I loved Good Omens, but how people see it as amazing queer representation is so frustrating. I see why people like the codinf and could see themself in the text, but the fact they treat it like the end all be all of representation and put it on the same level as explicit rep is frustrating. It's frustrating because Neil gets to have his cake and eat it, too. He got something half his audience will never realize is queer (i know this because half the people i watched it with didnt realize), but he gets the praise for being a queer icon and great representation or whatever. I'm fine if he didn't want to make it explicitly queer, especially because it's a big change that and he didn't want to change too much from the source material since his co-author passed. But he did make changes and added the queer subtext that was less present in the book. And in the show, there's this je ne sais quoi to it that is missing, something in the vibes that is just missing. Something a queer author would've been able to get. The closest I can get to describing it is like by the end, here's still a gap of unresolved feelings between the lines. Or like, touch isn't that big of a deal between them. I feel like if their were worse actors in it, or actors less on board with the queer subtext, the show would just be baiting. That's how thin the line is for me with Good Omens. Also, I hate to say it, but it was clearly not written with ace people in mind. Neil just heard ace people feeling represented and nodded along in agreement. If you seee the phrase "their love is above physical intimacy" it's not ace positivity, it's someone being sleeved out by gay sex. The angels are mentioned being sexless in the book, amd fans put more thought into the angels gender or lackthereof than the show does, except for the one non-binary actor that plays Poison and i think ine of the angels. The leads are essentially written as and meant to be seen as cis male by audience members, not nonbinary characters that pass as cis male. And I'm sorry, but Crowley in a dress was a man-in-dress joke, and Neil just nodded when people praised it. There is better ace rep out there, stories with better queer subtext, and better stories with better representation. Can people please stop praising protecting the straight man with a good show with mediocre rep from the mean queers. Why is there this narrative that we have to love all media remotely queer and see it as good rep inherently and that it will "divide the community" and "helping the enemy" if we don't?

ok so my memory of gomens is VERY hazy but i think the je ne sais quoi that you’re saying is missing is how the show essentially builds an entire story arc with crowley and and aziraphale’s relationship, with an inciting incident and a rising action and then… it skips the climax and goes straight to the resolution.

like, they build up this relationship in the show so much more than they do in the books. and because of the nature of “opposite sides of a war” thing, there’s a lot of tension that comes with that. they care about each other but their friendship is forbidden and they’re conflicted about it so they hide their feelings and they reject each other despite how they constantly hang out with each other and when one of them is in danger they go crazy. and a story arc like that needs a Big Conversation, an “all cards on the table emotional vulnerability hashing it out” kinda scene. it needs a confession, basically.

and the thing is that this confession doesn’t have to be explicitly romantic for it to work in the show. it can literally sum up to “you’re my best friend and i would do anything for you, i don’t care what the rest of the world says” and that would be a good climax for that story arc. but it needs to be a lot more dramatic than the few short scenes that we did get in the show where they actually talked about their feelings for each other.

anyway i’m with you for all the criticisms you have of this show and the fandom and also neil himself. good omens is a very good show that gets a lot of undue praise from queer fans who can’t separate their personal connection with the characters and the story from being able to actually identify groundbreaking queer representation. like you can just enjoy the show, not every story with queer rep has to be a Diversity Win

i feel like that narrative of “we have to love all queer media or else you’re dividing the community” comes primarily from fans who think gomens is groundbreaking and who take criticism of their favorite show way too personally. so like, when you say “good omens isn’t amazing queer representation” they think of that as a criticism—bc to them it is amazing queer representation—and not as just… a statement of fact. bc like, not every show needs to be incredible queer representation??? imo? so THEN they think you’re insulting the show and bc they love the show so much it feels like a personal attack on them. that part specifically is very common in general lol, people take criticisms of their favorite show VERY personally

(So I originally wrote the following in a reply to the post screencaped above. I wanted to reblog this as the S3B is premiering in a couple days and I have major concerns over this potential plot direction. However OP blocked me for my reply and I can’t, however they’re my words so I will repost them as I see fit. Including the original post for context only, and I added some additional clarifying comments.)

…that would be pretty terrible, ngl.

Canon Radovid (in the games, he’s like 12 at the end of the books, although his future turn is hinted at) turns genocidal towards sorceresses and other non-humans both for political power, but also because of the festering resentment of the abuse, manipulations, and wrongs he sees him and father suffer at the hands of the sorceress Phillipa and Dijkstra, including his father’s assassination by an elf at the behest of Phillipa. Phillipa controls him throughout his teenage years. That hate festers in him for years until he grows up, and instead of simply getting revenge on those who personally harmed him and his family, he decides the only way to rule was with an iron fist, and turned that fist against all sorceresses, witches, magic-users and non-humans (both because he hates/fears them, but also for political gain, as these things tend to go). He encourages the non-human hate, uses humans superior numbers to overwhelm and destroy groups of non-humans and magic users. He’s relatively militarily adept too. He made sure of that, because he wanted revenge against Phillipa even as a boy. I don’t think the show would abandon everything that makes Radovid Radovid (but then again, Eskel...), I don’t think he’s just going to be Some Guy. So his sadistic bigotry towards and genocide against all non-humans and (most) human magic-users will come into play at some point. And if it does, his relationship with Jaskier will HAVE to factor in somehow, that’s unavoidable at this point. But should this theory OP mentions come to pass (and there is a good chance it might, I have been concerned about this since it the news leaked of who Jaskier would be paired up with), that would mean the show made a conscious choice to have adult Radovid turn villain…cause his boyfriend dumped him? His boyfriend of like a couple months chose his family of 20+ years over him, and that was enough to make him lose it and just start stabbing everything? Or cause he was angry that Jaskier was using him as a shield because Phillipa was threatening him? And Radovid, a grown ass man, cannot handle this? This would put a homosexual relationship at the core of a xenophobic campaign of witch-burning, be the catalyst of it. And they would put that on Jaskier’s shoulders? Because he dumped Radovid?

Why? What does this do but add cheap angst where it wasn’t needed? There is no need to A.) Start Radovid’s xenophobic hate campaign 15 years early (they have so many world-spanning plots they already can’t write well, why add more?), and B.) connect it directly to someone in the main core cast by having them be the inciting incident for Radovid. That’s unnecessary, that doesn’t offer any narrative improvement to the story at all (FFS, the world is bigger than Geralt, Yenn, Ciri, and Jaskier). And is this the reason Jaskier is now canonically bisexual? Was that the only reason they did that, just to make him the casus belli of a genocide? That really would not be the kind of queer rep anyone should praise, and by god, does it feels downright spiteful.

And to be clear, I don’t think every queer story has to be all sunshine and happiness or perfectly positive (something I’ve been accused of when criticizing questionable writing of gay/bi characters in the past). But there is a vast ocean of difference between “Sunshine and perfection” and “Hey! Let’s change this catalyst for this genocide from ‘Paranoid Fascist takes what should have been a beef between him and like 5 people, and turns it into a full scale witch-burning industry and non-human genocide, for both political gain and cause he’s a paranoid xenophobic fascist’ to 'gay prince super bummed his boyfriend dumped him’, and let’s make sure we wait to show the boyfriend as canonically bisexual until the last possible second, just so people wonder if that’s the only reason we even bothered ”. A vast fucking ocean.

I’m fine with adaptational changes that add to or improve the canon material, or are just different but stand strongly on their own. But this? Would be a terrible miserable hateful idea, and is just cheap writing for forced angst (and I honestly would not put it past the Witcher writers, which is the worst part).

How is this good? How would this an improvement? What does this add? How does this stand on it’s own? Why would they take a bloody campaign of witch-burning and genocide that had a believable catalyst already, and retcon it happening because of The Gays? Cause a dude dumped another dude? If they did this, the writers would have to consciously make the choice to change the catalyst of the genocide to ‘a gay guy was like super bummed that his boyfriend left him for a Witcher’. Do y'all see what that looks like?

is it too late for writer asks? if not, 98, 70, 65, 44, 41, 13 :d if yar feelin it ..

Not me answering all these shit at like 11:45 at night lol

what don’t you like about your writing style?

i think it's pretty pedestrian. at worst, i'd call my style "lazy" because in lieu of doing research, or laboring to create an actual narrative, i often rely solely on my inherent talent with words and so i don't know. my writing always reads a little bit hollow to me.

are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

ha. i mean, look at the answer above. i don't dislike my writing, and i don't think i'm the WORST or anything. i just think there's many places for improvement. i also think that other people do what my writing does, only much better and with much more humility, so why on Earth would anyone read my work?

I always edit at least once before posting. My first drafts are usually passion dumps that need refinement. after i post tho, i never make big changes.

what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve written?

I really like the title of an old Quantum Leap fic I wrote where Al is a ghost who lives in the boiler room and Sam has to get him out of the building before its demolished. thought it's a riff on a Flannery O'Conner title, so credit really should go to her: "the afterlife you save may be your own"

any writing advice you want to share?

just do it. its crazy easy to write. just sit down and like throw out a sentence. whatever sentence. maybe you're scared it'll be a bad one, but great news! you can just delete it. one less bad sentence in your head, which means the good sentences can move forward in line.

what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

really, really, really am haunted by this sci-fi fic idea where L is an engineer who used to work for Light's dad's robot company where Soichiro had him build an android that looks just like Light to serve as their debut model meanwhile L and Light are secretly fucking but then Light dumps L because he can't be seen as gay when he's about to take over the robot company. to escape his broken heart, L accepts a job on a fact-finding mission Watari is running on a ship that's so advanced it comes with the highest tech android on the market. OF COURSE L is now stuck in space with a highly intelligent bot who looks exactly and talks exactly like his ex-boyfriend and who is maybe developing an unhealthy obsession with the sad man who repairs his parts when he breaks.

talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

i've been pleasantly surprised that writing kinktober fics this year has gone okay. its just fun.

I don't know. I think setting a boundary is one thing. But he's mentioned he's attracted to men before, so his absolute vehemence on distancing himself from that came across like he either A. Is very ignorant about the term. Or B. Is trying to walk that back. First me it's how he phrased things. No one owes anyone their sexuality or private life that's for sure. That's a good message. But saying people are in a "fantasy land" for thinking he's queer rubbed me the wrong way. People think he's queer because most people use queer as an umbrella term for people who are attracted to men like Omar has said he is, and I really think he doesn't know that. On top of it he's playing a gay character has a largely queer audience/fan base and he is interacting with magazines that label themselves LGBTQ and queer. I really agree with you and anon that it's good to set boundaries and to assert people not prying but the way he talked about the term queer felt like it came from a large space of both ignorance and privilege.

This is an example of scrutinizing his words and and interpretative them based on your view or the view of “most people”.

1. We all know he breaks norms with his expressions and also has fallen in love with people regardless of gender. He is not backtracking.

