like i know everybody thinks i’m being a hater and a cunt when i say stuff like this and i know it makes you not like me and whatever but i do genuinely think most people are watching bbc merlin wrong. like. i can tell when you don’t care about women even when you think you do. saying you like morgana isn’t what makes you an anti-misogyny viewer of this show that has so so so many problems with misogyny. being able to actively notice and describe the misogyny inherent to every single plot point is what makes you an anti-misogyny viewer. “it doesn’t matter it’s a tv show” actually it DOES matter, and dismissing the very real impact misogynistic popular media has on the real world is like. pretty damaging. to say the least. saying it doesn’t matter that a show produced for a young audience, based off of a very popular collection of stories, that has left enough of a cultural impact over the 14 years since it’s initial release that i am here making this post, saying it doesn’t matter how that show has consistently put out misogynistic messages is like saying propaganda isn’t an issue. this is a show with misogyny baked into its very framework. and sitting here watching people talk about it like that massive issue doesn’t exist is infuriating to me. yes i also watched and enjoyed the show a great deal. however i have been knowledgeable and critical from day one. i don’t know if you recall, i initially did NOT ever want to watch this show because of these very issues. to see people get into it because it’s “gay” and “fun” is insane to me. it’s gay because it hates women. it’s gay because it hates women. it’s gay because it fucking hates women. i don’t know how else to drill this into your brains. you HAVE to use your fucking critical thinking skills with this show. you have to. i’m not saying don’t have fun, clearly even a hateful cunt like me managed to have fun. fun is not the absence of critical thought. but the way i am observing others watch this show is not giving me any hints that you’re seeing the issues that have always been apparent to me. and i need you to understand that that’s terrifying in my eyes. i cannot stand you all talking about this show like it has no problems outside like, minor writing issues in later seasons. again i want to impart to you that this is a story with misogyny baked into its very foundation, and they did nothing to remove it, because they didn’t care.

What did you think of X-Men Blue Origins?

(I may turn this into a People's History of the Marvel Universe later today, so keep an eye on this space.)

X-Men Blue: Origins and the Power of the Additive Retcon

(WARNING: heavy spoilers under the cut)

Introduction

If you've been a long-time X-Men reader, or you're a listener of Jay & Miles or Cerebrocast or any number of other LGBT+ X-Men podcasts, you probably know the story about how Chris Claremont wrote Mystique and Destiny as a lesbian couple, but had to use obscure verbiage and subtextual coding to get past Jim Shooter's blanket ban on LGBT+ characters in the Marvel Universe.

Likewise, you're probably also familiar with the story that, when Chris Claremont came up with the idea that Raven Darkholme and Kurt Wagner were related (a plot point set up all the way back in Uncanny X-Men #142), he intended that Mystique was Nightcrawler's father, having used her shapeshifting powers to take on a male body and impregnate (her one true love) Irene. This would have moved far beyond subtext - but it proved to be a bridge too far for Marvel editorial, and Claremont was never able to get it past S&P.

This lacuna in the backstories of Kurt and Raven - who was Kurt's father? - would remain one of the enduring mysteries of the X-Men mythos...and if there's one thing that comic writers like, it's filling in these gaps with a retcon.

Enter the Draco

Before I get into the most infamous story in all of X-Men history, I want to talk about retcons a bit. As I've written before:

"As long as there have been comic books, there have been retcons. For all that they have acquired a bad reputation, retcons can be an incredibly useful tool in comics writing and shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Done right, retcons can add an enormous amount of depth and breadth to a character, making their worlds far richer than they were before. Instead, I would argue that retcons should be judged on the basis of whether they’re additive (bringing something new to the character by showing us a previously unknown aspect of their lives we never knew existed before) or subtractive (taking away something from the character that had previously been an important part of their identity), and how well those changes suit the character."

For a good example of an additive retcon, I would point to Chris Claremont re-writing Magneto's entire personality by revealing that he was a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. As I have argued at some length, this transformed Magneto from a Doctor Doom knockoff into a complex and sympathetic character who could now work as a villain, anti-villain, anti-hero, or hero depending on the needs of the story.

For a good example of a subtractive retcon, I would point to...the Draco. If you're not familiar with this story, the TLDR is that it was revealed that Kurt's father was Azazel - an evil ancient mutant with the same powers and the same appearance (albeit color-shifted) as Kurt, who claims to be the devil and is part of a tribe of demonic-looking mutants who were banished to the Brimstone Dimension, and who fathered Nightcrawler as part of a plot to end this banishment.

I don't want to belabor Chuck Austen, because I think that Connor Goldsmith is right about his run actually being a camp cult classic in retrospect. However, I think we both agree that the Draco was a misfire, because of how the retcon undermined Kurt's entire thematic purpose as established in Giant-Size X-Men that Nightcrawler was actually a noble and arguably saintly man who suffered from unjust prejudice due to the random accident that his mutation made him appear to be a demon, and because of how the retcon undermined the centrality of Mystique and Destiny's relationship.

X-Men Blue Origins

This brings us to the Krakoan era. In HOXPOX and X-Men and Inferno, Jonathan Hickman had made Mystique and Destiny a crucial part of the story in a way that they hadn't been in decades: they were the great nemeses of Moira X, they were the force that threatened to burn Krakoa to the ground by revealing the devil's bargain that Xavier had struck with Sinister (and Moira), they were the lens through which the potential futures of Krakoa were explored, and they ultimately reshaped the Quiet Council and the Five in incredibly consequential ways.

This throughline was furthered after Hickman's departure, with Kieron Gillen exploring the backstories of Mystique and Destiny in Immortal X-Men and Sins of Sinister, and both Gillen and Si Spurrier exploring their relationship with Nightcrawler in AXE Judgement Day, Sins of Sinister, Way of X, Legion of X, Nightcrawlers, and Sons of X. One of the threads that wove through the interconnected fabric of these books was an increasing closeness between Kurt and Irene that needed an explanation. Many long-time readers began to anticipate that a retcon about Kurt's parentage was coming - and then we got X-Men Blue: Origins.

In this one issue, Si Spurrier had the difficult assignment of figuring out a way to "fix" the Draco and restore Claremont's intended backstory in a way that was surgical and elegant, that served the character arcs of Kurt, Raven, and Irene, and that dealt with complicated issues of trans and nonbinary representation, lesbian representation, disability representation, and the protean nature of the mutant metaphor. Thanks to help from Charlie Jane Anders and Steve Foxe, I think Spurrier succeeded tremendously.

I don't want to go through the issue beat-by-beat, because you should all read it, but the major retcon is that Mystique turns out to be a near-Omega level shapeshifter, who can rewrite themselves on a molecular level. Raven transformed into a male body and impregnated Irene, using bits of Azazel and many other men's DNA as her "pigments." In addition to being a deeply felt desire on both their parts to have a family together, this was part of Irene's plan to save them both (and the entire world) from Azazel's schemes, a plan that required them to abandon Kurt as a scapegoat-savior (a la Robert Graves' King Jesus), and to have Xavier wipe both their memories.

Now, I'm not the right person to write about what this story means on a representational level; I'll leave it to my LGBT+ colleagues on the Cerebrocast discord and elsewhere to discuss the personal resonances the story had for them.

What I will say, however, is that I thought this issue threaded the needle of all of these competing imperatives very deftly. It "fixed" the Draco without completely negating it, it really deepened and complicated the characters and relationships of both Raven and Irene (by showing that, in a lot of ways, Destiny is the more ruthless and manipulative of the two), and it honored Kurt's core identity as a man of hope and compassion (even if it did put him in a rather thankless ingénue role for much of the book).

It is the very acme of an additive retcon; nothing was lost, everything was gained.

