” and I really want to talk about the ambiguously-diegetic (is diegetic the right word in this context? idk, let’s go with it) scene with Jo and Bhaer, because I think it reveals a lot of interesting stuff about Jo’s character especially within the context of aroace Jo oh my god please i swear I have other discussion topics I just really like this one

Because there’s a pretty obvious out-of-universe reason why the scene is filmed Like That: sweeping, over-the-top, completely removed from the rest of the film tonally - which is to strengthen the implication that this is all fiction and not something that actually happened to Jo. But I also think that looking at it from an in-universe perspective is quite revealing, and you can interpret it as saying a lot about the way Jo sees romance (and just to be clear I’m working on the assumption that it is a fiction made up by Jo here). However you read Jo’s orientation, it’s pretty clear that she doesn’t really care about romance and that it doesn’t play a big part in her life, so arguably the only avenue through which she experiences it is through fiction. It’s not in the 2019 film, so I’m kind of muddying the waters here, but in the book we get this scene when Marmee asks Jo if she thinks Meg is in love with John:

"Mercy me! I don't know anything about love and such nonsense!" cried Jo, with a funny mixture of interest and contempt. "In novels, the girls show it by starting and blushing, fainting away, growing thin, and acting like fools. Now Meg does not do anything of the sort. She eats and drinks and sleeps like a sensible creature, she looks straight in my face when I talk about that man, and only blushes a little bit when Teddy jokes about lovers. I forbid him to do it, but he doesn't mind me as he ought."

To me this is a pretty clear indication that Jo’s entire understanding of romance comes from novels, and this gives her quite a skewed view of it. So the fact that the scene between her and Bhaer is so melodramatic and exaggerated makes a lot of sense because we’re seeing what a romantic scene looks like through the eyes of Jo, a person who has little to no experience of or interest in romance. Of course it feels kind of fake and corny and like something out of a 50s movie, because Jo isn’t drawing on real life, she’s drawing on the romantic novels that she’s familiar with.

The other thing about how over-the-top the scene is that it creates the feeling that this is Jo making fun of romance, which feels pretty apt looking at the scene in the publisher immediately beforehand - like she has no patience for Dashwood convincing her to change the ending. She ends up agreeing, yeah, but it’s still in a fairly disdainful way (”It’s romance!” “It’s mercenary”)

And if we do interpret this scene as Jo poking fun at romance, this part of the world that she is disconnected from, I find that very interesting because it connects back to all the other incidents of Jo and her sisters using mockery as a way to quietly rebel against the restrictions of society. Like how the Pickwick Club or Jo and Laurie’s gender-switching dance at the New Year’s party are in a way parodying both gender roles and high society (and oh boy I could write a whole other essay about the extent to which the queer subtext in Little Women is inherently intertwined with the very textual class commentary, particularly in how strongly it conflates the idea of “elegant society” with the idea of performing gender “correctly”, but this is getting way too long already so that can be for another time) - and especially in the case of the Pickwick Club the sisters are very explicitly parodying a social status that they are locked out of because of both class and gender. While the scene with Bhaer isn’t entirely the same deal, you can still read it as Jo performing this parody of societal expectations that she feels disconnected from in much the same way. And again, because I’m never off my bullshit, the connection feels especially strong if you interpret Jo as aro because romance is a societal convention that she literally can’t take part in, so she’s once again taking something that for whatever reason she’s been locked out of and making a bit of a mockery out of it!

#little women #little women 2019 #jo march #ifer rambles #wow i really wish i had the power to write about my little women thoughts without them getting away from me THIS badly #imagine being concise couldn't be me

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lightns881 · 3 years

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DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 2):

What does DTeamblr look like, what does it have to do with MCYT history, and why does it look like a rainbow?

I’ll make an educated guess here and say y'all enjoyed my last post (totally unrelated to the way I gained almost 50 followers overnight). Anyhow, thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I’m so glad a lot of you felt you could relate to my deep-dive into the leading personality type on DTeam Tumblr. It took me so many hours to write and research, and as a math major and honors student, it’s no easy feat, so I’m so grateful for the attention it got!

Today we’re discussing the general demographics of DTeam Tumblr and why they might look the way they do. Number 8 will blow your mind! So make sure to keep reading and hit that little grey heart and arrow at the bottom if you like it, so more people get to see it! Thanks for your support! Now, let’s jump straight into the post!

Your Daily Dose of Data

From the 449 responses we received, these are some pie charts displaying the gender, age, and sexuality of all respondents.

Image Description: Female (52.8%), Non-Binary (37.4%), Male (9.8%)

Image Description: 16-17 (37%), 13-15 (31.4%), 18 and over (29.4%), 12 and under (2.2%)

Image Description: Bisexual/Pansexual (54.1%), Homosexual (16%), Asexual (14.7%), Other (7.8%), Heterosexual (7.3%)

Mmhm, delicious! Y'all ready to dig into these stats? Because I don’t know about you, but they certainly don’t strike me as what the general population looks like!

Welcome to Tumblr, the Only Community Where Straight Men are the Minority

So these statistics certainly didn’t take me by surprise. Mostly because the DNF Shipper Survey I took some time ago revealed a similar trend. Not to mention, Tumblr is probably the QUEEREST internet community on the planet.

Funny enough, the survey revealed a shocking number of ZERO heterosexual males respondents. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. ZERO straight males were recorded out of 449 respondents for this survey!

Now, this isn’t surprising for the Tumblr community by itself, but I can say I’m somewhat surprised in terms of the MCYT Tumblr community. (Obviously, the survey specified DTeam Tumblr, but there is a big overlap between both communities, so I will be using them interchengably when it seems relevant.)

Let’s break this down. The survey reveals the largest age population is 16-17, though it’s not by a great margin in comparison to 13-15 and 18 and older, which doesn’t surprise me either. Some of the major critics of the DTeam Fandom and other MCYT Fandoms love to claim the fanbase’s majority age range lies with children and pre-teens. While it’s an undeniable fact children are drawn to Minecraft, it’s also a misconception to paint it as solely a community for younger viewers.

In the MCYT Tumblr and DTeam Tumblr communities, specifically, we see this is not the case. Only 1/3 of the respondents of this survey are under the age of 16 (you could attribute part of it to the fact younger people might be less inclined to participate in this survey, but it is still a notable difference). I can’t say these age ranges are similar in other parts of the community like DTeam Twitter, Tik Tok, or Reddit, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say Tumblr lies toward the older of the bunch, with Reddit being the oldest and Tik Tok being the youngest (I do hope to perform this survey on some of the other communities, so please stay until the end if you want to help with that).