2. Some people do live in their own fantasy world making-up their own mind of him and define him all the time. You can look at any media Insta post and people define his gender and sexual orientation for him. He has not stated he identifies as anything else than a male. If you don’t assume, don’t feel targeted. But he faces it a lot.

3. I have tried to read up on the word queer. What I read says is that it is a term that is not fully defined. So, claiming people are “very ignorant” when the use and meaning of it is differs to people is very harsh in my view. Then call me very ignorant too.

Translated from Swedish wikipedia since I actually think this is a good example of how confusing it can be and also usually the first place many go to and it just confuses me honesty.

This was my thought process 🫣 (be nice)

Queer is a broad norm-critical concept whose meaning is not fully defined. Not fully defined, got it, people see it differently and use it differently ok does not make it easier. I wanted The definition. Does not exist ok ok…

This is connected to the fact that ambiguity, boarder crossing and violation of “not normal” is a central point in the queer concept. This sentence is so strange to me since it includes “not normal” . Not normal ?!? Wtf. What is that? Violation of normal?? So if I find different gender identities and sexual orientations normal the word queer becomes unnecessary? If I use it do I also mean people are “not normal”? Who decides what’s normal and not normal?

Queer can be used partly to describe an approach or a movement that criticizes norms around gender and sexuality (mainly the heteronorm), partly to be a way of identifying oneself, and can then, for example, refer to gender identity, sexual orientation and/or attitude.[2 ][3][4] So it can be seen as an approach or a movement and partly for identification of oneself. Note : identification of Oneself, not others. And partly used for that. Wtf Ok ok Refers to gender identity, sexual orientation and/or attitude. What attitude? What does it mean? And mainly the heteronorm? Why? So people use queer to mainly refers sexual orientation??? Ok ok or? And what is the approach and movement? More confused.

The word is above all used as a central concept in queer theory. Oh no I just wanted to read in on how to use the word Queer , do I have to understand queer theory as well. No, not going there, not today. This is confusing enough. And above all used as a central concept in queer theory. What does that mean- above all?? Above all what?? Mostly used in queer theory then not for people? What??

RFSL defines queer as "A broad concept that can mean several different things but is fundamentally a questioning of the heteronorm. Many people see their gender identity and/or their sexuality as queer. Queer can mean a desire to include all genders and sexualities or not having to identify/define oneself."[2]. Ah finally a definition puuh. Fundamentally questioning the heteronorm. Ok. I guess that’s why most think of it for sexual orientation mostly. But gender and/or sexuality, desire to include all genders and sexualities. Ok so one can include either or but also both? And if just for one? How do people know what’s referred to? Should I include both to be inclusive? How do I use it to not assume both or just one or the other? Or it doesn’t matter? But it can be used for both gender identity and sexual orientation so how do I know what others use it for? When they say queer, they can they mean one or the other or both? But it can also include people who don’t want to identify themselves. Good. Then unlabeled can fit in perfectly? Even if queer is sort of a label. Or?

Queer is included in the umbrella term LGBTQI which stands for homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, people with queer expressions and identities and intersex people.[5]. wait? I thought Queer was used as The umbrella term?? But it’s actually part of The umbrella term LGBTQI? Wtf. And are the terms mutually exclusive meaning they don’t overlap? Is queer exclusive? Meaning that terms like gay and lesbian is not included in queer? Or are they? And now people with queer expressions and identities. So, what was a queer identity and queer expression?

I’m sorry but to me it’s not crystal clear how I should use it in a respectful way or what I should read into it when others uses it. Approach, movement, gender identity or sexual orientation or both? Call me ignorant if you want. I try my best. Reading up on it just makes me more confused at least.

This post is about MHA fandom in general. But I think these types could be found every where.

Dekucchan's loyal followers and the dudebros are heavily damaging this fandom's image.

Okay I really don't know much about the MHA fandom because I don't interact with anything outside of my interests, but it seems chill to me. Well except for the fact the types of people I listed above ruin the whole experience.

No, I don't want to hear that Izuku is straight for the billionth time. Like it makes more sense if he's aroace because other than finding some girls attractive, has he ever felt romantic and sexual towards any of them? Yeah I thought so and no finding someone does not mean that you have a crush on them. Please stop confusing them. Actually I can go ahead and say that almost everyone is aroace and I would still have a valid argument because there are only select few individuals who care about romance in the first. But yeah know they won't like this headcanon because it has do with the infamous alphabet mafia.

Nor do I want to hear that (specific ship) is canon for some reason. I don't care whether you are bk//dk or one of those "canon ships" preachers like Td//mm. I can tell when people are joking and when people are serious. And it's not as if iz//ch dudebros don't do this either. Like good for you for liking the canon pairing, but that does not make you better than anyone else. It did not give you the right to act like a bitch and whine everytime someone has different tastes.

Though I do hold some sympathy and understanding for bk//dk shippers. I mean atleast they don't make hateful comments on other ships. Well if you exclude Dekucchan's give mind because they are a whole another category in the fandom.

But dudebros are just miserable human beings. Oh, are you mad that people have different ship preferences? Must suck being the only "sane" people in this fandom. These people really think they are doing service to the fandom by spreading by toxicity. The first thing they need to do is learn that there was never any ship threats made by those who ship any gay ship. Like they don't have any source for this claim, yet this is still discussed by them.

People grab onto this baseless argument and justify why they hate the MHA fandom. Like there are many other reasons why you would possibly hate a fandom, but this is the one you decide to preach? I know you can formulate a better reason than this.

And it's so funny seeing occasional Dekucchan bk//dk and the dudebros discourse because my thoughts are that they both suck. Like I'm a shipper, but you don't see me having discourse with someone with the intention to put them down. I have ships that I dislike a lot too, but I don't invade these ship spaces to spread my negative views. It's not that hard to say in your own lane.

I 100% agree with all of this. While I rant about the BkDk Stans the most, the truth is that they’re not the only toxic part of the fandom. The IzuOcha Dudebros/Stans are toxic too, perhaps the second most toxic group in the fandom. There are portions of the MHA fandom that are great. You got the people creating content that expresses their love for the series/characters/world. You got the people who offer legitimate criticism and analyze MHA who are great to talk to if you wanna learn how to write. Sadly they’re drowned out by all the Stans/Dudebros/etc. It should be simple to stay in your lane. You like BkDk? Have fun with your ship. Like IzuOcha? Feel free to write fanfics about it. Wanna headcanon Izuku as part of the LGBTQ+ community? No one should stop you. Want to only consume content where Izuku’s straight? There’s a wide selection to chose from. Point is that, like you said, people should learn to just vibe in their own lanes. As a Katsuki anti, I avoid content with Katsuki because I don’t like him (unless it’s something a friend/mutual created cause I wanna support them). People who like Katsuki likewise will avoid my blog because they don’t want it to hear someone complain about him. There’s a mutual respect there despite neither of us actually interacting with each other. They can like him in peace while I can rag on him to others who don’t like him (or the curious Katsuki fan who wants to see the other side). Sadly the Stans and Toxic Antis will invade spaces and cause trouble just cause they can’t handle an opinion. Same goes for the IzuOcha Dudebros and any other toxic character/shipper Stan.

You think Misha wrote the Casfession? I find that kind of funny because he has such a good grasp of Cas, better than the writers and the showrunners and everyone else, and to me the Casfession felt a bit... ooc? Like Cas is not a man of many words, and he went tf off. And I know it was his last chance to say something but considering it was almost a spur of the moment decision, I wouldn’t have expected such a long thing from him. But idk?

I think the confession was Berens’ idea, but I think Misha ‘the poet’ Collins made it what it was. His quotes about how the confession ‘lacked punch’ and he gave it ‘strong notes’ make me feel like he added a lot to it. Also the fact Misha came up with the handprint thing... I think he’s given Destiel a lot of thought and a lot of thought about how it can be meaningful. Wildly unpopular opinion here, but I actually am not much of a fan of Berens’ writing overall. I love what he did for Destiel, and some characterisation choices, but the writing on episodes isn’t... that good?* and he’s also done some pretty problematic things - @exitpursuedbyasloth summed it up really well recently in a discussion... these things include killing off Missouri episode, replace Joshua with white man episode, sexualisation of teenage Amara episode... I don’t want to go too much into this but a lot of the time when his episodes don’t have Destiel in them they’re severely unmemorable to me and things I don’t particularly enjoy watching. Like I don’t want us to start cancelling him esp. with what he did for Destiel, but as always your faves are problematic!

There’s other stuff too, outside of SPN - some of it, again credit to @exitpursuedbyasloth:

“Well, he called Sondheim updating one of his plays to include a gay character 'a depressing sign of the times' because gay folks can be happy with subtextual representation. And he kind of blew off criticism of the Stonewall movie (which erased REAL ACTUAL trans people, lesbians, and PoC who were central to the riots, and replaced them with a Midwestern White Cis Man), because it was 'just a movie'. Which is a bad excuse even for a fictional movie, much less one based on a real event with real people. It just kinda bothers me.”

In general I think there’s like, a vibe (from both Misha and Berens!) that Cas was going to be a tragic character with an unreciprocated love story. (Yes, I am referring to the ‘Dean can’t reciprocate’ in the script and Misha implying that in the panel). So I have... criticisms of those choices. 

Actually strongly disagree that it was OOC! And even if it was I wouldn’t care because every word of that speech was completely and utterly necessary to Castiel, Dean, their relationship and the plot! I think Cas is filled with love and emotions but he’s always been trained into the Winchester way of repression because that is simply how Dean functions. But this was Castiel being selfish for once and everything he had ever felt was going to come out, for once he didn’t care about Dean’s discomfort. If anything I would have liked to see more words that vindicated that love story bring out the scripts and cut takes pls and Cas’ queerness because genuinely probably the most important moment of SPN (just for representation, not even for the ship).

*in fairness to Berens, it’s often hard to tell what is director/showrunner/editor/actor intervention when it comes to the final product. For example, we know that the argument between Dean and Cas in 15.03 was changed heavily by Dabb.

Another Van Scene Take

The thing about the van scene that gets me is...I really don’t think Joe goes off like that on a regular basis. Like, I’ve seen so many posts about how Joe gives that speech every time someone says something homophobic, or I’ve seen posts about how Joe just waxes poetic all day long to Nicky about his love for him and like...believe me I Dig That Too. It’s both funny and very sweet to think about. 

But my personal impression was that the van scene was actually a special occasion. For starters, because of the most obvious: They’ve been captured. Regardless of how dangerous their job is on a regular basis, regardless of how often they’re injured or killed, I don’t think it’s every day or even every once in a while that members of the Guard get captured. It’s my guess that this is the first time anyone’s captured them, only hours after Nicky explained to Nile that being captured is pretty much their worst fear because it could potentially mean centuries of imprisonment or torture. 

