my one season 4 complaint is Where The Fuck Was Aneesa

hello hello! i hope you’re doing well :D

i am currently on that saiki k brainrot and was wondering if i could request saiki, aren (okay but like he’s so attractive for what aksjdhgajd), metori, and hairo with an s/o who’s a non-binary afab (assigned female at birth) ballet dancer? (if that’s too specific just a ballet dancer is fine) as a non-binary afab ballet dancer myself (who’s currently on break from ballet) it can get pretty hard and damaging to my mental health and i just need some validation from attractive fictional characters-

thank you! <3

Y o u. Your interaction makes my day 💀 but oml I love this, thank you for requesting! (I 100% agree with your opinions on aren)

And I am so sorry how long this took I've been in a writing block lately-

A/N I heavily recommend trans and nonbinary readers check out

*READER IS AFAB*

Saiki, Aren, Saiko, and Hairo with a Non-Binary Ballet Dancer S/O

♡romantic♡

Saiki Kusuo

He *supposedly* can't go to your practices, because there's too many things that would draw attention to him, but he still makes sure you're OK using clairvoyance, he watches from a distance

However when practice is over he will go over to walk you home with snacks and drinks

If you forget something he quickly pops over when no one is looking and slips it into your bag

He does go to as many of your performances as possible though. He acts like its a pain but he enjoys seeing your hard work pay off. He stays in the back rows, so it might be hard to see him while on stage but he comes up to greet you after the show

He knows it's difficult doing such a binary coded activity, so he offers as much mental help as possible

Placing good affirmations in your thoughts, hanging out with you while you're on a break, and showing interest when you're ready to start again

Aren Kuboyasu

Let's be 100% honest here, he has no idea how tf ballet works, but he knows it's not to be taken lightly and it's a lot of work

He shows up to as many practices as possible, and if he can't he insists on at least walking you to make sure you have everything you need

Is blown away by every single one of your performances, it doesn't matter how you think you did, all he knows is that to him it looked stunning

Brings you your favorite flowers or treats as a congratulations and treats you to dinner after :)

He was a bit confused when you needed to take a break

But upon realizing how strict and traditional ballet can be, he supports you through your break

He's proud of you for making it this far, and prioritizing your mental health

Once again, he doesn't know anything about ballet, but he probably goes on a tangent or 2 about how stupid it was that all your outfits had skirts

If you ever go back to ballet after your break, he makes sure to go to your first practices to make sure you're ok

Saiko Metori

He gives off "took ballet classes as a kid cause it was either that or piano" vibes, so he probably understands your situation more than anyone

He definitely goes to most of your practices to make sure your studio and instructors are at least decent in his eye and is sure to get you nice equipment to prevent discomfort or injuries

He's probably more eager for you to take a break than you are, because he knows it's hard. When you do take a break, he becomes uncharacteristically nice to you

If you're bummed about loosing practice time, or missing the movements or how you felt while by yourself, he has a little studio in his house that you can use

If you just need time to recharge and calm down, he's ready to just chill and hang out with you all you want

Once you're ready to go back, he starts going to practices with you using his former knowledge to keep up. If you're gonna have to partner up with anyone it's going to be him. End of discussion

He usually doesn't like wearing clothes like this, but he'll carry around a sweatshirt with him so you can cover up after practice if you're feeling a bit dysphoric

Hairo Kineshi

Goes to all your practices

Even if he can only show up for 5 minutes because of his own sport practice, he will show up

As a class rep and competitive athlete, he knows that a little encouragement can go a long way, so imagine how far a lot can go!

He just wants you to know you have his support and he thinks you're doing a great job

He makes sure to get seats front and center at all your recitals, he wants to have a clear view of you, and wants you to be able to notice him in the audience

Number one hypeman after you do literally anything!

He knows you're working hard and putting in your effort and there's nothing more admirable than that

However if you need to take a break that's ok too! Breaks are good for you, because it means you'll come back better than ever

Contrary to the others who soften up for you, Hairo stays the same as ever, if anything more enthusiastic. Maybe you need a break from ballet but that just means there's more time to indulge yourself in other interests and time with him

When you're ready to go back, he's thrilled and ready to see you back in action! Nothing makes him happier than seeing you enjoy yourself and seeing all the hard work and dedication paying off and coming to a beautiful resolve

I hope that was OK! Thank you very much for your patience! Please let me know if there's anything I can do to fix it or improve my writing! I did write this at 1 am so theres bound to be a blip or two there 😅

Cartoons Relationships Are Terrible

Back in the day of cartoons, the romantic subplots were simple and yet very heartwarming to see such as 

Katara and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Phineas and Isabella from Phineas and Ferb 

But now, modern cartoons are taking romantic subplots into heavier territories that something that some live-action shows would do. While it does sound interesting that making relationships more realistic and complex but the way that has been written in the previous decade is pretty bad. The writers try to make romance relatable to the audience but fail on doing so such as making likable characters to really cringy and awful people, shoving down our throats of how cute it is and having the romantic subplot more focus than the actual plot.

Adventure Time and Regular Show 

So you must be wondering why I put Adventure Time and Regular Show together instead of separate categories. The thing about these two shows is they used to have bad romantic subplots but as the show progresses, they really did it well and I have to say it did better than most cartoons that failed to do which I’ll talk about later. 

For Adventure Time, Finn and Flame Princess broke up in “Frost and Fire” due to him deceiving her by having FP fight Ice King/Simon Petrikov for his amusement

After their break, he tries to rekindle his romantic feelings for Princess Bubblegum and thinks age is just a number in “Too Old”. However, it doesn’t end up too well that she has people to watch over and that’s when he realized that he really did donk up with Flame Princess. 

Although he apologized to FP in “Earth and Fire” to her it didn’t fully restore their relationship and Finn still had romantic feelings for her and Princess Bubblegum. 

Thankfully, Finn matures in later seasons.

Finn realized it’s better for him to be friends with Princess Bubblegum 

He then fully apologized and realized what he has done wrong to Flame Princess and she tells him that he really matured and hang out by playing guess who and rapping in “Bun Bun” 

and Princess Bubblegum, and Marceline. They both finally reconcile at the end of “Varmints” and start to hang out more which develops their relationship from being platonic to romance.

For Regular Show, in “Steak Me Amadeus' ' Mordecai asked Margaret to be his girlfriend and although she would like that, she can’t because she got accepted into college which broke his heart.

It didn’t last when he’s been reunited with CJ in “New Years Kiss”. 

As the show progresses, the two become a couple but then things get complicated when Margret returns. It made things awkward between CJ, Mordecai, and Marget like CJ always gets jealous and runs away when she sees Mordecai and Margret together. 

By the end of season 6, he dumps CJ in front of everyone in Muscle Man's wedding. 

Like Adventure Time, Mordecai and Margret hangout and realized they should stay as friends in “Just Friends” 

While Eileen and Rigby become a couple. 

Now it’s time to talk about other cartoons shows and their romantic subplot problem  

Steven Universe 

Steven Universe relationships can sometimes be well written but most of the time can handle poorly.

Such as Lars and Sadie were starting to develop their relationship in “Joking Victim” however it repeats itself throughout three seasons until the end of season 4 where Lars develops. Then there’s Sadie trapping him and Steven on the island in “Island Adventure” so he won’t have to leave and they don’t resolve and don’t even mention it ever again in later seasons. All they show was Sadie scar and that’s it

In “Steven Universe: Future”, Sadie and Lars didn’t get together and she’s now with Shep and they did it off-screen. So throughout the whole thing with Lars and Sadie, they don’t get together. The show kept teasing it and they might get together in the future but the writers just said screw it, let's have her date a nonbinary while Lars goes on a space adventure. It feels like a waste of seeing those two characters that the show keeps showing them together and not have them become a couple. Unlike SvTFoE, Shep just came out of nowhere with no proper introduction and doesn’t establish they and Sadie's relationship and it’s really bothersome! 

