May I present: Leda and the Swan Princess! It's based on this post about a swan princess who refuses to go quietly in obscurity when cursed. (If you liked this one you will probably also like my other comics which you can find on my pinned post).

If you enjoyed and want to support a queer art student, you can tip me over on my Ko-fi! Tips help me out dramatically while I'm still in school!

im so disappointed and proud of this fandom i came across this on Instagram and like 95% of the comments were saying the exact same thing💀💀

*slow clap*

Because I'm particularly annoyed: To everyone within the LGBT+ and ships involving them circles, get this through your goddamn head. RWBY the "little" anime-inspired web show that:

subverts sexist and homophobic tropes from that inspiration

has a deep & mature story

respects its femme characters

that has had morons saying it was baiting for years

has a married wlw couple w/ child; 2 confirmed lesbian characters; 2 mlm characters in the novels; a bi MC (VA'd by a bi femme)/a sapphic MC (VA'd by an "on the spectrum" femme)/ and together a wlw MC pair; a trans character that isn't a joke

THAT show DELIVERED one of the most normalized via being treated no different to its hetero sibling ships, being within a non-world of gay, and not being spotlighted; well-developed; well-earned; 10 year steady slowburned; and mature CANON wlw romances around. That including having a bi character that feels bi not a lesbian character w/ a bi sticker slapped on cause not only does she have guys w/ feelings towards her as well as a former male romantic partner, but also has a femme w/ feelings towards her as well as a current femme partner in a non-world of gay.

Get the fuck over this notion of "oh that's just RWBY" in a head-up-ones-own-ass obnoxious manner. Before it was the goddamn "well BB isn't confirmed, its just been hinted/teased" even with the show making it fucking blatantly clear it was happening, including soft-canonizing it via a character directly bringing up the mutual romantic feelings going on between the two tying it to her own ones towards the other part of the sibling hetero pair of the show. Now after its been given one of the best most beautifully done scenes in the entire show w/ a goddamn song written by an LGBT+ artist and sung by both them & another LGBT+ femme to canonize them; its STILL being treated/view like its both bait/non-canon and/or lesser than other pairs. Its especially fucking rich when I know some people who'd sing the praises of Warrior Nun and Avatrice, which is in the same goddamn vein as RWBY and BB with both being great ships and shows. If anyone tried to pull this shit with that show & that pairing, you'd get your damn ass torn apart and you know it; but RWBY isn't given that same respect. Caitvi/Violyn (Arcane) gets more damn respect and technically speaking its not even fucking canon yet, its still in the phase that either v4-7 BB was at. Where its been heavily implied & teased to the point of me going with it as soft-canon, yet not a damn soul would scoff at it being mentioned within LGBT+ ships. But once again RWBY is different.

Those that pull this shit are:

the shit-for-brains know-nothings that either want to shit on the show because of their own hoity-toity its too below us bullshit or haven't bothered to actually watch the damn show

the bigoted incel pieces of shit that just don't support LGBT+ yet infest our spaces;

the antis that don't care what was built up, they're salty bitches that just can't stand their pair didn't happen

the entitled ass LGBT+ that think all LGBT+ should be rushed, spotlighted at the center of the story, and aimed at an LGBT+ audience instead of normalized for a general audience.

So if you're going to thumb your nose at the show and its rep, then fuck you and go fuck your damn self. You're no damn better than the incels and chuds. And don't even think to reach for any LGBT+ cards cause I've got my own one. They're canon and they're great get that through your fucking heads, that little web show fucking delivered. Don't like it? Fine, I don't really care. But don't you fucking dare thumb your damn nose at it and not expect to get dragged over the damn coals by me.

I mean, either option could be narratively interesting? Summer as a paragon has haunted the entire narrative so far, so just, toppling that entirely would certainly be a subversion.

Granted, *that* outcome presupposes that Salem remains the Big Bad, which would be terribly disappointing, so I vastly prefer the notion that whatever Summer learns is enough to make her, with all her attributed goodness, choose to work with Salem.

i think people who treat summer joining salem as synonymous with ‘summer is BAD and EVIL’ are cowards actually

the central conceit, the essential idea that makes it compelling, is that “she was always the best of us” is true; that summer rose was and is the kind of person who could look into the face of someone she’d been led to believe was a soulless, inhuman monster, the root of all evil in the world, and see a person, and want to help her. that summer rose was and is the true ideal of what a huntress is supposed to be—compassionate, righteous, honorable, merciful, someone who stands to defend those who cannot defend themselves—and that is why she joined salem.

because the divine plan is horrific and once she learned the truth, she could not return home to be complicit in upholding it. she had to do the right thing.

summer rose is not a cautionary tale or a victim or a monster or a tragedy or a fallen hero; she is the answer. how do you stop salem? you help her.

It SHOULD be, but the CFVY novels were cowardice.

i would like to see a crosshares bumbleby double date in vacuo. even just like an in-show implication or something like the bees date at the club in atlas

"It's a story about four young women dealing with life, romance, racism, abusive pasts, and finding their way in a world being destroyed by fairy tale nightmare monsters."

what do you guys say when people ask what show your rwby pins/merch is from? i usually go with "RWBY with a W" but then they ask what it's about or what it's like and I just. it's uh there's fighting and cool weapons um and a good plot . it's good. oh and good music! yeah !! yeah um. yeah we can't pronounce the W either haha. yeah it's been my favorite show since I was 12. yeah i still can't describe it better than this. is it anime? oh boy

...it's almost like most of the characters in RWBY are just people who got dealt a shitty hand one way or another, reacted imperfectly, and have to deal with the consequences of that.