One theory someone else had on this site (unfortunately I can’t find the post just now) was that Joe allowed himself to be captured because Nicky had already been killed and captured, so even though Joe had the opportunity to kill a few of the guards or try to escape, he didn’t because he wouldn’t permit himself to be separated from Nicky, nor permit himself to die, therefore leaving Nicky to wake up alone in the van or next to Joe’s captured dead body. It would be horrifying. Traumatic. The scariest moment of Nicky’s life undoubtedly. 

And so, they’re in the van, Joe is alive and trying to make sure Nicky comes back to life. Nicky comes to, realizing they’re captured and surrounded by armed guards. They’re speaking Italian so as to not be understood by the guards. It’s apparent, that in this moment, regardless of how scared they are, they’ve got it under control. They’re pros, after all. But nonetheless, this had to be the scariest God damn moment of both of their lives. 

And then, the guard makes that fucking comment. “What is he, your boyfriend?” 

And Nicky makes that exasperated face. 

I see a lot of people theorizing that that face is Nicky’s “Oh here we go again” face, the face he wears the moment he realizes Joe is about to go off, reciting poetry in the name of his love for Nicky on the spot. I like that theory. It’s funny. But I really don’t think that’s what’s happening. 

I think that’s the exasperated face of someone who has been the victim of others’ ignorance for centuries now, taking different forms based on time and place, but nonetheless, the discrimination these two must have witnessed over the years...All after Nicky himself, personally overcame his own bigotry to be with Joe. Nicky was literally ONE of these men back in the crusades. Sure, it wasn’t over sexuality but it was nonetheless rooted in ignorance as he himself describes Joe as one of the people he’d been taught to hate. And imagine how fucking infuriating it would be, to witness people mindlessly HATE just because they’d been taught to, for centuries. It would be fucking soul-crushing. It would be the kind of thing that makes you lose faith in humanity. For fuck’s sake, sometimes I lose faith in humanity because of this and I’m 26! Let alone 900 some years old. Plus we all know from watching Andy how critical it is to what they do and to enduring being immortal (and especially to Nicky who states more than once that he does what he does because it is the right thing to do), to believe in humanity. 

And I think in that moment Joe saw Nicky’s face, and he saw how hopeless Nicky felt, and knew how scared he was, and realized that Nicky, who is the type of man to look Merrick in the eyes and tell him his time is coming and look the doctor in the eyes and tell her she’s immoral, essentially, Nicky, who is the type to tell someone exactly what he thinks of them, Nicky, who is usually the one to give the speeches to the latest homophobe or bigot or just fucking asshole in their presence - not even have the energy or motivation to acknowledge this guard let alone look into his soul and say something that will echo in his ears until he dies. That look on Nicky’s face breaks Joe’s heart. 

So what does Joe do? He does it for Nicky because Nicky can’t. He goes off tenfold. He tells them not only that they’re ignorant but goes way above and beyond to show those men how little the implication that A) they’re dating and B) that that is worth mocking in their opinion, matters to him. He makes it a point that he’s only offended by the guard, not because he implied that Joe is gay, but that he would reduce their love to something as inadequate as boyfriend. 

And you can see how this effects Nicky right on his face. How touched he is. How inspired he is. He’s reminded of all that really matters - Joe. 

Not only that, but following this Nicky’s attitude pretty much does a 180. They kill the guards (I imagine they would have anyway. I really don’t think they killed the guards FOR being homophobic, even if that was the icing on top. I think they’d have killed any men who are in the business of kidnapping people for the profit of a corrupt CEO, particularly ones putting their own safety in immediate harm’s way) and as soon as the armored van doors are open Joe and Nicky are both, as a team, mocking Copley and the rest of his team of guards. Nicky nonchalantly asks about removing their restraints - as if he doesn’t know that isn’t going to happen. Nicky’s once again able to look someone in the face and tell them exactly what he thinks of them - this time it’s Copley he tells that they’re usually a better judge of character. 

Joe joins in, complimenting the plane, and the two trade back and forth. Nicky mentioning the TV and Joe asking about Champagne. 

This behavior, while first and foremost is just fucking hilarious, I think serves a greater purpose in the characterization of Joe and Nicky and their relationship. By the time they’re on the plane they’re back to their old selves. They’ve gotten their bearings enough to externally appear calm and unworried in the faces of their capturers, for one. But also, I think just about everything they say to each other, almost everything they do throughout the movie, but especially from the van scene on, is a purposeful attempt to always be comforting each other. To always be strong for the other. Mocking their capturers on the plane. Bumping heads after Joe has been stabbed. Talking about Joe’s bedhead. Bringing up Malta. Everything they do until they’re free, is a purposeful attempt to be strong for the other.

It’s really...so fucking well written, you guys. The portrayal of Nicky and Joe in this movie, and especially the van scene, is one of the most realized fictional relationships I’ve ever seen. 

why mcyttwt does not think some (if not most) of the time when it comes to mcc

if i post this in twitter, i’d surely get hated upon but someones gotta have to say this one day. also this does not target to mcytblr!!! this rant is more of towards mcyttwt!!!

remember how mcyt was so chill before all of this shit? how we would watch our favorite minecraters when the community was so small? or how mcc was an event that both ccs and fans can have some fun and entertainment once per month? and that was only last year too. now look at the new generation of mcyt fans and see why some of the old fans dont really associate the new ones.

as a fan of the old gen mcytbers like DanTDM, SkyDoesMinecraft, Aphmau and CaptainSparklez. heck im a fan of pewds’ minecraft series before dream or tommy or ranboo or the new gen of mcyt ccs blew up (a year before them if im correct), and we dont see drama or bad shit all the time when it comes to their content.

now compare that to the new gen where every single fucking day, a bored fan or anti would post shit drama in twitter where some of the people from twitter moved to tumblr just to not get a headache from the batshit craziness mcyttwt brought forth. and it just snapped more when the mccp21 rolled in.

heres some of my takes about the mccp21 issue:

1) “there’s a lack of representation of lgbtq+ in the teams!!!”

heres something to tell yall about that. scott doesnt have a fucking choice. scott smajor has told time and time again, WEEKS before the announcement of teams, that there are certain requirements and limitations to mccp21 thus there will be difficulty in choosing whos entering or whos not. limitations and requirements such as it will be streamed on youtube or how streamers with twitch contracts aren’t allowed to stream or (god bless scott’s good heart) scott not allowing some of the lgbtq+ streamers in joining the special event due to wanting them to have a chance to stream and experience their first mcc (so to those who said that ranboo should have been in mccp21, shut up ‘cuz scott wanted genderman to have fun streaming his first mcc but cant due to ranboo being a well-known twitch streamer). to those who complained that ant and velvet should be in the mcc, stop being selfish and do some actual research on why scott didn’t include them. a simple question to those two’s fans would answer that they can’t make it due to them camping for a week which within those days is the mccp21. they’re having time to themselves, not wasting it on a minecraft championship. 

take in the consideration that, oh i dont know, not a lot of lgbtq+ ccs applied to the event? its not a free invite championship (in fact, mcc has always been like that), it’s an applied with the sufficient and correct requirements kind of event. the artist who created the icons from the previous mcc for the teams said that scott let in some of the new ccs in last minutes due to lack of applicants not meeting the requirements thus not having custom artworks for the teams if they want to announce the teams in time.

2.) “there’s no lesbians or trans in the teams >:(((”

sadly enough, there’s not much of the players from the lgbtq+ community but to say there’s no trans people in mccp21 is utterly false. by definition, trans mean  denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. other genders such as non-binary, genderfluid, androgyne, bigender, gender expansive all fall under trans. you define yourself with the gender you personally chose and comfy with from you birth gender. so saying there’s no trans in the teams when there are players from the event like eret or sqaishey who are nb and genderfluid respectively are there to also represent not only the sexuality but also the gender identity of others??? like c’mon, please make sense mcyttwt. 

also, while its sad to not see lesbians, please know that lgbtq+ doesn’t strictly be defined by lesbians. ffs, lgbtq+ literally means Lesbians Gays Bisexuals Transgenders and Questioning (or Queer but im not too sure about that one) which means that there are still other representatives for the community in the event.

3) “technoblade is in the event?!!! WHAT THE FUCK, HES A HOMOPHOBE/LESBIPHOBE-”

utter clowns, toxic twitter users are. do you really think that scott smajor, an openly gay man, would let a supposed “homophobe/lesbiphobe” in an event that focuses in supporting the lgbtq+ community? do you hear yourself? do you even do research where the joke he made was when he was the same age as me and it was based on a historical article back in WW2? or how he passionately supports the community especially the lesbians because a lesbian couple complimented him to which kickstart his confidence? the man willingly went to this mcc event despite being flamed a lot in twitter because he (and everyone) knows that his chat, his fans and supporters, are literal millionaires. if you saw a stream from foolish where he auctioned canonical characters for funs, a techno fan donated thousand of dollars to get technoblade, and that’s only one fan, now imagine a hundreds of thousands of them.

like it or not, technoblade has always been open about his support to the community, especially that majority of his fanbase are from the same community that mcyttwt allegedly swore that technoblade hates.

4) “since this mccp21 is pointless because theres no dteam, quackity, punz or (insert cc name), let’s have a watch party of the previous mccs to spite mccp21!!!” “let’s hope (insert cc name) stream on the 26th so mccp21 doesnt have the same amount of viewership like before!!!” “where are (insert cc name)??? gosh, this mcc is so boring without them!!!”

shut up shut up shut up shut up shut the actual fuck up. are you really seriously hearing yourself? are you willing and proudly boycotting a once in a year special event that is seriously needed by the lgbtq+ community? are you that cruel and selfish to sacrifice a project that helped tons of people just for your sick entertainment and desires? are you that evil to stop others from enjoying and donating to the trevor project? are you that inconsiderate of other ccs that aren’t part of dsmp and calling them boring? and for what? because your favorite cishet streamer isn’t there? oh booofuckinghoo! you’re so fucking petty to even post about this kind of tweets in public.