Connie and Steven's relationship was good for the first four seasons. It was really had good chemistry and she was a good partner for him 

then season 5 came in and it kinda got ruins by after Steven escape from Gem Homeworld and coming back to Earth, it starts off with Connie leaving Steven with lion and never to be seen for a month according to “Keven Party”. The Steven and Connie arc was really bad like why was it dragged for five episodes? The whole thing could’ve been resolved in one episode by having them talk about their feelings like how “Mindful Education” and “Full Disclosure” did by they talk about their emotions instead of running away. 

Then in “Gemcation”, Steven the most important thing to him is Connie's relationship than worrying about Lars and the Off Colours' safety. That has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my life and I can’t believe Rebecca and the Crewniverse have written it like that. 

Then there’s Ruby and Sapphire. I’ll be honest, the relationship feels like old Disney love stories like Cinderella, Seven Dwarfs, and Sleeping Beauty and that’s not a compliment. In “The Answer”, after they accidentally fused, they escape and wander Earth that caused them to fall in love which kinda contradicts what Garnet said to Jamie about love, at first sight, isn’t good in “Love Letter”. 

In “Pink Diamond” Arc, the plot came to hold to make room for Ruby and Sapphire’s wedding. 

While it is revolutionary that they show an LGBT wedding live on television but as a narrative standpoint, it feels rushed. The reason for that is after that Blue and Yellow came in after the wedding. They were no build-up or anything, they just came.The reason why they did it so some countries can’t take it down due it the main story which is stupid. It’s nice they represent LGBT but why in the middle of a major story arc, that’s just sloppy. 

Voltron 

So Voltron has a reputation of queerbaiting the audience that Shiro is gay and he has a boyfriend. The writers keep telling us on Twitter that they’ll show his boyfriend in season 7 but when it finally aired. It was terrible 

The first time we saw Adam was a flashback but it was nothing, it was more friendship than romance. 

When he finally shows up in the present he dies. Shiro goes to the memorial and signs than that’s it. 

The writers really made a dumb move of hyping it up but they let us down by having him die. They try to make it up by having Shiro marrying some guy who has a very little screen in the final season. Similar to Regular Show with Mordecai marrying a batgirl but not dumb while Voltron trying to get brownie points for having LGBT rep. 

Lance and Allura were really forced. For six seasons, Allura was never interested in Lance and only saw him as a friend but in season 8, the two confessed their love for each even though there wasn’t any chemistry nor sign that they truly love each other and they insensitively become a couple for one date. I would’ve supported if their relationship was established back in season 2 

The Legend of Korra

The love triangle between was handled so poorly with bad timing, making characters look terrible, making things force and having it engage more than the plot. 

For the first season, there was a love diamond. Bolin liked Korra, Korra likes Mako and Mako liked Asami and those two go out. Korra and Mako kissed which broke Bolin’s heart but he got over it but when Asami finds out when Korra was missing, she gets jealous. I understand that she was concerned about her relationship with Mako but during when Korra, the avatar that is missing while Equalis are on the move? That’s not the right moment to get jealous when Republic City is gonna be under attack but of course, Mako and Asami break and Korra gets in with Mako. 

In season 2, things get worse when the happy couple keep nagging and they break up

Which he tries again with Asami 

After Korra got her memories back but forgot breaking up with Mako, she asked him if it was bad however though he lied and everyone judged him for that dick move, especially Asami who started to have feelings for him again. Thankfully they broke up because that was just an awful way to get someone back by having their mind erased. 

Also, Bolin was with Eska and it was abusive. Forcing him to be her man, changed his whole entire to match with hers and she forced him to marry her. 

What’s worst about it is no one is concerned about him being with her and instead they just laugh like it’s supposed to be funny. Being in an abusive relationship isn’t funny and I hate how the show treats it so. By the end, they just forgot the whole thing that ever happened and moved on with their lives. 

Season 3 and 4 kept the romance to a minimum with Bolin x Opal and Jinora x Kai but there was one romantic relationship that had to happen with no hints or build up and it’s Korra x Asami. By the end of the series, they decided to go to the spirit together while holding hands and having their eyes glazed toward each other and they become a couple. 

While many of you may say that they hinted it since season 3, however, it looks like friendship. Blushing and writing to her isn’t enough to say they have feelings towards each other. That is what best friends do too. The creators even have to confirm that they are a couple and the comics showing their love while it’s nice and all but it would’ve been a lot better to show it either on streaming service or live television than buying volumes to see more of their pairing, it’s balderdash. Now it’s time to talk about a cartoon that has one of the worst romance I’ve ever seen in my entire life of watching shows. 

Star vs The Forces of Evil

Star vs The Forces of Evil has one of the WORST romantic subplots I’ve ever watched, it is even worse than CW’s Arrowverse romance and that’s saying something. The romantic subplot makes Star and Marco look like terrible people that only care about each other more than other characters. 

Jarco 

Out of all ships in SvTFoE, Jarco has the most establishment than most others. Marco liked Jackie when he was little and it was bound to happen that those two will date. Ever since season 1, the relationship has been growing to platonic to a romantic couple in season 2. 

Their chemistry together worked well but then “Sophomore Slump”. When Marco finally went back to Earth, he was obsessed with Mewni and Star and he won’t stop talking about and he still wears the cape. When Jackie told him to stop obsessing over Mewni which he tries to do but it got the better to him by he still wears the cape when he was on his date with Jackie. It’s really BS when Marco said to Jackie “You’re my best friend” which ruined everything that it established since season 1 and this, of course, caused them to break up.

 Then he left Earth to go to Mewni the day after their break up. It’s a real shame that building up their relationship and giving Jacie character got shoved aside for Starco. Although she returns and meets up with him again I can’t help feeling that it just for fan service and being inclusive for Jackie being Bi

Tomstar 

Before the show started, Star and Tom were a couple but broke up due to him getting angry very easily and he wanted her back for the past two seasons luckily he stopped trying in “Mr. Candles Cares”. Their relationship becomes healthier when Tom gives Star space and that causes them to get back together and not have feelings for Marco anymore.

 Tom went through a lot of development for Star and it was a Mewni x Monster romance which is similar to Eclipsa and Globglor and it fits season 3. After rewatching it, it was pretty good. However, like Jarco, it was doomed from the start due to fans wanting Starco to be canon even though Tomstar was getting good. Also, Star was a terrible girlfriend to him. 

Star never told him she kissed him, Marco did and when Tom confronted her about it, she got mad and tried to walk away. 

She mistreats him by nagging somethings, blowing on his face and angrily ask translate

She declined on going on a vacation with him so she can be with Marco.

Even his mom was afraid that she might break his heart again and her response “Everybody breaks up. That’s what teenagers do! Teenagers are dumb”. He went through so much development, changed his character and gave her so much but she never returned the favor. What an awful girlfriend 

Kellco

With Tom and Star getting together (for now) it left Marco feels devastated that she’s dating someone and can’t get rid of his feelings for her while Kelly doesn’t want to be with Tad which she broke up with him. They both have something in common and start to hangout and their relationship has developed throughout season 3 and he’s with her more than Star. 

They became officially a couple as “breakup buddies” in “Kelly’s World” and it also when they did a perfect synchronization between two partners. 