One of the likely explanations to why the ages for DTeam Tumblr look this way is the fact a big chunk of the community has likely been watching MCYT for a long time (even with breaks in between). I, myself, used to watch channels like PopularMMOs, Aphmau, and PrestonPlayz as a kid, and I presume many of you are familiar with them as well. With the resurgence of MCYT in the past year, it likely drew a lot of the older viewers in addition to the new ones.

But enough about age. What I really want to highlight on this post is the attraction of queer individuals to DTeam Tumblr and MCYT as a whole.

Why is the current MCYT Fandom so queer in comparison to the previous generations?

This is a huge open-ended question and considering I can only capture so much of the DTeam and MCYT community, the rest of this post should be taken solely as a theoretical analysis as opposed to fact.

With that out of the way, let’s start by discussing the shift MCYT has undergone over the years (I promise this will circle back to the question of queerness in the MCYT fandom, but we need some background before we can come up with a decent theory).

When Minecraft was first released, it proved to be a monumental change in the gaming industry. This simple little indie game took the world by storm. It was so vastly different from what the general population generally viewed gaming as (first-person shooters, story-driven games, action games, etc.) Not to mention, it didn’t exactly solely appeal to only a small margin of gamers, those being white cis males.

The gaming industry has notoriously been known in the past for its heteronormative community and general prejudice toward minorities. Though it has gone through a significant change over the decades, we certainly can’t say it’s fully gone.

Yet for whatever reason, the recent MCYT has taken the interest of so many queer people in comparison to other gaming YouTube communities. Why? Why are queer people so drawn to this community? And, more precisely, why does it feel so different than the old MCYT? Lastly, how does this relate to the conclusion about the leading personalities of this fandom we made in the last post?

The Niche Communities of MCYT Over the Years

MCYT has always been a huge, over-saturated genre of YouTube with content appealing to a variety of audiences. It’s dominated gaming content for years, and I think we can all safely say it’s never been bigger than it is today.

So why is it that just now it feels like the queerness of the fandom is popping off? Why now as opposed to say five years ago when MCYT was at another one of it’s strongest stages?

It seems like the community has made a tremendous shift in relation to breaking gender norms and LGBTQ+ subjects, not only in the fans but within the creators themselves. Was flirting and calling a pretty-boy streamer pet names as normal in the past as it is today? Were straight gamer guys putting on dresses and a full-face of make-up as supported back then? Were “marriages” and “pregnancies” within Minecraft boys an everyday occurrence like they are now? How is it that MCYT has dominated a Twitch dating show where flirting with the gay host and among straight contestants themselves is just another bit of entertainment? Where is this all coming from?

Recently, I watched a 2 hour documentary depicting all of the stages of Minecraft YouTube and how it has changed over the years. If you haven’t seen it and you have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend it! It’s very informative, and it honestly gave me such a strong sense of nostalgia that makes me choke up every time I think about it. I’ll link it below.

The documentary does a great job at exploring the different niche communities that dominated MCYT since it first took off. Some of such communities include the basic Let’s Players, the team-based Let’s Play channels like How2Minecraft, the roleplay story-centric ones like Aphmau and Samgladiator, the tutorial, building and technical side like Mumbo and Grian, the PVP-centric Bedwars or Hypixel channels, the Machinima community, the comedy side like ExplosiveTNT, the parody music videos, and so many more. All of the mentioned communities have dominated Minecraft at one point or another, many of them still having a rippling effect and/or a loyal community today. All of these communities have certain aspects that define them, some of which parallel the current overtaking content in the present.

How can we compare MyStreet to the Dream SMP?

Taking Aphmau as an example, her MyStreet series had a TREMENDOUS success a few years ago, racking in millions of views and bringing in a lot of money that eventually allowed her to hire voice actors and increase the production of mentioned episodes. The roleplay series was so successful it ran for six seasons!

Now, let’s compare that to the Dream SMP. It seems like a big comparison to be making considering they appear so different at first glance. For once, Aphmau is just one channel whose audience caters toward girls and younger people who enjoy romance. The series is set-up in an episodic-format that resembles more of a TV series than actual Minecraft videos.

Meanwhile, the Dream SMP is a collection of content creators with a mix of improvised storylines and the occasional regular video that resembles more of a Let’s Play series than a RP series.

You could say the only true comparisons to draw out of these two are the popularity they had/have and the profit they brought to their respective creators.

However, there’s two other key similarities that you’ll find not only within these two specific examples, but many other channels and communities as well. Story and characters.

MyStreet’s story aspect is fairly obvious seeing as it’s a episodic series that focuses on a fictional story. The Dream SMP’s story aspect isn’t as clear, but it’s evident there is a story playing out in the foreground and background, whether intentional or unintentional, or improvised or not.

Character is where some of you might start to question me. It’s obvious MyStreet has characters. I mean, it is a fictional story, after all. But the Dream SMP? Light, they’re obviously people!

Well, my answer to that is yes and no--sort of. The Dream SMP’s story heavily relies on roleplay, bits as you might call them. Events that aren’t necessarily planned out as a fictional plot like the typical MyStreet episode is, but they aren’t exactly real. Schlatt is obviously not a villain in real life, he just likes to impersonate as one for the narrative. Wilbur isn’t crazy, but it’s a way to spice up the heroic story surrounding Tommy and him.

It’s video-game improv. Except the actors behind the content just so happen to be real people playing off the personalities and “brands” they have obtained.

Brands. It all boils down to this. In the entertainment business, without a clear vision of your project and a clear way to brand what your consumer intakes, your project will likely not find a lot of success.

There’s a reason why Tommy plays off his loudness, using an overexaggerated laugh that although may not be completely fake, it is likely not the laugh he uses everyday. Or why BadBoyHalo is this supposed innocent muffin who doesn’t understand the crafting table meme and other references that are fairly easy to google and find the meaning of. Or why Sapnap is this chaotic being who loves starting pet wars and we love to paint as an arsonist in the Dream SMP. While all of these personality traits may be a part of their true selves, they’re played up for the camera--for the story. They act as the personas that define their characters in the narrative.

They have a clear brand and vision that appeals to the audience and makes them tune in on the daily to see how they all come together. It’s like roleplaying a more extreme version of yourself, one that brings home the money.

Story and characters run across every entertainment outlet. They define their brand. Aphmau has her characters and series. Hermitcraft has a set of memorable personalities and episodic videos that formulate its own story that is less like a narrative and more of a history of the server. ExplodingTNT has his recurring cast and comedic sketches. Most of these niche communities have a form of story and character defining them. It’s how they achieve a clear sense of branding and cater to a specific audience.

Queer Theory in MCYT

Having said all that, why does the MCYT of today draw in so many queer viewers?