(edit: did yall honestly thought that without your favorite streamers that the mcc is not worth watching because they aren't there? well let me tell you, im a ranboo fan. ive watched him when he first entered the dsmp and watched him spinning in his unicorn chair for 5 minutes. the boo community waited for so many months for genderman to join mcc yet we didn't even do that kind of disgusting action and behavior every time he isn't in mcc. 8 months. that's how long ive watched him. ive waited 8 months for him to be in the event yet i still watch other povs like tommy's, puffy's, wilbur's, and etc., because it's fun and entertaining to watch them despite the beloved not participating in the games.

if you're that spoiled to not even watch mcc because (insert cc whose not part of mccp21 name here) isn't part of the roster then you most likely have a one dimensional humor because there will always be someone more funny and entertaining than them. i like dsmp don't get me wrong, but i found parrot's school smp funnier than dsmp yet you don't see me insulting both series, do you? learn to keep yourself if you're calling ccs as boring or dull or not entertaining enough due to not having the same big platform as the dsmp members.)

you don’t deserve to call yourself a fan if you’re doing this kinds of actions. in fact, people like you should be kicked out from the mcyt community because your kind of people are the reason why we look so bad from the outside. your toxic and self-entitled to these content creators are the reason why famous ccs like sbi, purpled, tubbo and almost ranboo left twitter/implied strict rules to their subtwts. you drove out an entire friend group that tons of fans found comfort in from the platform and you still have the audacity to this kind of shit? honestly, just leave before you give me a headache.

what im sayin’ is that mcyttwt is one of the worst, if not THE worst, subtwts out of the other subtwts in twitter. having no actual research or evidences or spreading false information is common in twitter where you would have to take what they said with a micro size grain of salt. mcyttwt already ruined the fun and spirit of mcc during its comeback in mcc14 due to the glitch and beta testing shit (ey i still stand for the ranboo beta testing but i know that will be worthless since theres hints of him joining soon in mcc15). if you’re still in mcyttwt, i suggest to get out of there while you still can. we’ll never know if there’s a bigger shitstorm than this in the mcyttwt that may happen in the future.

edit! hi bella again, ive been told by a polite and cool user that not all people from mcyttwt are toxic and/or cruel. im going to clear something up here. ive written this during the heat of the announcement of mccp21 teams. so there's a lot of complains and/or entitled people in the app (you can even see it in my previous post too if you want evidences!) that gave off mostly negative vibes towards the event.

ive seen the cool ones who actually took the consideration for scott's side and the criticism of the lack of representation of other communities within the lgbtq+ umbrella (ive even share some parts of it above so im also a bit upset to the lack of numbers in the community). and some of them are correct about recruiting lgbtq+ creators in youtube but! like i said, it's an applied event and not invitational one, so its up to that content creator if they want to join or not. the amount of cishet in the roster are just those who want to support the cause and/or backups/stand-ins in case scott and noxcrew can't find enough ccs in time!

just wanna clear this up because mcyttwt these days are covered by really cringe fans (ive noticed a pattern of them mostly new ones but there are still awesome new fans (like my irl friend who just joined this year) within the community) that covered the good ones where they enjoy, have fun and share some neat ideas and thoughts to the community within the platform!

when i said to get out of the mcyttwt while you still can, i meant to get out of there to avoid drama (that is really small contrast those who really need to address the issue) and take a break from it. it's still your choice if you want to be surround by it or not or if you want to come back to the app. all im saying is to buckle up for the shitstorm cuz this is not the last time that the twitter side of mcyt will cause negativity to the community.

Hey! I LOVED your squad dad levi headcanons, can we get some of like modern erwin and levi as actual dads? Thanks love 😘

Absolutely <3 these two are so adorable, they would be the best dads

This is significantly longer than I anticipated but whatever

Very much unedited so forgive me if it’s odd

Erwin and Levi As Dads

Unpopular opinion, but Levi would absolutely be the one to bring up kids. Sure it was a bit awkward for him, but he’s not going to wait around for Erwin to come to that conclusion. He wants a family, and it makes him so happy just to think about.

But, to be fair, Erwin probably had the same thought around the same time, and when Levi brought it up?? Absolutely thrilled. There was some talk about finances and plans for the future and everything, but for the most part, they were pretty much immediately in agreement.

Neither of them had any knowledge of how you’re supposed to parent, so they immediately went hunting for books and information to learn as much as they could.

They ended up adopting a little girl, and promptly having a crisis because those two gay dads knew absolutely nothing about girls, but they read enough parenting books to make it work.

The first time they held their baby, there was a lot of crying. Neither of them are particularly teary in most situations, but it really just struck them how lucky they were.

Levi was absolutely terrified. He didn’t have a normal childhood, and he wants nothing more than to give his kid what he never had. He was honestly paralyzed by that fear at first, afraid that any wrong move would ruin everything. But pretty much as soon as they fell into their new routine, he allowed himself to relax just slightly.

They have a photo album in the living room commemorating even the tiniest little milestones, and they are so ridiculously proud.

Imagine the three of them sitting on the floor as they try to teach their daughter with those little blocks and colorful rings, Erwin absolutely sneaking in something about how she should dedicate her heart to her passions, disguised as a little nursery rhyme, making Levi roll his eyes.

I don’t think I need to tell you all this, but their child is absolutely brilliant. She has Erwin’s strategy and critical thinking skills, and Levi’s quiet instincts; together, she’s the smartest kid in school. They are proud of her no matter what, obviously, but they’re secretly a little glad she took after them. 

They teach her from a young age to balance independence and trust in others. Imagine that scene of Levi telling Eren he has to chose whether to rely on himself or the squad, but it’s him teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. (Does that make any sense? Hopefully) 

She ends up being so bold and driven, because they’ve taught her that she can do anything, and because she knows that they are always in her corner.

Please just take a second and imagine Erwin and Levi as PTA dads. They absolutely go to every parent meeting and advocate for the students, calling the other parents out on their bullshit. Their daughter also asks them every time if they can chaperone class parties and field trips, and they genuinely love it.

They get so invested in her interests and activities. She likes sports? Boom, Erwin's already outside helping her practice, and they’re cheering her on at games. She’s involved in performance arts? You should see Levi running lines with her before an audition, using stupid voices to make her laugh away the stage fright, or better yet, the way Erwin cheers like a football dad from the audience at recitals. Or maybe she’s more artsy? Every single piece of her art is framed somewhere in the house. They love watching her start to discover her passions.

Erwin has to reel Levi in when he’s being a bit too strict with rules about curfew and such. He can’t help it, he just gets so nervous. But, at the end of the day, they’re not too strict. They know she’s got a smart head on her shoulders, and they want her to be able to get out and learn for herself like they did while she has a safety net.

High school years were... definitely not dull.

She takes after them both, meaning she inherited both Erwin’s stubbornness and Levi’s sarcastic temper. But, honestly, they still don’t fight much. When they do, it’s probably over something stupid, and both sides just have to swallow their pride and apologize. (Erwin and Levi are NOT the kind of parents who think they’re above apologies just because they have some kind of authority. Mutual accountability)

They made it abundantly clear that she will always have a safety net, no matter what. Maybe that means getting a call in the middle of the night and picking her up. Maybe it means having an uncomfortable conversation if she’s screwed up and needs help. Or maybe it just means crying on their shoulder after her first breakup. They’re there for her. (brb just crying)

They absolutely have family game night, and Erwin was simultaneously hurt and incredibly proud when their daughter started beating him at Monopoly. 

They read to her every night when she’s young, and even when she gets older, they read to her when she’s upset or having trouble sleeping. It’s like a little family tradition.

Imagine Levi and Erwin sitting together in the audience at her graduation and tearing up when she walks across the stage to get her diploma. And they insist on getting pictures of her in the cap and gown for the photo album with all of her baby milestones.

In conclusion: they are the best parents anyone could literally ever have, and their family is absolutely perfect.

Re: the post you reblogged about Bush. I'm 21 and tbh feel like I can only vote for Bernie, can you explain if/why I shouldn't? Thanks and sorry if this is dumb or anything.

Oh boy. Okay, I’ll do my best here. Note that a) this will get long, and b) I’m old, Tired, and I‘m pretty sure my brain tried to kill me last night. Since by nature I am sure I will say something Controversial ™, if anyone reads this and feels a deep urge to inform me that I am Wrong, just… mark it down as me being Wrong and move on with your life. But also, really, you should read this and hopefully think about it. Because while I’m glad you asked this question, it feels like there’s a lot in your cohort who won’t, and that worries me. A lot.

First, not to sound utterly old-woman-in-a-rocking-chair ancient, people who came of age/are only old enough to have Obama be the first president that they really remember have no idea how good they had it. The world was falling the fuck apart in 2008 (not coincidentally, after 8 years of Bush). We came within a flicker of the permanent collapse of the global economy. The War on Terror was in full roar, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were at their height, we had Dick Cheney as the cartoon supervillain before we had any of Trump’s cohort, and this was before Chelsea Manning or Edward Snowden had exposed the extent of NSA/CIA intelligence-gathering/American excesses or there was any kind of public debate around the fact that we were all surveilled all the time. And the fact that a brown guy named Barack Hussein Obama was elected in this climate seems, and still seems tbh, kind of amazing. And Obama was certainly not a Perfect President ™. He had to scale back a lot of planned initiatives, he is notorious for expanding the drone strike/extrajudicial assassination program, he still subscribed to the overall principles of neoliberalism and American exceptionalism, etc etc. There is valid criticism to be made as to how the hopey-changey optimistic rhetoric stacked up against the hard realities of political office. And yet…. at this point, given what we’re seeing from the White House on a daily basis, the depth of the parallel universe/double standards is absurd.

Because here’s the thing. Obama, his entire family, and his entire administration had to be personally/ethically flawless the whole time (and they managed that – not one scandal or arrest in eight years, against the legions of Trumpistas now being convicted) because of the absolute frothing depths of Republican hatred, racial conspiracy theories, and obstruction against him. (Remember Merrick Garland and how Mitch McConnell got away with that, and now we have Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court? Because I remember that). If Obama had pulled one-tenth of the shit, one-twentieth of the shit that the Trump administration does every day, he would be gone. It also meant that people who only remember Obama think he was typical for an American president, and he wasn’t. Since about… Jimmy Carter, and definitely since Ronald Reagan, the American people have gone for the Trump model a lot more than the Obama model. Whatever your opinion on his politics or character, Obama was a constitutional law professor, a community activist, a neighborhood organizer and brilliant Ivy League intellectual who used to randomly lie awake at night thinking about income inequality. Americans don’t value intellectualism in their politicians; they just don’t. They don’t like thinking that “the elites” are smarter than them. They like the folksy populist who seems fun to have a beer with, and Reagan/Bush Senior/Clinton/Bush Junior sold this persona as hard as they possibly could. As noted in said post, Bush Junior (or Shrub as the late, great Molly Ivins memorably dubbed him) was Trump Lite but from a long-established political family who could operate like an outwardly civilized human.

The point is: when you think Obama was relatively normal (which, again, he wasn’t, for any number of reasons) and not the outlier in a much larger pattern of catastrophic damage that has been accelerated since, again, the 1980s (oh Ronnie Raygun, how you lastingly fucked us!), you miss the overall context in which this, and which Trump, happened. Like most left-wingers, I don’t agree with Obama’s recent and baffling decision to insert himself into the 2020 race and warn the Democratic candidates against being too progressive or whatever he was on about. I think he was giving into the same fear that appears to be motivating the remaining chunk of Joe Biden’s support: that middle/working-class white America won’t go for anything too wild or that might sniff of Socialism, and that Uncle Joe, recalled fondly as said folksy populist and the internet’s favorite meme grandfather from his time as VP, could pick up the votes that went to Trump last time. And that by nature, no one else can.