So they’re pretty much a good pair but everything changed when the episode “A Boy and His DC-700XE” and did an off-screen break up. I don’t care who or what you write but never, ever a major plot point or character development offscreen. Kelly finds happiness when she leaves Tad but they break up with no explanation. It was glossed over like for five seconds and Marco doesn’t even care about their break up, what an a*hole. 

This relationship feels like a real waste of time and serves nothing to the plot nor character development, it was just there to waste time.

Starco

Before I talk about Starco, I used to ship it and I thought they were enjoyable characters. They would've worked in a relationship if things were written better and would have been the next Phineas and Isabella but sadly the writers messed up probably the easiest romance to write. 

Season 1, Star and Marco became best friends. Although there weren't many romantic moments they still look pretty good together 

Season 2, As Star was happy for Marco that she’s finally dating Jackie, the girl he has had a crush on since preschool,

 on the other hand, she started to have feelings for him and she has trouble expressing it. 

In season 3, Marco started to have feelings for Star which caused him and Jackie to break up. Star told him that he wants nothing to do with him romantically in “Lint Catcher” and Tad told him that he does have feelings for her in “Lava Lake Beach” and he wasn't happy to find out about it at all. Then in Booth Buddies, they were held hostage by some freak until they kiss and they were completely in denial about having feelings for each other

Then season 4 is when Starco becomes really sour. Star and Marco always keep saying that they don’t want to have feelings for each other and yet the writers have several episodes before the end of the series

. They never showed any romantic interest until “Mama Star” where he confessed his feelings to her and then they kissed in the second last episode. By the finale, instead of either of them going back to their dimensions they went back to the World of Magic and held each other. It would’ve been more meaningful if they got together before the end of the  show. 

It’s very odd that they risk their lives for a relationship that just started. However, for some miracle, both of their worlds collide and become one with no explanation of what so ever. 

Starco could’ve been a lovely ship but the writers have to keep messing around with it till the very end. 

Conclusion 

Whenever a show presents a romance, I don’t mind as long it either fits with the narrative of the story it be fun but 2010s romantic subplots have been written very terribly by having it the main focus but sacrifice pacing and quality of the story, forcing characters to become a couple without establishing it enough in the show, and having characters go off for the sake of drama. Romantic stories can be simple and cute like Kim x Ron from Kim Possible, Suki x Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Starfire x Robin from Teen Titans and that’s all right. I do hope that this generation will fix what the previous decade of cartoons has failed to do. 

The Winter Duke review

4/5 stars Recommended for people who like: fantasy, magic, lesbian characters, power struggles, political intrigue, mysteries, LGBTQ+ representation I really enjoyed We Rule the Night and so was excited to see this author had published another book, albeit not in the same world. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this one nearly as much as I liked Night, even though it did follow through on its wlw potential. For starters, Winter Duke starts off very slowly. I really struggled to get into the book despite its premise and despite the fact that there is some action in chapter 2. However, chapter 1 and many of the chapters that followed were rather slow going and involved a lot of discussion and not a lot of action. Even the parts when Ekata gets to travel Below were somewhat meh (though I will say that the worldbuilding was fantastic and I very much enjoyed the descriptions of Below). Nevertheless, I feel like even with the tension in some scenes, most of the action occurs in chapter 2 and in the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the book. Another issue I had is that Ekata lets people push her around too easily. She is grand duke and, yeah, sure, maybe she didn’t want the position, but she was still raised as a princess or whatever the duchy equivalent is, yet she lets people bowl over her like its nothing. Ekata then complains that people don’t listen to her and do things without her knowledge, but she barely stands up for herself. Maybe the things that happen in the book would have still happened if she had asserted herself, maybe not, but she wouldn’t have been so passive about it at least. Further, though she admits she’s unsuited to the position of grand duke, she allows her ministers to not tell her things and doesn’t even read the documents she signs about trade agreements and what not. If she wants to at least be a good provisional grand duke and get people to listen to her, you’d think she’d put a little effort into making herself knowledgeable. To be fair to her, she does start trying to remember the dignitaries present, but that’s only halfway through the book. My third issue, which is also still kind of my second issue, is that Ekata doesn’t like her family and wants to be better…but then she tries to act just like her father and brother as soon as she becomes grand duke, even when people suggest to her that maybe she shouldn’t try to replicate them. She uses her brain to try and sort through the curse, but she doesn’t use it to try and rule and instead attempts to mirror her despotic father. Her behavior even impacts how she interacts with the people Below, who she’s long wondered about and loved and wanted to study, and the people she loves, and not in a good way. I get making mistakes and mirroring the behavior of people we know, and I get using stuff like this for tension, but my issue with this comes in when so many of Ekata’s problems would’ve been solved if she used her own brain for five minutes instead of trying to be her father and brother (or even looked over the end of her own nose). Like, she’s complaining that she doesn’t want to be grand duke, then refuses a parliament. Like…why? Just why? She’s afraid of the absolute power her father and brother would have to kill her and believes in her family’s right to rule instead of ‘peasants,’ but she doesn’t see the irony in how parliament would take away that absolute killing power and in how the woman she says is more a mother than her own is a freaking peasant. So many of her issues and tensions in this book would’ve been avoided if Ekata had just stayed herself the entire time. For things I do like, I enjoyed the focus on science + magic. Bartlett does a good job combining the two in a way that makes sense and doesn’t contradict one another. Magic in this world is less understood than science, but there are still rules and ways to study it alongside more concrete things like anatomy and chemistry. There is a more heavy lean on magic in this book than there was in Night, but I liked the different balance and found the exploration of it interesting. In this same vein, the worldbuilding was excellent as well and I enjoyed the little details that didn’t have much to do with the plot, but made it feel more real. There’s good LGBTQ+ rep in the book as well. Ekata is, obviously, gay and Inkar is as well. Sigis, one of the antagonists, is at least bi, if not pan, as is Lyosha, Ekata’s oldest brother. Several other named characters are nonbinary and at least one or two is asexual. There are also unnamed characters who are gay or bi as well. I think there’s also probably a lot of fluidity allowed in the world in terms of gender representation, since there are some women in the book called ‘prince’ and Ekata herself is called a grand duke, not a grand duchess. I also really liked some of the side characters. Aino, Ekata’s nursemaid and quasi-adoptive mother, is an absolute powerhouse. That woman manages to not only take care of Ekata and protect her from literal dangers that may creep into her room, but she also manages to fend off some of the ministers and dignitaries, steal Ekata’s mother’s jewelry, and plot to help herself and Ekata escape. Truly a background hero. Aino clearly cares for Ekata and wants what’s best for her, and she seems like an excellent person to have as a friend and defender. Further, Aino often provides some snippy commentary that I enjoy. Inkar, Ekata’s trial wife, is also a character that I enjoyed, but she, like Ekata, is stuck up in certain ways from being raised royalty, which causes some issues between her and Aino. To Inkar, the world of Kylma Above is completely foreign to her and her interactions with everything are as new as ours, making her one of the vessels for worldbuilding. Despite her view on servants, she doesn’t have the same problems Ekata seems to sympathizing with more common people and she gets on splendidly with the guards of the palace. Actually…aside from Aino, PM Eirhan, and Sigis, she seems to get along swell with everyone around her, even those who were once held hostage by her or her father. Overall, Inkar’s a very enjoyable character to read about. As for the main character, Ekata, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I listed a lot of the problems I have with her above, which led to me thinking I just wasn’t a fan of her character until around the last fourth or so of the book. On the other hand, she has some very funny lines throughout the book and I enjoyed how she was focused on science and used it to calm herself. I also liked her obvious love for Kylma, even if a lot of her thoughts about it are coated in ignorance or memories of her family. Overall I don’t think I entirely like Ekata, but I definitely don’t dislike her. I feel bad for her, honestly, since, as mentioned, a lot of her problems could’ve been circumvented if she’d just decided to be herself the entire time (and maybe extend herself a little to learn about the duchy, the dignitaries, and the agreements she’s signing). There are a lot more bad guys than good in this one, and it seems like one is around every corner. Eirhan is perhaps the most slithery of them, and it’s hard to tell whose side he’s on, though it largely seems to be his own. I found him to be an infuriating character, but didn’t hate him the same way I hate Sigis. Sigis, Ekata’s foster brother and a king in his own right, is just downright horrendous and deserves a sword through his back. Slimy and conniving, Sigis revels in others’ discomfort and is the picture beside the dictionary term ‘toxic masculinity.’ He does not, I believe, know the meaning of the word ‘no’ and simply thinks the world is his for the taking and by right. Overall I feel pretty much the same way about this book as I do about Ekata: I don’t dislike it, but I don’t entirely like it either. The worldbuilding was good and I really enjoyed the two main side characters, even if I didn’t like a lot of the other characters (though with them being antagonists, I’m going to say that was on purpose).