Let’s think about this. In my last post, I ended by mentioning DTeam Tumblr is a sort of safe haven for INFP and INxx types who might be placed in the “other” category by society. INFPs, specially, are predisposed for escapism--one common form of it being fiction and entertainment. Not to mention, INFPs are feeling types who, as introverts, seek a personable connection. It’s why it’s so easy for them to obsess over book characters or fall in love with content creators.

Now, let’s imagine a whole community of LGBTQ+ INFP and INxx types. Actually, scratch that, we don’t even have to imagine it.

It’s what our community looks like today.

And why are so many so drawn to the DTeam and Dream SMP of all things? It’s a personable storyline that essentially forms a direct tie to the viewer. Unlike pre-recorded fictional TV series you tune into on your device, the Dream SMP is a whole load of chaos that blurs the lines between reality and fiction where fans can directly connect to creators and get to know them as people through a storyline that features sub-textual queer themes and non-conforming behaviors.

The MCYT content creator community of today is more non-conforming than ever before, and knowing this whole fact, knowing that many of them might place themselves in the “other” category or at the very least aren’t afraid to break the norms and be seen in that light, is a comfort in itself for LGBTQ+ INFP types. Once again, it’s a safe space that helps you escape from the troubles of real life, one you relate to.

Okay. So although this does answer why the fans look like they do, what about the creators themselves? Are we really supposed to believe this all came through naturally? That a bunch of straight guys suddenly decided wearing dresses was something they wanted to do?

I don’t mean to sound cynical here, and I’m in no way trying to insinuate creators have solely some sort of corrupt ulterior motive. Things are never as simple as they look. However, the truth is, a part of it lies on the attention it’s gotten.

I’ve talked a lot about DreamNotFound and the way Dream uses it as a marketing ploy. I stand by my point. However, he’s not the only one who does this in the MCYT community. Why did Finn suddenly go from wearing a dress to cross-dressing as a girl for a whole week? Why are so many creators suddenly deciding wearing dresses is fun? Why does every freaking straight MCYT actively want to flirt with George nowadays?

Let’s just let Techno’s favorite word answer this for us: clout.

It gets attention from one of the largest historically underserved minority community in the entertainment business. We might not be able to see gay flirting in every Netflix TV show or guys not minding dresses and getting fake marriages, but you are certainly going to get at least one of those in every Dream SMP stream and video you tune into. It gets attention. It brings home the money. And do I blame them? Not really.

Interestingly enough, there’s a lot of analytical posts on the MCYT Tumblr community that discuss the dangers of these tactics and why gay jokes and the way queer subtext is treated by MCYT creators is harmful. Despite this, it still attracts such a huge community of queers. So why exactly would queer people actively watch something that’s offensive or harmful to us?

I have a lot more to say about this topic and the morality behind Dream’s tactics, but I’m out of breath for today, so I’ll talk about it in my next post. What better way to start the conversation about the DNF and Karlnap questions of the survey than a good ol’ discussion on the morality of queerbaiting and the likes?

If you got this far, I’d appreciate it if you liked and reblogged this post if you enjoyed it and/or learned something new! Also, important news, I would really like to perform a similar study on the DTeam Twitter Community to measure the differences in demographics across platforms. I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys could go like, retweet and share the link I posted on my Twitter about it (tweet will be linked in the reblog below) so it reaches more of the DTeam Twitter community!

However, if you filled out the survey yourself here or you associate more with DTeam Tumblr than DTeam Twitter please DO NOT fill out the survey again! I’m trying to make sure it reaches the audience that mains on Twitter, but I need a little help with that since I don’t have as big of an influence on Twitter than on here for obvious reasons.

Anyhow, thank you so much for all your support! I really appreciate y’all and make sure to hit the follow if you want to lookout for the next demographics post! <3

(Pssst, I’m releasing a MCYT DNF superpower AU longfic next month... You should totally go check out the post on that if you’re interested in it...)

#dteam #dteamblr #dream smp #dttblr #mcyt #dreamwastaken #dnf #mcyttblr #georgenotfound #dreamnotfound #dttwt #dream team #dteamblr demographics survey

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welcometomy20s · 3 years

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February 6, 2021

February 8th is the 3rd anniversary of Nijisanji, and to celebrate I want to give you a quip about every single extant member of Nijisanji... since there are over 130, that’s including ID, IN, and KR... but not VirtuaReal, because they are not on Youtube and also.... China... it’s split into three parts. Part 1 covers everything up to the merger that happened on the beginning of 2019.

First Wave

Tsukino Mito - The iinchou. One of the original seiso gone wrong. Mito is something else, a term I used for Haato, but Mito’s degeneracy feels very different. Mito is much more cynical, definitely likes gore like Korone, and definitely one who calculates things. Haato is just beginning to figure out how to play out her degeneracy, to great effect, but Mito knew the future. In that sense, she fits the Student Representative nature.

Remember that Mito is kind of like Sora in Hololive. This comes as the major source tension, for Hololive, it’s the tension of being an idol and being oneself. Here, it’s more like how to best express oneself within the limitation of the medium. It seems similar, but the feeling is quite different, and that’s what makes Nijisanji so different from Hololive.

Higuchi Kaede - I heard she plays the trumpet. Hmm, that’s all you need to know about this person. If you were in band, you know the instrument determines your personality. Trumpet people are outgoing, brash, but ultimately a nice group of people. The girls, in particular, have a cool side to them, even if they present feminine. They are going to be good friends, with no worries of love blossoming. Usually referred to as Deron, which roughly translates to a slobbering napper... and part of JK Gumi with Mito and Rin.

Shizuka Rin - The functional leader of the group. She’s the competent one, pretty good at gaming, pretty good at hosting, good at being both boke and tsukkomi, also good at drawing apparently. Also good at language as well.

Yuki Chihiro - A soft spoken loli who plays a lot of shooters, and is pretty good at them. Also quite pervy at times. So, just your typical salty gamer, who happens to be a magical girl, apparently... so in another word, a brat.

Elu - Full name, Snow White Paradise El Santo Flow Wasurena Pure Princess Livre Love Heidern Dokodoko Yattaze Valkyria Passion Alfr Noel Chakoboshi Eluaria Frosia Made-in Bloom Elu. Shares the illustrator with Hal Shibuya, Toya, Sister Claire and so on. Started out as a talk streamer, known for her wide range of voice, she shifted to playing Minecraft as you usually do. A bit lacking at top, but tries her best.

Shibuya Hajime - Not to be confused with Shibuya Hal, who was affiliated with upd8. One of the more proficient players in Nijisanji, from his start as pro Getting Over It player, to giving tech advice, and eventually establishing himself as a pro PUBG and Apex player. Apparently did some odd tweets that got him under fire, but he’s better now, apparently. Probably why he did so good at the imagination tournament.

