#ken muses

[johannestevans]

Patriarchy does damage to us all, and Barbie (2023, dir. Greta Gerwig) clearly depicts that.

We went to see Greta Gerwig’s Barbie at the weekend and I was honestly surprised by how much I engaged with it — it’s a fun, entertaining flick, but where it really took me by surprise is in the three-dimensionality and nuance it applied to the male-female divide in the film, and especially the care it extends to its male characters.

As a gay man and especially as a trans one, I’m often left a little cold when it comes to some films’ explorations of gender dynamics — they often end up simplifying gender roles to a simple binary where men and women exist as homogenous blocks of society, assuming all men are masculine, all women are feminine, and assuming that all of them are cis and straight.

Barbie is refreshing for a few reasons — there aren’t many films where the titular female character proudly proclaims she hasn’t got a vagina — but one thing that really stood out to me was the variety in the male characters and the way that the film really criticises patriarchy whilst realising the ways in which patriarchy harms men in similar ways that it does women.

I honestly felt pretty seen and reflected in the character of Allan, who exists very much outside the expectations the cishet Kens project onto one another, and although the film doesn’t deeply explore queer relationships beyond the blatant gay vibes between Barbie and Gloria, it’s really unusual to see so many queer-coded characters in a film like this, particularly so many male ones.

Ken is kissed on the cheeks by his fellow Kens; there are multiple Kens with queer vibes; two of the businessmen hold hands as they run after Barbie. In general, the film doesn’t hold its male characters to the same stringent expectations of cishet masculinity so many films do — and there’s an inherent play with every male character’s gender in this film.

You get the sense watching it that part of the wonder of the world is that it exists in the minds of the kids playing with it, that it’s not yet tainted by the often obsessive focus many cishet adults have with binary gender roles.

Especially as a kid growing up, knowing I was different, knowing that I didn’t conform as certain adults wanted me to with strict gender roles as imposed on girls — or even boys — I was always aware that sometimes I or other kids would be playing with dolls and action figures, and adults would interrupt effectively to panic that we weren’t being strict enough about those toys’ imaginary genders.

The plot as it plays out in Barbie, larger than life as it is, feels similar to that process, funnily enough.

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon

#musings #barbie #barbie 2023 #stereotypical ken #allan barbie

[ride-a-dromedary]

You know, I was kinda robbed of a Halsin and Minthara surface enemies to tentative alliance under the player character arc, and that the two of them will likely never see fully eye to eye on anything, and primarily seem like complete opposites of one another, but fundamentally they are both born of tragedy and shaped by a robbery of agency and loss, and their similarities ghost begrudgingly in and out even as their differences scream the loudest - Son of the Sun and Daughter of Darkness and all that.

And they both think Baldur's Gate is the pits so they could have just been mad about that together.

#neutral good and neutral evil alliance my beloved #BG3 Musing #i am thinking about that one line of minthara at the portal that is buried in the data files - a whisper of something that could have been #i get why it isn't HOWEVER #i was talking to ken about this the other day and tbh i keep thinking about it #two local hermits hate the city #also this is grossly simplified i know and the chances are maybe they would have just been at each other's throats #and tbh i don't trust larian's writing team - they drop the ball a lot in these sorts of scenarios #EDIT: As evidenced by recent data mining #HOWEVER COMMA....i can dream of actually good complexity that doesn't deface either character

[thatsrightice]

Lemmens finds out one of his crew can’t read very well, so he decides to introduce him to Crosby. Croz was a nice guy, very gentle and not at all intimidating, especially to a massive grounds crew worker. And before the war he was in a masters program studying literature with the hopes of becoming a professor.

Crosby is more than willing to help, pretty excited to help by doing something he knew he was actually pretty good at. Not to mention that he knew what it felt like to feel embarrassed and incompetent at something, so he knew exactly what to say and do to encourage the man.

They don’t have lessons often with how both of their schedules are irregular, so sometimes Crosby comes out to the hardstand and when he gets a break they quick do a lesson. Crosby loans him some books to read in the meantime like “Of Mice and Men” and is ecstatic to hear how much he liked it.

He’s not the only guy who struggles with reading and brings a couple friends one day, who bring a couple of their own friends, and so on until there’s a mini classroom outdoors during their breaks fixing planes. Sometimes Crosby just reads out loud for a while, the men occasionally interrupting to ask what a word means.