I still think the baby Nightcrawler is just a bad bit, but then again I don't really vibe with Spurrier's comedic stylings.

ancient, medieval and the dance of the dragons

throughout history, asoiaf and the dance of the dragons, we have this consistent trend of women shunned for yearning to have agency and control. just as much, we also see the anger of a patriarchal system regarding the wanting of the opposite sex. women wish to have a say in what happens to them and this causes a rift in society, for it is as said controlled by men. well, let’s dive into the reasons for why this is.

in ‘goddesses, whores, wives and slaves’, sarah pomeroy states, “women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information”; 

this much is true when you consider that women are heavily involved in society. from being mothers, to being hunter and gatherer to even being part of literate and philosophical communities. yet there is this negating of women’s importance in the roles they had served. in short, the recording of early literature restricts women as secondary, in line with the glorification of the male sex. 

this is a travesty for many reasons. for one, it is within written word such as literature that records societal beliefs and cultures. another is that these societal records become a bench – mark for the communities to follow. conclusively, these relay a way of life that become the example for other communities; which then create consistency of beliefs, roles, attitudes in the way of life. hence, a community learns to act a certain way, it becomes a foundation in their culture. 

it is because of this that leads us to surmise that women are at a disadvantage, because if they are then written by men who have a certain perspective about women–then women are going to be unheard. and this will taint the records and paint them as fictional thoughts of misogyny. women have no part of those perspectives, for they were recorded by creatures who controlled, contained and exploited their way of life in the molds they created.

this is why in ancient literature, we see how often women are relegated to two categories. the first category is where women are considered nothing better than objects; a means of advancement by using these women to further their agendas and pawns. hence, women are bound to the roles of being a possession to the powerful men around them. 

quite certainly, reading the texts make it obvious that their titular roles in society are either being prizes in marital contests or being someone’s joyous loot in battle. the more authority they had of these ‘properties’ and ‘possessions’, the more they were worthy of prestige and respect within their wider society. made by men for men. 

a good example is emperor augustus’s daughter julia the elder. within the standards of ancient rome, being the daughter of her father meant that he had absolute control of her life, she was his property. everything about julia the elder controlled, because she was from the moment she was born— a political tool to her father’s plans. 

all her marriages were arranged by him, her decisions are influenced by him—even whom she slept with was political because her body was a vehicle of political convention. the moment she stepped out of his mold, he punished her and for all his care for her, shunned her to be unwanted by him and the vision of rome he was building.

just as much, along with these fictitious portrayals, more lies are depicted. these women are considered vixens that cause havoc to men by shifting them into desires and danger. through the written word, we see how women are cast in roles of villains in men’s lives. it is because by their conclusive thoughts, women are the only creatures that are able to turn ‘good honorable men’ into despicable creatures who do shameful, deplorable acts for the sake of women’s pleasures. 

it is within this narrative that ancient chroniclers declare that women were in fact the doom of men. if they were not able to control the dangers posed by the wiles of women, then the foundations of the mighty society they had built would be up in flames. 

a good example for this is clytemnestra, wife of agamemnon. in the telling of the trojan war by greek tragedian aeschylus, odysseus visits the underworld and finds his deceased comrade agamemnon and when he asks him how he died, agamemnon says that it is clytemnestra and her lover aegisthus—whom she takes to lover in order to not only avenge her daughter’s death at agamemnon’s hands, but also to have power and agency. 

which agamemnon laments to odysseus, telling him that he should be careful when returning home for he was doomed by his wife and warns it could happen to odysseus too, yet he says odysseus’s wife penelope is ‘not that kind of women’; which to agamemnon’s thoughts, his wife was one of trickery doom which lead to his death, someone who was not a good wife. 

in agamemnon’s eyes, penelope was someone his wife would not betray odysseus in such a violent way. the homeric version supports this narrative, that she was a faithful and steadfast wife to odysseus in many years that passed. she was used as a paragon of virtues of ancient greek societies which shunned women that are like clytemnestra.

as i mentioned, these factors of community are written down and preserved. and with that, the example of the ancients were the foundations by which medieval society built itself. the same concepts continued to cause the same issue within society and that was the exclusion of women from participating in the bigger picture of community and state, much so with governing states in their own right—without judgment or disapproval. 

in the paper ‘salic law, french queenship and the defense of women in the late middle ages’ by craig taylor, he cites various precedences such as the lex salica by the salian franks which becomes a measure of exclusionary of women from inheriting active political power. though slowly forgotten generations later, the french crown used it as a way to defend itself from the incursion of other foreign states. hence this was an attempt to give the valois monarchy a strong case against the english, who aimed to have access to france by using female descent. 

this exclusion of female inheritance of ancestral land was constantly defended by intellectual figures, mostly men. they would use the fact that it is too sacred of a position, citing that women cannot be anointed with holy chism. a queen would then lack a sacral qualities, the divine authority anointed by god to carry out the duties done by a king, as per jean golein in ‘traité du sacre’; 

when that no longer was sufficient, they used the excuse that women were excluded due to the fact that men had far greater skill and qualities that were superior to women. as per usual, the argument had  come from ancient sources such as aristotle who claimed that men far superseded women in absolutely anything.

french philosopher nicole oresme used this basis to perpetuate that women were feeble as they are malicious, unwise and irrational to the point that all their advice were confined to petty domesticity—hence, women had no place in the positions of public office and power. it is easier to understand why there is quite a bias regarding women gaining not only authority but a voice. the ancients have relegated women as nothing more than a passing footnote; 

they were written off to be not as important as the men who declare their creation of far greater deeds in wars and battles than the women that were cradling society with their existence and sacrifices. now let us apply the context of the anarchy, the struggle for the english throne between empress matilda and stephen of blois and that of rhaenyra targaryen against her brother aegon ii targaryen.

rhaenyra targaryen in many years as heir and then queen at war–faced threats and usurpation as empress matilda had in her own lifetime. both women, despite being legitimate heirs chosen and annointed by their royal parents, faced substantial challenges rooted in the societal norms and power dynamics of their respective realms.

empress matilda was the designated heir to henry i of england, rhaenyra was designated as the heir by her father, king viserys i targaryen. however, the same fragile skepticism and fear of a female ruler were deeply ingrained in both english and westerosi cultures during their times. in their authority as women in power, they were both considered ‘others’ in their society.

empress matilda's assertiveness and pride in her station were perceived as unlikable traits, similar to how rhaenyra's ambition and determination to be both heir and queen were labeled as undesirable and haughty. in both cases, women who deviated from the prescribed roles dictated by men's ideals were seen as divergent to the context of their patriarchal societies. and equally so, shunned as deviants from the natural course of existence.

additionally, their experiences of living and governing in foreign lands made them a topic of suspicion by their own nobles. matilda's time in the holy roman empire and normandy, and rhaenyra’s many years away in dragonstone had become a means of isolation, which found her a foreigner in her own lands.

just as much her marriage to the daemon targaryen was considered a frightening prospect due to her husband's reputation as a rogue and the biases of people around them. matilda’s own marriage to geoffrey of anjou were viewed with suspicion and uncertainty—-a sources of concern in potential foreign influence from anjou, geoffrey's own fief.

just as empress matilda faced resistance from men like stephen of blois and his loyal nobles, rhaenyra was contested by her half-brother aegon ii and his supporters. the feudal system played a significant role in both instances, with the give-and-take between lords being used to bypass the women's legal claims. this exploitation of the feudal system worked against them, undermining their rightful positions.

both matilda and rhaenyra had to contend with the opportunistic nature of their opponents, who capitalized on the confusion and power vacuum following the passing of their fathers. stephen's ability to make quick and decisive decisions worked to his advantage, just as the swift action of alicent hightower in crowning her son aegon ii in allowed him to gain an upper hand. matilda's and rhaenyra's efforts to gather and consolidate military support were hindered by logistical challenges and the scattering of their bases of support, with the spread of war and battle.