Heyy y'all! I was tagged by @meiyanaalexia Thanks for the tag, fam!

Rules: List ten of your fave female characters from your ten fave fandoms and then tag 10 other ppl!

This list is by no means comprehensive or a ranked list, as i think all my fave characters are equally bad betches, in their own right xD alright let's get to it!

-Tamari and Lady Tsunade (Naruto/Naruto Shippuden)

Tamari's one of the more cool, levelheaded female side characters in naruto and idk, she's very much Gaara and Kankuro's rock, and idk, i like that. I view her as a very strong female character, and i think she carries a lot of badass masculine energy. Plus she's a badass fighter as well. (((And she's hot but that's beside the point lol))) I like Lady Tsunade a lot, but i admit, i wasnt a fan of her at first. But now that I'm seeing her character unfold in Shippuden, I like her a lot. I like the concept that she's kiind of a grouchy, reluctant leader of the leaf village, cause that makes her seem like a very reliable leader, in a way. I think she's hella underrated as a strong character, tbh. Plus i like that she's a healing ninja, cause it seems so opposite to her outward personality. The more i watch naruto the more i'm really liking more of their female characters, tbh.

Quotes!

Tamari: "Sharpen your karma at sunset."

Tsunade: "People become stronger because they have things they cannot forget. That's what you call growth."

-Lucy and Kiyoko (Bungou Stray Dogs)

oh wow, uh, not gonna lie, i really like this anime more for most of the male characters, but Lucy and Kiyoko have alswas been in my faves list. I didnt really understand Lucy's character in season one but as the plot thickens, so does her issues with wanting to morally become a better person, but still being fairly new to learning to become selfless. I think a lot of people can relate to her because she can be fairly emotionally erratic, and she struggles with the whole "forgiveness thing." But later on you see that all she really wanted was a true family and friends that value her. And i think that's something we all want, deep down. Also, her powers are highly unnderrated and badass and i love how she is slowly becoming a protector for ppl like Atsushi, which really shows her growth as a character.

I also put Kiyoko on this list because i think she is equally as good of a female character as Lucy is, but for dif reasons. I loveeee the whole concept of "initially bad" characters soon wanting to become good. There's a simplicity in her character that i think models Atsushi's in a way, i mean they're both damaged, but both yearn to do good and make a comeback with the chances they've been given in life. If Lucy was a Tarot Card she would be the Fool. I also love how steadfast she is in her newfound family and how much she believes in everyone in the ADA now. It's very wholesome and pure :3 also i love her and Atsushi's relationship, it kinda reminds me of me and my BFF's ride or die relationship, lol.

Lucy: "Make sure you survive...Then come back for me. I'll be waiting."

Kiyoko: "I saw a bright world. I cannot go back to a time when I didn't know such a thing existed."

-Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter)

Ugh, there's so many things about this character that I have always loved and adored. Her character design, her quiet whimsical weirdness. Her determined loyalty to the people that accept her. Her lovely simple wisdom, at times. Like Harry said, Luna is just "...coooll." She kinda reminds me of me when I was a teenager but way cooler lol.

Luna: "My mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us, in the end."

-Lara Croft (Tomb Raider movies and videogames)

Laura is....a simple character by design. If anything, the plotlines and video game design of the Tomb Raider franchise are way more intricate. And yeah...there's her misogynistic character design (Note: the impossibly snatched waist and bOoBiEs in earlier games.)

BUT. I still stan her for a multitude of reasons. Growing up, there were may more princess characters than female warrior characters and ya know, I'm really glad I was exposed to Lara Croft movies and the Tomb Raider: Legend video games as a kid. I think Laura taught me that you can definitely embrace your feminine side and still be a badass and follow your dreams. Even now, after me finally figuring out i'm not cis, i know, that she's still an icon for most kids out there. And for me too. She was a symbol of bravery, intelligence, as well as still being a character of emotional depth, grieving the loss of her parents while vowing to continue to do what she loved, which is exploring. Cultural and moral problems with her character aside, i still find both her and her stories very inspirational, both as a bigender queer person, and as a designer.

Laura Quotes: "The line between our myths and truth is fragile and blurry."

"The extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are."

-Scorpia (She-Ra)

Oh wow, i could go on for days about how much i love thus character. If you're queer or fun in any capacity you've probably watched the final season fo She-Ra by now and spoilers aside, i just love the journey this character went on from start to finish. Scorpia is so genuine and nice, and sometimes that puts her in situations where she has to make hard decisions. And idk, those decisions just made that character so much better for me. On a lighter note, Scorpia is great queer rep, especially for butch lesbians, lesbians, trans ppl, androg ppl, and gender nonconforming ppl. She's always said things that have resonated with me as a queer person and aside from that, she's a very excitable and fun character. She just excudes so much curiosity and joy that you really can't help but like her, lol.

Scorpia: "I am brave, strong, loyal, and i give great hugs!"

-Sypha (Castlevania)

Altho I personally don't view Sypha as a cis woman, (I see her as nonbinary or agender), I think the way characters treat her in the show is indicative that in that period, they view her as a woman. So i figured I could put her on this list as well lol. Anyways, uhhh wow, Sypha is great, there's so much I love about her that it's hard to put into words. I love that she regards herself as a "scholar" of magic, but still views herself as a heretic, I just find it pretty funny and very sexy of her lol. Aside from that, I think Sypha is a great character who always seeks out logic where there usually ends up being none. I love her cheeky remarks to both Alucard and Trevor, and I love her can-do attitude. At the end of the day, she's one of those characters you love just for her great energy she carries for herself within the show. There's really no rhyme or reason to her, she just, is. She subverts many female mage character tropes as well, being a natural badass. Also her god jokes are so damn funny.

Sypha: "See?? God hates me!?

-Aunt Sarah (Derry Girls)

Okay first of all, if you havent seen Derry girls, pleaseeee watch it, holy shit it's the funniest show i've seen in a longass time. Second of all, my friend and I are still going thru the show, but Ajnt Sarah has started to become one of my favorite characters. She's one of those very aloof characters that you kinda ignore at first but then her character just has these amazing one liners and she really grows on you. Also she is very caring about her family and she's cute as hell???? I'm sorry but like her aesthetic is just on fuckin point, like??? Go off babe?? Anyways yeah she's cute.