#someone write this please 🙏 #Croz was a masters student in literature before the war #‘you’re a lot smarter than I thought croz’ like what??? #people think he’s dumb and ditzy but like he’s actually a genius #in real life he was literally known to be ‘borderline genius’ but was incredibly humble about it #prob doesn’t want to get bullied more than he already does #masters of the air #mota #Harry Crosby #ken lemmons #mota musings

[quillheel]

then! with that! consider this an inbox / sentence starter call for any of my new persona 3 muses added! ( makoto, akihido, shinjiro, shuji/chairman, hidetoshi, kazushi and ken - remember to specify which of your muses it's for in the replies! additionally, if you do not specify one of my own muses, then I will choose at random! )

#note: i am early september in p3 rn; so these will all be pretty early-ish game! #i will also be doing these after i wake up later bc. i have not slept! oops!!! it shall be queued though! #p3 // #━ ♔ your slightly mad sea-captain : ooc. #━ ♔ blooming forth in every color : prompts. #━ ♔ proof you were not the ghost : open starters. #MUSE / Akihiko Sanada #MUSE / Shinjiro Aragaki #MUSE / Makoto Yuki #MUSE / Shuji Ikutsuki #MUSE / Hidetoshi Odagiri #MUSE / Kazushi Miyamoto #CALLS / Makoto Yuki #CALLS / Shinjiro Aragaki #CALLS / Akihiko Sanada #CALLS / Shuji Ikutsuki #CALLS / Hidetoshi Odagiri #CALLS / Kazushi Miyamoto #MUSE / Ken Amada #CALLS / Ken Amada

[arrow-tied-messages]

a bit silly, but honestly Pino crashing the submarine on the beach is just soo funny to me. probably due to everything being so tense at that point of the game and then suddenly that happens 😅😂(plus Gemini's little quip afterwards).

like Ah yes, Geppetto's puppet, clever one, bello, he can do many things, and operating a submarine with no instructions or prior experience is one of them. his docking skills? ...questionable! But what matters is he'll make it to the destination

#he could be the barbie of krat if he wanted to and have 700 different careers #i would gladly be his supportive ken #silly thoughts #character musings #lies of p #lop spoilers #lies of p spoilers

[paulagnewart]

Sonic the Oz-Hog Act 4/12: Knux Readux!

Knuckles the Echidna Volume 2 issue 1 AU Publication Date: 14th April 1997 Price: $2.70

Spinoffs. No self-respecting media can live with them. No self-aggrandising media can live without them. And for those of us who lived through the space year that was 1997, corporations were chomping at the bit for a slice of those sweet spinoff dollarydoos.

Best place to start and witness such influence would be, arguably, the cinema. After Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster remake Romeo + Juliet spent weeks atop the box office, the majority of March was a bitter struggle between Wes Craven's thriller Scream and Cameron Crowe's football drama Jerry Maguire. A fascinating if ultimately pointless grudge match between two distinct genres. For all their efforts, neither claimed victory when by month's end, a film 20 years their senior blasted both off the map. The Star Wars Special Editions had arrived.

The promotion (and merchandise deals) was huge. A New Hope proved an instant hit, swiftly followed on 10th April by The Empire Strikes Back. Everything old was new again, and the re-hits just kept coming. Audiences pounded the pavements, eager to revisit Jurassic Park when its sequel The Lost World saw release on 29th May (only a week after its US premiere, a then-impressive feat). Superhero buffs ignored the winter freeze to watch Batman and Robin on 26th June, a film often lauded yet pulled respectable numbers and local reviews at the time.

Speaking of space, following a successful campaign through latter 1996, the Oddbodz were back. Smith's Chips and Glow Zone launched their second series of 61 collectable glow-in-the-dark cards featuring a myriad of wacky, wicked and occasionally controversial space-themed characters. If gross-out humour wasn't your speed, ripping into packs of Thins, Ruffles, Cheetos or Doritos chips instead offered adventures in a galaxy far far away with official Star Wars 3D Magic Motion and Techno Tazos.

After the toyline's initial launch in January, Beast Wars had successfully put Transformers back on the map, though kids would have to wait at least three more months to see their favourite characters in animated action. To Channel 7's credit, they at least gave the program a decent timeslot. More than can be said for Channel 9's decision that April to broadcast the all-new Star Trek: Voyager season 2 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4 at the ghastly time of 11pm weeknights.

In spite of the former losing 30 minutes off its timeslot, the rivalry between weekday morning children's entertainment continued between Agro's Cartoon Connection and Cheez TV. Both were banking on the spinoff craze, and viewers waking up 14th April could choose between the premiere of Power Rangers Zeo episode 'Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise', or the premiere of Earthworm Jim episode 'Darwin's Nightmare'. For the musically inclined, American rockers No Doubt had enjoyed 8 weeks atop the music charts with the third single on their third album, 'Don't Speak'. At least until April saw them bumped off by Aussie pop prodigy Savage Garden and their third single 'Truly Madly Deeply'.