medieval society was deeply entrenched in misogyny, a prejudice that cast a shadow over the capabilities and aspirations of women. one that women from ancient and medieval eras such as empress matilda had to contend with. this bias was evident even in fictional worlds, relating to the foundations and struggles echoing ancient and medieval world structures. 

the case of rhaenyra targaryen, whose claim to the iron throne was overshadowed by the ascension of her brother, aegon ii targaryen, had created a horrible outcome for westeros. the prevailing belief in the inferiority of women was perpetuated by traditional norms, which dictated that leadership and power were inherently male domains.

and this ideals were not only founded in ridiculous lies, but further exposed the biases of men who cannot handle the thought of women being far more capable and equipped in statecraft than men. women like rhaenyra faced a relentless struggle against societal constraints that questioned their ability to exercise agency in their own right. 

her eventual usurpation by aegon ii and the greens was not only a reflection of patriarchal norms but also a power struggle within the context of dynastic politics. the deeply ingrained misogyny founded on ‘tradition’ did nothing but contribute to the undermining of rhaenyra's legitimacy, allowing her brother to seize power, despite her stronger claim and potential qualifications. 

although, both rhaenyra and matilda were declared queen and still the realm of men shun their wanting to use it. matilda was not ever formalized as queen of england and rhaenyra was taken off the roll of kings. though their bloodlines had won the game of thrones, there was far too much progress that could have come with their anointing as the first recognized queen regnants of their respective kingdoms. 

this would cause a shift that exposed their kingdoms and thrones to more patriarchal influences which did irreparable damage. from war to war, to women relegated back into fighting for power behind men. the years that later passed ensured the perpetual deprivation of women’s right to rule and reign as in their own right. the damage done by such precedence for both kingdoms and as well as others would take far too long of a time to truly ever heal. 

Chrissy hesitates while getting dressed Thursday morning. She’s got her uniform on, her cheer cardigan too, but when she looks at herself in the mirror, she half wants to shrug the sweater off. Hang it back up in her closet. She won’t be swapping it out for Jason’s letterman after first period today. What would happen if she just… left it at home. Maybe, if she gets cold, someone else will let her borrow their jacket for the day. She wonders if Jason would offer. Would he insist? Can’t have my girl looking cold, Chris, she imagines in his voice. I know it’s game day, but here, you should take it. Maybe it wouldn’t be like that, though. Maybe it would be the opposite. Baby, how am I supposed to feel you cheering me on all day long if I don’t have my jacket? Plus, you know all the guys are wearing theirs. It’s good for team unity, and I have to set the right example as captain. I thought you girls were wearing your sweaters today. She half entertains the idea of sneaking into her father’s room to borrow one of his sport coats. What would Robin think if she showed up in a blazer of her own? Or could Chrissy maybe not pull it off the same as Robin does? Robin always looks so cool and effortless in her outfits, like putting them together comes as naturally to her as breathing. Her style is so — her own compared to most of the other girls at Hawkins High. Maybe if Chrissy tried to copy it, she’d just look exactly like she would be: a little girl playing dress up in her father’s closet. Maybe she could squeeze into one of PJ’s. His size probably isn’t so different from hers. As long as he has something that fits over her shoulders, it wouldn’t matter too much if the arms were a little short. She could roll the sleeves to her elbows the same way Robin usually does. Chrissy doesn’t typically wear anything tight, though. Her own sense of style tends to favor a looser fit, her closet full of long cardigans and pleated pants, structured jumpsuits and billowy dresses that can be belted in at the waist. Her mom would call those sorts of items forgiving. Things that can change with or hide her fluctuating weight. It also tends to mean it’s less noticeable when her mother buys her clothes a size too large or decides she’s gained another few pounds and takes it upon herself to let out all the seams. Oh. Her mother. Her mother would never let her leave the house in something like that. Not ladylike enough. Of course, it’s one thing to wear her boyfriend’s jacket at school, but it’s another to include men’s clothing as part of her regular wardrobe. And it’s not like she’d be able to hide it from her parents. Even if she managed to sneak into someone else’s closet without being discovered, she couldn’t just stuff a blazer into her backpack and pull it out later. Not if she also wanted to fit any of her books in there. She’s pretty sure there isn’t a world where her mother would be swayed by any claims that it’s some sort of new trend either. Laura Cunningham always insists that truly well-dressed women always look timeless. Classic. They don’t chase trends that will look silly in pictures they’ll be showing their children one day. There’s no use, really, in trying to prepare for a conversation she’ll just lose. She keeps the cardigan on.

all the best people see you (all the best people know), chapter 8, a season 4 buckingham au

hello, could you elaborate on "smerdyakov's vague feelings towards ivan" in relation to queerness in TBK? I don't understand this. are you suggesting smerdyakov was attracted to ivan or that ivan abandoned him because of homophobia?

hi sorry it took me so long to reply.

i wrote that post about smerdyakov being gay a while back and it wasn't super well constructed lol. i don't have stark evidence from academic papers or translators interpreting smerdyakov's feelings towards ivan karamazov as romantic, i've seen some readers take his actions and behavior as psuedo-romantic/incestuous. i don't personally believe that's how we're meant to take smerdyakov.

i do, however, find it interesting how smerdyakov sort of acts like a siren, an alluring yet revolting and effeminate man who "draws" ivan in; even if ivan finds him quite disgusting, he still is attracted to smerdyakov's mystery and evasiveness. he admits to being fascinated with smerdyakov, and even when he begins to feel sickened by smerdyakov's "revolting familiarity which [he] began to show more and more markedly", he still needs him, in a weird way, to satisfy his intellectual leanings: "...suddenly realizing, with disgust, that he was feeling intense curiosity and would not, on any account, have gone away without satisfying it". it is safe to say that ivan has a dependency on smerdyakov, which he himself despises. in this way, smerdyakov takes on a sort of "feminine", gatekeeper (not using that word as slang) role. we see a similar trope in arthurian and medieval literature, where women use prevaricate, captivating words/actions to keep men guessing, yearning, and reaching for a goal (doesn't have to be romantic) without being able to fully grasp what they truly desire. they are the keyholders.

but in male characters these expressions are horrifying and indicative of devilry, if not outright evilness. it is somewhat common for male characters who are supposed to be indirectly (or directly) marked as homosexual to be written in this sort of way. they are disgusting, nauseating, vain, sickly characters with zero moral compass, which is why their homosexuality is often put on as a cherry on top. another example i can think of is Willem Van Bergen from The Alienist, a homosexual man of high society who is also a sadist, mentally unwell, spoiled, and narcissistic. a lesser example is Luis Carruthers, who, even though he's not a villain nor amoral, still has similar qualities of how homosexuality in male characters present in classic literature.

i think with smerdyakov, he's not "in love" with ivan. i personally haven't seen good evidence for that. in reality, i think his siren-esque behavior and ways of manipulation, as well as his femininity and gatekeeping of information, swinging imaginary keys in front of ivan only to put them back in his pocket, is a common pattern in homosexual characters in classic literature. and that's pretty interesting to me!

“It is impossible to enumerate, there are many attractive, impactful criticisms that evaluate the novel from different perspectives and try to analyze its subtexts and symbols. But these criticisms can sometimes prevent seeing what is very obvious. For example no one is talking about money. In my opinion what many critics ignore or join in not giving importance while trying to understand Heathcliff’s actions is his financial violence towards the heroines. Now, returning to another thing not given importance, to the gothic genre, let’s think of Ann Radcliffe novels of the Female Gothic archetype, her heroines whose inheritances are forcefully taken. Isn’t the same plot in Brontë’s novel as well? Furthermore Brontë adds to this plot the way marriage laws of the period facilitate the inheritance to pass from man to man. For example one of the reasons why Edgar fears his sister Isabella Linton marrying Heathcliff is “the possible fact that his property, in default of heirs male, might pass into such a one’s power”. Again while we are enchanted by the passionate love between Catherine and Heathcliff we should realize that “(Catherine’s) fathur’s goold runs into his pocket, and her father’s son gallops down t’ broad road, while (Heathcliff) flees afore to oppen t’ pikes?’”. This talk that Heathcliff has with Catherine shows the reason why he marries Isabella:

“She’s her brother’s heir, is she not?” he asked, after a brief silence.