No quotes for her since that might ruin some of the better punchlines if you end up watching the show lol.

-Marga (Cable Girls)

Yeah, if you want a really good 1920's drama that focuses on women, go give Cable Girls a try! It is very poetic in its direction lol. Anyways, Marga is one of the "new girls" at the beginning of the show and she is just, so earnest, and genuine, and pure. And I love her. She's very nice to the other girls working and she's got some great one liners. She's that timid, cute character that slowy comes out of her shell throughout the show lol.

-Kiki and Sheeta (Studio Ghibli)

I loveee Studio Ghibli films, and one of my two fave films of Miyazaki are Kiki's Delivery Service and my ultimate fave, Castle in the Sky. I adore Kiki as a character because she is your quintessential cute witch, and her journey with finding and grasping her full powers are very relevant to me, and my journey with upholding my creativity as a designer. As well as being a great movie with a great lessom for all artists, Kiki is a very passionate and genuine character, who's resilency has inspired me in hard times. I love her relationship that she has with other ppl as nd creatures, especially with her cat Gigi. She's cute, i love her lots.

Sheeta, I love for different reasons. Sheeta is one of those rare instances where a quiet protagonist, really works. I love her calm and humble, yet powerful energy surrounding her. I love her background, and how there has always beem magic inside of her, even if she's not a practicing witch. She is so very humble and a very introspective character. There's not a lot of female protagonists quite like her. Plus she's adorable as well, lol.

-Aunt Hilda, Zelda, Prudence, and Lilith (CHAOS)

I'm not gonna get into super specifics since i love all these characters equally, but I will say that all these characters absolutely MADE this series for me. I personally found Sabrina's character very annoying and slightly egotistical (i mean she's allowed to be i suppose,lol) but these characters were just so much fun!

I love Aunt Hilda for her soft personality and great revenge comebacks. I love Prudence for her aesthetic, character design, and amazing characrer development throughout the series. I love Lilith, for being both a BAMF and. MILF, lolz. And finally, i absolutely adore Zelda's character, for being so poised, calculating, blunt, and yet so very badass and loveable xD I love everything about her character, tbh.

There's so many good quotes from each character, so just watch the show, lol.

Andddd i think that's it! Sorry this was super long, I wanted to state my reasoms for why these characters were on the list, lol. Hope you liked some of my character analysis, feel free to screech with me about shows anytime lol. I'd love more good show recs!

You def don't have to go as hard as I did on this but I tag:

@heathen-beast @iquotetheravennevermore @sweet-communist @gardiewithyou @sawayakakuns @shortlady72 @thatonegirluniverse @thatlowkeyhipster @letting-and-living @beauxxxtifullies @catastrafey

Anyone else can participate if they feel like it! Have fun lol. Let's love our great women characters lol.

Shared Life Experiences

Chapter One: Coming Out

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Pairing: Steve Rogers x James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes (Stucky)

Summary:  So much has changed in the seventy years that Steve was under, and now, in the 21st century, he realizes that he no longer has to hide those parts of himself that he used to.

But it isn't that easy, because when Bucky comes back into his life, he remembers all those feelings they’d had to hide back then that they wouldn’t have to now. But he isn't sure if that’s what Bucky wants - because it's been a while and feelings may have changed.

ao3 || ff.net || wattpad

The future was different.

Steve knew that that wasn’t exactly a profound statement, but the difference hit him every day. Many were positive, some negative – thought more in a nostalgic than objective way.

One night, not too long after the Battle of New York, they’d all been lounging in the tv room of Avengers tower, half-watching some drama or other. He hadn’t really been paying attention, and when he glanced over at the screen, he saw what looked like to be two men on a date.

His first thought was that this must be a parody of some kind. But as the scene went on, the romantic tone never wavered.

He was so enthralled by this couple, these two men in love, on the screen, that he didn’t notice the others watching him carefully.

Tony, Natasha, and Bruce watched him cautiously, uncertain of how he’d react. Of course, they hoped for the best, after all, Steve was a very decent guy, and he hadn’t been weird about women or people of colour at all so far. But, on the other hand, he had grown up in the thirties.

On the screen, the blond one knelt down and reached into his coat for a ring box. Steve inhaled sharply, eyes stinging, as the other man nodded tearfully. The two embraced, laughing as they lost their balance and tumbled to the floor.

Steve became aware of the others watching him and rose quickly. “Uh, bathroom,” he muttered before rushing out of the room. He knew how it looked, what the others must be thinking, but he didn’t want to be seen having such a strong emotional reaction to a damned soap opera of all things.

He made his way down to an empty hallway and leaned against the wall, eyes closed. He took a few shaky breaths, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Flashes of memory plagued his mind. Sneers. Hurtful words thrown like punches. Hiding in dark places from actual punches. Better memories accompanied them. Laughing blue eyes. Knowing smiles. Kisses in dark hiding places. Small cots and tangled limbs.

But always in secret.

“Steve?” a quiet voice asked.

Steve nearly jumped and quietly turned away to wipe any trace of tears from his eyes. When he turned back, Natasha stood there, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, looking concerned.

“Hey, Nat,” he said, grimacing at the hoarseness of his voice.

“You good?” she asked, and, as Steve was starting to realize with her, she really wanted to know. And he didn’t know what to say.

To say something out loud that has always been a secret between two people, never vocalized in a voice above a whisper, something that’s never been seen in full sunlight, is a feat nigh herculean.

So he just shook his head.

Nat simply pursed her lips, nodded and pulled him into a hug.

 LGBT history was added to his list of research topics an important category on its own. He made his way tearfully through documentaries about Stonewall with Nat at his side. He watched his first pride parade from a distance, not quite ready yet to participate.

Finally, when Steve had once again pulled Nat out of the room to tell her this new thing he’d learned about (Elton John!), she’d said, “Look, man, I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but have you thought of coming out to the others? I promise that they’d be super chill about it.”

Steve looked at her uncertainly. “Are you sure, I mean, I like them and all, but…”

“100% sure,” she said. “They know I’m pan and, hell, I’m pretty sure there’s something going on between Tony and Bruce, with all that tension.”

 The benefit of the internet was that research was so much easier – not just academic research, but research into how people did things, their stories and experiences. Steve read nearly every article about how to come out to one’s friends. But, no matter how much research he did, he didn’t feel quite ready.

That was, until one day, as he was about to head out for a run, he heard his name on the news that played almost perpetually on the tv. He leaned into the room to see what it was about.

A politician who looked vaguely familiar was on the screen – white hair, clean-cut – “… he’s the kind of hero we need as a role model, you see. A traditional man, from a simpler time. I would much prefer my sons to look up to Captain America than Iron Man – who drinks excessively and has a new woman on his arm every time you see him.”

“I’ll have you know that Pepper and I are going steady!” Tony called from the kitchen. “Although we do have an agreement.” He winked at Bruce, who rolled his eyes.

The news host came back on the screen. “That was Senator Johnson at a press earlier today is leading a small faction of senators against L-17, the proposed nation-wide ban of conversion therapy for minors.”

“Obviously, I support the LGBT+ community,” Johnson said a bit awkwardly. “But I also support parents’ rights to raise their children as they see fit. This law is an infringement of people’s freedom of religion.”

Steve’s jaw clenched. He had definitely heard of this guy before – notoriously homophobic, but tried to keep up the nice, reasonable guy routine.

“Hey, Tony,” he said. “How long does it take to set up a charitable organization?”