Moira - A goddess, you know with ara ara and everything. Apparently seems to have her head above her clouds... which makes sense considering she’s a goddess.

Suzuya Aki - We have a cross-dresser, everyone. According to TVTropes, he’s affably evil, you know the type. Apparently the most normal of the first wave... and as you have might have guessed Toya really likes this kid. It figures.

Second Wave

Morinaka Kazaki - Another loli character, but has an adult form. Formed a duo with Gibara for some goddamn reason... childhood friends with Emma August, and strangely seen as mother-like, although she looks ten half the time. It’s odd.

Mononobe Alice - Not a loli, despite the appearance... and some of her acts. Has a decent grasp in English, which is really pretty cool. Not much other than that.

Suzuka Utako - The shotacon of the group, and just the most perverted person. Usually has a deep voice, but actually has a pretty wide range, and therefore a really good singer. First Nijisanji member to get banned, apparently.

Fumiko Tamaki - Very much Nijisanji’s own Okayu, including the bad live streaming environment, and having a cat of her own, who is just the most bad of kitties... but even more like a cat in how her schedule is what she feels like... apparently got 250 grand by sleeping. Well, sleeping cat is a staple. Also has a tendency to get her jaw taken out... you know those people. As you might garner, very clueless with technology.

Yuhi Riri - She’s from the future... She has a nice boyish voice, but usually is the butt of the joke due to her lore, so no one comments about it. She seems nice.

Ienaga Mugi - Shares the illustrator with Rin, a shut-in who loves video games and her onii-chan, one of the few who actually grows in age. Pretty good musician, likes to flirt with Riri... which is interesting. Had her identity revealed at school... yikes.

Ushimi Ichigo - She’s a strawberry milk sea slug, which is just the coolest thing. Has a father-daughter relationship with Belmond, and good at drawing. Got some cool advice from Matsuri... which actually, uh, isn’t really a good idea, isn’t it?

Kenmochi Toya - Speaking of not being a good idea to be next to lolis... many people point to the double standard about female vtubers being creepy as kind of a quirk, compared to men, who would go straight to jail... and I point to Kenmochi Toya.

He’s a good host, strangely like Matsuri or Marine, apparently the son of Mito, which Mito likes but Toya doesn’t... go figure. Has that v-line chin that is parodied a lot, and likes to rap... which also feels like a Marine thing. Sorry... he’s pretty good on his own.

Fushimi Gaku - Cheerful man who does a morning show and plays horror games. Kind of plays the father figure for the second wave... but also has a dark side, which makes sense considering the children above. Also fit with the horror games above.

Gilzaren III - Rarely streams, but hangs around in the chat a lot, like he’s some kind of an official lurker of Nijisanji. Also speaks with a pretty high tone, which doesn’t quite fit, although this might be a ruse... it’s unsure.

Nijisanji Gamers

Kanae - Kind of have his head in the clouds, which fits the lore of having amnesia. Kind of the leader of the Gamers, and one of the best at gaming. Does long streams and everything, likes PUBG but venturing to Apex and the likes. Good at Minecraft, too. Usually works with Kuzuha, leading to that famous clip... such a good classic.

Overall, a really solid streamer and personality in general. A real gem for the crew.

Akabane Youko - Rarely streams, but she is good at gaming. Has a wild laugh and so people still like her... huh, in some sense she’s the female Gilzaren.

Himawari Honma - Gamers 2nd Generation is an absolute goldmine. There were three, one of them retired, but you still know her (wink wink), and all three are just fantastic. Probably the best is Hima... one of those empty-head people that is really good at gaming... you know, Aqua, but somehow better, least to me.

Like Aqua, she's a pretty good singer and she likes vocaloids. But Hima-chan is like a sunflower while Aqua is an... onion. I mean onion could be sweet, but it always gives off a bad taste at the end, while a sunflower is a pure delight. Just look at her, her emptiness is a light, while Aqua’s emptiness is dark. (You can tell my bias here.)

I never like the dumb sterotypes, but Hima is so warm and comforting in her emptiness that you cannot help but smile at the airhead. She’s just such a good vtuber.

Sasaki Saku - She’s the hot-headed of the three, well two. She picks fights with everyone, including people like Belmond or Yashiro, and they fight back because she’s just an entertaining fighter. She’s entertaining, period.

Kuzuha - Probably one of more well-known male Nijisanji members. Went on the Suisei route, as in, he was independent before joining Nijisanji. Plays FPS with Kanae as mentioned before. Pretty good player, but better at banter. Kind of a mischievous person who is actually quite shy... a little of Pekora in the person, except Kuzuha is more annoying than truly like a villain that is Pekora.

One of the people who says cannot sing, but can actually sing very well. Just overall, a great talent to have and just fun to watch, especially in collabs.

Shiina Yuika - Likes Nintendo, and also does a radio show on YouTube. Actually did a radio show as well once. One of the brutally honest people, and a trouble-maker.

As you kind of expect, Sasaki Saku was the one who really got her into the groove, and during her what-turned out to be an absence, Shiina did feel a bit down. Likes to sleep, which makes sense in the context. Not the best at gaming, but still a fun player.

Aqua really likes her, which is interesting since she shares the illustrator with Okayu, and therefore the two are close friends... and they would go after the poor onion.

Makaino Ririmu - Supposedly a succubus. Definitely headstrong and kind of a loli, so there’s a pretty wide fanbase for her... but she’s honestly a good-hearted person. Just look at her collabs with Kou or Lize... she did calculus for a stream?

SEED 1st Gen

Ryushen - Real name, Sengawa Midori. Singer of uncertain gender, so I’ll use ‘they’. Known to be the planner, and a good one at that. Friends with Sister Claire, and their junior, Kakeru and Hayato. Is part of the group, ‘Rain Drops’ with five other members. Originally stated to be part of VOIZ, a male pop group, but as stated... ‘they’.

As for personality, they are a cool kid, friendly with others. Not a bad person to watch.

Hanabatake Chaika - Muscular Okama Elf who wears a maid dress. Very cool personality, a rough and tumble kind of person. As with the description earlier, the concept is odd, but the person is odd in a more palatable way. Honestly, one of people I would try to seek to watch in Nijisanji. Apparently the cross-dressing thing was enforced, rather than a personal choice. Got turned into a robot once.

As for an example, his 3D debut was actually months after he has gotten them and actually used them in collabs and TV interviews, so Chaika skipped right to the shenanigans instead. Perhaps this spontaneity is what makes Nijisanji 3D better.

Yashiro Kizuku - Concept is a systems engineer, likes rhythm and retro games. Friendly with a lot of people, especially with Sasaki Saku, which they host a gaming show. It’s really fun! They are a good bickering couple. The show is kind of a good gateway for Nijisanji as a whole, I believe. Oh, right the intellectual test with Hima...

Yeah, the blandest concept, but one of the most likable members in Nijisanji.

Dola - She’s a fire dragon. Act as an elder to the SEED group, kind of an admin at the minecraft server, so she’s treated like a god here. Good singer, great dancer.

She’s in a group with Yashiro, Hima, and Kuzuha, where the concept is that they are a family, with Dola and Yashiro being parents, and Hima and Kuzuha being their children, and they are one of the best groups to come out of Nijisanji. You can’t miss them.

Sister Claire - Usually does really short talk streams, which was reformatted to a radio format. One of the last seiso people, but strangely gets along with many of the members, mostly because she wants to be funny, and honestly... succeeds for me.

Also a great singer... who would have guessed? Sometimes treated as a cult leader.

Todoroki Kyoko - A 19 year old gyaru. Self proclaimed normie, but obviously not the case anymore. Great at drawing, but only in 2D. As with gyarus, really nice!

Suzuki Masaru - A chunni cross-dresser. Wants to be cool, but obviously cute. Actually doesn’t really like cross-dressing, but it does get the views. Honestly, he looks cool.

Uzuki Kou - A rich teenage boy, well liked by other people. Great singer but doesn’t show often... he does have a rap about hot pot ingredients that is well-covered by others. Friends with Ririmu, I believe. He’s a nice person to watch.

Azuchi Momo - A 14-year old illustrator who did her own design, and one of the most dangerous members of Nijisanji. Yep, known for her curses and drinking cocktails... and yes, she’s supposed to be 14. But even she recognizes that she’s an adult woman...

SEED 2nd Gen

Takamiya Rion - A student at a magic school. Supposed to be a lass, but in reality becomes like that sketch where two beautiful women are dubbed by kids? Yeah, she becomes like that. Just the least intelligent person... good for moron-sexuals, I guess.

Apparently this is more a debuff, as she can act smart and lady-like in late night streams. She was the one who hosted the imagination event. Also really likes SAO, and therefore fell into Genshin pretty hard last year, and who can blame her?

Asuka Hina - Is sometimes called a succubus, kind of works a producer and did a special producing session as a result. Can be calm and outgoing at once.

Maimoto Keisuke - Originally a farmer, but got tired of it. Does gaming and sport commentary, usually wrestling or baseball. Became someone who always gets tortured by his female peers... strange but not a bad character. Oh, this harassment leads to a lot of anger and there’s a tradition where they burn people virtually... and he always gets lumped in as a person to be burned. Friends with Subaru and Ui, and forms the Oozora family, believes to be a middle-aged man, but others don’t treat him like that.

Amemori Sayo - Typical high school student, but we’re sure she’s a ghost. Does a lot of special effects, leading to tech problems. Kind of a quiet speaker.

Kanda Shoichi - typical college student, has a buddy relationship with Gundou Mirei. Good at gaming, singing and hosting, which means he got his due even though it was a little late. Doesn’t really like Korea, though, which is a problem.

Rindou Mikoto - An oni queen, likes girls and booze. Can hold down a liquor, and hold down a girl... a quick learner in everything, therefore excellent at everything.

I knew her as Marine’s coach at Mario Kart... and now I know the reason.

Joe Rikiichi - He’s a joker, a real comedian. Good at improv. Pretty poor. Does late-night radio with Maimoto as well. He’s always a fun person to watch.

Debidebi Debiru - Demon koala who dabble in the occult. He’s the kid in the family, with all the stubbornness and gumption included. Likes to make nicknames, good in collabs. And as with kids, ultimately a good person at heart, which is why he does collabs.

Probably one of my favorites... I’m kind of miffed his section is so short, honestly.

Sakura Ritsuki - A fairy from another world. Basically only plays minecraft as the resident builder in the area. Got a new outfit, and suddenly got a ship going on with Kuzuha, which is good for her, I guess. Yeah, she does what she does.

Machita Chima - A great singer and bit of a psychopath. Went dark to study for exams, but soon returned to herself. Kind of a younger Suisei is what I’m getting at.

Belmond Banderas - The Corpse of Nijisanji. Low voice, and very kind to everyone. But he can be funny too. If he’s drunk, he’s just your average guy who agrees on everything. Also incredibly lucky, apparently, enough to make a religion with Lize as worshipper.

Yumeoi Kakeru - Singer-songwriter who got calling as a host. Really likes Ryushen to a psychopathic degree, but they are good friends as well. Seriously, he’s one of those well-adjusted psychopaths. Apparently he was a biochemist before singing. Sara calls him papa... which, okay, I guess. Did some shady stuff like catfishing in the past...

Overall, he’s that person who came from a rough background, and that means there’s some edges and some of his strength. Definitely an important asset.

Kuroi Shiba - She’s a four year old dog, but acts like an old lady and eventually earned the suffering characteristic and works at a shady company. But what’s the most fascinating thing is her deep lore. Seriously, it might be one of the most interesting lore before Haachama/Haato became a thing.

Yaguruma Rine - A eleven-year old girl who says the first thing on her mind. Also went dark during exam season, but returned after the summer exams. Practices English a bit during her streams, so there’s that going for her. Also her phone disappeared for a bit.

Harusaki Air - Air here meaning ‘spring’ in Greek. Kind of interpreted as a cleaner version of Toya. He’s a prince, so he’s usually busy... unlike a certain princess.

Naruse Naru - Remember has a different look! Although now he can switch it back and forth... apparently it was management issues? Whatever, won the current mario kart tournament (Mikoto was second) and that’s pretty much it, honestly.

#nijisanji #vtuber #long post

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englishgiraffe · 3 years

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My Love For The Eighth Doctor Books

Disclaimer: This essay is awfully long, the structure is terrible, and it probably shouldn’t have been over 4000 words, but hopefully, you’ll enjoy my insight of the Eighth Doctor Books.

Introduction

Trying to create a character around a brand new Doctor is tricky and Paul McGann’s incarnation is perhaps the biggest example for this. After 1996, he never had a TV appearance to fully flesh out the Eighth Doctor and remember: Big Finish didn’t use the Eighth Doctor until 2001. So writers in 1997 had a difficult task, especially when the Virgin Books lost the rights to the DW IP and were back in the BBC’s rights. Some Virgin New Adventure writers like Kate Orman, Justin Richards, Paul Leonard had come to write for the EDA’s, but new talent had to come in as well. They all had to intricately look at like, what, 40 minutes of McGann’s screentime in the TV Movie, half of which was the Doctor trying to figure himself out from amnesia and the other half is him being thrust into the plot without any way to truly develop his character. So… yeah, I actually can’t blame the writers finding their feet, at least with the VNA’s developing the 7th Doctor, he had 12 stories. Also, trying to pick up from the massive popularity of the VNA’s, and oh my God, I feel so bad for the writers. But, there could be a slither of a chance, maybe the magic they could have brought from the VNA’s can be replicated again. So, did it work? Hell yeah, it did!... just not under the guise of Uncle Terry Dicks. Just…screw everything about The Eight Doctors, it’s the worst possible starting point. But after that blip, yeah, it’s my favourite era of the Doctor Who IP, bar none.

Exciting Ideas

I’ll start off listing the sci-fi elements first before getting into character work. Much like the VNA’s, perhaps even more so, the EDA’s are not afraid to bring bold, extravagant ideas that TV Who could never do, perhaps not even what Big Finish could do, because of the novel format that allows descriptions and characters to fully grow. The Books are able to describe how a planet looks, feels, sounds, even down to taste so effortlessly, and a part of it is how unique, so bizarre, so beautiful these planets are, so… intimate. Could Doctor Who ever do planets like Albert (a planet entirely made out of Grimm’s fairy tales), Hitchemus (a colony world thriving on music and inhabited by intelligent tigers), The Crooked World (much like the Land of Fiction, except all the inhabitants and settings are cartoon-based). Not even Big Finish pulls off such weird and surreal settings and that’s because of the prose style allowing time and dedication to flesh out the multiple planets, without feeling clunky in its description and dialogue, which could plague early BF stories at times. But it’s not just the variety in the settings that make it great, there are also fascinating new ways to tell these stories with different formats. Narratives can be told in a Pulp Fiction-esque, out of order style (The Last Resort), told backwards (Festival of Death), books where the Doctor is barely in it but his presence is booming (Sleep of Reason), books told from the first person POV (The Turing Test, Frontier Worlds, Banquo Legacy), a narrative told from a non-fiction documentary perspective (Adventuress of Henrietta Street), a narrative told in a essay format (History 101), and that’s only a handful of the formats. There’s multiple pastiches and parodies; Trading Futures does Doctor Who crossed with James Bond harder than the Pertwee era, The Tomorrow Windows replicates Douglas Adams’ style down to a T, The Crooked World is basically Doctor Who crossed with Hanna Barbara Cartoons and many more. God, everything is so unique and wacky in this book range.

The Tone and Theming

As for the Books’ tone, it’s certainly interesting. In the VNA’s, because a lot of new talent, and a lack of the BBC reigning things in as well as major inspiration from 90s cyberpunk media such as Judge Dredd, a lot of the books, especially in its first half, were extremely grimdark and gratuitous in order to show shock value for its audience (Timewryn Genesys had Ace sexually assaulted and The Doctor told her to just shrug it off and claim that it was part of the times they’re in and Warlock had unconsented bestiality and detailed animal murder). It was too far in my eyes, despite me saying that DW can be more than a franchise that is just whirling around in a magic police box. However, in the EDA’s, yes there is more sexual content, swearing like bastard, bitch and shit is still a thing, and there can be gory violence. But here’s where the EDA’s success at compared to VNA’s; it attempts to earn it’s adult elements. With the VNA’s, the grimdark nature was so constant to the point of normalisation, with hardly any degree of wonder or wit, especially from its regulars (thank God for Bernice Summerfield bringing some happiness at least). It does address and deconstruct the grimdark nature near the end, but God, even as a depressing cynical man, the likes of Blood Heat, Parasite, Warlock were just too dour for me to truly enjoy. But here, there is moderation and it feels contextual to the overall story. It enhances the story, not pollute it. The Spanish Civil War of 1936 (History 101) is written maturely and handles its mature themes in a thoughtful manner, Suicide and Depression is handled with sensitivity and intimacy (The Sleep of Reason), and when gratituous violence is used, it is detailed certainly but never glamorised and often times extremely terrifying instead of gore for the sake of gore (Eater of Wasps). Hell, even the most comical story, The Crooked World, has introspective themes of free will, the concept of death, existentialism and the value of a soul. But, it’s not all bleak, as said, The Crooked World is perhaps the most comical story since The Romans, anything involved with Iris Wildthyme as well as being weird abstract, is just laugh-out-loud hilarious, Jonathan Morris’ The Tomorrow Windows is pure Douglas Adams wacky humour, and Lance Parkin’s Trading Futures is majorly inspired by Roger Moore James Bond movies. The way the Books tackle true adult themes like Morality, Honour, Sexuality, Gender, Trauma, Redemption, the Philosophy of Nature and Identity, whilst being imaginative, humorous and endearing is… just poignant and beautiful.

The Regulars-Sam Jones

So… the regulars. Well, I’ll save the main two (The Eighth Doctor and Fitz) for last, because they will be the longest. So starting with Sam Jones (and yes, they do the ‘Smith and Jones’ shtick about a decade prior to Series 3), and off the bat, she’s easily the weakest EDA Companion and a bit of a inconsistency. She often suffered from writers who wanted to write her as the worst extremes of ‘Vegetarian Political Activist’, who constantly bitches and moans towards everything without any proper tact. And I don’t mind characters who don’t believe in tact, Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel is one of my favourite characters, but when Sam gives her opinions on everything in a pessimistic attitude without a degree of optimism… yeah my enthusiasm starts to drain really quickly. Doesn’t help that she’ll flip-flop between being a lovesick puppydog for 8, cynical activist or just… woman. But I will say that when she’s written under the likes of Kate Orman/Jonathan Blum, Paul Leonard and Paul Magrs, I absolutely love her character. She’s perceptive yet bright, naïve but willing to grow, cynical but willing to bring in entertainment. And I will say that her backstory is a fascinating deconstruction of the ‘Perfect Companion’ trope that Moffat loved to overemphasise. She had been manipulated, used as a pawn and twisted by the Doctor (although this is accidental) from the events of the TV Movie, and the real/correct one is just a junkie that couldn’t wait to stick a Heroin needle if it was given in front of her. It’s tragic, especially considering that when The Doctor fixes all his companions’ timeline much later down the line, Correct Sam becomes the correct version and it’s revealed that this version never travelled with the Doctor and died of an overdose, despite Fitz knowing her experiences they had together. I also love her exit story in Interference, she had become more enjoyable near the end and the story is able to show her resources. Unfortunately, the inconsistency up until Fitz joins just left me too much having a cold taste in my mouth for me to love her.

The Regulars-Compassion

Next up, the human-TARDIS hybrid and Ice Cold Queen, Compassion. This is a character that I definitely appreciated way more after a first reading. The first time, I thought Compassion was too cold and aloof but on a reread, while she’s never going to be high on my list for favourite companions and I find her the hardest to analyse, I find that she works great as a hard-edged character, her dynamic with The Doctor and Fitz remind me a lot of 2/Jamie/Zoe, only if Zoe was way more upfront about her intelligence and rudeness. Her dynamic with Fitz as well is interesting as at first, they clearly despise each other for their clashing personalities and find each other untrustworthy but overtime, Compassion learns to enjoy Fitz’s goofiness and even learns to apologise. She can be destructive and violent with no emotion put behind it. That said, she becomes a more interesting character once she becomes the first Human-TARDIS hybrid, with the Doctor and Fitz forced to rely on her, but because of her cold hubris and after The Doctor forces a Randomiser thus violating her body, Compassion can become terrifying to The Doctor and Fitz. She does get brilliant material in The Banquo Legacy as well, with her possessing one person and her personality conflicting with the possessed person’s. And she has a decent farewell as well. Overall, I enjoy Compassion, it’s just really hard to analyse her considering that she only has 12 stories with the combination of perhaps a too subtle character arc.

The Regulars- Anji Kapoor

Now onto Anji Kapoor. If it isn’t for another companion that I’ll mention later, then Anji is certainly a close second in my rankings of 8th Doctor companions. And I also say with high praise that the 8th Doctor, Fitz Kreiner and Anji Kapoor team is my definitive TARDIS team… ever. You wouldn’t get that impression with her first story, as she has the trappings of an RTD Companion that you can pretty much guess a mile off. Stale relationship, life is going nowhere, working class, dead end job, jeez, I heard it all with Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Bill. The fact that she works in the stock market, an occupation I swear 98% of the population can barely figure out, and I felt like I was never going to like Anji. But Dang… Dang!!! The biggest glow-up happens in her very next story, and it practically sticks until her exit. I always felt that companions inbetween that period of Leela (arguably Tegan) and Anji never really basked in the pure absurdity of what world they were travelling in and never really gave any thought. The combination of new experiences around the universe and her haunting memories of her dead boyfriend was a lot to take in for her, to the point that she never really moved on (in Earthworld, she keeps writing emails to Dave, despite him being dead, and in Hope, she gives the secrets of the TARDIS over to the inhabitants on the exchange that they clone her boyfriend). She fell from grace multiple times, but with the Doctor and Fitz’s help, she was able to pick herself back up before spiralling down. What I love about Anji is despite her caring for The Doctor, she’s very distrustful to him because of his calculating and alien nature and both conflict with each other, their arguments almost feel too real. Anji often considers the options and is usually independent with her financial skills and intelligence. Over the 25 Books she’s in, she has become consistently enjoyable and a delight to read. Witty, clever, full of instinct, and humane, I did feel a proper sense of loss when she left.

The Regulars- Trix Macmillan

On the last companion, Trix Macmillan. She’s probably have the least amount of books in comparison to other EDA Companions (Sam had 25, Fitz had 51, Compassion has 12 and Anji had 25), with her only having 9 Books. Certainly not a lot of time to flesh out her character in comparison, but somehow the writers did it. What I love about Trix and what makes her a stark contrast to the first EDA Companion, Sam, is that Trix doesn’t want to be popular or well-liked. She’s logical, calculating, often devious, and often pretty tactless. She’s the kind of person who would steal a dead person’s identity and money. She treats The Doctor and Fitz not as friends, only acquaintances. But not just that, she can be (intentionally) a walking contradiction. Much like a showbiz actress, depending on what environment, time and crowd she’s working with, she’ll immediately change her personality. To the point that Trix doesn’t even know her true personality, and she is scared that she wants to know what she used to be. She likes being anyone but herself, wanting to become inconspicuous around the Doctor. Her relationship with the Doctor is interesting as well, he is judgemental towards her hobby as a conwoman, believing that she’s only with him and Fitz because she’ll steal whatever she can get. But as time goes on, he learns about her contradictory personality (most likely relates because of his own contradictory personality), and sees her, the real her. And despite her trying to detach herself from The Doctor, she slowly, but surely, opens herself more to The Doctor and Fitz, to the point that she feels hurt when The Doctor accuses her. Even with the short runtime, I found her relationship with Fitz to be really touching, and shows that Fitz’s open loyalty works in tandem with Trix’s cold secrecy. We don’t get much information about her past, but in a way I enjoy the lack of answers, whether she’s just a conartist or perhaps a chameleonic alien, what her relationship was like with her father. And maybe that’s the point, with her shape-shifting and unpredictable personality, she’s meant to be an enigma. At the very least, with 9 books, she had become a fascinating character that was wonderful to read and analyse.

The Regulars-Fitzgerald Kreiner

Now, my favourite companion in all of Doctor Who media, Fitz Kreiner. Better than the likes of Jamie, Donna, Sarah Jane, Ace and Evelyn. Before with Sam and The Doctor, the books were of varying quality, but as soon as he was introduced, even with a bit of a terrible debut story, he brought such humour that made the story just about bearable. He’s a bit of a goofball with some addiction for cigarettes and alcohol, but he starts becoming one of the most complex and special characters in the franchise. He begins as a bit of a James Bond-esque ‘Lady’s Man’, often trying to flirt and womanise, but by his third Book, Revolution Man, the development truly begins. He gets kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed under the influence of alien drugs and forced into shooting a man, with the Doctor forced to finish the job off for Fitz. He’s obviously going to have lasting effects that will damage him in the long run. But Damn, it doesn’t stop there, Interference leaves him in the absolute gutter with him being trapped in a membrane for 600 years, and resents the Doctor for failing to rescue him, and joins up to 8’s longlives enemy, Faction Paradox, and is converted to be a monster, becoming Father Kreiner. And it’s tragic, given his PTSD shown from Revolution Man. But that Fitz is gone, and what stays with the Doctor until the end is a clone of him, with full memories and everything. So thankfully, the loveable oaf never truly went away and only gets better from here. Much like how the 2nd Doctor was perfect for Jamie, or how Ian and Barbara are integral for the 1st Doctor, Fitz is ideal for 8. During the period with Compassion, he wants to prove that he’s the real Fitz, but can’t, because he isn’t. He may have the OG Fitz’s memories, but he can’t dream and thinks that some memories are missing. Even some aspects of his personality are different, like his skills of hiding and blending in easier. He may be a doofus, and hard to catch on certain things, but much like Jamie, he’s street-smart, and is able to spot simple situations that The Doctor wouldn’t give a second notice because of his desire for over-complicated situations. Even with him not being as bright, he’s able to hold off on his own from the Doctor, as in Trading Futures, he’s able to defeat Time Lord-wannabe Space Rhinos (no, not those kind of Space Rhinos) on his own without any of the Doctor’s help or knowledge by impersonating the Doctor, even willing to sacrifice himself. He’s the flame behind the EDA’s for me, the one who is willing to sacrifice everything he has to save whoever he considers family, and the bond that the Doctor and Fitz have together is inspired. He is fiercely loyal to the Doctor, even when he is kept in the dark. They both have a connection towards each other, like a mix between 2/Jamie and early 8/Charley, with Fitz even willing to hold the heavy memories of what 8 did to Gallifrey, even when The Doctor threatens to break every bone in Fitz’s body. He was the best friend that 8 could ever have, I loved their kindred relationship and it was totally worth it having Fitz for 51 Books to become such a developed character. My favourite companion, bar none.