“I should be sorry to think so,” returned his companion. “Half-a-dozen nephews shall erase her title, please Heaven! Abstract your mind from the subject at present: you are too prone to covet your neighbour’s goods; remember this neighbour’s goods are mine.””

(…)

Heathcliff knows very well the laws that will protect him. Taking into account that Isabella’s older brother is a magistrate, he says, “But tell him, also, to set his fraternal and magisterial heart at ease: that I keep strictly within the limits of the law. I have avoided, up to this period, giving her the slightest right to claim a separation”. So Heathcliff gets behind him legal power too to use against women.

With emphasis on elements like this male heir issue that is mentioned in the novel, the heroines being rendered without property, the marriage laws being in men’s favor, the heroines not being able to reach “the law” (the notary being late, the lawyer making arrangements in Heathcliff’s favor), Brontë shows how women are made powerless and penniless and it is as if this issue doesn’t have anything to the with passionate love, vengefulness or taking revenge. Going further, it is not like I haven’t thought that Brontë wanted to make us sense this through Heathcliff’s mouth: “She abandoned them under a delusion,’ he answered; ‘picturing in me a hero of romance, and expecting unlimited indulgences from my chivalrous devotion. I can hardly regard her in the light of a rational creature, so obstinately has she persisted in forming a fabulous notion of my character and acting on the false impressions she cherished”.

In conclusion, Brontë, saluting the Classic Gothic, takes the traditional female characters like Cathy and Isabella who are stereotyped as the naive, beautiful, virginal, young girl and in the more complex and ambiguous world of Wuthering Heights ensures them to exist not via coincidences or by being saved but by their own actions and choices. She subtly shows women’s power and powerlessness, their confinement in homes, their roles in the family, the legal arrangements regarding marriage and property that they couldn’t have changed at that point in history. All three heroines are challenged by Heathcliff’s wrath, violence and love and they fight back by employing different reactions and strategies. At the same time, it is as if Catherine, Isabella and Cathy echo and mirror each other and collaborate with each other via invisible ties”.

From the essay “Yüksek Yüksek Tepelere” by Neslihan Cangöz, from the book Hafif Kahramanlar

Translated from Turkish by me

I think this is a good breakdown of Heathcliff’s financial abuse, an aspect of him that is often ignored.

This is from a book examining popular female characters from both Western and Turkish popular fiction (though they mention that Wuthering Heights can’t really be considered popular fiction both in the introduction and the essay on it, but it is still included in the book). This analysis is very valuable in conversation with the other essays in the book. Compared to the other female characters analyzed in the book, Brontë really lets her heroines to become their own people and to be defined by their own actions. I really enjoyed reading the essay, it was very good.

The essay’s name is “Yüksek Yüksek Tepelere”. Wuthering Heights’s standardized translation in Turkish is “Uğultulu Tepeler”. “Yüksek Yüksek Tepelere” literally means “To the High Heights” and it is the name of a very famous Turkish folk song that is sung during the henna night before a bride’s wedding. The song is about a bride lamenting moving to a far away rural place after the wedding and missing her parents, her siblings and her old home. I think it is a very fitting, almost genius name for a Turkish feminist essay on Wuthering Heights. Anyway I loved it.

Hello,

I was thinking about the showa riders and wondered if you had any headcanons regarding like ... aging as a cyborg? Or just them as old men if you prefer.

Thanks

OMG OK I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME.

Personally I like to hc that they either don't age or they age at a much slower rate. Due to the nature of recurring actors, the canon around this in TV/movies seems to be that they can age, though, still stay quite able to fight (Ichighost is a good example of this). There IS a novel I know that has no english translation or digital version which re-imagines Kamen Rider through a lense of "what if Fujioka never broke his leg so he never had to leave the show?" In this novel Ichimonji is there and he's a Peruvian-Japanese man who was part of a botched cyborg surgery which is slowly killing him. He becomes a source of fighting inspiration for Hongo who is joining the ranks of the anti-Shocker league with Taki and others. In this novel it apparently implies at the end that no other Kamen Rider are made but Hongo does just eternally carry on forever without aging or rest.

There is a fascination I have with the idea of them being frozen in time as forever 20-something year olds. That classic added pain of immortality and having to watch everyone else pass away while you're still there. And only the fellow cyborgs around you are able to really understand that pain.

The idea of them normally aging into older men while still fighting makes me feel sadness and pain in other ways. Their natural bodies breaking down while their bones, now gone, are made of metal and maybe they are still fine, or maybe they begin to rust or to end up needing frequent fixes. And how long can they really keep this up? If their hearts are no longer made of flesh, how do they choose to stop beating? And can they just be booted back up again?

There's so much to explore and I don't think I can properly settle on one thing to imagine because there are just too many exciting possibilities to think about!!!

hello! Your ask game is wonderfully designed! And I wanted to send one too!

💘❤️‍🩹🩷

can’t wait to see what you say!

Hello, dear Rosey! Thank you for your kind words - you are such a wholesome person!!! Stay healthy and happy for eternity!!!

💘 personal meaning:

I suppose, vore means comfort and trust for me. Since my early days I have always seeked for trust with no borders and excuses, especially, because of an unpleasant experience of taking knifes in the back from a person who is my relative and who I can't trust at all anymore... And actually, I have found such closeness with my mom - we are literally best friends, and she accepts my special interests for which I feel genuine gratitude to her. I hope to be able to trust my future partner so much - and that's why usually my preds are men and preys are women. However, there is no sexual context - I have quite complicated attitude to this stuff and for now I consider myself kinda asexual; though, I'm REALLY romantic. Vore is so intimate: to let someone have you whole, to push yourself inside their craving body - and to know they will be kind and thoughtful despite their wild hunger; or on the other hand, to allow someone come inside you and see all your vulnerability, to be able to feel complete at last... I find it fascinating. As for comfort and care, I use vore as a coping mechanism - and it helps me a lot with all the struggles I have in life. Things seem much easier when you imagine yourself being put in a warm, soft stomach; you don't need to control anything, there are only you and your friend. The pred rubs their full belly, it growls at its fullness and churns around you, peaceful sounds and gentle heartbeat lulling you to sleep... The coziest atmosphere ever.

❤️‍🩹 - comfort vore:

As I have said, it's one of the things I adore much. I'm more prey-minded, so why a prefer thinking about being tucked away in someone's stomach rather than devouring someone myself. I don't mind latter, though; helping other people is very important in my opinion. Nevertheless, speaking about personal preferences, I'd say mine are quite usual around the community. The tropes I use depend on the situation and mood, but generally, there is a wholesome pred who licks their prey's tears out, kisses their head and gulps them down very carefully, fondling a volumnous lump on the waist afterwards and recognising as the prey's body relaxes and the touch. Or, if it's the pred who faces difficulties, there is an understanding, compassionate prey who smiles at their big partner and offers themselves as a comfort meal - the favour which is gladly accepted by the pred who eagerly thanks the prey and slurps them up instantly, then curls around their growling middle, feeling full, loved - and supported. These are quite classical tropes, but is there anything better than classics?..

