#instead of treating it like a bad thing

[gayvampyr]

“queer spaces should be inclusive of people who don’t enjoy sex and who have “strange”, negative or repulsed relationships with sex” and “sex is an important aspect of lgbt community, history, and activism and queer people should be allowed and able to talk freely about sex without stigma or shame” are ideas that can and should coexist.

#‘queer people were banned from and shamed for having sex and that’s where a lot of our activism stemmed from’ and #‘not liking or having sex is considered abnormal and a mental illness and also needs to be destigmatized’ are concepts that not only can but #often do coalign #it’s esp important to consider that a lot of lgbt ppl who have a tricky and strained relationship with sex are like that because of trauma #which is very common for queer folks #it’s really not an ace-only thing #like i am sex repulsed but it’s very hard to discern if it’s because i’m asexual or if it’s the trauma. either way i deserve to have those #feelings and be included in lgbt spaces and discussions about sex and treated as just another queer person with a different experience #instead of being alienated because my feelings about sex don’t directly line up with yours #im so sick of people in this community trying to pit us against each other. as an ace lesbian that shit is so toxic and harmful #my relationship with sex is fluid. im sex-positive always‚ but i often find myself sex repulsed. im otherwise neutral about it but im sick #of people acting like it’s either you enjoy sex and have it frequently or you hate it and you shame everyone who has it like youre a puritan #and it’s often aphobes who bought into that ‘aces are puritanical celibate straights who want ppl who have gay sex to die or think they’re #‘dirty’ or some shit. and it was literally 90% crypto-aphobes pretending to be aces to get people to adopt that into their belief system #the same way crypto-t/rfs pretend to be trans women who want to prey on the ‘innocent women’ #and y’all will use those posts/screenshots as ‘evidence’ that whatever scapegoat you’ve selected is actually inherently bad/homophobic/ #misogynistic/etc and not even #acknowledge the giant hole in your logic cuz you’re too busy trying to find a scapegoat #it’s the same tactics and y’all fall for it every time #text post #like. lesbians are CONSTANTLY getting hounded and told that we’re broken or mentally i’ll for not showing interest in (having sex with) men #for the same reason asexuality is considered bad or wrong or weird #not showing interest in heterosexual relationships or sex is why this is so important #anyone that falls outside the scope of heterosexuality is part of this community whether you like it or not

[transmascissues]

a lot of people aren't going to want to hear this, but if you actually want trans men to stop "playing up" our assigned sex/"female socialization" or "walking back" on our manhood in conversations, here's what you need to do:

accept that it is possible for men (yes, 100%-men-and-nothing-but-men) to experience gendered oppression, including misogyny. accept that it is entirely possible for captial-m Men to have a lifetime worth of experiences with misogyny. accept that it is possible for men to be not just hurt by but systemically oppressed under the patriarchy. accept that being oppressed for one's gender does not require any proximity to womanhood. accept that it is possible for men to experience the things you call "women's issues". stop calling the misogyny specifically directed at us "misdirected". stop acting like our manhood somehow cancels out the oppression we've experienced. stop considering yourself more of an authority on our oppression than we are just because we're men and you're not. stop supporting activist spaces that expect men to "shut up and listen and be good allies" while everyone else task about their oppression. stop simplifying the complexities of gendered oppression to "man = privileged, woman = oppressed". you would distance yourself from your identity too if people used it to gaslight and silence you about your lived experiences.

stop acting like being a man makes someone somehow "less trans" or "less queer". learn how to view all trans people as equally trans and equally part of the community. unlearn your tendency to view manhood and masculinity as inherently less queer than other gender expressions. stop talking about how trans men are "the weakest link" or making "jokes" about how much worse we are than other people in the community or blaming us for all of its problems. stop acting like being men means we have less of a right than other trans people to speak on what it's like to be trans. you would distance yourself from your identity too if you knew that doing so would mean being more accepted by the community you rely on.

deconstruct your belief that cis manhood is the gold standard of manhood. stop telling trans men that it's transphobic for them to assert that their experience of manhood might be different from that of a cis man. stop trying to pressure trans men into never acknowledging how their transness makes their experience of manhood unique by accusing them of "misgendering themselves" or "saying trans men aren't real men". accept that trans men are not cis men and never will be cis men and are still 100% very real men anyway because cis manhood is only one type of manhood. understand that if you hear "trans men are different from cis men" and think that means "trans men aren't men", you're the one who's actually saying cis men are the only real men. you would distance yourself from your identity too if people said that claiming that identity required being exactly the same as a group you're not a part of.

get yourself a personality that isn't just talking about how much you hate men. stop telling all the men in your life how much you hate men and acting like their willingness to just take it is a measure of their moral goodness. stop making "jokes" about how trans men are "joining the enemy". stop talking about how much you wish you weren't attracted to men, or how much of a shame it is that someone else is. stop acting like womanhood and femininity are inherently pure and good and harmless while manhood and masculinity are inherently gross and evil and dangerous. stop acting like there's something inherently corruptive about existing as a man that fundamentally changes someone the second they come out as one. stop acting like it's funny to say you want to kill all of us as if there aren't countless people actively working to eliminate us. you would distance yourself from your identity too if everyone you knew spent their free time talking about how much they hate it.