The underlying belief is that these white voters just can’t support anything too “un-American,” and that by pushing too hard left, Democratic candidates risk handing Trump a second term. Again: I don’t agree and I think he was mistaken in saying it. But I also can’t say that Obama of all people doesn’t know exactly the strength of the political machine operating against the Democratic Party and the progressive agenda as a whole, because he ran headfirst into it for eight years. The fact that he managed to pass any of his legislative agenda, usually before the Tea Party became a thing in 2010, is because Democrats controlled the House and Senate for the first two years of his first term. He was not perfect, but it was clear that he really did care (just look up the pictures of him with kids). He installed smart, efficient, and scandal-free people to do jobs they were qualified for. He gave us Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to join RBG on the Supreme Court. All of this seems… like a dream.

That said: here we are in a place where Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren are the front-runners for the Democratic nomination (and apparently Pete Buttigieg is getting some airplay as a dark horse candidate, which… whatever). The appeal of Biden is discussed above, and he sure as hell is not my favored candidate (frankly, I wish he’d just quit). But Sanders and Warren are 85% - 95% similar in their policy platforms. The fact that Michael “50 Billion Dollar Fortune” Bloomberg started rattling his chains about running for president is because either a Sanders or Warren presidency terrifies the outrageously exploitative billionaire capitalist oligarchy that runs this country and has been allowed to proceed essentially however the fuck they like since… you guessed it, the 1980s, the era of voodoo economics, deregulation, and the free market above all. Warren just happens to be ten years younger than Sanders and female, and Sanders’ age is not insignificant. He’s 80 years old and just had a heart attack, and there’s still a year to go to the election. It’s also more than a little eye-rolling to describe him as the only progressive candidate in the race, when he’s an old white man (however much we like and approve of his policy positions). And here’s the thing, which I think is a big part of the reason why this polarized ideological purity internet leftist culture mistrusts Warren:

She may have changed her mind on things in the past.

Scary, right? I sound like I’m being facetious, but I’m not. An argument I had to read with my own two eyes on this godforsaken hellsite was that since Warren became a Democrat around the time Clinton signed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, she sekritly hated gay people and might still be a corporate sellout, so on and etcetera. (And don’t even get me STARTED on the fact that DADT, coming a few years after the height of the AIDS crisis which was considered God’s Judgment of the Icky Gays, was the best Clinton could realistically hope to achieve, but this smacks of White Gay Syndrome anyway and that is a whole other kettle of fish.) Bernie has always demonstrably been a democratic socialist, and: good for him. I’m serious. But because there’s the chance that Warren might not have thought exactly as she does now at any point in her life, the hysterical and paranoid left-wing elements don’t trust that she might not still secretly do so. (Zomgz!) It’s the same element that’s feeding cancel culture and “wokeness.” Nobody can be allowed to have shifted or grown in their opinions or, like a functional, thoughtful, non-insane adult, changed their beliefs when presented with compelling evidence to the contrary. To the ideological hordes, any hint of uncertainty or past failure to completely toe the line is tantamount to heresy. Any evidence of any other belief except The Correct One means that this person is functionally as bad as Trump. And frankly, it’s only the Sanders supporters who, just as in 2016, are threatening to withhold their vote in the general election if their preferred candidate doesn’t win the primary, and indeed seem weirdly proud about it.

OK, boomer Bernie or Buster.

Here’s the thing, the thing, the thing: there is never going to be an American president free of the deeply toxic elements of American ideology. There just won’t be. This country has been built how it has for 250 years, and it’s not gonna change. You are never going to have, at least not in the current system, some dream candidate who gets up there and parrots the left-wing talking points and attacks American imperialism, exceptionalism, ravaging global capitalism, military and oil addiction, etc. They want to be elected as leader of a country that has deeply internalized and taken these things to heart for its entire existence, and most of them believe it to some degree themselves. So this groupthink white liberal mentality where the only acceptable candidate is this Perfect Non-Problematic robot who has only ever had one belief their entire lives and has never ever wavered in their devotion to doctrine has really gotten bad. The Democratic Party would be considered… maybe center/mild left in most other developed countries. It’s not even really left-wing by general standards, and Sanders and Warren are the only two candidates for the nomination who are even willing to go there and explicitly put out policy proposals that challenge the systematic structure of power, oppression, and exploitation of the late-stage capitalist 21st century. Warren has the billionaires fussed, and instead of backing down, she’s doubling down. That’s part of why they’re so scared of her. (And also misogyny, because the world is depressing like that.) She is going head-on after picking a fight with some of the worst people on the planet, who are actively killing the rest of us, and I don’t know about you, but I like that.

Of course: none of this will mean squat if she (or the eventual Democratic winner, who I will vote for regardless of who it is, but as you can probably tell, she’s my ride or die) don’t a) win the White House and then do as they promised on the campaign trail, and b) don’t have a Democratic House and Senate willing to have a backbone and pass the laws. Even Nancy Pelosi, much as she’s otherwise a badass, held off on opening a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump for months out of fear it would benefit him, until the Ukraine thing fell into everyone’s laps. The Democrats are really horrible at sticking together and voting the party line the way Republicans do consistently, because Democrats are big-tent people who like to think of themselves as accepting and tolerant of other views and unwilling to force their members’ hands. The Republicans have no such qualms (and indeed, judging by their enabling of Trump, have no qualms at all). 

The modern American Republican party has become a vehicle for no-holds-barred power for rich white men at the expense of absolutely everything and everyone else, and if your rationale is that you can’t vote for the person opposing Donald Goddamn Trump is that you’re just not vibing with them on the language of that one policy proposal… well, I’m glad that you, White Middle Class Liberal, feel relatively safe that the consequences of that decision won’t affect you personally. Even if we’re due to be out of the Paris Climate Accords one day after the 2020 election, and the issue of climate change now has the most visibility it’s ever had after years of big-business, Republican-led efforts to deny and discredit the science, hey, Secret Corporate Shill, am I right? Can’t trust ‘er. Let’s go have a craft beer.

As has been said before: vote as far left as you want in the primary. Vote your ideology, vote whatever candidate you want, because the only way to make actual, real-world change is to do that. The huge, embedded, all-consuming and horrible system in which we operate is not just going to suddenly be run by fairy dust and happy thoughts overnight. Select candidates that reflect your values exactly, be as picky and ideologically militant as you want. That’s the time to do that! Then when it comes to the general election:

America is a two-party system. It sucks, but that’s the case. Third-party votes, or refraining from voting because “it doesn’t matter” are functionally useless at best and actively harmful at worst.

Either the Democratic candidate or Donald Trump will win the 2020 election.

There is absolutely no length that the Republican/GOP machine, and its malevolent allies elsewhere, will not go to in order to secure a Trump victory. None.

Any talk whatsoever about “progressive values” or any kind of liberal activism, coupled with a course of action that increases the possibility of a Trump victory, is hypocritical at best and actively malicious at worst.

This is why I found the Democratic response to Obama’s “don’t go too wild” comments interesting. Bernie doubled down on the fact that his plans have widespread public support, and he’s right. (Frankly, the fact that Sanders and Warren are polling at the top, and the fact that they’re politicians and would not be crafting these campaign messages if they didn’t know that they were being positively received, says plenty on its own). Warren cleverly highlighted and praised Obama’s accomplishments in office (i.e. the Affordable Care Act) and didn’t say squat about whether she agreed or disagreed with him, then went right back to campaigning about why billionaires suck. And some guy named Julian Castro basically blew Obama off and claimed that “any Democrat” could beat Trump in 2020, just by nature of existing and being non-insane.

This is very dangerous! Do not be Julian Castro!

As I said in my tags on the Bush post: everyone assumed that sensible people would vote for Kerry in 2004. Guess what happened? Yeah, he got Swift Boated. The race between Obama and McCain in 2008, even after those said nightmare years of Bush, was very close until the global crash broke it open in Obama’s favor, and Sarah Palin was an actual disqualifier for a politician being brazenly incompetent and unprepared. (Then again, she was a woman from a remote backwater state, not a billionaire businessman.) In 2012, we thought Corporate MormonBot Mitt Fuggin’ Romney was somehow the worst and most dangerous candidate the Republicans could offer. In 2016, up until Election Day itself, everyone assumed that HRC was a badly flawed candidate but would win anyway. And… we saw how that worked out. Complacency is literally deadly.

I was born when Reagan was still president. I’m just old enough to remember the efforts to impeach Clinton over forcing an intern to give him a BJ in the Oval Office (This led by the same Republicans making Donald Trump into a darling of the evangelical Christian right wing.) I’m definitely old enough to remember 9/11 and how America lost its mind after that, and I remember the Bush years. And, obviously, the contrast with Obama, the swing back toward Trump, and everything that has happened since. We can’t afford to do this again. We’re hanging by a thread as it is, and not just America, but the entire planet.

So yes. By all means, vote for Sanders in the primary. Then when November 3, 2020 rolls around, if you care about literally any of this at all, hold your nose if necessary and vote straight-ticket Democrat, from the president, to the House and Senate, to the state and local offices. I cannot put it more strongly than that.

More Than Meets the Eye #33: In Which I Write the Word ‘Quantum‘ 19 Times

Dang, I forgot what happened at the end of the last issue. It was pretty important, too, but I don’t have time to reread. Maybe the establishing shot can help me out?

Oh, that’s right, Rewind happened!

Everyone’s pretty jazzed that Rewind is here, non-exploded, and supposedly alive. Megatron carries this ridiculously small man over to a table, while Skids is busy admonishing Nightbeat for trying to put the pieces of this mystery together.

That’s one of the two first canonically, openly gay Transformers, Megatron. You bet your ass he’s important.

Nightbeat’s dragged Nautica over to look at that poster for Crosscut’s play they saw last issue. Together, they discover something interesting, and it’s not that Nightbeat’s chin has elongated to the point of absurdity. On this future ship, the play was completed and produced a mere few weeks after the initial launch of the Lost Light.

While this is going on, Rewind wakes up and asks Skids what the hell is going on. Skids, likely not wanting to poke at farm-fresh trauma, glosses over the fact that everyone on this ship was violently murdered, and that they found Rewind blacked out inside the hollowed torso of his brother-in-law.

…This is a dark story line.

You see, the joke here is that “Dark Cybertron” sucked major chrome.

Megatron reminds everyone that they’re still in grave danger every moment they stay aboard this ship, but Skids is more concerned with Rewind’s mental health. Which is sweet, but maybe not the thing to prioritize in such a precarious situation.

Rewind takes the fact that Megatron is an Autobot now pretty friggin’ well, as well as the introduction of gender into his species. That is, until Nightbeat, the king of social graces, saunters up to the scene to ask Rewind what the hell happened to the ship. He does get his answers, despite Rewind being horrified to the point of speechlessness.

Over at the hole in the wall, Nautica and Riptide are taking a gander at the quantum drums, which house the quantum foam for the quantum engines so quantum jumps can happen.