🩷 - safe vore:

It's the trope I expluate more often than any others. The idea of one person lovingly holding their friend/partner inside them, both making each other feel good just makes my heart flutter in excitement! I adore any kind of such vore weather it's particularly occasional or casual, for protection or for fun. Commonly, I think and write about friends or romantic couples in this case, but there can be some kinda twisted scenarios too. For example: the prey is eaten by a pred who is secretly a sweetheart. They thought to digest the little one because of their violent hunger, but after they swallowed the prey down, the pred regrets it and set their victim free, apologizing for their behaviour (it's great if that's how these two will start good relationships of any sort). I find safe vore quite cheering up when it's a bad day and I need something to encourage myself to look at things in a positive way.

alright thoughts on tf classic? Or at least the classic teams roles in the comics?

i have literally no knowledge of tf classic outside of how they are in the tf2 comics

that said i love nothing more than to share my opinions so let me just refresh my memory of them real quick-

granny pyro fucking rules if theres one thing tf2 is good for its making fucking insane women<3<3

I really have no strong opinions on the rest of them honestly. The writing fascinates me, though. because when you take a close look at their actions, they really aren't all the different from how the team acts? like. ok. bear with me here while i put on my english major hat and go all character analysis on you

(for the sake of clarity, i'll just be using mercs to refer to the tf2 characters, also under the cut cause this got longg)

what is their role in the plot aside from being antagonists? they're hired guns doing their job, which is taking out the administrator and the mercs, until something better presents itself in the form of the australium based life support thing. At which point c!heavy decides to turn tail and go rogue and get the missing australium for himself

everything they do in the comics? killing and torturing for their own gain and pleasure? nothing out of the ordinary for the mercs honestly. C!heavy is the only one that they go out of their way to make him an asshole (more on him later). The main reason they come off as such villains compared to our mercs? they play the violence completely straight.

Whenever the classic team is shown, ALL of the jokes come from them being the straight men to the antics of the mercs. If they weren't paired so wonderfully to play off of the batshit moves the mercs make. C!pyro isn't even torturing solider for information after she gets what she wants, she's just doing it because she enjoys hurting people- meanwhile Jane wants her to torture him for information he actually has so he can prove that he won't tell her. Every interaction is like this! They're professionals who enjoy their jobs as guns for hire- same as the mercs except they don't tell jokes or get naked and covered in honey while they do it. Thats the only thing seperating how the teams act. the main exception being C!heavy

He is uniquely portrayed as an asshole. He's here for a quick, easy pay (he tells grey mann he doesn't understand world domination types, its too much work), he's extremely caught up in the gain (him instantly backstabbing grey mann to get the life extender for himself, and when he yells at medic about how much he's cost them in animal parts)

One scene in particular, however, really sets him up as the Bad Guy. When he hurts Archimedes. It's sandwiched inbetween two jokes (him getting mad at medic for reanimating sniper, and medic implying sniper has pigeon blood now) so it's maybe hard to miss, but the panel where he throws Archimedes into the ground is such a stark stylistic difference that it really just pushes home that this is something Important. the panel is pure black, with C!heavy and Archimedes in bright white. a spatter of blood shows the impact and damage of the action. It really shifts him into the role of scary villain. He's willing to hurt and kill this animal that did nothing to him. presumably because he's pissed at medic and he knows it will hurt him. Medic's reaction and obvious pain makes him a more serious threat than the other classic members, because even when c!pyro drilled holes into soliders teeth, solider didn't care. Everything else the classic team has done has been an inconvience at best (ok well, except killing sniper, but that is also done by c!heavy and treated the same as this example so-)

It's a really beautiful piece of story telling! It's a fantastic way of conveying that this guy is the big bad to the reader without even using words!

Oh and this is also why our mercs were able to win in the end btw, the classic team was prepared for a lot of shit but they could never expect the random bullshit the mercs pull on nearly constantly. They expected guns that shot bullets not ones with a "BANG" flag then getting punched in the dick

Psycho Analysis: Sideshow Bob

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

For over thirty years now The Simpsons has provided the world with all manner of wacky shenanigans.  And when it comes to cartoons, what better way to cause shenanigans than by having a villain show up to wreak havoc? Most often the villain is the decrepit billionaire Mr. Burns, but sometimes you get a hilarious and memorable one-shot character like the affably evil Hank Scorpio. But in the middle, between being a major member of the cast and being a guest character, there is one man: Sideshow Bob.

The man with the palm tree hair and multiple attempted murders under his belt has cemented himself as one of the most iconic antagonists in television history as he seeks vengeance against Bart Simpson for thwarting his original scheme to get Krusty the clown arrested. With a little over a dozen major appearances across the history of the series and zero successes to his name, he is very much the Wile E. Coyote to Bart’s Roadrunner, and it’s typically as funny as that sounds.

But as we all know, many characters on the show have suffered the curse of flanderization, where key parts of their initial personality are magnified until that’s all they’re about, so named because fellow character Ned Flanders had his religious beliefs cranked up to 11 as time went on. The same could be said about Bob, with his desire to kill Bart overriding any sort of closure he receives at the end of every episode… But does this diminish his quality as a villain?

Motivation/Goals: Fitting for an animated sitcom, Bob’s motivations aren’t the most complex in the world. In his first appearance, he merely wanted to frame Krusty to take over his show and turn it into something more high brow, but after Bart helped thwart his schemes his new goal became to murder Bart, and that’s mainly what he’s stuck with. “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming” and “The Day of the Jackanapes” mix things up a bit by having him target Krusty as well, but Bart dying is something that would have inevitably come to fruition if he’d succeeded.

Frankly, this just makes Bob even funnier as a character. This dude has beef with literal fucking children and despite being a genius he literally never wins. He truly is the perfect second banana to a clown, always suffering for the gag while never getting the limelight he feels he deserves.

Performance: Perhaps the single thing that makes Bob stand out is that he has always, in every appearance, been voiced by none other than Kelsey Grammer, AKA Frasier Crane from Cheers and Frasier (Or Beast from X-Men: The Last Stand). I think it’s pretty obvious he kills it as Bob, bringing just the right air of menace and class to have Bob be seen as a legitimate threat while also being able to deliver some great jokes. Also, he gets to sing quite a bit, which is always a treat.

Final Fate: Every single time he appears, Bob is inevitably thwarted and sent to jail, usually worse off than when he started the episode. There are a few unique examples where Bob gets it a bit  worse than usual; “Brother From Another Series” has Bob save the day but then get arrested anyway because Wiggum is a fucking idiot, while “Funeral for a Fiend” features him going completely insane.

Best Episode: It does not matter how much time has passed, “Cape Feare” will always remain the #1 greatest appearance of Sideshow Bob. It has it all: Movie references, musical numbers, murderous plots, and classic gags! And speaking of gags, the episode contains one of the single funniest gags Bob has ever been a part of.

Coming in at a close second would be “Sideshow Bob Roberts,” where Bob rigs an election. The entire episode really shows just how little conservatives have changed over nearly 30 years; the episode aired on October 9, 1994, and its jabs at the right wing are as timeless as ever. It also helps that the episode is a riot, with tons of good gags. “Krusty Gets Busted,” “Black Widower,” “Brother from Another Series,” “The Day of the Jackanapes,” “The Great Louse Detective,” and “The Bob Next Door”  are all solid entries as well, and feature Bob at his most cunning, though they’re always gonna be in the shadow of “Cape Feare” (and “Sideshow Bob Roberts” to a lesser extent).

Best Quote: It’s gotta be this one, if only for the sheer absurdity of how posh Bob makes catcalling sound:

Final Thoughts & Score: Previously I compared Bob to fellow animated antagonist Denzel Crocker, in the sense they both became increasingly flanderized and their roles began to make less and less sense as time went on with the show, with Bob’s murderous impulses never going away even when there’s plenty of reason that they should. Both “Brother From Another Series” and “Day of the Jackanapes” give pretty nice end points for Bob’s arc; the former, if they had cut out the mean-spirited ending, would have had Bob redeemed and finally given him a bit of peace, and the latter has him actually reconciling with Krusty (and getting the death penalty). But they continued to bring him back, with “The Great Louse Detective” also giving a great end point for Bob, complete with a musical number! But then he’s back for “The Italian Bob,” the worst of his appearances, which then ties into his next appearance in “Funeral for a Fiend,” which also gives us a nice stopping point. But no, he keeps coming back with the same goals each and every time: Kill Bart (or sometimes Krusty).