 Not very long at all, apparently. After a week of meetings and long hours, Steve found himself with a door between him and a crowd of reporters.

Tony came in a grinned. “Don’t know how you did it, but here are more reporters in there than there were when I announced I was Iron Man.”

“Well, Captain America doesn’t hold a lot of press conferences,” Nat said. “So, they know it’s big.”

Steve smiled, trying to look confident. He’d never liked talking to the press, even back in the day. Then he’d just had to talk about beating the Nazis and try to keep up morale. Now he was about to say something to the whole country that he’d never really said out loud before. He hadn’t really had to come out to the rest of the gang per se. They had kind of figured it out through his determination to get this done as quickly as possible. A kind of silent understanding.

But this had to be him. and maybe he was doing it out of spite – he did wish he could see X’s face – but the more he thought about it, he knew it was bigger than that.

He wanted to make sure that no one in this country had to grow up like he did – hiding.

So, with one last deep breath, a reassuring nod from Bruce, a smile from Nat, and a slap on the back from Tony, he stepped through the door and out in front of the crowd.

Questions exploded at him and he quickly walked over to the mic. “Hey, everyone. Glad you could make it. Uh, I’ll take questions in just a sec.”

The crowd quieted down, and Steve took a moment to clear his head and slow his racing heart. “I am here today to announce the launch of my charitable organization, In the Light. And it will be for the support of LGBT+ teens across the country.

The reporters clamoured with questions again. Steve was sure he heard Johnson’s name thrown around. He gestured for them to quiet and continued. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but certain recent events have made me realize that I am sometimes associated with, well, ideas and values I disagree with a lot.” He paused. “Those who yearn for a simpler time, when things were more traditional, must remember that people have always been gay, bi, pan, nonbinary, asexual, all the things people are now. And I’d know, because, well, I’m living proof.” Mutters grew. “I was born in 1914, and,” he paused for a fraction of a second. “I am gay.” 

He stopped again as the crowd burst out with questions and waited patiently for them to quiet down. “And while I don’t want to dwell up the negatives, I do want to be honest. It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes, it really sucked. Everything had to be secret and hidden – and sure, we found ways around it, but that didn’t improve the circumstances. I want to help make sure that no one has to hide like I did.” His voice shook a little and he took a moment to clear his head. “Cause no kid should be ashamed of who they are.”

Satisfied that he had said enough, Steve took questions from the reporters.

“Are you referring to Senator Johnson’s statements last week?”

“I…” Steve’s diplomatic nature almost took over but remembered all the harm Johnson could do. He was really just another bully. “Hearing him connect me with his homophobic views did encourage me to go public with this earlier than I had intended, and one of the organization’s first focuses will be on the law banning conversion therapy and getting it passed. But this is bigger than one bigoted senator – this is about helping the kids who suffer because of people like him.”

After a couple of questions from other reporters, a much younger reporter from a news source he didn’t recognize, asked. “Just wanna say, love this a lot. We stand with you. Could you say trans rights?”

Steve smiled. “Absolutely. Trans rights.”

The kid – because really, it was a kid – grinned.

“Well, I’d say that’s a perfect conclusion for this,” Steve said. “Thank you all so much. Call your reps and tell them to vote for Bill L-17 and donate if you can. Thank you.”

When he got through the door, he saw Nat, Bruce, and Tony all watching the screen. They looked a little teary-eyed.

“Great job, Cap,” Tony said. “Way to stick it to that son of a bitch Johnson… And help the kids too, of course.”

Bruce merely nodded and smiled.

Nat grinned. “Told you they’d be chill with it.” When Steve shot her a look, she added. “The country, I mean.” She paused. “Well, obviously, you’ll get hate. Like a lot. I would recommend staying off the internet for like two weeks at least.”

Steve noticed that his heart rate had gone back to normal and he looked at them. This was good.

 Time passed and he got used to people knowing. The old panicky feeling in his chest when the topic came up subsided. The organization grew. The bill passed – for which Tony threw a party.

Steve got to travel all around the country, opening up shelters and homes for kids who were kicked out or felt unsafe at home. He helped reps in various states push for LGBT+ inclusive sex-ed curriculum.

And he talked to the kids. That was simultaneously the best and worst part. The best because they were all wonderful, and smart, and funny, and brave, and strong. So strong. The worst because of their stories. The stories his so close to home sometimes that hall he could do was give them a hug and tell hem things would get better as he tried not to cry.

He didn’t realize how emotionally draining it was until one day Bruce came to visit him in his hotel in Miami and found him staring at a wall.

“Y’alright there, Cap?” he asked.

“Mmm?” Steve said, not looking away. “Yeah, I’m fine. Long day.”

It took Bruce a little bit to get the truth out of him, but when he did, he just sighed and said, “If you go on like this, sooner or later, you’re gonna burn out and it’ll take months to get back to normal.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“How long had you been staring at that wall before I came in?”

Steve shrugged. “Not long.” When Bruce raised his eyebrows, he continued. “Like twenty minutes. You’re right. But I can’t stop.”

“You don’t have to stop, just don’t push yourself so hard, okay? It’s not just you, there are other people who work for this organization. Like actual therapists who are trained to deal with this. You don’t have to go full hands-off, just, you know, take a break every so often.”

 As it turned out, the break from In the Light would come in the form of Avengers work. Steve left the organization in the hands of some trustee employees as his whole world turned upside down for a while.

And then Bucky was back. Bucky who had been by his side as long as he could remember before everything happened. Bucky who had shared a bed with him since they were teenagers and he had started living with Bucky’s family.

Bucky, who had kissed him in a dark alleyway at age fourteen. His first kiss. For almost as long as they had known each other, they had been a little more than friends.

Bucky, who would arrange dates with all the gay and bi girls he knew so that they could go out together without suspicion. When they went to the movies with Ruth and Sarah, he and Bucky would sit on either side so the girls could sit together in the middle. Then they would stand guard outside a janitor’s closet afterwards talking loudly about the movie. And if worst came to worst and there was any trouble, they could keep the girls safe.

Bucky, who was now living with them once everything had quieted down. And while they got back into a reasonably familiar rhythm, there was a degree of separation.

Neither of them dared to step across that thin line between the platonic and the romantic. After all, it had been so long. Feelings may have changed.

I didn’t wanna derail the post by @aroworlds I just reblogged, but while we’re on the topic of ‘what to add to a post recommending arospec rep in fiction’, I have a request: please clarify whether the rep is actually canon, confirmed by Word of God to be canon using the words actual identity labels like  ‘arospec’,  ‘demiromantic’, aromantic’, etc., confirmed by Word of God to be canon using vague descriptors like ‘they are more interested in x than romance’, or if the rep is simply coded.

That’s the short of it, the long of it is this:

(Vocabulary: ‘Word of God’ means that the author said it outside of the source material, like JKR confirming Dumbledore is gay but never actually putting it in the series. ‘Author’, in this case, refers more to a general ‘creator’ of a media, which may be the author of a book, or the production team of a movie, or whoever else created it.)

As an autistic aroace, I’m more than used to seeing myself coded into characters, usually not in a nice way. More often than not, the aro-, ace-, and/or autism-coding is used as a flaw to overcome in characters, or something to mark them as ‘other’ (a robot, an alien, etc). Even if the coding doesn’t end up coming across as negative, the odds of it actually being intentional are really very low. I think that the only time I’ve actually come across autism-coding that turned out to be intentional was in Anne Ursu’s The Real Boy (which is very good and you should read it). I’ve never come across aspec coding, of any kind, that turned out to be intentional (I’m sure it exists, I just haven’t seen it, which should probably make it clear how rare it is). 