As Nautica explains the process by which quantum travel works, she realizes that the answer to what happened to everyone who disappeared was right in front of them this whole time.

Quantum, quantum, quantum- doesn’t even sound like a word anymore, does it?

The data slug Rewind made corroborates this theory, showing a series of events that definitely didn’t happen to the Lost Light we’ve been following throughout this story so far. The data slug contains this Rewind’s version of dead Rewind’s “Little Victories”, the travelogue that was never completed, where the question “are you happy?” revealed just how emotionally unhealthy most of the crew is. I’d like to imagine this Rewind’s film is called “Small Achievements”, or perhaps “Dear Fucking Lord, We’ve Been on this Trip for Three Hours and the Captain Has Been Killed by a Goddamned Soul-Vampire”, or maybe even “Where the FUCK is Our Therapist”.

The DJD came into the equation by way of someone having led them to the Lost Light. We get a flashback panel of the gorefest, in which Tarn appears to have learned how to fly, given the angle he’s coming from.

Because Rewind’s big thing in this series is being the guy who records stuff, the DJD take the opportunity to make some movies of their visit to the space yacht.

James, why do you keep getting Rewind involved with snuff films? I’m starting to get concerned.

Now, the thing about Rewind is that he’s almost always accompanied by his other half. Where is Chromedome, anyway?

He’s dead, that’s where.

Turns out, when you tell the DJD that you won’t do the thing they want you to do, they have a habit of doing nasty things in retaliation. Chromedome got stabbed in the friggin’ visor with his own finger needles, because Vos enjoys ironic deaths, I suppose. There’s some other stuff that’s implied to have happened, but we’ll get to that once we learn a little more about the DJD themselves.

While Rewind recounts the grisly tale of his husband’s demise, Riptide notes that the quantum foam has begun to spread at a remarkable rate. This is a bad thing, because that shit can and will explode, given half the chance, and this wreck is floating right above a potentially-inhabited planet.

Though I could have sworn we established that this planet was a Smartplanet, and therefore very much populated by students and staff. I don’t know. Maybe we conveniently forgot that, so we could make this a learning moment for Megatron.

Jiminy Christmas, Megs, do you even listen to yourself?

Skids, who has had a very long day of finding corpses and learning about quantum theory, snaps at Megatron, telling him that in order to actually be an Autobot, you have to have a little frickin’ compassion for those outside of your peer group.

Which is sort of contradictory to the Aequitas trials, the Killswitch debacle, the POW situation back on Cybertron, and whatever the fuck Prowl’s whole deal is, but maybe Skids is speaking about his own, personal relationship with being an Autobot. Hopefully so, otherwise he needs a class on critical thinking, STAT.

Never mind all of that though, because the problem just got a lot worse- the quantum foam has expanded to a point where any holes in the stuff are too small for the Rod Pod to get through. We’re going to have to get creative if we want to save the day.

Luckily, we’ve got a quantum duplicate of just about the tiniest little dude in the franchise here to do the job. Now we just need another, equally tiny little man, so the quantum drums can be shut off at the same time. Nautica commits more microaggressions, and this gives Getaway inspiration for a witty quip, which in turn gives Skids a brilliant idea.

The gang heads down to Brainstorm’s lab, to look for the mass displacement gun that was used for treating Ultra Magnus’s nanocon infestation back in the 2012 Annual. While they search, Nautica explains just why the hell the Lost Light disappeared in the first place. You see, quantum duplication acts on the Cain Instinct— it’s fine, as long as the duplicates don’t perceive each other. However, the moment contact is made, it says “oh man, guess I’m gonna have to end you” to one of the duplicates. The contact in this case happened when the Coffin Rodimus was brought aboard the ship.

Anything that wasn’t aboard the Lost Light at the point of the takeoff/explosion was never duplicated, and thus wasn’t erased from reality once shit started going to hell. This is why the Rod Pod is still around, and why the remaining cast are— well, the remaining cast.

While this conversation is going on, Nautica and Nightbeat uncover yet another dead body; it’s Brainstorm, and he’s a little underdressed.

…Someone run a paternity test, I think Cyclonus might be the father.

Also, Brainstorm’s a double agent.

Fucked up.

Getaway is furious that a Decepticon has been living on the same ship as him for the last six months, right under his proverbial nose. Even Megatron’s surprised, stating that Brainstorm isn’t usually who the recruiters aim for.

So, no mass displacement gun, and now they’re aware of the fact that there’s a traitor on the ship who’s had access to a LOT of weapon tech. It’s at this point that Megatron decides to stop lying by omission and tells everyone that he can mass-displace, since he used to turn into a handgun.

Smashcut to Megatron and Rewind floating out in space, the former now not much taller than the latter, as they traverse the web of quantum foam to get to the drums. Nautica instructs them from the Rod Pod. If this works, anything produced or connected to the quantum engine will be neutralized, and maybe we’ll even get the other Lost Light back! YAAAAAY!!!

Y’all really let this man go out there to fuckin’ kill himself for the greater good, didn’t you?

Rewind is honestly pretty chill with ceasing to be, seeing as he watched 200/+ people die today, including his long-time spouse.

Jesus. I’d say get him a therapist, but in order to do that, we’re going to have to wipe him off the map anyway.

Rewind asks Megatron if the Chromedome that isn’t his and his duplicate are still together. And I mean…

Luckily, Megatron has the good sense to lie.

With that, they flip the switches, and deactivate the drums.

And that’s a series wrap on Rewind! Congrats to Mr. James Roberts for the esteemed honor of burying the same gay twice!

Later on, everyone is back inside the Rod Pod, as their disappeared shipmates return from being nonexistent. Chromedome pops back in, and Skids is on him like a shark, telling him to go on the roof. Skids doesn’t even try to explain why. Which, fair. How the hell do you explain to someone that their dead husband’s quantum duplicate survived both a terrorist splinter cell attack, and the laws of quantum sci-fi bullshit crashing down on his tiny, tiny body, and that he’s right there on the roof waiting for them?

Welp, there goes the Chromedome/Dominus endgame. Shame, that.

Looks like Chromedome finally hit the threshold for having earned Roberts’ pity, and won’t be directly targeted by the plot for a little while. This isn’t something you see very often, so let’s really soak this in.

…Someone had to have told Rewind what happened to the other Rewind, right? I wonder what that conversation was like.

Back inside the ship, Blaster gets word that the Lost Light has reappeared. As they navigate towards it, Megatron requests that an encrypted call be made to Rodimus, to discuss the Brainstorm problem.

In the interim, Ravage is offered the opportunity to be a part of the crew, so he doesn’t have to keep skulking around in the shadows. We don’t get an answer from him, as our focus shifts over to Nightbeat and Nautica.

Nightbeaaaaaaaaaat, stop stating the themes of the comic verbatim! People are going to start thinking you’re a shonen anime protagonist!

Nightbeat’s somehow managed to keep ahold of the briefcase that they found on the other Lost Light. Unless Brainstorm’s boyfriend is in there, I don’t think this one was the work of Huey Lewis and the News’ hit single from the Back to the Future soundtrack.

Over on the Lost Light, specifically in Swerve’s, Brainstorm’s making his way through the crowd, briefcase held gentle like hamburger as he goes. He makes it to the bar, where Atomizer tells him he can’t have his briefcase in here. Brainstorm has what most would accept to be a healthy response to being told “no.”

It’s what I would do.

Paul McCartney and femininity

Despite admitting that he can't help being cute, our cute Beatle still doesn't like this title. Paul always loves to contend how tough he is, as if it's a virtue - compared to soft, the sign of being feminine.

After checking numerous interviews, videos and remarks from people of Beatles inner circle, you may sense that most of time [by no means all, don't need to find counterexamples], Paul doesn't want to be related to femininity. Except for being called cute and soft, homosexuality is also a sensitive matter to Paul. I must say he's not homophobic - going out with gay guys, wearing a rainbow flag, encouraging a girl to come out openly. But he always shows excessive enthusiasm in showing his immovable heterosexuality, even when it's unnecessary.

HOLLY: Heather Mills says she’s bossy. Do you need bossing around?

PAUL: Well she seems to think so. I think I’m fine.

HOLLY: You must be very secure with yourself.

PAUL: I think it is that. I’m ok with gay people too, because I’m essentially comfortable with my sexuality. I can goof around with gay people. I sort of know who I am by now. And it’s about time.

— Paul McCartney, interviewed by Holly Millea, November 23, 2002

It's understandable that he doesn't want his sexuality be mislabeled, but why did he so eager to "self-defense" without being asked? After answered he won't be bossed around by a woman, homosexuality seemed to be the first thing come to his mind.

Homosexuality does have something in common with femininity [being bossed by a woman is also one of the manifestations]: the lack of masculinity in stereotype. In a patriarchal society, being masculine is always a virtue, whether it's a male or a female. When praising a woman for being strong,  we would say that she has big dick energy. But would you praise a man for being feminine? Unfortunately, he would be mocked, insulted and cursed. This is the consensus of the whole society: woman would be praised for behaving "like a man" but man would be despised for behaving "like a woman". It's clear that Paul is also under the influence of this stereotype: being femininity is shameful. Considering his northern working-class growing background in 1950s, it's not easy to make a change.

As for those who despise effeminate man, I would say they are rather misogynous and homophobic, it's good to see someone objecting it. But to my disappointment, some of Paul's fans, who claim to be anti-homophobic are trying to sell something outdated, like Another Kind of Mind.

As I said, objecting those misogynous jerks is a right thing to do, and assuming a man being gay by his feminine gestures and humiliate him is certainly a homophobic thing [that's what you said that a person's sexuality can be determined by a third party], but what's that suppose to mean? Straight men can't be feminine? OMG!feminine! Are you implying it's disgusting for a man to be feminine? You didn't criticize this absurd concept of society but seemed to be eager to separate Paul from those effeminate types because he's "not a sassy queen". What do you mean? Saying a man being feminine is the same thing as determining a man being gay to you? Don't you realize how homophobic you are? I'm not here to discuss whether Paul is feminine or not, I'm just saying this is blatant discrimination against LGBTQ and women. The following example you made is also questionable:

As I said above, using men's words on a woman is not the same thing as using women's words on a man, think about that. Furthermore, your example is "a group of men coming on Tumblr and making post after post about a straight female celebrity, talking constantly about how butch she is", are your saying it is mainly the girls on Tumblr making those homophobic assumptions about Paul? There are more women than men being misogynous? Why don't you blame those men who make up the majority of homophobes and misogynists but turn to blame on some fan girls? If you still have a little conscience, please don't drag lesbian and straight women here to rationalise your homophobic and misogynous "proposal" while blaming all these shit on them, they own you nothing.

yeah, all i got is this belly button lint: a happy huntresses short fic

wrote this real quick because i love thinking about the random crap fiona has in her Inventory(tm). also i just like thinking about these clowns in general, so,

=

"Okay, so, what's actually in your Semblance right now?" Joanna asks one day in third year, when Fiona and May have sneaked away to Robyn's dorm to lose at cards and help edit her new batch of flyers promoting union creation in the workplace. Fiona had given a couple a look and accepted them as good enough, but May is weirdly exacting about her standards and is currently trying to convince Robyn to nudge the text headers over by ten pixels to the right. That's why, as she's sat on the floor and wrapped up in the drama of watching Robyn try and slowly fail to ignore May's insistent pleas for her to boot up her editor, Fiona's caught just a little bit off-guard by the question.