But the thing with Bob compared to Crocker is that while the latter shows up a lot in his series to the point he’s a main antagonist, Bob is used extremely sparingly. He has 15 major appearances over the course of The Simpsons run, with one of those being a “Treehouse of Horror” segment and some of those appearances happening several seasons apart. The lack of oversaturation helps make the flanderization sting a bit less; sure, he’s always sliding back into the same old evil routines, but he doesn’t show up enough where it becomes completely stale. Some of his later appearances end up being a bit less impressive than earlier ones, but he’s still enjoyable enough that none of his episodes are downright awful.

A lot of this is thanks to Kelsey Grammer’s voice work. He’s really a perfect fit for this egotistical, classy attempted murderer, and considering Grammer’s a decently big name thanks to Cheers and Frasier, it’s probably not without reason they use him sparingly. Still, I think what ultimately keeps Bob great compared to a lot of other cartoon villains is that he’s just such a ridiculous concept that it’s hard for him to not end up being fun whenever he appears. This is a former sidekick to a TV clown who wants to murder a small child, he has a long-standing rivalry with rakes, and he enjoys singing opera. He has stolen a nuke, stolen someone’s face, rigged an election, and attempted to assassinate a clown by hypnotizing a child and rigging him with explosives. His schemes are wacky, convoluted, and cartoonish, but Grammer’s performance will convince you that these actions are the most brilliant a criminal could conceive of.

Has Bob lost a little bit of luster over the years? Sure. But much like the show he’s part of, writing him off completely because of a few weaker showings is a bit disingenuous. Bob’s a high 9.5/10, leaning a bit more towards the 10, and maybe they’d get there if they could commit to giving him a proper ending. But hey, even if they never do, I’m not gonna complain when I hear Grammer drop a “Hello, Bart” for the fiftieth time right before Bob steps on a rake.

Races Among the Stars 7: Ysoki

And so, we have come to the last of the core playable species of Starfinder (not including the classic Pathfinder options from the back of the book, of course, but we’ll get to those)

To those not fully familiar with Pathfinder’s lore, Ysoki might seem to be a new addition to the meta-setting, but their heritage goes back pretty far!

The first mention of the Ysoki goes back to documentation on the “Ysoki Rat-Men of Akiton”, but it was later revealed those rat folk were in fact the same species as the ratfolk on Golarion’s surface, which may tie back to old cultural legends of the ratfolk being the creations of a god or gods that sought agents to help repair holes in reality after the universe had been finished making, which would explain why they have been found on multiple worlds, though it is unclear in the era of Starfinder whether the Ysoki are one species, or multiple that convergently evolved into rodent-like forms. Either way, they face the galaxy under the united banner of the Ysoki people.

As implied before, Ysoki resemble humanoid rats of large size (for rats), or small size (for galactic species size standards) depending on who is asking. Their fur comes in a variety of colors and patterns ranging from the many diverse options of rodent-kind and perhaps a little bit beyond. Depending on the artist drawing them or individual presence, ysoki can vary a lot in proportion though, some being quite squat in size, while others have human-like proportions on a smaller frame.

For their part, Ysoki are enthusiastic and passionate folk that can talk for hours with a good friend or on a favored subject, though despite their socialness among friends, they can often be shy and furtive to the world outside that circle. While this may vary slightly with the myriads of ratfolk cultures out there, there are many things that stay the same.

For example, Ysoki are highly community driven and curious. While they often prefer the subtler arts and discretion, they will fight with the desperate viciousness of a cornered animal to protect their family and friends. Meanwhile, their curiosity makes the inner workings of complex machines a fascinating subject to them, and many a ratfolk community is sustained by technologies cobbled together with designs that often outperform the originals.

Outside of their culture, the ratfolk are quite good at integrating themselves into other cultures and societies, finding their niche quickly.

 Ysoki are agile and clever, but lack muscle mass.

What they do have is many rodent qualities, including impressively large cheek pouches which they can hide objects in and spit them out when ready.

Their eyes are well-adapted for night vision as well.

They also prove incredibly scrappy and agile in a fight, able to stand quickly, keep their balance, and slip past their foes with relative ease.

Very familiar with making due with what is on hand, most have a knack for finding useful parts and remaining hidden while they do so.

 Whether it be because they are a different species, subspecies, or have a different upbringing, plenty of ysoki have different aptitudes. For example, some more “anthropomorphic” ysoki have plantigrade legs and more humanlike leg and arm proportions, and are somewhat more social than dexterous.

Ysoki born on space stations that spend most of their lives under reduced or no gravity tend to be gangly and skinny, but are capable of greater feats of agility. However, such an upbringing means that their bones are brittle.

Other Ysoki, particularly those that claim ancestry from lost Golarion, are well known for their survivability, and sport hearty constitutions.

 Of course, plenty of variation exists beyond that. Some may have powerful noses that can sense the presence of hidden creatures by scent alone. Others might have particularly strong jaws and teeth, able to use them as weapons. Many are good fighters, able to withstand pain and fighting with particular viciousness when wounded. Others may, due to a wealthy upbringing or natural aptitude, be gifted with greater skill and talent in any pursuit they focus on. It is said that ratfolk of the distant past fought in groups and swarmed over their foes, overwhelming foes, a fighting style that some modern ysoki utilize. Finally, some are used to living desolate places, able to survive on little and having a resistance to toxins.

 With their intelligence and agility, ysoki make very good studious biohackers as well as pretty much any variety of mechanic. Most combat classes will have mixed results, being decent with ranged, but having a slight disadvantage in melee, so going ranged soldier, solarian, vanguard, evolutionist, or nanocyte is preferable. Their agility also makes operative a good choice, and while they cannot benefit envoy directly without a different ability score suite, that agility still comes in handy for the improvising class. Finally, while technomancer is perhaps the expected class for ysoki spellcaster, don’t write off precog with their reliance on dexterity, nor on witchwarper if you go with the anthropomorphic option. The only class that doesn’t get an immediate benefit for them is mystic, but it remains a serviceable option. In fact, even those classes and builds that seem like weak options to them can still be quite potent, and ysoki lack any weaknesses that would lock them out of a certain play style.

 And with that, we’re done with the core playable races in Starfinder, but this week’s special is only starting, and there are plenty other species to go over! I hope you’ll enjoy the others this week!

Retro Review: Fable

One of the best Adventure Role Playing Games on Xbox, Fable is a beautiful open-world fantasy game with elements that couldn’t compare to other games. Fable was so unique where almost every move you made had its own consequences good or bad. You truly molded your life with the actions you made from a child to an elder.

Humble Beginnings In the world of Albion there’s always evil about, whether it’s your average everyday bandits stealing goods from the farm, giant hornets terrorizing a picnic, annoying hobbes causing havoc and chaos, or an even greater evil that threatened all of the world and only one hero could take them down. Although there are many heroes in the world of Albion, some heroes can turn out to be great and powerful, evil or good, arrogant or modest. In fact there is a guild of heroes where people train and learn how to become heroes, but even if you are a student from the guild you still must prove to people that you’re a hero, you must earn their respect. As a child growing up you already make small choices that can lead you into becoming an evil or good hero, eventually growing up and either correcting the evil of your ways and becoming more good or vice versa.

Gameplay Fable’s gameplay is intensely different compared to most roleplay games. As simple village boy making ‘innocent’ decisions can lead to you becoming evil or good, from smashing a farmer’s barrels or protecting them. As you get older you’ll see there are even more elements that lead to your rise as an evil or good person, such as eating live chicken or being a vegan. Seriously, eating tofu and vegetables will lead you to being a good person, but eating well also leads to being physically fit and well. As your character ages, you see their hair becoming grey and skin wrinkling, sunburns and battle scars.

The armor you wear affects villagers. Will they fear you, or look up to you or even love you? The ladies seem to love your mutton chops and bald head, even some of the men. You can perhaps gift a special lady some flowers and even propose to them. Fable is literally a role playing game, you create a life with your hero and you watch them grow as they get through their mission and fulfill their destiny. Battles are engaging, fun, and intense. You fight your battles in your own style, are you a rogue who can sneak past enemies and get a perfect headshot on them with your, maybe you’re a warrior who’ll hammer their heads open, or perhaps a mage who can unleash their fury electrocuting every enemy rapidly. Of course why not be all three. You level up depending on three major factors, skill, strength, and will. Depending on how often you use the factors you gain more experience in that area. For example, if you plan to become an all powerful mage, using willpower as often as you can will lead to you gaining more experience in that section along with general experience which can go into all three factors while leveling up. Each factor has so many different options while leveling up and it almost feels endless.

What Makes Fable a Classic? Something unique about Fable was when choose side quests, each quest had a good version and evil version. If there is a quest to protect a farm from bandits, you also had a choice to help out the bandits instead. You were also able to boast or bet with villagers and do daring things such as go into battle with armor for extra gold and more attention which is crucial as hero. After some quests you received a trophy whether it was the head of your enemy or a special item from someone, you’d have to show it off to villagers so they know that you were the one who slayed or conquered something. It was never a situation of you’re the hero and everyone knew that, you had to earn that respect by protecting people or killing them and shoving it in their faces.

Fable is definitely different than the Fable games we have now, and because of that it’s worth checking out. It’s quite a gem, a good one at that. This was one of the most amazing role playing games I’ve ever come across as a gamer. Creating your own hero good or evil, earning your respect instead of just being ‘the hero’ that everyone supposedly knew. Villagers with interesting quirky personalities, stories that traders would tell you as you protected them, an intense storytelling that felt vivid and caught your attention. A roleplaying game at it’s finest at its time and still is today. While you can still play the Xbox Original Fable, If visuals matter to you or it’s more convenient for you, there is Fable Anniversary which is basically an HD Remastered Fable done in the unreal engine.

Transformers: Mosaic #376 - "Human Component: Minerva"

Originally posted on May 4th, 2009

Story, Art - Iván Mas Thanks to - Carlos Oliveros

deviantART | Seibertron | TFW2005 | BotTalk

wada sez: Minerva was one of the most dramatic reinventions of a Hasbro toy for the Japanese market, a complete redeco of Nightbeat into a medic’s car. Ignoring later retcons, she was the first ever toy of a female Transformer. Together with Shūta and Cab, she was one of the three schoolkids given a Master-Brace by the Autobots, which allows her to transform into a Headmaster and combine with a Transtector. Chōkon Power is involved somehow. Given that Minerva is a schoolgirl, perhaps you’re wondering why Mas has drawn her Like That. Great question! Mas’s stated justification (per the machine-translated commentary I’ve included below the break, along with some extra art) is that he found the premise of the young teens driving around saving the world too far-fetched, so he’s aged them up a bit. Sure, I guess. If we’re talking in terms of the plot of Masterforce, this strip appears to be set after the fourth episode, “Birth! Headmaster Jrs”, which has the first altercation between the Autobot and Decepticon Headmaster Juniors—but obviously Mas is adapting the story for a new audience so is at liberty to futz with this kind of thing. To paraphase a comment by Mas on deviantART, he justifies the sheer quantity of text in this strip by reminding readers that he’s writing about a story/characters most readers will have zero familiarity with, because he’s “not interested in explaining Starscream’s treachery towards Megatron, or how nice Hot Rod is”! Based?

The idea is simple, I want to introduce the main characters of Masterfroce, which outside Japan, are more or less unknown in many countries, and the series, in terms of potential, seems to me the most profitable and innovative.

Personally I have always wanted to face Transformers in a more serious and adult way, more in line with these times, I think that the younger audience already has its "Animated" and will always have the classic series.

I also think that it would be relatively easy to make Transformers a good comic of say "superheroes or robots" and I mean a comic that both Transformers and non Transformers fans would like. And I think it would be easy to put it at the level of ... maybe some x-men (?!) ( sacrilegeee!!!! ) ( not in terms of sales volume, that's logical, but in essence ).

Another of the "problems" that I feel transformers comics have in general is that at graphic level the robots are indeed very well, but that’s all.... when it comes to drawing backgrounds or humans ........... let's be frank although it annoys us, in the comic world, nobody takes transformers as something serious, it is considered a sub-product ( never better said "SUB" ) to simply sell dolls, of course, so far they have done well.

In the mosaic, first of all I tried to create the same feeling I had with Masterforce when I saw it,

- really, this is transformers ? no robots ! -

So, in none of these mosaics I'm going to introduce anything related to robots, although of course, they are an important or fundamental part of the theme.

But before we talked about giving an adult touch to the theme, and in this aspect, I am more interested in what the "souls" of the robots may think, which in this case is the function that humans do, in order to be able to understand better the metallic beings.

But in this aspect I always give the same example... in "the walking dead" the main thing should be the zombies, however they end up being something secondary... and nobody will deny that the series is more than good.

However in this Mosaic, those of you who know Masterforce will have noticed.... in the series, Minerva was not so grown up.... well, I have done it for coherence, the eighties were another thing, but today, it would be too far-fetched, even within the far-fetched nature of the story, that a girl of 15 years not only drove a car, without being stopped by the police, but also save lives and worlds, with the maturity that presumably entails.

Masterforce is also not a new twist to the same, which would be easy and what every X time is already done, but a new concept, an evolution of robots and characters, far are the already "incarcerated and typical" Prime and Megatron, beings to which I have great respect and appreciation, but I consider that neither the fans of Transformers or any series can live forever of the same characters, even more when they are so well known, in this case,

Wolverine is a good example, nowadays it is very difficult to create something surprisingly good and new with Wolverine and even more without breaking the different continuities.

Or Batman too... to create something that really catches the attention, they have had to kill Bruce Wayne .....

I know that I run the risk that many because people don’t see robots, they won’t be interested interested in the story, but without wanting to seem offensive, that’s your problem, we have been watching Prime and Megatron for 25 years..... and I'm starting to get a little tired, and besides even at the time Masterforce was better than the original G.1 in almost all concepts, in animation, character design, drawing and scripting.

So, I hope that people can discover and enjoy Masterforce and I hope that those who already know it can "open" their mind a little and they will like it, if not... they will always have Prime and Megatron.

All the Best People See You (All the Best People Know), Chapter 8

hello guess who's back so soon here is another installment in my pre-season 4 robin/chrissy inadvertant desert hearts movie date au!!! it is no longer so pre-season 4!!! exciting!!

Robin says Chrissy’s the one with the magic, but Chrissy’s pretty sure it’s the other way around. Something about wearing Robin’s blazer yesterday had made her feel brave, safe, like she could talk about exactly the sort of things she’d practiced avoiding with Miss Kelly last week. Today, Robin’s jacket is black denim instead of a blazer, scattered pins and patches decorating the material, but when she loans it to Chrissy, it feels just the same.

read it on ao3 here

Chrissy hesitates while getting dressed Thursday morning. She’s got her uniform on, her cheer cardigan too, but when she looks at herself in the mirror, she half wants to shrug the sweater off. Hang it back up in her closet. She won’t be swapping it out for Jason’s letterman after first period today. What would happen if she just… left it at home?

Maybe, if she gets cold, someone else will let her borrow their jacket for the day.

She wonders if Jason would offer. Would he insist?

Can’t have my girl looking cold, Chris, she imagines in his voice. I know it’s game day, but here, you should take it.

Maybe it wouldn’t be like that, though. Maybe it would be the opposite.