But of all the spinoffs to arise and bedazzle locals, after three years of development and an exclusive preview party the night prior, SEGA World Sydney opened its doors at 4pm on Saturday 22nd March 1997. Touted in print and on TV as "Australia's Largest Indoor Theme Park!", it offered hours of unrivalled entertainment and programs for Sydneysiders and visitors alike. Anyone who could afford its hefty entry fee lost themselves in all the games and rides they could handle (except Mortal Kombat, which was pulled last-minute). An escape into pixilated fantasy guaranteed to forget their real-world troubles for several hours. Mundane adult things like Victoria and Western Australia's brief yet brutal summer bushfire seasons where 3 lives and some 59 homes were lost. Or how after one year into the top job, captain conservative John Howard faced international anger over comments at the United Nations General Assembly, and local anger over casual dismissing threats by extreme right-wing rival Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

Be it stage shows, costumed cameos and all types of merchandise featuring their antics, fans of Sonic, Tails, Sally and Robotnik were in paradise. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for a fifth member of the cast. For someone who enjoyed strong popularity and a species originating right there, SEGA World put the bare minimum effort into giving Knuckles the Echidna his own time to shine. A remarkable oversight undoubtedly leaving young fans wondering where that embattled echidna was hiding. As luck would soon have it, they needn't look far.

Nestled comfortably among the shelves between Sonic issues 45 and 46 came Knuckles: The Dark Legion. Sales had proven strong enough (or at least stronger than Tails and Sally's comics) to warrant the development of a second miniseries. Exciting in its own right, only amplified when exclusively announced through AOL in January 1997 it would evolve to a fully-fledged ongoing spinoff. No longer was trotting off to the newsagents exclusively a Friday end-of-month treat. Knuckles' arrival meant a mandatory Monday mid-month booster for us deprived of Mobian adventures.

Over the course of its 32 issue run, Knuckles the Echidna was, much like Endgame two months later, once praised as a pinnacle of Archie Sonic. Fans adored the series, giving ol' Rad Red his own unique mythos and adventures. While Sonic naffed around aimlessly in a post-Robotnik world, we saw Knuckles as the cool, 'mature' comic. He had stakes. He had drama. Quite a turnaround after the heavy criticism its writer took in late 1996 over Sally's leaked demise. Within months he was described as "a kewl writer!", or "one of the ONLY "good" and "balanced" writers Archie has", or how they're "so much better then sonic comics now its not funny." with "all the good villains and family members." Fans swarmed en mass to his WWWBoard, creating their own stories, characters and entire websites tied to the Brotherhood and Dark Legion. Not everyone agreed on the book's mission statement "Why does everybody liek it so much? All it is really is a bunch of Penders' characters running around with slight appearacnes by Chaotix and occasionally knuckles himself.", but it made a lot of other people happy. Enough for both The Dark Legion and Lost Paradise reissued as 'back catalogue' orders to selected comic book stores in late 2004.

And just like Endgame, those nostalgic memories have since dissipated when adults reflected on his tales with matured, scrutinous eyes. We grow. We learn. We reevaluate on what was once adored as adolescents, realising perhaps those good times weren't all that good. Maybe the series and characters were fine in concept but lacked competent execution. Maybe our childish expectations meant they were never good to begin with and the critics were right all along.

The youthful, creative glory days from the late-90's to mid-2000's of Knuckles of an Echidna, Kragok Comics, Echidna Gals, Dark Legion HQ, Echidnapolis, Knux Redux, Tisha-Li's Dark Legion Camp, Kensuke Aida's Julie-Su Shrine, Echidnoyle, Shattered Moonlight, Knuckles 9000, Kiri Megami's Chaotix Hideout, Darkest Mysteries, and of course True Red's mighty Knuckles Haven have long passed.

It's from learning said past our futures are forged, but do any of these characters have a future? Do they even deserve a future?

Or maybe it's just best they're all forever banished to the Twilight Zone of cultural irrelevance.

Next Time: For years I said it wouldn't be done. Yet promises, like the hearts and cheekbones of fictitious rodents, were made to be broken. Will May's hedgie rectrospect-y truly be worthy of such hate? Or have revisionists painted a far worse picture over the past two decades?

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#Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Sonic the Hedgehog Comics #Archie Comics #Comic Books #Ken Penders #Manny Galan #Andrew Pepoy #Jeff Powell #Karl Bollers #Justin Gabrie #Knuckles the Echidna #Echidna #Dark Legion #Australia #1997 #Musings

[jxgi]

(( ive been so swamped lately but found enough time to draw some jagi smh ))

#jagi #hnk #hokuto no ken #fist of the north star #love his dumbass #(munart) #(muse)

[apollos-boyfriend]

Shoutout to the people finding out about Captain Jordan Sparklez Marin’s illustrious career jump scaring people by being in the most unexpected places. Looking at you, begrudged one percenter Skaterboi friend of Steven Suptic

captainsparklez is kind of like the barbie of mcyt if you really think about it

#muse talk #anon #he’s like if u merged barbie and ken #barbie jobs but ken personality. and i say that in the most loving and supportive way possible

[goldeneragirls]

EUNJI ♡ SERA ‘DOLLS’

#sera #eunji #9muses #nine muses #femaleidolsedit #ggnet #femaleidol #femadolsedit #dazzlingidolsedit #park eunji #ryu sera #goldeneragirls #*ken #gifs

[dreamsofalife]

He's suffering psychic damage. He hasn't vaporized anything all day, or even exploded a single professor.

