Don't kill me but I honestly think Yunaka sounds WAY better in the Japanese version and it has nothing to do with the EN voice actress and EVERYTHING to do with the En localization.

My theory about Meghan's cutsie persona -

By all accounts Meghan has more or less always been known to be aloof towards people unless she finds them useful. Her childhood friends, her uni friends, people in the circles she auditioned with, deal or no deal colleagues, her old agents, suits crew, people who worked on the magazine and brand photoshoots... A lot of people prior to Harry have all.said the same thing. She was reserved and determined and acted like she was better than you. She was super nice and fun if you were her friend, or later, a rich or famous person.

Meghans primary skill is networking. Right from the deal or no deal.days, she was very keen on making connections. Infact, some say that getting together with Trevor was also networking. She charmed and bamboozled him, and he seemed to be a very ambitious, outgoing, go getter sort of a person. Which to a mid-20s struggling actress with no assignments, no gigs, lofty ambitions, seemed like the ultimate catch.

She was always charming and bubbly, and outgot, but there's some evidence from her own writing and speeches, that that persona was something she put for the specific purpose to getting forward in life. And may have actually found it a bit exhausting at times. It was only when she got suits, moved to Toronto and started mingling with the social set there that her Networking finally started paying off.

She became a medium fish in a biggish bowl. That's when she divorced Trevor and finally unleashed the full force of influencer, cover girl, supermodel, Hollywood star, girlie, cutsie, ditzy, fun, adventurous, smart, casual, just like Rachel Zane in real life Meghan. She was about 31/32 at that time.

What's cute at 27 or 30 or 32 or even 34 is not so cute at 38/40. It's barely tolerable. Mainly because with you, your audience also ages and hence (in most cases) gains some discernment skills. So they are able to sense if it's all for show or if you are uncomfortable or not being your authentic self.

That's why her behavior now is ridiculous and intolerable to most people.

Also earlier she was merely doing it to get name recognition and climb the career ladder. But now she is struggling very hard to be liked. And to get the respect she thinks she deserves. Which never ends well.

I think back to the things I did in my 20's and even early 30's and I do cringe. Hard.

If she wants to have another go at The Tig she is going to have to change her target audience to women her age, because no matter how much PR she outs out she is no longer "young."

I feel like I’ve been saying this all my life and will continue to say this all my life until people actually listen to what I’m saying and just.... stop. But the way some, if not most, cis writers write trans characters is honest to god driving me crazy. 

(putting under read more bc this essay is long and obvs this doesn’t apply to trans writers)

I’ve read a lot of fic over the years and have been involved in fandom spaces for almost a decade, and there are almost no instances where I wasn’t offended to some degree at how cis people, mostly cis women, write trans characters. I really have to wonder if these writers know any trans people at all or are purely basing their characterizations off of selfies that come across their social media feeds of transpeople presenting the idealized versions of themselves. Because the things that I see in fic and these cute headcanon posts are not an experience that I, and many, trans people have ever experienced. 

There’s the whole casual disregard for gender dysphoria which doesnt seem to exist for your characters because they have easy access to binders and testosterone and whatever else so everything is peachy keen. But I don’t think cis people really, and I mean really, understand how deep the trans experience really goes and the mental and physical tolls it can take on people. I mean jesus I wish my experience was as cute and easy as some of yall seem to think it is where everyone in my family and community is 100% accepting and I have quick and immediate access to things for my transition and I pass really well and my “dysphoria” is basically mild insecurity and uncomfortable but its ok bc my Designated Love Interest supports me anyways. 

But I fucking digress. This is all completely assuming that everyone’s experience is the same where we knew we wanted to be the opposite sex as young children. Totally negating the environments people grow up in and just how deep cisgender/heteronormitvity actually runs for some people. Cus let me tell you, people can experience dysphoria for YEARS (without knowing the word for it, but including depression/anxiety, extremely low self confidence, generalized identity issues, to name a few), before they even realize that they might be transgender let alone, accept it. 

And don’t get me wrong, this is not to take away from the trans people out there who DO have supportive environments and who DID know they were trans at a young age and lived in a sort of place where they COULD transition early. But that’s not every experience, is what I’m saying. Being trans is such a personal experience that no one’s is identical because there’s so many factors involved; socio-economic standings, family, culture, etc. 

And within all of this, this is also assuming that every transition is the same. I feel like theres this cisgendered idea that “transitioning” is like a step by step process like following a photoshop tutorial to get some perfect end result. When no, it doesn’t at all work like that. Transitioning is becoming someone’s true self - and this can begin and end with changing their name and dressing how they want. It can include medical and surgical assistance as well, and there’s not always an “end” point, a last step. So when I see these cutsie little “trans headcanons” posts where its just step by step lists of when a character starts dressing differently, and then HRT, and then surgery, and then Done, it really does frustrate me because it’s simplifying and trivializing people’s experiences that can take a LOT longer than that or happens in that order at all. 

And despite ALL OF THIS, the way a LOT and I mean damn near a metric fuckton of you cis writers out here writing transmen in your smut fics is a goddamn NIGHTMARE. Like I’m seriously tired of you girls writing these self-insert fics where you take a male character, give them a vagina, just to have vaginal sex with another cismale. It’s gross and I hate it. I’m not saying that transmen can’t be bottoms, I’m saying the amount of feminization, the total disregard for the anxiety and dysphoria transpeople feel about sex, the way writers refer to their anatomy, you’re basically writing Heterosexual Sex, but just want the Representation Cookies for “Look I made this character transgender!!” When in all actuality, you didn’t do that at all. I would comment on how yall write transwomen in this specific fic subset but that would mean yall actually write transwomen now wouldn’t it. No, it’s mostly feminizing cis men in heels and lingerie for The Kink but they’re almost never transwomen and yall know it. There might be a FEW, but it’s never the majority.

The way some of you cis people out here write trans characters, it honestly feels like you’re using “transness” as a gimmick, a quirky trait to make this canonically cis character more interesting. Or at the very least, for your personal self insert kinks. 

And you know what, I’m sorry if this all makes writing your porn a little more awkward,  and makes it a little more difficult to be “cute” with your trans headcanons, but I’m over it and don’t care. I’d honestly rather have no representation from you cis writers than have you all treat us like funsie trope to use while we’re out here struggling to keep ourselves above water. But if you don’t wanna write about the hard stuff, then don’t act like you’re doing us any favors by including us in your fics.