As such, seeing people recommend characters who are only coded as arospec as ‘canon aro rep’ really grates on me. There is a 99% chance that the author never intended for the character to be arospec, and now they’re getting the credit for creating one anyway. I understand that, oftentimes, arospec-coded characters are the closest we’re going to get to canon arospec rep, and I understand why people put these characters on lists when recommending media with arospec characters. But we can and should acknowledge that those characters do not count as canon rep unless they, at the very least, have been confirmed by Word of God to be canon. We need to hold creators to higher standards before giving them the credit for a diverse cast.

Jumping off that, I’m personally of the opinion that Word of God confirmation is not good enough unless the author had a damn good reason not to put the confirmation in the media itself, unfortunately, however, the vast majority of Word of God confirmations don’t seem to be so well-handled or necessary, especially not when it comes to arospec rep. For one, the word ‘aromantic’ (or another arospec identity label) is rarely used; instead we get vague descriptors like ‘x is too busy with y for romance’, which is, if you ask me, a giant cop-out if the character is being advertised as canon arospec rep. At worst, this indicates the author doesn’t actually know what aromanticism is, let alone that they’ve heard of any other arospec labels, and we end up latching on to ‘canon’ arospec characters who were never intended to be canon. At best, this means that the author does not deem it necessary to specifically use the rightful identity labels for a character; given the long history we have with unintentional arospec coding, the even longer history of obfuscation/general erasure of LGBT+ identities (especially bi/m-spec identities), and the general misinformation/lack of information about arospec identities, I’m sure I don’t have to explain why I stress the importance of actually using the right arospec labels when confirming a character as arospec.

If the author does explicitly use the right arospec labels, we then need to ask ourselves: “Did this author intend to write an arospec character, or did they accidentally write one and decided to confirm them as arospec after seeing how the character resonated with their arospec audience?” While I’d (obviously) prefer option a), that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily wrong of the author confirmed a character as arospec only after seeing fan reactions. In fact, it’s nice to be listened to! However, if the rep wasn’t intentional, it’s very possible that there are some canon elements that clash with the confirmation; this can cause problems down the line, because not everyone will have knowledge of the Word of God confirmation.

This is actually my biggest gripe with Word of God confirmation as a whole; not everyone will have knowledge of it. To come back to my example of The Real Boy, if I hadn’t decided to google whether Oscar was canonically intended to be autistic, I would never have known that he was. AKA, if I hadn’t had a vested interest in autistic rep and a very strong suspicion that this couldn’t be on accident, I would never have known about the Word of God confirmation. If an allistic person had read that book, the chance that they would’ve actually picked up on the autism-coding is significantly lower, and the odds of them caring enough to look it up even lower than that, meaning that they won’t know that Oscar is canonically autistic. While I think the Word of God confirmation was very well-handled in this particular case, it still doesn’t manage to avoid this trap, because it’s one inherent to Word of God confirmation: Word of God only reaches hardcore fans who keep up with the announcements made by the author, or the people who get suspicious and care enough to go looking for confirmation that they’re right. For something as important as LGBT+ rep (or rep for other marginalized identities), I feel like it’s exceedingly important to have the rep be as undeniable as possible, especially in the case of arospec identities, who (alongside many other LGBT+ identities, such as the aforementioned m-spec ones, but also intersex, nonbinary, and honestly just everyone who doesn’t fit into common narratives of their respective communities) are often erased or ignored even among the LGBT+ community, and who suffer from a severe lack of representation in the first place.

Still, Word of God confirmation is better than nothing, and a Word of God confirmation that explicitly mentions arospec identities is definitely better than one that doesn’t.

This entire post became thrice as long and six times as rambly as I wanted it to be, but the tl;dr is this: there is a significant difference between media that directly acknowledges that a character is arospec in-text, and media that implies it and confirms this by Word of God, and media that simply implies it and nothing more. We should not give authors who only imply an arospec character and then only vaguely confirm it the same respect and credit as we give authors who straight-up state a character is arospec in canon. Since we have little to no mainstream rep to go off of, I don’t mind people putting characters who are only arospec-coded on lists of canon arospec characters, but at the very least, I want acknowledgement that they’re not on the same level.

Also, on a personal level, if I’m seeking out media specifically for arospec rep, I would rather avoid media where the rep is even somewhat ambiguous; I’m sick and tired of seeing my identity teased but not confirmed in canon, and I don’t want to see it rewarded with the same praise as media that actually takes the time to make my identity canon.

I'm honestly super glad your blog isn't purely SU critical tbh, because at least blogs like this don't have an obvious bias towards one show and they act completely stricter on one show compared to the other. While I personally casually enjoy Voltron and BNHA (I do agree there's issues with how both treat some of their characters), and love SU, your points are extremely valid and you give good reasoning behind them besides reaching for subtext that can be interpreted in many different ways.

Aw gosh thank you anon, this honestly means a lot to me!  My goal is to be fair to most of the media I criticize.  To be honest, I probably criticize Voltron about as much as SU (and then BNHA more since I have such strong opinions on pedophilia) and I really think both of them are good shows.  I just like to scream, but I also like being fair about it!

Criticism whose goal isn’t to positively influence the original media’s creator or positively influence others is ultimately worthless imho; like hey, free country, you can say what you want about it.  As an aspiring cartoon/kids show creator, I learn from criticizing the shows of others and put their mistakes as something I can learn from.  I’ve honestly learned a lot about pacing, story structure, and character building from my problems with both SU and Voltron, and they’ve helped me sort out what does and doesn’t make a good story since some parts of them are so good and other parts aren’t.  Honestly it’s kinda embarrassing to look back on my original story now, having learned everything from SU and Voltron - but hey, that’s alright!  I’m far, far from above the writers of either of those shows, yknow?  I don’t think they’re bad people or bad writers; at worse they have a skill level similar to me.

I’ve also first-handedly put the pieces together of a show that became a mess for seemingly no reason, realizing that there was a reason and it was basically unavoidable.  There was a sitcom I watched that’s overarching love triangle bullshit became an absolute goddamn nightmare of a mess (sprinkled in between with various weak episodes that didn’t even reference the drama).  But, when you put together that a major reoccurring character would have likely been part of that plot since the beginning (as opposed to just being in the very end), whose actor got into a serious accident around the time when the episodes would’ve been filmed, the original intention of the arc makes a lot more sense.  Like seriously, once you watch the episodes with that knowledge, the pieces fit in perfectly.  The show was a horrible victim of circumstance and I just hope all the actors and writers have a good rest of their lives.

Point being, you never know what’s going on behind the scenes of a show, so I think it’s unfair to act like minor plot holes and weird pacing are some moral failing of the writers.  Yes, it’s their job to write a good story, and yes, you have a right to dislike their writing.  But it shouldn’t be seen as such a crime??

The crewniverse has made mistakes, like the Concrete incident, but they’ve tried to fix issues that they’ve caused.  Quite frankly, racism is the only argument in SU that I can’t defend them against; not only is it not my place, but it’s hardly revolutionary like their LGBT representation.  As a dumbass white person, I can tell you that Rebecca and her clue is probably more clueless than the SU critical community realizes (if you don’t live in SoCal, you don’t know how sheltered us middle-class white folks are) but that doesn’t make it okay.