"My Semblance?" she asks, and Joanna nods all serious-like from her place on the bunk above Robyn. Joanna often looks very serious, because she suffers from what Robyn calls resting thoughtful bitch face, so sometimes it's hard to gauge how actually serious about something she really is. "I mean, it's probably a mess in there right now."

"I keep forgetting you actually use it like storage space," Robyn adds cheerfully, having now progressed onto shoving May away from her laptop computer every time she tries to creep closer. "Since most Semblances are, y'know, combat-only things or like... special occasions, I guess. And yet here you are, telling people you really don't need a bag for all your groceries!"

It is fun to flex on all the people struggling to carry like six bags to their car or their home, and Fiona preens. "Yeah, it's nice. I mostly keep things in it that I'd wanna have in an emergency, but it's been a while since I last sorted through it, so, who knows what garbage I've put in there."

"Tell me Robyn's braincell is in there too," May says imploringly, still trying to slide an arm around Robyn to get at the keyboard, but Fiona just shakes her head. She can't and won't be blamed for that particular disappearance any time soon. Instead, she rubs her hands together, scrunching up her face as she tests the edges of the Semblance. It's a funny thing, a Semblance like this--she never really has to think about it, but it's always just in reach, like this extra weight in her chest that she can totally forget about. It's strange to think about, so she often just doesn't.

"Okay," she starts, and she goes for the biggest item she can sense, which is an easy one to explain. In her hands materialises an acoustic guitar, worn and scuffed with age, and this attracts to attention of every girl in the room. "Well, this one's easy. This is my guitar, and honestly? If I ever leave it behind in the meatspace and don't pick it up on my way out the door, know that you've just seen my evil clone and you have to kill her."

Joanna blinks, and Robyn seems caught between asking about the guitar, the evil clone, and also the fact that Fiona insists on referring to the physical world as the meatspace. So, she does as Robyn does best, and settles on an expletive. "Shit! You play?"

"Been playing since I was... like seven? Something like that." Fiona shrugs, because she really can't be sure; her first vague memory of even seeing this guitar was a long time ago, her uncle telling her it used to belong to her grandmother who'd never managed to learn a damn thing on it. So, Fiona had taken up practice, if only because it was something for a little lowlands Mantellian Faunus to do during the long, cold polar nights and the endless sunshine of the midnight sun. "But, yeah, this is always on me in some form or another."

"You should've played it whilst we were on watch our last mission," May says, with a certain scowl that Fiona knows is 100% directed at their team leader, who is currently off doing... some sort of bullshit with their partner, no doubt. Gods, this team is a nightmare. "All those hours trying to stay awake so we could stare into nothing..."

"Sorry," Fiona says, and she means it. She'd intended to, but, well, she'd sort of chickened out. The echo in the mountains is kind of insane. "Next time?"

May nods, but Joanna cuts off whatever she's about to say next by waving her hands through the air like she can physically dissipate the conversation. "Okay, okay, cool, but now I gotta else you got hiding in there."

Re-compressing her guitar--and oh, is Fiona thankful that dematerialising and rematerialising it doesn't leave it out of tune--Fiona has a mental root around. "Uh, okay, so, we've got--"

In no particular order, she starts pulling things out: a pair of thick gloves for the brutal Solitas chill, an extra pair of socks (hugely understated by most, but never by Fiona), a ushanka that Robyn instantly cheers for, and a couple of jackets ranging from light windbreakers to thick furred jackets that feel like she's wearing a mattress around her ribs. Her Scroll and wallet are in there too, naturally, as are her keys and some extra ammunition, and she pulls out a load of old train tickets with a grimace. "Hm. I was meant to throw these away years ago."

"You're basically carrying around a wardrobe in there, then?" May asks in a way that'd maybe be a little teasing if she didn't look about as jealous as she sounds, but it becomes a thoughtful expression when Fiona shakes her head again.

"Bold of you to think I haven't got a whole pantry in here too," she says, and now Joanna looks very interested. "Check this out."

The first thing she pulls out is a gallon jug of clean water--endlessly fucking useful, she's found, especially when you're in some situation where you can't sit on your ass for an hour waiting for the water purification tablets to do their job--before pulling out a whole host of Atlesian MREs that she keeps around just in case shit really does hit the fan. Atlas rations are... not good, in a phrase, but she's owed them her life more than once, so, whatever.

"What dates are on those?" May quickly interrupts with a critical eye, trying to make out the printed numbers on the snow-patterned packets, and Fiona tosses her one if only to distract May's hands from trying to puzzle out Robyn's password when Robyn isn't directly paying attention.

"Things don't really degrade in my Semblance," Fiona admits. "I've tested it before on stuff with a short shelf-life, like cheese and milk, and honestly I can leave it in there for months and have it come out just as fresh as when it went in. Something to do with a sort of... internal stasis, I guess." Then, she adds, "One thing in my Semblance is a goldfish in a bowl, but he's part of a practical theory I'm running, so I can't materialise him for another fifteen years or so."

"That sounds very normal," Joanna says, and Fiona is glad she agrees as she barrels right over the inherent sarcasm.

As May agonises over finding the date, though, Fiona continues to unveil her pantry--there's plenty of snacks, like dried fruit and nuts and energy bars and chocolate, and when she reveals she carries extra for every member of her team and then some (then some in this instance being Robyn and Joanna, not that she'll admit it), Robyn looks delighted. "That's so sweet! Look at you, making sure nobody goes hungry. You're one in a million."

That's cute and very gay, but Fiona has a lot of stuff to be working through and so she keeps on going--there's a flask of coffee that, thanks to the maybe-stasis, is eternally hot, a bottle of dark Mantellian ale she keeps as, uh, moral support, and she blushes when she pulls out half an uneaten tuna sandwich. "I wondered where that went. Whoops."

May looks up from the MRE for a second, and then does a double-take as she takes in the sight of the very limp and sad-looking sandwich, made courtesy of the Atlas Academy cafeteria. "Wait! Isn't that the sandwich you accused me of stealing last month?!"

"Anyway!" Fiona says with a forced grin, quickly making it disappear back into the void where it can safely continue not existing. "I think the final thing in here is... wait."

She blinks, and suddenly in her hands are at least a hundred little booklets entitled The Pocket Guide to Communist Outreach, scattering right over the floor. Robyn yelps, and then reaches down the side of her bunk to pick them up. "Oh shit! I forgot I asked you to hold onto these! I thought we ran out, nice."

Joanna's face is in her hands, and May sighs long and hard before tossing the MRE back to Fiona with a distinctly pained expression.

"It goes out of date in a month," she notes with distaste, and Fiona just sucks it up without a word. She'll be thankful for it when they end up down a dark cave with no backup, but Fiona figures she'll sit on that one for a bit before being able to make the greatest told you so call in history. She can wait.

"So," she says, watching as May takes advantage of Robyn's momentary distraction to try and access her computer again. "I guess... do you wanna hear me play a song?"

Joanna watches as her partner leans too far over the side of the bunk, yelping as she nearly slams her head directly into the hard vinyl of the floor, and she grimaces. "Please do."

Grinning, Fiona finds her guitar again--somewhere buried, she mentally notes, beside the gallon of water but under the coats--and she slings the broad strap about her shoulders before settling it on her lap, crossing her legs tightly beneath herself before finding her place on the fretboard. After having not played since being back home, it relaxes her more than she'd ever realised it did. It helps to be surrounded by friends, though. Helps to be with family.

"I don't take requests," she adds, flatly, and Robyn laughs from her place on the floor before music fills the dorm, soft and deep and achingly familiar of a place far, far below.

But she's okay with calling this place home, too.

The author of Death Note went on a tirade, through his character, in Platinum End defending being homophobic while at the same time acknowledging how discrimination happens.

Okay at first I was like "what is this about" and then I went and found out and clearly the writer has spent too much time on Rebbit. Homophobic, anti-religion (like, in an offensive way, and also an ignorant way), misogynistic... Gross. Just gross.

Regarding the homophobia panels, which imo were especially egregious (hence this ask)... not even sure what he's saying? He thinks he's being smart but he's... not lol. It's a logical mess and disgusting to boot.

Like, okay. Let me engage him for a second by using actual logic.

Moralizing attraction is one thing (and there are subsections of people who do do this, but no one is ever obligated to be attracted to anyone for whatever reason or nonreason; by the way, this perspective is not limited to the lgbt+ community). Granted idk if the character had been harassed or what. But the framing of that panel really, really, really seems like he's using the very fair idea of "moralizing attraction is bad" as a weapon against LGBT people, which is disgusting and is exactly why some people try to moralize attraction in the first place (because it's a knee jerk to being hurt and assuming this is all coming from a perspective of hatred/fear, and thanks to idiotic takes like this, sometimes people have a good reason to feel that way!) 

By the way, I engaged with that argument above because I can smell the “oh but he’s just saying this fair idea” defenses coming, as if it occurred in a vacuum, and that just does not seem to be the case based on the context. The context seems highly, highly offensive. Like this is "the gay agenda" horsesh*t. What the hell?

I still think Death Note is a high quality work (much as I think Harry Potter is), but that doesn't mean their writers are inherently "good" people or above criticism, or that they should be endorsed or defended.