The Regulars-The Eighth Doctor

And now, finally the Eighth Doctor. Before, I used to cite the Eighth Doctor from Big Finish as the definitive incarnation. And don’t get me wrong, I still love him in the Charley, Lucie and even the Doom Coalition era. He has brilliant gravitas in showing intelligence (arguably the most intelligence since the 4th Doctor), dry morbid humour, the right amount of patronising, and enthusiasm, often excelled by McGann’s excellent performance and Shakespearean voice. But, as time goes on, the era becomes more… how do I say… schizophrenic and uneven. Big Finish sort of starts off creating arcs for 8, but then… sort of wander off and never pick up on arcs they’ve created, like the 800 year maroon in Orbis, the angst in Dark Eyes, then finally culminating with Moffat’s Night of the Doctor, not picking up on his hatred for the Daleks after Lucie Miller’s death, and making him too naïve to the Time War, making it as if his journey from BF didn’t even matter.

Then came my experiences with the books. And discarding the first novel, The Eight Doctors, and jumping straight to Vampire Science, Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman immediately gave 8 more nuance than 75% of 8th Doctor material in BF. I should preface by saying this as well: despite my grievances from the Virgin New Adventures, I still think that the character of 7, Time’s Champion and its character work are still crucial to the EDA’s and how it conflicts/supplements 8’s character. 8 is no longer Death’s pet, stuck to the chains of fate, but much like 7, in the eyes of others, he is simultaneously whimsical, dangerous and manipulative, albeit more flawed than 7. When 7 manipulates, it’s more out of logic, thinking about the bigger scope, while with 8, it’s out of passion and love. He often uses his good looks and often childlike grin as a front to scheme, as evidenced in Genocide. But unlike the 7th Doctor, it’s never constant to the point of predictability, and sometimes, even his manipulation messes up due to his conflict with his passion and childlike personality. I’d argue that 8 is the most anti-hero incarnation of all the Doctors, even more than the 7th Doctor, often obliviously selfish, privileged and at times very toxic and callous. He often doesn’t let other people in on his schemes (him faking his own death to his companions in The Banquo Legacy), often clings onto people out of fear of losing them (Sam in Interference), pulls strings for his selfish needs (uses Alan Turing’s sexuality as blackmail to make Turing help him help aliens but on the basis that the Doctor just escapes Earth in The Turing Test), puts others on the brink of death (orders a possessed wasp-human hybrid to kill one of his closest patients to test if his true personality is still there in Eater of Wasps), often be cold-blooded and violent (throws a medic against the wall head-first and then stuffs him in a cupboard in Vanishing Point). In the second half of the Book range, he had lost his memory from his battle and destruction/erasure of Gallifrey, but here’s why this memory erasure works as opposed to other ones, like in Big Finish. For Big Finish 90% of the time it’s used, it’s often to create false tension. At times, it’s fine, but when it’s used constantly to pad out the runtime, my enthusiasm starts to wane out quickly. But Justin Richards as Book Script Editor brings something interesting. For the first time, the Doctor isn’t bitching about where his memory is, but rather, he’s a mirrored version of the 1st Doctor (my second favourite incarnation): full of rage, irritative, deceptive, arrogant and willing to fill his hands full of blood. The difference is there is no Ian or Barbara to hold him back, to make him grow, 8 must be the one to grow and develop himself, he has to make the work into becoming The Doctor. That’s another reason why I adore the 8/Fitz/Anji team so much; they are all broken, damaged people with flaws, and call each other out. But they are also a trio of friendship, love, can bring unity towards each other and most importantly, feel like a family, in fact probably the most family-like team since arguably 2/Jamie/Victoria or even since 1/Ian/Barbara/Vicki. 8/Fitz/Anji have truly descended into tough times (Fitz especially), but this team shows that you can pull yourself back from the depths of hell when you have the right support going for you.

Writers like Lance Parkin, Paul Leonard, Lloyd Rose, Kate Orman, Steve Lyons, Mags L Halliday, Martin Day, Lawrence Miles live and breathe the 8th Doctor, a true Bryon Romantic, poetic and literal with words. He’s a diplomat, rather than a conqueror. He may be brutal, manipulative, and cold-blooded, but it’s equally mirrored with empathy, mischievous humour akin to the 2nd Doctor, and a lust for the unpredictability of humanity. Yet unlike how Modern Big Finish and Moffat’s Night of the Doctor made 8 into an ineffectual pacifist buffoon, Book 8 is certainly an optimist, but he’s also a realist. In Reckless Engineering, he was given the choice between saving the correct timeline in the universe but at the cost of his friends or let the universe collapse… he actually chooses the universe. It’s a shocking moment (especially for Fitz, considering how long he’s been with the Doctor), but even he knows that, but has a responsibility to save the right reality. And with some introspection, nearing the end, he realises that, because there’s a gorgeous insight in The Sleep of Reason, about focusing too much on the bigger picture and the few things is equally as important. To see 8’s goals come to fruition, he brings it to himself that his mission of helping even just one individual can be seen as the greatest thing in the universe. He doesn’t want to remember the events of Gallifrey near the end because at the end of the day, he’s a man who strives for the present and future, not the past. He may not be a good person, he may not be right sometimes, and he may not have a happily ever after with destroying Evil for good, but he’ll still keep going on just to make a difference. That’s why I adore the ambiguous ending to The Gallifrey Chronicles, we never get a confirmation as to whether the Doctor survives his plan against the Vore, we never get what his plan is supposed to be and whatever happens after the battle (besides a song from Fitz closing off the book). I prefer Doctor Who to have an ambiguous non-conclusive ending than what Marc Platt did for Lungbarrow or Colin Meek for Death Comes to Time. This version of Eight has now become the definitive incarnation of The Doctor for me, I adore this character so much.

Conclusion

To me, The Eighth Doctor Books, especially in the second half, truly encapsulates everything that I love about the franchise: superb prose, introspective themes, emotional moments, pushing the boundaries of what Doctor Who could truly do but never accomplish. The writers made something special, and made the range one of the most suspenseful, sombre, intimate, and beautiful pieces of fiction I’ve ever experienced. I love them, and to me, they are my Doctor Who.

#eighth doctor #edas #doctor who #fitz kreiner #anji kapoor #sam jones #trix #wildnerness years

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