However, everything else I find to be rather shit.  As a fat person, Steven becoming “thinner” isn’t fatphobia; the art style changed.  Rebecca is a BISEXUAL NONBINARY WOMAN, and I will literally never forgive the SU critical community for their insistence that her nonbinary rep is enbyphobic (bc they “present as women” and “go by she/her pronouns” and “sure stevonnie goes by they/them but they act like nonbinary is just male + female and its not” and “either way they don’t call themselves nonbinary in the canon” even though nonbinary people can present and go by whatever pronouns they want, bigender people exist, and the only valid point is the last one but its still fucking stupidly insignificant.  Like Korra and Asami didn’t call themselves bisexual [ok scratch that korra called herself “buy-curious”] but they’re still bisexual.).  And yeah, “lgbt people can fetishize other parts of the lgbt community” but do you know how hard it is for a bisexual woman to fetishize lesbians?  It’s.  Pretty fucking hard, considering she’s a wlw.  She can be lesbophobic but when you have one (1) “predatory lesbian stereotype” out of a cast of different types of lesbians, maybe you should uhhh stop policing how lgbt people are allowed to act?  There’s a big difference between a predatory lesbian stereotype and a lesbian who happens to be predatory (and pearl isn’t a predator anyways, she’s an abuse victim - that doesn’t excuse her behavior but I digress)

god I dunno, there’s just so much stupid shit that goes on in SU critical, which is a shame because it’s an idea with a lot of promise.  Really, the SU critical community developed because fans didn’t like having negativity towards something they cared about on their dash.  But since it became an isolated pocket of everything negative towards SU, it just festered and festered and what started as simple criticisms has turned into outright hatred and malice.

Personally, I hope that SU’s portrayal of LGBT people becomes outdated some day - it’s really not that bad and I think even if we make great strives in the next decades, it’ll still be able to hold its own, but as an lgbt person I think Rebecca would agree with me that only good things can come from kids shows being better than SU.  But for now, it’s far far ahead of anything else in its time, showing LGBT people as real people (or….aliens), as flawed individuals.  It doesn’t make them particularly evil nor does it make them particularly good.  They’re characters who happen to be their sexuality, and that’s alright, and that’s normal.  And that should be celebrated.  People should be allowed to celebrate what SU has done so far, and I hate how SU critical likes to shit on fans minding their own goddamn business.

I feel bad for SU critical too, because keeping yourself in that kind of environment becomes very toxic.  I’ve been trying to keep my own opinions under control (actually, that’s part of the reason I made this blog) because I can become very angry and opinionated while typing and I know that that can hurt other people.  But it’s just exhausting and toxic for me at this point to keep doing it too much, so I just write what I can but also try to embrace the positive so I don’t die of a heart attack lmao.  I can’t imagine what running an SU critical blog 24/7 must be like, it sounds absolutely exhausting and immensely unhealthy.

You have the freedom to choose to do that, but as someone who shares some of your opinions and mindsets I advise you to take a break and have things you DO like in the things you critique.  Point out things you like alongside things you dislike.  It’ll make the world so much better for you.

Overall though sorry for rambling anon haha, but thank you for the kind words!

Reason why a main LGBT ship in Voltron MOST LIKELY won’t be canon

Just a thing I’ve meaning to write for awhile now. Just to make clear, I’m not writing this bash any ships, even though I personally dislike Klance (VERY MUCH), but thats not what Im doing today. This is just to discuss a thing the majority of the fandom dont seen to understand, in an unbiased way with no favor toward any ships in general. Also sorry if this shows up in the tags of other shows, I’m just using them as examples for this essay.

LGBT themes are slowly becoming more and more accepted into children and family media. We’ve seen it in Steven Universe, The Loud House, Star Vs, Adventure Time, Clarence, etc. Most talked about has prolly been Steven Universe, which the characters Ruby and Sapphire, Pearl expressing her love for Rose, etc, and Legend of Korra where Korra was seen holding hands and leaving into the spirit world with her now girlfriend at the very end. And it’s been great to see these things become shown in children and family media now more than ever, esp for representation.

But there’s one thing people, and the fans don’t understand. Is that fight for representation. And how we still have a long way to go in many ways.

Living in SoCal, where most or if not all the major media companies are, you get to know a lot of people who work for them. People that have told me things that they have witnessed themselves or been told from their higher ups. Now since this isn’t my own personal experience with the companies themselves, I know what I’m saying here can be taken with a grain of salt, these are just what I’ve heard from people and friends that do work for Disney, Dreamworks, etc.

That even though LGBT media is getting more accepted in children and family media, there’s still a lot that won’t be accepted, that in many or most cases it’s subtle, it’s only background characters, etc. Yes, there, was Korra, but even that was subtle, we didn’t know they were together until Bryke told us it was, and they weren’t allowed to explore it until much later in a comic book series. As for Steven Universe, the gems are a very…special case. Yes it is definitely considered LGBT rep, but they do it in a way they can get away with it easier, with the fact that they are an all-female/genderless race of aliens.

A lot of the fact of this is because, the media and businesses primarily focus on ratings and money. With children’s media, it’s different than shows like South Park, Rick and Morty, Family Guy, or any shows that are TV-14 and higher, because those shows are on a completely different spectrum and can get away with A LOT more than family entertainment. Even with movies that are aimed toward children and family, yes there are times they insert themes only adults understand, but they usually are gags or have no relevance to the plot. Children and family media is more fragile cause not only are they trying to cater to kids, but also the parents that are watching too. The parents that buy the kids the merchandise and other things related to the series.

Now, the next thing I’m gonna say, please don’t get angry, I’m only speaking the truth. I am a trans guy myself, whom is bi/pan, and will always be proud to be apart of the LGBT spectrum. But with children/family media…thats still slowly being accepted because there are, unfortunately, a lot homophobia/transphobia/etc still in this world. There are still countries that make it still illegal to be apart of that spectrum. And until that all fully changes, family media will still be affected by it, even if it’s slowly starting to change for the better.

That’s where Klance, Sheith, and other main LGBT Voltron ships come in. The majority of the fandom have expressed their want of an LGBT themed ship in the series…but a WANT doesn’t always lead to a WILL. Even if the writers wanted a main LGBT ship, who says the Dreamworks executives and higher ups really will allow it? If it does happen, will you really still accept it even if it gets the same subtle end as Korra? Or even small subtle hints that goes no where?

Voltron isn’t aired just in the US and major countries either, the company has to take that into account as well. Its a business first and always will be. Yes the viewers and fandoms will always be important to the show, but sometimes, what the viewers want isn’t always what they can get away with. The story has already been written since the beginning as well, with recording beginning as early as 2015.

The fandom will prolly accuse them of queerbaiting, telling the executives why they put this moment in if it didn’t lead to anything, etc. I’ve been in plenty of fandoms where this has been states several times, with ships that had so much potential that never saw the light of day. But in the end, you need to see it’s not about just the ships. Shippers will always see things for their ships or interpret moments as canon evidence, that’s been going on since a lot of people in fandoms were even born. You just also need to see and understand it from a business and media point of view as well. Most of the time there’s always a reason.

Who knows though, maybe Voltron will be the first to break that barrier? But it’s very highly unlikely. Don’t be mad at the writers and creators, threatening them if an LGBT main pairing doesn’t become canon. Maybe they just couldn’t do it for a reason far more greater than what they can control.

And LGBT themes doesn’t have to be ships either. Even if the LGBT pair we get may only be subtle or a background pair, there’s always a chance of a trans or nonbinary character, but tbh, those are even more rare in childrens media than same-sex relationships.

Thank you for reading this if you did. I greatly appreciate it. Please share and feel free to comment, including counterpoint and criticisms, as long as they are done in a mature matter. Comments like “pee your pants” isn’t what I call very mature…