Baby, how am I supposed to feel you cheering me on all day long if I don’t have my jacket? Plus, you know all the guys are wearing theirs. It’s good for team unity, and I have to set the right example as captain. I thought you girls were wearing your sweaters today.

She half entertains the idea of sneaking into her father’s room to borrow one of his sport coats. What would Robin think if she showed up in a blazer of her own? Or could Chrissy maybe not pull it off the same as Robin does? Robin always looks so cool and effortless in her outfits, like putting them together comes as naturally to her as breathing. Her style is so — her own compared to most of the other girls at Hawkins High. Maybe if Chrissy tried to copy it, she’d just look exactly like she would be: a little girl playing dress up in her father’s closet.

Maybe she could squeeze into one of PJ’s. His size probably isn’t so different from hers. As long as he has something that fits over her shoulders, it wouldn’t matter too much if the arms were a little short. She could roll the sleeves to her elbows the same way Robin usually does.

Chrissy doesn’t typically wear anything tight, though. Her own sense of style tends to favor a looser fit, her closet full of long cardigans and pleated pants, structured jumpsuits and billowy dresses that can be belted in at the waist. Her mom would call those sorts of items forgiving. Things that can change with or hide her fluctuating weight. It also tends to mean it’s less noticeable when her mother buys her clothes a size too large or decides she’s gained another few pounds and takes it upon herself to let out all the seams.

Oh.

Her mother.

Her mother would never let her leave the house in something like that. Not ladylike enough. Of course, it’s one thing to wear her boyfriend’s jacket at school, but it’s another to include men’s clothing as part of her regular wardrobe. And it’s not like she’d be able to hide it from her parents. Even if she managed to sneak into someone else’s closet without being discovered, she couldn’t just stuff a blazer into her backpack and pull it out later. Not if she also wanted to fit any of her books in there.

She’s pretty sure there isn’t a world where her mother would be swayed by any claims that it’s some sort of new trend either. Laura Cunningham always insists that truly well-dressed women always look timeless. Classic. They don’t chase trends that will look silly in pictures they’ll be showing their children one day.

There’s no use, really, in trying to prepare for a conversation she’ll just lose. She keeps the cardigan on.

keep reading

(Last ask got cut off on my end, this isn't spam lol) What I was trying to say was, HB and HH get all this blind praise for its- really bad representation of LGBTQ+ characters. The only trans character is fetishized, yet Viv is treated like this hero for trans rep. Stolitz (the main gay ship) has the plot-line of a yaoi fanfic. Angel Dust (the supposed positive gay rep) is literally a walking stereotype of not just gay men, but sex workers as well. Alastor (the aro/ace 'rep') is just the classic serial killer who's too in love with himself to ever love anyone else. Not to mention the whole 'spooky-ooky voodoo' thing he has is straight up disrespectful to the religion. But ironically, the straight couple(s), including Moxxie and Millie AND Lilith and fucking Lucifer live this fairy-tale dreamworld and the only good rep from the show is literally from background characters or a one off character we'll probably never see again. Wanted to know how you think Stolitz should be re-worked (if it can be saved atp. It's hopeless as of now) Along with how you think Alastor can be good representation if the effort is put into him.

Agreed with everything here. So sorry for the late reply, just a message to all my followers real quick, keep in mind guys that if you send me something, I’ll get to you in time! I get a lot of asks, so it’s hard to keep track sometimes, but I haven’t forgotten you! 👍

Also yes, I do believe Stolitz can be saved, but of course things would need to change. Now I don’t mean on a rewriting standpoint, but I do mean just….moving forward. To make a long story short, what Stolas needs to do is get his shit together. He needs to acknowledge and FULLY own up to what he did, how badly he treated Blitz, and how he couldn’t make his daughter his priority. He was selfish, possessive, and toxic, and honestly he just needs to figure out what love IS because he clearly doesn’t know how to treat a partner. The show also really needs to start doing some actual GOOD storytelling, I want to see why exactly Stolas fell in love with Blitz, what impact he had on him, and why he pins onto him so much. The show failed at making me feel like Stolas felt any genuine feelings towards Blitz, and because of that I don’t even want the two together because there’s nothing to go OFF of, there’s just…no chemistry outside of them meeting once as kids, and then fucking, and that’s the major problem, but like I said, this can be saved, so long as Stolas admits his faults and actually WORKS to be better. On a realistic standpoint, Stolas should honestly just leave Blitz alone, figure things out for himself, tend to his family and take time alone, because I honestly don’t think he’s ready for a relationship, until he fixes himself. That’s why I would HOPE that from what we’ve seen in episode 1 of season 2, Stolas gives Blitz an Asmodeon crystal, and cuts ties with him until further notice. I would love this idea, it would show us the first step example of Stolas actually trying to better himself. And speaking of Blitz, he needs to do the same thing. Cut ties with Stolas, and get his shit together. The problem is just that both these characters are just horrible people who need to admit their faults and work on being better, THEN they should see if they’re able to be in a relationship. The problem is….that when it comes to how Blitz sees Stolas, the show through storytelling has done nothing but show that he doesn’t like him, and feels trapped, only screwing him for Lust and pity. It’s honestly safe to say that as a writer, Vivzie has fucked up multiple times when it comes to their relationship. Every time she has a chance to improve it, she makes it worse, and with season 2 episode 2 being the recent episode, it can only go further downhill from here. Again, there’s still a chance to improve this moving forward, but I feel like the only way to do that is for Stolas to just give Blitz the crystal and focus on himself for a bit.

As for Alastor, I’m going to be 100% honest, I don’t really think his asexuality needs to be explored in the show. Not that I have anything against that because I don’t, it’s just think that with a character like Alastor, is there really a need to explore it? With a writer like Vivzie, I personally always felt like she never had the intention to. I feel like her idea for his character was just that he was obsessed with himself and too focused on other things to be in a relationship, and that’s it, no double meaning regarding sexuality. It felt more like she labeled him as ace because she wanted representation points, when she easily could have said “he’s obsessed with himself because he’s a homicidal maniac serial killer” and just leave it at that, it would have made sense and I wouldn’t have batted an eye because it fits with his character. Meanwhile fans always made his asexuality a big deal and I never understood it. For a character like Angel, I get it, because he wasn’t allowed to be himself during the 40’s and is now openly gay in hell, but Alastor? Why would I care about this man being ace, who’s literally a serial killer that’s probably murdered thousands of souls and is one of the most feared beings in hell? Who’s also clearly mentally insane? I dunno, y’all can disagree with me on this, but this is just my opinion. People also call Al good ace representation and Lmao….no? Go look at Todd from Bojack Horseman, THAT’S good ace rep, Alastor only feels ace to me because he’s a dick who only likes himself. However please again keep in mind that these are my opinions, if you’re happy there’s an Ace character in the show, that’s 100% okay! As for Alastor and the voodoo stuff being disrespectful, I can’t really speak on this subject because I don’t have the proper knowledge, so I’m not saying I disagree, I just can’t speak on the subject lol.

another online idiot often found hand in hand with the crypto terf is the crypto fascist. they also believe in bio essentialism in that women and men are completely different biologically and therefore must have separate roles socially, the woman at home birthing more children and the man at work or war (a classic example of this is hitler's propaganda towards citizens during his time in power, there was a massive campaign for german women to have more children and how being able to make more germans made them very important and special. sound familiar?) any deviation from these norms is degeneracy and contributes to the downfall of society.

this is why there is such an overlap between terfs and fascists, they have similar views but try to keep them on the downlow with dogwhistles and key phrases for fear of "persecution"

and then they act surprised when they take the mask off and lose friends for it.

You. "Women stay in the kitchen" becomes "men stay out of the kitchen because they're too dumb and brutish" and it's the exact same result either way. Put women on a pedestal, too knowledgeable of these base earthy ways, too good to be brought down by association with men, need their own spaces, too ladylike to vote.