It's fucking wild how few people can't think beyond 'paragon or villain', perfect or horrible.

Well that was certainly a take I just saw.

Someone complained that we hate Tai because he "hurt our blorbos"

And yeah, props for at least realizing that Tai did and is still hurting Ruby and Yang and that we do have sympathy for the children over the neglectful adult.

I kinda thought that was what decent people were supposed to do?

Snowfall comm for @fadedneonzzz big treat for me

Cat incubating eggs and raising chicks

(Source)

Extra win: canonize Crosshares!

i would like to see a crosshares bumbleby double date in vacuo. even just like an in-show implication or something like the bees date at the club in atlas

Early 1900s anti-suffragette poster

I feel like people miss the point of the "war is bad" message

What it's supposed to mean is that war is terrible, it's destructive, it ruins lives, it leaves scars, and you should only partake in it when there are no other options, because even if you win, even if you survive, you will not be the same, which is why the phrase used to be more commonly known as "war is hell"

But "war is bad" seems to have been construed by people in fandom into "any fighting is bad, if you fight you're morally terrible and impure, you should not fight at all, no matter what", this is annoying in fandom, as it often misses the point fiction is trying to make, but what's worrisome is when people apply this to real life, as I have seen people do regarding russia's invasion of Ukraine

And that's almost never the point of "War is Bad" works

Works like Lord of the Rings, Avatar The Last Airbender, Transformers, The Clone Wars, Halo (especially Reach), etc all have themes on how horrible war is, but they categorically do not say it is wrong to fight, what they say is usually along the lines of "war is terrible, and what makes it so terrible is that we have no choice but to fight, it would be ideal if we didn't have to fight at all, but we must fight, because not fighting is not an option, because not fighting, not opposing tyranny, conquest, and evil only allows those things to exist unimpeded"

Additionally, when it comes to Tai, consider how much hurt Yang might be suppressing in order to not let it rub off on Ruby. Pretending to be happy and suffering her resentment invisibly so Ruby can have a better relationship with her dad is absolutely something she would do.

So, I wanna tackle this "resentment" angle, in a general "Does Yang actually express trauma via resentment as outlined in a recent debate regarding her feelings about Tai's parenting. IE, the claim is that when Yang is traumatized she is prone to resentment, leading to sniping, anger and shouting.

Long story short, Yang does sometimes response to trauma & hurt with some degree of anger. However it is far from universal or her default, instead it is extremely situational. In all instance I've seen of Yang responding to trauma in such a manner there were two elements in common:

1: The pain was recent - Blake abandoned her recently, she lost her arm recently, Ozpin lied recently, ETC.

After she had sufficient time to process the pain and trauma however, Yang's responses tend to be more a quiet resigned state. Such as when the prosthetic came, or when she discussed Raven leaving her, or when discussing having to hold the family together alone.

2: The anger is a defense mechanism - Yang can be angry its one of my favorite things about her, but her anger is situational & in control.

She gets frustrated and overwhelmed in the Emerald Forest, lets her anger out to blow off steam & calms down. She gets angry when Blake is endangering herself but only uses enough strength to make her point then hugs her. She's angry when Weiss is hurt but she still fights strategically by destroying the ground so Neon can't skate & turning Flynt's weapon on him.

These are trends that continue through the course of the series.

When Yang is used to a sort of pain or grappling with trauma she is generally just quietly sad about and rarely all that expressive unless forced to be or overwhelmed.

She kept a smile on her face in V8 even as she was grappling with the idea Summer had been mutilated into a Grimm monster until Ruby's ow defensive anger forced her to break the mask.

The times she uses anger are because the hurt is very recent or someone is actively stamping on her trauma; like Raven did in the tent. It is a defense mechanism against pain she hasn't fully processed.

Conclusion:

So, in that regard & with that in mind, I don't think Yang not expressing overt resentment of Tai indicates much of anything about their relationship.

Its well established Yang tries to cover for her anxieties by adopting a cheerful façade and to keep others happy. & that in most cases, when she is dealing with trauma, especially longstanding trauma, she's usually resigned and sad about it rather than bubbling with resentment and snark.

So no, I don't believe Yang having to keep the family together and her ensuing parentification was a brief period, long since dealt with. (Ruby outright says Yang raised her) If anything it seems that she has just accepted the situation for what it is because what else can she do?

Blake: *arriving at Beacon* I don’t want to look for love right now… but if I did, I suppose… I would like someone who is nice, handsome, maybe dashing, like in those books… but that’s stupid, I could never find-

Yang: *flies through the air hollering with joy before knocking a lamppost over and face-planting on the pavement* NAILED IT!

Blake: That one. I want that one.

in my head the star wars equivalent of tswift is some human woman named tay’lor spiff or something and her stans are losing their minds over theories that she’s secretly a jedi singing about the horrors of war, even though she’s from a neutral system that hasn’t seen so much as a moral panic in 50 years