#cracker barrel street justice (crack tag) #guest muse: ken izumi

[autonomousxselves]

How are you ruined?

ruined by loneliness

you are so lonely. you are miserable in your solitude. you hate that you cannot bring yourself to reach out, to ask for help. you will be forgotten by all who never knew you. your biggest fear is that you will die alone, and you know this fear will be seen to fruition. you refuse to extend yourself beyond the box that others put you in. and it is a box that no one dare come near. you are lonely because you are afraid of yourself.

ruined by fury

you are angry. you are angry and everyone knows it. the fire within you will not die, cannot die. for if it dies, you wont have a reason to burn. your rage simmers close to your chest, it boils near something you wont touch. you are angry because it is easier than anything else. you are angry because you choose it over pain. you are ruined because you cannot feel anything but your own ire.

Tagged by: @epitomees (thanks!!♡)

Tagging: @quillheel, @musesofthesun (Yui perhaps? :3c), @tvstarkuma, @tacitusauxilium, and setting this out like a nice pie on the window to cool for anyone who wants to steal it (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

#masterpiece ;; MEME #muse ;; ryoji mochizuki #muse ;; ken amada #now its big brain time! #both are pretty well fitting but its those last two lines in fury o u c h

[thehuggamugcafe]

I might, might, finally be able to post a teaser for DbD!AU Reaper!Kaneki this evening, if anyone's interested in reading it.

#tokyo ghoul #dead by daylight #ken kaneki #black reaper kaneki #barista's coffee musings

[windmadepoet]

// following digimon muses is dangerous for me

#windmadepoet ooc #// im already rewatching the series and i always have high feelings for ken #// so much to think about when it comes to him #// but i am NOT picking up more muses!

[askrockandfriends]

Open MFT RP: The Search for Goh

"Hey, d-bags, it's Ken here! Y'all enjoying musekaiplex's little MFT tournament? I know I sure am... or at least I would be, but we got us a little situation here! You see, lately, guys on Team Allelitemuses have been struck with various weird instances in their fights that made it harder for them to fight. Batman got his utility belt repeatedly set on fire. Rick came down with a mysterious illness and was portaled to different dimensions randomly in the fight. And now... our pal Raisuke Fukumoto is out there trying not to fucking DIE from a barrage of missiles being shot at him!"

"I talked to Mr. Hollywood about this, and from what he's saying, it looks like our culprit is the fourth Team Allelitemuses member - the biggest asshole on our blog, and my uncle, Goh Yamashita. You remember him - that big, egomaniacal "scientist" that tried to cheat against Razor and had it backfire badly on him. Boy, I tell ya, I damn near pissed myself laughing when Rick pulled that stunt on him! Anyhoo, right now, I'm on the hunt for the culprit, as are Team Allelitemuses members Batman and Rick Sanchez and Raisuke's adorable younger sister Anzu. But we could always use a little extra help! If any of you who ain't fighting right now got a little extra time, maybe you can pitch in! Together, we can find and stop this asshole before he fucks up the whole tournament because of his fragile fucking ego!"

"Hahaha... night-night, Raisuke Fukumoto!" From an unknown location, Goh fires another round of missiles, smiling at his handiwork all the while!

"Kh!" Rock can barely avoid the relentless onslaught of missiles! "At this point, losing this battle might be the least of my worries..."

@tvstarkuma @heroicmultiverse @nxthingtxwn @starredvisions @soulsbetrayed @lawain-dimensional-heroes @strykingback @ancicntforged @mayohigan-orange @dexter-the-inkling-boy @eternalstretchofmuses @thesafaribaggirl-returns @grayfxce @team-vlts @stardustfist @musekaiplex

#open #completely optional however #muse: ken #muse: goh #muse: rock #MFT

[percentstardust]

my muses that are himbos

mickey altieri

chad meeks martin

dewey riley

thor odinson

steve harrington

raiden tanaka

drogon

jacaerys velaryon

elias fitzherbert

danny fenton

ken carson

zed necrodopolous

eugene fitzherbert

mateo ramirez

jaime lannister

han solo

#& head canons ( all ) #& stars that have people names ( aesthetic all ) #AM NOT TAGGING ALL OF THEM RN #my army of himbos #ken is their leader!!!!!! #saved #BEHOLD MY ARMY!!! #muse round up

[tobeblamed]

if dean was a ken, his job would be car

#ooc. #shitposts. #his entire personality would just be car #anyways what kinda barbie/ken would your muses be fellas