help put spaces and resources into place that take trans men into consideration. stop getting mad at trans men who "call themselves men but still want access to women's spaces" and start looking at the world around you and asking why we want access to those spaces. open your eyes and realize that there is nothing out here for us, that all of the spaces and resources catered toward our experiences are marketed for everyone except us. ask yourself where the hell we're supposed to go when every clinic specializing in care for our bodies is a "women's clinic", when the only men's shelters are really just for cis men and the people advocating for "inclusive" shelters see all men as a threat to be warded off, when no one is willing to make an actual place for us and we have no choice but to just find the place that looks the least risky and hope they let us stay. put some effort into making this world more hospitable for us. you would distance yourself from your identity too if the resources you need to survive were offered for every identity but yours.

actually show trans men some fucking love for once in your life. find it in your heart to actually give a shit about trans men, to see us as real whole people who are deserving of love and community, to see our needs and feelings as worth your time and energy. care about us, care about our lives, care about our health and happiness and well-being instead of abandoning us the second we come out as men. start valuing our presence in the community and realize that we actually have a lot to offer if you could just listen to us. ask yourself why you're so comfortable leaving us to fend for ourselves in a world that wants us dead and is currently being very loud about that fact. you would distance yourself from your identity too if the community that supported you for years suddenly stopped caring about you the second you embraced it.

y'all will spend all day talking about how horrible it is that some trans men emphasize that they were assigned/raised female but nobody actually cares why so many of us do that. no one actually bothers to ask why we would put so much effort into being recognized as men but be afraid to fully claim that identity. no one wants to consider that they might be part of the problem, that they might be partially responsible for the thing they're complaining about.

if you want trans men to be able to stand firmly in our manhood and not undermine it with a million disclaimers, you have to actually put in the work to create an environment that's less hostile to trans men who do stand firmly in it.

because right now, regardless of my own personal opinions on the ways some trans men talk about their experiences as "afabs" or their "female socialization" or being "men but not like that", regardless of what issues i personally have with those kinds of statements, i can't blame them. not one fucking bit. and if you actually looked at how the world treats us - how our own community treats us - when we do fully own our manhood, you would feel the same way.

and if you aren't willing to do these things - which are literally just basic respect and care for other human beings, by the way - you don't get to complain about the ways trans men deal with how people like you treat our manhood. you can't expect a problem to disappear when you won't even acknowledge the part you might play in causing it.

#just saw yet another bit of socialization discourse and im so tired of the back and forth that i gave in and decided to Post About It #people love to notice trans men doing a thing and get mad at the thing without ever wondering why the thing happens in the first place #it's honestly incredibly dehumanizing #because it treats us like one dimensional things with no motivation other than Do Bad Man Things #instead of as whole complex people whose actions are motivated by complicated mental processes #transandrophobia #transandromisia #transmisandry #virilmisia #virilphobia #anti transmasculinity #trans men #transmascs

[shayberri789]

Something about how in chapter 4 of trc Adam is insecure about the fray on his second hand sweater, and how it's a symbol of his background and insecurities, and how most people don't notice it, and if they did, they didnt think better of him for it

And how Blue saw it immediately and it was something she liked about him, a girl too good at seeing the vulnerabilities of other people, but Adam didnt want someone to see his insecurities, didn't want someone to acknowledge that life

But Gansey did. Gansey needed someone to see him at his worst and love him for it, and blue did that

And how Adam needed someone to see him at his most unruly, and encouraged that

And Ronan makes Adam loud

#i love these ships sm. adam and blue were never going to work out because they needed different things out of a relationship #blue needed honesty. she needed someone who wouldnt try and hide from her or keep her seperate from their life #and adam didn't want someone who was always going to see what he tried to hide and would remind him of it #by virtue of coming from a similar place #gansey is always so strong for everyone and so repressed he didnt think he was ALLOWED to have bad days #and when he was vulnerable with blue instead of pushing him away she liked him more for it #while ronan looked at adam and *saw* him and then did not remind him of it #quite help in the background; treating him thr same as anyone else; showing him its okay to be wild and his life isnt defined #by the line between the poverty of love and money of his youth and his ambitions for the future #have i made a lick of sense #im tired and doint my second reread of the year #when will this series free me #shay posts #trc #trc brainrot #gansey my blorbo #the raven cycle #the raven boys #the dream thieves #blue lily lily blue #the raven king #gansey #bluesey #blue sargent #adam parrish #ronan lynch #pynch #richard gansey #richard campbell gansey iii

[kangals]

i think the main difference in personality so far between puppy-stellina and puppy-kepler is that kep has a lot more patience.

that brings a lot of positive qualities: he has better emotional control and is less prone to tantrums and outbursts than stellina was (i.e. if i have to stop for 10 seconds on a walk to pick up poo, stellina would yelp and pull and cry at being asked to stop). it also means he has better focus and is more forgiving of repetition in training - he doesn't give up nearly as easily when frustrated. and things that may startle or scare him he's more willing to try again or overcome (e.g. he slipped on my stairs and hurt his foot and didn't want to go back up the stairs for a few days, but eventually started trying again. and when butters slaps him he yelps and backs off, but still thinks she's Super Fun and tries to make friends). so he's a bit more methodical in his thinking.

but it does also bring some negatives too: because he has patience, he does not give up once he's decided something. if stellina was overtired and i put her in a crate, she'd fuss for a minute then pretty quickly go "hm alright then" and go to sleep. if i do the same to kep, he fights it and fights it because he doesn't want to be asleep and that's that. he's much more difficult to redirect or distract, and i have to be a lot more mindful of managing him because once he's decided something is fun or tasty or whatever it takes a lot to dissuade him, and he'll go back to it at the first chance. he's very slow to learn boundaries as a result - i have to do a lot more convincing than i'm used to.

they are still overall very similar personalities, especially as they're the same breed and from very similar lines, but i think so far this has been the biggest quality that i've needed to adjust to. puppy-stellina i had to do a lot of mental adjustments learning how to manage her short emotional threshold and sensitivity, so it's interesting to see what does and doesn't translate over to kep.

#i hesitate to use the word 'stubborn' for kep bc i truly dont think its willful 'oh youve told me no but i will do it anyway' #he just genuinely doesnt get the concept of 'please dont do that' #'dont do thing? but thing is fun. thing is for kep. kep will do. fun!' #the concept of 'i am not allowed to do this' or 'i should not do this' has never occured to him #like with house training: he knows that he gets praise and treats for going outside. he knows that this doesnt happen if he goes inside. #but the concept of 'i have to poop and am inside therefore i should instead go outside' hasnt clicked yet bc he will just always take- #-the first option (poop now) #same thing with sleeping (i do not want to sleep therefore i will Not) and biting stellina etc #its not bad! as mentioned theres a lot of positives it brings too. i just need to learn how to speak his specific language #and when youre bad at dog training it just takes a while lol

[painted-bees]

Thinking about how Raf decides to run Hi-Note, turning it from a recording studio to a proper label* with a bit of a catch.

Specifically, Raf mandates Hi-Note to find musicians who've fallen through the industry's cracks or play to extremely niche audiences--and provide them the space and financial security to produce music in whatever capacity they're capable of. Hi-Note is able to market and distribute records/recordings, and it accepts that it'll lose money on the majority of the artists that sign onto it. It's run as a business on paper, but its goal isn't to raise capital. Raf's... from a wealthy family who runs a wealthy corporate machine. He gets paid a fuckoff amount of money every year just for existing, and he only inherits more as time goes on. He doesn't need Hi-Note to be financially viable. Rather, Hi-Note kinda becomes the seive through which he's able to pay steady patronage to musical talent that might otherwise have never been able to get a foothold via the more standard industry avenues, granting money/resources to them so they can comfortabley produce the music they love producing and reach a wider audience for that music than they might have been able to on their own. If an artist manages to make decent profit, the cut Hi-Note receives circles right back around again to help support the label's artists who don't generate profit. So, in that way, one artist's success is everyone's success.

Hi-Note cherry picks the artists they sign, of course...and the circle of talent they scoop up stays rather small, with priority given to those who come via the recommendation of established Hi-Note employees. There's a certain...type of artist personality that it favours, and certain types of personalities it staunchly avoids. Artists who'd get along fine via traditional avenues or who have little to no trouble marketing themselves are passed over. As is anyone who seems to have lacked certain challenges in their lives and failed to develop certain perspectives on...how people should be treated and discussed. And this area of high subjectivity/personal bias is probably where Hi-Note finds most of the critisism levelled against it. But there is an equalibrium/"vibe" that Raf aspires to maintain within Hi-Note, and he is pretty uncompromising about it, since a lot of it ties in with his own personal feelings of ease and comfort. Perhaps for this reason alone, Hi-Note can never grow beyond a very humble size.

But, so long as the people working with and within Hi-Note are happy and feel well supported in an industry that otherwise would have ground them into jadesd burnt-out husks, Raf is content with its trajectory. Hi-Note is probably the closest thing he and Margie get to having kids lmao. They're not family, and he's most comfortable keeping them at that amiciable, professional arm's length. But at the same time, he's very proud of his retinue and is ride or die for Hi-Note's artists and employees. And, for the most part, they are for him, too.

#it's quite different from how Guillaume ran things... #Uncle Bill still treated like A Business. #Raf is like “what if I turned this into a supermassive money black hole that produces just a bunch of really weird music instead?” #Raf is bad at wealth aquisition/retention and it's all Margie's fault--she's a terrible influence[positive]. #Margie has conditioned him to believe that wealth needs to be shared and that dying rich could probably be considered a moral failing. #Not that Margie has ever SAID this...but she embodies it. #hi-note

[natsmagi]

sorry for making yet another textpost but i came across that post saying they dislike transfem natsume because he "canonically hates being perceived as a girl and tries to erase all sorts of memories related to that" and also went on to shame genderbends of him aswell. So, as someone who not only draws genderbends of natsume but is myself someone who is nonbinary and hates being perceived as a woman, i thought id offer my two cents

first of all; i think its important to note that natsume does NOT hate his childhood. in fact, hes quite happy that he had such an unusual upbringing!

what natsume hates is being perceived as weak. thats why he was raised as a girl after all, it was his mother trying to protect him from evil spirits. he doesnt hate the whole "-chan" or "wearing dresses" thing because he has a hatred for womanhood, its because due to his upbringing hes now come to associate those things as being weak. he begs tsumugi to forget about it because that means tsumugi remembers natsume being weak, and natsume thinks tsumugi still referring to him as "natsume-chan" means he still sees natsume as weak. (iirc natsume did however once say that he is a little sad that he doesnt really know how to relate to young boys due to this in poltergeist, but i couldnt find the exact quote. either way that just adds to the complexity of natsumes relationship with his childhood, because while he is happy to be "abnormal" in that sense, it has left him lacking in some areas)

i have to ask though, should this conflict of his not be something we hope he overcomes? should we not want him to develop a healthy relationship with various gender expressions? should we not want natsume to overcome his belief that feminine things = weakness? i want natsume to reach a point where he can wear feminine clothing and not feel like some damsel in distress because of it. i want natsumes character to grow. i want him to develop a positive relationship with his gender because natsume DOES enjoy some more typically feminine things, like baking! he used to bake with his mom when he was little! and i want him to feel like he can indulge in that side of him without feeling insecure.....

i LOVE transmasc natsume, my primary hc for him is transmasc nonbinary after all, but with all these things considered, shouldnt people be allowed to headcanon him however they want? if they hear his story and negative relationship with femininity and how that resonates with them and they themselves are transfem, should they not be allowed to hc him as such too?

which brings me to my next point; my own personal relationship with gender and femininity. i was raised as a girl and i fucking DESPISED womanhood. i hated everything about it. i hated how i felt forced into a box i didnt want to be stuck in, and i hated how it felt like my whole life had already been planned out for me due to societal expectations, aswell as me needing to present a certain way. i was peak "tomboy" growing up, constantly wearing super baggy clothes and wouldnt even brush my hair alot of the time. but despite that i remained miserable. i frankly hated how i looked and would constantly dye my hair vibrant colors in an attempt to make me like myself a little more. it wasnt until i realized "wow, im actually not a girl at all" that i finally let go of believing i needed to look a certain way (and thus, defying it) and started to dress for myself. i started to dress in clothes that made me happy and feel pretty! alot of which leans feminine, but clothes doesnt have a gender, and how you dress doesnt define your gender either, but it can still be a bit scary yknow? especially since i dont want people to think of me as a girl, and drawing a bunch of femstars has really made me learn to love myself more in a funny way. i can put these characters in clothes i think are beautiful, i can explore the more feminine parts of me that i adore but dont want to express in public due to how i want others to perceive me, but it has also warmed me up to femininity even more. because femstars to me feels detached from the expectations of society because its not a real thing!! there are no canon femstars designs!!! i can do literally whatever the hell i want with it and its been so liberating to me!!

all this to say; i think it really sucks seeing the way this fandom treats transfem hcs and explicit genderbends, because like ive said before; they can truly be something so personal. you dont know why that person is drawing what theyre drawing, so its a little unwise to make assumptions based on ........ Well, whatever it may be. i know very well that women dressing the way society expects them to SUCKS, esp if you have personal ties to it, but you have to realize the issue isnt femininity, but misogyny.

#maybe ill delete this later idk but i just felt like i needed to say something #as i constantly see these things being spoken of yet never do these people actually reach out to femstarries #and ask Hey why are you doing this? #so instead they make bad faith assumptions and it really sucks. #and while im here; #trans hcs count as genderbends. Because you have changed the characters gender #*IF the org chara is a cisman and you make them a trans woman i should add #once again Stop treating trans and cis people as two separate things #if it was a cisbend itd be CALLED CISBEND #and the reason i tag genderbend is because i know some people dont like it #and thats valid!!! no one is forced to like this kind of stuff!!! #and some people who dont like genderbends might be new to enstars and dont know what femstars is #so should it not still be tagged for those people too? #should we not look out for the trans people who dont wish to see their favs be a different gender??? #i dont get it. i really dont #this post probably wont even reach the right audience but wtv #nat rambles #nats enst posting

[scintillyyy]

honestly, though. sometimes when the drakes are discussed it does seem a little "oh, they never would never do <insert terrible fanon trait here>, they just <insert a different trait they....also never really did and is actually kind of contradicted by canon? here>"

#honestly i'm usually fairly forgiving about the second because i'm sure i'm guilty of it too lmao #and it's also like. that's usually more of personal intepretation/reading thing which should have different viewpoints #variety is the spice of life and all #& i like defending the drakes AND talking about how they failed #but sometimes the thing that is confidently stated they do instead is something canon directly contradicts. #they never would force feed him something he's allergic to #they would just have super strict expectations of his behavior & not be affectionate #meanwhile the expectations are limited to don't wear a t-shirt to a wedding rehearsal and jack is shown hugging tim like every 5 issues #(and janet is dead and can have no expectations but the only time we see her she's like “you can be whatever you want to be sweetie :)”) #and they are shown having a very iconic outing with him and they treat him nice & want him to have a good time & are very loving #i too want to swing the pendulum the other way but that second one does apply to both good and bad traits lmao #“jack was just trying to get close to his son” well. no he really wasn't. #or “jack never cared about his son & never tried to listen to him” well that's not exactly true either #god i love them. my polarizing flawed family.

[xythlia]

I kinda wanna get something off my chest before the new year that's been weighing on me heavily, and it's that some people on here are not the "spread kindness and community uwu" sweethearts they want you to believe they are.

some people on here will act absolutely repugnant when anonymous is on or when they think they can make a billion empty side blogs because the moderation for harassment here sucks ass. case in point I've personally been getting harassed since fucking august by a specific person but I keep it to myself because I know nobody gives a fuck about it and doesn't wanna see that bs all over their dash. I just block the ips and delete the asks every time but it's infuriating seeing that person pop up so many other peoples asses as this "oh I'm so kind and love everyone in my fandoms" type when I know in my guts that's such a bold faced lie.

if you genuinely think it's okay to hide behind a grey pic or a sock puppet account to send suicide bait, bully, mock, and degrade someone else you need to take a hard look at who you really are inside in the new year because you have some type of rot in you im not joking. idk it's been becoming a heavy burden dealing with this silently especially because it's about to be 2024 and part of me genuinely thinks this incredibly unwell person will continue the behavior which is seriously insane, it's hands down nuts to fixate on someone for almost five months and I can't even begin to tell you how it just wears you down consistently getting msgs like that especially when you haven't done anything to warrant that treatment. cardi b said I got condos in this bitch head well im beyond condos I'm the sole fucking real estate developer in this bitches head and I do not enjoy it.

I try so hard to be a truly positive person. I try hard to mind my own damn business and not bother anyone. I try very very hard to make my blog a nice space. I'd like to continue doing that but christ some people really make it so incredibly difficult and that contributes to the overall shitty behavior in fandoms.

anyways it's nice to let that out, for once instead of sitting here with it and feeling those little wriggles of dread every time I open the app.

if you've engaged in behavior like that towards anyone this past year though I highly recommend making a resolution of self reflection and learning some basic compassion, or at the very least taking stock of yourself and considering getting some irl help because idk what to say other than it is, in fact, not normal to treat people like that and it does not make you a good person.

#idk im someone who very much tries to be the bigger person & just move on and not let things bug me #but this has really really bothered me bad #like ive cried my eyes out opening some particularly cruel msgs before #shit that i wouldn't send to someone i genuinely hated #and its beyond goofy to do this to each other bc on this lame ass app nothing is that serious #genuinely it isn't I cant think of one single thing someone on here could do that would make me behave that way #but if ur gonna spout treat people with kindness you need to fucking stand on it and understand what that really looks like #instead of doing weird ass two faced bullshit with people

[aro-culture-is]

quick note - this blog is gonna be sparse again for at least this week. trying new medications and tbh initial side effects are not super pleasant + actual effects build up. as a result: currently as if unmedicated for mental health, with anxiety+ side effect, extra fatigue, dizziness, and fatigue. it's uh, sure something.

totally recognize that most of y'all know we're absent at times due to health things, just wanted to give a heads up that this one is at least anticipated.

#fun fact sometimes condensing meds just means poorer treatment of some conditions #this is a re-expansion + new thing #so that instead of poorly treating my mental health and using an unusually high dose SNRI for another (physical) condition #i will hopefully both be in less pain AND not depressed af AND also have an appetite again #i doubt i will be lucky and not have a fucked stomach due to meds but one can hope that an appetite will allow me to eat foods that upset #my stomach a lot less #my health is forever a massive balancing act #every time a medical thing is like 'so what meds do u take' i'm like here i wrote it down for u #and they're like 'oh. ooookay. let me just...' *five minutes of typing and clicking later* #'so! what did you come in for again? uhuh. you said you experience pain daily? with your chronic pain thing? hm. have you tried yoga?' #/gen #like. straight up every time i say 'i am in pain all the time due to fibromyalgia' they are like 'ooh studies say regular exercise helps' #and like. theoretically yes! but also. i would be lying if i said the fibromyalgia studies i've skimmed don't set off general 'bad science' #alarm bells in my brain #like... cool you performed a fibromyalgia study with... all male lab rats? mhmm? so are you aware fibromyalgia appears to occur #overwhelmingly in women? like. data seems to suggest between 70-85%? #(not that the data can't still indicate things but it certainly makes male rats a poor choice of model for tests on it) #also just... idk i've looked at some metaanalysis and been like 'okay cool theory and for all i know about human bio or bio in general that #sounds more or less correct BUT. you never discussed that one study on this subject that did NOT support your conclusion. #and that's 1) interesting when it was the most diverse group of subjects and the exceptions often teach just as much as the 'rule' #2) just shitty science. tell me how your theory is still credible when some evidence doesn't fit the model. #like... 'given that all other studies were primarily conducted on white american women in their 30s to 40s it is possible that this model #only explains (the early effects of fibro since that's a typical onset period) / (a possible genetic link primarily found in white women) / #(a possible sign of bias in diagnosis that demonstrates the possibility that there are different causes) / combinations of all of those #like... idk a paper that just throws out things that don't support it is a pretty big red flag #it doesn't mean the conclusion is entirely incorrect but it is often important to understand the context in which it applies #like... it's very easy to jump to an incorrect conclusion if you used something in the wrong context #ie: thumbs up is a good job / positive thing in a lot of western civilizations. teenage kee once went to china and discovered it to be #neutral to offensive in many areas outside of major tourist locations that were used to it #anyways i gotta sleep

[itsnothingofinterest]

Is horikoshi just trolling for narrative stakes now??

I mean it's good All-might lived (I think?), but after showing the bright flash of a large explosion and the fading away of All-might's vestige last chapter, only to reveal that AFO easily stopped it all before the blast even went off...

I don't really hate this completely, because it gives more merit to the villain's (especially the core Lov's) survival, but I kind of wish there wasn't this big and drawn out AFO vs All-might fight if it was going to lead to such a tame ending.

Do you think so? Or do you like how things went or ended up?

Wouldn't be the first time he trolled us like that. Need I remind you of the time AFO talked about his mole in UA while the 'camera' zoomed in Hagakure...in some room somewhere not being a mole? Or how about the cliffhanger where Nana asked if Deku could kill Tomura for her? Still mad about that one.

Although it's not like stakes weren't already launched out the window forever ago. I've mentioned how the heroes outnumber and outgun even both AFOs so that they pretty much won as soon as they got the ambush off; and AFO's plan to control Tomura has also been doomed since he broke free. The only stakes left are if Tomura & the other villains can escape Deku & the heroes to fight another day, and if any individual characters we like are gonna die.

So one the one hand; I get where you're coming from since hero deaths are the only stakes left worth worrying about (that the narrative 100% agrees should be worried about). But on the other, I guess I can't bring myself to care too much who AFO takes with him on his road to his own unwitting doom. I hardly want All Might dead either way, same as you seem to, but least of all just so it can be said that an important hero died.

Besides, it might not end too tame yet. All Might's alive, sure, but he's also in AFO's greasy hands and Bakugou's gotta save him still.

#ask & reply #bnha #bnha 403 #all might #all for one #shigaraki tomura #paranormal liberation front #PLF #pro heroes #hagakure tooru #midoriya izuku #katsuki bakugou #class 1a #nana shimura #As an aside; I'm not sure how this would affect the villains' chances of survival. #The heroes and villains & what they respectively care about have been treated quite differently the whole arc #so villain deaths feel already on the table after Stain died. #Feels like the only thing really keeping them alive is instead how bad a conclusion any deaths would be for their respective arcs.

[sinnbaddie]

Fugaku wasn’t the best father, but no one will ever convince me that Minato of all people is a better father than him

#Fugaku Uchiha #anti Minato #at least Itachi and Sasuke HAD a father: Minato put Naruto through hell bc he wanted to see if he could control a mystical beast #do I agree that Fugaku treated Itachi like a tool for a long time? yes. I also agree that he was in war #and he had to do things he didn’t want to do; if there wasn’t a war and his people wasn’t in danger Fugaku would never put so much pressure #on him; Minato is an idiot as a father and Hokage I won’t be moved on this #and since we’re here #Fugaku would’ve been a better Hokage too #Minato as a character is the core of all nationalistic themes that are in the series #Fugaku wanted to change the system to better his people’s lives and I know he could’ve done it #Minato did not care to change the means of the village and instead lost 2/3rds of his team basically lost his last student to mental health #sacrificed his son to a life of misery and then died leaving the village in worse shape than it was #if Fugaku wasn’t Hokage bc Minato was a better candidate he could’ve at least become it after he died #and also fuck the 3rd; I hate you hiruzen you ugly crinkly smoking bitch I know you smell bad

[lord-squiggletits]

This might be bc of my personal reading of exRDI/OP bc I'm pretty sure the authorial intent was to just write Optimus as having some fall from grace/borderline tyrannical edge but like

I really kinda wish the story had been written as more of a political intrigue, almost GOT-esque thing (sorry for the cliche) where like, instead of Optimus being written as the narrative's scapegoat to be condemned both by the characters in universe and the meta narrative, he was just written as...morally gray? With more of a focus on "this is a shitty situation where no decision is good" rather than having Optimus just be some sort of white guilt stand-in of how oh, he's a Prime so that means the most important part of his legacy is how Cybertronians are awful and he's no better than the other ones etc.

Like Barber doesn't write Optimus as EVIL or in a way where he's unilaterally condemned as a person who did more harm than good, it's just imo the vibes of the story is more of a dark political/war story where no person is clean and there's no solution to the war that doesn't involve moral compromise. Instead Optimus is forced to make these moral compromises but then everyone else in the story loses their absolute shit and immediately starts calling him a tyrant or a fascist or something.

Like idk, it was partially an issue of the set-up. Because for one, it was really hard to take it seriously when the humans went "omg he's annexing Earth the Autobots were literally the colonizers all along!" (I think the dialogue was written almost exactly like that too sjdjsidn, so bad dialogue was also another issue) yet were perfectly fine working with the Decepticons led by 1. Soundwave who personally helped execute the attempted invasion of Earth and 2. Galvatron who constantly talks about wanting to kill these puny organics. I feel like I would've been able to take humanity's fears of being colonized again more seriously if like, they hadn't literally teamed up with The Colonizer Faction just bc Soundwave promised they were good guys again. So really it's just execution + plot holes + bad dialogue.

And another thing about the annexing of Earth specifically that I wish got talked about more (mostly by the fandom more than in universe) is that like. Basically the reason Optimus did that was because the neo-Decepticons were planning to invade Earth again, but since he's not actually a formal political leader any more he has no power to actually force a war to stop them/request military back up. But also, Starscream didn't give a shit about Earth and neither did the Council of Worlds, so appealing to the government for help defending humanity wouldn't work either. So Optimus annexing Earth was an absolute clusterfuck yes, but in a way it was also kind of a shrewd political move to force Cybertron to dedicate a spot in the government for humans and thus grant humans a say on Cybertronian politics.

What I mean is that in a story/with an author like that of GOT, where the setting is grimmer and every character is morally ambiguous, I feel like Optimus would've had way more room to be an interesting and compelling character. Bc then instead of the story immediately screaming "ALL HAIL OPTIMUS DID YOU KNOW OP ANNEXING EARTH TO THE COUNCIL IS BASICALLY THE SAME AS MEGATRON ATTEMPTING TO GENOCIDE EARTH," Optimus could have been played around with more as a political figure making the shitty decisions in an effort to stop another genocide. Instead of just unilaterally condemning Optimus and immediately comparing him to fucking Megatron of all people, there could've been more focus on the politics of it with maybe some sort of theme of how "being a leader in war is an inherently unethical position where every decision you make will lead to death/conflict/hate."

Like idk I just think it would've been more interesting if the narrative spent less time going "zomg Optimus is totally a tyrant now" and instead went all in on exploring the political conflicts and how far politicians (Optimus now being one, since he's declaring wars and forcefully acting as an ambassador that no one asked for) can go on manipulation and forcing people's hands for the sake of an ultimately good cause. I mean, Windblade was doing shit like covering up for Chromia who killed people in a bombing, making backdoor deals with Starscream, and conspiring with Optimus to bypass Starscream/overthrow him as Cybertron's ruler somehow. The difference of course is that Windblade and exRID were written by two different authors with genre/thematic differences, but as a reader it is really disappointing to see two different political narratives where "a hero turned politician turning to morally gray/unethical methods to outmaneuver a deadly opponent" is treated as clever and heroic for one character, but tyrannical and worthy of ostracization of another character.

Like for God's sake this narrative where Optimus gets lambasted at every turn sometimes by people who work with/are literal tyrants/terrorists themselves is so fucking exhausting. I'd rather read a story that focused more on the idea of, well what Optimus did was unethical but on a political level it was actually advantageous in several ways. Then you could write a story that really dives into a view of like, idk... Does power inherently corrupt or is it just situations like war that allow leaders to seize power and become tyrannical? Are politics an inherently dirty field where the only way to beat your competition (and secure a decent future for the nation) is to become underhanded and manipulative yourself? Is it okay to bypass or work against rightfully elected officials when those officials are turning a blind eye to things like war and invasions and historic racism?

ExRID did somewhat touch on these themes to be fair, but I feel like in Optimus' case they were either poorly executed or just thrown away in favor of having every other character talk shit about him and how he's the worst person ever. Bc like goddammit, I do think Optimus' polarizing and sometimes bad decisions as a character DO make him skirt on the edge of tyranny and shouldn't be downplayed, but on the other hand, I feel like no one (fandom or in-universe) ever tangles with the OTHER side of the story, which is just... Would it have been unethical for Optimus to NOT have done anything? Cybertronians literally put a colony on Earth, injected Earth with alien technology and sleeper agents, used Earth as an incubating ground for dangerous elements like Ore-13, invaded Earth and killed 1 billion people-- after all the shit Cybertron did to Earth, is it not fair (even morally obligated) for Cybertronians to clean up their shit and help Earth defend itself against a crisis that Cybertronians caused? And if Cybertron's government/the individuals within are racist enough that they don't care about Earth, don't see it as their problem, and don't even see human life as meaningful since they don't live that wrong anyways... is it not, in a way, a good thing for Optimus to have overstepped his authority and forced diplomatic relationships between the two planets? So that humans had an actual political channel to go "fuck you, we're in your Council so you'd better ally with us" and so that Cybertron would be forced to go "welp can't write off these humans as Not Our Problem, guess we have to help them." Doesn't forcing Earth to be part of the Council in a way legitimize Optimus' fight to help Earth, since without a formal political office he's just a rogue general fighting an unauthorized war, but with the government involved, defending Earth now becomes a politically sanctioned act?

Like idk. I guess exRID and OP did get into some of this stuff, but as a whole it felt like the story underutilized its political elements and got bogged down in shit like pointless crossovers, and constantly pausing the narrative to have Side Character #2847 talk about how Optimus is a fascist, and having Optimus go on white guilt-esque monologues about how maybe all Cybertronians should die and are unworthy/unable to ever have a peaceful society because their society colonized other planets.

Just so much wasted potential honestly. ExRID/OP as written felt like it was going way too hard into "omg Cybertronians bad and Optimus is actually a tyrant" instead of just writing a complex story and letting readers come to their own conclusions. And also lambasting Optimus for doing things that other characters did (or characters who did even worse things), but letting those characters exist in peace while Optimus has to just be some allegory for colonialism that has to be torn down at every turn because that's Deep and Intellectual.

I just like the kinds of stories about politics that play around with the ethics of it all, like, "this politician is a shitty person but their policies actually prevented some sort of disaster from happening" or "this person did something illegal and defied the law but they did it because no one else was doing anything" or even "everyone hates this person for forcing them into a political deal they didn't want to be involved in, but the fact that they were all forced to become allies actually allowed them to cooperate and save themselves in a way they wouldn't have been able to alone" (which is pretty much literally how the annexing of Earth ended up going).

Like man I don't want to sit here being lectured/having my favorite character be lectured about how much tyranny is bad. I want my favorite character to do shitty things and then go "whoa that was shitty...but also kind of smart...but also caused a lot of problems...but also solved some other problems that could've turned awful if he hadn't forcefully resolved them."

#squiggposting #idw op love #it's less like i want OP to be framed as sympathetic or good and more like.... #'yeah what he did was fucked up but it was also in many ways a good option' #like i wish we'd gotten a more politically interesting story where the goods and bads were explored #instead of it being almost unilaterally the characters all gasping and screaming any time OP #does something morally gray. even tho the entire universe is morally gray and he' #isnt even close to the worst person or political leader in it #like idk what it really comes down to is that a lot of the story felt more like #it was trying to make OP some embodiment of colonialism and how everything bad is on his shoulders #regardless of his personal actions just bc he' #s prime. it feels like it was some weird white guilt allegory pasted onto robots #instead of just writing a cool story about politics and moral grayness and how far one can go #before morally gray means turn into morally gray ends #i feel like under a different writer the story couldve been way more interesting #and it couldve even kept OP's whole tyranny arc thing but just been more well written #treating him as a character who MAY HAVE HAD POINTS ABOUT SOME THINGS #AND MIGHTVE BEEN THE ONLY PERSON WHO GAVE A DAMN ABOUT HUMANITY #AND CLEANING UP THE MISTAKES CYBERTRON CREATED THAT HARMED HUMANS TO THIS DAY #but nah instead of just letting OP's moral grayness stand on its own for reader to judge #he had to literally write in characters going 'zomg the Bots were the colonizers all along' #'[OP's leadership] is LITERALLY FASCISM' (actual dialogue btw) #ppl going surprisepika when OP decides to just kill the genocidal asshole from the golden age #like goddamn could you let OP breathe and be allowed to be morally gray #w/o having the whole story exist to make him some white guilt colonialism allegory that all the other characters scream at

[broodygaming]

rewatching she-ra again while I draw and and and omfg

In S5 when Wrong Hordak (never not funny) asks Entrapta about her "facial tic" and she IMMEDIATELY just explains to him what it is - a wink - what it's called and how it's used and THEN gives him encouragement to try it out so he understands it better and feels more confident??

My. Fucking. Heart. neurodivergent ppl looking out for neurodivergent ppl and showcasing EXACTLY how to just not be a dick to people who don't get social cues. It's not our fault. It's not personal. It's not us trying to be difficult. We just don't get it. Explain it, give an example, a safe place to practice it and boom, logged and loaded.

#she ra and the princesses of power #spop #things that make me feel feral in a good way : entrapta #gods i adore her #her smile in the opening credits make me giddy and grin EVERY single time I see it and ive seen it literally hundreds of times haha #I think the way entrapta is “treated” is actually really well done cuz it's realistic and the payoff is earned #they have to learn to understand her and she also has to learn how to not step on feelings as much #both parties do bad things and work towards one another #ya know? Like im glad she's like... not some innocent flower who can do no harm #girls harmed haha girls harmed a LOT in fact #and in many ways the others are justified in being frustrated with her #and the resolution that's 90% just communication issues is SO GOODDDDDD #cuz it's NEVER been that Entrapta just doesn't care - she does! She has almost 0 tools to express that care and walls herself off instead #and the princess' help her break down those walls and build doors and windows #one painful brick at a time #GIRL same

[hella1975]

im so easy when it comes to immoral characters like okay do you bear your pain terribly? get behind me

#fandom is looking at a traumatised guy and going 'they deserved better' #but let me fucking TELL you if that guy goes on to let their trauma absolutely mutilate them then im gonna be there #bad victims etc etc #bear it terribly. bear it ugly and mean. bear it with your teeth stained by innocents that had nothing to do with the slaughter #let it make you worse. lash out. kick down. become the terrible thing #im defending that guy until the end of time #touya todoroki #andrew minyard #touya is the closest anyone has come to andrew in a very long time for me when it comes to this #like andrew is THEE baseline of this ive never seen anything like the way he does it #he was treated terribly and it made him terrible. shamelessly. he took the bad thing and decided to be worse for it #and while it's unsustainable in a person it's so fucking cathartic for a reader to just see that happening despite the tragedy of it #it's touya stood over his abuser and ripping his world apart with his bare hands while laughing #because he spent 10 years in hell for this moment. this single moment. and the audience and the characters call him a monster #it's andrew threatening his own cousin at knifepoint to defend a stranger's integrity simply because that is one of andrew's lines #and you do not cross them. no one ever will again. and the audience and the characters call him a monster #it's watching people who were treated awfully refuse to swallow that pain. refuse to forgive. refuse to move on #it's watching them embrace the wreckage of it and self-destruct either in one glorious explosion or gradually over years #because they are willingly choosing to live this way instead of getting over it. they are rejecting healing with their eyes open #because they were hurt so badly that healing now seems like a denial of that pain #and then u get to read fanfiction where they heal and are acknowledged for what they suffered and u cry and cry and cry <3

[pharawee]

I won't leave you. You're not alone, Name. You have me [...].

» BONUS:

Mom. I feel sorry for Name.

#remember me #remember me the series #emname #title teshin #man supakrit #remembermeedit #thai bl #thai drama #bl drama #bl series #my edits. #i'm still trying to wrap my head around the 'helping you overcome your fears' thing #and the whole apology for the girl who called name 'mute' felt like an excuse #(but to be fair I think in the ov em told the girl name 'didn't speak' instead of being 'quiet') #(so calling him 'your mute friend' probably was said in carelessness rather than with malicious intent) #(which doesn't change how it was received but at least she apologised by proxy i guess) #i'm also a bit 🫤 about em suddenly spending all of his time with name again like nothing happened #but sometimes you won't realise what you have until something bad happens so... #but em's still the only one who really gets name #who doesn't treat his inability to speak like it's a flaw #who's always been there to listen #who feels so much for name that he thinks that he's got to be the strong one #oh this better have a happy ending #i want to see name reach out to em for once

[undertheknightwing]

If Jon ever gets powers someone's gonna have to make sure I don't explode because I already almost did finally seeing Jordan's nonsense getting called out after two seasons of Clois looking over it

#if jon should ever get powers now's the time to do so 👏👏 #i know they're trying to say the firestation is jon's thing but sorry i'm not feeling it #powers would be perfect for him #the selfless caring person who loves helping others clark thought jordan would become jon already is! #all i've seen from the fire station is that.. again.. it's another toxic environment for jon to be a part of #especially with kyle in charge #like maybe i'm just over sensitive but kyle telling jon to not to go to parents but to him instead?? fucking ew?? #made me very uncomfortable #no jon please go to your parents when the ADULTS are treating you bad/weird #kyle has no right to tell jon he can't go to his parents even if it's about kyle himself #gross gross gross #superman and lois #jonathan kent