This is indefensible. Screw his homophobic "we poor straights" attitude. Straight comfort is not the priority, dude.

have you seen the latest RaM episode? I was hoping to see if you had any thoughts about it! I really liked the exploration and the going off the gotdamb rails with the decoys. Also that scene with rick just. dick out and making morty peek at his ass for No actual reason sndhs

Don't forget the fact that his family didn't questioned for a single second that it should be MORTY the one to look into Rick's ass, like there was never anyone else but Morty who should be do it. It was gross, sure, but also such a... "guys would be guys" moment but not in the violent/toxic way but on the silly and unnecesary way, you know? Like Morty called it "punishment" and, sure, nobody wants to be farted into their face, but I can see Rick pulling a similar move on just any friend he feels like pranking to and, on a way, that was kinda wholesome. Okay, so I am going to pour my thoughts about this and the other episode as I usually do here so bear with me: -The fact that Summer IMMEDIATELY picked on what could go wrong about the whole decoy thing, and Rick has to aknowledge that Summer was smarter than this on this regard. This to me is talking again about how Summer IS actually smarter, emotional and socially wise (meaning with interelationships at least), that she could tell that if one Rick thinking he is not a decoy was going to make decoys then of course other Ricks would have the same idea. But Rick never saw this coming because he was only thinking of the decoys as instruments to be used and disposed, even as he was giving them actual personalities and filled their memories with real ones. He never considered they could go on to make their own because, well, they are not This Rick and this Rick is the smartest man in the universe, the guy that unironically think himself to be god, so OBVOUSLY think only HE would be capable of pulling that off. -The fact the immediately after a Rick wins while proclaiming himself "not a man, I am god!" only to be killed by what is essentially JUST A TOY, some little creature that was MEANT to be killed but got pissed when nobody did it. A literal "god" got eliminated for something fucking mundane that didn't even had to do with the main conflict. He doesn't even understand WHY this little dude just killed him, he died with uncertainty, and if that isn't the most human experience ever then I don't know. -With this episode and the first one, I HOPE this season is going to be about desconstructing Rick thinking himself above anything else. I said this before, but I don't trust fans who truly believe Rick is entitled to do anything he wants and be shitty with everyone because he is smart. It seems to be like these two episode literally adressed that kind of attitude by putting Rick on situations where not even he can get out of and revealing he is, in fact, still just a flawed human being. A major criticism that many people have levered against the show is that yes, we know Rick is sad and miserable, but the show still goes out of it's way to keep making him win on anything he wants (most of the time at least) and thus is signaling to the audience the idea that he is always right, that he should be always right, because he has the power to do anything he wants. The very first episode start with Rick about to fucking die with all his regrets ("I am a silly man, a silly old man") and then he is saved BY MORTY. If it wasn't because of Morty being there that would be it, they both would be gone. -The previous season was already descontructing Rick as the patriarch of the house and show how nobody "needs him" on the same way they needed him on the first season. The only character you could argue still gives a fuck about Rick's approval/recognition is Summer, but even then Summer was never submissive and passive like Season One Morty was to Rick, instantly believing anything he said. Plus, we all know that Rick COULD take Summer on all his adventures and she would never complain about it because she doesn't give a fuck about school anyway. But he still insist on taking Morty instead, despite his protests, because he just likes Morty better than Summer and he does not take well with Morty not relying on him. I don't fucking buy the whole "cancelling brain waves" excuse anymore because, come on, there is a million ways in which Rick could circunvent that problem if he wanted to

but he just prefers keep Morty around. -On the first episode Rick literally says "let me deus ex machina out of here". Deus ex machina literally means the hand of god because in ancient greek mythology many plays would have an element of a literal hand coming from the sky to take the characters out of any problem they are in. And it didn't worked! He needed Mr Nimbus to save them. Because he is not fucking god, and the show is finally showing us concrete evidence of this, while Rick is still the only one with this delusion on his head and this delusion is part of his downfall. The whole second episode is nothing else but Rick's ego fucking him in the ass, literally killing him over and over again. -Beth was GREAT rejoicing on Rick's existential crisis and she fucking deserved that moment, I am glad they gave it to her. -The way so many of the decoys decided to react to knowing they were decoys was so amazing. Like yeah, a majority of them decided to be all "oh no, there can only be one", but many other just off themselves because they couldn't handle not being The Original, insisting to the last moment that they MUST be the original because, well, that is what they think, and then other decoys were just ready to accept death because they had accepted there was no other way. -The only wish of Summer to be on the ocean was... so wholesome? Like it made for a beautiful scene in general, but then they dying hand by hand and just happy to be together, Rick apoligizing to Morty because they couldn't make his wish come true, such a good moment. -The fact that all those Ricks made decoys purely out of a sincere desire to protect his family, it's just great. It was still selfish to basically create life with the only purpose of it being destroyed, but it was motivated as another security measure to protect others, not just himself. -The skin wearing Rick on the swamps talking about "a Rick must provide for his family". Ricks CARE about their family so much. -The puppet Smits were so cute, I loved their voices. -THE MUPPET SMITHS. Even if it was nothing but a costume, it was cute and I want them on Pocket Mortys. -This scene is a Call Me By Your Name reference and nobody tells me otherwise:

As I explained on a server: 1. Italian. The movie happens on Italy. 2. Pool. Many crucial scenes include a pool. 3. Age difference. If they just wanted to imply Morty was flirting they could have used just an older teenager, they didn't need a literal hunk that kinda looks like the older character on the movie. 4. THERE IS FUCKING PEACHES ON THE FOREFRONT. If anyone saw Call me by your name, they know they literally fucked a peach at some point and then the love interest EATS IT ANYWAY. And what does it look like the guy Morty is with is eating? PEACHES. 5. Parents are watching and don't give a fuck. 6. I have decided. -Regardless if it's a reference or not, though, is still pretty fucking gay. -I have seen some fans theorizing that the Smith family we see in the end with Space Beth was our own, and at first I thought so too because they are with Space Beth but then I was... wait a minute, ALL Beth decoys knew there was a Space Beth. They went out of their way to show us this by always having Beth being the one who insisted that no decoy had to die, because she knew what was to feel like a copy. When Rick decided to make another family exactly as his own, he also made HIMSELF expendable and interchangeable. We don't need thirty Smith families, the show only needs one and it doesn't matter which one is it as long is one we can recognize. Why couldn't that have been another decoy family that just so happened to want to do a space trip while all the bullshit was happening? I don't think they are ever going to confirm if this was our original Smith family or don't, just like they won't confirm which Beth is the clone, but I personally think it would be fucking hilarious if they were a decoy and Our Rick just died thinking he was a decoy. -Also the way that Space Beth was just casually putting an arm around Morty made me so happy. Considering that Beth is also the mother who prefered to save Summer over Morty when their lives were in danger, I really like the idea that Space Beth sees how much Morty has grown and is proud of him for becoming a badass himself without Rick's help. That is just my headcanon though, but wouldn't be nice to have SOMEONE appreciate Morty? -Finally, but not less important... Rick knew Morty uses a yosemite shirt in order to cum. This man literally knew about the masturbatory habits of his grandson. Rick went as far on his desire to protect his family he used that knowledge for the decoys. He also told Morty to not fuck his double, which is a nice little reference to Morty literally doing that on the comics but also a subtle way to tell us that Morty is definitely Not Straight because, yeah, I am fucking counting selfcest as a form of queerness because regardless of everything else, that is still two identifying male characters fucking. We only need Beth showing attraction to some female character and the entire Smith family would be officially pan/bi.

I came across this comic from the My Pride review that you did and even tho I think the comic has neat art and I love the angle of our gay couple meeting as cubs, the whole thing with our disabled lead not being given a name feels just as problematic as Nothing being called Nothing? This is just my opinion tho, not trying to be rude? ^^; I love this comic but it seems to be making the same mistake My Pride did with its disabled main character and I just wanted to give my two cents.

I’m actually pretty glad you sent this, anon. Because we’ve been talking at great length on how to approach the whole concept of ableism through Hope’s name while also using it to deconstruct the topic, which we feel My Pride didn’t do a good job at. I’m going to do my best to explain our intent behind this.

warning: may contain spoilers

The fact that Nothing was called Nothing in My Pride wasn’t really a problem on its own (for me, anyway). There are certain factors that went into people having issues with it,  like the fact that Powerstrike is not portrayed as being in the wrong for giving Nothing the name. Aside from Fire and Sharptongue giving her death glares, nobody voices any real protest or makes an effort to point out how wrong and ableist Powerstrike is. It’s all treated as ‘wow that sucks but whatever’ and the plot moves on.

And then you have Hover happily using the name despite having no obligation to. When I first watched the trailer for MP and the first episode, I expected the name to be changed very quickly. Pretty much everyone did, as they were all speculating what the new name could be. Hover using it in the next episode was when it really began to rub people off the wrong way, including myself. Hover was a prime candidate for pointing out how shitty the name is and deconstructing the ableism behind it by not using it because a) she lives outside of Pride Law and its customs and b) this is her girlfriend, it’s perfectly natural for people to give cute little nicknames to their girlfriends. 

Then the show doubles down on its decision to keep the name with Feather’s take on it and by making the sole person who still refuses to use it - Fire - an antagonist. It sorta delivers the message that audience members who don’t like it are wrong too, which is all sorts of yikes.

I want to bring up what happened with Brightheart from Warrior Cats as a comparison. When Bluestar gives her the name Lostface when she is severely injured by the dog attack, the reaction to this is a complete 180 to My Pride. It is not only made clear that Bluestar is not in the right frame of mind and we as an audience should be appalled by her actions (because she’s using Brightheart as a means to attack StarClan), but several characters make it clear that this is an awful name and Cloudtail - who is falling in love with Brightheart - swears that he will never use it. Unlike Hover, who just laughs at how ‘mean’ her love interest’s name is. The name is then changed by Firestar a book or so later, effectively doing away with and deconstructing Bluestar’s ableism and allowing Brightheart to reclaim herself. It’s never doubled down upon and nobody is portrayed as being wrong for not liking it. Lostface is a bad name and it deserved to be phased out, end of discussion. Not saying that Warrior Cats treats its disabled characters flawlessly because Brightheart is treated appallingly afterwards, but the whole thing with her name is something that was handled pretty much fine imo.  What does this have to do with Hope’s name? Well, what we have planned is that Hope gets her nasty family name - Hopeless - in the upcoming chapter and we begin the deconstruction of how crappy the name is and how hardly anybody is going to use it in a similar vein to Brightheart’s situation. Clever immediately shortens the name to Hope at the end of this chapter, indicating that she does not intend to use the less flattering long version of the name. We expand upon this intent in the next chapter when Clever makes Hope her official name. Adamant and Quiet also call her Hope, as they were impressed by her attempt to take down the zebra and don’t vibe with their parents’ actions at all. The pair of them are annoying lil sisters, but we’re not setting out to make them ableist too. And that’s another thing: you don’t need to portray the majority of somebody’s family as ableist in anti-ableist media. One or two characters - especially those who are in a position of power, like the parents - is more than enough. You need other characters to balance out their awfulness and deliver an effective counterargument. 

Anyway, when Hope finally leaves her family with Storm in an upcoming chapter, it is revealed how Hope WAS named Hopeless (Storm isn’t immediately privy to this because of Hope being called Hope, as mentioned above). Of course, Storm says that Hopeless is a gross name and suggests that Hope can just be short for HopeFUL from that moment onwards. Hope agrees, effectively doing away with this last, abusive link to her family before she leaves the Golden Grove for good. And that closes the book on that particular issue. 

Sorry if this turned into a bit of an essay, by the way. We want to try and portray ableism and how wrong it is and how the disabled and everyone around them can rise above it as best as we can without disrespecting or offending anybody so things like this do require a thorough explanation. If there’s any further concerns from anon or anyone who reads this, feel free to poke us and open up discussion. We’re more than happy to hear constructive criticism on how we handle these things. Thank you for reading. c: